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death, a resurrection coming swiftly will be able to abolish; but the destruction of the soul, nothing will then console; for salvation does not succeed it anymore, but it must be punished immortally. So that not unreasonably we might say such fathers are worse than child-murderers. For it is not so terrible to sharpen a sword, and to arm the right hand, and to plunge it into the child's own throat, as to destroy and corrupt a soul; for nothing is equal to it for us.

5. What then? Is it not possible for one who inhabits a city, and has a house and a wife, to be saved, he says? Indeed, there is not one way of salvation, but many and various. And Christ says this indefinitely, declaring that there are many mansions with the Father; but Paul says it with some distinction, writing thus: There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. And what he says is this: Some will shine like the sun, others like the moon, others like the stars. And not even here did he stop the distinction, but even among these themselves he shows that there is a great difference, and as much as is likely to occur in so great a number. For star, he says, differs from star in glory. Consider then, proceeding from the magnitude of the sun to the last of all stars, how many degrees of dignities it is likely one descends. How then is it not absurd, if you were leading your son to the palace, to do and suffer all things, persuading him likewise, so as to make him near the king, and to reckon nothing at all, not expense, not danger, not death itself; but when the subject of our consideration is the service in the heavens, not to be grieved if he should take the last place, and become the last of all? But still, if you please, let us look at this very thing, whether it is possible for one who is occupied in the world to obtain at least this lot. For the blessed Paul declared briefly about this, and said that those who have wives cannot otherwise be saved, unless they have them as though they had them not, and do not use the world to the full. But let us, if you wish, also go over it in argument. Can you say, then, that your son either listened to your counsel 47.357, or ever understood on his own, that one who swears, even if he swears truly, can offend God? And what of this, that it is not possible for one who bears a grudge to be saved? For the ways of those who bear grudges, he says, lead to death. But that God so dishonored the slanderer as to exclude him even from the reading of the divine words? And what of this, that He cast the arrogant and insolent one out of heaven, and delivered him to the fire of Gehenna? and what of this, that He punished the one who looks with licentious eyes as a perfected adulterer? But this sin, common to all, of judging one's neighbors, and drawing upon oneself a harsher punishment, did you ever exhort him to flee, and did you read to him the laws of Christ laid down concerning these things? or do you not even know that these things exist? How then will the son be able to achieve these things, when the father who is to teach him does not even know the laws? And would that this alone were the terrible thing, to advise them in nothing useful, and it would not be so great; but now you push them also toward the opposite things. For it is not possible to hear fathers saying anything else to their children, when they exhort them concerning zeal for learning, but these words: So-and-so, he says, a humble man and from humble origins, having acquired power from his learning, has held the greatest offices, acquired great wealth, married a rich wife, built a splendid house, is feared by all and is renowned. Again another, so-and-so, he says, having been educated in the language of the Italians, is brilliant in the palace, and carries everything before him there. And another again points out another, and all of them point to those who are well-reputed on earth; but of those in the heavens no one makes mention even once, but if another should try to make mention, he is driven away as one who overturns everything.

6. When, therefore, you chant these things to them from the beginning, you teach them nothing other than the premise of all evils, instilling in them two most tyrannical desires, that for money, I say, and that of this

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τελευτὴν ἀνάστασις ἐπελθοῦσα ταχέως ἀφανίσαι δυνήσεται· τὴν δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπώλειαν οὐδὲν ἔτι παραμυθήσεται· οὐ γὰρ σωτηρία αὐτὴν διαδέχεται λοιπὸν, ἀλλ' ἀθάνατα ἀνάγκη κολάζεσθαι. Ὥστε οὐκ ἀπεικότως τῶν παιδοκτόνων τοὺς τοιούτους πατέρας χείρους ἂν εἴποιμεν εἶναι. Οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστιν οὕτω δεινὸν ἀκονῆσαι ξίφος, καὶ δεξιὰν ὁπλίσαι, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τοῦ παιδὸς βαπτίσαι τὸν λαιμὸν, ὡς τὸ ψυχὴν ἀπολέσαι καὶ διαφθεῖραι· ταύτης γὰρ ἡμῖν ἴσον οὐδέν.

