Gregory of Nyssa, On the Creation of Man

food, and to all the beasts of the earth, and to all the birds of the sky, and to every reptile creeping on the earth. And yet <ἂν> someone might say: we see now that most of the beasts are not fed with fruits. For with what fruit can a leopard bear to be fed? And what fruit can feed a lion? But let him know, that even 50athese, subject to the law of nature, were formerly nourished with fruits; but when man changed his diet and transgressed the boundaries given to him, after the flood the Lord, knowing that men were unsparing, granted the enjoyment of all things: for you shall eat these as the green herbs. By this concession, the other animals also immediately received permission to eat flesh. From that time, then, the lion was bloodthirsty; from that time also vultures † as soon as living things were born, scanned the earth. For not yet had anything of those indicated or made by God died, so that vultures might be fed; nor did nature separate things, for it was in its prime; nor did hunters destroy them, for this was not yet a human pursuit; nor did wild beasts tear them apart, for they were not yet bloodthirsty. (For it is customary for vultures to feed on corpses.) So there were not yet 51acorpses, not yet a stench, not yet such food for vultures, but all lived the life of swans, and every one grazed in the meadows. And just as we see dogs often eating grass for the sake of healing (not because this food is natural to them, but because by some untaught instruction of nature the irrational creatures come to what is beneficial for them), so consider that even then the animals that are now carnivorous devised grass as food for themselves, not plotting against each other. For of what sort the restoration will be after these things, of such a sort was also the first creation. And man returns to his ancient and first state, having put away wickedness, the depravity concerning this earthly and painful life, the cares and anxieties about these worldly things that trouble the soul. Therefore, putting all these things away, he returns to that life in paradise, the one not enslaved to the passions of the flesh, the free one, the one companion to angels, the one at home with God. But these things have been said by us, not because we wish to shut man out from the use of foods permitted by God, but so that we may bless the former time. What life was like then, how free from want, how content with little. How very few and easily obtained were the things that contributed to the conduct of life for men, and how the cause of 52asin later introduced for us the variety of diet. For since we fell from the true luxury of paradise, we devised for ourselves adulterated luxuries; and since we no longer see the tree of life nor delight in its beauty, there were given to us for our enjoyment cooks, at last, and bakers and varieties of cakes and incenses and such things to console us for our fall from thence. Just as those who are sick, when they are overcome by a severe illness, being unable to partake of the usual enjoyment of foods, receive their consolations from physicians by means of scents and certain such enticements; for since they have fallen from more solid things, those who flatter their senses devise the treatment for them with an enjoyment commensurate with their weakness. But even now let us who wish to conduct ourselves in imitation of the life in paradise flee entirely this multifarious enjoyment of foods, and let us be led up to that former life, as far as is possible, using fruits and seeds and nuts for sufficient nourishment, sending away anything superfluous of these as unnecessary. Not because 53athey are abominable; for all things have come from God; but because they are harmful on account of the carnal passions. And God rested from all his works on the seventh day. Let the arithmeticians say, and those who have devoted themselves to such things and have put forth such wisdom as some great accomplishment, some that the number six is akin to the creation of the world, others that it is prolific and begets many figures of numbers

