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But when we ourselves do it, we do not know it. (1013) No one perceives evil in himself, Pamphilus, But when another behaves unseemly, he will see it wisely. Diogenes. Diogenes, when asked, What is most difficult? To know oneself, he said. Many

for each one adds to himself out of self-love. The same man said that some men, while saying what is necessary, do not hear themselves;

just as lyres, while sounding beautiful, do not perceive it. Plato. To be deceived by oneself is the most difficult thing of all. For when not

a little [long] way off, but the deceiver is always present, how is it not terrible?

DISCOURSE 70.

Concerning this, that vice is easy, and virtue hard to attain. Matt. 7. Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way

that leads to destruction. Heb. 12. All discipline, for the present, seems not to be of joy, but of sorrow;

but afterward, it yields the peaceful fruit to those who have been trained by it. Prov. 16. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end

leads to the bottom of Hades. Of Basil. What good thing is easy? Who while sleeping has set up a trophy? Who while living in luxury

and being entertained by flutes has been adorned with the crowns of endurance? No one who has not run has won a prize. Labors beget glory; toils procure crowns.

Many, having gathered many things from youth, when they reached the middle of life, when temptations from the spirits of wickedness rose up against them, did not bear the weight of the storm, because steering was not available to them; but they endured the loss of all those things.

For neither is it possible for fire, having caught hold of flammable material, not to spread over all of it, especially if it meets with a favoring wind carrying the flame; nor is it possible for sin, having caught hold of one person, not to pass to all those near, when the spirits of wickedness ignite it.

The Theologian. Virtue is hard to achieve, and is not captured by small labors. The acquisition of the good is rare and uphill, even if there should be much that draws and

invites. Wickedness is a ready thing, and nothing is so easy as to become evil. It is of the same difficulty, both to acquire some good thing that does not exist, and having acquired it

to preserve it. (1016) For often what diligence has acquired, carelessness has destroyed; and what sloth has lost, care has recalled.

It is easier to partake of vice than to impart virtue. The good is hard for human nature to grasp, just as fire is for rather moist matter;

but most people are ready and fit for the working of evil. That which is conspicuous in vice, many of those who are prone to slip into a similar zeal

draws. Wickedness is ready to follow evil rather, than by the better

to be checked.

395

Αὐτοί δ᾿ ὅταν ποιῶμεν, οὐ γινώσκομεν. (1013) Οὐδείς ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τό κακόν συνορᾷ, Πάμφιλε, Ἑτέρου δ᾿ ἀσχημονοῦντος, σοφῶς ὄψεται. ∆ιογένης. ∆ιογένης ἐρωτηθείς, Τί χαλεπώτατον; Τό γινώσκειν ἑαυτόν, ἔφη. Πολλά

γάρ ὑπό φιλαυτίας ἕκαστον ἑαυτῷ προστιθέναι. Ὁ αὐτός, τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐνίους ἔφη τά δέοντα λέγοντας, ἑαυτῶν οὐκ ἀκούειν·

ὥσπερ καί τάς λύρας καλόν φθεγγομένας οὐκ αἰσθάνεσθαι. Πλάτων. Τό ἐξαπατᾶσθαι αὐτόν ὑφ᾿ αὑτοῦ πάντων χαλεπώτατον. Ὅταν γάρ μή

μικρόν [μακρόν] ἀποσταθῇ, ἀλλ᾿ ἀεί παρῇ ὁ ἐξαπατήσων, πῶς οὐ δεινόν;

ΛΟΓΟΣ Ο´.

