XIV.  And if I am doing wrong in this, that when tyrannized over I endure it, forgive me this wrong; I have borne to be tyrannized over by others too; and I am thankful that my moderation has brought upon me the charge of folly.  For I reckon thus, using considerations altogether higher than any of yours; what a mere fraction are these trials of the spittings and blows which Christ, for Whom and by Whose aid we encounter these dangers, endured.  I do not count them, taken altogether, worth the one crown of thorns which robbed our conqueror of his crown, for whose sake also I learn that I am crowned for the hardness of life.  I do not reckon them worth the one reed by which the rotten empire was destroyed; of the gall alone, the vinegar alone, by which we were cured of the bitter taste; of the gentleness alone which He shewed in His Passion.  Was He betrayed with a kiss?  He reproves with a kiss, but smites not.  Is he suddenly arrested?  He reproaches indeed, but follows; and if through zeal thou cuttest off the ear of Malchus with the sword, He will be angry, and will restore it.  And if one flee in a linen sheet,24    Mark xiv. 51. he will defend him.  And if you ask for the fire of Sodom upon his captors, he will not pour it forth; and if he take a thief hanging upon the cross for his crime he will bring him into Paradise through His Goodness.  Let all the acts of one that loves men be loving, as were all the sufferings of Christ, to which we could add nothing greater than, when God even died for us, to refuse on our part to forgive even the smallest wrongs of our fellowmen.

ΙΔʹ. Εἰ δὲ, ὅτι τυραννούμενος φέρω, τοῦτο ἀδικῶ, χαρίσασθέ μοι τὴν ἀδικίαν ταύτην, καὶ ὑπ' ἄλλων ἤνεγκα τυραννούμενος: καὶ χάρις, ὅτι τὴν ἐπιείκειαν ἐνεκλήθην, ὡς ἄνοιαν. Λογίζομαι γὰρ οὕτω, λίαν ὑψηλοτέροις ἢ καθ' ὑμᾶς λογισμοῖς χρώμενος: Πόσον μέρος ταῦτα τῶν ἐμπτυσμάτων Χριστοῦ καὶ ῥαπισμάτων, ὑπὲρ οὗ καὶ δι' ὃν οἱ κίνδυνοι; Ἑνὸς οὐ τιμῶμαι πάντα τοῦ ἀκανθίνου στεφάνου, ὃς τὸν νικητὴν ἡμῶν ἀπεστεφάνωσε, δι' οὗ καὶ μανθάνω τῇ τοῦ βίου τραχύτητι στεφανούμενος: ἑνὸς τοῦ καλάμου, δι' οὗ τὸ σαθρὸν κράτος ἐπαύσατο: μιᾶς τῆς χολῆς, ἑνὸς ὄξους, δι' ὧν τὴν πικρὰν γεῦσιν ἐθεραπεύθημεν: μιᾶς τῆς ἐν τῷ πάθει μακροθυμίας. Ἂν φιλήματι προδοθῇ, ἐλέγχει μὲν, οὐ πλήττει δέ. Ἂν ἄφνω συλληφθῇ, ὀνειδίζει μὲν, ἕπεται δέ: κἂν μαχαίρᾳ Μάλχου τέμνῃς τὸ ὠτίον διὰ ζῆλον, ἀγανακτήσει, καὶ ἀποκαταστήσει: κἂν ἐν σινδόνι τις φεύγῃ, περιστελεῖ: κἂν πῦρ αἰτήσῃς Σοδομιτικὸν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄγοντας, οὐκ ἐπικλύσει: κἂν λῃστὴν λάβῃ διὰ κακίαν κρεμάμενον, εἰς τὸν παράδεισον εἰσάγει διὰ χρηστότητα. Πάντα ἔστω τὰ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου φιλάνθρωπα, ὡς δὲ καὶ τῶν Χριστοῦ παθημάτων, οἷς τί τῶν μειζόνων ἂν δοίημεν, εἰ Θεοῦ καὶ θανατωθέντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, αὐτοὶ τοῖς ὁμοίοις μηδὲ τὰ σμικρὰ συγχωρήσαιμεν;