Chapter 6

For there was at that time a certain monk,

wise in divine things, adorned in life and in speech, and one who had gone through to the height every monastic way of life. From where he came and from what family I cannot say, but he made his dwelling in a certain utter wilderness of the land of Senaar, and had been perfected in the grace of the priesthood. Barlaam was the name of this old man. He, then, learning by a certain revelation that came to him from God the things concerning the king's son, went out from the desert and came down to the inhabited world. And, changing his habit and putting on worldly garments, and going aboard a ship, he came to the kingdom of the Indians; and, slipping on the mask of a merchant, he reached the city where the king's son had his palace. And, spending many days there, he inquired carefully into the things concerning him and who those were who came near him. Learning, then, that the tutor mentioned above was the most intimate to him of all, he came to him privately and said: "I wish you to know, my lord, that I am a merchant come from a far country, and I have a precious stone, the like of which has never been found. And to no one until now have I shown it; but to you I now make it known, seeing you to be an intelligent and sensible man,

that you may bring me in to the king's son, and I will give it to him. For it surpasses all good things beyond comparison; it can give to those blind in heart the light of wisdom, open the ears of the deaf, give voice to the speechless, and grant strength to the sick; it makes the foolish wise, drives out demons, and bestows ungrudgingly upon its possessor everything good and lovely." The tutor said to him: "I see you to be a man of steady and settled mind; but your words show that you boast beyond measure. For how could I tell you how many costly and precious stones and pearls I have seen? But ones having such powers as you have said, I have neither seen nor heard of. Still, show it to me, and, if it is according to your word, I will quickly bring it in to the king's son, and you will receive the greatest honours and gifts from him. But before I am assured by the truthful sight of my eyes, it is impossible for me to report such extravagant things about an unseen matter to my lord and king." Then Barlaam said: "You have spoken well in saying that you have never seen or heard of such powers and workings; for my word to you is not about a common thing, but about something wonderful and great. But since you have sought to behold it, hear my words. This precious stone, besides the workings and powers already mentioned, possesses also this strength: it cannot be readily beheld by one who does not have his sight strong and sound,

and his body pure and altogether undefiled. For if anyone not having these two good things should rashly look upon this precious stone, he would lose even the very power of sight that he has, and his wits besides. Now I, being not uninstructed in the science of medicine, see that your eyes are not sound, and I fear lest I be the occasion of depriving you even of the sight you have. But of the king's son I have heard that he has a chaste life and eyes that are beautiful and see soundly; for this reason I have taken courage to show this treasure to him. Do not, then, be careless about this, nor deprive your lord of such a thing." And he said to him: "If these things are so, do not show me the stone; for my life is befouled with many sins, and I do not, as you have said, have sound sight. But I, persuaded by your words, will not hesitate to make these things known to my lord and king." He said this, and going in, he reported everything part by part to the king's son. And he, when he heard the words of the tutor, felt a certain spiritual joy and gladness breathed into his heart; and, becoming as it were inspired in his soul, he ordered the man to be brought in quickly. When, then, Barlaam came in and had given him the fitting greeting of peace, he allowed him to be seated; and, the tutor having withdrawn, Josaphat said to the old man:

"Show me the precious stone, of which my tutor told me you spoke certain great and wonderful things." And Barlaam began his discourse with him thus: "It is not just, O king, that I should say anything falsely or rashly to the eminence of your glory; for all that has been declared to you by me is true and not to be gainsaid. But, unless I first take proof of your understanding, it is not lawful to reveal the mystery to you. For my Master says: 'The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and the birds came and devoured it; and other fell upon rocky ground, where it had not much earth, and at once it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth; but when the sun rose it was scorched, and, because it had no root, it withered; and other fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it; and other fell upon the good earth, and yielded fruit a hundredfold.' If, then, I find in your heart an earth fruitful and good, I will not hesitate to plant in you the divine seed and to reveal the great mystery; but if it is rocky and thorny, and a road trodden by everyone who wishes, it is better not to cast this saving seed at all and set it for plunder to the birds and beasts, before whom I am altogether commanded not to throw the pearls. But I am persuaded

concerning you of the better things and those that belong to salvation, that you will both see the priceless stone, and by the radiance of its light be counted worthy yourself to become light, and bear fruit a hundredfold. For it was for your sake that I undertook the labour and accomplished a long road, to show you what you have never seen and to teach you what you have not heard." And Josaphat said to him: "For my part, honoured elder, with a certain longing and uncontrollable desire I seek to hear some new and good word, and a fire has been kindled within in my heart, grievously burning me and urging me to learn certain necessary inquiries; but until now I have not met a man able to satisfy me concerning these things. But if I should meet some wise and knowing man, and hear a word of salvation, I will not, I think, give it over to birds, nor to beasts, nor will I appear rocky, as you said, nor thorny, but will both receive it gratefully and keep it knowingly. So, if you know anything of this kind, do not hide it from me, but declare it to me. For when I heard that you had come from a far land, my soul was glad, and I became of good hope to attain through you what I long for. For this reason I quickly brought you in to me and received you kindly, as one of my familiars and of my own age, if indeed I shall not be cheated of my hope." And Barlaam said: "You have done well in this, and worthily of your royal magnificence,

that you gave no heed to the lowliness that appears, but laid hold of the hidden hope. For there was a certain great and glorious king, and it happened, as he was passing by on a gold-inlaid chariot with the bodyguard befitting a king, that two men met him, clothed in torn and filthy garments, their faces wasted and very pale; and the king knew them to have worn away their flesh by the mortification of the body and the sweats of ascetic discipline. So when he saw them, leaping down at once from the chariot and falling to the ground, he did them reverence; and rising, he embraced them and kissed them most affectionately. But his nobles and rulers were displeased at this, thinking that he had done a thing unworthy of the royal glory; and, not daring to reprove him to his face, they urged his own brother to speak to the king, that he should not thus dishonour the height of the diadem. And when the brother had said these things and blamed his untimely lack of dignity, the king gave him an answer which his brother did not understand. For it was the custom of that king, whenever he gave sentence of death against anyone, to send a herald to that man's door with a trumpet appointed for this purpose; and by the sound of that trumpet all understood that man to be liable to death.

So when evening came, the king sent the trumpet of death to sound at the door of his brother's house. When his brother heard the trumpet of death, he despaired of his own safety and set his affairs in order the whole night; and at dawn, clothing himself in black and mourning garments, with wife and children he went to the door of the palace, weeping and lamenting. The king brought him in, and, seeing him thus mourning, said: "O senseless and foolish man, if you so dreaded the herald of your brother and equal — against whom you know yourself to have done no wrong at all — how have you brought blame upon me for greeting in lowliness the heralds of my God, who announce to me, more sweetly than a trumpet, death and the fearful meeting with the Master, against whom I know myself to have sinned much and greatly? Behold, then, reproving your folly, I have used this very device, just as I shall soon reprove those who prompted your blame against me for their folly." And so, having healed his brother and done him good, he sent him home. And he ordered four caskets to be made of wood. Two of them he covered all over with gold, and, putting into them the foul-smelling bones of dead men, he secured them with golden clasps; the others he smeared with pitch and bitumen, and filled them with precious stones and costly pearls and every fragrance of perfumery.

And, binding these fast with cords of hair, he called the nobles who had blamed him over the meeting with those men, and set before them the four caskets, that they might appraise of how much these, and of how much those, were worth. And they declared the two gilded ones to be of the greatest value. "For it is possible," they said, "that royal diadems and girdles are laid up in them; but those smeared with pitch and bitumen are of some cheap and pitiful value." The king said to them: "I knew that you would say such things; for with the senses' eyes you regard the sensible appearance; but it ought not so to be done. Rather, with the inner eyes one must see the honour or dishonour that is laid up within." And he ordered the gilded caskets to be opened. When they were opened, a dreadful stench breathed out and a most loathsome sight was seen. So the king said: "This is the figure of those clothed in splendid and glorious garments, who pride themselves on great glory and power, but within reek of dead men and wicked works." Then, ordering the ones pitched and bituminized to be uncovered, he gladdened all present with the brightness and fragrance of the things laid up in them. And he said to them: "Do you know what these are like? They are like those lowly men clad in cheap garments, whose outward appearance you saw,

and counted my reverence to them, face to face on the ground, an outrage; but I, regarding with the eyes of the mind the precious and surpassing beauty of their souls, was glorified by touching them, and held them more precious than any crown and any royal purple." Thus, then, he shamed them, and taught them not to be deceived by things that appear, but to give heed to things perceived by the mind. According to that godly and wise king, then, you too have done, in receiving me with good hope, of which you will not be cheated, as I think." And Josaphat said to him: "All these things you have said well and fittingly; but this I wish to learn: who is your Master, of whom at the beginning of your discourse, concerning that sower, you said you spoke?"