Orationes forenses et acta

 Each one of you has received benefits from him, that having set this forth here with goodwill toward him you might sway the votes, and by showing favo

 Having beset it and stirred herself up to be divinely inspired and worked herself into a bacchic frenzy. now, that the many are deceived by this, i do

 Of her, nor anything else of the things forbidden to me, but which are proclaimed and honored by them. for someone might perhaps excuse him for the fi

 To be enumerated? for divination is for the time being sufficient. but i think, if this had happened before, he would have nobly recorded these things

 Of the difference of theurgies, at the end he adds: one must remove in advance all obstacles to the visitation of the gods and impose a total tranqui

 In these matters i would gladly ask of you, whether it is permitted for a priest to be initiated into such mysteries and to be deemed worthy of such r

 Immediately, therefore, all blushed, or rather, indeed, they shouted with their voices and condemned the leaders of the impiety and named their writin

 Has he discerned? but if indeed the part of the synod has not joined with the senate council nor with the chosen of the nazirites—for this part was no

 Aristotle's theology and the psychogony of plato and the new numbers and the remodeling of doctrines and the expense of the divisible, who of all ever

 What argument is left to you concerning this, or how is it that you dispute with one another over matters of such importance and postpone the decision

 And i gladly admire in you the encomium of the good man in your memorandum. for where he holds on to the whole and bears the burden of common cares, y

 All those, with whom we disagree, have advocated for confusions or divisions. for what do matter and ideas have in common with our doctrines? but sinc

 And of the one who is lifted up and of the one seated on it. know the cherubic and seraphic wings, the perfection of their number, the symbolic coveri

 They have shaken. for if they happened to be uninitiated in our doctrines and completely uninstructed in the mysteries of the spirit, perhaps, having

 For he who receives a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, from the contrary and greater, he who receives an impious man will receive the punishme

 He has despised all things equally, although the law, standing as it were at his ears, cried out: let no one teach or learn profane things. and agai

 He both strung together and vomited up, this twenty-third writing he thinks, or rather he places it between those who were then in every way our own p

 Depicting the madness of nestorian rage. i have left it to you to compare it with the dogmas of the massalians. i brought forth to them from the inner

 The patriarch has acted impiously, clearly and openly. and it is not permitted for any of you who wish, nor for those zealous on his behalf, to defend

 And having brought over certain forces from the west, he stirred them up for war, and they come face to face with each other from both sides. and a fi

 Delaying he is persuaded and is moderate and descends with them. and he dares against two emperors, of whom the one the imperial court held, adorned w

 Being torn apart. but pilate sat judging my divinely-moved emperor, the lord's anointed, who was being considered, not hesitating, not washing his han

 To kill the emperor, unless he came down quickly and bowed his head to him, but he, fearing the tyrannical cruelty and cowering lest he suffer anythin

 An innovative rank and would come to be below. there, then, the morning star raged against the first goodness, but here the evening star has attacked

 Demonic in his life. but again i have turned to you, the judges, and again i ask: has anything been dared by this man or not? you will surely say the

 Then failing to achieve their purpose, they chose to strike and kill. is it not clear to all that, while digging through and breaking into the houses

 Ruin, if he should object saying that he neither urged these things nor wished them, but even punished many of those who dared with all punishments, w

 In the parts on the right, somewhere near the entrance, but you have immediately ascended into heaven on earth itself, as if considering it a terrible

 Disregarding the divine temples, he was destroying them? and he did not cease, piling one on top of another and making them abandoned ruins. for not o

 Leaning together walls collapsed together with their icons and statues. and everything was as if in a great earthquake, the air being darkened, the e

 And the remains of the apostle luke are burned by fire and reduced to dust. i fear that the bodies of martyrs also lay here. i am afraid that some of

 I shall grant you this also. he had no need, it is true, of the burial robes. i admit it, since they had all already decayed. but he did have need of

 Let us not even examine the scene after that, but let these things be considered by him as theaters and hunts. but where the mercy-seat is, and around

