for you do not have a sting; you select from every flower what is useful for every season, not just for spring. You, like a bee, have the laws as a sting, but you do not kill, nor do you strike deep. For if you should find a limb worthy of a blow, you apply the laws, like a sting, for fear, but you always spare; and the sting often leaps forward to strike and again is drawn back, but its effective power, overcome by compassion, remained inactive; for even if it has a sharp tendency, through you it is piously blunted, and finally, as if from a philanthropic passion, the sting drips honey instead of bitterness. But the delightfulness of your virtues has led me astray in a digression from the subject at hand; whence, tilling again, I bring the seeds back to the very furrows of my speech. The black night of the enemy was spread over the whole inhabited world; for there was no satiety of Persian greed, but they extended their appetites to slaughter. Yet into such a lightless evening you yourself were in no way turned to sleep; for the density of your cares on our behalf naturally turned sleep away from you. Many, quietly sketching for themselves counsels and strategic laws, were saying that the emperor's power must be present in the necessities of the battle; but others, as if from the opposite side, countered this strategy, fighting hard in their arguments, saying it was perilous for the supreme power to rush into the ready circumstances; and some, fashioning a single mixture of both in their own hearts, declared sophistically, that he should both remain and by his cares run with the contests. But the common arguments were blameless; for the opinions did not have a wicked character. But you, general—for you were general of all—and being more precise about these things yourself, having given to all the authority to speak, made God the judge of the unseen things. And where a virgin faith comes forth, from there it is adorned with a white hope. And having celebrated the greatest day on which the common race rose up to a divine and new re-creation, immediately after it, representing Moses, you out-strategize <τοῦ> the second Pharaoh, if one would not sin in calling him second who is truly first in sin.

And taking that divine and venerable form of the unwritten writing, which hands did not write—but in an image the Word who forms and fashions all things brings forth a formation without writing, just as He Himself, as He knows how, brings a conception without seed; for it was necessary for Him, as then without seed, so again to be imprinted without writing, so that through both formations of the Word the faithfulness of the incarnation might remain, refuting the error of the Phantasiasts, trusting in this divinely-written image, you made a divine first-fruit of the contests. For it was necessary that your advocate, the Word, be altogether present when the trial was in motion. And on the second day of the feast, embarking at once on the transport ships, you vigorously cut through the watery passage, and indeed you immediately sailed past the places of Hera; for so they named it, having received the succession from the error that formerly prevailed, until you turned, piously transforming, the ingloriousness of the error into