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75

evils. And clamor, he says. Why so? do you also take away clamor? For the gentle person must be so. For clamor is a horse carrying a rider, which is anger; hobble the horse, and you have overthrown the rider. Let women especially hear these things, who in every matter cry out and shout. In one thing only is it useful to cry out, in preaching and teaching, but nowhere else, not even in prayer. And if you wish to learn through experience, never cry out, and you will never be angry; behold a way of not being angry. For just as it is not possible for one who does not cry out to be angry, so it is not possible for one who cries out not to be angry. For do not speak to me of one who is deeply resentful and bears a grudge and is bitterness itself and gall itself; we are now discussing being carried away by the passion. 62.109 3. So it contributes not a little to this to discipline the soul never to cry out and shout. You cut off the wings of anger by taking away clamor, you suppress the swelling of the heart. For just as it is not possible to wrestle without raising one's hands, so it is not possible for one who does not shout to be entangled. Bind the hands of the boxer, and tell him to box, but he will not be able; so it is with anger. But clamor also rouses up what is not there; and from this the race of women is especially and quickly captured, who, whenever they are angry with their maidservants, fill the whole house with their own clamor; and often, if the house happens to be built by a narrow street, also the passers-by; all hear her shouting, and the maidservant wailing. What could ever be more unseemly than to hear such wailing? For all immediately peeking out ask, What has happened there? So-and-so, one says, is beating her own slave-girl. What could be more shameless than this? What then, should one not strike? I do not say this; for it is necessary, but neither continually, nor immoderately, nor for your own grievances, as I always say, nor if there is some lack in her service, but if she is harming her own soul; if you strike for such a cause, all will praise you, and there will be no one to accuse you; but if it is for your own, all will condemn your cruelty and harshness. And what is indeed the most shameful thing of all, there are some so savage and harsh as to scourge to such an extent that the welts do not even fade on the same day. For having stripped the girls, and having called their husband for this purpose, they often bind them to the bedsteads. Alas, does no memory of Gehenna enter your mind at that time, tell me? but you strip the maidservant, and show her to your husband? and are you not ashamed, lest he condemn you? and you provoke him even more, and you threaten to bind her, having first hurled countless insults at the wretched and miserable one, calling her a Thessalian witch, a