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neither such a great procession, nor anything else of that sort, troubled them at all. For the magnitude of the calamity, and the fact that, having expected worse things than these, they endured these, prepared their soul to be philosophical. And then they learned how easy virtue is for us, and how simple and achievable, and that only because of our own negligence does it seem laborious. For these who before this had not borne the loss of a little money meekly, when they were seized by a greater fear, having lost all their possessions, were disposed as if they had found a treasure, because they had not lost their soul. So that if we had a perception of the future Gehenna, and considered those unbearable punishments, even if we had given up our property and our soul and our body for the sake of the laws of God, we would not have felt pain, knowing that we would gain something greater: deliverance from the future terrors. Perhaps the tragedy of what has been said has sufficiently softened your heart, but do not be displeased. For since I am about to venture upon more subtle thoughts, and I need a more tender mind, I have done this on purpose, so that through the fear of the narrative, your mind, having shaken off all sloth, and risen up from all worldly things, might with much ease convey the power of what is said to the depth of the soul.

3. Our discourse has indeed sufficiently demonstrated to us before that a natural law concerning things that are good and things that are not so is implanted in us; but that our demonstration may be from abundance, we will contend again today with the same subject of our discourses. For that from the beginning, when God formed man, He made him knowledgeable of both, all men show; for we are all ashamed of those who are answerable to us when we sin, and often a master going to a prostitute, then seeing one of his more respectable servants, has blushed and turned back from this unseemly path. Again, when reviled by others with the names of wickedness, we say the thing is an insult; and if we suffer evil, we drag those who did 49.140 it to court. Thus we know what is vice, and what is virtue. Indeed, Christ Himself, indicating and showing this, that He legislates nothing strange or beyond our nature, but what He long ago anticipated and placed in our conscience, after those many beatitudes, spoke thus: Whatever you wish that people would do to you, do also to them. There is no need for many words, He says, nor for lengthy laws, nor for varied teaching; let your will become law. Do you wish to be well-treated? Treat another well. Do you wish to be pitied? Pity your neighbor. Do you wish to be praised? Praise another. Do you wish to be loved? Love. Do you wish to enjoy the first place? Yield it first to another. You be the judge, you be the lawgiver of your own life. And again: What you hate, do not do to another. Through this He introduces deliverance from vice, and through the former, the practice of virtue. What you hate, do not do to another. Do you hate to be insulted? Do not insult another. Do you hate to be envied? Do not you envy another. Do you hate to be deceived? Do not you deceive another. And simply in all things, if we hold fast to these two sayings, we will not need other teaching. For He placed the knowledge of virtue in our nature, but He entrusted its practice and correction to our choice. Perhaps what is said is unclear; therefore I will try to make it clearer again. So that to know that it is good to be temperate, we do not need words, nor teaching; for we ourselves have the knowledge in our nature, and there is no need of pains nor toils, to go about and seek whether temperance is good and useful, but by common consent we all confess this, and no one doubts concerning virtue. Thus also we consider adultery to be evil, and not even here do we need pains and learning, so as to know the evil of this sin; but we are all self-taught in such judgments, and virtue, even if we do not pursue it, we praise, just as we hate vice, even if we practice it.

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οὔτε ἡ τοσαύτη πομπὴ, οὔτε ἄλλο τι τῶν τοιούτων οὐδὲν αὐτοὺς ἕδακνε. Τὸ γὰρ τῆς συμφορᾶς μέγεθος, καὶ τὸ, μείζονα προσδοκήσαντας τούτων, ταῦτα ὑπομεῖναι, φιλοσοφεῖν παρεσκεύαζε τὴν ψυχήν. Καὶ τότε ἐμάνθανον πῶς εὔκολον ἡμῖν ἡ ἀρετὴ, ῥᾴδιόν τε καὶ εὐκατόρθωτον, καὶ ὅτι παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ὀλιγωρίαν μόνον ἐπίπονος εἶναι δοκεῖ. Οὗτοι γὰρ οἱ πρὸ τούτου χρημάτων ὀλίγων ζημίαν οὐκ ἐνεγκόντες πράως, ἐπειδὴ φόβῳ κατεσχέθησαν μείζονι, πάντα τὰ ὄντα ἀποβαλόντες, ὡς θησαυρὸν εὑρηκότες διέκειντο, ὅτι τὴν ψυχὴν οὐκ ἀπέβαλον. Ὥστε εἰ καὶ τῆς μελλούσης γεέννης εἶχεν ἡμᾶς αἴσθησις, καὶ τὰς ἀφορήτους ἐκείνας ἐνενοοῦμεν κολάσεις, εἰ καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἐπεδώκαμεν ὑπὲρ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμων, οὐκ ἂν ἠλγήσαμεν, εἰδότες ὅτι μείζονα κερδανοῦμεν τὴν τῶν μελλόντων δεινῶν ἀπαλλαγήν. Τάχα ἱκανῶς ὑμῶν κατεμάλαξε τὴν καρδίαν ἡ τραγῳδία τῶν εἰρημένων, ἀλλὰ μὴ δυσχεράνητε. Καὶ γὰρ ἐπειδὴ μέλλω λεπτοτέρων κατατολμᾷν νοημάτων, καὶ ἁπαλωτέρας δέομαι διανοίας, ἐπίτηδες τοῦτο ἐποίησα, ὥστε τῷ φόβῳ τοῦ διηγήματος τὴν διάνοιαν ὑμῶν πᾶσαν ἀποτιναξαμένην ῥᾳθυμίαν, καὶ τῶν βιωτικῶν ἀπαναστᾶσαν ἁπάντων, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς εὐκολίας πρὸς τὸ βάθος τῆς ψυχῆς παραπέμψαι τῶν λεγομένων τὴν δύναμιν.

