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the maiden, and having appeared most worthy to the Phaeacians themselves, to be manifestly a praise of virtue? I praise the Phrygian myth, which is well put; For when Midas asked for all things to become full of gold, as a penalty for his excess, 710 God grants him the very things he desired to obtain; The gold was inedible; and he who had it was a corpse. What are foreign myths and teachings to me? Consider for me now my own laws. For me, the first family is beautiful, from which I came forth, and toward which I wing my life, trying to release myself from bonds. But that which springs from limbs and decay, from illustrious dead and long-rotted men, which those below call nobility, is no more noble than flowing dung. And the fatherland of bodies is not free, but a slave to tributes, and poorly divided bounded by gulfs of the sea and by glens, 711 changing many wretched inhabitants, itself both mother and tomb of its offspring, striking those who strike. O justice, justice for the first-formed man's tasting and error! But that which is sought by the wise instead of this, toward which we look and are not buffeted here, like some grass carried upon the waters, is a broad, boundless place of noble tabernacles, ruled by its inhabitants forever, a mother of the living, and a stranger to toils, a chorus unceasingly hymning great Christ, and an assembly of the firstborn written in heaven and in the eternal books. 712 And I praise the glory laid up for me above, a just measure, a most unerring beauty. But that which is here, is a breeze and an empty grace of empty things; The just one adds not a single thing; but the untrue one leads to harm. For seeming has taken much from being. And wealth that is flowing and full of drunkenness, blind in sight and wandering about, puffing many up and vainly drawing up fortune, is some swelling of the belly filled with dropsy. May this remedy full of sickness go to others, this honored plaything of opportunity and envy. But for me, wealth is unenvious and remaining, 713 stable, inviolable, highest of possessions, to have acquired nothing except God and the things above. For one could not, even if he wished, acquire all things, nor has anyone yet acquired them; but it is possible to despise all things at once, and for this way to be better than all things. Let others array phalanxes of hoplites, and suffer more evils than they inflict, striking, wailing, in unstable turns of the scale fighting at close quarters, buying with blood some mass of wealth, or the power of tyranny. Let others measure the gulfs of the land and of the wild sea, unfortunate merchants. And let others weave suits and contrary laws with zeal, for the sake of small gains; 714 But