Panegyric orations

 To run against you from an opposing lot, he endured but the pentathlon was accomplished for you and the pancratium was completed with no one having c

 The votes, i imagine the divine judgment and i refer to the incorruptible tribunal. when i test you in elections, i admire your intelligence and your

 From afar it shines on those landing and extends a hand to those from the sea, escorting them to rome most painlessly. what in addition to these does

 Using it and bending and curving it towards the drooping jaw, i remember the indian's eyebrow at this, how he held it more than a cubit above his head

 And to a rival. let others, then, measure you against and compare you with whomever they wish, but i, though i seem to make a strange and dissimilar c

 In prose, not in meters and poems or perhaps many are present, but they have no account of the matter, as if it were of no account to them. and time

 The hegemony of his father, with kingdoms overthrown and not a few changes having occurred in both, those who, having exchanged their fortune for the

 He took counsel of opposing nations, but by making everything purchasable with gold and royal splendors, from this he gained the goodwill of all, and

 Opened, and flung wide the very gates of the soul, and associated with wicked and corrupt lives. for he did not at once know the whole line of the fam

 To work deeds of injustice for he was angry with those who did wrong and would punish them. but when he began to be sick and his body was wasting awa

 Not a magnificent spirit, not a musical and graceful speech, nothing else of the sort that knows how to beautify the soul and the nature of the body.

 Drives a sphere, and the other the superterrestrial one, so that the one might wind its own zone in a single cycle, and the other in twelve cycles, an

 Defining the virtues by its power, and practicing the higher geometry. for this, as proclus also says, has occupied the middle ground between the indi

 The power of the kingdom came to him, besides these the life of david among the flocks, the pursuit, those many dangers into which he fell but was not

 He locks up the monarchy into a tyranny, having exchanged one evil for another. justice is not quiet, it kindles the coals, it sends the arrow, the wi

 I call it his girdle-and he draws away no small cavalry and infantry force from old rome, he adds to these also the best army of the east, and no smal

 An angel wrought a more manifest victory. i have something more to say than those wonders there the cross was in types and images, a bronze serpent s

 You, o king the more abundantly you pour out benefits upon us, the more you increase by being filled. from this, no one has been left out of such wea

 With the eyes, then poured out and dissolved, but better and higher than all that is visible. but, o emperor—for i repeat the title to you and call it

 You fill the western beacon, neither grudging us your rays nor altering the color of your disk, but the more time increases the distances, the more be

 The rising of the sun, the land upon which it immediately rises, so that, if any of our people wished, having gone there he could, not with geometrica

 I am an unskillful chronicler of your deeds and erring in my timing, and i do not have a nature that strikes out in both directions at once. for you a

 To wish. for you both comprehend the present and conjecture the future and discover the unseen, discerning character from eyebrows and eyelids, so tha

 To speak? -unseemly even in his appearance, made of tin or dipped in bile and altogether counterfeit gold, but since he was in the midst of dangers, t

 With stones lying along each side, so that the conjoined may seem continuous and the well-fitted of one nature. behold for me the heights and beauties

 But here is a distinct hand divided into five rosy branches. but this is a most unerring testimony of that godlike soul. but do you wish to see some t

 Transcending substance and holding the principles of the forms folded together and least of all divided from the one. and you, being such, do you not

 The fountains of good deeds flowed, as if from a sheer rock, having received the impetus for their flowing these proclaimed you by reputation even be

 A guide, so also there an arbiter of the administrations, that i may suit you for both, both speaking your deeds and doing the words of your administr

 P]ortions are deprived of praise, but no one of all men has been suited to all words of praise. but to you so much is granted [against] all in all thi

 To bring to the highest point of keenness, or your soul which was not [shattered by] trials, but also most nobly endured through the magnitude of the

 And they were torn away, and their manner altered their nature [....], and they have remained, and after the separation, being both nourished and fatt

 But the love of art and the care concerning the divine sanctuaries, what demostheneses or the best of the writers could describe and praise? how beau

 Having surpassed in his heroic deeds him and the kings up to you, but in his plans he is recorded as being less than his accomplishments, winning in [

 Less, you have given the first place to reason over passion, and you have established the one like some foundation upon the acropolis, but the other y

 Having considered what is seen, but when i also behold the tomb of the queen, and i behold it often whenever i wish to console some hardship of fortun

 To comprehend in a speech. for to whom could the unattainable be attainable, even if he were rich in the homeric power for speeches, or the herodotan

 Admiring and in return is eager to make an image and someone already having constructed a stele for you inscribed the gentle one. therefore solomon

 Much praise and measured against all of time. how then could i summarize the whole in a few words? i will speak, therefore, a little of your virtues,

 Everyone rejoices and exults with the one who has taken up your encomiums and because i did not weave the words of praise sooner, he is rather vexed

