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and of this great power. For when piety is absent, even existing wealth is lost with danger and the utmost shame; but when it is present, even what is not existing is added. Parents, therefore, must consider not how they may make their children rich in silver and gold, but how they might become most well-off in reverence and philosophy and the possession of virtue; so that they may not be in need of many things, so that they may not be terrified about worldly things and youthful desires. And one must carefully scrutinize their comings in and their goings out, their pastimes, their associations, knowing that if these things are neglected, they will have no excuse before God. For if we are held accountable for our care of others; For 'Let each one,' he says, 'seek not his own, but that of another;' how much more for that of our children? But you do and contrive everything so that they might have a fine horse, and a splendid house, and a costly field; but how their soul might be noble and their will pious, you take no account. And yet, even if their possessions are many and costly, if the one who is able to manage them with virtue is not diligent, all will be destroyed and will vanish with him; but if the soul becomes noble and philosophical, even if nothing is stored up within, it will be able to possess all things with security. But many fathers suffer some such thing concerning their children; not wishing to whip or rebuke with words, nor to grieve their own sons who live disorderly and lawlessly, they have often seen them caught in the most shameful acts, dragged to court, beheaded by executioners. For when you do not discipline, when you do not correct, having mixed himself with defiled and corrupt men, and having shared in their wickedness, he is brought under the common laws, and is punished in the sight of all; and with the disaster the shame becomes greater, as all point their fingers at the father after his son's death, and make the marketplace inaccessible to him. For with what eyes will he be able to look upon those who meet him after such disgrace and disaster of his child? What could be worse than this folly? Are you not ashamed and do you not blush, tell me, when the judge punishes your son, and makes him more temperate, and he needs correction from outside, after having lived with you for so long from the beginning? Do you not cover your face and sink down? Do you dare at all, tell me, to still be called a father, having thus betrayed your son, and not having brought him his necessary provision, but having overlooked his being corrupted by every vice? And if you see some runaway slave striking your child, you are indignant and angry and displeased, and you leap upon the face of the one who struck more fiercely than a wild beast; but seeing the devil striking him every day, demons leading him into sins, you both sleep, and are not indig- 63.766 nant nor displeased, nor do you snatch your son away from the most savage beast? and what philanthropy will you obtain? For how is it not absurd, that when your son is possessed by a demon, you run to all the saints, and you trouble those on the mountaintops, so that they might deliver him from that madness; but when sin, which is more grievous than any demon, continually troubles him, you do nothing more? And yet to be troubled by a demon is not grievous at all; for the demon is by no means able to cast one into Gehenna; but if we are sober, this trial will bring us bright and glorious crowns, whenever we bear such insults with thanksgiving; but for one who lives with sin it is impossible ever to be saved, but it is entirely necessary both to be reproached here, and having departed there to be punished again with immortal punishments. And what defense will you make then? 'Did I not entrust the child to you from the beginning?' he says. 'And I appointed you over him as teacher and guardian and caregiver and ruler; did I not bring and place all authority over him into your hands? Did I not command you to shape and mold him while he was tender?' What excuse, then, could you have, if you overlooked him when he leaped away? For what could you say? That

