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and to be hungry; and to abound, and to be in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Prov. 30. Give me neither poverty nor riches, Lord; but appoint for me what is necessary and sufficient, lest I become full and become a liar, and say: Who sees me? or being in want I steal and swear by the name of God.

Sirach 40. The life of a laborer with self-sufficiency will be sweetened. Sirach 30. Sleep of health is upon moderate bowels. Of Basil. The power that manages the living being, self-sufficiency and frugality

easily works and makes proper for the one being nourished; but having received luxury and variety of foods, then not being sufficient to endure to the end, it has created the various kinds of diseases.

Of the Theologian. To have a few things well is much more honorable than to have many things badly. Chrysost. That man is not rich who has possessed much, but he who does not of many things

have need. Life is measured for need, brothers, not for pleasure. Therefore, the superfluous

of nature putting aside, let us embrace only the necessary. 15Ε_136 Of Nilus. It is good to remain within the limits of need, and to strive earnestly

with all power not to transgress them. For if one is carried away a little by desire for the pleasures of life, then no one stops the forward momentum.

The measure of possession is the need of the body; but to exceed this is then disorder, and is no longer a need. For just as a tunic fitted to the body is both a need and an adornment; but one that flows down on all sides and gets tangled in the feet, and is dragged on the ground unseemly, becomes an impediment to all work; so the use that exceeds the body's need is both an impediment to virtue and has much condemnation from (805) those who are able to investigate the nature of things.

Clement. Lovers of needing little, but shunning luxury as a disease of soul and body.

The possession and use of necessary things does not have a harmful quality, but the quantity beyond measure.

Of Philo. The virtuous man who has few needs is a border between immortal and mortal nature; on the one hand having need because of his mortal body, but on the other hand not having many needs, because of a soul that longs for immortality.

Democr. With sufficiency of food, night is never short. Cleitarch. We ought to accustom ourselves to live on little, so that nothing shameful

we may learn for the sake of money. Socrat. Socrates, having been asked by someone, Who seems to you to be richer,

he said: He who is content with the least; for self-sufficiency is the wealth of nature. Just as for the journey of life, do not put together provisions of great value, but

the more necessary things. 15Ε_138 It is better to be cheerful while restricting oneself to a small property, than

to be unhappy while having a large one. Alexandr. When one of those who seemed to be well-disposed said to him, that your cities are able to

your cities provide more revenue, he said: I hate a gardener who cuts the vegetables from the roots.

Democrit. Fortune sets a lavish table, but moderation a self-sufficient one.

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καί πεινᾷν· καί περισσεύειν, καί ὑστερεῖσθαι. Πάντα ἰσχύω ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντί με Χριστῷ.

Παροιμ. λ´. Πλοῦτον καί πενίαν μή μοι δός, Κύριε· σύνταξον δέ μοι τά δέοντα καί τά αὐτάρκη, ἵνα μή πλησθείς ψευδής γένωμαι, καί εἴπω· Τίς με ὁρᾷ, ἤ πενηθείς κλέψω καί ὁμόσω τό ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ.

Σιράχ μ´. Ζωή αὐταρκείας ἐργάτου γλυκανθήσεται. Σιράχ λ´. Ὕπνος ὑγείας ἐπί ἐντέρων μετρίων. Βασιλείου. Ἡ οἰκονομοῦσα τό ζῶον δύναμις, αὐταρκείαν μέν καί λιτότητα

ῥᾳδίως κατεργάσατο καί ᾠκείωσε τῷ τρεφομένῳ· πολυτέλειαν δέ καί ποικιλίαν βρωμάτων παραλαβοῦσα, εἶτα ἀντισχεῖν πρός τό πέρας οὐκ ἐπαρκέσασα, τά ποικίλα γένη τῶν νοσημάτων πεποίηκεν.

