ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΣ ΠΡΩΤΟΣ.
ΠΡΟΣ ΕΥΝOMΙΑΝΟΥΣ
προδιάλεξις.
Πρὸς τοὺς ἐν λόγῳ κομψοὺς ὁ λόγος. καὶ ἵνα ἀπὸ
τῆς γραφῆς ἄρξωμαι· Ἴδου ἐγὼ ἐπὶ σὲ τὴν ὑβρίστριαν.
εἰσὶ γάρ, εἰσί τινες, οἱ τὴν ἀκοὴν προσκνώμενοι καὶ τὴν
γλῶσσαν, ἤδη δέ, ὡς ὁρῶ, καὶ τὴν χεῖρα, τοῖς ἡμετέροις
λόγοις, καὶ χαίροντες ταῖς βεβήλοις κενοφωνίαις, καὶ
ἀντιθέσεσι τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως, καὶ ταῖς εἰς οὐδὲν
χρήσιμον φερούσαις λογομαχίαις. οὕτω γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος
1. 2 ὑβρίστριαν] + καὶ παίδευσιν καὶ ἀκοὴν καὶ διάνοιαν bEl || 4 om τοις
ημ...χαιροωτεσ acd
1. Gr. complains of the verbosity
and contentiousness of his opponents,
unlike the brevity of St Paul. He
wishes they would turn their attention
to practice.
I. πρὸς τοὺς ἐν λόγῳ κομψοὺς ὁ
λόγος] The Eunomians prided themselves
on their dialectical skill. Πρὸς
is not ‘ ’ but ‘ addressed to ’ ;
‘ My argument is addressed to those
who are smart in ’ There
is a shade of sinister suggestion in
the word κομψός.
ib. ἀπὸ τῆς γρ.] It is not Gr.'s
usual custom to take a text.
2. ἰδοὺ κτλ.] Jer. 1 31 (LXX.
xxvii 31 ). The words added in b and
by Elias appear to be interpretative
addition. But the omission of
words clearly required by the sense
a little below throws some doubt on
the authority of acd when they omit
these here. If genuine, the accusatives
express the departments in
which the Eunomians display their
ὕβρις: ‘ Ο thou most proud — in
training, and hearing, and dis-
positon’ The · ἀκοὴν anticipates
the following reference to St ’s
words.
3. τ. ἅκ. προσκνώμενοι] 2 Tim.
iv 3. St ’s word is κνηθόμενοι.
Gr. instinctively substitutes προσκν.
to prepare more easily for τοῖς ἡμ.
λόγοις, ‘ itching for our ’ Of
course they ‘ itch ’ for them in a
different sense from those of whom
St Ρ. speaks.
4. τ. χεῖρα] They are prepared
to fight. Elias understands it of
itching to write against Gr.
5.βεβ. κενοφ. κτλ.] Ι Tim. vi
20; 2 Tim. ii 16 ; cf. 1 Tim. vi 4 and
2 Tim. ii 14.
καλεῖ πᾶν τὸ ἐν λόγῳ περιττὸν καὶ περίεργον, ὁ τοῦ
συντετμημένου λόγου κῆρυξ καὶ βεβαιωτής, ὁ τῶν ἁλιέων
μαθητὴς καὶ διδάσκαλος. οὗτοι δέ, περὶ ὧν ὁ λόγος,
εἴθε μέν, ὥσπερ τὴν γλῶσσαν εὔστροφον ἔχουσι καὶ δεινὴν
ἐπιθέσθαι λόγοις εὐγενεστέροις τε καὶ δοκιμωτέροις, οὕτω
τι καὶ περὶ τὰς πράξεις ἠσχολοῦντο μικρὸν γοῦν, καὶ ἴσως
ἧττον ἂν ἦσαν σοφισταὶ καὶ κυβισταὶ λόγων ἄτοποι καὶ
παράδοξοι, ἵν εἴπω τι καὶ γελοίως περὶ γελοίου πράγματος.
‘Επεὶ δὲ πᾶσαν εὐσεβείας ὁδὸν καταλύσαντες πρὸς
ἓν τοῦτο βλέπουσι μόνον, ὅ τι δήσουσιν ἢ λύσουσι τῶν
6 γοῦν] οὑν d || 7 κυβισται] ’in nonnullis κυβενται.᾿ 2. 10 δησωσιν η
λύσωσι bd
1. περιττὸν κ. περίεργον] perhaps
’excessive in volume, and over-subtle
in character. ’ But the two words are
practically synonymous ; cf. I Tim.
v 13 φλύαροι κ. περίεργοι.
ib. τοῦ συντετμ. λόγου] Rom. ix
28 ; cf. Is. xxviii 22 (LXX.).
2. ὁ τῶν ἅλ’. μαθητὴς κ. διδάσκαλοσ]
as distinguished from the professional
fessional training of the Eunomian
disputants. It is a bold thing, in
the face of Gal. i 12, to call St Ρ.
‘ the ’s disciple ’ : probably
it is for that reason that Gr. adds
‘ and ’ He appears to have
in view such incidents as Gal. ii 14
perhaps also the Pauline influence
discernible in St Peter's Epistles.
4. δεινὴν ἔπιθ’. κτλ.] ’clever at
the employment of noble and choice
’ This way of using the com-
parative is familiar; it almost = nobilissimis
quibusque uerbis.
5. οὕτω τι καί] biting irony. Even
a little attention to conduct would
make a great difference. ‘Aσχολεῖσθαι
σθαι = ‘ to occupy oneself. ’
6. καὶ ἴσως] The phrase means
(continuing the irony) that in that
case the chances would not be very
remote.
7. κυβισταὶ λόγων] ‘ word-tum-blers.'
Κυβιστὴς (more usually κυβιστητήρ)
is one who stands on his
head, or turns head over heels, or
(according to Elias) a diver. The
reading κυβευταὶ ’dicers,’ or ‘sharper's
(cf. Eph. iv 14), would not suggest
the ‘ ridiculous ’ image which Gr.
half apologizes for using.
ib. ἄτοποι κ. παράδοξοι] ‘ strange
and ’ Ἅτοπος does not
seem to be used here, as it often is,
either in the sense of ’absurd,’ i.e.
unreasonable, or in that of ‘monstrous,’
’ i.e. wicked. Gr. only emphasizes
phasizes the surprising nature of the
feats which the Eunomians perform.
2. No part of society is free
from their importunate wrangling;
Christianity is in danger of becoming
a matter of pettifogging logic. The
opponents must give a fatherly heart
leave to express its concern. If they
are not moved by what he says, they
will at least have the satisfaction of
rejecting and deriding it. He does
not intend to adopt their style.
9. καταλύσαντες] ’having ’
stroyed ’ or ‘ broken up ’ ; both for
themselves and for their disciples.
Εὐσέβεια is here practical piety.
10. ὅ τι δήσ. ἢ λῦσ’. τ. προβ.]
’They care for nothing but the opportunity
of tying or untying some
knotty proposition.‘
προβαλλομένων, — καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις οἱ τὰ παλαίσματα
δημοσιεύοντες, καὶ τῶν παλαισμάτων οὐχ ὅσα πρὸς
νίκην φέρει κατὰ νόμους ἀθλήσεως, ἀλλ’ ὅσα τὴν ὄψιν
κλέπτει τῶν ἀμαθῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ συναρπάζει τὸν
ἐπαινέτην,—καὶ καὶ πᾶσαν μὲν ἀγορὰν περιβομβεῖσθαι τοῖς
τούτων λόγοις, πᾶν δὲ συμπόσιον ἀποκναίεσθαι φλυαρίᾳ
καὶ ἀηδίᾳ, πᾶσαν δὲ ἑορτὴν καὶ πένθος ἅπαν, τὴν μὲν
ἀνέορτον εἶναι καὶ μεστὴν κατηφείας, τὸ δὲ παραμυθεῖσθαι
συμφορᾷ μείζονι τοῖς ζητήμασι, πᾶσαν δὲ διοχλεῖσθαι
γυναικωνῖτιν, ἁπλότητι σύντροφον, καὶ τὸ τῆς αἰδοῦς ἄνθος
ἀποσυλᾶσθαι τῇ περὶ λόγον ταχύτητι· ἐπειδὴ ταῦτα οὕτω,
καὶ τὸ κακὸν ἄσχετον καὶ ἀφόρητον, καὶ κινδυνεύει τεχνύδροιν
εἶναι τὸ μέγα ἡμῶν μυστήριον· φέρε, τοσοῦτον γοῦν
ἡμῶν ἀνασχέσθωσαν οἱ κατάσκοποι σπλάγχνοις πατρικοῖς
κινουμένων καί, ὅ φησιν ὁ θεῖος ‘Ιερεμίας, σπαρασσομένων
τὰ αἰσθητήρια, ὅσον μὴ τραχέως τὸν περὶ τούτων δέξασθαι
2. καὶ τῶν πάλ’.] ‘ And that too,
not stick wrestling matches ’ etc.
4. κλέπτει] ‘ takes unfair possession
of the ’ as opposed to the
legitimate skill in wrestling.
ib. τοιαῦτα] ace. after ἀμαθῶν,
‘ not versed in things οf the ’
ib. συναρπ. τ. ἐπαιν. ] an extension
of the metaphor of κλέπτει. ‘ Extorts
applause? lit. ’ the applauder.’
5. περιβομβεῖσθαι] όμβος, orig.
the humming of bees, comes to be
used of any insistent and continuous
noise.
6. ἀποκναίεσθαι] ’to be ’
or ‘made wade tedious. ’ Demosthenes (564.
12) has the expression ἀποκναίει ἀηδιᾳ
καἰ ἀναισθήσιᾳ καθ’ ἑκάστην ἐκκλησίαν
ταῦτα λέγων, which (Jr. perhaps has
in mind.
