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the mind is carried away, do not be surprised. For to the many it seems that to be above others is signified by the name of pride. But the truth of the things recorded confirms our definition. For if those who lifted themselves up above others sank down somewhere, with a chasm of the earth opening up for them, no one would condemn the definition which defines pride as the lowest fall. 2.282 Looking to these things, Moses teaches us to be moderate and not to be puffed up by our achievements, but always to manage the present well. For it is not because you have become superior to pleasures that you are now unaccountable for being caught by another kind of passion. For every passion is a fall, as long as it is a passion. But there is no difference of falls in the variation of the passions. The one who has slipped on the smoothness of pleasure has fallen, and the one who has been tripped up by pride has been overthrown. For no kind of fall is desirable to one who has sense. But equally, every fall is to be shunned, as long as it is a fall. 2.283 So if you should see anyone even now who is pure from some part of the sickness related to pleasures, but again with zeal, because he seems to be above others, thrusts himself toward the priesthood, consider that you are seeing that man who, on the height of pride, falls underground. 2.284 For in what follows the law teaches that the priesthood is a divine thing and not human. And it teaches thus. Having marked the rods from each tribe with the name of those who gave them, he places them by the altar, so that the rod might become a testimony of the ordination from above, being made distinguished beyond the others by some divine wonder. And when this had happened, the rods of the others remained as they were, but that of the priest, having taken root in itself, not through any foreign moisture, but by the power divinely placed in it, sprouted branches and fruit, and the fruit came to completion. And the fruit was a nut, 2.285 when this happened, all the subject people were taught good order. And it is fitting to understand through the fruit which the rod of Aaron sprouted what kind of life one in the priesthood ought to have: one that is self-controlled and austere and hardened in its outward life, but within, containing what is edible in that which is hidden and unseen, which is then revealed when the food has ripened with time and the astringent covering is broken off and that woody veil of the edible part is worn away. 2.286 But if you should observe the life of someone called a priest to be apple-like and sweet-smelling and rose-colored, such as many are, adorned with fine linen and purple and fattened at rich tables, who drink strained wine and anoint themselves with the finest myrrh and whatever other things seem sweet to the ready taste of those who harvest a life of pleasure, you might well say of this person the gospel saying: 'Seeing the fruit, I do not recognize the priestly tree by its fruit.' The fruit of the priesthood is one thing, and this is another. That fruit was self-control, but this is luxury. That one was not fattened by earthly moisture, but for this one many channels of pleasures flow in from below, through which the fruit of this life is made excessively red for such a season. 