No harm can touch the wise
For if he were to speak as a layman and, in an unphilosophical way, take harm to mean harm to possessions, the things called external to us, he would be refuted as one who had not even paid attention to the fine saying of Socrates: “Anytus and Meletus can kill me, but they cannot harm me; for it is not permitted that the better should be harmed by the worse” (Plato, Apology 30c-d). And if by harm he means a movement or a state that accords with vice, it is clear that when a man serves two wise men who live in different places, no harm at all comes to the wise. But if not even this is reasonable, then it is in vain that he has taken up the example as a charge against the saying “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). And all the more will the argument prevail for serving the God of the universe alone, through His Son, who brings us to God.
Moreover, we will worship God not as though He were in need, nor as though He were grieved if we do not worship Him, but because we ourselves are helped by the worship of God, and because we become free from grief and from passion by serving the God over all through His only-begotten Word and Wisdom.
Greek
Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὡς ἰδιώτης λέγοι καὶ ἀφιλόσοφον βλάβην τὴν περὶ χρημάτων τῶν ἐκτὸς ἡμῖν σημαινομένων, ἐλεγχθείη ἂν μηδ᾿ ἐπιστήσας τῷ ὑπὸ Σωκράτους καλῶς εἰρημένῳ ἐν τῷ· „ἐμὲ δὲ Ἄνυτος καὶ Μέλητος ἀποκτεῖναι μὲν δύνανται, βλάψαι δὲ οὔ· οὐ γὰρ θεμιτὸν τὸ κρεῖττον ὑπὸ τοῦ χείρονος βλάπτεσθαι.“ εἰ δὲ βλάβην τὴν κίνησιν ἢ σχέσιν λέγοι κατὰ κακίαν, δῆλον ὅτι οὐδεμιᾶς γινομένης βλάβης περὶ τοὺς σοφοὺς δουλεύει τις ἐν διεστηκόσι τόποις οὖσι δύο σοφοῖς. εἰ δ᾿ οὐδὲ τοῦτο εὔλογον, μάτην αὐτῷ παρείληπται τὸ παράδειγμα κατηγοροῦν τοῦ „οὐδεὶς δύναται δυσὶ κυρίοις δουλεύειν.“ καὶ μᾶλλον ὁ περὶ τῆς (πρὸς) τὸν θεὸν τῶν ὅλων δουλείας μόνον διὰ τοῦ προσάγοντος τῷ θεῷ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ κρατήσει λόγος. ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐχ ὡς δεόμενον τὸν θεὸν θεραπεύσομεν οὐδ᾿ ὡς λυπούμενον, ἂν μὴ θεραπεύωμεν αὐτὸν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς αὐτοὶ ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν θεραπείας ὠφελούμενοι καὶ ἄλυποι καὶ ἀπαθεῖς γινόμενοι ἐκ τοῦ δουλεύειν τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ διὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ λόγου καὶ σοφίας.