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gaping for present things, even if they are ten thousand times rich, even if they are clothed in great power, are in the rank of slaves and captives to those who pursue virtue. For let there be a wicked king, and a good commoner; let us see who is lord of whom, and where the marks of mastery shine forth; and who is the ruler, and who the ruled. How then shall we know this? The king commands the commoner to do some wicked thing, full of transgression; what then of the good commoner and subject? Not only will he not yield nor obey, but he will also try to turn the one commanding away from his purpose, even if he must die. Who then is free? The one who does what he wills, and does not fear even the king, or the one who is despised by his subject? For just as the captive, even if he has vast wealth, for this very reason is especially vulnerable to all; so too he who is captured by the passions, even if he wears the diadem itself, is more worthless than any spider's web. What then could be more pitiable than those who pursue wickedness, when they are deprived even of the title of being called men, and undergo punishment, because having received many resources from nature, they have betrayed these, willingly being dragged down, and deserting to wickedness? For if he who returns what was given is wicked, because he did not double it, what will he who has also destroyed this hear? If that man was bound 63.763 and cast out, where there is the gnashing of teeth, what shall we suffer, who shrink back and hesitate when countless things draw us to virtue? Do you not see the worthlessness of this life and the uncertainty of existence, and the toil in present things? For is it possible to pursue virtue with toil, but wickedness without toil? If then there is toil both here and there, why did you not choose this one which has great profit? Therefore, if you see an unworthy priest, do not slander the priesthood; for one must not slander the office, but the one who has used the good thing badly; since Judas also became a traitor, but this is not an accusation of the apostolate, but of his will; and many physicians became executioners, and have given poisons instead of medicines; but I do not slander the art, but the one who used the art badly; and many sailors have sunk ships, but it is not seafaring, but their wicked will. It is necessary for scandals to come, he says; but woe to that man through whom the scandals come. What then? Does his foretelling bring the scandals? Not his foretelling, far from it, nor because he foretold it does it therefore happen, but because it was certainly going to be, for this reason he foretold it; as if those who bring them did not wish to be wicked, they would not have come; and if they were not going to come, they would not have been foretold; but since those men did evil, and were incurably sick, they came, and he foretells what is to be. And if those men had been corrected, he says, and there was no one bringing scandals, was not this saying