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Homily XIII.
A further thanksgiving to God for the change in the
late melancholy aspect of affairs. Reminiscence of those who were
dragged away, and punished because of the sedition. Exposition on
the subject of the creation of man, and of his having received a
natural law. Of the complete accomplishment of abstinence from
oaths.
1. With the same
introduction and prelude that I began yesterday and the day before,
I shall begin to-day. Now again I will say, “Blessed be God!”
What a day did we see last Wednesday!1549
| 1549 τετρ€δα.
Feriam quartam, the fourth day of the week. The day referred to
was probably one of the days of silence mentioned in the beginning
of Hom. XI., where, first line of sec. 2, read
“ourselves.” | and what in the present! On that
day how heavy was the gloom! How bright the calm of the present!
That was the day when that fearful tribunal was set in the city, and shook the hearts
of all, and made the day to seem no better than night; not because
the beams of the sun were extinguished, but because that
despondency and fear darkened your eyes. Wherefore, that we may
reap the more pleasure, I wish to relate a few of the circumstances
which then occurred; for I perceive that a narrative of these
things will be serviceable to you, and to all who shall come
afterwards. Besides, to those who have been delivered from
shipwreck, it is sweet to remember the waves, and the tempest, and
the winds, when they are come into port. And to those who have
fallen into sickness, it is an agreeable thing, when the sickness
is over, to talk over with others the fevers by which they were
nearly brought to the grave. When terrors have passed away, there
is a pleasure in relating those terrors; the soul no longer fearing
them, but deriving therefrom more cheerfulness. The remembrance of
past evils always makes the present prosperity to appear more
strikingly.
2. When the greater portion of the city had
taken refuge from the fear and danger of that occasion, in secret
places, in deserts, and in hollows;1550
| 1550 φ€ραγγας, usually
“ravines.” There were, however, caves near Antioch. | terror besetting them in all
directions; and the houses were empty of women, and the forum of
men, and scarce two or three appeared walking together across it,
and even these going about as if they had been animated corpses: at
this period, I proceeded to the tribunal of justice, for the
purpose of seeing the end of these transactions; and there,
beholding the fragments of the city collected together, I marvelled
most of all at this, that although a multitude was around the
doors, there was the profoundest silence, as though there had been
no man there, all looking upon one another; not one daring to
enquire of his neighbour, nor to hear anything from him; for each
regarded his neighbour with suspicion; since many already, having
been dragged away, beyond all expectation, from the midst of the
forum, were now confined within. Thus we all alike looked up to
heaven, and stretched out our hands in silence, expecting help from
above, and beseeching God to stand by those who were brought to
judgment, to soften the hearts of the judges, and to make their
sentence a merciful one. And just as when some persons on land,
beholding others suffering shipwreck, cannot indeed go near to
them, and reach out the hand, and relieve their distress, being
kept back from them by the waves; yet away on the shore, with
outstretched hands and tears, they supplicate God that He may help
the drowning; so there in like manner, did all silently and
mentally call upon God, pleading for those at the tribunal, as for
men surrounded by the waves, that He would stretch out His hand,
and not suffer the vessel to be overwhelmed, nor the judgment of
those under trial to end in an utter wreck. Such was the state of
things in front of the doors; but when I entered within the court,
other sights I saw which were still more awful; soldiers armed with
swords and clubs, and strictly keeping the peace for the judges
within. For since all the relatives of those under trial, whether
wives, or mothers, or daughters, or fathers, stood before the doors
of the seat of justice; in order that if any one happened to be led
away to execution, yet no one inflamed at the sight of the calamity
might raise any tumult or disturbance; the soldiers drove them all
afar off; thus preoccupying their mind with fear.
