14.  In the second place, although a man has kept himself pure from sin, even in a very high degree; I do not know that even this is sufficient for one who is to instruct others in virtue.  For he who has received this charge, not only needs to be free from evil, for evil is, in the eyes of most of those under his care, most disgraceful, but also to be eminent in good, according to the command, “Depart from evil and do good.”31    Ps. xxxvii. 27.  And he must not only wipe out the traces of vice from his soul, but also inscribe better ones, so as to outstrip men further in virtue than he is superior to them in dignity.  He should know no limits in goodness or spiritual progress, and should dwell upon the loss of what is still beyond him, rather than the gain of what he has attained, and consider that which is beneath his feet a step to that which comes next:  and not think it a great gain to excel ordinary people, but a loss to fall short of what we ought to be:  and to measure his success by the commandment and not by his neighbours, whether they be evil, or to some extent proficient in virtue:  and to weigh virtue in no small scales, inasmuch as it is due to the Most High, “from Whom are all things, and to Whom are all things.”32    Rom. xi. 35.

ΙΔʹ. Δεύτερον δὲ, εἰ καί τις ἁγνὸν ἑαυτὸν ἀπὸ πάσης ἁμαρτίας τηρήσειεν, ἢ ὡς μάλιστα, οὐκ οἶδα μὲν, εἰ καὶ τοῦτο αὔταρκες τῷ μέλλοντι τοὺς ἄλλους παιδεύειν πρὸς ἀρετήν: οὐ γὰρ μὴ κακὸν εἶναι δεῖ μόνον τὸν τοῦτο πεπιστευμένον, τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ χεῖρα τοῖς πολλοῖς αἴσχιστον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ ἀγαθῷ διαφέροντα, κατὰ τὴν, ἐκκλίνειν ἀπὸ κακοῦ, καὶ ποιεῖν ἀγαθὸν, κελεύουσαν ἐντολήν: οὐδὲ τοὺς φαύλους ἐξαλεῖψαι τῆς ψυχῆς τύπους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀμείνους ἐγγράψασθαι, ὡς πλέον κατ' ἀρετὴν προέχειν, ἢ ὁπόσον περίεστιν ἀξιώματι: καὶ μηδὲν μέτρον εἰδέναι τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀναβάσεως, μηδὲ κέρδος μᾶλλον τὸ κρατηθὲν ἢ ζημίαν τὸ διαφεῦγον: ἀλλ' ἐπίβασιν ἀεὶ ποιεῖσθαι τὸ ποσὶ τοῦ ἑξῆς: καὶ μὴ μέγα νομίζειν ἂν τῶν πολλῶν διαφέρωμεν, ἀλλὰ ζημίαν ἂν τῆς ἀξίας λειπώμεθα: καὶ τῇ ἐντολῇ παραμετρεῖν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῖς πέλας, τὸ κατορθούμενον, ἄν τε ὦσι κακοὶ, ἄν τε ἀρετῆς ἐπὶ ποσὸν ἥκοντες: καὶ μὴ μικροῖς σταθμοῖς ταλαντεύειν τὴν ἀρετὴν, τῷ μεγίστῳ, καὶ παρ' οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ εἰς ὃν τὰ πάντα χρεωστουμένην.