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scorning; so then, just as he who is a slave to them and is given over once and for all, it is entirely necessary for him to fall away from those things. 4. Therefore, considering all these things, cast out the evil desire for money. For you could not even say this, that it gives present things, but deprives of future things; and yet even if this were so, this would be the utmost punishment and penalty. But as it is, not even this is possible. For along with Gehenna and before that Gehenna, even here it casts you into a more grievous punishment. For this desire has overthrown many houses, and fanned the flames of grievous wars, and compelled men to end their lives by a violent death; and even before these dangers, it ruins the nobility of the soul; and it has often made the one who has it cowardly, and unmanly, and rash, and a liar, and a slanderer, and a robber, and covetous, and everything that is most base. But perhaps when you see the glitter of the silver, and the multitude of servants, 58.608 and the beauty of the buildings, and the attendance in the marketplace, you are bewitched? What then could be the cure for this evil wound? If you consider how these things affect your soul; how they make it dark and desolate and shameful and deformed; if you reckon with how many evils these things were acquired, with how many labors they are guarded, with how many dangers; or rather, they are not even guarded to the end, but when it has escaped the grasp of all, death comes and often carries these things away into the hands of your enemies, but takes you away destitute, dragging none of these things after you, but only the wounds and sores which the soul received from them and takes away. Therefore, when you see someone shining outwardly from his clothes and his large retinue, unfold his conscience, and you will find many a spider's web within, and you will see much dust. Think of Paul, of Peter; think of John, of Elijah; or rather, of the Son of God Himself, who had nowhere to lay His head. Become an imitator of Him, and of His servants, and imagine their unspeakable wealth. But if, after glancing at these things for a little while, you should be darkened again, as in some shipwreck when a storm comes on, listen to the declaration of Christ, which says that it is impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And against this declaration set the mountains, and the earth, and the sea; and, if you will, make all things to be gold in your reckoning; for you will see nothing equal to the loss that comes to you from thence. And you indeed are mindful of so and so many acres of land, and of ten and twenty houses, or even more, and so many baths, and a thousand slaves, or twice that many, and of silver-mounted and gold-inlaid carriages; but I say this: If each one of you who are rich, leaving aside this poverty (for these things are poverty compared to what I am about to say), possessed the whole world, and each of them had as many men as are now everywhere on land and sea, and each the inhabited world, both land and sea, and everywhere buildings, and cities and nations, and from everywhere instead of water, instead of springs, gold flowed to him, I would not say that those who are so rich are worth three obols, having fallen from the kingdom. For if now, desiring perishing riches, they are tormented when they do not obtain them; if they were to receive a perception of those ineffable good things, what then will suffice for their consolation? There is nothing. Therefore, do not speak to me of the abundance of money, but consider how great a loss the lovers of it endure from it, losing the heavens in exchange for these things, and suffering the same thing as if someone who has fallen from the greatest honor in the palace, having a heap of dung, should think highly of himself for it. For the pile of money differs in no way from that; or rather, that is even better. For the one is useful for agriculture, and for heating a bath, and for other such things; but buried gold is useful for none of these. And would that it were only useless; but as it is, it also kindles many furnaces for the one who possesses it, if