going to be found false? By no means; for it would not have been said; for if all were going to be corrected, he would not have said, "It is necessary to come;" but since he knew beforehand that they would be incorrigible from their own disposition, for this reason he said that they would certainly come. And for what reason did he not destroy them, he says? Because those who are harmed are not destroyed from that source, but from their own indolence; but if destruction came from scandals, all would have to be destroyed. So that if we are sober, we reap no small profit from this, to be continually watchful. For if we sleep while enemies exist and so many temptations are upon us, what would we be if we lived in security? And, if you wish, consider the first man. For if, having lived for a short time, and perhaps not even a whole day in paradise, and having enjoyed its delights, he fell into such wickedness, as to imagine equality with God, and to consider the deceiver a benefactor, and to keep not a single commandment; if he had also lived the life that followed, what would he not have done? For when someone, once freed from evils, is not chastened, he will suffer things much harsher than the former. For he ought to have been chastened by many things: by what he had suffered before, by being delivered, and by expecting to suffer worse things if he did not change; but when he becomes better by none of these, how not much harsher

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παρόντα κεχηνότες, κἂν μυριάκις πλουτῶσι, κἂν δυναστείαν ὦσι περιβεβλημένοι πολλὴν, ἐν τάξει δούλων καὶ ἀνδραπόδων τοῖς τὴν ἀρετὴν μετιοῦσίν εἰσιν. Ἔστω γάρ τις βασιλεὺς πονηρὸς, καὶ ἰδιώτης χρηστός· ἴδωμεν τίς τίνος κύριός ἐστι, καὶ ποῦ τὰ τῆς δεσποτείας διαλάμπει· καὶ τίς ὁ κρατῶν, καὶ τίς ὁ κρατούμενος. Πῶς οὖν εἰσόμεθα τοῦτο; Ἐπιτάττει τῷ ἰδιώτῃ ὁ βασιλεὺς πονηρόν τι πρᾶγμα, καὶ πλημμελείας γέμον· τί οὖν ὁ χρηστὸς ἰδιώτης καὶ ὑπήκοος; Οὐ μόνον οὐκ εἴξει οὐδὲ ὑπακούσεται, ἀλλὰ πειράσεται καὶ τὸν ἐπιτάττοντα ἀπαγαγεῖν τοῦ προκειμένου, κἂν ἀποθανεῖν δέῃ. Τίς οὖν ἐλεύθερος; ὁ ποιῶν ὃ βούλεται, καὶ μηδὲ τὸν βασιλέα δεδοικὼς, ἢ ὁ παρὰ τοῦ ὑπηκόου καταφρονούμενος; Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ αἰχμάλωτος, κἂν μυρίον ἔχῃ πλοῦτον, διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸ μάλιστα πᾶσιν εὐάλωτός ἐστιν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν ἁλισκόμενος, κἂν αὐτὸ περικέηται τὸ διάδημα, ἀράχνης πάσης ἐστὶν εὐτελέστερος. Τί τοίνυν ἐλεεινότερον γένοιτο τῶν τὴν κακίαν μετιόντων, ὅταν καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς προσηγορίας τοῦ καλεῖσθαι ἄνθρωποι ἀποστερῶνται, καὶ τιμωρίαν ὑπέχωσιν, ὅτι πολλὰς ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως ἀφορμὰς δεξάμενοι, ταύτας προδεδώκασιν, ἑκόντες ὑποσυρέντες, καὶ πρὸς τὴν κακίαν αὐτομολήσαντες; Εἰ γὰρ ὁ τὸ δοθὲν ἀποδιδοὺς πονηρὸς, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐδιπλασίασεν, ὁ καὶ τοῦτο διαφθείρας, τί ἀκούσεται; Εἰ ἐκεῖνος δεθεὶς 63.763 ἐξηνέχθη, ὅπου ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων, ἡμεῖς τι πεισόμεθα μυρίων ἡμᾶς ἑλκόντων ἐπ' ἀρετὴν, ἀναδυόμενοι καὶ ὀκνοῦντες; οὐχ ὁρᾷς τὸ εὐτελὲς τοῦ βίου καὶ τὸ ἄδηλον τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ τὸν ἐν τοῖς παροῦσι πόνον; Μὴ γὰρ τὴν μὲν ἀρετὴν μετὰ πόνου, τὴν δὲ κακίαν ἄνευ πόνων ἔστι μετελθεῖν; Εἰ οὖν καὶ ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἐκεῖ πόνος, διὰ τί μὴ ταύτην εἵλου τὴν πολὺ κέρδος ἔχουσαν; Μὴ οὖν, ἐὰν ἱερέα ἴδῃς ἀνάξιον, τὴν ἱερωσύνην διάβαλλε· οὐ γὰρ τὸ πρᾶγμα διαβάλλειν δεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὸν κακῶς τῷ καλῷ κεχρημένον· ἐπεὶ καὶ Ἰούδας προδότης ἐγένετο, ἀλλ' οὐ κατηγορία τοῦτο τῆς ἀποστολῆς, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐκείνου γνώμης· καὶ ἰατροὶ πολλοὶ δήμιοι ἐγένοντο, καὶ δηλητήρια δεδώκασιν ἀντὶ φαρμάκων· ἀλλ' οὐ τὴν τέχνην διαβάλλω, ἀλλὰ τὸν κακῶς τῇ τέχνῃ χρησάμενον· καὶ ναῦται πολλοὶ κατεπόντισαν πλοῖα, ἀλλ' οὐχ ἡ ναυτιλία, ἀλλ' ἡ κακὴ γνώμη ἐκείνων. Ἀνάγκη μὲν ἐλθεῖν τὰ σκάνδαλα, φησί· πλὴν οὐαὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐκείνῳ δι' οὗ τὰ σκάνδαλα ἔρχεται. Τί οὖν; ἡ πρόῤῥησις αὐτοῦ τὰ σκάνδαλα ἄγει; Οὐχ ἡ πρόῤῥησις αὐτοῦ, ἄπαγε, οὐδὲ ἐπειδὴ προεῖπεν, διὰ τοῦτο γίνεται, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ πάντως ἔμελλεν ἔσεσθαι, διὰ τοῦτο προεῖπεν· ὡς εἴ γε μὴ ἐβούλοντο οἱ φέροντες αὐτὰ πονηρεύεσθαι, οὐδ' ἂν ἦλθον· εἰ δὲ μὴ ἔμελλον ἔρχεσθαι, οὐδ' ἂν προεῤῥήθη· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐκακούργησαν ἐκεῖνοι, καὶ ἀνίατα ἐνόσησαν, ἦλθον, καὶ προλέγει τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι. Καὶ εἰ διωρθώθησαν ἐκεῖνοι, φησὶ, καὶ μηδεὶς ἦν ὁ τὰ σκάνδαλα κομίζων, οὐκ ἔμελλεν ὁ λόγος οὗτος ψευδὴς ἀναλίσκεσθαι; Οὐδαμῶς· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐλέχθη· εἰ γὰρ ἔμελλον διορθοῦσθαι πάντες, οὐκ ἂν εἶπεν, ὅτι Ἀνάγκη ἐλθεῖν· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ προῄδει ἀδιορθώτους ἐσομένους οἴκοθεν, διὰ τοῦτο εἶπεν ὅτι πάντως ἥξουσι. Καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἀνεῖλε, φησίν; Ὅτι οὐκ ἐκεῖθεν οἱ βλαπτόμενοι ἀπόλλυνται, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ῥᾳθυμίας· εἰ δὲ παρὰ σκάνδαλα ἡ ἀπώλεια, πάντας ἀπολέσθαι ἔδει. Ὥστε ἂν νήφωμεν, οὐ μικρὸν ἐντεῦθεν καρπούμεθα κέρδος, τὸ διηνεκῶς ἐγρηγορέναι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολεμίων ὄντων καὶ τοσούτων πειρασμῶν ἐπικειμένων καθεύδομεν, τίνες ἂν εἴημεν ἐν ἀδείᾳ ζῶντες; Καὶ, εἰ βούλει, τὸν πρῶτον ἄνθρωπον σκόπει. Εἰ γὰρ ὀλίγον χρόνον, τάχα δὲ οὐδὲ ἡμέραν ὅλην ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ζήσας, καὶ τρυφῆς ἀπολαύσας, εἰς τοσοῦτον ἤλασε κακίας, ὡς καὶ ἰσοθεΐαν φαντασθῆναι, καὶ τὸν ἀπατεῶνα εὐεργέτην νομίσαι, καὶ μηδεμιᾶς κατασχεῖν ἐντολῆς· εἰ καὶ τὸν ἐφεξῆς βίον ἔζη, τί οὐκ ἂν εἰργάσατο; Ὅταν γὰρ ἅπαξ τις ἐλευθερωθεὶς τῶν κακῶν μὴ σωφρονισθῇ, πολλῷ χαλεπώτερα πείσεται τῶν προτέρων. Καὶ γὰρ ἀπὸ πολλῶν τοῦτον σωφρονισθῆναι ἔδει, ἀπό τε τοῦ παθεῖν πρότερον, ἀπό τε τοῦ ἀπαλλαγῆναι, ἀπό τε τοῦ προσδοκᾷν χείρονα πείσεσθαι, εἰ μὴ μεταβάλλοιτο· ὅταν δὲ μηδενὶ τούτων γένηται βελτίων, πῶς οὐ πολλῷ χαλεπώτερα