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having taken wealthy wives, having increased their substance, have destroyed pleasure and harmony, making daily battles at the table, having contentions? how many poor men, having taken poorer women, enjoy peace, and with much gladness look upon this sun; but the wealthy, with luxury surrounding them on all sides, on account of their wives have often prayed to die, and to be delivered from the present life? thus there is no benefit from money, when we do not obtain a good soul. And what must one say concerning peace and harmony? For indeed, even for the acquisition of money itself, to take a richer wife has often harmed us. For when, on account of the dowry, having given all his substance, then, an untimely death having occurred, he is forced to pay back the whole dowry from his in-laws; just as those who suffer shipwreck at sea save only their body, so also this man, after many contentions, and battles, and insults, and law-courts, scarcely having his body free, comes forth. And just as insatiable merchants, having filled their ship with ten thousand cargoes, and having placed a weight beyond its capacity, sank the vessel, and lost everything; so also these men, contracting excessively large marriages, thinking often to acquire a greater substance through the wife, have fallen away even from what they had; and just as there a small surge of a wave falling upon it sinks the vessel, so also here an untimely death befalling along with his wife took away all his possessions as well. 5. Considering all these things, therefore, let us not look for money, but gentleness of character, and modesty and chastity. For a chaste, and gentle, and moderate woman, even if she is poor, will be able to manage poverty better than wealth; just as the corrupt, and dissolute, and quarrelsome woman, even if she finds ten thousand treasures lying within, having blown them away faster than any wind, also surrounds her husband with ten thousand misfortunes along with poverty. Let us not, therefore, seek wealth, but her who will use well what she has. First learn, what the cause of marriage is, and for what reason it was brought into our life, and demand nothing more. What then is the purpose of marriage, and for what reason did God give it? Hear Paul saying: But because of fornications, let each man have his own wife. He did not say, "But because of deliverance from poverty," or, "Because of the acquisition of wealth;" but what? That we may flee fornication, that we may restrain desire, that we may live together in chastity, that we may please God, being content with our own wife. This is the gift of marriage, this is the fruit, this is the gain. Do not, therefore, leaving the greater things, seek the lesser; for wealth is much less than chastity. For for this one thing alone one must take a wife, that we may flee sin, that we may be delivered from all fornication; for this purpose marriage must be entirely established, that it may cooperate with us for chastity; and this will be, if we take such brides, who can bring to us much piety, and much chastity, and much gentleness. For the beauty of the body, when it does not have the virtue of the soul joined with it, will be able to captivate a husband for twenty or thirty days, but it will not proceed further, but having shown its badness, it will destroy all the affection; but those shining with the beauty 51.233 of the soul, as much as time goes on, and they give proof of their own nobility, by so much more do they make the desire of their own husbands warmer, and kindle their love for him. And this being so, and a warm and genuine friendship lying between them, every form of fornication is driven out, and not even any thought of licentiousness will ever fall upon him who loves his own wife, but he remains continually loving his own and through

