Letter 81: When anger snaps the reins of the guiding reason, it drags a person's mind far beyond the boundaries of nature.

On the chambers [i.e. the bedchambers, the sexual crimes]. That those who, in accordance with God's will, drew up in battle against the men at Gibeah on account of the fornication were not unjustly overcome and destroyed. Those who went up to take vengeance for the fornication of Benjamin at Gibeah [the outrage of the Levite's concubine, Judges 19-20], having undertaken the war in accordance with God's will, did not, as you suppose, fail of the victory unjustly; but since with a righteous Judge there can be no battle-line drawn up out of unjust men, righteousness exacted justice for what had been dared. For those who had worse deeds to their account, and far greater than the crime that had then been committed, rose up as though they were innocent, agreeing together for the slaughter of their brothers. But they learned by experience: "Hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to cast out the splinter from your brother's eye." Therefore the adulterers, since they were proclaiming that men should not commit adultery while being refuted by their own works, themselves paid a fitting penalty in the war. But those who had no share in the charges of fornication, having no such idol within themselves, achieved a brilliant victory.

Τῶν κοιτῶν. Ὅτι διὰ τὴν πορνείαν τοῖς ἐν Γαβαᾷ κατὰ γνώμην θεοῦ παραταξάμενοι οὐκ ἀδίκως ἀλόντες ἐφθάρησαν. Οἱ τὴν πορνείαν Βενιαμὶν ἀναβάντες ἐν Γαβρᾷ (81) τιμωρήσασθαι, κατὰ γνώμην θεοῦ τοῦ πολέμου ἁψάμενοι, οὐκ ἀδίκως, ὡς οἴει, τῆς νίκης ἀπέτυχον· ἀλλ’ ἐπειδὴ δικαίῳ κριτῇ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐξ ἀδίκων παράταξις, δικαιοσύνην τὸ τολμηθὲν ἐξεδίκησεν. Οἱ γὰρ χείρους ἔχοντες πράξεις, καὶ πολλῷ μείζους τῆς τότε γεγενημένης, ὡς ἀθῷοι πρὸς τὸν φόνον τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὁμονοήσαντες ἀνέστησαν. Ἀλλ’ ἔμαθον τῇ πείρᾳ, «Ὑποκριτὰ, ἔκβαλε πρῶτον τὴν δοκὸν ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ σου, καὶ τότε διαβλέψεις ἐκβαλεῖν τὸ κάρφος ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου.» Οἱ τοίνυν μοιχοὶ ἐπειδὴ μὴ μοιχεύειν ἐκήρυσσον, ὑπὸ τῶν ἔργων ἐξελεγχόμενοι, αὐτοὶ μὲν ἀξίαν ποινὴν τῷ πολέμῳ ἀπέτισαν. Οἱ δὲ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων τῆς πορνείας ἀμέτοχοι, οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς εἰδωλον ἔχοντες, λαμπρὰν τὴν νίκην ἐργάσαντο.