Verses to Seleucus

Guarding the Mind and Avoiding Bad Company§1

1Iambus to Seleucus: I command you to rejoice, the beautiful and good son Seleucus, a branch of a well-born root. And I wish for you yourself to rejoice in your life, thinking greatly in lessons and ways.

First, indeed, have fear and longing for God; for God is to all the beginning and the end for those thinking well throughout all life. The second, indeed, is to practice the way, child: gentle, humble, self-controlled, firm, sweet, unshakeable, just, manly, wise, dignified, industrious, stable, and temperate.

For this is a wealth for both youths and elders, not in money so much, but to be rich in way; for this is yours; but money, wandering and playing, imitating the way of an unfaithful prostitute, with many lovers being seduced in various ways, joining to, fleeing from, and clinging to those things, yet to no one genuinely. For the stable thing does not have the nature of wealth, like the waves of a rough sea, rising and falling unpredictably.

You then, O child, will always have a treasure by being rich in ways, not being gathered by robberies, nor being laid out amidst informers, nor being exhausted by the hands of tyrants, nor being plundered by the weapons of barbarians, but remaining safely kept within the treasuries of the incorporeal buildings of the soul, which neither a consuming fire eats, nor a wave of the sea's surge will cover.

Guarding this truly existing, your own and genuine wealth, strive with lessons, with books of poets, with historical writings, and by practicing the subtle fine-speech of current orators and the thoughtful teachings of philosophers. And with all these, approach intelligently, wisely collecting the useful from them, and fleeing from each one's harm as having been judged, imitating the work of a wise bee, which settles in bloom upon everything, and harvests from each thing all-wisely, having in herself the nature of a teacher. And you, by calculation, gather the many that are useful. And if any harm is found...

Indeed, entering into the trivial, you fall away sharply. For the mind is swifter than men. Therefore, as much as they have written praises for it toward virtue, and again they revile evil, these things you should learn with diligence, and guard your mind and the grace of speech.

But what they have written concerning the gods in broad, coarse myths, teachings of demons, myths worthy of laughter and tears—turn away from these like from heavy rains and hailstorms. When reading both, the gods and the words, you find ridiculous gods and lovely words; despise the lustful gods, but honor the words, as if from a single plant; avoid the thorns and snatch the rose. And of the words outside of you, this is the best law. As for those with which it is necessary to harmonize everything with diligence, we shall say, but a little later. For that I want to tell you first.

The young man must flee from the beginning the company of evils and the pleasures associated with them. For there are many, like pastures full of birds and of some disease, who try the simpler young men, rubbing against them in the deceit of cunning, desiring to infect them with the sickness of wickedness, so that by the fellowship of the many they might spy upon you for the wicked. Guard against these. For, as it seems to Paul, bad company corrupts good morals (1 Cor 15:33).

Yes indeed, that must be strictly kept by you: a hatred of the indecent song of theaters, beasts, and chariot races; a viewing of the setting of evils; the futility of life; the flood of pleasures; the absurd lessons of dissolute men, in whom there is nothing shameful about being prudent. For some of them, servants of shame, have the art of thinking toward insolence, trained by the clumsy movements of mimics, fearing modesty before the razors before the hairs, a workshop of dissolute ugliness, in whom it is a part of the art to suffer and do all things, even what is not permitted, in the sight of all. Others, a more wretched nation of those, undermining the glory of men, subduing nature by bending limbs, making men into women, men...

The Devastation of Plague§2

2Those who are neither men nor women, but claim to be truthful in word For the one part they do not remain, and the other part they have not yet reached. For what they are, they do not remain in character, and what they again desire wickedly, they are not by nature, but an enigma and a riddle of intemperance in passions: men to women and women to men.

And what would anyone say of the shameful diseases of the Asmatas, affecting the limbs that feminize the tone of the heart, the flutes, and the dances of prostituted bacchanals, in which even the thrice-afflicted enjoy old age? Are these things, then, worthy of praise and of spectacle and of pleasure, or of tears and of groans? Laughter tyrannizes, and nature is adulterated, and the varied flame of pleasures is kindled. And theaters of dishonor are built, so that the diseases do not even hide in shame, but become contests of evil teachings.

