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there is nothing in this house, nor is anything withheld from me except you, because you are his wife, and how shall I do this wicked thing? I shall have sinned before God.” You do not see, he says, whom I see; for you are drunk with passion, but I have not received this drunkenness, but I see the Governor of this universe, who sees each of the things that happen. For a roof and a wall, and closed doors do not obstruct that eye from seeing what it wishes to see; nor does the darkness of the night become an obstacle to its vision. This one knows clearly even the conceptions of the mind, and before the birth pangs he beholds precisely the words still being conceived. Seeing him, I am afraid and in dread, and I cannot bear to dishonor marriage, the spring of nature, the door of entry into life, through which the race of men has not failed, which does not allow nature to be extinguished by death, but with its planting overcomes the hands of the one who cuts, and with its sprouting prevails over the reaper’s sickle; which imitates the spring, appearing after the robbery of winter, and clothing again the things stripped bare by it. You have received a yoke, O woman; love the yoke; do not break the bond, nor look at things outside, but attend to your yokefellow. With him you were appointed to draw the plow of husbandry. Do not dishonor the laws of marriage, and the boundaries of nature, nor defile a bed honored by God. You were appointed to be mistress over others, do not become a slave of pleasures, do not 83.700 outrage your authority with this wicked slavery; do not declare slavish desires to be lords of your soul, nor change the order, nor take away the dominion of your thoughts, nor hand over the reins to your passions. I, therefore, wish you also to become free from passion. But if you are not persuaded, nor do you wish to be delivered from your drunkenness, yet I will not tolerate breaking the law; for I became a slave in body, but not in soul. And I loathe in other ways too the injustice of the matter. Owing you many kindnesses, O my mistress, I will not tolerate repaying my master with their opposites; for though bought with silver, I have been preferred to those born in the house; and having entered your house yesterday and the day before, I received the reins of all things; my master has appointed me steward of all things in the house, and commanded the newly bought man to rule over all; he has placed you alone within the boundaries of his authority, reverencing the laws of marriage. With what eyes, then, shall I look upon him who has so honored me, having repaid him with such things? Abominable, O my mistress, and very abominable, is the forgetting of favors and the unmindfulness of kindnesses; but harder than these and very hard indeed is injustice, and such injustice committed against a benefactor. I was appointed to guard, not to steal, the master's possessions. I will not become a robber instead of a safe guard; I will not touch the things that have remained outside my authority, nor do I imitate Adam the forefather, who, having received authority over all the plants, stretched out his hand to that one which happened to be outside his authority, and by desiring the one, fell from all. Such things that slave went through with that wicked mistress; and neither did slavery harm him, nor the wickedness of his mistress; but rather he also showed himself, like gold or a stone, more brilliant. But since by speaking he did not persuade her, and being forced he fled, and throwing off his garment he leaped away naked, having only the cloak of his chastity. For he was not ashamed, like Adam after the transgression, but he went forth having that disposition regarding the nakedness of the body which that one had before the transgression. Then she slandered him, and persuaded her husband, and called the champion of chastity a plotter against chastity; but he silently accepted the master's verdict, and did not bear to expose the wickedness of his mistress; but he chose by his silence to confirm the