for me, Christ is the price for all things, and I bear the poor cross richly, having cast away the things of moths and the turn of dice. His first law, the first delight, is Eden and a paradise flourishing with plants, and a spring cut into four sources. Not gold, not electrum, nor silver, not the grace of fair-colored and shining stones, which the earth gives to those who have stooped downward; but with fruits alone it nourished abundantly the workman of God and of divine delight. And there a certain limit was measured for pleasure; for it kept him from the tree of the knowledge of opposites. Which not being kept, deprived me of everything, and gave me to the toils of my mother earth. 715 Of which one is, to have more than is necessary and to know no measure of possession, making the worse remedy for evil, thirsting, being parched by the very drink. From which, consider what happens, how paradoxical, that possessing they are always poor in what is lacking, and they cannot have enjoyment of what is possessed, because of what is not present; for it even wastes the mind. This is the first law of the simple life, and that is the second. Abraham the patriarch, the great seer of God, having drawn out from house, and family, and fatherland, the steward of the greatest mysteries, moved him easily to a foreign land, 716 a stranger, a sojourner, homeless, wandering. For faith drew him on with greater hopes; and Jacob asked only for bread and covering, once rushing into the midst of rivers, as the story goes, even if he returns later with many cattle, having found this just reward for his labors. And

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παρθένον, Φαίαξί τ' αὐτοῖς ἄξιος πλείστου φανεὶς, Εἶναι προδήλως τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐγκώμιον; Τὸν μῦθον αἰνῶ τὸν Φρύγιον, ὃς εὖ ἔχει· Μίδᾳ γὰρ αἰτήσαντι πάντα χρυσίου Πλήρη γενέσθαι, τῆς ἀμετρίας δίκην 710 Θεὸς δίδωσιν ὦνπερ ἠξίου τυχεῖν· Ὁ χρυσὸς ἦν ἄβρωτος· ὃς δ' εἶχεν, νέκυς. Τί μοι ξένων μύθων τε καὶ διδαγμάτων; Αὐτοὺς σκόπει μοι τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἤδη νόμους. Ἐμοὶ γένος μέν ἐστι τὸ πρῶτον καλὸν, Οὗπερ προῆλθον, καὶ πρὸς ὃ πτερῶ βίον, ∆εσμῶν ἐμαυτὸν ἐκλύειν πειρώμενος. Ἡ δ' ἐκ μελῶν τε καὶ φθορᾶς ὁρμωμένη, Νεκρῶν τε λαμπρῶν καὶ πάλαι σεσηπότων, Ἣν δὴ καλοῦσιν εὐγένειαν οἱ κάτω, Κόπρου ῥεούσης οὐδὲν εὐγενεστέρα. Πατρὶς δὲ σωμάτων μὲν οὐκ ἐλευθέρα, Φόρων τε δούλη, καὶ κακῶς τετμημένη Κόλποις θαλάσσης καὶ νάπαις περίγραφος, 711 Πολλοὺς ἀμείβουσ' ἀθλίους οἰκήτορας, Αὐτή γε μήτηρ καὶ τάφος γεννημάτων, Κόπτουσα τοὺς κόπτοντας. Ὦ δίκη, δίκη Τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου γεύσεώς τε καὶ πλάνης! Ἡ δ' ἀντὶ ταύτης τοῖς σοφοῖς ζητουμένη Πρὸς ἣν βλέποντες ἐνθάδ' οὐ ῥοιζούμεθα, Ὥσπερ πόα τι ἐφ' ὑδάτων ὀχουμένη, Πλατεῖ ἀτέρμων εὐγενῶν σκηνωμάτων, Κρατουμένη τε τοῖς κατοίκοις εἰς ἀεὶ, Ζώντων τε μήτηρ, καὶ μόγων ἀλλοτρία, Χορός τ' ἄπαυστα Χριστὸν ὑμνούντων μέγαν, Πανήγυρίς τε πρωτοτόκων γεγραμμένων Ἐν οὐρανοῖς βίβλοις τε ταῖς αἰωνίοις. 