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

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 trace of his body and of the similarity of his character? Look then for me at the God-given scion of the purple, the final and divine glory of the imperial family, living beauty, ensouled virtue. But what a state I am in. For having dared to ascend to the height and magnitude of your virtues, I have not mounted a single step nor lifted my foot from the ground, but often wishing this, and then not being able, I proceed on smooth, level ground, and watching the sun on the waters, I seem to see the orb itself, and from this I seemed to be someone to the many. And besides this they are amazed at you as a supernatural being, but I have considered none of your qualities, neither what the wisdom concerning you is, that it is composed of knowledge and intellect, and deals with first principles and the forms demonstrated from those principles, nor that, defining practical wisdom in matters of action, wherein lie choice and avoidance, you choose some things with knowledge, while you acquire others. Nor have I said anything else of your qualities, how you have made courage a mean of confidence and fear—and I do not mean the civic sort, nor that which comes from the passions, but that which comes from reason for the sake of the good, nor that you have adopted and practiced gentleness, which lies as a mean between irascibility and lack of anger, and have consecrated it to your soul; and how you define liberality for yourself alone, by spending on what seems best and on what is necessary, as also seems right to Aristotle. I have passed over in you magnificence, how you have kept it as a mean between boastfulness and pettiness; nor did I say that you are free from resentment, avoiding envy and malicious joy. I have also passed over in you that most honorable quality, modesty, as you are neither overly timid nor mocking, and the pleasantness of your speech, as being neither coarse nor boorish, and how, knowing friendship, you are neither hateful nor do you confuse its boundaries with the bordering vice of flattery, and how, being truthful, you hate the ironical and the boastful man. For these are vices that lie beside the virtues, and while they are laid down as law by Aristotle, they are set right by your soul. You see how, having promised to ascend to the north, I have not even approached the southern regions, but I cry out from the earth and beat the air. And I say nothing of what I wish, but have put forward only a stage-setting of the speech. But forgive me, O king. For I have been defeated along with everyone else. For one man is better and loftier than another in other things, but in praising you all are equal in their training. For the Creator, wishing to bestow all virtue upon one of all men, creates in you an ensouled sanctuary, and fashions for you a sun-like form, and breathes into you a soul not defiled by the dregs of matter. And He places you on the highest watchtower of power, so that what He is to you, you might be to us, channeling to us the springs from there and dividing them into conduits, so that each may receive as much as he is able. For having fixed you like some center point between the superior beings and us, by as much as you fall short of them, by so much you rise above us. To whom then shall I compare you? Who is so great and beyond comparison? For I who speak am a small part of nature, and he to whom you might be compared is not himself believed to be above it; but you have surpassed nature, and have come very near to the intelligible orders. What then? Have we given a head and chest to our speech, but shall not set it on a base, but leave it on its knees? Far from it! How then shall we both complete the statue and confront our opponent and proceed according to reason? You are something both corporeal and incorporeal, both beyond nature and superior. We shall compare you then to the most subtle of bodies and to the most unextended of incorporeal things. And what are these? Heaven and intellect, the one being something other than the four bodies and moving in a circle and carrying along with it the fixed and the wandering stars and in a short time restoring itself, but the other the psychic

