5

you lead your males to ruin. Perhaps many laugh at what is being said, as if these things were small. They are not small, but even very great. A girl, taught in her mother's chamber to be excited for womanly adornment, whenever she leaves her father's house, will be disagreeable and difficult for her bridegroom, and more burdensome than those who demand tribute. I have already told you that from that point, vice becomes hard to uproot, because no one provides for the children, because no one speaks to them about virginity, no one about self-control, no one about contempt for money and glory, no one about these things that are commanded in the scriptures. Therefore, when children lack teachers from their earliest age, what will they become? For if some who are nourished from the womb and taught until old age still do not succeed, what terrible thing would not be done by those who from the beginning of their lives are accustomed to hearing these things? But now, each one makes every effort to educate his own children in crafts and letters and words, but how the soul might be trained, no one any longer takes any account of this. I do not cease exhorting you and begging and imploring, that before all other things you should for the time being discipline your children. For if you care for your child, show it by this; besides, you also have a reward. For hear Paul saying: "...if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control." And if you are conscious of countless evils in yourself, nevertheless devise some consolation for your evils. Raise an athlete for Christ. I do not say this, that you should lead him away from marriage and send him into the deserts and prepare him to choose the life of monks; I do not say this. I do wish this and prayed that all would accept it, but since it seems burdensome, I do not compel. Raise an athlete for Christ and, while he is in the world, teach him to be devout from his earliest age. If good teachings are impressed upon the soul while it is still soft, no one will be able to erase them when it has become hard like a seal, just like wax. You have him still trembling and fearing and being afraid of both your look and word and anything whatsoever; make use of your authority for what is needful. You are the first to enjoy the good things, if you have a good son, and then God; you toil for yourself. It is said that pearls, when they are first taken, are water. If, then, the one receiving it is experienced, placing that drop on his hand and moving his hand, receiving it with upturned hand on the palm and turning it around precisely, he lathes it and makes it very round. But whenever it happens to have been formed, he is no longer master to reshape it. For the soft thing is suitable for everything, not yet having its own state fixed; therefore it is easily drawn to everything. But the hard thing, as if having acquired a certain disposition, its hardness, does not easily depart from it, nor does it migrate to another disposition. Therefore let each of you, fathers and mothers, just as we see painters fashioning their pictures and statues with much precision, so let us take care of these wonderful statues. For painters, setting out their panel, paint it each day as is needed. And stonemasons do the same with stones, removing what is superfluous, and adding what is lacking. So also you: like makers of certain statues, devote all your leisure to this, fashioning these wonderful statues for God; and remove what is superfluous, and add what is lacking; and inspect them each day, to see what advantage it has from nature, so that you may increase it, and what defect from nature, so that you may remove it. And with great precision, first of all banish from them the speech of licentiousness; for this desire especially troubles the souls of the young. Or rather, before they come to the experience of this

