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

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 [but...] his deeds. But you are equal and proportional in both; for you deliberate before your deeds in the best way, and what has been deliberated you have fitting to the actions. You have not established yourself as a lover of danger, being cautious of the danger to your subordinates on your account, but you appoint such generals that, if they should ever stumble, the rest of the phalanx holding to you would again remain unshaken. And for that man, the victories happen to be mingled with tears, with many of those under him perishing in the achievement; but for you, the whitest crown is bound upon your head. And if I were not too much attached to the man on account of his fame, I would have compared him to your majesty in other respects and I would have found where he is unsound: quickly changing his opinions, exchanging some for others and trusting no one at all, but both being suspicious himself and being an object of suspicion on account of the unrestrainable impulse and movement of his temper. We admire Marcus, the most devoted to letters, also for his fairness, and I praise also his leisure for letters. But for this man, fairness and goodness were measured up to his closest associates in their d[....]s, but for you, fairness and humanity are extended even to your greatest enemies; for at the same time the wicked man has been caught by you and h[...] and the conquered barbarian is shown sympathy and, having given inhumanity, he receives philanthropy in return. And that [man writes speeches] and displays his love of learning, but he trumpets his virtues and from another[.......] begs for [........] provides for himself; but you, having provided to others the starting points for writing, have yourself as a paradigm of things to be done and taking the principles from your soul you work them out in your deeds, and these cry out, even when your tongue is silent, so that you are the same and godlike and without criticism the [......] archetype [........] God has made and grants the kingship as a reward for virtue [and] has set it on the highest watchtower, so that all, looking to your soul as to a proto[type] painting, might paint ourselves toward virtue and the likeness of the paradigm. Bu[t] be gracious to me, O Ki[ng], for having made my account of your existing advantages smaller than they are. For what could I even d[o], with neither my tongue being sufficient, nor my speech able, for the highest eminence of your virtues? Nevertheless your preeminences are not brought down to the level of me, the praiser, but for me the year[ly] contribution has been fulfilled and this rational debt has been paid; those things [indeed like] stars in the sun's heaven, [and] shining around equally to the stars, have been established as most brilliant to all beings. 7 To the Emperor Monomachus Do not be surprised, O emperor, if after having listened to very many speeches you have found all of them to be less than your nature; for the unfittingness of the speeches to the subject is not due to our weakness, but to the excess of your virtues. For not even if Plato or Demosthenes himself, if it were somehow possible, had undertaken the task, would they have appeared to have said anything worthy of your virtues, but they would have composed their own speeches more skillfully than us, yet they would not have fitted them to your advantages, I say not to all of them together, but not even to one of them. And if someone wishes to cut off one of these things, let him give the proof and let one of your virtues be proposed for discussion, I mean justice, but see how its height is unapproachable; for you have not, like others, limited the power of this virtue to the resolution of disputes, nor have you made it only an art of the noble and the equal, but having first begun from your own soul as from a first hearth you have also observed it in others. for since one thing is the ruling principle in souls, such as reason, and another is the ruled principle, such as the movement of the spirit, and justice is for the inferior things to be subject to the better things

αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν ἄχρι σοῦ βασιλέων ὑπερανεστηκὼς τοῖς ἀνδραγαθήμασιν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν σκέμμασιν ἐλάττων τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων ἀναγέγραπται, ἐν [δὲ ...] τοῖς ἔργοις νικῶν. σὺ δὲ ἄμφω ἴσος τε καὶ ἀνάλογος· βουλεύσῃ τε γὰρ πρὸ τῶν ἔργων ὡς ἄριστα καὶ τὰ βεβουλευμένα ἐπὶ τοῖς πράγμασιν ἔχεις ἁρμόττοντα. φιλοκίνδυνος δὲ οὐ καθέστηκας μέν, τὸν διά σε τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων εὐλαβούμενος κίνδυνον, τοιούτους δὲ τοὺς στρατηγέτας ἀποτελεῖς ὡς, εἴ γέ τοι ἐκεῖνοι προσπταίσοιεν, σοῦ πάλιν ἡ λοιπὴ φάλαγξ ἐχομένη μένοι ἀκλόνητος. κἀκείνῳ μὲν αἱ νίκαι δάκρυσιν ἀναμεμιγμέναι τυγχάνουσι, πολλῶν τῶν ὑφ' αὐτὸν ἀπολλυμένων τῷ κατορθώματι· σοὶ δὲ λευκότατος ὁ στέφανος διαδεῖται τῇ κεφαλῇ. εἰ δὲ μὴ λίαν τἀνδρὶ προσεκείμην διὰ τὴν φήμην, ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἂν αὐτὸν πρὸς τὴν σὴν βασιλείαν συνέκρουσα καὶ εὗρον ἂν ὅπη σαθρός ἐστι, ταχὺ μὲν μεταβάλλων τὰς γνώμας, ἀνθ' ἑτέρων δὲ ἑτέρας ἀλλαττόμενος καὶ μηδενὶ τῶν πάντων πιστεύων, ἀλλ' ὑποπτεύων τε αὐτὸς καὶ ὕποπτος ὢν διὰ τὴν ἀκατάσχετον τοῦ θυμοῦ φοράν τε καὶ κίνησιν. Μάρκον δὲ τὸν φιλολογώτατον θαυμάζομεν καὶ τῆς ἐπιεικείας, ἐπαινῶ δὲ καὶ τῆς περὶ τοὺς λόγους σχολῆς. ἀλλὰ τούτῳ μὲν μέχρι οἰκειοτάτων ἡ ἐπιείκεια καὶ ἡ χρηστότης ἐμετρεῖτο τοῖς π[....]μασι, σοὶ δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐχθίστοις ἐκτείνεται τὸ ἐπιεικὲς καὶ φιλάνθρωπον· ἅμα τε γὰρ ἥλω σοι ὁ πονηρὸς καὶ ἠ[....] καὶ νενικημένος ὁ βάρβαρος συμπεπάθεται καί, ἀπανθρωπίαν δούς, ἀντιλαμβάνει φιλανθρωπίαν. κἀκεῖ[νος λόγους] μὲν συγγράφει καὶ τὴν φιλομάθειαν ἐπιδείκνυται, σαλπίζει δὲ τὰς ἀρετὰς καὶ ἄλλ[.......]ρου ἐραν[........] προσπορίζεται· σὺ δὲ ἑτέροις τοῦ γράφειν τὰς ἀφορμὰς παρασχόμενος, σαυτὸν ἔχεις τῶν ποιητέων παράδειγμα καὶ ἀπὸ ψυχῆς λαμβάνων τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐπεξεργάζῃ τοῖς πράγμασι, κεκράγασι δὲ ταῦτα, καὶ σιωπώσης τῆς γλώττης, ὥστε σε τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ θεοείκελον εἶναι καὶ ἀφιλόκριμα τὸν [......] ἀρχέτυπον [........πεπ]οῖηκεν ὁ θεὸς καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν μισθὸν ἀρετῆς χαρί[ζεται καὶ] ἐπὶ τῆς ὑψηλοτάτης περιωπῆς τέθεικεν, ἵνα πάντες πρὸς τὴν σὴν ψυχὴν ἀποβλέποντες ὡς πρωτότ[υπο]ν πίνακα ζωγραφῶμεν εἰς ἀρετὴν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τὴν τοῦ παραδείγματος ὁμοιότητα. Ἀλ[λ'] ἵλεώς μοι, βα[σιλεῦ], εἴης, ἐφ' οἷς τὸν λόγον τῶν προσόντων σοι πλεονεκτημάτων ἐποιησάμην ἐλάττονα. τί γὰρ ἂν καὶ ποιή[σαιμ]ι, μήτε γλώττης ἀρκούσης, μήτε λόγου δυναμένου, πρὸς τὴν τῶν σῶν ἀρετῶν ἀκροτάτην περιωπήν; πλὴν οὐ περὶ τὸν ἐπαινέτην ἐμὲ τὰ σὰ καταβιβάζεται προτερήματα, ἀλλ' ἐμοὶ μὲν ἡ ἐτή[σιος ἀ]ποπεπλήρωται εἰσφορὰ καὶ τὸ λογικὸν τοῦτο ἀποδέδοται ὄφλημα· ἐκεῖνα [μὲν ὡς ἄ]στερες ἐν οὐρανῷ ἡλίκῳ, [τὰ] δὲ ἄστροις ἶσα περιαστράπτοντα, φανότατα πᾶσι τοῖς οὖσι καθέστηκεν. 7 Εἰς τὸν βασιλέα τὸν Μονομάχον Μὴ θαυμάσῃς, ὦ βασιλεῦ, εἰ πλείστων λόγων ἀκροασάμενος ἐλάττονας πάντας τῆς σῆς εὕρηκας φύσεως· οὐ γὰρ παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀσθένειαν τὸ ἀνάρμοστον τοῖς λόγοις πρὸς τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν σῶν ἀρετῶν. οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰ Πλάτων ἢ καὶ ∆ημοσθένης αὐτός, εἴ πως ἐνῆν, ἀπεδύσαντο, ἐφάνησάν τι τῶν σῶν ἀρετῶν εἰρηκότες ἐπάξιον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν ἑαυτῶν λόγους ξυνέθεσαν ἡμῶν τεχνικώτερον, οὐ μὴν δὲ τοῖς σοῖς πλεονεκτήμασι τούτους προσήρμοσαν, οὔ φημι πᾶσιν ὁμοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ καθ' ἓν τούτων. Καὶ εἰ βούλεταί τις ἓν τούτων ἀποτεμόμενος, δότω τὸν ἔλεγχον καὶ προτεθήσθω τῷ λόγῳ μία τῶν σῶν ἀρετῶν, τὴν δικαιοσύνην φημί, ἀλλ' ὅρα ὅπως αὐτῆς τὸ ὕψος ἀπρόσιτον· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἄλλοι μέχρι τῆς τῶν ἀμφισβητήσεων διαλύσεως τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἀρετῆς ταύτης ἀφώρισας, οὐδὲ τέχνην μόνην τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ ἴσου πεποίησαι, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς σαυτοῦ ψυχῆς πρῶτον ἀρξάμενος ὥσπερ ἀφ' ἑστίας πρώτης καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων τετήρηκας. ἐπεὶ γὰρ τὸ μέν τι ἄρχον ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς οἷον ὁ λόγος, τὸ δ' ἀρχόμενον οἷον ἡ τοῦ θυμοῦ κίνησις, δικαιοσύνη δὲ ὑποκεῖσθαι τοῖς κρείττοσι τὰ