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ought one to fear? For among monks, out of many, few failed; but in the pursuits of rhetoric, out of many, few succeeded. And not only for these reasons, but also for many others, one might reasonably fear those things more. For a boy's lack of talent, and teachers' ignorance, and tutors' laziness, and a father's business, and a lack of expenses and fees, and difference of characters, and fellow students' wickedness and envy and slander, and many other things mar the outcome. And not only these things, but also after the end of these, many more things; for when, having overcome everything and been tripped up by none of these, he arrives at the very summit of education, another ambush lies there again. For the enmity of a ruler, and the envy of colleagues, and the difficulty of the times, and a lack of friends, and poverty have often driven one away from the goal. But it is not so with monks, but one thing only is needed, a noble and good zeal; and if this is present, there is nothing to prevent one from reaching the goal of virtue. How then is it not unjust, where the grounds for good hopes are clear and nearer, to despair and tremble, but where the contrary things are more distant and are checked by many hindrances, not to despair, but to be confident in the face of what is clearer and more numerous difficulties; and in the case of rhetoric, to look not at the painful things that often happen, but at the good things that rarely turn out, but in the case of monks to do the opposite, and where the hopes of good things are many, to incline only toward the painful things, but where the hopes of the contrary are many, to consider only the good ones 47.372? And yet in that case, when all the necessary elements have come together, often at the very goal an untimely death has come upon and carried away the athlete uncrowned after his countless sweats; but here, even if this should happen in the midst of the contests, then indeed this man departs most glorious and crowned. So that if you fear the future, you ought to have feared more in the case of rhetoric, where there are many hindrances to reaching the end. But you sit there waiting for a long time, looking to none of the things in between, I mean expense and hardship and uncertainty, but looking only to the end; but here, when the boy has not yet set foot on the threshold, nor touched this good philosophy, you fear and tremble immediately, and cast your mind into despair? And yet you yourself said before: What? Is it not possible for one who lives in a city and has a house to be saved? Therefore, if it is possible to be saved with a city, and a house, and a wife, much more so without a wife and these other things. For it is not consistent now to be confident, even if one is bound up in worldly affairs, on the grounds that salvation is possible even so; and now, even if one is freed from all these things, to tremble and fear, on the grounds that it is not possible to succeed even without them. For if he was able to be saved while living in the city, as you said, much more so having taken up the solitary life. How then do you fear the impossible here, not having feared there where you ought more to have feared?

15. For it is not, he says, the same thing for one living a worldly life to sin, and for one who has once for all consecrated himself to God; for they do not both fall from the same height, whence their wounds are not equal either. You greatly deceive and delude yourself, if you think that one set of things is required of the man of the world, and another of the monk; for the difference between them lies in marrying or not, but in respect of all other things they are liable to the same accountabilities. For he who is angry with his brother without a cause, whether he is a man of the world or a monk, has offended God equally; and he who looks at a woman to lust after her, whether he happens to be the one or the other, will be punished equally for this adultery. And if I must add an argument, the man of the world is more without excuse for suffering this; for it is not the same thing for one who has a wife, and enjoys so much consolation, to be captivated by a woman's beauty, and for one deprived of all this assistance to be caught by the terrible thing. Again, he who swears, whether he is the one or the other, is condemned equally. For neither does he who

