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of such evils human life, do not recall to me the old stories, which gave the poets of dramas their plots; for those are considered myths on account of the excess of their absurdity, in which there are killings of children and devourings of children, and murders of husbands and killings of mothers and slaughters of brothers and unlawful unions and every kind of confusion of nature, which those who narrate ancient things, beginning their narrative from marriages, end in such calamities. But leaving all those things aside, consider the tragedies upon the present stage of life, for which marriage becomes the provider for men. Go to the law courts, read the laws concerning these things; there you will see the secrets of marriages. For just as when you hear physicians recounting the various afflictions, you learn the misery of the human body, being taught of what sort and how many evils it is susceptible, so when you encounter the laws and learn the manifold transgressions of marriage, against which they define the punishments, you are taught precisely the peculiar characteristics of marriage; for neither does a physician treat afflictions which do not exist, nor does a law punish evils which do not happen.

4.t Chapter 4. That all the absurdities of life have their origin in marriage; in which is also shown what sort of person he is who has in truth renounced life.

4.1 But rather, why must one meticulously expose the absurdity of such a life, limiting the enumeration of calamities to only adulteries and divisions and plots?

For it seems to me, by a higher and truer reasoning, that all the wickedness of life, which is observed in all affairs and pursuits, finds no beginning against a man's life, if one does not subject himself to the necessity of this life. And so the truth of the argument will be revealed to us: he who has perceived the deceit of this life with the pure eye of the soul and has become higher than the things striven for here and, as the apostle says, regards all things like some foul-smelling refuse, and has in a way exiled himself from all of life through withdrawal from marriage, has no fellowship with human evils, I mean greed and envy and anger and hatred and the desire for empty glory and all other things of that kind. And being free from all such things and being at liberty through all things and at peace with life, there is no reason for him to contend for more, or for what reason will he, who touches none of those things to which envy naturally clings in life, stir up envy in his neighbors against himself? For having raised his own soul above the whole world and considering virtue his only precious possession, he will live a certain painless, peaceful, and uncontested life. For the possession of virtue, even if all people partake of it, each according to his own ability, is always full for those who desire it, not like earthly possession, which those who divide it into portions, as much as they add to one share, so much they have taken away from the other, and the excess of one is a loss for the one who shares; whence also the battles for more arise among men because of hatred of being diminished. But of that possession, greed is without envy, and he who has seized the greater part has brought no harm to the one who thinks it right to share equally, but as much as one is capable of holding, he is both filled with the good desire, and the wealth of virtues is not used up by those who have taken it before.

9

τῶν τοιούτων κακῶν ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη ζωή, μή μοι ἀναλάβῃς τὰ παλαιὰ διηγήματα, ἃ τοῖς ποιηταῖς τῶν δραμάτων τὰς ὑποθέσεις ἔδωκε· μῦθοι γὰρ ἐκεῖνα διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀτοπίας νομίζονται, ἐν οἷς παιδοφονίαι καὶ τεκνοφαγίαι, φόνοι τε ἀνδρῶν καὶ μητροκτονίαι καὶ ἀδελφῶν σφαγαὶ καὶ μίξεις παράνομοι καὶ ἡ παντοδαπὴ τῆς φύσεως σύγχυσις, ἣν οἱ τὰ ἀρχαῖα διηγούμενοι ἀπὸ γάμων ἀρχόμενοι τῆς ἀφηγήσεως εἰς τὰς τοιαύτας συμ φορὰς καταλήγουσιν. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνα πάντα καταλιπὼν θεώρησον ἐπὶ τῆς παρούσης τοῦ βίου σκηνῆς τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ τραγῳδίας, ὧν χορηγὸς γίνεται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὁ γάμος. Ἐλθὲ ἐπὶ τὰ δικαστήρια, ἀνάγνωθι τοὺς περὶ τούτων νό μους· ἐκεῖ κατόψει τὰ τῶν γάμων ἀπόρρητα. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὅταν ἰατρῶν ἀκούσῃς τὰ ποικίλα πάθη διεξιόντων, τὴν ἀθλιότητα μανθάνεις τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου σώματος, οἵων καὶ ὅσων κακῶν δεκτικόν ἐστι διδασκόμενος, οὕτως ἐπειδὰν τοῖς νόμοις ἐντύχῃς καὶ γνῷς τὰς πολυτρόπους τοῦ γάμου παρανομίας, καθ' ὧν ἐκεῖνοι τὰς τιμωρίας ὁρίζουσιν, ἀκριβῶς διδάσκῃ τὰ τοῦ γάμου ἴδια· οὔτε γὰρ ἰατρὸς τὰ μὴ ὄντα θεραπεύει πάθη, οὔτε νόμος τὰ μὴ γινόμενα τιμωρεῖται κακά.

4.t Κεφάλαιον δʹ Ὅτι πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὸν βίον ἄτοπα τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ

τοῦ γάμου ἔχει· ἐν ᾧ καὶ οἷος ὁ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἀποταξάμενος τῷ βίῳ ἐστίν. 4.1 Μᾶλλον δὲ τί χρὴ μικρολόγως τοῦ τοιούτου βίου τὴν ἀτοπίαν

ἐλέγχειν, ἐν μόναις μοιχείαις καὶ διαστάσεσι καὶ ἐπιβουλαῖς περιορίζοντας τὴν τῶν συμφορῶν ἀπα ρίθμησιν; ∆οκεῖ γάρ μοι τῷ ὑψηλοτέρῳ καὶ ἀληθεστέρῳ λόγῳ πᾶσα ἡ τοῦ βίου κακία ἡ πᾶσι πράγμασι καὶ ἐπιτηδεύ μασιν ἐνθεωρουμένη μηδεμίαν εὑρίσκειν ἀρχὴν κατὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ζωῆς, εἴ τις ἑαυτὸν μὴ ὑπαγάγοι τῇ ἀνάγκῃ τοῦ βίου τούτου. Οὕτω δὲ ἡμῖν ἡ ἀλήθεια τοῦ λόγου φανε ρωθήσεται· ὁ τὴν τοῦ βίου τούτου ἀπάτην κατανοήσας κα θαρῷ τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμῷ καὶ ὑψηλότερος τῶν ἐνταῦθα σπουδαζομένων γενόμενος καί, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, καθάπερ τινὰ δυσώδη σκύβαλα τὰ πάντα περιορῶν καὶ τρόπον τινὰ τοῦ βίου παντὸς διὰ τῆς τοῦ γάμου ἀναχω ρήσεως ἑαυτὸν ἐξοικίσας οὐδεμίαν ἔχει κοινωνίαν πρὸς τὰ κακὰ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, πλεονεξίαν λέγω καὶ φθόνον ὀργήν τε καὶ μῖσος καὶ κενῆς δόξης ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα τοῦ τοιούτου γένους ἐστί. Πάντων δὲ τῶν τοιούτων τὴν ἀτέλειαν ἔχων καὶ διὰ πάντων ἐλευθεριάζων καὶ εἰρηνεύων τῷ βίῳ, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐφ' ᾧτε καὶ φιλονεικήσει περὶ τοῦ πλείονος ἢ ἐπὶ τίνι καθ' ἑαυτοῦ κινήσει τοῖς γειτνιῶσι τὸν φθόνον ὁ μηδενὸς τῶν τοιούτων ἁπτόμενος, οἷς ὁ φθόνος ἐν τῇ ζωῇ περιφύεται; παντὸς γὰρ τοῦ κόσμου τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ὑπεράρας καὶ μόνον τίμιον ἑαυτῷ κτῆμα νομίζων τὴν ἀρετήν, ἄλυπόν τινα καὶ εἰρηνικὸν καὶ ἄμαχον βιοτεύσει βίον. Τῆς γὰρ ἀρετῆς ἡ κτῆσις, κἂν πάντες μετέχωσιν αὐτῆς ἄνθρωποι κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν ἕκαστος, ἀεὶ πλήρης τοῖς ἐπιθυμοῦσίν ἐστιν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κτῆσιν, ἣν οἱ διαιροῦντες εἰς τμήματα, ὅσον ἂν προσθῶσι τῇ μιᾷ μερίδι, τοσοῦτον ὑφείλοντο τῆς ἑτέρας, καὶ ὁ πλεονασμὸς τοῦ ἑνὸς ἐλάττωσίς ἐστι τοῦ συμμετέχοντος· ὅθεν καὶ αἱ περὶ τοῦ πλείονος μάχαι διὰ τὸ πρὸς τὸ ἐλατ τοῦσθαι μῖσος τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνίστανται. Ἐκείνου δὲ ἀνεπίφθονός ἐστιν ἡ πλεονεξία τοῦ κτήματος καὶ ὁ τὸ πλεῖον ἁρπάσας οὐδεμίαν ἤνεγκε ζημίαν τῷ συμμετασχεῖν ἀξιοῦντι τῶν ἴσων, ἀλλ' ὅσον ἐστί τις χωρητικός, αὐτός τε πληροῦται τῆς ἀγαθῆς ἐπιθυμίας καὶ ὁ πλοῦτος τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐν τοῖς προλαβοῦσιν οὐκ ἀναλίσκεται.