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a lodging having many springs and the comfort from the gentle breeze; so the night gives over our soul to sleep; or rather, not the night, nor sleep works this, but God, knowing this miserable race, has worked all these things. But we do not pity ourselves, but have devised, as if we were our own enemies, a tyranny greater than the natural necessity and rest: the sleeplessness that comes from wealth. For the care of wealth, he says, takes away sleep. And see how great is the providence of God; He did not entrust rest to intention, nor the need for sleep to any choice, but He bound it with natural necessities, so that even unwillingly we might receive benefit; for sleeping is of nature. But we, as if strongly hating ourselves, as if warring against and oppressing others, have devised a tyranny from money greater than this natural necessity. Day has come? and such a man fears the false accusers. Night has fallen? he trembles at robbers. Death is at hand? he is more tormented by death, because 62.196 those things become another's. He has had a child? the desire is greater; and then he seems to be poor. He has not had one, he is in more pain. Do you then call this man blessed, who can find no pleasure from anywhere? do you envy this man who is tossed by waves, while you stand in the calm harbor of poverty? Truly this too is a fault of human nature, not to bear good things nobly, but to grow insolent in prosperity. And these things here; but when we depart to that place, hear what the rich man says, the master of countless good things, as you say; for I would not call these things good, but indifferent. This master of countless good things, then, hear what he says, and of what he stands in need; Father, he says, Abraham, send Lazarus, that with the tip of his finger he may drop water on my tongue, for I am being fried. For even if that rich man suffered none of the things I mentioned, even if he lived his whole life in security and without care; why do I say his whole life? that one moment; for it is a moment; for as one moment, he says, is our whole age compared to the infinite age; if, then, everything had proceeded for him according to his mind, is he not pitiful for these words, or rather for these realities? Was not your table awash with wine? but now you are not master even of a drop of water, and that when you are in great need. Did you not overlook the poor man covered in sores? but now you ask to see him, and no one grants it. He was at your gate, but now he is in the bosom of Abraham; you lay under great roofs, but now in the fire of Gehenna. εʹ. Let the rich hear these things; or rather, not the rich, but the unmerciful; for he was not punished because he was rich, but because he was not merciful. For it is possible for one who is rich and merciful to obtain every good thing. And for this reason he sees no one else, but him who had need of him, so that he may learn that he suffered these things justly, having come to a remembrance of what he did. For were there not countless righteous poor men? But he who lay at his gate, this one appears to him, teaching him and us how great a good it is not to trust in riches. Poverty did not harm that man at all with respect to obtaining the kingdom; nor did wealth help this man at all with respect to escaping Gehenna. How long poor? How long beggars? He is not, is not poor who has nothing, but he who desires many things; he is not rich who possesses many things, but he who is in need of nothing. For what is the profit to possess the whole world, but to live in greater despondency than he who has nothing? Choices make both the rich and the poor, not the abundance of money nor the lack of it. Do you wish to become rich, you who are poor? It is possible for you if you wish, and there is no one to hinder you; despise the riches of the world;