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καὶ τῆς πολλῆς ταύτης δυνάμεως. Εὐσεβείας μὲν γὰρ οὐκ οὔσης, καὶ τὰ ὄντα ἀπόλλυνται χρήματα μετὰ κινδύνου καὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης αἰσχύνης· ταύτης δὲ παρούσης, καὶ τὰ οὐκ ὄντα προσγίνεται. ∆εῖ τοίνυν σκοπεῖν τοὺς γονεῖς, οὐχ ὅπως τοὺς παῖδας ἐν ἀργυρίῳ καὶ χρυσίῳ πλουσίους ποιήσωσιν, ἀλλ' ὅπως ἐν εὐλαβείᾳ καὶ φιλοσοφίᾳ καὶ τῇ κτήσει τῆς ἀρετῆς πάντων γένοιντ' ἂν εὐπορώτεροι· ὅπως μὴ πολλῶν δέοιντο, ὅπως μὴ περὶ τὰ βιωτικὰ καὶ τὰς νεωτερικὰς ἐπιθυμίας ὦσιν ἐπτοημένοι. Καὶ τὰς εἰσόδους αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς ἐξόδους μετὰ ἀκριβείας περιεργάζεσθαι χρὴ, τὰς διατριβὰς, τὰς συνουσίας, εἰδότες, ὅτι τούτων ἀμελουμένων οὐδεμίαν ἕξουσι παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ συγγνώμην. Εἰ γὰρ τῆς τῶν ἄλλων προνοίας ἀπαιτούμεθα τὰς εὐθύνας· Ἕκαστος γὰρ μὴ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ζητείτω, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τοῦ ἑτέρου· πόσῳ μᾶλλον τῆς τῶν παίδων; Σὺ δὲ ὅπως μὲν ἵππος γένοιτο καλὸς αὐτοῖς, καὶ οἰκία λαμπρὰ, καὶ πολυτελὴς ἀγρὸς, πάντα ποιεῖς καὶ πραγματεύῃ· ὅπως δὲ ψυχὴ καλὴ καὶ προαίρεσις εὐσεβὴς, οὐδένα ἔχεις λόγον. Καίτοι τὰ μὲν κτήματα κἂν πολλὰ ᾖ καὶ πολυτελῆ, τοῦ δυναμένου μετὰ ἀρετῆς αὐτὰ οἰκονομεῖν οὐκ ὄντος σπουδαίου, πάντα ἀπολεῖται καὶ οἰχήσεται μετ' αὐτοῦ· ἂν δὲ ἡ ψυχὴ γενναία γένηται καὶ φιλόσοφος, κἂν μηδὲν ἔνδον ἀποκείμενον ᾖ, τὰ πάντων δυνήσεται μετὰ ἀδείας σχεῖν. Ἀλλὰ τοιοῦτόν τι πολλοὶ τῶν πατέρων περὶ τὰ τέκνα πάσχουσιν· οὐ βουλόμενοι μαστίξαι οὐδὲ ἐπιτιμῆσαι ῥήμασιν, οὐδὲ λυπῆσαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν υἱοὺς ἀτάκτως ζῶντας καὶ παρανόμως, πολλάκις εἶδον ἐπὶ τοῖς αἰσχίστοις ἁλόντας, εἰς δικαστήριον ἁρπαγέντας, ὑπὸ δημίων ἀποτμηθέντας. Ὅταν γὰρ σὺ μὴ παιδεύσῃς, ὅταν σὺ μὴ σωφρονίσῃς, μιαροῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ διεφθαρμένοις ἑαυτὸν ἀναμίξας, καὶ κοινωνήσας τῆς πονηρίας αὐτοῖς, ὑπὸ τοὺς κοινοὺς ἄγεται νόμους, καὶ κολάζεται πάντων ὁρώντων· καὶ μετὰ τῆς συμφορᾶς μείζων ἡ αἰσχύνη γίνεται, δακτυλοδεικτούντων ἁπάντων τὸν πατέρα μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τελευτὴν, καὶ ἄβατον αὐτῷ ποιούντων τὴν ἀγοράν. Ποίοις γὰρ ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀντιβλέψαι δυνήσεται τοῖς ἀπαντῶσιν αὐτῷ μετὰ τὴν τοιαύτην τοῦ παιδὸς ἀσχημοσύνην καὶ συμφοράν; Τί ταύτης τῆς ἀνοίας χεῖρον γένοιτ' ἄν; οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ καὶ ἐρυθριᾷς, εἰπέ μοι, ὅταν τὸν υἱὸν τὸν σὸν ὁ δικαστὴς κολάσῃ, καὶ σωφρονέστερον ποιήσῃ, καὶ τῆς ἔξωθεν ἐκεῖνος δεηθῇ διορθώσεως, τοσοῦτον ἐξ ἀρχῆς σοι συνοικήσας χρόνον; οὐκ ἐγκαλύπτῃ καὶ καταδύῃ; τολμᾷς ὅλως, εἰπέ μοι, πατὴρ ἔτι καλεῖσθαι, οὕτω προδοὺς τὸν υἱὸν, καὶ τὴν ἀναγκαίαν αὐτῷ φορὰν οὐκ εἰσενεγκὼν, ἀλλὰ περιιδὼν ὑπὸ πάσης διαφθαρῆναι κακίας; Κἂν μὲν δραπέτην τινὰ ἴδῃς ῥαπίζοντα τὸ παιδίον, ἀγανακτεῖς καὶ ὀργίζῃ καὶ δυσχεραίνεις, καὶ θηρίου χαλεπώτερον ἐπιπηδᾷς τῇ τοῦ τυπτήσαντος ὄψει· τὸν δὲ διάβολον καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὁρῶν αὐτὸν ῥαπίζοντα, δαίμονας εἰς ἁμαρτήματα ἐνάγοντας, καὶ καθεύδεις, καὶ οὐκ ἀγανακ 63.766 τεῖς οὐδὲ δυσχεραίνεις, οὐδὲ ἐξαρπάζεις τοῦ χαλεπωτάτου θηρίου τὸν υἱόν; καὶ ποίας τεύξῃ φιλανθρωπίας; Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον, ὅταν μὲν ὑπὸ δαίμονος ἐνεργῆταί σου ὁ υἱὸς, πρὸς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους τρέχεις, καὶ τοὺς ἐν ταῖς κορυφαῖς τῶν ὀρέων ἐνοχλεῖς, ὥστε αὐτὸν τῆς μανίας ἀπαλλάξαι ἐκείνης· ἁμαρτίας δὲ, ἣ παντὸς δαίμονός ἐστι χαλεπωτέρα, συνεχῶς ἐνοχλούσης, οὐδὲν πλέον ποιεῖς; Καίτοι τὸ μὲν παρὰ δαίμονος ἐνοχλεῖσθαι χαλεπὸν οὐδέν· οὐ γὰρ εἰς γέενναν ἐμβαλεῖν τὸ δαιμόνιον δύναται πάντως· ἀλλ' ἐὰν νήφωμεν, καὶ στεφάνους ἡμῖν ὁ πειρασμὸς οὗτος οἴσει λαμπροὺς καὶ περιφανεῖς, ὅταν εὐχαρίστως φέρωμεν τὰς τοιαύτας ἐπηρείας· τὸν δὲ ἁμαρτίᾳ συζῶντα ἀμήχανον σωθῆναί ποτε, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη πάντως καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐπονείδιστον εἶναι, καὶ ἀπελθόντα ἐκεῖ ἀθάνατα πάλιν κολάζεσθαι. Τί δὲ καὶ ἀπολογήσῃ λοιπόν; Οὐ κατῴκησά σοι, φησὶν, ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸν παῖδα; ἐπέστησα δὲ σὲ αὐτῷ διδάσκαλον καὶ προστάτην καὶ κηδεμόνα καὶ ἄρχοντα· οὐ τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν φέρων εἰς τὰς σὰς ἐνέθηκα χεῖρας; οὐχ ἁπαλὸν ὄντα διαπλάττειν ἐκέλευσα καὶ ῥυθμίζειν; ποίαν οὖν ἔχοις συγγνώμην, εἰ περιίδοις αὐτὸν ἀποσκιρτήσαντα; Τί γὰρ ἂν εἴποις; ὅτι