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he meditates on crookedness all the day, deeds and thoughts consistent with his crooked reasonings. These crooked reasonings, then, are placed in the soul by the devil; for it is said: "serpent, crooked dragon". he becomes crooked. Of course, then, it is also said in other places: "all crooked things shall be made straight". The crooked things receive straightness when they cast off their crookedness. But he who meditates on this all the day has crooked deeds and a crooked will and a perverse disposition. 14 But I, as a deaf man, did not hear, and as a mute man that does not open his mouth. He goes through a praise of himself. The penitent, if the devil should suggest wicked or crooked reasonings, let him not listen, as someone deaf, let him not pay attention to them, let him not give them the hearing of the inner man, but let him be thus as a mute man, as a deaf man who does not open his mouth. And here he says "deaf" not meaning the one who has lost his hearing, but the one not speaking; for often, especially according to scripture, this meaning applies to the mute man; "when the demon," he says, "was cast out, the deaf man spoke." He did not say: "the deaf man heard." But I do not say this, that this word does not also mean one deprived of hearing. It indicates both. Again God, to Moses who said, "I am of a weak voice and slow of tongue," said: 268 "Who has given a mouth for man to speak, and who has made the hard of hearing or the deaf, the seeing and the blind"? Here "deaf" can apply both to the mute man and to the one deprived of hearing. But the phrase, "when the demon had gone out, the deaf man spoke," "deaf" means the one not having organs of speech, the one not having a functioning tongue. 15 I became as a man that does not hear, and that has no reproofs in his mouth. He says this: I did not become a man who does not hear, but "as a man who does not hear". I did not receive the words and the reports of the deceitful, although I was able to refute them. Knowing that reproofs are not brought forth at the right time against such a person, I kept silent as one not having the ability to refute him. The word shows that both rebukes and refutations ought to happen at the right time. And we take the right time from the one who opposes and converses with us. Just as food given at the right time benefits and accomplishes its purpose, but when offered at the wrong time, it harms more. "Do not reprove evil men, lest they hate you." The word does not teach to avoid being hated by the wicked, but it says this: you reprove, in order that you may benefit. The reproof, being offered not at the right time—for "there is a reproof that is not seemly"—does not benefit the one being reproved, but rather makes him even more wicked, so as even to hate the one reproving. "Reprove," therefore, "a wise man, and he will love you." If the wise man, when reproved, loves the one offering the reproofs, it is clear that the one who hates reproof is wicked. It is said, then, in other places as well: "An uninstructed man will not love those who reprove him, and he will not consort with the wise." The uninstructed man does not love those who reprove at all, but the wise man wants this. Nothing of what the wise man says belongs to the evil man who hates those who reprove. Concerning: "and not having reproofs in his mouth"? -To reprove is spoken of in two ways: often someone is not able to reprove. He does not have such boldness nor such power of speech as to reprove, and he pretends not to hear. For example, some heretic is present. He speaks godless doctrines, heretical opinions. If we are not able to refute the things said by him, we are said to be "as men who do not hear"; for to hear such discourses disturbs more than it benefits. It is said, then: "Evil communications corrupt good morals." If someone having good character knows this very thing, that he is not able to stand against evil communications, he ought not to lend his hearing, but to become as one who is deaf. But another, having the ability to refute the most shameful discourses, does not do this when he knows that it is not profitable for the other to be reproved for the time being; for I said that as foods are offered medically at the right time, so also are the helps for the soul.

