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to happen—they were hiding, they were concealed, and when called by us, they did not obey. What need is there to say much? And with so many fears pressing upon me, and death almost certain, and the fever wearing me down—for I had not yet been freed from the evils from there—at high noon I threw myself into the litter and was led away from there, while all the people were wailing, crying aloud, cursing the one who had done these things, with everyone lamenting and mourning. When I went out of the city, some of the clergy also came out and quietly escorted us, lamenting. And hearing some people say: “Where are you taking him to certain death?” another, one of those who loved us dearly, said to us: “Go, I beg you; fall among the Isaurians, only be rid of us. For wherever you may fall, you fall into safety, if you can escape our hands.” Hearing and seeing these things, the good Seleucia, the freedwoman of my master Rufinus—for she had cared for us very much—exhorted and begged that we might lodge in her suburban estate, which was five miles from the city, and she sent men with us and we went there. 9.3 But not even there was this 9.3 plot going to leave us alone. For when Pharetrius found out, he made many threats to her, as she said. But when she received me into her suburban estate, I knew nothing of these things; but coming out to us, she hid these things from us, but she instructed her steward who was there to provide us with every comfort, and if any monks should come intending to insult or harm us, to gather farmhands from her other properties and thus draw up in battle against them. She also urged me to take refuge in her house, which had a fortress and was impregnable, so as to escape the hands of the bishop and the monks. But I did not agree to this, but remained in the suburban estate, knowing nothing of the things being plotted after this. Not even this was enough for them to cease their madness against us. Then in the middle of the night, knowing none of these things—for Pharetrius was pressing her hard with threats, as she says, compelling her, pushing her to expel us even from the suburban estates—the woman, unable to bear his odiousness, without my knowledge, announced on the spot that the barbarians had arrived, being ashamed to tell of the compulsion she had endured. And in the middle of the night, Euethius the presbyter came in to me and waking me as I slept, said these things with a great shout: “Get up, I beg you, barbarians have arrived, nearby here.” Imagine what I was like hearing these things. Then when I said to him what needed to be done: “We cannot take refuge in the city lest we suffer worse things than what the Isaurians are about to do to us,” he compelled me to go out. The night was moonless, it was midnight, gloomy, dark; and this very thing again was full of difficulty for us; and there was no one present, no one to help, for everyone had abandoned us. Nevertheless, pushed on by fear and expecting to die immediately, I got up in my wretched state and ordered torches to be lit. But the presbyter ordered these also to be extinguished, lest, he says, the barbarians, being drawn by the light towards us, attack us; and the torches were extinguished. Then the mule carrying our litter—for the road was very rough and steep and rocky—sank to its knees and brought me down while I was inside, and I was on the point of perishing; then jumping out, I walked along, being dragged by Euethius the presbyter—for he too had jumped down from his beast of burden—and so, being led by the hand, I was walking, or rather, being dragged; for it was not possible to walk in such a difficult place and rugged mountains in the middle of the night. Imagine what it was likely I was suffering, beset by so many evils and with the fever upon me, knowing nothing of what had been plotted, but fearing barbarians and trembling and