8. παραμυθεῖσθαι συμΦ. μ. τοῖς ζητήμασι]
De Billy and others understand
παραμ.= βαρύνεσθαι, comparing
Job xvi. 2 παρακλήτορας κακῶν,
which they take to mean ‘ abettors
of my afflictions.’ But this seems an
unnatural sense to put upon the verb,
and it would be hard to find a parallel
example. Gr. prob. means that the
worse calamity of their disputations
relieves the lesser calamity of sorrow.
The ’comfort’ in Ezek. xiv 22, 23 is
by some interpreted in this fashion.
10. ἁπλ. σύντροφον] ’associated
with simplicity,’ ‘ used to ’ it ; a frequent
use of the word.
11. ἀποσυλ. τ. π. λόγον ταχύτητι]
cf. James i 19. To rush into argument
is, in Gr.’s view, a desecration
of the flower of womanly modesty.
It is best to take ἄνθος as the object
of ἀποσυλ., γυναῖκ’. being the subject.
12. τεχνύδριον] a diminutive of
τέχυη, like λογύδριον, χερύδριον, βιβλύδριον,
‘α little finicking profession.’
13. τὸ μέγα ἡ. μυστήριον] 1 Tim.
iii 16.
14. κατάσκοποι] usually thought
to be used instead of ἐπίσκοποι. But
there is no indication that Gr. was
chiefly thinking of heretical bishops.
15. σπαρ. τὰ αὶσο.] Jer. iv 19
(LXX.).
λόγον, καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν μικρὸν ἐπισχόντες, ἃν ἄρα καὶ
δύνωνται, τὴν ἀκοὴν ἡμῖν ὑποθέτωσαν. πάντως δὲ οὐδὲν
ζημιωθήσεσθε. ἢ γὰρ εἰς ὦτα ἐλαλήσαμεν ἀκουόντων, καί
τινα καρπὸν ἔσχεν ὁ λόγος, τὴν ὠφέλειαν τὴν ὑμετέραν,—
ἐπειδὴ σπείρει μὲν ὁ σπείρων τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ πᾶσαν διάνοιαν,
καρποφορεῖ δὲ ἡ καλή τε καὶ γόνιμος, — ἢ ἀπήλθετε καὶ
τοῦτο ἡμῶν διαπτύσαντες, καὶ πλείονα λαβόντες ὕλην
ἀντιλογίας τε καὶ τῆς καθ’ ἡμῶν λοιδορίας, ἵνα καὶ μᾶλλον
ὑμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἑστιάσητε. μὴ θαυμάσητε δέ, εἰ παράδοξον
ἐρῶ λόγον, καὶ παρὰ τὸν ὑμέτερον νόμον, οἳ πάντα εἰδέναι
τε καὶ διδάσκειν ὑπισχνεῖσθε λίαν νεανικῶς καὶ γενναίως,
ἵνα μὴ λυπῶ λέγων ἀμαθῶς καὶ θρασέως.
Οὐ παντός, ὦ οὗτοι, τὸ περὶ θεοῦ φιλοσοφεῖν, οὐ
παντός· οὐχ οὕτω τὸ πρᾶγμα εὔωνον καὶ τῶν χαμαὶ
ἐρχομένων. προσθήσω δέ, οὐδὲ πάντοτε, οὐδὲ πᾶσιν, οὐδὲ
πάντα, ἀλλ’ ἔστιν ὅτε, καὶ οἷς, καὶ ἐφ’ ὅσον. οὐ πάντων
μέν, ὅτι τῶν ἐξητασμένων καὶ διαβεβηκότων ἐν θεωρίᾳ,
καὶ πρὸ τούτων καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα κεκαθαρμένων, ἢ
καθαιρομένων, τὸ μετριώτατον. μὴ καθαρῷ γὰρ ἅπτεσθαι
1 ἄρα καὶ] om καὶ bcd || 10 νόμον ’τον ὑμέτερον c. 3. 16 κα οις]
ἐφ’ ὄις b || ἐφ’ ὅσον] ων b
3. ἐλαλήσαμεν . . . ἕσχςν] Gr. as-
sumes that what he asks has been
done, and looks back upon the re-
suit. The words are a quotation
from Ecclus. xxv 9.
5. ὁ σπείρων τ. λ.] Mk iv 14.
6. καἰ τοῦτο ἤμ’. διαπτύσαντες]
Cp. Oral, xxv § 18 διάπτυέ μοι τὰς
ἐνστάσεις. ’ Pouring contempt upon
this utterance as you have done tipon
others of ours.' ’ If they fail to get
good, Gr. ironically says they will
at least have the advantage of in-
dulging in increased contempt for
their opponents.
9. παράδοξον] i.e. what the Eu-
nomians will consider to be such.
ΙΙ. νεανικῶς] ’ ’ ‘audaciously’; cp.
iii 1. On ’s lips of course it has
an ironical meaning.
3. To speak on theological subjects
belongs only to men prepared by deep
study and by moral self-purification.
It should be done only in seasons of
calmness, before serious hearers; and
the subjects should be such ἃς the or-
dinary intelligence can grasp.
14. εὔωνον] ’so cheaply acquired.'
ib. τ. χαμαὶ ἔρχομ’.] ’ nor is it the
property of those tvho go along upon
the ground ’ ; a common expression
from Homer downwards.
17. διαβεβηκότων] Διαβεβηκώς is
one who stands firmly planted upon
both feet. Elias paraphrases by
ἡδραιωμένων, though he gives an
alternative explanation.
19. τὸ μετριώτατον] ‘to say the
least of ’ For the thouglht, cp.
Athan. de Inc. § 57.
καθαροῦ τυχὸν οὐδὲ ἀσφαλές, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ὄψει σαθρᾷ
ἡλιακῆς ἀκτῖνος. ὅτε δέ; ἡνίκα ἂν σχολὴν ἄγωμεν ἀπὸ
τῆς ἔξωθεν ἰλύος καὶ ταραχῆς, καὶ μὴ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν ἡμῶν
συγχέηται τοῖς μοχθηροῖς τύποις καὶ πλανωμένοις, οἷον
γράμμασι πονηροῖς ἀναμιγνύντων κάλλη γραμμάτων, ἢ
βορβόρῳ μύρων εὐωδίαν. δεῖ γὰρ τῷ ὄντι σχολάσαι, καὶ
γνῶναι θεόν· καὶ ὅταν λάβωμεν καιρόν, κρίνειν θεολογίας
εὐθύτητα. τίσι δέ; οἷς τὸ πρᾶγμα διὰ σπουδῆς, καὶ οὐχ
ὡς ἕν τι τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τοῦτο φλυαρεῖται ἡδέως, μετὰ
τοὺς ἱππικούς, καὶ τὰ θέατρα, καὶ τὰ ᾄσματα, καὶ τὴν
γαστέρα, καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ γαστέρα · οἷς καὶ τοῦτο μέρος τρυφῆς,
ἡ περὶ ταῦτα ἐρεσχελία καὶ κομψεία τῶν ἀντιθέσεων.
τίνα δὲ φιλοσοφητέον, καὶ ἐπὶ πόσον ; ὅσα ἡμῖν ἐφικτά,
καὶ ἐφ’ ὅσον ἡ τοῦ ἀκούοντος ἕξις ἐφικνεῖται καὶ δύναμις·
14 ἐξικνεῖται bd ’Or. 1 etc.’
1. τυχόν] ‘ perhaps ἴθι even free
from danger. ’ The words are based
upon Plato Phaed. p. 67 μὴ καθαρῷ
γὰρ καθαροῦ ἐφάπτεσθαι μὴ οὐ θεμιτὸν
ᾖ.
ib. σαθρᾷ] properly = σαπρᾷ ‘decayed,’
‘corrupt,’ but used in the
sense of ’ ’ ’feeble.’ Cp. § 5
and iii 6, where it is contrasted with
ἰσχύν, ἰσχυροῖς. Hesych. σαθρά· ἀσθενῆ,
κεκλασμένα.
3. ἰλύος] lit. ’mud’’, esp. in solution,
the impurities which hinder
a liquid from being clear. By τῆς
ἕξ. ἰ. κ. ταραχῆς Gr. seems to mean
the confusions and agitations of secular
life.
ib. τὸ ἡγεμονικόν] ‘ the commanding
’ a technical word from
philosophy, esp. Stoic philosophy,
descriptive of the reason. See Plutarch
de Plac. Phil. 898 Ε and 903 B ;
also Cic. de Nat. Deor. 11 xi 29.
4. τύποις] ’impressions,’ or ‘images.’
Μοχθηρὸς is a word of many shades
of meaning. Here it appears to
mean, not ’vicious,’ nor ’unhappy,’
but (like πονηροῖς just below) ’poor,’
’worthless,’ — ’worthless and roving
imaginations. ’
5. κάλλη γραμμάτων] So Pint,
speaks of κάλλη οἰκοδομημάτων = καλὰ
οἰκοδομήματα.
6. σχολάσαι κ. γν. θεόν] Psalm
xlv (our xlvi) 10. The καὶ γνῶναι
has the force of ‘ and so to ’
‘in order to know. ’
7. ὅταν λάβ’. καιρόν] Psalm Ixxiv
3 (lxxv 2). Not at all times, but
only when we ’ receive the οpportunity,’
can we ’judge according unto
right ’ in matters of theology.
8. διὰ σπουδῆς] so ἐστί. ' To
whom it is a serious thing, and who
μ’ not make this also, like other things,
α subject of light conversation.’
10. τοὺς ἱππικούς] sc. ἀγῶνας, or
perh. δρόμους.
12. ἐρεσχελία] ‘ disputing for fun?
esp. with a view to provoking, as distinguished
from ’ talking in earnest. ’
13. τίνα] neut. plur. ; ’on what
subjects?’
ib. ἐφικτά] ’ within our reach.’
14. ἕξις] appears to mean skill,’
’ acquired power.’