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σκολιότητας ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν μελετᾷ, ἔργα σύμφωνα καὶ ν̣οήματα τοῖς σκο λιοῖς αὐτοῦ λογισμοῖς. οὗτοι γοῦν οἱ σκολιοὶ λογισμοὶ ὑπὸ διαβόλου ἐντίθενται τῇ ψυχῇ· εἴρηται γάρ· "ὄφις δράκων σκολιός". σκολιεύεται. ἀμέλει γοῦν εἴρηται καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις· "ἔσται πάντα τὰ σκολιὰ εἰς εὐθεῖαν". τὰ σκολιὰ εὐθύτητα λαμβάνει, ὅταν ἀποβάλῃ τὴν σκολιότητα. ὁ δὲ μελετῶν ταύτην ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἔχει καὶ ἔργα σκολια`̣ καὶ προαίρεσιν σκολιὰν καὶ διάθεσιν διεστραμμένην. 14 ἐγὼ δὲ ὡσεὶ κωφὸς οὐκ ἤκουον καὶ ὡσεὶ ἄλαλος οὐκ ἀνοίγων τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ. ἔπαινον ἑαυτοῦ διεξέρχεται. ὁ μετανοῶν, ἐὰν ὑποβάλῃ διάβολος λογισμοὺς πονηροὺς ἢ σκολιούς, ὡς κωφός τις μὴ ἀκουέτω, μὴ ἐπιστανέτω αὐτοῖς, μὴ παρεχέτω αὐτῷ αὐτοῖς τὴν τοῦ ἔσω ἀνθρώπου ἀκοήν, ἀλλὰ οὕτως ἔστω ὡς ἄλαλος, ὡς κωφὸς οὐκ ἀνοίγων τὸ στόμα. κωφὸν δὲ ἐνταῦθα λέγει οὐ τὸν τὰς ἀκοὰς ἀποβαλόντα, ἀλλὰ τὸν μὴ φθεγγόμενον· πολλάκις γάρ, μάλιστα κατὰ τὴν γραφήν, τὸ σημαινόμενον τοῦτο ἐπὶ τοῦ λάλου κεῖται· "ἐκβληθέντος", φησίν, "τοῦ δαιμονίου ἐλάλησεν ὁ κωφός". οὐκ εἶπεν· "ἤκουσεν ὁ κωφός". οὐ τοῦτο δέ φημι ὅτι οὐ σημαίνει καὶ τὸν στερηθέντα τὴν ἀκοὴν ἡ λέξις αὕτη. ἀμφότερα δηλοῖ. πάλιν ὁ θεὸς τῷ Μωυσῇ εἰπόντι· "ἰσχνόφωνος καὶ βραδύγλωσσός εἰμι", εἶπεν· 268 "τίς ἔδωκεν στόμα ἀνθρώπῳ λαλεῖν, καὶ τίς ἐποίησεν δύσκωφον ἢ κωφόν, βλέποντα καὶ τυφλόν"; δύναται ὧδε καὶ κωφὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ λάλου καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀφαιρεθέντος τὴν ἀ κοὴν κεῖσθαι. τὸ δέ· "ἐκβάντος τοῦ δαιμονίου ἐλάλησεν ὁ κωφός", κωφὸν σημαίνει τὸν μὴ ἔχοντα φωνητήρια, τὸν μὴ ἔχοντα ἐνεργοῦσαν γλῶσσαν. 15 ἐγενήθην ὡσεὶ ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἀκούων καὶ οὐκ ἔχων ἐν στόματι αὐτοῦ ἐλεγμούς. τοῦτο λέγει· οὐ γέγονα ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἀκούων, ἀλλ' "ὡς οὐκ ἀκούων ἄνθρωπος". οὐκ ἐδεχόμην τοὺς λόγους καὶ τὰς ἀπαγγελίας τῶν δολιευομένων καίτοι δυνάμενος αὐτοὺς ἐλέγχειν. εἰδὼς