3. One sight there was, more pitiable than all; a
mother, and a sister of a certain person, who was among those under
trial within, sat at the very vestibule of the court of justice,
rolling themselves on the pavement, and becoming a common spectacle
to all the bystanders; veiling their faces, and shewing no sense of
shame, but that which the urgency of the calamity permitted. No
maid servant, nor neighbour, nor female friend, nor any other
relative accompanied them. But hemmed in by a crowd of soldiers,
alone, and meanly clad, and grovelling on the ground, about the
very doors, they were in more pitiable case than those who were
undergoing judgment within, and hearing as they did the voice of
the executioners, the strokes of the scourge, the wailing of those
who were being scourged, the fearful threats of the judges, they
themselves endured, at every scourging, sharper pains than those
who were beaten. For since, in the confessions of others, there was
a danger of accusations being proved, if they heard any one
scourged that he might mention those who were guilty, and uttering
cries, they, looking up to heaven, besought God to give the
sufferer some strength of endurance, lest the safety of their own
relations should be betrayed by the weakness of others, while
incapable of sustaining the sharp anguish of the strokes. And
again, the same thing occurred as in the case of men who are
struggling with a tempest. For just as when they perceive the
violence of a wave lifting up its head from afar, and gradually
increasing, and ready to overwhelm the vessel, they are almost dead with terror, before it
comes near the ship; so also was it with these. If at any time they
heard voices, and cries that reached them, they saw a thousand
deaths before their eyes, being in terror, lest those who were
urged to bear witness, giving way to their torments, should name
some one of those who were their own relatives. And thus, one saw
tortures both within and without. Those within the executioners
were tormenting; these women, the despotic force of nature, and the
sympathy of the affections. There was lamentation within, and
without! inside, on the part of those who were found guilty, and
outside on the part of their relatives. Yea, rather not these only,
but their very judges inwardly lamented, and suffered more severely
than all the rest; being compelled to take part in so bitter a
tragedy.
4. As for me, while I sat and beheld all this,
how matrons and virgins, wont to live in seclusion, were now made a
common spectacle to all; and how those who were accustomed to lie
on a soft couch, had now the pavement for their bed; and how they
who had enjoyed so constant an attendance of female servants and
eunuchs, and every sort of outward distinction, were now bereft of
all these things; and grovelling at the feet of every one,
beseeching him to lend help by any means in his power to those who
were undergoing examination, and that there might be a kind of
general contribution of mercy from all; I exclaimed, in those words
of Solomon, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”1551
For I saw
both this and another oracle fulfilled in every deed, which saith,
“All the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass
withereth, and the flower falleth away.”1552
For then indeed, wealth, and
nobility, and notoriety, and the patronage of friends, and kinship
and all worldly things, were found worthless; the sin, and
transgression of the law which had taken place, having put all
these succours to flight. And just as the mother of young birds,
when the nestlings have been carried away, coming and finding her
nest empty, is unable to rescue her captive brood; but by hovering
around the hands of the fowler, in this way displays her grief;
even so did these women then do, when their children were snatched
away from their dwellings, and shut up within, as it were in a net,
or a trap. They could not indeed come in and deliver the prisoners,
but they manifested their anguish by wallowing on the ground near
the very doors; by lamentation and groans; and by endeavouring to
approach as near as possible to those who had captured them. These
things then beholding, I cast in my mind That Dread Tribunal; and I
said within myself, “If now, when men are the judges, neither
mother, nor sister, nor father, nor any other person, though
guiltless of the deeds which have been perpetrated, can avail to
rescue the criminals; who will stand by us when we are judged at
the dread Tribunal of Christ? Who will dare to raise his voice? Who
will be able to rescue those who shall be led away to those
unbearable punishments. Notwithstanding they were the first men of
the city who were then brought to trial, and the very chief of the
nobility, yet they would have been glad if it could be granted them
to lose all their possessions, yea, if need were, their liberty
itself, so that they might continue to enjoy this present
life.
