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but if you wish, the mixtures and temperaments of the elements, out of which we are composed, do not have the easiest management.

30. But just as for their bodies they do not apply the same medicine and food, but some one kind and others another, whether they are in good health or are sick, so also are souls healed by different teaching and training. Witnesses to the treatment are their very afflictions. 35.440 some are led by reason, others are regulated by example; some need the goad, others the bridle. For some are sluggish, and slow to move toward the good, who must be roused by the lash of the word; while others are more fiery in spirit than is moderate, and unrestrainable in their impulses, like noble colts running far past the goal, whom the word would make better by checking and holding them back.

31. Some have been helped by praise, others by blame, both in season; or on the contrary, harmed out of season and without reason. Some are set right by exhortation, others by rebuke; and the latter, some when they are reproved in public, others when they are admonished in secret. For some are prone to despise private admonitions, being made temperate by public condemnation; while others are shamelessly bold against open reproofs, but are trained by the privacy of the rebuke, and repay compassion with obedience.

32. For some it is necessary to watch everything carefully, even to the smallest details, all those whom the thought of escaping notice (since they contrive this) has puffed up as being wiser; but for others it is better to overlook some things, so that seeing we see not, and hearing we hear not, according to the proverb, that we may not provoke them to desperation, overwhelming them with the diligence of our reproofs, and finally make them bold toward everything, having destroyed shame, the medicine of persuasion. And yet we must be angry with some, without being angry; and despise, without despising; and despair, without despairing, for all whose nature seeks this. And others must be treated with gentleness and humility, and by sharing their enthusiasm for better hopes. And 35.441 it is often more profitable to conquer some, but to be defeated by others; and to praise the wealth and power of some, but to pray against the poverty or adversity of others.

33. For it is not as it is with virtue and vice, that the one is always most beautiful and beneficial for all, and the other most evil and harmful; so also with our medicine, any one and the same thing has been shown to be always most wholesome, or most perilous, even for the same people; such as severity, or gentleness, or each of the other things I have enumerated. But for some this is good and useful, and for others the opposite again, according as, I suppose, the circumstances and the facts coincide, and the disposition of those being treated allows. It is impossible to discuss all these things in a discourse, and to perceive them with the utmost accuracy, so as to summarize the treatment in a main point, even if one were to reach the highest degree of diligence and understanding; but it becomes clear in the experience itself and in the facts to the man who is a spiritual physician.

34. In general this is known to us, that just as for those who walk on a high and lofty rope, it is not safe to incline to this side or that, not even a little inclination, though it may seem small, brings safety, but for them safety is established in equilibrium; so also in these matters, to whichever side one may incline, whether through wickedness or ignorance, there is no ordinary danger for him and for those he leads of the fall of sin. But one must truly travel on the royal road, and take care not to turn aside either to the right or to the left, as the Proverbs say. Thus indeed are the matters of our passions, and so great here is the work for the good shepherd, who knowingly

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δὲ βούλει, τὰς τῶν στοιχείων μίξεις καὶ κράσεις, ἐξ ὧν συνεστήκαμεν, οὐ ῥᾴστην ἔχουσι τὴν οἰκονομίαν.

Λʹ. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τοῖς σώμασιν οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν φαρ μακείαν τε καὶ τροφὴν προσφέρονται, ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλ λην, ἢ εὐεκτοῦντες ἢ κάμνοντες, οὕτω καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς διαφόρῳ λόγῳ καὶ ἀγωγῇ θεραπεύονται. Μάρ τυρες δὲ τῆς θεραπείας, ὧν καὶ τὰ πάθη· τοὺς 35.440 μὲν ἄγει λόγος, οἱ δὲ ῥυθμίζονται παραδείγματι· οἱ μὲν δέονται κέντρων, οἱ δὲ χαλινοῦ. Οἱ μὲν γάρ εἰσι νωθεῖς, καὶ δυσκίνητοι πρὸς τὸ καλὸν, οὓς τῇ πληγῇ τοῦ λόγου διεγερτέον· οἱ δὲ θερμότεροι τοῦ με τρίου τῷ πνεύματι, καὶ δυσκάθεκτοι ταῖς ὁρμαῖς, καθάπερ πῶλοι γενναῖοι πόῤῥω τῆς νύσσης θέοντες, οὓς βελτίους ἂν ποιήσειεν ἄγχων καὶ ἀνακόπτων ὁ λόγος.

ΛΑʹ. Τοὺς μὲν ἔπαινος ὤνησε, τοὺς δὲ ψόγος, ἀμφό τερα μετὰ τοῦ καιροῦ· ἢ τοὐναντίον ἔβλαψεν ἔξω τοῦ καιροῦ καὶ τοῦ λόγου. Τοὺς μὲν παράκλησις κατορθοῖ, τοὺς δὲ ἐπιτίμησις· καὶ αὕτη, τοὺς μὲν ἐν τῷ κοινῷ διελεγχομένους, τοὺς δὲ κρύβδην νου θετουμένους. Φιλοῦσι γὰρ οἱ μὲν καταφρονεῖν τῶν ἰδίᾳ νουθετημάτων, πλήθους καταγνώσει σωφρο νιζόμενοι· οἱ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῶν ἐλέγχων ἀναισχυντεῖν, τῷ τῆς ἐπιτιμήσεως μυστηρίῳ παιδα γωγούμενοι, καὶ ἀντιδιδόντες τῆς συμπαθείας τὴν εὐπείθειαν.

