20

shall I bring it forth? 37.3 For the memory of what has happened astounds my mind, and seeming, as it were, to see again the things that are to be described, I perceive that the narration of these matters is difficult to attempt. 37.4 For the representation of the events as if they were just now happening to the soul through memory, portraying the danger and shaping the events in the imagination, forces me to restrain the impulse to speak. 37.5 For what things were being accomplished then! 37.6 Some, fearing the utter destruction of the soul more than that of the body, were distressed at the thought of dying, considering the separation from the body to be the beginning of the punishments from there; 37.7 while others, pressing their knees to the earth and gushing forth streams of tears, were beseeching God to be deemed worthy of the calling through such a death. 37.8 Others, their conscience pricked more sharply than a sword by the memory of their sins, were recalling with regret the time they had spent in vanity. 37.9 Others, unable to do anything of the sort, but having surrendered their reason to agony, stood trembling, awaiting the cut like lifeless trees. 37.10 And others, as if struck by fear like a gadfly, were unrestrained in their impulses; of whom very many, having irrationally hurled themselves outside the wall, either ended their life in the fall or delivered themselves into the hands of the barbarians wandering there. 38.1 But what shall I say first of the women, with whose cries they forced the very air to join in their lamentation? 38.2 They demanded recalls, wailings, the embraces of their children, 38.3 no longer wishing to maintain decorum, overcome by suffering, nor to withdraw themselves from the sight of men, but rushing about shamelessly, with their hair unbound and having neglected what pertains to modesty, they were led along shouting out their laments together and groaning over the danger. 38.4 If there was also a virgin among them, one who had not yet gone forth from her domestic seclusion but was being kept safe for marriage and had been taught all modesty, she cast off the shame of being seen, and in her fear not even considering that she was a woman, she went through the middle of the marketplace, sharing in the lament with the other women and crying out terribly. 38.5 And monks and nuns, as many as, being quite young, had shaken off the attachments of this life through their love of virtue, living for themselves and for God alone, came out of their monasteries and, scattered in the public squares of the city, were mournfully bewailing the common ruin. 38.6 From which indeed astonishment comes over me, when I consider the varied and diverse virtue of those Nazirites, which they practiced in solitude, namely the all-night psalmody and the sacred virginity and the earnest prayer and the unceasing tears; 38.7 how did they not incline the divine mercy towards us, how did they not become surety for the city, how did they not find the avoidance of the danger as a prize for their virtue, but were rather seized like sheep without a shepherd, all having become victims of the sword and having shared in the slaughter with the lot of the sinners. 38.8 Nevertheless I believe that their death, as the psalm says, has become precious in the sight of the Lord, and in this the wise one has honored his own servants, so that with the rest of their virtue they might also bear a martyr's end, that he might lavish upon them the rewards of endurance and the recompense of those unspeakable good things; 38.9 but the multitude of our transgressions has caused not only their intercessions but also the supplications of the martyrs to be shown ineffectual, so that, we having suffered what we have now suffered, all who despise the divine ordinances might come to know that, as they abound in wickedness, none of the saving aids will be able to deliver them from the master's threat. 39.1 For as the barbarians, having entered, dispersed throughout the entire city, immediately every age and every class of people was being destroyed by them. 39.2 For there was no pity in them, having long been maddened and thirsting for our destruction, but both the old man and the one still in his prime and the youth and everyone who came in their way was a work for the murderers, nor

