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a sweetness also to the one who sent it, and how the sender himself from this would for days carry the sweetness about in his mouth, as the prayer fulfilled for him the place of the honey in his mouth. They indeed were saying these things, but the strange and unusual quality of the man gave many on both sides reason to believe. That he might be suspected of being an ascetic from what was likely and be considered strict concerning the commandments, the witnesses were those who frequented him, some barefoot and pale 144 and hardened and naked and without superfluities, not talking much, not conversing about superfluous things, appearing downcast and also inexorable and harsh in their opinions to all, which were clear proofs of the teacher's strictness and of his scrupulous observance of the commandments. These things, being said and reported, also reached the imperial ears. But he, knowing many people spoke falsehoods even about themselves, supposedly moved by envy and other passions with which life is filled (and the proof was that no one said anything when he was a private citizen), for the time being also examined the things being said about him, and comparing the bad things with the good, and judging intelligently that if the good things were found to be true, it was absolutely necessary for the bad things to disappear along with them, being secondary existences from the absence of the good, as light and darkness do not occupy the same house at the same time, he held public assemblies. Having found those who spoke good things and having taken pledges from them that they would testify under oath, he immediately spoke publicly to the people about these things, and first he showed wickedness as being from the evil one, and the evil treasure from which slanders against men triumph; then 145 and having placed on either side those who would testify to the good things, he ordered them to say what they themselves knew about the man. And they spoke so persuasively, adding also oaths on the faith of the emperor and indeed the other customary ones, that all marveled, and the great logothete was persuaded to commit these things to writing. 15. Thus indeed, the matters concerning him having been spoken of once and twice in public assemblies, since he had to be nominated by the emperor, the ruler, sparing him the trouble, in the great palace in the Justinianean triclinium, which the new Justinian had built, being exceptional and large and wondrous, being oblique to those entering first by the gates and extending from top to bottom, splendid in its walls and splendid in its floor, and its beauty excessive, which in time, having leaned to one side after a violent south wind blew, later collapsed, so that it was not recognizable even to those who had seen it that a house had once been there—in this very triclinium, then standing, the ceremony having been performed magnificently and as was proper, he is appointed patriarch. And immediately a kind of tremor marks the earth, and a certain boy, having fallen near the Nea church, 146 is endangered by the fall. On the fourteenth of the month of Elaphebolion the one appointed arrives at the sacred precinct on foot, and a little later he is also consecrated. And then also a customary sign occurs; for though there was a calm, the lamps near the stall, hanging in the middle of those in a circle, which everyone among the clergy held as a sign for the expulsion of a patriarch (for they would shake at the same time as the hymns were being completed, and the one watching understood it as the expulsion of the then-patriarch; and these things happened in the cases of Arsenios, Germanos, Joseph, John, and Gregory), these happened to shake then. And while many were watching, what was happening was examined, even if they did not inquire openly while the emperor was standing there. But when Karakallos of Nicomedia was placing the yoke of the holy gospel, and they were about to see the divine oracle (for many derive some beliefs from these things during the rites, even if the omen is not necessary), the unfavorable oracle regarding punishment appeared in the holy gospel; and it was "to the devil and his angels." and indeed being distressed by this, the bishop of Nicaea, having seen it first, tried as much as he could to conceal it, and changing the leaves of the book 147 showed another passage. and it was "and the

