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To be tossed about, and with legal pleadings to bring turmoil upon rivals, And in the twisted snares of the laws to suffer pains, Where there is both toil and trouble, and the wicked have more than the good, and the helpers of the law, for both sides 982 are for sale; and if a wicked man has more, he is the best. Who could avoid many lies, and crafty wiles Without God, among such men? For necessity compels one fleeing headlong from evils to shake off everything, Or even to have one's own heart darkened by sins; Just as those approaching the evil smoke of a raging fire, bear the dismal signs of either the fire or the smoke. But these things are tolerable. Yet the more grievous wound for me, is all that I endured since my brother left this life, and what I still expect to suffer. For those who encounter unexpected troubles, do not expect better things. 983 When he was alive, I had a reputation different from others. For wealth never seized my mind, nor any power. But pains and groans, since he died, I have received alone. And all the wealth he possessed, some the gaping earth took, when Nicaea fell with tremors; and other things a demon, with rapacious hands, made into his prey. But he himself, being hidden, escaped his fate, the heavenly God having stretched out His hand over the roof, where he was. Woe is me for Caesarius! Before, indeed, in the palaces you shone like some morning star, a venerable name, bearing the heights of wisdom and of lovely character, and priding yourself on many strong friends and companions. 984 For many you found a cure for the diseases of their ailing bodies; and for many again you provided relief from poverty, doing what was right. But now that you are dead, you have sated many dogs, who bark at me standing round on all sides; and none of my kinsmen helps me. And few friends, on the other hand, love me in a way similar to enemies. Before receiving something they honor me, but having received it they hate me. As when a high-crested oak falls by the violence of the winds, one from one place and another from another standing around snatch away the branches, Or a great threshing floor, its fence being broken through, travelers running past harvest pitilessly, And from the thicket a solitary boar has ravaged it with his tusk; But my toil is much-lamented. I have strength no longer either to satisfy all with my hand, or to hold them back. For from the time when first, having cut myself off from this life, 985 I mixed my soul with bright, heavenly thoughts, And a lofty mind, carrying me far from the flesh, placed me, Raising me up from there, and hid me in the recesses of the heavenly tabernacle, and the light of the Trinity shone around my eyes, of which I have perceived nothing brighter, high-throned, sending forth a common and ineffable radiance, Which is the beginning for all things, as many as time restrains from on high; From that time, I died to the world, and the world to me; And I am a breathing corpse, and my strength is like that of dreams; But my life is elsewhere, and I groan under the thick flesh, Which the wise call the darkness of the mind. And I am eager, being released from this life and misty sight, and of things that go upon the earth, things that wander and are made to wander, to see reality standing more clearly, no longer mixed 986 with dim images, as before, by which even the eyes of the sharpest mind are led astray, but to see truth itself with the eye of a pure mind. But these things are for later; the things here are dishonored smoke, or dust, they who have exchanged the great life of our livelihood, the high for the earthly, and the enduring for the perishable. For this reason all have attacked me, nor are they willing to withdraw, hastening after the most ready prey. Alas, alas! Caesarius is grievous dust, who from me kept all the crowd away, allowing me to avoid every burden? Honoring me as no one else ever honored a brother, and revering me as one lovingly embraces his own father. But I do not grieve so much, not for my livelihood 987 being scattered, which I longed to have in common with the poor, since I myself am a sojourning wanderer here, seeing the hand of the Most High as the giver of good things; Not on account of outrage, hateful to all mortals, which fills even a gentle man most quickly with anger; Nor for my siblings, whom the tomb covers over for me, dying an early death, admirable to all on earth, As much as I bewail my soul, as some queen both beautiful and great and of noble kings, seeing her laboring in strong, inescapable fetters, whom hostile men captured with the spear, and bound in harsh slavery, and she casts her mournful eyes down to the earth. Such things I have suffered;

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Στρωφᾶσθαι, ῥήτραις τε φέρειν κλόνον ἀντιπάλοισιν, Ἠδὲ νόμων στρεπτῇσιν ἐν ἄρκυσιν ἄλγεα πάσχειν, Ἔνθα μόθος τε πόνος τε, κακοὶ δέ τε πλεῖον ἔχουσιν Ἐσθλῶν, οἱ δὲ νόμων ἐπιτάῤῥοθοι, ἀμφοτέροισιν 982 Ὤνιοι· ἢν δὲ κακός τις ἔχοι πλέον, οὗτος ἄριστος. Τίς κεν ψεύδεα πολλὰ, δολοπλοκίας τ' ἀλέοιτο Νόσφι Θεοῦ, τοιοῖσδε μετ' ἀνδράσιν· Ἡ γὰρ ἀνάγκη Προτροπάδην φεύγοντα κακοῖς ἀπὸ πάντα τινάξαι, Ἠὲ καὶ ἀμπλακίῃσι μελαίνεσθαι φίλον ἦτορ· Ὥς τε πυρὸς μαλεροῖο κακῇ πελάοντας ἀϋτμῇ, Ἢ πυρὸς, ἠὲ καπνοῦ σημήια λυγρὰ φέροντας. Ἀλλὰ τὰ μέν κ' ἐπιεικτά. Τὸ δ' ἄλγιον ἕλκος ἔμοι γε, Ὅσσα κασιγνήτοιο βίον ἀπὸ τόνδε λιπόντος Ἔτλην, καὶ παθέειν ἔτι γ' ἔλπομαι. Οἱ γὰρ ἀέλπτοις Πήμασιν ἐμπελάσαντες, ἀρείονα οὐ δοκέουσι. 983 Τοῦ μὲν ἐγὼ ζώοντος, ἔχον κλέος οἷον ἀπ' ἄλλων. Οὐ γὰρ ἐμάς ποτε πλοῦτος ἕλε φρένας, οὐδέ τις ἀλκή. Ἄλγεα δὲ, στοναχάς τε, ἐπεὶ θάνε, μοῦνος ἐδέγμην. Χρήματα δ' ὅσσ' ἐπέπαστο, τὰ μὲν λάβε γαῖα χανοῦσα, Νικαίη βρασμοῖσιν ὅτ' ἤριπεν· ἄλλα δ' ἀλιτρῶν Ἁρπάγδην παλάμῃσιν, ἑλώρια θήκατο δαίμων. Αὐτὸς δὲ κρυφθεὶς μόρον ἔκφυγεν, οὐρανίοιο Χεῖρα Θεοῦ τανύσαντος ὑπὲρ τέγος, ἔνθαπερ ἦεν. Ὤ μοι Καισαρίοιο! Πάρος γε μὲν ἐν βασιλείοις Ἀστὴρ ὥς τις ἔλαμπες ἑωσφόρος, οὔνομα σεμνὸν, Ἄκρα φέρων σοφίης τε καὶ ἤθεος ἱμερόεντος, Καὶ πολλοῖς σθεναροῖς τε φίλοις κομόων ἑτάροισι. 