144
he could, he brings this forward, that the treasure remains unspent for them, and from both sides he draws them. For he did not say, "If you give alms, it is only kept safe," but he also threatened the opposite, that "If you do not give, it is lost." And see the ineffable wisdom. For he did not say that "You also leave them for others"—since this is also pleasant to men; but nevertheless from another direction he frightens them, showing that they do not attain even this; for even if men do no wrong, there are those who do wrong in any case, the moth and rust. For even if this 57.290 destruction seems very easy to overcome, yet it is invincible and irresistible; and whatever you may devise, you will not be able to stop this harm. What then? Does moth destroy gold? Even if not moth, yet thieves do. What then? Were all robbed? Even if not all, yet the majority were. For this very reason he introduces another argument, which I anticipated saying, saying: "Where a man's treasure is, there is his heart also." For even if none of these things should happen, he says, you will sustain no small harm, being nailed to the things below, and becoming a slave instead of a free man, and falling away from heavenly things, and being able to think of nothing lofty, but only of money and interest and loans and gains and illiberal trafficking; than which what could be more wretched? For such a man will be in a worse state than any slave, drawing upon himself a most harsh tyranny, and having betrayed what is most vital of all: the nobility of man and his freedom. For whatever anyone may discuss with you, with your mind being nailed to money, you will be able to hear nothing of what befits you; but like a dog tied to a tomb by the tyranny of money, more harsh than any chain, barking at all who approach, you have this one perpetual task: to guard for others the things that are laid up; than which what could be more wretched? But since this was too lofty for the understanding of his hearers, and neither was its harm easy for the many to see, nor its gain manifest, but required a more philosophic mind to perceive both of these; he has placed it after those plain statements, saying: "Where a man's treasure is, there is his heart also;" and he makes it clearer again, leading the discourse from intelligible things to sensible ones, and saying: "The lamp of the body is the eye." And what he says is this: Do not bury gold in the earth, nor anything else of that sort; for you gather them for the moth and for rust and for thieves. But even if you escape these harms, you will not escape the enslavement of your heart, and its being nailed to all things below; "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Just as, therefore, by laying up treasure in heaven, you reap not only this, the obtaining of the rewards for these things, but from that moment you receive your reward, being transferred there, and setting your mind on the things there, and being anxious for the things there; for where you have laid up the treasure, it is evident that you also transfer your mind. So if you do this upon the earth, you will suffer the opposite. But if what has been said is unclear to you, listen to what follows: "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness." He leads the discourse to more perceptible things. For since he made mention of the mind, as being enslaved and taken captive, and this was not easy for many to see, he transfers his teaching to things that are external and before the eyes, so that from these they might also understand about those. For if you do not know, he says, what the harm of the mind is, learn this from bodily things. For what the eye is to the body, this the mind is to the soul. Just as, then, you would not choose to wear gold, and be clothed in silk garments, and have your eyes maimed, but you consider the health of these to be more desirable than all such 57.291 abundance (for if you lose and corrupt it, the rest of life is of no benefit to you; for just as when the eyes have been blinded, the greater part of the
144
