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I have done, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own race, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, besides the external things, the daily pressure upon me. Have you seen a string of sufferings and occasions for boasting? Then he adds to these also right achievements. And in this again, the greater part is of suffering, not of right achievement. For having said 'the daily pressure upon me,' he added: 'the care of all the churches'. He did not say 'the correction', but 'the care', which was more of a suffering than a right achievement. And what follows: 'Who is weak,' he says, 'and I am not weak?' And again: 'Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?' He did not say, 'I have delivered from the stumbling block,' but 'I have shared in the despondency'. Then, showing that these things especially have their rewards, 'If I must boast,' he said, 'I will boast of the things that show my weakness'. And again he adds another such thing, the escape through the window, through the basket, through the wall. And this was a matter of suffering evil. If, therefore, sufferings have great rewards, and of all sufferings despondency is the most difficult and painful, consider how great the returns are; for I will not cease continually chanting this refrain to you, so that, what I promised in the prologues, this I may now fulfill, weaving from despondency itself the reasonings that bear for you the consolation of cheerfulness. But that you may also learn from another source how great it is to do something noble with sufferings, and how far short of this it is to do the same thing without toil, that Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian, living with scepters and a diadem, once accomplished an evangelical word. For after the furnace of the youths and that miraculous event, he undertook the proclamation to the world, not only by tongue, but also by letters. And everywhere on earth he wrote thus: 'King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! The signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me, it has seemed good to me to show to you, how great and mighty they are'. 'His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation'. And he made a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which shall speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be destroyed, and their houses shall be plundered. And he adds: 'for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way'. Have you seen a threat in the letters? Have you seen fear? Have you seen teaching? Have you seen a lofty proclamation and letters sent throughout the whole world? What then, tell me, will he receive the same reward as the apostles, since he proclaimed God's power in this way, since he made such great haste to announce the word everywhere? Not even the smallest part, no, but inferior beyond all measure, even though he did the same work as them. But because there is no labor joined with it, nor sufferings, for this reason the things of the reward are diminished. For this one did this with authority and freedom from fear, but they were hindered, beaten, scourged, distressed, thrown down cliffs, wasting away with hunger, dying each day, their souls tormented, being weak with each of the weak, burning with each of those who are scandalized, and for these labors and for the despondency especially were the greater rewards.

'For each one will receive his own reward,' he says, 'according to his own labor'; for I will not cease repeating it continually. For this very reason the philanthropic God, when Paul had often besought Him to deliver him from sufferings and despondency and pain and dangers, did not consent. 'For this I besought the Lord three times,' he says, 'and I did not obtain my request'. For on what account was he about to receive the greatest

