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all other things are superfluous. For if those things were also necessary, and it were not possible for a man to live without a servant, just as it is not possible to live without those other things, the greater part of mankind would have perished, since the greater part does not have people to serve them. If it were necessary to use silver vessels and it were not possible to live without them, again the greater part of mankind would have been destroyed, since silver is not even found among the many. If, then, someone should say to those who possess silver: 'Why on earth do you want this vessel? Tell me the reason and what use it provides,' he would have no <ἂν> other reason to give, but the honor from the many. 'And I possess it so as to be admired and not despised, but I hide it again so as not to be envied and plotted against.' What could be worse than this absurdity? if you have it for the honor from the many, show it to all; but if you fear envy, it is not good to possess it at all. Shall I mention another absurdity? Often some, having deprived themselves of necessities and perishing from hunger, do not neglect these vessels. And if you ask them, 'I must maintain,' he says, 'my station.' What station, man? This is not the station of a human being. For then the just Elijah and Elisha and John must have been in great disgrace; since one had nothing more than his sheepskin and needed a widow, and a poor one at that, and lived a beggar's life, coming to the doors of that poor woman and speaking the words of beggars. And so Elisha must also have been in disgrace, being feasted by the poor woman. And John was in disgrace, having not even a cloak, nor a single loaf of bread. There is only one disgrace, to possess many things, and it is truly a great disgrace. For one gets a reputation for cruelty, softness, stupidity and pride, vainglory, bestiality. It is not station to wear beautiful clothes, but it is station to be clothed in beautiful deeds. And I hear many being admired for this. 'So-and-so,' they say, 'maintains his station; his couch is well-spread and he has many bronze vessels; he is a man who is a master of a house.' 'And why do you accuse us,' one says, 'who possess these things, when you ought to be accusing those who have more?' Through you I accuse them much more; for if I do not release from blame those who have little, much more so those who possess more. Station is not the splendor of a house, nor the costliness of coverings, nor a well-spread pallet, nor an embellished couch, nor a multitude of servants. For all these things are external to us and have nothing to do with us. But what pertains to us is gentleness, contempt for money, contempt for glory, laughing at the honor from the many, considering human affairs as nothing, embracing poverty, transcending nature by the virtue of one's life: this is decency, this is glory, this is honor. But the cause of all evils becomes this from the beginning, and how, I will tell you. A child is born straightaway; the father devises everything not to regulate its life, but to adorn it and surround it with gold and clothes. Why on earth do you do this, man? So be it, you wear these things yourself; why do you also train the child, who has not yet had experience of this madness, in these things? For what reason do you place an ornament around its neck? There is need of a strict tutor, so as to regulate the child, but not of gold. And you let the hair grow long behind in the fashion of a girl, immediately making the boy effeminate and softening the firmness of his nature, from the beginning instilling in him a superfluous love of money and persuading him to be excited about useless things. Why do you prepare a greater plot against him? why do you make him excited about bodily things? 'If a man has long hair,' it says, 'it is a dishonor to him.' Nature does not want it; God has not permitted this; the practice is forbidden; it is the work of Greek superstition. And many hang pieces of gold from their ears; would that not even girls enjoyed these things, but you also upon the

