Early Writings:The Stromata, or Miscellanies
Book II
CHAPTER I -- INTRODUCTORY.
As Scripture has called the Greeks pilferers of the Barbarian philosophy, it
will next have to be considered how this may be briefly demonstrated. For we
shall not only show that they have imitated and copied the marvels recorded in
our books; but we shall prove, besides, that they have plagiarized and falsified
(our writings being, as we have shown, older) the chief dogmas they hold, both
on faith and knowledge and science, and hope and love, and also on repentance
and temperance and the fear of God, -- a whole swarm, verily, of the virtues of
truth.
Whatever the explication necessary on the point in hand shall demand, shall be
embraced, and especially what is occult in the barbarian philosophy, the
department of symbol and enigma; which those who have subjected the teaching of
the ancients to systematic philosophic study have affected, as being in the
highest degree serviceable, nay, absolutely necessary to the knowledge of truth.
In addition, it will in my opinion form an appropriate sequel to defend those
tenets, on account of which the Greeks assail us, making use of a few
Scriptures, if perchance the Jew also may listen and be able quietly to turn
from what he has believed to Him on whom he has not believed. The ingenuous
among the philosophers will then with propriety be taken up in a friendly
exposure both of their life and of the discovery of new dogmas, not in the way
of our avenging ourselves on our detractors (for that is far from being the case
with those who have learned to bless those who curse, even though they
needlessly discharge on us words of blasphemy), but with a view to their
conversion; if by any means these adepts in wisdom may feel ashamed, being
brought to their senses by barbarian demonstration; so as to be able, although
late, to see clearly of what sort are the intellectual acquisitions for which
they make pilgrimages over the seas. Those they have stolen are to be pointed
out, that we may thereby pull down their conceit; and of those on the discovery
of which through investigation they plume themselves, the refutation will be
furnished. By consequence, also we must treat of what is called the curriculum
of study -- how far it is serviceable; and of astrology, and mathematics, and
magic, and sorcery. For all the Greeks boast of these as the highest sciences.
"He who reproves boldly is a peacemaker." We lave often said already that we
have neither practised nor do we study the expressing ourselves in pure Greek;
for this suits those who seduce the multitude from the truth. But true
philosophic demonstration will contribute to the profit not of the listeners'
tongues, but of their minds. And, in my opinion, he who is solicitous about
truth ought not to frame his language with artfulness and care, but only to try
to express his meaning as he best can. For those who are particular about words,
and devote their time to them, miss the things. It is a feat fit for the
gardener to pluck without injury the rose that is growing among the thorns; and
for the craftsman to find out the pearl buried in the oyster's flesh. And they
say that fowls have flesh of the most agreeable quality, when, through not being
supplied with abundance of food, they pick their sustenance with difficulty,
scraping with their feet. If any one, then, speculating on what is similar,
wants to arrive at the truth [that is] in the numerous Greek plausibilities,
like the real face beneath masks, he will hunt it out with much pains. For the
power that appeared in the vision to Hermas said, "Whatever may be revealed to
you, shall be revealed."
CHAPTER II -- THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD CAN BE ATTAINED ONLY THROUGH FAITH.
"Be not elated on account of thy wisdom," say the Proverbs. "In all thy ways
acknowledge her, that she may direct thy ways, and that thy foot may not
stumble." By these remarks he means to show that our deeds ought to be
conformable to reason, and to manifest further that we ought to select and
possess what is useful out of all culture. Now the ways of wisdom are various
that lead right to the way of truth. Faith is the way. "Thy foot shall not
stumble" is said with reference to some who seem to oppose the one divine
administration of Providence. Whence it is added, "Be not wise in thine own
eyes," according to the impious ideas which revolt against the administration of
God. "But fear God," who alone is powerful. Whence it follows as a consequence
that we are not to oppose God. The sequel especially teaches clearly, that "the
fear of God is departure from evil;" for it is said, "and depart from all evil."
Such is the discipline of wisdom ("for whom the Lord loveth He chastens" ),
causing pain in order to produce understanding, and restoring to peace and
immortality. Accordingly, the Barbarian philosophy, which we follow, is in
reality perfect and true. And so it is said in the book of Wisdom: "For He hath
given me the unerring knowledge of things that exist, to know the constitution
of the word," and so forth, down to "and the virtues of roots." Among all these
he comprehends natural science, which treats of all the phenomena in the world
of sense. And in continuation, he alludes also to intellectual objects in what
he subjoins: "And what is hidden or manifest I know; for Wisdom, the artificer
of all things, taught me." You have, in brief, the professed aim of our
philosophy; and the learning of these branches, when pursued with right course
of conduct, leads through Wisdom, the artificer of all things, to the Ruler of
all, -- a Being difficult to grasp and apprehend, ever receding and withdrawing
from him who pursues. But He who is far off has -- oh ineffable marvel! -- come
very near. "I am a God: that draws near," says the Lord. He is in essence
remote; "for how is it that what is begotten can have approached the Unbegotten?"
But He is very near in virtue of that power which holds all things in its
embrace. "Shall one do aught in secret, and I see him not?" For the power of God
is always present, in contact with us, in the exercise of inspection, of
beneficence, of instruction. Whence Moses, persuaded that God is not to be known
by human wisdom, said, "Show me Thy glory;" and into the thick darkness where
God's voice was, pressed to enter -- that is, into the inaccessible and
invisible ideas respecting Existence. For God is not in darkness or in place,
but above both space and time, and qualities of objects. Wherefore neither is He
at any time in a part, either as containing or as contained, either by
limitation or by section. "For what house will ye build to Me?" saith the Lord?
Nay, He has not even built one for Himself, since He cannot be contained. And
though heaven be called His throne, not even thus is He contained, but He rests
delighted in the creation.
It is clear, then, that the truth has been hidden from us; and if that has been
already shown by one example, we shall establish it a little after by several
more. How entirely worthy of approbation are they who are both willing to learn,
and able, according to Solomon, "to know wisdom and instruction, and to perceive
the words of wisdom, to receive knotty words, and to perceive true
righteousness," there being another [righteousness as well], not according to
the truth, taught by the Greek laws, and by the rest of the philosophers. "And
to direct judgments," it is said -- not those of the bench, but he means that we
must preserve sound and free of error the judicial faculty which is within us --
"That I may give subtlety to the simple, to the young man sense and
understanding." "For the wise man," who has been persuaded to obey the
commandments, "having heard these things, will become wiser" by knowledge; and
"the intelligent man will acquire rule, and will understand a parable and a dark
word, the sayings and enigmas of the wise." For it is not spurious words which
those inspired by God and those who are gained over by them adduce, nor is it
snares in which the most of the sophists entangle the young, spending their time
on nought true. But those who possess the Holy Spirit "search the deep things of
God," -- that is, grasp the secret that is in the prophecies. "To impart of holy
things to the dogs" is forbidden, so long as they remain beasts. For never ought
those who are envious and perturbed, and still infidel in conduct, shameless in
barking at inves tigation, to dip in the divine and clear stream of the living
water. "Let not the waters of thy fountain overflow, and let thy waters spread
over thine own streets." For it is not many who understand such things as they
fall in with; or know them even after learning them, though they think they do,
according to the worthy Heraclitus. Does not even he seem to thee to censure
those who believe not? "Now my just one shall live by faith," the prophet said.
And another prophet also says, "Except ye believe, neither shall ye understand."
For how ever could the soul admit the transcendental contemplation of such
themes, while unbelief respecting what was to be learned struggled within? But
faith, which the Greeks disparage, deeming it futile and barbarous, is a
voluntary preconception the assent of piety -- " the subject of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen," according to the divine apostle. "For
hereby," pre-eminently, "the elders obtained a good report. But without faith it
is impossible to please God." Others have defined faith to be a uniting assent
to an unseen object, as certainly the proof of an unknown thing is an evident
assent. If then it be choice, being desirous of something, the desire is in this
instance intellectual. And since choice is the beginning of action, faith is
discovered to be the beginning of action, being the foundation of rational
choice in the case of any one who exhibits to himself the previous demonstration
through faith. Voluntarily to follow what is useful, is the first principle of
understanding. Unswerving choice, then, gives considerable momentum in the
direction of knowledge. The exercise of faith directly becomes knowledge,
reposing on a sure foundation. Knowledge, accordingly, is defined by the sons of
the philosophers as a habit, which cannot be overthrown by reason. Is there any
other true condition such as this, except piety, of which alone the Word is
teacher? I think not.
Theophrastus says that sensation is the root of faith. For from it the
rudimentary principles extend to the reason that is in us, and the
understanding. He who believeth then the divine Scriptures with sure judgment,
receives in the voice of God, who bestowed the Scripture, a demonstration that
cannot be impugned. Faith, then, is not established by demonstration. "Blessed
therefore those who, not having seen, yet have believed." The Siren's songs,
exhibiting a power above human, fascinated those that came near, conciliating
them, almost against their will, to the reception of what was said.
CHAPTER III -- FAITH NOT A PRODUCT OF NATURE.
Now the followers of Basilides regard faith as natural, as they also refer it to
choice, [representing it] as finding ideas by intellectual comprehension without
demonstration; while the followers of Valentinus assign faith to us, the simple,
but will have it that knowledge springs up in their own selves (who are saved by
nature) through the advantage of a germ of superior excellence, saying that it
is as far removed from faith as s the spiritual is from the animal. Further, the
followers of Basilides say that faith as well as choice is proper according to
every interval; and that in consequence of the supramundane selection mundane
faith accompanies all nature, and that the free gift of faith is comformable to
the hope of each. Faith, then, is no longer the direct result of free choice, if
it is a natural advantage.
Nor will he who has not believed, not being the author [of his unbelief], meet
with a due recompense; and he that has believed is not the cause [of his
belief]. And the entire peculiarity and difference of belief and unbelief will
not fall under either praise or censure, if we reflect rightly, since there
attaches to it the antecedent natural necessity proceeding from the Almighty.
And if we are pulled like inanimate things by the puppet-strings of natural
powers, willingness and unwillingness, and impulse, which is the antecedent of
both, are mere redundancies. And for my part, I am utterly incapable of
conceiving such an animal as has its appetencies, which are moved by external
causes, under the dominion of necessity. And what place is there any longer for
the repentance of him who was once an unbeliever, through which comes
forgiveness of sins? So that neither is baptism rational, nor the blessed seal,
nor the Son, nor the Father. But God, as I think, turns out to be the
distribution to men of natural powers, which has not as the foundation of
salvation voluntary faith.
CHAPTER IV -- FAITH THE FOUNDATION OF ALL KNOWLEDGE.
But we, who have heard by the Scriptures that self-determining choice and
refusal have been given by the Lord to men, rest in the infallible criterion of
faith, manifesting a willing spirit, since we have chosen life and believe God
through His voice. And he who has believed the Word knows the matter to be true;
for the Word is truth. But he who has disbelieved Him that speaks, has
disbelieved God.
"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that
what is seen was not made of things which appear," says the apostle. "By faith
Abel offered to God a fuller sacrifice than Cain, by which he received testimony
that he was righteous, God giving testimony to him respecting his gifts; and by
it he, being dead, yet speaketh," and so forth, down to "than enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season." Faith having, therefore, justified these before
the law, made them heirs of the divine promise. Why then should I review and
adduce any further testimonies of faith from the history in our hands? "For the
time would fail me were I to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephtha, David, and
Samuel, and the prophets," and what follows. Now, inasmuch as there are four
things in which the truth resides -- Sensation, Understanding, Knowledge,
Opinion, -- intellectual apprehension is first in the order of nature; but in
our case, and in relation to ourselves, Sensation is first, and of Sensation and
Understanding the essence of Knowledge is formed; and evidence is common to
Understanding and Sensation. Well Sensation is the ladder to Knowledge; while
Faith, advancing over the pathway of the objects of sense, leaves Opinion
behind, and speeds to things free of deception, and reposes in the truth.
Should one say that Knowledge is founded on demonstration by a process of
reasoning, let him hear that first principles are incapable of demonstration;
for they are known neither by art nor sagacity. For the latter is conversant
about objects that are susceptible of change, while the former is practical
solely, and not theoretical. Hence it is thought that the first cause of the
universe can be apprehended by faith alone. For all knowledge is capable of
being taught; and what is capable of being taught is rounded on what is known
before. But the first cause of the universe was not previously known to the
Greeks; neither, accordingly, to Thales, who came to the conclusion that water
was the first i cause; nor to the other natural philosophers who succeeded him,
since it was Anaxagoras who was the first who assigned to Mind the supremacy
over material things. But not even he preserved the dignity suited to the
efficient cause, describing as he did certain silly vortices, together with the
inertia and even foolishness of Mind. Wherefore also the Word says, "Call no man
master on earth." For knowledge is a state of mind that results from
demonstration; but faith is a grace which from what is indemonstrable conducts
to what is universal and simple, what is neither with matter, nor matter, nor
under matter. But those who believe not, as to be expected, drag all down from
heaven, and the region of the invisible, to earth, "absolutely grasping with
their hands rocks and oaks," according to Plato. For, clinging to all such
things, they asseverate that that alone exists which can be touched and handled,
defining body and essence to be identical: disputing against themselves, they
very piously defend the existence of certain intellectual and bodiless forms
descending somewhere from above from the invisible world, vehemently maintaining
that there is a true essence. "Lo, I make new things," saith the Word, "which
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man."
With a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, whatever can be seen and heard is to be
apprehended, by the faith and understanding of the disciples of the Lord, who
speak, hear, and act spiritually. For there is genuine coin, and other that is
spurious; which no less deceives unprofessionals, that it does not the
money-changers; who know through having learned how to separate and distinguish
what has a false stamp from what is genuine. So the money-changer only says to
the unprofessional man that the coin is counterfeit. But the reason why, only
the banker's apprentice, and he that is trained to this department, learns.
Now Aristotle says that the judgment which follows knowledge is in truth faith.
Accordingly, faith is something superior to knowledge, and is its criterion.
Conjecture, which is only a feeble supposition, counterfeits faith; as the
flatterer counterfeits a friend, and the wolf the dog. And as the workman sees
that by learning certain things he becomes an artificer, and the helmsman by
being instructed in the art will be able to steer; he does not regard the mere
wishing to become excellent and good enough, but he must learn it by the
exercise of obedience. But to obey the Word, whom we call Instructor, is to
believe Him, going against Him in nothing. For how can we take up a position of
hostility to God? Knowledge, accordingly, is characterized by faith; and faith,
by a kind of divine mutual and reciprocal correspondence, becomes characterized
by knowledge.
Epicurus, too, who very greatly preferred pleasure to truth, supposes faith to
be a preconception of the mind; and defines preconception to be a grasping at
something evident, and at the clear understanding of the thing; and asserts
that, without preconception, no one can either inquire, or doubt, or judge, or
even argue. How can one, without a preconceived idea of what he is aiming after,
learn about that which is the subject of his investigation? He, again, who has
learned has already turned his preconception into comprehension. And if he who
learns, learns not without a preconceived idea which takes. in what is
expressed, that man has ears to hear the truth. And happy is the man that speaks
to the ears of those who hear; as happy certainly also is he who is a child of
obedience. Now to hear is to understand. If, then, faith is nothing else than a
preconception of the mind in regard to what is the subject of discourse, and
obedience is so called, and understanding and persuasion; no one shall learn
aught without faith, since no one [learns aught] without preconception.
Consequently there is a more ample demonstration of the complete truth of what
was spoken by the prophet, "Unless ye believe, neither will ye understand."
