restrain it at its beginning, nor cut it off, we cannot afterwards reach to the end of it, but it becomes too great for our power. Wherefore, I beseech you, let us do everything that we may never become drowsy. Do you not see that when sentinels have only given way a little to sleep, they derive no advantage from their long watch, for by that little they have ruined the whole, having given perfect security to him who is prepared to steal. For as we do not see thieves in the same way that they see us, so also the devil most of all is ever instant, and lying in wait, and grinding his teeth. Let us not then slumber. Let us not say, on this side there is nothing, on that side nothing; we are often plundered from a quarter whence we did not expect it. So it is with vice; we perish from a quarter whence we did not expect it. Let us look carefully round upon all things, let us not be drunken, and we shall not sleep. Let us not be luxurious, and we shall not slumber. Let us not be mad for external things, and we shall continue in sobriety. Let us discipline ourselves on every side. And as men who walk upon a tight rope cannot be off their guard ever so little, for that little causes great mischief: for the man losing his balance is at once precipitated down and perishes; so neither is it possible for us to be off our guard. We walk upon a narrow road intercepted by precipices on either side, not admitting of two feet at the same time. Seest thou not how much careful- ness is necessary? Seest thou not how those who travel on such roads guard not only their feet, but their eyes also? For if he should choose to gaze on one side, though his foot stand firm, his eye becoming dizzy from the depth, plunges the whole body down. But he must take heed to himself and to his steps; wherefore he says, “neither to the right hand, nor to the left.” (Prov. iv. 27.) Great is the depth of vice, high the precipices, much darkness below. Let us take heed to the narrow way, let us walk with fear and trembling. No one, who is traveling such a road, is dissolved in laughter nor heavy with drunkenness, but travels such a road with sobriety and fasting. No one traveling such a road carries with him any super- fluities; for he would be contented even lightly equipped to be able to escape. No one en- tangles his own feet, but leaves them disengaged, and free to move. But we, chaining ourselves down with numberless cares, and carrying with us the numberless burdens of this life, staring about, and loosely rambling, how do we expect to travel in that narrow road? He has not merely said that “narrow is the way” (Matt. vii. 14.), but with wonder, “how1034 narrow is the way,” that is, exceedingly narrow. And this we also do in things that are quite objects of wonder. And “straitened,” he says, “is the way 1034 [All the mss. examined for Field give not ὅτι, “because,” but τί, “what,” “to what extent,” “how.” This more difficult reading of Matt. vii. 14 is quite probably correct. See Margin of Rev. Ver. Observe also that Chrys. seems to omit “the gate,” connecting “narrow and straitened” with the way, as do several other Fathers (see Tisch.). Many now speak of the “strait and narrow way,” and often imagine that it means “straight.” Chrys. has a different text of this passage in his Homilies on Matthew, though some mss. there also give τί. See Amer. ed. of Tr. p. 162.—J.A.B.] 643 1 Thessalonians 5:1,2