TIFJ7 37 A

1 MIL JCA.

A NEW TRANSLATION

Founded by LUDWIG SCHOPP

EDITORIAL BOARD ROY JOSEPH DEFERRARI

The Catholic University of America Editorial Director

RUDOLPH ARBESMANN, O.S.A. BERNARD M. PEEBLES

Fordham University The Catholic University of America

STEPHAN KUTTNER ROBERT P. RUSSELL, O.S.A.

The Catholic University of America Villanova University

MARTIN R. P. McGumE ANSELM STRITTMATTER, O.S.B.

The Catholic University of America St. Anselm's Priory

WILFRID PARSONS, SJ. JAMKS EDWARD TOBIN

The Catholic University of America ()ueens College

GERALD G, WALSH, SJ.

Fordham University

by

SAINT GREGORY NAZIANZEN

and

SAINT AMBROSE

Translated by

LEO P. McCAULEY, S. J.

JOHN • J. SULLIVAN, C. S. Sp.

MARTIN R. P. McGUIRE

ROY J. DEFERRARI

With an Introduction on the Early Christian Funeral Oration by Martin R. P. McGuire

New York

FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC.

1953

NIHIL OBSTAT:

JOHN M. A. FEARNS, S.TJD.

Censor Librorum

IMPRIMATUR:

% FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN

Archbishop of New York

August 15, 1$53.

Copyright, 1953 by FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC,

475 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, N.Y. All rights reserved

Lithography by Bishop Litho, Inc. V. S. A.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The Early Christian Funeral Oration, by Martin R. P. McGuire vii

ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN Introduction

On His Brother, St. Caesarius, translated by Leo P.

McCauley, S. J 5

On St. Basil the Great, Bishop o£ Caesarea, trans*

lated by Leo P. McCauley, S. J 27

On His Sister, St. Gorgonia, translated by Leo P.

McCauley, S. J 101

On His Father, in the Presence of St. Basil, trans-

lated by Leo P. McCauley, S. J. ...... 119

ST. AMBROSE

On His Brother Satyrus, translated by John J. Sul- livan, C. S. Sp., and Martin R. P. McGuire

Introduction 159

First Oration 161

Second Oration: On Faith in the Resurrection . 197

On Emperor Valentinian, translated by Roy J. Deferrari

Introduction 263

Text 265

On Emperor Theodosius, translated by Roy J. Deferrari

Introduction 303

Text 307

INDEX 335

THE CHRISTIAN FUNERAL ORATION

| HE CHRISTIAN FUNERAL ORATION is one of the most elaborate of Christian literary forms. It represents an attempt to adapt to Christian use a pagan Greek form with many hundreds of years of tradition behind it, a form which in itself is only one branch, but an important branch, of the literary genre known as the encomium. Beside the funeral oration, there arose also a closely related literary genre, the treatise on grief or consolation, which was often given an epistolary form. It was inevitable that the systematic, philo- sophical treatment of grief and consolation in such treatises should have an increasing influence on the content of the funeral oration. The Greek treatise on consolation impressed the Romans profoundly and many of its essential features passed into the Latin consolatio. Furthermore, the native Latin laudatio funebris, in its later form at least, could not escape the influence of the Greek encomium and of the Greek and Latin treatises on grief and consolation.

The Christian masterpieces presented in this volume reflect, then, a long, rich, and varied pagan literary tradition in East and West, and at the same time exhibit modifications and new elements which give them their specific Christian character. Before attempting to evaluate their form and

vii

Vlii INTRODUCTION

content properly, it will be useful, therefore, if not necessary, to examine their background in some detail.

The Greek funeral speech developed out of the formal laudation or commemoration of those who had fallen in battle for their country. The famous funeral speech of Pericles as presented by Thucydides (c. 460-395 B.C.) is probably the earliest extant example. The fallen are collectively praised for their bravery. The State expresses its thanks to them for victory and preservation, public and private grief for them must be borne with dignity, and all, especially members of their families, must remember that their fellow citizens, sons, and brothers were mortal, and that in dying a beautiful death they have escaped the ravages of disease and the afflictions of old age.

Isocrates (427-329 B.C.), the great publicist and teacher of rhetoric, apparently was the first to compose a funeral oration on an historical individual. His speech on Evagoras of Cyprus, addressed to the latter's son Nicocles, and the Epitaph or funeral speech of the Attic orator Hypereides on his friend Leosthenes, in their form and content had con- siderable influence on the development of the funeral speech as a literary type. Consolation is furnished by the thoughts that the dead had enjoyed many .advantages and blessings in life, that all men must die, that the present dead were fortunate in the time of their death, and that they escaped disease, sorrow, and other kinds of human .misfortune. Hypereides adds the consolation to be derived from the thought of happiness in a future life for, those who have honored the gods in the present life.

In the period after Alexander the Great the funeral oration was regarded more and more as a branch of epideictic oratory, and a special schema with a whole series of tdpoi or commonplaces was elaborated for this as well as for other branches of the epideietic genre. Fortunately, we have extant

INTRODUCTION IX

the treatise on epideictic oratory1 composed by the Greek rhetorician Menander in the third century A.D. This repre- sentative work gives us much precious information on the various kinds of encomia when the genre had reached its zenith, at least on the side of theory.

Menander divides encomia or eulogies into two main classes: the basilikbs logos or 'royal oration,5 for the living, and the epitdphios logos or 'epitaph5 for the dead. The latter is subdivided into four types :

( 1 ) The pure encomium, which treats of one long dead, and is primarily concerned with praise.

(2) The epitaph, which has two forms: the first or general type, like the ancient funeral oration of Pericles; the second or particular type, dealing with a specific in- dividual. The second type is concerned with an individual who has recently died, and usually combines praise with consolation and lament.

(3) The monody, a brief but intense lament.

(4) The consolatory speech, which is closely related to the monody, but places much more emphasis on consolation.

The schema of the typical epitdphios logos may be pre- sented as follows: (1) exordium; (2) encomium (laudation proper, combined with lament and developed under the following topoi or commonplaces: family, birth, natural endowment, upbringing, education, life and occupation, with emphasis or moral qualities exhibited, achievements, fortune, and comparison with others, especially the great and famous) ; (3) final exhortation, and prayer.

The epitdphios logos was much cultivated in the Greek schools of rhetoric and never with greater brilliance than in the second half of the fourth century A.D,, when it was taught in theory and exemplified in practice at Athens, Constan- tinople, Antioch and other centers by such famous sophists

1 For the Greek text of Menander, cf. Spengel, Rhetores Graeci III 327ff.

X INTRODUCTION

as Libanius, Himerius, and Themistius. Himerius was un- doubtedly one of the principal teachers of Gregory Nazianzen in rhetoric at Athens. It is not surprising, then, to find the influence of the pagan encomium and its topoi so marked in the first great Christian funeral orations. But before con- sidering these in detail, we must first discuss briefly the development of the Greek treatise on consolation and the Latin consolatio, because of their close relationship with and influence upon the Greek and Latin funeral oration respec- tively.

Democritus of Abdera (c. 460-c. 370 B.C.), Plato (427- 347 B.C.), Xenophon (c. 430-354 B.C.), Antisthenes (450- 366 B.C.) and Diogenes of Sinope (400-325 B.C.), the founders of Cynic philosophy, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), Xenocrates of Chalcidon, Plato's successor as head of the Academy (339-322 B.C.), and Theophrastus (c. 372-288 B.C.), Aristotle's succes- sor in the Peripatetic School, had all dealt with the theme of death and the problem and means of consolation. It remained for Grantor (c. 335-275 B.C.), however, the pupil of Xeno- rates, to write a treatise On Grief which was regarded throughout antiquity as the most comprehensive and model work of its kind. Grantor's treatise was cast in the form of a let- ter to a certain Hippocles on the death of his children, and both in form and content it exercised a great influence on all later works on the consolation theme in the Greek East and subsequently in the Latin West. There were other important writers, including the great Stoics, Zeno and Panaetius, but none was regarded as important as Grantor in this field. Panaetius, in fact, recommended that Grantor's treatise should he learned by heart. The theme of consolation also fell within the scope of the Cynic-Stoic diatribe from the time of Bion of Borysthenes (c. 325-255 B.C.), and the consolation equipped with a full complement of commonplaces became one of the important forms of that genre. All this earlier Greek literature

INTRODUCTION XI

on consolation had a marked influence on Cicero (c. 105-43 B.C.), Seneca (c. 5 B.C.-A.D. 65), and Plutarch (c. 46-120

A.D. ) .

The 'consolation5 as a literary genre was introduced into Latin literature by Cicero. His first work, On Consolation (De consolatione ) , written to console himself on the death of his daughter Tullia, is lost. He has dealt, however, in detail with the theme of death and consolation in Books I and III of his Tusculan Disputations and it is thought that these books cover substantially the material which was presented in the last treatise. Seneca's most important contributions to the genre are his Ad Marciam de consolatione, Ad Helviam matrem de consolatione, and Ad Polybium de consolatione. Of these, only the first deals with death, the other two being concerned with consolation on exile. Mention must be made here also of the relatively short but magnificent letter of consolation which Servius Sulpicius Rufus wrote to Cicero on learning of the death of Tullia.2 There are a number of similar letters in Cicero, Seneca, and Pliny the Younger, The consolation was also cultivated very much as a more or less formal genre in poetry as well as in prose. On the Latin side, let it suffice tp mention the consolation on death in Lucretius 3.830-1094, Horace, Odes 1.2 and 2.9, the consolatory elegies of Propertius and Ovid, the Pseudo-Ovidian Consolatio ad Liviam, the Epicedia of Statius, the elegies of Martial.

Closely related to the Latin consolation, and much earlier in date, was the native Roman laudatio funebris. It was an ancient Roman custom for a funeral speech to be given at the death of a member of a prominent Roman family by a kinsman or friend. Such funeral orations made a strong impression on the Greek writers Polybius (Hist. 6.53-54), Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Rom. Antiq. 6.17.2-6), and Plutarch (Publicola 9.7). Unfortunately, only brief descrip-

2 Cicero, Epistolae 4.5.

Xll INTRODUCTION

tions, passing references,3 and scattered fragments have come down to us. The laudatio funebris was regarded as private in character. It was not published, but a copy was kept in the family archives. The Agriccla of Tacitus, as a laudatory biography, probably reflects fairly well the essential features of the laudatio funebris, but at a time when it had definitely come under the influence of Greek rhetoric. Since it was essentially a eulogy, it corresponded more closely to the Greek basilikos logos than to the epitdphios logos. Cicero has in mind the laudatio funebris as well as the panegyric in general when he describes its character thus: 'He who proposes to be the panegyrist of anyone will understand that he has in the first place to deal fully with the favours of fortune. These are the advantages of race, wealth, connexions, friendships, power, good health, beauty, vigour, talent and the rest of the attributes that are either physical or externally imposed: it must be explained that the person commended made a right use of these benefits if he po$sessed them, managed sensibly without them, if they were denied to him and bore the loss with resignation, if they were taken away from him; and after that the speaker will marshal instances of conduct, either active or passive, on the part of the subject of his praises; whereby he manifested wisdom, generosity, valour, righteousness, greatness of soul, sense of duty, gratitude, kindliness, or in short any moral excellence you please . . . M The commonplaces of the pagan Greek and Latin con- solation literature as a whole have a monotonous similarity. Among them may be mentioned the following; Fortune rules all and one must always be, ready to meet its blow?; all men are mortal; to have lived virtuously, not long, is of prime

3 Cf. Ad Herennium 3.6.I10ff.; Cicero, De oral. 2.11.46; De invent, 1.59; Quintilian, Inst. 3.7.10-18.

4 Cicero, De orat. 2.45-46, trans. Sutton (Loeb Classical Library) .

INTRODUCTION Xlll

importance; time cures all ills; death gives freedom from the ravages of disease, the evils of old age, and all other mis- fortune ; the examples of others ought to give one comfort and courage; the dead no longer suffer grief or pain; many think that there is a happy life for the soul beyond the grave; rea- son must temper grief; displays of emotion are unmanly. These rather impersonal arguments based on reason became stereotyped. They have a philosophical coldness about them which, apart from Seneca's occasional emphasis on the warmth of family affection as a source of consolation, only be- comes more marked with the repetition of centuries. In spite of their ineffectual character in many respects, they continued to be inculcated without essential change in the pagan schools of rhetoric until Christianity gave a new life to the traditional genres and commonplaces of consolation and added the incomparably superior means of consolation furnished by the Christian faith.

Christian consolation, whatever the literary vehicle of its expression, is based on the central doctrines of the Christian religion: belief in a personal God, the Creator of the world and of man, all-powerful but all-just and all-merciful, in the three Persons of the Trinity and their attributes, in the Incar- nation of Christ the Second Person of the Trinity, and of the death of the God-Man on the cross as the supreme sacrifice for our redemption, in His resurrection as the Saviour of man- kind and as Victor over sin and death, in the reality of the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the spiritual help and comfort to be derived from participation in it, in the Church as a divine institution, in the future life as the true life, in the communion of saints, in the resurrection of the body, in a last judgment, and in an eternal life of happiness in heaven or of punishment in hell. Furthermore, in the Psalms and Prophets of the Old Testament, and in the New Testament in its entirety,

XIV INTRODUCTION

Christians possessed a consolation literature of unique power and beauty and one enjoying unique authority as the Word of God Himself.

The Christian teachings on the resurrection of Christ and or the resurrection of the body occupy a central place in Christian apologetic and consolation. No Christian beliefs met with greater opposition or ridicule from the pagan milieu 6i early Christianity. After nearly two thousand years of the Christian tradition, it is difficult for us to appreciate the full significance of the great passage5 in which St. Paul cites the resurrection of Christ as certain proof of the resurrection of the body and as the fundamental and certain proof also of the validity of the Christian faith, and then proceeds to answer in detail a number of questions raised .regarding the possibility of the resurrection of the body and the nature of the body after its resurrection. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that belief in the resurrection and arguments to support that belief are emphasized in early Christian con- solatory literature. The supporting arguments soon develop into a body of commonplaces which appear repeatedly in the various types of Christian writings. These commonplaces, moreover, are interwoven with those employed by the pagans as arguments for the immortality of the soul and taken over by the Christians to serve the same purpose. Thus, Clement of Rome (c. 30-100) in his Epistle to the Corinthians declares that the resurrection of Christ is the strongest proof of the certainty of our resurrection, and he employs arguments from nature to support this proof : the alternation of day and night, the living plant growing from the decayed seed in the ground, and the example of the phoenix springing again into life from its ashes. The last illustration was especially effective in antiquity, because the reality of the phoenix and its life cycles was widely believed. Athenagoras (fl. 177) in his work, On

5 1 Cor. 15.12-58.

INTRODUCTION XV

the Resurrection of the Dead, shows that the resurrection is not only possible but necessary, drawing upon Pythagoras and Plato for the argument that an original whole, even after the separation of its parts, can be restored. Tertullian (d. after 200) deals with the resurrection in greater detail in his On the Resurrection of the Flesh and On the Soul. In addition to the authority of Scripture, he cites the pagan belief in the immortality of the soul and the arguments used to support it : the rising and setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, the fall and renewal of foliage, and the story of the phoenix. St. Cyprian (d. 258) in his On Mortality stresses the reward of eternal joys and the certainty of the resurrection. Lactantius (early 4th cent.) has a long section, cOn the Happy Life,5 in his Divine Institutes. He considers the immortality of the soul the highest good, and he argues that God who created man has the power to restore bodies, however impossible this may seem under certain circumstances. In his exposition, he reviews critically the various pagan views and arguments in respect to immortality. It may be observed in passing that the most elaborate treatment of the phoenix in ancient literature is the poem On the Phoenix ascribed to Lactantius. In the course of the three centuries, then, from the coming of Christ to the establishment of the Peace of the Church under Constantine, all the typical elements of Christian con- solation were formulated and developed. The commonplaces of pagan consolation were utilized, but they were given a new life and a new meaning when combined with the in- finitely more effective arguments drawn from Christian doc- trine and the Scriptures. In this period the literary vehicle for consolation was the official or quasi-official letter, the homily, or the treatise. Consolation was thus presented in an incidental and general fashion, and largely as a part of Christian apologetic. But the Peace of the Church ushereU in the golden age of Christian literature (c. 325-451). Al-

XVI INTRODUCTION

most all the great Fathers and ecclesiastical , writers of that period were trained in the pagan schools of rhetoric — the ancient Church did not develop a program of formal higher education except in Scriptural studies — under the leading sophists of the time. They were intimately familiar by long training with all the canons and conventions of style in a period when stylistic ornament was an obsession and pro- ficiency in its employment a mark of the highest prestige and glory. They could not entirely escape the literary interests and tastes of their environment. It was only natural, under the circumstances, that they should be zealous to use their literary training and talents in the service of their faith, and that in so doing they should adapt long-established pagan literary genres to their use. Hence the polished Christian dialogues, treatises, letters and letter-treatises, homilies, pan- egyrics, and funeral orations, to say nothing of the poetry of high quality in form and content, of the golden age of patristic literature. Consolation in this age finds formal ex- pression in dialogues, treatises, letters, and funeral orations. It is the last genre which is our primary concern here.

Of the ancient Christian funeral orations we have extant, four by St. Gregory Nazianzen (c. 329-c. 390), four by St. Ambrose (339-397) — the second oration on Satyrus, how- ever, is more properly a consolatio — and four by St. Gregory of Nyssa (d. 394). All the funeral orations of the first two Fathers are included in the present volume. Those of St. Gregory of Nyssa are omitted because they are somewhat inferior when considered as whole. They reflect the rhetorical exaggerations of the sophistic style to a greater degree and a much greater dependence upon and identity with pagan models.

St. Gregory Nazianzen was the pioneer in adapting the pagan funeral oration to Christian use. Therefore, it will be appropriate here to analyze briefly two of his funeral orations

INTRODUCTION XV11

which may be considered most typical of the genre in its Christian Greek form, namely, the oration on his brother Caesarius, the first of his extant funeral orations, and that on his friend St. Basil, the masterpiece of Christian Greek funeral speeches.

The oration on St. Caesarius may be analyzed as follows: exordium — division of the subject (Ch. 1); encomium — ancestry and parentage (2-4) ; physical endowments (5) ; up- bringing and education ( 6-7 ) ; occupation and achievements (8-10); life in Constantinople (10); struggle between Cae- sarius and Julian (11-14); death and funeral (15); the orator addresses his dead brother directly (16-17); exhort- ation (18-21) and counsel (22-23); final exhortation and prayer (24).

A glance at the schema of Menander for the epitdphios logos given above will indicate that the oration follows the general plan. However, apart from the Christian elements, there are some differences. There is almost a complete absence of lament; on the other hand, the description of the death and funeral is borrowed from the monody. The consolatory speech suggested the development of the thoughts on the brevity of human life and on the lot of the soul after death (16-17). The principal Christian elements are the Christian outlook throughout, the frequent Biblical quotations, the emphasis on spiritual rather than earthly goods, the emphasis on eternal happiness of the soul with God in heaven as its true home, the resurrection of the body, and the final solemn prayer to God.

But it is in the funeral oration on St. Basil that St. Gregory Nazianzen reveals his complete mastery of the genre and his originality in adapting it to a more independent and speci- fically Christian use. The analysis which follows is largely taken from Boulenger6: exordium — the orator explains his

6 F. Boulenger, Gregoire de Nazianze (Paris 1908) xxix-xxxi.

XVU1 INTRODU CTION

delay (1-2); encomium — ancestors of Basil (3); their piety and its proofs (4-8); his parents (9-10); physical endow- ments (10); praise of knowledge, education in Caesarea in Cappadocia and in Constantinople (11-14) and at Athens ( 14-24) ; his life as a priest, abuses in the hierarchy (25-27) ; his disgrace, persecution, and struggle, and his acts compared to Joseph's (28-36) ; his election as bishop and conception of the office (37-38) ; his administration of his church, attempts to establish unity in the Church, struggles against the em- peror, the prefect, the judge, and against the bishops (38- 59); his moral and intellectual qualities; poverty, austerity, celibacy, solicitude for the poor and sick, refutation of the charge of arrogance, his eloquence, his writings and teachings (60-69); comparisons with others: Adam, Enos, Henoch, Noe, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Samuel, David, Solomon (in wisdom only), Elias and Eliseus, Daniel and his companions, Jonas, the Machabees, St. John the Baptist (in detail), St. Peter, the sons of Zebedee, and St. Stephen (70-77); his death (78-79); funeral, lament, and counsel (80); praise of Basil for his holiness and pious acts (81) ; address to Basil and solemn prayer (82).

