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and grabbing some plant, he held on to it firmly, and having planted his feet on some base, he seemed to be at last in peace and safety. But looking, he sees two mice, one white, the other black, unceasingly gnawing through the root of the plant from which he was hanging, and they were very near to cutting it through. And perceiving the bottom of the pit, he saw a dragon, fearsome in appearance, breathing fire and looking most grim, opening its mouth terribly wide and hastening to swallow him. And looking intently again at that base, upon which he had his feet braced, he saw four heads of asps projecting from the wall, on which he was supported. And lifting up his eyes, he sees a little honey dripping from the branches of that plant. Therefore, ceasing to think about the misfortunes surrounding him, how from without the furiously raging unicorn sought to devour him, and from below the bitter dragon gaped to swallow him, and the plant he clung to was about to be cut down at any moment, and his feet were supported on a slippery and untrustworthy base; so, unreasoningly forgetting so many and such dreadful sights, with his whole mind he became suspended on the sweetness of that little honey. 190 This is the likeness of those who are attached to the deceit of the present life, the meaning of which I will now tell you. The unicorn would be a type of death, which is always pursuing and hastening to overtake the race of Adam; the pit is the world, being full of all kinds of evils and deadly snares; the plant, being unceasingly cut by the two mice, to which he clung, is the course of each person's life, which is spent and consumed by the hours of day and night and little by little approaches being cut off; the four asps signify the constitution of the human body from four precarious and unstable elements, and when these are in disorder and turmoil, the constitution of the body is dissolved; in addition to these, that fiery and cruel dragon depicts the terrible belly of Hades, which rages to receive those who prefer the present pleasures to the good things to come. And the drop of honey represents the sweetness of the world's pleasures, through which he, deceiving his friends, does not allow them to take thought for their own salvation. xiii Ioasaph, greatly approving this parable, said: How true is this account and very fitting. Therefore, do not hesitate to always show me such examples, that I may know precisely what our life is like, and what things it becomes the cause of for its friends. 192 And the old man said: Again, those who have loved the pleasures of life and have been sweetened by its delight, preferring the fleeting and weak things to the future and unshakable ones, are like a certain man who had three friends, two of whom he honored passionately, and clung to their love vehemently, striving for them until death and choosing to face danger for them; but toward the third he behaved with great contempt, never deeming him worthy of either honor or fitting love, but rather feigning a small and insignificant friendship toward him. Therefore, on one day certain terrible and extraordinary soldiers seize him, hastening with great speed to bring him to the king, to give an account for a debt of ten thousand talents. And that man, being in distress, sought a helper, who would be able to assist him in the dreadful accounting place of the king. Running therefore to his first and most genuine friend of all, he says: You know, O friend, how I always laid down my soul for you; but now I am in need of help on this day of the distress that holds me.

