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Recklessness, falling away from due measure and departing from the mind (which is why it is called recklessness), makes men both foolish and boastful. And if the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, then the beginning of foolishness is not knowing the Lord. If, therefore, to know is wisdom, and not to know is foolishness, and not knowing comes from pride (for the beginning of pride is not knowing the Lord), then pride is the utmost foolishness. Such was Nabal, though not toward God but toward man, having become senseless from recklessness; but later he died of fear. For whenever someone falls from the measure of prudence, he becomes at once both cowardly and bold, as the soul becomes weak. For just as the body, when it loses its balanced temperament, becoming imbalanced, is overcome by all maladies; so also the soul, when it loses its greatness of nature and humility of mind, having received a certain weak disposition, becomes both cowardly and bold and senseless, and henceforth will be ignorant of itself. And he who is ignorant of himself, how will he know the things above himself? For just as one possessed by madness, when he is ignorant of himself, does not even know the things before his feet; and the eye, when it is itself blinded, darkens all the other members; so it also happens in the case of recklessness. 60.601 Therefore these men are more wretched than the mad, and than those who are fools by nature. For they provoke laughter like the latter, and are disagreeable like the former; and they are out of their minds like the former, but are not pitied like the former; and they are deranged like the latter, but are not forgiven like the latter, but are only hated; and having the faults of both, they are deprived of the pardon of both, being ridiculous not only from their words, but also from their postures. For why, tell me, do you stretch your neck? Why do you walk on the tips of your toes? Why do you raise your eyebrows? Why do you puff out your chest? You cannot make one hair white or black, and yet you walk on air as if you ruled all things? Perhaps you wish wings would grow for you, so that you might not walk upon the earth; perhaps you desire to be a monster. For have you not now made yourself a monster, being a man, but attempting to fly? or rather, flying inwardly, and being inflamed on all sides? What shall I call you, and bring down your recklessness? If I call you ashes and dust and smoke and fine dust, I have spoken of your worthlessness, but I have not yet exactly grasped the image I wanted; for I wish to represent both their inflammation and their complete emptiness. What image, then, could we find suitable for these men? They seem to me to resemble burnt tow. For that also seems to swell up after being burned, and to have risen up; but having sustained a light touch of the hand, it was all brought down, and appeared more worthless than any ash. Such are the souls of these men also; for their empty 60.602 puffing, even a chance assault will be able to humble and bring down. For the reckless man must of necessity also be weak; for his height is not sound, but just as bubbles are easily burst, so too are these men easily destroyed. But if you disbelieve, give me a bold and reckless man, and you will see him become more cowardly than one who has fallen, even from a chance circumstance. For just as the flame that rises from dry twigs is no sooner kindled than it becomes dust, but the nature of solid wood is neither easily ignited, and for a long time preserves the flame while burning; so also souls that are firm and established are not easily either kindled or extinguished; but these men suffer both of these things in the twinkling of an eye. Knowing these things, therefore, let us practice humility. For nothing is more powerful than it, but it is stronger than rock, and firmer than adamant, and it places us in greater security than towers and cities and walls, having become higher than all the contrivances of the devil; just as recklessness, then, makes men easy prey even for chance comers, being more easily burst than a bubble, as I said, and more quickly torn than a spider's web, and more swiftly dispersed than smoke. In order, therefore, that we may stand established on the firm rock, let us forsake the one, and choose the other. For thus also in the

