14

27 TO AQUILINUS, DEACON AND ARCHIMANDRITE. No one who has been deemed worthy of divine adoption laments his orphanhood. For what is more powerful or more caring than the Father above? For through Him even earthly fathers are fathers. For by His will, some are established as fathers by nature, others by grace. Let us, therefore, hold fast to Him and keep the memory of those who have departed unquenchable. For the remembrance of those who have lived well will benefit us, stirring us to imitate them. 28 TO JACOB, PRESBYTER AND MONK. Those who have made their prime brilliant with the labors of virtue proceed to old age with pleasure; rejoicing in their former victories, and freed from the greater struggles on account of old age. I believe that your love for God also possesses this pleasure, and bears old age more easily, remembering the labors of youth. 29 TO APELLION. The sufferings of the Carthaginians required the tragedy of Aeschylus and Sophocles, and perhaps the magnitude of the evils would have overcome even their eloquence. For the city that was once hard for even the Romans to capture, or rather, the one that often contended with the great Rome for supremacy and brought the ultimate danger upon her, has now become a mere trifle for barbarians. And those who once adorned her much-celebrated council now wander throughout the whole world, having the hands of the hospitable as their means of life. They move those who see them to tears, and teach the precarious and fickle nature of human affairs. Therefore, I have seen many others who have come from there, and I have felt fear. For I do not know, as the Scripture says, what the morrow will bring forth. And I especially admire the most wonderful and magnificent Celestiacus; for he bears his misfortune nobly, and makes the change from prosperity an occasion for philosophy, and praises the Ruler of all, and has considered this to be beneficial, which that one either ordered to happen, or did not prevent from happening. For the reason of divine providence is ineffable. May your magnificence deem him, wandering about with his wife and children, worthy of Abrahamic hospitality. For, trusting in your magnanimity, I have become their guide, and I point out your generous right hand. 30 TO AERIUS THE SOPHIST. Behold, it is time for your academy to show the benefit of its words. For I hear that a brilliant assembly is being held in your presence, and that the council is composed of men who pride themselves on their ancestral distinction, and have purified their tongue, and that your discussions are about virtue and the immortality of the soul, and all other things related to these. Show us, therefore, at the opportune moment, the nobility of your soul, and the worth-possessing wealth of virtue, and receive the most wonderful and magnificent Celestiacus, as ones who have been taught the swift turns of human prosperity. For he himself once adorned the metropolis of the Carthaginians; and he opened the doors of his house to many strangers, and did not expect to be in need of the philanthropy of others. Become, therefore, a tongue for him, and advocate, O dear friend, for one who needs your voice; for he does not abide the poetic advice, which bids the one in need to give even a word; and persuade those of the assembly who are able to emulate the hospitality of Alcinous, and to drive out the unexpected poverty that has befallen him, and the

