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but it is piety of money. Leave to your children a good memory, rather than great wealth. Make all men 95.1500 fathers to your child through goodwill. It is necessary for you to depart from life at some point; then you will leave your child in his minority, in need of guardians. If you are noble and good, each one will raise your offspring as his own. For he will remember that you too became a father to orphans. But if you have lived in wickedness, and have grieved many, and have become harsher than any beast to those you meet, then you departed from life, you have left your offspring a common enemy of the living. For just as one who sees the offspring of a scorpion is afraid, lest when it comes of age it imitate its father, so too your offspring, being heirs of a father's wickedness, will be plotted against by all before they come of age. Why then do you gather many plotters and enemies against your own children? Being slaves, we are set free, and we do not pity our fellow slaves. When we are hungry, we are fed, and we pass by the one in need as if he had no need, though we have God as our provider and steward, we have become stingy and uncharitable towards the poor. Your sheep are fruitful, and the naked are more numerous than the sheep. The storehouses are straitened by the things stored up, and we do not pity the one who is straitened. For this reason the just judgment threatens us; for this reason also God does not open his hand, since we have shut out brotherly love; for this reason the fields are dry, since love has grown cold. A certain man spends his wealth on beast-fighters. and exulting in the vain shouts of the people, is puffed up by the praises, and is high-minded, having his glory in his shame. You say Teacher, and you do not care for the disciples. You confess the Good One, and you dismiss what is given. See, what difficult, or heavy, or excessive word has the Teacher proposed to you: Sell your possessions, and give to the poor? If he had set before you agricultural labors, or the dangers from trade, and all the toils that belong to those who are storm-tossed, you would have had to be grieved. But if in this way by an easy road, and one having no toil, nor sweat, he promises to show you as an heir of eternal life, do you not rejoice in the ease of salvation, but go away grieving in your soul and mourning, and you make useless for yourself all that you have previously labored for. For if you have not murdered, as you said, nor committed adultery, nor stolen, nor borne false witness against anyone, you make your diligence about all things unprofitable for yourself, by not adding what is lacking, through which alone you will be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And if a physician promised to correct for you mutilated limbs, present from birth or from