Tertullian · a new plain-English translation from the original language
[1] So fit a broker for patience is God: if you lodge an injury with him, he is its avenger; if a loss, he is its restorer; if a pain, he is its physician; if a death, he is its raiser to life. How much scope is patience given, that it should hold God as its debtor! [2] And not undeservedly. For it guards all his decrees, has a hand in every one of his commandments: it fortifies faith, steers peace, assists love, instructs humility, awaits repentance, ratifies confession, rules the flesh, keeps watch over the spirit, curbs the tongue, holds back the hand, crushes underfoot temptations, drives off scandals, brings martyrdoms to their completion; [3] it consoles the poor man, tempers the rich, does not overstretch the weak, does not wear out the strong, delights the faithful, invites the pagan in; it commends the slave to his master, the master to God, adorns the woman, approves the man; it is loved in the boy, praised in the young man, looked up to in the old man; in every sex, at every age, it is beautiful!
[4] Come now, let us try to grasp its very likeness and bearing. Its face is tranquil and calm, its brow clear, creased by no wrinkle of grief or anger; its eyebrows relaxed into a cheerful cast, its eyes cast down in humility, not in misfortune; [5] its mouth sealed with the dignity of silence, its color that of the untroubled and the innocent, its head turning often against the devil, its smile menacing; and besides, a robe white about the breast and close to the body, befitting one neither puffed up nor restless. [6] For enthroned there sits its spirit, gentlest and most mild, which is not whipped into a whirlwind, does not darken into cloud, but is of a tender serenity, open and simple — the very spirit that Elijah saw the third time. For wherever God dwells, there also is patience found beside him, his own nursling, naturally. [7] So when the Spirit of God descends, patience accompanies him inseparably. If we do not receive her along with the Spirit, will he stay in us forever? No — I doubt he will persist much longer: without his companion and minister he is bound to be troubled at every place and time; whatever his enemy inflicts he will not be able to bear alone, lacking the very instrument of endurance!