Panegyric orations

 To run against you from an opposing lot, he endured but the pentathlon was accomplished for you and the pancratium was completed with no one having c

 The votes, i imagine the divine judgment and i refer to the incorruptible tribunal. when i test you in elections, i admire your intelligence and your

 From afar it shines on those landing and extends a hand to those from the sea, escorting them to rome most painlessly. what in addition to these does

 Using it and bending and curving it towards the drooping jaw, i remember the indian's eyebrow at this, how he held it more than a cubit above his head

 And to a rival. let others, then, measure you against and compare you with whomever they wish, but i, though i seem to make a strange and dissimilar c

 In prose, not in meters and poems or perhaps many are present, but they have no account of the matter, as if it were of no account to them. and time

 The hegemony of his father, with kingdoms overthrown and not a few changes having occurred in both, those who, having exchanged their fortune for the

 He took counsel of opposing nations, but by making everything purchasable with gold and royal splendors, from this he gained the goodwill of all, and

 Opened, and flung wide the very gates of the soul, and associated with wicked and corrupt lives. for he did not at once know the whole line of the fam

 To work deeds of injustice for he was angry with those who did wrong and would punish them. but when he began to be sick and his body was wasting awa

 Not a magnificent spirit, not a musical and graceful speech, nothing else of the sort that knows how to beautify the soul and the nature of the body.

 Drives a sphere, and the other the superterrestrial one, so that the one might wind its own zone in a single cycle, and the other in twelve cycles, an

 Defining the virtues by its power, and practicing the higher geometry. for this, as proclus also says, has occupied the middle ground between the indi

 The power of the kingdom came to him, besides these the life of david among the flocks, the pursuit, those many dangers into which he fell but was not

 He locks up the monarchy into a tyranny, having exchanged one evil for another. justice is not quiet, it kindles the coals, it sends the arrow, the wi

 I call it his girdle-and he draws away no small cavalry and infantry force from old rome, he adds to these also the best army of the east, and no smal

 An angel wrought a more manifest victory. i have something more to say than those wonders there the cross was in types and images, a bronze serpent s

 You, o king the more abundantly you pour out benefits upon us, the more you increase by being filled. from this, no one has been left out of such wea

 With the eyes, then poured out and dissolved, but better and higher than all that is visible. but, o emperor—for i repeat the title to you and call it

 You fill the western beacon, neither grudging us your rays nor altering the color of your disk, but the more time increases the distances, the more be

 The rising of the sun, the land upon which it immediately rises, so that, if any of our people wished, having gone there he could, not with geometrica

 I am an unskillful chronicler of your deeds and erring in my timing, and i do not have a nature that strikes out in both directions at once. for you a

 To wish. for you both comprehend the present and conjecture the future and discover the unseen, discerning character from eyebrows and eyelids, so tha

 To speak? -unseemly even in his appearance, made of tin or dipped in bile and altogether counterfeit gold, but since he was in the midst of dangers, t

 With stones lying along each side, so that the conjoined may seem continuous and the well-fitted of one nature. behold for me the heights and beauties

 But here is a distinct hand divided into five rosy branches. but this is a most unerring testimony of that godlike soul. but do you wish to see some t

 Transcending substance and holding the principles of the forms folded together and least of all divided from the one. and you, being such, do you not

 The fountains of good deeds flowed, as if from a sheer rock, having received the impetus for their flowing these proclaimed you by reputation even be

 A guide, so also there an arbiter of the administrations, that i may suit you for both, both speaking your deeds and doing the words of your administr

 P]ortions are deprived of praise, but no one of all men has been suited to all words of praise. but to you so much is granted [against] all in all thi

 To bring to the highest point of keenness, or your soul which was not [shattered by] trials, but also most nobly endured through the magnitude of the

 And they were torn away, and their manner altered their nature [....], and they have remained, and after the separation, being both nourished and fatt

 But the love of art and the care concerning the divine sanctuaries, what demostheneses or the best of the writers could describe and praise? how beau

 Having surpassed in his heroic deeds him and the kings up to you, but in his plans he is recorded as being less than his accomplishments, winning in [

 Less, you have given the first place to reason over passion, and you have established the one like some foundation upon the acropolis, but the other y

 Having considered what is seen, but when i also behold the tomb of the queen, and i behold it often whenever i wish to console some hardship of fortun

 To comprehend in a speech. for to whom could the unattainable be attainable, even if he were rich in the homeric power for speeches, or the herodotan

 Admiring and in return is eager to make an image and someone already having constructed a stele for you inscribed the gentle one. therefore solomon

 Much praise and measured against all of time. how then could i summarize the whole in a few words? i will speak, therefore, a little of your virtues,

 Everyone rejoices and exults with the one who has taken up your encomiums and because i did not weave the words of praise sooner, he is rather vexed

