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Abortions, As much as he himself is to be despised, Having this one proud boast, the glorious city, For which you ought all the more to perish miserably. For in this way you create more evil men. And what townsman ever asked to bear more than a country-bumpkin does? But he is as he is, even if he dwells in the city. Why this? How does this not work together with evil men? How was there not a clear pitfall for those running well? For even the wise suffer something from the unwise, 1224 When affairs flow well for the wicked, But those who live uprightly have a painful life. Is this not best, as in some storm that whirls all things, to turn aside just a little, while all things are shaken up and down, to place one's short days in safety, and establish old age in a noble end. So, you may have your thrones and your tyrannies, you, since these things seem foremost to you. Rejoice, be insolent, inherit patriarchates, let the great world yield to you. Change places for places; cast some down, exalt others; these things are dear to you. Go on; but I will turn myself to God, 1225 by Whom I live, and breathe, and to Whom alone I look, to Whom my mother promised me before I was born, to Whom dangers have joined me, and the grace of nights. And to Him I will sacrifice the pure stirrings of my mind, as far as is possible, speaking alone with the Alone. These things I say to you, the wicked, on behalf of the good, with which if any is vexed, my speech has found him whom it seeks. But the rest, O friends, will be said from that place. But accept from me a certain farewell speech, if you please, a short one, but useful, like those who in the end receive their father's words, and injunctions worthy of memory; after which no word is heard any more, 1226 and for this reason they remain more deeply in the mind. If you should get another Gregory, my friends, spare him more; but if not, then secondly, be good and noble to your neighbors, and to yourselves, who for a time were of one mind, so long as you are held by the same sufferings. And the peace for which I myself strove, always cherish it, putting away your private maladies, by which the common good is miserably disturbed. And I will yield my part, whether we think anything more than others, or whether long time makes me harsh and for the most part ill-tempered, or whether, being struck in the mind with drunkenness, I alone 1227 think that the sober are wounded by drunkenness. Think as you wish. But remember me who has toiled much in the ways of friends, and who had noble reason as a champion, and this old age that releases me from evils. Thus perhaps some one of my friends will make a truce with me, when the wrestling is dead, with which envy comes together.

XIII. To the Bishops. O priests, who send up bloodless sacrifices! O of souls

glorious stewards! O of the great carrying God’s creation in your hands! O you who bring God pre-eminently into one with men! 1228 O foundations of the world, light of life, prop of reason, ministers of shining, unending life, Christ-bearers, sitting enthroned on excellent seats, lofty ones, rejoicing in seemly spectacles, stage-walkers, standing on wooden stilts, feebly gaping in others’ masks, but as for what is within of piety, having the same as all men. You may play, the very things you play unseemly, and speak pompously, but do things that are very frivolous. But as for me, even if you all together should deem me a bad and unmanly man, and drive me far from your choir, striking me with arrow after arrow, both openly and secretly, which is indeed dearer to you; 1229 Yet what my spirit urges and bids me, I will speak, unwillingly indeed, but I will break forth a word from my soul, as when a wave, forced within by a furious wind and running under the rocks, not visibly splashes, and somewhere bursts forth from the ground, the birth-pang breaking forth from the mouth. Such things I have suffered. I cannot hold my anger within; but receive, if I shall speak any heart-biting word, the child of sorrow. It is a remedy for pain even to speak a word to the air. The great Body of Christ, the precious boast of the Lord, the royal people of the whole earth, a faithless nation, was when it was. But now again God's possession here and there is shaken, like a wave of the much-thundering sea, 1230 or a plant by the mighty winds...

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ἀμβλώματα, Τοσοῦτον, ὅσον αὐτὸς περιφρονητέος, Ἓν τοῦτ' ἔχων φρύαγμα λαμπρὰν τὴν πόλιν, Ἐφ' ᾧ σε δεῖ καὶ μᾶλλον ὄλλυσθαι κακῶς. Πλείους γὰρ οὕτω δημιουργεῖς τοὺς κακούς. Κάνθων δὲ τίς ποτ' ἀστικῶν ἄλλου πλέον Κάνθωνος ἐζήτησεν ἀγροίκου φέρειν; Ἀλλ' ἔστιν, ὥσπερ ἔστι, κἂν οἰκῇ πόλιν. Τί ταῦτα; πῶς μὴ ταῦτα συμπράττῃ κακοῖς; Πῶς δ' εὐδρομοῦσι μὴ σαφὴς ὄλισθος ἦν; Πάσχουσι γάρ τι καὶ σοφοὶ τῶν οὐ σοφῶν, 1224 Ὅταν κακοῖς μὲν εὐροῇ τὰ πράγματα, Λυπρὸν δ' ἔχωσιν οἱ κατορθοῦντες βίον. Ἦ τοῦτ' ἄριστον, ὥσπερ ἐν ζάλῃ τινὶ Πάντα στρεφούσῃ, μικρὸν ἐκκλίναντά τι, Πάντων ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω δονουμένων, Ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ τὰς βραχείας ἡμέρας Θέσθαι, τὸ γῆρας δ' ἐν καλῷ στῆσαι τέλει. Θρόνους μὲν οὖν ἔχοιτε, καὶ τυραννίδας, Ὑμεῖς, ἐπεὶ καὶ πρῶτα ταῦθ' ὑμῖν δοκεῖ· Χαίροιτε, ὑβρίζοιτε, πατριαρχίας Κληροῦσθε, Κόσμος ὑμῖν εἰκέτω μέγας· Τόπους ἀμείβοιτ' ἐκ τόπων· τοὺς μὲν κάτω Βάλλοιτε, τοὺς δ' ὑψοῦτε· ταῦθ' ὑμῖν φίλα. Χωρεῖτ'· ἐγὼ δὲ συστραφήσομαι Θεῷ, 1225 Ὧ ζῶ, πνέω τε καὶ πρὸς ὃν βλέπω μόνον, Ὧ πρὶν γενέσθαι μ' ἡ τεκοῦσ' ὑπέσχετο, Ὧ κίνδυνοί τε συνῆψαν, καὶ νυκτῶν χάρις. Τούτῳ τε θύσω νοῦ καθαρὰ κινήματα, Ὡς γοῦν ἐφικτὸν, προσλαλῶν μόνῳ μόνος. Ταῦτα πρὸς ὑμᾶς τοὺς κακοὺς ὑπὲρ καλῶν, Οἷς εἴ τις ἄχθεθ', εὗρεν, ὃν ζητεῖ, λόγος. Τὰ δ' ἄλλα ἐκεῖθεν, ὦ φίλοι, λελέξεται· Πλὴν ἐξιτήριόν τιν', εἰ δοκεῖ, λόγον, Βραχὺν μὲν, ἀλλὰ χρήσιμον, δέξασθέ μου, Ὡς οἱ πατρῴας λαμβάνοντες ἐν τέλει Φωνὰς, ἐπισκήψεις τε μνήμης ἀξίας· Μεθ' ἃς λόγος τις οὐκέτ' ἐξακούεται, 1226 Ὧ καὶ πλέον μένουσιν ἐν βάθει φρενός. Ἄλλον τιν' εἰ λάβοιτε Γρηγόριον, φίλοι, Φείδοισθε μᾶλλον· εἰ δὲ μὴ, τὸ δεύτερον, Εἴητε καλοὶ κἀγαθοὶ τοῖς πλησίον, Ὑμῖν τε αὐτοῖς, οἱ τέως ὁμόφρονες, Ἕως κρατεῖσθε τοῖς ἴσοις παθήμασιν. Ἥν τ' αὐτὸς ἐσπούδαζον εἰρήνην, ἀεὶ Στέργοιτ', ἀφέντες τὰς ἰδίας ἀῤῥωστίας, Ὑφ' ὧν τὸ κοινὸν ἐκταράσσετ' ἀθλίως. Κἀγὼ παρήσω τοὐμὸν, εἴτε τι πλέον Ἄλλων φρονοῦμεν, εἴτε μ' ὁ μακρὸς χρόνος Ποιεῖ τραχύν τε καὶ τὰ πλείω δύστροπον, Εἴτ' οὖν πεπληγὼς ἐκ μέθης τὸν νοῦν μόνος 1227 Μέθῃ τετρῶσθαι τοὺς ἀοίνους οἴομαι. Νομίζεσθ', ὡς βούλεσθε. Πλὴν μέμνησθέ μου Τοῦ πολλὰ μοχθήσαντος ἐν φίλων τρόποις, Καλὸν δ' ἔχοντος τὸν λογισμὸν προστάτην, Τό τ' ἐκλύον με τῶν κακῶν γῆρας τόδε· Οὕτω τάχ' ἄν μοι τῶν φίλων σπείσαιτό τις, Πάλης θανούσης, ᾗ φθόνος συνέρχεται.

