Letter XVIII.—To the Bishop of Melitene.

How beautiful are the likenesses of beautiful objects, when they preserve in all its clearness the impress of the original beauty! For of your soul, so truly beautiful, I saw a most clear image in the sweetness of your letter, which, as the Gospel says, “out of the abundance of the heart” you filled with honey. And for this reason I fancied I saw you in person, and enjoyed your cheering company, from the affection expressed in your letter; and often taking your letter into my hands and going over it again from beginning to end, I only came more vehemently to crave for the enjoyment, and there was no sense of satiety. Such a feeling can no more put an end to my pleasure, than it can to that derived from anything that is by nature beautiful and precious. For neither has our constant participation of the benefit blunted the edge of our longing to behold the sun, nor does the unbroken enjoyment of health prevent our desiring its continuance; and we are persuaded that it is equally impossible for our enjoyment of your goodness, which we have often experienced face to face and now by letter, ever to reach the point of satiety. But our case is like that of those who from some circumstance are afflicted with unquenchable thirst; for just in the same way, the more we taste your kindness, the more thirsty we become. But unless you suppose our language to be mere blandishment and unreal flattery—and assuredly you will not so suppose, being what you are in all else, and to us especially good and staunch, if any one ever was,—you will certainly believe what I say; that the favour of your letter, applied to my eyes like some medical prescription, stayed my ever-flowing “fountain of tears,” and that fixing our hopes on the medicine of your holy prayers, we expect that soon and completely the disease of our soul will be healed: though, for the present at any rate, we are in such a case, that we spare the ears of one who is fond of us, and bury the truth in silence, that we may not drag those who loyally love us into partnership with our troubles. For when we consider that, bereft of what is dearest to us, we are involved in wars, and that it is our children that we were compelled to leave behind, our children whom we were counted worthy to bear to God in spiritual pangs, closely joined to us by the law of love, who at the time of their own trials amid their afflictions extended their affection to us; and over and above these, a fondly-loved90    κεχαριτωμένος home, brethren, kinsmen, companions, intimate associates, friends, hearth, table, cellar, bed, seat, sack, converse, tears—and how sweet these are, and how dearly prized from long habit, I need not write to you who know full well—but not to weary you further, consider for yourself what I have in exchange for those blessings. Now that I am at the end of my life, I begin to live again, and am compelled to learn the graceful versatility of character which is now in vogue: but we are late learners in the shifty school of knavery;91    This passage is very corrupt, and I have put the best sense I could on the fragmentary words preserved to us (H. C. O.). so that we are constantly constrained to blush at our awkwardness and inaptitude for this new study. But our adversaries, equipped with all the training of this wisdom, are well able to keep what they have learned, and to invent what they have not learned. Their method of warfare accordingly is to skirmish at a distance, and then at a preconcerted signal to form their phalanx in solid order; they utter by way of prelude92    προλογίζοντας. But προλοχίζοντας would suit the context better; i.e. “they lay an ambush wherever their interests are concerned” (H. C. O.). whatever suits their interests, they execute surprises by means of exaggerations, they surround themselves with allies from every quarter. But a vast amount of cunning invincible in power93    Or “accompanies their power:” τῇ δυνάμει may go with ὁμαρτεῖ, or with ἀκαταγώνιστος (H. C. O.). accompanies them, advanced before them to lead their host, like some right-and-left-handed combatant, fighting with both hands in front of his army, on one side levying tribute upon his subjects, on the other smiting those who come in his way. But if you care to inquire into the state of our internal affairs, you will find other troubles to match; a stifling hut, abundant in cold, gloom, confinement, and all such advantages; a life the mark of every one’s censorious observation, the voice, the look, the way of wearing one’s cloak, the movement of the hands, the position of one’s feet, and everything else, all a subject for busy-bodies. And unless one from time to time emits a deep breathing, and unless a continuous groaning is uttered with the breathing, and unless the tunic passes gracefully through the girdle (not to mention the very disuse of the girdle itself), and unless our cloak flows aslant down our backs—the omission of anyone of these niceties is a pretext for war against us. And on such grounds as these, they gather together to battle against us, man by man94    κατ᾽ ἄνδρας, καὶ δήμους, καὶ ἐσχατίας. But the Latin, having “solitudines,” shows that ἐρήμους was read for δήμους. We seem to get here a glimpse of Gregory’s activity during his exile (376–78). Rupp thinks that Macrina’s words to her brother also refer to this period: “Thee the Churches call to help them and correct them.” He moved from place to place to strengthen the Catholic cause; “we,” he says in the longer Antirrhetic, “who have sojourned in many spots, and have had serious conversation upon the points in dispute both with those who hold and those who reject the Faith.” Gregory of Nazianzum consoles him during these journeys, so exhausting and discouraging to one of his spirit, by comparing him to the comet which is ruled while it seems to wander, and of seeing in the seeming advance of heresy only the last hiss of the dying snake. His travels probably ended in a visit to Palestine: for his Letter On Pilgrimages certainly presupposes former visits in which he had learnt the manners of Jerusalem. His love of Origen, too, makes it likely that he made a private pilgrimage (distinct from the visit of 379) to the land where Origen had chiefly studied., township by township, even down to all sorts of out-of-the-way places. Well, one cannot be always faring well or always ill, for every one’s life is made up of contraries. But if by God’s grace your help should stand by us steadily, we will bear the abundance of annoyances, in the hope of being always a sharer in your goodness. May you, then, never cease bestowing on us such favours, that by them you may refresh us, and prepare for yourself in ampler measure the reward promised to them that keep the commandments.

[18] Ὀτρηίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Μελιτηνῆς Ὡς καλὰ τῶν καλῶν ἐστι τὰ ὁμοιώματα, ὅταν ἐναργῆ τοῦ πρωτοτύπου κάλλους τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς μορφῆς καὶ ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν διασῴζηται. τῆς γὰρ ψυχῆς σου τῆς ὄντως καλῆς εἶδον ἐναργεστάτην εἰκόνα ἐν τῇ τῶν γραμμάτων γλυκύτητι, οἷς ἡμᾶς, καθώς φησί που τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, Ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύματος τῆς καρδίας σου ἐμελίτωσας: καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτόν σε προσορᾶν καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς εὐφροσύνην καρποῦσθαι καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐν τοῖς γράμμασι φιλοφροσύνης ἐνόμιζον, καὶ πολλάκις ὑφ' ἡδονῆς ἐπαναλαμβάνων τὰ γράμματα καὶ συνεχῶς ἐπιὼν πρὸς μείζονα τῆς ἀπολαύσεως ἐπιθυμίαν ἐξεκαιόμην, καὶ κόρος τῶν πινομένων οὐκ ἦν, ὡς οὐδὲ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν κατὰ φύσιν καλῶν καὶ τιμίων τὴν ἡδονὴν ὁ κόρος διαλυμαίνεται: οὔτε γὰρ τοῦ προσορᾶν τὸν ἥλιον ἡ συνεχὴς μετουσία τὴν ὄρεξιν ἤμβλυνεν, οὔτε τῆς ὑγείας ἡ διηνεκὴς ἀπόλαυσις τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἔστησεν, οὔτε τῆς σῆς ἀγαθότητος, ἣν κατὰ πρόσωπον πολλάκις καὶ νῦν διὰ τοῦ γράμματος ἔγνωμεν, δυνατὸν εἶναι πεπείσμεθα μέχρι κόρου προελθεῖν τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν: ἀλλ' οἷόν τι πάσχουσιν οἱ ἔκ τινος περιστάσεως διψῶντες ἀτέλεστα, οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὅσον ἐμφορούμεθα τῶν σῶν ἀγαθῶν, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον διψώδεις γινόμεθα. εἰ δὲ μὴ θωπείαν τινὰ καὶ ψευδῆ κολακείαν τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον ὑπολήψῃ (πάντως δὲ οὐχ ὑπολήψῃ, τά τε ἄλλα τοιοῦτος ὢν οἷος εἶ, καὶ περὶ ἡμᾶς διαφερόντως, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος, χρηστός τε καὶ γνήσιος), πάντως πιστεύσεις τοῖς λεγομένοις, ὅτι τὴν συνεχῆ τῶν δακρύων ἐπιρροὴν ἡ τῶν γραμμάτων χάρις, οἷόν τι φάρμακον ἰαματικὸν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς γενομένη, ἀνέστειλε, καὶ προσδοκῶμεν τῇ τῶν ἁγίων εὐχῶν σου ἰατρείᾳ ὀκλάζουσαν ἤδη τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν κακῶν συνεχείας ὑπερειδούσῃ ὅτι τάχα καὶ καθ' ὅλου τὸ τοιοῦτον τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν πάθος ἐξιαθήσεται: ἐπεί, τό γε νῦν ἔχον, ἐν τοιούτοις ἐσμὲν ὡς φείδεσθαι τῆς ἀγαπώσης ἡμᾶς ἀκοῆς καὶ ἐπικρύπτεσθαι σιωπῇ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἵνα μὴ πρὸς κοινωνίαν τῶν ἡμετέρων κακῶν τοὺς γνησίως ἡμᾶς ἀγαπῶντας ἐφελκυσώμεθα. ὅταν γὰρ ἐνθυμηθῶμεν ὅτι τῶν φιλτάτων ἀπολειφθέντες ἐν πολέμοις ἀναστρεφόμεθα καί, ἃ μὲν καταλιπεῖν ἐβιάσθημεν, τέκνα ἐστὶν ἃ ταῖς πνευματικαῖς ἡμῶν ὠδῖσι τῷ θεῷ γεννῆσαι