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having been at rest. For this reason he despises this life as foreign and temporary, since "Heaven and earth will pass away," according to the voice of the Savior, and all things necessarily await their transformation. For this reason, as long as he is "in the tent," as the Apostle says, indicating its temporary nature, being burdened by the present life, he laments that this sojourning is prolonged for him, just as the Psalmist has done, speaking in divine odes. For truly, those who sojourn in this life "with these tabernacles" live in darkness; for which reason the prophet, groaning at the extension of his sojourning, says, "Woe is me, for my sojourning has been prolonged." And he attributed the cause of this gloom to darkness. For we have learned from the wise that darkness is called "Kedar" in the Hebrew tongue. For is it not truly the case that, as if seized by some nocturnal blindness, men are so dim-sighted toward the recognition of deceit, not knowing that all things that have been considered honorable in this life, or whatever has been supposed to the contrary, exist only in the estimation of the foolish? But in and of themselves they are nowhere and nothing; not low birth, not reputation of family, not glory, not fame, not the old tales, not the pride in present circumstances, not ruling over others, not being subject to others. Both riches and luxuries and poverty and wants and all the inequalities of life, seem to the uneducated to differ very much, when they make pleasure the criterion of such things; but to one who is lofty in thought, all things appear of equal value, and one thing is no more precious than another, because the course of life is accomplished equally through opposites, and an equal power for living well or badly exists in each of the outcomes, "through weapons of righteousness on the right hand and on the left," says the Apostle, "through glory and dishonor." Through which he who has purified his mind and considered the truth of existing things will travel his journey correctly, passing through the time allotted to him from birth until death, neither being made soft by pleasant things nor humbled by harsh things, but according to the custom of travelers, pressing forward, he takes little account of the things that appear before him. For it is customary for travelers to hasten equally toward the end of the road, whether they pass through meadows and wooded places or through more desolate and rough places, and neither the pleasant has detained them nor the unpleasant hindered them. So also will he hasten unswervingly toward the goal set before him, turning aside to none of the things along the way, but looking only to heaven he will pass through life, just as a good pilot directs the ship toward the goal above.

4.5 But he who is dull in thought and looks downward and is bent over in his soul toward the pleasures of the body like cattle toward their pasture, living only for the belly and the things after the belly, "alienated from the life of God" and "a stranger to the covenants of promise," thinking no other thing to be good than to take pleasure through the body. This is he, and everyone like him, who walks in darkness, as the scripture says, the "inventor of evil things" in this life; for in these are both covetousness and licentiousness of passions and immoderation towards pleasures, and all love of rule and desire for empty glory and the rest of the crowd of passions that dwell with men. For in evil things, one thing somehow holds to another, and to whomever one thing comes, the rest also, as if drawn by some natural necessity, enter in with it by all means, just as happens in a chain when the beginning is pulled; and the rest do not remain at rest

