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to celebrate the memory; but every city, and every village, and the fields, and the farthest regions, have been filled with divine grace; and in every place divine chapels and sacred precincts are consecrated to the God of all. For this reason, though separated in our cities, we celebrate the festival, and again we share in the feasts with one another. For we honor the same God and Master with hymns, and offer to Him the mystical sacrifices. For this reason, we who are neighbors also greet one another through letters, signifying the joy that comes from the festival. This I too now do, and I offer the festal greeting to your Magnificence. And it will surely give the same in return, and will honor the law of the feast. 73 TO APOLLONIUS. Themistocles, the son of Neocles, that most excellent and admirable general, the historian, admiring him, has attributed to him only a natural excellence; but of Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, he said that he had acquired skill from education and instilled persuasion into his speeches, and by this bewitched his hearers, and became capable both of knowing what was necessary and of explaining it. For it is not unfitting for one writing about him to use his own words. These things also make your Magnificence illustrious. For God the Creator has given you an able nature, and participation in education shows its beauty. Nothing, therefore, is lacking to the wealth of your virtue, except only the knowledge of the one who made you; for when this is added, we shall have the most perfect harvest of good things. Knowing this, I write upon your arrival, beseeching the giver of good things both to bestow a ray of light on the eye of the soul, and to show the greatness of the gift, and to kindle the love for that possession, and to grant to one who longs for it the thing longed for. 74 TO URBANUS. The bountiful Master has granted us again to enjoy this feast, and to send the festal greeting to your Magnificence; for whom we pray to be healthy and to shine, and to partake of the ineffable and God-given gift, which supplies the seeds of the hoped-for good things to those who approach, and gives the tokens of the life and kingdom that will have no end. These things we beseech the philanthropic Master to bestow upon your Greatness; for those who love good things are accustomed to ask them for their friends. 75 TO THE CLERGY OF BEROEA. I have recognized how rightly I am disposed towards your piety. For the letter from your reverence has persuaded me that, in loving, I am loved in return. And I have many reasons for my love for you. First, that your father, that great and apostolic man, has also become my father. Second, that I have the most devout bishop, who now directs your Church, as a like-minded and true brother. Third, the proximity of our cities. Fourth, that we visit each other often. And this is sufficient both to beget friendship and, once begotten, to increase it. And if you wish, I will state a fifth; the connection which the tongue provides to the ear—for the one utters the words, and the other receives them—this we also have with you. For you most gladly listen to our words, and I my little stream

