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5. For affliction is a certain unbreakable bond, an increase of love, a foundation of compunction and reverence. For hear David saying: It is good for me, Lord, that you humbled me, that I might learn your ordinances; and again another prophet saying, It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth; and again, Blessed is the man whom you chasten, O Lord; and of a certain other one saying, Do not despise the chastening of the Lord; and elsewhere, If you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation. And Christ also said to his disciples, In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; and again, You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and again, Narrow and afflicted is the way. Do you see affliction praised everywhere? everywhere accepted as being necessary for us? For if in external contests no one would receive a crown without it, unless he fortified himself with labors and refusal of food and a rule of diet and vigils and countless other things, much more so here. For whom do you wish? To speak of the king? But not even he lives a life free from care, but one full of many afflictions and anxieties. For do not look at the diadem, but at the surging sea of anxieties, through which tumult is born for him; nor gaze upon the purple robe, but at the soul that is blackened more than that purple robe; the crown does not so bind 62.295 the head, as anxiety does the soul; nor look at the multitude of bodyguards, but at the multitude of despondencies. For it is not possible to find a private house full of so many cares, as the palace. Deaths expected each day by these very men, and blood is seen before the table, and before the drink. And in the nights it is not even possible to say how often they leap and jump up, having nightmares. And these things, indeed, in peace; but if war should befall, the cares are intensified still more. What, then, could be more wretched than this life? And how many things from their own household? I mean of those under their rule. Of course the royal ground is always full of the blood of kinsmen. And, if you wish, I will also narrate some things, and perhaps you will recognize that it is so; I will speak especially of old things, but nevertheless still preserved in memory, since they also happened in our times. A certain man, he says, suspecting his wife of adultery, bound her naked to mountains, and gave her to wild beasts, after she had already become for him the mother of many kings. What sort of life do you think he lived? For he would not, unless he had been utterly consumed by passion, have resorted to so great a punishment. This same man indeed slew his own son; or rather, his brother killed himself along with his own children. And this man is said to have also killed his own brother. And the one killed himself, having been overcome by a tyrant, and the other his own nephew who shared the kingdom with him, which he himself had handed over. Another saw his wife destroyed by pessaries; for since she was not bearing children, a certain wretched and miserable woman (for wretched and miserable is she who hopes to provide the gift of God through her own wisdom), having given pessaries, destroyed the queen, and was destroyed along with her. Another again after this was killed by poisonous drugs, and the cup was for him thereafter no longer a drink, but death; and his son's eye was gouged out for fear of things to come, though he had done no wrong. Another, it is not even good to say, how wretchedly he ended his life. Of those after these, one was burned up, like some wretched and miserable person, with horses and beams and all other things, and his little wife in widowhood. For it is not even possible to tell the sorrows in life, which, when this man rose up, she was forced to have. And this man who now reigns, has he not, from the time he put on the diadem, been in labors, in dangers, in sorrows, in despondencies, in misfortunes, in plots?

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εʹ. ∆εσμὸς γάρ τίς ἐστιν ἡ θλῖψις ἀῤῥαγὴς, ἀγάπης αὔξησις, κατανύξεως καὶ εὐλαβείας ὑπόθεσις. Ἄκουε γὰρ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ λέγοντος· Ἀγαθόν μοι, Κύριε, ὅτι ἐταπείνωσάς με, ὅπως ἂν μάθω τὰ δικαιώματά σου· καὶ πάλιν ἑτέρου προφήτου λέγοντος, Ἀγαθὸν ἀνθρώπῳ, ὅταν ἄρῃ ζυγὸν ἐκ νεότητος αὑτοῦ· καὶ πάλιν, Μακάριος ἄνθρωπος, ὃν ἂν παιδεύσῃς, Κύριε· καὶ ἑτέρου τινὸς λέγοντος, Μὴ ὀλιγώρει παιδείας Κυρίου· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ, Εἰ προσέρχῃ δουλεύειν Κυρίῳ, ἑτοίμασον τὴν ψυχήν σου εἰς πειρασμόν. Καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὰς ἔλεγεν, Ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ θλῖψιν ἕξετε, ἀλλὰ θαρσεῖτε· καὶ πάλιν, Κλαύσετε καὶ θρηνήσετε ὑμεῖς, ὁ δὲ κόσμος χαρήσεται· καὶ πάλιν, Στενὴ καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἡ ὁδός. Ὁρᾷς πανταχοῦ τὴν θλῖψιν ἐπαινουμένην; πανταχοῦ παραλαμβανομένην, ὡς ἀναγκαίαν οὖσαν ἡμῖν; Εἰ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἀγῶσιν οὐδεὶς ἂν ταύτης χωρὶς στέφανον λάβοι, εἰ μὴ καὶ πόνοις καὶ σιτίων παραιτήσει καὶ νόμῳ διαίτης καὶ ἀγρυπνίαις καὶ μυρίοις ἑτέροις ἑαυτὸν ὀχυρώσειε, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐνταῦθα. Τίνα γὰρ βούλει; τὸν βασιλέα εἰπεῖν; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνος ἀμέριμνον ζῇ βίον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλῶν θλίψεων καὶ φροντίδων γέμοντα. Μὴ γὰρ εἰς τὸ διάδημα ἴδῃς, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ κλυδώνιον φροντίδων, δι' οὗ αὐτῷ ὁ θόρυβος τίκτεται· μηδὲ εἰς τὴν ἁλουργίδα βλέπε, ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν μᾶλλον ἐκείνης τῆς ἁλουργίδος μελαινομένην· οὐχ οὕτως ὁ στέφανος δεσ 62.295 μεῖ τὴν κεφαλὴν, ὡς τὴν ψυχὴν ἡ φροντίς· μηδὲ εἰς τὸ τῶν δορυφόρων πλῆθος ἴδῃς, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ τῶν ἀθυμιῶν πλῆθος· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔστιν ἰδιωτικὴν οἰκίαν εὑρεῖν τοσούτων γέμουσαν φροντίδων, ὅσων τὰ βασίλεια. Θάνατοι καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν προσδοκώμενοι παρ' αὐτοῖς τούτοις, καὶ πρὸ τῆς τραπέζης τὸ αἷμα ὁρᾶται, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ ποτοῦ. Ἐν δὲ ταῖς νυξὶν οὐδὲ εἰπεῖν ἔστιν ὁσάκις ἅλλονται καὶ ἀναπηδῶσι φαντασιούμενοι. Καὶ ταῦτα δὴ ἐν εἰρήνῃ· εἰ δὲ πόλεμος καταλάβοι, ἔτι τὰ τῶν φροντίδων ἐπιτείνεται. Τί τοίνυν τοῦ βίου τούτου ἐλεεινότερον γένοιτ' ἄν; Τὰ δὲ παρὰ τῶν οἰκείων ὅσα; τῶν ἀρχομένων λέγω. Ἀμέλει καὶ συγγενικῶν αἱμάτων ἀεὶ γέμει τὸ ἔδαφος τὸ βασιλικόν. Καὶ, εἰ βούλεσθε, τινὰ καὶ διηγήσομαι, καὶ τάχα ἐπιγνώσεσθε ὅτι οὕτως ἔχει· μάλιστα μὲν καὶ τὰ παλαιὰ ἐρῶ, πλὴν ἀλλ' ὅμως ἔτι τῇ μνήμῃ φυλαττόμενα, ἅτε καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν χρόνων γενόμενα τῶν ἡμετέρων. Ὁ δεῖνα, φησὶ, τὴν γυναῖκα ὑποπτεύσας ἐπὶ μοιχείᾳ, γυμνὴν προσέδησεν ὄρεσι, καὶ θηρίοις ἐξέδωκεν, ἤδη μητέρα γενομένην αὐτῷ βασιλέων πολλῶν. Οἵαν οἴεσθε ζωὴν ζῇν ἐκεῖνον; οὐ γὰρ ἂν, εἰ μὴ σφόδρα κατετάκη τῷ πάθει, εἰς τοσαύτην ἐξέβη τιμωρίαν. Ὁ αὐτὸς δὴ οὗτος τὸν υἱὸν ἀπέσφαξε τὸν αὑτοῦ· μᾶλλον δὲ ὁ τούτου ἀδελφὸς ἑαυτὸν μετὰ τῶν παίδων αὑτοῦ. Λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν οὗτος ἀνῃρηκέναι τὸν αὑτοῦ. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἑαυτὸν ἀνεῖλεν, ὑπὸ τυράννου καταληφθεὶς, ὁ δὲ τὸν ἀνεψιὸν τὸν αὑτοῦ κοινωνοῦντα τῆς βασιλείας αὐτῷ, ἣν αὐτὸς ἐνεχείρισεν. Ἄλλος τὴν γυναῖκα εἶδεν ὑπὸ πεσσῶν διαφθαρεῖσαν· ὡς γὰρ οὐκ ἔτικτε, γυνή τις ἀθλία καὶ ταλαίπωρος (ἀθλία γὰρ καὶ ταλαίπωρος, ἣ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ δῶρον ἤλπισε δι' οἰκείας παρέξειν σοφίας), πεσσοὺς δοῦσα, διέφθειρε τὴν βασιλίδα, καὶ συνδιεφθάρη καὶ αὐτή. Ἕτερος πάλιν μετὰ τοῦτο ὑπὸ δηλητηρίων ἀνῄρητο φαρμάκων, καὶ τὸ ποτήριον ἦν αὐτῷ λοιπὸν οὐκέτι πόμα, ἀλλὰ θάνατος· καὶ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτῷ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐξωρύττετο φόβῳ τῶν μελλόντων, οὐδὲν ἠδικηκώς. Ἄλλος, οὐδὲ εἰπεῖν καλὸν, ὅπως κατέλυσε τὸν βίον ἐλεεινῶς. Τῶν δὲ μετὰ τούτους ὁ μὲν κατεκάη, καθάπερ τις ἄθλιος καὶ ταλαίπωρος, μετὰ ἵππων καὶ δοκῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων, καὶ τὸ γύναιον ἐν χηρείᾳ. Τὰς γὰρ ἐν τῷ ζῇν λύπας οὐδὲ εἰπεῖν ἔνι, ἃς, ὅτε οὗτος ἐπανέστη, ἠναγκάζετο ἔχειν. Οὗτος δὲ ὁ νῦν κρατῶν οὐχὶ ἐξ οὗ τὸ διάδημα περιέθετο, ἐν πόνοις, ἐν κινδύνοις, ἐν λύπαις, ἐν ἀθυμίαις, ἐν συμφοραῖς, ἐν ἐπιβουλαῖς;