|
1. I HAD many genuine and true friends, men who understood the
laws of friendship, and faithfully observed them; but out of this
large number there was one who excelled all the rest in his attachment
to me, striving to outstrip them as much as they themselves outstripped
ordinary acquaintance. He was one of those who were constantly at my
side; for we were engaged in the same studies, and employed the same
teachers. We had the same eagerness and zeal about the studies at
which we worked, and a passionate desire produced by the same
circumstances was equally strong in both of us. For not only when we
were attending school, but after we had left it, when it became
necessary to consider what course of life it would be best for us to
adopt, we found ourselves to be of the same mind.
2. And in addition to these, there were other things also which
preserved and maintained this concord unbroken and secure. For as
regarded the greatness of our fatherland neither had one cause to vaunt
himself over the other, nor was I burdened with riches, and he
pinched by poverty, but our means corresponded as closely as our
tastes. Our families also were of equal rank, and thus everything
concurred with our disposition.
3. But when it became our duty to pursue the blessed life of monks,
and the true philosophy, our balance was no longer even, but his scale
mounted high, while I, still entangled in the lusts of this world,
dragged mine down and kept it low, weighting it with those fancies in
which youths are apt to indulge. For the future our friendship indeed
remained as firm as it was before, but our intercourse was
interrupted; for it was impossible for persons who were not interested
about the same things to spend much time together. But as soon as I
also began to emerge a little from the flood of worldliness, he
received me with open arms; yet not even thus could we maintain our
former equality: for having got the start of me in time, and having
displayed great earnestness, he rose again above my level, and soared
to a great height.
4. Being a good man, however, and placing a high value on my
friendship, he separated himself from all the rest (of the
brethren), and spent the whole of his time with me, which he had
desired to do before, but had been prevented as I was saying by my
frivolity. For it was impossible for a man who attended the
law-courts, and was in a flutter of excitement about the pleasures of
the stage, to be often in the company of one who was nailed to his
books, and never set foot in the market place. Consequently when the
hindrances were removed, and he had brought me into the same condition
of life as himself, he gave free vent to the desire with which he had
long been laboring. He could not bear leaving me even for a moment,
and he persistently urged that we should each of us abandon our own home
and share a common dwelling :--in fact he persuaded me, and the
affair was taken in hand.
5. But the continual lamentations of my mother hindered me from
granting him the favor, or rather from receiving this boon at his
hands. For when she perceived that I was meditating this step, she
took me into her own private chamber, and, sitting near me on the bed
where she had given birth to me, she shed torrents of tears, to which
she added words yet more pitiable than her weeping, in the following
lamentable strain: My child, it was not the will of Heaven that I
should long enjoy the benefit of thy father's virtue. For his death
soon followed the pangs which I endured at thy birth, leaving thee an
orphan and me a widow before my time to face all the horrors of
widowhood, which only those who have experienced them can fairly
understand. For no words are adequate to describe the tempest-tossed
condition of a young woman who, having but lately left her paternal
home, and being inexperienced in business, is suddenly racked by an
overwhelming sorrow, and compelled to support a load of care too great
for her age and sex. For she has to correct the laziness of servants,
and to be on the watch for their rogueries, to repel the designs of
relations, to bear bravely the threats of those who collect the public
taxes, and harshness in the imposition of rates. And if the departed
one should have left a child, even if it be a girl, great anxiety will
be caused to the mother, although free from much expense and fear: but
a boy fills her with ten thousand alarms and many anxieties every day,
to say nothing of the great expense which one is compelled to incur if
she wishes to bring him up in a liberal way. None of these things,
however, induced me to enter into a second marriage, or introduce a
second husband into thy father's house: but I held on as I was, in
the midst of the storm and uproar, and did not shun the iron furnace of
widowhood. My foremost help indeed was the grace from above; but it
was no small consolation to me under those I terrible trials to look
continually on thy face and to preserve in thee a living image of him
who had gone, an image indeed which was a fairly exact likeness.
