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how he bore the event with great philosophy when they ended their life by the manner of their death? When did he shine more brightly, when from the shearing of his lambs the shoulders of the naked were warmed, or when, hearing that fire fell from heaven and consumed the flock with the shepherds, he was not disturbed, nor was he troubled, but bore the calamity meekly? When was he greater, when he possessed the health of his body and used it for the protection of the wronged, breaking the jaws of the unjust and snatching the prey from between their teeth and becoming a harbor for them, or when he saw his own body, the weapon of the wronged, being eaten by worms, and sitting on the dungheap, he himself scraped it, taking a potsherd; for I melt the clods of earth, scraping them from the discharge, he says. And yet those were achievements, but these were sufferings, but nevertheless these made him more glorious than those; for this is especially the bitterest part of the battle-array, and one that requires greater courage and a more vigorous soul and a loftier mind, and one that has more love for God. For this very reason, when those things were happening, even if shamelessly and very much like a robber, nevertheless the devil spoke against him, saying: "Does Job fear God for nothing?" But when these things happened, he covered his face and withdrew, turning his back, not even having a shadow of a shameless objection to put forward. For this is the summit of the crown, this the coping-stone of virtue, this the clear proof of courage, this the most exact intensification of philosophy. And this blessed Job himself, showing how much more difficult the tyranny of despondency is than death, calls it rest; "Death," he says, "is a rest for a man." And he asks for it as a part of grace, so that he may be delivered from it, saying: "Oh that he would grant it, and that my request might come, and that the Lord would grant my hope." "Let the Lord who has begun wound me and utterly destroy me." "And let my city be a tomb, upon whose walls I have leaped upon it." So despondency is heavier than all things. But the heavier it is, the greater are the rewards. But that you may also learn from another source how great is the gain of sufferings, even if one does not suffer for God's sake—and let no one think this an exaggeration—but suffers nevertheless and bears it nobly and meekly, glorifying God in all things. For he himself did not know that he was suffering these things for God's sake, yet for this reason he was crowned, because even without knowing the cause he endured nobly. And that Lazarus, having fallen into an infirmity of nature—and this was certainly not to suffer for God's sake—since he suffered completely and persevered and nobly bore the desertion of his caregivers, the despondency from his sores, from his hunger, from the contempt of the rich man and his cruelty, you know what great crowns he enjoyed—and yet I have no achievement of his to mention—not that he pitied the poor, not that he stood by the wronged, not that he did anything good, but the lying down in the rich man's gateway and the sickness and the tongues of the dogs and the contempt of the rich man shown towards him. But nevertheless, having done nothing noble, since he only bore the resulting despondency nobly, he obtained the same lot as the patriarch who had achieved so much.

Let me now say after this another thing, which seems paradoxical, but is true. Even if someone does a great and noble good, he will receive a reward according to his own labor, not according to the magnitude of the achievement, but according to the weight of the suffering. For this very reason Paul also, when boasting, boasts not only of achieving and doing something noble, but of suffering evil. For having said: "Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more." And weaving the superiority by comparison he says: "in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often, five times I received forty stripes save one, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have been in the deep;"

