Thanksgiving Address to Origen · §5.2 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

Rhetoric, Latin, and the study of Roman law

His mother sends him to study rhetoric, and a teacher of Latin points him toward Roman law.

My mother, the only one of my parents left to care for us, decided that, since we were being educated in the other subjects as boys of good birth and upbringing, as of course we were, we should also attend a teacher of rhetoric, in the expectation that we would become orators. So we attended him, and those who judged such things at the time said that we would soon be orators. For my part, I could not say this, nor would I want to. But there was as yet no thought of all this, nor any groundwork laid for it, for none of the causes that could carry us here was yet at work.

But the divine tutor, ever wakeful, the true guardian, stepped in when neither my family had thought of it nor I myself desired it, and fell in with one of my teachers. This teacher had been entrusted simply with teaching me the Roman tongue, not so that I would master it, but so that I might not be wholly ignorant of this language too; and he happened also to be no stranger to the law. Taking note of this, my guardian urged me through him to learn the laws of the Romans. That man pressed this on me earnestly, and I went along with him to some degree, more to please him than because I loved the art. Taking me as his student, he set about teaching me with zeal. And he said something that has come true for me more truly than anything: that the study of the laws would be my greatest provision for the journey (that was the very word he used), whether I wished to be one of the orators who contend in the law courts, or anything else. He said this with his eye on human affairs. But it seems to me that, under some more divine inspiration, he prophesied beyond what he himself supposed.

For while I was being trained in these laws, willingly and unwillingly, bonds of a sort were already laid down, and the cause and occasion of my road here: the city of Berytus. That city, not far from here, is somewhat more Roman in character and is trusted as the school of these laws. As for this holy man, other affairs moved him from Egypt, from the city of Alexandria, where he had happened to make his home before, and brought him to this place, as if to meet us. I do not know how to give the causes of these things either, and I will gladly pass them by. Even so, nothing yet made my coming here and my meeting with the man necessary, as far as our law studies went, since it was also possible to travel to the city of Rome.

Greek

Ἐδόκει τῇ μόνῃ ἐκ τῶν γονέων κήδεσθαι ἡμῶν περιλειπομένῃ μητρὶ τ᾽ ἄλλα ἐκπαιδευομένους, οἷα παῖδας οὐκ ἀγεννεῖς δῆθεν καὶ φύντας καὶ τρεφομένους, φοιτᾶν καὶ ῥήτορι, ὡς δὴ ῥήτορας ἐσομένους. καὶ δῆτα ἐφοιτῶμεν, καὶ ῥήτορας μὲν οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν ἔσεσθαι ἡμᾶς ἔλεγον, οἱ τότε κρίνοντες οὕτως. οὐκ ἔγωγε τοῦτο λέγειν οὔτε οἶδα, οὔτ᾽ ἂν θελήσαιμι· λόγος δὲ οὐδεὶς ἦν τούτων, οὐδέ τις καταβολή· οὐδέπω τῶν τῇδε φέρειν ἡμᾶς δυναμένων αἰτιῶν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἄγρυπνος ὢν ὁ θεῖος παιδαγωγὸς, καὶ ἀληθὴς κηδεμὼν, οὔτε τῶν οἰκείων διανοουμένων, οὔτε καὶ ἐμοῦ αὐτοῦ προθυμουμένου, ἐπῆν, συμβαλών τινι τῶν ἐμῶν διδασκάλων, ἄλλως τὴν Ῥωμαίων φωνὴν ἐκπαιδεύειν με πεπιστευμένῳ· οὐχ ὡς ἐπ᾽ ἄκρον ἥξοντα, ὡς δὲ μὴ ἄπειρος εἴην πάντῃ καὶ τῆσδε τῆς φωνῆς, ἔτυχε δὲ νόμων οὐκ ἄπειρος ὤν. τοῦτο ἐπὶ νοῦν βαλὼν, προὐτρέψατό με δι᾽ αὐτοῦ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐκμανθάνειν νόμους. καὶ λιπαρῶς γε τοῦτο ἐποίει ὁ ἀνὴρ ἐκεῖνος, κἀγὼ μέν τι ἐπειθόμην, τἀνδρὶ μᾶλλον χαριζόμενος, ἤπερ τῆς τέχνης ἐραστὴς ὤν. ὁ δέ με λαβὼν ἀκροατὴν, φιλοτίμως μὲν διδάσκειν ἤρχετο. ἐπεφθέγξατο δέ τι, ὅ μοι ἀληθέστατα πάντων ἀποβέβηκε· μέγιστον ἔσεσθαί μοι ἐφόδιον. (τοῦτο γὰρ τοὔνομα ἐκεῖνος ὠνόμασεν.) εἴτε τις ῥήτωρ τῶν ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις ἀγωνιζομένων, εἴτε καὶ ἄλλος τις εἶναι θελήσαιμι, τὴν μάθησιν τῶν νόμων. ὁ μὲν οὕτως ἀπεφθέγξατο, τείνων εἰς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα τὸν λόγον. ἐμοὶ δὲ ἀτεχνῶς ὑπό τινι θειοτέρᾳ ἐπιπνοίᾳ ἀποφοιβάσαι δοκεῖ τῆς αὐτοῦ ὑπολήψεως. ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐξεπαιδευόμην ἑκὼν καὶ ἄκων τοὺς νόμους τούσδε, δεσμοὶ μέν πως ἤδη κατεβέβληντο καὶ αἰτία καὶ ἀφορμὴ τῆς ἐπὶ τάδε ὁδοῦ, ἡ τῶν Βηρυτίων πόλις. ἡ δὲ, οὐ μακρὰν ἀπέχουσα τῶν ἐνταῦθα πόλις Ῥωμαϊκωτέρα πως, καὶ τῶν νόμων τούτων εἶναι πιστευθεῖσα παιδευτήριον. τὸν δὲ ἱερὸν τοῦτον ἄνδρα ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἐκ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρέων πόλεως, ἔνθα τὴν ἑστίαν ἔχων, ἔτυχε πρότερον, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκίνει καὶ μετῴκιζεν ἐπὶ τόδε τὸ χωρίον ὥσπερ ἀπαντήσοντα ἡμῖν, ἕτερα πράγματα. οὐκ ἔγωγε καὶ ταῦτα αἰτιολογεῖσθαι ὅτι οἶδα, καὶ ἑκὼν παρήσω. οὐ μὴν ἀλλ᾽ οὔπω γε τῆς ἐνθάδε μοι ἀφίξεως καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα συμπλοκῆς, οὐδὲν οὕτως ἀναγκαῖον ἦν, ὅσον ἐπὶ τοῖς νόμοις ἡμῶν, δυνατὸν ὂν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀποδημῆσαι πόλιν.

