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having been deprived, when the time comes, he will no longer be useful; so that this does not happen, let us endure the separation; and not only let us not hasten it, but let us also prevent those who wish to come before the time. For having been perfected, he will be a common gain for father and mother and house and city and nation; but having arrived less perfect, he will be ridiculous and shameful, and harmful to himself and to others. Let us not then work so great a loss. For when we send them on a journey, we want to see our sons then, when they have succeeded in that for which they made the journey; and if they arrive before this, we do not receive as much pleasure from their return as we do despondency from their having come back in vain. How then is it not the utmost stupidity not to show as much diligence in spiritual matters as we display concerning the things of this life, but in that case to bear the separation from our children so philosophically, as even to pray for it to be prolonged, when it is for some useful purpose, while in this case to be so weak and broken by the journey, as to ruin the greatest goods through this faint-heartedness, and this, although we have more consolations, not only that they have stripped for greater things, and will certainly attain their end, and that there is nothing to cut off our hopes, but also in the separation itself? For when they are on a long journey, it is not easy to be with them, and especially when the parents happen to be old; but here it is possible to go up to them continually. Let us indeed do this, when it is not yet possible for them to come to us; let us ourselves go to them, and be with them and converse with them. From this there will be for us great gain and pleasure. For not only shall we be gladdened by the sight of our 47.381 beloved children, but we ourselves also, having reaped the greatest benefits, shall return to our house, and often we will even remain with them, captured by the love of philosophy. Let us call them, then, when they become strong, and are able to benefit others; let us only draw them then, so that the light may become common, so that the lamp may be set upon the lampstand. Then you will see what kind of children you are fathers of, and what kind are those whom you count blessed; then you will know the gains of philosophy, when they heal people suffering from incurable diseases, when they are proclaimed as common benefactors and protectors and saviors, when they walk about with the people on earth like angels, when they are looked up to by all; or rather whatever we might say, it is nothing like what one can see in experience itself and in the deeds. This the lawgivers also ought to do, if anything necessary was to be done, not to hold out fears to the young when they have become men, but to regulate and form them when they are children; and there would have been no need of the subsequent threats. But as it is, the same thing happens as if some physician should say nothing to the one who is sick and suffering, nor show him the means by which he might be freed from his disease, but when he is ruined and in an incurable state, then lay down countless laws. For the lawgivers then act as our tutors, when we happen to have gone astray. But not so Paul, but from the beginning and at the earliest age he sets over them teachers of virtue, preventing vice from entering. For this is the best teaching, not, having first allowed wickedness to prevail, afterwards to seek how we may drive it out, but to do and strive for everything, so that our nature may become inaccessible to it. Therefore I exhort you, not only to hinder others who wish to do this, but also yourselves to take part, and to save the ship, and to prepare it to sail with a fair wind. For if we had all undertaken this sentiment, and before all other things had led them to virtue, considering this to be the work, and other things to be side-issues, the good things would have been so many, that in speaking of them now I shall seem to be boasting. But if anyone should wish to learn, he will know well from the deeds, and he will acknowledge great thanks to us, and great thanks before us to God, seeing the heavenly life sprouting on the earth, and