ΛΒʹ. Τῶν μὲν πάντα τηρεῖν ἐπιμελῶς ἀναγκαῖον μέχρι καὶ τῶν μικροτάτων, ὅσους τὸ οἴεσθαι λανθά νειν (ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο τεχνάζουσιν) ὡς σοφωτέρους ἐφύσησε· τῶν δ' ἔστιν ἃ καὶ παρορᾷν ἄμεινον, ὥστε ὁρῶντας μὴ ὁρᾷν, καὶ ἀκούοντας μὴ ἀκούειν, κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν, ἵνα μὴ πρὸς ἀπόνοιαν αὐ τοὺς ἐρεθίζωμεν, τῷ φιλοπόνῳ τῶν ἐλέγχων κατα βαπτίζοντες, καὶ τέλος πρὸς πάντα ποιήσωμεν τολμηροὺς, τὸ τῆς πειθοῦς φάρμακον τὴν αἰδῶ διαλύ σαντες. Καὶ μέντοι καὶ ὀργιστέον τισὶν, οὐκ ὀργιζο μένους· καὶ ὑπεροπτέον, οὐχ ὑπερορῶντας· καὶ ἀπογνωστέον, οὐκ ἀπογινώσκοντας, ὅσων τοῦτο ἡ φύσις ἐπιζητεῖ. Καὶ ἄλλους ἐπιεικείᾳ θερα πευτέον καὶ ταπεινότητι, καὶ τῷ συμπροθυμεῖσθαι δὴ περὶ τὰς χρηστοτέρας ἐλπίδας. Καὶ τοὺς μὲν νι 35.441 κᾷν, τῶν δὲ ἡττᾶσθαι πολλάκις λυσιτελέστερον· καὶ τῶν μὲν εὐπορίαν καὶ δυναστείαν, τῶν δὲ πενίαν ἢ δυσπραγίαν, ἢ ἐπαινεῖν ἢ ἀπεύχεσθαι.

ΛΓʹ. Οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἔχει καὶ τῆς κακίας, τὴν μὲν καλλίστην εἶναι καὶ ὠφελιμωτάτην ἀεὶ καὶ πᾶσι, τὴν δὲ χειρίστην τε καὶ βλαβερωτάτην· οὕτω καὶ τῆς φαρμακείας τῆς ἡμετέρας, ἕν τι καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ὑγιεινότατον, ἢ ἐπισφαλέστατον ἀεὶ καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀποδέδεικται· οἷον τὸ αὐστηρὸν, ἢ τὸ πρᾶον, ἢ τῶν ἄλλων ὧν ἀπηριθμησάμην ἕκαστον. Ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν τοῦτο καλὸν καὶ χρήσιμον, τοῖς δὲ τοὐναντίον πάλιν, ὅπως ἂν, οἶμαι, συμπί πτωσιν οἵ τε καιροὶ καὶ τὰ πράγματα, καὶ ὁ τῶν θεραπευομένων ἐπιδέχηται τρόπος. Ἃ πάντα μὲν διελέσθαι λόγῳ, καὶ συνιδεῖν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀκριβέστα τον, ὥστε καὶ κεφαλαίῳ τὴν θεραπείαν πε ριλαβεῖν ἀμήχανον, κἂν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐξίκηταί τις ἐπιμελείας τε καὶ συνέσεως· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς πείρας αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων τῷ θεραπευτῇ λόγῳ καὶ ἀνδρὶ καταφαίνεται.

Λ∆ʹ. Καθόλου δὲ ἡμῖν ἐκεῖνο γνώριμον, ὅτι, καθάπερ τοῖς ἐπὶ κάλου μετεώρου καὶ ὑψηλοῦ βαίνουσι τῇδε ἢ τῇδε ἀποκλῖναι οὐκ ἀσφαλὲς, οὐδὲ εἰς μικρὸν φέρουσα ἡ ῥοπὴ, κἂν μικρὰ φαίνηται, ἀσφάλεια δὲ αὐτοῖς ἡ ἰσοῤῥοπία καθίσταται· οὕτω κἀν τούτοις ὁποτέρωσε νεύσῃ τις, εἴτε διὰ κακίαν, εἴτε δι' ἀμάθειαν, κίνδυνος οὐχ ὁ τυχὼν αὐτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς ἀγομένοις τοῦ τῆς ἁμαρτίας πτώματος. Ἀλλ' ὁδῷ βασιλικῇ πορευτέον ὄντως, καὶ περισκεπτέον, μήτε εἰς δεξιὰ μήτε εἰς ἀριστερὰ, καθὼς αἱ Παροιμίαι φασὶν, ἐκκλίνοντας. Οὕτω μὲν δὴ τὰ τῶν παθῶν ἔχει τῶν ἡμετέρων, καὶ τοσοῦτον ἐνταῦθα τὸ ἔργον τῷ ἀγαθῷ ποιμένι, τῷ γνωστῶς