This oration, as the schema shows, is really an epitdphios logos, but one in which the orator has made important modi- fications, from the viewpoint of the traditional form, in content, topoi, and emphasis to suit his purpose. The pagan funeral oration is here transformed into a masterpiece of Christian eloquence in which the pagan elements do not as- sume undue importance, but are harmoniously subordinated to Christian use. Guignet well says: 'This oration represents admirably the intelligent independence which Gregory could exhibit towards the great rhetors of whom he was the spiritual son. Obviously, Gregory's method of composition cannot be understood if we neglect the models which he followed. Given the tyranny exercised in his time in all the domains of lite-

INTRODUCTION

rature, we observe in this oration a splendid emancipation. For one who is familiar,, on the one hand, with the rigidity of the sophistic teachings and, on the other, with the intel- lectual pattern so strongly impressed upon young minds in the workshops of the schools of rhetoric, the easy attitude of free- dom which Gregory adopts towards their precepts constitutes a definite and real effort in the direction of newness and originality.'7

St. Ambrose introduced the Christian funeral oration into Latin literature most probably under the impulse given by his great contemporaries in the East, Gregory Nazianzen and Gregory of Nyssa. It would hardly seem accidental that his funeral oration on Valentinian and Theodosius and his first oration on his brother Satyrus should be the only known ex- amples of the genre in ancient Christian Latin literature. Apart from his excellent rhetorical training in Latin, St. Am- brose had a much better knowledge of Greek than the great majority of his intellectual contemporaries. Hence, his funeral orations proper reflect an intimate acquaintance with the canons of Menander and other Greek theorists and practi- tioners in the field of rhetoric as well as the influence of the Latin laudatio funebris and consolatio. It should be empha- sized, however, that St. Ambrose did not feel as closely bound by his pagan models as his Greek contemporaries. Furthermore, his funeral orations are more thoroughly permeated with Christian thought and with scriptural quotation, phraseology, and imagery, and they are distinguished as a whole by more marked personal tone and warmth of feeling. To give a concrete idea of their rhetorical structure, it will suffice to reproduce Rozynski's schema8 of the first oration on Satyrus: exordium (1-6); general grounds for lament — My sorrow for the death of Satyrus is very great, because without him I

7 M. Guignet, Saint Gregoire de Naziafnze (Paris 1911) 310.

8 F. Rozynski, Die Leichenreden des hi. Ambrosius (Breslau 1910) 18-19.

XX INTRODUCTION

cannot live (14), I can no longer requite him for his benefits (19), in him I have lost all my joy, all my comfort, and every ornament of my life (33) ; special ground for lament — I weep for my brother, and rightly, because many virtues adorned him: fidelity in honoring God, an extraordinary prudence, and a noble eloquence (49), courage (50), self- control (56), a strict sense of rectitude, combined with kind- ness (62); end of lament — The recollection of all these special excellences of his now cause me great sorrow; I shall pine away with grief; grounds for consolation — In my sorrow I derive consolation from the favorable time of his death (68), the thought that we Christians should not mourn as pagans mourn (71), the thought that I have not lost my brother completely and the thought that my episcopal office will help much to alleviate my grief (77); conclusion — Receive my last farewell (78) and let me soon follow you (79); prayer (80).

This oration is classified by Rozynski as a consolatory speech, but it would seem rather to be a combination of this and of a monody. Furthermore, his attempt to fit the speech a little too rigidly into the schemata of Menander leads him to de-emphasize the central role given to the Christian ele- ments in the oration, and especially the copious employment of Scripture.

An analysis of the structure of the so-called second oration on Satyrus shows that it is essentially a Christian consolatio. The commonplaces of the pagan genre and liberally employed, especially those dealing with death as a release from the troubles of this life and with the immortality of the soul. There are many resemblances in content and language to passages in the Tusculan Disputations of Cicero, but the chief Ciceronian source or influence was most probably his lost De consolatione. The central theme of the work, how- ever, is the truly Christian consolation to be derived from

INTRODUCTION XXI

an unquestioning and fervent belief in the eternal happiness of the souls of the just with God and in the certainty and reality of the resurrection of the body at the end of the world. In the course of his exposition, St. Ambrose draws heavily upon Scripture and in his application of passages of the Canticle of Canticles, St. Paul, and the Apocalypse especially he exhibits a mystic exaltation which in its glowing intensity reminds one of the Psalms of David and the Prophets of the Old Testament.

The translations in the present volume are based, in general, on the reprints of the old Benedictine editions available in Migne, PG 35-36, and PL 16. In the case of the orations of St. Gregory Nazianzen on St. Caesarius and St. Basil, and of the orations of St. Ambrose on Satyrus ( I ) , Valentinian, and Theodosius, the new or revised texts published in the special editions listed in the bibliography were also utilized. The text of St. Ambrose is so badly reprinted in Migne that it was necesssary to check the text of the second oration on Satyrus, especially, against that of the original Benedictine text of 1686-1690.

Scriptural quotations from the books of the Old Testament, except Genesis, are given according to the wording of Chal- loner's revision of the Douai Version. For Genesis and for the New Testament, the translations published under the auspices of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine have been em- ployed.

MARTIN R. P. McGuiRE

XX11 INTRODUCTION

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Texts and Translations:

Gregoire de Nazianze. Discours funebres en I'honneur de son frere Ce'saire et de Basile de Cesare'e. Texte grec, traduction franchise, introduction et index, par Fernand Boulenger (Paris 1908) . (Textes et Documents, pour 1'Etude historique du Christianisme publics sous la direction de Hippolyte Hemmer et Paul Lejay 16) .

S. Ambrosii Mediolanensis Episcopi de obitu Satyri fratris laudatio funebris, denuo edidit annotavit praefatus est D. Dr. Bruno Alhers (Bonnae 1921) . (Florilegium Patristicum 15) .

Sancti Ambrosii Liber de consolationc Valentiniani. A text with a translation, introduction a{nd commentary, by Thomas A. Kelly, C.S.C. (Washington 1940). (Catholic University of America Pa- tristic Studies 58) .

Sancti Ambrosii Oratio de obitu Theodosii: Text, translation, intro- duction, and commentary, by Sister Mary Dolorosa Mannix, S.S.J. (Washington 1925) . (Catholic University of America Patristic Studies 10) .

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen, trans, by Charles G. Browne and James E. Swallow (New York 1894) . (A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd ser. VII).

Des heiligen Bischofs Gregor von Nazianz Reden aus dem Griechischen iibersetzt und mil Einleitung und Anmcrkungen versehen, von Dr. Theol. Philipp Hauser (Miinchen 1928). (Bibliothek der Kirchenvater 59) .

Some of the Principal Works of St, Ambrose, trans, by H. de Rome- stin et al. (New York 1896) . (A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd ser. X) .

Des heiligen Kirchenlehrers Ambrosius von Mailand Pflichtenlehrc und ausgewdhlte kleinere Schrifteh, iibersetzt und eingeleitet von Dr. Job. Ev. Niederhuber, III. Band (Kempten und Miinchen 1917). (Bibliothek der Kirchenvater 32).

INTRODU CTION XX111

Other Works:

B. Albers, 'Ueber die erste Trauerrede des hi. Ambrosius zum Tode

seines Bruders Satyms', Festeabe Ehrhard (Bonn and Leipzig 1922) 24-52.

Sister M. Melchior Beyenka, O.P., Consolation in Saint Augustine (Washington 1950) . (Catholic University of America Patristic Studies 83) . Contains a good historical introduction on the development of the ancient consolation, pp. 1-30.

H. Dudden, The Life and Times of St. Ambrose, 2 vols. (Oxford 1935) .

C. Favez, La consolation latins chretienne (Paris 1937) .

Sister M. Edmond Fern, The Latin Consolatio as a Literary Type

(St. Louis 1941) . M. Guignet, Saint Greeoire de Nazianze orateur et epistolier (Paris

1911). X. Hiirth, 'De Gregorii Nazianzeni orationibus funebribus', Dis-

sertationes philologicae Argentoratenses selectae, Vol. 12 (Ar-

gentorati 1908) 1-160.

J. R. Palanque, S. Ambroise et I' empire rornain (Paris 1933) . A. Puech, Histoire de la litterature grecque chretienne depuis les

orioines jusqu'a la fin du IVe siede, Tome III (Paris 1930) . F. Rozynski, Die Leichenreden des hi. Ambrosius inbesondere auf

ihr Verhdltnis zu der antiken Rhetorik und den antike'n Trost-

schriften untersucht (Breslau 1910) .

NAZI AN ZEN

Translated by LEO P. McCAULEY, S. J., Ph.D.

Boston College

INTRODUCTION

JAESARIUS, WHOSE EARLY and untimely death is the subject of this funeral oration, was the younger

brother of St. Gregory. Celebrated as a physician, he

was highly esteemed by Emperors Constantius and Julian. While holding an imperial office in the province of Bithynia, he escaped death in the earthquake at Nicaea in 368, but shortly thereafter fell a victim to an unspecified disease. His remains were brought back to Nazianzus and interred in the family vault. On this occasion St. Gregory delivered the present oration in the presence of his parents.

The eulogy of Caesarius has the usual rhetorical divisions. The topics are amplified with the fulsomeness cherished by the age. The embellishments of rhetorical art are present in full vigor. Noteworthy are the sections of the encounter between Caesarius and Julian (11-14), and the stirring, if lengthy, comparisons between this life and the life to come ( 18-23 ) .

The exact date of the panegyric on St. Basil is uncertain. It was delivered at Nazianzus probably three years or a little less after the death of St. Basil on January 1, 379. The orator alleges as reasons for the delay his own ill health and the labors which engaged him at Constantinople. The extreme length of the speech suggests that it was not delivered in its present form. The speech follows the traditional rhetorical pattern. The orator presents in order, after a brief exordium an account of the ancestors of Basil, his character, his edu-

4 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

cation, his priesthood and his episcopate, his virtues, com- pares him with other great heroes of God, touches briefly on his death and burial, and concludes with the customary prayer. The oration has been admired by critics for its great power and beauty.

The date of the panegyric on Gorgonia cannot be deter- mined exactly. We conclude from the oration itself that it was after the death of Gaesarius in 369 and before the death of the elder Gregory in 374. The speech was probably delivered in Iconium in Lycaonia in the presence of Gorgonia's 'spiritual father' (22), Faustinus, then bishop of that city. It will seem surprising to us that the daughter of such pious parents should have postponed her baptism so long (20), though she must certainly have been baptized before the extraordinary incident involving her handling of the sacred Species (18). The eulogy is a noble and eloquent tribute to Gorgonia and marked with greater warmth of feeling than are his other funeral orations.

The oration on the death of his father was delivered by the younger Gregory at Nazianzus in Cappadocia early in 374. St. Basil the Great, who had been consecrated bishop by Gregory the Elder, was present, and the orator addresses the opening sections and one of the later sections (14) to his life- long friend. St. Nonna, mother of the orator, was also present, and the conclusion of the eulogy (42,43) is addressed to her. Gregory the Elder is presented as truly admirable in every way. The oration sketches his life and character, including the story of his conversion from heresy. So long a speech on the occasion of his father's death may seem a little out of place today. To many the panegyric may seem to lack genuine warmth of feeling, save perhaps in the sections dealing with his mother. An interesting sidelight on the ecclesiastical history of the time is the account of the election of the bishop of Caesarea (33-36).

ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS

JERHAPS YOU THINK,, my friends and brethren and parents, who are dear to me in fact as well as in name, that I eagerly undertake this address, that I intend to pour forth lamentations and dirges for the deceased or to deliver a lengthy and elegant discourse such as delights most men. Some of you are prepared to grieve and lament with me, to bewail your own sorrows in my sorrow — if any of you have been similarly afflicted — and to learn how to grieve through the sorrows of a friend; but others have come to indulge their ears and be entertained. These think we ought to make this sad event an occasion for display, as we once used to do when we abounded in material wealth and sought honor in public speaking. But that was before we raised our eyes to the true and highest Word, and, in giving all to God from whom all comes, received God in place of all. Please do not entertain this view of us if you wish to regard us rightly. We shall not lament the departed more than is proper, since we do not approve of such excess in others, and we shall not bestow immoderate and unmerited praise. Yet, for an orator, a speech, and for one who particularly loved my speeches, a eulogy would be, if anything would, a dear and most personal gift. Nor would it be a gift only, but the most

D ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

just of all obligations. But in our tears and admiration we must observe the law concerning such matters, and this is in full accord with our philosophy:1 'The memory of the just is with praises,'2 and 'Shed tears,' he says, 'over the dead, and begin to lament as if thou hadst suffered some great harm,33 thus separating us equally from insensibility and im- moderation. Afterwards we shall show the weakness of human nature, and recall the worth of the soul, and offer the con- solation due the mourners, and turn their grief from the flesh and temporal concerns to the things which are spiritual and eternal.

( 2 ) Caesarius had for parents, to begin at the most fitting point, those whom you all know. Seeing and hearing of their excellent character, you emulate and admire it, and describe it to those who do not know it — if there are such — each taking a different phase, since no one individual could do so completely. It is not a task for a single tongue, however devoted and zealous one may be. Although they furnish many important topics for eulogy — I trust I do not seem excessive in honoring my own family— there is one characteristic which is most important of all and, as it were, their chief distinction, namely, their piety. I call them holy and venerable, and not less revered for virtue than for age, whose bodies are worn by time, but whose souls grow young for God.

(3) Our father was well engrafted from the wild olive into the cultivated olive, and so much did he share its richness that the engrafting of others and the care of souls was entrusted to him. Holding high office, and in a becoming manner, he presided over his people, a second Aaron or Moses, considered worthy to draw near to God and impart

1 The term 'philosophy' (and its derivatives) is frequently employed in patristic Greek, as here, to designate the life of Christian perfection, with emphasis on ascetical practices and contemplation.

2 Prov. 10.7.

3 Eccli. 38.16.

ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS 7

the divine voice to those standing far off. He was gentle, not given to anger, of calm mien, warm in spirit, rich in externals, but richer still in what is hidden from the eye. Why should I describe one whom you know? Even if I should make an extended speech, I could not do justice to the subject and give an account satisfactory to the knowledge and demands of each of you. It will be better to allow your own thoughts scope than by my speech to mutilate the object of your admiration.

(4) Our mother, from the beginning and by virtue of des- cent, consecrated to God and receiving piety as a necessary heritage not for herself alone, but also for her children, was truly a holy lump from the holy first fruits of the dough. She so far increased and augmented it that some have expressed their belief — the assertion is bold, but I will make it — that not even her husband's perfection was any other's work than hers. And how wonderful it is that a greater and more per- fect piety was bestowed as the reward of piety! Both were lovers of their children and of Christ. Yet it is a striking paradox that they were more devoted lovers of Christ than of their children. Their sole enjoyment in their children was that they be known as Christ's and called His. Their single definition of good children comprised virtue and kinship with the Chief Good. Compassionate and sympathetic, they rescued much treasure from moths and brigands and from the prince of this world, transferring it from their place of exile to their homeland, and storing up the glory of heaven for their children as their greatest inheritance. Thus they have anticipated a fruitful old age, equally honored for virtue and for years, full of days, both of those that abide and those that pass away. Neither has obtained first prize here on earth, only because each is kept from first place by the other. They have filled the measure of all happiness, with the exception of this final trial, or dispensation, whichever one thinks we ought to

8 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

call it. In my judgment, it is a dispensation, for now they have sent before them that son of theirs most in danger on the score of age. They may thus end their life in security and be brought to heaven with all their family.

( 5 ) I did not mention these points because of a desire to eulogize them or because I am unaware that one could scarcely approach their worth though he devoted an entire discourse to their praise. My purpose was to show that Cae- sarius owed his virtue to his parents. It should be no cause for marvel or incredulity if the son of such parents made himself worthy of such praise, but it would be indeed if he neglected the examples of his own relatives and looked to others. His early life was proper to those of good birth and fair prospects. To be brief about his obvious qualities, his beauty and stature, his manifold grace, and his equability as shown in his voice, since we do not marvel at such gifts, how- ever important they seem to others, I shall now proceed in my address to matters which it would be difficult to omit even if one wished to do so.

( 6 ) While such was the character of our rearing and edu- cation at home, we were also thoroughly trained in the studies available in this city. In these he greatly excelled the majority in quickness and scope of talent. How am I, without tears, to pass over these memories and to escape being convicted by my grief — contrary to my promise — of being unphilosophical? When the time came for leaving home, we were then first separated from each other. I devoted myself to the study of rhetoric in the schools of Palestine then flourishing, while he went to Alexandria, both then and now, truly and by reputation, a workshop of all kinds of learning.

What am I to mention as first or greatest of his merits? Or by what omission shall I do least damage to my pre- sentation? Who was more faithful to his teachers than he? Who more friendly to his comrades? Who better avoided

ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS 9

evil companionship and association? Who devoted himself more to that of men of high character, those most renowned and distinguished from his own and from other countries? He knew well that these associations have an important bearing on virtue or vice. Wherefore, who was in greater honor with those in authority than he? Who in the entire city — though all individuals suffer obscurity because of its size — was more distinguished for moderation or more re- nowned for understanding?

( 7 ) What field of learning was there that he did not pen- etrate, and that better than any one else as his specialty? Whom did he allow even to approach him, not only of his own circle and of his own age, but even of his elders and those longer engaged in their studies? He applied himself to all sub- jects as if they were but one, and to each as if there were no other. He overcame the naturally quick by industry, the ha- bitually studious by mental acuteness; rather, he surpassed the quick in quickness, the industrious in industry, and on both scores those outstanding in both.

From geometry and astronomy, that branch of learning so dangerous for others, he selected what was useful, that is, from the harmony and order of heavenly bodies he learnt admiration for the Creator. Yet, what was harmful he avoided. He did not attribute all being and becoming to the motion of the stars, as do those who set up their fellow servant, creation, in opposition to their Creator. But he referred, as is reasonable, their motion, as all other things, to God. In arithmetic and mathematics, and in the marvelous art of medicine, which deals with constitutions arid temperaments and the causes of diseases, so that, by the removal of the roots, their growths also may be cut off, who is so ignorant or contentious as to give him second place and not to be glad to be counted next after him and to carry away second prize? Nor is my statement unsubstantiated, but the regions of the

10 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

East and West, and wherever he afterwards visited, are signal monuments of his learning.

(8) When he had gathered all virtue and knowledge into his single soul, as a great merchant ship gathers all kinds of freight, he set out for his own city to share with others the fine wares of his learning. There, something quite remarkable occurred which is a special pleasure for me to recall, and, if briefly told, may not displease you. It was the maternal and loving prayer of our mother that, as she had sent off both of us, she would see us return together. The pair of us seemed, if not to others, at least to our mother, worthy of her prayers and glances when seen together, though we are now unfortunately separated. And so, through the will of God, who hears a just prayer and honors the love of parents for virtuous children, one of us from Alexandria, the other from Greece, one by land, the other by sea, returned by no forethought or agree- ment at the same time to the same city. The city was Byzantium, now the capital city of Europe. Here Caesarius soon after gained such fame that public honors, a distinguished marriage, and a seat in the Senate were offered him. A deputation was sent by public decree to the great emperor to petition that the leading city be adorned and honored with the leading scholar, if he had any concern that the city should really be first and worthy of its name, and that this distinction be added to all its others, namely, that it be embellished with Caesarius as physician and citizen, however flourishing it al- ready was in all its other brilliance through its distinguished men in philosophy and other fields of learning.