5

ἄρρενας ἄγετε τὴν λύμην. Τάχα πολλοὶ γελῶσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις, ὡς μικρῶν ὄντων τούτων. Οὔκ ἐστι μικρά, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα μεγάλα. Κόρη ἐν τῷ θαλάμῳ τῷ μητρικῷ παιδευθεῖσα πρὸς κόσμον ἐπτοῆσθαι γυναικεῖον, ἐπειδὰν ἐξέλθῃ τὴν πατρῴαν οἰκίαν, δυσχερὴς ἔσται καὶ χαλεπὴ τῷ νυμφίῳ καὶ τῶν τοὺς φόρους ἀπαιτούντων φορτικωτέρα. Εἶπον καὶ ἤδη πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὅτι ἐκεῖθεν ἡ κακία δυσανάσπαστος γίνεται, ὅτι οὐδεὶς τῶν παίδων προνοεῖ, ὅτι οὐδεὶς περὶ παρθενίας αὐτοῖς διαλέγεται, οὐδεὶς περὶ σωφροσύνης, οὐδεὶς περὶ ὑπεροψίας χρημάτων καὶ δόξης, οὐδεὶς ταῦτα τὰ ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς παρηγγελμένα. Ὅταν τοίνυν ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας διδασκάλων ἀπορήσωσιν οἱ παῖδες, τί ἔσονται; Εἰ γὰρ ἐκ κοιλίας τρεφόμενοί τινες καὶ ἕως γήρως παιδευόμενοι οὔπω κατορθοῦσιν, οἱ ἐκ προοιμίων τῆς ζωῆς αὐτῶν τούτοις συνεθιζόμενοι τοῖς ἀκούσμασιν τί οὐκ ἂν ἐργάσωνται δεινόν; Νῦν δὲ ὅπως μὲν τέχνας καὶ γράμματα καὶ λόγους τοὺς αὑτῶν παῖδας παιδεύσειεν, ἅπασαν ἕκαστος ποιεῖται σπουδήν, ὅπως δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀσκηθείη, τούτου οὐκέτι οὐδεὶς λόγον ἔχει τινά. Οὐ παύομαι παρακαλῶν ὑμᾶς καὶ δεόμενος καὶ ἀντιβολῶν, ὥστε πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων τέως ὑμῶν ῥυθμίζειν τοὺς παῖδας. Εἰ γὰρ φείδῃ τοῦ παιδός, δεῖξον ἀπὸ τούτου· ἄλλως δὲ καὶ μισθὸν ἔχεις. Ἄκουε γὰρ τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος· «... ἐὰν ἐπιμείνωσι τῇ πίστει καὶ τῇ ἀγάπῃ καὶ τῷ ἁγιασμῷ μετὰ σωφροσύνης.» Καὶ εἰ σὺ μυρία σαυτῷ σύνοιδας κακά, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐπινόησον παραμυθίαν τινὰ τοῖς σοῖς κακοῖς. Θρέψον ἀθλητὴν τῷ Χριστῷ. Οὐ τοῦτο λέγω ὅτι γάμου ἀπάγαγε καὶ εἰς τὰς ἐρημίας ἀπόστειλον καὶ τὸν τῶν μοναχῶν παρασκεύασον ἑλέσθαι βίον· οὐ τοῦτο λέγω. Βούλομαι μὲν τοῦτο καὶ πάντας ηὐχόμην καταδέξασθαι, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ φορτικὸν εἶναι δοκεῖ, οὐκ ἀναγκάζω. Θρέψον ἀθλητὴν τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ ἐν κόσμῳ ὄντα δίδαξον εὐλαβῆ ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας. Ἂν εἰς ἁπαλὴν οὖσαν ἔτι τὴν ψυχὴν ἐντυπωθῇ τὰ καλὰ διδάγματα, οὐδεὶς αὐτὰ ἐξελεῖν δυνήσεται, ὅταν σκληρὰ γένηται ὡς τύπος, ὥσπερ καὶ κηρός. Ἔχεις αὐτὸν ἔτι τρέμοντα καὶ φοβούμενον καὶ δεδοικότα καὶ ὄψιν καὶ ῥῆμα καὶ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν· κέχρησο τῇ ἀρχῇ εἰς δέον. Σὺ πρῶτος ἀπολαύεις τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ἐὰν υἱὸν ἔχῃς καλὸν καὶ τότε ὁ Θεός· σαυτῷ κάμνεις. Λέγονται οἱ μαργαρῖται, ὅταν εὐθέως ληφθῶσιν, ὕδωρ εἶναι. Ἂν μὲν οὖν ἔμπειρος ᾖ ὁ δεχόμενος, ἐπὶ τῆς χειρὸς θεὶς τὴν σταγόνα ἐκείνην καὶ τὴν χεῖρα διακινήσας δεχόμενος ὑπτία τῇ χειρὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ θέναρος καὶ περιστρέφων εἰς ἀκρίβειαν ἀποτορνεύει καὶ ποιεῖ σφόδρα στρογγύλον. Ἐπειδὰν δὲ τύχῃ τυπωθῆναι, οὐκέτι κύριός ἐστι διατυπῶσαι. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἁπαλὸν πρὸς πᾶν ἐπιτήδειόν ἐστι τὴν ἕξιν τὴν οἰκείαν οὐδέπω πεπηγυῖαν ἔχον· διόπερ εὐκόλως πρὸς πάντα ἕλκεται· τὸ δὲ σκληρὸν ὥσπερ ἀπολαβόν τινα διάθεσιν τὴν σκληρότητα οὐκ εὐκόλως αὐτῆς ἐξίσταται, οὐδὲ πρὸς ἑτέραν μετοικίζεται διάθεσιν. Ἕκαστος τοίνυν ὑμῶν τῶν πατέρων καὶ τῶν μητέρων, καθάπερ τοὺς ζωγράφους ὁρῶμεν τὰς εἰκόνας καὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀκριβείας ἐξασκοῦντας, οὕτω τῶν θαυμαστῶν τούτων ἀγαλμάτων ἐπιμελώμεθα. Προθέντες γὰρ οἱ ζωγράφοι τὸν πίνακα καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν αὐτὸν ἐπιχρίουσι πρὸς τὸ δέον. Οἱ δὲ λιθοξόοι τῶν λίθων καὶ αὐτοὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πράττουσιν, τὸ μὲν περιττὸν περιαιροῦντες, τὸ δὲ ἐνδέον προστιθέντες. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς· καθάπερ ἀγαλμάτων τινῶν κατασκευασταί, πρὸς τοῦτο τὴν σχολὴν ἅπασαν ἔχετε τὰ θαυμαστὰ ἀγάλματα τῷ Θεῷ κατασκευάζοντες· καὶ τὸ μὲν περιττὸν ἐξαιρεῖτε, τὸ δὲ ἐνδέον προστίθετε· καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην αὐτὰ περισκοπεῖτε τὴν ἡμέραν, ποῖον ἀπὸ φύσεως ἔχει πλεονέκτημα, ὥστε αὐτὸ αὔξειν, ποῖον ἀπὸ φύσεως ἐλάττωμα, ὥστε αὐτὸ περιαιρεῖν. Καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀκριβείας πρῶτον μὲν αὐτῶν ἐξορίζετε τὸν τῆς ἀκολασίας λόγον· οὗτος γὰρ μάλιστα ὁ ἔρως ἐνοχλεῖ ταῖς τῶν νέων ψυχαῖς. Μᾶλλον δὲ πρὶν ἢ εἰς τὴν πεῖραν ταύτης ἐλθεῖν