384

DISCOURSE 62.

Concerning habit and custom. Rom. 7. I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another

law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Solom. 14. The ungodly custom, strengthened by time, was kept as a law

Sirach 14. A man accustomed to words of reproach, will never be disciplined.

Basil. It is not possible to write on wax, without first smoothing out the characters lying upon it; nor to set divine things before the soul, without removing the preconceptions from custom.

Nothing is so desirable that it does not become contemptible through the continuity of enjoyment; but of those things whose acquisition is rare, the enjoyment is eagerly sought.

For a wound of the soul that has grown old, and the practice of evil confirmed by time, is difficult to heal, or even entirely (989) incurable, as habit for the most part changes into nature.

Separation from habit is most unbearable, even for irrational creatures. And I once saw an ox weeping at its manger, when its fellow-pasturer and yoke-mate died.

Of the Theologian. For it is easier from the beginning not to give in to evil, and to flee it as it approaches, than to check it as it advances and to appear superior to it.

It is easier to carry water in a net and to wash a brick, than it is possible to uproot an evil planted for a long time in a person's soul.

Chrysost. Nothing is so powerful among men as the tyranny of old habit.

Some of the pagans called habit a second nature.

Habit is a terrible thing to hold one fast to itself, and not to permit one to rise up again to the first state of virtue.

A soul that has once made a truce with sin, and has become calloused, provides a great increase to the sickness.

Often, by not extinguishing the flame at the beginning, they have ended in a great shipwreck. For sin, not having that which prevents it from advancing, is like a horse that has cast off its bridle and throws its rider from a cliff.

Of Clement of Rome. For what someone hates because of the understanding that comes with age, this he is compelled to do because of the long-standing habit of evil, having taken on sin as a terrible housemate.

Some of the Boeotians, leading debtors who do not pay into the marketplace, command them to sit down; then they place a basket on him; and whoever is thus en-basketed, becomes dishonored. And the father of Euripides, being a Boeotian by race, seems to have suffered this.

Among the Persians, what is not permitted to do, they do not even say. But if someone kills his father, they think he is a bastard; and if the king orders someone to be flogged, he gives thanks as if he has received a good thing, because

384

ΛΟΓΟΣ Ξ Β´.

Περί συνηθείας καί ἔθους. Ῥωμ. ζ´. Συνήδομαι τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατά τόν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον· βλέπω δέ ἕτερον

νόμον ἐν τοῖς μέλεσί μου, ἀντιστρατευόμενον τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοός μου, καί αἰχμαλωτίζοντά με ἐν τῷ νόμῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, τῷ ὄντι ἐν τοῖς μέλεσί μου.

Σολομ. ιδ΄. Χρόνῳ κρατυνθέν τό ἀσεβές ἔθνος, ὡς νόμος διεφυλάχθη

Σιράχ ιδ´. Ἄνθρωπος συνεθιζόμενος λόγοις ὀνειδισμοῦ, εἰς τόν αἰῶνα οὐ μή παιδευθῇ.

Βασιλ. Οὔτε ἐν κηρῷ γράψαι δυνατόν, μή προκαταλεάναντα τούς ἐναποκειμένους χαρακτῆρας· οὔτε ψυχῇ θεῖα παραθέσθαι, μή τάς ἐκ τοῦ ἔθους προλήψεις ἐξελόντα.

Οὐδέν οὕτως ἐπιθυμητόν, ὡς μή τῇ συνεχείᾳ τῆς ὰπολαύσεως εὐκαταφρόνητον γίνεσθαι· ὧν δέ σπανία ἡ κτῆσις, περισπούδαστος ἡ ἀπόλαυσις.

Παλαιωθέν γάρ τραῦμα ψυχῆς, καί κακοῦ μελέτη χρόνῳ βεβαιωθεῖσα, δυσίατός ἐστιν, ἤ καί παντελῶς (989) ἀνίατος, ὡς τά πολλά τῆς ἕξεως εἰς φύσιν μεθισταμένης.

Ἔθους χωρισμός, καί τοῖς ἀλόγοις ἐστί δυσφορώτατος. Καί ποτε εἶδον ἐγώ βοῦν ἐπί φάτνης δακρύοντα, τοῦ συνόμου αὐτοῦ ὁμοζύγου τελευτήσαντος.

Θεολόγου. Ῥᾷον γάρ ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς μή ἐνδοῦναι κακίᾳ, καί προσιοῦσαν διαφυγεῖν, ἤ προβαίνουσαν ἀνακόψαι καί φανῆναι ταύτης ἀνώτερος.

∆ικτύῳ κομίζειν ὕδωρ καί πλίνθον πλύνειν εὐπετές, ἤ κακίαν φυτευθεῖσαν χρόνῳ πολλῷ ἐν ἀνθρώπου ψυχῇ ἐξελεῖν δυνατόν.

Χυσοστ. Οὐδέν οὕτως ἰσχυρόν παρά ἀνθρώποις, ὡς συνηθείας παλαιᾶς τυραννίς.

Τινές τῶν ἔξωθεν, δυτέραν φύσιν τήν συνήθειαν ἐκάλεσαν.

∆εινόν ἡ συνήθεια κατασχεῖν πρός ἑαυτήν, καί μή συγχωρῆσαι πάλιν διαναστῆναι ἐπί τήν πρώτην ἕξιν τῆς ἀρετῆς.

Ψυχή ἅπαξ ἁμαρτίᾳ σπεισαμένη, καί ἀναλγήτως διατεθεῖσα, πολλήν παρέχει τῷ νοσήματι τήν προσθήκην.

Πολλάκις τήν φλόγα περί τήν ἀρχήν μή σβεννύντες, εἰς μέγα ναυάγιον κατήντησαν. Μή ἔχουσα γάρ ἁμαρτία τόν εἰς πρόσω προβῆναι κωλύοντα, ἵππῳ ἔοικε τόν χαλινόν ἀποῤῥίψαντι καί τόν ἀναβάτην κρημνίζοντι.

ΚλήμεντοςῬώμης. Ὅ γάρ μισεῖ τις διά τήν ἐπιοῦσαν τῇ ἡλικίᾳ σύνεσιν, τοῦτο διά τήν πολυχρόνιον τῶν κακῶν συνήθειαν πράττειν συναγκάζεται, δεινήν σύνοικον τήν ἁμαρτίαν παρειληφώς.

Βοιωτῶν ἔνιοι τούς χρεώστας οὐκ ἀποδιδόντας, εἰς ἀγοράν ἄγοντες, καθῆσ[θ]αι κελεύουσιν· εἶτα κόφινον ἐπιβάλλουσιν αὐτῷ· ὅς δ᾿ ἄν κοφινωθῇ, ἄτιμος γίνεται. ∆οκεῖ δέ τοῦτο πεπονθέναι καί ὁ Εὐριπίδου πατήρ Βοιωτός ὤν τό γένος.

Πέρσαις ὅ μή ποιεῖν ἔξεστιν, οὐδέ λέγουσιν. Ἐάν δέ τις πατέρα κτείνῃ, λιτόν αὐτόν οἴονται· ἐάν δέ τινα προστάξῃ βασιλεύς μαστιγῶσαι, εὐχαριστεῖ ὡς ἀγαθοῦ τυχών, ὅτι