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rules 8.14.3 the entire heaven and cosmos with justice. For a king, there is no more fitting address than 'father'. For what parents are to children in family relationships, this a king is to a city, and God to the cosmos, having fitted together in an indissoluble union by the immovable laws of nature two most beautiful things, the ruling 8.14.4 with the caring. Just as, therefore, parents do not overlook their profligate sons, but taking pity on their misfortune, they treat and care for them, thinking it the work of irreconcilable enemies to trample on misfortunes, but of friends 8.14.5 and kin to lighten their failings, and often they lavishly bestow favors on these more than on the temperate, knowing clearly that for the latter, their temperance is an abundant resource for prosperity, while for the former, their one 8.14.6 hope is their parents, and if they should be deprived of this, they will lack even the necessities; in the same way God also, being the father of rational intelligence, cares for all who share in reason, and also provides for those living blamefully, at once giving them an opportunity for correction, and at the same time not transgressing His own gracious nature, of which virtue and philanthropy have become attendants, worthy to attend the divine 8.14.7 house. Receive then, O soul, this one argument for now as His deposit, and another, concordant and harmonious with it, such as this: may you never be so deceived of the truth as to think that any of the wicked is happy, even if he be richer than Croesus, and sharper-sighted than Lynceus, and braver than Milo of Croton, and more beautiful than Ganymede, whom the gods even snatched up to be cupbearer for Zeus, on account of his great beauty. 8.14.8 For having shown his own daimon, I mean his own mind, to be a slave to countless masters—love, desire, pleasure, fear, grief, folly, intemperance, cowardice, injustice—he could never be happy, even if the multitude, erring from true judgment, thinks so, having been bribed by an evil pair, pride and vainglory, skilled at wrestling down and misleading unballasted souls, by which 8.14.9 the greatest part of the human race is harmed. If, however, stretching the eye of your soul, you should wish to gaze upon the mind of God, as far as is possible for human reason, having received a clearer image of the truly good, you will laugh at the things among us, which you previously admired. For worse things are always honored in the absence of better things, inheriting their rank; but when the better appear, the worse shrinks back, content with the second prizes 8.14.10 of the contest. Being struck with awe, therefore, at that godlike good and beautiful, you will surely understand that in God's sight none of the things mentioned before has in itself been deemed worthy of the portion of the good, because the mines of silver and gold are the most worthless part of the earth, falling short in every 8.14.11 respect of that part devoted to the production of fruits. For an abundance of money is not the same as food, without which it is impossible to live. The clearest test of these is famine, by which what is truly necessary and useful is proven; for a person would gladly exchange all the treasures everywhere 8.14.12 for a little food at some time. But when the abundance of necessities, flowing with a countless, unrestrainable flood of produce, is poured out over cities, reveling in the good things of nature, we do not deem it right to stop at them alone, but having made insolent satiety the guide of our life, we strip ourselves for the acquisition of silver and gold, we grapple in the dust with all from whom we hope to gain anything, like blind men, no longer seeing with the mind because of avarice, that they are lumps of earth, about which, out of peace, comes a continuous and unceasing war. 8.14.13 And indeed clothes are the flower of sheep, as the poets somewhere say, but according to the creative art, they are the praise of weavers. But if anyone is proud of his reputation, welcoming the approval of the wicked, let him know that he himself is also wicked; for 8.14.14 like rejoices in like; and let him pray that, after partaking of purifications, his ears may be healed, through which the

