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with spirit. 2.5 Therefore, as one might take the starting points from history to uncover the riddle more plainly, the account teaches this: to make the beginning of the virtuous life to be born to the grief of the enemy, I mean in such a manner of birth, whose choice assists at the birth pang. For one could not grieve the adversary without showing such marks upon himself, as become proofs of victory over him. 2.6 And it is entirely of the same choice both to bear this brave and virtuous offspring and to nurse it with fitting nourishment and to provide for how it might be saved unharmed from the water. For those who gratify the tyrant with their offspring, expose their children to the stream, naked and without foresight. And by stream I mean the life that surges with successive passions, by which that which comes to be in the stream is submerged, sunk and drowned. 2.7 But the prudent and provident reasonings, the fathers of the brave offspring, whenever the necessity of life compels them to bring the good child down to the waves of this life, they secure him who is given to the stream in an ark, so that he may not be submerged. And the ark would be the instruction put together from various teachings, as if from different planks, which holds him who is borne upon it above the waves of life, 2.8 and with this, he will not wander for long in the swell of the waters, carried along by the rushes of the waves, but on the firm bank, that is, having come outside the swell of life, he will be pushed automatically by the force of the waters toward what is stable, 2.9 which indeed we also learn by experience, that the unstable and driven motion of things themselves thrusts away from itself those who are no longer submerged along with human deceptions, considering those who are troublesome through virtue as some vain burden. But let him who has come outside of such things imitate Moses and not spare his tears, even if he happens to be secured in an ark. For a tear is a safe guardian of those being saved through virtue.2.10 But if the barren and sterile daughter of the king (who I think is properly understood as secular philosophy) should by adopting the youth contrive to be called the mother of such a one, up to that point the account permits not to push away the affinity of the falsely-named mother, as long as one sees in himself the immaturity of his age. But he who has now run up to the height, as we learned concerning Moses, will consider it a shame to be called the child of her who is by nature barren.

2.11 For truly barren is secular education, always in labor but never bringing forth a live birth. For what fruit of her long labors has philosophy shown, worthy of so many and such great toils? Are not all her offspring wind-eggs and fruitless, miscarried before they come to the light of the knowledge of God, being able perhaps to become men, if they had not been wholly enveloped in the bosom of barren wisdom? 2.12 Therefore, let one live with the queen of the Egyptians for so long as not to seem to be without a share in the noble things among them, and then let him run back to his natural mother, from whom he was not separated even while being nourished at the queen's side, being nursed with his mother's milk, as the history says; which seems to me to teach that, if we should converse with secular accounts in the time of our education, we should not be separated from the milk of the Church that nourishes us. This would be the laws and customs of the Church, by which the soul is nourished and strengthened, from thence making its starting points for the ascent to the height. 2.13 And true is the saying that he who looks to both secular doctrines and those of his fathers will be in the middle of two enemies. For the foreigner in religion opposes the Hebrew account, striving to appear stronger than the Israelite. And to many of the more superficial he seemed to be such, who, having abandoned the ancestral faith, fought alongside the enemy, becoming transgressors of their ancestral teaching. However, the one who is great and noble according to Moses the

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φρονήματι. 2.5 Οὐκοῦν, ὡς ἄν τις ἐκ τῆς ἱστορίας τὰς ἀφορμὰς λαβὼν ἐπὶ τὸ γυμνότερον διακαλύπτοι τὸ αἴνιγμα, τοῦτο διδάσκει ὁ λόγος ἀρχὴν τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν ποιεῖσθαι βίου τὸ ἐπὶ λύπῃ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ γεννηθῆναι, ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ φημὶ τῆς γεννήσεως εἴδει, ἧς ἡ προαίρεσις τὴν ὠδῖνα μαιεύεται. Οὐ γὰρ ἄν τις λυπήσειε τὸν ἀντίπαλον μὴ τοιαῦτα δεικνὺς ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὰ γνωρίσματα, οἷα τῆς κατ' ἐκείνου νίκης τεκμήρια γίνεσθαι. 2.6 Τῆς δὲ αὐτῆς προαιρέσεως πάντως ἐστὶ γεννῆσαί τε τὸ ἀνδρεῖον τοῦτο καὶ ἐνάρετον γέννημα καὶ ταῖς καθηκούσαις τροφαῖς τιθηνήσασθαι καὶ ὅπως ἂν ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος διασωθείη ἀπαθῶς προνοήσασθαι. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ τῷ τυράννῳ τοὺς τόκους αὐτῶν χαριζόμενοι, γυμνά τε καὶ ἀπρονόητα τῷ ῥείθρῳ τὰ τέκνα διαδιδόασιν. Ῥεῖθρον δὲ τὸν βίον φημὶ τὸν τοῖς ἐπαλλήλοις πάθεσι κυματούμενον, ὑφ' ὧν τὸ ἐν τῷ ῥείθρῳ γινόμενον ὑποβρύχιον καταδύεταί τε καὶ καταπνίγεται. 2.7 Οἱ δὲ σώφρωνές τε καὶ προνοητικοὶ λογισμοί, οἱ τῆς ἀνδρείας γονῆς πατέρες, ὅταν κατάγειν πρὸς τὰ τῆς ζωῆς ταυτῆς κύματα τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἔκγονον ἡ τοῦ βίου ἀνάγκη βιάσηται, κιβωτῷ πρὸς τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι βύθιον τὸν τῷ ῥείθρῳ δοθέντα κατασφαλίζονται. Κιβωτὸς δ' ἂν εἴη ἐκ διαφόρων σανίδων συμπεπηγυῖα ἡ ἐκ ποικίλων μαθημάτων συμπηγνυμένη παίδευσις, ἡ ἄνω τῶν κυμάτων τὸν δι' αὐτῆς ἐπιφερόμενον τοῦ βίου ἀνέχουσα, 2.8 ἧς ὑπαρχούσης, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ πολὺ τῷ σάλῳ τῶν ὑδάτων ἐμπλανηθήσεται ταῖς τῶν κυμάτων ὁρμαῖς συμπεριφερόμενος, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τοῦ σταθεροῦ τῆς ὄχθης, τουτέστιν ἔξω τοῦ βιωτικοῦ σάλου γενόμενος, αὐτομάτως ὑπὸ τῆς φορᾶς τῶν ὑδάτων πρὸς τὸ σταθερὸν ἀπωσθήσεται, 2.9 ὃ δὴ καὶ τῇ πείρᾳ μανθάνομεν, ὅτι τοὺς μὴ συνδιαβαπτιζομένους ἔτι ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ἀπάταις αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ ἄστατός τε καὶ πεφορημένη κίνησις ἀφ' ἑαυτῆς ἀπωθεῖται, ὥσπερ τι βάρος μάταιον τοὺς διὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐνοχλοῦντας λογιζομένη. Ὁ δὲ τῶν τοιούτων ἔξω γενόμενος μιμείσθω τὸν Μωϋσέα καὶ μὴ φειδέσθω τῶν δακρύων, κἂν ἐν κιβωτῷ κατησφαλισμένος τύχῃ. Ἀσφαλὴς γὰρ φύλαξ τῶν διὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς σωζομένων τὸ δάκρυον.2.10 Εἰ δὲ ἡ ἄγονός τε καὶ στεῖρα βασιλέως οὖσα θυγάτηρ (ἣν οἶμαι τὴν ἔξωθεν κυρίως νοεῖσθαι φιλοσοφίαν) ὑποβαλ λομένη τὸν νέον μήτηρ τοῦ τοιούτου κληθῆναι κατα σκευάσειεν, ἕως τότε συγχωρεῖ ὁ λόγος μὴ ἀπωθεῖσθαι τὴν τῆς ψευδωνύμου μητρὸς οἰκειότητα, ἕως ἄν τις τὸ ἀτελὲς τῆς ἡλικίας ἐν ἑαυτῷ βλέπῃ. Ὁ δὲ πρὸς ὕψος ἤδη ἀναδραμών, ὡς περὶ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἐμάθομεν, αἰσχύνην ἡγήσεται τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἀγόνου παῖς ὀνομάζεσθαι.

2.11 Ἄγονος γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἡ ἔξωθεν παίδευσις ἀεὶ ὠδίνουσα καὶ μηδέποτε ζωογονοῦσα τῷ τόκῳ. Τίνα γὰρ ἔδειξε καρπὸν τῶν μακρῶν ὠδίνων ἡ φιλοσοφία, τῶν τοσούτων τε καὶ τοιούτων ἄξιον πόνων; Οὐ πάντες ὑπηνέμιοί τε καὶ ἀτελεσφόρητοι, πρὶν εἰς τὸ φῶς ἐλθεῖν τῆς θεογνωσίας, ἀμβλίσκονται, δυνάμενοι ἴσως γενέσθαι ἄνθρωποι, εἰ μὴ διόλου τοῖς κόλποις τῆς ἀγόνου σοφίας ἐνεκαλύπτοντο; 2.12 Οὐκοῦν τοσοῦτόν τις τῇ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλίδι συζήσας, ὅσον μὴ δοκεῖν ἄμοιρος εἶναι τῶν παρ' ἐκείνοις σεμνῶν, ἀναδραμείτω πρὸς τὴν κατὰ φύσιν μητέρα, ἧς οὐδὲ παρὰ τῇ βασιλίδι τρεφόμενος ἀπεσχίσθη, τῷ μητρῴῳ γάλακτι, καθὼς ἡ ἱστορία φησί, τιθηνούμενος, ὅπερ μοι δοκεῖ διδάσκειν, εἰ τοῖς ἔξωθεν λόγοις καθομιλοίημεν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς παιδεύσεως, μὴ χωρίζεσθαι τοῦ ὑποτρέφοντος ἡμᾶς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας γάλακτος. Τοῦτο δ' ἂν εἴη τὰ νόμιμά τε καὶ τὰ ἔθη τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, οἷς τρέφεται ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ ἀδρύνεται, ἐντεῦθεν τῆς εἰς ὕψος ἀναδρομῆς τὰς ἀφορμὰς ποιουμένη. 2.13 Ἀληθὴς δὲ ὁ λόγος ὅτι δύο πολεμίων μέσος γενήσεται ὁ πρὸς τὰ ἔξωθεν δόγματα καὶ τὰ πάτρια βλέπων. Ἀνθίσταται γὰρ ὁ κατὰ τὴν θρησκείαν ἀλλόφυλος τῷ Ἑβραίῳ λόγῳ, ἰσχυρότερος φανῆναι τοῦ Ἰσραηλιτικοῦ φιλονεικῶν. Καὶ πολλοῖς γε τῶν ἐπιπολαιοτέρων τοιοῦτος ἔδοξεν, οἳ καταλι πόντες τὴν πατρῴαν πίστιν τῷ ἐχθρῷ συνεμάχησαν, παρα βάται τῆς πατρίου διδασκαλίας γενόμενοι. Ὁ μέντοι κατὰ τὸν Μωϋσέα μέγας τε καὶ γενναῖος τὴν