基督教地誌 第 1 章 第 21/22 段

this alone was the work God made on the second day.

And this one too agrees with us, bearing witness concerning the shape, having spoken of an upper heaven and a lower firmament that also bears the waters; and concerning the angels, having said all things expressly in the same way as we do — that they are all in this world, and all move all things and minister for the sake of man, and that they too came into being on the first day together with the upper heaven and the earth.

And hearing this, O men, do not, being possessed by strife and rivalry, be indignant, but rather, in a truth-loving spirit, recognize the ecclesiastical agreement, that is, also the true agreement.

For in vain do you revile, being unable to look truth in the eye.

Be ashamed, then, before the multitude of witnesses.

But if this is still not enough for you, passing yet beyond this one also, to the bishop of the reigning city, the admirable John — having passed beyond him who was set aside by the three predecessors — let us show that this celebrated athlete and merciful one also bears joint witness and agrees with our account.

Of John Chrysostom, from the discourse On Almsgiving. Great is man, and precious is a merciful man.

Great are the wings of almsgiving;

it cuts through the air, it passes beyond the moon, it cuts through the rays of the sun, it ascends into the very vaults of heaven;

but it does not even stop there, but it runs past the heaven of heaven itself, and passes by the hosts of angels and the choirs of archangels and all the higher Powers, and it stands beside the royal throne itself.

And be taught this from Scripture itself:

'Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have gone up before God.' Of the same, from the commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians. 'Having made known to us, in all wisdom and prudence, the mystery of his will' — that is, having made us wise and prudent with the wisdom that truly is, the prudence that truly is.

For he tells us his mysteries.

'Of his will,' he says, as one might put it:

He made known to us the things that are in his heart.

For this is the mystery that is full of all wisdom and prudence;

for what do you seek that is equal to this wisdom? Those who were worthy of nothing — these he found a way to raise up into wealth.

What is equal to this alliance? This hated enemy has suddenly been raised on high;

and not only this, but also the fact that it happened at this particular time — this too was a matter of wisdom, as was also the fact that it happened through the cross.

It would take long here for the discourse to show how this was a matter of wisdom, and how it made us wise.

Again. 'According to his good pleasure,' he says, 'which he purposed in himself' — that is, this he desired, for this he was in travail, so to speak, to declare the mystery.

What, then, is this? That he wills to seat man on high;

and this came about for the dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, both the things in the heavens and the things on the earth.

Of the same, from the commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, on the chapter that begins, 'Now the main point of what has been said.' Where are those who say that heaven is in motion? Where are those who declare it to be spherical? For both these things are refuted here.

Of the same, from the commentary, on the chapter that begins, 'And for this reason he is mediator of a new covenant.' And how are these copies of the things in the heavens? And what does he call 'the things in the heavens'? Our things;

since indeed angels also are on earth, but they are called heavenly; and Cherubim appeared upon the earth, but they are heavenly.

And why do I say 'appeared'? Does it then indeed dwell upon the earth, as it were in paradise? But this makes no difference.

For they are heavenly, and our citizenship is in the heavens, even though we conduct our lives here.

And after other things. I show, through works, those who have arrived at that height.

Who then are these? I mean those around Paul, who, while being on earth, dwelt in heaven.

And why do I say, in heaven? They were higher even than heaven, and ascended into the other heaven, to God himself.

And this wise and great teacher again spoke in wonderful accord with us and with those who share our views concerning the shape. As to the shape, he well and in due order expounded the ascent, going up by stages from the regions about the earth as far as the royal throne, positing first the air, then the moon, then the sun, again the firmament, and then again thus the heaven of heaven — not speaking of more than two heavens — and mocking those who call it a sphere and declare that it moves; and concerning the angels and the Cherubim he has said, together with us, that all of them are within this world, since not one of them has as yet flown beyond this world. As to the doctrine, again employing it securely together with the shape, he has clearly set forth the doctrine that accords with the shape.

For what, he says, does it mean that this hated enemy has suddenly come to be above, and again that God wishes to seat man above, for the dispensation of the times and the recapitulation of things heavenly and earthly? For thus he also declared this to be the mystery of the will of God.

For when God had made heaven and earth, on the second day he again made the firmament, and having placed it in the very middle of the height, he divided the one world into two worlds, this one and the upper one.

And on the sixth day, having completed this whole world, last of all, as a kind of bond of the whole world, of things visible and invisible, he made man, one living being composed of all natures.