εʹ. Τί οὖν; πόλιν οἰκοῦντα, καὶ οἰκίαν καὶ γυναῖκα ἔχοντα οὐκ ἔνι σωθῆναι, φησί; Μάλιστα μὲν οὐχ εἷς σωτηρίας τρόπος, ἀλλὰ πολλοὶ καὶ διάφοροι. Καὶ τοῦτο λέγει μὲν ἀορίστως ὁ Χριστὸς, πολλὰς εἶναι μονὰς ἀποφαινόμενος παρὰ τῷ Πατρί· λέγει δὲ μετὰ διορισμοῦ τινος ὁ Παῦλος, οὕτω γράφων· Ἄλλη δόξα ἡλίου, καὶ ἄλλη δόξα σελήνης, καὶ ἄλλη δόξα ἀστέρων· ἀστὴρ γὰρ ἀστέρος διαφέρει ἐν δόξῃ. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Οἱ μὲν ὡς ἥλιος λάμψουσιν, οἱ δὲ ὡς σελήνη, οἱ δὲ ὡς ἀστέρες. Καὶ οὐδὲ ἐνταῦθα ἔστη τῆς διαφορᾶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τούτοις πολλὴν δείκνυσιν εἶναι τὴν διαλλαγὴν, καὶ τοσαύτην, ὅσην ἐν ἀριθμῷ τοσούτῳ συμβαίνειν εἰκός. Ἀστὴρ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀστέρος διαφέρει ἐν δόξῃ. Ἐννόησον τοίνυν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ μεγέθους πρὸς τὸν ἔσχατον πάντων ἀστέρα ὁδεύων, πόσους ἀξιωμάτων βαθμοὺς καταβαίνειν εἰκός. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄτοπον, εἰ μὲν εἰς βασίλεια τὸν υἱὸν ἦγες, ἅπαντα ποιεῖν τε καὶ πάσχειν, κἀκεῖνον ἀναπείθων ὁμοίως, ὥστε αὐτὸν ἐγγὺς ποιῆσαι τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ μηδὲν ὅλως ὑπολογίζεσθαι, μὴ δαπάνην, μὴ κίνδυνον, μὴ θάνατον αὐτόν· περὶ δὲ τῆς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς στρατείας προκειμένης ἡμῖν τῆς σκέψεως, μὴ ἀλγεῖν, εἰ τὸν ἔσχατον λάβοι τόπον, καὶ πάντων ὕστατος γένοιτο; Πλὴν ἀλλ', εἰ δοκεῖ, καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἴδωμεν, εἰ δυνατὸν τὸν ἐν μέσῳ στρεφόμενον ταύτην γοῦν τὴν λῆξιν λαβεῖν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ μακάριος Παῦλος ἀπεφήνατο ἐν βραχεῖ περὶ τούτου, καὶ τοὺς τὰς γυναῖκας ἔχοντας οὐκ ἔφησεν ἄλλως δύνασθαι σώζεσθαι, πλὴν εἰ μὴ οὕτως αὐτὰς ἔχοιεν ὡς οὐκ ἔχοντες, καὶ τῷ κόσμῳ μὴ παραχρῷντο. Ἡμεῖς δὲ αὐτὸ, εἰ βούλει, καὶ τῷ λόγῳ ἐπέλθωμεν. Ἔχεις οὖν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ἢ σοῦ συμβουλεύοντος 47.357 ἤκουσεν ὁ υἱὸς, ἢ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ συνεῖδέ ποτε, ὅτι τὸν ὀμνόντα, κἂν εὐορκῇ, προσκρούειν ἔνι Θεῷ; Τί δὲ, ὅτι τὸν μνησικακοῦντα σωθῆναι οὐκ ἔνι; Ὀδοὶ γὰρ, φησὶ, μνησικάκων εἰς θάνατον. Ἀλλ' ὅτι τὸν κακήγορον οὕτως ἠτίμωσεν ὁ Θεὸς, ὡς καὶ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως ἀπεῖρξαι τῶν θείων λόγων; Τί δὲ, ὅτι τὸν ἀλαζόνα καὶ ὑβριστὴν ἐξέβαλε τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ τῷ τῆς γεέννης παρέδωκε πυρί; τί δὲ, ὅτι τὸν ἀκολάστοις ἐνορῶντα ὀφθαλμοῖς ὡς ἀπηρτισμένον, οὕτως ἐκόλασε μοιχόν; Ἀλλὰ τὸ πρόχειρον τοῦτο πᾶσιν ἁμάρτημα, τὸ κρίνειν τοὺς πλησίον, καὶ χαλεπωτέραν ἐπισπᾶσθαι τὴν κόλασιν, παρῄνεσάς ποτε φυγεῖν, καὶ τοὺς τοῦ Χριστοῦ περὶ τούτων κειμένους νόμους ἀνέγνως αὐτῷ; ἢ οὐδὲ οἶδας ὅτι ποτὲ ταῦτά ἐστι; Πῶς οὖν αὐτὰ δυνήσεται κατορθοῦν ὁ υἱὸς, ὧν οὐδὲ τοὺς νόμους οἶδεν ὁ μέλλων αὐτὸν διδάξειν πατήρ; Καὶ εἴθε τοῦτο μόνον ἦν τὸ δεινὸν, τὸ μηδὲν τῶν χρησίμων συμβουλεύειν αὐτοῖς, καὶ οὐκ ἂν τοσοῦτον ἦν· νυνὶ δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ πρὸς τἀναντία ὠθεῖτε. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄλλο τι τῶν πατέρων ἔστιν ἀκοῦσαι διαλεγομένων πρὸς τοὺς παῖδας, ὅταν αὐτοὺς παρακαλῶσιν ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν λόγων σπουδῆς, ἀλλ' ἢ ταυτὶ τὰ ῥήματα· Ὁ δεῖνα, φησὶ, ταπεινὸς καὶ ἐκ ταπεινῶν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων κτησάμενος δύναμιν, ἦρξε μεγίστας ἀρχὰς, πλοῦτον ἐκτήσατο πολὺν, γυναῖκα ἔλαβεν εὔπορον, οἰκίαν ᾠκοδόμησε λαμπρὰν, φοβερός ἐστιν ἅπασι καὶ ἐπίδοξος. Πάλιν ἔτερος, ὁ δεῖνα, φησὶ, τὴν Ἰταλῶν γλῶσσαν ἐκπαιδευθεὶς, ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις ἐστὶ λαμπρὸς, καὶ πάντα ἄγει καὶ φέρει τὰ ἔνδον. Καὶ ἕτερος ἕτερον δείκνυσι πάλιν, πάντες δὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς εὐδοκίμους· τῶν δὲ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς οὐδὲ ἅπαξ τις μέμνηται, ἀλλὰ κἂν μνησθῆναι ἕτερος ἐπιχειρήσῃ, ὡς πάντα ἀνατρέπων ἐλαύνεται. ςʹ. Ὅταν οὖν ἐξ ἀρχῆς αὐτοῖς ταῦτα ἐπᾴδητε, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἀλλ' ἢ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν αὐτοὺς πάντων διδάσκετε τῶν κακῶν, δύο τοὺς τυραννικωτάτους ἐντιθέντες ἔρωτας, τὸν τῶν χρημάτων λέγω, καὶ τὸν τούτου