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silver; exiled from the list of Christians, as Judas from the apostles; known by the name of the transgressor, as horses are by their brands; drawn only into the most grievous of all sins and immediately having followed the mystagogue of profane and foul impiety. 3.11.1 Thus, therefore, according to the apostle, covetousness both becomes idolatry and is the root of all evils, begetting from itself countless vices. For just as those who trace gold from the bosom of the earth say that the gold-bearing earth lies in a heap at its very beginning and primary origin, but from there certain veins, as it were, extend far and wide from some point and stretch out in many branches, just like the roots of trees that spread out from the trunk, so too here, seeing many offshoots, I find them all bound together by one root, covetousness. 3.11.2 And indeed, the discourse has found a not unsuitable example for covetousness from gold. From this I see the parricide daring against the head of his progenitor, respecting neither his gray hair nor his paternal dignity, but burdened by the extended life of the old man. For seeing all things in the house in abundance, yet not having authority over what he sees, and desiring to be master of them and of the property, he is constrained by his father's authority. 3.11.3 And at first he is silent and holds the sickness deep within; but in time, having increased his desire and filled his soul, he suddenly erupts with wickedness, like water from pipes. And he is then unbearable to the old man, all but driving him to the grave while he is healthy and walking. 3.11.4 If he lightly mounts his horse, he is overly amazed; if he partakes of food rather robustly, he grumbles; if in the morning he rouses the servants for their duties, he is annoyed by the old man's wakefulness and strength. But if he also gives away one of the heirlooms or releases a servant from slavery, then indeed he is treated insolently, hearing that he is a dotard and delirious and has exceeded the limits of life and is a squanderer of others' property, and every blasphemous thing; being reproached for why he has not died quickly. 3.11.5 This is your fruit, O foul covetousness; receiving its goads from you, the child becomes an enemy of his father. You fill the earth with robbers and murderers, the sea with pirates, cities with tumults, the law courts with false witnesses, sycophants, traitors, advocates, and judges who incline wherever you might drag them down. 3.12.1 Covetousness, mother of inequality, merciless, misanthropic, most cruel. Because of it, the life of men is full of anomaly; and some, out of surfeit, are nauseated, spewing forth the excess of their possessions like insatiable food, while others are endangered, oppressed by famine and want. 3.12.2 Some lie under gold-spangled ceilings and inhabit houses like small cities, adorned with baths and various rooms and very long porticoes and every kind of luxury; while others do not have the shelter of two beams, but when they are unable to live in the open air, they either flee to the furnaces of the baths or, encountering inhospitable bath-keepers, they devise for themselves the necessary warmth by digging in the dung, like swine. 3.12.3 And the creature of equal honor, man, has such a great difference in lifestyle towards his own kind; with nothing else introducing this disorder and anomaly than covetousness. One is unseemly with naked limbs, while another, in order to have countless garments, clothes his walls with purple slabs. The poor man on a wooden table lacks bread to break, while the luxurious man, having hammered out a silver table to a great breadth, is entertained by the gleam of the material. And how much more just it would have been for the one to feast, being content with his other luxury, and for the price of the table to be the luxury of the poor? 3.12.4 Another, old and unable to walk or lame due to some injury

