Chapter VII.

An illustration will make our teaching on this subject clearer. Imagine a stream flowing from a spring and dividing itself off into a number of accidental channels. As long as it proceeds so, it will be useless for any purpose of agriculture, the dissipation of its waters making each particular current small and feeble, and therefore slow. But if one were to mass these wandering and widely dispersed rivulets again into one single channel, he would have a full and collected stream for the supplies which life demands. Just so the human mind (so it seems to me), as long as its current spreads itself in all directions over the pleasures of the sense, has no power that is worth the naming of making its way towards the Real Good; but once call it back and collect it upon itself, so that it may begin to move without scattering and wandering towards the activity which is congenital and natural to it, it will find no obstacle in mounting to higher things, and in grasping realities. We often see water contained in a pipe bursting upwards through this constraining force, which will not let it leak; and this, in spite of its natural gravitation: in the same way, the mind of man, enclosed in the compact channel of an habitual continence, and not having any side issues, will be raised by virtue of its natural powers of motion to an exalted love. In fact, its Maker ordained that it should always move, and to stop is impossible to it; when therefore it is prevented employing this power upon trifles, it cannot be but that it will speed toward the truth, all improper exits being closed. In the case of many turnings we see travellers can keep to the direct route, when they have learnt that the other roads are wrong, and so avoid them; the more they keep out of these wrong directions, the more they will preserve the straight course; in like manner the mind in turning from vanities will recognize the truth. The great prophets, then, whom we have mentioned seem to teach this lesson, viz. to entangle ourselves with none of the objects of this world’s effort; marriage is one of these, or rather it is the primal root of all striving after vanities.

[7] Κεφάλαιον ζʹὍτι οὐδὲ ὁ γάμος τῶν κατεγνωσμένων ἐστίν. Μηδεὶς δὲ διὰ τούτων ἡμᾶς ἀθετεῖν οἰέσθω τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ γάμου: οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοοῦμεν ὅτι καὶ οὗτος τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ εὐλογίας οὐκ ἠλλοτρίωται, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τούτου μὲν αὐτάρκης συνήγορος καὶ ἡ κοινὴ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσις ἐστίν, αὐτόματον τὴν πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα ῥοπὴν ἐντιθεῖσα πᾶσι τοῖς διὰ γάμου προϊοῦσιν εἰς γένεσιν, ἀντιβαίνει δέ πως ἡ παρθενία τῇ φύσει, περιττὸν ἂν εἴη προτροπὴν ὑπὲρ γάμου καὶ παραίνεσιν φιλοπόνως συγγράφειν τὴν δυσανταγώνιστον αὐτοῦ προβαλλομένους συνήγορον, τὴν ἡδονὴν λέγω, πλὴν εἰ μὴ τάχα διὰ τοὺς τὰ δόγματα τῆς ἐκκλησίας παραχαράσσοντας τῶν τοιούτων χρεία λόγων ἂν εἴη, οὓς «κεκαυτηριασμένους τὴν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν» ὁ ἀπόστολος ὀνομάζει, ὅτι καταλιπόντες τὴν ὁδηγίαν τοῦ πνεύματος διὰ τῆς τῶν «δαιμόνων διδασκαλίας» οὐλάς τινας καὶ ἐγκαύματα ταῖς καρδίαις ἑαυτῶν ἐγχαράσσουσι, τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ κτίσματα βδελυσσόμενοι ὡς μιάσματα καὶ εἰς κακὸν φέροντα καὶ κακῶν αἴτια καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα προσαγορεύοντες. Ἀλλὰ «Τί μοι τοὺς ἔξω κρίνειν;» φησὶν ὁ εἰπών. Ἔξω γάρ εἰσιν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐκεῖνοι τῆς τοῦ λόγου τῶν μυστηρίων αὐλῆς, οὐκ «ἐν τῇ σκέπῃ τοῦ θεοῦ», ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ μάνδρᾳ τοῦ πονηροῦ «αὐλιζόμενοι», οἱ «ἐζωγρημένοι εἰς τὸ ἐκείνου θέλημα» κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀποστόλου φωνήν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὴ συνιέντες, ὅτι πάσης ἀρετῆς ἐν μεσότητι θεωρουμένης ἡ ἐπὶ τὰ παρακείμενα παρατροπὴ κακία ἐστίν: ὑφέσεως γὰρ καὶ ἐπιτάσεως πανταχοῦ τις τὸ μέσον ἀπολαβὼν τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐκ τῆς κακίας διέκρινε.
