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But those who think well prevail everywhere. A great-sided ox, however, by a small whip is set straight on its path. For he who thinks well, grasps and holds everything.

DISCOURSE 3.

Concerning purity and chastity. Job 31. If my heart has gone after another man's wife; and if I have lain in wait

at her doors, may my wife also please another. Of Wisdom. Blessed is the barren woman who is undefiled, who has not known a bed in transgression; she shall have

fruit in the visitation of souls. Better is virginity with virtue; for the memorial thereof is immortal: because it is known both with God

and with men. When it is present, they imitate it, and they desire it when it has gone away: and in the world to come it wears a crown and triumphs, having won the contest for the undefiled prizes.

Of Sirach. He who resists pleasures, crowns his life. Matthew 19. Not all can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. There are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, etc. Of Basil. Therefore, it is not fitting for those who cut off their

members to be praised for their chastity. For we do not praise horses for not goring, nor oxen for not kicking; but we shall praise the former, if they do not kick; and for the oxen, if they do not gore, we shall approve of their gentleness. For one is admired not for what one cannot do, but for what one can do and does not use that power for wrongdoing.

(737) A dead man is not crowned. No one is righteous because of an inability to do evil. Therefore the mind must, like a helmsman sitting above the passions, and as it were

having embarked on the ship of the flesh; and expertly turning the thoughts like rudders, trample nobly upon the waves; and remaining higher and inaccessible to the passions, in no way be filled with their bitterness, as if with some brine.

Of the Theologian. Do not easily take even a brother as a housemate. For why must one look upon the kindling of the disease? A downcast character is better than an effeminate one. A rotten vessel is not entrusted with myrrh. Neither does a flame remain when the fuel is consumed, but it departs with that which kindled it; so too

an impassioned thought does not subsist when the kindling withers. A fornicating eye does not guard virginity. A fornicating tongue is mingled with the evil one.

Feet walking disorderly call forth disease or danger to the mind. Let the mind also be virginal; let it not wander and be led astray. Let it not bear within itself impressions of wicked things

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Ἀλλ᾿ οἱ φρονοῦντες εὖ κρατοῦσι πανταχοῦ. Μέγας δέ πλευράς βοῦς, ὑπό σμικρᾶς ὅμως Μάστιγος ὀρθός εἰς ὁδόν πορεύεται. Ὁ γάρ φρονῶν εὖ, πάντα συλλαβών ἔχει.

ΛΟΓΟΣ Γ´.

Περί ἁγνείας καί σωφροσύνης. Ἰώβ λα´. Εἰ ἐξηκολούθησεν ἡ καρδία μου γυναικί ἀνδρός ἑτέρου· εἰ δέ καί ἐγκάθετος

ἐγενόμην ἐπί ταῖς θύραις αὐτῆς, ἀρέσαι καί ἡ γυνή μου ἑτέρῳ. Σοφίας. Μακαρία στεῖρα ἀμίαντος, ἥτις οὐκ ἔγνω κοίτην ἐν παραπτώματι· ἕξει

καρπόν ἐν ἐπισκοπῇ ψυχῶν. Κρεῖσσον παρθενία μετ᾿ ἀρετῆς· ἀθάνατός ἐστιν ἡ μνήμη αὐτῆς· ὅτι καί παρά Θεῷ

γινώσκεται καί παρά ἀνθρώποις. Παροῦσάν τε μιμοῦνται αὐτήν, καί ποθοῦσιν ἀπελθοῦσαν· καί ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι στεφανοφοροῦσα πομπεύει, τόν τῶν ἀμιάντων ἄθλων ἀγῶνα νικήσασα.

Σιράχ. Ὁ ἀντοφθαλῶν ἡδοναῖς, στεφανοῖ ζωήν αὐτοῦ. Ματθ. ιθ´ Οὐ πάντες χωροῦσι τόν λόγον τοῦτον, ἀλλ᾿ οἷς δέδοται. Εἰσίν εὐνοῦχοι, οἵτινες ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός αὐτῶν ἐγενήθησαν οὑτως, κ. τ. ε Βασιλείου. Οὔτε οὖν ἐπί σωφροσύνῃ ἐπαινεῖσθαι προσήκει τούς ἀποκοπτομένους τά

μόρια. Οὐδέ γάρ τούς ἵππους ὡς μή κερατίζοντας, οὐδέ τούς βοῦς ὡς μή λακτίζοντας ἐπαινοῦμεν· ἀλλά τούτους μέν, εἰ μή λακτίζουσιν, ἐπαινέσομεν· τοῖς δέ βουσίν, εἰ μή κερατίζουσι, τῆς ἡμερότητος ἀποδεξόμεθα. Οὐ γάρ ἐν ᾧ μή δύναταί τις, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ᾧ δυνάμενος οὐκ εἰς ἀδικίαν κέχρηται τῇ δυνάμει, θαυμάζεται.

(737) Νεκρός οὐ στεφανοῦται. Οὐδείς δίκαιος δι᾿ ἀδυναμίαν κακοῦ. ∆εῖ οὖν τόν νοῦν ὥσπερ τινά κυβερνήτην ἄνω καθήμενον τῶν παθῶν, καί οἱονεί

πλοίῳ τῆς σαρκός ἐπιβάντα· καί ἐμπείρως τούς λογισμούς ὥσπερ οἴακας περιστρέφοντα, καταπατεῖν γενναίως τά κύματα· ὑψηλότερον δέ διαμένοντα καί δυσπρόσιτον ὄντα τοῖς πάθεσιν, μηδαμοῦ τῆς ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν πικρίας, ὥσπερ ἅλμης τινός, ἀναπίμπλασθαι.

Θεολόγου. Σύνοικον αἱροῦ μηδ᾿ ἀδελφόν ῥᾳδίως. Ὑπέκκαυμα γάρ τῆς νόσου τί δεῖ βλέπειν; Κρεῖσσον κατηφές ἦθος, ἤ τεθρυμμένον. Μύρον δοχεῖον σαπρόν οὐ πιστεύεται. Οὔτε φλόξ μένει τῆς ὕλης δαπανηθείσης, ἀλλά τῷ ἀνάπτοντι συναπέρχεται· οὕτε

λογισμός ἐμπαθής ὑφίσταται μαραινομένου τοῦ ὑπεκκαύματος. Ὀφθαλμός πορνεύων οὐ φυλάσσει τήν παρθενίαν. Γλῶσσα πορνεύουσα τῷ πονηρῷ

μίγνυται. Πόδες ἄτακτα βαίνοντες ἐκκαλοῦνται νόσον ἤ κίνδυνον τῷ νῷ. Παρθενευέτω καί ἡ διάνοια· μή ῥεμβέσθω καί πλανάσθω. Μή τύπους ἐν ἑαυτῇ φερέτω πονηρῶν