On this account, even when thou wast an infant, and hadst not yet
learned to speak, a time when children are the greatest delight to
their parents, thou didst afford me much comfort. Nor indeed can you
complain that, although I bore my widowhood bravely, I diminished
thy patrimony, which I know has been the fate of many who have had the
misfortune to be orphans. For, besides keeping the whole of it
intact, I spared no expense which was needful to give you an honorable
position, spending for this purpose some of my own fortune, and of my
marriage dowry. Yet do not think that I say these things by way of
reproaching you; only in return for all these benefits I beg one
favor: do not plunge me into a second widowhood; nor revive the grief
which is now laid to rest: wait for my death: it may be in a little
while I shall depart. The young indeed look forward to a distant old
age; but we who have grown old have nothing but death to wait for.
When, then, you shall have committed my body to the ground, and
mingled my bones with thy father's, embark for a long voyage, and set
sail on any sea thou wilt: then there will be no one to hinder thee:
but as long as my life lasts, be content to live with me. Do not, I
pray you, oppose God in vain, involving me without cause, who have
done you no wrong, in these great calamities. For if you have any
reason to complain that I drag you into worldly cares, and force you
to attend to business, do not be restrained by any reverence for the
laws of nature, for training or custom, but fly from me as an enemy;
but if, on the contrary, I do everything to provide leisure for thy
journey through this life, let this bond at least if nothing else keep
thee by me. For couldst thou say that ten thousand loved thee, yet no
one will afford thee the enjoyment of so much liberty, seeing there is
no one who is equally anxious for thy welfare.
6. These words, and more, my mother spake to me, and I related
them to that noble youth. But he, so far from being disheartened by
these speeches, was the more urgent in making the same request as
before. Now while we were thus situated, he continually entreating,
and I refusing my assent, we were both of us disturbed by a report
suddenly reaching us that we were about to be advanced to the dignity of
the episcopate. As soon as I heard this rumor I was seized with
alarm and perplexity: with alarm lest I should be made captive against
my will, and perplexity, inquiring as I often did whence any such
idea concerning us could have entered the minds of these men; for
looking to myself I found nothing worthy of such an honor. But that
noble youth having come to me privately, and having conferred with me
about these things as if with one who was ignorant of the rumor, begged
that we might in this instance also as formerly shape our action and our
counsels the same way: for he would readily follow me whichever course
I might pursue, whether I attempted flight or submitted to be
captured.
Perceiving then his eagerness, and considering that I should inflict
a loss upon the whole body of the Church if, owing to my own
weakness, I were to deprive the flock of Christ of a young man who
was so good and so well qualified for the supervision of large numbers,
I abstained from disclosing to him the purpose which I had formed,
although I had never before allowed any of my plans to be concealed
from him. I now told him that it would be best to postpone our
decision concerning this matter to another season, as it was not
immediately pressing, and by so doing persuaded him to dismiss it from
his thoughts, and at the same time encouraged him to hope that, if
such a thing should ever happen to us, I should be of the same mind
with him. But after a short time, when one who was to ordain us
arrived, I kept myself concealed, but Basil, ignorant of this, was
taken away on another pretext, and made to take the yoke, hoping from
the promises which I had made to him that I should certainly follows
or rather supposing that he was following me. For some of those who
were present, seeing that he resented being seized, deceived him by
exclaiming how strange it was that one who was generally reputed to be
the more hot tempered (meaning me), had yielded very mildly to the
judgment of the Fathers, whereas he, who was reckoned a much wiser
and milder kind of man, had shown himself hotheaded and conceited,
being unruly, restive, and contradictory. Having yielded to these
remonstrances, and afterwards having learned that I had escaped
capture, he came to me in deep dejection, sat down near me and tried
to speak, but was hindered by distress of mind and inability to express
in words the violence to which he had been subjected. No sooner had he
opened his mouth than he was prevented from utterance by grief cutting
short his words before they could pass his lips. Seeing, then, his
tearful and agitated condition, and knowing as I did the cause, I
laughed for joy, and, seizing his right hand, I forced a kiss on
him, and praised God that my plan had ended so successfully, as I
had always prayed it might. But when he saw that I was delighted and
beaming with joy, and understood that he had been deceived by me, he
was yet more vexed and distressed.
7. And when he had a little recovered from this agitation of mind,
he began: If you have rejected the part allotted to you, and have no
further regard for me (I know not indeed for what cause), you ought
at least to consider your own reputation; but as it is you have opened
the mouths of all, and the world is saying that you have declined this
ministry through love of vainglory, and there is no one who will
deliver you from this accusation. As for me, I cannot bear to go
into the market place; there are so many who come up to me and reproach
me every day. For, when they see me anywhere in the city, all my
intimate friends take me aside, and cast the greater part of the blame
upon me. Knowing his intention, they say, for none of his affairs
could be kept secret from you, you should not have concealed it, but
ought to have communicated it to us, and we should have been at no loss
to devise some plan for capturing him. But I am too much ashamed and
abashed to tell them that I did not know you had long been plotting
this trick, lest they should say that our friendship was a mere
pretence. For even if it is so, as indeed it is--nor would you
yourself deny it after what you have done to me--yet it is well to
hide our misfortune from the outside world, and persons who entertain
but a moderate opinion of us. I shrink from telling them the truth,
and how things really stand with us, and I am compelled in future to
keep silence, and look down on the ground, and turn away to avoid
those whom I meet. For if I escape the condemnation on the former
charge, I am forced to undergo judgment for speaking falsehood. For
they will never believe me when I say that you ranged Basil amongst
those who are not permitted to know your secret affairs. Of this,
however, I will not take much account, since it has seemed agreeable
to you, but how shall we endure the future disgrace? for some accuse
you of arrogance, others of vainglory: while those who are our more
merciful accusers, lay both these offences to our charge, and add that
we have insulted those who did us honor, although had they experienced
even greater indignity it would only have served them right for passing
over so many and such distinguished men and advancing mere youths, who
were but yesterday immersed in the interests of this world, to such a
dignity as they never have dreamed of obtaining, in order that they may
for a brief season knit the eyebrows, wear dusky garments, and put on
a grave face. Those who from the dawn of manhood to extreme old age
have diligently practised self-discipline, are now to be placed under
the government of youths who have not even heard the laws which should
regulate their administration of this office. I am perpetually
assailed by persons who say such things and worse, and am at a loss how
to reply to them; but I pray you tell me: for I do not suppose that
you took to flight and incurred such hatred from such distinguished men
without cause or consideration, but that your decision was made with
reasoning and circumspection: whence also I conjecture that you have
some argument ready for your defence. Tell me, then, whether there
is any fair excuse which I can make to those who accuse us.
For I do not demand any account for the wrongs which I have sustained
at your hands, nor for the deceit or treachery you have practised, nor
for the advantage which you have derived from me in the past. For I
placed my very life, so to say, in your hands, yet you have treated
me with as much guile as if it had been your business to guard yourself
against an enemy. Yet if you knew this decision of ours to be
profitable, you ought not to have avoided the gain: if on the contrary
injurious, you should have saved me also from the loss, as you always
said that you esteemed me before every one else. But you have done
everything to make me fall into the snare: and you had no need of guile
and hypocrisy in dealing with one who was wont to display the utmost
sincerity and candor in speech and action towards thee. Nevertheless,
as I said, I do not now accuse you of any of these things, or
reproach you for the lonely position in which you have placed me by
breaking off those conferences from which we often derived no small
pleasure and profit; but all these things I pass by, and bear in
silence and meekness, not that thou hast acted meekly in transgressing
against me, but because from the day that I cherished thy friendship
I laid it down as a rule for myself, that whatever sorrow you might
cause me I would never force you to the necessity of an apology. For
you know yourself that you have inflicted no small loss on me if at
least you remember what we were always saying ourselves, and the
outside world also said concerning us, that it was a great gain for us
to be of one mind and be guarded by each other's friendship. Every
one said, indeed, that our concord would bring no small advantage to
many besides ourselves; I never perceived, however, so far as I am
concerned, how it could be of advantage to others: but I did say that
we should at least derive this benefit from it: that those who wished
to contend with us would find us difficult to master. And I never
ceased reminding you of these things: saying the age is a cruel one,
and designing men are many, genuine love is no more, and the deadly
pest of envy has crept into its place: we walk in the midst of snares,
and on the edge of battlements; those who are ready to rejoice in our
misfortunes, if any should befall us, are many and beset us from many
quarters: whereas there is no one to condole with us, or at least the
number of such may be easily counted. Beware that we do not by
separation incur much ridicule, and damage worse than ridicule.
Brother aided by brother is like a strong city, and well fortified
kingdom. Do not dissolve this genuine intimacy, nor break down the
fortress. Such things and more I was continually saying, not indeed
that I ever suspected anything of this kind, but supposing you to be
entirely sound in your relation towards me, I did it as a superfluous
precaution, wishing to preserve in health one who was already sound;
but unwittingly, as it seems, I was administering medicines to a sick
man: and even so I have not been fortunate enough to do any good, and
have gained nothing by my excess of forethought. For having totally
cast away all these considerations, without giving them a thought, you
have turned me adrift like an unballasted vessel on an untried ocean,
taking no heed of those fierce billows which I must encounter. For if
it should ever be my lot to undergo calumny, or mockery, or any other
kind of insult or menace (and such things must frequently occur), to
whom shall I fly for refuge: to whom shall I impart my distress, who
will be willing to succour me and drive back my assailants and put a
stop to their assaults? who will solace me and prepare me to bear the
coarse ribaldry which may yet be in store for me. There is no one
since you stand aloof from this terrible strife, and cannot even hear
my cry. Seest thou then what mischief thou hast wrought? now that
thou hast dealt the blow, dost thou perceive what a deadly wound thou
hast inflicted? But let all this pass: for it is impossible to undo
the past, or to find a path through pathless difficulties. What shall
I say to the outside world? what defence shall I make to their
accusations.
8. CHRYSOSTOM: Be of good cheer, I replied, for I am
not only ready to answer for myself in these matters, but I will also
endeavor as well as I am able to render an account of those for which
you have not held me answerable. Indeed, if you wish it, I will
make them the starting-point of my defence. For it would be a strange
piece of stupidity on my part if, thinking only of praise from the
outside public, and doing my best to silence their accusations, I
were unable to convince my dearest of all friends that I am not
wronging him, and were to treat him with indifference greater than the
zeal which he has displayed on my behalf, treating me with such
forbearance as even to refrain from accusing me of the wrongs which he
says he has suffered from me, and putting his own interests out of the
question in consideration for mine.
What is the wrong that I have done thee, since I have determined to
embark from this point upon the sea of apology? Is it that I misled
you and concealed my purpose? Yet I did it for the benefit of thyself
who wast deceived, and of those to whom I surrendered you by means of
this deceit. For if the evil of deception is absolute, and it is
never right to make use of it, I am prepared to pay any penalty you
please: or rather, as you will never endure to inflict punishment upon
me, I shall subject myself to the same condemnation which is
pronounced by judges on evil-doers when their accusers have convicted
them. But if the thing is not always harmful, but becomes good or bad
according to the intention of those who practise it, you must desist
from complaining of deceit, and prove that it has been devised against
you for a bad purpose; and as long as this proof is wanting it would
only be fair for those who wish to conduct themselves prudently, not
only to abstain from reproaches and accusation, but even to give a
friendly reception to the deceiver. For a well-timed deception,
undertaken with an upright intention, has such advantages, that many
persons have often had to undergo punishment for abstaining from fraud.
And if you investigate the history of generals who have enjoyed the
highest reputation from the earliest ages, you will find that most of
their triumphs were achieved by stratagem, and that such are more
highly commended than those who conquer in open fight. For the latter
conduct their campaigns with greater expenditure of money and men, so
that they gain nothing by the victory, but suffer just as much distress
as those who have been defeated, both in the sacrifice of troops and
the exhaustion of funds. But, besides this, they are not even
permitted to enjoy all the glory which pertains to the victory; for no
small part of it is reaped by those who have fallen, because in spirit
they were victorious, their defeat was only a bodily one: so that had
it been possible for them not to fall when they were wounded, and death
had not come and put the finishing stroke to their labors, there would
have been no end of their prowess. But one who has been able to gain
the victory by stratagem involves the enemy in ridicule as well as
disaster.
Again, in the other case both sides equally carry off the honors
bestowed upon valor, whereas in this case they do not equally obtain
those which are bestowed on wisdom, but the prize falls entirely to the
victors, and, another point no less important is that they preserve
the joy of the victory for the state unalloyed; for abundance of
resources and multitudes of men are not like mental powers: the former
indeed if continually used in war necessarily become exhausted, and
fail those who possess them, whereas it is the nature of wisdom to
increase the more it is exercised. And not in war only, but also in
peace the need of deceit may be found, not merely in reference to the
affairs of the state, but also in private life, in the dealings of
husband with wife and wife with husband, son with father, friend with
friend, and also children with a parent. For the daughter of Saul
would not have been able to rescue her husband out of Saul's hands'
except by deceiving her father. And her brother, wish-bag to save
him whom she had rescued when he was again in danger, made use of the
same weapon as the wife?
