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Thus they plotted against the salvation of all even then, fabricating a certain deceitful pretext, that they were not turning to flight, but rather to the reception of the Strymonite allies, as the general had supposedly ordered this. 42.1 And not much time passed, and the sword-bearing barbarians stood at the gates, and it was no longer possible for anyone even to look outside without danger, much less to escape the danger. 42.2 For I myself, with my father and brothers (these two are younger than me, falling short of my age, who to this day share with me in both the captivity and the other pains) was found present at that very hour in the place, along with not a few others from the city. 42.3 And when we had already suffered that wicked plot (for after the pretext was enacted, we had recognized what had happened), all of us were driven back, each of us as fast as he could, were herded toward the city, separated one from another, as misfortune led, with fear arranging the formations. 42.4 Therefore it seemed best to my father and to us, since the barbarians had not yet reached us, to go up for the time being into a certain tower of the inner wall and not to mix with the crowd, so that if the enemy should happen to arrive, being separated from the others and alone encountering them on the battlements, we might be able to offer them some embassy and save our own lives. 42.5 Which indeed also came to pass by divine providence. 42.6 But how and with what wonder-working power, I am about to tell. 43.1 We went up onto the wall, running in haste, at a certain projection opposite the venerable shrine there of the first-called of the apostles, Andrew. 43.2 We were five in all together, my father and I with the two aforementioned brothers and a certain other person who also shared our kinship, all clerics and distinguished in the order of lectors. 43.3 Therefore, having rested there a little and considering by ourselves the imminent end by the sword, we began our wailing, each groaning for his own soul and for the separation from one another. 43.4 And my father was the first to begin the lament, being already advanced in years and practiced in much skill in speaking, 43.5 saying, “Woe is me, o much-suffering children, in what circumstances am I now caught, and for what was this reserved for this wretched and miserable life of mine, that I should see those whom I begot at different times and brought forth in birth undergo their end all at once, and not even have what is permitted to the unfortunate, leisure to mourn worthily of the suffering. 43.6 For I would have summoned 43.6 to this common and inconsolable grief even the inanimate things of creation to share in my suffering and partake of the calamity. 43.7 For not all of my fellow countrymen fare otherwise than I, each one waiting for some of his own and in need of another’s sympathy. 43.8 For two terrible things have befallen me at the same time, both the danger to my soul, having spent my life in sins, and this unexpected separation from you, which I thus never expected, 43.9 but I always held it in prayer that these grief-laden eyes would be closed by you, so that, resting in your hands, I might be given to the tomb of my fathers, and I might leave you in safety to care for your mother in her old age and to provide the means of life for your two brothers who are still very young and born late in time. 43.10 But now all such hope has perished, and caught in the midst of terrible things I await your untimely end. 43.11 And thus the multitude of my iniquities has kept me and reserved me for this day, so that I may see with my own eyes my dearest children become a prey to barbarian swords and their much-longed-for limbs mercilessly torn apart by the hands of executioners, oh, the pain, not even having this security, that the murderer will first deliver wretched me from life. 43.12 For, in comparison of evils, my own fate would be bearable; 43.13 but the youthfulness of your age has become suspect to me, and the bloom of your faces