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ἀποστερηθεὶς, οὐδὲ τοῦ καιροῦ παραγενομένου χρήσιμος ἔσται λοιπόν· ὅπερ ἵνα μὴ γένηται, καρτερῶμεν τὸν χωρισμόν· καὶ μὴ μόνον μὴ κατεπείγωμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βουλομένους ἐλθεῖν πρὸ ὥρας κωλύωμεν. Ἀπαρτισθεὶς μὲν γὰρ κοινὸν ἔσται κέρδος καὶ πατρὶ καὶ μητρὶ καὶ οἰκίᾳ καὶ πόλει καὶ ἔθνει· ἀτελέστερος δὲ παραγενόμενος, καταγέλαστος ἔσται καὶ ἐπονείδιστος, καὶ ἑαυτῷ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιβλαβής. Μὴ δὴ τοσαύτην ἐργαζώμεθα ζημίαν. Καὶ γὰρ εἰς ἀποδημίαν πέμποντες, τότε βουλόμεθα τοὺς υἱοὺς ἰδεῖν, ὅταν ὑπὲρ ὧν τὴν ἀποδημίαν πεποίηνται κατωρθωκότες τύχωσιν· ἄν τε πρὸ τούτου παραγένωνται, οὐ τοσαύτην ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιδημίας λαμβάνομεν τὴν ἡδονὴν, ὅσην ἀπὸ τοῦ μάτην ἐπανελθεῖν τὴν ἀθυμίαν. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἐσχάτης βλακείας τοσαύτην τοῖς πνευματικοῖς μὴ παρέχειν σπουδὴν, ὅσην ἐπιδεικνύμεθα περὶ τὰ βιωτικὰ, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ μὲν οὕτω φιλοσόφως φέρειν τῶν παίδων τὸν χωρισμὸν, ὡς καὶ εὔχεσθαι ἐπιταθῆναι τοῦτον, ὅταν ὑπέρ τινος γένηται χρησίμου, ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὕτω μαλακίζεσθαι καὶ κατακλᾶσθαι πρὸς τὴν ἀποδημίαν, ὡς τοῖς μεγίστοις λυμαίνεσθαι διὰ τὴν μικροψυχίαν ταύτην ἀγαθοῖς, καὶ ταῦτα πλείονας παραμυθίας ἔχοντας, οὐ μόνον τὸ πρὸς μείζονα αὐτοὺς ἀποδύσασθαι, καὶ πάντως ἐπιτεύξεσθαι τοῦ τέλους, καὶ μηδὲν εἶναι τὸ διακόπτον τὰς ἐλπίδας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν χωρισμόν; Ἐν ἀποδημίᾳ μὲν γὰρ οὖσι μακρᾷ οὐκ εὔκολον συγγίνεσθαι, καὶ μάλισθ' ὅταν γεγηρακότες τύχωσιν οἱ γονεῖς· ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἔνι συνεχῶς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀνιέναι. Τοῦτο δὴ καὶ ποιῶμεν, ὅταν αὐτοῖς μηδέπω δυνατὸν ᾖ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐλθεῖν· αὐτοὶ βαδίζωμεν πρὸς ἐκείνους, καὶ συγγινώμεθα καὶ διαλεγώμεθα. Μέγα ἡμῖν ἐκ τούτου καὶ κέρδος ἔσται καὶ ἡδονή. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως τῶν 47.381 ἀγαπωμένων μόνον παιδίων εὐφρανθησόμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰ μέγιστα καρπωσάμενοι πρὸς τὴν οἰκίαν ἐπανήξομεν, πολλάκις δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ παραμενοῦμεν ἁλόντες τῷ τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἔρωτι. Τότε οὖν αὐτοὺς καλῶμεν, ὅταν ἰσχυροὶ γένωνται, καὶ ἑτέρους οἷοί τε ὦσιν ὠφελεῖν· τότε αὐτοὺς ἕλκωμεν μόνον, ὥστε κοινὸν γενέσθαι τὸ φῶς, ὥστε ἐπὶ τῆς λυχνίας τεθῆναι τὸν λύχνον. Τότε ὄψεσθε τίνων μὲν παίδων πατέρες ὑμεῖς, τίνων δὲ οἱ μακαριζόμενοι παρ' ὑμῶν· τότε εἴσεσθε τῆς φιλοσοφίας τὰ κέρδη, ὅταν θεραπεύωσιν ἀνθρώπους ἀνίατα νοσοῦντας νοσήματα, ὅταν ὡς εὐεργέται κοινοὶ καὶ προστάται καὶ σωτῆρες ἀνακηρύττωνται, ὅταν ὡς ἄγγελοι τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς ἀνθρώποις συμπεριπολῶσιν, ὅταν παρὰ πάντων ἀποβλέπωνται· μᾶλλον δὲ ὅπερ ἂν εἴπωμεν, οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον, οἷον ἐπὶ τῆς πείρας αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων ἔστιν ἰδεῖν. Ταῦτα καὶ τοὺς νομοθέτας ἔδει ποιεῖν, εἴ τι τῶν δεόντων ἐγίνετο, οὐκ ἀνδράσι γενομένοις τοῖς νέοις ἐπανατείνασθαι φόβους, ἀλλὰ παῖδας ὄντας ῥυθμίζειν καὶ διαπλάττειν· καὶ οὐκ ἂν τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα ἐδέησεν ἀπειλῶν. Νυνὶ δὲ ταυτὸ γίνεται, ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις ἰατρὸς ἀσθενοῦντι μὲν τῷ κάμνοντι μὴ λέγῃ μηδὲν, μήτε δεικνύῃ, δι' ὧν ἀπαλλάξοι τῆς νόσου, διαφθαρέντι δὲ καὶ ἀνιάτως ἔχοντι μυρίους τιθῇ νόμους λοιπόν. Καὶ γὰρ οἱ νομοθέται τότε παιδαγωγοῦσιν ἡμᾶς, ὅταν διαστραφέντες τύχωμεν. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁ Παῦλος οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐν ἡλικίᾳ πρώτῃ τοὺς διδασκάλους αὐτοῖς ἐφίστησι τῆς ἀρετῆς, κωλύων ἐπεισελθεῖν τὴν κακίαν. Αὕτη γὰρ ἀρίστη διδασκαλία, οὐ, συγχωρήσαντας πρότερον περιγενέσθαι τὴν πονηρίαν, ὕστερον ζητεῖν ὅπως αὐτὴν ἐξελάσωμεν, ἀλλ' ἅπαντα ποιεῖν καὶ πραγματεύεσθαι, ὥστε ἄβατον αὐτῇ γενέσθαι τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἡμετέραν. ∆ιὸ παραινῶ, μὴ μόνον ἑτέρους βουλομένους τοῦτο ποιεῖν κωλύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὺς συναντιλαμβάνεσθαι, καὶ σώζειν τὸ σκάφος, καὶ παρασκευάζειν ἐξ οὐρίας πλεῖν. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ ταύτην ἦμεν πάντες ἀναδεξάμενοι τὴν γνώμην, καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων εἰς ἀρετὴν αὐτοὺς ἤγομεν, τοῦτο μὲν ἔργον, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα νομίζοντες πάρεργα εἶναι, τοσαῦτα ἔμελλεν εἶναι τὰ ἀγαθὰ, ὅσα νῦν μὲν λέγων καὶ ἀλαζονεύεσθαι δόξω. Εἰ δὲ θέλοι τις μαθεῖν, ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων εἴσεται καλῶς, καὶ πολλὴν μὲν ἡμῖν ὁμολογήσει χάριν, πολλὴν δὲ πρὸ ἡμῶν τῷ Θεῷ, βλαστάνουσαν ὁρῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τὴν ἐν οὐρανοῖς πολιτείαν, καὶ