Θεολόγου. Τό καλῶς ἔχειν ὀλίγα, πολύ τιμιώτερον τοῦ κακῶς ἔχειν πολλά. Χρυσοστ. Οὐ πλούσιός ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος, ὁ πολλά κεκτημένος, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μή πολλῶν

δεόμενος. Πρός χρείαν, ἀδελφοί, οὐ πρός ἡδονήν ἡ ζωή συμμετρεῖται. Τό οὖν περιττόν

τῆς φύσεως ἀποθέμενοι, τό ἀναγκαῖον μόνον ἀσπασώμεθα. 15Ε_136 Νείλου. Καλόν τοῖς ὅροις τῆς χρείας ἐμμένειν, καί φιλονεικεῖν

πάσῃ δυνάμει τούτους μή ὑπερβαίνειν. Ἐάν γάρ ὀλίγον παρενεχθῇ τις ἀπό τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἐπί τά ἡδέα τοῦ βίου, οὐδείς λοιπόν ἴστησι τήν ἐπί τά πρόσω φοράν.

Μέτρον κτήσεώς ἐστιν ἡ χρεία τοῦ σώματος· τό δέ ταύτην ὑπερβαίνειν ἀκοσμία λοιπόν, καί οὐκέτι χρεία ἐστίν. Ὡς γάρ ὁ συμμεμετρημένος, τῷ σώματι χιτών, καί χρεία ἐστί καί κόσμος· ὁ δέ πάντοθεν περιῤῥέων καί τοῖς ποσίν ἐμπλεκόμενος, καί τῇ γῇ μετά τοῦ ἀπρεποῦς ἐπισυρόμενος, ἐμπόδιον πρός πᾶσαν ἐργασίαν γίνεται· οὕτως ἡ ὑπερβαίνουσα τήν τοῦ σώματος χρείαν χρῆσις, καί πρός τήν ἀρετήν ἐστιν ἐμπόδιον, καί πολλήν ἔχει κατάγνωσιν παρά (805) τοῖς τήν φύσιν τῶν πραγμάτων ἐρευνᾷν δυναμένοις.

Κλήμεντ. Ὀλιγοδεΐας μέν ἐρασταί, πολυτέλειαν δέ, ὡς ψυχῆς καί σώματος νόσον ἐκτρεπόμενοι.

Ἡ τῶν ἀναγκαίων κτῆσις καί χρῆσις, οὐ τήν ποιότητα βλαβεράν ἔχει, ἀλλά τήν παρά τό μέτρον ποσότητα.

Φίλωνος. Ὁ σπουδαῖος καί ὀλιγοδεής, ἀθανάτου καί θνητῆς φύσεως μεθόριον· τό μέν ἐπιδεές ἔχων διά τό σῶμα θνητόν· τό δέ μή πολυδεές, διά ψυχήν ἐφιεμένην ἀθανασίας.

∆ημοκρ. Αὐταρκίῃ τροφῆς, μικρά νύξ οὐδέποτε γίνεται. Κλειτάρχ. Ὀφείλομεν ἑαυτούς ἐθίζειν ἀπό ὀλίγων ζῇν, ἵνα μηδέν αἰσχρόν

ἕνεκεν χρημάτων μάθωμεν. Σωκράτ. Σωκράτης ἐρωτηθείς ὑπό τινος, Τίς σοι πλουσιώτερος εἶναι δοκεῖ,

εἶπεν· Ὁ ἐλαχίστοις ἀρκούμενος· αὐτάρκεια γάρ ἐστι φύσεως πλοῦτος. Ὥσπερ εἰς ὁδόν τόν βίον, οὐ τά πολλοῦ ἄξια συντίθει ἐφόδια, ἀλλά

ἀναγκαιότερα. 15Ε_138 Βέλτιόν ἐστιν ἐν μιᾷ περιουσίᾳ συστελλόμενον εὐθυμεῖν, ἤ

μεγάλης τυγχάνοντα δυστυχεῖν. Ἀλέξανδρ. Εἰπόντος αὐτῷ τινος τῶν δοκούντων εὐνοεῖν, ὅτι ∆ύνανται αἱ

πόλεις σου πλεῖον παρέχειν ἐξόδους, ἔφη· κηπουρόν μισῶ τόν ἐκ ῥιζῶν ἐκτέμνοντα τά λάχανα.

∆ημοκρίτ. Τράπεζαν πολυτελέα μέν τύχη παρατίθησιν, αὐταρκέα δέ σωφροσύνη.