Gregory of Nazianzus, Moral Songs

a mist, which covers our whole life here lying on the ground, Having cleft this and peered a little beyond, Having passed over the mud and the fetters of the composite being, Having cast off the tyrants of the divine image, May you be eager to give yourself to God, Which you must think is the only education, And the first and greatest good for mortals. For what is so great among the things that wander below, And among the other haughty games of others, Gifts, as they say, of fortune and opportunity? 683 And even if all things and all goods come into one, As it is, or is believed to be in a wretched life, Is it such a great gain, even if you seem to reach the limits? And even if you have the things of Gyges rich in gold, And you turn everything with the turn of the ring, a silent ruler; and even if you think the thoughts of the Lydian, With flowing gold, and Cyrus the Persian sits below you, who boasted of the power of thrones; And even if you capture Troy with your famous fleets, And peoples and cities have you in bronze; And you lead the assemblies with your nods, And you celebrate the festival worthily of crowns, And you breathe the spirit of Demosthenes in your lawsuits, And Lycurgus or Solon yield to you in laws; 684 And even if you have the muse of Homer in your breast, And even if you have the tongue of Plato, which is and is considered honey-dropping by the race of men; And even if with inescapable and evil foot-traps You press everyone with eristic arguments; And even if you turn all things upside down and downside up, Weaving labyrinths with the impassable arguments Of Aristotle or some Pyrrhonists; And even if Pegasus raises you winged, or the arrow of the Scythian Abaris, whoever he was, of the myths; What is the such great gain from these things of which I speak, And of a splendid marriage and a Sybaritic table And of all other things in which minds are exalted, As great as to make all these things below, 685 but to look upon the dignity of the soul, and whence It has come, and to whom and where it must be turned, And what is its reasonable course? For since there is, as I infer, And hear from the wise, a certain divine emanation, Coming to us from above, whether whole, Or its master and helmsman, the mind, Its one and only natural work, Is to be borne upwards and to be joined to God, And always and everywhere to look towards what is akin, Least of all being enslaved to the passion of the body, Which flows to the earth and drags downwards, Sending inward the sweet delusion of things seen, and the darkness Of the senses, by which, not being mastered by the Word, The soul flowing little by little falls downwards; 686 but if it is mastered, and often checked, As by a bridle, by the Word, then soon The Word raising it, little by little It might reach the sacred