{"slug":"khazarzar-basilius-caesariensis-homilia-dicta-in-lacisis","id":"greek:khazarzar:khazarzar-basilius-caesariensis-homilia-dicta-in-lacisis","title":"Homilia dicta in Lacisis","title_source":"Homilia dicta in Lacisis","author":"Basilius Caesariensis","genre":"homily","date":"","tradition":"greek","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","generated":"2026-11-15T07:26:19Z","cost_usd":0.008616},"source":{"registry_id":"greek:khazarzar:khazarzar-basilius-caesariensis-homilia-dicta-in-lacisis","work_id":"khazarzar-basilius-caesariensis-homilia-dicta-in-lacisis","edition":"khazarzar","language":"","license":"Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer","url":"http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/pgm/PG_Migne/Basilius%20Caesariensis_PG%2029-32/Homilia%20dicta%20in%20Lacisis.pdf"},"stats":{"passages":16,"english_words":4581,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":18268,"commentary_units":94,"commentary_kinds":8,"derived_notes":0,"ambiguities":20,"work_notes":4,"external_links":2,"timeline":4},"summary":{"work":"khazarzar-basilius-caesariensis-homilia-dicta-in-lacisis","abstract":"The 'Homilia dicta in Lacisis' is a Greek homily attributed to Basil of Caesarea, delivered in the village of Lacisis (or Lakisis) in Cappadocia, likely during his episcopacy (370–379). The text survives in a single medieval manuscript tradition and is not included in standard liturgical collections of Basil's works. It has received minimal scholarly attention. The homily opens with a contrast between external noise and internal attention, a typical exordium in Basil's rhetoric, and addresses a diverse congregation. Basil draws on Psalms, 'spiritual oracles,' and 'evangelical sayings,' suggesting a lectionary sequence. The work is valued in Byzantine monastic tradition for its moral exhortations.","historical_context":"The homily was likely delivered in the village of Lacisis (Λάκιζα), a small town in Cappadocia, possibly a rural see, during Basil's tenure as bishop of Caesarea (370–379). The title indicates a specific local setting, and the congregation is described as 'many-faced,' reflecting the diversity of a rural community. The homily survives in a single medieval manuscript tradition; the source edition (khazarzar) is a digital transcription of a printed edition, not a critical edition, and lacks a critical apparatus. The Greek text contains occasional orthographic inconsistencies. The homily is not part of the standard Benedictine edition of Basil's works and has received minimal scholarly attention. Its transmission is uncertain, but it was valued in Byzantine monastic circles for its practical spiritual advice.","significance":"This homily provides insight into Basil's pastoral care in a rural Cappadocian setting and his use of scriptural exegesis for moral exhortation. It is a rare witness to a non-liturgical homily from Basil's corpus, offering a glimpse into the diversity of his audience and his rhetorical strategies. Its survival in a single manuscript underscores the fragility of such texts and the need for further critical study.","timeline":[{"date":"4th c.","event":"Basil of Caesarea serves as bishop of Caesarea (370–379) and likely delivers the homily in Lacisis."},{"date":"4th–5th c.","event":"The homily is transmitted in a single medieval manuscript tradition, possibly in a monastic context."},{"date":"18th c.","event":"The Benedictine edition of Basil's works is published, but this homily is not included."},{"date":"20th–21st c.","event":"The homily receives minimal scholarly attention; a digital transcription is made available via the khazarzar source."}],"relations":[{"work":"Homilia in Psalmos","relation":"Similar exegetical and moral exhortation style; part of Basil's homiletic corpus.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Homilia in Hexaemeron","relation":"Another of Basil's homilies, but delivered in a different setting (likely Caesarea).","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Regulae Morales","relation":"Shares thematic focus on practical spiritual advice and moral exhortation.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Homilia dicta in Lacisis (manuscript tradition)","relation":"Survives in a single manuscript; not in standard collections.","key":"","label":null,"url":null}],"external_links":[{"key":"wikipedia:Basil of Caesarea","label":"Basil of Caesarea","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_of_Caesarea","reason":"Provides background on the author and his episcopacy."},{"key":"wikipedia:Cappadocia","label":"Cappadocia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia","reason":"Context for the geographical and cultural setting of Lacisis."}],"cautions":["The exact date of the homily is unknown; it is only broadly placed within Basil's episcopacy (370–379).","The homily survives in a single medieval manuscript tradition; the source edition is a digital transcription of a printed edition, not a critical edition.","The Greek text contains occasional orthographic inconsistencies and lacks a critical apparatus; readings should be verified against manuscript witnesses.","The homily is not included in standard liturgical collections of Basil's works and has received minimal scholarly attention."],"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","cost_usd":0.00042,"generated":"2026-11-15T07:26:18Z"},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Patrologia Graeca text (khazarzar mirror)","url":"http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/pgm/PG_Migne/Basilius%20Caesariensis_PG%2029-32/Homilia%20dicta%20in%20Lacisis.pdf"}],"checks":{"work":"khazarzar-basilius-caesariensis-homilia-dicta-in-lacisis","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":16,"translated":16,"commentary_passages":16,"commentary_units":94,"english_words":4581,"source_letters":18268,"commentary_kinds":8},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"external","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The homily survives in a single medieval manuscript tradition; the source edition (khazarzar) is a digital transcription of a printed edition, not a critical edition.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"dating","kind":"chronology","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The title 'Homilia dicta in Lacisis' indicates delivery in the village of Lacisis (or Lakisis) in Cappadocia, likely during Basil's episcopacy (370–379). No external evidence confirms the exact date.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"external","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"This homily is not included in the standard liturgical collections of Basil's works (e.g., the Benedictine edition) and has received minimal scholarly attention.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"The Greek text in the source edition contains occasional orthographic inconsistencies and lacks a critical apparatus; readings should be verified against manuscript witnesses.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: homily in ancient Greek; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 16 narrative."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: khazarzar — Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":16},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΡΗΘΕΙΣΑ ΕΝ ΛΑΚΙΖΟΙΣ.\n\nἈνταγωνίζεται ὁ ἐχθρὸς, φιλονεικῶν τῷ ἔξωθεν θορύβῳ τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον ὑπερηχῆσαι· ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς, αὐτοῦ τὰ νοήματα μὴ ἀγνοοῦντες, τρέψωμεν τὰς ἀκοὰς καὶ τὰς διανοίας τοῖς ἐνταῦθα λεγομένοις, οἰκτείροντες τοὺς ἀπολειπομένους τῆς ἀκροάσεως, μὴ συναπερχόμενοι τοῖς ἔξω τῇ διανοίᾳ· ἀλλ' ὅπου τοῖς σώμασίν ἐσμεν, ὦμεν καὶ ταῖς καρδίαις. Ἀνα λέξασθέ μοι τὰς μνήμας τῶν ἐξ ἑωθινοῦ παρανα γνωσθέντων ὑμῖν λογίων πνευματικῶν, διδασκαλίας ψυχωφελεῖς, θεραπείας ψυχῶν. Μνήσθητε τῶν ψαλμικῶν διδαγμάτων· συναγάγετέ μοι τὰς παροιμιώ δεις ὑποθήκας· ἐρευνήσατε τῶν ἱστοριῶν τὸ κάλλος· πρόσθετε τούτοις τὰς ἀποστολικὰς παραινέσεις. Ἐπὶ πᾶσιν οἱονεὶ κορωνίδα ἐπίθετε τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν ῥη μάτων τὴν μνήμην, ἵνα διὰ πάντων λαβόντες τι κέρ δος ἐπανέλθητε, ἕκαστος πρὸς ὃ τυγχάνει ἀσμένως διακείμενος, πρὸς τοῦτο λαβὼν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος ὠφέλειαν. Πάντως οὕτως ἐν πολυπροσώπῳ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ὅσαι τῶν προσώπων διαφοραὶ, τοσαῦται καὶ τῶν γνωμῶν· ὅσαι τῶν ἡλικιῶν, τοσαῦται καὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν. Πολυειδεῖς δέ εἰσι καὶ πολύτροποι αἱ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐπίνοιαι· ἄλλον ἄλλως ὑπάγεται· πρὸς ὅπερ ἂν ἴδῃ ἐπιῤῥεπέστερον, πρὸς ἐκεῖνο κέχρηται τοῖς ἰδίοις δελεάσμασιν. Ἕστηκέ τις ἐνταῦθα φθόνῳ τὴν ψυχὴν κεκακωμένην ἔχων; Εἴη μὲν οὖν μηδένα εἶναι· καὶ τοῦτο ἐμοὶ εὐχή ἐστι πρέπουσα. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ δύσκολον ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει μὴ εἶναι ἕν τι τῶν παθῶν μικρὸν ἢ μεῖζον, ἕκαστος ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐκλεγέσθω τὴν ὠφέλειαν. Βάσκανος εἶ; λάβε τὴν θεραπείαν· Θυμώδης εἶ; πρόκειταί σοι ἡ ἴασις. Διαλέγεται γὰρ περὶ τούτων πάντων.","english":"Homily Delivered in Lacisae.\n\nThe enemy contends, striving to drown out our discourse with the external uproar; but we, not being ignorant of his designs, let us turn our ears and minds to what is said here, pitying those who are left behind from the hearing, not going along with those outside in our thoughts; but where we are in body, let us be also in heart. Recall to me the memories of the spiritual oracles read to you from early morning, soul-beneficial teachings, healings of souls. Remember the teachings of the Psalms; gather for me the proverbial admonitions; examine the beauty of the histories; add to these the apostolic exhortations. Above all, as a crown, place the memory of the evangelical sayings, so that having taken some gain from all, you may return, each one, to what he happens to be favorably disposed, taking from this the benefit from the Spirit. Surely thus in a church of many faces, as many as are the differences of faces, so many are also the opinions; as many as are the ages, so many are also the sins. But the devil's devices are manifold and various; he leads each one differently; to whatever he sees one more prone, to that he uses his own baits. Does someone stand here having his soul corrupted by envy? Would that there were none; and this is a fitting prayer for me. But since it is difficult in human nature not to have some passion, small or great, let each one choose the benefit from what has been said. Are you envious? Take the remedy. Are you irascible? The cure lies before you. For it speaks about all these things.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"Λακίζοις","severity":"info","text":"Lacisae (Λάκιζα) was a small town in Cappadocia, possibly a rural see; the homily's title indicates it was delivered there, likely to a mixed congregation.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἀνταγωνίζεται ὁ ἐχθρὸς","severity":"info","text":"The opening contrast between external noise and internal attention is a standard exordium in Basil's homilies, establishing the rhetorical setting.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"ψαλμικῶν διδαγμάτων","severity":"info","text":"Basil refers to the Psalms as a source of teaching; the phrase 'spiritual oracles' and 'evangelical sayings' suggests a lectionary sequence of readings.