2.287 But when the subject people became pure from this passion also, then it travels through the foreign life, with the law leading the way on the royal highway, with no turning aside to either side. For a deviation to the sides is perilous for the one traveling. For just as if two cliffs should narrow a single path on the top of a ridge, there is danger for the one walking along it to turn aside from the middle to this side or that (for perhaps on both sides the chasm from the cliff follows upon the deviation), so the law wishes the one following in its footsteps not to leave the way which, as the Lord says, is narrow and afflicted, neither to the sinister and left, nor to what is considered the right. 2.288 And this saying is a doctrine, defining that the virtues are to be seen in a mean, because every vice is by nature enacted either by deficiency or by excess of a virtue, as for example in the case of courage, cowardice is a deficiency of virtue, and rashness is an excess; but the

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φέρεται ἡ διάνοια, μηδὲν θαυμάσῃς. Τοῖς γὰρ πολλοῖς δοκεῖ τὸ ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους εἶναι τῷ ὀνόματι τῆς ὑπερηφανίας σημαίνεσθαι. Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἱστορηθέντων ἀλήθεια βεβαιοῖ τὸν ἡμέτερον ὅρον. Εἰ γὰρ οἱ ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους ἑαυτοὺς ἄραντες κάτω που κατέδυσαν, χάσματι τῆς γῆς διασχούσης αὐτοῖς, οὐκ ἄν τις καταγνοίη τοῦ ὅρου, τοῦ τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν τὴν κατωτάτω πτῶσιν εἶναι ὁριζομένου. 2.282 Πρὸς ταῦτα βλέποντας μετριάζειν παιδεύει ὁ Μωϋσῆς καὶ μὴ ἐπαίρεσθαι τοῖς κατορθώμασιν, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ τὸ παρὸν εὖ διατίθεσθαι. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπειδὴ τῶν ἡδονῶν γέγονας κρείττων, ἤδη σοι ἀνεύθυνον τὸ ἑτέρῳ εἴδει πάθους ἁλίσκεσθαι. Πτῶμα γάρ ἐστι πᾶν πάθος, ἕως ἂν πάθος ᾖ. ∆ιαφορὰ δὲ πτωμάτων ἐν τῇ τῶν παθημάτων παραλλαγῇ οὐδεμία. Ὁ τῷ λείῳ τῆς ἡδονῆς ἐνολισθήσας πέπτωκε καὶ ὁ διὰ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας ὑποσκελισθεὶς ἀνετράπη. Οὐδὲν γὰρ καταπτώματος εἶδος αἱρετὸν τῷ νοῦν ἔχοντι. Ἀλλ' ἐπίσης πᾶν πτῶμα φευκτόν, ἕως ἂν πτῶμα ᾖ. 2.283 Ὡς εἴ τινα καὶ τῶν νῦν βλέποις ἐν μέρει τινὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὰς ἡδονὰς ἀρρωστήματος καθαρεύοντα, σπουδῇ δὲ πάλιν, τῷ δοκεῖν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους εἶναι, πρὸς τὴν ἱερωσύνην ἑαυτὸν εἰσωθοῦντα, τοῦτον ἐκεῖνον οἴου βλέπειν τὸν ἐν τῷ ὑψώματι τῆς ὑπερηφανίας ὑπόγειον πίπτοντα. 2.284 ∆ιδάσκει γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς ὁ νόμος ὅτι θεῖόν τι χρῆμά ἐστιν ἡ ἱερωσύνη καὶ οὐκ ἀνθρώπινον. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ οὕτως. Ῥάβδους παρ' ἑκάστης φυλῆς ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τῶν δεδωκότων κατασημήνας προστίθησι τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ, ὥστε τῆς ἄνωθεν χειροτονίας μαρτυρίαν γενέσθαι τὴν ῥάβδον, θαύματί τινι θείῳ παρὰ τὰς ἄλλας γενομένην ἐπίσημον. Καὶ γενομένου τούτου αἱ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων ῥάβδοι ὅπερ ἦσαν διέμειναν, ἡ δὲ τοῦ ἱερέως, αὐτὴ ἐν ἑαυτῇ ῥιζωθεῖσα, οὐ διά τινος ἀλλοτρίας ἰκμάδος, ἀλλὰ τῆς θεόθεν αὐτῇ ἐντεθείσης δυνάμεως, κλάδους καὶ καρπὸν ἀνεβλάστησε καὶ προῆλθεν εἰς τελείωσιν ὁ καρπός. Κάρυον δὲ ἦν ὁ καρπός, 2.285 οὗ γενομένου, πρὸς εὐταξίαν ἐπαιδεύθη πᾶν τὸ ὑπήκοον. Νοεῖν δὲ προσήκει διὰ τοῦ καρποῦ, ὃν ἡ ῥάβδος ἐβλάστησε τοῦ Ἀαρών, οἷον χρὴ εἶναι τὸν ἐν τῇ ἱερωσύνῃ βίον, ἐγκρατῆ τινα καὶ κατεσ τυμμένον καὶ περιεσκληκότα τῇ φαινομένῃ ζωῇ, ἔνδοθεν δὲ τὸ ἐδώδιμον ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ καὶ ἀφανεῖ περιέχοντα, ὃ τότε ἀνακαλύπτεται, ὅταν πεπανθῇ τῷ χρόνῳ ἡ βρῶσις καὶ περιρραγῇ τὸ στύφον περιβόλαιον καὶ περιτριβῇ τὸ ξυλῶδες ἐκεῖνο τοῦ ἐδωδίμου προκάλυμμα. 2.286 Εἰ δέ τινος ἱερέως λεγομένου καταμάθοις τὸν βίον μηλοειδῆ καὶ εὔπνουν καὶ ῥοδόχροον, οἷοι τῶν πολλῶν εἰσι βύσσῳ καὶ πορφύρᾳ διανθιζόμενοι καὶ ταῖς λιπαραῖς τραπέζαις ἐμπιαινόμενοι οἳ τὸν διυλισμένον πίνοντες οἶνον, καὶ τὰ πρῶτα μύρα χριόμενοι καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα γλυκέα δοκεῖ κατὰ τὴν πρόχειρον γεῦσιν τοῖς τὸν ἀπολαυστικὸν ὀπωρίζουσι βίον, καλῶς ἂν ἐπὶ τούτου τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν εἴποις, ὅτι· τὸν καρπὸν βλέπων, οὐκ ἐπιγινώσκω διὰ τοῦ καρποῦ τὸ ἱερατικὸν δένδρον. Ἄλλος ὁ τῆς ἱερωσύνης καρπὸς καὶ οὗτος ἕτερος. Ἐκεῖνος ὁ καρπὸς ἐγκράτεια ἦν, τρυφὴ δὲ οὗτος. Ἐκεῖνος οὐκ ἀπὸ γηΐνης ἰκμάδος ὑπεπιαίνετο, τούτῳ δὲ πολλοὶ κάτωθεν ἐπιρρέουσιν οἱ τῶν ἡδονῶν ὀχετοί, δι' ὧν πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην ὥραν ἡ τοῦ βίου ὀπώρα ὑπερ υθραίνεται. 2.287 Ὅτε δὲ καὶ τούτου τοῦ πάθους καθαρὸν ἐγένετο τὸ ὑπήκοον, τότε διέξεισι τὸν ἀλλόφυλον βίον, καθηγουμένου τοῦ νόμου τῆς βασιλικῆς λεωφόρου, κατ' οὐδέτερον μέρος τῆς ἐκτροπῆς γινομένης. Ἐπισφαλὴς γὰρ ἡ ἐπὶ τὰ πλάγια παρατροπὴ τῷ ὁδεύοντι. Ὥσπερ γὰρ εἰ δύο κρημνοὶ μίαν ἐπὶ τῆς ἄκρας ῥαχίας ἀτραπὸν ἀποστενοῖεν, κίνδυνός ἐστι τῷ διὰ ταύτης βαίνοντι ἔνθεν ἢ ἔνθεν παρατραπῆναι τοῦ μέσου (ἴσως γὰρ ἑκατέρωθεν τὸ ἐκ τοῦ κρημνοῦ βάραθρον τὴν ἐκτροπὴν διαδέχεται), οὕτως ὁ νόμος βούλεται τὸν αὐτῷ κατ' ἴχνος ἑπόμενον μὴ καταλιπεῖν τὴν ὁδὸν τήν, καθώς φησιν ὁ Κύριος, στενήν τε καὶ τεθλιμμένην, μήτε ἐπὶ τὸ σκαιόν τε καὶ εὐώνυμον, μήτε ἐπὶ τὸ δεξιὸν νομιζό μενον. 2.288 ∆όγμα δέ ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ λόγος ἐν μεσότητι θεωρεῖσθαι τὰς ἀρετὰς ὁριζόμενος, διότι πέφυκε πᾶσα κακία ἢ κατ' ἔλλειψιν ἢ καθ' ὑπέρπτωσιν ἀρετῆς ἐνεργεῖσθαι, οἷον ἐπὶ τῆς ἀνδρείας ἔλλειψίς τίς ἐστιν ἀρετῆς ἡ δειλία, ὑπέρπ πτωσις δὲ τὸ θράσος· τὸ δὲ