ΙΓʹ. Εἰς ἐπισκόπους. Ὦ θυσίας πέμποντες ἀναιμάκτους, ἱερῆες! Ὦ ψυχῶν

ταμίαι μεγακύδεες! Ὦ μεγάλοιο Πλάσμα Θεοῦ χείρεσσιν ἐν ὑμετέρῃσι φέροντες! Ὦ Θεὸν ἀνθρώποισι μέγ' ἔξοχον εἰς ἓν ἄγοντες! 1228 Ὦ κόσμοιο θέμεθλα, βίου φάος, ἕρμα λόγοιο, Μυστοπόλοι ζωῆς ἀτελευτήτοιο φαεινῆς, Χριστοφόροι, θώκοισιν ἐνεδριόωντες ἀρίστοις, Ὑψηλοὶ, θεάτροισι γεγηθότες εὐπρεπέεσσι, Σκηνοβάται, κώλοισιν ἐφεσταότες ξυλίνοισιν, Ἀδρανέως χάσκοντες ἐν ἀλλοτρίοισι προσώποις, Εὐσεβίης ὅσα δ' ἐντὸς, ὁμοίϊα πᾶσιν ἔχοντες Ὑμεῖς μὲν παίζοιτε, τά περ καὶ παίζετ' ἀεικῶς, Καὶ σοβαρὸν φθέγγοισθε, τὰ δ' ἔρδετε ὡς μάλ' ἐλαφρά. Αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν, εἰ καί με κακὸν καὶ ἀνάρσιον ἄνδρα Πάντες ὁμοῦ θείητε, χοροῦ δ' ἄπο τῆλε δίοισθε Ὑμετέρου, βάλλοντες ἐπασσυτέροισιν ὀϊστοῖς, Ἀμφαδίοις, κρυπτοῖς τε, τό περ καὶ φίλτερον ὑμῖν· 1229 Ἀλλ' ἔμπης τά με θυμὸς ἐποτρύνει καὶ ἀνώγει, Φθέγξομαι, οὐκ ἐθέλων μὲν, ἀτὰρ λόγον ἔκτοθε ῥήξω Ψυχῆς, ὡς ὅτε κῦμα βιώμενον ἔνδοθι λάβρῳ Πνεύματι, καὶ σήραγγας ὑποτρέχον, οὐκ ἐπίοπτα Καγχλάζει, καί πού τι διεκπίπτει δαπέδοιο, Ῥηγνυμένης ὠδῖνος ἀνὰ στόμα. Τοῖα πέπονθα. Οὐ δύναμαι χαδέειν ἐντὸς χόλον· ἀλλὰ δέχεσθε, Εἴ τινα καὶ δακέθυμον ἐρῶ λόγον, υἱὸν ἀνίης. Φάρμακον ἄλγεός ἐστι καὶ ἠέρι μῦθον ἐνισπεῖν. Σῶμα μέγα Χριστοῖο, τὸ τίμιον εὖχος ἄνακτος, Λαὸς ὅλης γαίης βασιλήϊος, ἔθνος ἄπιστον, Ἦν ὅτ' ἔην. Νῦν αὖτε Θεοῦ κτέαρ ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα Σείεται, οἷά τε κῦμα πολυσμαράγοιο θαλάσσης, 1230 Ἠὲ φυτὸν ζαμενέσσι