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in the New [Testament], which especially show that both Scriptures are divine. And if it is divine, then all the things said in it about God are true. Therefore, do not doubt the providence of God, but marvel at his care, because although there are wicked and good people, he has let loose the inhabited world and the sun for all, and gives the rains. And if he allows some to be in poverty and want, he allows it to correct their soul, making their disposition more philosophical. For know, know clearly, that wealth is a servant of wickedness for those who are not careful; but poverty is the mother of philosophy; and events show this every day. How many of the poor are more prudent and more philosophical than the rich, and healthier in their bodies, with poverty correcting for them both flesh and soul? In peace I will lie down and sleep at once. For you, O Lord, have made me dwell in hope, alone. Behold, also another kind of providence, not small, that those who are dedicated to God enjoy peace. For there is peace for those who love your law, and there is no stumbling block for them. For nothing is so accustomed to making peace as the knowledge of God and the possession of virtue, driving out the internal war of the passions, and not allowing a person to be at variance with himself. So that if he does not enjoy this peace, even if he is in the deepest peace externally, even if no enemy 55.58 strikes him, he is more wretched than all those who are warred upon by the inhabited world. 12. For Scythians, or Thracians, or Sauromatians, and Indians, and Moors, and as many savage nations as are accustomed to wage war, do not do so in the same way as a most absurd reasoning dwelling in the soul, and intemperate desire, and the love of money, and a longing for power, and attachment to the affairs of this life. And rightly so; for that war is from without, but this battle is from within. That the things born within are more grievous than those that attack from without, and are more accustomed to corrupt, this can be seen in all things. For a worm born within corrupts the nature of wood more, and diseases sprouting from within do greater harm to the body's strength and health than those growing from without; and cities are not destroyed so much by external enemies as by civil strife; so also the soul is not so naturally harmed by devices approaching from without, as by diseases born within. But if someone, having the fear of God, should with precision put an end to this war, and put the passions to sleep, and having suffocated those various beasts of absurd reasoning, should prevent them from lurking within, this person will enjoy the purest and deepest peace. This is the peace that Christ came and bestowed; this is what Paul also prayed for for the faithful, saying in every epistle: Grace to you and peace from God our Father; for he who has this peace fears not only the barbarian and the enemy, but not even the devil himself; but he laughs at the whole phalanx of demons, and is more cheerful than all men, not oppressed by poverty, not weighed down by sickness and infirmity, not disturbed by any other of the unexpected human afflictions, because he has his soul, which is able to dispose of these things with precision and all ease, strong and healthy. And that you may learn that this is true: let there be some envious person, and let no one make war on him; what is the benefit? For he makes war on himself, sharpening thoughts against himself sharper than any sword, stumbling at all he sees, and wounding himself with every person he meets, and having a pleasant disposition towards no one, but seeing all as common enemies. What benefit, then, is external peace to this man, when he himself, raging and mad, and being a common enemy of nature, goes about bearing so much from within

