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everyone reckons of the young man; but when, having cast off the compulsion from there, he remains in the same gravity, then everyone reckons to him also the moderation of his former age. For this reason one must seek and long for teachers more than for fathers; for through the latter comes living, but through the former comes living well. And do not pride yourself on having a holy father; for this very thing will condemn you the more, when, having at home the example of nobility, you render yourself unworthy of your ancestral virtue. It is a great good to have the hopes of salvation in one's own achievements; for no friend will yet stand by you there. For if here He says to Jeremiah, “Do not ask concerning this people,” here, where we have the power to change; how much more so there. For the praises of our ancestors, when we share in them, are also ours; but when not, they have no force, but rather condemn; and how, listen. Absalom was a son to David, young, licen 63.769 tious, corrupt. He once rose up against his father, and having driven him from his kingdom and his house and his country, he took possession of everything in his stead; he who respected neither nature, nor his upbringing, nor his age, nor what had gone before, but was so utterly cruel and harsh, and more a beast than a man, that having broken through all these restraints, he shamelessly attacked the very laws of nature, and filled everything with confusion and uproar. For if he did not wish to respect him as a father, he ought to have as an old man; but if he cared not for his grey hairs, he should have been ashamed before him as a benefactor; and if not even so, as one who had done no wrong. But the love of power cast out all this reverence, and made the man a beast. And this blessed one who had begotten and raised him, wandered as a vagrant and a fugitive in the wilderness, like an exile in a foreign land, and was punished by the evils that resulted; but that one reveled in his father's goods. While matters were in this state, then, and the armies were arrayed with that one, and the cities were under the tyrant, a certain reasonable man named Hushai, being a friend to David, remained, preserving his friendship for him in this change of times, and seeing him suddenly wandering in the wilderness, he tore his tunic, sprinkled himself with ashes, groaned, cried out bitterly and piteously; and since he could do nothing, he offered the consolation of his tears, for he was not a friend of the times nor of power, but of virtue; for this reason, when the rule changed, he himself did not change his friendship. So David, seeing him doing these things, says to him: These things are indeed of a friend and one genuinely disposed toward us, but they profit us not at all; but what must we plan and consider, so that the terrible things might be undone, and I might find some way out of these misfortunes? Having said this, he proposes such a plan to him: Go, he says, to my son, and putting on the mask of a friend, scatter his counsels for me, and make the counsel of Ahithophel of no effect. For this Ahithophel had at that time gained control of the tyrant, having become intimate with him, and he was skilled in matters of war, and skilled in commanding in war and battle; wherefore David feared him more than the tyrant; so skilled was the man in his counsels. Hearing this, Hushai was persuaded, and he considered nothing fainthearted, nor unmanly, nor did he say, But what if I am caught? What if my mask is stripped away and exposed? What if the drama of my pretense is discovered? Ahithophel is clever, perhaps he will expose this and make it plain, and I will perish rashly and in vain. Thinking none of these things, he leaped into the camp, casting everything upon God, and he threw himself into the midst of the dangers. And when he came to the city, seeing the tyrant riding up, he approached; but the other, seeing him suddenly and being drunk with love of power, did not examine matters concerning him closely, but mocking and reproaching him, said, Go away with your companion; not even enduring to say his father's name, because of his great hatred and aversion.