ἵνα μὴ καθάπερ αἱ ὑπερβάλλουσαι τῶν φωνῶν, ἢ τῶν
τροφῶν, τὴν ἀκοὴν βλάπτουσιν ἢ τὰ σώματα, — εἰ βούλει
δέ, τῶν φορτίων τὰ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν τοὺς ὑποβαίνοντας, ἢ τὴν
γῆν τῶν ὑετῶν οἱ σφοδρότεροι, — οὕτω δὴ καὶ οὗτοι τοῖς
στερροῖς, ἵν οὕτως εἴπω, τῶν λόγων καταπιεσθέντες καὶ
βαρυνθέντες ζημιωθεῖεν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀρχαίαν δύναμιν.
καὶ οὐ λέγω τοῦτο μὴ δεῖν πάντοτε μεμνῆσθαι
θεοῦ. μὴ πάλιν ἐπιφυέσθωσαν ἡμῖν οἱ πάντα εὔκολοι καὶ
ταχεῖς. μνημονευτέον γὰρ θεοῦ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀναπνευστέον·
καί, εἰ οἷόν τε τοῦτο εἰπεῖν, μηδὲ ἄλλο τι ἢ τοῦτο πρακτέον.
κἀγὼ τῶν ἐπαινούντων εἰμὶ τὸν λόγον, ὃς μελετᾷν ἡμέρας
καὶ νυκτὸς διακελεύεται, καὶ ἑσπέρας καὶ πρωὶ καὶ μεσημβρίς
διηγεῖσθαι, καὶ εὐλογεῖν τὸν κύριον ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ·
εἰ δεῖ καὶ τὸ Μωυσέως εἰπεῖν, κοιταζόμενον, διανστάμενον,
ὁδοιποροῦντα, ὅ τι οὖν ἄλλο πράττοντα, καὶ τῆ μνήμη
2 βλάπτωσιν bc || 3 ὑπερβαίνοντας a || 4 δὴ] ’δε cd || 6 βαρηθέντες c
4. 7 om τοῦτο a || II λόγον] νόμον bd
4. τοῖς στεπποῖς τῶν λόγων] Though
Gr. is fond of the partitive gen. (οἱ
στερροὶ τῶν λόγων = οἱ λόγοι οἱ στερροί),
it seems best here to suppose
τοῖς ’στ’. to be neut., ’the solid qualities
of our discourses? Perh. Gr. is
still using the metaphor or simile of
food. It would seem to suit καταπιεσθέντες
κ. βαρυνθέντες as well as
τοῖς στερροῖς. Cf. Heb. v 12 στερεά
τροφή).
6. ζημ. καὶ εἰς τ. ἁ. δ.] The εἰς
does not denote the extent of the
damage, but the quarter in which it
is felt. Over-strong meat not only
fails to increase the vital forces of
those to whom it is administered;
it even impairs those which they
possessed. Cp. v 26.
4. It is always right to think of
God; but not always suitable to discourse
of Him.
8. ἐπιφυέσθωσαν] ἐπιφύειν is ’to
plant upon ’ ; hence in pass. ‘to fasten
upon and cling ’ like hounds upon
a quarry. Plutarch frequently uses
the word in this way; e.g. § 1
ἐπιφυομένους, ὥσπερ θηρίοις εὐγενεῖς
σκύλακας. Gr. uses it again in v ιι.
ib. οἱ π. εὔκολοι] ‘ who are always
(lit. in all points) so agile and ’
ὕκολος (cp. δύσκολος), from κόλον,
’diet,’ means originally one whose
food agrees with him. Hence it
comes to be used for facility in any
direction. Plato Legg. 942 D uses
the substantive in the sense of bodily
activity, which (metaphorically applied)
plied) is the sense here.
9. μνήμον. κτλ.] ’It is more necessary
to remember God than to
breathe.’
11 . τῶν ἐπ’. εἰμι] ‘ am one of those
who approve.’
ib. μελετᾷν ἤμ’. κ. νυκτός] Psalm
i 2 (Josh, i 8).
12. ἑσπέρας κτλ.] Psalm liv 18
(lv Ι7).
13. εὐλογεῖν κτλ.] Psalm xxxiii 2
(xxxiv 1).
14. κοιταζόμενον κτλ.] Deut. vi
7 (cp. xi 19).
τυποῦσθαι πρὸς καθαρότητα. ὥστε οὐ τὸ μεμνῆσθαι δίη.
νεκῶς κωλύω, τὸ θεολογεῖν δέ· οὐδὲ τὴν θεολογίαν, ὥσπερ
ἀσεβές, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀκαιρίαν· οὐδὲ τὴν διδασκαλίαν, ἀλλὰ
τὴν ἀμετρίαν. ἢ μέλιτος μὲν πλησμονὴ καὶ κόρος ἔμετον
ἐργάζεται, καίπερ ὄντος μέλιτος, καὶ καιρὸς τῷ παντὶ
πράγματι, ὡς Σολομῶντι κἀμοὶ δοκεῖ, καὶ τὸ καλὸν οὐ
καλόν, ὅταν μὴ καλῶς γίνηται, ὥσπερ ἄνθος ἐν χειμῶνι
παντελῶς ἄωρον, καὶ γυναιξὶ κόσμος ἀνδρεῖος, ἢ γυναικεῖος
ἀνδράσι, καὶ πένθει γεωμετρία, καὶ πότῳ δάκρυον, ἐνταῦθα
δὲ μόνον τὸν καιρὸν ἀτιμάσομεν, οὗ μάλιστα τιμητέον τὸ
εὔκαιρον ;
Μηδαμῶς, ὦ φίλοι καὶ ἀδελφοί· ἀδελφοὺς γὰρ
ὑμᾶς ἔτι καλῶ, καίπερ οὐκ ἀδελφικῶς ἔχοντας· μὴ οὕτω
διανοώμεθα, μηδὲ καθάπερ ἵπποι θερμοὶ καὶ δυσκάθεκτοι,
τὸν ἐπιβάτην λογισμὸν ἀπορρίψαντες, καὶ τὴν καλῶς
3 εὐσεβὲς acd ’duo Colb. Coisl. 3 Or. 1 ’
2. θεολογεῖν] = τὸ περὶ θεοῦ φιλο-
σοφεῖν (supra), ‘to discuss theology.’
ib. ὥσπερ ἀσεβές] ‘ as though it
were wrong in itself? The reading
εὐσεβές, though well attested, appears
to be the result of misunderstanding.
It would mean, ’ nor do I forbid
theology, if done in a godly manner.’
4. τὴν ἀμετρίαν] ‘ Nor is it the
function of a teacher that I object to,
but want of judgment in the exercise
of it.'
ib. ἢ μέλιτος κτλ.] Prov. xxv 16.
καίπερ ὄντος μ., ‘ honey though it ’
i.e. the best of things in itself.
5. καιρὸς τῷ π. π.] Eccl. iii 1 ;
ὡς Σ. κἀμοὶ δ., ‘ There is α time... as
Solomon and I think.’
6. τὸ καλὸν οὐ κ.] The saying is
quoted as a proverbial one ὅ Φασιν)
in the Clementine Epitome § 18.
7. ἄνθος ἐν χ.] rather a curious
instance to choose, — as if people
would object to flowers in winter.
9. πένθει γεωμ.] Geometry was,
so Maximus suggests, a recreation
and a joy. Indeed, according to
him, it formed part of the musical
curriculum, and as such is included
in the warning of Ecclus. xxii 6.
After this suggestion Max. gives up
the enquiry into Gr.'s meaning.
Perhaps it was not necessary to go
so far into it. Or. is only taking examples
of irksome incongruity.
ib. ἐνταῦθα δέ] ‘ And shall we in
this case alone disregard “ the time ”?’
5. We should not discuss theology
before the heathen. Tiny turn our
dissensions into a defence of heathenism,
and come down upon our weaknesses
like flies upon a sore. They
would themselves rather die than divule
their mysteries. We must learn
the decencies of speech.
13. οὐκ ἀδελφικῶς ἕχ.] ’ although
so unbrotherly ’ Cp. Aug.
Serm. ccclvii 4, Quiduis dicas, quantumlibet
odens, at placuerit detesteris,
teris, frater meus es.
14. θερμοὶ κ. δυσκάθεκτοι] θ. is
‘wild,’ ‘excited’ ; δυσκ. (from κατέχειν),
‘hard to hold in.' Xenophon
uses it ID the same sense.
15. ἐπιβάτην] more usually signifies
’ a rider ’ ; but here the metaphor
is probably taken from a chariot race,
and ἐπιβ. will mean ’ the man in the
’ i.e. the driver. The word
is elsewhere used in a more restricted
sense, of the man who fights in a
chariot, not the driver; but it is
evidently not so intended here.
ἄγχουσαν εὐλάβειαν ἀποπτύσαντες, πόρρω τῆς νύσσης
θέωμεν· ἀλλ’ εἴσω τῶν ἡμετέρων ὅρων φιλοσοφῶμεν, καὶ
μὴ εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐκφερώμεθα, μηδὲ εἰς Ἀσσυρίους κατασυ-
ρώμεθα, μηδὲ ᾄδωμεν τὴν ᾠδὴν κυρίου ἐπὶ γῆς ἀλλοτρίας,
πάσης ἀκοῆς λέγω, ξένης τε καὶ ἡμετέρας, ἐχθρᾶς καὶ
φιλίας, εὐγνώμονος καὶ ἀγνώμονος, ἢ λίαν ἐπιμελῶς τηρεῖ
τὰ ἡμέτερα, καὶ βούλοιτο ἂν τὸν σπινθῆρα τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν
κακῶν γενέσθαι φλόγα, ἐξάπτει τε καὶ ἀναρριπίζει καὶ εἰς
οὐρανὸν αἴρει ταῖς παρ’ ἑαυτῆς αὔραις λανθάνουσα, καὶ
ποιεῖ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας φλογὸς τὰ κύκλῳ καταφλεγούσης
ὑψηλοτέραν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτῶν δόγμασιν
ἔχουσι τὴν ἰσχύν, ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις σαθροῖς ταύτην θη-
ρεύουσι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, ὥσπερ αἰ μυῖαι τοῖς τραύμασιν,
1. ἄγχουσαν] lit. ‘throttling,’
‘strangling’; here ‘restraining.’
ib. ἀποπτύσαντες] lit. ‘ slitting
out,’ i.e. ‘ getting the bit out of our
mouths.’ It is used by other authors
of the same action.
ib. πόρρωτῆςνύσσης θέωμεν] ‘dash
wide of the .’ Νύσσα
(Lat. meta) is the καμπτήρ, or post,
round which the chariot turns to do
the second lap of the δίαυλος. Naturally,
it ought to be barely euitata
rotis.
