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is our peace. This word is the end and the sum of all things that happen in season. For we were taught to do all things in season, so that we might achieve this for ourselves: to have peace with God by being hostilely disposed toward the adversary. And if someone should call the virtues the peaceful army, toward which we must be friendly, he will not lead the argument outside the given meaning, because every name and concept of virtue is referred to the Lord of virtues. And why should one prolong the argument on such matters, since what has been said is sufficient to uncover the meaning contained in the sayings? But since through these things he has somehow lifted up the soul of the one who has been pre-instructed in these lofty lessons, he again leads up the soul of the one following the argument to a certain lofty state and says: What is the advantage for the doer in the things in which he toils? which is the same as saying: what more is there for man from his 5.437 labors, from which there is nothing more? He farms, he sails, he endures hardship in military labors, he trades, he acquires, he suffers loss, he profits, he goes to law, he fights; defeated he departed, he carries the winning vote; he is deemed wretched, he is deemed blessed; he remains at his hearth, he wanders in foreign lands; all that we see in life in various pursuits, some in one and some in another, what more does the concern for these things bring to the one who spends his own life through such things? Did he not cease to live and were not all things covered over with oblivion at the same time? and being stripped of the things he pursued, does he not go away naked, taking with him nothing of the affairs here except only the conscience concerning those affairs? From which, in a way, after this, this voice comes to the man who was deceived by life through such occupations, that: what advantage has come to you from those many labors in which you toiled? Where are the splendid houses? Where are the buried purses? Where are the bronze statues and the voices of those who praise? Behold, fire and scourges and the unbribable judgment and the unerring examination of things lived. What is the advantage for the doer in the things in which he toils? And after these things, "I have seen," he says, "the distraction that 5.438 God has given to the sons of men to be distracted in it. All the things that he made beautiful in his time, and he has also put eternity into their heart, so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning to the end." What does this mean? I perceived, he says, from where human nature was distracted from life, having taken its occasions from the divine benefactions. For He made all things for good and gave to those who partake of existing things a reason capable of discerning the better, through which the timeliness of each use, when recognized, grants the sense of the good to those who use it. But since reason, having been turned aside from what is established by evil counsel, was deprived of the right judgment concerning existing things, the misuse of the season turned the usefulness of each thing to an opposite experience. Just as if someone, having set forth on a table every preparation for a feast, should also place beside it certain utensils suitable for cooperation with the food, such as are indeed made by those skilled in such things, either slender knives, by which the feasters divide for themselves some of the things set before them, or silver forks, whose hollow part, attached to the other end, is made to be suitable for 5.439 soup; then if one of those summoned to the feast, having misused the use of the things set forth, should use each for improper things, and with the knife should cut either himself or one of those reclining beside him, and with the fork should gouge out either his neighbor's eye or his own; one might say that so-and-so misused the host's preparation for evil, not that the one who prepared it readied the cause of the outcomes, but that the evil use of the things set forth led the one who used the things set before him unwisely into this suffering; thus, he says, I also knew that from God each thing came to be for every better purpose, if indeed in season, according to what is fitting, each thing's

