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we praise oxen for not kicking; but these we will praise, if they do not kick; and for the oxen, if they do not gore, we will accept their tameness. For one is not admired for what he is unable to do, but for what, being able, he has not used his power for injustice.

737 A dead man is not crowned. No one is just through the inability to do evil. 15Ε_034 Therefore, the mind must, like a helmsman seated above the passions,

and having embarked as it were on the ship of the flesh; and skillfully turning the thoughts like rudders, trample nobly upon the waves; and remaining on high and being inaccessible to the passions, in no way be filled with the bitterness from them, as if with some brine.

Of the Theologian. Do not easily choose a companion, not even a brother. For why must one look upon the kindling of the disease? A downcast character is better than an effeminate one. Perfume is not entrusted to a rotten vessel. Neither does a flame remain when the fuel is consumed, but it departs with that which kindled it;

so an impassioned thought does not endure when its kindling withers. A fornicating eye does not preserve virginity. A fornicating tongue is mingled with the

evil one. Feet that walk disorderly call forth disease or danger to the mind. Let the mind also be virginal; let it not wander and be led astray. Let it not bear within itself images of wicked things. For the image, too, is a part of fornication. Let it not make idols in the soul of the things that are hated.

Chrysostom. It is a mockery to keep the organs of procreation virginal, but not to keep the tongue.

or to keep the tongue, but not to keep the sight or the hearing or the hands; or to have and keep these virginal, but not to keep the heart, but to be prostituted to pride and anger.

Let us not soften our strength, nor cut our sinews with these conversations. For indeed, an unspeakable and great wickedness flows from here into our souls. For what if we do not perceive it, being intoxicated by the friendship? For this very thing is the most terrible of all, that we do not even know how we are being enervated, and we become softer than any wax. For just as someone who has taken a proud and fierce lion, and then has sheared its mane, and removed its 15Ε_036 teeth, and cut off its claws, makes the fearsome and unbearable beast, that shakes all things by its roar alone, shameful and ridiculous, and easily overcome by children; so indeed these women also, all whom they take, they make easy prey for the devil; softer, more passionate, shameless, foolish, quick-tempered, insolent, untimely, ignoble, harsh, servile, illiberal, reckless, garrulous; and in short, bearing all the corrupt feminine passions, they impress them on their souls. For it is impossible for one who lives with a woman with so much affection, and is involved in their conversations, not to be a kind of charlatan, and vulgar and rabble-like. For if (740) he utters anything, he will utter everything about looms and wools, his tongue having been colored by the quality of women's words; and if he does anything, he does this with much servility, having removed himself far from the freedom that befits Christians, and having become useful for none of the great achievements.

7

βοῦς ὡς μή λακτίζοντας ἐπαινοῦμεν· ἀλλά τούτους μέν, εἰ μή λακτίζουσιν, ἐπαινέσομεν· τοῖς δέ βουσίν, εἰ μή κερατίζουσι, τῆς ἡμερότητος ἀποδεξόμεθα. Οὐ γάρ ἐν ᾧ μή δύναταί τις, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ᾧ δυνάμενος οὐκ εἰς ἀδικίαν κέχρηται τῇ δυνάμει, θαυμάζεται.

737 Νεκρός οὐ στεφανοῦται. Οὐδείς δίκαιος δι᾿ ἀδυναμίαν κακοῦ. 15Ε_034 ∆εῖ οὖν τόν νοῦν ὥσπερ τινά κυβερνήτην ἄνω καθήμενον τῶν

παθῶν, καί οἱονεί πλοίῳ τῆς σαρκός ἐπιβάντα· καί ἐμπείρως τούς λογισμούς ὥσπερ οἴακας περιστρέφοντα, καταπατεῖν γενναίως τά κύματα· ὑψηλότερον δέ διαμένοντα καί δυσπρόσιτον ὄντα τοῖς πάθεσιν, μηδαμοῦ τῆς ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν πικρίας, ὥσπερ ἅλμης τινός, ἀναπίμπλασθαι.

