38.  Another of his excellences I must not leave unnoticed.  In general, he was a man of great endurance, and superior to his robe of flesh:  but during the pain of his last sickness, a serious addition to the risks and burdens of old age, his weakness was common to him and all other men; but this fitting sequel to the other marvels, so far from being common, was peculiarly his own.  He was at no time free from the anguish of pain, but often in the day, sometimes in the hour, his only relief was the liturgy, to which the pain yielded, as if to an edict of banishment.  At last, after a life of almost a hundred years, exceeding David’s limit of our age,82    Ps. xc. 10. forty-five of these, the average life of man, having been spent in the priesthood, he brought it to a close in a good old age.  And in what manner?  With the words and forms of prayer, leaving behind no trace of vice, and many recollections of virtue.  The reverence felt for him was thus greater than falls to the lot of man, both on the lips and in the hearts of all.  Nor is it easy to find anyone who recollects him, and does not, as the Scripture says, lay his hand upon his mouth83    Job xl. 4. and salute his memory.  Such was his life, and such its completion and perfection.

ΛΗʹ. Οὐκ ἂν οὐδὲ τοῦτο τῶν ἐκείνου καλῶν παρέλθοιμι. Πάντα μὲν ἦν καρτερικὸς, καὶ κρείττων τοῦ περιβλήματος: τῇ τελευταίᾳ δὲ νόσῳ κακοπαθῶν, ἣ τῷ γήρᾳ συνεπέθετο, καὶ ταύτῃ χρονίᾳ καὶ σφαλερᾷ, τὸ μὲν ἀῤῥωστῆσαι κοινὸν πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἔσχεν ἀνθρώπους: τοῦτο δὲ, οὐκ ἔτι κοινὸν, ἀλλὰ σφόδρα ἐκείνου, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀκόλουθον θαύμασιν. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ὅτε μὴ τῷ πάθει στενοχωρούμενος, καὶ πολλάκις γε τῆς ἡμέρας, ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ ὥρας, ὑπὸ μόνης ἐῤῥώννυτο τῆς λειτουργίας: καὶ ὑπεχώρει τὸ πάθος, ὥσπερ ἐξ ἐντολῆς φυγαδευόμενον. Ζήσας δὲ σχεδόν τι περὶ τὰ ἑκατὸν ἔτη, πέρα τῶν Δαυϊδικῶν ὅρων, περὶ τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς χρόνου, καὶ τούτων αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ἱερωσύνῃ πέντε καὶ τεσσαράκοντα, μέτρον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς, ἔπειτα ἐν γήρᾳ καλῷ καταλύει τὸν βίον. Καὶ τοῦτο, πῶς; Ἐν τοῖς τῆς εὐχῆς ῥήμασί τε καὶ σχήμασιν, οὐδὲν μὲν κακίας ἴχνος, πλεῖστα δὲ ἀρετῆς καταλιπὼν ὑπομνήματα. Τοιγαροῦν καὶ τὸ σέβας αὐτῷ πλεῖον ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον, ἐν ταῖς ἁπάντων γλώσσαις καὶ διανοίαις: καὶ οὐκ ἔστι ῥᾳδίως εὑρεῖν, ὅστις ἐκείνου μεμνημένος, οὐχὶ καὶ τὴν φαντασίαν ἀσπάζεται, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ τῆς Γραφῆς, χεῖρα θεὶς ἐπὶ στόματι. Τοιοῦτος μὲν ὁ βίος αὐτῷ, τοιαύτη δὲ ἡ τοῦ βίου συμπλήρωσις καὶ τελείωσις.