7

divine justice pursued him for his audacious deeds while he was still holding the governorship, in a single night suddenly stripping bare the one who yesterday was judging somewhere up on a high tribunal, and was escorted by a military company, and was governor of the whole nation of the Palestinians, and was a companion as if a dearest friend and table-companion to the tyrant himself, and making him bereft of such great dignities, and pouring dishonor and shame upon him in the sight of those who had previously marveled at him as their ruler, and showing him to be cowardly and unmanly, uttering womanish cries and supplications to the whole nation over which he had indeed ruled, and making Maximinus himself, in whom he formerly exulted and was arrogant as one who especially loved him on account of the things done by him against us, his harsh and most cruel judge in Caesarea itself, so that he pronounced the sentence of death against him, after much shame for the wicked deeds of which he was convicted. 7.8 But let this be spoken by us as a digression on the way; there will be a fitting time, in which our account will at leisure comprehend the ends and the catastrophic conclusions of the lives of the impious who especially warred against us, both of Maximinus himself and those around him. 8.1 And when the storm against us had blown persistently into the sixth year, before this the mine which produces porphyry stone in the Thebaid, so named, held a very great multitude of confessors of the godly faith; from whom a number lacking three of a hundred men, together with women and very small infants, are sent across to the governor of Palestine; who, for confessing the God of all and Christ in the [land] of the Jews **, had the sinews of their left ankles severed by cauterizing irons, and again their right eyes first cut out with swords, membranes and pupils included, and then completely destroyed at the very roots by fire with red-hot irons, Firmilianus, the governor sent here as successor to Urbanus, commands, as if by imperial order; and then he hands them over to the mines in the province to be worn out for the sake of toil and hardship. 8.2 It was not enough, then, to behold only these suffering such things, but also those of the Palestinians who had been condemned a little before to single combat in boxing, since they endured neither the food from the imperial treasury nor indeed the training appropriate for boxing, 8.3 but now, having appeared not only before procurators or governors, but before Maximinus himself for this very reason, they showed a most noble resistance of confession through endurance of hunger and tolerance of scourges, suffering the same things as those mentioned, with other confessors added to them in Caesarea itself; 8.4 close upon their heels, others were caught in the city of the Gazaeans at a gathering for the reading of the divine Scriptures, some of whom endured the same sufferings as these in their feet and eyes, while others were tried by even greater and most terrible tortures in their sides; 8.5 of whom one, a woman in body, but manly in mind, unable to bear the threat of prostitution, having said something against the tyrant for entrusting the rule to such cruel judges, was first scourged, and then, being hoisted on the rack, had her sides tortured. 8.6 And as those appointed to this task, at the judge's command, persistently and violently carried on the tortures, surpassing those celebrated fighters for freedom among the Greeks, not enduring the pitiless and cruel and inhuman nature of the deeds, another woman, one who likewise to the first had undertaken the labor of virginity, in body indeed seemingly very humble and in appearance easy to despise, but otherwise robust in soul and having embraced a mind greater than her body, cried out from the midst of the crowd to the judge, "And for how long do you so cruelly torture my sister?" But he more bitterly

