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knowledge of God belongs to the fathers; but to give wisdom to the children belongs to the Lord. For here he calls wisdom a woman: “For be enamored,” he says, “of wisdom and she will keep you; honor her, that she may embrace you.” 198 19, 16 He who keeps the commandment guards his own soul; but he who despises his own ways will perish. The commandments, with respect to God who gave the command, are called commandments; but with respect to the mind that walks in them, they are called ways. And again, since they were given with heaven and earth as witnesses, the commandments are called testimonies; for which reason the mind that receives them is called a witness, who, if he falsifies them, will not be unpunished. 199 19, 17 He who has mercy on the poor lends to God; and according to his gift He will repay him. He has now called purity of heart a gift; for in proportion to our dispassion we are deemed worthy of knowledge. 200 19, 19 An evil-minded man will suffer great loss; and if he is destructive, he will lose his soul as well. I think that the great loss involves the deprivation of the contemplation of created things, and the addition of the soul, the destruction of the natural conceptions about God, since it has fallen completely into irrationality. And the Savior also says in the gospels: “what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, but his soul” he should lose and “suffer its loss.” But here, the loss signifies the ignorance of things corporeal and incorporeal; while the damage represents the ultimate irrationality. 201 19, 20 Hear, son, the instruction of your father, that you may become wise in your latter end. After the right way of life is knowledge. For "in your latter end" here does not signify time, but the purity that comes after the practical virtues. 202 19, 23 The fear of the Lord is life to a man; but the fearless man will lodge in places where knowledge is not watched over. If “the fear of the Lord is life to a man,” and “the fear of the Lord is instruction and wisdom,” then the life of man is instruction and wisdom. But Christ says: “I am the life”; therefore, Christ is instruction and wisdom. Therefore, “to know instruction and wisdom” is to know Christ. The fearless man, therefore, will be in wickedness and ignorance, in which Christ is not. 203 19, 24 He who hides his hands in his bosom unjustly will not even bring them to his mouth. He who does not live rightly hides his hands unjustly in his soul, not willing to cultivate his own land nor to be filled with bread; for the practical virtues take the place of hands, bringing to our mouth the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world. 204 19, 26 He who dishonors his father and pushes away his mother will be put to shame and be a reproach. Through the transgression of the law he dishonors God and pushes away his mother, who is instruction, if indeed “a righteous man is born for life.” And righteousness consists of all the virtues. 205 19, 27 A son who fails to keep his father’s instruction will meditate on evil words. Impure thoughts are evil words born in the soul of one who has not kept the commandments of the heavenly Father.

206 20, 1.1 Wine is an unruly thing and drunkenness is insolent. If “the venom of dragons is their

wine,” and wine is an unruly thing, then anger is an unruly thing, making men unruly, and rage is insolent; for this drunkenness is wont to arise from seething anger. If the Nazirites according to the law abstain from wine, then it has been legislated for the Nazirites to be without anger. 207 20, 2 The threat of a king is no different from the rage of a lion; and he who provokes him sins against his own soul. Here he has openly called Christ king; for he who provokes him through his sins sins against his own soul. 208 20, 4 A sluggard, when reproached, is not ashamed; likewise also he who borrows grain at harvest time. If it is possible to borrow grain at harvest time, it is also possible in the age to come to borrow intelligible grain from the

