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the love of money is the root of all evils; and of the prophet, If riches increase, set not your heart upon them, and many other such things. And from the histories, Gehazi, Judas, the rulers of the Scribes, and that Gifts blind the eyes of the wise. Is another man proud? Let him hear that God resists the proud; and, The beginning of pride is sin; and, Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. And in the histories the devil, and all the others. And in general (for it is not possible to recount everything) let each person select from the divine Scriptures the remedies for his own wounds; and if not the whole, at least a part today, and a part tomorrow, then wash the whole away. And concerning repentance, and concerning confession, and concerning almsgiving, and concerning gentleness, and concerning self-control, and concerning all things he will find many examples. For all these things, he says, were written for our admonition. If therefore it discourses on all things for our admonition, let us pay attention as we ought to pay attention. Why do we deceive ourselves in vain? I fear lest someone say also of us, that Our days were spent in vanity, and our years with haste. Who hearing us has desisted from the theaters? who has desisted from covetousness? who has become more eager for almsgiving? I wished to learn, not for the sake of vainglory, but so that I might become more eager, seeing the fruit of my labors to be brilliant. But now how shall I take hold of the work, seeing so many rains of teaching pouring down, but our cornfields remaining at the same measure, and the produce having grown no higher? Therefore the time of the threshing floor is at hand, He who has the winnowing fan. I fear, lest the whole be grass; I fear, lest we all be carried away to the furnace. Summer has passed, winter has come; and we sit, both young and old, being captured by our own passions. Do not say to me, I do not fornicate. For what is the profit, if you do not fornicate, but are a lover of money? The sparrow, even if it is not held by every part, but only by the foot, has thus perished, and stands in the snare, and has no benefit from its wings, its foot being held fast. So also you, you were not caught through fornication, but 60.220 you were caught through love of money; you were caught, however; and the question is not how you were caught, but that you were caught. Let not the young man say, I am not a lover of money; but perhaps you fornicate. And what is the profit again? For it is not possible for all the passions to come upon us at one age, but it has been so ordered, and this through the love of God for man, so that they might not, by attacking all at once, become invincible, and make the struggle against them harder for us. Of how great sluggishness would it not be, to be unable to master the passions even when they are divided, but to be defeated on each occasion, and to be proud of those passions which are lulled to sleep not by our own earnestness, but by age itself? Do you not see the charioteers, what great precision and exercise and labors they use, and foods, and all other things, so that they are not thrown from their chariots and dragged along? See how great a thing skill is. For a strong man could often not overcome even one horse; but a mere boy with skill often takes on two, and guides and handles them easily. And among the Indians, it is said that the great and terrible beast of the elephants yields with much eagerness even to a fifteen-year-old boy. Why then have these things been said by me? Because if we earnestly master elephants and wild horses, much more the passions within us. Why are we weakened throughout our whole life? We have never practiced this art; we have never, in a time of leisure when there is no contest, discussed with ourselves anything useful. One might see us standing on the chariot only when the contest has arrived. For this very reason we are ridiculous. Have I not often said, let us practice against our own household before the temptation? We are often provoked by our servants in the house; let us restrain our anger there, so that we may appear to handle it easily with our friends. And if we practiced in all other things, we would not be ridiculous in the contests. But now the weapons of others and exercises and

