Chapter V.
Joseph was admired not for his beauty, but more for his modesty. He was enamored by his master's wife through no fault of his own, and when she tried to seduce him and accused him of assault, he rejected her advances and fled, leaving his clothes behind and making himself more presentable. However, even though she retained his clothes and falsely accused him, it was she who exposed her own shame. Nevertheless, Joseph was thrown into prison, but there he was not abandoned by divine protection.
22. But what should I say about the arrangement of his private house, which he governed? However, he accomplished more by ruling himself before others. And even though he was attractive in appearance and very handsome, he did not use the beauty of his face to cause harm to others, but preserved it for his own grace. He believed himself to be more beautiful if he could prove himself more attractive through modesty and the cultivation of chastity rather than through the loss of his virtue. He considered true beauty to be one that didn't attract the eyes of others or harm fragile minds, but gained the admiration and judgment of everyone, being of no deceit and deserving praise. Now, if anyone with impudent eyes looked, the fault is of the one who saw improperly, not of the one who did not want to be seen improperly; and there is no fault in what was seen. It was not in the power of the servant not to be seen: the husband should have guarded the eyes of his wife. If he had no fear about his wife, this man believed it to be a testimony of modesty, not a laxity of behavior. However, men should learn to even guard the eyes of women. For even those who do not want to be loved are attracted. Finally, Joseph was tempted by a woman who scorned his love. And Scripture defended him well, saying: 'And his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph' (Gen. XXXIX, 7); that is, he did not display himself, nor did he take advantage. But she cast her own snares and was caught in her own trap. She spread her own nets and became entangled in her own chains.
23. However, he said to her: Sleep with me (Ibid.). The first weapons of the adulteress are her eyes, the second, her words. But he who is not captured by her eyes can resist her words. There is a defense available where the affection is still free. Therefore it is written that he did not want to (Ibid., 8). Therefore, he first conquered in the battle of the mind, repelling the attacking enemy like a shield of the soul: then he brandished his speech like a spear, to call her back. And he said to the wife of his master (Ibid.). Indeed, the wife of the master is not called the mistress herself who could not extract what she wanted to command. For how can she be the mistress, who did not have the effect of dominating, who did not maintain the discipline of the mistress, who provided incentives of lust to the slaves? That master who did not receive the torches of the lover, who did not feel the chains of the seducer, whom no fear of death terrified, who preferred to die free from crime rather than choose the partnership of criminal power. That book, which considers it shameful not to repay a favor. Finally, he does not excuse himself as fearful, nor does he guard against danger as a timid person would; but he flees from the crime of ingratitude and shrinks from the stain of sin and the contamination of guilt, as if just. The third spear was being wielded by the adulteress with persistent interruption, but Joseph did not listen to her. You have what to beware of after the first words. Lust is not only slippery, but also shameless, impudent, and insolent, and the adulteress has no reason to fear. She who did not grieve for the first damages of modesty, plots in order to capture.
Finally, for the sake of his duties and the task entrusted to him, Joseph, removing all witnesses and household members, approaches him, saying: 'Sleep with me.' Joseph is excused by the testimony of Scripture, because he was unable to abandon the service entrusted to him by the Lord. It is not enough that he, secure in himself, entered the interior of the house as if he could not be caught. The righteous man should have taken care not to give occasion to the furious one, lest his wife should perish because of that sin. But Joseph, who saw that his master's wife was an adversary to him, should have also guarded against the offense of neglecting his duty from the Lord. At the same time, he thought that her audacity was not comprehension but mere conversation.
25. It is excused that he entered; it is preached that he slipped away, and he did not value the clothing of the body more than the chastity of the soul. He left behind as if not his own what the adulteress detained with her own hands, and he judged as belonging to others what could be grasped by the touch of impure hands. Yet he was a great man, who did not know the mindset of a sold slave, did not love the one who loved him, did not agree when asked, and escaped when captured. When he happened to meet with the wife of his master, he could be restrained by his garments, but not by his mind. And he did not even tolerate her words for a long time, for he feared that the infection would be deemed to last longer; so that the incentives of adulterous lust would not pass through the hands. And so he took off his garment, cast off his guilt, and leaving behind the things that held him, he fled stripped, indeed, but not naked, he who was covered with the garment of modesty. For no one is naked unless guilt has stripped him. Indeed, in the example of Adam, after he deserted the commandments of God through transgression and contracted the heavy atmosphere of sin, he was naked. Hence he himself says: I heard your voice in Paradise, and I was afraid because I am naked, and I hid myself (Gen. III, 10). For he came to realize that he was naked, having lost the garments of divine protection. And therefore he hid himself, because he did not have the garment of faith, which he certainly laid aside by transgressing. You see a great thing here. He who did not lose his tunic was naked: this one was not naked, who stripped himself of the clothes which he left in the hands of the adulterous woman. The same Scripture declares him naked, but denies this one. And therefore this one rather stripped himself than was made naked, who preserved the incorruptible garments of virtues, stripping himself of the old man with his actions; so that he might put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of the Creator. However, he remained naked, unable to dress himself again, stripped of his singular virtue. Thus, he received a cloak made of fur; because a sinner could not possess a spiritual one. Therefore, Joseph left behind his clothes and exposed the shamelessness of the adulteress, who could no longer hide afterwards.
26. Finally, she went out and publicly declared the temptations of her adultery, raising her voice; because, having abandoned her clothes, the Hebrew had fled. Therefore, what she should have kept hidden, she revealed; in order to harm the innocent with her fabricated accusation. But the just man did not know how to accuse; and therefore she shamelessly committed this act with impunity. So, her true nature can be said to have been revealed, even as she wore someone else's clothes, having lost all the veils of chastity: him, well-adorned enough, well-defended enough, whose voice was not heard, but innocence spoke. Thus, Susanna, afterwards, while she remains silent in court, speaks better through the oracle; and therefore she deserved the defense of the prophets, which she did not seek as help from her own voice. Therefore, I would say that she was more blessed when she was thrown into prison; because she was undergoing martyrdom for chastity. For chastity is indeed a good gift, but it has less merit when it does not face danger; but where it is also defended by the danger of salvation, there it is more fully rewarded.
27. In a heard case, with the faith of the truth unexplored, Joseph is sent to prison as if guilty of the crime; but the Lord did not abandon him even in prison. The innocent should not be disturbed when they are sought after with false accusations; when oppressed justice is thrust into prison. God visits his own even in prison; and therefore, there is more help where there is more danger. But why would it be surprising if Christ visits those in prison, since he himself mentioned being imprisoned in his own words, as it is written: 'I was in prison, and you did not visit me' (Matthew 25:43)? Where does divine mercy not penetrate? Joseph found such favor that he, who had been locked in prison, would keep the doors of the prison himself, granted the duty of jailer, and entrusted all the prisoners to his authority. Therefore, Joseph not only did not feel the prison, but also alleviated the suffering of the other prisoners.