 Seeing what was happening was exulting and rejoicing, like of old the whelp of the beast, i mean the one from isauria. but you consider for me what a

 Fire was burning us and the zeal of the lord was consuming us, long ago the man would have perished, or rather, he would not even have had access to t

 To me the macedonian, to the right the spear, at a walk the half-file leader, captain, wheel around. and nothing new nor incredible for one who has

 I pray with the high priest, but the mixture and the sheath which has grown with us turns the mind, being raised aloft, back toward itself. therefore

 He would trace his genealogy from cronus and rhea and from those even further back, i mean hericapaeus and phanes and that orphic night and he traced

 And the same color over all, none of which moved or influenced him? but never to converse even with the more divine words nor to unroll any tablet, th

 The emperor's treasury is not supplied only from mines nor from the recesses of the earth, nor do tributes alone fill it, nor contributions from land

 And to speak of the audacity, or rather—but how could i speak, intertwining things?—and the diligently pursued plot, through which almost everything w

 Granting that you may meet with more benevolent judges above. and then the drink of deposition here will truly appear to you as a purification. and ma

 Suspicious to many. but if he has nothing in common with the one he has chosen to accuse, nor has anything come between them, it is somehow still unac

 They anticipate my tongue, scattering against me the things they did wrong on account of their own greed, and i confidently awaited the court, as one

 To vote against a priest on the spot the penance exceeds all punishment the examination and the penance must proceed canonically. and, as it seems,

 Of the whole age, an unbeliever, so that i may speak truly, to believe against a believer? for this would be far from reason and thought. for where we

 But i, but what might i say about this? he living the life of a private citizen, but i clothed in the high-priestly vestment. and such a man is agains

 With misfortunes and your example, for the sake of argument, let someone come forward as a condemned man to have his neck cut. and let the sword be ha

 Do you receive? for the pardon testifies that the deposition did not seem so even to himself. for if, according to you, it is like a cutting off, what

 Is the cause the comparison of the matter to a beheading? for from this, one absurdity having been granted, these many nonsensical things were consequ

 An evil tale about me for years, leave me to my former wounds, do not card new ones upon me. so may the lord heal you, if indeed there is anything in

 This is the law of accusation and defense, and from this the precise examination of matters is found. but he introduced a new kind of writing into the

 Of voice, for not even this is unworthy of the art, and with a rhythmic turn of the tongue, you perhaps might only approach him, you who indeed gaped

 Has been debarred from studies? but for you in deep old age, what share is there of education? who of all people has known you, as far as i know, afte

 Which they say came into being of their own accord. but these things are not acceptable to you, and for this reason we shall laugh at you again, havin

 Ever, not in courts, not in counsels, not in public, not in private. for this was not even without accusation, but the speech had some defense. from w

 And the nature of fire did not burn, and the steep rock sent forth springs, and the wood here sweetened the bitterness, and there lightened the heavy

 Did he transcend this time? and it is likely, o best one, for christ possessed a nature more free even according to human standards. whether, then, th

 From himself, having allotted a great portion of reason to his soul this man, therefore, having long ago established for himself a little adopted dau

 A contest, but more brilliant was the victory of elpidius, and he went away having overcome the vestarches by all votes and crowning himself with the

 Receiving. when the most compassionate soul heard this supplication, since she also knew the circumstances concerning the bestarches, and that for man

 I will let my tongue go from forbidden deeds. and first i shame myself relating unspeakable and improper things, since i will also become a stumbling

 The amounts owed will be reckoned against each other, and the fine will be reckoned to elpidios in place of the protospatharios's fee, and the protosp

 Having received a seaside property from him, i give back to him in exchange a mainland one as a permanent dwelling by gift. but the kalai property was

 Most complete, not measured by time, not defined by partial successions nor by these alienations or those, but eternal, sufficient for all successions

 Indicating by the documents, which it is also necessary to go through in order. and so that we may make the summaries concise, and not, by going throu