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δεδοικέναι ἐχρῆν; Παρὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῖς μοναχοῖς ἐκ πολλῶν ὀλίγοι διήμαρτον· ἐν δὲ ταῖς τῶν λόγων διατριβαῖς ἀπὸ πολλῶν ὀλίγοι κατώρθωσαν. Καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ τούτων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀφ' ἑτέρων πλειόνων εἰκότως ἄν τις ἐκεῖνα μᾶλλον φοβοῖτο. Καὶ γὰρ παιδὸς ἀφυΐα, καὶ διδασκάλων ἀμαθία, καὶ παιδαγωγῶν ῥᾳθυμία, καὶ πατρὸς ἀσχολία, καὶ δαπανῶν καὶ μισθῶν ἔλλειψις, καὶ τρόπων διαφορὰ, καὶ συμφοιτητῶν κακία καὶ φθόνος καὶ βασκανία, καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα τῷ τέλει λυμαίνεται. Καὶ οὐ ταῦτα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τὸ τέλος τούτων ἕτερα πλείονα· ὅταν γὰρ ἅπαντα ὑπερβὰς πρὸς αὐτὸ τῆς παιδείας τὸ ἄκρον ἀφίκηται, μηδενὶ τούτων ὑποσκελισθεὶς, ἑτέρα πάλιν κεῖται ἐνέδρα ἐκεῖ. Καὶ γὰρ ἄρχοντος δυσμένεια, καὶ φθόνος τῶν ὁμοτέχνων, καὶ καιρῶν δυσκολία, καὶ φίλων ἐρημία, καὶ πενία πολλάκις τοῦ τέλους ἐξέκρουσεν. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν μοναχῶν οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἑνὸς δεῖ μόνου, προθυμίας γενναίας καὶ ἀγαθῆς· κἂν τοῦτο προσῇ, οὐδὲν τὸ κωλύον πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἐλθεῖν τῆς ἀρετῆς. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄδικον, ἔνθα μὲν τὰ τῶν χρηστῶν ἐλπίδων δῆλά τέ ἐστι καὶ ἐγγύτερα ἀπογινώσκειν καὶ τρέμειν, ἔνθα δὲ τὰ τῶν ἐναντίων μακρότερα, καὶ ὑπὸ πολλῶν κωλυμάτων ἀνακοπτόμενα, μὴ ἀπογινώσκειν, εἰς δὲ τὰ τῶν δυσχερῶν σαφέστερα καὶ μᾶλλον πλείονα θαρσεῖν· καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν λόγων, μὴ πρὸς τὰ πολλάκις συμβαίνοντα λυπηρὰ, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰ σπανίως ἐκβαίνοντα χρηστὰ ἀφορᾷν, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν μοναχῶν τοὐναντίον ποιεῖν, καὶ ἔνθα μὲν αἱ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐλπίδες πολλαὶ, πρὸς τὰ λυπηρὰ ἀποκλίνειν μόνον, ἔνθα δὲ αἱ τῶν ἐναντίων, τὰς χρηστὰς 47.372 ἀναλογίζεσθαι μόνας; Καίτοι γε ἐκεῖ μὲν ὅταν ἅπαντα συνέλθῃ τὰ ὀφείλοντα συνδραμεῖν, πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ τέλει πολλάκις θάνατος ἄωρος προσπεσὼν ἀπήνεγκεν ἀστεφάνωτον τὸν ἀθλητὴν μετὰ τοὺς μυρίους ἱδρῶτας· ἐνταῦθα δὲ κἂν ἐν μέσοις τοῖς ἀγῶσι τοῦτο γένηται, τότε δὴ μάλιστα λαμπρὸς καὶ ἐστεφανωμένος ἄπεισιν οὗτος. Ὥστε εἰ τὸ μέλλον δέδοικας, ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων δεδοικέναι μᾶλλον ἔδει, ἔνθα πολλὰ τὰ κωλύματα πρὸς τὸ πέρας ἐλθεῖν. Σὺ δὲ ἐκεῖ μὲν κάθῃ χρόνον ἀναμένων μακρὸν, καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν τῶν ἐν μέσῳ, δαπάνην λέγω καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν καὶ τὸ ἄδηλον, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ τέλος μόνον ὁρῶν· ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὔπω τῶν προθύρων τοῦ παιδὸς ἐπιβάντος, οὐδὲ ἁψαμένου τῆς καλῆς ταύτης φιλοσοφίας, δέδοικας καὶ τρέμεις εὐθέως, καὶ εἰς ἀπόγνωσιν ἐμβάλλεις τὸν λογισμόν; Καὶ μὴν αὐτὸς ἔμπροσθεν ἔλεγες· Τί γάρ; πόλιν οἰκοῦντα καὶ οἰκίαν ἔχοντα σωθῆναι οὐκ ἔνι; Οὐκοῦν εἰ μετὰ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ τῆς οἰκίας, καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς σωθῆναι δυνατὸν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον χωρὶς γυναικὸς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τούτων. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι τοῦ αὐτοῦ νῦν μὲν θαῤῥεῖν, καὶ εἰ ἐν τοῖς βιωτικοῖς ᾖ πράγμασιν ἐνδεδεμένος, ὡς δυνατῆς καὶ οὕτω τῆς σωτηρίας οὔσης· νῦν δὲ, κἂν πάντων ἀπηλλαγμένος ᾖ, τρέμειν καὶ δεδοικέναι, ὡς οὐδὲ τούτων χωρὶς εὐδοκιμῆσαι ἐνόν. Εἰ γὰρ πόλιν οἰκῶν ἠδύνατο σώζεσθαι, ὡς ἔφης, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὴν ἐρημίαν καταλαβών. Πῶς οὖν τὸ ἀδύνατον ἐνταῦθα δέδοικας, ἐκεῖ μὴ φοβηθεὶς ἔνθα μᾶλλον ἐχρῆν;

ιεʹ. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι, φησὶν, ἴσον βιωτικὸν ὄντα διαμαρτεῖν, καὶ καθάπαξ ἀναθέντα ἑαυτὸν τῷ Θεῷ· οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ὕψους ἀμφότεροι καταπίπτουσιν, ὅθεν οὐδὲ τὰ τραύματα αὐτοῖς ἴσα. Σφόδρα ἀπατᾷς σαυτὸν καὶ σφάλλεις, εἰ ἄλλα μὲν οἴει τὸν βιωτικὸν, ἕτερα δὲ ἀπαιτεῖσθαι τὸν μοναχόν· ἡ γὰρ διαφορὰ τούτοις ἐν τῷ γαμῆσαι καὶ μὴ, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἕνεκεν ἁπάντων κοινὰς ὑπέχουσι τὰς εὐθύνας. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ ὀργιζόμενος τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ εἰκῆ, κἄν τε βιωτικὸς, κἄν τε μοναχὸς ᾖ, τῷ Θεῷ προσέκρουσεν ὁμοίως· καὶ ὁ βλέπων γυναῖκα πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι αὐτῆς, ἄν τε τοῦτο ἄν τε ἐκεῖνο τυγχάνῃ, ὁμοίως ὑπὲρ τῆς μοιχείας τιμωρηθήσεται ταύτης. Εἰ δὲ χρὴ καὶ ἀπὸ λογισμοῦ προσθεῖναι, ὁ βιωτικὸς ἀσυγγνωστότερος τοῦτο παθών· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἴσον γυναῖκα ἔχοντα, καὶ τοσαύτης ἀπολαύοντα παραμυθίας, κάλλει προσπταῖσαι γυναικὸς, καὶ ἁπάσης ταύτης ἀπεστερημένον τῆς βοηθείας ἁλῶναι τῷ δεινῷ. Πάλιν ὁ ὀμνὺς, ἄν τε τοῦτο ἄν τε ἐκεῖνο ᾖ, ὁμοίως καταδικάζεται. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