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| His Forbearance with Unreasonable Men.
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Chapter
XLV.—His Forbearance with Unreasonable
Men.
Moreover he endured with patience some who were exasperated against
himself, directing them in mild and gentle terms to control themselves,
and not be turbulent. And some of these respected his admonitions, and
desisted; but as to those who proved incapable of sound judgment, he
left them entirely at the disposal of God, and never himself desired
harsh measures against any one. Hence it naturally happened that the
disaffected in Africa reached such a pitch of violence as even to
venture on overt acts of audacity;3144
| 3144 Compare Prolegomena, under Life and
Works. | some evil
spirit, as it seems probable, being jealous of the present great
prosperity, and impelling these men to atrocious deeds, that he might
excite the emperor’s anger against them. He gained nothing,
however, by this malicious conduct; for the emperor laughed at these
proceedings, and declared their origin to be from the evil one;
inasmuch as these were not the actions of sober persons, but of
lunatics or demoniacs; who should be pitied rather than punished; since
to punish madmen is as great folly as to sympathize with their
condition is supreme philanthropy.3145
| 3145 [This passage in the text is defective or
corrupt.—Bag.] What is given is substantially the
conventional translation of Valesius, Heinichen, Molzberger, and
with some variation, 1709 and Bag. It is founded,
however, on a conjectural reading, and reluctating against this, a
suggestion may be hazarded—“an excessive philanthropy for
the folly of the insane, even to the point of sympathy for
them.” | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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