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Reginus. Many, indeed, have already suffered greater evils from slanders than from enemies; and many have already (788) been more greatly wronged by the weakness of the ears than by the plotting of their foes.

15Ε_108 Cleanthes. Nothing is more wicked than slander anywhere. For having secretly deceived the one persuaded, it fabricates hatred toward the one who is in no way at fault. Sextus. Let the one who slanders a friend not be well-regarded, even if he speaks the truth. Chrysippus. When someone said to him, "Your friend reviles you in secret," he said, "Do not rebuke

him, since he is [about] to do it openly." The same man, having been much reviled by a wicked person, said, "You have done most excellently,

omitting none of the qualities belonging to you." The same man, when someone said that "Some people are reviling you," said, "But I will so

live, that they will be disbelieved." Licianus. For who would not confess that equality in all things, and having nothing

more, are works of justice; but that which is unequal and grasping, of injustice? But he who uses slander secretly against everyone, how is he not grasping? appropriating the hearer entirely, and preoccupying his ears, and blocking them, and rendering them completely inaccessible to a second account, being filled beforehand by the slander.

DISCOURSE 11. Concerning flattery. 15Ε_110 Luke 6. Woe when men speak well of you. Jude. These are grumblers, malcontents, who walk according to their own desires,

and their mouth speaks arrogant things, showing partiality for the sake of gain. Proverbs 26. The words of tricksters are soft; but they strike into the chambers

of the bowels. Better a man who reproves than another who flatters. Isaiah 3. Those who call you blessed, they deceive you, and the path of your ways

they disturb. Of Basil. Let us flee flattery and fawning, and of the Archilochian fox what

is crafty and cunning. For nothing is more difficult for those who are wise than to live for glory and to observe the things that seem best to the

many, and not to make right reason the guide of one's life. Of the Theologian. If, when I was bad, you supposed me to be excellent, what ought I to have done? To be

more bad, so that I might please you more? I would not have advised this for myself. So too, if you suppose me, who am succeeding, to be failing, I will not change my success on your account. For I do not live for you more than for myself.

789 For it is the mark of a magnanimous man to accept the frankness of friends rather than the flattery of enemies.

It is much better to benefit most greatly by grieving a little, than, by pursuing what is for pleasure, 15Ε_112 to cause loss in the principal matter.

Chrysostom. When some change occurs for the worse, then the masks are taken off the flatterers. Then the chorus of hypocrites is exposed, and the pretext of the matter. The mouths of all are opened, saying, "The defiled one, the wicked one, the

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Ῥηγίν.Πολλοί γοῦν ἤδη μείζω κακά πεπόνθασι ὑπό τῶν διαβολῶν, ἤ τῶν πολεμίων· καί πολλοί ἤδη (788) μείζω ἠδίκηνται ὑπό τῆς τῶν ὤτων ἀσθενείας, ἤ ὑπό τῆς τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιβουλῆς.

15Ε_108 Κλεάνθ. Κακουργότερον οὐδέν διαβολῆς ἐστί που. Λάθρα γάρ ἀπατήσασα τόν πεπεισμένον. Μῖσος ἀναπλάττει πρός τόν οὐδέν αἴτιον. Σέξτ. Ὁ ἐνδιαβάλλων φίλον, μή εὐδοκιμείτω, κἄν ἀληθῆ λέγῃ. Χρυσίππ. Εἰπόντος αὐτῷ τινος, Ὁ φίλος δε λάθρα λοιδορεῖ, ἔφη· Μή ἔλεγχε

αὐτόν, ἐπεί φανερῶς αὐτό ἔχει [μέλλει] ποιεῖν. Ὁ αὐτός ὑπό τινος πονηροῦ πολλά λοιδορηθείς, ἔφη· Κάλλιστα ἐποίησας,

μηδέν σοι τῶν προσόντων παραλιπών. Ὁ αὐτός, τινός λέγοντος ὅτι Σέ τινες λοιδοροῦσιν, ἔφη· Ἀλλ᾿ ἐγώ οὕτως

