Oratoria minora
these things the phalanx-commander more courageous, the leader of the company stronger, the hoplite more ready for the needs of the moment, the one i
This gathering is a symbol of peace, O wise and beloved audience of mine, and, to speak with God, a most accurate stamp of coming peace. But it also h
of the barrier, may he himself also now make peace in our affairs and crush the opposing powers and find a way and a means for the desperate, he who b
through whom corruption has stolen into our souls. But neither are you free from the things of envy for upon your breast and your belly you have walk
None of you is without a share of lily-beds and rose-gardens, nor of other fragrance, what graces would one not enjoy when spring has arrived? But sin
virtues, but these they practiced and pursued, and all, having made the body lean through fasting and having released the soul from the bonds of natur
the heaven, how great, how ever-moving in its revolution, how wonderful in its nature? and the sun, how it is the source of the light here, how it is
is tested by countless signs, but Egypt is punished by darkness and you, the new Israel, have been freed from the clay and the brick-making thence al
has entrusted the rule of all. And having reviewed in his mind everyone, both soldiers and citizens, senators and governors, and all who had gained a
Rejoice and exult at my proclamation which God has shown to be splendid and most illustrious as never another. 6 {1To those who think the philosopher
so as to move the world, not to mention lead it up to heaven, but I am within the great circuit, for these reasons I have not wished to run in the sta
of actions, but you do not act in the proper way, nor do you emulate those ancient orators, Pericles, Cimon, Demosthenes and the others who have under
the pleasure of a matter drawing forth laughter, and the philosopher alone. But here it is the opposite in the case of your creation for you are the
testifying to the sweetness in a philosophical man. And Plato often rebukes Dion for the sullenness and smilelessness of his soul but is not the phil
A second matter is both adorned and set in order. This is the philosophy I too have emulated and if you examine it in one respect, you will count me
are divided into an aristocracy, to be of lesser concern, because it is necessary to adorn the inner nature, while these things superficially beautify
achievements. Aristotle also divided his entire force into cavalry and infantry. and of the infantry, he positioned the light-armed to throw stones an
to judge their customs worthy of comparison to philosophy) those things lift one up above the ether on a whole wing, but this they sink in the sea, ju
dividing and heaping up solids. But I also frequently showed you the images in mirrors and measured their sizes for you optically, having taken their
To those who envied him for the most esteemed honor Neither will an occasion for envy be left for you, nor for me a cause for honor and advancement f
ordained by God. But of the others, some excelled in these things, others in those, and no one in everything, or if anyone did, it was not as I have (
I am called for there are those who give me this name. If, then, I embark on the matter as if it were not permitted or unskillfully, show me this ver
they have imitated my manner for themselves. But look up also to the heavens at night, when all is clear, and see how not all the stars are of equal h
oversights, and the other things of which the tragic daemons are providers for all things are abundant, as if dripping from some spring of evils. The
a more grievous and troublesome evil. How very pleasing to them is the banquet hall. For as if shut up and squeezed together in some narrow place with
he was showing the strength of his words for a prize set before him, but for a matter from which it was not possible to profit from buffoonery and ins
We have known you as one who counterfeits its laws and has not understood even a trace of true wisdom. But O huckster, I have now suddenly changed my
being torn away from the laws as if from your own limbs, and clinging to other limbs whose form you did not know nor whose use you had studied? How th
and thus, having harmonized them with the rules of dialectic, you thence winged your way to theology. But you, as if having passed over the vale of th
For such a thing had happened to these men, and Herodotus indeed mentions the story right at the beginning of the first of the Muses. And if you shoul
sitting on the floor, knowing not even as much as mules. But I fear lest one of those standing by, taking hold of your cloak, might say, Friend, how
He forces the nonsense into truth. Do not, therefore, speak with the man, do not touch him, do not share a table, neither of salt nor of other things,
Taking a Megarian jar firmly in his two hands and raising it with both and fitting it to his lips, he drinks without taking a breath just like the oxe
they judge matters by their own life, but not by the rule of truth. For since these men have hated indifference, and they live like bees arranged unde
as you are writing, standing by your life. But we too shall write against our persecutors. For just as the seemliness of hair pleased you, so the unke
sitting and with his fingers harnessing and re-harnessing horses in the shadows but there, one fighting against contrary winds and quickly backing wa
Geometry, having taken its beginning from bodies, ended in the mind, though its nature is not so. For perception does not know how to beget mind, but