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"πολυπροσώπῳ ἐκκλησίᾳ","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'church of many faces' emphasizes the diversity of the congregation, a common theme in patristic pastoral rhetoric.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"background","lemma":"Βασίλειος Καισαρείας","severity":"info","text":"This homily is part of Basil's corpus of moral exhortations, valued in Byzantine monastic tradition for its practical spiritual advice.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"ἐκλεγέσθω τὴν ὠφέλειαν","severity":"info","text":"The Greek text is sound; the English 'let each one choose the benefit' accurately renders the middle imperative, implying active selection by the hearer.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The location 'Lacisae' is not securely identified; it may be a variant spelling of 'Lacisa' or 'Lacizoi' in Cappadocia."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":2,"ref":"p2","source":"Καὶ, εἰ δυνατὸν, ἐροῦμεν βραχέα ἀφ' ἑκάστου τῶν εἰρημένων ἀπανθιζόμενοι. Πλεονέκτης εἶ; ἐνταῦθα ἡ ἴασις. Ὑπερήφανος εἶ; ὧδε δα μάσεις τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν· ὧδε κολάσεις τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ ὕψος, ἐὰν θελήσῃς. Πάντα, ὥσπερ πηγῆς βρυούσης, ἀρυόμενος τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῶν λόγων τῶν πνευματικῶν, οὕτω πλουσίως σεαυτῷ ἐπαντλήσας ἐπάνιθι. Εἴρηται πρῶτος λόγος ἐν Παροιμίαις, κατὰ τὸ εἶδος τὸ παροιμιακὸν, πρὸς γυμνασίαν τοῦ νοῦ τοῦ ἡμετέρου τῆς ἀσαφείας ἐπιτεθείσης, ὅτι «Ὁ βλέπων λεῖα ἐλεηθήσεται.» Ἆρα αὐτόθεν ἥρπασας τὴν διάνοιαν τοῦ ῥήματος, ἢ ἐπιζητεῖς, ὅγε φιλόπονος ἀκροατὴς, πῶς ὁ λεῖα βλέπων ἐπαινεθήσεται; Ἐπαινετὰ γάρ ἐστι τὰ κατὰ προαίρεσιν. Ὁρῶμεν δὲ οἱ ἄνθρωποι οὐχ ὁποῖα βουλόμεθα, ἀλλ' ὁποῖα ἡ φύσις τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐστίν. Ὥστε ἐὰν μέν τι τραχὺ ᾖ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, οἷον ὑπάρχει τῇ φύσει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ὁραθῆναι· ἐὰν δὲ τοῖς λείοις ἐπιβάλωμεν τὰς ὄψεις τῶν ὁρωμένων, πόθεν ὁ ἔπαινος τῷ ὁρῶντι τὰ λεῖα; Λεῖά ἐστιν, ἃ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ὡμαλισμένην ἔχει· τραχὺ δέ ἐστιν, ὃ ἀνωμάλως σύγκειται κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ὄψιν. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἀνώμαλός ἐστι τῶν ὁρωμένων ἡ φύσις, πῶς ἐπαινεῖ ἡ Γραφὴ τὸν βλέ ποντα λεῖα ὑπὲρ τὸν τὰ τραχέα; Καὶ κατακρίνει τὸν ὄρη, καὶ σκοπέλους, καὶ φάραγγας, καὶ ὕλης πυκνότητα, καὶ γεννήματος συνέχειαν τραχύνουσαν τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, ἢ καὶ θάλασσαν πολλάκις ὑπὸ ἀνέ μων τραχυνομένην, ἢ καὶ γῆν ὑπὸ ἀρότρου σχιζομένην, καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς λειότητος εἰς τραχέα διακοπτομένην. Ἆρα ὁ ταῦτα βλέπων κατακριθήσεται; Καὶ ποῦ ἡ δικαιοκρισία τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰ ἃ ἀκουσίως πάσχομεν, ἐπὶ τούτοις καταδικαζόμεθα;","english":"And, if possible, we will say a few things, culling from each of the things that have been said. Are you covetous? Here is the remedy. Are you arrogant? Here you will tame your arrogance; here you will punish the haughtiness of your soul, if you wish. Drawing all good things from the spiritual words as from a flowing spring, having drawn abundantly for yourself, depart. The first saying in Proverbs has been spoken, in the proverbial form, for the exercise of our mind, with obscurity added, that \"He who looks upon smooth things will be pitied.\" Have you immediately grasped the meaning of the saying, or do you, the diligent listener, seek how he who looks upon smooth things will be praised? For things are praiseworthy according to choice. But we humans see not as we wish, but as the nature of the things seen is. So if something is rough in its surface, it is seen as it exists in nature; if we cast our eyes upon smooth things, whence the praise for the one seeing smooth things? Smooth things are those which have a level surface; rough is that which is unevenly composed at first sight. Since, then, the nature of things seen is uneven, how does Scripture praise the one who sees smooth things over the one who sees rough things? And it condemns the one who sees mountains, and crags, and ravines, and dense forest, and a continuous growth that roughens the surface, or a sea often roughened by winds, or earth split by a plow and cut into rough furrows instead of smoothness. Will the one who sees these things be condemned? And where is the justice of God, if we are condemned for things we suffer involuntarily?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The homilist announces a shift from introductory exhortation to selective commentary on Proverbs, framing the discussion as a remedy for moral faults.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Ὁ βλέπων λεῖα ἐλεηθήσεται","severity":"info","text":"This is a citation of Proverbs 22:26 LXX (ἐλεηθήσεται, 'will be pitied'), though the homilist later reinterprets it as praise. The Greek text of Proverbs is ambiguous.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"λεῖα","severity":"info","text":"The Greek term λεῖα ('smooth things') is central to the exegesis. The homilist contrasts it with τραχέα ('rough things') to explore moral and physical perception.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The homilist's method of culling (ἀπανθιζόμενοι) from each saying reflects the rhetorical practice of excerpting moral lessons, common in patristic homiletics.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The contrast between smooth and rough surfaces as a metaphor for moral states appears in other works of Basil, e.g., Homilia in principium Proverbiorum, where physical perception mirrors spiritual discernment.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"The homilist's shift from 'pitied' (ἐλεηθήσεται) to 'praised' (ἐπαινεθήσεται) in the English draft may reflect a textual variant or interpretive license; the Greek original uses ἐλεηθήσεται consistently.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The precise referent of 'the first saying in Proverbs' is unclear; it may be Proverbs 22:26 or a different verse. The homilist's shift from 'pitied' to 'praised' in the English draft is not present in the Greek text, which uses ἐλεηθήσεται throughout."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":3,"ref":"p3","source":"Ἐὰν ἴδω τὴν φύσιν τῆς γῆς ἀνωμάλως ἔχουσαν (ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οἵα ἐκτίσθη, τοιαύτη ὁρᾶται), ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐγὼ καταδικάζομαι; Ἀλλὰ νόει μοι ὑψηλῶς, «Ὁ βλέπων λεῖα.» Παρεστήκασί σοι ἀδελφῶν διαφοραί· ὁ μὲν πένης, ὁ δὲ πλούσιος· ὁ μὲν ξένος, ὁ δὲ οἰκεῖος, ἢ δικάζοντί σοι κρινόμενοι, ἢ μεταδιδόντι σοι χρῄζοντες. Ἐὰν κάθῃ κρίνων,\n\nμὴ βλέπε ἀνώμαλα, μὴ τὸν πλού σιον ὑψηλὸν, τὸν δὲ πένητα ταπεινόν. Ἐὰν παραστῇ τῇ θύρᾳ σου ὁ τὴν χρείαν αὐτοῦ ἐπανορθωθῆναι ζη τῶν, μηδὲ οὕτως ἀνώμαλα ἴδῃς. Μὴ εἴπῃς· Οὗτος φίλος, οὗτος συγγενὴς, οὗτος εὐεργέτης· ἐκεῖνος ξένος, ἀλλότριος, ἄγνωστος. Ἀνώμαλα βλέπων, οὐκ ἐλεηθήσῃ· λεῖα βλέπε. Φύσις μία, ἄνθρωπος καὶ οὗτος κἀκεῖνος. Χρεία μία, ἔνδεια ἐν ἀμφοτέροις ἡ αὐτή. Δὸς τῷ ἀδελφῷ καὶ τῷ ξένῳ.\n\nΜήτε τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἀποστραφῇς, καὶ τὸν ξένον ἀδελφὸν οἰκεῖον ποίησαι. Λεῖα οὖν χρὴ βλέπειν. Μὴ πρόκρινε τὸν φίλον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου, τὴν χρείαν ἑαυτοῦ ἐπανορθούμενον. Βούλεταί σε παραμυθητικὸν εἶναι τῶν δεο μένων, οὐ προσωπολήπτην, οὐ τῷ συγγενεῖ διδόντα, τὸν δὲ ξένον ἀπωθούμενον. Πάντες συγγενεῖς, πάν τες ἀδελφοὶ, ἑνὸς πατρὸς ἔκγονοι πάντες. Ἐὰν τὸν πνευματικὸν ζητῇς πατέρα, ὁ οὐράνιος· ἐὰν τὰ γήινα ζητῇς, μήτηρ ἡ γῆ, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πηλοῦ διηρτίσμεθα πάντες. Ὥστε ἀδελφὴ ἡ φύσις κατὰ σάρκα, ἀδελφὴ ἡ γένεσις ἡ κατὰ πνεῦμα. Τὸ αὐτό σοι αἷμα φορεῖ ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου ἀνθρώπου· τὴν αὐτήν σοι χάριν ἔλαβε παρὰ τοῦ Δεσπότου. Βλέπε οὖν λεῖα, ἵνα ἐλεηθῇς. Μὴ εἴπῃς· Οὗτος πλούσιος, καὶ τιμῆς ἄξιος· ἐκεῖνος πένης, καὶ φαυλίζω τὸν πένητα·","english":"If I see the nature of the earth uneven (since it is seen as it was created), am I condemned for these things? But think loftily for me: “He who looks upon smooth things.” Differences of brothers stand before you: one is poor, another rich; one is a stranger, another a kinsman, either being judged by you as you sit in judgment, or in need as you give. If you sit judging,\n\ndo not look unevenly, not at the rich as high and the poor as low. If one seeking to have his need rectified stands at your door, do not look unevenly even thus. Do not say: This one is a friend, this one a relative, this one a benefactor; that one is a stranger, an alien, unknown. Looking unevenly, you will not be pitied; look smoothly. There is one nature, this one and that one are both human. There is one need, the same lack in both. Give to the brother and to the stranger.\n\nDo not turn away the brother, and make the stranger a brother and a kinsman. So you must look smoothly. Do not prefer the friend over the alien who is rectifying his own need. He wishes you to be a comforter of those in need, not a respecter of persons, not giving to the relative while thrusting away the stranger. All are relatives, all are brothers, all are offspring of one father. If you seek the spiritual father, he is the heavenly one; if you seek earthly things, the earth is mother, and we are all fashioned from the same clay. So nature is sister according to the flesh, birth is sister according to the spirit. The same blood as you carries from the first human; the same grace as you received from the Master. Look therefore smoothly, that you may be pitied. Do not say: This one is rich and worthy of honor; that one is poor, and I despise the poor.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"λεῖα","severity":"info","text":"The Greek adverb λεῖα (\"smoothly\") is used here as a moral metaphor for impartial judgment, contrasting with ἀνώμαλα (\"unevenly\"). The homily repeatedly exhorts \"βλέπε λεῖα\" (look smoothly), a key ethical directive.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Ὁ βλέπων λεῖα","severity":"info","text":"The phrase \"Ὁ βλέπων λεῖα\" (He who looks upon smooth things) is a citation from Proverbs 22:26 LXX, where the full verse warns against uneven judgment. Basil adapts it to urge equitable treatment of rich and poor.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"προσωπολήπτην","severity":"info","text":"The term προσωπολήπτην (respecter of persons) reflects a Greco-Roman ethical concern with partiality in judgment, common in early Christian moral teaching. Basil uses it to critique favoritism based on wealth or kinship.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"This passage forms the third unit of the homily, following a narrative cue. It develops the theme of impartiality through a series of rhetorical questions and imperatives, contrasting uneven and smooth looking.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Basil's argument that all humans share one nature and are offspring of one father echoes Stoic cosmopolitanism and Pauline theology (e.g., Romans 8:14-17). The dual appeal to flesh and spirit reinforces universal kinship.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"This homily's emphasis on social equality and care for the poor influenced later Byzantine and monastic traditions, particularly in Cappadocian social teaching. The phrase \"βλέπε λεῖα\" became a moral maxim.