διάξω, ὥστε ἀπιστεῖσθαι αὐτούς. Λικιαν. Τίς γάρ οὐκ ἄν ὁμολογήσειε, τήν μέν ἰσότητα ἐν ἅπασι, καί τό μηδέν

πλέον, διακιοσύνης ἔργα εἶναι· τό δέ ἄνισόν τε καί πλεονεκτόν, ἀδικίας; Ὁ δέ τῇ διαβολῇ κατά τῶν ἁπάντων λάθρα χρώμενος, πῶς οὐ πλεονέκτης ἐστίν; ὅλον τόν ἀκροατήν σφετεριζόμενος, καί προκαταλαμβάνων αὐτοῦ τά ὦτα, καί ἀποφράττων, καί τῷ δευτέρῳ λόγῳ παντελῶς ἄβατα κατασκευάζων αὐτά ὑπό τῆς διαβολῆς προπεπλησμένα.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΙΑ´. Περί κολακείας. 15Ε_110 Λουκ. στ´. Οὐαί ὅταν καλῶς εἴπωσιν ὑμᾶς οἱ ἄνθρωποι. Ἰουδ. Οὗτοί εἰσι γογγυσταί, μεμψίμοιροι, κατά ἐπιθυμίας αὐτῶν πορευόμενοι,

καί τό στόμα αὐτῶν λαλεῖ ὑπέρογκα, θαυμάζοντες πρόσωπα ὠφελείας χάριν. Παροιμ. Κστ´. Λόγοι κερκώπων μαλακοί· οὗτοι δέ τύπτουσιν εἰς ταμεῖα

σπλάχνων. Κρεῖσσον ἀνδρός ἐλέγχοντος, ὑπέρ ἄλλου κολακεύοντος. Ἡσαι. Γ´. Οἱ μακαρίζοντες ὑμᾶς, πλανῶσιν ὑμᾶς, καί τήν τρίβον τῶν ὁδῶν

ταράττουσιν. Βασιλείου. Φύγωμεν κολακείας καί θωπείας, καί τῆς ἀρχιλόχου ἀλώπεκος τί

κερδαλέον καί ποικίλον. Οὐδέν γάρ χαλεπώτερον τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσι, τοῦ πρός δόξαν ζῇν, καί τά τοῖς

πολλοῖς δοκοῦντα περισκοπειν, καί μή τόν ὀρθόν λόγον ἡγεμόνα ποιεῖσθαι τοῦ βίου. Θεολόγου. Εἰ μέ ὄντα κακόν, ἄριστον ὑπελάμβανες, τί με ποιεῖν ἐχρῆν; εἶναι

μᾶλλον κακόν, ἵνα πλέον ἀρέσκω σοι; οὐκ ἄν τοῦτο ἑναυτῷ συνεβούλευσα. Οὕτως οὐδέ εἰ κατορθοῦντά με πταίειν ὑπολαμβάνεις, τό κατορθοῦν διά σέ μεταθήσομαι. Οὐ ζῶ γάρ σοί μᾶλλον ἤ ἑμαυτῷ.

789 Ἔστι γάρ ἀνδρός μεγαλόφρονος φίλων ἀποδέχεσθαι μᾶλλον ἐλευθερίαν, ἤ ἐχθρῶν κολακείαν.

Πολλῷ βέλτιον βραχέα λυπήσαντα μέγιστα ὠφελῆσαι, ἤ τό 15Ε_112 πρός ἡδονήν διώκοντα, ζημιῶσαι τῷ κεφαλαίῳ.

Χρυσοστ. Ὅταν μεταβολή τις γένηται πρός τό χεῖρον, τότε τῶν κολάκων ἀφαιρεῖται τά προσωπεῖα. Τότε ὁ χορός ἐλέγχεται τῶν ὑποκριτῶν, καί ἡ σκῆψις τοῦ πράγματος. Ἀνοίγονται πάντων τά στόματα, Ὁ μιαρός, λέγοντες, ὁ πονηρός, ὁ