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From Menander. Peace nourishes a farmer well, even on rocks. But war, even on a plain, is by nature evil. From Aristophanes. O Peace, rich in wealth, and a pair of oxen! If only, now that the war is over, it were mine 908 to dig and prune, and after bathing to drink deep of the new wine, bringing rich bread and a radish. From Euripides. For good counsel is a wise thing for many hands; for it conquers; but with a mob, ignorance is a greater evil. DISCOURSE 38. Concerning hope. (15Ε_300> Look at the birds of the air, for they do not sow, nor

do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them.

Romans 8. Hope that is seen is not hope; for what someone sees, he does not hope for. But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Solomon 16. The hope of an ungrateful man will melt like a winter's hoarfrost, and flow away like useless water.

Solomon 5. The hope of the ungodly is like chaff carried by the wind, and like smoke dispersed by the wind, and has passed away like the remembrance of a guest who stays but a single day.

Sirach 2. Look at the ancient generations and see, who ever hoped in the Lord and was put to shame, or who persevered in His fear and was overlooked by Him.

From Basil. He who hopes in man, or is set on high by anything else in this life, cannot say: In you, O Lord, have I hoped, For it is a commandment not to hope in rulers.

I praise the one who said that hopes are the dreams of the waking. From the Theologian. When, having hoped for great things, we suddenly encounter the things hoped for,

the things that appear are seen to be less than the expectation. (15Ε_302> Do not be too confident, nor despair too much. For the one enfeebles; the other overthrows. For what one fears he will suffer, he has already suffered, even if he does not suffer it. Many a ship with a fair voyage has sunk near its moorings. Many have come to anchor from a mighty storm. Neither in despondency despair of prosperity, nor in prosperity of adversity. One thing among existing things is permanent, hope in God; but all other things, not

exist by nature, but are by convention. From Chrysostom. It is impossible to fail of the goal, for one who with his whole mind upon God

hopes, and contributes all things from himself. From Gregory of Nyssa. Tribulation is the flower of expected goods. Therefore, for the sake of the

fruit, let us also pluck the flower. From Nilus. An unexpected evil, when it comes, is altogether disturbing; but what is expected

finding the reason prepared for the trial, makes the terrible thing lighter. 909 From Procopius the sophist. The good that was hoped for, having fallen into its opposite,

has an inconsolable suffering. From Plutarch. One must moor neither a ship by a single anchor, nor a life by a single hope.

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Μενάνδρου. Εἰρήνη γεωργόν κἀν πέτραις τρέφει καλῶς. Πόλεμος δέ, εἰ κἀν πεδίῳ, κακῶς ἔφυ. Ἀριστοφ. Εἰρήνη βαθύπλουτε καί ζευγάριον βοϊκόν! Εἰ γάρ ἐμοί παυσαμένῳ τοῦ πολέμου γένοιτο 908 Σκάψαντ᾿ ἀποκλᾶσαι, καί λουσαμένῳ διελκύσαι Τῆς τρυγός, ἄρτον λιπαρόν καί ῥάφανον φέροντι. Εὐριπίδ. Σοφόν γάρ εὐβούλευμα τάς πολλάς χέρας· Νικᾷ γάρ· σύν ὄχλῳ δ᾿ ἀμαθία πλέον κακόν. ΛΟΓΟΣ ΛΗ´. Περί ἐλπίδος. (15Ε_300> Ἐμβλέψατε εἰς τά πετεινά τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὅτι οὐ σπείρουσιν, οὐδέ

θερίζουσιν, οὐδέ συνάγουσιν εἰς ἀποθήκας, καί ὁ Πατήρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τρέφει αὐτά.

Ῥωμ. η´. Ἐλπίς βλεπομένη, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐλπίς· ὅ γάρ βλέπει τις, οὐκ ἐλπίζει. Εἰ δέ ὅ οὐ βλέπομεν, ἐλπίζομεν, δι᾿ ὑπομονῆς ἀπεκδεχόμεθα.

