Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on Ecclesiastes An English Version with Supporting Studies. Proceedings of the Seventh International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa (St Andrews, 5-10 September 1990)

225 Pages·1993·103.38 MB·English

by  Hall, Stuart G. (ed.)

Gregory of Nyssa
Homilies on Ecclesiastes
An English Version with Supporting Studies
Proceedings of the Seventh International Colloquium
on Gregory of Nyssa
(St Andrews,S -10 September 1990)
Edited by
Stuart George Hall
Walter de Gruyter . Berlin· New York
1993
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ILf15
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[1l0
@ Printed on acid-free paper which falls Preface
within the guidelines of the ANSI to ensure
permanence and durability.
Those who took part in the happy meeting at St Andrews of the Seventh
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa followed their predecessors
in taking material from the critical edition of Gregorii Nysselli Opera and
International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa (7th: 1990: Saint studying it. Here the reader will find their achievement. We present an
Andrews, Scotland)
English version of Gregory's eight homilies, to which are added analytical
Gregory of Nyssa : Homilies on Ecclesiastes : an English
version with supporting studies : proceedings of the Seventh chapter-headings and a bible text reconstructed from Gregory's own
International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa (St. Andrews. quotations and interpretations. The translation is preceded by an Introduc
5 -10 September 1990) / edited by Stuart George Hall.
tion in which the translators explain their procedures, and express their
p. cm.
English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, with summa debt to other members of the Colloquium in improving and correcting
ries in English. their work. The translation is followed by studies expounding particular
ISBN 3-11-013586-8 (all<. paper)
homilies or themes within them. Finally we present a number of wider
1. Bible. O. T. Ecclesiastes - Sermons - Congresses. 2. Ser
mons, Greek - Translations into English - Early works studies of Gregory's thought and on the interpretation of Ecclesiastes
to 1800 - Congresses. 3. Sermons, Greek - History and among the ancients, concluding with a bibliographical article.
criticism - Congresses. 4. Gregory, of Nyssa, Saint, ca. 335-
We must acknowledge our debts and express thanks. First come the
ca. 394 - Congresses. I. Hall, Stuart George. II. Gregory, of
Nyssa, Saint, ca. 335 - ca. 394. In Ecclesiasten homiliae. Eng Colleges which sponsored the Colloquium. King's College London not
lish. 1993. III. Title. only provided the base for the practical preparations and allowed me leave
BS1475.168 1990
to make preparatory studies, but also made grants of money towards the
223' .807 - dc20
expenses of the Colloquium and especially the costs of participants from
King's College. St Mary's College at St Andrews not only gave the
Die Del/tsche Bibliothek - Catalogillg ill Publicatioll Data
Colloquium an agreeable and historic environment, but through the good
J.
offices of Dr S. Alexander and colleagues in the Faculty of Theology
Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on ecclesiastes : an English version took great pains to see us comfortably provided for. The Colloquium is
with supporting studies; proceedings of the Seventh International
also greatly indebted to the Bristish Academy, which provided funds to
Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa (St. Andrews, 5 -10 September
1990) I ed. by Stuart George Hall. - Berlin; New York: de enable scholars to travel from overseas. I personally must acknowledge
G ru yter, 1993 the help of Dr H. v. Bassi and his colleagues at Walter de Gruyter's for
ISBN 3-11-013586-8
their kindness and patience while this book has been over-long in prepara
NE: Hall, Stuart George [Hrsg.]; International Colloquium on
Gregory of Nyssa (07, 1990, Saint Andrews); Gregorius (Nys tion, and to my wife Brenda Hall for constant assistance, both in preparing
senus): Homilies on ecclesiastes and organizing the meeting of the Colloquium and in the typing and
editing of these Proceedings for publication.
Stuart George Hall 15 January 1993
© Copyright 1993 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., D-1000 Berlin 30.
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
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Editor's note to the reader Contents
V
I ask the tolerant indulgence of readers and contributors for inconsistencies Preface.
of presentation. We made some attempt to make references consistent VII
Contents
throughout the book, but were obliged to give up. Each contributor is,
we believe, self-consistent and clear, and scholarship will not be greatly
impeded if some use Roman numerals where others use Arabic.
