De Spiritu Sancto (Orat. 31)

Ὁ μὲν δὴ περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ λόγος τοιοῦτος· καὶ οὕτω διαπέφευγε τοὺς λιθάζοντας, διελθὼν διὰ μέσου αὐτῶν. ὁ λόγος γὰρ οὐ λιθάζεται, λιθοβολεῖ δέ, ὅταν ἐθέλῃ, καὶ σφενδονᾷ θηρία, λόγους κακῶς τῷ ὄρει προσβαίνοντας. τί δ’ ἂν εἴποις, φασί, περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ; πόθεν ἡμῖν ἐπεισάγεις ξένον θεὸν καὶ ἄγραφον ; τοῦτο ἤδη καὶ οἱ περὶ τὸν υἱὸν μετριάζοντες. ὅπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ὁδῶν εὑρεῖν ἐστὶ καὶ τῶν ποταμῶν, σχίζονταί τε ἀπ’ ἀλλήλων, καὶ εἰς ἄλληλα συνάγονται· τοῦτο κἀνταῦθα συμβαίνει διὰ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς ἀσεβείας, καὶ τοὺς τὰ ἄλλα διεστῶτας ἐν ἄλλοις συμφέρεσθαι, ὥστε μηδὲ γινώσκειν καθαρῶς δύνασθαι τὸ συμφέρον ἢ τὸ μαχόμενον.

ἔχει μὲν οὖν τι καὶ δυσχερὲς ὁ περὶ τοῦ πνεύματος λόγος, οὐ μόνον ὅτι ἐν τοῖς περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ λόγοις ἀποκαμόντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι θερμότερον τῷ πνεύματι προσπαλαίουσι· χρὴ γάρ τι πάντως αὐτοὺς ἀσεβεῖν, ἢ οὐδὲ βιωτός ἐστιν αὐτοῖς ὁ βίος· ἀλλ’ ὅτι καὶ ἡμεῖς τῷ πλήθει τῶν ζητημάτων ἀποκναισθέντες ταὐτὸ πάσχομεν τοῖς κακοσίτοις, οἱ ἐπειδὰν πρός τι τῶν βρωμάτων ἀηδισθῶσι, πρὸς πάντα λόγον ὁμοίως, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοι πρὸς τροφήν, δυσχεραίνομεν. ὅμως διδότω τὸ πνεῦμα, καὶ ὁ λόγος δραμεῖται, καὶ ὁ θεὸς δοξασθήσεται. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐπιμελῶς ἐξετάζειν καὶ διαιρεῖσθαι, ποσαχῶς ἢ τὸ πνεῦμα ἢ τὸ ἅγιον παρὰ τῇ θείᾳ γραφῆ νοεῖται καὶ λέγεται, μετὰ τῶν προσφόρων τῇ θεωρίᾳ μαρτυριῶν, καὶ ὅ τι παρὰ ταῦτα [*](2. 2 του υἱοῦ] OM του cd || 3 om οἱ e || 5 αὐτοῖς ἐστιν ce || 7 βρωμάτων] ζητηματων b) [*](2. The enquiry about the Holy Ghost is difficult. Controversialists defeated over the Son attack the Holy Ghost the more eagerly. Good Christians, sick of argument, wish the enquiry left alone. But we must try. I shall not discuss the meaning of ‘ holy ’ and of ‘ Spirit, ’ of of the two words together. That has been done by others.) [*](3. οἱ ἄνθρωποι] The clause χρὴ γάρ τι κτλ., as well as the opposed ἀλλ’ ὅτι καὶ ἡμεῖς, shows that Gr. does not mean 'men,' including good Christians who dislike controversy, but ’the men,' i.e. his opponents. Their very failure, and the exhaustion of their arguments about the Son ἀποκαμόντες), make them the more keen in their attack upon the Spirit.) [*](6. ἀποκναισθέντες] Cp. i 2.) [*](7. κακοσίτοις] ’squeamish about their diet.’) [*](ib. ot ἐπειδὰν κτλ.] The MSS. appear to give no sign of any other reading, but the grammar is in hopeless confusion. The simplest remedy would be to strike out οἳ before ἐπειδάν, and to insert it before πρὸς πάντα. Otherwise we must suppose that some words have fallen out after ἀηδισθῶσι, such as πάντα ἀποστρέφονται, followed by ἡμεῖς οὖν to begin a new sentence. The required sense is plain, though it cannot be got out of the present text : that as people of delicate stomach, who have had something offered them which they dislike, turn against food in general, so we, disgusted with the Eunomian arguments about the Son, are disinclined to listen to arguments of any kind about the Spirit, or indeed on any religious subject.) [*](9. ὁ λόγος δραμεῖται] 1 Thess. iii 1. As, however, ὁ λόγος is here ’the ’ and not directly ’the word of ’ Gr. shrinks from making it the subject of δοξασθήσεται, as in St Paul.) [*](11. ποσαχῶς] in how many different senses the words πνεῦμα and ἄγιος are used in Scripture.) [*](13. μαρτυριῶν] ’ the texts that bear upon the investigation.’)

Οἱ μὲν οὖν, ὡς ξένον τινὰ θεὸν καὶ παρέγγραπτον εἰσαγόντων ἡμῶν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, δυσχεραίνοντες, καὶ σφόδρα προπολεμοῦντες τοῦ γράμματος, ἴστωσαν ἐκεῖ φοβούμενοι φόβον, οὗ μὴ ἔστι φόβος, καὶ σαφῶς γινωσκέτωσαν ὅτι ἔνδυμα τῆς ἀσεβείας ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς ἡ φιλία τοῦ γράμματος, ὡς δειχθήσεται μικρὸν ὕστερον, ἐπειδὰν τὰς ἐνστάσεις αὐτῶν εἰς δύναμιν διελέγξωμεν. ἡμεῖς δὲ τοσοῦτον θαρροῦμεν τῇ θεότητι τοῦ πνεύματος, ὃ πρεσβεύομεν, ὥστε καὶ τῆς θεολογίας ἐντεῦθεν ἀρξόμεθα, τὰς αὐτὰς τῇ τριάδι φωνὰς ἐφαρμόζοντες, κἄν τισι δοκῇ [*](2 ταυτα...ταυτα] ταὐτὰ . . . ταὐτὰ ceg || 4 τρεψώμεθα eg 3. 5 θέον τινα b || 12 0] ω ‘ Reg. a, Or. 1’) [*](3. ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡμεῖς] The use of ἐπεί, where perh. we might have expected ὡς, seems to be in favour of the reading ταὐτά, which would thus be taken to mean, ’since we agree with ’ But the mss. are not of very great value in matters of this kind (and it must be remembered that the principal MS. fails us at this point) ; and it would be difficult to supply a verb that would suit ταὐτά, which the obvious φιλοσοφοῦμεν would not do. Ἐπεὶ will therefore indicate that the proposed division of labour is a fair one : the ἔτεροι (by whom Gr. prob. means, not Basil, but students who wer still living to profit by his labours), have worked at that particular study for our advantage as well as their own, and we will leave it to them, since we are labouring at this other for theirs as well as ours.) [*](3. Zeal for the letter ὁ Scripture is sometimes a cloak for My confidence in the Godhead of the Holy Ghost is absolute. He ἲς the Light that lighteneth every man, equally with the Father and the Son. I will fearlessly proclaim Him.) [*](5. παρέγγραπτον] wrongly entered on the list ; cp. iii 18.) [*](7. πρόπολεμοῦντες τ. γρ] Gr. will not say τῆς γραφῆς ; cp. iv 1 οἱ τοῦ γράμματος ἱερόσυλοι.) [*](ib. ἐκεῖ φοβούμενοι φ.] Ps. Iii 6 (Hii 5).) [*](11. εἰς δύναμιν] ’ to the best ὁ our power.’) [*](12. θαρροῦμεν τῆ θ.] ‘have such confidence ’ not merely in the sense of believing that the thing is so, but in that of resting upon it for support.) [*](ib. πρεσβεύομεν] ’revere’; cp. i 5.) [*](13. τῆς θεολογίας] ‘of θὶς account of the Godhead. ’ For numerous exx. of the use of the word, see Suicer s.v.) [*](ib. ἐντεῦθεν] explained by the clause τὰς αὐτὰς . . . ἐφαρμόζοντες.)