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ταῦτα γίνεσθαι-ἐκρύπτοντο, ἐλάνθανον, καλούμενοι παρ' ἡμῶν οὐχ ὑπήκουον. Τί δεῖ πολλὰ λέγειν; Καὶ φόβων τοσούτων ἐπικειμένων, καὶ θανάτου σχεδὸν δήλου καὶ τοῦ πυρετοῦ με κατεργαζομένου -οὐδὲ γὰρ ἤμην ἀπαλλαγεὶς οὐδέπω τῶν κακῶν τῶν ἐντεῦθεν- μεσημβρίας μέσης ῥίψας ἐμαυτὸν εἰς τὸ λεκτίκιον, ἐξηγόμην ἐκεῖθεν, τοῦ δήμου παντὸς κωκύοντος, ὀλολύζοντος, ἐπαρω μένου τῷ ταῦτα πεποιηκότι, ὀλοφυρομένων πάντων καὶ θρηνούντων. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἐξῆλθον, καὶ τῶν κληρικῶν τινες ἐξελθόντες ἠρέμα ἡμᾶς προέπεμψαν ὀδυρόμενοι. Καί τινων λεγόντων ἀκούσαντες· «Ποῦ αὐτὸν ἀπάγετε εἰς φανερὸν θάνατον;» ἕτερος ἔλεγε πρὸς ἡμᾶς τῶν σφόδρα ἡμᾶς φιλούντων· «Ἄπελθε, δέομαί σου· εἰς Ἰσαύρους ἔμπεσον, μόνον ἡμῶν ἀπαλλάγηθι. Ὅπου γὰρ ἂν ἐμπέσῃς, εἰς ἀσφάλειαν ἐμπίπτεις, ἂν τὰς ἡμετέρας διαφύγοις χεῖρας.» Ταῦτα ἀκούσασα καὶ ὁρῶσα ἡ καλὴ Σελευκία, ἡ τοῦ κυρίου μου Ῥουφίνου ἐλευθέρα-καὶ γὰρ σφόδρα ἡμᾶς ἐθεράπευσε-, παρεκάλεσε καὶ ἐδεήθη ὥστε εἰς τὸ προάστειον αὐτῆς καταλῦσαι πρὸ πέντε μιλίων τῆς πόλεως ὂν καὶ συνέπεμψεν ἡμῖν ἀνθρώπους καὶ ἀπήλθομεν ἐκεῖσε. 9.3 Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐκεῖ ἔμελλεν ἡμῶν ἀποστήσεσθαι ἡ ἐπι9.3 βουλὴ αὕτη. Ὡς γὰρ ἔγνω ὁ Φαρέτριος, ἐδήλωσεν αὐτῇ, καθὼς ἔλεγε, πολλὰς ἀπειλάς. Ἐπεὶ δέ με εἰς τὸ προάστειον αὐτῆς ὑπεδέξατο, κἀγὼ τούτων οὐκ ᾔδειν οὐδέν· ἀλλ' ἐξελθοῦσα πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ταῦτα μὲν ἡμᾶς ἀπέκρυβεν, ἐδήλου δὲ τῷ ἐπιτρόπῳ αὐτῆς ἐκεῖσε ὄντι πᾶσάν τε ἡμῖν ἀνάπαυσιν παρασχεῖν, καὶ εἴ τινες ἐπέλθοιεν μονάζοντες βουλόμενοι ἡμᾶς ἐνυβρίσαι ἢ συντρῖψαι, συναγαγεῖν γεωργοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων αὐτῆς χωρίων καὶ οὕτω παρατάξασθαι πρὸς αὐτούς. Παρεκάλει δὲ καὶ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτῆς κάστελλον ἔχουσαν καὶ ἀχείρωτον οὖσαν καταφυγεῖν ὥστε τοῦ ἐπισκόπου καὶ τῶν μοναζόντων ἐκφυγεῖν τὰς χεῖρας. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν οὐκ ἠνεσχόμην, ἀλλ' ἤμην ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ οὐδὲν εἰδὼς τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα κατασκευαζομένων. Οὐδὲ τοῦτο αὐτοῖς ἤρκεσεν εἰς τὸ ἀποστῆναι τῆς καθ' ἡμῶν μανίας. Εἶτα νυκτῶν μέσων, οὐδὲν τούτων εἰδώς- πολὺς γὰρ ἐπέκειτο ὁ Φαρέτριος ἀπειλῇ ἀπειλῶν ἐκείνῃ, καθώς φησι, καταναγκάζων, ὠθῶν, ὥστε ἡμᾶς ἐκβαλεῖν καὶ τῶν προαστείων -, οὐ φέρουσα ἡ γυνὴ τὴν ἐπάχθειαν αὐτοῦ, οὐκ εἰδότος ἐμοῦ, ἐδήλωσεν αὐτόθι ὅτι οἱ βάρβαροι ἐπέστησαν αἰσχυνομένη τὴν ἀνάγκην εἰπεῖν ἣν ὑπέμεινεν. Καὶ μέσων νυκτῶν εἰσελθὼν πρὸς μὲ Εὐήθιος ὁ πρεσβύτερος καθεύδοντά με διεγείρας, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς βοῆς ταῦτα ἔλεγεν· «Ἀνάστηθι, παρακαλῶ, βάρβαροι ἐπέστησαν, ἐνταῦθα πλησίον». Ἐννόησον τίς ἤμην ταῦτα ἀκούων. Εἶτα ὡς πρὸς αὐτὸν εἶπον καὶ τί δέοι πρᾶξαι· «Εἰς τὴν πόλιν οὐ δυνάμεθα καταφυγεῖν μὴ χαλεπώτερα πάθωμεν ὧν Ἴσαυροι μέλλουσιν ἡμῖν ποιεῖν», ἠνάγκαζεν ἐξιέναι. Νὺξ ἦν ἀσέληνος, ἡ νὺξ μέση, ζοφώδης, σκοτεινή· καὶ τοῦτο αὐτὸ πάλιν ἀπορίας ἀνάμεστον ἦν ἡμῖν· καὶ οὐδεὶς ὁ παρών, οὐδεὶς ὁ βοηθῶν, πάντες γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἐγκατέλιπον. Ὅμως ὑπὸ τοῦ φόβου συνωθισθεὶς καὶ προσδοκῶν εὐθέως ἀποθανεῖσθαι, διανέστην τεταλαιπωρημένος κελεύσας λαμπάδας ἀναφθῆναι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτας ὁ πρεσβύτερος ἐκέλευσε σβέννυσθαι, μήποτε, φησίν, οἱ βάρβαροι τῷ φωτὶ καλούμενοι πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπιτεθῶσιν ἡμῖν· ἐσβέσθησαν καὶ αἱ λαμπάδες. Εἶτα ὁ βόρδων ὁ φέρων ἡμῶν τὸ λεκτίκιον-τραχεῖα γὰρ ἦν σφόδρα ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἀνάντης καὶ λιθώδης-κατενεχθεὶς ἐπὶ γόνυ κατήνεγκέ με ἔνδον ὄντα καὶ μικροῦ ἔμελλον ἀπόλλυσθαι· εἶτα ἐκπηδήσας, συρόμενος περιεπάτουν ὑπὸ Εὐηθίου τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου-κατεπήδησε γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦ ὑποζυγίου -καὶ οὕτως χειραγωγούμενος ἐβάδιζον, μᾶλλον δὲ ἑλκόμενος· οὔτε γὰρ βαδίζειν ἦν εἰς τοσαύτην δυσχωρίαν καὶ ὄρη χαλεπὰ ἐν νυκτὶ μέσῃ. Ἐννόησον τί με πάσχειν εἰκὸς ἦν τοσούτοις συνεχόμενον κακοῖς καὶ τοῦ πυρετοῦ ἐπικειμένου καὶ μηδὲν εἰδότα τῶν κατεσκευασμένων, ἀλλὰ δεδοικότα βαρβάρους καὶ τρέμοντα καὶ