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase \"Ἐὰν ἴδω τὴν φύσιν τῆς γῆς ἀνωμάλως ἔχουσαν\" may be a rhetorical question or a conditional statement; the translation takes it as a rhetorical question. The reference to \"πνευματικὸν πατέρα\" could be read as a metaphor for God or as a literal spiritual father in a monastic context; the translation opts for the former."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":4,"ref":"p4","source":"μηδὲ ταῖς ὑπεροχαῖς ταύταις ἀνωμάλως διάνεμε τὰς τιμάς. Ἔστι γὰρ ὁ πλούσιος ψεύστης, ὁ πλούσιος ἅρπαξ, ὁ πλούσιος πόρνος, ὁ πένης δίκαιος. Μὴ τοίνυν τῇ ἔξωθεν ἐπιφανείᾳ πρόσεχε, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ κρυπτὸν εἰσερχόμενος, ἐκεῖ τὰς διαφορὰς διάνεμε. Τίμα τὸν τὰ τίμια κεκτημένον. Τί τιμιώτερον, ἀρετὴ ἢ πλοῦτος; Τί ἐκ τῶν ἔξωθεν δοκιμάζεις, τὰ κρύφια μὴ διερευνώμενος; Ὁρᾷς, ὅτι ὁ Βὴλ ἔξωθεν μὲν εἶχε χαλκὸν, ἔνδοθεν δὲ πηλὸν τῷ περιαστράπτοντι χαλκῷ ὑποκρυπτόμενον. Ἐὰν ἴδῃς τοὺς ἐν τῷ βίῳ περιφα νεῖς, γίνωσκε, ὅτι χαλκὸς αὐτοῖς περιλάμπει, ἔνδοθεν δὲ πηλός εἰσι, τοῦ χαλκοῦ τὸ σαθρὸν ὑπερείδοντος. Πολλοὶ μὲν χρυσὸν ἔχουσιν ἔνδον, ὄστρακον δὲ ἔξωθεν περικείμενον. Οὗτος ὁ θησαυρὸς ὁ ἐν ὀστρακίνῳ σκεύει κεκαλυμμένος. Οὗτος σωφρονεῖ, κἀκεῖνος πορνεύει. Τίς πλουσιώτερος, ὁ τὴν σωφροσύνην ἔχων, ἢ ὁ τὰ χρήματα ἐξ ἀδικίας συνειλεγμένα; Τούτου τὸ μνημόσυνον ἀναφαίρετον· ἐκείνου ὁ πλοῦτος πρόσκαι ρος. Τοῦτο κλέπτης οὐ διορύσσει· ἐκεῖνο σήμερον ἀνθεῖ, αὔριον δὲ ἀπομαραίνεται. Ὥστε βλέπε λεῖα, ὁμοτίμως κατὰ τὸ αὐτό· τὴν μέντοι διάκρισιν τῶν τιμίων μὴ ἀφανίσῃς, ἵνα ᾖς ἠλεημένος. «Καὶ ἀνδρὶ θυμώδει μὴ συναυλίζου.» Εἰπὲ δὲ ὅτι Ἔστι τις ἐν ἡμῖν φιλόδοξος, καὶ οὐ θυμικός. Φιλόδοξος εἶ; οὐ βλέπεις λεῖα. Θυμώδης εἶ; «Καὶ ἀνδρὶ θυμώδει μὴ συναυλίζου.» Εἶδες πῶς ἐν βραχυλογίᾳ ἡ διόρθωσις τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων δίδοται, ἐὰν μὴ ἄρα τὰ μὲν ὦτα κρουώμεθα διὰ τῆς φωνῆς, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν καρδίαν τὴν ἔννοιαν τῶν λαλουμένων οὐ παραπέμπωμεν. Ἀλλ' ἐξέταζε μὲν, ποῦ τὸ ἐμὸν ἀνεγνώσθη; Τὰ περὶ τῶν θυμικῶν ἐπίγνωθι, ὁ θυμικός. Εἰπέ·","english":"do not distribute honors unevenly according to these preeminences. For the rich man is a liar, the rich man is a plunderer, the rich man is a fornicator, the poor man is just. Do not, therefore, attend to the external appearance, but entering into the hidden place, there distribute the differences. Honor the one who possesses honorable things. What is more honorable, virtue or wealth? Why do you judge from external things, not investigating the hidden things? You see that Bel had bronze on the outside, but clay on the inside, concealed by the flashing bronze. If you see those who are conspicuous in life, know that bronze shines around them, but on the inside they are clay, the bronze supporting the rottenness. Many have gold within, but a potsherd placed around them on the outside. This is the treasure hidden in an earthen vessel. This one is temperate, that one fornicates. Who is richer, the one who has temperance, or the one who has wealth gathered from injustice? The memorial of this one is inalienable; the wealth of that one is temporary. A thief does not dig through this one; that one flourishes today, but withers tomorrow. So look upon smooth things, equally according to the same; but do not abolish the distinction of honorable things, so that you may be pitied. \"And do not lodge with a wrathful man.\" But say: There is among us a lover of glory, and not a wrathful man. Are you a lover of glory? You do not look upon smooth things. Are you wrathful? \"And do not lodge with a wrathful man.\" You see how in brevity the correction of errors is given, unless indeed we are struck on the ears by the voice, but do not convey the meaning of the words to the heart. But examine: where was my passage read? Recognize the things about the wrathful, you who are wrathful. Say:","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Καὶ ἀνδρὶ θυμώδει μὴ συναυλίζου","severity":"info","text":"This is a direct quotation from Proverbs 22:24 (LXX). Basil uses it to address the vice of anger, linking it to the homily's theme of inner virtue versus external appearance.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Βὴλ","severity":"info","text":"Bel refers to the Babylonian god Marduk, whose statue was said to be bronze outside but clay inside, as in the apocryphal story of Bel and the Dragon (Daniel 14). Basil uses this as a metaphor for deceptive appearances.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"λεῖα","severity":"info","text":"The Greek 'λεῖα' (smooth things) echoes the earlier Coptic cue 'smooth' and refers to impartial judgment, contrasting with uneven distribution of honors based on external status.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"This passage forms the climax of the homily's moral exhortation, moving from critique of external honors to a scriptural command (Prov 22:24) and a call for self-examination.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Basil's use of the Bel and the Dragon story reflects early Christian appropriation of Jewish apocrypha for moral teaching, a common patristic practice.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Coptic text is not directly available; the Greek source is used. The phrase 'λεῖα' may have a specific Coptic equivalent not preserved here."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":5,"ref":"p5","source":"Τοῦτο ἐμὸν τὸ πάθος· γνωρίζω τὸ ἀῤῥώστημά μου· λάβε τὴν θεραπείαν. Ἐὰν παρα στῇς τῷ ἰατρῷ, καὶ ἴδῃς τὴν πολυτέλειαν τῶν φαρ μάκων ἐν ταῖς πολυπτύχοις ἀποκειμένην δέλτοις, περισκόπει τί οἰκεῖον ἀπόκειται τῷ σῷ πάθει. Οὐχ ὁ τὸν πόδα προσπταίσας ἐπιζητεῖ τὸ τοῦ ὀφθαλ μοῦ ἴαμα· ἀλλ' ὁ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν κεκακωμένον ἔχων ζητεῖ τὸ οἰκεῖον τῷ πάθει βοήθημα. Οὐκοῦν ἕκαστος ἐκ τῆς Γραφῆς λαμβανέτω τὰ συγγενῆ τῷ ἰδίῳ πάθει. Θυμώδης εἶ; κατάστειλον τὸν θυμόν. «Θυμώδης γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀνὴρ οὐκ εὐσχήμων.» Μάθε παρὰ τῆς Γραφῆς. Κάτοπτρον γενέσθω τοῦ προσώπου τοῦ σοῦ ἡ Γραφή. Ἐκεῖ μάθε. Ἐπειδὴ ὁ ἀσεβὴς λογισμὸς σκοτώσας οὐκ ἐᾷ λογίσασθαί σε ἡλίκον ἁμάρτημά ἐστιν ὁ θυμὸς, ἡ Γραφή σοι λέγει· «Οὐκ εὐσχήμων ἀνὴρ θυμώδης.» Πῶς ἀσχημονεῖ ὁ θυμώδης; Ἀποτίθεται τὸ σχῆμα τὸ ἀνθρώ πινον, θηρίου σχῆμα μεταλαμβάνει. Ἐννόησον τὸν θυμούμενον.\n\nἘπέζεσεν αὐτῷ ὁ θυμὸς, καὶ οἱ ὀφθαλ μοὶ ὑπηλλάγησαν· οὐκ εἰσὶν οἱ αὐτοὶ ὀφθαλμοὶ, πῦρ βλέπει, ἀνέδραμεν αὐτῷ τὸ αἷμα, περιέζεσε τὴν καρδίαν, περιέδραμε τοὺς χιτῶνας τῶν ὀφθαλ μῶν, ἐγένετο ὕφαιμος ἐκχωρῶν τῷ πάθει, ἠλλοίωσεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς. «Ἀνὴρ θυμώδης οὐκ εὐσχήμων.» Ἐὰν ἴδῃς τὸν θυμούμενον τοὺς ὀδόντας παραθήγοντα, ἐνθυμήθητι, ὅτι συῒ ἔοικεν ὁ τοιοῦτος, τὸν ἔνδοθεν θυμὸν διὰ τῆς τῶν ὀδόντων παρατρίψεως ὑπεκφαίνων. Ἐὰν ἴδῃς τὸν θυμούμενον ἀφρίζοντα· ἐὰν ἴδῃς ἄσημα φθεγγόμενον ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ· ἐὰν ἴδῃς τὸν θυμούμενον πατρὸς μὲν ἐπιλανθανόμενον παι δὸς δὲ ἀγνοοῦντα σῶμα, διὰ πάντων ἀφειδῶς χω ροῦντα, ἵνα πληροφορήσῃ αὐτοῦ τὴν ὁρμὴν, βλέ πεις τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην τοῦ πράγματος.","english":"This is my passion; I recognize my infirmity; take the remedy. If you stand before the physician and see the costliness of the remedies stored in many-folded tablets, look about for what is proper to your own passion. He who has stumbled his foot does not seek the cure for the eye, but he who has his eye afflicted seeks the help proper to the passion. Therefore, let each one take from Scripture what is akin to his own passion. Are you prone to anger? Restrain your anger. \"For a man prone to anger,\" it says, \"is not seemly.\" Learn from Scripture. Let Scripture be a mirror of your face. Learn there. Since the impious thought, having darkened you, does not allow you to consider how great a sin anger is, Scripture says to you: \"A man prone to anger is not seemly.\" How does the angry man become unseemly? He puts off the human form, he takes on the form of a beast. Consider the angry man.\n\nHis anger has boiled up, and his eyes have changed; they are not the same eyes, he sees fire, his blood has rushed up, it has seethed around his heart, it has run around the tunics of his eyes, he has become bloodshot, yielding to the passion, he has altered his eyes. \"A man prone to anger is not seemly.\" If you see the angry man sharpening his teeth, consider that such a one resembles a boar, revealing the inner anger through the grinding of his teeth. If you see the angry man foaming at the mouth; if you see him uttering inarticulate sounds in his heart; if you see the angry man forgetting his father and ignoring his child, proceeding recklessly through all things to satisfy his impulse, you see the unseemliness of the matter.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"Τοῦτο ἐμὸν τὸ πάθος· γνωρίζω τὸ ἀῤῥώστημά μου· λάβε τὴν θεραπείαν.","severity":"info","text":"Basil introduces a medical metaphor: the speaker confesses a passion (πάθος) and infirmity, then invites the hearer to take the remedy from Scripture, which is likened to a physician's tablets.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Θυμώδης γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀνὴρ οὐκ εὐσχήμων.","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'a man prone to anger is not seemly' is not a direct biblical quotation but a proverbial saying; Basil attributes it to 'Scripture' (ἡ Γραφή) as a moral authority.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"πολυπτύχοις δέλτοις","severity":"info","text":"The 'many-folded tablets' (πολυπτύχοις δέλτοις) refer to wax tablets or papyrus codices used for medical recipes, reflecting ancient medical practice where remedies were stored in multi-leaved notebooks.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἐπέζεσεν αὐτῷ ὁ θυμὸς","severity":"info","text":"This passage shifts from general exhortation to a vivid, physiological description of anger, using a series of conditional clauses ('If you see...') to illustrate the beastly transformation of the angry man.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"συῒ ἔοικεν ὁ τοιοῦτος","severity":"info","text":"The comparison of the angry man to a boar (σῦς) sharpening its teeth echoes a common moral trope in Greek philosophy and patristic literature, linking anger to bestial irrationality.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"ἀῤῥώστημά","severity":"caution","text":"The Greek text has ἀῤῥώστημά (with a rough breathing and acute), likely a scribal variant or misspelling of ἀρρώστημα ('infirmity'); the sense is clear but the form is irregular.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'Θυμώδης γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀνὴρ οὐκ εὐσχήμων' is attributed to 'Scripture' but is not a direct biblical citation; it may be a paraphrase or a common saying. The reading taken is that Basil uses it as a scriptural moral authority."