C evecti, or in the midst of cares and the swell of business, the virtue of the agent faded, like the strength of certain plants which degenerate when transplanted into foreign soil. He was a bishop, and held a most grave office; but he extended his industry even further. Heretics were shaking the Church of God; that they might not overturn it, an obstacle was placed in their way, and one hundred and fifty bishops gathered at Chalcedon (b). Among the first was Basil himself, bishop of Seleucia in Isauria, who reinforced the acts of the Nicene synod with the force of an opinion, and broken the strength of Dioscorus, who was ravaging the best men with the poisons of his faith, with impiety, and with an armed hand, by contributing his own support. He recalled himself to his own affairs, and healed his flock with his word; he did that for which he was born. The witnesses are those most beautiful and golden writings, which, long separated from the eyes of men and half-buried, lay in an unfortunate state; through which, if I am not mistaken, Maius comes to his name from the grave. For what flower or what light of eloquence do they not possess? Who could say with what colors he depicts Noah’s ark, or that winter which overwhelmed the entire universe with lethal waves? Whether he delineates more vividly the prudence of Abraham, or his most incited obedience, is in doubt. He does not relate the persistence and ardor of Elijah; he bears it himself, he himself turns back the prophet toward humanity. How conveniently he addresses himself to any part! He does not write nor tell of the various mishaps of Jonah, nor the miserable and yet joyful fate of the innocent infants; he watches, and he makes us watch. His doctrine is drawn from some hidden storehouse of truth and divine knowledge, entirely sincere and liquid, entirely upright. Whence, and why God—though He is the architect of the whole world—introduced the distinction between clean and unclean animals; why He did not want Cain to be taken away—he reveals deftly. How angels are without body, and how they could not have fawned upon the softer sex, he truly teaches, even if many of the ancients dissent. With what wisdom Saul sought David for the foreskins of the Philistines, he does not point out with his finger, nor by any other means. The mother of the sons of Zebedee hears Christ discoursing on the cross, on death, and on the most exquisite ignominies to be undergone, and conceives great hopes of the kingdom. Whence those hopes? Basil lays the foundation. The Son is no less omnipotent than the Father, and he removes from himself the power to place those brothers at the right and left of the Father; a perplexing speech, were it not that Basil very skillfully unties it. The demon receives the voice sent from heaven with signs: "This is my Son" (1), and is ignorant that Christ is God; acutely, as with other things, he explains this. He loads Peter, drunk with love and stumbling in his step, with the curse of Satan; he addresses Judas, the hater and the confederated and sworn enemy, gently and kindly: thus, under the preceptor Basil, it was fitting for both to be named. Finally, the harvest of varied erudition in these writings of Basil is most rich and joyful, both where he directs his mind to expounding the chapters of the Old Law and the New. But to those ignorant of his language, there would be a great need of some sort of interpreter, who might pour out wine, who might pour out nectar; so that if anyone else were to approach, lest he disturb the sweetest streams of such rare eloquence with mud. Yet I myself, who throughout my infancy saw that some ornaments of Basil’s diction must necessarily be taken away, and some praise of him, as it happens, must be diminished in translation, first looked around to see how far the boundaries of Latinity might be extended, and discovered a wider scope than most define; nor was I slow to seek aids for my version, whether to match the weight of the Greek words, or to reveal the riches to the Latins alone. Applying myself to this path, I made it my effort to weigh the meaning balanced by equilibrium. For things differ, and they hide under different words; nor was that decree of the sweet-speaking Plato undeserved: "Whoever knows the names, will in some way know the things." Nor by some change of a word, but by the change of only half a word or a syllable, are the moments of the greatest doctrines turned. Some heretics called the Blessed Mary *Christotokos*; Catholics *Theotokos*, *Theognetora*, and more considerately *Theometora*: the orthodox argued that the Son was *homoousion* with the Father; the partisans *homoiousion*. There were not lacking those who called our Savior *Chrestum*, not *Christum*. But if the interpreter of the New Testament had translated what was in Greek, *kaloumenon Petron*, as "Who was called Peter," he would have departed from the truth: while he translates "Who is called," he acted justly; the reason is clear. Nor is anything easier for one translating from Greek into Latin than to stray as far as possible from the truth and from the author’s own intention, if he substitutes some word improperly. I do not set this down because I wish the Greek oration to be carried into Italian [Latin] through meanders and detours, and for the single Greek word to be overwhelmed by a multiplied aggregation of words: but the hidden powers of expressions must be scrutinized, and the balance of the translation must be established from their own viscera. Nor must novelty be avoided where the ancient has been lacking, according to the example and precept of the ancient Latins. For all sciences have not only drawn back much into their domestic conveniences from common use and the possession of words, which they count among their own, but they have also produced many things anew, succoring necessity. Nor do I argue that I am striking the same anvil of the Roman language: but that necessity strikes out some things, which he who uses modestly, and he who professes himself to be a Christian and a Catholic in them, is free from fault. Wherefore, I have used the words *Incarnation* and *Salvator* [Savior] and a few others by perpetual use, secure from the insane wisdom of others who have done otherwise. For long ago I imbibed that [this] is the primary, and almost the only, care of an interpreter of the faith.