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καὶ φυτοῦ τινος δραξάμενος, κραταιῶς τοῦτο κατέσχε, καὶ ἐπὶ βάσεώς τινος τοὺς πόδας στηρίξας, ἔδοξεν ἐν εἰρήνῃ λοιπὸν εἶναι καὶ ἀσφαλείᾳ. βλέψας δὲ ὁρᾷ δύο μῦας, λευκὸν μὲν τὸν ἕνα, μέλανα δὲ τὸν ἕτερον, διεσθίοντας ἀπαύστως τὴν ῥίζαν τοῦ φυτοῦ, οὗ ἦν ἐξηρτημένος, καὶ ὅσον οὔπω ἐγγίζοντας ταύτην ἐκτεμεῖν. κατανοήσας δὲ τὸν πυθμένα τοῦ βόθρου, δράκοντα εἶδε φοβερὸν τῇ θέᾳ, πῦρ πνέοντα καὶ δριμύτατα βλοσυροῦντα, τὸ στόμα τε δεινῶς περιχάσκοντα καὶ καταπιεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπειγόμενον. ἀτενίσας δὲ αὖθις τῇ βάσει ἐκείνῃ, ἐφ' ᾗ τοὺς πόδας εἶχεν ἐρηρεισμένους, τέσσαρας εἶδε κεφαλὰς ἀσπίδων τοῦ τοίχου προβεβληκυίας, ἐφ' οὗ ἐπεστήρικτο. ἀναβλέψας δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, ὁρᾷ ἐκ τῶν κλάδων τοῦ φυτοῦ ἐκείνου μικρὸν ἀποστάζον μέλι. ἐάσας οὖν διασκέψασθαι περὶ τῶν περιεχουσῶν αὐτῷ συμφορῶν, ὅπως ἔξωθεν μὲν ὁ μονόκερως δεινῶς ἐκμανεὶς ζητεῖ τοῦτον καταφαγεῖν, κάτωθεν δὲ ὁ πικρὸς δράκων κέχηνε καταπιεῖν, τὸ δὲ φυτὸν ὃ περιεδέδρακτο ὅσον οὔπω ἐκκόπτεσθαι ἔμελλε, τούς τε πόδας ἐπ' ὀλισθηρᾷ καὶ ἀπίστῳ βάσει ἐπεστήρικτο· τῶν τοσούτων οὖν καὶ τοιούτων φρικτῶν θεαμάτων ἀλογίστως ἐπιλαθόμενος, ὅλῳ νοῒ μέλιτος ἐκείνου τοῦ μικροῦ γέγονε τῆς ἡδύτητος ἐκκρεμής. 190 Αὕτη ἡ ὁμοίωσις τῶν τῇ ἀπάτῃ τοῦ παρόντος προστετηκότων βίου, ἧσπερ τὴν σαφήνειαν αὐτίκα λέξω σοι. ὁ μὲν μονόκερως τύπος ἂν εἴη τοῦ θανάτου, τοῦ διώκοντος ἀεὶ καὶ καταλαβεῖν ἐπειγομένου τὸ Ἀδαμιαῖον γένος· ὁ δὲ βόθρος ὁ κόσμος ἐστὶ πλήρης ὑπάρχων παντοίων κακῶν καὶ θανατηφόρων παγίδων· τὸ φυτὸν δὲ τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν δύο μυῶν ἀπαύστως συγκοπτόμενον, ὃ περιεδέδρακτο, ὁ δίαυλος ὑπάρχει τῆς ἑκάστου ζωῆς, ὁ δαπανώμενος καὶ ἀναλισκόμενος διὰ τῶν ὡρῶν τοῦ ἡμερονυκτίου καὶ τῇ ἐκτομῇ κατὰ μικρὸν προσεγγίζων· αἱ δὲ τέσσαρες ἀσπίδες τὴν ἐπὶ τεσσάρων σφαλερῶν καὶ ἀστάτων στοιχείων σύστασιν τοῦ ἀνθρωπείου σώματος αἰνίττονται, ὧν ἀτακτούντων καὶ ταραττομένων ἡ τοῦ σώματος καταλύεται σύστασις· πρὸς τούτοις καὶ ὁ πυρώδης ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἀπηνὴς δράκων τὴν φοβερὰν εἰκονίζει τοῦ ᾅδου γαστέρα, τὴν μαιμάσσουσαν ὑποδέξασθαι τοὺς τὰ παρόντα τερπνὰ τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν προκρίνοντας. ὁ δὲ τοῦ μέλιτος σταλαγμὸς τὴν γλυκύτητα ἐμφαίνει τῶν τοῦ κόσμου ἡδέων, δι' ἧς ἐκεῖνος ἀπατῶν τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ φίλους οὐκ ἐᾷ τῆς σφῶν προνοήσασθαι σωτηρίας. χιιι Ταύτην ὁ Ἰωάσαφ λίαν ἀποδεξάμενος τὴν παραβολήν, ἔφη· Ὡς ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος οὗτος καὶ πάνυ ἁρμοδιώτατος. μὴ οὖν ὀκνήσῃς τοιούτους ἀεί μοι τύπους ὑποδεικνύειν, ἵνα γνῶ ἀκριβῶς ὁποῖος ὑπάρχει ὁ καθ' ἡμᾶς βίος, καὶ τίνων τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ φίλοις πρόξενος γίνεται. 192 Ὁ δὲ γέρων εἶπεν· Ὅμοιοι αὖθίς εἰσιν οἱ ἐρασθέντες τῶν τοῦ βίου τερπνῶν καὶ τῇ τούτου γλυκανθέντες ἡδύτητι, τῶν μελλόντων τε καὶ μὴ σαλευομένων τὰ ῥευστὰ καὶ ἀσθενῆ προτιμήσαντες, ἀνθρώπῳ τινὶ τρεῖς ἐσχηκότι φίλους, ὧν τοὺς μὲν δύο περιπαθῶς ἐτίμα, καὶ σφοδρῶς τῆς αὐτῶν ἀγάπης ἀντείχετο, μέχρι θανάτου ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀγωνιζόμενος καὶ προκινδυνεύειν αἱρούμενος· πρὸς δὲ τὸν τρίτον πολλῇ ἐφέρετο καταφρονήσει, μήτε τιμῆς, μήτε τῆς προσηκούσης αὐτὸν πώποτε ἀξιώσας ἀγάπης, ἀλλ' ἢ μικράν τινα καὶ οὐδαμινὴν εἰς αὐτὸν προσποιούμενος φιλίαν. καταλαμβάνουσιν οὖν ἐν μιᾷ φοβεροί τινες καὶ ἐξαίσιοι στρατιῶται, σπεύδοντες ταχύτητι πολλῇ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα τοῦτον ἀγαγεῖν, λόγον ἀποδώσοντα ὑπὲρ ὀφειλῆς μυρίων ταλάντων. στενοχωρούμενος δὲ ἐκεῖνος ἐζήτει βοηθόν, τὸν συναντιλαβέσθαι αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ φρικτῷ τοῦ βασιλέως λογοθεσίῳ δυνάμενον. δραμὼν οὖν πρὸς τὸν πρῶτον αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντων γνησιώτατον φίλον, λέγει. Οἶδας, ὦ φίλε, ὡς ἀεὶ ἐθέμην τὴν ψυχήν μου ὑπὲρ σοῦ· νυνὶ δὲ χρῄζω βοηθείας ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ τῆς κατεχούσης με ἀνάγκης.