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ὑπερορῶντα· ὥσπερ οὖν τὸν δουλεύοντα αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐκδεδομένον εἰσάπαξ ἀνάγκη πᾶσα ἐκπεσεῖν ἐκείνων. δʹ. Ταῦτ' οὖν ἅπαντα λογιζόμενος, τὴν πονηρὰν ἐπιθυμίαν ἔκβαλε τῶν χρημάτων. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦτο ἔχοις ἂν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τὰ μὲν παρόντα δίδωσι, τῶν δὲ μελλόντων ἀποστερεῖ· καίτοι καὶ εἰ τοῦτο ἦν, ἐσχάτη τοῦτο κόλασις καὶ τιμωρία. Νῦν δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἔνι. Μετὰ γὰρ τῆς γεέννης καὶ πρὸ τῆς γεέννης ἐκείνης, καὶ ἐνταῦθα εἰς χαλεπωτέραν σε ἐμβάλλει κόλασιν. Καὶ γὰρ οἰκίας πολλὰς ἡ ἐπιθυμία αὕτη ἀνέτρεψε, καὶ χαλεποὺς πολέμους ἀνεῤῥίπισε, καὶ βιαίῳ θανάτῳ καταλῦσαι τὸν βίον κατηνάγκασε· καὶ πρὸ τῶν κινδύνων δὲ τούτων τῆς ψυχῆς λυμαίνεται τὴν εὐγένειαν· καὶ δειλὸν, καὶ ἄνανδρον, καὶ θρασὺν, καὶ ψεύστην, καὶ συκοφάντην, καὶ ἅρπαγα, καὶ πλεονέκτην, καὶ τὰ ἔσχατα πάντα τὸν ἔχοντα πολλάκις εἰργάσατο. Ἀλλ' ἴσως τὴν λαμπηδόνα τοῦ ἀργυρίου, καὶ τῶν οἰκετῶν τὸ πλῆ 58.608 θος, καὶ τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων τὸ κάλλος, καὶ τὴν θεραπείαν τὴν ἐπ' ἀγορᾶς ὁρῶν καταγοητεύῃ; Τίς οὖν ἂν γένοιτο θεραπεία τῷ πονηρῷ τραύματι τούτῳ; Ἂν ἐννοήσῃς, πῶς σοι ταῦτα τὴν ψυχὴν διατίθησι· πῶς σκοτεινὴν καὶ ἔρημον καὶ αἰσχρὰν αὐτὴν κατασκευάζει καὶ δυσειδῆ· ἂν λογίσῃ μεθ' ὅσων ταῦτα ἐκτήθη κακῶν, μεθ' ὅσων φυλάττεται πόνων, μεθ' ὅσων κινδύνων· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ φυλάττεται μέχρι τέλους, ἀλλ' ὅταν ἁπάντων διαφύγῃ τὰς λαβὰς, ὁ θάνατος ἐπελθὼν ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τὰς τῶν σῶν ἐχθρῶν πολλάκις ἐξήγαγε χεῖρας, σὲ δὲ ἔρημον λαβὼν ἄπεισιν, οὐδὲν τούτων ἐπισυρόμενον, ἀλλ' ἢ τὰ τραύματα καὶ τὰ ἕλκη μόνον, ἅπερ ἐκ τούτων λαβοῦσα ἄπεισιν ἡ ψυχή. Ὅταν οὖν ἴδῃς τινὰ λάμποντα ἔξωθεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἱματίων καὶ τῆς πολλῆς δορυφορίας, ἀνάπτυξον αὐτοῦ τὸ συνειδὸς, καὶ πολλὴν εὑρήσεις τὴν ἀράχνην ἔνδον, καὶ πολλὴν τὴν κόνιν ὄψει. Ἐννόησον τὸν Παῦλον, τὸν Πέτρον· ἐννόησον τὸν Ἰωάννην, τὸν Ἠλίαν· μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὸν οὐκ ἔχοντα ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλῖναι. Ἐκείνου ζηλωτὴς γενοῦ, καὶ τῶν ἐκείνου δούλων, καὶ τὸν ἄφατον τούτων φαντάζου πλοῦτον. Εἰ δὲ μικρὸν διαβλέψας ἐκ τούτων σκοτωθείης πάλιν, καθάπερ ἔν τινι ναυαγίῳ καταιγίδος ἐπελθούσης, ἄκουσον τῆς ἀποφάσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ τῆς λεγούσης, ὅτι ἀδύνατον πλούσιον εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. Καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀπόφασιν ταύτην θὲς τὰ ὄρη, καὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν· καὶ πάντα, εἰ βούλει, τῷ λόγῳ ποίησον εἶναι χρυσόν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἴσον ὄψει τῆς ζημίας τῆς ἐκεῖθέν σοι γινομένης. Καὶ σὺ μὲν πλέθρων γῆς τόσων καὶ τόσων μέμνησαι, καὶ οἰκιῶν δέκα καὶ εἴκοσιν, ἢ καὶ πλειόνων, καὶ βαλανείων τοσούτων, καὶ ἀνδραπόδων χιλίων, ἢ δὶς τοσούτων, καὶ ὀχημάτων ἀργυρενδέτων καὶ χρυσοπάστων· ἐγὼ δὲ ἐκεῖνό φημι· Εἰ τῶν πλουτούντων ὑμῶν ἕκαστος, τὴν πενίαν ταύτην ἀφεὶς (πενία γὰρ ταῦτα πρὸς ὃ μέλλω λέγειν), ὁλόκληρον ἐκέκτητο κόσμον, καὶ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν τοσούτους εἶχεν ἀνθρώπους, ὅσοι νῦν εἰσι πανταχοῦ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης, καὶ οἰκουμένην ἕκαστος, καὶ γῆν καὶ θάλατταν, καὶ πανταχοῦ οἰκοδομήματα, καὶ πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη, καὶ πανταχόθεν ἀντὶ ὕδατος, ἀντὶ πηγῶν αὐτῷ χρυσίον ἐπέῤῥει, τριῶν ὀβολῶν οὐκ ἂν ἔφην ἀξίους εἶναι τοὺς οὕτω πλουτοῦντας, τῆς βασιλείας ἐκπεσόντας. Εἰ γὰρ νῦν χρημάτων τῶν ἀπολλυμένων ἐφιέμενοι, ὅταν μὴ ἐπιτύχωσι, βασανίζονται· εἰ λάβοιεν αἴσθησιν τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων ἀγαθῶν ἐκείνων, τί λοιπὸν ἀρκέσει εἰς παραμυθίαν αὐτοῖς; Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδέν. Μὴ τοίνυν μοι λέγε τὴν τῶν χρημάτων περιουσίαν. ἀλλ' ἐννόει τὴν ζημίαν ὅσην ἐκ ταύτης οἱ ταύτης ὑπομένουσιν ἐρασταὶ, ἀντὶ τούτων τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἀπολλύντες, καὶ ταὐτὸν πάσχοντες, οἷον ἂν εἴ τις τῆς ἐν βασιλείοις μεγίστης τιμῆς ἐκπεσὼν, κόπρου θημωνίαν ἔχων, μέγα ἐπὶ ταύτῃ φρονοίη. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐκείνης ἡ τῶν χρημάτων διαφέρει σωρεία· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ βελτίων ἐκείνη. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ καὶ πρὸς γεωργίαν ἐπιτήδειος, καὶ πρὸς βαλανείου ἔκκαυσιν, καὶ πρὸς ἄλλα τοιαῦτα· ὁ δὲ κατορωρυγμένος χρυσὸς πρὸς οὐδὲν τούτων. Καὶ εἴθε μόνον ἄχρηστος ἦν· νυνὶ δὲ καὶ πολλὰς ἀνάπτει τῷ ἔχοντι τὰς καμίνους, εἰ