city above, Until it grasps the things long desired, That is, having run past every covering and the present shadows, And the riddles here, And as much as of beauty is imaged in mirrors, It may look upon the good itself stripped bare, With the mind stripped bare, and may someday stand clear of delusion, Satiated with the light, which it was worthy to obtain, Having from thence the ultimate of goods. For he who made all things with a wise word, And fitted together the ineffable harmony of all things By the mixture of opposites, And ordered this world out of disorder, 687 showed a greater wonder in the nature of a living being. But I shall philosophize for you a little discourse on things above. God is either mind, or some other better Substance, apprehensible only by the casts of the mind, Whether perfectly by those above, God knows, But to us dimly, for whom a cloud of thick flesh, a hostile veil, is set before; For the present thus, but the more hereafter. But since God has the first-fruits of reason, Let us now consider the things from God. But how is this? There are two extremes and contrary natures. The one is near God and precious; For they call it rational and full of mind, And they call it by a derivative name from reason, 688 such as I know to be attendant on God, Of the first and second ranks of angels, Higher than senses and bodies, And the first splendor of the original Trinity. The other is furthest from God and from reason; And they call it irrational, as being foreign To reason, both that which is in sound, and that which is spoken. Thus God the Word, having separated these things As a beautiful craftsman and wisely weaving creation, Forms me, a composite living being from both, Having joined together what is of reason and what is not of reason, of an invisible soul, by which I bear the image of the greatest, and incomprehensible God

ὀμίχλην, ἣ τὸν ἐνταυθοῖ βίον Ἡμῶν καλύπτει πάντα κείμενον χαμαὶ, Ταύτην διασχὼν καὶ ὑπερκύψας βραχὺ, Ἰλύν θ' ὑπερβὰς καὶ πέδας τοῦ συνθέτου, Ῥίψας τυράννους τῆς θεϊκῆς εἰκόνος, ∆οῦναι σεαυτὸν τῷ Θεῷ σπουδὴν ἔχοις, Ἥνπερ μόνην παίδευσιν οἴεσθαί σε χρὴ, Πρῶτον δὲ καὶ μέγιστον ἀνθρώποις καλόν. Τί γὰρ τοσοῦτο τῶν κάτω πλανωμένων, Ἄλλων τε ἄλλους ὀφρυώντων παιγνίων, Καιροῦ τύχης τε, ὥς φασι, δωρημένων; 683 Κἂν εἰς ἒν ἔλθῃ πάντα καὶ πάντων καλὰ, Ὡς ἔστιν, ἢ νομίζετ' ἐν λυπρῷ βίῳ, Κέρδος τοσοῦτον, κἂν τρέχειν ὅρους δοκῇς; Κἄν σοι τὰ Γύγου τοῦ πολυχρύσου παρῇ, Στρέφῃς τε πάντα τῇ στροφῇ τῆς σφενδόνης, Σιγῶν δυνάστης· κἂν φρονῇς τὰ Λυδίου, Χρυσῷ ῥέοντι καὶ ὁ Πέρσης σοι Κῦρος Κάτω καθέζηθ', ὁ θρόνων αὐχῶν κράτος· Κἂν Τροίαν αἱρῇς τοῖς ἀοιδίμοις στόλοις, Χαλκοῦν δὲ δῆμοι καὶ πόλεις ἔχωσί σε· Ἄγῃς δὲ τοῖς σοῖς νεύμασι τὰς ἐκκλησίας, Πανηγυρίζῃς δὲ στεφάνων ἐπαξίως, Πνέῃς δὲ θυμὸν ἐν δίκαις ∆ημοσθένους, Εἴκῃ δέ σοι Λυκοῦργος ἢ Σόλων νόμοις· 684 Κἂν τὴν Ὁμήρου μοῦσαν ἐν στέρνοις