32

Where is the dearest Cercidas, the End of the luxurious, himself eating salt, spitting down on the salty habit of luxury itself. And who does not praise the one who said to the luxurious youth 724: "Cease adding to your fetters, and making the tearing beast more savage." And what about that saying of the dearest Stoics? As one speaking to another little bit of flesh: "What do I owe you," he says, "miserable fleece? To eat? At most, bread given sparingly. To drink? We will give you water, and vinegar-water. You do not ask me for these things, but for the things of luxury and satiety, and the delicacy of crystal cups. We will give them all too readily, but a halter." Are these things not better than the old follies of Sardanapalus, son of Ninus, who once, being splendid in wealth and corrupted by luxury, wished for himself to have a throat longer than a crane's 725, for the sake of long pleasure? O divine David, and for you, when you were thirsting for the well of the foreign land and the water held by the enemy, since some men through blood and battle had ministered to your desire, taking it in your hands you poured out the water as a libation; for you did not accept to fulfill your desire from the misfortunes of others. But if there is a bread of angels, the nourishment of the Word (for a body does not nourish an incorporeal nature), all those among us who live the life of angels, sustained by small sparks of life! And this unwillingly, for the sake of a divine decree; for one must be bound, until God releases. I omit to speak of the things in the books and of the ancients. All those who, being deified by the purification of their bodies, 726 went for days and more without tasting food, as if free from their bodies, and they bore the threat of fire, and the gaping mouths of lions, so as not to accept profane food in a foreign land by the command of barbarians. And from the time that the enemy, having wrestled with Christ, departed, defeated by noble flesh, after a fast of forty days and nights, so that he might be more ashamed, having failed in the temptation, a law of welcome affliction in contests came forth, O what a wise wrestling-match! And of the bloodless and divine sacrifices, which the whole world offers auspiciously to the Lord, sacrificing, not calves according to the old law, nor lambs, nor any external offering 727 of the imperfect (for every irrational thing is deficient), but the wasting of themselves with measured food, delighting in not delighting, O what a strange delight! Striving to purify temples for God, with vigils and all-night hymn-singing, and with departures of the mind to the great mind, living so much in shadows and phantoms as to grasp the hidden things by the visible. Hence some, putting the captive fatness of the flesh in iron, extinguished