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having shown. And the Apostle also testifies, having written: If anyone competes, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

QUESTION 77. What is guile, and what is malevolence? RESPONSE. Malevolence is, as I reckon, the very first and hidden wickedness of character; but guile is the meddlesomeness for the purpose of plotting, when someone, having feigned 31.1137 something good, and having set this before someone like a bait, through it accomplishes the works of his plot

QUESTION 78. Who are inventors of evil things? RESPONSE. Those who, beyond the usual and familiar evils of the many, devise and invent certain other things.

QUESTION 79. If someone continually catches himself treating his brother harshly, how will he be corrected? RESPONSE. This thing happens, as I surmise from it, either from a mindset that imagines superiority, or from grief over the failings of those who ought to do right. For when something contrary and grievous is encountered instead of some good thing that was hoped for, it lays hold of the soul somehow more vehemently. But there is need of greater care, so that, if it is the first case, we may chastise the passion of pride, but if it is the second, we may show compassion with exhortation and admonition before indignation. But if this manner of therapy should prove ineffective on account of the wickedness of the underlying passion, then at last we shall also use the vehemence of indignation with sympathy for the benefit and correction of the one who has sinned, at the right time and with reason.

QUESTION 80. Whence does it happen that the mind, as it were, lacks good thoughts and cares pleasing to God, and how may we avoid suffering this? RESPONSE. Since David said, "My soul has slumbered from despondency," it is evident that such a thing happens from the slumber and insensibility of the soul. For when the soul is watchful and sober, it does not lack cares pleasing to God and good thoughts, but it perceives itself lacking in these things. For if the eye of the body is neither sufficient for the contemplation even of a few of God's creations, nor, having seen something once, has had its fill, but even always contemplating the same thing, nevertheless does not cease from seeing; how much more the eye of the soul, if it is watchful and sober, is not sufficient for the contemplation of God's wonders and judgments? "For your judgments," it says, "are a great abyss"; and elsewhere: "Your knowledge has been too wonderful for me; it is mighty, I cannot attain to it"; and many such things. If, therefore, the soul lacks 31.1140 good thought, it is clear that it still lacks illumination; not because that which illumines is lacking, but because that which ought to be illumined is slumbering.

QUESTION 81. Whether one should rebuke the devout and the indifferent equally, when both are found in the same sin. RESPONSE If we look to the disposition of the sinner and the manner of the sin, we will also know the manner of the rebuke. For even if the sin of the indifferent and that of the devout seem to be the same, yet there is a great difference between them. For the devout man, being devout and both struggling and striving for what is well-pleasing to God, through some circumstance and almost as if he did not want to, was tripped up and slipped; but the indifferent man, taking no account either of himself or of God, and making no distinction between sinning and doing right, as the name itself indicates, is sick with the first and greatest evils: either contempt for God, or disbelief that God exists. For these two causes of sinning arise in the soul, as Scripture testifies, saying at one time: "The transgressor says within himself that he will sin; there is no fear of God before his eyes"; and at another: "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'; they are corrupt and have become abominable in their practices." So either he has contempt, and for this reason he sins, or he denies the very existence of God, and for this reason in the

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ἐμφήναντος. Καὶ ὁ Ἀπό στολος δὲ μαρτυρεῖ γράψας· Κἂν ἀθλῇ τις, οὐ στε φανοῦται, ἐὰν μὴ νομίμως ἀθλήσῃ.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΟΖʹ. Τί ἐστι δόλος, καὶ τί ἐστι κακοήθεια. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Κακοήθεια μέν ἐστιν, ὡς λογίζομαι, αὐτὴ ἡ πρώτη καὶ κεκρυμμένη κακία τοῦ ἤθους· δόλος δὲ τὸ πρὸς ἐπιβουλὴν περίεργον, ὅταν τις, ἀγαθόν τι σχη 31.1137 ματισάμενος, καὶ τοῦτο, ὥσπερ δέλεαρ, τινὶ προθεὶς, δι' αὐτοῦ τὰ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς κατεργάσηται

