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the accusers, and you yourself will receive a great reward, but if you speak evil, you will not even be believed, being suspected of enmity. So that the results of your zeal are turned against you. For you wish to wound his reputation, but the opposite happens; for this comes about through praise, not through accusation; but quite the opposite; and you put yourself to greater shame, while your arrows will not touch him. For enmity, confronting the minds of the hearers, does not allow what is said to be planted in their ears, and the same thing happens as in the case of legal objections. For when someone raises an objection in a court of law, the whole case is for the time being dissolved; so also here the suspicion of enmity does not allow the case to be admitted. Therefore, do not speak evil, lest you also defile yourself, nor weave mire with clay and brick-making, but weave garlands from roses, and violets, and the other flowers; nor carry dung on your mouth, like beetles—for this is what slanderers are; they are the first to enjoy the stench—but flowers, like the bees, and weave honeycombs like them, and be gracious to all. For everyone shuns the slanderer, as one who stinks of decay, like a leech feeding on blood, and a beetle feeding on dung—on the evils of others; but him who has a mouth of fair speech, they receive as a common member, as a true brother, as a son, as a father. And why do I speak of present things and the opinions of men? Consider for me that fearful day, the incorruptible judgment seat, that, if you speak falsely, you will add an addition of superfluous sins. For I say to you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof to God in the day of judgment. Even if it is true, he says, not even so will you escape condemnation, parading the misfortunes and reproaches of your neighbor. Consider, then, the Pharisee. He was not a publican, but he became more sinful than a publican, because he reviled the publican. The publican was not a 55.257 Pharisee, but he became more righteous than the Pharisee, because he accounted himself wretched. You did these things, and I kept silent. You supposed iniquity, that I would be like you. I will reprove you, and set your sins before your face. 11. Have you seen unspeakable love for mankind? Have you seen an excess of goodness? Have you seen the infinite wealth of long-suffering? For here he calls long-suffering silence. You dared so many things, he says, and I did not proceed against you, but I was patient and bore it, giving you room for repentance. But you not only gained nothing from this, but you also ran aground on greater wickedness. For not only did you not change, nor were you ashamed, nor did you condemn yourself for what had happened; but you even thought that I, who was long-suffering with you, who endured, who was silent, who bore so many things, endured it not because of long-suffering and love for mankind, but because I did not wish to correct these things, nor to be vexed at what was happening. Understand these things, then, you who forget God. What things? The things that have been said, he says. What is, 'Understand'? Perceive. For what has been said that is obscure? And what needs much investigation? Indeed, the very manner of the teaching introduces a changed way of life. For making no great account of sacrifices, it introduces the evangelical legislation; and otherwise, since they were buried by the great rubbish-heap of their sins, wishing to pull them up as from certain swamps of wickedness, and as it were to wipe clean from their eyes the rheum of the preceding path of evil habit, he rouses them to come to the memory of what has happened, so that they might not, by consigning them to oblivion, depart without profit. For habit in sin produces a great hardening of the soul, and makes men foolish, and blinds the sharp-seeing eye of the mind. Lest ever

