4

the promise is fulfilled, and the child Isaac is born; and after a fitting time had passed, having shot up like a sapling into beauty and size, he was sweet to the eyes of his parents, shining with the beauty of his youth. Then the trial and test of his soul is brought to Abraham, whether he discerns precisely what is better in the nature of things, whether he does not look to the present life, and God says to him: Offer up your son as a sacrifice for a whole burnt offering. Surely you know, all you who are fathers and have children and have been taught by nature the affection for your offspring, how Abraham would likely have been disposed, if he had looked only to the present life, if he were a slave of nature, if he reckoned the sweetness of life in this present world. But what do I say about him, leaving aside his wife, the weaker part of human nature? If she too had not been instructed by her husband in the more divine things, if she had not known that the hidden life is better than the visible one, she would not have permitted her husband to do such things against her child; for surely, moved by her motherly compassion, she would have thrown herself upon her child and, entwining him in her arms, would have received the fatal blow before him. Would she not have said these words to Abraham? Spare the child, husband, do not become an evil story of this life, let us not become a tale for the time after 9.469 us, do not begrudge your son his life, do not deprive him of the sweet ray of light; a bridal chamber, not a tomb, is prepared for children by their fathers, a wedding crown, not a murderous sword, a nuptial torch, not a funeral pyre; these things brigands and enemies, not the hands of fathers, work upon their children; but if the evil must by all means be done, let not Sarah's eye see Isaac being put to death; behold, thrust the sword through us both, beginning with me, the wretched one; one blow will suffice for the two, let the mound be common over both, let one stone monument lament our common disaster. Sarah surely would have gone through these and such things, if she had not seen with her eyes those things which are unseen by us. For she knew that the end of life in the flesh becomes the beginning of the more divine life for those who have passed on; he leaves behind shadows, he apprehends truth, he lets go of deceptions and errors and disturbances, and he finds those good things which are beyond eye and ear and heart; neither will desire distress him nor will sordid passion corrupt him, pride will not make him vain, no other passion of those that grieve the soul will trouble him, but God becomes all things to him.

∆For this reason she readily gives the child to God. And what of the great Job? When, having been stripped of all his possessions at once, before he could recover his soul from the previous blows, the final blow was announced, how did he receive the disaster concerning his children? He had three daughters, and seven sons. He was blessed in his fine children; for being so many, they were all one in their affection for one another, not living separately each for 9.470 himself, but all going to one another, they continued through cyclical hospitality to delight one another in turn and to be delighted. And indeed, at that time too, the banquet was by turn at the house of the eldest of the brothers; the mixing bowls were full, the table was full of foods, the cups were in their hands, with spectacles, as is likely on such occasions, and things to hear and all convivial delights; toasts, courtesies, games, smiles; all that is likely in a gathering of young people to be celebrated at the hearth. What then happened to these things? At the height of their enjoyment of the sweetest things, when the roof fell in upon them, the banquet becomes the tomb of the ten children, and the mixing bowl is mingled with the blood of the young, and the foods were defiled with the gore from their bodies. When such a disaster was announced to Job (behold for me in my discourse the athlete, not that you may only marvel at the victor, for the profit from marveling is small, but that you may emulate the man in similar circumstances and that the athlete may become a trainer for you, anointing your soul by his own example for endurance and courage in the time of temptations