5. But to proceed. The day now hastening to
its close, and late1553
| 1553 βαθυτ€της, which seems
to imply darkness. See Luc. xxiv. 1. | evening arriving, and the final
sentence of the court being expected, all were in still greater
agony, and besought God that He would grant some delay and respite;
and incline the soul of the judges to refer the facts that had been
investigated to the decision of the Emperor; since perchance some
advantage might arise from this reference.1554
| 1554 Or. “delay.” ὑπ™ρθεσις. But ὑπερτίθεμαι is “to refer” in Herodotus, as
i. 8, and elsewhere. | Moreover, by the people general
supplications1555
| 1555 λιταὶ. The term was
originally used of any kind of prayer, but about this time was
beginning to be applied to a special kind of penitential prayer.
St. Basil, A.D. 375, ep. 207 (al. 63), writes to the Neocæsareans
in defence of λιτανεῖαι, to which
they objected as newly introduced; and the prayers here mentioned
seem to be something distinct from the common service. See Bingham,
b. xiii. c. 1, sec. 10. The passage he quotes from St. Augustin,
Hom. CLXXII. de Temp. is attributed by the Benedictine
editor to Cæsarius, after some
mss. | were sent
up to the Merciful God; imploring that He would save the remnants
of the city; and not suffer it entirely to be razed from its
foundations. Nor could one see any one joining in this cry but with
tears. Nevertheless, none of these things then moved the judges
within, although they heard. One thing only they considered, that
there might be a rigid enquiry into the deeds that had been
perpetrated.
6. At last having loaded the culprits with
chains, and bound them with iron, they sent them away to the prison
through the midst of the forum. Men that had kept their studs of
horses, who had been presidents of the games,1556
| 1556 ‡γωνοθ™τας. Those who bore this office were men
of distinction, and of wealth, as they usually furnished the
spectacles at their own expense. Such were the Asiarchs, mentioned
Acts xix. 31, and Mart. of St. Polycarp, c.
12. See note in ed. Jacobson. | who could reckon up a thousand
different offices of distinction which they had held, had their
goods confiscated, and seals might be seen placed upon all their
doors. Their wives
also being ejected from their parents’ home, each had literally
to play the part of Job’s wife. For they went “wandering1557
| 1557 Chrysostom here alludes to the history of Job as
given in the Septuagint. Job’s wife is there made to address him
in a long speech, of which the words, “wandering from house to
house,” &c., are a part. | from house
to house and from place to place, seeking a lodging.”1558
And this
it was not easy for them to find, every one fearing and trembling
to receive, or to render assistance in any way to the relatives of
those who were under impeachment. Nevertheless, though such events
had happened, the sufferers were patient under all; since they were
not deprived of the present life. And neither the loss of wealth,
nor dishonour, nor so much public exposure, nor any other matter of
that nature, caused them vexation. For the greatness of the
calamity, and the circumstance of their having expected still worse
things, when they suffered these, had prepared the soul for the
exercise of a wise fortitude. And now they learnt, how simple a
thing is virtue for us, how easy and expeditious of performance,
and that from our neglect only it seems to be laborious. They who
before this time could not bear the loss of a little money with
meekness, now they were subject to a greater fear, although they
had lost all their substance, felt as if they had found a treasure,
because they had not lost their lives. So that if the sense of a
future hell took possession of us, and we thought of those
intolerable punishments, we should not grieve, even though for the
sake of the law of God we were to give both our substance, and our
bodies and lives too, knowing that we should gain greater things;
deliverance from the terrors that are hereafter.
7. Perchance the tragedy of all I have told you, has
greatly softened your hearts. Do not however take it amiss. For
since I am about to venture upon some more subtle thoughts and
require a more sensitive state of mind on your part, I have done
this intentionally, in order that by the terror of the description
your minds might have shaken off all listlessness, and withdrawn
themselves from all worldly cares, and might with the more
readiness convey the force of the things about to be spoken into
the depths of your soul.
Sufficiently indeed, then, our discourse of
late1559
| 1559 πρώην, which seems to
refer to the last Homily, as also χθšς at
the beginning. This reference may, however, include also Hom.
XI. | evinced to
you, that a natural law of good and evil is seated within us. But
that our proof of it may be more abundantly evident, we will again
to-day apply ourselves strenuously to the same subject of
discourse. For that God from the beginning, when He formed man,
made him capable of discriminating both these, all men make
evident. Hence when we sin, we are all ashamed at the presence of
our inferiors; and oftentimes a master, on his way to the house of
a harlot, if he then perceives any one of his more respectable
servants, turns back, reddening with shame, from this untoward
path. Again, when others reproach us, fixing on us the names of
particular vices, we call it an insult; and if we are aggrieved, we
drag those who have done the wrong to the public tribunal. Thus we
can understand what vice is and what virtue is. Wherefore Christ,
for the purpose of declaring this, and shewing that He was not
introducing a strange law, or one which surpassed our nature, but
that which He had of old deposited beforehand in our conscience,
after pronouncing those numerous Beatitudes, thus speaks; “All
things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so
to them.”1560
“Many
words,” saith He, “are not necessary, nor laws of great length,
nor a diversity of instruction. Let thine own will be the law. Dost
thou wish to receive kindness? Be kind to another. Dost thou wish
to receive mercy? Show mercy to thy neighbour. Dost thou wish to be
applauded? Applaud another. Dost thou wish to be beloved? Exercise
love. Dost thou wish to enjoy the first rank? First concede that
place to another. Become thyself the judge, thyself the lawgiver of
thine own life. And again; “Do not to another what thou
hatest.”1561
By the
latter precept, he would induce to a departure from iniquity; by
the former, to the exercise of virtue. “Do not thou to
another,” he saith,1562
“what thou hatest.” Dost thou
hate to be insulted? Do not insult another. Dost thou hate to be
envied? Envy not another. Dost thou hate to be deceived? Do not
deceive another. And, in a word, in all things, if we hold fast
these two precepts, we shall not need any other instruction. For
the knowledge of virtue He hath implanted in our nature; but the
practice of it and the correction He hath entrusted to our moral
choice.1563
| 1563 “The light of reason does not, any more
than that of Revelation, force men to submit to its authority.”
Butler, Analogy, part ii. c. i. sec. 1, where the relation
of Christianity to natural religion is investigated. See also his
Sermons, II. and III. on Human Nature, for the sense in which the
term nature is here used. See also Aristotle Eth. vi. 5, on
φρόνησις. |
8. Perhaps what is thus said, is obscure; wherefore
I will again endeavour to make it more plain. In order to know that
it is a good thing to exercise temperance, we need no words, nor instruction; for we
ourselves have the knowledge of it in our nature, and there is no
necessity for labour or fatigue in going about and enquiring
whether temperance is good and profitable; but we all acknowledge
this with one consent, and no man is in doubt as to this virtue. So
also we account adultery to be an evil thing, and neither is there
here any need of trouble or learning, that the wickedness of this
sin may be known; but we are all self-taught in such judgments; and
we applaud virtue, though we do not follow it; as, on the other
hand, we hate vice, though we practise it. And this hath been an
exceeding good work of God; that He hath made our conscience, and
our power of choice already, and before the action, claim kindred
with virtue, and be at enmity with wickedness.
9. As I said then, the knowledge of each of
these things resides within the conscience of all men, and we
require no teacher to instruct us in these things; but the
regulation of our conduct is left to our choice, and earnestness,
and efforts. And why was this? but because if He had made
everything to be of nature, we should have departed uncrowned and
destitute of reward; and even as the brutes, who receive no reward
nor praise for those advantages which they have naturally, so
neither should we enjoy any of these things; for natural advantages
are not the praise and commendation of those who have them, but of
the Giver. For this reason, then, He did not commit all to nature;
and again, He did not suffer our will to undertake the whole burden
of knowledge, and of right regulation; lest it should despair at
the labour of virtue. But conscience suggests to it what ought to
be done; and it contributes its own exertions for the
accomplishment. That it is a good thing to be temperate, we all
understand without difficulty; for the knowledge is of nature: but
we should not be able without difficulty, without bridling lust,
and employing much exertion, to practise the rule of temperance;
for this does not come to us by nature as the knowledge does, but
requires also a willing mind and earnestness. And not only in this
respect has He made the burden lighter for us, but also in another
way again, by letting even some good dispositions exist naturally
within us. For we are all naturally disposed to feel indignation
along with those who are contemptuously treated, (whence it arises
that we become the enemies of those who are insolent, though we
ourselves may have suffered no part of the grievance,) and to
sympathize in the pleasure of those who enjoy assistance and
protection; and we are overcome by the calamities of others, as
well as by mutual tenderness.1564
| 1564 καὶ seems to be out of
place. Without it the sense is, “are afflicted in the calamities
of others through mutual tenderness.” Or the true reading may be
καὶ τὴν, “and we have a mutual
tenderness,” but six mss.
agree. | For although calamitous events may
seem to induce a certain pusillanimity,1565
| 1565 That is, on the part of those who witness the
calamity. In allusion to the disposition of many to forsake their
friends in adversity. | we entertain nevertheless a common
fondness for each other. And to this effect a certain wise man
speaks significantly; “Every animal loveth his like, and man his
neighbour.”1566
10. But God hath provided many other
instructors for us besides conscience; viz., fathers for children,
masters for servants, husbands for wives, teachers for pupils,
law-givers and judges for those who are to be governed, and friends
for friends. And frequently too we gain no less from enemies than
friends; for when the former reproach us with our offences, they
stir us up, even against our will, to the amendment of them. So
many teachers hath He set over us, in order that the discovery of
what is profitable, and the regulation of our conduct, might be
easy to us, the multitude of those things which urge us on toward
it not permitting us to fall away from what is expedient for us.
For although we should despise parents, yet while we fear
magistrates, we shall in any case be more submissive than
otherwise. And though we may set them at nought1567
when we sin, we can never escape
the rebuke of conscience: and if we dishonour and repel this, yet
whilst fearing the opinion of the many, we shall be the better for
it. And though we are destitute of shame with regard to this, the
fear of the laws will press on us so as to restrain us, however
reluctantly.
11. Thus fathers and teachers take the young
in hand, and bring them into order;1568
| 1568 Compare Herbert’s Poems, No. xvii.
“Lord, with what care hast Thou
begirt us round!
Parents first season us: then
schoolmasters
Deliver us to laws;” &c. | and lawgivers and magistrates,
those who are grown up. And servants, as being more inclined to
listlessness, in addition to what has been previously mentioned,
have their masters to constrain them to temperance; and wives have
their husbands. And many are the walls which environ our race on
all sides, lest it should too easily slide away, and fall into
wickedness. Beside all these too; sicknesses and calamities
instruct us. For poverty restrains, and losses sober us, and danger
subdues us, and there are many other things of this sort. Doth
neither father, nor teacher, nor prince, nor lawgiver, nor
judge make thee fear?
Doth no friend move thee to shame, nor enemy sting thee? Doth no
master chastise? Doth no husband instruct? Doth no conscience
correct thee? Still, when bodily sickness comes, it often sets all
right; and a loss has made the audacious man to become gentle. And
what is more than this, heavy misfortunes, which befal not only
ourselves but others too, are often of great advantage to us; and
we who ourselves suffered nothing, yet beholding others enduring
punishment, have been no less sobered by it than they.
12. And with respect to right deeds, any one
may see that this happens; for as when the bad are punished others
become better, so whenever the good achieve any thing right, many
are urged onward to a similar zeal: a thing which hath also taken
place with respect to the avoiding of oaths. For many persons,
observing that others had laid aside the evil practice of oaths,
took a pattern from their diligence, and got the better of the sin;
wherefore we are the more disposed to touch again on the subject of
this admonition. For let no one tell me that “many” have
accomplished this; this is not what is desired, but that “all”
should do so; and until I see this I cannot take breath.1569
| 1569 i.e., “to stop this exhortation;” an
allusion to the exercise of running. | That
Shepherd had a hundred sheep, and yet when one of them had wandered
away, he took no account of the safety of the ninety and nine,
until he found the one that was lost, and restored it again to the
flock.1570
Seest thou
not that this also happens with respect to the body; for if by
striking against any obstacle, we have only turned back a nail, the
whole body sympathizes with the member. Say not this; that only a
certain few have failed; but consider this point, that these few
being unreformed, will corrupt many others. Although there was but
one who had committed fornication among the Corinthians, yet Paul
so groaned as if the whole city were lost. And very reasonably, for
he knew that if that member were not chastened, the disease
progressing onward would at length attack all the rest. I saw, but
lately, in the court of justice, those distinguished men bound and
conducted through the forum; and while some were wondering at this
extraordinary degradation, others said there was nothing to wonder
at; for that, where there is matter of treason,1571
| 1571 καθοσίωσις, so
called as being against the sacred person of the Emperor.
See Ducange. | rank must go for nothing. Is it
not then much more true that rank must be of no avail where is
impiety?
13. Thinking therefore of these things, let us
arouse ourselves; for if ye bring not your own endeavours to the
task, every thing on our part is to no purpose. And why so? Because
it is not with the office of teaching, as it is with other arts.
For the silversmith, when he has fabricated a vessel of any kind,
and laid it aside, will find it on the morrow just as he left it.
And the worker in brass, and the stone-cutter, and every other
artificer, will each again take his own work in hand, whatever it
is, just in the state he quitted it. But it is not so with us, but
altogether the reverse; for we have not lifeless vessels to forge,
but reasonable souls. Therefore we do not find you such as we leave
you, but when we have taken you, and with manifold labour moulded,
reformed you and increased your ardour on your departing from this
place, the urgency of business, besetting you on every side, again
perverts you, and causes us increased difficulty. Therefore, I
supplicate and beseech you to put your own hand to the work; and
when ye depart hence, to shew the same earnest regard for your own
safety, that I have here shewn for your amendment.
14. Oh! that it were possible that I could
perform good works as your substitute, and that you could receive
the rewards of those works! Then I would not give you so much
trouble. But how can I do this? The thing is impossible; for to
every man will He render according to his own works. Wherefore as a
mother, when she beholds her son in a fever, while she witnesses
his sufferings1572
| 1572 Or, throttlings, ‡γχομ™νῳ. | from
choking and inflammation, frequently bewails him, and says to him,
“O my son, would that I could sustain thy fever, and draw off its
flame upon myself!” so now I say, Oh! that by labouring as your
substitute, I could do good works for you all! But no, this is not
to be done. But of his own doings must each man give the account,
and one cannot see one person suffer punishment in the room of
another. For this reason I am pained and mourn, that on That Day,
when ye are called to judgment, I shall not be able to assist you,
since, to say the truth, no such confidence of speech with God
belongs to me. But even if I had much confidence, I am not holier
than Moses, or more righteous than Samuel; of whom it is said, that
though they had attained to so great virtue, they could not in any
way avail to assist the Jews; inasmuch as that people had given
themselves over to excessive negligence.1573
Since, then, from our own works we
shall be punished or
saved; let us endeavour, I beseech you, in conjunction with all the
other precepts, to fulfill this one; that, finally departing this
life with a favourable hope, we may obtain those good things which
are promised, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through Whom and with Whom, to the Father, with the
Holy Ghost, be glory both now and ever, world without end.
Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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