Keep good company; the unclean birds, and the proud who soar on high
Cyril: …who are more upright it is safe. For it is written: ‘He who walks with the wise will be wise, but he who walks with fools will be known’ (Proverbs 13:20). And Paul too writes: ‘If anyone called a brother is greedy, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or a swindler, do not even eat with such a one’ (1 Corinthians 5:11).
Palladius: Well said; for the matter is not without profit.
Cyril: This, then, is what the law tells us in riddles about creatures that swim and live in the waters. Then, widening, as it were, the range of examples it sets before us, it goes on to the flocks of birds, saying: ‘And these you shall abhor among the birds, and they shall not be eaten; they are an abomination: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the sea eagle, the vulture, the kite and its kind, the ostrich, the owl, the gull and its kind, every raven and its kind, the hawk and its kind, the night raven, the cormorant, the ibis, the purple gallinule, the pelican, the swan, the heron, the plover and its kind, the hoopoe and the bat (Leviticus 11:13–19). And all winged creeping things that go on all fours are an abomination to you (Leviticus 11:20). But these you shall eat among the winged creeping things that go on all fours: those that have legs above their feet, with which to leap on the ground. These you shall eat of them: the young locust and its kind, the cricket and its kind, the grasshopper and its kind, and the locust and its kind (Leviticus 11:21–22). Every winged creeping thing that has four feet is an abomination to you, and by these you shall be defiled. Whoever touches their carcasses shall be unclean until evening’ (Leviticus 11:23–24). Is the meaning of these words clear to you?
Palladius: Not in the least.
Cyril: Do you not perceive by now that, just as with the others, the traits that belong by nature to each of the creatures named would be images of characters and of different ways of life?
Palladius: What do you mean?
Cyril: Shall we take them one at a time, distinguishing each with care?
Palladius: By all means.
Cyril: The law, then, rejects the eagle, the bearded vulture, the sea eagle, and the vulture as well. For birds like these fly about on high; they love to pride themselves on the loftiest heights, and they hate what is low. ‘The young of the vulture,’ it says, ‘fly to the heights’ (Job 5:7). Such, in a way, is the boaster, the man of overweening haughtiness, who has his mind lifted up within himself, who is used to looking down on a gentle and moderate frame of mind, and who has no love at all for associating with the lowly (Romans 12:16). Together with these the law also condemns the kite and its kind, and the raven and its kind. By these it signifies very well the kind of people who know how to plunder and are clever at wrongdoing: the kite is a type of the first, and the deep, jet-black raven of the second. For those who are shrewd…
Greek
