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the surge and the opposing sea-like force is drowned and both rider and bold horse have vanished and every opposing argument has perished. But we, spiritually singing a paean for the triumph, do not cover nor do we hide the trophy, but with the angels we cry out, "Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously glorified."

2 Of the same author, through prosopopoeia, that there are no set limits of life for men

have been fixed, of Theophrastus against Theognostus.

Since "his throat is an open sepulchre" has become the case for Theognostus, and he armed his tongue "like a sharpened razor," and "venom like the venom of a serpent" inflamed his words, and he swells with insults and boasts in evils and being reproachful is proud-necked, and says, "Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" and with the prophet he did not despise "a tongue that speaks great things," but thinks more highly "than he ought to think," not being obedient to the divine Paul, "I will visit" his words "with a rod" "and with scourges" his sayings. For in reality his heart was lifted up above "the cedars of Lebanon," and he forgot "David and all his meekness," and he lifted up the eyes of his mind, walking "in great matters" and not being humble-minded according to what is written, but exalting his soul, having stripped off the dignity of evangelical gentleness; for we know the divine law commands to deal with the fool according to the arrogance of his folly, so that not, being pampered by the breadth of forgiveness, they might depart to a greater abyss of sins through the unreproved nature of the admonitions. Therefore, "Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one" [both in instruction and in thought], so that we may begin from Scripture and with a certain theological tablet of our words we might beautify the forecourts. If limits of life exist for men, O elegant and censorious mouth, -"I will question you, and you shall answer me," as he who reveals the secrets to the much-suffering one somewhere says- how do calamities happen to populous cities when the air overhead has been corrupted and a certain pestilential decay is transmitted to those who have come into contact? Is there then, is there for them an annual limit of life, according to which at that very moment the myriad races of men are netted for death? And how is it that cargo ships carrying countless goods often, spreading their sails, so to speak, and setting out upon the greatest seas, have perished by a savage assault of winds, being submerged with all hands, so that youths with maidens and old men "with younger men" are drowned in the water by some single accord? Was there then, was there one unmovable limit for those who were sailing? But also when the foundations of the earth leap up, it is possible somewhere to behold how "in the twinkling of an eye," according to the divine apostle, countless multitudes perish, and every age in one misfortune is allotted one tomb, the common lot of destruction. And why should I philosophize to you about the similar things concerning chasms of the earth? And the failures concerning the outcomes of battles, where will you place them in your mind, O noble and most piercing one, where indeed we see that often not even "one who pisses against a wall" is saved, that I may bring forth for you a little saying from the sacred history?

But how must "Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days" be understood by you, answer? "The limits being cut short because of the desire for evil and inattention to the better." Therefore deaths are not brought on when the limits of life are fulfilled, O best and most philosophical of monks; for a cutting short of the limit, having crept in, has surely destroyed it somewhere. Or does not Paul also cry out something of this sort

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τὸν κλύδωνα καὶ τὸ ἀντιμαχοῦν πελαγιζόμενον ἀποπνίγεται καὶ ἀναβάτης καὶ ἵππος θρασὺς ἠφάνισται καὶ πᾶς ἀντιστράτηγος λόγος ἀπόλωλεν. ἡμεῖς δὲ πνευματικῶς παιανίζοντες τὸν θρίαμβον οὐ καλύπτομεν οὐδὲ τὸ τρόπαιον κρύπτομεν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων κραυγάζομεν «"ᾄσωμεν τῷ κυρίῳ, ἐνδόξως γὰρ δεδόξασται"».

2 Τοῦ αὐτοῦ διὰ προσωποποιΐας, ὅτι οὐχ ὅροι ζωῆς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις

πεπήγασι, Θεοφράστου κατὰ Θεογνώστου.

