Orationes forenses et acta

 Each one of you has received benefits from him, that having set this forth here with goodwill toward him you might sway the votes, and by showing favo

 Having beset it and stirred herself up to be divinely inspired and worked herself into a bacchic frenzy. now, that the many are deceived by this, i do

 Of her, nor anything else of the things forbidden to me, but which are proclaimed and honored by them. for someone might perhaps excuse him for the fi

 To be enumerated? for divination is for the time being sufficient. but i think, if this had happened before, he would have nobly recorded these things

 Of the difference of theurgies, at the end he adds: one must remove in advance all obstacles to the visitation of the gods and impose a total tranqui

 In these matters i would gladly ask of you, whether it is permitted for a priest to be initiated into such mysteries and to be deemed worthy of such r

 Immediately, therefore, all blushed, or rather, indeed, they shouted with their voices and condemned the leaders of the impiety and named their writin

 Has he discerned? but if indeed the part of the synod has not joined with the senate council nor with the chosen of the nazirites—for this part was no

 Aristotle's theology and the psychogony of plato and the new numbers and the remodeling of doctrines and the expense of the divisible, who of all ever

 What argument is left to you concerning this, or how is it that you dispute with one another over matters of such importance and postpone the decision

 And i gladly admire in you the encomium of the good man in your memorandum. for where he holds on to the whole and bears the burden of common cares, y

 All those, with whom we disagree, have advocated for confusions or divisions. for what do matter and ideas have in common with our doctrines? but sinc

 And of the one who is lifted up and of the one seated on it. know the cherubic and seraphic wings, the perfection of their number, the symbolic coveri

 They have shaken. for if they happened to be uninitiated in our doctrines and completely uninstructed in the mysteries of the spirit, perhaps, having

 For he who receives a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, from the contrary and greater, he who receives an impious man will receive the punishme

 He has despised all things equally, although the law, standing as it were at his ears, cried out: let no one teach or learn profane things. and agai

 He both strung together and vomited up, this twenty-third writing he thinks, or rather he places it between those who were then in every way our own p

 Depicting the madness of nestorian rage. i have left it to you to compare it with the dogmas of the massalians. i brought forth to them from the inner

 The patriarch has acted impiously, clearly and openly. and it is not permitted for any of you who wish, nor for those zealous on his behalf, to defend

 And having brought over certain forces from the west, he stirred them up for war, and they come face to face with each other from both sides. and a fi

 Delaying he is persuaded and is moderate and descends with them. and he dares against two emperors, of whom the one the imperial court held, adorned w

 Being torn apart. but pilate sat judging my divinely-moved emperor, the lord's anointed, who was being considered, not hesitating, not washing his han

 To kill the emperor, unless he came down quickly and bowed his head to him, but he, fearing the tyrannical cruelty and cowering lest he suffer anythin

 An innovative rank and would come to be below. there, then, the morning star raged against the first goodness, but here the evening star has attacked

 Demonic in his life. but again i have turned to you, the judges, and again i ask: has anything been dared by this man or not? you will surely say the

 Then failing to achieve their purpose, they chose to strike and kill. is it not clear to all that, while digging through and breaking into the houses

 Ruin, if he should object saying that he neither urged these things nor wished them, but even punished many of those who dared with all punishments, w

 In the parts on the right, somewhere near the entrance, but you have immediately ascended into heaven on earth itself, as if considering it a terrible

 Disregarding the divine temples, he was destroying them? and he did not cease, piling one on top of another and making them abandoned ruins. for not o

 Leaning together walls collapsed together with their icons and statues. and everything was as if in a great earthquake, the air being darkened, the e

 And the remains of the apostle luke are burned by fire and reduced to dust. i fear that the bodies of martyrs also lay here. i am afraid that some of

 I shall grant you this also. he had no need, it is true, of the burial robes. i admit it, since they had all already decayed. but he did have need of

 Let us not even examine the scene after that, but let these things be considered by him as theaters and hunts. but where the mercy-seat is, and around

