Orationes forenses et acta

 Each one of you has received benefits from him, that having set this forth here with goodwill toward him you might sway the votes, and by showing favo

 Having beset it and stirred herself up to be divinely inspired and worked herself into a bacchic frenzy. now, that the many are deceived by this, i do

 Of her, nor anything else of the things forbidden to me, but which are proclaimed and honored by them. for someone might perhaps excuse him for the fi

 To be enumerated? for divination is for the time being sufficient. but i think, if this had happened before, he would have nobly recorded these things

 Of the difference of theurgies, at the end he adds: one must remove in advance all obstacles to the visitation of the gods and impose a total tranqui

 In these matters i would gladly ask of you, whether it is permitted for a priest to be initiated into such mysteries and to be deemed worthy of such r

 Immediately, therefore, all blushed, or rather, indeed, they shouted with their voices and condemned the leaders of the impiety and named their writin

 Has he discerned? but if indeed the part of the synod has not joined with the senate council nor with the chosen of the nazirites—for this part was no

 Aristotle's theology and the psychogony of plato and the new numbers and the remodeling of doctrines and the expense of the divisible, who of all ever

 What argument is left to you concerning this, or how is it that you dispute with one another over matters of such importance and postpone the decision

 And i gladly admire in you the encomium of the good man in your memorandum. for where he holds on to the whole and bears the burden of common cares, y

 All those, with whom we disagree, have advocated for confusions or divisions. for what do matter and ideas have in common with our doctrines? but sinc

 And of the one who is lifted up and of the one seated on it. know the cherubic and seraphic wings, the perfection of their number, the symbolic coveri

 They have shaken. for if they happened to be uninitiated in our doctrines and completely uninstructed in the mysteries of the spirit, perhaps, having

 For he who receives a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, from the contrary and greater, he who receives an impious man will receive the punishme

 He has despised all things equally, although the law, standing as it were at his ears, cried out: let no one teach or learn profane things. and agai

 He both strung together and vomited up, this twenty-third writing he thinks, or rather he places it between those who were then in every way our own p

 Depicting the madness of nestorian rage. i have left it to you to compare it with the dogmas of the massalians. i brought forth to them from the inner

 The patriarch has acted impiously, clearly and openly. and it is not permitted for any of you who wish, nor for those zealous on his behalf, to defend

 And having brought over certain forces from the west, he stirred them up for war, and they come face to face with each other from both sides. and a fi

 Delaying he is persuaded and is moderate and descends with them. and he dares against two emperors, of whom the one the imperial court held, adorned w

 Being torn apart. but pilate sat judging my divinely-moved emperor, the lord's anointed, who was being considered, not hesitating, not washing his han

 To kill the emperor, unless he came down quickly and bowed his head to him, but he, fearing the tyrannical cruelty and cowering lest he suffer anythin

 An innovative rank and would come to be below. there, then, the morning star raged against the first goodness, but here the evening star has attacked

 Demonic in his life. but again i have turned to you, the judges, and again i ask: has anything been dared by this man or not? you will surely say the

 Then failing to achieve their purpose, they chose to strike and kill. is it not clear to all that, while digging through and breaking into the houses

 Ruin, if he should object saying that he neither urged these things nor wished them, but even punished many of those who dared with all punishments, w

 In the parts on the right, somewhere near the entrance, but you have immediately ascended into heaven on earth itself, as if considering it a terrible

 Disregarding the divine temples, he was destroying them? and he did not cease, piling one on top of another and making them abandoned ruins. for not o

 Leaning together walls collapsed together with their icons and statues. and everything was as if in a great earthquake, the air being darkened, the e

 And the remains of the apostle luke are burned by fire and reduced to dust. i fear that the bodies of martyrs also lay here. i am afraid that some of

 I shall grant you this also. he had no need, it is true, of the burial robes. i admit it, since they had all already decayed. but he did have need of

 Let us not even examine the scene after that, but let these things be considered by him as theaters and hunts. but where the mercy-seat is, and around

