Gregory of Nazianzus, Moral Songs

I am; my body was made from thence; For that reason it also inclines toward its own earth. But the soul is the breath of God, and a better portion it ever greatly desires of the super-celestial things. As the stream of a spring is ever-flowing, and a burning Fire knows one path unturned; it leaps upward. So great is mortal man, and an angel; if having darted away, like a snake, from dappled old age, he should go from hence. O tremble, priests; I have died. O also you sinful neighbors, you will no longer shudder at me, as before. 778 For yourselves enclose the great house of the ever-living King; but I, having left all things, have one thing, the Cross, the shining pillar of my life. And if then I am lifted up from hence, and I shall partake of the heavenly sacrifices, which envy does not approach, a fabricated evil, if it is right to say, then I shall pray without envy even for the envious.

10. Concerning the ways of life. Who, from whence did I come into life? Since the earth will hold me,

who shall I be again, rising from the dust? Where will the great God place me, bearing me? Will he indeed save me, raising me from hence into a fair-weathered harbor? 779 Many are the paths of a much-enduring life, and one path leads along with different woes. And nothing among men is good, unmixed with evil. If only the mournful things did not have the greater portion! Wealth is faithless, and the throne, the brow of dreams; to be ruled is toil, and poverty is a fetter. Beauty is a lightning-flash, a small grace, and youth, the boiling of time; grey hair, the sad dissolution of life. Words are winged; glory is air; ancient blood are the well-born, strength also of a wild boar. Satiety is insolent; marriage, a bond; having good children, a necessary care; childlessness, a disease. Marketplaces are exercises in vice; but tranquility, inactivity; arts, for those who walk on the ground. Confining is another's bread. And to plow the earth, 780 is toil. The greater part of seafarers are in hades. The fatherland is its own pit; and being a stranger is a reproach. All things here are toil for mortals; all things are a laugh, down, a shadow, a phantom, dew, a breath, a feather, a vapor, a dream, a wave, a stream, a ship's track, a breeze, dust, an ever-whirling circle, rolling all things alike, standing, running, being dissolved, being fixed, by seasons, by days, by nights, by labors, by deaths, by sorrows, by delights, by diseases, by falls, by successes. And this too is of your wisdom, O begetter, O Word, that all things are unstable, so that we may have a desire for stable things. I have run over all things with the wings of my mind, as many as are old, as many as are new; but nothing is weaker than mortals. 781 One thing only is good and steadfast for men, to set out from hence, taking up the cross; and tears, and groans, and a mind concerned with divine things, hope, and the radiance of the heavenly Trinity mingled with the pure, the dissolution of the senseless dust, the incorruptibility of the image, which we received from God; and to live a life alien to this life, and in place of the world to exchange it for a world, bearing all burdens.

17. Beatitudes of different lives. Blessed is he who has a solitary life, not intermingled

with those who walk on the ground, but has deified his mind. Blessed is he who, mingled with many, not among the many 782 wanders, but has sent his whole heart to God. Blessed is he who with all his possessions has purchased Christ, and has as his only possession the cross, which he carries on high. Blessed is he who, ruling over his own pure possessions, might bring the hand of God to those in need. Blessed is the life of the unmarried blessed, who of the Godhead are near the pure, having shaken off the flesh. Blessed is he who, yielding a little to the laws of marriage, leads a greater portion of his love to Christ. Blessed is he who, holding power over the people, with holy and great sacrifices brings Christ to mortals. Blessed is he who, being a child of the flock, of the heavenly region leads to Christ, a most perfect offspring. 783 Blessed is he who with the great impulses of a pure mind, beholds the splendor of the heavenly lights. Blessed is he who with much-laboring hands the King honors, and is a law of life for many. All these things were fillings of the heavenly wine-presses, which are receivers of the fruit of our souls, one leading to the region of one virtue, another to another. For many are the mansions of many lives. Blessed is he whom

εἰμί· τὸ μὲν δέμας ἔνθεν ἐτύχθη· Τοὔνεκα καὶ νεύει πρὸς χθόνα τὴν ἰδίην. Ψυχὴ δ' ἔστιν ἄημα Θεοῦ, καὶ κρείσσονα μοίρην Αἰὲν ἄγαν ποθέει τῶν ὑπερουρανίων. Ὣς πηγῆς ῥόος ἐστὶν ἐπίδρομος, αἰθόμενον δὲ Πῦρ ὁδὸν οἶδε μίην ἄτροπον· ἅλλετ' ἄνω. Ὣς μέγας ἐστὶ βροτὸς, καὶ ἄγγελος· ἢν ἀπαΐξας, Ὥσπερ ὄφις, στικτοῦ γήραος, ἔνθεν ἴοι. Ὦ πάλλεσθ', ἱερῆες· ἐγὼ θάνον. Ὦ καὶ ἀλιτροὶ Γείτονες, οὐκέτι με φρίξετε, ὡς τὸ πάρος. 778 Αὐτοῖς μὲν μέγαν οἶκον ἀεὶ ζώοντος Ἄνακτος Φράσσετε· αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ πάντα λιπὼν, ἓν ἔχω, Σταυρὸν ἐμῆς ζωῆς φανὸν στύλον. Ἢν δ' ἄρ' ἀερθῶ Ἔνθεν, καὶ θυέων ἅψομ' ἐπουρανίων, Τοῖς φθόνος οὐ πελάει, τυκτὸν κακὸν, εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν, Πηνίκα καὶ φθονερῶν ἄφθονος εὔξομ' ὕπερ.

Ιʹ. Περὶ τῶν τοῦ βίου ὁδῶν. Τίς, πόθεν ἐς βίον ἦλθον; ἐπεὶ δέ με γαῖα καθέξει,

Τίς πάλιν ἐκ κόνιος ἔσσομ' ἀνιστάμενος; Πῆ δὲ φέρων στήσει με Θεὸς μέγας; ἦ ῥα σαώσει Ἔνθεν ἀναστήσας εὔδιον ἐς λιμένα; 779 Πολλαὶ μὲν βιότοιο πολυτλήτοιο κέλευθοι, Ἄλλη δ' ἀλλοίοις πήμασι συμφέρεται. Κοὐδὲν ἐν ἀνθρώποισι καλὸν, κακότητος ἄμικτον. Αἴθε δὲ μὴ τὰ λυγρὰ πλείονα μοῖραν ἔχεν! Ὁ πλοῦτος μὲν ἄπιστος ὁ δὲ θρόνος, ὀφρὺς ὀνείρων· Ἄρχεσθαι δὲ μόγος, ἡ πενίη δὲ πέδη. Κάλλος δ' ἀστεροπῆς, τυτθὴ χάρις, ἡ νεότης δὲ, Βράσμα χρόνου πολιὴ, λυπρὰ λύσις βιότου. Οἱ δὲ λόγοι πτερόεντες· ἀὴρ, κλέος· αἷμα παλαιὸν Εὐγενέται, ῥώμη καὶ συὸς ἀγροτέρου. Ὑβριστὴς δὲ κόρος· δεσμὸς, γάμος· εὐτεκνίη δὲ, Φροντὶς ἀναγκαίη· δυστεκνίη δὲ, νόσος. Αἱ δ' ἀγοραὶ, κακίης μελετήματα· ἠρεμίη δὲ, Ἀδρανίη· τέχναι, τῶν χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων. Στεινὴ δ' ἀλλοτρίη μάζα. Τὸ δὲ γαῖαν ἀρόσσειν, 780 Μόχθος. Ποντοπόρων τὸ πλέον εἰν ἀΐδῃ. Ἡ πάτρη δὲ, βέρεθρον ἑόν· ξενίη δέ τ' ὄνειδος. Πάντα μόγος θνητοῖς τἀνθάδε· πάντα γέλως, Χνοῦς, σκιὰ, φάσμα, δρόσος, πνοιὴ, πτερὸν, ἀτμὶς, ὄνειρος, Οἶδμα, ῥόος, νηὸς ἴχνιον αὖρα, κόνις, Κύκλος ἀειδίνητος, ὁμοίϊα πάντα κυλίνδων, Ἑστηὼς, τροχάων, λυόμενος, πάγιος, Ὥραις, ἤμασι, νυξὶ, πόνοις, θανάτοισιν, ἀνίαις, Τερπωλῇσι, νόσοις, πτώμασιν, εὐδρομίαις. Καὶ τόδε σῆς, γενέτορ, σοφίης, Λόγε, ἀστατέοντα Πάντα πέλειν, στασίμων ὥς κεν ἔχωμεν ἔρον. Πάντα νόου πτερύγεσσιν ἐπέδραμον, ὅσσα παλαιὰ, Ὅσσα νέα· θνητῶν δ' οὐδὲν ἀκιδνότερον. 781 Ἓν μόνον ἀνθρώποισι καλὸν καὶ ἔμπεδόν ἐστιν, Ἔνθεν ἀφορμᾶσθαι, σταυρὸν ἀειρομένους· ∆άκρυά τε, στοναχαί τε, νόος θείοισι μεμηλὼς, Ἐλπὶς, καὶ Τριάδος λάμψις ἐπουρανίης Μιγνυμένης καθαροῖσι, χοὸς λύσις ἀφραδέοντος, Εἰκόνος ἀφθορίη, τὴν λάχομεν θεόθεν· Ζώειν τ' ἀλλότριον ζωῆς βίον, ἀντὶ δὲ κόσμου Κόσμον ἀμειβομένους, ἄχθεα πάντα φέρειν.

