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he often snatched him from death, and having become master of his slaughter, he spared him once, and twice, and often. And Saul so hated and turned away from him after countless good deeds, after the brilliant trophies, and the salvation from Goliath, that he could not even bear to mention his name, but called him by his father's name. For once when a feast was at hand, since he had woven some deceit for him, and contrived a harsh plot, he did not see him arrive. Where is, he says, the son of Jesse? He called him by his father's name, on the one hand because of his enmity not enduring to be reminded of his name, and on the other hand thinking to tarnish the righteous one's renown by the low birth of his father, thinking miserably and wretchedly; for especially, even if he had something to accuse the father of, this would not have harmed David at all. For each person is responsible for his own actions, and from these he can be praised or accused. But now, having no wickedness to speak of, he brought forward the low birth of his family, expecting by this to obscure his brilliance, which itself was a sign of extreme folly. For what crime is it to be from the humble and lowly? But that man did not know how to reason about these things. So Saul called him son of Jesse; but David, finding him inside sleeping in the cave, did not call him son of Kish, but by the name of honor: For I will not raise my hand, he says, against the Lord's anointed. Thus he was pure of all anger and resentment; he calls the Lord's anointed the one who had wronged him so much, the one thirsting for his blood, the one who after countless good deeds had often attempted to kill him. For he did not consider what that man deserved to suffer, but he considered what was fitting for him to do and say, which is the greatest principle of philosophy. What is this? Having taken your enemy as if in a prison, held by a double bond, or rather a triple one, by the confinement of the place, and by the 51.184 absence of helpers, and by the necessity of sleep, you do not demand justice or vengeance from him? No, he says; for I do not now look at what this man deserves to suffer, but what it behooved me to do. He did not look at the ease of the slaughter, but he looked at the precision of the philosophy befitting him. And yet what of the things then was not sufficient to rouse him to the slaughter? The fact that his enemy was delivered to him bound? For you know this, surely, that we more readily rush into matters full of ease, and the hope of succeeding instills in us a greater desire for the action, as was the case with him then. But the general then advising and rousing him? But the memory of past events? But nothing moved him to the murder; indeed, the very ease of the slaughter turned him away; for he considered that God had delivered him for this reason, to provide him with a greater subject and occasion for philosophy. You, then, perhaps marvel at him, that he remembered none of the past evils; but I am astonished at him for another, much greater reason. What is that? That not even the fear of future things pushed him to slay his enemy. For he knew clearly that, having escaped his hands, he would again stand against him; but he chose rather to endanger himself by releasing the one who had wronged him, than to take care of his own safety by slaying his foe. What, then, could be equal to that great and noble soul, who, when the law commanded to gouge out an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and to retaliate with equal measures, not only did not do this, but also demonstrated a much greater philosophy? And yet if he had killed Saul then, even so the encomium of his philosophy would have remained intact, not only because he retaliated, not being himself the one to begin with unjust hands, but also because, [in applying] "An eye for an eye," he prevailed with much forbearance. For he did not inflict one slaughter for one slaughter, but for

