18. When you go home, therefore, discourse of all these things with those who are in your house; and as many persons often do, when they come back from a meadow, having plucked there a rose, or a violet, or some flower of that kind, they return twisting [1327] it about with their fingers; and as some, again, when they quit the gardens to go home, take with them branches of trees, with their fruit upon them; and as others, moreover, from sumptuous feasts, carry away leavings of the entertainment for their dependents; so indeed do thou, departing from hence, take an exhortation home to thy wife, thy children, and all thine household. For this admonition is more profitable than the meadow, the garden, or the banquetting table. These roses never wither; these fruits never drop off; these dainties never corrupt. The former yield a temporary delight; but the latter a lasting advantage, not only after this reformation has taken place, but in the very act of reforming. For think what a good practice this would be, having dismissed all other matters public or private, to discourse [1328] only of the divine laws continually, at the table, in the forum, and in your other meetings. Would we give our attention to these things, we should say nothing of a dangerous or injurious nature, nor should we sin unwittingly. Giving our leisure to discourse respecting these things, we should be able to withdraw our soul even from this despondency that hangs over us, instead of looking with so much anxiety as we do, whilst we say one to another, "Hath the Emperor heard what hath happened? Is he incensed? What sentence hath he pronounced? [1329] Hath any one petitioned him? What? Will he himself endure to destroy utterly a city so great and populous?" Casting these and all such cares upon God, let us be anxious only as to what He hath commanded! Thus shall we rid ourselves of all these sorrows; and although ten only among us should succeed, the ten would quickly become twenty; the twenty fifty; the fifty a hundred; the hundred a thousand; the thousand all the city. And just as when ten lamps are lighted, one may easily fill the whole house with light, so also with respect to right actions; should only ten act rightly, we shall light up a general flame throughout the city, to shine forth, and to procure us safety. For not so naturally does the fire, when it falls upon a forest, kindle the neighbouring trees successively, as will the emulation for virtue, when it seizes upon a few minds, be mighty in its progress to diffuse itself through the whole community.
19. Give me cause, then, to exult over you both in the present life, and at that future Day, when those to whom talents have been entrusted, shall be summoned! Your good reputation is a sufficient reward for my labours; and if I see you living in piety, I have all I wish. Do, then, what yesterday I recommended, and to-day will repeat, and will not cease to say it. Fix a penalty for those who swear; a penalty which is a gain, and not a loss; and prepare yourselves henceforth so as you may give us a proof of success. For I shall endeavour to hold a long conversation with each of you, when this assembly is dismissed; in order that in the continuance of discourse I may discover the persons who have been acting rightly, and those who have not. [1330] And if I find any one still swearing, I shall make him manifest to all who are amended, that by reproving, rebuking, and correcting, we may quickly deliver him from this evil habit. For better it is that he should amend through being reproached here, than that he should be put to shame, and punished, in the presence of the whole assembled universe, on that Day, when our sins shall be revealed to the eyes of all men! But God forbid that any in this fair assembly should appear there suffering such things! but by the prayers of the holy fathers, [1331] correcting all our offences, and having shown forth the abundant fruit of virtue, may we depart hence with much confidence, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom, and with whom, be glory to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.
[1277] S. Ign. ad Pol. c. 2.
[1278] i.e., from the Church.
[1279] rhope.
[1280] 1 Tim. i. 9.
[1281] Rom. xiii. 1.
[1282] en tais oikiais ton xulon hai himantoseis, literally, "strappings of beams;" or "bondings of the timbers."
[1283] litai.
[1284] 1 Cor. x. 13.
[1285] Heb. xiii. 5; Josh. i. 5.