satiety; while others, enclosed in darkness and narrow dwellings or in the clefts of wild rocks, checked the harm of the wandering senses. And others gave themselves to deserts and glens of wild beasts, 728 to flee the bestial nature of sin, living an unnatural life, knowing only this world which they see. Another with sackcloth, and ashes, and tears drew down pity, and with the toil of sleeping on the ground, and with standing for several nights and days, and months, greater than this; and if I should say years, I think it incredible, except to me it is very credible, and to all who are eyewitnesses of the wonder. For faith and the fear of God made them stand like pillars, snatching the mind away from the body before its time. And you will hear of strange drink and food: relish mixed with ashes and tears, breadless, as others a waterless life. 729 These things seem to me to conquer even the laws of nature, with zeal carrying them even to strange paths. What of these things? Do you admire the daughters of Leos, who were gladly sacrificed for Athens, and the willing contribution of Menoeceus, who died for Thebes so that he might save the city; and the precious leap of the wise Cleombrotus from a height, so that he might depart from the body, since, being persuaded by Plato's argument concerning the soul, he was seized by a love for release. You speak of the broken leg of Epictetus, before he uttered any word enslaved to violence; for a man's body, as we hear, is a slave, but his character is free; 730 and the pounding in a mortar of the hands of Anaxarchus, as if he were not present, and vehemently ordering to pound his own pouch, for he himself, whoever he is, remains unpounded, not being seen; and the hemlock of Socrates, a strange cup of friendship so sweetly drained. Do you praise these things? I too, in some measure, except in so far as in these

32

που Κερκιδᾶς ὁ φίλτατος, Τέλος τρυφώντων, αὐτὸς ἐσθίων ἅλας, Αὐτῆς τρυφῆς ἔθ' ἁλμυρὸν καταπτύων. Τίς δ' οὐκ ἐπαινεῖ τὸν τρυφῶντι τῷ νέῳ 724 Φήσαντα· «Παῦσαι προστιθείς σου ταῖς πέδαις, Ἐξαγριῶν τε τὸ σπαράσσον θηρίον.» Κἀκεῖνο δ' οἷον Στωικῶν τῶν φιλτάτων; Ὡς ἄλλος ἄλλῳ σαρκίῳ τις προσλαλῶν· «Τί σοι χρεωστῶ, φησὶν, ἄθλιον δέρος; Φαγεῖν; μέγιστον, ἄρτος ἐνδεῶς δοθείς. Πιεῖν; ὕδωρ σοι δώσομεν, καὶ ὀξίνην. Οὐ ταῦτά μ' αἰτεῖς· τὰ τρυφῆς δὲ καὶ κόρου, Κρυσταλλίνων τε ἁβρότητ' ἐκπωμάτων. Λίαν ἑτοίμως δώσομέν γ', ἀλλ' ἀγχόνη.» Ταῦτ' οὐκ ἀμείνω τῶν πάλαι βλακευμάτων Σαρδαναπάλου τοῦ Νίνου, ὃς ὤν ποτε Πλούτῳ τε λαμπρὸς καὶ τρυφῇ διεφθορὼς, Ἐβούλεθ' αὑτῷ καὶ γεράνου μηκίστερον 725 Λαιμὸν γενέσθαι, ἡδονῆς μακρᾶς χάριν; Ὦ θεῖε ∆αβὶδ, σοὶ δὲ διψῶντι φρέαρ Γῆς ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ποτὸν κρατούμενον, Ἐπεὶ δι' αἱμάτων τε καὶ μάχης τινὲς Ὑπηρετοῦντο τῷ πόθῳ, χερσὶν λαβὼν Ἔσπεισας ὕδωρ· οὐ γὰρ ἐξ ἀλλοτρίων Κακῶν ἐδέξω τὸν σὸν ἐκπλῆσαι πόθον. Εἰ δ' ἀγγέλων τις ἄρτος, ἡ Λόγου τροφὴ (Ἀσώματον φύσιν γὰρ οὐ σῶμα τρέφει), Ὅσοι παρ' ἡμῖν ἀγγέλων ζῶσιν βίον, Σπινθῆρσι μικροῖς τοῦ βίου κρατούμενοι! Καὶ τοῦτ' ἄκοντες, δόγματος θείου χάριν· ∆εῖ γὰρ δεδέσθαι, μέχρις ἐκλύσῃ Θεός. Ἐῶ τὰ βίβλων καὶ τὰ τῶν πάλαι λέγειν. Ὅσοι καθάρσει σωμάτων θεούμενοι, 726 Τροφῆς ἄγευστοι ἡμέρας καὶ πλείονας ∆ιῆλθον, ὥσπερ σωμάτων ἐλεύθεροι, Πυρὸς δ' ἀπειλὴν, καὶ λεόντων χάσματα Ἤνεγκαν, ὥστε μὴ βέβηλον ἐν ξένῃ Τροφὴν προσέσθαι βαρβάρων προστάγματι. Ἀφ' οὗ δὲ Χριστῷ συμπλακεὶς ὁ δυσμενὴς Ἀπῆλθε, σαρκὸς εὐγενοῦς ἡττημένος, Ἐκ τετταράκοντ' ἀσιτίας νυχθημέρων, Ὡς μᾶλλον αἰσχύνοιτο τῆς πείρας σφαλεὶς, Νόμος προῆλθε τῆς φίλης κακώσεως Ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσιν, ὢ σοφοῦ παλαίσματος! Καὶ τῶν ἀναίμων ἐνθέων τε θυμάτων, Ἃ πᾶς ὁ κόσμος καλλιερεῖ τῷ ∆εσπότῃ, Θύοντες, οὐ μόσχους τε τῷ πάλαι νόμῳ, Οὐδ' ἄρνας, οὐδ' ἔξωθεν εἰσφοράν τινα 727 Τῶν οὐ τελείων (πᾶν γὰρ ἄλογον ἐνδεὲς), Αὐτοὶ δ' ἑαυτῶν τῆξιν ἐμμέτρῳ τροφῇ, Τὸ μὴ τρυφᾷν τρυφῶντες, ὢ ξένης τρυφῆς! Ναοὺς καθαίρειν τῷ Θεῷ πειρώμενοι, Ἀγρυπνίαις τε παννύχοις θ' ὑμνῳδίαις, Ἐκδημίαις τε τοῦ νοὸς πρὸς νοῦν μέγαν, Ζῶντες τοσοῦτον ἐν σκιαῖς καὶ φάσμασιν Ὅσον τὰ κρυπτὰ τοῖς ὁρωμένοις λαβεῖν. Ἐντεῦθεν οἱ μὲν δέσμιον σαρκὸς πάχος Θέντες σιδήρῳ, τὸν κόρον κατέσβεσαν· Οἱ δὲ ζόφῳ τε καὶ στενοῖς οἰκήμασιν Ἢ ῥήγμασι κλεισθέντες ἀγρίων πετρῶν, Βλάβην ἐπέσχον τῶν πλάνων αἰσθήσεων. Ἄλλοι δ' ἐρημίαις τε καὶ θηρῶν νάπαις, 728 Τὴν θηριώδη τοῦ φυγεῖν ἁμαρτίαν, Αὐτοὺς ἔδωκαν, ἔκφυλον ζῶντες βίον, Τοῦθ' ὃ βλέπουσι κόσμον εἰδότες μόνον. Σάκκῳ τις ἄλλος, καὶ σποδῷ, καὶ δακρύοις Εἵλκυσεν οἶκτον, καὶ χαμευνίας πόνῳ, Στάσει τε νυκτῶν ἡμερῶν τε πλειόνων, Μηνῶν τε, τούτου μεῖζον· εἰ δ' εἴποιμ' ἐτῶν, Ἄπιστον οἶμαι, πλὴν ἐμοὶ πιστὸν λίαν, Ὅσοι τ' ἐπόπται τῶν φίλων τοῦ θαύματος. Πίστις γὰρ ἐστήλωσε καὶ φόβος Θεοῦ, Τὸν νοῦν πρόωρον ἁρπάσας τῶν σωμάτων. Ξένων δ' ἀκούσῃ καὶ ποτοῦ καὶ σιτίων Ὄψον, σποδόν τε καὶ δάκρυον μεμιγμένον, Ἄναρτον, ὡς ἄνυδρον οἱ δ' ἄλλοι βίον. 729 Ἅ μοι δοκοῦσι καὶ φύσεως νικᾷν νόμους, Ζήλου φέροντος ἄχρις ἐκτόπων ὁδῶν. Τί ταῦτα; Τοῦ Λεὼ δὲ σὺ θαυμάζεις κόρας, Τὰς τῶν Ἀθηνῶν προσφαγείσας ἀσμένως, Μενοικέως τε τὴν πρόθυμον εἰσφορὰν, Θηβῶν ὑπερθανόντος ὡς σώσῃ πόλιν· Κλεομβρότου τε τοῦ σοφοῦ τὸ τίμιον Πήδημ' ἀφ' ὕψους, ὡς ἀπέλθοι σώματος, Ἐπεὶ Πλάτωνος τῷ περὶ ψυχῆς λόγῳ Πεισθεὶς, ἔρωτι λύσεως κατεσχέθη. Λέγεις Ἐπικτήτου τε τὸ κλασθὲν σκέλος, Πρὶν ἤ τι ῥῆξαι ῥῆμα δοῦλον τῆς βίας· Εἶναι γὰρ, εἶναι τ' ἀνδρὸς, ὡς ἀκούομεν, Τὸ σῶμα δοῦλον, τὸν τρόπον δ' ἐλεύθερον· 730 Πτισμόν τ' ἐν ὅλμῳ τῶν Ἀναξάρχου χερῶν, Ὡς οὐ παρόντος, καὶ κελεύοντος σφοδρῶς Πτίσσειν τὸν αὑτοῦ θύλακον, αὐτὸν γὰρ μένειν Ἄπτιστον, ὅστις ἐστὶν, οὐχ ὁρώμενον· Καὶ Σωκράτους τὸ κώνειον, φιλοτησίαν Ξένην τοσοῦτον ἡδέως ἑσπωμένην. Σὺ ταῦτ' ἐπαινεῖς; καί τι κἀγὼ, πλὴν ὅσον Ἐν τοῖς