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

to wish. For you both comprehend the present and conjecture the future and discover the unseen, discerning character from eyebrows and eyelids, so that you grasp most accurately the counsels in the soul. And to others you distribute the equality of justice, but starting from your own hearth you wrong yourself and take pride in the disadvantage. And someone convicted of an indictment for outrage paid the penalty to the accuser; but many who raised a sword-bearing hand against your head were caught, yet have escaped, not by the strength of a tongue nor by rhetorical persuasiveness, but by the ineffable ways of humanity. To speak of each instance, then, the present time does not suffice; but I will sketch out one or two of all the examples in the form of a narrative, and since I am speaking to those who know, I have no need to write down the name of the one who played the tyrant. He who, just yesterday and the day before, was wearing a goat-skin, suddenly put on a toga, as chance often plays many youthful pranks. and from Scythian independence he was enrolled among the senators and became a part of the Roman senate; but he changed his garment, not his soul. Whence, once having cast off his robes, with his character laid bare he raged against your power. And having been accustomed to shoot his arrows far at the sun, when he came near its circle, he is struck by its rays and, wishing to flee, is caught. Then what? He reports the plot and makes the tyranny public, and all who had a share in it; for which was that triumph, which you know. And what was expected was worse than what had happened. Therefore a high tribunal is again set up and a second trial against the tyranny is proposed. You then, having transformed yourself, as we later realized, sat with your brows drawn together, with a grim and lion-like look, and pulling your forehead down into a long frown. And the chosen body stood by in order, as if unable to look straight at some fiery-flashing lightning. Then, as if a thunderclap had moved them, the tyrannical multitude was gathered together, with their cheeks sunken, their temples collapsed, with their eyes swollen, with their hair squalid and dragging it deeper than their beard, panting short breaths, sighing faintly, having cast their gaze to the ground and covering their faces in shame. And as they entered, one softly uttered, "What fate will befall us?"; and another, "So I was not to escape the great eye of God"; and a third, "Fine are the rewards of our audacity for us; how can I see, how can I look upon him against whom I raised a murderous hand?" But you, maintaining the pretense for a long time and conforming yourself to the tribunal of your soul, when you saw them entering, abandoning the stage and letting go the prompting, being suddenly moved in your soul, you fill your eyes with tears and send forth humane words. Then indeed—but how can I say it, how can I present the much in little?—as benefactors you kiss your murderers, and placing their sword-bearing, tyrannical, and blood-stained hand—as far as the plot was concerned—before your eyes, you wash it with your tears and cleanse it with the baths of nature. And again the wearer of goat-skin is a wearer of the toga, and the Median robe comes after the sheepskin, and the fallen part is restored to the senatorial rank, and those who despaired of living partook of living well. And another tyrant has suffered something similar, and having received clemency from the very noose, he is transferred to a life analogous to that of the angels. Shall I tell, if you wish, another second story? For you, O emperor, hearing it blush and do not accept the praise, but consider the commendations burdensome; but we are not sated either by speaking or by hearing. For our sake, then, endure this contest as well. But I will cut short the subject, as is fitting. You were once the object of a slanderous tongue and of an unrestrained hand; and nothing new, since even God is He who is indestructible to all and who by His nature has removed all liability to attack. And the slander was that snow is black and the circle is square and the line has depth. And the slanderer himself the author of the writing—for what need is there not to tell the truth