 Seeing what was happening was exulting and rejoicing, like of old the whelp of the beast, i mean the one from isauria. but you consider for me what a

 Fire was burning us and the zeal of the lord was consuming us, long ago the man would have perished, or rather, he would not even have had access to t

 To me the macedonian, to the right the spear, at a walk the half-file leader, captain, wheel around. and nothing new nor incredible for one who has

 I pray with the high priest, but the mixture and the sheath which has grown with us turns the mind, being raised aloft, back toward itself. therefore

 He would trace his genealogy from cronus and rhea and from those even further back, i mean hericapaeus and phanes and that orphic night and he traced

 And the same color over all, none of which moved or influenced him? but never to converse even with the more divine words nor to unroll any tablet, th

 The emperor's treasury is not supplied only from mines nor from the recesses of the earth, nor do tributes alone fill it, nor contributions from land

 And to speak of the audacity, or rather—but how could i speak, intertwining things?—and the diligently pursued plot, through which almost everything w

 Granting that you may meet with more benevolent judges above. and then the drink of deposition here will truly appear to you as a purification. and ma

 Suspicious to many. but if he has nothing in common with the one he has chosen to accuse, nor has anything come between them, it is somehow still unac

 They anticipate my tongue, scattering against me the things they did wrong on account of their own greed, and i confidently awaited the court, as one

 To vote against a priest on the spot the penance exceeds all punishment the examination and the penance must proceed canonically. and, as it seems,

 Of the whole age, an unbeliever, so that i may speak truly, to believe against a believer? for this would be far from reason and thought. for where we

 But i, but what might i say about this? he living the life of a private citizen, but i clothed in the high-priestly vestment. and such a man is agains

 With misfortunes and your example, for the sake of argument, let someone come forward as a condemned man to have his neck cut. and let the sword be ha

 Do you receive? for the pardon testifies that the deposition did not seem so even to himself. for if, according to you, it is like a cutting off, what

 Is the cause the comparison of the matter to a beheading? for from this, one absurdity having been granted, these many nonsensical things were consequ

 An evil tale about me for years, leave me to my former wounds, do not card new ones upon me. so may the lord heal you, if indeed there is anything in

 This is the law of accusation and defense, and from this the precise examination of matters is found. but he introduced a new kind of writing into the

 Of voice, for not even this is unworthy of the art, and with a rhythmic turn of the tongue, you perhaps might only approach him, you who indeed gaped

 Has been debarred from studies? but for you in deep old age, what share is there of education? who of all people has known you, as far as i know, afte

 Which they say came into being of their own accord. but these things are not acceptable to you, and for this reason we shall laugh at you again, havin

 Ever, not in courts, not in counsels, not in public, not in private. for this was not even without accusation, but the speech had some defense. from w

 And the nature of fire did not burn, and the steep rock sent forth springs, and the wood here sweetened the bitterness, and there lightened the heavy

 Did he transcend this time? and it is likely, o best one, for christ possessed a nature more free even according to human standards. whether, then, th

 From himself, having allotted a great portion of reason to his soul this man, therefore, having long ago established for himself a little adopted dau

 A contest, but more brilliant was the victory of elpidius, and he went away having overcome the vestarches by all votes and crowning himself with the

 Receiving. when the most compassionate soul heard this supplication, since she also knew the circumstances concerning the bestarches, and that for man

 I will let my tongue go from forbidden deeds. and first i shame myself relating unspeakable and improper things, since i will also become a stumbling

 The amounts owed will be reckoned against each other, and the fine will be reckoned to elpidios in place of the protospatharios's fee, and the protosp

 Having received a seaside property from him, i give back to him in exchange a mainland one as a permanent dwelling by gift. but the kalai property was

 Most complete, not measured by time, not defined by partial successions nor by these alienations or those, but eternal, sufficient for all successions

 Indicating by the documents, which it is also necessary to go through in order. and so that we may make the summaries concise, and not, by going throu

 At that time for the ruler to ratify to her through a gift of a golden bull the property which he had previously granted to the man, not having been i