Paraphrasing this oracle, Heraclitus of Ephesus says, "If a man hope not, he
will not find that which is not hoped for, seeing it is inscrutable and
inaccessible." Plato the philosopher, also, in The Laws, says, "that he who
would be blessed and happy, must be straight from the beginning a partaker of
the truth, so as to live true for as long a period as possible; for he is a man
of faith. But the unbeliever is one to whom voluntary falsehood is agreeable;
and the man to whom involuntary falsehood is agreeable is senseless; neither of
which is desirable. For he who is devoid of friendliness, is faithless and
ignorant." And does he not enigmatically say in Euthydemus, that this is "the
regal wisdom"? In The Statesman he says expressly, "So that the knowledge of the
true king is kingly; and he who possesses it, whether a prince or private
person, shall by all means, in consequence of this act, be rightly styled
royal." Now those who have believed in Christ both are and are called Chrestoi
(good), as those who are cared for by the true king are kingly. For as the wise
are wise by their wisdom, and those observant of law are so by the law; so also
those who belong to Christ the King are kings, and those that are Christ's
Christians. Then, in continuation, he adds clearly, "What is right will turn out
to be lawful, law being in its nature right reason, and not found in writings or
elsewhere." And the stranger of Elea pronounces the kingly and statesmanlike man
"a living law." Such is he who fulfils the law, "doing the will of the Father,"
inscribed on a lofty pillar, and set as an example of divine virtue to all who
possess the power of seeing. The Greeks are acquainted with the staves of the
Ephori at Lacedaemon, inscribed with the law on wood. But my law, as was said
above, is both royal and living; and it is right reason. "Law, which is king of
all -- of mortals and immortals," as the Boeotian Pindar sings. For Speusippus,
in the first book against Cleophon, seems to write like Plato on this wise: "For
if royalty be a good thing, and the wise man the only king and ruler, the law,
which is fight reason, is good;" which is the case. The Stoics teach what is in
conformity with this, assigning kinghood, priesthood, prophecy, legislation,
riches, true beauty, noble birth, freedom, to the wise man alone. But that he is
exceedingly difficult to find, is confessed even by them.
CHAPTER V -- HE PROVES BY SEVERAL EXAMPLES THAT THE GREEKS DREW FROM THE SACRED
WRITERS.
Accordingly all those above-mentioned dogmas appear to have been transmitted
from Moses the great to the Greeks. That all things belong to the wise man, is
taught in these words: "And because God hath showed me mercy, I have all
things." And that he is beloved of God, God intimates when He says, "The God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." For the first is found to have
been expressly called "friend;" and the second is shown to have received a new
name, signifying "he that sees God;" while Isaac, God in a figure selected for
Himself as a consecrated sacrifice, to be a type to us of the economy of
salvation.
Now among the Greeks, Minos the king of nine years' reign, and familiar friend
of Zeus, is celebrated in song; they having heard how once God conversed with
Moses, "as one speaking with his friend." Moses, then, was a sage, king,
legislator. But our Saviour surpasses all human nature." He is so lovely, as to
be alone loved by us, whose hearts are set on the true beauty, for "He was the
true light." He is shown to be a King, as such hailed by unsophisticated
children and by the unbelieving and ignorant Jews, and heralded by the prophets.
So rich is He, that He despised the whole earth, and the gold above and beneath
it, with all glory, when given to Him by the adversary. What need is there to
say that He is the only High Priest, who alone possesses the knowledge of the
worship of God? He is Melchizedek, "King of peace," the most fit of all to head
the race of men. A legislator too, inasmuch as He gave the law by the mouth of
the prophets, enjoining and teaching most distinctly what things are to be done,
and what not. Who of nobler lineage than He whose only Father is God? Come,
then, let us produce Plato assenting to those very dogmas. The wise man he calls
rich in the Phoedrus, when he says, "O dear Pan, and whatever other gods are
here, grant me to become fair within; and whatever external things I have, let
them be agreeable to what is within. I would reckon the wise man rich." And the
Athenian stranger, finding fault with those who think that those who have many
possessions are rich, speaks thus: "For the very rich to be also good is
impossible -- those, I mean, whom the multitude count rich. Those they call
rich, who, among a few men, are owners of the possessions worth most money;
which any bad man may possess." "The whole world of wealth belongs to the
believer," Solomon says, "but not a penny to the unbeliever." Much more, then,
is the Scripture to be believed which says, "It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man " to lead a philosophic life.
But, on the other hand, it blesses "the poor;" as Plato understood when he said,
"It is not the diminishing of one's resources, but the augmenting of
insatiableness, that is to be considered poverty; for it is not slender means
that ever constitutes poverty, but insatiableness, from which the good man being
free, will also be rich." And in Alcibiades he calls vice a servile thing, and
virtue the attribute of freemen. "Take away from you the heavy yoke, and take up
the easy one," says the Scripture; as also the poets call [vice] a slavish yoke.
And the expression, "Ye have sold yourselves to your sins," agrees with what is
said above: "Every one, then, who committeth sin is a slave; and the slave
abideth not in the house for ever. But if the Son shall make you free, then
shall ye be free, and the truth shall make you free."
And again, that the wise man is beautiful, the Athenian stranger asserts, in the
same way as if one were to affirm that certain persons were just, even should
they happen to be ugly in their persons. And in speaking thus with respect to
eminent rectitude of character, no one who should assert them to be on this
account beautiful would be thought to speak extravagantly. And "His appearance
was inferior to all the Sons of men," prophecy predicted.
Plato, moreover, has called the wise man a king, in The Statesman. The remark is
quoted above.
These points being demonstrated, let us recur again to our discourse on faith.
Well, with the fullest demonstration, Plato proves, that there is need of faith
everywhere, celebrating peace at the same time: "For no man will ever be trusty
and sound in seditions without entire virtue. There are numbers of mercenaries
full of fight, and willing to die in war; but, with a very few exceptions, the
most of them are desperadoes and villains, insolent and senseless." If these
observations are right, "every legislator who is even of slight use, will, in
making his laws, have an eye to the greatest virtue. Such is fidelity, which we
need at all times, both in peace and in war, and in all the rest of our life,
for it appears to embrace the other virtues. "But the best thing is neither war
nor sedition, for the necessity of these is to be deprecated. But peace with one
another and kindly feeling are what is best."
From these remarks the greatest prayer evidently is to have peace, according to
Plato. And faith is the greatest mother of the I virtues. Accordingly it is
rightly said in Solomon, "Wisdom is in the mouth of the faithful." Since also
Xenocrates, in his book on "Intelligence," says "that wisdom is the knowledge of
first causes and of intellectual essence." He considers intelligence as twofold,
practical and theoretical, which latter is human wisdom. Consequently wisdom is
intelligence, but all intelligence is not wisdom. And it has been shown, that
the knowledge of the first cause of the universe is of faith, but is not
demonstration. For it were strange that the followers of the Samian Pythagoras,
rejecting demonstrations of subjects of question, should regard the bare ipse
dixit as ground of belief; and that this expression alone sufficed for the
confirmation of what they heard, while those devoted to the contemplation of the
truth, presuming to disbelieve the trustworthy Teacher, God the only Saviour,
should demand of Him tests of His utterances. But He says, "He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear." And who is he? Let Epicharmus say: "Mind sees, mind hears;
all besides is deaf and blind."
Rating some as unbelievers, Heraclitus says, "Not knowing how to hear or to
speak;" aided doubtless by Solomon, who says, "If thou lovest to hear, thou
shalt comprehend; and if thou incline thine ear, thou shalt be wise.
CHAPTER VI -- THE EXCELLENCE AND UTILITY OF FAITH.
"Lord, who hath believed our report?" Isaiah says. For "faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God," saith the apostle. "How then shall they call on
Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on Him whom they
have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of
those that publish glad tidings of good things! "3 You see how he brings faith
by hearing, and the preaching of the apostles, up to the word of the Lord, and
to the Son of God. We do not yet understand the word of the Lord to be
demonstration.
As, then, playing at ball not only depends on one throwing the ball skilfully,
but it requires besides one to catch it dexterously, that the game may be gone
through according to the rules for ball; so also is it the case that teaching is
reliable when faith on the part of those who hear, being, so to speak, a sort of
natural art, contributes to the process of learning. So also the earth
co-operates, through its productive power, being fit for the sowing of the seed.
For there is no good of the very best instruction without the exercise of the
receptive faculty on the part of the learner, not even of prophecy, when there
is the absence of docility on the part of those who hear. For dry twigs, being
ready to receive the power of fire, are kindled with great ease; and the
far-famed stone attracts steel through affinity, as the amber tear-drop drags to
itself twigs, and the lump sets chaff in motion. And the substances attracted
obey them, influenced by a subtle spirit, not as a cause, but as a concurring
cause.
There being then a twofold species of vice -- that characterized by craft and
stealth, and that which leads and drives with violence -- the divine Word cries,
calling all together; knowing perfectly well those that will not obey;
notwithstanding then since to obey or not is in our own power, provided we have
not the excuse of ignorance to adduce. He makes a just call, and demands of each
according to his strength. For some are able as well as willing, having reached
this point through practice and being purified; while others, if they are not
yet able, already have the will. Now to will is the act of the soul, but to do
is not without the body. Nor are actions estimated by their issue alone; but
they are judged also according to the element of free choice in each, -- if he
chose easily, if he repented of his sins, if he reflected on his failures and
repented (metegnw), which is (meta tauta egnw ) "afterwards knew." For
repentance is a tardy knowledge, and primitive innocence is knowledge.
Repentance, then, is an effect of faith. For unless a man believe that to which
he was addicted to be sin, he will not abandon it; and if he do not believe
punishment to be impending over the transgressor, and salvation to be the
portion of him who lives according to the commandments, he will not reform.
Hope, too, is based on faith. Accordingly the followers of Basilides define
faith to be, the assent of the soul to any of those things, that do not affect
the senses through not being present. And hope is the expectation of the
possession of good. Necessarily, then, is expectation founded on faith. Now he
is faithful who keeps inviolably what is entrusted to him; and we are entrusted
with the utterances respecting God and the divine words, the commands along with
the execution of the injunctions. This is the faithful servant, who is praised
by the Lord. And when it is said, "God is faithful," it is intimated that He is
worthy to be believed when declaring aught. Now His Word declares; and "God"
Himself is "faithful." How, then, if to believe is to suppose, do the
philosophers think that what proceeds from themselves is sure? For the voluntary
assent to a preceding demonstration is not supposition, but it is assent to
something sure. Who is more powerful than God? Now unbelief is the feeble
negative supposition of one opposed to Him: as incredulity is a condition which
admits faith with difficulty. Faith is the voluntary supposition and
anticipation of pre-comprehension. Expectation is an opinion about the future,
and expectation about other things is opinion about uncertainty. Confidence is a
strong judgment about a thing. Wherefore we believe Him in whom we have
confidence unto divine glory and salvation. And we confide in Him, who is God
alone, whom we know, that those things nobly [promised to us, and for this end
benevolently created and bestowed by Him on us, will not fail.
Benevolence is the wishing of good things to another for his sake. For He needs
nothing; and the beneficence and benignity which flow from the Lord terminate in
us, being divine benevolence, and benevolence resulting in beneficence. And if
to Abraham on his believing it was counted for righteousness; and if we are the
seed of Abraham, then we must also believe through heating. For we are
Israelites, who are convinced not by signs, but by hearing. Wherefore it is
said, "Rejoice, O barren, that barest not; break forth and cry, thou that didst
not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than of her
who hath an husband." "Thou hast lived for the fence of the people, thy children
were blessed in the tents of their fathers." And if the same mansions are
promised by prophecy to us and to the patriarchs, the God of both the covenants
is shown to be one.
Accordingly it is added more clearly, "Thou hast inherited the covenant of
Israel," speaking to those called from among the nations that were once barren,
being formerly destitute of this husband, who is the Word, -- desolate formerly,
-- of the bridegroom. "Now the just shall live by faith," which is according to
the covenant and the commandments; since these, which are two in name and time,
given in accordance with the [divine] economy -- being in power one -- the old
and the new, are dispensed through the Son by one God. As the apostle also says
in the Epistle to the Romans, "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith," teaching the one salvation which from prophecy to the
Gospel is perfected by one and the same Lord. "This charge," he says, "I commit
to thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee,
that thou by them mightest war the good warfare; holding faith, and a good
conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck,"
because they defiled by unbelief the conscience that comes from God.
Accordingly, faith may not, any more, with reason, be disparaged in an offhand
way, as simple and vulgar, appertaining to anybody.
For, if it were a mere human habit, as the Greeks supposed, it would have been
extinguished. But if it grow, and there be no place where it is not; then I
affirm, that faith, whether founded in love, or in fear, as its disparagers
assert, is something divine; which is neither rent asunder by other mundane
friendship, nor dissolved by the presence of fear. For love, on account of its
friendly alliance with faith, makes men believers; and faith, which is the
foundation of love, in its turn introduces the doing of good; since also fear,
the paedagogue of the law, is believed to be fear by those, by whom it is
believed. For, if its existence is shown in its working, it is yet believed when
about to do and threatening, and when not working and present; and being
believed to exist, it does not itself generate faith, but is by faith tested and
proved trustworthy. Such a change, then, from unbelief to faith -- and to trust
in hope and fear, is divine. And, in truth, faith is discovered, by us, to be
the first movement towards salvation; after which fear, and hope, and
repentance, advancing in company with temperance and patience, lead us to love
and knowledge. Rightly, therefore, the Apostle Barnabas says, "From the portion
I have received I have done my diligence to send by little and little to you;
that along with your faith you may also have perfect knowledge.
Fear and patience are then helpers of your faith; and our allies are
long-suffering and temperance. These, then," he says, "in what respects the
Lord, continuing in purity, there rejoice along with them, wisdom,
understanding, intelligence, knowledge." The fore-mentioned virtues being, then,
the elements of knowledge; the result is that faith is more elementary, being as
necessary to the Gnostic, as respiration to him that lives in this world is to
life. And as without the four elements it is not possible to live, so neither
can knowledge be attained without faith. It is then the support of truth.
CHAPTER VII -- THE UTILITY OF FEAR. OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
Those, who denounce fear, assail the law; and if the law, plainly also God, who
gave the law. For these three elements are of necessity presented in the subject
on hand: the ruler, his administration, and the ruled. If, then, according to
hypothesis, they abolish the law; then, by necessary consequence, each one who
is led by lust, courting pleasure, must neglect what is right and despise the
Deity, and fearlessly indulge in impiety and injustice together, having dashed
away from the truth.
Yea, say they, fear is an irrational aberration and perturbation of mind. What
sayest thou? And how can this definition be any longer maintained, seeing the
commandment is given me by the Word? But the commandment forbids, hanging fear
over the head of those who have incurred admonition for their discipline.
Fear is not then irrational. It is therefore rational. How could it be
otherwise, exhorting as it does, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Than shalt not bear false witness? But if they
will quibble about the names, let the philosophers term the fear of the law,
cautious fear, (eulabeia) which is a shunning (ekklisis) agreeable to reason.
Such Critolaus of Phasela not inaptly called fighters about names (onomatomakoi).
The commandment, then, has already appeared fair and lovely even in the highest
degree, when conceived under a change of name. Cautious fear (eulabeia) is
therefore shown to be reasonable being the shunning of what hurts; from which
arises repentance for previous sins. "For the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom; good understanding is to all that do it." He calls wisdom a doing,
which is the fear of the Lord paving the way for wisdom. But if the law produces
fear, the knowledge of the law is the beginning of wisdom; and a man is not wise
without law. Therefore those who reject the law are unwise; and in consequence
they are reckoned godless (aqeoi). Now instruction is the beginning of wisdom.
"But the ungodly despise wisdom and instruction," saith the Scripture.
Let us see what terrors the law announces. If it is the things which hold an
intermediate place between virtue and vice, such as poverty, disease, obscurity,
and humble birth, and the like, these things civil laws hold forth, and are:
praised for so doing. And those of the Peripatetic school, who introduce three
kinds of good things, and think that their opposites are evil, this opinion
suits. But the law given to us enjoins us to shun what are in reality bad things
-- adultery, uncleanness, paederasty, ignorance, wickedness, soul-disease, death
(not that which severs the soul from the body, but that which severs the soul
from truth). For these are vices in reality, and the workings that proceed from
them are dreadful and terrible. "For not unjustly," say the divine oracles, "are
the nets spread for birds; for they who are accomplices in blood treasure up
evils to themselves." How, then, is the law still said to be not good by certain
heresies that clamorously appeal to the apostle, who says, "For by the law is
the knowledge of sin?" To whom we say, The law did not cause, but showed sin.