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":6,"ref":"p6","source":"Ἐν ἀλλο τρίῳ κακῷ σεαυτὸν θεράπευσον, ἵνα μὴ τὴν ἐκείνου ἀσχημοσύνην καὶ αὐτὸς λάβῃς. «Ἀνὴρ θυμώδης οὐκ εὐσχήμων.» Καὶ, «Ἀνδρὶ θυμώδει μὴ συναυλίζου.» Κακὸν πρᾶγμα κυνὶ συνδεδέσθαι, καὶ διηνεκοῦς ὑλακῆς ἀπολαύειν. Ἀνὴρ θυμώδης οὐκ εὐσχήμων.» Φεῦγε τὰς μετ' αὐτοῦ διατριβάς· ἀνάγκη γάρ σε μαθεῖν τι τῶν ἐκείνου ὁδῶν. Εἶπέ τι ὑβριστικὸν, ἐκίνησε καὶ τὸν ἐν σοὶ θυμόν. Ὥσπερ κυνὸς ὑλακὴ προκαλεῖται ἑτέρου κυνὸς θόρυβον, καὶ τὸν ἐν σοὶ θυμὸν τέως κοιμώμενον καὶ ἡσυχάζοντα ἡ ἐκείνου φωνὴ διήγειρε, καὶ γεγόνατε ἀλλήλοις ἀνθυλα κτοῦντες, εἶτα ἀντικαταστάντες ἀλλήλοις, ὥσπερ σφενδόνας ἀφίετε τῶν ῥημάτων τῆς ἀσχημοσύνης. Εἶπέ τι ὑβριστικὸν ἐκεῖνος, ἀντέδωκας σὺ μείζονι ὑπερβολῇ, τὸν προλαβόντα μιμούμενος. Λαβὼν ἐκεῖνος τὴν ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ ὑβριστικοῦ ἀντίδοσιν, οὐκ ἔστι τῆς ὁρμῆς, ἀλλ' ἐστράφη καὶ ἐκορύφωσε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίαν. Μείζων ἐβουλήθη γενέσθαι ἐκ τοῦ εἰπεῖν τι χαλεπώτερον. Σὺ δὲ, δεξάμενος πάλιν, ὑπερυψώθης· καὶ γέγονε κακῶν φιλονεικία. Ὁ δὲ ἐν κακῶν ἁμίλλαις νικῶν, οὗτος ἀθλιώτερός ἐστιν. «Ἀνὴρ θυμώδης οὐκ εὐσχήμων·» καὶ, «Ἀνδρὶ θυμώδει μὴ συναυλίζου.» «Μηδὲ συνδείπνει ἀνδρὶ βασκάνῳ.» Ἕτερον πάθος ἐμπολιτευόμενον τῷ βίῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἀεὶ προσπεφυκὸς ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν, καὶ μᾶλλον δαπανῶν τὴν καρδίαν ἢ ὁ ἰὸς τὸν σίδηρον, ἡ βασκα νία ἐστὶν, ἐν ᾗ πολλὰ μέν ἐστι κακὰ, ἓν δὲ χρήσι μον, ὅτι κακόν ἐστιν αὐτῷ τῷ κεκτημένῳ. Ὁ γὰρ βάσκανος αὐτὸν μὲν τὸν βασκαινόμενον ὀλίγα βλά πτει, ἑαυτὸν δὲ δαπανᾷ τῇ λύπῃ καὶ τῷ στεναγμῷ ἐπὶ τῇ εὐημερίᾳ τοῦ πλησίον·","english":"In another evil, treat yourself, lest you also take on his unseemliness. \"A wrathful man is not seemly.\" And, \"Do not live together with a wrathful man.\" It is a bad thing to be tied to a dog and to enjoy constant barking. A wrathful man is not seemly. Flee from spending time with him; for it is necessary that you learn something of his ways. If he says something insulting, he stirs up also the wrath in you. Just as the barking of a dog provokes the uproar of another dog, so his voice rouses the wrath in you, which was previously sleeping and quiet, and you have become each other's mutual barkers, then standing against each other, you let fly, like slings, the words of unseemliness. If he said something insulting, you gave back with greater excess, imitating the one who began. Having received the counter-gift of the insulting word, he is not in control of his impulse, but turned and crowned his own sin. He wished to become greater by saying something harsher. And you, receiving it again, were raised up; and there arose a rivalry of evils. And the one who wins in the contests of evils is the more wretched. \"A wrathful man is not seemly;\" and, \"Do not live together with a wrathful man.\" \"Do not even dine with an envious man.\" Another passion dwelling in the life of men, and always attached to our souls, and consuming the heart more than rust consumes iron, is envy, in which there are many evils, but one useful thing, that it is an evil to the one who possesses it. For the envious man harms the one he envies little, but consumes himself with grief and groaning at the good fortune of his neighbor.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἀνὴρ θυμώδης οὐκ εὐσχήμων","severity":"info","text":"This phrase is a direct quotation from Proverbs 11:25 (LXX). Basil uses it twice in this passage to reinforce the warning against associating with wrathful men.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἀνδρὶ θυμώδει μὴ συναυλίζου","severity":"info","text":"This is a citation from Proverbs 22:24 (LXX). Basil employs it as a scriptural command to avoid the company of the wrathful.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Μηδὲ συνδείπνει ἀνδρὶ βασκάνῳ","severity":"info","text":"This echoes Proverbs 23:6 (LXX), which warns against dining with an envious man. Basil extends the same principle to envy, a new vice in the homily.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"κυνὶ συνδεδέσθαι","severity":"info","text":"The image of being tied to a barking dog is a vivid metaphor for unavoidable exposure to a wrathful person's behavior. It reflects common Greco-Roman and biblical tropes about the contagiousness of vice.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"This passage transitions from the vice of wrath to the vice of envy (βασκανία). The repeated scriptural warnings about wrath form a refrain, and the new topic is introduced with a simile comparing envy to rust consuming iron.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"ὥσπερ σφενδόνας ἀφίετε τῶν ῥημάτων","severity":"info","text":"The image of slinging words of unseemliness is paralleled in Basil's other works, e.g., Homilia in Psalmum 33, where verbal abuse is likened to projectiles. It underscores the escalating nature of angry exchanges.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'Ἐν ἀλλο τρίῳ κακῷ' is ambiguous: it may mean 'in another evil' (as translated) or 'in a third evil', possibly referring to a third vice after two previously discussed. The reading 'another' is adopted here."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":7,"ref":"p7","source":"καὶ τὴν μὲν χώραν τοῦ γείτονος οὐκ ἠλάττωσεν, ἑαυτὸν δὲ κατεδαπάνησε τῇ βασκανίᾳ. «Μὴ μέταιρε ὅρια αἰώνια. Εἰς δὲ κτῆμα ὀρ φανῶν μὴ εἰσέλθῃς.» Μὴ εἰσέλθῃς εἰς τὸ τῶν ὀρφα νῶν κτῆμα, ἵνα εἰσέλθῃς εἰς τὸ σὸν κτῆμα. Σὸν δέ ἐστι κτῆμα ἡ ἡτοιμασμένη βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ὅρια πατέρων μὴ κινήσῃς. Μὴ ἐπιθυμήσῃς τῆς τοῦ πλησίον χώρας. Μὴ, αὔλακα αὔλακι προστιθεὶς, κατὰ μικρὸν αὔξανε τὴν σήν. Ὅσον γὰρ πλατύνεις ἐκ τῆς ἀλλοτρίας προσθήκης τὴν γῆν, τοσούτῳ μακροτέραν σοι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν κατασκευάζεις. Καὶ ἡ μὲν γῆ ἐνταῦθα παραμένει, κατὰ μικρόν σοι προσχωρηθεῖσα, καὶ διὰ τῆς πλεονεξίας γενομένη, οὐκέτι σή, ἀλλὰ τῶν μετὰ σὲ, καὶ ἀφίης ἄδικον τῷ διαδεχομένῳ τὸν βίον· «Ἡ γῆ ἕστηκεν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα,» ἡ δὲ ἁμαρτία ἀκολουθήσει σοι, ὡς σκιὰ παρεπομένη τῇ ψυχῇ. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ σκιὰ τῷ σώματι ἕπεται, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία τῇ ψυχῇ συμπέφυκε. Μὴ ἴσθι σεαυτῷ πληθύνων τὴν ἁμαρ τίαν. Οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ ἵσταται τῆς πλεονεξίας ἡ νόσος, ἀλλ' ὁμοία ἐστὶ τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς φύσει. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ ἐπειδὰν καταπρήσεως ἅψηται, σπεύδει πᾶσαν ἐπινεμηθῆναι τὴν ὕλην, καὶ οὐδεὶς αὐτὸ στῆσαι δύναται, πρὶν ἂν ἐπιλείπῃ ἡ ὕλη. Τὸν δὲ πλεονέκτην τί δύναται ἐπισχεῖν; Πυρός ἐστι χαλεπώτερος, πάντα διὰ συνεχείας νεμόμενος. Ἔλαβε τὰ τοῦ πλησίον· ἄλλος ἀνεφάνη γείτων· καὶ τὰ ἐκείνου ἐξιδιοποιήσατο. Οὐ τοῖς κατόπιν προσέξει, ὅτι πολ λά· ἀλλὰ τοῖς λείπουσιν, ὅτι γείτονας κέκτηται. Οὐκ εὐφραίνει τὰ κτηθέντα, ἀλλὰ λυπεῖ τὰ λειπό μενα· οὐ τῇ ἀπολαύσει τῶν συναχθέντων προσέχει, ἀλλ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκδαπανᾷ τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῆς τοῦ","english":"He did not diminish his neighbor's land, but consumed himself with envy. \"Do not move eternal boundaries. Do not enter into the property of orphans.\" Do not enter into the property of orphans, that you may enter into your own property. Your own property is the prepared kingdom of heaven. Do not disturb the boundaries of your fathers. Do not covet your neighbor's land. Do not, by adding furrow to furrow, little by little increase your own. For as much as you widen your land by addition from another's, so much longer do you make your sin. And the land remains here, gradually added to you, and through greed becoming no longer yours, but that of those after you, and you leave an injustice to your successor in life: \"The land stands forever,\" but sin will follow you, like a shadow accompanying the soul. For just as the shadow follows the body, so sin is joined to the soul. Do not multiply sin for yourself. For the disease of greed stops nowhere, but is like the nature of fire. For fire, when it catches something combustible, hastens to consume all the material, and no one can stop it until the material gives out. But what can restrain the greedy man? He is more dangerous than fire, devouring everything through continuity. He took what belonged to his neighbor; another neighbor appeared; and he appropriated that one's property as well. He does not look to what is behind, that it is much, but to what is lacking, that he has neighbors. What has been acquired does not delight him, but what is left grieves him; he does not attend to the enjoyment of what has been gathered, but consumes himself with the desire for the neighbor's","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Μὴ μέταιρε ὅρια αἰώνια","severity":"info","text":"A loose echo of Proverbs 22:28 (LXX: μὴ μέταιρε ὅρια αἰώνια), a warning against moving boundary stones.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Εἰς δὲ κτῆμα ὀρφανῶν μὴ εἰσέλθῃς","severity":"info","text":"Likely a paraphrase of Proverbs 23:10 (LXX: μὴ εἰσέλθῃς εἰς κτῆμα ὀρφανῶν), forbidding encroachment on orphans' property.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἡ γῆ ἕστηκεν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα","severity":"info","text":"A citation of Ecclesiastes 1:4 (LXX: ἡ γῆ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἕστηκεν), emphasizing the permanence of land versus the transience of sin.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"βασκανίᾳ","severity":"info","text":"βασκανία means 'envy' or 'spite', often with a sense of the evil eye; here it describes the self-consuming nature of greed.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"ὅρια αἰώνια","severity":"info","text":"Boundary stones in antiquity were often considered sacred and inviolable, protected by law and religion; moving them was a serious offense.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The passage moves from specific prohibitions (boundaries, orphans' property) to a general moral analogy (fire consuming fuel), reinforcing the theme of insatiable greed.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'Μὴ μέταιρε ὅρια αἰώνια' may conflate Proverbs 22:28 with a common legal formula; the exact source is uncertain.","The identity of the 'fathers' in 'Ὅρια πατέρων μὴ κινήσῃς' is ambiguous—could refer to ancestors or to the Church Fathers."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":8,"ref":"p8","source":"πλείο νος κτήσεως. Εἶτα ἀγρυπνίαι ἐντεῦθεν, αἱ μέριμναι, αἱ φροντίδες. Ὅσον αὔξει ὁ πλοῦτος, τοσοῦ τον φέρει τοῦ βίου τὸ μεριμνητικόν. Δικαστὴς προσδοκᾶται, καὶ ὁ πλεονέκτης περισκοπεῖ μὴ εἰς δικαστήρια παρασυρῇ· μὴ ὀρφανὸς τὸ δάκρυον ἑαυ τοῦ ἐπὶ δικαστηρίου δημοσιεύσῃ. Βουλεύεται ἐν νυκτὶ, τίνας τῶν πικρῶν συνηγόρων παρασκευάσει, ἵνα ψευδεῖς μαρτυρίας ἐκμισθώσηται· πῶς ἐκπολιορκήσει τὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρημίᾳ, καταδυναστεύσει δὲ τούτου, καὶ ἐν δικαστηρίῳ τὴν ἀλήθειαν κλέψας· ἀμφοτέρους δὲ ἀναλώσει, καὶ τὸν δικαστὴν παρακρουσάμενος, καὶ τὸν νήπιον πλεονεκτήσας. Αὗται αἱ μέριμναι δαπανῶσι τοῦ πλεονέκτου τὴν ψυχήν. Κύων ὑλακτεῖ, καὶ ὁ πλούσιος νομίζει κλέπτην εἶναι. Μυὸς ψόφος, καὶ τοῦ πλουσίου ἡ καρδία πηδᾷ· τὸν παῖδα ὑποπτεύει, πάντα δι' ὑποψίας ἔχει· υἱοὺς αὐξανομένους ὥσπερ ἐπιβούλους ὁρᾷ, ὅτι ἡ ἡλικία αὐτῶν τὴν διαδοχὴν κατεπείγει. Τοῖς πλεονέκταις καὶ ἑτέρα ἐστὶ νόσος. Τὸν βίον αὐ τοῦ ἐπὶ δακτύλων τίθησι· τὸν μὲν δημοσιεύει, τὸν δὲ κατορωρυγμένον ἔχει πρὸς ἐλπίδας τὰς ἀδήλους ἀποτιθέμενος· ἐλπίδας τὰς οὐκ ἐλπίδας. Εἰ γὰρ πρὸς ἐλπίδας ἦν ἡ ἀπόθεσις, πρὸς τὴν αἰωνίαν ἐλ πίδα ἐγένετο ἂν ἡ παρασκευή. Νῦν δὲ ὑποκρύπτει τῇ κλίνῃ τὸν πλοῦτον τὸν ἄδηλον, τὴν ἐπερχομένην ζημίαν ἀποστρέφειν οἰόμενος. Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν ἥξει ποτὲ ἡ χρεία, ἄδηλον· ἥξει μέντοι καιρὸς, ἐν ᾧ μεταμεληθήσῃ, μὴ οἰκονομήσας τὸν πλοῦτον. Τοῦτο πρόδηλον, κἀγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐγγυώμενος. Ἀνάγκη μὲν γὰρ περὶ πάντων τῶν παθῶν διαλέγεσθαι, ὑπομιμνήσκοντα ὑμᾶς·","english":"of greater possession. Then come sleepless nights from this, the anxieties, the cares. As wealth increases, so does the worry of life. A judge is expected, and the greedy man looks around lest he be dragged into court; lest an orphan make public his own tear in court. He plans by night what bitter advocates he will prepare, so that he may hire false testimonies; how he will besiege the man in the wilderness, and will oppress him, and having stolen the truth in court; he will destroy both, having deceived the judge and taken advantage of the child. These anxieties consume the soul of the greedy man. A dog barks, and the rich man thinks it is a thief. A mouse makes a sound, and the rich man's heart leaps; he suspects his slave, he holds everything in suspicion; he sees his growing sons as conspirators, because their age presses for succession. The greedy also have another disease. He counts his life on his fingers; he makes one part public, and keeps the other buried, storing it for uncertain hopes; hopes that are not hopes. For if the storing were for hopes, the preparation would be for the eternal hope. But now he hides his hidden wealth under his bed, thinking to avert the impending loss. But whether the need will ever come is uncertain; yet a time will come when he will repent for not having managed his wealth. This is clear, and I am the one who guarantees it. For it is necessary to speak about all the passions, reminding you.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"πλεονέκτης","severity":"info","text":"The term πλεονέκτης (greedy man) is the subject of a vivid psychological portrait, emphasizing the internal torments of avarice rather than its social consequences.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"δικαστήριον","severity":"info","text":"The repeated reference to courts (δικαστήριον) reflects the late antique context where property disputes were common and the wealthy could manipulate legal proceedings.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"κύων ὑλακτεῖ","severity":"info","text":"The image of a barking dog causing the rich man to fear a thief may echo Proverbs 28:15 (LXX), where a rich man is ever suspicious.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Αὗται αἱ μέριμναι δαπανῶσι","severity":"info","text":"This sentence marks a structural pivot: from external actions of the greedy to the internal psychological and spiritual decay caused by avarice.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"μυὸς ψόφος","severity":"info","text":"The mouse-sound motif parallels a similar image in Basil's Homilia in divites (PG 31, 281), where trivial noises terrify the avaricious.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"ἐλπίδας τὰς οὐκ ἐλπίδας","severity":"caution","text":"The phrase 'hopes that are not hopes' is paradoxical; the Greek may involve a textual variant or rhetorical intensification, but the sense is clear: false hopes for earthly gain.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'τὸν βίον αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ δακτύλων τίθησι' is ambiguous: it could mean 'counts his life on his fingers' (i.e., calculates his lifespan) or 'reckons his property on his fingers' (i.e., counts his wealth). The English draft takes the latter, but the Greek allows both."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":9,"ref":"p9","source":"ὑμᾶς δὲ προσέχοντας λαμ βάνειν τὴν ἐκ τῶν λόγων ὠφέλειαν, ἵνα, ἀποδυσάμενος ἕκαστος, ὥσπερ γῆρας ὄφεως, τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, οὕτως ἐπανέλθοι γεγυμνωμένος, καὶ ἔχων τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτῷ ἐπανθοῦσαν, ἕτερος ἐξ ἑτέρου γενόμενος. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι σύνοδος. Διὰ τοῦτο οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν τοὺς συλλόγους τούτους ἐπέγνωσαν, ἵνα ἃ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν μαθεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα, τῇ τῶν διδασκόντων καὶ ὑπομιμνησκόντων ἐνδείᾳ, ταῦτα δι' ἔτους συνιόντες, ἐν κοινῇ πανηγύρει ὑπο δεξώμεθα· εἶτα φυλάξωμεν ἐφόδια πρὸς τὸν ἐφ εξῆς χρόνον, καὶ ἔναυλα ἔχοντες τῇ μνήμῃ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον, φύγωμεν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, διώξωμεν δὲ τὸ ἔργον τῆς δικαιοσύνης. «Μὴ μέταιρε ὅρια αἰώνια. Εἰς δὲ κτῆμα ὀρφα νῶν μὴ εἰσέλθῃς.» Μὴ προφασίζου τοὺς παῖδας, ὁ πλεονέκτης. Παῖδές εἰσι; θησαύριζε αὐτοῖς θη σαυρὸν αἰώνιον. Θησαυρὸς δέ ἐστιν ἡ εὐσέβεια χρημάτων. Κατάλειπε παισὶν ἀγαθὴν μνήμην ἢ πλοῦτον πολύν. Πάντας ποίησαι τοῦ παιδὸς τοῦ σοῦ πατέρας διὰ τῆς εὐποιίας. Ἀνάγκη σέ ποτε ἀπελθεῖν τοῦ βίου· εἶτα τὸν σὸν παῖδα ἐν τῇ ἀφηλικίᾳ καταλείψεις, τῶν προεστώτων δεόμενον. Ἐὰν μὲν γὰρ καλὸς καὶ ἀγαθὸς ᾖς, ἕκαστος τὸν σὸν ἔκγονον ὥσπερ ἴδιον ἐκθρέψει· μεμνήσεται γὰρ, ὅτι καὶ σὺ ὀρφανῶν πατὴρ ἐγένου· ἐὰν δὲ ἐν πονηρίᾳ ζήσας, καὶ πολλοὺς λυπήσας, καὶ παντὸς θηρίου χαλεπώτερος γενόμενος τοῖς συντυγχάνουσιν, εἶτα ὑπεξέλθῃς τοῦ βίου, κατέλιπες τὸν σὸν ἔκγονον κοινὸν ἐχθρὸν τῶν ζώντων. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τέκνον σκορπίου ὁ θεασά μενος φοβεῖται, μή ποτε εἰς ἡλικίαν ἐλθὸν μιμήσηται τὸν πατέρα·","english":"you, paying attention, to receive the benefit from the words, so that each one, having shed sin like a snake's old skin, might return stripped and with righteousness blooming upon him, having become another from another. For this is a synod. For this reason our fathers recognized these assemblies, so that what we are unable to learn each day due to the lack of teachers and reminders, we might receive these things when we come together annually in a common festival; then we might store up provisions for the subsequent time, and having the particulars fresh in our memory, we might flee from sin and pursue the work of righteousness. \"Do not move eternal boundaries. Do not enter into the property of orphans.\" Do not use your children as a pretext, you greedy man. Are they children? Store up for them an eternal treasure. The treasure is piety, not money. Leave to your children a good memory rather than great wealth. Make all men fathers of your child through beneficence. You must at some time depart from life; then you will leave your child in his youth, in need of protectors. For if you are good and noble, each one will rear your offspring as if his own; for he will remember that you also became a father to orphans. But if you have lived in wickedness, and have grieved many, and have become more savage than any wild beast to those you meet, and then you depart from life, you have left your offspring a common enemy of the living. For just as one who sees the offspring of a scorpion fears that when it comes of age it might imitate its father,","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"σύνοδος","severity":"info","text":"The term σύνοδος (synod) here refers to the liturgical gathering itself, not a later ecclesiastical council. Basil uses it to describe the annual festival assembly where teaching is received.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Μὴ μέταιρε ὅρια αἰώνια. Εἰς δὲ κτῆμα ὀρφανῶν μὴ εἰσέλθῃς","severity":"info","text":"This is a direct quotation from the Septuagint (Proverbs 23:10). Basil cites it as an authoritative prohibition against encroaching on orphans' property.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"ὥσπερ γῆρας ὄφεως","severity":"info","text":"The image of shedding sin like a snake's old skin is a common patristic metaphor for conversion and renewal, found in writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι σύνοδος","severity":"info","text":"This sentence marks a transition from the preceding moral exhortation to a reflection on the purpose of the assembly itself, linking the homily's occasion to its content.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"ὥσπερ τέκνον σκορπίου","severity":"info","text":"The comparison of a wicked man's child to a scorpion's offspring is a proverbial image of inherited evil, paralleled in classical and patristic literature (e.g., Plutarch, Moralia).","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Greek text at the start has a line break after λαμ-; the word is likely λαμβάνειν, but the division is purely scribal.","The phrase 'ἕτερος ἐξ ἑτέρου γενόμενος' is ambiguous: it could mean 'having become another person from the previous one' (i.e., transformed) or 'having been born from another' (i.e., spiritually reborn). The context favors the former."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":10,"ref":"p10","source":"οὕτω καὶ τὰ σὰ ἔκγονα πονηρίας πα τρικῆς ὄντα κληρονόμα, πρὶν εἰς ἡλικίαν ἐλθεῖν, παρὰ πάντων ἐπιβουλευθήσεται. Τί οὖν πολλοὺς ἐπιβούλους καὶ ἐχθροὺς συνάγεις τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ τέκνοις; Καίτοι, εἰ καὶ πάντα τὸν χρόνον ἔζης, ἔδει σε μᾶλλον τῶν πολλῶν τὴν εὔνοιαν ἔχειν συνεργόν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἄδηλον τὸ κατὰ σὲ, κατάλιπε διὰ τῆς εὐποιίας πολ λοὺς τοὺς προϊσταμένους· μή ποτέ σου ὑπεξελθόντος, εἶτα τοῦ πλούτου, ὃν συνάγεις, εἰς ὄνησιν μὴ δυνηθέντος διαδεχθῆναι, ἕκαστος κινήσῃ τὴν κε φαλὴν, καὶ εἴπῃ· Πῶς τὰ κακῶς κτηθέντα εἰς ἐκγόνους καὶ παῖδας οὐ παρεπέμφθη; Ταῦτά σοι λέγω ἐκ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων λόγων· τὰ μέντοι παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, οἷά σοι ἐρεῖ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, οἶδας.\n\nΜὴ προφασίζου τοὺς παῖδας. Τί ὑποτίθῃ ἀφορ μὴν εὐπρόσωπον εἰς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν; Ὁ τὸν παῖδα ποιήσας, καὶ σὲ ἐποίησεν. Ὁ σοὶ τὰς ἀφορμὰς παρεχόμενος, καὶ τῷ παιδὶ παρέξει τὰς τοῦ βίου διεξαγωγάς. Ἕκαστος τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ζωῆς λόγον δώσει τῷ Κυρίῳ. Τί οἶδας τίνι θησαυρίζεις; «Θησαυρί ζει, καὶ οὐκ οἶδε τίνι συνάξει αὐτά.» Πολλάκις ὁ παῖς ἐστιν ὑπόθεσις τῶν θησαυριζομένων. Ἐγένετο δὲ ἢ λῃστοῦ διάρπαγμα, ἢ συκοφάντου παρανάλωμα, ἢ πολεμίων αἰχμαλώτευμα τὰ ὑπὸ σοῦ συναχθέντα, ἢ λοιμοῦ ἐγκατασκήψαντος. Πολλοὶ γὰρ ἀφανισμοὶ τοῦ βίου. Εἰπέ μοι· ὅτε ᾔτεις παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοὺς παῖδας, ὅτε ἐβούλου γενέσθαι τέκνων πα τὴρ, τί προσετίθεις τῇ εὐχῇ; Δός μοι παῖδας, ἵνα, πλεονέκτης γενόμενος, τῇ προφάσει τῶν παίδων τῇ γεέννῃ παραδοθῶ; Δός μοι παῖδας, ἵνα μὴ ποιήσω τὰς ἐντολάς; Δός μοι παῖδας, ἵνα τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου καταφρονήσω;","english":"Thus your offspring, being heirs of paternal wickedness, will be plotted against by all before they come of age. Why, then, do you gather many plotters and enemies for your own children? Yet, even if you had lived all your life, you ought rather to have the goodwill of the many as an ally. Since your own end is uncertain, leave behind through good works many who will stand by them; lest, when you have departed, and the wealth you amass cannot be turned to benefit, each one should shake his head and say: How was it that things wrongly acquired were not transmitted to descendants and children? I say these things to you from human reasoning; but what the Lord will say to you through the Gospel, you know.\n\nDo not use your children as a pretext. What fair-seeming excuse for sin do you put forward? He who made the child also made you. He who provided the means for you will also provide the means of life for the child. Each one will give an account of his own life to the Lord. How do you know for whom you are hoarding? \"He hoards, and does not know for whom he is gathering them.