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
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 caught, and the other such examples of kings. And after the many groans which you groaned, after the flow of tears, was not your soul illuminated by God, nor were your sufferings adapted to well-omened dreams or some other visions? Do not hide the account, O king; for the event has become famous and is sung by every mouth. But if you are silent, I will cry this out. You had your eyes toward heaven, and you were marveling at the varied dance of the stars, and you were praising God the creator. Perhaps, indeed, you were also perplexed by these very questions: are the stars fixed somewhere or suspended, all of the same size and appearance, or some smaller, some larger, oblong or circular, separated by a great distance or close together? Are most of them larger than the earth as Aristotle says, or do they all resemble a certain center in relation to it? Then fixing your eye upon one of these, "1Now,"2 you said, "1I shall know if it will be to me according to the word which the Lord spoke,"2 and you make its motion and casting down a symbol of the kingdom and, O your unutterable judgments, Lord, O your wisdom and power surpassing all understanding, the star is immediately hurled from heaven as if someone pushed it and it left empty the place on which it stood, and it gave you the most clear omen. And do not babble to me most naturally, Aristotle, that none of the stars leaves its own seat; but that these things which seem to be poured out and carried like a stream are fragments of the ethereal fire downwards. For you speak to me of a consequence of nature and not the result of a secret power. For by nature the stars are neither cast down nor are they borne downwards, but whenever it seems good to the creating Word, they are both extinguished and perish and depart from their own orbit. The sun does not cease from its motion, but it once stood still over Gibeon so that Israel might conquer and the foreign race be slain in utter destruction. But this is so, and the eyes of many are witnesses, and you above all; but that other thing is exceedingly wonderful. A most wicked plan is ratified against you by the wicked rulers. How can I say this? How shall I endure to speak? The putting out of your eyes was what was planned, which is the same as saying the extinguishing of the heavenly lights and the confusion of the universe. The executioner was prepared, the ship ready, the wind favorable, the sail was winged, the vessel in the middle of the sea, the harbor in hope, and the iron in his hands. What then happens? While it was calm weather, as they say, a bright north wind suddenly bursts in, and a thing is miraculously worked, greater than word and thought: the sea is raised on high, it lifts the ship into the air, then as the wave ran under, breaking into a chasm, with its very sails and rudders it sucked it down like an ebb-tide and hid it in the depths. What then could be a greater or more wonderful proof of God's providence for you than this? But you, be gloomy for me and dejected and despair, and consider Zion or Mount Carmel that you might go and be hidden there. For was it for these reasons that the star was poured out for you, the north wind was improvised, the sea stood still, the ship was forced, the executioner was drowned, so that you might inhabit the desert and become as a sparrow alone upon the housetop? But the things to come are yet to be. Such is the divine; it does not immediately give what it promises, but it does not revoke the promises, but it tests the will and accepts long-suffering. These things were done, and the heaven and the sea perceived the will of God, but the tetrarch Herod was blind, and blamed the wind for dashing too violently against the ship. Then what? The king fulfills the limit of his life, another rises up from the same tribe and blood, immediately he is ungrateful toward his benefactors, the rule of many to
βασιλείας αὐτῷ κράτος περιεγένετο, πρὸς τούτοις τὴν ἐν ποιμνίοις ζωὴν τοῦ ∆αβίδ, τὴν δίωξιν, τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐκείνους κινδύνους
οἷς οὐχ ἥλω περιπεσών, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν βασιλέων τοιουτότροπα παραδείγματα. ἆρα δὲ μετὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς στεναγμοὺς οὓς ἔστενες,
μετὰ τὴν τῶν δακρύων ῥοήν, οὐκ ηὐγάζετό σοι παρὰ θεοῦ ἡ ψυχή, οὐδ' ἐφαρμάσσετο εὐσυμβόλοις ὀνείρασι τὰ παθήματα ἤ τισιν ἄλλαις
ὁράσεσι; μὴ ἀποκρύψῃς τὸν λόγον, ὦ βασιλεῦ· περιβόητον γὰρ τὸ γεγονὸς γέγονε καὶ παρὰ πᾶσιν ᾄδεται στόμασιν. εἰ δὲ σὺ σιωπᾷς,
ἐγὼ τοῦτο κεκράξομαι. Πρὸς οὐρανὸν εἶχες τὰ ὄμματα, καὶ τὴν ποικίλην τῶν ἄστρων χορείαν ἐθαύμαζες, καὶ τὸν δημιουργὸν ἀνύμνεις
θεόν. τάχα δή που καὶ διηπόρεις ταῦτα δὴ τὰ ζητούμενα, πέπηκταί που τὰ ἄστρα ἢ ἀπῃώρηται, ταὐτομεγέθη πάντα καὶ ἰσοφανῆ, ἢ
τὰ μὲν ἐλάττονα, τὰ δὲ μείζονα, ἐπιμήκη ἢ κυκλικά, πολλῷ ἀπέχοντα τῷ διαστήματι ἢ πλησιάζοντα; τὰ πλείω τούτων καὶ τῆς γῆς
μείζω ὡς Ἀριστοτέλης φησίν, ἢ κέντρῳ τινὶ πρὸς ἐκείνην τὰ πάντα ἔοικεν; ἔπειτα πρὸς ἓν τούτων πήξας τὸν ὀφθαλμόν, "1νῦν"2,
ἔφης, "1γνώσομαι εἰ κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμα ὃ ἐλάλησε κύριος ἔσται μοι"2, καὶ σύμβολον τῆς βασιλείας τὴν ἐκείνου κίνησιν καὶ ῥίψιν ποιεῖς
καί, ὢ τῶν ἀρρήτων σου κριμάτων κύριε, ὢ τῆς πάντα νοῦν ὑπερεχούσης σου σοφίας καὶ δυνάμεως, ἀκοντίζεται τὸ ἄστρον εὐθὺς ἐξ
οὐρανοῦ ὥσπερ τινὸς ὤσαντος καὶ κενὸν ἀφῆκε τὸν τόπον ἐφ' οὗ βεβηκὸς ἦν, καί σοι τὸν οἰωνὸν δέδωκε τηλαυγέστατον. καὶ μή μοι
κενοφώνει φυσικώτατα, Ἀριστότελες, ὡς τῶν ἄστρων οὐδὲν τὴν οἰκείαν ἕδραν ἀφίησιν· ἀλλ' αὐτὰ δὴ τὰ δοκοῦντα δίκην ῥεύματος
χεῖσθαι καὶ φέρεσθαι τοῦ αἰθερίου πυρός εἰσιν ἀποσπάσματα πρὸς τὸ κάταντες. φύσεως γάρ μοι λέγεις ἀκολουθίαν καὶ οὐκ ἀπορρήτου
δυνάμεως ἀποτέλεσμα. φύσει μὲν γὰρ τὰ ἄστρα οὔτε ῥιπτεῖται, οὔτε πρὸς τὸ κάταντες φέρεται, ἀλλ' ὅταν δόξῃ τῷ δημιουργήσαντι
λόγῳ καὶ σβέννυται καὶ ἀπόλλυται καὶ τῆς οἰκείας περιόδου ἐξίσταται. οὐ παύεται ὁ ἥλιος τῆς κινήσεως, ἀλλ' ἔστη ποτὲ κατὰ
Γαβαὼν ἵν' ὁ Ἰσραὴλ νικήσῃ καὶ πανωλεθρίᾳ φονευθῇ τὸ ἀλλόφυλον. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν οὕτως, καὶ μάρτυρες πολλῶν ὀφθαλμοί, καὶ πρὸ
πάντων σύ· ἐκεῖνο δὲ καὶ λίαν θαυμάσιον. Κυροῦται κατὰ σοῦ παρὰ τῶν πονηρῶν ἡγεμόνων πονηρότατον βούλευμα. πῶς εἴποιμι τοῦτο;
πῶς καρτερήσω λαλῶν; ἐκκοπὴ τῶν σῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τὸ βουλευθὲν ἦν, ταὐτὸν δὲ εἰπεῖν σβέσις τῶν οὐρανίων φωστήρων καὶ σύγχυσις τοῦ
παντός. ὁ δήμιος εὐτρεπής, ἡ ναῦς ἕτοιμος, τὸ πνεῦμα ἐπίφορον, τὸ ἱστίον ἐπτέρωτο, ἐπὶ μέσου πελάγους τὸ σκάφος, ἐν ἐλπίσι
τε ὁ λιμήν, καὶ ὁ σίδηρος ἐν χερσί. τί οὖν γίνεται; αἰθρίας ὥς φασι οὔσης, ἐπεισβάλλει ἄφνω ἀπαρκτίας λαμπρός, καὶ θαυματουργεῖται
πρᾶγμα μεῖζον λόγου καὶ ἐνθυμήματος· ἐγείρεται ἐφ' ὕψους ἡ θάλασσα, ἀνάγει τὴν ναῦν ἐπὶ μετέωρον, ἔπειθ' ὑποδραμόντος τοῦ
κύματος εἰς χάσμα διαρραγεῖσα αὐτοῖς ἱστίοις καὶ οἴαξιν ἀναρροιβδήσασα ὥσπερ ἄμπωτις τοῖς βάθεσιν ἐναπέκρυψε. τί οὖν τούτου
μεῖζον ἂν ἢ θαυμασιώτερον γένοιτο τῆς περί σε τοῦ θεοῦ προνοίας τεκμήριον; σὺ δέ μοι σκυθρώπαζε καὶ κατηφὴς ἔσο καὶ ἀπογίνωσκε,
καὶ τὴν Σιὼν περινόει ἢ τὸ Καρμήλιον ὄρος ἵν' ἐκεῖ κρυβήσῃ γενόμενος. διὰ ταῦτα γάρ σοι τὸ ἄστρον ἐχεῖτο, ὁ ἀπαρκτίας ἐσχεδιάζετο,
ἡ θάλασσα ἵστατο, ἡ ναῦς ἐβιάζετο, ὁ δήμιος ἐβυθίζετο, ἵνα σὺ τὴν ἔρημον οἰκήσῃς καὶ γένῃ ὡς στρουθίον μονάζον ἐπὶ δώματος;
ἀλλὰ μέλλει τὰ γενησόμενα. τοιοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ θεῖον· οὐκ εὐθὺς ἃ ὑπισχνεῖται δίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ τὰς μὲν ἐπαγγελίας οὐκ ἀναλύει, δοκιμάζει
δὲ τὴν προαίρεσιν καὶ τὸ μακρόθυμον ἀποδέχεται. ἐπράχθη ταῦτα, καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ θάλασσα τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ βουλῆς ᾔσθετο, ὁ δὲ
τετράρχης Ἡρώδης ἐτύφλωττε, καὶ τὸν ἄνεμον ᾐτιᾶτο σφοδρότερον τῇ νηῒ ἐπαρράξαντα. Εἶτα τί; πληροῖ τὸν τῆς ζωῆς ὅρον ὁ βασιλεύς,
ἀνίσταται ἕτερος ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς φυλῆς τε καὶ τοῦ αἵματος, εὐθὺς ἀχαριστεῖ πρὸς τοὺς εὐεργέτας, τὸ πολύαρχον εἰς
