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You envy the best, and by the wicked I am pitied. For nothing is more wretched than the wicked, Even if they run well to a perilous end. You spit upon the poor, as if of another God I know one creation, all to one judgment Will come. But the second creation is character. You are lifted up by good things; I am chastened by fear. You are bent by hardships; I am lightened by hopes. For nothing abides, but flows in long time. Night has stopped day, and day the night; 662 And grief, joy, and calamity, pleasant things Has stopped; therefore, one must not heed them, as if they were fixed. To you nothing is terrible, not even extreme evils; For luxury somehow opposes being prudent. But to me, even small things appear as grief. For sin is alienation from God; How could I bear being deprived of God? For you, good sleep and positions on two sides. And pleasant dreams, types of things in the day. You drink, you gamble, you take, you play, you laugh. But for me, the greatest part of life is sleepless, For toils prick me even while I sleep And if I snatch a little sleep, I weep; The phantoms of a wild night also frighten me, Judgment, an impartial judge, a trembling standing-place. 663 From here a spring of unquenchable fire raging, From there a worm eating eternally; In the middle, conscience, an unwritten accuser. God is God to you, if he brings favorable things; To me he is to be revered, even if he brings the opposite. For my suffering is a medicine of salvation. The more I am hard pressed, the nearer I come To God; for suffering binds me fast to God. For a pursuing army also brings one to the walls, For you, children, a wife and friends are comforters, Things which the greatest calamity also removes. But for me, God is a support and consolation When I am hungry, and shivering, and in distress. Be insolent, strike, call me low-born, poor, Trample, use force, you will be insolent for a short time. 664 I bring all things to God, to whom I also look. I send my thought to the later life; There I establish myself. I know nothing of the things below. Thus I am easily freed from what is grievous. And what else? Today for you not to receive The vote, is unbearable, as it seems to me; For that which always prevails does not bear being overcome. But for me it is the same to receive it and not to receive it. God is sufficient for me, even if another carries off all things, This is the greatest glory for my victory. Cosm. What then if some of the highest fall? Pn. What then if some of the second rank also fall? For it is possible for both to succeed and to fall. Equal to equal, but I consider much worse Those who fall in the first life; 665 So much am I opposed to the wicked. For of those whose rule is more honored when they prevail, The fall of these when they have fallen is more wretched. But I ask this, not to reckon in a life If someone is most wicked; for he is hostile to life. But to examine oneself