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Sirach 6. For a faithful friend there is no exchange, and there is no measure of his goodness.

Of Basil. No one wicked and ignorant is a friend. For the good of friendship does not fall into a wicked disposition; because nothing shameful and unfitting can enter into the harmony of friendship. For evil is not only contrary to the good, but also to itself.

Things from friends, even if they be an insult, are bearable.

Of the Theologian. Always prefer the good over the not good. By associating with the wicked, you will certainly become wicked too. Friendship will bear all things, both suffering and hearing. Division for the sake of piety is better than passionate concord. Harmful are associations with the wicked; since it is a law of friendship that through likeness

it is natural to arise in those who are joined. Those who hold hatred in their depth show a surface stained with love, like submerged rocks, which, covered by a little water, become an unforeseen evil for the unwary.

Never receive good from a wicked man. For he seeks to have pardon for his way of life. For bodies are joined by place, but souls are harmonized by spirit. Know the limits of enmity, but not of friendship.

Let no one suppose me to say that all peace is to be loved (for I know, just as some dissension is best, so too is some concord most harmful), but that which is good and for a good end, and which joins one to God.

(757) Chrysost. Just as a soul without a body is not called a human being, nor was a body without a soul; so too there is no love for God, if it does not also have as a consequence love for one’s neighbor.

Nothing is equal to concord. For in this way the one is many. For if two or ten are of one mind, the one is no longer one, but each of them becomes tenfold; and you will find the one in the ten, and the ten in the one. And if they have enemies, one who attacks the one, attacks the ten, and is thus captured. The one was at a loss, but he is not at a loss; for the part that is at a loss is overshadowed by the greater part. Each of these has twenty hands and twenty eyes, and as many feet, and ten souls. For he accomplishes all things not with his own only, but also with theirs. And if it were a hundred, it is the same again. The same person can be both in Persia and in Rome; and what nature cannot do, love can. If, then, you have a thousand or two thousand friends, consider to what point the bounds of power will again be surpassed. For this is the wonderful thing, to make the thousandth one, For it is better for us for the sun to be extinguished, than to be deprived of friends. For many, seeing the sun, are in darkness; but those who have an abundance of friends would never be in affliction. For nothing, nothing could be sweeter than love. For what would a genuine friend not do? How much pleasure would he not create? How much benefit? How much security? Even if you mention ten thousand treasures, you would find nothing of equal value to a genuine friend. And just as the bloom of bright bodies flows out to the places near them; so also friends, to whom if

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Σιράχ στ´. Φίλου πιστοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀντάλλαγμα, καί οὐκ ἔστιν σταθμός τῆς καλλονῆς αὐτοῦ.

Βασιλείου. Οὐδείς πονηρῶν καί ἀμαθῶν φίλος. Οὐδέ γάρ πίπτει τό φιλίας καλόν, εἰς μοχθηράν διάθεσιν· διότι οὐδέν αἰσχρόν καί ἀνάρμοστον εἰς συμφωνίαν δύναται χωρῆσαι φιλίας. Τό γάρ κακόν, οὐ τῷ ἀγαθῷ ἐναντίον ἐστί μόνον, ἀλλά καί αὐτό ἑαυτῷ.

Τά παρά φίλων, κἄν ὕβρις ᾗ, φορητά.

Θεολόγου. Ἀεί προτίμα τούς καλούς τῶν μή καλῶν. Κακοῖς δ᾿ ὁμιλῶν, καί κἀκός πάντως ἔσῃ. Πάντα οἴσει φιλία, καί πάσχουσα καί ἀκούουσα. Κρείσσων ἐμπαθοῦς ὁμονοίας ἡ ὑπέρ εὐσεβείας διάστασις. Βλαβεραί αἱ πρός τούς κακούς συνουσίαι· ἐπειδή νόμος οὗτος φιλίας δι᾿ ὁμοιότητος

πέφυκεν τοῖς συναπτομένοις ἐγγίνεσθαι οἱ μῖσος ἐν τῷ βάθει κατέχοντες, ἀγάπῃ δεικνύουσι κατακεχρωσμένην τήν ἐπιφάνειαν, κατά τάς ὑφάλους πέτρας, αἵ βραχεῖ ὕδατι καλυπτόμεναι, κακόν ἀπροαίρετον τοῖς ἀφυλάκτοις γίνονται.

