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she devises a counter-plan against the author of wickedness? Despairing of all other things, she takes refuge in God, and makes her own bridegroom her champion against the hateful passion, who also rescued Susanna, and saved Thecla; the one from bitter elders, the other from a tyrannical suitor, and a 35.1181 more tyrannical mother. Who is this? Christ, who also rebukes spirits, and lightens those being baptized, and walks upon the sea, and gives a legion of spirits to the abyss; and rescues from a pit a righteous man who was set before lions as prey, and who conquered the beasts with the stretching out of his hands; and he rescues a fugitive prophet who was swallowed by a sea monster, and who preserved his faith in its belly; and he saves the Assyrian youths in the flame, cooling the fire with an angel, and joining the fourth to the three.

11. Proclaiming these things and more than these, and beseeching the Virgin Mary to help a virgin in danger, she puts forward the remedy of fasting and sleeping on the ground; at once withering her beauty as treacherous, that she might draw away the fuel from the flame, and consume the kindling of passions; and at the same time propitiating God through faith and through humility; for by nothing of all things is God so served as by affliction, and in return for tears his loving-kindness is given. You desire what follows, I know, of the story. For you are anxious for the virgin, and no less for the lover, lest the passion ended badly for both. But take courage. For the passion becomes a promoter of faith; and the lover, in wooing a virgin for himself, is wooed by Christ; and the flame of passion is extinguished, but that of truth is kindled. How and in what way? Here for me is the sweetest part of the story. The virgin conquers, the demon is conquered. The tempter approaches the lover, reports the defeat; he is scorned. He is vexed at the contempt; he takes vengeance on the scorner. And what is the vengeance? He takes up residence in him; the former servant, that evil may be driven out by evil, and madness become the cure for madness. He is repulsed from the virgin, just as some engine from a strong and noble wall, put to flight by word and prayer; but he wrestles with the one who sent him (O the wonder!), turning back again against the one who had cast him, and choking him, like a second Saul.

12. What then of the foolish lover and sane epileptic? He seeks the release from the evil, he finds it; for 35.1184 everything under pressure is resourceful. What is the release? He 35.1184 takes refuge in the God of the virgin, as Saul did in David's lyre and its strains; he approaches her Shepherd; he is cleansed, as from the passion through the affliction, so from the evil spirit through faith in Christ; he transfers his passion; for a long time disbelieved and sent away; for the matter seemed to be one of the incredible and wonderful things, that Cyprian should ever be numbered among Christians, even if all men were; yet he is converted, and the proof of the change is clear; He brings forth his books of sorcery in public; he triumphs over the weakness of the evil treasure; he proclaims his folly, raises a bright flame from them, consumes with fire the long deceit, which could not assist with one flame of the flesh; he departs from the demons, he becomes God’s own. O the grace! By how wicked a passion and spirit he finds God, he becomes a sacred sheep of the sacred flock, and as I have heard from someone, even a temple-keeper, having begged much, that he might practice humility as a purification for his former arrogance. Then a shepherd, and of shepherds the most excellent and most approved. For he presides not only over the Church of the Carthaginians, nor of Africa, which from him and through him is renowned to this day, but also over the whole of the West, and almost of the East itself, of the southern and northern regions, as far as that man came by his fame. Thus Cyprian becomes ours.

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ἀντιτεχνᾶται τῷ δημιουργῷ τῆς κακίας; Πάντων ἀπογνοῦσα τῶν ἄλλων, ἐπὶ τὸν Θεὸν καταφεύγει, καὶ προστάτην ποιεῖται κατὰ τοῦ μισητοῦ πόθου τὸν ἑαυτῆς νυμφίον, ὃς καὶ Σωσάνναν ἐῤῥύσατο, καὶ Θέκλαν διέσωσεν· τὴν μὲν ἀπὸ πικρῶν πρεσβυτέ ρων, τὴν δὲ ἀπὸ τυράννου μνηστῆρος, καὶ τυ 35.1181 ραννικωτέρας μητρός. Τίνα τοῦτον; Χριστὸν, ὃς καὶ πνεύμασιν ἐπιτιμᾷ, καὶ κουφίζει βαπτιζομέ νους, καὶ πεζεύει πέλαγος, καὶ λεγεῶνα πνευμάτων τῷ βυθῷ δίδωσι· καὶ ῥύεται μὲν ἐκ λάκκου δίκαιον λέουσι προτεθέντα βορὰν, καὶ χειρῶν ἐκτάσει τοὺς θῆρας νικήσαντα· ῥύεται δὲ ὑπὸ κήτους κατα ποθέντα φυγάδα προφήτην, κἀντοῖς σπλάγχνοις τὴν πίστιν διασωσάμενον· σώζει δὲ Ἀσσυρίους ἐν φλογὶ παῖδας, ἀγγέλῳ τὴν πυρὰν καταψύξας, καὶ τοῖς τρισὶ παραζεύξας τὸν τέταρτον.