ἐνταῦθα δὲ χεὶρ ἐναργὴς πέντε ῥόδων διῃρημένη ἀκρέμοσιν. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν μαρτύριον ἀψευδέστατον τῆς θεοειδοῦς ἐκείνης ψυχῆς. βούλει δέ τι ἴχνος ἰδεῖν καὶ τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῆς τῶν ἠθῶν ὁμοιότητος; ὅρα μοι τοίνυν τὸν θεοδώρητον τῆς πορφύρας βλαστόν, τοῦ βασιλείου γένους τὸ τελευταῖον καὶ θεσπέσιον ἄγαλμα, τὴν ζῶσαν καλλονήν, τὴν ἔμψυχον ἀρετήν. Ἀλλ' οἷόν τι πέπονθα. ἀνιέναι γὰρ τολμήσας πρὸς τὸ ὕψος καὶ μέγεθος τῶν σῶν ἀρετῶν, βαθμίδα μὲν οὐδεμίαν ἐπαναβέβηκα οὐδὲ τὸ ἴχνος ἐπῆρα τῆς γῆς, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο πολλάκις βουλόμενος, εἶτα δὴ μὴ δυνάμενος, ἐφ' ὁμαλοῖς τοῖς ἰσοπέδοις χωρῶ, καὶ τὸν ἥλιον κατὰ τῶν ὑδάτων θεώμενος αὐτὸν ὁρᾶν τὸν κύκλον δοκῶ καί τις ἐντεῦθεν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἔδοξα. καί σε παρὰ ταῦτα ὡς ὑπερφυὲς χρῆμα τεθήπασιν, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐδέν τι περὶ τῶν σῶν ἐθεώρησα, οὔθ' ἥτις ἡ περί σε σοφία ἐστίν, ὅτι ἐξ ἐπιστήμης καὶ νοῦ συγκειμένη καὶ περὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς πραγματευομένη καὶ τὰ ἐκ τῶν ἀρχῶν εἴδη δεικνύμενα, οὐθ' ὅτι περὶ τὰ πρακτὰ ὁρίζων τὴν φρόνησιν, ἐν οἷς αἴρεσις καὶ φυγή, τὰ μὲν αἱρῇ μετ' ἐπιστήμης, τὰ δὲ περιποιῇ. οὐδ' ἄλλο οὐδὲν τῶν σῶν εἴρηκα, ὡς τὴν μὲν ἀνδρείαν θάρσους καὶ φόβου πεποιηκὼς ἔχεις μεσότητα, φημὶ δὲ οὐ τὴν πολιτικὴν οὐδὲ τὴν ἐκ τῶν παθῶν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ λόγου διὰ τὸ καλόν, οὐδ' ὅτι τὴν πραότητα παρὰ μέρος ὀργιλότητος καὶ ἀοργησίας κειμένην ἑκατέρωθεν εἰληφὼς ἐπετήδευσας, καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ ἀφωσίωσας τήν τε ἐλευθερίαν ἑαυτῷ μόνῳ ὁρίζεις εἰς ἃ δοκεῖ καὶ ὅσα δεῖ ἀναλίσκοντι, ὡς καὶ τῷ Ἀριστοτέλει δοκεῖ. παρῆκά σοι καὶ τὸ μεγαλοπρεπές, ὡς μέσον ἀλαζονείας καὶ μικροπρεπείας τετήρηκας· οὐδ' ὅτι μὴ νεμεσᾷς εἶπον, φθόνον καὶ χαιρεκακίαν ἐκκλίνων. παρῆλθόν σοι καὶ τὸ μάλιστα ἐπιτιμότατον γνώρισμα, τὴν αἰδῶ, οὔτε καταπληττομένῳ οὔτε τωθάζοντι, καὶ τὸ τῆς γλώττης ἡδὺ ὡς οὐ βωμολόχον οὐδ' ἄγροικον, καὶ ὡς εἰδὼς ἀγάπην οὔτ' ἀπεχθάνῃ οὔτε συγχεῖς τοὺς ὅρους αὐτῆς παρὰ τὴν ὁμοτέρμονα κολακείαν, καὶ ὡς ἀληθεύων τὸν εἴρωνα καὶ ἀλαζόνα μισεῖς. κακίαι γὰρ αὗται ταῖς ἀρεταῖς παρακείμεναι, καὶ τῷ μὲν Ἀριστοτέλει νομοθετούμεναι, τῇ δὲ σῇ ψυχῇ κατορθούμεναι. Ὁρᾶτε, ὡς τὸν βορρᾶν ἀνιέναι ἐπαγγειλάμενος οὐδὲ τοῖς νοτίοις προσήγγισα μέρεσιν, ἀλλ' ἐκ γῆς φωνῶ καὶ εἰς ἀέρα δαίρω. καὶ λέγω μὲν οὐδὲν ὧν βούλομαι, σκηνὴν δὲ μόνην τοῦ λόγου προβέβλημαι. ἀλλά μοι σύγγνωθι, βασιλεῦ. μετὰ πάντων γὰρ ἥττημαι. ἄλλος μὲν γὰρ ἐν ἄλλοις ἄλλου κρείττων καὶ ὑψηλότερος, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς σοὺς ἐπαίνους ἶσοι πάντες τὴν παίδευσιν. βουληθεὶς γὰρ ὁ δημιουργὸς ἑνὶ τῶν πάντων ξύμπασαν καταχαρίσαι τὴν ἀρετήν, ἔμψυχόν σοι δημιουργεῖ τέμενος καὶ πλάττει μέν σοι ἡλιῶσαν μορφήν, ἐμπνεῖ δέ σοι ψυχὴν μὴ μολυνομένην ταῖς τῆς ὕλης ἐσχατιαῖς. ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ἀκροτάτης τοῦ κράτους περιωπῆς τίθησιν, ἵν', ὅπερ ἐκεῖνός ἐστι πρὸς σέ, τοῦτο σὺ πρὸς ἡμᾶς γίνῃ, μετοχετεύων ἡμῖν τὰς ἐκεῖθεν πηγὰς καὶ διαμερίζων ταύτας εἰς ὀχετούς, ἵν' ὅσον ἂν ἕκαστος δύνηται, δέξηται. ὥσπερ γάρ τι κέντρον μέσον τῶν κρειττόνων καὶ ἡμῶν πηξάμενος, ὅσον ἐκείνων λείπῃ, τοσοῦτον ὑπερανέχεις ἡμῶν. Συγκρινῶ οὖν σε πρὸς τίνα; ὁ τίς τὸν τηλικοῦτον καὶ ὑπὲρ σύγκρισιν; ἐγώ τε γὰρ ὁ λέγων μερὶς ὀλίγη τῆς φύσεως, πρὸς ὅν τε ἂν παραβληθείης, αὐτὸς οὐχ ὑπὲρ ταύτην πιστεύεται· σὺ δὲ τὴν μὲν φύσιν ὑπερεφώνησας, τῶν δὲ νοερῶν ἐγγύτατα γέγονας τάξεων. τί οὖν; κεφαλὴν καὶ στέρνα τῷ λόγῳ δεδώκαμεν, οὐ στηρίξομεν δὲ ἐπὶ βάσεως, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῶν ἰγνύων ἐάσομεν; πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ, πῶς οὖν καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα τελεώσομεν καὶ τῷ ἐναντιουμένῳ συμβῶμεν καὶ κατὰ λόγον χωρήσομεν; σῶμά τι σὺ καὶ ἀσώματον, ἀμφότερον ὑπὲρ φύσιν καὶ κρείττονα. παραβαλοῦμεν οὖν σε τῶν σωμάτων τῷ λεπτοτάτῳ καὶ τῶν ἀσωμάτων τῷ μᾶλλον ἀδιαστάτῳ. τί δὲ ταῦτα; οὐρανὸς καὶ νοῦς, ὁ μὲν ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὰ τέσσαρα σώματα καὶ κύκλῳ κινούμενος καὶ συμπεριάγων ἀστέρας ἀπλανεῖς τε καὶ πλάνητας καὶ ἐν βραχεῖ ἀποκαθιστάμενος, ὁ δὲ τὴν ψυχικὴν