 Gracefulness, the maturity of your thought, the symmetry of your greatness, the quick-wittedness, the stability of your mind, the unmarried life, the

 At once for us the lord and most skilled in command and pleasing to all, o most excellent foresight, o wise consideration, o most noble counsel, o div

 Of virtues? you, beyond any kings who ever were, honored justice and preferred philanthropy, and having attained the height of prudence, you appeared

 Accomplishments? o the arrows from heaven against the barbarians, o the unseen bowshots, o the angelic powers in the air, o the divine armies against

 The greatest part of character. for as many as have become of a civic disposition, if they have descended to this willingly, they seemed both prudent

 Of civil administration and of divine hearing. if therefore, being engaged in one, he also holds to the other, let this for now be a secret to many. b

 Of wise men going to ammon's shrine or being within the delphic tripod suddenly transferred their apparent wisdom to the more divine and greater, how

 We have taken starting points, and yet more absurd, if we render praises to the good and noble men who have died, for what they have said concerning w

 And not many months after the sowing, but immediately reaping the harvest and so that i might say what is from the gospel, the two were running toget

 If we should set about to build him up, this marvelous man, both in nature and in diligence, has received much contribution toward his eloquence from

 For having embraced one of these, they might neglect the rest, or putting ears before mind, they have an unintelligible tongue, or having drawn up spr

 Pleases the petty and the overly artful. therefore, of these enumerated wise men, the one now honored in this discourse wishes to imitate gregory, and

 I knew not only what the greeks knew, nor what the chaldeans or egyptians knew, but i had also condemned them, though not all of them, nor has my refu

 With magnanimity, he who was both namesake and like-minded with the great constantine, and who alone nobly contended against all, and taking his name-

 Regulates the state of the church, no less than moses who constructed the tabernacle below according to the pattern shown to him for whether melodies

 Concerning which things, before his high-priesthood, at a time when he did not even have many resources of money, he constructed brilliantly and accom

 And to impart to others. and perhaps he did not endure the waves of the sea, but in his toils on land he might in some way be compared to paul. and co

 One of two things happening, either god descending into the mind, or the mind ascending to god. but what is the place of god's rest, or by which of al

 Of a voice, nor were you instructed by any of the higher powers, to lay aside the symbols of the priesthood, and to transfer yourself to another life,

 Nothing unpleasant would happen to those handling these things but for you, who happen to be a philosopher, what harm will come from these affairs? j

 Of words but you, o king, will both speak publicly among the armies and bring an impulse with your speech and will rouse them together for the deed.

 May you be crowned on the head with glorious trophies. may you be adorned with deeds of valor against the barbarians, and be escorted by many victorie

 May you rend the sea and stop the river and vanquish amalek. may a cloud, giving shade over your head, take away your burning heat, and a pillar of li

not a magnificent spirit, not a musical and graceful speech, nothing else of the sort that knows how to beautify the soul and the nature of the body. O new Rome, and magnificent and free race, O emperors from of old, and royal tribunal and palaces, what shame you then put upon yourselves, what an envious demon begrudged you. But yet this, if one should not lay blame, must be given over to chance, but if one should be pious, to the ineffable judgments of God. But he, seeing his rule still wavering for him and not having a firm foundation, hides his malevolence in the depth of his soul, but feigns attentiveness toward his kinsman, and makes him brilliant with the greatest honors. Then he tears the veil, he throws open the gates of his heart, and reveals the dragon lurking there, and before all others he pours out the venom of his malice upon his own family and kinsmen. And some he condemned to exile, and others he deprived of their generative parts, men who were already bearded and were fathers of sons, he wears a crown and is resplendent, not for having overthrown Perseus or Antigonus, nor for having driven away some barbarian tribe, but the enemy for having vanquished those of his own blood. You indeed, O best of men, for rule in my speech, you would scarcely cut off my head even if I should appear a plotter against you, but you would not even cut my hair if I should appear to have committed sacrilege, or I fear lest you might even cut out my breasts, or dig out my heart along with my liver, which they say the Persians do to the dead for the sake of embalming. Tyrant and misanthrope, the affairs of the Sicilians are in turmoil, all of Italy has been moved to revolt, and you trample on your countrymen, and you are jealous of your offspring and campaign against your own. But you do well, and strike thus, that the impious one may be smitten through you, the sinner, and then may his blood be required of you. For I know that as you proceed on your way, you will touch even the untouchable things. And how should I say this? you, a son, have risen up against your mother, revering neither sacred laws nor respecting oaths? But you make me a prophet, for you do what I foretold, and you, the interloper, drive the noble lady from the palace, you, the ungrateful one, her who was your benefactress, how fine indeed for you is your reward for your upbringing, and greater than the benefactions are the thanks. But do not fear. For the people of the city have been kindled against you, and every age, bearing swords, marches against you, and seeks to taste your raw liver. But now you are flowing mightily against them in your wrath; but then you shrink back and are afraid, and you wander here and there, with a soul at a loss, and you devise many things and become many-faced in your pretenses, and you promise rewards to those who would help, but you have been found out as black-hearted and are despised. But where are you fleeing, having turned your back? To where do you flee, to him whom you betrayed? He does not know how to be philanthropic as always, often the philanthropist becomes abrupt. And you bow your head to the priest for me, and you cut your hair and receive a second regeneration, and become an ambitious athlete proceeding to the final contests, and you taste the mysteries and confess your transgression, and you shed tears and become a second Manasseh. But your gifts are not acceptable to God, but the incense is an abomination, and your whole burnt offering is as a menstruous rag. And you seem to have been set free, but the people shout, and drive you, the swine, from the divine altar, and sharpen the executioner, and he strikes improvising with the iron, and you are thrown to the ground, and with your eyes gouged out you are paraded on a mule, just as you deserve. But the empress blossoms again, and does not become jealous like you, but shares the scepters with her sister, and like a moon she illumines the palace. But she needs a sun so that having partaken of its light she may appear more brilliant, and according to the wise, she sees this one coming from the west, not in an oblique manner of travel as natural philosophers might say, but unswerving and straight. whence she comes into conjunction with him and becomes all-radiant, and again does not lose her own light; for neither does the one earthly

οὐ φρόνημα μεγαλοπρεπές, οὐ λόγον ἔμμουσον καὶ χαρίεντα, οὐκ ἄλλο οὐδὲν τῶν οἷα ψυχὴν οἶδε καλλύνειν καὶ φύσιν σώματος. ὦ νέα Ῥώμη, καὶ γένος μεγαλοπρεπὲς καὶ ἐλεύθερον, ὦ οἱ ἀνέκαθεν βασιλεῖς, καὶ βῆμα βασιλικὸν καὶ βασίλεια, οἵαν αἰσχύνην τότε περιεβάλεσθε, οἷος ὑμῖν δαίμων ἐφθόνησε βάσκανος. πλὴν ἀλλὰ τοῦτο, εἰ μέν τις μὴ αἰτιῷτο τῷ αὐτομάτῳ δοτέον, εἰ δὲ φιλευσεβοίη τοῖς ἀρρήτοις τοῦ θεοῦ κρίμασιν. Ὁ δέ, σαλευομένην ὁρῶν ἀκμὴν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ πῆξιν βεβαίαν οὐκ ἔχουσαν, κρύπτει μὲν ἐν βάθει τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ κακόηθες, θεραπείαν δὲ πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς ὑποκρίνεται, καὶ ταῖς μεγίσταις λαμπρύνει τιμαῖς. ἔπειτα ῥηγνύει τὸ καταπέτασμα, τὰς πύλας τῆς καρδίας ἀναπετάννυσι, καὶ τὸν ἐκεῖσε δείκνυσιν ἐμφωλεύοντα δράκοντα, καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκείους καὶ συγγενεῖς τὸν κακίας ἰὸν ἐκκενοῖ. καὶ οὓς μὲν ὑπερορίᾳ καταδικάσας, οὓς δὲ τῶν παιδογόνων μορίων ἀποτεμόμενος ἤδη που γενειάσαντας καὶ υἱέων ὄντας τοκεῖς, στεφανηφορεῖ καὶ λαμπρύνεται, οὐ Περσέα καθελὼν οὐδ' Ἀντίγονον, οὐδέ τι βάρβαρον ἀπελάσας φῦλον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀφ' αἵματος ὁ δυσμενὴς καταγωνισάμενος. Σύ γε, ὦ βέλτιστε, ἄνασσε γὰρ τῷ λόγῳ, σχολῇ γε τὴν ἐμὴν ἀποτέμοις κεφαλὴν κἂν ἐπίβουλός σοι φανήσομαι, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἀποτέμοις τὰς τρίχας κἂν ἱεροσυλήσας φανῶ, ἢ δέδοικα μὴ καὶ τοὺς μαστοὺς ἐκκόψῃς, ἢ τὴν καρδίαν ἐξορύξῃς μετὰ τοῦ ἥπατος, ὅ φασι τοὺς Πέρσας διὰ ταριχείαν ἐπὶ τοὺς κατοιχομένους ποιεῖν. Τύραννε καὶ μισάνθρωπε, τὰ Σικελῶν ὠδίνει, Ἰταλία πᾶσα πρὸς ἀπόστασιν κεκίνηται, καὶ σὺ τοῖς πατριώταις ἐπεμβαίνεις, καὶ ζηλοτυπεῖς τὴν γονὴν καὶ στρατεύεις κατὰ τῶν σῶν. ἀλλ' εὖ γε ποιεῖς, καὶ βάλλ' οὕτως ἵνα παταχθῇ ὁ ἀσεβὴς διὰ σοῦ τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, εἴθ' ὕστερον ἐκζητηθῇ τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ σοῦ. οἶδα γὰρ ὡς ὁδῷ προβαίνων ψαύσῃ καὶ τῶν ἀψαύστων. καὶ πῶς εἴποιμι τοῦτο; τῆς μητρὸς ὁ παῖς κατεξανέστης, μήτε νόμους ἱεροὺς