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hoping to find from there, they are inseparably attached to the present things, and for this reason do they fear death? But we who long ago hated the world and the things in the world, and walk the narrow and afflicted way for Christ's sake, neither fear death, nor long for present things, but desire only the things to come. Since, therefore, the death inflicted upon us by you becomes a passage to 48 eternal and better life, it is for us more to be desired than to be feared. At this, the king, wishing as if from cleverness to get a hold of the monks, said: "What then? Did you not say a little while ago that you were withdrawing, just as I commanded? and, if you do not fear death. how is it that you resorted to flight? Behold, in this too you have lied, boasting in vain." The monks answered: "We do not flee because we fear the death threatened by you, but because we pity you, so that we might not become the cause of greater condemnation for you, we were minded to withdraw; since, as far as it concerns us, we do not at all ever fear your threats." At this the king, being angered, commanded them to be burned to death; and the servants of Christ were perfected through fire, obtaining the martyrs' crowns. And he issued a decree, that if anyone were found living as a monk, he should be killed without trial. And no one of such an order was left in that country, except those who had hidden themselves in the mountains and caves and holes of the earth. So these things were thus. ῃ But the king’s son, about whom the story set out to speak from the beginning, being kept from going out in the palace built for him, reached the age of a young man, having pursued all the learning of the Ethiopians and Persians, being no less gifted and beautiful in soul than in body, intelligent and 50 prudent and shining with all good advantages, and proposing questions of natural philosophy to his teachers, so that they too marveled at the boy’s astuteness and understanding, and the king was also astonished at the most charming aspect of his face and the constitution of his soul. And he gave commands to those with him, to make known to him absolutely none of the sorrows of life, nor that death at all succeeds the present pleasures. But he relied on empty hopes, and, as the saying goes, was attempting to shoot an arrow at the sky. For how could death have escaped human nature? Indeed, it did not escape the boy either. For he, having his reasoning adorned with all understanding, considered within himself for what reason his father condemned him to not go out and did not allow anyone who wished to have entry to him. For he knew within himself that this was not without his father's command. Nevertheless, he was ashamed to ask him; on the one hand saying it was improbable that his father was not thinking of what was advantageous for him, and on the other hand considering that, if the matter was according to his father's will, even if he were to ask, he would not make the truth known to him. Therefore he decided to learn these things from others, and not from his father. And having one of his tutors who was most dear and intimate to him than the rest, having made him even more of a confidant and having welcomed him with lavish gifts, he inquired of him what this confinement of his in that walled enclosure could mean to the king, and saying, "If you," he says, "will teach me this clearly, you shall be preferred by me above all, and I will make a covenant of perpetual 52 friendship with you." But the tutor, being himself discreet, and knowing the boy's intelligent and perfect prudence, and that he would not become a cause of danger to him, related everything to him in detail, the persecution set in motion by the king against the Christians and especially against the ascetics, and how they were driven away and cast out of that region, and what things upon his birth

