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He restrained his immense anger and quenched his unspeakable wrath, so that the punishment might be proportionately mixed? One might see this happening in the prison as well. For He permitted him to be bound and to be with the condemned, but He snatched him from the harshness of the jailer. For you know what a jailer is like; but then he was gentle and mild to him and not only did he not subject him to any torments, but he also made him ruler of all who were there, and this after having received him as an adulterer, a notorious convict and adulterer. For it was thought that this deed had been dared not in a humble house, but in a great and illustrious one. But nevertheless, none of these things frightened him, nor did it persuade him to become harsh to him. But also the crowns were woven for the righteous man from his sufferings, and the alliance of God flowed in with much abundance. I wished to add other length to the letter; but since I think that this too has exceeded its measure with much abundance, ending my discourse here I exhort your piety with what I have always continued to exhort, to be rid of despondency, but glorifying God—which you have always done and continue to do—confessing thanks to him for all these difficult and painful things. For in this way you will both reap the greatest goods and give a fatal blow to the devil and will provide much consolation to us and you will be able to dispel the cloud of despondency with much ease and enjoy a pure calm. Do not grow faint, but recovering from this smoke—for if you wish, you will more easily scatter all this despondency as smoke—, make this clear to us again, so that even though we are far away, we may reap much gladness from such letters.

11.t LETTER 11

11.1 The trials have been intensified for you and the wrestling grounds are set wider again and the courses of the races are longer and the anger of those who conspire against you is raised to a greater flame. But you must not be disturbed nor troubled, but for these reasons you should especially rejoice and leap for joy and be crowned and dance. For if you had not given fatal blows to the devil in the previous encounters, the beast would not have become so savage as to advance even further. Therefore, it is a sign both of your courage and victory and of his great defeat, that he attacks more fiercely and leaps upon you and displays greater shamelessness and pours out his venom more lavishly. For in the case of the blessed Job, since he was defeated in the loss of his possessions and in the taking away of his children, then also bringing forth a sign of having received grievous wounds, he rushed to the chief of evils, the siege of the flesh, the fount of worms, the chorus of wounds; for I call it a chorus and a crown and a swarm of countless prizes. And he did not stop even here; but since no other such device was left to him—for he brought on that disease as the utmost limit of calamities—, he set in motion other devices again, arming his wife, provoking his friends, stirring up his servants and making them like wild beasts and through all of them reopening his wounds. Which indeed he now attempts and does not cease, but against his own head; since your affairs from this become more glorious and greater and brighter each day, your wealth is greater, your commerce more abundant, the crowns successive and continuous, the addition to your courage through the very terrors is great, and the plots of your enemies become an anointing for your endurance. For such is the of affliction

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τούτου τὸν ἄμετρον ἐπέσχε θυμὸν καὶ τὴν ἄφατον ὀργὴν ἔσβεσεν, ὡς κερασθῆναι συμμέτρως τὴν τιμωρίαν; Τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ συμβὰν ἴδοι τις ἄν. ∆εθῆναι μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν συνεχώρησε καὶ μετὰ τῶν καταδίκων εἶναι, τῆς δὲ τοῦ δεσμοφύλακος ἀπηνείας ἐξήρπασεν. Οἶσθα γὰρ οἷόν ἐστι δεσμοφύλαξ· ἀλλ' ἐκείνῳ τότε πρᾷος καὶ ἥμερος ἦν καὶ οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀπέτεινεν αὐτὸν πόνοις τισίν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄρχοντα πάντων ἐποίησε τῶν αὐτόθι καὶ ταῦτα ὡς μοιχὸν δεξάμενος, κατάδικον καὶ μοιχὸν ἐπίσημον. Οὐ γὰρ εἰς οἰκίαν εὐτελῆ, ἀλλ' εἰς μεγάλην καὶ λαμπρὰν τὸ δρᾶμα τοῦτο τετολμῆσθαι ἐνομίζετο. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲν τούτων ἐκεῖνον ἐφόβησεν, οὐδὲ ἔπεισεν ἐκείνῳ γενέσθαι χαλεπόν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ στέφανοι ἀπὸ τῶν παθημάτων ἐπλέκοντο τῷ δικαίῳ καὶ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ συμμαχία μετὰ πολλῆς ἐπέρρει τῆς δαψιλείας. Ἐβουλόμην καὶ ἕτερον προσθεῖναι τῇ ἐπιστολῇ μῆκος· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ καὶ τοῦτο μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς περιουσίας οἶμαι τὸ μέτρον αὐτῆς ὑπερβεβηκέναι, ἐνταῦθα καταλύσας τὸν λόγον ἐκεῖνο παρακαλῶ σου τὴν εὐλάβειαν ὅπερ ἀεὶ διετέλεσα παρακαλῶν, ἀθυμίας μὲν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι, δοξάζουσαν δὲ τὸν Θεόν -ὅπερ ἀεὶ πεποίηκάς τε καὶ ποιεῖς διατελεῖν-χάριτας ὁμολογοῦσαν ὑπὲρ πάντων αὐτῷ τῶν χαλεπῶν τούτων καὶ ὀδυνηρῶν. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ αὐτὴ τὰ μέγιστα ἀγαθὰ καρπώσῃ καὶ τῷ διαβόλῳ καιρίαν δώσεις πληγὴν καὶ πολλὴν ἡμῖν παρέξεις παράκλησιν καὶ τῆς ἀθυμίας τὸ νέφος μετὰ πολλῆς ἀφανίσαι δυνήσῃ τῆς εὐκολίας καὶ καθαρᾶς ἀπολαῦσαι γαλήνης. Μὴ δὴ καταμαλακίζου, ἀλλ' ἀνενεγκοῦσα ἀπὸ τοῦ καπνοῦ τούτου- καπνοῦ γάρ, ἐὰν θέλῃς, ῥᾷον διασκεδάσεις πᾶσαν τὴν ἀθυμίαν ταύτην- , δῆλον τοῦτο πάλιν ποίησον ἡμῖν, ἵνα καὶ πόρρωθεν ὄντες, πολλὴν ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων γραμμάτων καρπωσώμεθα τὴν εὐφροσύνην.

11.t ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΙΑʹ

11.1 Ἐπετάθη τὰ τῆς θλίψεως ὑμῖν καὶ πλατύτερα πάλιν ἐτέθη τὰ σκάμματα καὶ μακρότεροι τῶν δρόμων οἱ δίαυλοι καὶ πρὸς μείζονα φλόγα τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων ὑμῖν αἴρεται ὁ θυμός. Ἀλλ' οὐ θορυβεῖσθαι οὐδὲ ταράττεσθαι, ἀλλὰ διὰ ταῦτα μὲν οὖν μάλιστα χαίρειν δεῖ καὶ σκιρτᾶν καὶ στεφανοῦσθαι καὶ χορεύειν. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ καιρίας ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐδώκατε τῷ διαβόλῳ τὰς πληγάς, οὐκ ἂν οὕτως ἠγριώθη τὸ θηρίον ὡς καὶ περαιτέρω προελθεῖν. ∆εῖγμα τοίνυν καὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀνδρείας καὶ νίκης καὶ τῆς ἥττης ἐκείνου τῆς πολλῆς, τὸ μειζόνως ἐφάλλεσθαι καὶ ἐπιπηδᾶν καὶ πλείονα ἐπιδείκνυσθαι τὴν ἀναισχυντίαν καὶ δαψιλέστερον ἐκχεῖν τὸν ἰόν. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μακαρίου Ἰώβ, ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῇ τῶν χρημάτων ἀποβολῇ ἡττήθη καὶ τῇ τῶν παίδων ἀφαιρέσει, δεῖγμα καὶ τότε ἐκφέρων τοῦ χαλεπὰ τραύματα δέξασθαι, ἐπὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον ὥρμησε τῶν κακῶν, τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς πολιορκίαν, τὴν τῶν σκωλήκων πηγήν, τὸν τῶν τραυμάτων χορόν· χορὸν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐγὼ καὶ στέφανον καλῶ καὶ μυρίων βραβείων ἐσμόν. Καὶ οὐδὲ ἐνταῦθα ἔστη· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ οὐδὲν ὑπελείπετο ἕτερον αὐτῷ μηχάνημα τοιοῦτον-ὡς γὰρ ἔσχατον ὅρον συμφορῶν, οὕτως τὴν νόσον ἐπήγαγεν ἐκείνην-, καὶ ἕτερα πάλιν ἐκίνει μηχανήματα, γυναῖκα ὁπλίζων, τοὺς φίλους παροξύνων, τοὺς οἰκέτας διεγείρων καὶ θηριώδεις ποιῶν καὶ διὰ πάντων τὰ τραύματα ἀναξαίνων. Ὃ δὴ καὶ νῦν ἐπιχειρῶν οὐ παύεται, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κεφαλῆς· ὡς τά γε ὑμέτερα ἐντεῦθεν λαμπρότερα καὶ μείζονα καὶ φαιδρότερα καθ' ἑκάστην γίνεται τὴν ἡμέραν, πλείων ὑμῖν ὁ πλοῦτος, δαψιλεστέρα ἡ ἐμπορία, ἐπάλληλοι καὶ συνεχεῖς οἱ στέφανοι, πολλὴ δι' αὐτῶν τῶν δεινῶν τῆς ἀνδρείας ὑμῖν ἡ προσθήκη, καὶ αἱ ἐπιβουλαὶ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἄλειμμα γίνονται τῆς καρτερίας τῆς ὑμετέρας. Τοιαύτη γὰρ τῆς θλίψεως ἡ