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we will be able to escape everything, if we are willing to use it fittingly, what pardon could we obtain, when we do not even call to mind our own sins? For if this were so, all would have been accomplished. For just as the one who has entered the door is inside, so is the one who reckons his own evils. For if he reckons them one by one, he will certainly come to their cure; but if he says, 'I am a sinner,' but does not reckon them specifically, and say, 'I have sinned in this and in that,' he will never cease, always confessing, but never taking thought for correction. For if he begins, all the other things will surely follow, if he provides an entrance; for everywhere the beginning and the preliminaries 63.82 are difficult. Let us therefore lay these foundations, and all things will be easy and most simple. Let us begin then, I beseech you, one by intensifying his prayers, another by weeping continually, another by being downcast; for not even this, which is so small, is without profit. For 'I saw,' He says, 'that he was grieved and went away sad, and I healed his ways.' And let us all, from almsgiving, and from forgiving our neighbors their sins, and from not bearing grudges nor taking revenge, humble our souls. If we continually think on the things we have sinned, nothing from without will be able to puff us up, not wealth, not power, not office, not honor, but even if we should sit in the royal chariot itself, we will groan bitterly. Since even the blessed David was a king, and he said: 'I will wash my bed every night;' and he was in no way harmed by the purple robe and the diadem, and he was not puffed up; for he knew himself to be a man; and since he had a contrite heart, he mourned. For what are human affairs? Ash and dust, and as chaff before the face of the wind, smoke and a shadow, and a leaf tossed about and a flower, a dream and a tale, and a fable, wind and empty air simply flowing away, a feather that does not stay, a stream running by, and if there is anything more worthless than these; for what, tell me, do you consider great? What high office do you think is great? That of the consul? For the many think that there is no office greater than this. Than the one who has been in such splendor, who was greatly admired, the one who is not consul has nothing less; this one and that one are in the same rank; likewise after a little while both are no more. When did it happen, for how long, tell me? For two days? This happens also in dreams. But it is a dream, he says. And what of this? Is not the thing in the day a dream? Tell me, why do we not rather call these things a dream? For just as dreams, when the day has come, are proven to be nothing; so also these things, when the night has come, are proven to be nothing; for the night and the day have received an equal share of time, and have divided all time equally. Just as, therefore, in the day one does not delight in the things that happened in the night, so also in the night it is not possible to enjoy the things of the day. Have you become a