glory. But I tremble, having mentioned these places, to pass over in silence the piety which you recently wrought in them; for silence will perhaps be a loss even to those after us. But let no one hasten to casually restrain with voiceless reins the horseman of this discourse, as I wish to run again in a digression from my purpose the life-benefiting course. When the south wind blew, the currents were running back intensely in the opposite direction, and a lightless night and boiling waves produced a twofold necessity of the squall. But you, most excellent one, were customarily cutting through the sleepless evening, if it is proper to call evening the day that comes through you. And a voice of sharp lamentations from afar thundered upon your pious mind; for a transport ship, being unluckily pushed by the waves, dashed against a rocky crag, and a great roaring sound of splashing currents, having raised its echo against the rocks, savagely spewed out all the foam, and the waves, crashing against the stones, from the violent collisions as it were, sent out sparks of wet substance;

γὰρ ἰὸν οὐκ ἔχεις· σὺ παντὸς ἄνθους ἐκλέγεις τὸ χρήσιμον εἰς πάντα καιρόν, οὐ γὰρ εἰς ἔαρ μόνον. σὺ κέντρον, ὡς μέλιττα, τοὺς νόμους ἔχεις, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀναιρεῖς, οὐδὲ πλήττεις εἰς βάθος. εἴ που γὰρ εὕροις ἄξιον πληγῆς μέλος, τοὺς μὲν νόμους, ὡς κέντρον, ἁπλοῖς πρὸς φόβον, φείδῃ δὲ πάντως· καὶ τὸ κέντρον πολλάκις πλῆξαι προπηδᾷ καὶ πάλιν συστέλλεται, τὸ δραστικὸν δὲ συμπαθεῖ κρατούμενον ἔμεινεν ἀργόν· κἂν γὰρ ὀξεῖαν ῥοπὴν ἔχῃ, δι' ὑμῶν εὐσεβῶς ἀμβλύνεται, καὶ λοιπόν, ὥσπερ ἐκ φιλανθρώπου πάθους, στάζει τὸ κέντρον ἀντὶ πικρίας μέλι. ἀλλ' ἐν παρεκβάσει με τοῦ προκειμένου ἡ τῶν καλῶν σου τερπνότης ἀπήγαγεν· ὅθεν πρὸς αὐτὰς τοῦ λόγου τὰς αὔλακας πάλιν γεωργῶν εἰσάγω τὰ σπέρματα. ἡ νὺξ μὲν ἡ μέλαινα τῶν ἐναντίων εἰς πᾶσαν ἐξήπλωτο τὴν οἰκουμένην· κόρος γὰρ οὐκ ἦν Περσικῆς ἀπληστίας, ἀλλ' ἐξέτεινον τὰς ὀρέξεις εἰς φόνους. πλὴν εἰς ἀφεγγῆ καὶ τοσαύτην ἑσπέραν πρὸς ὕπνον αὐτὸς οὐδαμῶς μετετράπης· τῶν γὰρ δι' ἡμᾶς φροντίδων ἡ πυκνότης ἐκ σοῦ τὸν ὕπνον εἰκότως ἀπέστρεφε. πολλοὶ δὲ βουλὰς καὶ στρατηγίας νόμους αὐτοὶ καθ' αὑτοὺς ζωγραφοῦντες ἠρέμα ἔφασκον ὡς χρὴ τοῦ βασιλέως τὸ κράτος ἐν ταῖς ἀνάγκαις τῆς μάχης παρεστάναι· ἄλλοι δὲ τούτοις, ὥσπερ ἐκ τοὐναντίου, ἀντεστρατήγουν δυσμαχοῦντες ἐν λόγοις, ἐπισφαλὲς λέγοντες εἶναι τὸ κράτος πρὸς τὰς ἑτοίμους ἐμβαλεῖν περιστάσεις· τινὲς δὲ καὶ σύγκρασιν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν μίαν ἐν ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ἐκτυποῦντες καρδίαις σοφιστικῶς ἔφραζον, ὥστε καὶ μένειν καὶ ταῖς μερίμναις τοῖς ἀγῶσι συντρέχειν. ἀλλ' ἦν τὰ κοινὰ τῶν λόγων ἀναίτια· οὐ γὰρ πονηρὸν εἶχον αἱ γνῶμαι τρόπον. σὺ δέ, στρατηγέκαὶ γὰρ ἦσθα τῶν ὅλωνκαὶ ταῦτα μᾶλλον αὐτὸς ἠκριβωμένος, πᾶσιν δεδωκὼς τοῦ λαλεῖν ἐξουσίαν, Θεὸν δικαστὴν τῶν ἀδήλων εἰργάσω. ὅπου δὲ πίστις παρθένος προέρχεται, λευκὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐλπίδα στολίζεται. ἑορτάσας δὲ τὴν μεγίστην ἡμέραν ἐν ᾗ τὸ κοινὸν ἐξανέστη τοῦ γένους εἰς ἔνθεόν τε καὶ νέαν ἀνάπλασιν, εὐθὺς μετ' αὐτὴν εἰκονίζων Μωσέα καταστρατηγεῖς <τοῦ> Φαραὼ τοῦ δευτέρου, εἰ δεύτερόν τις οὐχ ἁμαρτήσοι λέγων τὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς πρῶτον εἰς ἁμαρτίαν.