2. εἵσω τ. ἤμ’. ὅρων] The metaphor
phor begins to change; and Gr.
’s, as the following words shew,
’within the Holy ’ i.e. within
the Church. The Egypt and Assyria
are the heathen world, — not, as Elias
and others take it, heretical Christians.
3. ἐκφερώμεθα . . . κατασυρώμεθα]
The metaphor of the runaway chariot
seems not to have wholly disappeared.
There is, of course, a reference
to such passages as Hos. ix 3.
4. τὴν ᾠδὴν κ.] Psalm exxxvi
cexxxvii) 4.
5. πάσης ἀκοῆς λέγω] ‘Ι mean
any and every ’ ‘Akoῆς is
grammatically in apposition to γῆς.
6. εὐγνώμονος κ. ἂγ ἀγν.] ‘sympathetic
thetic or unsympathetic.’ This seems
from the context to be the intended
meaning; but it would be equally in
accordance with the usage of the
words to understand (as Elias does)
‘ sensible and senseless. ’
ib. ἢ] very naturally refers only
to the ἀκοὴ ἀγνώμων, or the γῆ ἀλ-
λοτρία.
7. τὰ ἡμέμτερα...τῶν ἐν ἤμ’. κακῶν]
The heathen and unconverted keep
a watch upon Christians, and make
the most of anything among them
that is wrong ; ‘ would like the spark
...to become a flame.’
8. ἀναρριπίζει] ’fans it up ’ ; from
ῥιπίς, ‘a fan.’
9. λανθάνουσα] i.e. without our
seeing what they are about.
10. τῆς Baβ. φλογός] Dan. iii 23
(LXX.).
11. δόγμασιν] ‘ received ’ ;
used of heathen beliefs in general, —
possibly of the doctrines of heathen
philosophers in particular.
οὕτω τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἐπιτίθενται — εἴτε ἀτυχήμασι
λέγειν, εἴτε ἁμαρτήμασιν. ἁλλ’ ἡμεῖς γε μὴ ἐπὶ πλεῖον
ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἀγνοήσωμεν, μηδὲ τὸ περὶ ταῦτα κόσμιον
ἀτιμάσωμεν· ἀλλ’ εἰ μὴ τὴν ἔχθραν καταλύσασθαι δυνατόν,
ἐκεῖνό γε συμβῶμεν ἀλλήλοις, μυστικῶς τὰ μυστικὰ
φθέγγεσθαι, καὶ ἁγίως τὰ ἅγια, καὶ μὴ ῥίπτειν εἰς βεβήλους
ἀκοὰς τὰ μὴ ἔκφορα, μηδὲ σεμνοτέρους ἡμῶν ἀποφαίνωμεν
τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας τοῖς δαιμονίοις καὶ τῶν αἰσχρῶν
μύθων καὶ πραγμάτων θεραπευτάς, οἲ θᾶττον ἂν τοῦ
αἵματος ἢ λόγων ἔστιν ὧν μεταδοῖεν τοῖς ἀμυήτοις. ἀλλ’
εἰδῶμεν, ὥσπερ ἐσθῆτος καὶ διαίτης καὶ γέλωτος καὶ
βαδίσματος οὖσάν τινα κοσμιότητα, οὕτω καὶ λόγου καὶ
σιωπῆς, ὅτι καὶ λόγον πρεσβεύομεν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων τοῦ
θεοῦ προσηγοριῶν καὶ δυνάμεων. ἔστω καὶ τὸ φιλόνεικον
ἡμῶν ἔννομον.
3 om ἧμας a ΙΙ 5 ἐκείνω d || 14 φιλονεικεῖν b
1. οὕτω τοῖς ἡμετέροις] agrees with
ἀτυχήμασι, ἁμαρτήμασι, — the sen-
tence being interrupted for rhetorical
effect : ‘ to our — am Ι to call them
misfortunes or mistakes?’
2. μὴ ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἤμ’. αὖ. ἀγν.] ‘ any
further be ignorant ofotir οwn selves. ’
Our enemies know us, while we do
not know ourselves, or see the consequences
of what we are doing.
3. τὸ περὶ ταῦτα κ. ἄτιμ’.] 'disregard
what is seemly in these questions,'
i.e. by disputing before the
world. Cp. τὸν καιπὸν ἄτιμ’. supra.
4. τὴν ἕχθραν] not that of the
common enemy, of whom dr. has
been speaking, but that of Christians
among themselves.
5. μυστικῶς τὰ μυστικά] We have
unfortunately lost in English the
primary meaning of a ’mystery,’ so
that the words can only be paraphrased
; — ’to utter what concerns the
secrets of religion in religious ’
Μυστικῶς is used in liturgical Geek
for ‘ in a whisper.’
6. μὴ ῥίπτειν κτλ.] Cp. Matt.
vii 6.
7. ἀποφαίνωμεν] Ἀποφαίνειν in
late Greek often ’to make.
here ‘ to prove' would give an
suitable meaning.
8. προσκυν. τοῖς δ] προσκ. in the
later Greek governs dat. or ace.
indifferently; e.g. John iv 23 πρ.
τῷ πατρί. . . τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτόν.
Just below we have πρ. τὰ πάθη.
10. λόγων ἕστιν ὧν] =ἐνίων,
impart some words.’
11. ἐσθῆτος κτλ.] Cp. Ecclus. XIX
30.
13. λόγον πρεσβεύομεν] ἱν ‘Werank,
or honour, Word among tht appellations
and powers of God Himself.’
14. τὸ φιλόνεικον] ’let our very
contention be subject to law.'
whole of Gr.'s Or xxxii is on
in discussion.
6. The heathen world, with its
base mythology, is not in a ??
to understand the niceties of Christian
v. It must inevitably attach
unworthy meanings to the phraseology
which it hears us use.
Τί γέννησιν ἀκούει θεοῦ καὶ κτίσιν, καὶ θεὸν
οὐκ ὄντων, καὶ τομὴν καὶ διαίρεσιν καὶ ἀνάλυσιν, ὁ πικρὸς
τῶν λεγομένων ἀκροατής ; τί δικαστὰς τοὺς κατηγόρους
καθίζομεν; τί τὰ ξίφη τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐγχειρίξομεν ; πῶς,
οἴει, δέξεται τὸν περὶ τούτων λόγον, ἢ μεθ’ οἵας τῆς διανοίας,
ὁ τὰς μοιχείας ἐπαινῶν καὶ τὰς παιδοΦθορίας, καὶ προσκυνῶν
τὰ πάθη, καὶ μηδὲν ὑπὲρ τὸ σῶμα διανοηθῆναι
δυνάμενος, ὁ χθὲς καὶ πρώην ἑαυτῷ στήσας θεούς, καὶ
τούτους ἐπὶ τοῖς αἰσχίστοις γνῶ γνωριξομένους ; οὐχ ὑλικῶς ;
οὐκ αἰσχρῶς; οὐκ ἀμαθῶς ; οὐχ ὡς εἴωθεν ; οὐ συνήγορον
τῶν οἰκείων θεῶν καὶ παθῶν τὴν σὴν θεολογίαν ποιήσεται ;
εἰ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ταῖς φωναῖς ταύταις ἐπηρεάζομεν, σχολῇ γ
ἂν ἐκείνους πείσαιμεν φιλοσοφεῖν ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις· καὶ εἰ
6. 3 ακροατης] εξεταστης b
1. γέννησιν. . .κ. κτίσιν] The one
is an orthodox word and the other
a heretical one ; but Gr. deprecates
the using of both alike before a promiscuous
public.
ib. θεὸν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων] The Arians
affirmed that the Son ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων
ἐγένετο, but of course denied that
He was in the full sense θεός. Gr.,
however, is speaking of the effect
produced upon the heathen by the
varying language of professing
Christians.
2. τομὴν κ. διαίρεσιν κ. ἀνάλυσιν]
These are not to be taken (as Elias
and others take them) as technical
terms of theology ; nor are they
strictly parallel to the first three
accusatives after ἀκούει. The ἀκροατής
hears οf ‘ begetting ’ and ‘creation’;
he hears ’dissection and division
and analysis.’
4. καθίζομεν] as in I Cor. v 4.
6. ἐπαινῶν] inasmuch as he attributes
such actions to the gods.
8. ὁ χθὲς κτλ.] Gr. does not
mean that he no longer worships
those gods, but rather that he has
not worshipped them very long. The
heathen is accustomed to making new
gods.
9. οὐχ ὑλικῶς] He cannot but
put a material construction upon
such language. Ἀμαθῶς will mean
‘grossly.’
10. συνήγορον] He will turn what
you say about God into an advocacy
of his own deified passions.
12. ταῖς φωναῖς τ. ἐπηρεάζομεν]
The Eunomians ‘ maltreated these
’ by maintaining that,
because the Son is begotten, the
Father must have existed before
Him. At the same time Gr. does
not acquit his own party of a similar
misuse of terms, as is seen by what
follows, though in their case the
misuse lay in a different direction.
13. φίλ’. ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις] τοῖς ἤμ’.
is prob. neuter, ‘ in our quarters ’
’ in our ’; but it may be masc.,
‘ among our ’ In either
case, of course, it means, ’to adopt
and use our system of ’ The
term φιλοσοφία was early applied to
Christianity. See Melito ap. Eus.
