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Should one for these things have reproached 20those who brought about the change for them20? - I too agree with this; truly those who have become the cause of these things for them are worthy of their censure, if indeed there are or have been any such people, because 20the knowledge of their past lives, being concealed by these things, takes away the memory of more venerable matters20 and does not permit inquiry into things older than the present, from what sort of station each of them originally started, what succession of life they had from their fathers, what small or great thing befitting free men they were conscious of in themselves and then 20became so well-known and famous that they even became known to emperors20, as is now boasted in the writing, 20and that all the ruling authorities were stirred up concerning them, and their affairs were spread over much of the inhabited world20. 1.1.36 Has not in reality either this writer himself been wronged in the greatest things by these matters, or his patron and the master of a similar life, Aetius? whom it seems to me he has emulated not so much with a view to the deceit of his doctrines, but much more with a view to the preparation and prosperity of his life. And I say these things not inferring from any conjectures, but having been an eyewitness of those who 1.1.37 knew him accurately. For I heard the story of this Aetius from Athanasius, once bishop of the Galatians, a man who would not have honored anything before the truth, but who also, for the testimony of many to his account, 1.1.38 produced a letter of George of Laodicea. And he said that he had not from the very first attempted the absurdity of his doctrines, but that later in time he adopted this innovation as a trade for a living. For having already escaped the servitude of Ampelis, who owned him (but how, I have no need to say, so that I might not seem to touch upon the narrative with excessive ill-will) he was at first a furnace-worker, having this fiery and menial craft in his hands, sitting at a small hammer and a little anvil under a hair-cloth tent, scantily and with toil providing for himself the necessities of life 1.1.39 through this work. For what wage worth mentioning could there be for one who mends the rotten parts of bronze vessels, and plugs up the holes, and melts the tin with blows, and solders the bases of cauldrons with lead? But the cause of the change in his life 1.1.40 was a certain misfortune that befell him through his craft. For having once received from a soldier's wife a certain golden vessel, one of the ornaments for the neck or hand, in order to repair a dent it had received, he deceived the woman by a scheme and stole the gold, but gave back to her a bronze vessel, of equal size to the gold one and having a similar appearance on the surface by means of a superficial gilding, having smeared the bronze with gold; and the woman was deceived by its appearance (for he was clever even in coppersmithing at deceiving those who used his services through the tricks of his trade) in time she discovered the villainy concerning the gold, 1.1.41 when the gilding was rubbed off from the bronze. Then she pursued the thief in court, as some soldiers were moved to indignation on account of kinship and common stock, and he, after that bold act, having suffered what a swindler and thief is likely to suffer, removed himself from the craft by an oath, as if it were not his own choice but the occupation that had produced in him the desire 1.1.42 for theft. And after this, having become an attendant to a certain quack doctor, so that he might not be entirely without necessary food, he went about <in> more obscure houses and to certain outcast people under the 1.1.43 pretext of medicine. Then, as his scheme gradually brought him prosperity, when a certain Armenian, easily deceived because he was a barbarian, was persuaded to pay attention to him as a physician and supplied him with a good deal of money, he now considered it a small thing to serve others in his art, but thought himself worthy 1.1.44 both to be and to be called a physician. From then on, therefore, he took part in medical discussions and with those who engaged in verbal disputes

