25.  We both believe in and hear of the dregs60    Dregs.  Cf. Orat. xvi. 4. of the anger of God, the residuum of His dealings with those who deserve it:  For the Lord is a God of vengeance.61    Ps. lxxv. 8; xciv. 1.  For although He is disposed by His kindness to gentleness rather than severity, yet He does not absolutely pardon sinners, lest they should be made worse by His goodness.  Yet my father kept no grudge against those who provoked him, indeed he was absolutely uninfluenced by anger, although in spiritual things exceedingly overcome by zeal:  except when he had been prepared and armed and set in hostile array against that which was advancing to injure him.  So that this sweet disposition of his would not, as the saying goes, have been stirred by tens of thousands.  For the wrath which he had was not like that of the serpent,62    Ib. lviii. 4. (LXX.). smouldering within, ready to defend itself, eager to burst forth, and longing to strike back at once on being disturbed; but like the sting of the bee, which does not bring death with its stroke; while his kindness was superhuman.  The wheel and scourge were often threatened, and those who could apply them stood near; and the danger ended in being pinched on the ear, patted on the face, or buffeted on the temple:  thus he mitigated the threat.  His dress and sandals were dragged off, and the scoundrel was felled to the ground:  then his anger was directed not against his assailant, but against his eager succourer, as a minister of evil.  How could anyone be more conclusively proved to be good, and worthy to offer the gifts to God?  For often, instead of being himself roused, he made excuses for the man who assailed him, blushing for his faults as if they had been his own.

ΚΕʹ. Θεοῦ μὲν ὀργῆς τρυγίαν τινὰ καὶ πιστεύομεν καὶ ἀκούομεν, τὸ λεῖμμα τῆς κατὰ τῶν ἀξίων κινήσεως: ἐπειδὴ Θεὸς ἐκδικήσεων Κύριος. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ κλίνει διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν ἐκ τοῦ ἀποτόμου πρὸς τὸ ἐνδόσιμον, ἀλλ' οὐ πάντη συγχωρεῖ τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν, ἵνα μὴ τῇ χρηστότητι χείρους γίνωνται. Ὁ δὲ οὐδὲν ὑπεκράτει τοῖς παροξύνουσι, καίτοιγε οὐδὲ παντάπασιν ἄτρωτος ἦν θυμῷ, κἀν τοῖς πνευματικοῖς μάλιστα τῷ ζήλῳ νικώμενος: πλὴν εἴ που τύχοι παρεσκευασμένος καὶ ὡπλισμένος, καὶ ὡς πρὸς ἀντίπαλον τὸ λυπῆσον πόῤῥωθεν παρατεταγμένος. Οὕτω δὲ οὐδ' ἂν μυριάσι μετεκινήθη, τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, καὶ τοῦτο ἐκείνου γλυκὺ τὸ πάθος. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ θυμὸς ἦν αὐτῷ, οὐ κατὰ τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ ὄφεως, ἔνδοθεν ὑποσμύχων, καὶ πρὸς ἄμυναν εὐτρεπὴς, οὐδὲ εἰς ὀργὴν φθάνων ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου κινήματος, καὶ ἀντιδόσεως ἔφεσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ κέντρον τῆς μελίσσης δίχα τοῦ θανατοῦν τὸν πλησσόμενον: τὸ δὲ φιλάνθρωπον ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον. Τροχοὶ πολλάκις ἠπειλοῦντο καὶ μάστιγες, καὶ οἱ παραστησόμενοι πλησίον: καὶ ὁ κίνδυνος ἦν ὤτων θλίψις, ἢ παρειῶν ὕβρεις, ἢ πὺξ κατὰ κόῤῥης: οὕτω τὴν ἀπειλὴν διελύετο. Ἐσθὴς περιῃρεῖτο καὶ ὑποδήματα, καὶ κατὰ γῆς ὁ κακοῦργος: εἶτα ὁ θυμὸς οὐκ ἐπὶ τὸν ἠδικηκότα, τὸν δὲ προθύμως ὑπουργήσαντα, ὡς κακῶν ὑπηρέτην. Πῶς ἄν τις μᾶλλον ἐφάνη χρηστὸς ὢν, ἢ Θεῷ δῶρα προσφέρειν ἄξιος; Οὐ γὰρ ἔφθανε κεκινημένος πολλάκις, καὶ ὑπεραπελογεῖτο τοῦ κινήσαντος, ἐρυθριῶν ὡς οἰκείοις, τοῖς ἐκείνου πταίσμασιν.