38

of the wilderness, through isolation, through obscurity, through wealth, through power, having as a helper with these things, which I mentioned before, his age, his nature, his slavery, his being in a foreign land, he conquered all that flame. 10.13 I say that this temptation is much more grievous than the envy of his brothers, and the hatred of his kindred, and his being sold, and the mastery of the barbarians, and the long absence from home, and his sojourn in a foreign land, and the prison, and the chain, and the long time, and the misery there; for the danger was for the ultimate things. But since he escaped this war as well, and there arose here a whistling wind of dew, both from the grace of God and the virtue of the young man; for so much calmness and self-control abounded in him that he even strove to quell her madness; except that he himself came out untouched, just as the young men escaping the Persian flame—"for not even the smell of fire was on them," he says—, and was shown to be a great champion of chastity and imitated adamant. Let us see what things he immediately enjoyed and what succeeds the crowned victor after this contest. Plots again and pits and death and dangers and slanders and irrational hatred. For that wretched woman then, being driven to frenzy by her grievous madness, consoles her love with wrath, and joins passion to passion, and to her licentious desire adds unjust anger, and after adultery becomes also a murderess. And breathing much savagery and looking murderous, she sets up a corrupt tribunal, his master, her own husband, the barbarian, the Egyptian, and brings in an unwitnessed accusation. And she does not even allow the accused to enter the court, but she accuses him in his absence, confident in the folly and favor of the judge, in the trustworthiness of her own person, and in the fact that the accused was a slave, and having said the opposite of what happened, she prevailed over the judge and persuaded him to deliver the winning verdict and to condemn the innocent and to inflict a most grievous punishment, and immediately a prison and a carrying away and a chain. And without even seeing the judge, that wonderful man was condemned, and what is indeed more grievous, he was condemned as an adulterer, as one who had desired his master's bed, as one who had violated another's marriage, as one caught, as one convicted. For both the judge, and the accuser among the many who did not know the truth, and the punishment made the drama seem credible. But none of these things disturbed him, nor did he say: "Are these the rewards for the dreams? Is this the end of those visions? Are these the prizes for chastity? An irrational judgment and an unjust verdict and again an evil reputation. As one who had fornicated I was recently cast out of my father's house, as an adulterer and one who violated a woman's chastity I am now led into prison, and all vote these things concerning me. And my brothers, who are to bow down to me—for this the dreams revealed—, are in freedom and security and luxury and their country and their father's house; but I, who am to rule over them, am bound here with grave-robbers, with bandits, with cutpurses; not even after being cast out of my country am I freed from troubles and affairs, but even in a foreign land, pits and sharpened swords receive us in turn. And she who did such things and slandered me, deserving to be cut off for both of her audacious acts, now dances and leaps as if crowned for trophies and splendid victories; but I, who have done no wrong, pay the ultimate penalty." He said none of these things, nor did he think them; but just as an athlete proceeding through wreaths, so he rejoiced and was glad, bearing no grudge either against his brothers or the adulteress. From where is this clear? From what he himself said then to one of those bound there. For he was so far from being seized by despondency that

38

τῆς ἐρημίας, διὰ τῆς μονώσεως, διὰ τοῦ λανθάνειν, διὰ τοῦ πλούτου, διὰ τῆς δυναστείας, ἔχουσαν μετὰ τούτων συνεργόν, ὅπερ ἔμπροσθεν εἶπον, τὴν ἡλικίαν, τὴν φύσιν, τὴν δουλείαν, τὸ ἐν ἀλλοτρίᾳ εἶναι, πᾶσαν ἐνίκησε τὴν φλόγα ἐκείνην. 10.13 Ἐγὼ τοῦτον τὸν πειρασμὸν καὶ τοῦ φθόνου τῶν ἀδελφῶν καὶ τοῦ μίσους τοῦ συγγενικοῦ καὶ τῆς πράσεως καὶ τῆς τῶν βαρβάρων δεσποτείας καὶ τῆς μακρᾶς ἀποδημίας καὶ τῆς ἐν ἀλλοτρίᾳ διατριβῆς καὶ τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου καὶ τῆς ἁλύσεως καὶ τοῦ μακροῦ χρόνου καὶ τῆς αὐτόθι ταλαιπωρίας πολὺ χαλεπώτερον εἶναί φημι· καὶ γὰρ περὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων ὁ κίνδυνος ἦν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τοῦτον διέφυγε τὸν πόλεμον, καὶ ἐγένετο ἐνταῦθα πνεῦμα δρόσου διασυρίζον, ἀπό τε τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτος καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς τοῦ νέου· τοσοῦτο γὰρ αὐτῷ περιῆν ἀταραξίας καὶ σωφροσύνης ὅτι καὶ τὴν τῆς ἐκείνης μανίαν καταλῦσαι ἐσπούδασε· πλὴν ἐπειδὴ αὐτὸς ἐξῆλθεν ἀνέπαφος, ὥσπερ οἱ νεανίσκοι τὴν Περσικὴν διαφυγόντες φλόγα-»οὐδὲ γὰρ ὀσμὴ πυρὸς ἦν ἐν αὐτοῖς» φησί- , καὶ σωφροσύνης μέγας ἀθλητὴς ἀνεδείχθη καὶ ἀδάμαντα ἐμιμήσατο. Ἴδωμεν οἵων εὐθέως ἀπήλαυσε καὶ τί μετὰ τὸν ἆθλον τοῦτον διαδέχεται τὸν στεφανίτην. Ἐπιβουλαὶ πάλιν καὶ βάραθρα καὶ θάνατος καὶ κίνδυνοι καὶ συκοφαντίαι καὶ μῖσος ἄλογον. Ἡ γὰρ ἀθλία τότε ἐκείνη ὑπὸ τῆς χαλεπῆς μανίας ἐμβακχευομένη θυμῷ παραμυθεῖται τὸν ἔρωτα καὶ πάθος συνάπτει πάθει καὶ ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἀκολάστῳ προστίθησιν ὀργὴν ἄδικον, καὶ μετὰ τὴν μοιχείαν γίνεται καὶ ἀνδροφόνος. Καὶ πνέουσα θηριωδίας πολλῆς καὶ φόνιον βλέπουσα καθίζει δικαστήριον διεφθαρμένον, τὸν ἐκείνου δεσπότην, τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν ἑαυτῆς, τὸν βάρβαρον, τὸν Αἰγύπτιον, καὶ εἰσάγει κατηγορίαν ἀμάρτυρον. Καὶ οὐδὲ ἀφίησιν εἰσελθεῖν εἰς δικαστήριον τὸν ἐγκαλούμενον, ἀλλ' ἐρήμην κατηγορεῖ τῇ τε ἀνοίᾳ καὶ τῇ εὐνοίᾳ τοῦ δικάζοντος, τῇ τε ἀξιοπιστίᾳ τοῦ οἰκείου προσώπου καὶ τῷ δοῦλον εἶναι τὸν ἐγκαλούμενον θαρροῦσα καὶ τὰ ἐναντία εἰποῦσα τῶν γενομένων ἐκράτησε τοῦ δικαστοῦ καὶ τὴν νικῶσαν ἔπεισε ψῆφον ἐξενεγκεῖν καὶ καταδικάσαι τὸν ἀνεύθυνον καὶ τιμωρίαν ἐπιθεῖναι χαλεπωτάτην, καὶ δεσμωτήριον εὐθέως καὶ ἀπαγωγὴ καὶ ἅλυσις. Καὶ μηδὲ ἰδὼν δικαστὴν κατεκρίνετο ὁ θαυμάσιος ἐκεῖνος ἀνὴρ καὶ τὸ δὴ χαλεπώτερον, κατεκρίνετο ὡς μοιχός, ὡς δεσποτικῆς ἐπιθυ μήσας εὐνῆς, ὡς ἀλλότριον διορύξας γάμον, ὡς ἁλούς, ὡς ἐληλεγμένος. Ὅ τε γὰρ δικαστής, ἥ τε κατήγορος παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν οὐκ εἰδόσιν, ἥ τε τιμωρία ἀξιόπιστον ἐποίει τὸ δρᾶμα φαίνεσθαι. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων ἐθορύβησεν ἐκεῖνον, οὔτε εἶπεν· «Αὗται τῶν ὀνείρων αἱ ἀμοιβαί; τοῦτο τῶν ὄψεων ἐκείνων τὸ τέλος; ταῦτα τῆς σωφροσύνης τὰ ἔπαθλα; Κρίσις ἄλογος καὶ ψῆφος ἄδικος καὶ πονηρὰ πάλιν ὑπόληψις. Ὡς ἡταιρηκὼς ἐξεβλήθην ἔναγχος τῆς πατρῴας οἰκίας, ὡς μοιχὸς καὶ σωφροσύνην διορύξας γυναικὸς εἰς δεσμωτήριον εἰσάγομαι νῦν καὶ ταῦτα περὶ ἐμοῦ πάντες ψηφίζονται. Καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀδελφοί, οἱ μέλλοντές με προσκυνεῖν -τοῦτο γὰρ τὰ ὀνείρατα ἐδήλου-, ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ καὶ ἀδείᾳ καὶ τρυφῇ καὶ πατρίδι καὶ οἰκίᾳ πατρῴᾳ· ἐγὼ δὲ ὁ μέλλων αὐτῶν κρατεῖν, μετὰ τυμβωρύχων, μετὰ λῃστῶν, μετὰ βαλαντιοτόμων ἐνταῦθα δέδεμαι· οὔτε μετὰ τὸ τῆς πατρίδος ἐκπεσεῖν θορύβων ἀπαλλαττόμενος καὶ πραγμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ἀλλοτρίᾳ πάλιν βάραθρα ἡμᾶς καὶ ξίφη ἠκονημένα διαδέχεται. Καὶ ἡ μὲν τοιαῦτα δράσασα καὶ συκοφαντήσασα, δι' ἑκατέρων τῶν τολμημάτων ἀποτμηθῆναι δικαία, χορεύει καὶ σκιρτᾷ νῦν ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τροπαίοις καὶ λαμπροῖς ἐπινικίοις ἐστεφανωμένη· ἐγὼ δὲ ὁ μηδὲν ἠδικηκὼς τὴν ἐσχάτην τίνω δίκην.» Οὐδὲν τούτων ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν, οὐδὲ ἐνενόησεν· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἀθλητὴς διὰ στεφάνων ὁδεύων, οὕτως ἔχαιρε καὶ ηὐφραίνετο, οὔτε τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, οὔτε τῇ μοιχαλίδι μνησικακῶν. Πόθεν τοῦτο δῆλον; Ἐξ ὧν αὐτὸς πρός τινα τῶν αὐτόθεν δεδεμένων διελέχθη τότε. Τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἀπεῖχεν ὑπὸ ἀθυμίας ἁλῶναι ὅτι