Evagrius Ponticus, On Vices Opposed to Virtues

De vitiis quae opposita sunt virtutibus (sub nomine Nili Ancyrani)

A DISCOURSE OF THE SAME TO THE SAME, CONCERNING THE VICES OPPOSED TO THE VIRTUES.

79.1140 CHAPTER 1. I think it necessary also to set before your diligence in a summary way the vices opposed to the virtues; for having until now ploughed the mind, we have cast out the thorns of our thoughts from the sown land; but we have not arrived at this point by works which we ourselves have done, but having a form of sound words, which we have heard from the Fathers, and we have become witnesses of some of their deeds. But the whole is from the grace from above, which also shows to sinners the plots of the deceivers of the mind, which also makes safe, and says: "For what do you have that you did not receive?" so that by receiving we may give thanks to the Giver, that we may not attribute to ourselves some boast of glory, denying the gift. wherefore it says, "But if you have received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" -"Already, it says, you have become rich," you who are poor in works, already you who have begun to be taught, have been filled, whose error has just now passed to me; through which reasoning I have borrowed, concealing the poverty of my works, and through which judgment I have advised, reversing the discipleship of being taught. But nevertheless, 79.1141 if any forgiveness is held by you, grant this to me also, that we too may set forth in a summary way the vices opposed to the virtues, explaining: what gluttony is, against which is self-control; and what fornication, and chastity; and what avarice, and poverty; sorrow, against which is joy; and what anger, and long-suffering; and acedia, and patience; and what vainglory, and freedom from vainglory, envy, and freedom from envy, pride, and humility; these things, being yoked against, and rivals, and opposites of one another, we have thus set forth in a summary.

CHAPTER 2. Gluttony, then, is the mother of fornication, the nurse of thoughts,

the weakness of fasting, the muzzle of asceticism, the scarecrow of meditation, the portrayal of foods, the sketcher of seasonings, an unbridled colt, an unhaltered madness, a vessel of disease, the enemy of health, a blockage of the pipes, a groaning of the bowels, the limit of insolence, the accomplice of fornication, the filth of the mind, weakness of the body, a heavy sleep, a smileless death. Self-control, the bridle of the belly, the scourge of insatiability, the standard of moderation, the muzzle of gluttony, the renunciation of rest, the rule of hardship, the tamer of thoughts, the eye of vigilance, deliverance from burning, the tutor of the body, a tower of labors, and a wall of habits, the restraint of morals, and the checking of passions, the mortification of the members, the reviving of souls, an imitation of the resurrection, the commonwealth of holiness. Fornication, the offspring of gluttony, the softener of the heart, a furnace of burning, the conductor of idols, an unnatural act, a shadowed form, an imagined embrace, the bed of dreams, an insensible union, a deceit of the eyes, shamelessness of gaze, the shame of prayer, the disgrace of the heart, the guide of ignorance. Chastity, the garment of truth, the axe of licentiousness, the charioteer of the eyes, the overseer of thoughts, the circumcision of the mind, the excision of intemperance, the counter-nature of nature, and the opponent of burning, a worker upon works, and a co-worker of self-control, the lamp of the heart, the rule of prayer.

De vitiis quae opposita sunt virtutibus (sub nomine Nili Ancyrani)

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΑΣ ΑΝΤΙΖΥΓΟΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΑΡΕΤΩΝ ΚΑΚΙΑΣ.

79.1140 ΚΕΦΑΛ. Αʹ. Ἀναγκαῖον ἡγοῦμαι καὶ τὰς ἀντιζύγους τῶν ἀρετῶν κακίας δι' ἐπιτόμου

