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let him use them, as a sojourner who a little later will depart from them, both willingly and unwillingly. And if anyone is wronged by someone, let him not be angry forever, or rather, not even for a time; For, it says, "Let not the sun go down on your wrath." For this passion has overturned entire houses, and dissolved ancient friendships, and worked inconsolable tragedies. When, therefore, someone insults you, do not look at him, but at the demon moving him, and vent all your anger against that one; and pity the one moved by that one. For if lying is from the devil, being angry without cause is much more so from there. So, it is not possible to be angry when there is nothing provoking it; but it is necessary to desire, even when the sight that moves one to it does not appear. When someone insults you, consider the punishment he is suffering; and not only will you not have anger, but you will also shed tears. For no one is provoked by someone who has a fever, nor by someone who is inflamed, but pities all such people and weeps. But if you wish to defend yourself, be silent, and you have given him a mortal blow; but if, having been stung, you insult back, you force what was said to be believed as true. For why does the rich man laugh when he hears that he is poor? Because he is not conscious of poverty in himself. If, therefore, we would laugh at insults, we shall provide the greatest proof of not being conscious of what is said. Did someone insult you? Beseech God to be merciful to him quickly; he is your brother; he is your member. But he tramples on me all the more, he says. Is not your reward therefore greater for these things? For these reasons it is most just to let go of anger, 63.692 since the devil has wounded him. Therefore, do not you also rebuke him, nor cast yourself down with him. For as long as you are standing, you can also save him; but if you cast yourself down by insulting back, who then will raise you both up? That one who was wounded? But lying down he will not be able. But you who have fallen with him? And how, you who were not sufficient for yourself, will you stretch out a hand to another? The devil wounded him; do not you also wound him, but rather pull out the first arrow. For if we deal with one another in this way, we shall all quickly be healthy; but if we arm ourselves against one another, there is not even a need for the devil for our destruction. But did you suffer evil first? But it is not suffering evil that is wretched, but doing evil. For do not say: It is no evil thing, if I insult so-and-so. For this reason it is a great evil, because it seems to be nothing; for things that seem to be nothing are easily despised, and things that are despised also grow, and things that grow also become incurable. Do you then consider it no terrible thing to accuse your brother? How then do you call him brother? And if he is not a brother, how do you say, "Our Father"? For "our" is significant