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saying: It has not yet been so with me until now, but my lord is old; and he so loved her, as to obey her in everything she commanded. And the child was virtuous, and the household members themselves were also admirable, who indeed did not hesitate to face danger with their master, they did not put it off, nor did they ask the reason; but one of them who was in charge was so admirable, as to be entrusted even with the marriage of the only-begotten child, and a journey abroad. For just as with a general, when his army is well-organized, the enemy nowhere enters; so indeed here also, when husband and wife and children and servants are taking care of the same things, great is the harmony of the house; since, if it is not so, often through one worthless servant the whole is overturned and destroyed, and the one has often made the whole disappear and has corrupted it. Let us therefore take great care of our wives and children and slaves, knowing that we will make our rule easy for ourselves, and that we shall have our accounts gentle and mild, and we shall say: Behold, I and the children whom God has given me. If the man is admirable, and the head is good, the rest of the body will suffer no violence. How then the matters concerning the wife and the husband might be well-ordered, he said precisely, advising her to fear him as her head, and him to love her as his wife. But how could these things come to be? he says. For that it is necessary, he showed; but the how, I will tell you; if we despise money, if we look to one thing only, the virtue of the soul, if we have the fear of God before our eyes. For what he said when speaking to the slaves, Whatever good or evil each one does, this he will receive from the Lord, this applies here also. Do not, therefore, love her so much for her own sake, as for Christ's sake. This indeed he also hinted at, saying: As to the Lord. - Therefore, obeying as to the Lord, and doing all things for His sake, so do all things; this is sufficient to bring it about and to persuade, and not to allow any wrangling or discord to exist. Let no one be believed who slanders the husband to the wife; but neither let the husband simply believe things against his wife, nor let the wife be meddlesome about his comings and goings simply; nor indeed let the husband give any cause for suspicion. For what, tell me, if you give yourself all day to your friends, and to your wife only the evening, and not even so are you able to satisfy her, and to keep her free from suspicion? Even if your wife complains, do not be annoyed; it is of affection, not of insolence; the accusations are of boiling affection and 62.144 of a fiery disposition and of fear. For she is afraid lest someone has stolen her marriage bed, lest someone has wronged her in the chief of her goods, lest someone has taken away her head, lest someone has dug through her marriage bed. There is also another cause of small-mindedness; let no one claim the servants beyond measure, neither the husband the maid, nor the wife the man-servant; for these things are also able to produce suspicions. For consider with me those just ones; Sarah herself commanded the patriarch to