Oration XVIII. Funeral Oration on His Father, in the Presence of S. Basil.

 1.  O man of God, and faithful servant,

 2.  Tell me, however, whence do you come, what is your business, and what favour do you bring us?  Since I know that you are entirely moved with and b

 3.  There are, as I said, three causes to necessitate your presence, all of equal weight, ourselves, the pastor, and the flock:  come then, and accord

 4.  Thus might you console us but what of the flock?  Would you first promise the oversight and leadership of yourself, a man under whose wings we al

 5.  Leaving to the laws of panegyric the description of his country, his family, his nobility of figure, his external magnificence, and the other subj

 6.  Even before he was of our fold, he was ours.  His character made him one of us.  For, as many of our own are not with us, whose life alienates the

 7.  I have heard the Scripture say:  Who can find a valiant woman? and declare that she is a divine gift, and that a good marriage is brought about by

 8.  She indeed who was given to Adam as a help meet for him, because it was not good for man to be alone, instead of an assistant became an enemy, and

 9.  What time or place for prayer ever escaped her?  To this she was drawn before all other things in the day or rather, who had such hope of receivi

 10.  And if it was a great thing for the altar never to have had an iron tool lifted upon it, and that no chisel should be seen or heard, with greater

 11.  I pass by in silence what is still more ineffable, of which God is witness, and those of the faithful handmaidens to whom she has confided such t

 12.  These were the objects of her prayers and hopes, in the fervour of faith rather than of youth.  Indeed, none was as confident of things present a

 13.  After a short interval, wonder succeeded wonder.  I will commend the account of it to the ears of the faithful, for to profane minds nothing that

 14.  Nor indeed would anyone disbelieve this who has heard and knows that Moses, when little in the eyes of men, and not yet of any account, was calle

 15.  Why need I count up all those who have been called to Himself by God and associated with such wonders as confirmed him in his piety?  Nor was it

 16.  He received a woodland and rustic church, the pastoral care and oversight of which had not been bestowed from a distance, but it had been cared f

 17.  What else must we say of this great man of God, the true Divine, under the influence, in regard to these subjects, of the Holy Ghost, but that th

 18.  To give a proof of what I say.  When a tumult of the over-zealous part of the Church was raised against us, and we had been decoyed by a document

 19.  Who could enumerate the full tale of his excellences, or, if he wished to pass by most of them, discover without difficulty what can be omitted? 

 20.  Who was more anxious than he for the common weal?  Who more wise in domestic affairs, since God, who orders all things in due variation, assigned

 21.  But what is best and greatest of all, his magnanimity was accompanied by freedom from ambition.  Its extent and character I will proceed to show.

 22.  So bounteous was his hand—further details I leave to those who knew him, so that if anything of the kind is borne witness to in regard to myself,

 23.  Who did more to rebuke pride and foster lowliness?  And that in no assumed or external way, as most of those who now make profession of virtue, a

 24.  But what was most excellent and most characteristic, though least generally recognized, was his simplicity, and freedom from guile and resentment

 25.  We both believe in and hear of the dregs of the anger of God, the residuum of His dealings with those who deserve it:  For the Lord is a God of v

 26.  The dew would more easily resist the morning rays of the sun, than any remains of anger continue in him but as soon as he had spoken, his indign

 27.  Such and so remarkable being his gentleness, did he yield the palm to others in industry and practical virtue?  By no means.  Gentle as he was, h

 28.  One of the wonders which concern him was that he suffered from sickness and bodily pain.  But what wonder is it for even holy men to be distresse

 29.  What then was the response of Him who was the God of that night and of the sick man?  A shudder comes over me as I proceed with my story.  And th

 30.  The same miracle occurred in the case of my mother not long afterwards.  I do not think it would be proper to pass by this either:  for we shall

 31.  I was on a voyage from Alexandria to Greece over the Parthenian Sea.  The voyage was quite unseasonable, undertaken in an Æginetan vessel, under

 32.  Such were their common experiences.  But I imagine that some of those who have had an accurate knowledge of his life must have been for a long wh

 33.  A further story of the same period and the same courage.  The city of Cæsarea was in an uproar about the election of a bishop for one had just d

 34.  The Emperor had come, raging against the Christians he was angry at the election and threatened the elect, and the city stood in imminent peril

 35.  Who is so distant from this world of ours, as to be ignorant of what is last in order, but the first and greatest proof of his power?  The same c

 36.  The things of the Spirit were exactly known to the man of the Spirit, and he felt that he must take up no submissive position, nor side with fact

 37.  From the same zeal proceeded his opposition to the heretics, when, with the aid of the Emperor’s impiety, they made their expedition, in the hope

 38.  Another of his excellences I must not leave unnoticed.  In general, he was a man of great endurance, and superior to his robe of flesh:  but duri

 39.  And since some living memorial of his munificence ought to be left behind, what other is required than this temple, which he reared for God and f

 40.  What sayest thou, my father?  Is this sufficient, and dost thou find an ample recompense for all thy toils, which thou didst undergo for my learn

 41.  And what do you think of us, O judge of my words and motions?  If we have spoken adequately, and to the satisfaction of your desire, confirm it b

 42.  The nature of God, my mother, is not the same as that of men indeed, to speak generally, the nature of divine things is not the same as that of

 43.  Does the sense of separation cause you pain?  Let hope cheer you.  Is widowhood grievous to you?  Yet it is not so to him.  And what is the good

42.  The nature of God, my mother, is not the same as that of men; indeed, to speak generally, the nature of divine things is not the same as that of earthly things.  They possess unchangeableness and immortality, and absolute being with its consequences, for sure are the properties of things sure.  But how is it with what is ours?  It is in a state of flux and corruption, constantly undergoing some fresh change.  Life and death, as they are called, apparently so different, are in a sense resolved into, and successive to, each other.  For the one takes its rise from the corruption which is our mother, runs its course through the corruption which is the displacement of all that is present, and comes to an end in the corruption which is the dissolution of this life; while the other, which is able to set us free from the ills of this life, and oftentimes translates us to the life above, is not in my opinion accurately called death, and is more dreadful in name than in reality; so that we are in danger of irrationally being afraid of what is not fearful, and courting as preferable what we really ought to fear.  There is one life, to look to life.  There is one death, sin, for it is the destruction of the soul.  But all else, of which some are proud, is a dream-vision, making sport of realities, and a series of phantasms which lead the soul astray.  If this be our condition, mother, we shall neither be proud of life, nor greatly hurt, by death.  What grievance can we find in being transferred hence to the true life?  In being freed from the vicissitudes, the agitation, the disgust, and all the vile tribute we must pay to this life, to find ourselves, amid stable things, which know no flux, while as lesser lights, we circle round the great light?87    Gen. i. 16.

ΜΒʹ. Οὐχ ἡ αὐτὴ φύσις, ὦ μῆτερ, Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων: μᾶλλον δὲ ὅλως τῶν θείων καὶ τῶν ἐπιγείων. Παρ' ἐκείνοις μὲν τὸ ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀθάνατον, αὐτοῦ τε τοῦ εἶναι, καὶ τῶν ὅσα τοῦ εἶναι: τῶν γὰρ παγίων τὰ πάγια. Τὰ δὲ ἡμέτερα πῶς ἔχει; Ῥεῖ τε καὶ φθείρεται, καὶ ἄλλοτε ἄλλην λαμβάνει μεταβολήν. Ζωὴ γοῦν καὶ θάνατος, ταῦθ' ἅπερ λέγεται, πλεῖστον ἀλλήλων διαφέρειν δοκοῦντα, εἰς ἄλληλα περιχωρεῖ πως καὶ ἀντικαθίσταται. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ φθορᾶς ἀρχομένη τῆς μητρὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ διὰ φθορᾶς ὁδεύουσα τῆς ἀεὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἐκστάσεως, εἰς φθορὰν καταστρέφει τὴν τοῦ βίου τούτου κατάλυσιν: ὁ δὲ τῶν ἐνταῦθα κακῶν ἀπαλλαγὴν ἔχων, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄνω πολλάκις μετάγων ζωὴν, οὐκ οἶδα εἰ κυρίως προσαγορεύοιτο θάνατος, ἐν ὀνόματι μᾶλλον ἢ πράγματι τὸ φοβερὸν ἔχων: καὶ κινδυνεύομεν πάσχειν πως ἄλογον πάθος, ἃ μὲν ἔστιν οὐ φοβερὰ δεδοικότες, ἃ δὲ φοβεῖσθαι ἄξιον ὡς αἱρετώτερα περιέποντες. Μία ζωὴ, πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν βλέπειν: εἷς θάνατος, ἡ ἁμαρτία: ψυχῆς γὰρ ὄλεθρος. Τἄλλα δὲ, οἷς μέγα φρονοῦσί τινες, ὀνειράτων ὄψις ἐστὶ κατὰ τῶν ὄντων παίζουσα, καὶ ψυχῆς ἀπατηλὰ φάσματα. Ἂν οὕτως ἔχωμεν, ὦ μῆτερ, οὔτε τῇ ζωῇ μέγα φρονήσομεν, οὔτε τῷ θανάτῳ λίαν ἀνιασόμεθα. Τί τοίνυν δεινὸν πεπόνθαμεν, εἰ πρὸς τὴν ἀληθινὴν ζωὴν ἐνθένδε μεταβεβήκαμεν; εἰ στροφῶν, καὶ ἰλίγγων, καὶ κόρων, καὶ τῆς αἰσχρᾶς φορολογίας ἀπηλλαγμένοι, μετὰ τῶν ἑστώτων καὶ οὐ ῥεόντων ἐσόμεθα φῶτα μικρὰ, φῶς τὸ μέγα περιχορεύοντες;