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οὕτω τῆς πάντων ἐπεβουλεύσαντο σωτηρίας καὶ τότε, πρόφασίν τινα δολίαν πλασάμενοι, ὡς οὐ πρὸς φυγὴν ἐκτρέπονται, πρὸς ὑποδοχὴν δὲ μᾶλλον τῶν Στρυμονιτῶν συμμάχων, τοῦ στρατηγοῦ δῆθεν τοῦτο προστάξαντος. 42.1 Οὐ πολὺ δὲ τὸ ἐν μέσῳ, καὶ ξιφήρεις οἱ βάρβαροι ταῖς πύλαις ἐπέστησαν, καὶ οὐκέτι δυνατὸν ἦν οὐδὲ προσβλέψαι μόνον ἐκτὸς ἀκινδύνως τινά, μή τί γε τὸν κίνδυνον ὑπαλύξαι. 42.2 κἀγὼ γὰρ αὐτὸς σὺν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς (δύο δέ μοί εἰσιν οὗτοι νεώτεροι, τῆς ἐμῆς ἡλικίας ὑποβεβηκότες, οἱ μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο τῆς τε φρουρᾶς καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀλγεινῶν μοι συγκοινωνοῦντες) κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν ὥραν παρόντες εὑρέθημεν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ μετὰ καί τινων ἄλλων τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως οὐκ ὀλίγων. 42.3 καὶ ὡς ἤδη τὴν πονηρὰν ἐκείνην ὑπέστημεν ἐπιβουλήν (μετὰ γὰρ τὸ πραχθῆναι τὴν σκῆψιν τὸ συμβὰν ἐπεγνώκειμεν), ὀπισθόρμητοι πάντες, ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ὡς εἶχε τάχους, πρὸς τὴν πόλιν συνηλαυνόμεθα, ἄλλος ἀλλαχῇ διαιρεθέντες, καθὼς ἂν ἦγεν ἡ συμφορά, τοῦ φόβου διατιθεῖσα τὰ σχήματα. 42.4 ἔδοξεν οὖν τῷ τε πατρὶ καὶ ἡμῖν, μήπω πεφθακότων πρὸς ἡμᾶς τῶν βαρβάρων, εἴς τινα πύργον τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἐνδότερον τεῖχος ἀνιέναι τέως καὶ μὴ τῷ πλήθει συναναμίγνυσθαι, ὡς ἂν τῶν πολεμίων τυχὸν ἐπιστάντων, τῶν ἄλλων διαιρεθέντες καὶ μόνοι τούτοις κατὰ τῶν ἐπάλξεων ἐντυγχάνοντες, δυνηθῶμέν τινα πρεσβείαν τούτοις προσαγαγεῖν καὶ τὴν ζωὴν ἑαυτοῖς διασώσασθαι. 42.5 ὃ δὴ καὶ γέγονε τῇ θεϊκῇ προνοίᾳ. 42.6 τὸ δ' ὅπως καὶ μεθ' οἵας παραδοξοποιοῦ δυνάμεως, λέξων ἔρχομαι. 43.1 Ἀνήλθομεν ἐν τῷ τείχει σπουδῇ θέοντες κατά τινα πρόβολον ἀντικρὺ τοῦ ἐκεῖσε σεβασμίου σηκοῦ τοῦ πρωτοκλήτου τῶν ἀποστόλων Ἀνδρέου. 43.2 πέντε δὲ ἦμεν οἱ πάντες ὁμοῦ, ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἐμὸς κἀγὼ σὺν τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι δυσὶν ἀδελφοῖς καί τις ἕτερος μετέχων καὶ αὐτὸς τῆς ἡμῶν ἀγχιστείας, κληρικοὶ πάντες καὶ τῷ τῶν ἀναγνωστῶν διαπρέποντες τάγματι. 43.3 μικρὸν οὖν αὐτόθι καθησυχάσαντες καὶ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς λογιζόμενοι τὸ ἐφεστὸς τῆς μαχαίρας τέλος ἠρχόμεθα τῶν γόων, ἕκαστος τῆς τε οἰκείας ψυχῆς καὶ τῆς ἐξ ἀλλήλων καταστενάζοντες διαιρέσεως. 43.4 καὶ πρῶτος ἐξῆρχε θρηνῶν ὁ πατήρ, ἤδη προβεβηκὼς ὢν καὶ πολλὴν περὶ τὸ λέγειν ἐπιστήμην ἐξησκημένος, 43.5 «φεῦ μοι» λέγων, «ὦ τέκνα πολυπαθῆ, ἐν τίσι νῦν περιελήφθην, καὶ τίνι ταῦτα ἀπέκειτο τῇ δυστήνῳ μου ταύτῃ καὶ ταλαιπώρῳ ζωῇ, ἵν' οὓς κατὰ διαφόρους ἀπέτεκον χρόνους καὶ τῇ γενέσει παρέθηκα, ὑφ' ἓν ἴδω τὴν τελευτὴν ὑπερχομένους, καὶ μηδ' ὅπερ τοῖς ἀτυχοῦσίν ἐστι συγκεχωρημένον, σχολὴν ἄγων ἀξίως τοῦ πάθους ὀδύρασθαι. 43.6 συνεκάλεσα γὰρ 43.6 ἂν πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν τοῦτο καὶ ἀπαρηγόρητον πένθος καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ ἄψυχα τῶν κτισμάτων κοινωνῆσαί μοι τοῦ πάθους καὶ τὴν συμφορὰν συμμερίσασθαι. 43.7 οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ πάντες τῶν ὁμοπατρίδων ἄλλως ἄγουσιν ἢ ἐγώ, ἕκαστός τινα τῶν οἰκείων ἀπεκδεχόμενος καὶ τῆς ἑτέρου συμπαθείας ἐπιδεόμενος. 43.8 ἐμοὶ γὰρ δύο δεινὰ συνέβη κατὰ ταὐτό, ὅ τε ψυχικὸς κίνδυνος ἐν ἁμαρτίαις τὴν ζωὴν δαπανήσαντι, καὶ ὁ ἐξ ὑμῶν οὗτος ἀπροσδόκητος χωρισμός, ὃν οὕτως οὔποτε προσεδόκησα, 43.9 ἀλλ' ἀεὶ δι' ἐντεύξεως εἶχον ὑφ' ὑμῶν καλυφθῆναι τὰ βαρυπενθῆ ὄμματα ταῦτα, ἵν' ἐπαναπαυσάμενος ταῖς ὑμετέραις χερσὶ τῷ τάφῳ τῶν πατέρων δοθῶ, καὶ ὑμᾶς ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ καταλίπω τῆς τε μητρὸς γηροκόμους καὶ τοῖς ἔτι κομιδῇ νέοις καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ καθυστερίζουσι δυσὶν ἀδελφοῖς ὑμῶν τὰς περὶ τὸ ζῆν ἀφορμὰς προνοήσαντας. 43.10 νυνὶ δὲ πᾶσα μὲν τοιαύτη διόλωλεν ἐλπίς, ἐν μέσοις δὲ τοῖς δεινοῖς ἀπειλημμένος ἄωρον ἐκδέχομαι τὴν καθ' ὑμῶν τελευτήν. 43.11 καὶ οὕτω με τετήρηκε τῶν ἀνομιῶν τὸ πλῆθος καὶ εἰς ταύτην τεταμίευκε τὴν ἡμέραν, ἵνα κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς ἴδω τὰ φίλτατά μοι τῶν τέκνων βαρβαρικῶν ξιφῶν παρανάλωμα καὶ τὰ παμπόθητα μέλη ταῖς χερσὶ τῶν δημίων ἀνηλεῶς διασπώμενα, ὢ τῆς ὀδύνης, οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἀσφαλὲς ἔχων, ὅτι τὸν δύστηνον ἐμὲ πρῶτον ὁ μιαιφόνος τῆς ζωῆς ἀπαλλάξει. 43.12 ἦν γὰρ ὡς ἐν συγκρίσει κακῶν τὸ κατ' ἐμὲ φορητόν· 43.13 ὕποπτον δέ μοι τὸ νεάζον καθέστηκε τῆς καθ' ὑμᾶς ἡλικίας, καὶ τῶν προσώπων τὸ ἀνθηρὸν