85

I have sent. Therefore, having read this carefully, you will know that I am seeking not only my own interest, but also yours, and not only both of these, but also that it has been composed on behalf of the God-bearing and our common fathers. Go through it then not once, but many times, so that you may store up in the treasury of your soul the profitable doctrines, and remember my words, which I have spoken many times to you in person, and guard yourself as much as you are able against the empty deceit of secular philosophy; or rather, hasten now to purify yourself, using both propitiatory prayers and cleansing words of health; for you seem to have partaken of unholy knowledge by not opposing his argument, nor (p. 436) at least showing displeasure at his opinion, but by appearing to admire the one who misrepresents the work and grace of the good Spirit for that of Belial.

And yet I myself consider the man to be among the best in his skill with words and I am persuaded that he is well disposed by nature towards nobility of character, and there is no way I cannot love him; yet not so as to concede anything far from what is right, and this in matters of doctrines and words concerning God and divine things; for it is not the part of a true friend either to grant such things or to consider unfriendly one who does not; but one must place the Friendly One before friends, and consider that friendship alone which is derived from that Cause and comes from there, and circulating through the loving ones in imitation of heaven, according to the harmony of the divine music in a double rotation benevolently counter-moving, it returns to God from both sides and keeps this sacred and heavenly revolution in perpetual motion; but this fleeting friendship which is always seeking what is lower, (for so it will also flow away), and for this reason concedes everything, it occurs to me to call a falling away from friendship rather than friendship.

For these reasons then I now draw out long arguments in reply, I who have neither learned, nor am now learning and, to put it simply, who knows nothing, and has made this very thing almost my way of life, to one who has learned and is learning and knows how to speak perfectly and has made this the careful concern of his life. Nevertheless, I restrained myself as I could; for know that I have made my defense not with leisure or diligence, but offhand, and have left out the greater part of what, in the letters to me, provides Barlaam with starting points and handles for longer arguments, partly out of reverence for divine things, and partly out of forbearance for the one who persecutes us; and indeed there are some things which required (p. 438) more intense and longer consideration than was possible in the time from the delivery of the letter to the time when we wrote in reply; for immediately after the return from you to us of the wise and most excellent Nilus the Thessalian, the one who was to succeed to his office and come from us to you was expected; now therefore, before you is the treatise which the short time has hastily produced, Against Hellenic Observation and Those who Venerate it; and if we should write a third letter, or rather, reply, it will be such as to no longer require a fourth, if the fathers with us also permit it.

But you, teach our philosopher not to rush into producing something rash and reckless, casting off the reverence that is innate to philosophy, as if it were some piece of equipment (for he both behaves unseemly and does damage with his offspring and, know well, he forces us to harsher arguments from our side), and since he has now appeared after a long time as an admirer and emulator of all the ancient sages and sophists among the Hellenes, it is not at all surprising that he himself is a new and common medley of things different to both groups and in both groups; wherefore, since they are refuted by one another, he, suffering this from himself and being exposed, would perhaps be less annoyed.

85

ἔπεμψα. Τοῦτον τοίνυν ἐμμελῶς ἀναγνούς, εἴσῃ μή τοὐμόν αὐτοῦ ζητοῦντά με μόνον, ἀλλά καί τό ὑμέτερον, καί μηδ᾿ ἀμφότερον τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλά καί ὑπέρ τῶν θεοφόρων καί κοινῶν ἡμῖν πατέρων ἐξειργασμένον. ∆ίελθε τοίνυν οὐχ ἅπαξ, ἀλλά καί πολλάκις, ὡς ἐναποθεῖο τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς σοι ταμείῳ τά λυσιτελῆ δόγματα, καί τῶν λόγων ἀναμνήσθητι τῶν ἐμῶν, οὕς πολλούς πολλάκις ἐποιησάμην πρός σέ συνόντα, καί τήν, καί τήν ἀπό τῆς ἔξω φιλοσοφίας κενήν ἀπάτῃν ᾗ δυνάμεως ἔχεις φυλάττου˙ μᾶλλον δέ καί σαυτόν νῦν ἀνακαθάραι σπεῦσον, ἱλαστηρίοις τε εὐχαῖς καί περιρραντηρίοις ὑγιαίνουσι λόγοις χρησάμενος˙ ἀνιέρου γάρ γνώσεως κεκοινωνηκέναι δοκεῖς τῷ μή ἀντικεῖσθαι λόγῳ, μηδέ (σελ. 436) γοῦν ἀπαρέσκεσθαι γνώμῃ, θαυμάζοντα δέ φαίνεσθαι τόν εἰς τήν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ Πνεύματος ἐνέργειάν τε καί χάριν τήν τοῦ Βελίαρ παραγνωρίσαντα.

