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and to use nature against the "thief" and enemy, who slips in for the ruin of the divine treasure and for this reason comes, "that he might steal and kill and destroy." And to carry courage and boldness in hand instead of some weapon, so as never to be terrified by "a coming terror and the assaults of the impious coming on." And to be supported by hope and patience instead of a staff, if ever one grows weary in temptations. And to have the possession of grief at hand for a time of repentance for sins, if it should ever happen, as it is never useful except for such service alone. And justice will be for him a rule of rectitude, guiding him to be blameless in everything, in word and in deed, and how the things in the soul ought to be ordered, and how one might assign to each what is according to worth. And by adding the desire for more, which lies great and immeasurable in each one's soul, to the desire that is according to God, he will be blessed for his greed, pressing forward there where it is praiseworthy to press forward. And he will have wisdom and prudence as counselors for what is profitable and as joint-managers of his life, so as to be nowhere harmed by ignorance or folly. But if one were not to use the said powers according to nature and what is proper, but were to exchange their use contrary to what is right, assigning desire to the most shameful things, directing hatred toward his own kind, "loving unrighteousness," and behaving manfully against his parents, and being bold in absurdities and hoping for vain things, and driving prudence and wisdom away from cohabiting with himself, and should take gluttony and folly as companions, and doing likewise concerning the rest, such a one would be absurd and strange, so that no one could worthily express the absurdity. For just as if someone, arming himself contrariwise, should turn his helmet around, so as to cover his face and have the crest pointing backward, and should have his feet in a breastplate and fit the greaves to his chest, and take what belongs to the left hand with the right, and throw the armor of the right to the left; whatever, then, such a soldier is likely to suffer in war, this is what he is likely to suffer throughout his life who is confused in his mind and misuses the powers of the soul. 18.4 Therefore we must take care for the harmony in these things, which true temperance is by nature wont to produce in our souls. And if one must consider the most perfect definition of temperance, perhaps this would properly be called temperance: the well-ordered management of all the soul's movements with wisdom and prudence. And such a state of the soul will no longer need any labor or effort for participation in high and heavenly things, but with great ease it will naturally achieve what previously seemed difficult to attain, possessing what is sought by the removal of the contrary; for one who has come out of darkness must necessarily be in light, and one who has not died, must live. And so if anyone "has not taken his soul in vain," he will certainly be in the way of truth; for the foresight and knowledge of not turning aside is a kind of accurate guidance for the journey on the straight path. And just as slaves who have been freed, having ceased from serving their masters, when they become masters of themselves, turn their diligence toward themselves, so I think also the soul, having been freed from the servitude and deceit of the body, thereafter recognizes the activity proper to itself and according to nature; and freedom is, as we have learned also from the Apostle, "not to be entangled in a yoke of bondage," nor, like a runaway or a criminal, to be fettered by the bond of marriage. 18.5 But the perfection of freedom is not in this alone —lest anyone consider the gift of virginity so small and cheap—

