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and they tore open his chest, and the treasure lying within they neither saw, nor were they able to take; but it was just as those in Sodom suffered, standing at the very door of Lot’s house, but not finding the entrance; so also these men searched the martyr’s body from every side, but they were not strong enough to seize the treasure, and to empty out the wealth of his faith. Such are the achievements of the souls of the saints, irremovable and unconquerable, as if laid up in some inviolable place by the soul's courage, and neither do the eyes of tyrants behold them, nor can the hands of executioners snatch them away, but even if they should tear out the heart itself, which is especially entrusted with the soul's courage, even if they should cut it into small pieces, not even so do they empty out the treasure, but rather they make it greater. And the reason is God who dwells in such souls; and it is impossible for one who wars against God ever to conquer, but it is necessary for him to depart, having been mocked and shamefully defeated. For this reason, then, the opposite of the usual things happened. For everywhere deeds prevail over words; but then words prevailed over deeds; how? They brought fire and iron and tortures; they brought punishments, torments, scourges; they dug into his sides from all directions, and the one suffering remained unconquered; he only uttered a sound, and sent forth a mere voice, and word prevailed over deeds.

For the holy voice leaped forth from the martyr's mouth, and drew with it a light brighter than the sun's ray. The light of this is as great as the distance from heaven to earth; or rather, not even all of this can it traverse, whenever a roof, or a wall, or a cloud, or some other body falls in between, but 50.671 its forward course is blocked and walled off by such coverings; but the martyr's voice, leaping forth from that holy tongue, leaped up to heaven. It passed through the heaven of heaven; angels saw it and made way, archangels, and they stood aside; the cherubim and the other powers guided it upwards, and did not stand aside before they led it to the royal throne itself. After this voice, when the judge at that time saw that he had contrived everything randomly and in vain, and that he was kicking against the goads and striking adamant, what does he do? He proceeds then to an admitted defeat, and removes the martyr from this present life; for the death of martyrs is a clear defeat for those who kill them, but a glorious victory for those who are killed. But consider, for me, how he devised a certain harsh and bitter manner of his death, one that was able to show both his own cruelty and the martyr's courage. What then was the manner of the punishment? Having brought a sack, and filled it with sand, and having thrown in scorpions, and snakes, and vipers, and serpents, he threw the saint in with them, and cast him into the sea. And the martyr was with wild beasts, and again a just man was shut up with wild beasts; and I said again, so that you might recall for me the old story concerning Daniel. That one they shut up in a den, but this one they threw into a sack; they placed a stone then, this one sewed up the sack, making the prison narrower for the just man. But everywhere the wild beasts respect the bodies of the saints, to the shame and accusation of those honored with reason, who, though deemed worthy to be men, conceal the ferocity of those beasts by the excess of their own bestiality; such as this tyrant was likely to be. And it was possible to see a wondrous miracle, no less than in the case of Daniel. For just as the Babylonians, seeing that man then after many days ascending from the den of lions, were amazed, so also the angels, seeing the soul of Julian ascending from the sack and the waves to heaven, were amazed. Daniel contended with and conquered two lions, but perceptible ones; this one contended with and conquered one lion, but an intelligible one. For our enemy, it says, the devil, goes about like a roaring lion,

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καὶ τὰ στέρνα ἀνέῤῥηξαν, καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον τὸν ἐναποκείμε νον οὔτε ἔβλεπον, οὔτε λαβεῖν ἠδύναντο· ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἔπασχον οἱ ἐν Σοδόμοις, παρ' αὐτῇ μὲν τῇ θύρᾳ ἑστῶ τες τῆς τοῦ Λὼτ οἰκίας, τὴν δὲ εἴσοδον οὐχ εὑρίσκον τες· οὕτω δὴ καὶ οὗτοι διηρεύνων πανταχόθεν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ μάρτυρος, ἐπιλαβέσθαι δὲ τοῦ θησαυροῦ, καὶ κενῶσαι τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς πίστεως οὐκ ἴσχυον. Τοιαῦτα τῆς ψυχῆς τῶν ἁγίων τὰ κατορθώματα, ἀν αφαίρετα καὶ ἀκαταγώνιστα, καθάπερ ἐν ἀσύλῳ τινὶ χωρίῳ τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀνδρείᾳ ἐναποκείμενα, καὶ οὔτε τυράννων αὐτὰ βλέπουσιν ὀφθαλμοὶ, οὔτε δημίων ἁρ πάσαι δύνανται χεῖρες, ἀλλὰ κἂν αὐτὴν διέλωσι τὴν καρδίαν, ἣ μάλιστα τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἀνδρείαν πεπί στευται, κἂν εἰς μικρὰ κατατέμωσι μέρη, οὐδὲ οὕτω κενοῦσι τὸν πλοῦτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλείω τοῦτον ἐργά ζονται. Τὸ δὲ αἴτιον Θεός ἐστιν ὁ ταῖς τοιαύταις ἐνοι κῶν ψυχαῖς· τὸν δὲ Θεῷ πολεμοῦντα ἀμήχανον νι κῆσαί ποτε, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη καταγελασθέντα καὶ αἰσχρῶς ἡττηθέντα ἀπελθεῖν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ τότε τὰ ἐναντία τῶν εἰωθότων ἐγίγνετο. Πανταχοῦ μὲν γὰρ τὰ πρά γματα ῥημάτων κρατεῖ· τότε δὲ λόγοι πράξεων ἐκρά τησαν· πῶς; Προσῆγον αὐτοὶ πῦρ καὶ σίδηρον καὶ βασάνους· προσῆγον κολάσεις, τιμωρίας, μάστιγας· διώρυττον πάντοθεν τὰς πλευρὰς, καὶ ὁ πάσχων ἀν άλωτος ἔμενεν· ἐκεῖνος ἐφθέγγετο μόνον, καὶ ψιλὴν ἠφίει φωνὴν, καὶ λόγος ἔργων ἐκράτησεν.

