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of pusillanimity; otherwise he becomes useless, if he defends himself. If God knew that through not defending oneself the unjust were becoming useless, he would not have commanded this, but he would have said, Defend yourself; but he knows that in this way he is helped more. Do not legislate against God; obey him. You are not better than the one who made us. He said, Being insulted, bear it; you say. I insult back, so that he may not become useless. Do you then care for him more? These are the words of passion and harshness and arrogance and of legislating against God. For even if he were harmed, was it not necessary to obey? Whenever God commands something, let us not legislate against it. A soft answer, it says, 60.232 turns away wrath. So it does this by yielding, not by opposing. If it benefits you, it also benefits him; but if it harms you who are about to correct him, it harms him much more. Physician, heal yourself. Did he speak ill? You praise. Did he revile? Commend. Did he plot against you? Do good. Repay him with the opposites, if indeed you care at all for his salvation, and do not wish to avenge your own passion. And yet often, one says, having experienced long-suffering he has become worse. This is not on your account, but on his. Do you want to learn what things God suffered? They tore down his altars, they killed the prophets, and he bore all things. Was he not able to bring down a thunderbolt from above? But when he sent the prophets, and they killed them, then he sent the Son; when they acted more impiously, then did he not do good on a greater scale? And you, if you see him becoming harsh, then yield more greatly; for this madness requires greater consolation. The more harshly he insults, the more gentleness he requires; and just as a fever when it blows fiercely, then requires one who yields; so also the angry man. When a wild beast is most savage, then we all flee; so too the angry man. Do not think this is honor; since do we honor the wild beast, and at least do we honor the mad, when we get out of their way? Not at all; this is dishonor and insult; or rather not dishonor and insult, but mercy and philanthropy. Do you not see the sailors, when the wind blows fiercely, lowering the sails, so as not to sink the ship? the horses when they have bolted with the rider, he yields with them, and does not pull back, so that it may exhaust its strength of its own accord? 4. Do you this also. Anger is a fire, it is a sharp flame needing fuel; do not provide food to the fire, and you will quickly extinguish the evil. Anger has no strength in itself, if there is not another to feed it. There is no defense for you. That man is possessed by madness, and does not know what he does; you, seeing him, when you fall into the same things, and are not even sobered by his example, what pardon is there? If someone at a symposium should see someone