Address on Vainglory and How to Bring Up Children

Has any man done what I asked? Has he prayed to God on our behalf and on behalf of the whole body of the Church for the quenching of the conflagration, begotten of Vainglory, which is bringing ruin on the entire body of the Church and is tearing the single body asunder into many separate limbs and is disrupting love? Like a wild beast swooping on a healthy, tender, and defenceless body, Vainglory has fastened her foul teeth in her victim and injected poison and filled it with a noisome stench. She has severed and cast away some limbs, others she has torn into shreds, others she has chewed up. Yea, if it were possible to look on Vainglory and the Church with our eyes, one would behold a pitiful sight, exceeding by far in savagery the spectacles in the circus — the body of the Church prostrate and Vainglory standing over it, gazing fixedly all-round, restraining those that attack her, never giving ground nor drawing back. Which of us will scare away this wild beast? It is the task of Him who has set the contest when we beseech Him to send his angels, and they, muzzling her bold and shameless mouth as it were with cords, lead her away so. He who has set the contest will do this whenever we cease to long for her when she has been led away. If He bids the dread beast withdraw from us and dismisses it, but we, after we have escaped safely and she has been driven off to her own den, rise up with our countless wounds and seek the beast once more and strike her and overturn her to carry her off, then He will pity us no longer nor spare us. “Who,” saith one (Ecclesiasticus 12:13), “pitieth the charmer that is stung or anyone that cometh nigh to a ravening beast?”

Well then? How may we be rid of this evil and wicked spirit? Truly it is a spirit with a lovely face. Suppose some spirit were to take on the form of a harlot and, bedecking itself with many golden ornaments and putting on soft raiment and scenting itself with many perfumes, should steal into the semblance of a woman, a semblance most fair and concealing an exceeding beauty, and then should seem to be of that very age that most flutters the hearts of young men, with the bloom of youth upon her, encircled by a golden girdle and with curls on her head tastefully plaited in the Persian fashion; and should place a circlet about her head, enhancing the beauty of her uncovered tresses, and displaying flashing gold and precious gems about her throat; and the spirit, having assumed the shape of a youthful whore, should stand all alone before the brothel and then should display the height of modesty. Whom of the youth that were there would she not capture? And then the spirit, leading the young man within the house, would put off that fair bloom and show itself in its own character, a hideous, fiery, savage spirit. And it would confound the wretched intruder and, leaping upon him and gaining possession of his soul, would drive his mind to frenzy. Even such is the wicked spirit of Vainglory. Could anything seem fairer than her, anything more lovable? But if we see that it is all sham reality as in the theatre, we shall not be ensnared in its nets nor caught by its stage tricks. The words spoke of a harlot (Proverbs 5:3) one might fairly utter also of such a one: “For the lips of a harlot woman drop as a honeycomb.” The same word might truly be applied also to Vainglory.

Vainglory is like the fruit of Sodom, which has a fair semblance and the beholder, as he views it, receives the impression of wholesome fruit. But if he takes in his hand a pomegranate or apple, straightway it is soft to his fingers and the rind that covers it outside is crushed and lets the fingers light upon dust and ashes. Such also is Vainglory. As we look upon her she seems tall and admirable, but when held fast in our hands forthwith she casts our soul down into the dust. That such is the nature of Vainglory can be proved by many examples. Well, then, let us begin, so you will, with the pagan world about us.

The theatre is filling up, and all the people are sitting aloft presenting a splendid sight and composed of numberless faces so that many times the very rafters and roof above are hidden by human bodies. You can see neither tiles nor stones, but all is men’s bodies and faces. Then, as the ambitious man who has brought them together enters in the sight of all, they stand up and as from a single mouth cry out. All with one voice call him protector and ruler of their common city and stretch out their hands in salutation. Next, between whiles they liken him to the greatest of rivers, comparing his grand and lavish munificence to the copious waters of the Nile; and they call him the Nile of gifts. Others, flattering him still more and thinking the simile of the Nile to mean, reject rivers and seas; and they instance the Ocean and say that he in his lavish gifts is what Ocean is among the waters, and they leave not a word of praise unsaid. The face of Vainglory is brilliant, but do you recall, pray, the likeness of the girl into which we fitted the evil spirit, bedecking it with gold and giving it the semblance of a youthful courtesan? And you will see that what is within the likeness is worthless.

