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
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 gently mixed with the air and falls pleasantly upon the eyes? and the moon and the rest of the choir of stars? These things are also set before you by God for delight and enjoyment, so that you may both rejoice in their infinite beauties and magnitudes and, by understanding their principles, come to know the Creator. But oh, the great generosity of the host. For after this universal feast and delight, he has also set himself before you for enjoyment; for he has slaughtered his own victims and mixed his own wine in a bowl and with a great and lofty proclamation calls us together to this new participation. But we appear to be petty feasters before such an abundant and rich host, being devoted to this or that animal and allowing the soul to starve, while granting everything to the unflattering belly. But you, my children, be not sated in this way. For I have begotten you through the power with gnostic birth pangs and have perfected you with various stages of growth. For I have not shown my reign to be barren, but have both been in labor with and have brought forth all of you; and the spring which I have received from God I have divided into channels, from which indeed all of you have drunk, one more, another less, according to the proportion of his station; and I have brought together the body of the state with greater and lesser parts, and I have bound each to each and by their mutual needs blended all into one harmonious symphony; and having become myself from God the beginning for all, like a head set over the body, I make you dependent on me, and myself on God; and I become one chain and order for those who are separate. For just as I myself am joined to you, my limbs, so indeed is God (if it is not too great a thing to say) joined to me, guiding the rule which he has given me; for I am turned toward him and he handles for me the reins of power; for in other respects I am earthly and material and inclined toward the earth and have shaken off none of the burden of matter, but I am mindful of the one who made me and made me king. Whence in every action and movement I both begin from God and rest in God. «My hands,» says the divine David, «have made an instrument, and my fingers have fashioned a psaltery.» But for me, nothing of the sort has been made; for I am not so great in virtue as to both tune and make music and sing the divine odes. But God becomes all things for me, filling up the defect of my nature. He both guides my power and secures my rule and preserves stability in affairs; he has also enlarged the borders on both sides and has made the most warlike of the nations subject to treaty, and has shown our monarchy to be true. And what is most wonderful; he not only removes the enemy from us, but also tames the barbarian; for the nation which yesterday and the day before was drawing its bow against us, I mean the nation beyond the Ister, now lets fly the arrow on our behalf and the land it used to ravage it now most gladly cultivates, and those it used to oppose it has now joined; and the adversary has become an ally and is willing to face danger in the forefront and to stand at the head of the phalanx. These things the God of wonders does (for my discourse returns again to the same point), who fights with us and fights for us, who scatters the cloud and shows the sun, who lessens the night and brings on the light of day. For I (that I may for a time reveal to you something of the secrets), when he called me to this great office, uttered the words of Moses and seemed to be delaying and shrinking from the magnitude of the task. But when he promised to cooperate with me in all things, I said, «Behold, it is I; Lord, what do you command your servant?» and thus I both accepted the leadership and took courage for the power. Hence the great wonders are worked on our behalf. And Pharaoh
τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡς μέγας, ὡς ἀεικίνητος τὴν περιφοράν, ὡς τὴν φύσιν θαυμάσιος; καὶ τὸν ἥλιον ὡς πηγὴ τοῦ τῇδε φωτός, ὡς ἠρέμα
