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fearing, he offered sacrifices for them, and took great care of them. Imitate Abraham; for he too was not zealous for money and possessions, but for the divine laws, so that he might hand down the observance of them to his descendants with exactness. And God testifies to this virtue of his, saying thus: For I knew that Abraham will command his children the judgments and the ordinances. And David too, when he was dying, instead of a great inheritance, having called his own son, enjoined these things and continually said: that If you should wish, child, to live according to the laws of God, nothing unexpected will befall you, but all your affairs will go smoothly for you, and you will enjoy much security; but if you fall away from that help, there is no benefit to you from the kingdom and this great power. These things and such as these he said, even if not in these words. 51.330 10. Let us also, both while living and when about to die, converse about these things with our own children, and let us persuade them that a great wealth, and an unfailing inheritance, and a treasure beyond harm is the fear of God; and let us be zealous not to leave them perishing money, but piety that abides and is not spent. For when piety is not present, even existing money is lost with dangers and the utmost shame; but when this is present, even things that do not exist are added. If you raise your child well, so too will he his own son, and he his son; and like a kind of chain and succession of the best way of life it will proceed to the end, having received from you its beginning and root, and bringing to you the fruits of the care of the grandchildren. If fathers instructed their own children with exactness, there would be no need of laws, or of courts, nor of punishments and chastisements and public executions. For for a just man, he says, a law is not laid down. But since we neglect them, for this reason we involve them in greater evils, and we give them over to the hands of executioners, and we continually push them into pits; For he that pampers his own son, will bind up his wounds, he says. What is "He that pampers"? He that pities, he that flatters, he that serves beyond measure. For this one requires vehemence and care and fears. I say these things not that we should be too harsh to our children, but that we may not appear contemptible to them. For if a wife ought to fear her husband, much more the child the father. And do not tell me that it is impossible to get the better of youth. For if Paul requires this care of a widowed woman, much more of men; if it were impossible, he would not have commanded it. But all wickedness comes from our indifference, and from not leading them into reverence from the beginning, not even from their earliest age. But that they may partake of an outside education, and may complete military service, we are zealous, and we pay money, and we petition friends, and we have used many runnings-about; but that they may be well-approved before the King of angels, we take no account. And to spectacles indeed we continually allow them to go up, but to church we never compel them; but even if the child comes once or twice, he comes here simply and at random and in vain and for the sake of amusement. But it ought not to be so; but just as when sending them to a school we demand an account of their lessons, so also when sending them to church, or rather, bringing them. For one ought not to entrust them to others, but holding them oneself to enter here, and one should demand the remembrance of the hearing and teaching here. For so, so would the correction of our children become easier and more manageable for us; for if also at home they continually heard you conversing about philosophy, and advising them on what is needful, and the things here were added for them to those things, they would quickly have shown us a noble fruit from these good seeds. But we do none of these things, but the necessary things are secondary matters to us; and if anyone should exhort 51.331 concerning these things, laughter immediately;