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ἐλπίζοντες εὑρεῖν ἐκεῖθεν, δυσαποσπάστως ἔχουσι τῶν παρόντων, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δεδοίκασι θάνατον; ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ πάλαι μισήσαντες κόσμον καὶ τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ, καὶ τὴν στενὴν καὶ τεθλιμμένην διὰ Χριστὸν βαδίζοντες ὁδόν, οὔτε θάνατον δεδοίκαμεν, οὔτε τὰ παρόντα ποθοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ τῶν μελλόντων ἐφιέμεθα μόνον. ἐπεὶ οὖν ὁ παρ' ὑμῶν ἐπαγόμενος ἡμῖν θάνατος διαβατήριον γίνεται τῆς 48 ἀϊδίου ζωῆς καὶ κρείττονος, ποθητὸς ἡμῖν μᾶλλον ἢ φοβερός ἐστιν οὗτος. Ἐφ' οἷς ἐξ ἀγχινοίας δῆθεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπιλαβέσθαι τῶν μοναχῶν βουλόμενος, ἔφη· Τί δέ; οὐ πρὸ μικροῦ εἴπατε ὑποχωρεῖν ὑμᾶς, καθὰ δὴ καὶ προσέταξα; καί, εἰ οὐ δεδοίκατε τὸν θάνατον. πῶς φυγῇ ἐχρήσασθε; ἰδοὺ καὶ ταῦτα μάτην κομπάζοντες διεψεύσασθε. ἀπεκρίθησαν οἱ μοναχοί· Οὐ τὸν παρὰ σοῦ ἀπειλούμενον θάνατον δεδοικότες φεύγομεν, ἀλλ' ἐλεοῦντές σε, ἵνα μὴ περισσοτέρας κατακρίσεως αἴτιοί σοι γενώμεθα, προεθυμήθημεν ὑποχωρεῖν· ἐπεί, τό γε εἰς ἡμᾶς ἧκον, οὐδόλως σου τὰς ἀπειλάς ποτε δειλιῶμεν. πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ βασιλεὺς ὀργισθεὶς ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς πυρικαύστους γενέσθαι· καὶ ἐτελειώθησαν οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ θεράποντες διὰ πυρός, τῶν μαρτυρικῶν τυχόντες στεφάνων. δόγμα τε ἐξέθετο, εἴ πού τις εὑρεθῇ μονάζων, ἀνεξετάστως φονεύεσθαι. καὶ οὐδεὶς ὑπελείφθη ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ χώρᾳ τοῦ τοιούτου τάγματος, εἰ μὴ οἱ ἐν ὄρεσι καὶ σπηλαίοις καὶ ταῖς ὀπαῖς τῆς γῆς ἑαυτοὺς κατακρύψαντες. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν δὴ τοιαῦτα. ῃ Ὁ δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως υἱός, περὶ οὗ ὁ λόγος ἀπ' ἀρχῆς εἰπεῖν ὥρμηται, ἐν τῷ κατασκευασθέντι αὐτῷ παλατίῳ ἀπρόϊτος ὤν, τῆς ἐφήβου ἥψατο ἡλικίας, πᾶσαν τὴν Αἰθιόπων καὶ Περσῶν μετελθὼν παιδείαν, οὐκ ἔλαττον τὴν ψυχὴν ἢ τὸ σῶμα εὐφυὴς ὢν καὶ ὡραῖος, νουνεχής τε καὶ 50 φρόνιμος καὶ πᾶσι διαλάμπων ἀγαθοῖς πλεονεκτήμασι, ζητήματά τε φυσικὰ πρὸς τοὺς διδάσκοντας αὐτὸν προβαλλόμενος, ὡς κἀκείνους θαυμάζειν ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ παιδὸς ἀγχινοίᾳ καὶ συνέσει, ἐκπλήττεσθαι δὲ καὶ τὸν βασιλέα τό τε χαριέστατον τοῦ προσώπου καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς κατάστημα. ἐντολάς τε ἐδίδου τοῖς συνοῦσιν αὐτῷ, μηδὲν τὸ παράπαν τῶν τοῦ βίου ἀνιαρῶν αὐτῷ γνώριμον θεῖναι, μηδ' ὅτι ὅλως θάνατος τὰ παρόντα τερπνὰ διαδέχεται. κεναῖς δὲ ἐπηρείδετο ἐλπίσι, καί, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ τοῦ λόγου, εἰς οὐρανὸν τοξεύειν ἐπιχειρῶν. πῶς γὰρ ἂν καὶ διέλαθεν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει ὁ θάνατος; οὐ μέντοι οὐδὲ τῷ παιδὶ διέλαθε. πάσῃ γὰρ συνέσει κατάκομον ἔχων ἐκεῖνος τὸν λογισμόν, ἐσκόπει καθ' ἑαυτὸν τίνι λόγῳ αὐτόν τε ἀπρόϊτον εἶναι ὁ πατὴρ κατεδίκασε καὶ παντὶ τῷ βουλομένῳ τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ συγχωρεῖ εἴσοδον. ἔγνω γὰρ καθ' ἑαυτὸν μὴ ἄνευ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς προσταγῆς τοῦτο εἶναι. ὅμως ᾐδεῖτο ἐρωτῆσαι αὐτόν· τοῦτο μὲν ἀπίθανον εἶναι λέγων, μὴ τὰ συμφέροντα αὐτῷ τὸν πατέρα διανοεῖσθαι, τοῦτο δὲ σκοπῶν, ὡς, εἰ κατὰ γνώμην τοῦ πατρός ἐστι τὸ πρᾶγμα, κἂν ἐρωτήσῃ, οὐκ ἂν αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς ἀληθείας γνωριεῖ. ὅθεν παρ' ἄλλων, καὶ μὴ παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, ταῦτα μαθεῖν διέγνω. ἕνα δὲ τῶν παιδαγωγῶν προσφιλέστατον καὶ οἰκειότατον τῶν λοιπῶν κεκτημένος, ἐπὶ πλεῖον οἰκειωσάμενος καὶ δωρεαῖς φιλοτίμοις δεξιωσάμενος, ἐπυνθάνετο παρ' αὐτοῦ τί ἂν βούλοιτο τῷ βασιλεῖ ἡ ἐν τῷ περιτειχίσματι ἐκείνῳ τούτου κάθειρξις, καὶ ὡς Εἰ τοῦτο, φησί, σαφῶς διδάξεις με, πρόκριτος πάντων ἔσῃ μοι, καὶ διαθήκην φιλίας διηνεκοῦς 52 διαθήσομαί σοι. ὁ δὲ παιδαγωγός, ἐχέφρων καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπάρχων, καὶ εἰδὼς τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς συνετὴν καὶ τελείαν φρόνησιν, καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἂν αὐτῷ γένοιτο κινδύνου πρόξενος, πάντα αὐτῷ κατὰ μέρος διηγήσατο, τὸν κατὰ τῶν Χριστιανῶν τεθέντα παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως διωγμὸν καὶ ἐξαιρέτως κατὰ τῶν ἀσκητῶν, ὅπως τε ἀπηλάθησαν καὶ ἐξεβλήθησαν τῆς περιχώρου ἐκείνης, οἷά τε γεννηθέντος