Ambrose of Milan, on Prov 18:17

“The just is first accuser of himself: his friend cometh, and shall search him.”

“The just man indeed notices his own frailty more than the unjust man; and the wise man recognizes, while the foolish man does not recognize. Finally, the wise man is remorseful for his own failings, while the foolish man takes pleasure in them: the just man accuses himself, the unjust man defends himself. The just man wants to preempt the accuser by confessing his sin, while the unjust man desires to conceal his sin: the former at the beginning of his speech reveals his error, the latter wraps the sound of accusation in the verbosity of his speech, so as not to reveal his error.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.