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οὐχ ὑπάρχει ἐν τῇ οἰ κίᾳ ταύτῃ, οὐδὲ ὑφεξαιρεῖται οὐδὲν ἐμοῦ πλὴν σοῦ, διὰ τὸ σὲ γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ εἶναι, καὶ πῶς ποιήσω τὸ ῥῆμα τὸ πονηρὸν τοῦτο; Ἡμαρτηκὼς ἔσομαι ἐναντίον τοῦ Θεοῦ.» Οὐ βλέπεις, φησὶν, ὃν βλέπω· σὺ μὲν γὰρ μεθύεις τῷ πάθει, ἐγὼ δὲ ταύτην οὐκ ἐδεξάμην τὴν μέθην, ἀλλ' ὁρῶ τὸν τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς Κυβερνήτην, ὁρῶντα τῶν γινομένων ἕκαστον. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπέχουσιν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἃ βούλεται θεω ρεῖν ὄροφος καὶ τοῖχος, καὶ θύραι κεκλεισμέναι· οὐδὲ τῆς νυκτὸς τὸ ζοφῶδες ἐμπόδιον γίνεται τῇ θεωρίᾳ. Οἶδεν οὗτος σαφῶς καὶ τὰ τῆς διανοίας κυή ματα, καὶ πρὸ τῶν ὠδίνων τοὺς λόγους ἔτι κυομένους ἀκριβῶς θεωρεῖ. Τοῦτον ὁρῶν δειμαίνω καὶ δέδοικα, καὶ ὑβρίσαι τὸν γάμον οὐκ ἀνέχομαι, τῆς φύσεως τὴν πηγὴν, τῆς εἰς τὸν βίον εἰσόδου τὴν θύραν, δι' ὃν οὐκ ἐπέλιπε τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ γένος, ὃς οὐκ ἐᾷ σβεσθῆναι τῷ θανάτῳ τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ νικᾷ τῇ φυτουργίᾳ τὰς τοῦ τέμνοντος χεῖρας, καὶ περιγίνεται τῇ βλάστῃ τῆς τοῦ ἀμῶντος δρεπάνης· ὃς τὸ ἔαρ μιμεῖται μετὰ τὴν τοῦ χειμῶνος λῃστείαν ἀναφαινό μενον, καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ ἐκείνου γυμνούμενα πάλιν ἀμ φιεννύντα. Ἐδέξω ζυγὸν, ὦ γύναι· στέργε τὸν ζυ γόν· μὴ διαῤῥήξῃς τὴν ζεύγλην, μηδὲ τὰ ἐκτὸς περισκόπει, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὁμόζυγι πρόσεχε. Σὺν ἐκείνῳ τῆς γεωργίας ἕλκειν ἐτάχθης τὸ ἄροτρον. Μὴ ἀτι μάσῃς γαμηλίους νόμους, καὶ φύσεως ὅρους, μηδὲ ὑβρίσῃ εὐνὴν ὑπὸ Θεοῦ τετιμημένην. Ἑτέρων δεσπόζειν ἐτάχθης, μὴ γένῃ δούλη τῶν ἡδονῶν, μὴ 83.700 καθυβρίσῃς τῇ πονηρᾷ ταύτῃ δουλείᾳ τὴν δεσποτείαν· μὴ τὰς ἀνδραποδώδεις ἐπιθυμίας κυρίας τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποφήνῃς, μηδὲ ἐναλλάξῃς τὴν τάξιν, μηδὲ ἀφέλῃ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῶν λογισμῶν, μηδὲ τὰς ἡνίας ἐγ χειρίσῃς τοῖς πάθεσιν. Ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν καὶ σὲ βούλομαι τοῦ πάθους ἐλευθέραν γενέσθαι. Εἰ δὲ οὐ πείθῃ, οὐδὲ θέλεις ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς μέθης, ἀλλ' ἐγὼ πα ρανομεῖν οὐκ ἀνέξομαι· τὸ σῶμα γὰρ δοῦλος, ἀλλ' οὐ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐγενόμην. Μυσάττομαι δὲ καὶ ἄλλως τὸ τοῦ πράγματος ἄδικον. Πολλὰς ὑμῖν εὐεργεσίας ὀφείλων, ὦ κεκτημένη, οὐκ ἀνέξομαι τοῖς ἐναντίοις τὸν δεσπότην ἀμείψασθαι· ἀργυρώνητος γὰρ ὣν, τῶν οἰκογενῶν προτετίμημαι· καὶ χθὲς καὶ πρώην εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὴν ὑμετέραν οἰκίαν, ἁπάντων τὰς ἡνίας ἐδεξάμην· ἁπάντων με τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν κηδεμόνα κεχειροτόνηκεν ὁ δεσπότης, καὶ τὸν νε ώνητον ἄνδρα ἡγεμονεύειν ἁπάντων ἐκέλευσε· σὲ μόνην εἴσω τῶν ὅρων τῆς δεσποτείας πεποίηκε, τοῦ γάμου τοὺς νόμους αἰδούμενος. Ποίοις τοίνυν ὀφθαλ μοῖς ἴδω τὸν οὕτω τετιμηκότα, τοιούτοις αὐτὸν ἀμει ψάμενος; Βδελυρὸν, ὦ κεκτημένη, καὶ λίαν βδελυρὸν, λήθη χαρίτων καὶ εὐεργεσιῶν ἀμνημοσύνη· χαλε πώτερον δὲ τούτων καὶ λίαν παγχάλεπον ἀδικία, καὶ ἀδικία τοιαύτη κατ' εὐεργέτου γινομένη. Φυλάττειν, οὐ κλέπτειν ἐτάχθην τοῦ δεσπότου τὰ κτήματα. Οὐ γίνομαι λῃστὴς ἀντὶ φύλακος ἀσφαλοῦς· οὐχ ἅπτο μαι τῶν ἔξω τῆς ἐμῆς δεσποτείας μεμενηκότων, οὐδὲ μιμοῦμαι Ἀδὰμ τὸν προπάτορα, ὃς τῶν φυτῶν λαβὼν ἁπάντων τὴν ἐξουσίαν, εἰς ἐκεῖνο τὴν χεῖρα ἐξέτεινεν, ὅπερ ἐκτὸς τῆς αὐτοῦ δεσποτείας ἐτύγχανε, καὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἐπιθυμήσας τῶν ἁπάντων ἐξέπεσε. Τοιαῦτα ὁ δοῦλος ἐκεῖνος πρὸς τὴν πονηρὰν δέσποιναν ἐκείνην διέξεισι· καὶ οὔτε ἡ δουλεία αὐτὸν ἐλωβή σατο, οὔτε τῆς δεσποίνης ἡ πονηρία· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἔδειξεν ἑαυτὸν, ὥσπερ χρυσὸν ἢ λίθον λαμπρότερον Ἐπειδὴ δὲ λέγων οὐκ ἔπεισε, καὶ βιασθεὶς ἀπέφυγε, καὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον ῥίψας γυμνὸς ἀπεπήδησε, μόνην ἔχων τῆς σωφροσύνης τὴν ἀμπεχόνην. Οὐ γὰρ ᾐσχύ νετο, καθάπερ Ἀδὰμ μετὰ τὴν παράβασιν, ἀλλ' ἢν εἶχεν ἐκεῖνος πρὸ τῆς παραβάσεως διάθεσιν περὶ τὴν γύμνωσιν τοῦ σώματος, ταύτην ἔχων οὗτος ἐξελήλυθε. Τηνικαῦτα συκοφαντεῖ μὲν ἐκείνη, καὶ πείθει τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ σωφροσύνης ἐπίβουλον καλεῖ τὸν τῆς σωφροσύνης πρόμαχον· ὁ δὲ σιγῶν δέ χεται τοῦ δεσπότου τὴν ψῆφον, καὶ οὐκ ἀνέχεται τῆς δεσποίνης γυμνῶσαι τὴν πονηρίαν· ἀλλ' εἵλετο βεβαιῶσαι τῇ σιγῇ τὴν