For, enjoining what is to be done, it reprehended what ought not to be done. And
it is the part of the good to teach what is salutary, and to point out what is
deleterious; and to counsel the practice of the one, and to command to shun the
other. Now the apostle, whom they do not comprehend, said that by the law the
knowledge of sin was manifested, not that from it it derived its existence. And
how can the law be not good, which trains, which is given as the instructor (paidagwgos)
to Christ, s that being corrected by fear, in the way of discipline, in order to
the attainment of the perfection which is by Christ? "I will not," it is said,
"the death of the sinner, as his repentance." Now the commandment works
repentance; inasmuch as it deters from what ought not to be done, and enjoins
good deeds. By ignorance he means, in my opinion, death. "And he that is near
the Lord is full of stripes." Plainly, he, that draws near to knowledge, has the
benefit Of perils, fears, troubles, afflictions, by reason of his desire for the
truth. "For the son who is instructed turns out wise, and an intelligent son is
saved from burning. And an intelligent son will receive the commandments." And
Barnabas the apostle having said, "Woe to those who are wise in their own
conceits, clever in their own eyes," added, "Let us become spiritual, a perfect
temple to God; let us, as far as in us lies, practise the fear of God, and
strive to keep His commands, that we may rejoice in His judgments." Whence "the
fear of God" is divinely said to be the beginning of wisdom.
CHAPTER VIII -- THE VAGARIES OF BASILIDES AND VALENTINUS AS TO FEAR BEING THE
CAUSE OF THINGS.
Here the followers of Basilides, interpreting this expression, say, "that the
Prince, having heard the speech of the Spirit, who was being ministered to, was
struck with amazement both with the voice and the vision, having had glad
tidings beyond his hopes announced to him; and that his amazement was called
fear, which became the origin of wisdom, which distinguishes classes, and
discriminates, and perfects, and restores. For not the world alone, but also the
election, He that is over all has set apart and sent forth."
And Valentinus appears also in an epistle to have adopted such views. For he
writes in these very words: "And as terror fell on the angels at this creature,
because he uttered things greater than proceeded from his formation, by reason
of the being in him who had invisibly communicated a germ of the supernal
essence, and who spoke with free utterance; so also among the tribes of men in
the world, the works of men became terrors to those who made them, -- as, for
example, images and statues. And the hands of all fashion things to bear the
name of God: for Adam formed into the name of man inspired the dread attaching
to the pre-existent man, as having his being in him; and they were
terror-stricken, and speedily marred the work."
But there being but one First Cause, as will be shown afterwards, these men will
be shown to be inventors of chatterings and chirpings. But since God deemed it
advantageous, that from the law and the prophets, men should receive a
preparatory discipline by the Lord, the fear of the Lord was called the
beginning of wisdom, being given by the Lord, through Moses, to the disobedient
and hard of heart. For those whom reason convinces not, fear tames; which also
the Instructing Word, foreseeing from the first, and purifying by each of these
methods, adapted the instrument suitably for piety. Consternation is, then, fear
at a strange apparition, or at an unlooked-for representation -- such as, for
example, a message; while fear is an excessive wonderment on account of
something which arises or is. They do not then perceive that they represent by
means of amazement the God who is highest and is extolled by them, as subject to
perturbation and antecedent to amazement as having been in ignorance. If indeed
ignorance preceded amazement; and if this amazement and fear, which is the
beginning of wisdom, is the fear of God, then in all likelihood ignorance as
cause preceded both the wisdom of God and all creative work, and not only these,
but restoration and even election itself. Whether, then, was it ignorance of
what was good or what was evil?
Well, if of good, why does it cease through amazement? And minister and
preaching and baptism are [in that case] superfluous to them. And if of evil,
how can what is bad be the cause of what is best? For had not ignorance
preceded, the minister would not have come down, nor would have amazement seized
on "the Prince," as they say; nor would he have attained to a beginning of
wisdom from fear, in order to discrimination between the elect and those that
are mundane. And if the fear of the pre-existent man made the angels conspire
against their own handiwork, under the idea that an invisible germ of the
supernal essence was lodged within that creation, or through unfounded suspicion
excited envy, which is incredible, the angels became murderers of the creature
which had been entrusted to them, as a child might be, they being thus convicted
of the grossest ignorance. Or suppose they were influenced by being involved in
foreknowledge. But they would not have conspired against what they foreknew in
the assault they made; nor would they have been terror-struck at their own work,
in consequence of foreknowledge, on their perceiving the supernal germ. Or,
finally, suppose, trusting to their knowledge, they dared (but this also were
impossible for them), on learning the excellence that is in the Pleroma, to
conspire against man. Furthermore also they laid hands on that which was
according to the image, in which also is the archetype, and which, along with
the knowledge that remains, is indestructible.
To these, then, and certain others, especially the Marcionites, the Scripture
cries, though they listen not, "He that heareth Me shall rest with confidence in
peace, and shall be tranquil, fearless of all evil."
What, then, will they have the law to be? They will not call it evil, but just;
distinguishing what is good from what is just. But the Lord, when He enjoins us
to dread evil, does not exchange one evil for another, but abolishes what is
opposite by its opposite. Now evil is the opposite of good, as what is just is
of what is unjust. If, then, that absence of fear, which the fear of the Lord
produces, is called the beginning of what is good, fear is a good thing. And the
fear which proceeds from the law is not only just, but good, as it takes away
evil. But introducing absence of fear by means of fear, it does not produce
apathy by means of mental perturbation, but moderation of feeling by discipline.
When, then, we hear, "Honour the Lord, and be strong: but fear not another
besides Him," we understand it to be meant fearing to sin, and following the
commandments given by God, which is the honour that cometh from God. For the
fear of God is Deos [in Greek]. But if fear is perturbation of mind, as some
will have it that fear is perturbation of mind, yet all fear is not
perturbation. Superstition is indeed perturbation of mind; being the fear of
demons, that produce and are subject to the excitement of passion. On the other
hand, consequently, the fear of God, who is not subject to perturbation, is free
of perturbation. For it is not God, but failing away from God, that the man is
terrified for. And he who fears this -- that is, falling into evils -- fears and
dreads those evils. And he who fears a fall, wishes himself to be free of
corruption and perturbation. "The wise man, fearing, avoids evil: but the
foolish, trusting, mixes himself with it," says the Scripture; and again it
says, "In the fear of the Lord is the hope of strength."
CHAPTER IX -- THE CONNECTION OF THE CHRISTIAN VIRTUES.
Such a fear, accordingly, leads to repentance and hope. Now hope is the
expectation of good things, or an expectation sanguine of ab sent good; and
favourable circumstances are assumed in order to good hope, which we have
learned leads on to love. Now love turns out to be consent in what pertains to
reason, life, and manners, or in brief, fellowship in life, or it is the
intensity of friendship and of affection, with fight reason, in the enjoyment of
associates. And an associate (etairos) is another self; just as we call those,
brethren, who are regenerated by the same word. And akin to love is hospitality,
being a congenial an devoted to the treatment of strangers. And those are
strangers, to whom the things of the world are strange. For we regard as worldly
those, who hope in the earth and carnal lusts. "Be not conformed," says the
apostle, "to this world: but be ye transformed in the renewal of the mind, that
ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Hospitality, therefore, is occupied in what is useful for strangers; and guests
(epixenoi) are strangers (xenoi); and friends are guests; and brethren are
friends. "Dear brother," says Homer.
Philanthropy, in order to which also, is natural affection, being a loving
treatment of men, and natural affection, which is a congenial habit exercised in
the love of friends or domestics, follow in the train of love. And if the real
man within us is the spiritual, philanthropy is brotherly love to those who
participate, in the same spirit. Natural affection, on the other hand, the
preservation of good-will, or of affection; and affection is its perfect
demonstration; and to be beloved is to please in behaviour, by drawing and
attracting. And persons are brought to sameness by consent, which is the
knowledge of the good things that are enjoyed in common. For community of
sentiment (omognwmosunh) is harmony of opinions (sumfwnia gnwmpn). "Let your
love be without dissimulation," it is said; "and abhorring what is evil, let us
become attached to what is good, to brotherly love," and so on, down to "If it
be possible, as much as lieth in you, living peaceably with all men." Then "be
not overcome of evil," it is said, "but overcome evil with good." And the same
apostle owns that he bears witness to the Jews, "that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and
seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God." For they did not know and do the will of the law; but
what they supposed, that they thought the law wished. And they did not believe
the law as prophesying, but the bare word; and they followed through fear, not
through disposition and faith. "For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness," who was prophesied by the law to every one that believeth.
Whence it was said to them by Moses, "I will provoke you to jealousy by them
that are not a people; and I will anger you by a foolish nation, that is, by one
that has become disposed to obedience." And by Isaiah it is said, "I was found
of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest to them that inquired not after
Me," -- manifestly previous to the coming of the Lord; after which to lsrael,
the things prophesied, are now appropriately spoken: "I have stretched out My
hands all the day long to a disobedient and gainsaying people." Do you see the
cause of the calling from among the nations, clearly declared, by the prophet,
to be the disobedience and gainsaying of the people? Then the goodness of God is
shown also in their case. For the apostle says, "But through their transgression
salvation is come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy," and to
willingness to repent. And the Shepherd, speaking plainly of those who had
fallen asleep, recognises certain righteous among Gentiles and Jews, not only
before the appearance of Christ, but before the law, in virtue of acceptance
before God, -- as Abel, as Noah, as any other righteous man. He says
accordingly, "that the apostles and teachers, who had preached the name of the
Son of God, and had fallen asleep, in power and by faith, preached to those that
had fallen asleep before." Then he subjoins: "And they gave them the seal of
preaching.
They descended, therefore, with them into the water, and again ascended. But
these descended alive, and again ascended alive. But those, who had fallen
asleep before, descended dead, but ascended alive. By these, therefore, they
were made alive, and knew the name of the Son of God. Wherefore also they
ascended with them, and fitted into the structure of the tower, and unhewn were
built up together; they fell asleep in righteousness and in great purity, but
wanted only this seal." "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by
nature the things of the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto
themselves," according to the apostle.
As, then, the virtues follow one another, why need I say what has been
demonstrated already, that faith hopes through repentance, and fear through
faith; and patience and practice in these along with learning terminate in love,
which is perfected by knowledge? But that is necessarily to be noticed, that the
Divine alone is to be regarded as naturally wise. Therefore also wisdom, which
has taught the truth, is the power of God; and in it the perfection of knowledge
is embraced. The philosopher loves and likes the truth, being now considered as
a friend, on account of his love, from his being a true servant. The beginning
of knowledge is wondering at objects, as Plato says is in his Theoetetus; and
Matthew exhorting in the Traditions, says, "Wonder at what is before you;"
laying this down first as the foundation of further knowledge. So also in the
Gospel to the Hebrews it is written, "He that wonders shall reign, and he that
has reigned shall rest. It is impossible, therefore, for an ignorant man, while
he remains ignorant, to philosophize, not having apprehended the idea of wisdom;
since philosophy is an effort to grasp that which truly is, and the studies that
conduce thereto. And it is not the rendering of one accomplished in good habits
of conduct, but the knowing how we are to use and act and labour, according as
one is assimilated to God. I mean God the Saviour, by serving the God of the
universe through the High Priest, the Word, by whom what is in truth good and
right is beheld. Piety is conduct suitable and corresponding to God.
CHAPTER X -- TO WHAT THE PHILOSOPHER APPLIES HIMSELF.
These three things, therefore, our philosopher attaches himself to: first,
speculation; second, the performance of the precepts; third, the forming of good
men; -- which, concurring, form the Gnostic. Whichever of these is wanting, the
elements of knowledge limp. Whence the Scripture divinely says, "And the Lord
spake to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to
them, I am the Lord your God. According to the customs of the land of Egypt, in
which ye have dwelt, ye shall not do; and according to the customs of Canaan,
into which I bring you, ye shall not do; and in their usages ye shall not walk.
Ye shall perform My judgments, and keep My precepts, and walk in them: I am the
Lord your God. And ye shall keep all My commandments, and do them. He that doeth
them shall live in them. I am the Lord your God." Whether, then, Egypt and the
land of Canaan be the symbol of the world and of deceit, or of sufferings and
afflictions; the oracle shows us what must be abstained from, and what, being
divine and not worldly, must be observed. And when it is said, "The man that
doeth them shall live in them," it declares both the correction of the Hebrews
themselves, and the training and advancement of us who are nigh: it declares at
once their life and ours. For "those who were dead in sins are quickened
together with Christ," by our covenant. For Scripture, by the frequent
reiteration of the expression, "I am the Lord your God," shames in such a way as
most powerfully to dissuade, by teaching us to follow God who gave the
commandments, and gently admonishes us to seek God and endeavour to know Him as
far as possible; which is the highest speculation, that which scans the greatest
mysteries, the real knowledge, that which becomes irrefragable by reason. This
alone is the knowledge of wisdom, from which rectitude of conduct is never
disjoined.
CHAPTER XI -- THE KNOWLEDGE WHICH COMES THROUGH FAITH THE SUREST OF ALL.
But the knowledge of those who think themselves wise, whether the barbarian
sects or the philosophers among the Greeks, according to the apostle, " puffeth
up." But that knowledge, which is the scientific demonstration of what is
delivered according to the true philosophy, is rounded on faith. Now, we may say
that it is that process of reason which, from what is admitted, procures faith
in what is disputed. Now, faith being twofold -- the faith of knowledge and that
of opinion -- nothing prevents us from calling demonstration twofold, the one
resting on knowledge, the other on opinion; since also knowledge and
foreknowledge are designated as twofold, that which is essentially accurate,
that which is defective. And is not the demonstration, which we possess, that
alone which is true, as being supplied out of the divine Scriptures, the sacred
writings, and out of the "God-taught wisdom," according to the apostle?
Learning, then, is also obedience to the commandments, which is faith in God.
And faith is a power of God, being the strength of the truth. For example, it is
said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard, ye shall remove the mountain."
And again, "According to thy faith let it be to thee." And one is cured,
receiving healing by faith; and the dead is raised up in consequence of the
power of one believing that he would be raised. The demonstration, however,
which rests on opinion is human, and is the result of rhetorical arguments or
dialectic syllogisms. For the highest demonstration, to which we have alluded,
produces intelligent faith by the adducing and opening up of the Scrip tures to
the souls of those who desire to learn; the result of which is knowledge
(gnosis). For if what is adduced in order to prove the point at issue is assumed
to be true, as being divine and prophetic, manifestly the conclusion arrived at
by inference from it will consequently he inferred truly; and the legitimate
result of the demonstration will be knowledge. When, then, the memorial of the
celestial and divine food was commanded to be consecrated in the golden pot, it
was said, "The omer was the tenth of the three measures." For in ourselves, by
the three measures are indicated three criteria; sensation of objects of sense,
speech, -- of spoken names and words, and the mind, -- of intellectual objects.
The Gnostic, therefore, will abstain from errors in speech, and thought, and
sensation, and action, having heard "that he that looks so as to lust hath
committed adultery;" and reflecting that "blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God;" and knowing this, "that not what enters into the mouth
defileth, but that it is what cometh forth by the mouth that defileth the man.
For out of the heart proceed thoughts." This, as I think, is the true and just
measure according to God, by which things capable of measurement are measured,
the decad which is comprehensive of man; which summarily the three
above-mentioned measures pointed out. There are body and soul, the five senses,
speech, the power of reproduction -- the intellectual or the spiritual faculty,
or whatever you choose to call it. And we must, in a word, ascending above all
the others, stop at the mind; as also certainly in the universe overleaping the
nine divisions, the first consisting of the four elements put in one place for
equal interchange: and then the seven wandering stars and the one that wanders
not, the ninth, to the perfect number, which is above the nine, and the tenth
division, we must reach to the knowledge of God, to speak briefly, desiring the
Maker after the creation. Wherefore the tithes both of the ephah and of the
sacrifices were presented to God; and the paschal feast began with the tenth
day, being the transition from all trouble, and from all objects of sense.
The Gnostic is therefore fixed by faith; but the man who thinks himself wise
touches not what pertains to the truth, moved as he is by unstable and wavering
impulses. It is therefore reasonably written, "Cain went forth from the face of
God, and dwelt in the land of Naid, over against Eden." Now Naid is interpreted
commotion, and Eden delight; and Faith, and Knowledge, and Peace are delight,
from which he that has disobeyed is cast out. But he that is wise in his own
eyes will not so much as listen to the beginning of the divine commandments;
but, as if his own teacher, throwing off the reins, plunges voluntarily into a
billowy commotion, sinking down to mortal and created things from the uncreated
knowledge, holding various opinions at various times. "Those who have no
guidance fall like leaves."
Reason, the governing principle, remaining unmoved and guiding the soul, is
called its pilot. For access to the Immutable is obtained by a truly immutable
means. Thus Abraham was stationed before the Lord, and approaching spoke. And to
Moses it is said, "But do thou stand there with Me." And the followers of Simon
wish be assimilated in manners to the standing form which they adore. Faith,
therefore, and the knowledge of the truth, render the soul, which makes them its
choice, always uniform and equable. For congenial to the man of falsehood is
shifting, and change, and turning away, as to the Gnostic are calmness, and
rest, and peace. As, then, philosophy has been brought into evil repute by pride
and self-conceit, so also ghosts by false ghosts called by the same name; of
which the apostle writing says, "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy
trust, avoiding the profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science
(gnosis) falsely so called; which some professing, have erred concerning the
faith."
Convicted by this utterance, the heretics reject the Epistles. to Timothy. Well,
then, if the Lord is the truth, and wisdom, and power of God, as in truth He is,
it is shown that the real Gnostic is he that knows Him, and His Father by Him.
For his sentiments are the same with him who said, "The lips of the righteous
know high things."
CHAPTER XII -- TWOFOLD FAITH.
Faith as also Time being double, we shall find virtues in pairs both dwelling
together. For memory is related to past time, hope to future. We believe that
what is past did, and that what is future will take place. And, on the other I
hand, we love, persuaded by faith that the past was as it was, and by hope
expecting the future. For in everything love attends the Gnostic, who knows one
God. "And, behold, all things which He created were very good." He both knows
and admires. Godliness adds length of life; and the fear of the Lord adds days.
As, then, the days are a portion of life in its progress, so also fear is the
beginning of love, becoming by development faith, then love. But it is not as I
fear and hate a wild beast (since fear is twofold) that I fear the father, whom
I fear and love at once. Again, fearing lest I be punished, I love myself in
assuming fear. He who fears to offend his father, loves himself. Blessed then is
he who is found possessed of faith, being, as he is, composed of love and fear.
And faith is power in order to salvation, and strength to eternal life. Again,
prophecy is foreknowledge; and knowledge the understanding of prophecy; being
the knowledge of those things known before by the Lord who reveals all things.
The knowledge, then, of those things which have been predicted shows a threefold
result -- either one that has happened long ago, or exists now, or about to be.
Then the extremes either of what is accomplished or of what is hoped for fall
under faith; and the present action furnishes persuasive arguments of the
confirmation of both the extremes. For if, prophecy being one, one part is
accomplishing and another is fulfilled; hence the truth, both what is hoped for
and what is passed is confirmed. For it was first present; then it became past
to us; so that the belief of what is past is the apprehension of a past event,
and a hope which is future the apprehension of a future event.
And not only the Platonists, but the Stoics, say that assent is in our own
power. All opinion then, and judgment, and supposition, and knowledge, by which
we live and have perpetual intercourse with the human race, is an assent; which
is nothing else than faith. And unbelief being defection from faith, shows both
assent and faith to be possessed of power; for non-existence cannot be called
privation. And if you consider the truth, you will find man naturally misled so
as to give assent to what is false, though possessing the resources necessary
for belief in the truth. "The virtue, then, that encloses the Church in its
grasp," as the Shepherd says, "is Faith, by which the elect of God are saved;
and that which acts the man is Self-restraint. And these are followed by
Simplicity, Knowledge, Innocence, Decorum, Love," and all these are the
daughters of Faith. And again, "Faith leads the way, fear upbuilds, and love
perfects." Accordingly he says, the Lord is to be feared in order to
edification, but not the devil to destruction. And again, the works of the Lord
-- that is, His commandments -- are to be loved and done; but the works of the
devil are to be dreaded and not done. For the fear of God trains and restores to
love; but the fear of the works of the devil has hatred dwelling along with it.
The same also says" that repentance is high intelligence. For he that repents of
what he did, no longer does or says as he did. But by torturing himself for his
sins, he benefits his soul. Forgiveness of sins is therefore different from
repentance; but both show what is in our power."
CHAPTER XIII -- ON FIRST AND SECOND REPENTANCE.
He, then, who has received the forgiveness of sins ought to sin no more. For, in
addition to the first and only repentance from sins (this is from the previous
sins in the first and heathen life -- I mean that in ignorance), there is
forthwith proposed to those who have been called, the repentance which cleanses
the seat of the soul from transgressions, that faith may be established. And the
Lord, knowing the heart, and foreknowing the future, foresaw both the fickleness
of man and the craft and subtlety of the devil from the first, from the
beginning; how that, envying man for the forgiveness of sins, he would present
to the servants of God certain causes of sins; skilfully working mischief, that
they might fall together with himself. Accordingly, being very merciful, He has
vouch-safed, in the case of those who, though in faith, fall into any
transgression, a second repentance; so that should any one be tempted after his
calling, overcome by force and fraud, he may receive still a repentance not to
be repented of. "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a
certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shah devour
the adversaries." But continual and successive repentings for sins differ
nothing from the case of those who have not believed at all, except only in
their consciousness that they do sin. And I know not which of the two is worst,
whether the case of a man who sins knowingly, or of one who, after having
repented of his sins, transgresses again. For in the process of proof sin
appears on each side, -- the sin which in its commission is condemned by the
worker of the iniquity, and that of the man who, foreseeing what is about to be
done, yet puts his hand to it as a wickedness. And he who perchance gratifies
himself in anger and pleasure, gratifies himself in he knows what; and he who,
repenting of that in which he gratified himself, by rushing again into pleasure,
is near neighbour to him who has sinned wilfully at first. For one, who does
again that of which he has repented, and condemning what he does, performs it
willingly.
He, then, who from among the Gentiles and from that old life has betaken himself
to faith, has obtained forgiveness of sins once. But he who has sinned after
this, on his repentance, though he obtain pardon, ought to fear, as one no
longer washed to the forgiveness of sins. For not only must the idols which he
formerly held as gods, but the works also of his former life, be abandoned by
him who has been "born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh," but
in the Spirit; which consists in repenting by not giving way to the same fault.
For frequent repentance and readiness to change easily from want of training, is
the practice of sin again. The frequent asking of forgiveness, then, for those
things in which we often transgress, is the semblance of repentance, not
repentance itself. "But the righteousness of the blameless cuts straight paths,"
says the Scripture. And again, "The righteousness of the innocent will make his
way right." Nay, "as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them
that fear Him." David writes, "They who sow," then, "in tears, shall reap in
joy; " those, namely, who confess in penitence. "For blessed are all those that
fear the Lord." You see the corresponding blessing in the Gospel. "Fear not," it
is said, "when a man is enriched, and when the glory of his house is increased:
because when he dieth he shall leave all, and his glory shall not descend after
him." "But I in Thy I mercy will enter into Thy house. I will worship I toward
Thy holy temple, in Thy fear: Lord, lead me in Thy righteousness." Appetite is
then the movement of the mind to or from something. Passion is an excessive
appetite exceeding the measures of reason, or appetite unbridled and disobedient
to the word. Passions, then, are a perturbation of the soul contrary to nature,
in disobedience to reason. But revolt and distraction and disobedience are in
our own power, as obedience is in our power. Wherefore voluntary actions are
judged. But should one examine each one of the passions, he will find them
irrational impulses.
CHAPTER XIV -- HOW A THING MAY BE INVOLUNTARY.
What is involuntary is not matter for judgment. But this is twofold, -- what is
done in ignorance, and what is done through necessity. For how will you judge
concerning those who are said to sin in involuntary modes? For either one knew
not himself, as Cleomenes and Athamas, who were mad; or the thing which he does,
as Aeschylus, who divulged the mysteries on the stage, who, being tried in the
Areopagus, was absolved on his showing that he had not been initiated. Or one
knows not what is done, as he who has let off his antagonist, and slain his
domestic instead of his enemy; or that by which it is done, as he who, in
exercising with spears having buttons on them, has killed some one in
consequence of the spear throwing off the button; or knows not the manner how,
as he who has killed his antagonist in the stadium, for it was not for his death
but for victory that he contended; or knows not the reason why it is done, as
the physician gave a salutary antidote and killed, for it was not for this
purpose that he gave it, but to save. The law at that time punished him who had
killed involuntarily, as e.g., him who was subject involuntarily to gonorrhoea,
but not equally with him who did so voluntarily.
Although he also shall be punished as for a voluntary action, if one transfer
the affection to the truth. For, in reality, he that cannot contain the
generative word is to be punished; for this is an irrational passion of the soul
approaching garrulity. "The faithful man chooses to conceal things in his
spirit." Things, then, that depend on choice are subjects for judgment. "For the
Lord searcheth the hearts and reins." "And he that looketh so as to lust" is
judged. Wherefore it is said, "Thou shalt not lust." And "this people honoureth
Me with their lips," it is said, "but their heart is far from Me." For God has
respect to the very thought, since Lot's wife, who had merely voluntarily turned
towards worldly wickedness, He left a senseless mass, rendering her a pillar of
salt, and fixed her so that she advanced no further, not as a stupid and useless
image, but to season and salt him who has the power of spiritual perception.
CHAPTER XV -- ON THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF VOLUNTARY ACTIONS, AND THE SINS THENCE
PROCEEDING.
What is voluntary is either what is by desire, or what is by choice, or what is
of intention. Closely allied to each other are these things -- sin, mistake,
crime. It is sin, for example, to live luxuriously and licentiously; a
misfortune, to wound one's friend in ignorance, taking him for an enemy; and
crime, to violate graves or commit sacrilege. Sinning arises from being unable
to determine what ought to be done, or being unable to do it; as doubtless one
falls into a ditch either through not knowing, or through inability to leap
across through feebleness of body. But application to the training of ourselves,
and subjection to the commandments, is in our own power; with which if we will
have nothing to do, by abandoning ourselves wholly to lust, we shall sin, nay
rather, wrong our own soul. For the noted Laius says in the tragedy: "None of
these things of which you admonish me have escaped me; But notwithstanding that
I am in my senses, Nature compels me;" i.e., his abandoning himself to passion.
Medea, too, herself cries on the stage: "And I am aware what evils I am to
perpetrate, But passion is stronger than my resolutions."
Further, not even Ajax is silent; but, when about to kill himself, cries: - "No
pain gnaws the soul of a free man like dishonour.
Thus do I suffer; and the deep stain of calamity Ever stirs me from the depths,
agitated By the bitter stings of rage."
Anger made these the subjects of tragedy, and lust made ten thousand others --
Phaedra, Anthia, Eriphyle,- "Who took the precious gold for her dear husband."
For another play represents Thrasonides of the comic drama as saying: "A
worthless wench made me her slave."
Mistake is a sin contrary to calculation; and voluntary sin is crime (adikia);
and crime is voluntary wickedness. Sin, then, is on my part voluntary. Wherefore
says the apostle, "Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under
the law, but under grace." Addressing those who have believed, he says, "For by
His stripes we were healed." Mistake is the involuntary action of another
towards me, while a crime (adikia) alone is voluntary, whether my act or
another's. These differences of sins are alluded to by the Psalmist, when he
calls those blessed whose iniquities (anomias) God hath blotted out, and whose
sins (amartias) He hath covered. Others He does not impute, and the rest He
forgives. For it is written, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin,
and in whose mouth there is no fraud." This blessedness came on those who had
been chosen by Cod through Jesus Christ our Lord. For "love hides the multitude
of sins." And they are blotted out by Him "who desireth the repentance rather
than the death of a sinner." And those are not reckoned that are not the effect
of choice; "for he who has lusted has already committed adultery," it is said.
And the illuminating Word forgives sins: "And in that time, saith the Lord, they
shall seek for the iniquity of Israel, and it shall not exist; and the sins of
Judah, and they shall not be found." "For who is like Me? and who shall stand
before My face? You see the one God declared good, rendering according to
desert, and forgiving sins. John, too, manifestly teaches the differences of
sins, in his larger Epistle, in these words: "If any man see his brother sin a
sin that is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life: for these
that sin not unto death," he says. For "there is a sin unto death: I do not say
that one is to pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not
unto death."
David, too, and Moses before David, show the knowledge of the three precepts in
the following words: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the
ungodly;" as the fishes go down to the depths in darkness; for those which have
not scales, which Moses prohibits touching, feed at the bottom of the sea. "Nor
standeth in the way of sinners," as those who, while appearing to fear the Lord,
commit sin, like the sow, for when hungry it cries, and when full knows not its
owner. "Nor sitteth in the chair of pestilences," as birds ready for prey. And
Moses enjoined not to eat the sow, nor the eagle, nor the hawk, nor the raven,
nor any fish without scales. So far Barnabas. And I heard one skilled in such
matters say that "the counsel of the ungodly" was the heathen, and "the way of
sinners" the Jewish persuasion, and explain "the chair of pestilence" of
heresies. And another said, with more propriety, that the first blessing was
assigned to those who had not followed wicked sentiments which revolt from God;
the second to those who do not remain in the wide and broad road, whether they
be those who have been brought up in the law, or Gentiles who have repented. And
"the chair of pestilences" will be the theatres and tribunals, or rather the
compliance with wicked and deadly powers, and complicity with their deeds. "But
his delight is in the law of the Lord." Peter in his Preach ing called the Lord,
Law and Logos. The legislator seems to teach differently the interpretation of
the three forms of sin -- understanding by the mute fishes sins of word, for
there are times in which silence is better than speech, far silence has a safe
recompense; sins of deed, by the rapacious and carnivorous birds. The sow
delights in dirt and dung; and we ought not to have "a conscience" that is
"defiled."
Justly, therefore, the prophet says, "The ungodly are not so: but as the chaff
which the wind driveth away from the face of the earth. Wherefore the ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment" (being already condemned, for "he that
believeth not is condemned already" ), "nor sinners in the counsel of the
righteous," inasmuch as they are already condemned, so as not to be united to
those that have lived without stumbling. "For the Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous; and the way of the ungodly shall perish."
Again, the Lord clearly shows sins and transgressions to be in our own power, by
prescribing modes of cure corresponding to the maladies; showing His wish that
we should be Corrected by the shepherds, in Ezekiel; blaming, I am of opinion,
some of them for not keeping the commandments. "That which was enfeebled ye have
not strengthened," and so forth, down to, "and there was none to search out or
turn away."
For "great is the joy before the Father when one sinner is saved," saith the
Lord. So Abraham was much to be praised, because "he walked as the Lord spake to
him." Drawing from this instance, one of the wise men among the Greeks uttered
the maxim, "Follow God." "The godly," says Esaias, "framed wise counsels." Now
counsel is seeking for the right way of acting in present circumstances, and
good counsel is wisdom in our counsels. And what?
Does not God, after the pardon bestowed on Cain, suitably not long after
introduce Enoch, who had repented? showing that it is the nature of repentance
to produce pardon; but pardon does not consist in remission, but in remedy. An
instance of the same is the making of the calf by the people before Aaron.
Thence one of the wise men among the Greeks uttered the maxim, "Pardon is better
than punishment;" as also, "Become surety, and mischief is at hand," is derived
from the utterance of Solomon which says, "My son, if thou become surety for thy
friend, thou wilt give thine hand to thy enemy; for a man's own lips are a
strong snare to him, and he is taken in the words of his own mouth." And the
saying, "Know thyself," has been taken rather more mystically from this, "Thou
hast seen thy brother, thou hast seen thy God." Thus also, "Thou shalt love the
Load thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself;" for it is said,
"On these commandments the law and the prophets hang and are suspended." With
these also agree the following: "These things have I spoken to you, that My joy
might be fulfilled: and this is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I
have loved you." "For the Lord is merciful and pitiful; and gracious is the Lord
to all." "Know thyself" is more clearly and often expressed by Moses, when he
enjoins, "Take heed to thyself." "By alms then, and acts of faith, sins are
purged." "And by the fear of the Lord each one departs from evil." "And the fear
of the Lord is instruction and wisdom."
CHAPTER XVI -- HOW WE ARE TO EXPLAIN THE PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE WHICH ASCRIBE TO
GOD HUMAN AFFECTIONS.
Here again arise the cavaliers, who say that joy and pain are passions of the
soul: for they define joy as a rational elevation and exultation, as rejoicing
on account of what is good; and pity as pain for one who suffers undeservedly;
and that such affections are moods and passions of the soul. But we, as would
appear, do not cease in such matters to understand the Scriptures carnally; and
starting from our own affections, interpret the will of the impassible Deity
similarly to our perturbations; and as we are capable of hearing; so, supposing
the same to be the case with the Omnipotent, err impiously. For the Divine Being
cannot be declared as it exists: but as we who are lettered in the flesh were
able to listen, so the prophets spake to us; the Lord savingly accommodating
Himself to the weakness of men. Since, then, it is the will of God that he, who
is obedient to the commands and repents of his sins should be saved, and we
rejoice on account of our salvation, the Lord, speaking by the prophets,
appropriated our joy to Himself; as speaking lovingly in the Gospel He says, "I
was hungry, and ye gave Me to eat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me to drink. For
inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these, ye did it to Me." As, then,
He is nourished, though not personally, by the nourishing of one whom He wishes
nourished; so He rejoices, without suffering change, by reason of him who has
repented being in joy, as He wished. And since God pities richly, being good,
and giving commands by the law and the prophets, and more nearly still by the
appearance of his Son, saving and pitying, as was said, those who have found
mercy; and properly the greater pities the less; and a man cannot be greater
than man, being by nature man; but God in everything is greater than man; if,
then, the greater pities the less, it is God alone that will pity us. For a man
is made to communicate by righteousness, and bestows what he received from God,
in consequence of his natural benevolence and relation, and the commands which
he obeys. But God has no natural relation to us, as the authors of the heresies
will have it; neither on the supposition of His having made us of nothing, nor
on that of having formed us from matter; since the former did not exist at all,
and the latter is totally distinct from God unless we shall dare to say that we
are a part of Him, and of the same essence as God. And I know not how one, who
knows God, can bear to hear this when he looks to our life, and sees in what
evils we are involved. For thus it would turn out, which it were impiety to
utter, that God sinned in [certain] portions, if the portions are parts of the
whole and complementary of the whole; and if not complementary, neither can they
be parts. But God being by nature rich in pity, in consequence of His own
goodness, cares for us, though neither portions of Himself, nor by nature His
children. And this is the greatest proof of the goodness of God: that such being
our relation to Him, and being by nature wholly estranged, He nevertheless cares
for us. For the affection in animals to their progeny is natural, and the
friendship of kindred minds is the result of intimacy. But the mercy of God is
rich toward us, who are in no respect related to Him; I say either in our
essence or nature, or in the peculiar energy of our essence, but only in our
being the work of His will. And him who willingly, with discipline and teaching,
accepts the knowledge of the truth, He calls to adoption, which is the greatest
advancement of all. "Transgressions catch a man; and in the cords of his own
sins each one is bound." And God is without blame. And in reality, "blessed is
the man who feareth alway through piety."
CHAPTER XVII -- ON THE VARIOUS KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE.
As, then, Knowledge (episthmh) is an intellectual state, from which results the
act of knowing, and becomes apprehension irrefragable by reason; so also
ignorance is a receding impression, which can be dislodged by reason. And that
which is overthrown as well as that which is elaborated by reason, is in our
power. Akin to Knowledge is experience, cognition (eidhsis), Comprehension (sunesis),
perception, and Science. Cognition (eidhsis) is the knowledge of universals by
species; and Experience is comprehensive knowledge, which investigates the
nature of each thing. Perception (nohsis) is the knowledge of intellectual
objects; and Comprehension (sunesis) is the knolwedge of what is compared, or a
comparison that cannot be annulled, or the faculty of comparing the objects with
which Judgment and Knowledge are occupied, both of one and each and all that
goes to make up one reason. And Science (gnwsis) is the knowledge of the thing
in itself, or the knowledge which harmonizes with what takes place. Truth is the
knowledge of the true; and the mental habit of truth is the knowledge of the
things which are true. Now knowledge is constituted by the reason, and cannot be
overthrown by another reason. What we do not, we do not either from not being
able, or not being willing -- or both. Accordingly we don't fly, since we
neither can nor wish; we do not swim at present, for example, since we can
indeed, but do not choose; and we are not as the Lord, since we wish, but cannot
be: "for no disciple is above his master, and it is sufficient if we be as the
master:" not m essence (for it is impossible for that, which is by adoption, to
be equal in substance to that, which is by nature); but [we are as Him] only in
our having been made immortal, and our being conversant with the contemplation
of realities, and beholding the Father through what belongs to Him.
Therefore volition takes the precedence of all; for the intellectual powers are
ministers of the Will. "Will," it is said, "and thou shalt be able." And in the
Gnostic, Will, Judgment, and Exertion are identical. For if the determinations
are the same, the opinions and judgments will be the same too; so that both his
words, and life, and conduct, are conformable to rule. "And a right heart
seeketh knowl edge, and heareth it." "God taught me wisdom, and I knew the
knowledge of the holy."
CHAPTER XVIII -- THE MOSAIC LAW THE FOUNTAIN OF ALL ETHICS, AND THE SOURCE FROM
WHICH THE GREEKS DREW THEIRS.
It is then clear also that all the other virtues, delineated in Moses, supplied
the Greeks with the rudiments of the whole department of morals. I mean valour,
and temperance, and wisdom, and justice, and endurance, and patience, and
decorum, and self-restraint; and in addition to these, piety.
But it is clear to every one that piety, which teaches to worship and honour, is
the highest and oldest cause; and the law itself exhibits justice, and teaches
wisdom, by abstinence from sensible images, and by inviting to the Maker and
Father of the universe. And from this sentiment, as from a fountain, all
intelligence increases. "For the sacrifices of the wicked are abomination to the
Lord; but the prayers of the upright are acceptable before Him," since
"righteousness is more acceptable before God than sacrifice." Such also as the
following we find in Isaiah: "To what purpose to me is the multitude of your
sacrifices? saith the Lord;" and the whole section. "Break every bond of
wickedness; for this is the sacrifice that is acceptable to the Lord, a contrite
heart that seeks its Maker." "Deceitful balances are abomination before God; but
a just balance is acceptable to Him." Thence Pythagoras exhorts "not to step
over the balance;" and the profession of heresies is called deceitful
righteousness; and "the tongue of the unjust shall be destroyed, but the mouth
of the righteous droppeth wisdom." "For they call the wise and prudent
worthless." But it were tedious to adduce testimonies respecting these virtues,
since the whole Scripture celebrates them. Since, then, they define manliness to
be knowledge of things formidable, and not formidable, and what is intermediate;
and temperance to be a state of mind which by choosing and avoiding preserves
the judgments of wisdom; and conjoined with manliness is patience, which is
called endurance, the knowledge of what is bearable and what is unbearable; and
magnanimity is the knowledge which rises superior to circumstances. With
temperance also is conjoined caution, which is avoidance in accordance with
reason. And observance of the commandments, which is the innoxious keeping of
them, is the attainment of a secure life. And there is no endurance without
manliness, nor the exercise of self-restraint without temperance. And these
virtues follow one another; and with whom are the sequences of the virtues, with
him is also salvation, which is the keeping of the state of well-being. Rightly,
therefore, in treating of these virtues, we shall inquire into them all; for he
that has one virtue gnostically, by reason of their accompanying each other, has
them all. Self-restraint is that quality which does not overstep what appears in
accordance with right reason. He exercises self-restraint, who curbs the
impulses that are contrary to right reason, or curbs himself so as not to
indulge in desires contrary to right reason. Temperance, too, is not without
manliness; since from the commandments spring both wisdom, which follows God who
enjoins, and that which imitates the divine character, namely righteousness; in
virtue of which, in the exercise of self-restraint, we address ourselves in
purity to piety and the course of conduct thence resulting, in conformity with
God; being assimilated to the Lord as far as is possible for us beings mortal in
nature. And this is being just and holy with wisdom; for the Divinity needs
nothing and suffers nothing; whence it is not, strictly speaking, capable of
self-restraint, for it is never subjected to perturbation, over which to
exercise control; while our nature, being capable of perturbation, needs
self-constraint, by which disciplining itself to the need of little, it
endeavours to approximate in character to the divine nature. For the good man,
standing as the boundary between an immortal and a mortal nature, has few needs;
having wants in consequence of his body, and his birth itself, but taught by
rational self-control to want few things.
What reason is there in the law's prohibiting a man from "wearing woman's
clothing "? Is it not that it would have us to be manly, and not to be
effeminate neither in person and actions, nor in thought and word? For it would
have the man, that devotes himself to the truth, to be masculine both in acts of
endurance and patience, in life, conduct, word, and discipline by night and by
day; even if the necessity were to occur, of witnessing by the shedding of his
blood. Again, it is said, "If any one who has newly built a house, and has not
previously inhabited it; or cultivated a newly-planted vine, and not yet
partaken of the fruit; or betrothed a virgin, and not yet married her;" -- such
the humane law orders to be relieved from military service: from military
reasons in the first place, lest, bent on their desires, they turn out sluggish
in war; for it is those who are untrammelled by passion that boldly encounter
perils; and from motives of humanity, since, in view of the uncertainties of
war, the law reckoned it not right that one should not enjoy his own labours,
and another should without bestowing pains, receive what belonged to those who
had laboured. The law seems also to point out manliness of soul, by enacting
that he who had planted should reap the fruit, and he that built should inhabit,
and he that had betrothed should marry: for it is not vain hopes which it
provides for those who labour; according to the gnostic word: "For the hope of a
good man dead or living does not perish," says Wisdom; "I love them that love
me; and they who seek me shall find peace," and so forth. What then? Did not the
women of the Midianites, by their beauty, seduce from wisdom into impiety,
through licentiousness, the Hebrews when making war against them? For, having
seduced them from a grave mode of life, and by their beauty ensnared them in
wanton delights, they made them insane upon idol sacrifices and strange women;
and overcome by women and by pleasure at once, they revolted from God, and
revolted from the law. And the whole people was within a little of falling under
the power of the enemy through female stratagem, until, when they were in peril,
fear by its admonitions pulled them back. Then the survivors, valiantly
undertaking the struggle for piety, got the upper hand of their foes. "The
beginning, then, of wisdom is piety, and the knowledge of holy things is
understanding; and to know the law is the characteristic of a good
understanding." Those, then, who suppose the law to be productive of agitating
fear, are neither good at understanding the law, nor have they in reality
comprehended it; for "the fear of the Lord causes life, but he who errs shall be
afflicted with pangs which knowledge views not." Accordingly, Barnabas says
mystically, "May God who rules the universe vouchsafe also to you wisdom, and
understanding, and science, and knowledge of His statutes, and patience. Be
therefore God-taught, seeking what the Lord seeks from you, that He may find you
in the day of judgment lying in wait for these things."
"Children of love and peace," he called them gnostically.
Respecting imparting and communicating, though much might be said, let it
suffice to remark that the law prohibits a brother from taking usury:
designating as a brother not only him who is born of the same parents, but also
one of the same race and sentiments, and a participator in the same word;
deeming it right not to take usury for money, but with open hands and heart to
bestow on those who need. For God, the author and the dispenser of such grace,
takes as suitable usury the most precious things to be found among men --
mildness, gentleness, magnanimity, reputation, renown. Do you not regard this
command as marked by philanthropy? As also the following, "To pay the wages of
the poor daily," teaches to discharge without delay the wages due for service;
for, as I think, the alacrity of the poor with reference to the future is
paralyzed when he has suffered want. Further, it is said, "Let not the creditor
enter the debtor's house to take the pledge with violence." But let the former
ask it to be brought out, and let not the latter, if he have it, hesitate. And
in the harvest the owners are prohibited from appropriating what falls from the
handfuls; as also in reaping [the law] enjoins a part to be left unreaped;
signally thereby training those who possess to sharing and to large-heartedness,
by foregoing of their own to those who are in want, and thus providing means of
subsistence for the poor? You see how the law proclaims at once the
righteousness and goodness of God, who dispenses food to all ungrudgingly. And
in the vintage it prohibited the grape-gatherers from going back again on what
had been left, and from gathering the fallen grapes; and the same injunctions
are given to the olive-gatherers. Besides, the tithes of the fruits and of the
flocks taught both piety towards the Deity, and not covetously to grasp
everything, but to communicate gifts of kindness to one's neighbours. For it was
from these, I reckon, and from the first-fruits that the priests were
maintained. We now therefore understand that we are instructed in piety, and in
liberality, and in justice, and in humanity by the law. For does it not command
the land to be left fallow in the seventh year, and bids the poor fearlessly use
the fruits that grow by divine agency, nature cultivating the ground for behoof
of all and sundry? How, then, can it be maintained that the law is not humane,
and the teacher of righteousness? Again, in the fiftieth year, it ordered the
same things to be performed as in the seventh; besides restoring to each one his
own land, if from any circumstance he had parted with it in the meantime;
setting bounds to the desires of those who covet possession, by measuring the
period of enjoyment, and choosing that those who have paid the penalty of
protracted penury should not suffer a life-long punishment. "But alms and acts
of faith are royal guards, and blessing is on the head of him who bestows; and
he who pities the poor shall be blessed." For he shows love to one like himself,
because of his love to the Creator of the human race. The above-mentioned
particulars have other explanations more natural, both respecting rest and the
recovery of the inheritance; but they are not discussed at present.
Now love is conceived in many ways, in the form of meekness, of mildness, of
patience, of liberality, of freedom from envy, of absence of hatred, of
forgetfulness of injuries. In all it is incapable of being divided or
distinguished: its nature is to communicate. Again, it is said, "If you See the
beast of your relatives, or friends, or, in general, of anybody you know,
wandering in the wilderness, take it back and restore it; and if the owner be
far away, keep it among your own till he return, and restore it." It teaches a
natural communication, that what is found is to be regarded as a deposit, and
that we are not to bear malice to an enemy. "The command of the Lord being a
fountain of life" truly, "causeth to turn away from the snare of death." And
what? Does it not command us "to love strangers not only as friends and
relatives, but as ourselves, both in body and soul?" Nay more, it honoured the
nations, and bears no grudge against those who have done ill. Accordingly it is
expressly said, "Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, for thou wast a sojourner in
Egypt;" designating by the term Egyptian either one of that race, or any one in
the world. And enemies, although drawn up before the walls attempting to take
the city, are not to be regarded as enemies till they are by the voice of the
herald summoned to peace.
Further, it forbids intercourse with a female captive so as to dishonour her.
"But allow her," it says, "thirty days to mourn according to her wish, and
changing her clothes, associate with her as your lawful wife." s For it regards
it not right that this should take place either in wantonness or for hire like
harlots, but only for the birth of children. Do you see humanity combined with
continence? The master who has fallen in love with his captive maid it does not
allow to gratify his pleasure, but puts a check on his lust by specifying an
interval of time; and further, it cuts off the captive's hair, in order to shame
disgraceful love: for if it is reason that induces him to marry, he will cleave
to her even after she has become disfigured. Then if one, after his lust, does
not care to consort any longer with the captive, it ordains that it shall not be
lawful to sell her, or to have her any longer as a servant, but desires her to
be freed and released from service, lest on the introduction of another wife she
bear any of the intolerable miseries caused through jealousy.
What more? The Lord enjoins to ease and raise up the beasts of enemies when
labouring beneath their burdens; remotely teaching us not to indulge in joy at
our neighbour's ills, or exult over our enemies; in order to teach those who are
trained in these things to pray for their enemies. For He does not allow us
either to grieve at our neighbour's good, or to reap joy at our neighbour's ill.
And if you find any enemy's beast straying, you are to pass over the incentives
of difference, and take it back and restore it. For oblivion of injuries is
followed by goodness, and the latter by dissolution of enmity. From this we are
fitted for agreement, and this conducts to felicity. And should you suppose one
habitually hostile, and discover him to be unreasonably mistaken either through
lust or anger, turn him to goodness. Does the law then which conducts to Christ
appear humane and mild? And does not the same God, good, while characterized by
righteousness from the beginning to the end, employ each kind suitably in order
to salvation? "Be merciful," says the Lord, "that you may receive mercy;
forgive, that you may be forgiven. As ye do, so shall it be done to you; as ye
give, so shall it be given to you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye
show kindness, so shall kindness be shown to you: with what measure ye mete, it
shall be measured to you again." Furthermore, [the law] prohibits those, who are
in servitude for their subsistence, to be branded with disgrace; and to those,
who have been reduced to slavery through money borrowed, it gives a complete
release in the seventh year. Further, it prohibits suppliants from being given
up to punishment. True above all, then, is that oracle. "As gold and silver are
tried in the furnace, so the Lord chooseth men's hearts. The merciful man is
long-suffering; and in every one who shows solicitude there is wisdom. For on a
wise man solicitude will fall; and exercising thought, he will seek life; and he
who seeketh God shall find knowledge with righteousness. And they who have
sought Him rightly have found peace." And Pythagoras seems to me, to have
derived his mildness towards irrational creatures from the law. For instance, he
interdicted the immediate use of the young in the flocks of sheep, and goats,
and herds of cattle, on the instant of their birth; not even on the pretext of
sacrifice allowing it, both on account of the young ones and of the mothers;
training man to gentleness by what is beneath him, by means of the irrational
creatures. "Resign accordingly," he says, "the young one to its dam for even the
first seven days." For if nothing takes place without a cause, and milk comes in
a shower to animals in parturition for the sustenance of the progeny, he that
tears that, which has been brought forth, away from the supply of the milk,
dishonours nature. Let the Greeks, then, feel ashamed, and whoever else inveighs
against the law; since it shows mildness in the case of the irrational
creatures, while they expose the offspring of men though long ago and
prophetically, the law, in the above-mentioned commandment, threw a check in the
way of their cruelty. For if it prohibits the progeny of the irrational
creatures to be separated from the dam before sucking, much more in the case of
men does it provide beforehand a cure for cruelty and savageness of disposition;
so that even if they despise nature, they may not despise teaching. For they are
permitted to satiate themselves with kids and lambs, and perhaps there might be
some excuse for separating the progeny from its dam. But what cause is there for
the exposure of a child? For the man who did not desire to beget children had no
right to marry at first; certainly not to have become, through licentious
indulgence, the murderer of his children. Again, the humane law forbids slaying
the offspring and the dam together on the same day. Thence also the Romans, in
the case of a pregnant woman being condemned to death, do not allow her to
undergo punishment till she is delivered. The law too, expressly prohibits the
slaying of such animals as are pregnant till they have brought forth, remotely
restraining the proneness of man to do wrong to man. Thus also it has extended
its clemency to the irrational creatures; that from the exercise of humanity in
the case of creatures of different species, we might practise among those of the
same species a large abundance of it. Those, too, that kick the bellies of
certain animals before parturition, in order to feast on flesh mixed with milk,
make the womb created for the birth of the foetus its grave, though the law
expressly commands, "But neither shalt thou seethe a lamb in its mother's milk."
For the nourishment of the living animal, it is meant, may not become sauce for
that which has been deprived of life; and that, which is the cause of life, may
not co-operate in the consumption of the body. And the same law commands "not to
muzzle the ox which treadeth out the corn: for the labourer must be reckoned
worthy of his food."
And it prohibits an ox and ass to be yoked in the plough together; pointing
perhaps to the want of agreement in the case of the animals; and at the same
time teaching not to wrong any one belonging to another race, and bring him
under the yoke, when there is no other cause to allege than difference of race,
which is no cause at all, being neither wickedness nor the effect of wickedness.
To me the allegory also seems to signify that the husbandry of the Word is not
to be assigned equally to the clean and the unclean, the believer and the
unbeliever; for the ox is clean, but the ass has been reckoned among the unclean
animals. But the benignant Word, abounding in humanity, teaches that neither is
it right to cut down cultivated trees, or to cut down the grain before the
harvest, for mischiefs sake; nor that cultivated fruit is to be destroyed at all
-- either the fruit of the soil or that of the soul: for it does not permit the
enemy's country to be laid waste.
Further, husbandmen derived advantage from the law in such things. For it orders
newly planted trees to be nourished three years in succession, and the
superfluous growths to be cut off, to prevent them being loaded and pressed
down; and to prevent their strength being exhausted from want, by the nutriment
being frittered away, enjoins tilling and digging round them, so that [the tree]
may not, by sending out suckers, hinder its growth. And it does not allow
imperfect fruit to be plucked from immature trees, but after three years, in the
fourth year; dedicating the first-fruits to God after the tree has attained
maturity.
This type of husbandry may serve as a mode of instruction, teaching that we must
cut the growths of sins, and the useless weeds of the mind that spring up round
the vital fruit, till the shoot of faith is perfected and becomes strong. For in
the fourth year, since there is need of time to him that is being solidly
catechized, the four virtues are consecrated to God, the third alone being
already joined to the fourth, the person of the Lord. And a sacrifice of praise
is above holocausts: "for He," it is said, "giveth strength to get power." And
if your affairs are in the sunshine of prosperity, get and keep strength, and
acquire power in knowledge. For by these instances it is shown that both good
things and gifts are supplied by God; and that we, becoming ministers of the
divine grace, ought to sow the benefits of God, and make those who approach us
noble and good; so that, as far as possible, the temperate man may make others
continent, he that is manly may make them noble, he that is wise may make them
intelligent, and the just may make them just.
CHAPTER XIX -- THE TRUE GNOSTIC IS AN IMITATOR OF GOD, ESPECIALLY IN
BENEFICENCE.
He is the Gnostic, who is after the image and likeness of God, who imitates God
as far as possible, deficient in none of the things which contribute to the
likeness as far as compatible, practising self-restraint and endurance, living
righteously, reigning over the passions, bestowing of what he has as far as
possible, and doing good both by word and deed. "He is the greatest," it is
said, "in the kingdom who shall do and teach;" imitating God in conferring like
benefits. For God's gifts are for the common good. "Whoever shall attempt to do
aught with presumption, provokes God," it is said. For haughtiness is a vice of
the soul, of which, as of other sins, He commands us to repent; by adjusting our
lives from their state of derangement to the change for the better in these
three things -- mouth, heart, hands. These are signs -- the hands of action, the
heart of volition, the mouth of speech. Beautifully, therefore, has this oracle
been spoken with respect to penitents: "Thou hast chosen God this day to be thy
God; and God hath chosen thee this day to be His people." For him who hastes to
serve the self-existent One, being a suppliant, God adopts to Himself; and
though he be only one in number, he is honoured equally with the people. For
being a part of the people, he becomes complementary of it, being restored from
what he was; and the whole is named from a part.
But nobility is itself exhibited in choosing and practising what is best. For
what benefit to Adam was such a nobility as he had? No mortal was his father;
for he himself was father of men that are born. What is base he readily chose,
following his wife, and neglected what is true and good; on which account he
exchanged his immortal life for a mortal life, but not for ever. And Noah, whose
origin was not the same as Adam's, was saved by divine care, For he took and
consecrated himself to God. And Abraham, who had children by three wives, not
for the indulgence of pleasure, but in the hope, as I think, of multiplying the
race at the first, was succeeded by one alone, who was heir of his father's
blessings, while the rest were separated from the family; and of the twins who
sprang from him, the younger having won his father's favour and received his
prayers, became heir, and the eider served him. For it is the greatest boon to a
bad man not to be master of himself.
And this arrangement was prophetical and typical. And that all things belong to
the wise, Scripture clearly indicates when it is said, "Because God hath had
mercy on me, I have all things." For it teaches that we are to desire one thing,
by which are all things, and what is promised is assigned to the worthy.
Accordingly, the good man who has become heir of the kingdom, it registers also
as fellow-citizen, through divine wisdom, with the righteous of the olden time,
who under the law and before the law lived according to law, whose deeds have
become laws to us; and again, teaching that the wise man is king, introduces
people of a different race, saying to him, "Thou art a king before God among
us;" those who were governed obeying the good man of their own accord, from
admiration of his virtue.
Now Plato the philosopher, defining the end of happiness, says that it is
likeness to God as far as possible; whether concurring with the precept of the
law (for great natures that are free of passions somehow hit the mark respecting
the truth, as the Pythagorean Philo says in relating the history of Moses), or
whether instructed by certain oracles of the time, thirsting as he always was
for instruction. For the law says, "Walk after the Lord your God, and keep my
commandments." For the law calls assimilation following; and such a following to
the utmost of its power assimilates. "Be," says the Lord, "merciful and pitiful,
as your heavenly Father is pitiful." Thence also the Stoics have laid down the
doctrine, that living agreeably to nature is the end, fitly altering the name of
God into nature; since also nature extends to plants, to seeds, to trees, and to
stones. It is therefore plainly said, "Bad men do not understand the law; but
they who love the law fortify themselves with a wall." "For the wisdom of the
clever knows its ways; but the folly of the foolish is in error." "For on whom
will I look, but on him who is mild and gentle, and trembleth at my words?" says
the prophecy.
We are taught that there are three kinds of friendship: and that of these the
first and the best is that which results from virtue, for the love that is
founded on reason is firm; that the second and intermediate is by way of
recompense, and is social, liberal, and useful for life; for the friendship
which is the result of favour is mutual.
And the third and last we assert to be that which is founded on intimacy;
others, again, that it is that variable and changeable form which rests on
pleasure. And Hipppodamus the Pythagorean seems to me to describe friendships
most admirably: "That founded on knowledge of the gods, that founded on the
gifts of men, and that on the pleasures of animals." There is the friendship of
a philosopher, -- that of a man and that of an animal. For the image of God is
really the man who does good, in which also he gets good: as the pilot at once
saves, and is saved. Wherefore, when one obtains his request, he does not say to
the giver, Thou hast given well, but, Thou hast received well. So he receives
who gives, and he gives who receives. "But the righteous pity and show mercy."
"But the mild shall be inhabitants of the earth, and the innocent shall be left
in it. But the transgressors shall be extirpated from it." And Homer seems to me
to have said prophetically of the faithful, "Give to thy friend." And an enemy
must be aided, that he may not continue an enemy. For by help good feeling is
compacted, and enmity dissolved. "But if there be present readiness of mind,
according to what a man hath it is acceptable, and not according to what he hath
not: for it is not that there be ease to others, but tribulation to you, but of
equality at the present time," and so forth. "He hath dispersed, he hath given
to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever," the Scripture says. For
conformity with the image and likeness is not meant of the body (for it were
wrong for what is mortal to be made like what is immortal), but in mind and
reason, on which fitly the Lord impresses the seal of likeness, both in respect
of doing good and of exercising rule. For governments are directed not by
corporeal qualities, but by judgments of the mind. For by the counsels of holy
men states are managed well, and the household also.
CHAPTER XX -- THE TRUE GNOSTIC EXERCISES PATIENCE AND SELF-RESTRAINT.
Endurance also itself forces its way to the divine likeness, reaping as its
fruit impassibility. through patience, if what is related of Ananias be kept in
mind; who belonged to a number, of whom Daniel the prophet, filled with divine
faith, was one. Daniel dwelt at Babylon, as Lot at Sodom, and Abraham, who a
little after became the friend of God, in the land of Chaldea. The king of the
Babylonians let Daniel down into a pit full of wild beasts; the King of all, the
faithful Lord, took him up unharmed. Such patience will the Gnostic, as a
Gnostic, possess. He will bless when under trial, like the noble Job; like
Jonas, when swallowed up by the whale, he will pray, and faith will restore him
to prophesy to the Ninevites; and though shut up with lions, he will tame the
wild beasts; though cast into the fire, he will be besprinkled with dew, but not
consumed. He will give his testimony by night; he will testify by day; by word,
by life, by conduct, he will testify. Dwelling with the Lord? he will continue
his familiar friend, sharing the same hearth according to the Spirit; pure in
the flesh, pure in heart, sanctified in word. "The world," it is said, "is
crucified to him, and he to the world." He, bearing about the cross of the
Saviour, will follow the Lord's footsteps, as God, having become holy of holies.
The divine law, then, while keeping in mind all virtue, trains man especially to
self-restraint, laying this as the foundation of the virtues; and disciplines us
beforehand to the attainment of self-restraint by forbidding us to partake of
such things as are by nature fat, as the breed of swine, which is full-fleshed.
For such a use is assigned to epicures. It is accordingly said that one of the
philosophers, giving the etymology of us (sow), said that it was qus, as being
fit only for slaughter (qusin) and killing; for life was given to this animal
for no other purpose than that it might swell in flesh. Similarly, repressing
our desires, it forbade partaking of fishes which have neither fins nor scales;
for these surpass other fishes in fleshiness and fatness. From-this it was, in
my opinion, that the mysteries not only prohibited touching certain animals, but
also withdrew certain parts of those slain in sacrifice, for reasons which are
known to the initiated. If, then, we are to exercise control over the belly, and
what is below the belly, it is clear that we have of old heard from the Lord
that we are to check lust by the law.
And this will be completely effected, if we unfeignedly condemn what is the fuel
of lust: I mean pleasure. Now they say that the idea of it is a gentle and bland
excitement, accompanied with some sensation. Enthralled by this, Menelaus, they
say, after the capture of Troy, having rushed to put Helen to death, as having
been the cause of such calamities, was nevertheless not able to effect it, being
subdued by her beauty, which made him think of pleasure. Whence the tragedians,
jeering, exclaimed insultingly against him: "But thou, when on her breast thou
lookedst, thy sword Didst cast away, and with a kiss the traitress,
Ever-beauteous wretch, thou didst embrace."
And again: Was the sword then by beauty blunted?"
And I agree with Antisthenes when he says, "Could I catch Aphrodite, I would
shoot her; for she has destroyed many of our beautiful and good women." And he
says that "Love is a vice of nature, and the wretches who fall under its power
call the disease a deity." For in these words it is shown that stupid people are
overcome from ignorance of pleasure, to which we ought to give no admittance,
even though it be called a god, that is, though it be given by God for the
necessity of procreation. And Xenophon, expressly calling pleasure a vice, says:
"Wretch, what good dost thou know, or what honourable aim hast thou? which does
not even wait for the appetite for sweet things, eating before being hungry,
drinking before being thirsty; and that thou mayest eat pleasantly, seeking out
fine cooks; and that thou mayest drink pleasantly, procuring costly wines; and
in summer runnest about seeking snow; and that thou mayest sleep pleasantly, not
only providest soft beds, but also supports to the couches." Whence, as Aristo
said, "against the whole tetrachord of pleasure, pain, fear, and lust, there is
need of much exercise and struggle."
"For it is these, it is these that go through our bowels, And throw into
disorder men's hearts."
"For the minds of those even who are deemed grave, pleasure makes waxen,"
according to Plato; since "each pleasure and pain nails to the body the soul" of
the man, that does not sever and crucify himself from the passions. "He that
loses his life," says the Lord, "shall save it;" either giving it up by exposing
it to danger for the Lord's sake, as He did for us, or loosing it from
fellowship with its habitual life. For if you would loose, and withdraw, and
separate (for this is what the cross means) your soul from the delight and
pleasure that is in this life, you will possess it, found and resting in the
looked-for hope. And this would be the exercise of death, if we would be content
with those desires which are measured according to nature alone, which do not
pass the limit of those which are in accordance with nature -- by going to
excess, or going against nature -- in which the possibility of sinning arises.