What next? The great man bows to the crowd and in this way show his regard. Then he sits down amid the congratulations of all his admirers, each of whom prays that he himself may attain to the same eminence and then die. But after a huge expenditure on gold, silver, horses, costumes, slaves, and the rest, and the waste of many fortunes, they greet his departure with the same eulogies, though there are no longer so many in the crowd; for, as the theatre is ended, each man hastens to his own home. Then in his house, there are costly luncheons and much feasting and the brilliance of daylight. In the afternoon the events of the morning are repeated, and this continues for two or three days. And so, when he has expended all, even to the value of ten thousand talents of gold, these words of praise are seen to be nought but embers, ashes, and dust.

As often as he examines the accounts in his household and reflects on the extravagant outlay, he laments. While he is enjoying his heart’s desire he is possessed by a kind of intoxication of Vainglory and would expend himself as well, and he cannot form the smallest notion of his losses. But when he has come home — inside the dwelling of this evil spirit — and sees that his hour of glory has departed as the concourse has dissolved, and he looks at the theatre and finds it emptied of its audience and no man uttering a word, and that his losses are nothing of the imagination but have already been incurred in hard cash, then it is that he perceives the ashes.

And. if, after he has spent beyond his fortune, he is in want, and standing on his feet begs in the centre of the marketplace, and not one of those who formerly hailed him as their patron attends him or stretches out his hand, nay, what is more, if they rejoice at what has happened — for at the time when they hailed him, they were consumed with envy and thought it a consolation for their own domestic troubles that the man who had been so glorious was likely to be the most dishonoured of all — when no man attends him or stretches out a hand, can anything be more pitiful than that? Nay, is it not rather deserving of tears? Could anything be crueler?

Have you perhaps never at all heard of any man so unfortunate? One could wish that men had not stretched out their hands to him, but the opposite has happened; he is being assailed by the accusations of the very men who sang his praises. “Why,” says one, “did he run riot? Why was he in love with splendour? for what reason did he gratify harlots and players?” Oh, man without pity! did you not marvel at him? Did you not sing his praise? did you not lead him on to his present state by thy applause and flatteries? Did you not call him “The Nile” and “Ocean”? Did you not spend all day singing his praises? Whence thy sudden change of heart? And when pity is called for, do you accuse most bitterly those whom formerly you did applaud? If, when we see a man being punished among those whom we accuse, we are not so stony-hearted as not to be moved, ought we not to be moved to pity all the more when we behold those in misfortune whom we are lauded? But now you art an accuser. When he gave thee pleasure with the spectacle when you did pass the whole day neglecting all thy affairs, why did you not accuse him then?

do you see of what kind are the Devil’s works? Of what kind the fruits of Vainglory? I have called them ashes and dust. Nay, I see that they are not alone ashes and dust, but fire and smoke too; for the mischief does not stop at the point when enjoyment has ceased but endures until misfortunes overwhelm. It is ashes and dust for those who expend much and reap nothing, but it is so no less for those who suffer the misfortunes that I have just described.

“How then,” someone says, “when the givers are honoured for those public services and receive the admiration of the crowd, is that a small return?” Exceedingly small; for the honour that I have just described is not great — I mean, to be exposed to jeers and accusations and calumnies. “But what of those that receive the honour?” The same is true; for they are honoured not for the displays but because they are expected to spend further sums for the crowd. If they were honoured for favours received, why do men accuse them when they have nothing? Why will men not even go near them but rather deride them and call them spendthrifts and profligates? Have you not seen that Vainglory is like a madness?

But let us leave this aspect of Vainglory which is found only in one or two men, and turn to another. Suppose someone says: “What of those who spend in moderation on the amusements of the cities?” Tell me, I pray: What profits it? For them also the glory and the acclaim is but of a day. And to prove that this is so: Suppose someone gave them the choice of recovering all that money spent or the third part of it or even a small fraction, or else to have listened to no shouts of acclamation, do you think that they would not have preferred them ten thousand times? For if they commit ten thousand acts of shame and recklessness for a single obol, what would they not have done for all that money poured out at random?

At this point I direct my discourse to the faithful among us who refuse to hand over a trifling sum to Christ when He is poor and lacking the barest sustenance; and what the pagans spend on harlots and mimes and dancers in return for a single shout of applause, this our Christian will not give for the sake of the eternal kingdom.

