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are in the rank of slaves and captives to those who pursue virtue. Therefore, he says, The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, that is, quickly, perpetually, and they will need neither time, nor effort, nor any delay. For such is the nature of things, for vice to be enslaved to virtue, and to tremble at it, and to be afraid, even if the one has countless penalties and many indictments, while the other is naked, fighting on its own. And yet we see the opposite, he says, these ruling over those. But let us not look at the error of the mind of the many; for this is the verdict of a mistaken opinion; but let us examine the right judgment of things themselves, and you will see this principle prevailing. For let there be a wicked master, and a good servant; 55.237 or rather, if you will, let us elevate the argument to another, greater example: Let there be a wicked king, and a good private citizen, let us see who is the master of whom, and where the marks of lordship shine forth; who is the ruler, and who is the ruled. How then shall we know this? Let the king command the private citizen to do some wicked thing, full of transgression; what then of the good private citizen and subject? Not only will he not yield, nor obey, but he will also try to turn the one commanding away from his purpose, even if he must die. Who then is free? The one who does what he wills, and does not fear even the king; or the one who is despised by his subject? And that we may not advance the argument on the basis of an indefinite example, was not the wife of Potiphar the Egyptian a queen? Did she not rule over all of Egypt? Did she not have a king as a husband? Was she not clothed with great power? And what of Joseph? Was he not a slave? a captive? a servant bought with silver? Did she not arm herself with all her battle array against the young man, not entrusting the war to another, but coming herself to the battle line? Who then was in slavery at that time, and who in freedom? She who was begging, and entreating, and supplicating, and made a captive not even of a man, but of a most wicked passion; or he who was scorning the diadem, and the scepter, and the purple robe, and all that display, and thwarting her schemes? Did not she depart deluded, and become a slave to another passion again, to irrational anger, to bloodlust; while he went out with ten thousand crowns upon his head, and in slavery itself showed freedom shining forth more greatly? 10. For nothing is so free as virtue, nothing so enslaved as vice. For this reason also someone says elsewhere: A wise servant shall have rule over foolish masters, For just as a captive, even if he has immense wealth, for this very reason is most easily captured by all; so also he who is captured by the passions is more worthless than a spider's web. And what of in war? Do we not see these men prevailing? And what of in affairs and counsels? Does not their will stand, even if there is no one who obeys? And what of in the things hereafter? Did not the rich man, like a beggar, ask for a drop, and did not receive it? And the poor man, since he was zealous and virtuous, was he not in the greatest well-being, having the same portion as Abraham? And what of the apostles? Though bound, scourged, suffering countless terrible things, did they not overcome those who did these things? Consider indeed into how great a perplexity they cast them, so that they said: 'What shall we do to these men?' And yet they had them bound, and arrested in the midst of the courts; and some stood in the rank of judges and rulers, and the others in the rank of the accused, but nevertheless these prevailed over those. And everywhere, if one were to follow out the argument with accuracy, he will see the virtuous man prevailing over the wicked, the true dominion, not this one of the many which is false, the one that is mistaken and easily refuted, but that which is fixed and immoveable. And their help