BASIL: But none of these cases apply to me: for I am not an
enemy, nor one of those who are striving to injure thee, but quite the
contrary. For I entrusted all my interests to your judgment, and
always followed it whenever you bid me.
CHRYSOSTOM: But, my admirable and excellent Sir, this is
the very reason why I took the precaution of saying that it was a good
thing to employ this kind of deceit, not only in war, and in dealing
with enemies, but also in peace, and in dealing with our dearest
friends. For as a proof that it is beneficial not only to the
deceivers, but also to those who are deceived; if you go to any of the
physicians and ask them how they relieve their patients from disease,
they will tell you that they do not depend upon their professional skill
alone, but sometimes conduct the sick to health by availing themselves
of deceit, and blending the assistance which they derive from it with
their art. For when the waywardness of the patient and the obstinacy
of the complaint baffle the counsels of the physicians, it is then
necessary to put on the mask of deceit in order that, as on the stage,
they may be able to hide what really takes place. But, if you
please, I will relate to you one instance of stratagem out of many
which I have heard of being contrived by the sons of the healing art.
A man was once suddenly attacked by a fever of great severity; the
burning heat increased, and the patient rejected the remedies which
could have reduced it and craved for a draught of pure wine,
passionately entreating all who approached to give it him and enable him
to satiate this deadly craving--I say deadly, for if any one had
gratified this request he would not only have exasperated the fever,
but also have driven the unhappy man frantic. Thereupon, professional
skill being baffled, and at the end of its resources and utterly thrown
away, stratagem stepped in and displayed its power in the way which I
will now relate. For the physician took an earthen cup brought
straight out of the furnace, and having steeped it in wine, then drew
it out empty, filled it with water, and, having ordered the chamber
where the sick man lay to be darkened with curtains that the light might
not reveal the trick, he gave it him to drink, pretending that it was
filled with undiluted wine. And the man, before he had taken it in
his hands, being deceived by the smell, did not wait to examine what
was given him, but convinced by the odor, and deceived by the
darkness, eagerly gulped down the draught, and being satiated with it
immediately shook off the feeling of suffocation and escaped the
imminent peril. Do you see the advantage of deceit? And if any one
were to reckon up all the tricks of physicians the list would run on to
an indefinite length. And not only those who heal the body but those
also who attend [to the diseases of the soul may be found continually
making use of this remedy. Thus the blessed Paul attracted those
multitudes of Jews: with this purpose he circumcised Timothy,
although he warned the Galatians in his letter that Christ would not
profit those who were circumcised. For this cause he submitted to the
law, although he reckoned the righteousness which came from the law but
loss after receiving the faith in Christ. For great is the value of
deceit, provided it be not introduced with a mischievous intention.
In fact action of this kind ought not to be called deceit, but rather
a kind of good management, cleverness and skill, capable of finding
out ways where resources fail, and making up for the defects of the
mind. For I would not call Phinees a murderer, although he slew two
human beings with one stroke: nor yet Elias after the slaughter of the
100 soldiers, and the captain, and the torrents of blood which he
caused to be shed by the destruction of those who sacrificed to devils.
For if we were to concede this, and to examine the bare deeds in
themselves apart from the intention of the doers, one might if he
pleased judge Abraham guilty of child-murder and accuse his grandson
and descendant of wickedness and guile. For the one got possession of
the birthright, and the other transferred the wealth of the Egyptians
to the host of the Israelites. But this is not the case: away with
the audacious thought! For we not only acquit them of blame, but also
admire them because of these things, since even God commended them for
the same. For that man would fairly deserve to be called a deceiver
who made an unrighteous use of the practice, not one who did so with a
salutary purpose. And often it is necessary to deceive, and to do the
greatest benefits by means of this device, whereas he who has gone by a
straight course has done great mischief to the person whom he has not
deceived.
|
|