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γλυκασμὸν καὶ τῷ πέμψαν τι, καὶ ὡς αὐτὸς ἐντεῦθεν ὁ πέμψας ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ ἐς ἡμέρας ἀνὰ στόμα τὴν γλυκύτητα περιφέροιτο, τῆς εὐχῆς ἐκείνῳ τόπον ἀποπληρωσάσης κατὰ στόμα τοῦ μέλιτος. ταῦτ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἔλεγον, τὸ δέ γε τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ξένον καὶ ἄηθες καὶ ἀμφοτέροις ἀνὰ μέρος πολλοῖς πιστεύειν ἐδίδου. ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἀσκητὴς ἐκ τῶν εἰ κότων ὑποτοπάζοιτο καὶ ἀκριβὴς περὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς νομίζοιτο, μάρτυρες ἦσαν οἱ ἐκείνῳ φοιτῶντες, νήλιποί τινες καὶ ὠχρίαι 144 καὶ κατεσκληκότες καὶ γυμνοὶ καὶ ἀπέριττοι, μὴ πολλὰ λαλοῦν τες, μὴ περιττὰ ὁμιλοῦντες, κατηφίαι τε καὶ τὰς γνώμας ἀπα ραίτητοι καὶ ἀμείλικτοι τοῖς πᾶσι φαινόμενοι, ἃ καὶ δείγματ' ἦσαν σαφῆ τῆς τοῦ διδάσκοντος ἀκριβείας καὶ τοῦ περὶ τὰς ἐντο λὰς δεισιδαιμονήματος. ταῦτα λεγόμενά τε καὶ φημιζόμενα φθά νουσι καὶ ἐς βασιλικὰς ἀκοάς. ὁ δὲ πολλὰ μὲν εἰδὼς καὶ ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν ψευδῆ λαλοῦντας ἀνθρώπους, ἐκ βασκανίας κινουμένους δῆθεν καὶ παθῶν ἄλλων ὧν ὁ βίος ἐμπέπλησται (μαρτύριον δὲ τὸ μηδένα λέγειν ἐκείνου ἰδιωτεύοντος), τέως δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ ἐκεί νου σκοπῶν λεγόμενα, καὶ ἀντιβάλλων τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τὰ κακά, καὶ συνετῶς κρίνων ὡς εἴπερ εὑρεθεῖεν ἀληθῆ τἀγαθά, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα συναφανίζεσθαι τὰ κακά, παρυποστάσεις ὄντα ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπουσίας, ὡς μὴ ἅμα τοῦ αὐτοῦ οἴκου καὶ φῶς καὶ σκό τος χωροῦντος, συνάξεις ἐπιτελέσας κοινάς. εὑρὼν τοὺς τἀγαθὰ λέγοντας καὶ τὰ πιστὰ λαβὼν παρ' ἐκείνων ὡς μαρτυρησόντων ἐνόρκως, αὐτίκα διαλαλεῖ τῷ λαῷ κοινῶς περὶ τούτων, καὶ πρῶ τον μὲν τὴν κακίαν ὡς ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ δείκνυσι, καὶ τὸν κακὸν θησαυρὸν ὅθεν αἱ κατὰ ἀνθρώπων διαβολαὶ θριαμβεύει· ἔπειτα 145 δὲ καὶ παρ' ἑκάτερα στήσας τὰ ἀγαθὰ μαρτυρήσοντας, προσέ ταττε λέγειν ἐκείνους ἃ δὴ καὶ συνοίδασι περὶ τἀνδρὸς ἑαυτοῖς. οἱ δὲ τοσοῦτον πιθανῶς ἔλεγον, προστιθέντες καὶ ὅρκους τοὺς ἐπὶ πίστει τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ δὴ καὶ τοὺς συνήθεις ἄλλους, ὥστε θαυμάσαι μὲν πάντας, τὸν δέ γε μέγαν λογοθέτην καὶ γραφῇ δοῦναι ταῦτα πεισθῆναι. 15. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς ἐπὶ κοινῶν συνάξεων λα ληθέντων τῶν κατ' ἐκεῖνον, ἐπειδὴ ἔδει καὶ παρὰ βασιλέως προ βάλλεσθαι, ὑποτεμνόμενος ὁ κρατῶν ἐκείνῳ τὸν κόπον, ἐν τῷ μεγίστῳ παλατίῳ κατὰ τὸν Ἰουστινιάνειον τρίκλινον, ὃν ὁ νέος Ἰουστινιανὸς ἐδομήσατο ἔξαιτον ὄντα καὶ μέγαν καὶ θαυμαστόν, λέχριον ὄντα τοῖς κατὰ πύλας εἰσιοῦσι πρώτως καὶ ἄνωθεν ἕως κάτω διήκοντα, λαμπρὸν μὲν τοίχοις λαμπρὸν δ' ἐδάφει, καὶ περιττὸν τὸ κάλλος, ὃς τῷ χρόνῳ παρεγκλιθεὶς ἐπὶ θάτερα νό του βιαίου πνεύσαντος ὕστερον καταπίπτει, ὡς μηδὲ εἰ ἦν οἶκος ἐκεῖσε πάλαι καὶ τοῖς ἰδοῦσι γνωρίζεσθαι, κατὰ τοῦτον τοί νυν τὸν τρίκλινον, ἱστάμενον τότε, τῆς τάξεως γεγονυίας μεγα λοπρεπῶς καὶ ὡς ἔδει πατριάρχην προβάλλεται. εὐθύς τε κλό νος οἷον ἐπισημαίνει τῇ γῇ, καὶ παῖς τις κατὰ τὴν Νέαν πεσὼν 146 κινδυνεύει τῷ πτώματι. τετάρτῃ δὲ καὶ δεκάτῃ μηνὸς Ἐλαφη βολιῶνος ὁ προβληθεὶς πεζῇ καταλαμβάνει τὸ θεῖον τέμενος, μικρὸν δ' ὕστερον καὶ χειροτονεῖται. γίνεται δὲ καὶ τότε σημεῖον σύνηθες· νηνεμίας γὰρ οὔσης τὰς πρὸς τῷ στασειδίῳ φωταγω γοὺς μέσον ἐκ τῶν κατὰ κύκλον ἀπῃωρημένων, ἃς πᾶς τις τῶν ἐν κλήρῳ ἐπ' ἐκβολῇ πατριάρχου σημεῖον εἶχεν (ἅμα γὰρ ἐκεῖναι τελουμένων τῶν ὕμνων ἐσείοντο, καὶ ὁ βλέπων ἐκβολὴν κατενόει τοῦ τότε πατριαρχεύοντος· καὶ γέγονε ταῦτα ἐπ' Ἀρσενίῳ Γερ μανῷ Ἰωσὴφ Ἰωάννῃ καὶ Γρηγορίῳ), ταύτας τότε ξυνέβαινε σείεσθαι. καὶ πολλοῖς βλέπουσιν ἐξητάζετο τὸ τελούμενον, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἐς προῦπτον βασιλέως ἑστῶτος διεπυνθάνοντο. ὡς δ' ὁ Καράκαλος Νικομηδείας τὸν ζυγὸν τοῦ ἁγίου εὐαγγελίου ἐτίθει, καὶ ἤδη τὸν θεῖον θεᾶσθαι χρησμὸν ἔμελλον (φέρουσι γάρ τι κἀκ τούτων ἐπὶ τοῖς τελουμένοις οἱ πολλοὶ πίστεις, κἂν οὐκ ἀναγκαία ἡ ἐπισήμανσις), τὸ εἰς κόλασιν ἀπόφημον ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ἐνεφανίζετο· τὸ δ' ἦν "τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ." ᾧ δὴ καὶ προσαλγήσας πρῶτος ἰδὼν ὁ Νικαίας ἐπειρᾶτο καθόσον ἦν συγκαλύπτειν, καὶ μεταλλάττων τὰ τῆς βίβλου φύλλα καρπὸν 147 ἐνέφαινεν ἕτερον. τὸ δ' ἦν "καὶ τὰ