Gregory the Dialogist : On the contrary, sinners eagerly desire to cross over to the teachers when they are plunged into such profound blindness that they strive to convert even the preachers themselves to the example of imitating their own depravity. For they are prone to evil, impenitent in heart, and they do not shrink from staining others with the leprosy of sin which they have put on. Of whom the wise man speaks, saying: "They rejoice when they have done evil, and exult in the worst things" (Prov. 2:14). And likewise the Prophet, prophesying about these, says: "They have proclaimed their sin like Sodom" (Isa. 3:9). What then does it mean when he says: "Let us stand in our place"? It is as if he were saying: If we cannot win them over, let us preserve ourselves in good conduct. For our place is good conduct, about which place it is written elsewhere: "If the spirit of one having power rises against you, do not leave your place" (Eccl. 10:4). Indeed this place must be guarded not only from the spirit but also from man, because that spirit not only confronts us by himself but also fights against us through man. But if our place is the Lord, when evil people set themselves against us, let us persist in our place, because when the incorrigible do not receive the warnings of preachers, the preachers themselves must carefully watch that no examples of those people may reach them. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4