"We must therefore put on the panoply of God, that we may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil; since the weapons of our war fire are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down
reasonings, and every lofty thing which exalteth itself against the knowledge of
God, and bringing every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ,"
says the divine apostle. There is need of a man who shall use in a praiseworthy
and discriminating manner the things from which passions take their rise, as
riches and poverty, honour and dishonour, health and sickness, life and death,
toil and pleasure. For, in order that we may treat things, that are different,
indifferently, there is need of a great difference in us, as having been
previously afflicted with much feebleness, and in the distortion of a bad
training and nurture ignorantly indulged ourselves. The simple word, then, of
our philosophy declares the passions to be impressions on the soul that is soft
and yielding, and, as it were, the signatures of the spiritual powers with whom
we have to straggle. For it is the business, in my opinion, of the malificent
powers to endeavour to produce somewhat of their own constitution in everything,
so as to overcome and make their own those who have renounced them. And it
follows, as might be expected, that some are worsted; but in the case of those
who engage in the contest with more athletic energy, the powers mentioned above,
after carrying on the conflict in all forms, and advancing even as far as the
crown wading in gore, decline the battle, and admire the victors.
For of objects that are moved, some are moved by impulse and appearance, as
animals; and some by transposition, as inanimate objects. And of things without
life, plants, they say, are moved by transposition in order to growth, if we
will concede to them that plants are without life. To stones, then, belongs a
permanent state. Plants have a nature; and the irrational animals possess
impulse and perception, and likewise the two characteristics already specified.
But the reasoning faculty, being peculiar to the human soul, ought not to be
impelled similarly with the irrational animals, but ought to discriminate
appearances, and not to be carried away by them. The powers, then, of which we
have spoken hold out beautiful sights, and honours, and adulteries, and
pleasures, and such like alluring phantasies before facile spirits; as those who
drive away cattle hold, out branches to them. Then, having beguiled those
incapable of distinguishing the true from the false pleasure, and the fading and
meretricious from the holy beauty, they lead them into slavery. And each deceit,
by pressing constantly on the spirit, impresses its image on it; and the soul
unwittingly carries about the image of the passion, which takes its rise from
the bait and our consent.
The adherents of Basilides are in the habit of calling the passions appendages:
saying that these are in essence certain spirits attached to the rational soul,
through some original perturbation and confusion; and that, again, other bastard
and heterogeneous natures of spirits grow on to them, like that of the wolf, the
ape, the lion, the goat, whose properties showing themselves around the soul,
they say, assimilate the lusts of the soul to the likeness of the animals. For
they imitate the actions of those whose properties they bear. And not only are
they associated with the impulses and perceptions of the irrational animals, but
they affect the motions and the beauties of plants, on account of their bearing
also the properties of plants attached to them. They have also the properties of
a particular state, as the hardness of steel. But against this dogma we shall
argue subsequently, when we treat of the soul. At present this only needs to be
pointed out, that man, according to Basilides, preserves the appearance of a
wooden horse, according to the poetic myth, embracing as he does in one body a
host of such different spirits. Accordingly, Basilides' son himself, Isidorus,
in his book, About the Soul attached to us, while agreeing in the dogma, as if
condemning himself, writes in these words: "For if I persuade any one that the
soul is undivided, and that the passions of the wicked are occasioned by the
violence of the appendages, the worthless among men will have no slight pretence
for saying,' I was compelled, I was carried away, I did it against my will, I
acted unwillingly;' though he himself led the desire of evil things, and did not
fight against the assaults of the appendages. But we must, by acquiring
superiority in the rational part, show ourselves masters of the inferior
creation in us." For he too lays down the hypothesis of two souls in us, like
the Pythagoreans, at whom we shall glance afterwards.
Valentinus too, in a letter to certain people, writes in these very words
respecting the appendages: "There is one good, by whose presence is the
manifestation, which is by the Son, and by Him alone can the heart become pure,
by the expulsion of every evil spirit from the heart: for the multitude of
spirits dwelling in it do not suffer it to be pure; but each of them performs
his own deeds, insulting it oft with unseemly lusts. And the heart seems to be
treated somewhat like a caravanserai. For the latter has holes and ruts made in
it, and is often filled with dung; men living filthily in it, and taking no care
for the place as belonging to others. So fares it with the heart as long as
there is no thought taken for it, being unclean, and the abode of many demons.
But when the only good Father visits it, it is sanctified, and gleams with
light. And he who possesses such a heart is so blessed, that "he shall see God."
What, then, let them tell us, is the cause of such a soul not being cared for
from the beginning? Either that it is not worthy (and somehow a care for it
comes to it as from repentance), or it is a saved nature, as he would have it;
and this, of necessity, from the beginning, being cared for by reason of its
affinity, afforded no entrance to the impure spirits, unless by being forced and
found feeble. For were he to grant that on repentance it preferred what was
better, he will say this unwillingly, being what the truth we hold teaches;
namely, that salvation is from a change due to obedience, but not from nature.
For as the exhalations which arise from the earth, and from marshes, gather into
mists and cloudy masses; so the vapours of fleshly lusts bring on the soul an
evil condition, scattering about the idols of pleasure before the soul.
Accordingly they spread darkness over the light of intelligence, the spirit
attracting the exhalations that arise from lust, and thickening the masses of
the passions by persistency in pleasures. Gold is not taken from the earth in
the lump, but is purified by smelting; then, when made pure. it is called gold,
the earth being purified. For "Ask, and it shall be given you," it is said to
those who are able of themselves to choose what is best. And how we say that the
powers of the devil, and the unclean spirits, sow into the sinner's soul,
requires no more words from me, on adducing as a witness the apostolic Barnabas
(and he was one of the seventy? and a fellow-worker of Paul), who speaks in
these words: "Before we believed in God, the dwelling-place of our heart was
unstable, truly a temple built with hands.
For it was full of idolatry, and was a house of demons, through doing what was
opposed to God."
He says, then, that sinners exercise activities appropriate to demons; but he
does not say that the spirits themselves dwell in the soul of the unbeliever.
Wherefore he also adds, "See that the temple of the Lord be gloriously built.
Learn, having received remission of sins; and having set our hope on the Name,
let us become new, created again from the beginning." For what he says is not
that demons are driven out of us, but that the sins which like them we commit
before believing are remitted. Rightly thus he puts in opposition what follows:
"Wherefore God truly dwells in our home. He dwells in us. How? The word of His
faith, the calling of His promise, the wisdom of His statutes, the commandments
of His communication, [dwell in us]."
"I know that I have come upon a heresy; and its chief was wont to say that he
fought with pleasure by pleasure, this worthy Gnostic advancing on pleasure in
reigned combat, for he said he was a Gnostic; since he said it was no great
thing for a man that had not tried pleasure to abstain from it, but for one who
had mixed in it not to be overcome [was something]; and that therefore by means
of it he trained himself in it. The wretched man knew not that he was deceiving
himself by the artfulness of voluptuousness. To this opinion, then, manifestly
Aristippus the Cyrenian adhered -- that of the sophist who boasted of the truth.
Accordingly, when reproached for continually cohabiting with the Corinthian
courtezan, he said, "I possess Lais, and am not possessed by her."
Such also are those (who say that they follow Nicolaus, quoting an adage of the
man, which they pervert, "that the flesh must be abused." But the worthy man
showed that it was necessary to check pleasures and lusts, and by such training
to waste away the impulses and propensities of the flesh. But they, abandoning
themselves to pleasure like goats, as if insulting the body, lead a life of
self-indulgence; not knowing that the body is wasted, being by nature subject to
dissolution; while their soul is buffed in the mire of vice; following as they
do the teaching of pleasure itself, not of the apostolic man. For in what do
they differ from Sardanapalus, whose life is shown in the epigram: "I have what
I ate -- what I enjoyed wantonly; And the pleasures I felt in love. But those
Many objects of happiness are left, For I too am dust, who ruled great Ninus."
For the feeling of pleasure is not at all a necessity, but the accompaniment of
certain natural needs -- hunger, thirst, cold, marriage. If, then, it were
possible to drink without it, or take food, or beget children, no other need of
it could be shown. For pleasure is neither a function, nor a state, nor any part
of us; but has been introduced into life as an auxiliary, as they say salt was
to season food. But when it casts off restraint and rules the house, it
generates first concupiscence, which is an irrational propension and impulse
towards that which gratifies it; and it induced Epicurus to lay down pleasure as
the aim of the philosopher. Accordingly he deifies a sound condition of body,
and the certain hope respecting it. For what else is luxury than the voluptuous
gluttony and the superfluous abundance of those who are abandoned to
self-indulgence? Diogenes writes significantly in a tragedy: "Who to the
pleasures of effeminate And filthy luxury attached in heart, Wish not to undergo
the slightest toil."
And what follows, expressed indeed in foul language, but in a manner worthy of
the voluptuaries.
Wherefore the divine law appears to me necessarily to menace with fear, that, by
caution and attention, the philosopher may acquire and retain absence of
anxiety, continuing without fall and without sin in all things. For peace and
freedom are not otherwise won, than by ceaseless and unyielding struggles with
our lusts. For these stout and Olympic antagonists are keener than wasps, so to
speak; and Pleasure especially, not by day only, but by night, is in dreams with
witchcraft ensnaringly plotting and biting. How, then, can the Greeks any more
be right in running down the law, when they themselves teach that Pleasure is
the slave of fear? Socrates accordingly bids "people guard against enticements
to eat when they are not hungry, and to drink when not thirsty, and the glances
and kisses of the fair, as fitted to inject a deadlier poison than that of
scorpions and spiders." And Antisthenes chose rather "to be demented than
delighted." And the Theban Crates says: "Master these, exulting in the
disposition of the soul, Vanquished neither by gold nor by languishing love, Nor
are they any longer attendants to the wanton."
And at length infers: "Those, unenslaved and unbended by servile Pleasure, Love
the immortal kingdom and freedom."
He writes expressly, in other words, "that the stop to the unbridled propensity
to amorousness is hunger or a halter."
And the comic poets attest, while they depreciate the teaching of Zeno the
Stoic, to be to the following effect: "For he philosophizes a vain philosophy:
He teaches to want food, and gets pupils One loaf, and for seasoning a dry fig,
and to drink water."
All these, then, are not ashamed clearly to confess the advantage which accrues
from caution. And the wisdom which is trite and not contrary to reason, trusting
not in mere words and oracular utterances, but in invulnerable armour of defence
and energetic mysteries, and devoting itself to divine commands, and exercise,
and practice, receives a divine power according to its inspiration from the
Word.
Already, then, the aegis of the poetic Jove is described as "Dreadful, crowned
all around by Terror, And on it Strife and Prowess, and chilling Rout; On it,
too, the Gorgon's head, dread monster, Terrible, dire, the sign of Ęgis-bearing
Jove."
But to those, who are able rightly to understand salvation, I know not what will
appear dearer than the gravity of the Law, and Reverence, which is its daughter.
For when one is said to pitch too high, as also the Lord says, with reference to
certain; so that some of those whose desires are towards Him may not sing out of
pitch and tune, I do not understand it as pitching too high in reality, but only
as spoken with reference to such as will not take up the divine yoke. For to
those, who are unstrung and feeble, what is medium seems too high; and to those,
who are unrighteous, what befalls them seems severe justice. For those, who, on
account of the favour they entertain for sins, are prone to pardon, suppose
truth to be harshness, and severity to be savageness, and him who does not sin
with them, and is not dragged with them, to be pitiless. Tragedy writes
therefore well of Pluto: "And to what sort of a deity wilt thou come, dost thou
ask, Who knows neither clemency nor favour, But loves bare justice alone."
For although you are not yet able to do the things enjoined by the Law, yet,
considering that the noblest examples are set before us in it, we are able to
nourish and increase the love of liberty; and so we shall profit more eagerly as
far as we can, inviting some things, imitating some things, and fearing others.
For thus the righteous of the olden time, who lived according to the law, "were
not from a storied oak, or from a rock;" because they wish to philosophize
truly, took and devoted themselves entirely to God, and were classified under
faith. Zeno said well of the Indians, that he would rather have seen one Indian
roasted, than have learned the whole of the arguments about bearing pain. But we
have exhibited before our eyes every day abundant sources of martyrs that are
burnt, impaled, beheaded. All these the fear inspired by the law, -- leading as
a paedagogue to Christ, trained so as to manifest their piety by their blood.
"God stood in the congregation of the gods; He judgeth in the midst of the
gods." Who are they? Those that are superior to Pleasure, who rise above the
passions, who know what they do -- the Gnostics, who are greater than the world.
"I said, Ye are Gods; and all sons of the Highest." To whom speaks the Lord? To
those who reject as far as possible all that is of man. And the apostle says,
"For ye are not any longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit." And again he says,
"Though in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh." "For flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption." "Lo, ye shall die like men," the Spirit has said, confuting us.
We must then exercise ourselves in taking care about those things which fall
under the power of the passions, fleeing like those who are truly philosophers
such articles of food as excite lust, and dissolute licentiousness in chambering
and luxury; and the sensations that tend to luxury, which are a solid reward to
others, must no longer be so to us. For God's greatest gift is self-restraint.
For He Himself has said, "I will neyer leave thee, nor forsake thee," as having
judged thee worthy according to the true election. Thus, then, while we attempt
piously to advance, we shall have put on us the mild yoke of the Lord from faith
to faith, one charioteer driving each of us onward to salvation, that the meet
fruit of beatitude may be won. "Exercise is" according to Hippocrates of Cos,
"not only the health of the body, but of the soul -- fearlessness of labours --
a ravenous appetite for food."
CHAPTER XXI -- OPINIONS OF VARIOUS PHILOSOPHERS ON THE CHIEF GOOD.
Epicurus, in placing happiness in not being hungry, or thirsty, or cold, uttered
that godlike word, saying impiously that he would tight in these points even
with Father Jove; teaching, as if it were the case of pigs that live in filth
and not that of rational philosophers, that happiness was victory. For of those
that are ruled by pleasure are the Cyrenaics and Epicurus; for these expressly
said that to live pleasantly was the chief end, and that pleasure was the only
perfect good. Epicurus also says that the removal of pain is pleasure; and says
that that is to be preferred, which first attracts from itself to itself, being,
that is, wholly in motion. Dinomachus and Callipho said that the chief end was
for one to do what he could for the attainment and enjoyment of pleasure; and
Hieronymus the Peripatetic said the great end was to live unmolested, and that
the only final good was happiness; and Diodorus likewise, who belonged to the
same sect, pronounces the end to be to live undisturbed and well. Epicurus
indeed, and the Cyrenaics, say that pleasure is the first duty; for it is for
the sake of pleasure, they say, that virtue was introduced, and produced
pleasure. According to the followers of Calliphon, virtue was introduced for the
sake of pleasure, but that subsequently, on seeing its own beauty, it made
itself equally prized with the first principle, that is, pleasure.
But the Aristotelians lay it down, that to live in accordance with virtue is the
end, but that neither happiness nor the end is reached by every one who has
virtue. For the wise man, vexed and involved in involuntary mischances, and
wishing gladly on these accounts to flee from life, is neither fortunate nor
happy. For virtue needs time; for that is not acquired in one day which exists
[only] in the perfect man since, as they say, a child is never happy. But human
life is a perfect time, and therefore happiness is completed by the three kinds
of good things. Neither, then, the poor, nor the mean nor even the diseased, nor
the slave, can be one of them.
Again, on the other hand, Zeno the Stoic thinks the end to be living according
to virtue; and, Cleanthes, living agreeably to nature in the fight exercise of
reason, which he held to consist of the selection of things according to nature.
And Antipatrus, his friend, supposes the end to consist in choosing continually
and unswervingly the things which are according to nature, and rejecting those
contrary to nature. Archedamus, on the other hand, explained the end to be such,
that in selecting the greatest and chief things according to nature, it was
impossible to overstep it. In addition to these, Panictius pronounced the end to
be, to live according to the means given to us by nature. And finally,
Posidonius said that it was to live engaged in contemplating the truth and order
of the universe, and forming himself as he best can, in nothing influenced by
the irrational part of his soul. And some of the later Stoics defined the great
end to consist in living agreeably to the constitution of man. Why should I
mention Aristo? He said that the end was indifference; but what is indifferent
simply abandons the indifferent.
