Orationes forenses et acta

 Each one of you has received benefits from him, that having set this forth here with goodwill toward him you might sway the votes, and by showing favo

 Having beset it and stirred herself up to be divinely inspired and worked herself into a bacchic frenzy. now, that the many are deceived by this, i do

 Of her, nor anything else of the things forbidden to me, but which are proclaimed and honored by them. for someone might perhaps excuse him for the fi

 To be enumerated? for divination is for the time being sufficient. but i think, if this had happened before, he would have nobly recorded these things

 Of the difference of theurgies, at the end he adds: one must remove in advance all obstacles to the visitation of the gods and impose a total tranqui

 In these matters i would gladly ask of you, whether it is permitted for a priest to be initiated into such mysteries and to be deemed worthy of such r

 Immediately, therefore, all blushed, or rather, indeed, they shouted with their voices and condemned the leaders of the impiety and named their writin

 Has he discerned? but if indeed the part of the synod has not joined with the senate council nor with the chosen of the nazirites—for this part was no

 Aristotle's theology and the psychogony of plato and the new numbers and the remodeling of doctrines and the expense of the divisible, who of all ever

 What argument is left to you concerning this, or how is it that you dispute with one another over matters of such importance and postpone the decision

 And i gladly admire in you the encomium of the good man in your memorandum. for where he holds on to the whole and bears the burden of common cares, y

 All those, with whom we disagree, have advocated for confusions or divisions. for what do matter and ideas have in common with our doctrines? but sinc

 And of the one who is lifted up and of the one seated on it. know the cherubic and seraphic wings, the perfection of their number, the symbolic coveri

 They have shaken. for if they happened to be uninitiated in our doctrines and completely uninstructed in the mysteries of the spirit, perhaps, having

 For he who receives a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, from the contrary and greater, he who receives an impious man will receive the punishme

 He has despised all things equally, although the law, standing as it were at his ears, cried out: let no one teach or learn profane things. and agai

 He both strung together and vomited up, this twenty-third writing he thinks, or rather he places it between those who were then in every way our own p

 Depicting the madness of nestorian rage. i have left it to you to compare it with the dogmas of the massalians. i brought forth to them from the inner

 The patriarch has acted impiously, clearly and openly. and it is not permitted for any of you who wish, nor for those zealous on his behalf, to defend

 And having brought over certain forces from the west, he stirred them up for war, and they come face to face with each other from both sides. and a fi

 Delaying he is persuaded and is moderate and descends with them. and he dares against two emperors, of whom the one the imperial court held, adorned w

 Being torn apart. but pilate sat judging my divinely-moved emperor, the lord's anointed, who was being considered, not hesitating, not washing his han

 To kill the emperor, unless he came down quickly and bowed his head to him, but he, fearing the tyrannical cruelty and cowering lest he suffer anythin

 An innovative rank and would come to be below. there, then, the morning star raged against the first goodness, but here the evening star has attacked

 Demonic in his life. but again i have turned to you, the judges, and again i ask: has anything been dared by this man or not? you will surely say the

 Then failing to achieve their purpose, they chose to strike and kill. is it not clear to all that, while digging through and breaking into the houses

 Ruin, if he should object saying that he neither urged these things nor wished them, but even punished many of those who dared with all punishments, w

 In the parts on the right, somewhere near the entrance, but you have immediately ascended into heaven on earth itself, as if considering it a terrible

 Disregarding the divine temples, he was destroying them? and he did not cease, piling one on top of another and making them abandoned ruins. for not o

 Leaning together walls collapsed together with their icons and statues. and everything was as if in a great earthquake, the air being darkened, the e

 And the remains of the apostle luke are burned by fire and reduced to dust. i fear that the bodies of martyrs also lay here. i am afraid that some of

 I shall grant you this also. he had no need, it is true, of the burial robes. i admit it, since they had all already decayed. but he did have need of

