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For no passion more destructive than envy takes root in the souls of men. For just as rust consumes iron, so envy the soul that possesses it

utterly destroys. Dogs when fed are tamed, and lions when tended

become docile; but the envious are made more savage by kind treatment. It is the custom of Scripture in many places to rank envy with murder. Just as blight is a disease peculiar to wheat, so envy is of friendship

a sickness. (15Ε_388> The demons who hate what is good, whenever they find for themselves

dispositions, make use of them in every way (960) for their own purpose, so as even to use the eyes of the envious in the service of their own will.

Just as generosity follows the good, so envy follows the devil.

And just as vultures are drawn to foul odors, flying over many meadows, and many pleasant and fragrant places; and flies run past the healthy part, but hasten to the sore; so the envious do not even look upon the splendors of life and the greatness of achievements, but attack the corrupt parts.

The Theologian. Do not envy the one who succeeds, like one who was envied, and convinced he was worthy of envy, and for this reason was cast down.

May envy perish from among men, the consumption of those who have it, the poison of those who suffer from it; the only one of the passions that is at once most unjust and most just; the one, because it troubles all good things, the other, because it afflicts those who possess it.

Chrysostom. O envy, root of death, the intricate disease, sharpest nail of the heart! For what sharpest nail so pricks, as envy wounds the heart that possesses it?

The demon envies, but he envies men; but no demon. But you, being a man, envy men; and what pardon will you obtain?

Gregory of Nyssa. For envy, misfortune is not one's own evil, but another's good; and success, in turn, is not one's own good, but the neighbor's evil.

They say that carrion-eating vultures are destroyed by perfume. For their nature is accustomed to what is foul-smelling and corrupt. And he who is overcome by this disease, is destroyed by the prosperity of his friends, (15Ε_390> as by the assault of some perfume. But if he should see any suffering from misfortunes, he swoops down upon it, and brings his crooked beak to bear, dragging out the hidden parts of the misfortune.

Philo. Good things, even if they are overshadowed by envy for a short time, being released at the proper time, shine forth again.

Plutarch. For those who walk in the sun, a shadow necessarily follows; for those who walk in glory, envy attends.

The beauty of glory is quickly destroyed by envy as if by a disease. 961 Anacharsis. Anacharsis the Scythian, when asked, For what reason do men

grieve always? said, because not only do their own evils grieve them, but also the good things of others.

Aristotle. Envy, he says, is the rival of the fortunate. Democritus. Rivalry for good things benefits the one who is zealous, without harming the one

who is emulated. The laws would not prevent each person from living according to his own authority, if one did not

harm another. For envy produces the beginning of sedition. The same one said that envy is the ulcer of truth

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Φθόνου γάρ πάθος οὐδέν ὀλεθριώτερον ψυχαῖς ἀνθρώπων ἐμφύεται. Ὥσπερ γάρ ἰός τόν σίδηρον, οὕτως ὁ φθόνος τήν ἔχουσαν αὐτόν ψυχήν

ἐξαναλίσκει. Οἱ κύνες τρεφόμενοι ἡμεροῦνται, καί οἱ λέοντες χειροήθεις θεραπευόμενοι

γίνονται· οἱ δέ βάσκανοι ταῖς θεραπείαις πλέον ἐξαγριαίνονται. Ἔθος τῇ Γραφῆ πολλαχοῦ μετά τοῦ φόνου τάσσειν τόν φθόνον. Ὥσπερ ἡ ἐρυσίβη ἴδιόν ἐστι τοῦ σίτου νόσημα· οὕτως ὁ φθόνος φιλίας ἐστίν

ἀῤῥώστημα. (15Ε_388> Οἱ μισόκαλοι δαίμονες, ἐπειδάν οἰκείας ἑαυτοῖς εὕρωσι

προαιρέσεις, παντοίως αὐταῖς ἀποκέχρηνται (960) πρός τό ἴδιον βούλημα, ὥστε καί τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τῶν βασκάνων εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν χρήσασθαι τοῦ ἰδίου θελήματος.

Ὥσπερ ἕπεται τῷ ἀγαθῷ ἡ ἀφθονία, οὕτως ἀκολουθεῖ τῷ διαβόλῳ ἡ βασκανία.

Ὥσπερ δέ αἱ γῦπες πρός τά δυσώδη φέρονται, πολλούς μέν λειμῶνας, πολλούς δέ ἡδεῖς καί εὐώδεις τόπους ὑπεριπτάμενοι· καί αἱ μυῖαι, τό μέν ὑγιαίνον παρατρέχουσι, πρός δέ τό ἕλκος ἐπείγονται· οὕτως οἱ βάσκανοι, τάς μέν τοῦ βίου λαμπρότητας καί τά μεγέθη τῶν κατορθουμένων οὐδέ προσβλέπουσι, τοῖς δέ σαθροῖς ἐπιτίθενται.

Θεολ. Μή φθονήσεις τῷ κατορθοῦντι ὡς φθονηθείς, καί φθονεῖσθαι πεισθείς, καί διά τοῦτο κατενεχθείς.

Ὡς ἀπόλοιτο ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ὁ φθόνος, ἡ δαπάνη τῶν ἐχόντων, ὁ τῶν πασχόντων ἰός· τό μόνον τῶν παθῶν ἀδικώτατόν τε ἅμα καί δικαιότατον· τό μέν, ὅτι πᾶσι διοχλεῖ καλοῖς, τό δέ, ὅτι ἀδικεῖ τούς ἔχοντας.

Χρυσοστ. Ὤ φθόνε ῥίζα θανάτου, ἡ πολύπλοκος νόσος, καρδίας ὀξύτατε ἧλε! Ποῖος γάρ ἧλος ὀξύτατος οὕτως κεντᾷ, ὡς ὁ φθόνος τήν ἔχουσαν αὐτόν καρδίαν τιτρώσκει;

Ὁ δαίμων φθονεῖ μέν, ἀνθρώποις δέ· δαίμονι δέ οὐδενί. Σύ δέ ἄνθρωπος ὤν, ἀνθρώποις φθονεῖς· καί ποίας τεύξῃ συγνώμης;

Γρηγ. Νύσ. Φθόνῳ ἀτύχημα μέν ἐστιν οὐ τό ἴδιον κακόν, ἀλλά τό ἀλλότριον ἀγαθόν· κατόρθωμα δέ πάλιν, οὐ τό οἰκεῖον καλόν, ἀλλά τό τοῦ πέλας κακόν.

Φθείρεσθαι τούς νεκροβόρους γῦπας τῷ μύρῳ λέγουσι. Πρός γάρ τό δυσῶδες καί διεφθορός αὐτῶν ἡ φύσις ᾠκείεται. Καί ὁ τῇ νόσῳ ταύτῃ κρατούμενος, τῇ μέν εὐημερίᾳ τῶν φίλων, (15Ε_390> οἷόν τινος μύρου προσβολῇ καταφθείρεται. Εἰ δέ τι πάθος ἐκ συμφορῶν ἴδοι, πρός τοῦτο καθίπταται, καί τό ἄγκυλον ἐπάγει στόμα, τά κεκρυμμένα ἐξέλκων τοῦ δυστυχήματος.

Φίλωνος. Τά καλά, κἄν φθόνῳ πρός ὀλίγον ἐπισκιασθῇ χρόνον, ἐπί καιρῷ λυθέντα, αὖθις ἀναλάμπει.

Πλουτάρχου. Τοῖς μέν διά τοῦ ἡλίου πορευομένοις ἕπεται κατ᾿ ἀνάγκην σκιά· τοῖς δέ διά τῆς δόξης βαδίζουσιν ἀκολουθεῖ φθόνος.

Τό τῆς δόξης κάλλος ὥσπερ ὑπό νόσου τοῦ φθόνου ταχύ καταφθείρεται. 961 Ἀνάχαρσις. Ἀνάχαρσις ὁ Σκύθης ἐρωτηθείς, ∆ιά τίνα αἰτίαν ἄνθρωποι

λυποῦνται πάντοτε; ἔφη, ὅτι οὐ μόνον αὐτούς τά ἴδια κακά λυπεῖ, ἀλλά καί τά ἀλλότρια ἀγαθά.

Ἀριστοτ. Φθόνος, φησίν, ἀνταγωνιστής ἐστι τῶν εὐτυχόντων. ∆ημοκρίτ. Ἡ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔρις ὠφελεῖ τόν ζηλοῦντα, μή βλάπτουσα τόν

ζηλούμενον. Οὐκ ἄν ἐκώλυον οἱ νόμοι ζῇν ἕκαστον κατ᾿ ἰδίαν ἐξουσίαν, εἰ μή ἕτερος

ἕτερον ἐλυμαίνετο. Φθόνος γάρ στάσιος ἀρχήν ἀπεργάζεται. Ὁ αὐτός τόν φθόνον εἶπεν ἕλκος εἶναι τῆς ἀληθείας