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γυναῖκας λαβόντες εὐπόρους, τὴν οὐσίαν αὐξήσαντες, τὴν ἡδονὴν καὶ τὴν ὁμόνοιαν κατέλυσαν, καθημερινὰς μάχας ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης ποιούμενοι, φιλονεικίας ἔχοντες; πόσοι πένητες πενεστέρας λαβόντες, εἰρήνης ἀπολαύουσι, καὶ μετ' εὐφροσύνης πολλῆς τὸν ἥλιον τοῦτον βλέπουσιν οἱ δὲ εὔποροι, πανταχόθεν αὐτοῖς περικειμένης τρυφῆς, διὰ τὰς γυναῖκας ηὔξαντο πολλάκις ἀποθανεῖν, καὶ τῆς παρούσης ἀπαλλαγῆναι ζωῆς; οὕτως οὐδὲν χρημάτων ὄφελος, ὅταν ψυχῆς μὴ ἐπιτυγχάνωμεν ἀγαθῆς. Καὶ τί χρὴ λέγειν περὶ εἰρήνης καὶ ὁμονοίας; Καὶ γὰρ εἰς αὐτὴν τῶν χρημάτων τὴν κτῆσιν πολλάκις τὸ πλουσιωτέραν λαβεῖν ἡμᾶς παρέβλαψεν. Ὅταν γὰρ εἰς τὸν τῆς προικὸς λόγον ἅπασαν τὴν περιουσίαν ἐπιδοὺς, εἶτα ἀώρου συμβάντος θανάτου, καταβαλεῖν παρὰ τῶν κηδεστῶν ἀναγκάζηται τὴν προῖκα ἅπασαν· καθάπερ οἱ ναυάγιον ὑπομένοντες ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης τὸ σῶμα διασώζουσι μόνον, οὕτω δὴ καὶ οὗτος, μετὰ πολλὰς φιλονεικίας, καὶ μάχας, καὶ ὕβρεις, καὶ δικαστήρια, μόλις τὸ σῶμα ἐλεύθερον ἔχων ἐξέρχεται. Καὶ καθάπερ οἱ τῶν ἐμπόρων ἄπληστοι, μυρίων τὴν ναῦν πλήσαντες φορτίων, καὶ πλέον τῆς δυνάμεως τὸν ὄγκον ἐπιθέντες, κατέδυσαν τὸ σκάφος, καὶ πάντα ἀπώλεσαν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ οὗτοι τοὺς ὑπερόγκους ἀγόμενοι γάμους, μείζονα πολλάκις δόξαντες περιβαλέσθαι οὐσίαν διὰ τῆς γυναικὸς, καὶ τῆς οὔσης ἐξέπεσον· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖ κύματος ἐμβολὴ βραχεῖα ἐμπεσοῦσα βαπτίζει τὸ σκάφος, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα θάνατος ἄωρος προσπεσὼν μετὰ τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ πάντα τὰ ὄντα αὐτοῦ ἀφείλετο. εʹ. Ταῦτ' οὖν ἅπαντα ἐννοοῦντες, μὴ χρήματα περισκοπῶμεν, ἀλλὰ τρόπων ἐπιείκειαν, καὶ σεμνότητα καὶ σωφροσύνην. Γυνὴ γὰρ σώφρων, καὶ ἐπιεικὴς καὶ μετρία, κἂν πένης ᾖ, τὴν πενίαν πλούτου βέλτιον διαθεῖναι δυνήσεται· ὥσπερ ἡ διεφθαρμένη, καὶ ἀκόλαστος, καὶ φίλερις, κἂν μυρίους εὕρῃ θησαυροὺς ἔνδον κειμένους, ἀνέμου παντὸς τάχιον αὐτοὺς ἐκφυσήσασα, καὶ συμφοραῖς μυρίαις μετὰ τῆς πενίας περιβάλλει τὸν ἄνδρα. Μὴ τοίνυν πλοῦτον ζητῶμεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν χρησομένην καλῶς τοῖς οὖσι. Πρότερον μάθε, τίς ἡ τοῦ γάμου αἰτία, καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν εἰς τὸν βίον εἰσενήνεκται τὸν ἡμέτερον, καὶ μηδὲν πλέον ἀπαίτει. Τίς οὖν ἡ τοῦ γάμου πρόφασις, καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν ὁ Θεός; Ἄκουσον τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος· ∆ιὰ δὲ τὰς πορνείας ἕκαστος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα ἐχέτω Οὐκ εἶπε, ∆ιὰ δὲ τὴν τῆς πενίας ἀπαλλαγὴν, ἢ ∆ιὰ τὴν τῆς εὐπορίας κτῆσιν· ἀλλὰ τί; Ἵνα πορνείας φύγωμεν, ἵνα τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν καταστείλωμεν, ἵνα σωφροσύνῃ συζήσωμεν, ἵνα εὐαρεστήσωμεν Θεῷ, τῇ οἰκείᾳ ἀρκούμενοι γαμετῇ. Τοῦτο τοῦ γάμου τὸ δῶρον, οὗτος ὁ καρπὸς, τοῦτο τὸ κέρδος. Μὴ τοίνυν τὰ μείζονα ἀφεὶς, τὰ ἐλάττονα ζήτει· πολὺ γὰρ σωφροσύνης ἐλάττων ὁ πλοῦτος. ∆ι' ἓν γὰρ τοῦτο μόνον χρὴ λαμβάνειν γυναῖκα, ἵνα τὴν ἁμαρτίαν φύγωμεν, ἵνα πορνείας ἁπάσης ἀπαλλαγῶμεν· πρὸς τοῦτο χρὴ τὸν γάμον καθίστασθαι πάντα, ἵνα εἰς σωφροσύνην ἡμῖν συμπράττῃ· ἔσται δὲ τοῦτο, ἐὰν τοιαύτας ἀγώμεθα νύμφας, αἳ πολλὴν μὲν εὐλάβειαν, πολλὴν δὲ σωφροσύνην, πολλὴν δὲ ἐπιείκειαν ἡμῖν εἰσαγαγεῖν δύνανται. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ σώματος εὐμορφία, ὅταν μὴ συνεζευγμένην ἔχῃ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρετὴν, καὶ εἴκοσι καὶ τριάκοντα ἡμέρας δυνήσεται τὸν ἄνδρα ἑλεῖν, περαιτέρω δὲ οὐ προβήσεται, ἀλλὰ δείξασα τὴν κακίαν, ἅπαν καταλύσει τὸ φίλτρον· αἱ δὲ τῷ κάλλει 51.233 τῆς ψυχῆς καταλάμπουσαι, ὅσῳπερ ἂν ὁ χρόνος προΐῃ, καὶ πεῖραν τῆς οἰκείας εὐγενείας παρέχωσι, τοσούτῳ μάλιστα θερμότερον τοῖς οἰκείοις ἀνδράσι ποιοῦσι τὸν ἔρωτα, καὶ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐξάπτουσιν ἀγάπην. Τούτου δὲ ὄντος, καὶ φιλίας μεταξὺ κειμένης θερμῆς καὶ γνησίας, ἅπαν ἐλαύνεται πορνείας εἶδος, καὶ οὐδὲ ἔννοιά τις ἀκολασίας τῷ φιλοῦντι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκά ποτε ἐμπεσεῖται, ἀλλὰ μένει διηνεκῶς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ στέργων καὶ διὰ