sickness, you would not be disheartened to hear it. But since the great physician of souls wants to make you perfect who are lacking in the most vital things, you do not even have gratitude, but you mourn and are downcast, being clearly 95.1501 far from that commandment, and having borne false witness against yourself, that you have loved your neighbor as yourself, and that you have kept from your youth the commandment of love, and have rendered so much to each. From where did you get this abundance of money? for the cure of the needy is costly of wealth. What is happening to you, O men? who has perverted for you your own things into a plot against us, things that are aids to life? for were riches given as provisions for evils, as a ransom for the soul? for are they not an occasion of destruction? see that you do not, after gathering wealth with countless toils, prepare material for sins for others, and then be found doubly punished. You see everything as gold; you imagine everything as gold. This is your dream when sleeping, and your thought when awake. For just as those who are frantic from madness do not see things as they are, but imagine things from their passion, so your soul, seized by the love of money, sees everything as gold, everything as silver. You would rather see gold than the sun. Most fish are eaters of one another, and among them the smaller is food for the greater. And if it ever happens that the one who has overcome the lesser becomes the prey of another, they are brought under the one belly of the

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δέ ἐστιν εὐσέβεια χρημάτων. Κατάλειπε παισὶν ἀγαθὴν μνήμην, ἢ πλοῦτον πολύν. Πάντας 95.1500 ποίησον τοῦ παιδὸς τοῦ σοῦ πατέρας διὰ τῆς εὐνοίας. Ἀνάγκη σέ ποτε ἀπελθεῖν τοῦ βίου· εἶτα τὸν σὸν παῖδα ἐν τῇ ἀνηλικίᾳ καταλείψεις τῶν προεστώτων δεόμενον. Ἐὰν καλὸς ᾖς καὶ ἀγαθὸς, ἕκαστος τὸν σὸν ἔγγονον ὥσπερ ἴδιον ἐκθρέψει. Μεμνήσεται, γὰρ ὅτι καὶ σὺ ὀρφανῶν ἐγένου πατήρ. Ἐὰν δὲ ἐν πονηρίᾳ ζήσας, καὶ πολλοὺς λυπήσας, καὶ παντὸς θηρίου χαλεπώτερος γενόμενος τοῖς συντυγχάνουσιν, εἶτα ὑπεξῆλθες τοῦ βίου, κατέλιπες τὸν σὸν ἔγγονον κοινὸν ἐχθρὸν τῶν ζώντων. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τέκνον σκορπίου ὁ θεασάμενος φοβεῖται, μήποτε εἰς ἡλικίαν ἐλθὼν μιμήσηται τὸν πατέρα, οὕτω καὶ τὰ σὰ ἔγγονα πονηρίας πατρικῆς εἶναι κληρονόμα, πρὶν εἰς ἡλικίαν ἐλθεῖν παρὰ πάντων ἐπιβουλευθήσονται. Τί οὖν πολλοὺς ἐπιβούλους καὶ ἐχθροὺς συνάγεις τοῖς σεαυτοῦ τέκνοις; ∆οῦλοι ὄντες ἐλευθερούμεθα, καὶ τοὺς ὁμοδούλους οὐκ οἰκτείρομεν. Πεινῶντες τρεφόμεθα, καὶ τὸν ἐνδεῆ παρατρέχομεν ἀνενδεῆ, χορηγὸν καὶ ταμίαν Θεὸν ἔχοντες, φειδωλοὶ ἐγενόμεθα καὶ ἀκοινώνητοι πρὸς τοὺς πένητας. Πολύτοκα ὑμῶν τὰ πρόβατα, καὶ οἱ γυμνοὶ τῶν προβάτων πλείους. Αἱ ἀποθῆκαι τῶν ἀποκειμένων στενοῦνται, καὶ τὸν ἐστενωμένον οὐκ ἐλεοῦμεν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἡμῖν ἀπειλεῖ τὸ δίκαιον