§5. His peculiar caricature of the bishops, Eustathius of Armenia and Basil of Galatia, is not well drawn.

But, not to linger longer on these absurdities in the very act of declining to mention them, and not to soil this book by forcing my subject through all his written reminiscences, like one who urges his horse through a slough and so gets covered with its filth, I think it is best to leap over the mass of his rubbish with as high and as speedy a jump as my thoughts are capable of, seeing that a quick retreat from what is disgusting is a considerable advantage; and let us hasten on12    Reading πρός τε τὸ πέρας. to the finale of his story, lest the bitterness of his own words should trickle into my book. Let Eunomius have the monopoly of the bad taste in such words as these, spoken of God’s priests13    This must be the ‘caricature’ of the (Greek) Summary above. Eustathius of Sebasteia, the capital of Armenia, and the Galatian Basil, of Ancyra (Angora), are certainly mentioned, c. 6 (end). Twice did these two, once Semi-Arians, oppose Aetius and Eunomius, before Constantius, at Byzantium. On the second occasion, however (Sozomen, H. E. iv. 23, Ursacius and Valens arrived with the proscription of the Homoousion from Ariminum: it was then that “the world groaned to find itself Arian” (Jerome). The ‘accursed saint’ ‘pale with fast,’ i.e. Eustathius, in his Armenian monastery, gave Basil the Great a model for his own., “curmudgeon squires, and beadles, and satellites, rummaging about, and not suffering the fugitive to carry on his concealment,” and all the other things which he is not ashamed to write of grey-haired priests. Just as in the schools for secular learning14    τῶν ἔξωθεν λόγων., in order to exercise the boys to be ready in word and wit, they propose themes for declamation, in which the person who is the subject of them is nameless, so does Eunomius make an onset at once upon the facts suggested, and lets loose the tongue of invective, and without saying one word as to any actual villainies, he merely works up against them all the hackneyed phrases of contempt, and every imaginable term of abuse: in which, besides, incongruous ideas are brought together, such as a ‘dilettante soldier,’ ‘an accursed saint,’ ‘pale with fast, and murderous with hate,’ and many such like scurrilities; and just like a reveller in the secular processions shouts his ribaldry, when he would carry his insolence to the highest pitch, without his mask on, so does Eunomius, without an attempt to veil his malignity, shout with brazen throat the language of the waggon. Then he reveals the cause why he is so enraged; ‘these priests took every precaution that many should not’ be perverted to the error of these heretics; accordingly he is angry that they could not stay at their convenience in the places they liked, but that a residence was assigned them by order of the then governor of Phrygia, so that most might be secured from such wicked neighbours; his indignation at this bursts out in these words; ‘the excessive severity of our trials,’ ‘our grievous sufferings,’ ‘our noble endurance of them,’ ‘the exile from our native country into Phrygia.’ Quite so: this Oltiserian15    Oltiseris was probably the district, as Corniaspa was the village, in which Eunomius was born. It is a Celtic word: and probably suggests his half-Galatian extraction. might well be proud of what occurred, putting an end as it did to all his family pride, and casting such a slur upon his race that that far-renowned Priscus, his grandfather, from whom he gets those brilliant and most remarkable heirlooms, “the mill, and the leather, and the slaves’ stores,” and the rest of his inheritance in Chanaan16    This can be no other than the district Chammanene, on the east bank of the Halys, where Galatia and Cappadocia join., would never have chosen this lot, which now makes him so angry. It was to be expected that he would revile those who were the agents of this exile. I quite understand his feeling. Truly the authors of these misfortunes, if such there be or ever have been, deserve the censures of these men, in that the renown of their former lives is thereby obscured, and they are deprived of the opportunity of mentioning and making much of their more impressive antecedents; the great distinctions with which each started in life; the professions they inherited from their fathers; the greater or the smaller marks of gentility of which each was conscious, even before they became so widely known and valued that even emperors numbered them amongst their acquaintance, as he now boasts in his book, and that all the higher governments were roused about them and the world was filled with their doings.

Ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ παραιτεῖσθαι πλέον τοῦ δέοντος ἐμβραδύνω τοῖς ἀνονήτοις « καὶ » καθάπερ ὁ διὰ βορβόρου τινὸς διελαύνων τὸν ἵππον καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ἀηδίας καταπιμπλάμενος, οὕτω κἀγὼ διὰ τῆς μνήμης τῶν γεγραμμένων διεξάγων τὸν λόγον καταμολύνω τὸ σύγγραμμα, πρέπειν ἡγοῦμαι πάντα τὸν τοιοῦτον συρφετόν, ὅπως ἂν ᾖ δυνατόν, ὑψηλῷ καὶ ταχεῖ τῷ ἅλματι τοῦ λόγου διαπηδήσας (ἱκανὸν γὰρ κέρδος ἡ ταχεῖα τῶν ἀηδῶν ἀναχώρησις) πρὸς τὸ πέρας τῆς ἱστορίας ἐπισπεῦσαι τὸν λόγον, ὡς ἂν μὴ καὶ τῷ ἐμῷ βιβλίῳ τὰ τῆς πικρίας αὐτῶν ἐνστάζοιτο ῥήματα. μόνῃ γὰρ πρεπέτω τῇ Εὐνομίου φωνῇ τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν περὶ ἱερέων θεοῦ, « ὑπασπιστὰς καὶ ῥαβδούχους καὶ δορυφόρους καταπλήσσοντας, διερευνωμένους, λαθεῖν οὐκ ἐπιτρέποντας τὸν κρυπτόμενον », καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα κατὰ πολιᾶς ἱερέων οὐκ αἰσχύνεται γράφων. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς παιδευτηρίοις τῶν ἔξωθεν λόγων εἰς γυμνασίαν τῆς κατὰ τὴν γλῶσσαν καὶ τὸν νοῦν ἑτοιμότητος ἀφορμαὶ καταφορᾶς τοῖς μειρακίοις προβάλλονται κατά τινος ἀορίστου προσώπου, οὕτω κατ' εὐθεῖαν ἐπεμβαίνει τοῖς μνημονευθεῖσιν ὁ συγγραφεὺς καὶ τὴν κακήγορον αὐτοῖς ἐπαφίησι γλῶσσαν καὶ τὰ ἔργα τῆς πονηρίας σιγήσας ψιλὴν αὐτῶν κατασκεδάζει τὴν ἑωλοκρασίαν τῶν ὕβρεων, πᾶν ὄνειδος κατ' αὐτῶν συμπλάσσων καὶ συντιθεὶς ἐν ταῖς λοιδορίαις τὰ ἄμικτα, « φαιοτρίβωνά τινα στρατιώτην », καὶ « ἅγιον » καὶ « ἐξάγιστον, ὑπὸ νηστείας τε ὠχριῶντα καὶ ὑπὸ πικρίας φονῶντα, καὶ » πολλὴν ἄλλην τοιαύτην βωμολοχίαν. « καὶ » καθάπερ ἐν ταῖς ἔξω πομπαῖς διαβέβληταί τις ὡς δι' ὑπερβολὴν ἀναιδείας ἄνευ προσωπείου κωμάζων, οὕτως οὐδενὶ παραπετάσματι τὴν πικρίαν ἑαυτοῦ συσκιάσας γυμνῇ καὶ ἀπηρυθριασμένῃ φωνῇ τὰ ἐκ τῆς ἁμάξης προφέρει: εἶτα ὁμολογεῖ ἐφ' οἷς παροξύνεται, ὅτι « σπουδὴν ἐποιοῦντο », φησίν, « ἐκεῖνοι μὴ πολλοὺς τῇ ἀπάτῃ » τούτων « συνδιαστρέφεσθαι ». καὶ διὰ τοῦτο χαλεπαίνει, ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ πᾶσιν οἷς ἐβούλοντο τόποις κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἐνδιατρίβειν, ἀλλὰ γενέσθαι κατὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ τότε κρατοῦντος Φρυγίαν αὐτοῖς ἐνδιαίτημα, ὡς ἂν μὴ πολλοὶ βλάπτοιντο τῇ πονηρᾷ συνουσίᾳ, καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτων ἀγανακτῶν ἐκεῖνα γράφει: « καὶ ἡ πολλὴ βαρύτης τῶν ἄθλων καὶ τὰ δυσβάστακτα πάθη καὶ ἡ γενναία τῶν παθημάτων ὑπομονή, τὸ Φρυγίαν » αὐτοὺς « ἀντὶ τῆς ἐνεγκούσης ἀλλάξασθαι ».
Πάνυ γε. οὐ γὰρ ὄνειδος ἦν τῷ Ὀλτισηριώτῃ τὰ συμβεβηκότα καὶ τοῦ πατρικοῦ φρονήματος καθαίρεσιν φέροντα καὶ τὴν τοῦ γένους ἀξίαν ὑβρίζοντα, ὡς μὴ ἂν ἑλέσθαι ταῦτα, ἐφ' οἷς οὗτος νῦν χαλεπαίνει, τὸν ὀνομαστὸν ἐκεῖνον καὶ διώνυμον Πρίσκον, τὸν τοῦ πατρὸς τούτου πατέρα, ὅθεν τούτῳ τὰ λαμπρὰ καὶ περίβλεπτα τοῦ γένους ἐστὶ διηγήματα, ὁ « μυλὼν » καὶ τὸ « σκύτος » καὶ τὸ « οἰκετικὸν σιτηρέσιον » καὶ ἡ λοιπὴ τοῦ Χαναὰν κληρονομία, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἔδει κακίζεσθαι « τοὺς τὴν μετάστασιν αὐτοῖς προξενήσαντας »; _συντίθεμαι τούτῳ κἀγώ: ὄντως ἄξιοι τῆς παρ' αὐτῶν μέμψεως οἱ τούτων αὐτοῖς αἴτιοι γεγονότες, εἴπερ ὅλως εἰσί τινες ἢ γεγόνασιν, ὅτι « τῶν προβεβιωμένων ἡ γνῶσις διὰ τούτων συγκαλυφθεῖσα παραιρεῖται τῶν σεμνοτέρων τὴν μνήμην » καὶ οὐκ ἐᾷ πολυπραγμονεῖσθαι τὰ τῶν παρόντων πρεσβύτερα, ὁποίας ἑκάτερος τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς ἀξίας ὡρμήθησαν, ποίαν ἐκ πατέρων ἔχοντες ἀκολουθίαν τοῦ βίου, τί μικρὸν ἢ μεῖζον τῶν ἐλευθέροις πρεπόντων ἑαυτοῖς συνεγνωκότες ἔπειτα « τοσοῦτον ἐγνωρίσθησάν τε καὶ ὠνομάσθησαν, ὥστε καὶ βασιλεῦσι γενέσθαι γνώριμοι », καθὼς μεγαλαυχεῖται νῦν τῷ συγγράμματι, « καὶ πάσας τὰς ὑπερεχούσας ἀρχὰς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς συγκινεῖσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς διαφέρεσθαι ».