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(15Ε_346> Basil. If you desire glory, and wish to surpass the many, and to be held in high esteem in worldly affairs, be just, temperate, prudent, courageous, patient in sufferings for the sake of piety. For thus you will both save yourself, and for greater goods you will have a greater pride.

Let not his office puff up the one who presides, lest he fall from the blessedness of humility.

Man ought to have remained in the glory that is from God, and he would have had a height not artificial, but true, being magnified by the power of God. But since he transferred his desire for divine glory, and expecting greater things, hastening to take what he was not able to receive, he lost what he was able to have.

I want the wonder of creation to be more firmly established in you. First, then, when you see a blade of grass and a flower, come to the thought of human nature, remembering the image of the wise Isaiah, "That all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass." For the short duration of life, and the brief joy and cheerfulness of human prosperity, has been given a most fitting image by the prophet. Today a man is flourishing in body, fattened by luxury, having a blooming complexion, vigorous and well-strung by the prime of his age, and irresistible in his impulse; tomorrow this same man is pitiable, 936 either withered by time, or dissolved by disease. A certain man is conspicuous for the abundance of his wealth, and has a multitude of flatterers about him, a bodyguard of feigned friends, who court his favor; a multitude of relatives, and these too being contrived; a countless swarm of followers, both of his table-guests, and of those bound to him for other needs; whom, both going forth and again returning, he drags along, and is an object of envy to those who meet him. And in addition to his wealth you might find some political power, or honors from kings, the care of nations (15Ε_348>, or even the command of armies, and the herald shouting loudly as he proceeds before him; the lictors on this side and that instilling a most heavy dread into his subjects; the beatings, the imprisonments, the arraignments, the prisons, from which an unbearable fear is gathered from those under his power. And what after this? a single night, or a fever, or pleurisy, or pneumonia, snatches the man away from among men and is gone, suddenly stripping bare the whole scene about him; and that glory has been carried off like a dream. So that the prophet's comparison of human glory to the most feeble flower has been achieved.

Of the Theologian. Always take thought for eternal glory. For the present glory flees day by day. Pursue glory, neither all of it, nor too much. For it is better to be than to seem. But if you are immoderate, Do not hunt after empty glory, nor new glory. Chrysostom. For if for the sake of a worldly dignity one has often his whole substance

given; for the sake of the coming and inalienable glory, what could be more wretched than we, not even giving up a few things?

For the glory from men imitates the worthlessness of those who give glory, which is why it also changes easily. But the glory of God is not so; but it remains unmoved perpetually. And the prophet, showing both of these, the changeableness of the one, and the permanence of the other, spoke thus, All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the glory of grass. The prophet compared all human prosperity, not even to grass, but to something else altogether more worthless, calling it the flower of grass. Nothing

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(15Ε_346> Βασιλ. Εἰ δόξης ἐπιθυμεῖς, καί βούλει τῶν πολλῶν ὑπερβαίνεσθαι, καί εὐδόκιμος ἐν τοῖς κοσμικοῖς πράγμασι γίνεσθαι, ἔσο δίκαιος, σώφρων, φρόνιμος, ἀνδρεῖος, ὑπομονητικός ἐν τοῖς ὑπέρ εὐσεβείας παθήμασιν. Οὕτω γάρ καί σεαυτόν σώσεις, καί ἐπί μεῖζον ἀγαθοῖς μείζονα ἕξεις τήν περηφάνειαν.

Τόν προεστῶτα μή ἐπαιρέτω τό ἀξίωμα, ἵνα μή ἐκπέσῃ τοῦ μακαρισμοῦ τῆς παπεινοφροσύνης.

Ὄφειλεν ἄνθρωπον ἐν τῇ παρά Θεῷ δόξῃ μεμενηκέναι, καί εἶχεν ἄν ὕψος οὐκ ἐπίπλαστον, ἀλλ᾿ ἀληθινόν, δυνάμει Θεοῦ μεγαλυνόμενος. Ἐπειδή δέ τήν τῆς θείας δόξης ἐπιθυμίαν μετέθηκε, καί μείζονα προσδοκήσας, σπεύσας ὅπερ οὐκ ἠδύνατο λαβεῖν, ἀπώλεσεν ὅπερ ἔχειν ἠδύνατο.

Βούλομαί σοι σφοδρότερον τῆς κτίσεως ἐνιδρυνθῆναι τό θαῦμα. Πρῶτον μέν οὖν, ὅταν ἴδῃς βοτάνην χόρτου καί ἄνθος, εἰς ἔννοιαν ἔρχου τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, μεμνημένος τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ σοφοῦ Ἡσαΐου, Ὅτι πᾶσα σάρξ χόρτος, καί πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου. Τό γάρ ὀλιγοχρόνιον τῆς ζωῆς, καί τό ἐν ὀλίγῳ περιχαρές καί ἱλαρόν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης εὐημερίας, καιριωτάτης παρά τοῦ προφήτου τετύχηκε τῆς εἰκόνος. Σήμερον εὐθαλής τῷ σώματι, κατασαρκωμένος ὑπό τρυφῆς, ἐπανθοῦσαν ἔχων τήν εὔχροιαν, ὑπό τῆς κατά τήν ἡλικίαν ἀκμῆς σφριγῶν καί σύντονος, καί ἀνυπόστατος τήν ὁρμήν· αὔριον ὁ αὐτός οὗτος ἐλεεινός, 936 ἤ τῷ χρόνῳ μαρανθείς, ἤ νόσῳ διαλυθείς. Ὁ δεῖνα περίβλεπτος ἐπί χρημάτων περιουσίᾳ, καί πλῆθος περί αὐτόν κολάκων, δορυφορία φίλων προσποιητῶν, τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ χάριν θεραπευόντων· πλῆθος συγγενείας, καί ταύτης κατεσχηματισμένης· ἐσμός τῶν ἐφεπομένων μυρίος, τῶν τε ἐπισιτίων, καί τῶν κατά τάς ἄλλας χρείας αὐτῷ προσδευόντων· οὕς καί προϊών, καί πάλιν ἐπανιών ἐπισυρόμενος, ἐπίφθονός ἐστιν τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν. Πρός δέ τῷ πλούτῳ εὕροις καί πολιτικήν τινα δύναμιν, ἤ καί τάς ἐκ τῶν βασιλέων τιμάς, ἐθνῶν (15Ε_348> ἐπιμέλειαν, ἤ καί στρατοπέδων ἡγεμονίαν, καί τόν κήρυκα μέγα βοῶντα προϊόντα πρό αὐτοῦ· τούς ῥαβδοφόρους ἔνθεν καί ἔνθεν βαρυτάτην κατάπληξιν τοῖς ἀρχομένοις ἐμβάλλοντας· τάς πληγάς, τάς δεσμεύσεις, ἐπαγωγάς, τά δεσμωτήρια, ἐξ ὧν ἀφόρητος ὁ παρά τῶν ὑποχειρίων συναθροίζεται φόβος. Καί τί μετά τοῦτο; μία νύξ, ἤ πυρετός, ἤ πλευρῖτις, ἤ περιπνευμονία, ἀνάρπαστον ἐν ἀνθρώπων ἀπάγουσα τόν ἄνθρωπον οἴχεται, πᾶσαν τήν κατ᾿ αὐτόν σκηνήν ἐξαπίνης ἀπογυμνώσασα· καί ἡ δόξα ἐκείνη ὥσπερ ἐνύπνιον ἀπηνέχθη. Ὤστε ἐπιτετεῦχθαι τῷ προφήτῃ, ἡ πρός τό ἀδρανέστατον ἄνθος ὁμοίωσις τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης δόξης.

Θεολόγου. ∆όξης ἀεί φρόντιζε τῆς αἰωνίου. Ἡ γάρ παροῦσα φεύδεται καθ᾿ ἡμέραν. ∆όξαν δίωκε, μήτε πᾶσαν, μήτ᾿ ἄγαν. Κρεῖσσον γάρ εἶναι τοῦ δοκεῖν. Εἰ δ᾿ ἄμετρος εἶ, Μή τήν κενήν θήρευε, μηδέ τήν νέαν. Χρυσοστ. Εἰ γάρ ὑπέρ ἀξιώματός τις βιωτικοῦ ὅλην πολλάκις τήν οὐσίαν

ἐπέδωκεν· ὑπέρ τῆς μελλούσης δόξης καί ἀναφαιρέτου, τί γένοιτ᾿ ἄν ἡμῶν ἀθλιώτερον, μηδέ ὀλίγα προϊεμένων;

Ἡ μέν γάρ παρά τῶν ἀνθρώπων δόξα τῶν δοξαζόντων μιμεῖται τήν εὐτέλειαν, ὅθεν καί μεταπίπτει ῥᾳδίως. Ἡ δέ τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὐχ οὕτως· ἀλλ᾿ ἀκίνητος μένει διηνεκῶς. Καί ταῦτ᾿ ἀμφότερα δηλῶν ὁ προφήτης, κἀκείνης τό εὐμετάπτωτον, καί ταύτης τό μόνιμον, οὕτως ἔλεγεν, Πᾶσα σάρξ χόρτος, καί πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς δόξα χόρτου. Ἄπασαν τήν ἀνθρωπίνην εὐημερίαν, οὐδέ πρός χόρτον, ἀλλ᾿ ἑτέραν ὅλην εὐτελεστέραν ὁ προφήτης παρέβαλεν, ἄνθος αὐτήν ὀνομάσας χόρτου. Οὐδέν