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On the delights of the future life

CONCERNING THE ENJOYMENT OF THINGS TO COME, and the worthlessness of present things.

51.347 1. The heat is fierce, and the drought is heavy; but it has not loosened your eagerness, nor withered your desire for hearing. For such is a fervent and awakened listener; strengthened by the love of hearing, he would easily bear all things, so as to fulfill this good and spiritual desire; and neither frost, nor drought, nor a crowd of business, nor a multitude of cares, nor anything else of that sort could ever trip him up; just as, then, for the supine and listless man, neither temperate weather, nor leisure and license, nor ease and relaxation would ever rouse him, but he remains sleeping a sleep worthy of much condemnation. But you are not such, but better to us than those who inhabit the city. For you are the chief part of the city, so intent and sober, and always following what is said with precision. This theater is more venerable to me than the royal courts. For there, the things that are given, whatever they may be, are dissolved with the present life, and are full of noise and filled with confusion; but here there is nothing of the sort, but all security, and honor free from confusion, and offices having no end, not even being cut short by death itself, but then becoming more secure. For do not tell me of the one sitting in a chariot, and raising his eyebrows, and having many guards, nor of the belt and the herald's voice; do not describe the ruler to me from these things, but from the state of his soul, if he rules his own passions, if he overcomes his diseases; for instance, if he controls the desire for money, if he has subdued the insatiable love of bodies, if he is not consumed by envy, if he is not dragged by the difficult passion of vainglory, if he does not fear and tremble at poverty, if he does not fear the change to a more gloomy state, if he is not dead with this fear. Show me such a ruler; for this is rule. But if he rules men, 51.348 but is a slave to passions, I for my part would say that such a one is more servile than all men. And just as with one having a deep fever confined within, even if the surface of the body shows nothing of the sort, the disciples of physicians would certainly say he has a fever, even if the laymen are ignorant; so indeed I too would say that one who has an enslaved soul, and is a captive of the passions, even if the outward appearance shows nothing of the sort, but the contrary, is more servile than all, having the deep fever of evils, and the tyranny of the passions established in his very soul; but a ruler and a free man, and more kingly than kings, even if he is clothed in rags, even if he lives in a prison, even if he wears a chain, is the one who has cast off this tyranny, and is neither held by wicked desires, nor fears and trembles at an irrational dread of poverty and dishonor, of those very things that seem to be grievous in the present life. 2. These offices are not to be bought with money, nor do they have those who envy them; this one knows not the tongue of an accuser, nor the eye of the envious, nor the devices of plotters, but as if dwelling in some inviolable place of philosophy, it remains continually unconquered, not only by the other circumstances of affairs, but not even yielding to death itself. And the martyrs show these things, whose bodies were dissolved and became dust and ashes, but their rule lives and is active each day,

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De futurae vitae deliciis

ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΤΩΝ ΜΕΛΛΟΝΤΩΝ Ἀπολαύσεως, καὶ τῆς τῶν παρόντων εὐτελείας.

51.347 αʹ. Σφοδρὸν τὸ καῦμα, καὶ βαρὺς ὁ αὐχμός· ἀλλὰ τὴν προθυμίαν ὑμῶν οὐκ ἐξέλυσεν, οὐδὲ τὸν πόθον τῆς ἀκροάσεως ἐμάρανε. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἀκροατὴς θερμὸς καὶ διεγηγερμένος· τῷ τῆς ἀκροάσεως ἔρωτι νευρούμενος, πάντα ῥᾳδίως ἂν ἐνέγκαι, ὥστε τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐμπλῆσαι ταύτην τὴν καλὴν καὶ πνευματικήν· καὶ οὔτε κρυμὸς, οὔτε αὐχμὸς, οὐ πραγμάτων ὄχλος, οὐ φροντίδων πλῆθος, οὐκ ἄλλο τῶν τοιούτων οὐδὲν ὑποσκελίσαι δύναιτ' ἄν· ὥσπερ οὖν τὸν ὕπτιον καὶ ἀναπεπτωκότα οὐκ ἀέρων εὐκρασίαι, οὐ σχολὴ καὶ ἄδεια, οὐ ῥᾳστώνη καὶ ἄνεσις διεγείρειεν ἂν, ἀλλὰ μένει καθεύδων ὕπνον τινὰ πολλῆς κατηγορίας ἄξιον. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ὑμεῖς τοιοῦτοι, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τῶν τὴν πόλιν οἰκούντων ἡμῖν ἀμείνους. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ κεφάλαιον τῆς πόλεως ὑμεῖς, οὕτω συντεταμένοι καὶ νήφοντες, καὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις μετὰ ἀκριβείας παρακολουθοῦντες ἀεί. Τοῦτο ἐμοὶ τὸ θέατρον τῶν βασιλικῶν αὐλῶν σεμνότερον. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ τὰ διδόμενα, οἷα ἂν ᾖ, τῷ παρόντι συγκαταλύεται βίῳ, καὶ θορύβου γέμει καὶ ταραχῆς ἐμπέπλησται· ἐνταῦθα δὲ τοιοῦτον οὐδὲν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀσφάλεια πᾶσα, καὶ τιμὴ ταραχῆς ἀπηλλαγμένη, καὶ ἀρχαὶ τέλος οὐκ ἔχουσαι, οὐδὲ αὐτῷ τῷ θανάτῳ διακοπτόμεναι, ἀλλὰ τότε ἀσφαλέστεραι γινόμεναι. Μὴ γάρ μοι τὸν ἐπ' ὀχήματος εἴπῃς καθήμενον, καὶ τὰς ὀφρῦς ἀνασπῶντα, καὶ πολλοὺς ἔχοντα δορυφόρους, μήτε τὴν ζώνην καὶ τὴν τοῦ κήρυκος φωνήν· μὴ ἐντεῦθέν μοι τὸν ἄρχοντα χαρακτηρίσῃς, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς καταστάσεως τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν, εἰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ παθῶν ἄρχει, εἰ τῶν νοσημάτων περιγίνεται· οἷον, εἰ χρημάτων ἐπιθυμίας κρατεῖ, εἰ σωμάτων ἀκόρεστον ἔρωτα ὑπέταξεν, εἰ μὴ τήκεται φθόνῳ, εἰ μὴ σύρεται τῷ χαλεπῷ τῆς κενοδοξίας πάθει, εἰ μὴ δέδοικε καὶ τρέμει πενίαν, εἰ μὴ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ σκυθρωπότερον μεταβολὴν, εἰ μὴ ἀποτέθνηκε τῷ δέει τούτῳ. Τοιοῦτόν μοι δεῖξον τὸν ἄρχοντα· τοῦτο γὰρ ἀρχή. Εἰ δὲ κρατεῖ μὲν ἀνθρώπων, 51.348 δουλεύει δὲ πάθεσι, πάντων ἀνθρώπων δουλικώτερον τὸν τοιοῦτον εἴποιμι ἂν ἔγωγε Καὶ καθάπερ τὸν ἐν τῷ βάθει τὸν πυρετὸν ἔχοντα κατακλειόμενον, κἂν μηδὲν τοιοῦτον ἡ ἐπιφάνεια τοῦ σώματος ἐνδείκνυται, πάντως μάλιστα φαῖεν ἂν πυρέττειν οἱ τῶν ἰατρῶν παῖδες, κἂν οἱ ἰδιῶται ἀγνοῶσιν· οὕτω δὴ κἀγὼ τὸν ψυχὴν ἔχοντα δούλην, καὶ τῶν παθῶν αἰχμάλωτον, κἂν μή τι τοιοῦτον ἡ ἔξωθεν ἐπιδείκνυται ὄψις, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον, ἁπάντων δουλικώτερον φαίην ἂν τὸν ἐν τῷ βάθει τὸν πυρετὸν τῶν κακῶν ἔχοντα, καὶ τὴν τυραννίδα τῶν παθῶν ἐν αὐτῇ ἱδρυμένην τῇ ψυχῇ· ἄρχοντα δὲ καὶ ἐλεύθερον, καὶ βασιλέων βασιλικώτερον, κἂν ῥάκια περιβεβλημένος ᾖ, κἂν δεσμωτήριον οἰκῇ, κἂν ἅλυσιν περικέηται, τὸν ταύτην ἀποδυσάμενον τὴν τυραννίδα, καὶ οὔτε ταῖς πονηραῖς ἐπιθυμίαις κατεχόμενον, οὔτε ἄλογον δέος πενίας καὶ ἀτιμίας, αὐτῶν τῶν δοκούντων εἶναι λυπηρῶν ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ, δεδοικότα καὶ τρέμοντα. βʹ. Αὗται αἱ ἀρχαὶ οὐκ εἰσὶ χρημάτων ὠνηταὶ, οὐδὲ τοὺς φθονοῦντας ἔχουσι· ταύτην οὐκ οἶδε κατηγόρου γλῶττα, οὔτε βασκάνων ὀφθαλμὸς, οὐδὲ ἐπιβούλων μηχανήματα, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐν ἀσύλῳ χωρίῳ τινὶ τῷ τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἐνδιαιτωμένη, μένει διηνεκῶς ἀχείρωτος, οὐ μόνον ταῖς ἄλλαις τῶν πραγμάτων περιστάσεσιν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ αὐτῇ εἴκουσα τῇ τελευτῇ. Καὶ δεικνύουσι ταῦτα οἱ μάρτυρες, ὧν τὰ σώματα μὲν διελύθη καὶ κόνις γέγονε καὶ τέφρα, ἡ δὲ ἀρχὴ καθ' ἑκάστην ζῇ τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ ἐνεργεῖ,