[1286] to stratopedon. The common Lexicons quote only Can. 7, of Sardica for the use of this word, to signify the court of an Emperor. Due Cange, Gloss. Med. Gr., shews it to be common, quoting St. Basil, Ep. 127, al. 59, &c.; St. Athanasius, Apol. ad Constantium, c. 4, St. Macar. Hom. XV. p. 213 (1st ed.) sec. 30, and other passages. The term is accounted for by the acknowledged dependence of the Emperors on the army, and their constantly having a strong guard about them. Compare our expression, "head-quarters" to denote the seat of government. Theodosius was now at Constantinople.
[1287] ?n?stesen.
[1288] Tillemont, Theodos. art. vi., mentions a law of his against holding criminal processes in Lent, and one deferring all executions thirty days. The massacre of Thessalonica, for which St. Ambrose caused him to do penance, occurred after the date of these Homilies, and that event forms a striking comment on Hom. III. 6. St. Ambrose then required him to renew the last-mentioned law.
[1289] eulogias. This word, rendered benedictionem by the Latin translator, meant according to Bingham the very same as the Eucharist in the more ancient writers, and is always so applied by Cyril of Alexandria, and Chrysostom. In after times, he further observes, that this term was applied to portions of bread blessed, but distinct from the Eucharist (being the residue of that brought for consecration), which was given to those who were not prepared to communicate, b. xv., c. iv., sec. 3, vol. v., p. 155, new Ed. The term was evidently derived from the Apostolic phraseology, to poterion tes eulogias, 1 Cor. x. 16. It is used in the plural, for portions of the consecrated bread, both at communion, and when reserved to be sent to the sick, or to other churches.
[1290] M. (and Ben. and Bas. Tr. apparently) read ouk ?latton ton prot?ron ?lethest?ran; "not less the true one than those aforesaid." This use of the comparative, however, seems unusual.
[1291] hupopi?zon, the same word as used by St. Paul, 1 Cor. ix. 27, which alludes to the bruising of the face, or the parts under the eye, in the Greek games of boxing. Some read hupopi?zon, "pressing down," as indeed do some copies of the text and commentators, and among them St. Chrysostom ad loc., but this has less authority in its favor.
[1292] Rom. xii. 14; Matt. vii. 14.
[1293] This word may perhaps belong to the whole series of penances. St. Chrysostom is not recommending such austerities at all, but urging them to imitate in some measure a life which they already honored and esteemed holy. See on Rom. xiv. 23, Hom. XXVI. fin., where he accuses them of leaving religion to monks and hermits. Also on Rom. viii. 11, Hom. XIII. Mor. Tr. p. 229.
[1294] Numb. xi. 5, xiv. 4, &c.
[1295] Eccles. i. 9.
[1296] 1 Cor. xv. 31.
[1297] 1 Pet. xi. 19, 20: "for it" in this text is not in the original, as is marked by the italics in our version.
[1298] holokleron. He seems to mean a reward as full as if he had suffered for God. See on Rom. v. 11, Hom. IX.
[1299] Matt. x. 28.
[1300] Job i. 21; 1 Tim. vi. 7.
[1301] paramuthias. See Hom. II. 19; also Hom. IV. (2).
[1302] ?p?labes. See Hom. I. 22.
[1303] Luke xvi. 25.
[1304] Ecclus. iv. 3.
[1305] phronemata.
[1306] Dan. viii. 10. The rivers (or as some read river) of fire. This expression is taken from Dan. viii. 10, as appears by the coincidence of oelketai, Hom. V. on Rom. ii. 16, and heilken in LXX. In Hom. de Perf. Car. near the end, Ben. vi. 298, E., he speaks of the fabled rivers of the heathen as a shadow of truth. So Greg. Naz. in Jul, inv. ii., Or. v. 38, Ben. (iv. 46, p. 132, Col.).
[1307] See on 1 Cor. iii. 12, Hom. IX. (1).
[1308] Or it.
[1309] philosophein, which is a favorite word of St. Chrysostom, and which he seems to use in a variety of passages to express the nobler emotions of the mind.
[1310] Dan. iii. 26.
[1311] Dan. iii. 15.
[1312] kat?lusan.
[1313] Dan. iii. 28.
