after that, another barbarian place, both arid and graceless, besieged daily by the neighboring Isau 309 rians, by the name of Pityous. These are the limits of our remotest land, unlovely and deadly, held fast by unbelief toward God and wandering about in certain vain opinions, in ignorance assigning reverence to the sun and fire and serving certain other false objects of worship as gods. This great and truly honorable man of God, full of the knowledge of God and of faith, from his own teachings quickly showed all those there to be sons of light through the rebirth from water and spirit, and by the nourishing and most drinkable teaching of his words he made good and God-fearing those who were formerly useless and impious. These were the achievements of the truly great and wonderful man in his settlement and unjust exile, these were the struggles of the second Job and the outcome of the trial concerning him. For it was a contest of virtue: on his part, how he might tear out this arrogant and raging second idolatry, that is, avarice; and on her part, how she might repay the holy man with a wicked requital. For she was not even able to perceive this at the time of her madness, as if weighed down by some collar from the evil one and having a correction difficult to recall. Therefore, impiety prevailed, piety was driven away, and the affairs of the churches were in a terrible night-battle; envy seemed to be setting up trophies of its own wickedness and to be shouting songs of victory. But when, to speak in apostolic terms, he had finished his race and kept the faith, after those many toils and labors and the great hardship of successive exiles, the king and awarder of crowns, Jesus, my Christ and God, called him to himself, his own athlete and victor, to receive the prizes for his many labors, it is right to relate to God-loving ears what happens here and what is wonderfully worked. He sends forth again to him Peter and John, the chief and honored of the apostles, announcing the rest from the many and long pains and struggles, strengthening the champion, sealing the proclamation, applauding the victory songs, the rewards of victory, the prizes, the unfading crowns, the glory which he would inherit with them, signifying the bitter death of the accursed woman through being eaten by worms—as one most hateful, as one to be spat upon, as one worthy of dogs and their embrace, for the wrongs she committed against him—feeding him ambrosia. They preserve him without food until the time of his departure and release to God. And again after this, another miracle and one worthy of record: for when about three months had passed, the gloriously triumphant martyrs Basiliscus and Lucian announce the royal glory of his victory 310 and his departure to the awarder of crowns, Christ and God, and his placement with them in their own tomb. Therefore the athlete departs from things below, having committed his spirit into the hand of God, and his steadfast and holy body, worn out by many toils, is buried with the tomb of the martyrs, having shown his own blessed state, through endurance of the pains that came upon him, to be not far from the honor of a martyr. That the one praised is also worthy of the choir above; and that that blessed and holy soul—that universal and most radiant good, the guidance of the whole world toward the good and, as it were, a light-bringing and illumination—inherited a way of life commensurate with its pains and struggles and obtained the nearest station and rank (I mean, that with the angels and where the dwelling is of those purified by virtue), it is possible, not unreasonably, from some who were still in the flesh and had visions of the truth, to show that the lamp of virtue was not hidden under the bushel of some false and, as one might say, untrue opinion, and to reveal to the halting and, if you will, the doubtful, more brightly than the sun, the real truth concerning what has been ignorantly supposed. A certain one of his friends was distressed, one of those who especially loved him,

μετ' ἐκείνην ἄλλο βάρβαρον χωρίον ἄνικμόν τε καὶ ἄχαρι καθ' ἑκάστην ὑπὸ τῶν γειτνιώντων πολιορκούμενον Ἰσαύ 309 ρων τοὔνομα Πιτυοῦς. Ταῦτα τῆς ἡμῶν ἐσχατιᾶς τέρματα ἀκαλλῆ καὶ ὀλέθρια ἀπιστίᾳ τῇ πρὸς Θεὸν κρατούμενα καὶ ματαίαις τισι δόξαις περιπλανώμενα, ἡλίῳ τε καὶ πυρὶ τὸ σέβας ἀμαθίᾳ ἀπονέμοντα καὶ ἄλλοις τισὶ κιβδήλοις σεβάσμασιν ὡς θεοῖς λατρεύοντα. Οὗτος ὁ μέγας καὶ τίμιος ὄντως τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος πλήρης θεογνωσίας καὶ πίστεως ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων διδαχῶν πάντας τοὺς ἐκεῖσε υἱοὺς φωτὸς διὰ τῆς ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος ἀναγεννήσεως συντόμως ἀπέδειξε καὶ τῇ τροφίμῳ καὶ ποτιμωτάτῃ τῶν λόγων αὑτοῦ διδασκαλίᾳ χρηστοὺς καὶ θεοσεβεῖς τοὺς πρὶν ἀχρήστους καὶ ἀσεβεῖς ἀπειργάσατο. Ταῦτα τοῦ μεγάλου ὄντως καὶ θαυμασίου τῆς ἀποικίας καὶ ἀδίκου ὑπερορίας τὰ κατορθώματα, ταῦτα τοῦ δευτέρου Ἰὼβ τὰ παλαίσματα καὶ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν πραγματείας ἡ ἔκβασις. Ἀγὼν γὰρ ἦν ἀρετῆς τοῦ μὲν ὅπως τὴν ὑπέρφρονα ταύτην καὶ μαινομένην τῆς δευτέρας εἰδωλολατρείας ἐκσπάσῃ, εἴτουν φιλαργυρίας, τῆς δὲ ὅπως τὸν ἅγιον πονηρᾷ ἀνταποδόσει ἀμείψηται. Καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ τοῦτο συνιδεῖν ἠδυνήθη τῷ καιρῷ τῆς μανίας οἱονεὶ κύφωνί τινι παρὰ τοῦ πονηροῦ βαρυνθεῖσα καὶ δυσανάκλητον ἔχουσα τὴν διόρθωσιν. Ἐκράτει τοίνυν τὸ ἀσεβές, τὸ εὐσεβὲς ἀπηλαύνετο, καὶ ἐν νυκτομαχίᾳ δεινῇ τὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἦν, ὁ φθόνος ἱστᾶν ἐδόκει τῆς οἰκείας μοχθηρίας τὰ τρόπαια καὶ ἀλαλάζειν τὰ ἐπινίκια. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸν δρόμον ἀποστολικῶς εἰπεῖν τελέσας καὶ τὴν πίστιν τηρήσας μετὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐκείνους ἱδρῶτας καὶ κόπους καὶ τὴν πολλὴν ταλαιπωρίαν τῶν ἀλλεπαλλήλων ἐξοριῶν ἐκάλει τοῦτον πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ στεφοδότης Ἰησοῦς, ὁ ἐμὸς Χριστὸς καὶ θεός, τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀθλητὴν καὶ νικηφόρον τὰ βραβεῖα τῶν πολλῶν καμάτων ἀποληψόμενον, ἐνταῦθα τὶ γίνεται καὶ τὶ θαυματουργεῖται δίκαιον ταῖς φιλοθέοις ἀκοαῖς εἰσηγήσασθαι. Πέτρον καὶ Ἰωάννην τοὺς προκρίτους καὶ τιμίους τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐτῷ πάλιν ἐξαποστέλλει εὐαγγελιζομένους τῶν πολλῶν καὶ μακρῶν πόνων καὶ ἄθλων τὴν ἀνάπαυλαν, ἐπιρρωνύντας τὸν ἀριστέα, ἐπισφραγίζοντας τὴν ἀνάρρησιν, κροτοῦντας τὰ νικητήρια, τὰ γέρα τῆς νίκης, τὰ βραβεῖα, τοὺς ἀμαράντους στεφάνους, τὴν δόξαν, ἣν κληρονομήσειε σὺν αὐτοῖς, τὸν πικρὸν θάνατον τοῦ καταράτου γυναίου διὰ τῆς τῶν σκωλήκων βρώσεως προσημαίνοντας ὡς ἐχθίστου, ὡς ἀποπτύστου, ὡς κυνῶν ἀξίου καὶ τῆς τούτων περιπλοκῆς, ἀνθ' ὧν εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπλημμέλησεν, ἀμβροσίαν σιτίζοντας. Συντηροῦσι τοῦτον μέχρι τοῦ καιροῦ τῆς πρὸς θεὸν ἐκδημίας καὶ ἀναλύσεως ἄσιτον. Καὶ πάλιν μετὰ ταῦτα ἕτερον θαῦμα καὶ ἄξιον ἱστορίας· τριῶν γάρ που παρεληλυθότων μηνῶν οἱ καλλίνικοι μάρτυρες Βασιλίσκος τε καὶ Λουκιανὸς τὸ βασίλειον κλέος τῆς νίκης εὐαγγελίζονται 310 καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸν στεφοδότην Χριστὸν καὶ θεὸν ἐκδημίαν καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου μεθ' ἑαυτῶν ἐν τῷ οἰκείῳ μνήματι συγκατάταξιν. Ἀπαίρει τοίνυν ὁ ἀθλητὴς τῶν κάτω χειρὶ θεοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα παραθεὶς καὶ τὸ καρτερικὸν αὑτοῦ καὶ πολλοῖς ἱδρῶσι συντακὲν ἅγιον σῶμα τῷ τάφῳ τῶν μαρτύρων συνθάπτεται καὶ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ τὸ μακάριον διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐπελθόντων πόνων ὑπομονῆς οὐ πόρρω μαρτυρικῆς τιμῆς ἀποφήνας. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ τῆς ἄνω χορείας ὁ ἐπαινούμενος ἄξιος καὶ ἀνθάμιλλον τῶν ἑαυτοῦ πόνων τε καὶ ἀγώνων ἡ μακαρία ἐκείνη καὶ ἁγία ψυχή, τὸ παγκόσμιον ἐκεῖνο καὶ τιλμαφέστατον ἀγαθόν, ἡ τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου ὁδηγία πρὸς τὸ καλὸν καὶ οἷόν τις φωταγωγία καὶ ἔλλαμψις, τὴν διαγωγὴν ἐκληρώσατο καὶ τῆς ἐγγυτάτω στάσεώς τε καὶ τάξεως ἔτυχε, τῆς μετ' ἀγγέλων φημι καὶ ὅπου τῶν ἐξ ἀρετῆς κεκαθαρμένων ἡ κατοικία, ἔξεστιν οὐκ ἀπεικότως ἀπό τινων ἐν σαρκὶ περιόντων ἔτι καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν φαντασθέντων τοῦ μὴ τὸν τῆς ἀρετῆς λύχνον ὑπὸ τὸ μόδιον τῆς τινων κιβδήλου καὶ ὡσάν τις εἴποι οὐκ ἀληθοῦς ὑπολήψεως κρύπτεσθαι λαθεῖν καὶ τοῖς ὑποσκάζουσι καὶ εἴπερ ἀμφισβητησίμοις λαμπρότερον ἡλίου ἀποφῆναι τὴν ὄντως περὶ τοῦ ἀμαθῶς ὑπειλημμένου ἀλήθειαν. Ἤσχαλλέ τις τῶν φιλίων καὶ μάλιστα τοῦτον ἠγαπηκότων,