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ἠρεμήσαντος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὡς ἀλλοτρίας καὶ προσκαίρου ταύτης ὑπερορᾷ τῆς ζωῆς, ἐπειδὴ «Ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσεται», κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος φωνήν, καὶ πάντα τὴν μεταστοιχείωσιν ἀναγκαίως ἐκδέχεται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο, ἕως ἐστὶν «ἐν τῷ σκήνει», καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος τὸ πρόσκαιρον ἐνδεικνύμενος, βαρούμενος τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ τὸ μακρύνεσθαι αὐτῷ τὴν παροικίαν ταύτην ὀδύρεται, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς ἐν ᾠδαῖς θείαις λέγων πεποίηται. Ὄντως γὰρ ἐν σκότῳ βιοτεύουσιν οἱ «μετὰ τῶν σκηνωμάτων τούτων» τῇ ζωῇ παροικοῦντες· οὗ χάριν στενάξας ὁ προφήτης πρὸς τὴν παράτασιν τῆς παροικίας, «Οἴμοι, φησίν, ὅτι ἡ παροικία μου ἐμακρύνθη.» Σκότῳ δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς κατηφείας ταύτης ἀνέθηκε. Τὸ γὰρ σκότος τῇ Ἑβραίων φωνῇ «κηδὰρ» ὀνο μάζεσθαι παρὰ τῶν σοφῶν μεμαθήκαμεν. Ἦ γὰρ οὐκ ἀληθῶς, καθάπερ ἀορασίᾳ τινὶ νυκτερινῇ κεκρατημένοι οἱ ἄνθρωποι, οὕτω πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀπάτης ἐπίγνωσιν ἀμ βλυωποῦσιν οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτι πάντα ὅσα τίμια ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ νενόμισται, ἢ καὶ ὅσα πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον ὑπείληπται, ἐν μόνῃ τῇ ὑπολήψει τῶν ἀνοήτων ὑφέστηκεν; Αὐτὰ δὲ ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν ἐστιν οὐδαμοῦ οὐδέν· οὐ δυσγένειά τις, οὐκ εὐδο κίμησις γένους, οὐ δόξα, οὐ περιφάνεια, οὐ τὰ παλαιὰ διηγήματα, οὐχ ὁ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐνεστῶσι τῦφος, οὐ τὸ κρατεῖν ἑτέρων, οὐ τὸ ὑποχείριον εἶναι. Πλοῦτοί τε καὶ τρυφαὶ καὶ πενίαι καὶ ἀπορίαι καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ τοῦ βίου ἀνωμαλίαι, τοῖς μὲν ἀπαιδεύτοις πάμπολυ διαφέρειν δοκοῦσιν, ὅταν ἡδονὴν ποιῶνται τῶν τοιούτων κριτήριον· τῷ δὲ ὑψηλῷ τὴν διάνοιαν πάντα ὁμότιμα φαίνεται καὶ οὐδὲν προτι μότερον τοῦ ἑτέρου τὸ ἕτερον, τῷ ὁμοίως διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων τὸν τῆς ζωῆς δρόμον ἀνύεσθαι καὶ ἴσην ἐν ἑκατέρᾳ τῶν λήξεων τὴν πρὸς τὸ εὖ ἢ κακῶς ζῆν δύναμιν ἐνυπάρχειν, «διὰ τῶν δεξιῶν ὅπλων καὶ ἀριστερῶν», φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστο λος, «διὰ δόξης καὶ ἀτιμίας». ∆ι' ὧν ὁ μὲν κεκαθαρμένος τὸν νοῦν καὶ ἐπεσκεμμένος τὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀλήθειαν ὀρθῶς ὁδεύσει τὴν πορείαν, ἀπὸ γενέσεως μέχρι τῆς ἐξόδου τὸν τεταγμένον αὐτῷ χρόνον διεξερχόμενος, οὔτε ὑπὸ τῶν ἡδέων θρυπτόμενος οὔτε ὑπὸ τῶν αὐστηρῶν ταπεινούμενος, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν τῶν ὁδοιπόρων συνήθειαν τοῦ πρόσω ἐχόμενος ὀλίγον ποιεῖται τῶν προφαινομένων τὸν λόγον. Σύνηθες γὰρ τοῖς ὁδοιποροῦσιν ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ πέρας ὁμοίως ἐπείγεσθαι, ἄν τε διὰ λειμώνων καὶ συμφύτων χωρίων ἄν τε διὰ τῶν ἐρημοτέρων καὶ τραχυτέρων τόπων διέρχωνται, καὶ οὔτε τὸ ἡδὺ παρακατέσχεν οὔτε τὸ ἀηδὲς ἐνεπόδισεν. Οὕτω καὶ αὐτὸς ἀμεταστρεπτὶ πρὸς τὸν προ κείμενον σκοπὸν ἑαυτῷ ἐπειχθήσεται, πρὸς οὐδὲν τῶν παροδίων ἐπιστρεφόμενος, ἀλλὰ πρὸς μόνον τὸν οὐρανὸν βλέπων διαπεράσει τὸν βίον, καθάπερ τις ἀγαθὸς κυβερ νήτης πρὸς τὸν ἄνω σκοπὸν διευθύνων τὸ σκάφος.

4.5 Ὁ δὲ παχὺς τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ κάτω βλέπων καὶ συγ κεκυφὼς τῇ ψυχῇ πρὸς τὰ ἡδέα τοῦ σώματος καθάπερ πρὸς τὴν νομὴν τὰ βοσκήματα, μόνῃ τῇ γαστρὶ καὶ τοῖς μετὰ γαστέρα ζῶν, «ἀπηλλοτριωμένος δὲ τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ θεοῦ» καὶ «ξένος τῶν διαθηκῶν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας», οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι νομίζων ἢ τὸ ἡσθῆναι διὰ τοῦ σώματος. Οὗτός ἐστι καὶ πᾶς ὁ τοιοῦτος ὁ ἐν σκότει διαπο ρευόμενος, καθώς φησιν ἡ γραφή, ὁ τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ «κακῶν ἐφευρετής»· ἐν τούτοις γὰρ καὶ πλεονεξία καὶ παθῶν ἀκολασία καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὰς ἡδονὰς ἀμετρία, φιλαρχία τε πᾶσα καὶ κενῆς δόξης ἐπιθυμία καὶ ὁ λοιπὸς ὅμιλος τῶν συνοικούντων παθῶν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. Ἔχεται γάρ πως ἐν τοῖς κακοῖς τοῦ ἑτέρου τὸ ἕτερον, καὶ ᾧπερ ἂν τὸ ἓν παρα γένηται, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ καθάπερ ὑπό τινος φυσικῆς ἀνάγκης ἑλκόμενα συνεισέρχεται πάντως, οἷον ἐν ἁλύσει γίνεται τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπισπασθείσης· οὐ δὲ τὰς λοιπὰς ἠρεμεῖν