take Hagar; she herself commanded it, no one forced him, nor did the husband desire it; but although he had passed a long time in childlessness, he chose never to become a father, rather than to grieve his wife. But yet after all these things, what does Sarah say? May God judge between me and you. Now if it had been any other man, would he not have been moved to anger? Would he not have even stretched out his hands, all but saying: What are you saying? I did not wish to lie with the woman, the whole thing was your doing, and you complain again? But he said nothing of the sort; but what? Behold, your handmaid is in your hands; do to her as it is pleasing to you. He gave up the one who shared his bed, so that he might not grieve Sarah. And yet there is nothing greater than this for the sake of goodwill. For if sharing a table creates unanimity even for robbers against their adversaries (and the Psalmist says: You who at the same table sweetened my food); to become one flesh then (for this is what it is to share the marriage bed), is much more capable of drawing them together. But none of these things had the power to overcome the just man, but he gave her up to his wife, showing that nothing had happened because of his own fault; and what is greater,

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λεγούσης· Οὔπω μέν μοι γέγονεν ἕως τοῦ νῦν, ὁ δὲ κύριός μου πρεσβύτερος· κἀκεῖνος αὐτὴν οὕτως ἠγάπα, ὡς πάντα κελευούσῃ πείθεσθαι. Καὶ τὸ παιδίον ἐνάρετον ἦν, καὶ οἱ οἰκογενεῖς καὶ αὐτοὶ θαυμαστοὶ, οἵ γε καὶ κινδυνεῦσαι μετὰ τοῦ δεσπότου οὐκ ὤκνησαν, οὐκ ἀνεβάλοντο, οὐδὲ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐζήτησαν· ἀλλ' εἷς αὐτῶν ὁ προεστηκὼς οὕτω θαυμαστὸς ἦν, ὡς καὶ γάμον ἐμπιστευθῆναι τοῦ μονογενοῦς παιδὸς, καὶ ἀποδημίαν ὑπερόριον. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ στρατηγοῦ, ὅταν καὶ τὸ στρατιωτικὸν ᾖ συγκεκροτημένον, οὐδαμόθεν ὁ πολέμιος ἐπεισέρχεται· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα, ὅταν ἀνὴρ καὶ γυνὴ καὶ παιδία καὶ οἰκέται ὦσι τῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιμελούμενοι, πολλὴ τῆς οἰκίας ἡ ὁμόνοια· ἐπεὶ, ἐὰν μὴ οὕτως ᾖ, πολλάκις δι' ἑνὸς οἰκέτου φαύλου τὸ πᾶν ἀνατρέπεται καὶ καταλύεται, καὶ ὁ εἷς πολλάκις τὸ πᾶν ἠφάνισε καὶ διέφθειρε. Πολλὴν οὖν πρόνοιαν ποιώμεθα καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων καὶ δούλων, εἰδότες ὅτι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς εὔκολον καταστήσομεν, καὶ ὅτι τὰς εὐθύνας ἡμέρους καὶ ἐπιεικεῖς ἕξομεν, καὶ ἐροῦμεν· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία, ἅ μοι ἔδωκεν ὁ Θεός. Ἐὰν ὁ ἀνὴρ θαυμαστὸς, καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ καλὴ, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν σῶμα οὐδεμίαν ὑποστήσεται βίαν. Τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν γυναῖκα πῶς ἂν καλῶς διατεθείη καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα, ἀκριβῶς εἶπε, τὴν μὲν φοβεῖσθαι παραινέσας ὡς κεφαλὴν, τὸν δὲ ἀγαπᾷν ὡς γυναῖκα. Πῶς δ' ἂν ταῦτα γένοιτο; φησίν· Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ δεῖ, ἔδειξε· τὸ δὲ πῶς, ἐγὼ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐρῶ· ἂν χρημάτων καταφρονῶμεν, ἂν πρὸς ἓν ὁρῶμεν μόνον, ψυχῆς ἀρετὴν, ἂν τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβον ἔχωμεν πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν. Ὅπερ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς πρὸς τοὺς δούλους διαλεγόμενος ἔλεγεν, Ὅ τι ἂν ποιήσῃ ἕκαστος ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν, τοῦτο κομιεῖται παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθα. Μὴ δι' ἐκείνην τοίνυν τοσοῦτον, ὅσον διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν αὐτὴν ἀγαπᾷν. Τοῦτο γοῦν καὶ ᾐνίξατο εἰπών· Ὡς τῷ Κυρίῳ. - Ὡς τῷ Κυρίῳ τοίνυν πειθόμενος, καὶ δι' αὐτὸν πάντα ποιῶν, οὕτω πάντα πράττε· τοῦτο ἱκανὸν ἐναγαγεῖν καὶ πεῖσαι, καὶ μὴ ἀφεῖναι ἐρεσχελίαν τινὰ καὶ διχόνοιαν εἶναι. Μηδεὶς ἔστω πιστὸς συκοφαντῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γυναικὸς τὸν ἄνδρα· ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ ἁπλῶς πιστευέτω κατὰ τῆς γυναικὸς, μηδὲ ἡ γυνὴ περιεργαζέσθω εἰσόδους καὶ ἐξόδους ἁπλῶς· μηδὲ μὴν μηδὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ ἄξιον παρεχέτω ἑαυτόν τινος ὑποψίας. Τί γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, πᾶσαν τὴν ἡμέραν τοῖς φίλοις δίδως σαυτὸν, τῇ δὲ γυναικὶ τὴν ἑσπέραν, καὶ οὐδὲ οὕτως αὐτὴν δύνῃ πληροφορεῖν, καὶ ἐκτὸς ὑποψίας ποιεῖν; Κἂν ἐγκαλῇ ἡ γυνὴ, μὴ δυσχέραινε· φιλίας ἐστὶν, οὐκ ἀπονοίας· φιλίας ἐστὶ ζεούσης τὰ ἐγκλήματα καὶ 62.144 διαθέσεως πεπυρωμένης καὶ φόβου. ∆έδοικε γὰρ μή τις αὐτῆς ἔκλεψε τὴν εὐνὴν, μή τις αὐτὴν περὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐζημίωσε, μή τις αὐτῆς τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀφείλετο, μή τις διώρυξε τὴν εὐνήν. Ἔστι καὶ ἄλλη μικροψυχίας ὑπόθεσις· μηδεὶς πέρα τοῦ μέτρου τῶν οἰκετῶν ἀντιποιείσθω, μήτε τῆς κόρης ὁ ἀνὴρ, μήτε τοῦ οἰκέτου ἡ γυνή· καὶ γὰρ ταῦτα ἱκανὰ τεκεῖν ὑποψίας. Ἐννόησον γάρ μοι τοὺς δικαίους ἐκείνους· αὐτὴ ἡ Σάῤῥα ἐκέλευσε τῷ πατριάρχῃ λαβεῖν τὴν Ἄγαρ· αὐτὴ προσέταξεν, οὐδεὶς ἠνάγκασεν, οὐδὲ ἐπῆλθεν ὁ ἀνήρ· ἀλλὰ καίτοι μακρὸν χρόνον ἑλκύσας ἐν ἀπαιδίᾳ, εἵλετο μηδέποτε γενέσθαι πατὴρ, ἢ τὴν γυναῖκα λυπῆσαι. Ἀλλ' ὅμως μετὰ ταῦτα πάντα, τί φησιν ἡ Σάῤῥα; Κρίναι ὁ Θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον ἐμοῦ καὶ σοῦ. Ἆρα εἴ τις ἦν τῶν ἄλλων, οὐκ ἂν εἰς ὀργὴν ἐκινήθη; οὐκ ἂν καὶ χεῖρας ἐξέτεινε, μονονουχὶ φάσκων· Τί λέγεις; οὐκ ἐβουλόμην ἐγὼ συγγενέσθαι τῇ γυναικὶ, σὸν τὸ πᾶν γέγονε, καὶ πάλιν ἐγκαλεῖς; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον εἶπεν ἐκεῖνος· ἀλλὰ τί; Ἰδοὺ ἡ παιδίσκη ἐν ταῖς χερσί σου· χρῶ αὐτῇ, ὡς ἄν σοι ἀρεστὸν ᾖ. Τὴν κοινωνὸν τῆς εὐνῆς ἐξέδωκεν, ἵνα μὴ λυπήσῃ τὴν Σάῤῥαν. Καίτοι γε οὐδὲν τούτου μεῖζον εἰς εὐνοίας λόγον ἐστίν. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ τραπέζης κοινωνῆσαι καὶ λῃσταῖς ὁμοψυχίαν ποιεῖ πρὸς τοὺς ἐναντίους (καὶ ὁ Ψαλμῳδός φησιν· Ὃς ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐγλύκανάς μοι ἐδέσματα)· τὸ μίαν σάρκα γενέσθαι λοιπὸν (τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι κοινωνῆσαι τῆς εὐνῆς), πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἱκανὸν ἐπισπάσασθαι. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων ἴσχυσε τὸν δίκαιον ἑλεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐξέδωκε τῇ γυναικὶ, δεικνὺς ὅτι οὐ παρὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ αἰτίαν τι γεγένηται· καὶ τὸ δὴ μεῖζον,