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leading away from beauty. For this reason he has drawn you here, and God is well-pleased, showing heaven while the devil shows skins; or rather, not even skins; for these too are works of God; but stupidity and evil artifice. And the young man goes about, bowing down to the earth, he who was commanded to contemplate the things in the heavens, taking more pride in these things than if he had accomplished something great, and walking on tiptoe in the marketplace, and from this begetting for himself unnecessary griefs and despondencies, lest he stain [them] with mud in winter, lest he cover [them] with dust when summer comes. What do you say, O man? You have cast your whole soul into the mud through this profligacy, and you overlook it as it is dragged 58.503 on the ground, and you have such a struggle about your shoes? Learn their use, and be ashamed of the judgment you pass on them. For shoes were made for treading on mud and mire, and every stain on the ground. But if you cannot bear it, take them and hang them from your neck, or place them on your head. 2. And you laugh when you hear these things; but it comes upon me to weep for their madness, and their earnestness about these things. For these men would more gladly stain their body with mud than those bits of leather. So they become petty in this way, and lovers of money in another. For he who is accustomed to be mad about such things and to be earnest about them, needs much expense and much revenue for his clothes and for all other things. And if he has an ambitious father, he becomes more of a captive, intensifying this absurd desire; but if a stingy one, he is forced to act shamefully in other ways, so as to collect gold for such expenses. From this cause many of the young have both sold their youth, and have become parasites to the wealthy, and have submitted to other servile ministries, buying in exchange for these things the fulfillment of such desires. That this man, therefore, will be both a lover of money and petty, and lazier than all in necessary things, and will be forced to sin much, is clear from these things; but that he is also cruel and vainglorious, no one will deny this either; cruel, when seeing a poor man, he pretends not even to have seen him because of his desire for finery, but while he adorns these things with gold, he overlooks that man perishing from hunger; and vainglorious, when even in small things he is trained to hunt for the praise of those who see him. For I do not think a general prides himself so much on his armies and trophies, as licentious young men do on the adornment of their shoes, on their trailing garments, on the cut of their hair; and yet all these things are the work of other craftsmen. But if they do not cease being vainglorious about the things of others, when will they cease being so about their own? Shall I also say other things more grievous than these, or are these enough for you? It is necessary, therefore, to end the discourse here; since these things have been said by me because of the contentious and those who say that the matter is not at all absurd. And I know that many of the young will not even pay attention to what is said, being thoroughly drunk with the passion; yet it was not necessary to be silent for this reason. For fathers who have sense and are for the moment sound-minded, will be able to lead them, even against their will, into the fitting 58.504 decorum. Do not say, therefore, "It is nothing because of this, and nothing because of that;" for this, this has ruined everything. For it was necessary to instruct them from this point also, and from things that seem to be small to make them venerable, magnanimous, superior to fashions; thus we shall also find them approved in great things. For what is more humble than the learning of the letters? But yet from these come orators, and sophists, and philosophers; and if they are ignorant of these, they will never know those things either. And these things have been said by us not only to young men, but also to women and maidens. For they too are subject to such charges, and much more so, inasmuch as modesty is fitting for a virgin. Consider, therefore, that the things said to them have also been said to you, so that we may not take up the same things again. For it is now time to conclude the discourse with a prayer. Pray with us, all of you, therefore, that the young people of the Church may especially be able to live in an orderly manner, and to old age