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ἑορτάζειν τὴν μνήμην· ἀλλὰ πᾶσα πόλις, καὶ πᾶσα κώμη, καὶ ἀγροί, καὶ ἐσχατιαί, τῆς θείας ἐνεπλήσθησαν χάριτος· καὶ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ σηκοὶ θεῖοι καὶ τεμένη καθιερῶνται τῷ τῶν ὅλων θεῷ. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ κατὰ πόλεις διῃρημένοι πανηγυρίζο μεν, καὶ αὖ πάλιν κοινωνοῦμεν ἀλλήλοις τῶν ἑορτῶν. Τὸν γὰρ αὐτὸν Θεόν τε καὶ ∆εσπότην τοῖς ὕμνοις γεραίρομεν, καὶ τὰς μυστικὰς αὐτῷ θυσίας προσφέρομεν. Τούτου δὴ χάριν καὶ διὰ γραμμάτων ἀλλήλους οἱ γειτονεύοντες προσφθεγγόμεθα, τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἑορτῆς ἐγγινομένην θυμηδίαν σημαίνοντες. Τοῦτο κἀγὼ νῦν ποιῶ, καὶ τὴν ἑορταστικὴν πρόσρησιν τῇ σῇ μεγαλοπρε πείᾳ προσφέρω. Ἀντιδώσει δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ πάντως τὴν ἴσην, καὶ τιμήσει τὸν νόμον τῆς ἑορτῆς. 73 ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΩ. Θεμιστοκλέα τὸν Νεοκλέους, τὸν ἄριστον ἐκεῖνον καὶ ἀξιά γαστον στρατηγόν, θαυμάζων ὁ συγγραφεὺς φυσικὴν αὐτῷ μόνην προσμεμαρτύρηκεν ἀρετήν· Περικλέα δὲ, τὸν Ξαν θίππου, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς παιδείας ἔφη προσειληφέναι δεινό τητα καὶ τὴν πειθὼ τοῖς λόγοις ἐπιστάζειν, καὶ ταύτῃ κατα κηλεῖν τοὺς ἀκούοντας, καὶ ἱκανὸν γενέσθαι γνῶναί τε τὰ δέοντα, καὶ ἑρμηνεῦσαι ταῦτα. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀπεικὸς περὶ αὐτοῦ γράφοντα τοῖς αὐτοῦ λόγοις κεχρῆσθαι. Ταῦτα καὶ τὴν σὴν λαμπρύνει μεγαλοπρέπειαν. Καὶ γὰρ δεξιάν σοι φύσιν ἔδωκεν ὁ δημιουργήσας Θεός, καὶ τῆς παιδείας ἡ μετουσία τὸ ταύτης δείκνυσι κάλλος. Οὐδὲν τοίνυν ἐλλείπει τῷ πλούτῳ τῆς ἀρε τῆς, ἢ μόνη τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἡ γνῶσις· ταύτης γὰρ προσ γενομένης, τελεοτάτην ἕξομεν τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὴν φοράν. Ταῦτα γνοὺς ὑμῶν τὴν ἄφιξιν ἐπιστέλλω, τὸν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀντιβο λῶν χορηγόν, καὶ φωτὸς ἀκτῖνα χαρίσασθαι τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀπτικῷ, καὶ τῆς δωρεᾶς ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸ μέγεθος, καὶ τῆς κτή σεως ἐκείνης ἐξάψαι τὸν ἔρωτα, καὶ ποθήσαντι δωρήσασθαι τὸ ποθούμενον. 74 ΟΥΡΒΑΝΩ. ∆έδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ μεγαλόδωρος ∆εσπότης καὶ ταύτης πάλιν ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς ἑορτῆς, καὶ τὴν ἑορταστικὴν πρόσρησιν πέμψαι τῇ μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ τῇ σῇ· ἣν ὑγιαίνειν τε καὶ δια λάμπειν εὐχόμεθα, καὶ τῆς ἀρρήτου καὶ θεοσδότου μεταλαχεῖν δωρεᾶς, ἣ τῶν ἐλπιζομένων ἀγαθῶν τοῖς προσιοῦσι τὰ σπέρ ματα χορηγεῖ, καὶ τῆς τέλος οὐ δεξομένης ζωῆς τε καὶ βασι λείας τὰ σύμβολα δίδωσιν. Ταῦτα τὸν φιλάνθρωπον ∆εσπότην ἀντιβολοῦμεν τῷ σῷ μεγέθει δωρήσασθαι· πεφύκασι γὰρ οἱ φιλοῦντες τὰ ἀγαθὰ τοῖς φίλοις αἰτεῖν. 75 ΤΟΙΣ ΚΛΗΡΙΚΟΙΣ ΒΕΡΟΙΑΣ. Ἔγνων ὡς εἰκότως περὶ τὴν ὑμετέραν διάκειμαι θεοσέβειαν. Πέπεικε γάρ με τῆς εὐλαβείας ὑμῶν τὰ γράμματα, ὡς ἀγαπῶν ἀνταγαπῶμαι. Πολλὰς δὲ ἔχω τῆς περὶ ὑμῶν ἀγάπης τὰς ἀφορμάς. Πρῶτον μὲν, τὸ τὸν ὑμέτερον πατέρα, τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον καὶ ἀποστολικὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ ἐμὸν γεγενῆσθαι πατέρα. ∆εύτερον δέ, τὸ καὶ τὸν θεοσεβέστατον ἐπίσκοπον, τὸν νῦν τὴν ὑμετέραν Ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύνοντα, ὁμόψυχον ἔχειν καὶ γνή σιον ἀδελφόν. Τρίτον, τῶν πόλεων τὸ γειτόνημα. Τέταρτον, τὸ θαμὰ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἡμᾶς φοιτᾶν. Ἱκανὸν δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τεκεῖν φιλίαν, καὶ τεχθεῖσαν αὐξῆσαι. Εἰ δὲ βούλεσθε, καὶ πέμπτην ἐρῶ· ἣν παρέχει συνάφειαν γλῶττα πρὸς ἀκοὴν-ἡ μὲν γὰρ προφέρει τοὺς λόγους, ἡ δὲ δέχεται τούτους-, ταύ την καὶ ἡμεῖς ἔχομεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς. Καὶ γὰρ ὑμεῖς ἥδιστα τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐπακούετε λόγων, κἀγὼ τὴν λιβάδα μου τὴν σμικρὰν