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Therefore it is not possible to reap cornfields with a mattock, nor to do carpentry with a sickle, nor to build with a dagger, nor to dig with a saw, nor to sew with an axe, nor indeed to cut wood with a rod, nor is it right to saw with a lance, nor to sling with a sword, nor to cut with a bow, but one must use each thing fittingly for each purpose. But if you use these things not for what they were made for, but otherwise, your life is lost and every action entirely. So then, understand for me that God has also made each of us to act faithfully in his works in life, (394) appointing some to teach, and others certainly to learn, others to rule the many, and others to be subject to these; and to some He has given wisdom, to others knowledge and reason, to others to prophesy, to others to speak in tongues, to others to work miracles and to perform mighty deeds; others He has shown as leaders. But these are spiritual things, but let us speak also of other gifts of the Creator, which He has given to men, to each according to his worth: one He has made brave in body, another more beautiful, and another more melodious of voice than others, and in short He has graciously given to each of men the gift according to worth and indeed advantage, as God alone knows, the creator of all things, in order to act usefully in life in an ineffable way. Therefore each person is suited not for the craft which he himself wishes, but for that for which he was created, and is disposed towards it suitably and naturally, and you might see the sailor skillfully sailing the expanses of the sea and delighting more than the man mounted on a proud horse and a farmer cutting the furrows of the earth with the plow, considering the yoke of his cooperating oxen much better than a royal four-horse chariot, whence also he rejoices, revelling in good hopes. The soldier, on the other hand, considers himself greater than all farmers and sailors and craftsmen, and as one who is glorious, he exults, running toward slaughter and to bring about an untimely death. This one, therefore, will not at all endure to pull an oar, nor to hold a two-pronged hoe, nor to become a carpenter; he will not choose to be a sailor or a farmer, or a tiller of the soil; but each one, for that to which, just as I have said,

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∆ιό θερίζειν λήϊα οὐκ ἔξεστι σκαπάνη, οὐδέ δρεπάνῳ τεκτονεῖν, οὐδ᾿ ἐν μαχαίρᾳ κτίζειν, οὐ σκάπτειν μετά πρίονος, οὐ ῥάπτειν τῇ ἀξίνῃ, οὐ τέμνειν ξύλα ῥάβδῳ γε, λόγχῃ δ᾿ οὐ πρίζειν θέμις, οὐδέ φασγάνῳ σφενδονεῖν, οὐκ ἐν τῷ τόξῳ τέμνειν, ἀλλ᾿ ἁρμοζόντως ἑκάστῳ χρή πρός ἕκαστον χρᾶσθαι. Εἰ δ᾿ οὐ πρός ἅ γεγόνασιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἄλλως χρήσῃ τούτοις, ἀπόλωλεν ὁ βίος σοι καί πᾶσα πρᾶξις πάντως. Οὕτως οὖν μοι νόει καί Θεόν ἡμᾶς πεποιηκέναι ἐν ἔργοις ἕκαστον πιστόν ἐνεργεῖν ἐν τῷ βίῳ, (394) τούς μέν διδάσκειν θέμενος, τούς δέ πάντως μανθάνειν, ἄλλους τοῦ ἄρχειν τῶν πολλῶν, τούς δέ ὑπείκειν τούτοις˙ καί οἷς μέν σοφίαν δέδωκεν, οἷς δέ γνῶσιν καί λόγον, τό προφητεύειν ἄλλοις δέ, τό λαλεῖν γλώσσαις ἄλλοις, θαυματουργεῖν ἑτέροις δέ καί ἐνεργεῖν δυνάμεις˙ ἄλλους προστάτας ἔδειξε. Πνευματικά δέ ταῦτα, ἀλλ᾿ εἴπωμεν καί ἕτερα χαρίσματα τοῦ κτίστου, ἅ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δέδωκεν, ἑκάστῳ κατ᾿ ἀξίαν˙ τόν μέν ἀνδρεῖον σώματι, τόν δέ ὡραῖον μᾶλλον πεποίηκε καί ἕτερον εὐφωνότερον ἄλλων, ἁπλῶς τε ἐχαρίσατο ἑκάτῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τό κατ᾿ ἀξίαν δώρημα καί πλεονέκτημά γε, ὡς οἶδε μόνος ὁ Θεός, ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων κτίστης, εἰς τό χρησίμως ἐνεργεῖν ἐν τῷ βίῳ ἀρρήτως. ∆ιό πρός τέχνην ἕκαστος οὐχ οἵαν αὐτός θέλει, ἀλλά πρός οἵαν ἔκτισται, ἐπιτηδείως ἔχει, καί πρός αὐτήν διάκειται προσφυῶς καί οἰκείως, καί ἴδοις ἄν τόν πλευστικόν εὐτέχνως τά πελάγη θαλάσσης διαπλέοντα καί τερπόμενον μᾶλλον ὑπέρ τόν ἵππῳ σοβαρῷ ἐφεζόμενον ἄνδρα καί γεωργόν γῆς αὔλακας τέμνοντα τῷ ἀρότρῳ, τό ζεῦγός τε ό τῶνβοῶν τῶν συνεργαζομένων πολύ κρεῖσσον νομίζοντα βασιλικοῦ τετρώρου, ὅθεν καί χαίρει ταῖς χρησταῖς κατεντρυφῶν ἐλπίσιν. Ὁ στρατιώτης πάλιν δέ ἑαυτόν ὑπέρ πάντας γεωργούς τε καί πλευστικούς καί χειροτέχνας μείζω ἡγεῖται καί ὡς ἔνδοξος ἐναβρύνεται τρέχων ἐπί σφαγήν καί θάνατον ἄωρον καταλύσαι. Οὗτος οὖν οὐκ ἀνέξεται κώπην ὅλως ἐλάσαι, οὐδέ κρατῆσαι δίκελλαν, οὐδέ τέκτων γενέσθαι, οὐ ναύτης οὐδέ γεωργός, οὐ γεηπόνος εἶναι αἱρήσεται˙ ἀλλ᾿ ἕκαστος, πρός ὅ, καθάπερ εἶπον,