391
To bear a grudge is worse than any sin. To be free from malice, and to be slow to suspect malice. When you see the enemy fallen into your hands, do not think it is a time for punishments, but
that it is the moment for salvation. For this reason, we must especially spare our enemies when we have become masters over them.
Did someone grieve you? Do not grieve them in return; since you have again become equal to that one. For no one heals evil with evil, but evil with good.
Of Nilus. He who repays evil for good, evil will not be carried out from his house.
Of Philo. When asking forgiveness for sins, forgive also yourself those who have transgressed against you; because forgiveness is given in return for forgiveness, and our reconciliation with our fellow servants becomes a release from divine wrath.
Of Evagrius. Gifts extinguish grudges; and let Jacob persuade you, who won over Esau with gifts when he came out to meet him with three hundred men. But we, being poor, let us fulfill the need with a meal.
Of Martin the hermit. He who bears a grudge against demons does not bear a grudge against men; but he who is wroth with his brother is at peace with demons.
Croesus. Croesus is said to have released his wrath against his son's murderer, when he handed himself over for punishment; and Cyrus the Great became a friend to Croesus himself after the victory.
Of Moschion. In those things by which you wish to strike others, expect the greater harm to yourself.
Of Epicurus. When an enemy makes a request, do not turn away his petition; however, secure yourself. For he is no different from a dog.
Of Theopompus. Strive to make enmities short-lived, but loves long-lived.
Aeschines. Aeschines the orator, after the Athenians had condemned him, when Demosthenes sent him ten thousand Attic drachmas and exhorted him to bear the circumstance nobly, "And how," he said, "can I not be grieved, being cast out of such a fatherland, in which those who have been wronged even benefit those who wronged them?"
DISCOURSE 67.
Concerning the unevenness of life. John 16. Verily, verily, I say unto you, (10050 that you will weep and lament, but the
world will rejoice; but your sorrow will turn into joy. A woman when she is in labor has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a man has been born into the world.
1 Timothy 6. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be high-minded, nor to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God.
Solomon 2. Smoke is the breath in our nostrils; and our life shall pass away as the traces of a cloud. For our life is the passing of a shadow.
391
Παντός ἁμαρτήματος τό μνησικακεῖν χεῖρον. Τό κακίας ἐλεύθερον, καί ὑφορᾶσθαι κακίαν ἀργότερον. Ὅταν ἴδῃς τόν ἐχθρόν ἐμπεσόντα εἰς τάς χεῖρας τάς σάς, μή νόμιζε τιμωρίας, ἀλλά
σωτηρίας ἐκεῖνον εἶναι τόν καιρόν. ∆ιά τοῦτο τότε μάλιστα δεῖ φείδεσθαι τῶν ἐχθρῶν, ὅταν αὐτῶν γενώμεθα κύριοι.
Ἐλύπησέ τις; μή ἀντιλυπήσῃς· ἐπεί γέγονας ἐκείνῳ πάλιν ἴσος. Οὐδείς γάρ κακόν κακῷ ἰᾶται, ἀλλ᾿ ἀγαθῷ τό κακόν.
Νείλου. Ὅς ἀνταδίδωσι κακά ἀντί ἀγαθῶν, οὐκ ἐξενεχθῇ κακά ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ.
Φίλωνος. Συγνώμην αἰτούμενος ἁμαρτημάτων, συγγίνωσκε καί αὐτός τοῖς εἰς σέ πλημμελοῦσιν· ὅτι ἀφέσει ἀντιδίδοται ἄφεσις, καί ἡ πρός τούς ὁμοδούλους ἡμῶν καταλλαγή, τῆς θείας ὀργῆς γίνεται ἀπαλλαγή.
Εὐαγρ. Μνησικακίαν σβέννυσι δῶρα· καί πειθέτω σε Ἰακώβ τόν Ἡσαῦ δόμασιν ὑπελθών μετά τριακοσίων εἰς ἀπάντησιν ἐξελθόντα. Ἀλλ᾿ ἡμεῖς πένητες ὄντες τραπέζῃ τήν χρείαν πληρώσωμεν.
Μαρτίνου ἀναχωρητοῦ. Ὁ δαίμοσι μνησικακῶν, ἀνθρώποις οὐ μνησικακεῖ· εἰρηνεύει δέ μετά δαιμόνων, ὁ τῷ ἀδελφῷ μηνιῶν.
Κροῖσος. Κροῖσος τῷ παιδοφόνῳ τήν ὀργήν ἀφεῖναι λέγεται, ἑαυτόν παραδόντι εἰς τιμωρίαν· καί Κύρος ὁ μέγας αὐτῷ τῷ Κροίσῳ φίλος γενέσθαι μετά νίκην.
Μοσχίωνος. Ἐν οἷς πλήττειν ἄλλους ἐθέλεις, ἐν τούτοις βλάβην ἔλπιζε τήν μείζονα.
Ἐπικούρου. Ἐχθροῦ δεηθέντος μή ἀποστραφῇς τήν ἀξίωσιν· πλήν ἀσφαλίζου σεαυτόν. Οὐδέν γάρ κυνός διαφέρει.
Θεοπόμπου.Σπούδαζε τάς μέν ἔχθρας, ὀλιγοχρονίους ποιεῖσθαι· τάς δέ ἀγάπας, πολυχρονίους.
Αἰσχίνης. Αἰσχίνης ὁ ῥήτωρ, μετά τό Ἀθηναίους αὐτοῦ καταψηφίσασθαι, ∆ημοσθένους αὐτῷ μυρίας Ἀττικάς πέμψαντος, καί γενναίως τήν περίστασιν φέρειν παρακαλοῦντος, καί πῶς, ἔφη, δύναμαι μή λυπεῖσθαι τοιαύτης ἐκβαλλόμενος πατρίδος, ἐν ᾗ οἱ ἀδικηθέντες καί προσωφελοῦσι τούς ἀδικοῦντας;
ΛΟΓΟΣ Ξ Ζ´.
Περί βίου ἀνωμαλίας. Ἰωάν. ιστ´. Ἀμήν, ἀμήν λέγω ὑμῖν, (10050 ὅτι κλαύσετε καί θρηνήσετε ὑμεῖς, ὁ δέ
κόσμος χαρήσεται· ἀλλ᾿ ἡ λύπη ὑμῶν εἰς χαράν γενήσεται. Ἡ γυνή ὅταν τίκτῃ, λύπην ἔχει, ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ὥρα αὐτῆς· ὅταν δέ γεννήσῃ τό παιδίον, οὐκ ἔτι μνημονεύει τῆς θλίψεως διά τήν χαράν, ὅτι ἐγεννήθη ἄνθρωπος εἰς τόν κόσμον.
Α´. Τιμ. στ´. τοῖς πλουσίοις ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι παράγγελε μή ὑψηλοφρονεῖν, μηδέ ἠλπικέναι ἐπί πλούτου ἀδηλότητι, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ τῷ ζῷντι.
Σολομ. β´. Καπνός ἡ πνοή ἐν ῥίσιν ἡμῶν· καί παρελεύεται ὁ βίος ἡμῶν ὡς ἴχνη νεφέλης. Σκιᾶς γάρ πάροδος ὁ βίος ἡμῶν.