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TITLE IV. -Concerning old men and men of old; and how they ought to be honored. You shall rise up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man.

Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you. 95.1308 In length of time is wisdom, and in long life is knowledge. I am young in time, and you are very old; therefore I was quiet, afraid to declare my knowledge to you. A crown of boasting is old age; and it is found in the ways of righteousness. The glory of old men is gray hair. Honorable old age is not that which is of long time, nor is it measured by the number of years. Gray hair is wisdom to a man, and the age of old age is a spotless life. Stand in the multitude of the elders; and if any is wise, cleave to him. Do not miss the discourse of the elders; for they also learned from their fathers. - Do not dishonor a man in his old age. The crown of old men is much experience; and their boasting is the fear of the Lord. Speak, elder, for it is fitting for you. How beautiful is judgment for gray hairs, and for elders to know counsel. Everything that is distinguished by antiquity is venerable. More truly for the constitution of an elder than the whiteness in his hair, is the elder's wisdom in his mind. In nearly every matter, youth is a precarious counselor; and one would not easily find anything worthy of serious attention accomplished, in which gray hair was not also included for fellowship in the deliberation. Better is gray hair with wisdom than uneducated youth. The gray hair of old men is meekness; and their life, true knowledge. The soul blossoms toward knowledge, whenever the prime of the body withers with length of time. The one who is truly an elder is seen not in length of time, but in a praiseworthy and perfect life. Therefore, those who have spent a long time in the life with the body, without virtue, must be called long-lived children, having never been taught the lessons worthy of gray hair. -Gray hair is a waveless harbor. -The decline of the body, the suppression of passions.

TITLE V. -Concerning farming and farmers; and that it is good to work.

The Lord cast Adam out of the paradise of delight, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. Noah began to be a man, a farmer of the land, and he planted a vineyard, and drank of the wine, and was drunk. Issachar desired that which is good, resting 95.1309 between the inheritances; and seeing his resting place, that it was good, and the land that it was fertile, he set his shoulder to labor, and became a man, a farmer. Take care of the green things in the field, and you shall cut grass; gather mountain hay, that you may have sheep for clothing. But honor the field, that you may have lambs. Work your land; for ships no longer come from Carthage. Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Do not hate laborious work, and farming created by the Most High. He who works the land has raised up his heap. The eye desires grace and beauty, and above both, the green of the seed. How can he get wisdom that holds the plow, and that glories in the goad, that drives oxen, and is occupied in their labors, and whose talk is of the sons of bulls? He will give his heart to make furrows deep, and his watching is to give fodder to the heifer. The hardworking farmer must be the first to receive a share of the crops. A farmer, having shaken off sleep, hastens to the work of the land, and defends the solitude of his small house and farmstead, and is forced, nevertheless, to struggle against flame and winter with his suffering flesh. For everywhere, useful things are naturally produced for men through difficulty and labors. -It brings pleasure to farmers to reap an abundant harvest from level and deep-soiled fields. But if ever from rocky, and thin, and sandy ground he should be able, after much care, to enjoy some good fruit, the pleasure for the farmer from this is greater, because having struggled against its nature, and having set his own labors against the barrenness of the land, he bears away a certain testimony of victory from those who marvel at his farm.

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ΤΙΤΛ. ∆ʹ. -Περὶ γερόντων καὶ παλαιῶν ἀνδρῶν· καὶ ὡς χρὴ τιμᾶσθαι αὐτούς. Ἀπὸ προσώπου πολιοῦ ἐξαναστήσῃ, καὶ τιμήσεις πρόσωπον πρεσβυτέρου.

Ἐπερώτησον τὸν πατέρα σου, καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ σοι, τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους σου, καὶ ἐροῦσί σοι. 95.1308 Ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ σοφία, ἐν δὲ μακρῷ χρόνῳ ἐπιστήμη. Νεώτερος μέν εἰμι τῷ χρόνῳ, ὑμεῖς δὲ πρεσβύτεροι· διὸ ἡσύχασα φοβηθεὶς ἀναγγεῖλαι ὑμῖν τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ἐπιστήμην. Στέφανος καυχήσεως, γῆρας· ἐν δὲ ὁδοῖς δικαιοσύνης εὑρίσκεται. ∆όξα πρεσβυτέρων πολιά. Γῆρας τίμιον, οὐ τὸ πολύχρονον, οὐδὲ ἀριθμῷ ἐτῶν μεμέτρηται. Πολιά ἐστι φρόνησις ἀνδρὶ, καὶ ἡλικία γήρως, βίος ἀκηλίδωτος. Ἐν πλήθει πρεσβυτέρων στῆθι· καὶ εἴ τίς ἐστι σοφὸς, προσκολλήθητι αὐτῷ. Μὴ ἀστόχει διηγημάτων γερόντων· καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ἔμαθον παρὰ τῶν πατέρων αὐτῶν. - Μὴ ἀτιμάσῃς ἄνδρα ἐν γήρᾳ αὐτοῦ. Στέφανος γερόντων πολυπειρία· καὶ τὸ καύχημα αὐτῶν φόβος Κυρίου. Λάλησον, πρεσβύτερε· πρέπει γάρ σοι. Ὡς ὡραῖον πολιαῖς κρίσις, καὶ πρεσβυτέροις ἐπιγνῶναι βουλήν. Πᾶν τὸ ἀρχαιότητι διαφέρον, αἰδέσιμον. Πλεῖον τῷ ὄντι τῆς ἐν θριξὶ λευκότητος εἰς πρεσβυτέρου σύστασιν, τὸ ἐν φρονήσει πρεσβυτερικόν. Ἐπὶ παντὸς ὡς ἐπιπολὺ πράγματος, ἐπισφαλὴς σύμβουλος ἡ νεότης· καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις εὕρῃ ῥᾳδίως κατορθωθέν τι τῶν σπουδῆς ἀξιῶν, ᾧ μὴ καὶ πολιὰ συμπαρελήφθη πρὸς κοινωνίαν τοῦ σκέμματος. Κρείσσων πολιὰ μετὰ φρονήσεως, ἀπαιδεύτου νεότητος. Πολιὰ γερόντων πραότης· ζωὴ δὲ αὐτῶν, γνῶσις ἀληθής. Ἀνθεῖται πρὸς ἐπιστήμην ψυχὴ, ὁπότε τοῦ σώματος ἀκμαὶ μήκει μαραίνονται. Ὁ ἀληθείᾳ πρεσβύτερος, οὐκ ἐν μήκει χρόνων, ἀλλ' ἐν ἐπαινετῷ καὶ τελείῳ βίῳ θεωρεῖται. Τοὺς μὲν οὖν αἰῶνα πολὺν τρίψαντας ἐν τῇ μετὰ σώματος ζωῇ, δίχα καλοκαγαθίας, πολυχρονίους παῖδας λεκτέον, μαθήματα πολιᾶς ἄξια μηδέποτε παιδευθέντας. -Ἀκύμαντος λιμὴν πολιά. -Σώματος παρακμὴ, καταστολὴ παθῶν.

