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she shares in it; but if she is hindered from this too, she remains at the gates of the prison, like a little dog accustomed to its master. 5.6.1 I have known a woman who cut her hair and put on men's clothing, and colorful at that, so that she might not be separated from a husband who was fleeing and in hiding. And seeming to be a slave, she truly serves her desire; and she continued this life for many years, changing from place to place and from wilderness to wilderness. 5.6.2 And we find the wife of the most steadfast Job to be such a one. For everyone abandoned him, and the flatterers flowed away with his wealth, and his friends measured their friendship by the season of his prosperity. And if they ever did appear, their presence was a reproach and not a visit; an addition to his misfortune, not a comfort. Wherefore also all the miserable comforters acted outrageously toward him. 5.6.3 But she who was once illustrious alone sat with her husband on the dung-heap, scraping away the discharge and pulling out the worms from his wounds. Thus a partner in life, not a housemate of prosperity; an inseparable friend, not a flatterer of pleasures; the only good remnant of all good reputation and all dearest friends and kinsmen. 5.6.4 Wherefore from her extreme and excessive love for her husband she fell even into the sin of blasphemy, so that her husband might not be tormented for long, nor she see him in his unceasing pains, advising him to say some blasphemous word against God and undergo a swift end. 5.6.5 For she no longer considered her own misfortune of widowhood; but she cared for one thing only, how her husband might escape a life not worth living. These things, with recent experience and the memory of old ones, teach the scorner of marriages. 5.7.1 What would the one liable to the accusation say to these things? And what specious defense for his own fickleness would he put forward? "The character of the wife," he says, "is base and worthy of hatred, and her tongue rash, and her manner not domestic, and her management uneconomical." Let it be so; let it be granted. For the time being I am persuaded and I accept it, like judges whose hearing is not very precise, but are easily carried away by the invectives of the accusers. 5.7.2 But you, say: When you were first getting married, did you not know that you were being joined to a human being? And when one hears of a human being, does one not immediately see at least a small sin following? For to be blameless belongs to God alone. And you yourself, do you not sin? Do you not cause grief to your wife by your manner? And are you free from all offense and do you keep the ordinance of cohabitation incorrupt? 5.7.3 Oh, how many of your drunken outrages perhaps your wife has borne! And how many of your ready insults and indecent words has she endured! And how many of your faults are kept silent, because your wife did not make them public! She put up with you when you were angry in vain and boiling over with rage; and she, who is free and your equal, kept silent like a slave from the marketplace. 5.7.4 And when you did not provide the necessities for the maintenance of life, through poverty or stinginess, she did not reproach you in her grief; nor indeed did she ever cast you off when you came from a banquet, drunk and out of your mind, hating your drunkenness, but she received you with human forgiveness and led you by the hand, you who were chastising her, and treated your head as it was spinning with the fumes of the wine; and she guided you to the marriage bed, she alone sympathizing, while the servants were laughing and mocking the delirium from your drunkenness. 5.7.5 But you go about the streets, making a tragedy of your wife over trivial reasons, so that you might prepare an excuse for yourself for the ready separation. The opinion of such men is hard, beastly and relentless, born, as the saying goes, from oak or from rock. For having erased the memory of everything at once, they cut themselves off without feeling. 5.7.6 And who cuts off an ailing limb instead of healing it, and this when no dangerous malady has struck, but one which has much and easy hope of cure? A blister has appeared on the hand, let us treat it with care; an inflammation has troubled the foot, with medicine the swelling

