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ANF06. Fathers of the Third Century: GregoryThaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Afric-anus, Anatolius, and Minor Writers, Methodius,Arnobius

Author(s): Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) (Editor)

Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library

Description: Originally printed in 1885, the ten-volume set, Ante-NiceneFathers, brings together the work of early Christian thinkers.In particular, it brings together the writings of the early Churchfathers prior to the fourth century Nicene Creed. Thesevolumes are noteworthy for their inclusion of entire texts, andnot simply fragments or excerpts from these great writings.The translations are fairly literal, providing both readers andscholars with a good approximation of the originals. Thisvolume harmonizes various fragmentary material. It containsthe work of different authors: St. Gregory Thaumaturgus,Pope Dionysius of Alexandria, Sextus Julius Africanus, St.Anatolius, Pope Peter of Alexandria, and others. Thesewritings were heavily influential on the early Church, and forgood reason, as they are inspirational and encouraging.These volumes also come with many useful notes, providingthe reader with new levels of understanding. Overall, Ante-Nicene Fathers, or any part of it, is a welcome addition toone's reading list.Tim PerrineCCEL Staff Writer

Subjects: ChristianityEarly Christian Literature. Fathers of the Church, etc.

i

Contents

1Title Pages.

3Introductory Notice.

6Gregory Thaumaturgus.

6Title Page.

7Introductory Note.

13Acknowledged Writings.

13A Declaration of Faith.

13A Declaration of Faith.

15Elucidation.

16A Metaphrase of the Book of Ecclesiastes.

16Chapter I.

18Chapter II.

20Chapter III.

22Chapter IV.

24Chapter V.

26Chapter VI.

27Chapter VII.

30Chapter VIII.

32Chapter IX.

34Chapter X.

36Chapter XI.

37Chapter XII.

39Canonical Epistle.

39Canon I.

40Canon II.

41Canon III.

ii

42Canon IV.

43Canon V.

44Canon VI.

45Canon VII.

46Canon VIII.

47Canon IX.

48Canon X.

49Canon XI.

50Elucidations.

51The Oration and Panegyric Addressed to Origen.

51For Eight Years Gregory Has Given Up the Practice of Oratory, Being Busiedwith the Study Chiefly of Roman Law and the Latin Language.

53He Essays to Speak of the Well-Nigh Divine Endowments of Origen in HisPresence, into Whose Hands He Avows Himself to Have Been Led in a WayBeyond All His Expectation.

56He is Stimulated to Speak of Him by the Longing of a Grateful Mind. To theUtmost of His Ability He Thinks He Ought to Thank Him. From God are theBeginnings of All Blessings; And to Him Adequate Thanks Cannot BeReturned.

58The Son Alone Knows How to Praise the Father Worthily. In Christ and byChrist Our Thanksgivings Ought to Be Rendered to the Father. Gregory AlsoGives Thanks to His Guardian Angel, Because He Was Conducted by Himto Origen.

60Here Gregory Interweaves the Narrative of His Former Life. His Birth ofHeathen Parents is Stated. In the Fourteenth Year of His Age He Loses HisFather. He is Dedicated to the Study of Eloquence and Law. By a WonderfulLeading of Providence, He is Brought to Origen.

64The Arts by Which Origen Studies to Keep Gregory and His BrotherAthenodorus with Him, Although It Was Almost Against Their Will; Andthe Love by Which Both are Taken Captive. Of Philosophy, the Foundationof Piety, with the View of Giving Himself Therefore Wholly to that Study,Gregory is Willing to Give Up Fatherland, Parents, the Pursuit of Law, andEvery Other Discipline. Of the Soul as the Free Principle. The Nobler PartDoes Not Desire to Be United with the Inferior, But the Inferior with theNobler.

iii

68The Wonderful Skill with Which Origen Prepares Gregory and Athenodorusfor Philosophy. The Intellect of Each is Exercised First in Logic, and the MereAttention to Words is Contemned.

71Then in Due Succession He Instructs Them in Physics, Geometry, andAstronomy.

72But He Imbues Their Minds, Above All, with Ethical Science; And He DoesNot Confine Himself to Discoursing on the Virtues in Word, But He RatherConfirms His Teaching by His Acts.

74Hence the Mere Word-Sages are Confuted, Who Say and Yet Act Not.

75Origen is the First and the Only One that Exhorts Gregory to Add to HisAcquirements the Study of Philosophy, and Offers Him in a Certain Manneran Example in Himself. Of Justice, Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude.The Maxim, Know Thyself.

78Gregory Disallows Any Attainment of the Virtues on His Part. Piety is Boththe Beginning and the End, and Thus It is the Parent of All the Virtues.

80The Method Which Origen Used in His Theological and MetaphysicalInstructions. He Commends the Study of All Writers, the Atheistic AloneExcepted. The Marvellous Power of Persuasion in Speech. The Facility of theMind in Giving Its Assent.

82Whence the Contentions of Philosophers Have Sprung. Against Those WhoCatch at Everything that Meets Them, and Give It Credence, and Cling to It.Origen Was in the Habit of Carefully Reading and Explaining the Books ofthe Heathen to His Disciples.

85The Case of Divine Matters. Only God and His Prophets are to Be Heard inThese. The Prophets and Their Auditors are Acted on by the Same Afflatus.Origen's Excellence in the Interpretation of Scripture.

87Gregory Laments His Departure Under a Threefold Comparison; LikeningIt to Adam's Departure Out of Paradise. To the Prodigal Son's Abandonmentof His Father's House, and to the Deportation of the Jews into Babylon.

90Gregory Consoles Himself.

91Peroration, and Apology for the Oration.

92Apostrophe to Origen, and Therewith the Leave-Taking, and the UrgentUtterance of Prayer.

93Elucidations.

94Dubious or Spurious Writings.

94A Sectional Confession of Faith.

iv

94Section I.

96Section II.

97Section III.

98Section IV.

99Section V.

100Section VI.

101Section VII.

102Section VIII.

103Section IX.

104Section X.

105Section XI.

106Section XII.

107Section XIII.

108Section XIV.

109Section XV.

110Section XVI.

111Section XVII.

112Section XVIII.

113Section XIX.

114Section XX.

115Section XXI.

116Section XXII.

117Section XXIII.

118A Fragment of the Same Declaration of Faith, Accompanied by Glosses.--FromGregory Thaumaturgus, as They Say, in His Sectional Confession of Faith.

119Elucidations.

120On the Trinity.

120Fragment from the Discourse.

123Elucidation.

124Twelve Topics on the Faith.

124Topic I.

125Topic II.

v

126Topic III.

127Topic IV.

128Topic V.

129Topic VI.

130Topic VII.

131Topic VIII.

132Topic IX.

133Topic X.

134Topic XI.

135Topic XII.

137Elucidations.

138On the Subject of the Soul.

138Preface.

140Section I.

141Section II.

142Section III.

143Section IV.

144Section V.

145Section VI.

146Section VII.

147Elucidations.

148Four Homilies.

148On the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary.

154On the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary. Discourse Second.

163On the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary.

167On the Holy Theophany, or on Christ's Baptism.

174Elucidations.

175On All the Saints.

175On All the Saints.

178Elucidations.

179On the Gospel According to Matthew.

180Dionysius.vi

180Title Page.

181Introductory Note.

186Extant Fragments.

186Containing Various Sections of the Works.

186From the Two Books on the Promises.

194From the Books on Nature.

194In Opposition to Those of the School of Epicurus Who Deny the Existence of aProvidence, and Refer the Constitution of the Universe to Atomic Bodies.

196A Refutation of This Dogma on the Ground of Familiar Human Analogies.

198A Refutation on the Ground of the Constitution of the Universe.

202A Refutation of the Same on the Grounds of the Human Constitution.

205That to Work is Not a Matter of Pain and Weariness to God.

209From the Books Against Sabellius. On the Notion that Matter is Ungenerated.

211Epistle to Dionysius Bishop of Rome.

211From the First Book.

213From the Same First Book.

214From the Same First Book.

215From the Second Book.

216From the Same Second Book.

217From the Same Second Book.

218From the Third Book.

219From the Fourth Book.

220About the Middle of the Treatise.

221And Again:

222The Conclusion of the Entire Treatise.

223The Epistle to Bishop Basilides.

223Canon I.

227Canon II.

228Canon III.

229Canon IV.

230Containing Epistles, or Fragments of Epistles.

230To Domitius and Didymus.

vii

232To Novatus.

233To Fabius, Bishop of Antioch.

242To Cornelius the Roman Bishop.

243Which is the First on the Subject of Baptism Addressed to Stephen, Bishopof Rome.

245To Sixtus, Bishop.

246To Philemon, a Presbyter.

248To Dionysius.

249To Sixtus II.

250Against Bishop Germanus.

256To Hermammon.

260To the Alexandrians.

263To Hierax, a Bishop in Egypt.

265From His Fourth Festival Epistle.

266Elucidations.

267Exegetical Fragments.

267A Commentary on the Beginning of Ecclesiastes.

267Chapter I.

269Chapter II.

274Chapter III.

276The Gospel According to Luke. An Interpretation.

281On Luke XXII. 42, Etc.

285An Exposition of Luke XXII. 46, Etc.

287On John VIII. 12.

288Of the One Substance.

289On the Reception of the Lapsed to Penitence.

290Note by the American Editor.

291Julius Africanus.

291Title Page.

292Introductory Notice.

294The Epistle to Aristides.

294Chapter I.

viii

296Chapter II.

297Chapter III.

299Chapter IV.

300Chapter V.

302Chapter VI.

303Narrative of Events Happening in Persia on the Birth of Christ.

309The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus.

309On the Mythical Chronology of the Egyptians and Chaldeans.

310Part II.

311Part III.

312On the Deluge.

313Part V.

314Part VI.

315Part VII.

316Of Abraham.