κριτήριον· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Θεὸς οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὴν χεῖρα, ἐπειδὴ τὴν φιλαδελφίαν ἡμεῖς ἀπεκλείσαμεν· διὰ τοῦτο ξηραὶ αἱ ἄρουραι, ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἀγάπη ἐψύχη. Ὁ δεῖνα τὸν πλοῦτον θηριομάχοις προσαναλίσκων. καὶ ταῖς ματαίαις τῶν δήμων φωναῖς ἐπαγαλλόμενος, φυσᾶται τοῖς ἐπαίνοις, καὶ μεγαλοφρονεῖ, τὴν δόξαν ἔχων ἐν τῇ αἰσχύνῃ αὐτοῦ. ∆ιδάσκαλον λέγεις, καὶ τῶν μαθητῶν οὐ φρονεῖς. Ἀγαθὸν ὁμολογεῖς, καὶ τὰ διδόμενα παραπέμπῃ. Τί ἰδέ σοι χαλεπὸν, ἢ βαρὺ, ἢ ὑπέρογκον ῥῆμα ὁ διδάσκαλος προετείνατο· Πώλησόν σου τὰ ὑπάρχοντα, καὶ δὸς πτωχοῖς; Εἴ σοι προέβαλε πόνους γεωργικοὺς, ἢ τοὺς ἐξ ἐμπορίας κινδύνους, καὶ ὅσα τοῖς χειμαζομένοις ἐπίπονα πρόσεστιν, ἔδει σε λυπηθῆναι. Εἰ δὲ οὕτως διὰ ῥᾳδίας ὁδοῦ, καὶ οὐδένα πόνον ἐχούσης, οὐδὲ ἱδρῶτα, ἐπαγγέλλεταί σε κληρονόμον τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἀποδείξειν, οὐ χαίρεις τῇ εὐκολίᾳ τῆς σωτηρίας, ἀλλ' ἀπέρχῃ ὀδυνώμενος τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ πενθῶν, καὶ ποιεῖς σεαυτῷ ἄχρηστα πάντα ὅσα σοι προπεπόνηται. Εἰ γὰρ οὐκ ἐφόνευσας, ὡς σὺ ἔφης, οὐδὲ ἐμοίχευσας, οὔτε ἔκλεψας, οὔτε κατεμαρτύρησάς τινος μαρτυρίαν ψευδῆ, ἀνόνητον σεαυτῷ ποιεῖς τὴν περὶ πάντων σπουδὴν, μὴ προστιθεὶς τὸ λεῖπον, δι' οὗ μόνου δυνήσῃ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. Καὶ εἰ μὲν ἰατρὸς ἐπηγγείλατο κολοβώματα μελῶν ἐκ φύσεως ἢ ἀῤῥωστίας προσόντα σοι διορθώσασθαι, οὐκ ἂν ἠθύμεις ἀκούων. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ μέγας τῶν ψυχῶν ἰατρὸς τέλειόν σε βούλεται ποιῆσαι τοῖς καιριωτάτοις ἐλλείποντα, οὐδὲ ἔχῃ τὴν χάριν, ἀλλὰ πενθεῖς καὶ σκυθρωπάζεις, ἐκείνης τῆς ἐντολῆς δῆ 95.1501 λον μακρὰν ὑπάρχων, καὶ ψεῦδος ἑαυτῷ προσμαρτυρήσας, ὅτι ἠγάπησας τὸν, πλησίον ὡς σεαυτὸν, καὶ ὅτι ἐφύλαξας ἐκ νεότητος τὴν ἐντολὴν τῆς ἀγάπης, καὶ τοσοῦτον ἀπέδωκας ἑκάστῳ. Πόθεν σοι ἡ τῶν χρημάτων αὕτη περιουσία; δαπανητικὸν γὰρ πλούτου, ἡ θεραπεία τῶν δεομένων. Τί πάσχετε, ἄνθρωποι; τίς ὑμῖν τὰ ὑμέτερα εἰς τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν ἐπιβουλὴν περιέτρεψεν, συνεργὰ πρὸς τὸ ζῇν; μὴ γὰρ ἐφόδια κακῶν ἐδόθη τὰ χρήματα, λύτρον ψυχῆς; μὴ γὰρ ἀφορμὴ ἀπωλείας; ὅρα μὴ μετὰ μυρίων πόνων πλοῦτον ἀθροίσας, ὕλην ἁμαρτημάτων ἑτέροις παρασκευάσῃς, εἶτα εὑρεθῇς διπλᾶ τιμωρούμενος. Πάντα χρυσὸν βλέπεις· πάντα χρυσὸν φαντάζῃ. Τοῦτό σοι καθεύδοντι ἐνύπνιον, καὶ ἐγρηγορότι ἐνθύμιον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ ἀπὸ μανίας παράφοροι, οὐ τὰ πράγματα βλέπουσιν, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ πάθους φαντάζονται, οὕτως σου ἡ ψυχὴ τῇ φιλοχρηματίᾳ κατασχεθεῖσα, πάντα χρυσὸν, πάντα ἄργυρον βλέπει. Ἥδιον ἂν ἴδοις τὸν χρυσὸν, ἢ τὸν ἥλιον. Ἀλληλοφάγοι τῶν ἰχθύων οἱ πλεῖστοι, καὶ ὁ μικρότερος παρ' ἐκείνοις βρῶμά ἐστι τοῦ μείζονος. Κἄν ποτε συμβῇ τὸν τοῦ ἐλάττονος κρατήσαντα ἑτέρου γενέσθαι θήραμα, ὑπὸ τὴν μίαν ἄγονται γαστέρα τοῦ