he has set down some introductions to the subject, then, as if out of necessity, he turned his argument to what he wanted. And he has not chosen in an
It is interwoven with its arguments and divided by its complexities and turned back upon itself. But if such styles have been assigned to perfect orat
he puts to sleep. But the others have leaped out from here and there, from the dormouse-holes and from the caves, one a palm-breadth tall, another but
changing the parts, preserves the same idea of the sound. But you must also take care for the art concerning the arrangement of the argument and do n
mysteries, and there they were taught the equality of geometry, and when they needed to philosophize, they went to Egypt, and having chosen to study a
but drawing them upon yourselves whence someone might indict you for sacrilege for having most shamelessly plagiarized things dedicated to divine men
and you are zealous but you render the account for your studies just as one of the necessary debts which some are required to pay even unwillingly. A
The birth-pangs of Plato and Aristotle are a bringing forth, by whom I am both born and fashioned. Do you see how from every side the argument has pro
you render to me. And while I seem to neglect other things, your affair is my pursuit and care whence, staying awake far into the nights, as soon as
to have the contemplation concerning these things, but from our wisdom to know the type and the truth, and to break the letter as if it were a shell,
having done no wrong thus you are elegant and sophistic, or rather powerful men and tyrants, and you dance upon a gentle character. But you are still
to the philosophers the technical matters, to learn the introductions, the proofs, the matters concerning demonstrations, how one reminds, how one pro
they might fit a diatonic melody and arrange the strings for it, do they not play a prelude for it and practice beforehand, not just once, but as many
should I enumerate poets and orators, who treated ancient genealogies with myths, from the very foundation basing their own discourse on myth? How the
quality and draws as much as its appetite desired but if it sees the liquid of the water corrupted, it leaves this spring, and goes to another and se
27 Encomium on the Flea They say ‘the gnat as an elephant.’ And so that our discourse may proceed along its path, let us attempt the flea as a leopard
its begetter for it is precisely black, like an eastern Ethiopian having changed his skin color from sun-burning, and it immediately reveals the heat
grieving. For it has appointed two masters of all things for itself, the sun for its birth, and man for its growth for from the one it has come into
lest it produce apoplexy, nature has cut the skull into various sutures but it also divided the entire bone of the suture with certain small holes, t
the awns guard, so also do the hairs of the louse ward off every attack. And even if the hunt should get close to the skin, it, just as they say spong
So indeed this creature has received its natural power in all the parts of its body. Now, the other beasts, being ambushed from behind, are by nature
from every side, equality bestows youth on nature. For men, when they grow old, and especially those who are graceful and tall in body, are filled wit
He was being plotted against by those revolting within him because of the absence of the regulator and shield-bearer of health and adversary of diseas
This is clear from the fact that it is possible to live without it and be well in the other senses, but the inactivity of these begets sickness and de
shouting like a Bacchant and acclaiming the son of Zeus and Semele. And from where did this good thing come to you, he says, O blessed one? Did you
let your communion with one another not be from habit and the opinion of the many, but let its principle be knowledge, and let the wandering and disor
souls? Far from it. But the body does not work against the spermatic logos (for this reason it is formed according to what that logos wishes), but the
working for just as the most drinkable of waters and the most temperate of airs dispose bodies well and generate a similar disposition, so also the c
But let the one who fails take pride that his brother happens to be better than he. Agesilaus happened to be the first among the Lacedaemonians even b
Let us summarize, by virtue, by reason, and by ancestral goods, using these three things for the best ends, you will be left behind in no part of eter
All things are mixed. But she fails in her plan, as the hero draws his sword against her, whence she almost breathed her last for her form is changed
by reason for see how the limbs have been fitted to nature. or rather, I shall marvel at the artist even from the stone for he did not place the var
being brought up, was he not turned away? Was not the compassionate one pricked to the heart over you? For this reason he shall be un-sacrificed and u
Nothing that exists is above Olympus. and so that I might make the last things of my discourse first, heaven is indeed adorned with stars, but these a
they have been hollowed out spontaneously, he will find how he might live luxuriously. For if he should go under the shade of a tree, immediately soft
pleasing, but all things were full of all things- the first tabernacle, the mercy-seat, the veil, the temple, the side-scenes, the vestibules, the out
discerning that man is an animal, which he did not know, and whatever else belongs to this, lest I make a further example of the foolish, or of the on