 But the rest testified that they themselves were not present at such a sale, but had heard from the subscribing witnesses in the confirmatory document

 He marveled at our western setting sun as a morning sunrise, and with the unspeakable pangs of his soul he discerned the ineffable will of god concern

 On both sides the gift is valid for those who received it from there. for the estate was perhaps of the daughters of nicholas’s wife through paternal

 Harmony, who of all could dissolve such a great bond, or rather these wonderful and in reality altogether indissoluble connections? for the first and

 He has made known by an agreement to whom indeed you also entrusted everything under oath and, whatever they themselves should do, you have promised

 Emperor of the romans, doukas. konstantinos, in christ the god faithful emperor of the romans, doukas. ioannes, most humble archbishop of constantinop

he both strung together and vomited up, this twenty-third writing he thinks, or rather he places it between those who were then in every way our own people and those of the law and of the shadow, like some cornerstone binding together the things that seem to be separate. But how has he ignored that which was legislated by the holy fathers who gathered at Gangra? "If any," it says, "woman, on account of a supposed asceticism, should change her attire and take up a man's, let her be anathema." I except, however, from the argument, if some two or three of the holy women have dared this and have remained untouched by the curse through an excess of virtue and asceticism. But your renowned prophetess Dositheos, has she not approached you in this way, having changed her garment and astounded with her attire? And she was a charlatan of old; and knowing nothing of the established customs, was condemned by this great curse, but will the great high priest get off with less than she, who both knew the law and did not immediately rebuke her—far from it—but honored and revered her just as Jesus son of Nave of old revered the angel of the Lord when he saw him in the guise of a soldier? So the great apostle also openly teaches concerning the head-covering for both sexes, and he introduces the one covered, but takes away the covering from the other, showing, however, also another of the deeper things. But not even the apparent meaning of the argument is to be rejected. If, therefore, paying little heed to the oracles of Dositheos, you had rather conversed with the epistles of the apostle, and of those examined in the understanding of these things, you had either frequently inquired or reread the books, you would not have consorted with every woman nor every man, nor would you have become liable to such arguments. But these things, lying perhaps somewhere in a corner and in a few commentaries, the careful examiner of the canons might pretend to not know; but the canons concerning not being with heretics or sharing communion with them, issued by all the fathers, how will you say you do not know them? For not some yes, and some no, nor having spoken once did they fall silent, but all at once and <for> all the canons. Why is it necessary to bring these up in part and wear out your ears, since you know them precisely and have no need of one to remind you? Therefore, it is not out of ignorance that you have accepted wicked doctrines, just as if someone, having left the sun at midday, should turn toward the shadow, he could not say he does not know the light. For someone will say to him: "My good man, but it was not hidden under Mount Parnassus or Mount Pangaion, but it was enough to turn just a little and enjoy the rays." Therefore, on these points, have I come in to make accusations, and you to struggle against the argument, what unknown wisdom have you brought us so as to counterpose it to what has been said by us and to devise a solution for the insoluble? I, at any rate, often training my reasoning at will for refutations, have <not> been able to resist any of the accusations, having practiced many weaker arguments and having made them equal to the stronger ones. For we have not set before you an intermediate and doubtful proposition, so that it might tip the scales according to the power of the writer, but a common and most true one, such as the axioms of the sciences are by nature. And this tribunal, indeed, seems to me stranger than any of all time; for both I who speak and you who listen hold the rank of accusers, and there is nothing to oppose, unless someone should wish to speak contentiously. And having come to this point in my speech, I wish to enumerate the things that have been set forth, so that you may have them all together and as it were summary outlines. I have refuted for the Chians their separation from the divine word, having taken common notions also from you. I have presented the form of their corrupt opinion. I have referred this by comparison to specific heresies, both of those very well known to you and of those unknown to some. I have shown their deceit to be Hellenic, Chaldaizing, simply deceitful, devoted also to wicked spirits, exactly resembling the arguments of Porphyry, of the

συνεῖρέ τε καὶ ἀπήμεσεν, εἰκοστότριτον τοῦτο σύγγραμμα οἴεται ἢ μᾶλλον τῶν τότε πάντῃ ἡμεδαπῶν καὶ τῶν τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῆς σκιᾶς μέσον τίθησιν ὥσπερ τινὰ λίθον ἀκρογωνιαῖον τὰ δοκοῦντα διαστῆναι συνδέοντα. ἐκεῖνο δὲ πῶς ἠγνόηκεν, ὃ παρὰ τῶν ἐν Γάγγρᾳ συνελθόντων ἁγίων πατέρων νενομοθέτηται; "εἴ τις", γάρ φησι, "γυνὴ διὰ νομιζομένην ἄσκησιν μεταβάλοιτο ἀμφίασμα καὶ ἀνδρεῖον ἀναλάβοι, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω." ἐξαίρω μέντοι τοῦ λόγου, εἴ τινες δύο ἢ τρεῖς τῶν ἁγίων γυναικῶν τοῦτο καὶ τετολμήκασι καὶ ἀνάλωτοι τῇ ἀρᾷ μεμενήκασι δι' ὑπερβολὴν ἀρετῆς καὶ ἀσκήσεως. ἡ δὲ περιώνυμός σοι προφῆτις ∆οσιθέος οὐχ οὔτως σοι πεπλησίακε τὴν στολὴν μεταμείψασα καὶ τῇ ἀναβολῇ καταπλήξασα; κἀκείνη μὲν ἀγυρτεύουσα πάλαι· καὶ μηδὲν τῶν νενομισμένων εἰδυῖα τῇ μεγάλῃ ταύτῃ κατεδικάσθη ἀρᾷ, ὁ δὲ μέγας ἀρχιερεὺς ἔλαττόν τι ταύτης ἀποίσεται, τόν τε νόμον εἰδὼς καὶ μὴ ἐλέγξας εὐθύς-πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ-ἀλλὰ τιμήσας καὶ σεβασάμενος ὥσπερ ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ τὸ πάλαι Ἰησοῦς τὸν τοῦ κυρίου ἄγγελον ἐπὶ στρατιωτικοῦ θεασάμενος σχήματος; ὁ μὲν οὖν μέγας ἀπόστολος καὶ περιφανῶς δογματίζει περὶ τοῦ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἀμφοῖν τοῖν γενοῖν σχήματος καὶ τὸ μὲν κατακαλύψας εἰσάγει, τοῦ δὲ ἀφαιρεῖται τὸ κάλυμμα, δεικνὺς μέντοι καὶ ἄλλο τῶν βαθυτέρων. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸ φαινόμενον τοῦ λόγου ἀπόβλητον. εἰ γοῦν ὀλίγα φροντίζων τῶν τῆς ∆οσιθέας χρησμῶν τὰ πολλὰ ταῖς τοῦ ἀποστόλου προσωμίλεις ἐπιστολαῖς καὶ τῶν ἐξητασμένων περὶ τὴν τούτων σύνεσιν ἢ θαμὰ ἐπυνθάνου ἢ τὰς βίβλους ἐπανεγίνωσκες, οὐκ ἂν πάσῃ οὐδὲ παντὶ προσωμίλεις οὐδ' ἂν τοιούτοις λόγοις ἔνοχος καθειστήκεις. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἐν παραβύστῳ ἴσως που κείμενα καὶ ἐν ὀλίγοις τοῖς ὑπομνήμασιν ἀγνοεῖν σκήψαιο ὁ ἀκριβὴς τῶν κανόνων ἐξεταστής· τοὺς δὲ περὶ τοῦ μὴ συνεῖναι αἱρετικοῖς ἢ συγκοινωνεῖν παρὰ πάντων πατέρων ἐκδεδομένους κανόνας πῶς ἀγνοεῖν φήσεις; οὐ γὰρ οἱ μέν, οἱ δὲ οὔ, οὐδ' ἅπαξ εἰπόντες ἀπεσιώπησαν, ἀλλ' ἅπαξ ἅπαντες καὶ <ὑπὲρ> πάντων τῶν κανόνων. οὓς τί δεῖ κατὰ μέρος ἐπιφορεῖν καὶ τὰ ὦτα ὑμῶν ἀποκναίειν, εἰδότων ἀκριβῶς καὶ οὐ δεομένων τοῦ ὑπομνήσοντος; οὐ τοίνυν ἐξ ἀγνοίας τὰ πονηρὰ εἰσδέδεξαι δόγματα, ὥσπερ οὐδ', εἴ τις ἀφεὶς ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ τὸν ἥλιον τραπείη πρὸς τὴν σκιάν, ἀγνοεῖν εἴποι τὸ φῶς. ἐρεῖ γάρ τις αὐτῷ· "ὧ βέλτιστε, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὑπὸ τῷ Παρνασσῷ ἢ τῷ Παγγαίῳ ὄρει ἐκέκρυπτο, ἀλλ' ἤρκει βραχύ τι στραφῆναι καὶ τῶν αὐγῶν ἀπολαῦσαι." Ἆρ' οὖν ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐγὼ μὲν εἰσῆλθον κατηγορήσων, ὑμεῖς δὲ πρὸς τὸν λόγον ἀγωνιούμενοι, τίνα σοφίαν ἠγνοημένην ἐσχηκότες ἡμῖν ὥστ' ἐκείνην ἀντεμβάλλειν τοῖς παρ' ἡμῶν εἰρημένοις καὶ λύσιν τοῖς ἀλύτοις ἐπινοήσασθαι; ἐγὼ γοῦν πολλάκις ἐπ' ἐξουσίας εἰς ἀντιρρήσεις γυμνάζων τὸν ἐμὸν λογισμὸν πρὸς οὐδὲν τῶν κατηγορουμένων <οὐχ> οἷός τε γέγονα ἀντισχεῖν, πολλοὺς τῶν ἡττόνων λόγων ἐκμελετήσας καὶ τοῖς κρείττοσιν ἴσους πεποιηκώς. οὐ γὰρ μέσην καὶ ἀμφιρρεπῆ ὑπόθεσιν ὑμῖν προβεβλήκαμεν, ἵνα πρὸς τὴν τοῦ γράφοντος δύναμιν μεταβάλλῃ αὕτη τὰς πλάστιγγας, ἀλλὰ κοινὴν καὶ ἀληθεστάτην καὶ οἷα τὰ τῶν ἐπιστήμων πέφυκεν ἀξιώματα. καὶ τουτὶ μὲν τὸ δικαστήριον καινότερόν μοι τῶν ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς αἰῶνος δοκεῖ· ἐγώ τε γὰρ ὁ λέγων ὑμεῖς τε οἱ ἀκούοντες τάξιν κατηγόρων ἔχομεν καὶ τὸ ἀντιπῖπτον οὐδέν, εἰ μή τις ἐριστικῶς ἐθέλοι φωνεῖν. ἐνταῦθα δὲ τοῦ λόγου γενόμενος ἀριθμήσασθαι βούλομαι τὰ διηγορευμένα, ἵν' ἔχοιτε ἀθρόα καὶ ὡσπερεὶ κεφαλαιώδεις ἐπιτομάς. Ἀπήλεγξα τοῖς Χιώταις τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ θείου λόγου διάστασιν κοινὰς καὶ παρ' ὑμῶν ἐννοίας λαβών. τὸ εἶδος τῆς διεφθαρμένης αὐτῶν δόξης παρέστησα. εἰς εἰδικὰς τοῦτο αἱρέσεις τῶν τε πάνυ γνωρίμων ὑμῖν καὶ τῶν ἀγνώστων τισὶ συγκρίνας ἀνήνεγκα. Ἑλληνικὴν αὐτῶν τὴν ἀπάτην ἀπέδειξα, χαλδαΐζουσαν, ἀτεχνῶς ἀπατηλήν, προσκειμένην καὶ πονηροῖς πνεύμασι, τοῖς Πορφυρίου λόγοις ἀκριβῶς ἐοικυῖαν, τῆς τοῦ