8

thrown on the ground in a certain thicket, and his foot terribly crushed by a wild beast, who, seeing him passing by, implored him not to run past, but to pity him for his misfortune, and to lead him away to his own house, at the same time adding this, that "I would not be found useless to you," he says, "and completely ineffective." But that illustrious man says to him: "I for my part will take you in for the sake of goodness itself, and I will deem you worthy of care, as much as is in my power; but what is the benefit, which you said 38 would come to me from you?" But that poor and weak man says, "I am a man who is a healer of words; for if ever any wound or injury should be found in words or conversations, I will heal these with suitable remedies, so that the evil does not proceed further." So that pious man considered what was said as nothing, but because of the commandment he ordered him to be taken home, and did not deprive him of the proper care. But those aforementioned envious and malicious men, bringing into the light the malice with which they had long been in travail, slander the man to the emperor, saying that, not only has he forgotten his friendship and neglected the worship of the gods and inclined towards Christianity, but he also plots terrible things against his kingdom, perverting the populace and winning everyone over to himself. "But, if you wish," they say, "to be assured that we are saying nothing fabricated, call him in private and say, testing him, that you wish, having abandoned the ancestral religion and the glory of the kingdom, to become a Christian and to put on the monastic habit, which you formerly persecuted, as if this had not been well done, forsooth." For those who were terribly alleging these things against the man knew the easily moved-to-compunction disposition of his mind, so that, if he should hear such things from the emperor, he would advise him, who had decided on better things, not to delay with regard to what had been well decided upon, and from this they would be found to be speaking the truth. But the emperor, not being ignorant of how great the man's goodwill towards him was, both considered 40 the things being said improbable and false, and, that he ought not to accept these things without examination, he decided to test the matter and the slander. And, having summoned him privately, he said, testing him: "You know, O friend, what I have done to the so-called monks and to all the Christians. But now, having repented of this and despising the present things, I wish to attain those hopes of which I have heard them speaking, of a certain immortal kingdom that is to be in another life; for the present one is certainly cut short by death. And I do not think this can be accomplished for me otherwise, or that I can avoid missing the mark, unless I both become a Christian and, having bid farewell to the glory of my kingdom and to the other pleasures and delights of life, having sought out wherever they might be those ascetics and monks whom I unjustly drove out, I mix myself among them. To these things, what do you yourself say, and what counsel do you give? Speak, by truth itself. For I know that you are true and well-disposed above all." But that good man, when he heard these things, not at all recognizing the hidden deceit, was pierced to the soul, and overcome with tears he answered simply: "O Emperor, live forever; for you have resolved upon a good and saving counsel, because, even if the kingdom of heaven is hard to find, nevertheless one must seek it with all one's strength; For 'the one who seeks,' he says, 'will find it.' But the enjoyment of present things, even if in appearance it delights and pleases, yet it is good to push it away; for in its very being it is not, and those whom it cheers, it again grieves 42 sevenfold. For both its good things and its grievous things are weaker than a shadow, and, like the tracks of a sea-faring ship or of a bird passing through the air, they disappear more quickly. But the hope of future things, which the Christians proclaim, is firm and most secure; affliction

