478 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY I. with him. Again, do you think that they are free from grief, who live a life of ease? It is impossible. As a man cannot escape death, so neither can he escape sorrow. How many troubles must they endure, which we cannot express in words, and which they only can know by experience ! How many have prayed a thousand times to die, in the midst of their wealth and luxury ! For luxury by no means puts men out of the reach of grief: it is rather the very thing to produce sorrows, diseases, and uneasiness, often when there is no real ground for it. For when such is the habit of the soul, it is apt to grieve even without a cause. Physi cians say that from a weak state of the stomach arise sorrows * without any occasion ; and does not the like happen to ourselves, to feel uneasy, without knowing any cause for it ? In short, we can find no one who is exempted from sorrow. And if he has less occasion for grief than our selves, yet he thinks otherwise, for he feels his own sorrows, more than those of other men. As they who suffer pain in any part of their bodies, think that their sufferings exceed their neighbor s. He that has a disease of the eye, thinks there is nothing so painful, and he that has a disorder in the stomach, considers that the sorest of diseases, and each thinks that the heaviest of sufferings, with which he is himself afflicted. So it is with sorrow, each thinks his own present grief the most severe. For of this he judges by his own experience. He that is childless considers nothing so sad as to be with out children ; he that is poor, and has many children, complains of the extreme evils of a large family. He who has but one, looks upon this as the greatest misery, because that one, being set too much store by, and never cor rected, becomes willful, and brings grief upon his father. He who has a beautiful wife, thinks nothing so bad as having a beautiful wife, be cause it is the occasion of jealousy and intrigue. He who has an ugly one, thinks nothing worse than having a plain wife, because it is constantly disagreeable. The private man thinks nothing more mean, more useless, than his mode of life. The soldier declares that nothing is more toil some, more perilous, than warfare ; that it would be better to live on bread and water than endure such hardships. He that is in power thinks there can be no greater burden than to attend to the necessities of others. He that is subject to that power, thinks nothing more servile than living at the beck of others. The married man considers nothing worse than a wife, and the cares of marriage. The unmarried declares there is nothing so wretched as being unmarried, and wanting the repose of a home. The.mer- 1 Or, " pains." chant thinks the husbandman happy in his se curity. The husbandman thinks the merchant so in his wealth. In short, all mankind are some how hard to please, and discontented and impa tient. Whencondemning the whole race,he saith, " Man is a thing of nought " (Ps. cxliv. 4), imply ing that the whole kind is a wretched unhappy creature. How many long for old age ! How many think youth a happy time ! Thus each different period has its unhappiness. When we find ourselves censured on account of our youth, we say, why are we not old? and when our heads are hoary, we ask whither has our youth flown? Numberless, in short, are the occasions of sorrow. There is one path only by which this unevenness can be escaped. It is the path of virtue. Yet that too has its sorrows, only they are sorrows not unprofitable, but produc tive of gain and advantage. For if any one has sinned, he washes away his sin by the compunc tion that comes of his sorrow. Or, if he has grieved in sympathizing with a fallen brother, this is not without its recompense. For sym pathy with those that are in misery gives us great confidence towards God. Hear therefore what philosophy is taught by the example of Job in holy Scripture ! Hear also what Paul saith : " Weep with them that weep" ; and again, "Condescend to men of low estate." (Rom. xii. 15, 16.) For, by the com munication of sorrow, the extreme burden of it is lightened. For as in the case of a heavy load, he that bears part of the weight relieves him who was bearing it alone, so it is in all other things. But now, when any one of our relatives dies, there are many who sit by and console us. Nay, we often raise up even an ass that has fallen ; but when the souls of our brethren are falling, we overlook them and pass by, as if they were of less value than an ass. And if we see any one entering into a tavern indecently ; nay, if we see him drunk, or guilty of any other unseemly action, we do not restrain him, we rather join him in it. Whence Paul has said : " They not only do these things, but have pleasure in them that do them." (Rom. i. 32.) The greater part even form associations - for the purposes of drunkenness. But do thou, O man, form asso ciations to restrain the madness of inebriety. Such friendly doings are beneficial to those who are in bonds or in affliction. Something of this kind Paul enjoined to the Corinthians, alluding to which he says, " That there be no gatherings when I come." (i Cor. xvi. 2.) But now every thing is done with a view to luxury, reveling, and pleasure. We have a common seat, a com mon table, we have wine in common, and com- 2 O-V/J.HOPLIK;. See on Stat. Horn. xi. fin. See also St. Chrysos- tom s advice to Clubs, on Rom. xiii. 14, Horn. xxiv. 14.