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ἀπόνοια τῆς συμμετρίας ἐκπίπτουσα καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ νοῦ γινομένη (διὸ καὶ ἀπόνοια λέγεται), καὶ μωροὺς καὶ ἀλαζόνας ἐργάζεται. Καὶ εἰ ἀρχὴ σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου, οὐκοῦν ἀρχὴ μωρίας τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι τὸν Κύριον. Εἰ τοίνυν τὸ εἰδέναι σοφία, τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι μωρία, τὸ δὲ μὴ εἰδέναι ἐξ ὑπερηφανίας γίνεται (ἀρχὴ γὰρ ὑπερηφανίας τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι τὸν Κύριον), ἄρα ἡ ὑπερηφανία μωρία ἐσχάτη. Τοιοῦτος ἦν καὶ ὁ Ναβὰλ, εἰ καὶ μὴ πρὸς Θεὸν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἄνθρωπον, ἐξ ἀπονοίας ἀνόητος γεγονώς· ἀλλ' ὕστερον ἀπέθανε τῷ δέει. Ὅταν γάρ τις ἐκπέσῃ τοῦ μέτρου τῆς φρονήσεως, καὶ δειλὸς ὁμοῦ καὶ θρασὺς γίνεται, τῆς ψυχῆς ἀσθενοῦς γινομένης. Καθάπερ γὰρ τὸ σῶμα, ὅταν τὴν σύμμετρον ἀπολέσῃ κρᾶσιν, γινόμενον δύσκρατον, πᾶσιν ἁλίσκεται τοῖς πάθεσιν· οὕτω καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ, ἐπειδὰν τὸ μεγαλοφυὲς ἀπολέσῃ καὶ τὸ ταπεινοφρονεῖν, ἕξιν δεξαμένη τινὰ ἀσθενῆ, καὶ δειλὴ καὶ θρασεῖα καὶ ἀνόητος γίνεται, καὶ ἑαυτὴν ἀγνοήσει λοιπόν. Ὁ δὲ ἑαυτὸν ἀγνοῶν, πῶς τὰ ὑπὲρ ἑαυτὸν εἴσεται; Καθάπερ γὰρ ὁ φρενίτιδι κατεχόμενος, ὅταν ἑαυτὸν ἀγνοήσῃ, οὐδὲ τὰ πρὸ τῶν ποδῶν οἶδε· καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς, ὅταν αὐτὸς πηρωθῇ, πάντα σκοτοῖ τὰ λοιπὰ μέλη· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀπονοίας συμ 60.601 βαίνει. ∆ιὸ καὶ τῶν μαινομένων εἰσὶν ἀθλιώτεροι οὗτοι, καὶ τῶν φύσει μωρῶν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁμοίως τούτοις γέλωτα κινοῦσι, καὶ ὁμοίως ἐκείνοις εἰσὶν ἀηδεῖς· καὶ ἐξεστήκασι μὲν ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοι, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐλεοῦνται ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοι· παραφρονοῦσι δὲ ὥσπερ οὗτοι, ἀλλ' οὐ συγγινώσκονται ὥσπερ οὗτοι, ἀλλὰ μισοῦνται μόνον· καὶ τὰ ἐλαττώματα ἑκατέρων ἔχοντες, τῆς συγγνώμης ἑκατέρων ἐστέρηνται, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν ῥημάτων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σχημάτων ὄντες καταγέλαστοι. Τί γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, τὸν αὐχένα ἀνατείνεις; τί δὲ βαδίζεις ἐπ' ἄκρων ὀνύχων; τί τὰς ὀφρῦς ἀνασπᾷς; τί τὸ στῆθος φυσᾷς; Τρίχα οὐ δύνασαι ποιῆσαι λευκὴν ἢ μέλαιναν, καὶ ὡς πάντων κρατῶν, οὕτως ἀεροβατεῖς; Τάχα ἐβούλου σοι καὶ πτερὰ φῦναι, ἵνα μὴ βαδίζῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· τάχα καὶ τέρας εἶναι ἐπιθυμεῖς. Νῦν γὰρ οὐχὶ τέρας σαυτὸν πεποίηκας, ἄνθρωπος μὲν ὢν, πέτασθαι δὲ ἐπιχειρῶν; μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πετόμενος ἔνδοθεν, καὶ φλεγμαίνων πάντοθεν; Τί σὲ καλέσω, καὶ καθελῶ σου τὴν ἀπόνοιαν; Ἂν εἴπω σε τέφραν καὶ κόνιν καὶ καπνὸν καὶ κονιορτὸν, εἶπον μὲν τὴν εὐτέλειαν, οὐδέπω δὲ ἀκριβῶς τῆς εἰκόνος ἐπελαβόμην ἧς ἐβουλόμην· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὴν φλεγμονὴν καὶ τὸ διάκενον αὐτῶν ἅπαν παραστῆσαι βούλομαι. Ποίαν οὖν ἂν εὕροιμεν τούτοις εἰκόνα ἁρμόζουσαν; Ἐμοὶ δοκοῦσι στυπείῳ καταφλεχθέντι προσεοικέναι. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο δοκεῖ μετὰ τὸν ἐμπρησμὸν οἰδεῖν, καὶ ὑπερανεστηκέναι· μικρὰν δὲ χειρὸς ἁφὴν ὑπομεῖναν, κατηνέχθη τε ἅπαν, καὶ τέφρας ἁπάσης εὐτελέστερον ἐφάνη. Τοιαῦται καὶ τούτων αἱ ψυχαί· τὸ γὰρ φύσημα αὐτῶν τὸ διάκε 60.602 νον, καὶ ἡ τυχοῦσα προσβολὴ δυνήσεται ταπεινώσαι καὶ καθελεῖν. Τὸν γὰρ ἀπονενοημένον ἀνάγκη πάντως καὶ ἀσθενῆ τινα εἶναι· οὐ γάρ ἐστι τὸ ὕψος ὑγιὲς, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ αἱ πομφόλυγες εὐκόλως ῥήγνυνται, οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι ῥᾳδίως ἀπόλλυνται. Εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖς, δός μοι θρασὺν καὶ ἀπονενοημένον, καὶ πεπτωκότος δειλότερον ὄψει γινόμενον καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς τυχούσης περιστάσεως. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ μὲν ἀπὸ φρυγάνων αἰρομένη φλὸξ ὁμοῦ τε ἀνήφθη, καὶ κόνις ἐγένετο, ἡ δὲ τῶν στερεῶν ξύλων φύσις οὔτε ἐξάπτεται ῥᾳδίως, καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ διατηρεῖ καιομένην τὴν φλόγα· οὕτω καὶ αἱ ψυχαὶ αἱ μὲν στεῤῥαὶ καὶ βεβηκυῖαι, οὐκ εὐκόλως οὔτε ἐκκαίονται οὔτε σβέννυνται· οὗτοι δὲ ἀμφότερα ταῦτα ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ πάσχουσι. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδότες, τὴν ταπεινοφροσύνην ἀσκῶμεν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ αὐτῆς δυνατώτερον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πέτρας ἰσχυροτέρα, καὶ ἀδάμαντος στεῤῥοτέρα, καὶ πύργων καὶ πόλεων καὶ τείχους ἐν μείζονι καθίστησιν ἡμᾶς ἀσφαλείᾳ, πάντων ὑψηλοτέρα γενομένη τῶν τοῦ διαβόλου μηχανημάτων· ὥσπερ οὖν ἡ ἀπόνοια καὶ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν εὐχειρώτους ποιεῖ, πομφόλυγος, ὥσπερ ἔφην, εὐκολώτερον ῥηγνυμένη, καὶ ἀράχνης ταχύτερον σχιζομένη, καὶ καπνοῦ θᾶττον διαλυομένη. Ἵν' οὖν ἐπὶ τῆς στεῤῥᾶς πέτρας ὦμεν βεβηκότες, ἐκείνην ἀφέντες, ταύτην ἑλώμεθα. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῷ