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De infantibus praemature abreptis

GREGORY BISHOP OF NYSSA TO HIERIUS CONCERNING INFANTS SNATCHED AWAY BEFORE THEIR TIME

To you, indeed, O best of men, all sophists and orators will surely display their power of speaking, running through the breadth of your wonders as in some stadium; for a noble and rich theme, set before those who are able, knows how to make their speech more high-sounding, about which the speech is exalted, being lifted up together with the greatness of the subject matter; but we, like old horses remaining outside the stadium of the theme, will only prick up our ear to the contests of speeches concerning you, if ever some sound should reach even to us from one who drives his speech through your wonders with a vigorous and sustained leap. But since it happens that even if a horse remains outside the contests due to old age, it is often roused to eagerness by the sound of the applause, and both lifts its head and looks ready for contest and breathes spiritedly and moves its feet together, striking its hooves frequently on the ground, for which only eagerness for the contests remains, but the power of running has been spent beforehand by time; in the same way our speech also, remaining outside the contest because of old age and yielding the stadium to those in their prime in education, shows you only the eagerness of being willing to contend even concerning you, if it were young like those now flourishing in eloquence. And the demonstration of my eagerness is not in recounting any of your deeds. For even a vigorous and well-strung speech would scarcely succeed in this, so as not to be left far behind your merit, the one that interprets this inimitable harmony of character somehow blended from opposites. For just as nature, by shading with the screen of the eyelids the unmixed light of its rays, brings a tempered brightness to the eyes, so that the sun might become gentle, being mixed with the shade from the eyelashes in due proportion to our need; so the majesty and nobility of your character, being blended with measured humility, does not turn away the gaze of those who look upon it, but makes them look with pleasure, so that neither is the brilliance of your majesty dimmed nor is your disposition despised through humility, but the one is seen equally in the other: in loftiness, fellowship, and in humility, conversely, majesty. Let another go through these things and celebrate the many-eyed nature of your soul, as though the eyes of your soul were perhaps equal in number to the hairs of your head, looking from every side equally with sharp and unerring vision, so as to foresee from afar and not be ignorant of what is near at hand, nor to wait for experience as a teacher of what is expedient, but to foresee one thing with the eyes of hope, to contemplate another through memory, and to survey another in a circle according to the present, and to do all these things at the same time without confusion, apportioning your mind suitably to all such activities. And let that same person again admire the noble wealth of your poverty, if there is anyone in our life who knows how to treat such a thing with praise and wonder. And perhaps even if it did not exist before, yet now through you a desire for poverty will also flourish, and before the many-talented ingots of Croesus your simplicity will be blessed. For whom have land and sea, each welcoming with its own revenues, thus shown to be so blessed, as your renunciation of material wealth has shown your life to be? For just as those who scrape away the rust of iron make it gleaming and silver-like, so to you the ray of your life has become brighter, always being cleansed by your care from the rust of riches. And let these things be left to those who are able to speak, and that

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De infantibus praemature abreptis

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΙΕΡΙΟΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΠΡΟ ΩΡΑΣ ΑΝΑΡΠΑΖΟΜΕΝΩΝ ΝΗΠΙΩΝ

