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fulfilling a prayer; for throughout their entire life, both in agreement asked this of God, that their bodies be mingled with each other after death and that the fellowship they had in life not be separated even in death.

36 When all the customary rites of the burial had been completed by us and it was time to depart, falling upon the tomb and kissing the dust, I took to the road again, downcast and in tears, considering from how great a good my life had been separated. And along the way, a certain man, one of the distinguished men in the army, holding a military command in a certain town in Pontus, whose name is Sebastopolis, residing there with his subjects, met me kindly as I arrived there and, hearing of my misfortune and taking it hard (for he was indeed one of our relatives and friends), he added for me a certain story of the miracle concerning her, which alone having written in this account, I will end my writing. For when we had ceased from our tears and began to converse; "Listen," he said, speaking to me, "what and how great a good has departed from human life." And having said these things, he began his story thus.

37 "A certain desire once came to my wife and me to visit with haste the school of virtue; for so I think it is right," he said, "to name that place in which the blessed soul had her abode. And our little daughter was with us, to whom a misfortune had happened in her eye from a pestilential sickness; and it was a hideous and pitiful sight, as the tunic around the pupil had thickened and was turning white from the affliction. When we were within that divine abode, my wife and I divided by gender our visit to those philosophizing in the place, I was in the men's quarters, which your brother Peter led, while she, having gone into the virgins' quarter, was with the holy one. And after a moderate interval of time had passed, we judged it was time to depart again from that remote place, and our impulse was already toward this, and the kindness toward us from both sides was in accord. For your brother urged me to stay and partake of the philosophical table; and the blessed one would not let my wife go, but holding the little daughter in her arms, she said she would not give her back before she had set a table for them, and welcomed them with the wealth of philosophy; and kissing the child, as was natural, and bringing her mouth to its eyes, when she saw the affliction around the pupil, "If," she said, "you do me the favor and share our table with us, I will give you in return a reward not unworthy of such honor from you"—"What is it?" said the child's mother, "I have a medicine," the great one said, "which is able to powerfully heal the affliction in the eye." Upon this, a message came to me from the women's quarter reporting that promise, and we gladly remained, paying little heed to the necessity urging us on our journey.

38 When the feast had ended and our soul was full, with the great Peter feasting and cheering us with his own hands, and the holy Macrina relaxing our spouse with every seemly delight, thus cheerful and joyful we went back on the same road, each one making a narrative to the other of his own experiences on the journey. And I was recounting from the men's quarter all that I saw and all that I heard, while she, relating each particular as if in a history, thought it necessary not to overlook even the small things; and going through everything in order as if in a written account, when she came to that part in which was the promise of the healing of the eye, she interrupted the narrative, "What is this," she said, "that we have done? How have we neglected the promise, that medicine in an eye-salve that was offered to us?". And as I too was annoyed at the negligence and through some

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πληροῦντες εὐχήν· τοῦτο γὰρ παρὰ πᾶσαν τὴν ζωὴν συμφώνως ἀμφότεραι τὸν θεὸν ᾐτοῦντο, ἀνακραθῆναι μετὰ τὸν θάνατον ἀλλήλοις τὰ σώματα καὶ τὴν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐν τῇ ζωῇ κοινωνίαν μηδὲ ἐπὶ τῷ θανάτῳ διαζευχθῆναι.

36 Ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντα ἡμῖν τὰ ἐν τῇ κηδείᾳ νενομισμένα πεπλήρωτο καὶ ἔδει τῆς ἐπανόδου γενέσθαι, ἐπιπεσὼν τῷ τάφῳ καὶ τὴν κόνιν ἀσπασάμενος εἰχόμην πάλιν τῆς ὁδοῦ κατηφής τε καὶ δεδακρυμένος, λογιζόμενος ὅσου ἀγαθοῦ διεζεύχθη ὁ βίος. Κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀνήρ τις τῶν ἐν στρατείᾳ λαμπρῶν στρατιωτικὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔχων ἐν πολίχνῃ τινὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸν Πόντον, ᾗ Σεβαστόπολις ὄνομα, μετὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων ἐνδιαιτώμενος ἀπήντησέ τε φιλοφρόνως κατ' αὐτὴν γενομένῳ καὶ τὴν συμφορὰν ἀκούσας καὶ χαλεπῶς ἐνεγκὼν (ἦν γὰρ δὴ τῶν ἐκ γένους ἡμῖν οἰκείων τε καὶ ἐπιτηδείων), προσέθηκέ μοί τι διήγημα τοῦ κατ' αὐτὴν θαύματος, ὃ δὴ καὶ μόνον ἐγγράψας τῇ ἱστορίᾳ, καταπαύσω τὴν συγγραφήν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐπαυσάμεθα τῶν δακρύων καὶ εἰς ὁμιλίαν κατέστημεν· «Ἄκουε, φησὶ πρός με λέγων ἐκεῖνος, οἷον καὶ ὅσον ἀγαθὸν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης μετέστη ζωῆς.» Καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν οὕτως ἄρχεται τοῦ διηγή ματος.

