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to lay hands on the property of others, does he not endure countless toils, running about, flattering slaves, free men, doorkeepers, frightening, threatening, being shameless, staying awake, trembling, being in agony, suspicious of everything? But the one who despises money is not like this, but he in turn enjoys great pleasure, living in security and with all safety. And if one were to go through the other parts of wickedness, he will see great confusion, many reefs. And what is greater, is that in the case of virtue, the painful things are first, and after these the pleasant things; so that in this way the toil is lightened; but in the case of wickedness, it is the opposite; after the pleasure come the pains and the punishments; so that from this the pleasure vanishes. For just as one awaiting crowns perceives none of the present burdens; so the one expecting punishments after pleasure cannot reap pure gladness, as fear throws everything into confusion. Rather, if one were to examine it closely, even before the punishment appointed for these things, one would find much pain produced in the very act of daring to commit wickedness. 8. And if you please, let us examine this in the case of those who seize the property of others, or of those who in any way acquire wealth; and setting aside fears and dangers and trembling and agony and care and all these things, let us suppose there is someone who grows rich without trouble, and is confident about the guarding of his possessions, which is impossible, but nevertheless let it be granted for the sake of argument; what pleasure then will this man reap? That he has acquired many things? But this very thing does not allow him to be glad; for as long as he desires more of other things, the things of his torment are intensified. For when desire ceases, then it par 60.505 rovides pleasure; since we who are thirsty also recover ourselves then, when we drink as much as we wish; but as long as we are thirsty, even if we should drain all the springs, our torment becomes greater, and even if we should drink up ten thousand rivers, the things of our punishment are harsher. And so you, if you should take the things of the world, and still desire more, you will have worked a greater punishment, by as much as you have tasted of more things. Do not then think that any pleasure comes to you from acquiring many things, but from not wanting to be rich; but if you desire to be rich, you will never cease from being scourged. For this is an unaccomplished love, and the longer the road you travel, the further you are from the end. Is this not then an enigma and a frenzy and the utmost madness? Let us therefore stand aloof from evils from the first; or rather, let us not touch such a desire at all; and if we do touch it, let us leap away from the very beginnings; which the writer of Proverbs advises, saying concerning a harlot woman: Leap away, do not delay, and do not come to the doors of her house. This I also say to you concerning