Gregory of Nazianzus, Moral Songs

Will you turn back? Do not become a pillar of salt. You are more than a widow, but even a widow's marriage is answerable, the boundary of chastity having been violated. 648 What is cheaper than a golden tongue, a bare one, worth two drachmas, something from the spoils? But when stolen, it destroyed the army. Seeing these things, therefore, O virgin, obey God.

VII. On Chastity. Every virtue advances the just by one step. He who

is a stranger to the marriage-bed is equal to the angels. But he who practices self-control, let him be ranked with the virgins; and he who preserves his marriage, let him become equal to the self-controlled. 649 Only practice moderation that you may obtain greater things.

VIII. A Comparison of Lives. Life. Judge for us, O stranger. Judge. What is the judgment? Life. Lives are in conflict. Judge. And who are they, and what is the judgment? Life. The worldly and that of the spirit, which is better and more livable for the wise? Judge. It is difficult to judge, but nevertheless, it must be heard. Worldly. Being of the world, I know and love these things; but piety is to revere the ancestral law. Spiritual. Being of God, I know and worship God; but piety is to know perfect worship. 650 If to you the lesser is most honorable, how is not the greater more just for me? Worldly. My mother is flesh and I was mixed with dust, I desire the fulfillment of the flesh that has been torn apart. Spiritual. God is my father and I was yoked with God, I desire the imitation of the form from which I was drawn. Worldly. Tell me, how would the race of mortals have been established, if the yoking of flesh had not come together, governed by both divine law and nature? Spiritual. That is the law, but now I must be released, hastening towards another life better than the present one, free from bonds and corruption. Worldly. How then did the virgin life come as a newcomer? 651 Spiritual. It was shadowy even long ago; but now it shines, since a virgin has appeared as the Mother of God. For the old law yielded to the new; the letter has departed, but the power is of the spirit. Worldly. Would anyone be unyoked without a married life, or who would be just? Spiritual. How very elegant you are, persuading that the flesh should come together for the sake of beautiful children, but time has raised up good or evil ones, and the sower poured forth the insolence of the flesh. Nothing else. But wisdom with passion is a joke, as if toiling together with the will of God. Worldly. What then have you given to life, and what were you seeking? Spiritual. Branches. Worldly. That they might be chilled, or the storm take them? 652 Give me my root; then have your branches. Spiritual. It is enough to have been born. Let another toil in corruption, feeding, teaching, then mourning all at once for the one who is no more, seeing on walls the painted beauty, breathless, a son not moving. Worldly. I am a nobleman. Spiritual. From what family? And who is the creator? Do you not know that the clay is one? There is one nobility, the imitation of God. You have power over tombs and new decrees, from which you were written noble, not raised. Worldly. For me, being rich casts down enemies, melts the wicked with envy, makes friends, gives thrones in the city to be greatly puffed up. Spiritual. Poverty grants me not even to have enemies, 653 and pity is safer than envy. Thrones are transient and friends are more of the moment. If then they remain, it is better to be overcome by God, than to have the first place in all things seen. Or to be above all things seen. But may the spiritual city hold me in splendor. Worldly. But what security is there in life for the poor man; walls, gates, siege-engines, sword-bearers? Spiritual. They toil, so that the body might not be stolen away; only this and a small rag have I acquired. Let the robber of others, the tyranny, go to ruin. The thief is for those who possess things; I have one wealth, God, whom no one will ever snatch from me who possess him. Let those have the other things to whom they are dear, let all hands seize my substance. 654 Nothing is safer than a poor man; The rich man sacrifices to his dragnet, he kisses his own right hand as if it were a friend, and does not praise God, the giver of good things, until what he possesses falls into the hands of a stranger whom he does not wish; what am I saying? Perhaps of an enemy, and from there to another, the revolutions of a wheel; But for me, all life comes together, if I should die, nothing will be left to envy and revolutions. Worldly. How great it is not to look upon the hands of

Παλινδρομήσεις; μὴ λίθος παγῇς ἁλός. Χήρας σὺ πλεῖον, ἀλλὰ καὶ χήρας γάμος Ὑπεύθυνος, ψευσθέντος ἁγνείας ὅρου. 648 Χρυσῆς τί γλώσσης ἐστὶν εὐτελέστερον, Ψιλῆς, διδράχμου, δή τι τῶν ἀναστάτων; Ἀλλὰ κλαπέντα τὸν στρατὸν διώλεσε. Ταῦτ' οὖν ὁρῶσα, παρθένε, πείθου Θεῷ.

Ζʹ. Περὶ ἁγνείας. Ἀρετὴ πᾶσα δικαίοις Ἕνα βαθμὸν προβιβάζει. Ὁ μὲν

ἀλλότριος εὐνῆς Ἴσος ἀγγέλοις ὑπάρχει. Ὁ δέ τ' ἐγκράτειαν ἀσκῶν, Μετὰ παρθένων τετάχθω· Ὁ δὲ τὸν γάμον φυλάσσων, Ἴσος ἐγκρατεῖ γενέσθω. 649 Μόνον ἀσκεῖτε τὸ σῶφρον Ἵνα μειζόνων τύχοιτε.

Ηʹ. Σύγκρισις βίων. Βι. Κρίναις ἂν ἡμῖν, ὦ ξένε. Κριτ. Κρίσις δὲ τίς, Βι. Βίοι

μάχονται. Κριτ. Καὶ τίνες, τίς δ' ἡ κρίσις, Βι. Ὁ κοσμικός τε καὶ ὅσος τοῦ πνεύματος, Πότερος ἀμείνων καὶ σοφοῖς βιώσιμος; Κριτ. Ὡς δύσκριτον μὲν, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἀκουστέον Κοσμ. Κόσμου πεφυκὼς, οἶδα καὶ στέργω τάδε· Τὸ δ' εὐσεβὲς, πατρῷον αἰδεῖσθαι νόμον. Πν. Θεοῦ πεφυκὼς, οἶδα καὶ σέβω Θεόν· Τὸ δ' εὐσεβὲς, τέλειον εἰδέναι σέβας. 650 Εἴ σοι τὸ χεῖρόν ἐστι τιμιώτατον, Πῶς οὐκ ἐμοὶ τὸ κρεῖσσον ἐνδικώτερον; Κοσμ. Μήτηρ ἐμοὶ σὰρξ καὶ συνεκράθην χοῖ, Σαρκὸς ποθῶ πλήρωμα τῆς ἐῤῥηγμένης Πν. Θεὸς πατήρ μοι καὶ Θεῷ συνεζύγην, Μορφῆς ποθῶ μίμησιν ἧς ἀπεῤῥύην. Κοσμ. Πῶς δ' ἂν συνέστη, φράζε, τὸ βροτῶν γένος, Εἰ μὴ τὸ σαρκῶν συζυγὲς συνέδραμε, Νόμω τε θείῳ καὶ φύσει κρατούμενον; Πν. Νόμος μὲν οὗτος, νῦν δὲ λυθῆναί με δεῖ, Βίον πρὸς ἄλλον τοῦ παρόντος κρείσσονα Σπεύδοντα, δεσμῶν καὶ φθορᾶς ἐλεύθερον. Κοσμ. Πῶς οὖν νέηλυς ἦλθε παρθένος βίος; 651 Πν. Ἦν μὲν σκιώδης καὶ πάλαι· λάμπει δὲ νῦν, Ἐξ οὗ Θεοῦ πέφηνε Μήτηρ παρθένος. Καὶ γὰρ νόμος παλαιὸς εἶξε τῷ νέῳ· Τὸ γράμμ' ἀπῆλθε, τὸ κράτος δὲ πνεύματος. Κοσμ. Ἄζυξ δ' ἂν ἦν τις συζύγου βίου δίχα, Ἢ τίς δίκαιος; Πν. Ὡς λίαν κομψός τις εἶ, Πείθων τὸ σάρκας συνδραμεῖν καλῶν χάριν, Καλοὺς μὲν ἐξέθρεψεν ἢ κακοὺς χρόνος, Ὕβριν δὲ σαρκὸς ὁ σπορεὺς ἐπέβλυσεν. Οὐκ ἄλλο. Τὸ φρονεῖν δὲ τῷ πάθει γέλως, Ὡς συγκάμνοντα Θεοῦ θελήματι. Κοσμ. Τί