14. I shall perhaps be blamed for leaving the first part of my subject inadequately treated, and going off into the second ; it will be said that my pen is beginning to tell what manner of man you ought to be, though it has not fully stated who you are. I suppose it blushed to see a man standing naked on the pinnacle of power, and hastened to clothe him in the robes of office. Without these the more clearly you are seen the more unseemly you appear. Can the desolation of a city that is set on a hill be hid? or the smoke of a lamp extinguished on the stand escape detection? We remember 'An ape upon the house-top: a silly king upon the throne'. Now lend me your ears as I sing my song; it may not be altogether pleasant, but it will do you good. The union of exalted rank with a base spirit is a monstrosity; so is the joining together of the chief seat and the lowest life; or of a tongue that speaketh great things, and an idle hand; or of much talk, and no fruit; or of a severe look, and light conduct; or of great authority, and no steadfastness. There is the mirror: let the foul countenance recognize itself, but you may rejoice that no resemblance to it is found in yours. Still I would have you look into the mirror lest haply, although you may have good grounds for self-satisfaction, there may not be wanting reasons for dissatisfaction. I would have you glory in the testimony of your conscience, but none the less I would have you humbled by that same testimony. It is seldom a man can say 'I know nothing by myself'.1 You walk more warily in the ways of goodness if you take care that evil does not lurk there. Wherefore, as I have said, you should know yourself, so that in the difficulties of your position, and such difficulties do exist, you may not only enjoy a good conscience, but, what is more, may also learn your defects. For who is free from defects? He lacks everything who thinks he lacks nothing. What if you are sovereign pontiff? Does it follow that because you are sovereign pontiff you are supremely perfect? Let me tell you that you are at the bottom if you think you are at the top. Who is at the top? He to whom nothing can be added. You greatly err if you think you are the man. God forbid! You are not of those who make dignities identical with virtues. You knew what virtue was before you were acquainted with rank. Let emperors and others who have not been afraid to be worshipped as divine enjoy that opinion:2 Nebuchadnezzar for example, Alexander, Antiochus, Herod. As for yourself, consider that you bear the title of 'supreme' not absolutely, but relatively. And when I say this, do not suppose that I am comparing your merits with other men's. I refer to functions of the ministry. Let a man so account of you as of a minister of Christ, and, without prejudice to the holiness of any one, beyond dispute the chief of ministers. I would you strove to be supreme in other respects, and did not think yourself supreme, or wish to be so regarded before you are. For how can you be proficient if you are already self-sufficient? It follows that there must be no reluctance to find out what is lacking, or you will have to confess that you lack modesty. Say with your predecessor, 'Not as though I had received, or were already perfect.'3 And again, 'I count not myself to have apprehended.'4 This is the knowledge of the saints; it is far from that which puffeth up. He who adds this knowledge adds sorrow,5 but it is a sorrow which no wise man ever seeks to escape. It is, forsooth, a healing sorrow, by means of which the deadly stupor of a hard and impenitent heart is excluded. This is why we deem him a wise man who could say 'My sorrow is ever in my sight'.6 I must now gather up the fragments, if any remain, of the topic from which not long ago we turned aside.