§9ἀλλ’ ὅμως παιδίον νεανίας ὢν ἤδη καλεῖται ὁ σοφιστὴς ἀντεξεταζόμενος σοφῷ· σοφίαν μὲν γὰρ Ἰσαάκ, σοφιστείαν δὲ Ἰσμαὴλ κεκλήρωται, ὡς, ἐπειδὰν ἑκάτερον χαρακτηρίζωμεν, ἐν τοῖς ἰδίᾳ λόγοις ἐπιδείκνυμεν.
Yet nevertheless, though he is already a young man, the sophist is called a 'child' when compared with the wise man; for Isaac has inherited wisdom, and Ishmael sophistry, as we show in our particular treatises when we characterize each of them.
ὃν γὰρ ἔχει λόγον κομιδῇ νήπιον παιδίον πρὸς ἄνδρα τέλειον, τοῦτον καὶ σοφιστὴς πρὸς σοφὸν καὶ τὰ ἐγκύκλια τῶν μαθημάτων πρὸς τὰς ἐν ἀρεταῖς ἐπιστήμας.
For the same relation that an utterly infant child has to a perfect man, a sophist also has to a wise man, and the encyclical studies to the sciences in virtues.
§10καὶ ἐν ᾠδῇ μέντοι μείζονι τὸν λεὼν ἅπαντα, ὁπότε νεωτερίζοι, τὸ τῆς ἄφρονος καὶ νηπίας ὄνομα ἡλικίας, τέκνα, καλεῖ· „δίκαιος„ γάρ φησι „καὶ ὅσιος ὁ κύριος· ἥμαρτον οὐκ αὐτῷ τέκνα μωμητά· γενεὰ σκολιὰ καὶ διεστραμμένη, ταῦτα κυρίῳ ἀνταποδίδοτε;
And indeed, in the Greater Song, whenever the whole people revolts, he calls them by the name of the foolish and infant age, 'children'; for he says, 'Righteous and holy is the Lord; they have sinned, they are not His children, but blameworthy; a crooked and perverse generation, do you thus requite the Lord?
οὕτως λαὸς μωρὸς καὶ οὐχὶ σοφός; „ (Deut. 32, 4 — 6).
Is the people thus foolish and not wise?' (Deut. 32:4-6).
§11οὐκοῦν τέκνα ἐναργῶς ὠνόμακε τοὺς μώμους ἔχοντας ἄνδρας ἐν ψυχῇ καὶ μωρίᾳ καὶ ἀνοίᾳ τὰ πολλὰ σφαλλομένους ἐν ταῖς κατὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν βίον πράξεσιν, οὐκ εἰς τὰς ἐν παισὶ σώματος ἡλικίας ἀπιδών, ἀλλ’ εἰς τὸ τῆς διανοίας ἀλόγιστον καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν βρεφῶδες.
Therefore, he has clearly called 'children' those men who have blemishes in their soul and who, through folly and senselessness, stumble in many things in their actions according to the upright life, not looking at the bodily ages in children, but at the irrationality of the mind and its state which is truly infantile with respect to truth.
§12οὕτως μέντοι καὶ Ῥαχήλ, ἡ σώματος εὐμορφία, νεωτέρα Λείας, τοῦ κατὰ ψυχὴν κάλλους, ἀναγράφεται· ἡ μὲν γὰρ θνητή, τὸ δ’ ἐστὶν ἀθάνατον, καὶ ὅσα μέντοι τίμια πρὸς αἴσθησιν, ἑνὸς μόνου τοῦ κατὰ ψυχὴν κάλλους ἀτελέστερα.
In the same way also Rachel, the beauty of the body, is recorded as younger than Leah, the beauty of the soul; for the former is mortal, but the latter is immortal, and indeed all things that are honorable to sense-perception are more imperfect than the single beauty according to the soul.
οἷς ἀκολουθεῖ καὶ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ νέον τε καὶ νεώτατον αἰεὶ λέγεσθαι· καὶ γάρ, ὅταν ἐπιστατῇ τῆς ποίμνης μετὰ τῶν νόθων ἀδελφῶν, νέος προσαγορεύεται (Gen. 37, 2), καὶ ὅταν εὔχηται ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῷ, φησίν· „υἱὸς ηὐξημένος νεώτατος πρὸς μὲ ἀνάστρεψον“(Gen. 49, 22).
From this it follows that Joseph also is always called 'young' and 'youngest'; for indeed, when he is in charge of the flock with his bastard brothers, he is addressed as 'young' (Gen. 37:2), and when his father prays for him, he says, 'My increased son, my youngest son, return to me' (Gen. 49:22).
§13οὗτος δέ ἐστιν ὁ τῆς περὶ τὸ σῶμα ἁπάσης ὑπέρμαχος δυνάμεως καὶ ὁ τῆς τῶν ἐκτὸς ἀφθονίας ἀκολάκευτος ἑταῖρος, ὁ τῆς πρεσβυτέρας ψυχῆς πρεσβύτερον καὶ τιμιώτερον ἀγαθὸν μήπω τέλειον εὑρημένος.
But he is the champion of all the power concerning the body, and the unflattering companion of the abundance of external things, who has not yet completely found the older and more honorable good of the older soul.
