22. And to holy David indeed it might more justly be said, that he ought not to have been angry; no, not with one however ungrateful and rendering evil for good; yet if, as man, anger did steal over him, he ought not to have let it so prevail, that he should swear to do a thing which either by giving way to his rage he should do, or by breaking his oath leave undone. But to the other, set as he was amid the libidinous frenzy of the Sodomites, who would dare to say, “Although thy guests in thine own house, whither to enter in thou by most violent humanity hast compelled them, be laid hold upon by lewd men, and being deforced be carnally known as women, fear thou not a whit, care for it not a whir, have no dread, no horror, no trembling?” What man, even a companion of those wretches, would dare to say this to the pious host? But assuredly it would be most rightly said, “Do what thou canst, that the thing be not done which thou deservedly fearest: but let not this fear of thine drive thee to do a thing which if thy daughters be willing that it be done unto them, they will through thee do wickedness with the Sodomites, if unwilling, will through thee from the Sodomites suffer violence. Commit not thou a great crime of thine own, while thou dreadest a greater crime of other men; for be the difference as great as thou wilt between thine own and that of others, this will be thine own, that other men’s.” Unless perchance in defending this man one should so crowd himself into a corner, as to say, “Since to receive a wrong is better than to do one, and those guests were not about to do but to suffer a wrong, that just man chose that his daughters should suffer wrong rather than his guests, acting upon his rights as his daughters’ lord; and he knew that it would be no sin in them if the thing were done, because they would but bear them which did the sin, not consenting unto them, and so without sin of their own. In fine, they did not offer themselves (albeit better females than males) to be carnally known instead of those guests, lest they should be rendered guilty, not by the suffering of others’ lust, but by consenting of their own will: nor yet did their father permit it to be done unto himself, when they essayed to do it, because he would not betray his guests to them, (albeit there had been less of evil, if it were done to one man than to two;) but as much as he could he resisted, lest himself also should be defiled by any assent of his own, though even if the frenzy of others’ lust had prevailed by strength of body, it would not have defiled him so long as he consented not. Now as the daughters sinned not, neither did he sin in their persons, because he was not making them to sin, if they should be deforced against their will, but only to bear them that did the sin. Just as if he should offer his slaves to be beaten by ruffians, that his guests might not suffer the wrong of beating.” Of which matter I shall not dispute, because it would take long to argue, whether even a master may justly use his right of power over his slave, so as to cause an unoffending slave to be smitten, that his unoffending friend may not be beaten in his house by violent bad men. But certainly, as concerning David, it is no wise right to say that he ought to have sworn to do a thing which afterwards he would perceive that he ought not to do. Whence it is clear that we ought not to take all that we read to have been done by holy or just men, and transfer the same to morals, but hence too we must learn how widely that saying of the Apostle extends, and even to what persons it reaches: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself also, lest thou be tempted.”30    Gal. vi. 1 The being overtaken in a fault happens, either while one does not see at the time what is right to be done, or while, seeing it, one is overcome; that is, that a sin is done, either for that the truth is hidden, or for that infirmity compelleth.

22. Et sancto quidem David justius dici potuit quod nec irasci debuit, quamvis ingrato et reddenti mala pro bonis; sed etsi ut homini ira subrepsit, non utique tantum debuit praevalere, ut se facturum juraret, quod aut saeviendo faceret, aut pejerando non faceret: illi autem inter libidinosas insanias Sodomitarum 0532 constituto quis auderet dicere, Etiamsi tui hospites in tua domo, quo eos intrare humanitate violentissima compulisti, ab impudicis apprehensi et oppressi muliebria patiantur, nihil timeas, nihil cures, non expavescas, non horrescas, non contremiscas? quis haec vel illorum sceleratorum socius hospiti pio dicere auderet? Sed plane rectissime diceretur, Age quidquid potes, ne fiat quod merito times: sed non te timor iste compellat, ut facias quod in se filiae tuae fieri si voluerint, facient cum Sodomitis te auctore nequitiam; si autem noluerint, patientur a Sodomitis te auctore violentiam. Noli facere magnum scelus tuum, dum majus horrescis alienum: quantumlibet enim distet inter tuum et alienum, hoc erit tuum, illud alienum. Nisi forte pro defensione hujus viri in eas se quispiam coarctet angustias, ut dicat: Quoniam accipere quam facere praestat injuriam, hospites autem illi non erant utique facturi injuriam, sed passuri; maluit vir justus filias suas injuriam pati, quam hospites suos, eo jure quo filiarum dominus erat; et noverat non eas peccare, si id fieret, quia peccantes potius, quibus non consentirent, sine peccato proprio sustinerent. Denique non se ipsae stuprandas, quamvis pro masculis feminas, pro illis hospitibus obtulerunt, ne reas eas faceret non perpessio libidinis alienae, sed suae consensio voluntatis. Nec pater earum hoc in se fieri permittebat, cum hoc facere conarentur quibus hospites non prodebat; quamvis minus mali esset quod in uno, quam si fieret in duobus: sed quantum poterat resistebat, ne ipsum quoque ullus proprius macularet assensus, quem libidinosus furor etiamsi praevaluisset corporis viribus, tamen non consentientem non maculasset alienus. In filiabus autem non peccantibus nec ipse peccabat, quia non eas peccare si opprimerentur invitae, sed peccantes ferre faciebat: tanquam si ab improbis ut sui servi caederentur offerret, ne hospites ejus paterentur caedis injuriam. De qua re non disputabo, quia longum est, utrum vel dominus jure suae potestatis recte sic utatur in servo, ut servum suum caedi faciat innocentem, ne amicus ejus etiam ipse innocens in domo ejus a violentis improbis vapulet. Sed certe David nullo modo recte dicitur jurare debuisse se esse facturum, quod postea cerneret se facere non debere. Unde constat quod non omnia quae a sanctis vel justis viris legimus facta, transferre debemus in mores; sed etiam hinc discere quam late pateat, et ad quos usque perveniat quod Apostolus ait: Fratres, et si praeoccupatus fuerit homo in aliquo delicto, vos qui spirituales estis, instruite hujusmodi in spiritu lenitatis, intendens te ipsum, ne et tu tenteris (Galat. VI, 1). Praeoccupationes enim sunt istae in quibus delinquitur, dum quid faciendum sit aut ad horam non videtur, aut et qui viderit vincitur; ut scilicet fiat peccatum, cum vel latet veritas, vel compellit infirmitas.