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De paradiso (recensio LF) [Sp.]

75a And God planted a paradise in Eden toward the east and placed there the man whom he had formed. Let us consider, listeners, a planting worthy of God and a paradise befitting the love of beauty of such and so great a creator. For in what came before it is said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit; and it was so. But here again it says, And God planted a paradise in Eden. If the paradise had been filled with common trees, it would have had its own composition from the first creation of plants, and the trees that grew in it later would not have needed a special planting by God. But now, the various kinds of plants established later in paradise, skillfully crafted by God himself, were other things, much more different both in appearance and in taste than those that had sprung up from the earth automatically, and this is made clear by scripture itself. For it says, And God made to grow still out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. For just as he deemed man worthy of a special creation beyond the other animals, so also he made the dwelling-place of man76athe work of his own hand, choosing a place surpassing the whole of creation and unshadowed on account of its height, marvelous in its beauty, secure in its position, brilliant in its superiority over all things and in being illuminated by all the risings of the stars, suffused with the clearest air and having a most pleasant and best temperament from the seasons. There, then, God planted the paradise, where there is no violence of winds, no intemperance of seasons, no hail, no lightning, no hurricanes, no thunderbolts, no winter frost, no spring moisture, no summer heat, no autumn dryness, but a temperate and peaceful harmony of the seasons, each adorned with its own beauty and not conspired against by its neighbor. For neither did summer, running ahead of its own time, spoil the beauties of spring, nor again were the summer and autumn fruits, often scorched beforehand by the disorder of the air, withered and destroyed; but all the seasons danced in order around that place, entwining and uniting with each other smoothly and without grief, and each brought forth excellent and unthreatened gifts from itself in its own season. 77aAnd the earth there was rich and soft and altogether flowing with milk and honey and suitable for every kind of fruitfulness, irrigated by most fertile waters; and the waters were very beautiful and pleasant and extremely fine and transparent, having much that was delightful to the sight, but providing more that was beneficial than delightful.

First, then, he created the place itself, worthy of receiving the plantings of God, and then he planted in it all sorts of beautiful trees, bestowing upon man a most graceful sight and at the same time a most pleasant enjoyment. How might I be able to bring clearly before your eyes the beauties of the fatherland from which you have fallen, so that, grieving worthily over the loss of these things, you might at last be able to recall yourself from exile and return to those sure, beautiful, and delightful things, unmixed with what is base and sorrowful? For there are also here well-flowered meadows and very beautiful to see, but imagine in your mind the most graceful of these. How the rose here is hidden with the thorn, having unpleasantness running together with its grace and all but testifying to us that all the pleasant things of this life, O men, are mixed with sorrowful things. 78aFor in reality none of human goods is unmixed, but with every worldly gladness grief is immediately fixed; with marriage, widowhood; with child-rearing, anxiety; with having good children, their loss; with honors, dishonors; with prosperity, losses; with luxuries, paralyses; with health, sicknesses. The rose is blooming, but it creates sadness in me; for whenever

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De paradiso (recensio LF) [Sp.]

75a Καὶ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Ἐδὲμ κατὰ ἀνατολὰς καὶ ἔθετο ἐκεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὃν ἔπλασεν. Νοήσωμεν, ἀκροαταί, ἀξίαν θεοῦ φυτείαν καὶ παράδεισον πρέποντα τῇ φιλοκαλίᾳ τοῦ τοιούτου καὶ τηλικούτου δημιουργοῦ. ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς κατόπιν εἴρηται Βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου, ξύλον κάρπιμον σπεῖρον σπέρμα, ποιοῦν καρπόν· καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως. ἐνταῦθα δὲ πάλιν λέγει Καὶ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Ἐδέμ. εἰ ἀπὸ τῶν κοινῶν ξύλων ἐνεπέπληστο ὁ παράδεισος, εἶχεν ἂν τὴν οἰκείαν σύστασιν ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης γενέσεως τῶν φυτῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἐδεῖτο ἐξαιρέτου φυτείας τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ ὕστερον ἀναφυέντα δένδρα. νῦν δὲ ἕτερα πολὺ διαφορώτερα καὶ τῷ εἴδει καὶ τῇ γεύσει τῶν προαναδοθέντων ἐκ τῆς γῆς αὐτομάτως τὰ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ὕστερον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ φιλοτεχνηθέντα παντοῖα γένη φυτῶν καθειστήκει, καὶ ὑπ' αὐτῆς δηλοποιεῖται σαφῶς τῆς γραφῆς. Καὶ ἐξανέτειλε, γάρ φησιν, ὁ θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πᾶν ξύλον ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν. ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐξαιρέτου τῆς πλάσεως παρὰ τὰ λοιπὰ ζῷα ἠξίωσεν, οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἐνδιαίτημα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου76aτῆς ἰδίας αὐτοῦ χειρὸς ἔργον ἐποίησε, τόπον ἐπιλεξάμενος ὑπερφέροντα τῆς ὅλης κτίσεως καὶ διὰ τὸ ὕψος ἀνεπισκότητον, θαυμαστὸν τῷ κάλλει, ἀσφαλῆ τῇ θέσει, λαμπρὸν τῇ κατὰ πάντων ὑπεροχῇ καὶ τῷ καταλάμπεσθαι πάσαις ταῖς τῶν ἄστρων ἀνατολαῖς, ἀέρι διαυγεστάτῳ περιχεόμενον καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῶν ὡρῶν εὐκρασίαν ἡδίστην τε ἅμα καὶ βελτίστην ἔχοντα. ἐκεῖ οὖν ἐφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν παράδεισον, ὅπου οὐκ ἀνέμων βία, οὐκ ἀμετρία ὡρῶν, οὐ χάλαζα, οὐ πρηστῆρες, οὐ λαίλαπες, οὐ σκηπτοί, οὐ χειμερινὴ πῆξις, οὐχ ὑγρότης ἠρινή, οὐ θερινὴ πύρωσις, οὐ φθινοπωρινὴ ξηρότης, ἀλλ' εὔκρατος καὶ εἰρηνικὴ συμφωνία τῶν ὡρῶν ἑκάστης τῷ ἰδίῳ κάλλει κεκοσμη μένης καὶ μὴ ἐπιβουλευομένης παρὰ τῆς γείτονος. οὔτε γὰρ τοῖς ἠρινοῖς κάλλεσι τὸ θέρος προτρέχον τυχὸν τοῦ ἰδίου καιροῦ ἐλυμαίνετο οὔτε πάλιν οἱ θερινοὶ καὶ μετοπωρινοὶ καρποὶ τῇ τοῦ ἀέρος ἀταξίᾳ πολλάκις προκαταφλεχθέντες ἐρρυΐσκοντο καὶ ἀπώλοντο· πᾶσαι δὲ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον εὐτάκτως αἱ ὧραι περιεχόρευον ἀλλήλαις ὁμαλῶς καὶ ἀλύπως περιπλεκόμεναι καὶ συνδούμεναι, καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῆς ἑκάστη κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον καιρὸν δωροφοροῦσα ἐξαίρετα καὶ ἀνεπιβούλευτα. 77aκαὶ ἡ γῆ δὲ ἐκεῖσε πίων καὶ μαλακὴ καὶ ὅλως ῥέουσα γάλα καὶ μέλι καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν καρπογονίαν ἐπιτηδεία, ὕδασι γονιμωτάτοις κατάρρυ τος· περικαλλῆ δὲ καὶ ἠδέα τὰ ὕδατα καὶ σφόδρα λεπτὰ καὶ διαφανῆ, πολὺ μὲν ἐκ τῆς ὄψεως ἔχοντα τὸ τερπνὸν πλέον δὲ τοῦ τερπνοῦ τὸ ὠφέλιμον παρεχόμενα.

Πρότερον μὲν οὖν αὐτὸν ἐδημιούργησε τὸν τόπον ἄξιον τῆς ὑποδοχῆς τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ φυτευμάτων, ἔπειτα δὲ ἐνεφύτευσεν αὐτῷ παντοδαπὰ κάλλη δένδρων ὄψιν τε ὁμοῦ χαριεστάτην καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν ἡδίστην τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ χαριζόμενα. πῶς σοι δυνηθῶ ὑπ' ὄψιν ἐναργῶς ἀγαγεῖν τὰ κάλλη τῆς πατρίδος, ὅθεν ἐκπέπτωκας, ἵνα περιαλγήσας ἀξίως ἐπὶ τῇ τούτων στερήσει δυνηθῇς ὀψέ ποτε ἐκ τῆς ἐξορίας ἀνακαλέσασθαι σεαυτὸν καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνα παλινδρομῆσαι τὰ βέβαια καλὰ καὶ τερπνὰ καὶ ἀμιγῆ τῶν φαύλων καὶ λυπηρῶν; εἰσὶ μὲν γὰρ κἀνταῦθα λειμῶνες εὐανθεῖς καὶ τὴν θέαν περικαλλεῖς, ἀλλὰ τὸ τούτων χαριέστατον τῇ διανοίᾳ φαντάσθητι. πῶς τὸ ῥόδον μετὰ τῆς ἀκάνθης ἐστὶν ὧδε κεκρυμμένον, ἔχον τὴν ἀηδίαν τῇ χάριτι σύνδρομον καὶ μονονουχὶ διαμαρτυρόμενον ἡμῖν ὅτι τὰ τερπνὰ πάντα τοῦ τῇδε βίου, ὦ ἄνθρωποι, τοῖς λυπηροῖς ἀναμέμικται. 78aτῷ ὄντι γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἀγαθῶν ἀκραιφνές, ἀλλὰ πάσῃ κο σμικῇ εὐφροσύνῃ εὐθὺς ἡ λύπη συμπαραπέπηγε· τῷ γάμῳ ἡ χηρεία, τῇ παιδοτροφίᾳ ἡ μέριμνα, τῇ εὐτεκνίᾳ ἡ ἀποβολή, ταῖς περιφανείαις αἱ ἀτιμίαι, ταῖς εὐημερίαις αἱ ζημίαι, ταῖς τρυφαῖς αἱ παρέσεις, ταῖς ὑγείαις αἱ ἀρρωστίαι. ἀνθηρὸν τὸ ῥόδον, ἀλλ' ἐμοὶ κατήφειαν ἐμποιεῖ· ὁσάκις γὰρ ἂν