runaway, a hussy. For anger does not even spare its own mouth, but looks to one thing only, how it may avenge itself on that one, even if it shames itself. And after all these things, she sits enthroned like some tyrant, and calls her servants, and having placed her foolish husband beside her, she uses him as an executioner. Should these things happen in the homes of Christians? But the class of slaves, she says, is wicked and reckless and shameless and incorrigible. I know it too; but it is possible to discipline them in another way, with fears, threats, words, which are able to wound her more, and to free you from the shame. You utter shameful words, though you are a free woman, and do you not shame yourself more than her? Then if she must go forth into the bath, there are welts upon her back as she is stripped, and she carries about the evidence of your cruelty. But, she says, the slave class, if it gets any relief, is unbearable. I know it too; but, as I said, correct her in another way, not by scourges only nor by fear, but also by flattery and by doing good. She has become your sister, if she is a believer. Consider that you are a mistress, and she serves you. If she is a drunkard, take away the occasions for drunkenness, call her husband, and advise him. Or do you not see what a shameful thing it is for a woman to be beaten? At any rate, those who have legislated countless punishments against men, both brandings and tortures, have rarely hanged a woman, but they stop their anger at 62.110 a slap And they have used so much

75

κακά. Καὶ κραυγὴ, φησί. Τί δήποτε; καὶ κραυγὴν ἀναιρεῖς; Τὸν γὰρ ἤπιον τοιοῦτον εἶναι χρή. Ἵππος γάρ ἐστιν ἀναβάτην φέρων, ἡ κραυγὴ τὴν ὀργήν· συμπόδισον τὸν ἵππον, καὶ κατέστρεψας τὸν ἐπιβάτην. Ἀκουέτωσαν ταῦτα μάλιστα γυναῖκες, αἱ ἐν παντὶ πράγματι κράζουσαι καὶ βοῶσαι. Ἐν ἑνὶ χρήσιμον τὸ κράζειν μόνον, ἐν τῷ κηρύττειν καὶ διδάσκειν, ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ οὐδαμοῦ, ἀλλ' οὔτε ἐν εὐχῇ. Καὶ εἰ βούλει μαθεῖν διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων, μηδέποτε κράζῃς, καὶ οὐδέποτε ὀργισθήσῃ· ἰδοὺ τρόπος ἀοργησίας. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐκ ἔνι τὸν μὴ κράζοντα ὀργισθῆναι, οὕτως οὐκ ἔνι τὸν κράζοντα μὴ ὀργισθῆναι. Μὴ γάρ μοι τὸν βαρύμηνιν εἴπῃς καὶ μνησίκακον καὶ αὐτοπικρίαν καὶ αὐτοχολήν· ἡμεῖς περὶ τῆς τοῦ πάθους συναρπαγῆς διαλεγόμεθα νῦν. 62.109 γʹ. Ὥστε οὐ μικρὸν πρὸς τοῦτο συμβάλλεται τὸ παιδεῦσαι τὴν ψυχὴν μηδέποτε κράζειν καὶ βοᾷν. Τὰ πτερὰ περικόπτεις τῆς ὀργῆς, τὴν κραυγὴν περιαιρῶν, τὸ οἴδημα καταστέλλεις τῆς καρδίας. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι τὰς χεῖρας μὴ ἀντάραντα παλαίειν, οὕτως οὐκ ἔνι μὴ κράζοντα συμποδίζεσθαι. ∆ῆσον τοῦ πυκτεύοντος τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ κέλευσον πυκτεύειν, ἀλλ' οὐ δυνήσεται· οὕτως οὐδὲ ὁ θυμός. Ἡ δὲ κραυγὴ καὶ τὸν οὐκ ὄντα ἐξαίρει· καὶ μάλιστα ἐντεῦθεν ταχέως ἁλίσκεται τὸ τῶν γυναικῶν γένος, αἳ, ὅταν ὀργίζωνται ταῖς θεραπαινίσι, τὴν οἰκίαν ἅπασαν τῆς κραυγῆς πληροῦσι τῆς ἑαυτῶν· πολλάκις δὲ καὶ εἰ παρὰ στενωπὸν τυγχάνοι ᾠκοδομημένη ἡ οἰκία, καὶ οἱ παριόντες· ἅπαντες ἀκούουσιν αὐτῆς βοώσης, καὶ τῆς θεραπαινίδος ὀλολυζούσης. Τί τούτου γένοιτ' ἂν ἀσχημονέστερόν ποτε τοῦ κωκυτοὺς ἀκούειν; Πᾶσαι γὰρ εὐθέως διακύψασαι, Τί δὴ γέγονεν, ἐρωτῶσιν, ἐκεῖ; Ἡ δεῖνα, φησὶ, τὴν δούλην τύπτει τὴν αὑτῆς. Τί τούτου γένοιτ' ἂν ἀναισχυντότερον; Τί οὖν, οὐ χρὴ τύπτειν; Οὐ τοῦτο λέγω· δεῖ μὲν γὰρ, ἀλλὰ μήτε συνεχῶς, μήτε ἀμέτρως, μήτε ὑπὲρ τῶν οἰκείων ἀδικημάτων, ὅπερ ἀεί φημι, μήτε τῆς ὑπηρεσίας ἄν τι ἐλλείπῃ, ἀλλ' εἰ τὴν ἑαυτῆς βλάπτει ψυχήν· ἂν ὑπὲρ τοιαύτης τύπτῃς αἰτίας, ἐπαινέσονται πάντες, καὶ ὁ ἐγκαλέσων οὐδείς· ἂν δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν σῶν, ὠμότητα πάντες καταγνώσονται καὶ ἀπήνειαν. Καὶ τὸ δὴ πάντων αἰσχρότερον, εἰσὶν οὕτως ἄγριαι καὶ ἀπηνεῖς, ὡς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον μαστίζειν, ὡς μηδὲ αὐθημερὸν τοὺς μώλωπας σβέννυσθαι. Γυμνώσασαι γὰρ τὰς κόρας, καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα ἐπὶ τοῦτο καλέσασαι, δεσμοῦσι πολλάκις πρὸς τοῖς σκίμποσιν. Οἴμοι, οὐκ ἐπεισέρχεταί σοι ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ τῆς γεέννης, εἰπέ μοι, μνήμη; ἀλλὰ γυμνοῖς τὴν παιδίσκην, καὶ δεικνύεις τῷ ἀνδρί; καὶ οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ μή σου καταγνῷ; καὶ ἐπιπλέον αὐτὸν παροξύνεις, καὶ ἀπειλεῖς δήσειν, μυρία πρότερον λοιδορησαμένη τῇ ἀθλίᾳ καὶ ταλαιπώρῳ, Θεσσαλίδα, δραπέτριαν, προεστῶσαν καλοῦσα. Ὁ γὰρ θυμὸς οὐδὲ τοῦ οἰκείου ἀφίησι στόματος φείδεσθαι, ἀλλ' εἰς ἓν μόνον ὁρᾷ, πῶς ἐκείνην ἀμύνηται, κἂν ἑαυτὴν καταισχύνῃ. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα δὴ πάντα προκάθηται καθάπερ τις τύραννος, καὶ καλεῖ παῖδας, καὶ παραστησαμένη τὸν ἀνόητον ἄνδρα, καθάπερ δημίῳ αὐτῷ κέχρηται. Ταῦτα ἐν Χριστιανῶν οἰκίαις γίνεσθαι ἔδει; Ἀλλὰ πονηρὸν τὸ γένος, φησὶ, καὶ ἰταμὸν καὶ ἀναίσχυντον καὶ ἀδιόρθωτον. Οἶδα κἀγώ· ἀλλ' ἔστιν ἑτέρως ῥυθμίσαι, φόβοις, ἀπειλαῖς, ῥήμασι, κἀκείνην μειζόνως δυναμένοις δάκνειν, καὶ σὲ τῆς αἰσχύνης ἀπαλλάξαι. Αἰσχρὰ ἐφθέγξω ῥήματα ἐλευθέρα οὖσα, καὶ οὐ μᾶλλον ἐκείνην ἢ σαυτὴν καταισχύνεις; Εἶτα ἐν βαλανείῳ ἐὰν δέῃ προελθεῖν, μώλωπες κατὰ τῶν νώτων γυμνουμένης αὐτῆς, καὶ τεκμήρια περιφέρει τῆς ὠμότητος. Ἀλλ' ἀφόρητον, φησὶν, ἀνέσεως τυχὸν τὸ δουλικὸν γένος. Οἶδα κἀγώ· ἀλλ' ἑτέρως, ὅπερ ἔφην, ἐπίστρεφε, μὴ μάστιξι μόνον μηδὲ φόβῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ κολακείᾳ καὶ τῷ εὖ ποιεῖν. Ἀδελφή σου γέγονεν, ἂν ᾖ πιστή. Ἐννόησον ὅτι σὺ δέσποινα, κἀκείνη σοι διακονεῖται. Ἂν ᾖ μέθυσος, περίελε τῆς μέθης τὰς ὑποθέσεις, τὸν ἄνδρα κάλεσον, καὶ παραίνεσον. Ἢ οὐχ ὁρᾷς πῶς αἰσχρὸν πρᾶγμα γυναῖκα τύπτεσθαι; Οἱ γοῦν μυρία κατὰ ἀνδρῶν νομοθετήσαντες, καὶ καύσεις καὶ βασάνους, σπανιάκις γυναῖκα ἀνήρτησαν, ἀλλὰ μέχρι τοῦ 62.110 ῥαπίσαι τὸν θυμὸν ἱστῶσι Τοσαύτῃ δὲ κέχρηνται