13

as if, forsooth, we were circumscribed and confined; for in this way he hastily drew the cross and the circle. This, indeed, is my wonder; and if it is false, may the winds carry it away; but if true, Balaam prophesies again, and Samuel is drawn up, or seems to be, by a ventriloquist, and demons confess Jesus unwillingly, and through opposites, that it may be more believed, the truth is shown; perhaps it was ordained through these things that he too should be restrained from his impiety; for the Divine knows how to innovate many and paradoxical ways of salvation, leaning towards loving-kindness; what is said by many, it is not unreasonable to believe.

55.

He went down into one of the shrines, which are inaccessible and fearsome to the many (would that it had been the one leading to Hades, before he proceeded to such evils), accompanied by one worthy of many shrines, the one wise in such matters, or rather, a sophist. For this too is a kind of divination for them, to commune with a certain gloom and subterranean demons about future events; either because they rejoice more in darkness, since they are both darkness and craftsmen of the darkness of evil; or because they flee the mingling with the pious above ground, and because of this are weaker. But as the noble man proceeded, terrors assailed him, and always more and more fearful, they say certain strange sounds, and foul odors, and fire-gleaming apparitions, and I know not what other trifles and 35.580 nonsense, struck by the unexpected, for he was a late learner in such matters, he takes refuge in the cross, and the ancient remedy, and with this he signs himself against the terrors, and makes his helper the one he persecuted. And what followed was more horrifying.

56.

The seal prevailed, the demons are defeated, the terrors are dispelled. Then what? The evil breathes again, grows bold again, another attempt, and the same fears, and the seal again, and the demons are still; and the initiate is in perplexity; and the mystagogue nearby misinterpreting the truth: 'We were abominated,' he says, 'not feared; the worse part conquers.' For he says these things, and having said them he persuades, and having persuaded he leads his disciple to the pit of destruction. And it is no wonder; for wickedness is more ready to follow evil than to be checked by what is better. Now, what things he said, or did, or having been deceived, he is sent up, those who initiate and are initiated in such things would know; but he comes up possessed both in soul and in his affairs, and by the madness of his eyes marking those whom he served; unless indeed from that day he was filled with demons, from which he proposed such wicked things; but then it was even more manifest; that he might not have gone down in vain, and have partaken of the demons, which they call enthusiasm, solemnly altering the names. Such then were the first things.

57.

But when the birth-pang grew strong, and the persecution was breaking out, he perceived something, whether the evil of a wise man and the impiety of an extraordinary one, or he was taught by those who were anointing him for this. That to take up the war openly, and to preside over impiety with his own hand, besides being too rash and uncultured, was also completely contrary to his purpose; for we would become more contentious when forced, and would set our ambition for piety against his tyranny. For noble spirits are accustomed to be stubborn against that which rules by force, and like a flame fanned by the wind, to be kindled all the more, the more violently 35.581 it is blown upon. And this he found not only from reasoning, but he could also know it from the persecutions that had gone before, which had made Christianity more honored rather than weaker, strengthening souls for piety, and like hot iron in water, tempering them by dangers. But if he should campaign with art, and color violence with persuasion, or surround tyranny with the bait of gentleness as with bronze, his struggle would thus become both wise and powerful at the same time.

13

δῆθεν, ὡς περιγεγραμμένων ἡμῶν καὶ συνειργμένων· οὕτω γὰρ τὸν σταυρὸν καὶ τὸν κύκλον παρεσχεδίασε. Τοῦτο μὲν δὴ τὸ ἐμὸν θαῦμα· καὶ εἰ μὲν ψευδὲς, αὖραι φέροιεν· εἰ δὲ ἀληθὲς, πάλιν Βαλαὰμ προφητεύει, καὶ Σαμουὴλ ἔλκεται, ἢ δοκεῖ, δι' ἐγγαστριμύθου, καὶ δαίμο νες ὁμολογοῦσι τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἄκοντες, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων, ἵνα καὶ πιστευθῇ μᾶλλον, ἡ ἀλήθεια δείκνυται· τυχὸν κἀκεῖνον ἐπισχεθῆναι τῆς ἀσε βείας διὰ τούτων ἐπρυτανεύετο· πολλὰς γὰρ καὶ πα ραδόξους ὁδοὺς σωτηρίας οἶδε τὸ Θεῖον καινοτομεῖν, νεῦον πρὸς τὸ φιλάνθρωπον· ὃ δὲ λέγεται ὑπὸ πλειόνων, καὶ πιστεύειν οὐκ ἀπὸ τρόπου.

ΝΕʹ. Κατῄει μὲν εἴς τι τῶν ἀδύτων τῶν τοῖς πολ λοῖς ἀβάτων καὶ φοβερῶν (ὡς ὤφελόν γε καὶ τὴν εἰς ᾅδου φέρουσαν, πρὶν εἰς τοιαῦτα κακὰ προελθεῖν), συμπαρόντος αὐτῷ καὶ τοῦ πολλῶν ἀδύ των ἀξίου, τοῦ σοφοῦ τὰ τοιαῦτα, εἴτουν σο φιστοῦ· ἔστι γὰρ δὴ καὶ τοῦτο εἶδος μαντείας αὐτοῖς, ζόφῳ τινὶ καὶ ὑποχθονίοις δαίμοσι περὶ τῶν μελλόν των συγγίνεσθαι· εἴτε ὡς σκότῳ χαίρουσι μᾶλλον, ἐπεὶ καὶ εἰσὶ σκότος, καὶ σκότους δημιουργοὶ τῆς κακίας· εἴτε ὡς φεύγουσι τὰς ἐπιμιξίας τῶν εὐσεβῶν ὑπὲρ γῆς, καὶ διὰ ταύτας ἀσθενεστέροις· ὡς δὲ προϊόντα τὸν γεννάδαν προσβάλλει τὰ δείμα τα, καὶ ἀεὶ πλείω καὶ φοβερώτερα, ἤχους τινάς φασιν ἀήθεις, καὶ ὀδμὰς τῶν ἀηδῶν, καὶ πυρ αυγῆ φάσματα, καὶ οὐκ οἶδ' οὕστινας ὕθλους καὶ 35.580 λήρους, τῷ ἀδοκήτῳ πληγεὶς, καὶ γὰρ ἦν ὀψιμαθὴς τὰ τοιαῦτα, ἐπὶ τὸν σταυρὸν καταφεύγει, καὶ τὸ πα λαιὸν φάρμακον, καὶ τούτῳ σημειοῦται κατὰ τῶν φόβων, καὶ βοηθὸν ποιεῖται τὸν διωκόμενον· καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς φρικωδέστερα.

Νςʹ. Ἴσχυσεν ἡ σφραγὶς, ἡττῶνται οἱ δαίμονες, λύονται οἱ φόβοι. Εἶτα τί; Ἀναπνεῖ τὸ κακὸν, θρα σύνεται πάλιν, αὖθις ὁρμὴ, καὶ οἱ αὐτοὶ φόβοι, καὶ ἡ σφραγὶς πάλιν, καὶ ἠρεμοῦντες οἱ δαίμονες· καὶ ὁ μύστης ἐν ἀπορίᾳ· καὶ ὁ μυσταγωγὸς ἐγγύθεν παρεξηγούμενος τὴν ἀλήθειαν· Ἐβδελύχθημεν, λέγων, οὐκ ἐφοβήσαμεν· νικᾷ τὸ χεῖρον· λέγει γὰρ ταῦτα, καὶ εἰπὼν πείθει, καὶ πείσας ἄγει τὸν μαθητὴν ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς ἀπωλείας βάραθρον. Καὶ θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν· πρόχειρος γὰρ ἡ πονηρία τῷ κακῷ μᾶλλον ἀκολουθεῖν ἢ ὑπὸ τοῦ κρείττονος ἀνα κόπτεσθαι. Ἃ μὲν οὖν εἰπὼν, ἢ ποιήσας. ἢ ἐξαπα τηθεὶς ἀναπέμπεται, εἰδεῖεν ἂν οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα τελοῦν τές τε καὶ τελούμενοι· ἄνεισι δ' οὖν καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ δαιμονῶν καὶ τοῖς πράγμασι, καὶ τῷ μανιώδει τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐπισημαίνων οὓς ἐθεράπευσεν· εἰ μή γε καὶ ἀπ' ἐκείνης τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπλήσθη δαιμόνων, ἀφ' ἧς οὕτω πονηρὰ προὔθετο· ἀλλὰ τότε καὶ περιφα νέστερον· ἵνα μὴ μάτην ᾖ κατεληλυθὼς, καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων μετειληφὼς, ὂν ἐνθουσιασμὸν ἐκεῖνοι καλοῦσι, μεταποιοῦντες σεμνῶς τὰ ὀνόματα. Τὰ μὲν δὴ πρῶτα τοιαῦτα.

ΝΖʹ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἡ ὠδὶς ἐκράτει, καὶ ὁ διωγμὸς ἐξεῤ ῥήγνυτο, εἶδέ τι, εἴτ' οὖν ἀνδρὸς σοφοῦ τὴν κακίαν καὶ περιττοῦ τὴν ἀσέβειαν, εἴτ' οὖν ἐδιδάχθη παρὰ τῶν εἰς ταύτην αὐτὸν ἀλειφόντων. Ὡς τὸ μὲν φανερῶς ἀνελέσθαι τὸν πόλεμον, καὶ προκαθεσθῆ ναι τῆς ἀσεβείας αὐτόχειρα, πρὸς τῷ λίαν εἶναι θρασὺ καὶ ἀπαίδευτον, ἔτι καὶ ἐναντιώτατον τῷ σκοπῷ παντελῶς· φιλονεικοτέρους γὰρ ἂν ἡμᾶς γε νέσθαι βιαζομένους, καὶ ἀντιθήσειν τῇ τυραννίδι τὴν ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας φιλοτιμίαν. Φιλεῖ γὰρ τὰ γενναῖα φρονήματα πρὸς τὸ βίᾳ κρατοῦν αὐθαδιάζεσθαι. καὶ καθάπερ φλὸξ ὑπὸ ἀνέμου ῥιπιζομένη, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον ἀνάπτεσθαι, ὅσῳ περ ἂν σφοδρότερον κατα 35.581 πνέηται. Καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐκ τῶν λογισμῶν εὕρισκε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς προλαβοῦσι διωγμοῖς εἶχε γι νώσκειν, οἳ τιμιώτερον τὸν Χριστιανισμὸν πεποιήκασι θᾶττον ἢ ἀσθενέστερον, ῥώσαντες τὰς ψυχὰς εἰς εὐσέβειαν, καὶ ὥσπερ σίδηρον θερμὸν ὕδατι, τοῖς κινδύνοις στομώσαντες. Εἰ δὲ μετὰ τῆς τέχνης στρα τεύσειε, καὶ τῷ πείθειν τὸ βιάζεσθαι χρώσειεν, ἢ καθάπερ χαλκῷ περιβάλλοι δέλεαρ τῇ τυραν νίδι τὸ προσηνὲς, σοφόν τε οὕτως ἂν ἅμα καὶ δυνατὸν γενέσθαι αὐτῷ τὸ ἀγώνισμα.