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ῥίζα πάντων τῶν κακῶν ἐστιν ἡ φιλαργυρία· καὶ τοῦ προφήτου, Πλοῦτος ἐὰν ῥέῃ, μὴ προστίθεσθε καρδίαν, καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα τοιαῦτα. Καὶ ἀπὸ ἱστοριῶν τὸν Γιεζῆ, τὸν Ἰούδαν, τοὺς ἄρχοντας τῶν Γραμματέων, καὶ ὅτι ∆ῶρα ἐκτυφλοῖ ὀφθαλμοὺς σοφῶν. Ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὑπερήφανος; Ἀκουέτω, ὅτι Ὑπερηφάνοις ἀντιτάσσεται ὁ Θεός· καὶ, Ἀρχὴ ὑπερηφανίας ἁμαρτία· καὶ, Πᾶς ὑψηλοκάρδιος ἀκάθαρτος παρὰ Κυρίῳ. Καὶ ἐν ἱστορίαις τὸν διάβολον, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας. Καὶ ὅλως (οὐ γὰρ ἔνι πάντα καταλέγειν) ἕκαστος τῶν οἰκείων τραυμάτων τὰ φάρμακα ἀπὸ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἐκλεγέτω· κἂν μὴ τὸ ὅλον, μέρος γοῦν τήμερον, καὶ μέρος αὔριον, εἶτα τὸ ὅλον ἀπονίψασθε. Καὶ περὶ μετανοίας δὲ, καὶ περὶ ἐξομολογήσεως, καὶ περὶ ἐλεημοσύνης, καὶ περὶ ἐπιεικείας, καὶ περὶ σωφροσύνης, καὶ περὶ πάντων εὑρήσει πολλὰ παραδείγματα. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα ἐγράφη πρὸς νουθεσίαν ἡμῶν, φησίν. Εἰ τοίνυν πρὸς νουθεσίαν ἡμῶν περὶ πάντων διαλέγεται, προσέχωμεν ὡς δεῖ προσέχειν. Τί μάτην ἑαυτοὺς ἀπατῶμεν; Φοβοῦμαι, μὴ καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν εἴπῃ τις, ὅτι Ἐξέλιπον ἐν ματαιότητι αἱ ἡμέραι ἡμῶν, καὶ τὰ ἔτη ἡμῶν μετὰ σπουδῆς. Τίς ἀκούων ἡμῶν ἀπέστη θεάτρων; τίς ἀπέστη πλεονεξίας; τίς προθυμότερος γέγονε περὶ ἐλεημοσύνην; Ἐβουλόμην μαθεῖν, οὐχὶ κενοδοξίας ἕνεκεν, ἀλλ' ὥστε γενέσθαι προθυμότερος, λαμπρὸν ὄντα τὸν καρπὸν τῶν πόνων ὁρῶν. Νῦν δὲ πῶς ἅψομαι τῆς ἐργασίας, τοσούτους μὲν ὑετοὺς ὁρῶν καταφερομένους τῆς διδασκαλίας, τὰ δὲ λήϊα ἡμῖν ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μέτρου μένοντα, καὶ οὐδὲν ὑψηλότερον τὰ γεννήματα γενόμενα; Λοιπὸν ὁ τῆς ἅλω καιρὸς ἐφέστηκεν, ὁ τὸ πτύον ἔχων. ∆έδοικα, μὴ τὸ πᾶν χόρτος ᾖ· δέδοικα, μὴ πρὸς τὴν κάμινον ἀπενεχθῶμεν ἅπαντες. Παρῆλθε θέρος, ἦλθε χειμών· καθήμεθα καὶ νέοι καὶ γέροντες τοῖς οἰκείοις ἁλισκόμενοι πάθεσι. Μή μοι εἴπῃς, ὅτι Οὐ πορνεύω. Τί γὰρ ὄφελος, ἂν μὴ πορνεύῃς μὲν, φιλοχρήματος δὲ ᾖς; Ὁ στρουθὸς κἂν μὴ ἐκ παντὸς μέρους, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τοῦ ποδὸς κατέχηται μόνον, καὶ οὕτως ἀπόλωλε, καὶ ἐν τῇ παγίδι ἕστηκε, καὶ τῶν πτερῶν ὄφελος οὐδὲν, τοῦ ποδὸς κατεχομένου. Οὕτω καὶ σὺ, οὐχ ἑάλως διὰ πορνείας, ἀλλ' 60.220 ἑάλως διὰ φιλαργυρίας· ἑάλως μέντοι· τὸ δὲ ζητούμενον, οὐ πῶς ἑάλως, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἑάλως. Μὴ λεγέτω ὁ νέος, ὅτι Οὐκ εἰμὶ φιλοχρήματος· ἀλλ' ἴσως πορνεύεις. Καὶ τί τὸ ὄφελος πάλιν; οὐδὲ γὰρ δυνατὸν πάντα τὰ πάθη κατὰ μίαν ἡμῖν ἡλικίαν ἐπιστῆναι, ἀλλὰ διώρισται, καὶ τοῦτο διὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, ὥστε μὴ ἀθρόως ἐπιτεθέντα ἀχείρωτα γενέσθαι, καὶ χαλεπωτέραν ἡμῖν τὴν πρὸς αὐτὰ πάλην καταστῆναι. Πόσης οὐκ ἂν εἴη νωθείας, μηδὲ διῃρημένων δύνασθαι κρατεῖν τῶν παθῶν, ἀλλὰ καθ' ἕκαστον ἡττᾶσθαι καιρὸν, καὶ μέγα φρονεῖν ἐπὶ τούτοις τοῖς οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας σπουδῆς, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς ἡλικίας κοιμιζομένοις; Οὐχ ὁρᾶτε τοὺς ἡνιόχους, πόσῃ ἀκριβείᾳ καὶ γυμνασίᾳ καὶ πόνοις κέχρηνται, καὶ σιτίοις, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν, ὥστε μὴ καταβληθέντας ἀπὸ τῶν ἁρμάτων σύρεσθαι; Ὅρα ὅσον ἐστὶ τέχνη. Ἀνὴρ μὲν γὰρ ἀνδρεῖος οὐκ ἂν ἑνὸς ἵππου πολλάκις περιγένοιτο· μειρακίσκος δὲ τῇ τέχνῃ πολλάκις τοὺς δύο ἀναδεξάμενος, ἄγει εὐκόλως καὶ φέρει. Καὶ ἐν Ἰνδοῖς δὲ τὸ μέγα θηρίον καὶ φοβερὸν τῶν ἐλεφάντων λέγεται καὶ δεκαπενταέτει παιδὶ γεγονότι μετὰ πολλῆς εἴκειν τῆς προθυμίας. Τί δὴ ταῦτά μοι εἴρηται; Ὅτι εἰ ἐλέφαντας καὶ ἵππους ἀγρίους ἄγχομεν σπουδάζοντες, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὰ πάθη τὰ ἐν ἡμῖν. Πόθεν ἐκλυόμεθα διαπαντὸς τοῦ βίου; Οὐδέποτε τὴν τέχνην ἐμελετήσαμεν ταύτην· οὐδέποτε ἐν καιρῷ σχολῆς οὐκ ὄντος τοῦ ἀγῶνος διελέχθημεν πρὸς ἑαυτούς τι τῶν χρησίμων. Τότε ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τοῦ ἅρματος ἑστῶτας ἴδοι τις ἂν, ὅτε ὁ ἀγὼν παραγένηται. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καταγέλαστοί ἐσμεν. Οὐκ εἶπον πολλάκις, γυμναζώμεθα πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους πρὸ τοῦ πειρασμοῦ; Πρὸς τοὺς παῖδας ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας πολλάκις παροξυνόμεθα· κατέχωμεν ἐκεῖ τὸν θυμὸν, ἵνα εὐκόλως αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τῶν φίλων κεχρημένοι φαινώμεθα. Καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων εἰ ἐγυμναζόμεθα, οὐκ ἂν ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσιν ἦμεν καταγέλαστοι. Νῦν δὲ ὅπλα μὲν τῶν ἄλλων καὶ γυμνάσια καὶ