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But not even this is a limit of the ascent to the heights for those who advance through virtue.

For the one who is after this one in the sequence of the order is found to be above this one also in the grandeur of his contemplation. Again the inscription proclaims the victor; again the column upon it testifies that such a victory is beyond human. For *To the end*, it says, *do not destroy*. It has often been said that victory is the meaning of "the end," and there is no need to interpret again in the text what is known. But *Do not destroy*, this philanthropic voice that surpasses every excess of long-suffering, has embarked upon a greater thought in this place. For who does not know that each and every person is ready for kindness toward those who have shown no prior malice; 5.167 but often, even when some small pain has occurred beforehand, the more magnanimous man bore the unpleasantness over small things and at the time for kindness was not turned away from doing good to the one who had pained him over moderate matters; but the one small-minded in thought, if even a slight provocation should occur, unleashes upon him all his retaliatory power, seizing some opportunity for doing harm. Therefore the wonder is not equal, even if the good deed should be similar, in the case of one who has suffered no prior harm and in the case of one who has repaid with kindness the one who previously caused pain. For this reason, so that the inimitable and unequalled long-suffering of David might be shown most clearly, which almost imitates the impassibility of the divine nature itself, it places alongside it that wicked madness of Saul. For, he says, the voice of *Do not destroy* was spoken to David, which he inscribed in the memory of the events that followed, not when the tyrant was friendly toward him, but when those things had already happened, when Saul sent men to his house to kill him. But surely you are not ignorant, O lover of learning, of the part of the story signified by the inscription; how, when the terror from the demonic spirit came upon Saul, and the holy David had calmed the disturbance from the affliction with the psaltery, Saul, finding the spear at his side, hurled its point straight at his own benefactor; but when he, by divine aid, dodged the throw, the thrust of the spear was fixed deep in the wall. He ran out of the palace and went to his own house, hoping that the king's anger would be changed through repentance. 5.168 But when Saul had placed guards in a circle around David's house and commanded executioners to murder him, with difficulty he let himself down through a window into the open and, escaping the notice of the guard, was placed outside of danger; and having migrated, he came to one place after another, wandering in his helplessness among unfamiliar people. And so he was overtaken by Saul, who had surrounded with his whole army the hill to which David had fled with those around him, and when the night provided him a reprieve from death (for Saul had postponed the slaughter of the pursued man until dawn), he went to the enemy's tent and, finding him relaxed in sleep upon a bed, not only did he restrain his own hand, which was perhaps eager to gratify its anger, but he also turned his shield-bearer, who was already leaning over Saul for the slaughter ("For I will strike," he said, "and I will not strike a second time"), from his impulse with this great and celebrated voice, *Do not destroy*, he said, the one who is hastening toward our destruction. And this is not the only wondrous thing in the matter, that he grants life to the one doing everything against his life, but that David, having been anointed for the kingdom and knowing that he could not otherwise partake of the office unless Saul were out of the way, judged it better through long-suffering to suffer hardship in private humility than to satisfy his anger against the one who had pained him and ascend to the kingdom. For this reason, along with the voice of philanthropy was written *When Saul sent men to David's house to*

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Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ οὗτος ὅρος τῆς εἰς τὸ ὕψος ἀναβάσεως τοῖς δι' ἀρετῆς προκόπτουσι

γίνεται. ὁ γὰρ μετὰ τοῦτον τῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ τῆς τάξεως ὢν ὑπὲρ τοῦτον καὶ τῇ μεγαλοφυΐᾳ τῆς θεωρίας εὑρίσκεται. πάλιν δὲ ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ ἀνακηρύσσει τὸν στεφανίτην· πάλιν ἡ ἐπ' αὐτῷ στήλη τὸ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον εἶναι τὴν τοιαύτην νίκην μαρτύρεται. Εἰς τὸ τέλος γάρ, φησί, μὴ διαφθείρῃς. εἴρηται πολλάκις ὅτι νίκη ἐστὶ τοῦ τέλους τὸ σημαινόμενον, καὶ οὐδὲν χρὴ πάλιν ἐφερμηνεύειν τῷ λόγῳ τὸ ἐγνωσμένον. τὸ δὲ Μὴ διαφθείρῃς, ἡ φιλάνθρωπος αὕτη φωνὴ καὶ πᾶσαν μακροθυμίας ὑπερβολὴν παριοῦσα, μείζονος ἐπιβέβηκεν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ τῆς διανοίας. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι πρόχειρος μὲν εἰς εὐποιΐαν ἐστὶ καὶ τῶν ἐπιτυχόντων ἕκαστος ἐπὶ τῶν μηδεμίαν προενδειξαμένων κακίαν· πολλάκις δὲ καὶ μικρᾶς 5.167 τινος λύπης προγεγενημένης, ὁ μὲν μεγαλοψυχότερος ἤνεγκε τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς μικροῖς ἀηδίαν καὶ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς εὐποιΐας οὐκ ἀπετράπη τοῦ ποιῆσαι καλῶς τὸν ἐπὶ μετρίοις λυπήσαντα· ὁ δὲ μικροφυὴς τὴν διάνοιαν, κἂν βραχύ τι τὸ παροξύνον τύχῃ, πᾶσαν ἐπαφίησιν αὐτῷ τὴν ἀμυντικὴν δύναμιν καιροῦ τινος εἰς κακοποιΐαν λαβόμενος. οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἴσον τὸ θαῦμα, κἂν ὅμοιον τὸ εὐεργέτημα τύχῃ, ἐπί τε τοῦ μηδὲν προπεπονθότος κακῶς καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ δι' εὐποιΐας ἀμειψαμένου τὸν προλυπήσαντα. τούτου χάριν, ὡς ἂν μάλιστα τὸ ἀπαράθετόν τε καὶ ἀζήλωτον ἐπιδειχθείη τῆς τοῦ ∆αβὶδ μακροθυμίας, ἥτις αὐτὴν μικροῦ δεῖν μιμεῖται τῆς θείας φύσεως τὴν ἀπάθειαν, παρατίθησι τὴν πονηρὰν ἐκείνην τοῦ Σαοὺλ μανίαν. εἴρηται γάρ, φησίν, τῷ ∆αβὶδ ἡ τοῦ Μὴ διαφθείρῃς φωνή, ἣν τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν ἐπιγενομένων ἐνστηλιτεύῃ, οὐχ ὅτε φιλικῶς πρὸς αὐτὸν εἶχεν ὁ τύραννος, ἀλλ' ἤδη γεγενημένων ἐκείνων, ὅτε ἀπέστειλεν Σαοὺλ εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ τοῦ θανατῶσαι αὐτόν. πάντως δὲ οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς, ὁ φιλομαθής, τὸ μέρος τῆς ἱστορίας, τὸ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς σημαινόμενον· πῶς ἐπειδὴ κατέστη τῷ Σαοὺλ ἡ ἐκ τοῦ δαιμονίου πνεύματος πτόησις, τοῦ ἁγίου ∆αβὶδ διὰ τοῦ ψαλτηρίου τὴν ἐκ τοῦ πάθους ταραχὴν κατευνάσαντος, παρεστῶσαν ἑαυτῷ τὴν λόγχην εὑρὼν ὁ Σαοὺλ τῷ εὐεργέτῃ ἑαυτοῦ ἐπαφίησιν εὐθύνας κατ' αὐτοῦ τὴν αἰχμήν· τοῦ δὲ κατὰ θείαν συμμαχίαν τῆς βολῆς ἑαυτὸν ὑπεκστήσαντος τῷ τοίχῳ διὰ βάθους ἐμπήγνυται ἡ τῆς αἰχμῆς προσβολή. ἐξέδραμεν δὲ τῶν βασιλείων, ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ οἴκῳ ἐγένετο μετα βληθήσεσθαι τοῦ βασιλέως τὸν θυμὸν διὰ μετανοίας ἐλπίσας. 5.168 Τοῦ δὲ Σαοὺλ δορυφόρους ἐν κύκλῳ τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ περιστήσαντος καὶ δημίοις τὸν κατ' αὐτοῦ φόνον ἐντειλαμέ νου μόλις διὰ θυρίδος τινὸς καταβαλὼν ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὸ ὕπαιθρον καὶ διαλαθὼν τὴν φρουρὰν ἔξω τῶν κινδύνων κατέστη· καὶ μεταναστὰς ἄλλοτε ἄλλον ἐπήρχετο τόπον ὑπὸ ἀμηχανίας τοῖς ἀήθεσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐπιπλανώμενος. καὶ οὕτως κατελήφθη ὑπὸ τοῦ Σαοὺλ πανστρατιᾷ κυκλώσαντος τὸ γεώλοφον, ᾧ μετὰ τῶν περὶ αὑτὸν ὁ ∆αβὶδ προσφεύγει, καὶ νυκτὸς ἀναβολὴν πρὸς τὸν θάνατον αὐτῷ παρασχομένης (ὑπερέθετο γὰρ ὁ Σαοὺλ ἐπὶ τὸν ὄρθρον τὴν τοῦ διωκομένου σφαγήν) ἐπιστὰς τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ πολεμίου καὶ καταλαβὼν ἐπί τινος εὐνῆς λελυμένον τῷ ὕπνῳ οὐ μόνον τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπέσχεν χεῖρα σπεύδουσαν ἴσως τῷ θυμῷ χαρίσασθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ὑπ ασπιστὴν ἤδη κατὰ τοῦ Σαοὺλ πρὸς τὴν σφαγὴν ἐπικύψαντα (Πατάξω γάρ, φησίν, καὶ οὐ δευτερώσω) ἀπάγει τῆς ὁρμῆς τῇ μεγάλῃ ταύτῃ καὶ ἀοιδίμῳ φωνῇ, Μὴ διαφθείρης, εἰπών, τὸν πρὸς τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν διαφθορὰν ἐπειγόμενον. οὐ τοῦτο δὲ μόνον ἐστὶν τὸ θαυμαστὸν ἐν τῷ πράγματι, ὅτι ζωὴν χαρίζεται τῷ κατὰ τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ ἅπαντα πράσσοντι, ἀλλ' ὅτι πρὸς βασιλείαν χρισθεὶς ὁ ∆αβὶδ καὶ εἰδὼς μὴ ἄλλως ἂν μετασχεῖν τοῦ ἀξιώματος, εἰ μὴ ἐκ ποδῶν γένοιτο ὁ Σαούλ, κρεῖττον ἔκρινεν διὰ τῆς μακροθυμίας κακοπαθεῖν ἐν ἰδιωτικῇ ταπεινό τητι ἢ θυμὸν κατὰ τοῦ λελυπηκότος ἐκπλήσας ἐπιβῆναι τῆς βασιλείας. διὰ τοῦτο συμπαρεγράφη τῇ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας φωνῇ τὸ Ὅτε ἀπέστειλεν Σαοὺλ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ∆αβὶδ τοῦ