Letter 461

To Lucius the Tribune. How many men, how many times, have hunted crows with snares and a net, and the crows that were caught had no knowledge of their own hunting and capture? Yet to you, as you say, the crows foretell the future, and crows are found to be foreknowers and prophets of things not yet present—they who in no way recognized the snare contrived against them, and were ignorant of their own destruction. Stand off, therefore, from bird-watching [ornithomancy]; for certain men who have given heed to it, as deserving of the deception, and who note the flights of crows—those in front, and those from behind, and those that describe a circle overhead, and those that are carried off to the sides (wicked demons clearly flying together with the crows, and bearing the birds by their flight to suggest something to the deluded man)—and who likewise note the cries of these birds, have been estranged from faith in Christ the Savior, and, falling into incurable misfortunes, though they had hoped for good things, on account of the supposedly most excellent sign shown by the crows, after countless losses and torments, afterward brought their life to an end with a wicked and accursed conclusion. For 'the ends of an unjust generation are evil,' as the Scripture says. If, then, you wish to escape the hunting of the demons, never observe any portent—not the flights nor the cries of birds, not the encounters with all kinds of living things, rational or irrational, nor recallings and retracings of steps, nor vain omens; and, in a word, observe nothing except sin. For it is useful to observe this, and to thrust it away continually. And we wish you to know this also: that with certain men who, after the Greek [pagan] custom, observed those soul-harming things, it often happened just as they supposed—not from the power and the prediction of the wretched crows, or swine, or men, but from the judgment of God, who chastises and mocks their unbelief. For 'May the Lord give to you according to your heart,' it says, 'and may it come to pass for you as you expected'; and he will shut you up in calamities, and griefs, and afflictions, just as you also surrounded yourself with them by trusting in what is base—so that at some time the deceived, coming to recognition of their own folly and making use of good repentance, may cease from the harmful observation, and, having turned, may lead their own soul back from every quarter toward God.

Πόσοι ποσάκις ἄνθρωπος, κόρακας παγίσι καὶ δικτύῳ ἐθήρασαν, καὶ ἠγνόουν οἱ πιασθέντες κόρακες τὴν αὐτῶν θήραν τε καὶ σύλληψιν; Σοὶ δὲ προμη- νύουσι, καθὼς λέγεις, τὸ μέλλον οἱ κόρακες, καὶ προγνῶσται καὶ προφῆται τῶν μηδέπω παρόντων εὑρίσκονται κόρακες, οἱ τὴν κατ’ αὐτῶν μηχανηθεῖ- σαν παγίδα μηδαμῶς ἐγνωκότες, καὶ τὸν ἑαυτῶν ὄλεθρον ἀγνοήσαντες. Ἀπόστηθι τοιγαροῦν τῆς ὀρ- νεοσκοπίας· τινὲς γὰρ ταύτῃ προσεσχηκότες, ὡς ἄξιοι τῆς πλάνης, καὶ τὰς τῶν κοράκων σημειοὐ- μενοι πτήσεις, τάς τε ἐνωπίας, καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν ὄπισθεν, καὶ τὰς ὑπὲρ κεφαλὴν κύκλον περιγραφοὐ- σας, καὶ τὰς ἐπὶ τὰ πλάγια φερομένας, δαιμόνων πονηρῶν δῆλον ὅτι συμπετομένων τοῖς κόραξι, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πλανωμένου ἀνθρώπου ὑπόνοιαν τῇ πτήσει φερόντων τὰ ὄρνεα· ὁμοίως μέντοι καὶ τὰς τούτων φωνὰς σημειούμενοι, ἀπεξενώθησαν μὲν τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν τὸν Σωτῆρα πίστεως, ἀνηκέστοις δὲ κλιματῆρσι περιπεσόντες, καίτοι χρηστὰ ἐλπίσαντες. διὰ τὴν τῶν κοράκων δῆθεν καλλίστην δειχθεῖσαν σημασίαν, μετὰ μυρίας ζημίας καὶ βασάνους, ὕστερον πονηρῷ καὶ ἀπευκταίῳ τέλει τὸν βίον κατέστρεψαν. Γενεᾶς γὰρ ἀδίκου πονηρὰ τὰ τέλη, καθά φησιν ἡ Γραφή. Εἰ τοίνυν βούλει ἐκφυγεῖν τῶν δαιμόνων τὴν θήραν, μηδεμίαν μηδέποτε παρατήρησιν σκόπευε, μὴ πτήσεις, μηδὲ φωνὰς ὀρνέων, μὴ ὑπαντήσεις παντοίων ζώων λογικῶν ἢ ἀλόγων, μήτε τὰς ἀνακλήσεις καὶ τοὺς ἀναποδισμούς, μήτε κληδόνας ματαίας, καὶ ἀπαξαπλῶς μηδὲν παρατηρήσεις, εἰ μὴ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Χρήσιμον γὰρ παρατηρεῖσθαι ταύτην, καὶ ἀπωθεῖσθαι διηνεκῶς. Κἀκεῖνο δὲ γινώσκειν βουλόμεθα, ὅτιπερ τισιν ἀνθρώποις παρατηρησαμένοις τῷ Ἑλληνικῷ ἔθει ἐκεῖνα τὰ ψυχοβλαβῆ, συνέβη πολλάκις οὕτως, ὥσπερ ὑπενόησαν, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ τῆς προαγορεύσεως τῶν ἀθλίων κοράκων, ἢ χοίρων, ἢ ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ’ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ κρίσεως, κολαζόντος καὶ ἐκμυκτηρίζοντος τὴν ἀπιστίαν αὐτῶν. « Δῴη γάρ σοι Κύριος κατὰ τὴν καρδίαν σου, καὶ γενηθήτω σοι, φησί, καθὰ προσεδόκησας » καὶ συγκλείσει σε συμφοραῖς, καὶ λύπαις, καὶ θλίψεσιν, ὥσπερ καὶ περιέθησαι τῇ φαύλῃ πειθόμενος· ὅπως ἐποτε εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἐλθόντες τῆς ἑαυτῶν ματαιοφροσύνης οἱ ἐξαπατηθέντες, καὶ μετανοίᾳ χρησάμενοι ἀγαθῇ, παύσωνται μὲν τῆς παρατηρήσεως τῆς βλαβεροῦ, ἐπιτρέψαντες, πανταχόθεν τὴν ἰδίαν ψυχὴν πρὸς Θεὸν ἐπανάγωσιν.