984 Πολλοῖς μὲν μογερῶν ἄκος εὕραο σώμασι νούσων· Πολλοῖς δ' αὖ πενίης λύσιν ὤπασας, αἴσιμα ῥέζων. Νῦν δὲ θανὼν, πολλοὺς κόρεσας κύνας, οἵ μ' ὑλάουσι Πάντοθεν ἑσταμένοι· πηῶν δέ μοι οὔτις ἀρήγει. Παῦροι δ' αὖ φιλέουσιν ὁμοίϊα δυσμενέεσσι. Πρίν τι λαβεῖν τίουσιν, ἀτὰρ στυγέουσι λαβόντες. Ὡς δρυὸς ὑψικόμοιο, βίαις ἀνέμων ἐριπούσης, Κλῶνας ἀφαρπάζουσι περισταδὸν ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος, Ἢ μεγάλην, φραγμοῖο διαῤῥαισθέντος, ἀλωὴν Νηλειῶς τρυγόωσι παρατροχάοντες ὁδῖται, Καὶ δρυμόθεν μονόφορβος ἑῷ δηλήσατ' ὀδόντι· Αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ πόνος ἐστὶν ἀγάστονος. Οὔτε κορέσσαι Πάντας ἔτι σθένος ἐστὶν ἐμῆς χερὸς, οὔτ' ἀπερύκειν. Ἐξ οὗ γὰρ πρώτιστον ἀποτμήξας βιότοιο 985 ψυχὴν οὐρανίοισι νοήμασι μίξα φαεινοῖς, Καί με φέρων νόος αἰπὺς ἀπόπροθι σαρκὸς ἔθηκεν, Ἔνθεν ἀναστήσας, σκηνῆς δέ με κρύψε μυχοῖσιν Οὐρανίης, Τριάδος δὲ φάος περίλαμψεν ὀπωπὰς Ἡμετέρας, τῆς οὔ τι φαάντερον εἰσενόησα, Ὑψιθρόνου, ξυνόν τε σέλας καὶ ἄφραστον ἱείσης, Ἥ τ' ἀρχὴ πάντεσσιν, ὅσα χρόνος ὑψόθεν εἴργει· Ἐκ τοῦ δὴ κόσμῳ τ' ἔθανον, καὶ κόσμος ἐμοί γε· Καὶ νέκυς ἔμπνοός εἰμι, τὸ δὲ σθένος οἷον ὀνείρων· Ζωὴ δ' ἄλλοθί μοι, στενάχω δ' ὑπὸ σαρκὶ παχείῃ, Τήν ῥα σοφοὶ καλέουσι νόου ζόφον. Ἰσχανόω δὲ, Τῆσδε λυθεὶς βιοτῆς τε καὶ ὄψιος ἀχλυοέσσης, Καὶ χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων, πλαζόντων πλαζομένων τε, Ἑσταότ' εἰσοράαν καθαρώτερον, οὐκέτ' ἀμυδροῖς 986 Μίγδην εἰδώλοισι πεφυρμένα, ὡς τοπάροιθεν, Οἷς τε καὶ ὀξυτάτοιο νόου πλάζονται ὀπωπαὶ, Αὐτὴν δ' ἀτρεκίην καθαροῦ νοὸς ὄμματι λεύσσων. Ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν μετόπισθε· τὰ δ' ἐνθάδε καπνὸς ἄτιμος, Ἢ κόνις, οἳ βιότοιο μέγαν βίον ἠλλάξαντο, Ὑψηλὸν χθονίοιο, καὶ ἔμπεδον ὀλλυμένοιο. Τοὔνεκά μοι καὶ πάντες ἐπέχραον, οὐδ' ἐθέλουσι Χάζεσθαι, σπεύδοντες ἑτοιμοτάτην ἐπὶ θήρην. Αἶ αἶ Καισάριος δὲ λυπρὴ κόνις, ὅστις ἐμεῖο Ὄχλου ἅπαντ' ἀπέεργε, διδοὺς ἅπαν ἄχθος ἀλεύσκειν; Τίων ὡς οὔπω τις ἀδελφεὸν ἄλλος ἔτισεν, Αἰδόμενός θ' ὡς εἴ τις ἑὸν πατέρ' ἀμφαγαπάζων. Αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν οὐ τόσσον ὀδύρομαι, οὐ βιότοιο 987 Σκιδναμένου, τὸν ξυνὸν ἔχειν ἐπόθησα πενιχροῖς, Οἷά τε καὐτὸς ἐὼν ἐπιδήμιος ἐνθάδ' ἀλήτης, Ἐς χέρα δ' Ὑψίστου ὁρόων δώτειραν ἐάων· Οὐ πᾶσι θνητοῖσιν ἀπεχθέος εἵνεκα λώβης, Ἥτε καὶ ἤπιον ἄνδρα χόλου πίμπλησι τάχιστα· Οὔτε κασιγνήτων, οὕς μοι τάφος ἀμφικαλύπτει, Ὠκυμόρους, πάντεσσιν ἐπιχθονίοισιν ἀγητοὺς, Ὅσσον ἐμὴν ψυχὴν ὀλοφύρομαι, ὥς τις ἄνασσαν Καλήν τε μεγάλην τε καὶ εὐγενέων βασιλήων, Εἰσορόων στιβαρῇσιν ἀλυκτοπέδαις μογέουσαν, Ἣν δορὶ δυσμενέοντες ἕλον, χαλεπῇ δ' ἐνέδησαν ∆ουλοσύνῃ, καὶ στυγνὰ κατὰ χθονὸς ὄμματ' ἐρείδει. Τοῖα πάθον·