The Opposites of Virtues
On the vices opposed to the virtues (under the name of Nilus of Ancyra). By the same author, a discourse to the same addressee, on the vices that are the counterparts of the virtues. Chapter 1. I consider it necessary also to set down in summary the vices that are the counterparts of the virtues, for your love of labor; seeing that thus far, having plowed the mind, we have cast the thorns of the thoughts out of the sown land. We have not attained to this by works which we ourselves have done, but having a pattern of sound words which we heard from the Fathers, and having become witnesses of some of the deeds.
But the whole is grace from above, which also shows to sinners the plots of the mind-deceivers, and which secures us, saying: ‘For what do you have that you did not receive?’ (1 Cor 4:7), so that through receiving we may give thanks to the Giver, since we do not attribute to ourselves any boast of glory, denying the gift. Therefore he says, ‘But if you did receive, why do you boast as if you had not received?’ (1 Cor 4:7) — ‘Already,’ he says, ‘you have become rich’ — you who toil in works; already you who have begun to be taught have been satiated — whose error has just now passed over into me; through which I have borrowed reasoning, concealing the poverty of my works, and through which I gave counsel with judgment, perverting the discipleship of being taught.
But nevertheless, if any forgiveness is held in store by you, grant it to me as well, so that we too may set down in summary, indicating, the vices that are the counterparts of the virtues: what gluttony is, against which is self-control; what fornication is, and temperance; what love of money is, and non-possession; sorrow, against which is joy; what anger is, and long-suffering; and listlessness, and endurance; what vainglory is, and freedom from vainglory; envy, and freedom from envy; pride, and humility. These, being counterparts and rivals and opposites of one another, we have thus set down in summary. Chapter 2. Gluttony, then, is the mother of fornication, the nurse of thoughts,
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De vitiis quae opposita sunt virtutibus (sub nomine Nili Ancyrani) ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΑΣ ΑΝΤΙΖΥΓΟΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΑΡΕΤΩΝ ΚΑΚΙΑΣ. ‹79.1140› ΚΕΦΑΛ. Αʹ. Ἀναγκαῖον ἡγοῦμαι καὶ τὰς ἀντιζύγους τῶν ἀρετῶν κακίας δι' ἐπιτόμου ὑποτάξαι τῇ σῇ φιλοπονίᾳ· ἕως μὲν ὧδε τὴν διάνοιαν ἀροτριάσαντες, τὰς τῶν λογισμῶν ἀκάνθας ἐκ τῆς σπορίμου χώρας ἀνεβάλομεν· οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων δὲ, ἃ ἐποιήσαμεν ἡμεῖς εἰς τοῦτο παρεφθάσαμεν, ἀλλ' ὑποτύπωσιν ἔχοντες ὑγιαινόντων λόγων, ὧν ἠκούσαμεν, παρὰ τῶν Πατέρων, καί τινων τῶν πράξεων συνίστορες γεγενήμεθα. Τὸ δὲ πᾶν ἡ χάρις ἄνωθεν, ἡ καὶ τοῖς ἀμαρτωλοῖς ὑποδεικνύουσα τὰς τῶν φρεναπατῶν ἐπιβουλὰς, ἡ καὶ ἀσφαλιζομένη, καὶ λέγουσα· «Τί γὰρ ἔχεις ὃ οὐκ ἔλαβες;» ἵνα διὰ τοῦ λαβεῖν εὐχαριστῶμεν τῷ δεδωκότι, ὅτι μὴ ἑαυτοῖς ἀποδιδόαμεν καύχημά τι δόξης, τὴν δόσιν ἀρνούμενοι. διόπερ φησὶν, «Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔλαβες, τί καυχᾷ, ὡς μὴ λαβών;» –«Ἥδη, φησὶν, ἐπλουτήσατε» οἱ τοῖς ἔργοις πενόμενοι, ἤδη οἱ τοῦ διδάσκεσθαι ἀρξάμενοι, ἐκορέσθητε, ὧνπερ ἀρτίως ἡ πλάνη μεταβέβηκεν εἰς ἐμέ· δι' ἧς μὲν δεδάνεισμαι λογιστείας, τὴν τῶν ἔργων πενίαν παρακαλύπτων, δι' ἧς δὲ παρῄνεσα γνώμης τὴν τοῦ διδάσκεσθαι μαθητείαν ἀντιπεριτρέπων. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ‹79.1141› εἴ τις κεκράτηται παρ' ὑμῶν συγγνώμη, κἀμοὶ ταύτην ἀπονείματε, ἵνα καὶ τὰς ἀντιζύγους τῶν ἀρετῶν κακίας δι' ἐπιτόμου ὑποτάξωμεν σημαίνοντες· τί μέν ἐστι γαστριμαργία, καθ' ἧς ἐγκράτεια· τί δὲ πορνεία, καὶ σωφροσύνη· φιλαργυρία δὲ τί, καὶ ἀκτημοσύνη· λύπη, καθ' ἧς ἡ χαρά· ὀργὴ δὲ τί, καὶ μακροθυμία· καὶ ἀκηδία, καὶ ὑπομονή· τί δὲ κενοδοξία, καὶ ἀκενοδοξία, φθόνος, καὶ ἀφθονία, ὑπερηφανία, καὶ ταπείνωσις· ταῦτα ἀντίζυγα, καὶ ἀντίπαλα, καὶ ἀντίθετα ἀλλήλων ὅντα, δι' ἐπιτόμου οὕτως ὑπετάξαμεν. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Βʹ. Ἔστιν οὖν γαστριμαργία, πορνείας μήτηρ, τροφὸς λογισμῶν,