20

ἐξενέγκω; 37.3 ἐξιστᾷ γάρ μου τὸν νοῦν ἡ μνήμη τῶν γεγονότων, καὶ οἷον ὁρᾶν πάλιν δοκῶν τῶν λεχθησομένων τὰ πράγματα δυσεπιχείρητον τὴν περὶ τούτων ἐξήγησιν ἐπαισθάνομαι. 37.4 ἡ γὰρ ἀνατύπωσις τῶν γεγονότων ὡς ἄρτι πραττομένων τῇ ψυχῇ διὰ τῆς μνήμης τὸν κίνδυνον εἰκονίζουσα καὶ διαμορφοῦσα τῇ φαντασίᾳ τὰ πράγματα, τὴν ὁρμὴν τοῦ λέγειν ἐπέχειν βιάζεται. 37.5 οἷα γὰρ ἦν τὰ τελούμενα τότε! 37.6 οἱ μὲν πρὸ τῆς σωματικῆς τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς πλέον δεδιότες πανολεθρίαν πρὸς τὸ θανεῖν ἐδυσφόρουν, ἀρχὴν τῶν ἐκεῖθεν κολάσεων τὸν χωρισμὸν ἡγούμενοι τὸν τοῦ σώματος· 37.7 οἱ δὲ τῇ γῇ προσερείδοντες τὰ γόνατα, κρουνούς τε δακρύων ἐκβλύζοντες, ἀξίους παραδεχθῆναι τῆς κλήσεως διὰ τοῦ τοιούτου θανάτου τὸν θεὸν ἐλιτάνευον. 37.8 ἄλλοι τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν ἡμαρτημένων τομώτερον τοῦ ξίφους τὸ συνειδὸς νυττόμενοι τὸν ἀναλωθέντα χρόνον ἐπὶ ματαίῳ ἀνεκαλοῦντο μεταμελούμενοι. 37.9 ἕτεροι μηδὲν τοιοῦτον ἐνεργῆσαι δυνάμενοι, ἀλλὰ τὸν λογισμὸν προδόντες τῇ ἀγωνίᾳ, ἵσταντο τρομώδεις, δίκην ἀψύχων δένδρων τὴν τομὴν ἀναμένοντες. 37.10 ἄλλοι δὲ καθάπερ οἴστρῳ τῷ φόβῳ πληττόμενοι ἀκάθεκτοι ταῖς ὁρμαῖς ἦσαν· ἐξ ὧν καὶ πλεῖστοι πρὸς τὸ ἐκτὸς τοῦ τείχους ἀσυλλογίστως ἑαυτοὺς ἀκοντίσαντες ἢ τῷ πτώματι τὴν ζωὴν συνεπέραναν ἢ τοῖς ἐκεῖσε στρεφομένοις βαρβάροις ἑαυτοὺς ἐνεχείρισαν. 38.1 Τί δὲ τῶν γυναικῶν εἴπω πρῶτον, οἷς καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ἀέρα συνθρηνεῖν αὐταῖς ἐβιάζοντο; 38.2 ᾔτουν τὰς ἀνακλήσεις, τὰς οἰμωγάς, τῶν τέκνων τὰς περιπλοκάς, 38.3 οὐδ' εὐσχημονεῖν ἔτι βουλόμεναι νικηθεῖσαι τῷ πάθει, οὐδὲ τῆς ὄψεως τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἑαυτὰς ὑπεκκλίνειν, ἀλλ' ἀναιδῶς φερόμεναι, τὰς κόμας ἔχουσαι λελυμένας καὶ τῶν πρὸς συστολὴν ἀμελήσασαι, ἤγοντο συνεκβοῶσαι τοὺς θρήνους καὶ τοῦ κινδύνου καταστενάζουσαι. 38.4 εἴ που καὶ παρθένος ἐν αὐταῖς, ἡ μήπω τῆς οἰκουρίας προβᾶσα ἀλλ' ἀσφαλῶς τηρουμένη τῷ γάμῳ καὶ σεμνότητα πᾶσαν δεδιδαγμένη, τὴν αἰδῶ τῆς ὄψεως περιάρασα, καὶ μηδ' ὅτι γυνὴ τυγχάνει τῷ δέει λογιζομένη, διῄει τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἐν μέσῳ, ταῖς ἄλλαις γυναιξὶ κοινωνοῦσα τοῦ θρήνου καὶ δεινὸν ἀλαλάζουσα. 38.5 μονασταὶ δὲ καὶ μονάζουσαι, ὅσοι τὴν προσπάθειαν τοῦ βίου κομιδῇ νέοι ὑπάρχοντες τῷ φίλτρῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀπεσείσαντο, ἑαυτοῖς μόνοις καὶ θεῷ ζῶντες, τῶν ἀσκητηρίων ἐκβάντες καὶ ταῖς πλατείαις διασπαρέντες τῆς πόλεως τὸν κοινὸν ὄλεθρον γοερὸν ἐκλαυθμύριζον. 38.6 ἐξ οὗ δή μοι καὶ θάμβος ἐπέρχεται, ὅταν κατὰ νοῦν λάβω τὴν ποικίλην καὶ διάφορον ἀρετὴν τῶν Ναζιραίων ἐκείνων, ἣν καταμόνας ἐφιλοπόνουν, ἤτοι τὴν πάννυχον ψαλμῳδίαν καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν παρθενίαν τήν τε ἐκτενῆ προσευχὴν καὶ τὸ ἀκατάπαυστον δάκρυον· 38.7 πῶς οὐκ ἔκαμψαν ἐφ' ἡμᾶς τὸν θεϊκὸν ἔλεον, πῶς οὐ κατεγγυήσαντο τὴν πόλιν, πῶς οὐχ εὗρον ἔπαθλον ἀρετῆς τὴν ἀποφυγὴν τοῦ κινδύνου, συνελήφθησαν δὲ μᾶλλον καθάπερ ἀνεπίσκοπα πρόβατα, πάντες τῆς μαχαίρας γεγονότες καὶ τῷ κλήρῳ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τῆς σφαγῆς κοινωνήσαντες. 38.8 πλὴν ἡγοῦμαι ὅτι τούτων μὲν ὁ θάνατος, ὥς φησιν ὁ ψαλμός, τίμιος γέγονεν ἐναντίον κυρίου, κἀν τούτῳ τοῦ σοφοῦ τοὺς οἰκείους δούλους τιμήσαντος, ἵνα μετὰ τῆς λοιπῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τὸ τέλος μαρτυρικὸν ἀπενέγκωνται, ὡς ἂν ἐπιδαψιλεύσηται τούτοις τὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς γέρα καὶ τῶν ἀρρήτων ἐκείνων ἀγαθῶν τὴν ἀντίδοσιν· 38.9 ἡμῶν δὲ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν παραπτώσεων οὐ μόνον τὰς τούτων ἐντεύξεις ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς τῶν μαρτύρων πρεσβείας ἀσυντελεῖς δειχθῆναι πεποίηκεν, ἵν' ἡμῶν παθόντων ὅπερ ἤδη πεπόνθαμεν, ἔχωσι γνῶναι πάντες οἱ τῶν θείων καταφρονηταὶ διατάξεων ὡς κακίᾳ πλεονεκτοῦντας οὐδὲν αὐτοὺς τῆς δεσποτικῆς ἀπειλῆς τῶν σωτηρίων βοηθημάτων ἐξαιρήσασθαι δυνηθήσεται. 39.1 Ὡς γὰρ κατὰ πᾶσαν εἰσελθόντες διεμερίσθησαν τὴν πόλιν οἱ βάρβαροι, εὐθὺς πᾶσα ἡλικία καὶ πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἀνῄρητο. 39.2 οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν οἶκτος αὐτοῖς οὐδεὶς πάλαι προμεμηνόσι καὶ τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν διψῶσιν ἀπώλειαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ γέρων καὶ ἀκμάζων ἔτι καὶ νεανίσκος καὶ πᾶς ὁ προστυχὼν ἔργον τοῖς μιαιφόνοις ἦν, οὐδὲ