ΤΙΤΛ. Εʹ. -Περὶ γεωργίας καὶ γεωργῶν· καὶ ὅτι καλὸν τὸ ἐργάζεσθαι.

Ἐξέβαλε Κύριος τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου τῆς τρυφῆς, ἐργάζεσθαι τὴν γῆν ἐξ ἧς ἐλήφθη. Ἤρξατο Νῶε ἄνθρωπος γεωργὸς γῆς, καὶ ἐφύτευσεν ἀμπελῶνα, καὶ ἔπιεν ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου, καὶ ἐμεθύσθη. Ἰσάχαρ τὸ καλὸν ἐπεθύμησεν, ἀναπαυόμενος 95.1309 ἀναμέσον τῶν κλήρων· καὶ ἰδὼν τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν, ὅτι καλὴ, καὶ τὴν γῆν ὅτι πίων, τέθεικε τὸν ὦμον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ πονεῖν, καὶ ἐγενήθη ἀνὴρ γεωργός. Ἐπιμελοῦ τῶν ἐν πεδίῳ χλωρῶν, καὶ κερεῖς πόαν· σύναγε χόρτον ὀρεινὸν, ἵνα ἔχῃς πρόβατα εἰς ἱματισμόν. Τίμα δὲ πεδίον, ἵνα ὦσί σοι ἄρνες. Ἐργάζου τὴν γῆν σου· καὶ γὰρ πλοῖα οὐκέτι ἔρχεται ἐκ Καρχηδόνος. Νεώσατε ἑαυτοῖς νεώματα, καὶ μὴ σπείρετε εἰς ἀκάνθας. Μὴ μισήσῃς ἐπίπονον ἐργασίαν, καὶ γεωργίαν ὑπὸ Ὑψίστου ἐκτισμένην. Ὁ ἐργαζόμενος τὴν γῆν, ἀνύψωσε θημωνίαν αὐτοῦ. Χάριν καὶ κάλλος ἐπιθυμεῖ ὀφθαλμὸς, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἀμφότερα χλόην σπόρου. Τί σοφισθήσεται ὁ κρατῶν ἀρότρου, καὶ καυχώμενος ἐν δόρατι κέντρου, βόας ἐλαύνων, καὶ ἀναστρεφόμενος ἐν ἔργοις αὐτοῦ, καὶ διήγησις αὐτοῦ ἐν υἱοῖς ταύρων; Καρδίαν δώσει βαθὺ εἰς τεμεῖν αὔλακας, καὶ ἡ ἀγρυπνία αὐτοῦ εἰς χορτάσματα δαμάλεως. Τὸν κοπιῶντα γεωργὸν δεῖ πρῶτον τῶν καρπῶν μεταλαμβάνειν. Γεηπόνος τὸν ὕπνον ἀποσεισάμενος, πρὸ τὴν τῆς γῆς ἐργασίαν ἐπείγεται, καὶ τοῦ μὲν οἰκίσκου καὶ τῆς ἐπαύλεως τὸ ἔρημον ὑπερασπίζεται, καὶ ἀναγκάζεται ὅμως, καὶ φλογμῷ καὶ χειμῶνι ἀπὸ ταλαιπώρου σαρκὸς διαμάχεσθαι. Πανταχοῦ γὰρ διὰ δυσκολίας καὶ πόνων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πέφυκε τὰ χρήσιμα παραγίνεσθαι. -Φέρει γεηπόνοις ἡδονὴν τὸ ἐξ ὑπτίων τε καὶ βαθυγείων χωρίων πολύν τινα δρέπεσθαι τὸν καρπόν. Εἰ δέ ποτε καὶ ἐκ πετρώδους γῆς, καὶ λεπτῆς, καὶ ὑποψάμμου δυνηθείη μετὰ πολλὴν ἐπιμέλειαν χρηστοῦ τινος ἀπολαῦσαι καρποῦ, μείζων ἐντεῦθεν ἡ ἡδονὴ τῷ γεηπόνῳ, διότι πρὸς τὴν τῆς φύσιν ἀγωνισάμενος, καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους πόνους ἀντεισάξας τῇ στειρώσει τῆς γῆς, νίκης τινὰ μαρτυρίαν ἀποφέρεται παρὰ τῶν τὸ γεώργιον θαυμαζόντων.