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ἄλλα ἅπαντα περιττά. Ἐπεὶ εἰ κἀκεῖνα ἀναγκαῖα ἦν καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἀνθρώπῳ ἄνευ διακόνου ζῆν, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἔστι δυνατὸν ἄνευ ἐκείνων ζῆν, τὸ πλέον ἂν ἀπωλώλει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐπειδὴ τὸ πλέον τοὺς διακονουμένους οὐκ ἔχουσιν. Εἰ ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἀργυροῖς σκεύεσι κεχρῆσθαι καὶ ἄνευ τούτων ζῆν οὐκ ἦν, τὸ πλέον ἂν πάλιν διέφθαρτο τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐπειδὴ οὐδὲ ἄργυρος παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐστιν. Ἐὰν οὖν τις αὐτοῖς τοῖς κεκτημένοις τὸν ἄργυρον εἴπῃ· Τί δή ποτέ σοι τοῦτο βούλεται τὸ σκεῦος; εἰπὲ τὴν αἰτίαν καὶ ποίαν τὴν χρῆσιν παρέχεται», οὐδεμίαν <ἂν> ἄλλην ἔχοι εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ' ἢ τὴν παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν τιμήν. «Καὶ κέκτημαι ὥστε θαυμάζεσθαι καὶ μὴ καταφρονεῖσθαι, κρύπτω δὲ πάλιν, ὥστε μὴ φθονεῖσθαι καὶ ἐπηρεάζεσθαι.» Τί ταύτης τῆς ἀλογίας χεῖρον γένοιτ' ἄν; εἰ διὰ τὴν παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν τιμὴν ἔχεις, πᾶσιν ἐπιδείκνυσο, εἰ δὲ τὸν φθόνον δέδοικας, οὐδὲ ὅλως κεκτῆσθαι καλόν. Εἴπω καὶ ἑτέραν ἀλογίαν; Πολλάκις τῶν ἀναγκαίων τινὲς ἑαυτοὺς ἀποστερήσαντες καὶ λιμῷ φθειρόμενοι τούτων οὐκ ἀμελοῦσι τῶν σκευῶν. Κἂν ἐρωτήσῃς αὐτούς, «τὸ σχῆμά μου, φησίν, ἔχειν ὀφείλω». Ποῖον σχῆμα, ἄνθρωπε; οὔκ ἐστι τοῦτο σχῆμα ἀνθρώπου. Ἐπεὶ ἄρα ἀσχημοσύνην ἠσχημόνει μεγάλην ὁ δίκαιος Ἠλίας καὶ Ἐλισσαῖος καὶ Ἰωάννης·ἐπειδὴ τῷ μὲν τῆς μηλωτῆς πλέον οὐδὲν ἦν καὶ χήρας ἔχρῃζε γυναικός, καὶ αὐτῆς πενιχρᾶς, καὶ ἐπαιτητικὸν ἔζη βίον πρὸς τὰ πρόθυρα τῆς γυναικὸς τῆς πενιχρᾶς ἐκείνης ἐρχόμενος καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐπαιτῶν φθεγγόμενος ῥήματα. Ἠσχημόνει δὲ ἄρα καὶ Ἐλισσαῖος αὐτὸς ἀπὸ τῆς πενιχρᾶς ἑστιώμενος. Ἠσχημόνει δὲ καὶ Ἰωάννης οὐδὲ ἱμάτιον ἔχων, οὐδὲ ἄρτον ἕνα. Μία μόνον ἐστὶν ἀσχημοσύνη, τὸ πολλὰ κεκτῆσθαι, καὶ μεγάλη ὄντως ἀσχημοσύνη. Ὠμότητος γὰρ δόξαν λαμβάνει τις, μαλακίας, βλακείας καὶ τύφου, κενοδοξίας, θηριωδίας. Οὔκ ἐστι σχῆμα τὸ καλὰ φορεῖν ἱμάτια, ἀλλὰ σχῆμά ἐστι τὸ καλὰς περικεῖσθαι πράξεις. Καὶ ἀκούω πολλῶν ἐπὶ τούτῳ θαυμαζομένων. «Ὁ δεῖνα, φησίν, ἔχει τὸ σχῆμα αὑτοῦ· ἡ κλίνη ἐξεστρωμένη ἐστὶν καὶ σκεύη χαλκᾶ ἔχει πολλά· οἰκοδεσπότης ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν.» «Καὶ τί ἡμῖν ἐγκαλεῖς, φησίν, τοῖς ταῦτα κεκτημένοις, δέον τοῖς τὰ πλείονα ἔχουσιν ἐγκαλεῖν;» ∆ι' ὑμῶν πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐκείνων κατηγορῶ· εἰ γὰρ οὐκ ἀφίημι αἰτίας τοὺς τὰ ὀλίγα ἔχοντας, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τοὺς τὰ πλείονα κεκτημένους. Σχῆμά ἐστιν οὐχὶ οἰκίας λαμπρότης, οὐδὲ ἐπιβλημάτων πολυτέλεια, οὐδὲ στιβὰς ἐξεστρωμένη, οὐδὲ κλίνη κεκαλλωπισμένη, οὐδὲ οἰκετῶν πλῆθος. Πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα ἡμῶν ἐκτὸς καὶ οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς. Τὰ δὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπιείκεια, ὑπεροψία χρημάτων, ὑπεροψία δόξης, τὸ καταγελᾶν τῆς παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν τιμῆς, τὸ μηδὲν ἡγεῖσθαι τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, τὸ τὴν πενίαν ἀσπάζεσθαι, τὸ τὴν φύσιν ὑπερβαίνειν τῇ τοῦ βίου ἀρετῇ· τοῦτο εὐσχημοσύνη, τοῦτο δόξα, τοῦτο τιμή. Τὸ δὲ αἴτιον πάντων τῶν κακῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοῦτο γίνεται, καὶ πῶς, ἐγὼ λέγω. Τὸ παιδίον εὐθέως ἐτέχθη· πάντα μηχανᾶται ὁ πατὴρ οὐχ ὅπως αὐτοῦ τὸν βίον ῥυθμίσειεν, ἀλλ' ὅπως αὐτὸ καλλωπίσειεν καὶ χρυσίοις καὶ ἱματίοις περιβάλοι. Τί δή ποτε τοῦτο ποιεῖς, ἄνθρωπε; Ἔστω, αὐτὸς ταῦτα περίκεισαι· τί καὶ τὸ παιδίον, τὸ οὐδέπω τῆς μανίας ταύτης πεῖραν λαβόν, παιδεύεις ἐν τούτοις; Τίνος ἕνεκεν περιτιθεῖς κόσμον περὶ τὸν τράχηλον; Παιδαγωγοῦ χρεία ἀκριβοῦς, ὥστε ῥυθμίζειν τὸν παῖδα, χρυσίου δὲ οὐκέτι. Καὶ κόμην δὲ ὄπισθεν ἀφίεις εἰς κόρης σχῆμα εὐθέως ἐκθηλύνων τὸν παῖδα καὶ τὸ τῆς φύσεως στερρὸν μαλάσσων, ἐξ ἀρχῆς αὐτῷ χρημάτων ἔρωτα περιττὸν ἐντιθεὶς καὶ πείθων περὶ τὰ ἀνόνητα ἐπτοῆσθαι. Τί κατασκευάζεις αὐτῷ μείζονα τὴν ἐπιβουλήν; τί περὶ τὰ σωματικὰ ποιεῖς ἐπτοῆσθαι; «Ἀνήρ, φησίν, ἐὰν κομᾷ, ἀτιμία αὐτῷ ἐστιν.» Οὐ βούλεται ἡ φύσις· οὐκ ἐπέτρεψεν τοῦτο ὁ Θεός· τὸ πρᾶγμα κεκώλυται· ἑλληνικῆς ἐστι δεισιδαιμονίας ἔργον. Πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν ὤτων ἐξαρτῶσι χρυσία· εἴθε μηδὲ κόραι τούτων ἀπήλαυον, ὑμεῖς δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς