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the crowns of so many contests bright and exceedingly flourishing. For not only doing something good, but also suffering something bad has many rewards and great prizes, and I will now proceed to the argument which is exceedingly useful both to you and to all, and sufficient to anoint one for endurance, to stir up the heart, and not to permit one to be weakened by the sweats of sufferings. That despondency, therefore, is more grievous than all evils, and that this is the summit and chief of terrors, our discourse has sufficiently demonstrated. It remains, therefore, to make a comparison of right actions and sufferings, so that you may learn clearly that rewards are laid up not only for right actions, but also for sufferings, and exceedingly great rewards, and no less for sufferings than for right actions, but rather, in some cases, even more for sufferings. And let us introduce, if you please, the great athlete of endurance, who shone in both ways, the adamant, the rock, the one who was born in the land of Ausitis, but illuminated the whole world with the excess of his own virtue, and let us speak of both his right actions and his sufferings, so that you may know from which he shone more greatly. What then were his right actions? ‘My house,’ he says, ‘was open to every comer, and was a common harbor for travelers,’ and for those in need he possessed almost all his belongings. ‘For I was,’ he says, ‘an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame; I was a father of the helpless, and the cause that I knew not, I searched out. And I broke the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of their teeth. And the helpless, whatever need they had, did not fail to obtain it, nor did anyone go out my door with an empty bosom.’ Have you seen the different forms of philanthropy and the various harbors of almsgiving, and how he helped those in need through all things? Have you seen him sustaining poverty, setting the widow aright, standing up for the wronged, being fearsome to those who mistreat others? For he did not show his zeal only to the point of standing by and assisting—that indeed is the way of many—but to the point of bringing the matter to a conclusion, and with much vehemence; ‘for I broke the jaws of the wicked,’ he says, fortifying his own providence against their contentiousness. And not only against the mistreatments of men, but also against the plots of nature did he set his care, correcting its defects by the excess of his own assistance. For since he could not restore their limbs to them, eyes to the maimed, feet to the lame, he became limbs for them, and through him both those whose eyes were maimed and those whose legs were cut off, the one group could see, the other could walk. What could be equal to this philanthropy of his? You know his other virtue also, so that I do not make the discourse long by listing everything: his forbearance, his gentleness, his moderation, his exactness. How, while being vehement with wrongdoers—for this is the wondrous thing—he was approachable and tame and sweeter than honey itself, both to all others and to his own household servants, who, bearing a great proof of the love which they had for him, would say: ‘Who will give us to be filled with his flesh?’ And if he was so longed for by his household servants, so beloved, to whom it is often necessary to be fearsome, how much more so to all other men.

Having collected these things, then, and more than these, come walk with me to the catalogue of his sufferings, and let us see by comparing when he was more resplendent: when he was performing those right actions or when he was suffering painful things that brought great despondency upon him. When, then, was Job more resplendent? When he offered his house to all who were present, or when, after it had been brought down, he uttered nothing bitter, but praised God, although the one was a right action, and the other a suffering? When was he brighter, tell me? When he offered sacrifice for his children and brought them together in concord, or when they had been buried and with the most bitter