 At that time for the ruler to ratify to her through a gift of a golden bull the property which he had previously granted to the man, not having been i

 But the rest testified that they themselves were not present at such a sale, but had heard from the subscribing witnesses in the confirmatory document

 He marveled at our western setting sun as a morning sunrise, and with the unspeakable pangs of his soul he discerned the ineffable will of god concern

 On both sides the gift is valid for those who received it from there. for the estate was perhaps of the daughters of nicholas’s wife through paternal

 Harmony, who of all could dissolve such a great bond, or rather these wonderful and in reality altogether indissoluble connections? for the first and

 He has made known by an agreement to whom indeed you also entrusted everything under oath and, whatever they themselves should do, you have promised

 Emperor of the romans, doukas. konstantinos, in christ the god faithful emperor of the romans, doukas. ioannes, most humble archbishop of constantinop

to vote against a priest on the spot; the penance exceeds all punishment; the examination and the penance must proceed canonically." and, as it seems, when the emperor was angry, you attacked, but when he changed his mind, you were angry in turn. And my troubles become contradictory, and from either side I suffer misfortune. And your opinion also turns to the opposite; for those whom you formerly placated, you now resent, and those whom you resisted, you now receive with good will. This tribunal is more grievous for me than the former one. You are far more burdensome to me than the previous accusers. For in their case, without their having terribly composed the accusations against me, both their character and their unorthodox opinion make everything somehow suspect and self-refuting. But who would disbelieve you, men so venerable and as if considering something deeper about me? But I insist on this to you, that none of you has known or accused me of any matter small or great, nor do you, having first accused me on your own, now make use of this objection and stand against me, but you depend on the first voice of the accusers and whatever you do and say, you have been set in motion by them, and you take them as the starting points of your objection. If, then, they chose to accuse according to the laws and nothing concerning my alleged crimes which the sacred canons lay down has been omitted, but everything so proceeded, the indictments, the counter-arguments, the proofs, the time for consideration, and you also agreed on my penance, not immediately, but after meeting often by yourselves and coming together in common, and each of you writing and signing his own opinion, and all other things proceeded canonically, if it happened so and all things have consequently run together to the same point, I do nothing but talk nonsense in attempting to undo what has been predetermined by the sacred canons. But if all these things have been omitted and nothing has been done legally, but the accuser is also suspect and the accusations unproven, and you at that time were distressed at each of the things being said, how is it that what you previously dismissed as unbelievable you now regard as divine oracles, and stand upon them as upon the voices of God, and refer every word and deed of yours to them and from them you take your stand, and you are ignorant of your own voices which each of you at that time set against the accusations? And who of all does not know that the high priest has assumed the form of God, and converses directly with God, while propitiating Him for men, being, as it were, a mediator and an usher of the lower, rational nature, and stands with angels and genuinely serves the Trinity? Could a single voice of a slanderer, then, easily depose one thus elevated from among men and raised up to the divine height and magnitude, and this, a voice destitute of proof? And if you wish to bring someone to the sanctuary, you investigate everything, his practice, his profession, his right reason, if anything has been done by him, if anything has been said. And in the votes of the high priests, I am aware of how you plane down from every side and carve around the one to be voted on as if a statue, and even if all but one agree, the decision is overturned and the statue needs a second casting, and in this you are so precise and meticulous; but for the deposition of a high priest—for I will shame you with the name—so is everything overturned by you, and precision is considered as nothing. And wishing to give life, you scarcely do this and are slow to come to birth; but where it is necessary to put to death, you yourselves use swords. And when bringing someone to the sanctuary, you investigate the lives of the witnesses and are scarcely persuaded; but when tearing someone away, you immediately believe the accusers as if they were gods. Is there anywhere in our canons where a heretic speaking against us is believed? And I do not now put forward the priesthood, but only the orthodoxy of the faith. Is there then anywhere this has been written in the sacred laws, or has any of the

