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of eternity, where there is no light, nor to see the life of mortals. But as for a good counselor, who has made known all true things and taught the saving 204 practices to the wise and most prudent king, consider my own humble lowliness, I who have come to show you the good and unerring way, leading you to eternal and unending things and advising you to store everything up there, and leading you away from this deceptive world, which I too unfortunately loved, and clung to its pleasures and enjoyments. But having understood with the unerring eyes of the mind how in these things the whole life of men is worn away, with some arriving, and others departing, and nothing having stability and firmness—neither the rich in their wealth, nor the powerful in their strength, nor the wise in their wisdom, nor again the prosperous in their prosperity, nor those who live luxuriously in their extravagance, nor those who seem to live securely in their vain and most inert security, nor in any other of the things praised here, but the matter is like the passing of winter torrents falling into the immeasurable depth of the sea (for so fleeting and temporary are all present things)—I understood that such things are all vain and of no benefit, but, just as all things before are hidden in oblivion, whether you say glory, or kingship, or the splendors of dignities, or the bulk of power, or the audacity of tyrants, or any such thing, so also present things will be obscured in the succeeding and future times. I too, being one of them, will surely fall subject to the accustomed alteration, and just as those before me were not permitted to delight in present things forever, 206 so it will also be for me. For I perceived what things this tyrannical and turbulent world works upon men, transferring them from here to there, some from wealth to poverty, others from poverty to glory, removing these from life, and again introducing others in their place, rejecting some who are wise and prudent, making the honored and renowned dishonored and of no account, while seating others who are unwise and imprudent on a throne of glory, and showing to all as honored those who are dishonored and obscure. And it is possible to see the human race having no stability at all in the face of its harsh tyranny; but, as when a dove, fleeing an eagle or a hawk, changes place from place, now to this tree, again to that bush, then immediately dashing itself against the holes of the rocks and all sorts of thorns, and finding nowhere a safe refuge, is distressed in continuous tossing and wavering, so are those who are agitated by present things, toiling wretchedly under an irrational impulse, having nothing at all firm or secure, nor knowing to what end they are coming, and where this vain life leads them, to which they have subjected themselves most unfortunately and wretchedly, having chosen evil things instead of good, and pursuing wickedness instead of goodness, or who it is that will inherit the cold fruits of their many and toilsome labors, whether a relative or a stranger; and often not even a friend at all or an acquaintance, but an enemy and a foe. 208 Having discerned all these things and what follows them in the tribunal of the soul, I hated my entire life that was spent on vain things, which I lived wasting away in toils concerning the earth. And when I cast off from my soul the passion for these things and rejected it, the truly good things appeared: to fear God and to do His will. For I recognized this to be the sum of all good things; this is called both the beginning of wisdom and perfected wisdom; for it is a life without sorrow and without vexation for those who hold fast to it, and for those who lean upon it as upon the Lord, it is secure. Therefore, having set my reasoning on the most unerring way of the commandments