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τούτοις ἔδει κακίζεσθαι 20τοὺς τὴν μετάστασιν αὐτοῖς προξενήσαντας20; - συντίθεμαι τούτῳ κἀγώ· ὄντως ἄξιοι τῆς παρ' αὐτῶν μέμψεως οἱ τούτων αὐτοῖς αἴτιοι γεγονότες, εἴπερ ὅλως εἰσί τινες ἢ γεγόνασιν, ὅτι 20τῶν προβεβιω μένων ἡ γνῶσις διὰ τούτων συγκαλυφθεῖσα παρ αιρεῖται τῶν σεμνοτέρων τὴν μνήμην20 καὶ οὐκ ἐᾷ πολυπραγμονεῖσθαι τὰ τῶν παρόντων πρεσβύτερα, ὁποίας ἑκάτερος τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς ἀξίας ὡρμήθησαν, ποίαν ἐκ πατέ ρων ἔχοντες ἀκολουθίαν τοῦ βίου, τί μικρὸν ἢ μεῖζον τῶν ἐλευθέροις πρεπόντων ἑαυτοῖς συνεγνωκότες ἔπειτα 20τοσοῦτον ἐγνωρίσθησάν τε καὶ ὠνομάσθησαν, ὥστε καὶ βασιλεῦσι γενέσθαι γνώριμοι20, καθὼς μεγαλαυχεῖται νῦν τῷ συγγράμματι, 20καὶ πάσας τὰς ὑπερ εχούσας ἀρχὰς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς συγκινεῖσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς δια φέρεσθαι20. 1.1.36 Ἆρ' οὐχὶ τῷ ὄντι τὰ μέγιστα διὰ τούτων ἠδίκηται ἢ αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁ λογογράφος ἢ ὁ προστάτης αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ ὁμοίου βίου καθηγητὴς Ἀέτιος; ὅν μοι δοκεῖ μὴ τοσοῦτον πρὸς τὴν τῶν δογμάτων ἀπάτην βλέπων ἐζηλωκέναι, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον πρὸς τὴν τοῦ βίου παρασκευήν τε καὶ εὐπορίαν. λέγω δὲ ταῦτα οὐ στοχασμοῖς τισι τεκμαιρόμενος, ἀλλὰ τῶν 1.1.37 ἀκριβῶς ἐγνωκότων αὐτήκοος γεγονώς. τὰ γὰρ κατὰ τὸν Ἀέτιον τοῦτον Ἀθανασίου ποτὲ τοῦ Γαλατῶν ἐπισκόπου λέγοντος ἤκουσα, ἀνδρὸς οὐκ ἄν τι πρὸ τῆς ἀληθείας προ τιμήσαντος, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς μαρτυρίαν τῶν πολλῶν τοῦ λόγου 1.1.38 Γεωργίου τοῦ ἐκ Λαοδικείας ἐπιστολὴν προδεικνύντος. ἔλεγε δὲ μὴ παρὰ τὴν πρώτην αὐτὸν ἐγκεχειρηκέναι τῇ τῶν δογ μάτων ἀτοπίᾳ, χρόνοις δὲ ὕστερον τέχνην βίου τὴν καινο τομίαν ταύτην προστήσασθαι. ἐκδύντα γὰρ αὐτὸν ἤδη τὴν δουλείαν Ἀμπελίδος, τῆς κεκτημένης αὐτόν (τὸ δ' ὅπως οὐδὲν δέομαι λέγειν, ὡς ἂν μὴ δόξαιμι κακοηθέστερον τοῦ διηγήματος ἅπτεσθαι) εἶναι μὲν καμινευτὴν κατ' ἀρχάς, τὴν ἔμπυρον ταύτην καὶ βάναυσον τέχνην διὰ χειρὸς ἔχοντα, σφύρᾳ βραχείᾳ καὶ ἄκμονι μικρῷ προσκαθήμενον ὑπὸ τρι χίνῃ σκηνῇ, γλίσχρως καὶ μετὰ πόνου τὰ ἀναγκαῖα τοῦ βίου 1.1.39 διὰ τῆς ἐργασίας ταύτης συμποριζόμενον. τίς γὰρ ἂν καὶ γένοιτο μισθὸς ἄξιος λόγου τῷ θεραπεύοντι τὰ ὑπόσαθρα τῶν χαλκωμάτων καὶ παραβύοντι τὰς τρυμαλιὰς καὶ τὸν κασσίτερον ταῖς πληγαῖς ἐπιλύοντι καὶ μολιβδοχοοῦντι τῶν λεβήτων τὰς βάσεις; γενέσθαι δὲ τῆς τοῦ βίου μεταβολῆς 1.1.40 αἰτίαν συμφοράν τινα διὰ τῆς τέχνης συμβᾶσαν αὐτῷ. λα βόντα γάρ ποτε παρὰ γυναικὸς στρατιώτιδος χρύσεόν τι σκεῦος τῶν περὶ δέρην ἢ χεῖρα προκοσμημάτων, ἐφ' ᾧτε τὴν γενομένην αὐτῷ πληγὴν διορθώσασθαι, ἀπατῆσαι δι' ἐπινοίας τὴν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ὑφελέσθαι μὲν τὸ χρυσίον, ἀντι δοῦναι δὲ χάλκεον αὐτῇ τὸ σκεῦος, ἰσομέγεθες τῷ χρυσῷ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ὁμοίως ἔχον δι' ἐπιπολαίου βαφῆς, χρυσίῳ τὸν χαλκὸν ἐπαλείψαντα· κατασοφισθεῖσαν δὲ τῷ φαινομένῳ τὴν ἄνθρωπον (δεινὸς γὰρ ἦν καὶ τῇ χαλκευτικῇ διὰ τῶν τῆς τέχνης σοφισμάτων τοὺς χρωμένους παραλογί σασθαι) χρόνῳ φωρᾶσαι τὴν περὶ τὸ χρυσίον κακουργίαν, 1.1.41 ἐξαλειφθείσης ἐκ τοῦ χαλκοῦ τῆς βαφῆς. εἶτα μετελθεῖν ἐν δίκῃ τὸν κλέπτην, στρατιωτῶν τινων κατὰ τὸ συγγενὲς καὶ ὁμόφυλον συγκινηθέντων εἰς ἀγανάκτησιν, τὸν δὲ παθόντα μετὰ τὴν τόλμαν ἐκείνην ὅσα παθεῖν εἰκὸς τὸν ἀπατεῶνα καὶ κλέπτην ὅρκῳ τῆς τέχνης ἑαυτὸν ἀποστῆσαι, ὥσπερ οὐχὶ τῆς προαιρέσεως ἀλλὰ τοῦ ἐπιτηδεύματος τὴν ἐπιθυ 1.1.42 μίαν αὐτῷ τῆς κλοπῆς ἐμποιήσαντος. ἀκόλουθον δὲ μετὰ τοῦτο γενόμενον ἰατροῦ τινος τῶν ἀγυρτευόντων, ὡς ἂν μὴ παντελῶς ἀποροίη τῆς ἀναγκαίας τροφῆς, <ἐν> οἰκίαις τε ταῖς ἀφανεστέραις καί τισιν ἀπερριμμένοις ἀνθρώποις ἐπὶ τῷ 1.1.43 προσχήματι τῆς ἰατρικῆς περιφέρεσθαι. εἶτα κατ' ὀλίγον εἰς εὐπορίαν αὐτῷ τῆς ἐπινοίας ἐλθούσης, Ἀρμενίου τινὸς εὐεξαπατήτου διὰ τὸ βάρβαρον ὡς ἰατρῷ προσέχειν ἀναπει σθέντος καὶ συχνὸν αὐτῷ ὑποχορηγοῦντος ἀργύριον, μικρὸν ἡγεῖσθαι ἤδη τὸ θητεύειν ἑτέροις ἐπὶ τῇ τέχνῃ, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν 1.1.44 ἀξιοῦν ἰατρὸν καὶ εἶναι καὶ ὀνομάζεσθαι. ἐντεῦθεν τοίνυν συλλόγων τε μετεῖχεν ἰατρικῶν καὶ τοῖς πρὸς ἔριν λογομα χοῦσι