Chapter VI.—The
Love of Man.
And Peter answered: “You have deemed
unjust what is most just. If you are inclined, will you listen to
me?” And my father said: “With all my
heart.” And Peter said: “What is your
opinion? Suppose that there were two kings, enemies to each
other, and having their countries cut off from each other; and suppose
that some one of the subjects of one of them were to be caught in the
country of the other, and to incur the penalty of death on this
account: now if he were let off from the punishment by receiving
a blow instead of death, is it not plain that he who let him off is a
lover of man?” And our father said: “Most
certainly.” And Peter said: “Now suppose that
this same person were to steal from some one something belonging to him
or to another; and if when caught he were to pay double, instead of
suffering the punishment that was due to him, namely, paying four times
the amount, and being also put to death, as having been caught in the
territories of the enemy; is it not your opinion that he who accepts
double, and lets him off from the penalty of death, is a lover of
man?” And our father said: “He certainly seems
so.” And Peter said: “Why then? Is it not
the duty of him who is in the kingdom of another, and that, too, a
hostile and wicked monarch, to be pleasing to all for the sake of life, and when force is applied to him, to yield still more, to accost those who do not accost him, to reconcile enemies, not to quarrel with those who are angry, to give his own property freely to all who ask, and such like?” And our father said: “He should with reason endure all things rather, if he prefers life to them.”