HOMILY V1L] HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS. proof rather of weakness than of power. How then is it not absurd that we are not counted of as much value as earth and ashes, (for such is gold,) but that we are honored for its sake? With reason. But not so he that despiseth wealth ; for it were better not to be honored at all, than so honored. For tell me, were one to say to thee, I think thee worthy of no honor at all, but for thy servants sakes I honor thee, could now anything be worse than this dishonor? But if to be honored for the sake of servants, who are partakers of the same soul and nature with ourselves, be a disgrace, much more then is it such, to be honored for the sake of meaner things, such as the walls and courts of houses, and vessels of gold, and gar ments. A scorn indeed were this, and shame ; better die than be so honored. For, tell me, if thou wert in peril in this thy pride, and some low and disgusting person were to be willing to extricate thee from thy peril, what could be worse than this? What ye say one to another about the city, I wish to say to you. Once on a time our 1 city gave offense to the Emperor, 2 and he gave orders that the whole of it should utterly be destroyed, men, chil dren, houses, and all. (For such is the wrath of kings, they indulge their power as much as ever they choose, so great an evil is power.) It was then in the extremest of perils. The neigh boring city, however, this one on the sea-coast, went and besought the king in our behalf : upon which the inhabitants of our city said that this was worse than if the city had been razed to the ground. So, to be thus honored is worse than being dishonored. For see whence honor hath its root. The hands of cooks procure us to be honored, so that to them we ought to feel grati tude ; and swineherds supplying us with a rich table, and weavers, and spinners, and workers in metal, and confectioners, and table furnishers. Were it not then better not to be honored at all, than to be beholden to these for the honor? And besides this, moreover, I will endeavor to prove clearly that opulence is a condition full of dishonor ; it embases the soul ; and what is more dishonorable than this? For tell me, suppose one had a comely person, and passing all in beauty, and wealth were to go to him and prom ise to make it ugly, and instead of healthy, dis eased, instead of cool, inflamed ; and having filled every limb with dropsy, were to make the 1 i.e. his native Antioch. 2 TU> KparovvTi, the Emperor Theodosius. This was preached under his successor Arcadius. For an account of the events referred to, see Pref. to Homilies on the Statues. The " neighboring city," however, is not named there, though the sympathy of neighboring cities is mentioned in Horn. ii. It is supposed to be Seleucia. [" Our city " might be naturally used to denote what was, at the time of which he is speaking, the city of himself and his fellow-citi zens. See above, Horn, hi., near the end, the clear proof that these homilies on Colossians were deHvered in Constantinople. J. A. B.] countenance bloated, and distend it all over , and were to swell out the feet, and make them heavier than logs, and to puff up the belly, and make it larger than any tun ; and after this, it should promise not even to grant permission to cure him, to those who should be desirous of doing so, (for such is the way with power,) but would give him so much liberty as to punish any one that should approach him to withdraw him from what was harming him ; well then, tell me, when wealth works these effects in the soul, how can it be honorable ? But this power is a more grievous thing than the disease itself; as for one in disease not to be obedient to the physician s injunctions is a more serious evil than the being diseased ; and this is the case with wealth, seeing it creates inflam mation in every part of the soul, and forbids the physicians to come near it. So let us not felici tate these on the score of their power, but pity them ; for neither were I to see a dropsical patient lying, and nobody forbidding him to take his fill of whatever drinks he pleased and of meats that are harmful, would I felicitate him because of his power. For not in all cases is power a good thing, nor are honors either, for these too fill one with much arro gance. But if thou wouldest not choose that the body should along with wealth contract such a disease, how comest thou to overlook the soul, and when contracting not this scourge alone, but another also? For it is on fire all over with burning fevers and inflammations, and that burn ing fever none can quench, for wealth will not allow of this, having persuaded it that those things are gains, which are really losses, such as not enduring any one and doing everything at will. For no other soul will one find so replete with lusts so great and so extravagant, as theirs who are desirous of being rich. For what silly trifles do they not picture to them selves ! One may see these devising more ex travagant things than limners of hippocentaurs, and chimaeras, and dragon-footed things, and Scyllas, and monsters. And if one should choose to give a picture of one lust of theirs, neither Scylla, nor chimaera, nor hippocentaur will appear anything at all by the side of such a prodigy ; but you will find it to contain every wild beast at once. And perchance some one will suppose that I have been myself possessed of much wealth, seeing I am so true to what really comes of it. It is reported of one (for I will first confirm what I have said from the legends of the Greeks) it is reported amongst them of a certain king, that he became so insolent in luxury, as to make a plane tree of gold,3 and 3 Ed. Par. refers to Herod, vii. 27, where such a tree is men-