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your rulers will eat at the proper time, in strength, and they will not be ashamed." Literally, it calls a city wretched, whose king has an unstable and youthful character; and whose rulers, neglecting their civil cares, give themselves to their belly from the first ray of light. For those 93.604 who are darkened by drunkenness, and weighed down by satiety, or even have an unstable character, are fit neither for kingship, nor for any other rule. But it blesses that land whose king is of free men, that is, one who has been brought up in a free manner, and preserves a free mind, and possesses nothing ignoble or servile, or befitting a slave; and whose rulers devote all their care to the things that benefit their subjects. They are fed in an orderly manner and at the proper time, not with things that flatter the belly, but with things that maintain the strength of the body, that is, things for need. For such men, being animate and just, and justly pursuing justice, will not be put to shame. But according to the deeper meaning, the city is tropologically the soul; whose king is the mind; if its character is rather young, and having the impulses of the thoughts as its rulers, so to speak, who are given over to gluttony and pleasures, it will have the 'woe' attached to it; but if the soul, and its mind, are nurtured in divine learning, it is a son of free men, and has impulses of thoughts that do all things at the proper time, both what is fitting for the body, and what is suitable for the soul. And so nurtured, and so ruling itself, and being strengthened by its progress, such a soul, tropologically named land and city, will not be ashamed. "Through utter idleness the rafters will be brought low, and through slackness of hands the house will leak; they make bread for laughter, and wine gladdens the living; and all things will obey money." Parabolically it teaches us not to be idle in the work of good things, lest of our intelligible house, that is, of the soul, the rafter, the well-strung thoughts, be brought low, and the house leak, being troubled by the streams of wickedness, so that we may not lose the virtues we have acquired through carelessness. Therefore, one must constantly inspect the said house, and not look at the things already accomplished, but take care of the rafter, that is, of the end. For those who are slothful regarding virtues, looking only to pleasure, devote themselves to the supposed gladness among men. And they say that one must have money; for all things will be subject to money. Alternatively: The slothful therefore allow their own house to leak; but those who are led by the laws of the Church have a certain mystical bread, and wine for laughing at the demons through the power of the mystery; knowing that to the silver, so named for the divine Word who was incarnate for us, all creation is obedient. But one must know that, according to the