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τοῦ νέου λογίζονται πάντες· ὅταν δὲ ἀποθέμενος τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἀνάγκην, ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς μένῃ σεμνότητος, τότε καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς προτέρας ἡλικίας σωφροσύνην αὐτῷ πάντες λογίζονται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο διδασκάλους μᾶλλον τῶν πατέρων ἐπιζητεῖν δεῖ καὶ ποθεῖν· διὰ τούτων μὲν γὰρ τὸ ζῇν, δι' ἐκείνων δὲ τὸ καλῶς ζῇν γίνεται. Μηδὲ, ὅτι πατέρα ἅγιον ἔχεις, ἐγκαλλωπίζου· αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο καταδικάσεταί σε πλέον, ὅταν οἴκοθεν ἔχων τὸ παράδειγμα τῆς εὐγενείας, ἀνάξιον σαυτὸν τῆς προγονικῆς παράσχῃς ἀρετῆς. Μέγα ἀγαθὸν ἐν τοῖς κατορθώμασι τοῖς οἰκείοις τὰς ἐλπίδας τῆς σωτηρίας ἔχειν· οὐδὲ γὰρ φίλος οὐδεὶς οὐδέπω παραστήσεται ἐκεῖ. Εἰ γὰρ ἐνταῦθά φησι τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ, Μὴ ἀξίου περὶ τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, ἐνταῦθα, ὅπου κύριοί ἐσμεν τοῦ μεταβαλέσθαι· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐκεῖ. Τὰ γοῦν τῶν προγόνων ἐγκώμια, ὅταν μὲν αὐτοῖς κοινωνῶμεν, καὶ ἡμῶν ἐστιν· ὅταν δὲ μὴ, οὐδὲν ἰσχύει, ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον κατακρίνει· καὶ ὅπως, ἄκουε. Ἀβεσσαλὼμ υἱὸς ἐγένετο τῷ ∆αυῒδ, νέος, ἀκό 63.769 λαστος, διεφθαρμένος. Οὗτος ἐπανέστη ποτὲ τῷ πατρὶ, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτὸν καὶ τῆς οἰκίας καὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἐκβαλὼν, ἀντ' ἐκείνου κατέσχεν ἅπαντα· ὃς οὔτε τὴν φύσιν, οὔτε τὴν ἀνατροφὴν, οὔτε τὴν ἡλικίαν, οὔτε τὰ προλαβόντα ᾐδεῖτο, ἀλλ' οὕτως ἦν καθάπαξ ὠμὸς καὶ ἀπηνὴς, καὶ θηρίον μᾶλλον ἢ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ἅπαντα ταῦτα διαῤῥήξας τὰ κωλύματα, αὐτοῖς μετὰ ἀναισχυντίας ἐπιπηδῆσαι τοῖς τῆς φύσεως νόμοις, καὶ ταραχῆς ἐμπλῆσαι ἅπαντα καὶ θορύβου. Εἰ γὰρ ὡς πατέρα αἰδεσθῆναι μὴ ἐβούλετο, ὡς γεγηρακότα ἐχρῆν· εἰ δὲ τῆς πολιᾶς κατημέλει, ὡς εὐεργέτην αἰσχύνεσθαι ἔδει· εἰ δὲ μηδὲ οὕτως, ὡς οὐδὲν ἠδικηκότα. Ἀλλ' ὁ τῆς φιλαρχίας ἔρως πᾶσαν ταύτην ἐξέβαλε τὴν αἰδὼ, καὶ θηρίον τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐποίησε. Καὶ ὁ μὲν μακάριος οὗτος ὁ γεννησάμενος καὶ ἀναθρεψάμενος, ἀλήτης καὶ φυγὰς κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον ἐπλανᾶτο, καθάπερ τις μετανάστης τῇ ὑπερορίᾳ, καὶ τοῖς ἐντεῦθεν κολαζόμενος κακοῖς· ἐκεῖνος δὲ ἐνετρύφα