In the last of days, therefore, when it was necessary that the second world also be revealed, taking again that very bond of the whole world, of things visible and invisible, that is, man, and having renewed him through the resurrection of the dead and made him better, he brought him, before all others, into heaven, that is, into the second region or world.

For a recapitulation and a certain re-creation was being administered by God in man, as being the bond of things heavenly and earthly, that is, of all things visible and invisible.

This father, then, knowing these things, declared them to be the mystery of the will of God and of his good pleasure; and he proclaimed that the one who had been driven out of paradise, as one hated on account of disobedience, had suddenly, through the good pleasure of God, become heavenly, for the recapitulation of the whole.

O the wonder of the harmony of the Church!

O the wonder of the unanimity of the mysteries of God!

O the wonder of the spiritual concord of the teachers!

How is he who opposes these not condemned? O God, Lord of all, confirm us in your mysteries forever.

Let those who love strife cease, and rather let them bow their neck to the Church.

For such a custom we too, together with the Church, reject.

But let us also bring this to an end, and produce a seventh witness, who completes the symbols of the divine Covenant, both Old and New.

For if, as it is said in the divine Scripture, every word shall be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses, how much more by seven?

For the chorus of the seven witnesses shows forth the symbols of the perfect covenant.

There is, then, Philo, bishop of Carpathus, testifying the same things as the other six.

Of Philo, bishop of Carpathus, from his commentary on the Song of Songs, on the saying that says, 'The king brought me into his chamber.' Now the chamber of the heavenly king is, clearly, the body which he built for himself as a house, and then also the kingdom of the heavens.

For the Son of God took the man whom he put on from the Church, and gave back to her again, for her holy communion, that flesh, for partaking.

By the same, on 'The king is held captive by the tresses.'

How were you made beautiful, and how were you established? For running down from heaven to earth, and descending to the regions of Hades and to the depth below Hades, from there he will draw up the dead one.

And after other things: 'For truly it was made beautiful and was established — not the power of the deity, for it admits neither increase nor diminution, but the flesh which he assumed and the man whom he wore.'

This one was made beautiful, being conformed to the beauty of the deity, and was established in the kingdom of the heavens, at the right hand of God.

By the same, on the Hexaemeron, where he discusses the man born blind. 'For even if you saw him as a man, yet you ought to have perceived, from his very works, the God within the man.'

Observe that this father too preserves one and the same purpose with us, concerning both the shape and the doctrine: concerning the shape, in that he called the kingdom of the heavens the chamber of God — a chamber being the inner and more secure compartment of a house, which he also called the kingdom of heaven; and concerning the doctrine, that in this very chamber, that is, in the kingdom of the heavens, the man whom God wore, and whom he drew up from death and deemed worthy of the honor at his right hand, was seated and established.

How then do these willful enemies cry out that we have walked some strange path, known to no one? Let them cease from their willfully malicious madness, and let them not slander us.

For it is God who justifies; who is he that condemns? For God is the first to bear witness to our views, then the prophets and apostles and evangelists and the many-named chorus of the fathers — of whom fathers you too claim to accept some — and moreover the ancient writers from outside have agreed with our views in some points.

But that we may not prolong the discourse any further, we have thought it sufficient to set forth only the testimonies already proposed, for the sake alone of those who love strife and dare to slander our doctrines — or rather, the truth itself — wishing to make manifest to all the contentiousness of these men.

So that they may have from their own household the refutation of their untimely madness. And that our treatise may not be attested only by these ancients, I will also set down the testimony of a certain recent father, separated from them, who is even now still living and residing in Constantinople — and I do this out of abundance — bearing witness, whether out of ignorance or compelled by the truth itself, to our treatise.

Of Theodosius, bishop of Alexandria, on the fortieth day, the day of the Lord's ascension. 'Today human nature is conveyed as baggage into heaven; today heaven is opened, and man enters in.'

What will our opponents say to this? How has he not borne witness to our views, both in the shape and in the doctrine? O the power of the truth, drawing even unwilling enemies to itself!

By the same, in another exposition. 'It is no great thing, if God defeated the devil.'

And here too the truth exposes their untimely contentiousness.

For if he says it is no great thing for God to wrestle with the devil and conquer — for even to say this is madness, since to God not only the devil but the whole creation is subject and shall be reckoned as nothing — how is it not perfectly clear that he means the man who wrestled with the devil and conquered? For this indeed is a great thing — the very one whom, above, he said entered into heaven as a victor.

