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then, like unruly and insolent puppies that have lost their master, the passions of the body rise up and bark much at the soul; and each of the passions attempts to tear it apart in various ways, dividing its vital power for itself. For I think the power of the soul is twofold, though it is one and the same: one, a certain vital power for the body, the other a contemplative power of 31.1341 things that exist, which we also call the rational faculty. But the vital power, since the soul is mingled with the body, it bestows naturally because of this mingling, and not from choice; for just as it is not possible for the sun, when it shines, not to illuminate that upon which it has cast its rays, so it is impossible for a soul not to give life to a body in which it has come to be; but the contemplative power has its motion in choice. If, then, it prepares its own contemplative and rational faculty to be ever watchful, as the Prophet says: May he who guards you not slumber; it puts the passions of the body to sleep in a twofold way, both by the contemplation of better and suitable things with which it is occupied, and by overseeing the tranquility of the body, it disciplines and restrains them; but if, embracing idleness, it keeps its contemplative faculty motionless, the passions of the body, finding the vital faculty at leisure and dividing it among themselves, with no one supervising or checking them, have dragged the soul down with them to their own impulses and activities. So that the passions of the body are violent when the reason within us is idle, but obedient when it orders and directs. The body, therefore, is not blameworthy to those who wish to know rightly concerning it. For it is fitting for the exposition of this counsel also to refute the false opinions of those who have conceived evil things about the body. For just as, beloved, a horse is a fine thing, and the quicker and more spirited it is by nature, the better it is; but it needs one who will drive and govern it, since it is indeed devoid of reason. But when the charioteer has mounted, it for its part will try to use its nature. If, then, the charioteer manages the impulses of the beast of burden properly, he has both used it to his own advantage, and has attained the proposed goal, and he himself is saved, and the beast of burden has been shown to be of the best use; but whenever the charioteer drives the colt badly, the colt is often turned aside from the highway and has fallen into an impassable place; and being carried away, it has sometimes carried its rider down with it, and the carelessness of the charioteer becomes a danger to both. So also you should suppose in the case of the soul and the body. For the body received its natural impulses not as unseemly, but as in every way good and useful for something; but it is devoid of reason 31.1344, so that the soul might be honored by the preeminences of reason. For if it manages the impulses of the body properly, it has both preserved it, and is itself safe from danger; but if it neglects its supervisory role, and, overcome by the sleep of carelessness, should give up the charioteering of the body, it, being bereft of reason, turns from the straight path, and has involved the soul in the same stumblings, not from its own wickedness, but through her negligence. For if the passions of the body were such that they could not be tamed by the soul, the body would reasonably bear the blame; but if they have become subject to the many who have been eager to master them, the body is without blame for those who attempt to slander it as the originator of evil, but she who has given up authority over the body is blameworthy for her negligence, neither having evil in herself by nature, but being established in this through the abandonment of the good. For wickedness is nothing other than the privation of virtue.

CHAPTER 3. That one must not have unguarded encounters with women.

