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Approaching the tutor—for he happened to be one of those who dwelled in the mountains—I tried to learn the reason why, having acquired such wisdom, he had lowered himself to the life of a tutor. But he said that little time remained for him in this, and he narrated the whole story to us from the beginning. "For this child," he said, "has a father who is harsh and rough, and obsessed with worldly affairs, but a mother who is moderate and prudent and gentle, and who looks only to heaven. The father then, since he had achieved much in wars, wishes to lead his son to his father's rank, but the mother neither wishes nor desires these things, but even strongly prays against them; and she prays and desires to see him renowned in the monastic way of life. But these things she did not dare to say to the father; for she feared that he, suspecting this very thing, might before the time bind him with the cords of this life, and having turned him from this pursuit, might lead him to the military belt, and all the idleness that comes from it, and make his subsequent reformation impossible. But she contrived another plan; for having called me at home, and having shared all these things, and having taken the child's right hand, she placed it in my hands. And when I asked why she was doing this, she said that this one plan was left to us for the salvation of the child, if I would be willing and endure to take the child in the role of a tutor and come here; for she would persuade the father that even for one choosing the military life, the education of letters is useful to him. 'If, then, I am able to prevail in this,' she said, 'then having him alone abroad, with neither his father nor any of his household bothering him, you will be able to form him with great authority, and make him live as if he were dwelling in a monastery. But consent and promise to act out this drama with me. My discourse is not about trivial matters; the contest and the peril is for the soul of my child. Do not, then, overlook the one dearest to me of all in peril, but snatch him now from the snares surrounding him on all sides, from the storm, from the surge. But if you are not willing to grant the favor, I now call God as a witness between us, and I testify that I for my part have omitted nothing that pertains to the salvation of his soul, but am pure from the blood of this child; but if it should happen that he suffer anything, as is likely for one who is young and living in such luxury and idleness, from you and from your hands on that day God will require the soul of this child.' Having added these words and more than these, and having wept vehemently and piteously, she persuaded me to undertake this task, and sent me away with these commands. And her contrivance was not in vain; but in a short time that noble man so trained this boy, and kindled in him such a fire of this desire, that he cast everything off at once, and ran to the desert, and needed another bridle again that would be able to turn him from that intense training to a moderate one. For there was fear, lest by this eagerness, having revealed the drama before its time, he should stir up a grievous war against the mother, the tutor, and the monks everywhere. For if the father had learned of this flight, he would not have refrained from moving everything, so as to drive out those holy men, not only those who received him, but all the others as well. Therefore, taking this boy, and having said these things and more, 47.370 I allowed the desire for this philosophy to remain, and even intensified it more, but I urged him to dwell in the city, and to hold to the study of letters; for in this way he would greatly benefit his peers, and escape the notice of his father. And I thought this to be necessary, not only for the sake of those holy men, nor of the mother, nor of the tutor, but also of the boy himself. For it was likely that the father, attacking him in the beginning, would shake the plants of philosophy, since they were tender and newly

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προσελθὼν ἐγὼ τῷ παιδαγωγῷ καὶ γὰρ τῶν ἐν ὄρεσι καθημένων ἐτύγχανεν ὢν, τὴν πρόφασιν ἐπεχείρουν μανθάνειν δι' ἣν τοιαύτης ἐπειλημμένος σοφίας εἰς τὸν τῶν παιδαγωγῶν βίον καθῆκεν ἑαυτόν. Ὁ δὲ μικρὸν ἔφησεν ἑαυτῷ λείπεσθαι χρόνον ἐν τούτῳ, καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἡμῖν ἄνωθεν διηγήσατο. Τῷ γὰρ παιδίῳ τούτῳ, φησὶ, πατὴρ μέν ἐστι σκληρὸς καὶ τραχὺς, καὶ πρὸς τὰ βιωτικὰ πράγματα ἐπτοημένος, μήτηρ δὲ μετρία καὶ σώφρων καὶ ἐπιεικὴς, καὶ πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν βλέπουσα μόνον. Ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὖν, ἅτε καὶ ἐν πολέμοις πολλὰ κατωρθωκὼς, βούλεται τὸν υἱὸν ἐπὶ τὴν πατρῴαν τάξιν ἀγαγεῖν, ἡ δὲ μήτηρ ταῦτα μὲν οὔτε βούλεται, οὔτε ἐπιθυμεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα ἀπεύχεται εὔχεται δὲ καὶ ἐπιθυμεῖ λαμπρὸν αὐτὸν ἰδεῖν ἐν τῇ τῶν μοναχῶν πολιτείᾳ. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εἰπεῖν οὐκ ἐτόλμησεν· ἐδεδοίκει γὰρ μή ποτε αὐτὸ τοῦτο ὑφορώμενος ἐκεῖνος, πρὸ ὥρας αὐτὸν ἤδη καταδήσῃ τοῖς τοῦ βίου σχοινίοις, καὶ ταύτης αὐτὸν ἀποστήσας τῆς σπουδῆς, ἐπὶ τὴν ζώνην ἀγάγοι, καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἐκείνης ῥᾳθυμίαν ἅπασαν, καὶ ἀδύνατον αὐτῷ τὴν μετὰ ταῦτα κατασκευάσῃ διόρθωσιν. Ἑτέραν δέ τινα συντίθησι μηχανήν· καλέσασα γάρ με οἴκοι, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα κοινωσαμένη, καὶ τοῦ παιδίου λαβοῦσα τὴν δεξιὰν, ταῖς ἐμαῖς ἐντίθησι χερσίν. Ὡς δὲ ἠρώτων τίνος ἕνεκεν ταῦτα ποιεῖ, μίαν ταύτην ἔλεγεν ὑπολείπεσθαι μηχανὴν ἡμῖν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς σωτηρίαν, εἰ βουληθείην τε καὶ ἀνασχοίμην ἐν τάξει παιδαγωγοῦ τὸ παιδίον λαβὼν ἐλθεῖν ἐνθάδε· πείσειν γὰρ αὐτὴν τὸν πατέρα, ὡς καὶ τὸν στρατιωτικὸν ἑλομένῳ βίον χρήσιμος αὐτῷ τῶν λόγων ἡ παίδευσις. Ἂν οὖν τοῦτο ἰσχῦσαι δυνηθῶ, φησὶ, καταμόνας αὐτὸν ἔχων λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀλλοτρίας, οὔτε τοῦ πατρὸς ἐνοχλοῦντος, οὔτε τῶν οἰκείων τινὸς, μετὰ πολλῆς αὐτὸν τῆς ἐξουσίας διαπλάσαι δυνήσῃ, καὶ καθάπερ ἐν μοναστηρίῳ διάγοντα, οὕτω ποιῆσαι ζῇν. Ἀλλ' ἐπίνευσον καὶ ὑπόσχου τὸ συνυποκρίνασθαί μοι τὸ δρᾶμα. Οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπὲρ τῶν τυχόντων ὁ λόγος ἐμοί· ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ παιδίου μου ψυχῆς ὁ ἀγὼν καὶ ὁ κίνδυνος. Μὴ δὴ περιίδῃς τὸν πάντων ἐμοὶ φίλτατον κινδυνεύοντα, ἀλλ' ἐξάρπασον αὐτὸν ἤδη τῶν πάντοθεν περικειμένων αὐτῷ παγῶν, τῆς ζάλης, τοῦ κλυδωνίου. Εἰ δὲ οὐ θέλεις δοῦναι τὴν χάριν, τὸν Θεὸν ἤδη καλῶ μέσον ἡμῶν, καὶ μαρτύρομαι ὅτι ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδὲν ἐνέλιπον τῶν εἰς τὴν σωτηρίαν τῆς τούτου ψυχῆς ἡκόντων, ἀλλ' εἰμὶ καθαρὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ παιδίου τούτου· εἰ δὲ συμβαίη τι παθεῖν αὐτὸν, οἷον εἰκὸς νέον ὄντα καὶ ἐν τοσαύτῃ ζῶντα τρυφῇ καὶ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ, ἀπὸ σοῦ καὶ τῶν σῶν χειρῶν κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην ἐκζητήσει τοῦ παιδίου τούτου τὴν ψυχὴν ὁ Θεός. Ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτων πλείονα προσθεῖσα ῥήματα, καὶ δακρύσασα σφοδρῶς καὶ ἐλεεινῶς, ἔπεισεν ἀναδέξασθαί με ταύτην τὴν πραγματείαν, καὶ μετὰ τούτων ἐξέπεμψε τῶν ἐντολῶν. Καὶ οὐ γέγονεν αὐτῇ μάταιος ἡ μηχανή· ἀλλ' οὕτως ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ τὸν παῖδα τοῦτον ὁ γενναῖος ἐκεῖνος ἤσκησε, καὶ τοσοῦτον αὐτῷ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ταύτης ἀνῆψε τὸ πῦρ, ὡς ἀθρόον ἅπαντα ῥῖψαι, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἔρημον δραμεῖν, καὶ ἑτέρου δεῖσθαι χαλινοῦ πάλιν τοῦ δυνησομένου πρὸς τὴν σύμμετρον αὐτὸν ἄσκησιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιτεταμένης μεταστρέψαι ἐκείνης. Καὶ γὰρ ἦν δέος, μὴ τῇ σπουδῇ ταύτῃ πρὸ καιροῦ τὸ δρᾶμα ἀποκαλύψας, καὶ τῇ μητρὶ καὶ τῷ παιδαγωγῷ, καὶ τοῖς πανταχοῦ μοναχοῖς πόλεμον ἐγείρῃ χαλεπόν. Εἰ γὰρ ᾔσθετο ταύτης τῆς φυγῆς ὁ πατὴρ, οὐκ ἂν ἀπέστη πάντα κινῶν, ὥστε ἀπελάσαι τοὺς ἁγίους ἐκείνους, οὐχὶ τοὺς ὑποδεξαμένους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας. Τοῦτον τοίνυν ἐγὼ τὸν παῖδα λαβὼν, καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτων πλείονα εἰπὼν, 47.370 τὴν μὲν ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς φιλοσοφίας ταύτης εἴασα μένειν, καὶ ἐπέτεινα δὲ πλέον, τὴν δὲ πόλιν οἰκεῖν ἠξίουν, καὶ τῆς τῶν λόγων ἔχεσθαι σπουδῆς· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τοὺς ἡλικιώτας ὠφελήσειν τὰ μέγιστα, καὶ τὸν πατέρα λήσειν. Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ τοῦτο εἶναι ἐνόμιζον, οὐ τῶν ἁγίων μόνον ἕνεκεν ἐκείνων, οὐδὲ τῆς μητρὸς, οὐδὲ τοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ παιδός. Ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν γὰρ ἐπιθέμενον αὐτῷ τὸν πατέρα, καὶ διασαλεύειν εἰκὸς ἦν τὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας φυτὰ, ἁπαλά τε ὄντα καὶ ἄρτι