I INTRODUCTION
All abbreviations, unless otherwise indicated, follow Siegfried M.
Schwertner, Internationales Abkurzungsverzeichnis fur Theologie und Stllart George Hall
Grenzgebiete, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 21992 (= IATG2). Most of these 1 Adjustments to the text of Gregory . ... . . .. . . . . ... . . 1
abbreviations are accessible in IATGl (1974) as published with the Tbeo Raebe! Moriar!)!
logisebe RealelliJ!klopadie. 2 Translating the Homilies . ...... . .. .... ..... . ... . 13
II TRANSLATION
3 Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa: Homilies on Ecclesiastes ...... 31
Translation by Stllart George Hall and Raebel Moriar!)!
III STUDIES OF THE HOMILIES
AlltbolD! J\lIereditb SJ
4 Homily I . . .. .. . . . ...... . . ... . ..... 145
Ekkehard J\!Iiih/ellberg
5 Homilie II. Ecclesiastes 1,12-2,3 .. ....... . ... . .. .. 159
A dolf Martill Ritter
6 An Introduction to Homily III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
LiolJel fFiekhalll
7 Homily IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Maria Jlif.ereedes Bergado
8 La condemnation de l'esclavage dans I'Homelie IV .. . 185
ROllald E. Heille
I
9 Exegesis and Theology in Gregory of Nyssa's Fifth Homily on
Ecclesiastes . . . . . . 197
HelJriette .M. llifeisslJer
10 Grammatik und Rhetorik In Gregors von Nyssa Exegese des
Buches Prediger. Beobachtungen zur funften Homilie . . . . . . 223
VIII Contents
Aidell A . Mosshal//1/Ier
11 Time for All and a Moment for Each. The Sixth Homily of I INTRODUCTION
Gregory of Nyssa on Ecclesiastes 249
Lucas F klateo Seeo 1
12 Consideraciones en tomo a la muerte en las Homilias al Eclesias-
tes de Gregorio de Nisa ... .. . .. . ... ............ 277 Adjustments to the text of Gregory
Theo Kobtlseh
13 Zeit und Grenze. Zur Kritik des Gregor von Nyssa an der Stuart George Hall
Einseitigkeit der Naturphilosophie . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Everett Fergllsoll
14 Some Aspects of Gregory of Nyssa's Moral Theology in the The origin and circumstances of Gregory's eight Homilies on
Homilies on Ecclesiastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 Ecclesiastes must be deduced from what he writes. Internal evidence
Salldro Leallza makes it clear that they are addressed to an ecclesial congregation
15 Le Omelie di Gregorio di Nissa e l'interpretazione cristiana antica (see for instance 298,5-299,10), and that it was during the prevalence
dell'Ecclesiaste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
of heresy in the eastern Empire (382,15-18; cf 408,14-409,2); most
scholars place the composition about 380, shortly before the Counc i I
of Constantinople. Other particulars of Gregory's purposes, sources
IV STUDIES OF GREGORY AND OF ECCLESIASTES
and thought emerge from the studies in this book. My concern here
Hubertus R. Drobner
is with the textual basis of our translation, which itself forms an
16 Verwendung und Bedeutung des Buches Ecclesiastes im Werk
Gregors von Nyssa auI3erhalb der HOJlliliae in Ecclesiastell 361 important tool for understanding Gregory.
Reillhard Kees The groundwork of collating manuscripts and producing a critical
17 Die oratio catechetica - ein Zugang zum Gesamtwerk Gregors text and apparatus has been well done for us. We follow In
von Nyssa ..... 385
Ecclesiasten homiliae. Edidit Paulus Alexander in Gregorii Nysseni
111arek S taroJllir(yski
opera. Auxilio aliorum virorum doctorum edenda curavit Wernerus
18 Le Livre de l'Ecclesiaste dans l'antiquite chretienne .. ..... 405
Jaeger. Volumen V <Leiden 1986), pp. 195-442. Throughout this
volume, where other indications are not given, page and line numbers
refer to this text.
Almost everywhere the text is satisfactory. But there are
places where the present translators have decided to adopt a
different reading or punctuation from Alexander's, and this paper is
chiefly to explain the most significant of those cases.
First however we must consider Gregory's Bible text, since it
figures in several of our textual comments. Alexander provides
footnotes in which he refers to the text in Septuaginta. Edidit A.
Rahlfs, Stuttgart 1935, giving chapter, verse and line. This is helpful
2 Stuart G. Hall Adjustments to the text 3
for reference, and we shall follow it too. But Gregory's Bible plainly your spirit round' (2nd person singular middle verb), 1 when it clearly
did not agree with the Rahlfs LXX, often differing widely. This is meant (like the Hebrew original), 'the wind turns about' (3rd person
chiefly because of the character of Rahlfs' edition. He tried to singular active verb). We therefore have to read the Greek with the
reconstruct an 'original' text of the Greek Ecclesiastes, using the meaning Gregory saw in it. There is one further problem, as we shall
Hebrew to correct the Greek of the MS tradition, often on lines shortly see. Where Gregory's quotations depart from the MSS of the
suggested by Lagarde. That Greek bible text appears to have been LXX, his own MSS often disagree, some agreeing with the LXX, others
produced, if not by Aqila, then by a translator of his school, and not. Assimilation of Gregory's text to a known text of Scripture was
consequently exhibits such strange phenomena as auv representing the bound to occur, especially in the MSS of the Mixed Recension (Gep of
Hebrew accusative particle, and followed by an accusative in Greek those regularly cited) where the Bible text stood at the head of each
(so in Hom. 5 at 362,6 auv l'~v <:w~v = Eccl. 2,17,1). Rahlfs rightly homily, rather as in our English version. It is a delicate matter to
postulated that the Greek of Ecclesiastes is so strange that it decide at each place, first whether Gregory's original agreed with the
probably suffered badly in transmission, as scribes tried to make LXX or not, and secondly, whether he was quoting strictly what his
sense of impossible constructions. In using Rahlfs' text therefore, Bible· read, or quoting loosely; and these two questions can come
one must expect to find the reading of the MSS in the apparatus together, making a difficult judgment. In a few cases, think
criticus, and with it often Gregory's reading too. The other critical Alexander got it wrong.
edition of the Greek Bible, The Old Testament in Greek, edited by
We now turn to the particular cases. Throughout the trans-
=
Henry Barclay Swete (Cambridge 31907 1922) is nearer Gregory,
lation, where any departure from Alexander's text or punctuation
since it prints the text of the Codex Vaticanus, adding the readings
occurs, the change is marked by an asterisk so: . . Any changes not
of other chief uncials in the apparatus. But it is not convenient for
referred to below are, we hope, self-explanatory. In a number of
our use, because the verses are subdivided differently from the Rahlfs
cases I am pleased to note that our findings agree with those made
references used by Alexander, and copies are not so readily available
independently and earlier by Sandro Leanza in his Italian translation
as Rahlfs.
(Gregorio di Nissa, Omelie sull'Ecclesiaste, CTP 86, 1990), to whom we
In our translation we decided to offer at the head of each are in various ways indebted.
homily the Bible text in English. Since English Bibles are based on
281,3-4 Eccl. 1,2 is quoted without the repetition after eKK)..llaIO(al'~<;
the Hebrew, their text is very far from Gregory's Greek; we could not
of ~0(l'0(l6l'1l<; ~o(l'o(IOl'~l'WV. Here the MSS of Gregory are unanimous.
therefore use an existing version. Nor could we translate from
What is more, the argument about the intensification of meaning by
Rahlfs, since that text is so far different from Gregory's. Even
repetition (282,10-283,17) would have been strengthened if he could
Swete does not always agree. We have therefore postulated a Greek
text from Gregory's own quotations and expositions. Our translation
is based upon the Greek which we think Gregory saw and heard in his
Bible. Some members of the Colloquium dissent from this understanding
of Gregory, and render, 'the spirit turns round.' Even if this is
Even then our troubles are not over. For one thing, Gregory accepted, Gregory takes nVEa~O( in a psychological sense, and not
as the Hebrew. I prefer to see e:mal'pEq>EI as 2nd person middle,
does not read the Greek in its original sense: a good example is Hom.
however, because otherwise in Gregory's preceding paraphrase the
1 287,21-288,3, where he takes e:mal'pEq>EI l'0 nVECi~O( as, 'you turn aov is quite gratuitous: l'0 aov nOpEUEl'o(l nvEC1~0(. It was this
phrase whoich led me to the favoured rendering.
4 Stuart G. Hall Adjustments to the text 5
have added that the Bible had the words twice. deduce that 'AeY0/.le:v can in this sense properly be followed by the article "t6 and
Gregory's Bible lacked these words. Such a shortened text is not the words of the quotation; one expects o"tl. We have therefore kept
attested in Swete or Rahlfs. the MS reading 'AeY0/.le:v. and have taken it to express Gregory's own
explanation of what it is that the Ecclesiast says and we mortals
285,4 "to ola "tGJv (j>cxlvo/.levwv 9cxu/.lcx(6/.le:vov. S reads "tov. 'fortasse
recte' (Alexander). which we accept. shall one day say:
I mean. Futility of futilities
285,13 After Ocv9pwnltl 4 MSS and Migne add ev ncxV"t1 /.l6X91tl cxu"toO in
agreement with the LXX. Alexander rejects it from his text. sus- Hom. 2 306.20-23 Alexander's punctuation here makes the period
pecting assimilation to the Bible. and referring to the unanimous text unintelligible. I would treat 306.20 ~ "te: yap - 306.23 enlK6n"tov"to<; as
when the sentence appears again at 291.3. believe he is wrong. a single parenthesis bounded by brackets. replacing the colon in
First. the quotation at 291.3 is informal, and Gregory might have 306.20 with a comma. See 306.19-307.4 in the translation, which
quoted more briefly there. Secondly. the exegesis which follows begins:
implies the presence of the actual noun /.l6X90<;: 'He calls
306.19. Since then there was nothing to prevent him from
(npoO"'1y6pe:uO"e:) life in the body /.l6X80<;.'
having anything he desired - for his wealth matched his desire.
285,14 Alexander has rejected /.l6X90v before "t..,v. although the MSS and his leisure could be freely devoted to enjoyment. with
are almost unanimous; I would accept it. and would punctuate again nothing unintended interrupting his attention to his desires -
after npoO"'1y6pe:uO"e:. being generally wise and particularly competent by virtue of his
understanding to investigate a maHer affecting pleasures. he
285,13-288,6 In this passage Eccles. 1.5-7 is discussed. but apart
says etc.
from 1.6.3-4 is never quoted. only paraphrased. There is no implied
deviation from LXX. This phenomenon occurs elsewhere. as at 406.1- Hom. 3 332,21 Here Alexander has made a great mistake in marking a
416.10. where Eccles. 3.7 is fully discussed but not actually quoted. paragraph. It is not present in Migne. though there is a full stop.
The sentence 332.17-20 is grammatically incomplete. We have
289,18 Alexander divides at 290,7. but the sentence there follows
therefore aHached to it the next sentence. 332.21-333.3. so that
closely what immediately precedes. The earlier break is better.
"tcxO"tcx in 332.21 resumes n6cV"tcx "tcx(hcx KCXI e:i' "tl &'A'Ao in 332.17-18.
291,1 Alexander follows a suggestion of Jaeger in reading 'Aeywv
It makes and excellent conclusion to the preceding paragraph:
against MSS 'AeY0/.le:v ('Aeyw/.le:v E). He presumably interprets the long
All these things. and whatever else in horticulture art has
sentence thus:
invented by distorting nature. which the need to maintain life
290.15 As it seems to me. even the great Ecclesiast ...• said
did not require. but was sought by undisciplined desire. these.
just what we also are likely to say one day. ... • (290.18)
[p333l so the one who makes confession of his deeds says.
when he said. Futility of futilities. all is futility. and. What
came about in his loving aHention to vegetable-plots and
advantage is there for man, wherein he toils under the sun?
gardens; for the one who says. I planted every tree of fruit,
This makes sense. and the presence of a unanimous error in the next by using this comprehensive expression also indicates that he
line (ouae:l<; [OU"tI<; vl for "to Te<;) might suggest a smudge in the has omitted nothing of this kind.
archetype. It is an improvement on the reading 'AeY0/.le:v if we take
Hom. 4 342,12 It is difficult to give a satisfactory translation of
that to mean, 'We say.' But I question whether either 'Atywv or
oepplV. which means· something of leather to which· necklaces are
6 Stuart G. Hall Adjustments to the text 7
attached. Most MSS have OEPllv, from the Attic form OEPIl of the E/w (the leading witnesses of the other main group) have:
Homeric oelp~, under which it is listed in Liddell and Scott, meaning
B. W<Tnep OUK E<T"tI v
'neck' (cf. OEpOn()(, rightly read at 342,6 and variants in MSS).
b. EK .0(1 OUP()«(ou .1'[<; P()(X()(<;
349.10-350.1 Alexander emends this passage. The MSS are plainly
c.
confused. The form in the WS group, the oldest, is this (set out in
phrases for clarity): d. .Ov O</>IV aVE)..KU<T8I'[v<XI
a. e. <pU<TIKGl<; .1'[<; </>OA(OO<; npo<; .0 ElJn()(AIV .01<; E</>eAKoIJEvOI<;
b. av"tI~()(lVoU<TIl<;, ...
EK .00 OUP()«(ou .1'[<; X(p)EI01<; (in W altered to P()(XEI()(<;) .1'[<;
K()(.()(OU<Tew<; Alexander rejects P()(X()(<;: nam quid sibi vult 'cauda spinae' vel 'spina
c. o E<T"tIV .00 </>wAeoO (-()(IOU W) caudae'? But as it stands, grammar suggests the meaning, '... to
drag the snake by its backbone from its tail.' The idea might be of
d.
breaking the snake in two. If the WS reading is original, a puzzled
e. </>U<TIKGl<; .1'[<; </>OA(OO<; npo<; .0 ElJn()(AIV .01<; E</>EAKOIJEVOI<; scribe must have omitted the rest of band c.
aV1"I~()(1 VOU<TIl<;, ...
The readings of the mixed tradition (Gep) are selective
This would mean something nonsensical like this: conflations of the two primary readings. They are worthless.
'As it is not possible for the snake to be dragged out from In reconstructing the text, Alexander took the shorter Ellv
its tail by the hole (xel8i<;) of its descent, that is, its lair, reading, altered .1'[<; P()(X()(<; to .1'[<; 'p()(xe()(<;, on the strength of a
since the scales naturally pull in the opposite direction to parallel passage in Orat. cat. 5, and moved these words to the
those tugging at it, .. .' beginning of e, suppressing .1'(<; before <pOA(OO<;:
Alexander identifies one problem: XEI8i<; falsum est cum locus unde 'As it is not possible for the snake to be dragged out of (?)
extrahitur genitivo simplici exprimi non possit: you cannot describe the its tail since the naturally rough scales pull in the opposite
hole from which the snake is dragged by a simple genitive. He failed direction to those tugging it,
to note the converse: EK .00 OUP()«(ou is also impossible in this
But this fails to relieve the fundamental problem: if you drag a snake
context, since the part by which one holds something in the case of
by the tail and use the Greek verb aVEAKEIV you would express what is
the verb (av)EAKEIV does require a simple genitive, and would not be
held in the hand with a simple genitive, not with EK.
expressed by EK. If we assume that EK was accidentally omitted
The reading of WS seems to be the nearest to the archetype,
bef ore .1'[<; xel8i<;, and then reinserted in the wrong place in the
archetype, the sentence makes good sense: and needs only the shift of EK to make perfect sense. also think
XEI<X<; looks original. The parenthesis 0 E<T"tIV 'OU </>wAeoO may be a
'As it is not possible for the snake to be dragged by its tail
gloss upon it, and its absence in the Ellv group, which evaded the
from the hole (.00 OUP()«(ou EK .1'[<; XEI8i<;) into which it descends
difficult word in another way, confirms this. We therefore read:
(that is, its lair), since the scales naturally pull in the
opposite direction to those tugging at it,
8 Stuart G. Hall Adjustments to the text 9
wO"ne:p OUK EO"'nv 1"0(/ oupO«(ou EK 1"f\<; xe:la<; 1"f\<; Ko(1"o(OUO"e:w<; 1"OV another at 369,9. Given the odd structure of the Homily, that is not
oq)lV OcVe:AKU0"6f\vo(l, (j)Uo"IKW<; 1"f\<; (j)OA(OO<; npo<; 1"0 ElJno(Alv 1"01<; impossible, since he could have written the two interpretations at
E(j)e:AKOIJEVOI<; OcVl"lao(IVOUO"f]<;, different times, or followed a different exegetical source for his
350,19 The comma after 'le:pouo"o(A~1J must be replaced by a full stop. ideas on one occasion, another on another occasion. We have allowed
iii
The following clause in fact introduces a new topic and text, and we 0<; to stand. The alternative would be to correct to on the basis
have marked a sub-paragraph in translating. of 369,8.
