122. And yet how do these maxims come up to ours, whose rule of friendship is "loving as one's own self," and the wishing to our neighbour the same good that we wish to ourselves; amongst whom it is a crime not merely to have acted wickedly, but even to have been on the point of it, the wish being punished as much as the deed; by whom chastity is so studied that even the eye is restrained; with whom the murderous hand is so far removed that even anger is chastised; to whom the swearing a false oath is so terrible and monstrous a thing, that to us alone swearing at all is interdicted; whilst as for money, the most of us have never had any at all, whilst others had gladly possessed more, but only that they might have more to despise, philosophically preferring the having nothing to all wealth; casting away the yoke of the belly as a bitter and abominable tyrant, and the author of every evil. Is it not a great thing to boast that they strive to be not even flesh and blood, expending the mortal upon the immortal part; their single rule of virtue being the not giving way to small vices and such as are thought nothing of by the generality. But the greatest thing of all is, that whereas others punish the ends, as the law directs, we chastise the beginnings, and repress them like some dangerous and unruly torrent.

ΡΚΓʹ. Καίτοι πῶς ταῦτα τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐγγὺς, οἷς ὅρος μὲν φιλίας αὐτὸς ἕκαστος, καὶ τὸ τὰ αὐτὰ βούλεσθαι τοῖς πλησίον ἃ καὶ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς: ἔγκλημα δ' οὐ μόνον τὸ γενέσθαι κακὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ μελλῆσαι μικροῦ, καὶ τῆς ὀργῆς κολαζομένης, ὡς πράξεως: οἷς σωφροσύνη μὲν οὕτω σπουδάζεται, ὥστε καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς ἀναστέλλεται: χεὶρ δὲ φονικὴ τοσοῦτον πόῤῥωθεν εἴργεται ὥστε καὶ θυμὸς σωφρονίζεται: ἐπίορκον δὲ ὀμόσαι οὕτω δεινὸν καὶ ὑπέρογκον, ὥστε καὶ τὸν ὅρκον μόνοις ἡμῖν τυγχάνειν ἀπώμοτον; Χρήματα δὲ τοῖς μὲν πολλοῖς οὐδ' ἐγένετο: πολλοῖς δὲ διὰ τοῦτ' ἂν ἦν ἡδέως πλείω καὶ μόνον, ἵνα πλειόνων ὑπερίδωσι, τὸ μηδὲν ἔχειν ἀντὶ παντὸς πλούτου φιλοσοφοῦντες: γαστέρα δὲ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀποῤῥίψαντες ὡς πικρὰν δέσποιναν καὶ ἀπόπτυστον, καὶ πάντων κακῶν μητέρα: οὐ μέγα φῆσαι, ὅτι μηδὲ σάρκες εἶναι βιάζονται, τῷ ἀθανάτῳ τὸ θνητὸν ἀναλίσκοντες: καὶ νόμος εἷς αὐτοῖς ἀρετῆς, τὸ μηδὲ τῶν μικρῶν ἡττᾶσθαι, καὶ πᾶσι παρορωμένων. Τὸ γὰρ κάλλιστον, ὅτι, τῶν ἄλλων τὰ τέλη τιμωρουμένων κατὰ τοὺς νόμους, ἡμεῖς καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς κολάζομεν, ὥσπερ τι ῥεῦμα πονηρὸν καὶ δυσκάθεκτον πόῤῥωθεν ἀναστέλλοντες.