But let this suffice. That occurrence seemed to others a mere blind and uncaused chance event, of which there are many examples in our lives, but to lovers of God it was very evidently nothing else than the work of God-loving parents gathering home their children from land and sea in fulfillment of their prayer.

ON HIS BROTHER,, ST. CAESARIUS 11

( 9 ) Let us not pass over this illustration of Caesarius' vir- tues, which may perhaps seem slight to others and unworthy of mention, but seemed to me then and now very important — if, indeed, fraternal love is praiseworthy. I shall not cease to place it in the first rank as often as I discuss his qualities.

The city wished to retain him by the honors I mentioned and refused to release him for any reason. Since I had great influence with Caesarius in all matters, I succeeded, taking the opposite view, in bringing about the fulfillment of our parents' prayer, our country's need, and my own desire. I took him as the associate and companion of my journey, and he preferred me not only to cities and peoples, and to honors and income, which were flowing to him in profusion from many sources or were to be expected, but almost to the emperor himself and his commands from the capital.

Thereafter I determined to devote myself to philosophy and to adapt myself to the higher life, shaking off all ambition like some hard master and severe disease. Or, rather, the desire was earlier; the life, later. Caesarius, however, offered the first fruits of his learning to his country and was admired in a manner worthy of his labors. But afterwards a desire of glory and of being a guardian of the city, as he persuaded me, took him to the court. This was not entirely pleasing to us and contrary to expectation — for I will declare to you that the least place with God seems better and more exalted than the first rank with an earthly king — but not at all blameworthy. For, as philosophy is the most important, it is likewise the most difficult of vocations. It is not an under- taking for the majority nor for any others except those called by the divine magnanimity, which gives its hand to those who have made a worthy choice. But it is no slight thing if a man who has embraced the second kind of life should lay claim to goodness and have greater esteem for God and his salvation than for earthly glory, and should set this before him as a

12 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

stage or a sort of mask of many transient things in acting out the drama of this world, but should personally be living for God with that image which he knows he has received from Him and owes to Him as the giver. That, without question, was the purpose of Caesarius.

(10) He easily obtained the first rank among physicians. He merely revealed his learning, or, rather, a brief indication of his learning. Immediately he was numbered among the friends of the emperor and enjoyed the greatest honors. To those in power he offered the service of his art without charge. He knew that nothing can advance a man as can virtue and the reputation for noble actions. He far surpassed in reputation those to whom he was inferior in rank. Because he was beloved by all for his moderation, he was entrusted by them with what is most precious. He had no need of Hippocrates to administer the oath to him, and the simplicity of Crates was as nothing compared to his. To all he was more venerable than his rank warranted, being considered always worthy of his present great honors and judged worthy of greater honors to come. This was the view of the emperors themselves and of those who held positions next to them. The greatest marvel is that neither his fame nor the luxury surrounding him cor- rupted the nobility of his soul. Although he possessed many important honors, his own first claim to dignity consisted in being and being known as a Christian. All else, compared with this one fact, was for him mere childish games and trifles. All else was like parts played before others as on a stage quickly set up and dismantled, perhaps more easily destroyed than erected, as may be seen from the many vicissitudes of life and the rise and fall of prosperity. Piety alone is a per- sonal good and truly abiding.

(11) This was Caesarius' philosophy, even in the courtier's cloak. In these thoughts he lived and died, showing and offering to God in the hidden man greater piety than ap-

ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS 13

peared in public. If need be, I shall omit all else, his succor of relatives in adversity, his disdain of vanity, his equality with friends, his boldness with rulers, his contests and discussions in behalf of truth in which he engaged with many, not only in the dialectic manner, but also with unusual piety and fervor. One fact, and that the best known, I shall tell in place of all these.

The emperor4 of evil name was raging against us, and, having first become maddened against himself through his rejection of faith in Christ, was already unbearable to others, also. Unlike the other fighters against Christ, he did not proclaim himself arrogantly for impiety, but concealed his persecution under the fiction of reasonableness, and, in the manner of the crooked serpent who possessed his soul, by all kind of machinations drew his unhappy victims into his own abyss. His first device and trick, in order to deprive us of honor in the contests — for that noble and magnanimous man begrudged even this to Christians — was to cause those suf- fering as Christians to be punished as criminals. The second was to give the name of persuasion, not tyranny, to this process, that there might be greater shame than danger in- volved for those who voluntarily yielded to impiety. Seducing some by bribes, some by dignities, some by promises, others by all kinds of honors which he did not confer in a royal but in a very slavish manner, in the sight of all, and alluring all by the witchery of his words and his own example, he made trial, after many others, of Caesarius himself. Alas for this madness and folly if he hoped to take Caesarius, a man such as he was, my brother and the son of these parents, for his prey!

(12) But to delay a little in my speech and to enjoy the narration, as the spectators at the marvelous happening, that noble warrior, fortified by the sign of Christ, and defending himself with His great Word, advanced upon a man expe-

4 Julian the Apostate.

14 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

rienced in arms and formidable in his skill of argumentation. Caesarius was not terrified at the sight, nor did he give any ground because of the flattery of his pride. He was an athlete ready to contend in word and deed against a contestant who was capable in both. Such was the stadium, and such the con- tender for piety. And masters of the contest were present: on one side Christ, arming His athlete with His own sufferings; on the other the dread tyrant, fawning upon him by the familiarity of his words and terrifying him by the weight of his power. The spectators on both sides, those who yet remained on the side of piety and those he had snatched from it, also were looking down to see how the contest inclined and who would conquer, and were in greater anxiety than they upon whom they gazed.

(13) Did you not fear for Caesarius that something un- worthy of his zeal might befall him? Take heart. Victory is with Christ who overcame the world.5 I should like above all, you may be sure, to present each single point of what was stated and proposed at the time — the discussion had some logical turns and niceties which are most pleasant to remem- ber— but this would be wholly outside the scope of this oc- casion and this discourse. When Caesarius had foiled all his verbal subtleties and every hidden and open attempt, pushing them aside as child's play, he proclaimed in a loud and clear voice that he was a Christian and would so remain. Not even then was he finally dismissed. A strange desire possessed the emperor to be associated in and adorned with Caesarius' learning. On that same occasion he even uttered his famous cry in the hearing of all : 'O fortunate father, O unfortunate children!' For he deemed it proper to honor me also with as- sociation in dishonor, since he had known our learning and piety at Athens. Preserved for a second entrance into the im- perial court, since justice fitly armed the emperor against the

5 Cf. John 16.33.

ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS 15

Persians, Caesarius returned to us a blessed exile, an unbloody victor, more renowned for his dishonor than for his glory.

(14) I judge this victory far more exalted and precious than the emperor's powerful hand and exalted purple robe and costly diadem. I am more uplifted by this narrative than if he had shared the entire empire with him. Accordingly, he lived in retirement during those evil times, and he did so according to our law. This bids us, when the occasion demands, to dare danger for the truth and not to betray piety through cow- ardice, but also, as long as it is licit, not to challenge dangers,6 either through fear for our own souls or to spare those bringing danger upon us. When the gloom was dispelled, and a foreign land had delivered just judgment, and the glittering sword had overthrown the reprobate, and power had returned to Christians, why need I tell you with what glory and honor, or with what noble and numerous testimonies, and, as one be- stowing rather than receiving a favor, he was again welcomed at court and his second honor succeeded his first? Time changed emperors, but Caesarius3 reputation and primacy of place with them were untouched. The emperors were in rivalry as to which should have greater claim to Caesarius and deserve more to be known as his intimate friend. Such was Caesarius' piety, and such were the rewards of his piety. Let youths and men hear of it and let them press forward through the same virtue to the same distinction. 'For the fruit of good labors is glorious.'7 Let them seek this zealously and consider it a part of true happiness.

(15) But there is another marvel concerning him which affords the strongest evidence of his parents' piety and his own. He was living in Bithynia, holding an office of great import- ance from the emperor, for he was controller of the imperial revenue and in charge of the treasury. The emperor intended

6 Cf. Matt. 10.23.

7 Wisd. 3.15.

16 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

this position to be a prelude to higher offices for him. When the recent earthquake occurred at Nicaea — and it is said to have been the worst ever recalled — it overwhelmed almost all the inhabitants and, along with them, destroyed the beauty of the city. He alone of the distinguished men, or together with very few, was saved from danger, sheltered in unbelievable safety by the falling ruins and suffering almost no ill effects from his peril. Yet it was enough to make him take fear as his teacher and guide to a more important salvation, and to de- vote himself entirely to his heavenly destiny. He shifted his ser- vice from transitory things and changed courts for his true ad- vantage. This, then, was his intention and earnest prayer, as he persuaded me in his letters, when I had seized the occasion for an admonition. I had often admonished him before, when I was angered that his nobility of nature should be devoted to inferior pursuits and his philosophic soul should be continually immersed in public affairs even as the sun is hidden by a cloud.

Although he survived the earthquake, he was not immune to disease, for he was human. His escape was peculiar to him- self, his death common to others; the former was a sign of his piety, the latter of his nature. Moreover, consolation preceded our grief, so that, though shaken by his death, we might re- joice in the marvel of his former preservation. And now the noble Caesarius has been brought safely to us. His precious dust, his corpse, extolled with praise, has been sent home with hymns upon hymns, escorted to the altars of the martyrs and honored by the holy hands of his parents. His mother, clad in a bright robe, substitutes piety for sorrow, her tears subdued by philosophy, her lamentations quieted by the singing of psalms. He himself enjoys the rewards worthy of his newly made soul which the Spirit transformed by water.

(16) This, Caesarius, is my funeral offering to you. These are the first fruits of my oratory. You who often complained of

ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS 17

its concealment were destined to uncover it through its ap- plication to yourself. This is your adornment at my hands, and it is to you, I well know, the dearest of all adornments. It is not the soft flowing folds of silk, in which, even while alive, you did not delight after the manner of most men, since you were adorned with virtue alone; nor woven robes of trans- parent linen, nor outpourings of costly perfumes with their fragrance lasting but a single day, which you had long since left to the women's apartments, nor any other trifles or things valued by triflers, all of which this bitter stone would have concealed today along with your beautiful body. Away with pagan games and fables, whereby ill-fated youths are honored, garnering petty prizes from petty contests! Away with liba- tions and first fruits and garlands and freshly plucked flowers, with which they honor the departed, following ancestral law and unreasoning grief rather than reason ! My gift is a speech. Perhaps even future time will keep it, and it will continue to live and will not suffer the departed to be utterly gone, but will ever preserve our honored brother in men's ears and souls, setting forth more clearly than pictures the image of our be- loved.

(17) Such, then, is our offering. If it is slight and less than his worth, yet what is according to our powers is pleasing to God. We have paid some of the debt, and we will pay the rest — surely all of us as long as we live — by offering honors and remembrance every year. But you, sacred and holy soul, may you enter heaven, may you rest in Abraham's bosom — whatever may be the meaning of this — may you behold the chorus of angels and the splendors and glories of blessed men. Or, rather, may you join the chorus and rejoice with them, smiling derisively from on high at everything here: so-called riches, cast-off positions, lying honors, illusions caused by our senses, the twists and turns of this life, the confusion and ignorance, as it were, of night battle, as you stand before the

18 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

great King and are filled with His light. May we now receive a slight emanation from it, such as appears in mirrors and riddles,8 and may we hereafter obtain the fountainhead of Good itself, looking with pure mind upon pure Truth, finding, as a reward of our zealous labor for the good here below, that more perfect sharing and contemplation of the Good on high which the divinely inspired books and minds prophesy to be the end of initiation in our mysteries.

(18) What yet remains? Through words to offer conso- lation to the mourners. Powerful to those in grief is the remedy supplied by those who join in their grief. And those who have equal suffering are more effective in bringing consolation to those who suffer. To such, therefore, is our speech especially addressed. Regarding them, I should be ashamed if they should not be first in patience as in all other virtues. For, if they are greater lovers of their children than all others, let them also be greater lovers of wisdom and of Christ, pondering more deeply themselves on the passing from this life, and teaching their children. Or, rather, let them devote their whole life to the preparation for deliverance. But, if sorrow yet obscures your reasoning, and, like a kind of film covering the eye, does not allow you to see your duty clearly, come, you elders, receive a young man's admonition, and you par- ents, a son's; you who have admonished many and garnered experience by a long life, receive admonition from him who deserves to be admonished rather by those of your own age. Marvel not if I, a youth, admonish my elders. And if I can see anything better than gray hairs can, this, also, I give to you.

How much longer shall we live, honored elders, you who are drawing near to God? How long shall we suffer here? The whole life of mankind is not long when compared with the divine and eternal Nature, much less the remnants of life

8 Cf. 1 Cor. 13.12.

ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS 19

and the dissolution, as we might call it, of human breath and the end of our transient existence. By how much did Caesarius anticipate us? How long shall we yet bewail the departed? Are we not pressing on to the same destination? Shall we not soon be covered by the same stone? Shall we not soon be the same dust ourselves? Shall we gain anything in these few days except more evils, after seeing some, suffering some, or even perhaps committing others, being forced finally to pay the common and unalterable tribute to the law of nature, in following some and anticipating others, in bewailing some and being lamented by others, and in receiving from some the favor of tears which we have bestowed upon others?

(19) Such, brethren, is our life, we whose existence is so transitory. Such is the game we play upon earth: we do not exist and we are born, and being born we are dissolved. We are a fleeting dream,9 an apparition without substance, the flight of a bird that passes, a ship that leaves no trace upon the sea.10 We are dust, a vapor, the morning dew, a flower growing but a moment and withering in a moment,11 'Man's days are as grass: as the flower of the field, so shall he flourish.'12 Beautifully has holy David meditated on our weakness. And again in the words: 'Declare unto me the fewness of my days' ;13 and he defines the days of man as the measure of a span.14 What would you say to Jeremias, who, complaining of his birth, even blames his mother, and that, too, for the failings of others?15 'I have seen everything,'16 says Ecclesiastes. I have reviewed in my mind all human things, wealth, luxury, power, glory that is not stable, wisdom

9 Cf. Job 20.8.

10 Cf. Wisd. 5.10,11-

11 Cf. Osee 13.3.

12 Ps. 102.15.

13 Ps. 101.24.

14 Cf. Ps. 38.6 (Septuagint) .

15 Cf. Jer. 15.10.

16 Eccle. 1.14.

20 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

that eludes us more often than it is mastered ; again pleasure, again wisdom, often returning full circle to the same things, delights of the belly, orchards, numbers of slaves, a multitude of possessions, male and female table servants, singing men and singing women, arms, henchmen, nations at one's feet, revenues flowing in, the pride of royalty, all life's superfluities and necessities, in which I surpassed all the kings who were before me.17 And after all this what is his judgment? 'All is vanity of vanities, all is vanity and vexation of spirit,'18 that is, a kind of irrational impulse of soul and distraction of man who has been condemned to this perhaps because of the original fall. But, 'hear all the conclusion of my discourse/ he says: Tear God.'19 Through this he ceases from perplexity. And this alone is your gain from life here, to be brought through the confusion of things which are seen and unstable to things which are firm and immovable.

(20) Let us not, then, bewail Caesarius, knowing from what evils he has his release, but ourselves, knowing to what evils we have been left and what we shall heap up for our- selves if we do not nobly devote ourselves to God, and, outrun- ning transitory things, press on to the life above, and though still living on earth, yet leave earth behind and nobly follow the spirit that bears us to heaven. These thoughts are grievous to the cowardly, but they do not daunt those of manly heart. Let us look at the matter thus. Caesarius will not rule? No, but neither will he be ruled by others. He will not strike terror into anyone? No, but neither will he fear a severe master who is often not even worthy to be a subject himself. He will not gather wealth? No, but neither will he be suspicious or envious or suffer loss to his soul by taking unjustly and always seeking to acquire as much again as he has acquired. For such is the

17 Cf. Eccle. 2.1-9.

18 Eccle. 1.14.

19 Eccle. 12.13.

ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS 21

disease of growing wealthy. It has no limit to further desires, but makes continued drinking the remedy of thirst. He will make no oratorical display? No, but he will be admired for his oratory. He will not study the works of Hippocrates and Galen and their adversaries? No, but neither will he be afflicted by diseases or experience personal grief at others' misfortunes. He will not expound the works of Euclid and Ptolemy and Hero? No, but neither will he be pained at the pompous boasts of uncultured men. He will make no display of the doctrines of Plato or Aristotle or Pyrrho or of a Democritus, an Heraclitus, an Anaxagoras, a Cleanthes, or an Epicurus, and I know not of what others of the venerable Stoa and Academy? No, but neither will he be concerned about solving their specious arguments.

What else need I mention? Well, there remain, of course, things that are precious and much sought after by all. He will not enjoy a wife or children? No, but neither will he mourn them or be mourned by them, nor will he leave them behind to others nor he himself be left behind as a monument of misfortune. He will not inherit property? No, but he will be succeeded by the most satisfactory of heirs, and such as he personally desired, so that he could leave this world bearing all his wealth with him. What a glorious ambition! What a novel consolation! What magnanimity in his executors! An announcement worthy of the attention of all was heard and a mother's sorrow is removed by a beautiful and holy promise to give entirely to her son his wealth as his personal funeral gift and to leave nothing to those who were expecting legacies!20

(21) Is this not yet sufficient for consolation? I have still to offer the most efficacious remedy. I believe the words of wise men that, when every beautiful and divinely loved soul is

20 Caesarius had expressed this wish that his \vealth be distributed to the poor and this wish was carried out by his parents.

22 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

loosed from the body to which it has been bound and is re- leased from this world, it immediately enters on the perception and contemplation of the good awaiting it, inasmuch as the darkening element has been purged, or put off, or whatever the correct expression may be. It enjoys a certain marvelous pleasure, and exults, and goes joyfully to its Lord, having escaped from life here as if from some hard prison and having shaken off the fetters with which it was bound and with which the wing of the intellect was held down; it enters into the possession of the blessedness reserved for it such as it has already conceived in imagination. Shortly afterwards, it takes up its own related flesh, united with which it meditated on heavenly topics, from the earth which both gave it and was entrusted with it, and, in a way which God knows who bound them together and separated them, it is joint heir with it of supernal glory. And just as such a soul shared its sufferings because of its natural union with its flesh, so also it shares its own joys with it, having assumed it wholly into itself and having become with it one spirit and mind and good, life having absorbed the mortal and transitory element. Hear at least what holy Ezechiel teaches about the joining of bones and sinews,21 and, after him, what St. Paul says about earthly habitation and a house not made with hands, the one to be dissolved, the other to be reserved in heaven. He asserts that absence from the body is presence with the Lord, and mourns his life with it as an exile,22 and for this reason desires and seeks for his dissolution.23 Why am I faint-hearted regarding my hopes? Why am I so earthly in my thoughts? I shall await the voice of the archangel,24 the last trumpet,25 the trans- formation of heaven, the change of earth, the freedom of the

21 Cf. Ezech. 37.3ff.

22 Cf. 2 Cor. 5.1.

23 Cf. Phil. 1.23.

24 Cf. 1 Thess. 4.15.

25 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.52.

ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS 23

elements, the renewal of the universe.26 Then shall I see Cae- sarius himself, no longer in exile, no longer being buried, no longer mourned, no longer pitied, but splendid, glorious, sublime, such as you were often seen in a dream, dearest and most loving of brothers, whether my desire or truth itself re- presented you.