Κακοῦ παρ᾿ ἀνδρός μή ποτε χρηστόν πάθῃς. Ζήτει γάρ ὧν βεβίωκε συγγνώμην ἔχειν. Τά μέν γάρ σώματα τόπῳ συνάπτεται, Ψυχαί δέ πνεύματι συναρμόζονται. Ἔχθρας ὅρους γίνωσκε, φιλίας δέ μή.

Μηδείς οἰέσθω με λέγειν, ὅτι πᾶσαν εἰρήνην ἀγαπητέον (οἶδα γάρ, ὥδπερ στάσιν τινά βελτίστην, οὕτω καί βλαβερωτάτην ὁμόνοιαν), ἀλλά τήν τε καλήν καί ἐπί καλῷ, καί Θεῷ συνάπτουσαν.

(757) Χρυσοστ. Ὥσπερ ψυχή ἄνευ σώματος οὐ καλεῖται ἄνθρωπος, οὐδέ ἦν σῶμα ἄνευ ψυχῆς· οὕτως οὐδέ ἀγάπη πρός Θεόν, ἐάν μή ἔχῃ ἀκόλουθον καί τήν πρός τόν πλησίον ἀγάπην.

Οὐδέν ὁμονοίας ἴσον. Ὁ γάρ εἷς, πολλοστός ἐστιν οὕτως. Ἄν γάρ ὁμόψυχοι ὦσι δύο ἤ δέκα, οὐκέτι εἷς ἐστιν ὁ εἷς, ἀλλά δεκαπλασίων ἕκαστος αὐτῶν γίνεται· καί εὑρήσεις ἐν τοῖς δέκα τόν ἕνα, καί ἐν τῷ ἑνί τούς δέκα. Κἄν ἐχθρούς ἔχωσιν ἐν τῷ ἑνί προσβαλών, ἐν τοῖς δέκα προσβαλών, οὕτως ἁλίσκεται. Ἠπόρησεν ὁ εἷς, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἀπορίᾳ· τῷ γάρ μείζονι μέρει τό ἀποροῦν συσκιάζεται. Ἕκαστος τούτων εἴκοσι χεῖρας ἔχει καί εἴκοσιν ὀφθαλμούς, καί πόδας τοσούτους, καί ψυχάς δέκα. Οὐ γάρ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μόνον, ἀλλά καί τοῖς ἐκείνων ἐργάζεται πάντα. Εἰ δέ καί ἑκατόν γένοιτο, τό αὐτό ἔστι πάλιν. Ὁ αὐτός καί ἐν Περσίδι καί ἐνῬώμῃ δύναται εἶναι· καί ὅπερ φύσις οὐ δύναται, ἡ ἀγάπη δύναται. Ἐάν οὖν χιλίους ἔχῃς φίλους ἤ δισχιλίους, ἐννόησον ποῦ πάλιν ὑπερβήσεται τά τῆς δυνάμεως. Τό γάρ θαυμαστόν τοῦτό ἐστι, τό χιλιοστόν ποιῆσαι ἕνα, Βέλτιον γάρ ἡμῖν σβεσθῆναι τόν ἥλιον, ἤ φίλων ἀποστερηθῆναι. Πολλοί γάρ τόν ἥλιον, ὁρῶντες, ἐν σκότῳ εἰσί· φίλων δέ εὐποροῦντες, οὐδ᾿ ἄν ἐν θλίψει γένοιντο. Οὐδέν γάρ, οὐδέν τῆς ἀγάπης γλυκύτερον γένοιτο ἄν. Τί γάρ οὐκ ἄν ἐργάσαιτο φίλος γνήσιος; πόσην μέν οὐκ ἄν ἐμποιήσειεν ἡδονήν; πόσην δέ ὠφέλειαν; πόσην ἀσφάλειαν; κἄν μυρίους θησαυρούς εἴπῃς, οὐδέν ἀντάξιον γνησίου φίλου εὕροις. Καί καθάπερ τά λαμπρά τῶν σωμάτων ἄνθος ἀποῤῥεῖ πρός τούς πλησίον τόπους· οὕτω καί φίλοι, οἷς ἐάν