As, however, examples always render an argument more vivid to the hearers, I propose to instruct the mind of the blasphemers by an illustration, explaining, by means of earthly and lowly matters, those matters which are great, and invisible to the senses. If it befel thee to be enduring the misfortune of captivity among enemies, to be in bondage and in misery, to be groaning for that ancient freedom which thou once hadst—and if all at once three men, who were notable men and citizens in the country of thy tyrannical masters, set thee free from the constraint that lay upon thee, giving thy ransom equally, and dividing the charges of the money in equal shares among themselves, wouldst thou not then, meeting with this favour, look upon the three alike as benefactors, and make repayment of the ransom to them in equal shares, as the trouble and the cost on thy behalf was common to them all—if, that is, thou wert a fair judge of the benefit done to thee? This we may see, so far as illustration goes14    The meaning of this clause may be, either that Gregory does not propose to follow this point out, as the subject of his discourse is Baptism, not the doctrine of the Trinity; or, that the example he has given is not to be so pressed as to imply tritheism, being merely an illustration of moral obligation, not a parallel from which anything is to be inferred as to the exact relation between the Three Persons., for our aim at present is not to render a strict account of the Faith. Let us return to the present season, and to the subject it sets before us.

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὰ ὑποδείγματα ἐμψυχότερον ἀεὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀκούοντας τὸν λόγον ἐργάζεται, εἰκόνι βούλομαι παιδεῦσαι τῶν βλασφημούντων τὴν γνώμην ἐκ τῶν γηίνων καὶ ταπεινῶν σαφηνίζων τὰ μεγάλα καὶ καθ' αἴσθησιν μὴ βλεπόμενα. εἰ γάρ σοι συνέβη συμφορὰν αἰχμαλωσίας ὑπομείναντι εἶναι παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις, δουλεύειν δὲ καὶ ταλαιπωρεῖσθαι καὶ στένειν τὴν παλαιὰν ἐλευθερίαν ἣν εἶχες, ἀθρόον δέ τινες γνώριμοι καὶ πολῖται ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν σῶν δεσποτῶν καὶ τυράννων γενόμενοι ἠλευθέρωσάν σε τῆς ἐπικειμένης ἀνάγκης λύτρα δόντες ἐξ ἴσης καὶ τὴν δαπάνην τῶν χρημάτων ἐξ ἰσομοιρίας πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς διελόμενοι, ἆρα τῆς χάριτος ἐκείνης τυχὼν οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως τοὺς τρεῖς ὡς εὐεργέτας ἑώρας καὶ τῶν λύτρων τὴν ἀμοιβὴν εἰς ἰσομοιρίας εἰσέφερες κοινῆς ὑπὲρ σοῦ καὶ τῆς σπουδῆς καὶ τῆς δαπάνης γεγενημένης, ἄν περ δίκαιος ὑπάρχῃς τῆς εὐεργεσίας κριτής; Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὅσον ἐν ὑποδείγμασιν: οὐ γὰρ νῦν ἡμῖν σκοπὸς τὸν τῆς πίστεως ἀπευθύνειν λόγον, πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἐνεστῶτα καιρὸν καὶ τὴν προκειμένην ὑπόθεσιν ἀναδράμωμεν.