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each thing is set right, do not slander 83.681 slavery on account of its labors, O friend; but consider how many of the masters labor no less than their servants, but rather even much more, if you will count their cares along with their works. You, therefore, observe the diligent among those now living, but I will point out to you the ancients who labored more than their servants. Behold the blessed Noah, cutting wood, and cleaning these things with an adze, and smoothing them to a right angle, and constructing the ark as he was commanded from squared timbers, and joining the seams with pegs, and in this manner weaving the whole thing together, and coating it with bitumen and pitch, and walling it off from the inflow of the waters. And the great Abraham the patriarch, the master of three hundred and eighteen household servants, working himself, and ministering to the strangers, and running to the herds, and fetching the calf, and urging his wife to the baking of bread; and she likewise kneading the flour, and baking the cakes, and not entrusting the service to her handmaids; and that wonderful old man himself standing by the strangers, and not partaking of the table, but fulfilling the service. Behold Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, the granddaughter of Nahor, of marriageable age, and radiant with beauty, and not content to linger in her chambers, but working herself and carrying water, and running to the spring before the city; and not only carrying the water home, but also offering her own labor to those who arrived, and drawing up the water, and offering it both to them and to their camels, and keeping the good possession of her modesty safe, and preserving her virginity undefiled, and choosing labors with all eagerness, and being beautified by these more than she was made brilliant by her beauty. Among these her son, as indeed her son, the great Jacob, spent twenty years, shepherding and wrestling with wild beasts, and enduring the pains of the sun's rays, and not being able to have his fill of sleep even at night; and his wives, for whom he also endured labors, we find in the histories tending sheep. And his children were also cattle-breeders, and self-workers, and shepherds, and enduring many times the labor of servants. And the most divine Moses also spent forty years living in this manner. And his wife, being the daughter of a priest, was tending sheep, and having been delivered from the unjust shepherds through his help, she accepted the betrothal. But it is superfluous to prolong the discourse, and to bring into the midst all those of the divine Scripture who ran the double course of life with labors. If, therefore, to labor is characteristic not only of servants, but also of masters, for what reason do you accuse slavery on account of its labors? For 83.684 in labors the slaves have the masters as partners, but in cares they do not share with the masters. If then the labor is common to slaves and masters, but the care is particular to the masters, how do we not judge blessed those who are freed from cares, but count them among the wretched? Since, therefore, the providence of the Guardian of all things has been shown manifestly here also, come, let us gather each of the things that have been said into one, and let us both recapitulate and make our understanding of them clearer. We have shown, therefore, that from the beginning the Creator made one nature, and honored it with the principle of free will; then, that this nature, having used the self-determination of its will for what was not right, inclined toward the worse, and ran aground into countless forms of transgressions. It was necessary, therefore, to check the rush of sin with laws, and the laws required those who would establish them. The nature of men was therefore necessarily divided in two; and some to rule

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ἕκαστον κατορθοῦται, μὴ διαβάλ 83.681 λῃς διὰ τοὺς πόνους τὴν δουλείαν, ὦ φίλος· σκόπησον δὲ, ὡς καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν δεσποτῶν οὐκ ἔλαττον πονοῦσι τῶν οἰκετῶν, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πολλῷ πλείω, εἰ καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις τὰς φροντίδας συναριθμήσεις. Σὺ μὲν οὖν τῶν νῦν ὄντων τοὺς σπουδαίους θεώρησον, ἐγὼ δέ σοι τοὺς παλαιοὺς ὑποδείξω πλείω τῶν οἰκετῶν πεπονηκότας. Βλέπε τὸν μὲν μακάριον Νῶε, ξύλα τέμνοντα, καὶ ταῦτα τῷ σκεπάρνῳ καθαίροντά τε, καὶ πρὸς γωνίαν εὐθεῖαν ἐξομαλίζοντα, καὶ τὴν κι βωτὸν ὡς προσετάχθη ἐκ ξύλων τετραγώνων κατα σκευάζοντα, καὶ γόμφοις τὰς ἁρμονίας συνδέοντα, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ πᾶσαν ὑφαίνοντα, καὶ τῇ ἀσφάλτῳ καὶ τῇ πίσσῃ καταχρίοντα, καὶ τοῖς ὕδασι τὴν εἰσροὴν ἀποτειχίζοντα. Τὸν δὲ μέγαν Ἀβραὰμ τὸν πατριάρχην, τὸν ὀκτωκαίδεκα καὶ τριακοσίων οἰκογενῶν δεσπότην, αὐτουργοῦντα, καὶ τοῖς ξένοις διακονοῦντα, καὶ εἰς τὰ βουκόλια τρέχοντα, καὶ τὸ μοσχάριον ἕλκοντα, καὶ τὴν ὁμόζυγα πρὸς τὴν ἀρ τοποιίαν ἐπείγοντα· κἀκείνην δὲ ὡσαύτως μάττου σαν τὰ ἄλευρα, καὶ τοὺς ἐγκρυφίας ὀπτῶσαν, καὶ ταῖς θεραπαίναις τὴν διακονίαν οὐκ ἐπιτρέπουσαν· αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν θαυμαστὸν ἐκεῖνον πρεσβύτην παρ εστῶτα τοῖς ξένοις, καὶ τραπέζης μὲν οὐ κοινωνοῦντα, τὴν δὲ διακονίαν πληροῦντα. Βλέπε τὴν Ῥεβέκκαν, τὴν τοῦ Βαθουὴλ θυγατέρα, τοῦ Ναχὼρ τὴν ἔγγονον, ἡλικίαν μὲν ἔχουσαν γάμου, ὥρᾳ δὲ λάμπουσαν, καὶ θαλάμοις ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν οὐκ ἀνεχομένην, ἀλλ' αὐτουργοῦσαν καὶ ὑδροφοροῦσαν, καὶ εἰς τὴν πρὸ τῆς πόλεως πηγὴν διαθέουσαν· καὶ οὐ μόνον οἴκαδε τὸ ὕδωρ κομίζουσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἀφικνουμέ νοις τὴν αὐτουργίαν παρέχουσαν, καὶ ἀνιμωμένην τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ αὐτοῖς τε καὶ ταῖς καμήλοις προσφέρου σαν, καὶ τῆς σωφροσύνης τὸ καλὸν κτῆμα σῶον διαφυλάττουσαν, καὶ τὴν παρθενίαν ἀκήρατον δια σώζουσαν, καὶ τοὺς πόνους μετὰ πάσης αἱρουμένην προθυμίας, καὶ τούτοις ὡραϊζομένην μᾶλλον, ἢ τῷ κάλλει λαμπρυνομένην. Ἐν τούτοις ὁ ταύτης υἱὸς, ἅτε δὴ ταύτης υἱὸς, ὁ μέγας Ἰακὼβ, εἴκοσι διετέλεσεν ἔτη, ποιμαίνων καὶ θηρίοις παλαίων, καὶ τῶν τῆς ἀκτῖνος λυπηρῶν ἀνεχόμενος, καὶ ὕπνου κόρον λαβεῖν οὐδὲ νύκτωρ δυνάμενος· καὶ τὰς τούτου δὲ γαμετὰς, δι' ἃς καὶ τῶν πόνων ἠνέσχετο, πρόβατα νεμούσας ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις εὑρίσκομεν. Καὶ οἱ τούτου δὲ παῖ δες κτηνοτρόφοι τε ἦσαν, καὶ αὐτουργοὶ, καὶ ποιμέ νες, καὶ πολλαπλάσιον τῶν οἰκετῶν ὑπομένοντες πόνον. Καὶ ὁ θειότατος δὲ Μωϋσῆς τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη τοῦτον διετέλεσε βιοτεύων τὸν τρόπον. Καὶ ἡ τούτου δὲ γαμετὴ, ἱερέως οὖσα θυγάτηρ, πρόβατα νέμουσα, καὶ τῶν ἀδίκων ποιμένων διὰ τῆς τούτου βοηθείας ἀπαλλαγεῖσα, τὴν μνηστείαν ἐδέξατο. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ περιττὸν μηκύνειν τὸν λόγον, καὶ πάντας εἰς μέσον ἄγειν τῆς θείας Γραφῆς τοὺς μετὰ πόνων τοῦ βίου διαδραμόντας τὸν δίαυλον. Εἰ τοίνυν οὐκ οἰκετῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δεσποτῶν ἴδιον τὸ πονεῖν, τίνος χά ριν τῆς δουλείας διὰ τοὺς πόνους κατηγορεῖς; Τῶν 83.684 μὲν γὰρ πόνων οἱ δοῦλοι κοινωνοὺς ἔχουσι τοὺς δε σπότας, τῶν δὲ φροντίδων τοῖς δεσπόταις οὐ κοινω νοῦσιν. Εἰ δ' ὁ μὲν πόνος κοινὸς δούλων καὶ δεσποτῶν, ἡ δὲ φροντὶς ἰδία τῶν δεσποτῶν, πῶς οὐ μακαρίους κρίνομεν τοὺς τῶν φροντίδων ἀπηλλαγμένους, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀθλίοις ἐγκαταλέγομεν; Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἄντικρυς ἐδείχθη κἀνταῦθα τοῦ τῶν ὅλων Κηδεμόνος ἡ πρόνοια, φέρε τῶν εἰρημένων ἕκαστον εἰς ἓν συναγαγόντες, ἀνακεφαλαιωσώμεθά τε, καὶ σαφεστέραν αὐτῶν τὴν κατανόησιν ποιησώμεθα. Ἀπεδείξαμεν τοίνυν, ὡς μίαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ Ποιητὴς ἐδημιούργησε φύσιν, καὶ ταύτην αὐτεξουσίας λόγῳ τετίμηκεν· εἶτα ὅτι εἰς οὐ δέον αὕτη τῷ αὐθαιρέτῳ τῆς γνώμης χρησαμένη ἔῤῥεψεν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον, εἰς μυρία τε πλημμελημάτων ἐξώκειλεν εἴδη. Ἔδει τοιγαροῦν νόμοις ἀναχαιτίσαι τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν ῥύμην, οἱ δὲ νόμοι τῶν τιθέντων ἐδέοντο. ∆ιῃρέθη τοί νυν ἀναγκαίως διχῆ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ φύσις· καὶ οἱ μὲν ἄρχειν