Σαφέστερος δ' ἂν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος γένοιτο ἐπ' αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων δεικνύμενος. Δειλία καὶ θράσος δύο κακίαι κατὰ τὸ ἐναντίον νοούμεναι, ἡ μὲν κατὰ ἔλλειψιν, ἡ δὲ κατὰ πλεονασμὸν πεποιθήσεως, μέσην περιέχουσιν ἑαυτῶν τὴν ἀνδρείαν. Πάλιν ὁ εὐσεβὴς οὔτε ἄθεος οὔτε δεισιδαίμων ἐστίν: ἴσον γὰρ ἐπ' ἀμφοῖν τὸ ἀσέβημα καὶ τὸ μηδένα θεὸν καὶ τὸ πολλοὺς εἶναι οἴεσθαι. Βούλει καὶ δι' ἑτέρων ἐπιγνῶναι τὸ δόγμα; Ὁ φυγὼν τὸ φειδωλὸς εἶναι καὶ ἄσωτος ἐν τῇ τῶν ἐναντίων παθῶν ἀναχωρήσει τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῷ ἤθει κατώρθωσε: τοιοῦτον γάρ τι ἡ ἐλευθερία ἐστί, τὸ μήτε πρὸς τὰς ἀμέτρους καὶ ἀνωφελεῖς δαπάνας εἰκῆ διακεῖσθαι μήτε πρὸς τὰ ἀναγκαῖα μικρολόγως ἔχειν. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λοιπῶν πάντων, ἵνα μὴ τοῖς καθ' ἕκαστον ἐπεξίωμεν, τὴν μεσότητα τῶν ἐναντίων ἀρετὴν ὁ λόγος ἐγνώρισεν. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ἡ σωφροσύνη μεσότης ἐστί, καὶ φανερὰς ἔχει τὰς ἐφ' ἑκάτερα πρὸς κακίαν παρατροπάς: ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐλλείπων κατὰ τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς τόνον καὶ εὐκαταγώνιστος τῷ τῆς ἡδονῆς πάθει γενόμενος καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μηδὲ προσεγγίσας τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ καθαροῦ βίου καὶ σώφρονος «εἰς τὰ πάθη τῆς ἀτιμίας» κατώλισθεν: ὁ δὲ παρελθὼν τῆς σωφροσύνης τὸ βάσιμον καὶ ὑπερπεσὼν τοῦ μέσου τῆς ἀρετῆς, οἷον κρημνῷ τινι «τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ τῶν δαιμόνων» ἐγκατηνέχθη «καυτηριάζων», καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, «τὴν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν». Ἐν ᾧ γὰρ βδελυκτὸν εἶναι τὸν γάμον ὁρίζεται, ἑαυτὸν στίζει τοῖς τοῦ γάμου ὀνειδισμοῖς: εἰ γὰρ τὸ δένδρον κακόν, καθώς φησί που τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, καὶ ὁ καρπὸς πάντως τοῦ δένδρου ἄξιος. Εἰ δὴ τοῦ φυτοῦ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν γάμον βλάστημα καὶ καρπός ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τὰ τοῦ γάμου ὀνείδη πάντως τοῦ προφέροντος γίνεται.
Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν στιγματίαι τὴν συνείδησιν καὶ καταμεμωλωπισμένοι τῇ ἀτοπίᾳ τοῦ δόγματος διὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἐλέγχονται. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ταῦτα καὶ περὶ τοῦ γάμου γινώσκομεν, ὡς δεῖν προηγουμένην εἶναι τὴν περὶ τὰ θεῖα σπουδήν τε καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν, τῆς δὲ τοῦ γάμου λειτουργίας μὴ ὑπερορᾶν τὸν σωφρόνως τε καὶ μεμετρημένως κεχρῆσθαι δυνάμενον. Οἷος ἦν ὁ πατριάρχης Ἰσαάκ, ὃς οὐκ ἐν ἀκμῇ τῆς ἡλικίας, ἵνα μὴ πάθους ἔργον ὁ γάμος γένηται, ἀλλ' ἤδη τῆς νεότητος ὑπαναλωθείσης αὐτῷ δέχεται τὴν τῆς Ῥεβέκκας συνοίκησιν διὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ σπέρματι τοῦ θεοῦ εὐλογίαν, καὶ μέχρι μιᾶς ὠδῖνος ὑπηρετήσας τῷ γάμῳ, πάλιν τῶν ἀοράτων ὅλος ἦν μύσας τὰ σωματικὰ αἰσθητήρια: τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ ἱστορία δοκεῖ μοι σημαίνειν τὴν βαρύτητα τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τοῦ πατριάρχου διηγουμένη.