 Let us not even examine the scene after that, but let these things be considered by him as theaters and hunts. but where the mercy-seat is, and around

 Seeing what was happening was exulting and rejoicing, like of old the whelp of the beast, i mean the one from isauria. but you consider for me what a

 Fire was burning us and the zeal of the lord was consuming us, long ago the man would have perished, or rather, he would not even have had access to t

 To me the macedonian, to the right the spear, at a walk the half-file leader, captain, wheel around. and nothing new nor incredible for one who has

 I pray with the high priest, but the mixture and the sheath which has grown with us turns the mind, being raised aloft, back toward itself. therefore

 He would trace his genealogy from cronus and rhea and from those even further back, i mean hericapaeus and phanes and that orphic night and he traced

 And the same color over all, none of which moved or influenced him? but never to converse even with the more divine words nor to unroll any tablet, th

 The emperor's treasury is not supplied only from mines nor from the recesses of the earth, nor do tributes alone fill it, nor contributions from land

 And to speak of the audacity, or rather—but how could i speak, intertwining things?—and the diligently pursued plot, through which almost everything w

 Granting that you may meet with more benevolent judges above. and then the drink of deposition here will truly appear to you as a purification. and ma

 Suspicious to many. but if he has nothing in common with the one he has chosen to accuse, nor has anything come between them, it is somehow still unac

 They anticipate my tongue, scattering against me the things they did wrong on account of their own greed, and i confidently awaited the court, as one

 To vote against a priest on the spot the penance exceeds all punishment the examination and the penance must proceed canonically. and, as it seems,

 Of the whole age, an unbeliever, so that i may speak truly, to believe against a believer? for this would be far from reason and thought. for where we

 But i, but what might i say about this? he living the life of a private citizen, but i clothed in the high-priestly vestment. and such a man is agains

 With misfortunes and your example, for the sake of argument, let someone come forward as a condemned man to have his neck cut. and let the sword be ha

 Do you receive? for the pardon testifies that the deposition did not seem so even to himself. for if, according to you, it is like a cutting off, what

 Is the cause the comparison of the matter to a beheading? for from this, one absurdity having been granted, these many nonsensical things were consequ

 An evil tale about me for years, leave me to my former wounds, do not card new ones upon me. so may the lord heal you, if indeed there is anything in

 This is the law of accusation and defense, and from this the precise examination of matters is found. but he introduced a new kind of writing into the

 Of voice, for not even this is unworthy of the art, and with a rhythmic turn of the tongue, you perhaps might only approach him, you who indeed gaped

 Has been debarred from studies? but for you in deep old age, what share is there of education? who of all people has known you, as far as i know, afte

 Which they say came into being of their own accord. but these things are not acceptable to you, and for this reason we shall laugh at you again, havin

 Ever, not in courts, not in counsels, not in public, not in private. for this was not even without accusation, but the speech had some defense. from w

 And the nature of fire did not burn, and the steep rock sent forth springs, and the wood here sweetened the bitterness, and there lightened the heavy

 Did he transcend this time? and it is likely, o best one, for christ possessed a nature more free even according to human standards. whether, then, th

 From himself, having allotted a great portion of reason to his soul this man, therefore, having long ago established for himself a little adopted dau

 A contest, but more brilliant was the victory of elpidius, and he went away having overcome the vestarches by all votes and crowning himself with the

 Receiving. when the most compassionate soul heard this supplication, since she also knew the circumstances concerning the bestarches, and that for man

 I will let my tongue go from forbidden deeds. and first i shame myself relating unspeakable and improper things, since i will also become a stumbling

 The amounts owed will be reckoned against each other, and the fine will be reckoned to elpidios in place of the protospatharios's fee, and the protosp

 Having received a seaside property from him, i give back to him in exchange a mainland one as a permanent dwelling by gift. but the kalai property was

 Most complete, not measured by time, not defined by partial successions nor by these alienations or those, but eternal, sufficient for all successions

