We desire each day to know what is new, and what is knowledge itself but our daily sorrow and abasement? All things that are have already been, and nothing is new under the sun, but all is vanity. Therefore I hated the whole of this life, said Ecclesiastes. He who hated his life certainly commended death. And so he praised the dead rather than the living and judged him happy that did not come into this life nor take up this vain toil. My heart took a circuit to know the joy of the impious man and to examine carefully and to seek wisdom and a mode of calculating and to know joy through the impious man and trouble and disquietude, and I find that it is bitterer than death^[1]—not because death is bitter, but because it is bitter for the impious one. And yet life is bitterer than death. For it is a greater burden to live for sin than to die in sin, because the impious person increases his sin as long as he lives, but if he dies, he ceases to sin.

He praised the innocent dead rather than the living because the latter were still engaged in the struggle but the former had been given their reward of everlasting happiness. He complained that he had seen deceit beneath the sun because he knew that above the sun there is a just judge who dwells on high and looks down upon humble things.^[1] Above the sun there are dwelling places in which the righteous receive due rewards for their righteousness.

Wise, therefore, was he who forbids us even to dine in company with an envious person, and in mentioning this companionship at table, he implies a reference to all other social contacts as well. Just as we are careful to keep material which is easily inflammable as far away as possible from fire, so we must refrain insofar as we can from contracting friendships in circles of which envious persons are members. By so doing, we place ourselves beyond the range of their shafts. We can be caught in the toils of envy only by establishing intimacy with it. In the words of Solomon, A man is exposed to envy from his neighbor. And so it is. The Scythian is not envious of the Egyptian, but each of them envies a fellow countryman. Among members of the same nation, the closest acquaintances and not strangers are objects of envy. Among acquaintances, neighbors and fellow workmen, or those who are otherwise brought into close contact, are envied, and among these again, those of the same age and kinsmen and brothers. In short, as the red blight is a common pest to corn, so envy is the plague of friendship.

I have seen, he says, every sort of wickedness and boldness in the one who is evil. For, such a one [as Satan] thinks he is brave even when in [his] ungodliness he oppresses the poor^[1] or again, sees himself as a creature who was made to be mocked by the angels^[2] of God. Also I have seen all the jealousy that he has acquired towards human beings, which is vain and governs his heart,^[3] since God certainly will become all in all.^[4] And when God does so, this will fulfill the prayer of Christ, which said, Grant that they also may be one in us, as you and I are one, Father.^[5]

But if any one is in want by gluttony, drunkenness or idleness, he does not deserve any assistance or to be esteemed a member of the church of God. For the Scripture, speaking of such persons, says, The slothful hides his hand in his bosom and is not able to bring it to his mouth again.^[1] And again, The sluggard folds up his hands, and eats his own flesh. For every drunkard and whoremonger shall come to poverty, and every drowsy person shall be clothed with tatters and rags.^[2] And in another passage [we read], If you give your eyes to drinking and cups, you shall afterwards walk more naked than a pestle.^[3] For certainly idleness is the mother of famine.

Let one who still doubts hear the testimony of the Gospel, for the Son of God said, We have played for you, and you have not danced.^[1] The Jews who did not dance and knew not how to clap their hands were abandoned, but the Gentiles were called and applauded God in spirit. The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh, that is, he becomes involved in the concerns of the body and eats his own flesh, just as does all-powerful death. And such a one will not find eternal life. But the wise person who lifts up his works that they may shine before his Father who is in heaven has not consumed his flesh; instead, he has raised it to the grace of the resurrection. This is the wise person’s honor-able dance which David danced, mounting by the loftiness of his spiritual dance to the throne of Christ that he may see and hear the Lord saying to his Lord, Sit at my right hand.^[2]

As Solomon says, Better is a single handful with rest than both hands full with labor and vexation of mind. And in these allusions and inconveniences all that are in the least weak are sure to be entangled. Even as they doubt their own salvation and stand in need of the teaching and instruction of others, they are incited by the devil’s tricks to convert and guide others. And even if they succeed in gaining any advantage from the conversion of some, they waste whatever they have gained by their impatience and rude manners.

The chasing after wind, I believe, refers to the will of the soul caught up with passions. That is why a handful of virtue is better than two handfuls of wickedness, ignorance and chasing after wind. . . . It is as if someone said it is better to learn contemplation of one spiritual thing than to have numerous visions of foolish wisdom.

