De Theologia (Orat. 28)
Gregory, of Nazianzus
Gregorius Nazianzenus, The Five Theological Orations, Mason, Cambridge, 1899
Οὗτοι μὲν δὴ ταῦτα· ἡμᾶς δὲ ὁ λόγος δεξάμενος ἐφιεμένους θεοῦ, καὶ μὴ ἀνεχομένους τὸ ἀνηγεμόνευτόν τε καὶ ἀκυβέρνητον, εἶτα τοῖς ὁρωμένοις προσβάλλων καὶ τοῖς ἀπαρχῆς ἐντυγχάνων, οὔτε μέχρι τούτων ἔστησεν,— οὐ γὰρ ἦν λόγου δοῦναι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τοῖς ὁμοτίμοις κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν,—καὶ διὰ τούτων ἄγει πρὸς τὸ ὑπὲρ ταῦτα, καὶ δι’ οὗ τούτοις τὸ εἶναι περίεστιν. τί γὰρ τὸ τάξαν τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια, ὅσα τε δι’ ἀέρος καὶ ὅσα καθ’ ὕδατος, μᾶλλον δὲ τὰ πρὸ τούτων, οὐρανόν, καὶ γῆν, καὶ ἀέρα, καὶ φύσιν ὕδατος; τίς ταῦτα ἔμιξε καὶ ἐμέρισεν; τίς ἢ κοινωνία τούτων πρὸς ἄλληλα, καὶ συμφυία, καὶ σύμπνοια; ἐπαινῶ γὰρ τὸν εἰρηκότα, κἂν ἀλλότριος ᾖ. τί τὸ ταῦτα [*](1 ἔφεσιν] αἴσθησιν e 16. 6 προσβάλλων] προβαλὼν ‘Reg. a, Or. I’ || 8 ἡγεμονίαν] ὁμοτιμίαν b || 13 τις η κοινωνία] om η c) [*](1. ἔφεσιν] ‘desire,’ from ἐφίεσθαι § 13).) [*](16. We, on the other hand, are led by reason to worship, not nature, but the Author of nature and its wonderful order.) [*](4. ὁ λόγος] ‘reason.’ When Rea- son is said to have taken us in hand, Gr. means both the reasonable in- struction given by the Church, and our own reasonable reflexion upon it. It is, of course, contrasted with ὁ πονηρός of the previous section.) [*](6. προσβάλλων] intrans., as in § 6. ib. κ. τοῖς ἀπαρχῆς ἐντ.] Passing over the more ephemeral objects, its attention was arrested by those which are coeval with creation, like sun and moon: but it did not allow us to stop ἔστησεν) there. Μέχρι as in ἑ 9. We should have expected οὐδὲ μ.; if οὔτε is right, Gr. must intend to connect the clause closely with κα διὰ τούτων.) [*](8. κάτα τὴν αἴσθ.] things as much subject to the senses as we are.) [*](10. περίεστιν] ‘they still exist’; or perhaps, ‘they have existence in abundance’; cp. § 25.) [*](11. δι’ ἀέρος] sc. φέρεται. Καθ’ ὕδατος sc. ἐστίν, ’under the water’; like κατὰ γῆς ’underground’: cp. § 24.) [*](13. τίς ἡ κοινωνία] If this is the right reading, of course it is ‘what is this partnership?’ i.e. came it? If we read τίς κ., κοίν’. κ. συμφ. κ. συμπν. must be in ap- position to the τίς before ἔμιξε, ‘who combined and distributed them? what partnership and union and concord between them?) [*](15. τὸν εἰρηκότα] ‘him who said it: There is no reason to think that the words which follow are a direct quotation. Nor indeed are the foregoing, but they seem more likely to have had their origin in a reminiscence of something that Gr. had read than the comparatively colourless words which follow. It is harder, however, to say, whom Gr. means by τὸν εἰρ. Elias refers to Oppian Halieut. i 412 οἵῃ σὺν φιλό- διακρίνας ἐκέδασσας αἰθέρα τε, κτλ. Jahn prefers Plato Tim. 35 A foil. The resemblance is not very close; but in Τἰm. 32 c occur words which come somewhat nearer. The ‘body of the world,’ Plato there says, was formed of the various elements δι’ ἀναλογίας ὁμολογῆσαν, φιλίαν τε ἔσχεν...εἰς ταὐτὸν αὑτῷ ξυνελθόν. Perh. Opp. comes the nearer to Gr's language.)
Θεόν, ὅ τί ποτε μέν ἐστι τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν, οὔτε τις εὗρεν ἀνθρώπων πώποτε, οὔτε μὴ εὕρῃ. ἀλλ’ εἰ μὲν εὑρήσει ποτέ, ζητείσθω τοῦτο καὶ φιλοσοφείσθω παρὰ τῶν βουλομένων. εὑρήσει δέ, ὡς ἐμὸς λόγος, ἐπειδὰν τὸ θεοειδὲς τοῦτο καὶ θεῖον, λέγω δὲ τὸν ἡμέτερον νοῦν τε καὶ λόγον, τῷ οἰκείῳ προσμίξῃ, καὶ ἡ εἰκὼν ἀνέλθῃ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον, οὗ νῦν ἔχει τὴν ἔφεσιν. καὶ τοῦτο [*](1 αγον...ακωλυτον] ὕπο τὴν ἄληκτον φορὰν καὶ ἀκώλυτον ἄγαγον ‘Reg. Cypr.’ || 10 om συμφυτος...και πάσι b || 12 λέγωμεν] -ομεν be) [*](2. λόγον ἐνθείς] Gr. does not mean (like Plato) that the universe is conscious of the law by which it acts.) [*](3. διεξάγεται] seems simply to mean ‘is conducted.’ Cp. in i 12 διὰ κύκλου τινὸς εὐθύνων καἰ διεφτητι ἄγων τὸν ἀπάντα κόσμον.) [*](5. τῷ αὐτομάτω ‘to chance.’) [*](10. πᾶσι σύμφυτος] notexactly = ἔμφυτος, but ‘naturally bound up with’; like συνημμένος (from τειν) just after.) [*](17. Hereafter we shall know as we are known; here, the most privileged attain to a knowledge which is only relatively great.) [*](15. ἀλλ’ εἰ μέν] but whether man will ever find.’) [*](19. τῷ οἰκείῳ] ‘with that to wh it belongs’: Vaughan's ‘spirits fair kindred ’ Cp. § 12 sub fin.)
Διὰ τοῦτο Ἐνὼς μὲν ἤλπισεν ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τὸν κύριον· ἐλπὶς τὸ κατορθούμενον ἦν, καὶ τοῦτο οὐ γνώσεως, ἀλλ’ ἐπικλήσεως. Ἑνὼχ δὲ μετετέθη μέν, οὔπω δὲ δῆλον, εἰ θεοῦ φύσιν περιλαβών, ἢ περιληψόμενος. τοῦ δὲ Νῶε καλὸν ἡ εὐαρέστησις, τοῦ καὶ κόσμον ὅλον ἐξ ὑδάτων διασώσασθαι πιστευθέντος, ἢ κόσμου σπέρματα, ξύλῳ μικρῷ φεύγοντι τὴν ἐπίκλυσιν. Ἀβραὰμ δὲ ἐδικαιώθη μὲν ἐκ πίστεως, ὁ μέγας πατριάρχης, καὶ θύει θυσίαν ξένην καὶ τῆς μεγάλης ἀντίτυπον· θεὸν δὲ οὐχ ὡς θεὸν εἶδεν, ἀλλ’ ὡς ἄνθρωπον ἔθρεψε, καὶ ἐπῃνέθη, σεβασθεὶς [*](17. 2 εἶναι] γνῶναι ‘Coisl. 3 tres Colb.’ 18. 15 φευγοντι] φυγοντι b || 18 ως] ὡσπερ df) [*](1. τὸ πάνυ φίλος.] ‘the great dictum.’ 1 Cor. xiii 12.) [*](2. τὸ δὲ νῦν εἶναι] ’for being.’ Elias comments on the ’Attic idiom,’ and compares the way in which εἶναι is used with ἑκών.) [*](3. φθάνον εἰς, ‘reaches.’ Enos, Enoch, Noe, Abraham, Facob, though so highly favoured, never saw God ἃς God.) [*](9. ἤλπισεν] Gen. iv 26 (LXX.) οὗτος ἤλπισεν ἐπικ. τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ. Even to call upon His name was beyond the present powers of Enos: he only succeeded τὸ κατορθ.) in hoping to do it. Ἐπικ. is of course active in meaning.) [*](11. μετετέθη] Gen. v 24; cp. Wisd. iv 