Hist. Eccl. iv xxvi 7 ἢ καθ’ ἡμᾶς
φιλοσοφία.
παρ’ ἑαυτῶν εἰσὶν ἐφευρεταὶ κακῶν, πότε ἂν τῶν διδομένων
ἀπόσχοιντο ; ταῦτα ἡμῖν ὁ πρὸς ἀλλήλους πόλεμος. ταῦτα
οἱ πλεῖον ὑπὲρ τοῦ λόγου μαχόμενοι, ἢ ὅσον ἀρέσκει τῷ
Λόγῳ, καὶ ταὐτὸν πάσχοντες τοῖς μαινομένοις, οἲ τοὺς
ἰδίους οἴκους ἀνάπτουσιν, ἢ τοὺς παῖδας σπαράττουσιν,
ἢ τοὺς γονέας περιωθοῦσιν, ὡς ἀλλοτρίους νομίζοντες.
'Eπεὶ δὲ ἀπεσκευασάμεθα τοῦ λόγου τὸ ἀλλότριον,
καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀγέλην τῶν χοίρων ἀπεπεμψάμεθα τὸν πολὺν
λεγεῶνα κατὰ βυθῶν ὦν χωρήσαντα, ὃ δεύτερόν ἐστι, πρὸς
ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἴδωμεν, καὶ ξέσωμεν εἰς κάλλος, ὥσπερ ἀνδρι-
ἄντα, τὸν θεόλογον. ἐκεῖνο δὲ πρῶτον λογισώμεθα, τίς ἡ
τοσαύτη περὶ τὸν λόγον φιλοτιμία καὶ γλωσσαλγία ; τίς
7. 9 βυθῶν] -θου b || χωρήσαντα] -σοντα a || εστι]+τουτο ποιήσωμεν b
11 πρῶτον] πρότερον a
1. ἐφευρεταὶ κακῶν] Rom. i 30.
ib. τῶν διδομένων] ‘ the evil tilings
that we give .’ Gr. means, no
doubt, disrelish for divine truth,
which Christians set forth so unattractively.
2. ταῦτα] sc. ἐστίν. ‘ This is
what our war of Christian against
Christian comes to ,’ this is what
comes of it.’
3. ὑπὲρ τ. Λ.] Catholics were
to blame, in Gr.’s estimation, as
well as heretics.
4. ταὐτὸν πάσχοντες τ. μ.] The
idiomatic use of πάσχειν, ’ to be in a
given frame of mind ’ ; almost = ‘ behaving
like.’
5. ἀνάπτουσιν] like ἐξάπτει above,
‘ to set on fire. ’
6. περιωθεῖν) ‘ to push about,’ i.e.
to treat with violence and indignity.
So in Or. in Jul. I Gr. says τοὺς
ἐμμένοντας τῆ ὁμολογίᾳ περιωθῶν.
7. Why should we contend ἃς we
do ? There are plenty οf other th things
to occupy our thoughts, the exercises
of philanthropy, and devotion, and
self discipline. But we not only neglect
these ourselves ; we give other
men license to sin, if by that means
we can get their support in our party
warfare.
7. τὸ ἀλλότριον] Gr. does not
say τούς ἀλλοτρίως, i.e. the heathen.
He means the false and heathenish
element which had been introduced
into Christian language. τοῦ λόγου,
however, depends on ἀπεσκ. , not on
τὸ ἀλλ.
8. εἰς τὴν ἂγ. τ. χ.] Mark v 9
foil. Βy the ‘ Legion ’ Gr. means
the gross and unworthy spirit which
had instigated the contentions which
he has been deploring.
ib. ἀπεπ....κατὰ βυθῶν χωρήσαντα]
’ We have sent it away and it has
gone.’ Κατὰ βυθῶν answers to the
κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ of the Gospels ;
but it appears to be influenced by
the remembrance of εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον
of Luke viii 31.
9. ὅ δεύτερόν ἐστι, πρός] The
relative looks on to what follows :
‘ the next thing is, to. ’
10. ὥσπερ ἀνδριάντα] Cp. Plat.
Rep. II § 5 ὡς ἐρρωμένως ἑκάτερον,
ὥσπερ ἀνδριάντα, ἐκκαθαίρεις.
12. γλωσσαλγία] Α classical
word for ‘talkativeness,’ much used
by Gr.
ἢ καινὴ νόσος αὕτη καὶ ἀπληστία ; τί τὰς χεῖρας δήσαντες
τὰς γλώσσας ὡπλίσαμεν ; οὐ φιλοξενίαν ἐπαινοῦμεν ; οὐ
φιλαδελφίαν, οὐ φιλανδρίαν, οὐ παρθενίαν, οὐ πτωχοτροΦίαν
θαυμάζομεν ; οὐ ψαλμῳδίαν, οὐ πάννυχον στάσιν, οὐ
δάκρυον ; οὐ τὸ σῶμα νηστείαις ὑποπιέζομεν ; οὐ δι’ εὐχῆς
πρὸς θεὸν ἐκδημοῦμεν " οὐ τῷ κρείττονι τὸ χεῖρον ὑποζεύγνυμεν,
τὸν χοῦν λέγω τῷ πνεύματι, ὡς ἂν οἱ τῷ κράματι
δικαίως δικάζοντες ; οὐ μελέτην θανάτου τὸν βίον ποιούμεθα;
οὐ τῶν παθῶν δεσπόται καθιστάμεθα, μεμνημένοι
τῆς ἄνωθεν εὐγενείας ; οὐ θυμὸν τιθασσεύομεν ἐξοιδοῦντα
καὶ ἀγριαίνοντα ; οὐκ ἔπαρσιν κάτα βάλλουσαν, οὐ λύπην
ἀλόγιστον, οὐχ ἡδονὴν ἀπαίδευτον, οὐ γέλωτα πορνικόν,
οὐκ ὄψιν ἄτακτον, οὐκ ἀκοὴν ἄπληστον, οὐ λόγον ἄμετρον,
οὐ διάνοιαν ἔκτοπον, οὐχ ὅσα παρ’ ἡμῶν ὁ πονηρὸς καθ’
ἡμῶν λαμβάνει, τὸν διὰ τῶν θυρίδων, ὡς ἡ γραφή φησιν,
5 ὑποπιέζομεν] ὑπωπιάζομεν d
1. τὰς χ. δήσαντες] ‘ though our
hands are tied.’
2. οὐ Φιλοξ. ἐπαινοῦμεν ;] The
string of questions which follows is
intended to shew the inconsistency
of this γλωσσαλγία with the οccupations
pations which it is assumed that
Christians are following.
3. φιλοπτωχίας. Gr.'s Or.
is περὶ φιλοπτωχίας. The zeal of his
friend Basil in that direction is well
known : see De Broglie L'Eglise
V Empire t. v p. 186 (3rd ed.).
4. πάννυχον στάσιν] Cp. Or. xlii
26 χαίρετε, Ναζαραίων χοροστασίαι,
ψαλμῳδιῶν ἁρμονίαι, στάσεις παννυχοι.
The word στάσις appears to
correspond to Lat. statio, in the
sense of ‘α service.' It is
from the custom of standing for
prayer.
5. ὑποπιέζομεν] ‘ crush down,'
‘ suppress. ’
6. πρ. θεὸν ἐκδημοῦμεν] Cp.
Cor. v 6 foll., — ‘ leave the world
behind and sojourn with God.'
7. τὸν χοῦν] 1 Cor. xv 47 ; Gen.
ii 7.
ib. οἱ τῷ κράματι δ. δικάζοντες]
The κρᾶμα is the human compound
of soul and body, or ‘ dust ’ and
’spirit.’ Upon this, i.e. upon the
rival claims of the constituent elements,
man has to pass judgment.
10. τῆς ἄνωθεν εὐγενείας] Peril.
with reference to John iii 3.
ib. τιθασσεύομεν] ‘ to tame,' from
τίθασσος ‘tame’ ; opp. to ἄγριος
’wild ’ ‘Eξοιδεῖν ‘ swell up.'
11. ἔπαρσιν καταβάλλουσαν] sc.
τιθασσύομεν. Cp. Prov. xvi 18 and
similar passages.
14. διάνοιαν ἔκτοπον] ἕκτ. seems
to be used as practically = ἄτοπος,
‘improper,’ ‘ unseemly.'
ib. παρ’ ἡμῶν. . . καθ’ ἡμῶν] i.e.
finds in us and uses against us.
15. διὰ τῶν θυρίδων] Jer. ix 21.
The same interpretation is given by
Greg. Nyss. de Dom. Οrat. v, by
Ambrose de Fuga Saec. ἑ 3 and in
Psalm, cxuiii Exp. vi ἑ 20, and by
Jerome adv. Jovin. II p. 202 (Mart.).
It became the traditional interpretation.
Cp. Greg. Moral, xxi 2 ; Bern.
in Cant. 24.
εἴτουν αἰσθητηρίων, εἰσάγων θάνατον; πᾶν μὲν οὖν τοὐναντίον,
καὶ τοῖς ἄλλων πάθεσιν ἐλευθερίαν δεδώκαμεν, ὥσπερ
οἱ βασιλεῖς τὰς ἐπινικίους ἀφέσεις, μόνον ἂν πρὸς ἡμᾶς
νεύωσι, καὶ κατὰ θεοῦ φέρωνται θρασύτερον· καὶ κακὸν
οὐ καλοῦ πράγματος μισθὸν ἀντιδίδομεν, τῆς ἀσεβείας τὴν
παρρησίαν.
Καίτοιγε, ὦ διαλεκτικὲ καὶ λάλε, ἐρωτήσω σέ τι
μικρόν· Σὺ δὲ ἀπόκριναί, φησι τῷ Ἰὼβ ὁ διὰ λαίλαπος καὶ
νεφῶν χρηματίζων. πότερον πολλαὶ μοναὶ παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ,
ὅπερ ἀκούεις, ἢ μία; πολλαί, δώσεις δηλαδή, καὶ οὐ μία.
