30

dying; he who today is in wealth, and tomorrow in a tomb; he who today is in a diadem, and tomorrow in a monument; he who today is among flatterers, and tomorrow among worms; he who today is among treasures, and tomorrow in coffins; he who is today, and tomorrow is not; he who is just now puffed up with pride, and after a little while lamented; he who in good fortune is unbearable, and in misfortune inconsolable; he who is ignorant of himself, and meddles in things beyond himself; he who does not know the present, and fantasizes about the future; he who is by nature mortal, and in his arrogance, as he thinks, eternal. The easily accessible lodging for every passion; the indifferent plaything of the ways of life; the training-ground of daily misfortunes; the readily receptive inn for every sorrow. O how great is the tragedy of our worthlessness! how great is the triumph of human weakness! O how many things I have said! I have found nothing more fitting than the prophetic voice which says: Yet 95.1133 every man living is disquieted; the splendors of the present life are more useless than a corpse. All present things are weaker than a spider's web, and more deceitful than dreams; for both good and bad things have an end. Knowing, beloved, that the present things are like a dream, and that we live as in an inn, as though always departing; let us take thought for the road, and let us bring with us the provisions for eternal life. Let us put on garments that depart with us; just as it is not possible to grasp one's own shadow, so too with human affairs. For some are destroyed by death, and others pass by more swiftly than any torrent; but the things to come know no change. It does not know old age, it has no alteration, but it flourishes continuously, and remains in varied states of well-being. Do not marvel at riches that do not remain with their possessors, but change masters, and from this one leap to another, and again from that one to another; one must despise all these things. For it is enough to hear only him who says: The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. Human affairs fade faster than a shadow. We are poor in nothing so much as in time. And art is long, but our life is short. The end of life is near; be watchful, O man. You sleep, and time runs past you; you are awake, and you drag your heart around vain things; but nevertheless your life is diminished, even if you yourself do not perceive it, nor understand. Leaves and bubbles, and smoke, and chaff, and a shadow, and dust from a threshing-floor, thrown out by the wind—I have declared all the splendors of the present age to be. For all earthly things find their end in the earth. You will understand the present age to be a hippodrome. For in it all men, both wicked and good, run like a horse, each hastening toward his own end. Do you not know, he says, that those who run in a stadium, all run, but one receives the prize? I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. Rightly therefore do we call the present life a hippodrome. A whitened hair cries out and testifies to the soul's departure from here. Wherefore, according to what is written, prepare your works for the departure. For one must behold the region of the head, and of the beard, that it is white for harvest, and a certain spiritual sickle is about to cut your soul out of the body through death, and to transfer it to certain foreign 95.1136 places altogether unknown by the Lord's command. Let not the conspicuous and splendid things shown in this world deceive us. For all things pass away, and nothing at all of the things that appear is stable. Knowing therefore that none of the present things remains with its possessors, and that it is necessary to depart in every way as from an inn, let us take thought for the road that leads there, and let us bring for ourselves the provisions for eternal life, through prayers, through alms, through meekness, through knowledge of the divinely inspired Scriptures, through kindness and discipline toward our servants, and through the other things which true reason dictates. Properly, neither in abundance of money or possessions, nor in splendor of glory, nor in short in any of the external things that are both cold and uncertain, and receive corruption from themselves