ὅτι οὐ καιρίως οἱ ἔλεγχοι προφέρονται πρὸς τὸν τοιοῦτον, ὡς οὐκ ἔχων αὐτὸν ἐλέγξαι ἐσιώπωντα. δείκνυσιν ὁ λόγος ὅτι καὶ αἱ ἐπιπλήξεις καὶ αἱ ἀντιρρήσεις καιρίως ὀφείλουσιν γίνεσθαι. τὸ καίριον δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ἀντικειμένου καὶ προσδιαλεγομένου λαμβάνομεν. ὥσπερ τροφὴ καιρίως διδομένη ὠφελεῖ καὶ ἀνύει, ἀκαίρως δὲ προσφερομένη βλάπτει μᾶλλον. "μὴ ἔλεγχε κακούς, ἵνα μή σε μισήσωσιν". τοὐ παραιτεῖσθαι τὸ μισεῖσθαι ὑπὸ φαύλων ὁ λόγος διδάσκει, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο λέγει· ἐλέγχεις, ἵν' ὠφελήσῃς. τὸυ ἐλέγξαι οὐ καιρίως προσαγόμενος-"ἔστιν" γὰρ "ἔλεγχος, ὃς οὔκ ἐστιν ὡραῖος"- οὐκ ὠφελεῖ ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἐλεγχόμενον, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἔτι φαυλότερον αὐτὸν ποιεῖ, ὡς καὶ μισεῖν τὸν ἐλέγχοντα. "ἔλεγχε" γοῦν "σοφόν, καὶ ἀγαπήσει σε". εἰ ὁ σοφὸς ἐλεγχόμενος ἀγαπᾷ τὸν προσφερόμενον τοὺς ἐλέγχομενους, φανερὸν ὁ μισῶν τὸν ἔλεγχον ὅτι φαῦλός ἐστιν. εἴρηται γοῦν καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις· "οὐκ ἀγαπήσει ἀπαίδευτος τοὺς ἐλέγχοντας αὐτόν, μετὰ δὲ σοφῶν οὐχ ὁμιλήσει". ὁ ἀπαίδευτος ὅλως οὐκ ἀγαπᾷ τοὺς ἐλέγχοντας, ὁ δὲ σοφὸς τοῦτο βούλεται. οὐδὲν ὧν λέγει ὁ σοφός, πρόσεστιν τῷ κακῷ τῷ μισοῦντι τοὺς ἐλέγχοντας. ἐπερ · "καὶ οὐκ ἔχων ἐν στόματι ἐλεγμούς"; -διττῶς λέγεται τὸ ἐλέγξαι· πολλάκις τις ἐλέγξαι οὐ δύναται. οὐκ ἔχει τοσαύτην παρρησίαν οὐδὲ δύναμιν τοσαύτην λόγου ὥστε ἐλέγχειν, καὶ προσποιεῖται μὴ ἀκούειν. οἷον αἱρεθικός τις πάρεστιν. λέγει ἄθεα δόγματα, αἱρεθικὰς γνώμας. ἐὰν μὴ δυνώμεθα ἐλέγξαι τὰ παρ' ἐκείνου λεγόμενα, "ὡς ἄνθρωποι οὐκ ἀκούοντες" λεγόμεθα· ταράττει γὰρ μᾶλλον τὸ ἀκοῦσαι τοιούτων ὁμιλιῶν ἢ ὠφελεῖ. εἴρηται γοῦν· "φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί". εἴ τις χρηστὸν ἦθος ἔχων οἶδεν αὐτὸ τοῦτο ὅτι πρὸς κακὰς ὁμιλίας προστῆναι οὐ δύναται, οὐκ ὀφείλει παρέχειν τὴν ἀκοήν, ἀλλ' ὡς κωφὸς γενέσθαι. ἄλλος δὲ ἔχων τὸ ἐλέγξαι τὰς αἰσχίστας ὁμιλίας οὐ ποιεῖ τοῦτο, ὅταν εἰδῇ ὅτι οὐ λυσιτελεῖ τέως ἐκείνῳ ἐλεγχθῆναι· ἔλεγον γὰρ ὅτι ὡς αἱ τροφαὶ ἰατρικῶς καιρίως προσάγονται, οὕτω καὶ τὰ βοηθήματα τῇ ψυχῇ.