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πολλάκις ἐξήρπασε τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ γενόμενος κύριος αὐτοῦ τῆς σφαγῆς, ἐφείσατο καὶ ἅπαξ, καὶ δὶς, καὶ πολλάκις. Καὶ ὁ μὲν Σαοὺλ οὕτως αὐτὸν ἐμίσει καὶ ἀπεστρέφετο μετὰ τὰς μυρίας εὐεργεσίας, μετὰ τὰ λαμπρὰ τρόπαια, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ Γολιὰθ σωτηρίαν, ὡς μηδὲ τῆς προσηγορίας ἀνασχέσθαι τῆς ἐκείνου μνησθῆναι, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτὸν καλεῖν. Ἑορτῆς γάρ ποτε ἐπιστάσης, ἐπειδὴ δόλον αὐτῷ πλέξας τινὰ, καὶ χαλεπὴν ἐπιβουλὴν ῥάψας, οὐκ εἶδε παραγινόμενον. Ποῦ ἐστι, φησὶν, ὁ υἱὸς Ἰεσσαί; Ἐκάλει μὲν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς, ὁμοῦ μὲν διὰ τὴν ἔχθραν οὐχ ὑπομένων ἀναμνησθῆναι τῆς προσηγορίας, ὁμοῦ δὲ νομίζων ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς δυσγενείας τῇ τοῦ δικαίου λυμαίνεσθαι περιφανείᾳ, ἀθλίως καὶ ταλαιπώρως νομίζων· μάλιστα μὲν γὰρ, εἰ καὶ κατηγορεῖν εἶχε τοῦ πατρὸς, οὐδὲν τοῦτο κατέβλαπτε τὸν ∆αυΐδ. Τῶν γὰρ αὐτῷ πεπραγμένων ὑπεύθυνός ἐστιν ἕκαστος, καὶ ἀπὸ τούτων ἐπαινεῖσθαι καὶ κατηγορεῖσθαι δύναται. Νυνὶ δὲ πονηρίαν οὐδεμίαν ἔχων εἰπεῖν, τὴν τοῦ γένους δυσγένειαν εἰς μέσον ἔφερε, ταύτῃ προσδοκῶν ἐπισκοτίζειν αὐτοῦ τὴν λαμπρότητα, ὅπερ καὶ αὐτὸ ἐσχάτης ἀνοίας ἦν. Ποῖον γὰρ ἔγκλημα τὸ ἐξ εὐτελῶν εἶναι καὶ ταπεινῶν; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ᾔδει ταῦτα ἐκεῖνος φιλοσοφεῖν. Ὁ μὲν οὖν Σαοὺλ υἱὸν Ἰεσσαὶ ἐκάλει· ὁ δὲ ∆αυῒδ εὑρὼν αὐτὸν ἔνδον ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ καθεύδοντα, οὐκ ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸν υἱὸν Κεῖς, ἀλλὰ τῷ τῆς τιμῆς ὀνόματι· Οὐ γὰρ μὴ ἐπαγάγω τὴν χεῖρά μου, φησὶν, ἐπὶ χριστὸν Κυρίου. Οὕτω καθαρὸς ἦν ὀργῆς καὶ μνησικακίας ἁπάσης· χριστὸν Κυρίου καλεῖ τὸν τοσαῦτα ἠδικηκότα, τὸν τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ διψῶντα, τὸν μετὰ μυρίας εὐεργεσίας πολλάκις αὐτὸν ἐπιχειρήσαντα ἀνελεῖν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐσκόπει τί παθεῖν ἐκεῖνος ἄξιος ἦν, ἀλλ' ἐσκόπει τί καὶ ποιῆσαι καὶ εἰπεῖν αὐτῷ πρέπον ἦν, ὅπερ μέγιστος ὅρος φιλοσοφίας ἐστί. Τί τοῦτο; ὥσπερ ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ λαβὼν τὸν ἐχθρὸν, διπλῷ κατεχόμενον δεσμῷ, μᾶλλον δὲ τριπλῷ, καὶ τῇ τοῦ τόπου στενοχωρίᾳ, καὶ τῇ τῶν 51.184 βοηθησάντων ἐρημίᾳ, καὶ τῇ τοῦ ὕπνου ἀνάγκῃ, οὐκ ἀπαιτεῖς δίκην οὐδὲ τιμωρίαν αὐτόν; Οὐχὶ, φησίν· οὐ γὰρ τί παθεῖν δίκαιος οὗτός ἐστιν, ὁρῶ νῦν, ἀλλὰ τί ποιῆσαι ἐμοὶ προσῆκεν. Οὐκ εἶδε πρὸς τὴν εὐκολίαν τῆς σφαγῆς, ἀλλ' εἶδε πρὸς τὴν ἀκρίβειαν τῆς αὐτῷ πρεπούσης φιλοσοφίας. Καίτοι τί τῶν τότε οὐκ ἦν ἱκανὸν διαναστῆσαι αὐτὸν πρὸς τὴν σφαγήν; Τὸ δεδεμένον αὐτῷ παραδοθῆναι τὸν ἐχθρόν; Ἴστε γὰρ δήπου τοῦτο, ὡς μειζόνως ἐπιτρέχομεν τοῖς εὐκολίας γέμουσι πράγμασι, καὶ ἡ τοῦ κατορθῶσαι ἐλπὶς μείζονα τῆς πράξεως ἡμῖν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐντίθησιν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐπ' ἐκείνου τότε ἦν. Ἀλλ' ὁ στρατηγὸς τότε συμβουλεύων καὶ διεγείρων; ἀλλ' ἡ μνήμη τῶν παρελθόντων; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν αὐτὸν ἐκίνησε πρὸς τὸν φόνον· αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν αὐτὸν τὸ τῆς σφαγῆς εὔκολον ἀπέστρεψεν· ἐνενόησε γὰρ, ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς, ἵνα αὐτῷ πλείονα φιλοσοφίας ὑπόθεσιν παράσχῃ καὶ ἀφορμήν. Ὑμεῖς μὲν οὖν αὐτὸν ἴσως θαυμάζετε, ὅτι οὐδενὸς ἐμνήσθη τῶν παρελθόντων κακῶν· ἐγὼ δὲ δι' ἕτερον πολλῷ μεῖζον αὐτὸν ἐκπλήττομαι. Ποῖον δὴ τοῦτο; Ὅτι οὐδὲ ὁ φόβος αὐτὸν τῶν μελλόντων ὤθησε πρὸς τὸ διαχειρίσασθαι τὸν ἐχθρόν. Ἤδει γὰρ σαφῶς, ὅτι διαφυγὼν αὐτοῦ τὰς χεῖρας, πάλιν κατ' αὐτοῦ στήσεται· ἀλλ' εἵλετο μᾶλλον αὐτὸς κινδυνεύειν ἀπολύσας τὸν ἠδικηκότα, ἢ τῆς καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀσφαλείας προνοῶν διαχειρίσασθαι τὸν πολέμιον. Τί γένοιτ' ἂν οὖν ἴσον τῆς μεγάλης καὶ γενναίας ἐκείνης ψυχῆς, ὃς, τοῦ νόμου κελεύοντος ἐξορύττειν ὀφθαλμὸν ἀντὶ ὀφθαλμοῦ, καὶ ὀδόντα ἀντὶ ὀδόντος, καὶ τοῖς ἴσοις ἀμύνεσθαι, οὐ μόνον τοῦτο οὐκ εἰργάσατο, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλῷ πλείονα φιλοσοφίαν ἐπεδείξατο; Καίτοι γε εἰ ἀνῃρήκει τότε τὸν Σαοὺλ, καὶ οὕτως αὐτῷ φιλοσοφίας ἐγκώμιον ἀκέραιον ἔμενεν ἂν, οὐ μόνον ὅτι ἠμύνατο, οὐκ αὐτὸς ἄρχων χειρῶν ἀδίκων, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ, Ὀφθαλμὸν ἀντὶ ὀφθαλμοῦ, μετὰ πολλῆς ἐνίκα τῆς ἐπιεικείας. Οὐ γὰρ ἀντὶ μιᾶς σφαγῆς μίαν ἐπῆρεν, ἀλλ' ἀντὶ