Address to Young Men on Reading Greek Literature (De legendis gentilium libris) · Part 1

Many considerations, young men, prompt me to recom- mend to you the principles which I deem most desirable, and which I believe will be of use to you if you will adopt them. For my time of life, my many-sided train- ing, yea, my adequate experience in those vicissitudes of life which teach their lessons at every tum,^ have so familiarized me with human affairs, that I am able to map out the safest course for those just starting upon their careers. By nature's common bond I stand in the same relationship to you as your parents, so that I am no whit behind them in my concern for you. Indeed, if I do not misinterpret your feelings, you no longer crave your parents when you come to me. Now if you should receive my words with gladness, you would be in the second class of those who, according to Hesiod, merit praise; if not, I should say nothing disparaging, but no doubt you your- selves would remember the passage in which that poet says: 'He is best who, of himself, recognizes what is his duty, and he also is good who follows the course marked out by others, but he who does neither of these things is of no use under the sun.'^

Do not be surprised if to you, who go to school every day, and who, through their writings, associate with the learned men of old,^ I say that out of my own experience I have

^ See Newman, Historical Sketches, vol. ii. chaps, i. and ii, for an account of the trials and labors of St. Basil. Also see Fialon, Bio- graphie de St. Basile, and Wace and Schaif, Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol. viii, Prolegomena.

« W. and D. 285 fF.

* See Introd. p. 28, on the education of Greek youth.

The Right Use of Greek Literature

evolved something more useful. Now this is my counsel, that you should not unqualifiedly give over your minds to these men, as a ship is surrendered to the rudder, to follow whither they list, but that, while receiving whatever of value they have to offer, you yet recognize what it is wise to ignore. Accordingly, from this point on I shall take up and discuss the pagan writings, and how we are to discriminate among them.

II

We Christians, young men, hold that this human life is not a supremely precious thing, nor do we recognize any- thing as unconditionally a blessing which benefits us in this life only.* Neither pride of ancestry, nor bodily strength, nor beauty, nor greatness, nor the esteem of all men, nor kingly authority, nor, indeed, whatever of human affairs may be called great, do we consider worthy of desire, or the possessors of them as objects of envy; but we place our hopes upon the things which are beyond, and in preparation for the life eternal do all things that we do. Accordingly, whatever helps us towards this we say that we must love and follow after with all our might, but those things which have no bearing upon it should be held as naught. But to explain what this life is, and in what way and manner we shall live it, requires more time than is at our command, and more mature hearers than you.

And yet, in saying thus much, perhaps I have made it suf- ficiently clear to you that if one should estimate and gather together all earthly weal from the creation of the world, he would not find it comparable to the smallest part of the possessions of heaven; rather, that all the precious things in this life fall further short of the least good in the other than the shadow or the dream fails of the reality. Or rather, to avail myself of a still more natural comparison, by

' See Col. iii. 2: ' Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.'

The Right Use of Greek Literature

as much as the soul is superior to the body in all things, by so much is one of these lives superior to the other.^

Into the life eternal the Holy Scriptures lead us, which teach us through divine words. But so long as our immaturity forbids our understanding their deep thought, we exercise our spiritual perceptions upon profane writ- ings, which are not altogether different, and in which we perceive the truth as it were in shadows and in mir- rors. Thus we imitate those who perform the exercises of military practice, for they acquire skill in gymnastics and in dancing, and then in battle reap the reward of their training. We must needs believe that the greatest of all battles lies before us, in preparation for which we must do and suffer all things to gain power. Consequently we must be conversant with poets, with historians, with orators, indeed with all men who may further our soul's salvation. Just as dyers prepare the cloth before they apply the dye, be it purple or any other color, so indeed must we also, if we would preserve indelible the idea of the true virtue, become first initiated in the pagan lore, then at length give special heed to the sacred and divine teachings, even as we first accustom ourselves to the sun's reflection in the water, and then become able to turn our eyes upon the very sun itself,^

III

If, then, there is any affinity between the two literatures, a knowledge of them should be useful to us in our search for truth; if not, the comparison, by emphasizing the con- trast, will be of no small service in strengthening our regard for the better one. With what now may we compare these two kinds of education to obtain a simile? Just as it is the chief mission of the tree to bear its fruit in its season,

' See Rep. x. 614: ' And yet, I said, all these things are as nothing, either in number or greatness, in comparison with those other recom- penses which await both just and unjust after death, which are more and greater far,' *See p. 95.

