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Seeing you for the last time I now address you, whom I, who bore you, wish I had never seen now as a corpse, slain by lawless men. Give your mother your right hand to kiss. O dearest hand, to which I often clung and held fast like ivy to the shoots of an oak. O dear eye, and dearest mouth to me, and form and noble face of my Child; O sweetest touch of your lips; O divine flesh, and sweetest breath of my Child; O divine fragrance of your breath; for even when I was in sorrows I perceived you and my heart was lightened. Why did you wish to die so dishonorably? Why have you made the mother who bore you an orphan of you? Alas, may I die with you, Child. It is better for me to die than to look upon you dead. How shall I have comfort from a speechless and closed eye? How shall I bear to remain? O sweet breath of your body; was it then in vain, Child, that my breast nourished you in swaddling clothes? And did I labor in vain and was I worn out with toils from the very beginning of your strange birth? Truly, both in life and in your descent into Hades, Son of the Almighty, you have touched my soul in many ways. From these first things I shall begin to speak first. Pride, which tripped up the mother of all and the very first father, who sowed the race of mortals and reaped a most beautiful harvest, caused me to bear you wondrously, O Child, in glory, as it seemed good to your Father, before I and all creation came to be. And when I was born, by the judgment, I believe, of your Father, my father and mother gave me to be raised not at a mortal hearth but around the sacred temple; where, having been wondrously raised by the hand of an angel, at the proper time the whole council of elders gave me to a prudent man, to keep me lawfully, and this not without God, but by divine judgment, so that at the right time I might reasonably bring forth proof and a guardian for the Child, who was a stranger to his own conception. For I remain a virgin after bearing you, and I myself know how I remain pure, and you yourself know, since you know all things clearly. But when you were born of me, from God the Father, many made unseemly reports about me, falsely saying that I had given birth from some mortal man. And it was not enough for me to be insulted only by these things, but I fled and went to Egypt and endured much and was worn out with toils. But I saw extraordinary things done by you, and pondering all things and being amazed, I did not think you were mortal nor did I fear that you would die; but the covenant with father Abraham, and a certain mission, and the countless councils of elders, and the oath which you swore before for salvation, persuaded you to die and to help our race. For this reason you endured both birth and fate; and I, as a reward for unbearable