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a paradise planted together, having a hidden treasure. And it is fitting for one seeking this to strive to please the king of the field, that is, God, casting away all things in the world, neither paying attention only to the letter in a Jewish manner, nor allegorizing everything entirely, and uprooting the plants, passing over the benefit from the letter; but one must search the sayings with faith, and dig with the guidance of the Spirit, so that we may please. the king of the field, working out his spiritual paradise. "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who has loved produce in its abundance; this also is vanity." The phrase, And someone has loved produce in its abundance, instead of, and whoever has loved; for himself, and not for the common need, to gather produce; so that it may be thus: The lover of money, whether he gathers silver or produce, is not filled, always desiring more, being a slave rather than a master of money. "In the abundance of goodness, those who eat it were multiplied; and what courage is there for him who has it? For it is the beginning 93.545 of seeing with his eyes." Symmachus has rendered the last verse thus: For what heroic deed is there for him who has it, except only the sight of his eyes? And the meaning is thus: There is one who strongly pursues evil, as the lover of money gathers wealth in every way; and this is a blameworthy courage. But those who are so rashly lovers of money consider this to be good: food, and drink, and to see the money itself; therefore, in the abundance of goodness, that is, in a fortune of money always being multiplied, the lovers of money rejoice, as if eating it. And what is the benefit of such courage? For such a man has it only up to the point of seeing the beginning of his money; that is, he is master of it for nothing else, except only to pay attention to it. Otherwise: For those whose goods are multiplied well, those who eat them are multiplied. For those who truly wish to multiply goodness for themselves, have many who share in their wealth, that is, the poor. What then, he says, did such courage benefit the rash and ungenerous man, granting pleasure in wealth only up to the point of seeing it? "Sweet is the sleep of a servant, whether he eats little or much; but for him who is sated with being rich, there is nothing that allows him to sleep." By comparison, he declares the one who is a servant of a man to be better than one who serves the love of money. For the household servant, being without care how he might be fed, has sweet sleep. But the slave of money has a master who does not allow him to sleep: the avaricious and care-laden mind. But in a spiritual sense, those who serve God have a sweet departure from life, which indeed he rightly called sleep. But for the lovers of money, not sleep, but death succeeds, not allowing them to rest, but delivering them over to eternal punishment. "There is a sickness which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his hurt, and that wealth will perish in an evil distraction." All forms of wickedness are sicknesses of the soul. And the disease of avarice is so severe a sickness, that it is even called the root of all evils. I have seen then, he says, wealth kept to the harm of its owner; for either the lover of money destroys this while he lives, sometimes even being plotted against because of it; or in any case, when he dies, he is alienated from it, having toiled unstably and uncertainly to gather it. For this is what is meant by "in an evil distraction." Then, since many, making children an excuse, gather wealth, he adds consequently: 93.548 "And he begot a son, and there is nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother's womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came." But if the lover of money makes his children an excuse, let him examine the hand of the newborn child, and when he finds that it was not born with money, let him seek it also when it dies; for he will find again that it came forth naked from its mother's womb, and departs from life naked also. Then he adds: "And he shall take nothing for his labor