Καίτοι τόν ἄνδρα τήν περί λόγους δεινότητα καί αὐτός τῶν ἀρίστων ἥγημαι καί πρός καλοκαγαθίαν τρόπων εὖ πεφυκέναι πείθομαι καί οὐκ ἔσθ᾿ ὅπως ἔχω μή φιλεῖν, οὐ μήν καί χαρίζεσθαί τι τῶν δεόντων πόρρω, καί ταῦτ᾿ ἐν τοῖς περί Θεοῦ καί τῶν θείων δόγμασι καί ρήμασι˙ οὐ γάρ πρός ἀληθῶς φιλοῦντος ἤ παρέχειν ἤ τόν μή παρέχοντά τι τῶν τοιούτων ἄφιλον ἡγεῖσθαι˙ ἀλλά πρό τῶν φίλων θετέον τόν φίλιον, καί ταύτην οἴεσθαι φιλίαν μόνην ἥ τῆς αἰτίας ἐκείνης ἐξῆται κἀκεῖθεν τε ἀφικνεῖται καί δι᾿ ἀλλήλων τῶν φιλούντων οὐρανομιμήτως περινοστοῦσα, κατά τήν τῆς θείας μουσικῆς ἁρμονίαν ἐν διπλόῃ περιφορᾶς ἀντεπιφερομένης εὐμενῶς, πρός Θεόν ἑκατέρωθεν ἐπανέρχεται καί τηρεῖ τήν ἱεράν ταύτην καί οὐρανίαν στροφήν ἀεικίνητον˙ τήν δέ ρέουσαν ταύτην καί τό κατώτερον ἀεί ζητοῦσαν, (οὕτω γάρ καί ρυήσεται), καί διά τοῦτο πάντα χαριζομένην, φιλίας ἔκπτωσιν μᾶλλον ἤ φιλίαν ἐμοί καλεῖν ἔπεισι.

Ταῦτ᾿ ἄρα καί μακρούς νῦν ἀντεπεξάγω λόγους, ὁ μήτ᾿ ἐκμαθών, μήτ᾿ ἀρτίως μανθάνων καί, τό σύμπαν εἰπεῖν, ὁ μηδέν εἰδώς, καί τοῦτ᾿ αὐτό βίον ἐμαυτῷ σχεδόν θέμενος, πρός τόν μεμαθηκότα καί μανθάνοντα καί λέγειν ἄκρως εἰδότα καί τοῦτο πεποιημένον ἐμμελές βίου μέλημα. Κατέσχον δ᾿ ὅμως ὡς ἔσχον ἐμαυτόν˙ ἴσθι γάρ με μή κατά σχολήν ἤ σπουδήν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου τήν ἀπολογίαν πεποιημένον καί τά πλείῳ τῶν πρός ἐμέ τῷ Βαρλαάμ γραμμάτων καί λόγων μειζόνων ἀφορμάς καί λαβάς παρέχοντα καταλελοιπότα, τοῦτο μέν τῇ τῶν θείων αἰδοῖ, τοῦτο δέ τῇ τοῦ διώκοντος ἡμᾶς φειδοῖ˙ καί μήν ἔστιν ἅ καί σκέψεως ἐδεῖτο (σελ. 438) συντονωτέρας τε καί μακροτέρας ἤ κατά τόν ἀπό τοῦ διακομισθέντος γράμματος ἄχρι τοῦ καθ᾿ ὅν ἀντιγεγράφαμεν χρόνον˙ προσδόκιμος γάρ ἦν εὐθύς μετά τήν ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν ὡς ἡμᾶς ἐπάνοδον τοῦ σοφοῦ καί χρηστοτάτου Θετταλοῦ Νείλου ὁ τήν οἰκονομίαν αὐτοῦ διαδεξόμενος καί παρ᾿ ἡμῶν πρός ὑμᾶς ἐλευσόμενος˙ νῦν μέν οὖν πρό σου προθύμως ὅν λόγον ὁ βραχύς Καθ᾿ ἑλληνικῆς ἐποψίας καί τῶν ταύτην σεμνυνόντων ἐσχεδίασε χρόνος˙ τρίτον δ᾿ ἄν ἐπιστείλωμεν, μᾶλλον δέ ἀντεπιστείλωμεν, τοιοῦτος ἔσται, ὡς μηκέτι δεῖσθαι τετάρτου, ἤν κάι οἱ παρ᾿ ἡμῖν πατέρες ἐνδῶσι.

Σύ δέ τόν φιλόσοφον ἡμῖν παίδευε μή θρασύ τι καί παράβολον ᾄττειν τίκτοντα, τήν συμπεφυκυῖαν τῇ φιλοσοφίᾳ, καθάπερ τινά σκευήν, εὐλάβειαν ἀποδυόμενον (αὐτός τε γάρ ἐνασχημονεῖ καί τοῖς τόκοις λυμαίνεται καί ἡμᾶς πρός τούς ἀπό γνώμης εὖ ἴσθι τραχυτέρους ἐκβιάζεται λόγους), διά μακροῦ δέ νῦν ἐπαινέτην τε καί ζηλωτήν ἀναφανέντα πάντων τῶν πάλαι καθ᾿ Ἕλληνας σοφῶν καί σοφιστῶν, οὐ θαυμαστόν εἶναί τι καί αὐτόν καινόν καί κοινόν συμφόρημα τῶν ἑκατέροις καί ἐν ἑκατέροις διαφόρων˙ ᾧ δή κἀκείνων ὑπ᾿ ἀλλήλων ἀνατρεπομένων, αὐτός ὑφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τοῦτο πάσχων ἐξεληλεγμένος ἧττον ἴσως ἀχθεσθείη ἄν.