Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume IV/Donatist Controversy/Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist/Book II/Chapter 92

200.&#160; said:&#160; "Where is the saying of the Lord Christ, &#8216;Whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also&#8217;? &#160; Where is the patience which He displayed when they spat upon His face, who Himself with His most holy spittle opened the eyes of the blind?&#160; Where is the saying of the Apostle Paul, &#8216;If a man smite you in the face?&#8217;&#160; Where is that other saying of the same apostle, &#8216;In stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft&#8217;? &#160; He makes mention of the sufferings which he underwent, not of the deeds which he performed.&#160; It had been enough for the Christian faith that these things should be done by the Jews:&#160; why do you, wretched men, do these others in addition?"

201.&#160; answered:&#160; Is it then really so, that when men smite you on the one cheek, you turn to them the other?&#160; This is not the report that your furious bands won for you by wandering everywhere throughout the whole of Africa with dreadful wickedness.&#160; I would fain have it that men should make a bargain with you, that, in accordance with the old law, you should seek but "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," instead of bringing out cudgels in return for the words which greet your ears.