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How many things, then, do you promise to help me with now? And what is the hope that comes to me from you, dearest one? Then he answered and said: I am not your friend, man; I do not know who you are. For I have other dear ones, with whom I must rejoice today, and acquire them as friends for the future. But I give you, behold, two rags, for you to have them on the road you are traveling, which will not help you at all. And do not expect 194 any other hope from me. Hearing these things and despairing of the help he hoped for from him, he goes to the other friend, and says: Do you remember, O comrade, how much honor and goodwill you enjoyed from me; but today, having fallen into affliction and the greatest misfortune, I need a helper. How much, then, are you able to labor with me? Let me know at once. And he says: I have no time today to struggle with you; for I too, having fallen into cares and circumstances, am in affliction. But nevertheless I will accompany you for a little while, even if I help you in nothing; and, quickly returning home, I will be occupied with my own cares. So the man, returning from there with empty hands and being at a loss on all sides, pitied himself for his vain hope in his ungrateful friends, and for the useless hardships he endured for the sake of their love. He goes then to his third friend, whom he had never served, nor invited to be a partner in his own gladness; and says to him with a shamed and downcast face: I cannot open my mouth to you, knowing well that you have never remembered me doing you a good turn, or being kindly disposed to you. But since a most grievous misfortune has befallen me, and from none of my other friends have I found hope of salvation, I have come to you, beseeching you, if you have the strength, to provide me some small help. Do not then refuse, being wroth at my ingratitude. And he says with a cheerful and gracious face: Yes, indeed, I confess 196 that you are my most genuine friend; and, remembering that small good deed of yours, I will repay you with interest today. Fear not, therefore, nor be afraid; for I will go before you, I will intercede on your behalf with the king, and I will not hand you over into the hands of your enemies. Take courage, then, dearest one, and do not grieve. Then he, being filled with compunction, said with tears: Woe is me! What shall I lament first, and what shall I weep for first? Shall I condemn my vain affection for those forgetful and ungrateful and false friends? Or shall I bewail the mind-injuring ingratitude which I showed to this true and genuine friend? And Joasaph, receiving this story also with wonder, sought its clear meaning. And Barlaam says: The first friend would be the abundance of wealth and the love of money, for which a man falls into countless dangers, and endures many hardships; but when the final summons of death comes, he receives nothing from all those things, except the useless rags for burial. And the second friend is called wife and children and the other relatives and household members, to whose affection we are inseparably attached, disregarding for their love our very soul and body; but one has enjoyed no benefit from them at the hour of death; but they only accompany him, following, as far as the tomb, then, immediately turning back, they attend to their own cares and circumstances, no less covering the memory with forgetfulness, than they covered the body of their once dear one 198 in the tomb. But the third friend, the one who was overlooked and burdensome, not approachable, but to be shunned and as it were to be averted, is the choir of the best works, such as faith, hope, love, almsgiving, philanthropy, and the rest of the company of virtues, which is able to go before us when we depart from the body, to intercede with the Lord on our behalf, and from our enemies us