(22) But now, having put aside lamentations, I will look into myself, that I may not unconsciously be guilty of anything to be lamented, and I will consider my own state. CO ye sons of men,5 for the saying pertains to you, 'how long will you be slow of heart5 and dull of mind? £ Why do you love vanity and seek after lying?'27 Why do you consider our life here as something great and these few days as many, and turn from this separation, which is welcome and sweet, as if it were something grievous and horrible? Shall we not know our- selves? Shall we not cast off what is seen by the senses? Shall we not look upon what is perceived only with the mind? Are we not, on the contrary, even if there must be some grief, to be annoyed at our prolonged sojourn,28 like the inspired David, who calls things here tents of darkness, and place of affliction, and mire of the deep, and shadow of death,29 because we delay in the tombs we bear about with us, because we die like men the death of sin, although we have been made gods? This is my fear, and I live with it night and day. The thought of glory on the one side and of punishment on the other does not let me breathe. The first of these I desire until I can say: 'My soul faints for Thy salvation,530 but at the second I shudder and turn away. Yet I do not fear that this body of mine through dissolution and corruption will utterly perish, and that the glorious creature of God — for it is glorious if it is

26 Cf. 2 Peter 3.10-13.

27 Ps. 4.3.

28 Cf. Ps. 119.5.

29 Cf. Ps. 68.3; 43.20 (Septuagint) .

30 Ps. 118.81.

24 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

upright, just as, if sinful, it is dishonorable — in which there is reason, law, and hope, may be condemned to the same dis- honor as irrational things and be no more than they after its separation: a lot that is due the wicked, who are worthy even of the eternal fire.

(23) Would that I might mortify my members that are upon the earth!31 Would that I might spend all for the spirit, walking in the way that is narrow and trodden by few, not the way that is broad and easy !32 For what comes after this life is splendid and great, and our hope is greater than our worth. 'What is man that Thou art mindful of him?'33 What is this new mystery concerning me? I am small and great, lowly and exalted, mortal and immortal, earthly and heavenly. I am connected with the world below, and likewise with God; I am connected with the flesh, and likewise with the spirit. I must be buried with Christ, rise with Christ, be joint heir with Christ,34 become the Son of God, even God Himself,

See whither my speech has brought us in its progress. I am almost thankful to the calamity which has led me to make such reflections, and I have thereby become the more eager for my departure from this life. This is the meaning of the great mystery for us. This is the intent of God who for our sake was made man and became poor, in order to raise our flesh and restore His image and remake man, that we might all become one in Christ, who perfectly became in all of us all that He is Himself, that we might no longer be male and female, barbarian, Scythian, slave or freeman,35 the distinc- tions of the flesh, but might bear in ourselves only the stamp of God by whom and for whom we were made, so far formed and modeled by Him as to be recognized by it alone.

31 Cf. Col. 3.5.

32 Cf. Matt. 7.13,14.

33 Ps. 8.5.

34 Cf. Rom. 8.17.

35 Cf. Gal. 3.28.

ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS 25

(24) And would that our hope might be realized ac- cording to the great kindness of the munificent God, who, asking little, makes great gifts both now and in the time to come to those who truly love Him! Bearing all things, en- during all things36 for our love and hope regarding Him, let us give thanks for all things,37 both favorable and unfavorable alike, I mean pleasant and painful, since reason often knows even these as arms of salvation, commending to Him our souls and those of men who, anticipating us as it were on the com- mon way, have come to rest before us. Having done this our- selves, let us end our speech, and you your tears, hastening now to your own tomb which Caesarius has from you as a sad and abiding gift. It was seasonably prepared for the old age of his parents, but it has been bestowed on their son in his youth, unexpectedly, but not without reason to Him who disposes of our concerns.

O Lord and Maker of all, and especially of this body of ours ! O God and Father and Pilot of Thine own mankind ! O Master of life and death ! O Guardian and Benefactor of our souls! O Thou who makest and changest all seasonably by Thy creative Word, even as Thou knowest in the depth of Thy wisdom and providence, receive Caesarius now, the first fruits of our pilgrimage! And if the last is first, we yield to Thy Word, by which the universe is ruled. And receive us also afterwards in due time, having directed us in the flesh as long as it is for our advantage.38 And receive us, ready and not troubled by fear of Thee, nor turning away in our last days, nor forcibly drawn from things of earth, as is the mis- fortune of souls loving the world and the flesh, but eagerly drawn to the heavenly life, everlasting and blessed, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

36 Cf. 1 Cor. 13.7.

37 Cf. 1 Thess. 5.18.

38 Cf. Ps. 31.6.

ON ST. BASIL THE GREAT

JT WAS INEVITABLE that the great Basil, who con- stantly used to furnish me with subjects for my dis- courses— and he gloried in them as no man ever gloried in his own — should now present me in the person of himself with the loftiest theme ever given to those who have engaged in oratory. For I believe that if anyone, testing his oratorical power, wished to gauge it with reference to one discourse selected from all others as a standard, as painters do with model pictures, he would set this subject aside as beyond the power of eloquence, and choose what was first among the subjects that remained. So arduous a task is the eulogy of this man, not only for myself, who long ago put aside all love of glory, but even for those who have devoted their lives to eloquence and made their one and only object the gaining of distinction from subjects such as this. This is my judgment in the matter and it is, I am convinced, quite cor- rect. Yet I do not know in what subject I could be eloquent if not in this, or in what better way I could gratify myself, or the admirers of virtue, or eloquence itself, than by honoring such a man. For myself, it will be a convenient way of paying a debt that is due. And, surely, a discourse is due above all else to those who have excelled especially in eloquence. To the

27

28 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

admirers of virtue may this discourse of mine be at once a pleasure and an inspiration to virtue. I am well aware that whatever is praised is thereby magnified, and that there is not a single instance in which this does not hold true. As for eloquence itself, things should go well in either case. If it approaches his merit, it will demonstrate its own power. If it should fall far short, an altogether necessary consequence for those who praise Basil, the very failure will be an acknowledg- ment that the subject of the eulogy is beyond all the powers of eloquence.

(2) These, therefore, are the reasons which have moved me to speech and the undertaking of this task. And if I have come forward so long after the occasion, and after so many others have eulogized him in public and private, let no one wonder. But may his sacred spirit, ever revered by me, both now and in the past, grant me pardon. When he was among us, he used to correct me on many points according to the rights of friendship and a still higher law. I am not ashamed to say this, for he was a norm of virtue for all. So now, also, from his place on high, he will be indulgent to me. May I be par- doned, too, by those of you who have been more fervent in praising him, if, indeed, anyone can be more fervent than another, and all of us are not zealous for his good fame.

I have not failed through any negligence on my part to render what was due. Far be it from me to be so careless of the claims of virtue or friendship, or to think that the duty of praising him befitted anyone more than myself. First of all, to tell the truth, I shrank from speaking before I, like those who approach holy places, had cleansed my voice and my mind. Secondly, though you are not unaware of the fact, I will remind you that I was engaged in the defence of the true doctrine, then in peril. This occupation was a glorious coercion, which carried me away from home, according to the will of God, perhaps, and with the approval of that

ON ST. BASIL 29

noble champion of the truth, whose very breath was pious doctrine and salvation for the whole world. Of my bodily health I should not venture, perhaps, to speak at all, when my subject is a man so high-minded and superior to the body even before he departed hence, and who claimed that the noble qualities of the soul should not be hindered by these bodily shackles.

Here let my apology rest. I do not think there is need of a longer one in addressing my speech to him and to those who are well acquainted with my affairs. I must now proceed to my eulogy, choosing his God as the guide of my discourse, that I may not dishonor him by my praises nor yet fall far short of the rest, even though we all fail in like measure, as those who gaze upon the heavens and the rays of the sun.

( 3 ) If I saw that he gloried in his birth or in the advan- tages of his birth, or, in general, in any of those petty objects of pride to men who have their eyes fixed upon the ground, a new catalogue of heroes would have to be made. How many details could I have gathered from his ancestors to redound to his glory! Nor would I have had to yield any advantage to history in this respect, possessing this advantage above all, that my subject is embellished not by fictions and fable, but by facts themselves to which there are many witnesses. On his father's side, Pontus furnishes us with many narratives, not at all inferior to the ancient wonders attached to the place in which all history and poetry abound. Many, too, are furnished by this, my native land, noble Cappadocia, goodly nurse of youth no less than horses. Hence, we can match his mother's family with that of his father. As for military commands, high civil offices, and power in imperial courts, and again, as to wealth and lofty thrones and public honors, and splendors of eloquence, what family has been more often or more highly distinguished? If it were permitted me to speak of them freely, the Pelopidae, the Cecropidae, the Alcmaeonids, the Hera-

30 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

cleidae and all the other noblest families would be as nothing in comparison. For, having nothing of their own deserving of manifest praise, they have recourse to obscurity, boastfully con- necting certain demigods and gods with their ancestors, in all of which what is illustrious is incredible and what is credible is a disgrace.

(4) My discourse is about a man who claimed that a man's nobility is to be gauged by individual worth. Just as forms and colors and the noblest and the meanest horses are rated on their own merits, so we ourselves, he thought, should not be painted in borrowed hues. Therefore, after speaking of one or two qualities which he inherited — qualities, too, which characterized his own life, and which he would be especially pleased to have mentioned — I shall turn to the man himself. Each family and each individual has a characteristic trait and history, great or small, which is like a patrimony that comes down to posterity by a shorter or a longer line. The distin- guishing characteristic of both his mother's and his father's family was piety, as my discourse will now make clear.

(5) There was a persecution, and the most frightful and cruel of persecutions. You know that I refer to the persecution of Maximinus, who, coming after the many persecutors just before him, made all appear humane, raging as he did with extreme ferocity and striving earnestly to win the palm for impiety. Many of our athletes overcame him, enduring the contest even unto death or just short of death, spared to the extent that they survived their victory and did not succumb in their contests. But they remained as teachers of virtue for others — living martyrs, breathing monuments, mute pro- clamations. In their numerous company were also Basil's paternal ancestors, to whom, practicing every form of piety, that occasion brought a noble crown. For they were so pre- pared and disposed in mind to bear readily all the trials for

ON ST. BASIL 31

which Christ crowns those who have emulated His contest in our behalf.

( 6 ) But, since their contest had also to be a lawful one — for this is the law of martyrdom, not to advance to the contest deliberately out of regard for the persecutors and the weaker brethren, and not to shrink from the contest when it is upon us, since the first act is a mark of rashness, and the second of cowardice — to show homage to the Lawmaker, in this respect, what should they devise? Or, rather, to what did Providence, who governed all their counsels, direct them? They betook themselves to one of the forests of the Pontic mountains — these forests are numerous and dense and very extensive — taking with them only a very small number to aid their flight and supply their needs. Let others admire the long duration of their exile, for in all it lasted, it is said, seven years or a little longer; and their manner of life, trying and strange for bodies nobly nurtured, as one may imagine; and the distress they endured beneath the open sky, in cold and heat and rain; and the solitude, without friends and social intercourse, which assuredly must have been a grievous burden to those accustomed to throngs to attend and honor them. But for myself, I intend to speak of something more significant and admirable than all this, and no one will doubt me save the man of perverse and perilous judgment, who sees nothing great in enduring persecutions and dangers for Christ's sake.

(7) Weary of their long exile and filled with distaste for their poor food, these noble men longed for something more palatable. Yet they did not use the language of the Israelites.1 They did not murmur like the Israelites2 when they were distressed in the desert after their flight from Egypt and thought that Egypt was better for them than the desert, be-

1 Cf. Exod. I6.2ff.

2 Cf. 1 Cor. 10.10.

32 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

cause it had furnished them with an abundance of fleshpots and all the other things they had left behind, for in their folly they counted the brick-making and the mortar as nothing. How different was their language and how suggestive of greater piety and faith!

Why, they said, should it be incredible that the God of miracles, who so generously nourished a wandering and fugitive people in the desert,3 as to rain down bread and supply them with quail, nourishing them not only with neces- sities, but with superabundance, who divided the sea,4 and made the sun stand still,5 and held back the river6 — and they added all the other things that He had done, for the soul tends in such circumstances to devote itself to such narratives and to glorify God for His many wonders — why should it be incredible, they went on, that the same God should also today nourish us, as athletes of the faith, with delicacies? Many wild beasts that have escaped the tables of the rich, such as we once had, lurk in these mountains. Many succulent birds fly above us who long for them. What one of them but could be captured, if only Thou will it? So they spoke, and game was at hand, food spontaneously offered, a banquet prepared without toil, deer suddenly appearing in herds from the hills ! How magnificent they were ! How sleek ! How ready for the slaughter ! It almost seemed that they were annoyed that they had not been summoned sooner. Some drew others after them by signs, and the rest followed. Who was pursuing or forcing them? No one. What horsemen, what dogs, what bark or shout, or what youths occupying the exits according to the laws of the chase? They were the captives of prayer and just petition. Who in our time or at any time has known of such hunting?

3 Cf. Exod. 16.13.

4 Cf. Exod. 14.21.

5 Cf. Josue 10.12.

6 C£. Josue 3.16.

ON ST. BASIL 33

( 8 ) Oh, the wonder of it all ! They themselves were mas- ters of the chase. The mere desire was enough to capture as much as they pleased. What was left was sent away to the thickets for a second meal. The cooks were improvised, the feast was excellent, and the banqueters were grateful, counting the present wonder as a prelude to future hopes. Hence they became more eager for the struggle in return for which these things had been lavished upon them. Such is my story. But do you tell me of your Dianas, and of your Orions and Actaeons, those ill-fated hunters, you, my persecutor, who marvel at fables and the hind substituted for the maiden,7 if you wish to present any such tale in emulation and if we grant that this story is not mythical. As for what follows in the story, how extremely shameful it is ! For what good is the substitution if it saves the maiden that she may be taught to murder her guests and to repay humanity with inhumanity?

My story, such as it is, is but one chosen out of many, and as I think, typical of the rest. I have not narrated it for the purpose of adding to his glory. For neither the sea has any need of the rivers flowing into it, however many and great they may be, nor has he whom we praise today any need of contributions to his glory. But I wanted to show what kind of ancestors he had, and, having such models before his eyes, how far he surpassed them. For, if it is a great thing for others to receive title to honor from their ancestors, it was a greater thing for him to add to his ancestors' glory from his own, like a stream flowing back to its source.

(9) The union of his parents in a common esteem of virtue no less than in body was evidenced in many ways, no- tably in their care of the poor, their hospitality toward strangers, their purity of soul, achieved through austerity, the dedication of a portion of their goods to God— a practice not yet pursued by many at that time, though today quite wide-

7 An allusion to the story of Iphigenia.

34 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

spread and honored, thanks to such previous examples, and in many other noble actions, shared alike by Pontus and Cap- padocia, which have been a source of satisfaction to all who have heard of them. But their greatest and most distinguishing feature, in my opinion, is the excellence of their children. Leg- end does, perhaps, record men whose children were many and beautiful. But these parents are known to us through ac- tual acquaintance, and their character was such as to suffice for their own glory, even if they never had such children. Yet they brought forth children of such a character that, even if they themselves had not been so zealous for virtue, they would have surpassed all by the excellence of their children. That one or two of their children should merit praise may be ascribed to nature, but when eminence is found in all, the honor is clearly due to those who reared them. This is ev- idenced by the enviable number of priests and virgins, and of those who in marriage did not in any way allow their union to be an obstacle to an equal repute for virtue, making the dis- tinction between them consist in a choice of career rather than in conduct.

(10) Who has not known Basil, our Basil's father, a great name among all, who attained a father's prayer as very few have ever done? Though he surpassed all in virtue, he was pre- vented from gaining the first place only by his son. Who has not known Emmelia, whose name was a presage of what she became or whose life exemplified her name. She truly bore the name of Emmelia, which means harmony, for, to speak briefly, she was regarded among women as he was among men. And so, if he whose eulogy we are now undertaking was to be given to men to serve the bondage of nature, like any one of the men of old who were given by God for the public benefit, it was neither fitting that he be born of any other parents, nor that they be called the parents of any other than him. Accordingly, this was happily realized.

ON ST. BASIL 35

In obedience to the divine precept which ordains that all honors be rendered to parents, I have bestowed the first fruits of my praises on those whom I have commemorated. Let me now proceed to Basil himself, stating at the outset, and I be- lieve that this will appear true to all who knew him, that his own voice itself would be required to eulogize him. For he is at once a magnificent subject for eulogy and the only one with powers of eloquence adequate to deal with it. Beauty and strength and size, in which I see most men delight, I shall leave to those who are interested in them. Not that he was inferior even in these points to those small-minded men who are continually busy with the things of the body, while he was still young and had not yet tamed his flesh by philosophy.8 But I do not wish to suffer the experience of unskilled athletes, who waste their strength in vain and minor contests, and are defeated in the main events which decide victory and in which crowns are awarded. I therefore shall proceed to praise what no one will consider either superfluous or outside the scope of my discourse.

(11) I take it all intelligent men agree that among human advantages education holds first place. I refer not only to our nobler form of it which disdains all the ambitious ornaments of rhetoric and attaches itself only to salvation and the beauty of spiritual contemplation, but also to that external culture which many Christians by an error of judgment scorn as treacherous and dangerous and as turning us away from God. The heavens, the earth, the air, and all such things are not to be condemned because some have wrongly interpreted them and venerate the creatures of God in place of God. On the contrary, we select from them what is useful both for life and enjoyment and we avoid what is dangerous, not opposing creation to the Creator, as the foolish do, but acknowledging the Maker of the world from His works,9 and as the holy

8 Cf. above, p. 6.

9 Cf. Wisd. 13.5.

36 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

Apostle says, bringing every mind into captivity to Christ.10 Thus, we know that neither fire nor food nor iron nor any other element is in itself either very useful or very harmful, but that all depends on the will of the user. Even from certain reptiles we have at times compounded salutary medicines. So also from the pagans we have received principles of inquiry and speculation, while we have rejected whatever leads to demons, and error, and the abyss of perdition. And from such material we have drawn profit for piety, by learning to distinguish the better from the worse, and from its weakness we have made our own doctrine strong.

Therefore we must not dishonor education because certain men are pleased to do so. Rather, we should regard such men as ignorant and uncultured who would have all others be like themselves, that their own deficiencies might be hidden in the general mass, and their want of culture escape reproach. With this premise made and acknowledged, contemplate the life of Basil.

(12) His earliest years were spent under the direction of his illustrious father, whom Pontus put forward at that time as its common teacher of virtue. He was swathed and fashioned in that best and purest fashioning which holy David happily calls the daily formation11 as opposed to that of the night. Under him, therefore, as his life and learning grew and developed together, the admirable youth was educated. He did not boast of any Thessalian mountain cave as his workshop of virtue, nor of any arrogant centaur,12 the preceptor of the heroes of his day. Nor was he taught by this teacher to shoot hares, or run down fawns or hunt deer, or excel in warlike pursuits or in breaking young horses, having him at once as mount and master. He was not nourished on the marrow of

10 Cf. 2 Cor. 10.5.

11 Cf. Ps. 136.16.

12 The allusion is to Chiron, the teacher of Asclepius, Jason, and other heroes of Greek legend and mythology.

ON ST. BASIL 37

deer and lions, as in the fable, but he was trained in general education and exercised in piety and, in a word, he was led on from the beginning of his studies to his future perfection. For those who are successful in either life or learning only, but deficient in one or the other, do not differ at all, in my opinion, from one-eyed men, whose disadvantage is great in- deed, but their deformity is even greater when they look at others or are regarded by them. But those who excel in both and are, as it were, ambidextrous are in a state of perfection and live lives of heavenly happiness.

This was the happy destiny that befell him, having as he did in his own home a model of virtue, on which he had only to keep his eyes to be excellent from the beginning. Just as we see colts and calves from their birth skipping by the side of their mothers, so he, running close at the side of his father, with the ardor of a colt, was not left far behind in his lofty impulses toward virtue. Or, if you prefer it, in this very adumbration of virtue he gave an indication of the future beauty of his virtue and, before the time of perfection arrived, presented a sketch of perfection.