4

ὑπόσχεσις ἄγεται, καὶ τίκτεται παῖς ὁ Ἰσαάκ· καὶ συμμέτρου διαγεγονότος χρόνου, οἷόν τι ἔρνος ἀναδραμὼν εἰς κάλλος καὶ μέγεθος, ἡδὺς ἦν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τῶν γονέων τῷ τῆς νεότητος κάλλει λαμπόμενος. τότε προσάγεται τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς δοκιμασία καὶ βάσανος, εἰ ἀκριβῶς ἐν τῇ τῶν ὄντων φύσει διαγιγνώσκει τὸ κάλλιον, εἰ μὴ πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν βλέπει ζωήν, καί φησι πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ θεός· ἀνένεγκε τὸν υἱόν σου διὰ θυσίας εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν. οἴδατε πάντως ὅσοι πατέρες ἐστὲ καὶ παῖδας ἔχετε καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ τέκνα στοργὴν παρὰ τῆς φύσεως ἐδιδάχθητε, ὅπως εἰκὸς διατεθῆναι τὸν Ἀβραάμ, εἰ πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν μόνην ἀφεώρα ζωήν, εἰ δοῦλος τῆς φύσεως ἦν, εἰ ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ τὸ γλυκὺ τῆς ζωῆς ἐλογίζετο. τί δὲ περὶ ἐκείνου φημί, καταλιπὼν τὴν γυναῖκα, τὸ ἀσθενέστερον μέρος τῆς ἀνθρω πίνης φύσεως; εἰ μὴ πεπαίδευτο κἀκείνη ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὰ θειότερα, εἰ μὴ ἠπίστατο τὴν κεκρυμμένην ζωὴν εἶναι τῆς φαινομένης ἀμείνονα, οὐκ ἂν ἐπέτρεπε τῷ ἀνδρὶ τοιαῦτα κατὰ τοῦ παιδὸς ἐνεργῆσαι· πάντως γὰρ τοῖς μητρικοῖς συγκινη θεῖσα σπλάγχνοις περιεχύθη τῷ τέκνῳ καὶ ταῖς ὠλέναις αὐτὸν ἐμπλεξαμένη πρὸ αὐτοῦ τὴν καιρίαν ἐδέχετο. ἆρ' οὐκ εἶπεν ἂν πρὸς τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα; φεῖσαι τοῦ παιδός, ἄνερ, μὴ πονηρὸν γένῃ τοῦ βίου διήγημα, μὴ μῦθος τῷ μετὰ 9.469 ταῦτα χρόνῳ γενώμεθα, μὴ φθονήσῃς τῷ υἱῷ τῆς ζωῆς, μὴ στερήσῃς αὐτὸν τῆς γλυκείας ἀκτῖνος· θάλαμος τέκνοις οὐ τάφος παρὰ πατέρων σπουδάζεται, στέφανος γαμικὸς οὐ ξίφος φονικόν, γαμήλιος λαμπὰς οὐ πῦρ ἐπιτάφιον· ταῦτα λῃσταὶ καὶ πολέμιοι, οὐ πατέρων χεῖρες ἐπὶ τῶν τέκνων ἐργάζονται· εἰ δὲ χρὴ πάντως γενέσθαι τὸ κακόν, μὴ ἴδοι Σάρρας ὀφθαλμὸς νεκρούμενον τὸν Ἰσαάκ· ἰδοὺ δι' ἀμφοτέρων ὦσον τὸ ξίφος, ἀπ' ἐμοῦ τῆς δειλαίας ἀρξάμενος· μία τοῖς δυσὶν ἀρκέσει πληγή, κοινὸν ἐπ' ἀμφοτέρων γενέσθω τὸ χῶμα, μία στήλη τὴν κοινὴν συμφορὰν τραγῳδείτω. ταῦτα πάντως ἂν καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα διεξῄει ἡ Σάρρα, εἰ μὴ ἐκεῖνα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἔβλεπεν, ἅπερ ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἀθέατα. ᾔδει γὰρ ὅτι τὸ τέλος τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ ζωῆς ἀρχὴ τοῦ θειοτέρου βίου τοῖς μεταστᾶσι γίνεται· καταλείπει σκιάς, καταλαμβάνει ἀλήθειαν, ἀφίησιν ἀπάτας καὶ πλάνας καὶ θορύβους, καὶ εὑρίσκει ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἀγαθά, ἃ ὑπὲρ ὀφθαλμόν τε καὶ ἀκοὴν καὶ καρδίαν ἐστίν· οὔτε ἔρως αὐτὸν ἀνιάσει οὔτε ἐπιθυμία ῥυπαρὰ διαστρέψει, οὐχ ὑπερηφανία χαυνώσει, οὐκ ἄλλο τι πάθος τῶν λυπούντων τὴν ψυχὴν ἐνοχλήσει, ἀλλὰ πάντα γίνεται αὐτῷ ὁ θεός.

∆ιὰ τοῦτο προθύμως δίδωσι τῷ θεῷ τὸν παῖδα. τί δὲ ὁ μέγας Ἰώβ; ὅτε αὐτῷ γυμνωθέντι πάντων τῶν περιόντων ἀθρόως, πρὶν ἐπὶ ταῖς προλαβούσαις πληγαῖς τὴν ψυχὴν ἀναλέξασθαι, ἡ τελευταία κατεμηνύθη πληγή, πῶς ἐδέξατο τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς παισὶ συμφοράν; τρεῖς αὐτῷ θυγατέρες ἦσαν, καὶ παῖδες ἑπτά. μακαριστὸς ἦν τῆς εὐπαιδίας· τοσοῦτοι γὰρ ὄντες εἷς ἦσαν οἱ πάντες τῇ μετ' ἀλλήλων στοργῇ οὐ διῃρημένως καθ' 9.470 ἑαυτὸν ἕκαστος βιοτεύοντες, ἀλλὰ πάντες παρ' ἀλλήλους φοιτῶντες διὰ τῆς ἐγκυκλίου φιλοφροσύνης διετέλουν εὐφραίνοντες ἀλλήλους ἐν τῷ μέρει καὶ εὐφραινόμενοι. καὶ δῆτα καὶ τότε κατὰ περίοδον παρὰ τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἦν τὸ συμπόσιον· πλήρεις οἱ κρατῆρες, πλήρης τῶν ἐδωδίμων ἡ τράπεζα, ἐν χερσὶν αἱ κύλικες, θεάματα ὡς εἰκὸς ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ ἀκροάματα καὶ πᾶσαι θυμηδίαι συμποτι καί· προπόσεις, φιλοφροσύναι, παίγνια, μειδιάματα· πάντα ὅσα εἰκὸς ἐν συνόδῳ νέων ἐφ' ἑστίας ἁβρύνεσθαι. τί οὖν ἐπὶ τούτοις; ἐν ἀκμῇ τῆς ἀπολαύσεως τῶν ἡδίστων ἐπισεισθέντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ ὀρόφου τάφος τῶν δέκα παίδων τὸ συμπόσιον γίνεται, καὶ τοῖς αἵμασι τῶν νέων ὁ κρατὴρ καταμίγνυται, καὶ τὰ ἐδώδιμα τῷ ἐκ τῶν σωμάτων λύθρῳ κατεμολύνετο. τοιαύτης συμφορᾶς τῷ Ἰὼβ ἀγγελθείσης (θέασαί μοι τῷ λόγῳ τὸν ἀθλητήν, οὐχ ἵνα θαυμάσῃς μόνον τὸν νικητήν, μικρὸν γὰρ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ θαύματος κέρδος, ἀλλ' ἵνα ζηλώσῃς ἐν τοῖς ὁμοίοις τὸν ἄνδρα καί σοι γένηται παιδοτρίβης ὁ ἀθλητής, τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὑποδείγματι πρὸς ὑπομονὴν καὶ ἀνδρείαν τὴν ψυχὴν ἀλείφων ἐν καιρῷ τῆς τῶν πειρασμῶν