СТРАХ

For you, poverty seems something terrible and terrible even by its name; but that is why we are poor because we are afraid of poverty, even if we had thousands of talents. It is not he who is poor who has nothing, but he who fears poverty, just as among the unfortunate we mourn and call pitiful not those who suffer great disasters, but those who do not know how to endure even small ones; on the contrary, he who knows how to endure them is worthy of praise and crowns. And what is this, tell me, whom do we praise among the combatants: those who, receiving many blows, do not lose heart and stand with their heads raised, or those who take flight at the first blows? Don't we crown those as valiant and courageous, and don't we laugh at these as timid and cowardly? We will do the same in everyday affairs: we will crown the one who endures everything easily, like the courageous and enduring ascetic (Job), and we will mourn the one who trembles and fears misfortunes and even before receiving a blow dies from fear. And in warfare, if someone, before raising his hand, and as soon as he sees the raised hand of the enemy, takes flight, although he has not yet received a blow, then he is ridiculed as weak, effeminate and inexperienced in such feats. The same thing happens to those who are afraid of poverty and cannot bear even the mere expectation of it. Therefore, it is not we who make you unhappy, but you yourself. How can the devil not laugh at you when he sees that even before the blow you are afraid of danger and trembling? Or better to say, if the fear is so terrible for you, then he will not even consider it necessary to hit you, but, having given you wealth, the mere fear of losing it will make you softer than any wax. We, so to speak, are by nature such that, having experienced something that we are afraid of, we then consider it not as terrible as before, before the experience. Therefore, so that you do not acquire this virtue, the devil keeps you in great fear, exhausting you like wax on a fire, with the fear of poverty before you actually experience it. Truly softer than any wax and more unhappy in the life of Cain himself is the one who fears for what he acquired through covetousness, grieves over what he does not have, and trembles over what he has, having imprisoned wealth as an ungrateful slave, and himself being besieged by various and shameful passions. Shameful desires, various fears, anxiety and trembling overwhelm him from all sides, and he is likened to a ship, driven from everywhere by contrary winds and subject to frequent disturbances. It would be much better for such a person to die than to endure a constant storm, just as it would be better for Cain to die than to constantly tremble (12). You might be interested in: