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if somewhere they should find a pearl or some other such thing of those born in the deep, for whom the toil under the water brings no pleasure at all, but the hope of gain made them divers, so if Solomon has been in these things, he certainly, like one of those who seek purple-dye by the sea, gave himself submerged to luxury, not in order to be filled with the sea's brine—and by brine I mean pleasure—but to seek something useful for the mind in such a depth. And what is found through such things might be useful, according to my conjecture at least, either to blunt the impulses of the body by 5.319 setting before it with full power what it wants—for nature always has more contentious movements toward what is forbidden—or the teacher engages in these things for the sake of credibility, so that the thing despised by one who was taught its vanity through experience might no longer be considered desirable by men. For they say that physicians, too, are most successful in their art in that case where they have come to know the type of illness through their own bodies. And they become safer counselors and healers of those things of which they have gained knowledge by being treated beforehand, inasmuch as they were pre-taught by their own suffering. Let us see, then, what he who heals our life by his own life says he has experienced. I magnified, he says, my work, I built houses for myself. Immediately the account begins with an accusation. For he does not say "God's work," which is what I am, but "I magnified my own." And "my work" is nothing other than that which brings pleasure to the senses. This work is one in its general definition, but by detailed division it is partitioned into many things for the needs of luxury. For it is entirely necessary for one who has once entered the depth of matter to cast his eye everywhere, from wherever it might be possible for pleasure to arise. For just as from one spring water is channeled in many directions through pipes and the water is no less one, 5.320 being distributed from the same spring, even if it happens to be flowing in ten thousand streams, so pleasure, being one by nature, flowing back in different ways in the various pursuits, flows everywhere, introducing itself into the needs of life. For example, life has made habitation necessary for our nature; for what is human is naturally too weak to bear the irregularities of heat and cold; up to this point a house has its benefit for life. But pleasure compelled man to go beyond the limits of need. For as one who furnishes not what is necessary for the body, but who devises delights and luxuries for the eyes, he is almost grieved that he has not made heaven itself his ceiling nor is able to incorporate the very rays of the sun into his roof. Therefore he widens on all sides the outlines of his constructions, building for himself the precinct of his dwelling as if it were another inhabited world, and he raises the walls to the greatest possible height, and variegates them with the interior arrangements of the rooms, from one another and through one another ... providing variety to the construction of the inner rooms. Then Laconian 5.321 and Thessalian and stone from Carystus is unfolded by iron into slabs, and the quarries of the Nile and those of Numidia are sought after, and somewhere Phrygian rock too has been included in these pursuits, which, scattering the purple dye upon the whiteness of its marble as it happens, becomes a luxury for more wanton eyes, having painted in the white a certain multiform and multi-patterned diffusion of color. Oh, how much zeal about these things, how many devices, some sawing the materials with water and iron, others, the artisans who work on the sawn product, toiling by human hands night and day? And not even these things sufficed for those who labor for a vain adornment, but even the pureness of glass is defiled by means of pigments into various dyes, so that from this too something might be contributed to the ostentation of the eyes. And how could one describe the excessive refinements of the ceilings, 5.322 on which the woods, coming from trees, turning back again through the contrivances of art, are considered to be trees with branches and leaves and fruits in the