 Gracefulness, the maturity of your thought, the symmetry of your greatness, the quick-wittedness, the stability of your mind, the unmarried life, the

 At once for us the lord and most skilled in command and pleasing to all, o most excellent foresight, o wise consideration, o most noble counsel, o div

 Of virtues? you, beyond any kings who ever were, honored justice and preferred philanthropy, and having attained the height of prudence, you appeared

 Accomplishments? o the arrows from heaven against the barbarians, o the unseen bowshots, o the angelic powers in the air, o the divine armies against

 The greatest part of character. for as many as have become of a civic disposition, if they have descended to this willingly, they seemed both prudent

 Of civil administration and of divine hearing. if therefore, being engaged in one, he also holds to the other, let this for now be a secret to many. b

 Of wise men going to ammon's shrine or being within the delphic tripod suddenly transferred their apparent wisdom to the more divine and greater, how

 We have taken starting points, and yet more absurd, if we render praises to the good and noble men who have died, for what they have said concerning w

 And not many months after the sowing, but immediately reaping the harvest and so that i might say what is from the gospel, the two were running toget

 If we should set about to build him up, this marvelous man, both in nature and in diligence, has received much contribution toward his eloquence from

 For having embraced one of these, they might neglect the rest, or putting ears before mind, they have an unintelligible tongue, or having drawn up spr

 Pleases the petty and the overly artful. therefore, of these enumerated wise men, the one now honored in this discourse wishes to imitate gregory, and

 I knew not only what the greeks knew, nor what the chaldeans or egyptians knew, but i had also condemned them, though not all of them, nor has my refu

 With magnanimity, he who was both namesake and like-minded with the great constantine, and who alone nobly contended against all, and taking his name-

 Regulates the state of the church, no less than moses who constructed the tabernacle below according to the pattern shown to him for whether melodies

 Concerning which things, before his high-priesthood, at a time when he did not even have many resources of money, he constructed brilliantly and accom

 And to impart to others. and perhaps he did not endure the waves of the sea, but in his toils on land he might in some way be compared to paul. and co

 One of two things happening, either god descending into the mind, or the mind ascending to god. but what is the place of god's rest, or by which of al

 Of a voice, nor were you instructed by any of the higher powers, to lay aside the symbols of the priesthood, and to transfer yourself to another life,

 Nothing unpleasant would happen to those handling these things but for you, who happen to be a philosopher, what harm will come from these affairs? j

 Of words but you, o king, will both speak publicly among the armies and bring an impulse with your speech and will rouse them together for the deed.

 May you be crowned on the head with glorious trophies. may you be adorned with deeds of valor against the barbarians, and be escorted by many victorie

 May you rend the sea and stop the river and vanquish amalek. may a cloud, giving shade over your head, take away your burning heat, and a pillar of li

I am an unskillful chronicler of your deeds and erring in my timing, and I do not have a nature that strikes out in both directions at once. For you are at once both peaceful and warlike, popular and a monarch; but I, having set one of these aside, then pursue the other, setting my course with full sails. Therefore, let the spear and sarissa be hung here over the smoke, both the breastplate for the chest and the greave for the shin; but let justice and laws prevail. But heavens, how great is the good order, or rather, how the inequalities of fortune are leveled by your rectitude. For in peace you have made all heads equal, with your own alone set above, which sometimes even descends to the many and embraces equality of speech and in ineffable ways turns towards what is more human, so that it may not astound with its wonder, nor petrify the spectator like the Gorgon's head, but you, who breathe fire against your enemies in your glances and in your counsels, and flash a gorgon-like gleam from your eyes, and threaten those who resist you with a Herculean shout, you smile a gentle welcome to the one approaching, and having laid aside the Olympian trumpet of your tongue and having retuned from the highest to the middle string, you utter something gentle and kind, such as neither the lyricist Sappho sang, nor the Siren from Thebes, nor the Anacreontic muse, nor the Orphic lyre, nor the crown-wearing Meleager. But this almost escaped me. But how shall I marvel at this, since the example is also mightier than word and thought? For there was a time when heaven was inaccessible; but since Christ, having bowed it, came down, it has been opened, as it were, in many parts. And one goes up to the equatorial entrance, another enters through the Bears, and another proceeds through the tropics, and another turns towards the southern pole. And who are these? Robbers and tax collectors and those burdened and weary with their sins. There was a time, then, when the palace too was secured all around with iron bars. But some small breathing-holes were opened in the depths of the earth, through which he who was commanded to enter had to pass, like some serpent threading and contracting itself, having had its skin scraped off and every harmony of its body crushed. And to him as he entered, the emperor appeared like a wild beast in a cage; but only when his breath had left him. And ushers and messengers first, as if on a stage, some led him forward, others pushed him back, and some Scythians with long Euboean-style hair tried to frighten him, barbarians both in tongue and in soul. But now what? The change is indescribable. For the entrance is not in parts, but the enclosing wall has been removed and the barrier taken away. For he both enters and sees the emperor at the same time, not with a tempest and clouds, nor like a burning fire or a cutting axe, but like dew and a flower and a pearl and a green stone and a gentle ray shining forth, awarding uprightness to some, forgiving the debts of others, and to others even bestowing better things. And if ever he should arrange the royal tent, how moderate and humane all things are! The one in charge of the whole, elderly both in appearance and in soul, the secretary, the messenger, the one who fences the pavilion, the one who adorns the preparation, those within the inner sanctuary, those before the divine curtain, all are upright in judgment, gentle in nature, kind in soul, stable in reason, formed according to the archetype. Thus Justice, having descended from heaven to earth, did not immediately fly back up, drawing a mist after her, but first she took up her abode in the sacred sanctuaries of your character; then, proceeding unseen through your soul, she roams everywhere. But every king wishes his subjects to be well-governed, unless he wishes to slip into the neighboring state of tyranny; but one who possesses understanding defectively rules in his counsels, but acts as a tyrant in his deeds. But in you the active power rather increases the

