Tertullian · a new plain-English translation from the original language
[1] By these powers of patience Isaiah is sawn in two and does not fall silent about the Lord; Stephen is stoned and begs pardon for his enemies. [2] Oh, most blessed too was that man who wiped out every form of impatience against every force of the devil — whom neither the driven-off herds, nor those riches counted in cattle, nor the sons snatched away in a single ruinous blow, nor finally the torment of a wound in his very body, shut out from the fidelity of patience owed to the Lord — whom the devil struck down with all his strength, in vain! [3] For he was not drawn away from regard for God by so many pains, but stood firm as an example and testimony for us of patience to be carried through as much in spirit as in flesh, as much in mind as in body, so that we should not collapse under worldly losses, nor under the loss of those dearest to us, nor even under the batterings of the body itself. [4] What a trophy God erected over the devil out of that man, what a standard he raised over the enemy of his own glory, when that man, at every bitter piece of news, let nothing pass his lips but 'Thanks be to God' — even while he cursed his wife, by now worn out with troubles and urging him toward wicked remedies! [5] What then — did God laugh, did the evil one writhe, when Job scraped away the filthy overflow of his sores with great equanimity, when he playfully called the little worms bursting out of them back into those same pits and pastures of his dug-over flesh! [6] And so that laborer for God's victory, with every dart of temptation blunted by the breastplate and shield of patience, both recovered soon the wholeness of his body from God and possessed, doubled, what he had lost. [7] And if he had wished his sons too restored, he would have been called a father again. But he preferred to have them given back to him on that final day: so untroubled was he in postponing that joy for the Lord's sake, that he endured that voluntary bereavement, rather than live without some measure of patience!