317Of Abraham and Lot.

318Of the Patriarch Jacob.

319Part XI.

320Part XII.

321Part XIII.

324Part XIV.

325Part XV.

326On the Seventy Weeks of Daniel.

328On the Fortunes of Hyrcanus and Antigonus, and on Herod, Augustus, Antony,and Cleopatra, in Abstract.

331On the Circumstances Connected with Our Saviour's Passion and His Life-GivingResurrection.

334Part XIX.

335The Passion of St. Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons.

338Elucidations.

340Anatolius and Minor Writers.

340Title Page.

ix

341Introductory Notice.

342Anatolius of Alexandria.

342Translator's Biographical Notice.

344The Paschal Canon of Anatolius of Alexandria.

344Chapter I.

346Chapter II.

347Chapter III.

348Chapter IV.

349Chapter V.

350Chapter VI.

351Chapter VII.

352Chapter VIII.

353Chapter IX.

354Chapter X.

355Chapter XI.

356Chapter XII.

357The moon's age set forth in the Julian Calendar.

358The Paschal or Easter Table of Anatolius.

360Chapter XV.

361Chapter XVI.

363Chapter XVII.

364Fragments of the Books on Arithmetic.

368Alexander of Cappadocia.

368Translator's Biographical Notice.

369From the Epistles of Alexander.

369An Epistle to the People of Antioch.

370From an Epistle to the Antinoites.

371From an Epistle to Origen.

372From an Epistle to Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria.

373Note by the American Editor.

374Theognostus of Alexandria.

374Translator's Biographical Notice.x

375From His Seven Books of Hypotyposes or Outlines.

375Part I.

376Part II.

377Part III.

378Pierus of Alexandria.

378Translator's Biographical Notice.

379A Fragment of a Work of Pierius on the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians.

380A Section on the Writings of Pierius.

382Theonas of Alexandria.

382Translator's Biographical Notice.

383The Epistle of Theonas, Bishop of Alexandria, to Lucianus, the ChiefChamberlain.

383Chapter I.

385Chapter II.

386Chapter III.

387Chapter IV.

388Chapter V.

389Chapter VI.

390Chapter VII.

392Chapter VIII.

393Chapter IX.

394Phileas.

394Translator's Biographical Notice.

395Fragments of the Epistle of Phileas to the People of Thmuis.

395Part I.

396Part II.

397Part III.

398The Epistle of the Same Phileas of Thmuis to Meletius, Bishop of Lycopolis.

398The Beginning of the Epistle of the Bishops.

401The Conclusion of the Epistle of the Bishops.

402Pamphilus.

402Translator's Biographical Notice.

xi

404An Exposition of the Chapters of the Acts of the Apostles.

410Malchion.

410Translator's Biographical Notice.

411The Epistle Written by Malchion, In Name of the Synod of Antioch, AgainstPaul of Samosata.

415Fragments Apparently of the Same Epistle of the Synod of Antioch.

417From the Acts of the Disputation Conducted by Malchion Against Paul ofSamosata.

418A Point in the Same Disputation.

419Elucidations.

420Archelaus.

420Title Page.

421Introductory Notice.

425The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes.

425Chapter I.

427Chapter II.

429Chapter III.

430Chapter IV.

432Chapter V.

434Chapter VI.

437Chapter VIII.

439Chapter IX.

441Chapter X.

443Chapter XI.

445Chapter XII.

447Chapter XIII.

450Chapter XIV.

452Chapter XV.

454Chapter XVI.

456Chapter XVII.

458Chapter XVIII.

461Chapter XIX.

xii

463Chapter XX.

464Chapter XXI.

466Chapter XXII.

468Chapter XXIII.

470Chapter XXIV.

473Chapter XXV.

476Chapter XXVI.

479Chapter XXVII.

481Chapter XXVIII.

483Chapter XXIX.

485Chapter XXX.

487Chapter XXXI.

490Chapter XXXII.

493Chapter XXXIII.

497Chapter XXXIV.

500Chapter XXXV.

503Chapter XXXVI.

506Chapter XXXVII.

508Chapter XXXVIII.

510Chapter XXXIX.

512Chapter XL.

516Chapter XLI.

519Chapter XLII.

523Chapter XLIII.

526Chapter XLIV.

529Chapter XLV.

531Chapter XLVI.

533Chapter XLVII.

537Chapter XLVIII.

541Chapter IL.

544Chapter L.

548Chapter LI.xiii

550Chapter LII.

553Chapter LIII.

555Chapter LIV.

557Chapter LV.

561A Fragment of the Same Disputation.

561Preface.

562Chapter I.

563Chapter II.

564Chapter III.

565Elucidations.

567General Note.

568Alexander of Lycopolis.

568Title Page.

569Introductory Notice.

572Of the Manichæans.

572The Excellence of the Christian Philosophy; The Origin of Heresies AmongstChristians.

573The Age of Manichæus, or Manes; His First Disciples; The Two Principles;Manichæan Matter.

574The Fancies of Manichæus Concerning Matter.

575The Moon's Increase and Wane; The Manichæan Trifling Respecting It; TheirDreams About Man and Christ; Their Foolish System of Abstinence.

576The Worship of the Sun and Moon Under God; Support Sought for theManichæans in the Grecian Fables; The Authority of the Scriptures and FaithDespised by the Manichæans.

577The Two Principles of the Manichæans; Themselves Controverted; ThePythagorean Opinion Respecting First Principles; Good and Evil Contrary; TheVictory on the Side of Good.

578Motion Vindicated from the Charge of Irregularity; Circular; Straight; OfGeneration and Corruption; Of Alteration, and Quality Affecting Sense.

579Is Matter Wicked? Of God and Matter.

580The Ridiculous Fancies of the Manichæans About the Motion of Matter TowardsGod; God the Author of the Rebellion of Matter in the Manichæan Sense; The

xiv

Longing of Matter for Light and Brightness Good; Divine Good None the Lessfor Being Communicated.

581The Mythology Respecting the Gods; The Dogmas of the Manichæans ResembleThis: the Homeric Allegory of the Battle of the Gods; Envy and EmulationExisting In God According to the Manichæan Opinion; These Vices are to BeFound in No Good Man, and are to Be Accounted Disgraceful.

582The Transmitted Virtue of the Manichæans; The Virtues of Matter Mixed withEqual or Less Amount of Evil.

583The Destruction of Evil by the Immission of Virtue Rejected; Because from ItArises No Diminution of Evil; Zeno's Opinion Discarded, that the World WillBe Burnt Up by Fire from the Sun.

584Evil by No Means Found in the Stars and Constellations; All the Evils of LifeVain in the Manichæan Opinion, Which Bring on the Extinction of Life; TheirFancy Having Been Above Explained Concerning the Transportation of Soulsfrom the Moon to the Sun.

585Noxious Animals Worshipped by the Egyptians; Man by Arts an Evil-Doer;Lust and Injustice Corrected by Laws and Discipline; Contingent and NecessaryThings in Which There is No Stain.

586The Lust and Desire of Sentient Things; Demons; Animals Sentient; So Alsothe Sun and the Moon and Stars; The Platonic Doctrine, Not the Christian.

587Because Some are Wise, Nothing Prevents Others from Being So; Virtue is toBe Acquired by Diligence and Study; By a Sounder Philosophy Men are to BeCarried Onwards to the Good; The Common Study of Virtue Has by ChristBeen Opened Up to All.

588The Manichæan Idea of Virtue in Matter Scouted; If One Virtue Has BeenCreated Immaterial, the Rest are Also Immaterial; Material Virtue an ExplodedNotion.

589Dissolution and Inherence According to the Manichæans; This is Well Put, AdHominem, with Respect to Manes, Who is Himself in Matter.

590The Second Virtue of the Manichæans Beset with the Former, and with NewAbsurdities; Virtue, Active and Passive, the Fashioner of Matter, and Concretewith It; Bodies Divided by Manichæus into Three Parts.

591The Divine Virtue in the View of the Same Manichæus Corporeal and Divisible;The Divine Virtue Itself Matter Which Becomes Everything; This is Not Fitting.

592Some Portions of the Virtue Have Good in Them, Others More Good; In theSun and the Moon It is Incorrupt, in Other Things Depraved; An ImprobableOpinion.

xv

593The Light of the Moon from the Sun; The Inconvenience of the Opinion thatSouls are Received in It; The Two Deluges of the Greeks.

594The Image of Matter in the Sun, After Which Man is Formed; Trifling Fancies;It is a Mere Fancy, Too, that Man Is Formed from Matter; Man is Either aComposite Being, or a Soul, or Mind and Understanding.

596Christ is Mind, According to the Manichæans; What is He in the View of theChurch? Incongruity in Their Idea of Christ; That He Suffered Only inAppearance, a Dream of the Manichæans; Nothing is Attributed to the Wordby Way of Fiction.

597The Manichæan Abstinence from Living Things Ridiculous; Their Madness inAbhorring Marriage; The Mythology of the Giants; Too Allegorical anExposition.

598The Much-Talked-of Fire of the Manichæans; That Fire Matter Itself.

599Elucidation.

602Peter of Alexandria.

602Title Page.

603Introductory Notice.

607The Genuine Acts of Peter.

622The Canonical Epistle, with the Commentaries of Theodore Balsamon and JohnZonaras.

622Canon I.

624Canon II.

625Canon III.

626Canon IV.

627Canon V.

629Canon VI.

630Canon VII.

631Canon VIII.

633Canon IX.

636Canon X.

640Canon XI.

643Canon XII.

644Canon XIII.

646Canon XIV.

xvi

648Canon XV.

649Note by the American Editor.

650Fragments from the Writings of Peter.

650Letter to the Church at Alexandria.

651On the Godhead.

652On the Advent of Our Saviour.

653On the Sojourning of Christ with Us.

654That Up to the Time of the Destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews Rightly Appointedthe Fourteenth Day of the First Lunar Month.

