2

a crowned champion of the world, in both he set up the trophy, and when that demon came at him with every form of warfare, he arrayed himself against all, and in all was proclaimed victor; and just as a noble soldier who knows how to fight by night, to fight at the walls, to fight at sea, to fight on foot and to shoot with the bow, and to brandish a spear, and with slings and javelins and with every kind of fighting to overcome the enemy and to prevail everywhere; so indeed that noble 63.479 man bore every temptation with much courage, that from poverty, that from famine, that from disease, that from pain, that from the loss of his children, that from his friends, that from his enemies, that from his wife, that from his servants. For there was not a human misfortune which was not emptied out upon his body. But nevertheless he was borne above all the nets and became higher than the devil's snares; and what is more wonderful, is that all things came upon him, and all with excess, and all at once.

βʹ. For do not see this only, that he suffered so many things, but add that it was not little by little nor at intervals, but at one and the same time. And this is no small addition to the temptations; for of all other men, in the first place, no one could be found who has endured all things at once, but even if one struggles with poverty, still he enjoys health; and if he is beset by both poverty and disease, yet he has often enjoyed a wife consoling him to bear the terrible things, and becoming a harbor for him; and if he did not enjoy such a wife, at least not one giving such destructive advice; and if she did give such destructive advice, at least he did not lose all his children at once; and if he did lose them at once, at least not by such a manner of death; and if by such a manner of death, at least he had friends to comfort him; and if he did not have friends to comfort him, at least not those who trampled on him in this way; and if they did trample on him, at least not servants who reproached him; and if they did reproach him, at least not those spitting in his face; and if they did spit in his face, at least he was not beset by so great a disease; and if he was beset by so great a disease, at least he enjoyed a room and a roof, and did not sit upon the dunghill; and if he did sit upon the dunghill, at least he had those extending a hand; and if he did not have those extending a hand, at least not those trampling on him. But this man endured all these things, and what is more wonderful, which I said before, is that he endured them all at once, which makes difficult things seem twice and three times as great, when the one contending does not even have the comfort of a truce, but by the continuity of the assault the tumult becomes greater and the confusion more severe; which happened in his case. For the loss and burning of the sheep was succeeded by the seizure of the oxen, and this by the removal of the donkeys, and this by the capture of the camels and the slaughter of the servants, and this by the loss of the children and that dreadful and strange death, and the more dreadful tomb—for death and tomb happened at the same time—and the table, which received the bodies, now feasting, now cut to pieces, and the bowls and the cups receiving the blood with the wine, and the mangled limbs. But nevertheless, other, more difficult things in turn awaited this harsh tragedy, without even a small respite. For from there came the fountains of worms, the streams of discharge, the sitting on the dunghill, the potsherd scraping his sides, the stench of the ulcers bringing on that strange famine, and not allowing him to touch the food he saw, and instilling a disgust more severe than the famine; and these things not for two and ten and twenty and a hundred days, but for many months. And the struggles did not stop there, but while he was in this state and being scorched from all sides, from within, from without, 63.480 the machinations of his wife also came upon him. For his wife becomes the demon's weapon, and shoots her husband, having lent her tongue to the devil, and hurls the aforementioned arrows

2

τῆς οἰκουμένης στεφανίτης, ἐν ἑκατέροις τὸ τρόπαιον ἔστησε, καὶ πρὸς πᾶν εἶδος πολέμου τοῦ δαίμονος ἐπελθόντος ἐκείνου, πρὸς ἅπαντα παρετάξατο, καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἀνεκηρύττετο· καὶ καθάπερ στρατιώτης γενναῖος καὶ εἰδὼς νυκτομαχεῖν, τειχομαχεῖν, ναυμαχεῖν, πεζομαχεῖν καὶ τοξεύειν, καὶ δόρυ σείειν, καὶ σφενδόναις καὶ ἀκοντίοις καὶ παντὶ τρόπῳ μάχης περιγίνεσθαι τῶν ἐναντίων καὶ πανταχοῦ κρατεῖν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ γενναῖος 63.479 ἐκεῖνος ἅπαντα πειρασμὸν μετὰ πολλῆς ἤνεγκε τῆς ἀνδρείας, τὸν ἀπὸ πενίας, τὸν ἀπὸ λιμοῦ, τὸν ἀπὸ νόσου, τὸν ἐξ ὀδύνης, τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν παίδων ἀπωλείας, τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν φίλων, τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς, τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκετῶν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν ἀνθρωπίνη συμφορὰ ἣ μὴ εἰς τὸ σῶμα ἐξεκενώθη ἐκείνου. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἁπάντων ὑπερηνέχθη τῶν δικτύων καὶ ὑψηλότερος γέγονε τῶν τοῦ διαβόλου καλάμων· καὶ τὸ δὴ θαυμαστότερον, ὅτι καὶ πάντα αὐτῷ ἐπῄει, καὶ πάντα μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς καὶ πάντα ὑφ' ἕν.