τοῖς τοῦ πατρὸς ἀγαθοῖς. Τῶν τοίνυν πραγμάτων ἐν τούτοις ὄντων, καὶ τῶν στρατοπέδων μετ' ἐκείνου τεταγμένων, καὶ τῶν πόλεων ὑπὸ τὸν τύραννον οὐσῶν, Χουσί τις ἄνθρωπος ἐπιεικὴς, φίλος ὢν τῷ ∆αυῒδ, ἔμενε τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν φιλίαν διατηρῶν ἐν τῇ τῶν καιρῶν τούτων μεταβολῇ, καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν ἀθρόον κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον πλανώμενον, διέῤῥηξε τὸν χιτωνίσκον, κατεπάσσατο τέφραν, ἐστέναξεν, ἀνέκραξε πικρὸν καὶ ἐλεεινόν· καὶ ἐπειδὴ μηδὲν ἠδύνατο, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν δακρύων εἰσφέρει παραμυθίαν, Οὐ γὰρ ἦν τῶν καιρῶν φίλος οὐδὲ τῆς δυναστείας, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς· διὰ τοῦτο τῆς ἀρχῆς μεταπεσούσης, αὐτὸς τὴν φιλίαν οὐ μετέβαλεν. Ἰδὼν τοίνυν αὐτὸν ὁ ∆αυῒδ ταῦτα ποιοῦντα, φησὶ πρὸς αὐτόν· Φίλου μὲν καὶ ταῦτα καὶ γνησίως πρὸς ἡμᾶς διακειμένου, ὀνίνησι δὲ οὐδὲν ἡμᾶς· ἀλλὰ τί δεῖ βουλεύσασθαι καὶ σκοπῆσαι, ὅπως ἂν λυθείη τὰ δεινὰ, καὶ διέξοδόν τινα εὕρω τῶν συμφορῶν; Ταῦτα εἰπὼν εἰσηγεῖται γνώμην ἐκείνῳ τοιαύτην· Ἀπελθὼν, φησὶ, πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἐμὸν, καὶ φίλου προσωπεῖον ὑποδὺς, διασκέδασόν μοι τὰς ἐκείνου βουλὰς, καὶ τοῦ Ἀχιτόφελ τὴν βουλὴν ἄκυρον ποίησον. Ὁ γὰρ Ἀχιτόφελ οὗτος καὶ τοῦ τυράννου τότε ἐκράτησεν, οἰκειωθεὶς αὐτῷ, καὶ δεινὸς μὲν ἦν τὰ πολεμικὰ, δεινὸς δὲ καὶ στρατηγῆσαι πολέμῳ καὶ μάχῃ· διὸ καὶ τοῦ τυράννου μᾶλλον αὐτὸν ἐδεδοίκει ὁ ∆αυΐδ· οὕτως ἦν δεινὸς ὁ ἀνὴρ ἐν ταῖς γνώμαις. Ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὁ Χουσὶ ἐπείσθη, καὶ οὐδὲν μικρόψυχον ἐλογίσατο, οὐδὲ ἄνανδρον, οὐδὲ εἶπεν, Τί δὲ, ἐὰν ἁλῶ; τί δὲ, ἐὰν γυμνωθῇ καὶ ἐλεγχθῇ μου τὸ προσωπεῖον; τί δὲ, ἐὰν φωραθῇ τὸ δρᾶμα τῆς ὑποκρίσεως; δεινὸς ὁ Ἀχιτόφελ, ἴσως καὶ τοῦτο ἐλέγξει καὶ ποιήσει κατάφωρον, καὶ ἀπολοῦμαι εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην. Οὐδὲν τῶν τοιούτων ἐννοήσας, εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐνεπήδησε, τὸ πᾶν ἐπὶ τὸν Θεὸν ῥίψας, καὶ εἰς μέσους ἑαυτὸν ἀφῆκε τοὺς κινδύνους. Ὡς δὲ ἐπέστη τῇ πόλει, ἰδὼν προσελαύνοντα τὸν τύραννον, προσῆλθεν· ὁ δὲ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν ἀθρόον καὶ τῇ φιλαρχίᾳ μεθύων, οὐκ ἐξήτασεν ἀκριβῶς τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν, ἀλλ' ἐπισκώπτων αὐτὸν καὶ ὀνειδίζων, Ἄπιθι, φησὶ, μετὰ τοῦ ἑταίρου σου· οὐδὲ τὸ ὄνομα ὑπομείνας εἰπεῖν τοῦ πατρὸς ὑπὸ μίσους καὶ ἀπεχθείας πολλῆς.