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καταγωγίῳ πολλὰς ἔχοντι πηγὰς καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς λεπτῆς αὔρας παραμυθίαν· οὕτως ἡ νὺξ τῷ ὕπνῳ παραδίδωσιν ἡμῶν τὴν ψυχήν· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐχ ἡ νὺξ, οὐδὲ ὁ ὕπνος τοῦτο ἐργάζεται, ἀλλ' ὁ Θεὸς, εἰδὼς τὸ ταλαίπωρον τοῦτο γένος, ἅπαντα ταῦτα εἰργάσατο. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἐλεοῦμεν ἑαυτοὺς, ἀλλ' ἐπενοήσαμεν, καθάπερ ἐχθροὶ ὄντες ἑαυτῶν, τῆς φυσικῆς ἀνάγκης καὶ ἀναπαύσεως μείζονα τυραννίδα, τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ πλούτου ἀγρυπνίαν. Μέριμνα γὰρ, φησὶ, πλούτου, ἀφιστᾷ ὕπνον. Καὶ ὅρα πόση τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ κηδεμονία· Οὐκ ἐπέτρεψε τῇ προθέσει τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν, οὐδὲ προαιρέσει τινὶ τὴν χρείαν τοῦ ὕπνου, ἀλλὰ φυσικαῖς αὐτὴν ἀνάγκαις κατέδησεν, ἵνα καὶ ἄκοντες εὐεργετώμεθα· τὸ γὰρ καθεύδειν, τῆς φύσεως. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ὡς σφόδρα ἑαυτοὺς μισοῦντες, ὡς ἑτέρους πολεμοῦντες καὶ θλίβοντες, τῆς φυσικῆς ταύτης ἀνάγκης μείζονα τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν χρημάτων ἐπενοήσαμεν τυραννίδα. Ἡμέρα γέγονε; καὶ δέδοικεν ὁ τοιοῦτος τοὺς συκοφάντας. Ἡ νὺξ κατέλαβε; τρέμει λῃστάς. Θάνατος ἐπέστη; τοῦ θανάτου μᾶλλον δάκνεται, ὅτι 62.196 ἑτέρων ἐκεῖνα γίνεται. Παιδίον ἔσχε; πλείων ἡ ἐπιθυμία· καὶ τότε δοκεῖ πένης εἶναι. Οὐκ ἔσχε, μᾶλλον ὀδυνᾶται. Τοῦτον οὖν μακαρίζεις τὸν οὐδαμόθεν ἡσθῆναι δυνάμενον; τούτῳ φθονεῖς τῷ κλυδωνιζομένῳ, ἐν λιμένι γαληνῷ τῇ πενίᾳ ἑστηκώς; Ὄντως καὶ τοῦτο ἐλάττωμα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, τὸ μὴ φέρειν τὰ ἀγαθὰ γενναίως, ἀλλ' εἰς τὰς εὐπραγίας ἐξυβρίζειν. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐνταῦθα· ὅταν δὲ ἀπέλθωμεν ἐκεῖ, ἄκουσον τί φησιν ὁ πλούσιος, ὁ μυρίων ἀγαθῶν κύριος, ὥσπερ σὺ λέγεις· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἔγωγε ταῦτα εἴποιμι ἀγαθὰ, ἀλλ' ἀδιάφορα. Οὗτος τοίνυν ὁ μυρίων ἀγαθῶν κύριος, ἄκουσον τί φησι, καὶ τίνος ἐν χρείᾳ καθέστηκε· Πάτερ, φησὶν, Ἀβραὰμ, πέμψον Λάζαρον, ἵνα ἄκρῳ τῷ δακτύλῳ ἐπιστάζῃ μου τὴν γλῶτταν, ὅτι ἀποτηγανίζομαι. Εἰ γὰρ μηδὲν ὧν εἶπον ἔπασχεν ὁ πλούσιος ἐκεῖνος, εἰ γὰρ ἐν ἀδείᾳ καὶ φροντίδος χωρὶς τὸν ἅπαντα βίον διήγαγε· τί λέγω τὸν ἅπαντα βίον; τὴν μίαν ῥοπὴν ἐκείνην· ῥοπὴ γάρ ἐστιν· ὡς μία γὰρ ῥοπὴ, φησὶν, ὁ πᾶς ἡμῶν αἰὼν πρὸς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸν ἄπειρον· εἰ τοίνυν πάντα αὐτῷ κατὰ γνώμην προεκεχωρήκει, ἆρα οὐκ ἐλεεινός ἐστι τούτων τῶν ῥημάτων, μᾶλλον δὲ τούτων τῶν πραγμάτων; Οὐχὶ οἴνῳ περιεκλύζετό σου ἡ τράπεζα; νῦν δὲ οὐδὲ σταγόνος ὕδατος εἶ κύριος, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν χρείᾳ πολλῇ καθεστηκώς. Οὐχ ἡλκωμένον ὑπερεώρας τὸν πένητα; νῦν δὲ ἀξιοῖς αὐτὸν ἰδεῖν, καὶ οὐδεὶς δίδωσι. Παρὰ τὸν πυλῶνα ἦν τὸν σὸν, νῦν δὲ ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ Ἀβραάμ· ὑπὸ τὰς μεγάλας σὺ κατέκεισο ὀροφὰς, νῦν δὲ ἐν τῷ πυρὶ τῆς γεέννης. εʹ. Ἀκουέτωσαν ταῦτα οἱ πλούσιοι· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐχ οἱ πλούσιοι, ἀλλ' οἱ ἀνελεήμονες· οὐ γὰρ, ἐπειδὴ πλούσιος ἦν, ἐκολάζετο, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἠλέησεν. Ἔνεστι γὰρ πλουτοῦντα καὶ ἐλεοῦντα τυχεῖν παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐδένα ἄλλον ὁρᾷ, ἀλλ' ἢ ἐκεῖνον τὸν δεόμενον αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μάθῃ, ὅτι δικαίως ταῦτα ἔπασχεν, εἰς ὑπόμνησιν ἐλθὼν ὧν ἔπραττε. Μὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἦσαν μυρίοι πένητες δίκαιοι; Ἀλλ' ὁ πρὸς τῷ πυλῶνι αὐτοῦ κείμενος, οὗτος αὐτῷ φαίνεται, παιδεύων αὐτὸν καὶ ἡμᾶς, ὅσον ἐστὶν ἀγαθὸν μὴ πεποιθέναι ἐπὶ χρήμασιν. Οὐδὲν ἐκεῖνον ἔβλαψεν ἡ πενία πρὸς τὸ βασιλείας τυχεῖν· οὐδὲν τοῦτον ὠφέλησεν ὁ πλοῦτος πρὸς τὸ γέενναν ἐκφυγεῖν. Μέχρι πότε πένητες; μέχρι πότε πτωχοί; Οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστι πένης ὁ μηδὲν ἔχων, ἀλλ' ὁ πολλῶν ἐπιθυμῶν· οὐκ ἔστι πλούσιος ὁ πολλὰ κεκτημένος, ἀλλ' ὁ μηδενὸς δεόμενος. Τί γὰρ ὄφελος πᾶσαν μὲν κεκτῆσθαι τὴν οἰκουμένην, τοῦ δὲ μηδὲν ἔχοντος μᾶλλον ἐν ἀθυμίᾳ διάγειν; Αἱ προαιρέσεις καὶ τοὺς πλουτοῦντας καὶ τοὺς πενομένους ἐργάζονται, οὐχ ἡ τῶν χρημάτων περιουσία οὐδὲ ἡ ἔνδεια. Βούλει γενέσθαι πλούσιος σὺ ὁ πένης; Ἔξεστί σοι βουλομένῳ, καὶ ὁ κωλύων οὐδείς· καταφρόνησον τῶν τοῦ κόσμου χρημάτων·