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this matter is difficult to set right, placing greater hindrances. In addition to these things it is also necessary to know that it is not possible after marriage to be master of oneself, but one of two things is necessary: either to have intercourse with his wife continually, if she wishes it, or, should she wish to be continent, for him to withdraw and be caught in adultery. What need is there to speak of the other necessities of children, the cares of the household, which are able to blunt all zeal, and to scatter much torpor over the soul?

18. Therefore it is better to arm him from his earliest years, when he is his own master and free, not only for the reasons stated, but no less for what is about to be said than for these. For the one who takes up this philosophy towards the end of his life spends all his time that he might be able to wash away the sins committed in his earlier life, and all his diligence is spent on this; and not even so is it often enough, but he departs having remnants of his wounds. But he who has stripped for the contest from his earliest years does not spend his time on this, nor does he sit healing wounds, but from the very beginning he receives the prizes. And for that man it is a thing to be thankful for if he can fight again all his defeats, but this one from the very starting-line sets up trophies, and joins victories to victories; just as some Olympic victor from his early youth travels to old age through proclamations of victory, so he departs to that place, having bound his head with ten thousand crowns. Among which, then, do you wish your son to be? Among those who through their great confidence are able to look the very archangels in the face, or among those who stand with all the others, and keep the last rank? For they will surely receive the last rank, and this only when they have been able to run through all the hindrances which I have just enumerated, and untimely death has not snatched them away beforehand, nor have they been hindered afterwards by a wife, nor have they received so many wounds that the time of old age is not sufficient for them for their healing, and they have kept their purpose continually firm and unshaken. For when all these things come together, then with difficulty they will be ranked among the last. Do you wish your son to be among these, then, or among those who shine in the front of the phalanx? And who is so wretched, he says, as to pray for that for his children, rather than this? But we seek what is familiar, and we want them to be with us. This I myself also want, and I pray no less than you who gave them birth, that they return to their paternal home, and pay back the recompense for their nurture, the equal of which they could not find elsewhere; but let us not demand this of them now. For how is it not absurd, when sending them for secular studies, to banish them 47.380 for a long time from their homeland, and when they are about to learn some mechanical art or some other baser one to make their own house inaccessible to them, ordering them to dine and to sleep in a teacher's house; but to drag away immediately these who are about to come not to a human learning, but to the heavenly philosophy, before they become what we pray for? And one who is taught to run across a stretched rope will be separated from his own for a long time, but shall we shut up with their parents those who are learning to fly from earth to heaven? And what could be worse than this irrationality? Do you not see the farmers, that even if they are in a great hurry to receive the fruits of their labors, they would never endure to harvest them unripe? Let us not, then, lead our sons away from their sojourn in the desert before the time, but let us allow the lessons to become fixed in them, and the plants to take root. And if it should be necessary for them to be nurtured in a monastery for ten or even twenty years, let us not be disturbed, nor be distressed; for the longer he spends in the training school, the more strength he will acquire. Or rather, if you please, let us not even set a time, but let that be the only limit which brings to maturity the fruits planted in him, and then let him return from the desert, but not before. For there will be no advantage for us from this haste, except that he should never become ripe. For he who before the time of the nourishment in the root

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δυσκατόρθωτον τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο, μείζονα τὰ κωλύματα τιθείς. Πρὸς δὲ τούτοις κἀκεῖνο εἰδέναι χρὴ, ὅτι οὐκ ἔνι μετὰ γάμον κύριον ἑαυτοῦ εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη δυοῖν θάτερον, ἢ διαπαντὸς ὁμιλεῖν τῇ γυναικὶ, ἂν ἐκείνη τοῦτο βούληται, ἢ βουλομένης ἐγκρατεύεσθαι ἀποστάντα μοιχείᾳ ἁλίσκεσθαι. Τί δεῖ λέγειν τὰς ἄλλας ἀνάγκας τῶν παίδων, τῆς οἰκίας τὰς φροντίδας, αἳ πᾶσαν προθυμίαν ἱκαναὶ ἀμβλῦναι, καὶ πολλὴν τῆς ψυχῆς κατασκεδάσαι νάρκην;

ιηʹ. ∆ιὸ βέλτιον, κύριον ὄντα καὶ λελυμένον ἐκ πρώτης ὁπλίζειν τῆς ἡλικίας, οὐ τῶν εἰρημένων ἕνεκεν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ῥηθήσεσθαι μέλλοντος οὐχ ἧττον ἢ τούτων. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τῷ τέλει τοῦ βίου τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἁψάμενος ταύτης, πάντα ἀναλίσκει τὸν χρόνον, ἵνα δυνηθῇ τὰ γενόμενα κατὰ τὴν ἔμπροσθεν ἡλικίαν ἁμαρτήματα ἀπονίψασθαι, καὶ πᾶσα εἰς τοῦτο ἡ σπουδὴ δαπανᾶται· καὶ οὐδὲ οὕτω πολλάκις ἀρκεῖ, ἀλλ' ἀπέρχεται λείψανα τῶν πληγῶν ἔχων· ὁ δὲ ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας ἀποδυσάμενος, οὐκ εἰς τοῦτο δαπανᾷ τὸν χρόνον, οὐδὲ κάθηται τραύματα θεραπεύων, ἀλλ' ἐκ προοιμίων λαμβάνει τὰ βραβεῖα· κἀκείνῳ μὲν ἀγαπητὸν τὰς ἥττας ἀναμαχέσασθαι πάσας, οὗτος δὲ ἐκ βαλβῖδος αὐτῆς τρόπαια ἵστησι, καὶ νίκας συνάπτει νίκαις· καθάπερ τις Ὀλυμπιονίκης ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας δι' ἀναῤῥήσεων ἐπὶ τὸ γῆρας ὁδεύων, οὕτως ἄπεισιν ἐκεῖ, μυρίοις τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀναδησάμενος στεφάνοις. Τίνων οὖν βούλει εἶναι τὸν υἱόν; τῶν διὰ τὴν πολλὴν παῤῥησίαν καὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἀρχαγγέλους ἀντιβλέψαι δυναμένων, ἢ ἐκείνων τῶν μετὰ πάντων ἑστώτων, καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην τηρούντων τάξιν; Τὴν ἐσχάτην γὰρ λήψονται πάντως, καὶ ταύτην, ὅταν δυνηθῶσι πάντα τὰ κωλύματα διαδραμεῖν, ἅπερ ἀπηριθμησάμην νῦν, καὶ μήτε ἄωρος προαναρπάσῃ θάνατος, μήτε ὑπὸ γυναικὸς κωλυθῶσιν ὕστερον, μήτε τοσαῦτα τραύματα λάβωσιν, ὡς μὴ δυνηθῆναι αὐτοῖς τὸν τοῦ γήρως ἀρκέσαι χρόνον πρὸς τὴν θεραπείαν ἐκείνων, τήν τε γνώμην μένωσι διαπαντὸς τηροῦντες βεβαίαν καὶ ἀκίνητον. Ὅταν γὰρ ταῦτα πάντα συνέλθῃ, τότε μόλις ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις τετάξονται. Τούτων οὖν βούλει εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν, ἢ τῶν ἐν τῷ μετώπῳ τῆς φάλαγγος λαμπόντων; Καὶ τίς οὕτω, φησὶν, ἄθλιος, ὡς ἐκεῖνα μᾶλλον, ἢ ταῦτα συνεύξασθαι τοῖς παισίν; Ἀλλὰ συνήθειαν ἐπιζητοῦμεν, καὶ σὺν ἡμῖν αὐτοὺς εἶναι βουλόμεθα. Τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς βούλομαι, καὶ ὑμῶν οὐχ ἧττον εὔχομαι τῶν γεννησαμένων, εἰς τὴν πατρῴαν αὐτοὺς ἐπανελθεῖν οἰκίαν, καὶ τῶν τροφείων ἀποδοῦναι τὰς ἀμοιβὰς, ὧν ἴσας οὐκ ἂν εὕροιεν ἑτέρας· ἀλλὰ μὴ νῦν αὐτοὺς τοῦτο ἀπαιτῶμεν. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον ἐπὶ λόγοις μὲν πέμποντας, πολὺν χρόνον καὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἐξορίζειν 47.380 αὐτοὺς, καὶ τέχνην βάναυσόν τινα ἢ καὶ ἑτέραν φαυλοτέραν μανθάνειν μέλλουσιν ἄβατον καθιστάναι τὴν οἰκίαν, ἐν διδασκάλου οἰκίᾳ καὶ ἀριστᾷν καὶ καθεύδειν κελεύοντας· τούτους δὲ οὐκ ἐπ' ἀνθρώπειον μέλλοντας ἔρχεσθαι μάθημα, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὴν οὐράνιον φιλοσοφίαν, εὐθέως ἀφέλκειν, πρὶν ἢ γενέσθαι ὅπερ εὐχόμεθα; Καὶ σχοῖνον μέν τις τεταμένην διατρέχειν διδασκόμενος, πολὺν χρόνον ἀποστήσεται τῶν αὐτοῦ, τοὺς δὲ μανθάνοντας ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς πέτεσθαι εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, συγκατακλείσομεν τοῖς γονεῦσι; Καὶ τί ταύτης τῆς ἀλογίας χεῖρον γένοιτ' ἄν; Οὐχ ὁρᾶτε τοὺς γεωργοὺς, ὅτι, κἂν σφόδρα ἐπείγωνται τῶν πόνων λαβεῖν τοὺς καρποὺς, ἀώρους αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἂν ἀνάσχοιντο τρυγῆσαί ποτε; Μὴ τοίνυν μηδὲ ἡμεῖς πρὸ ὥρας ἀπάγωμεν τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἐρημίαν διατριβῆς τοὺς υἱοὺς, ἀλλ' ἐάσωμεν αὐτοῖς ἐμπαγῆναι τὰ μαθήματα, καὶ ῥιζωθῆναι τὰ φυτά· κἂν δέκα, κἂν εἴκοσιν ἔτη τρέφεσθαι αὐτοὺς ἐν μοναστηρίῳ δέῃ, μὴ θορυβώμεθα, μηδὲ ἀλύωμεν· ὅσῳ γὰρ ἂν ἐνδιατρίβῃ τῷ γυμνασίῳ πλέον, τοσούτῳ πλείονα κτήσεται τὴν ἰσχύν. Μᾶλλον δὲ, εἰ δοκεῖ, μηδὲ χρόνον ὁρίζωμεν, ἀλλ' ὅρος ἐκεῖνος ἔστω μόνος ὁ πρὸς τὴν ἀκμὴν ἄγων τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ φυτευθέντας καρποὺς, καὶ τότε ἐπανερχέσθω ἀπὸ τῆς ἐρήμου, πρότερον δὲ μή. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔσται τι πλέον ἀπὸ τῆς ταχύτητος ἡμῖν ταύτης, ἀλλ' ἢ τὸ μηδέποτε αὐτὸν γενέσθαι ὥριμον. Ὁ γὰρ πρὸ ὥρας τῆς ἐν τῇ ῥίζῃ τροφῆς