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δεδοικὼς, προσέφερεν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν θυσίας, καὶ πολλὴν αὐτῶν ἐποιεῖτο τὴν πρόνοιαν. Μίμησαι τὸν Ἀβραάμ· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος οὐχ ὑπὲρ χρημάτων καὶ κτημάτων ἐσπούδαζεν, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῶν θείων νόμων, ὅπως αὐτῶν τὴν φυλακὴν τοῖς ἐκγόνοις μετὰ ἀκριβείας παρακαταθοῖτο. Καὶ μαρτυρεῖ ταύτην αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀρετὴν ὁ Θεὸς οὕτω λέγων· Ἤδειν γὰρ, ὅτι συντάξει Ἀβραὰμ τοῖς παισὶν αὐτοῦ τὰ κρίματα καὶ τὰ δικαιώματα. Καὶ ὁ ∆αυῒδ δὲ, ἡνίκα ἐτελεύτα, ἀντὶ μεγάλης κληρονομίας καλέσας τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ, ταῦτα παρηγγύα καὶ συνεχῶς ἔλεγεν· ὅτι Εἰ βουληθείης, παιδίον, κατὰ τοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμους ζῇν, οὐδὲν ἐμπεσεῖται τῶν ἀδοκήτων, ἀλλὰ πάντα σοι κατὰ ῥοῦν ἥξει τὰ πράγματα, καὶ πολλῆς ἀπολαύσῃ τῆς ἀσφαλείας· ἂν δὲ ἐκείνης ἐκπέσῃς τῆς βοηθείας οὐδὲν ὄφελός σοι τῆς βασιλείας καὶ τῆς πολλῆς ταύτης δυνάμεως. Ταῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα ἔλεγεν, εἰ καὶ μὴ τοῖς ῥήμασι τούτοις. 51.330 ιʹ. Ταῦτα καὶ ἡμεῖς, καὶ ζῶντες, καὶ μέλλοντες τελευτᾷν, πρὸς τοὺς παῖδας τοὺς ἑαυτῶν διαλεγώμεθα, καὶ πείθωμεν αὐτοὺς, ὅτι μέγας πλοῦτος, καὶ κληρονομία ἀδιάπτωτος, καὶ θησαυρὸς ἀνεπηρέαστος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβος ἐστί· καὶ σπουδάζωμεν μὴ χρήματα αὐτοῖς καταλιμπάνειν τὰ ἀπολλύμενα, ἀλλὰ εὐσέβειαν τὴν μένουσαν καὶ μὴ δαπανωμένην. Εὐσεβείας μὲν γὰρ οὐκ οὔσης καὶ τὰ ὄντα ἀπόλλυται χρήματα μετὰ κινδύνων καὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης αἰσχύνης· ταύτης δὲ παρούσης καὶ τὰ οὐκ ὄντα προσγίνεται. Ἐὰν ἀναθρέψῃς σὺ καλῶς τὸ παιδίον, οὕτω κἀκεῖνος τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ οὗτος τὸν υἱόν· καὶ καθάπερ σειρά τις καὶ ἀκολουθία πολιτείας ἀρίστης μέχρι παντὸς βαδιεῖται, παρὰ σοῦ λαβοῦσα τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν ῥίζαν, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἐγγόνων ἐπιμελείας σοι φέρουσα τοὺς καρπούς. Εἰ μετὰ ἀκριβείας οἱ πατέρες τοὺς ἑαυτῶν ἐπαίδευον παῖδας, οὐ νόμων, οὐ δικαστηρίων ἔδει, οὐ τιμωριῶν καὶ κολάσεων καὶ τῶν δημοσίων φόνων. ∆ικαίῳ γὰρ, φησὶ, νόμος οὐ κεῖται. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καταμελοῦμεν αὐτῶν, διὰ τοῦτο μείζοσιν αὐτοὺς περιβάλλομεν κακοῖς, καὶ ταῖς τῶν δημίων ἐκδίδομεν χερσὶ, καὶ εἰς τὰ βάραθρα συνεχῶς ὠθοῦμεν· Ὁ γὰρ περιψύχων τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ, καταδεσμεύσει τὰ τραύματα αὐτοῦ, φησί. Τί ἐστιν Ὁ περιψύχων; Ὁ ἐλεῶν, ὁ κολακεύων, ὁ θεραπεύων ὑπὲρ τὸ μέτρον. Σφοδρότητος γὰρ οὗτος καὶ ἐπιμελείας δεῖται καὶ φόβων. Ταῦτα λέγω οὐχ ἵνα λίαν τραχεῖς ὦμεν τοῖς παισὶν, ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ εὐκαταφρόνητοι πρὸς αὐτοὺς φαινώμεθα. Εἰ γὰρ γυνὴ τὸν ἄνδρα φοβεῖσθαι ὀφείλει, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὸ παιδίον τὸν πατέρα. Καὶ μή μοι λέγε, ὅτι ἀδύνατον περιγενέσθαι τῆς νεότητος. Εἰ γὰρ χήραν γυναῖκα ἀπαιτεῖ τὴν πρόνοιαν ταύτην ὁ Παῦλος, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τοὺς ἄνδρας· εἰ ἀδύνατον ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ἐπέταξεν. Ἀλλ' ἡ πᾶσα πονηρία παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν γίνεται ῥᾳθυμίαν, καὶ τὸ μὴ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, μηδὲ ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας εἰς εὐλάβειαν ἐνάγειν αὐτούς. Ἀλλ' ὅπως μὲν τῆς ἔξωθεν μετάσχοιεν παιδεύσεως, καὶ εἰς στρατείαν τελέσαιεν, σπουδάζομεν, καὶ χρήματα καταβάλλομεν, καὶ φίλους ἀξιοῦμεν, καὶ πολλαῖς κεχρήμεθα ταῖς περιδρομαῖς· ὅπως δὲ εὐδοκιμήσαιεν παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν ἀγγέλων, οὐδένα ποιούμεθα λόγον. Καὶ εἰς θεάματα μὲν συνεχῶς συγχωροῦμεν ἀναβαίνειν, εἰς ἐκκλησίαν δὲ οὐκ ἀναγκάζομεν οὐδέποτε· ἀλλὰ κἂν ἅπαξ ἢ δεύτερον παραγένηται τὸ παιδίον, ἁπλῶς καὶ εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην καὶ ψυχαγωγίας ἕνεκεν ἐνταῦθα παραγίνεται. Οὐκ ἐχρῆν δὲ οὕτως· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ εἰς διδασκαλεῖον πέμποντες τῶν μαθημάτων ἀπαιτοῦμεν τὰς εὐθύνας, οὕτω καὶ εἰς ἐκκλησίαν πέμποντες, μᾶλλον δὲ ἄγοντες. Οὐ γὰρ ἑτέροις αὐτοὺς ἐπιτρέπειν, ἀλλ' αὐτοὺς κατέχοντας ἐνταῦθα εἰσιέναι ἐχρῆν, καὶ τῆς ἐνταῦθα ἀκροάσεως καὶ διδασκαλίας τὴν μνήμην ἀπαιτεῖν ἔδει. Οὕτω γὰρ, οὕτω ῥᾴων ἐγίνετο καὶ εὔκολος ἡμῖν ἡ τῶν παίδων διόρθωσις· εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ διαπαντὸς ἤκουον ὑμῶν διαλεγομένων περὶ φιλοσοφίας, καὶ συμβουλευόντων αὐτοῖς τὰ δέοντα, καὶ τὰ ἐνταῦθα αὐτοῖς προσετίθετο μετ' ἐκείνων, καὶ ταχέως ἂν τῶν καλῶν τούτων σπερμάτων γενναῖον ἡμῖν ἐπεδείξαντο καρπόν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων ποιοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ πάρεργα ἡμῖν τὰ ἀναγκαῖα· κἂν παραινέσῃ 51.331 τις περὶ τούτων, γέλως εὐθέως·