But let us pass to another aspect of Vainglory. Which do I mean? One that affects many and not just one or two. We are pleased whenever men praise us even in respect of matters in which we are not implicated in the least degree. Now, the poor man does all he can to clothe himself in fine raiment for no other reason than that he may be held in honor by the crowd. And oftentimes, though he is able to do things for himself, he buys a slave, not because he needs him but that he may not appear disgraced by doing his own work. Tell me, for what reason do thou, after relying so long on the labor of thine own hands, wish now to be served by the hands of others? Or again, if a man acquires gold besides and owns silver plate and a fine house? 9 He needs none of these possessions; for, if they were needed, the greater part of the human race would have perished and been destroyed, as I will show you. There are necessities without which life is impossible; for example, the fruits of the earth are necessary, and if the earth does not bear life is impossible. Clothing to cover us, a roof and walls, shoes — these belong to the necessities, but all other possessions are superfluous. If these also were needful and a man could not live without a servant, as he cannot live without those real necessities, the majority of mankind would have perished, seeing that the majority has no servants. If it were needful to make use of silver plate and life without it were impossible, again the majority of mankind would have been destroyed, since the many do not own silver either. Suppose someone says to the owners of silver: “What does this plate mean to you?” The owner could only give as his reason the honor paid him by the crowd. “Well, I have acquired the plate so as to be admired and not looked down upon; but I hide it again, so that men may not envy and threaten me.” What could be worse than folly of this kind? If you ownest it that the crowd may pay you honor, then display it for all to see; but if you fear their envy, it is not good to own it at all.

Shall I tell you another folly? Oftentimes men, who have deprived themselves of the necessities and are wasting with hunger, still care for their household possessions. And, if you ask them why, they answer: “I must keep up my place.” What place, O man? Place does not make a man’s character. The righteous Elijah utterly despised place, and Elisha too, and John. The first owned nothing but a sheepskin and asked alms of a widow woman, though she herself was poor; and he lived a beggar’s life, coming to the doorway of that poor woman and uttering such words as beggars utter (1 Kings 17:10). Elisha also despised place when he used to be the poor woman’s guest (2 Kings 4:8). John despised place since he had no garment nor a single loaf (Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6). There is but one kind of place that is shameful, I mean the possession of great wealth, and that is shameful indeed. It brings a man the reputation of cruelty, effeminacy, lazy arrogance, vainglory, and brutality. Place consists not in wearing good raiment but in being clad in good works.

Yet I hear of many who are admired for this. “So and so,” someone says, “takes thought for his place. His couch is spread and he has an abundance of bronze vessels; he is the manager of his own house.” “And why,” says another, “do you accuse us who own these things, when you shouldst accuse those with greater possessions?” Through you I denounce them even more; for if I do not forbear from charging those who have little, how much more do I charge the wealthy. Place does not consist of a well-furnished house nor of costly tapestries nor a well-spread bed nor a decorated couch nor a crowd of servants. All these are externals and concern us not; but the things that concern us are fair dealing, disdain of money and fame, contempt for what the many think honor, disregard of human values, embracing poverty, and overcoming our nature by the virtue of our lives. It is these that constitute good place and reputation and honor. But what gives rise to all these evils from the beginning and the manner of it, I tell you now.

The man-child has lately been born. His father thinks of every means, not whereby he may direct the child’s life wisely, but whereby he may adorn it and clothe it in fine raiment and golden ornaments. Why do you this, O man? Granted that you do thyself wear these, why do you rear in this luxury thy son who is as yet still ignorant of this folly? For what purpose do you put a necklet about his throat? There is a need for a strict tutor to direct the boy, no need for gold. And you lettest his hair hang down behind, thereby at once making him look effeminate and like a girl and softening the ruggedness of his sex. Implanting in him from the first an excessive love of wealth and teaching him to be excited by things of no profit, why do you plot even greater treachery against him? Why do you excite him with the pleasures of the body? “If a man have long hair,” Paul says (1 Corinthians 11:14), “it is a shame unto him.” Nature disallows it. God has not sanctioned it, the thing is forbidden. It is an act of pagan superstition. Many also hang golden earrings on their children. Would that not even girls took pleasure in these; but you inflict this outrage on boys.