the love of money. For if you fall into it, entering little by little into the sea of that madness, you will with difficulty be able to return; and just as in dizzy spells, even if you strive ten thousand times, you will not easily overcome it; so, and much more grievously, having fallen into the depth of this desire, you will destroy yourself along with all your possessions. Therefore, I beseech you, let us guard the beginning, and let us flee the small evils; for the great ones are born from these. For he who has learned to say for each sin, "It is nothing because of this," will little by little lose everything. This at any rate introduced wickedness, this opened the doors to the robber, this brought down the walls of the city, the saying for each thing: "It is nothing because of this." Thus also in the case of bodies the greatest diseases grow, when the small ones are despised. If Esau had not given up his birthright, he would not have become unworthy of the blessings; if he had not rendered himself unworthy of the blessings, he would not have desired to proceed to fratricide. If Cain had not loved the first things, but had yielded these to God, he would not have had the second things; again, having the second things, if he had listened to the counsel, he would not have been in travail with the murder; again, having committed the murder, if he had come to repentance when God called him, and had not answered shamelessly, he would not have endured the terrible things that came after. But if those before the

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τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις ἐπιτίθεσθαι χρήμασιν, οὐχὶ μυρίους ὑπομένει πόνους, περιτρέχων, κολακεύων δούλους, ἐλευθέρους, θυρωροὺς, φοβῶν, ἀπειλῶν, ἀναισχυντῶν, ἀγρυπνῶν, τρέμων, ἀγωνιῶν, ὑφορώμενος ἅπαντα; Ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁ χρημάτων καταφρονῶν τοιοῦτος, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὗτος πάλιν πολλῆς ἀπολαύει τῆς ἡδονῆς, ἐν ἀδείᾳ ζῶν καὶ μετὰ ἀσφαλείας ἁπάσης. Καὶ τὰ ἄλλα δὲ εἴ τις ἐπέλθοι τῆς κακίας μέρη, πολὺν τὸν θόρυβον ὄψεται, πολλοὺς τοὺς σκοπέλους. Καὶ τὸ δὴ μεῖζον, ὅτι ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς ἀρετῆς πρῶτα μὲν τὰ ἐπίπονα, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὰ ἡδέα· ὥστε καὶ ταύτῃ τὸν πόνον κουφίζεσθαι· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς κακίας ἀντιστρόφως· μετὰ τὴν ἡδονὴν αἱ ὀδύναι καὶ αἱ κολάσεις· ὥστε καὶ ἐντεῦθεν τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀφανίζεσθαι. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ στεφάνους ἀναμένων, οὐδενὸς αἰσθάνεται τῶν παρόντων φορτικῶν· οὕτως ὁ μετὰ τὴν ἡδονὴν κολάσεις προσδοκῶν, οὐ δύναται καρποῦσθαι καθαρὰν εὐφροσύνην, τοῦ φόβου πάντα διαταράττοντος. Μᾶλλον δὲ, εἴ τις ἀκριβῶς ἐξετάσειε, καὶ πρὸ τῆς κολάσεως τῆς ἐπὶ τούτοις κειμένης πολλὴν καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τολμᾶσθαι τὴν κακίαν ὀδύνην εὕροι τις ἂν γινομένην. ηʹ. Καὶ εἰ δοκεῖ, τοῦτο ἐπὶ τῶν τὰ ἀλλότρια ἁρπαζόντων ἐξετάσωμεν, ἢ καὶ τῶν ὁπωσοῦν