712 ∆όξαν τ' ἐπαινῶ τὴν ἄνω μοι κειμένην, Σταθμὴν δικαίαν, καλὸν ἀψευδέστατον. Ἡ δ' ἐνθάδ', αὖρα καὶ κενῶν κενὴ χάρις· Ἡ μὲν δικαία προστίθησιν οὐδὲ ἕν· Ἡ δ' οὐκ ἀληθὴς εἰς βλάβην καθίσταται. Τὸ γὰρ δοκεῖν, ὑφεῖλε τοῦ εἶναι πολύ. Πλοῦτος δ' ὁ μὲν ῥέων τε καὶ μέθης πλέως, Ὄψιν τε πηρὸς καὶ περιπλανώμενος, Φυσῶν τε πολλοὺς καὶ κενῶς ἀντλῶν τύχην, Γαστρός τις ὄγκος ὑδέρου πεπλησμένος. Ἄλλοις προσέρποι φάρμακον νόσου γέμον Καιροῦ φθόνου τε παίγνιον τιμώμενον. Ἐμοὶ δὲ πλοῦτος ἄφθονός τε καὶ μένων, 713 Ἑστὼς, ἄσυλος, κτημάτων ἀνώτατος, Μηδὲν πεπάσθαι πλὴν Θεοῦ καὶ τῶν ἄνω. Ἅπαντα μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἂν, εἰ βούλοιτό τις, Κτήσαιτο, οὔτ' ἐκτήσατ' οὔκουν ἄχρι νῦν· Πάντων δ' ἔνεστιν ἀθρόως καταφρονεῖν, Κρείττω τε πάντων τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν τρόπον. Ἄλλοι φάλαγγας τασσέτωσαν ὁπλιτῶν, Πλεῖόν τε πασχέτωσαν, ὧν δρᾶσιν κακῶν, Βάλλοντες, οἰμώζοντες, ἀστάτοις ῥοπαῖς Ἀγχωμαλοῦντες, αἱμάτων ὠνούμενοι Πλούτου τίν' ὄγκον, ἢ τυραννίδος κράτος. Ἄλλοι δὲ γῆς τε καὶ θαλάττης ἀγρίας Κόλπους μετρούντων, ἔμποροι δυσδαίμονες. Ἄλλοι δίκας τε καὶ νόμους ἀντιστρόφους Σπουδῇ πλεκόντων, λημμάτων μικρῶν χάριν· 714 Ἐμοὶ δὲ πάντων Χριστός ἐστιν ὤνιος, Σταυρόν τε τὸν πένητα πλουσίως φέρω, Ῥίψας τὰ σητῶν καὶ στροφὴν πεττευμάτων. Τούτου νόμος μὲν πρῶτος, ἡ πρώτη τρυφὴ, Ἐδὲμ δὲ καὶ παράδεισος εὐθαλὴς φυτοῖς, Πηγή τ' ἐς ἀρχὰς τέτταρας τετμημένη. Οὐ χρυσὸς, οὐκ ἤλεκτρον, οὐδὲ ἄργυρος, Οὐκ εὐχρόων τε καὶ φανῶν λίθων χάρις, Ἃ γῆ δίδωσι τοῖς κάτω νενευκόσι· Μόνοις δὲ καρποῖς ἀφθόνως διέτρεφε Τὸν ἐργάτην Θεοῦ τε καὶ θείας τρυφῆς. Κἀνταῦθ' ὅρος τις ἡδονῇ μετρούμενος· Ξύλου γὰρ εἶργε γνώσεως ἐναντίων. Ὃς οὐ φυλαχθεὶς, παντὸς ἐστέρησέ με, Καὶ γῆς πόνοις ἔδωκε μητρὸς τῆς ἐμῆς. 715 Ὧν εἷς, τὸ πλεῖον τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἔχειν Μηδέν τε μέτρον εἰδέναι τῆς κτήσεως, Κακοῦ τὸ χεῖρον φάρμακον ποιουμένους, ∆ιψῶντας αὐτῷ τῷ ποτῷ καυσουμένους. Ἐξ οὗ, τί γίνεθ', ὡς παράδοξον, σκόπει, Ἀεὶ πένεσθαι τῷ λιπόντι κτωμένους, Τέρψιν δὲ τοῦ κτηθέντος οὐ δύνασθ' ἔχειν, Τῷ μὴ παρόντι· καὶ γὰρ ἐκτήκει φρένας. Πρῶτος μὲν οὗτος εὐτελοῦς ζωῆς νόμος, Ἔστιν δ' ἐκεῖνος δεύτερος. Τὸν Ἀβραὰμ Τὸν πατριάρχην, τὸν θεόπτην τὸν μέγαν, Οἴκου, γένους τε, πατρίδος ἐξελκύσας, Ὁ τῶν μεγίστων οἰκονόμος μυστηρίων, Εἰς γῆν μετήγαγ' εὐκόλως ἀλλοτρίαν, 716 Ξένον, πάροικον, ἄστεγον, πλανώμενον. Πίστις γὰρ εἷλκεν ἐλπίδων τῶν μειζόνων· Ἄρτον δ' Ἰακὼβ καὶ σκέπην ᾔτει μόνον, Ὁρμῶν ποταμῶν ποτ' εἰς μέσην, ὥσπερ λόγος, Εἰ καὶ πολυθρέμμων ἐπάνεισιν ὕστερον, Μισθὸν δίκαιον εὑρόμενος οὗτον πόνων. Καὶ