ΙΖʹ. ∆ιαφόρων βίων μακαρισμοί. Ὄλβιος, ὅστις ἔρημον ἔχει βίον, οὐδ'

ἐπίμικτον Τοῖς χαμαὶ ἐρχομένοις, ἀλλ' ἐθέωσε νόον. Ὄλβιος, ὃς πολλοῖσι μεμιγμένος, οὐκ ἐπὶ πολλοῖς 782 Στρωφᾶτ', ἀλλὰ Θεῷ πέμψεν ὅλην κραδίην. Ὄλβιος, ὃς πάντων κτεάνων ὠνήσατο Χριστὸν, Καὶ κτέαρ οἶον ἔχει σταυρὸν, ὃν ὕψι φέρει. Ὄλβιος, ὃς καθαροῖσιν ἑοῖς κτεάτεσσιν ἀνάσσων, Χεῖρα Θεοῖο φέροι τοῖς ἐπιδευομένοις. Ὄλβιος ἀζυγέων μακάρων βίος, οἳ Θεότητος Εἰσὶ πέλας καθαρῆς, σάρκ' ἀποσεισάμενοι. Ὄλβιος, ὃς θεσμοῖσι γάμου τυτθὸν ὑποείξας. Πλειοτέρην Χριστῷ μοῖραν ἔρωτος ἄγει. Ὄλβιος, ὃς λαοῖο φέρων κράτος, εὐαγέεσσι Καὶ μεγάλαις θυσίαις Χριστὸν ἄγει χθονίοις. Ὄλβιος, ὅστις ἐὼν ποίμνης τέκος, οὐρανίοιο Χώραν ἄγει Χριστοῦ, θρέμμα τελειότατον. 783 Ὄλβιος, ὃς καθαροῖο νόου μεγάλῃσιν ἐρωαῖς, Οὐρανίων φαέων δέρκεται ἀγλαΐην. Ὄλβιος, ὃς χείρεσσι πολυκμήτοισιν Ἄνακτα Τίει, καὶ πολλοῖς ἐστι νόμος βιότου. Πάντα τάδ' οὐρανίων πληρώματα ἔπλετο ληνῶν, Αἳ καρποῦ ψυχῶν δέκτριαι ἡμετέρων, Ἄλλην ἀλλοίης ἀρετῆς ἐπὶ χώραν ἀγούσης. Πολλαὶ γὰρ πολλῶν εἰσι μοναὶ βιότων. Ὄλβιος, ὃν