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you will leave, having treasured up for yourself the evil from the injustice. Therefore, neither turn away from the one who wants to borrow, nor give your money at interest, so that, having been taught from the Old and New Testament, you may go to the Lord with good hope, to receive there the interest of good works. When men find their debtors, they rejoice as if they have found prey and game, and they do everything to carry off the whole amount. And if they are unable because of the poverty of the debtors, they pour out their anger over the money upon the miserable body of the wretched, torturing, and beating, and inflicting countless evils upon them. Tear up, O man, the unjust bond, so that in this way sin may be dissolved. Wipe out the contract of heaviest interest, so that the earth may bear its usual fruit; for when bronze and gold and barren things give birth unnaturally, she who gives birth naturally becomes barren, and has been condemned to fruitlessness for the punishment of her inhabitants. How then shall I be fed, he says? You have hands, you have a skill; work for hire, serve. Many are the contrivances of life, many the resources. But are you unable? Beg from those who have. But is it shameful to beg? It is more shameful to defraud the one who lent to you. The ant is able to be fed without begging or borrowing; and the bee presents the remains of its own food to kings; to whom nature has given neither hand nor skills; but you, the resourceful creature, man, will you not find one of all the devices for the conduct of life? Oh, how many have the goods of others destroyed! How many, having become rich in a dream, have reaped the full penalty! But many, he says, also grew rich from loans. But more, I think, have also taken to the noose. But you see those who have become rich, but you do not count those who have hanged themselves, who, unable to bear the shame of the demands, preferred death by hanging to living in disgrace. I have seen a pitiful sight, freeborn children being dragged to the slave-market on account of their father’s debts. You do not have money to leave to your children? Do not take away their noble birth as well. No one was ever blamed for a father's poverty. 95.1373 A father's debt leads to prison. Do not leave behind a written bond like a father's curse descending upon children and grandchildren.

TITLE 10. -Concerning masters and householders; and that they ought not to be burdensome

but gentle to those with them. He who does not manage his own house will inherit the winds. Do not be

like a lion in your house, and domineering among your servants. If you have a servant, let him be as yourself; for you have acquired him with blood. If you mistreat him, and he gets up and runs away, on what road will you seek him? Masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that both their Lord and yours is in heaven. Masters, provide what is just and fair to your slaves, knowing that you also have a Lord in heaven. The father who justly enslaved him left a slave to you. Give him his freedom, and you will make the torment lighter for that one, and you will prepare true freedom for yourself. Who is master, or slave? a worthless distinction. One creator for all, one law, one judgment. Look upon those who serve as a fellow slave. When you are set free, appear more honorable. Those called masters are so named in opinion only, not in truth. No one born is a Lord in truth, even if he has extended and kindled his rule from one end to the other. But only the unbegotten is a leader without falsehood. And even if, as you yourself say, you oppress no one, you strike no one, you extort from no one, you do wrong to no one, yet you will endure a fearful accounting for those who live with you. Do not wear down your own slaves with severe hunger, O man, but as much as you are generous to strangers, and as you gratify outsiders who praise you out of vainglory, so much provide for your own servants for God's sake, that I may say no more.

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ἀφήσεις, τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἀδικίας κακὸν σεαυτῷ θησαυρίσας. Μήτε οὖν τὸν θέλοντα δανείσασθαι ἀποστραφῇς, καὶ τὸ ἀργύριόν σου μὴ δῷς ἐπὶ τόκῳ, ἵνα, ἐκ Παλαιᾶς καὶ Νέας ∆ιαθήκης διδαχθεὶς, μετὰ ἀγαθῆς ἐλπίδος πρὸς τὸν Κύριον ἀπίῃς, ἐκεῖ τοὺς τόκους τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων ἀποληψόμενος. Ἐπειδὰν εὕρωσι τοὺς ὀφείλοντας οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ὥσπερ θήραμα καὶ ἄγραν εὑρόντες, οὕτως γεγήθασι, καὶ πάντα ποιοῦσιν, ὅπως τὸ πᾶν ἀποίσωσι. Κἂν μὴ δυνηθῶσι διὰ τὴν πενίαν τῶν ὀφειλόντων, τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν χρημάτων ὀργὴν εἰς τὸ ταλαίπωρον τῶν ἀθλίων σῶμα ἐκχέουσιν, αἰκιζόμενοι, καὶ τύπτοντες, καὶ μυρία αὐτοῖς διατιθέντες κακά. ∆ιάῤῥηξον, ἄνθρωπε, γραμμάτειον ἄδικον, ἵνα οὕτως ἡ ἁμαρτία λυθῇ. Ἐξάλειψον βαρυτάτων τόκων ὁμολογίαν, ἵνα τέκῃ τὰ συνήθη ἡ γῆ· χαλκοῦ γὰρ καὶ χρυσίου καὶ τῶν ἀγόνων παρὰ φύσιν γεννώντων, ἡ κατὰ φύσιν τίκτουσα γίνεται στεῖρα, καὶ πρὸς τιμωρίαν τῶν ἐνοικούντων κατεδικάσθη τὴν ἀκαρπίαν. Πῶς οὖν διατραφῶ, φησίν; Ἔχεις χεῖρας, ἔχεις τέχνην· μισθαρνοῦ, διακόνει. Πολλαὶ ἐπίνοιαι τοῦ βίου, πολλαὶ ἀφορμαί. Ἀλλ' ἀδυνάτως ἔχεις; Προσαίτει παρὰ τῶν κεκτημένων. Ἀλλ' αἰσχρὸν τὸ αἰτεῖν; Αἰσχρότερον μὲν τὸν δανεισάμενον ἀποστερεῖν. Ὁ μύρμηξ δύναται μήτε προσαιτῶν, μήτε δανειζόμενος διατρέφεσθαι· καὶ μέλισσα τὰ λείψανα τῆς οἰκείας τροφῆς βασιλεῦσι χαρίζεται· οἷς οὔτε χεῖρα, οὔτε τέχνας ἡ φύσις ἔδωκε· σὺ δὲ τὸ εὐμήχανον ζῶον, ὁ ἄνθρωπος, μίαν τῶν πασῶν μηχανῶν οὐχ εὑρήσεις πρὸς τὴν τοῦ βίου διαγωγήν; Ὦ πόσους ἀπώλεσε τὰ ἀλλότρια ἀγαθά! Πόσοι ὄναρ πλουτήσαντες ὑπεραπέλαυσαν τῆς ζημίας! Ἀλλὰ πολλοὶ, φησὶν, καὶ ἐκ δανεισμάτων ἐπλούτησαν. Πλείους, δὲ οἶμαι, καὶ βρόχων ἥψαντο. Σὺ δὲ τοὺς μὲν πλουτήσαντας βλέπεις, τοὺς δὲ ἀπαγξαμένους οὐκ ἀριθμεῖς, οἳ τὴν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἀπαιτήσεσιν αἰσχύνην μὴ φέροντες, τὸν δι' ἀγχόνης θάνατον τοῦ ἐπονειδίστως ζῇν προετίμησαν. Εἶδον ἐγὼ ἐλεεινὸν θέαμα, παῖδας ἐλευθέρους ὑπὸ χρεῶν πατρικῶν ἑλκομένους εἰς τὸ πρατήριον. Οὐκ ἔχεις καταλιπεῖν χρήματα τοῖς παισίν; Μὴ προσαφέλῃ καὶ τὴν εὐγένειαν. Οὐδεὶς πενίαν πατρὸς ἐνεκλήθη ποτέ. 95.1373 Ὄφλημα πατρῷον εἰς δεσμωτήριον ἄγει. Μὴ καταλείπῃς γραμματεῖον ὥσπερ ἀρὰν πατρικὴν εἰς παῖδας καταβαίνουσαν καὶ ἐγγόνους.

