other things in like manner. First of all, never slander anyone, nor listen to one who slanders. A But when you hear someone slandering, flee and depart from there, and sit in your house, so that you may not hear him; and lament your sins, so that you may not yourself become like the slanderer and go off into eternal punishment, into the fiery dragons that gnaw upon your tongue. For God said through the Prophet: "Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I persecute" (Ps. C, 5). For "privily" means that which is secret, and when the person is not present. And what is slander? That which you cannot say to his face, but utter behind his back while speaking evil of him—this is slander. B See that you guard your tongue from slander, and from evil, and from every oath and falsehood; and never dare to swear by God, neither justly nor unjustly. For he who swears by God and transgresses the word of the Lord, who said, "Swear not at all, neither by heaven nor by earth" (Matt. V, 34), these who swear go away into eternal punishment with their father, Satan. But see, my brothers, guard the tongue from oaths, from laughter, from vain babbling, from ill-timed business, and from every falsehood; and hereafter let your "yea" be "yea," and your "nay," "nay"; for whatever is more than these is of the evil one (cf. Jas. V, 12). If, however, someone should happen to swear against you, say: "I speak the truth and do not lie," and leave him alone. Do not sit with men and women to talk nonsense, so that you may meet God blamelessly on that day, when He is about to come upon the throne of His glory. C Then the teeth of the slanderers will be crushed by fierce angels. Then the mouths of those who swear will be stopped by unquenchable fire. Then the eyes of those who wink [in intrigue] will be gouged out by merciless and pitiless angels. Then those who laughed will weep bitterly. Then those who babble will groan pitifully, condemned to the river of fire, to the worm that never dies, to the terrible hell, to the outer darkness, to the bitter weeping, to the gnashing of teeth, to the unquenchable furnace. Take heed that you are not condemned to those punishments. Take heed that you are not, for the sake of a fleeting sweetness of this passing world, condemned to eternal punishment for age upon age, into those places of torment. D You, however, if you wish to be saved, and to enter into the kingdom of God, and not to enter into eternal punishment, guard what you hear; and use force upon yourself for its sake even unto death, so that you may be crowned by Christ our God, when He is about to search out all secrets, those in the night and the day, when we are all about to stand naked and exposed before the judgment seat, which is, I think, fearful and shameful... 2. Audi demum sive vir, sive mulier es, et observa quæ sancti tradiderunt apostoli, ut una cum...
A evening enjoyments; and go to the church, and confess to God the sins you have committed. (37) If matters have not gone well for you, nor he been favorable, do not proceed to your work, since it is not blessed: but if he is favorable, then proceed to your work, and God will bless it, that no evil may approach you. When you rise in the morning, make the sign of the venerable and life-giving cross upon all your members; and while walking, lying down, or rising, always say: "Lord Jesus Christ, help me." On Wednesday and Friday, fast. On other days, it is at your discretion to fast or not to fast. However, it is fitting that women should always fast. Be watchful late at night, because the devil brings on irascibility, so that you may fly into a rage and lose your soul. May God give you meekness, that through meekness and almsgiving you may be saved. And observe when the devil flees from you, namely, most especially when he sees the sign of the cross on your forehead, and your mouth, and your heart. B Flee also from fights, whether justly or unjustly instigated, so that you do not lose your soul. For it is written: "A passionate man and a hasty one stirs up fights," and the Lord sends a merciless angel against him. Do not bear a grudge for the injuries of any man, but be without malice like infants. For the Lord said in the Gospels: "Unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Observe, therefore, that children do not fight, but talk with one another. Let all malice be far from us. Therefore, brother, be an imitator of children in regard to malice, that you may be freed from every evil thing. Hear the Apostle saying: "Let not the sun go down upon your anger." Hate excessive talkativeness, and love taciturnity instead. Also pray in your heart, saying: "O God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Hate also wine-drinking and overeating. Hate purgations: flee from dances and tragedies, for these are the games of the devil. C Hate the adornment of garments, nor love softness; but rather humility and cheapness for the sake of God; so that (38) for this reason Christ and our God may clothe you in a robe of glory, a garment of incorruption, a crown of beauty, a kingly diadem; that your soul may then have confidence toward God, saying: "Lord, for the sake of your holy name I suffered much in this vain world, so that I might receive your kingdom and enjoy it, my Lord." Then the Lord Christ will respond, saying: "If you labored little, I have prepared much for you; but enter into the bridal chamber of my glory, and enjoy things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man, which I have prepared for those who love me" and who yearn for my holy name. Then you will enjoy them together with the D choirs of holy angels, and archangels, and martyrs, and all the saints.
