Gregory of Nazianzus, Epigrams

for the sake of ill-minded gold to hold your rapacious hand upon the tomb. 8.208 This man, with vain hope, sacked my beloved tomb, the only possession I came away from there with; and may some sinner destroy this man with his own hands, and having destroyed him, may he cast him far from his fathers' tomb. 8.209 Who sacked my beloved tomb, that rose on this mountain peak, of what great size? Gold sharpened the sword against men; gold destroyed the insatiable sailor in winter waves; and for me, the hope of it destroyed my great, most beautiful tomb; to the unjust, all things are second to gold. 8.210 Often a traveler has buried the body of a shipwrecked man, tossed by the waves, often that of a man slain by beasts, and even one whom another destroyed in war; but me, though buried by the hands of strangers, a neighbor sacked my tomb. 8.211 O treacherous gold, what a great evil you have become for mortals. You lay a hand of injustice on the living and the dead; for by those to whom I gave my tomb and bones to guard, by their defiled hands I was destroyed. 8.212 All is dead for the dead. Why do we jest? No respect any longer from the living for the dead. Look at this tomb, which the hope of gold destroyed, though it was so great a marvel to passers-by, a marvel to the neighbors. 8.213 I beseech you: if I die, cast my body into a river or to dogs, or burn it in all-consuming fire; better than to be destroyed by gold-loving hands. I fear, seeing this tomb has suffered such things. 8.214 Once, when King Cyrus opened a royal tomb for gold, he found only this inscription: "To open tombs belongs to an insatiable hand." So you too, man, have opened this great tomb with unholy hands. 8.215 He who is wicked to the living might perhaps help the dead; but he who is wicked even to the dead, would never help the living. And you, since you plundered the tomb of the dead, would never lend a holy hand to the living. 8.216 "I bear witness, I have nothing; a poor corpse I lie here; do not dishonor me with your tomb-slaying hands." - For this tomb had no gold either, but it was torn apart. To the gold-lovers all things are accessible; flee, O Justice! 8.217 The tombs all said to the dead, "Help us," when the madman shook this tomb. The corpses to the tombs: "What shall we do? Again Justice has been lifted up, leaving the earth, as if for a cattle-slaughter." 8.218 One went to Hades, another flew, another slew beasts, and another made a woven house for his son; this man performed a deed second to none of these, breaking open this tomb with unholy hands. 8.219 If you raised so great a work for one who is dead, it is no great wonder; but if you sacked so great a one, you will be sung of by those to come, and someone will count you among the great evildoers for breaking open a tomb, which even murderers fear. 8.220 Gold flooded the Rhodians; but for you, iron brings gold from tombs, an iron that brings evil; dig, dig them all; indeed, a tomb might soon destroy you by falling, and so help the dead. 8.221 I was a tomb; but now I am a heap of stones, no longer a tomb; this pleased the gold-lovers. What sort of justice? 8.222 Alas, even having become ashes I did not escape the hands of sinners. What is worse than gold? 8.223 I am ashamed for the race of men, if someone dared, O tomb, to cast you to the ground with unholy hands. 8.224 I am a tomb, a kind of watchtower on a mountain; but hands have made me level with the ground. What law ordered this? 8.225 This was my house, now that I am dead; but iron came against my tomb; may another have your house. 8.226 Take the spade to the field, and upon my monument cast tears, not your hands; this is the justice due to the dead. 8.227 Take the spade to the field; but from my tomb withdraw, withdraw; I have nothing but wrathful corpses. 8.228 If I had expected you, insatiable one, to be such a destroyer of tombs, a stake and a wheel would have been hung here. 8.229 Why do you disturb me, an empty tomb? I hide only bones and ash for those who come after. 8.230 I am a tomb, the highest of all tombs; but a man-slaying hand opened me as if I were one of the many. A man-slaying hand destroyed me; cease from tombs, mortals, and from funeral gifts; come to the corpses, you dogs. Come to the corpses, you dogs; men who seek for gold are now collecting gold even from the dust of the dead. 8.231 Another raised the tomb, but you destroyed it; may another raise your tomb, if that is right, and may another cast it to the ground. 8.232 Already even upon the dead they have assailed

κακόφρονος εἵνεκα χρυσοῦ σήμασι σὴν ἐπέχειν ἁρπαλέην παλάμην. 8.208 Οὗτος ἔπερσεν ἐμὸν φίλιον τάφον ἐλπίδι κούφῃ, ὃν μοῦνον κτεάνων ἔνθεν ἀπῆλθον ἔχων· καὶ τοῦτόν τις ἀλιτρὸς ἑαῖς παλάμαις ὀλέσειεν, ἐκ δ' ὀλέσας τύμβου τῆλε βάλοι πατέρων. 8.209 Τίς τὸν ἐμὸν διέπερσε φίλον τάφον οὔρεος ἄκρης τῆσδ' ἀναειρόμενον ἡλίκον ὁσσατίης; χρυσὸς ἔθηξε μάχαιραν ἐπ' ἀνδράσι· χρυσὸς ἄπληστον κύμασι χειμερίοις ὤλεσε ναυσιβάτην· κἀμοὶ χρυσὸς ἔπερσε μέγαν περικαλλέα τύμβον ἐλπισθείς· χρυσοῦ δεύτερα πάντ' ἀδίκοις. 8.210 Πολλάκι ναυηγοῖο δέμας κατέχωσεν ὁδίτης κύμασι πλαζόμενον, πολλάκι θηρολέτου, ἤδη καί, πολέμῳ τις ὃν ὤλεσεν· ἀλλ' ἐμὲ γείτων χωσθέντ' ἀλλοτρίαις χερσὶν ἔπερσε τάφον. 8.211 Ὢ χρυσοῦ δολίοιο, πόσον κακὸν ἔπλεο θνητοῖς. ζῶσιν καὶ φθιμένοις χεῖρα φέρεις ἀδικῶν· οἷς γὰρ ἐμὸν τύμβον τε καὶ ὀστέα δῶκα φυλάσσειν, τῶνδ' ὑπὸ ταῖς μιαραῖς ἐξολόμην παλάμαις. 8.212 Πάντ' ἔθανεν νεκύεσσι. τί παίζομεν; οὔτις ἔτ' αἰδὼς ἐκ ζώντων φθιμένοις. δέρκεο τόνδε τάφον, ὅν γ' ἐλπὶς χρυσοῖο διώλεσε τόσσον ἐόντα θαῦμα παρερχομένοις, θαῦμα περικτίοσιν. 