Intently and from every side examining subtleties, I was investigating the extensions, the releases, the intonations, the transitions, the displacemen
he has come, nor has he arrived to gather spiritual fruits, but only for the sake of this man whom you see reading with pleasure. For just as one who
Who will relate your magadis upon the breast and the songs and warblings upon your tongue, that all-harmonious melody, the pleasure that knows no sati
and himself, but what kind the others are, I do not know. For I see a form above human nature, and a look in one way cherubic, in another leonine, in
an ineffable sympathy and in turn feels a contrary passion, as the cosmos happens to be one living being, and how Plato, having posited the elements a
I have not heard of him rising up against anyone nor boasting for the whole time, but just as they say that the very learned accuse themselves of a te
to know what sort of thing your grandfather had become in life and what command of language he had. But I shall praise you, not by bringing in falseho
to revel. But whenever your bond was loosened and you shed the swaddling clothes, you did not know what to do with yourself, looking more cheerful, sm
This gathering is a symbol of peace, O wise and beloved audience of mine, and, to speak with God, a most accurate stamp of coming peace. But it also has some prefigurations of war; for the time has opened up for us a glorious contest against the passions. And I, just as I have been prepared to face danger on your behalf against perceptible foes and to be the leader of the battle-line, so indeed also against the spiritual adversaries I begin our good formation and stand as both general and public speaker. I take the beginnings of my public speech from the anxiety of war; for there too, if a contest is announced for the morrow, we who are about to be drawn up against the barbarians reduce our customary food, and we make the body light and manageable for every action. And much more is it necessary to contend in this way against the spirits of wickedness, whether we are front-rank fighters in the contest or half-company leaders, or whether we are massed together as in a locked-shield formation, or divided into companies. For in this way we might easily set up a trophy over the passions; for it is necessary to be at peace always both with one another and with ourselves and never to think of beginning a battle, but to have the passionate thoughts subject to ourselves. But since it is not possible for the nature of the body not to be disordered, for these reasons we must both make war and create concord out of division. And I have heard from one of the wise that not all the hordes of the spiritual enemies approach us face to face and from level ground; but some shoot arrows from the air, others cast missiles from the ground, and others are shameless to our face. Therefore, we must be circumspect towards their manifold oppositions and have our eye upward toward God, so that the aerial ones may not escape our notice, and be fenced with the panoply of the spirit, so that we may be unwounded by those who cast missiles from level ground, and have our feet shod in readiness for peace, so that we may tread on serpents and scorpions and crush the heads of lions and dragons. And we too have a most well-aimed arrow against the adversaries, ascending from the air to the heavens, which is prayer; and a long spear, which is the steadfast reasoning against desires; and a well-sharpened sword, which is the cutting off of passionate impulses. Thus, therefore, let us be courageous and be crowned and be arrayed again against the perceptible enemies, being sent forth from contest to contest and from victory to victory and from peace to peace, so that we may not appear second to the common hope, and especially that of our queen and mistress. For it was not for other reasons but for fighting and conquering and making peace out of war, or even for fighting in front and facing danger for you and taking charge of the whole, that [Providence] raised [me] to the imperial office. And this it considered first; then, that I might also preserve the power unassailed for these golden branches and co-rulers. May she, therefore, not be disappointed in her hopes for us, nor may we be found wanting in our promises. The contest is great (for why must one not speak the truth?) and not against one part nor from one (for we fight in the east and west and north and south), and some of the adversaries are at hand, others are imminent, and others have already grown shameless for war. To ride, then, against all parts is impossible; therefore, against some I have arrayed and sent out forces, and for others I have arranged peaceful terms, and in different ways I have contrived things for different parties; and against the most powerful I myself have been drawn up for battle, having adorned my body not with a purple robe but having fenced it with weapons of war, nor having made my head splendid with a diadem but having bound it tight with a helmet, and trusting, with a few, against many, and advancing before the phalanx, so that I myself might be struck, while you might be at peace. But the God who reconciled the things that were divided, the cornerstone of the peoples long divided, who took away the middle wall of the
Εἰρήνης ὁ σύλλογος σύμβολον, ὦ σοφὸν ἐμοὶ καὶ φίλον ἀκροατήριον, καὶ μελλούσης εἰρήνης σὺν θεῷ φάναι χαρακτὴρ ἀκριβέστατος.
