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crooked ways; but he winks with his eye, signals with his foot, teaches with the motions of his fingers. Speak nothing into the ears of a fool, lest he scorn your wise words. As the sound of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of fools. The lips of a fool sink him. The foolish person will speak foolish things, and his heart will understand vain things. Jealousy will seize an uninstructed people. Despising wisdom and instruction, he is wretched, and his hope is empty, and his labors unprofitable. Do not submit yourself to a foolish man. Do not take counsel with a fool. Teaching a fool is like gluing a potsherd. Weep over the dead; for light has failed. And weep over a fool; for understanding has failed. Mourning for the dead is seven days, but for the foolish and impious, all the days of his life. Do not multiply words with a fool, and do not go to one who is without understanding. Do not jest with the uninstructed. Sand, and salt, and a lump of iron are easier 95.1217 to bear, than a man without understanding. Weep more sweetly for the dead, because he has found rest; but for the fool, a wicked life is worse than death. The bowels of a fool are like a wagon wheel, and his reasoning is like a turning axle. But a fool says, I have no friend. One should seek neither a voice in fish, nor virtue in the uninstructed. Just as the sick have need of remedies, so fools are in need of wisdom. A sound word does not enter a hard and disobedient heart; but as if striking against something, it returns to itself. A demon is the leader of an irrational life. No one of the wicked is rich, even if he possesses all the mines everywhere, but all fools are poor. Every fool is distressed, being afflicted by love of money, and love of glory, and love of pleasure, and similar things, which do not permit the mind to live in spaciousness. There is no evil for man greater than foolishness, when he has suffered damage to his mind, the very faculty of his reason. -The cause of disease and corruption is lack of instruction. It is impossible to be instructed in great things before small things.

TITLE XXV. -Concerning the simple and guileless in manner.

The Lord will not reject the guileless. Keep guilelessness, and behold uprightness, for there is a remnant for a man of peace. God settles the single-minded in a house. The Lord will not withhold good things from those who walk in guilelessness. He who walks simply, walks confidently. 95.1220 As long as the guileless hold to righteousness, they will not be ashamed. He who walks uprightly, fears the Lord. He who looks upon things smoothly will be shown mercy. All who are blameless in their way are acceptable to the Lord. A blessed soul, every simple one. The guileless believes every word. The good will be inhabitants of the earth; and the guileless will be left in it, for the upright will dwell in it. We understand guilelessness in two ways. Either the alienation from sin, achieved by reasoning, and through long attention, and study of good things, as if cutting out the root of wickedness; or we accept the designation of guileless by way of a complete lack of it. And again, guilelessness is the not-yet experience of evil, often on account of youth, or the pursuit of a certain life, some being inexperienced in certain evils, for example a child does not know arrogance, does not know deceit, or mischief. Again, there are some of those who live in the country, not knowing the evils of commerce, nor the intrigues in a court of law; such people we call guileless, not as being separated from wickedness by choice, but as not yet having arrived at the experience of the evil disposition. Therefore, simplicity of character distinguishes the guileless person. Pursue sincere truth, simplicity, righteousness. The righteous man is unfeigned, like Jacob; for this reason He settles the single-minded in a house. The simple and guileless man easily speaks out the secrets of the soul. Simplicity is unguarded, and benevolence along with what is unsound, and that which is free from evil least suspects evil. That which is not ready for evil, neither for suspicion

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ὁδοὺς σκολιάς· ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς ἐννεύει ὀφθαλμῷ, σημαίνει ποδὶ, διδάσκει ἐν νεύμασι δακτύλων. Εἰς ὦτα ἄφρονος μηδὲν λέγετε, μήποτε μυκτηρίσῃ τοὺς συνετοὺς σοὺς λόγους. Ὡς φωνὴ ἀκανθῶν ὑπὸ τὸν λέβητα, οὕτως ὁ γέλως τῶν ἀφρόνων. Χείλη ἄφρονος καταποντίζουσιν αὐτόν. Ὁ μωρὸς μωρὰ λαλήσει, καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ μάταια νοήσει. Ζῆλος λήψεται λαὸν ἀπαίδευτον. Σοφίαν καὶ παιδείαν ἐξουθενῶν, ταλαίπωρος, καὶ κενὴ ἡ ἐλπὶς αὐτοῦ, καὶ οἱ κόποι αὐτοῦ ἀνόνητοι. Μὴ ὑποστρώσῃς ἀνθρώπῳ μωρῷ σεαυτόν. Μετὰ μωροῦ μὴ συμβουλεύου. Συγκολλῶν ὄστρακον, ὁ διδάσκων μωρόν. Ἐπὶ νεκρῷ κλαῦσον· ἐξέλιπε γὰρ φῶς. Καὶ ἐπὶ μωρῷ κλαῦσον· ἐξέλιπε γὰρ σύνεσις. Πένθος νεκροῦ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας, τοῦ δὲ μωροῦ καὶ ἀσεβοῦς πᾶσαι αἱ ἡμέραι τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ. Μετὰ ἄφρονος μὴ πληθύνῃς λόγους, καὶ πρὸς ἀσύνετον μὴ πορεύου. Μὴ πρόσπαιζε ἀπαιδεύτοις. Ἄμμον, καὶ ἅλας, καὶ βῶλον σιδηροῦν εὐκο 95.1217 πώτερον ὑπενεγκεῖν, ἢ ἄνθρωπον ἀσύνετον. Ἥδιον κλαῦσον ἐπὶ νεκρῷ, ὅτι ἀνεπαύσατο· τοῦ δὲ μωροῦ ὑπὲρ θάνατον ἡ ζωὴ πονηρά. Τροχὸς ἁμάξης ἔγκατα μωροῦ, καὶ ὡς ἄξων στρεφόμενος ὁ διαλογισμὸς αὐτοῦ. Μωρὸς δὲ λέγει, Οὐχ ὑπάρχει μοι φίλος. Οὔτε ἐν ἰχθύσι φωνὴν, οὔτε ἐν ἀπαιδεύτοις ἀρετὴν δεῖ ζητεῖν. Ὥσπερ οἱ ἀσθενοῦντες χρῄζουσιν ἰατρικοῖς, οὕτως σοφίας ἄφρονες ἐπιδέονται. Πρὸς σκληρὰν καὶ ἀπειθῆ καρδίαν λόγος ὑγιὴς οὐκ εἰσέρχεται· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἀντιτυπούμενος, πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπανέρχεται. Ζωῆς ἀλόγου δαίμων ἡγεμών. Τῶν φαύλων πλούσιος οὐδεὶς, κἂν τὰ πανταχοῦ μέταλλα κέκτηται, ἀλλ' εἰσὶ πάντες οἱ ἄφρονες πένητες. Στενοχωρεῖται πᾶς ἄφρων θλιβόμενος ὑπὸ φιλαργυρίας, καὶ φιλοδοξίας, καὶ φιληδονίας, καὶ τῶν ὁμοιοτρόπων, ἅπερ οὐκ ἐᾷ τὴν διάνοιαν ἐν εὐρυχωρίᾳ διάγειν. Μεῖζον ἀνθρώπῳ κακὸν ἀφροσύνης οὐδέν ἐστι, τοῦ ἰδίου τοῦ λογισμοῦ γένους, τὸν νοῦν ζημιωθέντι. -Νόσου καὶ φθορᾶς αἴτιον ἀπαιδευσία. Ἀμήχανον τὰ μεγάλα πρὸ τῶν μικρῶν παιδευθῆναι.

