633 chapter 18: the bell of the mystical temple name by either the pen or his tongue. Basil the Great152 rightly impels us to do this when he says: “One must not be silent in the face of calumnies, not that we take vengeance by contradiction, but that we do not permit the unhindered spreading of a lie or allow those who have been led astray to remain in their damage” (ep. 65).153 Yet I do not advise you to avenge with severe punishment a trivial defamation, but rather disregard it, since such barking dogs cannot bite you. A frequent vice found in many is to slander another’s good name, since they have none themselves; which owl loves the light or praises it? But there are not a few who want to become famous by another’s disgrace. Hence even Christ himself, the supreme perfection, was not wholly free from impudent and biting tongues, as the imitator [of Christ]154 rightly speaks in his person: “I have often heard many complaints against Me; I willingly sustained disgrace and insults: in return for benefits I received ingratitude; for miracles—blasphemies; for my teaching—censures” (l. 3, c. 18).155 And what is to be said about the fact that for the most part those who desire to be lovable to God alone become odious to many people? Wherefore Paul, the Teacher of this world remarkably declared: “If I were still trying to please people,” (he says), “I would not be serving Christ” (Gal 1:10). And you, “when you are living an upright life, pay no attention to the words of evil men.”156 Yet more tasty than Cato’s morsel is this one which someone offered me as seasoned most pleasantly with the example of Paul: “Many are given to much talking, and therefore 152 St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church, (d. 379). 153 St. Basil the Great, Letter 207 (sic!): PG 32, 759 (n. 309). A very different translation from the original Greek text into Latin should be noted in PG: “But because slanders should not be ignored in silence; our intention is not to gain revenge by contradiction, but lest we allow the lie to advance and those who have been misled from suffering harm. . .” (PG). 154 See Ch. III, footnote 42 (p. 584). 155 IC, Bk. III, Ch. 18, § 1. 156 Cato Marcus Porcius, Censorinus (d. 149 B.C.), Roman writer and politician, in: The sayings of Cato that Are Commonly Entitled the Moral Distichs of Cato, edited by Geyza Nemethy, Budapest 1895, p. 28: Distichs, Book III, 2.
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