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About this text

Gregory's farewell speech to his teacher Origen: how a pagan boy bound for law school in Berytus was led to Caesarea, how Origen taught him logic, natural science, ethics and the reading of Scripture, and his grief at leaving. A fresh English translation of the whole address.

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270) wrote this address to his teacher Origen. The speech is an expression of thanks and praise, though Gregory feels inadequate to the task of honoring his teacher.

The occasion is Gregory's farewell to Origen's school at Caesarea. He begins by explaining that he has neither spoken nor written for eight years, and has only listened to philosophers who value accurate investigation over polished speech. He then tells how a guardian angel led him, a pagan boy bound for law studies in Berytus, to Origen, and how Origen trained him in logic, natural science, ethics and the reading of Scripture. He ends by lamenting his departure and asking Origen to pray for him.

A reader will meet Gregory himself as the speaker, and Origen as the subject of the speech. Origen is described as a man who appears human, but to those who can perceive the greatness of his character and habits, seems endowed with greater and nearly divine ornaments.

The opening section (to the point where Gregory turns to his subject) was translated from the Latin column of the Opera omnia print (Paris, 1622). Everything after it, to the closing prayer, was translated from that print's Greek column, read from the page images; the facing Latin was used to settle damaged or abbreviated words. Where the print is hard to construe, a few readings follow Koetschau's edition (1894); each one is named in the translator notes. The older Ante-Nicene Fathers English was used only as a sense check for the opening section.

Printed text used

Translated from Opera omnia, Greek and Latin (Paris: Sonnius, Morel and Cramoisy, 1622), page images (Greek and Latin · Whole address: Latin column for section 1, Greek column for sections 2.1-19)
Translated from Latin of the opening section (Latin · Section 1)
Also checked DjVu text of the same print (Latin and Greek (machine-read text) · Opening)

Where the prints differ

Section 1 — Translated from the Latin column; the Greek of this opening was not used. Long-s and column joins expanded (ductu; nec aut scripsi; historiamve; arte nostra); the editor's argument and notes left out.
Sections 5.1, 5.3 and 6.2 — Abbreviated words read from the page images and the facing Latin: 'father' (πατρός), 'toward our sister' (πρὸς τὴν ἀδελφήν), 'through the whole of this life' (διὰ παντός), 'handing over his charge' (τὴν οἰκονομίαν παραδιδούς), 'with difficulty' (δυσχερῶς).
Section 6.3 — The print's doubtful participle (βλέψαν) is rendered with Koetschau's reading βλάψαν ('without doing it any harm').
Sections 7.2 and 8 — The print runs one sentence across the break; it is translated once, at the start of section 8, where Koetschau begins chapter 8.

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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