12

being said and being done, believing that it was done and said by divine power, not even for worldly disputes did they think there was any other more authoritative court for them, but every judgment and every inextricable entanglement of affairs was resolved by his counsels. Whence came good order and peace for all in common and for each individually through his grace, and a great increase of good things, both privately and publicly, with no wickedness interrupting their concord with one another. It would perhaps not be untimely to make mention of one of his judgments, so that, according to the proverb, the whole fabric might be made clear to us from its fringe. For indeed the divine Scripture, though Solomon made many judgments for his subjects, was content through one to display the whole understanding of the man. When judging between the two mothers, since the crime was unprovable, as each of them equally was not admitting to the dead child, but was clinging to the living one, he decided to trace out the hidden truth by a clever device. For since the crime was without witness, and the suspicion of falsehood and of truth was evenly balanced for each, he presented nature to himself as a witness of the truth, concealing the purpose of his thought by a clever threat. For by ordering, forsooth, that the body of the living and of the dead be cut in two by a sword and that the half-portions of the children be distributed to both, he delivered the judgment of the matter to the nature of truth. For while one gladly accepted what was ordered, and urged on the executioner, the other, moved by a mother's bowels of compassion, confessed herself defeated, begging that the child be spared (for she was grateful if the infant might be saved in any way). The king, making this a criterion of the truth, grants the winning vote to the one according to her will, reasoning that she who was unsparing of the child's slaughter is accused by nature, as not being the mother of him whose death she hastened.

What judgment, then, of the great Gregory shall we too narrate? A certain two brothers, young in age, having just divided their paternal inheritance between themselves, laid claim to one lake, each striving to have the whole of it, and the one would not admit the other into partnership of the possession. So the teacher becomes master of the case. And having arrived at the place, he used his own laws for the arbitration, leading them to reconciliation, and exhorting the young men to come to terms through friendship, and to make the profit of peace more valuable than that of revenue. For the one remains forever, both for the living and the dead; but of the other the enjoyment is temporary, but it has eternal condemnation for injustice, and whatever else it was likely for him to say, to subdue the disorder of youth. But since the exhortation was in vain, and their youth was inflamed, and it was kindled to anger, swelling up with the greater hope of gain, and an army on both sides was prepared from their subordinates, a multitude of hands murderous with rage and led by youth, and the time for the conflict was set; and when the battle was about to break out from both sides on the next day, the man of God, remaining on the banks of the lake, and persevering through the night in a vigil, showed a certain Mosaic wonderworking upon the water; not by the blow of a rod splitting the depth into two parts, but by prayer making it all dry land at once, at dawn he showed the lake to be mainland, dry and without moisture, so that not even in its hollows was there any remnant of the water, which before the prayer had been a sea. And he, having judged these things by divine power, withdrew to his own place again; but for the young men the decision from the deeds dissolved their contentiousness. For since that over which they had prepared war against each other did not exist, peace succeeded their anger, and nature again recognized herself in the brothers. And now it is possible to see the clear signs of that divine decision. For around the former lake, traces

12

λεγό μενόν τε καὶ γινόμενον, θείᾳ δυνάμει πράττεσθαί τε καὶ λέγεσθαι πεπιστευκότων, οὐδὲ τῶν βιωτικῶν ἀμφισβητημάτων, ἄλλο τι δικαστήριον ᾤοντο εἶναι αὐτοῖς κυριώτερον, ἀλλὰ πᾶσα κρίσις καὶ πᾶσα δυσδιεξόδευτος πραγμάτων πλοκὴ ταῖς ἐκείνου συμ βουλίαις διελύετο. Ὅθεν εὐνομία τε καὶ εἰρήνη κοινῇ τε καὶ πᾶσι καὶ τοῖς καθ' ἕκαστον διὰ τῆς ἐκείνου χαρίτος ἦν, καὶ πολλὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἡ ἐπίδοσις, ἰδίᾳ τε καὶ κοινῇ, μηδεμιᾶς κακίας τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμόνοιαν ἐπικοπτούσης. Οὐκ ἄκαιρον δ' ἂν ἴσως εἴη, μιᾶς αὐτοῦ κρίσεως μνήμην ποιήσασθαι· ὡς ἂν, κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν, ὅλον ἡμῖν γένηται καταφανὲς ἐκ τοῦ κρασπέδου τὸ ὕφασμα. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ θεία Γραφὴ, πολ λὰς τοῦ Σολομῶντος κρίσεις τοῖς ὑπηκόοις δικάσαν 46.925 τος, ἠρκέσθη διὰ μιᾶς πᾶσαν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς παραστῆ σαι τὴν σύνεσιν. Ὅτε ταῖς δύο μητράσι δικάζων, ἐπειδὴ ἀνεξέλεγκτον ἦν τὸ ἀδίκημα, κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ἑκατέρας αὐτῶν, τὸ μὲν τεθνηκὸς παιδίον οὐ προσ ιεμένης, τοῦ δὲ περιόντος ἀντεχομένης, ἔγνω δι' ἐπινοίας ἀνιχνεῦσαι τὴν κεκρυμμένην ἀλήθειαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀμάρτυρον ἦν τὸ ἀδίκημα, καὶ ἰσοστά σιος ἐφ' ἑκατέρων ἥ τε τοῦ ψεύδους καὶ ἡ τῆς ἀλη θείας ὑπόνοια, τὴν φύσιν εἰς μαρτυρίαν τῆς ἀλη θείας ἑαυτῷ παρεστήσατο, διὰ τῆς σεσοφισμένης ἀπειλῆς τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς διανοίας ἐπικρυψάμενος. Προστάξας γὰρ δῆθεν τοῦ τε περιόντος καὶ τοῦ τε θνηκότος τὸ σῶμα κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ξίφει διατμηθέντων ἀμφοτέραις προσνεμηθῆναι τὰ τῶν τέκνων ἡμίτομα, παρέδωκε τῇ φύσει τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν κρίσιν τοῦ πράγματος. Ὡς γὰρ ἡ μὲν ἀσμένως τὸ προστετα γμένον ἐδέξατο, καὶ τὸν δήμιον ἤπειγεν· ἡ δὲ συγ κινηθεῖσα τοῖς μητρῴοις σπλάγχνοις, ἡττῆσθαι διωμολόγει, φείσασθαι τοῦ τέκνου παρακαλοῦσα (χά ριν γὰρ εἶχεν, εἰ ὁπωσοῦν τὸ νήπιον σώζοιτο), τοῦτο κριτήριον τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ βασιλεὺς ποιησάμενος, τῇ κατὰ τὸ ἑκούσιον τὴν νικῶσαν ψῆφον χαρίζεται, λο γισάμενος ὅτι ἡ ἀφειδοῦσα τῆς τοῦ τέκνου σφαγῆς κατηγορεῖται παρὰ τῆς φύσεως, καὶ ὡς οὐκ οὖσα μήτηρ ἐκείνου, οὗ κατεπείγει τὸν θάνατον.