658Of the Soul and Body.

659Fragment.

660On St. Matthew.

661From a Sermon.

662Elucidations.

666Alexander of Alexandria.

666Title Page.

667Introductory Notice.

670Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius.

670To Alexander, Bishop of the City of Constantinople.

681Epistle Catholic.

687Epistle to Alexandria and Mareotis.

688Epistle to Æglon, Bishop of Cynopolis, Against the Arians.

689On the Soul and Body and the Passion of the Lord.

694The Addition in the Codex, with a Various Reading.

696Elucidations.

698Methodius.

698Title Page.

699Introductory Notice.

701The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity.

701Introduction.

704Marcella.

xvii

704The Difficulty and Excellence of Virginity; The Study of Doctrine Necessaryfor Virgins.

706Virginity a Plant from Heaven, Introduced Late; The Advancement of Mankindto Perfection, How Arranged.

707By the Circumcision of Abraham, Marriage with Sisters Forbidden; In theTimes of the Prophets Polygamy Put a Stop To; Conjugal Purity Itself byDegrees Enforced.

708Christ Alone Taught Virginity, Openly Preaching the Kingdom of Heaven;The Likeness of God to Be Attained in the Light of the Divine Virtues.

709Christ, by Preserving His Flesh Incorrupt in Virginity, Draws to the Exerciseof Virginity; The Small Number of Virgins in Proportion to the Number ofSaints.

710Theophila.

710Marriage Not Abolished by the Commendation of Virginity.

711Generation Something Akin to the First Formation of Eve from the Side andNature of Adam; God the Creator of Men in Ordinary Generation.

712An Ambiguous Passage of Scripture; Not Only the Faithful But Even PrelatesSometimes Illegitimate.

713Human Generation, and the Work of God Therein Set Forth.

714The Holy Father Follows Up the Same Argument.

715God Cares Even for Adulterous Births; Angels Given to Them as Guardians.

716The Rational Soul from God Himself; Chastity Not the Only Good, Althoughthe Best and Most Honoured.

718Thaleia.

718Passages of Holy Scripture Compared.

719The Digressions of the Apostle Paul; The Character of His Doctrine: Nothingin It Contradictory; Condemnation of Origen, Who Wrongly Turns Everythinginto Allegory.

720Comparison Instituted Between the First and Second Adam.

721Some Things Here Hard and Too Slightly Treated, and Apparently NotSufficiently Brought Out According to the Rule of Theology.

722A Passage of Jeremiah Examined.

723The Whole Number of Spiritual Sheep; Man a Second Choir, After the Angels,to the Praise of God; The Parable of the Lost Sheep Explained.

xviii

724The Works of Christ, Proper to God and to Man, the Works of Him Who isOne.

725The Bones and Flesh of Wisdom; The Side Out of Which the Spiritual Eve isFormed, the Holy Spirit; The Woman the Help-Meet of Adam; VirginsBetrothed to Christ.

727The Dispensation of Grace in Paul the Apostle.

728The Doctrine of the Same Apostle Concerning Purity.

729The Same Argument.

730Paul an Example to Widows, and to Those Who Do Not Live with TheirWives.

732The Doctrine of Paul Concerning Virginity Explained.

734Virginity a Gift of God: the Purpose of Virginity Not Rashly to Be Adoptedby Any One.

735Theopatra.

735The Necessity of Praising Virtue, for Those Who Have the Power.

736The Protection of Chastity and Virginity Divinely Given to Men, that TheyMay Emerge from the Mire of Vices.

737That Passage of David Explained; What the Harps Hung Upon the WillowsSignify; The Willow a Symbol of Chastity; The Willows Watered by Streams.

738The Author Goes on with the Interpretation of the Same Passage.

739The Gifts of Virgins, Adorned with Which They are Presented to OneHusband, Christ.

740Virginity to Be Cultivated and Commended in Every Place and Time.

741Thallousa.

741The Offering of Chastity a Great Gift.

742Abraham's Sacrifice of a Heifer Three Years Old, of a Goat, and of a Ram AlsoThree Years Old: Its Meaning; Every Age to Be Consecrated to God; TheThreefold Watch and Our Age.

744Far Best to Cultivate Virtue from Boyhood.

745Perfect Consecration and Devotion to God: What It is.

747The Vow of Chastity, and Its Rites in the Law; Vines, Christ, and the Devil.

749Sikera, a Manufactured and Spurious Wine, Yet Intoxicating; Things Whichare Akin to Sins are to Be Avoided by a Virgin; The Altar of Incense (a SymbolOf) Virgins.

xix

750The Church Intermediate Between the Shadows of the Law and the Realitiesof Heaven.

751The Double Altar, Widows and Virgins; Gold the Symbol of Virginity.

752Agathe.

752The Excellence of the Abiding Glory of Virginity; The Soul Made in the Imageof the Image of God, that is of His Son; The Devil a Suitor for the Soul.

753The Parable of the Ten Virgins.

754The Same Endeavour and Effort After Virginity, with a Different Result.

755What the Oil in the Lamps Means.

757The Reward of Virginity.

758Procilla.

758What the True and Seemly Manner of Praising; The Father Greater Than theSon, Not in Substance, But in Order; Virginity the Lily; Faithful Souls andVirgins, the One Bride of the One Christ.

760The Interpretation of that Passage of the Canticles.

761Virgins Being Martyrs First Among the Companions of Christ.

762The Passage Explained; The Queens, the Holy Souls Before the Deluge; TheConcubines, the Souls of the Prophets; The Divine Seed for Spiritual Offspringin the Books of the Prophets; The Nuptials of the Word in the Prophets asThough Clandestine.

763The Sixty Queens: Why Sixty, and Why Queens; The Excellence of the Saintsof the First Age.

764The Eighty Concubines, What; The Knowledge of the IncarnationCommunicated to the Prophets.

765The Virgins, the Righteous Ancients; The Church, the One Only Spouse,More Excellent Than the Others.

766The Human Nature of Christ His One Dove.

767The Virgins Immediately After the Queen and Spouse.

768Thekla.

768Methodius' Derivation of the Word Virginity: Wholly Divine; Virtue, inGreek--ἀρετή, Whence So Called.

769The Lofty Mind and Constancy of the Sacred Virgins; The Introduction ofVirgins into the Blessed Abodes Before Others.

770The Lot and Inheritance of Virginity.

xx

771Exhortation to the Cultivation of Virginity; A Passage from the Apocalypseis Proposed to Be Examined.

773The Woman Who Brings Forth, to Whom the Dragon is Opposed, the Church;Her Adornment and Grace.

774The Works of the Church, the Bringing Forth of Children in Baptism; TheMoon in Baptism, the Full Moon of Christ's Passion.

775The Child of the Woman in the Apocalypse Not Christ, But the Faithful Whoare Born in the Laver.

776The Faithful in Baptism Males, Configured to Christ; The Saints ThemselvesChrists.

777The Son of God, Who Ever Is, is To-Day Begotten in the Minds and Sense ofthe Faithful.

778The Dragon, the Devil; The Stars Struck from Heaven by the Tail of theDragon, Heretics; The Numbers of the Trinity, that Is, the Persons Numbered;Errors Concerning Them.

779The Woman with the Male Child in the Wilderness the Church; TheWilderness Belongs to Virgins and Saints; The Perfection of Numbers andMysteries; The Equality and Perfection of the Number Six; The Number SixRelated to Christ; From This Number, Too, the Creation and Harmony ofthe World Completed.

781Virgins are Called to the Imitation of the Church in the WildernessOvercoming the Dragon.

782The Seven Crowns of the Beast to Be Taken Away by Victorious Chastity;The Ten Crowns of the Dragon, the Vices Opposed to the Decalogue; TheOpinion of Fate the Greatest Evil.

784The Doctrine of Mathematicians Not Wholly to Be Despised, When They areConcerned About the Knowledge of the Stars; The Twelve Signs of the ZodiacMythical Names.

786Arguments from the Novelty of Fate and Generation; That Golden Age, EarlyMen; Solid Arguments Against the Mathematicians.

787Several Other Things Turned Against the Same Mathematicians.

790The Lust of the Flesh and Spirit: Vice and Virtue.

791Tusiane.

791Chastity the Chief Ornament of the True Tabernacle; Seven Days Appointedto the Jews for Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles: What They Signify; TheSum of This Septenary Uncertain; Not Clear to Any One When the

xxi

Consummation of the World Will Be; Even Now the Fabric of the WorldCompleted.

794Figure, Image, Truth: Law, Grace, Glory; Man Created Immortal: DeathBrought in by Destructive Sin.

795How Each One Ought to Prepare Himself for the Future Resurrection.

797The Mind Clearer When Cleansed from Sin; The Ornaments of the Mind andthe Order of Virtue; Charity Deep and Full; Chastity the Last Ornament ofAll; The Very Use of Matrimony to Be Restrained.

799The Mystery of the Tabernacles.

801Domnina.

801Chastity Alone Aids and Effects the Most Praiseworthy Government of theSoul.

802The Allegory of the Trees Demanding a King, in the Book of Judges, Explained.

804The Bramble and the Agnos the Symbol of Chastity; The Four Gospels, thatIs, Teachings or Laws, Instructing to Salvation.

805The Law Useless for Salvation; The Last Law of Chastity Under the Figure ofthe Bramble.

806The Malignity of the Devil as an Imitator in All Things; Two Kinds of Fig-Treesand Vines.

808The Mystery of the Vision of Zechariah.

809Arete.

809The True and Chaste Virgins Few; Chastity a Contest; Thekla Chief of Virgins.

811Thekla Singing Decorously a Hymn, the Rest of the Virgins Sing with Her;John the Baptist a Martyr to Chastity; The Church the Spouse of God, Pureand Virgin.