Σολ. ιστ´. Ἀχαρίστου ἐλπίς, ὡς χειμέριος πάχνη τακήσεται, καί ῥυήσεται ὡς ὕδωρ ἄχρηστον.

Σολ. ε´. Ἐλπίς ἀσεβοῦς, ὡς φερόμενος χνοῦς ὑπό ἀνέμου, καί ὡς καπνός ὑπό ἀνέμου διαλυθείς, καί ὡς μνεία καταλύτου μονοημέρου διωδεύθη.

Σιράχ β´. Ἐμβλέψατε εἰς τάς ἀρχαίας γενεάς, καί ἴδετε, τίς ἤλπισεν ἐπί Κύριον καί κατῃσχύνθη, ἤ τίς ἐνέμεινεν ἐν τῷ φόβῳ αὐτοῦ, καί ὑπερεῖδεν αὐτόν.

Βασιλείου. Ὁ ἐπ᾿ ἄνθρωπον ἐλπίζων, ἤ ἐπ᾿ ἄλλο τι τῶν κατά τόν βίον μετεωριζόμενος, οὐ δύνατι εἶπεῖν· Ἐπί σέ, Κύριε, ἤλπισα, Παράγγελμα γάρ ἐστι μή ἐλπίζειν ἐπ᾿ ἄρχοντας.

Ἐπαινῶ τόν εἰπόντα, τάς ἐλπίδας εἶναι γρηγορούντων ἐνύπνια. Θεολόγου. Ὅταν μεγάλα ἐλπίσαντες ἀθρόως τοῖς ἐλπισθεῖσιν ἐντύχωμεν,

ἐλάττω τῆς δόξης ὁρᾶται τά φαινόμενα. (15Ε_302> Μή σφόδρα θαῤῥεῖν, μηδ᾿ ἀπελπίζειν ἄγαν. Τό μέν γάρ ἐκλύει· τό δέ ἀνατρέπει. Ἅ γάρ τις ὡς πεισόμενος δέδοικε, ταῦτα πέπονθε κἄν μή πάθῃ. Πολλοῖς πρός ὅρμοις εὐπλοοῦν ἔδυ σκάφος. Πολλοί προσωρμίσθησαν ἐκ τρικυμίας. Μήτε ἀθυμῶν ἀπελπίσῃς, εὐημερίαν, μήτε καλῶς πράττων ἀθυμίαν. Ἕν ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι τό μόνιμον, ἡ πρός Θεόν ἐλπίς· τά δέ ἄλλα πάντα, οὐχί

ἐστι τῇ φύσει, ἀλλά νομίζεται. Χρυσοστ. Ἀμήχανον τοῦ τέλους ἐκπεσεῖν, τόν ὅλῃ διανοίᾳ ἐπί τόν Θεόν

ἐλπίζοντα, καί τά παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ πάντα εἰσφέροντα. Γρηγ. Νύσ. Τῶν προδοκωμένων ἀγαθῶν ἡ θλίψις ἄνθος ἐστί. ∆ιά οὖν τό

καρπόν, καί τό ἄνθος δρεψώμεθα. Νείλου. Τό ἀπροσδόκητον κακόν θορυβεῖ πάντως ἐπελθόν· τό δέ προδοκηθέν

εὐτρεπῆ πρός τήν πεῖραν εὑρόν τόν λογισμόν, κουφότερον ποιεῖ τό δεινόν. 909 Προκοπίου σοφιστοῦ. Τό ἐλπισθέν ἀγαθόν εἰς τοὐναντίον περιπεσόν,

ἀπαραμύθητον ἔχει τό πάθος. Πλουτάρχ. Οὔτε ναῦν ἐξ ἑνός ἀγκυρίου, οὔτε βίον ἐκ μιᾶς ἐλπίδος ὁρμιστέον.