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αἰωνίου, οὗ οὐκ ἔστι φέγγος, οὐδὲ ὁρᾶν ζωὴν βροτῶν. σύμβουλον δὲ ἀγαθόν, τὸν τἀληθῆ πάντα γνωρίσαντα καὶ τὰ σωτήρια διδάξαντα 204 ἐπιτηδεύματα τῷ συνετῷ καὶ σοφωτάτῳ βασιλεῖ, τὴν ἐμὴν ὑπολάμβανε εὐτελῆ χθαμαλότητα, ὃς τὴν ἀγαθὴν ὁδὸν καὶ ἀπλανῆ ὑποδεῖξαί σοι ἥκω, τοῖς αἰωνίοις μὲν καὶ ἀτελευτήτοις ἐνάγων κἀκεῖσε πάντα συμβουλεύων ἀποθέσθαι, ἀπάγων δὲ τοῦ πλάνου κόσμου τούτου, ὅνπερ κἀγὼ δυστυχῶς ἐφίλουν, καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ ἀντειχόμην τερπνῶν τε καὶ ἀπολαυστικῶν. κατανοήσας δὲ τοῖς ἀπλανέσι τοῦ νοὸς ὀφθαλμοῖς πῶς ἐν τούτοις πᾶς ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατατρίβεται βίος, τῶν μὲν παραγινομένων, τῶν δὲ ἀπαιρόντων, καὶ μηδενὸς ἔχοντος τὸ στάσιμόν τε καὶ βέβαιον, μήτε τῶν πλουτούντων ἐν τῷ πλούτῳ, μήτε τῶν δυνατῶν ἐν τῇ ἰσχύϊ, μήτε τῶν σοφῶν ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ, μηδ' αὖ τῶν εὐημερούντων ἐν τῇ εὐημερίᾳ, μήτε τῶν τρυφώντων ἐν τῇ σπατάλῃ, μήτε τῶν ἀσφαλῶς δοκούντων βιοῦν ἐν τῇ ματαίᾳ αὐτῶν καὶ ἀδρανεστάτῃ ἀσφαλείᾳ, μήτε ἐν ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν ἐνταῦθα ἐπαινουμένων, ἀλλ' ἔοικε τὸ πρᾶγμα χειμάρρων παρόδῳ ἀμετρήτῳ θαλάσσης ἐμπιπτόντων βυθῷ (ῥευστὰ γὰρ οὕτως εἰσὶ τὰ παρόντα πάντα καὶ πρόσκαιρα), συνῆκα ὡς τὰ τοιαῦτα μάταια σύμπαντα καὶ ὄνησις αὐτῶν οὐδεμία, ἀλλ', ὥσπερ τὰ πρότερον πάντα λήθῃ κέκρυπται, εἴτε δόξαν εἴποις, εἴτε βασιλείαν, εἴτε ἀξιωμάτων λαμπρότητας, εἴτε δυναστείας ὄγκον, εἴτε τυράννων θρασύτητα, εἴτε τι τῶν τοιούτων, οὕτως καὶ τὰ ἐνεστῶτα εἰς τοὺς ἑξῆς καὶ μετέπειτα χρόνους ἀμαυρωθήσεται. ὧνπερ κἀγὼ εἷς ὑπάρχων τῇ συνήθει πάντως ἀλλοιώσει ὑποπεσοῦμαι, καὶ καθὼς οἱ πρὸ ἐμοῦ δι' αἰῶνος τέρπεσθαι τοῖς παροῦσιν οὐ συνεχωρήθησαν, 206 οὕτως ἔσται καὶ ἐπ' ἐμοί. κατεῖδον γὰρ οἷα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ὁ τύραννος οὗτος καὶ ταραχώδης κατεργάζεται κόσμος, μετατιθεὶς αὐτοὺς ἐντεῦθεν κἀκεῖθεν, οὓς μὲν ἐκ πλούτου πρὸς πενίαν, οὓς δὲ ἐκ πενίας εἰς δόξαν, τούτους μὲν ὑπεξάγων τοῦ βίου, ἄλλους δὲ αὖθις ἀντεισάγων, τινὰς μὲν σοφοὺς καὶ συνετοὺς ἀποδοκιμάζων, ἀτίμους τε καὶ εὐτελεῖς τοὺς τιμίους καὶ περιφανεῖς ἐργαζόμενος, ἄλλους δὲ ἀσόφους τε καὶ ἀσυνέτους ἐπὶ θρόνου καθίζων δόξης, τιμίους τε τοὺς ἀτίμους καὶ ἀφανεῖς πᾶσι δεικνύων. Καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος μηδόλως κατὰ πρόσωπον τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀπηνοῦς τυραννίδος ἔχον στάσιν· ἀλλ', ὡς ὅταν περιστερά, φεύγουσα ἀετὸν εἴτε ἱέρακα, τόπους ἐκ τόπων ἀμείβῃ, νῦν μὲν τούτῳ τῷ δένδρῳ, αὖθις ἐκείνῳ τῷ θάμνῳ, εἶτ' εὐθὺς τρώγλαις τῶν πετρῶν καὶ παντοίαις ἀκάνθαις ἑαυτὴν προσαράσσουσα, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ εὑρίσκουσα προσφύγιον ἀσφαλές, ἐν σάλῳ καὶ ταλαντώσει ταλαιπωρεῖται διηνεκεῖ, οὕτως εἰσὶν οἱ τοῖς παροῦσιν ἐπτοημένοι, ὑφ' ὁρμῆς μὲν ἀλογίστου ἀθλίως πονοῦντες, μηδόλως δέ τι ἔχοντες βέβαιον ἢ ἀσφαλές, μήτ' ἐπιστάμενοι εἰς ὁποῖον καταντῶσι τέλος, καὶ ποῦ τούτους ὁ μάταιος ἄγει βίος, ᾧ καθυπέταξαν ἑαυτοὺς λίαν δυστυχῶς καὶ ἀθλίως, πονηρὰ μὲν ἑλόμενοι ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν, μετελθόντες δὲ κακίαν ἀντὶ χρηστότητος, ἢ τίς ὁ τὰς ψυχρὰς τῶν πολλῶν καὶ μοχθηρῶν αὐτῶν καμάτων διαδεξάμενος ἐπικαρπίας, εἴτε οἰκεῖος, εἴτε ἀλλότριος· καὶ πολλάκις οὐδὲ φίλος ὅλως ἢ γνωστός, ἀλλ' ἐχθρὸς καὶ πολέμιος. 2 08 Ταῦτα πάντα καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἑπόμενα διακρίνας ἐν τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς κριτηρίῳ, ἐμίσησα τὸν σύμπαντά μου βίον τὸν ἐν τοῖς ματαίοις ἀναλωθέντα, ὃν διήγαγον τοῖς περὶ γῆς πόνοις προστετηκώς. ἀποβαλλομένῳ δέ μοι τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν τούτων προσπάθειαν καὶ ἀπορρίψαντι κατεφάνη τὰ τῷ ὄντι ἀγαθά, τὸ φοβεῖσθαι τὸν Θεὸν καὶ ποιεῖν αὐτοῦ τὸ θέλημα. τοῦτο γὰρ ἔγνων πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν κεφάλαιον ὑπάρχειν· τοῦτο καὶ ἀρχὴ σοφίας λέγεται καὶ σοφία τετελειωμένη· ζωὴ γάρ ἐστιν ἄλυπος καὶ ἀνεπηρέαστος τοῖς ἀντεχομένοις αὐτῆς, καὶ τοῖς ἐπερειδομένοις ἐπ' αὐτὴν ὡς ἐπὶ Κύριον ἀσφαλής. ἐπιστήσας οὖν μου τὸν λογισμὸν τῇ ἀπλανεστάτῃ ὁδῷ τῶν ἐντολῶν