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it is considered a matter, if you count the plotter, who has carried his enmity to such a degree, among your benefactors, and you continually pray for him, and entreat God to be merciful. Let us not then see this, that God prevented David from being slain when he was pursued by Saul, but that he earned a double and triple and quadruple crown of martyrdom from his plot. For he who for God's sake saved his enemy, the one who once and twice and many times had hurled a spear at his head, and having become master of the situation to kill him, then spared him, and this knowing that after this sparing he would attack again; it is clear that he was slain ten thousand times in his intention, and being slain ten thousand times for God's sake, he has many crowns of martyrdom. And what Paul said, this he also considered, and he died daily for God. For being able to kill the one plotting against him, for God's sake he was not willing, but he chose rather to be in danger every day, than by working a just slaughter, to be freed from so many deaths. But if one who plots against your very life one must neither defend against nor hate, much more so one who wrongs you in any other external matter. Do you wish to learn that it is possible, if we are willing, to reconcile every person who is hostile toward us, even if someone is wicked and corrupt and incorrigible? What is fiercer than a lion? But yet men tame it, and art does violence to nature, and he becomes tamer and gentler than any sheep, the one who is of all beasts the fiercest and most kingly, and walks through the marketplace with tameness, frightening no one. What defense, then, will we have, what excuse, when we tame beasts, but say that we cannot ever soothe men, nor have them be well-disposed toward us? and yet for the beast tameness is contrary to nature, while for man wildness is contrary to nature? When therefore we overcome nature, what defense will we have, saying we cannot correct a choice? But if he is incurably sick, the greater your labor, so much greater also is your reward for remaining and treating the one who is incurably sick. And what so great a sin has your enemy committed, that you shrink from his reconciliation? Did he speak ill of you, and call you an adulterer and fornicator? And what of it? If he speaks the truth, correct yourself; but if falsely, laugh at it. If you are conscious of what was said, be sober; if you are not conscious, despise it. Or rather, do not laugh 63.683 at it, nor only despise it, but rejoice and leap for joy according to the Lord's word: For when, he says, they reproach you and cast out your name as evil, speaking falsely for the Son of Man's sake, rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for your reward is great in heaven. But if he speaks truly, and you bear the words with meekness, and do not insult in return nor revile, but groan bitterly and condemn your sins, you will reap a reward no less than the former. For often what friends, praising and gratifying, did not do, enemies speaking ill, even if they speak truly, have done. For the former, gratifying as they are likely to do, or even flattering, lift up the disease to a greater swelling; but the latter, moved by enmity, and reproaching our sins, have cast us into a necessity of correction, and enmity has become for us a cause of the greatest benefit. Let us not therefore say, that "So-and-so provoked me," and "So-and-so led me to speak shameful words"; we are the cause of these things in every way; for if we wish to be wise, not only an enemy, but not even the devil himself will be able to move us to anger. And this is clear from the story concerning David. For when he said, "Behold the corner of your robe in my hand," and all the other things with which he defended himself to Saul; that one says, "Is this your voice, my son David?" Oh how great a change suddenly happened to this one who had been made a beast through the meekness of his words! For he who could not even bear to ever call him by his mere name, but even hated his very address, also brought him into kinship, addressing him as "son", and at the very sound