at the doors drunk and behaving disgracefully, and then he himself should fall into the same things, would he not, being drunk after that man, be much more without excuse? So also here; let us not think it is a defense to say, "I did not begin it"; this is against us, that not even seeing him were we made sober; just as if one should say, "I did not murder first." For on this account you are worthy of punishment, that not even looking at the example did you restrain yourself. If you should see the drunkard vomiting, being torn apart, bursting asunder, having his eyes distorted, filling the table with filth, everyone shunning him, and then you fall into the same things, will you not be more hateful? Such also is the angry man; more than the one vomiting he distends his veins, sets his eyes on fire, his inwards are torn apart, he vomits words much filthier than that food, he utters everything unchewed, nothing digested (for anger does not permit it); but just as there often an excess of humors troubling the stomach has emptied everything; so also here an excess of heat troubling the soul does not permit it to contain what it is good to be silent about, but says things speakable and unspeakable, shaming not those who hear, but himself. As then we flee from those who vomit, so also from those who are angry. Doing what? 60.233 Let us cast dust upon their

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μικροψυχίας· ἑτέρως ἄχρηστος γίνεται, ἂν ἀμύνῃ. Εἰ ᾔδει ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι διὰ τοῦ μὴ ἀμύνεσθαι ἄχρηστοι ἐγίνοντο οἱ ἄδικοι, οὐκ ἂν τοῦτο ἐπέταξεν, ἀλλ' εἶπεν ἂν, Ἄμυνον σαυτῷ· ἀλλ' οἶδεν ὅτι οὕτω μᾶλλον ὠφελεῖται. Μὴ ἀντινομοθέτει τῷ Θεῷ· ἐκείνῳ πείθου. Οὐκ εἶ σὺ ἀγαθώτερος τοῦ ποιήσαντος ἡμᾶς. Εἶπεν, Ὑβριζόμενος φέρε· σὺ λέγεις. Ἀνθυβρίζω, ἵνα μὴ ἄχρηστος γένηται. Σὺ οὖν μᾶλλον αὐτοῦ φροντίζεις; Πάθους ταῦτα καὶ τραχύτητος τὰ ῥήματα καὶ ἀλαζονείας καὶ τοῦ ἀντινομοθετεῖν τῷ Θεῷ. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐβλάπτετο, οὐχὶ πείθεσθαι ἐχρῆν; Ὅταν ὁ Θεός τι προστάττῃ, μὴ ἀντινομοθετῶμεν ἡμεῖς. Ἀπόκρισις, φησὶν, ὑποπίπτουσα 60.232 ἀποστρέφει ὀργάς. Ἄρα τοῦτο ποιεῖ ὑποπίπτουσα, οὐκ ἐναντιουμένη. Εἰ σὲ ὠφελεῖ, κἀκεῖνον ὠφελεῖ· εἰ δέ σε βλάπτει τὸν μέλλοντα διορθοῦσθαι ἐκεῖνον, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐκεῖνον. Ἰατρὲ, θεράπευσον σεαυτόν. Εἶπε κακῶς; Ἐπαίνεσον σύ· ἐλοιδόρησεν; Ἐγκωμίασον· ἐπεβούλευσεν; Εὐεργέτησον· τοῖς ἐναντίοις αὐτὸν ἀμείβου, εἴ γε ὅλως τῆς ἐκείνου σωτηρίας προνοεῖς, καὶ μὴ σαυτοῦ τὸ πάθος ἐκδικεῖν θέλε. Καὶ μὴν πολλάκις, φησὶν, ἀπολαύσας μακροθυμίας χείρων γέγονε. Τοῦτο οὐ παρὰ σὲ, ἀλλὰ παρ' αὐτόν. Βούλει μαθεῖν οἷα ἔπαθεν ὁ Θεός; Τὰ θυσιαστήρια αὐτοῦ κατέσκαψαν, τοὺς προφήτας ἀπέκτειναν, καὶ πάντα ἔφερεν. Οὐκ ἠδύνατο σκηπτὸν ἄνωθεν καταγαγεῖν; Ἀλλ' ὅτε τοὺς προφήτας ἀπέστειλε, καὶ ἀνεῖλον αὐτοὺς, τότε τὸν Υἱὸν ἔπεμψεν· ὅτε μείζονα ἠσέβησαν, τότε μειζόνως εὐηργέτησε; Καὶ σὺ ἂν ἴδῃς τραχυνόμενον, τότε