184

how that blessed man both fell sick, 57.341 and how he quickly rose again. What, then, was the manner of his sickness? He committed adultery and he murdered. For I am not ashamed to proclaim these things with a clear voice. For if the Holy Spirit did not consider it a shame to set down this whole story, much more should we not conceal it. Therefore, not only do I proclaim these things, but I also add another. For indeed, whoever hides these things, they especially obscure his virtue; and just as those who are silent about the war with Goliath deprive him of no small crowns, so also do those who pass over this story. Does not what is said seem to be a paradox? Wait a little, then, and you will know that these things have been rightly said by us. For this reason I magnify the sin, and make the argument more paradoxical, so that from greater abundance I may prepare the remedies. What then is it that I add? The virtue of the man; which makes the crime even greater. For not all things are judged in the same way for all people; For the mighty, it says, shall be mightily tested; and, He who knew his master's will, and did not do it, will be beaten with many stripes. So greater knowledge is a cause for greater punishment. For this reason a priest, sinning the same things as those under his rule, will not suffer the same things, but much harsher ones. Perhaps seeing the accusation growing, you tremble and are afraid, and you marvel at me as one going over a cliff. But I am so confident on behalf of the righteous man that I will proceed even further; for the more I magnify the crime, the more I will be able to show the encomium of David. And what more than these things is there to say, he says? Much more indeed. For just as in the case of Cain what was done was not only murder, but also worse than many murders; for he murdered not a stranger, but a brother, and a brother who had not wronged him, but had been wronged, not after many murderers, but being the first to devise the abomination; so also here the deed was not only murder; for the man who did it was not an ordinary man, but a prophet; and he destroys not the one who had wronged him, but the one who had been wronged; for he had been wronged in a vital matter, his wife having been seized; but nevertheless, after that he added this also. Do you see how I did not spare the righteous man? how I stated his sins without any reservation? But nevertheless I am so confident about the defense, that after such a great mass of sin I wished that the Manichees were also present, who especially ridicule these things, and those who ail with the sickness of Marcion, so that out of abundance I might shut their mouths. For they say that he murdered and committed adultery; but I not only say this, but I have also shown the murder to be twofold, both from the one who was wronged, and from the quality of the person who had sinned. 7. For it is not the same for one who has been deemed worthy of the Spirit, and has received so many benefits, and has had such great boldness, to dare such things at such an age, and for one to do this same thing without all of these things. But nevertheless, in this especially is that noble man admirable, that having fallen to the very bottom of wickedness, he did not give up, nor despair, nor throw himself on his back, 57.342 having received such a mortal wound from the devil, but quickly, or rather, immediately, and with much vehemence, he gave a more mortal wound than he received. And the same thing happened, as if in a war and battle-line a barbarian had thrust a spear into the heart of a champion, or shot an arrow against his liver, and that man had added a second wound, more deadly than the first, and the one who received these grievous wounds, having fallen and being drenched in much blood from all sides, should then rise up quickly, and having hurled a spear against the one who shot him, should show him dead upon the field immediately. So also here, the greater you say the wound is, the more admirable you show the soul of the wounded one to be, that after this grievous wound he was able both to rise up, and to stand in the very front of the battle line, and to strike down the one who wounded him. And how great a thing this is, is known especially by those who fall into grievous