ἐπιεικεστέροις ἀσφαλές. Γέγραπται γὰρ «Ὁ συμπορευόμενος σοφοῖς, σοφὸς ἔσται· ὁ δὲ συμπορευόμενος ἄφροσι, γνωσθήσεται.» Γράφει δὲ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος· «Ἐάν τις ἀδελφὸς ὀνομαζόμενος πλεονέκτης, ἢ εἰδωλολάτρης, ἢ λοίδορος, ἢ μέθυσος, ἢ ἅρπαξ, τῷ τοιούτῳ μηδὲ συνεσθίειν.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ ἔφης· τὸ γάρ τοι χρῆμά ἐστιν οὐκ ἀσυντελὲς εἰς ὄνησιν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Νηκτῶν μὲν δὴ πέρι καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι ταυτὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς αἰνιγματωδῶς ὁ νόμος. Κατευρύνων δὲ ὥσπερ τῶν παραδειγμάτων ἡμῖν τὴν παράθεσιν, ἐπὶ τὰς πτηνῶν ἀγέλας ἐπιφέρει λέγων· «Καὶ ταῦτα βδελύξεσθε ἀπὸ τῶν πετεινῶν, καὶ οὐ βρωθήσεται· βδέλυγμά ἐστι· τὸν ἀετὸν καὶ τὸν γρύπα, καὶ τὸν ἁλιαίετον, καὶ τὸν γύπα, καὶ τὸν ἰκτῖνον, καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ, καὶ στρουθὸν, καὶ γλαῦκα, καὶ λάρον, καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ, καὶ πάντα κόρακα καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ, καὶ ἱέρακα καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ, καὶ νυκτικόρακα, καὶ καταράκτην, καὶ ἴβιν, καὶ πορφυρίωνα, καὶ πελεκᾶνα, καὶ κύκνον, καὶ ἐρωδιὸν, καὶ χαράδριον καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ, καὶ ἔποπα, καὶ νυκτερίδα, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἑρπετὰ τῶν πετεινῶν, ἃ πορεύεται ἐπὶ τέσσαρα, βδελύγματά ἐστιν ὑμῖν. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα φάγεσθε ἀπὸ τῶν ἑρπετῶν τῶν πετεινῶν, ἃ πορεύεται ἐπὶ τέσσαρα, ἃ ἔχει σκέλη ἀνώτερον τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῶν, πηδᾷν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ταῦτα φάγεσθε ἀπ' αὐτῶν, τὸν βροῦχον καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ, καὶ τὸν ἀττάκην καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ, καὶ ὀφιομάχην καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ, καὶ τὴν ἀκρίδα καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῇ. Πᾶν ἑρπετὸν ἀπὸ τῶν πετεινῶν, οἷς εἰσι τέσσαρες πόδες, βδελύγματά ἐστιν ὑμῖν, καὶ ἐν τούτοις μιανθήσεσθε. Πᾶς ὁ ἁπτόμενος τῶν θνησιμαίων αὐτῶν, ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἕως ἑσπέρας.» Ἆρά σοι σαφὴς τῶν εἰρημένων ὁ νοῦς;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἥκιστά γε.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἢ οὐκ αἰσθάνῃ λοιπὸν, ὡς ἐν ἴσῳ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἠθῶν εἶεν ἂν εἰκόνες καὶ τρόπων διαφοραὶ, τὰ ἑκάστου τῶν ὠνομασμένων ἴδια φυσικῶς;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς ἔφης;
{ΚΥΡ.} Βούλει λέγωμεν ἀνὰ μέρος, ἕκαστα λεπτῶς διακρίναντες;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀποφάσκει τοίνυν ὁ νόμος τὸν ἀετὸν καὶ τὸν γρύπα, καὶ τὸν ἁλιαίετον, καὶ μέντοι τὸν γύπα· διίπταται γὰρ τὰ τοιάδε ὑψοῦ, καὶ τοῖς ἀνωτάτω λίαν ἐναβρύνεσθαι φιλεῖ, καὶ μισεῖ τὰ κάτω· «Νεοσσοὶ γὰρ,» φησὶ, «γυπὸς τὰ ὑψηλὰ πέτονται.» Τοιουτοσί πως δὲ ὁ ἀλαζὼν καὶ ἐξωφρυωμένος ἄγαν, καὶ ἐπηρμένον ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν νοῦν ἔχων, καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἐπιεικοῦς καὶ μετρίου φρονήματος ὑπερορᾷν εἰθισμένος, ἥκιστά γε ἀγαπῶν τοῖς ταπεινοῖς συναπάγεσθαι. Συγκαταψέγει δὲ τούτοις τὸν ἰκτῖνα, καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ, καὶ κόρακα καὶ τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ, δι' ὧν εὖ μάλα σημαίνεται, τό γε ἁρπάζειν εἰδὸς, καὶ δεινὸν εἰς κακουργίαν ἀνθρώπων γένος· καὶ τοῦ μὲν πρώτου τύπος ὁ ἰκτῖνος, θατέρου γε μὴν, ὁ μελάντατος καὶ βαθύς. Σκοτεινοὶ δέ πως καὶ οὐχ ἅπασιν ἐναργεῖς, οἱ δρι