κεράννυται τῷ ἀέρι καὶ προσ ηνῶς ἐμπίπτει τοῖς ὄμμασι; καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τὸν λοιπὸν τῶν ἀστέρων χορόν; εἰς τρυφήν σοι καὶ
ταῦτα παρὰ θεοῦ καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν πρόκειται, ἵν' ὁμοῦ τε τέρποιο τοῖς ἀπείροις τούτων κάλλεσι καὶ μεγέθεσι καὶ τοὺς λόγους αὐτῶν
κατανοῶν γνωρίζῃς τὸν κτίσαντα. Ἀλλ' ὢ τῆς μεγάλης φιλοτιμίας τοῦ ἑστιάτορος. μετὰ γὰρ τὴν παγ κόσμιον ταύτην ἑστίασιν καὶ
τρυφὴν καὶ ἑαυτόν σοι προτέθεικεν εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν· ἔσφαξε γὰρ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ θύματα καὶ ἐκέρασεν εἰς κρατῆρα τὸν ἑαυτοῦ οἶνον καὶ
μεγάλῳ καὶ ὑψηλῷ τῷ κηρύγματι πρὸς τὴν καινὴν ταύτην μετάληψιν ἡμᾶς συγκαλεῖ. ἡμεῖς δὲ σμικρολόγοι φαινόμεθα δαιτυμόνες πρὸς
τοιοῦτον ἄφθονον καὶ πλούσιον ἑστιάτορα τοῖσδε ἢ τοῖσδε τῶν ζῴων προσκείμενοι καὶ τὴν μὲν ψυχὴν λιμώττειν ἐῶντες, πάντα δὲ
τῇ ἀκολακεύτῳ γαστρὶ χαριζόμενοι. Ἀλλὰ μὴ οὕτως ὑμεῖς, τὰ ἐμὰ τέκνα, κορέννυσθε. ἐγὼ γὰρ ὑμᾶς διὰ τοῦ κράτους γνωστικαῖς ὠδῖσιν
ἐγεννησάμην καὶ διαφόροις αὐξήσεσιν ἐτελείωσα. οὐ γὰρ ἄγονον τὴν βασιλείαν ἐπεδειξάμην, ἀλλὰ πάντας ὑμᾶς καὶ ὠδίνησα καὶ ἀπέτεκον·
καὶ ἣν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πηγὴν εἴληφα εἰς ὀχετοὺς κατεμέρισα, ἀφ' ὧν δὴ πάντες πεπώκατε, ὁ μὲν μᾶλλον, ὁ δὲ ἧττον κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν
τῆς τάξεως· καὶ συνεβίβασα τὸ σῶμα τῆς πολιτείας μείζοσι μέρεσι καὶ ἐλάττοσιν, ἕκαστον δὲ ἑκάστῳ συνέδησα καὶ ταῖς παρ' ἀλλήλων
χρείαις εἰς μίαν ἅπαντας ἁρμονίαν σύμφωνον συνεκέ ρασα· ἀρχὴ δὲ τοῖς πᾶσιν αὐτὸς παρὰ θεοῦ γεγονώς, οἷά τις ὑπερκειμένη τοῦ
σωμάτος κεφαλή, ὑμᾶς μὲν ἐμοῦ ἐξαρτῶ, ἐμαυτὸν δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ· καὶ μία σειρὰ καὶ τάξις τοῖς διεστῶσι καθίσταμαι. ὥσπερ γὰρ αὐτὸς
τοῖς ἐμοῖς ὑμῖν συνάπτομαι μέλεσιν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ θεὸς (εἰ μὴ μέγα φάναι) ἐμοὶ συνῆπται τὴν ἥν μοι δέδωκεν ἰθύνων ἀρχήν· πρὸς
γὰρ ἐκεῖνον ἐπέστραμμαι κἀκεῖνός μοι τοῦ κράτους τὰς ἡνίας μεταχειρίζεται· τἆλλα μὲν γὰρ ἐγὼ γεώδης καὶ ὑλικὸς καὶ πρὸς γῆν
νενευκὼς καὶ μηδὲν τοῦ φόρτου τῆς ὕλης ἀποσεισάμενος, ἐπιγνώμων δὲ τοῦ ποιήσαντός με καὶ βασιλεύσαντος. ὅθεν ἐπὶ πάσης καὶ
πράξεως καὶ κινήσεως ἐκ θεοῦ τε ἄρχομαι καὶ εἰς θεὸν ἀναπαύομαι. «αἱ χεῖρές μου», φησὶν ὁ θεῖος ∆αυίδ, «ἐποίησαν ὄργανον καὶ
οἱ δάκτυλοί μοι ἥρμοσαν ψαλτήριον.» ἐμοὶ δὲ οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον πε ποίηται· οὐ γάρ εἰμι τηλικοῦτος τὴν ἀρετὴν ὥστε καὶ συναρμόζειν
καὶ μουσουργεῖν καὶ τὰς θείας ᾠδὰς μελῳδεῖν. ἀλλ' ὁ θεὸς πάντα μοι γίνεται τῆς ἐμῆς φύσεως ἀναπληρῶν τὸ ἐλάττωμα. ἐκεῖνός
μοι καὶ τὸ κράτος ἰθύνει καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν βεβαιοῖ καὶ τοῖς πράγμασι τὸ ἀστασίαστον συντηρεῖ· ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς μέρεσι
τοὺς ὅρους ἐπηύξησε καὶ τὰ μὲν μαχιμώτατα τῶν ἐθνῶν πεποίηκεν ἔνσπονδα, τὴν δὲ μοναρχίαν ἡμῖν ἐπαληθεύουσαν ἔδειξε. καὶ τό
γε θαυμασιώτατον· οὐκ ἀναιρεῖ μόνον ἡμῖν τὸ πολέμιον, ἀλλ' ἐξημεροῖ καὶ τὸ βάρβαρον· τὸ γὰρ χθές που καὶ πρῴην καθ' ἡμῶν ἐντεῖνον
τὰ τόξα, τὸ ὑπὲρ τὸν Ἴστρον ἔθνος φημί, νῦν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὸ βέλος ἀφίησι καὶ ἣν ἔκειρε γῆν νῦν ἀσμενέστατα γεωργεῖ καὶ οἷς ἀντεπαρετάττετο
νῦν προστέθειται· καὶ γέγονε σύμμαχον τὸ ἀντίμαχον καὶ προκινδυνεύειν ἐθέλει καὶ ἵστασθαι τῆς φάλαγγος κατὰ μέτωπον. Ταῦτα
ὁ τῶν θαυμάτων θεός (εἰς ταὐτὸ γάρ μοι καὶ πάλιν ὁ λόγος ἐπαναφέρεται), ὁ συμπολεμῶν ἡμῖν καὶ προπολεμῶν, ὁ σκεδαννὺς τὸ νέφος
καὶ δεικνύων τὸν ἥλιον, ὁ τὴν νύκτα μειῶν καὶ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπάγων τὸ φῶς. ἐγὼ γάρ (ἵνα τι καὶ τῶν ἀπορρήτων ὑμῖν τέως ἀνακαλύψω),
ὅτε με πρὸς τὴν μεγάλην ταύτην ἐκάλει ἀρχήν, τὰ τοῦ Μωσέως ἐφθεγγόμην ῥήματα καὶ ἀναβαλλομένῳ ἐῴκειν καὶ ἀποκνοῦντι τὸ τοῦ
πράγματος μέγεθος. ἐπεὶ δέ μοι συμπράττειν ἅπαντα ἐπηγγείλατο, «ἰδοὺ ἐγώ», ἔφησα· «κύριε, τί προστάττεις τῷ σῷ οἰκέτῃ;» καὶ
οὕτω τήν τε προστασίαν ὑπεδεξάμην καὶ τὸ κράτος ἐθάρρησα. ἐντεῦθεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὰ μεγάλα θαυμάσια γίνεται. καὶ Φαραὼ
