12 when he knew the sentence against his master, he cried out from the midst of the crowd, demanding that the bodies be given up for burial. 11.16 But he was not a man, but a beast, and if anything is fiercer than a beast, neither accepting the reasonableness of the request nor granting pardon to his youth on account of his age, only learned, upon asking, that he confessed to being a Christian, as if wounded by some arrow, his anger swelling, he ordered the torturers to use all their power against him. 11.17 And when he saw him refusing as he was urged to sacrifice, no longer as the flesh of a man, but either as stones or wood or some other inanimate things, down to the very bones and the vitals in the depths and recesses, he commanded him to be persistently torn. But as this went on for a long time, he perceived that he was attempting it in vain, as his body was worn away by the tortures, becoming speechless and insensible, and needing but little to be entirely lifeless. 11.18 But possessing a persistent pitilessness and inhumanity, he immediately sentenced him to be given over as he was to a slow fire. And this one indeed, before the perfection of his master in the flesh, though coming last to the contest, was the first to receive his release from the body, while those who had been zealous concerning the former ones were still delaying. 11.19 And so it was to see Porphyrius like an all-around victor in a sacred game who has conquered, his body covered in dust, but his face radiant, with a bold and triumphant spirit after so many things, walking toward his death, and truly full of the divine Spirit, himself, and clothed in a philosopher's garb, with only the cloak about him in the manner of a tunic, with a sober mind giving instructions and making signs to his acquaintances about what he wished, and on the scaffold itself still keeping his face radiant, but also when the fire was kindled outside at a great distance in a circle around him, snatching the flame from this side and that with his mouth, and most nobly persevering in silence to his last breath after the one cry which he uttered as soon as the flame touched him, calling upon Jesus the Son of God as his helper. 11.20 Such also was the contest of Porphyrius. And Seleucus, having become a messenger to Pamphilus of his perfection, a certain confessor from the army, as a minister of such a message, was at once deemed worthy of the lot with them. For indeed, as soon as he had announced the end of Porphyrius and greeted one of the martyrs with a kiss, some soldiers seized him and led him to the governor. And he, as if hastening him to become a fellow traveler of the former ones on their journey to heaven, immediately ordered him to be punished with capital punishment. 11.21 This man was from the land of the Cappadocians, of the chosen youth in the military service and had attained no small honor among the Roman dignitaries. For in prime of life and strength of body, in size and might he greatly surpassed his fellow soldiers, so that even his appearance was famous to all and his whole form was admirable for its size and beauty. 11.22 At the beginning of the persecution, therefore, having distinguished himself in the contests of confession through endurance of scourgings, and after his discharge from military service, having made himself a zealous follower of the ascetics of piety, of destitute orphans and unprotected widows and of those cast aside in poverty and sickness, he was revealed as if a bishop and helper, in the manner of a father and guardian. Wherefore, it was fitting that by the God who rejoices in such things more than in sacrifices of smoke and blood, he was deemed worthy of the extraordinary call to martyrdom. 11.23 This tenth athlete in addition to those who have been mentioned, was perfected on one and the same day, on which, as it seems, a very great gate having been opened for the martyrdom of Pamphilus, worthily of the man, an easy passage for entering the kingdom of heaven was made for him and for others at the same time. 11.24 And so, in the footsteps of Seleucus, Theodulus, a certain venerable and God-fearing old man, of the

12

ὡς ἔγνω τὴν κατὰ τοῦ δεσπότου ψῆφον, ἀπὸ μέσης τῆς πληθύος ἀναβοᾷ, γῇ τὰ σώματα παραδοθῆναι ἀξιῶν. 11.16 ὁ δ' οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλὰ θὴρ καὶ εἴ τι θηρὸς ἀγριώτερον, μήτε τῆς αἰτήσεως τὸ εὔλογον ἀποδεξάμενος μήτε τῷ τῆς ἡλικίας ἀπονείμας νέῳ συγγνώμην, αὐτὸ μόνον ὡς ἐρωτήσας ὁμολογοῦντα Χριστιανὸν ἔμαθεν, ὥσπερ ὑπό τινος τρωθεὶς βέλους, οἰδήσας τὸν θυμόν, ὅλῃ δυνάμει τοῖς βασανισταῖς χρῆσθαι κατ' αὐτοῦ προστάττει· 11.17 ὡς δ' ἐπικελευομένου θύειν ἀνανεύοντα ἑώρα, οὐκέθ' ὡς σάρκας ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλ' ἢ λίθους ἢ ξύλα ἤ τι τῶν ἄλλων ἀψύχων ἄχρις αὐτῶν ὀστέων καὶ τῶν ἐν βάθει καὶ ἐν μυχοῖς σπλάγχνων παραμόνως καταξαίνεσθαι κελεύει. εἰς μακρὸν δὲ τούτου γινομένου, μάτην ἐγχειρεῖν διέγνω, ἀφώνου καὶ ἀνεπαισθήτου, μικροῦ δὲ δεῖν καὶ πάντῃ ἀψύχου τοῦ σώματος αὐτῷ ταῖς βασάνοις κατατριβομένου· 11.18 παράμονον δὲ τὸ ἀνηλεὲς καὶ ἀπάνθρωπον κεκτημένος, εὐθὺς ὡς εἶχεν μακρῷ πυρὶ παραδοθῆναι αὐτὸν ἀποφαίνεται. καὶ οὗτος μὲν πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κατὰ σάρκα δεσπότου τελειώσεως, ὕστατος ἐπὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα παρελθών, τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος ἀπαλλαγὴν προύλαβεν, ἔτι διαμελλόντων τῶν περὶ τοὺς προτέρους ἐσπουδακότων· 11.19 ἦν δὲ ἄρα τὸν Πορφύριον ἰδεῖν ἱερονίκου διαθέσει πάμμαχον νενικηκότος κεκονιμένον μὲν τὸ σῶμα, φαιδρὸν δὲ τὸ πρόσωπον, θαρσαλέῳ φρονήματι καὶ γαύρῳ μετὰ τοσαῦτα τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ βαδίζοντα καὶ θείου πνεύματος ὡς ἀληθῶς ἔμπλεων αὐτοῦ, τε φιλοσόφῳ σχήματι μόνῳ τῷ περὶ αὐτὸν ἀναβολαίῳ ἐξωμίδος τρόπον ἠμφιεσμένον νηφαλέῳ τε λογισμῷ περὶ ὧν ἐβούλετο, τοῖς γνωρίμοις ἐντελλόμενον καὶ διανεύοντα ἐπ' αὐτῷ τε ἰκρίῳ τὸ πρόσωπον ἔτι φαιδρὸν διατηροῦντα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἁφθείσης ἔξω ἀπὸ μακροῦ ἀποστήματος κύκλῳ περὶ αὐτὸν τῆς πυρᾶς, ἐνθένδε κἀκεῖθεν ἀφαρπάζοντα τῷ στόματι τὴν φλόγα γενναιότατά τε εἰς ἐσχάτην ἀναπνοὴν ἐγκαρτεροῦντα τῇ σιωπῇ μετὰ μίαν τε ἣν ἅμα καθαψαμένης αὐτοῦ τῆς φλογὸς ἀπέρρηξε φωνήν, τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ Ἰησοῦν βοηθὸν ἐπιβοώμενος. 11.20 τοιοῦτος καὶ ὁ Πορφυρίου ἆθλος· τῆς δὲ κατ' αὐτὸν τελειώσεως ἄγγελος τῷ Παμφίλῳ γενόμενος Σέλευκος, τῶν ἀπὸ στρατείας τις ὁμολογητής, οἷα τηλικαύτης ἀγγελίας διάκονος, τοῦ σὺν αὐτοῖς παραχρῆμα κλήρου καταξιοῦται. αὐτίκα γάρ τοι αὐτὸν διαγγείλαντα τὸ τοῦ Πορφυρίου τέλος τῶν τε μαρτύρων ἕνα δή τινα φιλήματι προσειπόντα ἐπιλαβόμενοι στρατιῶταί τινες ἄγουσιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἡγεμόνα· ὃ δὲ ὥσπερ ἐπισπέρχων αὐτὸν τῶν πρότερον συναπόδημον τῆς εἰς οὐρανοὺς γενέσθαι πορείας, αὐτίκα κεφαλικῇ τιμωρίᾳ κολασθῆναι προστάττει. 11.21 οὗτος ἦν μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς Καππαδοκῶν γῆς, τῆς δ' ἐν στρατείαις ἐπιλέκτου νεολαίας καὶ τῶν ἐν Ῥωμαϊκοῖς ἀξιώμασιν οὐ μικρᾶς τιμῆς ἐπειλημμένος· ἡλικίᾳ τε γὰρ καὶ ῥώμῃ σώματος μεγέθει τε καὶ ἰσχύϊ παρὰ πλεῖστον ὅσον τοὺς συστρατιώτας ἐπλεονέκτει, ὡς καὶ τὴν πρόσοψιν αὐτῷ περιβόητον τοῖς πᾶσιν εἶναι καὶ τὸ πᾶν εἶδος ἀξιάγαστον μεγέθους ἕνεκα καὶ εὐμορφίας. 11.22 κατ' ἀρχὰς μὲν οὖν τοῦ διωγμοῦ διὰ μαστίγων ὑπομονῆς τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ὁμολογίαν διαπρέψας ἀγῶσιν, μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῆς στρατείας ἀπαλλαγὴν ζηλωτὴν ἑαυτὸν καταστήσας τῶν τῆς θεοσεβείας ἀσκητῶν, ὀρφανῶν ἐρήμων καὶ χηρῶν ἀπεριστάτων τῶν τε ἐν πενίαις καὶ ἀσθενείαις ἀπερριμμένων ἐπίσκοπος ὥσπερ καὶ ἐπίκουρος πατρὸς καὶ κηδεμόνος δίκην ἀναπέφανται· ὅθεν δὴ εἰκότων πρὸς τοῦ τοῖς τοιοῖσδε μᾶλλον τῶν διὰ καπνοῦ καὶ αἵματος θυσιῶν χαίροντος θεοῦ τῆς κατὰ τὸ μαρτύριον παραδόξου κλήσεως ἠξιώθη. 11.23 δέκατος οὗτος ἀθλητὴς ἐπὶ τοῖς δεδηλωμένοις ἐν μιᾷ καὶ τῇ αὐτῇ τετελείωτο ἡμέρᾳ, καθ' ἥν, ὡς ἔοικεν, μεγίστης τῷ Παμφίλου μαρτυρίῳ ἐπαξίως τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διανοιχθείσης πύλης, εὐμαρὴς ἅμ' αὐτῷ καὶ ἑτέροις ἡ πάροδος τῆς εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰσόδου γεγένηται. 11.24 κατ' ἴχνη δῆτα τῷ Σελεύκῳ Θεόδουλος, σεμνός τις καὶ θεοσεβὴς πρεσβύτης, τῆς