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γνώσεως θεοῦ τῶν πατέρων ἐστίν· τὸ δὲ σοφίαν δοῦναι τοῖς παισὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἐστίν. Γυναῖκα γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τὴν σοφίαν λέγει· «ἐράσθητι γάρ, φησί, τῆς σοφίας καὶ τηρήσει σε· τίμησον αὐτήν, ἵνα σε περιλάβῃ.» 198 19, 16 ὃς φυλάσσει ἐντολὴν τηρεῖ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν· ὁ δὲ καταφρονῶν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ὁδῶν ἀπολεῖται Αἱ ἐντολαὶ ὡς πρὸς μὲν τὸν ἐντειλάμενον θεὸν καλοῦνται ἐντολαί· ὡς δὲ πρὸς τὸν ὁδεύοντα νοῦν ἐν αὐταῖς καλοῦνται ὁδοί. Καὶ πάλιν ἐπειδὴ ἐπὶ μαρτύρων οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ἐδόθησαν, αἱ ἐντολαὶ λέγονται μαρτύρια· διὸ καὶ ὁ δεξάμενος αὐτὰ νοῦς ὀνομάζεται μάρτυς, ὅστις ψευσάμενος αὐτὰ οὐκ ἀτιμώρητος ἔσται. 199 19, 17 δανίζει θεῷ ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχόν· κατὰ δὲ τὸ δόμα αὐτοῦ ἀνταποδώσει αὐτῷ ∆όμα νῦν τὴν καθαρότητα τῆς καρδίας ὠνόμασεν· κατ' ἀναλογίαν γὰρ τῆς ἀπαθείας ἡμῶν καταξιούμεθα γνώσεως. 200 19, 19 κακόφρων ἀνὴρ πολλὰ ζημιωθήσεται· ἐὰν δὲ λοιμεύηται, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ προσθήσει Ἐγὼ νομίζω τὴν μὲν πολλὴν ζημίαν στέρησιν περιέχειν τῆς θεωρίας τῶν γεγονότων, τὴν δὲ προσθήκην τῆς ψυχῆς ἀφανισμὸν τῶν φυσικῶν περὶ θεοῦ ἐννοιῶν, παντάπασιν αὐτῆς εἰς ἀλογίαν περιπεσούσης. Καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ δὲ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις φησίν· «τί ὠφεληθήσεται ἄνθρωπος, ἐὰν τὸν κόσμον ὅλον κερδήσῃ, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ» ἀπολέσῃ καὶ «ζημιωθῇ». Ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθα μὲν ἡ ἀπώλεια τὴν ἄγνοιαν σωμάτων καὶ ἀσωμάτων ἐμφαίνει· ἡ δὲ ζημία τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀλογίαν παρίστησιν. 201 19, 20 ἄκουε, υἱέ, παιδείαν πατρός σου, ἵνα σοφὸς γένῃ ἐπ' ἐσχάτων σου Μετὰ τὴν ὀρθὴν πολιτείαν ἐστὶν ἡ γνῶσις. Τὸ γὰρ ἐπ' ἐσχάτων ἐνταῦθα οὐ τὸν χρόνον σημαίνει, ἀλλὰ τὴν μετὰ τὰς πρακτικὰς ἀρετὰς καθαρότητα. 202 19, 23 φόβος κυρίου εἰς ζωὴν ἀνδρί· ὁ δὲ ἄφοβος αὐλισθήσεται ἐν τόποις οὗ οὐκ ἐπισκοπεῖται γνῶσις Εἰ «φόβος κυρίου εἰς ζωὴν ἀνδρί», «φόβος δὲ κυρίου παιδεία καὶ σοφία», ζωὴ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς παιδεία ἐστὶ καὶ σοφία. Ἀλλ' ὁ Χριστὸς λέγει· «ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ζωή»· ὁ Χριστὸς ἄρα ἐστὶν παιδεία καὶ σοφία. Τὸ οὖν «γνῶναι παιδείαν καὶ σοφίαν» γνῶναί ἐστιν τὸν Χριστόν. Ὁ οὖν ἄφοβος ἔσται ἐν κακίᾳ καὶ ἀγνωσίᾳ, ἐν αἷς οὐκ ἔστιν Χριστός. 203 19, 24 ὁ ἐγκρύπτων εἰς τὸν κόλπον αὐτοῦ χεῖρας ἀδίκως οὐδὲ τῷ στόματι οὐ μὴ προσαγάγῃ αὐτάς Ὁ μὴ ὀρθῶς βιοὺς κρύπτει ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ τὰς χεῖρας ἀδίκως, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γῆν ἐργάσασθαι μὴ βουλόμενος μηδ' ἐμπλησθῆναι ἄρτων· αἱ γὰρ πρακτικαὶ ἀρεταὶ χειρῶν ἐπέχουσι λόγον, τὸν ἄρτον τῷ στόματι ἡμῶν προσφέρουσαι τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν οὐρανῶν καταβάντα καὶ ζωὴν διδόντα τῷ κόσμῳ. 204 19, 26 ὁ ἀτιμάζων πατέρα καὶ ἀπωθούμενος μητέρα αὐτοῦ καταισχυνθήσεται καὶ ἐπονείδιστος ἔσται ∆ιὰ τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ νόμου τὸν θεὸν ἀτιμάζει καὶ τὴν μητέρα δὲ ἀπωθεῖται, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ παιδεία, εἴπερ «ἀνὴρ δίκαιος γεννᾶται εἰς ζωήν». Ἡ δὲ δικαιοσύνη ἀπὸ πασῶν συνίσταται τῶν ἀρετῶν. 205 19, 27 υἱὸς ἀπολειπόμενος φυλάξαι παιδείαν πατρὸς μελετήσει ῥήσεις κακάς Οἱ ἀκάθαρτοι λογισμοὶ ῥήσεις εἰσὶ κακαὶ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ γεννώμεναι τοῦ μὴ τετηρηκότος τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ ἐπουρανίου πατρός.

206 20, 1.1 ἀκόλαστον οἶνος καὶ ὑβριστικὸν μέθη Εἰ «θυμὸς δρακόντων ὁ

οἶνος αὐτῶν», ἀκόλαστον δὲ ὁ οἶνος, ἀκόλαστον ἄρα ὁ θυμός, ἀκολάστους τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ποιῶν, καὶ ὑβριστικὸν ἡ ὀργή· αὕτη γὰρ ἡ μέθη ἀπὸ ζέοντος τοῦ θυμοῦ πέφυκε γίνεσθαι. Εἰ δὲ οἴνου οἱ ναζιραῖοι κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἀπέχονται, θυμοῦ ἄρα τοὺς ναζιραίους ἐκτὸς εἶναι νενομοθέτηται. 207 20, 2 οὐ διαφέρει ἀπειλὴ βασιλέως θυμοῦ λέοντος· ὁ δὲ παροξύνων αὐτὸν ἁμαρτάνει εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν Ἐνταῦθα τὸν Χριστὸν ἄντικρυς εἴρηκε βασιλέα· ὁ γὰρ τοῦτον διὰ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν παροξύνων ἁμαρτάνει εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν. 208 20, 4 ὀνειδιζόμενος ὀκνηρὸς οὐκ αἰσχύνεται· ὡσαύτως καὶ ὁ δανιζόμενος σῖτον ἐν ἀμήτῳ Εἰ ἔστιν ἐν ἀμήτῳ σῖτον δανείσασθαι, ἔστιν καὶ ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τῷ μέλλοντι νοητὸν σῖτον δανείσασθαι παρὰ τῶν