Θεολόγου. Σύνοικον αἱροῦ μηδ᾿ ἀδελφόν ῥᾳδίως. Ὑπέκκαυμα γάρ τῆς νόσου τί δεῖ βλέπειν; Κρεῖσσον κατηφές ἦθος, ἤ τεθρυμμένον. Μύρον δοχεῖον σαπρόν οὐ πιστεύεται. Οὔτε φλόξ μένει τῆς ὕλης δαπανηθείσης, ἀλλά τῷ ἀνάπτοντι συναπέρχεται·

οὕτε λογισμός ἐμπαθής ὑφίσταται μαραινομένου τοῦ ὑπεκκαύματος. Ὀφθαλμός πορνεύων οὐ φυλάσσει τήν παρθενίαν. Γλῶσσα πορνεύουσα τῷ

πονηρῷ μίγνυται. Πόδες ἄτακτα βαίνοντες ἐκκαλοῦνται νόσον ἤ κίνδυνον τῷ νῷ. Παρθενευέτω καί ἡ διάνοια· μή ῥεμβέσθω καί πλανάσθω. Μή τύπους ἐν ἑαυτῇ φερέτω πονηρῶν πραγμάτων. Καί ὁ τύπος, μέρος πορνείας ἐστί. Μή εἰδωλοποιείτω τῇ ψυχῇ τά μισούμενα.

Χρυσοστ. Χλεύη, τά μέν τῆς παιδοποιίας ὄργανα τηρεῖν παρθένα, τήν δέ

γλῶσσαν μή τηρεῖν. ἤ γλῶσσαν μέν τηρεῖν, τήν δέ ὅρασιν ἤ τήν ἀκοήν ἤ τάς χεῖρας μή τηρεῖν· ἤ ταῦτα μέν ἔχειν καί τηρεῖν παρθένα, τήν δέ καρδίαν μή τηρεῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ἑταιρίζεσθαι τύφῳ καί θυμῷ.

Μή καταμαλάττωμεν ἡμῶν τήν ἰσχύν, μηδέ ἐκκόπτωμεν τά νεῦρα ταῖς ὁμιλίαις ταύταις. Καί γάρ ἄφατος καί πολλή ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν ἐντεῦθεν εἰσρεῖ κακία. Τί γάρ, εἰ καί μή αἰσθανώμεθα, τῇ φιλίᾳ μεθύοντες; Τοῦτο γάρ αὐτό πάντων ἐστί δεινότατον, ὅτι οὐδέ ἴσμεν ὅπως ἐκνευριζόμεθα, καί κηροῦ παντός γινόμεθα μαλακώτεροι. Καθάπερ γάρ τις λέοντα γαῦρον καί βλοσυρόν λαβών, εἶτα ἀποκείρας μέν τήν κόμην, ἀνελών δέ τούς 15Ε_036 ὀδόντας, καί περιελών τούς ὄνυχας, αἰσχρόν ποιεῖ καί καταγέλαστον, καί παιδίοις εὐκαταγώνιστον, τόν φοβερόν καί ἀφόρητον, καί ἀπό μόνου τοῦ βρυχήματος τά πάντα σείοντα· οὕτω δή καί αὗται, πάντας ὅσους ἐάν λάβωσιν, εὐχειρώτους τῷ διαβόλῳ ποιοῦσι· μαλακωτέρους, θερμοτέρους, ἀναισχύντους, ἀνοήτους, ἀροχόλους, θρασεῖς, ἀκαίρους, ἀγενεῖς, ἀπηνεῖς, δουλοπρεπεῖς, ἀνελευθέρους, ἰταμούς, φλύαρους· καί ἁπλῶς πάντα τά γυναικεῖα πάθη τά διεφθαρμένα φέρουσαι, εἰς τήν τύτων ἐναπομάττονται ψυχήν. Ἀμήχανον γάρ τόν γυναικί συνοικοῦντα μετά συμπαθείας τοσαύτης, καί ταῖς ἐκείνων ἐνστρεφόμενον ὁμιλίαις, μή ἀγύρτην τινά εἶναι, καί ἀγοραῖον καί συρφετώδη. Κἄν (740) γάρ φθέγγηταί τι, πάντα ἀπό τῶν ἱστῶν καί τῶν ἐρίων φθέγξεται, τῆς γλώττης αὐτοῦ τῇ ποιότητι τῶν γυναικείων ἀναχρωσθείσης ῥημάτων· κἄν ποιῇ τι, μετα πολλῆς τοῦτο ἐργάζεται δουλοπρεπείας, πόῤῥω τῆς τοῖς Χριστανοῖς πρεπούσης ἐλευθερίας ἑαυτόν ἀποικίσας, καί οὐδέ πρός οὐδέν τῶν μεγάλων κατορθωμάτων γενόμενος χρήσιμος.