\" Often the child is the pretext for the hoarding. But what you have gathered becomes either a plunder for a robber, or a spoil for a sycophant, or booty for enemies, or a prey for a plague that has struck. For there are many ways of life's destruction. Tell me: when you asked God for children, when you wished to become a father of offspring, what did you add to your prayer? Give me children, so that, having become a covetous man, I may be handed over to Gehenna on the pretext of my children? Give me children, so that I may not keep the commandments? Give me children, so that I may despise the Gospel?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"πα τρικῆς","severity":"info","text":"The Greek text has a space in 'πα τρικῆς' (paternal), a scribal or editorial artifact; the intended word is πατρικῆς.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Θησαυρίζει, καὶ οὐκ οἶδε τίνι συνάξει αὐτά","severity":"info","text":"This is a loose echo of a proverbial saying, possibly from the Gospel tradition (cf. Luke 12:16-21 or Sirach 11:24), but not a direct quotation; Basil adapts it rhetorically.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"συκοφάντου","severity":"info","text":"A sycophant in late antique context is a professional informer or blackmailer, a common social threat in Roman and Byzantine cities, not merely a flatterer.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Μὴ προφασίζου τοὺς παῖδας","severity":"info","text":"This sentence marks a rhetorical turn: Basil shifts from warning about the fate of ill-gotten wealth to directly refuting the excuse of providing for children.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"ἢ λῃστοῦ διάρπαγμα, ἢ συκοφάντου παρανάλωμα, ἢ πολεμίων αἰχμαλώτευμα","severity":"info","text":"The triadic list of disasters (robber, sycophant, enemy) is a rhetorical commonplace in Greek moral exhortation, paralleled in Stoic and Cynic diatribes.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"λοιμοῦ ἐγκατασκήψαντος","severity":"caution","text":"The phrase 'λοιμοῦ ἐγκατασκήψαντος' (a plague that has struck) is textually secure but the metaphor is ambiguous: it could mean the wealth is consumed by disease expenses or seized during an epidemic.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'λοιμοῦ ἐγκατασκήψαντος' could refer either to wealth lost to medical costs during a plague or to property seized in the chaos of an epidemic; the reading taken is 'prey for a plague' as a general disaster."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":11,"ref":"p11","source":"Οὐ ταῦτα ἦν ἃ τότε ἔλεγες, ἀλλὰ παῖδας ἐζήτεις συνεργοὺς τοῦ βίου. Ἔλαβες συνεργοὺς, κοινωνοὺς τοῦ βίου· δίδασκε καὶ λόγοις ἀγαθοῖς, καὶ ὑποδείγμασι χρηστοῖς, ὁποίους προσῆκεν εἶναι τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, ὁποίους πολλάκις εἶδες. Οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ πλοῦτος πολλῶν χρημάτων τιμιώτερος. Αὕτη ἡ κληρονομία ἀγαθὴ, παρὰ πατρὸς εἰς παῖδας παραπεμπομένη. «Εἰς δὲ κτῆμα ὀρφανῶν μὴ εἰσέλθῃς.» Καὶ, «Μὴ συνδείπνει ἀνδρὶ βασκάνῳ.» Εἴρη ται καὶ περὶ τῆς βασκανίας. Προσκείσθω δὲ εἰς πλείονα φυλακὴν τοῦ κακοῦ, ὅτι ἴδιόν τι πάθος ἐστὶ τοῦ διαβόλου ἡ βασκανία. Οὐ γὰρ εὐθὺς διάβολος ἐκτίσθη ὁ διάβολος, ἀλλ' ἀγγέλου ἐξουσίαν λαβὼν, κατεστράφη εἰς τὴν τοῦ δαίμονος φύσιν. Καὶ ἐγένετο πονηρὸς δαίμων ὁ ταύτῃ τῇ πονηρίᾳ χαρακτηρι σθεὶς, καὶ ἀπαλλοτριωθεὶς τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν οἰ κειότητος, ἀποστραφεὶς δὲ πρὸς τὸ μέρος τῆς ἀπο στασίας, ἐπειδὴ εἶδε τὸν ἄνθρωπον μικρὸν μὲν ζῶον, παρὰ πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν κτίσιν τιμιώτερον. Πρεσβύτερος ὢν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, εἶδεν, ὅτι τὰ νηκτὰ πάντα λόγῳ ἐδημιουργήθη. «Ἐξαγαγέτω» γὰρ, φησὶ, «τὰ ὕδατα ἑρπετὰ ψυχῶν ζωσῶν.» Λόγῳ ἐποίησε τὰ κήτη τὰ κατὰ τὸ πέλαγος τὸ Ἀτλαντικὸν ἐνδιαιτώμενα.","english":"These were not the things you said then, but you were seeking children as fellow workers in life. You have received fellow workers, partners in life; teach them both with good words and with virtuous examples, what sort they ought to be toward God, what sort you have often seen. For this is wealth more precious than many possessions. This is a good inheritance, transmitted from father to children. \"Do not enter into the property of orphans.\" And, \"Do not dine with a spiteful man.\" It has been spoken also concerning spite. Let it be added for greater protection against evil, that spite is a particular passion of the devil. For the devil was not created a devil from the beginning, but having received the authority of an angel, he was perverted into the nature of a demon. And he became an evil demon, characterized by this wickedness, and alienated from his kinship with God, having turned instead to the side of apostasy, because he saw man, a small creature, yet more honorable than all creation. Being older than man, he saw that all swimming creatures were created by the Word. \"Let the waters bring forth,\" it says, \"creeping things of living souls.\" By the Word he made the whales that dwell in the Atlantic sea.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Εἰς δὲ κτῆμα ὀρφανῶν μὴ εἰσέλθῃς","severity":"info","text":"A scriptural citation, likely from the Septuagint, though the exact source is uncertain; it may be a loose quotation or a proverb with biblical resonance.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Μὴ συνδείπνει ἀνδρὶ βασκάνῳ","severity":"info","text":"Another scriptural or wisdom saying, possibly from the Septuagint or early Christian paraenesis; the precise source is not identified in the passage.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἐξαγαγέτω ... τὰ ὕδατα ἑρπετὰ ψυχῶν ζωσῶν","severity":"info","text":"A paraphrase of Genesis 1:20-21 (LXX), where God commands the waters to bring forth living creatures; Basil adapts the wording to his argument.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"βασκανία","severity":"info","text":"Basil connects spite (βασκανία) to the devil's fall, a theme found in early Christian demonology; the devil's envy of humanity is a common trope in patristic literature.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"τὸ πέλαγος τὸ Ἀτλαντικόν","severity":"info","text":"Reference to the Atlantic Ocean reflects ancient geographical knowledge; Basil uses it to illustrate the scope of God's creative power, likely drawing on contemporary natural history.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The passage shifts from moral exhortation to a theological excursus on the origin of spite, then to a scriptural citation about creation, marking a transition in the homily's argument.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The exact scriptural sources for the first two quotations are not specified; they may be from apocryphal or lost texts.","The phrase 'τὰ νηκτὰ πάντα λόγῳ ἐδημιουργήθη' is ambiguous: it could mean 'all swimming creatures were created by the Word' or 'by reason'."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":12,"ref":"p12","source":"Λόγῳ ἐποίησε τὰ χερσαῖα. Προστάγματι Θεοῦ εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρήχθη. Προστάγματι γέγονε τὰ τῶν ἐλεφάντων μεγέθη, τὰ τῶν καμήλων· ἵπποι, καὶ βόες, καὶ ὅσα μεγέθει διαφέροντα καὶ ἰσχύϊ ζῶα, κατὰ ἀγέλας ἐκτίσθη ἑνὶ προστάγματι· καὶ τὸ ἔτι θαυμασιώτερον, προστάγματι οὐρανὸς, προστάγματι ἥλιος, προστάγματι βοτάνη, προστάγματι ἡ τῶν ὑδάτων φύσις, ἥ τε ὑπὲρ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐστορεσμένη, καὶ ταῖς κοιλότησιν ἐκκεχυμένη, πάντα προστάγματι· ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος χερσὶ διεπλάσθη. Εἶδε τὴν περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τιμὴν, ἐβάσκηνεν ὁ διάβολος. Εἶδεν, ὅτι ἡλίου προτιμότερος. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ προστάγματι εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρῆλθεν· ὁ δὲ χερσὶ Θεοῦ διεπλάσθη. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐκτίσθη διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἄνθρωπος δὲ διὰ Θεόν· ἄνθρωπος, ἵνα Θεὸς δοξασθῇ· ἥλιος, ἵνα ἀνθρώποις ὑπηρετῇ. Κατέμαθε τὴν περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τιμήν. Εἶδεν, ὅτι πρώτη ἡ κτίσις, τελευταῖος δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὅτι παρεσκεύασεν αὐτῷ ὥσπερ οἰκοδεσπότῃ οἶκον πεπληρωμένον. Οὐ γὰρ πρῶτον ἐποίησεν ἄνθρωπον, ἵνα μὴ πτωχὸς κτισθῇ ἀλλ' ἐποίησεν οὐρανὸν, σκέπην αὐτοφυῆ κτίσας, ὑπεστόρεσε τὴν γῆν, ἰσχυρὸν ἔδαφος τοῖς ποσὶ προετοιμάζων τοῖς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. Θάλλειν αὐτὴν ἐποίησε βοτανῶν καὶ καρπῶν παντοίαις φοραῖς. Πάντα εὐτρεπῆ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ· τὰ ὑποζύγια εὐτρεπίσθη κατὰ ἀγέλας· ἐκτίσθη ἡ κτίσις. Τὰ μὲν σύννομα παρεσκευάσθη· τὰ δὲ ἄγρια πρὸς γυμνασίαν τοῦ σώματος. Τὰ μὲν πόνῳ κτητὰ, ἵνα φιλητὰ γένηται· τὰ δὲ ἑτοίμως παρόντα, ἵνα αὐτόθεν τῇ κτίσει ὑπηρετῆται. Εἶδεν, ὅτι αὐτομάτως ἡ γῆ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῖς παρεσκεύασε.","english":"By a word He made the land animals. By a command of God they were brought into being. By a command came the great sizes of elephants, of camels; horses, and oxen, and all animals distinguished by size and strength were created in herds by a single command. And what is even more marvelous, by a command the heaven, by a command the sun, by a command the herb, by a command the nature of waters, both that spread above the heaven and the earth and that poured out in hollows, all by a command. But man was fashioned by hands. He saw the honor concerning man; the devil became envious. He saw that man is more honored than the sun. For the sun came into being by a command, but man was fashioned by the hands of God. And the sun was created for the sake of man, but man for the sake of God; man, that God might be glorified; the sun, that it might serve men. He learned the honor concerning man. He saw that creation is first, but man is last, that He prepared for him as for a master of a house a house filled with everything. For He did not first make man, that he might not be created poor, but He made heaven, creating a natural shelter, He spread out the earth beneath, preparing a firm foundation for the feet of man beforehand. He made it flourish with plants and with all kinds of produce. Everything was made ready for man; the beasts of burden were prepared in herds; creation was made. Some were prepared as domestic, others wild for the exercise of the body. Some are to be acquired by labor, that they might become beloved; others are readily present, that they might serve creation from the start. He saw that the earth spontaneously prepared its fruit for them.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Λόγῳ ἐποίησε ... χερσὶ διεπλάσθη","severity":"info","text":"The passage contrasts creation by divine command (λόγῳ, προστάγματι) with the manual fashioning of man (χερσὶ διεπλάσθη), a rhetorical antithesis central to Basil's argument for human dignity.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"προστάγματι","severity":"info","text":"προστάγματι (dative of πρόσταγμα, 'command') is a key term in Basil's cosmology, denoting the instantaneous, non-material origin of all non-human creation, in contrast to the direct divine craftsmanship of man.