Hom. 5 355,3 It is difficult to see why Alexander (following Jaeger) 363,22 The exegesis given by Gregory just above seems to require the
defied the MSS by altering ne:pI(j)opdcv ('whirling, dizziness') to the translation:
unattested nO(pO«j)opdcv ('derangement, madness'). In the LXX There is no good in a man; what he shall eat and drink and
nO(pO«j)opdcv is read by Codex Alexandrinus, but not by the majority of show to his soul is good in his toil.
witnesses, and we should accept that Gregory has the more regular
We therefore need a colon after Ocv6pwmtl, not a comma. The same
Bible reading. ne:pI(j)op6c has to be understood in an unusual sense,
applies to 370,19.
and perhaps the LXX translator intended the meaning nO(pO«j)op6c;
nevertheless he uses ne:pl(j)op6c frequently. At 310,7.16 Alexander 364,1-2 The accentuation 0 1"( 1"1<; (j)6cye:1"O(l Ko«( 1"1<; n(e:1"o(l makes no
allows ne:pI(j)op6c to stand in the quotations of Eccles. 2,2, even sense in the context. The same words are accented better at
But in both cases the
against some of the MSS of Gregory.
punctuation is wrong: a colon or full. stop is required after EO"1"LV, and
357,1 The LXX has a redundant O(\hoO after o(j)60(AIJ01, and this word
a question mark after O(U1"oO. So we translate:
appears in one of the two prime groups of MSS, WS. Gregory omits
the redundant o(U1"oO in his less precise quotations at 358,11 and This also I saw, that it is from God's hand; for who shall eat
360,17. Here however he is specifically quoting, and it might be and who drink apart from him?
thought that the reading should be upheld as lectio difficilior, in spite 367,15 Both Alexander and Migne mark a paragraph here. I find this
of the agreement with the Bible. quite wrong. The argument which. centres upon the text in 368,4-8
360,16 A paragraph is marked here both in Alexander and in Migne. clearly begins at 367,5, and we have so set out the translation.
It is true that 360,16-22 discuss a new text, 6 cx(j)pwv EV O"K01"(<;X 370,19.22 See notes on 363,22 and 364,1-2.
nope:ue:1"O(I. But 360,22 marks a new departure in the argument, and it
Hom. 6 376,22 The punctuation with a question-mark would require 1"00
is much more satisfactory to treat 360,16-22 as a tail-piece to the
X6cpIV. Translate: 'The reason for our preceding considerations is
discussion of the wise man's eyes. We therefore make a major
that .. .'
paragraph at the later point.
384,13-15 The full stop at the end of 13 is a mistake. The
363,4 The problem here is 0<;, in which the majority of Gregory's MSS
immediately following clause (1"001"0 c5E •••) is a parenthesis explaining
agree with Rahlfs' text, even though that is supported in the Biblical
the medicine of line 13, and the wO"u-clause must be attached
books only by the corrector of Sini3iticus. In the MSS of Gregory 5
syntactically to 13.
omits the word, agreeing with one authority of the LXX. But most
of the biblical texts read iii, as does Gregory at 369,8. If Alexander Hom. 7 400,8-10 The paragraphing of Alexander seems perverse, and
is right, Gregory read one text-form in his bible at 363,4, and the more natural division comes at 400,8.
10 Stuart G. Hall Adjustments to the text 11
401,21 As punctuated by Alexander, "ta <XAA<X n6cV"t<X is accusative of
much is not necessary. If we add one word and read U41lK6cpI]VOl <oi>.
respect after ne:v6j.1 e: VOl , where a genitive (cf nAolJ"tou 401,20) would
we can translate the whole:
be expected. We attach the words to the following sentence.
