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to hold power, but for me the crowns. To such an extent do I seize upon good order in advance, and thus do I make their achievements my own!

∆ʹ. Indeed, we must celebrate all martyrs, and for all we must readily open tongue, and hearing, and mind, both speaking eagerly about them and listening, and considering everything to be less than their contest. For so it is, while there are many things to guide us to what is better, and many lessons for virtue—reason, law, prophets, apostles, the very sufferings of Christ, the first martyr who ascended the cross, gathering me with Him, that He might nail my sin to it, and triumph over the serpent, and sanctify the tree, and conquer pleasure, and save Adam, and restore the fallen image; while we have so many and such things, the martyrs are no less an instruction for us, being rational whole burnt offerings, perfect sacrifices, acceptable oblations, proclamations of the truth, public disgraces of falsehood, a fulfillment of the Law (at least of that which is spiritually understood), a destruction of error, a persecution of evil, a deluge of sin, a purification of the world.

Εʹ. But you, O Cyprian, my most precious reality and name, more than other martyrs (for there is no envy from martyrs towards martyrs); 35.1176 and I am especially overcome by your virtue, and I am lightened by your memory, and I become as if inspired by pleasure, and in a way I am present at your martyrdom, and I share in your contest, and I am wholly transported to you; perhaps because of the kinship of your eloquence, in which you surpassed others as much as rational beings surpass irrational nature (for a fondness, I know not how, enters into those who are joined in some respect, no less than in other matters, or in those concerning kinship of blood); or perhaps because of the suddenness and unexpectedness of your conversion, which is beyond description and example. Since the sun is sweet after a cloud, by which it was for a time covered; and spring is sweeter, because it is after the gloom of winter; and a smiling calm is more pleasant, and the sea spread out, and playing against the shores after a strife of winds and laboring waves.

ςʹ. This is that Cyprian, O men (so that those of you who know may take more pleasure in the reminder, and those who do not know may learn the most beautiful of our narratives, and the common glory of Christians), this is that man, once the great name of the Carthaginians, but now of the whole world, who was conspicuous for wealth, and distinguished for power, and well-known for his family (if indeed participation in and presidency of the senatorial council is the greatest proof of noble birth), the flower of youth, the glory of nature, the master of oratory, both in philosophy and in as many other disciplines, and of these whatever part you wish; so that one would marvel more at the variety than the excellence in each, or rather at the high repute in each than at his universal erudition; or, that I may distinguish more clearly, in some things he excelled in variety, in others in excellence, and in some in both, but in all things he surpassed all men.

Ζʹ. Of his eloquence, then, his orations are also witnesses, many and splendid, which he composed for our sakes, after he had, through the loving-kindness of God who makes and transforms all things for the better, transferred his learning, and subjected his irrationality to reason; but from this point on, I do not know how I should use my speech or what I should become; how, on the one hand, I may not draw out a long speech, and be entirely out of season, by mentioning all of Cyprian's deeds; and how, on the other, I may not do the greatest injury to those present by the things I pass over in silence. In order, then, to walk a middle path between the occasion and the desire of my hearers, it seems to me I should do this: 35.1177 to pass over the other things for those who know them, and to teach those who are ignorant, if there are any, so that both may be equally benefited, both those who teach his deeds and those who learn them (since even to remember

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τὸ κρατεῖν, ἐμοὶ δὲ οἱ στέφανοι. Τοσοῦτον προαρπάζω τὴν εὐκοσμίαν, καὶ οὕτως οἰκειοῦ μαι τὰ κατορθώματα!

∆ʹ. Πᾶσι μὲν δὴ μάρτυσι πανηγυριστέον, καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνοικτέον ἑτοίμως καὶ γλῶσσαν, καὶ ἀκοὴν, καὶ διά νοιαν, καὶ λέγοντάς τι προθύμως περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ ἀκούοντας, καὶ πάντα ἐλάττω νομίζοντας τῆς ἐκεί νων ἀθλήσεως. Καὶ γὰρ οὕτως ἔχει, πολλῶν ὄντων ἡμῖν εἰς ὁδηγίαν τοῦ κρείττονος, καὶ πολλῶν τῶν πρὸς ἀρετὴν παιδευμάτων, λόγου, νόμου, προφητῶν, ἀποστόλων, αὐτῶν τῶν Χριστοῦ παθημάτων, τοῦ πρώτου μάρτυρος ἐπὶ τὸν σταυρὸν ἀνελθόντος, κἀμὲ συναγαγόντος, ἵνα προσηλώσῃ τὴν ἐμὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ τὸν ὄφιν θριαμβεύσῃ, καὶ τὸ ξύλον ἁγιάσῃ, καὶ τὴν ἡδονὴν νικήσῃ, καὶ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἀνα σώσῃ, καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα πεσοῦσαν ἀνακαλέσηται· τοσ ούτων ὄντων ἡμῖν καὶ τοιούτων, οὐδὲν ἔλαττον ἡμῖν εἰς παιδαγωγίαν οἱ μάρτυρες, ὁλοκαυτώματα λογικὰ, θύματα τέλεια, προσφοραὶ δεκταὶ, τῆς ἀλη θείας κηρύγματα, τοῦ ψεύδους στηλιτεύματα, νόμου συμπλήρωσις, τοῦ γε πνευματικῶς νοουμένου, πλάνης κατάλυσις, κακίας διωγμὸς, ἁμαρτίας κατακλυσμὸς, κόσμου καθάρσιον.