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ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν. οὗτος ὁ λόγος πάντων τῶν κατὰ καιρὸν γινομένων τὸ πέρας ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον. πάντα γὰρ ἐν καιρῷ ποιεῖν ἐδιδάχθημεν, ἵνα τοῦτο ἑαυτοῖς κατορθώσωμεν τὸ εἰρήνην ἔχειν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν διὰ τοῦ πολεμίως διατεθῆναι πρὸς τὸν ἀντίπαλον. πάντως δὲ κἂν τὰς ἀρετάς τις εἴπῃ τὸν εἰρηναῖον στρατόν, πρὸς ἃς χρὴ φιλικῶς ἔχειν ἡμᾶς, οὐκ ἔξω τῆς ἀποδοθείσης διανοίας ἄξει τὸν λόγον, διότι πᾶν ἀρετῆς ὄνομά τε καὶ νόημα εἰς τὸν κύριον τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀναφέρεται. Καὶ τί ἄν τις ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις τὸν λόγον μηκύνοι, ἱκανῶν ὄντων καὶ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐκκαλύψαι τὴν τοῖς ῥητοῖς ἐγκει μένην διάνοιαν; ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ διὰ τούτων ἐπῆρέ πως τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ προπαιδευθέντος ἐν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς τούτοις μαθήμασι, πάλιν ἀνάγει πρὸς ὑψηλήν τινα κατάστασιν τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ ἑπομένου τῷ λόγῳ καί φησι· Τίς περισσεία τοῦ ποιοῦντος, ἐν οἷς αὐτὸς μοχθεῖ; ὅπερ ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ εἰπεῖν· τί ἐκ τῶν 5.437 πόνων τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ πλέον, ἐξ ὧν οὐδέν ἐστι πλέον; γεωργεῖ, ναυτίλλεται, στρατιωτικοῖς ἐγκακοπαθεῖ πόνοις, ἐμπορεύεται, κτᾶται, ζημιοῦται, κερδαίνει, δικάζεται, μάχεται· ἡττηθεὶς ἀπῆλθε, τὴν νικῶσαν φέρεται ψῆφον· ταλανίζεται, μακαρίζε· μένει ἐφέστιος, ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις πλανᾶται· πάντα ὅσα κατὰ τὸν βίον ὁρῶμεν ἐν ποικίλοις ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ἄλλα ἐν ἄλλοις, τί φέρει πλέον τῷ διὰ τῶν τοιούτων τὸν ἴδιον δαπα νῶντι βίον ἡ περὶ ταῦτα σπουδή; οὐχ ὁμοῦ τε τοῦ ζῆν ἐπαύσατο καὶ λήθῃ συνεκαλύφθη τὰ πάντα· καὶ μονωθεὶς τῶν ἐσπουδασμένων γυμνὸς οἴχεται, ἐπαγόμενος μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ τῶν τῇδε πραγμάτων οὐδὲν πλὴν τῆς ἐπὶ τοῖς πράγμασι συνειδήσεως μόνης; παρ' ἧς τρόπον τινὰ αὕτη μετὰ τοῦτο γίνεται πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἡ φωνὴ τὸν διὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἀσχολιῶν ἐμπλανηθέντα τῷ βίῳ, ὅτι· τίς περισσεία γέγονέ σοι τῶν πολλῶν ἐκείνων πόνων, ἐν οἷς ἐμόχθησας; ποῦ αἱ λαμπραὶ οἰκίαι; ποῦ τὰ κατορωρυγμένα βαλλάντια; ποῦ αἱ χαλκαῖ εἰκόνες καὶ αἱ τῶν εὐφημούντων φωναί; ἰδοὺ πῦρ καὶ μάστιγες καὶ ἡ ἀδέκαστος κρίσις καὶ ἡ ἀπαραλόγιστος τῶν βεβιωμένων ἐξέτασις. Τίς περισσεία τοῦ ποιοῦντος, ἐν οἷς αὐτὸς μοχθεῖ; καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα, Εἶδον, φησί, τὸν περισπασμόν, ὃν ἔδωκεν 5.438 ὁ θεὸς τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοῦ περισπᾶσθαι ἐν αὐτῷ. τὰ σύμπαντα, ἃ ἐποίησε καλὰ ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ, καί γε σὺν τὸν αἰῶνα ἔδωκεν ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν, ὅπως μὴ εὕρῃ ἄνθρωπος τὸ ποίημα, ὃ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς μέχρι τέλους. τί ταῦτα λέγει; ἐπέγνων, φησίν, ὅθεν περιεσπάσθη τῆς ζωῆς ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις, ἐκ τῶν θείων εὐεργεσιῶν τὰς ἀφορμὰς λαβοῦσα. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ τὰ πάντα ἐποίησε καὶ λογισμὸν ἔδωκε τοῖς τῶν ὄντων μετέχουσι διακριτικὸν τοῦ βελτίονος, δι' οὗ ἡ εὐκαιρία τῆς ἑκάστου χρήσεως ἐπιγνωσθεῖσα τὴν τοῦ καλοῦ αἴσθησιν τοῖς κεχρημένοις χαρίζεται. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀπεσφάλη τῆς ὀρθῆς περὶ τῶν ὄντων κρίσεως διὰ πονηρᾶς συμβουλῆς παρατραπεὶς τοῦ καθεστῶτος ὁ λογισμός, ἡ ὑπαλλαγὴ τοῦ καιροῦ τὸ ἀφ' ἑκάστου χρήσιμον εἰς ἐναντίαν ἔτρεψε πεῖραν. ὥσπερ εἴ τις ἐπὶ τραπέζης πᾶσαν προθεὶς παρασκευὴν εὐωχίας καὶ σκεύη τινὰ πρὸς τὴν τῆς τροφῆς συνεργίαν ἐπιτηδείως ἔχοντα συμπαραθείη, οἷα δὴ παρὰ τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα φιλοτεχνούντων κατασκευάζεται, ἢ λεπτὰς μαχαίρας, δι' ὧν οἱ δαιτυμόνες ἑαυτοῖς τι διαιροῦν τῶν προτεθέντων, ἢ τὰς ἀργυρᾶς περόνας, αἷς ἡ συμπεφυκυῖα κατὰ τὸ ἕτερον μέρος κοιλότης πρὸς τὸ 5.439 ἔτνος ἐπιτηδείως ἔχειν πεποίηται· ἔπειτά τις τῶν ἐπ' εὐωχίᾳ συγκεκλημένων ὑπαλλάξας τῶν προκειμένων τὴν χρῆσιν ἑκάστῳ πρὸς τὰ μὴ δέοντα χρῷτο καὶ τῇ μαχαίρᾳ μὲν ἢ ἑαυτὸν ἤ τινα τῶν παρανακειμένων τέμοι, τῇ δὲ περόνῃ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἢ τοῦ πέλας ἢ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἐκκεντήσειεν· εἴποι τις ἄν, ὅτι τῇ παρασκευῇ τοῦ ἑστιάτορος ὁ δεῖνα εἰς κακὸν ἀπεχρήσατο, οὐ τοῦ παρασκευάσαντος τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν ἐκβησομένων προετοιμάσαντος, ἀλλὰ τῆς κακῆς τῶν προτε θέντων χρήσεως εἰς τοῦτο τὸ πάθος προαγαγούσης τὸν ἀβούλως τοῖς προκειμένοις χρησάμενον· οὕτως, φησίν, ἔγνων καὶ ἐγώ, ὅτι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ μὲν γέγονεν ἕκαστον ἐπὶ παντὶ τῷ βελτίονι, εἴπερ ἐν καιρῷ κατὰ τὸ προσῆκον ἡ ἑκάστου