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289.τ ANONYMOUS. CONCERNING AN OPPRESSED WOMAN 289.1 I, judging it an equal sin both to leave sinners unpunished

and for the punishment to exceed the measure, imposed on this man the penalty that fell to me by exiling him from the communion of the church, and I advised those who had been wronged not to avenge themselves, but to entrust the retribution to the Lord. So that if there is any benefit from my instructions, then I would have been heard, using my word much more creditably, as much as the letter might be able to persuade. But since I heard many words of great weight, I kept silent then, and now I do not think it is fitting for me to speak about the same things. “For I,” she says, “disregarded husband and childbearing and a normal life, so that I might obtain this one thing: approval from God and to be deemed worthy of better repute among men. But since a man, brought up from childhood in the ruin of households, once forced his way into our house with his accustomed shamelessness, and became known to us only by a bare encounter, and through ignorance of his character and a certain uncultured modesty that was obviously ashamed to drive him out, he proceeded to such a degree of impiety and insolence that he filled the entire city with slanders against me, and publicly denounced me in a notice posted at the entrance of the church. For which things, having met with some indignation from the laws, he returned again and renewed his slanders. Again the marketplace is full of insults against me, the gymnasia, the theaters, the houses of those who receive him because of the similarity of their way of life. And it was not my lot to be known for better things, for which it would have been seemly, but for the most shameful, because I became notorious to all through his licentious opinion. At this,” she says, “some take pleasure in the slanders because men by nature rejoice in insults; others say they are vexed, but do not share my pain; others are persuaded that the insults are true; others are in doubt, paying attention to the multitude of his oaths. But there is no one who shares my pain, but truly now I have felt desolation and I lament for myself, having no brother, no friend, no relative, no slave, no free man, no one at all to share my pain, and, as it seems, I find myself alone more pitiful than the city in which there is such a scarcity of haters of evil, who do not think that the drunken violence done to one another will travel in a circle and one day overtake them too.” Having recounted to me these things and many more striking things with countless tears, she departed, not even leaving me free from her reproaches, that, when it was my duty to suffer with her as a father, I am indifferent to so great an evil and I philosophize amid the sufferings of others. “For you do not bid me to overlook the loss of money nor to endure pains to the body, but to suffer loss in reputation itself, the harm of which becomes a common loss for the clergy.” In response to these words, what do you want me to say to her now? Judge for yourself, O admirable one, since I have this judgment with myself: not to hand over evildoers to the authorities, but neither to rescue them when they have been handed over, for whom it was long ago said by the Apostle to fear the ruler for evil work; “For he does not bear the sword in vain,” he says. Therefore, just as handing them over is not humane, so also rescuing them is the act of one who nourishes drunken violence. Perhaps there might be some postponement of his entrance until our own arrival, and then we will show that there is no benefit from us from the fact that there are none who obey.

290.τ TO NECTARIUS

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289.τ ΑΝΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΟΣ ΠΕΡΙ ΓΥΝΑΙΚΟΣ ΚΑΤΑΠΟΝΟΥΜΕΝΗΣ 289.1 Ἐγὼ ἴσον ἁμάρτημα κρίνας καὶ ἀνεπιτιμήτους ἐᾶν τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας

καὶ ὑπερβαίνειν τὸ μέτρον τὴν τιμωρίαν, τὴν ἐμοὶ ἐπιβάλλουσαν ἐπέθηκα δίκην τῷδε ἐξορίσας αὐτὸν τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς κοινωνίας, καὶ τοῖς ἠδικημένοις παρῄνεσα μὴ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδικεῖν, ἀλλὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ τὴν ἀνταπόδοσιν ἐπι τρέψαι. Ὥστε εἴ τι ὄφελος ἐμῶν παραγγελμάτων, τότε ἂν ἠκούσθην πολλῷ ἀξιοπιστότερον κεχρημένος τῷ λόγῳ ὅσον ἂν δυνηθείη δυσωπῆσαι τὰ γράμματα. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἤκουσα ῥημάτων πολλῶν ἐχόντων βαρύτητα, καὶ τότε ἡσύχασα καὶ νῦν οὐκ οἶμαι πρέπον εἶναί μοι περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν διαλέγεσθαι. «Ἐγὼ γάρ, φησίν, ἀνδρὸς ὑπερεῖδον καὶ παιδοποιίας καὶ βίου, ἵνα ἑνὸς τούτου τύχοιμι, τὴν παρὰ Θεοῦ εὐδοκίμησιν καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τοῦ βελτίονος ἀξιοῦσθαι λόγου. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ παιδὸς ταῖς οἰκοφθορίαις ἐντεθραμ μένος εἰσβιασάμενός ποτε τῇ συνήθει ἑαυτοῦ ἀναιδείᾳ ἐνέπεσεν ἡμῶν τῷ οἴκῳ, καὶ μέχρι ψιλῆς συντυχίας ἐγένετο γνώριμος ἡμῖν καὶ ἀγνοίᾳ τῶν κατ' αὐτὸν καὶ αἰδοῖ τινι ἀπαιδεύτῳ προφανῶς αὐτὸν αἰσχυνομένῃ ἐλάσαι, εἰς τοσοῦ τον ἐξῆλθεν ἀσεβείας καὶ ὕβρεως ὥστε ἐμπλῆσαι μὲν τὴν πόλιν πᾶσαν τῶν κατ' ἐμοῦ βλασφημιῶν, προγράμματι δὲ δημοσίῳ στηλιτεῦσαι ἐκτεθέντι ἐπὶ τῶν προθύρων τῆς ἐκκλησίας. Ἐφ' οἷς καὶ τυχών τινος παρὰ τῶν νόμων ἀγα νακτήσεως πάλιν ἐπανελθὼν ἀνενεώσατο τὰς αὐτοῦ βλασ φημίας. Πάλιν τῶν ἐμῶν λοιδοριῶν πλήρης ἡ ἀγορά, τὰ γυμνάσια, τὰ θέατρα, αἱ οἰκίαι τῶν δι' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ βίου δεχομένων αὐτόν. Καὶ μηδὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς βελτίοσι γνωρίζεσθαι, ἐν οἷς εὐπρεπὲς ἦν, ὑπῆρξέ μοι ἐκ τῶν αἰσχίστων διὰ τὸ παρὰ πᾶσι τῇ ἀκολάστῳ γνώμῃ γενέσθαι περιφανῆ. Ἐπὶ τούτοις, φησίν, οἱ μὲν ἥδονται ταῖς βλασφημίαις διὰ τὸ φύσει χαίρειν ταῖς λοιδορίαις τοὺς ἀνθρώπους· οἱ δὲ ἄχθεσ θαι μὲν λέγουσιν, οὐ συναλγοῦσι δέ· ἄλλοι πείθονται ἀληθεῖς εἶναι τὰς λοιδορίας· ἄλλοι ἀμφίβολοί εἰσι τῷ πλήθει τῶν ὅρκων αὐτοῦ προσέχοντες. Ὁ δὲ συναλγῶν οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλ' ὄντως νῦν τῆς ἐρημίας ᾔσθην καὶ ἐμαυτὴν ὀδύρομαι, οὐκ ἀδελφόν, οὐ φίλον, οὐ συγγενῆ, οὐ δοῦλον, οὐκ ἐλεύθερον, οὐδένα ἀνθρώπων τὸ παράπαν ἔχουσα συναλγοῦντα, καί, ὡς ἔοικε, μόνην ἑαυτὴν ἐλεεινοτέραν τῆς πόλεως εὑρίσκω ἐν ᾗ τοσαύτη σπάνις μισοπονήρων ἐστίν, οἳ τὴν εἰς ἀλλήλους γινομένην παροινίαν οὐκ οἴονται βαδίζουσαν ἐν κύκλῳ καὶ αὐτούς ποτε καταλήψεσθαι.» Ταῦτα καὶ πολλῷ ἔτι πληκτι κώτερα μετὰ ἀμυθήτων δακρύων πρὸς ἐμὲ διεξελθοῦσα ἀπῆλθεν οὐδὲ ἐμὲ τῶν μέμψεων ἐλεύθερον ἀφεῖσα, ὅτι δέον πατρικῶς αὐτῇ συναλγεῖν ἐναδιαφορῶ κακῷ τοσούτῳ καὶ φιλοσοφῶ ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις παθήμασιν. «Οὐ γὰρ χρημάτων ἄφεσιν κελεύεις ὑπεριδεῖν οὐδὲ τοὺς εἰς τὸ σῶμα πόνους συνενεγκεῖν, ἀλλ' εἰς αὐτὴν ζημιωθῆναι τὴν ὑπόληψιν ἧς ἡ βλάβη κοινὴ ζημία τοῦ κλήρου γίνεται». Ἐπὶ τούτοις τοῖς ῥήμασι τίνα με βούλει νῦν πρὸς αὐτὴν εἰπεῖν αὐτὸς δοκί μασον, ὦ θαυμάσιε, ἔχοντα τοιαύτην κρίσιν παρ' ἑαυτῷ μὴ παραδιδόναι ταῖς ἀρχαῖς τοὺς κακούργους, μὴ μέντοι μηδὲ ἐξαιρεῖσθαι παραδοθέντας, οἷς πάλαι προείρηται παρὰ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου φοβεῖσθαι τὸν ἄρχοντα τῷ ἐπὶ πονηρίαν ἔργῳ· «Οὐ γὰρ εἰκῆ, φησί, τὴν μάχαιραν φορεῖ». Ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ παραδοῦναι οὐ φιλάνθρωπον, οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἐξαιρεῖσθαι τρέφοντός ἐστι τὴν παροινίαν. Ἴσως δ' ἂν γένοιτό τις ὑπέρθεσις τῆς εἰσόδου μέχρι τῆς ἡμῶν αὐτῶν παρουσίας, καὶ τότε δείξομεν ὅτι οὐδὲν ἡμῶν ὄφελος ἐκ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι τοὺς πειθομένους.

290.τ ΝΕΚΤΑΡΙΩ