[1314] Ecclus. xliv. 17, on Rom. i. 8, Hom. II.
[1315] Dan. iii. 28.
[1316] Isa. lix. 2
[1317] Isaiah xxvi. 12, LXX., the Eng. V. is, "Thou hast wrought all our works in us." Compare, however, Isa. i. 5, xl. 2, liv. 8; Dan. ix. 12, 16; Lev. xxvi. 34; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21.
[1318] It was the common opinion of the Greek Fathers, that the fire of the day of judgment would cause severe suffering to some of those who would be finally saved, and that this might be mitigated by a severe repentance, and in some degree by suffering here, and by the prayers of others. St. Chrys. on Phil. i. 24; Hom. III. Mor. Orig. on Ps. xxxvi. (al. xxxvii.) v. 8; Ben. ii. 661, D.; St. Cyr. Catech. xv. (9); Greg. Nyss. Or. de Mort. ed. 1638, t. iii. 634, d. speaks of a cleansing fire. But in Or. de fun. Pulcheriæ, p. 460, he says, "Such a soul, having nothing for which to be judged, fears not Hell, dreads not Judgment. It abides free from fear and astonishment, no evil conscience causing a fear of Judgment." However, St. Chrys. on 1 Cor. iii. 15, Hom. IX. explains the being saved as by fire of remaining undestroyed in eternal torment. This last exposition is attributed to "the Greeks" by Bellarmine, de Purg. lib. i. c. 5, having been defended by them in the discussion on Purgatory preliminary to the Council of Florence. Labbe, t. xiii. p. 26-30. It is also held by Photius, OEcum. ad loc. Theodoret, on 1 Cor. iii., takes the passage in general to refer to teachers and their work as such, but explains the words cited of a fiery trial of the teacher's own life. Euseb. (quoted as Emisen. really a Gall. Bp. of later date), Bibl. Pat. Col. iii. 549, speaks of rivers of fire (see p. 126); Hom. III. de Epiph., OEcumenius on 1 Cor. iii. (doubtfully). Also the Commentary on Isaiah, attributed to St. Basil, on c. ix. 19; Ben. t. i. p. 554 (cited as his by Photius), speak of a cleansing by the Judgment fire. Origen, on Ps. xxxvi. (37) 14, Hom. III. 1, says, "And, as I think, we must all come to that fire. Though one be Paul or Peter, yet he comes to that fire." So St. Ambr. on verse 15, sec. 26, of Ezekiel and Daniel, and St. Hil. on Ps. cxviii. (119) 20, of the Blessed Virgin herself, so applying Luc. ii. 35. See Cat. Aur. on St. Matt. iii. 11, 12, Tr. p. 104, note e. St. Greg. Naz. Or. xxxix. c. 19, speaks of Novatians, as "perhaps to be baptized in the fire of the other world, in that last Baptism, which is longer and more painful." There is no minutely defined and universal doctrine on the subject. See on Fleury, b. 19, c. 31.
[1319] psuchran, somewhat as we say, "cold comfort." See Herod. v. i. 108, and note of Baehr., also Dem. de Fals. Leg. 207.
[1320] Comp. Hom. IX. on 1 Cor. iii. and see Matt. xii. 41.
[1321] Matt. xxv. 35.
[1322] Matt. xxv. 10.
[1323] Implied in the aorist, poieses.
[1324] taricheuesthai, Dem. adv. Aristogit. i. 72, of the effect of long imprisonment, lit. "to be dried like a mummy."
[1325] That this strictness was not quite universal appears from Hom. IX. 1. The feeling there referred to may have been partly occasioned by this passage.
[1326] i.e., of fasting.
[1327] Sav. peristr?phontes. Ben. periph?rontes. Thus St. Francis de Sales recommends "culling flowers" for the day from morning devotions.
[1328] Deut. vi. 7.
[1329] epsephisato.
[1330] Sav. adds, "and those who have not."