CHAPTER XII.
EXHORTATION TO ABANDON THEIR OLD ERRORS AND
LISTEN TO THE INSTRUCTIONS OF CHRIST.
ET us then avoid custom as we would a dangerous headland, or the threatening Charyhdis, or the mythic sirens. It chokes man, turns him away from truth, leads him away from life: custom is a snare, a gulf, a pit, a mischievous winnowing fan.
"Urge the ship beyond that smoke and billow."[1]
Let us shun, fellow-mariners, let us shun this billow; it vomits forth fire: it is a wicked island, heaped with bones and corpses, and in it sings a fair courtesan, Pleasure, delighting with music for the common ear.
"Hie thee hither, far-famed Ulysses, great glory of the Achæans;
Moor the ship, that thou mayest hear a diviner voice."[2]
She praises thee, O mariner, and calls thee illustrious; and the courtesan tries to win to herself the glory of the Greeks. Leave her to prey on the dead; a heavenly spirit comes to thy help: pass by Pleasure, she beguiles.
"Let not a woman with flowing train cheat you of your senses,
With her flattering prattle seeking your hurt."
Sail past the song; it works death. Exert your will only, and you have overcome ruin; bound to the wood of the cross, thou shalt be freed from destruction: the word of God will be thy pilot, and the Holy Spirit will bring thee to anchor in the haven of heaven. Then shalt thou see my God, and be initiated into the sacred mysteries, and come to the fruition of those things which are laid up in heaven
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