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ἡγεμονίαν 8.14.3 μετὰ δικαιοσύνης τὸν σύμπαντα οὐρανόν τε καὶ κόσμον βραβεύει. βασιλεῖ δὲ οὐκ ἔστι πρόσρησις οἰκειοτέρα πατρός. ὃ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς συγγενείαις πρὸς τέκνα γονεῖς, τοῦτο βασιλεὺς μὲν πρὸς πόλιν, πρὸς δὲ κόσμον ὁ θεός, δύο κάλλιστα φύσεως θεσμοῖς ἀκινήτοις ἀδιαλύτῳ ἑνώσει ἁρμοσάμενος, τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν 8.14.4 μετὰ τοῦ κηδεμονικοῦ. καθάπερ οὖν τῶν ἀσώτων υἱέων οὐ περιορῶσιν οἱ τοκέες, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀτυχίας οἶκτον λαμβάνοντες περιέπουσι καὶ τημελοῦσι, νομίζοντες ἐχθρῶν ἀσπόνδων ἔργον εἶναι κακοπραγίαις ἐπεμβαίνειν, φίλων 8.14.5 δὲ καὶ συγγενῶν ἐπελαφρίζειν τὰ πταίσματα, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τούτοις μᾶλλον ἢ τοῖς σώφροσιν ἐπιδαψιλευόμενοι χαρίζονται, σαφῶς εἰδότες ὡς ἐκείνοις μὲν ἄφθονος εἰς εὐπορίαν ἀφορμὴ πάρεστιν ἡ σωφροσύνη, τοῖς δ' ἐλπὶς 8.14.6 μία οἱ γονεῖς, ἧς εἰ σφαλεῖεν, ἀπορήσουσι καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ὁ θεός, λογικῆς συνέσεως πατὴρ ὤν, ἁπάντων μὲν τῶν λογισμοῦ μεμοιραμένων κήδεται, προμηθεῖται δὲ καὶ τῶν ὑπαιτίως ζώντων, ἅμα μὲν καιρὸν εἰς ἐπανόρθωσιν αὐτοῖς διδούς, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὴν ἵλεων φύσιν αὐτοῦ μὴ ὑπερβαίνων, ἧς ὀπαδὸς ἀρετὴ καὶ φιλανθρωπία γέγονεν, ἐπαξία τὸν θεῖον 8.14.7 περιπολεῖν οἶκον. ἕνα μὲν δὴ λόγον τοῦτον, ὦ ψυχή, δέξαι τέως αὐτοῦ παρακαταθήκην, ἕτερον δὲ συνῳδὸν καὶ ἐναρμόνιον αὐτῷ τοιόνδε· μὴ τοσοῦτόν ποτε ψευσθείης τῆς ἀληθείας ὡς εὐδαίμονά τινα τῶν φαύλων εἶναι νομίσαι, κἂν πλουσιώτερος μὲν ᾖ Κροίσου, Λυγκέως δ' ὀξυωπέστερος, ἀνδρειότερος δὲ τοῦ Κροτωνιάτου Μίλωνος, καλλίων δὲ Γανυμήδους, ὃν καὶ ἀνηρείψαντο θεοὶ ∆ιὶ οἰνοχοεύειν, κάλλεος εἵνεκα οἷο. 8.14.8 τὸν γοῦν ἴδιον δαίμονα, λέγω δὲ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ νοῦν, μυρίων ὅσων δεσποτῶν δοῦλον ἀποφήνας, ἔρωτος, ἐπιθυμίας, ἡδονῆς, φόβου, λύπης, ἀφοσύνης, ἀκολασίας, δειλίας, ἀδικίας, οὐκ ἂν εἶναί ποτε δύναιτο εὐδαίμων, κἂν οἱ πολλοὶ σφαλλόμενοι κρίσεως ἀληθοῦς νομίζωσι, δεκασθέντες ὑπὸ κακοῦ διδύμου, τύφου καὶ κενῆς δόξης, δεινῶν παλεῦσαι καὶ παραγαγεῖν ἀνερματίστους ψυχάς, περὶ 8.14.9 ἃ κηραίνει γένος τὸ πλεῖστον ἀνθρώπων. εἰ μέντοι τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ὄμμα τείνας βουληθείης περιαθρῆσαι θεοῦ διάνοιαν, ὡς ἔνεστιν ἀνθρωπίνῳ λογισμῷ, τρανοτέραν τὴν τοῦ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἀγαθοῦ λαβὼν φαντασίαν, γελάσῃ τὰ παρ' ἡμῖν, ἃ τέως ἐθαύμαζες. ἀεὶ γὰρ ἀπουσίᾳ τῶν κρειττόνων τιμᾶται τὰ χείρονα, τὴν ἐκείνων κληρονομοῦντα τάξιν· ἐπιφανέντων δὲ ὑποστέλλει, δευτερείοις ἄθλων 8.14.10 ἀρκούμενα. καταπλαγεὶς οὖν τὸ θεοειδὲς ἐκεῖνο ἀγαθόν τε καὶ καλόν, πάντως ἐννοήσεις ὅτι παρὰ θεῷ τῶν εἰρημένων πρότερον οὐδὲν καθ' ἑαυτὸ τῆς ἀγαθοῦ μοίρας ἠξίωται, διότι τὰ μὲν ἀργύρου μέταλλα καὶ χρυσοῦ γῆς ἐστιν ἡ φαυλοτάτη μοῖρα, τῆς πρὸς καρπῶν ἀνειμένης γένεσιν ὅλῳ καὶ τῷ παντὶ 8.14.11 λειπομένη. οὐ γάρ ἐσθ' ὅμοιον τροφῆς, ἧς ἄνευ ζῆν ἀδύνατον, εὐπορία χρημάτων. μία τούτων ἐστὶ βάσανος ἐναργεστάτη λιμός, ᾧ τὸ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἀναγκαῖον καὶ χρήσιμον δοκιμάζεται· θησαυροὺς γὰρ τοὺς πανταχοῦ πάντας 8.14.12 ἀντικαταλλάξαιτ' ἄν τις βραχείας ποτὲ τροφῆς ἄσμενος. ὅταν δὲ ἡ τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἀφθονία μυρίῳ φορᾶς ἀκατασχέτῳ πλήθει ῥυεῖσα κατὰ πόλεις ἀναχέηται, τοῖς τῆς φύσεως ἀγαθοῖς ἐντρυφῶντες ἐπ' αὐτῶν μόνων οὐκ ἀξιοῦμεν ἵστασθαι, κόρον δ' ὑβριστὴν ἡγεμόνα τοῦ βίου ποιησάμενοι ἀργύρου τε καὶ χρυσοῦ κτήσεσιν ἐπαποδύντες, ἅπασι, παρ' ὧν ἄν τι κερδανεῖν ἐπελπίσωμεν, κονιόμεθα, καθάπερ τυφλοὶ μηκέτι τῇ διανοίᾳ βλέποντες ὑπὸ φιλαργυρίας, ὅτι γῆς εἰσιν ὄγκοι, περὶ ὧν ἐκ μὲν εἰρήνης συνεχὴς καὶ ἀδιάστατος πόλεμος. 8.14.13 ἐσθῆτές γε μὴν προβάτων εἰσίν, ὡς οἱ ποιηταί πού φασιν, ἄνθος, κατὰ δὲ τὴν δημιουργὸν τέχνην ὑφαντῶν ἔπαινος. εἰ δέ τις ἐπὶ δόξῃ μέγα φρονεῖ, τὴν παρὰ τῶν φαύλων ἀποδοχὴν ἀσπαζόμενος, ἴστω μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς φαῦλος ὤν· τὸ 8.14.14 γὰρ ὅμοιον χαίρει τῷ ὁμοίῳ· εὐχέσθω δὲ καθαρσίων μεταλαχὼν ἰαθῆναι τὰ ὦτα, δι' ὧν αἱ