Περί τοῦ, ὅτι εὔκολος ἡ κακία, καί δυσπόριστος ἀρετή. Ματθ. ζ´. Εἰσέλθετε διά τῆς στενῆς πύλης, ὅτι πλατεῖα ἡ πύλη, καί εὐρύχωρος ἡ ὁδός

ἡ ἀπάγουσα εἰς τήν ἀπώλειαν. Ἑβρ. ιβ´. Πᾶσα παιδεία, πρός μέν τό παρόν οὐ δοκεῖ χαρᾶς εἶναι, ἀλλά λύπης·

ὕστερον δέ, καρπόν εἰρηνικόν τοῖς δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἐγγεγυμνασμένοις ἀποδίδωσιν. Παροιμ. ιστ´. Ἔστιν ὁδός, ἤ δοκεῖ παρά ἀνθρώποις ὀρθή εἶναι, τά δέ τελευταῖα αὐτῆς

ἔρχεται εἰς πυθμένα ᾅδου. Βασιλείου. Τί τῶν ἀγαθῶν εὔκολον; Τίς καθεύδων τρόπαιον ἔστησεν; Τίς τρυφων

καί καταυλούμενος, τοῖς τῆς καρτερίας στεφάνοις κατεκοσμήθη; Οὐδείς μή δραμῶν ἀνείλετο βραβεῖον. Πόνοι γεννῶσι δόξαν· κάματοι δέ προξενοῦσι στεφάνους.

Πολλοί πολλά συναθροίσαντες ἐκ νεότητος, περί τά μέσα τοῦ βίου γενόμενοι, ἐπαναστάντων αὐτοῖς πειρασμῶν ἐκ τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας, οὐκ ἤνεγκαν τοῦ χειμῶνος τό βάρος, διά τό τήν κυβέρνησιν αὐτοῖς μή παρεῖναι· ἀλλά πάντων ἐκείνων τήν ζημίαν ὑπέμειναν.

Οὔτε γάρ πῦρ εὐκαταπρήστου ὕλης ἁψάμενον, δυνατόν μή οὐχί ἐπί πᾶσαν αὐτήν διαβῆναι, ἄλλως τε κἄν ἐπιτύχῃ πνεύματος ἐπιφόρου τήν φλόγα διακομίζοντος· οὔτε τήν ἁμαρτίαν ἑνός ἁψαμένην, μή οὐχί ἐπί πάντας τούς ἐγγίζοντας διελθεῖν, ἐξαπτόντων αὐτήν τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας.

Θεολόγ. ∆υσκατόρθωτος ἡ ἀρετή, καί οὐ μικροῖς ἁλίσκεται πόνοις. Σπάνιον ἡ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ κτῆσις καί πρόσαντες, κἄν εἰ πολύ τό μεθέλκον εἴη καί

προκαλούμενον. Πρόχειρον πρᾶγμα ἡ μοχθηρία, καί οὐδέν οὕτω ῥᾴδιον ὡς τό γενέσθαι κακόν. Τῆς αὐτῆς ἐστι δυσχερείας, καί κτήσασθαί τι τῶν ἀγαθῶν οὐχ ὑπάρχον, καί κτηθέν

διασώσαθαι. (1016) Πολλάκις γάρ ὅ μέν σπουδή προσέλαβε ῥᾳθυμία διέφθειρεν· ὅ δέ ὄκνος ἀπώλεσεν, ἀνεκαλέσατο ἐπιμέλεια.

Κακίας ῥᾷον μεταλαβεῖν, ἤ ἀρετῆς μεταδοῦναι. ∆ύσληπτον μέν τό ἀγαθόν τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, ὥσπερ καί τό πῦρ ὕλῃ τῇ ὑγροτέρα·

ἕτοιμοι δέ πρός τήν τοῦ κακοῦ ἐργασίαν οἱ πλεῖστοι καί ἐπιτήδειοι. Τό ἐν κακίᾳ περίβλεπτον, πολλούς εἰς τόν ὅμοιον ζῆλον τῶν εὐολισθήτων

ἐφέλκεται. Πρόχειρον ἡ πονηρία τῷ κακῷ μᾶλλον ἀκολουθεῖν, ἤ ὑπό τοῦ κρείττονος

ἀνακόπτεσθαι.