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not only makes friends, instead of enemies and foes; whereas to defend oneself, does all the opposite; for it both shames both parties and makes them worse, and raises anger to a greater flame; and often, the evil progressing further, it even ends in death. For this reason he not only commanded one who is slapped not to be angry, but also ordered him to satisfy his desire, so that you might not seem to have endured the first blow unwillingly. For thus you will be able to strike even the shameless man with a more timely blow than if you struck him with your hand, and you will make even the more shameless man more reasonable. To the one who wants to sue you, and take your tunic, let him have your cloak also. For not only in the case of blows, but also in the case of money does he wish such forbearance to be shown. Wherefore again he 57.267 sets forth the same hyperbole. For just as there he commands to conquer in suffering, so also here by having more taken away than the greedy man expected. Yet he has not set this down simply, but with an addition. For he did not say, Give your cloak to the one who asks, but, To the one who wants to sue you; that is, if he drags you into court and gives you trouble. And just as after saying not to call someone a fool, nor to be angry without cause, proceeding he demanded more, when he commanded to offer the right cheek also; so also here, after saying to be well-disposed to your adversary, he again intensifies the commandment. For indeed he commands not only to give what he wants to take, but also to show more generosity. What then? Am I to go about naked? he says. We would not be naked, if we obeyed these things with exactness; but we would be clothed with much more than all. For in the first place, no one would have attacked those so disposed; and secondly, even if someone happened to be so savage and uncivilized as to go to such lengths, yet many more would have appeared who would clothe one who so philosophizes not only with garments, but also with their own flesh, if it were possible. 3. But even if it were necessary to go about naked for the sake of such a philosophy, not even so would it have been shameful. Since Adam was also naked in paradise, and was not ashamed; and Isaiah was naked and barefoot, and was more glorious than all the Jews; and Joseph, when he was stripped, then he shone most brightly. For to be thus naked is not evil, but to be thus clothed, as we are now with expensive garments, this is both shameful and ridiculous. For this very reason God praised those, but finds fault with these, both through prophets and through apostles. Let us not therefore think the commandments are impossible. For along with being profitable, they are very easy, if we are sober; and they have so much profit, as to benefit not only us, but also those who treat us despitefully, in the greatest degree. And this is their most excellent quality, that in persuading us to suffer evil, through the same means they also teach those who do it to philosophize. For when he considers it a great thing to take what belongs to others, but you show him that it is easy for you to give even what he does not ask, and you introduce a generosity to counterbalance his poverty, and a philosophy for his greed, consider how much instruction he will enjoy, being taught not by words, but by the very deeds to despise vice, and to desire virtue. For God does not want us to be useful to ourselves alone, but also to all our neighbors. If then you give, and do not go to law, you have sought your own advantage only; but if you give something more, you have also sent him away having made him better. Such is the salt, which he wants them to be; for it both preserves itself, and keeps together the other bodies with which it comes in contact; such is the light; for it shines both for itself and for others. Since then he has placed you in the rank of these, benefit also the one sitting in darkness, and teach him that he did not take the first thing by force; persuade him that he did not treat you despitefully. For thus you yourself will be more venerable and more august, if you show that you gave it as a gift, and it was not snatched away. Therefore, through your reasonableness, make his 57.268 sin your own generosity. But if you think this is a great thing, wait, and you will see clearly that you have not yet arrived at perfection. For not even