Since the majority of persons who intend to lead a life of virginity are still young and immature, they must concern themselves with this before all: the finding of a good guide and teacher on this path, lest, on account of their ignorance, they enter upon trackless places and wander away from the straight road. For, as Ecclesiastes says, Two are better than one. The one is easily overcome by the enemy lying in ambush on the divine road, and truly, woe to the solitary man, for if he should fall he has no one to lift him up. In the past, certain people have made an auspicious beginning in their desire for this life, but, although they have attained perfection in their intention, they have been tripped up because of their vanity. They deceived themselves, through some craziness, into thinking that that was fair toward which their own thought inclined. Among these, there are those called the slothful^[1] in the Book of Wisdom, who strew their path with thorns, who consider harmful to the soul a zeal for deeds in keeping with the commandments of God, the demurrers against the apostolic injunctions, who do not eat their own bread with dignity but, fawning on others, make idleness the art of life. Then there are the dreamers who consider the deceits of dreams more trustworthy than the teachings of the Gospels, calling fantasies revelations. Apart from these, there are those who stay in their own houses, and still others who consider being unsociable and brutish a virtue without recognizing the command to love and without knowing the fruit of long-suffering and humility.

Fittingly does Ecclesiastes say, For if one falls, he raises up his companion. He himself is not raised up, for Christ was not raised up by another’s help and power, but he himself raised himself. Indeed, he said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. This he said of the temple of his body.^[1] It is well that he who did not fall should not be raised by another, for one who is raised by another has fallen, and one who falls needs help to be raised up. Additional words also teach this when Scripture says, Woe to him that is alone: for when he falls, he has none to lift him up. And if two lie together, they shall warm one another. We have died with Christ, and we live together with him.^[2] Christ died with us to warm us, and he said, I have come to cast fire upon the earth.^[3]

In the solitary life, what is at hand becomes useless to us and what is wanting cannot be provided, since God the Creator decreed that we should require the help of one another, as it is written, so that we might associate with one another. Again, apart from this consideration, the doctrine of the charity of Christ does not permit the individual to be concerned solely with his own private interests. Charity, says the apostle, seeks not her own.^[1] But a life passed in solitude is concerned only with the private service of individual needs. This is openly opposed to the law of love, which the apostle fulfilled, who sought not what was profitable to himself but to many that they might be saved.^[2] Furthermore, a person living in solitary retirement will not readily discern his own defects, since he has no one to admonish and correct him with mildness and compassion. In fact, admonition even from an enemy often produces in a prudent person the desire for amendment. But the cure of sin is wrought with understanding by him who loves sincerely. Holy Scripture says, for he that loves, at times corrects.^[3] Such a one it is very difficult to find in solitude, if in one’s prior state of life one had not been associated with such a person. The solitary, consequently, experiences the truth of the saying, Woe to him that is alone, for when he falls he has none to lift him up. Moreover, the majority of the commandments are easily observed by several persons living together, but not so in the case of one living alone, for while he is obeying one commandment, the practice of another is being interfered with. For example, when he is visiting the sick, he cannot show hospitality to the stranger, and in the imparting and sharing of necessities (especially when the ministrations are prolonged), he is prevented from giving zealous attention to [other] tasks. As a result, the greatest commandment and the one especially conducive to salvation is not observed, since the hungry are not fed nor the naked clothed. Who, then, would choose this ineffectual and unprofitable life in preference to that which is both fruitful and in accordance with the Lord’s command?

And he began to send them forth two by two. He sent them two by two that no one of them, being abandoned and alone, might fall into a denial, like Peter, or flee, like John.^[1] Human frailty quickly falls if it proudly relies on itself, despises companions and is unwilling to have a colleague. As Scripture says, Woe to him that is alone, for when he falls, he has none to lift him up. The same Scripture testifies how much one is strengthened by another’s aid, when it states, A brother that is helped by his brother is like a strong city.^[2]

Do not follow the wolf instead of the shepherd,^[1] or enter into a flock that is diseased.^[2] Do not be alone by yourself, lest you be seen carried off by the wolf who destroys souls or succumb to one disease after the other and so die spiritually, or, as you succumb, you attain to that woe. He who gives himself in the hand of a good teacher will have no such worries but will live without anxiety and be saved in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Paul fled too, that he might pass out through a window and be lowered in a basket.^[1] Yes, he knew that the triple-stranded rope could not break, but he fled so that he might preach the gospel of the Lord in the entire world,^[2] and consequently he was taken up into paradise.^[3] Let us also flee through the window while heeding the Lord’s precepts and keeping them with steady vision and chaste eyes.

By a cord, faith is expressed, as Solomon witnesses, who says, A threefold cord is not easily broken because the faith in truth that is woven by the mouth of preachers from the knowledge of the Trinity remains firm in the elect. It is broken only in the heart of the reprobate.