On Virtue and Vice
St. Basil the Great
Our Lord Jesus Christ said to His Apostles: “Go ye and teach all nations, teaching them” (Matt. 28:19), not to observe one thing and neglect another, but to keep all that I have commanded you, that is, to omit not even the smallest of the commandments. For if all were not necessary for salvation, not all commandments would have been prescribed, nor would it have been affirmed that all must be kept. Yet we, sometimes by our own judgment alone (I do not say directly), having fulfilled one commandment, when all are interconnected in their purpose such that neglecting one requires neglecting all together, expect a reward not for the contempt of the other commandments but solely for the one we think we have fulfilled. We do not realize that he who has been entrusted with ten talents, if he withholds even one or two and returns the rest, is not deemed prudent for returning many but is condemned as unjust and a robber for withholding a few. And what do I say about withholding? When he who had only one talent entrusted to him (Matt. 25:24–30) and returned it intact was condemned solely because he did not multiply it. A son who honored his father for ten years but at last struck him is no longer received as a virtuous son but is condemned as a parricide. Thus, one who has made progress in good deeds but later returns to former vices not only loses the reward for all progress in virtue but is subject to even harsher condemnation. For having tasted the sweetness of God’s word and been granted knowledge of the mystery, yet being seduced by fleeting pleasure, he loses everything.
Therefore, if we desire to walk safely along the path of life set before us and dedicate both soul and body to Christ, free from vile wounds, and to receive crowns for this victory, we must constantly turn our vigilant spiritual eyes in all directions, harbor suspicion toward all that entices us, and attach our thoughts to nothing: not to gold, even if it lies before our eyes, ready to fall into the hands of those who desire it (for, as David said, “If riches flow, set not your heart upon them” – Ps. 61:11); nor to the earth, even if it yields all delights and reveals precious dwellings (“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, Christ” – Phil. 3:20); nor to dances, feasts, drunkenness, or tables resounding with the charm of song (“Vanity of vanities,” said the wise Solomon, “all is vanity” – Eccl. 1:2); nor to bodily beauty, in which evil souls dwell (“Flee from the face of a woman as from the face of a serpent,” testifies the same wise one). Nor to authority and power, nor to a multitude of protectors or flatterers, nor to a lofty and shining throne that subjugates nations and cities, for it is said: “All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth away” (Isa. 40:6–7). Beneath all these allurements lurks that common enemy of mankind, waiting for us to be seduced by visible things, to stray from the true path, and to cast ourselves into his nets. Therefore, we must beware lest, carelessly approaching these things and deeming the pleasure they offer at first taste to be harmless, we swallow the hook hidden by the devil. Then, partly willingly and partly against our will, we may become attached to these things and, through our ignorance, allow these allurements to draw us to the fearful abode of brigands—that is, to death. Virtues, when joined with nature through diligence, become our possession and do not abandon those who strive on earth (unless we ourselves forcibly cast them away through vices). They hasten ahead of us to heaven, uniting their lovers with angels and shining eternally before the eyes of the Creator. In contrast, wealth, power, nobility, luxury, and all such things, which grow endlessly through our folly, neither enter life with us nor depart with anyone from life. Truly and convincingly did that righteous man of old declare: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither” (Job 1:21). So, what is more beneficial for you? To choose temporary pleasure and through it receive eternal death, or to choose affliction with virtue and through it gain eternal life? Just as we measure bodily weights with scales, so we discern what to choose in life by the free disposition of the soul, which Scripture calls scales, for it can incline equally to either side. For example, fornication and chastity are judged by you, and your superior reason presides over this entrusted judgment. Here, lust aids fornication, while the fear of God supports chastity. If you condemn sin and grant victory to chastity, your judgment is just; but if, swayed by lust, you prefer sin to it, you have judged unjustly and become subject to the curse of him who said: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isa. 5:20). Therefore, when virtue is judged against its opposing vice, prove your justice in the secret tribunal of your soul, setting a standard as if for your companions. Show your hatred for vice by turning away from sin and preferring virtue to it. If in all your actions you give preference to the better, you will be blessed on that day “when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel” (Rom. 2:16). You will not be condemned for hating evil but will be honored with crowns of justice, with which you adorned virtue throughout your life. As an archer aims his bow directly at the target, neither shooting beyond nor short of the mark, nor to one side or the other, so too must a judge seek justice, neither regarding faces (“For to have respect of persons in judgment is not good” – Prov. 24:23) nor acting with partiality, but rendering a just and steadfast judgment. If he judges two, one of whom has more than is due and the other less, he must make both equal, taking from the one who has too much as much as the offended lacks, according to his discernment.
