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That no one is injured except by himself

Of our father among the saints, John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, a letter written from Cucusus in Cilicia, while he was in exile, that no one can harm the one who does not harm himself, to the blessed

Olympias and to all the faithful.

1 I know indeed that to the more dull-witted, and those who gape at present things, and are nailed to the earth, and are slaves to sensual pleasures, but do not very much hold fast to intellectual ones, this discourse will seem to be some new and strange thing, and they will laugh heartily and condemn us, as saying unbelievable things from the very preface of our promise. Nevertheless, we will not for this reason abandon our declaration, but for this very reason above all we will proceed with great earnestness to the proofs of what we have promised. For if those so disposed are willing not to make a disturbance or cause confusion, but to await the end of the discourse, I know well that they will stand with us and will condemn themselves as having been deceived for the time before, and will sing a recantation and make an apology and ask for pardon for the incorrect judgment they had about these matters, and will be very grateful to us, just as the sick are to their physicians, when they are freed from the diseases that besiege their body. For do not tell me the judgment that now possesses you, but wait for the arguments of our discourse as well, and then you will be able to cast an impartial vote, in no way being harmed by ignorance in judging the truth. Since even judges who sit over these worldly matters do not tolerate, even if they see the first orator flowing forcefully and overwhelming everything with his tongue, casting their vote without also having heard the other who stands against him with long-suffering, but, even if the first seems to speak justly ten thousand times, they keep their hearing untouched for the second, since this too is a virtue of judges, having learned the arguments from both sides with all accuracy, then to bring forward their own, since therefore now, instead of some orator, the common prejudice of the many, rooted over a long time in the minds of the many, declares these things throughout the whole world, saying: Everything, it says, has become upside down, the race of men is filled with great confusion, and every day many are wronged, insulted, violated, harmed, the weak by the more powerful, the poor by the rich; and just as it is not possible to count the waves of the sea, so neither is it possible to count the multitude of those who are plotted against, those who are insulted, those who suffer evil, and neither the correction of laws, nor the fear of courts, nor anything else has stopped this plague and this disease, but every day the evil increases, and everywhere there are wailings and lamentations and tears of those who are wronged; and the judges appointed to correct such things themselves intensify the storm and aggravate the disease; and many of the more wretched and foolish, seized by some new madness, accuse the providence of God, seeing the gentle man often being dragged, torn apart, strangled, while the insolent and dishonorable man from a dishonorable family becomes rich and is clothed with power, becoming fearsome to the many and inflicting countless terrible things on the more gentle, and these things being dared in cities and in countries and in deserts and on land and on sea, therefore this discourse of ours necessarily comes in, standing in opposition to what has been said and a contest

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Quod nemo laeditur nisi a se ipso

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου ἐπιστολὴ γραφεῖσα ἀπὸ Κουκουσοῦ τῆς Κιλικίας, ὄντος αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐξορίᾳ, ὅτι τὸν ἑαυτὸν μὴ ἀδικοῦντα οὐδεὶς παραβλάψαι δυνήσεται, πρὸς τὴν μακαρίαν

Ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ πρὸς πάντας τοὺς πιστούς.

1 Οἶδα μὲν ὅτι τοῖς παχυτέροις καὶ πρὸς τὰ παρόντα κεχηνόσιν καὶ τῇ γῇ προσηλωμένοις καὶ αἰσθηταῖς μὲν δουλεύουσιν ἡδοναῖς, τῶν δὲ νοερῶν οὐ σφόδρα ἀντεχομένοις, καινός τις καὶ παράδοξος ὁ λόγος οὗτος εἶναι δόξει καὶ γελάσονται δαψιλὲς καὶ καταγνώσονται ἡμῶν, ὡς ἀπίθανα λεγόντων ἐκ προοιμίων τῆς ὑποσχέσεως. Οὐ μὴν διὰ τοῦτο ἀποστησόμεθα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο μάλιστα ἐπὶ τὰς ἀποδείξεις ὧν ὑπεσχόμεθα μετὰ πολλῆς βαδιούμεθα τῆς σπουδῆς. Ἂν γὰρ βουληθῶσιν οἱ οὕτω διακείμενοι μὴ θορυβεῖν μηδὲ ταράττειν, ἀλλὰ ἀναμένειν τοῦ λόγου τὸ τέλος, εὖ οἶδ' ὅτι μεθ' ἡμῶν στήσονται καὶ ἑαυτῶν καταγνώσονται ὡς τὸν ἔμπροσθεν ἠπατημένοι χρόνον καὶ παλινῳδίαν ᾄσονται καὶ ἀπολογήσονται καὶ συγγνώμην αἰτήσονται ὑπὲρ ὧν οὐκ ὀρθὴν περὶ τῶν πραγμάτων ἔσχον τὴν ψῆφον καὶ χάριν ἡμῖν εἴσονται πολλήν, ὥσπερ οἱ κάμνοντες τοῖς ἰατροῖς, ἐπειδὰν τῶν νοσημάτων ἀπαλλαγῶσι τῶν τὸ σῶμα πολιορκούντων αὐτοῖς. Μὴ γάρ μοι τὴν νῦν κατέχουσαν παρὰ σοὶ κρίσιν λέγε, ἀλλὰ ἀναμεῖνον καὶ τῶν λόγων τῶν ἡμετέρων τοὺς ἀγῶνας, καὶ τότε δυνήσῃ τὴν ψῆφον ἀδέκαστον ἐνεγκεῖν, οὐδὲν ἐξ ἀγνοίας εἰς τὸ τἀληθῆ κρίνειν παραβλαπτόμενος. Ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ ἐπὶ τῶν βιωτικῶν τούτων πραγμάτων καθήμενοι δικασταὶ οὐκ ἀνέχονται, κἂν σφοδρῶς ῥέοντα ἴδωσι τὸν πρότερον ῥήτορα καὶ πάντα ἐπικλύζοντα τῇ γλώττῃ, μὴ καὶ θατέρου μετὰ μακροθυμίας ἀκούσαντες τοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἱσταμένου τὴν ψῆφον ἐνεγκεῖν, ἀλλά, κἂν μυριάκις ὁ πρότερος δοκῇ δίκαια λέγειν, ἀνέπαφον τὴν ἀκοὴν καὶ τῷ δευτέρῳ τηροῦσιν, ἐπειδήπερ καὶ αὕτη δικασ τῶν ἐστιν ἀρετή, τὰ παρ' ἑκατέρων μαθόντας μετ' ἀκριβείας ἁπάσης, τότε τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν ἐπάγειν, ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ νῦν ἀντὶ ῥήτορός τινος ἡ κοινὴ τῶν πολλῶν πρόληψις καὶ ἐν μακρῷ χρόνῳ ῥιζωθεῖσα παρὰ ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν διανοίαις ταῦτα κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν ῥητορεύει λέγουσα· Πάντα, φησίν, ἄνω καὶ κάτω γέγονε, πολλῆς συγχύσεως τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐμπέπλησται γένος καὶ πολλοὶ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν οἱ ἀδικούμενοι, οἱ ἐπηρεαζόμενοι, οἱ βιαζόμενοι, οἱ βλαπτόμενοι, οἱ ἀσθενεῖς παρὰ τῶν δυνατωτέρων, οἱ πένητες παρὰ τῶν πλουσίων· καὶ ὥσπερ τὰ κύματα τῆς θαλάττης οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμεῖν, οὕτως οὐδὲ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπιβουλευομένων, τῶν ἐπηρεαζομένων, τῶν κακῶς πασχόντων καὶ οὔτε νόμων διόρθωσις, οὔτε δικαστηρίων φόβος, οὔτε ἄλλο οὐδὲν τὸν λοιμὸν τοῦτον ἔστησε καὶ τὴν νόσον, ἀλλὰ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν αὐξάνεται τὸ κακὸν καὶ οἰμωγαὶ πανταχοῦ καὶ θρῆνοι καὶ δάκρυα τῶν ἀδικουμένων· καὶ οἱ ταχθέντες τὰ τοιαῦτα διορθοῦν δικασταὶ αὐτοὶ τὸν χειμῶνα ἐπιτείνουσι καὶ τὴν νόσον ἐπιτρίβουσι· πολλοὶ δὲ ἐντεῦθεν τῶν ἀθλιωτέρων καὶ ἀνοητοτέρων, καινήν τινα μανέντες μανίαν, τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ κατηγοροῦσι προνοίας, ὁρῶντες τὸν μὲν ἐπιεικῆ πολλάκις ἑλκόμενον, σπαραττόμενον, ἀγχόμενον, τὸν δὲ θρασὺν καὶ ἄτιμον καὶ ἐξ ἀτίμων πλουτοῦντα καὶ δυναστείαν περιβεβλημένον, φοβερόν τε τοῖς πολλοῖς γενόμενον καὶ μυρία προστριβόμενον τοῖς ἐπιεικεστέροις δεινά, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν πόλεσι καὶ ἐν χώραις καὶ ἐν ἐρημίαις καὶ ἐν γῇ καὶ ἐν θαλάττῃ τολμώμενα, ἀναγκαῖος οὖν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος οὗτος εἰσέρχεται, ἀπεναντίας τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἱστάμενος καὶ ἀγῶνα