8

λόχμῃ τινὶ κατὰ γῆς ἐρριμμένον, καὶ δεινῶς τὸν πόδα ὑπὸ θηρίου συντετριμμένον, ὅς, ἰδὼν αὐτὸν παριόντα, ἐδυσώπει μὴ παραδραμεῖν, ἀλλ' οἰκτεῖραι αὐτὸν τῆς συμφορᾶς, καὶ εἰς τὸν ἴδιον ἀπαγαγεῖν οἶκον, ἅμα καὶ τοῦτο προστιθείς, ὡς Οὐκ ἀνόνητός σοι καὶ παντελῶς ἀνενέργητος, φησίν, εὑρεθείην ἐγώ. ὁ δὲ λαμπρὸς ἐκεῖνος ἀνὴρ λέγει αὐτῷ· Ἐγὼ μὲν δι' αὐτοῦ τοῦ καλοῦ τὴν φύσιν προσλήψομαί σε καὶ θεραπείας, ὅση δύναμις, ἀξιώσω· ἀλλὰ τίς ἡ ὄνησις, ἣν παρὰ 38 σοῦ μοι ἔσεσθαι ἔφησας; ὁ δὲ πένης ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἀσθενής, Ἐγώ, φησίν, ἄνθρωπός εἰμι θεραπευτὴς ῥημάτων· εἰ γάρ ποτε ἐν ῥήμασιν ἢ ὁμιλίαις πληγή τις ἢ κάκωσις εὑρεθείη, καταλλήλοις φαρμάκοις ταῦτα θεραπεύσω, τοῦ μὴ περαιτέρω τὸ κακὸν χωρῆσαι· ὁ μὲν οὖν εὐσεβὴς ἀνὴρ ἐκεῖνος τὸ λεχθὲν ἀντ' οὐδενὸς ἡγήσατο, ἐκεῖνον δὲ διὰ τὴν ἐντολὴν ἀπαγαγεῖν οἴκαδε παρεκελεύσατο, καὶ τῆς προσηκούσης ἐπιμελείας οὐκ ἀπεστέρησεν. οἱ δὲ προμνημονευθέντες φθονεροὶ ἐκεῖνοι καὶ βάσκανοι, ἣν πάλαι ὤδινον κακίαν εἰς φῶς προενεγκόντες, διαβάλλουσι τὸν ἄνδρα πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, ὡς, οὐ μόνον τῆς αὐτοῦ φιλίας ἐπιλαθόμενος, ἠλόγησε τῆς πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς θεραπείας καὶ πρὸς Χριστιανισμὸν ἀπέκλινεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ δεινὰ κατὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ μελετᾷ βασιλείας, τὸν ὄχλον διαστρέφων καὶ ἑαυτῷ πάντας οἰκειούμενος. Ἀλλ', εἰ βούλει, φασί, βεβαιωθῆναι μηδὲν ἡμᾶς πεπλασμένον λέγειν, καλέσας αὐτὸν ἰδίως, εἰπὲ πειράζων βούλεσθαί σε, καταλιπόντα τὴν πάτριον θρησκείαν καὶ τὴν δόξαν τῆς βασιλείας, Χριστιανὸν γενέσθαι, καὶ τὸ μοναχικὸν περιβαλέσθαι σχῆμα, ὃ πάλαι ἐδίωξας, ὡς οὐ καλῶς δῆθεν τούτου γεγενημένου. οἱ γὰρ ταῦτα δεινῶς κατὰ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς σκηπτόμενοι ᾔδεισαν τῆς αὐτοῦ γνώμης τὴν εὐκατάνυκτον προαίρεσιν, ὡς, εἰ τοιαῦτα παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀκούσειεν, ἐκείνῳ μὲν τὰ κρείττονα βουλευσαμένῳ γνώμην δώσειε μὴ ἀναβαλέσθαι πρὸς τὰ καλῶς βεβουλευμένα, καὶ ἐκ τούτου ἀληθῆ λέγοντες ἐκεῖνοι εὑρεθεῖεν. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεύς, τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς πρὸς αὐτὸν εὔνοιαν ὁπόση μὴ ἀγνοῶν, ἀπίθανά τε ἡγεῖτο 40 καὶ ψευδῆ τὰ λεγόμενα, καὶ ὅτι μὴ ἀβασανίστως ταῦτα προσδέχεσθαι δεῖ, δοκιμάσαι τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ τὴν διαβολὴν διεσκέψατο. καί, προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτὸν κατ' ἰδίαν, ἔφη πειράζων· Οἶδας, ὦ φίλε, ὅσα ἐνεδειξάμην τοῖς τε λεγομένοις μονάζουσι καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς Χριστιανοῖς. νυνὶ δέ, μετάμελος ἐπὶ τούτῳ γενόμενος καὶ καταγνοὺς τῶν παρόντων, ἐκείνων βούλομαι γενέσθαι τῶν ἐλπίδων ὧν λεγόντων αὐτῶν ἀκήκοα, ἀθανάτου τινὸς βασιλείας εἰς ἄλλην βιοτὴν μελλούσης ἔσεσθαι· ἡ γὰρ παροῦσα θανάτῳ πάντως διακόπτεται. οὐκ ἂν ἄλλως δὲ τοῦτο κατορθωθῆναί μοι δοκῶ καὶ μὴ διαμαρτεῖν τοῦ σκοποῦ, εἰ μὴ Χριστιανός τε γένωμαι, καὶ χαίρειν εἰπὼν τῇ δόξῃ τῆς ἐμῆς βασιλείας καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἡδέσι καὶ τερπνοῖς τοῦ βίου, τοὺς ἀσκητὰς ἐκείνους καὶ μονάζοντας ζητήσας ὅπου ποτ' ἂν εἶεν, οὓς ἀδίκως ἀπήλασα, ἐκείνοις ἑαυτὸν ἐγκαταμίξω. πρὸς ταῦτα τί φὴς αὐτός, καὶ ὁποίαν δίδως βουλήν; εἰπέ, πρὸς αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας. οἶδα γὰρ ἀληθῆ καὶ εὐγνώμονα εἶναί σε ὑπὲρ πάντας. ὁ δὲ ἀγαθὸς ἀνὴρ ἐκεῖνος, ὡς ταῦτα ἤκουσε, μηδόλως τὸν ἐγκεκρυμμένον ἐπιγνοὺς δόλον, κατενύγη τὴν ψυχήν, καὶ δάκρυσι συγκεχυμένος ἁπλοϊκῶς ἀπεκρίνατο· Βασιλεῦ, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ζῆθι· βουλὴν γὰρ ἀγαθὴν καὶ σωτήριον ἐβουλεύσω, ὅτι, κἂν δυσεύρετος ἡ τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλεία, ἀλλ' ὅμως δεῖ ταύτην πάσῃ δυνάμει ζητεῖν· Ὁ ζητῶν γάρ, φησίν, εὑρήσει αὐτήν. ἡ δὲ τῶν παρόντων ἀπόλαυσις, κἂν τῷ φαινομένῳ τέρπῃ καὶ ἡδύνῃ, ἀλλὰ καλὸν αὐτὴν ἀπώσασθαι· ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ τῷ εἶναι οὐκ ἔστι, καὶ οὓς εὐφραίνει ἑπταπλασίως αὖθις 42 λυπεῖ. τά τε γὰρ ἀγαθὰ αὐτῆς τά τε λυπηρὰ σκιᾶς ἐστιν ἀσθενέστερα, καί, ὡς ἴχνη νηὸς ποντοπορούσης ἢ ὀρνέου τὸν ἀέρα διερχομένου, θᾶττον ἀφανίζονται. ἡ δὲ τῶν μελλόντων ἐλπίς, ἣν κηρύττουσιν οἱ Χριστιανοί, βεβαία ἐστὶ καὶ ἀσφαλεστάτη· θλῖψιν