Gregory of Nazianzus, Moral Songs

Consider virtue for me, But of the worst things, the opposite disease; The one a gift of God, the other an invention. Beauty in everything is good harmony, But ugliness, an outrage to beauty, as my word has it. Courage is steadfastness in the face of terrible things; Rashness is boldness towards what should not be dared. Cowardice is a certain shrinking from what should be dared. Temperance is mastery over pleasures; The defeat by these, I call licentiousness. 950 Justice is not to seek to have more; The departure from equality, this is injustice. Prudence is experience in affairs. Let wisdom be considered the vision of things that are. Simplicity is a certain disposition inactive towards evil. Duplicity is the villainy of character. Pleasure is a certain smoothness of the soul; Grief is a stinging and confusion of the heart. Care is a twisting, anxiety is more so. Deliberation, an opposition of reasonings regarding what is to be done. Judgment is the fixing of the mind's counsels; I know despondency as the casting away of these. Envy is a wasting away at the good fortune of one's neighbors. 951 Malignity is also harm through envy. But blame of the worst things is a praiseworthy passion. Shame is a certain shrinking out of fear of disgrace. The contempt of shame is recklessness. Eagerness is a certain application to the things at hand; I know sloth as the dissolution of this. Hesitation is a reluctance to move towards something. Zeal is on the one hand imitation, and on the other a certain vexation. When affection is stolen for a desired stranger, The ancients call this jealousy. Boastfulness, I know as a swelling of the heart; Conceit, an inflammation which levity raises up. To me, arrogant and ostentatious. Stubbornness, I call self-satisfaction. 952 Humility, not to think worthy things of oneself. The semblance of this is irony. Liberality is a simple giving of money. The squandering of these I know as prodigality. Illiberality I call stinginess. Magnificence is the splendor of works; Pettiness, to think great things of small matters. Of a great-souled man, to bear all things easily; But not even small things, this is of small-souledness. Ambition is a moderate desire for honor. But vanity is also beyond the moderate. Know vainglory as a desire for empty things; Opinion, that we are such and such, or seem to be. Another kind of opinion, the appearances of things. 953 Insolence is the unfriendly Act and word of a hostile person. An abusive person brings shameful things. A rebuke is unpunished censure from a friend. An accusation is a charge concerning things to be punished; The one that is not true becomes slander; The secret one should be called calumny by you. An unaccountable rebuke is blasphemy. An evil-speaker is one who arms his mouth against all. Wit is cheerfulness in a gathering. But buffoonery is cheerfulness beyond reason. The uselessness of speech is folly. Laughter, a bubbling of the cheek, a throbbing of the heart. Call the immoderate use of wine drunkenness, And the outrages from drunkenness, drunken violence. 954 A hangover is the stale insolence from drunkenness. Murder is on the one hand of bodies, on the other of an image; Both are a dissolution of the dear harmony. Fornication and adultery, the one of bodies Is a certain theft of what belongs to others, the other is also of demons; Whenever the love of God falls to enemies. An idolater is one who also worships gold. If benefit is to receive gain for the soul, Harm becomes the penalizing of it. Mercy is sympathy for misfortune. Pity would be to do some good to the one who has suffered. Character is a certain disposition towards affairs; Ethos is a formation that speaks of character. Teaching, an impression by deed and word. 955 But the best word is a physician of evils; But the one not best is also a destroyer of good things. Consider contemplation the examination of intelligible things. Action is a certain activity towards things to be done. A state is a certain persistent quality. The offspring of this, I call activity. Art is a system from experience; An indissoluble state, which I call knowledge. That for the sake of which other things are, is the end. A mark is that at which one aims with the end. Suppose supplication to be the asking for things needed; Know prayer to be for better things; A vow is a certain promise of propitiation; Propitiation, a gift brought for honor, Praise is to speak well of something of mine. Laud is venerable praise to God. 956 A hymn is melodious laud, as I suppose. A psalm with a song becomes psalmody. To state things that are, as they are, is truthfulness; But as they are not, is falsehood. And the battle of reason Against steep reason, than which what is worse for life? An oath is indeed an assurance

ἀρετὴν νόμιζέ μοι, Τῶν δ' αὖ κακίστων, τὴν ἐναντίαν νόσον· Τὴν μὲν Θεοῦ δώρημα, τὴν δ' ἐφεύρεσιν. Κάλλος δὲ παντός ἐστιν εὐαρμοστία, Αἶσχος δὲ, κάλλους ὕβρις, ὡς ἐμὸς λόγος. Ἀνδρεία δ' ἔστι πρὸς τὰ δεινὰ στεῤῥότης Θράσος δὲ, θάρσος πρὸς τὰ μὴ τολμητέα. ∆ειλία δὲ, συστολή τις εἰς τολμητέα. Ἡ σωφροσύνη δ' ἐπικράτησις ἡδονῶν· Ἧτταν δὲ τούτων, τὴν ἀσέλγειαν λέγω. 950 ∆ικαιοσύνη δὲ, μὴ πλέον ζητεῖν ἔχειν· Τῆς δ' ἰσότητος ἔκβασις, τοῦτ' ἀδικία. Φρόνησίς ἐστι πραγμάτων ἐμπειρία. Σοφία νομιζέσθω δὲ τῶν ὄντων θέα. Ἡ δ' ἁπλότης ἕξις τις ἀργὴ πρὸς κακόν. Ἡ διπλόη δὲ, τοῦ τρόπου κακουργία. Ἡ δ' ἡδονὴ, ψυχῆς τίς ἐστι λειότης· Λύπη δὲ, δηγμὸς καρδίας καὶ σύγχυσις. Φροντὶς δ' ἑλιγμὸς, ἡ μέριμνα τὸ πλέον. Σκέψις, λογισμῶν ἀντίθεσις εἰς πρακτέα. Κρίσις δὲ πῆξις τῶν νοὸς βουλευμάτων· Ῥίψιν δὲ τούτων οἶδα τὴν ἀκηδίαν. Φθόνος δὲ τῆξις εὐροούντων τῶν πέλας. Ἡ βασκανία δὲ καὶ βλάβη διὰ φθόνον. 951 Τῶν δ' αὖ κακίστων μέμψις, αἰνετὸν πάθος Αἰδὼς δὲ συστολή τίς ἐστ' αἴσχους φόβῳ. Αἰδοῦς δὲ περιφρόνησις, ἡ ἰταμότης. Σπουδὴ δὲ, σύστασίς τις εἰς προκείμενα· Λύσιν δὲ ταύτης οἶδα τὴν ῥαθυμίαν. Ὁ δ' ὄκνος ἐστὶ πρός τι δυσκινησία. Ζῆλος δ' ὁ μὲν μίμησις, ὁ δ' ἀνία τις. Φίλτρου κλαπέντος εἰς ξένον ποθούμενον, Καλοῦσι δ' αὐτὴν ζηλοτυπίαν οἱ πάλαι. Ἀλαζονείαν, ὄγκον οἶδα καρδίας· Τύφον δ', ἄναψιν, ἣν ἐγείρει κουφότης. Ὑπερήφανος δ' ἔμοιγε καὶ φανητίας. Τὴν δ' αὐθάδειαν, αὐταρέσκειαν λέγω. Ταπεινοφροσύνη, μὴ φρονεῖν ἐπάξιον. 952 Ταύτης δόκησίς ἐστιν ἡ εἰρωνεία. Ἐλευθερία δὲ χρημάτων ἀπλῆ δόσις. Τούτων λάφυξιν οἶδα τὴν ἀσωτίαν. Ἀνελευθερίαν δέ φημι τὴν φειδωλίαν. Μεγαλοπρέπεια δ' ἔστιν ἔργων λαμπρότης· Μικροπρέπεια, τὸ φρονεῖν μικροῖς μέγα. Μεγαλόφρονος, τὸ πάντα εὐπετῶς φέρειν· Τὸ δ' οὐδὲ μικρὰ, τοῦτο μικροψυχίας. Φιλοτιμί' ἐστὶ μέτριος τιμῆς πόθος. Ἡ χαυνότης δὲ, καὶ πέρα τοῦ μετρίου. Κενῶν δ' ὄρεξιν ἴσθι κενοδοξίαν· ∆όξαν, τὸ τοῖον ἡμῖν, ἢ τοῖον δοκεῖν. Ἄλλη δὲ δόξα, πραγμάτων φαντάσματα. Ὕβρις μέν ἐστι δυσμενοῦς οὐκ εὐμενὴς 953 Πρᾶξις, λόγος τε. Λοίδορος δ' αἴσχη φέρει. Μέμψις δ' ἀτιμώρητος ἐκ φίλου ψόγος. Κατηγορία δ' ἔγκλημα τῶν κολαστέων· Ἡ δ' οὐκ ἀληθὴς γίνεται, συκοφαντία· Ἡ λάθριος δὲ, διαβολή σοι κλητέα. Μέμψις ἀνεύθυνός τις, ἡ βλασφημία. Κακήγορος δ', ὃς πᾶσιν ὁπλίζει στόμα. Ἀστειότης μὲν, φαιδρότης ἐν συλλόγῳ. Ἡ δ' εὐτραπελία, φαιδρότης ἔξω λόγου. Λόγου δὲ μωρί' ἐστὶν ἡ ἀχρηστία. Γέλως, παρειᾶς βράσμα, παλμὸς καρδίας. Οἴνου δ' ἄμετρον χρῆσιν εἰπὲ τὴν μέθην, Τὰ δ' ἐκ μέθης ὑβρίσμαθ', ἡ παροινία. Ἡ κραιπάλη δ' ἕωλος ὕβρις ἐκ μέθης. 954 Φόνος δ' ὁ μέν τις σωμάτων, ὁ δ' εἰκόνος· Ἄμφω δὲ λύσις τῆς φίλης ἁρμονίας. Πορνεία καὶ μοιχεία, ἡ μὲν σωμάτων Ξένων κλοπή τις, ἡ δέ τις καὶ δαιμόνων· Ὅταν Θεοῦ τὸ φίλτρον εἰς ἐχθροὺς πέσῃ. Εἰδωλολάτρης δ' ὃς σέβει καὶ χρυσίον. Εἰ δ' ὠφέλεια, κέρδος εἰς ψυχὴν λαβεῖν, Βλάβη, τὸ ταύτην ζημιῶσαι, γίνεται. Ἔλεος μέν ἐστι συμπάθεια συμφορᾶς. Οἶκτος δέ κ' εὖ τι τὸν πεπονθότα δράσαι. Ἕξις δὲ ποιὰ πρὸς τὰ πράγμαθ', ὁ τρόπος· Ἦθος δὲ πλάσμα τοῦ τρόπου κατήγορον. ∆ιδασκαλία, τύπωσις ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ. Λόγος δ' ἄριστός ἐστι φαρμακεὺς κακῶν· 955 Ὁ δ' οὐκ ἄριστος, καὶ καλῶν ἀναιρέτης. Σκέψιν νοητῶν, τὴν θεωρίαν νόει. Πρᾶξις δ' ἐνέργειά τις εἰς τὰ πρακτέα. Ἕξις μέν ἐστι ποιότης τις ἔμμονος. Τόκον δὲ ταύτης, τὴν ἐνέργειαν λέγω. Τέχνη μέν ἐστι σύνταγμ' ἐξ ἐμπειρίας· Ἕξις δ' ἄλυτος, ἣν ἐπιστήμην λέγω. Ὃ μὴ χάριν τοῦ, τἄλλα δι' αὐτοῦ, τέλος. Σκοπὸς δὲ δή τις, ᾧ τέλει σπουδάζεται. ∆έησιν οἴου, τὴν αἴτησιν ἐνδεῶν· Τὴν δὲ προσευχὴν ἴσθι τῶν ἀμεινόνων· Εὐχὴν δ' ὑπόσχεσίν τιν' ἐξιλάσματος· Τὸ δ' ἐξίλασμα, δῶρον εἰς τιμὴν φέρον, Ἔπαινός ἐστιν εὖ τι τῶν ἐμῶν φράσαι. Αἶνος δ' ἔπαινος εἰς Θεὸν σεβάσμιος. 956 Ὁ δ' ὕμνος, αἶνος ἐμμελὴς, ὡς οἴομαι. Ψαλμὸς σὺν ᾠδῇ γίγνεται ψαλμῳδία. Τὰ ὄντα φάσκειν, ὡς ἔχει, ἀψευδία· Ὡς δ' οὐκ ἔχει, ψεῦδος. Καὶ τοῦ λόγου μάχη Λόγον προσάντη, οὗ τί χεῖρον τῷ βίῳ; Ὅρκος δὲ δὴ πίστωσις