The way of life and the way of death
Cyril went on: And it seemed the people being warred on barely asked the prophet Jeremiah where the evil would end for them. 'And Jeremiah said,' it says: 'Thus you shall say to Zedekiah: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I turn back the war-weapons with which you are fighting in them against the Chaldeans who have shut you up outside the wall, into the middle of this city. And I will war on you with a hand stretched out and with a strong arm, with fury and great anger. And I will strike all who live in this city, the men and the cattle, with a great death, and they shall die.' Then after other things: 'And to this people,' he says, 'you shall say, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I have given before your face the way of life and the way of death. He who sits in this city shall die by sword and by famine, and he who goes out to go over to the Chaldeans who have shut you up shall live. And his soul shall be for spoils, and he shall live. Because I have set my face on this city for evils and not for goods, and it shall be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.' You understand, then, that when we grieve God by the honors given once for all, we wretches will not be able to stand against the strengths of the enemies, and when the divine anger is as it were lying on us and leaping down on us, we shall be slaves instead of free, and we shall live an inglorious and pitiable life.
Palladius said: You speak well.
Cyril: For the law of God carries the tender and well-governed man toward a blameless way of life, and becomes as it were a lamp for each toward the showing of what is useful and needed, and one who is overcome by reverence toward it would live, I think, not without wonder, and would inhabit as it were a holy city — what is set firm toward virtue and has come to stand in piety. But if someone should choose, as if into a thicket and a wood fair with flowers and good timber, to rush readily into the worldly pleasures, and to linger in the delights according to this life, and as it were to receive into mind and heart a swarm of idols — the many-formed pleasure — and to burn to the demons the fruits of his own eagerness, then, then, and with much reason, he would slip away from the sparing from above, and would lie a very ready hunt for those who wish to take him. And being pushed out, as from a holy city, of the good order that was at the beginning, he will thereafter go, as from a necessary yoke, toward what seems good to those who rule, and he will be far from God, at least in the manner of disposition, undergoing the migration into Babylon, that is, the things beyond the bounds of a holy land, in which God is known, and his name is great. That is why those who undergo so hard a labor, and have fallen into enemies' hands, and cannot bear the way of life with them as slavish and servile, have cried out: 'By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered Zion.' For the human mind, I think, is sick with something of this kind.
Palladius: What do you mean?
Greek
πολεμουμένοις τὸν προφήτην Ἱερεμίαν, τὸ ὅποιπερ ἂν αὐτοῖς ἐκτελευτήσειε τὸ κακόν. «Καὶ εἶπε,» φησὶν, «Ἱερεμίας· Οὕτως ἐρεῖτε πρὸς Σεδεκίαν· Τάδε λέγει Κύριος· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεταστρέφω τὰ ὅπλα τὰ πολεμικὰ, ἐν οἷς ὑμεῖς πολεμεῖτε ἐν αὐτοῖς πρὸς τοὺς Χαλδαίους τοὺς συγκεκλεικότας ὑμᾶς ἔξω τοῦ τείχους, εἰς τὸ μέσον τῆς πόλεως ταύτης. Καὶ πολεμήσω ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ ἐν χειρὶ ἐκτεταμένῃ, καὶ ἐν βραχίονι κραταιῷ, μετὰ θυμοῦ καὶ ὀργῆς μεγάλης. Καὶ πατάξω πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰ κτήνη ἐν θανάτῳ μεγάλῳ, καὶ ἀποθανοῦνται.» Εἶτα μεθ' ἕτερα· «Καὶ πρὸς τὸν λαὸν,» φησὶν, «ἐρεῖς τοῦτον, Τάδε λέγει Κύριος· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ δέδωκα πρὸ προσώπου ὑμῶν τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ θανάτου. Ὁ καθήμενος ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ, ἀποθανεῖται ἐν μαχαίρᾳ, καὶ ἐν λιμῷ, καὶ ὁ ἐκπορευόμενος προσχωρῆσαι πρὸς τοὺς Χαλδαίους τοὺς συγκεκλεικότας ὑμᾶς, ζήσεται. Καὶ ἔσται ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ εἰς σκύλα, καὶ ζήσεται. Διότι ἐστήριξα τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ταύτην εἰς κακὰ, καὶ οὐκ εἰς ἀγαθὰ, καὶ εἰς χεῖρας βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος παραδοθήσεται, καὶ κατακαύσει αὐτὴν ἐν πυρί.» Συνίης οὖν, ὅτι ταῖς εἰσάπαξ φιλοτιμίαις καταλυποῦντες Θεὸν, ἐσόμεθα μὲν οὐχ οἷοί τε ταῖς τῶν ἐχθρῶν εὐσθενείαις ἀντιπράττειν οἱ δείλαιοι, ἐγκειμένης δὲ ὥσπερ καὶ καταθρωσκούσης ἡμῶν τῆς θείας ὀργῆς, δοῦλοι μὲν ἀντ' ἐλευθέρων ἐσόμεθα, ἀκλεᾶ δὲ καὶ ἐλεεινὸν διαζήσομεν βίον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀποφέρει μὲν γὰρ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμος πρὸς ἀμώμητον πολιτείαν τὸν τρυφερὸν καὶ εὐήνιον, λύχνος δὲ ὥσπερ τις ἑκάστῳ γίνεται, πρὸς τὴν τοῦ χρησίμου τε καὶ ἀναγκαίου παράδειξιν, καὶ αἰδοῖ μὲν τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡττώμενος, διαβιῴη τις ἂν οὐκ ἀθαυμάστως οἶμαί που, καὶ καθάπερ ἁγίαν κατοικήσει πόλιν τὸ ἐρηρεισμένον εἰς ἀρετὴν, καὶ βεβηκὸς εἰς εὐλάβειαν. Εἰ δὲ δή τις ἕλοιτο καθάπερ τινὰ δρυμόν τε καὶ ὕλην εὐανθῆ τε καὶ εὔξυλον, εἰσβάλλειν ἑτοίμως εἰς τὰς κοσμικὰς ἡδονὰς, καὶ τέρψεσι ταῖς κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν, καὶ οἱονεί πως εἰδώλων ἐσμὸν εἰς νοῦν καὶ καρδίαν εἰσδέχεσθαι τὴν πολύμορφον ἡδονὴν, καὶ θυμιᾷν τοῖς δαίμοσι τοὺς τῆς αὐτοῦ προθυμίας καρπούς· τότε δὴ τότε καὶ σφόδρα εἰκότως ἀπολισθήσειεν ἂν φειδοῦς τῆς ἄνωθεν, καὶ ἑτοιμοτάτη λίαν προσκείσεται θήρα τοῖς ἐθέλουσιν ἑλεῖν. Πόλεως δὲ ὥσπερ ἁγίας ἐξωθούμενος τῆς ἐν ἀρχαῖς εὐκοσμίας, κατοιχήσεται λοιπὸν ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀναγκαίου ζυγοῦ, πρὸς τὸ τοῖς κρατοῦσι δοκοῦν, καὶ μακρὰν ἔσται Θεοῦ, κατά γε τὸν τῆς διαθέσεως τρόπον, μετοικισμὸν ὑπομένων τὸν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὰ ἐπέκεινα τερμάτων γῆς ἁγίας, ἐν ᾗ γνωστὸς ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ μέγα τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. Τοιγάρτοι διακεκράγασιν οἱ τὸν οὕτω σκληρὸν ὑπομένοντες πόνον, καὶ εἰς χεῖρας πεσόντες ἐχθρῶν, καὶ τὴν παρ' ἐκείνοις δίαιταν, ὡς ἀνδραποδώδη καὶ οἰκετικὴν οὐ φέροντες· «Ἐπὶ τῶν ποταμῶν Βαβυλῶνος, ἐκεῖ ἐκαθίσαμεν καὶ ἐκλαύσαμεν, ἐν τῷ μνησθῆναι ἡμᾶς τὴν Σιών.» Νοσεῖ γὰρ οἶμαί τι τοιοῦτον ὁ ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τὸ τί δὴ φῄς;