πότερον δὲ πληρωθῆναι δεῖ πάσας, ἢ τὰς μέν, τὰς δὲ οὐ,
ὡς εἶναι κενὰς καὶ μάτην ἡτοιμασμένας; ναὶ πάσας· οὐδὲν
γὰρ εἰκῇ τῶν παρὰ θεοῦ γενομένων. ταύτην δὲ ὅ τί
ποτε θήσεις τὴν μονήν, ἔχοις ἂν εἰπεῖν; ἄρα τὴν ἐκεῖθεν
3 βασιλεις] βασιλικοι b || 4 νευωσι] -σωσι d || θεου] του θεου b || θρα-
συτερον] + η ευσεβεστερον b 8. 14 ποτε] + εστι c || θησεις] -ση d
I. εἴτουν] i.e. εἴτε οὖν, in late
Greek = sive, and is used for ‘that is
to say.?’
ib. μὲν οὖν] = immo, ‘nay.’ So
far from ruling our own passions,
Gr. says, we give license to those of
others.
3. ἐπινικίους ἀφέσεις] Elias understands
it of the manumission of
slaves; but a more usual form of
celebrating a triumph was to release
prisoners, and that is prob. the comparison
here.
ib. μόνον ἄν] This is the sole
condition of the release, that they
should tend to promote our cause.
Gr. is prob. referring to the way in
which, in his time as in other times,
the sins of powerful patrons were
treated with complaisance. Of course
he has the Arians chiefly in view.
They laid themselves open to the
charge; and it is of them esp. that
Gr. uses the expression κατὰ θεοῦ
φέρ., ‘to rush against God.’
5. τῆς ἀσεβείας τὴν παρρησίαν]
ἀσεβ. is in apposition to οὐ καλοῦ
πρ., τὴν παρρ. to μισθόν. In exchange
for their serviceable impiety,
they are allowed to sin unrebuked.
8. There are ‘ many mansions ’
above, and they are reached by many
ways, though in one sense the many
ways are the one strait and narrow
way. Why should we leave all the
other ways for the way of
controversy?
8. σὺ δὲ ἀπόκριναι] Job xxxviii
3.
9. χρηματίζων] ‘to answer’ when
consulted, esp. as an oracle. It is
not the word used in Job xxxviii 1
(LXX.), but it occurs in the similar
passage xl 3 (8).
ib. πολλαὶ μοναί] John xiv 2.
Ἀκούεις = ‘ you are taught.’
10. δώσεις] ‘you will grant.’
13. ὅ τί ποτε θήσεις] like δίδωμι,
used in a logical sense; ‘what you
will affirm this “mansion” to be.’
Ταύτην τὴν μονήν is a somewhat
curious use of the singular. It is a
kind of attraction for τοῦτο τὸ μονήν,
i.e. ‘the word μονὴν in this
connexion.’
14. ἐκεῖθεν] ‘on yonder side.’
ἀνάπαυσίν τε καὶ δόξαν τὴν ἀποκειμένην τοῖς μακαρίοις,
ἢ ἄλλο τι; οὐκ ἄλλο ἢ τοῦτο. ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο ὡμολογήσαμεν,
κἀκεῖνο προσεξετάσωμεν. ἔστι τι τὸ ταύτας
προξενοῦν τὰς μονάς, ὡς ὁ ἐμὸς λόγος, ἢ οὐδέν ; ἔστι
πάντως. τί τοῦτο; τὸ διαφόρους εἶναι πολιτείας καὶ
προαιρέσεις, καὶ ἄλλην ἀλλαχοῦ φέρειν κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν
τῆς πίστεως, ὅπερ καὶ ὁδοὺς ὀνομάζομεν. πάσας οὖν
ὁδευτέον, ἢ τινὰς τῶν ὁδῶν τούτων ; εἰ μὲν οἷόν τε τὸν
αὐτόν, ἁπάσας· εἰ δὲ μή, ὅτι πλείστας· εἰ δὲ μή, τινάς·
εἰ δὲ μηδὲ τοῦτο, μέγα κἂν εἰ μίαν διαφερόντως, ὥς γέ
μοι φαίνεται. ὀρθῶς τοῦτο ὑπολαμβάνεις. τί οὖν; ὅταν
ἀκούσῃς μίαν ὁδὸν εἶναι, καὶ ταύτην στενήν, τί σοι φαίνεται
δηλοῦν ὁ λόγος ; μίαν μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀρετήν· μία γάρ, κἂν
εἰς πολλὰ σχίζηται· στενὴν δὲ διὰ τοὺς ἱδρῶτας καὶ τὸ
2 οὐκ ἄλλο] + τι d || ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο] ἔπει ’δε κἀκεῖνο b : ἔπει ’δε τοῦτο c ||
8 ’τον αὐτὸν] τῶν ἀυτῶν b || g ἅπασας] πάσας d
4. προξενοῦν] quite classical in
the derived sense of ’ to prouide,’
’ procure.’ Here the plural, as the
reply shews, is emphatic; ’ these
different mansions. ’
ib. ὡς ὁ ἐμὸς λόγος] ’as I maintain.’
5. τὸ διαφόρους κτλ.] The ‘mansions’
vary as the lives which men
live πολιτείας) and the aims which
they set before themselves (προαιρέσεις).
It is somewhat tempting, in
the context, to understand προαιρέσεις
of ’schools of ’ Lucian
(Demon. § 4) speaks of αἰ ἐν ΦιλοσοΦίᾳ
προαιρέσεις. (Cp. the use of
αἵρεσις.) But the other is perh. the
simpler.
6. κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τ. π.]
Rom. xii 6. These various types of
life and pursuits are like so many
roads. They do not lead to the
same place. The places to which
they lead differ ‘ according to the
proportion of faith,’ i.e. are suited to
the various degrees and forms of
religious principle by which men
come to them.
8. εἰ μὲν οἷόν τε τὸν αὐτόν] The
man under examination replies that,
if it were possible, it would be well
for the individual to follow all the
roads, i.e. to combine in himself all
characteristic pursuits and moral
activities which lead to the various
’mansions’; failing this, to combine
as many as he can; but excellence
in any one of them is a great
achievement.
12. μίαν ὁδὸν. . . στενήν] Μatt. vii
13.
13. διὰ τὴν ἀρετήν] because it is
the way of virtue; for the way of
virtue is one, although it has many
branches.
14. διὰ τοὺς ἰδρ. κτλ.] because
of the effort it demands, and because
few are found able to tread it,
in comparison of the great number
who take the contrary direction,
and who walk in the way of vice.
The καὶ couples the antecedent of
ὅσοι to τῶν ἐναντίων.
μὴ πολλοῖς εἶναι βατήν, ὡς πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐναντίων
καὶ ὅσοι διὰ τῆς κακίας ὁδεύουσιν. οὕτω κἀμοὶ δοκεῖ.
τί οὖν, ὦ βέλτιστε, εἴπερ τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχει, ὥσπερ τινὰ
πενίαν καταγνόντες τοῦ ἡμετέρου λόγου, πάσας τὰς ἄλλας
ὁδοὺς ἀφέντες, πρὸς μίαν ταύτην φέρεσθε καὶ ὠθεῖσθε τὴν
διὰ λόγου καὶ θεωρίας, ὡς μὲν αὐτοὶ οἴεσθε, ὡς δὲ ἐγώ φημι,
ἀδολεσχίας καὶ τερατείας ; ἐπιτιμάτω Παῦλος ὑμῖν, τοῦτο
πικρῶς ὀνειδίζων μετὰ τὴν ἀπαρίθμησιν τῶν χαρισμάτων,
ἐν οἷς φησί· Μῆ πάντες ἀπόστολοι ; μὴ πάντες προφῆται ;
καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.
Ἕστω δέ· ὑψηλὸς σύ, καὶ ὑψηλῶν πέρα, καὶ ὑπὲρ
τὰς νεφέλας, εἰ βούλει, ὁ τῶν ἀθεάτων θεατής, ὁ τῶν
6 om ὡς μὲν αὐτοὶ οἴεσθε a ’ duo ’ : om μὲν d
3. ὥσπερ τ. πενίαν καταγν. τ. ἠμ’.
λόγου] καταγ. τί τινος is to find
something to ’s disadvantage:
’why do you profess to have
found our principles poor ? ’
5. πρὸς μίαν ταύτην] not, Of
course, the μία ὁδὸς στενὴ spoken of
above — which included πάσας τὰς
ἄλλας ὀδούς, — but a single branch of
that road. Gr. grants that the road
of the διαλεκτικὸς is not a bad road,
if it were properly pursued ; but it is,
as he has compelled the opponent to
admit, a loss to follow that one road
to the exclusion of all others, and so
to forfeit the ’many,’ and perh. the
better, mansions. This is indeed to
incur a πενία, unknown to the faithful
followers τοῦ ἡμετέρου λόγου.
Gr.'s conception of the
’all attainable to the individual,
not successively, but by walking
simultaneously along many roads
which lead to them, is a conception
difficult to grasp, but suggestive of
a noble fulness of living energy.
ib. ὠθεῖσθε] ‘crowd along,' ’ force
your way in a herd'; heard';
73 ὠθεῖσθ’ ὥσπερ ὕες.
7. ἀδολ. κ. τερατείας] ‘Αδολεσχία
is ’idle ’: Elias explains
τερατεία by τὸ πλάττειν ἄτοπά τε
καὶ ἀλλόκοτα, ’saying extraordinary
things to electrify ’ Cp. Ar.
Nub. 418. The verb τερατεύεσθαι
comes below in ἑ 10.
8. ἀπαρίθμησιν] ‘enumeration. ’
1 Cor. xii 29. It is a little strange
that Gr. should select a passage
where St Paul is insisting on the
limitation of spiritual gifts, and their
assignment to the various members
of the Church, instead of being accumulated
upon each. But prob.
