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of one in need and one asking out of greed. And he who gives to the one in affliction has given to the Lord and will receive his reward from him, but he who gives to the wanderer has thrown it to a dog, annoying for his shamelessness, but not pitiable for his want. 150.4 Concerning how we ought to live day by day, he had already said a few things in proportion to the magnitude of the subject, but nevertheless I wished you to learn from him himself. For it is not reasonable for me to obscure the precision of his teachings. And I was praying to meet him someday with you, so that, having carefully kept in your memory what was said, you might also find out for yourself what is lacking by your own understanding. For I remember this from the many things I heard from him, that the teaching about how a Christian should live does not require so much words as a daily example. And I know that if the bond of caring for your aged father had not held you, you would neither have preferred anything else to meeting the bishop, nor would you have advised me, having left him, to wander in deserted places. For the caves and the rocks await us, but the benefits from men do not always remain with us. So, if you will bear with my advice, you will persuade your father to allow you to leave him for a little while, and to meet a man who knows many things both from the experience of others and from his own understanding, and is able to provide them to those who approach him.

151.t TO EUSTATHIUS THE CHIEF PHYSICIAN

151.1 If there is any benefit in our letters, do not let any time pass

without writing to us and stirring us up to write. For we ourselves clearly become more joyful when we read the letters of wise men who love the Lord. But if you also find anything worthy of attention from us, it is for you who read them to know. Therefore, if we were not led away by the multitude of our occupations, we would not abstain from the joy of writing continually. But you, whose cares are fewer, as often as it is possible, stir us with your letters. For they say that wells become better when drawn from. And your medical advice seems to proceed as a side issue, not with us applying the knife, but with the useless parts falling off by themselves. Thus the saying of the Stoic: "Since," he says, "things do not happen as we wish, let us wish for them as they happen." But I do not agree to change my mind with the circumstances, yet I do not disapprove of doing some of the necessary things unwillingly. For neither is it desirable for you physicians to cauterize a patient or otherwise cause pain, but you often accept it, following the difficulty of the affliction. Nor do sailors willingly throw their cargo overboard, but, in order to escape shipwreck, they submit to the jettisoning, preferring a life in poverty to death. So also think of us as bearing the separation from those who depart painfully and with countless lamentations, but bearing it nonetheless, since nothing is more precious to lovers of truth than God and the hope in him.

152.t TO VICTOR, GENERAL

152.1 By not writing to some other person, I might perhaps justly accept an accusation

of laziness or forgetfulness. But how is it possible to forget you, whose name is spoken among all men? How could I be lazy toward one who has surpassed almost everyone in the world in the height of his honors? But the reason for our silence is clear. We hesitate to be a bother to so great a man. But if, in addition to your other virtue, you will also accept this, not only to receive letters sent by us, but also

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δεομένου καὶ τοῦ κατὰ πλεονεξίαν αἰτοῦντος. Καὶ ὁ μὲν τῷ θλιβομένῳ διδοὺς τῷ Κυρίῳ ἔδωκε καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ λήψεται τὸν μισθόν, ὁ δὲ τῷ περιερχομένῳ προσέρριψε κυνὶ φορτικῷ μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀναίδειαν, οὐκ ἐλεεινῷ δὲ διὰ τὴν ἔνδειαν. 150.4 Περὶ δὲ τοῦ πῶς χρὴ βιοῦν ἡμᾶς καθ' ἡμέραν ὀλίγα μὲν ἔφθη εἰρηκὼς πρὸς τὸ τῆς ὑποθέσεως μέγεθος, πλὴν ἀλλ' ἐβουλόμην παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐκείνου σε μαθεῖν. Ἐμὲ γὰρ ἀφανίζειν τὴν ἀκρίβειαν τῶν διδαγμάτων οὐκ εὔλογον. Ηὐχόμην δὲ μετὰ σοῦ ποτε καταλαβεῖν αὐτόν, ἵνα τῇ μνήμῃ ἀκριβῶς φυλάξας τὰ λεχθέντα καὶ τῇ σεαυτοῦ συνέσει προσεξεύρῃς τὰ λείποντα. Ἐκείνου γὰρ μέμνημαι ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν ὧν ἤκουσα, ὅτι ἡ περὶ τοῦ πῶς χρὴ ζῆν τὸν χριστιανὸν διδασκαλία οὐ τοσοῦτον δεῖται λόγου ὅσον τοῦ καθημερινοῦ ὑποδείγματος. Καὶ οἶδα ὅτι, εἰ μή σε κατεῖχεν ὁ δεσμὸς τῆς γηροκομίας τοῦ πατρός, οὐκ ἂν οὔτε αὐτὸς ἄλλο τι προετίμησας τῆς συντυχίας τοῦ ἐπισκόπου οὔτ' ἂν ἐμοὶ συνεβούλευσας καταλιπόντι τοῦτον εἰς ἐρημίας πλανᾶσθαι. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ σπήλαια καὶ αἱ πέτραι ἀναμένουσιν ἡμᾶς, αἱ δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ὠφέλειαι οὐκ ἀεὶ ἡμῖν παραμένουσιν. Ὥστε, εἰ ἀνέχῃ μου συμβουλεύοντος, τυπώσεις τὸν πατέρα μικρὸν ἐπιτρέπειν σε ἀναχωρεῖν αὐτοῦ, καὶ περιτυγχάνειν ἀνδρὶ πολλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἑτέρων πείρας καὶ ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας συνέσεως καὶ εἰδότι καὶ παρέχειν τοῖς προσιοῦσιν αὐτῷ δυναμένῳ.

