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were resettled in exile, and others were slaughtered, some in actual experience, and others in intention. 19.2 For with spears being bared and swords being sharpened and threats being made each day and those in authority breathing fury and murders being threatened and myriad forms of punishments and tortures, they did not yield, nor did they give in, but stood immovable on the rock, choosing both to do and to suffer all things, so as not to partake in the lawlessness of those who had dared such things, and not only men, but also women. 19.3 For women also stripped for this contest and in many ways acted more manfully than men. Not only women, but also youths and young boys. Are these, then, tell me, small things, that the Church should gain such a populace of martyrs? For all these are martyrs. For indeed, not only those who were dragged into court and ordered to sacrifice and, not being persuaded, suffered what they suffered, would be martyrs; but also those who accepted to suffer anything for the sake of what seems good to God; and if one were to examine with precision, these more so than those. 19.4 For it is not the same thing to accept to suffer something and not be destroyed when such ruin and loss of soul is proposed, and to endure this very same punishment for a lesser accomplishment. But that not only those who were slaughtered, but also those who had prepared themselves and become ready for this, were crowned with the crown of martyrdom, I will try to demonstrate this very thing, and what I said before, that he who is slaughtered for lesser things is a perfected martyr, from the voice of Paul. 19.5 For the blessed Paul, beginning to enumerate those who shone in the time of our forefathers, and making a beginning from Abel, then proceeding to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, added, saying: “Therefore we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us.” 19.6 And yet not all of these were slaughtered, or rather, not even one, except for two or three, Abel and John; but all the others ended their life by a natural death. And John himself was not slaughtered because he was ordered to sacrifice and did not consent, nor was he led to an altar, nor dragged before an idol, but for one saying. For because he said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have the wife of Philip your brother,” he both dwelt in the prison and endured that slaughter. 19.7 If he who avenged a transgressed marriage, at least as far as it depended on him—for he did not correct what had been done wrongly, but only spoke, and was not strong enough to stop it—if, then, he who only spoke and contributed nothing of his own but this, because he was beheaded, is a martyr and first of martyrs; how would those who endured so many slaughters, and stripped for battle not against Herod, but against the rulers of the whole world, and stood up not for a transgressed marriage, but for ancestral laws and ordinances of the Church that had been assailed, and showed boldness both through words and through deeds, and died each day, both men and women and children, not be justly counted ten thousand times into the choir of martyrs. 19.8 Since Abraham also, though not slaughtering his son in experience, slaughtered him in intention and heard a voice from above saying that: “You have not spared your beloved son for my sake.” So everywhere, intention also, when it is perfected in virtue, receives the whole crown. 19.9 If he, not sparing his son, was so proclaimed, consider how great a reward these will receive, not sparing themselves, standing in this line of battle not for one, not for two or three days, but for their whole life, being pelted with reproaches, insults, outrages, slanders. For this is not a small thing. Wherefore Paul also marvels at it as something great, saying: “partly by being made a public spectacle both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly by becoming companions of those who were so treated.” 19.10 What might one say of those who were both dying themselves and anointing for such contests, both men and women? And he rightly marvels at them. For many also gave up their possessions, so that