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κοινωνεῖ· ἂν δὲ κωλυθῇ καὶ τοῦτο, ταῖς θύραις τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου, ὡς κυνίδιον τῷ δεσπότῃ σύνηθες, παραμένει. 5.6.1 Ἔγνων ἐγὼ γυναῖκα καὶ τὴν κόμην κείρασαν καὶ ἀνδρικὴν περιθεμένην ἐσθῆτα καὶ ταύτην ἀνθεινήν, ἵνα ἀνδρὸς φεύγοντος καὶ κρυπτομένου μὴ χωρισθῇ. ∆οῦλος δὲ εἶναι δοκοῦσα, ἀληθῶς δουλεύει τῷ πόθῳ· καὶ τοῦτον τὸν βίον ἐν πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν διετέλεσεν, τόπον ἐκ τόπου καὶ ἐρημίαν ἐξ ἐρημίας ἀμείβουσα. 5.6.2 Τοιαύτην δὲ καὶ τοῦ καρτερωτάτου Ἰὼβ εὑρίσκομεν τὴν γυναῖκα. Κατέλιπον γὰρ κἀκεῖνον οἱ πάντες καὶ οἱ κόλακες τῷ πλούτῳ συναπερρύησαν καὶ οἱ φίλοι τῷ καιρῷ τῆς εὐπραγίας τὴν φιλίαν ἐμέτρησαν. Εἰ δέ που καὶ παρεγένοντο, ὄνειδος ἦν ἡ παρουσία καὶ οὐκ ἐπίσκεψις· ἐπιθήκη τῆς συμφορᾶς, οὐ παραμυθία. ∆ιὸ δὴ καὶ οἱ παρακλήτορες κακῶν πάντες πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀπεσχετλίασαν. 5.6.3 Μόνη δὲ ἡ ποτὲ περιφανὴς ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας τῷ ἀνδρὶ συνεκάθητο ἀποξέουσα τὸν ἰχῶρα καὶ τοὺς σκώληκας τῶν τραυμάτων ἐξέλκουσα. Οὕτως τοῦ βίου κοινωνός, οὐ τῆς εὐπραγίας σύνοικος· ἀχώριστος φίλος, οὐ κόλαξ τῶν ἡδονῶν· πάσης εὐκληρίας καὶ πάντων φιλτάτων καὶ συγ γενῶν μόνον ἀγαθὸν λείψανον. 5.6.4 ∆ιόπερ ἐκ τῆς ἄκρας καὶ καθ' ὑπερβολὴν φιλανδρίας καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τῆς βλασφημίας ἐξέπεσεν, ἵνα μὴ μακρὰ κολάζηται ὁ ἀνήρ, μηδὲ βλέπῃ αὐτὸν ἐν ταῖς ἀληκτοῖς ὀδύναις, εἰπεῖν τι ῥῆμα βλάσφημον εἰς Θεὸν συμβουλεύουσα καὶ ταχεῖαν τὴν τελευτὴν ὑπελθεῖν. 5.6.5 Τὴν γὰρ ἰδίαν λοιπὸν συμφορὰν τὴν τῆς χηρείας οὐκ ἐλογίζετο· ἓν δὲ μόνον ἐμερίμνα, ὅπως τὴν ἀβίωτον ζωὴν ὁ ἀνὴρ διαφύγοι. Ταῦτα μετὰ τῆς νέας πείρας καὶ ἡ μνήμη τῶν παλαιῶν παιδεύει τὸν τῶν γάμων ὑβριστήν. 5.7.1 Τί δ' ἂν εἴποι πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ τῆς κατηγορίας ὑπεύθυνος; Ποίαν δὲ εὐπρόσωπον ἀπολογίαν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ εὐκολίας προβάλοιτο; Φαῦλον, φησίν, καὶ μίσους ἄξιον τὸ ἦθος τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα προπετὴς καὶ ὁ τρόπος οὐκ οἰκουρὸς καὶ ἀνοικονόμητος ἡ διοίκησις. Ἔστω· δεδόσθω. Πείθομαι τέως καὶ δέχομαι, ὡς οἱ μὴ σφόδρα τὴν ἀκοὴν ἀκριβεῖς δικασταί, εὐκόλως δὲ ταῖς καταδρομαῖς τῶν κατηγόρων παρα συρόμενοι. 5.7.2 Σὺ δὲ εἰπέ· Τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀγόμενος οὐκ ἐγίνωσκες ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ συνάπτῃ; Ἀνθρώπου δέ τις ἀκούσας οὐκ εὐθὺς ὁρᾷ τὴν γοῦν μικρὰν ἁμαρτίαν ἀκολουθοῦσαν; Θεοῦ γὰρ μόνου τὸ ἀνεπίληπτον. Αὐτὸς δὲ ἆρα οὐχ ἁμαρτάνεις; Οὐ παρέχεις δὲ λύπας ἐκ τοῦ τρόπου τῇ γυναικί; Ἀθῶος δὲ εἶ πάσης πλημμελείας καὶ τῇ συνοικήσει τὸν θεσμὸν τηρεῖς ἀδιάφθορον; 5.7.3 Ὦ πόσας σου τυχὸν παροινίας ἤνεγκεν ἡ γυνή! Πόσων δὲ προχείρων ὕβρεων καὶ λόγων ἀσέμνων ἠνέσχετο! Ὅσα δέ σου ἐλαττώ ματα σιγᾶται, ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἐδημοσίευσεν ἡ γυνή! Ἠνέσχετό σου καὶ μάτην ὀργιζομένου καὶ τῷ θυμῷ ὑπερζέοντος· καὶ ἡ ἐλευθέρα καὶ ὁμότιμος ἐσιώπησεν ὡς δούλη τῶν ἐκ πωλητηρίου. 5.7.4 Καὶ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα μὴ χορηγοῦντι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ βίου διαγωγὴν διὰ πενίαν ἢ φειδωλίαν οὐκ ὠνείδισεν λυπουμένη· οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἐκ συμποσίου ἐλθόντα ποτὲ καὶ οἰνωμένον καὶ ἔκφρονα ἀπέρριψε τῆς μέθης μισήσασα, ἀλλὰ ὑπεδέξατο μετὰ συγγνώμης ἀνθρωπικῆς καὶ ἐχειραγώγησέ σε τὸν κολάζοντα καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐθεράπευσεν τοῖς ἀτμοῖς περιδονουμένην τοῦ οἴνου· ὡδήγησεν δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν κοίτην τὴν γαμικὴν μόνη συμπαθοῦσα, τῶν οἰκετῶν γελώντων καὶ ἐπιχλευαζόντων τὴν ἐκ τῆς μέθης παραφοράν. 5.7.5 Σὺ δὲ τὰ ἄμφοδα περινοστεῖς ἐπὶ ψυχραῖς αἰτίαις ἐκτραγῳδῶν τὴν γυναῖκα, ἵνα σαυτῷ τὴν συγγνώμην παρασκευάσῃς τῆς προχείρου διαιρέσεως. Σκληρὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἀνδρῶν ἡ γνώμη, θηριώδης καὶ ἀμείλικτος, ἐκ δρυὸς ἢ ἐκ πέτρας, κατὰ τὸ λεγόμενον, τὴν γέννησιν ἔχουσα. Πάντων γὰρ ὁμοῦ τὴν μνήμην ἐξαλείψαντες ἀπαθῶς διατέμνονται. 5.7.6 Τίς δὲ μέλος νοσῆσαν ἀντὶ τοῦ θεραπεύειν ἐκκόπτει, καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐπικινδύνου πάθους ἐνσκήψαντος, ἀλλὰ πολλὴν ἔχοντος καὶ ῥᾳδίαν τῆς ἰάσεως τὴν ἐλπίδα; Ἐπεγένετο φλύκταινα τῇ χειρί, ἐπιμελῶς αὐτὴν θεραπεύσωμεν· φλεγμονὴ τὸν πόδα διώχλησεν, φαρμάκῳ τὴν ἐξοίδησιν