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ἀργύριον· ἐξόριστοι τοῦ καταλόγου τῶν χριστιανῶν, ὡς Ἰούδας τῶν ἀποστόλων· ἀπὸ τῆς προσηγορίας τοῦ παραβάτου γνωριζόμενοι, ὡς ἀπὸ τῶν ση μάντρων οἱ ἵπποι· ἑλκυσθέντες μόνον εἰς τὴν χαλεπωτάτην πασῶν ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ εὐθὺς ἀκολουθήσαντες τῷ τῆς βεβήλου καὶ μιαρᾶς δυσσεβείας μυσταγωγῷ. 3.11.1 Οὕτω τοίνυν κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον ἡ πλεονεξία καὶ εἰδωλατρεία γίνεται καὶ ῥίζα πάντων τῶν κακῶν ἐστιν, ἀφ' ἑαυτῆς ἀμυθήτους γεννῶσα κακίας. Ὡς γὰρ οἱ τὸν χρυσὸν ἐκ τῶν κόλπων τῆς γῆς ἀνιχνεύοντες φασὶν τὴν χρυσῖτιν γῆν ἐπ' αὐτῆς μὲν τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τῆς κυριωτάτης γενέσεως σωρηδὸν ἀποκεῖσθαι, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ὥσπερ φλέβας τινὰς ἀπό τινος ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν εἰς μακρὸν διήκειν καὶ πολυσχιδῶς ἀποτείνεσθαι κατ' αὐτάς που τὰς ῥίζας τῶν δένδρων, τὰς ἐκ τοῦ πρέμνου διαπλουμένας, οὕτως κἀνταῦθα πολλὰς βλέπων τὰς ἀποφύσεις μιᾷ ῥίζᾳ, τῇ πλεονεξίᾳ, τὰς πάσας συνδε δεμένας εὑρίσκω. 3.11.2 Καὶ μέντοι καὶ οὐκ ἀνοικεῖον εὗρεν ὁ λόγος πρὸς πλεονεξίαν ἐκ τοῦ χρυσοῦ τὸ ὑπόδειγμα. Ἐντεῦθεν ὁρῶ τὸν πατραλοίαν τῆς κεφαλῆς τῆς γεννησάσης κατατολμῶντα, οὐκ αἰδούμενον δὲ οὔτε τὴν πολιὰν οὔτε τὸ πατρικὸν ἀξίωμα, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐπὶ πλέον ζωῇ τοῦ γέροντος βαρούμενον. Πάντα γὰρ ὁρῶν ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας ἄφθονα καὶ τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῶν βλεπομένων οὐκ ἔχων, ἐπιθυμῶν δὲ κύριος εἶναι αὐτῶν τε καὶ τῆς περιουσίας στενοῦται τῇ πατρικῇ αὐθεντείᾳ. 3.11.3 Καὶ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα σιωπᾷ καὶ ἐν τῷ βάθει κατέχει τὴν νόσον· τῷ χρόνῳ δὲ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν πλεονάσας καὶ πληρωθεὶς τὴν ψυχὴν ἀθρόον ἐκρήγνυσι τὴν κακίαν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν σωλήνων τὰ ὕδατα. Καὶ λοιπόν ἐστιν ἀφόρητος τῷ πρεσβύτῃ, μονον ουχὶ συνελαύνων αὐτὸν πρὸς τοὺς τάφους ὑγαίνοντα καὶ βαδίζοντα. 3.11.4 Ἂν κούφως ἀναβῇ τὸν ἵππον, ὑπερθαυμάζει· ἂν τροφῆς ἐρρωμενέστερον μεταλάβῃ, γογγύζει· ἂν τοὺς οἰκέτας ἐωθινὸς διεγείρῃ πρὸς τὰς ὑπηρεσίας, τῇ ἐγρηγόρσει καὶ τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ γέροντος ἄχθεται. Ἂν δὲ καὶ δωρήσηταί τι τῶν κειμηλίων ἢ οἰκέτην ἀφῇ τῆς δουλείας, τότε δὴ τότε καὶ λῆρος καὶ παραπαίων καὶ τοὺς τῆς ζωῆς ὑπερβὰς ὅρους καὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων σπαθητὴς καὶ πᾶν βλάσφημον ἀκούων ἐμπαροινεῖται· διὰ τί μὴ ταχέως ἀπέθανεν ἐγκαλούμενος. 3.11.5 Σὸς οὗτος, ὦ μιαρὴ πλεονεξία, καρπός· παρὰ σοῦ τὰ κέντρα λαμβάνων ὁ παῖς πολέμιος γίνεται τοῦ γεννήσαντος. Σὺ πληροῖς τὴν γῆν λῃστῶν καὶ φονευτῶν, καταποντιστῶν δὲ θάλασσαν, τὰς πόλεις θορύβων, τὰ δικαστήρια ψευδομαρτύρων, συκοφαντῶν, προδοτῶν, συνηγόρων, δικαστῶν ἐκεῖ ῥεπόντων, ὅπου δ' ἂν σὺ καθελκύσῃς. 3.12.1 Πλεονεξία μήτηρ τῆς ἀνισότητος, ἀνηλεής, μισάνθρωπος, ὠμοτάτη. ∆ιὰ ταύτην ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίος ἀνωμαλίας γέμει· καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐκ τοῦ κόρου ναυτιῶσι τὴν περισσείαν τῶν κτημάτων οἷον τροφὴν ἄπληστον ἀποβλύζοντες, ἄλλοι δὲ λιμῷ καὶ ἐνδείᾳ πιεζόμενοι κινδυνεύουσιν. 3.12.2 Οἱ μὲν ὑπ' ὀρόφοις χρυσοπάστοις κατάκεινται καὶ ὡς μικρὰς πόλεις οἰκοῦσι τὰς οἰκίας, λουτροῖς καὶ οἴκοις ποικίλοις καὶ στοαῖς ἐπὶ μακρότατον διηκούσαις καὶ παντοίᾳ πολυτελείᾳ κεκοσμημένας· ἕτεροι δὲ δύο δοκῶν σκέπην οὐκ ἔχουσιν, ἀλλ' ὅταν ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ διαζῆν μὴ δύνωνται, ἢ πρὸς τὰς καμίνους καταφεύγουσι τῶν λουτρῶν ἢ καὶ τοῖς βαλανεῦσι κακοξένοις περιτυχόντες, παραπλησίως τοῖς χοίροις τὴν κόπρον ὀρύττοντες τὴν ἀναγκαίαν θέρμην ἑαυτοῖς μηχανῶνται. 3.12.3 Καὶ τὸ ὁμότιμον ζῷον, ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τοσαύτην ἔχει τὴν διαφορὰν τῆς διαίτης πρὸς τὸ ὁμόφυλον· οὐκ ἄλλου τινὸς τὴν ἀταξίαν ταύτην καὶ τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν ἢ τῆς πλεονεξίας ἐπεισαγούσης. Ὁ μὲν γυμνοῖς ἀσχημονεῖ τοῖς μέλεσι καὶ ὁ ἄλλος πρὸς τὸ τὴν ἐσθῆτα δυσαρίθμητον ἔχειν πορφυραῖς πλαξὶν τοὺς τοίχους ἐνδύει. Ὁ πένης ἐπὶ ξυλίνης τραπέζης ἄρτον ἀπορεῖ διαθρύψαι καὶ ὁ τρυφῶν ἀργυρῆν τράπεζαν ἐλάσας εἰς πλάτος τῷ στίλβοντι ψυχαγωγεῖται τῆς ὕλης. Καὶ πόσῳ δικαιώτερον ἦν τὸν μὲν ἑστιᾶσθαι ἀρκούμενον τῇ ἄλλῃ τρυφῇ, τῆς τραπέζης δὲ τὴν τιμὴν τῶν ἀπόρων εἶναι τρυφήν; 3.12.4 Ἄλλος γηραιὸς καὶ βαδίζειν ἀδυνατῶν ἢ διά τινα λώβην χωλεύων