80.  We observe each other’s sins, not to bewail them, but to make them subjects of reproach, not to heal them, but to aggravate them, and excuse our own evil deeds by the wounds of our neighbours.  Bad and good men are distinguished not according to personal character, but by their disagreement or friendship with ourselves.  We praise one day what we revile the next, denunciation at the hands of others is a passport to our admiration; so magnanimous are we in our viciousness, that everything is frankly forgiven to impiety.

Πʹ. Τηροῦμεν δὲ τὰς ἀλλήλων ἁμαρτίας, οὐχ ἵνα θρηνήσωμεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα ὀνειδίσωμεν: οὐδ' ἵνα θεραπεύσωμεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα προσπλήξωμεν, καὶ ἀπολογίαν ἔχωμεν τῶν ἡμετέρων κακῶν τὰ τῶν πλησίον τραύματα. Κακοὺς δὲ καὶ ἀγαθοὺς οὐχ ὁ τρόπος, ἀλλ' ἡ διάστασις καὶ ἡ φιλία χαρακτηρίζει: καὶ ἃ σήμερον ἐπαινοῦμεν, αὔριον ἐκακίσαμεν: καὶ ἃ παρ' ἄλλοις στηλιτεύεται, παρ' ἡμῖν θαυμάζεται: καὶ πάντα συγχωρεῖται προθύμως τῷ ἀσεβεῖν. Οὕτω τὴν κακίαν ἐσμὲν μεγαλόψυχοι!