The Right Use of Greek Literature

though at the same time it puts forth for ornament the leaves which quiver on its boughs, even so the real fruit of the soul is truth, yet it is not without advantage for it to embrace the pagan wisdom, as also leaves offer shelter to the fruit, and an appearance not untimely. That Moses, whose name is a synonym for wisdom, severely trained his mind in the learning of the Egyptians,^ and thus became able to appreciate their deity.'^ Similarly, in later days, the wise Daniel is said to have studied the lore of the Chaldaeans while in Babylon,-'' and after that to have taken up the sacred teachings.

IV

Perhaps it is sufficiently demonstrated that such heathen learning is not unprofitable for the soul; I shall then dis- cuss next the extent to which one may pursue it. To begin with the poets, since their writings are of all degrees of excellence, you should not study all of their poems without omitting a single word. When they recount the words and deeds of good men, you should both love and imitate them, earnestly emulating such conduct. But when they portray base conduct, you must flee from them and stop up your ears, as Odysseus is said to have fled past the song of the sirens,* for familiarity with evil writings paves the way for evil deeds. Therefore the soul must be guarded with great care, lest through our love for letters it receive some contamination unawares, as men drink in poison with honey. We shall not praise the poets when they scoff and rail, when they represent fornicators and winebibbers, when they define blissfulness by groaning tables and wanton songs. Least of all shall we listen to them when they tell us of their gods, and especially when they represent them as being many, and not at one among themselves.^ For, among these gods, at one time brother is at variance with brother, or the father with his children; at another,

' Acts vii. 22. * ovTti izpoaeWelv ry deupig, Tov'Ovrog.

^Daniel i. 3 ff. ^See p. 51; Basil, E^tsi. i. = See p, 64, and notes.

The Right Use of Greek Literature

the children engage in truceless war against their parents. The adulteries of the gods and their amours, and especially those of the one whom they call Zeus, chief of all and most high, things of which one cannot speak, even in connection with brutes, without blushing, we shall leave to the stage. I have the same words for the historians, and especially when they make up stories for the amusement of their hearers. And certainly we shall not follow the example of the rhetoricians in the art of lying. For neither in the courts of justice nor in other business affairs will falsehood be of any help to us Christians, who, having chosen the straight and true path of life, are forbidden by the gospel to go to law. But on the other hand we shall receive gladly those passages in which they praise virtue or condemn vice. For just as bees know how to extract honey from flowers, which to men are agreeable only for their fragrance and color, even so here also those who look for something more than pleasure and enjoyment in such writers may derive profit for their souls. Now, then, altogether after the manner of bees must we use these writings, for the bees do not visit all the flowers without discrimination, nor indeed do they seek to carry away entire those upon which they light, but rather, having taken so much as is adapted to their needs, they let the rest go. So we, if wise, shall take from heathen books whatever befits us and is allied to the truth, and shall pass over the rest. And just as in culling roses we avoid the thorns, from such writings as these we will gather everything useful, and guard against the noxious.^ So, from the very beginning, we must examine each of their teachings, to harmonize it with our ultimate purpose, according to the Doric proverb, 'test- ing each stone by the measuring-line.'^

^ The general attitude taken here toward selectiveness in reading is Platonic; see, for instance, frequent passages in the Laws ii, iii, and vii, and the Republic iii.