and test one's character Of good and bad things alike in opposition, And for the lesser not to sink down in the scale, For it is not just, but for the greater to prevail. And so you would know how great the difference between the two lives is, Do not for me the best of donkeys with a bad horse Compare, nor of the worldly life The best man, with the worst of mine; For they would appear better, I will not deny it. But if you were to set the best against the best, and the bad against the bad 666 In opposition, you would learn how much I prevail. Consider also this, how much in all time Is your stumbling, and among us what prevails. But they say one swallow does not bring The beautiful spring, nor one hair old age. What do you say? Do you give the vote? Or shall I bid you farewell? Crit. I give it; how could I not? I shall then think It right to prefer the lower life to yours, When, having gone mad, I shall make some mortal equal to God; But if I do not go mad, I will not be persuaded of this either. But depart; and it will be better if you hold yourselves peacefully Both toward one another and toward the great God, You, on the one hand, assigning the first place to the first life, And you, on the other, accepting the second as a brother. 667 If indeed he does not have the first place, what prevents Him from having the second? This too is not a dishonor. Thus our life would be safe. IX. Concerning virtue. I long for virtue, but this it has not taught me, What it is, and whence it will come to me, Though I long for it very much. But unfulfilled desire is a pain. If indeed it is a pure stream, not mixed With wintry waters, and with voiceless torrents from ravines, I seek who has made it upon the earth. For either he brought up Mire from his heart, or he received it, dragging heavy flesh 668 And being troubled by the gloomy enemy from without Of our life, and by the muddy pit. For it was not fitting, since I am a flow

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Φθονεῖς ἀρίστοις, καὶ κακοῖς οἰκτίζομαι. Κακῶν γὰρ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἀθλιώτερον, Κἂν εὐδρομῶσιν εἰς ἐπισφαλὲς τέλος. ∆ιαπτύεις πένητας, ὡς ἄλλου Θεοῦ Ἓν οἶδα πλάσμα, πάντας εἰς μίαν κρίσιν Ἥξοντας. Ἀλλ' ἡ δευτέρα πλάσις, τρόπος Χρηστοῖς ἐπαίρῃ· σωφρονίζομαι φόβῳ. Κάμπτῃ μογηροῖς· ἐλπίσιν κουφίζομαι. Μένει γὰρ οὐδὲν, ἀλλὰ ῥεῖ μακρῷ χρόνῳ. Νὺξ ἡμέραν ἔπαυσε, νύκτα δ' ἡμέρα· 662 Χαρὰν δὲ λύπη, καὶ τὰ τερπνὰ συμφορὰν Ἔστησεν· οὔκουν, ὡς παγίοις, προσεκτέον. Σοὶ δεινὸν οὐδὲν, οὐδὲ τῶν ἄγαν κακῶν· Τῷ γὰρ φρονεῖν πως τὸ τρυφᾷν ἐνίσταται. Ἐμοὶ δὲ πένθος, καὶ τὰ μικρὰ φαίνεται. Θεοῦ γὰρ ἀλλοτρίωσις ἡ ἁμαρτία· Πῶς δ' ἂν φέροιμι ζημιούμενος Θεόν; Σοὶ χρηστὸς ὕπνος καὶ δύο πλευρῶν θέσεις. Ἡδεῖς δ' ὄνειροι τῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τύποι. Πίνεις, κυβεύεις, λαμβάνεις, παίζεις, γελᾷς. Ἐμοὶ δ' ἄϋπνον τοῦ βίου πλεῖστον μέρος, Κεντοῦσι γάρ με καὶ καθεύδονθ' οἱ πόνοι Ἂν δ' ἁρπάσω τι μικρὸν ὕπνου, δακρύω· Φοβεῖ με καὶ εἴδωλα νυκτὸς ἀγρίας, Κρίσις, δικαστὴς ἄῤῥοπος, ἔντρομος στάσις. 