βʹ. Μὴ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο μόνον ἴδῃς, ὅτι τοσαῦτα ἔπαθεν, ἀλλὰ πρόσθες, ὅτι οὐδὲ κατὰ μικρὸν οὐδὲ ἐκ διαστήματος, ἀλλ' ὑφ' ἓν καὶ ὁμοῦ. Οὐ μικρὰ δὲ αὕτη πειρασμῶν προσθήκη· τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων πρῶτον μὲν οὐδεὶς ἂν εὑρεθείη πάντα ὑπομείνας ὁμοῦ, ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ πενίᾳ παλαίει, ὅμως ὑγείας ἀπολαύει· εἰ δὲ καὶ πενίᾳ καὶ νόσῳ περιεπάρη, ἀλλὰ γυναικὸς πολλάκις ἀπέλαυσε παραμυθουμένης φέρειν τὰ δεινὰ, καὶ ἀντὶ λιμένος αὐτῷ γινομένης· εἰ δὲ μὴ γυναικὸς ἀπέλαυσε τοιαύτης, ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτω συμβουλευούσης ὀλέθρια· εἰ δὲ καὶ οὕτω συμβουλευούσης ὀλέθρια, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἀθρόον ἀπώλεσεν ἅπαντας· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀθρόον, ἀλλ' οὐ τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ τελευτῆς· εἰ δὲ καὶ τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ τελευτῆς, ἀλλὰ φίλους ἔσχε παρακαλοῦντας· εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἔσχε παρακαλοῦντας, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ οὕτως ἐπεμβαίνοντας· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπεμβαίνοντας, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ οἰκέτας ὀνειδίζοντας· εἰ δὲ καὶ ὀνειδίζοντας, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐμπτύοντας· εἰ δὲ καὶ εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον ἐμπτύοντας, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ νόσῳ τοσαύτῃ περιεπάρη· εἰ δὲ καὶ νόσῳ περιεπάρη τοσαύτῃ, ἀλλὰ δωματίου καὶ σκέπης ἀπέλαυσε, καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας ἐκάθητο· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας ἐκάθητο, ἀλλ' ἔσχε τοὺς χεῖρα ὀρέγοντας· εἰ δὲ μὴ ἔσχε τοὺς χεῖρα ὀρέγοντας, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ τοὺς ἐπεμβαίνοντας. Οὗτος δὲ ἅπαντα ταῦτα ὑπήνεγκεν, καὶ τὸ δὴ θαυμαστότερον, ὃ προλαβὼν εἶπον, ὅτι καὶ ὁμοῦ πάντα, ὅπερ διπλασίονα καὶ τριπλασίονα ποιεῖ τὰ χαλεπὰ φαίνεσθαι, ὅταν μηδὲ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀνακωχῆς ἔχῃ παραμυθίαν ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος, ἀλλὰ τῇ συνεχείᾳ τῆς ἐπαγωγῆς πλείων ὁ θόρυβος γίνηται καὶ μείζων ἡ ταραχή· ὅπερ ἐπὶ τούτου συνέβη. Τὴν μὲν γὰρ τῶν προβάτων ἀπώλειαν καὶ τὸν ἐμπρησμὸν διεδέχετο τῶν βοῶν ἡ ἁρπαγὴ, καὶ τὴν τούτων ἡ τῶν ὄνων ἀφαίρεσις, καὶ ταύτην ἡ τῶν καμήλων αἰχμαλωσία καὶ τῶν οἰκετῶν ἡ σφαγὴ, καὶ ταύτην ἡ τῶν παίδων ἀπώλεια καὶ ὁ φρικτὸς ἐκεῖνος καὶ καινὸς θάνατος, καὶ ὁ φρικωδέστερος τάφος ὁ αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁμοῦ καὶ θάνατος καὶ τάφος ἐγίνετο, καὶ ἡ τράπεζα, ἣ νῦν μὲν ἑστιώμενα, νῦν δὲ κατακοπέντα δεξαμένη τὰ σώματα, καὶ αἱ φιάλαι καὶ τὰ ποτήρια μετὰ τοῦ οἴνου τὸ αἷμα ὑποδεχόμενα, καὶ τὰ κατακεκομμένα μέλη. Ἀλλὰ ὅμως τὴν χαλεπὴν ταύτην τραγῳδίαν ἕτερα χαλεπώτερα πάλιν αὐτὰ ἀναμένει, οὐδὲ μικρὸν ἀναπνεύσαντα. Ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ αἱ πηγαὶ τῶν σκωλήκων, οἱ τῶν ἰχώρων ῥύακες, ἡ ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας καθέδρα, τὸ ὄστρακον τὸ τὰς πλευρὰς καταξαῖνον, ἡ δυσωδία τῶν ἑλκῶν ἡ τὸν καινὸν ἐκεῖνον ἐπεισάγουσα λιμὸν, καὶ ὁρωμένων οὐκ ἀφιεῖσα τῶν σιτίων ἅπτεσθαι, καὶ τοῦ λιμοῦ χαλεπωτέραν ἐντιθεῖσα τὴν ἀηδίαν· καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐπὶ δύο καὶ δέκα καὶ εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν ἡμέρας, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ μησὶ πλείοσι. Καὶ οὐδὲ ἐνταῦθα ἵστατο τὰ τῶν παλαισμάτων, ἀλλ' ἐν τούτοις ὄντος αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀποτηγανιζομένου πάντοθεν, ἔνδοθεν, ἔξωθεν, 63.480 ἐπῄει καὶ τὰ τῆς γυναικὸς μηχανήματα. Γίνεται γὰρ τοῦ δαίμονος ὅπλον ἡ σύνοικος, καὶ τοξεύει τὸν ἄνδρα, τὴν γλῶτταν δανείσασα τῷ διαβόλῳ, καὶ βάλλει τῶν εἰρημένων βέλη