Didymus the Blind, Fragments on Proverbs

Do not pay attention to deceitful teaching, which entices through specious words, that is, heresy, and idolatry, and vain sayings. Verse 3. The good of them is only as far as the hearing. For such is deceit: it is accustomed to hide what is deadly, but it puts forward what is sweet, in order to capture; for otherwise they would have immediately jumped away. But God is not so; but he hides what is pleasant, and puts forth what is difficult. And he did not say, It flows, but, It drips, so that the bitterness may not become offensive; later, however, it is more bitter than gall. The bitter is not as much as the sweet, but much more. Verse 8. He called the mind journeying toward virtue a way here; or perhaps he commands us to separate virtue from vice. Verse 11. That is, in old age; which, through the wasting away of the flesh, shows intemperance to be a kind of corruption. Verses 12, 14. He introduces the corrupted one reproaching himself for having hated instruction, and says: I would have perished and been corrupted, having wasted my flesh in dissolute living, and I almost gave up life itself. Wherefore my penalty became manifest in the midst of the Church and the Synagogue. For it is the voice of one who has repented, and of one not being in that which he almost became. Similar also is the saying, "My steps were almost poured out. 39.1629" For having become sober and having perceived, he says, Where is that 'almost'? How then is it possible to assuage the madness that comes from nature? Verse 15. Knowledge is both a well and a spring; for those approaching the virtues it is a well; for those perfected in them, a spring. Knowledge is also called mother, and wife, and sister: mother, because through it we have been born of the teacher; wife, because being with us it bears virtues and right doctrines; sister, because we have come from the one God. And I called wisdom sister. Verses 16, 17. See how it indicates the ease not only by the abundance, but also by having no one as a partner in the enjoyment; and it doubles it and calls it a possession; for it knows the pleasure of the thing. Verse 8. Even if you imitate the natural work of the irrational creatures; or know, that is, go.

For many do good works from contemplation or hearing, and not from knowledge. He calls bees prophets and apostles, whose labors are useful both to the great in condition and to the small; so he calls things wax, but their contemplation, honey. Just as the ram leads the goats, so the king bee leads the bees. Order, therefore, is good throughout all of life. Verse 12. Foolish is the atheist, the one who has lost the contemplative faculty; but lawless is the one who has lost the practical. Verse 1. Guard in common, so that you may, he says, both live eternal life and become discerning. For the observances of the divine commandments shine for us far more brightly than the light of the eyes. Verse 3. A hand is the whole action; but a finger, the more partial one. But by obeying me you will have a wide heart for the reception of the virtues. Verse 19. She pretends to live with a man, as if living according to law; and she removes all things fearful and prohibitive, putting forward the absence of her husband. Verse 27. For her house is the ways of Hades, leading down to the chambers of death. For those who obey her, being made dusty and earthy by her, thus perish. But as for, "On the ledge of Hades," the others said in the depths. Verse 22. Signifying many things, as we said, the beginning now denotes the eternal, and the cause, and the creative. But a beginning is a beginning of certain things, and signifies a relation, but not an essence. For relative terms are such things; like the right and the left. Therefore, being essence, the wisdom of God is not the beginning of certain things; for even before creation it has its being as wisdom. But when it receives the relation to created things, then it becomes a beginning of the creative and providential ways of God, for the works which 39.1632 have their existence from the Creator, with nothing contributing to its being wisdom; but the relation according to which it is called beginning and creator came into being then, when the things that came to be also did. For a beginning does not pre-exist those things of which it is a beginning; nor are these things said to exist after it, if the created things have their essence in time. For being eternal, wisdom is not subject to time.

Μὴ πρόσεχε ἀπατηλῇ διδασκαλίᾳ, διὰ τῆς χρηστολογίας δελεαζούσῃ, τουτέστιν αἱρέσει, καὶ τῇ εἰδωλολατρίᾳ, καὶ ματαίοις ῥήμασι. Στ. γʹ. Μέχρι τῆς ἀκοῆς, αὐτῶν τὸ καλόν. Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ ἀπάτη· τὸ μὲν ὀλέθριον κρύπτειν εἴωθε, προβάλλεται δὲ τὸ ἡδὺ, ὥστε ἑλεῖν· ἦ γὰρ ἂν εὐθέως ἀπεπήδησαν. Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς οὐχ οὕτως· ἀλλὰ τὸ ἡδὺ ἀποκρύπτει, τὸ δὲ ἐπίπονον προτίθησι. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἀποῤῥεῖ, ἀλλὰ, Ἀποστάζει ὡς μὴ προσκορῆ γενέσθαι τὴν πικρίαν, ὕστερον μέντοι πικρότερον χολῆς· οὐχ ὅσον τὸ ἡδὺ, τοσοῦτον τὸ πικρόν· ἀλλὰ πολλῷ πλέον. Στ. ηʹ. Ὁδὸν εἶπεν ἐνταῦθα τὸν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν ὁδεύοντα νοῦν· ἢ τάχα τὴν ἀρετὴν προστάσσει χωρίζειν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ κακίας. Στ. ιαʹ. Τουτέστιν ἐν γήρᾳ· ἣ διὰ τοῦ κατατριβῆναι τὰς σάρκας, τὴν ἀκολασίαν δηλοῖ φθοράν τινα οὖσαν. Στ. ιβʹ. ιδʹ. Εἰσάγει τὸν διαφθαρέντα κακίζοντα ἑαυτὸν, ὡς μισήσαντα παιδείαν, καί φησιν· Ἀπολοίμην ἂν καὶ διεφθάρην, κατατρίψας τὰς σάρκας μου ἐν ἀσωτίαις, καὶ τὴν ζωὴν αὐτὴν μικροῦ δεῖν προηκάμην. ∆ιὸ φανερὸν ἐγένετο τὸ ἐπιτίμιόν μου ἐν μέσῳ Ἐκκλησίας καὶ Συναγωγῆς. Μετανενοηκότος γὰρ ἡ φωνὴ, καὶ μὴ γεγονότος ἐν ᾧ παρ' ὀλίγον γεγένηται. Ὅμοιον καὶ τὸ, "Παρ' ὀλίγον ἐξεχύθη τὰ διαβή 39.1629 ματά μου." Ἀνανήψας γὰρ καὶ αἰσθηθεὶς, Ποῦ ἔστι, λέγει, τὸ παρὰ μικρόν; Πῶς οὖν ἔνι τὴν ἐκ τῆς φύσεως μανίαν παραμυθήσασθαι; Στ. ιεʹ. Ἡ γνῶσις καὶ φρέαρ ἐστὶ, καὶ πηγή· τοῖς μὲν προσερχομένοις ταῖς ἀρεταῖς φρέαρ ἔστι· τοῖς δὲ κατ' αὐτὰς τελειωθεῖσι, πηγή. Λέγεται δὲ ἡ γνῶσις καὶ μήτηρ, καὶ γυνὴ, καὶ ἀδελφή· μήτηρ, ὅτι δι' αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ διδασκάλου γεγεννήμεθα· γυνὴ, ὅτι συνοῦσα τίκτει ἀρετὰς καὶ ὀρθὰ δόγματα· ἀδελφὴ, ὅτι ἐξ ἑνὸς Θεοῦ γεγόναμεν. Καὶ εἶπα τὴν σοφίαν ἀδελφήν. Στ. ιςʹ, ιζʹ. Ὅρα ὡς οὐ μόνον τῇ ἀφθονίᾳ τὴν εὐκολίαν ἐνδείκνυται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ μηδένα κοινωνὸν ἔχειν τῆς ἀπολαύσεως· διπλασιάζει δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ κτῆσιν ἀποκαλεῖ· οἶδε γὰρ τὴν τοῦ πράγματος ἡδονήν. Στ. ηʹ. Κἂν τὴν φυσικὴν τῶν ἀλόγων ἐργασίαν μίμησαι· ἢ ἴσθι, τουτέστι πορεύου.

Πολλοὶ γὰρ ἀγαθοεργοῦσιν ἀπὸ θεωρίας ἢ ἀκοῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἐξ ἐπιστήμης. Μελίσσας λέγει προφήτας καὶ ἀποστόλους, ὧν οἱ πόνοι χρήσιμοι τοῖς τε μεγάλοις τὴν ἕξιν καὶ τοῖς βραχέσι· κηρὸν μὲν οὖν λέγει τὰ πράγματα· μέλι δὲ, τὴν τούτων θεωρίαν. Ὥσπερ ὁδηγεῖ τὰς αἶγας ὁ κτῖλος, οὕτως ὁ ἐσσὴν τὰς μελίσσας. Καλὸν οὖν παρὰ πάντα τὸν βίον ἡ τάξις. Στ. ιβʹ. Ἄφρων ὁ ἄθεος, ὁ τὸ θεωρητικὸν ἀπολέσας· παράνομος δὲ, ὁ τὸ πρακτικόν. Στ. αʹ. Κατὰ κοινοῦ φύλαξον, ἵν' ᾖ σοι, φησὶ, καὶ βιῶναι ζωὴν αἰώνιον, καὶ διορατικῷ γενέσθαι. Πολλῷ γὰρ τοῦ τῶν ὀμμάτων φωτὸς λαμπρότερον αἱ τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν τηρήσεις ἡμῖν ἀναλάμπουσιν. Στ. γʹ. Χεὶρ, ἡ ὁλοσχερὴς πρᾶξις· δάκτυλος δὲ, ἡ μερικωτέρα. Πειθόμενος δέ μοι πλατεῖαν ἕξεις τὴν καρδίαν εἰς ὑποδοχὴν τῶν ἀρετῶν. Στ. ιθʹ. Συνοικεῖν ἀνδρὶ προσποιεῖται, ὡς κατὰ νόμον βιοῦσα· καὶ ἀναιρεῖ πάντα τὰ φοβερὰ καὶ κωλυτικὰ, τὴν ἀποδημίαν προβαλλομένη τοῦ συνοικοῦντος. Στ. κζʹ. Ὁ γὰρ οἶκος αὐτῆς ὁδοὶ ᾅδου, εἰς ταμεῖα θανάτου κατάγουσαι. Οἱ γὰρ πειθόμενοι αὐτῇ, χοϊκοὶ γινόμενοι παρ' αὐτῆς καὶ γήινοι, οὕτως ἀπολοῦνται. Τὸ δὲ, "Ἐπὶ πέταυρον ᾅδου," οἱ λοιποὶ ἐν βάθεσιν εἶπον. Στ. κβʹ. Πολλὰ σημαίνουσα, καθάπερ εἴπομεν, ἡ ἀρχὴ, νῦν τὸ ἀΐδιον δηλοῖ, καὶ τὸ αἴτιον, καὶ τὸ ποιητικόν. Ἡ δὲ ἀρχὴ τινῶν ἐστιν ἀρχὴ, καὶ σημαίνει σχέσιν, ἀλλ' οὐκ οὐσίωσιν. Τὰ γὰρ πρός τι, τοιαῦτα· ὡς τὸ δεξιὸν καὶ ἀριστερόν. Οὐσία τοίνυν οὖσα ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφία, οὐκ ἀρχὴ τινῶν ἐστι· καὶ πρὸ κτίσεως γὰρ ἔχει τὸ εἶναι σοφία. Ἡνίκα δὲ σχέσιν τὴν πρὸς τὰ γενητὰ δέξεται, τότε ἀρχὴ γίνεται τῶν ὁδῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ποιητικῶν καὶ προνοητικῶν, εἰς τὰ ἔργα ἃ 39.1632 τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἐκ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ ἔχει μηδὲν αὐτῇ συνενεγκόντα πρὸς τὸ εἶναι σοφίαν· ἀλλ' ἡ σχέσις καθ' ἣν ἀρχὴ καὶ δημιουργὸς λέγεται, τότε ὑπέστη, ὅτε καὶ τὰ γενόμενα. Ἀρχὴ γὰρ οὐ προϋπάρχει ὧν ἔστιν ἀρχή· οὔτε ταῦτα μετ' ἐκείνην ὑπάρχειν λέγεται, εἰ τὴν οὐσίαν ἔχουσιν ἐν χρόνῳ τὰ κτίσματα. Οὖσα γὰρ ἀΐδιος ἡ σοφία οὐχ ὑπόκειται χρόνῳ.