'Those who use exaggerated words of bombast like hollow
402,13- 15 A colon is needed after anL(nC<x<;, and the comma should be
hooves to lash out at gentle people. are quite simply horses
deleted in the next line. The sentence then matches closely what is
with arching neck and tossing head.'
written next about Isaiah. It also presents a more Gregorian, and
It is impossible to get in English the pun in K<X"t<XKPO<X(VOV"te:<;. The
less Augustinian, concept of divine grace.
verb refers literally to stamping with the hoof, but presumably could,
414,12 Alexander adds <npoq>F\"tOll> (. exempli gra tia' as he says). like KPO()«(VW, be used metaphorically of luxuriant or wanton oratory
presumably deeming oi j.le:y6cAOl intolerable without a noun. But there (see PGL *K<X"t()(KPO<XCVW, LSJ KP0<X(VW). There is also a pun in 'hollow',
are rare uses of °j.lE y<x<; to mean 'old, ancient·, and one of the monks which refers both to the shape of the hoof and to the emptiness of
is addressed as j.lEy<x<; in Palladius, hist. laus. 21. That might
the rhetoric.
justify the absolute use here.
436,18 The first sentence should be attached to what precedes, and
Hom. 8 426,13 Alexander adopts Jaeger's conjecture UnI]AA<xyj.lEVI], the paragraph begins at 436,20.
suggesting that attitudes to good and evil are 'reversed'; the same
437,9.12 The first clause is clearly a question, which the colon at
verb appears in this sense in 426,21. The same meaning could be
437,9 obscures. What follows is still governed by OUX.
derived from EVI]AA<XYj.lEVI] of the majority of MSS. We have however
assumed that n€ I]AAOIYj.lEVI] of WG is correct; it is an Aristotelian word 437,20 The first sentence is better attached to the end of the
for something logically or substantially 'confused', making good sense previous paragraph, a reprise of the text being expounded there. The
at this point. long quotation following begins a wholly new argument, which has
nothing directly to do with what precedes.
426,16 Alexander retains the accentuation ~ ydcp, as in Mat 6.24, •...
f or either he wi II love the one and hate the other, .. .' But that 440,2 We have divided the quotation. The first clause concludes one
quotation makes no sense without the following ~: 'or else he will hold argument, the second is the beginning of another.
to the one and despise the other.' But Gregory's logic requires a
definite statement, that he will hate one and love the other. He
therefore understands ~ yap, • f or surely he will hate the one and
love the other.'
429,1 Alexander. following Migne, has misplaced the paragraphing. The
new argument begins with the sentence introducing noAe:j.I~CTWj.le:V at
428,19.
432,12 Here Alexander indicates a lacuna after U41lK6cPI]VOl, and says
in his notes that horses do not use words as hooves (p~j.I<XCTlV oi6v
"tlCTlV onA<XI<; KOCA<Xl<;). He thinks that a description of the activity of
proud horses has fallen out, concluding with words like othw K<Xl oi
une:pq><xvoOV"te:<;, referring to those who kick with empty words. So
2
Translating the Homilies
Rachel Moriarty
Gregory of Nazianzus once accused his friend Gregory of Nyssa
of having turned to 'salty and undrinkable' writing (-tde<; cSt OcAllupde<; KOel
an6,ou<; IHI3AOU<;): more like rhetorical than Christian prose (Letter
ID. The translator of the Homilies on Ecclesiastes can feel some
sympathy for him, if what he means is that one cannot gulp it down
easily. Gregory is not easy to translate, because of the subtlety of
both his Christian preaching and his sophisticated rhetoric, illustrated
with an astonishing range of m·odern !nstances; but eventually it is
far from unpalatable. We hope we have done him justice.
The translation was prepared in draft before any of the papers
for the colloquium were available to us, though we have since revised
it to take account of many helpful comments and suggestions. This
paper is an account of some of the issues which faced us during the
original process of translation, some guide-lines we laid down and
some detailed decisions we made. These cover the layout of the text
as well as its style and register, and our handling of particular words
and ideas, from scripture, from Christian or philosophical thought, and
from Gregory's everyday instances. It will immediately be clear that
we have not always followed our own advice, but it may illuminate our
thinking and stimulate thought on patristic translation in general.