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εἴ πού τινα μαργαρίτην εὕροιεν ἤ τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτον τῶν ἐν βυθῷ τικτομένων, οἷς ἡδονὴν μὲν οὐδεμίαν ἡ ὑπὸ τὸ ὕδωρ ταλαιπω ρία φέρει, ἡ δὲ τοῦ κέρδους ἐλπὶς βυθίους ἐποίησεν, οὕτως εἰ γέγονεν ὁ Σολομὼν ἐν τούτοις πάντως ὥσπερ τις τῶν κατὰ θάλασσαν πορφυρευόντων ἔδωκεν ἑαυτὸν τῇ τρυφῇ ὑποβρύ χιον, οὐκ ἐφ' ᾧτε καταπλησθῆναι τῆς θαλαττίας ἅλμης, ἅλμην δὲ λέγω τὴν ἡδονήν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ζητῆσαί τι τῇ διανοίᾳ χρήσιμον ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ βυθῷ. χρήσιμον δ' ἂν εἴη διὰ τῶν τοιούτων εὑρισκόμενον, κατά γε τὸν ἐμὸν στοχα σμόν, ἢ τὸ ἀμβλῦναι τὰς τοῦ σώματος ὁρμὰς διὰ τοῦ 5.319 προθεῖναι κατ' ἐξουσίαν ὃ βούλεται· πρὸς γὰρ τὸ κωλυόμενον φιλονεικοτέρας ἀεὶ τὰς κινήσεις ἡ φύσις ἔχει· ἤτοι τοῦ ἀξιοπίστου χάριν ἐν τούτοις γίνεται ὁ διδάσκαλος, ὡς μηκέτι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀσπαστὸν νομισθῆναι τὸ καταπεφρονημένον πρᾶγμα ὑπὸ τοῦ διὰ τῆς πείρας διδαχθέντος τὸ μάταιον. καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοὺς ἰατρούς φασιν ἐν ἐκείνῳ μάλιστα κατορθοῦν τὴν τέχνην, οὗ ἂν διὰ τῶν ἰδίων σωμάτων τὸ εἶδος τῆς ἀρρωστίας γνωρίσωσι. καὶ ἀσφαλέστεροι τῶν τοιούτων γίνονται σύμβουλοί τε καὶ θεραπευταί, ὧν διὰ τοῦ προθεραπευ θῆναι τὴν γνῶσιν ἔσχον, ὅσῳ τῷ ἰδίῳ πάθει προεδιδάχθησαν. Ἴδωμεν τοίνυν τί λέγει πεπονθέναι ὁ τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν βίῳ τὸν ἡμέτερον ἰατρεύων βίον. Ἐμεγάλυνα, φησί, ποίημά μου, ᾠκοδόμησά μοι οἴκους. εὐθὺς ἐκ κατηγορίας ὁ λόγος ἄρχεται. οὐ γὰρ τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ φησι ποίημα, ὅπερ εἰμὶ ἐγώ, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐμὸν ἐμεγάλυνα. ἐμὸν δὲ ποίημα οὐδέν ἐστιν ἄλλο ἢ ὅπερ τῇ αἰσθήσει τὴν ἡδονὴν φέρει. ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο τὸ ποίημα τῷ μὲν γενικῷ λόγῳ ἕν, τῇ δὲ κατὰ λεπτὸν διαιρέσει εἰς πολλὰ ταῖς τῆς τρυφῆς χρείαις καταμερίζεται. τὸν γὰρ ἅπαξ ἐντὸς τοῦ βυθοῦ τῆς ὕλης γενόμενον ἀνάγκη πᾶσα πανταχόσε τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν περιάγειν, ὅθεν ἂν ᾖ δυνατὸν ἡδονὴν ἐκφυῆναι. καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκ μιᾶς πηγῆς πολλαχῇ διὰ σωλήνων ὀχετηγεῖται τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ οὐδὲν ἧττον ἓν τὸ ὕδωρ ἐστὶ 5.320 τὸ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς πηγῆς μεριζόμενον, κἂν ἐν μυρίοις κρουνοῖς τύχῃ ῥέον, οὕτω μία τῇ φύσει οὖσα ἡ ἡδονὴ ἄλλως καὶ ἄλλως ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων διαφοραῖς ὑπονοστοῦσα ῥέει πανταχοῦ ταῖς τοῦ βίου χρείαις ἑαυτὴν συνεισάγουσα. οἷον ὁ βίος ἀναγκαίαν ἐποίησε τῇ φύσει τὴν οἴκησιν· ἀσθενέ στερον γὰρ πέφυκε τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἢ ὥστε τὰς ἐκ τοῦ θάλπους τε καὶ κρύους ἀνωμαλίας φέρειν· μέχρι τούτου ὁ οἶκος ἔχει πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν τὸ ὠφέλιμον. ἀλλὰ παρελθεῖν τοὺς ὅρους τῆς χρείας ἡ ἡδονὴ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐβιάσατο. ὡς γὰρ οὐχὶ σώματι τὸ χρειῶδες πορίζων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπιτη δεύων τέρψεις καὶ ἐντρυφήματα λυπεῖται σχεδόν, ὅτι μὴ τὸν οὐρανὸν αὐτὸν ἐποίησεν ὑπωρόφιον μηδὲ τὰς τοῦ ἡλίου ἀκτῖνας ἔχει τῷ ὀρόφῳ καὶ αὐτὰς ἐντεκτήνασθαι. διὸ πλατύνει μὲν ἁπανταχόθεν τὰς τῶν κατασκευασμάτων περιγραφάς, τὴν τῆς συνοικίας περιβολὴν ὡς οἰκουμένην τινὰ ἄλλην ἑαυτῷ κτίζων, ἀνατείνει δὲ εἰς ὅτι μήκιστον ὕψος τοὺς τοίχους, ποικίλλει δὲ ταῖς ἔνδον τῶν οἰκημά των διασκευαῖς, ἐξ ἀλλήλων καὶ δι' ἀλλήλων ... παρέχων τῇ κατασκευῇ τῶν ἔνδον οἴκων τὴν ποικιλίαν. εἶτα Λάκαινα 5.321 καὶ Θεσσαλὴ καὶ ἐκ Καρύστου λίθος ἀναπτύσσεται διὰ σιδήρου εἰς πλάκας, τά τε Νειλῷα μέταλλα καὶ τὰ τῆς Νουμιδίας ἀναζητεῖται καί που καὶ ἡ Φρυγία πέτρα ταῖς σπουδαῖς ταύταις συμπαρείληπται, ἣ τῇ λευκότητι τοῦ μαρμάρου τὴν πορφυρᾶν βαφὴν πρὸς τὸ συμβὰν κατασπείρασα τρυφὴ γίνεται τοῖς λιχνοτέροις ὄμμασι πολυειδῆ τινα καὶ πολυσχημάτιστον τὴν διάχυσιν τοῦ χρώματος ἐν τῷ λευκῷ ζωγραφήσασα. ὢ πόσαι περὶ τούτων σπουδαί, πόσα τὰ μηχανήματα, τῶν μὲν ὕδατι καὶ σιδήρῳ διαπριόντων τὰς ὕλας, ἄλλων δὲ διὰ χειρῶν ἀνθρωπίνων νυκτὶ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ πονούντων τῶν κατεργαζομένων τὴν ἔκπρισιν; καὶ οὐδὲ ταῦτα ἤρκεσε τοῖς πονοῦσι περὶ τὸν μάταιον κόσμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ καθαρὸν τῆς ὑέλου διὰ φαρμάκων εἰς βαφὰς ποικίλας καταμολύνεται, ὡς ἂν καὶ παρὰ ταύτης τι συνεισενεχθείη τῇ τῶν ὀμμάτων χλιδῇ. πῶς δ' ἄν τις εἴποι τὰς τῶν ὀρόφων 5.322 περιεργίας, ἐφ' ὧν τὰ ξύλα ἐκ δένδρων γινόμενα πάλιν ἐπαναστρέφοντα διὰ τῶν σοφισμάτων τῆς τέχνης δένδρα νομίζεται κλάδους καὶ φύλλα καὶ καρποὺς ἐν ταῖς