of many persons. For one who has a beastly and inhuman mind cannot call the philanthropic God "Father"; for he does not preserve the characteristics of the goodness in the heavenly Father, but has transformed himself into a beastly form, and has fallen from his divine nobility. For when someone leaps like a bull, kicks like a donkey, bears grudges like a camel, is gluttonous like a bear, seizes like a wolf, stings like a scorpion, is deceitful like a fox, and neighs after women like a lust-mad horse, how can such a one send up the voice appropriate for a son, and call God his Father? What then should such a one be called? A beast? But the beasts are possessed by one of these failings; but this one, having gathered them all in himself, has become more irrational than their irrationality. For the beasts, though being wild by nature, having experienced human skill, often become tame; but this one, being a man, and changing their natural wildness into an unnatural tameness, what defense will he have, leading his own natural meekness into an unnatural wildness, and making what is wild by nature tame, but himself who is tame by nature making wild, and taming a lion and making it tractable,

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κεχρήσθω, ὡς πάροικος καὶ μικρὸν ὕστερον αὐτῶν ἀποστησόμενος καὶ ἑκὼν καὶ ἄκων. Κἂν ἠδικημένος τις ᾖ παρά τινος, μὴ ἀθάνατα ὀργιζέσθω, μᾶλλον δὲ μηδὲ πρόσκαιρα· Μὴ ἐπιδυέτω γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ ἥλιος ἐπὶ τῷ παροργισμῷ ὑμῶν. Καὶ γὰρ οἰκίας ὁλοκλήρους ἀνέτρεψε, καὶ συνηθείας ἀρχαίας διέλυσε, καὶ τραγῳδίας ἀπαραμυθήτους εἰργάσατο τοῦτο τὸ πάθος. Ὅταν οὖν ἐπηρεάζῃ σέ τις, μὴ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἴδῃς, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν κινοῦντα τοῦτον δαίμονα, καὶ τὴν ὀργὴν ἅπασαν κατ' ἐκείνου κένωσον· αὐτὸν δὲ καὶ ἐλέει τὸν ὑπ' ἐκείνου κινούμενον. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ ψεύδεσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου, τὸ ὀργίζεσθαι εἰκῆ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐκεῖθεν. Ὀργίζεσθαι μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἔνι, μηδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ παροξύνοντος· ἐπιθυμεῖν δὲ ἀνάγκη, καὶ τῆς ὄψεως τῆς εἰς τοῦτο κινούσης μὴ φαινομένης. Ὅταν σε ὑβρίσῃ τις, ἐννόησον τὴν κόλασιν ἣν κολάζεται· καὶ οὐ μόνον οὐχ ἕξεις ὀργὴν, ἀλλὰ καὶ δάκρυα ἀφήσεις. Οὐδὲ γὰρ πρὸς τὸν πυρέττοντά τις παροξύνεται, οὐδὲ πρὸς τὸν φλεγμαίνοντα, ἀλλ' ἐλεεῖ πάντας τοὺς τοιούτους καὶ δακρύει. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀμύνασθαι βούλει, σίγησον, καὶ καιρίαν ἔδωκας αὐτῷ τὴν πληγήν· ἂν δὲ δηχθεὶς ὑβρίσῃς, ἀναγκάζεις ἀληθῆ νομίζεσθαι τὰ λεγόμενα. ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ ὁ πλούσιος ἀκούων ὅτι πένης ἐστὶ, γελᾷ; ὅτι μὴ σύνοιδεν ἑαυτῷ πενίαν. Ἂν τοίνυν μέλλοιμεν γελᾷν ἐπὶ ταῖς ὕβρεσι, μεγίστην ἀπόδειξιν παρεξόμεθα τοῦ μὴ συνειδέναι τοῖς λεγομένοις. Ὕβρισέ σέ τις; παρακάλεσον τὸν Θεὸν, ὥστε ἵλεων αὐτῷ γενέσθαι ταχέως· ἀδελφός ἐστι σός· μέλος ἐστὶ σόν. Ἀλλὰ πλέον ἐπεμβαίνει μοι, φησίν. Οὐκοῦν διὰ ταῦτά σοι μείζων ὁ μισθός. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα μάλιστα τὸν θυμὸν ἀφεῖναι 63.692 δίκαιον, ἐπειδὴ ἔτρωσεν αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος. Μὴ τοίνυν ἐπιπλήξῃς καὶ σὺ, μηδὲ καταβάλῃς σαυτὸν μετ' ἐκείνου. Ἕως μὲν γὰρ ἂν ἕστηκας, δύνασαι κἀκεῖνον διασῶσαι· ἂν δὲ καὶ σαυτὸν καταῤῥίψῃς διὰ τοῦ ἀνθυβρίσαι, τίς ὑμᾶς ἀναστήσει λοιπόν; ἐκεῖνος ὁ τρωθείς; ἀλλ' οὐ δυνήσεται κείμενος. Ἀλλὰ σὺ ὁ πεσὼν μετ' ἐκείνου; καὶ πῶς, ὁ οὐκ ἀρκέσας σεαυτῷ, χεῖρα ὀρέξεις ἑτέρῳ; Ἔτρωσεν αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος· μὴ τρώσῃς καὶ σὺ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ πρότερον ἔκβαλε βέλος. Ἂν γὰρ οὕτως ἀλλήλοις ὁμιλῶμεν, ταχέως ὑγιεῖς πάντες ἐσόμεθα· ἂν δὲ κατ' ἀλλήλων καθοπλιζώμεθα, οὐδὲ τοῦ διαβόλου χρεία πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀπώλειαν. Ἀλλ' ἔπαθες πρῶτος κακῶς; ἀλλ' οὐ τὸ κακῶς παθεῖν ἐστιν ἄθλιον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ποιῆσαι κακῶς. Μὴ γὰρ εἴπῃς· Οὐδέν ἐστι κακὸν, ἂν τὸν δεῖνα ὑβρίσω. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μέγα ἐστὶ κακὸν, ἐπειδὴ οὐδὲν εἶναι δοκεῖ· τὰ γὰρ μηδὲν εἶναι δοκοῦντα εὐκόλως καὶ καταφρονεῖται, τὰ δὲ καταφρονούμενα καὶ αὔξεται, τὰ δὲ αὐξανόμενα καὶ ἀνίατα γίνεται. Οὐδὲν τοίνυν ἡγῇ ποιεῖν δεινὸν, τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ κατηγορῶν; πῶς οὖν καλεῖς ἀδελφόν; Εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἔστι ἀδελφὸς, πῶς λέγεις, Πάτερ ἡμῶν; τὸ γὰρ, ἡμῶν, πολλῶν ἐστι προσώπων σημαντικόν. Οὐ γὰρ δύναται πατέρα καλεῖν τὸν φιλάνθρωπον Θεὸν ὁ τὴν γνώμην ἔχων θηριώδη καὶ ἀπάνθρωπον· οὐδὲ γὰρ σώζει τοὺς χαρακτῆρας τῆς ἐν τῷ ἐπουρανίῳ Πατρὶ ἀγαθότητος, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ θηριῶδες εἶδος ἑαυτὸν μετεμόρφωσε, καὶ τῆς θεϊκῆς εὐγενείας ἐξέπεσεν. Ὅταν γάρ τις σκιρτᾷ μὲν ὡς ταῦρος, λακτίζῃ δὲ ὡς ὄνος, μνησικακῇ δὲ ὡς κάμηλος, καὶ γαστριμαργῇ μὲν ὡς ἄρκτος, ἁρπάζῃ δὲ ὡς λύκος, πλήττῃ δὲ ὡς σκορπίος, ὕπουλος δὲ ᾖ ὡς ἀλώπηξ, χρεμετίζει δὲ ἐπὶ γυναιξὶν ὡς ἵππος θηλυμανὴς, πῶς δύναται ὁ τοιοῦτος τὴν υἱῷ πρέπουσαν ἀναπέμψαι φωνὴν, καὶ πατέρα ἑαυτοῦ καλεῖν τὸν Θεόν; Τί οὖν ὀνομάζεσθαι χρὴ τὸν τοιοῦτον; θηρίον; Ἀλλὰ τὰ θηρία ἑνὶ τούτων τῶν ἐλαττωμάτων κατέχεται· οὗτος δὲ πάντα συναγαγὼν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, καὶ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀλογίας γέγονεν ἀλογώτερος. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ θηρία καίτοι κατὰ φύσιν ὄντα ἄγρια, ἀνθρωπίνης ἀπολαύσαντα τέχνης, ἥμερα πολλάκις γίνεται· οὗτος δὲ ἄνθρωπος ὢν, καὶ τὴν ἀγριότητα ἐκείνων τὴν κατὰ φύσιν εἰς τὴν ἡμερότητα μεταβάλλων τὴν παρὰ φύσιν, ποίαν ἕξει ἀπολογίαν, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πραότητα τὴν κατὰ φύσιν εἰς ἀγριότητα ἐξάγων τὴν παρὰ φύσιν, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἄγριον φύσει ποιῶν ἥμερον, ἑαυτὸν δὲ τὸν ἥμερον φύσει ποιῶν ἄγριον, καὶ λέοντα μὲν τιθασσεύων καὶ χειροήθη ποιῶν,