Many may laugh at what I am saying on the ground that these things are trifles. They are not trifles but of the first importance. The girl who has been reared in her mother’s quarters to be excited by female ornaments, when she leaves her father’s house will be a sore vexation to her bridegroom and a greater burden to him than the tax collectors. 12 1 have told you already that vice is hard to drive away for this reason, that no one takes thought for his children, no one discourses to them about virginity and sobriety or about contempt of wealth and fame, or of the precepts laid down in the Scriptures.

What will become of boys when from earliest youth they are without teachers? If grown men, after being nurtured from the womb and continuing their education to old age, still do not live righteously, what wrong will not children, accustomed from the threshold of life to empty words, commit? In our own day every man takes the greatest pains to train his boy in the arts and in literature and speech. But to exercise this child’s soul in virtue, to that no man any longer pays heed.

I shall not cease exhorting and begging and supplicating you before all else to discipline your sons from the first. If you do care for thy son, show it thus, and in other ways too you wilt have thy reward. Hearken to the words of Paul, “if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety” (1 Timothy 2; 15). And even if you art conscious of a myriad vices within thyself, nevertheless devise some compensation for thy vices. Raise up an athlete for Christ! I do not mean by this, hold him back from wedlock and send him to desert regions and prepare him to assume the monastic life. It is not this that I mean. I wish for this and used to pray that all might embrace it; but as it seems to be too heavy a burden, I do not insist upon it. Raise up an athlete for Christ and teach him though he is living in the world to be reverent from his earliest youth.

If good precepts are impressed on the soul while it is yet tender, no man will be able to destroy them when they have set firm, even as does a waxen seal. The child is still trembling and fearful and afraid in look and speech and in all else. Make use of the beginning of his life as you shouldst. you wilt be the first to benefit, if you hast a good son, and then God. you do labor for thyself.

They say that pearls when first they are collected are but water. But if he that receives them is skilled in his craft, he places the drop on his hand; and, moving it with a gentle rotating movement as it lies on the palm of his upturned hand, he shapes it skillfully and renders it perfectly round. Then, when it has received its form, he can no longer mold it; for that which is soft and with its proper shape not yet set firm is in every way adaptable and therefore is easily suited to every purpose. But that which is hard, having acquired a certain material outline, can be deprived of its hardness only with difficulty and is not changed into another shape.

To each of you fathers and mothers I say, just as we see artists fashioning their paintings and statues with great precision, so we must care for these wondrous statues of ours. Painters when they have set the canvas on the easel paint on it day by day to accomplish their purpose. 17 Sculptors, too, working in marble, proceed in a similar manner; they remove what is superfluous and add what is lacking. Even so must you proceed. Like the creators of statues do you give all your leisure to fashioning these wondrous statues for God. And, as you remove what is superfluous and add what is lacking, inspect them day by day, to see what good qualities nature has supplied so that you will increase them, and what faults so that you will eradicate them. And, first of all, take the greatest care to banish licentious speech; for love of this above all frets the souls of the young. Before he is of an age to try it, teach thy son to be sober and vigilant and to shorten sleep for the sake of prayer, and with every word and deed to set upon himself the seal of the faith.

Regard thyself as a king ruling over a city which is the soul of thy son; for the soul is in truth a city. 19 And, even as in a city some are thieves and some are honest men, some work steadily and some transact their business fitfully, so it is with the thoughts and reasoning in the soul. Some make war on wrongdoers, like soldiers in a city; others take thought for everything, both the welfare of the body and of the home, like those who carry on the government in cities. Some give orders, like the magistrates, some again counsel lewdness, like profligates, others reverence, like the virtuous. And some are effeminate, even as are women among us; others speak folly, like children. And some again receive orders as slaves, like servants in the city, while others are wellborn, like free men.

Hence we need laws to banish evildoers and admit the good and prevent the evildoers from rising up against the good. And, just as in a city, if laws are passed which permit thieves great license, the general welfare is undermined, and if the soldiers do not devote their ardor to its proper use, they ruin the body politic, and if each citizen abandons his own household affairs and busies himself with another’s, he destroys good order by his greed and ambition — so it is also in the case of the child.

The child’s soul then is a city, a city but lately founded and built, a city containing citizens who are strangers with no experience as yet, such as it is very easy to direct; for men who have been reared and have grown old under a bad constitution it would be difficult to reform, though not impossible. Even they can be reformed if they be willing. But those who are quite without experience would readily accept the laws that you givest them.

