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life, when compared, is a plaything, and anything else has become more insubstantial than this. Which he shows more clearly in the funeral oration for Caesarius, speaking thus: "Such is our life, brothers, of those who live for a season; such is the plaything on earth: not existing to come into being, and having come into being to be dissolved; we are a dream that does not last, a phantom that cannot be grasped, the flight of a bird passing by, a ship on the sea leaving no trace, dust, vapor, morning dew, a flower that grows in its season and in its season withers, man, his days are like grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes, thus the divine David beautifully philosophized about our weakness."

EPILOGUE

1417 These things, about which you were perplexed in the most divine words of our great Father and teacher Gregory and commanded me to speak, most blessed ones, I have spoken according to my ability. Rightly yielding to your command, I have spoken conjecturing, but not declaring. For our mind does not attain to the great and lofty thought of the God-bearing teacher, being still struck by many willful 14Ε_178 goads of the passions, in whose wounds it rather rejoices to be branded than to be cleansed by the graces of virtues, having acquired a sin-loving disposition through long custom of evil. And if they seem to you to have some account worthy of the subject, and not to fall wholly short of the truth, thanks be to God, who enlightened the low-lying (that he might work this wonder also) and earth-creeping mind, and granted a fitting word, to sketch the proportion of the things understood both for you who commanded it and for those who accomplished the whole thing by the help of your prayers. "But if I have erred not rightly or imperfectly and from the truth either wholly or in part " (for I bring to you in this also the great and God-revealing Dionysius as an advocate), " it would be of your loving-kindness to correct the one who is unwillingly ignorant, and to him who needs to learn, and to help him who does not have sufficient power, and to heal the one who does not wish to be sick, so that you may offer this also with your other good things, or rather before the others, as a precious offering and a sacrifice more venerable than any other to God, this loving-kindness, who in heaven and on earth is glorified by all creation, and who demands from us only the sacrifice of loving-kindness toward one another.

SCHOLIA ON THE WORKS OF SAINT DIONYSIUS *

PROLOGUE 14Ε_182 The nobility, and the distinction in wealth of the great

Dionysius and only the council-chamber of the Athenians, in which he was chosen to deliberate, presents. For this man was one of the Areopagites, as the divine Luke declared, narrating the sacred acts of the holy apostles; for having said that the most holy apostle Paul came to Athens, and entered into discussion with some of the philosophers of Epicurus, and indeed of the Stoa, and preached faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of the dead and the universal judgment, he was arrested by the unphilosophical (for not truly

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συγκρινομένη ζωή παίγνιόν ἐστι, καί πᾶν εἴ τι ἄλλο τούτου καθέστηκεν ἀνουσιώτερον. Ὅπερ ἐν τῷ εἰς Καισάριον ἐπιταφίῳ δείκνυσι σαφέστερον, οὑτωσί λέγων· "Τοιοῦτος ὁ βίος ἡμῶν, ἀδελφοί, τῶν ζώντων πρόσκαιρα· τοιοῦτο τό ἐπί γῆς παίγνιον· οὐκ ὄντας γενέσθαι, γενομένους ἀναλυθῆναι· ὄναρ ἐσμέν οὐχ ἱστάμενον, φάσμα τι μή κρατούμενον, πτῆσις ὀρνέου παρερχομένου, ναῦς ἐπί θαλάσσης ἴχνος οὐκ ἔχουσα, κόνις, ἀτμίς, ἐωθινή δρόσος, ἄνθος καιρῷ φυόμενον καί καιρῷ λυόμενον, ἄνθρωπος ὡσεί χόρτος αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτοῦ, ὡσεί ἄνθος τοῦ ἀγροῦ, οὕτως ἐξανθήσει, καλῶς ὁ θεῖος ∆αβίδ περί τῆς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ἐφιλοσόφησε».

ΕΠΙΛΟΓΟΣ

1417 Ταῦτα περί ὧν τοῖς θειοτάτοις τοῦ μεγάλου Πατρός ἡμῶν καί διδασκάλου Γρηγορίου λόγοις ἠπορήσατε καί εἰπεῖν ἐκελεύσατέ μοι, μακαριώτατοι, κατά τήν ἐμήν δύναμιν. Τῷ ὑμετέρῳ νεύματι δικαίως ὑπείκων ἔφην ἐγώ στοχαζόμενος, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀποφαινόμενος. Οὐ γάρ ἐφικνεῖται τῆς μεγάλης καί ὑψηλῆς τοῦ θεοφόρου διδασκάλου διανοίας ὁ ἡμέτερος νοῦς, πολλαῖς ἔτι 14Ε_178 κατά θέλησιν ἀκίσι παθῶν βαλλόμενος, ὧν τοῖς μώλωψι μᾶλλον χαίρει στιζόμενος ἤ χάρισιν ἀρετῶν καθαιρόμενος, διά τήν μακράν τοῦ κακοῦ συνήθειαν ἕξιν λαβών φιλαμαρτήμονα. Καί εἰ μέν φανῶσιν ὑμῖν τινα λόγον ἔχειν τῆς ὑποθέσεως ἄξιον, καί μή πάντη τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπολειπόμενον, τῷ Θεῷ χάρις, τῷ τήν χαμαίζηλον (ἵνα καί τοῦτο θαυματουργήσῃ) καί χαμαιπετῆ διάνοιαν φωτίσαντι, καί λόγον σύμμετρον χαρισαμένῳ, πρός τό χαράξαι τήν συμμετρίαν τῶν νοηθένων καί ὑμῖν τοῖς ὑποτάξασι καί τῇ τῶν εὐχῶν βοηθείᾳ τό πᾶν κατορθώσασιν. " Εἰ δέ οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἤ ἀτελῶς καί τῆς ἀληθείας ἤ ὁλικῶς ἤ μερικῶς ἀποπεπλάνημαι " (τόν γάρ μέγαν καί θεοφάντορα κἀν τούτῳ σοι προσφέρω ∆ιονύσιον παρακλήτορα) , " τῆς σῆς ἄν εἴη φιλανθρωπίας ἐπανορθώσασθαι τόν ἀκουσίως ἀγνοοῦντα, καί μαθεῖν δεομένῳ, καί ἐπαμῦναι τῷ μή αὐτάρκη δύναμιν ἔχοντι, καί ἰάσασθαι τόν οὐκ ἐθέλοντα ἀῤῥωστεῖν, ἵνα καί τοῦτο μετά τῶν ἄλλων σου καλῶν, μᾶλλον δέ πρό τῶν ἄλλων, ἀνάθημα τίμιον καί πάσης θυσίας αἰδεσιμώτερον ἱερουργήσῃς τῷ Θεῷ τήν φιλανθρωπίαν, τῷ ἐν οὐρανῷ καί ἐπί γῆς παρά πάσης δοξαζομένῳ τῆς κτίσεως, καί μόνην ἀπαιτοῦντι παρ᾿ ἡμῶν θυσίαν τήν εἰς ἀλλήλους φιλανθρωπίαν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ∆ΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ *

ΠΡΟΛΟΓΟΣ 14Ε_182 Τήν μέν εὐγένειαν, τό τε περιφανές ἐν πλούτῳ μεγάλου

∆ιονυσίου καί μόνον αὐτό τό κατά Ἀθηναίους βουλευτήριον, καθ' ὅ βουλεύειν ᾑρέθη, παρίστησι. Τῶν γάρ Ἀρεοπαγιτῶν εἷς ἐτύγχανεν οὖτος, ὡς ὁ θεῖος ἐδήλωσε Λουκᾶς, ἱστορῶν τάς τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων ἱεράς πράξεις· εἰπών γάρ τόν ἁγιωτάτων ἀπόστολον Παῦλον γενόμενον ἐν Ἀθήναις, συμβαλόντα τέ τισιν εἰς λόγους τῶν ἐξ Ἐπικούρου φιλοσόφων, καί τῶν γε μήν ἀπό τῆς στοᾶς, καί κηρύξαντα τήν εἰς τόν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν πίστιν, τήν τε τῶν νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν καί τήν καθολικήν κρίσιν, συλληφθῆναι παρά τῶν ἀφιλοσόφων (οὑ γάρ ἀληθῶς