Ἐξήλ λετο γὰρ ἡ ἁγία φωνὴ τοῦ μαρτυρικοῦ στόματος, καὶ ἐφείλκετο μεθ' ἑαυτῆς φῶς φαιδρότερον τῆς ἡλιακῆς ἀκτῖνος. Ταύτης τοσοῦτον τὸ φῶς ἐστιν, ὅσον τὸ διά στημα ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς τὴν γῆν· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο ὅλον δύναται διαβῆναι, ὅταν ἢ στέγη, ἢ τοῖχος, ἢ νέφος, ἢ ἄλλο τι σῶμα μεταξὺ παρεμπέσῃ, ἀλλὰ 50.671 ἀποφράττεται καὶ διατειχίζεται τοῖς τοιούτοις κα λύμμασιν ἡ εἰς τὸ πρόσω φορά· ἡ δὲ τοῦ μάρτυρος φωνὴ ἐκπηδήσασα ἀπὸ τῆς ἁγίας γλώττης ἐκείνης ἀνεπήδησεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν. Παρῆλθε τὸν οὐρανὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ· εἶδον αὐτὴν ἄγγελοι, καὶ παρεχώρησαν, ἀρχάγγελοι, καὶ ὑπεξέστησαν· τὰ χερουβὶμ καὶ αἱ ἄλλαι δυνάμεις αὐτὴν ὡδήγησαν ἄνω, καὶ οὐ πρότε ρον ἀπέστησαν, ἕως οὗ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἤγαγον τὸν θρόνον τὸν βασιλικόν. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν φωνὴν ταύτην, ἐπειδὴ εἶδεν ὁ τότε δικάζων, ὅτι πάντα εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην μεμηχάνηται, καὶ πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζει, καὶ ἀδάμαντα παίει, τί ποιεῖ; Πρὸς τὴν ὡμολογημένην ἧτταν βαδίζει λοιπὸν, καὶ τοῦ παρόντος ὑπεξάγει τὸν μάρτυρα βίου· θάνατος γὰρ μαρτύρων τῶν μὲν ἀποκτιννύντων ἧττα σαφὴς, τῶν δὲ ἀναιρουμένων νίκη λαμπρά. Σὺ δέ μοι σκόπει πῶς αὐτοῦ τῆς τελευτῆς τὸν τρόπον χαλεπόν τινα καὶ πικρὸν ἐπενόησεν, ἱκανὸν ἐνδείξασθαι ὄντα κἀ κείνου τὴν ὠμότητα, καὶ τοῦ μάρτυρος τὴν ἀνδρείαν. Τίς οὖν ὁ τρόπος τῆς τιμωρίας; Σάκκον κομίσας, καὶ ἐμπλήσας ἄμμου, καὶ σκορπίους, καὶ ὄφεις, καὶ ἔχεις, καὶ δράκοντας ἐμβαλὼν, ἐνέβαλε μετ' ἐκείνων καὶ τὸν ἅγιον, καὶ ῥίπτει εἰς τὸ πέλαγος. Καὶ ἦν μετὰ θηρίων ὁ μάρτυς, καὶ συναπεκλείετο θηρίοις πάλιν δίκαιος ἄνθρωπος· πάλιν δὲ εἶπον, ἵνα ἀναμνή σθητέ μοι παλαιοῦ διηγήματος τοῦ κατὰ τὸν ∆ανιήλ. Ἐκεῖνον μὲν εἰς λάκκον ἀπέκλεισαν, τοῦτον δὲ εἰς σάκκον ἐνέβαλον· ἐκεῖνοι λίθον ἐπέθηκαν τότε, οὗτος τὸν σάκκον ἔῤῥαψε, στενότερον ποιῶν τῷ δικαίῳ τὸ δεσμωτήριον. Ἀλλὰ πανταχοῦ αἰδοῦνται τὰ σώματα τῶν ἁγίων οἱ θῆρες, εἰς αἰσχύνην καὶ κατηγορίαν τῶν λόγῳ τετιμημένων, καὶ ἀνθρώπων μὲν εἶναι καταξιωθέντων, τὴν δὲ ἐκείνων ἀγριότητα τῇ τῆς οἰκείας ὑπερβολῇ θηριωδίας ἀποκρυπτόντων· οἷον εἰκὸς εἶναι καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τύραννον. Καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν θαῦμα παράδοξον, οὐκ ἔλαττον ἢ ἐπὶ τοῦ ∆ανιήλ. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνον τότε μεθ' ἡμέρας πολλὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ λάκκου τῶν λεόντων ἀναβάντα ἐθαύμασαν ἰδόντες οἱ Βαβυλώνιοι, οὕτω καὶ τὴν Ἰουλιανοῦ ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σάκκου καὶ τῶν κυμάτων ἀναβαίνουσαν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐθαύμασαν ὁρῶντες οἱ ἄγγελοι. Ὁ ∆ανιὴλ κατηγωνίσατο καὶ ἐνίκησε δύο λέοντας, ἀλλ' αἰσθη τούς· οὗτος κατηγωνίσατο καὶ ἐνίκησεν ἕνα λέοντα, ἀλλὰ νοητόν. Ὁ γὰρ ἐχθρὸς, φησὶν, ἡμῶν διάβολος περιέρχεται ὡς λέων ὠρυόμενος,