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ALL the arts and sciences, said he, have some goal or mark; and end or
aim of their own, on which the diligent pursuer of each art has his eye,
and so endures all sorts of toils and dangers and losses, cheerfully and
with equanimity, e.g., the farmer, shunning neither at one time the
scorching heat of the sun, nor at another the frost and cold, cleaves the
earth unweariedly, and again and again subjects the clods of his field to
his ploughshare, while he keeps before him his goal; viz., by diligent
labour to break it up small like fine sand, and to clear it of all briers,
and free it from all weeds, as he believes that in no other way can he gain
his ultimate end, which is to secure a good harvest, and a large crop; on
which he can either live himself free from care, or can increase his
possessions. Again, when his barn is well stocked he is quite ready to
empty it, and with incessant labour to commit the seed to the crumbling
furrow, thinking nothing of the present lessening of his stores in view of
the future harvest. Those men too who are engaged in mercantile pursuits,
have no dread of the uncertainties and chances of the ocean, and fear no
risks, while an eager hope urges them forward to their aim of gain.
Moreover those who are inflamed with the ambition of military life, while
they look forward to their aim of honours and power take no notice of
danger and destruction in their wanderings, and are not crushed by present
losses and wars, while they are eager to obtain the end of some honour held
out to them. And our profession too has its own goal and end, for which we
undergo all sorts of toils not merely without weariness but actually with
delight; on account of which the want of food in fasting is no trial to us,
the weariness of our vigils becomes a delight; reading and constant
meditation on the Scriptures does not pall upon us; and further incessant
toil, and self-denial, and the privation of all things, and the horrors
also of this vast desert have no terrors for us. And doubtless for this it
was that you yourselves despised the love of kinsfolk, and scorned your
fatherland, and the delights of this world, and passed through so many
countries, in order that you might come to us, plain and simple folk as we
are, living in this wretched state in the desert. Wherefore, said he,
answer and tell me what is the goal and end, which incite you to endure all
these things so cheerfully.
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