Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 60 part 2/2

And in the city we take such great pains to confine the wild beasts in a desert place and in cages;

and we keep them bound far off and at a distance, neither near the council-chamber of the city, nor by the courts of justice, nor by the royal palace;

but in the case of the soul, where the council-chamber is, where the palace is, where the tribunal is, there the beasts are let loose, crying out and making an uproar around the mind itself and the royal throne.

For this reason all things are turned upside down, and all are full of confusion, both within and without, and each one of us differs in nothing from a city thrown into turmoil by an incursion of barbarians;

and the very same thing happens as if, when a serpent set upon a nest of sparrows, the sparrows should fly about everywhere chirping in terror and full of confusion, having nowhere to lay to rest their anguish.

Wherefore I exhort you, let us slay the serpent, let us shut up the beasts, let us strangle them, let us slaughter them;

and let us give over these wicked reasonings to the sword of the Spirit, lest the prophet should threaten us also with such things as he did Judaea, that 'satyrs shall dance there, and hedgehogs, and serpents.'

For there are, indeed there are, men worse than satyrs, living as it were in a wilderness and kicking out;

and among us the greater part of our youth is of this sort.

For having savage desires, they leap about in this way, they kick in this way, going around unbridled, and using their eagerness for none of the things they ought.

The fathers are to blame, who compel the horse-breakers to school their own horses with much care, and do not allow the colt's youth to advance far untamed, but from the very outset put upon it both the bridle and all the rest;

but their own young men they overlook for a long time as unbridled, going about destitute of self-control, disgracing themselves with fornications and dice and dissipations in lawless theatres, when they ought before any fornication to give them over to a wife, a chaste and most wise wife;

for she will both draw the man away from that most unseemly manner of life, and will become as it were a bridle to the colt.

For fornications and adulteries come from no other source than from the young men being left uncurbed.

For if a man has a prudent wife, he will take care both of his household and of his reputation and good name.

For if Isaac, being forty years old, took his bride, having passed all that time of his life in virginity, much more ought the young men who live in grace to practise this self-restraint.

But what am I to suffer? You will not bear to take care of their chastity, but overlook them as they disgrace themselves, defile themselves, and become polluted, not knowing that the gain of marriage is to keep the body pure;

and if this be not so, there is no benefit in marriage.

But you do the very opposite;

for when they have been filled with countless stains, then you lead them to marriage, in vain and to no purpose.

'For one must wait,' says he, 'that he may become of good repute, that he may shine in public affairs;'

but of the soul you take no account, but overlook it as it lies cast aside.

For this reason all things are full of confusion and disorder and turmoil, because this is treated as a secondary matter, because the necessary things are neglected, while the worthless things obtain much forethought.

Do you not know that you can grant your child no such favour as to keep him pure from the uncleanness of fornication? For nothing is equal to the soul.

For 'what is a man profited,' He says, 'if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?' But the love of money has overturned and cast down all things, and has thrust aside the exact fear of God, taking possession of men's souls as some tyrant seizes a citadel.

Wherefore we neglect both our children's salvation and our own, aiming at this one thing only, that having become more well-off, we may leave wealth to others, and they again to others, and those who come after them to those who come after them, becoming as it were mere forwarders of our possessions and our money, but not its masters.

Hence the free are held in less honour than the slaves.

For the slaves we chastise, if not for their own sake, yet at least for our own;

but the free do not even enjoy this forethought, but are of even less account with us than these.

And why do I speak of the slaves? For our children are held in less honour even than cattle, and we care more for asses and

horses than for our children.

If a man owns a mule, great is his anxiety to find the very best muleteer, one who is neither dishonest, nor a thief, nor a drunkard, nor unskilled in the craft;

but when we must set a tutor over the soul of a child, we choose, carelessly and at random, the first man who comes along.

And yet than this craft there is no other greater.

For what is equal to the training of a soul and the moulding of a young man's mind? Indeed, he who possesses this science must be more exact than any painter and any sculptor whatsoever.

But we take no account of this; we look only to one thing, that the tongue be trained.

And even this, again, we have busied ourselves about for the sake of money.

For it is not that he may be able to speak, but that he may make money, that he learns to speak;

since, if it were possible to grow rich even without this, we would take no account even of this.

Do you see how great is the tyranny of riches? how it has laid hold of everything, and, binding us as though we were slaves and cattle, drags us wherever it will? But what profit have we from all these accusations? For we, indeed, assail it with words;

but it prevails over us by our deeds.

Nevertheless, not even so will we cease assailing it with the words that come from the tongue.

For if some gain be made, both we and you have profited;

but if you continue in the same courses, at least our part has been wholly discharged.

And may God both deliver you from this disease, and enable us to glory over you;

for to Him is the glory and the might unto the ages of ages.