7

Thus also a farmer yokes oxen, and draws a plow, and cuts a deep furrow, and casts seeds, and spends all he has, and endures frost and ice and rains and many other hardships, and after this labor he expects to see the cornfields waving and the threshing-floor full. Do you see how here too the labor comes first, and after that the reward; and the reward is uncertain, but the labor is clear and manifest; and the former is in hope, but the latter is in hand? But yet even he, unless he first looks to that uncertain and unseen reward, which is not seen by the eyes of the body, not only will not yoke oxen, nor draw a plow, nor cast seeds, but he will not even ever move from his house for this work. How then is it absurd in the matters of this life to look to the unseen before the seen, and to endure the labors before the rewards, and bearing all the difficulties first, then to await the good things from them, and spurred on by the hopes of the unseen, thus to take up the things that are seen; but in the case of God to hesitate and to doubt, and to demand the recompenses before the labors, and to appear more fainthearted than farmers and sailors? For not only in this shall we appear worse than they, in being distressed at the future, but also in another respect no less than this. What is that? That they, though not being at all confident about the outcome, do not even so desist from their labors; but you, though you have a trustworthy guarantor of the crowns, do not even so imitate their perseverance. For often the farmer, after casting the seeds, and cultivating the earth, and seeing the waving cornfields, when a plague of hail, or blight, or locusts, or some other such thing is brought upon them, has been deprived of the reward 50.426 of his labors, and after much sweat returns home with empty hands. And the merchant again, after sailing over a great sea leading his laden cargo-ship, often at the very mouth of the harbor, with winds falling upon him, has dashed against some rock, and has barely escaped naked, saving his body. And in absolutely all matters of this life, it is likely that many such misfortunes often happen at the very end. But in your struggles this is not so; but it is absolutely necessary for the one who has struggled, who has sown piety, and endured many labors, to attain the end. For God has not entrusted the rewards of these labors to the irregularities of the weather, nor to the gusts of winds; but they are laid up in the heavens, in inviolable treasures. For this reason Paul also said: Tribulation produces patience, and patience, approvedness, and approvedness, hope, and hope does not put to shame. Do not say, therefore, that future things are unseen; for if you should wish to examine with accuracy, they are much more manifest than the things in hand. And Paul, showing us this very thing again, calls the one eternal, and the other temporary, by "temporary" indicating their corruptible nature. For before it appears, it flies away, and it runs off before it arrives, and their changes are swift-flowing, and their possession untrustworthy. This, in the case of wealth and glory and power, and in the case of the beauty of bodies, this one might see happening also in the case of strength and in the case of all other things of this life generally. For this reason also the prophet, mocking those who live in luxury and are mad for money and all the other vanity, says, They reckoned these things as standing still, and not as fleeing. For just as it is not possible to grasp a shadow, so it is not possible to grasp the things of this life; but some are destroyed at death, and others flow by more swiftly than any torrent even before death. But the things to come are not such; for they know no change, they admit no turning, they understand not old age, they have no alteration, but they flourish continually, and remain in the same comeliness. So that if it is necessary to call things unseen and uncertain

7

Οὕτω καὶ γεωργὸς ζεύγνυσι βόας, καὶ ἄροτρον ἕλκει, καὶ βαθεῖαν αὔλακα ἀνατέμνει, καὶ σπέρματα καταβάλλει, καὶ τὰ ὄντα ἅπαντα δαπανᾷ, καὶ κρυμὸν καὶ πάγον καὶ ὄμβρους καὶ ἑτέρας ἀνέχεται ταλαιπωρίας πολλὰς, καὶ μετὰ τὸν πόνον τοῦτον προσδοκᾷ κομῶντα ὄψεσθαι τὰ λήϊα, καὶ πεπληρωμένην τὴν ἅλωνα. Ὁρᾷς πῶς καὶ ἐνταῦθα πρότερος ὁ πόνος, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ μισθός· καὶ ὁ μὲν μισθὸς ἄδηλος, ὁ δὲ πόνος δῆλος καὶ φανερός· κἀκεῖνος μὲν ἐν ἐλπίσιν, οὗτος δὲ ἐν χερσίν; Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ οὗτος ἂν μὴ πρότερον πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἴδῃ τὸν ἄδηλον καὶ ἀφανῆ καὶ μὴ βλεπόμενον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τοῦ σώματος μισθὸν, οὐ μόνον οὐ ζεύξει βόας, οὐδὲ ἄροτρον ἕλξει, οὐδὲ σπέρματα καταβαλεῖ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ κινηθήσεται οἴκοθεν πρὸς τὴν ἐργασίαν ταύτην ποτέ. Πῶς οὖν ἄτοπον ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν βιωτικῶν πραγμάτων πρὸ τῶν φανερῶν τὰ ἀφανῆ βλέπειν, καὶ πρὸ τῶν μισθῶν ὑπομένειν τοὺς πόνους, καὶ πρότερον τὰ δυσχερῆ πάντα φέροντας, τότε τὰ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀναμένειν χρηστὰ, καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἀφανῶν ἐλπίσι προτρεπομένους οὕτως ἅπτεσθαι τῶν φανερῶν· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ διστάζειν καὶ ἀμφιβάλλειν, καὶ πρὸ τῶν πόνων ἀπαιτεῖν τὰς ἀμοιβὰς, καὶ γεωργῶν καὶ ναυτῶν μικροψυχοτέρους φαίνεσθαι; Οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον κατὰ τοῦτο αὐτῶν φανούμεθα χείρους, ἀσχάλλοντες πρὸς τὸ μέλλον, ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ' ἕτερον οὐκ ἔλαττον τούτου. Ποῖον δὴ τοῦτο; Ὅτι ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὐδὲ περὶ τοῦ τέλους θαῤῥεῖν ἔχοντες πάντως, οὐδὲ οὕτω τῶν πόνων ἀφίστανται· σὺ δὲ ἀξιόπιστον τῶν στεφάνων ἔχων ἐγγυητὴν, οὐδὲ οὕτω μιμῇ τὴν ἐκείνων καρτερίαν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ γεωργὸς πολλάκις μετὰ τὸ τὰ σπέρματα καταβαλεῖν, καὶ θεραπεῦσαι τὴν γῆν, καὶ κομῶντα τὰ λήϊα ἰδεῖν, ἢ χαλάζης, ἢ ἐρυσίβης, ἢ ἀκρίδος. ἢ ἄλλης τινὸς τοιαύτης ἐπενεχθείσης πληγῆς, ἐξέπεσε τῆς τῶν πόνων 50.426 ἀμοιβῆς, καὶ μετὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἱδρῶτας κεναῖς οἴκαδε ὑποστρέφει χερσί. Καὶ ὁ ἔμπορος δὲ πάλιν, μετὰ τὸ διαδραμεῖν πολὺ πέλαγος πεπληρωμένην ἄγων τὴν ὁλκάδα, πρὸς αὐτὸ πολλάκις τὸ στόμα τοῦ λιμένος ἐμπεσόντων ἀνέμων σκοπέλῳ τινὶ προσαράξας, μόλις ἐξῆλθε τὸ σῶμα διασώσας γυμνός. Καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων ἁπλῶς τῶν βιωτικῶν πολλὰς πολλάκις πρὸς τῷ τέλει συμφορὰς τοιαύτας συμβαίνειν εἰκός. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἀγώνων τῶν σῶν οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο· ἀλλὰ ἀνάγκη πάντως τὸν ἀγωνισάμενον, τὸν σπείραντα τὴν εὐσέβειαν, καὶ πολλοὺς ἐνεγκόντα πόνους, ἐπιτυχεῖν τοῦ τέλους. Οὐ γὰρ ἀέρων ἀνωμαλίαις, οὐδὲ πνευμάτων ῥύμαις τῶν πόνων τούτων τὰς ἀμοιβὰς ἐπέτρεψεν ὁ Θεός· ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἀπόκεινται, ἐν τοῖς ἀσύλοις θησαυροῖς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἔλεγεν· Ἡ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται, ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ δοκιμὴν, ἡ δὲ δοκιμὴ ἐλπίδα, ἡ δὲ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει. Μὴ τοίνυν εἴπῃς ὅτι ἀφανῆ τὰ μέλλοντα· εἰ γὰρ βουληθείης μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἐξετάσαι, τῶν ἐν χερσίν ἐστι πολὺ φανερώτερα. Καὶ τοῦτο αὐτὸ πάλιν ἐνδεικνύμενος ἡμῖν ὁ Παῦλος, Τὰ μὲν αἰώνια καλεῖ, τὰ δὲ πρόσκαιρα, τῷ προσκαίρῳ τὸ φθαρτὸν αὐτῶν δηλῶν. Πρὶν ἢ γὰρ φανῆναι ἀφίπταται, καὶ ἀποτρέχει πρὶν ἐπιστῆναι, καὶ ὀξύῤῥοποι μὲν αὐτῶν αἱ μεταβολαὶ, ἄπιστος δὲ ἡ κτῆσις. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ πλούτου καὶ δόξης καὶ δυναστείας, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν σωμάτων εὐμορφίας, τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ ῥώμης καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπλῶς τῶν βιωτικῶν συμβαῖνον ἴδοι τις ἄν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ προφήτης κωμωδῶν τοὺς τρυφῶντας καὶ περὶ χρήματα μαινομένους καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἅπασαν φαντασίαν, Ὡς ἑστῶτα, φησὶν, ἐλογίσαντο ταῦτα, καὶ οὐχ ὡς φεύγοντα. Ὥσπερ γὰρ σκιᾶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπιλαβέσθαι, οὕτως οὐδὲ τῶν βιωτικῶν πραγμάτων· ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν τῇ τελευτῇ καταλύεται, τὰ δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς τελευτῆς χειμάῤῥου παντὸς ὀξυῤῥεπέστερον παραῤῥεῖ. Τὰ δὲ μέλλοντα οὐ τοιαῦτα· οὐκ οἶδε γὰρ μεταβολὴν, οὐ δέχεται τροπὴν, οὐκ ἐπίσταται γῆρας, οὐκ ἔχει τινὰ ἀλλοίωσιν, ἀλλ' ἀκμάζει διηνεκῶς. καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς εὐπρεπείας μένει. Ὥστε εἰ δεῖ ἀφανῆ καὶ ἄδηλα