Chapter 10. A Digression Against Certain Ostentatiously Generous People

¹ And yet who does not know what our present age has newly turned to in this regard? I do not know how it came about (though I would pray the thing had a sound aim), but it has become, for many, an occasion of scandal. Old houses of ascetic retreat, worn down by time and in need of a restoring hand, are cast aside; while new and recent foundations spring up under the names of their founders, and each man is eager to be seen as a fresh builder and master of his own new work—much as if a man, neglecting a son who lies sick and untreated, should go looking for another wife, in order to father children by her, having nothing to hold against the son who is sick. Brother, man, sick—truly incurably sick—you already have a good child; and yet, though it is in your power to care for him, you neglect him and throw yourself instead into arranging another marriage, spending yourself uselessly on needless labors.