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Whoever, having received words as a deposit (15Ε_202> Speaks them out, is unjust, or too much of an eavesdropper; The one for the sake of gain, is unjust; but the one without this, An eavesdropper; and perhaps both are bad. Of Lycurgus. He to the one who said, Why do the Lacedaemonians practice brevity of speech

practice? said, Because it is near to being silent. Of Philonides. It is better to be silent, than to speak in vain. Democritus. Having seen someone speaking many, but uneducated things, This one,

he said, seems to me not able to speak, but unable to be silent. Solon. Seal your words with silence, and your silence with the opportune moment. Of Simonides. One must either have opportune silence, or a beneficial word. Demosthenes. He said he never regretted being silent; but having spoken,

but, often. 849 When someone reproached him that he had a foul-smelling mouth; For many things,

he said, of the secrets have rotted within it. DISCOURSE 21. Concerning meddlesomeness and stillness. (15Ε_204> Luke 10. Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. Of one thing

but there is need; but Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.

1 Thessalonians 4. I exhort you therefore, brothers, to abound more and to make it your ambition to be quiet, and to do your own things, and to work with your hands.

Job, 11. You will be quiet, and there will be no one to make war on you. Job, 39. He laughs at the tumult of the city, he does not hear the rebuke of the tax-collector. Sirach 11. Child, let not your doings be about many things; for if you multiply them,

you will not be innocent. Of Basil. For just as wild beasts are easily overcome when they have been stroked; so also

desires and angers and fears and griefs, the venomous evils of the soul, being lulled to sleep through stillness, and not being exasperated by continuous provocation, become more easily overcome by the power of reason.

Stillness, therefore, is the beginning of purification for the soul, with the tongue not speaking the things of men, nor the eyes looking around at the good color and proportion of bodies, nor the hearing weakening the tone of the soul in listening to songs made for pleasure; nor in the words of witty and jesting men, which is especially apt to relax the tone of the soul.

For the mind, not being scattered upon external things, nor poured out upon the world by the (15Ε_206> senses, returns indeed to itself; and through itself it ascends to the thought of God; and being illumined and enlightened by that beauty, it even forgets its own nature, not dragging the soul down either to the care for food or to the anxiety for clothing; but, being at leisure from earthly cares, it transfers all its own diligence to the acquisition of eternal goods, how temperance and courage may be achieved by it; and how justice and prudence, and the remaining virtues.

Amid the things that drag down the soul and create the businesses of life, it is impossible to prevail through laborious practice.

Of the Theologian. It is necessary to be still in some measure, so as to commune with God with an untroubled mind; and to gather the mind a little from wandering things.

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Ὅστις λόγους παρακαταθήκην λαβών (15Ε_202> Ἐξεῖπεν, ἄδικός ἐστι, ἤ ἀκροατής ἄγαν· Ὁ μέν διά κέρδος, ἄδικος· ὁ δέ τούτου δίχα, Ἀκροατής· ἴσως δέ γ᾿ εἰσίν ἀμφότεροι κακοί. Λυκούργου. Οὗτος πρός τόν εἰπόντα, ∆ιατί Λακεδαιμόνιοι τήν βραχυλογίαν

ἀσκοῦσιν; εἶπεν, Ὅτι ἐγγύς ἐστι τοῦ σιγᾷν. Φιλονίδου. Κρεῖττον σιωπᾷν ἐστιν, ἤ λαλεῖν μάτην. ∆ημοκρ. Θεασάμενός τινα, πολλά μέν, ἀπαίδευτα δέ διαλεγόμενον, Οὗτος,

ἔφη οὐ λέγειν μοι δοκεῖ δυνατός, ἀλλά σιωπᾷν ἀδύνατος. Σόλων. Σφραγίζου, τούς μέν λόγους, σιγῆ· τήν δέ σιγήν, καιρῷ. Σιμωνίδου. Ἤ σιγήν καίριον ἔχειν δεῖ, ἤ λόγον ὠφέλιμον. ∆ημοσθ. Οὗτος μηδέποτε ἑαυτῷ ἔλεγε μεταμελῆσαι σιγήσαντι· φθεγξαμένῳ