Draw up laws then for this city and its citizens, laws that inspire fear and are strong, and uphold them if they are being transgressed; for it is useless to draw up laws, if their enforcement does not follow.

Draw up laws, and do you pay close attention; for our legislation is for the world and today we are founding a city. Suppose that the outer walls and four gates, the senses, are built. The whole body shall be the wall, as it were, the gates are the eyes, the tongue, the hearing, the sense of smell, and, if you will, the sense of touch. It is through these gates that the citizens of the city go in and out; that is to say, it is through these gates that thoughts are corrupted or rightly guided.

Well now, let us first of all approach the gate of the tongue, seeing that this is the busiest of all; and let us, to begin with and before all the other gates, provide this one with doors and bolts, not of wood or iron but of gold. Verily the city that is thus equipped is golden; for it is not any mortal but the King of the universe who intends to dwell in this city, if it has been well built. And, as our discourse proceeds, you shall see where we set up His palace. So let us build for the city gates and bolts of gold, that is, the words of God, even as the prophet says (Psalms 119:103; 19:10); “The words of God are sweeter than honey and honeycomb to my mouth, more precious than gold and a stone of great price.” Let us teach the child so that the words revolve on his lips all the time, even on his walks abroad, not lightly nor incidentally nor at rare intervals, but without ceasing. It is not enough merely to cover the gates with gold leaf. They must be fashioned of gold thick and solid through and through, and they must have precious stones set in deeply instead of merely laid on the surface. The bolt of these gates shall be the Cross of the Lord fashioned through and through of precious gems and set athwart the middle of the gates. But when we have fashioned the gates massive and golden and have fixed on the bolt, we must fashion the citizens also to be worthy of the city. Of what character shall these citizens be? We must train the child to utter grave and reverent words. We must drive many strangers away, so that no corrupt men may also find their way in to mingle with these citizens. Wards that are insolent and slanderous, foolish, shameful, common, and worldly, all these we must expel. And no one save only the King must pass through these gates (cf. Ezekiel 44:2). For Him and all that are His this gate shall be open so that one may say of it (Psalms 118:20): “This is the gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter,” and, as the blessed Paul says (Ephesians 4:29), 20 “speech that is good for edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Let their words be giving thanks, solemn hymns; let their discourse ever be about God, about heavenly philosophy.

How shall this be? And in what manner shall we train them? If we are zealous critics of those that are growing. The boy is very easily guided. He does not fight for wealth or glory — he is still a small boy — nor on behalf of wife or children or home. What reason for insolence or evil-speaking should he have? He contends only with companions of his own age.

Make a law straightway that he use no one in despite, that he speak ill of no man, that he swear not, that he be not contentious. If you shouldst see him transgressing this law, punish him, now with a stem look, now with incisive, now with reproachful, words; at other times win him with gentleness and promises. Have not recourse to blows constantly and accustom him not to be trained by the rod; for if he feel it constantly as he is being trained, he will learn to despise it. And when he has learnt to despise it, he has reduced thy system to nought. Let him rather at all times fear blows but not receive them. Threaten him with the tawse, but do not lay it on and do not let thy threats proceed to action. Do not let it appear that thy words do not pass the stage of threats; for a threat is only of use when attended by the belief that it will be put into effect. If the offender learn your intention, he will despise it. So let him expect chastisement but not receive it, so that his fear may not be quenched but may endure, like a raging fire drawing thorny brushwood from every side or like a sharp and searching pick digging to the very depths. Yet when you do see that he has profited by fear, forbear, seeing that our human nature has need of some forbearance.

Teach him to be fair and courteous. If you do see a servant ill-used by him, do not overlook it, but punish him who is free; for if he knows that he may not ill use even a slave, he will abstain all the more from insulting or slandering one who is free and of his class. Stop his mouth from speaking evil. If you do see him traducing another, curb him and direct his tongue toward his own faults.

Exhort his mother, too, to converse with the child thus, and his tutor and his servant, so all of them together may be his guardians and on the watch that none of those evil thoughts spring out from the boy and from that mouth and from the golden gates.

And do not, I pray, think that this takes a long time. If from the first you do firmly lay on thy behests and threats and do appoint so many guardians, two months suffice, and all is in good order and the habit is firmly established as his second nature.

