I have always held my peace, I have I kept silence, I have been patient, I will speak now as a woman in labour: I will destroy, and swallow up at once.
Basil of Caesarea
Still, the saying of Isaiah has come to my mind: "I have kept silence; I shall not always keep silence and endure, shall I? I have been as patient as a woman in labor." May it be that we both receive the reward for our silence and acquire some power for refuting, so that, when we have given our proofs, we may dry up this bitter torrent of falsehood poured out against us. May we say, "Our souls have passed through a torrent," and, "If it has not been that the Lord was with us, when people rose up against us, perhaps they had swallowed us up alive, perhaps the waters had swallowed us up."
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.