labors, holding you, a corpse, in my arms, O Child, bitterly lament and groan and weep; I lament, and I shall not call on another to declaim. But Joseph is ready to clothe you fittingly in linens, and also to prepare a tomb and to pour out the abundance of countless myrrhs, which Nicodemus came bearing courageously, a small token of affection for beloved dead; for what profit is there from myrrh for the dead? But your Father will care for the things among the dead, all of whom you yourself, as spoils, shall lead out of Hades, those whom it confined, whom it seized, and bound in the chains of an all-dark abode. And the father showed forth signs of these secret mysteries, having slaughtered his only son; and your own kinsman, an initiate, greater than all theologians, as you said, declared it, whom the Hebrew people gave over to be slaughtered, a venerable citizen, and among many a man who appeared as one, pure, unclothed, fasting, alone; and he used blameless food for all, wearing the garment of a suppliant, repellent only to those for whom luxury is a bubble, squalid, filthy, living a wretched life, where the abundant wilderness dwells with him, there where the swift Jordan flows with its streams. As a prophet, spending three days in the deep, he showed auspicious signs of the burial. And learning these things, I feel delight, eagerly awaiting to see the end of the burial. So then you endured death, Child, and those things are the causes of these present dramas for you, you who hastened to die and to help mortals. But may Judas, and may wretched Pilate not escape double justice, but let the avenging, defending eye of the Father punish them, and the whole city and the blood-stained army. You have done it, you have done it, do not think you have escaped the notice, Pontius, of the all-seeing eye of justice, even if you washed your hands, as if you were outside the murder; just as the betrayer also threw down

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ὕστατόν σ' ὁρῶσα νῦν προσφθέγγομαι, ὃν μήποτ' αὐτὴ φύσασ' ὤφελον νέκυν τανῦν ἰδέσθαι φθίμενόν σ' ὑπ' ἀνόμων. ∆ὸς ἀσπάσασθαι μητρὶ δεξιὰν χέρα. Ὦ φιλτάτη χείρ, ἧς ἐγὼ πόλλ' εἰχόμην προσειχόμην θ' ὡς κισσὸς ἔρνεσι δρυός. Ὦ φίλον ὄμμα, φίλτατον δέ μοι στόμα καὶ σχῆμα καὶ πρόσωπον εὐγενὲς Τέκνου· ὦ γλυκυτάτη προσβολὴ τῶν χειλέων· ὦ θέσκελος χρώς, πνεῦμά θ' ἥδιστον Τέκνου· ὦ θεῖον ὀδμῆς ἆσθμα· καὶ γὰρ ἐν κακοῖς οὖσ' ᾐσθόμην σου κἀνεκουφίσθην κέαρ. Τί σ' ὧδ' ἀτίμως ἠθέλησας τεθνάναι; τί τὴν τεκοῦσαν μητέρ' ὀρφανὴν σέθεν τέθεικας; Οἴμοι, συνθάνοιμί σοι, Τέκνον. Θανεῖν με κρεῖττον ἢ θανόντα σε βλέπειν. Πῶς ἐξ ἀναύδου καὶ μύσαντος ὄμματος ἕξω παρηγόρημα; πῶς δ' οἴσω μένειν; Ὦ χρωτὸς ἡδὺ πνεῦμα· μάτην ἄρα σε ἔθρεψε, Τέκνον, μαζὸς οὑμὸς σπαργάνοις; μάτην δ' ἐμόχθουν καὶ κατεξάνθην πόνοις ἀρχῆς ἀπ' ἄκρης σῶν ξένων γενεθλίων; Ἦ πολλὰ μὲν ζῶν, πολλὰ δ' εἰς ᾅδου μολών, Παγκράτορος Παῖ, τῆς ἐμῆς ἥψω φρενός. Ἐκ τῶνδε πρώτων πρῶτον ἄρξομαι λέγειν. Ὕβρις μέν, ἥγ' ἔσφηλε πάντων μητέρα καὶ πατέρα πρώτιστον, ὃς βροτῶν γένος ἔσπειρε κἀξήμησε κάλλιστον θέρος, τεκεῖν μ' ἔθηκε παραδόξως σ', ὦ Τέκνον, εὔδοξον, ὡς ἔδοξε σῷ Γεννήτορι, πρὶν ἢ γενέσθαι κἀμὲ καὶ πᾶσαν κτίσιν. Κἀπεὶ δ' ἐτέχθην, Πατρός, οἶμαι, σοῦ κρίσει τρέφειν με πατὴρ οὐ βροτείαν ἐσχάραν μήτηρ τ' ἔδωκεν ἱεροὺς ἀμφὶ δόμους· ἔνθ' ἐκτραφεῖσαν χειρὸς ἀγγέλου ξένως εἰς καιρὸν ἀνδρὶ σώφρον' ἐκδέδωκέ με γερουσία ξύμπασα, τηρεῖν ἐννόμως, οὐκ ἀθεεὶ καὶ τοῦτο, θείᾳ δὲ κρίσει, ὡς εὐλόγως ἔλεγχον εἰς καιρὸν φέρω καὶ παιδαγωγὸν Παιδός, οὗ γονῆς ξένος. Μένω γὰρ αὖθις παρθένος τεκοῦσά σε αὐτή θ' ἑαυτὴν οἶδ' ὅπως ἁγνὴ μένω, σύ τ' αὐτὸς οἶδας, ὡς τὰ πάντ' εἰδὼς σαφῶς. Σοῦ δ' ἐξ ἐμοῦ τεχθέντος, ἐκ Πατρὸς Θεοῦ, οὐκ εὐπρεπεῖς ἔθεντο πολλοί μοι λόγους, ψευδῶς τεκεῖν βάζοντες ἔκ τινος βροτῶν. Κοὐκ ἤρκεσάν μοι ταῦθ' ὑβρισθῆναι μόνον, ἀλλ' ἔδραμον φεύγουσα κεἰς Αἰγυπτίαν ἔτλην τε πολλὰ καὶ κατεξάνθην πόνοις. Ἀλλ' εἶδον ἐξαίσια σοὶ πεπραγμένα, καὶ πάντα συμβάλλουσα καὶ θαμβουμένη, οὐ θνητὸν ᾤμην σ' οὐδ' ἐδείμαινον θανεῖν· ἀλλά σε πατρὸς Ἀβραὰμ σύνθημά τι πρέσβευμά θ' αἵ τε μυρίαι γερουσίαι ὅρκος θ', ὃν ὤμοκας πρὶν εἰς σωτηρίαν, θανεῖν ἔπεισαν κἀπικουρῆσαι γένει. Ἐντεῦθεν ἔτλης καὶ τόκον τε καὶ πότμον· κἀγὼ δὲ μισθὸν τῶν ἀφερτάτων πόνων ἐν ἀγκάλαις κρατοῦσα νεκρόν σ', ὦ Τέκνον, θρηνῶ γε πικρῶς καὶ στένω καὶ δακρύω· θρηνῶ, σοφιστὴν δ' ἄλλον οὐκ ἐπάξομαι. Πέπλοις δ' Ἰωσὴφ εὐπρεπῶς σ' ἀμφιάσαι ἕτοιμός ἐστι, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τεῦξαι τάφον καὶ ξυγκενῶσαι μυρίων μύρων χλιδήν, ἣν Νικόδημος ἦλθεν εὐψύχως φέρων, βαιὸν φιλοφρόνημα νεκροῖσιν φίλοις· τί γὰρ τὸ κέρδος ἐκ μύρων τεθνηκόσι; Τὰ δ' ἐν νεκροῖσι φροντιεῖ Πατὴρ σέθεν, οὓς πάντας αὐτός, ὡς σκυλεύματ' ἐξάγοις ἄϊδος οὓς καθεῖρξεν, οὓς συνήρπασε, κἄδδησεν ἐν δεσμοῖσι πανζόφου στέγης. Μυστηρίων δὲ τῶνδ' ἀπορρήτων φανὰς ἔδειξε πατήρ, παῖδ' ἀποσφάξας μόνον· ἔφη τε μύστης αὐτανέψιος σέθεν, μείζων ἁπάντων, ὡς ἔφης, θεηγόρων, ὃν δῆμος ἐκδέδωκεν Ἑβραίων σφαγῇ, σεμνὸν πολίτην, κἀπὶ πλείστων ἄνδρ' ἕνα φανέντα φοῖβον, γυμνόν, ἄσιτον, μόνον· τροφῇ δ' ἀμεμφεῖ πᾶσιν ἦν κεχρημένος, ἐσθῆτα προστρόπαιον ἐγχλαινούμενος, μόνοις δ' ἀποτρόπαιον οἷς πέμφιξ χλιδή, αὐχμῶν, πινώδης, λυπρὸν ἀμπρεύων βίον, ᾗχι ξυνοικεῖ δαψιλὴς ἐρημία, ῥείθροισιν ὠκὺς ἔνθ' Ἰορδάνης ῥέει. Ὡς τῆς ταφῆς ἔδειξε φανὰς αἰσίας τρισημερεύσας ἐν βυθῷ θεοπρόπος. Καὶ ταῦτα μανθάνουσα, τέρψιν ἐμφέρω, καραδοκοῦσα καὶ ταφῆς ἰδεῖν τέλος. Οὕτως ἄρ' ἔτλης, Τέκνον, ἤδη τὸν μόρον, κἀκεῖνα τῶν νῦν δραμάτων αἴτιά σοι, σπεύσαντι θανεῖν κἀπικουρῆσαι βροτοῖς. Ἀλλ' οὐκ Ἰούδας, οὐδ' ὁ τάλας Πιλάτος διπλῆν δίκην φύγωσιν, ἀλλὰ σφᾶς τίσει ἔκδικον ὄμμα Πατρὸς ἀμυντήριον, πόλιν τε πᾶσαν καὶ στρατὸν μιαιφόνον. Ἔδρας, ἔδρασας, μὴ δόκει λεληθέναι, Πόντιε, δίκης ὄμμα πανδερκέστατον, κἂν χεῖρας ἀπένιζες, ὡς ἔξω φόνου· ὡς χὠ προδοὺς ἔρριψε