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΟΗʹ. Ἐφευρεταὶ κακῶν τίνες εἰσίν. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Οἱ παρὰ τὰ συνήθη τοῖς πολλοῖς καὶ γνώριμα κακὰ ἄλλα τινὰ προσεπινοοῦντες καὶ ἐξευρίσκον τες.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΟΘʹ. Ἐάν τις συνεχῶς ἑαυτοῦ ἐπιλαμβάνηται, ὅτι σκληρῶς προσφέρεται τῷ ἀδελφῷ, πῶς διορ θωθήσεται. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. ὁ μὲν πρᾶγμα συμβαίνει, ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ στο χάζομαι, ἢ ἀπὸ φρονήματος ὑπεροχὴν φανταζομένου, ἢ ἀπὸ λύπης τῆς ἐπὶ ἐλαττώμασι τῶν κατορθοῦν ὀφειλόντων. Τὸ γὰρ ἐξ ἀγαθοῦ τινος ἐλπισθέντος ἐναντίον καὶ λυπηρὸν ἀπαντῆσαν καὶ σφοδρότερόν πως τῆς ψυχῆς καθάπτεται. Ἐπιμελείας δὲ χρεία περισσοτέρας, ἵνα, εἰ μὲν τὸ πρῶτον εἴη, κολά σωμεν τῆς ὑπερηφανίας τὸ πάθος, εἰ δὲ τὸ δεύτερον, πρὸ τῆς ἀγανακτήσεως ἐν παρακλήσει καὶ νουθεσίᾳ τὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν ἐπιδειξώμεθα. Ἐὰν δὲ ἄρα ὁ τρόπος οὗτος τῆς θεραπείας ἀνενέργητος φανῇ διὰ τὴν τοῦ ὑποκειμένου πάθους κακίαν τότε λοιπὸν καὶ τῇ σφο δρότητι τῆς ἀγανακτήσεως μετὰ συμπαθείας ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ καὶ διορθώσει τοῦ ἁμαρτήσαντος εὐκαί ρως καὶ μετὰ λόγου χρησώμεθα.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Πʹ. Πόθεν συμβαίνει τὸ ὥσπερ τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐπιλείπειν λογισμοὺς ἀγαθοὺς καὶ μερίμνας ἀρεσκούσας τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ πῶς, ἵνα μὴ τοῦτο πάσχωμεν. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τοῦ ∆αβὶδ εἰπόντος, Ἐνύσταξεν ἡ ψυχή μου ἀπὸ ἀκηδίας, εὔδηλον, ὅτι τὸ τοιοῦτον ἀπὸ νυστα γμοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ἀναισθησίας συμβαίνει. Γρηγο ρούσῃ γὰρ τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ νηφούσῃ οὐχὶ μέριμνα Θεῷ ἀρέσκουσα καὶ λογισμὸς ἀγαθὸς ἐπιλείπει, ἀλλ' ἑαυ τὴν τούτοις ἐπιλείπουσαν ἐπιβλέπει. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ τοῦ σώματος ὀφθαλμὸς οὔτε ἀρκεῖ πρὸς θεωρίαν καὶ ὀλίγων τινῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ δημιουργημάτων, οὔτε ἅπαξ τι θεασάμενος κόρον ἔσχεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀεὶ τὸ αὐτὸ θεωρῶν, οὐ παύεται ὅμως τοῦ βλέπειν· πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμὸς, ἐὰν ἐγρηγορὼς ᾖ καὶ νήφων, οὐκ ἐξαρκεῖ πρὸς θεωρίαν τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ θαυ μασίων καὶ κριμάτων; Τὰ κρίματα γάρ σου, φησὶν, ἄβυσσος πολλή· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ· Ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ· ἐκραταιώθη. οὐ μὴ δύνω μαι πρὸς αὐτήν· καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα. Εἰ δὲ ἐπιλεί 31.1140 πει τῇ ψυχῇ λογισμὸς ἀγαθὸς, δηλονότι ἔτι ἐπι λείπει αὐτῇ φωτισμός· οὐ παρὰ τὸ ἐπιλείπειν τὸ φωτίζον, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὸ νυστάζειν τὸ φωτισθῆναι ὀφεῖλον.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΠΑʹ. Εἰ χρὴ ἴσως ἐπιτιμᾷν τοῖς εὐλαβέσι καὶ τοῖς ἀδιαφόροις, ὅταν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἁμαρτήματι εὑρίσκωνται ἀμφότεροι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἐὰν ἀπίδωμεν εἰς τὴν διάθεσιν τοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντος καὶ τὸν τρόπον τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος, γνωσόμεθα καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς ἐπιτιμήσεως. Κἂν γὰρ τὸ αὐτὸ ἁμάρτημα εἶναι δοκῇ τό τε τοῦ ἀδιαφόρου καὶ τὸ τοῦ εὐλαβοῦς, ἀλλὰ πολλὴ μεταξὺ αὐτῶν ἡ διαφορά. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ εὐλαβὴς, εὐλαβὴς ὢν ἀγωνιῶν τε ἅμα καὶ ἀγωνιζό μενος περὶ τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν εὐαρεστήσεως, κατὰ περίστασίν τινα καὶ σχεδὸν ὡς οὐκ ἤθελεν ἐσφάλη καὶ ὤλισθεν· ὁ δὲ ἀδιάφορος, οὐδένα λόγον οὐδὲ ἑαυ τοῦ οὐδὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ ποιούμενος, καὶ οὐδεμίαν διαφο ρὰν τοῦ τε ἁμαρτάνειν καὶ τοῦ κατορθοῦν τιθέμενος, ὡς αὐτὸ δηλοῖ τὸ ὄνομα, τὰ πρῶτα καὶ μεγάλα κακὰ νοσεῖ· ἢ καταφρόνησιν Θεοῦ, ἢ ἀπιστίαν τοῦ εἶναι Θεόν. ∆ύο γὰρ ταῦτα αἴτια τῇ ψυχῇ τοῦ ἁμαρτύνειν γίνεται, ὡς ἡ Γραφὴ μαρτυρεῖ λέγουσα ποτὲ μέν· Φησὶν ὁ παράνομος τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ· οὐκ ἔστι φόβος Θεοῦ ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ· ποτὲ δέ· Εἶπεν ἄφρων ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ· Οὐκ ἔστι Θεός· διεφθάρησαν καὶ ἐβδελύχθησαν ἐν ἐπιτηδεύ μασιν. Ὥστε ἢ καταπεφρόνηκε, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἁμαρτά νει, ἢ αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι τὸν Θεὸν ἀρνεῖται, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς