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having conquered a certain country by military force, they divide it by geometry, when they wish to rule by the law of the kingdom, and a great thing of joy, of joy, for those who pursue only present goods, and that they become victors, and acquire abundant wealth, for whom it is impossible for any grief to be present; or since those skilled in these things say that syllogisms of necessity are particularly kindled by geometry, someone will reasonably be seen as burdensome, and not discerning what is fitting, reasoning with the mourner and trying to show that he mourns unreasonably; or perhaps one might say that reasoning is unfitting even for the mourner himself, contriving to persuade himself by the plausibility of words that he has not suffered the calamity that has befallen him in deed and in fact, or even to grief itself, that is, to its nature, it is completely contrary. For just as the mourner reasoning strikes out grief, so too grief ceases to be grief, being transformed into syllogism. For someone having lost him in whom he had hopes of succession, henceforth considers all things here superfluous. And in this way perhaps one might say that the things observed are not unreasonable, knowing that joy and grief cannot happen to each other at the same time, the creative cause of each clearly not having its origins from the same principles.
And a reliable witness of these things is the holy and God-minded Dionysius the Areopagite, thus discussing the angelic iconography: "And the geometrical and tectonic instruments, the foundational and constructive and perfecting, and as many other things as are of the uplifting and converting providence of secondary things." And all these things indicate a cheerful way of life, to which in every way (14∆_286> grief is contrary, and for this reason unfitting. And if it is possible to take the passage in another way, I do not think it is untimely, and to add to what has been said that of Jesus son of Sirach. And this is it: Music in mourning, an untimely narrative. Therefore, since music contains all the disciplines, of which those who have studied these things say geometry is one, for this reason, I think, agreeing with the one who set forth the aforementioned saying, the teacher said that geometry is unfitting for grief. But if someone should say. Why then, having passed over the other disciplines, has he taken up this one alone as unfitting for grief? We say that he considered this to be suitable for all the aforementioned purposes. Then, through this one, the others were also included synecdochically.
Let these things be said, so far as I am concerned. But if someone should discover something better, I will confess gratitude for having received knowledge from him of what I was ignorant of.
74. BY THE SAME, FROM THE GREAT THEOLOGICAL, ON, "FOR THAT GOD EXISTS
AND...". 1216 By the same, from the great theological, on, "for that
God exists and is the creative and sustaining cause of all things, both sight is a teacher and the natural law, the one encountering the things seen and well-fixed and proceeding, and immovably, so to speak, being moved and carried along, the other reasoning through the things seen and ordered to their originator."
He who [understands] the magnitude of the things seen as it relates to beauty and nature, with reason according to
perception having approached, not allowing it at all to act on its own, separated in any way from the reason that guides it, nor reason itself to be free from the simplicity of the mind, by which the forms (14∆_288> and the shapes of perception are naturally brought into all sorts of accounts through the power of reason, and the variety according to difference of the manifold accounts in existing things is gathered into a uniform and simple and indifferent [state] by the power of reason
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χώρας τινός διά στρατιωτικῆς κρατήσαντες χειρός γεωμετρίᾳ ταύτην καταδιαιροῦνται, ἡνίκα βασιλείας νόμῳ κρατεῖν ἐθέλωσι, χαρᾶς δέ καί χρῆμα μέγιστον, χαρᾶς, τοῖς μόνα τά παρόντα μεταδιώξουσιν ἀγαθά, καί τό νικητάς αὐτούς γενέσθαι, καί πλοῦτον ἀθρόον κτήσασθαι, οἶς τό οἱονοῦν πένθος συνεῖναι ἀμήχανον· ἤ ἐπειδή φασιν οἱ περί ταῦτα δεινοί τούς ἀναγκαστικούς ἰδίως συλλογισμούς ἀνῆφθαι τῇ γεωμετρίᾳ, φορτικός τις εἰκότως ὀφθήσεται, καί τό καθῆκον μή συνορῶν, τόν πενθοῦντα συλλογιζόμενος καί ἀλόγως αὐτόν πενθοῦντα δεῖξαι πειρώμενος· ἤ τυχόν καί αὐτῷ τῷ πενθοῦντι φαίη τις ἀνάρμοστον εἶναι τό συλλογίζεσθαι, πιθανότητι λόγων ἑαυτόν μηχανώμενος πείθειν ὡς οὐ πέπονθε τήν ἔργῳ καί πράγματι συμβᾶσαν αὐτῷ συμφοράν, ἤ καί αὐτῷ τῷ πένθει, ἤτοι τῇ τούτου φύσει, παντελῶς ἐναντίον. Ἐκκρούεται γάρ ὥσπερ τό πένθος ὁ πενθῶν συλλογιζόμενος, οὕτω καί τό πένθος τοῦ εἶναι πένθος ἐκπίπτει, πρός συλλογισμόν μετατιθέμενος. Ἀπολαβών γάρ τις τόν εἰς ὅν τάς ἐλπίδας εἶχε τῆς διαδοχῆς, περιττά λοιπόν ἡγεῖται τά τῇδε πάντα. Καί κατά τοῦτον ἴσως τόν τρόπον οὐκ ἔξω λόγου φαίη τις εἶναι τά θεωρηθέντα, γνούς μή δύνασθαι συμβαίνειν ἀλλήλοις κατά τό αὐτό τήν χαράν καί τό πένθος, τῆς ἑκατέρου ποιητικῆς αἰτίας οὐκ ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν ἀρχῶν ἐχούσης δηλονότι τάς ἀφορμάς.
