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

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 wicked one falls, and everything that was most precariously propped up collapses with him. And again the kingdom shines, and it was a moon without a sun. A luminary of the earth was sought, and Mytilene had you as this one; therefore triremes were immediately sent to you and the insignia of rule. But the city, when it perceived the matter, did it endure, or, divided in its opinions, did half of it flow to you and come to meet you? Not at all; but all of it, poured out, enjoyed the sight of you, and called you master, and urged your entry. Therefore a synod of luminaries takes place on earth, and you, having appeared, shine in response to the moon, and you show how great is the difference of the light of both. Therefore you did not immediately give yourself to pleasures, unless someone calls pleasures the favors toward your subjects and the abundance of your benefactions; for this is for you both a recreation and a delightful indulgence. For you did not open the treasuries once and then close them again, but rather you add to the stream, and increase the springs, and overwhelm those who draw from them, and you become a gold-flowing Pactolus, and you do not begrudge the stream to those who draw from it. For you do not, like others, remake the palace, and innovate in many matters, and appoint new curators and officials of public affairs, so that you might astound by the remakings, and seem suspicious and an innovator to all, but you maintain the form of the state unshaken, you do not change the administrators of common affairs, but rather you make them more illustrious, and to their existing glories and honors you add others, and all the things with which the emperors of old were adorned in part with good repute and splendors, you have eclipsed by a single munificence of yours which came into being all at once. But perhaps a soul holding a middle place between wickedness and virtue, and not bearing an unmixed disposition for evil, when it is well-treated and meets with philanthropists, humbles its malevolence, proclaims its benefactor, and is not enraged against his favors. But if someone is only evil, certainly an offspring of vipers, even if the sea is parted for him, even if a rock gushes forth springs, even if a river halts its streams, even if abundant and spontaneous food is brought down from heaven, even if he is called to discipleship and is deemed worthy of the mysteries of the spirit, he does not take into account the benefactions, he grumbles against the giver, he fashions a calf into a god, and he seeks other gratifications, or he is hostile to the teacher, and being washed he is not cleansed, but rather is defiled, and he betrays, and he receives a price for the dishonor, and he repents, yet despairs, and dies with his wickedness just like the old Iel and his offspring. One of whom was also the one among us, a Dathan or Abiram in his disposition, the evening and gloomy creature of the dawn, the son of perdition, the forerunner soul of the Antichrist, known and called by the most shameful things and by those he most fanatically raved, the Assyrian mind, the exalted and arrogant nature, the champion of darkness, who intended to place his own throne upon the clouds, but most arrogantly wished to set himself against you, the son of the most high, and instead of being called Lucifer, becoming and being called darkness or something else of the gloomiest things. And for him a rock gushed forth streams, and the steadfast soul of the emperor gushed forth benefactions and favors, and the land that gushes forth every good thing was open for habitation. What am I saying? To this wicked and unholy man the best of our regiments and forces were subject as to some satrap or first-general. The emperor's decrees were not conveyed through others as, for instance, to his father, but if he wished, he could always have been an eyewitness of the imperial tribunal and a direct hearer of the divine ordinances; but he did not wish it. But he stirs up all of Italy against us, which he was condemned to rule—for thus

μοναρχίαν κατακλείει τυραννικήν, κακοῦ κακὸν ἀλλαξάμενος. οὐχ ἡσυχάζει ἡ δίκη, ἀνάπτει τοὺς ἄνθρακας, πέμπει τὸ βέλος, πίπτει ὁ πονηρός, συμπίπτει πᾶν εἴ τι σφαλερώτατα ὑπηρείδετο. λάμπει καὶ αὖθις ἡ βασιλίας, καὶ ἦν σελήνη μὴ ἔχουσα ἥλιον. γῆς ἐζητεῖτο φωστήρ, καὶ τοῦτον εἶχέ σε ἡ Μιτυλήνη· τριήρεις οὖν σοι εὐθὺς ἐπέμποντο καὶ τὰ παράσημα τῆς ἀρχῆς. ἡ δὲ πόλις αἰσθομένη τοῦ πράγματος ἆρ' ἐκαρτέρησεν, ἢ μερισθεῖσα ταῖς γνώμαις ἐφ' ἡμισείας σοι προσερρύη καὶ προσυπήντησεν; οὔμενουν· ἀλλὰ πᾶσα χυθεῖσα τῆς σῆς θέας ἀπέλαυε, καὶ δεσπότην ἐκάλει, καὶ κατήπειγε τὴν εἰσέλευσιν. γίνεται οὖν φωστήρων ἐπὶ γῆς σύνοδος, καὶ ἀντιλάμπεις φανεὶς τῇ σελήνῃ, καὶ δεικνύεις ὅσον ἀμφοῖν τοῦ φωτὸς τὸ διάφορον. Εὐθὺς οὖν οὐχ ἡδοναῖς σεαυτὸν δέδωκας, εἰ μή πού τις ἡδονὰς λέγει τὰς πρὸς τὸ ὑπήκοον χάριτας καὶ τῶν εὐεργετημάτων τὸ ἄφθονον· τοῦτο γάρ σοι καὶ ψυχαγωγία καὶ θυμῆρες ἐντρύφημα. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἅπαξ ἀνοίξας τοὺς θησαυροὺς αὖθις συνέκλεισας, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐπεμβάλλεις τῷ ῥεύματι, καὶ τοὺς κρουνοὺς αὔξεις, καὶ κατακλύζεις τοὺς ἐπαντλοῦντας, καὶ γίνῃ χρυσόρειθρος Πακτωλός, καὶ οὐ βασκαίνεις τοῦ νάματος τοῖς ἀρύουσιν. οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἕτεροι μεταποιεῖς τὰ βασίλεια, καὶ καινοτομεῖς τὰ πολλὰ πράγματα, καὶ νέους καθιστᾷς τῶν δημοσίων ἐπιμελητάς τε καὶ σπουδαστάς, ἵν' ἐκπλήξῃς ταῖς μεταποιήσεσι, καὶ ὕποπτος δόξῃς πρὸς ἅπαντας καὶ καινοποιός, ἀλλὰ τηρεῖς μὲν ἀδιάπτωτον τὸ σχῆμα τῆς πολιτείας, οὐ μεταλλάττεις δὲ τοὺς τῶν κοινῶν φροντιστάς, μᾶλλον μὲν οὖν λαμπρύνεις, καὶ ταῖς προσούσαις δόξαις τε καὶ τιμαῖς ἑτέρας προστίθης, καὶ ὅσα ταῖς τῶν ἀνέκαθεν βασιλέων κατὰ μέρος κατεκοσμήθησαν εὐκλείαις τε καὶ λαμπρότησι διὰ μιᾶς φιλοτιμίας τῆς σῆς ἐς ἅπαξ γεγονυίας ἀπέκρυψας. Ἀλλ' ἴσως ψυχὴ μέσως ἔχουσα πονηρίας καὶ ἀρετῆς, καὶ μὴ τὴν θατέραν τοῦ κακοῦ ἕξιν ἄμικτον φέρουσα, οἷς εὖ πάσχει καὶ φιλανθρώπων τυγχάνει, ταπεινοῖ μὲν τὸ κακόηθες, τὸν δὲ εὐεργέτην κηρύττει, καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἐκείνου οὐκ ἐξαγριαίνεται χάριτας. εἰ δέ τίς ἐστι μόνον κακός, ἐχιδνῶν που πάντως τε γέννημα, κἂν θάλασσα τούτῳ ῥαγῇ, κἂν πέτρα βλύσῃ κρουνούς, κἂν ποταμὸς πεδήσῃ τὰ ῥεύματα, κἂν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατενεχθῇ τροφὴ δαψιλὴς καὶ αὐτόματος, κἂν εἰς μαθητείαν κληθῇ καὶ πνεύματος μυστηρίων ἀξιωθῇ, οὐ λογίζεται τὰς εὐεργεσίας, τοῦ δοτῆρος καταγογγύζει, μόσχον αὐτοματίζει θεόν, καὶ ζητεῖ πλησμονὰς ἑτέρας, ἢ δυσμεναίνει τῷ διδασκάλῳ, καὶ νιπτόμενος οὐ καθαίρεται, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ῥυπαίνεται, καὶ προδίδωσι, καὶ τιμὴν λαμβάνει τοῦ ἀτιμήματος, καὶ μεταμέλεται μέν, ἀπογινώσκει δέ, καὶ τῇ κακίᾳ συναποθνήσκει ὥσπερ ὁ παλαιὸς Ἰὴλ καὶ ὁ ἐκείνου βλαστός. ὧν εἷς καὶ ὁ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐγεγόνει ∆αθὰν ἢ Ἀβειρὼν τὴν προαίρεσιν, τὸ τῆς ἑῴας ἕσπερον θρέμμα καὶ ζοφερόν, ὁ τῆς ἀπωλείας υἱός, ἡ πρόδρομος τοῦ Ἀντιχρίστου ψυχή, ἐκ τῶν αἰσχίστων καὶ ὧν ἐνθουσιαστικώτατα ἐμεμήνει γνωριζόμενος καὶ καλούμενος, ὁ Ἀσσύριος νοῦς, ἡ ἐπηρμένη φύσις καὶ ὑπερήφανος, ὁ τοῦ σκότους προστάτης, ὁ τὸν αὑτοῦ μὲν θρόνον ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν θεῖναι διανοηθείς, ἀντιταχθῆναι δέ σοι τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ ὑψίστου ἀλαζονικώτατα βουληθείς, καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ ἑωσφόρος καλεῖσθαι σκότος ἤ τι ἄλλο τῶν ζοφωδεστέρων γενόμενος καὶ λεγόμενος. Καὶ τούτῳ καὶ πέτρα ἔβλυσε νάματα, ἡ στερρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ψυχὴ εὐεργεσίας καὶ χάριτας, καὶ ἡ πᾶν εἴ τι καλὸν βλύζουσα γῆ ἤνοικτο εἰς κατοίκησιν. τί δὴ λέγω; τούτῳ τῷ πονηρῷ καὶ ἀνοσίῳ τὰ κράτιστα τῶν ἡμετέρων ταγμάτων τε καὶ δυνάμεων ὥσπερ τινὶ σατράπῃ ἢ πρωτοστρατήγῳ ὑπέκειτο. οὐ διὰ μέσων ἑτέρων τὰ τοῦ βασιλέως διεπορθμεύοντο δόγματα ὥς που τῷ ἐκείνου πατρί, ἀλλ' εἴπερ ἐβούλετο, αὐτόπτης τε ἂν ἦν ἀεὶ τοῦ ἀνακτορικοῦ βήματος καὶ τῶν θείων θεσπισμάτων αὐτήκοος· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐβούλετο. ἀλλὰ κινεῖ μὲν Ἰταλίαν πᾶσαν καθ' ἡμῶν ἧς ἄρχειν κατεδικάσθη-οὕτω γὰρ