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ἐν τάξει δούλων καὶ ἀνδραπόδων τοῖς ἀρετὴν μετιοῦσίν εἰσιν. ∆ιό φησι, Κατακυριεύσουσιν αὐτῶν οἱ εὐθεῖς τὸ πρωΐ, τουτέστι, ταχέως, διηνεκῶς, καὶ οὐδὲ χρόνου δεήσονται, οὐδὲ πόνου, οὐδὲ μελλήσεώς τινος. Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων φύσις, τῇ ἀρετῇ τὴν κακίαν δουλεύειν, καὶ τρέμειν αὐτὴν, καὶ δεδοικέναι, κἂν μυρία ἐπιτρίμματα αὕτη ἔχῃ, καὶ πολλὰς τὰς ὑπογραφὰς, ἐκείνη δὲ γυμνὴ ᾖ, καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἀγωνιζομένη. Καὶ μὴν τοὐναντίον ὁρῶμεν, φησὶ, τούτους ἐκείνων κρατοῦντας. Ἀλλὰ μὴ τὸ σφάλμα τῆς τῶν πολλῶν διανοίας ἴδωμεν· τοῦτο γὰρ πεπλανημένης ὑπολήψεώς ἐστι ψῆφος· ἀλλ' αὐτὴν τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν ὀρθὴν κρίσιν διευκρινήσωμεν, καὶ ὄψει τοῦτον κρατοῦντα τὸν λόγον. Ἔστω γάρ τις πονηρὸς δεσπότης, καὶ οἰκέτης 55.237 χρηστός· μᾶλλον δὲ, εἰ βούλει, ἐφ' ἕτερον μεῖζον ὑπόδειγμα τὸν λόγον ἀνάγωμεν· Ἔστω βασιλεὺς πονηρὸς, καὶ ἰδιώτης χρηστὸς, ἴδωμεν τίς τίνος κύριός ἐστι, καὶ ποῦ τὰ τῆς δεσποτείας διαλάμπει· τίς ὁ κρατῶν, καὶ τίς ὁ κρατούμενος. Πῶς οὖν εἰσόμεθα τοῦτο; Ἐπιταττέτω τῷ ἰδιώτῃ ὁ βασιλεὺς πονηρόν τι πρᾶγμα καὶ πλημμελείας γέμον· τί οὖν ὁ χρηστὸς ἰδιώτης καὶ ὑπήκοος; Οὐ μόνον οὐκ εἴξει, οὐδὲ ὑπακούσεται, ἀλλὰ πειράσεται καὶ τὸν ἐπιτάττοντα ἀπαγαγεῖν τοῦ προκειμένου, κἂν ἀποθανεῖν δέῃ. Τίς οὖν ἐλεύθερος; ὁ ποιῶν ὃ βούλεται, καὶ μηδὲ τὸν βασιλέα δεδοικώς· ἢ ὁ παρὰ τοῦ ὑπηκόου καταφρονούμενος; Καὶ ἵνα μὴ ἐπὶ παραδείγματος ἀδιορίστου τὸν λόγον προαγάγωμεν, ἡ τοῦ Πεντεφρῆ γυνὴ ἡ Αἰγυπτία οὐχὶ βασιλὶς ἦν; οὐχὶ πάσης Αἰγύπτου ἐκράτει; οὐχὶ σύνοικον εἶχε βασιλέα; οὐ πολλὴν περιεβάλλετο δυναστείαν; Τί δὲ ὁ Ἰωσήφ; οὐ δοῦλος; οὐκ αἰχμάλωτος; οὐκ ἀργυρώνητος οἰκέτης; οὐ μετὰ πάσης τῆς παρατάξεως αὐτῆς ὡπλίσατο κατὰ τοῦ νεανίσκου, οὐχ ἑτέρῳ τὸν πόλεμον ἐγχειρίσασα, ἀλλ' αὐτὴ πρὸς τὴν παράταξιν ἐλθοῦσα; Τίς οὖν ἐν δουλείᾳ τότε ἦν, τίς δὲ ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ; ἡ δεομένη, καὶ παρακαλοῦσα, καὶ ἱκετεύουσα, καὶ οὐδὲ ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλὰ πονηροτάτου πάθους αἰχμάλωτος γενομένη· ἢ ὁ καταφρονῶν καὶ διαδήματος, καὶ σκήπτρου, καὶ ἁλουργίδος, καὶ τῆς φαντασίας ἐκείνης ἁπάσης, καὶ ἀνακόπτων αὐτῆς τὰ μηχανήματα; Οὐχ ἡ μὲν ἀπῆλθε παρακρουσθεῖσα, καὶ ἑτέρῳ πάλιν πάθει γενομένη δούλη, τῷ θυμῷ τῷ ἀλόγῳ, τῇ μιαιφονίᾳ· ὁ δὲ ἐξῆλθε μυρίους στεφάνους ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἔχων, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ δουλείᾳ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν μειζόνως διαλάμπουσαν δεικνύς; ιʹ. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἐλεύθερον ὡς ἀρετὴ, οὐδὲν οὕτω δοῦλον ὡς κακία. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ φησί τις· Σοφὸς οἰκέτης κρατήσει δεσποτῶν ἀφρόνων, Ὥσπερ γὰρ αἰχμάλωτος, κἂν μυρίον ἔχῃ πλοῦτον, δι' αὐτὸ τοῦτο μάλιστα πᾶσίν ἐστιν εὐάλωτος· οὕτω καὶ ὁ ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν ἁλισκόμενος, ἀράχνης ἐστὶν εὐτελέστερος. Τί δὲ ἐν πολέμῳ; οὐχὶ τούτους ὁρῶμεν κρατοῦντας; Τί δὲ ἐν πράγμασι καὶ βουλαῖς; οὐ τὰ τούτων ἕστηκε, κἂν μηδεὶς ὁ πειθόμενος ᾖ; Τί δὲ ἐν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα; οὐχ ὁ μὲν πλούσιος, καθάπερ προσαίτης, σταγόνα ᾔτει, καὶ οὐκ ἐπετύγχανεν; ὁ δὲ πένης, ἐπειδὴ σπουδαῖος καὶ ἐνάρετος ἦν, οὐκ ἐν μεγίστῃ εὐπραγίᾳ ἦν, τὴν αὐτὴν τῷ Ἀβραὰμ λῆξιν ἔχων; Τί δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων; οὐχὶ δεσμούμενοι, μαστιγούμενοι, μυρία πάσχοντες δεινὰ, τῶν ταῦτα ποιούντων περιεγίνοντο; Ἐννόησον γοῦν εἰς ὅσην αὐτοὺς ἀπορίαν ἐνέβαλον, ὡς ἐκείνους λέγειν· Τί ποιήσομεν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τούτοις; Καίτοι δεδεμένους εἶχον, καὶ ἐν μέσῳ δικαστηρίων συνειλημμένους· καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐν τάξει δικαστῶν, καὶ ἀρχόντων, οἱ δὲ ἐν τάξει δικαζομένων εἱστήκεισαν, ἀλλ' ὅμως οὗτοι τούτων ἐκράτησαν. Καὶ πανταχοῦ, εἴ τις μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἐπεξίοι τῷ λόγῳ, τὸν ἐνάρετον ὄψεται τοῦ πονηροῦ κρατοῦντα, τὴν κυρίως κράτησιν, οὐ ταύτην τὴν τῶν πολλῶν καὶ ψευδῆ, τὴν πεπλανημένην καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἐλεγχομένην, ἀλλ' ἐκείνην τὴν πεπηγυῖαν καὶ ἀκίνητον. Καὶ ἡ βοήθεια αὐτῶν