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useful to kings, but useless to private citizens; perhaps the remedy of it heals the multitude of both these and those; it labors by nature, not by honors; you too should be such, not honoring a person, but the nature of things; and yet what good does it have in its body? Nothing; so that the lazy person may not have recourse to weakness, he took an animal weaker than all, taking away his excuse. -And it is desirable, even to those who do not have it, nor possess it; every day in the fields, in the cities, we will hear countless praises of this kind from all who pass by. Poverty comes to you like a bad traveler, and want like a good runner. [ξοδ. φ. 31. β.] Nothing is more difficult than voluntary [or involuntary ?] poverty, which comes most quickly to the idle, conquering the good in the race with speed; and these are poverty and want: poverty is the deprivation of knowledge; want is the scarcity of virtues. - See the perfection of the work; are you not taught by the irrational animals? Learn from the experience of things; pray not to appear more irrational than the irrational animals. Therefore flee poverty also. Is work burdensome? But see its end. Is sloth sweet? But consider its limit; let us not learn the beginnings of things, but let us look where they end; he who goes out of his house does not want to remain on the road, but even at the beginning of his departure, he attends to the end; for those reasons he also makes a beginning, so that he may accomplish the end of the beginning; but you do the opposite. At every opportunity such a one creates disturbances for the city. [ξοδ. φ. 32. α.] Alas, what power he has, at every opportunity! For even if he wants to signify something good, the manner of signification is full of suspicion; clashing with multitudes, and making whole cities desolate; such a one does not have a peaceful spirit, nor has he heard Jesus saying: Blessed are the peacemakers; and through these things he teaches to give no one a handle. An insolent eye, an unjust tongue, hands that shed righteous blood. [ibid.] He signifies the activities of the members of the body, in part, toward evil; what therefore the eye, and tongue, and hands are in the body, this in the soul are reason, impulse, and judgment; and he did not simply list these for us, but so that we might learn to discipline them by fleeing imitation. - They shed righteous blood, who drink the blood of the Lord and are polluted by shameful deeds. A heart that devises evil thoughts. [ξοδ. φ. 32. β.] For when the heart is unclean, it has also made the members unclean; for it poured out the poison. -He rightly said 'kindles'; for falsehood is a fire that divides those who are united, not only not helping, but also making war; and according to the mind, 64.676 they would be brothers, who have the gift of adoption, and are under the same father, Christ; whom unjust and passionate thoughts, falling upon them, attempt to disturb; kindling anger into hatred, and desire, toward shameful works. And bind them upon your soul, etc. [ξοδ. φ. 33. α.] Instead of 'bind', first storing away the teaching of the laws in the depth of the mind; and then, adorning it with good works, fasten it tightly to your neck. A good companion and associate: to meditate continually on the oracles of God; and especially when we walk in the marketplace; for then we need these weapons more, because the eye wounds, and anger is kindled, and the desire for money is provoked by the things that are seen. - For you shall meditate on them when you sit, and when you walk, and when you lie down. A commandment is a reproof of evil things, but an instruction of good things; for through the law is the knowledge of sin. To keep you from a married woman, and from the slander of a foreign tongue. [ξοδ. φ. 33. β.] See him making much account of prudence; for desire is darkness; and 'from slander' means not only from adultery, but also from suspicion; for it is often possible to be pure from the sin, but not from the suspicion

