講道集 第 44 章

Those who first undertook the edition of the works of St Ambrose judged that this homily ought to be attributed to that same holy doctor. Against them stands Gennadius, who reckons it among the writings of St Maximus, and says it is entitled 'On the Cross of the Lord.' On which matter compare the preface of the monks of the Congregation of St Maur to the omitted sermons of Ambrose, in which place they say that this same homily was ascribed by the editors of the Sixtine edition to the number of the 514 sermons of St Ambrose, and they warn that, according to the opinion of Gennadius, it must be restored to Maximus. But if in the Vatican codex 1270, and that of Santa Croce, formerly of the Friars Minor Conventual, now of the Laurentian library (IV, Plut. XXXIII), it is inscribed with the name of the holy bishop of Milan;

yet it is numbered among the homilies of Maximus in two manuscripts of notable mark, codices 90 and 99 of Santa Croce in Jerusalem, and in the Laurentian codex (Plut. XIV). In this last its title is: 'Here begins the discourse on the holy day of Easter, and on the Cross of the Lord'; which in the Turin codex is stated more briefly: 'Likewise also on the Cross of the Lord.' The editors of the works of Maximus—Gymnicus, Galesinius, Cumdius, Raynaudus, Margarinus—agree, in whose editions this inscription is prefixed to the homily: 'First homily on the Passion and on the Cross of the Lord.' The fables of the ages tell of that Ulysses, who, tossed for ten years amid the wanderings of the sea, could not reach his homeland; and when the course of his ship had brought him to a certain place, in which the cruel voice of the Sirens resounded with sweet variety of song;

and it caressed those who approached with such coaxing melody, that they took not so much a spectacle of pleasure as they incurred a shipwreck of safety. For such was the delight of the song that whoever heard the sound of the voice, as though caught by some enticement, no longer steered toward the harbour he desired, but pressed on toward the destruction he did not desire. So then, when Ulysses had fallen upon this sweet shipwreck, and wished to avoid the peril of that sweetness, he is said, having stopped up his companions' ears with wax, to have bound himself to the mast of the ship: so that both they might be free of the destructive enticement of hearing, and he might carry the course of the ship away from peril. If then the fable relates of that Ulysses that the binding to the mast delivered him from peril:

how much more must that be proclaimed which truly took place; that is, that today the tree of the Cross snatched the whole race of men from the peril of death? For from the time that Christ the Lord was bound upon the Cross, from that time we pass by the alluring dangers of the world as with ears stopped; for we are neither held fast by the destructive hearing of the age, nor do we turn the course of a better life onto the rocks of pleasure. For the tree of the Cross not only presents to his homeland the man bound to it, but also, by the shadow of its power, guards the companions placed round about it. And that the Cross makes us return to our homeland after many wanderings, the Lord declares, saying to the thief placed upon the cross: 'Today thou shalt be with me in paradise' (Luke 23).

That thief, indeed, long wandering and shipwrecked, could not otherwise return to the homeland of paradise, from which the first man had gone out, unless he had been bound to the tree; for the mast in the ship is a kind of cross in the Church, which alone amid the alluring and destructive shipwrecks of the whole age is preserved unharmed. In this ship, therefore, whoever either binds himself to the mast of the cross, or stops his ears to the divine Scriptures, will not fear the sweet storm of luxury. For a certain sweet figure of the Sirens is the soft concupiscence of pleasure, which by noxious blandishments enervates the steadfastness of the mind it has captured. Therefore the Lord Christ hung upon the Cross, that He might deliver the whole race of men from the shipwreck of the world.

But, to leave aside the fable of Ulysses, which was invented, not done, let us see if we can find in the divine Scriptures some like example, which the Lord, about to fulfil afterward through Himself, had promised beforehand through His prophets. We read in the Old Testament (Numbers 21), when holy Moses had led forth the sons of Israel from the captivity of Egypt, and that same people in the desert was afflicted by a grievous assault of serpents, and no defence of arms could withstand them for them;

then holy Moses, filled with the divine Spirit, set up a bronze serpent fixed to a pole amid the throngs of the dying, and commanded the people to place their hope of healing in that sign; and by this thing so great a medicine came forth against the bite of the asps, that whoever, being wounded, either looked upon or hoped in that serpent's cross, straightway received the remedy of health. Of which deed the Lord also makes mention in the Gospel, saying: 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up' (John 3). Whence, if the serpent fixed to the pole brought health to the sons of Israel, how much more does the Lord, crucified upon the gibbet, furnish salvation to the peoples?

And if the figure profited so much, how much more do we believe the truth profits? The serpent therefore is first crucified: rightly indeed, so that, because the devil had first sinned before God, he should first be smitten by the sentence of the cross; for it is upon a pole that he is crucified—reasonably done, so that, because man in paradise had been deceived through the tree of concupiscence, he should now be saved through the tree of the pole, and the same matter which had been the cause of death should now be the remedy of health. Then, after the serpent, in the Saviour man himself is crucified; namely, that after the author the crime also may be punished; for by the first cross vengeance was taken upon the serpent, by the second upon the poison of the serpent; that is:

first the author himself is punished, then his malignity is condemned. For the venom which by his persuasion he had poured into man is now cast out, now healed; for when man is delivered up to suffering, he is not handed over to death, but the crime of death in him is amended; for this the Lord does through the man whom He assumed, that while the innocent one suffers, the disobedience of that diabolical prevarication may be corrected in him, and that thereafter he might become free from guilt, and be free from death. Having therefore the Lord Jesus, who freed us by His passion, let us look ever upon Him, and by His sign let us hope for medicine for our wounds; that is, if perchance the poison of avarice diffuses itself in us, let us consider Him, and He heals us;

if lust pricks us like a scorpion, let us entreat Him, and He cures us; if the bites of earthly thoughts tear us, let us pray to that same One, and we live. For these are the spiritual serpents of our souls, for the treading down of which the Lord was crucified, of whom He Himself says: 'You shall walk upon serpents and scorpions, and nothing shall hurt you' (Luke 10).