παραχρῆμα ἱερέως καταψηφίζεσθαι· ὑπερβάλλει πᾶσαν τιμωρίαν τὸ ἐπιτίμιον· δεῖ κανονικῶς προβῆναι τὸν ἔλεγχον καὶ τὴν ἐπιτίμησιν." καί, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὀργιζομένῳ μὲν τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀντεπίπτετε, μεταβαλλομένῳ δὲ ἀντοργίζεσθε. καὶ γίνεταί μοι ἀντίθετα τὰ κακὰ καὶ θατέρῳ μέρει παρὰ θάτερον δυστυχῶ. περιΐσταται δὲ καὶ ὑμῖν εἰς τοὐναντίον ἡ γνώμη· οἷς γὰρ ἱλάσκεσθε πρίν, νεμεσᾶτε νῦν, καὶ οἷς ἀνθίστασθε, τούτοις προσίεσθε νῦν εὐμενῶς. τοῦτό μοι βαρύτερον τοῦ προτέρου τὸ δικαστήριον. ὑμεῖς τῶν προτέρων κατηγορησάντων λίαν μοι ἐπαχθέστεροι. ἐκείνοις μὲν γὰρ ἄνευ τοῦ δεινῶς συνθεῖναί μοι τὰ ἐγκλήματα καὶ τὸ σχῆμα καὶ ἡ παρὰ τὸ ὀρθὸν δόξα ὕποπτα πάντα τυγχάνει πῶς καὶ αὐτέλεγκτα. ὑμῖν δὲ τίς ἀπιστήσειεν ἀνδράσιν οὕτω σεμνοῖς καὶ ὥσπερ τι περὶ ἐμοῦ σκεπτομένοις βαθύτερον; ἐγὼ δὲ τοῦτο διῖσχυρίζομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ὡς οὐδεὶς ὑμῶν πρᾶγμά τι μικρὸν ἢ μεῖζον ἐμοὶ συνέγνω καὶ κατηγόρησεν, οὐδ' ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν πρῶτον ἐγκαλεσάντων κέχρησθε νῦν τῇ ἐνστάσει καὶ κατ' ἐμοῦ ἵστασθε, ἀλλὰ τῆς πρώτης ἐξήρτησθε τῶν κατηγόρων φωνῆς καὶ ὃ δ' ἂν ποιῆτε καὶ λέγητε ἀπ' ἐκείνων ὥρμησθε κἀκείνους ἀρχὰς ὑποβάλλεσθε τῆς ἐνστάσεως. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐκεῖνοι κατὰ νόμους κατηγορεῖν εἵλοντο καὶ μηδὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἐγκλήμασιν ὧν οἱ ἰεροὶ κανόνες διαλαμβάνουσι παραλέλειπται, ἀλλ' οὕτω πάντα προέβησαν, αἱ γραφαί, αἱ ἀντιθέσεις, αἱ ἀποδείξεις, ο χρόνος τῆς διασκέψεως, συνωμολογήσατε δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπὶ τῷ ἐπιτιμίῳ τοὐμῷ, οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ εὐθέος, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις καθ' ἑαυτοὺς συγγενόμενοι καὶ κοινῇ συνελθόντες καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστος γνώμην γράψαντές τε καὶ ὑπογράψαντες, καὶ τἆλλα πάντα προέβη κανονικῶς, εἰ οὕτω γέγονε καὶ εἰς ταὐτὸ ἅπαντα ἀκολούθως συνδεδραμήκει, οὐδὲν ὅτι μὴ ληρῶ ἀναλύειν ἐπιχειρῶν τὰ ἱεροῖς προδιαληφθέντα κανόσιν. εἰ δὲ ταῦτα μὲν ἅπαντα παραλέλειπται καὶ οὐδὲν ὅ τι πέπρακται νόμιμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ κατήγορος ὕποπτος καὶ τὰ κατηγορήματα ἀναπόδεικτα καὶ ὑμεῖς τηνικαῦτα πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν λεγομένων ἐδυσχεραίνετε, πῶς ἃ πρὶν ὡς ἄπιστα παρεγράφεσθε νῦν ὥσπερ θείους χρησμοὺς ἡγεῖσθε καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῶν ὡς ἐπὶ θεοῦ φωνῶν ἵστασθε καὶ πάντα λόγον καὶ πρᾶξιν ὑμῶν ἐπ' ἐκεῖνά τε ἀναλύετε καὶ ἀπ' ἐκείνων συνίστατε καὶ τὰς οἰκείας ἀγνοεῖτε φωνὰς ἃς ἕκαστος τῷ τότε πρὸς τὰ κατηγορήματα ἀντετίθετο; Τίς δὲ οὐκ οἶδε τῶν πάντων τὸν ἀρχιερέα σχῆμα ἀνειληφότα θεοῦ καὶ ὁμιλοῦντα μὲν ἀμέσως θεῷ, ἀνθρώποις δὲ τοῦτον ἐξιλεούμενον καὶ μεσίτην ὥσπερ τυγχάνοντα καὶ προσαγωγέα τῆς κάτω, λογικῆς φύσεως καὶ μετ' ἀγγέλων ἱστάμενον καὶ τῇ τριάδι γνησίως λατρεύοντα; τὸν οὖν οὕτως ἐξ ἀνθρώπων μετεωρισθέντα καὶ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ἀναβιβασθέντα καὶ ὕψος καὶ μέγεθος μία ῥᾳδίως καθαιρήσειε συκοφάντου φωνή, καὶ ταῦτα, χηρεύουσα ἀποδείξεως; κἂν μὲν ὑμεῖς προσάγειν τινὰ τῷ βήματι βούλησθε, πάντα διερευνᾶτε, τὴν πρᾶξιν, τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα, τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον, εἴ τι αὐτῷ πέπρακται, εἴ τι λέλεκται. κἂ ταῖς ψήφοις δὲ τῶν ἀρχιερέων οἷα ὑμῖν σύνοιδα ὡς πάντοθε τὸν ψηφισθησόμενον ἀποξέετε καὶ περιγλύφετε ὥσπερ ἀνδριάντα, κἂν πάντες παρ' ἕνα συνομολογήσητε, ἐτράπη ἡ κρίσις καὶ δευτέρας χρεία τῷ ἀνδριάντι χωνείας, κἀνταῦθα μὲν οὕτως ἐστὲ ἀκριβεῖς καὶ λεπτότατοι· ἐς δὲ ἀρχιερέως καθαίρεσιν-δυσωπήσω γὰρ ὑμᾶς τῷ ὀνόματι-οὕτω πάντα ὑμῖν ἀνέστραπται, καὶ ἡ ἀκρίβεια ἀντ' οὐδενὸς ἥγηται. καὶ ζωογονεῖν μὲν βουλόμενοι, μόλις που τοῦτο δρᾶτε καὶ νωθεῖς πρὸς γένεσιν ἔρχεσθε· οὖ δὲ χρὴ θανατοῦν, αὐτοὶ χρῆσθε τοῖς ξίφεσι. καὶ προσάγοντες μέν τινα τῷ βήματι τοὺς τῶν μαρτύρων διερευνᾶτε βίους καὶ μόλις που πείθεσθε· ἀποσπῶντες δὲ ὡς θεοῖς εὐθὺς πιστεύετε τοῖς κατηγορήσασιν. ἆρ' ἔστιν ἐν τοῖς κανόσιν ἡμῶν ὅπου τις ἑτερόδοξος καθ' ἡμῶν λέγων πιστεύεται; καὶ οὐ τὴν ἱερωσύνην προβάλλομαι νῦν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὀρθὸν μόνον τῆς πίστεως. ἔστιν οὖν ὅπου τῶν ἱερῶν τοῦτο γέγραπται νόμων, ἢ τετόλμηκέ τις τῶν ἐκ