* rhv "k'Sov ttotI rdv airdprov ayovrag. Maloney notes that St. Gregory Nazianzen cites this proverb in Letter xxxviii, and St. John Chrysostom in Homily xxv.

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Since we must needs attain to the life to come through virtue, our attention is to be chiefly fastened upon those many passages from the poets, from the historians, and especially from the philosophers, in which virtue itself is praised. For it is of no small advantage that virtue become a habit with a youth,^ for the lessons of youth make a deep impression, because the soul is then plastic, and there- fore they are likely to be indelible. If not to incite youth to virtue, pray what meaning may we suppose that Hesiod had in those universally admired lines,^ of which the senti- ment is as follows: 'Rough is the start and hard, and the way steep, and full of labor and pain, that leads toward virtue. Wherefore, on account of the steepness, it is not granted to every man to set out, nor, to the one having set out, easily to reach the summit. But when he has reached the top, he sees that the way is smooth and fair, easy and light to the foot, and more pleasing than the other, which leads to wickedness,' — of which the same poet said that one may find it all around him in great abundance.^ Now it seems to me that he had no other purpose in saying these things than so to exhort us to virtue, and so to incite us to bravery, that we may not weaken our efforts before we reach the goal. And certainly if any other man praises virtue in a like strain, we will receive his words with pleas- ure, since our aim is a common one.

Now as I have heard from one skilful in interpreting the mind of a poet,^ all the poetry of Homer is a praise of

' Plato frequently touches upon the value of habit in the Laws vii, and the Republic ii.

* W. and D. 285 ff. Plato refers to this same passage in the Repub- lic ii. 364. * Ibid. 287.

^Libanius, b. at Antioch in 314; studied at Athens, but acquired his education principally by private study of the old Greek writers, whom he often imitated with success, and for whom he always showed great enthusiasm. During the first part of his career as a teacher at Constan- tinople, he was very popular, and St. Basil was then among his stu-

The Right Use of Greek Literature

virtue, and with him all that is not merely accessory tends to this end. There is a notable instance of this where Homer first made the princess reverence the leader of the Cephallenians, though he appeared naked, shipwrecked, and alone, and then made Odysseus as completely lack embarrass- ment, though seen naked and alone, since virtue served him as a garment. And next he made Odysseus so much esteemed by the other Phaeacians that, abandoning the luxury in which they lived, all admired and emulated him, and there was not one of them who longed for anything else except to be Odysseus, even to the enduring of shipwreck.^ The interpreter of the poetic mind argued that, in this episode. Homer very plainly says: 'Be virtue your con- cern, O men, which both swims to shore with the ship- wrecked man, and makes him, when he comes naked to the strand, more honored than the prosperous Phaeacians.' And, indeed, this is the truth, for other possessions belong to the owner no more than to another, and, as when men are dicing, fall now to this one, now to that. But virtue is the only possession that is sure, and that remains with us whether living or dead. Wherefore it seems to me that Solon^ had the rich in mind when he said: 'We will not exchange our virtue for their gold, for virtue is an ever- lasting possession, while riches are ever changing owners.* Similarly Theognis'* said that the god, whatever he might

dents. ' His idol was Greek style, and for his time he had rare success in mastering the secrets of Greek expression. A pagan born and bred, he was an ardent admirer of the Emperor Julian, but his devotion to the Apostate did not prevent him from associating on terms of affectionate intimacy with St. Chrysostom and St. Basil; for he was above all a rhetorician, and his tolerant attitude toward Christianity, so far as it did not interfere with the study of the Greek classics and the attainment of excellence in Greek composition, may be explained by his shallow cleverness as well as by his easy temper.' See p. 34.

' See Odys. vi. and vii., and also p. 76, for Plutarch's comment on this episode.

*The great Athenian law-giver. In the tract, //ow One may Profit by One's Enemies, Plutarch attributes these lines to Solon, but they occur among the Gnomes of Theognis, 316-318. See also Plutarch, Life of Solon. * See p. 54.

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The Right Use of Greek Literature