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τρόπῳ τῆς τελευτῆς καταλυσάντων τὸν βίον μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἤνεγκε τὸ συμβάν; Πότε μᾶλλον ἐξέλαμψεν, ὅτε ἀπὸ κουρᾶς τῶν ἀρνῶν αὐτοῦ ἐθερμάνθησαν τῶν γυμνῶν οἱ ὦμοι ἢ ὅτε ἀκούσας πῦρ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἔπεσε καὶ κατέφαγε τὴν ἀγέλην μετὰ τῶν ποιμένων οὐ διεταράχθη, οὐδὲ ἐθορυβήθη, ἀλλὰ πράως ἤνεγκε τὴν συμφοράν; Πότε μείζων ἦν, ὅτε τὴν ὑγίειαν τοῦ σώματος ἐκέκτητο ἢ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀδικουμένων ἐκέχρητο προστασίαν συντρίβων μύλας ἀδίκων καὶ ἐκ μέσου τῶν ὀδόντων ἐξαρπάζων ἁρπάγματα καὶ λιμὴν αὐτοῖς γινόμενος ἢ ὅτε τὸ σῶμα αὑτοῦ, τὸ τῶν ἀδικουμένων ὅπλον, ἑώρα κατεσθιόμενον ὑπὸ σκωλήκων καὶ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτὸ κατέξαινε λαβὼν ὄστρακον· τήκω γὰρ βώλακας γῆς ἀπὸ ἰχῶρος ξύων, φησί. Καίτοι ἐκεῖνα μὲν κατορθώματα, ταῦτα δὲ παθήματα ἦν, ἀλλ' ὅμως ταῦτα αὐτὸν ἐκείνων λαμπρότερον ἀπέφηνε· τοῦτο γὰρ μάλιστα τὸ πικρότατον τῆς παρατάξεως μέρος καὶ μείζονος δεόμενον τῆς ἀνδρείας καὶ εὐτονωτέρας ψυχῆς καὶ ὑψηλοτέρας διανοίας καὶ πλείονα περὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἐχούσης ἀγάπην. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο ἐκείνων μὲν γινομένων, εἰ καὶ ἀναισχύντως καὶ σφόδρα λῃστρικῶς, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἀντεῖπεν ὁ διάβολος λέγων· μὴ δωρεὰν σέβεται Ἰὼβ τὸν Θεόν; Τούτων δὲ συμβάντων ἐγκαλυψάμενος ἀνεχώρησε νῶτα δοὺς καὶ οὐδὲ ἀναισχύντου τινὸς ἀντιλογίας σκιὰν γοῦν ἔχων προβαλέσθαι. Τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ κολοφὼν τοῦ στεφάνου, τοῦτο ἡ κορωνὶς τῆς ἀρετῆς, τοῦτο ἡ σαφὴς τῆς ἀνδρείας ἀπόδειξις, τοῦτο ἡ ἀκριβεστάτη τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἐπίτασις. ∆ηλῶν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁ μακάριος Ἰὼβ ὅσον χαλεπώτερον τυραννὶς ἀθυμίας θανάτου, ἀνάπαυσιν αὐτὸν καλεῖ· θάνατος, φησίν, ἀνδρὶ ἀνάπαυσις. Καὶ ἐν χάριτος αὐτὸν αἰτεῖται μέρει, ὥστε ἐκείνης ἀπαλλαγῆναι λέγων· εἰ γὰρ δῴη καὶ ἔλθοι μου ἡ αἴτησις, καὶ τὴν ἐλπίδα μου δῴη Κύριος. Ἀρξάμενος ὁ Κύριος τρωσάτω με καὶ εἰς τέλος με ἀνελέτω. Εἴη δέ μου ἡ πόλις τάφος, ἐφ' ἧς ἐπὶ τειχέων ἡλλόμην ἐπ' αὐτῆς. Οὕτω πάντων βαρύτερον ἀθυμία. Ὅσῳ δὲ βαρύτερον τοσούτῳ καὶ μείζους ἔχει τὰς ἀντιδόσεις. Ἵνα δὲ καὶ ἑτέρωθεν μάθῃς ὅσον τῶν παθημάτων τὸ κέρδος, κἂν μὴ διὰ Θεόν τις πάθῃ-καὶ μηδεὶς ὑπερβολὴν τοῦτο νομιζέτω-πάθῃ δὲ ὅμως καὶ γενναίως ἐνέγκῃ καὶ πράως τὸν Θεὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι δοξάζων. Καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς οὗτος οὐκ ᾔδει, ὅτι διὰ τὸν Θεὸν ταῦτα ἔπασχεν, ὅμως διὰ τοῦτο ἐστεφανοῦτο, ὅτι οὐδὲ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπιστάμενος ἐκαρτέρει γενναίως. Καὶ ὁ Λάζαρος ἐκεῖνος ἀσθενείᾳ φύσεως περιπεσών-τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἦν δήπου διὰ τὸν Θεὸν παθεῖν- ἐπειδὴ ὅλως ἔπαθε καὶ ἐκαρτέρησε καὶ γενναίως ἤνεγκε τὴν ἐρημίαν τῶν θεραπευόντων, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἑλκῶν ἀθυμίαν, τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ λιμοῦ, τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπεροψίας τοῦ πλουσίου καὶ τῆς ὠμότητος, οἶσθα ἡλίκων ἀπέλαυσε στεφάνων-καί τοι γε αὐτοῦ κατόρθωμα οὐδὲν ἔχων εἰπεῖν-οὐχ ὅτι πένητας ἠλέησεν, οὐχ ὅτι ἀδικουμένοις παρέστη, οὐχ ὅτι ἀγαθόν τι εἰργάσατο, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ πυλῶνι τοῦ πλουσίου κατάκλισιν καὶ τὴν ἀρρωστίαν καὶ τῶν κυνῶν τὰς γλώττας καὶ τὴν τοῦ πλουσίου κατ' αὐτοῦ γενομένην ὑπεροψίαν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως μηδὲν γενναῖον ποιήσας, ἐπειδὴ μόνον τὴν ἐκ τούτου ἀθυμίαν ἤνεγκε γενναίως, τῷ τοσαῦτα κατωρθωκότι πατριάρχῃ τῆς αὐτῆς ἔτυχε λήξεως.

Εἴπω δὴ μετὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἕτερον, παράδοξον μὲν εἶναι δοκοῦν, ἀληθὲς δέ. Κἂν ἀγαθόν τις ἐργάσηται μέγα καὶ γενναῖον, μισθὸν λήψεται κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον κόπον, οὐ κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ κατορθώματος, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν ὄγκον τοῦ παθήματος. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ Παῦλος καυχώμενος οὐκ ἐπὶ τὸ κατορθῶσαι μόνον καὶ γενναῖόν τι ποιῆσαι καυχᾶται, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ παθεῖν κακῶς. Εἰπὼν γάρ· διάκονοι Χριστοῦ εἰσι; παραφρονῶν λαλῶ ὑπὲρ ἐγώ. Καὶ τὴν κατὰ σύγκρισιν ὑπερβολὴν ὑφαίνων φησίν· ἐν πληγαῖς ὑπερβαλλόντως, ἐν φυλακαῖς περισσοτέρως, ἐν θανάτοις πολλάκις, πεντάκις τεσσαράκοντα παρὰ μίαν ἔλαβον, τρὶς ἐρραβδίσθην, ἅπαξ ἐλιθάσθην, τρὶς ἐναυάγησα, νυχθήμερον ἐν τῷ βυθῷ