A Hæc dicet Dominus Christus iis qui propter nomen suum decertaverint, qui non juraverint, nec furati, fornicati, mentiti fuerint, qui non ad iracundiam vel tristitiam proximum provocarint, qui misericordiam erga pauperes exercuerint, qui non a proximis suis vultum averterint suum. Illi gloria et imperium in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.
ADMONITION CONCERNING THE FIVE FOLLOWING DIALOGUES
1. The codices differ greatly regarding the inscription of these Dialogues: some attribute them to Athanasius, others to Maximus, while others attribute them to no one at all. But before we offer our own opinion on this matter, those who first edited these Dialogues must be heard. B Theodore Beza published this work in Greek and Latin in the year 1570, through the types and efforts of Henri Estienne. Hence, the Commelin family published them in the year 1600, and from then on, they were printed in all Greco-Latin editions. Finally, Combefis published them among the works of Maximus and defended them for Maximus as best he could. Concerning the text, Theodore Beza, who first published it, says this in his preface: "A copy of these five Dialogues, written on very ancient membranes, provided to me by the most honorable senate of this city, was redeemed—by providence rather than by chance—by a certain Greek passing through. I found it mutilated in some places, and in others, though very few, corrupted, except for the fact that *genētos* and *agenētos* were often written for *gennētos* and *agennētos*. The Eunomians played with the swapping of these little words to serve their own cause, which is why I left them in Greek in the first two dialogues until I clearly perceived this error." The first four of these are inscribed to that Athanasius (namely, the Great), even though it was noted in another hand in the margin of the first dialogue: "Some say the present dialogue is by Athanasius, and others say it is by Maximus." And that book also contained some things by Maximus, that is to say, by the man who, many years after Athanasius, refuted the heresy of the Monophysites. C Certainly, in my judgment, they contain nothing unworthy of the name of Athanasius or inconsistent with his times, although it seems that later on, the Apollinarians and the heresy of the Macedonians raged more fiercely, and it was only at an ecumenical council under Theodosius the Great that they were eventually proscribed. The fifth, however, is not so much a dialogue as it is a certain compendium, as it appears, either excerpted by Gregory himself—for instance, the Nazianzen, a fierce opponent of the Apollinarians (as is clear from his own letter to Cledonius)—or from some dispute of his.
There are, however, certainly some obscure points in these Dialogues that require light brought in from elsewhere. Even if this cannot be fulfilled by me now, as I had intended from the beginning, I hope it will be fulfilled shortly, and not without profit. For in them, some testimonies of Scripture are cited not quite appropriately; this happens quite often to all the writers of those times, both Greek and Latin, as they follow in the tracks of their predecessors without inspecting the original locations themselves. In part, this is also because the Greek edition which they call the Septuagint, although false in infinite places, and sometimes even ridiculous and inept, nevertheless held sway in the churches; it is of such great import to draw the truth from the sources themselves. D Add to this the perpetual failing of those times, namely the excessive zeal for allegories, which, as is well known, gave occasion everywhere to the ancients for corrupting many places of Scripture. But the truth of the orthodox doctrine, defended by firm and most solid arguments, will easily cover over all these things.
So far Beza, who spoke less soberly than usual about the LXX version. To these, Felckmann added in the notes of the Commelin edition (p. 84): "To those things which the translator warned of in his preface, it seemed good to add these things. Besides the Estienne edition and that ancient codex which the translator himself used long ago, we also have the Palatine codex, which contained these Dialogues entire, or rather fuller, as was noted on p. 169 (39), and another Palatine and Augustan codex which contain only a fragment of the second dialogue, and that, as it seems, only the genuine part of Athanasius, as we shall say more fully on p. 166. Indeed, the Palatine codex, after the *Diverse Definitions of the Monk Maximus* had been set forth, and after there had been added the definitions of *ousia* and *physis*, of the *enypostatos*, of the *homoousios*, of the *ousiodous* union, and of the difference of the *hypostasis* of the *enousion*, and of other similar theological terms, immediately presents these Dialogues without any mention of any other author." Indeed, Gregory the Protocyncellus (of whom we spoke above on p. 180) expressly attributes these Dialogues to Maximus. This same thing seems to be confirmed by the fact that on p. 180, A, the addition to the Nicene Creed is tacitly hinted at, which was made at the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople under the Emperor Theodosius I, at which time Athanasius had already died. Furthermore, in that inscription, "Of our Father among the Saints Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria," these were not in the old codices, but were added for the sake of equality of the work with the rest of the works. For just as the Palatine, as I said, lacks the name of any author, so too does that ancient one of the translator, which...