δέ, πολλάκις. 849 Ὀνειδίζοντος αὐτῷ τινος, ὅτι τό στόμα δυσῶδες εἶχε· Πολλά γάρ,

εἶπεν, αὐτῷ τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων ἐγκατεσάπῃ. ΛΟΓΟΣ ΚΑ´. Περί πολυπραγματοσύνης καί ἡσυχίας. (15Ε_204> Λουκ. ι´. Μάρθα, Μάρθα, μεριμνᾷς καί τυρβάζῃ περί πολλά. Ἑνός

δέ ἐστι χρεία· Μαρία δέ τήν ἀγαθήν μερίδα ἐξελέξατο, ἥτις οὐκ ἀφαιρεθήσεται ἀπ᾿ αὐτῆς.

Α´Θεσσ.δ´. Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς ἀδελφοί, περισσεύειν μᾶλλον καί φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἡσυχάζειν, καί πράσσειν τά ἴδια, καί ἐργάζεσθαι ταῖς χερσίν ὑμῶν.

Ἰώβ, ια΄ .Ἡσυχάσεις, καί οὐκ ἔσται ὁ πολεμῶν σε. Ἰώβ, λθ´. Καταγελῶν πολυοχλίαν πόλεως, μέμψιν φορολόγου οὐκ ἀκούει. Σιράχ ια´. Τέκνον, μή περί πολλά ἔστωσαν αἱ πράξεις σου· ἐάν γάρ πληθύνῃς,

οὐκ ἀθῶος ἔσῃ. Βασιλείου. Ὥσπερ γάρ τά θηρία εὐκαταγώνιστά εἰσι καταψηχθέντα· οὕτως

ἐπιθυμίαι καί ὀργαί καί φόβοι καί λύπαι, τά ἰοβόλα τῆς ψυχῆς κακά, κατευνασθέντα διά τῆς ἡσυχίας, καί μή ἐξαγριαινόμενα τῷ συνεχεῖ ἐρεθισμῷ, εὐκαταγωνιστότερα τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ λόγου γίνεται.

Ἡσυχία οὖν ἀρχή καθάρσεως τῇ ψυχῇ, μήτε γλώσσης λαλούσης τά τῶν ἀνθρώπων, μήτε ὀφθαλμῶν εὐχροίας σωμάτων καί συμμετρίας περισκοπούντων, μήτε ἀκοῆς τόν τόνον τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκλυούσης ἐν ἀκροάσει μελῶν πρός ἡδονήν πεποιημένων· μήτε ῥήμασιν εὐτραπέλων καί γελοιαστῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅ μαλιστα λύειν τῆς ψυχῆς τόν τόνον πέφυκεν.

Νοῦς μέν γάρ μή σκεδαννύμενος ἐπί τά ἔξω, μηδέ ὑπό τῶν (15Ε_206> αἰσθητηρίων ἐπί τόν κόσμον διαχεόμενος, ἐπάνεισι μέν πρός ἑαυτόν· δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ δέ πρός τήν περί Θεοῦ ἔννοιαν ἀναβαίνει· κἀκείνῳ τῷ κάλλει περιλαμπόμενός τε καί ἐλλαμπόμενος, καί αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως λήθην λαμβάνει, μήτε πρός τροφῆς φροντίδα, μήτε πρός περιβολαίων μέριμναν, τήν ψυχήν καθελκόμενος· ἀλλά σχολήν ἀπό τῶν γηΐνων φροντίδων ἄγων, τήν πᾶσαν ἑαυτοῦ σπουδήν ἐπί τήν κτῆσιν τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν μετατίθησι, πῶς κατορθωθῇ αὐτῷ ἡ σωφροσύνη καί ἡ ἀνδρεία· πῶς δέ ἡ δικαιοσύνη καί ἡ φρόνησις, καί αἱ λοιπαί ἀρεταί.

Ἐν τοῖς ἕλκουσι τήν ψυχήν καί ἀσχολίας βιωτικάς ἐμποιοῦσιν, περιγενέσθαι τῆς ἐπιπόνου μελέτης, ἀμήχανον.

Θεολόγου. Χρή τι καί ἡσυχάζειν, ὥστε ἀθολώττως προσομιλεῖν τῷ Θεῷ· καί μικρόν τι συνάγειν τόν νοῦν ἀπό τῶν πλανώντων.