37 «Ἐγένετό τις ἡμῖν ἐπιθυμία ποτὲ τῇ τε γαμετῇ καὶ ἐμοὶ καταλαβεῖν κατὰ σπουδὴν τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς φροντιστήριον· οὕτω γὰρ οἶμαι χρῆναι, φησί, τὸν χῶρον ἐκεῖνον κατονο μάζεσθαι, ἐν ᾧ τὴν διαγωγὴν εἶχεν ἡ μακαρία ψυχή. Συνῆν δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ τὸ θυγάτριον, ᾧ τις ἐκ λοιμώδους ἀρρωστίας συνέβη περὶ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν συμφορά· καὶ ἦν θέαμα εἰδεχθὲς καὶ ἐλεεινόν, παχυνθέντος τοῦ περὶ τὴν κόρην χιτῶνος καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πάθους ὑπολευκαίνοντος. Ὡς δὲ ἐντὸς ἦμεν τῆς θείας ἐκείνης διαγωγῆς, διελόμενοι κατὰ γένος τὴν ἐπίσκεψιν τῶν ἐν τόπῳ φιλοσοφούντων ἐγώ τε καὶ ἡ ὁμόζυγος, ἐγὼ μὲν ἐν τῷ ἀνδρῶνι ἤμην, ὧν καθηγεῖτο Πέτρος ὁ σὸς ἀδελφός, ἡ δὲ τοῦ παρθενῶνος ἐντὸς γενομένη τῇ ἁγίᾳ συνῆν. Συμμέτρου δὲ διαγενομένου ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ διαστήματος, καιρὸν εἶναι τοῦ ἀποχωρεῖν τῆς ἐσχατιᾶς πάλιν ἐκρίναμεν, καὶ ἤδη πρὸς τοῦτο ἦν ἡμῖν ἡ ὁρμή, σύμφωνος δὲ παρ' ἑκατέρων ἡ περὶ ἡμᾶς φιλοφροσύνη ἐγίνετο. Ἐμοί τε γὰρ ὁ σὸς ἀδελφὸς μένειν ἐνεκελεύετο καὶ μετασχεῖν τῆς φιλοσόφου τραπέζης· ἥ τε μακαρία τὴν ἐμὴν γαμετὴν οὐ μεθίει, ἀλλ' ἐν κόλποις ἔχουσα τὸ θυγάτριον οὐ πρότερον ἔλεγεν ἀποδώσειν, πρὶν τράπεζαν αὐτοῖς παραστήσασθαι, καὶ τῷ τῆς φιλοσοφίας δεξιώσασθαι πλούτῳ· φιλοῦσα δὲ οἷα εἰκὸς τὸ παιδίον καὶ προσάγουσα τὸ στόμα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, ἐπειδὴ εἶδε τὸ περὶ τὴν κόρην πάθος, «Ἐάν μοι, φησί, δῶτε τὴν χάριν καὶ τῆς τραπέζης ἡμῖν κοινωνήσητε, ἀντιδώσω μισθὸν ὑμῖν τῆς τοιαύτης ὑμῶν τιμῆς οὐκ ἀνάξιον»-»Τίνα τοῦ τον;» εἰπούσης τῆς τοῦ παιδίου μητρός, «Ἔστι μοι φάρμα κον, ἡ μεγάλη φησίν, ὃ δυνατῶς ἔχει τὸ κατὰ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν πάθος ἰάσασθαι». Ἐπὶ τούτοις δηλώματός μοι παρὰ τῆς γυναικωνίτιδος ἥκοντος τοῦ τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν ἐκείνην κατα μηνύσαντος ἄσμενοι παρεμείναμεν, μικρὰ φροντίσαντες τῆς ἐπειγούσης ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ἀνάγκης.

38 Ὡς δὲ τέλος εἶχεν ἡ εὐωχία καὶ πλήρης ἦν ἡμῖν ἡ ψυχή, τοῦ μὲν μεγάλου Πέτρου ταῖς οἰκείαις χερσὶν εὐωχοῦντος ἡμᾶς καὶ φαιδρύνοντος, τῆς δὲ ἁγίας Μακρίνης διὰ πάσης εὐπρεποῦς θυμηδίας τὴν ὁμόζυγον ἡμῶν ἀνιείσης, οὕτω φαιδροί τε καὶ γεγηθότες τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν ἐπανῄειμεν, διήγημα τῷ ἑτέρῳ τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἑκάτερος ἐν τῇ ὁδοιπορίᾳ ποιούμενοι. Κἀγὼ μὲν διεξῄειν ἐκ τοῦ ἀνδρῶνος ὅσα τε εἶδον καὶ ὅσα ἤκουσα, ἐκείνη δὲ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐκδιηγουμένη καθάπερ ἐφ' ἱστορίας οὐδὲν ᾤετο δεῖν οὐδὲ τῶν μικρῶν παραλανθάνειν· ἀκολούθως δὲ πάντα καθάπερ ἐπὶ συγγραφῆς διεξιοῦσα ὡς κατὰ τὸ μέρος ἐγεγόνει ἐκεῖνο, ἐν ᾧ ἡ ὑπόσχεσις ἦν τῆς τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ θεραπείας, ἐγκόψασα τὴν διήγησιν «Τί τοῦτο, φησί, πεπόν θαμεν; πῶς τῆς ὑποσχέσεως ἠμελήσαμεν, τὸ ἐπαγγελθὲν ἡμῖν ἐκεῖνο ἐν κολλυρίῳ φάρμακον;». Κἀμοῦ συνδυσχεραί νοντος ἐπὶ τῇ ἀμελείᾳ καί τινα διὰ