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Sirach 34. Do not put a blemish on your glory, and in a day of glory do not exalt yourself.

Sirach 7. Do not seek leadership from the Lord, nor from a king a seat of glory.

Sirach 11. Many rulers have been greatly dishonored, and the glorious have been delivered into the hands of others.

Sirach 9. Do not envy the glory of sinners. Sirach 4. To a great man bow your head. Sirach 8. Do not contend with a powerful man, lest you ever fall into the hands

of him.

Sirach 13. When invited by a powerful man, be retiring, and then he will invite you all the more.

Sirach 32. In the midst of great men do not make yourself equal.

Sirach 42. He made nothing lacking; one by one He established the good things; and who shall be satisfied with seeing His glory?

Basil. If you desire glory, and wish to surpass the many, and to become renowned in worldly affairs, be just, temperate, prudent, courageous, patient in sufferings for piety. For thus you will both save yourself, and for greater goods you will have greater loftiness.

Let his rank not exalt the one who presides, lest he fall from the blessedness of humility.

Man ought to have remained in the glory that is from God, and he would have had a height not feigned, but true, being magnified by the power of God. But since he transferred the desire for divine glory, and expecting greater things, hastened to take what he could not receive, he lost what he was able to have.

I wish the wonder of creation to be more firmly established in you. First, then, when you see a blade of grass and a flower, come to the thought of human nature, remembering the image of the wise Isaiah, That all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. For the shortness of life, and the brief joy and cheerfulness of human prosperity, has obtained a most fitting image from the prophet. Today one is flourishing in body, fattened by luxury, having a blooming complexion, vigorous and energetic from the prime of his age, and irresistible in his impulse; tomorrow this same one is pitiable, (936) either withered by time, or wasted by disease. A certain man is conspicuous for his abundance of wealth, and around him is a crowd of flatterers, a bodyguard of feigned friends, who cultivate his favor; a multitude of kindred, and these also feigned; a countless swarm of followers, both of parasites, and of those who are attached to him for other needs; whom he drags along both going forth and again returning, an object of envy to those who meet him. In addition to wealth you might find also some political power, or honors from kings, the care of nations, or the command of armies, and the herald crying aloud as he goes before him; the lictors on this side and that striking the deepest terror into the subjects; the beatings, the imprisonments, the prosecutions, the dungeons, from which an unbearable fear is gathered from those under his power. And what after this? one night, or a fever, or a pleurisy, or

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Σιράχ λδ´. Μή δῷς μῶμον ἐν τῇ δόξῃ σου, καί ἐν ἡμέρᾳ δόξης μή ἐπαίρου.

Σιράχ ζ´. Μή ζήτει παρά Κυρίου ἡγεμονίαν, μηδέ παρά βασιλέως καθέδραν δόξης.

Σιράχ ια´. Πολλοί δυνάσται ἡτιμάσθησαν σφόδρα, καί ἔνδοξοι παρεδόθησαν εἰς χεῖρας ἑτέρων.

Σιράχ θ´.Μή ζηλώσῃς δόξαν ἁμαρτωλῶν. Σιράχ δ´. Μεγιστᾶνι ταπείνου τήν κεφαλήν σου. Σιράχ η´. Μή διαμάχου μετ᾿ ἀνθρώπου δυνάστου, μήποτε ἐμπέσῃς εἰς τάς χεῖρας

αὐτοῦ.

Σιράχ ιγ´. Προσκαλουμένου δε δυνάστου, ὑποχωρῶν γίνου, καί τότε μάλιστα προσκαλέσεται.

Σιράχ λβ΄ . Ἐν μέσῳ μεγιστάνων μή ἐξισάζου.

Σιράχ μβ´. Οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὐδέν ἐλλεῖπον· ἕν τοῦ ἑνός ἐστερέωσε τά ἀγαθά· καί τίς πλησθήσεται ὁρῶν δόξαν αὐτοῦ;

Βασιλ. Εἰ δόξης ἐποθυμεῖς, καί βούλει τῶν πολλῶν ὑπερβαίνεσθαι, καί εὐδόκιμος ἐν τοῖς κοσμικοῖς πράγμασι γίνεσθαι, ἔσο δίκαιος, σώφρων, φρόνιμος, ἀνδρεῖος, ὑπομονητικός ἐν τοῖς ὑπέρ εὐσεβείας παθήμασιν. Οὕτω γάρ καί σεαυτόν σώσεις, καί ἐπί μεῖζον ἀγαθοῖς μείζονα ἕξεις τήν περηφάνειαν.

