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of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and to flee from vain idols, and to turn to the living God, who created the heaven and the earth. For your gods, whom you yourself worship, are the creations of demons, and the inventions of myths, and the offspring of diabolical energy; for our Scripture says of them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, let them perish. But another royal law, issued by Constantine your kinsman, casts them out from worship, and destroys their revered objects; he, having believed in Christ, destroyed the precincts of the idols, and expressly stopped the sacrifices offered to them. What wrong, therefore, do we do, O emperor, in strengthening and authoritatively maintaining what God has commanded, and a great emperor has legislated, and in destroying and hindering what the folly of ancient men, as you said, invented from the machinations of demons? 34. And the Apostate: But Constantine, you most wretched men, being an innovator on account of the impious acts that befell him, apostatized from the gods, having been deceived by you Galileans, since he was uneducated, and grounded neither in Roman laws nor in Greek customs; but I, O impious one, having attained the height of both Greek and Roman education, and being trained in the theologies of the ancient men, I mean of Hermes and Orpheus and Plato, and having not least become familiar with the Jewish Scriptures, and having trodden upon their trickery, again command men to remain in the ancestral and most ancient and God-beloved custom and worship, rather than to follow the follies of the uneducated and innovators; but let this man also 96.1284 be stripped of his cloak, and be made to have a share in the trial of the scourges; so that, having become more sensible from this, he might submit to our laws even unwillingly. 35. While these men, therefore, were being inhumanly punished, and pained by the most grievous tortures, the blessed and pious Artemius, as has been indicated before, appointed by Constantius as Dux and Augustalis of all Egypt, and on account of his upright and inimitable conduct had also received the commission to take care of the affairs of Syria; being, therefore, dedicated to the Roman empire, and having heard that Julian had become emperor and was hastening to the Persian war, and having received letters commanding him to come to Antioch with the entire army, he arrived in Antioch as he was ordered, and with the honor and escort befitting him, he stood by the emperor on the tribunal, when the lawless one was conducting the examination of the holy martyrs; and he says to him: O emperor, why do you so inhumanly torture holy men dedicated to God, and force them to deny their own faith? Know, therefore, that you yourself are a man of like passions, and have partaken of the sufferings of the same nature; and if God has appointed you emperor, if indeed you have your kingdom from God, and not that the author of evil and wicked devil, just as he asked for and received Job, so also the all-evil one has asked for and received you against us, that he might sift the wheat of Christ, and sow tares; but his attempt is in vain; for he no longer has strength as before. For since Christ came and the cross was fixed and Christ was lifted up on it, the arrogance of the demons has fallen, and their strength has been trodden down, and their devices have been despised; do not be deceived, therefore, O emperor, nor, by gratifying the demons, persecute the God-protected race of Christians. Know, therefore, that the strength and power of Christ is invincible and unconquerable; and you yourself have surely been fully informed of this, from the oracles which Oribasius the physician and quaestor [received] for you from the Apollo at Delphi

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τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν, φεύγειν τε ἀπὸ τῶν ματαίων εἰδώλων, καὶ ἐπιστρέφειν ἐπὶ Θεὸν ζῶντα, ὃς ἔκτισε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Οἱ γὰρ θεοί σου, οὓς αὐτὸς προσκυνεῖς, δαιμόνων εἰσὶ πλάσματα, καὶ μύθων εὑρέματα, καὶ διαβολικῆς ἐνεργείας κυοφορήματα· λέγει γὰρ περὶ αὐτῶν ἡ ἡμετέρα Γραφή· Θεοὶ οἳ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν οὐκ ἐποίησαν ἀπολέσθωσαν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ νόμος αὐτοὺς ἕτερος βασιλικὸς ὁ παρὰ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ σοῦ συγγενοῦς ἐκτεθεὶς, ἐκβάλλει τῆς προσκυνήσεως, καὶ καταλύει αὐτῶν τὰ σεβάσματα· ὃς εἰς Χριστὸν πιστεύσας, τὰ τῶν εἰδώλων τεμένη κατέστρεψε, καὶ τὰς προσαγομένας αὐτοῖς θυσίας διαῤῥήδην ἀπέπαυσε. Τί τοίνυν ἀδικοῦμεν, ὦ βασιλεῦ, ἃ Θεὸς προσέταξε, καὶ βασιλεὺς μέγας νενομοθέτηκε, κρατύνοντες καὶ διαυθεντίζοντες, ἃ δὲ ἡ τῶν παλαιῶν, ὡς ἔφης, ἀνδρῶν ἄνοια ἐκ τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων ἐφεῦρε μηχανουργίας, ἐξαφανίζοντες καὶ διακωλύοντες; λδʹ. Καὶ ὁ Παραβάτης· Ἀλλὰ Κωνσταντῖνος, οἰκτρότατοι, νεωτερίσας διὰ τὰς προσπεσούσας αὐτῷ ἀνοσιουργίας, ἀπέστη τῶν θεῶν, ὑφ' ὑμῶν τῶν Γαλιλαίων ἐξαπατηθεὶς, ἅτε δὴ παιδείας ἀμέτοχος, καὶ μήτε τοῖς Ῥωμαϊκοῖς νόμοις, μήτε τοῖς Ἑλληνικοῖς ἔθεσιν ἐμπεδωθείς· ἐγὼ δὲ, ὦ ἀνόσιε, τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς τε καὶ Ῥωμαϊκῆς παιδείας ἄκρον ἐπειλημμένος, καὶ ταῖς τῶν παλαιῶν ἀνδρῶν θεολογίαις, Ἑρμοῦ τε φημι καὶ Ὀρφέως καὶ Πλάτωνος, ἐξησκημένος, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ καὶ ταῖς Ἰουδαϊκαῖς Γραφαῖς ἐξωμιληκὼς, καὶ τὴν τούτων τερθρείαν πεπατηκὼς, πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸ πατροπαράδοτον καὶ ἀρχαιότατον καὶ θεοφιλὲς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἔθος τε καὶ σέβας μένειν διακελεύομαι, ἢ ταῖς τῶν ἀπαιδεύτων καὶ νεωτεριζόντων ἀνοίαις ἀκολουθεῖν· ἀλλὰ ἀπογυμνούσθω καὶ 96.1284 οὗτος τῆς ἀμπεχόνης, καὶ τῆς τῶν μαστίγων πείρας ἐν μεθέξει γενέσθω· ὡς ἂν ἐκ τούτου σωφρονέστερος γεγονὼς, τοῖς ἡμετέροις νόμοις καὶ μὴ βουλόμενος ὑποκύψειεν. λεʹ. Τούτων τοίνυν ἀπανθρώπως τιμωρουμένων, αἰκισμοῖς τε βαρυτάτοις ἀλγυνομένων, ὁ μακάριος καὶ εὐσεβὴς Ἀρτέμιος, ὡς προδεδήλωται, δοὺξ καὶ Αὐγουστάλιος ὑπὸ Κωνσταντίου τῆς Αἰγύπτου πάσης κατασταθεὶς, καὶ διὰ τὴν ὀρθὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀμίμητον πρᾶξιν ἐπιτροπὴν ἔσχε καὶ τῶν τῆς Συρίας ἐπιμελεῖσθαι πραγμάτων· ὡς ὑπάρχων οὖν καθωσιωμένος τῇ τῶν Ῥωμαίων βασιλείᾳ, καὶ ἀκούσας ὅτι Ἰουλιανὸς βεβασίλευκε, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Περσικὸν κατεπείγεται πόλεμον, γράμματά τε δεξάμενος τὰ παρακελευόμενα μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στρατεύματος εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν ἥκειν, κατὰ τὸ κελευσθὲν αὐτῷ παρεγένετο ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ, καὶ μετὰ τῆς προσηκούσης αὐτῷ τιμῆς τε καὶ δορυφορίας, παρειστήκει τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος, ὅτε τὴν τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων ὁ παράνομος ἐποιεῖτο ἐξέτασιν· καὶ φησὶν πρὸς αὐτόν· Ὦ βασιλεῦ, διὰ τί οὕτως ἀπανθρώπως ἄνδρας ἁγίους καὶ τῷ Θεῷ ἀφιερωμένους αἰκίζῃ, καὶ ἀναγκάζεις ἐξάρνους γενέσθαι τῆς ἑαυτῶν πίστεως; γίνωσκε τοίνυν ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς ἄνθρωπος εἶ ὁμοιοπαθὴς, καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως τῶν παθημάτων μετεσχηκώς· καὶ εἰ Θεός σε βασιλέα κατέστησεν, εἰ ἄρα γε ἐκ Θεοῦ τὸ βασίλειον ἔχεις, καὶ μὴ ἀρχέκακος καὶ πονηρὸς διάβολος ὥσπερ τὸν Ἰὼβ ἐξῃτήσατο καὶ ἔλαβεν, οὕτως καὶ σὲ καθ' ἡμῶν ἐξαιτησάμενος εἴληφεν ὁ παμπόνηρος, ἵνα σινιάσῃ τὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ σῖτον, καὶ ἐπισπείρῃ ζιζάνια· ἀλλ' εἰς μάτην αὐτοῦ τὸ ἐγχείρημα· οὐκέτι γὰρ αὐτῷ ἰσχὺς ὡς καὶ πρότερον. Ἀφ' οὗ γὰρ ἦλθε Χριστὸς καὶ κατεπάγη σταυρὸς καὶ ὑψώθη Χριστὸς ἐν αὐτῷ, πέπτωκεν ἡ τῶν δαιμόνων ὀφρὺς, καὶ καταπεπάτηται ἡ τούτων ἰσχὺς, καὶ καταπεφρόνηται τὰ τούτων τεχνάσματα· μὴ οὖν ἀπατῶ, βασιλεῦ, μηδὲ τοῖς δαίμοσι χαριζόμενος, τὸ τῶν Χριστιανῶν θεοφρούρητον δίωκε γένος· γίνωσκε τοίνυν, ὡς ἡ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀνίκητος καὶ ἀήττητος ὑπάρχει ἰσχύς τε καὶ δύναμις· πάντως δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦτο πεπληροφόρησαι, ἐξ ὧν σοι χρησμῶν Ὀριβάσιος ὁ ἰατρὸς καὶ κοιαίστωρ παρὰ τοῦ ἐν ∆ελφοῖς Ἀπόλλωνος