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intensifies the pleasure, so as to be overcome and break out in laughter; but if by doing this continuously and violently he should ever be wounded, either by a pin fastened in his mother’s tunic around the belt, or by the shuttle before the mother’s breasts receiving the child’s hand, then indeed, then, the mother, ceasing her laughter, is seized with an anguish greater than the one who was struck; and for a time she treats the wound, but for the future she forbids with a strong threat to do such things, so that he may not suffer the same things again. And we, therefore, would have done the same things, if we saw this childish anger, and the blow of infants, not bringing great destruction upon them; but since a little later, even if they do not perceive it now, being possessed by anger, they will weep and wail and lament, not such a lamentation as little children make, but that in the outer darkness, that in the unquenchable fire; let us do the same again as the mothers, differing from them only in this, that not with threat and insult as they do, but with much coaxing and gentleness will we speak to these children; since indeed for the saints there is no harm from these things, but rather a greater reward and more confidence. If we speak of the good things to come, perhaps you will laugh greatly, since you are always practicing to laugh such a laugh; but as for the present things, even if you were ten thousand times fond of laughter, you will not disbelieve; for not even if you wished, would you be able, since the facts themselves so speak against you. You certainly hear of Nero, for the man became notorious for his licentiousness, the first and only one to devise in such an office certain new kinds of wantonness and indecency; this Nero, accusing the blessed Paul—for he happened to live in the same times as he—of such things as you accuse these holy men, for having persuaded a very beloved concubine of his to accept the word concerning the faith, he also persuaded her to be rid of that unclean union; so then, he, making such accusations, and calling Paul a destroyer and a deceiver and the same things that you utter, at first bound him, and when he did not persuade him to refrain from his counsel to the girl, finally killed him. What harm, then, came from this to the one who suffered evil? And what benefit to the one who did evil? What was not a benefit to the then kil47.324led Paul? And what was not a harm to Nero who killed him? Is not the one sung of everywhere in the world like an angel—for for now I will speak of present things; while the other is reviled by all as truly a destroyer and a savage demon? 4. But as for the things there, even if you disbelieve, it is necessary to speak for the sake of those who believe; and yet you ought to have believed those things from the present things; nevertheless, however you may be disposed towards them, they will be spoken by us, and will not be hidden. What then will the things there be? That wretched and miserable man, squalid and dejected, full of shame and gloom, and bowing his head downwards, will be led away to where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched; but the blessed Paul will stand with great confidence beside the very throne of the King, shining brightly, and clothed with such glory as to be in no way inferior to the angels and archangels, and he will receive as great a reward as is fitting for a man who has given up his body and soul for the sake of what seems good to God. For so it is; A great reward is laid up for those who do good things, but this becomes greater and more abundant when those who do these good things also go through dangers and much dishonor; and even if the achievement is equal for the one who accomplished it without toil and the one who accomplished it with toils, the honors and the crowns will not be equal. Since also in wars the one who sets up a trophy is crowned, but much more greatly the one who can also show the wounds through which he set up the trophy. And why do I speak of the living, when even those who have demonstrated only this—to die nobly in war, having benefited their own people in nothing more—are sung of as saviors and champions throughout all of Greece? if you too are ignorant of these things, in laughter and luxury perpetually

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ἐπιτείνει τὴν ἡδονὴν, ὡς καὶ διαχεῖσθαι καὶ ἀνακλᾶσθαι τῷ γέλωτι· εἰ δὲ τῷ συνεχῶς καὶ ῥαγδαίως τοῦτο ποιεῖν τρωθείη ποτὲ, ἢ βελόνης τῷ χιτωνίσκῳ τῆς μητρὸς περὶ τὴν ζώνην ἐμπεπερονημένης, ἢ τῆς κερκίδος πρὸ τῶν στέρνων τῶν μητρικῶν τὴν χεῖρα τοῦ παιδὸς δεξαμένης, τότε δὴ, τότε, τὸν γέλωτα ἀφεῖσα ἡ μήτηρ, μείζονι τοῦ πληγέντος περιωδυνίᾳ κατέχεται· καὶ τέως μὲν θεραπεύει τὸ τραῦμα, τοῦ λοιποῦ δὲ μετὰ σφοδρᾶς ἀπαγορεύει τῆς ἀπειλῆς τὰ τοιαῦτα μὴ ποιεῖν, ὡς μηκέτι παθεῖν τὰ αὐτά. Καὶ ἡμεῖς τοίνυν τὰ αὐτὰ ἂν ἐδράσαμεν, εἰ τὸν παιδικὸν τοῦτον ἑωρῶμεν θυμὸν, καὶ τὴν τῶν νηπίων πληγὴν, μὴ μέγαν αὐτοῖς τὸν ὄλεθρον φέρουσαν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ μικρὸν ὕστερον, κἂν μὴ νῦν αἴσθωνται τῷ θυμῷ κατεχόμενοι, κλαύσουσι καὶ οἰμώξουσι καὶ ὀδυροῦνται, οὐ τοιοῦτον ὀδυρμὸν, οἷον τὰ παιδία τὰ μικρὰ, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐν τῷ σκότει τῷ ἐξωτέρῳ, τὸν ἐν τῷ πυρὶ τῷ ἀσβέστῳ· τὸ αὐτὸ πάλιν ταῖς μητράσι ποιήσωμεν, τοσοῦτον αὐτῶν διαλλάττοντες, ὅσον οὐ μετ' ἀπειλῆς καὶ ὕβρεως καθάπερ ἐκεῖναι, ἀλλὰ μετὰ κολακείας καὶ προσηνείας πολλῆς πρὸς τὰ παιδία ταῦτα διαλεξόμεθα· ἐπεὶ ὅτι γε τοῖς ἁγίοις οὐδεμία ἀπὸ τούτων ἡ βλάβη, ἀλλὰ καὶ μείζων ὁ μισθὸς καὶ πλείων ἡ παῤῥησία. Ἂν μὲν τὰ μέλλοντα εἴπωμεν ἀγαθὰ, τάχα καὶ γελάσεσθε μέγα, ἅτε τοιοῦτον ἀεὶ γέλωτα μελετῶντες γελᾷν· τοῖς δὲ παροῦσι, κἂν μυριάκις ἦτε φιλογέλωτες, οὐκ ἀπιστήσετε· οὐδὲ γὰρ, ἂν ἐθέλητε, δυνήσεσθε, τῶν πραγμάτων ὑμῖν οὕτως ἀντιφθεγγομένων αὐτῶν. Τὸν Νέρωνα πάντως ἀκούετε καὶ γὰρ ἐπίσημος ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀσελγείας ἐγένετο, πρῶτος καὶ μόνος εὑρὼν ἐν ἀρχῇ τοιαύτῃ καινούς τινας ἀκολασίας καὶ ἀσχημοσύνης τρόπους· οὗτος ὁ Νέρων τὸν μακάριον Παῦλον καὶ γὰρ ἔτυχε κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἐκείνῳ γενόμενος χρόνους τοιαῦτα ἐγκαλῶν, οἷάπερ ὑμεῖς τοῖς ἁγίοις τούτοις ἀνδράσι παλλακίδα γὰρ αὐτοῦ σφόδρα ἐπέραστον πείσας τὸν περὶ τῆς πίστεως δέξασθαι λόγον, ἔπειθεν ὁμοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀκαθάρτου συνουσίας ἀπαλλαγῆναι ἐκείνης· τοιαῦτα γοῦν ἐγκαλῶν ἐκεῖνος, καὶ λυμεῶνα καὶ πλάνον καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ, ἅπερ ὑμεῖς φθέγγεσθε, τὸν Παῦλον ἀποκαλῶν, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔδησεν, ὡς δὲ οὐκ ἔπειθε τῆς πρὸς τὴν κόρην ἀποσχέσθαι συμβουλῆς, τέλος ἀπέκτεινε. Τί οὖν ἀπὸ τούτου γέγονε βλάβος τῷ παθόντι κακῶς; τί δὲ ὄφελος τῷ δράσαντι κακῶς; τί μὲν οὐκ ὄφελος τῷ τότε ἀναιρε47.324 θέντι Παύλῳ; τί δὲ οὐ βλάβος τῷ ἀνελόντι Νέρωνι; οὐχ ὁ μὲν ὥσπερ ἄγγελος πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ᾄδεται τὰ γὰρ παρόντα τέως ἐρῶ· ὁ δὲ, ὥσπερ ὄντως λυμεὼν καὶ δαίμων ἄγριος πρὸς πάντας διαβέβληται; δʹ. Τὰ δὲ ἐκεῖ, κἂν ὑμεῖς ἀπιστήσητε, διὰ τοὺς πιστεύοντας ἀναγκαῖον εἰπεῖν· καίτοι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τῶν παρόντων κἀκείνοις πιστεύειν ἐχρῆν· πλὴν ἀλλ' ὅπως ἂν πρὸς αὐτὰ διάκεισθε, εἰρήσεται παρ' ἡμῶν, καὶ οὐ κεκρύψεται. Τίνα οὖν ἔσται τὰ ἐκεῖ; Ὁ μὲν ἄθλιος καὶ ταλαίπωρος ἐκεῖνος, αὐχμῶν καὶ κατηφὴς, αἰσχύνης γέμων καὶ ζόφου, καὶ κάτω νεύων, ἀπαχθήσεται ἔνθα ὁ σκώληξ ὁ ἀτελεύτητος καὶ τὸ πῦρ τὸ ἄσβεστον· ὁ δὲ μακάριος Παῦλος μετὰ πολλῆς στήσεται τῆς παῤῥησίας παρ' αὐτὸν τοῦ βασιλέως τὸν θρόνον λαμπρῶς ἀποστίλβων, καὶ δόξαν ἠμφιεσμένος τοσαύτην, ὡς μηδὲν τῶν ἀγγέλων καὶ τῶν ἀρχαγγέλων ἀποδεῖν, καὶ τοσοῦτον λήψεται τὸν μισθὸν, ὅσον εἰκὸς ἄνθρωπον σῶμα καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τῶν τῷ Θεῷ δοκούντων ἕνεκεν ἐπιδόντα. Καὶ γὰρ οὕτως ἔχει· Κεῖται μὲν πολλὴ τοῖς τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἐργαζομένοις ἀντίδοσις, μείζων δὲ αὕτη καὶ πλείων γίνεται, ὅταν καὶ διὰ κινδύνων ἴωσι καὶ ἀτιμίας πολλῆς οἱ ταῦτα ἐργαζόμενοι τὰ ἀγαθά· κἂν τὸ κατόρθωμα ἴσον ᾖ τῷ τε ἀπονητὶ, καὶ τῷ μετὰ πόνων αὐτὸ κατωρθωκότι, τὰ τῆς τιμῆς οὐκ ἔσται ἴσα καὶ τὰ τῶν στεφάνων. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις στεφανοῦται μὲν ὁ τρόπαιον στήσας, πολλῷ δὲ ἔτι μειζόνως ὁ καὶ τὰ τραύματα ἐπιδεῖξαι ἔχων, δι' ὧν τὸ τρόπαιον ἔστησε. Καὶ τί λέγω περὶ τῶν ζώντων, ὅπου γε καὶ οἱ τοῦτο μόνον ἐπιδειξάμενοι τὸ καλῶς ἀποθανεῖν ἐν πολέμῳ, μηδὲν δὲ πλεῖον τοὺς αὐτῶν ὠφελήσαντες, καθάπερ σωτῆρες καὶ προστάται πανταχοῦ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ᾄδονται; εἰ καὶ ταῦτα ὑμεῖς ἀγνοεῖτε, τῷ γέλωτι καὶ τῇ τρυφῇ διαπαντὸς