(13) When he was sufficiently instructed at home, as he was to neglect no form of excellence, nor to be surpassed in diligence by the bee which collects what is most useful from every flower, he hastened to the city of Caesarea to attend its schools. I mean this illustrious city of ours, since she was also the guide and mistress of my studies, and not less the metro- polis of letters than of the cities which she rules and which have submitted to her power. To rob her of her supremacy in letters would be to despoil her of her fairest and most singular distinction. Other cities take pride in other embellishments, either old or new, depending, I think, on their annals or their monuments. This city's characteristic mark, like the identi- fication marks on arms or on plays, is letters. What followed, let those tell the story who instructed him and profited by his

38 ST. GREGORY NAZIAN2EN

instruction. Let them tell of his standing in the eyes of his masters and his companions, as he equaled the former and surpassed the latter in every form of learning. Let them tell what glory he gained in a short time in the sight of all, both of the common people and the leaders of the city, exhibiting a learning beyond his years and a constancy of character beyond his learning. He was an orator among orators, even before the lecturer's chair, a philosopher among philosophers even before advancing doctrines. And, what constitutes the highest tribute in the eyes of Christians, he was a priest even before the priest- hood. In such wise did all defer to him in everything. With him, eloquence was only an accessory, and he culled from it only what would be helpful for our philosophy, since its power is necessary for the exposition of thought. For a mind inca- pable of expression is like the movement of a paralytic. But philosophy was his pursuit, as he strove to break from the world, to unite with God, to gain the things above by means of the things below, and to acquire, through goods which are unstable and pass away, those that are stable and abide.

(14) Next, he went to Byzantium, the capital city of the East, for it was famed at the time for its accomplished rhe- toricians and philosophers. From these in a short time he absorbed what was best through the quickness and the force of his genius. From there he was sent by God and by his noble craving for learning to Athens, the home of eloquence, Athens, a city to me, if to anyone, truly golden, patroness of all that is excellent. Athens brought me a more perfect knowledge of Basil, although he was not unknown to me before. And in my search for learning I found happiness. Yet, in a different man- ner, I had the same experience as Saul,13 who, when seeking the asses of his father, found a kingdom, and gained as an ac- cessory what was worth more than the principal.

Up to this point my discourse has proceeded smoothly,

13 Cf. 1 Kings 9.3ff.

ON ST. BASIL 39

bearing me along on an even, and very easy, and truly royal highway in my praises of this man. But now I am at a loss for words and know not which way to turn, for my speech has encountered an obstacle. At this point I should like to profit by the occasion to add some facts concerning myself to what has been said, and to delay a little in my narrative to tell you about the origin, the circumstance, and the beginning of our friendship, or, to speak more exactly, about our full accord of heart and nature. For the eye is not wont to turn away readily from attractive sights, and if it is forcefully drawn away, it is wont to return to them again. And the same is true of dis- course when there is question of narrating what is very pleas- ing to us. Yet I fear the presumptiousness of the undertaking, and I will speak, therefore, with all possible reserve. If loving regret forces me beyond bounds, pardon this most just of all feelings, not to experience which would be a great loss, at least in the judgment of intelligent men.

( 15 ) We were at Athens, after having been separated, like the current of a river upon leaving the same native source, to go abroad by different ways in our pursuit of culture, and again reunited, as though by agreement, God so willing it. I preceded him to Athens, but he came shortly afterwards, where he had been awaited with lively and manifest im- patience. His name was on the tongues of many before his arrival, and everyone considered it important to be the first to obtain the object of their desire. Nor will it be out of place to add, as a sort of relish to my discourse, a little anecdote, which will be a reminder for those who know it and a source of instruction to those who do not.

At Athens, most of the young men, and the more foolish, are mad after Sophists, and not only the ignoble and obscure but even the noble and illustrious. They form a rather con- fused mass, at once young and difficult to restrain. Now, you may notice how those who delight in horses and spectacles

40 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

conduct themselves at the horse races. They leap up, they shout, they raise clouds of dust, they drive in their seats, they beat the air as their horses, with fingers for whips, and they yoke and unyoke them. Although they have control of none, they readily exchange with one another drivers, horses, stables, and officials. And who are they that do this? They are often poor men, indigent and without means of support for a single day. It is exactly thus that the students conduct themselves in respect to their masters and their masters' rivals, eagerly striving to increase their own numbers and thereby enrich them. The whole thing is quite senseless and insane. They seize upon cities, roads, harbors, mountain peaks, plains, frontiers; in fact, every part of Attica and the rest of Greece, and even most of their inhabitants. For they have divided these into factions by their rivalries.

(16) Whenever a newcomer arrives and falls into the hands of those who seize him, willingly or unwillingly, they ob- serve this Attic custom, which is a mixture of the gay and the serious. First of all he is guided to the house of one of those who first received him, either friends or kinsmen or compa- triots, or of those expert in sophistry and purveyors of argu- ments, who for that reason are held in high esteem among them. They regard it as a recompense, also, to gain new ad- herents. The newcomer is then rallied by everyone who wishes. Their purpose, I think, is to humble the pretensions of the newcomers and to bring them under their power from the start. The rallying is coarse or reasonable, depending upon the boorishnness or the urbanity of the rallier. The practice, to those who are ignorant of it, seems fearful and brutal, but, to those who already know it, quite pleasant and charming, for there is more display than actuality in its threats. Next, he is led in procession through the market place to the bath. Those in charge of the procession in honor of the youth arrange themselves in two separate ranks, and precede him to the bath.

ON ST. BASIL 41

When they are close to it, they raise great shouts and leap up and down, as though in a frenzy, the shouting being a com- mand not to advance any further but to stop, as though the bath were closed to them. At the same time they pound at the doors and frighten the youth with the uproar. Then they allow him to enter, and finally grant him his freedom, and on return from the bath receive him on equal terms with themselves. This is the most pleasing feature of the whole ceremony for the youths, as it brings instant and final relief from their persecutors.

At that time, not only was I myself unwilling to subject my friend, the great Basil, to shame, reverencing as I did his gravity of character and his maturity of judgment, but I also persuaded the other youths who did not know him to share my sentiments. For he was already respected by most of them, since his renown had preceded him. The result was that he was almost the only newcomer to escape the general rule, a distinction beyond that generally accorded to new students.

(17) This was the prelude to our friendship. This was the spark that enkindled our union. It was thus that we were struck with a mutual love. Then something of a similar kind occurred, which ought not to be passed over either.

I find the Armenians not an open people, but quite dis- sembling and crafty. At this time, some of them who had long been his intimates and friends, dating from early association under his father's instruction — for they had belonged to his school — approached him with the appearance of friendship, though prompted by envy, not benevolence. They plied him with questions of a contentious rather than a reasonable character, and strove to vanquish him at the first onset, both because they had long recognized the genius of Basil and be- cause they could not endure the honor being shown him at this time. They bitterly resented the fact that they who had taken the philosophical mantle and had already received

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training in oratorical skill should have no advantage over him, a stranger and a newcomer. And I myself, vain lover of Athens, not suspecting the envy but crediting the pretense, when they were giving way and turning their backs, felt piqued that in their persons the glory of Athens should be de- stroyed and so quickly put to shame, and I came to the sup- port of the young men and re-established the discussion. I graciously lent them the weight of my authority, and, as the least addition in such circumstances is all-powerful, I made 'equal their heads in the battle,' as the saying has it.14 When I realized what was behind the discussion, for it could not be kept back, but eventually revealed itself clearly, I changed my position immediately and, putting my ship about and ranging myself on his side, I made his victory decisive. He was at once quite pleased with what had happened, for he was extra- ordinarily sagacious. And full of ardor, to describe him fully in the words of Homer, he drove in confusion15 those proud youths by his reasoning, and did not cease smiting them with arguments until he had completely routed them and gained a crowning victory. This was the second step in our friendship, no longer a spark but a flame that burned bright and high.

(18) They withdrew, therefore, without effecting their purpose, severely reproaching themselves for their rashness and extremely annoyed at me because of the trap in which they had been caught. They even openly manifested their hatred and charged me with treason not only to them but to Athens itself, since in their first onset they had been vanquished and put to shame by a single man, and that, too, by one who had not yet had the opportunity to develop a confident attitude. It is a common human experience, when, after conceiving high hopes, we suddenly chance upon their realization, to look upon the result as falling short of our expectations. Basil

14 Homer, Iliad 11.72.

15 Cf. Iliad 11.496.

ON ST. BASIL 43

had this experience, and was sad and distressed, and could not praise himself for coming to Athens. He was seeking what he had hoped, and he called Athens an empty happiness. Such were his feelings.

As for myself, I strove to dispel his disappointment for the most part by entering into discussion with him and soothing him by my arguments. I told him, and this was true, that just as a man's character is not to be detected immediately, but only after a long time and an intimate association, so culture is not a thing to be judged from a few brief experiences. In this way I restored his good spirits, and by this mutual experience I bound him to myself all the more.

(19) Then, as time went on, we mutually avowed our af- fection for each other, and that philosophy was the object of our zeal. Thenceforth we were all in all to each other, sharing the same roof, the same table, the same sentiments, our eyes fixed on one goal, as our mutual affection grew ever warmer and stronger. Carnal loves, centered on that which passes away, also pass away, like the flowers of spring. The flame does not endure when the fuel is exhausted, but disappears along with what kindles it. Desire, likewise, does not abide when its source wastes away. But those loves which are pleasing to God, and chaste, since they have a stable object, are on that accound more lasting, and, the more beauty is revealed to them, the more does it bind to itself and to one another those whose love is centered on the same object. This is the law of the higher love.

I feel that I am being carried beyond due and proper bounds. I do not know how I chance upon these topics, yet I have no way of checking my narrative. For, constantly, what I have omitted seems essential and superior to what I had chosen. And if anyone attempts to push me forward by force, I shall suffer the lot of the polyps, which, when they are pulled from their lairs, cling to the rocks with their suckers, and

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cannot be torn away until forceful pressure has been exerted on every one of these. If, therefore you grant me leave, I have what I ask; if not, I shall take it from myself.

(20) Thus mutually disposed to each other, and raising our fair-walled chamber on such pillars of gold, as Pindar says/6 we went forward with God and our affection as our helpers. Oh, how can I evoke such memories without tears! We were impelled by equal hopes in the pursuit of learning, a thing especially open to envy. But envy was absent, and emul- ation intensified our zeal. There was a contest between us, not as to who should have first place for himself, but how he could yield it to the other, for each of us regarded the glory of the other as his own. We seemed to have a single soul animating two bodies. And while credence is not to be given to those who claim that all things are in all,17 we at least must believe that we were in and with each other. The sole object of us both was virtue and living for future hopes, having detached ourselves from this world before departing from it. With this in view, we directed our life and all our actions, following the guidance of the divine precept, and at the same time spurring each other to virtue, and, if it is not too much to say so, being for each other a rule and a scales for the discernment of good and evil. For companions we consorted, not with the most dissolute but with the most modest, not with the most quar- relsome but with the most peaceable, and with those with whom association was most profitable. We knew that it is easier to be contaminated by vice than to communicate virtue, just as it is easier to contract a disease than to bestow health. As for our studies, we found pleasure not so much in the most agreeable as in the most excellent, since this also is a means for moulding to virtue or to vice.

16 Olymp. 6.1.

17 An allusion to a doctrine ascribed to Anaxagoras and other Greek philosophers.

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(21) Two ways were familiar to us : the first and more precious leading us to our sacred buildings and the masters there; the second and the one of less account, to our secular teachers. All else — festivals, spectacles, assemblies, and ban- quets— we left to those with a taste for such things. For noth- ing is worthy of esteem, in my opinion, which does not lead to virtue and render better those who apply themselves to it. Dif- ferent men have different names, derived from their ancestors or their own pursuits and deeds. Our great concern, our great name, was to be Christians and be called Christians. We were prouder of this than Gyges of the turning of his ring, if this is not a fable, by which he became King of the Lydians, or than Midas of his gold by which he perished, according to another Phrygian fable, after his prayer that all he had be turned to gold was fulfilled. Why should I mention the arrow of the Hyperborean Abaris or the Argive Pegasus, for whom it was less important to be borne through the air than for us to be lifted up to God together by our mutual efforts?

But, to be brief. Athens is harmful, in general, to the things of the soul, and the pious are not wrong in being of this opinion. It abounds in the evil riches of idols beyond the rest of Greece, and it is difficult not to be led astray by their admirers and advocates. But in our case no harm resulted, as our minds were protected by an impenetrable armor. On the contrary, to speak paradoxically, our own experience there confirmed us in the faith. For we recognized their deceit and fraudulence, and we despised those divinities in the very place they are admired. And if there is or is believed to be a stream flowing with fresh water through the sea, or an animal that can dance in fire that destroys all, such were we among our companions.

(22) Best of all, there was about us a company not with- out renown, which was instructed and directed under the guid- ance of Basil, and shared the same pleasures. Yet it was as foot

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soldiers that we ran beside a Lydian chariot — his course and conduct. Hence, we became famous not only in the sight of our own masters and companions, but even throughout Greece and especially among the most illustrious men. Our fame went even beyond its borders, as was clear from numerous accounts. For our masters were known wherever Athens was known, and wherever they were the subject of report or conversation, so were we, also, since among them we were, and were spoken of as, a famous pair. Orestes and Pylades18 and others like them were not to be compared with us, nor the Molionidae,19 celebrated in. Homer for their union in misfortune, and their skill in driving the chariot, as they shared the reins and the whip between them. But I have been drawn unawares into praising myself, a thing I have never tolerated in another. But it should not be a cause for wonder that in this instance, also, I have profit from his friendship. While he lived, he aided me in virtue, and now after his death he has added to my renown. But let my discourse return to its proper course. (23) Who was so venerable for prudence, even before his hair was grey? For it is in this way that Solomon defines old age,2(J Who was so respected by both old and young, not only of our generation, but of generations long past? Who, because of his character, had less need of training? Who possessed more knowledge along with such character? What branch of learning is there in which he did not engage, or rather, what branch in which he did not excel as though it were the only one? He passed through them all as no one ever did through one, and through each most intensely, as though there were no others. In his case, application went hand in hand with natural ability, and it is through these that superiority in the arts and the sciences is achieved. Because of his powers of concentration

18 One of the most famous pairs of friends in Greek legend.

19 Cf, Iliad 2.621; 11.750.

20 Cf. Wisd. 4.8.

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he had little need of natural quickness, just as he had little need of concentration because of his natural quickness. He possessed and united two qualities in such a way that it was not clear for which of the two he was the more distinguished. Who was like him in rhetoric, 'breathing forth the might of fire/21 though his character differed from that of the rhetori- cians? Who was like him in grammar, which makes us Greeks in language, which composes history, which presides over meters and makes laws for poems? Who was like him in philo- sophy, that truly sublime science which soars aloft, whether one consider the practical and speculative side, or that which deals with logical demonstrations and oppositions and with controversies, namely, dialectic? In this, he so excelled that it would have been easier for those who disputed with him to extricate themselves from labyrinths than to escape the meshes of arguments he wove whenever he had need. As for as- tronomy, geometry, and mathematics, he was content with a knowledge sufficient to avoid being confused by those who were clever in these sciences. Anything beyond that he scorned as useless for those who wished to lead a pious life. And so one can admire more what he chose than what he passed over, and, more than what he chose, what he passed over. His bodily weakness and his care of the sick made medicine, the fruit of philosophy and industry, a necessity for him. From such a beginning he advanced to mastery of this art, and not only of the branches that deal with the visible and what is immediately apparent, but also of those which deal with principles and theory. But what are these accomplishments, significant as they are, compared to his knowledge of moral science? In the eyes of those who have made trial of Basil, the famous Minos and Rhadamanthus22 were mere humbugs, whom the Greeks judged worthy of the meadows of asphodel

21 Iliad 6.182.

22 Famous judges of the lower world in Greek mythology.

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and the Elysian fields, for they had acquired the notion of our Paradise, in my opinion, from the books of Moses, which are also ours. Though their terminology is somewhat different, this is what they convey under other words and names.

( 24 ) Such were our circumstances. We had a full cargo of knowledge, at least the measure attainable by man's nature. One cannot sail beyond Gades. There only remained our return home, our entrance upon a more perfect life, and the realization of common purpose. The day of our depart- ture was at hand, and with it all that is involved in de- parture: speeches of farewell and escort, salutations, laments, embraces, and tears. For there is nothing so painful to any- one as for those who have been fellow students at Athens to be separated from the city and from one another. Then, indeed, occurred a pitiable spectacle and one worthy to be recalled. About us were gathered our companions and classmates, as well as some of our masters, all crying out, in the midst of their entreaties, threats of violence and attempts at persuasion that, come what may, they would not let us go. They said and did everything natural to men in grief.

Here I shall be presumptuous and bring an accusation against myself and also, it may seem, against that holy and irreproachable soul. He, after explaining the pressing rea- sons for his return, overcame their restraint, and they, al- though it was against their will, consented to his departure. I myself was left behind at Athens, partly because I weakened to the entreaties of friends, for the truth must be told, but partly because of his betrayal, for he had been persuaded to forsake one who had not forsaken him and to hand me over to those who were holding him there. It was a thing that, be- fore it happened, was incredible. For it was like cutting a body in two parts, with the resulting death of both, or like the parting of two oxen that have shared the same manger and yoke, bellowing piteously for each other in distress at their

ON ST. BASIL 49

separation. My loss, however, was not of long duration, for I could not bear for long being a pitiable spectacle and ex- plaining to everyone the reasons for our separation. So, after staying at Athens a little while more, my longing made me like the horse in Homer; I burst the tie with those holding me back and, coursing over the plain, rushed to join my companion.23

(25) On our return, we paid a little homage to the world and the stage, and that only to satisfy the desire of the multitude; we ourselves had no love for theatrical display. We quickly became independent and were ac- counted men instead of beardless youths, advancing in more manlike fashion in philosophy. We were no longer together, for envy prevented this, but we were united in desire. The city of Caesarea took possession of Basil, as a second founder and protector. As time went on, since I could not be with him, he went abroad on voyages which were necessary and in full keeping with his philosophical resolution. Reverence for my parents, the care of their old age, and successive misfortunes separated me from him. This was not good, perhaps, nor fair, but at any rate they kept me from him. I ask myself whether this was not the cause of all the inconsistency and difficulty which has befallen me in my life, and which has made my progress in philosophy so uneven and unworthy of my desire and purpose. May my affairs follow the course that God wills, but may they follow a better course because of Basil's intercessions. As for him, the manifold kindness of God and His providence toward our family, after making him known by many manifest circumstances and showing him forth day by day as more illustrious, set him up as a brilliant and celebrated light of the Church, for he had been enrolled meanwhile in the sacred order of the priesthood to illumine, through the single city of Caesarea, the whole

23 Ct Iliad 6.506ff.

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world. And in what manner? It was not by suddenly ad- vancing him, nor by cleansing and instructing him in wisdom at the same time, as is true of the majority of those today who aspire to the episcopate. He received the honor according to the law and order of spiritual advancement.

(26) I do not approve of the confusion and disorder that exist among us, sometimes even in those who preside in the sanctuary. I will not go so far as to accuse all, for that would not be just. I approve of the naval custom which first puts oars in the hands of the future pilot and later leads him to the prow and entrusts him with the duties forward, seating him at the helm only after long experience at sea and in observation of the winds. The same holds true in military af- fairs: one is soldier, captain, general. This order is the best and most advantageous for subordinates. If the same system were in force in our case, it would be of great value. As it is now, the most holy of all the orders among us is in danger of being the most ridiculous. For the episcopate depends not so much on virtue as on intrigue, and the sees belong not so much to the most worthy as to the most powerful. Samuel, who foresaw the future, is numbered among the Prophets, but so also is Saul, the outcast. Roboam, the son of Solomon, is among the kings, but so also is Jeroboam, the slave and apostate. And there is no physician or painter who has not first observed the nature of diseases or blended many colors and sketched various figures. But a bishop is easily found, without the experience furnished by toil, having but recent repute and being sown and springing up at once, as in the fable of the giants. We manufacture holy men in a day and we bid them to be wise, when they have had no training in wisdom, and no previous warrant to this dignity except desire. One man is content with his lowly position, and remains humble, though worthy of the highest place, having devoted himself to frequent meditation on the divine Scriptures and striven much to sub-

ON ST. BASIL 51

ject his flesh to the law of the spirit. Another arrogantly seats himself in first place, raises his brow at his betters, does not tremble on his throne, and does not shudder at the sight, as he looks down on the man of self-control. On the contrary, he supposes that, together with his power, he has acquired superior wisdom, betraying the false judgment of a man whom high office has robbed of his senses.

