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in a calm and with the wind standing at the stern, thus having unfurled the sails of patience, you sail with much ease not only not being tossed by this harsh storm, but not even being splashed; and very rightly so; for such are the rudders of virtue. And merchants and pilots and sailors and mariners, whenever they see a gathering of clouds or an assault of wild winds or the roaring of the wave boiling with very strong foam, keep their ships inside the harbor; but if they should happen to be tossing on the open sea, they do and contrive everything so as to bring the vessel to anchor at a mooring, or an island, or a shore. But you, with countless winds, with so many wild waves breaking from all sides, with the bottom of the sea being stirred up because of the harshness of the storm, and some having been submerged, and others floating dead on the waters, others naked being carried on a plank, leaping into the midst of the sea of evils, you call all these things a myth, sailing with a fair wind in a storm; and very rightly so. For pilots, even if they are ten thousand times wise in that skill, yet they do not have art sufficient to withstand every storm; wherefore they also often flee the battle against the waves. But you have a skill superior to every storm, the power of the philosophic soul, which is stronger than ten thousand armies and more powerful than weapons and safer than towers and walls. For to soldiers, both weapons and walls and towers are useful only for the safety of the body, and this not always nor universally, but there are times when all these things are defeated and they leave those who take refuge destitute of their protection. But your weapons do not expose barbarian arrows, nor the engines of enemy men, nor such assaults and thefts, but have trampled upon the necessities of nature and destroyed their tyranny and pulled down their citadel. And fighting continuously with demons you have won countless victories, but you have received not a single blow, but you stand unwounded in such a blizzard of arrows and the javelins hurled against you return again to those who threw them. Such is the wisdom of your art; through what you suffer badly, you ward off those who do it; through what is plotted against you, you grieve those who fight you, having their wickedness as the greatest material for a greater opportunity of good repute. Knowing these things well yourself and having the perception from experience, you rightly call all these things a myth. For how would you not call it a myth, tell me, having obtained a mortal body and so despising death as those who are hastening to leave a foreign land and to return to their own fatherland? living with a most grievous illness and being more cheerful than those who are well-fleshed and vigorous, not being humbled by insults, not being lifted up by honors and glories; this very thing which has become for many the cause of countless evils, who, though they shone in the priesthood and reached extreme old age and deep gray hair, from this have slipped and are set forth as a public spectacle for those who wish to mock? But you, a woman, though clothed in a spider-web-like body and having endured so many assaults, not only did you suffer nothing of the sort, but you also prevented many others from suffering. And those men indeed, not even having advanced far in the contests, but from the very preliminaries, and leaping from the starting-line itself, so to speak, were brought down; but you, having rounded the final turning-post countless times in each race have seized the prize, having displayed various kinds of wrestling and contests; and very rightly so. For not in age, nor in body are the wrestlings of virtue, but in soul and mind alone. Thus also women have been crowned and men have been tripped up; thus also children have been proclaimed victors and old men have been put to shame. Therefore one must always admire those who pursue virtue, but especially when, with many abandoning it, some are found holding fast to it. For this very reason also your constancy

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γαλήνῃ καὶ κατὰ πρύμναν τοῦ πνεύματος ἱσταμένου, οὕτως ἀναπετάσασα τῆς ὑπομονῆς τὰ ἱστία μετὰ πολλῆς πλέεις τῆς εὐκολίας οὐ μόνον οὐ κλυδωνιζομένη ὑπὸ τοῦ χαλεποῦ τούτου χειμῶνος, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ περιρραντιζομένη· καὶ μάλα εἰκότως· τοιαῦτα γὰρ τῆς ἀρετῆς τὰ πηδάλια. Καὶ ἔμποροι μὲν καὶ κυβερνῆται καὶ ναῦται καὶ πλωτῆρες, ἐπειδὰν ἴδωσι νεφῶν συνδρομὴν ἢ ἀγρίων ἀνέμων ἐμβολὴν ἢ τὸ ῥόθιον τοῦ κύματος σφοδροτάτῳ ζέον ἀφρῷ, εἴσω λιμένος τὰ πλοῖα κατέχουσιν· εἰ δέ που καὶ τύχοιεν ἐν πελάγει σαλεύοντες, πάντα ποιοῦσι καὶ μηχανῶνται ὥστε πρὸς ὅρμον ἢ νῆσον ἢ ἀκτὴν ὁρμίσαι τὸ σκάφος. Σὺ δὲ μυρίων πνευμάτων, τοσούτων ἀγρίων κυμάτων πάντοθεν συρρηγνυμένων, τοῦ βυθοῦ τῆς θαλάσσης ἀναστραφέντος διὰ τὴν χαλεπότητα τοῦ χειμῶνος, καὶ τῶν μὲν ὑποβρυχίων γενομένων, τῶν δὲ ἐπιπλεόντων νεκρῶν τοῖς ὕδασιν, ἑτέρων γυμνῶν ἐπὶ σανίδος φερομένων, εἰς μέσον ἁλλομένη τὸ πέλαγος τῶν κακῶν μῦθον ἅπαντα ταῦτα καλεῖς ἐξ οὐρίας ἐν χειμῶνι πλέουσα· καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ κυβερνῆ ται, κἂν μυριάκις ὦσι σοφοὶ τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἐκείνην, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔχουσι τέχνην ἀρκοῦσαν ἀντιστῆναι παντὶ χειμῶνι· διὸ καὶ φεύγουσι πολλάκις τὴν πρὸς τὰ κύματα μάχην. Σοὶ δέ ἐστιν ἐπιστήμη παντὸς ἀνωτέρα χειμῶνος, τῆς φιλοσόφου ψυχῆς ἡ δύναμις ἣ καὶ στρατοπέδων μυρίων ἐστὶν ἰσχυροτέρα καὶ ὅπλων δυνατωτέρα καὶ πύργων καὶ τειχῶν ἀσφαλεστέρα. Στρατιώταις μὲν γὰρ καὶ ὅπλα καὶ τείχη καὶ πύργοι, πρὸς σώματος ἀσφάλειαν χρήσιμα μόνον, καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀεὶ οὐδὲ διὰ παντός, ἀλλ' ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ ἡττᾶται ἅπαντα ταῦτα καὶ ἐρήμους τῆς αὐτῶν προστασίας τοὺς καταφεύγοντας ἀφίησιν. Τὰ δὲ ὅπλα τὰ σὰ οὐ βέλη βαρβαρικά, οὐδὲ μηχανήματα πολεμίων ἀνθρώπων, οὐδὲ ἐφόδους καὶ κλοπὰς τοιαύτας διελέγχει, ἀλλὰ τὰς τῆς φύσεως κατεπάτησεν ἀνάγκας καὶ τὴν τυραννίδα κατέλυσε καὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν αὐτῶν καθεῖλε. Καὶ δαίμοσι πυκτεύουσα διηνεκῶς μυρίας μὲν ἤρω νίκας, οὐδεμίαν δὲ ἐδέξω πληγήν, ἀλλ' ἕστηκας ἄτρωτος ἐν τοσαύτῃ βελῶν νιφάδι καὶ τὰ ἀκόντια τὰ κατὰ σοῦ ῥιπτόμενα πρὸς τοὺς ἀφιέντας ὑποστρέφει πάλιν. Τοιαύτη σου τῆς τέχνης ἡ σοφία· δι' ὧν πάσχεις κακῶς, τοὺς ποιοῦντας ἀμύνῃ, δι' ὧν ἐπιβουλεύῃ, τοὺς πολεμοῦντας λυπεῖς ὑπόθεσιν μεγίστην ἔχουσα πρὸς εὐδοκιμήσεως ἀφορμὴν μείζονος τὴν ἐκείνων κακίαν. Ταῦτα καὶ αὐτὴ εἰδυῖα καλῶς καὶ τῇ πείρᾳ τὴν αἴσθησιν ἔχουσα, εἰκότως μῦθον ἅπαντα ταῦτα καλεῖς. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν καλέσῃς μῦθον, εἰπέ μοι, θνητὸν σῶμα λαχοῦσα καὶ θανάτου οὕτω καταφρονοῦσα ὡς οἱ τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ἐπειγόμενοι καταλιπεῖν καὶ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπανελθεῖν πατρίδα; ἀρρωστίᾳ συζῶσα χαλεπωτάτῃ καὶ τῶν εὐσαρκούντων καὶ σφριγώντων ἥδιον διακειμένη, οὐχ ὕβρεσι ταπεινουμένη, οὐ τιμαῖς καὶ δόξαις ἐπαιρομένη· τοῦτο δὴ τὸ μυρίων πολλοῖς αἴτιον γενόμενον κακῶν οἳ καὶ ἐν ἱερωσύνῃ διαλάμψαντες καὶ πρὸς ἔσχατον γῆρας ἐλάσαντες καὶ βαθυτάτην πολιὰν ἐντεῦθεν ὤλισθον καὶ κοινὸν πρόκεινται τοῖς βουλομένοις κωμῳδεῖν θέατρον; Ἀλλ' ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἀραχνῶδες περικειμένη σῶμα καὶ τοσαύτας ἐνεγκοῦσα προσβολάς, οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν ἔπαθες τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέρους πολλοὺς παθεῖν ἐκώλυσας. Κἀκεῖνοι μὲν οὐδὲ μέχρι πολλοῦ τῶν ἀγώνων προελθόντες, ἀλλὰ ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν προοιμίων, καὶ βαλβῖδος αὐτῆς, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἁλλόμενοι κατηνέχθησαν· σὺ δὲ μυριάκις τὴν ἐσχάτην νύσσαν περιελθοῦσα καθ' ἕκαστον δρόμον τὸ βραβεῖον ἥρπασας, ποικίλα παλαισμάτων ἐπιδειξαμένη καὶ ἀγώνων εἴδη· καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐν ἡλικίᾳ, οὔτε ἐν σώματι τὰ παλαίσματα τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἀλλ' ἐν ψυχῇ μόνῃ καὶ γνώμῃ. Οὕτω καὶ γυναῖκες ἐστεφανώθησαν καὶ ἄνδρες ὑπεσκελίσθησαν· οὕτω καὶ παῖδες ἀνεκηρύχθησαν καὶ γεγηρακότες κατῃσχύνθησαν. Ἀεὶ μὲν οὖν χρὴ θαυμάζειν τοὺς μετιόντας ἀρετήν, μάλιστα δὲ ὅταν πολλῶν αὐτὴν ἀπολειπόντων, εὑρεθῶσί τινες αὐτῆς ἀντεχόμενοι. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν σὴν ἐμμέλειαν