᾿Επεὶ "τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος ὁ λάρυγξ" τῷ Θεογνώστῳ καθέστηκε καὶ "ὡσεὶ ξυρὸν ἠκονημένον" τὴν γλῶτταν ἐξώπλισε καὶ "θυμὸς κατὰ τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ ὄφεως" τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ διεφλέγμανε καὶ οἰδαίνει ταῖς ὕβρεσι καὶ ἐν κακίαις μεγαλαυχεῖ καὶ ὀνειδίζων ὑψαυχενεῖ, καί φησι «"τὰ χείλη ἡμῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ἐστι, τίς ἡμῶν κύριός ἐστι;"» καὶ μετὰ τοῦ προφήτου "μεγαλορρήμονα γλῶτταν" οὐκ ἐξουδένωσεν, ἀλλ' ὑπερφρονεῖ "παρ' ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν" τῷ θεσπεσίῳ μὴ γινόμενος Παύλῳ πειθήνιος, "ἐπισκέψομαι ἐν ῥάβδῳ" τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ "καὶ ἐν μάστιξι" τὰ ῥήματα αὐτοῦ. τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ ὑπὲρ "τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Λιβάνου" ὑψώθη καὶ ἐπελάθετο "τοῦ ∆αυὶδ καὶ πάσης τῆς πραότητος αὐτοῦ" καὶ τοὺς τῆς διανοίας ὀφθαλμοὺς μετεώρισε πορευθεὶς "ἐν μεγάλοις" καὶ μὴ ταπεινοφρονῶν κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ἀλλ' ὑψῶν τὴν ψυχὴν τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἐπιεικείας ἀπεκδυσάμενος τὴν σεμνότητα· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν τῆς ἀφροσύνης αὐτοῦ αὐθάδειαν κεχρῆσθαι τῷ ἄφρονι τὸν θεῖον νόμον ἴσμεν προστάττοντα, ἵνα μὴ τῷ πλάτει τῆς συγχωρήσεως ἐναβρυνόμενοι πρὸς μεῖζον βάραθρον ἁμαρτημάτων τῷ ἀνεπιπλήκτῳ τῶν νουθετημάτων ἀποχωρήσαιεν. οὐκοῦν «"ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐπὶ σὲ τὴν ὑβρίστριαν"» [καὶ παίδευσιν καὶ διάνοιαν], ἵν' ἀπὸ γραφῆς ἀπαρξώμεθα καὶ θεολογικῷ πίνακί τινι τῶν ἡμετέρων λόγων κατακαλλύνωμεν τὰ προαύλια. Εἰ ὅροι ζωῆς ὕπεισι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ὦ φιλόκομψον στόμα καὶ φιλεπίτιμον, -»"ἐρωτήσω δέ σε, σὺ δέ μοι ἀπόκριναι"», καθά πού φησιν ὁ χρηματίζων τῷ πολυπαθεῖ τὰ ἀπόρρητα- πῶς ταῖς πολυάνδροις συμβαίνει παθήματα πόλεσι τοῦ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς ἀέρος διαφθαρέντος καὶ λοιμικῆς σηπεδόνος τινὸς μεταδιδόντος τοῖς ὁμιλήσασιν; ἆρά γέ που, ἆρά ἐστιν αὐτοῖς ἐνιαυσιαῖος ὅρος ζωῆς, καθ' ὃν αὐθωρὸν τὰ μυρία γένη τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς θάνατον σαγηνεύονται; πῶς δὲ καὶ μυριοφόροι ὁλκάδες πολλάκις τὰς ὀθόνας, ὡς ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ἐκπετάσασαι καὶ προσβαλοῦσαι τοῖς μεγίστοις πελάγεσιν ἀγρίῳ πνευμάτων ἐφόδῳ διολώλασιν αὔτανδροι βαπτιζόμεναι, ὡς καὶ νεανίσκους σὺν παρθένοις καὶ πρεσβύτας "μετὰ νεωτέρων" μιᾷ τινι συμφωνίᾳ καταπνιγῆναι τῷ ὕδατι; ἆρά γέ που, ἆρα εἷς τις ὅρος ὑπῆν τοῖς ναυτιλλομένοις ἀκίνητος; ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν πυθμένων παρασκιρτώντων τῆς γῆς ἔνεστί που θεάσασθαι ὡς "ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ" κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον ἄπειρα διολλύμενα πλήθη καὶ πᾶσαν ἡλικίαν ἑνί τινι δυστυχήματι ἕνα τάφον ἀποκληρωσαμένην τῆς διαφθορᾶς τὸ ἐπίδημον. καὶ τί δή σοι περὶ χασμάτων γῆς φιλοσοφήσω τὰ παραπλήσια; τὰ δὲ περὶ τὰς ἐκτάξεις τῶν συμπλοκῶν ἀποτεύγματα ποῦ θήσεις τῷ νῷ, γενναῖε καὶ διαβατικώτατε, ὅπου γε ὁρῶμεν μηδὲ "οὐροῦντα πρὸς τοῖχον" πολλάκις διασῳζόμενον, ἵνα καί τί σοι τῆς ἱερᾶς ἱστορίας προενέγκω ῥησείδιον;

Τὸ δ' «"ἄνδρες αἱμάτων καὶ δολιότητος οὐ μὴ ἡμισεύσωσι τὰς ἡμέρας αὐτῶν"» πῶς σοι νοητέον, ἀπόκριναι; «κολοβουμένων τῶν ὅρων δι' ἔφεσιν τῶν κακῶν καὶ ἀπροσεξίαν τοῦ κρείττονος». τοίνυν οὐκ ἄρα ἐπάγονται θάνατοι τῶν ὅρων τῆς ζωῆς πληρουμένων, ὦ λῷστέ τε καὶ φιλοσοφώτατε μοναχῶν· παρεισδῦσα γὰρ ἐκκοπὴ ὅρου που πάντως διώλεσεν. ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ Παῦλος τοιοῦτόν τι βοᾷ