III. (8) We have then before now described that wealth which is the guard of the body, being the thing discovered by and bestowed on men by nature; but that more dignified and respectable kind, which belongs not to all men but to those who are themselves truly respectable and glorious, must now be spoken of; this kind of wealth wisdom furnishes by means of rational, and moral, and natural doctrines, and meditations from which the virtues are derived, which eradicate luxury from the soul, engendering in it a desire for temperance and frugality, in accordance with the resemblance to God at which it aims; (9) for God is a being who is in need of nothing, as there is nothing of which he is destitute, but as he is himself all-sufficient for himself. But the bad man is one of extravagant tastes, being always thirsting for what he has not got, because of his insatiable and unappeasable appetites which he fans and excites like fire, and kindles into a flame, directing them towards every kind of gain, whether great or small; but the virtuous man wants but little, being placed as it were on the borders between the immortal and the mortal nature, having wants indeed by reason of his body being mortal, and his freedom from extravagance because his soul is continually longing for immortality: (10) and so they array wealth against poverty, and glory against a want of reputation; for praise, having excellence and virtue as a starting point, and flowing forth from it as from an everlasting fountain, does not mix with the multitude of inconsiderate men, who are in the habit of laying bare the inconsistency of the soul, with unstable declarations, which sometimes they are not ashamed to sell cheaply in their desire of base gains, uttering them in reproach of men selected for their excellence. But the number of such men is small, for virtue is not a thing frequently met with in the race of men: (11) but since no perfect antidote or remedy can be found for the mutilation of the outward senses, by which thousands and thousands of persons have died prematurely while still living, prudence, that best of all qualities within us, sets itself against it to prevent it, implanting eyes in our intellect, which, by reason of its sagacious capacity, are altogether and entirely superior in acuteness of vision to the eyes of the body: (12) for these last see only the surfaces of the things presented to them, and require light from without to enable them to do that, but the intellect penetrates into the inmost recesses of bodies, closely surveying and investigating the whole of them, and each separate part, and also the natures of those incorporeal things, which the external senses are unable to contemplate at all. For the mind may almost be said to possess all the acuteness of vision of the eye, without being in need of any spurious light, but being in itself a star, and as it were a sort of representation or copy of the heavenly bodies: (13) accordingly, the diseases of the body inflict very little injury on us, while our souls are in a sound state; and the sound health of the soul consists in a good admixture of the powers conversant with hunger, and appetite, and reason, the reasoning power having the predominance, and guiding the other two, as a charioteer guides and restrains restive horses; (14) the proper name of this healthy state of the soul is moderation, {2}{the Greek word is soµphrosyneµ, from soµzoµ, “to preserve,” and pheµn, “the mind,” or as Philo says, from soµteµria, “salvation,” toµ phronounti, “to our thinking part.”} which produces salvation to the thinking part of the faculties in us; for as it is constantly in danger of being overwhelmed by the impetuosity of the passions, moderation suffers it not to be sunk in the depths, but lifts it up and raises it on high, endowing it with soul and vitality, and in some sense with immortality. (15) But in all the subjects which I have here mentioned, there are admonitions and lessons engraved lastingly in many passages of the law, persuading the obedient with great gentleness, and the disobedient with some severity, to despise all the things which affect the body and all external circumstances, looking upon a life in accordance with virtue to be the one proper end and object, and desiring everything else which appears conducive to this end; (16) and if I had not in my former treatises dwelt upon all points connected with simplicity and humility, I would on this present occasion endeavour to explain the matter at some length, connecting and adapting together all the precepts which appear to lie scattered about in different places but as I have already said all that the occasion required on these topics, it is not necessary to recapitulate my arguments; (17) those, however, who are not indifferent to the subject, but who have applied themselves with diligence to the study of the preceding treatises, ought to be aware that nearly all the things which I have said about simplicity and humility apply likewise to courage, since that also is the attribute of a vigorous, and noble, and very well regulated soul, to despise all the things which pride is in the habit of dignifying and extolling, to the utter destruction of life in accordance with truth.
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