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For violence or fear, could never be the creator of virtue. For good things are voluntary, and not of necessity.

A voluntary painful thing is more honorable than an involuntary pleasant one. The Theologian. For the voluntary is both more lasting and more secure; and of the

one is of the one who compels, the other is our own; and the one is of God's clemency, the other of tyrannical power.

(15Ε_396> What is held by force loves to act freely, seizing the opportunity. A shepherd milks even the goats, if he wishes, But instead of milk, he will bring forth springs of blood. Chrysostom. Not those who by necessity abstain from evil, but those who do so by choice,

does God crown. God does not lead us by necessity and force, but by will and judgment. There is no fruit of necessity, but every reward is of free choice. God does not reckon

things done from necessity, but things accomplished from free choice. 965 Just as for the sparrow there is no benefit from its wings, once caught by the trap

but it flutters its wings randomly and in vain; so also for you there is no benefit from your thoughts, if you are completely captured by evil desire.

Dionysius. We humans do not have a compelled life. For neither on account of the free will of those provided for are the divine lights of the providential illumination dimmed.

Didymus. Involuntary sins the law also forgives, and God, being philanthropic, overlooks, and is not harsh also towards the voluntary ones.

Philo. Just as it is unjust to sin voluntarily, so also to sin involuntarily and in ignorance is not immediately just; but perhaps somewhere on the borderline of both, of the just and the unjust, is what is called by some "indifferent." For no sin is a work of justice.

Clement. Most of all it is not permitted for Christians to correct the failings of sins by violence. For God crowns not those who by necessity abstain from evil, but those who do so by choice.

It is not possible for someone to be certainly good, except by their own choice. For one who becomes good by another's necessity, (15Ε_398> is not good; because he is what he is not by his own choice. For the freedom of each one constitutes the truly good, and shows the truly evil. Therefore through these hypotheses God contrived to make manifest the disposition of each.

Choricius. The good that comes from nature is unproven; but that from choice is praiseworthy. Epictetus. If you wish to live untroubled and well-pleased, try to have all those living with you

be good. And you will have them good, if you instruct the unwilling, and release the unwilling [then having been subdued]. For wickedness along with slavery will flee away with those who flee; while goodness and freedom will be left behind with those who stay with you.

Socrates. The one who toils willingly, laboring in good hope, rejoices; but acts of laziness and immediate pleasures are able neither to produce a good condition of body, nor to instill any worthwhile knowledge in the soul.

Theages the Pythagorean. The involuntary is not without pain and fear; but the voluntary is not without pleasure and kindness.

968 From the customs of Nicolaus. The Thyni, receiving the shipwrecked with humanity, make them friends; and of foreigners, those who come willingly they honor greatly; but those who come unwillingly, they punish.

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Βία γάρ ἤ φόβος, ἀρετῆς οὐκ ἄν ποτε γένοιτο δημιουργός. Ἐθελούσια γάρ, καί οὐκ ἀνάγκης τά καλά.

Τό ἑκούσιον λυπηρόν, τοῦ ἀκουσίου τερπνοῦ τιμιώτερον. Θεολόγου. Τό μέν γάρ ἑκούσιον, μονιμώτερόν τε καί ἀσφαλέστερον· καί τοῦ

μέν τοῦ βιασαμένου, τό δέ ἡμέτερον· καί τό μέν ἐπιεικείας Θεοῦ, τό δέ τυραννικῶς ἐξουσίας.

(15Ε_396> Φιλεῖ τό βίᾳ κρατούμενον ἐλευθεριάζειν καιροῦ λαβόμενον. Ποιμήν ἀμέλγει, εἰ θέλει, καί τούς τράγους, Ἀλλ᾿ ἀντί γάλακτος, αἱμάτων πηγάς οἴσει. Χρυσοστ. Οὐ τούς ἀνάγκῃ τῆς κακίας ἀπεχομένους, ἀλλά τούς προαιρέσει,

στεφανοῖ ὁ θεός. Οὐκ ἀνάγκῃ καί βίᾳ, ἀλλά βουλήσει καί γνώμῃ προσάγεται ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεός. Οὐδείς καρπός ἀνάγκης, ἀλλά πᾶς μισθός προαιρέσεως. Οὐ λογίζεται ὁ Θεός

τά ἐξ ἀνάγκης, ἀλλά τά ἐκ προαιρέσεως κατορθούμενα. 965 Ὥσπερ τῷ στρουθῷ τῶν πτερῶν ὄφελος οὐδέν, ὑπό τῆς παγίδος

ἀλόντι, ἀλλ᾿ εἰκῆ καί μάτην πτερύσσεται· οὕτω καί σοί τῶν λογισμῶν οὐδέν ὄφελος, ἐάν κατακράτος ὑπό τῆς πονηρᾶς ἐπιθυμίας ἁλῶς.