ἄτεχνος ἐγὼ τῶν σῶν συγγραφεὺς καὶ περὶ τὸν καιρὸν ἁμαρτάνων, καὶ μὴ τὴν φύσιν ἔχων ὁμοῦ ἐφ' ἑκάτερα βάλλουσαν. σὺ μὲν γὰρ ἅμα εἰρηνικός τις καὶ μάχιμος, δημοτικός τε καὶ μόναρχος, ἐγὼ δὲ θάτερον ἀποδιελόμενος, εἶτα πρὸς τὸ λοιπὸν ἐφίημι ὅλοις ἀπονεύσας ἱστίοις. ∆όρυ μὲν οὖν ἐνταῦθα καὶ σάρισσα ὑπὲρ καπνοῦ κρεμαννύσθωσαν, ὅ τε περὶ τὸν θώρακα θώραξ καὶ ἡ περὶ τὴν κνήμην περικνημίς· δικαιοσύνη δὲ καὶ νόμοι κρατείτωσαν, ἀλλὰ βαβαί, ὅσον τὸ εὐνομούμενον, μᾶλλον δὲ ὅπως τῆς τύχης αἱ ἀνισότητες ταῖς σαῖς εὐθύτησιν ὁμαλίζονται. ἴσας γὰρ ἐν εἰρήνῃ τὰς κεφαλὰς πάντων κατέστησας, μιᾶς μόνης ὑπερκειμένης τῆς σῆς, ἥτις ἔστιν οὗ καὶ συγκάτεισι τοῖς πολλοῖς καὶ τὴν ἰσηγορίαν ἀσπάζεται καὶ μορφαῖς ἀρρήτοις πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρωπικώτερον στρέφεται, ἵνα μὴ ἐκπλήξῃ τῷ θαύματι μηδὲ πετροποιήσῃ τὸν θεατὴν ὥσπερ ἡ τῆς Γοργοῦς, ἀλλ' ὁ πῦρ κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων τοῖς σκέμμασι πνέων καὶ τοῖς βουλεύμασι καὶ γοργωπὸν σέλας τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἀποστίλβων καὶ τοῖς ἀνθισταμένοις Ἡράκλειον ἐμβόημα ἀπειλῶν, ἥμερόν τι τῷ προσιόντι προσμειδιᾷς καὶ τὴν Ὀλυμπιακὴν τῆς γλώττης παραιτησάμενος σάλπιγγα καὶ πρὸς τὴν μέσην ἐκ τῆς ὑπάτης μεθαρμοσάμενος μειλίχιόν τι φθέγγῃ καὶ προσηνές, οἷον οὔτε ἡ μελοποιὸς ᾖσε Σαπφὼ οὔτε ἡ Θηβόθεν σειρὴν οὔθ' ἡ Ἀνακρεόντειος μοῦσα οὔτε ἡ Ὀρφικὴ λύρα οὔθ' ὁ στεφανηφόρος Μελέαγρος. ὃ δέ με μικροῦ παρέδραμεν. ἀλλὰ πῶς τοῦτο θαυμάσομαι, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ παράδειγμα κρεῖττον λόγου καὶ ἐνθυμήματος; ἦν γὰρ ὅτε ἄβατος ὁ οὐρανὸς ἦν· ἀφ' οὗ δὲ κλίνας τοῦτον Χριστὸς κατελήλυθεν, ἐν πολλοῖς ὥσπερ ἀνέῳγε μέρεσι. καὶ ὁ μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἰσημερινὴν ἄνεισιν εἴσοδον, ὁ δὲ διὰ τῶν ἄρκτων εἰσβάλλει καὶ ἄλλος χωρεῖ διὰ τῶν τροπῶν καὶ ἕτερος πρὸς πόλον μετακλίνει τὸν νότιον. καὶ ταῦτα τίνες; λῃσταὶ καὶ τελῶναι καὶ οἱ πεφορτισμένοι καὶ καμόντες τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν. ἦν