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But each one is tempted by his own desire. But if you do good, attribute it to the loving-kindness of God; but if evil, attribute it to the wickedness of the devil.

TITLE 10. -Concerning the unstable and uncertain of human affairs

state; and what man is like, and his life; and that present things are vain, and weaker than a shadow. You are strangers and sojourners before me.

We are sojourners before you, and residents, as all our fathers were.

Like a shadow are our days upon the earth. Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. My life is lighter than speech. Our life is a shadow upon the earth. Mortal, born of woman, is of few days, and full of wrath. Or like a flower that has bloomed, it has fallen; it has fled like a shadow, and does not remain. Man is rottenness, and a son of man, a worm. 95.1116 I have considered myself earth and ashes. I am a worm, and not a man. Behold, you have made my days as handbreadths. I am a sojourner with you, and a pilgrim. Remember that we are dust. He remembered that they are flesh, a breath that passes away and does not return. Our years were considered as a spider's web. My days have vanished like smoke. Man, his days are like grass. Man is like to vanity, my days pass away like a shadow. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. For I praised the dead, who have already died, more than the living, and better than both of these is he who has not yet been, who does not know the whole work that is done under the sun. All the labor of man is for his mouth. What has man more than a beast? Nothing; for all is vanity. All his days are of sorrows, and the distraction of wrath. And indeed in the night his heart does not rest. For this also is vanity. As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, he shall return to go as he came, and he will take nothing in his labor, that it may go in his hand; and this is also a grievous evil; for as he came, so shall he also depart. Your fathers, and the prophets, where are they? Shall they live forever? All flesh is grass, and the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls. Behold, all of you shall grow old like a garment, and the moth shall consume you. Fear not the reproach of men, and do not be overcome by their contempt; for like a garment they will grow old, and will be eaten by a moth. Our breath is smoke in our nostrils; and our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud. For our life is the passing of a shadow. What has our pride profited us? And what has wealth with boasting contributed to us? All those things have passed away like a shadow, and like a message running past, like a ship passing through, the surging water; of which, when it has passed by, it is not possible to find a trace, nor a path of its course in the waves; or like a bird flying through the air, no sign of its passage is found. 95.1117 All flesh grows old like a garment, like a green leaf on a leafy tree, some it casts down, and others it puts forth. So is a generation of flesh and blood. All men are earth and ashes. We are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. The number of a man's days is one hundred years at most; as a drop of water from the sea, and a grain of sand, so are a few years in the days of eternity. We brought nothing into the world, it is clear that we can take nothing out. What is our life? For it is a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. Life is called a way because of the haste of each one who is born toward the end. For just as those sleeping in ships are automatically drawn by the wind to harbors, even if they themselves do not perceive it but its course hastens to the end; so also we, as the time of our life flows by, as if by some continuous and unceasing motion, each one is hurried toward his own end by the unseen course of our life. As

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Ἕκαστος δὲ πειράζεται ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπιθυμίας. Ἐὰν δὲ ποιῇς ἀγαθὸν, τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίᾳ ἐπίγραψον· ἐὰν δὲ πονηρὸν, τῇ τοῦ διαβόλου πονηρίᾳ ἐπίγραψον.

ΤΙΤΛ. Ιʹ. -Περὶ τῆς ἀστάτου καὶ ἀβεβαίου τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων

καταστάσεως· καὶ τίνι ἔοικεν ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ὁ βίος αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὅτι μάταια τὰ παρόντα, καὶ σκιᾶς ἀδρανέστερα. Προσήλυτοι καὶ πάροικοι ὑμεῖς ἐστε ἐναντίον μου.

Πάροικοί ἐσμεν ἐναντίον σου, καὶ κατοικοῦντες, ὡς πάντες οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν.

Ὡς σκιὰ αἱ ἡμέραι ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Γυμνὸς ἐξῆλθον ἐκ κοιλίας τῆς μητρός μου, γυμνὸς καὶ ἀπελεύσομαι ἐκεῖ. Ὁ βίος μου ἐστὶν ἐλαφρότερος λαλιᾶς. Σκιά ἐστιν ὁ βίος ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Βροτὸς γενητὸς τῆς γυναικὸς, ὀλιγόβιος, καὶ πλήρης ὀργῆς. Ἢ ὥσπερ ἄνθος ἀνθῆσαν ἐξέπεσεν· ἀπέδρα δὲ ὥσπερ σκιὰ, καὶ οὐ μὴ στῇ. Ἄνθρωπος σαπρία, καὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου, σκῶληξ. 95.1116 Ἥγημαι ἐμαυτὸν γῆν καὶ σποδόν. Ἐγώ εἰμι σκώληξ, καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος. Ἰδοὺ παλαιστὰς ἔθου τὰς ἡμέρας μου. Πάροικος ἐγώ εἰμι παρὰ σοὶ καὶ παρεπίδημος. Μνήσθητι, ὅτι χοῦς ἐσμεν. Ἐμνήσθη, ὅτι σάρξ εἰσι, πνεῦμα πορευόμενον, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιστρέφον. Τὰ ἔτη ἡμῶν ὡσεὶ ἀράχνη ἐμελέτων. Ἐξέλιπον ὡσεὶ καπνὸς αἱ ἡμέραι μου. Ἄνθρωπος ὡσεὶ χόρτος αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτοῦ. Ἄνθρωπος ματαιότητι ὁμοιωθεὶς, αἱ ἡμέραι μοι ὡσεὶ σκιὰ παράγουσιν. Ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων, τὰ πάντα ματαιότης. Ἐπῄνεσα γὰρ τοὺς τεθνηκότας, τοὺς ἤδη ἀποθανόντας ὑπὲρ τοὺς ζῶντας, καὶ ἀγαθὸς ὑπὲρ δύο τούτους, ὅστις οὔπω ἐγένετο, ὃς οὐκ οἶδε σύμπαν τὸ ποίημα τὸ πεποιημένον ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον. Πᾶς μόχθος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἰς τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ. Τί ἐπερίσσευσεν ἀνθρώπῳ παρὰ τὸ κτῆνος; οὐδέν· ὅτι πάντα ματαιότης. Πᾶσαι αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτοῦ ἀλγημάτων, καὶ θυμοῦ περισπασμός. Καί γε ἐν νυκτὶ οὐ κοιμᾶται ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο ματαιότης ἐστί. Καθὼς ἐξῆλθεν ἀπὸ γαστρὸς μητρὸς γυμνὸς, ἐπιστρέψει τοῦ πορευθῆναι ὡς ἤκει, καὶ οὐδὲν λήψεται ἐν μόχθῳ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα πορευθῇ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ· καί γε τοῦτο πονηρὰ ἀῤῥωστία· ὥσπερ γὰρ παρεγένετο, οὕτως καὶ ἀπελεύσεται. Οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ οἱ προφῆται ποῦ εἰσίν; μὴ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ζήσονται. Πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος, καὶ δόξα ἀνθρώπου, ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου. Ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος αὐτοῦ ἐξέπεσεν. Ἰδοὺ πάντες ὑμεῖς ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσεσθε, καὶ ὁ σὴς καταφάγεται ὑμᾶς. Μὴ φοβήθητε ὀνειδισμὸν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ τῷ φαυλισμῷ αὐτῶν μὴ ἡττᾶσθε· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται, καὶ βρωθήσεται ὑπὸ σητός. Καπνὸς ἡ πνοὴ ἐν ῥισὶν ἡμῶν· καὶ παρελεύσεται ὁ βίος ἡμῶν ὡς ἴχνη νεφέλης. Σκιᾶς γὰρ πάροδος ὁ βίος ἡμῶν. Τί ὠφέλησεν ἡμᾶς ἡ ὑπερηφανία ἡμῶν; καὶ τί πλοῦτος μετὰ ἀλαζονείας συμβέβληται ἡμῖν; Παρῆλθεν ἐκεῖνα πάντα ὡς σκιὰ, καὶ ὡς ἀγγελία παρατρέχουσα, ὡς ναῦς διερχομένη, κυμαινόμενον ὕδωρ· ἧς διαβάσης, οὐκ ἔστιν ἴχνος εὑρεῖν, οὐδὲ ἀτραπὸν πορείας αὐτῆς ἐν κύμασιν· ἢ ὡς ὀρνέου διϊπτάντος ἀέρα, οὐδὲν εὑρίσκεται τεκμήριον πορείας. 95.1117 Πᾶσα σὰρξ ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιοῦται, ὡς φύλλον θᾶλλον ἐπὶ δένδρου δασέος, τὰ μὲν καταβάλλει, ἄλλα δὲ φύει. Οὕτως γενεὰ σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος. Ἄνθρωποι πάντες, γῆ καὶ σποδός. Ξένοι καὶ παρεπίδημοί ἐσμεν ἐπὶ γῆς. Ἀριθμὸς ἡμερῶν ἀνθρώπου, πολλὰ ἔτη ἑκατόν· ὡς σταγὼν ὕδατος ἀπὸ θαλάσσης, καὶ ψῆφος ἄμμου, οὕτως ὀλίγα ἔτη ἐν ἡμέραις αἰῶνος. Οὐδὲν εἰσηνέγκαμεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον, δῆλον ὅτι οὐδὲν ἐξενεγκεῖν δυνάμεθα. Ποία ζωὴ ἡμῶν ἐστιν; ἀτμὴ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ πρὸς ὀλίγον φαινομένη, ἔπειτα καὶ ἀφανιζομένη. Ὁδὸς ὁ βίος εἴρηται διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἑκάστου τῶν γεννηθέντων ἔπειξιν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ ἐν τοῖς πλοίοις καθεύδοντες, αὐτομάτως ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος ἐπὶ λιμένας ἕλκονται, κἂν αὐτοὶ μὴ αἰσθάνωνται ἀλλ' ὁ δρόμος αὐτῆς πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἐπείγει· οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς, τοῦ χρόνου τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν παραῤῥέοντος, οἷόν τινι κινήσει συνεχεῖ καὶ ἀπαύστῳ πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον ἕκαστος τὸ πέρας τῷ λανθάνοντι δρόμῳ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν κατεπειγόμεθα. Οἷον