 Seeing what was happening was exulting and rejoicing, like of old the whelp of the beast, i mean the one from isauria. but you consider for me what a

 Fire was burning us and the zeal of the lord was consuming us, long ago the man would have perished, or rather, he would not even have had access to t

 To me the macedonian, to the right the spear, at a walk the half-file leader, captain, wheel around. and nothing new nor incredible for one who has

 I pray with the high priest, but the mixture and the sheath which has grown with us turns the mind, being raised aloft, back toward itself. therefore

 He would trace his genealogy from cronus and rhea and from those even further back, i mean hericapaeus and phanes and that orphic night and he traced

 And the same color over all, none of which moved or influenced him? but never to converse even with the more divine words nor to unroll any tablet, th

 The emperor's treasury is not supplied only from mines nor from the recesses of the earth, nor do tributes alone fill it, nor contributions from land

 And to speak of the audacity, or rather—but how could i speak, intertwining things?—and the diligently pursued plot, through which almost everything w

 Granting that you may meet with more benevolent judges above. and then the drink of deposition here will truly appear to you as a purification. and ma

 Suspicious to many. but if he has nothing in common with the one he has chosen to accuse, nor has anything come between them, it is somehow still unac

 They anticipate my tongue, scattering against me the things they did wrong on account of their own greed, and i confidently awaited the court, as one

 To vote against a priest on the spot the penance exceeds all punishment the examination and the penance must proceed canonically. and, as it seems,

 Of the whole age, an unbeliever, so that i may speak truly, to believe against a believer? for this would be far from reason and thought. for where we

 But i, but what might i say about this? he living the life of a private citizen, but i clothed in the high-priestly vestment. and such a man is agains

 With misfortunes and your example, for the sake of argument, let someone come forward as a condemned man to have his neck cut. and let the sword be ha

 Do you receive? for the pardon testifies that the deposition did not seem so even to himself. for if, according to you, it is like a cutting off, what

 Is the cause the comparison of the matter to a beheading? for from this, one absurdity having been granted, these many nonsensical things were consequ

 An evil tale about me for years, leave me to my former wounds, do not card new ones upon me. so may the lord heal you, if indeed there is anything in

 This is the law of accusation and defense, and from this the precise examination of matters is found. but he introduced a new kind of writing into the

 Of voice, for not even this is unworthy of the art, and with a rhythmic turn of the tongue, you perhaps might only approach him, you who indeed gaped

 Has been debarred from studies? but for you in deep old age, what share is there of education? who of all people has known you, as far as i know, afte

 Which they say came into being of their own accord. but these things are not acceptable to you, and for this reason we shall laugh at you again, havin

 Ever, not in courts, not in counsels, not in public, not in private. for this was not even without accusation, but the speech had some defense. from w

 And the nature of fire did not burn, and the steep rock sent forth springs, and the wood here sweetened the bitterness, and there lightened the heavy

 Did he transcend this time? and it is likely, o best one, for christ possessed a nature more free even according to human standards. whether, then, th

 From himself, having allotted a great portion of reason to his soul this man, therefore, having long ago established for himself a little adopted dau

 A contest, but more brilliant was the victory of elpidius, and he went away having overcome the vestarches by all votes and crowning himself with the

 Receiving. when the most compassionate soul heard this supplication, since she also knew the circumstances concerning the bestarches, and that for man

 I will let my tongue go from forbidden deeds. and first i shame myself relating unspeakable and improper things, since i will also become a stumbling

 The amounts owed will be reckoned against each other, and the fine will be reckoned to elpidios in place of the protospatharios's fee, and the protosp

 Having received a seaside property from him, i give back to him in exchange a mainland one as a permanent dwelling by gift. but the kalai property was

 Most complete, not measured by time, not defined by partial successions nor by these alienations or those, but eternal, sufficient for all successions

 Indicating by the documents, which it is also necessary to go through in order. and so that we may make the summaries concise, and not, by going throu

 At that time for the ruler to ratify to her through a gift of a golden bull the property which he had previously granted to the man, not having been i

 But the rest testified that they themselves were not present at such a sale, but had heard from the subscribing witnesses in the confirmatory document

 He marveled at our western setting sun as a morning sunrise, and with the unspeakable pangs of his soul he discerned the ineffable will of god concern

 On both sides the gift is valid for those who received it from there. for the estate was perhaps of the daughters of nicholas’s wife through paternal

 Harmony, who of all could dissolve such a great bond, or rather these wonderful and in reality altogether indissoluble connections? for the first and

 He has made known by an agreement to whom indeed you also entrusted everything under oath and, whatever they themselves should do, you have promised

 Emperor of the romans, doukas. konstantinos, in christ the god faithful emperor of the romans, doukas. ioannes, most humble archbishop of constantinop

In these matters I would gladly ask of you, whether it is permitted for a priest to be initiated into such mysteries and to be deemed worthy of such rites, or if even to say so is outright blasphemy <is> and the beginning of impiety. For what high priest has ever opened his own small bedchamber to some abominable woman of yesterday's and yester-e'en's harlots, and made his own cell the inner sanctuary of unspeakable mysteries? For even if she were some Susanna professing divine mysteries, or the mother of Samuel, or Elizabeth the wife of Zechariah, he should not even so have received the prophetess, nor associated with her, nor been initiated in secret, nor brought an abominable woman into the divine temple. For a separate portion has been allotted to each gender. But the divine high priest, as if having forgotten the evangelical way of life, or not even knowing what the gospels might say, with great irrationality of the understanding of better things, has dared to confuse divine things and has attempted to mix the unmixable. But if anyone were to grant these things, knowing some and hearing others from the refutations, but should dispute about the error so as not to consider it a corruption of the doctrine concerning divine things, he does not seem to me to have philosophically approached both Hellenic doctrines and the customs of the exactitude of our faith. For they, applying the name of God to deceitful demons, were initiated from there into those unspeakable rites which all know. And some went to the oracle of Ammon, some to that of Amphiaraus, some to Delphi, and to others Bakis and the Sibyl uttered mantic voices. I ask you, therefore, whether one must accept this rite and accurately Hellenize and pay attention to the spirits, or not. "This; indeed we would be mad," you might say. How then, did the great shepherd esteem before all things and in place of all things those which are forbidden by everyone and to all of you? But for a time he held the rite in secret and partook of the spirits through fellowship, being initiated now to the Lernean, now to Iacchus, now to Sarapis, and now to Apollo through the woman Dosithea, and the oracles were spread abroad, and the prophecies travelled throughout the whole city. And the evil was contagious and most partook of the ruin, and the patriarch was the irrational cause of the impiety, but undefiled and far from the terrible thing were all those who were neither initiated to Baal-peor, nor worshipped the golden image, nor, being deceived by Baal, have offered sacrifice. These, then, persuaded her who at that time was directing the scepter of the Romans, Theodora herself, the last remnant and living spark of the family of Basil, to aid the true doctrine when it was in danger, and to expose the deceit, and to correct the champions of impiety, and to destroy the oracle, and to abolish the oracles, and to put an end to the dominion of the wicked spirits. For it was necessary for the one presiding over the right doctrine and caring for the rational flock and entrusted with the protection of souls to drive out such beasts as leaping up all at once and disturbing the rational flock. But since the shepherd sided with the beasts, the pious and divine imperial power has become for the flock in place of the beast, or rather the shepherd. And a fearful tribunal was set up, to use the words of Daniel, and books were opened. The Ancient of Days, then, sat judging above, and no fewer than the myriads above, thousands below stood by, both those of the select council, which indeed the Roman tongue is accustomed to call the senate, and those who have obtained the second rank after them, and those after these, and the list of the company down to the very last. In addition to these, all that is proper to God, the monks who departed from this life before their natural passing, and their leaders; and not a few of the high priests, whose impulses had not been corrupted by the deceiving demon. These, then, stood around according to their proper ranks, and the prophecies and that mixed theology were read out.

τούτοις ἡδέως ἂν πυθοίμην ὑμῶν, πότερον ἔξεστιν ἱερεῖ τοιούτοις μυστηρίοις τελεῖσθαι καὶ τοιούτων ἀξιοῦσθαι τῶν τελετῶν ἢ καὶ τὸ λέγειν ἄντικρυς βλασφημία <ἐστὶ> καὶ ἀσεβείας ἀρχή. τίς δέ ποτε τῶν ἀρχιερωσύνῃ τετιμημένων γυναικί τινι βδελυρᾷ τῶν χθὲς καὶ πρῴην ἑταιρουσῶν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ κοιτωνίσκον ἠνέῳξε καὶ μυστηρίων ἀρρήτων ἄδυτον τὸ ἴδιον πεποίηκεν ἀσκητήριον; κἂν γὰρ Σωσάννα τις ἦν τὰ θεῖα ἐπαγγελλομένη μυστήρια, κἂν ἡ τοῦ Σαμουὴλ μήτηρ, κἂν ἡ τοῦ Ζαχαρίου Ἐλισάβετ, ἔδει μηδ' οὕτως τὴν προφῆτιν εἰσδέξασθαι μηδὲ συγγενέσθαι μηδὲ ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ τελεσθῆναι μηδὲ ἐντὸς τοῦ θείου ναοῦ βδελυρὸν εἰσαγαγεῖν γύναιον. ἀπομεμέρισται γὰρ ἑκατέρῳ γένει κλῆρος ἴδιος. ὁ δὲ θεῖος ἀρχιερεύς, ὥσπερ ἐπιλελησμένος τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς πολιτείας ἢ μηδ' εἰδὼς ὅ τι φωνοίη τὰ εὐαγγέλια, κατὰ πολλὴν ἀλογίαν τῆς τῶν κρειττόνων συνέσεως φύρειν τὰ θεῖα τετόλμηκε καὶ τὰ ἄμικτα μιγνύειν ἐπικεχείρηκεν. Εἰ δέ τις ταῦτα μὲν διδοίη, τὰ μὲν εἰδώς, τὰ δὲ τῶν ἐλέγχων ἀκούων, περὶ δὲ τῆς πλάνης ἀμφισβητοίη ὥστε μὴ ἡγεῖσθαι ταύτην τῆς περὶ τὰ θεῖα δόξης διαφθοράν, οὔ μοι δοκεῖ φιλοσόφως προσομιλῆσαι Ἑλληνικαῖς τε δόξαις καὶ ἔθεσι τῆς ἀκριβείας τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς πίστεως. ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ τοῖς ἀπατηλοῖς δαίμοσι τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπιφημίζοντες ὄνομα ἐκεῖθεν ἐμυοῦντο τὰς ἀρρήτους ἐκείνας ἃς ἴσασιν ἅπαντες τελετάς. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐς Ἄμμωνος, οἱ δὲ ἐς Ἀμφιάρεω, οἱ δὲ ἐς ∆ελφοὺς ἐφοίτων, τοῖς δὲ Βάκις καὶ Σίβυλλα φωνὰς ἠφίεσαν μαντικάς. ἐρωτῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς, πότερον χρεὼν ταύτην τὴν τελετὴν παραδέχεσθαι καὶ ἀκριβῶς ἑλληνίζειν καὶ προσανέχειν τοῖς πνεύμασι ἢ οὔ. "τοῦτο· ἦ δ' ἂν μαινοίμεθα", φήσαιτ' ἄν. πῶς οὖν, ἃ παρὰ πάντων καὶ πᾶσιν ὑμῖν ἀπείρηται, ταῦτα πρὸ πάντων καὶ ἀντὶ πάντων ἐπρέσβευσεν ὁ μέγας ποιμήν; ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν τέως ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ εἶχε τὴν τελετὴν καὶ τῶν πνευμάτων διὰ τῆς κοινωνίας μετεῖχε, νῦν μὲν τῷ Λερναίῳ, νῦν δὲ τῷ Ἰάκχῳ, νῦν δὲ τῷ Σαράπιδι, νυν δὲ τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι διὰ τῆς ∆οσιθέας τελούμενος γυναικός, οἱ δὲ χρησμοὶ διεδίδοντο, καὶ αἱ προρρήσεις τὴν πόλιν πᾶσαν ἐπεπορεύοντο. Καὶ ἦν διαδόσιμον τὸ κακὸν καὶ οἱ πλείους τῆς λύμης ἀπέλαυον καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης ἀλόγιστος τῆς ἀσεβείας πρόφασις, ἀλλ' ἀμίαντοι καὶ τοῦ δεινοῦ πόρρω, ὅσοι μήτε τῷ Βεελφεγὼρ ἐτελέσθησαν μήτε τῇ εἰκόνι προσεκύνησαν τῇ χρυσῇ μήτε τῷ Βάαλ ἀπατηθέντες τεθύκασιν. οἳ δὴ καὶ τὴν τηνικαῦτα τὰ σκῆπτρα Ῥωμαίων ἰθύνουσαν, Θεοδώρα αὕτη, τὸ τελευταῖον τοῦ Βασιλείου γένους λείψανόν τε καὶ ζώπυρον, κινδυνεύοντι τῷ ἀληθεῖ λόγῳ πεπείκασι βοηθεῖν καὶ τὴν ἀπάτην ἐλέγχειν καὶ τοὺς προστάτας τῆς ἀσεβείας εὐθύνειν, καὶ καταστρέψαι μὲν τὸ χρηστήριον, ἀνελεῖν δὲ τοὺς χρησμοὺς καὶ τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων καταλῦσαι τὴν δυναστείαν. ἔδει μὲν γὰρ τὸν τοῦ ὀρθοῦ προϊστάμενον δόγματος καὶ τῶν λογικῶν θρεμμάτων φροντίζοντα καὶ τῶν ψυχῶν πεπιστευμένον τὴν προστασίαν τοὺς τοιούτους ἐλαύνειν θῆρας ὡς ἀθρόον ἐπιπηδῶντας καὶ τὴν λογικὴν ποίμνην ταράττοντας. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ ποιμὴν τοῖς θηρίοις προσέθετο, τὸ εὐσεβὲς καὶ θεῖον βασίλειον ἀντὶ τοῦ θηρὸς ἢ ποιμένος μᾶλλον τοῖς θρέμμασι γέγονε. καὶ κριτήριον ἐκάθισε φοβερόν, τὸ τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ φάναι, καὶ βίβλοι ἀνεῴχθησαν. ὁ μὲν οὖν παλαιὸς τῶν ἡμερῶν ἄνω δικάζων ἐκάθητο, οὐκ ἐλάττους δὲ τῶν ἄνω μυριάδων καὶ κάτω χιλιάδες παρειστήκεισαν, ὅσοι τε τῆς ἐκκρίτου βουλῆς, ἣν δὴ γερουσίαν ἡ Ῥωμαίων φωνὴ καλεῖν εἴωθε, καὶ ὅσοι τὰ δεύτερα μετ' ἐκείνους εἰλήχασι καὶ οἱ μετὰ τούτους, καὶ ἄχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων ὁ κατάλογος τοῦ χοροῦ. ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ ὅσον οἰκεῖον θεῷ, οἱ τῶν τῇδε ἀπάραντες πρὸ τῆς φυσικῆς μεταθέσεως μονασταὶ καὶ οἱ τούτων καθηγεμόνες· οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀρχιερέων, ὅσοις μὴ διεφθάρη παρὰ τοῦ ἀπατήσαντος δαίμονος τὰ κινήματα. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὰς οἰκείας τάξεις περιειστήκεισαν, ἀνεγινώσκοντο δὲ τὰ μαντεύματα καὶ ἡ ἐπίμικτος ἐκείνη θεολογία.