815Which are the Better, the Continent, or Those Who Delight in Tranquillityof Life? Contests the Peril of Chastity: the Felicity of Tranquillity; Purifiedand Tranquil Minds Gods: They Who Shall See God; Virtue Disciplined byTemptations.

819Elucidations.

821Concerning Free-Will.

834From the Discourse on the Resurrection.

834Part I.

844The Second Discourse on the Resurrection.

845Part III.

xxii

845From the Discourse on the Resurrection.

848A Synopsis of Some Apostolic Words from the Same Discourse.

861Fragments.

861On the History of Jonah, from the Book on the Resurrection.

863Extracts from the Work on Things Created.

868From the Works of Methodius Against Porphyry.

869From His Discourse Concerning Martyrs.

870General Note.

871Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple.

891Oration on the Palms.

891Oration on the Palms.

899Elucidations.

900Three Fragments from the Homily on the Cross and Passion of Christ.

900Fragment I.

902The Same Methodius to Those Who are Ashamed of the Cross of Christ.

903The Same Methodius: How Christ the Son of God, in a Brief and Definite Time,Being Enclosed by the Body, and Existing Impassible, Became Obnoxious tothe Passion.

904Some Other Fragments of the Same Methodius.

904Fragment I.

905Fragment II.

906Fragment III.

907Fragment IV.

908Fragment V.

909Fragment VI.

910Fragment VII.

911Fragment VIII.

912Fragment IX.

913Two Fragments, Uncertain.

913Fragment I.

914Fragment II.

915General Note.

xxiii

916Arnobius.

916Title Page.

917Introductory Notice.

927The Seven Books of Arnobius Against the Heathen. (Adversus Gentes.)

927Book I.

927Chapter I.

928Chapter II.

930Chapter III.

932Chapter IV.

933Chapter V.

934Chapter VI.

935Chapter VII.

936Chapter VIII.

937Chapter IX.

938Chapter X.

939Chapter XI.

940Chapter XII.

941Chapter XIII.

942Chapter XIV.

943Chapter XV.

944Chapter XVI.

945Chapter XVII.

946Chapter XVIII.

947Chapter XIX.

948Chapter XX.

949Chapter XXI.

950Chapter XXII.

951Chapter XXIII.

952Chapter XXIV.

953Chapter XXV.

954Chapter XXVI.

955Chapter XXVII.xxiv

956Chapter XXVIII.

958Chapter XXIX.

959Chapter XXX.

960Chapter XXXI.

961Chapter XXXII.

962Chapter XXXIII.

963Chapter XXXIV.

964Chapter XXXV.

965Chapter XXXVI.

967Chapter XXXVII.

968Chapter XXXVIII.

970Chapter XXXIX.

971Chapter XL.

972Chapter XLI.

973Chapter XLII.

974Chapter XLIII.

975Chapter XLIV.

976Chapter XLV.

977Chapter XLVI.

978Chapter XLVII.

979Chapter XLVIII.

980Chapter XLIX.

981Chapter L.

982Chapter LI.

983Chapter LII.

984Chapter LIII.

985Chapter LIV.

986Chapter LV.

987Chapter LVI.

988Chapter LVII.

989Chapter LVIII.

990Chapter LIX.xxv

992Chapter LX.

993Chapter LXI.

994Chapter LXII.

995Chapter LXIII.

997Chapter LXIV.

999Chapter LXV.

1001Book II.

1001Chapter I.

1003Chapter II.

1004Chapter III.

1005Chapter IV.

1006Chapter V.

1008Chapter VI.

1010Chapter VII.

1012Chapter VIII.

1013Chapter IX.

1014Chapter X.

1015Chapter XI.

1017Chapter XII.

1019Chapter XIII.

1021Chapter XIV.

1023Chapter XV.

1024Chapter XVI.

1026Chapter XVII.

1027Chapter XVIII.

1028Chapter XIX.

1030Chapter XX.

1031Chapter XXI.

1032Chapter XXII.

1033Chapter XXIII.

1034Chapter XXIV.

1035Chapter XXV.xxvi

1036Chapter XXVI.

1037Chapter XXVII.

1038Chapter XXVIII.

1040Chapter XXIX.

1041Chapter XXX.

1043Chapter XXXI.

1044Chapter XXXII.

1045Chapter XXXIII.

1046Chapter XXXIV.

1047Chapter XXXV.

1048Chapter XXXVI.

1050Chapter XXXVII.

1051Chapter XXXVIII.

1052Chapter XXXIX.

1054Chapter XL.

1055Chapter XLI.

1056Chapter XLII.

1057Chapter XLIII.

1058Chapter XLIV.

1059Chapter XLV.

1060Chapter XLVI.

1061Chapter XLVII.

1062Chapter XLVIII.

1063Chapter XLIX.

1064Chapter L.

1065Chapter LI.

1066Chapter LII.

1068Chapter LIII.

1069Chapter LIV.

1070Chapter LV.

1071Chapter LVI.

1073Chapter LVII.xxvii

1074Chapter LVIII.

1075Chapter LIX.

1077Chapter LX.

1078Chapter LXI.

1079Chapter LXII.

1080Chapter LXIII.

1081Chapter LXIV.

1083Chapter LXV.

1085Chapter LXVI.

1086Chapter LXVII.

1087Chapter LXVIII.

1088Chapter LXIX.

1089Chapter LXX.

1090Chapter LXXI.

1092Chapter LXXII.

1093Chapter LXXIII.

1094Chapter LXXIV.

1095Chapter LXXV.

1096Chapter LXXVI.

1097Chapter LXXVII.

1098Chapter LXXVIII.

1099Book III.

1099Chapter I.

1100Chapter II.

1101Chapter III.

1102Chapter IV.

1103Chapter V.

1104Chapter VI.

1105Chapter VII.

1106Chapter VIII.

1107Chapter IX.

1108Chapter X.xxviii

1109Chapter XI.

1110Chapter XII.

1111Chapter XIII.

1112Chapter XIV.

1113Chapter XV.

1114Chapter XVI.

1115Chapter XVII.

1116Chapter XVIII.

1117Chapter XIX.

1118Chapter XX.

1119Chapter XXI.

1120Chapter XXII.

1121Chapter XXIII.

1122Chapter XXIV.

1123Chapter XXV.

1124Chapter XXVI.

1125Chapter XXVII.

1126Chapter XXVIII.

1127Chapter XXIX.

1128Chapter XXX.

1129Chapter XXXI.

1130Chapter XXXII.

1131Chapter XXXIII.

1132Chapter XXXIV.

1133Chapter XXXV.

1134Chapter XXXVI.

1135Chapter XXXVII.

1136Chapter XXXVIII.

1137Chapter XXXIX.

1138Chapter XL.

1139Chapter XLI.

1140Chapter XLII.xxix

1141Chapter XLIII.

1142Chapter XLIV.

1143Book IV.

1143Chapter I.

1144Chapter II.

1145Chapter III.

1146Chapter IV.

1147Chapter V.

1148Chapter VI.

1149Chapter VII.

1150Chapter VIII.

1151Chapter IX.

1152Chapter X.

1153Chapter XI.

1154Chapter XII.

1155Chapter XIII.

1156Chapter XIV.

1157Chapter XV.

1158Chapter XVI.

1160Chapter XVII.

1161Chapter XVIII.

1162Chapter XIX.

1163Chapter XX.

1164Chapter XXI.

1165Chapter XXII.

1166Chapter XXIII.

1167Chapter XXIV.

1168Chapter XXV.

1170Chapter XXVI.

1171Chapter XXVII.

1172Chapter XXVIII.

1173Chapter XXIX.xxx

1174Chapter XXX.

1175Chapter XXXI.

1176Chapter XXXII.

1177Chapter XXXIII.

1178Chapter XXXIV.

1179Chapter XXXV.

1180Chapter XXXVI.

1181Chapter XXXVII.

1182Book V.

1182Chapter I.

1184Chapter II.

1185Chapter III.

1186Chapter IV.

1187Chapter V.

1188Chapter VI.

1190Chapter VII.

1192Chapter VIII.

1193Chapter IX.

1194Chapter X.

1195Chapter XI.

1196Chapter XII.

1197Chapter XIII.

1198Chapter XIV.

1199Chapter XV.

1200Chapter XVI.

1201Chapter XVII.

1202Chapter XVIII.

1203Chapter XIX.

1204Chapter XX.

1205Chapter XXI.

1206Chapter XXII.

1207Chapter XXIII.xxxi

1209Chapter XXIV.

1211Chapter XXV.

1213Chapter XXVI.

1215Chapter XXVII.

1216Chapter XXVIII.

1218Chapter XXIX.

1219Chapter XXX.

1220Chapter XXXI.

1221Chapter XXXII.

1222Chapter XXXIII.

1223Chapter XXXIV.

1224Chapter XXXV.

1226Chapter XXXVI.

1227Chapter XXXVII.

1228Chapter XXXVIII.

1229Chapter XXXIX.

1230Chapter XL.

1231Chapter XLI.

1232Chapter XLII.

1233Chapter XLIII.

1234Chapter XLIV.

1235Chapter XLV.

1236Book VI.

1236Chapter I.

1237Chapter II.

1238Chapter III.

1240Chapter IV.

1241Chapter V.

1242Chapter VI.

1244Chapter VII.

1245Chapter VIII.

1246Chapter IX.xxxii

1247Chapter X.

1249Chapter XI.

1251Chapter XII.

1252Chapter XIII.

1254Chapter XIV.

1255Chapter XV.

1256Chapter XVI.

1258Chapter XVII.

1259Chapter XVIII.

1260Chapter XIX.

1261Chapter XX.

1262Chapter XXI.

1263Chapter XXII.

1264Chapter XXIII.

1266Chapter XXIV.

1267Chapter XXV.

1268Chapter XXVI.

1269Book VII.

1269Chapter I.

1270Chapter II.