ἡδύνατο, τοῦτο εἰς μέσον ἄγει, τὸ μένειν ἀνάλωτον αὐτοῖς τὸν θησαυρὸν, καὶ ἑκατέρωθεν αὐτοὺς ἐφέλκεται. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶπεν, ὅτι Ἐὰν δῷς ἐλεημοσύνην, τηρεῖται μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐναντίον ἠπείλησεν, ὅτι καὶ Ἐὰν μὴ δῷς, ἀπόλλυται. Καὶ ὅρα τὴν ἄφατον σύνεσιν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶπεν, ὅτι Καὶ ἑτέροις αὐτὰ καταλιμπάνεις· ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦτο ἡδὺ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· ἀλλ' ὅμως ἑτέρωθεν αὐτοὺς φοβεῖ, δεικνὺς ὅτι οὐδὲ τούτου τυγχάνουσι· κἂν γὰρ ἄνθρωποι μὴ ἀδικήσωσιν, εἰσὶν οἱ ἀδικοῦντες πάντως, ὁ σὴς καὶ ἡ βρῶσις. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ σφόδρα εὐάλωτος εἶναι δοκεῖ αὕτη ἡ 57.290 λύμη, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἄμαχός ἐστι καὶ ἀκάθεκτος· κἂν ὁτιοῦν ἐπινοήσῃς, οὐ δυνήσῃ ταύτην ἐπισχεῖν τὴν βλάβην. Τί οὖν; τὸ χρυσίον σὴς ἀφανίζει; Εἰ καὶ μὴ σὴς, ἀλλὰ κλέπται. Τί οὖν; ἅπαντες ἐσυλήθησαν; Εἰ καὶ μὴ πάντες, ἀλλ' οἱ πλείους. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ ἕτερον, ὅπερ ἔφθην εἰπὼν, ἐπάγει λογισμὸν, λέγων· Ὅπου ὁ θησαυρὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἐκεῖ καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ. Κἂν γὰρ μηδὲν τούτων γένηται, φησὶν, οὐ μικρὰν ὑποστήσῃ βλάβην, τοῖς κάτω προσηλωμένος, καὶ δοῦλος ἀντ' ἐλευθέρου γινόμενος, καὶ τῶν οὐρανίων ἐκπίπτων, καὶ μηδὲν τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐννοῆσαι δυνάμενος, ἀλλὰ πάντα χρήματα καὶ τόκους καὶ δανείσματα καὶ κέρδη καὶ καπηλείας ἀνελευθέρους· οὗ τί γένοιτ' ἂν ἀθλιώτερον; Καὶ γὰρ ἀνδραπόδου παντὸς ὁ τοιοῦτος διακείσεται χεῖρον, τυραννίδα χαλεπωτάτην ἐπισπώμενος, καὶ τὸ πάντων καιριώτατον προδοὺς, τὴν εὐγένειαν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. Ὅσα γὰρ ἄν τίς σοι διαλέγηται, τῆς διανοίας προσηλωμένης τοῖς χρήμασιν, οὐδὲν ἀκοῦσαι δυνήσῃ τῶν σοι προσηκόντων· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ κύων τάφῳ προσδεδεμένος ἁπάσης ἁλύσεως χαλεπώτερον τῇ τῶν χρημάτων τυραννίδι, κατὰ τῶν προσιόντων ἁπάντων ὑλακτῶν, ἓν ἔργον τοῦτο ἔχεις διηνεκὲς, τὸ τηρεῖν ἑτέροις τὰ κείμενα· οὗ τί γένοιτ' ἂν ἀθλιώτερον; Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο ὑψηλότερον ἦν τῆς τῶν ἀκροωμένων διανοίας· καὶ οὔτε ἡ βλάβη αὐτοῦ τοῖς πολλοῖς εὐσύνοπτος, οὔτε τὸ κέρδος φανερὸν, ἀλλὰ φιλοσοφωτέρας ἐδεῖτο γνώμης, ὥστε ἑκάτερα ταῦτα συνιδεῖν· τέθεικε μὲν αὐτὸ μετ' ἐκεῖνα τὰ δῆλα, εἰπών· Ὅπου ὁ θησαυρὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἐκεῖ καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ· ποιεῖ δὲ αὐτὸ σαφέστερον πάλιν, ἀπὸ τῶν νοητῶν ἐπὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ ἐξάγων τὸν λόγον, καὶ λέγων· Ὁ λύχνος τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὁ ὀφθαλμός. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· Μὴ κατορύξῃς χρυσίον ἐν τῇ γῇ, μηδὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν τοιούτων μηδέν· τῷ γὰρ σητὶ καὶ τῇ βρώσει καὶ τοῖς κλέπταις αὐτὰ συνάγεις. Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ ταύτας διαφύγῃς τὰς βλάβας, τὸ δουλωθῆναί σου τὴν καρδίαν, καὶ προσηλωθῆναι τοῖς κάτω πᾶσιν, οὐ διαφεύξῃ· Ὅπου γὰρ ἂν ᾖ ὁ θησαυρὸς, ἐκεῖ καὶ ἡ καρδία σου. Ὥσπερ οὖν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀποτιθέμενος, οὐ τοῦτο καρποῦσαι μόνον, τὸ τυχεῖν τῶν ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐπάθλων, ἀλλ' ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη τὸν μισθὸν λαμβάνεις, ἐκεῖ μεθορμιζόμενος, καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖ φρονῶν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐκεῖ μεριμνῶν· ὅπου γὰρ ἀπέθου τὸν θησαυρὸν, εὔδηλον ὅτι καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν μετατίθης. Οὕτως ἂν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τοῦτο ποιήσῃς, τἀναντία πείσῃ. Εἰ δὲ ἀσαφές σοι τὸ εἰρημένον, ἄκουσον τῶν ἑξῆς· Ὁ λύχνος τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὁ ὀφθαλμός. Ἐὰν οὖν ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου ἁπλοῦς ᾗ, ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου φωτεινὸν ἔσται· ἐὰν δὲ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου πονηρὸς ᾖ, ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου σκοτεινὸν ἔσται. Εἰ δὲ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐν σοὶ σκότος ἐστὶ, τὸ σκότος πόσον. Ἐπὶ τὰ αἰσθητότερα ἐξάγει τὸν λόγον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐμνημόνευσε τοῦ νοῦ, ὡς καταδουλουμένου καὶ αἰχμαλωτιζομένου, τοῦτο δὲ οὐ πολλοῖς εὐσύνοπτον ἦν, ἐπὶ τὰ ἔξω καὶ πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν κείμενα τὴν διδασκαλίαν μετατίθησιν, ἵνα ἀπὸ τούτων καὶ περὶ ἐκείνων νοήσωσιν. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ οἶσθα, φησὶ, τί ποτέ ἐστι βλάβη νοῦ, ἀπὸ τῶν σωματικῶν τοῦτο καταμάνθανε· ὅπερ γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς τῷ σώματι, τοῦτο ὁ νοῦς τῇ ψυχῇ. Ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκ ἂν ἕλοιο χρυσοφορεῖν, καὶ σηρικὰ περιβεβλῆσθαι ἱμάτια, καὶ πεπηρῶσθαί σου τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὑγείαν τὴν τούτων ἁπάσης τῆς τοιαύτης 57.291 περιουσίας ποθεινοτέραν εἶναι νομίζεις (ἂν γὰρ αὐτὴν ἀπολέσῃς καὶ διαφθείρῃς, οὐδέν σοι τῆς λοιπῆς ὄφελος ζωῆς· ὥσπερ γὰρ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τυφλωθέντων, τὸ πολὺ τῆς τῶν