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...ty; and it was considered by all a part of piety, to do the most evils to that man, and to conquer an old man, an athlete struggling against the whole city. He was dragged through the broad streets, he was pushed through sewers. He was dragged by the hair, there was not a part of his body by which he was not dragged, with insolence mixed with the torture, by those who deserved to be punished for these things in the rites of Mithras. He was tossed up from boys to boys, with styluses receiving his noble body, and making a game of the tragedy. His legs were crushed with presses even to the bones themselves; his ears were cut through with flaxen cords, and with the strongest and finest of these. Being lifted on high in a basket, smeared with honey and fish-sauce, he was stung by wasps and bees in the middle of the day, while the sun was blazing fiercely; the one melting his flesh, and making the food of those blessed limbs hotter for the others, for I would not say wretched. At this point indeed it is said, as if this also might be deemed worthy of writing, that old man, yet young for the contests, (for not even in dreadful things did he abandon his cheerfulness, but even luxuriated in his tortures), uttered that famous and oft-repeated saying: how he praised the symbol, seeing himself on high, and them low and lying beneath. So much did he surpass his masters, and so far was he from painful things, as if he were present with another in danger, and making the event a procession and not a misfortune. 35.621

ʹ. And yet who, of those even moderately fair and humane, would not have been ashamed of these things? But the occasion did not allow them, nor the emperor's impulse, demanding inhumanity from peoples, and cities, and rulers, even if it did not seem so to the many who were ignorant of the depth of his malevolence. Such are the things of our steadfast old man. And for what reason was this? That he might not give a single gold piece to his tormentors. From which it is also clear, that he endured for the sake of piety. For as long as, having made a very heavy valuation of the temple, they demanded all the gold, or commanded him to rebuild the temple himself, it seemed that the impossibility of the command rather than the piety of his soul was causing his resistance. But when, conquering them little by little through his endurance, and always subtracting something from the valuation, he finally brought it to this point, that what was demanded was utterly small, and an amount easy to pay down; and the struggle was equal for the one side to win by receiving anything at all, and for the other not to be defeated by paying nothing at all, although there were many willing to contribute even more, not only because of piety, but also because of the man's indestructible and unconquerable nature; then it was clearly shown that he was making the contest not about money, but about piety.

Αʹ. Are these things, then, of fairness and gentleness, or on the contrary are they signs of audacity and inhumanity, let those who admire the philosopher king tell us. I for my part think that no one at all is at a loss for the just and true answer. And I have not yet added, that of those who had saved the most accursed one, when his whole family was in danger, and who had spirited him away by stealth, this man was one. For which thing alone, perhaps, he justly suffered these things, and was worthy to suffer more besides, because in saving him he was unwittingly saving so great an evil for the whole world. Indeed they say that on account of these things the prefect at that time (for he was a man who was a Greek in religion, but in character superior to a Greek, and like the best of those praised of old and now), said that thing to the emperor with boldness, unable to bear the manifold nature of the man's torture and endurance: Are we not ashamed, O Emperor, being so greatly defeated by all Christians, that we have not even been able to overcome 35.624 one old man who has gone through all

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τητι· καὶ μέρος εὐσεβείας ἅπασιν ἐνομίζετο, ὅτι πλεῖστα ἐκεῖνον δρᾶσαι κακὰ, καὶ γέροντα νικῆσαι ἀθλητὴν κατὰ πάσης ἀγωνιζόμενον τῆς πόλεως· εἵλκετο διὰ πλατειῶν, ὠθεῖτο καθ' ὑπονόμων· τῶν τριχῶν εἵλκετο, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτου μὴ μέρους τοῦ σώματος, μι γνυμένης τῇ αἰκίᾳ τῆς ὕβρεως, παρὰ τῶν ἀξίως ἐν Μίθρου ταῦτα κολαζομένων· παισὶν ἐκ παίδων μετέωρος ἀντεπέμπετο, γραφίσιν ὑποδεχομένων τὸ γενναῖον σῶμα, καὶ παίγνιον ποιουμένων τὴν τραγῳδίαν· πιέσμασι τὰς κνήμας ἐθλίβετο μέχρις ὀστέων αὐτῶν· λίνοις τὰ ὦτα διετέμνετο, καὶ τούτων τοῖς στεῤῥοτάτοις καὶ λεπτοτάτοις· σαργάνῃ πρὸς ὕψος αἰρόμενος, μέλιτι καὶ γάρῳ διάβροχος, σφηξὶ καὶ μελίσσαις ἐξαίνετο μεσούσης ἡμέρας, ἡλίου τὸ φλογῶδες ἐλλάμποντος· καὶ τοῦ μὲν τὰς σάρκας ἐκτήκοντος, τοῖς δὲ θερμοτέραν ποιοῦντος τὴν βρῶσιν τῶν μακαρίων ἐκείνων σαρκῶν, οὐ γὰρ ἀθλίων ἂν εἴποιμι. Ἐνταῦθα δὴ λέγεται, ὡς ἂν καὶ τοῦτο ἀξιωθείη γραφῆς, ὁ πρεσβύτης ἐκεῖνος καὶ νέος πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας, (μηδὲ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς τὸ φαιδρὸν ἀπολιπεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐντρυφᾷν ταῖς βασά νοις), τὸ μνημονευόμενον ἐκεῖνο καὶ ᾀδόμενον ἐπειπεῖν· ὡς ἐπαινοίη τὸ σύμβολον, ἑαυτὸν μὲν ὑψηλὸν ὁρῶν, ἐκείνους δὲ ταπεινοὺς καὶ κάτω κειμέ νους· τοσοῦτον περιῆν τῶν κρατούντων, καὶ οὕτως ἦν πόῤῥω τῶν λυπηρῶν, ὡς ἄλλῳ παρὼν κιν δυνεύοντι, καὶ πομπὴν ἀλλ' οὐ συμφορὰν τὸ πρᾶγμα ποιούμενος. 35.621

ʹ. Καίτοι ταῦτα τίς οὐκ ἂν ᾐδέσθη τῶν καὶ με τρίως ἐπιεικῶν τε καὶ

φιλανθρώπων; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐκείνους γε εἴασεν ὁ καιρὸς, οὐδὲ ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως ὁρμὴ, τὸ ἀπάνθρωπον ἀπαιτοῦσα καὶ δήμους, καὶ πόλεις, καὶ ἄρχοντας, εἰ καὶ μὴ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐδόκει τῶν ἀγνοούντων τὸ βάθος τῆς ἐκείνου κακοηθείας. Τοιαῦτα ἡμῖν τὰ τοῦ στεῤῥοῦ γέροντος. Καὶ ταῦτα ὑπὲρ τίνος; ἵνα χρυσοῦν ἕνα μὴ πρόηται τοῖς βασανισταῖς· ᾧ καὶ δῆλον, ὡς ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας διεκαρ τέρει. Ἕως μὲν γὰρ, βαρυτάτην ποιησάμενοι τοῦ ναοῦ τὴν ἀποτίμησιν, τὸ πᾶν ᾔτουν χρυσίον, ἢ αὐτόν γε ἀναδείμασθαι τὸν νεὼν ἐκέλευον, ἐδόκει τὸ ἀδύνατον τοῦ ἐπιτάγματος μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ εὐσεβὲς τῆς ψυχῆς ποιεῖν ἐκείνῳ τὴν ἔνστασιν· ἐπεὶ δὲ νικῶν αὐτοὺς κατὰ μικρὸν τῇ καρτερίᾳ, καὶ ὑφαιρῶν ἀεί τι τῆς ἀποτιμήσεως, τελευταῖον εἰς τοῦτο κατ έστησεν, ὡς κομιδῆ μικρὸν εἶναι τὸ αἰτούμενον, καὶ ὅσον ῥᾷστον καταβαλεῖν· καὶ ἴσος ἀγὼν ἦν τοῖς μὲν νικῆσαι τῷ καὶ ὁτιοῦν λαβεῖν, τῷ δὲ μὴ κρατη θῆναι τῷ μηδὲ ὅλως καταβαλεῖν, καίτοι πολλῶν ὄν των τῶν καὶ πλεῖον συνεισφέρειν προθυμουμένων οὐ μόνον διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὸ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀνάλωτον καὶ ἀήττητον· τηνικαῦτα ἐδείχθη σαφῶς οὐ περὶ χρημάτων, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς τὸν ἀγῶνα τιθέμενος.

Αʹ. Ἆρ' οὖν ἐπιεικείας ταῦτα καὶ ἡμερότητος, ἢ τοὐναντίον θράσους καὶ

ἀπανθρωπίας ἐστὶ γνωρί σματα, λεγέτωσαν ἡμῖν οἱ τὸν φιλόσοφον βασιλέα θαυμάζοντες. Ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδένα τῶν πάντων ἀπορεῖν οἶμαι τῆς δικαίας καὶ ἀληθοῦς ἀποκρίσεως. Καὶ οὔπω προστέθεικα, ὅτι τῶν σεσωκότων τὸν ἐξάγιστον, ἡνίκα τὸ γένος αὐτῷ πᾶν ἐκινδύνευε, καὶ διὰ κλοπῆς ὑπεξαγαγόντων, εἷς οὗτος ἦν· ὑπὲρ οὗ τάχα μόνου δικαίως ταῦτα ἔπασχε, καὶ πλείω προσ παθεῖν ἄξιος ἦν, ὅτι κακὸν τοσοῦτο τῇ οἰκουμένῃ πάσῃ σώζων ἐλάνθανε. Φασί τοι διὰ ταῦτα καὶ τὸν τηνι καῦτα ὕπαρχον (γενέσθαι γὰρ ἄνδρα Ἕλληνα μὲν τὴν θρησκείαν, τὸν τρόπον δὲ ὑπὲρ Ἕλληνα, καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν πάλαι καὶ νῦν ἐπαινουμένων), ἐκεῖνο πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα μετὰ παῤῥησίας εἰπεῖν, οὐ φέροντα τὸ πολυειδὲς τῆς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αἰκίας καὶ καρ τερίας· Οὐκ αἰσχυνόμεθα, βασιλεῦ, παρὰ τοσοῦτον ἡττώμενοι πάντων Χριστιανῶν, ὡς μηδὲ 35.624 γέροντος ἑνὸς κρατεῖν δυνηθῆναι πάσας διεξελ θόντος