μειζόνως εἶξον· μείζονος γὰρ ἡ μανία αὕτη δεῖται παραμυθίας. Ὅσῳ ἂν χαλεπώτερα ὑβρίζῃ, τοσούτῳ πλείονος ἐπιεικείας δεῖται· καὶ καθάπερ πυρετὸς ὅταν σφοδρὸν πνεύσῃ, τότε δεῖται τοῦ εἴκοντος· οὕτω καὶ ὁ θυμούμενος. Τὸ θηρίον ὅταν μάλιστα ἀγριαίνῃ, τότε φεύγομεν ἅπαντες· οὕτω καὶ τὸν ὀργιζόμενον. Μὴ νομίσῃς τοῦτο τιμὴν εἶναι· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ θηρίον τιμῶμεν, καὶ τοὺς μαινομένους γοῦν τιμῶμεν, ὅταν ἐκκλίνωμεν; Οὐδαμῶς· ἀτιμία τοῦτό ἐστι καὶ ὕβρις· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ ἀτιμία καὶ ὕβρις, ἀλλ' ἔλεος καὶ φιλανθρωπία. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς τοὺς ναύτας, ὅταν σφοδρὸν ἐμπνεύσῃ τὸ πνεῦμα, καθαιροῦντας τὰ ἱστία, ὥστε μὴ καταδῦσαι τὸ σκάφος; τοὺς ἵππους ὅταν συναρπάσωσι τὸν ἐπιβάτην, συνενδιδόντα, καὶ οὐ καθέλκοντα, ἵνα μὴ αὐτομάτως κενώσῃ τὴν δύναμιν; δʹ. Τοῦτο καὶ σὺ ποίησον. Πῦρ ἐστιν ὁ θυμὸς, φλόξ ἐστιν ὀξεῖα δεομένη ὕλης· μὴ παράσχῃς τὴν τροφὴν τῷ πυρὶ, καὶ ταχέως ἔσβεσας τὸ κακόν. Οὐκ ἔχει καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἰσχὺν ἡ ὀργὴ, ἂν μὴ ἕτερος ὁ τρέφων αὐτὴν ᾖ. Οὐδεμία σοί ἐστιν ἀπολογία. Ἐκεῖνος κατέχεται τῇ μανίᾳ, καὶ οὐκ οἶδε τί ποιεῖ· σὺ θεωρῶν αὐτὸν, ὅταν τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπέσῃς, καὶ μηδὲ ἐξ ἐκείνου σωφρονισθῇς, ποία συγγνώμη; Εἰ ἐν συμποσίῳ τις γενόμενος τινὰ ἐν προθύροις ἴδοι μεθύοντα καὶ ἀσχημονοῦντα, εἶτα καὶ αὐτὸς τοῖς ὁμοίοις περιπέσῃ, οὐ πολλῷ μᾶλλον μετ' ἐκεῖνον μεθύων ἀσύγγνωστος ἂν εἴη; Οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα· μὴ νομίζωμεν εἶναι ἀπολογίαν τὸ λέγειν, ὅτι Οὐκ ἐγὼ κατῆρξα· τοῦτο καθ' ἡμῶν ἐστιν, ὅτι μηδὲ ἐκεῖνον ἰδόντες ἐσωφρονίσθημεν· ὥσπερ ἂν εἴποι τις, Οὐκ ἐγὼ ἐφόνευσα πρῶτος. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο κολάσεως εἶ ἄξιος, ὅτι μηδὲ εἰς τὸ παράδειγμα ἰδὼν ἐπέσχες σαυτόν. Εἰ ἴδοις ἐμοῦντα τὸν μεθύοντα, διασπώμενον, διαῤῥηγνύμενον, τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχοντα διατεταμένους, ἀκαθαρσίας τὴν τράπεζαν πληροῦντα, πάντας αὐτὸν ἀποφεύγοντας, εἶτα τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπέσῃς, οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ἔσῃ μισητός; Τοιοῦτός ἐστι καὶ ὁ ὀργιζόμενος· μᾶλλον τοῦ ἐμοῦντος διατείνει τὰς φλέβας, πυροῖ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, διασπᾶται τὰ σπλάγχνα, ἐμεῖ πολλῷ ῥήματα τῆς τροφῆς ἐκείνης ἀκαθαρτότερα, ἀδιαμάσητα πάντα φθέγγεται, οὐδὲν κατειργασμένον (οὐ γὰρ ἀφίησιν ὁ θυμός)· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐκεῖ πολλάκις ἀμετρία χυμῶν διενοχλήσασα τὸν στόμαχον, πάντα ἐκένωσεν· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἀμετρία θερμότητος διενοχλήσασα τὴν ψυχὴν, οὐκ ἀφίησι στέγειν ἃ σιγᾷν καλὸν, ἀλλὰ ῥητὰ καὶ ἄῤῥητα λέγει, οὐχὶ τοὺς ἀκούοντας, ἀλλ' ἑαυτὸν αἰσχύνων. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐμούντων φεύγομεν, οὕτω καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ὀργιζομένων. Τί ποιοῦντες; 60.233 Κόνιν ἐπιβάλωμεν αὐτῶν τῷ