perceptible sense, Scripture often calls all dry food bread; and liquid food wine or water. Moses, signifying this, when he received the law, said, For forty days I did not eat bread, and I did not drink water; instead of, I partook of neither any dry, nor liquid food. 93.605 "Even in your conscience do not curse the king, and in your bedchamber do not curse the rich; for a bird of the sky will carry your voice, and he that has wings will report your word." Some have said that the bird of the sky is the soul itself, or the spirit that is with man; and that he that has wings is either the Holy Spirit who appeared in the form of a dove, and fills all things, and knows all things; or the holy angels. But others, on the contrary, have taken him that has wings to be the devil; and the birds of the sky, his aerial demons. But according to all interpretations the meaning is this: Do not curse, it says, a king or a rich man, not even in a secret place; for rumor, running about, brings your slander to the ears of the one who was cursed; and a curse is a request for evils, either for oneself, or for one's neighbor. CHAPTER 11. "Cast your bread upon the face of the water, for in a multitude of days you will find it." It is written, Break your bread for the hungry. And by bread, all

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ἄρχοντές σου πρὸς καιρὸν φάγονται ἐν δυνάμει, καὶ οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσονται." Πρὸς μὲν ῥητὸν, ταλανίζει πόλιν, ἦς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἄστατον ἔχει τὸ ἦθος, καὶ νεώτερον· καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες ἀφέμενοι τῶν πολιτικῶν φροντίδων, ἐκ πρώτης ἀκτῖνος γαστρὶ σχολάζουσιν. Οἱ γὰρ 93.604 ἐσκοτωμένοι τῇ μέθῃ, καὶ τῷ κόρῳ βαρούμενοι, ἢ καὶ τὸ ἦθος ἄστατον ἔχοντες, οὔτε πρὸς βασιλείαν, οὕτε πρὸς ἄλλην ἀρχὴν εἰσὶν ἐπιτήδειοι. Μακαρίζει δὲ τὴν γῆν ἐκείνην, ἧς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐλευθέρων, τουτέστιν ἐλευθερίως τραφεὶς, καὶ διασώζων τὸ ἐλεύθερον φρόνημα, καὶ οὐδέ τι ἀγεννὲς ἢ ἀνελεύθερον, ἢ δουλοπρεπὲς κεκτημένος· καὶ ἧς οἱ ἄρχοντες τὴν μὲν πᾶσαν φροντίδα περὶ τὰ τῷ ὑπηκόῳ συμφέροντα ἀπασχολοῦσιν. Εὔτακτα δὲ καὶ κατὰ καιρὸν τρέφονται, οὐχ ὅσα γαστέρα κολακεύει, ἀλλ' ὅσα τὴν τοῦ σώματος διακρατεῖ δύναμιν, τουτέστι τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν. Οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ἔμψυχοι ὄντες δίκαιοι, καὶ δικαίως τὸ δίκαιον μεταδιώκοντες, οὐ καταισχυνθήσονται. Πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, πόλις τροπικῶς ἡ ψυχή· ἧς ὁ βασιλεὺς νοῦς· ἐὰν ᾖ τὸ ἦθος νεαρώτερον, καὶ τὰς ὁρμὰς τῶν λογισμῶν οἱονεὶ ἄρχοντας ἔχων, γαστριμαργίᾳ καὶ ἡδοναῖς σχολάζοντας, τὸ οὐαὶ προσκείμενον ἕξει· εἰ δὲ ἡ ψυχὴ, καὶ ὁ ταύτης νοῦς, τοῖς θείοις ἐντραφῇ μαθήμασιν, υἱός ἐστι ἐλευθέρων, καὶ ὁρμὰς ἔχει λογισμῶν κατὰ καιρὸν πάντα πραττούσας, τά τε σώματι καθήκοντα, καὶ ὅσα τῇ ψυχῇ κατάλληλα. Οὕτω δὲ τραφεῖσα, καὶ οὕτως ἑαυτῆς ἄρχουσα, καὶ ταῖς προκοπαῖς