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

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 administration and judgment. Could anyone say more than these things? And at what other time did all good things so flourish and reach their peak? In these things you too, most divine emperor, exult, more than in the purple robe and the brilliant diadem. for these things God also crowns you from above and displays you more brilliantly in your valorous deeds against enemies. for who does not know of tyrants out-generaled, and the Scythians around Taurus divided by fire and water, the tributes collected from those around Greater Armenia, Huns vanquished in war, Persians terrified, the rulers of the greatest nations coming to you and bringing populous lands? And so that I not speak of each thing, you have joined East and West into one and have brought the ends of the earth together into one mind. I pass over the other things; but the watchwords of your strategy, and the arrangements of your encounters, and the instructions for your ambushes, how they are beyond all account, how beyond conception. Wishing to compare these things with the former, I do not know to which I should give the prize for victory, so that it is unclear, in which of these you are more wondrous. Thus each of your achievements, when compared to one another, display an equal power and make your might more manifest. which indeed, having made it common with the empress, you shine even more brightly; for the union of the rulers, having become a monarchy through their concord, from this shows its power more brilliantly, not being divided in divided bodies, but rather being united by the harmony and identity of the soul. But let no one demand from me a technical comparison; for even if I were to show my emperor to be greater than those being compared, yet someone might suspect that there is someone who can be compared to him. Be therefore incomparable, O emperor, and let what is beyond art be given to you alone. And let this most novel thing be said to those after us, that one man alone among the emperors of the Romans had the strength, by what he wonderfully accomplished and by what he skillfully planned, to surpass the virtues of others and art itself, having God assisting in his labors. By whose hand may the subject people be more easily governed; and may the enemy, if any somewhere still remains, bend his neck. And may it be yours not by length of time to be compared to any of those who have ever reigned, so that even in this respect you may possess incomparability against all. 6 To the same emperor [It was necessary] once, most divine emperor, for philosophy, which judges and tests all things and is superior to every disposition and nature [of souls], to receive judgment upon you alone and to suffer defeat and, being measure[d against] your most godlike advantages, to fall short of their majesty. for even if it is lofty and sub[lime and embracing the whole cosmos], both as much as is visible and as much as is invisible, yet it is somewhere below the bet[ter ...........] of which [.......] you have appeared as the most exact image. But it is necessary not only to be inferior to true wisdom [......], but [seeing] it, let them assimilate themselves to it. Thus for you, O emperor, right from the beginning [...] the incomparable knowledge and that you have conquered every account and art because against [i]t [...]ria. Since every encomium is threefold, with one part concluding on the soul and the corresponding [.....] quickly through [.......] ascents of virtues, another admiring the bodily beauty—for not even this should be cast aside, showing the ambition of the one [to be prais]ed and what is in many respects ana[logous to t]he disposi[tion of the soul]—and another [...] attaching and fitting all external good fortune to the praises. The others who are praised, having provided this or that starti[ng p]oint for the speech, from the othe[rs

ὑφηγητήν, οὕτω κἀκεῖσε τῶν οἰκονομημάτων διαιτητήν, ἵνα σοι ἁρμόσω καὶ πρὸς ἀμφότερα, λέγων τε πράξεις τὰς σὰς καὶ πράττων τοὺς λόγους τῆς σῆς οἰκονομίας καὶ κρίσεως. Τούτων ἔχοι τις ἂν πλέον εἰπεῖν; ἐπ' ἄλλῳ δὲ τίνι χρόνῳ οὕτως ἤνθησε τὰ καλὰ πάντα καὶ ἤκμασε; τούτοις καὶ σύ, θειότατε βασιλεῦ, ἐπαγάλλῃ ἢ τῇ ἁλουργίδι καὶ τῷ λαμπρῷ διαδήματι. διὰ ταῦτά σε καὶ θεὸς ἄνωθεν στεφανοῖ καὶ ταῖς κατ' ἐχθρῶν ἀριστείαις λαμπρότερον ἀναδείκνυσι. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδε τυράννους κατεστρατηγημένους, καὶ τοὺς περὶ Ταῦρον Σκύθας πυρὶ μεμερισμένους καὶ ὕδατι, τοὺς περὶ τὴν Μεγάλην Ἀρμενίαν φόρους εἰσπραττομένους, Οὔννους καταπεπολεμημένους, Πέρσας ἐπτοημένους, τῶν μεγίστων ἐθνῶν δυνάστας σοι προσιόντας καὶ χώρας πολυανθρώπους προσάγοντας; καὶ ἵνα μὴ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον λέγω, σὺ ἀνατολὴν καὶ δύσιν εἰς ἓν συνηρμόσω καὶ τὰ τῆς γῆς πέρατα εἰς μίαν γνώμην συνήγαγες. ἐῶ τἆλλα· τὰ δὲ τῆς στρατηγίας συνθήματα, αἱ δὲ τῶν συμπλοκῶν διατάξεις, αἱ δὲ τῶν λοχήσεων ὑποθῆκαι, ὡς ὑπὲρ πάντα λόγον, ὡς ὑπὲρ ἔννοιαν. ταῦτα συγκρίνειν τοῖς προτέροις βουλόμενος οὐκ ἔχω τίνι δώσω τὰ νικητήρια, ὡς ἄδηλον εἶναι, ποτέροις σὺ τούτων θαυμασιώτερος. Οὕτως σοι τὰ καθ' ἕκαστα τῶν κατορθωμάτων ἀλλήλοις παραβαλλόμενα τὴν ἴσην παραδεικνύουσι δύναμιν καὶ τὸ κράτος σοι καθιστῶσι περιφανέστερον. ὃ δὴ καὶ κοινὸν πρὸς τὴν βασιλίδα καταστησάμενος ἔτι μᾶλλον λάμπεις φαιδρότερον· ἡ γὰρ τῶν βασιλευόντων συζυγία μοναρχία γεγονυῖα διὰ τὴν σύμπνοιαν λαμπρότερον τὸ κράτος ἐντεῦθεν προδείκνυσιν, οὐ διαιρούμενον ἐν διαιρουμένοις σώμασι, συνενούμενον δὲ μᾶλλον τῇ ὁμονοίᾳ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ταὐτότητι. Ἀλλά με μηδεὶς ἀπαιτείτω τεχνικὴν σύγκρισιν· κἂν γὰρ μείζονα τῶν συγκρινομένων τὸν ἐμὸν δείξαιμι αὐτοκράτορα, ἀλλά γέ τις ὑποπτεύσειεν, ὡς ἔστι τις ὁ τούτῳ παραβαλλόμενος. ἔσο οὖν ἀσύγκριτος, ὦ βασιλεῦ, καὶ δεδόσθω σοὶ μόνῳ τὸ ὑπὲρ τέχνην. καὶ λεγέσθω τοῖς μεθ' ἡμᾶς τοῦτο δὴ τὸ καινότατον, ὅτι μόνος εἷς ἐν βασιλεῦσι Ῥωμαίων ἴσχυσεν οἷς τε εἰργάσατο θαυμαστῶς καὶ οἷς διεσκέψατο δεξιῶς τὰς τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετὰς καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν τέχνην ὑπερελάσαι, θεὸν ἔχων τῶν πόνων συνεφαπτόμενον. οὗ τῇ χειρὶ συνδιεξάγοιτο μὲν τὸ ὑπήκοον εὐμαρέστερον· ἐχθρὸν δέ, εἴ τί που καὶ ὑπολέλειπται, τὸν αὐχένα συγκάμψειε. καὶ σοὶ γένοιτο μὴ τῷ μήκει τοῦ χρόνου συγκριθῆναι τῶν πώποτε βεβασιλευκότων τινά, ὥστε κἀν τούτῳ τῷ μέρει τὸ κατὰ πάντων ἀσύγκριτον κτήσασθαι. 6 Εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν βασιλέα [Ἔδει] ποτέ, θειότατε βασιλεῦ, τὴν πάντα κρίνουσαν φιλοσοφίαν καὶ δοκιμάζουσαν καὶ πάσης ὑπερκειμένην τῆς [ψυχῶν] ἕξεώς τε καὶ φύσεως κρίσι ἐπί σοι μόνῳ λαβεῖν καὶ ἥτταν παθεῖν καὶ τοῖς σοῖς παραμετρη[θεῖσαν] θεοειδεστάτοις πλεονεκτήμασιν ἐπ' ἔλαττον ἐλθεῖν τῆς ἐκείνων μεγαλειότητος. εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὑψηλὴ καὶ μετέ[ωρος καὶ τὸν κόσμον ὅλον] περιλαμβάνουσα, ὅσος τε ὁρατὸς καὶ ὅσος ἀόρατος, ἀλλὰ κάτω που τοῦ κρεί[ττονος ...........]εται οὗπερ [.......] πέφηνας χαρακτὴρ ἀκριβέστατος. δεῖ δὲ μὴ τῆς ὄντως μόνον σοφίας ἠλλαττῶσθαι [......], ἀλλὰ [ὁρῶντες] πρὸς ἐκείνην σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἀφομοιωσάντων. οὕτω σοι, βασιλεῦ, ἐκ προοιμίων εὐθὺς [...] τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἀσύγκριτον καὶ τὸ νενικηκέναι σε πάντα λόγον καὶ τέχνην διὰ τὸ κατ' [αὐ]τῆς ἐχι[..........]ρια. Τριττοῦ δὲ ὄντος παντὸς ἐγκωμίου, καὶ τοῦ μὲν εἰς ψυχὴν καὶ τὰς ἀναλογούσας [.....]ῶκα δι[.......] ἀνόδους ἀρετῶν καταλήγοντος, τοῦ δὲ τὸ σωματικὸν κάλλος θαυμάζοντος-δεῖ γὰρ μηδὲ τοῦτο ἀπερρίφθαι τὴν φιλοτιμίαν ἐμφαῖνον τοῦ [ἐπαινέ]του καὶ τὸ ἐν πολλοῖς πρ[ὸς τ]ὴν ψυχικ[ὴν ἕξιν ἀνά]λογον-τοῦ δὲ τὴν ἐκτὸς πᾶσαν εὐδαιμονίαν [......]γου[...] τῶν εὐφημιῶν προσάπτο[ντος] καὶ π[ρο]σαρμόζοντος. οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι τῶν ἐπαινουμένων ταύτην ἢ ἐκείνην τῷ λόγῳ τὴ[ν ἀφ]ορμὴν παρασχόμενοι, τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ἑτέρ[ων