( 27 ) It was not so with our great and noble Basil. As in all other things, so in this he appears as a model of order to others. First, he read the sacred Books to the people and was their interpreter, not deeming this function of the sanctuary be- neath him. Similarly, in the chair of the priests and then in that of the bishops he praised the Lord, not having gained this authority by stealth or force, not having sought the honor but having been sought by it, not having received it as a human favor but as coming from God and divine. But let my account of his episcopate be deferred, and let us now dwell a little on his priesthood. How nearly this escaped me, al- though it should occupy a central place in my discourse !

(28) A disagreement arose between Basil and his pre- decessor in the government of this church. It is better to pass over in silence its origin and character, but the fact remains. Eusebius24 was in many respects a man not without nobility, and remarkable for piety, as the persecution of that time and the opposition to him clearly indicated, yet he developed a natural antipathy for Basil. Momus2'1 seizes not only upon the common crowd but on the best of men, since it belongs to God alone to be completely infallible and uninfluenced by the passions. All the more select and wiser members of the Church were roused against Eusebius; since they are wiser than the multitude, they have separated themselves from the world

24 Eusebius of Caesarea, predecessor of Basil in the see of Caesarea, is not mentioned by name in the Greek original.

25 Greek god of grumbling and fault-finding.

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and consecrated themselves to God. I speak of the Nazarites26 among us, who are especially zealous in such matters. They were indignant that their chief should be ignored, outraged, and set aside, and they ventured upon a most dangerous undertaking. They contemplated defection and revolt from the great and indivisible body of the Church, severing along with themselves a considerable portion of the people, in- cluding some of lowly station and others of high rank. This was quite easy for three weighty reasons. First of all, Basil was venerated, to my knowledge, as no other philosopher of our time and, if he wished, he could give encouragement to the faction. Second, his opponent was under suspicion by the city because of the tumult connected with his election, on the grounds that he had received the episcopal office not so much in a regular and canonical manner as by violence. Finally, some bishops had come from the West and drew to themselves the whole orthodox portion of the Church.27

( 29 ) What action, then, was taken by that noble man and disciple of the peaceful One?28 He could not resist his slan- derers or his partisans, nor did it befit him to fight or to rend the body of the Church, already attacked and put in peril by the power of the heretics at the time. Following our sincere counsels and exhortations on this point, he retired in flight to Pontus and, assuming the direction of the monasteries there, established for them some memorable regulations. He em- braced solitude as had Elias and John, those perfect philo- sophers, deeming this more advantageous for him than to make any plans in respect to the present difficulty that would be unworthy of his philosophy, or than to lose in the tempest the control which in time of calm he exercised over his reason. Although his departure was so philosophical and worthy of

26 I.e., the monks.

27 Allusion is made to the papal legates, Lucifer of Cagliari and Eusebius of Vercelli.

28 Cf. Matt. 11.29.

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admiration, we shall find that his return was even more admirable. For so it was.

(30) While we were thus engaged, there suddenly arose a cloud full of hail and shrill with death, devastating every church on which it burst and fell: an emperor,29 too fond of gold and most hostile to Christ. Afflicted with those two greatest of maladies, avarice and blasphemy, he was a per- secutor following a persecutor, and following the Apostate. Al- though he was not an apostate himself, he was no better to Christians, or rather to that most pious and pure portion of the Christians who worship the Trinity, which I call the only true piety and saving doctrine. We do not weigh out the Godhead, nor do we divorce the one and inaccessible Nature from Itself by unnatural differences. Nor do we cure one evil by another, dissolving the impious contraction of Sabellius by a more im- pious separation and division. This was the disease of Arius, who gave his name to the madness, and who threw into con- fusion and brought to ruin a great part of the Church. Without honoring the Father, he dishonored what proceeded from Him by maintaining unequal degrees in the Godhead. But we recognize one glory of the Father, the equality of the Only-begotten, and one glory of the Son, the equality of the Holy Spirit. And we believe that to subordinate anything of the Three is to destroy the whole. We venerate and acknowl- edge Three with respect to attributes; One, with respect to Godhead. Having no understanding of this, and unable to look upwards, and debased by those who led him on,30 he had the audacity to debase the nature of the Godhead along with him- self. He became an evil creature, reducing majesty to servitude, and putting the uncreated and timeless Nature on the same level with created things.

29 Valens, champion of Arianism.

30 I.e., the emperor was following the lead of demons in promoting Arianism.

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(31) Such, then, were his views, and it was with such im- piety that he took the field against us. There is no other way of regarding it than as a barbarian invasion having for its object, not the destruction of ramparts, or cities, or houses, or any of the little things that are made by hand and soon restored or replaced, but the ravaging of men's souls. He was joined in his attack by an army worthy of him, the wicked leaders of the churches, the cruel governors of his world empire. They were already masters of some churches and were attacking others, and they were hoping to gain others still through the influence and might of the emperor. One form of violence was being exercised and another, threatened. They came to destroy our church, also, relying on nothing so much as the pusillanimity of all those of whom I have spoken, on the inexperience of the man who was then our bishop and on the infirmities that existed among us.

Great, then, was the struggle in prospect. The ardor of the multitude was not wanting, but their battle line was weak for lack of a champion and one trained to fight for them with the power of the Word and the Spirit. What was the reaction of that noble and sublime and truly Christ-loving soul? There was no need of long speeches to gain his presence and his assistance. He had no sooner seen me on my mission, for the struggle was common to us both as defenders of the faith, than he yielded at once to my plea. And, for his part, he made an excellent and very wise distinction, based on the precepts of the Holy Spirit, namely, that there is a time for cap- tiousness — if one must indulge in such feelings at all — that of security, and another time for forbearance, that of neces- sity. At once he departed with me from Pontus and was filled with zeal in defense of truth in danger, offering himself as a willing ally in the fight and dedicating himself to his mother, the Church.

(32) But if he manifested such zeal beforehand, was his

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ardor less in the combat? Or if he was valiant throughout the conflict, was he lacking in prudence? Or if he fought with skill, did he shrink from danger? Or if in all these respects he evidenced a perfection beyond description, did he cherish in his heart some trace of chagrin? By no means. But simul- taneously he effected his reconciliation, took counsel, and prepared the defense. He removed all the obstacles and stumbling blocks in our way and all that had given encourage- ment to those attacking us. He gained in one quarter, held his ground in another, and drove back the attack in a third. He became to some a strong wall and a rampart,31 to others an axe breaking the rock to pieces,32 or a fire among the thorns,33 as divine Scripture says, easily destroying the fagots which were insulting the Godhead. And if Barnabas, who speaks and records these things, had some share in the struggles of Paul, the thanks are due to Paul, who chose him and made him his partner in the conflict.

(33 ) They therefore departed without accomplishing their purpose, and, base men that they were, they were basely put to shame and worsted for the first time. And they learned that, of all men in the world, the Cappadocians were not to be lightly despised. There is nothing so characteristic of them as the firmness of their faith and the sincerity of their belief in the Trinity. And from the Trinity come their unity and strength, and for assistance rendered, assistance in return, only far greater and more powerful.

The next object of Basil's toil and zeal was to conciliate the bishop, to dissipate his suspicions, to persuade all men that the vexation that had been felt was a temptation and an at- tack of the evil one, envious of virtuous concord, and that he himself recognized the laws of obedience and the spiritual

31 Cf. Jer. 1.18.

32 Cf. Jer. 23.29.

33 Cf. Ps. 117.12.

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order. Therefore, he was at his side, instructing him, giving ear to him, advising him. He was everything to him, a good counselor, an expert assistant, a spiritual director, a guide of conduct, a staff for his old age, a bulwark of the faith, the most worthy of trust within the household and most active outside — in a word, as much disposed to benevolence as he had once been thought to hostility. The result was that he was invested with the government of the church, though he was second in rank in the see, for, in return for the benevolence he displayed, he received authority. And their harmony and union in power was wonderful. One led the people; the other, the leader, like a lion keeper, as it were, skillfully taming the possessor of power. He had been newly installed in the see, while still breathing worldly air, and not yet adjusted to the things of the Spirit, when a violent storm was raging and the enemies of the Church were menacing. He was in need, therefore, of a directing and a sustaining hand. For this reason he cherished this alliance and considered himself the master of one who had mastered him.

(34) Of Basil's care and protection of the Church there are many other examples. There was his independence toward magistrates and the most powerful men in the city. There were his decisions of disputes, which were accepted with confidence, the mere seal of his word taking on the character of law. There was his support of the needy, more often in cases of spiritual want, but often, also, in those of physical distress. For this is frequently a means of touching the soul and reducing it to subjection by kindness. There were his sup- port of the poor, his hospitality toward strangers, his solicitude for virgins, written and unwritten legislation for monks, formulation of prayers, regulations for good order in the sanctuary, and other ways in which one who was truly a man of God and ranged on God's side could benefit the people. But there was one example of special importance and fame.

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There was a famine, the most severe within the memory of man. The city was in distress, but there was no help forth- coming from any quarter, nor any remedy for the calamity. The maritime cities support without difficulty occasions of want like these, since they can dispose of their own products and receive in exchange those which come to them by sea. But we in the inland can make no profit on our superfluous products, nor procure what we need, having no means of disposing of what we have or importing what we lack. In situations like this, nothing is so distressing as the cruelty and avarice of those who enjoy plenty. They watch for oc- casions of trafficking in want and they reap a harvest from misfortune. They do not heed: 'He that hath mercy on the poor, lendeth to the Lord'34 and 'He that hideth up corn, shall be cursed among the people/35 or any other of the promises made to the merciful or the threats against the in- human. Their insatiate desire runs beyond bounds in their false wisdom. While they close their bowels of mercy to others, they close those of God to themselves, not perceiving that they are in greater need of Him than others of them. Such are these buyers and sellers of gain, having no regard for their fellow men or thanks to God, by whose benefit they enjoy plenty when others are in distress.

(35) But Basil could not rain down bread from heaven36 by prayer to feed a fugitive people in the desert, nor cause food to well up without cost from the depth of vessels37 which are filled by emptying — a paradox, indeed, that she who fed the Prophet might be fed in turn for her hospitality. Nor could he feed many thousands of men with five loaves,38 of which even the fragments sufficed for many tables. For these

34 Prov. 19.17.

35 Prov. 11.26.

36 Cf. Exod. 16.15; Ps. 77.24.

37 Cf. 3 Kings 17.14.

38 Cf. Matt. 14.19; Luke 9.16.

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were the works of Moses and Elias and of my God who gave them this power, fitting also, perhaps, for those times and the conditions prevailing then, since signs are for unbelievers, not for believers.39 But what was in accord with these works and tending to the same result, he devised and executed with the same faith. By his word and exhortations he opened up the storehouses of the rich and brought to realization the words of Scripture: he dealt bread to the hungry40 and he satisfied the poor with bread,41 and he fed them in famine42 and 4he has filled the hungry with good things.543 And in what manner? For this contributed in no small way to his assistance. He assembled in one place those afflicted by the famine, in- cluding some who had recovered a little from it, men and women, children, old men, the distressed of every age. He collected through contributions all kinds of food helpful for relieving famine. He set before them caldrons of pea soup and our salted meats, the sustenance of the poor. Then, imitating the ministry of Christ, who, girded with a towel, did not disdain to wash the feet of His disciples, and em- ploying his own servants or, rather, his fellow slaves and co-workers in this labor, he ministered to the bodies and the souls of the needy, combining marks of respect with the necessary refreshment, thus affording them relief in two ways. (36) Such was our new provider of grain and second Joseph, save that on him we have something more to say. For Joseph trafficked in famine and gained Egypt by his hu- manity,44 making use of the time of abundance with a view to the time of want, appointed for this purpose through the dreams of others, but Basil rendered service freely, relieving

39 Cf. 1 Cor. 14.22.

40 Cf. Isa. 58.7.

41 Cf. Ps. 131.15.

42 Cf. Ps. 32,19.

43 Luke 1.53.

44 Cf. Gen. 41. Iff.

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the dearth of food without drawing any profit therefrom. He had in view only one object : to win mercy by being merciful, and to acquire heavenly blessings by his distribution of grain here below. He furnished also the nourishment of the Word, that more perfect charity and distribution of goods, truly celestial and sublime, since the Word is the bread of angels,45 the food and drink of souls who are hungry for God and seek for food that does not pass away or fail, but abides forever. This was the bread that he furnished and in great abundance, that poorest and most needy man that I have known. And it was not to relieve a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but a longing for the Word which is truly vivifying and nourishing and which leads to progress in the spiritual life whoever is well nourished thereon.

(37) After these and similar deeds, for there is no need to spend time in recounting them all, upon the death of Eusebius whose name denotes piety, and who expired sweetly in the arms of Basil, he was soon exalted to the lofty throne of the episcopate. This was not effected without difficulty nor without the envious opposition of the bishops of the country and of the most vicious men of the city, who had ranged themselves with these. But it was inevitable that the Holy Spirit should be victorious, and the victory was truly a decisive one. For He roused up from distant parts to anoint him men celebrated and zealous for piety and among them, the new Abraham, our patriarch, I mean my father, in regard to whom a sort of prodigy occurred. For, though weakened by length of years, wasted by disease, and almost drawing his last breath, he braved the journey to bring the assistance of his vote, relying on the help of the Spirit. To speak briefly, he was placed on his litter like a corpse in the tomb; he re- turned in the vigor of youth, with head erect and eyes bright, strengthened by the imposition of hands and the anointing,

45 Cf. Ps. 77.25.

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and, if it is not too much to say, by the head of him whom he anointed. Let this be added to those ancient narratives to the effect that toil brings health, zeal raises the dead, and old age leaps up when anointed by the Spirit.

(38) After Basil had been thus honored with the pri- macy, as it was fitting for a man who had lived such a life, attained such favor, and enjoyed such a reputation, he did nothing thereafter that could compromise his own philosophy or the hopes of those who trusted him. As he had previously shown himself to surpass others, he now appeared to surpass himself, conceiving the noblest and wisest ideas in this repect. For he thought that the virtue of a private individual con- sisted in avoiding vice and being good in a certain measure, but that in a ruler and chief it was a vice, especially in such an office as his, if he did not far surpass most men, manifest constant progress, and raise his virtue to the height demanded by his dignity and his throne. It was difficult, he felt, for one in high office to achieve his proper mean, and with surpassing virtue to lead the multitude to the common mean. Or, to be more philosophically precise here, I consider that the same thing happened in his case as I observe in that of our Saviour — and it holds true for every really wise man, I imagine — when He was among us in that form which was superior to us and yet was ours. As He advanced in age, it is said, so also did He in wisdom and grace.46 Not that these qualities received any increase — for how could that which was perfect from the beginning become more perfect — but the meaning is that these qualities were gradually revealed and manifested themselves. In the same way, I think that Basil's virtue did not receive any increase but only wider exercise at the time, since his office supplied him with more abundant opportunity.

(39) He first made it clear to everyone that the office

46 Cf. Luke 2.52.

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bestowed on him was not due to human favor, but was a gift of God. An instance that concerns myself will also make this evident. How his philosophy squared with my own at that time! Everyone thought that I would rush forward after his accesssion with great joy — as anyone else, perhaps, might have acted — and would share his power rather than rule beside him. Our friendship led men to surmise this. But fleeing the suspicion of arrogance, as I, if anyone, have always done, and at the same time avoiding jealousy together with its occasion, especially since Basil's position was still painful and troublesome, I remained at home, forcefully checking my desire. While Basil found fault with me, he nevertheless excused me. And afterwards, when I did approach him, and for the same reason would not accept the honor of this chair, nor even the first place of dignity among the priests, far from blaming me, he praised my action, and rightly. For he preferred to be charged with arrogance by a few men who were ignorant of these principles of conduct than to do any- thing contrary to reason or his own resolutions. And, truly, in what better way could he show that he was a man whose soul was superior to all adulation and flattery, and that he had only one object in view, the rule of good, than by the attitude he observed in regard to myself, whom he acknowl- edged as one of the first of his friends and intimates?

(40) Next, he sought to appease and heal the faction opposed to him by applying the principles of a magnanimous medicine. He acted without flattery or servility, but with great courage and nobility, as a man who not only envisaged the present but was bent upon securing future obedience. Ob- serving that softness tends to laxity and weakness and severity to harshness and arrogance, he amended the one by the other. He tempered strictness with reasonableness and softness with firmness. He rarely had need of argument, but influenced men most effectively by his conduct. He did not enslave men by

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artifice, but won them over by kindness. He did not avail himself of his authority, but drew men by his sparing use of authority. What is most important, all were conquered by his intelligence and recognized that his virtue was unap- proachable. They believed that the one way to salvation was for themselves to be ranged on his side and under his com- mand and that their one danger was to oppose him, for they considered that separation from him meant alienation from God. So they willingly gave way and surrendered and sub- mitted as at a clap of thunder. They strove to anticipate each other with their excuses and to make the measure of their former hostility the measure of their good will and of their progress in virtue, which they found to be the only effective reparation. The only exceptions were those who because of their incurable perversity were neglected and set aside, to wear themselves out and be expended, as rust is consumed with the iron it feeds upon.

(41) When he had settled affairs at home to his satis- faction and as no one of the faithless who did not know him would have thought possible, he conceived a far greater and loftier design. While all other men had their eyes only on that which lay at their feet and considered how they might safe- guard their own interests — if, indeed, this is to safeguard them — without going any further or being capable of con- ceiving or accomplishing any great or noble purpose, Basil, though he observed moderation in other respects, in this knew no measure. But lifting his head high and casting the eye of his soul in every direction, he obtained a mental vision of the whole world through which the word of salvation had been spread. He saw the great heritage of God, purchased by His own words and laws and sufferings, the holy nation,47 the royal priesthood, in a miserable plight and torn asunder into an infinity of doctrines and errors. He saw the vine which had

47 Cf. 1 Peter 2.9.

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been brought out of Egypt and transplanted from impious and dark ignorance, and which had grown to a surpassing beauty and grandeur, so as to cover the whole earth and extend above the mountains and the cedars, now ravaged by that wicked wild boar, the Devil. He did not think it enough to lament misfortune in silence and merely lift up his hands to God to implore deliverance from the pressing evils, but to be asleep himself. But he thought he was bound to render aid and make some personal contribution.

(42) For what could be more afflicting than this calamity or what could excite more the zeal of one whose regard was fixed on high to act in behalf of the common welfare? The prosperity or adversity of an individual is of no significance for the community, but when the community itself is in this or that condition, the individual is of necessity affected in the same way. Such were the thoughts and reflections of him who was the guardian and protector of the community, for an understanding heart is a moth to the bones, as is declared by Solomon and Truth.48 And while callousness is cheerful compassion begets pain, prolonged reflection wastes away the heart. Therefore, he was troubled and grieved and wounded. He experienced the feelings of Jonas49 and David, he renounced his soul, he gave no sleep to his eyes or slumber to his eyelids.50 What was left of his flesh he consumed in anxieties until he should find a remedy for the evil. He sought divine and human aid to stay the general conflagration and disperse the darkness which was spreading over us.

(43) This device, and an exceedingly salutary one, came to his mind. Withdrawing into himself as much as possible, entering into close communion with the Spirit, and making use of all human arguments as well as collecting all the pro-

48 Cf. Prov. 14.30 (Septuagint) .

49 Cf. Jonas 4.8.

50 Cf. Ps. 131.4.

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found truths of Scripture, he composed a treatise on the true religion, and by his opposition and counterattack he beat off the bold offensive of the heretics, Those who engaged in hand-to-hand conflicts he overthrew at close range by word of mouth. Those who engaged at a distance he struck with arrows of ink, no less significant than the characters on the tables of the Law, legislating not for one small Jewish nation, concerning meat and drink,51 temporal sacrifices, and purifications of the flesh, but for every nation and every portion of the earth, concerning the true doctrine from which comes our salvation. Then, since unreasoning action and impractical reasoning are alike ineffectual, he added to reason the aid of action. He visited some, sent messages to others, and summoned still others; he admonished, reproved, censured, threatened, and upbraided; he assumed the defense of nations, cities, and individuals; he contrived every kind of deliverance and cured disease by medicines from every source. He was like Beseleel,52 the builder of the holy taber- nacle, employing for the work every kind of material and art, and fashioning all into the beauty and harmony of a single masterpiece.