ΤΙΤΛ. Ιʹ. -Περὶ δεσποτῶν καὶ οἰκοδεσποτῶν· καὶ ὅτι οὐ χρὴ αὐτοὺς φορτικοὺς

εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἠπίους τοῖς συνοῦσι. Ὁ μὴ συμπεριφερόμενος τῷ ἑαυτοῦ οἴκῳ, κληρονομήσει ἀνέμους. Μὴ ἴσθι

ὡς λέων ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου, καὶ φαντασιοσκοπῶν ἐν τοῖς οἰκέταις σου. Εἰ ἔστι σοι οἰκέτης, ἔστω ὡς σύ· ὅτι ἐν αἵματι ἐκτήσω αὐτόν. Ἐὰν κακώσῃς αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀπάρας ἀποδράσῃ, ἐν ποίᾳ ὁδῷ ζητήσεις αὐτόν; Οἱ κύριοι, τὰ αὐτὰ ποιεῖτε πρὸς αὐτοὺς, ἀνιέντες τὴν ἀπειλὴν, εἰδότες ὅτι Κύριος καὶ αὐτῶν καὶ ὑμῶν ἐστιν ἐν οὐρανῷ. Οἱ κύριοι, τὸ δίκαιον καὶ τὴν ἰσότητα τοῖς δούλοις παρέχετε, εἰδότες ὅτι καὶ ὑμεῖς Κύριον ἔχετε ἐν οὐρανῷ. Ἐνδίκως καταδουλωσάμενος ὁ πατὴρ ἀφῆκέ σοι δοῦλον. ∆ὸς αὐτῷ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, κἀκείνῳ κουφοτέραν ποιήσεις τὴν βάσανον, καὶ σεαυτῷ τὴν ἀληθινὴν ἐλευθερίαν παρασκευάσεις. Τίς δεσπότης, ἢ δοῦλος; ἡ φαύλη τομή. Εἷς πᾶσι πλάστης, εἷς νόμος, κρίσις μία. Ὑπηρετουμένους ὡς σύνδουλος βλέπε. Ὅταν λυθῇς, φάνηθι τιμιώτερος. Οἱ λεγόμενοι δεσπόται, δόξῃ μόνον, οὐ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ὀνομάζονται. Κύριος γεννητὸς πρὸς ἀλήθειαν οὐδεὶς, κἂν ἀπὸ περάτων εἰς πέρατα εὐρύνας τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀνάψηται. Μόνος δὲ ὁ ἀγέννητος ἀψευδῶς ἡγεμών. Κἂν, ὡς λέγεις αὐτὸς, οὐδένα θλίβεις, οὐ τύπτεις, οὐκ ἐκπιέζεις, οὐκ ἀδικεῖς, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῶν συνδιατριβόντων σοι ὑποίσεις φοβερὸν λογοθέσιον. Μή τις σφοδρῷ λιμῷ κάταγχε τοὺς σεαυτοῦ δούλους, ἄνθρωπε, ἀλλ' ὅσον εἰς ἀλλοτρίους εὐψυχεῖς, καὶ χαρίζῃ τοῖς ἔξωθεν αἰτιοῦσι διὰ κενοδοξίαν, τοσοῦτον διὰ Θεὸν χορήγησον τοῖς ἰδίοις οἰκέταις, ἵνα μηδὲν περαιτέρω σημάνω.