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πεποίηκα, κινδύνοις ποταμῶν, κινδύνοις λῃστῶν, κινδύνοις ἐκ γένους, κινδύνοις ἐν ἐρημίᾳ, κινδύνοις ἐν θαλάσσῃ, κινδύνοις ἐν ψευδαδέλφοις, ἐν λιμῷ καὶ δίψει, ἐν ψύχει καὶ γυμνότητι, χωρὶς τῶν παρεκτός, ἡ ἐπισύστασίς μου ἡ καθ' ἡμέραν. Εἶδες παθημάτων ὁρμαθὸν καὶ καυχήσεως ἀφορμάς; Εἶτα ἐπάγει τούτοις καὶ κατορθώματα. Καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πάλιν τὸ πλέον τοῦ παθήματός ἐστιν, οὐχὶ τοῦ κατορθώματος. Εἰπὼν γὰρ ἡ ἐπισύστασίς μου ἐπήγαγεν· ἡ μέριμνα πασῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν. Οὐκ εἶπεν ἡ διόρθωσις, ἀλλ' ἡ μέριμνα, ὅπερ παθήματος πλέον ἦν ἢ κατορθώματος. Καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· τίς ἀσθενεῖ, φησί, καὶ οὐκ ἀσθενῶ; Καὶ πάλιν· τίς σκανδαλίζεται καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ πυροῦμαι; Οὐκ εἶπεν, ἀπήλλαξα τοῦ σκανδάλου, ἀλλ' ἐκοινώνησα τῆς ἀθυμίας. Εἶτα δεικνὺς ὅτι ταῦτα μάλιστα τὰς ἀμοιβὰς ἔχει, εἰ καυχᾶσθαι δεῖ, τὰ τῆς ἀσθενείας μου, ἔλεγε, καυχήσομαι. Καὶ ἕτερον πάλιν τοιοῦτον ἐπάγει, τὴν φυγὴν τὴν διὰ τῆς θυρίδος, τὴν διὰ τῆς σαργάνης, τὴν διὰ τοῦ τείχους. Τοῦτο δὲ τοῦ παθεῖν κακῶς ἦν. Εἰ τοίνυν τὰ παθήματα μεγάλας ἔχει τὰς ἀμοιβάς, τῶν δὲ παθημάτων πάντων χαλεπώτερον καὶ ὀδυνηρότερον ἡ ἀθυμία, ἐννόησον ὅσον αἱ ἀντιδόσεις· οὐ γὰρ παύσομαι συνεχῶς ταύτην σοι ἐπᾴδων τὴν ἐπῳδήν, ἵν', ὅπερ ὑπεσχόμην ἐν προοιμίοις, τοῦτο πληρώσω νῦν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀθυμίας αὐτῆς ὑφαίνων τοὺς λογισμοὺς τοὺς τὴν παραμυθίαν τῆς εὐθυμίας σοι τίκτοντας. Ἵνα δὲ καὶ ἑτέρωθεν μάθῃς, ὅσον ἐστὶ τὸ μετὰ παθημάτων τι ποιεῖν γενναῖον καὶ ὅσον ἀποδεῖ τούτου τὸ ἀπονητὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ποιεῖν, ὁ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐκεῖνος ὁ Βαβυλώνιος ἐν σκήπτροις καὶ διαδήματι ζῶν εὐαγγελικόν ποτε κατώρθωσε λόγον. Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν κάμινον τῶν παίδων καὶ τὴν παραδοξοποιίαν ἐκείνην τὸ κήρυγμα ἀνεδέξατο τῆς οἰκουμένης, οὐ διὰ γλώττης μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ γραμμάτων. Καὶ πανταχοῦ τῆς γῆς ἔγραψεν οὕτως· Ναβουχοδονόσορ βασιλεὺς πᾶσι τοῖς λαοῖς, φυλαῖς, γλώσσαις, τοῖς οἰκοῦσιν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ· εἰρήνη ὑμῖν πληθυνθείη· τὰ σημεῖα καὶ τὰ τέρατα, ἃ ἐποίησε μετ' ἐμοῦ ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ὕψιστος, ἤρεσεν ἐναντίον ἐμοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαι ὑμῖν ὡς μεγάλα καὶ ἰσχυρά. Ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ βασιλεία αἰώνιος καὶ ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν. Καὶ δόγμα ἔθηκεν, ὅπως πᾶς ὁ λαός, φυλή, γλῶσσα, ἥ, ἂν εἴπῃ ῥῆμα κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ Σεδράχ, Μισάχ, Ἀβδεναγώ, εἰς ἀπώλειαν ἔσται καὶ ὁ οἶκος αὐτῶν εἰς διαρπαγήν. Καὶ προστίθησι· καθ' ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι θεὸς ἕτερος, ὃς δυνήσεται ῥύσασθαι οὕτως. Εἶδες ἀπειλὴν ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν; Εἶδες φόβον; Εἶδες διδασκαλίαν; Εἶδες κήρυγμα ὑψηλὸν καὶ πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐκτεταμένα γράμματα; Τί οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, τὸν αὐτὸν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις μισθὸν λήψεται, ἐπειδὴ οὕτως ἀνεκήρυξε τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν δύναμιν, ἐπειδὴ τοσαύτην σπουδὴν ἐποιήσατο πανταχοῦ καταγγεῖλαι τὸν λόγον; Οὐδὲ τὸ πολλοστὸν μὲν οὖν μέρος, ἀλλὰ καὶ μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς ἁπάσης καταδεέστερον, καίτοι γε αὐτὸ τὸ ἔργον ἐκείνοις ἐποίησεν. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ πόνος οὐκ ἔστι συνεζευγμένος οὐδὲ παθήματα, διὰ τοῦτο ὑποτέμνεται τὰ τῆς ἀντιδόσεως. Οὗτος μὲν γὰρ μετ' ἐξουσίας καὶ ἀδείας τοῦτο ἔπραττεν, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ κωλυόμενοι, κοπτόμενοι, μαστιζόμενοι, ταλαιπωρούμενοι, κατακρημνιζόμενοι, λιμῷ τηκόμενοι, καθ' ἑκάστην ἀποθνῄσκοντες τὴν ἡμέραν, τὴν ψυχὴν αὑτῶν βασανιζόμενοι, καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν ἀσθενούντων ἀσθενοῦντες, καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν σκανδαλιζομένων πυρούμενοι καὶ τῶν πόνων τούτων καὶ τῆς ἀθυμίας μάλιστα ἦσαν αἱ πλείους ἀμοιβαί.

Ἕκαστος γὰρ τὸν ἴδιον μισθὸν λήψεται, φησί, κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον κόπον· οὐ γὰρ παύσομαι αὐτὸ συνεχῶς ἐπιλέγων. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Θεὸς πολλάκις τοῦ Παύλου παρακαλέσαντος τῶν παθημάτων αὐτὸν καὶ τῆς ἀθυμίας καὶ τῆς ὀδύνης καὶ τῶν κινδύνων ἀπαλλάξαι οὐκ ἐπένευσεν. Ὑπὲρ τούτου τρὶς τὸν Κύριον παρεκάλεσα, φησί, καὶ οὐκ ἐπέτυχον τῆς αἰτήσεως. Τίνος γὰρ ἕνεκεν ἔμελλε λήψεσθαι μεγίστας