14

27 ΑΚΥΛΙΝΩ ∆ΙΑΚΟΝΩ ΚΑΙ ΑΡΧΙΜΑΝ∆ΡΙΤΗ. Οὐδεὶς ὀρφανίαν ὀδύρεται τῆς θείας υἱοθεσίας ἠξιώμενος. Τί γὰρ τοῦ ἄνω Πατρὸς ἢ δυνατώτερον ἢ κηδεμονικώτερον; ∆ι' αὐτὸν γὰρ καὶ οἱ κάτω πατέρες, πατέρες. Αὐτοῦ γὰρ βουλομένου, οἱ μὲν φύσει, οἱ δὲ χάριτι πατέρες καθίστανται. Ἐκεῖνον τοίνυν κατέχωμεν καὶ τῶν ἀπελθόντων τὴν μνήμην φυλάξωμεν ἄσβεστον. Ὀνήσει γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἡ τῶν εὖ βεβιωκότων ἀνάμνησις, εἰς τὴν ἐκείνων διεγείρουσα μίμησιν. 28 ΙΑΚΩΒΩ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ ΚΑΙ ΜΟΝΑΖΟΝΤΙ. Οἱ τοῖς πόνοις τῆς ἀρετῆς λαμπρύναντες τὴν ἀκμὴν μεθ' ἡδονῆς πρὸς τὸ γῆρας ἐλαύνουσιν· ἐπὶ μὲν ταῖς προτέραις εὐφραινόμενοι νίκαις, τῶν δὲ πλειόνων ἀγώνων διὰ τὸ γῆρας ἀπηλλαγμένοι. Ταύτην ἡγοῦμαι τὴν ἡδονὴν καὶ τὴν σὴν ἔχειν φιλοθεΐαν, καὶ ῥᾷον φέρειν τὸ γῆρας, μεμνημένην τῶν τῆς νεότητος πόνων. 29 ΑΠΕΛΛΙΩΝΙ. Τὰ Καρχηδονίων πάθη τῆς Αἰσχύλου καὶ Σοφοκλέους τραγῳδίας ἐδεῖτο, ἴσως δ' ἂν καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων ἐνίκησε γλῶτταν τὸ μέγεθος τῶν κακῶν. Ἡ γὰρ πάλαι καὶ Ῥωμαίοις δυσάλωτος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἡ τῇ μεγίστῃ Ῥώμῃ πολλάκις περὶ πρωτείων ἐρίσασα καὶ τὸν ἔσχατον αὐτῇ κίνδυνον ἐπιστήσασα, νῦν βαρ βάρων γεγένηται πάρεργον. Οἱ δὲ τὴν πολυθρύλητον αὐτῆς κοσμοῦντες βουλὴν εἰς πᾶσαν ἀλῶνται τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἀφορ μὴν ἔχοντες βίου τῶν φιλοξένων τὰς χεῖρας. Κινοῦσι δὲ τοῖς ὁρῶσι δάκρυα, καὶ διδάσκουσι τῶν ἀνθρωπείων πραγμάτων τὸ σφαλερόν τε καὶ εὐρίπιστον. Πολλοὺς μὲν οὖν καὶ ἄλλους ἐθεασάμην ἐκεῖθεν ἐληλυθότας, καὶ δέος ἐδεξάμην. Οὐ γὰρ οἶδα, κατὰ τὴν Γραφήν, τί τέξεται ἡ ἐπιοῦσα . Ἄγαμαι δὲ οὐχ ἥκιστα τὸν θαυμασιώτατον καὶ μεγαλοπρεπέστατον Κε λεστιακόν· φέρει γὰρ γενναίως τὴν συμφοράν, καὶ τὴν τῆς εὐπραξίας μεταβολὴν ἀφορμὴν ποιεῖται φιλοσοφίας, καὶ τῶν ὅλων τὸν Πρύτανιν ἀνυμνεῖ, καὶ τοῦτο συμφέρον ὑπείληφεν, ὅπερ ἐκεῖνος ἢ γενέσθαι προσέταξεν, ἢ γινόμενον οὐκ ἐκώλυ σεν. Ἄρρητος γὰρ τῆς θείας προμηθείας ὁ λόγος. Τοῦτον μετὰ τῆς ὁμοζύγου καὶ τῶν παίδων περινοστοῦντα Ἀβραμιαίας ἀξιωσάτω φιλοφροσύνης ἡ ὑμετέρα μεγαλοπρέπεια. Τῇ γὰρ ὑμετέρᾳ μεγαλοψυχίᾳ θαρρῶν, ξεναγὸς αὐτῶν γεγένημαι, καὶ τὴν φιλότιμον ὑμῶν ὑποδείκνυμι δεξιάν. 30 ΑΕΡΙΩ ΣΟΦΙΣΤΗ. Ἰδοὺ καιρὸς τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀκαδημίαν δεῖξαι τῶν λόγων τὴν ὠφέλειαν. Ἀκούω γὰρ σύλλογον λαμπρὸν ἀναίρεσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ τὸ συνέδριον ἐξ ἀνδρῶν εἶναι προγονικῇ περιφανείᾳ σεμνυνομένων, καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν κεκαθαρμένων, καὶ τοὺς λό γους ὑμῖν γίνεσθαι περί τε ἀρετῆς καὶ ἀθανασίας ψυχῆς, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα τούτοις συμβαίνει. ∆είξατε τοιγαροῦν ἡμῖν εἰς καιρὸν τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν εὐγένειαν, καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν ἀξιόκτητον πλοῦτον, καὶ δέξασθε τὸν θαυμασιώτατον καὶ μεγαλοπρεπέστατον Κελεστιακόν, ὡς τῆς ἀνθρωπείας εὐημε ρίας δεδιδαγμένοι τὰς ἀγχιστρόφους μεταβολάς. Καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐκόσμει μὲν πάλαι τὴν Καρχηδονίων μητρόπολιν· πολ λοῖς δὲ ξένοις ἀνεπέτασε τὰς θύρας τῆς οἰκίας, τῆς ἑτέρων δὲ φιλανθρωπίας οὐκ ἤλπισεν ἐπιδεήσεσθαι. Γενοῦ τοίνυν αὐτῷ γλῶττα, καὶ συνηγόρησον, ὦ φίλη κεφαλή, τῆς σῆς δεο μένῳ φωνῆς· τῆς γὰρ ποιητικῆς οὐκ ἀνέχεται παραινέσεως, ἣ κελεύει τὸν δεόμενον, καὶ ῥῆμ' ἄν τι διδῷ· καὶ πεῖσον τοῦ συλλόγου τοὺς δυναμένους τὴν Ἀλκινόου ζηλῶσαι φιλοξενίαν, καὶ τὴν ἀδόκητον αὐτῷ προσπεσοῦσαν ἐξελάσαι πενίαν, καὶ τὴν