30

τελευτῶν· ὁ σήμερον ἐν πλούτῳ, καὶ αὔριον ἐν τάφῳ· ὁ σήμερον ἐν διαδήματι, καὶ αὔριον ἐν μνήματι· ὁ σήμερον ἐν κόλαξι, καὶ αὔριον ἐν σκώληξιν· ὁ σήμερον ἐν θησαυροῖς, καὶ αὔριον ἐν σοροῖς· ὁ σήμερον ὢν, καὶ αὔριον μὴ ὤν· ὁ ἄρτι φρυαττόμενος, καὶ μετ' ὀλίγον θρηνούμενος· ὁ ἐν εὐπραγίαις ἀφόρητος, καὶ ἐν δυσπραγίαις ἀπαραμύθητος· ὁ ἑαυτὸν ἀγνοῶν, καὶ τὰ ὑπὲρ ἑαυτὸν πολυπραγμονῶν· ὁ τὸ παρὸν οὐκ εἰδὼς, καὶ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων φανταζόμενος· ὁ φύσει θνητὸς, καὶ τῇ ἐπάρσει, ὡς νομίζει, αἰώνιος. Τὸ παντὸς πάθους εὐδιάβατον καταγώγιον· τὸ τῶν πορετῶν ἀδιάφορον παίγνιον· τὸ τῶν συμφορῶν καθημερινῶν γυμνάσιον· τὸ πάσης λύπης εὐπαράδεκτον πανδοχεῖον. Ὢ πόση τῆς ἡμετέρας εὐτελείας ἡ τραγῳδία! πόσος τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀσθενείας ὁ θρίαμβος! ὢ πόσα εἶπον! τῆς προφητικῆς φωνῆς οὐδὲν ἁρμοδιώτερον εὗρον τῆς λεγούσης. Πλὴν 95.1133 ταράσσεται πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ζῶν· νεκροῦ ἀχρηστότερα τὰ λαμπρὰ τοῦ παρόντος βίου. Τὰ παρόντα πάντα ἀράχνης ἐστὶν ἀδρανέστερα, καὶ ὀνείρων ἀπατηλότερα· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἀγαθὰ, καὶ τὰ κακὰ τέλος ἔχει. Εἰδότες, ἀγαπητοὶ, ὡς ὄναρ τὰ παρόντα, καὶ ὡς πανδοχεῖον οἰκοῦμεν, ὡς διὰ παντὸς ἐξερχόμενοι· φροντίσωμεν τῆς ὁδοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἐφόδια τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἐπαγάγωμεν. Ἐνδυσώμεθα ἱμάτια τὰ μεθ' ἡμῶν ἀπερχόμενα· ὥσπερ τῆς ἰδίας σκιᾶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπιλαβέσθαι, οὕτως οὐδὲ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ τῇ τελευτῇ καταλύεται, τὰ δὲ πρὸ τῆς καὶ παντὸς χειμάῤῥου ὀξυῤῥεπέστερον παράγει· τὰ δὲ μέλλοντα οὐκ οἶδεν μεταβολήν. Οὐκ ἐπίσταται γῆρας, οὐκ ἔχει τινὰ ἀλλοίωσιν, ἀλλ' ἀνθεῖ διηνεκῶς, καὶ ἐν ποικίλαις εὐπραγίαις διαμένει. Μὴ θαυμάσῃς χρήματα τὰ μὴ παραμένοντα τοῖς κεκτημένοις, ἀλλ' ἀμείβοντα τοὺς δεσπότας, καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου ἀποπηδῶντα εἰς ἕτερον, καὶ πάλιν ἀπ' ἐκείνου πρὸς ἄλλον· τούτων πάντων δεῖ καταπτύειν. Ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ μόνον τοῦ λέγοντος· Τὰ βλεπόμενα πρόσκαιρα· τὰ δὲ μὴ βλεπόμενα, αἰώνια. Σκιᾶς θᾶττον ἀπανθεῖ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα. Οὐδενὸς οὕτως ὡς χρόνου πενόμεθα. Καὶ ἡ μὲν τέχνη μακρὰ, βραχὺς δὲ ὁ βίος ἡμῶν. Ἐγγὺς τὸ τέλος τῆς ζωῆς· γρηγόρησον, ἄνθρωπε. Καθεύδεις, καὶ ὁ χρόνος σε παρατρέχει· ἐγρήγορας, καὶ περὶ τὰ μάταια τὴν ἑαυτοῦ περιέλκεις καρδίαν· ἀλλ' ὅμως μειοῦται ἡ ζωή σου, κἂν αὐτὸς μὴ αἰσθάνῃ, μηδὲ συνιῇς. Φύλλα καὶ πομφόλυγας, καὶ καπνὸν, καὶ ἄχυρα, καὶ σκιὰν, καὶ κονίορτον ἀπὸ ἅλωνος, ἐκριπτούμενον ὑπὸ ἀνέμου προεῖπον πάντα τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος τὰ λαμπρά. Πάντα γὰρ τὰ γήϊνα τὴν γῆν εὑρίσκει τέλος. Ἱππόδρομον νοήσεις τὸν παρόντα αἰῶνα. Πάντες γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ φαῦλοί τε καὶ ἀγαθοὶ ἄνθρωποι δίκην ἵππου τρέχουσι πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον ἕκαστος ἐπειγόμενοι πέρας. Οὐκ οἴδατε, φησὶν, ὅτι οἱ ἐν σταδίῳ τρέχοντες, πάντες μὲν τρέχουσιν, εἷς δὲ λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον; Ἐγὼ τοίνυν οὕτω τρέχω, ὡς οὐκ ἀδήλως. Εἰκότως οὖν ἱππόδρομον λέγομεν τὸν παρόντα βίον. Θρὶξ λελευκασμένη τὴν ἐντεῦθεν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποδημίαν βοᾷ καὶ διαμαρτύρεται. Ὅθεν, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ἑτοίμαζε τὰ ἔργα σου εἰς τὴν ἔξοδον. Θεατέον γὰρ τὴν χώραν τῆς κεφαλῆς, καὶ τοῦ πώγωνος, ὅτι λευκὴ ὑπάρχει πρὸς θερισμὸν, καὶ μέλλει δρεπάνη τις νοητὴ διὰ θανάτου ἐκτέμνειν τὴν ψυχήν σου ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, καὶ εἰς ξένους τινὰς 95.1136 πάμπαν ἀγνοουμένους μετακομίζειν τόπους τῇ τοῦ Κυρίου διατάξει. Μὴ ἐξαπατάτω ἡμᾶς τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ περιφανῆ καὶ λαμπρὰ δεικνύμενα πράγματα. Παρέρχεται γὰρ τὰ πάντα, καὶ οὐδὲν παντελῶς τῶν φαινομένων στάσιμον. Ἐπιστάμενοι οὖν ὡς οὐδὲν τῶν παρόντων παραμένει τοῖς κτήτορσι, καὶ ὅτι δεῖ πάντως ἐξελθεῖν ὥσπερ ἐκ πανδοχείου, φροντίσωμεν τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς ἀπαγούσης ἐκεῖ, καὶ τὰ ἐφόδια τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἑαυτοῖς ἀπενεγκώμεθα, δι' εὐχῶν, δι' ἐλεημοσυνῶν, διὰ πραότητος, διὰ γνώσεως τῶν θεοπνεύστων Γραφῶν, διὰ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς οἰκέτας εὐμενείας καὶ συγκροτήσεως, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἄλλων πραγμάτων ὧν ὑπαγορεύει ὁ ἀληθὴς λογισμός. Κυρίως, οὔτε ἐπὶ χρημάτων ἢ κτημάτων περιουσίᾳ, οὔτε ἐπὶ δόξης λαμπρότητι, οὐδὲ συνόλως ἐπί τινι τῶν ἐκτὸς ψυχρῶν τε ὄντων καὶ ἀβεβαίων, καὶ ἐξ ἑαυτῶν τὰς φθορὰς δεχομένων