Other things belong no more to their owners than to those who receive them by chance, passing to and fro like a game of dice. But virtue alone is an inalienable possession, remaining with both the living and the dead. For this reason, Solon, it seems to me, said to the rich: I would never exchange virtue for wealth, for virtue endures forever, while wealth passes from one to another. Therefore, O mortals, we must strive for virtue, which floats to shore with the drowning and makes the naked, cast upon the land, more honorable than the most prosperous. Thus, let us guide our lives so that the days past are never better than those to come: “Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these?” (Eccl. 7:10). If the former days are better than the latter, it will be said of us: You have foolishly suffered this, losing prosperity through subsequent negligence. For as one striving for perfection advances forward, so one who sins falls backward. What stronger evidence of vice is there than retreating from virtue? The greatest evil is to provoke the good and gentle, and this supreme evil is not even consistent with itself, opposing not only virtue but itself as well. As darkness is dispelled by the presence of light, as illness is overcome by the return of health, so progress in virtue grows from small beginnings to the highest degree; likewise, evil, starting small, multiplies until it becomes incurable. Similarly, the beginning of a virtuous life is the avoidance of evil. “Depart from evil,” said David, “and do good” (Ps. 36:27). For if he had proposed something perfect to you, you would approach it slowly; but he first advises the easier step, so that you may boldly proceed to the next. As the first step of a ladder is to leave the ground, so in a God-pleasing life, the beginning of progress is the avoidance of vice. While we are still infants, we pursue only present pleasures, with no care for the future. But upon reaching maturity and full reason, we see the twofold path before us—to virtue and to vice—and, often turning our spiritual eyes to both and comparing them, we judge their nature. The path of sinners offers all the pleasures of this present age, while the path of the righteous promises only the blessings of the age to come. The path of the saved, while promising a glorious future, presents a laborious present; in contrast, a pleasurable and unrestrained life offers only present enjoyment, not future reward. Blessed, therefore, is he who has not cast himself into destruction through these allurements and has not chosen the path leading to ruin. Blessed is he who has cast aside all worldly hope, placing hope solely in God. Cursed is the man who trusts in man, but blessed is he who is established in the Lord. For hope in God takes no other side, and the Lord does not grant His almighty aid to one who sometimes hopes in wealth, human glory, or worldly power, and sometimes sets God as his hope, but everyone must have unwavering hope in God’s help alone.
But unenlightened and worldly-minded people, wholly ignorant of the true good of nature, often regard worthless things as good—that is, wealth, health, or bodily beauty, none of which is good in itself, not only because they can easily turn to their opposites, but also because they cannot make their possessors blessed. Therefore, one still living, due to the uncertainty of the end, should not be called blessed; but he who has fulfilled his duty and crowned his life with a true end may rightly be called blessed. Those who do good receive praise in the very act. But those who flee from evil do not earn such praise if they escape vice only once or twice, but only if they wholly avoid the temptation of evil. If we are to choose the better life, hoping that habit will make it pleasing to us, we must pursue the better. For it is unfitting, while experiencing the present time, to recall it with sorrow after it has passed, when sorrow brings no benefit. We cannot receive God’s grace without first expelling the evil passions that have taken hold of our hearts. I have seen that physicians do not give healing remedies to the sick until they have purged the disease-causing matter born in them from intemperate consumption of harmful food. A vessel filled with foul liquid, if not cleansed, cannot receive the infusion of fragrant substance. Thus, the former must be poured out so that what is poured in may be contained. The Holy Spirit is present in all people, but to those pure from passions, He grants special strength, while those whose minds are troubled by sinful impurities are not deemed worthy of Him.
