Letter 1130: Anger is a fire: useful when controlled, devastating when unleashed.

To Artemidoros. On the words, "He set himself in every way that is not good" [Psalm 35:5 LXX]; and on the words, "His soul shall be blessed in his life" [Psalm 48:18 LXX]. The phrase "He set himself in every way that is not good," spoken concerning a sinful man, means: he was given over [to it], he pleaded its cause, he argued in its defense. For just as an irresistible orator, standing before the judges, exercises his own art on behalf of those who are in need of help, so that man too did not decline to plead for wickedness with all his strength. But the phrase "His soul shall be blessed in his life," spoken again concerning a most wicked man, has this meaning: He shall be well spoken of, that is, he shall be praised, he shall be extolled, he shall be called blessed. For "blessing" (eulogia), derived from "to speak well" (eu legein), indicates good report. For since many, because the judgment of affairs has been corrupted in them, praise and call blessed those who, being righteous, ought rather to be lamented and bewailed, because such men exult in wealth and enjoy luxury, even though they commit countless evils for which, a little later, they will be required to give an account, not considering this but looking to their present enjoyment: the Melodist [the Psalmist], mocking the corrupted judgment of these people-and showing that they not only fail to rebuke sinners and not only flatter them, but, if it should be necessary, to gratify those men they even abuse virtue itself and revile it-said that "His soul shall be blessed in his life." And as for the addition, "in his life," it is said because after death he shall be punished; for this too is what the following words indicate: "For he shall enter into the generation of his fathers." But he who is to enter does not pass into non-existence, as some suppose; rather, he shall be shut up in a place where, plainly, he shall not see light forever; for in the unquenchable darkness he shall be imprisoned together with those who extolled him, required to give an account of the things he did.

Εἰς τὸ, « Παρέστη πάσῃ ὁδῷ οὐκ ἀγαθῇ·» καὶ εἰς τό, « Ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ εὐλογη- θήσεται. » Τὸ μὲν, « Παρέστη πάσῃ ὁδῷ οὐκ ἀγαθῇ, » περὶ ἁμαρτωλοῦ εἰρημένον ἀνδρός, ἐδοθήθησεν ἐστὶ, συν- ηγόρησεν, ἐδικαιολογήσατο. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἄμαχος ῥήτωρ τοῖς δικάζουσι παρεστὼς, ὑπὲρ τῶν βοηθείας δεομένων τὴν οἰκείαν κινεῖ τέχνην· οὕτω κἀκεῖνος παντὶ σθένει τῇ κακίᾳ συνηγορῆσαι οὐ παρῃτήσατο. Τὸ δὲ, « Ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ εὐλογη- θήσεται, » περὶ κακίστου πάλιν ἀνδρὸς εἰρημένον, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Εὖ λεχθήσεται, ἀντὶ τοῦ, ἐπαινεθή- σεται, ἐγκωμιασθήσεται, μακαρισθήσεται. Ἡ γὰρ εὐλογία, παρὰ τὸ εὖ λέγειν, τὴν εὐφημίαν μηνύει. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πολλοὶ, ἐῷ τὴν κρίσιν τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτοῖς διεφθάρθαι, ἐπαινοῦσι καὶ μακαρίζουσι τοὺς ταλανίζεσθαι καὶ θρηνεῖσθαι δικαίους ὄντας, διὰ τὸ πλούτῳ κομᾷν, καὶ τρυφῆς ἀπολαύειν, κἂν μυρία δρῷεν κακὰ, ὧν καὶ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἀπαιτηθήσονται δίκας οὐκ ἐννοοῦντες (99), ἀλλὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ἀπό- λαυσιν βλέποντες· τὴν τούτων κρίσιν τὴν διεφθαρ- μένην κωμῳδῶν ὁ Μελῳδὸς, καὶ ὅτι οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐπιτιμῶσι τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν, οὐδὲ μόνον κολα- κεύουσιν· ἀλλ᾽ εἰ δέοι πρὸς χάριν ἐκείνων καὶ αὐτὴν καχύνασθαι τὴν ἀρετὴν, κακίζουσι δέ (1)· ἔφη, ὅτι «Ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ εὐλογηθήσεται.» Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὸ, ἐν τῇ ζωῇ, εἴρηται· μετὰ θάνατον γὰρ κολασθήσεται· τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ τὸ ἑξῆς μηνύει· «Εἰσ- ελεύσεται γὰρ εἰς γενεὰν πατέρων αὐτοῦ.» Ὁ δὲ εἰσελευσόμενος, οὐκ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν χωρεῖ, ὡς οἴονταί τινες· ἀλλ᾽ ἐν χώρᾳ κατακλεισθήσεται, ἐν ᾗ δηλο- νότι ἕως αἰῶνος οὐκ ὄψεται φῶς· ἐν γὰρ τῷ σκότῳ τῷ ἀσέστῳ μετὰ τῶν ἐγκωμιασάντων καθειρχθή- σεται, δίκας ὧν ἔδρασεν ἀπαιτηθησόμενος.