(44) Why should I add anything further? That enemy of Christ and tyrant toward the faith, the emperor, with greater impiety and a fiercer assault, came against us again, per- suaded that he had to deal with a stronger antagonist. He was like that unclean and evil spirit, who, having been driven from a man and having wandered about, returns ac- companied by a greater number of spirits to take up the same abode, as we have heard in the Gospels.53 This was the model he imitated and his purpose was to make good his former defeat by increasing his former efforts. He felt that it

51 Cf. Heb. 9.10.

52 Cf. Exod. 31.2.

53 Luke 11.24.

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was strange and abominable that he, the ruler of so many nations, who enjoyed so much renown, who had subjected all those about him to his impious power and crushed every opposition that he encountered, should be worsted, in the sight of all, by a single man and a single city, and become a laughing-stock, not only to the champions of impiety, by whom he was led, but also, as he supposed, to all men.

(45) They say that the King of Persia, when he was making his expedition into Greece, and glowing with passion and pride as he led men of every race against the Greeks, was not content merely with exalting himself and making im- moderate threats, but sought to make himself an object of terror all the more by the novel offenses which he committed against the elements. One heard of a strange land and sea produced by this new creator; of an army sailing on the mainland and traversing the sea on foot; of islands carried off and of the sea being scourged; and of all other phenomena which manifested the madness of that army and of its com- mander, a source of terror to the cowardly but an object of ridicule to men of braver and stouter hearts. The emperor, however, had no need of anything of this kind in his cam- paign against us. Yet he was reported to do and say what was worse and more harmful. He set his mouth against heaven, speaking blasphemy on high, and his tongue passed through the earth. Well did holy David, long before our time, stig- matize him who made heaven bend to earth, putting on the same level with creation that supramundane Nature which creation cannot contain, although for love of us It was as- sociated in some measure with us, that It might draw to Itself us who were lying upon the ground.04

(46) And while those first wanton deeds of the emperor were notorious, his last conflicts against us were even more flagrant. What do I mean by the first?— exiles, banishments,

54 Cf. Ps. 72.9.

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confiscations, open and secret plots, persuasion when it was opportune, violence when persuasion was impossible. Those who professed the orthodox faith, our faith, were thrust from their churches. Others were intruded who held the pernicious doctrine of the emperor, men who demanded certificates of impiety and were authors of still more detestable opinions. Priests were burned at sea.5<> Impious generals were occupied not in conquering the Persians or reducing the Scythians or driving out some barbaric nation, but in making war upon churches, dancing in triumph upon altars, defiling the un- bloody sacrifices with the blood of men and victims, and violating the modesty of virgins. For what purpose? That the patriarch Jacob might be driven out, and Esau, who was hated even before his birth,56 might be intruded in his place. Such is the history of those first wanton acts of his, the very recollection and mention of which brings tears to many eyes even now.

(47) But when, after having invaded all places, he launched his attack upon this unshaken and invulnerable mother of the churches, the only spark of truth still remaining unquenched, with the purpose of enslaving her, then for the first time he realized that he had planned badly. Just as a missile when it strikes a stronger body is repelled, and rope when broken snaps back, he encountered such a bulwark in the Church, and on such a rock was he shattered and broken. Other details one may learn from the mouth and narrative of the men who endured the trials of that time. And everyone without exception has something to tell. But all are in ad- miration who are acquainted with the struggles of that time : the assaults, the promises, the threats, the legal officials sent

55 At the order of the Emperor Valens, eighty ecclesiastics were sent to sea in a vessel off the coast of Bithynia in 370 and perished when it was destroyed by fire. It is reported that the fire was set at Valens' command.

56 Cf. Rom. 9.1 Iff. Gregory's Jacob here was Athanasius; his Esau, George of Cappadocia.

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to attempt to win him over, the military and those from the women's apartments who are men among women and women among men, whose only manliness was their impiety, and who, incapable of natural licentiousness, prostitute themselves in the only way they can — with their tongues; the chief cook, Nabuzardan,57 who threatened us with the knives of his art and was sent back to his own fire. But what to me was most admirable in the conduct of Basil and what I could not pass over, even if I wished, I will recount as succinctly as pos- sible.

(48) Who does not know the prefect58 of those days, who personally treated us with special arrogance, since he had received his initiation in baptism from the other party or, rather, his destruction? He was excessively subservient to his chief and, by showing him compliance in every way, he strove to ensure and prolong his own possession of power. It was before this man, who was raging against the Church, having assumed the manner of a lion and roaring like a lion, so that most men did not dare to approach him, that our noble champion was brought. Rather, he entered his court as though summoned to a banquet and not a judgment. How can I give an adequate account either of the insolence of the prefect or of the wisdom with which Basil met his attack? 'What do you mean, you, sir,3 he said, adding his name, for he did not yet deign to call him bishop, 'by daring to resist so great a power, and by being the only one to speak out with arrogance?' 'In what respect,' replied our champion, 'and what is this madness you speak of? I do not yet under- stand/ 'Because you do not honor the religion of your sovereign,' he said, 'when all others have given way and submitted.' 'I do not,' said Basil, 'for this is not the will of my

57 Better known by his Greek name Demosthenes, a creature of Valens, who in spite of his ignorance played a prominent role in the conflict between orthodoxy and Arianism.

58 Modestus, praetorian prefect of the East under Valens.

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true Sovereign, and I cannot bring myself to worship a creature, as I am a creature of God and bidden to be a god.559 'But we, what are we in your eyes? Or are we nothing/ said the prefect, 'who give you these commands? Besides, is it not a great thing for you to be ranged with us and have us as your associates?3 'You are indeed prefects,5 said Basil, 'and illu- strious, I will not deny it, but in no way more honorable than God. To be associated with you is a great thing, certainly. You also are creatures of God. But I would be associated with you as with any of my subjects. Faith, not the person, is the char- acteristic mark of Christianity'.

(49) Then the prefect became excited and seethed all the more with rage. He rose from his seat and addressed Basil in harsher tones. 'What,' he said, 'are you not afraid of my authority?' 'Afraid of what? What could I suffer?5 'Any one of the many punishments which lie within my power.' 'What are these? Make them known to me.5 'Confiscation, exile, torture, death.5 'If there is anything else,3 said Basil, 'threaten me with that, too, for none of these you mentioned can affect me.' The prefect said to him: 'How can that be true?' 'Because,5 said Basil, 'the man who possesses nothing is not liable to confiscation, unless you want, perhaps, these tattered rags, and a few books, which represent all my pos- sessions. As for exile, I do not know what it is, since I am not circumscribed by any place, nor do I count as my own the land where I now dwell or any land into which I may be cast. Rather, all belongs to God, whose passing guest I am. And as for torture, how can they rack a body that exists no longer, unless you refer to the first stroke, for of this alone you are the master? Death will be a benefit, for it will send me to God sooner. For Him I live and order my life, and for the most part have died, and to Him I have long been hastening/

59 Cf. John 10.34.

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(50) These words astounded the prefect. 'No one,' he said, 'up to this day has ever spoken in such a manner and with such boldness to me,' and he added his own name. 'Perhaps you have never met a bishop,5 said Basil, cor he would have spoken in exactly the same way, having the same interests to defend. For in other respects, prefect, we are reasonable and more submissive than anyone else, for so our law prescribes. We do not show ourselves supercilious to such high authority or even to any ordinary person. But when God's interests are endangered or at stake, we count the rest as nothing, and look to these alone. Fire and sword and wild beasts and tongs that tear the flesh are a source of delight to us rather than of terror. Therefore, go on with your insults and your threats, do whatever you will, make the most of your authority. Let the emperor hear this, also, that you will never prevail on us or persuade us to make a covenant with impiety, even though you utter threats still more violent.3

(51) After this colloquy, the prefect realised that Basil's attitude was such that nothing could terrify or overcome him, so he sent him forth and dismissed him, no longer with the same threats but with a certain respect and deference. Then he himself hastened as quickly as he could to the emperor. £My lord,' he said, 'we have been worsted by the head of this church. The man is superior to threats, deaf to arguments, in- capable of persuasion. Some other more ignoble person must be tried. But on this man either open force must be used, or do not expect that he will yield to our threats.' At these words, the emperor, condemning his own conduct and overcome by the praises of Basil, for even an enemy can admire a man's courage, forbade the employment of force. And the same thing occurred in his case as happens to iron which, while it is softened in the fire, still remains iron. Although his threats had changed to admiration, he did not enter into communion with Basil, being ashamed to make the change,

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but he sought the most expedient means to justify himself, as my discourse will now show.

(52) For the emperor entered the church with all his retinue. It was the day of Epiphany and the church was thronged. He took his place among the people and thus gave the appearance of professing unity. Once he was inside, the singing of the psalms struck his ears like thunder, and he observed the sea of people and the orderly behavior, more angelical than human, prevailing in the sanctuary and its precincts. He saw Basil posted, facing the people, standing erect, as the Scripture describes Samuel,60 with body and eyes and mind undisturbed, as though nothing unusual had happened, but like a pillar, if I may say so, attached to God and the altar, while those about him stood in fear and reverence. At this spectacle, such as he had never seen before, the emperor experienced a feeling that was only human, and dimness and dizziness enveloped his eyes and his mind, because of his awe. This fact still escaped the notice of most of the people. But when the time came for him to present at the divine table the gifts which had to be offered with his own hands, and no one, as was the custom, assisted him, since it was not clear whether Basil would receive them, then his feelings were clearly manifested. For he began to stagger, and, if one of the ministers of the sanctuary had not lent his hand to support his wavering steps, he would have suffered a lamentable fall. But let this suffice.

(53 ) As to the words spoken by Basil to the emperor with such surpassing wisdom when once again he entered into com- munion with us in a sort of way, and passed within the veil to see and speak to Basil, as he had desired to do for a long time, what must I say but that in truth they were the utter- ances of God which were heard by those about the emperor and by us who had gone in with them at the same time.

60 Cf. 1 Kings 19.20.

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This was the origin of the kindly feeling of the emperor to- ward us, and the beginning of our restoration. This reception dissipated like a stream most of the abusive treatment then besetting us.

(54) There was another incident no less important than those I have mentioned. The wicked were triumphant, exile was decreed for Basil, and nothing was lacking for the execution of this design. The night was at hand, the carriage was ready, our enemies were jubilant, the pious were dis- heartened, as we gathered about the eager traveler; in a word, all details pertaining to that honorable disgrace had been completed. What happened then? God rescinded the decree. He who struck the first-born of Egypt for its harshness against Israel61 also afflicted the son of the emporer with a stroke of disease. And how great was the speed! There was the sentence of exile; here, the decree of sickness. The hand of the impious scribe was stayed, the saint was preserved, and the man of piety became the gift of a fever which curbed the arrogance of an emperor. What could be more just or more speedy? The sequel was this. The son of the emperor was sick and afflicted in body, and his father suffered with him. But what did the father do? He sought everywhere for a remedy for the malady, he called in the best physicians, he resorted to prayer as never before and prostrated himself on the ground. For suffering humbles even kings, and this is not to be wondered at, for Scripture records how David long ago suffered in the same way on account of his son/2 Finding no remedy for the evil from any source, the emperor sought refuge in the faith of Basil. But he did not summon him in his own name, because of his shame at the recent outrage. He entrusted this mission to others of his closest and dearest friends. Basil presented himself without delay and without the

61 Cf. Exod. 12.29.

62 Cf. 2 Kings 12.16.

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reluctance which, under the circumstances, anyone else would have shown. Immediately upon his arrival, the sickness be- came milder, and the father was in better hope. And if he had not mingled salt water with the fresh, since at the same time that he summoned Basil he still had faith in the heretics, the child would have recovered his health and been restored safely to his father's arms. This was the belief of those who were present at the time and shared in the distress.

(55) The same thing is said to have occurred also in the case of the prefect not long afterwards. An attack of sickness caused him likewise to humble himself beneath the hands of the saint. For men of sense a stroke of calamity really becomes a source of instruction, and affliction is often a greater blessing than prosperity. He fell sick, he wept, he was in distress, he sent for Basil, he entreated him : 'You have won your defense,3 he cried out. 'Only grant me recovery.3 And he truly obtained it, as he himself acknowledged and assured many who had not known of it, for he did not cease to recount with admi- ration the actions of Basil.

Such were his relations with these men, and such the results. But did he conduct himself, differently toward others, or wrangle about petty things or in a petty manner, or exhibit philosophic conduct of the average sort, best passed over in silence, or at least not very praiseworthy? By no means. He who once roused the abominable Adad against Israel63 roused against Basil the vicar64 of the diocese of Pontus. This man pretended to be indignant concerning a poor woman, but in reality he fought on behalf of impiety and assailed the true religion. I pass over all his other insults, numerous and grave as they were, to Basil, or, I might equally say, to God, the end and object of the contest. But the principal incident which covered the author of the insult with shame and exalted

63 Cf. 3 Kings 11.14.

64 His name was Eusebius.

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his antagonist, if there is really anything great and lofty in philosophy and in the manifest superiority over the multitude which it confers upon its possessor, I will describe in my discourse.

(56) A certain woman of distinguished birth, shortly after the death of her husband, was being violently impor- tuned by the assessor of a judge, who sought to draw her into marriage against her will. Not knowing how to escape this oppression, she adopted a plan no less prudent than daring. She fled to the holy table and made God her protector against outrage. In the name of the Trinity Itself — to adopt some- what the language of the courtroom in my panegyric — what should have been done, not only by the great Basil, who had established laws for all in such cases, but by any other who, although inferior to him, nevertheless was a priest? Was it not his duty to act in her defense, to receive her, to protect her, to raise his hand on behalf of the mercy of God and the law which commands respect for the altar? Was it not his duty to be willing to do and suffer all rather than take against her any inhuman measure, and outrage the holy table and the faith of her supplication? 'No,5 said this strange judge; 'all must yield to my authority, and Christians must be traitors to their own laws.' The judge sought to seize the suppliant, but Basil protected her with all his power. The former became furious and finally sent magistrates to search the saint's bed- chamber, not from any necessity, but rather to dishonor him. What are you saying? Search the house of that man who was above passion, whom the angels treat with respect, upon whom women shrink to look? But this was not enough. He ordered him to appear in court and justify himself, not in any mild or kindly manner, but as if he were a man con- demned. And Basil obeyed the summons. The judge was in his seat, full of wrath and arrogance. Basil remained standing, like my Jesus before the judgment seat of Pilate. The thun-

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derbolts did not strike; the sword of God still glittered, but remained suspended. The bow was stretched, but was being held back to furnish an occasion for repentance. Such is God's custom.

(57) Now watch another struggle between our champion and his persecutor. The judge ordered that the ragged pallium be torn from his neck. 1 will strip myself of my tunic as well, if you so desire,3 said Basil. He threatened to lash that fleshless body. Basil bowed his back to have it torn with barbs. 'By such laceration/ he said, £y°u w^ cure my ^ver- ^ou see ^ow it is wearing me away.5 Such was the interplay between them. But the city, as soon as it was aware of the evil and the peril common to all, for each person considered this outrage a danger to himself, became completely distracted and fired with passion. And like a swarm of bees roused by smoke, one after another was stirred and arose, men of all classes and ages, but particularly the imperial armorers and weavers. For in such circumstances these men are rather impetuous and are daring because of the freedom they enjoy. Each man had for a weapon what his craft supplied him or anything else improvised for the occasion. With torches in their hands, with clubs ready, and hurling stones before them, they ran in a single mass and with one cry in an enthusiasm they all shared. Anger makes a formidable soldier or general. Even the women, provoked by the situation, were armed at this time. They no longer remained women, but, strengthened by zeal, they took on the courage of men. The rest of the account is short. Their hairpins were their spears. They thought they would be sharing in an act of piety if they tore him to pieces, and that he would be most pious in their eyes who should be the first to lay hands on him who had dared this outrage. What of that bold and haughty judge? He became a suppliant, pitiable, wretched, cringing in a

ON ST. BASIL 75

most abject manner until that unbloody martyr appeared, who had won his crown without blows, and who forcefully restrained the people. He overcame them through the rever- ence they had for him, and he saved his persecutor, now his suppliant. This was the work of the God of saints, who makes and transforms all things for the best, who resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.65 And why should not He who divided the sea, and stayed the river, and subdued the elements, and by the stretching of hands set up a trophy to save a fugitive people, why should not He have also de- livered this man from his dangers?

(58) This was the end of the war with the world, and with God's help, its issue was a happy one and worthy of Basil's faith. But at this point began the war with the bishops and their allies, which was a source of great scandal and still greater harm to their subjects. For, who could persuade others to be moderate when their religious leaders were not so disposed? Their ill will toward Basil was of long standing and based on three motives. They were not in agreement with him in the matter of the faith unless the pressure of the multitude absolutely forced them. They had not completely laid aside the resentment they felt at his election. And what vexed them most, though it would have been most shameful to admit it, was the fact that his prestige was far superior to their own. But still another dissension arose which revived these others.

When our country had been divided into two provinces and two metropolitan sees and a considerable portion of the older was being added to the new one, a renewal of party strife resulted. One bishop66 maintained that the boundaries of our provinces should correspond with the civil division and for that reason he laid claim to the territory recently

65 Cf. James 4.6.

66 Anthimus, Bishop of Tyana.

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added to the new province as belonging to him and as severed from its former metropolitan. The other67 adhered to the ancient tradition and to the division coming down from our fathers. This contention resulted in many unfortunate in- cidents, some of which had already occurred,, while others were impending. Congregations were withdrawn in under- handed fashion by the new metropolitan and their revenues appropriated to his use. The priests of the churches were either won over by persuasion or changed.

As a consequence, the affairs of the churches were reduced to a still worse state of dissension and division. For men take a certain delight in novelty and readily turn circumstances to their own unjust gain. And it is easier to overthrow the established order than to restore it when overthrown. But what enraged him most was that the revenues of the Taurus, which passed along before his eyes, were destined for Basil. He also set great store on gathering for himself the offerings at St. Orestes.68 He went so far on one occasion, when Basil was journeying along his own road, as to seize his mules and, with the help of a gang of brigands, prevent him from proceeding. And what a specious pretext he gave! He pre- tended concern for his spiritual children, and souls, and the doctrine of the faith. These pleas merely masked his cupidity and were easy to invent, as was his assertion that revenues should not be paid to heretics. Anyone who irked him was labeled a heretic.

(59) Yet the holy man of God, truly the metropolitan of the Jerusalem above, was neither carried away with those who fell into error, nor did he suffer himself to overlook these events, nor did he contemplate a weak remedy for the evil. But let us consider how noble and admirable it was and, what else shall I say, how worthy of his soul. For he turned dis-

67 St. Basil.

68 A chapel at the foot of Mt. Taurus.

ON ST. BASIL 77

sension into a source of increase for the Church, and settled the trouble in the best possible way by the multiplication of bishops in the country. From this there followed three ex- cellent results : a greater solicitude for souls, self -management for each city, and in this way a cessation of strife. In this project I fear that I myself was just an appendage, to use the most fitting term that occurs to me now. For, while in general I admire this man far more than I can say, of this one thing I cannot approve — I will acknowledge my chagrin, although from other sources it is not unknown to many of you — I mean his strangeness and distrust toward me, a cause of pain which not even time has effaced. This has been re- sponsible for all the inconsistency and confusion in my life and for my inability to practice philosophy or to be esteemed for philosophy, although the last point is of little importance. Yet one should permit me to say in his defense that his thoughts were beyond those of men, and his detachment from this world before he departed from life caused him to refer all things to the Spirit. He recognized the respect due to friend- ship and he disregarded it only where the honor of God had prior claim and when he had to esteem the object of our hopes as more important than what he set aside.

