185 Conceptual metaphors of travel and stability conceptualised as a definitive endpoint/destination of journey, but as a journey in itself (transferring from one state to another). Other metaphors for dying are taken from other source domains, such as falling asleep or war.625 The hagiographical use of metaphors reflecting the conceptual metaphor life is a journey generally, and death as an endpoint of life’s journey specifically, thus overlaps with modern-day conceptions of life and death, as reflected in our (English and other languages’) metaphor use. In hagiography, or at least in the Life of Gregory, conceptions of death as an endpoint may be more specific to an understanding of the death of saints, while other conceptions of death may be more prevalent for other people. This may reflect culturally specific conceptions of death in the Eastern Roman Empire. In contrast to the enduring life is a journey metaphor, politeia is a journey is possibly more specific to hagiographical discourse. Particularly, this conceptual metaphor expresses that an ascetic lifestyle and virtue are a journey. This metaphorical thinking implies that the hagiographer thinks not only of life as a temporal-spatial process, but thinks similarly about ascesis and virtue. That is, achieving an ideal politeia is not achieved all at once, but is conceptualised as a process. Moreover, it may be a difficult process, as the road is conceptualised as uneven and with obstacles, that the saint needs to overcome in his journey. An exemplary way of life, characterised by virtue and asceticism, is one of the aspects on the basis of which sainthood is constructed. In the prologue of the Life of Gregory, Ignatius expresses that one of the aims of his narrative is to demonstrate the virtuous life of Gregory as an example for the audience. Hagiographical prologues are typically rich in metaphorical language, and so is this one. In metaphorical language, the hagiographer communicates that Gregory had an ascetic politeia by life, and that this lifestyle is what makes him an exemplar for the audience. The prologue starts with enumerating examples of ‘extremely clear and pure mirrors’, such as the biblical figures Job, Moses and David.626 The hagiographer elaborates on their virtuous qualities as he posits that nothing is as beneficial for the ‘acquisition and imitation of virtue’ than to direct the mind in the same way to ‘those who purified their lives by a good consciousness and divine meditation’ as one does to a clear mirror.627 Ascetics complete the list of pure mirrors. Gregory is counted among these, praised for his richness of virtue.628 The aim of the narrative that follows, therefore, is to provide such a mirror – the Life of Gregory – for the audience to contemplate, so that they can acquire and imitate the same virtuous conduct as Gregory. 625 See e.g., Life of Gregory 43 (dying as falling asleep: ὁ στυλίτης κεκοίμητο) and Life of Gregory 45 (dying as a battle: ἐπὶ δὲ στρατείαν καὶ μὴ βουλομένους ὁ χρόνος οὗτος ὑμᾶς κατατάξει). 626 ἔσοπτρα διειδέστατα and ἔσοπτρον ἀκηλίδωτον; Life of Gregory prologue, line 4 and line 6. 627 Ἅπαν μὲν τῶν πάντων οὐδὲν οὕτω πέφυκε πρὸς ἀρετῆς ἀνάληψίν τε καὶ μίμησιν ἐπαγωγὸν καὶ ἐπίφορον ὡς παρὰ τοὺς ἀγαθῷ συνειδότι καὶ μελέτῃ θείᾳ τὸν βίον ἑαυτῶν προκαθάραντας ἀτενῶς προσανέχειν καὶ οἷον πρὸς ἔσοπτρα διειδέστατα τὸν νοῦν ἀπευθύνειν καὶ τὸ ἐν ἐκείνοις καλὸν ὡς οἰκεῖον ἐρωτικῶς ἀπομάττεσθαι. Life of Gregory prologue, lines 1-5. 628 Life of Gregory prologue, lines 35-48. 4
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