7

τετολμημένοις αὐτὸν ἔτι τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἐχόμενον ἡ θεία μετῆλθεν δίκη, ἀθρόως οὕτως τὸν χθὲς ἄνω που ἐφ' ὑψηλοῦ βήματος δικάζοντα καὶ πρὸς τοῦ στρατιωτικοῦ δορυφορούμενον στίφους ὅλου τε τοῦ Παλαιστινῶν ἔθνους ἐπάρχοντα ὁμοδιαιτόν τε οἷα φιλαίτατον καὶ ὁμοτράπεζον αὐτῷ τῷ τυράννῳ καθεστῶτα διὰ μιᾶς γυμνώσασα νυκτὸς καὶ τῶν τοσούτων ἀξιωμάτων ἔρημον καταστήσασα ἀτιμίαν τε καὶ αἰσχύνην ἐπὶ τῶν πρότερον ὡς ἂν ἄρχοντα αὐτὸν τεθηπότων καταχέασα δειλόν τε καὶ ἄνανδρον γυναικώδεις τε προϊέμενον φωνὰς καὶ ἱκεσίας ὅλῳ τῷ ἔθνει, οὗ δὴ καὶ ἦρχεν, ἐπιδείξασα αὐτόν τε τὸν Μαξιμῖνον, ἐφ' ᾧ τὸ πρὶν γαυριῶν ἐφρυάττετο ὡς ἂν διαφερόντως αὐτὸν τῶν δρωμένων αὐτῷ καθ' ἡμῶν ἕνεκα στέργοντι, δικαστὴν ἀπηνῆ καὶ ὠμότατον ἐπ' αὐτῆς τῆς Καισαρείας καταστήσασα, ὡς καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ κατ' αὐτοῦ ψῆφον ἐξενεγκεῖν μετὰ πολλὴν τὴν ἐφ' οἷς ἐξηλέγχετο ἀτοπήμασιν αἰσχύνην. 7.8 ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ὁδοῦ πάρεργον ἡμῖν εἰρήσθω· γένοιτο δ' ἂν προσήκων καιρός, ἐν ᾧ τῶν δυσσεβῶν οἳ μάλιστα καθ' ἡμῶν ἐστρατεύσαντο, αὐτοῦ τε τοῦ Μαξιμίνου καὶ τῶν ἀμφ' αὐτόν, τὰ τέλη καὶ τῶν βίων τὰς καταστροφὰς ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν ἐπὶ σχολῆς περιλήψεται. 8.1 Καὶ εἰς ἕκτον δὲ ἔτος πνεύσαντος ἐπιμόνως τοῦ καθ' ἡμῶν χειμῶνος, εἶχεν μὲν πρὸ τούτου τὸ καλούμενον ἐν Θηβαΐδι φερωνύμως οὗ γεννᾷ πορφυρίτου λίθου μέταλλον πλείστην ὅσην πληθὺν τῶν τῆς θεοσεβείας ὁμολογητῶν· ἐξ ὧν τρισὶν δέουσι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἑκατὸν ἄνδρες ἅμα γυναιξὶν καὶ κομιδῇ νηπίοις πρὸς τὸν τῆς Παλαιστίνης ἡγούμενον διαπέμπονται· οὓς ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ** τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν ὁμολογήσαντας, τῶν σκαιῶν ποδῶν τὰς ἀγκύλας αὐτοῖς νεύροις καυτῆρσιν ἀποτμηθῆναι καὶ αὖ πάλιν τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τοὺς δεξιοὺς πρῶτον μὲν ξίφεσιν αὐτοῖς ὑμέσιν καὶ κόραις ἐκκοπῆναι, εἶτα δὲ πυρὶ διὰ καυτήρων πάμπαν εἰς ῥίζας αὐτὰς ἀχρειωθῆναι Φιρμιλιανός, ὁ τῇδε διάδοχος Οὐρβανῷ πεμφθεὶς ἡγούμενος, ὡς ἂν ἐκ βασιλικοῦ νεύματος προστάττει· κἄπειτα αὐτοὺς τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ἐπαρχίαν μετάλλοις μόχθου καὶ κακοπαθείας ἕνεκεν ταλαιπωρεῖσθαι παραδίδωσιν. 8.2 οὐ τούτους δὲ ἄρα μόνον τὰ τηλικαῦτα παθόντας ἤρκει παραλαβεῖν ὀφθαλμοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ Παλαιστίνων τοὺς ἐπὶ πυγμῇ εἰς μονομαχίας κατακεκρίσθαι μικρῷ πρόσθεν δεδηλωμένους, ἐπεὶ μήτε τὰς ἐκ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ ταμείου τροφὰς μήτε μὴν τὰς ἐπιτηδείους τῇ πυγμῇ μελέτας ὑπέμενον, 8.3 ἤδη δὲ οὐκ ἐπιτρόποις αὐτὸ μόνον οὐδ' ἡγουμένοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῷ Μαξιμίνῳ τούτου γε ἕνεκεν παραστάντες, γενναιοτάτην ἔνστασιν ὁμολογίας διὰ λιμοῦ καρτερίας καὶ μαστίγων ὑπομονῆς ἐνεδείξαντο τὰ ὅμοια τοῖς δηλωθεῖσιν παθόντες μεθ' ἑτέρων προστεθέντων αὐτοῖς ὁμολογητῶν ἐπ' αὐτῆς τῆς Καισαρείας· 8.4 ὧν κατὰ πόδας ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν θείων ἀναγνωσμάτων συγκροτήσει κατὰ τὴν Γαζαίων πόλιν ἁλόντες ἕτεροι, οἳ μὲν τὰς αὐτὰς τούτοις ὑπέμειναν κατά τε τῶν ποδῶν καὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν πάθας, οἳ δὲ καὶ ἔτι μείζους δι' ὧν φοβερώτατα κατὰ τῶν πλευρῶν ἐπειράθησαν βασάνων· 8.5 ἐξ ὧν μία τις, τὸ μὲν σῶμα γυνή, τὸν δὲ λογισμὸν ἄρρην, πορνείας ἀπειλὴν μὴ ἐνεγκοῦσα, εἰποῦσά τι ῥῆμα κατὰ τοῦ τυράννου ὡς ἂν οὕτως ὠμοῖς δικασταῖς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπιτετραφότος, πρῶτον μὲν μαστίζεται, εἶτα δὲ μετέωρος ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου γενομένη τὰς πλευρὰς αἰκίζεται. 8.6 ὡς δ' ἐπιμόνως καὶ σφοδρῶς ἐκ προστάξεως τοῦ δικαστοῦ τὰς βασάνους ἐπῆγον οἱ ταύτῃ τεταγμένοι, ὑπὲρ τοὺς παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἐκείνους τοὺς μαχητὰς ἐπ' ἐλευθερίᾳ τεθρυλημένους, μὴ βαστάσασα τὸ ἀνηλεὲς καὶ ὠμὸν καὶ ἀπάνθρωπον τῶν πραττομένων, ἄλλη τις ὁμοίως τῇ προτέρᾳ τὸν τῆς παρθενίας ἐπανῃρημένη κόπον, τὸ μὲν σῶμα πάνυ γε τῷ δοκεῖν εὐτελὴς καὶ τὴν ὄψιν εὐκαταφρόνητος, ῥωμαλέα δὲ ἄλλως τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ μείζονα τοῦ σώματος τὸν λογισμὸν ἐνεστερνισμένη, «καὶ μέχρι τίνος», ἐκ μέσου τοῦ ὄχλου, «τὴν ἐμὴν ὠμῶς οὕτως βασανίζεις ἀδελφήν;» ἀνέκραγεν πρὸς τὸν δικαστήν. ὃ δὲ πικρότερον