The Captured Eye

Στηρίζων ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ λογίζεται διεστραμμένα... Ὀφθαλμὸς θεωρῶν καλὰ, ἤτοι διακεκριμένος· τίνα δὲ τὰ καλὰ, ζητητέον· καὶ μὴ θεωρῶν χρυσὸν, λυπεῖται· εἴτε σῶμα λαμπρὸν, πάλιν κατατήκεται· ἀλλὰ τίνα ἐστὶ τὰ καλὰ, ἄκουσον· Τὸν οὐρανὸν, τὴν γῆν, τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν κτίσιν πᾶσαν· ὥστε τὰ τοιαῦτα βλέπετε, οἶον τὴν ψυχὴν εὐφραίνει· ἐπεὶ τί ὄφελος τερφθῆναι μὲν τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν, μηδὲν δὲ γενέσθαι πλέον, ἀλλὰ τὴν ψυχὴν διαφθαρῆναι; Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Παροιμίας Σολομώντος Εξηγήσεων, Κεφ ΙϚ' Migne PG 39.1637

He with spellbound eye turns to evil... 1 The eye sees beautiful things when they are truly beautiful, and let such beautiful things be sought, and let the eye not grieve at the sight of gold and again melt away because of the charm of a body, but hear what things are beautiful: the sky, the earth, the sea and everything created. Thus seeing such things seeing the soul has its joy. For to please the eye and nothing more to profit than that, would it not truly be the ruin of the soul? Didymus the Blind, On Proverbs, fragment 1 Prov 16.30