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To Hierax, a Bishop in Egypt

Dionysius of Alexandria

Section 2

About this work

Author: Dionysius of Alexandria

2. But now it always flows onward, polluted

with

blood

and

slaughters

and

the

drowning

struggles

of

men

,

just

as

it

did

of

old

,

when

on

Pharaoh’s

account

it

was

changed

by

Moses

into

blood

,

and

made

putrid

.

And

what

other

liquid

could

cleanse

water

,

which

itself

cleanses

all

things

?

How

could

that

ocean

,

so

vast

and

impassable

for

men

,

though

poured

out

on

it

,

ever

purge

this

bitter

sea

?

Or

how

could

even

that

great

river

which

streams

forth

from

Eden

,

though

it

were

to

discharge

the

four

hearts

into

which

it

is

divided

into

the

one

channel

of

the

Gihon

,

wash

away

these

pollutions

?

Or

when

will

this

air

,

befouled

as

it

is

by

noxious

exhalations

which

rise

in

every

direction

,

become

pure

again

?

For

there

are

such

vapours

sent

forth

from

the

earth

,

and

such

blasts

from

the

sea

,

and

breezes

from

the

rivers

,

and

reeking

mists

from

the

harbours

,

that

for

dew

we

might

suppose

ourselves

to

have

the

impure

fluids

of

the

corpses

which

are

rotting

in

all

the

underlying

elements

.

And

yet

,

after

all

this

,

men

are

amazed

,

and

are

at

a

loss

to

understand

whence

come

these

constant

pestilences

,

whence

these

terrible

diseases

,

whence

these

many

kinds

of

fatal

inflictions

,

whence

all

that

large

and

multiform

destruction

of

human

life

,

and

what

reason

there

is

why

this

mighty

city

no

longer

contains

within

it

as

great

a

number

of

inhabitants

,

taking

all

parties

into

account

,

from

tender

children

up

to

those

far

advanced

in

old

age

,

as

once

it

maintained

of

those

alone

whom

it

called

hale

old

men

.

But

those

from

forty

years

of

age

up

to

seventy

were

so

much

more

numerous

then

,

that

their

number

cannot

be

made

up

now

even

when

those

from

fourteen

to

eighty

years

of

age

have

been

added

to

the

roll

and

register

of

persons

who

are

recipients

of

the

public

allowances

of

grain

.

And

those

who

are

youngest

in

appearance

have

now

become

,

as

it

were

,

equals

in

age

with

those

who

of

old

were

the

most

aged

.

And

yet

,

although

they

thus

see

the

human

race

constantly

diminishing

and

wasting

away

upon

the

earth

,

they

have

no

trepidation

in

the

midst

of

this

increasing

and

advancing

consumption

and

annihilation

of

their

own

number

.

Notes

6
᾽Εδέμ.
7
Written Γηών in Codex Alexandrinus, but Γεών in Codex Vaticanus.
8
ιχῶρας.
9
ὡμογέροντας.