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οὐχὶ φίλους μόνον, ἀντὶ ἐχθρῶν καὶ πολεμίων ποιεῖ· ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ ἀμύνεσθαι, τὰ ἐναντία ἅπαντα· ἀμφοτέρους τε γὰρ καταισχύνει καὶ χείρους κατασκευάζει, καὶ τὴν ὀργὴν εἰς μείζονα ἀνάγει φλόγα· καὶ πολλάκις καὶ εἰς θάνατον καταστρέφει περαιτέρω τὸ δεινὸν προβαῖνον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐ μόνον ῥαπιζόμενον ἐκέλευσε μὴ ὀργίζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμπιπλᾷν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐπέταξεν, ἵνα μηδὲ τὸ πρότερον δόξῃς ἄκων ὑπομεμενηκέναι. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἀναίσχυντον ὄντα καιρίᾳ δυνήσῃ πλῆξαι πληγῇ μᾶλλον, ἢ εἰ τῇ χειρὶ ἔπληξας, καὶ ἀναισχυντότερον ὄντα ἐπιεικέστερον ποιήσεις. Τῷ θέλοντί σοι κριθῆναι, καὶ τὸν χιτῶνά σου λαβεῖν, ἄφες αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπὶ πληγῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ χρημάτων βούλεται τὴν τοιαύτην ἀνεξικακίαν παρέχεσθαι. ∆ιὸ πάλιν τὴν αὐ 57.267 τὴν τίθησιν ὑπερβολήν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖ κελεύει νικᾶν ἐν τῷ πάσχειν, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα τῷ ἀφαιρεῖσθαι πλείονα ὧν ὁ πλεονεκτῶν προσεδόκησε. Πλὴν οὐχ ἁπλῶς αὐτὸ τέθεικεν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ προσθήκης. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε, ∆ὸς τῷ αἰτοῦντι τὸ ἱμάτιον, ἀλλὰ, Τῷ θέλοντί σοι κριθῆναι· τουτέστιν, ἐὰν εἰς δικαστήριον ἕλκῃ καὶ πράγματά σοι παρέχῃ. Καὶ ὥσπερ εἰπὼν μὴ καλεῖν μωρὸν, μηδὲ ὀργίζεσθαι εἰκῆ, προϊὼν πλέον ἀπῄτησεν, ἡνίκα ἐκέλευσε καὶ τὴν δεξιὰν σιαγόνα παρέχειν· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα, εἰπὼν εὐνοεῖν τῷ ἀντιδίκῳ, πάλιν ἐπιτείνει τὸ ἐπίταγμα. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον ἃ βούλεται λαβεῖν κελεύει δοῦναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλείονα ἐπιδείξασθαι φιλοτιμίαν. Τί οὖν; γυμνὸς μέλλω περιιέναι; φησίν. Οὐκ ἂν ἦμεν γυμνοὶ, εἰ τούτοις ἐπειθόμεθα μετὰ ἀκριβείας· ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλῷ πλείονα ἁπάντων ἂν ἦμεν περιβεβλημένοι. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἂν οὕτω διακειμένοις ἐπέθετο· δεύτερον δὲ, εἰ καὶ ἔτυχέ τις οὕτως ἄγριος καὶ ἀνήμερος, ὡς καὶ μέχρι τοσούτου προελθεῖν, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ πλείους ἂν ἐφάνησαν οἱ τὸν οὕτω φιλοσοφοῦντα οὐχ ἱματίοις μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ σαρκὶ τῇ ἑαυτῶν, εἴγε οἷόν τε ἦν, περιβάλλοντες. γʹ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐχρῆν γυμνὸν περιιέναι διὰ τοιαύτην φιλοσοφίαν, οὐδὲ οὕτως αἰσχρὸν ἦν. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ Ἀδὰμ γυμνὸς ἦν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ, καὶ οὐκ ᾐσχύνετο· καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας γυμνὸς καὶ ἀνυπόδετος, καὶ πάντων Ἰουδαίων λαμπρότερος ἦν· καὶ ὁ Ἰωσὴφ δὲ, ὅτε ἀπεδύσατο, τότε μάλιστα ἔλαμψεν. Οὐ γὰρ τὸ οὕτω γυμνοῦσθαι κακὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ οὕτως ἐνδύεσθαι, καθάπερ νῦν ἡμεῖς ἱματίοις πολυτελέσι, τοῦτο καὶ αἰσχρὸν καὶ καταγέλαστον. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο ἐκείνους μὲν ὁ Θεὸς ἐπῄνεσε, τούτοις δὲ ἐγκαλεῖ, καὶ διὰ προφητῶν καὶ δι' ἀποστόλων. Μὴ τοίνυν ἀδύνατα εἶναι νομίζωμεν τὰ ἐπιτάγματα. Καὶ γὰρ μετὰ τοῦ συμφέροντος σφόδρα ἐστὶν εὔκολα, ἐὰν νήφωμεν· καὶ τοσοῦτον ἔχει τὸ κέρδος, ὡς μὴ μόνον ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκείνους τοὺς ἐπηρεάζοντας τὰ μέγιστα ὠφελεῖν. Καὶ τοῦτο μάλιστα αὐτῶν ἐστι τὸ ἐξαίρετον, ὅτι πείθοντες ἡμᾶς πάσχειν κακῶς, διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τοὺς ποιοῦντας διδάσκουσι φιλοσοφεῖν. Ὅταν γὰρ ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἡγῆται μέγα τὸ τὰ ἑτέρων λαμβάνειν, σὺ δὲ αὐτῷ δείξῃς, ὅτι σοι κοῦφον καὶ ἃ μὴ αἰτεῖ δοῦναι, καὶ ἀντίῤῥοπον φιλοτιμίαν εἰσαγάγῃς τῆς ἐκείνου πτωχείας, καὶ φιλοσοφίαν τῆς ἐκείνου πλεονεξίας, ἐννόησον ὅσης ἀπολαύσεται διδασκαλίας, οὐ διὰ ῥημάτων, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν παιδευόμενος καταφρονεῖν μὲν κακίας, ἐφίεσθαι δὲ ἀρετῆς. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἑαυτοῖς χρησίμους ἡμᾶς εἶναι βούλεται ὁ Θεὸς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς πλησίον ἅπασιν. Ἂν μὲν οὖν δῷς, καὶ μὴ δικάσῃ, τὸ σαυτοῦ συμφέρον ἐζήτησας μόνον· ἂν δὲ προσδῷς καὶ ἕτερον, κἀκεῖνον βελτίω ποιήσας ἐξέπεμψας. Τοιοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ ἅλας, ὅπερ αὐτοὺς εἶναι βούλεται· καὶ γὰρ ἑαυτὸ συγκροτεῖ, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα διακρατεῖ σώματα, οἷς ἂν ὁμιλήσῃ· τοιοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ φῶς· καὶ γὰρ ἑαυτῷ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις φαίνει. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐν τάξει σε τούτων κατέστησε, ὠφέλησον καὶ τὸν ἐν σκότῳ καθήμενον, καὶ δίδαξον αὐτὸν, ὅτι οὐδὲ τὸ πρότερον βίᾳ ἔλαβε· πεῖσον ὅτι οὐκ ἐπηρέασεν. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ αὑτὸς αἰδεσιμώτερος ἔσῃ καὶ σεμνότερος, ἐὰν δείξῃς ὅτι ἐχαρίσω, καὶ οὐχ ἡρπάγης. Ποίησον τοίνυν αὐτοῦ 57.268 τὴν ἁμαρτίαν διὰ τῆς σῆς ἐπιεικείας φιλοτιμίαν σήν. Εἰ δὲ μέγα τοῦτο εἶναι νομίζεις, ἀνάμεινον, καὶ ὄψει σαφῶς, ὅτι οὐδέπω πρὸς τὸ τέλειον ἀπήντηκας. Οὐδὲ γὰρ