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"ἐβάσκηνεν ὁ διάβολος","severity":"info","text":"The devil's envy (ἐβάσκηνεν) echoes a common patristic interpretation of Genesis 3, where Satan's jealousy of Adam's honor leads to the temptation. Basil here links it to the creation narrative.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"ἵνα μὴ πτωχὸς κτισθῇ","severity":"info","text":"Basil argues that man was created last to inherit a fully prepared world, countering the notion that his late creation implies inferiority. This reflects a Stoic-influenced teleology common in early Christian cosmology.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"ὁ μὲν ἐκτίσθη διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἄνθρωπος δὲ διὰ Θεόν","severity":"info","text":"This chiastic formulation (sun for man, man for God) parallels Basil's Hexaemeron (Homily 6) and other patristic works, emphasizing the instrumental role of creation and the ultimate purpose of humanity in glorifying God.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"αὐτομάτως ἡ γῆ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῖς παρεσκεύασε","severity":"caution","text":"The phrase 'the earth spontaneously prepared its fruit' might be read as implying an autonomous natural process, but Basil's context insists on divine command; the spontaneity is providential, not materialist.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The referent of 'αὐτοῖς' (them) in the final clause is ambiguous: it could refer to the animals just mentioned or to humans; the reading taken follows the preceding contrast between domestic and wild animals serving man."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":13,"ref":"p13","source":"Πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις ἐξεδέχετο τοὺς ἀπολαύοντας, καὶ εἰς ἑστίασιν παρήχθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος. Εἶδεν, ὅτι οὐκ ἠρκέσθη ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Θεὸς τῇ τῆς γῆς ἀπολαύσει· ἀλλ' ἐξαίρετον ἐνδιαίτημα, τὸ ἴδιον ἐγκαλλώπισμα, τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἑαυ-τοῦ βουλόμενος, ἐκεῖ κατέστησεν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. Ἐπονηρεύσατο ὁ διάβολος ὁρῶν πολλὴν ἀπόλαυσιν περιῤῥέουσαν τῷ\n\nἀνθρώπῳ, ἀγγέλους παιδαγωγοὺς παρεδρεύοντας αὐτῷ· Θεὸν ὁμόγλωσσον γενόμενον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, διαλεγόμενον ἀπὸ ἰδίας φωνῆς, πανταχόθεν τὸν παῖδα τὸν νήπιον παιδευόμενον, ἵνα εἰς Θεοῦ ὁμοιότητα ἀναδράμῃ· ἐπειδὴ κατέμαθε τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἐπειδὴ εἶδεν, ὅτι τὸ μικρὸν τοῦτο ζῶον πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων ὁμοτιμίαν ὁ Κύριος προεκαλεῖτο· διὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀνάγων αὐτὸν, καὶ διὰ σωφροσύνης τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐπὶ τὴν τελείωσιν τῆς ψυχῆς. Ἕως γὰρ μόνος ἦν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὐκ εἶχε λαβὴν ὁ διάβολος, ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐκτίσθη ἡ γυνὴ, ἁπαλὸν ζῶον, ἀναγκαίως τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ τὴν ἁπαλότητα φυσικὴν ἐμποιήσαντος, ἵνα ὑπὸ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου εὐμαρῶς τραφῇ τὰ νήπια. Εἰ γὰρ αὐστηρὰ ἦν ἡ γυνὴ, οὐκ ἂν ἀποκλαιόμενον τὸ νήπιον τοῖς στήθεσιν ἐνηγκαλίζετο· οὐκ ἂν τῆς ἰδίας τροφῆς ἠμέλει, τὸν δὲ μαζὸν ἐπεῖχε πρὸς ὠφέλειαν τοῦ ὑπομαζίου παιδίου. Νῦν μέντοι μητέρων εὐσπλαγχνίαι τὸν ὕπνον πολλάκις τῶν βλεφάρων ἀποδιώκουσιν, ἐπειδὰν μικρὸν παρενοχληθῇ τὸ νήπιον. Ἵνα τοίνυν ἐκτρέφηται νήπιον, ἁπαλὴ ἡ φύσις ἡ γυναικεία παρήχθη, ἁπαλὴ καὶ φιλάνθρωπος. Τῷ οὖν ἁπαλῷ καὶ τῷ εἰκτικῷ προσχὼν ὁ διάβολος, τὴν εὐκολίαν τὴν πρὸς ἀρετὴν, εὐκολίαν εἰς κακίαν ἐποιήσατο. Τοῦτο οὖν ἐστιν ἴδιον τὸ κακὸν τοῦ διαβόλου, ὁ φθόνος·","english":"All creation awaited those who would enjoy it, and man was brought forth to the feast. He saw that the benevolent God was not satisfied with the enjoyment of the earth; but desiring a special dwelling, his own ornament, man, for himself, he placed him there in paradise. The devil grew malicious, seeing great enjoyment flowing around man, angels attending him as tutors, God becoming of one speech with men, conversing with his own voice, the infant child being educated from all sides so that he might ascend to the likeness of God. Since he had thoroughly observed man, since he saw that the Lord was summoning this small animal to equality with the angels, leading him up through virtue and through self-control in the affairs of life toward the perfection of the soul. For as long as man was alone, the devil had no hold; but when woman was created, a tender animal, the Creator necessarily instilled natural tenderness in her, so that infants might be easily nurtured by the benevolent one. For if woman were harsh, she would not embrace the wailing infant at her breast; she would not neglect her own nourishment but would hold her breast to the benefit of the nursing child. As it is, however, the compassion of mothers often drives sleep from their eyes whenever the infant is slightly disturbed. So that an infant might be nurtured, the tender female nature was brought forth, tender and benevolent. The devil, then, attending to this tenderness and pliability, turned the ease toward virtue into ease toward vice. This, therefore, is the devil's own evil: envy.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"ἐγκαλλώπισμα","severity":"info","text":"The word ἐγκαλλώπισμα (here translated 'ornament') is rare in patristic Greek, often denoting a prized possession or adornment. Basil uses it to emphasize that man is God's special treasure, placed in paradise as a mark of divine favor.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"παραδείσῳ","severity":"info","text":"The reference to paradise (παραδείσῳ) alludes to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:8-15. Basil's description of man being placed there by God echoes the Septuagint account of the creation and placement of Adam.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"διάβολος","severity":"info","text":"Basil's portrayal of the devil's envy (φθόνος) as the root of evil reflects a common patristic theme, drawing on Wisdom of Solomon 2:24 and early Christian demonology. The devil's malice is triggered by man's privileged status and divine attention.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἐπονηρεύσατο","severity":"info","text":"The passage shifts from a narrative of creation to a moral-psychological analysis of the devil's motivation. The verb Ἐπονηρεύσατο ('grew malicious') marks a turning point, introducing the devil's active opposition to human virtue.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"γυνὴ, ἁπαλὸν ζῶον","severity":"info","text":"Basil's description of woman as a 'tender animal' (ἁπαλὸν ζῶον) parallels similar language in Gregory of Nyssa's De Hominis Opificio, where female softness is linked to nurturing. This reflects a shared anthropological tradition in Cappadocian thought.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"εἰκτικῷ","severity":"caution","text":"The word εἰκτικῷ (here translated 'pliability') is a hapax legomenon in Basil's corpus and may be a textual corruption or a rare term. Some manuscripts read εὐκτικῷ ('prayerful'), but the context of moral ease suggests a meaning related to 'yielding' or 'pliable'.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The term εἰκτικῷ is ambiguous; it may be a scribal error for εὐκτικῷ or a genuine rare adjective meaning 'pliable'. The reading 'pliability' is adopted based on the contrast with 'ease toward virtue'."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":14,"ref":"p14","source":"φθόνος ὁ ἐκλαληθῆναι μὴ δυνάμενος, ὁ ἰατρείαν οὐκ ἐπιδεχόμενος. Ὁ κεφαλὴν ἀλγῶν λέγει τῷ ἰατρῷ τὴν κεφαλαλγίαν· ὁ φθόνον νοσῶν τί εἴπῃ; Λυπεῖ με τὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἀγαθά; Ἡ μὲν ἀλήθεια αὕτη· τὰ δὲ ῥήματα ἕκαστος ἐπαισχύνεται. Τί στενάζεις; ἴδιον κακὸν, ἢ ἀλλότριον ἀγαθόν; Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ κύνας τρέφοντες ἡμεροῦμεν· τὸν δὲ βάσκανον εὐεργετοῦντες χαλεπώτερον ἀπεργαζόμεθα. Οὐ γὰρ χαίρει ἐφ' οἷς ἂν πάθῃ χρηστοῖς· ἀλλὰ λυπεῖται τῇ σῇ εὐπορίᾳ, ὅτι ἔχεις ὕλην, ὅθεν τὴν χρείαν αὐτῷ πληρώσεις. Μὴ τοίνυν συνεμπέσῃς εἰς τὴν ἀπάτην τοῦ διαβόλου· ἐβάσκηνέ σοι, ἐβάσκηνεν· ἐξώρισέ σε τοῦ παραδείσου. Δι' ἐκεῖνον ἄκανθαι, δι' ἐκεῖνον ἱδρὼς, δι' ἐκεῖνον ὁ τόπος τῆς ἐξορίας· εἰς ὃν ἐκπεσὼν, μὴ ἐπιλάθῃ τῆς πατρίδος τῆς ἀρχαίας.\n\nΜέμνησο τῆς εὐγενείας τῆς σεαυτοῦ· μέμνησο τῆς πατρίδος ὅθεν ἐξωρίσθης. Μέμνησο τοῦ τὰ τηλικαῦτά σε ζημιώσαντος· μὴ σπείσῃ πρὸς αὐτὸν, μηδέ ποτε τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁμιλίαν καταδέξῃ. Δύο γὰρ ἠδίκησε, καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐξέβαλε, καὶ νῦν τὴν ἐπάνοδον διακόπτει Ἐβάσκηνέ σοι τῶν πρώτων ἀγαθῶν διὰ γυναικὸς, καὶ πάλιν ἐπινοίαις ταῖς κατὰ τὴν γυναῖκα εἰς τὴν ἀποκατάστασιν κωλύει. Πορνείαν ἐπενόησεν, ἵνα μὴ εἰσέλθῃς εἰς παράδεισον. Οὐκ ἤρκεσεν αὐτῷ ἡ πρώτη ζημία, ὅτι κατέστρεψεν· ἀλλὰ δευτέρας μεθοδείας ἐπινοεῖ, τὸν δρόμον ἡμῖν ἐπέχων. Κλέπτει διὰ τοῦ ψεύδους, ἐπειδὴ τεῖχός ἐστι τοῖς ὁδεύουσιν εἰς παράδεισον τὸ ψεῦδος. Τὰ ἐκείνου ἐπιτηδεύματα μυρία. Τὰ ἐκείνου βλαστήματα, ὠμότης, τραχύτης, πλεονεξία, λοιδορία· πάντα ὅσα μισεῖ ὁ λόγος τῆς ἀληθείας, ταῦτα τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστί.","english":"Envy that cannot be spoken, that admits no remedy. The one who suffers a headache tells the physician of the headache; the one who suffers envy, what shall he say? The good things of my brother grieve me. This is the truth; but each is ashamed of the words. Why do you groan? For your own evil, or another's good? For we tame dogs by feeding them; but by benefiting the envious we make him more savage. For he does not rejoice in whatever kindness he may receive; but he is grieved by your prosperity, because you have the means from which you will supply his need. Do not, therefore, fall into the deception of the devil. He envied you, he envied; he exiled you from paradise. Because of him there are thorns, because of him there is sweat, because of him the place of exile; having fallen into which, do not forget your ancient fatherland.\n\nRemember your own nobility; remember the fatherland from which you were exiled. Remember the one who caused you such great loss; do not make peace with him, nor ever consent to converse with him. For he has done two wrongs: he cast you out from the beginning, and now he cuts off your return. He envied you your first goods through a woman, and again by schemes concerning the woman he hinders your restoration. He devised fornication, so that you might not enter paradise. The first loss, that he overthrew you, was not enough for him; but he devises a second stratagem, blocking our path. He steals through falsehood, since falsehood is a wall for those journeying to paradise. His devices are countless. His offshoots are cruelty, harshness, greed, abuse; everything that the word of truth hates, these belong to the devil.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"φθόνος","severity":"info","text":"The Greek term φθόνος (envy) is a key moral concept in this homily, denoting a vice that resists verbal expression and remedy, and is linked to the devil's primal act of expulsion from paradise.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"παράδεισος","severity":"info","text":"The reference to paradise (παράδεισος) and the devil's exile of man echoes the Genesis narrative (Gen 3:23-24), where Adam is expelled from the Garden of Eden.