26.  For I do not praise the disorder and irregularity which sometimes exist among us, even in those who preside over the sanctuary.  I do not venture, nor is it just, to accuse them all.  I approve the nautical custom, which first gives the oar to the future steersman, and afterward leads him to the stern, and entrusts him with the command, and seats him at the helm, only after a long course of striking the sea and observing the winds.  As is the case again in military affairs:  private, captain, general.  This order is the best and most advantageous for their subordinates.  And if it were so in our case, it would be of great service.  But, as it is, there is a danger of the holiest of all offices being the most ridiculous among us.  For promotion depends not upon virtue, but upon villany; and the sacred thrones fall not to the most Worthy, but to the most powerful.  Samuel, the seer into futurity, is among the prophets:  but Saul, the rejected one, is also there.  Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, is among the kings, but so also is Jeroboam, the slave and apostate.  And there is not a physician, or a painter who has not first studied the nature of diseases, or mixed many colours, or practised drawing:  but a prelate is easily found, without laborious training, with a reputation of recent date, being sown and springing up in a moment, as the legend43    The legend, i.e., of Cadmus who sowed at Thebes the dragon’s teeth from which sprung giants. of the giants goes.  We manufacture those who are holy in a day, and bid those to be wise, who have had no instruction, and have contributed nothing before to their dignity, except the will.  So one man is content with an inferior position, and abides in his low estate, who is worthy of a lofty one, and has meditated much on the inspired words, and has reduced the flesh by many laws into subjection to the spirit:  while the other haughtily takes precedence, and raises his eyebrow over his betters, and does not tremble at his position, nor is he appalled at the sight, seeing the disciplined man beneath him; and wrongly supposes himself to be his superior in wisdom as well as in rank, having lost his senses under the influence of his position.

Οὐκ ἐπαινῶ γὰρ ἐγὼ τὴν παρ' ἡμῖν ἀταξίαν καὶ ἀκοσμίαν, ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ ἐφ' ὧν προεδρευόντων ἐν βήμασιν: οὐ γὰρ ἁπάντων τολμήσω κατηγορεῖν, οὐδὲ δίκαιον. Ἐπαινῶ τὸν νηΐτην νόμον, ὃς τὴν κώπην πρότερον ἐγχειρίσας τῷ νῦν κυβερνήτῃ κἀκεῖθεν ἐπὶ τὴν πρώραν ἀγαγὼν καὶ πιστεύσας τὰ ἔμπροσθεν, οὕτως ἐπὶ τῶν οἰάκων καθίζει, μετὰ τὴν πολλὴν τυφθεῖσαν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀνέμων διάσκεψιν: ὡς δὲ κἀν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ἔχει: στρατιώτης, ταξίαρχος, στρατηγός. Αὕτη ἡ τάξις ἀρίστη καὶ λυσιτελεστάτη τοῖς ἀρχομένοις. Τὸ δ' ἡμέτερον πολλοῦ ἂν ἦν ἄξιον, εἰ οὕτως εἶχε. Νῦν δὲ κινδυνεύει τὸ πάντων ἁγιώτατον τάγμα τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν πάντων εἶναι καταγελαστότατον. Οὐ γὰρ ἐξ ἀρετῆς μᾶλλον ἢ κακουργίας ἡ προεδρία, οὐδὲ τῶν ἀξιωτέρων ἀλλὰ τῶν δυνατωτέρων οἱ θρόνοι. Σαμουὴλ ἐν προφήταις, ὁ τὰ ἔμπροσθεν βλέπων: ἀλλὰ καὶ Σαούλ, ὁ ἀπόβλητος. Ῥοβοὰμ ἐν βασιλεῦσι, ὁ Σολομῶντος: ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἱεροβοάμ, ὁ δοῦλος καὶ ἀποστάτης. Καὶ ἰατρὸς μὲν οὐδεὶς οὐδὲ ζωγράφος, ὅστις οὐ φύσεις ἀρρωστημάτων ἐσκέψατο πρότερον, ἢ πολλὰ χρώματα συνεκέρασεν ἢ ἐμόρφωσεν: ὁ δὲ πρόεδρος εὑρίσκεται ῥᾳδίως μὴ πονηθείς, καὶ πρόσφατος τὴν ἀξίαν, ὁμοῦ τε σπαρεὶς καὶ ἀναδοθείς, ὡς ὁ μῦθος ποιεῖ τοὺς Γίγαντας. Πλάττομεν αὐθημερὸν τοὺς ἁγίους, καὶ σοφοὺς εἶναι κελεύομεν, τοὺς οὐδὲν σοφισθέντας, οὐδὲ τοῦ βαθμοῦ προεισενεγκόντας τι, πλὴν τοῦ βούλεσθαι. Καὶ ὁ μὲν στέργει τὴν κάτω χώραν καὶ ταπεινῶς ἕστηκεν, ὁ τῆς ὑψηλῆς ἄξιος, καὶ πολλὰ μὲν τοῖς θείοις λόγοις ἐμμελετήσας, πολλὰ δὲ τῇ σαρκὶ νομοθετήσας εἰς ὑποταγὴν πνεύματος: ὁ δὲ σοβαρῶς προκαθέζεται καὶ τὴν ὀφρὺν αἴρει κατὰ τῶν βελτιόνων, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιτρέμει τοῖς θρόνοις, οὐδὲ φρίσσει τὴν ὄψιν τὸν ἐγκρατῆ κάτω βλέπων: ἀλλ' ὁμοῦ τῷ κράτει, καὶ σοφώτερον ἑαυτὸν ὑπολαμβάνει, κακῶς εἰδὼς καὶ τὸ φρονεῖν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐξουσίας ἀφῃρημένος.