Thus this gate will have been made worthy of the Lord, when no word that is shameful or flippant or foolish or the like is spoken, but all beseems the Master. If those who give military training teach their sons from the first to be soldiers and to shoot and to put on military dress and to ride, and their tender years are no hindrance, how much more should those who are soldiers of God assume all this royal discipline. So let him learn to sing hymns to God that he may not spend his leisure on shameful songs and ill-timed tales.

Let this gate thus be made secure and let these be the citizens that are enrolled. But the others within the city let us put to death, as bees kill drones, and let us not allow them to sally forth or buzz.

Now let us pass to another gate. Which is that? One that lies close by the first and resembles it greatly, I mean, the sense of hearing. The first gate has citizens that go forth from within, and none that enter by it; but this second gate has only those that enter from outside, none that pass out through it. The second then much resembles the first. If it be agreed that none that is pernicious and corrupt may tread upon its threshold, the mouth experiences but little trouble; for he that hears no base or wicked words does not utter base words either. But if this gate stands wide open to all, the other will suffer harm and all those within will be thrown into confusion. And it was needful to speak fully about the former gate and first to block up its entrance.

Let children then hear nothing harmful from servants or tutor or nurses. But, even as plants need the greatest amount of care when they are tender shoots, so also do children; and so let us take thought for good nurses that a fair foundation from the ground up be laid for the young and that from the beginning they may receive nought that is evil.

Therefore let them not hear frivolous and old wives’ tales: “This youth kissed that maiden. The king’s son and the younger daughter have done this.” Do not let them hear these stories, but let them hear others simply told with no elaboration. They can hear such from slaves but not from all. They must not be allowed to consort with all the servants, but rather let those who are participating with us in training stand out clearly, as though they were approaching a holy statue. If we were builders and were erecting a house for the ruler, we should not permit one and all of the servants to approach the building. Would it not then be absurd, when we are establishing a city and citizens for the heavenly King, to entrust the task indiscriminately to all? Let those of the servants who are well fitted take part. If there be none, then hire someone who is free, a virtuous man, and entrust the task especially to him, so that he may have a full share in the undertaking.

Let them not hear such tales. But when the boy takes relaxation from his studies — for the soul delights to dwell on stories of old — speak to him, drawing him away from all childish folly; for you art raising a philosopher and athlete and citizen of Heaven. Speak to him and tell him this story; “Once upon a time there were two sons of one father, even two brothers.” Then after a pause continue: “And they were the children of the same mother, one being the elder, the other the younger son. The elder was a tiller of the ground, the younger a shepherd; and he led out his flocks to woodland and lake.” Make thy stories agreeable that they may give the child pleasure and his soul may not grow weary. “The other son sowed and planted. And it came to pass that both wished to do honor to God. And the shepherd took the firstlings of his flocks and offered them to God.” Is it not a far better thing to relate this than fairy tales about sheep with golden fleeces? Then arouse him — for not a little depends on the telling of the story — introducing nothing that is untrue but only what is related in the Scriptures: “Now when he offered the firstlings to God, straightway fire came down from Heaven and bore them off to the altar aloft. But the elder son did not so but went away and, after storing up for himself the first fruits from his toil, brought the second-best to God. And God paid no heed to them but turned away and let them lie on the ground. But the other offering he received for himself in Heaven. Even so it happens with earthly rulers. The master honors one who brings gifts and receives him in his house; another he suffers to stand outside. Even so it was in this story. And then what happened? The elder brother was very wroth as having been dishonored and passed over for another, and his countenance fell. God said unto him: ‘Why art you wroth? did you not know that you madest an offering to God? Why hast you insulted me? What grievance hast thou? Why did you offer me the second-best?’ ” If it seems better to use simpler language, you wilt say: “The elder brother had nothing to say and kept quiet,” or better, “was silent. And thereafter, seeing his younger brother, he said to him: ‘Let us go to the field.’ And the elder caught the younger unawares and slew him. And he thought that God saw him not. But God came to him and said to him: ‘Where is thy brother?’ He replied: ‘I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And God said unto him: ‘Lo, the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. ’”

So far is enough for the child. Tell him this story one evening at supper. Let his mother repeat the same tale; then, when he has heard it often, ask him too, saying: “Tell me the story,” so that he may be eager to imitate you. And when he has memorized it you wilt also tell him how it profits him. The soul indeed, as it receives the story within itself before you hast elaborated it, is aware that it will benefit. Nevertheless, do you say hereafter: “you do see how great a sin is greed, how great a sin it is to envy a brother. you do see how great a sin it is to think that you canst hide aught from God; for He sees all things, even those that are done in secret.” If only you sowest the seed of this teaching in the child, he will not need his tutor, since this fear that comes from God, this complete fear has possessed the boy instead and shakes his soul.