Τίνα τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς κρίσιν τοῦ μεγάλου Γρηγορίου διηγη σόμεθα; ∆ύο τινὲς ἀδελφοὶ, νέοι τὴν ἡλικίαν, ἄρτι τὸν πατρῷον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς διελόμενοι κλῆρον, λίμνης ἀντεποιοῦντο μιᾶς, πᾶσαν ἔχειν φιλονεικοῦντες ἑκά τερος, καὶ οὐ παραδεχόμενος τὸν ἄλλον ὁ ἕτερος εἰς κοινωνίαν τῆς κτήσεως. Γίνεται οὖν τῆς δίκης κύριος ὁ διδάσκαλος. Καὶ κατὰ τὸν τόπον γενόμενος, τοῖς ἰδίοις αὐτοῦ νόμοις ἐκέχρητο πρὸς τὴν δίαιταν, εἰς καταλλαγὰς ἄγων, καὶ συμβῆναι παρακαλῶν διὰ φιλίας τοὺς νέους, καὶ τὸ τῆς εἰρήνης κέρδος προ τιμότερον τῶν ἐκ τῆς προσόδου ποιήσασθαι. Τὴν μὲν γὰρ εἰς ἀεὶ παραμένειν καὶ ζῶσι καὶ τελευτή σασιν· τῶν δὲ πρόσκαιρον μὲν τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν, αἰω νίαν δὲ τῇ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀδικίᾳ κατάκρισιν ἔχει, καὶ ὅσα εἰκὸς ἦν ἐκεῖνον λέγειν, καταστέλλοντα τὸ ἀτακτοῦν τῆς νεότητος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἄπρακτος ἦν ἡ παράκλησις, καὶ ἡ νεότης ἐφλέγμαινεν, καὶ εἰς θυμὸν ἐξεκαίετο πλείονι τῇ ἐλπίδι τοῦ κέρδους περιοιδαίνουσα, καὶ στρατὸς ἑκα τέρωθεν ἐκ τῶν ὑποχειρίων παρεσκευάζετο, πολυχει ρία φονῶσα θυμῷ καὶ νεότητι στρατηγουμένη, καὶ ὥριστο τῆς συμπλοκῆς ὁ καιρός· μελλούσης δὲ κατὰ τὴν ὑστεραίαν τῆς μάχης ἐξ ἑκατέρων συῤῥήγνυ σθαι, παραμείνας ταῖς ὄχθαις τῆς λίμνης ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ διακαρτερήσας ἐν ἀγρυπνίᾳ τὴν νύ κτα, Μωσαϊκήν τινα θαυματουργίαν ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος ἔδειξεν· οὐ πληγῇ ῥάβδου πρὸς δύο τμήματα τὸν βυθὸν διασχίσας, ἀλλ' εὐχῇ πᾶσαν αὐτὴν ἀθρόως ἀπο 46.928 χερσώσας, ἤπειρον ἔδειξεν τῷ ὄρθρῳ τὴν λίμνην, ξηράν τε καὶ ἄνικμον, ὡς μηδὲ ἐν τοῖς κοίλοις ἔχειν τι τοῦ ὕδατος λείψανον, τὴν πρὸ τῆς εὐχῆς πελαγί ζουσαν. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ταῦτα τῇ θείᾳ δυνάμει δικάσας, πάλιν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀνεχώρει· τοῖς δὲ νέοις ἡ ἐκ τῶν ἔργων ἀπόφασις τὴν φιλονεικίαν διέλυσεν. Μὴ γὰρ ὄντος τοῦ ὑπὲρ οὗ τῶν κατ' ἀλλήλων ἐξήρτυον πόλε μον, εἰρήνη τὸν θυμὸν διεδέξατο, καὶ πάλιν ἑαυτὴν ἐν τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἡ φύσις ἐγνώρισε. Καὶ νῦν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τῆς θείας ἐκείνης ἀποφάσεως ἐναργῆ τὰ ση μεῖα. Κύκλῳ γὰρ τῆς ποτε λίμνης ἴχνη