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φαιδροὺς καὶ σφόδρα ἀνθοῦντας τῶν τοσούτων ἀγώνων τοὺς στεφάνους. Οὐ γὰρ τὸ ποιῆσαί τι χρηστὸν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ παθεῖν τι κακὸν πολλὰς ἔχει τὰς ἀμοιβὰς καὶ μεγάλα τὰ ἔπαθλα καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἤδη βαδιοῦμαι τὸν λόγον σφόδρα καί σοι καὶ πᾶσι χρήσιμον ὄντα καὶ ἱκανὸν πρὸς ὑπομονὴν ἀλεῖψαι καὶ καρδίαν διεγεῖραι καὶ μὴ ἀφιέναι πρὸς τοὺς τῶν παθημάτων καταμαλακίζεσθαι ἱδρῶτας. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἁπάντων τῶν κακῶν χαλεπώτερον ἀθυμία καὶ ὁ κολοφὼν καὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον τῶν δεινῶν τοῦτο ἱκανῶς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ἀπέδειξε. Λείπεται τοίνυν κατορθωμάτων καὶ παθημάτων ποιήσασθαι σύγκρισιν, ἵνα μάθῃς σαφῶς ὅτι οὐ κατορθώμασι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παθήμασιν ἀμοιβαὶ κεῖνται καὶ ἀμοιβαὶ σφόδρα μεγάλαι καὶ παθήμασιν οὐκ ἔλαττον ἢ κατορθώμασι, μᾶλλον δέ, ἔστιν ὅπου, καὶ πλείονα παθήμασιν. Καὶ εἰσαγάγωμεν, εἰ δοκεῖ, τὸν μέγαν τῆς ὑπομονῆς ἀθλητὴν ἐν ἑκατέροις διαλάμψαντα τρόποις, τὸν ἀδάμαντα, τὴν πέτραν, τὸν ἐν τῇ Αὐσίτιδι μὲν γενόμενον χώρᾳ, πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν οἰκουμένην καταλάμψαντα τῇ τῆς οἰκείας ἀρετῆς ὑπερβολῇ καὶ εἴπωμεν αὐτοῦ τά τε κατορθώματα, τά τε παθήματα, ἵνα εἰδῇς πόθεν μειζόνως διέλαμψε. Τίνα οὖν αὐτοῦ τὰ κατορθώματα; Ὁ οἶκός μου, φησίν, παντὶ ἐλθόντι ἠνέωκτο καὶ κοινὸς ἦν τοῖς ὁδοιπόροις λιμὴν καὶ τοῖς δεομένοις τὰ αὑτοῦ πάντα σχεδὸν ἐκέκτητο. Ἐγὼ γὰρ ἤμην, φησίν, ὀφθαλμὸς τυφλῶν, ποὺς δὲ χωλῶν, ἐγὼ ἤμην πατὴρ ἀδυνάτων, δίκην δέ, ἣν οὐκ ᾔδειν, ἐξιχνίασα καὶ συνέτριψα μύλας ἀδίκων καὶ ἐκ μέσου ὀδόντων ἐξήρπασα ἅρπαγμα, ἀδύνατοι δέ, ἣν ἄν ποτε εἶχον χρείαν, οὐκ ἀπέτυχον, οὐδὲ ἐξῆλθέ τις τὴν θύραν μου κόλπῳ κενῷ. Εἶδες διάφορα φιλανθρωπίας εἴδη καὶ ποικίλους ἐλεημοσύνης λιμένας καὶ διὰ πάντων αὐτὸν βοηθοῦντα τοῖς δεομένοις; Εἶδες πενίαν ἀνέχοντα, χήραν διορθούμενον, ἀδικουμένων προϊστάμενον, φοβερὸν τοῖς ἐπηρεάζουσιν ὄντα; Οὐ γὰρ δὴ μέχρι τοῦ παραστῆναι καὶ συμμαχῆσαι μόνον τὴν σπουδὴν ἐπεδείκνυτο-τοῦτο δὴ τὸ τῶν πολλῶν-ἀλλὰ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ πρὸς τέλος τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀγαγεῖν καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σφοδρότητος· συνέτριψα γὰρ μύλας ἀδίκων, φησί, τῇ φιλονεικίᾳ τῇ ἐκείνων τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πρόνοιαν ἐπιτειχίζων. Οὐκ ἀνθρώπων δὲ μόνον ἐπηρείαις, ἀλλὰ καὶ φύσεως ἐπιβουλαῖς ἀντέστησεν αὑτοῦ τὴν κηδεμονίαν τὰ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῆς τῇ τῆς οἰκείας συμμαχίας ὑπερβολῇ διορθούμενος. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ μέλη αὐτοῖς ἀποδοῦναι οὐκ εἶχε, τοῖς πηροῖς τὰ ὄμματα, τοῖς χωλοῖς τοὺς πόδας, ἀντὶ τῶν μελῶν αὐτοῖς ἐγίνετο καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς πεπηρωμένοι καὶ οἱ τὰ σκέλη κεκομμένοι οἱ μὲν ἐνέβλεπον, οἱ δὲ ἐβάδιζον. Τί ταύτης ἴσον γένοιτο αὐτοῦ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας; Οἶσθα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἀρετήν, ἵνα μὴ πάντα καταλέγων μακρὸν ποιήσω τὸν λόγον, τὴν ἐπιείκειαν, τὴν πραότητα, τὴν σωφροσύνην, τὴν ἀκρίβειαν. Πῶς σφοδρὸς ὢν τοῖς ἀδικοῦσι-τὸ γὰρ δὴ θαυμαστὸν τοῦτό ἐστι-προσηνὴς καὶ ἥμερος ἦν καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ μέλιτος ἡδίων τοῖς τε ἄλλοις ἅπασι καὶ τοῖς οἰκέταις τοῖς αὑτοῦ, οἳ τοῦ ἔρωτος, ὃν ἤρων, ἐκείνου μέγα ἐκφέροντες δεῖγμα ἔλεγον· τίς ἂν δῴη ἡμῖν τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτοῦ ἐμπλησθῆναι; Εἰ δὲ οἰκέταις οὕτω ποθεινὸς ἦν, οὕτως ἐπέραστος, οἷς ἀνάγκη πολλάκις καὶ φοβερὸν εἶναι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις.

Ταῦτα δὴ οὖν καὶ τὰ τούτων πλείονα συλλέξας δεῦρο βάδιζε μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν παθημάτων αὐτοῦ κατάλογον καὶ ἴδωμεν συγκρίναντες πότε λαμπρότερος ἦν, ὅτε ἐκεῖνα κατώρθου ἢ ὅτε ἔπασχε τὰ ὀδυνηρὰ καὶ πολλὴν ἐντιθέντα αὐτῷ τὴν ἀθυμίαν. Πότε οὖν λαμπρότερος ἦν ὁ Ἰώβ, ὅτε τὴν οἰκίαν αὑτοῦ πᾶσι τοῖς παροῦσιν ἤνεγκεν ἢ ὅτε κατενεχθείσης αὐτῆς οὐδὲν ἐφθέγξατο πικρόν, ἀλλ' εὐφήμησε τὸν Θεόν, καίτοι τὸ μὲν κατόρθωμα ἦν, τὸ δὲ πάθημα; Πότε φαιδρότερος ἦν, εἰπέ μοι, ὅτε ἔθυεν ὑπὲρ τῶν παιδίων καὶ πρὸς ὁμόνοιαν αὐτοὺς συνῆγεν ἢ ὅτε καταχωσθέντων καὶ τῷ πικροτάτῳ