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παράδεισος σύμφυτος, ἔχων θησαυρὸν κεκρυμμένον. Καὶ προσήκει τοῦτον ἀναζητοῦντα σπουδάζειν ἀρέσκειν τῷ βασιλεῖ τοῦ ἀγροῦ, τουτέστι τῷ Θεῷ, ἀποβαλλόμενον τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ πάντα, μήτε δὲ τῷ γράμματι μόνον προσέχειν Ἰουδαϊκῶς, μήτε ὅλα ἐξ ὅλων ἀλληγορεῖν, καὶ ἐκριζοῦν τὰ φυτὰ, τὴν ἐκ τοῦ γράμματος ὠφέλειαν παρατρέχοντες· ἀλλὰ μετὰ πίστεως δεῖ ἐρευνᾷν τὰ ῥητὰ, καὶ διασκαλιδεύειν σὺν ὁδηγίᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὡς ἂν ἀρέσωμεν. τῷ βασιλεῖ τοῦ ἀγροῦ, νοητὸν αὐτοῦ παράδεισον ἐργαζόμενοι. "Ἀγαπῶν ἀργύριον, οὐ πλησθήσεται ἀργυρίου· καί τις ἠγάπησεν ἐν πλήθει αὐτοῦ γεννήματα· καί γε τοῦτο ματαιότης." Τὸ, Καί τις ἠγάπησε ἐν πλήθει αὐτοῦ γεννήματα, ἀντὶ τοῦ, καὶ ὅστις ἠγάπησεν· ἑαυτῷ, καὶ οὐκ εἰς κοινωφελῆ χρείαν, συναγαγεῖν τὰ γεννήματα· ἵνα ᾖ οὕτως· Ὁ φιλάργυρος, εἴτε ἄργυρον, εἴτε γέννημα συναγάγῃ, οὐκ ἐμπίπλαται, ἀεὶ τοῦ πλείονος ἐφιέμενος, δοῦλος μᾶλλον ἢ δεσπότης χρημάτων τυγχάνων. "Ἐν πλήθει ἀγαθοσύνης ἐπληθύνθησαν οἱ ἐσθίοντες αὐτήν· καὶ τίς ἀνδρεία τῷ παρ' αὐτῇ; ὅτι ἀρχὴ 93.545 τοῦ ὁρᾷν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ." Σύμμαχος τὸν τελευταῖον στίχον οὕτως ἐκδέδωκε· Τί γὰρ ἀνδραγάθημα τῷ ἔχοντι αὐτὴν, μὴ εἰ μόνον θεωρία ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ; Ὁ δὲ νοῦς οὕτως· Ἔστι τις τὸ κακὸν ἰσχυρῶς μετιὼν, ὡς ὁ φιλάργυρος ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου συνάγων χρήματα· καί ἐστι αὕτη ἀνδρεία ψεκτή. Οἱ δὲ οὕτως ἰταμῶς φιλάργυροι τοῦτο νομίζουσιν εἶναι ἀγαθὸν, βρῶσιν, καὶ πόσιν, καὶ τὸ τὰ χρήματα βλέπειν αὐτά· ἐν πλήθει οὖν ἀγαθοσύνης, τουτέστι ἐν περιουσίᾳ χρημάτων ἀεὶ πληθυνομένῃ εὐφραίνονται, ὡσανεὶ ἐσθίοντες αὐτὴν οἱ φιλάργυροι. Καὶ τίς ὄνησις τῆς τοιαύτης ἀνδρείας; μέχρι γὰρ τοῦ ὁρᾷν τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν χρημάτων ὁ τοιοῦτος ἔχει· ἀντὶ τοῦ, εἰς οὐδὲν ἕτερον δεσπόζει αὐτῶν, εἰ μὴ εἰς μόνον τὸ προσέχειν αὐτοῖς. Ἄλλως· Ὧν καλῶς πληθύνονται τὰ ἀγαθὰ, πληθύνονται οἱ ἔσθοντες αὐτά. Οἱ γὰρ ἀληθῶς θέλοντες πληθύνειν ἑαυτοῖς τὴν ἀγαθότητα, πολλοὺς ἔχουσι τοῦ πλούτου κοινωνοὺς, τουτέστι τοὺς πένητας. Τί οὖν ὠφέλησε, φησὶ, τὸν ἰταμὸν, καὶ ἀμετάδοτον ἡ τοιαύτη ἀνδρεία, μέχρι μόνου τοῦ βλέπειν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ πλούτου ἡδονὴν χαριζομένη; "Γλυκὺς ὁ ὕπνος τοῦ δούλου, εἰ ὀλίγον, καὶ εἰ πολὺ φάγεται· καὶ τῷ ἐμπλησθέντι τοῦ πλουτῆσαι οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἀφιεὶς τοῦ ὑπνῶσαι αὐτόν." Κατὰ σύγκρισιν ἄμεινον ἀποφαίνεται τὸν δοῦλον ὄντα ἀνθρώπου τοῦ τῇ φιλοχρηματίᾳ δουλεύοντος. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ οἰκέτης ἄφροντις ὢν, ὅπως ἂν διατραφῇ, γλυκὺν ἔχει τὸν ὕπνον. Ὁ δὲ τῶν χρημάτων δοῦλος ἔχει δεσπότην μὴ ἐῶντα αὐτὸν ὑπνῶσαι, τὸν φιλοκερδῆ καὶ πολυμέριμνον λογισμόν. Πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, οἱ Θεῷ δουλεύοντες, γλυκεῖαν ἔχουσι τοῦ βίου τὴν μετάστασιν· ἣν δὴ καλῶς καὶ ὕπνον ἐκάλεσε. Τοὺς δὲ φιλαργύρους οὐχ ὕπνος, ἀλλὰ θάνατος διαδέχεται, οὐκ ἐῶν διαναπαύεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῇ αἰωνίῳ κολάσει παραδιδούς. "Ἔστιν ἀῤῥωστία, ἣν εἶδον ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον, πλοῦτον φυλασσόμενον τῷ παρ' αὐτῷ, εἰς κακίαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπολεῖται ὁ πλοῦτος ἐκεῖνος ἐν περισπασμῷ πονηρῷ." Πάντα τὰ τῆς κακίας εἴδη ψυχῆς εἰσιν ἀῤῥωστήματα. Οὕτω δὲ ἐπιτεταμένον ἀῤῥώστημα, τῆς φιλαργυρίας τὸ νόσημα, ὡς καὶ ῥίζαν αὐτὴν πάντων τῶν κακῶν ὀνομάζεσθαι. Εἶδον οὖν, φησὶ, πλοῦτον φυλασσόμενον ἐπὶ κακῷ τοῦ ἔχοντος· ἢ γὰρ καὶ περιὼν ἀπόλλει τοῦτον ὁ φιλάργυρος, ἔσθ' ὅτε δι' αὐτὸν καὶ ἐπιβουλευόμενος· ἢ πάντως τελευτῶν ἀλλοτριοῦται τούτου, ἄστατα καὶ ἀβέβαια πονέσας ἐπὶ τῷ τοῦτον συναγαγεῖν. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ ἐν περισπασμῷ πονηρῷ. Εἶτα ἐπειδὴ πολλοὶ προφασιζόμενοι παῖδας, συνάγουσι χρήματα, ἀκολούθως ἐπάγει· 93.548 "Καὶ ἐγέννησεν υἱὸν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν χειρὶ αὐτοῦ οὐδέν. Καθὼς ἐξῆλθεν ἀπὸ γαστρὸς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ, γυμνὸς ἐπιστρέψει, τοῦ πορευθῆναι ὡς ἥκει." Ἀλλ' εἰ προφασίζεται τοὺς παῖδας ὁ φιλάργυρος, διερευνησάτω τοῦ τικτομένου παιδίου τὴν χεῖρα, καὶ ὅταν εὕρῃ μὴ μετὰ χρημάτων αὐτὸν τεχθέντα, ζητείτω τοῦτον καὶ τελευτῶντα· καὶ γὰρ εὑρήσει πάλιν γυμνὸν μὲν ἐξελθόντα ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς, γυμνὸν δὲ καὶ τοῦ βίου μεθιστάμενον. Εἶτα ἐπάγει· "Καὶ οὐδὲν λήψεται ἐν μόχθῳ