κατηξιώθημεν, σύμβιος νόμῳ συνηρμοσμένη, κινδύνῳ καὶ κακοπαθείαις ἐν τοῖς τῶν πειρασμῶν καιροῖς ἐπιδειξαμένη πρὸς ἡμᾶς τὸ φιλόστοργον, καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις οἶκος κεχαριτωμένος, ἀδελφοί, συγγενεῖς, οἰκεῖοι, συνήθεις, φίλοι, ἑστία, τράπεζα, ταμεῖον, στιβάς, τὸ βάθρον, ὁ σάκκος, ἡ γωνία, ἡ προσευχή, τὸ δάκρυον, ἃ ὥς ἐστι γλυκέα καὶ διὰ συνήθειαν ὅσον ἐράσμια, οὐδὲν δεήσομαι πρὸς εἰδότα σε γράφειν: τὰ δὲ ἀντ' ἐκείνων, ἵνα μή τι ἐπαχθὲς λέγειν δόξω, πάντα ὡς ἄλλως ἔχει σκόπησον. πρὸς τῷ τέλει τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ ζωῆς ὤν, πάλιν τοῦ ζῆν ἄρχομαι: μανθάνειν ἀναγκάζομαι τὴν εὐδοκιμοῦσαν νῦν τῶν ἠθῶν ποικιλίαν, ὀψιμαθὴς κακοτροπίας καὶ τοιαύτης πανουργίας γινόμενος, ὡς ἐνερυθριᾶν ἀεὶ τῇ ἀφυΐᾳ τοῦ πράγματος. οἱ δὲ ἀντιτεταγμένοι διδάσκαλοι τῆς σοφίας ταύτης εἰσὶν ἱκανοὶ καὶ φυλάξαι ὃ ἔμαθον καὶ ἐφευρεῖν ὃ οὐκ ἔμαθον: συστάδην πολεμοῦσι, πόρρωθεν ἀκροβολίζονται, ἐπὶ παρατάξεως καταπυκνοῦσι τὴν φάλαγγα, κατὰ τὸ ἀφανὲς προλοχίζονται, ταῖς ὑπερβολαῖς προκατέχουσι, τοὺς συμμάχους ἑαυτοῖς πανταχόθεν προσπεριβάλλονται. πολὺς δὲ παρ' αὐτοῖς καὶ ἀκαταγώνιστος τῇ δυνάμει ὁ Μαμωνᾶς, εἰς στρατηγίαν προβεβλημένος ὥσπερ τις ἀγωνιστὴς περιδέξιος διπλῇ τῇ χειρὶ τοῦ ἰδίου στρατοῦ προμαχόμενος, πῇ μὲν δασμολογῶν τοὺς ὑποχειρίους, πῇ δὲ βάλλων τοὺς προστυγχάνοντας. εἰ δὲ καὶ τὴν εἴσω ἡμῶν διαγωγὴν ἐξετάζοις, εὑρήσεις ἄλλα τοιαῦτα: οἰκίδιον πνιγηρὸν κρυμῷ καὶ ζόφῳ καὶ στενοχωρίᾳ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς τοιούτοις καλοῖς εὐθηνούμενον, βίον ὑπὸ πάντων μωμοσκοπούμενον, φωνὴν καὶ βλέμμα καὶ ἱματίου περιβολὴν χειρός τε κίνησιν καὶ ποδῶν ποιὰν στάσιν καὶ πάντα πολυπραγμονούμενα, καὶ εἰ μὴ δασὺ τὸ ἆσθμα καὶ διὰ πολλοῦ προχεόμενον καὶ εἰ μὴ συνεκδίδοται στεναγμός τις τῷ ἄσθματι, καὶ εἰ μὴ διεκπίπτοι τῆς ζώνης ἡμῶν τὸ χιτώνιον, καὶ αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ μὴ κεχρῆσθαι τῇ ζώνῃ, καὶ εἰ μὴ περιρρέοι κατὰ τὸ πλάγιον ἡμῶν ἡ διπλοῒς μηδὲ τοῖς ὤμοις τῶν ὀφρύων τὴν ἑτέραν ἐπισπάσαιμεν, ταῦτα πάντα μὴ γινόμενα πολεμούντων πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὑπόθεσις γίνεται, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις κατ' ἄνδρας καὶ δήμους καὶ ἐσχατιὰς πρὸς τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν μάχην συνίστανται.
Ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔστι διὰ πάντων πράττειν καλῶς ἢ κακῶς_μέμικται γὰρ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων πᾶσιν ὁ βίος_, εἰ δὴ τὸ σὸν ἡμῖν κατὰ θεοῦ χάριν διηνεκῶς παρείη, ὑποίσομεν τῶν παρόντων ἀηδῶν τὴν δαψίλειαν ἐπ' ἐλπίδι τοῦ τῆς σῆς ἀγαθότητος διὰ παντὸς μετέχειν. μή ποτε οὖν παύσαιο τοιαῦτα χαριζόμενος δι' ὧν καὶ ἡμᾶς ἀναπαύσεις καὶ σαυτῷ τὸν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐντολαῖς μισθὸν πλείω παρασκευάσεις.