ἔχῃς, Κἂν τὴν Πλάτωνος γλῶσσαν, ἣ μελισταγὴς Ἔστι τε καὶ νομίζετ' ἀνθρώπων γένει· Κἂν ταῖς ἀφύκτοις καὶ κακαῖς ποδοστράβαις Πάντας πιέζῃς τοῖς ἐριστικοῖς λόγοις· Κἂν πάντ' ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω μεταστρέφῃς, Πλέκων λαβυρίνθους δυσδιεξόδοις λόγοις Ἀριστοτέλους ἤ τινων Πυῤῥωννίων· Κἂν πτηνὸν αἴρῃ Πήγασος, ἢ τοῦ Σκύθου Ἀβάριδος ὀϊστὸς, ὅστις ἦν, οἱ μυθικοί· Τούτων τί κέρδος τηλικοῦτον, ὧν λέγω, Γάμου τε λαμπροῦ καὶ τραπέζης Συβαρικῆς Ἄλλων τε πάντων οἷς ἐπαίρονται φρένες, Ὅσον τὸ ταῦτα πάντα ποιῆσαι κάτω, 685 Ψυχῆς δὲ ἐπιδεῖν ἀξίωμα, καὶ πόθεν Ἐλήλυθε, πρὸς ὅν τε καὶ ποῖ τρεπτέα, Ἥτις τε ταύτης ἡ κατ' εὔλογον φορά; Ἐπεὶ γάρ ἐστιν, ὡς ἐγὼ τεκμαίρομαι, Σοφῶν τε ἀκούω, θεία τις μεταῤῥοὴ, Ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν ἐρχομένη, εἴτ' οὖν ὅλη, Εἴθ' ὁ πρύτανις ταύτης κυβερνήτης τε νοῦς, Ἓν ἔργον αὐτῇ φυσικόν τε καὶ μόνον, Ἄνω φέρεσθαι καὶ συνάπτεσθαι Θεῷ, Ἀεί τε πάντη πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς βλέπειν, Ἥκιστα πάθει σώματος δουλουμένη, Ῥέοντος εἰς γῆν καὶ καθέλκοντος κάτω, Τήν τε γλυκεῖαν τῶν ὁρωμένων πλάνην Πέμποντος εἴσω, καὶ τὸ τῶν αἰσθήσεων Σκοτῶδες, ὑφ' οὗ μὴ Λόγῳ κρατουμένη Ψυχὴ ῥέουσα κατ' ὀλίγον πίπτει κάτω· 686 Ἢν δ' αὖ κρατῆται, κἀνακρούηται πυκνὰ, Ὥσπερ χαλινῷ, τῷ Λόγῳ, τάχ' ἄν ποτε Ὑψοῦντος αὐτὴν τοῦ Λόγου, κατὰ βραχὺ Εἰς ἱερὰν φθάσειε τὴν ἄνω πόλιν, Ἕως λάβηται τῶν πάλαι ποθουμένων, Τὸ δ' ἔστι, πᾶν κάλυμμα καὶ τὰς νῦν σκιὰς Παραδραμοῦσα, καὶ τὰ τῇδ' αἰνίγματα, Ὅσον δ' ἐσόπτροις τοῦ κάλλους φαντάζεται, Βλέψῃ πρὸς αὐτό τ' ἀγαθὸν γυμνούμενον, Γυμνῷ τε τῷ νῷ, καὶ πλάνης σταίη ποτὲ, Φωτὸς κορεσθεῖσ', οὗπερ ἠξίου τυχεῖν, Ἔχουσ' ἐκεῖθεν τῶν καλῶν τὸ ἔσχατον. Ὁ γὰρ σοφῷ τὰ πάντα ποιήσας λόγῳ, Καὶ τὴν ἄφραστον τῶν ὅλων ἁρμονίαν Ἁρμοσάμενος τῇ τῶν ἐναντίων κράσει, Κόσμον τε τάξας τοῦτον ἐξ ἀκοσμίας 687 Μεῖζον τὸ θαῦμ' ἔδειξεν ἐν ζώου φύσει. Μικρὸν δ' ἄνω φιλοσοφήσω σοι λόγον. Θεὸς μέν ἐστιν εἴτε νοῦς, εἴτ' οὐσία Κρείσσων τις ἄλλη, νοῦ μόνου ληπτὴ βολαῖς, Εἰ μὲν τελείως τοῖς ἄνω, οἶδε Θεὸς, Ἡμῖν δ' ἀμυδρῶς, οἷς ἐπιπροσθεῖ νέφος Σαρκὸς παχείας, δυσμενοῦς προβλήματος· Τέως μὲν οὕτω, τὸ πλέον δ' ἐς ὕστερον. Ἐπεὶ δ' ἀπαρχὰς τῶν λόγων ἔχει Θεὸς, Σκοπῶμεν ἤδη τἀκ Θεοῦ. Ἔχει δὲ πῶς; ∆ύ' ἐστὸν ἄκρω καὶ φύσεις ἐναντίαι. Ἡ μὲν Θεοῦ τε πλησίον καὶ τιμία· Καλοῦσι γὰρ λογικήν τε καὶ πλήρη νοὸς, Καλοῦσι δ' αὐτὴν ἐκ λόγου παρωνύμως, 688 Οἵαν τιν' οἶδα τὴν Θεοῦ παραστάτιν Ἄκρων τε δευτέρων τε τάξιν ἀγγέλων, Ἀνωτέραν αἰσθήσεων καὶ σωμάτων, Πρώτην τε λαμπρὰν Τριάδος τῆς ἀρχικῆς. Ἡ δ' ἐκ Θεοῦ τε καὶ λόγου ποῤῥωτάτω· Καλοῦσι δ' αὐτὴν ἄλογόν γ', ὡς τοῦ λόγου Ξένην, ὅσος τ' ἐν ἤχῳ, καὶ ὅσος λαλούμενος. Οὕτως δὲ ταῦτα χωρίσας Θεὸς Λόγος Ὡς καλλιτέχνης καὶ πλέκων σοφῶς κτίσιν, Καὶ σύνθετόν τι ζῶον ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἐμὲ Πλάττει, λόγου τε κοὐ λόγου συναρμόσας, Ψυχῆς ἀειδοῦς, ᾗ φέρω τὴν εἰκόνα Θεοῦ μεγίστου, κἀνοήτου