232 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY X.
this is nothing else than loss ; for tell me now,
let us examine in detail the conditions of riches,
and see whether it be not loss accompanied with
trouble, and without any gain. For tell me,
what is the advantage of those stores of costly
garments, what good do we gain when we are
arrayed in them ? None, nay, we are only losers.
How so? Because even the poor man, in his
cheap and threadbare clothing, does not bear
the scorching in time of heat any wise worse
than yourself; nay, rather he bears it better, for
clothes that are threadbare and worn single allow
more ease to the body, but not so with those
which are new made, though they be finer than
the spider s web. Besides, you, from your ex
cessive self-importance, wear even two and often
three inner garments, and a cloak and girdle,
and breeches too. but no one blames him if he
wears but a single inner garment ; so that he is
the man that endures most easily. It is owing
to this that we see rich men sweating, but the
poor subject to nothing of the sort. Since then
his cheap clothing, which is sold for a trifle,
answers the same or even a better purpose to
him, and those clothes, which oblige a man to
pay down much gold, do only the same thing,
is not this great superabundance so much loss?
For it has added nothing in respect of its use
and service, but your purse is emptied of so
much the more gold, and the same use and ser
vice. You who have riches have purchased for
a hundred pieces of gold, or even more, but the
poor man for a trifling sum of silver. Do you
perceive the loss? No, for your pride will not
let you see it. Would you have us make out
this account in the case of the gold ornaments
too, which men put alike about their horses and
their wives? For besides the other evils, the
possession of money makes fools of men ; they
account their wives and horses to be worthy of
the same honor, and the ornamentation of both
is the same ; and they would make themselves
finer by the same means as the very beasts that
carry them, or as the very skins of the awnings,
wherein they are borne. What now is the use
of decking out a mule or a horse with gold ? or
the lady, that has such a weight of gold and
jewels about her person, what does she gain?
"
But the golden ornaments are neverworn out,"
he answers. Assuredly this also is said that in
the baths and many places both precious stones
and gold ornaments lose much of their value.
But be it so, and grant that they are not injured,
tell me, what is the gain ? And how is it when
they drop out, and are lost? is there no loss
sustained? And how when they draw down
upon you envy and intrigues? is there no loss
then? For when they do the wearer no good,
but rather inflame the eyes of the envious, and
act as an incitement to the robber, do they not
become loss ? And again, say, when a man may
use them for a serviceable purpose, but is unable
on account of the extravagance of his wife, and
is obliged to starve and to stint himself, that he
may see her arrayed in gold, is it not a matter
of loss ? For it was on this account that goods
have their name from use,
1
not that we should
use them thus like goldsmiths samples, but that
we should do some good therewith ; so then
when love of gold does not allow this, is not the
whole thing loss? for he that dares not use them
forbears the use as if they were another s prop
erty, and there is no use of them in any way.
Again, how is it when we erect splendid and
spacious mansions, decorated with columns,
marbles, porticos, arcades, and in every possible
way, setting images and statues everywhere?
Many indeed even call demons out of these, i.e.
the images, but let us omit the examination of
those points. What too is the meaning of the
gilded ceiling? Does it not supply the same
need as to him, whose house is on a moderate
scale ?
"
But there is great delight in it," he says.
Yes, for the first or second day, and afterwards,
none at all, but it stands merely for nothing.
For if the sun does not strike us with wonder,
from its being customary, much more do works
of art fail, and we only look at them like things
of clay. For tell me, what does a range of
pillars contribute to make your dwelling superior
to others, or the finest statues, or the gilding
spread over the wall? Nothing; rather, these
come of luxury and insolence, and overweening
pride and folly ; for everything there ought to be
necessary and useful, not superfluous things.
Do you see that the thing is loss ? Do you see
that it is superfluous and unprofitable? for if
it supplies no further use or delight, (and it
"does," in the course of time, bring satiety,)
it is nothing else than loss, and vainglory is the
hindrance, which will not let us see this.
Did Paul then forsake those things which he
"
counted gain," and shall not we even quit our
loss, for Christ s sake? How long shall we be
riveted to the earth? How long till we shall
look up to heaven ? Do ye not mark the aged,
what little perception they have of the past?
Do ye not mark those that are finishing their
course, both men in age, and men in youth?
Do ye not see persons in the midst of life bereft
of them ? Why are we so wedded to unstable
objects? Why are we linked to things that are
shifting ? How long before we lay hold of the
things that last? What would not the old give,
were it granted them to divest themselves of
their old age ? How irrational then to wish to
return to our former youth, and gladly to give
everything for the sake of this, that we might
become younger, and yet when it is ours to re-
1 i.e. \pritia.TOL, from \pa.a8a.\.
"
to use."