And that he preserves this same purpose, the same author again proclaims:

'For it was necessary, it was necessary,' he says, 'that this nature which had grown old should bind a crown upon itself' — as though meaning this nature which was defeated by the devil in paradise, that is, man, whom, having become better through the resurrection, he explained often and at length, and declared that this one was led up into heaven with boldness.

...and trouble of soul — the symbols of human nature.

Such are the things they say and contend with us about, splitting off the churches and tyrannizing them.

For where is it written that he agonized and sweated, except in Luke, where it says:

'And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly;'

'and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down to the ground;'

'and behold, an angel of the Lord strengthening him'? How do they dare to say these things, and yet again condemn those who dare to relate them? Is not the contentiousness of such men altogether manifest? Passing over this one too, let us move on to Timothy the younger, who died shortly before him, showing that he too, unwillingly, agrees with our writing.

He writes, then, expounding on the same saying, in the cycle for Easter, in Saint Victor, when Isaiah the prophet had been read and had said:

'He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent' — and having recalled in his exposition the words 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass,' he speaks as follows:

Of Timothy, on 'Father, if it is possible, let it pass.' 'For it is the way of nature that the soul should always love to dwell in the body, and should be reluctant toward death.'

And again, in Saint Sarapammon, he proclaimed:

'And greater things than these shall be given to me by the Father: resurrection from the dead, renewal of nature, and life-giving in place of corruption.'

By the same, on the Holy Theophany, on the day of the Nativity of Christ, Choiak 30, indiction

10. 'The Virgin bore a perfect man, without sin.'

And after a few words: 'Let us be circumcised together with Christ, that we may be purified together with him.'

And again, in Saint Theodore, Tybi 8, indiction

10. 'For through that which was manifest he showed the power of that which was hidden.'

By the same, in the church of Cyrinus, it being the Lord's Day, Pachon 22, indiction

5, when the Gospel according to John had been read: 'And Jesus, being wearied from the journey, sat down.' Since, therefore, the same one is both God and man at once, he confirms both through his works, and does not permit himself to remain hidden from those who see.

For that he is by nature God he demonstrates through his signs: cleansing lepers, giving light to the blind, strengthening the paralyzed, and giving life to the dead — and, what is indeed the greatest sign, since these things perhaps even prophets accomplished, he shows it by speaking with utter frankness and boldness, saying:

'I and the Father are one;'

but by these, as I have said, he confirms the majesty of the deity.

And that the same one is also truly man, he does not wish this to remain hidden either, forestalling those who suffer from the disease of phantasy, showing clearly by submitting himself to affections:

And with what kind of affections? Those which belong to the flesh on account of weakness, not on account of sin — I mean hunger and thirst and sleep and weariness.

For these things, occurring by nature and not by choice, do not attach sin to those who undergo them.

To these sinless affections, then, the Lord allowed his own flesh to submit, showing clearly that he became man in nature and in truth, and not in appearance.

By the same, in the sanctuary, on the feast of Pachon. 'It is proper to God to work wonders, to give command to the elements, and to make foreknowledge of things to come; but it is proper to a gentle and sociable man to honor his parents, to associate with his brothers, and to converse with his disciples and acquaintances.'

For this reason, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, being God from God and having become man for our sake, both displays the power of his deity and keeps the laws of his humanity — confirming through his signs what he was and is, and demonstrating through his works what he deigned to become.

By the same, on the fortieth day, the day of the Lord's ascension, Pachon 25, indiction

9, on the saying of the Gospel according to John which says, 'It is expedient for you that I go away.' But let us now also consider what things were said by him to his celebrated disciples:

'It is expedient for you that I go away. For your salvation I came upon the earth; for your benefit it is good that I ascend to heaven.'

'Without body I came down for your sake; it is profitable that I be there with body;'

'for I have chosen to draw your race up to heaven.'

I must, with flesh, regain the session at the right hand of the Father;

I must inaugurate the strange journey and show heaven to be passable for men;

I journey first through the air, so that you also may afterward be caught up into the air in clouds, unto our meeting.

And I supposed the reader would understand from this how it plainly proclaims that man was distressed at the prospect of death, yet this same one, through the passion and the resurrection, receiving incorruption and renewal of nature and life-giving power — he who formerly was subject to sufferings and wearied because of the weakness that surrounded him — was yet drawn up to heaven and deemed worthy of the session at the right hand, and was first to run the strange journey and to make it passable, being the first of men to make heaven passable.