ΙΑʹ. Ταῦτα καὶ πλείω τούτων ἐπιφημίζουσα, καὶ τὴν Παρθένον Μαρίαν ἱκετεύουσα βοηθῆσαι παρθένῳ κινδυνευούσῃ, τὸ τῆς νηστείας καὶ χαμευ νίας προβάλλεται φάρμακον· ὁμοῦ μὲν τὸ κάλλος μαραίνουσα ὡς ἐπίβουλον, ἵν' ὑποσπάσῃ τῆς φλογὸς τὴν ὕλην, καὶ δαπανήσῃ τὸ τῶν παθῶν ὑπέκκαυμα· ὁμοῦ δὲ τὸν Θεὸν ἱλεουμένη διὰ τῆς πίστεως καὶ διὰ τῆς ταπεινώσεως· οὐδενὶ γὰρ οὕτω τῶν πάντων, ὡς κακοπαθείᾳ, θεραπεύεται Θεὸς, καὶ δάκρυσι τὸ φιλάνθρωπον ἀντιδίδοται. Ποθεῖτε τὰ ἑξῆς, οἶδ' ὅτι, τοῦ διηγήματος. Ἀγωνιᾶτε γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῆς παρ θένου, καὶ τοῦ ἐραστοῦ δὲ οὐχ ἧττον, μὴ εἰς κακὸν ἀμφοτέροις ὁ πόθος ἔληξεν. Ἀλλὰ θαρσεῖτε. Πίστεως γὰρ ὁ πόθος πρόξενος γίνεται· καὶ παρθένον ἑαυτῷ μνηστεύων ὁ ἐραστὴς, ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ μνηστεύεται· καὶ ἡ μὲν τῶν πόθων φλὸξ ἀποσβέννυται, ἡ δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀνάπτεται. Πῶς καὶ τίνα τρόπον; Ἐν ταῦθά μοι τὸ τοῦ διηγήματος ἥδιστον. Νικᾷ ἡ παρθένος, νικᾶται ὁ δαίμων. Ὁ πειραστὴς πρόσεισι τῷ ἐραστῇ, καταμηνύει τὴν ἧτταν· περιφρονεῖται. ∆υσχεραίνει τῆς ὑπεροψίας· ἀμύνεται τὸν ὑπερ όπτην. Ἡ ἄμυνα δὲ τίς; Εἰς αὐτὸν εἰσοικίζεται· τὸν τέως θεραπευτὴν, ἵνα κακῷ τὸ κακὸν ἐκκρουσθῇ, καὶ λύσσα λύσσης ἴαμα γένηται. Τῆς παρθένου μὲν ἀποκρούεται, καθάπερ τι μηχάνημα τείχους ὀχυροῦ καὶ γενναίου, λόγου φυγὰς καὶ δεήσεως· τῷ πέμψαντι δὲ προσπαλαίει, (ὢ τοῦ θαύματος!) πρὸς τὸν βαλόντα πάλιν ἀναστραφεὶς, καὶ συμπνίγων, ὥσπερ τινὰ Σαοὺλ δεύτερον.

ΙΒʹ. Τί οὖν ὁ ἄφρων ἐραστὴς καὶ σώφρων ἐπί ληπτος; Ζητεῖ τοῦ κακοῦ τὴν λύσιν, εὑρίσκει· εὐμή 35.1184 χανον γὰρ ἅπαν τὸ πιεζόμενον. Τίς ἡ λύσις; Ἐπὶ 35.1184 τὸν τῆς παρθένου καταφεύγει Θεὸν, ὥσπερ Σαοὺλ ἐπὶ τὴν κινύραν τοῦ ∆αβὶδ καὶ τὰ κρούσματα· πρόσεισι τῷ ταύτης Ποιμένι· καθαίρεται, ὥσπερ τοῦ πόθου διὰ τῆς πληγῆς, οὕτω τοῦ πονηροῦ πνεύ ματος διὰ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως· μετατίθεται τὸν πόθον· ἐπὶ πολὺ μὲν ἀπιστούμενος καὶ ἀποπεμπόμε νος· καὶ γὰρ ἐδόκει τὸ πρᾶγμα τῶν ἀπίστων εἶναι καὶ θαυμασίων, Κυπριανὸν ἐν Χριστιανοῖς ἀριθμη θῆναί ποτε, εἰ καὶ πάντες ἄνθρωποι· μετατίθεται δ' οὖν, καὶ ἀπόδειξις τῆς μεταβολῆς ἐναργής· Προτίθησι δημοσίᾳ τὰς γοητικὰς βίβλους· θριαμβεύει τοῦ πονηροῦ θησαυροῦ τὴν ἀσθένειαν· κηρύσσει τὴν ἄνοιαν, λαμπρὰν ἐξ αὐτῶν αἴρει τὴν φλόγα, πυρὶ δαπανᾷ τὴν μακρὰν ἀπάτην, ἣ μιᾷ φλογὶ σαρκὸς οὐκ ἐπήμυνεν· ἀφίσταται τῶν δαιμόνων, οἰκειοῦται Θεῷ. Ὢ τῆς χάριτος! Ὅση Θεὸν εὑρίσκει πονηρῷπόθῳ καὶ πνεύματι, πρόβατον ἱερὸν τῆς ἱερᾶς γίνε ται ποίμνης, ὡς δὲ ἐγώ τινος ἤκουσα, καὶ νεωκό ρος, πολλὰ δεηθεὶς, ἵνα φιλοσοφήσῃ τὸ ταπεινὸν εἰς κάθαρσιν τῆς προτέρας ἀλαζονείας. Εἶτα ποιμὴν, καὶ ποιμένων ὁ κράτιστός τε καὶ δοκιμώτατος. Οὐ γὰρ τῆς Καρχηδονίων προκαθέζεται μόνον Ἐκκλησίας, οὐδὲ τῆς ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ δι' ἐκεῖνον περιβοήτου μέχρι νῦν Ἀφρικῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσης τῆς ἑσπερίου, σχεδὸν δὲ καὶ τῆς ἑῴας αὐτῆς, νοτίου τε καὶ βο ρείου λήξεως, ἐφ' ὅσα ἐκεῖνος ἦλθε τῷ θαύματι. Οὕτω Κυπριανὸς ἡμέτερος γίνεται.