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For this is of magnanimity. But he does not know, one says. Let God know, so that you may have a greater reward. For lend, He says, to those from whom you do not hope to receive back. So also let us do good to those who do not even perceive that they are being done good to, so that by not giving back to us praise, or whatever it may be, they may diminish our reward. For when we receive nothing from men, then we shall receive more from God. What is more ridiculous, what is colder than a soul that is always angry, and wanting to take revenge? This disposition is womanish and childish. For just as she gets angry even at inanimate things, and if she does not strike the ground, she does not let go of her anger; so indeed these also wish to take vengeance on those who have grieved them. Therefore they themselves are worthy of laughter; for to be overcome by anger is of a childish mind; but to overcome it, of manliness. Therefore we are not laughed at when we are philosophical, but they are. It is not for contemptible men, not to be conquered by passion; but it is for the contemptible to so tremble at the laughter of others, as on this account to choose both to fall under one's own passion, and to offend God, and to avenge oneself. These things are truly worthy of laughter. Therefore let us flee these things; let him say that having done countless evils to us, he himself suffered nothing; let him say that even if he should come against us again, he will suffer nothing. He would not have proclaimed our virtue in any other way, he would not have sought other words, if he wished to praise us, than these, which he seems to say in reproach. Would that all said these things about me, that "He is a cold man, and a wretch; all insult him, but he bears it; all leap upon him, but he does not defend himself." Would that they added, "Nor can he even if he wants to," so that my praise might be from God, and not from men. Let him say that it is because of coldness we do not defend ourselves. This harms us not at all, when God knows, but it places our treasure in greater security. If we were to look to them, we would fall away from everything. Let us not see what they say, but 60.296 what is fitting for us. But others say, "Lest he laugh at me," and some boast. O the folly! "No one having wronged me has laughed at me," he says; that is, "I took revenge." And yet for this you ought to be laughed at, because you took revenge. From where did these words enter in, being a shame and a destruction, and an overthrow of our life, and of our way of life? Is it not from speaking contrary to God? For that which makes one equal to God, not to avenge oneself, this you consider laughter. For this are we not worthy to be laughed at both by ourselves, and by the Greeks, for speaking thus against God? I wish to relate something that happened in the days of old, not about anger, but about money: A certain man had a field with a treasure hidden in it, which the owner did not know about; he sold this