βρῶσιν καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ παντὶ ἑρπετῷ ἕρποντι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. καὶ μὴν <ἂν> εἴποι τις· ὁρῶμεν ἀρτίως τὰ πλείονα τῶν θηρίων καρποῖς μὴ τρεφόμενα. ποίῳ γὰρ καρπῷ ἀνέχεται πάρδαλις τρέφεσθαι; τίς δὲ καρπὸς δύναται λέοντα θρέψαι; ἀλλ' ἴστω, ὅτι καὶ 50aταῦτα τῷ νόμῳ τῆς φύσεως ὑποτεταγμένα καρποῖς τὸ πρὶν διετρέφετο· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐξεδιῃτήθη καὶ ἐξέβη τοὺς ὅρους τοὺς δεδομένους αὐτῷ, μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν εἰδὼς ὁ κύριος ἀφειδεῖς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους πάντων τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν συνεχώρησε· φάγεσθε γὰρ ταῦτα ὡς λάχανα χόρτου. ταύτῃ τῇ συγχωρήσει καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ζῷα εὐθὺς ἔλαβε τὴν τοῦ σαρκοφαγεῖν ἄδειαν. ἐξ ἐκείνου λοιπὸν αἱμοβόρος ὁ λέων, ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ γῦπες † ὁμοῦ τῷ γεννηθῆναι ζῷα περιεσκόπουν τὴν γῆν· οὔπω γάρ τι ἀπέθανε τῶν παρὰ θεοῦ σημαινομένων ἢ γενομένων, ἵνα γῦπες τραφῶσιν· οὔτε φύσις διεχώριζεν, ἀκμαία γάρ· οὔτε θηραταὶ ἀνάλωσαν, οὔπω γὰρ ἐπιτήδευσις ἀνθρώπων· οὔτε θηρία διέσπα, οὔπω γὰρ ἦν αἱμοβόρα. (γυψὶ δὲ σύνηθες ἀπὸ νεκρῶν διαιτᾶσθαι.) ὥστε οὔπω ἦν 51aνεκρά, οὔπω δυσωδία, οὔπω τοιαύτη τροφὴ γυπῶν, ἀλλὰ πάντες τὰ κύκνων διῃτῶντο καὶ πάντα τοὺς λειμῶνας ἐπενέμετο. καὶ οἷα ὁρῶμεν κύνας θεραπείας ἕνεκεν πολλάκις ἄγρωστιν ἐσθίοντας (οὐκ ἐπειδὴ συμφυὴς αὐτοῖς ἐστιν ἡ τροφή, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἀδιδάκτῳ τινὶ φύσεως διδασκαλίᾳ ἐπὶ τὸ συμφέρον ἔρχεται τὰ ἄλογα), τοιαῦτα λόγισαι καθεστάναι καὶ τότε τὰ νῦν ὠμοβόρα τῶν ζῴων χόρτον ἑαυτοῖς τροφὴν ἐπινοεῖν οὐκ ἀλλήλοις ἐπιβουλεύοντα. ὁποία γὰρ μέλλει εἶναι μετὰ ταῦτα ἡ ἀποκατάστασις, τοιαύτη πάντως ἦν καὶ ἡ πρώτη γένεσις. ἐπανέρχεται δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ τὴν παλαιὰν αὐτοῦ καὶ πρώτην κατάστασιν τῆς πονηρίας ἀφέμενος, τῆς περὶ τὴν γεηρὰν ταύτην καὶ ὀδυνηρὰν ζωὴν μοχθηρίας, τῶν περὶ τὰ βιωτικὰ ταῦτα τὰ τὴν ψυχὴν συνθολοῦντα φροντίδων καὶ μεριμνῶν. ταῦτα οὖν πάντα ἀποθέμενος ἐπὶ τὸν ἐν παραδείσῳ ὑποστρέφει βίον ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἀδούλωτον τοῖς πάθεσι τῆς σαρκός, τὸν ἐλεύθερον, τὸν ἀγγέλοις σύντροφον, τὸν οἰκεῖον θεῷ. Ταῦτα δὲ εἴρηται ἡμῖν, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀποκλείειν θέλομεν τῆς συγκεχωρημένης παρὰ θεοῦ χρήσεως τῶν βρωμάτων, ἀλλ' ἵνα τὸν πρώην μακαρίσωμεν χρόνον. οἵα ἦν ἡ τότε ζωή, ὅπως ἀπροσδεής, ὅπως ὀλιγαρκής. πῶς βραχέα πάνυ καὶ εὐπόριστα τὰ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ βίου διαγωγὴν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συντείνοντα καὶ πῶς τὸ ποικίλον τῆς διαίτης ἡμῖν ὕστερον ἡ τῆς 52aἁμαρτίας συνεισήνεγκεν αἰτία. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τῆς ἀληθινῆς τρυφῆς τῆς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ἐξεπέσαμεν, νενοθευμένας τρυφὰς ἑαυτοῖς ἐπενοησάμεθα· καὶ ἐπειδὴ οὐκέτι βλέπομεν τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς οὐδὲ τῷ κάλλει ἐκείνου ἐναβρυνόμεθα, ἐδόθησαν ἡμῖν εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν μάγειροι λοιπὸν καὶ ἀρτοποιοὶ καὶ πεμμάτων ποικιλίαι καὶ θυμια μάτων καὶ τοιαῦτά τινα παραμυθούμενα ἡμῶν τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἔκπτωσιν. ὥσπερ οἱ νοσοῦντες, ὅταν καταβληθῶσιν ὑπὸ χαλεπῆς ἀρρωστίας, μὴ δυνάμενοι μετέχειν τῆς συνήθους τῶν βρωμάτων ἀπολαύσεως ὀσφραντοῖς καὶ τοιούτοις τισὶ παρὰ τῶν ἰατρῶν δεξιώμασι τὰς παρη γορίας λαμβάνουσιν· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τῶν στερεωτέρων ἐκπεπτώκασιν, εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν σύμμετρον τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ τούτων οἱ κολακεύοντες αὐτῶν τὰς αἰσθήσεις περινοοῦσι τὴν θεραπείαν. πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν οἱ βουλόμενοι κατὰ μίμησιν τῆς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ζωῆς ἄγειν ἑαυτοὺς φεύγωμεν ὁλοσχερῶς ταύτην τὴν πολύυλον τῶν βρωμάτων ἀπόλαυσιν, ἐπ' ἐκεῖνον δὲ τὸν πρότερον βίον, καθ' ὅσον ἐστὶ δυνατόν, ἀναγώμεθα καρποῖς καὶ σπέρμασι καὶ ἀκροδρύοις χρώμενοι πρὸς ἀρκοῦσαν διατροφήν, εἴ τι δὲ περιττὸν τούτων ὡς οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἀποπεμπόμενοι. οὐχ ὅτι 53aβδελυκτά· ἐκ θεοῦ γὰρ πάντα γεγένηται· ἀλλ' ὅτι βλαβερὰ διὰ τὴν σαρκικὴν εὐπάθειαν. Καὶ κατέπαυσεν ὁ θεὸς ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ. λεγέτωσαν ἀριθμητικοὶ καὶ οἱ περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐσχολακότες καὶ τὴν τοιαύτην σοφίαν ἀντὶ μεγάλου τινὸς κατορθώματος προβεβλη μένοι, οἱ μὲν ὅτι συγγενὴς τῇ τοῦ κόσμου κτίσει ὁ ἓξ ἀριθμός, οἱ δὲ ὅτι πολύγονός ἐστι καὶ πολλὰ σχήματα ἀριθμῶν τίκτων