(60) I am afraid that in trying to escape the reproach of negligence which may be made by those who are anxious to know every detail of Basil's life, I may be charged with prolixity by those who praise the golden mean, which he esteemed highly, approving especially the maxim, 'The mean in all things is best,'69 and observing it throughout his life. However, I will disregard both those who are unduly concise and those who are too prolix, and will thus proceed with my discourse. Different men are successful along different lines, devoting themselves to one of the many forms of excellence. But no one, at least of those actually known to me, has ever

69 A saying ascribed to Cleobulus, one of the Seven Wisemen of Greece.

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succeeded in attaining the highest degree in all. But he is best in my opinion who has attained eminence in most or pre- eminence in one. Basil reached such perfection in all things as to be a subject of pride for universal nature. Let us con- sider the matter further.

I take it that a man of simple and frugal life, without pos- sessions of any kind, is a subject for praise. What did he ever possess except his body and the necessary coverings for his flesh? His wealth was to have nothing, possessing the cross, which alone was his life, and which he deemed more precious than great riches. No man, even if he has the desire, can gain possession of all things, but one can know how to despise all and thereby show himself superior to all. With such thoughts and leading such a life, Basil had no need of a pedestal, of empty glory, of a public proclamation: 'Crates sets Crates the Theban free.'70 For he strove not to seem but to be excellent. He did not live in a tub in the middle of the market place71 to gain publicity for himself and to turn his poverty into a novel means of enriching himself. He was poor and unkempt without any trace of pride. And being content to throw overboard all that he once possessed, he sailed lightly laden across the sea of life.

(61) An admirable thing is temperance and contentment with little and freedom from the tyranny of pleasures and from the servitude of that cruel and degrading master, the belly. Who was so independent of food, I could almost say even free from the flesh? Surfeit and satiety he renounced to the foolish whose life is servile and prone to baseness. He had little regard for those things which, when they passed below the gullet, are of equal value. He was content to live on mere necessities as long as he could, and the only luxury he knew was to prove himself free from luxury, and on that

70 A saying ascribed to the Cynic philosopher, Crates of Thebes.

71 The allusion is to Diogenes, the Cynic, and his tub.

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account to have no need of more. But he looked to the lilies and the birds,72 whose beauty is natural and whose food is found at random, in accordance with the great precept of my Christ, who assumed the poverty of the flesh for our sake, that we might be enriched with His divinity.73 Hence, he had only one tunic and one threadbare cloak, the ground was his bed, he kept vigils, and he went unwashed. Such were the forms of his luxury. For his favorite repast and relish he had bread and salt, that new delicacy! And his sober and plentiful drink was what fountains supply without toil. As a consequence, or, rather, as an accompaniment of these things, came the care of the sick and the practice of medicine, our common intellectual avocation. For I must reckon myself his equal in distress, though his inferior in other respects.

(62) A great thing is virginity and celibacy, and to be ranked with the angels, and with the single nature. I shrink from saying with Christ's, who, having willed to be born for us who are born, was born of a virgin, giving the force of law to virginity to detach us from this life and cut off the world, or, rather, to put away one world for another, the present for the future. Who, more than he, either esteemed virginity or imposed laws on the flesh, not only by his own example but by the objects of his zeal? Whose are the convents and the written rules by which he subjected all the senses and regulated all the members, and urged the practice of true virginity, turning the eye of beauty inward, from the visible to the in- visible, withering away the external, and withdrawing the fuel from the flame, but showing what is hidden to God, who alone is the pure bridegroom of souls, who takes in with Him vigilant souls, if they meet Him with their lamps burning and an abundant supply of oil?74 The solitary life and the

72 Cf. Matt. 6.26-34.

73 Cf. 2 Cor. 8.9.

74 Cf. Matt. 25.1-13.

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community life were then in conflict and dissension in many ways, and neither completely possessed advantages or dis- advantages that were unmixed. The one is more tranquil and stable and leads to union with God, but it is not free from pride, because its virtue escapes testing and comparison. The other is more practical and useful, but does not escape turbulence. Basil reconciled and united the two in the most excellent way. He caused hermitages and monasteries70 to be built, not far from his cenobites and his communities of ascetics. He did not divide and separate them from each other by any intervening wall, as it were. He brought them close together, yet kept them distinct, that the life of contemplation might not be divorced from community life or the active life from contemplation, but, like the land and the sea, they might interchange their blessings and be united in their sole object, the glory of God.

(63) What more? A noble thing is philanthropy and the support of the poor and the assistance of human weakness. Go forth a little from this city and behold the new city,76 the storehouse of piety, the common treasury of the wealthy, where superfluous riches, sometimes even necessities, thanks to the exhortations of Basil, are laid up, unexposed to the moths77 and no source of joy to the thief, escaping the assaults of envy and the corruption of time. There, sickness is endured with equanimity, calamity is a blessing, and sympathy is put to the test. Why should I compare with this work seven-gated Thebes or Egyptian Thebes, or the walls of Babylon, or the tomb of the Carian Mausolus, or the Pyramids, or the huge Colossus of bronze, or the grandeur and beauty of temples that are no more,78 or any of the other things men admire and consign to history, things which

75 Used here in the literal sense of abodes for solitaries.

76 St. Basil's hospital or hospice for the sick.

77 Cf. Matt. 6.19. .

78 Almost a complete list of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

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brought no profit to their founders beyond a little glory? This to me is the most wonderful achievement of all, the short road to salvation and the easiest ascent to heaven. We no longer have before our eyes the terrible and pitiable spectacle of men who are living corpses, dead in most of their limbs, driven away from their cities and homes, public places, fountains, even from their dearest ones, and more easily recognized by their names than by their bodily features. They no longer appear at our public assemblies or social gatherings as objects, not of pity for their disease, but of loathing, expert in singing piteous songs, if any voice is still left in them.

But why should I deck out my description in tragic phrase, when no words are adequate to depict their suffering? It was he above all who urged us as men not to despise our fellows or to dishonor Christ, the one Head of all of us, by our in- humanity to these creatures, but in the misfortunes of others to consult well our own interests, and to lend to God the mercy of which we stand in need ourselves. Therefore, he did not disdain to honor disease with his lips, that noble man of noble family and dazzling renown, but he greeted the sick like brothers, but not, as one might think, from vainglory. For who was farther removed from that sentiment? But he set us an example by his own Christian spirit of approaching them and caring for their bodies, a mute but eloquent ex- hortation. Nor was the situation different in the city from that in the country and beyond. On the contrary, he proposed, as a common object of emulation for all leaders of the people, charity and generosity toward the sick. Others had their cooks and rich tables and enchanting refinements of cuisine, and elegant carriages, and soft flowing garments. Basil had his sick, and the dressing of their wounds, and the imitation of Christ, cleansing leprosy not by word but in deed.

(64) In the light of these things, what can they who charge him with pride and arrogance say to us— those

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severe critics of such conduct, who to the standard apply standards which are not standards? Was it possible that he who embraced lepers and descended to such humiliation could yet treat with disdain those who were in health? And that he who consumed his flesh by austerity should puff up his soul with vainglory? Was it possible to condemn the Pharisee and dwell upon the debasing effect of his pride, to know Christ, who lowered Himself to the form of a slave, who ate with publicans and washed the feet of His disciples, who did not disdain the cross that He might nail my sin to it — although nothing is more wonderful than this, to con- template God crucified, in the company of thieves and mocked by passersby. Him who was invincible and beyond all suffering — and yet for Basil to raise himself above the clouds and recognize no equal, as his slanderers believe? But the steadfastness and firmness and integrity of his character is, I imagine, what they have termed pride. These same men, in my opinion, would readily call courage temerity, and circumspection cowardice, and temperance misanthropy, and justice insociability. For that sage maxim was not badly stated, namely, that the vices are closely rooted beside the virtues and, in a certain sense, are next-door neighbors.79 And it is very easy for a man to be mistaken for what he is not by those who are not well trained in such matters.

Who either cherished virtue or repressed vice more than he, or showed himself so benign to the upright or more severe to wrong-doers? His very smile was often a commendation and his silence a reproach, a touchstone of evil for the inner conscience. And if one has not been a chatterer and a jester and a man about town, or popular with the crowd, by be- coming all to all and pleasing all, what of that? Does he not deserve praise rather than blame, at least in the eyes of men

79 The thought is found expressed in similar language in Aristotle and Menander.

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of sense? Unless the lion is to be censured because he does not look like an ape, but is terrible and royal, and his leap a noble thing, admirable and pleasing, while actors are to be admired as charming and kindly, because they gratify the crowd and excite laughter by slapping one another in the face and raising a shout. Yet, if we may examine this point, who was so pleasant in social contact, as I myself know from long experience with him? Who was so delightful in his story-telling, so penetrating in his wit, so gentle in repartee? And never did he turn censure into arrogance or indulgence into weakness, but he avoided excess in either, making use of both fitly and in season, following the precepts of Solomon, who has assigned a season for all things.80

(65) But what are these things compared to his excel- lence in eloquence and the power of his teaching, by which he endeared to himself the ends of the earth? We are still engaged at the foot of the mountain, far from the summit. We are still crossing the narrows, having turned away from the deep and mighty ocean. For I think that if there ever has been, or will be, a trumpet penetrating the immensity of space, or a voice of God encompassing the world, or a universal earth- quake resulting from some new wonder or miracle, his voice and mind were as all of these, leaving all men as far behind and below him as we surpass irrational creatures.

Who purified himself more for the Spirit and was better prepared to explain divine things? Who, more than he, was enlightened by the light of knowledge, and penetrated the depths of the Spirit and searched out the things of God with God's help? Whose language could better elucidate the thought of the mind, since he did not limp., as most men, through inability to express his ideas, or through the failure of his mind to keep pace with his eloquence. But he was re- markable on both counts alike and showed himself his own

80 Cf. Eccle. 3.1.

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equal and truly perfect. To search out all things, even the deep things of God, is attested to be one of the attributes of the Spirit,81 not because He is ignorant of them, but because He takes delight in their contemplation. Basil, accordingly, had searched out all the things of the Spirit, and from that Source came his power to instruct every character and deliver his sublime teaching and draw men's minds from present things to prepare for things to come.

(66) The sun is praised by David for its beauty, its grandeur, the rapidity of its course, and its power, splendid as a bridegroom, in magnitude as a giant;82 so great is its power from its long circuit that it illumines the heavens with equal light from end to end, and distance does not diminish its heat. Basil's beauty was virtue, his greatness theology, his course the incessant movement that carried him up to God in its ascents, his power the sowing and the diffusion of the word. And so I will not hesitate to say that his sound has gone forth into all the earth and the power of his words unto the end of the world, as St. Paul has said of the Apostles, borrowing his words from David.83 What other joy is there in any assembly today? What pleasure in banquets, in public places, in churches? What delight among those in office and their subordinates, among the hermits or the cenobites, among those who have leisure or those who are busy, among those who follow profane philosophy or ours? There is but one, running through all and the greatest: his writings and works. Nor do writers after him need any other source materials, beyond his writings. All the ancient work on which men toiled hard to elucidate the divine oracles are silent, while these new writings are bruited about, and he is con- sidered most learned who happens to be best acquainted

81 Cf. 1 Cor. 2.10.

82 Cf. Ps. 18.6.

83 Cf. Ps. 18.5; Rom. 10.18.

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with them, who has them on his tongue, and who expounds them to others. For he alone has sufficed to take the place of all in the minds of those who are eager for instruction.

(67) This only will I say of him. Whenever I take his Hexaemeron in my hands and savor its words, I am put in the presence of the Creator, and understand the account of creation, and I admire my Creator more than before, using my eyes only as my teacher. When I chance upon his con- troversial works, I see the fire of Sodom,84 by which wicked and criminal tongues are reduced to ashes, or the tower of Chalane,85 impiously constructed and justly destroyed. When I turn to his works treating of the Spirit, I find the God I possess, and I speak the truth boldly, thanks to the support of his theology and contemplation. When I peruse his other commentaries which he composed for the short-sighted, after inscribing them in three forms on the solid tablets of his heart, I am persuaded not to be content with the literal inter- pretation, or to fix my attention on things merely on the surface, but to advance further and to proceed from depth to depth, calling deep on deep,86 and finding light after light, until I reach the topmost peak. When I peruse his panegyrics on the martyrs, I despise the body, I am in communion with those he is praising, and I am roused to the struggle. When- ever I peruse his moral and practical treatises, I am purified, soul and body, and become a temple ready to receive God, and an instrument struck by the Spirit, chanting hymns to the glory and power of God. By this means my mood is changed and I am put in harmony, and I become another man, undergoing a divine transformation.

(68) Since I have mentioned theology and the surpassing sublimity of Basil in treating of this subject, I will also add

84 Cf. Gen. 19.24.

85 Chalane is the Septuagint reading for Babel.

86 Cf. Ps. 41.8.

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this to what has been said. For it will be most useful to the public and prevent it from harming itself by holding a some- what low opinion concerning him. These words are directed against those perverse men who support their own vices by their calumnies against others. For he, in behalf of the true doctrine, and the union and co-equal divinity of the Holy Trinity, to use the most exact and the clearest terms, would have readily welcomed as a gain, not a peril, not only violent removal from the throne which not even from the very be- ginning had he been eager to assume, but also exile and death and tortures before death. This is clear from what he actually did and suffered. For when he had been sentenced to exile for the sake of truth, he concerned himself only to the extent of telling one of his attendants to take up his writing tablets and follow him. But he deemed it necessary to order his words with judgment,87 according to the counsel of the divine David on this point, and tolerate for a little while the time of war and the domination of the heretics, until the time of liberty and peace should come and allow freedom of speech. For they sought to seize upon the bald statement concerning the Spirit, namely, 'the Spirit is God.' Though this is true, it was regarded as impious by them and by the wicked champion of their impiety. Their purpose was to banish Basil and his theological teaching from the city and, occupying the church themselves, to make it a base of opera- tions for their wickedness, and from that point, as from a citadel, to overrun everything else. But he, by the use of other terms from Scripture, and by indisputable testimonies of identical meaning, and by conclusive arguments, so over- powered his adversaries that they could not withstand him, but found themselves trapped by their own statements — the best proof of the power and wisdom of his reasoning. This is clear also from the treatise he composed on the subject, in

87 Cf. Ps. 111.5.

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which his pen was guided as though it belonged to the Spirit. He put off for the time the employment of the exact term,88 asking it as a favor from the Spirit Himself and His loyal champions not to be annoyed at this procedure, nor, by clinging to a single expression, to ruin everything by an insatiable strictness at a time when the true religion was in process of being torn asunder. He urged that no injury would result to them from a slight change of expression, or by teaching the same truth in other terms, and that our salvation does not depend more on words than on actions. For not even the Jews should be rejected if they should consent to join our ranks, asking only that they be allowed for a time to use the word 'Anointed' for 'Christ,3 whereas the greatest harm would come to the community if the Church were seized by the heretics.

( 69 ) That he, as well as any one, acknowledged that the Spirit was God is quite clear from his frequent public preaching of this truth, whenever occasion offered, and from his forthright confession of it when he was questioned in private. But he indicated it more clearly in his conversations with me, as he concealed nothing when he took common counsel with me on this subject. He was not content with a simple declaration on this point, but, something he had rarely ever done before, he formulated against himself the most frightful imprecation, that he should be cast out by the Spirit Himself if he did not worship the Spirit as consubstantial and co-equal with the Father and the Son. If I am accepted as an associate of Basil even in such -matters, I will disclose something hitherto unknown to most men. When circum- stances had reduced us to such straits and he himself had adopted the procedure referred to, he yet granted freedom of speech to me, whom no one, because of my obscurity, was likely to hale into court or expel from the country, so that

88 I.e., the phrase, 'God, the Holy Spirit/

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through the efforts of both of us our Gospel might remain firm.

I have not mentioned these details to defend his reputation, for he is above his detractors, if there are any, but that men may not regard only the terms found in his writings as the standard definition of the truth, and feel their faith weakened, and consider the theology of Basil as an argument in favor of their own perversity, a theology which was shaped by the Spirit as well as by circumstances. Rather, they should ponder the sense of his writings and the purpose for which he com- posed them, and so be drawn to the truth and silence the impious. Would that his theology were mine and that of everyone dear to me! I am so confident of the integrity of this man as to make common cause with him in this as in all else. And may what is mine be ascribed to him, and what is his to me, before God and discerning men ! For we would not assert that the Evangelists contradict one other because some have occupied themselves more with the humanity of Christ and others have emphasized more His divinity, some having begun with what is within our own comprehension and others with what is beyond it. They thus divided their preaching in the interest, I think, of those who receive it, and thus they were formed by the Spirit dwelling within them.

(70) There have been many men, we know, in the Old Testament and the New, remarkable for piety, as lawgivers, generals, prophets, teachers, men brave to the shedding of blood. Let us compare our Basil with them and thereby obtain a full appreciation of his worth. Adam was deemed worthy of the hand of God,89 and the delights of paradise,90 and the first legislation.91 But unless I am saying something slanderous against the respect due our first parent, he did not keep the

89 Cf. Gen. 1.27.

90 Cf. Gen. 2.8.

91 Cf. Gen. 2,16.

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command. But Basil received it and observed it and suffered no harm from the tree of knowledge, and I am certain that he has escaped the flaming sword and entered into the possession of paradise. Enos was the first who began to call upon the Lord.92 Basil not only called upon Him, but, what is much more deserving of honor, he preached Him to others. Henoch was translated,93 gaining his translation as the reward of a little piety — for the faith was still in shadow — and escaped the danger of a prolonged life. But Basil's whole life was a translation and he was completely tested in a complete life. Noe was entrusted with the ark94 and the seeds of a new world were committed to a few bits of wood and preserved amid the waters. Basil escaped a deluge of impiety and made his city an ark of safety, sailing buoyantly over the waters of the heretics, and subsequently restored the whole world.

(71) Abraham was great and a patriarch and the offerer of a new sacrifice,95 offering to Him who had given it the first fruit of His promise, a ready victim, hastening to the slaughter. But Basil's sacrifice was also great when he offered himself to God, without anything being offered in his place in equal compensation — for where could such be found? And so his auspicious sacrifice was consummated. Isaac was promised before his birth.96 But Basil offered himself of his own free will, and he espoused his Rebecca, I mean the Church, not sought from afar through the mediation of a servant,97 but granted and entrusted to him by God near his home. Nor was he outwitted in the preference of his children, but he apportioned to each what was deserved, without any deceit, with the judgment of the Spirit.

92 Cf. Gen. 4.26.

93 Cf. Gen. 5.24.

94 Cf. Gen. 6.13fL

95 Cf. Gen. 22.1 ff.

96 Cf. Gen. 18.10ft.

97 Cf. Gen. 24.3ff.

90 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

I praise the ladder of Jacob and the pillar which he anointed in honor of God, and his wrestling with Him — whatever was its nature. It was, I think, the contrast and op- position of man's lowly condition in relation to the sublimity of God, and from that struggle he bears also the marks of the defeat of his race. I praise also his skill and his success with his flocks and the twelve patriarchs born of him, and the distribution of his blessings, with their noble prophecy of the future. But I praise also the ladder of Basil, which he not only saw but mounted by his gradual ascents in virtue, and the pillar which he did not anoint but which he erected to God, branding with infamy the teachings of the impious. I praise the contest which he undertook, not against God, but in behalf of God, to overthrow the heretics. I praise his pastoral skill by which he enriched himself, gaining a greater number of the marked than the unmarked sheep. I praise his glorious fruitfulness in children begotten according to God and the benediction by which he supported many.

(72) Joseph was dispenser of grain,98 but only in Egypt, and then not often, and for bodily sustenance only. Basil provided all men and at all times with spiritual food and, therefore, in my opinion, commands greater respect. Like Job of the land of Hus,9* Basil was tried and prevailed, and he was gloriously proclaimed as victor at the end of his struggles. Unshaken by the attacks of his many assailants and winning a decisive victory over the tempter, he silenced the protests of his unreasoning friends, who did not under- stand the secret of his suffering.

'Moses and Aaron among His priests.'100 Great indeed was Moses, who afflicted Egypt grievously and saved his people by many signs and prodigies,101 who went within the

98 Cf. Gen. 41.40ff.

99 Cf. Job 1.1.

100 Ps. 98.6.