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ὑπερορίαν μετῳκίσθησαν, οἱ δὲ ἐσφάγησαν, οἱ μὲν καὶ τῇ πείρᾳ, οἱ δὲ τῇ γνώμῃ. 19.2 Καὶ γὰρ δοράτων γυμνουμένων καὶ ξιφῶν ἠκονημένων καὶ ἀπειλῶν καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν γινομένων καὶ τῶν ἐν ἀρχαῖς θυμοῦ πνεόντων καὶ φόνων ἐπανατεινομένων καὶ μυρίων εἰδῶν κολάσεων καὶ τιμωριῶν, οὐκ εἶξαν, οὐδὲ ἐνέδωκαν, ἀλλ' ἔστησαν ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας ἀκίνητοι, πάντα καὶ ποιῆσαι καὶ παθεῖν αἱρούμενοι, ὥστε μὴ κοινωνῆσαι τῇ παρανομίᾳ τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα τετολμηκότων, οὐκ ἄνδρες δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναῖκες. 19.3 Καὶ γὰρ καὶ γυναῖκες πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἀπεδύσαντο τοῦτον καὶ ἀνδρῶν πολλαχοῦ μᾶλλον ἠνδρίσαντο. Οὐ γυναῖκες δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ νέοι καὶ μειράκια κομιδῆ. Ταῦτ' οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, μικρά, τοσοῦτον δῆμον μαρτύρων κερδᾶναι τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν; Μάρτυρες γὰρ ἅπαντες οὗτοι. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον ἐκεῖνοι οἱ εἰς δικαστήριον ἑλκυσθέντες καὶ θῦσαι κελευσθέντες καὶ μὴ πεισθέντες, παθόντες ἅπερ ἔπαθον, μάρτυρες ἂν εἶεν· ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνοι οἱ ὑπὲρ ὁτουοῦν τῶν τῷ Θεῷ δοκούντων παθεῖν τι καταδεξάμενοι· καὶ εἴ τις μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἐξετάσειεν οὗτοι μᾶλλον ἢ ἐκεῖνοι. 19.4 Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἴσον ὀλέθρου τοιούτου καὶ ἀπωλείας ψυχῆς προτεινομένης καταδέξασθαι παθεῖν τι καὶ μὴ παραπολέσθαι καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐλάττονος κατορθώματος τὴν αὐτὴν ταύτην ὑπομεῖναι τιμωρίαν. Ὅτι δὲ οὐχ οἱ σφαγέντες μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ παρεσκευασμένοι καὶ γενόμενοι πρὸς τοῦτο ἕτοιμοι, μαρτυρίου στέφανον ἀνεδήσαντο, τοῦτό τε αὐτὸ καὶ ὃ πρότερον εἴρηκα ὅτι ὁ ὑπὲρ ἐλαττόνων σφαγεὶς μάρτυς ἐστὶν ἀπηρτισμένος, ἀπὸ τῆς Παύλου φωνῆς ἀποδεῖξαι τοῦτο πειράσομαι. 19.5 Ἀρξάμενος γὰρ ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν προγόνων λάμψαντας ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἄβελ ποιησάμενος, εἶτα προελθὼν εἰς τὸν Νῶε, τὸν Ἀβραάμ, τὸν Ἰσαάκ, τὸν Ἰακώβ, ἐπήγαγελέγων· «Τοιγαροῦν καὶ ἡμεῖς τοσοῦτον ἔχοντες περικείμενον ἡμῖν νέφος μαρτύρων.» 19.6 Καίτοιγε οὐ πάντες ἐσφάγησαν οὗτοι, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ εἷς, πλὴν δυοῖν ἢ τριῶν, τοῦ Ἄβελ καὶ τοῦ Ἰωάννου· οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι πάντες οἰκείᾳ τελευτῇ τὸν βίον κατέλυσαν. Καὶ Ἰωάννης δὲ αὐτὸς οὐ θῦσαι κελευσθεὶς καὶ μὴ καταδεξάμενος ἐσφάγη, οὐδὲ εἰς βωμὸν ἀχθείς, οὐδὲ πρὸς εἴδωλον ἑλκυσθείς, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ῥήματος ἑνός. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶπε τῷ Ἡρώδῃ. «Οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου», καὶ τὸ δεσμωτήριον ᾤκησε καὶ τὴν σφαγὴν ἐκείνην ὑπέμεινεν. 19.7 Εἰ δὲ ὁ γάμον παρανομούμενον ἐκδικήσας, τό γε εἰς αὐτὸν ἧκον-οὐδὲ γὰρ διώρθωσε τὸ κακῶς γεγενημένον, ἀλλ' εἶπε μόνον, παῦσαι δὲ οὐκ ἴσχυσεν-εἰ τοίνυν ὁ μόνον εἰπὼν καὶ μηδὲν οἴκοθεν ἢ τοῦτο εἰσενεγκών, ἐπειδὴ ἀπετμήθη, μάρτυς καὶ μαρτύρων ἐστὶ πρῶτος· οἱ τοσαύτας σφαγὰς ὑπομείναντες καὶ οὐχὶ πρὸς Ἡρώδην, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοὺς κρατοῦντας τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπάσης ἀποδυσάμενοι καὶ οὐχὶ γάμῳ παρανομουμένῳ, ἀλλὰ νόμοις πατρῷοις καὶ θεσμοῖς Ἐκκλησίας ἐπηρεασθεῖσι παραστάντες καὶ διὰ τῶν ῥημάτων καὶ διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων παρρησίαν ἐπιδειξάμενοι καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἀποθνήσκοντες καὶ ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες καὶ παῖδες, πῶς οὐκ ἂν εἶεν δίκαιοι μυριάκις εἰς τὸν τῶν μαρτύρων καταλεγῆναι χορόν. 19.8 Ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ Ἀβραάμ, μὴ σφάξας τῇ πείρᾳ τὸν υἱόν, τῇ προθέσει ἔσφαξε καὶ φωνῆς ἤκουσεν ἄνωθεν λεγούσης ὅτι· «Οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ δι' ἐμέ». Οὕτω πανταχοῦ καὶ ἡ γνώμη, ὅταν ἀπηρτισμένη ᾖ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς, ὁλόκληρον λαμβάνει τὸν στέφανον. 19.9 Εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνος, υἱοῦ μὴ φεισάμενος, οὕτως ἀνεκηρύττετο, οὗτοι ἑαυτῶν μὴ φεισάμενοι, ἐννόησον πόσον λήψονται μισθόν, οὐ μίαν, οὐ δύο καὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας, ἀλλ' ὁλόκληρον τὸν βίον ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως ἱστάμενοι ταύτης, βαλλόμενοι λοιδορίαις, ὕβρεσιν, ἐπηρείαις, συκοφαντίαις. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦτο μικρόν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὡς μέγα Παῦλος αὐτὸ θαυμάζει λέγων· «Τοῦτο μὲν ὀνειδισμοῖς καὶ θλίψεσι θεατριζόμενοι, τοῦτο δὲ κοινωνοὶ τῶν οὕτω πασχόντων γενηθέντες.» 19.10 Τί ἄν τις εἴποι τοὺς καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀποθνήσκοντας καὶ τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀθλοῦντας, ἀλείφοντας καὶ ἄνδρας καὶ γυναῖκας; Καλῶς δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ θαυμάζει. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὐσίας ἐπέδωκαν πολλοί, ὥστε