It is not easy, when thoughts are distracted by various cares, to attain the end of our desires, as the Lord affirmed, saying: “No man can serve two masters.” And again: “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24). Nor can we fulfill any other commandment, neither love for God nor for our neighbor, while wavering in thought between one and the other. One cannot firmly grasp any science or knowledge by frequently changing them, nor can one achieve perfection in any matter without knowing its proper end. For actions, too, must correspond to their end, if nothing contrary to reason is produced unnaturally. The end of the coppersmith’s craft is not achieved through pottery, nor are ascetic crowns won for enchanting flute-playing; rather, each end requires its proper labor. Thus, striving to please God according to the Gospel of Christ is accomplished by withdrawing from worldly cares and completely detaching oneself from earthly concerns. One who truly desires to follow God must free himself from the bonds of attachment to this life, which can only be done through complete detachment and forgetting of former ways. Unless we distance ourselves from fleshly ties and worldly associations, as if passing into another world through the separation of the soul, we cannot achieve our goal of pleasing God. One who has attained angelic dignity but defiles himself with human passions is like a leopard’s skin, neither wholly white nor wholly black, but by the mingling of colors counted neither among the black nor the white. Therefore, like painters who, when copying icons from others, frequently look at the original to transfer its likeness into their work, we, striving to perfect ourselves in every aspect of virtue, must look to the lives of the saints as living and active images, making their virtues our own through imitation.
If an ox, given to man as a helper in agriculture, hears its master’s voice and recognizes the one who regularly feeds it, and if a donkey willingly hastens to its appointed place of rest, if irrational animals can become so accustomed to their caretakers, how much greater love for God is required from rational nature in comparison? A single act does not make a man virtuous; rather, throughout his life, he must align his actions with virtue. As those entering a bathhouse remove all their clothing, so too must those embarking on the ascetic life, casting off all worldly things, live in wisdom. “Be ye wise as serpents,” Christ commands (Matt. 10:16). A serpent, when it must shed its skin, slips into a narrow place, pressing its body to skillfully and artfully cast off its old age. Scripture signifies this so that we, walking the narrow and afflicted path, may put off the old man and put on the new, that our youth may be renewed like the eagle’s. For at the shining of light, darkness vanishes; at the return of health, the torments of illness cease; at the proof of truth, falsehood is exposed. Many people are like clouds, carried from one side to another by the shifting breath of winds. Those with minds quick to change do not condemn a disorderly life, but those with firm and unshakable minds deem it necessary to live according to their purpose. Many, to cloak evil deeds with the appearance of good, call a chatterer cheerful, a foul-mouthed person courteous, and regard an angry and cruel person as dignified; they praise a miser as a diligent steward, call one drowning in luxury generous, and a fornicator or lustful person one who enjoys his possessions with a free spirit. In short, they adorn every vice with a name opposite to its corresponding virtue. Such people, as David says, “Bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly” (Ps. 61:5). For under the beauty of words, they bring every curse upon the lives of those they praise, subjecting them to eternal condemnation. Therefore, as the justice of judgment requires that rewards not be equal to actions, one who commits evil must receive double punishment, both to make himself better and to make others more cautious by his example. Likewise, one who commits vice under the guise of virtue deserves double punishment: first, for committing the vice, and second, for using virtue, so to speak, as an accomplice to its commission.
