16

investigating this; for the truth is unchangeable. For I knew him to be a Christian, both beloved of God and just, and eager and zealous for the laws of Christ; let heaven and earth therefore know, and the whole choir of the holy angels, and Christ the Son of God, whom I serve in my spirit, that I am pure of his slaughter and death, and contributed nothing to his unjust murder by the unholy men who perpetrated it. For I was not present then with Constantius, but I had my home and dwelling in Egypt until the present year; and this defense I make concerning your brother. μεʹ. But concerning renouncing Christ and embracing the Hellenic way of life, this I will 96.1293 answer you, borrowing the voice of the three children under Nebuchadnezzar, as: Be it known to you, O king, that I do not serve your gods, and I will never worship the golden image of your most beloved Apollo. But that you mocked the blessed Constantine, the superior of all emperors, and his family, calling him an enemy to your gods, and frenzied, and full of murder, and filled with kindred blood, this I will say in his defense to you; that rather your father Constantius and his brothers began the injustice, having mixed a deadly poison for him, and having caused his ruinous death, though they had suffered no wrong from him. But he killed his wife Fausta, and very justly, as she had imitated the Phaedra of old, and had slandered his son Priscus [Crispus] as being amorously disposed toward her and attempting something by force, just as that one did to Hippolytus, son of Theseus; and indeed according to the laws of nature, as a father he punished his son. Later, however, having learned the truth, he killed her also, having passed upon her the most just sentence of all. But he turned to Christ, when He called from heaven, when he fought the fierce and most grievous battle against Maxentius, showing him the sign of the cross in the middle of the day, flashing with rays above the sun, and signifying his victory in the war with star-like Roman letters; for we ourselves saw the sign, being present at the war, and we read the letters; but also the whole army saw it, and many witnesses of this happen to be in your army, if you should wish to ask. μϛʹ. And why indeed do I say these things? The prophets from of old proclaimed Christ beforehand, as you yourself know better; and many are the testimonies of his coming, both from the gods worshipped among you, and the predictions of the oracles; both the Sibylline writings, and the poetry of Virgil the Roman, which you call the Bucolics, and Apollo the prophetic himself, who is admired among you, uttered such a word concerning Christ. For having been asked by his own ministers, he answers thus: Would that you had not asked me the last and final thing, O ill-fated one of my ministers, concerning the divine god, And of the breath that holds all things around in clusters, The stars, light, rivers and Tartarus, air and fire, Which drives me, even unwilling, from this house; To me the early-born one of the tripods was still left, Alas, alas for me, O tripods, groan, Apollo is gone, He is gone, since a mortal, a heavenly light, forces me; And the one who suffered is God, and divinity itself did not suffer. 96.1296 μζʹ. But the Apostate, taking him up, said: I think, O Artemius, you have not come as a general in Egypt, but as some oracle-monger, or rather a buffoon or indeed a charlatan, and a collector of the chatter and old, decrepit myths of tippling old women. And the martyr: You have not supposed correctly, O king, nor of the

16

τούτου ἀνερευνῶν· ἡ ἀλήθεια γὰρ ἀμετάβλητος. Ἠπιστάμην γὰρ αὐτὸν Χριστιανόν τε ὄντα, θεοφιλῆ τε καὶ δίκαιον, καὶ περὶ τοὺς τοῦ Χριστοῦ νόμους πρόθυμόν τε καὶ σπουδαῖον ὑπάρχοντα· ἴστω τοίνυν οὐρανός τε καὶ γῆ καὶ πᾶς ὁ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων χορὸς, καὶ Χριστὸς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱὸς, ᾧ ἐγὼ λατρεύω ἐν τῷ ἐμῷ πνεύματι, ὡς καθαρὸς ἐγὼ τῆς ἐκείνου σφαγῆς τε καὶ τελευτῆς, καὶ μηδὲν συνεισενεγκὼν εἰς τὸν ἐκείνου φόνον τὸν ἄδικον τοῖς τοῦτον κατεργασαμένοις ἀνοσίοις ἀνδράσιν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ παρὼν ἤμην τότε σὺν Κωνσταντίῳ, ἀλλὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον εἶχον οἴκησίν τε καὶ δίαιταν μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος ἐνιαυτοῦ· καὶ ταύτην μὲν ἀπολογίαν ποιοῦμαι περὶ τοῦ σοῦ ἀδελφοῦ. μεʹ. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ τὸν Χριστὸν ἐξομώσασθαι καὶ τὸν Ἑλληνικὸν ἀσπάσασθαι βίον, τοῦτό σοι ἀπο 96.1293 κριθήσομαι, τῶν τριῶν παίδων τῶν ἐπὶ Ναβουχοδονόσορ τὴν φωνὴν δανεισάμενος, ὡς Γνωστὸν ἔστω σοι, βασιλεῦ, ὅτι τοῖς θεοῖς σου οὐ λατρεύω, καὶ τῇ εἰκόνι τῇ χρυσῇ τοῦ σοῦ φιλτάτου Ἀπόλλωνος οὔ ποτε προσκυνήσω. Ὅτι δὲ τὸν μακάριον Κωνσταντῖνον τὸν πάντων βασιλέων ὑπέρτερον, καὶ τὸ τούτου γένος ἐξεμυκτήρισας, ἐχθρὸν τοῖς σοῖς ἀποκαλέσας θεοῖς, καὶ μανιώδη, καὶ φόνου μεστὸν, τοῦ τε ὁμογνίου ἀνάπλεων αἵματος, ταῦτά σοι ὑπὲρ ἐκείνου ἀπολογήσομαι· ὅτι μᾶλλον ὁ σὸς πατὴρ Κωνστάντιος καὶ οἱ τούτου ἀδελφοὶ προκατῆρξαν τοῦ ἀδικήματος, φάρμακον αὐτῷ δηλητήριον κερασάμενοι, καὶ θάνατον ὀλέθριον προξενήσαντες, μηδὲν πρὸς αὐτοῦ πεπονθότες ἄδικον. Ἐκεῖνος δὲ τὴν γυναῖκα Φαύσταν, καὶ πάνυ δικαίως ἀπέκτεινεν ὡς μιμησαμένην τὴν πάλαι Φαίδραν, καὶ διαβαλοῦσαν τὸν τούτου υἱὸν Πρίσκον [Κρίσπον] ὡς ἐρωτικῶς αὐτῇ διακείμενον καί τι πρὸς βίαν ἐπιχειροῦντα, καθάπερ κἀκείνη τὸν τοῦ Θησέως Ἱππόλυτον· καὶ δὴ κατὰ τοὺς τῆς φύσεως νόμους ὡς πατὴρ τὸν υἱὸν ἠμύνατο. Ὕστερον μέν τοι μαθὼν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, καὶ αὐτὴν προσαπέκτεινε, δίκην ἐπ' αὐτῇ δικάσας πασῶν δικαιοτάτην. Ἀπέκλινε δὲ πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν, οὐρανόθεν ἐκείνου καλέσαντος, ὅτε τὴν πρὸς Μαξέντιον δριμεῖάν τε καὶ βαρυτάτην διηγωνίσατο μάχην, δείξας αὐτῷ τὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ σημεῖον μεσούσης ἡμέρας, ὑπὲρ τὸν ἥλιον ταῖς αὐγαῖς ἐξαστράπτον, καὶ γράμμασιν ἀστροτύπως ῥωμαϊκοῖς διασημήνας αὐτοῦ τὴν τοῦ πολέμου νίκην· ἡμεῖς τε γὰρ αὐτοὶ τὸ σημεῖον ἐθεασάμεθα τῷ πολέμῳ παρόντες, καὶ τὰ γράμματα ὑπανέγνωμεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον ἅπαν τεθέατο, καὶ πολλοὶ τούτου μάρτυρες ἐν τῷ σῷ στρατοπέδῳ τυγχάνουσιν, εἴ γε ἄρα ἐρωτῆσαι θελήσειας. μϛʹ. Καὶ τί δὴ ταῦτα λέγω; τὸν Χριστὸν ἄνωθεν οἱ προφῆται προκατήγγειλαν, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς κρεῖττον ἐπίστασαι· καὶ πολλαὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας αἱ μαρτυρίαι κἀκ τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν σεβομένων θεῶν, καὶ τῶν χρησμῶν αἱ προαγορεύσεις· τά τε Σιβύλλεια γράμματα, καὶ ἡ τοῦ Βιργιλίου τοῦ Ῥωμαίου ποίησις, ἣν ὑμεῖς Βουκολικὴν ὀνομάζετε, καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ παρ' ὑμῖν θαυμαζόμενος Ἀπόλλων ὁ μαντικὸς τοιόνδε τινὰ περὶ Χριστοῦ ἐξεφώνησε λόγον. Ἐρωτηθεὶς γὰρ παρὰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ προπόλων, ἀποκρίνεται ὧδε· Μὴ ὄφελες πύματόν με καὶ ὕστατον ἐξερέεσθαι, ∆ύσμορ' ἐμῶν προπόλων, περὶ θεσπεσίοιο θεοῖο, Καὶ πνοιῆς τῆς πάντα πέριξ βοτρυηδὸν ἐχούσης, Τείρεα, φῶς, ποταμοὺς καὶ Τάρταρον, ἠέρα καὶ πῦρ, Ἥ με καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλοντα δόμων ἀπὸ τῶνδε διώκει· Ἡ δὲ ἐμοὶ τριπόδων ἔτι λείπετο ἠριγένεια, Αἲ, αἴ, με, τρίποδες, στοναχήσατε, οἴχετ' Ἀπολλὼν, Οἴχετ' ἐπεὶ βροτός με βιάζεται οὐράνιος φῶς· Καὶ ὁ παθὼν Θεός ἐστι, καὶ οὐ θεότης πάθεν αὐτή. 96.1296 μζʹ. Ὑπολαβὼν δὲ ὁ Παραβάτης ἔφη· ∆οκῶ σε, ὦ Ἀρτέμιε, οὐ στρατηγὸν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ παραγενέσθαι, ἀλλὰ χρησμολόγον τινὰ, μᾶλλον δὲ βωμολόχον ἢ μὴν ἀγύρτην, καὶ γραῶν κωθωνιζομένων λογύδρια καὶ μύθους παλαιοὺς καὶ γεγηρακότας ἐπισυνάγοντα. Καὶ ὁ μάρτυς· Οὐ καλῶς ὑπείληφας, ὦ βασιλεῦ, οὐδὲ τῆς