ὑποτάξαι τῇ σῇ φιλοπονίᾳ· ἕως μὲν ὧδε τὴν διάνοιαν ἀροτριάσαντες, τὰς τῶν λογισμῶν ἀκάνθας ἐκ τῆς σπορίμου χώρας ἀνεβάλομεν· οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων δὲ, ἃ ἐποιήσαμεν ἡμεῖς εἰς τοῦτο παρεφθάσαμεν, ἀλλ' ὑποτύπωσιν ἔχοντες ὑγιαινόντων λόγων, ὧν ἠκούσαμεν, παρὰ τῶν Πατέρων, καί τινων τῶν πράξεων συνίστορες γεγενήμεθα. Τὸ δὲ πᾶν ἡ χάρις ἄνωθεν, ἡ καὶ τοῖς ἀμαρτωλοῖς ὑποδεικνύουσα τὰς τῶν φρεναπατῶν ἐπιβουλὰς, ἡ καὶ ἀσφαλιζομένη, καὶ λέγουσα· «Τί γὰρ ἔχεις ὃ οὐκ ἔλαβες;» ἵνα διὰ τοῦ λαβεῖν εὐχαριστῶμεν τῷ δεδωκότι, ὅτι μὴ ἑαυτοῖς ἀποδιδόαμεν καύχημά τι δόξης, τὴν δόσιν ἀρνούμενοι. διόπερ φησὶν, «Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔλαβες, τί καυχᾷ, ὡς μὴ λαβών;» -«Ἥδη, φησὶν, ἐπλουτήσατε» οἱ τοῖς ἔργοις πενόμενοι, ἤδη οἱ τοῦ διδάσκεσθαι ἀρξάμενοι, ἐκορέσθητε, ὧνπερ ἀρτίως ἡ πλάνη μεταβέβηκεν εἰς ἐμέ· δι' ἧς μὲν δεδάνεισμαι λογιστείας, τὴν τῶν ἔργων πενίαν παρακαλύπτων, δι' ἧς δὲ παρῄνεσα γνώμης τὴν τοῦ διδάσκεσθαι μαθητείαν ἀντιπεριτρέπων. Ἀλλ' ὅμως 79.1141 εἴ τις κεκράτηται παρ' ὑμῶν συγγνώμη, κἀμοὶ ταύτην ἀπονείματε, ἵνα καὶ τὰς ἀντιζύγους τῶν ἀρετῶν κακίας δι' ἐπιτόμου ὑποτάξωμεν σημαίνοντες· τί μέν ἐστι γαστριμαργία, καθ' ἧς ἐγκράτεια· τί δὲ πορνεία, καὶ σωφροσύνη· φιλαργυρία δὲ τί, καὶ ἀκτημοσύνη· λύπη, καθ' ἧς ἡ χαρά· ὀργὴ δὲ τί, καὶ μακροθυμία· καὶ ἀκηδία, καὶ ὑπομονή· τί δὲ κενοδοξία, καὶ ἀκενοδοξία, φθόνος, καὶ ἀφθονία, ὑπερηφανία, καὶ ταπείνωσις· ταῦτα ἀντίζυγα, καὶ ἀντίπαλα, καὶ ἀντίθετα ἀλλήλων ὅντα, δι' ἐπιτόμου οὕτως ὑπετάξαμεν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Βʹ. Ἔστιν οὖν γαστριμαργία, πορνείας μήτηρ, τροφὸς λογισμῶν,

νηστείας ἀτονία, ἀσκήσεως φίμωτρον, στοχασμοῦ φόβητρον, ἐξεικονισμὸς βρωμάτων, σκιαγράφος ἀρτυμάτων, ἀνειμένος πῶλος, ἀχαλίνωτος μανία, δοχεῖον νόσου, ὑγείας φθόνος, φραγμὸς συρίγγων, στεναγμὸς ἐντέρων, ὕβρεων πέρας, πορνείας σύμμιστος, διανοίας ῥύπος, σώματος ἀσθένεια, φορτικὸς ὕπνος, ἀμειδὴς θάνατος. Ἐγκράτεια, γαστρὸς χαλινὸς, ἀπληστείας δὲ μάστιξ, συμμετρίας δὲ σταθμὸς, ἀδηφαγίας δὲ κημὸς, ἀναπαύσεως ἀποταγὴ, σκληρουχίας συνταγὴ, λογισμῶν δαμαστήριον ἀγρυπνίας ὄμμα, πυρώσεως ῥύσις, σώματος παιδαγωγὸς, πόνων πύργος, καὶ τρόπων τεῖχος, ἠθῶν καταστολὴ, καὶ παθῶν ἀναστολὴ, νέκρωσις μελῶν, ἀναβίωσις ψυχῶν, ἀναστάσεως μίμημα, ἁγιασμοῦ πολίτευμα. Πορνεία, λαιμαργίας κύημα, προμαλακτὴρ καρδίας, πυρώσεως κάμινος, νυμφαγωγὸς εἰδώλων, ἀσυγγενὴς πρᾶξις, σκιαζομένη μορφὴ, φανταζομένη συμπλοκὴ, ἐνυπνίων κλίνη, ἀναίσθητος συνουσία, ὀφθαλμῶν δόλος, βλέμματος ἀναίδεια, εὐχῆς ἐντροπὴ, καρδίας αἰσχύνη, ἀγνωσίας ὁδηγός. Σωφροσύνη, ἀληθείας στολὴ, ἀσελγείας πέλυξ, ὀφθαλμῶν ἡνίοχος, ἐπίσκοπος λογισμῶν, ἐννοίας περιτομὴ, ἀκολασίας δὲ ἐκτομὴ, φύσεως ἀντίφυτος, καὶ πυρώσεως ἀντίθετος, ἔργων ἐπεργὸς, καὶ ἐγκρατείας συνεργὸς, καρδίας λαμπτὴρ, εὐχῆς γνώμων.