 Indicating by the documents, which it is also necessary to go through in order. and so that we may make the summaries concise, and not, by going throu

 At that time for the ruler to ratify to her through a gift of a golden bull the property which he had previously granted to the man, not having been i

 But the rest testified that they themselves were not present at such a sale, but had heard from the subscribing witnesses in the confirmatory document

 He marveled at our western setting sun as a morning sunrise, and with the unspeakable pangs of his soul he discerned the ineffable will of god concern

 On both sides the gift is valid for those who received it from there. for the estate was perhaps of the daughters of nicholas’s wife through paternal

 Harmony, who of all could dissolve such a great bond, or rather these wonderful and in reality altogether indissoluble connections? for the first and

 He has made known by an agreement to whom indeed you also entrusted everything under oath and, whatever they themselves should do, you have promised

 Emperor of the romans, doukas. konstantinos, in christ the god faithful emperor of the romans, doukas. ioannes, most humble archbishop of constantinop

each one of you has received benefits from him, that having set this forth here with goodwill toward him you might sway the votes, and by showing favor to a man, you might neglect God. For now your judgment will be tested as if in the tipping of scales. For not even I myself would have come to this accusation, had I not first carefully examined my own thoughts and moved them, unbribed, to this speech. See, therefore, how I will make the introduction of the first chapter scientific and most precise; for I will set forth, like geometers, common notions and axioms of piety, so that against them you may examine the arguments of the heresies. Piety, therefore, to put it in outline, is the confession of the holy and blessed Trinity and faith in the evangelical and divine preaching. And faithful is he, not who accepted some of the doctrines which the fathers handed down but rejected others about which he disputed, but he who has followed precisely and without doubt what has been handed down to us from above, both from the evangelical preachings and from holy synods and canons. And in addition to these things, we will also commonly agree on this: that one who truly professes piety must have an accurate understanding not only concerning the first and last unperverted doctrines of theology, but must also hold to all the patristic customs and laws without exception. And we must consider pious not those who do not Sabellianize but Hellenize, nor those who do not Arianize but hold to the beliefs of the Chaldeans. For the precinct of the church is pure not only of those corrupted within it—I mean Apollinarians and Nestorians and Eutyches and the rest of the series of heresies—but also of Judaic foreshadowing and Hellenic arguments and all that the philosophy of the Chaldeans has fabricated and mythologized concerning oracles and the difference of spirits and possessions and the division of gods. Therefore, since these things are set before us just like self-evident axioms, if I show that the high priest now being brought to account by this speech has accepted and honored certain parts of these things and has been further corrupted by the introducers and progenitors of such impieties, and has made them his own as if they were patrons of his soul and rules and teachers of his innovation concerning the faith, then rising at once, cast your votes against him. But if not, then give me the dispute in writing, so that I may either cease, knowing nothing precisely of the more divine things, or I may resolve the doubt. And as I begin my examination in this speech, bear witness with me, so that I may immediately have what is irreproachable. Do you not all know, or most of you, that the Chiotan monks, Niketas and John, have no part with God? About whom your ears have often been filled with the rumor that they have transgressed the canons of the fathers, and that they have introduced new customs and laws concerning the activity of spirits and ecclesiastical order, first in their own monasteries, then also to some others, and finally they have also passed on to our great and divine high priest the ruin of their impieties. For these men, to remind you who already know, having collected doctrines corrupted in soul, and having thrust aside the divine spirit, but having fabricated and held in honor some evil and womanish thing, and having admired and honored certain divine possessions and ineffable movements and Bacchic frenzies, up to the belt perhaps and the garment, so that they might have their Heracles from only a club and a skin, then indeed having adopted a certain oracle-singing prophetess from tripodal cauldrons, as one might say, and deifying her from the theater, then indeed having also fashioned her to a more manly form and having devised a divine possession and inspiration, they went around the villages and the cities, collecting alms in this way and making a prelude to their divination, so that they themselves might be Apollos, and she the interpreter and prophetess, almost at the oracle-mouth

παρ' ἐκείνου ἕκαστος εὐηργέτησθε, τοῦτο ἐνταυθοῖ προθέντας εὐνοίᾳ τῇ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον δεκάσαι τὰς ψήφους, καὶ ἀνθρώπῳ χαριζομένους κατολιγωρῆσαι θεοῦ. νῦν γὰρ ὑμῶν ἡ γνώμη ὥσπερ ἐν ῥοπαῖς πλαστίγγων ἐξετασθήσεται. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν οὐδ' αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τὴν κατηγορίαν ταύτην ἐλήλυθα, εἰ μὴ πρότερον τοὺς οἰκείους ἐξακριβωσάμενος λογισμοὺς ἀδεκάστους πρὸς τὸν λόγον κεκίνηκα. ὁρᾶτε τοίνυν, ὡς ἐπιστημονικὴν καὶ ἀκριβεστάτην τὴν εἰσαγωγὴν τοῦ πρώτου κεφαλαίου ποιήσομαι· προθήσομαι γὰρ ὥσπερ οἱ γεωμέτραι κοινὰς ἐννοίας τῆς εὐσεβείας καὶ ἀξιώματα, ἵνα πρὸς ἐκεῖνα τοὺς τῶν αἱρέσεων λόγους ἀντεξετάζητε. Εὐσέβεια τοίνυν ἐστὶν ὡς ἐν ὑπογραφῆς λόγῳ ὁμολογία τῆς ἁγίας καὶ μακαρίας τριάδος καὶ πίστις τοῦ εὐαγγελικοῦ καὶ θείου κηρύγματος. καὶ πιστὸς ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν, οὐχ ὃς τὰ μὲν παρεδέξατο τῶν δογμάτων, ὧν οἱ πατέρες παρέδοσαν, τὰ δὲ ἀπώσατο περὶ ὧν ἠμφισβήτησεν, ἀλλ' ὃς τοῖς ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν παραδεδομένοις ἀπό τε τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν κηρυγμάτων ἀπό τε συνόδων ἱερῶν καὶ κανόνων ἀκριβῶς καὶ ἀνενδοιάστως ἐστοίχησε. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ τοῦτο κοινῇ διομολογησόμεθα, ὅτι δεῖ τὸν εὐσεβεῖν ἀληθῶς ἐπαγγελλόμενον οὐ περὶ τὰ πρῶτα μόνον καὶ τελευταῖα τῆς θεολογίας ἀδιάστροφα δόγματα ἠκριβωμένην ἔχειν τὴν ἔννοιαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων ἁπλῶς τῶν πατρικῶν ἐθῶν καὶ νομίμων ἔχεσθαι. εὐσεβεῖς δὲ ὑποληπτέον οὐ τοὺς μὴ σαβελλίζοντας μέν, ἑλληνίζοντας δέ, οὐδὲ τοὺς μὴ ἀρειανίζοντας μέν, τὰ δὲ Χαλδαίων πρεσβεύοντας. καθαρεύει γὰρ ὁ τῆς ἐκκλησίας περίβολος οὐ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ μόνον διαφθαρέντων, Ἀπολιναρίων φημὶ καὶ Νεστορίων καί Εὐτυχῶν καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς σειρᾶς τῶν αἱρέσεων, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἰουδαϊκῆς σκιαγραφίας καὶ Ἑλληνικῶν λόγων καί, ὅσα ἡ τῶν Χαλδαίων φιλοσοφία περί τε χρησμῶν καὶ πνευμάτων διαφορᾶς καὶ κατόχων καὶ θεῶν διαιρέσεως ἐμυθολόγησεν ἀναπλάσασα. τούτων οὖν οὕτως ἡμῖν ἐκκειμένων καθαπερεὶ αὐτοπίστων ἀξιωμάτων, εἰ μὲν ἐπιδείξω τὸν νῦν εὐθυνόμενον τῷ λόγῳ ἀρχιερέα μέρη τινὰ τούτων παραδεξάμενον καὶ τιμήσαντα καὶ προσδιαφθαρέντα τοῖς τῶν τοιούτων ἀσεβημάτων εἰσηγηταῖς καὶ γεννήτορσιν οἰκειωσάμενόν τε τούτους οἷα δὴ προστάτας τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς καὶ τῆς περὶ τὴν πίστιν καινοτομίας κανόνας καὶ διδασκάλους, εὐθὺς ἀναστάντες καταψηφίσασθε. εἰ δ' οὖν, ἀλλά μοι τὴν ἀμφισβήτησιν ἐν γράμμασι δότε, ἵν' ἢ παύσωμαι μηδὲν ἀκριβῶς τῶν θειοτέρων εἰδὼς ἢ διαλύσωμαι τὸ ἀμφίβολον. ἀρχομένῳ δέ μοι τῆς ἐξετάσεως τῷ λόγῳ συμμαρτυρήσατε, ἵν' εὐθὺς ἔχω τὸ ἀνεπίληπτον. Οὐχ ἅπαντες ὑμεῖς ούνιστε ἢ οἱ πλείους ὑμῶν, ὡς οὐδεμία μερίς πρὸς θεὸν τοῖς Χιώταις ἐστὶ μοναχοῖς, τῷ τε Νικήτῃ καὶ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ; περὶ ὧν τὰ ὦτα ὑμῶν πολλάκις διατεθρύληται, ὅτι τοὺς μὲν τῶν πατέρων κανόνας παραβεβήκασι, καινὰ δὲ ἔθη καὶ νόμιμα περί τε ἐνεργείας πνευμάτων καὶ ἐκκλησιαστικῆς τάξεως πρῶτα μὲν τοῖς οἰκείοις μοναστηρίοις ἐκαινοτόμησαν, ἔπειτα δὲ καί τισιν ἄλλοις, τελευταῖον δὲ καὶ τῷ μεγάλῳ ἡμῶν καὶ θείῳ ἀρχιερεῖ τῆς τῶν ἀσεβημάτων λύμης μεταδεδώκασιν. οὗτοι γάρ, ἵν' εἰδότας ὑμᾶς ὑπομνήσω, διεφθορότα τῇ ψυχῇ συλλεξάμενοι δόγματα, καὶ τὸ μὲν θεῖον παρωσάμενοι πνεῦμα, πονηρὸν δέ τι καὶ γυναικεῖον ἀναπλασάμενοι καὶ πρεσβεύσαντες θεαγωγίας τέ τινας καὶ ἀρρήτους ἀνακινήσεις καὶ ἀναβακχεύσεις θαυμάσαντες καὶ τιμήσαντες μέχρι τῆς ζώνης ἴσως καὶ τοῦ ἐνδύματος, ἵν' ἦ αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ ῥοπάλου μόνου καὶ δέρματος Ἡρακλῆς, εἶτα δή τινα θεσπιῳδὸν καὶ προφῆτιν ἐκ τῶν τριποδικῶν, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, λεβήτων εἰσποιησάμενοι καὶ ἐκ τοῦ θεάτρου θεοποιήσαντες, ἔπειτα δὴ καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀνδρικώτερον σχηματίσαντες καὶ θεοφορίαν καὶ ἐπίπνοιαν σχεδιάσαντες, τὰς κώμας περιῄεσαν καὶ τὰς πόλεις, συναγυρτεύοντες ταύτῃ καὶ τῆς μαντείας προκαταρχόμενοι, ἵν' αὐτοὶ μὲν εἶεν Ἀπόλλωνες, ἡ δὲ ὑποφῆτις καὶ θεοπρόπος, μονονοὺ τῷ στομίῳ