οὖν ὅτε καὶ τὰ βασίλεια κύκλῳ μοχλοῖς ἠσφάλιστο σιδηροῖς. ἀναπνοαὶ δέ που βραχεῖαι ἐν πυθμέσι γῆς ἀνεῴγασιν, ἀφ' ὧν ἔδει τὸν εἰσιέναι προστεταγμένον ὥσπερ τινὰ ὄφιν διείροντα ἑαυτὸν καὶ συστέλλοντα ἐκεῖθεν γενέσθαι ἀποξυσθέντα τὴν λεβηρίδα καὶ πᾶσαν συντριβέντα τὴν ἁρμονίαν τοῦ σώματος. εἰσιόντι δέ οἱ ὥσπερ ἐν ζωγρείῳ θηρίον ὁ βασιλεὺς κατεφαίνετο· ἀλλ' οὕτως, ὁπότε τὸ ἆσθμα ἐκεῖνον ἀπολελοίπει, εἰσαγγελεῖς δὲ καὶ ἐξαγγελεῖς πρῶτα τοῦτον ὥσπερ ἐν σκηναῖς οἱ μὲν προσῆγον, οἱ δ' ἀντώθουν, καὶ Σκύθαι τινὲς ἐδεδίττοντο κομῶντες Εὐβοϊκῶς, βάρβαροι καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν καὶ τὴν ψυχήν. Νῦν δὲ τί; ἄρρητος ἡ ἀλλοίωσις. οὐ γὰρ κατὰ μέρη ἡ εἴσοδος, ἀλλ' ὁ κύκλος ἀποτετείχισται καὶ ἀφῄρηται ὁ φραγμός. ὁμοῦ τε γὰρ εἴσεισι καὶ τὸν βασιλέα ὁρᾷ, οὐ μετὰ λαίλαπος καὶ νεφῶν οὐδ' ὡς πῦρ φλέγοντα ἢ πέλεκυν κόπτοντα, ἀλλ' ὡς δρόσον καὶ ἄνθος καὶ μαργαρίτην καὶ λίθον χλοάζοντα καὶ ἀκτῖνα ἥμερον ἐπιλάμπουσαν, τοῖς μὲν βραβεύοντα τὸ εὐθύ, τοῖς δὲ ἀφεικότα τὰς ὀφειλάς, τοῖς δὲ καὶ προσεπιδιδόντα τὰ κρείττονα. εἰ δέ ποτε καὶ τὴν βασίλειον διασκευάζοι σκηνήν, ὡς πάντα μέτρια καὶ φιλάνθρωπα, ὁ τοῖς ὅλοις ἐφεστηκὼς πρεσβυτικὸς καὶ τὸ εἶδος καὶ τὴν ψυχήν, ὁ γραμματοεισαγωγεύς, ὁ ἀγγελιαφόρος, ὁ περιφράττων τὰ περισκήνια, ὁ τὴν ἑτοιμασίαν καταποικίλλων, οἱ τῶν ἀδύτων ἐντός, οἱ πρὸ τοῦ θείου καταπετάσματος, πάντες τὴν γνώμην εὐθεῖς, τὴν φύσιν πραεῖς, τὴν ψυχὴν προσηνεῖς, τὸν λογισμὸν εὐσταθεῖς, μεμορφωμένοι πρὸς τὸ πρωτότυπον, οὕτως ἡ ∆ίκη ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβᾶσα πρὸς γῆν οὐκ εὐθὺς ἀνέπτη ἐπισπασαμένη ἀχλύν, ἀλλὰ πρῶτα μὲν ἐν ἱεροῖς ἀδύτοις τοῖς σοῖς ἤθεσιν ἐνεσκήνωσεν· ἔπειτα διὰ τῆς σῆς ψυχῆς ἀφανῶς προϊοῦσα πανταχόσε φοιτᾷ. Ἀλλὰ πᾶς μὲν βασιλεὺς εὐνομεῖσθαι βούλεται τὸ ὑπήκοον, ἢν μὴ βούληται πρὸς τὴν γείτονα τυραννίδα ἐξολισθαίνειν· ἐνδεῶς δὲ κεκτημένος τὴν σύνεσιν βασιλεύει μὲν τοῖς βουλεύμασι, τοῖς δὲ πράγμασι τυραννεῖ. σοὶ δὲ τὸ δραστήριον μᾶλλον αὐξάνει τὸ