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Basil. I have the "according to the image," in being rational; but I become "according to the likeness," in becoming good.
For to take opponents in hand is truly the mark of a brave man and a ruler; but to be good and gentle to those who have submitted, is the mark of one excelling all in magnanimity and mildness.
Of Dionysius the Areopagite. That which is deprived of the good in every way, in no place and in no way either was, or is, or will be, or can be.
Of the Theologian. It is a good thing to conquer insolence with goodness, and to make better those who do wrong, by what we endure patiently while suffering.
Be good to all, but more so to those nearest. Seek goodness from God for yourself, by being good. What teaching is more concise than that of goodness? Be to your friends and neighbors such as you would wish them to be to you. Chrysostom. Not only in doing good, but also in punishing is good and loving of mankind the
God. For his punishments and his chastisements are a very great part of his beneficence; since a physician, too, not only when he takes the sick person out to paradises and meadows, nor when to baths and pools of water, but also when he orders him to remain without food, when he cuts, when he applies bitter medicines, then too he is likewise a physician (973), and shows his philanthropy all the more.
Greg. Nyss. He who is good by nature is also the provider of all good things.
It is in every way the property of the good to benefit.
Demosth. Speech is not able to persuade so much as a good character. Of Posidippus. For those whose character is well-ordered, for them life also is well-composed. By skill, indeed, I have acquired many acquaintances; but because of character, the most friends.
Themistocl. Themistocles, while selling a plot of land, ordered it to be proclaimed, that also a neighbor
it has a good one.
Of Menander. You advise those things which are fitting for you, But it is not your word that persuades me to do my duty, know this well; but my own character. No one who is good does an evil thing. One must not yield entirely to the wicked. But one must oppose them; otherwise, our whole life will secretly be turned upside down. Of Leucippe. Goodness, when it meets with favor, increases still more;
but when insulted, it is provoked to anger.
Of Perithous.
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Βασιλ. Τό κατ᾿ εἰκόνα ἔχω, ἐν τῷ λογικός εἶναι· τό δέ καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν γίνομαι, ἐν τῷ χρηστός γενέσθαι.
Τό μέν γάρ τούς ἀντιτείνοντας ὑπό χεῖρα λαμβάνειν, ἀνδρείου τε καί ἄρχοντος ὡς ἀληθῶς· τοῖς δέ ὑποπεπτωκόσι χρηστόν εἶναι καί πρᾶον, μεγαλοφροσύνῃ πάντων καί ἡμερότητος διαφέροντος.
∆ιονυσίου τοῦ Ἀρεωπαγίτου. Τό κατά πάντα τρόπον τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἐστερημένον, οὐδαμῇ οὐδαμῶς οὔτε ἦν, οὔτε ἔστιν, οὔτε ἔσται, οὔτε εἶναι δύναται.
Θεολόγου. Ἀγαθόν χρηστότητι νικᾷν θρασύτητα, καί βελτίου ποιεῖν τούς ἀδικοῦντας, οἷς καρτεροῦμεν πάσχοντες.
Πᾶσι μέν ἴσθι χρηστός, πλέον δέ τοῖς ἔγγιστα. Ζήτει Θεοῦ σοι χρηστότητα, χρηστός ὤν. Τί χρηστότητος δόγμα συντομώτερον; Τοιοῦτος ἴσθι τοῖς φίλοις καί τοῖς πέλας, Οἵους σεαυτῷ τούσδε τυγχάνειν θέλεις. Χρυσοστ. Οὐκ εὐεργετῶν μόνον, ἀλλά καί κολάζων ἀγαθός ἐστι καί φιλάνθρωπος ὁ
Θεός. Καί γάρ αἱ κολάσεις αὐτοῦ καί αἱ τιμωρίαι, μέγιστον εὐεργεσίας μέρος εἰσίν· ἐπεί καί ἰατρός, οὐχ ὅταν εἰς παραδείσους καί λειμῶνας ἐξάγῃ τόν κάμνοντα μόνον, οὐδ᾿ ὅταν εἰς βαλανεῖα καί κολυμβήθρας ὑδάτων, ἀλλά καί ὅταν ἄσιτον κελεύῃ διαμεῖναι, ὅταν τέμνῃ, ὅταν πικρά προσάγει φάρμακα, τότε καί ἰατρός ἐστιν (973) ὁμοίως, καί τήν αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν ἐπιδείκνυσιν πλέον.
Γρηγ. Νύσσ. Ὁ τῇ φύσει ἀγαθός, καί ἀγαθῶν πάντων παρεκτικός.
Ἴδιον πάντως ἀγαθοῦ, τό ὠφελεῖν.
∆ημοσθ. Οὐ τοσοῦτον ὁ λόγος, ὅσον χρηστός τρόπος πείθειν δύναται. Ποσιδίππου. Οἶσιν ὁ τρόπος ἐστίν εὔτακτος, τουτέοισι καί βίος συντέκταται. Τέχνῃ μέν γνωρίμους ἐκτησάμην Πολλούς· διά τό τρόπον δέ, τούς πλείστους φίλους.
Θεμιστοκλ. Θεμιστοκλῆς χωρίον πωλῶν ἐκέλευσε κηρύττειν, ὅτι καί γείτονα
χρηστόν ἔχει.
Μενάνδρου. Σύ μέν παραινεῖς ταῦτα ὅσα σοι πρέπει, Ἐμέ δέ ποιεῖν τό καθῆκον, οὐχ ὁ σός λόγος, Εὖ ἴσθι ἀκριβῶς· ὁ δ᾿ ἴδιος πείθει τρόπος. Οὐδείς πονηρόν πρᾶγμα χρηστός ὤν ποιεῖ. Οὐ παντελῶς δεῖ τοῖς πονηροῖς ἐπιτρέπειν. Ἀλλ᾿ ἀντιτάττεσθαι· εἰ δέ μή, τ᾿ ἄνω κάτω Ἡμῶν ὁ βίος λήσει μεταστραφείς ὅλος. Λευκίππης. Χρηστότης, τυγχάνουσα μέν χάριτος, ἔτι μᾶλλον αὔξεται·
προπηλακισθεῖσα δέ, εἰς ὀργήν ἐρεθίζεται.
Περίθου.