| 1 Μὴ πολλοὶ διδάσκαλοι γίνεσθε, ἀδελφοί μου, εἰδότες ὅτι μεῖζον κρίμα λημψόμεθα. 2 πολλὰ γὰρ πταίομεν ἅπαντες. εἴ τις ἐν λόγῳ οὐ πταίει, οὗτος τέλειος ἀνήρ, δυνατὸς χαλιναγωγῆσαι καὶ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα. 3 εἰ δὲ τῶν ἵππων τοὺς χαλινοὺς εἰς τὰ στόματα βάλλομεν εἰς τὸ πείθεσθαι αὐτοὺς ἡμῖν, καὶ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα αὐτῶν μετάγομεν. 4 ἰδοὺ καὶ τὰ πλοῖα, τηλικαῦτα ὄντα καὶ ὑπὸ ἀνέμων σκληρῶν ἐλαυνόμενα, μετάγεται ὑπὸ ἐλαχίστου πηδαλίου ὅπου ἡ ὁρμὴ τοῦ εὐθύνοντος βούλεται: 5 οὕτως καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα μικρὸν μέλος ἐστὶν καὶ μεγάλα αὐχεῖ. ἰδοὺ ἡλίκον πῦρ ἡλίκην ὕλην ἀνάπτει: 6 καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα πῦρ, ὁ κόσμος τῆς ἀδικίας, ἡ γλῶσσα καθίσταται ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν ἡμῶν, ἡ σπιλοῦσα ὅλον τὸ σῶμα καὶ φλογίζουσα τὸν τροχὸν τῆς γενέσεως καὶ φλογιζομένη ὑπὸ τῆς γεέννης. 7 πᾶσα γὰρ φύσις θηρίων τε καὶ πετεινῶν ἑρπετῶν τε καὶ ἐναλίων δαμάζεται καὶ δεδάμασται τῇ φύσει τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ: 8 τὴν δὲ γλῶσσαν οὐδεὶς δαμάσαι δύναται ἀνθρώπων ἀκατάστατον κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου. 9 ἐν αὐτῇ εὐλογοῦμεν τὸν κύριον καὶ πατέρα, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ καταρώμεθα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς καθ' ὁμοίωσιν θεοῦ γεγονότας: 10 ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ στόματος ἐξέρχεται εὐλογία καὶ κατάρα. οὐ χρή, ἀδελφοί μου, ταῦτα οὕτως γίνεσθαι. 11 μήτι ἡ πηγὴ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς ὀπῆς βρύει τὸ γλυκὺ καὶ τὸ πικρόν; 12 μὴ δύναται, ἀδελφοί μου, συκῆ ἐλαίας ποιῆσαι ἢ ἄμπελος σῦκα; οὔτε ἁλυκὸν γλυκὺ ποιῆσαι ὕδωρ. |
1 Do not be too eager, brethren, to impart instruction to others; be sure that, if we do, we shall be called to account all the more strictly. 2 We are betrayed, all of us, into many faults; and a man who is not betrayed into faults of the tongue must be a man perfect at every point, who knows how to curb his whole body. 3 Just so we can make horses obey us, and turn their whole bodies this way and that, by putting a curb in their mouths. 4 Or look at ships; how huge they are, how boisterous are the winds that drive them along! And yet a tiny rudder will turn them this way and that, as the captain’s purpose will have it. 5 Just so, the tongue is a tiny part of our body, and yet what power it can boast! How small a spark it takes to set fire to a vast forest! 6 And that is what the tongue is, a fire. Among the organs of our nature, the tongue has its place as the proper element in which all that is harmful lives. It infects the whole body, and sets fire to this mortal sphere of ours, catching fire itself from hell.[1] 7 Mankind can tame, and has long since learned to tame, every kind of beast and bird, of creeping things and all else;[2] 8 but no human being has ever found out how to tame the tongue; a pest that is never allayed, all deadly poison. 9 We use it to bless God who is our Father; we use it to curse our fellow men, that were made in God’s image; 10 blessing and cursing come from the same mouth. My brethren, there is no reason in this. 11 Does the fountain gush out fresh and salt water from the same outlet? 12 What, my brethren, can a fig-tree yield olives, or a vine figs? No more easily will brackish water yield fresh. |
1 Nolite plures magistri fieri fratres mei, scientes quoniam majus judicium sumitis. 2 In multis enim offendimus omnes. Si quis in verbo non offendit, hic perfectus est vir: potest etiam freno circumducere totum corpus. 3 Si autem equis frena in ora mittimus ad consentiendum nobis, et omne corpus illorum circumferimus. 4 Ecce et naves, cum magnæ sint, et a ventis validis minentur, circumferuntur a modico gubernaculo ubi impetus dirigentis voluerit. 5 Ita et lingua modicum quidem membrum est, et magna exaltat. Ecce quantus ignis quam magnam silvam incendit! 6 Et lingua ignis est, universitas iniquitatis. Lingua constituitur in membris nostris, quæ maculat totum corpus, et inflammat rotam nativitatis nostræ inflammata a gehenna. 7 Omnis enim natura bestiarum, et volucrum, et serpentium, et ceterorum domantur, et domita sunt a natura humana: 8 linguam autem nullus hominum domare potest: inquietum malum, plena veneno mortifero. 9 In ipsa benedicimus Deum et Patrem: et in ipsa maledicimus homines, qui ad similitudinem Dei facti sunt. 10 Ex ipso ore procedit benedictio et maledictio. Non oportet, fratres mei, hæc ita fieri. 11 Numquid fons de eodem foramine emanat dulcem et amaram aquam? 12 Numquid potest, fratres mei, ficus uvas facere, aut vitis ficus? Sic neque salsa dulcem potest facere aquam. |