Τόν προεστῶτα μή ἐπαιρέτω τό ἀξίωμα, ἵνα μή ἐκπέσῃ τοῦ μακαρισμοῦ τῆς παπεινοφροσύνης.

Ὄφειλεν ἄνθρωπον ἐν τῇ παρά Θεῷ δόξῃ μεμενηκέναι, καί εἶχεν ἄν ὕψος οὐκ ἐπίπλαστον, ἀλλ᾿ ἀληθινόν, δυνάμει Θεοῦ μεγαλυνόμενος. Ἐπειδή δέ τήν τῆς θείας δόξης ἐπιθυμίαν μετέθηκε, καί μείζονα προσδοκήσας, σπεύσας ὅπερ οὐκ ἠδύνατο λαβεῖν, ἀπώλεσεν ὅπερ ἔχειν ἠδύνατο.

Βούλομαί σοι σφοδρότερον τῆς κτίσεως ἐνιδρυνθῆναι τό θαῦμα. Πρῶτον μέν οὖν, ὅταν ἴδῃς βοτάνην χόρτου καί ἄνθος, εἰς ἔννοιαν ἔρχου τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, μεμνημένος τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ σοφοῦ Ἡσαΐου, Ὅτι πᾶσα σάρξ χόρτος, καί πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου. Τό γάρ ὀλιγοχρόνιον τῆς ζωῆς, καί τό ἐν ὀλίγῳ περιχαρές καί ἱλαρόν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης εὐημερίας, καιριωτάτης παρά τοῦ προφήτου τετύχηκε τῆς εἰκόνος. Σήμερον εὐθαλής τῷ σώματι, κατασαρκωμένος ὑπό τρυφῆς, ἐπανθοῦσαν ἔχων τήν εὔχροιαν, ὑπό τῆς κατά τήν ἡλικίαν ἀκμῆς σφριγῶν καί σύντονος, καί ἀνυπόστατος τήν ὁρμήν· αὔριον ὁ αὐτός οὗτος ἐλεεινός, (936) ἤ τῷ χρόνῳ μαρανθείς, ἤ νόσῳ διαλυθείς. Ὁ δεῖνα περίβλεπτος ἐπί χρημάτων περιουσίᾳ, καί πλῆθος περί αὐτόν κολάκων, δορυφορία φίλων προσποιητῶν, τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ χάριν θεραπευόντων· πλῆθος συγγενείας, καί ταύτης κατεσχηματισμένης· ἐσμός τῶν ἐφεπομένων μυρίος, τῶν τε ἐπισιτίων, καί τῶν κατά τάς ἄλλας χρείας αὐτῷ προσδευόντων· οὕς καί προϊών, καί πάλιν ἐπανιών ἐπισυρόμενος, ἐπίφθονός ἐστιν τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν. Πρός δέ τῷ πλούτῳ εὕροις καί πολιτικήν τινα δύναμιν, ἤ καί τάς ἐκ τῶν βασιλέων τιμάς, ἐθνῶν ἐπιμέλειαν, ἤ καί στρατοπέδων ἡγεμονίαν, καί τόν κήρυκα μέγα βοῶντα προϊόντα πρό αὐτοῦ· τούς ῥαβδοφόρους ἔνθεν καί ἔνθεν βαρυτάτην κατάπληξιν τοῖς ἀρχομένοις ἐμβάλλοντας· τάς πληγάς, τάς δεσμεύσεις, ἐπαγωγάς, τά δεσμωτήρια, ἐξ ὧν ἀφόρητος ὁ παρά τῶν ὑποχειρίων συναθροίζεται φόβος. Καί τί μετά τοῦτο; μία νύξ, ἤ πυρετός, ἤ πλευρῖτις, ἤ