O the harmony of the discordant! O the unwilling conjunction of the schismatics! O the involuntary praise of the slanderers — that is, their assent!

How, in all respects, have we not been shown to be children of the Church? How is it not manifest that we have not trodden a strange path? How are not those who disobey or contradict all these things condemned in every respect? How is our writing not attested in all respects to be a genuine offspring of the ecclesiastical tradition? God is witness, then the apostles, the prophets, the many-named choir of holy fathers.

BOOK 11. A description concerning Indian animals, and concerning Indian trees, and concerning the island of Taprobane.

This animal is called rhinoceros, because it has horns on its nostrils;

when it walks, the horns sway; but when it looks with anger, it stretches them out, and they become immovable, so that it is able even to uproot trees with them, especially with the front one.

It has its eyes low down, near the jaws.

It is exceedingly fearsome, and is in some way opposed to the elephant;

its feet and skin are similar to those of the elephant.

The thickness of its skin, when dried, is four finger-widths; and from it some people, instead of iron, fit it into their plows and plow the earth.

The Ethiopians, in their own dialect, call it arouē harisi, roughening the second alpha and thus adding risi, so that by arouē it signifies 'beast,' and by harisi 'plowing' — having given it this name both from the shape around its nostrils and from its skin.

I have also seen it alive in Ethiopia, standing at a distance, and I have seen it dead, flayed and stuffed with straw, standing in a royal house; from there I have accurately drawn it.

This animal, the ox-deer, is found both in India and in Ethiopia.

But those in India are tame, and with them people carry loads of pepper and other cargo in saddlebags, and they milk them for milk and butter.

We also eat the meat — we Christians by slaughtering it, but the Greeks by striking it down.

But those in Ethiopia are wild and untamed.

The camelopard is found only in Ethiopia;

and these too are untamed and wild.

But in the palace, for the king's sake, they tame one or two from a young age, as a spectacle for him.

When they set before it, in front of the king, milk or water in a basin to drink, unless it spreads its two front feet apart, it cannot reach down and drink from the ground, because its feet and chest and neck are so tall;

so, spreading its front feet apart accordingly, it is then able to drink.

And these things we have described as we know them.

The wild ox is a large animal of India, from which comes the so-called tufa, with which the rulers adorn horses and standards on the parade grounds.

They say of it that, if a tree catches hold of its tail, it no longer moves, but stands still, being unwilling to let go even a single hair of it;

so the natives then come and cut off the tail, and then it flees, having lost the whole tail.

The small animal is the moschos;

the natives, in their own dialect, call it kastouri.

They shoot it with arrows, and, binding up the blood that collects around its navel, they cut it off;

for this is its fragrant part, that is, what is called among us moschos;

but the rest of its body they throw away.

This animal is called monokerōs.

I have seen four bronze statues of it set up in Ethiopia, in a royal four-towered house; that is why I have drawn it thus.

They say of it that it is fearsome and unconquerable, having its entire strength in its horn;

and whenever it appears to be pursued by many and is about to be overtaken, it leaps onto a cliff and hurls itself down from the height; and as it descends, it turns itself around, and the horn receives the whole impact, and it remains unharmed.

Such things the divine Scripture also relates concerning it, saying:

Save me from the mouth of the lions, and my lowliness from the horns of unicorns. And again:

And the beloved is like the offspring of unicorns;

and again, in the blessings of Balaam, with which he blessed Israel, he says a second time:

Thus God led him out of Egypt, as with the glory of a unicorn belonging to him — bearing witness throughout to strength and confidence and glory for the animal.

But the pig-deer I have both seen and eaten.

But the hippopotamus itself I did not see; however, I had teeth from it, large, weighing about thirteen litrai, which I have also sold here;

but I saw many such teeth both in Ethiopia and in Egypt.

This tree is the pepper tree;

each tree leans back upon another tall, fruitless tree, because it is very slender and weak, just as the shoots of the vine are also slender;

and each cluster has a covering of two leaves;

and it is very green, like the color of rue.

The other tree is that of the so-called argellia, that is, of the great Indian nuts;

and it differs in no way from the date-palm, except that it is more full-grown in height, in thickness, and in its fronds.

It does not bear fruit except in two or three spathes, each of three argellia;

and the taste is very sweet and pleasant, like green nuts;

at first it is full of very sweet liquid, from which the Indians also drink in place of wine;

and the beverage is called ronchosoura, very pleasant;

but when the argellin is harvested and left standing, its liquid gradually congeals against its shell, while the water in the middle remains uncongealed, until it too is used up;

and if it is left standing even longer, its congealed flesh becomes rancid and can no longer be eaten.