Thus, a prudent man in his life must avoid the rumors of the crowd about himself and not regard the opinions of others, but take sound reason as his guide in life. Even if he must oppose all people, incur ill opinion from all, or face danger for his honesty, he must not alter what is justly determined. For one who acts otherwise differs little from that Egyptian sage who transformed himself at will into a plant, a beast, fire, water, or anything else. Such a one today, where justice is esteemed, will praise it; at another time, he will speak contrary if he sees injustice honored, revealing a flatterer, cunning and deceitful, like Archilochus’ fox. A true word, proceeding from sound reason, is simple and uniform, always affirming one thing consistently. But a multifaceted and cunning word, being entangled and prepared in advance, takes on a thousand forms and countless transformations to please its hearers. For if things in their nature are one way, but words describe them otherwise, there is a transformation—or rather, a distortion—born from words that perverts the truth. One who presents himself as one thing but is another in reality distorts the truth with words, deceiving those who converse with him, like hares or foxes that show dogs one path while directing their flight to another. The habit of unjust words opens the way to unjust actions. Therefore, we must guard our soul in every way, lest through the beauty of words, in our folly, we allow any vice to enter, like those who take poison with honey. He who confirms with his own actions the wisdom that many profess only in words is the only one who truly philosophizes; the rest wander like shadows. To praise virtue publicly and deliver long speeches in its honor, but in private to prefer lust to self-control or greed to justice, is, in my view, like actors in a play who take on others’ roles, often appearing as kings or nobles while being neither, perhaps even slaves. A harpist will not willingly allow his instrument to be out of tune, nor a choir leader permit a discordant choir; otherwise, each person will be at odds with himself, and his life will be discordant with his words. A horse is not made swift by the fine running of its parents, nor does a dog’s praise come from being born of the fleetest dogs. But as the virtue of each animal is judged in itself, so too is the praise of each person witnessed by his own deeds. The refinement of virtue is an invaluable treasure to its possessor and a most pleasing spectacle to those who encounter it. Those who practice virtue are like stars that, during cloudy nights, illuminate the sky in various places, their brilliance pleasing yet even more so because it is unexpected. Such are these rare ones in this sorrowful state of things, shining like stars in a dark night, who, beyond their beautiful virtue, inspire extraordinary desire by their rarity. Thus, one who shines with his own virtues need not seek others’ adornments.
Yet let none say that evil proceeds from God. Such an opinion is utterly unlawful, for the contrary does not arise from its contrary. Life does not beget death, light is not the source of darkness, nor is sickness the cause of health. In the mutual changes of passions, transitions from opposites to opposites may occur, but in their origins, each thing arises not from its opposite but from that which is akin to it. Evil is not some living or animate being but merely a passion of the soul contrary to virtue, born in the negligent through the departure from good. Thus, evil must not be judged by its outward appearance, nor should one suppose that some nature is its cause; rather, each person must acknowledge himself as the cause of his own vice. For if evil actions did not depend on each person’s free will, there would be no reason for wrongdoers to fear laws so greatly, nor would there be punishments justly imposed by strict judges on offenders. If virtuous and vicious actions arise not from ourselves but from nature or necessity, then lawmakers prescribing what we should do and what we should avoid would be unnecessary, as would judges who reward virtue and punish vice. One might also say that theft is not an offense, nor murder a vice, if the murderer could not, against his will, restrain his hand from killing, for an unavoidable necessity compelled it to act. Those who labor in the sciences would also be vain. A farmer, without sowing seeds in the ground or sharpening his tools, would reap abundant harvests; a merchant would grow exceedingly rich, whether he desired it or not, because fate multiplies his wealth. We, as Christians, would lose our hope if there were no reward for justice and no punishment for transgression, since no action depends on human will. Where necessity and fate reign, there is no place for reasoning about merit, which is the firmest foundation of justice. It is said of fig trees that some wild figs are grafted onto cultivated ones; others, by attaching unripe wild figs to fruitful cultivated trees, lend them strength, fortifying the falling and scattering fruit through the unripe figs. What does this example from nature signify? That we should sometimes draw strength from those outside the faith to demonstrate good deeds. For instance, when you see someone living in paganism or separated from the church through some perverse heresy, yet virtuous and concerned with good conduct, strive to be like the fruitful fig tree that gains strength from wild figs, thereby nurturing its fruit with greater zeal. We see that even natural flaws in plants can be corrected through the care of farmers; for example, grainy apples or bitter and sour almonds, when pierced near their roots and a raw pine wedge inserted into their very heart, change their bitter and unpleasant taste into something pleasing. Likewise, no person living viciously should despair. For if a farmer can alter the qualities of plants, how much more can care for the soul, in pursuit of virtues, overcome every vice, through Christ Jesus our Lord, whose glory and dominion are now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, amen.