δυναμουμένη ἡ τοιάδε ψυχὴ, γῆ καὶ πόλις τροπικῶς ὀνομασθεῖσα οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσεται. "Ἐν ὁλοκληρίαις ταπεινωθήσεται ἡ δόκωσις, καὶ ἐν ἀργίᾳ χειρῶν στάξει ἡ οἰκία· εἰς γέλωτα ποιοῦσιν ἄρτον, καὶ οἶνος εὐφραίνει ζῶντας· καὶ τοῦ ἀργυρίου ἐπακούσεται σὺν τὰ πάντα." Παραβολικῶς ἡμᾶς ἐκδιδάσκει μὴ ἀργοὺς εἶναι περὶ τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐργασίαν, ἵνα μὴ τῆς νοητῆς ἡμῶν οἰκίας, τουτέστι τῆς ψυχῆς, ἡ δόκωσις, οἱ εὔτονοι λογισμοὶ, ταπεινωθῶσι, καὶ στάξῃ οἰκία ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς κακίας ῥευμάτων παρενοχλουμένη, ἵνα μὴ καὶ τὰς κτηθείσας ἀρετὰς ἀπολέσωμεν ἐξ ἀμελείας. Χρὴ τοιγαροῦν συνεχῶς ἐπισκέπτεσθαι τὴν εἰρημένην οἰκίαν, καὶ μὴ πρὸς τὰ ἤδη κατορθωθέντα βλέπειν, ἀλλὰ τῆς δοκώσεως, τουτέστι τοῦ τέλους, ἐπιμελεῖσθαι. Οἱ γὰρ ὀκνηροὶ περὶ τὰς ἀρετὰς, εἰς ἡδονὴν μόνην βλέποντες, καὶ τὴν νομιζομένην εὐφροσύνην παρὰ ἀνθρώποις σχολάζουσι. Καί φασιν ὅτι δεῖ χρήματα ἔχειν· τῷ γὰρ ἀργυρίῳ ὑποταγήσεται τὰ πάντα. Ἄλλως· Οἱ μὲν οὖν ὀκνηροὶ καταστάζειν ἐῶσι τὴν ἑαυτῶν οἰκίαν· οἱ δὲ τοῖς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀγόμενοι νόμοις, ἄρτον τινὰ μυστικὸν, καὶ οἶνον πρὸς τὸ καταγελᾷν τῶν δαιμόνων διὰ τῆς τοῦ μυστηρίου δυνάμεως ἔχουσιν· εἰδότες ὅτι τοῦ ἀργυρίου οὕτως τοῦ θείου Λόγου ὀνομαζομένου, τοῦ δι' ἡμᾶς σαρκωθέντος, πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις ὑπακούει. Χρὴ δὲ εἰδέναι, ὡς κατὰ τὸν αἰσθητὸν ἄρτον πολλαχοῦ ἡ Γραφὴ πᾶσαν ξηρὰν τροφὴν λέγει· οἶνον δὲ ἢ ὕδωρ, ὑγράν. Τοῦτο σημαίνων ὁ Μωσῆς, ὅτε τὸν νόμον ἐδέχετο, ἔλεγε, Τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας ἄρτον οὐκ ἔφαγον, καὶ ὕδωρ οὐκ ἔπιον· ἀντὶ τοῦ, οὐδεμιᾶς ἢ ξηρᾶς, οὔτε ὑγρᾶς τροφῆς μετέλαβον. 93.605 "Καί γε ἐν συνειδήσει σου βασιλέα μὴ καταράσῃ, καὶ ἐν ταμιείοις κοιτῶνός σου μὴ καταράσῃ πλούσιον· ὅτι πετεινὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀποίσει τὴν φωνήν σου, καὶ ὁ ἔχων πτέρυγας ἀπαγγελεῖ λόγον σου." Πετεινὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οἱ μὲν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτὴν εἶπον, ἢ τὸ συνὸν πνεῦμα τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ· τὸν δὲ ἔχοντα πτέρυγας, ἢ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα τὸ ἐν εἴδει περιστερᾶς φανὲν, καὶ τὰ πάντα πληροῦν, καὶ πάντα ἐπιστάμενον· ἢ τοὺς ἁγίους ἀγγέλους. Ἕτεροι δὲ ἐξ ἐναντίας, τὸν μὲν ἔχοντα πτέρυγας, τὸν διάβολον ἐξειλήφασι· πετεινὰ δὲ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τοὺς αὐτοῦ δαίμονας ἀερίους. Κατὰ δὲ τὰς πάντων ὑπολήψεις ὁ νοῦς τοιοῦτός ἐστι· Μὴ καταράσῃ, φησὶ, βασιλέα ἢ πλούσιον, μηδὲ ἐν παραβύστῳ· ἡ γὰρ φήμη διατρέχουσα εἰς ἀκοὰς φέρει τοῦ καταραθέντος τὴν λοιδορίαν τὴν σήν· κατάρα δέ ἐστι αἴτησις κακῶν, ἢ ἑαυτῷ, ἢ τῷ πλησίον. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΑʹ. "Ἀπόστειλον τὸν ἄρτον σου ἐπὶ πρόσωπον τοῦ ὕδατος, ὅτι ἐν πλήθει τῶν ἡμερῶν εὑρήσεις αὐτόν." Γέγραπται, ∆ιάθρυπτε πεινῶντι τὸν ἄρτον σου. ∆ιὰ δὲ τοῦ ἄρτου τὴν πᾶσαν