∆ιονυσίου. Οὐκ ἠναγκασμένην ζωήν ἔχομεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι. Οὔτε γάρ διά τήν τῶν προνοουμένων αὐτεξουσιότητα τά θεῖα φῶτα τῆς προνοητικῆς ἐλλάμψεως ἀπαμβλύνεται.

∆ιδύμου. Τά μέν ἀκούσια ἁμαρτήματα καί νόμος συγχωρεῖ, καί Θεός παρορᾷ φιλάνθρωπος ὤν, καί οὐκ ἀπηνής καί τῶν ἑκουσίων.

Φίλων. Οὐχ ὡς τό ἑκουσίως ἁμαρτάνειν ἐστίν ἄδικον, οὕτω καί ἀκουσίως καί κατά ἄγνοιαν, εὐθύς δίκαιον· ἀλλά τάχα που μεθόριον ἀμφοῖν, δικαίου καί ἀδίκου, τό ὑπό τινων καλούμενον ἀδιάφορον. Ἁμάρτημα γάρ οὐδέν ἔργον δικαιοσύνης.

Κλήμεντος. Μάλιστα πάντων Χριστιανοῖς οὐκ ἐφίεται τό πρός βίαν ἐπανορθοῦν τά τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων πταίσματα. Οὐ γάρ τούς ἀνάγκῃ τῆς κακίας ἀπεχομένους, ἀλλά τούς προαιρέσει στεφανοῖ ὁ Θεός.

Οὐ δυνατόν τινα ἀγαθόν εἶναι βεβαίως, εἰ μή κατά προαίρεσιν οἰκείαν. Ὁ γάρ ὑφ᾿ ἑτέρου ἀνάγκης ἀγαθός γινόμενος, (15Ε_398> οὐκ ἀγαθός· ὅτι μή ἰδίᾳ προαιρέσει ἐστίν ὅ ἔστιν. Τό γάρ ἑκάστου ἐλεύθερον, ἀποτελεῖ τό ὄντως ἀγαθόν, καί δεικνύει τό ὄντως κακόν. Ὅθεν διά τῶν ὑποθέσεων τούτων ἐμηχανήσατο ὁ Θεός φανερῶσαι τήν ἑκάστου διάθεσιν.

Χορικίου. Τό ἐκ φύσεως καλόν, ἀδόκιμον· τό δέ ἐκ προαιρέσεως, ἐπαινετόν. Ἐπικτήτου. Εἰ βούλει ἀταράχως καί εὐαρέστως ζῇν, πειρῶ τούς συνοικοῦντάς

σοι σύμπαντας ἀγαθούς ἔχειν. Ἕξεις δέ ἀγαθούς, εἰ τούς μή ἑκόντας παιδεύεις, τούς δέ ἄκοντας [ἔπειτα κεχειρωμένους] ἀπολύεις. Συμφεύξεται γάρ τοῖς φεύγουσιν ἡ μοχθηρία ἅμα καί ἡ δουλεία· συναπολειφθήσεται δέ τοῖς συμβαίνουσί σοι ἡ χρηστότης καί ἡ ἐλευθερία.

Σωκράτ. Ὁ μέν ἑκουσίως ταλαιπωρῶν, ἐπ᾿ ἀγαθῇ ἐλπίδι πονῶν εὐφραίνεται· αἱ δέ ῥᾳδιουργίαι καί ἐκ τοῦ παραχρῆμα ἡδοναί, οὔτε σώματος εὐεξίαν ἱκαναί εἰσίν ἐργάζεσθαι, οὔτε ψυχῆς ἐπιστήμην ἀξιόλογον οὐδεμίαν ἐμποιοῦσιν.

Θεαγοῦς Πυθαγορείου. Τό μέν ἀκούσιον, οὐκ ἄνευ λύπης καί φόβου· τό δέ ἑκούσιον, οὐκ ἄνευ ἡδονῆς καί φιλοφροσύνης.

968 Ἐκ τῶν Νικολάου ἐθῶν. Θύνοι τούς ναυαγούς φιλανθρώπως δεχόμενοι φίλους ποιοῦνται· τῶν δέ ξένων, τούς μέν ἑκουσίως ἐλθόντας, σφόδρα τιμῶσι· τούς δέ ἀκουσίως, κολάζουσιν.