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

of virtues? You, beyond any kings who ever were, honored justice and preferred philanthropy, and having attained the height of prudence, you appeared to all more wonderful for the simplicity and purity of your soul, and for what is truly sincere and guileless. For God changed your fortune, but you did not change your mind, but having become more kingly in your virtues, you have not departed from your usual custom, having blended a truly priestly simplicity with kingly magnanimity and having shown alone that to be king is characterized not by the pomposity of one's disposition, but by overcoming others in the greatness of one's soul. Then do the offshoots of the wicked, entwining themselves like thorns around the rose, grieve you? Rather, therefore, will turbulent affairs show you to be more skillful and more kingly, since the sea also, boiling with its waves and borne by the roar of the surge, makes manifest the art of the pilot. But you, looking rather to the torch of providence above and, as it were, divinely steered from the stern, you will calm every surge, and the whole sea of affairs will become smooth for you. And, to leave aside the abundance of trope, the phalanx of the enemy will be broken like a rope, and bows will be shattered and swords will be broken and the knight, boasting of war, will fall, and every opposing rank will be scattered and destroyed. For those who were armored with iron and made cataphracts with their weapons stood against you, the anointed of the Lord, but you, emboldened by the Word that made you king and trusting in the justice of your soul, with great and superior things, in ecstasy you will crush the heads of both enemies and potentates. Therefore, let not a cloud cover you, the sun. But send forth upon me a brighter ray of your philanthropy and release still more the rein of despondency, so that, having become more loud-voiced and more musical for you, I may become a more songful orator for the heights of your praises. 14 Oration to the Emperor Doukas If even before this great trophy and achievement, most divine emperor, every rule of encomium was unequal to you, and no one of all men attempted to offer fitting praise to your majesty, what words could we dare to offer you after the unspeakable and ineffable providence of God upon you? For if what has happened is one of the wonders beyond nature, and every encomiastic speech proceeds from the power according to nature, how could we praise with things according to nature those things that are beyond nature, and what words shall we find for the supernatural wonders? For that whose deed is beyond reason, reason cannot attain, neither technical reason nor if there is any of a power greater than those within us. Previously, therefore, O greatest autocrat, we wove for you praises to the best of our ability from the advantages of the good, from your noble mind, from your most precise understanding, from your most fertile soul, from each of the virtues, both the more general and the particular, how you shine with self-control, how you act manfully against the passions, how you not only know the standard of justice but also stand as a standard for it. We admired your gentleness with your keenness, the firmness of your mind with your dexterity in all things, we were exceedingly fond of your well-fitted and harmonious approach to each of the affairs of the empire, how at once and at the same time you legislate for legislators and correct generals and philosophize with philosophers and inspire orators with persuasion in words and command generals and stand before the phalanx and cast a rampart and shake the barbarian and drive them off from afar with the arrows of your words. These things, then, were before, and we were unequal to all of them and were shown to be less than all of them. But now—but who can declare the mighty acts of God? Who is able to hymn the great deeds of the great arm, both wonders and

ἀρετῶν; σὺ παρὰ τοὺς πώποτε βασιλεῖς δικαιοσύνην ἐτίμησας καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν προέκρινας, καὶ τὸ τῆς φρονήσεως ἄκρον κατειληφὼς τῷ ἁπλῷ καὶ καθαρῷ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ὄντως εἰλικρινεῖ καὶ ἀδόλῳ πᾶσιν ὤφθης θαυμασιώτερος. τὴν μὲν γὰρ τύχην μετήμειψέ σοι ὁ θεός, σὺ δὲ τὴν γνώμην οὐ μετεποίησας, ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς βασιλικώτερος γεγονὼς τοῦ συνήθους ἔθους οὐκ ἀποβέβηκας, ἱερατικὴν ὄντως ἁπλότητα βασιλικῇ μεγαλονοίᾳ συγκερασάμενος καὶ δείξας μόνος, ὅτι τὸ βασιλεύειν οὐκ ἐν τῷ ὄγκῳ χαρακτηρίζεται τοῦ φρονήματος, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς μεγέθει τῶν ἄλλων κρατεῖν. Εἶτά σε λυποῦσιν αἱ παραφυάδες τῶν πονηρῶν περιπλεκόμεναι ὥσπερ τῷ ῥόδῳ αἱ ἄκανθαι; μᾶλλον μὲν οὖν κυμανθέντα τὰ πράγματα ἐπιστημονικώτερόν σε καὶ βασιλικώτερον δείξουσιν, ἐπεὶ καὶ θάλασσα τοῖς κύμασι ζέουσα καὶ φερομένη τῷ ῥοθίῳ τοῦ κλύδωνος τὴν τέχνην τοῦ κυβερνήτου δήλην ἐργάζεται. σὺ δὲ καὶ μᾶλλον πρὸς τὸν ἄνω τῆς προνοίας πυρσὸν ἀφορῶν καὶ οἷον ἐκ πρύμνης ἐνθέως κυβερνώμενος, πάντα μὲν κατευνάζεις κλύδωνα, πᾶσα δέ σοι λειοκυμονήσει τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ θάλασσα. καί, ἵνα τὸ πολὺ τῆς τροπῆς ἐάσω, ῥαγήσεται μὲν ὥσπερ κάλως ἡ φάλαγξ τῶν δυσμενῶν, συντριβήσεται δὲ τόξα καὶ ξίφη θραυσθήσεται καὶ συμπεσεῖται ἱππότης πολεμικὰ φρυαττόμενος καὶ πᾶσα τάξις ἀντικαθισταμένη διασπαρήσεται καὶ φθαρήσεται. οἱ μὲν γὰρ σιδήρῳ τεθωρακισμένοι καὶ τοῖς ὅπλοις γεγονότες κατάφρακτοι πρὸς σέ, τὸν τοῦ κυρίου χριστόν, καθεστήκεισαν, σὺ δὲ τῷ βασιλεύσαντί σε λόγῳ τεθαρρηκὼς καὶ τῷ δικαίῳ τῆς ψυχῆς πεποιθώς, τοῖς μεγάλοις καὶ κρείττοσιν, ἐν ἐκστάσει συντρίψεις κεφαλὰς δυσμενῶν τε καὶ δυνατῶν. Μὴ τοίνυν σε νέφος καλυπτέτω, τὸν ἥλιον. ἀλλά μοι λαμπροτέραν τῆς σῆς φιλανθρωπία ἐπάφες αὐγὴν καὶ λῦσον ἔτι μᾶλλον τῆς ἀθυμίας τὸν χαλινόν, ἵνα σοι μεγαλοφωνότερος καὶ μουσικώτερος γεγονὼς ᾠδικώτερος δημηγόρος πρὸς τὰς τῶν σῶν εὐφημιῶν ἀκρότητας γένωμαι. 14 ∆ημηγορία εἰς τὸν βασιλέα τὸν ∆ούκαν Εἰ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ μεγάλου τούτου τροπαίου καὶ κατορθώματος, θειότατε βασιλεῦ, ἅπας ἐγκωμίων νόμος ἡττᾶτό σοι, καὶ τῶν πάντων οὐδεὶς τὴν προσήκουσαν εὐφημίαν ἐπενεγκεῖν ἐπεχείρει τῷ κράτει σου, τίνας ἂν λόγους μετὰ τὴν ἄρρητον καὶ ἀπόρρητον ἐπὶ σὲ τοῦ θεοῦ πρόνοιαν προσενεγκεῖν σοι τολμήσαιμεν; εἰ γὰρ τὸ γεγονὸς τῶν ὑπὲρ φύσιν θαυμάτων ἐστίν, ἅπας δὲ λόγος ἐγκωμιαστικὸς ἐκ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν δυνάμεως πρόεισι, πῶς ἂν τοῖς κατὰ φύσιν τὰ ὑπὲρ φύσιν ἐπαινεσώμεθα, τίνας δὲ λόγους εὑρήσομεν τῶν ὑπερφυῶν θαυμασίων; ὧν γὰρ ὑπὲρ λόγον ἡ πρᾶξις, τούτου οὐκ ἐφικνεῖται λόγος, οὔτε τεχνικὸς οὔτ' εἴ τις ἐστὶ δυνάμεως τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν κρείττονος. Πρότερον μὲν οὖν, ὦ μέγιστε αὐτοκράτορ, ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ καλοῦ πλεονεκτημάτων ἐπλέκομέν σοι τὰς εὐφημίας εἰς δύναμιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ γενναίου φρονήματος, ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκριβεστάτης συνέσεως, ἀπὸ γονιμωτάτης ψυχῆς, ἀφ' ἑκάστης τῶν ἀρετῶν τῶν τε γενικωτέρων καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ μέρους, ὡς διαλάμπεις τῇ σωφροσύνῃ, ὡς ἀνδρίζῃ κατὰ τῶν παθῶν, ὡς τὴν τῆς δικαιοσύνης οὐ μόνον στάθμην ἐπίστασαι ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτῃ στάθμη καθίστασαι. ἐθαυμάζομέν σου τὸ πρᾶον μετὰ τῆς ὀξύτητος, τὸ βεβηκὸς τοῦ φρονήματος μετὰ τῆς εἰς ἅπαντα δεξιότητος, ὑπερηγάμεθά σου τὸ πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν τῆς βασιλείας πραγμάτων εὐάρμοστόν τε καὶ σύμφωνον, ὡς ὁμοῦ καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὸν νομοθετεῖς νομοθέταις καὶ ἐπανορθοῖς στρατηγοὺς καὶ συμφιλοσοφεῖς φιλοσόφοις καὶ συμπνέεις ῥήτορσι τὴν περὶ λόγους πειθὼ καὶ στρατηγοῖς ἐπιτάττεις καὶ ἐπὶ φάλαγγος ἵστασαι καὶ χάρακα βάλλεις καὶ κατασείεις τὸ βάρβαρον καὶ πόρρωθεν ἀπελαύνεις τοῖς ἀπὸ λόγου τοξεύμασι. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν πρότερον, καὶ πάντων ἡττώμεθα καὶ πάντων ἐλάττους ἀπεδεικνύμεθα. τὰ νῦν δέ-ἀλλὰ τίς ἐξείποι τὰς τοῦ θεοῦ δυναστείας; τίς ἱκανὸς ἐξυμνῆσαι τὰ μεγαλεῖα τοῦ μεγάλου βραχίονος θαύματά τε καὶ