Εʹ. Σὺ δέ μοι, Κυπριανὲ, τὸ τιμιώτατόν μοι καὶ πρᾶγμα καὶ ὄνομα, πλέον ἢ κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους μάρτυρας (φθόνος γὰρ οὐδεὶς παρὰ μαρτύρων μάρτυσιν)· 35.1176 καὶ σοῦ διαφερόντως ἥττημαί τε τῆς ἀρετῆς, καὶ τῇ μνήμῃ κουφίζομαι, καὶ ὥσπερ ἔνθους ὑφ' ἡδονῆς γίνομαι, καί τινα τρόπον σύνειμί τε τῇ μαρτυρίᾳ, καὶ κοινωνῶ τῆς ἀθλήσεως, καὶ ὅλος πρὸς σὲ μετανίσταμαι· τάχα μὲν διὰ τὴν τῶν λόγων οἰκείωσιν, οἷς τοσοῦτον τῶν ἄλλων ἐκράτεις, ὅσον τὰ λογικὰ τῆς ἀλόγου φύσεως (συνεισέρχεται γὰρ, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως, φίλτρον τοῖς κατά τι συναπτομένοις, οὐχ ἧττον τοῖς λοιποῖς πράγμασιν, ἢ τοῖς περὶ ἀγχιστείαν αἵματος)· τάχα δὲ διὰ τὸ τῆς μεταβολῆς ἀθρόον τε καὶ παρά δοξον, ὃ κρεῖττον λόγου καὶ παραδείγματος. Ἐπεὶ γλυκὺ μὲν ἥλιος μετὰ νέφος, ᾧ τέως συνεκα λύπτετο· γλύκιον δὲ τὸ ἔαρ, ὅτι μετὰ χειμῶνος κατ ήφειαν· ἡδίων δὲ μειδιῶσα γαλήνη, καὶ θάλασσα ἡπλωμένη, καὶ ταῖς ἀκταῖς προσπαίζουσα μετὰ πνευμάτων στάσιν, καὶ ὠδίνοντα κύματα.

ςʹ. Οὗτος Κυπριανὸς, ὦ ἄνδρες (ἵνα οἱ μὲν εἰδότες, ἡδίους γένησθε τῇ ὑπομνήσει, οἱ δὲ ἀγνοοῦντες, μάθητε τὸ κάλλιστον τῶν ἡμετέρων διηγημάτων, καὶ τὴν κοινὴν Χριστιανῶν φιλοτιμίαν), οὗτος ἐκεῖνος, τὸ μέγα ποτὲ Καρχηδονίων ὄνομα, νῦν δὲ τῆς οἰκουμέ νης ἁπάσης, ὁ πλούτῳ περιφανὴς, καὶ δυναστείᾳ περίβλεπτος, καὶ γένει γνώριμος (εἴ γε μέγιστον εἰς εὐγενείας ἀπόδειξιν, συγκλήτου βουλῆς μετουσία καὶ προεδρία), τὸ τῆς νεότητος ἄνθος, τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἄγαλμα, τὸ τῶν λόγων κράτος, τῶν τε κατὰ φιλοσοφίαν, καὶ ὅσοι τῆς ἄλλης παιδεύσεως, καὶ τού των ὃ βούλει μέρος· ὡς μᾶλλον μὲν τὸ ποικίλον ἢ τὸ ἄκρον ἐν ἑκάστῳ θαυμάζεσθαι, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ εὐδόκιμον ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῆς περὶ πάντα πολυμαθίας· ἢ, ἵνα διέλω σαφέστερον, τῶν μὲν τῷ ποικίλῳ, τῶν δὲ τῷ ἄκρῳ, ἔστι δὲ ὧν ἀμφοτέροις, πᾶσι δὲ πάντων ἐκράτει.

Ζʹ. Τῶν μὲν οὖν λόγων καὶ οἱ λόγοι μάρτυρες, οὓς πολλοὺς καὶ λαμπροὺς ἐκεῖνος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατε βάλετο, ἐπειδή γε μετήνεγκε Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τὴν παίδευσιν, τοῦ ποιοῦντος τὰ πάντα καὶ μετασκευά ζοντος, πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον, καὶ τῷ λόγῳ τὴν ἀλο γίαν ὑπέκλινεν· τὸ δὲ ἐντεῦθεν, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως χρή σωμαι, τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τίς γένωμαι· πῶς μὲν μὴ μακρὸν ἀποτείνω λόγον, καὶ παντελῶς ἔξω τοῦ και ροῦ, πάντων τῶν Κυπριανοῦ μεμνημένος· πῶς δὲ μὴ τὰ μέγιστα ζημιώσω τοὺς παρόντας τοῖς σιωπωμέ νοις. Ἵν' οὖν μέσην βαδίσω τοῦ καιροῦ, καὶ τοῦ πό θου τῶν ἀκουόντων, οὕτω μοι δοκεῖ ποιητέον εἶναι· 35.1177 τὰ μὲν ἄλλα παρεῖναι τοῖς εἰδόσιν, ἐκδιδάσκειν τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας, εἴπερ εἰσί τινες, ἵν' ἀμφότεροι εὐεργε τῶνται ὁμοίως, καὶ οἱ διδάσκοντες τὰ ἐκείνου, καὶ οἱ μανθάνοντες (ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὸ μεμνῆσθαι