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πρᾶγμα λογίζεται, ἂν τὸν ἐπίβουλον καὶ μέχρι τοσούτου τὴν ἔχθραν ἐξαγαγόντα, ἐν τοῖς εὐεργέταις ἀριθμῇς, καὶ διατελῇς εὐχόμενος ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἵλεων γενέσθαι παρακαλῶν. Μὴ δὴ τοῦτο ἴδωμεν, ὅτι διεκώλυσεν ὁ Θεὸς σφαγῆναι τὸν ∆αυῒδ ὑπὸ τοῦ Σαοὺλ διωκόμενον, ἀλλ' ὅτι διπλοῦν καὶ τριπλοῦν καὶ τετραπλοῦν στέφανον μαρτυρίου ἐδύσατο ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκείνου ἐπιβουλῆς. Ὁ γὰρ διὰ τὸν Θεὸν τὸν πολέμιον σώσας, τὸν ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς καὶ πολλάκις τὸ δόρυ κατὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ κεφαλῆς ἀκοντίσαντα, καὶ γενόμενος κύριος ἀνελεῖν, εἶτα φεισάμενος, καὶ ταῦτα εἰδὼς ὅτι μετὰ τὴν φειδὼ ταύτην πάλιν ἐπιθήσεται· εὔδηλον ὅτι μυριάκις ἐσφάγη τῇ προθέσει, μυριάκις δὲ σφαγεὶς διὰ τὸν Θεὸν, πολλοὺς ἔχει μαρτυρίου στεφάνους. Καὶ ὅπερ ὁ Παῦλος ἔλεγεν, τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς ἐλογίζετο, καὶ καθ' ἡμέραν ἀπέθνησκε διὰ τὸν Θεόν. ∆υνάμενος γὰρ ἀνελεῖν τὸν ἐπιβουλεύοντα, διὰ τὸν Θεὸν οὐκ ἠθέλησεν, ἀλλ' εἵλετο κινδυνεύειν καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν μᾶλλον, ἢ δικαίαν ἐργασάμενος σφαγὴν, ἀπὸ τοσούτων ἀπαλλαγῆναι θανάτων. Εἰ δὲ τὸν μέχρι ζωῆς αὐτῆς ἐπιβουλεύοντα οὔτε ἀμύνεσθαι οὔτε μισεῖν χρὴ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὸν εἰς ὁτιοῦν ἄλλο ἀδικοῦντα τῶν ἔξω. Βούλει μαθεῖν ὅτι δυνατὸν, ἂν ἐθέλωμεν, πάντα ἄνθρωπον πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀπεχθῶς ἔχοντα καταλλάξαι, κἂν πονηρός τις καὶ διεφθαρμένος καὶ ἀδιόρθωτος ᾖ; Τί λέοντος ἀγριώτερον; ἀλλ' ὅμως τοῦτον ἡμεροῦσιν ἄνθρωποι, καὶ ἡ τέχνη τὴν φύσιν βιάζεται, καὶ γίνεται προβάτου παντὸς ἡμερώτερος καὶ ἐπιεικέστερος, ὁ πάντων θηρίων ἀγριώτερος καὶ βασιλικώτερος, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀγορᾶς βαδίζει μηδένα φοβῶν ἡμερότητι. Τίνα οὖν ἕξομεν ἀπολογίαν, τίνα συγγνώμην, θηρία μὲν ἡμεροῦντες, ἀνθρώπους δὲ λέγοντες μὴ δύνασθαι καταπραΰνειν ποτὲ, μηδὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔχειν ἡδέως; καίτοι γε τῷ θηρίῳ μὲν παρὰ φύσιν τὸ ἥμερον, τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ δὲ παρὰ φύσιν τὸ ἄγριον; Ὅταν οὖν τῆς φύσεως περιγινώμεθα, τίνα ἕξομεν ἀπολογίαν, προαίρεσιν λέγοντες μὴ δύνασθαι διορθοῦν; Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀνίατα νοσεῖ, ὅσος σοι μείζων ὁ πόνος, τοσοῦτός σοι καὶ ὁ μισθὸς παραμένοντι καὶ θεραπεύοντι τὸν νοσοῦντα ἀνίατα. Τί δὲ τοσοῦτον ἡμάρτηται τῷ ἐχθρῷ, ὅτι ἀναδύῃ πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου καταλλαγήν; Εἶπέ σε κακῶς, καὶ μοιχὸν καὶ πόρνον ἐκάλεσε; καὶ τί τοῦτο; εἰ μὲν ἀληθῆ λέγει, διόρθωσαι· εἰ δὲ ψευδῆ, καταγέλασον. Εἰ σύνοιδας σαυτῷ τὰ εἰρημένα, σωφρόνησον· εἰ μὴ σύνοιδας, καταφρόνησον· μᾶλλον δὲ μὴ κατα 63.683 γελάσῃς, μηδὲ καταφρονήσῃς μόνον, ἀλλὰ χαῖρε καὶ σκίρτα κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Κυρίου λόγον· Ὅταν γὰρ, φησὶν, ὀνειδίσωσιν ὑμᾶς καὶ ἐκβάλωσι τὸ ὄνομα ὑμῶν ὡς πονηρὸν, ἕνεκεν τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ψευδόμενοι, χάρητε ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ σκιρτήσατε, ὅτι ὁ μισθὸς ὑμῶν πολὺς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Εἰ δὲ ἀληθεύων εἴπῃ, σὺ δὲ μετ' ἐπιεικείας ἐνέγκῃς τὰ ῥήματα, καὶ μὴ ἀνθυβρίσῃς μηδὲ λοιδορήσῃς, ἀλλὰ στενάξῃς πικρῶς καὶ καταγνῷς τῶν πεπλημμελημένων, οὐκ ἐλάττονα τοῦ προτέρου καρπώσῃ μισθόν. Πολλάκις γὰρ ἃ οὐκ ἐποίησαν φίλοι ἐπαινοῦντες καὶ χαριζόμενοι, ἐποίησαν ἐχθροὶ κακῶς λέγοντες, κἂν ἀληθεύωσι. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὡς εἰκὸς χαριζόμενοι, εἴτε καὶ κολακεύοντες, πρὸς μείζονα ὄγκον τὴν νόσον ἐπαίρουσιν· οἱ δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς ἔχθρας κινούμενοι, καὶ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ὀνειδίζοντες, εἰς ἀνάγκην ἐνέβαλον διορθώσεως, καὶ γέγονεν ἡμῖν ἡ ἔχθρα μεγίστης ὠφελείας ὑπόθεσις. Μὴ τοίνυν λέγωμεν, ὅτι Ὁ δεῖνά με παρώξυνε, καὶ ὁ δεῖνά με προήγαγεν εἰπεῖν ῥήματα αἰσχρά· ἡμεῖς τούτων αἴτιοι πανταχοῦ· ἂν γὰρ θέλωμεν φιλοσοφεῖν, οὐ μόνον ἐχθρὸς, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος ἡμᾶς δυνήσεται πρὸς ὀργὴν κινῆσαι. Καὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τὸν ∆αυῒδ ἱστορίας δῆλον. Αὐτοῦ γὰρ εἰπόντος, Ἰδοὺ τὸ πτερύγιον τῆς διπλοΐδος ἐν τῇ χειρί μου, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα, ἃ μετὰ τούτων ἀπελογήσατο τῷ Σαούλ· ἐκεῖνός φησιν, Ἡ φωνή σου αὕτη, τέκνον ∆αυΐδ; Ὢ πόση διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐκείνου ῥημάτων ἐπιεικείας τῷ τεθηριωμένῳ τούτῳ ἀθρόον γέγονεν ἡ μεταβολή! ὁ γὰρ μηδὲ ἀπὸ ψιλοῦ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἀνεχόμενος αὐτὸν καλέσαι ποτὲ, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν αὐτοῦ μισῶν τὴν προσηγορίαν, καὶ εἰς συγγένειαν αὐτὸν ἤγαγε, τέκνον αὐτὸν προσειπὼν, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν φθόγγον