To fulfill these parts, it is necessary to employ those methods which, otherwise, would not have occurred to the mind. He who acts differently departs from his duty and from the customs of our forefathers. For those who first translated something from another language had no other purpose than to communicate the doctrine and sentiment of those they were translating to those ignorant of that language. They did not covet fame from their version, as if those who had nothing before needed to quench their own thirst; let it be, that through the ambition of eloquence, they twist the sentiment of the author into another shape, although posterity often—whether indignant, ungrateful, curious, or forgetful—mocks them just as crows mock the gaping fledglings. For this reason, they themselves forcefully inserted words into a foreign place, and did not disdain what was proper, even if it was less pleasant. For my own part, to speak briefly, I have tried faithfully to make Basil of Seleucia speak in Latin, and to be of service to the public. Whoever wishes to taste something of his profound doctrine, let him use and enjoy this little work of ours, with God and the holy Basils guiding him. From the Douai College of the Society of Jesus, the Ides of May, 1604.
INDEX OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK.
Oratio I. In illud: « In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram. » II. In Adamum. III. In eumdem Adamum. IV. In Cainum et Abelum. V. In Noemum. VI. In eumdem Noemum. VII. In Abrahamum. VIII. In Josephum. IX. In Moysen. X. In Elisaeum, et Sunamitidem. XI. In Eliam. XII. In Jonam. XIII. In eumdem Jonam. XIV. In Davidis historiam. XV. In Davidem. XVI. In eumdem Davidem. XVII. De eodem. XVIII. In Herodiadem. XIX. In Centurionem. XX. In Chananaeam. XXI. In claudum ad portam Speciosam sedentem. XXII. In illud: « Navigabant simul cum Jesu discipuli, et ecce tempestas magna. » XXIII. De arrepticio. XXIV. In illud: « Dic ut sedeant hi duo filii mei, unus ad dextram tuam, et unus ad sinistram tuam. » XXV. In illud: « Quem me dicunt homines esse Filium hominis? » XXVI. In illud: « Ego sum Pastor bonus. » XXVII. In Olympia. XXVIII. In illud: « Nisi conversi fueritis, et efficiamini sicut parvuli, non intrabitis in regnum caelorum. » XXIX. In illud: « Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos. » XXX. In illud: « Venite post me, et faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum. » XXXI. In illud: « Ecce ascendimus Hierosolymam, et Filius hominis tradetur in manus peccatorum. » XXXII. In illud: « Pater, si possibile est, transeat a me calix iste. » XXXIII. In quinquies mille homines quinque panibus pastos. XXXIV. In illud: « Tu es qui venturus es, an alium exspectamus? » XXXV. In publicanum et Pharisaeum. XXXVI. In duos Evangelii caecos. XXXVII. De infantibus in Bethleem ab Herode sublatis. XXXVIII. Contra Judaeos de Salvatoris adventu Demonstratio.