Σοὶ μέν, ὦ ἄριστε, πάντες σοφισταί τε καὶ λογογράφοι τὴν τοῦ λέγειν πάντως ἐπιδείξονται δύναμιν, οἷόν τινι σταδίῳ τῷ πλάτει τῶν σῶν θαυμάτων ἐνδιαθέοντες· καὶ γάρ πως οἶδεν μεγαλοφωνότερον ποιεῖν τὸν λόγον γενναία τις καὶ ἀμ φιλαφὴς προτεθεῖσα τοῖς δυναμένοις ὑπόθεσις, περὶ ἣν ὑψοῦται ὁ λόγος τῷ μεγέθει τῶν πραγμάτων συνεπαιρόμενος· ἡμεῖς δὲ κατὰ τοὺς γηραιοὺς τῶν ἵππων ἔξω τοῦ σταδίου τῆς ὑποθέσεως μένοντες τὸ οὖς μόνον ταῖς ἐπὶ σοὶ τῶν λόγων ἁμίλλαις διαναστήσομεν, εἴ πού τις καὶ μέχρις ἡμῶν φθάσειεν ἦχος σφοδρῷ τε καὶ συντεταμένῳ τῷ ἅλματι διὰ τῶν σῶν θαυμάτων τὸν λόγον ἐλαύνων. ἐπεὶ δὲ συμβαίνει, κἂν ὑπὸ γήρως ἔξω μένῃ τῶν ἀγώνων ὁ ἵππος, πολλάκις αὐτὸν τῷ κτύπῳ τῶν κατακροαινόντων εἰς προθυμίαν διεγειρόμενον τήν τε κεφαλὴν ἀνέχειν καὶ ὁρᾶν ἐναγώνιον πνέειν τε θυμῶδες καὶ ὑποκινεῖν τοὺς πόδας κοινῇ, πυκνῶς τῷ ἐδάφει τὰς ὁπλὰς ἐπαράσσοντα, ᾧ προθυμία μόνη πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνάς ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ 68 τοῦ τρέχειν δύναμις προανηλώθη τῷ χρόνῳ· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος ἐξαγώνιος μένων διὰ τὸ γῆρας καὶ παραχωρῶν τοῦ σταδίου τοῖς ἀκμαίοις κατὰ τὴν παίδευσιν μόνην σοι δείκνυσι τὴν προθυμίαν τοῦ ἐθέλειν ἂν καὶ ἐπὶ σοῦ ἀγωνίσασθαι, εἴπερ ἡβῴη κατὰ τοὺς νῦν τοῖς λόγοις ἀκμάζον τας. ὅση δέ μοι τῆς προθυμίας ἐστὶν ἡ ἐπίδειξις, οὐκ ἐν τῷ διηγήσασθαί τι τῶν σῶν. τούτου γὰρ μόγις ἂν καὶ ὁ σφριγῶν τε καὶ συντεταμένος τύχοι λόγος, ὡς μὴ πολὺ κατόπιν τῆς ἀξίας ἀπολειφθῆναι, ὁ τὴν ἀμήχανον ταύτην ἁρμονίαν τοῦ ἤθους διερμηνεύων ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων συγκεκραμένην πως. καθάπερ γὰρ ταῖς τῶν βλεφάρων προβολαῖς τὸ τῶν ἀκτίνων ἄκρατον ἡ φύσις ὑποσκιάζουσα κεκραμένον προσάγει τὸ φέγ γος τοῖς ὄμμασιν, ὡς ἂν προσηνὴς ὁ ἥλιος γένοιτο πρὸς τὴν ἐκ τῶν βλεφαρίδων σκιὰν συμμέτρως τῇ χρείᾳ κατακιρνάμενος· οὕτως τὸ σεμνόν τε καὶ μεγαλοφυὲς τοῦ ἤθους τῇ ἐμμέτρῳ τα πεινοφροσύνῃ καταμιγνύμενον οὐκ ἀποστρέφει τὰς ὄψεις τῶν προσορώντων, ἀλλὰ δι' ἡδονῆς βλέπειν παρασκευάζει, ὡς μήτε τῆς σεμνότητος τὴν μαρμαρυγὴν ἀμαυροῦσθαι μήτε διὰ ταπεινότητος καταφρονεῖσθαι τὸ ἐνδιάθετον, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ἐν ἑκατέρῳ θεωρεῖσθαι τὸ ἕτερον, ἔν τε τῷ ὑψηλῷ τὴν κοινότητα καὶ ἐν τῷ ταπεινῷ τὸ ἔμπαλιν τὴν σεμνότητα. ἄλλος ταῦτα διεξερχέσθω καὶ τὸ πολυόμματον τῆς ψυχῆς ἀνυμνείτω, ὡς ἰσάριθμοι ταῖς θριξὶ τάχα τῆς κεφαλῆς οἱ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμοί, πανταχόθεν ἐπ' ἴσης ὀξύ τε καὶ ἀπλανὲς δεδορκότες, ὥστε πόρρωθέν τε προϊδεῖν καὶ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν ἐκ τοῦ 69 σύνεγγυς μηδὲ τὴν πεῖραν ἀναμένειν τοῦ λυσιτελοῦντος διδάσκαλον, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν τοῖς τῶν ἐλπίδων ὀφθαλμοῖς προορᾶν, τὸ δὲ θεωρεῖν διὰ τῆς μνήμης, ἄλλο δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἐνεστὼς ἐν κύκλῳ περιαθρεῖν, πάντα δὲ κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἐνεργεῖν ἀσυγχύτως πάσαις ταῖς τοιαύταις ἐνεργείαις τὸν νοῦν καταλλήλως ἐπιμερίζοντα. τόν τε σεμνὸν τῆς πενίας πλοῦτον θαυμαζέτω πάλιν ἐκεῖνος, εἴ τις ἔστιν ἐν τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς βίῳ εἰδὼς τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐν ἐπαίνῳ ποιεῖσθαι καὶ θαύματι. τάχα δὲ εἰ καὶ μὴ πρότερον ἦν, ἀλλὰ νῦν διὰ σὲ καὶ πενίας ἀνθήσει πόθος καὶ πρὸ τῶν πολυταλάντων τοῦ Κροίσου πλίνθων ἡ σὴ λιτότης μακαρισθήσεται. τίνα γὰρ μακαριστὸν οὕτως ἀπέδειξε γῆ τε καὶ θάλασσα, ταῖς ἰδίαις ἑκατέρα προσόδοις δεξιουμένη, ὡς τὸν σὸν βίον ἡ πρὸς τὴν ὑλικὴν περιουσίαν ἀποδιάθεσις; ὡς γὰρ οἱ τοῦ σιδήρου τὸν ἰὸν ἀποξέοντες στιλπνὸν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀργυροειδῆ κατεργάζονται, οὕτως σοὶ φανοτέρα γέγονεν ἡ τοῦ βίου ἀκτὶς ἀεὶ δι' ἐπιμελείας τοῦ ἰοῦ τῶν χρημάτων καθαιρομένη. καὶ ταῦτα παρείσθω τοῖς εἰπεῖν δυναμένοις καὶ ὅτι