Single-turned vs people-pleasers; goring ox liability
receives the single-turned and says he is counted worthy of the sparing from above; ‘For the Lord,’ he says, ‘settles single-turned ones in a house.’ And God is also said to scatter bones of human-pleasers; and Paul also abominates the matter, saying: ‘For do I now persuade humans, or God? Or do I seek to please humans? If I were still pleasing humans, I would not be Christ’s slave.’
Palladius: And for whom of the things that are is it not unapparent, that the double-souling and play-acting is truly out-of-place and farthest from the exact uprightness?
Cyril: A fruit then of the love having been prepared blamelessly and fitting for a just and good man is the having been freed from deceit. And that this is also necessary the law says—that the one truly a caretaker of the justice, and a lover of the love unto brothers, thinks the glory upon this holds rightly, not if he himself and alone should refuse to do injustice, but if he should also become an educator also of those intimate according to race, or then of those having come near according to some other manner, and should stand them off from the bad. And look—he also legislates about an ox accustomed to gore: ‘And if an ox gores a man or a woman and he dies, with stones let the ox be stoned, and his meats will not be eaten, yet the lord of the ox will be without liability. And if the ox is a gorer from yesterday and the third day, and it has been testified to his lord, and he has not destroyed him, and he kills a man or a woman, the ox will be stoned, and his lord also will die.’ He has commanded then that the goring animal pay the justice upon death; he said it must end stone-pelted. Yet he steals under
Greek
ἀποδέχεται τὸν μονότροπον καὶ φειδοῦς ἀξιοῦσθαί φησι τῆς ἄνωθεν· «Κύριος γὰρ κατοικίζει μονοτρόπους, φησὶν, ἐν οἴκῳ.» Διασκορπίζειν δὲ λέγεται καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ὀστᾶ ἀνθρωπαρέσκων· καταμυσάττεται δὲ τὸ χρῆμα καὶ ὁ Παῦλος, λέγων· «Ἄρτι γὰρ ἀνθρώπους πείθω, ἢ τὸν Θεόν; ἢ ζητῶ ἀνθρώποις ἀρέσκειν; εἰ ἔτι ἀνθρώποις ἤρεσκον, Χριστοῦ δοῦλος οὐκ ἂν ἤμην.»
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ τίνι τῶν ὄντων οὐκ ἀσυμφανὲς, ὡς ἔκτοπον ἀληθῶς καὶ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς ὀρθότητος ἀπωτάτω τὸ διψυχεῖν τε καὶ ὑποκρίνεσθαι;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀγάπης οὖν ἄρα καρπὸς τῆς ἀμωμήτως ἐσκευασμένης καὶ ἀνδρὶ πρεπούσης δικαίῳ τε καὶ ἀγαθῷ, τὸ ἀπηλλάχθαι δόλου. Καὶ τοῦδε δεῖν δή φησιν ὁ νόμος, τόν γε ὡς ἀληθῶς τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐπιμελητὴν, καὶ ἀγάπης τῆς εἰς ἀδελφοὺς ἐραστὴν, ὀρθῶς ἔχειν οἴεσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ τῷδε δόξαν, οὐκ εἴπερ αὐτός τε καὶ μόνος παραιτοῖτο ἀδικεῖν, ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ γένοιτο παιδευτὴς καὶ τῶν κατὰ γένος οἰκείων, ἤγουν καθ' ἕτερόν τινα τρόπον ἐγγὺς γεγονότων, καὶ τὸ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν οἰκειότητος ὄνομα πεπλουτηκότων. Παρεγγυᾷ δὲ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος τὸν ἐπιμελησόμενον Ἐκκλησίας, τέκνα ἔχειν ἐν ὑποταγῇ, καὶ ἀπόδειξιν τὸ πρᾶγμα τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτῷ ἐπιεικείας καὶ μὴ, ποιεῖται λέγων· «Εἰ δέ τις τοῦ ἰδίου οἴκου προστῆναι οὐκ οἶδε, πῶς Ἐκκλησίας Θεοῦ ἐπιμελήσεται;» Διὰ τοῦτό φησιν ὁ νόμος ὡς ἐν παραδείγματος τρόπῳ, καὶ ἐναργοῦς εἰκόνος· «Ἐὰν δὲ κερατίσῃ ταῦρος ἄνδρα ἢ γυναῖκα, καὶ ἀποθάνῃ, λίθοις λιθοβοληθήσεται ὁ ταῦρος, καὶ οὐ βρωθήσεται τὰ κρέα αὐτοῦ, ὁ δὲ κύριος τοῦ ταύρου ἀθῶος ἔσται· ἐὰν δὲ ὁ ταῦρος κερατιστὴς ᾖ πρὸ τῆς χθὲς καὶ πρὸ τῆς τρίτης, καὶ διαμαρτύρωνται τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ ἀφανίσῃ αὐτὸν, ἀνέλῃ δὲ ἄνδρα ἢ γυναῖκα, ὁ ταῦρος λιθοβοληθήσεται, καὶ ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ προσαποθανεῖται· ἐὰν δὲ λύτρα ἐπιβληθῇ αὐτῷ, δώσει λύτρα τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ, ὅσα ἐὰν ἐπιβάλωσιν αὐτῷ. Ἐὰν δὲ υἱὸν ἢ θυγατέρα κερατίσῃ ὁ ταῦρος, κατὰ τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦτο ποιήσουσιν αὐτῷ. Ἐὰν δὲ παῖδα κερατίσῃ ἢ παιδίσκην, ἀργυρίου τριάκοντα δίδραχμα δώσει τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτῶν, καὶ ὁ ταῦρος λιθοβοληθήσεται.» Ἆρά σοι σαφὲς τὸ χρησμῴδημα;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Οὐ σφόδρα.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν ὅ φημι, καὶ πρό γε τῶν ἄλλων εἰς νοῦν ἔχε τὸν ἱερώτατον Παῦλον, ὡδὶ γεγραφότα· «Μὴ τῶν βοῶν μέλει τῷ Θεῷ; Ἢ δι' ἡμᾶς πάντως λέγει;» Ταύρῳ δὴ οὖν παρεικάζει τὸν ὑβριστήν τε καὶ ἀλαζόνα, καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν ἰσχύοντα. Γαῦρον γὰρ ἀεί πώς ἐστι καὶ ἀγέρωχον τὸ ζῶον, καὶ πάνδεινον εἰς ἀλκὴν, καὶ δύσοιστον ἔχει τὴν ἔφοδον. Τὸν δὴ τοιοῦτον, εἰ γένοιτο, φησὶν, οἰκεῖος, καὶ οἱονεί πως κατεζευγμένος τῶν ὁσιουργεῖν ᾑρημένων τινὶ, παραλύσειέ τε, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἀνέλοι τινὰ, καταχωννὺς τάχα που ταῖς πλεονεξίαις, ἀποτιννῦναι δίκην τὴν ἐπ' αὐτῷ θανάτῳ προστέταχε· χρῆναι ἔφη λιθόλευστον τελευτᾷν. Ὑποκλέπτει δὲ
About this text
Cyril continues the dialogue with Palladius. Book 7 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 7 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 5 (Aubert reprint) (Greek · Book 7)
- Checked print PDF of PG 68 De adoratione (Greek · Book 7)
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.