Καί τούτων μάρτυς ἐχέγγυος ὁ ἅγιος καί θεόφρων ∆ιονύσιος ὁ Ἀρεοπαγίτης, οὐτωσί διεξιών περί τῆς ἀγγελικῆς εἰκονογραφίας· "Τά δέ γεωμετρικά καί τεκτονικά σκεύη, τό θεμελιωτικόν καί οἰκοδομικόν καί τελειωτικόν, καί ὅσα ἄλλα τῆς ἀναγωγοῦ καί ἐπιστρεπτικῆς ἐστι τῶν δευτέρων προνοίας». Ταῦτα δέ πάντα φαιδράν ἐνδείκνυται διαγωγήν, ᾗτινι πάντως (14∆_286> τό πένθος ἐναντίον, καί διά τοῦτο ἀνάρμοστον. Εἰ δέ καί ἄλλως ἔστιν ἐκλαβεῖν τόν τόπον, οὐκ ἄκαιρον εἶναι νομίζω, καί τό τοῦ Σιράχ Ἰησοῦ προσθεῖναι τοῖς εἰρημένοις. Ἔστι δέ τοῦτο· Μουσικά ἐν πένθει, ἄκαιρος διήγησις. Ὡς οὖν τῆς μουσικῆς πάσας περιεχούσης τάς παιδεύσεις, ὧν μίαν φασί τήν γεωμετρίαν οἱ περί ταῦτα τήν σπουδήν ἐσχηκότες, τούτου χάριν, ὡς οἶμαι, συμφερόμενος τῷ τήν προῤῥηθεῖσαν ἐκθεμένῳ ῥῆσιν ὁ διδάσκαλος ἀνάρμοστον ἔφη τῷ πένθει τήν γεωμετρίαν. Εἰ δέ τις φαίη. Τί δήποτε τάς λοιπάς παρείς παιδεύσεις ταύτην μόνην ὡς ἀνάρμοστον τῷ πένθει παρείληφε; φαμέν ὅτι ταύτην ἐσκόπησε κατάλληλον εἶναι πάσαις ταῖς προλεχθείσαις ἐπιβολαῖς. Ἔπειτα δέ καί διά ταύτης τῆς μιᾶς καί αἱ λοιπαί συνεκδοχικῶς συμπαρελήφθησαν.
Ταῦτα μέν, κατ᾿ ἐμέ φάναι, λελέχθω. Εἰ δέ τις τό κρεῖττον ἐξεύροι, ὁμολογήσω χάριν τῶν ἠγνοημένων παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ τήν γνῶσιν λαβών.
Ο∆ (74). ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ, ΕΚ ΤΟΥ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΥ, ΕΙΣ ΤΟ, «ΤΟΥ ΜΕΝ ΓΑΡ ΕΙΝΑΙ
ΘΕΟΝ ΚΑΙ..». 1216 Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τοῦ μεγάλου θεολογικοῦ, εἰς τό, «τοῦ μέν γάρ εἶναι
Θεόν καί τῶν πάντων ποιητικήν τε καί συνεκτικήν αἰτίαν, καί ὄψις διδάσκαλος καί ὁ φυσικός νόμος, ἡ μέν τοῖς ὁρωμένοις προσβάλλουσα καί πεπηγόσι καλῶς καί ὁδεύουσι, καί ἀκινήτως, ἵν᾿ οὕτως εἴπω, κινουμένοις τε καί φερομένοις, ὁ δέ διά τῶν ὁρωμένων καί τεταγμένων τόν ἀρχηγόν τούτων συλλογιζόμενος».
Ὁ τό μέγεθος τῶν ὁρωμένων ὡς ἔχει κάλλους καί φύσεως, σύν λόγῳ κατά
τήν αἴσθησιν ἐπελθών, μή συγχωρῶν αὐτῇ παντελῶς καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν γενομένην ἐνεργεῖν τοῦ ἡνιοχοῦντος αὐτήν λόγου ἐχωρισμένην οὐδέν, μηδέ τόν λόγον αὐτόν τῆς τοῦ νοῦ ἁπλότητος ἄφετον, καθ᾿ ὅν τῆς μέν αἰσθήσεως τά τε εἴδη (14∆_288> καί τά σχήματα διά μέσης τῆς κατά τόν λόγον δυνάμεως εἰς λόγους παντοδαπούς ἄγεσθαι πέφυκε, τῆς δέ τοῦ λόγου δυνάμεως ἡ κατά τήν διαφοράν ποικιλία τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι παντοδαπῶν λόγων εἰς ἑνοειδῆ καί ἁπλῆν καί ἀδιάφορον συνάγεσθαι