8.213 Λίσσομαι· ἤν γε θάνω, ποταμῷ δέμας ἠὲ κύνεσσιν ῥίψατε ἠὲ πυρὶ δάψατε παντοφάγῳ· λώιον ἢ παλάμῃσι φιλοχρύσοισιν ὀλέσθαι. δείδια τόνδε τάφον τοῖα παθόνθ' ὁρόων. 8.214 ∆ή ποτε Κῦρος ἄναξ βασιλήιον ὡς ἀνέῳξεν τύμβον ἐπὶ χρυσῷ, γράμμα τόδ' εὗρε μόνον· «Οἴγειν ἀπλήστοιο τάφους χερός.» ὣς δὲ σὺ τόσσον σῆμα τόδ' οὐχ ὁσίαις οἶξας, ἄνερ, παλάμαις. 8.215 Ὃς κακὸς οὐ φθιμένοισι, τάχ' ἂν φθιμένοισιν ἀρήγοι· ὃς δ' οὐδὲ φθιμένοις, οὔποτ' ἂν οὐ φθιμένοις. ὣς δὲ σύ, τοῖς φθιμένοισιν ἐπεὶ τάφον ἐξαλάπαξας, οὔποτ' ἂν οὐ φθιμένοις χεῖρα φέροις ὁσίην. 8.216 «Μαρτύρομ', οὐδὲν ἔχω· πτωχὸς νέκυς ἐνθάδε κεῖμαι· μή με τεαῖς ἀτίσῃς τυμβοφόνοις παλάμαις.» - Οὐδὲ γὰρ οὗτος ἔχεν χρυσὸν τάφος, ἀλλ' ἐδαΐχθη. πάντα φιλοχρύσοις ἔμβατα· φεῦγε, ∆ίκη. 8.217 Οἱ τύμβοι φθιμένοισιν «Ἀρήξατε» εἶπον ἅπαντες, ἡνίχ' ὁ λυσσήεις τόνδ' ἐτίνασσε τάφον. οἱ νέκυες τύμβοισι· «Τί ῥέξομεν; αὖθις ἀέρθη ὡς ἐπὶ βουκτασίῃ γαῖαν ἀφεῖσα ∆ίκη.» 8.218 Ἤλυθεν εἰς Ἀίδην τις, ὁ δ' ἔπτατο, ἄλλος ὄλεσσε θῆρας, ὁ δὲ πλεκτὸν υἱέϊ τεῦξε δόμον· τούτων οὗτος ἀνὴρ οὐ δεύτερον ἔργον ἔρεξεν, τόνδε τάφον ῥήξας χείρεσιν οὐχ ὁσίαις. 8.219 Εἰ τόσον ἔργον ἔγειρας ὀλωλότι, οὐ μέγα θαῦμα· εἰ δὲ τόσον διέπερσας, ἀοίδιμος ἐσσομένοισιν, καί σέ τις ἐν μεγάλοισιν ἀριθμήσει κακοεργοῖς τύμβον ἀναρρήξανθ', ὃν καὶ τρομέουσι φονῆες. 8.220 Χρυσὸς μὲν Ῥοδίοισιν ἐπέκλυσε· σοὶ δ' ἀπὸ τύμβων χρυσὸν φέρει σίδηρος, ὃς κακὸν φέρει· ὄρυσσ', ὄρυσσε πάντας· ἦ τάχ' ἄν σέ τις τύμβος κ' ἐξολέσειε πεσών, νεκύεσσι δ' ἀρήγοι. 8.221 Τύμβος ἔην· νῦν δ' εἰμὶ λίθων χύσις, οὐκέτι τύμβος· ταῦτα φιλοχρύσοις εὔαδε. ποῖα δίκη; 8.222 Αἰαῖ, καὶ τέφρη γενόμην καὶ χεῖρας ἀλιτρῶν οὐκ ἔφυγον. χρυσοῦ τίπτε χερειότερον; 8.223 Ἅζομαι ἀνδρομέης γενεῆς ὕπερ, εἴ σέ τις ἔτλη, τύμβε, χαμαὶ βαλέειν οὐχ ὁσίαις παλάμαις. 8.224 Τύμβος ἐγώ, σκοπιή τις ἀπ' οὔρεος· ἀλλά με χεῖρες θῆκαν ἴσον δαπέδῳ. τίς τάδ' ἄνωξε νόμος; 8.225 Οὗτος ἐμὸς δόμος ἦεν ὀλωλότος· ἀλλὰ σίδηρος ἦλθ' ἐπ' ἐμῷ τύμβῳ· σὸν δόμον ἄλλος ἔχοι. 8.226 Τὴν σκαπάνην ἐπ' ἄρουραν, ἐμῷ δ' ἐπὶ σήματι βάλλειν δάκρυα, μὴ παλάμας· ἥδε δίκη φθιμένων. 8.227 Τὴν σκαπάνην ἐπ' ἄρουραν· ἐμοῦ δ' ἀποχάζεο τύμβου, χάζεο· οὐδὲν ἔχω πλὴν ζακότων νεκύων. 8.228 Εἴ σ', ἄπληστε, τάφων δηλήμονα τοῖον ἐώλπειν, πάσσαλος ἂν τῇδε καὶ τροχὸς ἐκρέματο. 8.229 Τίπτε μ' ἀνοχλίζεις κενεὸν τάφον; ὀστέα μοῦνα κεύθω καὶ σποδιὴν τοῖσιν ἐπερχομένοις. 8.230 Τύμβος ἐγώ, τύμβων πανυπέρτατος· ἀλλ' ἔμ' ἔῳξεν ὥς τινα τῶν πολλῶν ἀνδροφόνος παλάμη. Ἀνδροφόνος παλάμη με διώλεσε· λήξατε τύμβων, θνητοί, καὶ κτερέων· δεῦτ' ἐπὶ νεκρά, κύνες. ∆εῦτ' ἐπὶ νεκρά, κύνες· χρυσοῦ διφήτορες ἄνδρες ἤδη καὶ νεκύων χρυσολογοῦσι κόνιν. 8.231 Ἄλλος τύμβον ἔγειρε, σὺ δ' ὤλεσας· ἄλλος ἐγείροι σὸν τάφον, εἴ γε θέμις, ἄλλος ἔραζε βάλοι. 8.232 Ἤδη καὶ νεκύεσσιν ἐπέχραον οἱ