And you, loathe these things, so that you may not use maidens, fleeing all corruptions of the eyes, so that you might guard the maidens for me as virgins. And flee even more from the impure spectacles of the gluttons, whose god is the belly. For being slaves of the belly, they serve the most shameful disease of the evil masters.

And the bitter mistress of the rest of the members sits within, feeding limbs like beasts, greedily devouring the honors; a belly of intemperate beasts, greedily devouring the bodies of its own members. Ignorant men are spectators of these passions. And even if a man flees the beasts, they groan as if they themselves had been played with more than the beasts and were sitting in vain. But when a man is cast off and narrow-mouthed, crying bitterly and being disgraced by dust, the pity of all spectators has fled from the sight, and with pleasure the greatest roar, if they see the flows of blood. For they rejoice seeing what ought to be mourned, and they enjoy with beasts a tendency of favor, and they command those who are being seized, more than they are being carried, as if they were carrying themselves and the flesh of men.

Allied with beasts. For the wicked are indeed slaves to the food of their own members and again food for beasts, living in loathsomeness and dying miserably, having such a bitter end to life.

As for the flesh, some is buried there, while some is being torn away by beasts on the road, and others are half-eaten, wandering about, singing with various turns, imagining there is still time for flight and dreaming of a race. Do not, indeed, behold with a single eye the contaminations of flesh, nor shall you be nakedly seeing men dead, surrounded by beasts, running to graves, and relatives lying dead.

And truly, the spectacle of chariot races, which seems more recent to many, is also this plague and a disease of souls. It scatters cities, brings the people into factions, teaches strife, touches the mouth with insult, cuts the friendships of citizens, destroys lineages, shames the elderly, makes the young weep, kindles hatreds among the dearest, and treads down laws.

And of these evils, it dares an even more lamentable evil. It moves sorcerers with the appearance of allies helping to victory, and it feeds disease upon disease. For when they are burned into hot passion, they run straight to the sorcerers themselves. And they, in turn, call upon demons to be co-workers with them in falls, destructions, and murders. For an army rejoices in evil demons.

Therefore, clearly, the glory of the chariot races, which seems a festive spectacle by day, is the destruction of souls, a battle of bodies, and besides this, a certain damage to property. How many houses has it suddenly scattered? How many wealthy people has it forced to beg? And how many cities, which previously lived in good law, has it suddenly overthrown? For as a rising faction needed the hands of the people for murders, it filled the cities with men by the sword of law, feeding cities with fire and iron, slaughtering the slaughters with murders, murders. Who then...

The Pattern of Moses and the Danger of False Books§3

3A person of sound mind will not endure the charm of deception, nor the speed of horses, nor a stance producing death, nor the sickness of cities. Instead of these, rejoice in studies, from which the way of most excellent exercises comes.

If you train your mind moderately as in a wrestling school through various writings, you will enter into the God-breathed Scriptures, gathering great wealth from the collections of the two covenants, the old and the new always. For the new is a second written covenant and, with itself, no longer possesses a third. Devote yourself to all these unswervingly, from which you will learn the good way of exercising and to revere the true and only God.

For the Trinity is one God in three persons, eternal: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, distinct yet one in nature. Therefore, do not confuse the hypostases by number, nor do you divide the nature while worshiping God. For truly the Trinity is nature and is not divided. For it is one Trinity, one almighty God. This is a subtle, pious mystery.

For truly the way of truth is narrow, a bifurcated path, crushed, from which, having slipped from the opposing sides, they were broken into a deep-cleft error: Sabellius, looking toward the Jews, and the idolater Arius, imitating them; the one confusing the persons into one hypostasis, the other impiously dividing the essence. But you, unswervingly, guard the middle way, as it is necessary to divide and as it is proper to unite. For the Trinity is united without confusion, just as the one is separated without evaporation. For nature is without evaporation, and the hypostases always remain entirely without confusion.

Having guarded these, you will remain in the dogmas, a genuine worker of the commandments, wise in all mystical contemplations, always progressing, never being cast out. For he will be thrown back greater...

Thus the grace. You see the faithful Moses, the man of God, an icon of a life according to virtue; how, having mastered all the wisdom of the Egyptians, even if he was nourished by deep wealth, he willingly became a fugitive and a poor man; even if he exchanged the table of luxury in the Egyptian wilderness for the life of shepherds, preferring the glory of tyrants to a hard life, until, being judged worthy of perfect wonders, he saw the greatest mystery of an angel appearing from a bush of flaming fire (Exod 3:2).