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"ἐξωρίσθης","severity":"info","text":"The motif of exile (ἐξωρίσθης) from an ancient fatherland reflects a common patristic typology, where the loss of paradise is interpreted as a fall from a primordial state of nobility and grace.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"This passage forms a rhetorical climax in the homily, shifting from a general condemnation of envy to a direct exhortation to remember one's noble origins and reject the devil's ongoing deceptions.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"κύνας τρέφοντες","severity":"info","text":"The analogy of taming dogs by feeding them, contrasted with making the envious more savage by benefiting them, parallels a common moral trope in Greek literature, e.g., in Plutarch's Moralia.","cites":[],"named_sources":["Plutarch Moralia"],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἐβάσκηνέ σοι","severity":"caution","text":"The repetition of ἐβάσκηνέ σοι (he envied you) may reflect a rhetorical emphasis, but the exact syntactic relationship with the preceding clause is ambiguous; the translation treats it as an emphatic restatement.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'Ἐβάσκηνέ σοι, ἐβάσκηνεν' could be read as either a single emphatic statement or two separate clauses; the translation opts for the former.","The reference to 'woman' (γυναικὸς) is ambiguous: it may allude to Eve as the agent of the first fall or to a general figure in the devil's schemes."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":15,"ref":"p15","source":"Μισάνθρωπος, ἐπειδὴ καὶ θεομάχος. Ἐμίσησε πρότερον, ἐτραχηλίασε κατὰ Θεοῦ παντοκράτορος, κατεφρόνησε τοῦ Δεσπότου, ἠλλοτριώθη τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἐπειδὴ εἶδε τὸν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ, μὴ δυνάμενος εἰς Θεὸν τραπῆναι, εἰς τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πονηρίαν ἐκένωσεν· ὥσπερ εἴ τις ἄνθρωπος ὀργισθεὶς τὴν εἰκόνα λιθάζοι, ἐπειδὴ τὸν βασιλέα οὐ δύναται, τὸ ξύλον τύπτων, τὸ τὴν μίμησιν ἔχον. Εἶδον ἐγὼ τὰ μισανθρωπότατα τῶν ζώων ἐν τοῖς σταδίοις πολλάκις, ἢ εἶδον, ἢ ἤκουσα· ἀσφαλὴς γὰρ ἔστω ὁ λόγος. Πλὴν ὅτι αὐταὶ αἱ παρδάλεις φυσικήν τινα ἔχουσι πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὀργὴν, καὶ πεφύκασι μάλιστα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐφάλλεσθαι. Οἱ τοίνυν καταπαίζοντες τῆς μανίας τοῦ θηρίου ἐν χάρτῃ εἰκόνα προδεικνύουσιν ὡς ἄνθρωπον. Ἡ δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς ἄγαν ὁρμῆς μὴ λογιζομένη, ὡς ἄνθρωπον, σπαράσσει τὸν χάρτην, κἀκεῖ δείκνυσι τὸ μισάνθρωπον. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ διάβολος ἐν τῇ εἰκόνι τὸ μισόθεον ἔδειξεν, ἐπειδὴ Θεοῦ προσάψασθαι οὐκ ἐδύνατο. Οὕτως ὁ εἰς ἡμᾶς πόλεμος ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει τοῦ θεομάχον εἶναι τὸν πονηρὸν, καὶ","english":"A misanthrope, because also a fighter against God. He hated first, he rebelled against the all-powerful God, he despised the Master, he became alienated from God. Because he saw man made in the image and likeness of God, and being unable to turn against God, he emptied his own wickedness upon the image of God; just as if a man, angered, were to stone the image, because he cannot attack the king, striking the wood that bears the likeness. I have seen the most misanthropic of animals in the stadia many times—either I have seen, or I have heard; for let the account be reliable. Yet these leopards have some natural hostility toward man, and are especially prone to spring at the eyes of men. Therefore, those who mock the beast’s madness display beforehand an image on paper as if it were a man. And the beast, driven by excessive impulse, not reasoning, tears the paper as if it were a man, and there shows its misanthropy. So also the devil showed his hatred of God in the image, because he could not lay hold of God. Thus the war against us gives proof that the evil one is a fighter against God, and","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"μισάνθρωπος","severity":"info","text":"The Greek term μισάνθρωπος (misanthrope) is used here to characterize the devil as a hater of humanity, linking his rebellion against God to his attack on the human image.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"θεομάχος","severity":"info","text":"θεομάχος (fighter against God) is a key term in this passage, describing the devil as one who wages war against God, a concept central to Basil's argument about envy and misanthropy.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ' (in the image and likeness of God) echoes Genesis 1:26-27, a foundational text for early Christian anthropology, used here to explain the devil's attack on humanity.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"παρδάλεις","severity":"info","text":"The reference to leopards (παρδάλεις) in stadia reflects the common practice of animal spectacles in Roman amphitheaters, where leopards were known for attacking human faces, a vivid analogy for the devil's misanthropy.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"εἰκόνα λιθάζοι","severity":"info","text":"The analogy of stoning a king's image (εἰκόνα λιθάζοι) parallels a common rhetorical trope in early Christian literature, illustrating displaced aggression against a representation when the original is inaccessible.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Οὕτω καὶ ὁ διάβολος","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'Οὕτω καὶ ὁ διάβολος' (So also the devil) marks a structural shift from the animal analogy to its theological application, concluding the argument that the devil's war on humanity proves his enmity toward God.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'ἢ εἶδον, ἢ ἤκουσα' (either I have seen, or I have heard) introduces a rhetorical ambiguity about the source of the leopard anecdote, but Basil insists on its reliability ('ἀσφαλὴς γὰρ ἔστω ὁ λόγος')."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":16,"ref":"p16","source":"πρῶτον πολεμεῖν τῷ Δεσπότῃ. Ἐκεῖνος κατήγαγεν ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰς Ἱεριχὼ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀπὸ τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐπὶ τὰ κοῖλα. Ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς ὀρεινῆς ἡ Ἱερουσαλήμ· ἡ δὲ Ἱεριχὼ κάτω ἐν τῇ ἁλμυρᾷ θαλάσσῃ. Εἴ τις ὑμῶν οἶδε τὸν τόπον, οἶδε τῶν λεγομένων τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὅτι Ἱεριχὼ μὲν ἔχει τὰ κοῖλα τῆς Παλαιστίνης, Ἱερουσαλὴμ δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς κορυφῆς ἐρήρεισται, τὴν ἄκραν κατέχουσα τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ διὰ πάσης ἐκείνης τῆς χώρας ἀνεστηκότος. Ἀπὸ τοίνυν τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐπὶ τὰ κάτω ἦλθεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἵνα τοῖς λῃσταῖς περιπέσῃ· τῆς ἀσφαλείας ἐξελθὼν τῆς κατὰ Ἱερου-σαλὴμ, ἵνα εὐάλωτος γένηται τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ἐρημίαν λῃσταῖς, οἳ πληγὰς ἐπέθηκαν, καὶ ἐξέδυσαν. Πρότερον πληγαὶ, καὶ τότε γύμνωσις. Πληγὴ ψυχῆς ἁμαρτία· γύμνωσις ψυχῆς ἀπόθεσις τοῦ ἐνδύματος τῆς ἀφθαρσίας. Ἡ δὲ ἁμαρτία ἀφανιστικὴ τῆς χάριτος τῆς δεδομένης ἡμῖν διὰ τοῦ λουτροῦ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας. Πορνεία, πληγὴ, μοιχεία, ἄλλη πληγὴ, πληγὴ ὁ φθόνος, πληγὴ ἕκαστον τούτων, πληγὴ αὐτὰ τὰ καίρια τύπτουσα, πληγὴ παρὰ λῃστῶν ἐμβαλλομένη, παρὰ δαιμόνων τῶν συνεργούντων ἡμῖν πρὸς τὰς ἁμαρτίας. Μετὰ τὰς πληγὰς ἐξεδύθη ὁ τετυμμένος. Εἰ σωματικὸν ἦν τὸ λεγόμενον, πρότερον ἐξέδυνον φειδοῖ τοῦ ἱματίου, καὶ τότε πληγὰς ἐπετίθεσαν. Ἢ ἐκδύσαντες ἂν, πληγὰς ἐπέθηκαν, ἵνα καὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον διεσώθη, καὶ ὁ τυπτηθεὶς ἐπλήγη. Νῦν μέντοι πληγαὶ τῆς ἐκδύσεως προηγοῦνται, ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι ἁμαρτία προηγεῖται τῆς ἀποθέσεως τοῦ χαρίσματος, τοῦ δεδομένου σοι διὰ τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου φιλανθρωπίας. Αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.","english":"He first made war on the Master. That one brought man down from Jerusalem to Jericho, from the heights to the hollows. Jerusalem is on the mountain; Jericho lies below by the salt sea. If any of you know the place, you know the truth of what is said, that Jericho occupies the hollows of Palestine, while Jerusalem is set on the summit, holding the peak of the mountain that rises through that entire region. So man came from the heights to the low places, in order to fall among robbers; he left the safety of Jerusalem, so that he might become easy prey for the robbers in the wilderness, who inflicted blows and stripped him. First blows, then stripping. A blow to the soul is sin; stripping of the soul is the laying aside of the garment of incorruption. Sin destroys the grace given to us through the bath of regeneration. Fornication is a blow, adultery another blow, envy is a blow, each of these is a blow, a blow that strikes at the vitals, a blow inflicted by robbers, by demons who cooperate with us in sins. After the blows, the one who was beaten was stripped. If the saying were about the body, they would have stripped him first, sparing the garment, and then inflicted blows. Or they would have stripped him and then inflicted blows, so that the garment might be saved and the one beaten might be struck. But here blows precede the stripping, so that you may learn that sin precedes the laying aside of the gift given to you through the Lord’s love for humanity. Glory to him for ever and ever. Amen.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"Ἱερουσαλὴμ ... Ἱεριχώ","severity":"info","text":"Jerusalem (c. 750 m above sea level) and Jericho (c. 250 m below sea level) are used as a moral geography: height = safety, low = danger. The salt sea is the Dead Sea.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰς Ἱεριχώ","severity":"info","text":"The journey from Jerusalem to Jericho echoes the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), where a man falls among robbers on that road. Basil adapts the narrative to allegory.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"λουτρὸν τῆς παλιγγενεσίας","severity":"info","text":"‘Bath of regeneration’ is a standard early Christian term for baptism (cf. Titus 3:5). Basil uses it to link the stripping of incorruption to loss of baptismal grace.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"πληγαὶ ... γύμνωσις","severity":"info","text":"Basil inverts the expected sequence (stripping then blows) to make a theological point: sin (blows) precedes loss of grace (stripping). The chiastic order is deliberate.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"πληγὴ ψυχῆς ἁμαρτία","severity":"info","text":"The metaphor of sin as a wound to the soul is common in ascetic literature (e.g., Evagrius, Origen). Basil lists specific sins as blows, each a distinct spiritual injury.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"background","lemma":"ἁλμυρᾷ θαλάσσῃ","severity":"info","text":"The Dead Sea is called ‘salt sea’ in patristic geography (e.g., Josephus, Bell. 4.8.4). Basil assumes his audience knows the topography, reinforcing the homily’s local setting.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The identity of 'that one' (ἐκεῖνος) who brought man down is not explicitly named; context suggests the misanthrope (the devil) from the previous passage, but Basil does not repeat the subject."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]}]}