consul? So have I. But you in the day, and I in the night. And what of this? not even so do you have anything more than I, unless perhaps the being called, 'So-and-so the consul,' and to have pleasure from the words, makes you have more. What I mean—for I will say it more clearly—if I say, 'So-and-so is consul,' and I bestow the word, was it not at the same time said, and gone? So also are the realities; at the same time he appeared as consul, he is no more. But let us suppose it is for a year, and two years, and three, and four; where then are the ten consuls that have been? Nowhere. But Paul is not so; for while living he was always glorious, not for one day, nor two, nor ten, not twenty, not thirty, nor for ten years, and twenty, and thirty; but since he died, four hundred years have now passed, and even now he is more glorious, and far more glorious than when he lived. And these things are on the earth; but the glory of the saints in the heavens 63.83 what word could set forth? Wherefore, I beseech you, let us seek this glory, let us pursue this, that we may attain it; for this is the glory that truly is. Let us therefore withdraw from the things of this life, that we may find 63.84 grace and mercy in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father together with the holy

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δυνησόμεθα τὸ πᾶν ἐκφυγεῖν, ἂν βουληθῶμεν αὐτῇ χρήσασθαι δεόντως, ποίας τύχοιμεν ἂν συγγνώμης, οὐδὲ εἰς νοῦν ἐρχόμενοι τῶν ἡμετέρων ἁμαρτημάτων; Εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο ἦν, πάντα ἤνυστο. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ τὴν θύραν εἰσελθὼν, ἔνδον ἐστίν· οὕτως ὁ τὰ οἰκεῖα λογιζόμενος κακά. Ἂν γὰρ ἀναλογίζηται αὐτὰ καθ' ἑκάστην, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν θεραπείαν αὐτῶν πάντως ἥξει· ἂν δὲ λέγῃ, Ἁμαρτωλός εἰμι, μὴ ἀναλογίζηται δὲ αὐτὰ κατ' εἶδος, καὶ λέγῃ, ὅτι Τόδε καὶ τόδε ἥμαρτον· οὐδέποτε παύσεται, ἀεὶ μὲν ὁμολογῶν, φροντίζων δὲ οὐδέποτε τῆς διορθώσεως. Ἐὰν γὰρ ἄρξηται, πάντως καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἕπεται, ἂν εἴσοδον ἐπιδείξηται· πανταχοῦ γὰρ ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὰ προοίμια 63.82 δύσκολα. Ταῦτα οὖν καταβαλώμεθα, καὶ πάντα εὔκολα ἔσται καὶ ῥᾷστα. Ἀρξώμεθα τοίνυν, παρακαλῶ, ὁ μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ τὰς εὐχὰς ἐπιτεῖναι, ὁ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ δακρύειν συνεχῶς, ὁ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ κατηφεῖν· οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ τοῦτο τὸ οὕτω μικρὸν ἀνόνητον. Εἶδον γὰρ, φησὶν, ὅτι ἐλυπήθη, καὶ ἐπορεύθη στυγνὸς, καὶ ἰασάμην τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ. Πάντες δὲ ἀπὸ ἐλεημοσύνης, καὶ τοῦ ἀφιέναι τοῖς πλησίον τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ μνησικακεῖν μηδὲ ἀμύνεσθαι, ταπεινώσωμεν ἑαυτῶν τὰς ψυχάς. Ἐὰν ἐννοῶμεν συνεχῶς τὰ ἡμαρτημένα ἡμῖν, οὐδὲν ἡμᾶς ἐπᾶραι τῶν ἔξωθεν δυνήσεται, οὐ πλοῦτος, οὐ δυναστεία, οὐκ ἀρχὴ, οὐ τιμὴ, ἀλλὰ κἂν εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ ὄχημα τὸ βασιλικὸν καθίσωμεν, στενάξομεν πικρόν. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆αυῒδ βασιλεὺς ἦν, καὶ ἔλεγε· Λούσω καθ' ἑκάστην νύκτα τὴν κλίνην μου· καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁλουργίδος καὶ τοῦ διαδήματος παρεβλάβη, καὶ οὐκ ἐτυφώθη· ᾔδει γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ἄνθρωπον ὄντα· καὶ ἐπειδὴ συντετριμμένην εἶχε τὴν καρδίαν, ἐθρήνει. Τί γάρ ἐστι τὰ ἀνθρώπινα πράγματα; Τέφρα καὶ κόνις, καὶ ὡσεὶ χνοῦς κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀνέμου, καπνὸς καὶ σκιὰ, καὶ φύλλον περιφερόμενον καὶ ἄνθος, ὄναρ καὶ διήγημα, καὶ μῦθος, ἄνεμος καὶ ἀὴρ χαῦνος ἁπλῶς διαῤῥέων, πτερὸν οὐχ ἱστάμενον, ῥεῦμα παρατρέχον, καὶ εἴ τι τούτων οὐδαμινέστερον· τί γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, μέγα νομίζεις; ποῖον ἡγῇ μέγα ἀξίωμα εἶναι; τὸ τοῦ ὑπάτου; οὐδὲν γὰρ τούτου τοῦ ἀξιώματος εἶναι μεῖζον νομίζουσιν οἱ πολλοί. Τοῦ ἐν τοσαύτῃ τοίνυν λαμπρότητι γενομένου, τοῦ μεγάλως θαυμασθέντος, ὁ μὴ ὕπατος ἔλαττον ἔχει οὐδέν· ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ οὗτος κἀκεῖνός ἐστιν ἀξιώματι· ὁμοίως ἑκάτεροι μετ' ὀλίγον οὐκ εἰσί. Πότε ἐγένετο, πόσον χρόνον, εἰπέ μοι; ἡμερῶν δύο; Τοῦτο καὶ ἐν ὀνείροις γίνεται. Ἀλλ' ὄναρ, φησὶν, ἐστί. Καὶ τί τοῦτο; τὸ γὰρ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ, οὐκ ὄναρ; Εἰπέ μοι, διὰ τί μὴ ταῦτα μᾶλλον λέγομεν ὄναρ; Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ ὀνείρατα, τῆς ἡμέρας καταλαβούσης, ἐλέγχεται οὐδὲν ὄντα· οὕτω καὶ ταῦτα, τῆς νυκτὸς καταλαβούσης, ἐλέγχεται οὐδὲν ὄντα· τὸ γὰρ ἴσον ἥ τε νὺξ καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα ἀπέλαβον τοῦ χρόνου, καὶ ἐξ ἴσης διενείμαντο τὸν πάντα χρόνον. Ὥσπερ τοίνυν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τοῖς ἐν νυκτὶ γενομένοις οὐ γάννυταί τις· οὕτως οὐδὲ ἐν νυκτὶ τῶν μεθ' ἡμέραν ἀπολαῦσαι δυνατόν. Γέγονας ὕπατος; κἀγώ. Ἀλλὰ σὺ ἐν ἡμέρα, ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν νυκτί. Καὶ τί τοῦτο; οὐδὲ οὕτω μου πλέον τι ἔχεις, εἰ μὴ ἄρα τὸ λέγεσθαι, Ὁ δεῖνα ὁ ὕπατος, καὶ τὸ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ῥημάτων ἔχειν ἡδονὴν πλέον ἔχειν ποιεῖ· οἷόν τι λέγω, σαφέστερον γὰρ αὐτὸ ἐρῶ, ἐὰν εἴπω· Ὁ δεῖνα ὕπατός ἐστι, καὶ χαρίσωμαι τὸ ῥῆμα, οὐχ ἅμα ἐλέχθη, καὶ ἀπῆλθεν; Οὕτω καὶ τὰ πράγματά ἐστιν· ἅμα ἐφάνη ὕπατος, καὶ οὐκέτι ἐστί. Θῶμεν δὲ ἐνιαυτὸν εἶναι, καὶ δύο ἐνιαυτοὺς, καὶ τρεῖς, καὶ τέσσαρας· ποῦ οὖν εἰσιν οἱ δέκα ὕπατοι γενόμενοι; Οὐδαμοῦ. Ἀλλ' ὁ Παῦλος οὐχ οὕτως· ἦν μὲν γὰρ καὶ ζῶν λαμπρὸς διαπαντὸς, οὐ μίαν ἡμέραν, οὐδὲ δύο, οὐδὲ δέκα, οὐκ εἴκοσιν, οὐ τριάκοντα, οὐδὲ ἐνιαυτοὺς δέκα, καὶ εἴκοσι, καὶ τριάκοντα· ἀλλὰ ἐξ οὗ ἐτελεύτησε, τετρακοσιοστὸν λοιπὸν ἔτος παρελήλυθε, καὶ ἔτι καὶ νῦν λαμπρότερός ἐστι, καὶ πολλῷ λαμπρότερος ἢ ὅτε ἔζη. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐν τῇ γῇ· τὴν δὲ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς λαμπρότητα τῶν ἁγίων 63.83 τίς ἂν παραστήσειε λόγος; ∆ιὸ, παρακαλῶ, ταύτην ζητήσωμεν τὴν λαμπρότητα, ταύτην διώξωμεν, ἵνα αὐτῆς τύχωμεν· ἡ γὰρ ὄντως λαμπρότης αὕτη ἐστίν. Ἀποστῶμεν λοιπὸν τῶν βιωτικῶν, ἵνα εὕρω 63.84 μεν χάριν καὶ ἔλεον ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