The so-called seal, and the dolphin, and the turtle — which we eat at sea, should it happen to be caught.

The dolphin and the turtle we eat after slaughtering them, but the seal not by slaughtering, but by striking it down, as with large fish.

And the meat of the turtle, like that of a sheep, is dark;

but that of the dolphin, like that of a pig, is dark and foul-smelling;

but that of the seal, like that of a pig, is white and odorless.

Concerning the island of Taprobane. This is the great island in the Ocean, situated in the Indian sea, called Sielediba by the Indians, but Taprobane by the Greeks, in which the hyacinth stone is found;

and it lies farther beyond the pepper country.

And around it there are a great many small islands, all having fresh water and argellia;

and, for the most part, they all have deep water close to shore.

The great island has, as the natives say, three hundred gaudia in length and likewise in breadth, that is, nine hundred miles.

And there are two kings on the island, opposed to each other;

the one possessing the region of the hyacinth stone, and the other the remaining part, in which is the trading-port and the harbor;

and the trading-port there is a great one.

This same island also has a church of the resident Persian Christians, and a priest ordained from Persia, and a deacon, and the whole ecclesiastical liturgy.

But the natives and the kings are of another people.

And they have many temples on this island;

and in one of their temples, situated on a high place, there is, as they say, a hyacinth stone, reddish, and great, as large as a great pine-cone;

And from all India and Persia and Ethiopia the island receives many ships, being a place of exchange, and likewise sends them out.

And from the more inland regions, I mean Tzinista and the other trading-places, it receives silk, aloe, clove, wood-clove, sandalwood, and whatever is produced in each region;

and it exchanges these with the outer regions, I mean with Male, where pepper is produced, and with Kalliana, where copper and sesame-wood and other cloths are produced — for this too is a great trading-place — and likewise with Sindu, where musk and costus and spikenard are produced, and with Persia and the Homerite land and Adulis; and again receiving from each of the aforementioned trading-places and exchanging with the more inland regions, and sending out its own goods together with those of each trading-place.

And Sindu is the beginning of India.

For the Indus river, that is the Pishon, which has its outflows into the Persian Gulf, divides Persia and India.

The illustrious trading-places of India, then, are these: Sindu, Orrotha, Kalliana, Sibor, Male — which has five trading-places producing pepper — Parti, Mangarouth, Salopatana, Nalopatana, Poudapatana.

Then further out, about five days and nights from the mainland into the Ocean, is Sielediba, that is, Taprobane.

Then again, further inland, is the trading-place Marallo, which produces conch-shells; Kaber, which produces alabandine stone; then next in order is the clove region, and beyond that Tzinista, which produces silk, beyond which there is no other land;

for the Ocean encircles it on the east.

This Sielediba, then, being situated more or less in the middle of India, and also possessing the hyacinth stone, receives from all the trading-places and exchanges with all, and is a great trading-place.

Once, then, a certain man engaged in trade here, by the name of Sopatros, whom we know to have died thirty-five years ago, having entered the island of Taprobane for the sake of business, it happened that a ship also put out from Persia.

So those from Adulis, among whom was Sopatros, landed; and those from Persia also landed, among whom was also an elder of the Persians.

Then, according to custom, the officials and the customs-officers, having received them, bring them to the king.

And the king, having received them and being paid homage, orders them to be seated;

“How are your countries, and how are affairs?” And they said —

then, as if incidentally, the king asked:

“Which of your kings is greater and more powerful?” And the Persian, seizing the word, said:

“Our king is both more powerful and greater and richer, and is King of Kings.”

“You, Roman, have you nothing to say?” And Sopatros —

“What do I have to say, when he has said these things? If you wish to learn the truth, you have both kings present here;

consider each one, and you will see which is more illustrious and more powerful.”

He, having heard this, was astonished, saying:

“How do I have both kings here?” And he said:

“You have the coins of both — of the one the gold coin, of the other the drachma, that is, the miliaresion;

examine the image of each, and you will see the truth.”

And he, approving and nodding in agreement, ordered both to be brought.

The gold coin, then, was of refined gold, bright, well-formed;

for such choice coins circulate there;

and the miliaresion was, in a word, silver — and let it suffice not to be compared with the gold coin.