field. The one who bought it, while digging in order to plant and cultivate it, found the treasure lying within. The one who sold it, learning this, came and tried to force the buyer to give back the treasure; for he said he had sold a field, not a treasure. Again the other pushed him away, saying that he had bought the field with the treasure, and would make no argument about it. Both fell into a dispute, the one wishing to receive it, the other striving not to give it. And happening upon a certain man, they were conversing; then they asked him, to whom the treasure ought to belong. But he did not give a judgment, but said he would end their dispute; for he himself would be the owner. And having taken the treasure, with them willingly yielding it, he afterwards endured countless evils, and learned by deed that they had reasonably given it up. This should also happen concerning anger, that we should strive not to avenge ourselves, and that those who have grieved us should strive to pay the penalty. But perhaps these things also seem to be some kind of joke; for when madness prevails, the sober are laughed at, and among many madmen the one who is not mad seems to be mad. Therefore I beseech you to recover, and to become yourselves, so that, being purified from this destructive passion, we may be able to be counted worthy of the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and mercies of His only-begotten

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μεγαλοψυχίας γὰρ τοῦτο. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος οὐκ οἶδε, φησίν. Ἴστω ὁ Θεὸς, ἵνα μείζονα ἔχῃς τὸν μισθόν. ∆ανείζετε γὰρ, φησὶ, παρ' ὧν οὐκ ἐλπίζετε ἀπολαβεῖν. Οὕτω καὶ εὐεργετῶμεν τοὺς μηδὲ αἰσθανομένους, ὅτι εὐεργετοῦνται, ἵνα μὴ ἀντιδιδόντες ἡμῖν τὸν ἔπαινον, ἢ ὅ τι δήποτε, ἐλαττώσωσιν ἡμῖν τὸν μισθόν. Ὅταν γὰρ μηδὲν παρὰ ἀνθρώπων λάβωμεν, τότε μείζονα παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ληψόμεθα. Τί δὲ καταγελαστότερον, τί δὲ ψυχρότερον ψυχῆς ὀργιζομένης διαπαντὸς, καὶ βουλομένης ἐπεξελθεῖν; Γυναικώδης αὕτη ἡ προαίρεσις καὶ παιδική. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκείνη καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἄψυχα ὀργίζεται, κἂν μὴ πλήξῃ τὸ ἔδαφος, οὐκ ἀφίησι τὴν ὀργήν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ οὗτοι τοὺς λυπήσαντας ἀμύνασθαι βούλονται. Ἄρα αὐτοὶ γέλωτος ἄξιοι· τὸ γὰρ ὑπὸ θυμοῦ κρατεῖσθαι, παιδικῆς διανοίας· τὸ δὲ κρατεῖν, ἀνδρειότητος. Ἄρα οὐχ ἡμεῖς καταγελώμεθα, ὅταν φιλοσοφῶμεν, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι. Οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο εὐκαταφρονήτων ἀνθρώπων, τὸ μὴ ἡττᾶσθαι πάθει· εὐκαταφρονήτων δέ ἐστι τὸ οὕτω τρέμειν τὸν ἔξωθεν γέλωτα, ὡς διὰ τοῦτον αἱρεῖσθαι καὶ πάθει ὑποπίπτειν οἰκείῳ, καὶ Θεῷ προσκρούειν, καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἀμύνασθαι. Ταῦτα ὄντως γέλωτος ἄξια. Οὐκοῦν ταῦτα φεύγωμεν· λεγέτω, ὅτι μυρία ἡμᾶς ἐργασάμενος κακὰ, οὐδὲν αὐτὸς ἔπαθε· λεγέτω, ὅτι καὶ πάλιν ἡμῖν εἰ ἐπικωμάσειεν, οὐδὲν πείσεται. Οὐκ ἂν ἑτέρως ἡμῶν ἐκήρυξε τὴν ἀρετὴν, οὐκ ἂν ἄλλα ἐζήτησε ῥήματα, εἰ ἐπαινέσαι ἡμᾶς ἐβούλετο, ἀλλ' ἢ ταῦτα, ἃ δοκεῖ κακίζων λέγειν. Εἴθε πάντες περὶ ἐμοῦ ταῦτα ἔλεγον, ὅτι Ψυχρὸς ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ταλαίπωρός ἐστι· πάντες εἰς αὐτὸν ὑβρίζουσιν, αὐτὸς δὲ φέρει· πάντες ἐνάλλονται, αὐτὸς δὲ οὐκ ἀμύνεται. Εἴθε προσετίθεσαν, ὅτι Οὐδὲ ἐὰν θέλῃ δύναται, ἵνα μοι ἔπαινος ἦν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ μὴ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων. Λεγέτω, ὅτι παρὰ ψυχρότητα οὐκ ἀμυνόμεθα. Οὐδὲν ἡμᾶς βλάπτει τοῦτο, ὅταν ὁ Θεὸς εἰδῇ, ἀλλ' ἐν μείζονι καθίστησιν ἡμῶν τὸν θησαυρὸν φυλακῇ. Εἰ μέλλοιμεν πρὸς ἐκείνους ὁρᾷν, πάντων ἀποπεσούμεθα. Μὴ τί λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ 60.296 τί ἡμῖν πρέπει, ἴδωμεν. Οἱ δὲ, Μὴ γάρ μου καταγελάσῃ, φασὶ, καὶ καυχῶνταί τινες. Ὢ τῆς ἀνοίας! Οὐδείς με ἀδικήσας κατεγέλασέ μου, φησί· τουτέστιν, Ἐπεξῆλθον. Καὶ μὴν τούτῳ καταγελᾶσθαι ὀφείλεις, ὅτι ἐπεξῆλθες. Πόθεν ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα ἐπεισῆλθεν, αἰσχύνη καὶ ὄλεθρος ὄντα, καὶ ἀνατροπὴ τῆς ζωῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας, καὶ τῆς πολιτείας; ἆρα οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀπεναντίας τῷ Θεῷ φθέγγεσθαι; Ὃ γὰρ ποιεῖ Θεοῦ ἴσον, τὸ μὴ ἀμύνασθαι, τοῦτο γέλωτα νομίζεις. Οὐ διὰ ταῦτα γελᾶσθαί ἐσμεν ἄξιοι καὶ παρ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ παρ' Ἑλλήνων, οὕτως ἀντιφθεγγόμενοι τῷ Θεῷ; Βούλομαί τι διηγήσασθαι γενόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν παλαιῶν, οὐ περὶ ὀργῆς, ἀλλὰ περὶ χρημάτων· Ἦν τινι χωρίον θησαυρὸν ἔχον ἐγκεκρυμμένον οὐκ εἰδότος τοῦ δεσπότου· τοῦτο ἐκεῖνος τὸ χωρίον ἀπέδοτο. Ὁ πριάμενος διασκάπτων ὥστε φυτεῦσαι καὶ ἐπιμελήσασθαι, εὗρε τὸν θησαυρὸν ἐναποκείμενον. Μαθὼν ὁ ἀποδόμενος τοῦτο, ἐλθὼν ἐβιάζετο τὸν ἠγορακότα ἀπολαβεῖν τὸν θησαυρόν· χωρίον γὰρ ἔλεγε πεπρακέναι, οὐ θησαυρόν. Πάλιν ἐκεῖνος διωθεῖτο αὐτὸν, λέγων, τὸ χωρίον ἠγορακέναι μετὰ τοῦ θησαυροῦ, καὶ οὐδένα λόγον ποιεῖν ὑπὲρ τούτου. Εἰς ἀμφισβήτησιν κατέστησαν ἀμφότεροι, ὁ μὲν λαβεῖν βουλόμενος, ὁ δὲ φιλονεικῶν μὴ δοῦναι. Καὶ ἐπιτυχόντες ἀνθρώπου τινὸς διελέγοντο· εἶτα ἠρώτων αὐτὸν, τίνι δεῖ προσγενέσθαι τὸν θησαυρόν. Ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἀπεφήνατο, ἔφη δὲ καταλῦσαι αὐτῶν τὴν ἀμφισβήτησιν· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἔσεσθαι κύριος. Καὶ λαβὼν τὸν θησαυρὸν ἑκόντων παραχωρησάντων ἐκείνων, μυρία ὕστερον ὑπέστη κακὰ, καὶ ἔργῳ ἐμάνθανεν, ὅτι εἰκότως ἐκεῖνοι τούτου ἀπέστησαν. Τοῦτο καὶ περὶ τῆς ὀργῆς δεῖ γενέσθαι, καὶ ἡμᾶς φιλονεικεῖν μὴ ἀμύνασθαι, καὶ τοὺς λελυπηκότας φιλονεικεῖν δοῦναι δίκην. Ἀλλὰ τάχα ταῦτα καὶ γέλως τις εἶναι δοκεῖ· ὅταν γὰρ ἐπιπλέον ἡ μανία κατάσχῃ, οἱ σωφρονοῦντες γελῶνται, καὶ ἐν πολλοῖς μαινομένοις ὁ μὴ μαινόμενος δοκεῖ μαίνεσθαι. ∆ιὸ παρακαλῶ ἀνενεγκεῖν, καὶ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν γενέσθαι, ἵνα δυνηθῶμεν τοῦ ὀλεθρίου τούτου πάθους καθαρεύοντες, τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας ἀξιωθῆναι, χάριτι καὶ οἰκτιρμοῖς τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