βούλεσθαι. τό τε γὰρ παρὸν συνορᾷς καὶ τὸ μέλλον εἰκάζεις καὶ τὸ ἀφανὲς ἀνευρίσκεις ἐξ ὀφρύων τε καὶ βλεφάρων φυσιογνωμονῶν, ὡς μάλιστα τὰ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ καταλαμβάνεις βουλεύματα. καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις τὴν τῆς δίκης κατανέμεις ἰσότητα, ἀφ' ἑστίας δὲ σαυτὸν ἀδικῶν σεμνύνῃ τῷ ἐλαττώματι. καὶ γραφὴν μέν τις ἁλοὺς ὕβρεως ἔδωκε δίκην τῷ γραψαμένῳ· χεῖρα δὲ πολλοὶ ξιφήρη κατὰ τῆς σῆς ἐπανατεινάμενοι κεφαλῆς ἥλωσαν μέν, πεφεύγασι δέ, οὐ γλώττης ἰσχύϊ οὐδὲ ῥητορικαῖς πιθανότησιν, ἀλλὰ τρόποις ἀρρήτοις φιλανθρωπίας. Καθ' ἕκαστον μὲν οὖν λέγειν ὁ παρὼν χρόνος οὐκ ἐξαρκεῖ· ἓν δὲ ἢ δύο τῶν πάντων ὑποτυπώσομαι ἐν σχήματι διηγήσεως, εἰδόσι δὲ λέγων οὐδὲν δέομαι γράφειν τὸν τετυραννευκότα ὀνομαστί. ὃς χθές που καὶ πρῴην σισυροφορῶν ἄφνω τήβενναν ἐνεδύσατο, οἷα πολλὰ νεανιεύεται τὸ αὐτόματον. καὶ ἀπὸ Σκυθικῆς αὐτονομίας ἀνεγράφη τοῖς βουλευταῖς καὶ τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς συγκλήτου μέρος ἐγένετο· ἀλλὰ τὴν στολήν, οὐ τὴν ψυχὴν μετηλλάξατο. ὅθεν ποτὲ τὰς περιβολὰς μεθεικὼς γυμνῷ τῷ ἤθει κατὰ τοῦ σοῦ κράτους ἐλύττησε. καὶ πόρρω τοξεύειν ἐθίσας τὸν ἥλιον, ἐπεὶ ἀγχοῦ τοῦ κύκλου ἐγένετο, βάλλεται ταῖς ἀκτῖσι καὶ φυγεῖν ἐθέλων ἁλίσκεται. εἶτα τί; ἐξαγγέλλει τὸ σκέμμα καὶ τὴν τυραννίδα δημοσιεύει καὶ ὅσοι ταύτης κεκοινωνήκασιν· ἐφ' οἷς ἐκεῖνος, ὃν ἴστε, ὁ θρίαμβος. καὶ χείρω τῶν γεγενημένων τὰ προσδοκώμενα. βῆμα οὖν αὖθις μετέωρον καὶ δευτέρα κατὰ τῆς τυραννίδος δίκη προτίθεται. σὺ μὲν οὖν μεταπλάσας σαυτόν, ὡς ὕστερον ἔγνωμεν, καὶ συνεσπακὼς ἐκάθησο τὰς ὀφρῦς καὶ βλοσυρὸν βλέπων καὶ λεοντῶδες καὶ ἐς μῆκος σύρας τὸ ἐπισκύνιον. παρειστήκει δὲ ἐν τάξει τὸ ἔκκριτον ὡς πρός τινα πυρισμάραγον ἀστραπὴν ἀντωπεῖν μὴ δυνάμενον. εἶτα ὥσπερ βροντῆς κινησάσης τὸ τυραννικὸν πλῆθος συνείλεκτο, ἐκτετηκότες τὰς παρειάς, τοὺς κροτάφους συμπεπτωκότες, κυλοιδιῶντες τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, πιναρὰν τὴν κόμην καὶ βαθυτέραν ταύτην τοῦ πώγωνος ἕλκοντες, βραχὺ μὲν ἀσθμαίνοντες, λεπτὸν δὲ ἀναστένοντες, τὴν ὄψιν ἀφεικότες εἰς γῆν καὶ αἰσχύνῃ τὸ πρόσωπον καλυπτόμενοι. εἰσιόντες δὲ ὁ μὲν "τίς ἡμᾶς διαδέξεται τύχη;" ἠρέμα πως ὑπερφθέγγετο· καὶ ἄλλος· "οὐκ ἄρα μέγαν τοῦ θεοῦ ὀφθαλμὸν λήσεσθαι ἔμελλον"· καὶ ἕτερος· "καλά γε ἡμῖν τοῦ τολμήματος τὰ ἐπίχειρα· πῶς ἴδω, πῶς ἀντωπήσω, καθ' οὖ χεῖρα φόνιον ἐπανέτεινα;" σὺ δὲ τὸ πλάσμα τηρῶν μέχρι πολλοῦ καὶ πρὸς τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀντιμορφούμενος δικαστήριον, ἐπειδὴ εἰσιόντας εἶδες, τὴν σκηνὴν ἀφεὶς καὶ τὴν ὑποβολὴν μεθεικώς, συγχυθεὶς ἄφνω τὴν ψυχὴν πληροῖς μὲν δακρύων τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ φιλανθρώπους πέμπεις φωνάς. εἶτα δὴ-ἀλλὰ πῶς εἴποιμι, πῶς ἐν ὀλίγῳ τὸ πολὺ παραστήσαιμι; -ὡς εὐεργέτας καταφιλεῖς τοὺς φονεῖς καὶ τὴν ξιφήρη χεῖρα καὶ τύραννον καὶ αἱμαχθεῖσαν, ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ σκέμματι, τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὑποθεὶς πλύνεις τοῖς δάκρυσι καὶ τοῖς τῆς φύσεως ἀποκαθαίρεις λουτροῖς. καὶ πάλιν ὁ σισυροφόρος τηβεννοφόρος καὶ ὁ κάνδυς μετὰ τὸ κώδιον καὶ τὸ πεπτωκὸς μέρος πρὸς τὴν συγκλητικὴν τάξιν ἀποκαθίσταται καὶ τοῦ εὖ ζῆν οἱ τοῦ ζῆν ἀπελπίσαντες μετεσχήκασι. καὶ τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ τύραννος ἕτερος πέπονθε, καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἀγχόνης φιλανθρωπίας τυχὼν πρὸς τὴν ἀγγέλοις ἀνάλογον ζωὴν μετατίθεται. Εἴπω, βούλεσθε, καὶ δεύτερον ἄλλο διήγημα; σὺ μὲν γάρ, ὦ βασιλεῦ, ἀκούων ἐρυθριᾷς καὶ τὴν εὐφημίαν οὐκ ἀποδέχῃ, ἀλλὰ φορτικοὺς τοὺς ἐπαίνους ἡγῇ· ἡμεῖς δὲ οὔτε λέγοντες οὔτε ἀκούοντες κορεννύμεθα. ἡμῶν οὖν ἕνεκα καὶ τοῦτον τὸν ἆθλον ὑπόστηθι. ὑποτεμοῦμαι δέ, ὅσον εἰκός, τὴν ὑπόθεσιν. γέγονάς ποτε καὶ λοιδόρου γλώττης πάρεργον καὶ χειρὸς ἀκρατοῦς· καὶ καινὸν οὐδέν, ἐπεὶ καὶ θεὸς ὁ πᾶσιν ἀνάλωτος καὶ ἀποξέσας τῇ φύσει πᾶσαν ἀντίληψιν. τὸ δὲ λοιδόρημα, ὅτι μέλαινα ἡ χιὼν καὶ ὁ κύκλος τετράγωνος καὶ ἡ γραμμὴ βάθος ἔχουσα. καὶ ὁ τοῦ λοιδόρου αὐτόχειρ γράμματος-τί γὰρ δεῖ μὴ τἀληθῆ