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those who curse you.” When you are wronged, do not wrong in return, but endure, for scripture says: “Do not say: I will repay my enemy for the wrong he has done me, but endure, so that the Lord may help you and bring vengeance upon the one who wrongs you.” For again in the Gospel it says: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you; and you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Let us therefore, beloved, attend to these commandments, that we may be found to be children of light by doing them. Bear with one another, therefore, you servants and sons of God. The husband, for his part, towards his wife, should not be proud or boastful, but compassionate, generous, desiring to please his own wife only and to flatter her honorably, striving to be agreeable to her, not adorning himself to ensnare some other woman for yourself. For if you are compelled by her to sin against her, eternal death from God will come upon you, to be punished bitterly in perception. And if you do not commit the abomination, but shaking her off you refuse it, even in this you have sinned, though not equally, but only by having ensnared a woman through your adornment to desire you; for you have caused her who suffered this to commit adultery with you through her desire. But you are not so much at fault for not having sent for the one ensnared by you; for you did not desire her; but by not giving yourself over to her, you will be pitied by the Lord God who said: “You shall not commit adultery,” and “You shall not covet.” For if she, having seen you or met you at an inopportune time, was smitten in her mind and sent for you, but you, as a God-fearing man, refused her and held back and did not sin against her, she nevertheless was wounded in her heart, because you are a handsome and well-adorned young man, so that she fell in love with you, you are found guilty of her transgression, as being the cause of a stumbling block to her and an inheritor of woe. Therefore, beseech the Lord God, that no evil may be established against you on account of this. For you must not please men unto sin, but God unto holiness, and lay hold of life and eternal rest. Do not further adorn the beauty given to you by God from nature, but in humility moderate it

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καταρωμένους ὑμᾶς.» Ἀδικούμενοι μὴ ἀνταδικήσητε, ἀλλ' ὑπομείνατε, ὅτι λέγει ἡ γραφή· «Μὴ εἴπῃς· τίσομαι τὸν ἐχθρόν μου ἅ με ἠδίκησεν, ἀλλ' ὑπόμεινον, ἵνα σοι βοηθήσῃ ὁ Κύριος καὶ ἐκδικίαν ἐπαγάγῃ τῷ ἀδικοῦντί σε.» Καὶ γὰρ πάλιν ἐν τῷ Eὐαγγελίῳ λέγει· «Ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑμῶν, καλῶς ποιεῖτε τοῖς μισοῦσιν ὑμᾶς, καὶ προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπηρεαζόντων ὑμᾶς καὶ διωκόντων· καὶ ἔσεσθε υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ὅτι τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους.» Προσέχωμεν οὖν, ἀγαπητοί, ταῖς ἐντολαῖς ταύταις, ἵνα τέκνα φωτὸς εὑρεθῶμεν πράσ σοντες αὐτάς. Βαστάξετε οὖν, οἱ δοῦλοι καὶ υἱοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλήλους. Ὁ μὲν ἀνὴρ τὴν γυναῖκα, μὴ ὑπερήφανος μηδὲ ἀλαζών, ἀλλ' εὔσπλαγχνος, εὐμετάδοτος, τῇ ἰδίᾳ γυναικὶ μόνον βουλόμενος ἀρέσκειν καὶ ταύτην κολακεύειν ἐντίμως, σπουδάζων καταθύμιος εἶναι αὐτῇ, μὴ καλλωπι ζόμενος εἰς τὸ ἀγρευθῆναί τινα ἑτέραν ἐπὶ σοί. Eἴτε γὰρ ἀναγκασθεὶς ὑπ' αὐτῆς ἁμαρτήσεις εἰς αὐτήν, θάνατος παρὰ Θεοῦ ἐπελεύσεταί σοι αἰώνιος ἐν αἰσθήσει πικρῶς κολαζομένῳ. Eἴτε μὴ ποιήσεις τὸ μύσος, ἀλλ' ἀποσει σάμενος αὐτὴν ἀρνήσῃ αὐτό, καὶ τοῦτο ἥμαρτες, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἐπ' ἴσης, μόνον δὲ τὸ διὰ τοῦ καλλωπισμοῦ σου παγιδεῦσαι γυναῖκα εἰς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαί σου· ἐποίησας γὰρ τὴν τοῦτο παθοῦσαν διὰ τῆς ὀρέξεως μοιχευθῆναι ἐπὶ σοί. Ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως αἴτιος ὑπάρχεις διὰ τὸ μὴ προσαποστεῖλαί σε τῇ ἐπὶ σὲ πεπαγιδευμένῃ· οὐ γὰρ σὺ ἐπεθύμησας αὐτῆς· μὴ συνεπιδιδοὺς δὲ αὐτῇ ἑαυτὸν ἐλεηθήσῃ ὑπὸ Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ εἰπόντος· «Oὐ μοιχεύσεις», καὶ «Oὐκ ἐπι θυμήσεις». Eἰ γὰρ ἐκείνη θεασαμένη σε ἢ ἀκαίρως σοι συναντή σασα ἐπλήγη τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ προσέπεμψέν σοι, σὺ δὲ ὡς θεοσεβὴς ἠρνήσω αὐτὴν ἀπέσχου τε καὶ οὐχ ἥμαρτες εἰς αὐτήν, ἐκείνη μέντοι τὴν καρδίαν ἐτραυματίσθη, εὐμόρφου νεωτέρου ὑπάρχοντός σου καὶ κεκαλλωπισμένου, ὥστε ἐρασθῆναί σου, ἔνοχος εὑρίσκῃ σὺ τοῦ ἐκείνης παραπτώμα τος, ὡς αἴτιος αὐτῇ σκανδάλου γενόμενος καὶ τοῦ οὐαὶ κληρονόμος. ∆ιὸ δεήθητι Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅπως μηδέν σοι διὰ τούτου κακὸν στηριχθῇ. Oὐ γὰρ ἀνθρώποις σε χρὴ ἀρέσκειν εἰς ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλὰ Θεῷ εἰς ὁσιότητα, ζωῆς τε καὶ ἀναπαύσεως τῆς αἰωνίου ἀντέχεσθαι. Τὸ ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεώς σοι δεδομένον ἐκ Θεοῦ κάλλος μὴ προσεπικαλλώπιζε, ἀλλὰ ταπεινοφρόνως μετρίασον αὐτὸ