The parted hoof and the chewed cud
Cyril: …coming to the aid of those in need, and taking great pains to carry out whatever things God delights in. Is not the way of righteousness, then, in a sense twofold, since it is carried out both toward ourselves and toward others?
Palladius: It seems so.
Cyril: The law, then, always likens such a person, in a way, to a parted hoof, that is, to a foot divided in two (Leviticus 11:3). For the foot would always be for us a symbol and type of the road we travel in practical action. Indeed we speak of those who are truly eager to go blamelessly toward what leads to their good as walking with a straight foot. David also sings somewhere: ‘For my foot has stood on level ground’ (Psalm 26:12), that is, I have walked in righteousness and uprightness, and I have hated what is crooked. And of those who love sin he says: ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery are in their paths’ (Romans 3:15–16). So the foot is a symbol of the road we travel in deeds. And the parting of the hoof would be a clear type of our being able to walk rightly and beyond reproach in both ways: in what concerns ourselves, and also toward others.
Palladius: The argument is persuasive.
Cyril: Suppose, then, there is someone who knows how to walk rightly and skillfully in both ways, and is able to benefit both himself and others (I mean by the quality of his character). Suppose that besides this he is sensible and very wise, and gives his heart to the words about God as a kind of lodging and dwelling place; that he is always turning over within himself, this way and that, the meanings of the divine doctrines, and so knows how to search them out often and wisely, grinding fine, as it were, the thoughts he has come to know so exactly. Such a person will surely resemble an animal that brings up the cud: it is always bringing back up the food in its belly and putting it under its teeth, so that it may be ground finer still and, made fine enough to digest, may turn to its benefit.
Palladius: Well said.
Cyril: Now the law says that an animal is clean if its foot ends in a parted hoof and it also brings back up the cud from its belly (Leviticus 11:3). For the one who is by nature excellent and good toward himself and toward others, and who has also taken on a love of learning and practice in knowledge (plainly, the knowledge of God), will be fully fitted for virtue and for every admirable thing, and blameless, at least in what concerns himself. And if someone comes to share in such a person (I mean by learning from him), and feasts, as it were, on the teaching he gives; if he becomes his imitator and chooses to emulate one so distinguished and outstanding, he will be undefiled and clean. For he will be living with one who is clean, and he will at once show his own way of life to be a kind of imprint of the understanding and sound learning found in that man. This, I think, is what is meant by our having to eat of every animal that by nature splits its foot at the hoof and brings up…
Greek
ἐπαρκοῦντες δεομένοις, καὶ τὰ ἐφ' οἷς ἂν ἥδοιτο Θεὸς, ἀποπεραίνειν εὖ μάλα διεσπουδακότες. Ἆρ' οὐ διφυής ἐστί πως τῆς δικαιοσύνης ὁ τρόπος, εἴς τε ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς, καὶ μέν τοι καὶ εἰς ἑτέρους κατορθούμενος;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἔοικε.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὁπλῇ δὴ οὖν ἐσχισμένῃ, ἤτοι ποδὸς διχηλίᾳ, παρεικάζει πως ἀεὶ τὸν τοιοῦτον ὁ νόμος. Ποῦς γὰρ ἀεὶ, πορείας μὲν ἡμῖν τῆς κατ' ἐνέργειαν πρακτικῆς σύμβολον ἂν εἴη καὶ τύπος· καὶ δή φαμεν, ὀρθῷ διάττειν ποδὶ, τοὺς ἀμωμήτως ἰέναι πρὸς τὸ τελοῦν εἰς ὄνησιν εὖ μάλα προθυμουμένους. Ἀναμέλπει δέ που καὶ ὁ Δαβίδ· «Ὁ γὰρ ποῦς μου ἔστη ἐν εὐθύτητι,» τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ πεπόρευμαι καὶ εὐθύτητι· μεμίσηκα δὲ τὸ διεστραμμένον. Περὶ δέ γε τῶν φιλαμαρτημόνων· «Ὀξεῖς οἱ πόδες αὐτῶν ἐκχέαι αἷμα, σύντριμμα δὲ καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν.» Οὐκοῦν τῆς μὲν ἐν ἔργοις πορείας σύμβολον ὁ ποῦς. Διχηλιὰ δέ γε τύπος ἂν εἴη σαφὴς τοῦ ἐπ' ἄμφω βαίνειν ἡμᾶς ὀρθῶς καὶ ἀνεπιπλήκτως δύνασθαι, εἰς τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς, καὶ μέν τοι καὶ εἰς ἑτέρους.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πιθανὸς ὁ λόγος.