Gr. does not concern himself with
the context of the passage, and intends
the ’rebuke’ to apply to the
διαλεκτικὸς inasmuch as he gives
himself the airs of an ‘ apostle ’ or a
‘prophet. ’
9. ἐν οἶς φησι] ‘where he ’
It seems best not to make χαρισμάτων
the antecedent of οἷς.
9. However exalted you may be
yourself, you cannot make other
people theologians suddenly. That,
however, is what you profess to do,
and then you crowed Councils with
the conceited rabble that you have
collected.
11. ὠτῶ δέ· ὁ. σὺ] Assuming
that you have the gifts which you
imagine, why do you make such a
bad use of them ? In ὑψ. πέρα it is
doubtful whether ὑψ. is neut. or
masc., ’beyond the heights ,’ or 'be-
yond the high ones.’
ἀρρήτων ἀκροατής, ὁ μετὰ Ἠλίαν μετάρσιος, καὶ ὁ μετὰ
Μωυσέα θεοφανείας ἠξιωμένος, καὶ μετὰ Παῦλον οὐράνιος·
τί καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους αὐθήμερον, πλάττεις ἁγίους, καὶ χειροτονεῖς
θεολόγους, καὶ οἷον ἐμπνεῖς τὴν παίδευσιν, καὶ
πεποίηκας λογίων ἀμαθῶν πολλὰ συνέδρια; τί τοῖς ἀραχνίοις
ὑφάσμασιν ἐνδεσμεῖς τοὺς ἀσθενεστέρους, ὡς δή τι
σοφὸν καὶ μέγα; τί σφηκιὰς ἐγείρεις κατὰ τῆς πίστεως;
τί σχεδιάζεις ἡμῖν διαλεκτικῶν ἀνάδοσιν, ὥσπερ οἱ μῦθοι
9. 1 και ο μετα] και μετα c || 6 om υφασμασιν ad ‘duo Reg. duo
Colb. Or. 1’
doubtful whether ὑψ. is neut. or
masc., ‘beyond the heights,’ or ‘beyond
the high ones.’
1. ἀρρήτων] 2 Cor. xii 4. Cp.
μετὰ Π. οὐράνιος below.
ib. μ.Ἠλίαν μ.]4(2) Kingsii 11.
ib. μ. Μωυσέα θ. ἠξ.] Ex. xxxiv 6.
3. αὐθήμερον πλ. ἁγίους] It is
assumed, from their setting up as
theologians, that they have passed
through the moral discipline which
Gr. requires before so doing (p. 4
supra); but the discipline must have
been hurried through ‘all in a day?’
ib. χειροτονεῖς θ....ἐμπνεῖς τ. π.]
The same thought carried on. These
men’s theology has come to them,
not by long study and careful training,
but by a touch or a breath.
Xειρ. prob. alludes to the act of
laying on of hands in Ordination,
though Gr. does not necessarily
imply that the men had been actually
ordained. The word, however, may
perh. only mean ‘elect?,’ ‘appoint.’
In either case the process is characterized
as both arbitrary and sudden .
4. ἐμπνεῖς] Elias supposes a ref.
to such passages as Gen. ii 7 or Job
xxvii 3. If the allusion to ordination
in χειρ. were secure, it would
be natural to connect ἐμπν. with John
xx 22 (ἐνεφύσησεν). There is no
evidence, however, that any ceremony
of breathing was used in Gr.’s
time in ordaining; and it seems
simpler to regard the word as denoting
only a quick and miraculous
way of imparting the knowledge of
divine things.
5. π. συνέδρια] So equipped,
the theologians pass to those ‘multitudinous
councils’ which were the
chief feature of Church History in
the fourth century. Gr., as is well
known, had no high opinion of
councils at the best (Stanley Eastern
Church p. 74). Λογίων points both
to the assurance with which these
men spoke, and to the source of their
inspiration (ἐμπνεῖς).
6. ἐνδεσμεῖς] a rare word; ‘to
put in bonds.’ The ‘spider’s webs’
are of course the dogmatic subtleties
by which they entangle weak opponents.
Cp. Orat. xxv § 18.
7. σφηκιάς] He does not seem
to refer again to the heathen; it is
the heretics themselves who swarm
out against the faith,—the same who
are described in the next sentence as
διαλ. ἀνάδοσιν.
8. σχεδιάζεις] The verb denotes
what is hastily prepared out of the
first materials that come to hand,
‘to improvise.’ It thus returns to
the accusation that Gr.’s opponents
had had no proper training.
ib. δ. ἀνάδοσιν] Ἀναδίδωμι is to
‘yield,’ as the earth yields a crop, or
the spring a volume of water. Thuc.
iii 88 uses it of Aetna, πῦρ κ. καπνὸν
ἀναδ. So ἀνάδοσις is an ‘output’ or
‘outburst.’ Διαλεκτικῶν of course is
masc., ‘dialecticians.’
ib. οἱ μ....τ. γίγαντας] Α contracted expression; ‘as the old fables did with the giants,’ meaning, ‘as the old fables said that the Earth brought forth the giants.’ It the metaphor of ἀνάδοσιν. The giants, however, are referred to not only because they sprang out of the Earth, but because they waged war upon the gods.
πάλαι τοὺς γίγαντας; τί τῶν ἀνδρῶν ὅσον κοῦφον καὶ
ἄνανδρον, ὥσπερ τινὰ συρφετόν, εἰς μίαν χαράδραν συναγαγών,
καὶ κολακείᾳ πλέον θηλύνας, καινὸν ἀσεβείας ἐργαστήριον
ἐδημιούργησας, οὐκ ἀσόφως τὴν ἄνοιαν αὐτῶν
ἐκκαρπούμενος;
Ἀντιλέγεις καὶ τούτοις; καὶ οὐδαμοῦ σοι τἄλλα; καὶ
τὴν γλῶσσαν δεῖ δυναστεύειν πάντως, καὶ οὐ κατέχεις τὴν
ὠδῖνα τοῦ λόγου; ἔχεις καὶ ἄλλας ὑποθέσεις πολλάς τε
καὶ φιλοτίμους. ἐκεῖ τρέψον μετὰ τοῦ χρησίμου τὴν νόσον.
10. βάλλε μοι Πυθαγόρου τὴν σιωπήν, καὶ τοὺς κυάμους
1 om τι των ανδρων . . . εκκαρπουμενος acd
1. τῶν ἀνδρῶν ὅσον κ.] ‘everything
that is worthless in the shape
of men.’
2. συρφετόν] like περίψημα, ‘offscourings,’
‘sweepings.’
ib. χαράδραν] may be either the
‘torrent’; itself, or the ‘channel,’
natural or artificial, down which it
pours. Here perh. the former is
the simplest; the ‘offscourings’ form
a ‘torrent’; but the metaphors are
somewhat entangled.
3. κολακείᾳ] They were ἄνανδροι
to begin with; and the flattery which
they receive from their leaders makes
them worse.
ib. καιν. ἀσεβ. ἐργαστ. ἐδημ.] ‘you
have created a strange kind of manufactory.’
The heretical leaders have
set up in business, as it were; their
plant and factory consisting of their
dupes. The stress of the sentence
does not lie on the products of the
ἐργ. (i.e. ἀσεβείας), but on the fact
that the leaders make a living by it.
5. ἐκκαρπούμενος] ‘profiting by.’
10. If you cannot be silent, turn
your argumentative powers to use by
refuting the various schools of heathen
philosophy, the absurdities of heathen
worship and magic. Or if you prefer
something more original and constructive,
give us a philosophy of
your own, or speak of points of
Christian doctrine where there is no
great harm done if a mistake is
made.
6. καὶ τούτοις] i.e. as you oppose
everything else that we say. Cp.
the beginning of the sermon.
ib. οὐδαμοῦ σ. τἄλλα] ‘Do you
care for nothing else?,’ i.e. than
talking, and talking controversially.
7. δυναστεύειν] not here over
others, but over the man himself.
His tongue is his tyrant.
ib. τὴν ὠδῖνα τ. λ.] Cp. the
somewhat similar image in Job xxxii
18 foll.
8. ὑποθέσεις] ‘subjects,’ ‘themes’;
Lat. argumenta.
9. φιλοτίμους] We too transfer
the epithet ‘ambitious’ to the subject
from the man who deals with it.
But the usage does not occur commonly
in Greek.
10. βάλλε] ‘strike.’ The unsympathetic
attitude here assumed
towards the schools of Greek philosophy
does not represent the whole
mind of Gr. and his friends. It is
only assumed for a rhetorical purpose.
ib. τὴν σιωπήν] “The Pythagorean
school is represented to us not merely
as a scientific association, but also,
and principally, as a religious and
political society. Entrance into it
was only to be obtained by a strict
probation, and on condition of several
years’ silence." “The duration
the silent noviciate is variously
given.’’ Zeller Pre-Socratic
I p. 342 (Engl. Transl.), where
this ref. of Gr. may be added to
those given by Zeller.
τοὺς Ὀρφικούς, καὶ τὴν περὶ τὸ Αὐτὸς ἔφα καινοτέραν
ἀλαζονείαν. βάλλε μοι Πλάτωνος τὰς ἰδέας, καὶ τὰς
μετενσωματώσεις καὶ περιόδους τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν, καὶ
τὰς ἀναμνήσεις, καὶ τοὺς οὐ καλοὺς διὰ τῶν καλῶν σωμάτων
ἐπὶ ψυχὴν ἔρωτας· Ἐπικούρου τὴν ἀθείαν, καὶ τὰς
1. τοὺς κυάμους τ. Ὀρφικούς]
“According to later accounts, the
Pythagoreans of the higher grade
[lived] in obedience to a minutely
prescribed rule of life... This... enjoined
. . . entire abstinence from . . .
animal food, from beans and some
other kinds of nourishment.’’
op. cit. p. 343 f. “Whether
ordinances," he adds, "originated
with the Italian Pythagoreans, or
only belong to the later Orphics of
Pythagorean tendencies; whether
consequently they arose from Pythagoreanism
or from the Orphic
mysteries, we do not certainly know."
