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he commanded them to perform servile duties, and plundering the possessions of all as a godsend, he already even threatened death to those who called upon the saving name. This same man, possessing a passionate and licentious soul, and committing countless adulteries and unspeakable debaucheries, despaired of the ornament of chastity in human nature, using himself as an evil proof against himself. Therefore he made a second law, commanding that men should not be present with women for the prayers to God, nor should the female sex attend the sacred schools of virtue, nor should bishops instruct women in pious doctrines, but that women should choose women as their teachers. 1.53.2 But when these things were laughed at by everyone, he devised something else for the destruction of the churches, saying that the customary assemblies of the people should be held outside the gates in an open field; for the air outside the gates was much purer than that of the oratories within the city. 1.54.1 And when he found none to obey him in this either, he then openly urged that the soldiers of the governing regiments in each city be discharged, unless they should choose to sacrifice to the demons. So the ranks of godly men were stripped of their dignities throughout every nation, and the lawgiver himself was also stripped of prayers, having deprived himself of holy men. 1.54.2 But why must I mention the external matters, how he commanded that no one should show kindness by giving food to those suffering in prisons, nor pity those perishing of hunger in chains, nor that anyone should be good at all, nor do any good, even those who by nature are drawn to compassion for their neighbors? And this was of all laws openly the most shameless and most unlawful, surpassing every savage nature, to which was also attached the penalty that those who showed mercy should suffer the same as those who received mercy, and that those who performed acts of charity be confined in bonds and prisons, enduring the same punishment as those who were afflicted. 1.55.1 Such were the ordinances of Licinius. And why should one recount his innovations concerning marriages, or his novelties regarding those who depart this life, by which he dared to set aside the ancient laws of the Romans, which were well and wisely established, and introduced certain barbarous and savage ones in their place, devising countless pretexts against his subjects? From this he devised new measurements of land, so that he might reckon the smallest part as more †by 1.55.2 measure†, through greed for excessive taxes. From this he made registers of people in the country who no longer existed, but had long been among the dead, procuring for himself a shameful profit from this. For his pettiness had no measure, nor was his greed limited by satiety. Therefore, having filled all his treasuries with gold and silver and an infinite amount of money, groaning, he lamented his poverty, his soul worn out by a Tantalus-like 1.55.3 suffering. And what sentences of exile he devised against those who had done no wrong, what confiscations of property, what banishments of nobles and worthy men, whose lawful wives he handed over to vile slaves for the outrage of a shameful act, and how many married women and virgins he himself assailed, although his body was already worn with age; it is not necessary to elaborate on these things, since the excess of his last deeds showed the first ones to be small and of no account. 1.56.1 At any rate, the culmination of his madness was armed against the churches, and he proceeded against the bishops, whom he saw as his greatest opponents and considered his 1.56.2 enemies, being friends of the God-beloved and great emperor. For this reason he especially sharpened his anger against us, having been turned from sound reason and being utterly mad in his mind, he neither kept in mind the memory of those before him who had persecuted Christians, nor of those of whom he himself had become the destroyer and avenger for the impieties they had committed, nor of what he had been an eyewitness, having seen with his own eyes that ringleader of evils, whoever he was, struck by a divinely sent scourge. 1.57.1 For when this man began the siege of the churches, both justifying his own soul first and

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οἰκετικάς τε ποιεῖσθαι διακονίας προσέταττε, πάντων δὲ τὰς ὑπάρξεις ἀντὶ ἑρμαίου προαρπάζων ἤδη καὶ θάνατον ἠπείλει τοῖς τὸ σωτήριον ἐπιγραφομένοις ὄνομα. ὁ δ' αὐτός γέ τοι τὴν ψυχὴν ἐμπαθῆ καὶ ἀκόλαστον κεκτημένος μυρίας τε δρῶν μοιχείας ἐπιρρήτους τ' αἰσχρουργίας, τὸν σωφροσύνης κόσμον τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπεγίνωσκε φύσεως, ἐλέγχῳ κακῷ χρώμενος αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ. ∆ιὸ δὴ δεύτερον νόμον ἐτίθει, μὴ δεῖν προστάττων ἄνδρας ἅμα γυναιξὶν ἐπὶ τὰς τοῦ θεοῦ παρεῖναι εὐχάς, μηδ' ἐπὶ τὰ σεμνὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς διδασκαλεῖα φοιτᾶν τὸ γυναικῶν γένος, μηδ' ἐπισκόπους καθηγεῖσθαι γυναιξὶ θεοσεβῶν λόγων, γυναῖκας δ' αἱρεῖσθαι γυναικῶν διδασκάλους. 1.53.2 Γελωμένων δὲ τούτων παρὰ τοῖς πᾶσιν, ἄλλο τι πρὸς καθαίρεσιν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἐμηχανᾶτο, δεῖν φήσας πυλῶν ἐκτὸς ἐπὶ καθαρῷ πεδίῳ τὰς ἐξ ἔθους συγκροτήσεις τῶν λαῶν ποιεῖσθαι· τῶν γὰρ κατὰ πόλιν προσευκτηρίων παρὰ πολὺ τὸν ἐκτὸς πυλῶν ἀέρα τῷ καθαρῷ διαλλάττειν. 1.54.1 Ὡς δ' οὐκ εἶχεν οὐδ' ἐν τούτῳ τοὺς ὑπακούοντας, γυμνῇ λοιπὸν τῇ κεφαλῇ τοὺς κατὰ πόλιν στρατιώτας ἡγεμονικῶν ταγμάτων ἀποβάλλεσθαι, εἰ μὴ τοῖς δαίμοσιν αἱροῖντο θύειν, παρεκελεύετο. ἐγυμνοῦντο δῆτα τῶν κατὰ πᾶν ἔθνος ἀξιωμάτων αἱ τάξεις ἀνδρῶν θεοσεβῶν, ἐγυμνοῦτο δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τούτων νομοθέτης εὐχῶν, ὁσίων ἀνδρῶν ἑαυτὸν στερήσας. 1.54.2 Τί δὲ δεῖ τῶν ἐκτὸς μνημονεύειν, ὡς τοὺς ἐν εἱρκταῖς ταλαιπωρουμένους μηδένα μεταδόσει τροφῆς φιλανθρωπεύεσθαι ἐκέλευσε, μηδ' ἐλεεῖν τοὺς ἐν δεσμοῖς λιμῷ διαφθειρομένους, μηδ' ἁπλῶς ἀγαθὸν εἶναι μηδένα, μηδ' ἀγαθόν τι πράττειν τοὺς καὶ πρὸς τῆς φύσεως ἐπὶ τὸ συμπαθὲς τῶν πέλας ἑλκομένους; καὶ ἦν γε νόμων οὗτος ἄντικρυς ἀναιδὴς καὶ παρανομώτατος, πᾶσαν ἀνήμερον ὑπερακοντίζων φύσιν, ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ τιμωρία προσέκειτο τοὺς ἐλεοῦντας τὰ ἴσα πάσχειν τοῖς ἐλεουμένοις, δεσμοῖς τε καὶ φυλακαῖς καθείργνυσθαι τὴν ἴσην τοῖς καταπονουμένοις ὑπομένοντας τιμωρίαν τοὺς τὰ φιλάνθρωπα διακονουμένους. 1.55.1 Τοιαῦται Λικινίου αἱ διατάξεις. τί δὲ χρὴ τὰς περὶ γάμων αὐτοῦ καινοτομίας ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι ἢ τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς τὸν βίον μεταλλάττουσι νεωτερισμούς, δι' ὧν τοὺς παλαιοὺς Ῥωμαίων εὖ καὶ σοφῶς κειμένους νόμους περιγράψαι τολμήσας βαρβάρους τινὰς καὶ ἀνημέρους ἀντεισῆγε, σκήψεις ἐπινοῶν μυρίας κατὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων; ἔνθεν ἀναμετρήσεις ἐπενόει γῆς, ὡς ἂν πλείονα †τῷ 1.55.2 μέτρῳ λογίζοιτο τὴν ἐλαχίστην†, δι' ἀπληστίαν περιττῶν εἰσπράξεων. ἔνθεν τῶν κατ' ἀγροὺς μηκέτι ὄντων ἀνθρώπων πρόπαλαι δ' ἐν νεκροῖς κειμένων ἀναγραφὰς ἐποιεῖτο, αἰσχρὸν αὐτῷ κέρδος ἐκ τούτου ποριζόμενος. οὐ γὰρ εἶχεν αὐτῷ μέτρον ἡ μικρολογία οὐδ' ἡ ἀπληστία κόρῳ περιωρίζετο. διὸ δὴ πάντας πληρώσας θησαυροὺς χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου χρημάτων τ' ἀπείρῳ πλήθει στένων ἀπωδύρετο πτωχείαν, Τανταλείῳ πάθει τὴν ψυχὴν τρυχό1.55.3 μενος. οἵας δ' ἐφεῦρε κατὰ τῶν μηδὲν ἠδικηκότων ὑπερορίους τιμωρίας, οἵας ὑπαρχόντων δημεύσεις, οἵας εὐπατριδῶν καὶ ἀξιολόγων ἀνδρῶν ἀπαγωγάς, ὧν τὰς κουριδίας γαμετὰς μιαροῖς οἰκέταις ἐφ' ὕβρει πράξεως αἰσχρᾶς παρεδίδου, ὅσαις δ' αὐτός, καίπερ ἤδη γήρᾳ τὸ σῶμα πεπαλαιωμένος, γυναιξὶν ὑπάνδροις παρθένοις τε κόραις ἐνεχείρει, οὐ δὴ ταῦτα χρεὼν μηκύνειν, τῆς τῶν ἐσχάτων αὐτοῦ πράξεων ὑπερβολῆς σμικρὰ τὰ πρῶτα καὶ τὸ μηθὲν ἀποδειξάσης. 1.56.1 Τὸ γοῦν τέλος αὐτῷ τῆς μανίας κατὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ὡπλίζετο ἐπί τε τοὺς ἐπισκόπους ἐχώρει, οὓς ἂν μάλιστα ἐναντιουμένους ἑώρα καὶ ἐχθροὺς 1.56.2 ἡγεῖτο, τοὺς τῷ θεοφιλεῖ καὶ μεγάλῳ βασιλεῖ φίλους. διὸ δὴ μάλιστα καθ' ἡμῶν τὸν θυμὸν ὠξύνετο, τοῦ σώφρονος παρατραπεὶς λογισμοῦ διαρρήδην τε μανεὶς τὰς φρένας, οὔτε τὴν μνήμην τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ Χριστιανοὺς ἐκδιωξάντων ἐν νῷ κατεβάλλετο, οὔθ' ὧν αὐτὸς ὀλετὴρ καὶ τιμωρὸς δι' ἃς μετῆλθον ἀσεβείας κατέστη, οὐδ' ὧν αὐτόπτης γέγονεν, αὐτοῖς παραλαβὼν ὄμμασι τὸν πρωτοστάτην τῶν κακῶν, ὅστις ποτ' ἦν ἐκεῖνος, θεηλάτῳ μάστιγι πληγέντα. 1.57.1 Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τῆς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν κατῆρχε πολιορκίας οὗτος πρῶτός τε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν δικαίων καὶ