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καὶ κατὰ τοῦ «κλέπτου» καὶ πολεμίου κεχρῆσθαι τῇ φύσει, ὃς ἐπὶ λύμῃ τοῦ θείου θησαυροῦ παρεισδύεται καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἔρχεται, «ἵνα κλέψῃ καὶ θύσῃ καὶ ἀπολέσῃ». Τὴν δὲ ἀνδρείαν καὶ τὸ θάρσος ἀντὶ ὅπλου τινὸς διὰ χειρὸς φέρειν, πρὸς τὸ μὴ πτοηθῆναί ποτε «πτόησιν ἐπελθοῦσαν καὶ ὁρμὰς ἀσεβῶν ἐπερχομένας». Ἐλπίδι δὲ καὶ ὑπομονῇ ἀντὶ βακτηρίας, εἴποτε τοῖς πειρασμοῖς κάμοι, ἐπιστηρίζεσθαι. Τὸ δὲ τῆς λύπης κτῆμα καιρῷ μετανοίας ἐπὶ ἁμαρτήμασιν, εἰ τύχοι ποτὲ συμβάν, προχειρίζεσθαι, ὡς οὐδέποτε χρήσιμον ὂν ἢ πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην μόνην ὑπηρεσίαν. Ἡ δὲ δικαιοσύνη αὐτῷ κανὼν εὐθύτητος ἔσται, τὸ ἐν παντὶ ἄπταιστον λόγῳ τε καὶ ἔργῳ ὑφηγουμένη, ὅπως τε χρὴ τὰ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ διακεῖ σθαι καὶ πῶς ἄν τις ἑκάστῳ τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν νέμοι. Τὴν δὲ τοῦ πλείονος ἔφεσιν, ὃ πολύ τε καὶ ἀμέτρητον ἔγκειται τῇ ἑκάστου ψυχῇ, τῇ κατὰ θεὸν ἐπιθυμίᾳ προσθείς, μακα ριστὸς ἔσται τῆς πλεονεξίας, ἐκεῖ βιαζόμενος, ὅπου ἐπαινε τὸν τὸ βιάζεσθαι. Σοφίαν δὲ καὶ φρόνησιν συμβούλους ἕξει τῶν συμφερόντων καὶ συνδιοικούσας αὐτῷ τὴν ζωήν, ὡς μηδαμοῦ ὑπὸ ἀμαθίας ἢ ἀφροσύνης παραβλαβῆναι. Εἰ δὲ μὴ κατὰ φύσιν καὶ κατὰ τὸ οἰκεῖον χρῷτο ταῖς εἰ ρημέναις δυνάμεσιν, ἀλλὰ ὑπαλλάσσοι παρὰ τὸ δέον τὴν χρῆσιν, τὴν μὲν ἐπιθυμίαν προστιθεὶς τοῖς αἰσχίστοις, τὸ δὲ μῖσος ἐπὶ τοὺς ὁμοφύλους προχειριζόμενος, «ἀγαπῶν δὲ τὴν ἀδικίαν» καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς γονέας ἀνδριζόμενος καὶ θαρσῶν τὰ ἄτοπα καὶ ἐλπίζων τὰ μάταια, φρόνησιν δὲ καὶ σοφίαν ἀπελαύνων τῆς μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ συνοικήσεως, λαιμαργίαν καὶ ἀφροσύνην προσεταιρίζοιτο, καὶ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὡσαύτως ποιῶν, ἄτοπος ἂν εἴη τις καὶ ἀλλόκοτος, ὡς μηδ' ἂν εἰπεῖν ἀξίως τινὰ δυνηθῆναι τὴν ἀτοπίαν. Καθάπερ γὰρ εἴ τις ἐναλλὰξ ὁπλιζόμενος ἀναστρέφοι μὲν τὸ κράνος, ὥστε καλύπτειν τὸ πρόσωπον καὶ ὀπίσω νενευκέναι τὸν λόφον, τοὺς δὲ πόδας ἔχοι ἐν θώρακι καὶ τὰς κνημῖδας ἐφαρμόζοι τῷ στήθει, καὶ ὅσα τῆς ἀριστερᾶς ἐστι τῇ δεξιᾷ μεταλαμβάνοι, τὴν δὲ τῶν δεξιῶν ὅπλισιν τῇ εὐωνύμῳ προσρίπτοι· ὅπερ οὖν παθεῖν εἰκὸς ἐν πολέμῳ τὸν τοιοῦτον ὁπλίτην, τοῦτο καὶ παρὰ τὸν βίον πάσχειν εἰκὸς τὸν συγ κεχυμένον τὴν γνώμην καὶ τὴν χρῆσιν τῶν δυνάμεων τῆς ψυχῆς ὑπαμείβοντα. 18.4 Οὐκοῦν προνοητέον ἡμῖν τῆς ἐν τούτοις εὐαρμοστίας, ἣν ἡ ἀληθὴς σωφροσύνη πέφυκεν ἐμποιεῖν ταῖς ἡμετέραις ψυχαῖς. Καὶ εἰ χρὴ τὸν τελεώτατον τῆς σωφροσύνης ὅρον σκοπῆσαι, τάχα τοῦτο σωφροσύνη κυρίως ἂν λέγοιτο, ἡ πάντων τῶν ψυχικῶν κινημάτων μετὰ σοφίας καὶ φρονή σεως εὔτακτος οἰκονομία. Καὶ ἡ τοιαύτη κατάστασις τῆς ψυχῆς οὐκέτι πόνου τινὸς οὐδὲ πραγματείας πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὑψηλῶν τε καὶ οὐρανίων μετουσίαν δεήσεται, ἀλλ' ἐν πολλῇ ῥᾳστώνῃ τὸ τέως δυσέφικτον εἶναι δοκοῦν κα τορθώσει φυσικῶς, τῇ ὑπεξαιρέσει τοῦ ἐναντίου τὸ ζη τούμενον ἔχουσα· τόν τε γὰρ ἔξω τοῦ σκότους γενόμενον ἐν φωτὶ πάντως εἶναι ἀνάγκη, καὶ τὸν μὴ τεθνηκότα ζῆν. Καὶ τοίνυν εἴ τις «μὴ ἐπὶ ματαίῳ λάβοι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν», ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ πάντως τῆς ἀληθείας ἔσται· ἡ γὰρ τοῦ μὴ παρατραπῆναι πρόνοιά τε καὶ ἐπιστήμη ὁδηγία τίς ἐστιν ἀκριβὴς τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν εὐθεῖαν πορείας. Καὶ ὥσπερ οἱ ἐλευ θερωθέντες οἰκέται παυσάμενοι τοῦ τοῖς κρατοῦσιν ὑπηρε τεῖν, ἐπειδὰν ἑαυτῶν γένωνται κύριοι, τρέπουσι πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς τὴν σπουδήν, οὕτως οἶμαι καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐλευθερωθεῖσαν ἀπὸ τῆς σωματικῆς λατρείας καὶ ἀπάτης ἐπιγινώσκειν λοιπὸν τὴν οἰκεῖαν ἑαυτῇ καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ἐνέργειαν· ἡ δὲ ἐλευθερία ἐστί, καθὼς καὶ παρὰ τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἐμά θομεν, τὸ «μὴ ζυγῷ δουλείας ἐνέχεσθαι» μηδὲ καθάπερ δραπέτην ἢ κακοῦργον γενόμενον πεδηθῆναι τῷ τοῦ γάμου δεσμῷ. 18.5 Οὐκ ἐν τούτῳ δὲ μόνῳ τὸ τέλειον τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐστίν -μή τις οὕτω μικρόν τε καὶ εὔωνον τὸ τῆς παρθενίας