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they are considered to be moderate, to betray God through their silence; but they are also here very warlike and hard to fight against (for such is the heat of zeal), and they would sooner stir up something improper than neglect what is proper. And no small part of the people is also breaking away with them, just as in a flock of birds, flying up with those who first fly up, and even now it has not ceased to fly up with them.

26. This was Athanasius to us, as long as he was present, the pillar of the Church; and this he was, since he yielded to the insults of the wicked. For just as those who have decided to take some strong fortress, when they see it is otherwise inaccessible and hard to capture, resort to stratagem; then what? Having suborned the commander of the fort with money or deceit, they thus immediately took control of the garrison with no effort; or, if you will, like those who plotted against Samson, first cutting off his hair, in which he had his strength, then they took the Judge into their hands, and then they mocked him as much as they wished, in return for the man's former power; so too our foreign foes, having removed our strength out of the way, and having shorn the glory of the Church, thus they immediately reveled in the doctrines and deeds of impiety. In this way, the supporter and patron of the rival pastor also departed this life, having put the finishing touch of evil on an evil reign, and having repented in vain, as they say, with his last breaths, when each one is a fair judge of himself, because of the tribunal there. For he is said to have acknowledged these three evils as unworthy of his reign: the murder of his kin, the proclamation of the Apostate, and the innovation of the faith; and he is said to have departed with these words. But the word of truth again takes authority, and those who were coerced, an independent boldness, as zeal whets their anger. This indeed is what the people of Alexandria also experienced, such as they were toward the insolent, not enduring the man's excess, and for this reason denouncing his wickedness with a strange death, and his death with a strange outrage. 35.1113 You know that camel, and the strange burden, and the new height, and the first procession, and, I think, the only one, the things with which the insolent are threatened even to this day.

27. But when the typhoon of iniquity, the destroyer of piety, the forerunner of the evil one, receives this penalty—not a praiseworthy one to me (for we must consider not what he deserved to suffer, but what we ought to do), but he receives it nonetheless, having become the work of popular anger and impulse; the champion returns from his noble sojourn (for so I call his flight for the Trinity and with the Trinity), and thus he falls upon those in the city with such gladness, and nearly all of Egypt, who ran together to the same place from all quarters, and from every extremity, so that some might be filled with the voice of Athanasius alone, and others with his appearance, while others, as we have heard about the apostles, might be sanctified even by his shadow alone, and by the empty image of his body; so that although many honors and receptions have often been held for many men throughout all time, not only for public officials and priests, but also for the most illustrious of their own people, not one is remembered as being more crowded or more splendid than this one. And that only Athanasius himself can be compared to this, and the honor previously arranged for him upon his entry before this one, when he returned from the same exile and for the same reasons.

28. Such a story is also told about that honor; for let it be told, even if it is rather superfluous, as a kind of seasoning to the speech, and a flower for his entry. One of the vice-prefects was making his entry after that entry. This man was one of ours; for he was a Cappadocian, and of the very highest rank. That Philagrius, I know that you all hear of him. And the affection, such as was for no other, and about no other, and the honor according to the affection, so that I may present the whole characteristic in a brief account; for whom also the office, by an embassy of the city and by a vote of the emperor, again

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φέρουσιν ἐπιεικεῖς εἶναι, Θεὸν προδιδόναι διὰ τῆς ἡσυχίας· ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν εἰσὶν ἐνταῦθα πολεμικοί τε καὶ δύσμαχοι (τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἡ τοῦ ζήλου θερμότης), καὶ θᾶττον ἄν τι μὴ δέον παρακινήσαιεν, ἢ δέον παραλίποιεν. Συναποῤῥήγνυται δὲ καὶ τῶν λαῶν οὐκ ἐλάχιστον, ὥσπερ ἐν ὀρνίθων ἀγέλῃ, τοῖς προ αναπτᾶσι συναναπτᾷν, καὶ οὐδὲ νῦν ἔτι λήγει συν ανιπτάμενον.

Κςʹ. Τοῦτο Ἀθανάσιος ἡμῖν, ἕως παρῆν, ὁ στύ λος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας· καὶ τοῦτο, ἐπειδή γε ταῖς ἐπ ηρείαις τῶν πονηρῶν ὑπεχώρησεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ φρούριόν τι τῶν καρτερῶν ἐξελεῖν βουλευθέντες, ἐπειδὰν ἄλλως ἴδωσι δυσπρόσιτον καὶ δυσάλωτον, ἐπὶ τὴν τέχνην χωροῦσιν· εἶτα τί; χρήμασιν, ἢ δόλῳ τὸν φρούραρχον ὑποσπάσαντες, οὕτως ἤδη σὺν οὐδενὶ πόνῳ καὶ τῆς φρουρᾶς ἐκράτησαν· εἰ βούλει δὲ, ὥσπερ οἱ τῷ Σαμψὼν ἐπιβουλεύσαντες, τὴν κό μην πρότερον, ἐν ᾗ τὴν ἰσχὺν εἶχε, περιελόντες, τηνικαῦτα ὑπὸ χεῖρα τὸν Κριτὴν ἔλαβον, εἶτα ἐνέπαιζον ὅσα βουλομένοις ἦν, τῆς πρὶν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς δυναστείας ἀντίῤῥοπα· οὕτω καὶ οἱ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀλλό φυλοι, τὸ ἡμέτερον κράτος ἐκποδὼν ποιησάμενοι, καὶ τὴν δόξαν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀποκείραντες, οὕτως ἤδη τοῖς τῆς ἀσεβείας ἐνετρύφων δόγμασί τε καὶ πράγμασι. Ταύτῃ καὶ μεταλλάττει μὲν τὸν βίον ὁ τοῦ ἀντιθέτου ποιμένος βεβαιωτὴς καὶ προστά της, κακὸν οὐ κακῇ βασιλείᾳ τὸ κεφάλαιον ἐπιθεὶς, καὶ ἀνόνητα μεταγνοὺς, ὥς φασιν, ἐπὶ ταῖς τελευταίαις ἀναπνοαῖς, ἡνίκα εὐγνώμων ἕκαστος τῶν ἑαυτοῦ κριτὴς, διὰ τὸ ἐκεῖ δικαστήριον. Τρία γὰρ ταῦτά οἱ συνεγνωκέναι κακὰ, καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείας ἀνάξια, τὸν τοῦ γένους φόνον, καὶ τὴν ἀνάῤῥησιν τοῦ Ἀποστάτου, καὶ τὴν καινο τομίαν τῆς πίστεως· καὶ ταύταις συναπελθεῖν λέ γεται ταῖς φωναῖς. Ἐξουσίαν δὲ αὖθις ὁ τῆς ἀλη θείας λόγος λαμβάνει, καὶ παῤῥησίαν οἱ βιασθέντες αὐτόνομον, τοῦ ζήλου τὸν θυμὸν θήγοντος. Ὃ δὴ καὶ ὁ τῶν Ἀλεξανδρέων ἔπαθε δῆμος, οἷος ἐκεῖνος περὶ τοὺς ὑβριστὰς, οὐκ ἐνεγκόντες τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὴν ἀμετρίαν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ξένῳ μὲν θανάτῳ τὴν πο νηρίαν, ξένῃ δὲ ὕβρει τὸν θάνατον στηλιτεύσαντες. 35.1113 Ἴστε τὴν κάμηλον ἐκείνην, καὶ τὸν ξένον φόρ τον, καὶ τὸ καινὸν ὕψος, καὶ τὴν πρώτην περίοδον, οἶμαι δὲ, καὶ μόνην, τὰ μέχρι καὶ νῦν τοῖς ὑβρι σταῖς ἀπειλούμενα.

ΚΖʹ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ τυφὼν τῆς ἀδικίας, ὁ τῆς εὐσεβείας φθορεὺς, ὁ τοῦ πονηροῦ πρόδρομος, ταύτην εἰσπράττεται τὴν δίκην, ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐκ ἐπαινετὴν (οὐ γὰρ ἃ παθεῖν ἐκεῖνον ἐχρῆν, ἀλλ' ἃ ποιεῖν ἡμᾶς ἔδει σκοπεῖν), εἰσπράττεται δ' οὖν, ὀργῆς πανδήμου καὶ φορᾶς ἔργον γενόμενος· ἐπάνεισι μὲν ἐκ τῆς καλῆς ἐκδημίας ὁ ἀθλητὴς (οὕτω γὰρ ἐγὼ καλῶ τὴν ἐκείνου διὰ τὴν Τριάδα καὶ μετὰ τῆς Τριάδος φυγὴν), οὕτω δὲ ἀσμένοις προσπίπτει τοῖς ἐν τῇ πόλει, καὶ μικροῦ τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ πάσῃ, καὶ παντα χόθεν εἰς ταυτὸ συνδραμούσῃ, καὶ ἀπ' ἄκρου παν τὸς, ἵν' οἱ μὲν φωνῆς Ἀθανασίου μόνης, οἱ δὲ τοῦ εἴδους ἐμφορηθῶσιν, οἱ δὲ, ὃ περὶ τῶν ἀποστό λων ἠκούσαμεν, τῇ σκιᾷ γοῦν ἁγιασθῶσι μόνῃ, καὶ τῷ κενῷ τύπῳ τοῦ σώματος· ὥστε πολλῶν πολ λάκις καὶ πολλοῖς ἤδη γεγενημένων ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς χρόνου τιμῶν τε καὶ ὑπαντήσεων, οὐκ ἄρχουσι μόνον δημοσίοις καὶ ἱερεῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν οἰκείων τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις, μηδὲ μίαν ταύτης μνημονεύεσθαι πολυανθρωποτέραν καὶ λαμπροτέραν. Ἓν δὲ εἶναι ταύτῃ μόνον παραβάλλειν αὐτὸν Ἀθανάσιον, καὶ τὴν αὐτῷ προτέραν συντεθεῖσαν ἐπὶ τῇ προτέρᾳ ταύτης εἰσόδῳ τιμὴν, ἡνίκα ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπανῄει φυγῆς.

ΚΗʹ. Φέρεται καὶ τοιοῦτός τις ἐπ' ἐκείνῃ τῇ τιμῇ λόγος· λεγέσθω γὰρ, εἰ καὶ περιττότερος, οἷον ἥδυ σμά τι τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ ἄνθος εἰσόδιον. Εἰσήλαυνέ τις τῶν δισυπάρχων μετ' ἐκείνην τὴν εἴσοδον. Ἡμέτερος οὗτος ἦν· Καππαδόκης γὰρ, καὶ τῶν πάνυ. Τὸν Φιλάγριον ἐκεῖνον οἶδ' ὅτι πάντες ἀκούετε. Καὶ τὸ φίλτρον, οἷον οὐκ ἄλλο, καὶ περὶ ἄλλον, καὶ ἡ τιμὴ κατὰ τὸ φίλτρον, ἵνα μικρῷ λόγῳ παραστήσω τὸ πᾶν γνώρισμα· ᾧ καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ, πρεσβείᾳ τε τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ψήφῳ τοῦ βασιλέως, αὖθις