23.  Who did more to rebuke pride and foster lowliness?  And that in no assumed or external way, as most of those who now make profession of virtue, and are in appearance as elegant as the most mindless women, who, for lack of beauty of their own, take refuge in pigments, and are, if I may say so, splendidly made up, uncomely in their comeliness, and more ugly than they originally were.  For his lowliness was no matter of dress, but of spiritual disposition:  nor was it expressed by a bent neck, or lowered voice, or downcast look, or length of beard, or close-shaven head, or measured gait, which can be adopted for a while, but are very quickly exposed, for nothing which is affected can be permanent.  No! he was ever most lofty in life, most lowly in mind; inaccessible in virtue, most accessible in intercourse.  His dress had in it nothing remarkable, avoiding equally magnificence and sordidness, while his internal brilliancy was supereminent.  The disease and insatiability of the belly, he, if anyone, held in check, but without ostentation; so that he might be kept down without being puffed up, from having encouraged a new vice by his pursuit of reputation.  For he held that doing and saying everything by which fame among externs might be won, is the characteristic of the politician, whose chief happiness is found in the present life:  but that the spiritual and Christian man should look to one object alone, his salvation, and think much of what may contribute to this, but detest as of no value what does not; and accordingly despise what is visible, but be occupied with interior perfection alone, and estimate most highly whatever promotes his own improvement, and attracts others through himself to that which is supremely good.

ΚΓʹ. Τίς δὲ πλέον, ἢ τῦφον ἐκόλασεν, ἢ ταπεινοφροσύνην ἠγάπησε, καὶ ταύτην οὐκ ἐπιπλάστως, οὐδὲ ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς, ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν νῦν προσποιουμένων φιλοσοφεῖν, καὶ κομψοὶ τὸ φαινόμενον, κατὰ τὰς ἀφρονεστάτας τῶν γυναικῶν, αἳ ἀποροῦσαι κάλλους οἰκείου πρὸς τὰ χρώματα καταφεύγουσι, καὶ εἰσί πως, ὡς ἂν εἴποιμι, κοσμίως θεατριζόμεναι, δι' εὐσχημοσύνην ἀσχήμονες, καὶ δι' αἶσχρος αἰσχρότεραι; Οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἐσθῆτι τὸ ταπεινὸν ἦν αὐτῷ, ἀλλ' ἐν ψυχῆς καταστήματι: οὐδὲ θρύψις αὐχένος, ἢ φωνῆς ὕφεσις, ἢ προσώπου νεῦσις, ἢ βάθος ὑπήνης, ἢ κεφαλῆς ἐν χρῷ κόσμησις, ἢ βαδίσματος ἦθος τὸ ταπεινὸν ὑπεκρίνετο, τὰ πρὸς ὀλίγον τυπούμενα, καὶ τάχιστα ἐλεγχόμενα: πᾶν γὰρ ὃ προσποιητὸν, οὐδὲ μόνιμον. Ἀλλ' ἦν ὁ αὐτὸς ὑψηλότατος μὲν τῷ βίῳ, ταπεινότατος δὲ τῷ φρονήματι: καὶ τὴν μὲν ἀρετὴν ἀπρόσιτος, τὴν συνουσίαν δὲ καὶ λίαν εὐπρόσιτος. Καὶ συνήθης μὲν τὴν ἀμπεχόνην, ἐπίσης φεύγων καὶ τὸ ὑψηλὸν καὶ τὸ ταπεινόν: ὑπὲρ δὲ πολλοὺς τὴν ἔνδον λαμπρότητα. Καὶ γαστρὸς νόσον, καὶ ἀπληστίαν δαμάζων μὲν, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος, οὐ δοκῶν δέ: τὸ μὲν ἵνα καθαίρηται τὸ δὲ ἵνα μὴ ὑπεραίρηται, τῷ καινῷ θηρώμενος τὸ εὐδόκιμον. Πολιτικοῦ μὲν γὰρ ἔργον εἶναι πάντα ποιεῖν καὶ λέγειν, ἐξ ὧν εὐδοκιμήσει παρὰ τοῖς ἔξωθεν, ᾧ μηδέν ἐστι τοῦ παρόντος βίου μακαριώτερον: πνευματικοῦ δὲ καὶ τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς, πρὸς ἓν μόνον βλέπειν, τὴν σωτηρίαν, καὶ ὃ μὲν ἂν εἰς τοῦτο φέρῃ, μέγα οἴεσθαι, ὃ δ' ἂν μὴ, διαπτύειν ὡς μηδενὸς ἄξιον: καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, τὸ μὲν ὁρώμενον ἀτιμάζειν, ὅπως δ' ἂν ἐντὸς κάλλιστα ἔχοι, τοῦτο μόνον σκοπεῖν, καὶ ταῦτα περὶ πολλοῦ ποιεῖσθαι, ἐξ ὧν αὐτός τε πλείστου ἄξιος ἔσται, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἕλξει δι' ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιστον.