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One God from both; since being mixed with divinity, And a mortal from divinity, the Lord and Christ came to be. And a new mixture it became, since I despised the former. First I received a share of divine breath, and last Christ received my soul and all my limbs, that Adam, formerly free, who was naked of sin, before seeing the serpent and tasting the fruit And of death, but nourished his soul with simple 535 heavenly thoughts, and a shining initiate of God and of divine things. 535 Remolding him, God came into mortal nature, So that having struggled and having conquered the murderer from death, And the taste with gall, and the lawless hands with nails, and the tree with the cross, and the earth with his height, He might lead Adam back to life and glory. And stretching out His sacred body to the ends of the earth, which mortal He Himself gathered from the ends, and bound into one man, And placed in the arms of the great divinity, having cleansed all defilements with the blood of the Lamb, And from there having been raised up, a guide of the heavenly path for mortals. O Lord, who could discover your mind and depth, You who know the entire number of the drops of rain, and of the sea sand, and the paths of the wind? 536 And who again could know the traces of your counsel, O Blessed One, how as High-ruler you watch over all and govern all, whatever things the boundless age has hidden? But the mind of mortals, striving towards you, sees a tiny gleam, like a fleeting flash of lightning from the air. But this nevertheless is sure, that by your sufferings you raised up mortal man from there, and placed him in another life, free, instead of an evil one. Before, life and the world travailed toward the ground, And a great host stood around the king of earthly things, whom he snatched from the great King by his wiles. But now Christ, snatching them from the hand of dreadful evil, leads them back again to the great Lord and to a better world. 537 That is marriage for mortals, but this, celibacy, is godlike. The one is an adornment of the earth, the other of the heavenly dance. Just as a man carving lifeless images on panels, first with small and fainter shapes sketches the form, trying it out; but then with all kinds of colors he sets up the whole figure; so then virginity, being ever the portion of Christ, at first appeared among a few, and shadowy, until the law reigned, with faint colors appearing, and a hidden light shone dimly for a few. But when Christ also came through a pure Mother, a Virgin, unbound, god-fearing, undefiled (for it was necessary for him to be born without marriage and a father), He purified womanhood, and shook off bitter Eve, 538 and he sent away the laws of the flesh, and by great words made the letter yield to the Spirit, and grace came into the midst; Then indeed shining virginity flashed for mortals, being freed from the world, and freeing the faint world, surpassing marriage and the bonds of life by as much as soul is superior to flesh, and as wide heaven, standing for the blessed, is to the flowing life of earth, as much as God is better than man. And a blameless choir stands around the light-bringing Lord, heavenly, from the earth hastening to be a god, Christ-bearing, a servant of the cross, despising the world, dead to earthly things, caring for heavenly things, lamps of the world, clear mirrors of light, who see God, and whose God is, and who are of God. Come now, all you who are like-minded with the rib, and you 539 initiates of marriage, holding your heads high and bearing fierce eyes, and gold mixed with noble stones, and soft tunics with delicate robes flowing around, tell what advantages marriage and its bond grant to mortals, and afterwards we will summon the unmarried lot. They indeed will say glibly, being puffed up: "Listen, O dear children of marriage, of the earthly king, we, for whom marriage and the bonds of life are a care, of the race of man, and of our own blood, which law the Son of the immortal Father established from the time when he first bound Adam with a rib, that a mortal should be the fruit of a man, and from his seed, though being mortal, he should remain, flourishing in his children, 540 honoring this law, and lovely wedlock, we came together with one another, since we were born of dust, observing the law of dust and the most ancient law of God." For indeed all the natures that have obtained the wide heaven, are unmarried, and of painful passions and cares

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Εἷς Θεὸς ἀμφοτέρωθεν· ἐπεὶ θεότητι κερασθεὶς, Καὶ βροτὸς ἐκ θεότητος ἄναξ καὶ Χριστὸς ὑπέστη. Καινὴ δ' ἔπλετο μίξις, ἐπεὶ προτέρην ἀθέριξα. Πρῶτον ἐγὼ πνοιῆς θείης λάχον, ὑστάτιον δὲ Χριστὸς ἐμὴν ψυχήν τε καὶ ἅψεα πάνθ' ὑπέδεκτο, Κεῖνον Ἀδὰμ τὸν πρόσθεν ἐλεύθερον, ὃς γυμνὸς ἦεν Ἀμπλακίης, πρὶν ὄφιν τε ἰδεῖν, καρποῦ τε πάσασθαι Καὶ θανάτου, θυμὸν δὲ νοήμασιν ἔτρεφεν ἁπλοῖς 535 Οὐρανίοις, μύστης τε Θεοῦ θείων τε φαεινός. 535 Τὸν μὲν ἀναπλάσσων, βροτέην Θεὸς ἐς φύσιν ἦλθεν, Ὥς κεν ἀεθλεύσας τε καὶ ἐκ θανάτοιο φονῆα Νικήσας, γεῦσίν τε χολῇ, καὶ χεῖρας ἀθέσμους Ἥλοισι, σταυρῷ τε φυτὸν, καὶ ὕψεϊ γαῖαν, Πρὸς ζωὴν παλίνορσον Ἀδὰμ καὶ κῦδος ἀνάξῃ. Πείρασι δ' ἁπλώσας ἱερὸν δέμας, ὃν βροτὸν αὐτὸς Ἐκ περάτων συνάγειρε, καὶ εἰς ἕνα δήσατο φῶτα, Καὶ μεγάλης θεότητος ἐν ἀγκοίνῃσιν ἔθηκεν, Αἵματι μὲν Ἀμνοῖο μολύσματα πάντα καθῄρας, Οἴμου δ' οὐρανίης θνητοῖς ἀγὸς ἔνθεν ἀερθείς. Ὦ Ἄνα, τίς δέ κε σεῖο νόον καὶ βένθος ἀνεύροι, Ὃς σταγόνων ὑετοῖο, καὶ ὃς ἁλίης ψαμάθοιο Οἶδας ἀριθμὸν ἅπαντα, καὶ ὃς ἀνέμοιο κελεύθους; 536 Τίς δέ κεν αὖ γνώσοιτο τεῆς, Μάκαρ, ἴχνια βουλῆς, Ὑψιμέδων ὡς πάντ' ἐφορᾷς καὶ πάντα κυβερνᾷς, Αἰὼν ὅσσα κέκευθεν ἀπείριτος; Ἐς δὲ σὲ τείνων Νοῦς μερόπων τυτθὸν λεύσσει σέλας, οἷα τάχιστα Ἀστεροπὴν φεύγουσαν ἀπ' ἠέρος. Ἀλλὰ τόδ' ἔμπης Ἀτρεκὲς, ὡς παθέεσσι τεοῖς βροτὸν ἔνθεν ἀείρας, Ἐς βίον ἄλλον ἔθηκας ἐλεύθερον ἀντὶ κακοῖο. Πρόσθε μὲν ὠδίνεσκε βίος καὶ κόσμος ἔραζε, Καὶ χθονίων βασιλῆα πολὺς ἀμφίστατο λαὸς, Οὓς μεγάλου Βασιλῆος ἀφήρπασε κερδοσύνῃσι. Νῦν δ' αἰνῆς κακίης Χριστὸς ἀπὸ χειρὸς ἐρύσσας, Ἂψ ἀνάγει πρὸς Ἄνακτα μέγαν καὶ κόσμον ἀρείω. 537 Κεῖνο γάμος μερόπεσσι, τὸ δ' ἀζυγίη θεοειδής. Κόσμος ὁ μὲν γαίης, ἡ δ' οὐρανίοιο χορείης. Ἄπνοα δ' ὡς πινάκεσσιν ἀνὴρ εἴδωλα χαράσσων, Βαιοῖς μὲν πρώτιστον, ἀμυδροτέροις τε τύποισιν Εἶδος ὑποσκιάει πειρώμενος· αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα Χρώμασι παντοδαποῖσιν ὅλην ἐστήσατο μορφήν· Ὣς ἄρα παρθενίη Χριστοῦ λάχος αἰὲν ἐόντος, Πρόσθε μὲν ἐν παύροισι φαείνετο, καὶ σκιόεσσα, Μέσφ' ὅτε καὶ βασίλευε νόμος, χρώμασσιν ἀφαυροῖς Φαινομένοις, κρυπτόν τ' ὀλίγοις ὑπελάμπετο φέγγος. Αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ καὶ Χριστὸς ἁγνῆς διὰ μητρὸς ὁδεύσας Παρθενικῆς, ἀδέτοιο, θεουδέος, ἀχράντοιο (Νόσφι γάμου καὶ πατρὸς ἐπεὶ χρέος ἦε γενέσθαι), Ἥγνισε θηλυτέρας, Εὔαν δ' ἀπεσείσατο πικρὴν, 538 Καὶ σαρκὸς δ' ἀπέπεμψε νόμους, μεγάλοις τε λόγοισι Πνεύματι γράμμ' ὑπόειξε, καὶ ἡ χάρις ἐς μέσον ἦλθεν· ∆ὴ τότε παρθενίη στράψεν μερόπεσσι φαεινὴ, Λυομένη κόσμοιο, λύουσά τε κόσμον ἀφαυρὸν, Τοσσάτιον προφέρουσα γάμου βιότοιό τε δεσμῶν, Ὁσσάτιον ψυχὴ προφερεστέρη ἔπλετο σαρκὸς, Καὶ χθονὸς οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὅσον βιότοιο ῥέοντος Ἑστηὼς μακάρεσσιν, ὅσον Θεὸς ἀνδρὸς ἀρείων. Καὶ χορὸς ἀμφὶ Ἄνακτα φαεσφόρον ἵστατ' ἀμεμφὴς, Οὐράνιος, γαίηθεν ἐπειγόμενος Θεὸς εἶναι, Χριστοφόρος, σταυροῖο λάτρις, κόσμοιο περίφρων, Τεθνηὼς χθονίοισιν, ἐπουρανίοισι μεμηλὼς, Λαμπτῆρες κόσμοιο, διαυγέα φωτὸς ἔσοπτρα, Οἳ Θεὸν εἰσορόωσι, καὶ ὧν Θεὸς, οἵ τε Θεοῖο. ∆εῦρ' ἄγ', ὅσαι πλευρῇσιν ὁμόφρονες, ἠδὲ γάμοιο 539 Μυστίδες, ὑψικάρηναι καὶ ὄμματα γοργὰ φέρουσαι, Καὶ χρυσὸν λιθάκεσσι μεμιγμένον εὐγενέεσσι, Καὶ μαλακοὺς ἁπαλοῖσι περιῤῥεθέεσσι χιτῶνας, Λέξαθ' ὅσα θνητοῖσι γάμος καὶ δεσμὸς ὀπάζει Κέρδεα, καὶ μετέπειτα καλέσσομεν ἄζυγα μοίρην. Αἱ μέν τοι ἐρέουσιν ἐπίτροχα φυσιόωσαι· Κέκλυτε δ', ὦ φίλα τέκνα γάμου, χθονίων βασιλῆος, Ἡμεῖς, ᾗσι μέμηλε γάμος καὶ δεσμὰ βίοιο, Ἀνδρομέης γενεῆς, καὶ αἵματος ἡμετέροιο, Ὃν Πάϊς ἀθανάτοιο Πατρὸς ἐστήσατο θεσμὸν Ἐξέτι τοῦ, ὅτε πρῶτον Ἀδὰμ πλευρῇ συνέδησε, Καρπὸν ἀπ' ἀνθρώποιο πέλειν βροτὸν, ἐκ δὲ γόνοιο, Καίπερ θνητὸν ἐόντα, μένειν σταχύοντα τέκεσσιν, 540 Τόνδε νόμον τίουσαι, ὁμοζυγέην τ' ἐρατεινὴν, Ἀλλήλαις συνέβημεν, ἐπεὶ χοὸς ἐκγενόμεσθα, Χοῦ νόμον ἠδὲ Θεοῖο παλαίτατον ἀμφιέπουσαι. Καὶ γὰρ δὴ φύσιες μὲν ὅσαι λάχον οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν, Ἀζυγέες, παθέων τε καὶ ἀργαλέων μελεδώνων