εἰ γὰρ εὕρητο, κἂν ὅλην Αἴγυπτον ἀμεταστρεπτὶ φεύγων ᾤχετο· νυνὶ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ τρέφειν αὐτὴν καὶ τιθηνοκομεῖν μάλιστα σεμνύνεται, ἧς τὸ μάχιμον καὶ ἡγεμονεῦον ὅταν ἴδῃ ὁ ὁρῶν καταπεποντωμένον καὶ διεφθαρμένον, ὕμνον εἰς τὸν θεὸν ᾄδει.
For if he had found it, he would have fled and gone from all Egypt without turning back; but as it is, he prides himself especially on nourishing and nursing her, whose warlike and ruling part, when the one who sees beholds it drowned and destroyed, sings a hymn to God.
§14νέος μὲν οὖν τρόπος ὁ μήπω δυνάμενος μετὰ τῶν γνησίων ἀδελφῶν ποιμαίνειν, τὸ δ’ ἐστὶ τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀλόγου φύσεως ἄρχειν τε καὶ ἐπιτροπεύειν, ἀλλ’ ἔτι μετὰ τῶν νόθων, οἷς τὰ δοκήσει πρὸ τῶν γνησίων καὶ τῷ εἶναι παραριθμουμένων ἀγαθῶν
Therefore, the 'young' disposition is that which is not yet able to shepherd with the legitimate brothers—which is to rule and govern the irrational nature of the soul—but is still with the bastard brothers, who prefer the apparent goods before the legitimate ones and those that are numbered by being.
§15νεώτατος δέ, κἂν ἐπίδοσιν καὶ αὔξησιν πρὸς τὸ ἄμεινον λάβῃ, παρὰ τῷ τελείῳ νενόμισται μόνον ἀγαθὸν ἡγουμένῳ τὸ καλόν· οὗ χάριν προτρέπων φησί· „πρὸς μὲ ἀνάστρεψον,“ἴσον τῷ πρεσβυτέρας γνώμης ὀρέχθητι, μὴ πάντα νεωτέριζε, ἤδη ποτὲ τὴν ἀρετὴν δι’ αὐτὴν μόνην στέρξον, μὴ καθάπερ παῖς ἄφρων τῇ τῶν τυχηρῶν λαμπρότητι περιαυγαζόμενος ἀπάτης καὶ ψευδοῦς δόξης §16ἀναπίμπλασο.
But 'youngest' is he who, even if he should receive progress and growth toward the better, is so regarded by the perfect man, who considers only the beautiful as good; for which reason, exhorting him, he says: 'Return to me,' which is equivalent to 'desire the older judgment, do not make revolutions in everything, love virtue now at last for its own sake alone, and do not, like a foolish child, dazzled by the brightness of fortunate things, be filled with deception and false opinion.' be filled.
ὡς μὲν τοίνυν πολλαχοῦ νέον οὐκ εἰς τὴν σώματος ἀκμήν, ἀλλ’ εἰς τὴν ψυχῆς νεωτεροποιίαν ἀφορῶν εἴωθε καλεῖν, ἐπιδέδεικται.
Thus indeed it has been shown that in many places he is accustomed to call a man 'young,' looking not at the prime of the body, but at the revolutionary disposition of the soul.
ὡς δὲ καὶ πρεσβύτερον οὐ τὸν γήρᾳ κατεσχημένον, ἀλλὰ τὸν γέρως καὶ τιμῆς ἄξιον ὀνομάζει, δηλώσομεν.
But that he also calls 'elder' not the one overcome by old age, but the one worthy of respect and honor, we shall now declare.
§17τίς οὖν ἀγνοεῖ τῶν ἐντετυχηκότων ταῖς ἱερωτάταις βίβλοις, ὅτι σχεδὸν τῶν προγόνων ἑαυτοῦ πάντων ὁ σοφὸς Ἀβραὰμ ὀλιγοχρονιώτατος εἰσάγεται;
Who then is ignorant among those who have read the most sacred books, that the wise Abraham is introduced as having lived almost the shortest time of all his ancestors?
κἀκείνων μέν, οἶμαι, οἳ μακροβιώτατοι γεγόνασιν, οὐδὲ εἷς, οὑτοσὶ δὲ ἀναγέγραπται πρεσβύτερος· φασὶ γοῦν οἱ χρησμοί, ὅτι „Ἀβραὰμ ἦν πρεσβύτερος προβεβηκὼς καὶ κύριος εὐλόγησε τὸν Ἀβραὰμ κατὰ πάντα„ (Gen. 24,1).
And indeed, of those who became longest-lived, not even one, but this very man is recorded as an 'elder'; at least the oracles say: 'Abraham was an elder, advanced in days, and the Lord blessed Abraham in all things' (Gen. 24:1).
§18τοῦτό μοι δοκεῖ τὸ προκείμενον αἰτίας ἀπόδοσις εἶναι, δι’ ἣν πρεσβύτερος ἐλέχθη ὁ σοφός· ἐπιφροσύνῃ γὰρ θεοῦ τὸ λογικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς μέρος ὅταν εὖ διατεθῇ καὶ μὴ καθ’ ἓν εἶδος ἀλλὰ κατὰ πάσας τὰς ἐπιβολὰς εὐλογιστῇ, πρεσβυτέρᾳ χρώμενον γνώμῃ καὶ αὐτὸ δήπου πρεσβύτερόν ἐστιν.
This seems to me to be the rendering of the cause for the matter proposed, because of which the wise man was called 'elder'; for whenever the rational part of the soul is well disposed by the providence of God, and reasons well not in one form but in all its applications, using an older judgment, it also itself is surely 'elder'.