οὖν βίῳ δέδωκας, ἐζήτεις δὲ τί; Πν. Κλάδους. Κοσμ. Ἵνα ψυγῶσιν, ἢ λαῖλαψ λάβοι; 652 ∆ὸς τὴν ἐμὴν σὺ ῥίζαν· εἶτ' ἔχε κλάδους. Πν. Ἀρκεῖ γενέσθαι. Τῇ φθορᾷ δ' ἄλλος κάμοι, Τρέφων, διδάσκων, εἶτα πενθῶν ἀθρόος Τὸν οὐκ ἔτ' ὄντα, γραπτὸν ἐν τοίχοις βλέπων Ἄπνουν τὸ κάλλος, υἱὸν οὐ κινούμενον Κοσμ. Εὐπατρίδης ἐγώ τις. Πν. Ἐκ ποίου γένους; Ποῖος δ' ὁ πλάστης; τὸν δὲ πηλὸν ἀγνοεῖς Ὡς εἷς; μί' εὐγένεια, μίμησις Θεοῦ. Τάφοις κρατεῖς σὺ καὶ νέοις προστάγμασιν, Ἐξ ὧν ἐγράφης εὐγενὴς, οὐκ ἐτράφης. Κοσμ. Ἐμοὶ τὸ πλουτεῖν δυσμενεῖς βάλλει κάτω, Φθόνῳ δὲ τήκει τοὺς κακοὺς, ποιεῖ φίλους, Θρόνους δίδωσιν ἐν πόλει φυσᾷν μέγα. Πν. Ἐμοὶ πενία μηδὲ δυσμενεῖς ἔχειν 653 Χαρίζετ', οἶκτος δ' ἀσφαλέστερος φθόνου. Θρόνοι δὲ λυτοὶ καὶ φίλοι καιροῦ πλέον. Ἂν οὖν μένωσι, κρεῖσσον ἡττᾶσθαι Θεοῦ, Ἢ πρῶτα πάντων τῶν ὁρωμένων ἔχειν. Ἢ πάντων εἶναι τῶν ὁρωμένων ἄνω. Πόλις δ' ἔχοι με λαμπρὸν ἡ νοουμένη. Κοσμ. Τίς δ' ἀσφάλεια τῷ πένητι τοῦ βίου· Τείχη, πυλῶνες, μηχαναὶ, ξιφηφόροι; Πν. Κάμνοντες, ὥστε μὴ τὸ σῶμ' ὑπεκκλαπῇ· Μόνον πέπασται τοῦτο καὶ μικρὸν ῥάκος. Ἄλλων ὁ λῃστὴς, ἡ τυραννὶς ἐῤῥέτω. Ὁ φὼρ ἐχόντων· εἷς ἐμοὶ πλοῦτος, Θεὸς, Ὃν οὔποτ' οὐδεὶς ἁρπάσει κεκτημένῳ. Τὰ δ' ἄλλ' ἐχόντων οἷς φίλον, τὴν οὐσίαν 654 Ἁρπαζέτωσαν τὴν ἐμὴν πᾶσαι χέρες. Πένητος ἀνδρὸς οὐδὲν ἀσφαλέστερον· Θύει σαγήνῃ πλούσιος, τὴν δεξιὰν Τὴν αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ, ὡς φίλην ἀσπάζεται, Καὶ τῶν καλῶν δοτῆρα οὐχ ὑμνεῖ Θεὸν, Ἕως ἃ κέκτητ' εἰς ξένου πέσῃ χέρας Οὗ μὴ θέλει· τί φημι; δυσμενοῦς ἴσως, Κἀκεῖθεν ἄλλου, τὰ τροχῶν κυλίσματα· Ἐμοὶ δ' ἅπας συνέρχετ', ἢν θάνω, βίος, Οὐδὲν φθόνῳ τε καὶ στροφαῖς λελείψεται. Κοσμ. Πόσον τὸ χεῖρας μὴ βλέπειν εἰς