γʹ. Ἱκανῶς μὲν οὖν καὶ πρώην ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ἀπέδειξεν, ὅτι φυσικὸς ἡμῖν ἔγκειται νόμος τῶν καλῶν καὶ τῶν οὐ τοιούτων· ἵνα δὲ ἐκ περιουσίας ἡμῖν ἡ ἀπόδειξις γένηται, τῇ αὐτῇ καὶ σήμερον ἐπαγωνιούμεθα πάλιν ὑποθέσει τῶν λόγων. Ὅτι γὰρ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸν ἄνθρωπον πλάττων ὁ Θεὸς ἀμφοτέρων αὐτὸν ἐπιστημονικὸν ἐποίησε, δηλοῦσι πάντες ἄνθρωποι· τοὺς γοῦν ὑπευθύνους ἡμῖν αἰσχυνόμεθα ἁμαρτάνοντες ἅπαντες, καὶ πολλάκις δεσπότης πρὸς πόρνην γυναῖκα βαδίζων, εἶτα τῶν ἐπιεικεστέρων τινὰ οἰκετῶν ἰδὼν, ἐρυθριάσας ἀνεχώρησε τῆς ἀτόπου ταύτης ὁδοῦ. Πάλιν λοιδορούμενοι παρ' ἑτέρων τὰ τῆς πονηρίας ὀνόματα, ὕβριν τὸ πρᾶγμα εἶναί φαμεν· κἂν κακῶς πάσχωμεν, εἰς δικαστήριον ἕλκομεν τοὺς 49.140 ποιήσαντας. Οὕτως ἵσμεν τί μὲν κακία, τί δὲ ἀρετή. Τοῦτο γοῦν αὐτὸ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐμφαίνων καὶ δεικνὺς, ὅτι οὐδὲν ξένον οὐδὲ ὑπερβαῖνον ἡμῶν τὴν φύσιν νομοθετεῖ, ἀλλ' ὃ πάλαι προλαβὼν ἐγκατέθηκεν ἡμῶν τῷ συνειδότι, μετὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐκείνους μακαρισμοὺς οὕτως ἔλεγεν· Ἃ θέλετε ἵνα ποιῶσιν ὑμῖν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ταῦτα καὶ ὑμεῖς ποιεῖτε αὐτοῖς. Οὐ χρεία πολλῶν λόγων, φησὶν, οὐδὲ μακροτέρων νόμων, οὐδὲ διδασκαλίας ποικίλης· τὸ θέλημά σου γενέσθω νόμος. Θέλεις εὐεργετεῖσθαι; εὐεργέτησον ἕτερον. Θέλεις ἐλεεῖσθαι; ἐλέησον τὸν πλησίον. Θέλεις ἐπαινεῖσθαι; ἐπαίνεσον ἕτερον. Θέλεις ἀγαπᾶσθαι; φίλησον. Θέλεις τῶν πρωτείων ἀπολαύειν, παραχώρησον ἑτέρῳ πρότερον τούτων. Σὺ γενοῦ δικαστὴς, σὺ γενοῦ νομοθέτης τῆς σαυτοῦ ζωῆς. Καὶ πάλιν· Ὃ μισεῖς, ἄλλῳ μὴ ποιήσῃς. ∆ιὰ μὲν τούτου τῆς κακίας εἰσάγει τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν, διὰ δὲ τοῦ προτέρου τῆς ἀρετῆς τὴν ἐργασίαν. Ὃ μισεῖς, ἄλλῳ μὴ ποιήσῃς. Μισεῖς ὑβρίζεσθαι; μὴ ὑβρίσῃς ἕτερον. Μισεῖς βασκαίνεσθαι; μηδὲ σὺ φθονήσῃς ἑτέρῳ. Μισεῖς ἀπατᾶσθαι; μηδὲ σὺ ἀπατήσῃς ἄλλον. Καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων δὲ ἁπλῶς, ἂν τὰ δύο ῥήματα ταῦτα κατέχωμεν, οὐ δεησόμεθα διδασκαλίας ἑτέρας. Τῆς γὰρ ἀρετῆς τὴν μὲν γνῶσιν ἐνέθηκεν ἡμῶν τῇ φύσει, τὴν δὲ πρᾶξιν καὶ τὴν διόρθωσιν ἐπέτρεψεν ἡμῶν τῇ προαιρέσει. Τάχα ἀσαφὲς τὸ λεγόμενον· οὐκοῦν πειράσομαι σαφέστερον αὐτὸ ποιῆσαι πάλιν. Ὥστε εἰδέναι ὅτι καλὸν τὸ σωφρονεῖν, οὐ δεόμεθα λόγων, οὐδὲ διδασκαλίας· ἔχομεν γὰρ ἐν τῇ φύσει τὴν γνῶσιν αὐτοὶ, καὶ οὐ χρεία πόνων οὐδὲ καμάτων, ὥστε περιελθεῖν καὶ ζητῆσαι εἰ καλὸν ἡ σωφροσύνη καὶ χρήσιμον, ἀλλὰ κοινῇ γνώμῃ πάντες ὁμολογοῦμεν τοῦτο, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀμφιβάλλει περὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς. Οὕτω καὶ τὴν μοιχείαν κακὸν εἶναι νομίζομεν, καὶ οὐδὲ ἐνταῦθα πόνων ἡμῖν δεῖ καὶ μαθήσεως, ὥστε γνῶναι τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ταύτης κακίαν· ἀλλὰ πάντες ἐν ταῖς τοιαύταις ψήφοις ἐσμὲν αὐτοδίδακτοι, καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν, κἂν μὴ μετίωμεν αὐτὴν, ἐπαινοῦμεν, ὥσπερ οὖν τὴν κακίαν, κἂν ἐργαζώμεθα, μισοῦμεν.