10. This implied high favour with God μέν), but it did not of itself prove οὔπω) that E. had either attained, or would ever attain, an adequate knowledge the time the divine nature.) [*](13. εὐαρέστησις] Gen. vi9 Kαλόν, constr. like triste lupus stabulis.) [*](14. δίας. πιστευθέντος] ‘entrusted with the duty of saving.’) [*](15. ἐδικαιώθη] Gen. xv 6.) [*](16. θυσίαν θυσίαν Gen. xxii 13. ‘Strange,’ because miraculously supplied. It is prob. that Gr. means the ram, rather than Isaac; for Basil also makes the ram a type of Christ (de Spir. S. 14, p. 319 D).) [*](18. ἔθρεψε] Gen. xviii 8. Although the detail is taken only from ’s history, the restriction is intended to apply also to Noe.) [*](ib. ἐπῃνέθη] Perh. Gen. xviii 17 foil.)
Ἡλία δὲ οὔτε πνεῦμα βίαιον, οὔτε πῦρ, οὔτε συσσεισμός, ὡς τῆς ἱστορίας ἀκούεις, ἀλλ’ ἡ αὔρα τις [*](3 ἀλειφθέντα] αλειφεντα aedf: αλιφεντα e || 4 Ειδος] οἶκος El: ἴσω f || 9 γενητης] γεννήτης def ǁ I4 η ὄψιν ὅλην] ὅλην ὄψις (om 77) e: om ὅλην df) [*](1. κλίμακα] Gen. xxviii 12. ib. ἐφαντάσθη] ‘saw in a vision.’) [*](3. λίθον] Is. xxviii 16 etc.; ἀλειφθ. Is. lxi 1 ἔχρισεν) etc.) [*](4. Εἶδος Θ] Gen. xxxii 30 (31). This reading has better authority than οἶκος θ., i.e. Bethel. On the other hand τοῦ ὀφθ. seems more like a reminiscence of Gen. xxxv 1,9 (in u. 7 the word is ἐπεφάνη); and perh. it might have been more natural to mention the name of Penuel after the mention of the wrestling.) [*](6. ἥτις π. ἐ.] The whole clause forms a cogn. ace. after προσπαλ., ‘wrestles whatever wrestling that of God with man may be.’) [*](7. ἢ τάχα] ‘or perhaps (it would be best to say) the trial,’ etc. He this turn, because God was not ’wrestling’ for the mastery, but to try the ἀρετή of Jacob.) [*](8. σύμβολα] Gen. xxxii 31 (32).) [*](12. ἐκεῖνο δέ] refers to what follows, lows, ὅτι θ. φύσιν κτλ. The δὲ the apodosis to κλίμακα μέν.) [*](ib. ὑπὲρ αὐτόν] Jacob was excelled by some of his descendants, but none of them could ’make room for’ (χωρεῖν), ‘take in,’ or perh. ‘bear,’ the whole of God.) [*](19. Elias, Esaias, Ezekiel, and others, were unable to receive the revelation of the Divine nature in itself.) [*](16. ἢ αὔρα τις ὁ] 1 Kings xix 12 φωνὴ αὔρας λεπτῆς. The τις hints that there was something more than usual in ‘that breeze.’ Gr.’s agrument implies that if the presence had been discerned in the mightier movements of nature, God might have been thought to manifest self wholly in them, but that it was impossible to imagine this in connexion with the ‘small breeze.’)