Zeller speaks of ‘the early connexion
of Pythagoreanism with the Bacchic
Orphic mysteries" (p. 347, first
note).
ib. Αὐτὸς ἔφα] “ They rigorously
maintained the doctrine of their
master, and silenced all pposition
with the famous dictum αὐτὸς ἔφα”:
Zeller p. 350. Gr. calls this κ. ἀλαζ.
‘an extraordinary piece of swagger.’
2. τὰς ἰδέας] “Plato. . .defines
the Idea as that which is common
to the Many of like name...This
Universal he conceives as separate
from the world of Phenomena, —as
absolutely existing Substance...The
Ideas stand as the eternal prototypes
of Being —all other things are copied
from them"; "archetypes, according
to which Divine Reason fashioned
the world ”: Zeller Plato and the
Older Academy pp. 239 foil., 244.
3. μετενσωματώσεις κ. περιόδους]
‘his tran sincorporations and circulations
of our souls.’ See Zeller
cit. ch. ix. “At their first birth, all
[souls]...are implanted in human,
and male, bodies; only their lots
vary according to their merit. After
death, all are judged, and placed for
a thousand years, some as a punishment
under the earth, some as a
reward in heaven. This period
having elapsed, they have again to
choose,—the evil as well as the
—a new kind of life; and in this
choice, human souls pass into beasts,
or from beasts back into human
bodies’’ (p. 393).
4. ἀναμνήσεις] Plato taught that
our souls bring with them into their
earthly existence knowledge acquired
in a previous state of existence. “If
...concepts and cognitions [of an
universal kind] are given us before
any presentation has been appropriated,
we cannot have acquired them
in this life, but must have brought
them with us from a previous life.
The facts of learning and of conceptual
knowledge are only to be
explained by the pre-existence of
the soul. ” Zeller p. 395.
5. ἐπὶ ψυχήν] ‘directed to,’
as far as,’ and so ‘ concerned
the soul,’ i.e. of the beloved,
it may profess to be unconcerned with
the body. "Love...is realised in a
graduated series of different forms.
The first is the love of beautiful
shapes,—of one, and then of all:
higher step is the love of beautiful
souls, which operates in moral words
and efforts, in works of education,
art, and legislation: a third is the
love of beautiful sciences," etc.:
Zeller p. 194; cp. Ρ. 507.
ἀτόμους, καὶ τὴν ἀφιλόσοφον ἡδονήν· Ἀριστοτέλους τὴν
μικρολόγον πρόνοιαν, καὶ τὸ ἔντεχνον, καὶ τοὺς θνητοὺς
περὶ ψυχῆς λόγους, καὶ τὸ ἀνθρωπικὸν τῶν δογμάτων·
τῆς Στοᾶς τὴν ὀφρύν, τῶν Κυνῶν τὸ λίχνον τε καὶ ἀγοραῖον.
βάλλε μοι τὸ κενόν, τὸ πλῆρες τῶν ληρημάτων, ὅσα περὶ
θεῶν ἢ θυσιῶν, περὶ εἰδώλων, περὶ δαιμόνων ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ
κακοποιῶν, ὅσα περὶ μαντείας, θεαγωγίας, ψυχαγωγίας,
10. 6 θέων η] + πέρι b: θέων καὶ ‘Or. I’ || ἀγάθων] ἀγαθοποιῶν d
ib. ἀθείαν]=ἀθεότητα. The atheism
of Epicurus was of a practical,
rather than theoretical, nature. He
did not deny the existence of gods,
but their interference in the affairs
of men. See Zeller Stoics, Epicureans,
and Sceptics p. 464 foil.
1. ἀτόμους] Epicurus, whose view
of the universe was purely meterialistic,
taught the eternal existence of
those "primary component parts of
things" which he called ’atoms.’
See Zeller op. cit. p. 439 foil.
ib. ἡδονήν] "The only unconditional
good, according to Epicurus,
is pleasure; the only unconditional
evil is pain": Zeller p. 473. By
ἀφιλόσοφον Gr. means ’unworthy of
a philosopher,’ On the character
‘pleasure’ as understood by Epicurus,
see Zeller p. 476 foil.
2. τ. μικρολόγον πρόνοιαν] “Aristotle's
philosophy excludes the conception
of God's immediate interference
in the course of the universe;
and it would be illegitimate to attribute
to Aristotle the popular belief
in Providence": Zeller Aristotle and
the Earlier Peripatetics 1 p. 422 (cp.
p. 403 and 11 p. 328). The epithet
μικρολόγον would more naturally
apply to a providence concerned
with petty details; (Jr. seems to intend
it in a kind of passive sense,
‘of which mean things are ’
Cp. θνητοὺς λόγους just below.
ib. ἔντεχνον] ‘ the artificial character
of his system,’ Gr., as a master
of rhetoric, prob. has chiefly in view
’s work on Rhetoric, at the
beginning of which the word ἔντεχνος
frequently occurs.
ib. θνητοὺς π. ψ. λόγους] ‘ his
mortal language about the soul,’
is impossible to say that Aristotle
taught a doctrine of personal immortality.
He taught merely the continued
existence of thinking spirit,
denying to it all the attributes of
personality’’: Zeller op. cit.
p. 134.
3. ἀνθρωπικόν] hardly distinguishable
here from ἀνθρώπινον: ‘the
purely human character of his determinations,’
i.e. the absence of anything
divine in his teaching.
4. ὀφρύν] Lat. supercilium,
‘haughtiness.’
ib. Κυνῶν] applied to the Cynics
as early as Arist. Rhet. 111 x 7.
ib. τὸ λίχνον κ. ἀγοραῖον, ‘the
greed and coarseness,’ Zeller
p. 290 speaks of the “coarse
and rude behaviour" of the later
Cynics, "their extortions and impositions,
and, despite their beggarly
life...their covetousness." Ἀγοραῖον,
cf. Acts xvii 5.
5. τὸ κενόν, τὸ πλ. τ. ληρ.] oxymoron;
‘emptiness, full of absurdities.
7. θεαγωγίας, ψυχ.] ‘the calling
up of gods, and of souls.’
ἄστρων δυνάμεως, τερατεύονται. εἰ δὲ σὺ ταῦτα μὲν
ἀπαξιοῖς λόγου, ὡς μικρά τε καὶ πολλάκις ἐληλεγμένα,
περὶ δὲ τὰ σὰ στρέφῃ, καὶ ζητεῖς τὸ ἐν τούτοις φιλότιμον
ἐγώ σοι κἀνταῦθα παρέξομαι πλατείας ὁδούς. φιλοσόφει
μοι περὶ κόσμου ἢ κόσμων, περὶ ὕλης, περὶ ψυχῆς, περὶ
λογικῶν φύσεων βελτιόνων τε καὶ χειρόνων, περὶ ἀναστάσεως,
κρίσεως, ἀνταποδόσεως, χριστοῦ παθημάτων. ἐν
τούτοις γὰρ καὶ τὸ ἐπιτυγχάνειν οὐκ ἄχρηστον, καὶ τὸ
διαμαρτάνειν ἀκίνδυνον. θεῷ δὲ ἐντευξόμεθα, νῦν μὲν
ὀλίγα, μικρὸν δὲ ὕστερον ἴσως τελεώτερον, ἐν αὐτῷ χριστῷ
Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· ἀμήν.
1 ἄστρων δυνάμεως] ἄστρων, δυνάμεων b || 3 τούτοις] λόγοις ’Or. 1’ ||
4 κἀνταῦθα] κἀντεῦθεν a || παρεξομαι] -ξω c
1 τερατεύονται] Cp. τερατεία
above, p. 15.
2. ἀπαξιοῖς λ.] ‘think unworthy
of treatment.’
ib. ἐληλεγμένα] from ἐλέγχω.
3. τὰ σά] It is difficult to see
why the subjects which Gr. classes
under this head should be so described
anymore than many of the foregoing.
It does not seem to mean ’Christian
’ rather than heathen; which
would more naturally have been
called τὰ ἡμέτερα; and besides, such
a subject as ὕλη has nothing distincteively
Christian in it. Prob. Gr.
means ’stick to a line of your own,’
as distinguished from being guided
by the movements of an adversary.
ib. τὸ ἐν τ. φιλότιμον] ‘an ambitious
subject in that line’: Cf.
above p. 17.
5. κόσμου ἢ κόσμων] ’the world
or ’ Gr. seems to have
entertained the notion of a 'plurality
of worlds.’
ib. ὕλης] ’matter’ ; no doubt Gr.
means concerning its nature, origin,
and the like.
6. λογικῶν φύσεων β. τε κ. χ.]
Elias rightly understands Gr. to
mean good and bad angels.
8. ἐπιτυγχ...διαμαρτ.] ’to ’
’to miss,’ It certainly seems
that Gr. should consider it almost
a matter of inifference whether a
man were right or wrong upon such
matters as the last four which he has
mentioned. But this is evidently
the sense which is required. Prob.
he supposed that it was not possible
to go far wrong on such subjects.
Any interpretation of ’recompense,’
for instance, which was not really
a denial of recompense, would be
harmless in comparison with the
teaching upon the nature of Christ
to which Gr. was accustomed from
the Eunomians.
9. ἐντευξόμεθα] used with a refer-
ence to ἐπιτυγχ. just before. Even
if we make a few mistakes on points
of subordinate importance, ’we shall
meet and converse with God.’
10. ὀλίγα] does not seem to be
often used in the plur. in this adverbial
sense. It appears to suggest
the various occasions on which a
little of such intercourse is vouchsafed.
In the contrasted clause,
μικρὸν qualifies ὕστερον, and ἴσως
qualifies τελεώτ., ’soon after,’
more perfectly,’ ’—the ἴσως suggesting
a modest doubt concerning
our share in the great revelation.