Three modes of Satan’s war; census of fighting males in Numbers
to chant again and say: ‘If the Lord had not been in us when humans rose up upon us, then living they would have swallowed us; when their anger was wroth upon us, then the water would have drowned us; a torrent our soul passed through.’
Palladius: Thus it holds.
Cyril: Observe then the manner of the plot. First he was maltreating them with wild toils, most wickedly devising that they not go unto a great multitude, through what he thought right to do evil; and the injustice was still secret, and the tyrant’s aim not very apparent, yet the grace of the one pitying was being set against it, just as I said just now. And being humbled, they were rather rushing unto increase, of strength and of number. Then through the middle he was wishing to arm the midwives against the Hebrews’ women. But God was not letting even this prevail. And of a plot thereafter, as in a third and last manner, he has ordered all his own people to stifle the male, no longer declining to take advantage secretly. Therefore against those playing the man Satan wars invisibly, and puts together the things of the plot as in a triple manner; and he begins the battle through wicked plans, blocking the mind’s advance unto virtue; for he prepares them to be worn out by unexpected toils and to keep company with hard contests. And having been able to wrong nothing through these, God defending, he often stirs those same-nation and our own according to faith, and attempts to sharpen them toward hatred and battle. And Paul will testify saying: ‘In dangers among false brothers, in dangers from race.’ And if he should also miss this, the one standing before the saints putting the divine fear into them, just as also of old into the midwives; thereafter he openly raises his own shield-bearers unto wildness and murderousness. And even so we will hold to the love of good daring, and the eagerness unto courage, not having been ignorant that what is hated beside that one is honorable to God. For it has been set in account and he counts worth sparing what is above softness.
Palladius: I am persuaded. And I think this again is also present, and to be contemplated for us from the holy Scripture itself. For a lack of thoughts is not somewhere.
Cyril: Therefore God giving we say, as in the so-called Numbers—and this is a Mosaic book: ‘And the Lord spoke,’ it says, ‘toward Moses, in the Sinai wilderness, in the tent of the witness, on day one of the second month of the year, when they had gone out from Egypt’s land, saying: Take a beginning of every kinship of sons of Israel, and according to their kinships, and according to houses of their fatherhoods, according to number from their name, according to their head; every male from twenty years and upward, every one going out in power
Greek
ἀναμελῳδεῖν καὶ λέγειν· «Εἰ μὴ ὅτι Κύριος ἦν ἐν ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ ἐπαναστῆναι ἀνθρώπους ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, ἄρα ζῶντας ἂν κατέπιον ἡμᾶς· ἐν τῷ ὀργισθῆναι τὸν θυμὸν αὐτῶν ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, ἄρα τὸ ὕδωρ ἂν κατεπόντισεν ἡμᾶς· χείμαῤῥον διῆλθεν ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὧδε ἔχει.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἄθρει δὴ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς τὸν τρόπον. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἀγρίοις κατῃκίζετο πόνοις, τὸ μὴ εἰς πληθὺν ἰέναι πολλὴν, κακουργότατα σοφιζόμενος, δι' ὧν ἠξίου κακοῦν· καὶ λαθραῖον ἦν ἔτι τὸ ἀδίκημα, καὶ οὐ λίαν ἐμφανὴς ὁ τοῦ τυράννου σκοπὸς, ἀντεφέρετο δὲ καθάπερ ἔφην ἀρτίως, ἡ τοῦ κατοικτείροντος χάρις. Ταπεινούμενοι δὲ, μᾶλλον εἰς αὔξησιν ἵεσαν, ἀλκῆς τε καὶ ἀριθμοῦ. Εἶτα διὰ μέσου τὰς μαίας ταῖς Ἑβραίων γυναιξὶν, ἐξοπλίζειν ἤθελεν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο κρατεῖν ἠφίει Θεός. Ἐπιβουλῆς δὲ λοιπὸν, ὡς ἐν τρίτῳ τε καὶ τελευταίῳ τρόπῳ παντὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ προστέταχε λαῷ καταπνίγειν τὸ ἄρσεν, τὸ λεληθότως πλεονεκτεῖν οὐκέτι παραιτούμενος. Οὐκοῦν τοῖς ἀνδριζομένοις, πολεμεῖ μὲν ἀοράτως ὁ Σατανᾶς, συντίθησι δὲ τὰ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς, ὡς ἔν γε τρόπῳ τριπλῷ· καὶ ἀπάρχεται μὲν τῆς μάχης διὰ κακούργων σκεμμάτων, τὴν εἰς ἀρετὴν ἐπίδοσιν ἀποκωλύων τοῦ νοῦ· ἐντρύχεσθαι γὰρ ἀδοκήτοις παρασκευάζει πόνοις καὶ σκληροῖς ἀγῶσιν ὁμιλεῖν. Ἀδικεῖν δὲ ἰσχύσας διὰ τούτων οὐδὲν, ἐπαμύνοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοὺς κατὰ πίστιν ἡμῖν ἰδίους καὶ ταυτοεθνεῖς παροτρύνει πολλάκις, καὶ καταθήγειν ἐπιχειρεῖ πρὸς ἀπέχθειάν τε καὶ μάχην. Καὶ μαρτυρήσει λέγων ὁ Παῦλος· «Κινδύνοις ἐν ψευδαδέλφοις, κινδύνοις ἐκ γένους.» Εἰ δὲ δὴ γένοιτο καὶ τούτου διαμαρτεῖν, τὸν θεῖον αὐτοῖς ἐνιέντος φόβον τοῦ τῶν ἁγίων προεστηκότος, καθὰ καὶ τὰ πάλαι ταῖς μαίαις· ἀναφανδὸν ἐγείρει λοιπὸν τοὺς σφετέρους ὑπασπιστὰς, εἰς ἀγριότητα καὶ μιαιφονίαν. Ἀνθεξόμεθα δὲ καὶ οὕτως τῆς εἰς εὐτολμίαν ἀγάπης, καὶ τῆς εἰς ἀνδρείαν σπουδῆς, οὐκ ἠγνοηκότες, ὅτι τὸ ἀπηχθημένον παρ' ἐκείνῳ, Θεῷ τίμιον. Τέθειται γὰρ ἐν λόγῳ καὶ φειδοῦς ἀξιοῖ, τὸ ἀνωτέρω μαλακισμοῦ.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πείθομαι. Παρὸν δὲ οἶμαι καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἡμῖν τῆς ἁγίας καταθεᾶσθαι Γραφῆς. Ἀπόρησις γὰρ ἐννοιῶν, οὔτι που.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν Θεοῦ διδόντος λέγομεν, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἐπίκλην Ἀριθμοῖς, Μωσαϊκὸν δὲ τοῦτο βιβλίον· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε, φησὶ, Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν, ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ Σινᾶ, ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου, ἐν μιᾷ τοῦ μηνὸς τοῦ δευτέρου ἔτους, ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, λέγων· Λάβετε ἀρχὴν πάσης συγγενείας υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ κατὰ συγγενείας αὐτῶν, καὶ κατ' οἴκους πατριῶν αὐτῶν, κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἐξ ὀνόματος αὐτῶν, κατὰ κεφαλὴν αὐτῶν· πᾶς ἄρσην ἀπὸ εἰκοσαετοῦς καὶ ἐπάνω, πᾶς ὁ ἐκπορευόμενος ἐν δυνάμει
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 4 of a seventeen-book dialogue — not the whole work.
English follows Migne PG 68 (Aubert reprint). The PDF and a cleaned text of the same print were checked against each other. This page is Book 4 of seventeen. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Migne PG 68 De adoratione Book 4 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 4)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 4)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.