151.τ ΕΥΣΤΑΘΙΩ ΑΡΧΙΑΤΡΩ

151.1 Εἴ τι ὄφελος ἡμετέρων γραμμάτων, μηδένα χρόνον δια λείπῃς

ἐπιστέλλων ἡμῖν καὶ διεγείρων ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὸ γράφειν. Αὐτοὶ μὲν γὰρ προδήλως ἡδίους γινόμεθα ἐντυγχάνοντες ἐπιστολαῖς συνετῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀγαπώντων τὸν Κύριον. Εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτοί τι ἄξιον σπουδῆς εὑρίσκετε παρ' ἡμῖν, ὑμέτερον εἰδέναι τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων. Εἰ μὲν οὖν μὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἀσχολιῶν ἀπηγόμεθα, οὐκ ἂν τῆς ἐκ τοῦ γράφειν συνεχῶς εὐφροσύνης ἀπειχόμεθα. Ὑμεῖς δέ, οἷς ἐλάττους αἱ φροντίδες, ὁσάκις ἂν οἷόν τε ᾖ, κινεῖτε ἡμᾶς τοῖς γράμμασι. Καὶ γὰρ τὰ φρέατά φασιν ἀντλούμενα βελτίω γίνεσθαι. Ἐοίκασι δέ σου αἱ ἐξ ἰατρικῆς παραι νέσεις εἰς πάρεργον χωρεῖν, οὐχ ἡμῶν ἐναγόντων τὸν σίδηρον, ἀλλ' ἑαυτοῖς ἐκπιπτόντων τῶν ἀπαχρειουμένων. Ὁ μὲν οὖν τοῦ Στωϊκοῦ λόγος· «Ἐπειδή, φησί, μὴ γίνεται τὰ πράγματα ὡς βουλόμεθα, ὡς ἂν γίνηται βουλώ μεθα.» Ἐγὼ δὲ τοῖς μὲν πράγμασι τὴν γνώμην συμμετα τίθεσθαι οὐ καταδέχομαι, τὸ δὲ ἀβουλήτως τινὰ ποιεῖν τῶν ἀναγκαίων οὐκ ἀποδοκιμάζω. Οὔτε γὰρ ὑμῖν τοῖς ἰατροῖς τὸ κάειν τὸν ἄρρωστον ἢ ἄλλως ποιεῖν ἀλγεῖν βουλητόν, ἀλλ' οὖν καταδέχεσθε πολλάκις τῇ δυσχερείᾳ τοῦ πάθους ἑπόμενοι. Οὔτε οἱ πλέοντες ἑκουσίως ἐκβάλ λουσι τὰ ἀγώγιμα, ἀλλ', ὥστε διαφυγεῖν τὰ ναυάγια, ὑφίστανται τὴν ἐκβολὴν τὸν ἐν πενίᾳ βίον τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν προτιμῶντες. Ὥστε καὶ ἡμᾶς οἴου ἀλγεινῶς μὲν καὶ μετὰ μυρίων ὀδυρμῶν φέρειν τὸν χωρισμὸν τῶν ἀφισταμένων, φέρειν δ' οὖν ὅμως, ἐπειδὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἐλπίδος οὐδὲν τοῖς ἀληθείας ἐρασταῖς προτιμότερον.

152.τ ΟΥΙΚΤΟΡΙ ΣΤΡΑΤΗΛΑΤΗ

152.1 Ἄλλῳ μέν τινι μὴ ἐπιστέλλων, τάχα ἂν δεξαίμην δικαίως ἔγκλημα

ῥᾳθυμίας ἢ λήθης. Σοῦ δὲ πῶς ἔστιν ἐπιλαθέσθαι, οὗ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα; Πῶς δὲ καταρρᾳθυμῆσαι, ὃς πάντων σχεδὸν τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκου μένην τῷ ὕψει τῶν ἀξιωμάτων ὑπερανέστηκας; Ἀλλὰ δήλη ἡμῶν ἡ αἰτία τῆς σιωπῆς. Ὀκνοῦμεν δι' ὄχλου γενέσθαι ἀνδρὶ τοσούτῳ. Εἰ δὲ πρὸς τῇ λοιπῇ σου ἀρετῇ καὶ τοῦτο κατεδέξω οὐ μόνον πεμπόμενα παρ' ἡμῶν δέχεσθαι γράμματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