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βασιλεῦσι χρησίμη, τοῖς δὲ ἰδιώταις ἄχρηστος· ἴσως καὶ τούτων κἀκείνων τὸ πλῆθος θεραπεύει αὐτῆς τὸ φάρμακον· τῇ φύσει κάμνει, οὐχὶ ταῖς τιμαῖς· τοιοῦτος ἔσο καὶ σὺ, μὴ τιμῶν πρόσωπον, ἀλλὰ πραγμάτων φύσιν· καί τοι τί καλὸν ἔχει ἐν τῷ σώματι; οὐδέν· ὥστε ἵνα μὴ ἔχῃ ὀκνηρὸς εἰς ἀσθένειαν καταφυγεῖν, παρέλαβε ζῶον πάντων ἀσθενέστερον, ἀναιρῶν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀπολογίαν. -Ποθεινή τέ ἐστι, καὶ τοῖς οὐκ ἔχουσιν, οὐδὲ κεκτημένοις· καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐν ἀγροῖς, ἐν πόλεσι, πάντας μυρία τοῦ γένους τούτου διερχομένους ἐγκώμια ἀκουσόμεθα. Παραγίνεταί σοι ὥσπερ κακὸς ὁδοιπόρος ἡ πενία, καὶ ἡ ἔνδεια ὥσπερ ἀγαθὸς δρομεύς. [ξοδ. φ. 31. β.] Οὐδὲν ἑκουσίου [νυμ ἀκουσίου ?] πενίας χαλεπώτερον, ἣ τῷ ἀργῷ τάχιστα παραγίνεται, τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς περὶ τὸν δρόμον τῇ ταχύτητι νικῶσα· ταῦτα δέ ἐστι πενία καὶ ἔνδεια· ἡ πενία μὲν, στέρησις γνώσεως· ἔνδεια δὲ, σπάνις ἀρετῶν. - ̓Ιδὲ τῆς ἐργασίας τὴν τελειότητα· οὐ παιδεύῃ παρὰ τῶν ἀλόγων; μάθε παρὰ τῆς πείρας τῶν πραγμάτων· ἀπεύχῃ τῶν ἀλόγων φανῆναι ἀλογώτερος. Οὐκοῦν καὶ τὴν πενίαν φεῦγε. Φορτικὸν ἐργασία; ἀλλ' ὅρα αὐτῆς τὸ τέλος. Ἡδὺς ὁ ὄκνος; ἀλλὰ σκόπει τὸ πέρας· μὴ τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν πραγμάτων καταμανθάνωμεν, ἀλλὰ ποῦ τελευτῶσι βλέπωμεν· ὁ ἐξιὼν ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας οὐ βούλεται ἐπὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ μένειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς ἐξόδου ὢν, τῷ τέλει προσέχει· δι' ἐκεῖνα καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιεῖται, ὥστε τῆς ἀρχῆς τὸ τέλος ἀνύσαι· σὺ δὲ τοὐναντίον ποιεῖς. Ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ ὁ τοιοῦτος ταραχὰς συνίστησι πόλει. [ξοδ. φ. 32. α.] Βαβαὶ, ὅσην ἔχει τὴν ἰσχὺν, ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ; κἂν γὰρ ἀγαθόν τι βούληται σημᾶναι, ὁ τῆς σημασίας τρόπος ὑποψίας μεστός· συγκρούων πλήθη, καὶ πόλεις ὅλας ἀναστάτους ποιῶν· ὁ τοιοῦτος οὐκ ἔχει πνεῦμα εἰρηνικὸν, οὐδὲ ἤκουσεν Ἰησοῦ λέγοντος· Μακάριοι οἱ εἰρηνοποιοί· διδάσκει δὲ διὰ τούτων μηδενὶ διδόναι λαβήν. Ὀφθαλμὸς ὑβριστοῦ, γλῶσσα ἄδικος, χεῖρες ἐκχέουσαι αἷμα δίκαιον. [ιβιδ.] Τῶν μελῶν τοῦ σώματος ἐκ μέρους πρὸς τὸ κακὸν ἐνεργείας σημαίνει· ὅπερ οὖν ἐν σώμασιν ὀφθαλμὸς, καὶ γλῶττα, καὶ χεῖρες, τοῦτο ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ λογισμὸς, ὁρμὴ, καὶ κρίσις· οὐχ ἁπλῶς δὲ ἡμῖν ταῦτα κατέλεξεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα μάθωμεν αὐτὰ σωφρονίζειν διὰ τοῦ φεύγειν τὴν μίμησιν. - Ἐκχέουσιν αἷμα δίκαιον, οἱ τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Κυρίου πίνοντες καὶ αἰσχραῖς μολυνόμενοι πράξεσιν. Καρδία τεκταινομένη λογισμοὺς κακούς. [ξοδ. φ. 32. β.] Ὅταν γὰρ ἀκάθαρτος ᾖ ἡ καρδία, καὶ τὰ μέλη πεποίηκεν ἀκάθαρτα· ἐξέχεε γὰρ ἔξω τὸν ἰόν. -Καλῶς εἶπεν ἐκκαίει· πῦρ γάρ ἐστι τὸ ψεῦδος διϊστῶν τοὺς ἡνωμένους, οὐ μόνον οὐκ ὠφελοῦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκπολεμοῦν· κατὰ δὲ διάνοιαν, 64.676 ἀδελφοὶ ἂν εἶεν, οἱ τὸ τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἔχοντες χάρισμα, καὶ ὑπὸ τὸν αὐτὸν ὄντες πατέρα Χριστόν· οὓς ἄδικοι καὶ ἐμπαθεῖς λογισμοὶ ἐμπεσόντες, ταράττειν ἐπιχειροῦσιν· ἀνάπτοντες θυμὸν μὲν εἰς μῖσος, ἐπιθυμίαν δὲ, πρὸς αἰσχρὰς ἐργασίας. Ἄφαψαι δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ σῇ ψυχῇ, κ. τ. λ. [ξοδ. φ. 33. α.] Ἀντὶ τοῦ σύνδησον ἐν τῷ βάθει τῆς διανοίας πρῶτον τὴν τῶν νόμων διδασκαλίαν ἐναποθέμενος· καὶ τότε δι' ἔργων ἀγαθῶν ἐπικοσμῶν, τῷ σῷ τραχήλῳ ἐπίσφιγξον. Καλὸς ἑταῖρος καὶ συνόμιλος· τὸ, τὰ λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ διηνεκῶς μελετᾷν· καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν ἐπ' ἀγορᾶς βαδίζωμεν· τότε γὰρ ἡμῖν τούτων τῶν ὅπλων δεῖ μᾶλλον, ὅτι καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς τιτρώσκει, καὶ θυμὸς ἐκκαίει, καὶ ἐπιθυμία χρημάτων ἐκ τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐρεθίζει. - Μελετήσεις γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς καθήμενος, καὶ πορευόμενος, καὶ κοιταζόμενος. Ἔλεγχος μὲν τῶν κακῶν ἐντολὴ, παιδεία δὲ τῶν ἀγαθῶν· διὰ γὰρ νόμου ἐπίγνωσις ἁμαρτίας. Τοῦ διαφυλάσσειν σε ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ὑπάνδρου, καὶ ἀπὸ διαβολῆς γλώσσης ἀλλοτρίας. [ξοδ. φ. 33. β.] Ὅρα αὐτὸν τῆς σωφροσύνης πολὺν ποιούμενον λόγον· σκότος γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἐπιθυμία· ἀπὸ διαβολῆς δὲ, ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐκ ἀπὸ μοιχείας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑποψίας· ἔστι γὰρ πολλάκις, τῆς μὲν ἁμαρτίας εἶναι καθαρὸν, τῆς δὲ ὑποψίας μὴ