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2. But you, wage war against pleasure; hear the Lord crying out: Today, agree with your adversary, while you are with him in the way. It is good, therefore, and once and for all for those who love meddlesomeness, that they not engage too contentiously in lawsuits. For it is better even in lawsuits to anticipate the uncertain end of the suit with friendly settlements, than, relying on the hopes of victory, to entrust oneself to an uncertain sea. You read your documents, you are confident in the outcomes; the advocate, having hollowed his hand for the fee, guarantees victory, so that he might be bound tight by his wages. And sometimes a judge, having been corrupted beforehand, promises you the end of the suit in advance. You are confident in uncertain hopes. For if you, acting first, have corrupted the one who judges, having opened a door with others' fees, consider that your litigant is planning the same things; and often the calm seas of the suit persuade you who are sailing gently to slacken the sail for the voyage. Have you never seen the sea having a calm toward the shore, and in the deep being tossed by waves? How many, having set sail with fair weather and calm into the middle of the sea, encountering sudden storms and waves, have been shipwrecked? Such are the ends of a lawsuit; sometimes the beginnings are with hopes, and the end brings an outcome contrary to the hope. It is good, therefore, as I said, to anticipate even monetary lawsuits with friendly settlements, so that at the end of the lawsuit you may pilot your friend; but may criminal ones not even be settled, but not even be engaged in from the beginning; but even there, sparing of anger is better. However, it does not seem to me that the saying has its cause only concerning money. Be, it says, well-disposed to your adversary quickly, while you are in the way with him. This addition gives me something even greater to understand. For if the saying spoke only of monetary lawsuits, or of unfeeling crimes, why did it add, While you are in the way with him? For what adversary agrees to travel with an adversary? Who shares a journey, not sharing an opinion? Does he not fear also the theft of documents, and the corruption of witnesses, and plots along the highways? Therefore we ought to find the adversary who is always accompanying us, whose company we cannot flee even while being extremely watchful, and to understand this adversary, to whom it is fitting to behave with good will. Who, then, is this precise adversary? If you examine accurately, the body of the soul; this is the adversary of the spirit in you. And so that you may not think the saying is my own, let Paul confirm what was said: The flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another. And I am not introducing the teaching of the Manichees, nor do I say there is another creator of the body; 59.760 but the flesh desires against the Spirit, using pleasure as its counselor; and the Spirit against the flesh, relying on the hopes to come. The desire of the world and the desire of the kingdom of heaven are opposed to one another; this is the adversary who accompanies one both willingly and unwillingly; for life is a way. The soul hastens to imitate its own image, the flesh sinks down to the dust. And these are contrary to one another. Be well-disposed to this adversary of yours. And when? While you are with him in the way, as long as you happen to be in this life. For if the way is completed, there is no longer time for repentance, For in death there is no one who remembers you; and in Hades who will confess to you? Therefore, be well-disposed to this adversary of yours. He did not say, Indulging, but, Being well-disposed. Do not do what is pleasant for your adversary, but as one who is well-disposed, call it back from pleasure to repentance. He does not command you to use the body as a chef, doing all things that come from pleasure; but as a physician. For a physician often mixes something bitter, and cuts, and burns, and causing additional pain receives a fee. For even if it pains the senses a little, yet the purpose

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βʹ. Ἀλλὰ σὺ στράτευσαι κατὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς· ἄκουσον τοῦ Κυρίου κράζοντος· Σήμερον ἴσθι εὐνοῶν τῷ ἀντιδίκῳ σου, ἕως οὗ εἶ μετ' αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ. Καλὸν μὲν οὖν καὶ καθάπαξ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς φιλοπραγμοσύνης ἐρῶντας, ἵνα μηδὲ δίκας φιλονεικότερον ἐγγυμνάζωσιν. Βέλτιον γὰρ καὶ ἐν δίκαις προλαβεῖν φιλικαῖς διαλύσεσι τὸ τῆς δίκης ἄδηλον τέλος, ἢ ταῖς ἐλπίσι τῆς νίκης ἐπερειδομένους ἀδήλῳ καταπιστεῦσαι πελάγει. Ἀναγινώσκεις σου τὰ γραμματεῖα, θαρσεῖς ταῖς ἐκβάσεσιν· ὁ συνήγορος κοιλάνας τὴν χεῖρα τῷ λήμματι ἐγγυᾶται τὴν νίκην, ἵνα περισφίγγηται μισθαρνίᾳ. Ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ δικαστὴς προδιεφθαρμένος προεπαγγέλλεταί σοι τῆς δίκης τὸ τέλος. Ἀβεβαίοις θαρσεῖς ἐλπίσιν. Εἰ γὰρ σὺ προλαβὼν προδιέφθειρας τὸν δικάζοντα, ἀλλοτρίοις λήμμασι θύραν ἀνοίξας, νόμιζε τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ τὸν διάδικον μελετᾷν· καὶ πολλάκις ἠρέμα σοι τὰ τῆς δίκης εὔδια πλέοντι πείθουσι χαλάσαι περὶ τὸν πλοῦν τὸ ἱστίον. Οὐδέποτε εἶδες θάλασσαν πρὸς αἰγιαλὸν γαλήνην ἔχουσαν, καὶ ἐν τῷ βυθῷ κυμαινομένην; Πόσοι μετ' εὐδίας καὶ γαλήνης ἀναπλεύσαντες εἰς τὸ μέσον τοῦ πελάγους, αἰφνιδίοις χειμῶσι χρησάμενοι καὶ κύμασιν ἐναυάγησαν; Τοιαῦτα τῆς δίκης τὰ τέλη· ἐνίοτε τὰ προοίμια μετὰ τῶν ἐλπίδων, καὶ τὸ τέλος ἀντίστροφον τὴν ἔκβασιν τῆς ἐλπίδος ἀπενεγκάμενον. Καλὸν μὲν οὖν, ὅπερ εἶπον, καὶ τὰς χρηματικὰς δίκας φθάνειν διαλύσεσι φιλικαῖς, ἵνα πρὸς τῷ τέλει τῆς δίκης κυβερνήσῃς τὸν φίλον· ἐγκληματικὰς δὲ μηδὲ διαλύεσθαι γένοιτο, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐγγυμνάζειν· πλὴν ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖ βελτίων ἡ φειδὼ τοῦ θυμοῦ. Ὅμως οὐ δοκεῖ μοι μόνον περὶ χρημάτων ὁ λόγος ἔχειν τὸ αἴτιον. Ἴσθι, φησὶν, εὐνοῶν τῷ ἀντιδίκῳ σου ταχὺ, ἕως ὅτου εἶ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ μετ' αὐτοῦ. Αὕτη ἡ προσθήκη δίδωσί μοί τι καὶ μεῖζον ἐννοεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ περὶ χρηματικῶν δικῶν μόνον ὁ λόγος, ἢ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων τῶν ἀναισθήτων ἔλεγε, διὰ τί προσετίθει, Ἕως ὅτου εἶ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ μετ' αὐτοῦ; τίς γὰρ ἀντίδικος ἀντιδίκῳ συνοδεύειν καταδέχεται; τίς κοινωνεῖ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας μὴ κοινωνῶν τῆς γνώμης; οὐ δέδοικε καὶ γραμμάτων κλοπὴν, καὶ μαρτύρων διαφθορὰν, καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὰς λεωφόρους ἐπιβουλάς; Οὐκοῦν ὀφείλομεν εὑρεῖν ἀντίδικον τὸν ἀεὶ συνοδεύοντα, οὗ τὴν συνοδείαν καὶ σφόδρα φυλαττόμενοι φυγεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα, καὶ τοῦτον ἐννοῆσαι τὸν ἀντίδικον, ᾧ προσήκει μετ' εὐνοίας προσφέρεσθαι. Τίς οὖν ἀκριβής ἐστιν ἀντίδικος; Ἐὰν ἀκριβῶς ἐξετάσῃς, τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς· οὗτος ἀντίδικός ἐστι τοῦ ἐν σοὶ πνεύματος. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ νοήσῃς ἐμὸν εἶναι τὸν λόγον, Παῦλος κυρωσάτω τὸ ῥηθέν· Ἡ σὰρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκός· ταῦτα δὲ ἀντίκειται ἀλλήλοις. Καὶ οὐ Μανιχαίων εἰσάγω λόγον, οὐδὲ ἄλλον λέγω σώματος δημιουργόν· 59.760 ἀλλ' ἡ σὰρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, τῇ ἡδονῇ συμβούλῳ χρωμένη· τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκὸς, ταῖς μελλούσαις ἐλπίσιν ἐπερειδόμενον. Ἀντίκεινται ἀλλήλοις ἐπιθυμία κόσμου καὶ ἐπιθυμία βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀντίδικος ὁ καὶ ἑκόντος καὶ ἄκοντος συνοδεύων· ὁδὸς γὰρ ὁ βίος. Ἡ ψυχὴ τὴν ἰδίαν εἰκόνα σπεύδει μιμεῖσθαι, ἡ σὰρξ ἐπὶ τὸν χοῦν καταῤῥεῖ. Ταῦτα δὲ ἀντίκεινται ἀλλήλοις. Τούτῳ τῷ ἀντιδίκῳ σου ἴσθι εὐνοῶν. Καὶ πότε; Ἕως ὅτου εἶ μετ' αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ἕως ἐν τούτῳ τυγχάνεις τῷ βίῳ. Ἐὰν γὰρ ἡ ὁδὸς τελεσθῇ, οὐκ ἔτι μετανοίας καιρὸς, Ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ ὁ μνημονεύων σου, ἐν δὲ τῷ ᾅδῃ τίς ἐξομολογήσεταί σοι; Τούτῳ οὖν ἴσθι τῷ ἀντιδίκῳ σου εὐνοῶν. Οὐκ εἶπε, Χαριζόμενος, ἀλλ', Εὐνοῶν. Μὴ τὸ ἡδὺ ποιήσῃς τῷ ἀντιδίκῳ σου, ἀλλ' ὡς εὔνους ἀπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς εἰς τὴν μετάνοιαν ἀνακάλεσαι. Οὐ κελεύει σε ὡς ὀψοποιῷ χρήσασθαι τῷ σώματι πάντα τὰ ἐξ ἡδονῆς ποιοῦντα· ἀλλ' ὡς ἰατρῷ. Ἰατρὸς γὰρ πολλάκις καὶ πικρὸν κιρνᾷ, καὶ τέμνει, καὶ καίει, καὶ προσλυπῶν μισθὸν λαμβάνει. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μικρὸν λυπεῖ τὴν αἴσθησιν, ἀλλὰ σκοπὸς