ἔχει δὲ καὶ πολέμου τινὰ ὑποδείγματα· ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς ἀγῶνα λαμπρὸν ἡμῖν ἀνέῳξε κατὰ τῶν παθῶν. ἐγὼ δέ, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν
δυσμενῶν προκινδυνεύειν ὑμῶν ηὐτρέπισμαι καὶ ἡγεμὼν εἶναι τῆς παρατάξεως, οὕτω δὴ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς νοητοὺς ἐναντίους τῆς καλῆς
ἡμῶν κατάρχω συντάξεως καὶ στρατηγὸς ὁμοῦ καὶ δημηγόρος ἐφέστηκα. λαμβάνω δὲ τὰς τῆς δημηγορίας ἀρχὰς ἀπὸ τῆς πολεμικῆς ἀγωνίας·
κἀκεῖσε γὰρ εἰ διαγγελθῇ ἀγὼν ἐς τὴν αὔριον, ὑφαιρούμεθα τῶν συνήθων τροφῶν, οἵ γε πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους μέλλοντες παρατάξασθαι,
καὶ κοῦφον τὸ σῶμα πρὸς πᾶσαν πρᾶξιν καὶ εὐάγωγον ἐργαζόμεθα. πολλῷ δὲ μᾶλλον χρεὼν οὕτω κατὰ τῶν τῆς πονηρίας πνευμάτων διαγωνίζεσθαι,
εἴτε πρωτοστάται τῆς ἀγωνίας ἐσμὲν εἴτε ἡμιλοχῖται εἴτε συμπεφράγμεθα ὥσπερ ἐν συνασπισμῷ εἴτε κατὰ λόχους διῃρήμεθα. οὕτω
γὰρ ἂν ῥᾳδίως κατὰ τῶν παθῶν τρόπαιον στήσαιμεν· δεῖ μὲν γὰρ εἰρηνικῶς ἔχειν ἀεὶ πρός τε ἀλλήλους καὶ ἑαυτοὺς καὶ μηδέποτε
μάχης ἄρχειν διανοεῖσθαι, ἀλλ' ἔχειν ὑποκειμένους ἑαυτοῖς τοὺς ἐμπαθεῖς λογισμούς. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔστι τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν
μὴ ἀτακτεῖν, διὰ ταῦτα καὶ πολεμητέον ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν ἐκ διαστάσεως ποιητέον ὁμόνοιαν. Ἤκουσα δέ τινος τῶν σοφῶν ὅτι οὐ πάντα
τὰ στίφη τῶν νοητῶν πολεμίων καταντικρὺ καὶ ἐξ ἰσοπέδου ἡμῖν προσίασιν· ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν ἐξ ἀέρος ἐπιτοξάζονται, οἱ δὲ βάλλουσιν
ἀπὸ γῆς, οἱ δὲ καὶ ἀναισχυντοῦσι κατ' ὀφθαλμόν. δεῖ τοιγαροῦν καὶ ἡμᾶς περιεσκεμμένους εἶναι πρὸς τὰς παντοδαπὰς ἀντιθέσεις
αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν μὲν ὀφθαλμὸν ἄνω ἔχειν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ἵνα μὴ λάθωσιν οἱ ἀέριοι, συμπεφράχθαι δὲ τῇ πανοπλίᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος, ἵνα
ἄτρωτοι ὦμεν τοῖς βάλλουσιν ἐξ ἰσότητος, ὑποδεδέσθαι δὲ τοὺς πόδας ἐν ἑτοιμασίᾳ τῆς εἰρήνης, ἵνα πατῶμεν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων
καὶ τὰς τῶν λεόντων καὶ δρακόντων συντρίβωμεν κεφαλάς. ἔστι καὶ ἡμῖν βέλος κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων εὐστοχώτατον ἐξ ἀέρος εἰς οὐρανοὺς
ἀναβαῖνον ἡ προσευχή, καὶ δόρυ μακρὸν ὁ κατὰ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἔμμονος λογισμός, καὶ ξίφος εὖ τεθηγμένον τῶν θυμικῶν κινήσεων
ἡ τομή. Οὕτω τοιγαροῦν ἀνδριζοίμεθα καὶ στεφανοίμεθα καὶ κατὰ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐχθρῶν αὖθις ἀντιταττοίμεθα, ἐξ ἀγῶνος εἰς ἀγωνίαν
καὶ ἀπὸ νίκης εἰς νίκην καὶ ἐξ εἰρήνης εἰς εἰρήνην παραπεμπόμενοι, ἵνα μὴ δεύτεροι φανῶμεν τῆς κοινῆς ἐλπίδος καὶ μάλιστα
τῆς βασιλίδος ἡμῶν καὶ δεσπότιδος. οὐ γὰρ ἐφ' ἑτέροις ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῷ μάχεσθαι νικᾶν τε καὶ εἰρήνην ἐκ πολέμου ποιεῖν ἢ καὶ προπολεμεῖν
καὶ προκινδυνεύειν ὑμῶν καὶ τῶν ὅλων ἀντέχεσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἀνήγαγε. καὶ τοῦτο μὲν προηγουμένως ἐσκέψατο· ἔπειτα, ἵνα
καὶ τοῖς χρυσοῖς τούτοις κλάδοις καὶ συμβασιλεῦσι διαφυλάξω τὸ κράτος ἀπαρεγχείρητον. Μήτε γοῦν αὕτη τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ἐλπίδων
ψευσθείη μήθ' ἡμεῖς τῶν ἐπαγ γελιῶν ἐλάττους ὀφθείημεν. ὁ μὲν ἀγὼν μέγας (τί γὰρ δεῖ μὴ τἀληθῆ λέγειν;) καὶ οὐ πρὸς ἓν μέρος
οὐδ' ἀφ' ἑνός (ἀνατολῇ γὰρ καὶ δύσει καὶ ἄρκτῳ καὶ μεσημβρίᾳ μαχόμεθα) καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐφεστήκασι τῶν ἐναντίων, οἱ δὲ μέλλουσιν
αὐτίκα, οἱ δὲ ἤδη καὶ πρὸς τὸ πολεμεῖν ἀπηναισχυντήκασιν. ἱππάσασθαι μὲν οὖν πρὸς πάντα τὰ μέρη ἀμήχανον· διὰ ταῦτα τοιγαροῦν
κατὰ μὲν τῶν δυνάμεις συντάξας ἐκπέπομφα, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς εἰρηνικοὺς λόγους συντέταχα καὶ ἄλλως ἄλλοις διαμεμηχάνημαι, πρὸς δὲ
τοὺς μάλιστα ἰσχυροὺς καὶ αὐτὸς παρατέταγμαι, οὐχ ἁλουργίδι τὸ σῶμα κατακοσμήσας ἀλλ' ὅπλοις περιφράξας πολεμικοῖς, οὐδὲ διαδήματι
καταγλαΐσας τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀλλὰ περικεφαλαίᾳ συσφίγξας καὶ θαρρήσας σὺν ὀλίγοις πολλοὺς καὶ τῆς φάλαγγος προϊών, ἵν' αὐτὸς μὲν
βαλλοίμην, ὑμεῖς δ' εἰρνεύοιτε. Ὁ δὲ καταλλάξας τὰ διεστῶτα θεός, ὁ ἀκρογωνιαῖος λίθος τῶν πάλαι διῃρημένων λαῶν, ὁ τὸ μεσότοιχον
ἀνελὼν τοῦ