χρήματα περιβαλλομένων· καὶ φόβους ἀποστήσαντες καὶ κινδύνους καὶ τρόμον καὶ ἀγωνίαν καὶ φροντίδα καὶ πάντα ταῦτα, ὑποθώμεθα εἶναί τινα ἀπραγμόνως πλουτοῦντα, καὶ περὶ τῆς φυλακῆς τῶν ὄντων θαῤῥοῦντα, ὅπερ ἀμήχανον, πλὴν ἀλλ' ὅμως κείσθω τῷ λόγῳ· ποίαν οὖν οὗτος καρπώσεται ἡδονήν; Ὅτι πολλὰ περιεβάλ[λ]ετο; Ἀλλ' αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο οὐκ ἀφίησιν αὐτὸν εὐφραίνεσθαι· ἕως γὰρ ἂν τῶν ἑτέρων πλειόνων ἐπιθυμῇ, ἐπιτείνεται τὰ τῆς βασάνου. Ἡ γὰρ ἐπιθυμία ὅταν στῇ, τότε παρ 60.505 έχει τὴν ἡδονήν· ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ διψῶντες τότε ἀνακτώμεθα ἑαυτοὺς, ὅταν ὅσον βουλόμεθα πίνωμεν· ἕως δ' ἂν διψῶμεν, κἂν πάσας ἐξαντλήσωμεν τὰς πηγὰς, μείζων ἡμῖν ἡ βάσανος γίνεται, κἂν μυρίους ἐκπίωμεν ποταμοὺς, χαλεπώτερα τὰ τῆς κολάσεως. Καὶ σὺ τοίνυν ἂν τὰ τοῦ κόσμου λάβῃς, ἔτι δὲ ἐπιθυμῇς, μείζονα εἰργάσω τὴν κόλασιν, ὅσῳ πλειόνων ἀπεγεύσω. Μὴ τοίνυν ἀπὸ τοῦ πολλὰ περιβάλλεσθαι νόμιζέ σοι προσγίνεσθαί τινα ἡδονὴν, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ θέλειν πλουτεῖν· ἐὰν δὲ ἐπιθυμῇς πλουτεῖν, οὐδέποτε παύσῃ μαστιζόμενος. Ἔρως γάρ ἐστιν οὗτος ἀτέλεστος, καὶ ὅσῳπερ ἂν πλείονα προέλθῃς ὁδὸν, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον τοῦ τέλους ἀφέστηκας. Ἆρ' οὖν οὐκ αἴνιγμα τοῦτο καὶ παραπληξία καὶ ἐσχάτη μανία; Ἀποστῶμεν τοίνυν ἐκ πρώτης τῶν κακῶν· μᾶλλον δὲ μηδὲ ὅλως ἁψώμεθα τῆς τοιαύτης ἐπιθυμίας· κἂν ἁψώμεθα δὲ, ἐκ προοιμίων ἀποπηδήσωμεν· ὅπερ ὁ Παροιμιαστὴς παραινεῖ περὶ πόρνης γυναικὸς λέγων· Ἀποπήδησον, μὴ ἐγχρονίσῃς, καὶ μὴ ἔλθῃς ἐπὶ θύρας οἴκων αὐτῆς. Τοῦτό σοι καὶ ἐγὼ περὶ τῆς φιλοχρηματίας λέγω. Ἂν γὰρ ἐμπέσῃς κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος εἰσιὼν τῆς μανίας ἐκείνης, δυσκόλως ἐπανελθεῖν δυνήσῃ· καὶ καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς ἴλιγξι κἂν μυριάκις φιλονεικῇς, οὐ περιέσῃ ῥᾳδίως· οὕτω, καὶ πολλῷ χαλεπώτερον, εἰς τὸ βάθος τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ταύτης ἐμπεσὼν, ἀπολεῖς σεαυτὸν μετὰ τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων. ∆ιὸ, παρακαλῶ, τὴν ἀρχὴν φυλαττώμεθα, καὶ τὰ μικρὰ φύγωμεν κακά· τὰ γὰρ μεγάλα ἀπὸ τούτων τίκτεται. Ὁ γὰρ καθ' ἕκαστον ἁμάρτημα μαθὼν λέγειν, Οὐδὲν παρὰ τοῦτο, κατὰ μικρὸν πάντα ἀπολεῖ. Τοῦτο γοῦν τὴν κακίαν εἰσήγαγε, τοῦτο τὰς θύρας ἀνέῳξε τῷ λῃστῇ, τοῦτο τῆς πόλεως τὰ τείχη κατέβαλε, τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον λέγειν· Οὐδὲν παρὰ τοῦτο. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν σωμάτων τὰ μέγιστα αὔξεται νοσήματα, ὅταν τὰ μικρὰ καταφρονῆται. Ὁ Ἡσαῦ εἰ μὴ προέδωκε τὰ πρωτοτόκια, οὐκ ἂν ἀνάξιος ἐγένετο τῶν εὐλογιῶν· εἰ μὴ τῶν εὐλογιῶν ἀνάξιον ἑαυτὸν κατέστησεν, οὐκ ἂν εἰς ἀδελφοκτονίαν προελθεῖν ἐπεθύμησεν. Ὁ Κάϊν εἰ μὴ τῶν πρωτείων ἠράσθη, ἀλλὰ τῷ Θεῷ παρεχώρησε τούτων, οὐκ ἂν ἔσχε τὰ δευτερεῖα· τὰ δευτερεῖα ἔχων πάλιν, εἰ τῆς παραινέσεως ἤκουσεν, οὐκ ἂν ὤδινε τὸν φόνον· πάλιν τὸν φόνον ἐργασάμενος, εἰ πρὸς μετάνοιαν ἦλθε, τοῦ Θεοῦ καλοῦντος αὐτὸν, καὶ μὴ ἀναισχύντως ἀπεκρίνετο, οὐκ ἂν τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα ὑπέμεινε δεινά. Εἰ δὲ οἱ πρὸ τοῦ