Gregory Nazianzen, "Julian the Emperor" (1888). Oration 4: First Invective Against Julian.
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
1. "HEAR me all ye nations, give ear unto me all ye dwellers upon earth," for I am calling on you all, as it were, from a conspicuous and lofty watch-tower, with a cry both high and loud. Hear ye nations, tribes, tongues, every kind of men, and every age, as many as now are, and as many as shall be; and in order that my proclamation may be greater, every Power of heaven, all ye Angels, whose deed was the putting down of the tyrant, who have overthrown not Sihon, king of the Amorites, nor Og, king of Bashan----insignificant princes, and injuring but a small part the land of Israel----but the Dragon, the Apostate, the Great Mind, the Assyrian, the public and private enemy of all in common, him that has madly raged and threatened much upon earth, and that has spoken and meditated much unrighteousness against Heaven!
2. "Hear, O heaven! and give ear, O earth;" for it is the fitting season for me to exclaim the same things with that loudest-voiced of all the prophets, Isaiah; save that he calls out and testifies thus to disobedient Israel; but I, over a tyrant who also was disobedient, and has fallen a fitting victim of his own impiety.
3. Hear this, thou Soul of the great Constantius!----if thou art sensible of things below,----and ye souls of all the |2 emperors before him that were lovers of Christ; but of him (Constantius) above all the rest, inasmuch as he had grown up together with the inheritance of Christ, had augmented it to the utmost of his power, had made it strong through duration, so that he became on that account the most celebrated of all the sovereigns that had gone before. Alas for the contumely done him! He committed a mistake highly unworthy of his hereditary piety; he perceived not that he was bringing up for the Christians the enemy of Christ, and this one alone of all he did not well in showing kindness, &c., in saving and crowning him that was saved and was crowned for evil. And very greatly will he rejoice, as much at the overthrow of impiety and the restoration of the affairs of the Christians to their first condition, as at this speech of mine: for I am about to offer unto the Lord a sermon of thanksgiving----one more holy and more pure than any sacrifice of heart; not after the fashion of that man's criminal and idle speeches, and his yet more criminal sacrifices, of which the superfluity and the effect was the power of impiety, and the wisdom, to give it the right name, foolishness: because all the power and learning of this world is but "walking in darkness, and falling away far from the light;" but that of his was of such sort, lying in such things, and bearing such fruits, that it was "like grass quickly withered up, and as the herbs of grass quickly falling off," and clinging unto rocks tumbling down in ruin with a crash, and more conspicuous for its fall than even for its impiety.
4. But as to me, sacrificing the sacrifice of praise to-day, and kindling the bloodless offering of words, who will furnish me with a stage commensurate with my thankfulness; or what tongue will sound it forth to such a distance as I desire; what audience will be equally eager |3 with my speech? For not merely are thanksgivings in words most suitable unto that "Word," Who, of all the names whereby He is called, especially delights in this appellation, and in such a sense of the title, but also a fitting judgment is it for that man to be punished by means of words for his transgressions against words , which, though the common property of all rational beings, he begrudged to the Christians, as though they were his own exclusively; devising as he did a most irrational thing with respect to words; although, in his own opinion, the most rational of men.
5. In the first place, because he wrongfully transferred the appellation to a pretence, as though the Greek speech belonged to religious worship exclusively, and not to the tongue; and for this reason he debarred us from the use of words as though we were stealing other people's goods----just as if he would have excluded us from the practice of the arts that are found in use amongst Greeks, and thought it made any difference to him on account of the identity of name ; and in the next place, because he fancied he should escape our notice, not in his attempt to rob us of a benefit of the first class----we who so utterly despise these mere words----but in his apprehensions of our refutation of his impious doctrine, just as though our force lay in the elegance of diction, and not in the knowledge of the truth, and in arguments or syllogisms, from which it is more impossible to preclude us than to hinder us from acknowledging God as long as we have a tongue. For we offer in sacrifice this thing along with the rest, that is to say, our speech, in the same way as we do our bodies, |4 whensoever it may be necessary to contend for the Truth's sake: so that when he issued this order, he did indeed prevent us from talking Celtic, but did not stop our speaking Truth, and he exposed his own rottenness, but did not escape our refutations; because he did not perceive that he was laying himself so much the more open to them.
6. For it was not acting like one who had full confidence in the grounds of his religion, or in the arguments themselves, to put a check upon our words: exactly as though a man should consider himself the best of the athletes, and demand to be proclaimed victor over them all, through ordering that none of those distinguished in that line should take part in the contest, or descend into the arena; or else should first maim his competitors in some limbs, which conduct would be a proof of cowardice and not of strength, for the crowns belong to those that contend, not to those that sit above, and to those that put forth the whole of their strength, not to those that have been deprived of part of their force; but if thou art altogether afraid to engage and to come to blows, by this very fact thou hast proclaimed thy defeat, and the victory belongs to me, though I have not contended at all, and he whom thou hast contended with should not contend. Thus then acted our wise Sovereign and Lawgiver, as though wishing that nothing should be beyond the scope of his tyranny, and enjoined speechlessness over all the extent of his empire, exerting his tyranny over words first and foremost. But it is well-fitting for us to return thanks to God in behalf of words themselves, which have now recovered their liberty; and especially to honour Him with other offerings, sparing nothing, neither money nor estates, which though at the mercy of the times, and of his tyranny, the goodness of God hath preserved to us: and before all other things to honour Him with words---- that well-deserved and united return of all whosoever have had their share in the benefit. But thus much suffices for my words concerning Words: for fear lest by stretching the |5 theme too far we exceed the limits of our time, and be thought to attend to other matters than the one on account of which we are here met together.
7. Already does my speech leap, and exult; and grows iovous along with those who hasten onward, and summons unto the spiritual dance all who were giving themselves over to fastings, to weeping, and to prayer; by day and night beseeching for deliverance out of the troubles that beset them; and making their fitting remedy in their ills that "Hope which bringeth no shame;" all who, having gone through great conflicts and struggles, and been beaten by the many and hard assaults of the times, have become "a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men," according to the saying of the Apostle, and though wearied in their bodies, yet continuing unconquered in their souls, being strong for everything in the Christ who gave them strength; all who, having put off the worldly Matter and dominion of Evil, or who have submitted with joy to the robbery of their possessions, or banished unjustly, as the saying is, from their own country, severed, for a brief space, from husbands, or wives, or parents, or children, or by whatever other names of kindred less close we are bound; and who, for the blood of Christ, have despised their sufferings for the sake of Christ----all these may now seasonably repeat, and sing the words: "Thou hadst set men upon our heads, we passed through fire and water, and thou didst lead us forth into a cool place."
8. I also summon the other side to the rejoicing, as many as while they acknowledge the God of all, and so far are sound in their doctrines, but yet stick fast in their questions touching Providence, and out of the opposite have often chosen the better part, "through the goodness that exhorteth unto reformation"----but who nevertheless, |6 through their meanness of spirit, and their levity, in the "proudness of the ungodly," are kindled and set on fire, neither do bear "the peace of sinners," as the Psalm says, "nor endure the counsel of God, neither do they wait patiently unto the end," being ever slaves of things present, and of things visible, by wonders like these are made strong for the reception of truth.
9. I call also to the souls that stand amazed around the scene and great theatre of this world, and I call unto them in the words of Isaiah: "Ye women returning from the show, come hither, and turn towards me the eye of the soul from its wandering abroad, and wait and know that this is the God, exalting Himself amongst the heathen, exalting Himself in the great things that He hath done, in signs, and in the things now done yet more manifestly."
10. Would that part of our choir were that company which of old chanted together with us a hymn to God, one neither feigned nor inglorious, but deemed worthy once of a place at His Eight Hand, and which I am confident, shall be again (after a little time) thought worthy of that same place: but which at present, from I know not what offence, stands aloof, and revolts from us, and does not even (what more astonishes me) through the influence of the common joy, come to meet together with us, but is holding a festive dance on its own account----one that is neither good in measure, nor danced to tune (for thus much, perhaps, even they themselves will allow me to remark)----but of what kind, and what a dance!! But if Zeal is moved to speak, yet Faith gets the upper hand, and I shall check the harshness of my speech out of respect for my hope. Still do I cherish my own members: still do I concede more to old love than to present jealousy, and for that reason I become too long-suffering than that I should upbraid them in warmer terms. |7
11. One party, one kind of souls, do I exclude from the festive assembly, though I groan and am pained, and grieved for them who perhaps understand me not, neither are sensible of their own ruin, whom I bewail (for this is the most pitiable part of their affliction): nevertheless I exclude by proclamation, all who have not been sown upon the solid and immovable Rock, but upon the dry and barren ground. These be they who having come unto the Word superficially, and through not having depth of earth, forthwith springing up and peeping forth, upon a brief assault of the Evil One, and a slight blast of persecution, have withered up and died away. And those yet worse than they, and still more worthy of exclusion from the festivity----all those who did not for even a little space hold out against the times and against those who were leading us into an evil captivity away from Him "Who ascended up on high and made captives of us for our good;" but these did superfluously show themselves good for nought, and mercenary, inasmuch as they did not resist even for a little while, but were straggling plants, though not even a slight affliction or trial had befallen them on account of the Word; but for the sake of temporary gain, or court-favour, or brief power, these wretched fellows bartered away their own salvation!
12. And now that we have purified by speech the entire body of our choir, let us sanctify ourselves both in body and in soul, and joining all together in one spirit, let us chant the song of triumph which Israel sang of old over the Egyptians overwhelmed in the Red Sea, while Miriam led the choir, and brandished high her timbrel. "Let us sing unto the Lord, for He hath glorified Himself marvellously, the horse and the rider He hath cast" (not into the sea, for this part of the song I alter, but) "whither it was pleasing to Him, and in what way He thought it fit; the God that doeth and changeth all things" (as saith |8 somewhere in his prophecy, Amos, most divinely philosophizing). "He that turneth into mourning the shadow of death, and that darkeneth the day into night," and Who, as it were, by means of a certain revolution, directs and corrects the whole world, as well as our affairs, whether tempest-tossed or not tempest-tossed, shaken and upset by its changes, and subject to constant vicissitudes, though by the ordering of His Providence they be fixed and not to be shaken, even though they move through contrary courses----ways that be clear unto the Word, although unknown to us. "He that putteth down the mighty from their thrones, and adorneth with a crown him that expected it not" (for this, too, I borrow from Holy Scripture). "Who clotheth the feeble knees with strength, and breaketh the arms of the sinner and the wicked" (this is from another song, just as each occurs to my recollection, there being many ready to complete my hymn, and to contribute their part to my song of thanksgiving). "He that giveth to be seen of the ungodly both the exaltation above the cedars, and the plucking down into being no more; when we may be able with safety and swiftness of foot to escape from the ungodliness of the same."
13. Who shall sing these things as they deserve, and relate them amongst those who relate things divine? "Who shall tell the mighty works of the Lord, shall make to be heard all his praises?" What voice or what force of speech shall he find equal to the miracle? Who hath broken the shield, the sword, and the battle? Who hath bruised the heads of the dragon upon the waters, and given him for food unto the nations to whom Thou hast delivered him up? Who hath stilled the whirlwind into a breeze? Who hath said unto the sea, Be thou silent, be thou muzzled, and thy waves shall break themselves within thee? He Who hath crushed him that was lifted up and boiled furiously, but not for long. Who hath given us to walk upon serpents and scorpions, no longer lying secretly in wait for the heel of the passer-by (as |9 their sentence directed), but publicly rising up and lifting on high the head that they were condemned to have trampled under foot? Who is He that hath made an unexpected condemnation an acquittal? Who is He that hath not completely "suffered the rod of sinners" (shall I venture to say) "in the lot of the righteous" (or, what is more modest than this expression) in the lot of those that know Him?
14. For it was not as righteous that we were delivered up to Him (for this is what few men, on few occasions, have experienced in order that they, like noble athletes, may put to shame him that tries their strength, but as offenders who have been condemned, and afterwards pardoned out of His fatherly compassion; having been beaten only that we may be reformed, and admonished in order that we may turn unto Him. "For He hath tried us, yet not in wrath; He hath chastised us, but not in anger:" having manifested his loving-kindness through both things ----his admonition, and his remission. "Who is he that hath wrought vengeance among the heathen, rebukes amongst the nations?" "Even the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle."
15. I find but one voice, one song in any way worthy of the present occasion----that which Isaiah hath shouted out before us, exactly suited to the present times, and vying with the magnitude of the blessing: "Let the heavens above rejoice, and let the clouds drop down righteousness; let the mountains break forth into joy, and let the little hills exult" inasmuch as the whole creation and the heavenly powers, such, at least, is my opinion, take an equal interest in these events. For not only does the "whole creation groan with us and is in the pangs of labour, being made subject to corruption" (I mean to things below that are born and perish) "expecting the end of these things and the revelation," in order that itself may then obtain the hoped-for deliverance, as being bound fast to them against its will through the |10 power of Him that created it; but it also joins in glorifying Him, and exults together with the sons of God when they do rejoice.
16. For this cause I will not refrain from sacred expressions when I am telling of Divine Power. "Let the desert rejoice, and let her blossom like the lily" (that is, the Church, which but yesterday seemed a widow, and husbandless, as well as everyone that was withered up by the envious and joyless winter of ungodliness), "because the Lord hath had compassion upon His people, neither hath He abandoned His own inheritance:" because He hath done marvellous things, and His ancient, true counsel, the which was to be favourable towards them that fear Him and that hope in His mercy, forasmuch as He hath broken down the gates of brass, and smitten asunder the bars of iron; because we have been humbled for our transgressions, and the snare has been broken, and we are set free, in the joy of the God that hath called us, and who comforts the lowly in heart."
17. Do ye mark how I weave my song out of sacred words and thoughts? and, as it were, with what belongs to others, I exalt and decorate myself, how I grow inspired by my joy? I spurn everything humble and human, cementing together and joining one thing with another, and bringing into one whole what belongs to the same spirit.
18. Aforetime the wonderful works of God were shown forth in Enoch translated, Isaiah caught up, Noah himself saved, and saving the names of races; the whole world in a small bark escaping the deluge of the inhabitable land, in order that the earth might be adorned with more godly inhabitants; Abraham called, and honoured with a son in spite of his age, as a pledge of another promised Seed, |11 and offering up his only begotten son a willing sacrifice, and receiving a miraculous victim instead of that son; the miraculous destruction of the wicked overwhelmed with fire and brimstone; the yet more miraculous deliverance; the Pillar of Salt that proclaimed the turning back again to sin; Joseph sold into slavery, fallen in love with, preserving his chastity, and receiving wisdom from God, and set free, and made a ruler, and dispensing corn in a higher stewardship; Moses thought worthy of talking with God and admonished, and making laws, and becoming a god unto Pharaoh, and leading forth Israel into the Land of Promise; the plagues of the destroyed Egyptians, and the preservation of the Israelites, who laboured in the midst of these Egyptians; and the Sea retiring before the rod, and giving heed unto a word, and letting some pass along as on dry land, whilst others, according to its proper nature, it overwhelmed.
19. And whatever other miracles came after these: the Pillar of Cloud giving shadow by day, the Pillar of Fire giving light by night, and both of them leading the way; the Bread rained down in the wilderness; the Meat sent down from heaven----the former proportioned to their need, the latter even above their need; the Water from the Rock----the one gushing forth, the other rendered sweet; Amalek overcome in battle, and that too by the ineffable and mystical gesture of the hands; the Sun standing still and the Moon stayed, and Jordan cut in twain; and the walls shaken down by the walking round them of the priests and the sounding of trumpets, and by the number that hath power; the Earth and the Fleece of Wool alternately wetted and unmoistened; Strength residing in the hair----a match for a whole army; the few chosen by Lapping of Water, and trusting to conquer, and conquering according to their trust, that small number |12 those many thousands. What need is there for me to reckon up one by one everything that was done through Christ Himself during His saving presence and dwelling in the flesh? And all the miracles that have been wrought after Him and through Him, by His holy Apostles and ministers of the Word? How many books and monuments tell their history!
20. But as for the present matter in truth, come hither and hearken, and I will tell unto you, in order that the generation that now is, and those that come after, may understand the wonders of the power of the Lord----since it is not possible to set them forth without first laying before you the greatness of the danger that threatened us. And this cannot be done without our showing up the badness of that disposition, and from what principles and seeds of wickedness it ran off into this unhappiness, storing up its venom little by little, till it exceeded all the most spiteful of reptiles and wild beasts. To tell the tragic tale of all his actions we shall leave to books and to the charge of history; for we at least have not leisure to rehearse them beyond the limits of our present purpose; but by enumerating a few instances out of many we will leave to those that come after, as it were a published bill of indictment against him, having collected therein the most weighty of our charges.
21. First and foremost then, this man having been saved by the great Constantius, immediately on his succession to his father, at what time the army rose against those in power (making a revolution through their apprehension of revolution), and settled the government under new sovereigns; being saved together with his brother (a preservation beyond belief and all expectation), he neither felt |13 gratitude to God for his escape nor to the emperor through whose means he had been preserved, but showed himself wicked towards both, by conceiving apostacy from the one and rebellion against the other.
22. But to come to what is necessary for me to state in the beginning----they were honoured with a princely maintenance and education in one of the royal castles, being treasured up for imperial power by this most humane emperor, as the sole relics of his family: who thus, at the same time, made his excuse for the revolution that had taken place upon his accession on the plea that it had been audaciously done and not with his consent; and equally seeking to display his own magnanimity by the sharing of the empire with them; and thirdly, to establish his power on more solid foundations by means of these props----a thing that showed he planned more humanely than wisely.
23. Whilst they were here enjoying complete leisure, imperial rank being still in the future, and being prepared for them, whilst their age and expectations did not yet exalt them to the secondary dignity; they had masters in all branches of learning, their uncle and sovereign causing them to be instructed in the complete and regular course of education; they studied also, and still more extensively, |14 our own kind of philosophy, that which deals not with words alone, but which conveys piety by means of moral training: living in intercourse with the most excellent of men, and in the exercise of the most pleasant of occupations, and which offers a great field for the display of virtue: for both brothers offered and enrolled themselves amongst the clergy; reading aloud the sacred books to the people, thinking that this tended not a little to their glory, and that piety was a greater decoration than all things else.