184

τοίνυν πῶς καὶ ἠῤῥώστησε, 57.341 πως καὶ ἀνέστη ταχέως ὁ μακάριος ἐκεῖνος. Τίς οὖν τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας ὁ τρόπος ἦν; Ἐμοίχευσε καὶ ἐφόνευσεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐγκαλύπτομαι λαμπρᾷ ταῦτα ἀνακηρύττων τῇ φωνῇ. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον οὐκ ἐνόμισεν αἰσχύνην, ταύτην ἀναθεῖναι πᾶσαν τὴν ἱστορίαν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον οὐδὲ ἡμᾶς συσκιάζειν χρή. ∆ιόπερ οὐ μόνον αὐτὰ ἀνακηρύττω, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτερον προστίθημι. Καὶ γὰρ ὅσοι ταῦτα κρύπτουσιν, οὗτοι μάλιστα τὴν ἀρετὴν συσκιάζουσι τὴν ἐκείνου· καὶ ὥσπερ οἱ τὸν πόλεμον σιγῶντες τοῦ Γολιὰθ οὐ μικρῶν αὐτὸν ἀποστεροῦσι στεφάνων, οὕτω καὶ οἱ ταύτην παρατρέχοντες τὴν ἱστορίαν. Ἆρα οὐ δοκεῖ παράδοξον εἶναι τὸ λεγόμενον; Οὐκοῦν ἀναμείνατε μικρὸν, καὶ τότε εἴσεσθε ὅτι δικαίως ταῦτα ἡμῖν εἴρηται. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο αὔξω τὸ ἁμάρτημα, καὶ παραδοξότερον ποιῶ τὸν λόγον, ἵνα ἐκ πλείονος τῆς περιουσίας τὰ φάρμακα κατασκευάσω. Τί οὖν ἐστιν ὃ προστίθημι; Τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ ἀνδρός· ὃ μεῖζον ποιεῖ καὶ τὸ ἔγκλημα. Οὐ γὰρ ὁμοίως πάντα ἐπὶ πάντων κρίνεται· ∆υνατοὶ γὰρ, φησὶ, δυνατῶς ἐτασθήσονται· καὶ, Ὁ εἰδὼς τὸ θέλημα τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ ποιῶν, δαρήσεται πολλάς. Ὥστε ἡ πλείων γνῶσις πλείονός ἐστι κολάσεως ὑπόθεσις. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο ὁ ἱερεὺς τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς ἀρχομένοις ἁμαρτάνων, οὐ τὰ αὐτὰ πείσεται, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ χαλεπώτερα. Τάχα ὁρῶντες τὴν κατηγορίαν αὐξανομένην, τρέμετε καὶ δεδοίκατε, καὶ θαυμάζετέ με ὡς κατὰ κρημνῶν ἐρχόμενον. Ἀλλ' ἐγὼ οὕτω θαῤῥῶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ δικαίου, ὅτι καὶ περαιτέρω πρόειμι· ὅσῳ γὰρ ἂν αὔξω τὸ ἔγκλημα, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον δεῖξαι δυνήσομαι τὸ ἐγκώμιον τοῦ ∆αυΐδ. Καὶ τί τούτων πλέον ἔστι, φησὶν, εἰπεῖν; Πάνυ γε πλέον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ Κάϊν οὐ φόνος μόνον τὸ γενόμενον ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλῶν φόνων χεῖρον· οὐ γὰρ ἀλλότριον, ἀλλ' ἀδελφὸν, καὶ ἀδελφὸν οὐκ ἠδικηκότα, ἀλλ' ἠδικημένον ἐφόνευσεν, οὐ μετὰ πολλοὺς φονέας, ἀλλὰ πρῶτος τὸ μύσος εὑρών· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα οὐ φόνος ἦν μόνον τὸ τόλμημα· οὐ γὰρ ὁ τυχὼν ἦν ἀνὴρ ὁ πεποιηκὼς, ἀλλὰ προφήτης· καὶ οὐ τὸν ἠδικηκότα, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἠδικημένον ἀναιρεῖ· καὶ γὰρ ἠδίκητο ἐν τοῖς καιρίοις, τῆς γυναικὸς ἁρπαγείσης· ἀλλ' ὅμως μετ' ἐκεῖνο καὶ τοῦτο προσέθηκεν. Εἴδετε πῶς οὐκ ἐφεισάμην τοῦ δικαίου; πῶς οὐδὲ μεθ' ὑποστολῆς τινος εἶπον τὰ πεπλημμελημένα αὐτῷ; Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὕτως ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀπολογίας θαῤῥῶ, ὅτι μετὰ τοσοῦτον ὄγκον τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος ἐβουλόμην παρεῖναι καὶ Μανιχαίους τοὺς μάλιστα ταῦτα κωμῳδοῦντας, καὶ τοὺς τὰ Μαρκίωνος νοσοῦντας, ἵνα ἐκ περιουσίας αὐτῶν ἐμφράξω τὰ στόματα. Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ λέγουσιν, ὅτι ἐφόνευσε καὶ ἐμοίχευσεν· ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ τοῦτο λέγω μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ διπλοῦν τὸν φόνον ἀπέφηνα, ἀπό τε τοῦ ἠδικημένου, ἀπό τε τῆς ποιότητος τοῦ προσώπου τοῦ πεπλημμεληκότος. ζʹ. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἴσον Πνεύματος ἀξιωθέντα, καὶ τοσαῦτα εὐεργετηθέντα, καὶ τηλικαύτην ἐσχηκότα παῤῥησίαν, καὶ ἐν ἡλικίᾳ τοιαύτῃ τοιαῦτα τολμᾷν, καὶ τούτων πάντων χωρὶς τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιεῖν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ ταύτῃ μάλιστα θαυμαστός ἐστιν ὁ γενναῖος ἐκεῖνος ἀνὴρ, ὅτι εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν πυθμένα τῆς κακίας καταπεσὼν, οὐκ ἀνέπεσεν, οὐδὲ ἀπέγνω, οὐδὲ ἔῤῥιψεν ἑαυτὸν ὕπτιον, 57.342 οὕτω παρὰ τοῦ διαβόλου καιρίαν λαβὼν πληγὴν, ἀλλὰ ταχέως, μᾶλλον δὲ εὐθέως, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σφοδρότητος καιριωτέραν ἔδωκεν ἢ ἔλαβε τὴν πληγήν. Καὶ ταὐτὸν γέγονεν, οἷον ἂν εἰ ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ παρατάξει βαρβάρου τινὸς εἰς ἀριστέως καρδίαν ἐμπήξαντος δόρυ, ἢ κατὰ τοῦ ἥπατος ἀφέντος βέλος, καὶ δεύτερον τῷ προτέρῳ τραῦμα προσθέντος ἐκείνου καιριώτερον, πεσὼν καὶ αἵματι πολλῷ περιῤῥεόμενος πάντοθεν ὁ τὰς χαλεπὰς ταύτας λαβὼν πληγὰς, καὶ ἀνασταίη ταχέως, καὶ δόρυ κατὰ τοῦ τοξεύσαντος ἀφεὶς νεκρὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ πεδίου δείξειεν εὐθέως. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα, ὅσῳ ἂν μείζονα εἴπῃς τὴν πληγὴν, τοσούτῳ θαυμαστοτέραν δεικνύεις τοῦ πληγέντος τὴν ψυχὴν, ὅτι ἴσχυσε μετὰ τὸ χαλεπὸν τοῦτο τραῦμα καὶ ἀναστῆναι, καὶ στῆναι ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τῆς φάλαγγος μετώπῳ, καὶ τὸν τρώσαντα κατενεγκεῖν. Τοῦτο δὲ ἡλίκον ἐστὶν, ἴσασι μάλιστα ὅσοι χαλεπαῖς περιπίπτουσιν