ΤΙΤΛ. ΚΕʹ. -Περὶ ἁπλοῦ καὶ ἀκάκου τὸν τρόπον.

Ὁ Κύριος μὴ ἀποίσεται τὸν ἄκακον. Φύλασσε ἀκακίαν, καὶ ἴδε εὐθύτητας, ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐγκατάλειμμα ἀνθρώπῳ εἰρηνικῷ. Ὁ Θεὸς κατοικίζει μονοτρόπους ἐν οἴκῳ. Κύριος οὐ στερήσει τὰ ἀγαθὰ τοῖς πορευομένοις ἐν ἀκακίᾳ. Ὃς πορεύεται ἁπλῶς, πορεύεται πεποιθώς. 95.1220 Ὅσον χρόνον ἔχονται ἄκακοι τῆς δικαιοσύνης, οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσονται. Ὁ πορευόμενος ὀρθῶς, φοβεῖται τὸν Κύριον. Ὁ βλέπων λεῖα, ἐλεηθήσεται. Προσδεκτοὶ Κυρίῳ πάντες ἄμωμοι ἐν ὁδῷ αὐτῶν. Ψυχὴ εὐλογημένη, πᾶσα ἁπλῆ. Ἄκακος πιστεύει παντὶ λόγῳ. Χρηστοὶ ἔσονται οἰκήτορες γῆς· ἄκακοι δὲ ὑπολειφθήσονται ἐν αὐτῇ, ὅτι εὐθεῖς κατασκηνώσουσιν ἐν αὐτῇ. ∆ιττῶς νοοῦμεν τὴν ἀκακίαν. Ἢ γὰρ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀλλοτρίωσιν λογισμῷ κατορθουμένην, καὶ διὰ μακρᾶς προσοχῆς, καὶ μελέτης τῶν ἀγαθῶν, οἱονεὶ ῥίζαν τῆς κακίας ἐκτέμνοντες· ἢ κατὰ στέρησιν αὐτῆς παντελῆ τὴν τοῦ ἀκάκου προσηγορίαν δεχόμεθα. Καὶ πάλιν ἀκακία ἐστὶν ἡ μήπω τοῦ κακοῦ ἐμπειρία, διὰ νεότητα πολλάκις, ἢ βίου τινὸς ἐπιτήδευσιν, ἀπείρως τινῶν πρός τινας κακίας διακειμένων, οἷον ὁ παῖς οὐκ οἶδεν ὑπερηφανίαν, οὐκ οἶδε δόλον, ἢ ῥᾳδιουργίαν. Πάλιν εἰσί τινες τῶν τὴν ἀγροικίαν οἰκούντων, οὐκ εἰδότες τὰς ἐμπορικὰς κακουργίας, οὐδὲ τὰς ἐν δικαστηρίῳ διαπλοκάς· τοὺς τοιούτους ἀκάκους λέγομεν, οὐχ ὡς ἐκ προαιρέσεως κακίας κεχωρισμένους, ἀλλ' ὡς μήπω εἰς πεῖραν τῆς πονηρᾶς ἕξεως ἀφιγμένους. Χαρακτηρίζει οὖν τὸν ἄκακον ἡ ἁπλότης τοῦ ἤθους. ∆ιώκετε ἀλήθειαν εἰλικρινῆ, ἁπλότητα, δικαιοσύνην. Ἄπλαστος ὁ δίκαιος, ὁποῖος Ἰακώβ· διὰ τοῦτο κατοικίζει μονοτρόπους ἐν οἴκῳ. Τὸν ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἄδολον εὐκόλως ἐξαγορεύει τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα τῆς ψυχῆς. Ἀφύλακτον ἡ ἁπλότης, καὶ μετὰ τοῦ σαθροῦ τὸ φιλάνθρωπον, καὶ ἥκιστα κακίαν ὑφορᾶται τὸ κακίας ἐλεύθερον. Τὸ εἰς κακίαν οὐχ ἕτοιμον οὐδὲ εἰς ὑπόνοιαν