Then, having been made worthy first to hear the voice of God and having received authority by the vote of God to loose the yoke of a narrow, servile people and to rule all the race. Having received such height, he does not exalt himself, but says that he is weak, having a heavy voice and a slow tongue (Exod 4:10), as if thinking that being humble makes him strong. Guard this icon of life, shaping yourself in the manner of Moses.

And the learning of the Greek words, as if a judge bringing a lawful vote, serves the order—which is fitting—of the boldness of true dogmas and the all-wise contemplation of the Scriptures. For it is right that the wisdom which is from above, being from God, having arrived, should be the mistress of the lower education, as a handmaid not growing in vain, but being trained to serve decorously. For let the lower serve that of God.

But rather, it is most fitting for you to learn that beforehand: not every book is secure, though it possesses the venerable name of Scripture. For there are, there are indeed pseudepigraphal books; some are indeed intermediate and neighbors, as one might say, to the words of the truth. But others are both counterfeit and very dangerous, like counterfeit and fake coins, which have the inscription of a king but are deceptive, being defrauded by the materials. Of these

The Canon of Epistles and the Iambic Count§4

4For your sake, I will speak of each of the God-inspired books; and so that you may learn clearly, I will first speak of the books of the Old Testament. The Pentateuch contains the creation, then the Exodus, and the Leviticus is the middle book, with which are the numbers, then Deuteronomy. To these he adds Jesus and the Judges, then the four books of the kings, and Ruth, leaving out the Song. Ezra is first upon them, then the second.

After these, I will speak of five verse-books to you: Job, crowned with various contests of sufferings, the book of Psalms, a sharp hearing for souls, and then three of Solomon the wise: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. To these he adds the twelve prophets: Hosea first, then Amos the second, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, and the type Jonah with his three-day suffering, Nahum with them, Habakkuk, then finally Zephaniah, Haggai and Zechariah, and a two-syllable angel, Malachi. With whom he learned the four prophets: the great Isaiah the outspoken, Jeremiah the sympathetic, and the mystical Ezekiel, and lastly Daniel, the wisest in works and words. To these some approach Esther.

It is my turn to speak of the books of the New Testament. Receive only the four evangelists: Matthew, then Mark, to whom having added Luke third, he counts John fourth in time, but first in the height of dogmas. For this one is appropriately called the greatest, having sounded like a son of thunder to the word of God. Receive also the book of Luke and the second, the book of the general acts of the apostles. After this he adds the vessel of election, the herald of the Gentiles, the apostle Paul, having wisely written letters to the churches twice seven times.

To the Romans one, which must be joined to two for the Corinthians, the one to the Galatians and the one to the Ephesians, with which the one in Philippi, then the one written to the Colossians, two for the Thessalonians, two for Timothy, Titus and Philemon one for each, and one to the Hebrews. But some say not well concerning the one to the Hebrews as a forgery; for grace is genuine. So what then? Regarding the catholic epistles, some say seven, but others receive only three: the one of James, one of Peter, and one of John. And others receive the three and with them the two of Peter, receiving the seventh of Jude. As for the Apocalypse of John, again some approve it, but most call it a forgery. This would be an unerring rule of the God-breathed writings.

With which rules if you are persuaded, you would flee the deceits of the world, and cast down the vanity of hopes, and with hands sowing generously the fleeing wealth, you would remain a secure harvest for the poor. For in the heavens one stores up the seed. But follow Christ, the wise Word of God. Whether you are a thrice-blessed one, or a three-syllabled one, you become a light to many old and young. For a pious life shines more than the stars. And a choir of prophets, martyrs, and apostles will surround you, as if crowning a domestic member, sending forth a victorious helmet. And you will have tasted glory unceasingly then, dancing in the midst, crowned by angels. Be strong and remember the written things. Let your diadem present the living image of dignity, purity, and asceticism, and the seal of faith, as Olympiad prizes presented theirs. If you wished, Seleucus, to learn the number of iambs, let it be three hundreds, that many tens, and three units. For always, my child, I wish you to be a friend of the Trinity.