αἰδεσθεὶς μήθ' ὅρκους εὐλαβηθείς; ἀλλά με προφήτην ποιεῖς, πράττεις γὰρ ἃ προηγόρευσα, καὶ τῶν βασιλείων ἐξάγεις τὴν εὐγενῆ ὁ ἐπείσακτος, τὴν εὐεργετήσασαν ὁ ἀχάριστος, ὡς καλά γέ σοι τὰ τροφεῖα, καὶ μείζω τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν τὰ εὐχαριστήρια. ἀλλὰ μὴ δέδιθι· ἀνήφθη γάρ σοι ὁ τῆς πόλεως δῆμος, καὶ πᾶσα ἡλικία ξιφήρης χωρεῖ κατὰ σοῦ, καὶ ὠμῶν σοῦ τῶν ἡπάτων ζητεῖ ἀπογεύσασθαι. σὺ δὲ νῦν πολὺς εἶ ῥέων κατ' αὐτῶν τῷ θυμῷ· αὖθις δὲ ὑποστέλλῃ καὶ δειλιᾷς, καὶ τῇδε κἀκεῖσε φοιτᾷς, ἀπορούσῃ ψυχῇ, μηχανᾷ δὲ πολλὰ καὶ πολυπρόσωπος γίνῃ ταῖς ὑποκρίσεσι, καὶ ἀμοιβὰς ἐπαγγέλλῃ τοῖς βοηθήσουσιν, ἀλλ' ὡς μελάμπους πεφώρασαι καὶ καταπεφρόνησαι. ἀλλὰ πῇ φεύγεις μετὰ νῶτα βαλών; ποῖ δὲ καταφεύγεις πρὸς ὃν ἠθέτησας; οὐκ οἶδε φιλανθρωπεύεσθαι ὡς ἀεί, γίνεται πολλάκις ἀπότομος ὁ φιλάνθρωπος. σὺ δέ μοι καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑποκλίνεις τῷ ἱερεῖ, καὶ κείρῃ τὰς τρίχας καὶ δέχῃ δευτέραν παλινζωΐαν, καὶ γίνῃ φιλότιμος ἀθλητὴς ἐπὶ τοὺς τελευταίους ἀγῶνας χωρῶν, καὶ ἀπογεύῃ τῶν μυστηρίων καὶ ἐξαγορεύεις τὸ παρανόμημα, καὶ δακρυρροεῖς καὶ γίνῃ Μανασσῆς δεύτερος. ἀλλ' οὐ δεκτά σοι τὰ δῶρα θεῷ, ἀλλὰ βδέλυγμα μὲν τὸ θυμίαμα, καὶ τὸ ὁλοκάρπωμά σου ὡς ῥάκος ἀποκαθημένης. καὶ σὺ μὲν δοκεῖς ἀπηλλάχθαι, ὁ δὲ δῆμος βοᾷ, καὶ τοῦ θείου σε βήματος τὸν σῦν ἀπελαύνει, καὶ θήγει τὸν δήμιον, κἀκεῖνος σχεδιάζει ἐλαύνων τὸν σίδηρον, καὶ σὺ κατὰ γῆς ἔρριψαι, καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐκκοπεὶς ἐφ' ἡμιόνῳ πομπεύεις, ὥσπερ ᾖς ἄξιος. Ἡ δὲ βασιλὶς αὖθις ἀνθεῖ, καὶ οὐ ζηλότυπος γίνεται κατά σε, ἀλλὰ κοινωνεῖ τῶν σκήπτρων τῇ ἀδελφῇ, καὶ οἷά τις σελήνη δᾳδουχεῖ τὰ ἀνάκτορα. δεῖται δὲ ἡλίου ἵνα λαμπροτέρου φανῇ μεταλαβοῦσα φωτός, καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἐπιστήμονας ἀπὸ δύσεως τοῦτον ὁρᾷ προερχόμενον, οὐ λοξῷ πορείας σχήματι ὡς ἂν φυσικοὶ φήσαιεν, ἀλλ' ἀκλινεῖ καὶ ὀρθῷ. ὅθεν εἰς σύνοδόν τε ἐκείνῳ ἔρχεται καὶ παμφαὴς γίνεται, καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον αὖθις οὐκ ἀπόλλυσι φῶς· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἡ μὲν πρόσγειον