λαβὼν δὲ τὴν θείαν τε καὶ σεβάσμιον μορφὴν ἐκείνην τῆς γραφῆς τῆς ἀγράφου, ἣν χεῖρες οὐκ ἔγραψανἀλλ' ἐν εἰκόνι ὁ πάντα μορφῶν καὶ διαπλάττων Λόγος ἄνευ γραφῆς μόρφωσιν, ὡς ἄνευ σπορᾶς κύησιν αὐτός, ὡς ἐπίσταται, φέρει· ἐχρῆν γὰρ αὐτόν, ὡς τότε σπορᾶς δίχα, οὕτω τυποῦσθαι καὶ πάλιν γραφῆς ἄνευ, ὅπως δι' ἀμφοῖν τοῦ Λόγου μορφουμένου μένοι τὸ πιστὸν τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, τῶν Φαντασιαστῶν ἐξελέγχον τὴν πλάνην, τούτῳ πεποιθὼς τῷ θεογράφῳ τύπῳ, θείαν ἀπαρχὴν τῶν ἀγώνων εἰργάσω. ἔδει γὰρ ὑμῶν τὸν συνήγορον Λόγον πάντως παρεῖναι τῆς δίκης κινουμένης. τῇ δευτέρᾳ δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς ἡμέρᾳ σεαυτὸν εὐθὺς ἐμβαλὼν ταῖς ὁλκάσι τὸν ὑγρὸν ἐξέτεμνες εὐτόνως πόρον, καὶ δὴ παρέπλεις εὐθὺς Ἡραίας τόπους· οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὴν ὠνόμαζον ἐκ πλάνης τῆς πρὶν κρατούσης διαδοχὴν δεδεγμένοι, ἕως ἔτρεψας, εὐσεβῶς μεθαρμόσας, τὸ τῆς πλάνης ἄδοξον εἰς εὐδοξίαν. τρέμω δὲ τούτων μνημονεύσας τῶν τόπων σιγῇ παρελθεῖν ἣν ἐν αὐτοῖς εἰργάσω ἔναγχος εὐσέβειαν· ἔσται γὰρ τάχα καὶ τοῖς μεθ' ἡμᾶς ἡ σιωπὴ ζημία. ἀλλ' ἐν παρεκβάσει με τοῦ σκοποῦ πάλιν δραμεῖν θέλοντα τὸν βιωφελῆ δρόμον μή τις παρέργως τοῦ λόγου τὸν ἱππέα σπεύσοι κατασχεῖν ταῖς ἀφώνοις ἡνίαις. ἦν μὲν νότου πνεύσαντος εἰς τοὐναντίον παλινδρομοῦντα συντόνως τὰ ῥεύματα, καὶ νὺξ ἀφεγγὴς καὶ βράσαντα κύματα διπλῆν ἀνάγκην τῆς ζάλης εἰργάζετο. σὺ δέ, κράτιστε, τὴν ἄϋπνον ἑσπέραν εἰθισμένως ἔτεμνες, εἴπερ ἑσπέραν καλεῖν προσήκει τὴν δι' ὑμῶν ἡμέραν. φωνὴ δ' ἄπωθεν ὀξέων θρηνημάτων τὰς σὰς κατεβρόντησεν εὐσεβεῖς φρένας· ἐκ κυμάτων γὰρ δυστυχῶς ὠθουμένη ὁλκὰς προσεσκίρτησε πετραίῳ πάγῳ, πολλὴ δὲ παφλάζουσα ῥευμάτων βοὴ τὸν ἦχον ὑψώσασα ταῖς πέτραις ὅλον ἔξω τὸν ἀφρὸν ἀγρίως ἀνέπτυε, καὶ προσραγέντα τοῖς λίθοις τὰ κύματα ἐκ τῶν βιαίων ὥσπερ ἀντικρουσμάτων σπινθῆρας ἐξέπεμπον ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας·