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mediator of the Old and New Testament, John the great, the disciples of Christ, those after Christ, either who presided over the people, or were made manifest through speech, or were made known through signs, or were perfected through blood.

4. Of these, Athanasius with some competed, by others was left a little behind, and some he even surpassed, if it is not bold to say; having imitated of some their speech, of others their practice, of others their meekness, of others their zeal, of others their dangers, of others most things, of others all things, and taking one beauty from one and another from another, like those who paint forms with exaggeration, and gathering them into his own one soul, he perfected from them all one form of virtue, conquering those mighty in speech by his action, and the practical men by his speech; or if you will, surpassing in speech those renowned in speech, and in action the most practical; and those who were mediocre in both, by his excellence in one or the other; and those who were supreme in one, by excelling in both. And if it is a great thing for his predecessors to have been an example of virtue to him, it is no less to the praise of our good man, that he became an example to those after him.

5. To speak of and admire all his deeds would perhaps be a longer task than is suited to the present impulse of my speech, and the work of history, not of a eulogy; which to hand down in a separate writing, as an instruction and a delight to those who come after, is a matter of prayer for me, just as he 35.1088 wrote the life of the divine Antony, the legislation of the monastic life, in the form of a narrative. But having gone through a few of his many deeds, and as many as our memory now presents to us as more familiar, so that we may both fulfill our desire, and pay what is fitting to the festival, we shall pass over the greater part to those who know them. For it is neither holy nor safe to honor the lives of the impious with memorials, but to pass over in silence those who have excelled in piety; and this in a city, which even many examples of virtue could scarcely save, playing with divine things just as it does with horse-races and theaters.

6. He was brought up from the beginning in divine morals and teachings, having studied little of the secular subjects, so as not to seem entirely inexperienced in such matters, nor to be ignorant of what he had determined to disdain. For he did not endure that the noble and ambitious part of his soul should be occupied with vain things, nor suffer the same fate as inexperienced athletes, who, by striking the air more than their opponents' bodies, fail to win the prizes. And having studied the whole Old Testament, and the whole New, as no one else has, he is rich in contemplation, and rich in the splendor of his life, and he wonderfully weaves both together, the truly golden chain, which for most is unwoven; using his life as a guide to contemplation, and contemplation as a seal upon his life. For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, like a first swaddling-cloth; and wisdom, having surpassed fear and raised us to love, makes us friends and sons of God instead of slaves.

7. Having been thus brought up and educated, as indeed those who are to preside over the people and to handle the great body of Christ should be now, according to the great counsel and foreknowledge of God, which lays down from afar the foundations of great matters, he is enrolled on this great tribunal, and becomes one of those who draw near to the God who draws near, and is deemed worthy of the sacred station and order, and having passed through the whole succession of the grades, to cut short the things in between, he is entrusted with the presidency of the people, which is the same as to say, the superintendence of the whole world. And I cannot say whether he receives the priesthood as a prize for virtue, or as a spring and life for the Church. For it was necessary that she, fainting with the thirst for truth, should be given to drink, like Ishmael, 35.1089 or, like Elijah, be refreshed from the brook, when the land was parched with drought, and breathing but little

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μεσίτην Παλαιᾶς ∆ιαθήκης καὶ Νέας, Ἰωάννην τὸν πάνυ, τοὺς Χριστοῦ μαθητὰς, τοὺς μετὰ Χριστὸν, ἢ λαοῦ προκαθεσθέντας, ἢ διὰ λό γου φανερωθέντας, ἢ διὰ σημείων γνωρισθέντας, ἢ τελειωθέντας δι' αἵματος.

∆ʹ. Τούτων Ἀθανάσιος, τοῖς μὲν ἡμιλλήθη, τῶν δὲ μικρὸν ἀπελείφθη, ἔστι δὲ οὓς καὶ ὑπερέσχεν, εἰ μὴ τολμηρὸν εἰπεῖν· καὶ τῶν μὲν τὸν λόγον, τῶν δὲ τὴν πρᾶξιν, τῶν δὲ τὸ πρᾶον, τῶν δὲ τὸν ζῆλον, τῶν δὲ τοὺς κινδύνους, τῶν δὲ τὰ πλείω, τῶν δὲ τὰ ἅπαντα μιμησάμενος, καὶ ἄλλο ἀπ' ἄλλου κάλλος λα βὼν, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰς μορφὰς μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς γράφον τες, καὶ εἰς μίαν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν συναγαγὼν, ἓν ἀρετῆς εἶδος ἐκ πάντων ἀπηκριβώσατο, τοὺς μὲν ἐν λόγῳ δεινοὺς τῇ πράξει, τοὺς πρακτικοὺς δὲ τῷ λόγῳ νικήσας· εἰ βούλει δὲ, λόγῳ μὲν τοὺς εὐδοκίμους ἐν λόγῳ, πράξει δὲ τοὺς πρακτικωτάτους ὑπερβαλών· καὶ τοὺς μὲν κατ' ἀμφότερα μέσως ἔχοντας, τῷ περὶ τὸ ἕτερον ὑπερβάλλοντι· τοὺς δὲ καθ' ἕτερον ἄκρους, τοῖς ἀμφοτέροις παραδραμών. Καὶ εἰ μέγα τοῖς προλαβοῦσι, τὸ παράδειγμα τούτῳ γενέσθαι τῆς ἀρετῆς, οὐχ ἧττον εἰς εὐφημίαν τῷ ἡμετέρῳ καλῷ, τὸ τοῖς μετ' αὐτὸν γενέσθαι παράδειγμα.

Εʹ. Πάντα μὲν δὴ τὰ ἐκείνου λέγειν τε καὶ θαυμά ζειν μακρότερον ἂν εἴη τυχὸν, ἢ κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ὁρμὴν τοῦ λόγου, καὶ ἱστορίας ἔργον, οὐκ εὐφημίας· ἃ καὶ ἰδίᾳ παραδοῦναι γραφῇ παίδευμά τε καὶ ἥδυ σμα τοῖς εἰς ὕστερον, εὐχῆς ἔργον ἐμοὶ, ὥσπερ ὃν 35.1088 ἐκεῖνος Ἀντωνίου τοῦ θείου βίον συνέγραφε, τοῦ μοναδικοῦ βίου νομοθεσίαν, ἐν πλάσματι διηγή σεως. Ὀλίγα δὲ ἐκ πολλῶν τῶν ἐκείνου δι εξελθόντες, καὶ ὅσα σχεδιάζει ἡμῖν νῦν ἡ μνήμη ὡς γνωριμώτερα, ἵνα τόν τε ἡμέτερον ἀφοσιω σώμεθα πόθον, καὶ τῇ πανηγύρει τὸ εἰκὸς ἐκ πληρώσωμεν, τὰ πλείω τοῖς εἰδόσι παρήσομεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄλλως ὅσιον, οὐδὲ ἀσφαλὲς, ἀσεβῶν μὲν βίους τιμᾶσθαι ταῖς μνήμαις, τοὺς δὲ εὐσεβείᾳ δι ενεγκόντας, σιωπῇ παραπέμψασθαι· καὶ ταῦτα ἐν πόλει, ἣν μόλις ἂν καὶ πολλὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑποδεί γματα σώσειεν, ὥσπερ τοὺς ἱππικοὺς καὶ τὰ θέατρα, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὰ θεῖα παίζουσαν.

ςʹ. Ἐκεῖνος ἐτράφη μὲν εὐθὺς ἐν τοῖς θείοις ἤθεσι καὶ παιδεύμασιν, ὀλίγα τῶν ἐγκυκλίων φιλοσοφήσας, τοῦ μὴ δοκεῖν παντάπασι τῶν τοιούτων ἀπείρως ἔχειν, μηδὲ ἀγνοεῖν ὧν ὑπεριδεῖν ἐδοκίμασεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἠνέσχετο τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς εὐγενὲς καὶ φιλότι μον ἐν τοῖς ματαίοις ἀσχοληθῆναι, οὐδὲ ταυτὸν πα θεῖν τῶν ἀθλητῶν τοῖς ἀπείροις, οἳ τὸν ἀέρα πλείω παίοντες ἢ τὰ σώματα, τῶν ἄθλων ἀποτυγχάνουσι. Καὶ πᾶσαν μὲν Παλαιὰν Βίβλον, πᾶσαν δὲ Νέαν ἐκμελετήσας, ὡς οὐδὲ μίαν ἕτερος, πλουτεῖ μὲν θεωρίαν, πλουτεῖ δὲ βίου λαμπρότητα, καὶ πλέκει θαυμασίως ἀμφότερα, τὴν χρυσῆν ὄντως σειρὰν, καὶ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἄπλοκον· βίῳ μὲν ὁδηγῷ θεωρίας, θεωρίᾳ δὲ σφραγῖδι βίου χρησάμενος. Ἀρχή τε γὰρ σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου, οἷόν τι πρῶτον σπάργανον· καὶ σοφία τὸν φόβον ὑπερβᾶσα, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀγάπην ἀναβιβάσασα, Θεοῦ φίλους ἡμᾶς καὶ υἱοὺς ἀντὶ δούλων ἐργάζεται.

Ζʹ. Τραφεὶς δὲ οὕτω καὶ παιδευθεὶς, ὡς ἔδει γε καὶ νῦν τοὺς λαοῦ προστήσεσθαι μέλλοντας, καὶ τὸ μέγα τοῦ Χριστοῦ σῶμα μεταχειρίζεσθαι, κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην τοῦ Θεοῦ βουλήν τε καὶ πρόγνωσιν, ἣ πόῤῥωθεν καταβάλλεται τῶν μεγάλων πραγμάτων τὰς ὑποθέσεις, τῷ μεγάλῳ βήματι τούτῳ ἐγκαταλέ γεται, καὶ τῶν ἐγγιζόντων εἷς τῷ ἐγγίζοντι Θεῷ γίνεται, καὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἀξιοῦται στάσεώς τε καὶ τάξεως, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν τῶν βαθμῶν ἀκολουθίαν διεξελθὼν, ἵνα τὰ ἐν μέσῳ συντέμω, τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ προεδρίαν πιστεύεται, ταυτὸν δὲ εἰπεῖν, τῆς οἰκουμένης πάσης ἐπιστασίαν. Καὶ οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν, πότερον ἀρετῆς ἆθλον, ἢ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας πηγὴν καὶ ζωὴν, τὴν ἱερωσύνην λαμβάνει. Ἔδει γὰρ ἐκλείπουσαν ταύτην τῷ δίψει τῆς ἀληθείας, ὥσπερ τὸν Ἰσμαὴλ, ποτισθῆναι, 35.1089 ἢ, ὥσπερ τὸν Ἡλίαν, ἐκ τοῦ χειμάῤῥου, κατεψυ γμένης ἀνομβρίᾳ τῆς γῆς, ἀναψύξαι, καὶ μι κρὰ πνέουσαν