{ΚΥΡ.} Εἴ τις οὖν εἴη τυχὸν, ὀρθῶς καὶ ἐπιστημόνως ἐπ' ἄμφω βαίνειν εἰδὼς, ἑαυτόν τε καὶ ἑτέρους ὠφελεῖν οἷός τε, τῇ τῶν ἠθῶν ποιότητι λέγω, καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτῳ, νουνεχὴς καὶ ἐμφρονέστατος, καὶ τοῖς περὶ Θεοῦ λόγοις ἐναύλιον ὥσπερ τι καὶ ἐνδιαίτημα διδοὺς τὴν καρδίαν, ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω στρέφων ἀείπως ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὰς τῶν θείων δογμάτων ἐννοίας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πυκνῶς καὶ ἐμφρόνως ἐξερευνᾷν, καταλεπτύνων τρόπον τινὰ τὰ οὕτω τῶν νοημάτων ἀκριβῶς ἐγνωσμένα, ζώῳ που πάντως ἔσται προσεοικὼς ἀναφέροντι τὸν μηρυκισμὸν, καὶ τὴν ἐν κοιλίᾳ τροφὴν ἀνερευγομένῳ ἀεὶ, καὶ τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν ὑπάγοντι, ὡς ἂν καὶ ἔτι καταλεαίνοιτο, καὶ τῷ τῆς πέψεως ἰσχνῷ χωροίη πρὸς ὄνησιν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ λέγεις.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καθαρὸν δὲ εἶναί φησι τὸ ζῶον, ὅπερ ἂν ἔχῃ πρὸς διχηλοῦσαν ὁπλὴν ἐκτελευτῶντα τὸν πόδα, ἀνακομίζει τε αὖ τὸν ἐν κοιλίᾳ μηρυκισμόν· ὁ γὰρ εἶναι πεφυκὼς ἄριστός τε καὶ ἀγαθὸς εἰς ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἑτέρους, προσειληφὼς δὲ καὶ τὸ φιλόλογον καὶ τὸ εἰς γνῶσιν ἐντριβὲς, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τὴν ἐπὶ Θεῷ, ἄρτιος ἔσται πρὸς ἀρετὴν, καὶ ἀμωμήτως ἔχων ἔν γε τοῖς καθ' ἑαυτὸν, πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τῶν τεθαυμασμένων· κἂν εἰ μέτοχός τις τοῦ τοιοῦδε γένοιτο τυχὸν, κατὰ μάθησιν λέγω, καὶ οἱονείπως καταθοινήσαιτο τὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ λόγον, κἂν εἰ γένοιτο μιμητὴς, ἕλοιτό τε ζηλοῦν τὸν ὧδε διαπρεπῆ καὶ ἐξαίρετον, ἀβέβηλος ἔσται καὶ καθαρός. Συνδιαιτήσεται γὰρ καθαρῷ, καὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ συνέσεως καὶ χρηστομαθίας ἐκμαγεῖον ὥσπερ τι τὸν οἰκεῖον εὐθὺς ἀναδείξει τρόπον. Τοῦτο, οἶμαι, ἐστὶ τὸ δεῖν ἐσθίειν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ παντὸς ζώου κατασχίζοντος φυσικῶς εἰς ὁπλὴν τὸν πόδα, καὶ ἀνάνον