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τηνικαῦτα, ὥσπερ σκύλακες ἄτακτοι καὶ θρασεῖς τὸν ἐπιστάτην ἀποβαλόντες, διαναστάντα τὰ τοῦ σώματος πάθη, πολλὰ καθυλακτεῖ τῆς ψυχῆς· καὶ ποικίλως αὐτὴν διασπᾷν ἐπιχειρεῖ ἕκαστον τῶν παθῶν, τὴν ζωτικὴν αὐτῆς δύναμιν πρὸς ἑαυτὸ μερι ζόμενον. ∆ιττὴν γὰρ εἶναι τῆς ψυχῆς ἔγωγε οἶμαι τὴν δύναμιν, μιᾶς καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ὑπαρχούσης· τὴν μέν τινα τοῦ σώματος ζωτικὴν, τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν τῶν 31.1341 ὄντων θεωρητικήν, ἣν δὴ καὶ λογιστικὴν ὀνομάζομεν. Ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν ζωτικὴν δύναμιν, ἐπεὶ συγκέκραται τῷ σώματι ἡ ψυχὴ, φυσικῶς διὰ τὴν σύγκρασιν, καὶ οὐκ ἐκ προαιρέσεως χορηγεῖ· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἥλιον οὐχ οἷόν τε ἐπιλάμψαντα μὴ φωτίσαι τοῦτο, καθ' οὗ τὰς αὐγὰς ἤνεγκεν· οὕτω ψυχὴν ἀμήχανον μὴ ζωο ποιεῖν σῶμα, ᾧ ἂν ἐγγένηται· ἡ δὲ θεωρητικὴ δύνα μις ἐν προαιρέσει ἔχει τὴν κίνησιν. Ἂν μὲν οὖν διὰ παντὸς τὸ θεωρητικόν τε καὶ λογιστικὸν ἑαυτῆς ἐγρη γορέναι παρασκευάζῃ, καθὼς ὁ Προφήτης φησί· Μηδὲ νυστάξῃ ὁ φυλάσσων σε· διπλῇ κατευ νάζει τὰ πάθη τοῦ σώματος, τῇ τε περὶ τῶν κρειτ τόνων καὶ προσφυῶν θεωρίᾳ ᾗ ἀπασχολεῖται, καὶ τῇ ἀταραξίᾳ τοῦ σώματος ἐπισκοποῦσα, σωφρονίζει ταῦτα καὶ καταστέλλει· ἂν δὲ, τὴν ἀργίαν ἀσπα σαμένη, τὸ θεωρητικὸν ἀκίνητον ἔχῃ, σχολαῖον τὸ ζωτικὸν τὰ πάθη τοῦ σώματος εὑρόντα, καὶ με ρισάμενα, μηδενὸς ἐπιστατοῦντος καὶ ἀνακόπτοντος, ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκείας ὁρμάς τε καὶ ἐνεργείας τὴν ψυχὴν συγκαθείλκυσαν. Ὥστε εἶναι τὰ πάθη τοῦ σώματος βίαια μὲν, ἀργοῦντος τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν λόγου· εὐπειθῆ δὲ, τούτου τάττοντος καὶ διέποντος. Οὐ μεμπτὸν τοίνυν τὸ σῶμα τοῖς ὀρθῶς περὶ αὐτοῦ γινώσκειν ἐθέλουσι. Πρέπει γὰρ τῇ τῆς συμβουλῆς ἐκθέσει καὶ τὰς κακοδοξίας τῶν πονηρῶς ὑπειληφότων περὶ τοῦ σώματος ἀναιρεῖν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ, ἀγαπητὲ, καλὸν ὁ ἵππος, καὶ ὅσῳπερ ἂν τὴν φύσιν ὀξύτερος καὶ θερ μότερος ᾖ, τοσούτῳ ἀμείνων· δεῖται δὲ τοῦ ἡνιοχή σοντός τε καὶ κυβερνήσοντος, οἷα δὴ λογισμῶν ἄμοιρος ὤν. Ἐπιβάντος δὲ τοῦ ἡνιόχου, αὐτὸς μὲν τῇ φύσει χρῆσθαι πειράσεται. Ἐὰν μὲν οὖν ὁ ἡνίοχος τὰς ὁρμὰς τοῦ ὑπο ζυγίου δεόντως οἰκονομήσῃ, ἑαυτῷ τε πρὸς τὸ συμ φέρον ἐχρήσατο, καὶ τοῦ σκοποῦ τοῦ προκειμένου τετύχηκε, καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ σέσωσται, καὶ τὸ ὑποζύγιον ὤφθη τὴν χρῆσιν ἄριστον· ἐπειδὰν δὲ ὁ ἡνίοχος κα κῶς ἀγάγῃ τὸν πῶλον, ὅ τε πῶλος πολλάκις παρ ετράπη τῆς λεωφόρου, καὶ εἰς ἀνοδίαν ἐξέπεσε· κατενεχθεὶς δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν ἔστιν ὅτε τὸν ἐπιβάτην κατήνεγκε, καὶ κίνδυνος ἑκατέρων ἡ τοῦ ἡνιόχου ῥᾳθυμία γίνεται. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ σώματος ὑπολάμβανε. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ σῶμα τὰς φυσικὰς ὁρμὰς ἔλαβεν οὐκ ἀτόπους, ἀλλὰ πρός τι πάντως καλὰς καὶ χρησίμους· λογισμοῦ δὲ τοῦτο ἄμοιρον 31.1344 ὑπάρχει, ἵνα τιμηθείη τοῖς τοῦ λόγου προτερήμασιν ἣ ψυχή. Ἐὰν μὲν γὰρ αὐτὴ τὰς τοῦ σώματος ὁρμὰς δεόντως οἰκονομῇ, αὐτό τε περιεσώσατο, καὶ αὐτὴ ἔξω κινδύνων· ἐὰν δὲ τοῦ ἐπιστατικοῦ ἀμελήσῃ, καὶ ὕπνῳ κρατηθεῖσα τῆς ῥᾳθυμίας, παρείη τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἡνιόχησιν, αὐτό τε, οἷα λογισμῶν ἔρημον, τῆς εὐθείας ἐκτρέπεται, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τοῖς ἴσοις περιέβαλε πταίσμασιν, οὐκ ἐξ οἰκείας κακίας, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἐκείνης ὀλιγωρίαν. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν τὰ πάθη τοῦ σώματος, οἷα μὴ δαμασθῆναι ψυχῇ, εἶχεν ἂν τὰς αἰτίας εὐλόγως τὸ σῶμα· εἰ δὲ πολλοῖς ὑποχείρια γέγονε τοῖς κρατῆσαι ἐσπουδακόσιν, ἀνεύθυνον μὲν τὸ σῶμα τοῖς διαβάλλειν ὡς ἀρχηγὸν κακίας ἐπι χειροῦσι, μεμπτὴ δὲ τῆς ὀλιγωρίας, ἡ τὸ κῦρος ἀνει μένη τοῦ σώματος, οὔτε αὐτὴ φύσει τὸ κακὸν ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἔχουσα, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀπολείψει τοῦ καλοῦ ἐν τούτῳ καθισταμένη. Κακία γὰρ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν ἢ ἀπό λειψις ἀρετῆς.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Γʹ. Ὅτι οὐ δεῖ τὰς τῶν γυναικῶν συντυχίας ἀφυλάκτως

ποιεῖσθαι.