1271Chapter III.

1273Chapter IV.

1274Chapter V.

1275Chapter VI.

1276Chapter VII.

1277Chapter VIII.

1278Chapter IX.

1280Chapter X.

1281Chapter XI.

1282Chapter XII.

1284Chapter XIII.

1285Chapter XIV.xxxiii

1286Chapter XV.

1287Chapter XVI.

1288Chapter XVII.

1290Chapter XVIII.

1291Chapter XIX.

1292Chapter XX.

1293Chapter XXI.

1294Chapter XXII.

1295Chapter XXIII.

1297Chapter XXIV.

1299Chapter XXV.

1300Chapter XXVI.

1301Chapter XXVII.

1302Chapter XXVIII.

1304Chapter XXIX.

1305Chapter XXX.

1306Chapter XXXI.

1307Chapter XXXII.

1309Chapter XXXIII.

1311Chapter XXXIV.

1312Chapter XXXV.

1313Chapter XXXVI.

1314Chapter XXXVII.

1315Chapter XXXVIII.

1316Chapter XXXIX.

1317Chapter XL.

1318Chapter XLI.

1320Chapter XLII.

1321Chapter XLIII.

1323Chapter XLIV.

1324Chapter XLV.

1325Chapter XLVI.xxxiv

1327Chapter XLVII.

1328Chapter XLVIII.

1329Chapter XLIX.

1330Chapter L.

1332Chapter LI.

1333Appendix.

1335Elucidations.

1340Indexes

1341Index of Scripture References

1347Greek Words and Phrases

1384French Words and Phrases

1385Index of Pages of the Print Edition

xxxv

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i

The Writings of the Fathers Down to AD 325

ANTE-NICENE FATHERSVOLUME 6.

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus,Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius.

Edited by 

Alexander Roberts, D.D.&

James Donaldson, LL.D.Revised and chronologically arranged, with brief prefaces and occasional notes, by

A. Cleveland Coxe, D.D.T&T CLARKEDINBURGH

__________________________________________________WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN

iii

Fathers of the Third Century:

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus,Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius.

——————————

Title Pages.

1

Title Pages.

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AMERICAN EDITION.

 

Chronologically arranged, with brief notes and prefaces, byA. Cleveland Coxe, D.D.

Τὰ ἀρχαῖα ἔθη κρατείτω.

The Nicene Council

2

Title Pages.

v

Introductory Notice.————————————

In this volume a mass of fragmentary material1 has been reduced to method, and soharmonized as to present an integral result. The student has before him, therefore, (1) aview of the Christian Church emerging from the ten persecutions; (2) a survey of its conditionon the eve of that great event, the (nominal) conversion of the empire; (3) an introductionto the era of Athanasius; and (4) a history of events that led to the calling of the first Catholiccouncil at Nicæa.

The moral grandeur and predominance of the See of Alexandria are also here conspicu-ously illustrated. The mastery which its great school continued to exercise over Christianthought, hegemony in the formation of Christian literature, its guardian influence in thedevelopment of doctrinal technology, and not less the Divine Providence that created it andbuilt it up for the noble ends which it subserved in a Clement, an Origen, and an Athanasius,will all present themselves forcibly to every reflecting reader of this book. One half of thisvolume presents the Alexandrian school itself in its glorious succession of doctors and pupils,and the other half in the reflected light of its universal influence. Thus Methodius has noother distinction than that which he derives from his wholesome corrections of Origen, andyet the influence of Origen upon his own mind is betrayed even in his antagonisms. Heobjects to the excessive allegorizing of that great doctor, yet he himself allegorizes too muchin the same spirit. Finally we come to Arnobius, who carries on the line of Latin Christianityin Northern Africa; but even here we find that Clement, and not Tertullian, is his model.He gives us, in a Latin dress, not a little directly borrowed from the great Alexandrian.

This volume further demonstrates—what I have so often touched upon—the historicfact that primitive Christianity was Greek in form and character, Greek from first to last,Greek in all its forms of dogma, worship, and polity. One idea only did it borrow from theWest, and that not from the ecclesiastical, but the civil, Occident. It conformed itself to theimperial plan of exarchates, metropoles, and dioceses. Into this civil scheme it shaped itself,not by design, but by force of circumstances, just as the Anglo-American communion fellin with the national polity, and took shape in dioceses each originally conterminous with aState. Because it was the capital of the empire, therefore Rome was reckoned the first, butnot the chief, of Sees, as the Council of Nicæa declared; and because Byzantium had become“New Rome,” therefore it is made second on the list, but equal in dignity. Rome was the soleApostolic See of the West, and, as such, reflected the honours of St. Paul, its founder, andof St. Peter, who also glorified it by martyrdom; but not a word of this is recognised at Nicæaas investing it even with a moral primacy. That was informally the endowment of Alexandria;

1 See the Edinburgh series.

Introductory Notice.

3

Introductory Notice.

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unasserted because unquestioned, and unchallenged because as yet unholy ambition hadnot infected the Apostolic churches.

It is time, then, to disabuse the West of its narrow ideas concerning ecclesiastical history.Dean Stanley rebuked this spirit in his Lectures on the Eastern Church.2 He complained that“Eastern Christendom is comparatively an untrodden field;” he quoted the German proverb,3

“Behind the mountains there is yet a population;” he called on us to enlarge our petty Occi-dental horizon; and he added words of reproach which invite us to reform the entire scheme

vi

of our ecclesiastical history by presenting the Eastern Apostolic churches as the main stemof Christendom, of which the church of Rome itself was for three hundred years a merecolony, unfelt in theology except by contributions to the Greek literature of Christians, andwholly unconscious of those pretensions with which, in a spirit akin to that of the romancesabout Arthur and the Round Table, the fabulous Decretals afterwards invested a successionof primitive bishops in Rome, wholly innocent of anything of the kind.

“The Greek Church,” says Dean Stanley, “reminds us of the time when the tongue, notof Rome, but of Greece, was the sacred language of Christendom. It was a striking remarkof the Emperor Napoleon, that the introduction of Christianity itself was, in a certain sense,the triumph of Greece over Rome; the last and most signal instance of the maxim of Horace,Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit. The early Roman church was but a colony of GreekChristians or Grecized Jews. The earliest Fathers of the Western Church wrote in Greek.The early popes were not Italians, but Greeks. The name of pope is not Latin, but Greek, thecommon and now despised name of every pastor in the Eastern Church.…She is the mother,and Rome the daughter. It is her privilege to claim a direct continuity of speech with theearliest times; to boast of reading the whole code of Scripture, Old as well as New, in thelanguage in which it was read and spoken by the Apostles. The humblest peasant who readshis Septuagint or Greek Testament in his own mother-tongue on the hills of Bœotia mayproudly feel that he has access to the original oracles of divine truth which pope and cardinalreach by a barbarous and imperfect translation; that he has a key of knowledge which in theWest is only to be found in the hands of the learned classes.”

Before entering on the study of this volume, the student will do well to read the interest-ing work which I have quoted;4 but the following extract merits a place just here, and Icannot deprive even the casual reader of the benefit of such a preface from the non-ecclesi-astical and purely literary pen of the Dean. He says:5 “The See of Alexandria was then the

2 See p. 3, ed. of 1861.

3 “Hinter dem Berge sind auch Leute.”

4 Late editions are cheap in the market. It is filled with the author’s idiosyncrasies, but it is brilliant and sug-

gestive.

5 Lect. vii. p. 268. On the verse of Horace (Ep., i. book ii. 155), see Dacier’s note, vol. ix. 389.

4

Introductory Notice.

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most important in the world.6…The Alexandrian church was the only great seat of Christianlearning. Its episcopate was the Evangelical See, as founded by the chair of St. Mark.…Itsoccupant, as we have seen, was the only potentate of the time who bore the name of pope.7

After the Council of Nicæa he became the judge of the world, from his decisions respectingthe celebration of Easter; and the obedience paid to his judgment in all matters of learning,secular and sacred, almost equalled that paid in later days to the ecclesiastical authority ofthe popes of the West. ‘The head of the Alexandrian church,’ says Gregory Nazianzen, ‘isthe head of the world.’”

In the light of these all-important historic truths, these volumes of the Ante-NiceneFathers have been elucidated by their American editor.8 He begs to remind his countrymenthat ecclesiastical history is yet to be written on these irrefragable positions, and the futurestudent of history will be delivered from the most puzzling entanglement when once theseidols of the market are removed from books designed for his instruction. Let Americanscholarship give us, at last, a Church history not written from a merely Western point ofview, nor clogged with traditional phraseology perseveringly adhered to on the very pageswhich supply its refutation. It is the scandal of literature that the frauds of the pseudo-De-cretals should be perpetuated by modern lists of “popes,” beginning with St. Peter, in thevery books which elaborately expose the empiricism of such a scheme, and quote the reluctantwords by which this gigantic imposition has been consigned to infamy in the confessionsof Jesuits and Ultramontanes themselves.

6 He adds: “Alexandria, till the rise of Constantinople, was the most powerful city in the East. The prestige of

its founder still clung to it.”

7 That is, of “the pope,” as Wellington was called “the duke.” But Cyprian was called papa, even by the Roman

clergy.

8 He owes his own introduction to a just view of these facts to a friend of his boyhood and youth, the late

Rev. Dr. Hill of the American Mission in Athens. He was penetrated with love for Greek Christians.

5

Introductory Notice.

1

GREGORY THAUMATURGUS.

[Translated by the Rev. S. D. F. Salmond, M.A.]

Gregory Thaumaturgus.Title Page.

6

Gregory Thaumaturgus.

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3

Introductory Noteto

Gregory Thaumaturgus.————————————

[a.d. 205–240–265.] Alexandria continues to be the head of Christian learning.9 It isdelightful to trace the hand of God from generation to generation, as from father to son,interposing for the perpetuity of the faith. We have already observed the continuity of thegreat Alexandrian school: how it arose, and how Pantænus begat Clement, and Clementbegat Origen. So Origen begat Gregory, and so the Lord has provided for the spiritual gen-eration of the Church’s teachers, age after age, from the beginning. Truly, the Lord gave toOrigen a holy seed, better than natural sons and daughters; as if, for his comfort, Isaiah hadwritten,10 forbidding him to say, “I am a dry tree.”

Our Gregory has given us not a little of his personal adventures in his panegyric uponhis master, and for his further history the reader need only be referred to what follows. ButI am anxious to supply the dates, which are too loosely left to conjecture. As he was ordaineda bishop “very young,” according to Eusebius, I suppose he must have been far enough underfifty, the age prescribed by the “Apostolic Canons” (so called), though probably not youngerthan thirty, the earliest canonical limit for the ordination of a presbyter. If we decide uponfive and thirty, as a mean reckoning, we may with some confidence set his birth at a.d. 205,dating back from his episcopate, which began a.d. 240. He was a native of Neo-Cæsarea, thechief city of Pontus,—a fact that should modify what we have learned about Pontus fromTertullian.11 He was born of heathen parentage, and lived like other Gentile boys until hisfourteenth year (circa a.d. 218), with the disadvantage of being more than ordinarily imbuedby a mistaken father in the polytheism of Greece. At this period his father died; but hismother, carrying out the wishes of her husband, seems to have been not less zealous in fur-thering his education according to her pagan ideas. He was, evidently, the inheritor ofmoderate wealth; and, with his brother Athenodorus, he was placed under an accomplishedteacher of grammar and rhetoric, from whom also he acquired a considerable knowledgeof the Latin tongue. He was persuaded by the same master to use this accomplishment inacquiring some knowledge of the Roman laws. This is a very important point in his biography,and it brings us to an epoch in Christian history too little noted by any writer. I shall return

9 Vol. ii. pp. 165, 342.

10 Isa. lvi. 3.

11 Vol. iii. p. 271.

Introductory Note.

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to it very soon. We find him next going to Alexandria to study the New Platonism. He speaksof himself as already prepossessed with Christian ideas, which came to him even in hisboyhood, about the time when his father died. But it was not at Alexandria that he beganhis acquaintance with Christian learning. Next he seems to have travelled into Greece, andto have studied at Athens. But the great interest of his autobiography begins with theprovidential incidents, devoutly narrated by himself, which engaged him in a journey toBerytus just as Origen reached Cæsarea, a.d. 233, making it for a time his home and the seatof his school. His own good angel, as Gregory supposes, led him away from Berytus, wherehe purposed to prosecute his legal studies, and brought him to the feet of Origen, hisGamaliel; and “from the very first day of his receiving us,” he says, “the true Sun began to

4

rise upon me.” This he accounts the beginning of his true life; and, if we are right as to ourdates, he was now about twenty-seven years of age.

If he tarried even a little while in Berytus, as seems probable, his knowledge of law was,doubtless, somewhat advanced. It was the seat of that school in which Roman law began itsexistence in the forms long afterward digested into the Pandects of Justinian. That emperorspeaks of Berytus as “the mother and nurse” of the civil law. Caius, whose Institutes werediscovered in 1820 by the sagacity of Niebuhr, seems to have been a Syrian. So were Papinianand Ulpian: and, heathen as they were, they lived under the illumination reflected fromAntioch; and, not less than the Antonines, they were examples of a philosophic regenerationwhich never could have existed until the Christian era had begun its triumphs. Of this sortof pagan philosophy Julian became afterwards the grand embodiment; and in Julian’sgrudging confessions of what he had learned from Christianity we have a key to the secretconvictions of others, such as I have named; characters in whom, as in Plutarch and in manyretrograde unbelievers of our day, we detect the operation of influences they are unwillingto acknowledge; of which, possibly, they are blindly unconscious themselves. Roman law,I maintain, therefore, indirectly owes its origin, as it is directly indebted for its completionin the Pandects, to the new powers and processes of thought which came from “the Lightof the World.” It was light from Galilee and Golgotha, answering Pilate’s question in theinward convictions of many a heathen sage.

It is most interesting, therefore, to find in our Gregory one who had come into contactwith Berytus at this period. He describes it as already dignified by this school of law, andtherefore Latinized in some degree by its influence. Most suggestive is what he says of thisschool: “I refer to those admirable laws of our sages, by which the affairs of all the subjectsof the Roman Empire are now directed, and which are neither digested nor learnt withoutdifficulty. They are wise and strict (if not pious) in themselves, they are manifold and admir-able, and, in a word, most thoroughly Grecian, although expressed and delivered to us in theRoman tongue, which is a wonderful and magnificent sort of language, and one very aptlyconformable to imperial authority, but still difficult to me.” Nor is this the only noteworthy

8

Introductory Note.

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tribute of our author to Roman law while yet that sublime system was in its cradle. Therhetorician who introduced him to it and to the Latin tongue was its enthusiastic eulogist;and Gregory says he learned the laws “in a thorough way, by his help.…And he said onething to me which has proved to me the truest of all his sayings; to wit, that my educationin the laws would be my greatest viaticum,—my ἐφόδιον (for thus he phrased it);” i.e., forthe journey of life. This man, one can hardly doubt, was a disciple of Caius (or Gaius); andthere is little question that the digested system which Gregory eulogizes was “the Institutes”of that great father of the civil law, now recovered from a palimpsest, and made known toour own age, with no less benefit to jurisprudence than the discovery of the Philosophumenahas conferred on theology.

Thus Gregory’s Panegyric throws light on the origin of Roman law. He claims it for “oursages,” meaning men of the East, whose vernacular was the Greek tongue. Caius was probably,like the Gaius of Scripture, an Oriental who had borrowed a Latin name, as did the Apostleof the Gentiles and many others. If he was a native of Berytus, as seems probable, that ac-counts for the rise of the school of laws at a place comparatively inconsiderable. Hadrian,in his journey to Palestine, would naturally discover and patronize such a jurist; and thataccounts for the appearance of Caius at Rome in his day. Papinian and Ulpian, both Orientals,were his pupils in all probability; and these were the “sages” with whose works the youthfulGregory became acquainted, and by which his mind was prepared for the great influencehe exerted in the East, where his name is a power to this day.

His credit with our times is rather impaired than heightened by the epithet Thaumatur-gus, which clings to his name as a convenient specification, to distinguish him from the

5

other12 Gregories whose period was so nearly his own. But why make it his opprobrium?He is not responsible for the romances that sprung up after his death; which he never heardof nor imagined. Like the great Friar Bacon, who was considered a magician, or Faust, whoseinvention nearly cost him his life, the reputation of Gregory made him the subject of le-gendary lore long after he was gone. It is not impossible that God wrought marvels by hishand, but a single instance would give rise to many fables; and this very surname is of itselfa monument of the fact that miracles were now of rare occurrence, and that one possessingthe gift was a wonder to his contemporaries.

To like popular love of the marvellous I attribute the stupid story of a mock consecrationby Phædimus. If a slight irregularity in Origen’s ordination gave him such lifelong troubles,what would not have been the tumult such a sacrilege as this would have occasioned?Nothing is more probable than that Phædimus related such things as having occurred in avision;13 and this might have weighed with a mind like Gregory’s to overcome his scruples,and to justify his acceptance of such a position at an early age.

12 See Dean Stanley’s Eastern Church and Neale’s Introduction.

13 Recall Cyprian’s narratives, vol. v., and this volume infra, Life of Dionysius of Alexandria.

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We are already acquainted with the eloquent letter of Origen that decided him to choosethe sacred calling after he left the school at Cæsarea. The Panegyric, which was his valedictory,doubtless called forth that letter. Origen had seen in him the makings of a κῆρυξ, and covetedsuch another Timothy for the Master’s work. But the Panegyric itself abounds with faults,and greatly resembles similar college performances of our day. The custom of schools alonecan excuse the expression of such enthusiastic praise in the presence of its subject; but Origendoubtless bore it as philosophically as others have done since, and its evident sincerity andheartfelt gratitude redeem it from the charge of fulsome adulation.

For the residue of the story I may refer my readers to the statements of the translator,as follows:—

Translator’s Notice.

We are in possession of a considerable body of testimonies from ancient literaturebearing on the life and work of Gregory. From these, though they are largely mixed up withthe marvellous, we gain a tolerably clear and satisfactory view of the main facts in his history,and the most patent features of his character.14 From various witnesses we learn that he wasalso known by the name Theodorus, which may have been his original designation; that hewas a native of Neo-Cæsareia, a considerable place of trade, and one of the most importanttowns of Pontus; that he belonged to a family of some wealth and standing; that he was bornof heathen parents; that at the age of fourteen he lost his father; that he had a brother namedAthenodorus; and that along with him he travelled about from city to city in the prosecutionof studies that were to fit him for the profession of law, to which he had been destined.Among the various seats of learning which he thus visited we find Alexandria, Athens,Berytus, and the Palestinian Cæsareia mentioned. At this last place—to which, as he tellsus, he was led by a happy accident in the providence of God—he was brought into connectionwith Origen. Under this great teacher he received lessons in logic, geometry, physics, ethics,philosophy, and ancient literature, and in due time also in biblical science and the veritiesof the Christian faith. Thus, having become Origen’s pupil, he became also by the hand ofGod his convert. After a residence of some five years with the great Alexandrian, he returnedto his native city. Soon, however, a letter followed him to Neo-Cæsareia, in which Origenurged him to dedicate himself to the ministry of the Church of Christ, and pressed strongly

14 Thus we have accounts of him, more or less complete, in Eusebius (Historia Eccles., vi. 30, vii. 14), Basil

(De Spiritu Sancto, xxix. 74; Epist. 28, Num. 1 and 2; 204, Num. 2; 207, Num. 4; 210, Num. 3, 5,—Works, vol.

iii. pp. 62, 107, 303, 311, etc., edit. Paris. BB. 1730), Jerome (De viris illustr., ch. 65; in the Comment. in Ecclesi-

asten, ch. 4; and Epist. 70, Num. 4,—Works, vol. i. pp. 424 and 427, edit. Veron.), Rufinus (Hist. Eccles., vii. 25),

Socrates (Hist. Eccles., iv. 27), Sozomen (Hist. Eccles., vii. 27, Evagrius Scholasticus (Hist. Eccles., iii. 31), Suidas

in his Lexicon, and others of less moment.

10

Introductory Note.

http://www.ccel.org/study/Bible:Num.1http://www.ccel.org/study/Bible:Num.2http://www.ccel.org/study/Bible:Num.4http://www.ccel.org/study/Bible:Num.3 Bible:Num.5http://www.ccel.org/study/Bible:Num.4

upon him his obligation to consecrate his gifts to the service of God, and in especial to devotehis acquirements in heathen science and learning to the elucidation of the Scriptures. On

6

receipt of this letter, so full of wise and faithful counsel and strong exhortation, from theteacher whom he venerated and loved above all others, he withdrew into the wilderness,seeking opportunity for solemn thought and private prayer over its contents. At this timethe bishop of Amasea, a city which held apparently a first place in the province, was onenamed Phædimus, who, discerning the promise of great things in the convert, sought tomake him bishop of Neo-Cæsareia. For a considerable period, however, Gregory, whoshrank from the responsibility of the episcopal office, kept himself beyond the bishop’sreach, until Phædimus, unsuccessful in his search, had recourse to the stratagem of ordaininghim in his absence, and declaring him, with all the solemnities of the usual ceremonial,bishop of his native city.15 On receiving the report of this extraordinary step, Gregory yielded,and, coming forth from the place of his concealment, was consecrated to the bishopric withall the customary formalities;16 and so well did he discharge the duties of his office, thatwhile there were said to be only seventeen Christians in the whole city when he first enteredit as bishop, there were said to be only seventeen pagans in it at the time of his death. Thedate of his studies under Origen is fixed at about 234 a.d., and that of his ordination asbishop at about 240. About the year 250 his church was involved in the sufferings of theDecian persecution, on which occasion he fled into the wilderness, with the hope of pre-serving his life for his people, whom he also counselled to follow in that matter his example.His flock had much to endure, again, through the incursion of the northern barbariansabout 260. He took part in the council that met at Antioch in 265 for the purpose of tryingPaul of Samosata; and soon after that he died, perhaps about 270, if we can adopt the con-jectural reading which gives the name Aurelian instead of Julian in the account left us bySuidas.

The surname Thaumaturgus, or Wonder-worker, at once admonishes us of the marvellousthat so largely connected itself with the historical in the ancient records of this man’s life.17

15 [See p. 5, supra. Cave pronounces it “without precedent,” but seems to credit the story.]

16 [So Gregory Nyssen says. It would have been impossible, otherwise, for him to rule his flock.]

17 He could move the largest stones by a word; he could heal the sick; the demons were subject to him, and

were exorcised by his fiat; he could give bounds to overflowing rivers; he could dry up mighty lakes; he could

cast his cloak over a man, and cause his death; once, spending a night in a heathen temple, he banished its divin-

ities by his simple presence, and by merely placing on the altar a piece of paper bearing the words, Gregory to

Satan—enter, he could bring the presiding demons back to their shrine. One strange story told of him by Gregory

of Nyssa is to the effect that, as Gregory was meditating on the great matter of the right way to worship the true

God, suddenly two glorious personages made themselves manifest in his room, in the one of whom he recognised

the Apostle John, in the other the Virgin. They had come, as the story goes, to solve the difficulties which were

making him hesitate in accepting the bishopric. At Mary’s request, the evangelist gave him then all the instruction

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He was believed to have been gifted with a power of working miracles, which he was con-stantly exercising. But into these it is profitless to enter. When all the marvellous is dissociatedfrom the historical in the records of this bishop’s career, we have still the figure of a great,good, and gifted man, deeply versed in the heathen lore and science of his time, yet moredeeply imbued with the genuine spirit of another wisdom, which, under God, he learnedfrom the illustrious thinker of Alexandria, honouring with all love, gratitude, and venerationthat teacher to whom he was indebted for his knowledge of the Gospel, and exercising anearnest, enlightened, and faithful ministry of many years in an office which he had notsought, but for which he had been sought. Such is, in brief, the picture that rises up beforeus from a perusal of his own writings, as well as from the comparison of ancient accountsof the man and his vocation. Of his well-accredited works we have the following: A Declar-ation of Faith, being a creed on the doctrine of the Trinity; a Metaphrase of the Book of Ec-clesiastes, a Panegyric to Origen, being an oration delivered on leaving the school of Origen,expressing eloquently, and with great tenderness of feeling, as well as polish of style, thesense of his obligations to that master; and a Canonical Epistle, in which he gives a varietyof directions with respect to the penances and discipline to be exacted by the Church fromChristians who had fallen back into heathenism in times of suffering, and wished to be re-stored. Other works have been attributed to him, which are doubtful or spurious. His writingshave been often edited,—by Gerard Voss in 1604, by the Paris editors in 1662, by Gallandiin 1788, and others, who need not be enumerated here.

in doctrine which he was seeking for; and the sum of these supernatural communications being written down

by him after the vision vanished, formed the creed which is still preserved among his writings. Such were the

wonders believed to signalize the life of Gregory.

12

Introductory Note.

7

Part I.—Acknowledged Writings.————————————

A Declaration of Faith.18

————————————

There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is His subsistent Wisdom andPower and Eternal Image:19 perfect Begetter of the perfect Begotten, Father of the only-be-gotten Son. There is one Lord, Only of the Only,20 God of God, Image and Likeness of Deity,Efficient Word,21 Wisdom comprehensive22 of the constitution of all things, and Powerformative23 of the whole creation, true Son of true Father, Invisible of Invisible, and Incor-ruptible of Incorruptible, and Immortal of Immortal and Eternal of Eternal.24 And there isOne Holy Spirit, having His subsistence25 from God, and being made manifest26 by theSon, to wit to men:27 Image28 of the Son, Perfect Image of the Perfect;29 Life, the Cause ofthe living; Holy Fount; Sanctity, the Supplier, or Leader,30 of Sanctification; in whom ismanifested God the Father, who is above all and in all, and God the Son, who is throughall. There is a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty, neither divided nor es-

18 The title as it stands has this addition: “which he had by revelation from the blessed John the evangelist,

by the mediation of the Virgin Mary, Parent of God.” Gallandi, Veterum Patrum Biblioth., Venice, 1766, p. 385.

[Elucidation, p. 8, infra.]

19 χαρακτῆρος ἀϊδίου.

20 μόνος ἐκ μόνου .

21 λόγος ἐνεργός.

22 περιεκτική.

23 ποιητική.

24 ἀΐδιος ἀϊδίου.

25 ὕπαρξιν.

26 πεφηνός.

27 The words δηλαδὴ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις are suspected by some to be a gloss that has found its way into the text.

28 εἰκών.

29 So John of Damascus uses the phrase, εἰκὼν τοῦ Πατρὸς ὁ Υἱὸς, καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, τὸ Πνεῦμα, the Son is the

Image of the Father, and the Spirit is that of the Son, lib. 1, De fide orthod., ch. 13, vol. i. p. 151. See also Athanas-

ius, Epist. 1 ad Serap.; Basil, lib. v. contra Eunom.; Cyril, Dial., 7, etc.

30 χορηγός.

Acknowledged Writings.A Declaration of Faith.A Declaration of Faith.

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Acknowledged Writings.

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tranged.31 Wherefore there is nothing either created or in servitude32 in the Trinity;33 noranything superinduced,34 as if at some former period it was non-existent, and at some laterperiod it was introduced. And thus neither was the Son ever wanting to the Father, nor theSpirit to the Son;35 but without variation and without change, the same Trinity abidethever.36

31 ἀπαλλοτριουμένη. See also Gregory Nazianz., Orat., 37, p. 609.

32 δοῦλον.

33 Gregory Nazianz., Orat., 40, p. 668, with reference apparently to our author, says: Οὐδὲν τῆς Τριάδος

δοῦλον, οὐδὲ κτιστον, οὐδὲ ἐπείσακτον, ἤκουσα τῶν σοφῶν τινος λέγοντος— In the Trinity there is nothing

either in servitude or created, or superinduced, as I heard one of the learned say.

34 ἐπείσακτον.

35 In one codex we find the following addition here: οὔτε αὔξεται μονὰς εἰς δυάδα, οὐδὲ δυὰς εἰς

τριάδα—Neither again does the unity grow into duality, nor the duality into trinity; or = Neither does the condition

of the one grow into the condition of the two, nor that of the two into the condition of the three.

36 [See valuable note and Greek text in Dr. Schaff’s History, vol. ii. p. 799.]

14

A Declaration of Faith.

8

Elucidation.————————————

The story of the “Revelation” is of little consequence, though, if this were Gregory’sgenuine work, it would be easy to account for it as originating in a beautiful dream. But itis very doubtful whether it be a genuine work; and, to my mind, it is most fairly treated byLardner, to whose elaborate chapter concerning Gregory every scholar must refer.37 Dr.Burton, in his edition of Bishop Bull’s works,38 almost overrules that learned prelate’s in-clination to think it genuine, in the following words: “Hanc formulam minime esse Gregoriiauthenticam…multis haud spernendis argumentis demonstrat Lardner.” Lardner thinks ita fabrication of the fourth century.