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τοὺς κατηγόρους, καὶ αὐτὸς πολὺν λήψῃ μισθὸν, ἂν δὲ κακῶς λέγῃς, οὐδὲ πιστευθήσῃ, ἔχθρας ὑποψίαν δεχόμενος. Ὥστε εἰς τοὐναντίον σοι περιτρέπεται τὰ τῆς σπουδῆς. Σὺ μὲν γὰρ τρῶσαι αὐτοῦ τὴν δόξαν βούλει, γίνεται δὲ τοὐναντίον· διὰ γὰρ εὐφημίας, οὐ διὰ κατηγορίας τοῦτο συμβαίνει· ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἅπαν· καὶ σαυτὸν μὲν μειζόνως καταισχύνεις, ἐκείνου δὲ οὐχ ἅψεταί σου τὰ βέλη. Ἡ γὰρ ἔχθρα προσαπαντῶσα ταῖς τῶν ἀκουόντων διανοίαις, οὐκ ἀφίησιν αὐτῶν ἐντεθῆναι ταῖς ἀκοαῖς τὰ λεγόμενα, καὶ ταὐτὸν γίνεται οἷον ἐπὶ τῶν παραγραφῶν. Ὅταν γὰρ ἀντικρούσῃ τις εἰς δικαστήριον, τὸ πᾶν διαλύεται τέως· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα οὐκ ἀφίησιν εἰσαγώγιμον γενέσθαι τὴν δίκην ἡ τῆς ἔχθρας ὑπόνοια. Μὴ τοίνυν λέγε κακῶς, ἵνα μὴ καὶ σαυτὸν μολύνῃς, μηδὲ βόρβορον ὕφαινε μετὰ πηλοῦ καὶ πλινθείας, ἀλλὰ στεφάνους ἀπὸ ῥόδων πλέκε, καὶ ἴων, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀνθέων· μηδὲ κόπρον ἐπὶ τοῦ στόματος φέρε, καθάπερ οἱ κάνθαροι τοῦτο γὰρ οἱ κακηγοροῦντες· αὐτοὶ τῆς δυσωδίας ἀπολαύουσι πρῶτοι, ἀλλ' ἄνθη, καθάπερ αἱ μέλιτται, καὶ ὕφαινε κηρία κατ' ἐκείνας, καὶ γίνου πᾶσι προσηνής. Τὸν μὲν γὰρ κακήγορον ἅπαντες ἀποστρέφονται, ὡς σαπρὸν ὄζοντα, καθάπερ τινὰ βδέλλαν αἵματι, καὶ κάνθαρον κόπρῳ τρεφόμενον τοῖς ἑτέρων κακοῖς· τὸν δὲ εὔφημον ἔχοντα στόμα, ὡς κοινὸν προσίενται μέλος, ὡς ἀδελφὸν γνήσιον, ὡς παῖδα, ὡς πατέρα. Καὶ τί λέγω τὰ παρόντα καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων δόξας; Ἐννόησόν μοι τὴν φοβερὰν ἐκείνην ἡμέραν, τὸ κριτήριον τὸ ἀδέκαστον, ὅτι, ἂν μὲν ψευδῆ λέγῃς, προσθήκην ἁμαρτημάτων περιττῶν προσθήσεις. Λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, ὅτι πᾶν ἀργὸν ῥῆμα, ὃ ἐὰν λαλήσωσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, δώσουσιν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ λόγον τῷ Θεῷ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως. Κἂν ἀληθῆ, φησὶν, ᾖ, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἀπαλλαγήσῃ καταγνώσεως, ἐκπομπεύων τὰς τοῦ πλησίον συμφορὰς καὶ τὰ ὀνείδη. Ἐννόησον γοῦν τὸν Φαρισαῖον. Οὐκ ἦν τελώνης, ἀλλὰ τελώνου γέγονεν ἁμαρτωλότερος, ἐπειδὴ τὸν τελώνην ἐκάκισεν. Οὐκ ἦν 55.257 Φαρισαῖος ὁ τελώνης, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Φαρισαίου γέγονε δικαιότερος, ἐπειδὴ ἑαυτὸν ἐταλάνισε. Ταῦτα ἐποίησας, καὶ ἐσίγησα. Ὑπέλαβες ἀνομίαν, ὅτι ἔσομαί σοι ὅμοιος. Ἐλέγξω σε, καὶ παραστήσω κατὰ πρόσωπόν σου τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου. ιαʹ. Εἶδες φιλανθρωπίαν ἄφατον; εἶδες ἀγαθότητος ὑπερβολήν; εἶδες μακροθυμίας πλοῦτον ἄπειρον; Σιγὴν γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τὴν μακροθυμίαν λέγει. Τοσαῦτα ἐτόλμησας, φησὶ, καὶ οὐκ ἐπεξῄειν, ἀλλ' ἠνειχόμην, καὶ ἔφερον, χώραν σοι διδοὺς εἰς μετάνοιαν. Σὺ δὲ οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν ἐκέρδανας ἐντεῦθεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς μείζονα ἐξώκειλας κακίαν. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον οὐ μετεβάλου, οὐδὲ μόνον οὐ κατῃσχύνθης, οὐδὲ κατέγνως ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγενημένοις σαυτοῦ· ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ ἐμὲ τὸν μακροθυμήσαντά σοι, τὸν ἀνασχόμενον, τὸν σιγήσαντα, τὸν τοσαῦτα ἐνεγκόντα, ἐνόμισας οὐ διὰ μακροθυμίαν καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν φέρειν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ μὴ βούλεσθαι ταῦτα σωφρονίζειν, μηδὲ ἀγανακτεῖν ἐπὶ τοῖς γινομένοις. Σύνετε δὴ ταῦτα, οἱ ἐπιλανθανόμενοι τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ποῖα; Τὰ εἰρημένα, φησί. Τί ἐστι, Σύνετε; Νοήσατε. Τί γὰρ συνεσκιασμένον εἴρηται; τί δὲ πολλῆς χρῇζον ἐρεύνης; Μάλιστα μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τῆς διδασκαλίας τρόπος ἐνηλλαγμένην παρεισάγει πολιτείαν. Καὶ γὰρ τῶν θυσιῶν οὐ πολὺν ποιούμενος λόγον, τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν εἰσάγει νομοθεσίαν· ἄλλως δὲ ἐπειδὴ πολλῷ τῷ φορυτῷ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἦσαν καταχωσθέντες, καθάπερ ἀπὸ τελμάτων τινῶν τῆς κακίας ἀνασπάσαι βουλόμενος, καὶ ὥσπερ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν λήμην ἀποκαθᾶραι τὴν προλαβοῦσαν τῆς πονηρᾶς συνηθείας ὁδὸν, διεγείρει εἰς μνήμην ἐλθεῖν τῶν γεγενημένων, ἵνα μὴ λήθῃ παραδόντες αὐτὰ, ἀκερδεῖς ἀναχωρήσωσιν. Πολλὴν γὰρ ἡ ἐν ἁμαρτήμασι συνήθεια πώρωσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐργάζεται, καὶ ἀνοήτους ποιεῖ, καὶ τυφλοῖ τὸ ὀξυδερκὲς τῆς διανοίας ὄμμα. Μήποτε