This is not all. Go, leading him by the hand in church and pay heed particularly when this tale is read aloud. you wilt see him rejoice and leap with pleasure because he knows what the other children do not know, as he anticipates the story, recognizes it, and derives great gain from it. And hereafter the episode is fixed in his memory.

He can profit in other ways from the story. So let him learn from thee: “There is no reason for grief in adversity. God shows this from the very first in the example of this boy, seeing that He received one who was righteous through death into Heaven.”

When this story is firmly planted in the child’s understanding, introduce another, again about two brothers, and speak thus: “Again there were two brothers, an elder and a younger. The elder was a hunter, the younger dwelt at home.” Now this story, insofar as the reversal of fortune is greater 24 and the brothers are older, gives more pleasure than the former one. “Now these two brothers were also twins. And after their birth, the mother loved the younger, the father the elder son. Now the elder passed much of his time out of doors in the fields, but the younger indoors. And it came to pass when his father was old, that he said to the son whom he loved: ‘My son, I am old. Go you and prepare me some game, capture a roe or a hare and bring it and cook it that I may eat and bless thee.’ But to the younger son, he spoke no such words. But his mother heard what the father had said and called her younger son and said unto him: ‘Child, thy father has bidden thy brother bring to him game that he may eat and bless him. Hearken to me and go to the flock and fetch me fair and tender kids, and I will prepare them as thy father loveth, and you shall carry them to him that he may eat and bless thee.’ Now the father’s eyes were dim from old age. And so when the younger son brought the kids, his mother seethed them, and placing the viands on the dish gave it to her son, and he bore it in. And she put the skin of the goats upon him that he might not be found out, since his skin was smooth but his brother was hairy so that the younger might escape detection and his father perceive it not. And so she sent him in. But the father, thinking that it was in truth his elder son, ate and gave him his blessing. But then, as soon as the father had made an end of the blessing, the elder son came bringing game; and when he saw what had happened, he lifted up his voice and wept.”

Next, when he has grown older, tell him also more fearful tales; for you shouldst not impose so great a burden on his understanding while he is still tender, lest you dismay him. But when he is fifteen years old or more, let him hear of Hell. Nay, when he is ten or eight or even younger, let him hear in full detail the story of the flood, the destruction of Sodom, the descent into Egypt — whatever stories are full of divine punishment. When he is older let him hear also the deeds of the New Testament — deeds of grace and deeds of Hell. With these stories and ten thousand others fortify his hearing, as you do offer him also examples drawn from his home.

But if any man would relate what is base, let us not, as I have said, suffer him to come near the boy. If you do see a slave in his presence speaking lewdly, punish him straightway and inquire zealously and sharply into the offence committed. If you do see a girl — but better by far that no woman, save it be sometimes an old woman with no charms to captivate a youth, come near him and the flame of desire be not kindled. But from a young woman shield him as from fire. In this way then he will speak no foolish word if he hears nought that is foolish but is brought up on those stories that we have told.

Let us pass on, if you wilt, to another gate, the sense of smell. This gate too admits much that is harmful if it is not kept barred — I mean fragrant scents and herbs. Nothing weakens, nothing relaxes the right tension of the soul as a pleasure in sweet odours. “How then,” says someone, “must one take pleasure in filth?” That is not my meaning, but that one should not take pleasure either in the one or in the other. Let no one bring him perfume; for, as soon as it penetrates to the brain, the whole body is relaxed. Thereby pleasures are fanned into flame and great schemes for their attainment. So bar this gate, for its function is to breathe the air, not to receive sweet odours. It may be that some laugh at us for troubling about trifles if we discourse about such a commonwealth. These are no trifles; nay, if we carry out our plan, our concern is with the origin and rhythmical education of the world.

Then there is yet another gate, fairer than those others but difficult to guard, the gate of the eyes; difficult for this reason, that it lies high up and open and is beautiful. It has many little postern gates and not only sees but is seen if well-fashioned.