Cave’s learned judgment is more favourable; and he gives the text39 from Gregory ofNyssa, which he translates as follows: “There is one God, the Father of the living Word andof the subsisting Wisdom and Power, and of Him who is His Eternal Image, the perfect be-getter of Him that is perfect, the Father of the only-begotten Son. There is one Lord, theonly Son of the only Father, God of God, the character and image of the Godhead, thepowerful Word, the comprehensive Wisdom, by which all things were made, and the Powerthat gave being to the whole creation, the true Son of the true Father, the Invisible of theInvisible, the Incorruptible of the Incorruptible, the Immortal of the Immortal, and theEternal of Him that is Eternal. There is one Holy Ghost, having its subsistence of God, whichappeared through the Son to mankind, the perfect Image of the perfect Son, the Life-givingLife, the holy Fountain, the Sanctity, and the Author of sanctification, by whom God theFather is made manifest, who is over all, and in all; and God the Son, who is through all. Aperfect Trinity, which neither in glory, eternity, or dominion is divided, or departed fromitself.”

37 Credibility, vol. ii. p. 635.

38 Vol. v. p. 423.

39 Cave, Lives of the Fathers, vol. i. p. 402, ed. Oxford, 1840.

Elucidation.

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A Metaphrase of the Book of Ecclesiastes.40

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Chapter I.41

These words speaketh Solomon, the son of David the king and prophet, to the wholeChurch of God, a prince most honoured, and a prophet most wise above all men. How vainand fruitless are the affairs of men, and all pursuits that occupy man! For there is not onewho can tell of any profit attaching to those things which men who creep on earth strive bybody and soul to attain to, in servitude all the while to what is transient, and undesirous ofconsidering aught heavenly with the noble eye of the soul. And the life of men weareth away,as day by day, and in the periods of hours and years, and the determinate courses of the sun,some are ever coming, and others passing away. And the matter is like the transit of torrentsas they fall into the measureless deep of the sea with a mighty noise. And all things that havebeen constituted by God for the sake of men abide the same: as, for instance, that man isborn of earth, and departs to earth again; that the earth itself continues stable; that the sunaccomplishes its circuit about it perfectly, and rolls round to the same mark again; and thatthe winds42 in like manner, and the mighty rivers which flow into the sea, and the breezesthat beat upon it, all act without forcing it to pass beyond its limits, and without themselvesalso violating their appointed laws. And these things, indeed, as bearing upon the good ofthis life of ours, are established thus fittingly. But those things which are of men’s devising,whether words or deeds, have no measure. And there is a plenteous multitude of words, butthere is no profit from random and foolish talking. But the race of men is naturally insatiatein its thirst both for speaking and for hearing what is spoken; and it is man’s habit, too, todesire to look with idle eyes on all that happens. What can occur afterwards, or what canbe wrought by men which has not been done already? What new thing is there worthy ofmention, of which there has never yet been experience? For I think there is nothing whichone may call new, or which, on considering it, one shall discover to be strange or unknownto those of old. But as former things are buried in oblivion, so also things that are nowsubsistent will in the course of time vanish utterly from the knowledge of those who shallcome after us. And I speak not these things unadvisedly, as acting now the preacher.43 But

40 Gallandi, Biblioth. Vet. Patr., iii. 387.

41 [The wise benevolence of our author is more apparent than his critical skill. No book more likely to puzzle

a pagan inquirer than this: so the metaphrase gives it meaning and consistency; but, over and over again, not

Solomon’s meaning, I am persuaded.]

42 τὰ πνεύματα, for which some propose ῥεύματα, streams, as the ἄνεμοι are mentioned in their own place

immediately.

43 νῦν ἐκκλησιάςων.

A Metaphrase of the Book of Ecclesiastes.Chapter I.

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all these things were carefully pondered by me when entrusted with the kingdom of theHebrews in Jerusalem. And I examined diligently, and considered discreetly, the nature ofall that is on earth, and I perceived it to be most various;44 and I saw that to man it is givento labour upon earth, ever carried about by all different occasions of toil, and with no resultof his work. And all things here below are full of the spirit of strangeness and abomination,so that it is not possible for one to retrieve them now; nay, rather it is not possible for oneat all to conceive what utter vanity45 has taken possession of all human affairs. For once ona time I communed with myself, and thought that then I was wiser in this than all that werebefore me, and I was expert in understanding parables and the natures of things. But Ilearned that I gave myself to such pursuits to no purpose, and that if wisdom followsknowledge, so troubles attend on wisdom.

44 ποικιλωτάτην.

45 ἀτοπία

17

Chapter I.

Chapter II.

Judging, therefore, that it stood thus with this matter, I decided to turn to anothermanner of life, and to give myself to pleasure, and to take experience of various delights.And now I learned that all such things are vain; and I put a check on laughter, when it ranon carelessly; and restrained pleasure, according to the rule of moderation, and was bitterlywroth against it. And when I perceived that the soul is able to arrest the body in its dispositionto intoxication and wine-bibbing, and that temperance makes lust its subject, I sought

10

earnestly to observe what object of true worth and of real excellence is set before men, whichthey shall attain to in this present life. For I passed through all those other objects whichare deemed worthiest, such as the erecting of lofty houses and the planting of vines, and inaddition, the laying out of pleasure-grounds, and the acquisition and culture of all mannerof fruit-bearing trees; and among them also large reservoirs for the reception of water wereconstructed, and distributed so as to secure the plentiful irrigation of the trees. And I sur-rounded myself also with many domestics, both man-servants and maid-servants; and someof them I procured from abroad, and others I possessed and employed as born in my ownhouse. And herds of four-footed creatures, as well of cattle as of sheep, more numerous thanany of those of old acquired, were made my property. And treasures of gold and silver flowedin upon me; and I made the kings of all nations my dependants and tributaries. And verymany choirs of male and female singers were trained to yield me pleasure by the practiceof all-harmonious song. And I had banquetings; and for the service of this part of mypleasure, I got me select cup-bearers of both sexes beyond my reckoning,—so far did I surpassin these things those who reigned before me in Jerusalem. And thus it happened that theinterests of wisdom declined with me, while the claims of evil appetency increased. Forwhen I yielded myself to every allurement of the eyes, and to the violent passions of theheart, that make their attack from all quarters, and surrendered myself to the hopes heldout by pleasures, I also made my will the bond-slave of all miserable delights. For thus myjudgment was brought to such a wretched pass, that I thought these things good, and thatit was proper for me to engage in them. At length, awaking and recovering my sight, I per-ceived that the things I had in hand were altogether sinful and very evil, and the deeds of aspirit not good. For now none of all the objects of men’s choice seems to me worthy of ap-proval, or greatly to be desired by a just mind. Wherefore, having pondered at once the ad-vantages of wisdom and the ills of folly, I should with reason admire that man greatly, who,being borne on in a thoughtless course, and afterwards arresting himself, should return toright and duty. For wisdom and folly are widely separated, and they are as different fromeach other as day is from night. He, therefore, who makes choice of virtue, is like one whosees all things plainly, and looks upward, and who holdeth his ways in the time of clearestlight. But he, on the other hand, who has involved himself in wickedness, is like a man whowanders helplessly about in a moonless night, as one who is blind, and deprived of the sight

Chapter II.

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of things by his darkness.46 And when I considered the end of each of these modes of life,I found there was no profit in the latter;47 and by setting myself to be the companion of thefoolish, I saw that I should receive the wages of folly. For what advantage is there in thosethoughts, or what profit is there in the multitude of words, where the streams of foolishspeaking are flowing, as it were, from the fountain of folly? Moreover, there is nothingcommon to the wise man and to the fool, neither as regards the memory of men, nor as re-gards the recompense of God. And as to all the affairs of men, when they are yet apparentlybut beginning to be, the end at once surprises them. Yet the wise man is never partaker ofthe same end with the foolish. Then also did I hate all my life, that had been consumed invanities, and which I had spent with a mind engrossed in earthly anxieties. For, to speak inbrief, all my affairs have been wrought by me with labour and pain, as the efforts ofthoughtless impulse; and some other person, it may be a wise man or a fool, will succeed tothem, I mean, the chill fruits of my toils. But when I cut myself off from these things, andcast them away, then did that real good which is set before man show itself to me,—namely,the knowledge of wisdom and the possession of manly virtue.48 And if a man neglects thesethings, and is inflamed with the passion for other things, such a man makes choice of evilinstead of good, and goes after what is bad instead of what is excellent, and after troubleinstead of peace; for he is distracted by every manner of disturbance, and is burdened withcontinual anxieties night and day, with oppressive labours of body as well as with ceaselesscares of mind,—his heart moving in constant agitation, by reason of the strange and senselessaffairs that occupy him. For the perfect good does not consist in eating and drinking, althoughit is true that it is from God that their sustenance cometh to men; for none of those thingswhich are given for our maintenance subsist without His providence. But the good manwho gets wisdom from God, gets also heavenly enjoyment; while, on the other hand, theevil man, smitten with ills divinely inflicted, and afflicted with the disease of lust, toils toamass much, and is quick to put him to shame who is honoured by God in presence of theLord of all, proffering useless gifts, and making things deceitful and vain the pursuits of hisown miserable soul.

46 The text is, τυφλός τε ὢν τὴν πρόσοψιν καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ σκότους τῶν πραγμάτων ἀφῃρημένος, for which it

is proposed to read, τυφλός τε ὢν καὶ τὴν πρόσοψιν ὑπὸ τοῦ σκότους, etc.

47 Or, as the Latin version puts it: And, in fine, when I considered the difference between these modes of life,

I found nothing but that, by setting myself, etc.

48 ἀνδρείας.

19

Chapter II.

11

Chapter III.

For this present time is filled with all things that are most contrary49 to each other—birthsand deaths, the growth of plants and their uprooting, cures and killings, the building upand the pulling down of houses, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing. At thismoment a man gathers of earth’s products, and at another casts them away; and at one timehe ardently desireth the beauty of woman, and at another he hateth it. Now he seekethsomething, and aga