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τῇ Καινῇ, ἃ μάλιστα δείκνυσι θείαν ἑκατέραν οὖσαν τὴν Γραφήν. Εἰ δὲ θεία, καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ περὶ Θεοῦ εἰρημένα ἀληθῆ πάντα. Μὴ τοίνυν ἀμφίβαλλε περὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας, ἀλλὰ θαύμαζε αὐτοῦ τὴν κηδεμονίαν, ὅτι καίτοι πονηρῶν ὄντων καὶ ἀγαθῶν, τὴν οἰκουμένην καὶ τὸν ἥλιον πᾶσιν ἀνῆκε, καὶ τοὺς ὑετοὺς δίδωσιν. Εἰ δέ τινας ἀφίησιν εἶναι ἐν πτωχείᾳ καὶ πενίᾳ, διορθῶν αὐτῶν τὴν ψυχὴν ἀφίησι, φιλοσοφωτέραν τὴν γνώμην ἐργαζόμενος. Ἴστε γὰρ, ἴστε σαφῶς, ὅτι ὁ μὲν πλοῦτος τοῖς μὴ προσέχουσι πονηρίας ἐστὶν ὑπηρέτης· ἡ δὲ πενία φιλοσοφίας ἐστὶ μήτηρ· καὶ ταῦτα δείκνυσι καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τὰ πράγματα. Πόσοι τῶν πενήτων τῶν πλουτούντων εἰσὶ συνετώτεροί τε καὶ φιλοσοφώτεροι, καὶ τὰ σώματα ὑγιεινότεροι, πενίας αὐτοῖς καὶ τὴν σάρκα καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν διορθουμένης; Ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κοιμηθήσομαι, καὶ ὑπνώσω. Ὅτι σὺ, Κύριε, κατὰ μόνας ἐπ' ἐλπίδι κατῴκισάς με. Ἰδοὺ καὶ ἄλλο προνοίας εἶδος οὐ μικρὸν, τὸ εἰρήνης ἀπολαύειν τοὺς ἀνακειμένους Θεῷ. Εἰρήνη γὰρ τοῖς ἀγαπῶσι τὸν νόμον σου, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῖς σκάνδαλον. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως εἰρήνην ποιεῖν εἴωθεν, ὡς ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσις, καὶ ἡ τῆς ἀρετῆς κτῆσις, τὸν ἔνδοθεν τῶν παθῶν ἐξοικίζουσα πόλεμον, καὶ οὐκ ἀφιεῖσα αὐτὸν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν διαστασιάζειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Ὡς εἴγε μὴ ταύτης ἀπολαύοι τῆς εἰρήνης, κἂν ἐν βαθυτάτῃ εἰρήνῃ ᾖ ἔξωθεν, κἂν μηδεὶς πολέμιος 55.58 αὐτὸν βάλλῃ, τῶν ὑπὸ τῆς οἰκουμένης πολεμουμένων πάντων ἐστὶν ἀθλιώτερος. ιβʹ. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτω Σκύθαι, οὐδὲ Θρᾷκες, οὐ Σαυρομάται, καὶ Ἰνδοὶ, καὶ Μαῦροι, καὶ ὅσα ἄγρια ἔθνη πολεμεῖν εἰώθασιν, ὡς λογισμὸς ἀτοπώτατος ἐνδομυχῶν τῇ ψυχῇ, καὶ ἐπιθυμία ἀκόλαστος, καὶ χρημάτων ἔρως, καὶ δυναστείας πόθος, καὶ τῶν βιωτικῶν πραγμάτων ἡ προσπάθεια. Καὶ εἰκότως· ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ ἔξωθεν ὁ πόλεμος, αὕτη δὲ ἔνδον ἐστὶν ἡ μάχη. Ὅτι δὲ τὰ ἔνδοθεν τικτόμενα τῶν ἔξωθεν προσβαλλόντων ἐστὶ χαλεπώτερα, καὶ μᾶλλον διαφθείρειν εἴωθε, τοῦτο ἐπὶ πάντων ἔστιν ἰδεῖν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ξύλου φύσιν σκώληξ ἔνδον τικτόμενος μᾶλλον διαφθείρει, καὶ σώματος δύναμιν καὶ ὑγείαν τῶν ἔξωθεν φυομένων τὰ ἔνδοθεν βλαστάνοντα νοσήματα μειζόνως λυμαίνεται· καὶ πόλεις οὐχ οὕτως οἱ ἔξωθεν πολέμιοι, ὡς οἱ ἐμφύλιοι καταλύουσιν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ψυχὴν οὐχ οὕτω τὰ ἔξωθεν προσιόντα μηχανήματα, ὡς τὰ ἔνδοθεν τικτόμενα νοσήματα λυμαίνεσθαι πέφυκεν. Ἀλλ' ἐάν τις τὸν φόβον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔχων, μετὰ ἀκριβείας τοῦτον καταλύσῃ τὸν πόλεμον, καὶ κοιμήσῃ τὰ πάθη, καὶ τὰ θηρία τὰ ποικίλα ἐκεῖνα τῶν ἀτόπων λογισμῶν ἀποπνίξας, μὴ ἐμφωλεύειν παρασκευάσῃ, οὗτος καθαρωτάτης καὶ βαθυτάτης ἀπολαύσεται εἰρήνης. Ταύτην τὴν εἰρήνην ἐλθὼν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐχαρίσατο· ταύτην καὶ ὁ Παῦλος τοῖς πιστοῖς ἐπηύχετο, καθ' ἑκάστην ἐπιστολὴν λέγων· Χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς ἡμῶν· ὁ γὰρ τὴν εἰρήνην ταύτην ἔχων, οὐ μόνον βάρβαρον καὶ πολέμιον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ αὐτὸν τὸν διάβολον δέδοικεν· ἀλλὰ πάσης τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων φάλαγγος καταγελᾷ, καὶ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἐστὶν εὐθυμότερος, οὐ πενίᾳ πιεζόμενος, οὐ νόσῳ καὶ ἀῤῥωστίᾳ βαρούμενος, οὐκ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων τῶν ἀδοκήτως προσπιπτόντων θορυβούμενος, διὰ τὸ τὴν ψυχὴν, τὴν δυναμένην ταῦτα μετὰ ἀκριβείας διαθεῖναι καὶ εὐκολίας ἁπάσης, ἐῤῤωμένην καὶ ὑγιαίνουσαν ἔχειν. Καὶ ἵνα μάθητε ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀληθές· ἔστω τις βάσκανος, καὶ μηδεὶς αὐτῷ πολεμείτω· τί τὸ ὄφελος; Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἑαυτῷ πολεμεῖ, παντὸς ξίφους ὀξυτέρους καθ' ἑαυτοῦ θήγων λογισμοὺς, πᾶσι τοῖς ὁρωμένοις προσπταίων, καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ἀνθρώπων τιτρώσκων ἑαυτὸν, καὶ πρὸς οὐδένα ἡδέως ἔχων, ἀλλὰ κοινοὺς πολεμίους πάντας ὁρῶν. Τί οὖν ὄφελος τῆς ἔξωθεν εἰρήνης τούτῳ, ὅταν αὐτὸς λυσσῶν καὶ μαινόμενος, καὶ κοινὸς τῆς φύσεως ὢν ἐχθρὸς, περιέρχηται τοσοῦτον ἔνδοθεν φέρων