663 Πηγὴ παφλάζουσ' ἔνθεν ἀσβέστου πυρὸς Σκώληξ ἐκεῖθεν ἐσθίων ἀϊδίως· Μέσον συνειδὸς, ἄγραφος κατήγορος Θεὸς Θεός σοι, ἢν φέρῃ τὰ δεξιά· Ἐμοὶ σεβαστὸς, κἂν φέρῃ τἀναντία. Τὸ γάρ με κάμνειν, φάρμακον σωτηρίας. Ὅσον πιέζομ', ἔρχομαι τόσῳ πέλας Θεοῦ· τὸ γὰρ πάσχειν με συσφίγγει Θεῷ. Καὶ γὰρ στρατὸς διώκων εἰς τείχη φέρει, Παῖδες, γυνὴ σοὶ καὶ φίλοι παρήγοροι, Ἃ καὶ μεθίσταθ' ἡ μεγίστη συμφορά. Ἐμοὶ δ' ἔρεισμα καὶ παραψυχὴ Θεὸς Πεινῶντι, καὶ ῥιγοῦντι καὶ στενουμένῳ. Ὕβριζε, παῖε, δυσγενῆ, πτωχὸν κάλει, Πάτει, βιάζου, μικρὸν ὑβρίσεις χρόνον. 664 Θεῷ φέρω τὰ πάντα πρὸς ὃν καὶ βλέπω. Πέμπω λογισμὸν εἰς βίον τὸν ὕστερον· Ἐκεῖ καθίσταμ'. Οὐδὲν οἶδα τῶν κάτω. Οὕτω τὸ λυποῦν ῥᾳδίως ἐκλύομαι. Τί τ' ἄλλα; σήμερον δὲ σοὶ μὲν μὴ λαβεῖν Τὴν ψῆφον, οὐ φορητὸν, ὥς γ' ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ· Οὐ γὰρ φέρει κρατούμενον τὸ κρατοῦν ἀεί. Ἴσον δ' ἐμοὶ λαβεῖν τε καὶ τὸ μὴ λαβεῖν. Ἀρκεῖ Θεός μοι, κἂν τὰ πάντ' ἄλλος φέρῃ, Τοῦτ' εὐκλεὲς μέγιστον εἰς νίκην ἐμοί. Κοσμ. Τί οὖν ἐὰν πέσωσι τῶν ἄκρων τινές; Πν. Τί οὖν ἐὰν πέσωσι καὶ τῶν δευτέρων; Καὶ γὰρ κατορθοῦν ἔστιν ἀμφοῖν, καὶ πεσεῖν. Ἴσον πρὸς ἴσον, ἀλλ' ἐγὼ χείρους πολὺ Τίθημι τοὺς πίπτοντας ἐν πρώτῳ βίῳ· 665 Τοσοῦτόν εἰμι τοῖς κακοῖς ἐναντίος. Ὧν γὰρ κρατούντων τιμιώτερον κράτος, Τούτων πεσόντων πτῶσις ἀθλιωτέρα. Ἐκεῖνο δ' αἰτῶ μὴ λογίζεσθαι βίῳ Εἴ τις κάκιστος· τῷ βίῳ γὰρ δυσμενής. Σκοπεῖν δ' ἐφ' αὑτῷ καὶ δοκιμάζειν τὸν τρόπον Καλῶν θ' ὁμοίως καὶ κακῶν κατ' ἀντίον, Καὶ μὴ τὸ μεῖον ἐν ζυγῷ καταῤῥέπειν, Οὐ γὰρ δίκαιον, ἰσχύειν δὲ τὸ πλέον. Γνοίης δ' ἂν οὕτω τοῖν βίοιν ὅσον μέσον, Μή μοι τὸν ἄκρον τῶν ὄνων ἵππων κακῷ Ἀντεξετάζειν, μηδὲ κοσμικοῦ βίου Ἄριστον ἄνδρα, τῷ κακίστῳ τῶν ἐμῶν· Κρείττους γὰρ ἂν φανεῖεν, οὐκ ἀρνήσομαι. Εἰ δ' ἄκρον ἄκρῳ, καὶ κακὸν θείης κακῷ 666 Ἐναντίους, μάθοις ἂν ὁπόσον κρατῶ. Σκόπει κἀκεῖνο, ὅσον ἐν παντὶ χρόνῳ Τὸ πταῖσαι ὑμῖν, καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν τὸ κρατοῦν. Μίαν δέ φασιν οὐ φέρειν χελιδόνα Ἔαρ τὸ καλὸν, οὐδὲ γὰρ γῆρας τρίχα. Τί φῇς; δίδως τὴν ψῆφον; ἢ χαίρειν ἐῶ; Κριτ. ∆ίδωμι· πῶς δ' οὔ; τηνικαῦτ' οἰήσομαι Χρῆναι προτιμᾷν τὸν κάτω τοῦ σοῦ βίου, Ὅταν Θεῷ βροτῶν τιν' ἰσώσω μανείς· Εἰ δ' οὐ μανήσομ', οὐδὲ τοῦτο πείσομαι. Ἀλλ' ἄπιτε· λώϊον δ' ἢν ἔχητ' εἰρηνικῶς Ἄμφω πρὸς ἀλλήλους τε καὶ Θεὸν μέγαν, Σὺ μὲν νέμων τὰ πρῶτα τῷ πρώτῳ βίῳ, Σὺ δ' ὡς ἀδελφὸν δεύτερον προσλαμβάνων. 667 Εἴ τοι τὸ πρῶτον οὐκ ἔχει, τί κωλύει Ἔχειν τὰ δεύτερ'; οὐδὲ τοῦτ' ἀτιμία. Οὕτως ἂν ἡμῖν ἀσφαλὴς εἴη βίος. Θʹ. Περὶ ἀρετῆς. Τὴν ἀρετὴν ποθέω μὲν, ἀτὰρ τόδε μ' οὐκ ἐδίδαξεν, Ἥτις δὴ τελέθει, καὶ ὁππόθεν ἵξετ' ἔμοιγε, Καὶ μάλα περ ποθέοντι. Πόθος δ' ἀτέλεστος, ἀνίη. Εἰ μὲν δὴ καθαρὸς τελέθει ῥόος, οὐκ ἐπίμικτος Ὕδασι χειμερίοισι, χαραδραίοισί τ' ἀναύροις, ∆ίζημ' ὅς μιν ἔτετμεν ἐπὶ χθονός. Ἢ γὰρ ἀνέσχε Βόρβορον ἐκ κραδίης, ἢ δέξατο, σάρκα βαρεῖαν 668 Ἕλκων, καὶ ζοφόεντι θολούμενος ἔκτοθεν ἐχθρῷ Ζωῆς ἡμετέρης, καὶ ἰλυόεντι βερέθρῳ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦεν ἐοικὸς, ἐπεὶ ῥύσις εἰμὶ