Shall I bring forward the opinions of Herillus? Herillus states the end to be to
live according to science. For some think that the more recent disciples of the
Academy define the end to be, the steady abstraction of the mind to its own
impressions. Further, Lycus the Peripatetic used to say that the final end was
the true joy of the soul; as Leucimus, that it was the joy it had in what was
good. Critolaus, also a Peripatetic, said that it was the perfection of a life
flowing rightly according to nature, referring to the perfection accomplished by
the three kinds according to tradition.
We must, however, not rest satisfied with these, but endeavour as we best can to
adduce the doctrines laid down on the point by the naturalist; for they say that
Anaxagoras of Clazomenae affirmed contemplation and the freedom. flowing from it
to be the end of life; Heraclitus the Ephesian, complacency. The Pontic
Heraclides relates, that Pythagoras taught that the knowledge of the perfection
of the numbers I was happiness of the soul. The Abderites also teach the
existence of an end. Democritus, in his work On the Chief End, said it was
cheerfulness, which he also called well-being, and often exclaims, "For delight
and its absence are the boundary of those who have reached full age;" Hecataeus,
that it was sufficiency to one's self; Apollodotus of Cyzicum, that it was
delectation as Nausiphanes, that it was undauntedness, for he said that it was
this that was called by Democritus imperturbability.
In addition to these still, Diotimus declared the end to be perfection of what
is good, which he said was termed well-being. Again, Antisthenes, that it was
humility. And those called Annicereans, of the Cyrenaic succession, laid down no
definite end for the whole of life; but said that to each action belonged, as
its proper end, the pleasure accruing from the action. These Cyrenaics reject
Epicurus' definition of pleasure, that is the removal of pain, calling that the
condition of a dead man; because we rejoice not only on account of pleasures,
but companionships and distinctions; while Epicurns thinks that all joy of the
soul arises from previous sensations of the flesh. Metrodorus, in his book On
the Source of Happiness in Ourselves being greater than that which arises from
Objects, says: What else is the good of the soul but the sound state of the
flesh, and the sure hope of its continuance?
CHAPTER XXII -- PLATO'S OPINION, THAT THE CHIEF GOOD CONSISTS IN ASSIMILATION TO
GOD, AND ITS AGREEMENT WITH SCRIPTURE.
Further, Plato the philosopher says that the end is twofold: that which is
communicable, and exists first in the ideal forms themselves, which he also
calls "the good;" and that which partakes of it, and receives its likeness from
it, as is the case in the men who appropriate virtue and true philosophy.
Wherefore also Cleanthes, in the second book, On Pleasure, says that Socrates
everywhere teaches that the just man and the happy are one and the same, and
execrated the first man who separated the just from the useful, as having done
an impious thing. For those are in truth impious who separate the useful from
that which is tight according to the law. Plato himself says that happiness (eudai
monia) is to possess rightly the daemon, and that the ruling faculty of the soul
is called the daemon; and he terms happiness (eudaimonia) the most perfect and
complete good. Sometimes he calls it a consistent and harmonious life, sometimes
the highest perfection in accordance with virtue; and this he places in the
knowledge of the Good, and in likeness to God, demonstrating likeness to be
justice and holiness with wisdom. For is it not thus that some of our writers
have understood that man straightway on his creation received what is "according
to the image," but that what is according "to the likeness" he will receive
afterwards on his perfection? Now Plato, teaching that the virtuous man shall
have this likeness accompanied with humility, explains the following: "He that
humbleth himself shall be exalted." He says, accordingly, in The Laws: "God
indeed, as the ancient saying has it, occupying the beginning, the middle, and
the end of all things, goes straight through while He goes round the
circumference. And He is always attended by Justice, the avenger of those who
revolt from the divine law." You see how he connects fear with the divine law.
He adds, therefore: "To which he, who would be happy, cleaving, will follow
lowly and beautified." Then, connecting what follows these words, and
admonishing by fear, he adds: "What conduct, then, is dear and conformable to
God? That which is characterized by one word of old date: Like will be dear to
like, as to what is in proportion; but things out of proportion are neither dear
to one another, nor to those which are in proportion. And that therefore he that
would be dear to God, must, to the best of his power, become such as He is And
in virtue of the same reason, our self-controlling man is dear to God. But he
that has no self-control is unlike and diverse." In saying that it was an
ancient dogma, he indicates the teaching which had come to him from the law. And
having in the Theaoetus admitted that evils make the circuit of mortal nature
and of this spot, he adds: "Wherefore we must try to flee hence as soon as
possible. For flight is likeness to God as far as possible. And likeness is to
become holy and just with wisdom." Speusippus, the nephew of Plato, says that
happiness is a perfect state in those who conduct themselves in accordance with
nature, or the state of the good: for which condition all men have a desire, but
the good only attained to quietude; consequently the virtues are the authors of
happiness. And Xenocrates the Chalcedonian defines happiness to be the
possession of virtue, strictly so called, and of the power subservient to it.
Then he clearly says, that the seat in which it resides is the soul; that by
which it is effected, the virtues; and that of these as parts are formed
praiseworthy actions, good habits and dispositions, and motions, and relations;
and that corporeal and external objects are not without these. For Polemo, the
disciple of Xenocrates, seems of the opinion that happiness is sufficiency of
all good things, or of the most and greatest. He lays down the doctrine, then,
that happiness never exists without virtue; and that virtue, apart from
corporeal and external objects, is sufficient for happiness. Let these things be
so. The contradictions to the opinions specified shall be adduced in due time.
But on us it is incumbent to reach the unaccomplished end, obeying the commands
-- that is, God -- and living according to them, irreproachably and
intelligently, through knowledge of the divine will; and assimilation as far as
possible in accordance with right reason is the end, and restoration to perfect
adoption by the Son, which ever glorifies the Father by the great High Priest
who has deigned to call us brethren and fellow-heirs. And the apostle,
succinctly describing the end, writes in the Epistle to the Romans: "But now,
being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto
holiness, and the end everlasting life." And viewing the hope as twofold -- that
which is expected, and that which has been received -- he now teaches the end to
be the restitution of the hope. "For patience," he says, "worketh experience,
and experience hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that is given to us." On account of
which love and the restoration to hope, he says, in another place, "which rest
is laid up for us." You will find in Ezekiel the like, as follows: "The soul
that sinneth, it shall die. And the man who shall be righteous, and shall do
judgment and justice, who has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted his eyes to
the idols of the house of Israel, and hath not defiled his neighbour's wife, and
hath not approached to a woman in the time of her uncleanness (for he does not
wish the seed of man to be dishonoured), and will not injure a man; will restore
the debtor's pledge, and will not take usury; will turn away his hand from
wrong; will do true judgment between a man and his neighbour; will walk in my
ordinances, and keep my commandments, so as to do the truth; he is righteous, he
shall surely live, saith Adonai the Lord." Isaiah too, in exhorting him that
hath not believed to gravity of life, and the Gnostic to attention, proving that
man's virtue and God's are not the same, speaks thus: "Seek the Lord, and on
finding Him call on Him. And when He shall draw near to you, let the wicked
forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his ways; and let him return to the
Lord, and he shall obtain mercy," down to "and your thoughts from my thoughts."'
"We," then, according to the noble apostle, "wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. For in Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor
uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love." And we desire that every one
of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope," down to "made an
high priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek." Similarly with Paul "the
All-virtuous Wisdom" says, "He, that heareth me shall dwell trusting in hope."
For the restoration of hope is called by the same term "hope." To the expression
"will dwell" it has most beautifully added" trusting," showing that such an one
has obtained rest, having received the hope for which he hoped. Wherefore also
it is added, "and shall be quiet, without fear of any evil." And openly and
expressly the apostle, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians says, "Be ye
followers of me, as also I am of Christ," s in order that that may take place.
If ye are of me, and I am of Christ, then ye are imitators of Christ, and Christ
of God. Assimilation to God, then, so that as far as possible a man becomes
righteous and holy with wisdom he lays down as the aim of faith, and the end to
be that restitution of the promise which is effected by faith. From these
doctrines gush the fountains, which we specified above, of those who have
dogmatized about "the end." But of these enough.
CHAPTER XXIII -- ON MARRIAGE.
Since pleasure and lust seem to fall under marriage, it must also be treated of.
Marriage is the first conjunction of man and woman for the procreation of
legitimate children. Accordingly Menander the comic poet says: "For the
begetting of legitimate children, I give thee my daughter."
We ask if we ought to marry; which is one of the points, which are said to be
relative. For some must marry, and a man must be in some condition, and he must
marry some one in some condition. For every one is not to marry, nor always. But
there is a time in which it is suitable, and a person for whom it is suitable,
and an age up to which it is suitable. Neither ought every one to take a wife,
nor is it every woman one is to take, nor always, nor in every way, nor
inconsiderately. But only he who is in certain circumstances, and such an one
and at such time as is requisite, and for the sake of children, and one who is
in every respect similar, and who does not by force or compulsion love the
husband who loves her. Hence Abraham, regarding his wife as a sister, says, "She
is my sister by my father, but not by my mother; and she became my wife,"
teaching us that children of the same mothers ought not to enter into matrimony.
Let us briefly follow the history. Plato ranks marriage among outward good
things, providing for the perpetuity of our race, and handing down as a torch a
certain perpetuity to children's children. Democritus repudiates marriage and
the procreation of children, on account of the many annoyances thence arising,
and abstractions from more necessary things. Epicurus agrees, and those who
place good in pleasure, and in the absence of trouble and pain. According to the
opinion of the Stoics, marriage and the rearing of children are a thing
indifferent; and according to the Peripatetics, a good. In a word, these,
following out their dogmas in words, became enslaved to pleasures; some using
concubines, some mistresses, and the most youths. And that wise quaternion in
the garden with a mistress, honoured pleasure by their acts. Those, then, will
not escape the curse of yoking an ass with an ox, who, judging certain things
not to suit them, command others to do them, or the reverse. This Scripture has
briefly showed, when it says, "What thou hatest, thou shalt not do to another."
But they who approve of marriage say, Nature has adapted us for marriage, as is
evident from the structure of our bodies, which are male and female. And they
constantly proclaim that command, "Increase and replenish." And though this is
the case, yet it seems to them shameful that man, created by God, should be more
licentious than the irrational creatures, which do not mix with many
licentiously, but with one of the same species, such as pigeons and ringdoves,
and creatures like them. Furthermore, they say, "The childless man fails in the
perfection which is according to nature, not having substituted his proper
successor in his place. For he is perfect that has produced from himself his
like, or rather, when he sees that he has produced the same; that is, when that
which is begotten attains to the same nature with him who begat." Therefore we
must by all means marry, both for our country's sake, for the succession of
children, and as far as we are concerned, the perfection of the world; since the
poets also pity a marriage half-perfect and childless, but pronounce the
fruitful one happy. But it is the diseases of the body that principally show
marriage to be necessary. For a wife's care and the assiduity of her constancy
appear to exceed the endurance of all other relations and friends, as much as to
excel them in sympathy; and most of all, she takes kindly to patient watching.
And in truth, according to Scripture, she is a needful help. The comic poet
then, Menander, while running down marriage, and yet alleging on the other side
its advantages, replies to one who had said: "I am averse to the thing, For you
take it awkwardly."
Then. he adds: "You see the hardships and the things which annoy you in it.
But you do not look on the advantages." And so forth.
Now marriage is a help in the case of those advanced in years, by furnishing a
spouse to take care of one, and by rearing children of her to nourish one's old
age.
"For to a man after death his children bring renown, Just as corks bear the net,
Saving the fishing-line from the deep." according to the tragic poet Sophocles.
Legislators, moreover, do not allow those who are unmarried to discharge the
highest magisterial offices. For instance, the legislator of the Spartans
imposed a fine not on bachelorhood only, but on monogamy? and late marriage, and
single life. And the renowned Plato orders the man who has not married to pay a
wife's maintenance into the public treasury, and to give to the magistrates a
suitable sum of money as expenses. For if they shall not beget children, not
having married, they produce, as far as in them lies, a scarcity of men, and
dissolve states and the world that is composed of them, impiously doing away
with divine generation. It is also unmanly and weak to shun living with a wife
and children. For of that of which the loss is an evil, the possession is by all
means a good; and this is the case with the rest of things. But the loss of
children is, they say, among the chiefest evils: the possession of children is
consequently a good thing; and if it be so, so also is marriage. It is said:
"Without a father there never could be a child, And without a mother conception
of a child could not be.
Marriage makes a father, as a husband a mother."
Accordingly Homer makes a thing to be earnestly prayed for: "A husband and a
house;" yet not simply, but along with good agreement. For the marriage of other
people is an agreement for indulgence; but that of philosophers leads to that
agreement which is in accordance with reason, bidding wives adorn themselves not
in outward appearance, but in character; and enjoining husbands not to treat
their wedded wives as mistresses, making corporeal wantonness their aim; but to
take advantage of marriage for help in the whole of life, and for the best
self-restraint.
Far more excellent, in my opinion, than the seeds of wheat and barley that are
sown at appropriate seasons, is man that is sown, for whom all things grow; and
those seeds temperate husbandmen ever sow. Every foul and polluting practice
must therefore be purged away from marriage; that the intercourse of the
irrational animals may not be cast in our teeth, as more accordant with nature
than human conjunction in procreation. Some of these, it must be granted, desist
at the time in which they are directed, leaving creation to the working of
Providence.
By the tragedians, Polyxena, though being murdered, is described nevertheless as
having, when dying, taken great care to fall decently,- "Concealing what ought
to be hid from the eyes of men."
Marriage to her was a calamity. To be subjected, then, to the passions, and to
yield to them, is the extremest slavery; as to keep them in subjection is the
only liberty. The divine Scripture accordingly says, that those who have
transgressed the commandments are sold to strangers, that is, to sins alien to
nature, till they return and repent. Marriage, then, as a sacred image, must be
kept pure from those things which defile it. We are to rise from our slumbers
with the Lord, and retire to sleep with thanksgiving and prayer,- "Both when you
sleep, and when the holy light comes," confessing the Lord in our whole life;
possessing piety in the soul, and extending self-control to the body. For it is
pleasing to God to lead decorum from the tongue to our actions. Filthy speech is
the way to effrontery; and the end of both is filthy conduct.
Now that the Scripture counsels marriage, and allows no release from the union,
is expressly contained in the law, "Thou shalt not put away thy wife, except for
the cause of fornication;" and it regards as fornication, the marriage of those
separated while the other is alive. Not to deck and adorn herself beyond what is
becoming, renders a wife free of calumnious suspicion. while she devotes herself
assiduously to prayers and supplications; avoiding frequent departures from the
house, and shutting herself up as far as possible from the view of all not
related to her, and deeming housekeeping of more consequence than impertinent
trifling. "He that taketh a woman that has been put away," it is said, "committeth
adultery; and if one puts away his wife, he makes her an adulteress," that is,
compels her to commit adultery. And not only is he who puts her away guilty of
this, but he who takes her, by giving to the woman the opportunity of sinning;
for did he not take her, she would return to her husband. What, then, is the
law? In order to check the impetuosity of the passions, it commands the
adulteress to be put to death, on being convicted of this; and if of priestly
family, to be committed to the flames. And the adulterer also is stoned to
death, but not in the same place, that not even their death may be in common.
And the law is not at variance with the Gospel, but agrees with it. How should
it be otherwise, one Lord being the author of both? She who has committed
fornication liveth in sin, and is dead to the commandments; but she who has
repented, being as it were born again by the change in her life, has a
regeneration of life; the old harlot being dead, and she who has been
regenerated by repentance having come back again to life. The Spirit testifies
to what has been said by Ezekiel, declaring, "I desire not the death of the
sinner, but that he should turn." Now they are stoned to death; as through
hardness of heart dead to the law which they believed not. But in the case of a
priestess the punishment is increased, because "to whom much is given, from him
shall more be required."
Let us conclude this second book of the Stromata at this point, on account of
the length and number of the chapters.