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κάλλους ἀπάγων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό σε ἐνταῦθα εἵλκυσε, καὶ παρευδοκιμεῖται Θεὸς οὐρανὸν δεικνὺς ὑπὸ διαβόλου δέρματα δεικνύντος· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ δέρματα· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα ἔργα Θεοῦ· ἀλλὰ βλακείαν καὶ κακοτεχνίαν. Καὶ κάτω εἰς τὴν γῆν νεύων ὁ νέος περίεισιν, ὁ τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς φιλοσοφεῖν κελευσθεὶς, μᾶλλον ἐγκαλλωπιζόμενος τούτοις, ἢ εἰ τῶν μεγάλων τι κατωρθωκὼς ἦν, καὶ ἀκροβατῶν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, καὶ λύπας καὶ ἀθυμίας ἐντεῦθεν τίκτων ἑαυτῷ περιττὰς, μὴ μολύνῃ τῷ πηλῷ χειμῶνος ὄντος, μὴ καλύψῃ τῷ κονιορτῷ θέρους ἐπιστάντος. Τί λέγεις, ἄνθρωπε; τὴν ψυχὴν ἅπασαν εἰς πηλὸν ἔῤῥιψας διὰ ταύτης τῆς ἀσωτίας, καὶ χαμαὶ συρο 58.503 μένην περιορᾷς, καὶ περὶ ὑποδημάτων τοσοῦτον ἔχεις ἀγῶνα; Μάθε τὴν χρῆσιν αὐτῶν, καὶ αἰδέσθητι τὴν ψῆφον ἣν περὶ αὐτῶν φέρεις. Ὥστε γὰρ πηλὸν πατεῖν καὶ βόρβορον, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐδάφους κηλῖδα, γέγονε τὰ ὑποδήματα. Εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἀνέχῃ, λαβὼν ἐξάρτησον τοῦ τραχήλου, ἢ τῇ κεφαλῇ περίθες. ʹ. Καὶ ὑμεῖς μὲν γελᾶτε ταῦτα ἀκούοντες· ἐμοὶ δὲ δακρύειν ἔπεισι τὴν τούτων μανίαν, καὶ τὴν περὶ ταῦτα σπουδήν. Καὶ γὰρ ἥδιον ἂν οὗτοι τὸ σῶμα μολύναιεν πηλῷ, ἢ τὰ δέρματα ἐκεῖνα. Μικρολόγοι μὲν οὖν οὕτω γίνονται, φιλοχρήματοι δὲ πάλιν ἑτέρως. Ὁ γὰρ περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μαίνεσθαι καὶ σπουδάζειν ἐθισθεὶς, καὶ ἐν ἱματίοις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι πολλῆς δεῖται δαπάνης καὶ πολλῆς τῆς προσόδου. Κἂν μὲν φιλότιμον ἔχῃ πατέρα, μᾶλλον αἰχμάλωτος γίνεται, τὴν ἄτοπον ταύτην ἐπιτείνων ἐπιθυμίαν· ἂν δὲ μικρολόγον, ἀναγκάζεται ἕτερα ἀσχημονεῖν, ὥστε χρυσίον συνάγειν εἰς τὰς τοιαύτας δαπάνας. Ἐντεῦθεν πολλοὶ τῶν νέων καὶ τὴν ὥραν ἀπέδοντο, καὶ παράσιτοι τοῖς εὐπόροις ἐγένοντο, καὶ ἑτέρας δουλοπρεπεῖς ὑπέμειναν διακονίας, ἀντὶ τούτων ὠνούμενοι τὸ τὰς τοιαύτας ἐπιθυμίας πληροῦν. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν καὶ φιλοχρήματος οὗτος ἔσται καὶ μικρολόγος, καὶ περὶ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα πάντων ἀργότερος, καὶ πολλὰ ἀναγκασθήσεται ἁμαρτάνειν, δῆλον ἐκ τούτων· ὅτι δὲ ὠμὸς καὶ κενόδοξος, οὐδὲ τοῦτό τις ἀντερεῖ· ὠμὸς μὲν, ὅταν πένητα ἰδὼν, τῷ πόθῳ τοῦ καλλωπισμοῦ μηδὲ ἑωρακέναι δοκῇ, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν χρυσῷ καλλωπίζῃ, ἐκεῖνον δὲ ὑπὸ λιμοῦ διαφθειρόμενον περιορᾷ· κενόδοξος δὲ, ὅταν καὶ ἐν τοῖς μικροῖς παιδεύηται τὴν παρὰ τῶν ὁρώντων δόξαν θηρᾷν. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτως οἶμαι στρατηγὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς στρατοπέδοις καὶ τροπαίοις μέγα φρονεῖν, ὡς τοὺς ἀκολάστους νέους ἐπὶ τῷ καλλωπισμῷ τῶν ὑποδημάτων, ἐπὶ τοῖς συρομένοις ἱματίοις, ἐπὶ τῇ κουρᾷ τῆς κεφαλῆς· καίτοιγε ταῦτα πάντα τεχνιτῶν ἔργα ἐστὶν ἑτέρων. Εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις οὐκ ἀφίστανται κενοδοξοῦντες, πότε ἐπὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀποστήσονται; Εἴπω καὶ ἕτερα τούτων χαλεπώτερα, ἢ καὶ ταῦτα ὑμῖν ἀπόχρη; Οὐκοῦν ἀνάγκη καταλῦσαι τὸν λόγον ἐνταῦθα· ἐπεὶ καὶ ταῦτά μοι εἴρηται διὰ τοὺς φιλονείκους καὶ οὐδὲν ἄτοπον τὸ πρᾶγμα εἶναι λέγοντας. Καὶ οἶδα μὲν ὅτι πολλοὶ τῶν νέων οὐδὲ προσέξουσι τοῖς λεγομένοις, μεθύοντες ἅπαξ τῷ πάθει· οὐ μὴν διὰ τοῦτο σιγῆσαι ἔδει. Οἱ γὰρ νοῦν ἔχοντες πατέρες καὶ ὑγιαίνοντες τέως, καὶ ἄκοντας αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν προσήκουσαν 58.504 εὐσχημοσύνην ἐμβιβάσαι δυνήσονται. Μὴ τοίνυν λέγε, Οὐδὲν παρὰ τοῦτο, καὶ οὐδὲν παρ' ἐκεῖνο· τοῦτο γὰρ, τοῦτο πάντα ἀπώλεσεν. Ἔδει γὰρ καὶ ἐντεῦθεν αὐτοὺς παιδεύειν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν δοκούντων εἶναι μικρῶν σεμνοὺς ποιεῖν, μεγαλοψύχους, κρείττους σχημάτων· οὕτως αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐν τοῖς μεγάλοις εὑρήσομεν δοκίμους. Τί γὰρ τῆς τῶν στοιχείων μαθήσεως εὐτελέστερον; Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἀπὸ τούτων καὶ ῥήτορες, καὶ σοφισταὶ, καὶ φιλόσοφοι γίνονται· κἂν ταῦτα ἀγνοήσωσιν, οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνά ποτε εἴσονται. Ταῦτα δὲ ἡμῖν οὐ πρὸς νέους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς γυναῖκας καὶ κόρας εἴρηται. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὗται τοῖς τοιούτοις ἐγκλήμασιν ὑπόκεινται, καὶ πολλῷ μᾶλλον, ὅσῳ παρθένῳ κοσμιότης ἐπιτήδειον. Τὰ τοίνυν πρὸς ἐκείνους εἰρημένα καὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰρῆσθαι νομίζετε, ἵνα μὴ πάλιν τὰ αὐτὰ ἀναλάβωμεν. Καὶ γὰρ ὥρα λοιπὸν εὐχῇ κατακλεῖσαι τὸν λόγον. Ἅπαντες τοίνυν ἡμῖν συνεύξασθε, ὥστε τοὺς νέους τοὺς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας μάλιστα δυνηθῆναι κοσμίως ζῇν, καὶ εἰς γῆρας