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What among good things is easy? Who sleeping has set up a trophy? Who living luxuriously and being charmed by flutes has been adorned with the crowns of piety? No one who has not run has taken up the prize. Labors beget glory, toils procure crowns.

Theol. Philosophy is made nobler from suffering, being tempered by dangers just as iron by cold water.

Chrysost. Everywhere useful things are wont to come to men through difficulty and labors.

Philo. He who flees labor, flees good things; but he who patiently and courageously endures hardships, hastens toward blessedness.

(15Ε_272> Isocr. Train yourself with voluntary labors, so that you might be thought to endure also the involuntary ones.

Carcin. No one has acquired praise by pleasures; No lazy man is of good repute; But labors bring forth manliness. Philisc. It is not possible, O foolish one, with ease for those who have not labored

to receive the things of those who labor. Evagrius. It is absurd for one pursuing honors, to flee the labors, through which the

honors. Plut. Just as an instrument receiving relaxation and tension becomes sweet, so also

life. Nicias. This man was so fond of labor, that he would often ask his servants if

he had bathed, or if he had eaten breakfast. Archimed. Archimedes being intent on his tablet, his servants, dragging him away by force,

would seize him; but he, even on his anointed body, would draw the figures. 892 Demosth. Being asked by someone, "How did he master rhetoric?" he said,

By spending more on oil than on wine. From Democrit. and Isocrat. Train the body with labors, but the

soul to endure dangers nobly. The same man, being asked by someone, in what way do the industrious differ from the lazy,

said, "as the pious from the impious, in good hopes." The same man, seeing an industrious young man, said, "The finest relish for old age

you are preparing." Democrit. Voluntary labors make the endurance of involuntary ones lighter

they make. DISCOURSE 33. Concerning an oath. (15Ε_274> Matt. 5. I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, because

it is the throne of God, nor by the earth, because it is the footstool of his feet. James 5. But above all things, my brothers, do not swear; neither by heaven nor by the

earth, nor any other oath; but let your Yes be yes, and your No, no. Solomon 14. They swore unjustly with deceit, having despised holiness. For not the

power of the things sworn by, but the justice for those who sin, always pursues the transgression of the unjust.

Sirach 23. Just as a servant who is continually examined will not be lacking a bruise; so a man who swears and names God continually, will not be cleansed from sin.

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Τί τῶν ἀγαθῶν εὔκολον; Τίς καθεύδων τρόπαιον ἔστησε; Τίς τρυφῶν καί καταυλούμενος τοῖς τῆς εὐσεβείας στεφάνοις κατεκοσμήθη; Οὐδείς μή δραμών ἀνείλετο βραβεῖον. Πόνοι γεννῶσι δόξαν, κάματοι προξενοῦσι στεφάνους.

Θεολ. Γενναιότερον ἐκ τοῦ παθεῖν τό φιλόσοφον, ὥσπερ ψυχρῷ σίδηρος, οὕτω τοῖς κινδύνοις στομούμενον.

Χρυσόστ. Πανταχοῦ διά δισκολίας καί πόνων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πέφυκε τά χρήσιμα παραγίνεσθαι.

Φίλωνος. Ὁ μέν τόν πόνον φεύγων, φεύγει τά ἀγαθά· ὁ δέ τλητικῶς καί ἀνδρείως ὑπομένων τά δυσκαρτέρητα, σπεύδει πρός μακαριότητα.

(15Ε_272> Ἰσοκρ. Γύμναζε σαυτόν πόνοις ἑκουσίοις, ἵνα δόξῃς καί τούς ἀκουσίους ὑπομένειν.

Καρκίν. Οὐδείς ἔπαινον ἡδοναῖς ἐκτήσατο· Οὐδείς ῥάθυμος εὐκλεής ἀνήρ· Ἀλλ᾿ οἱ πόνοι τίκτουσι τήν εὐανδρίαν. Φιλίσκ. Οὐκ ἔστιν, ὦ μάταιε, σύν ῥᾳθυμίᾳ τά τῶν πονούντων μή πονήσαντας

λαβεῖν. Εὐαγρίου. Ἄτοπόν ἐστιν διώκοντα τάς τιμάς, φεύγειν τούς πόνους, δι᾿ ὧν αἱ

τιμαί. Πλουτ. Ὥσπερ ὄργανον ἄνεσιν καί ἐπίτασιν λαμβάνον ἡδύ γίνεται, οὕτω καί

βίος. Νικίου. Οὗτος φιλόπονος ἦν, ὥστε πολλάκις ἐρωτᾷν τούς οἰκέτας εἰ

λέλουται, ἤ εἰ ἠρίστηκεν. Ἀρχιμήδ. Ἀρχιμήδην τῇ σανίδι προσκείμενον ἀποσπῶντες βίᾳ οἱ θεράποντες,

εἴληφον· ὁ δέ, καί ἐπί τοῦ σώματος ἀληλιμμένου διέγραφε τά σχήματα. 892 ∆ημοσθ. Ἐρωτηθείς ὑπό τινος, Πῶς τῆς ῥητορικῆς περιεγένετο, ἔφη,

Πλέον ἔλαιον οἴνου δαπανήσας. Ἐκ τῶν ∆ημοκρίτ. καί Ἰσοκράτ΄ . Γύμναζε τοῖς μέν πόνοις, τό σῶμα, τήν δέ

ψυχήν γενναίως ὑπομένειν τούς κινδύνους. Ὁ αὐτός ἐρωτηθείς ὑπό τινος, τίνι οἱ φιλόπονοι τῶν ῥᾳθύμων διαφέρουσιν,

εἶπεν, ὡς οἱ εὐσεβεῖς τῶν ἀσεβῶν, ἐλπίσιν ἀγαθαῖς. Ὁ αὐτός ἰδών νεανίαν φιλοπονοῦντα, ἔφη, Κάλλιστον ὄψον τῷ γήρατι

ἀρτύεις. ∆ημοκρίτ. Οἱ ἑκούσιοι πόνοι, τήν τῶν ἀκουσίων ὑπομονήν ἐλαφροτέραν

παρασκευάζουσιν. ΛΟΓΟΣ ΛΓ´. Περί ὄρκου. (15Ε_274> Ματθ. ε´. Λέγω ὑμῖν μή ὁμόσαι ὅλως, μήτε ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, ὅτι

θρόνος ἐστί τοῦ Θεοῦ, μήτε ἐν τῇ γῇ, ὅτι ὑποπόδιόν ἐστι τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ. Ἰακ. ε´. Πρό πάντων δέ, ἀδελφοί μου, μή ὀμνύετε· μήτε τόν οὐρανόν μήτε τήν

γῆν, μήτε ἄλλον τινά ὄρκον· ἔστω δέ ὑμῶν τό, Ναί, ναί, καί τό, Οὔ, οὔ. Σολομ. ιδ´. Ἀδίκως ὤμοσαν ἐν δόλῳ καταφρονήσαντες ὁσιότητος. Οὐ γάρ ἡ

τῶν ὀμνυομένων δύναμις, ἀλλ᾿ ἡ τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων δίκη, ἐπεξέρχεται ἀεί τήν τῶν ἀδίκων παράβασιν.

Σιράχ κγ´. Ὥσπερ οἰκέτης ἐξεταζόμενος ἐνδελεχῶς, ἀπό μώλωπος οὐκ ἐλαττωθήσεται· οὕτως ὁ ὀμνύων καί ὀνομάζων Θεόν διαπαντός ἄνθρωπος, ἀπό ἁμαρτίας οὐ καθαρισθήσεται.