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πόσων οὖν ἐπαγγέλλῃ συναντιλαβέσθαι μοι νῦν; καὶ τίς ἡ παρὰ σοῦ προσγινομένη μοι ἐλπίς, προσφιλέστατε; ἀποκριθεὶς οὖν ἐκεῖνος ἔφη· Οὐκ εἰμί σου φίλος, ἄνθρωπε· οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι τίς εἶ. ἄλλους γὰρ ἔχω προσφιλεῖς, μεθ' ὧν δεῖ με σήμερον εὐφραίνεσθαι, καὶ φίλους αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ἑξῆς κτήσασθαι. παρέχω δέ σοι ἰδοὺ ῥάκια δύο, τοῦ ἔχειν σε ταῦτα ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ ᾗ πορεύῃ, ἅτινα οὐδέν σε τὸ παράπαν ὠφελήσουσι. καὶ μηδεμίαν 194 ἄλλην παρ' ἐμοῦ προσδοκήσῃς ἐλπίδα. τούτων ἀκούσας ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἀπογνοὺς ἣν ἐξ αὐτοῦ βοήθειαν ἤλπιζε, πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον πορεύεται φίλον, καί φησι· Μέμνησαι, ὦ ἑταῖρε, ὅσης ἀπήλαυσας παρ' ἐμοῦ τιμῆς καὶ εὐγνωμοσύνης· σήμερον δέ, θλίψει περιπεσὼν καὶ συμφορᾷ μεγίστῃ, χρῄζω συνεργοῦ. πόσον οὖν ἰσχύεις μοι συγκοπιάσαι; ἐξ αὐτῆς γνώρισόν μοι. ὁ δέ φησιν· Οὐ σχολάζω σήμερον συναγωνίσασθαί σοι· μερίμναις γὰρ κἀγὼ καὶ περιστάσεσι περιπεσὼν ἐν θλίψει εἰμί. μικρὸν δ' ὅμως συνοδεύσω σοι, κἂν μηδὲν ὠφελήσω σε· καί, θᾶττον ὑποστρέψας οἴκαδε, ταῖς ἰδίαις ἔσομαι ἀσχολούμενος μερίμναις. κεναῖς οὖν κἀκεῖθεν ὑποστρέψας χερσὶν ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ πάντοθεν ἀπορούμενος, ἐταλάνιζεν ἑαυτὸν τῆς ματαίας ἐλπίδος τῶν ἀγνωμόνων αὐτοῦ φίλων, καὶ τῶν ἀνονήτων ταλαιπωριῶν ὧν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀγάπης ὑπέστη. ἀπέρχεται λοιπὸν πρὸς τὸν τρίτον φίλον αὐτοῦ, ὃν οὐδέποτε ἐθεράπευσεν, οὐδὲ κοινωνὸν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ εὐφροσύνης προσεκαλέσατο· καί φησι πρὸς αὐτὸν κατῃσχυμμένῳ τε καὶ κατηφιῶντι τῷ προσώπῳ· Οὐκ ἔχω στόμα διᾶραι πρὸς σέ, γινώσκων ἀκριβῶς ὅτι οὐ μέμνησαί μου πώποτε εὐεργετήσαντός σε, ἢ προσφιλῶς διατεθέντος σοι. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ συμφορά με κατέλαβε χαλεπωτάτη, οὐδαμόθεν δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν μου φίλων εὗρον σωτηρίας ἐλπίδα, παρεγενόμην πρὸς σέ, δυσωπῶν, εἰ ἔστι σοι ἰσχύς, μικράν τινα βοήθειαν παρασχεῖν μοι. μὴ οὖν ἀπαγορεύσῃς, μηνίσας μου τῆς ἀγνωμοσύνης. ὁ δέ φησιν ἱλαρῷ καὶ χαρίεντι προσώπῳ· Ναὶ δὴ φίλον ἐμὸν γνησιώτατον ὁμο 196 λογῶ σε ὑπάρχειν· καί, τῆς μικρᾶς ἐκείνης μεμνημένος σου εὐποιίας, σὺν τόκῳ σήμερον ἀποδώσω σοι. μὴ φοβοῦ τοίνυν, μηδὲ δέδιθι· ἐγώ σου γὰρ προπορεύσομαι, ἐγὼ δυσωπήσω ὑπὲρ σοῦ τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ οὐ μὴ παραδῶ σε εἰς χεῖρας ἐχθρῶν σου. θάρσει οὖν, προσφιλέστατε, καὶ μὴ λυποῦ. τότε κατανυγεὶς ἐκεῖνος ἔλεγε μετὰ δακρύων· Οἴμοι τί πρῶτον θρηνήσω, καὶ τί κλαύσομαι πρῶτον; τῆς ματαίας μου καταγνώσομαι προσπαθείας εἰς τοὺς ἀμνήμονας καὶ ἀχαρίστους καὶ ψευδεῖς φίλους ἐκείνους; ἢ τὴν φρενοβλαβῆ ταλανίσω ἀγνωμοσύνην, ἥνπερ τῷ ἀληθεῖ τούτῳ καὶ γνησίῳ ἐνεδειξάμην φίλῳ; Ὁ δὲ Ἰωάσαφ, καὶ τοῦτον μετὰ θαύματος δεξάμενος τὸν λόγον, τὴν σαφήνειαν ἐζήτει. καί φησιν ὁ Βαρλαάμ· Ὁ πρῶτος φίλος ἂν εἴη ἡ τοῦ πλούτου περιουσία καὶ ὁ τῆς φιλοχρηματίας ἔρως, ἐφ' ᾧ μυρίοις ὁ ἄνθρωπος περιπίπτει κινδύνοις, καὶ πολλὰς ὑπομένει ταλαιπωρίας· ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς τελευταίας τοῦ θανάτου προθεσμίας οὐδὲν ἐκ πάντων ἐκείνων, εἰ μὴ τὰ πρὸς κηδείαν ἀνόνητα ῥάκια, λαμβάνει. δεύτερος δὲ φίλος κέκληται γυνή τε καὶ τέκνα καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ συγγενεῖς τε καὶ οἰκεῖοι, ὧν τῇ προσπαθείᾳ κεκολλημένοι δυσαποσπάστως ἔχομεν, αὐτῆς τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἕνεκεν τῆς αὐτῶν ὑπερορῶντες ἀγάπης· οὐδεμιᾶς δέ τις ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπώνατο ὠφελείας τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ θανάτου· ἀλλ' ἢ μόνον μέχρι τοῦ μνήματος συνοδεύουσιν αὐτῷ παρεπόμενοι, εἶτ', εὐθὺς ἐπαναστραφέντες, τῶν ἰδίων ἔχονται μεριμνῶν καὶ περιστάσεων, οὐκ ἔλαττον λήθῃ τὴν μνήμην, ἢ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ποτε προσφιλοῦς 198 καλύψαντες τάφῳ. ὁ δ' αὖ τρίτος φίλος ὁ παρεωραμένος καὶ φορτικός, ὁ μὴ προσιτός, ἀλλὰ φευκτὸς καὶ οἷον ἀποτρόπαιος, ὁ τῶν ἀρίστων ἔργων χορὸς καθέστηκεν, οἷον πίστις, ἐλπίς, ἀγάπη, ἐλεημοσύνη, φιλανθρωπία, καὶ ὁ λοιπὸς τῶν ἀρετῶν ὅμιλος, ὁ δυνάμενος προπορεύεσθαι ἡμῶν ἐξερχομένων τοῦ σώματος, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τε δυσωπῆσαι τὸν Κύριον, καὶ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἡμᾶς