17

breaks phalanxes, will also muzzle your impiety, know well, even if for a little while you are lifted up, and you play the drama of impiety with your demons?

72. How are these things not terrible to you, o you who are too bold and deserving of death, if anyone ever was? How are they not venerable? These things are already far more honorable than the insatiability of Solon the wise and lawgiver, 35.596 which Croesus exposed with his Lydian gold; and than the love of beauty of Socrates; for I am ashamed to say pederasty, even if it is made solemn by his devices; and than the Sicilian gluttony of Plato, for which he was even sold, and not bought back by any of his own students, or any Greek at all; and than the delicacy-eating of Xenocrates; and than the prating of Diogenes, who lived in the tub, by which he sets the tyrants of tragedy before his guests, and cheap loaves before sesame-cakes; and the philosophy of Epicurus, which defines no good beyond pleasure. Great for you is Crates; for it was truly philosophical to let his property be left for sheep-grazing, and similar to our philosophers. But he parades his freedom with a proclamation, as one who is not so much a philosopher as a lover of glory. Great is the one who, when his ship was storm-tossed and everything was being thrown overboard, gave thanks to fortune for reducing him to his philosopher's cloak. Great is Antisthenes, because, having had his face smashed by some insolent and bold fellow, he merely inscribed on his forehead, as if on a statue he were sculpting, the name of the one who struck him, perhaps so that he might accuse him more hotly. You praise someone also not long before our time, because he stood all day long and prayed to the sun; perhaps watching it until it was nearer the earth, so that he might also conclude his prayer, ending it as it set; and the standing at Potidaea, in the winter season, having labored all night in contemplation, so as 35.597 not even to feel the cold because of his ecstasy; or also the love of learning of Homer concerning the Arcadian question, and the philosophy and constant attention of Aristotle upon the changes of the Euripus, by which they died; and the well of Cleanthes, and the strap of Anaxagoras, and the gloominess of Heraclitus.

73. How many are these, and for how long? But do you not marvel at the thousands and tens of thousands among us; and these philosophizing these and even more marvelous things throughout their whole life and in, so to speak, the entire inhabited world, men and women alike, competing in courage, and here alone forgetting their nature, where it is necessary to make God one's own through purity and endurance; not only of the low-born, and those accustomed to toil on account of their initial mean estate, but also of those once very high and brilliant, both in wealth, and in family, and in power, who innovate suffering through the imitation of Christ; of whom, even if their speech is not much (because piety is not placed in speech, and the fruit of the wisdom from the mouth is small, as seemed also to one of the poets among you), yet their reasonableness is greater, and their instruction is in their deeds.

74. But nevertheless, overlooking all these things, and looking to this one thing alone, how he might gratify the demons who had often worthily cast him down, before establishing anything else of public matters, he proceeds against the Christians. And these two things were his concerns, 35.600 the Galileans, as he insultingly called them, and the Persians who were steadfastly persisting in the war; but our matter was so much greater and more urgent to him, that the affair with the Persians was considered by him nonsense and child's play. And this he does not reveal, yet he does not hide it; but so great was his excess of madness, that he never ceased confessing it always and to everyone. And not even this did the most intelligent and best protector of the commonwealth perceive, that in the former persecutions little was thrown into confusion and disturbed, since our doctrine had not yet reached many, but the truth was still established among a few, and was in need of

17

κλίνει φάλαγγας, ἐπιστομίσει καὶ τὴν σὴν ἀσέβειαν, εὖ ἴσθι, κἂν πρὸς ὀλίγον ἀρθῇς, καὶ παίξῃς τὸ τῆς ἀσεβείας δρᾶμα μετὰ τῶν σῶν δαιμόνων;

ΟΒʹ. Πῶς οὐδὲ ταῦτά σοι φοβερὰ, ὦ λίαν τολμηρὲ σὺ καὶ θανατῶν, εἴπερ ἄλλος τις; Πῶς οὐκ αἰδέ σιμα; Ταῦτα μὲν ἤδη καὶ πολλῷ τιμιώτερα τῆς Σό λωνος ἀπληστίας τοῦ σοφοῦ τε καὶ νομοθέτου, 35.596 ἣν Κροῖσος ἤλεγξε τῷ Λυδίῳ χρυσῷ· καὶ τῆς Σωκρά τους φιλοκαλίας· αἰδοῦμαι γὰρ εἰπεῖν παι δεραστίας, κἂν σεμνοποιῆται ταῖς ἐπινοίαις· καὶ τῆς Πλάτωνος λιχνείας τῆς Σικελικῆς, δι' ἣν καὶ πιπράσκεται, καὶ οὐδ' ὑπό τινος ἐξωνεῖται τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν, ἢ ὅλως Ἕλληνος· καὶ τῆς Ξενοκράτους ὀψοφαγίας· καὶ τῆς ∆ιογένους στωμυλίας, τοῦ τον πίθον οἰκοῦντος, ὑφ' ἧς τοὺς ξένους ὑπεξίστησι τοῖς τυράννοις ἐκ τῆς τραγῳδίας, τοὺς εὐτελεῖς ἄρτους τοῖς σησαμοῦσι· καὶ τῆς Ἐπικούρου φιλοσοφίας, οὐδὲν ὑπὲρ τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀγαθὸν ὁριζομέ νης. Μέγας ὑμῖν ὁ Κράτης· καὶ γὰρ ὄντως φιλόσοφον τὸ μηλόβοτον ἀφεθῆναι τὴν οὐσίαν, καὶ τοῖς παρ' ἡμῖν φιλοσόφοις ὅμοιον. Ἀλλὰ πομπεύει τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῷ κηρύγματι, ὡς ἄν τις οὐ φιλόσοφος μᾶλλον ἢ φιλόδοξος. Μέγας ὁ, τῆς νηὸς χειμαζομένης, καὶ πάντων ἐκριπτουμένων, χάριν ὁμολογῶν τῇ τύχῃ, συστελλούσῃ εἰς τὸ τριβώνιον. Μέγας ὁ Ἀντισθένης, ὅτι, τὸ πρόσωπον συντριβεὶς ὑπό τινος τῶν ὑβριστῶν καὶ θρασέων, ἐπιγράφει τῷ μετώπῳ μόνον, ὥσπερ ἀνδριάντι δημιουρ γῶν, τὸν παίσαντα, ἴσως ἵνα κατηγορήσῃ θερμό τερον. Ἐπαινεῖς τινα καὶ τῶν οὐ πολὺ πρὸ ἡμῶν, ὅτι πανημέριος ἑστὼς τῷ ἡλίῳ προσηύξατο· ἴσως αὐτὸν τηρήσας καὶ προσγειότερον, ἵνα καὶ συν έλῃ τὴν εὐχὴν, δυομένῳ συγκαταλύσας· καὶ τὴν ἐν Ποτιδαίᾳ στάσιν, τὴν ἐν χειμερίῳ τῇ ὥρᾳ, πάννυχον τῇ θεωρίᾳ προσφιλοπονήσαντος, ὥστε 35.597 μηδὲ ἐπαισθάνεσθαι τοῦ κρύους διὰ τὴν ἔκστα σιν· ἢ καὶ τὴν Ὁμήρου φιλομάθειαν περὶ τὸ Ἀρκαδικὸν ζήτημα, καὶ τὴν Ἀριστοτέλους φιλοσοφίαν καὶ προσεδρίαν ἐπὶ ταῖς τοῦ Εὐρίπου μεταβολαῖς, ὑφ' ὧν τεθνήκασι· καὶ τὸ Κλεάν θους φρέαρ, καὶ τὸν Ἀναξαγόρου ἱμάντα, καὶ τὴν Ἡράκλειτον κατήφειαν.

ΟΓʹ. Πόσοι ταῦτα, καὶ μέχρι τίνος; Τὰς δὲ παρ' ἡμῖν οὐ θαυμάζεις χιλιάδας καὶ μυριάδας· καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τούτων ἔτι θαυμασιώτερα φιλοσοφούντων ἐν παντὶ τῷ βίῳ καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἀνδρῶν τε ὁμοίως καὶ γυναι κῶν, εἰς ἀνδρείαν ἁμιλλωμένων, κἀνταῦθα μό νον ἐπιλανθανομένων τῆς φύσεως, οὗ δεῖ Θεὸν οἰκειοῦσθαι δι' ἁγνείας καὶ καρτερίας· οὐ τῶν ἀγεν νῶν μόνον, καὶ τῷ πονεῖν συνειθισμένων διὰ τὴν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς εὐτέλειαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν λίαν ὑψηλῶν ποτε καὶ λαμπρῶν, καὶ περιουσίᾳ, καὶ γένει, καὶ δυναστείᾳ, καινοτομούντων τὸ δυσπαθεῖν διὰ τὴν Χριστοῦ μίμησιν· ὧν, κἂν ὁ λόγος μὴ ᾖ (διὰ τὸ μηδ' ἐν λόγῳ τίθεσθαι τὴν εὐσέβειαν, καὶ τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ στόματος σοφίας βραχὺν εἶναι τὸν καρπὸν, ὡς καὶ τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν τινι ποιητῶν ἔδοξεν), ἀλλὰ τὸ εὔλογον πλεῖον, καὶ ἡ ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι παίδευσις.

Ο∆ʹ. Ἀλλ' ὅμως, ἅπαντα παριδὼν ταῦτα, καὶ πρὸς ἓν τοῦτο μόνον ἰδὼν, ὅπως ἂν χαρίσαιτο τοῖς κατ ενεγκοῦσι πολλάκις αὐτὸν ἀξίως δαίμοσι, πρὶν ἄλλο τι καταστήσασθαι τῶν κοινῶν, ἐπὶ Χριστιανοὺς φέρεται. Καὶ δύο μὲν ταῦτα ἦν αὐτῷ τὰ σπουδαζό 35.600 μενα, Γαλιλαῖοί τε, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐφυβρίζων ἐκάλει, καὶ Πέρσαι τῷ πολέμῳ καρτερῶς παραμένοντες· οὕτω δὲ τὸ ἡμέτερον μεῖζον καὶ περισπου δαστότερον, ὥστε λῆρον καὶ παιδιὰν αὐτῷ τὸ κατὰ Πέρσας νομίζεσθαι. Καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐκφαίνει μὲν, οὐ κρύπτει δέ· ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον ἦν αὐτῷ τὸ περιὸν τῆς μανίας, ὥστε ἀεὶ καὶ πρὸς πάντας ὁμολογῶν οὐκ ἐπαύετο. Καὶ οὐδὲ τοῦτο συνεῖδεν ὁ πάντων συν ετώτατος καὶ ἄριστος τοῦ κοινοῦ προστάτης, ὅτι τοῖς μὲν προτέροις διωγμοῖς ὀλίγον ἦν τὸ συγχεόμε νον καὶ παρακινούμενον, οὔπω τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς δόγμα τος ἐπὶ πολλοὺς φθάσαντος, ἀλλ' ἔτ' ἐν ὀλίγοις ἱσταμένης τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ δεομένης