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For it is easier from the beginning not to give in to evil and to escape it when it approaches, than to stop it when it is advancing and to appear superior to it; just as it is to lift and hold a rock from the beginning, than to push it back when it is rolling.

Great pleasure is in evil, but great labor and sweat are yoked with virtue. And what grace would there be for you? What reward would you have received, if the matter were not laborious? For I can show many who by nature hate to have intercourse with a woman. Shall we then call these men temperate or crown them? By no means. Temperance is self-control, and the struggle to overcome pleasures.

Greg. Nyss. Great is the facility towards evil, and nature is swift-flowing to the worse.

John Clim. With much toil and labor and sweat a good and well-ordered character is established in us; and the things established with much labor, it is possible to lose in the turn of a moment.

Diogenes. One day, having lit a lamp, he was walking about; and when some asked why he did this, he said he was looking for a man.

DISCOURSE 71.

Concerning this, that the most is not always the best. Luke 21. And Jesus looking up, saw those who were casting their gifts into the

treasury, the rich. And he also saw a certain poor widow, casting in there two mites, and he said, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has cast in more than all. For all these out of their abundance have cast into the gifts of God; but she out of her poverty has cast in all the living that she had.

1 Cor. 14. In the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

(1017) Solomon 4. Better is a handful of rest, than two handfuls with toil.

Sirach 16. Better is one righteous man, than ten thousand lawless; and to die childless, than to have impious children.

By one prudent man a city will be inhabited; but a tribe of lawless men will quickly be made desolate. Basil. For often the one who has achieved some small thing in the midst, is greater than the one in

abundance who has achieved everything. For if bread strengthens a man's heart, it is not necessary beyond what is needed of

food that the relish be unreasonably offered. The Theologian. Better is a short-lived kingdom than a long tyranny, and a small portion

that is honorable, than a great possession that is dishonorable and precarious, and a little light than much darkness. Chrysost. Almsgiving is not judged by the measure of what is given, but by the generosity of

the disposition. In wicked contests the victor is more wretched, because he departs having the greater part of

the sin. Plato. Than a longer and more worthless life, the shorter and better one

must by all means be chosen.

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Ῥᾷον γάρ ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς μή ἐνδοῦναι κακίᾳ καί προ«οῦσαν διαφυγεῖν, ἤ προβαίνουσαν ἀνακόψαι καί φανῆναι ταύτης ἀνώτερον· ὥσπερ καί πέτραν ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς αἱρῆσαι καί κατασχεῖν, ἤ φερομένην ἀνώσασθαι.

Πολλή μέν ἡδονή τῇ κακίᾳ, πολύς δέ τῇ ἀρετῇ συνέξευκται πόνος καί ἱδρώς. Καί ποία σοι χάρις ἦν; Τίνα δ᾿ ἄν ἔλαβες μισθόν, εἰ μή ἐπίπονον τό πρᾶγμα ἦν; Καί γάρ πολλούς ἔχω δεῖξαι, φύσει τό μίγνυσθαι γυναικί μισοῦντας. Τούτους οὖν σώφρονας καλέσομεν ἤ στεφανώσομεν; Οὐδαμῶς. Σωφροσύνη ἐστιν ἐγκράτεια, καί τό μαχόμενον περιγενέσθαι τῶν ἡδονῶν.

Γρηγ. Νύσσ. Πολλή πρός τήν κακίαν ἐστίν ἡ εὐκολία, καί ὀξύῤῥοπος ἐπί τό χεῖρον ἡ φύσις.

Ἰων. Κλίμ. Κόπῳ πολλῷ καί μόχθῳ καί ἱδρῶτι κατορθοῦται ἐν ἡμῖν ἦθος χρηστόν καί εὐκατάστατον· καί τά πολλῷ μόχθῳ κατορθούμενα, δυνατόν ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ ἀπολέσαι.

∆ιογένης. Ἡμέρας ποτέ λύχνος ἅψας πειῄει· πυνθανομένων δέ τινων πρός τί τοῦτο, ἔλεγεν ἄνθρωπον ζητεῖν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΟΑ´.

Περί τοῦ, ὅτι οὐκ ἀεί τό πλεῖστον ἄριστον. Λουκ. κα´. Ἀναβλέψας δέ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, εἶδεν τούς βάλλοντας τά δῶρα αὐτῶν εἰς τό

γαζοφυλάκιον πλουσίους. Εἶδε δέ καί τινα χήραν πενιχράν, βαλοῦσαν ἐκεῖ δύο λεπτά, καί εἶπεν, Ἀληθῶς λέγω ὑμῖν, ἡ χήρα ἡ πτωχή αὕτη πλείω πάντων ἔβαλεν. Ἅπαντες γάρ οὗτοι ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύοντος αὐτοῖς ἔβαλον εἰς τά δῶρα τοῦ Θεοῦ· αὕτη δέ ἐκ τοῦ ὑστερήματος αὐτῆς ἅπαντα τόν βίον, ὅν εἶχεν, ἔβαλεν.

Α´ Κορινθ. ιδ´. Ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ θέλω πέντε λόγους διά τοῦ νοός μου λαλῆσαι, ἤ μυρίους λόγους ἐν γλώσσῃ.

(1017) Σολομ. δ´. Ἀγαθόν πλήρωμα δρακός ἀναπαύσεως, ὑπέρ πληρώματος δύο δρακῶν ἐν μόχθῳ.

Σιράχ ις´. Κρεῖσσον εἷς δίκαιος , ἤ μύριοι παράνομοι· καί ἀποθανεῖν ἄτεκνον, ἤ ἀσεβῆ τέκνα ἔχειν.

Ἀπό ἑνός συνετοῦ συνοικισθήσεται πόλις· φυλή δέ ἀνόμων ἐρημωθήσεται ἐν τάχει. Βασιλείου. Πολλάκις γάρ ὁ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ μικρόν τι κατορθώσας, μείζων ἐστί τοῦ ἐν

ἀφθονίᾳ τό πᾶν κατορθώσαντος. Εἰ γάρ ἄρτος τήν καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου στηρίζει, οὐ δεῖ πλέον τοῦ ἀναγκαίου τῆς

τροφῆς τό προσόψημα ἀλόγως προσφέρεσθαι. Θεολόγου. Κρείσσων ὀλιγοχρόνιος βασιλεία μακρᾶς τυραννίδος, καί ὀλίγη μερίς

τιμία, πολλῆς κτήσεως ἀτίμου καί σφαλερᾶς, καί πολλοῦ σκότους ὀλίγον φῶς. Χρυσοστ. Οὐ τῷ μέτρῳ τῶν διδομένων ἐλεημοσύνη κρίνεται, ἀλλά τῇ δαψιλείᾳ τῆς

γνώμης. Ἐν ἁμίλλαις πονηραῖς ἀθλιώτερος ὁ νικήσας, διότι ἀπέρχεται τό πλέον ἔχων τῆς

ἁμαρτίας. Πλάτωνος. Τοῦ πλείονος βίου καί φαυλοτέρου, τόν ἐλάσσω καί ἀμείνονα ὄντα

παντί πάντως προαιρετέον.