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

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 judge those of our own kind, paying attention to both their worth and their actions, we would scarcely believe heretics. How then shall that which has neither been written in the canons nor has ever been practiced be accepted now against me? And you will not easily believe an orthodox person against another orthodox person; but if some heretic speaks against Christians, will you accept it? And the canon does not admit this person simply against anyone, but you will accept him against a high priest, and so grandly as to stand on their side as on other canons and to cast your votes against him. Do you not know what offshoots from the faith the city of Philippi, in which is my throne—may the slanderers burst asunder!—brings forth, of which you are no small branch, O you who use the pseudonyms of the Lord's disciples, but trusting everything to a filthy life grow deep, but even a very thick stump? And if not all the accusers have shared in the same opinion, yet the drinkable is destroyed along with the salty, and the worse does not easily take on the better, as we have learned, but the better is changed along with the worse. I would gladly ask you, the holy synod, if, before they composed their contest against me, someone had anticipated and announced that some very wicked men were intending to accuse me of very grievous things, and had asked you whether you would accept them straightaway and not investigate at all, but rather would take them as opportunities for deposing me. Would you have agreed, or would you have utterly denied it, and added that you would not even superficially accept them, following the sacred canons? Is it not absurd, then, if what you would have contended not to accept as absurd, you now seal in your actions as being exceedingly lawful? For tell me, by the priesthood itself and the bema: what has been done according to the laws, what has been practiced that has not been anticipated by the canons? I underwent the challenge of the dispute, I entered the court, knowing nothing beforehand of what I was about to be accused; for this also makes a great difference, and from the outcome it is judged which things one ought to know beforehand and which not. For if the case ends in a fine, it is no matter whether one knows or not; but if it ends in insult, or in punishment or deposition, one must indeed both know beforehand and be prepared. But I knew nothing, but entered as if to defend myself against other accusations; this one thing first fights for me, then also consider the other things. They made their statements, and I made counter-statements, and they accepted them, but sent me away. And they, although having composed and premeditated the drama from afar, stood by themselves, proving and confirming nothing whatsoever from outside; but I promised, if I were released, to bring many who knew to speak in my defense and to refute them. And I talked nonsense in vain, and the hearers believed them as oracles, but immediately treated me as one condemned. For what was the one presiding over the bema to do, having been captured beforehand by their words, and with his soul pierced at each of the things said, and grieving exceedingly for the empresses, whenever the accusers touched upon them? when, if it had been another, would I myself not have been the first to be burned with fire and struck with iron, and being beaten and punished for each of the blasphemies. On such principles, therefore, are you established, and on such pretexts do you proceed to the deposition of a high priest. I fear that you yourselves are practicing against yourselves, and through my example you may fashion many slanderers for yourselves, and you would not be long in being deposed. But then, if I myself should wish to accuse one of you and to write an accusation of profanation, will you believe and strip him of his habit? But if not, why do you believe another against me, but do not accept me speaking against another? And how great is the difference? 1340 On the one hand, a heretic;

τοῦ παντὸς αἰῶνος ἀπίστῳ, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω ἀληθῶς, πιστεύειν κατὰ πιστοῦ; πόρρω γὰρ τοῦτο εἴη λόγου καὶ ἐνθυμήματος. ὅπου γὰρ τοὺς ὁμοφύλους φυλοκρινοῦμεν καὶ τῇ ἀξίᾳ προσέχοντες καὶ ταῖς πράξεσι, σχολῇ γ' ἂν τοῖς ἑτεροδόξοις πιστεύσαιμεν. πῶς οὖν ὃ μήτε κᾶνόσι γέγραπται μήτε τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον πέπρακται κατ' ἐμοῦ δεχθήσεται νῦν; καὶ ὁμοδόξῳ μὲν καθ' ὁμοδόξου οὐ ῥᾳδίως πιστεύσετε· εἰ δέ τις ἑτερόδοξος κατὰ χριστιανῶν λέγοι, προσήσεσθε; καὶ ὁ μὲν κανὼν οὐδὲ κατά τινος ἁπλῶς τοῦτον προσίεται, ὑμεῖς δὲ κατ' ἀρχιερέως προσδέξεσθε καὶ οὕτω μεγαλοπρεπῶς ὡς ἐπ' ἐκείνων ἑστάναι καθάπερ ἄλλων κανόνων καὶ τὰς ὑμῶν ψήφους ἐπ' αὐτὸν διατίθεσθαι. Οὐκ οἴδατε οἵας ἀποσπάδας τῆς πίστεως ἡ Φιλίππου πόλις, ἐν ᾗ ὁ ἐμὸς θρόνος-ἵνα διαρραγεῖεν οἱ συκοφάνται-, ἀναβλαστάνει, ὧν οὐ κλαδίσκος εἶ σύ, ὦ ψευδωνύμοις τοῖς τοῦ κυρίου μαθηταῖς χρώμενε, πάντα δὲ τῷ ῥυπαρῷ βίῳ πιστεύων βαθύνῃ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρέμνον λίαν παχύτατον; εἰ δὲ μὴ πάντες οἱ κατηγορήσαντες τῆς αὐτῆς δόξης κεκοινωνήκασιν, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἁλμυρῷ τὸ πότιμον συναπόλλυται, καὶ τὸ μὲν χεῖρον οὐ ῥᾳδίως μεταλαμβάνει τοῦ κρείττονος, ὡς μεμαθήκαμεν, συμμεταβάλλεται δὲ τὸ κρεῖττον τῷ χείρονι. ἡδέως δ' ἂν ὑμᾶς ἐροίμην, τὴν ἱερὰν σύνοδον, εἰ πρὶν ἢ τὸν κατ' ἐμοῦ συνθέσθαι ἐκείνους ἀγῶνα, προλαβών τις ἀπήγγειλεν ὡς παμπόνηροι ἀνθρωποι κέλλοιεν ἐμοῦ κατηγορῆσαι παγχάλεπα καὶ προσηρώτησεν εἰ ἐκ τοῦ εὐθέος αὐτοὺς δόξεσθε καὶ μηδέν τι περιεργάσεσθε, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἀφορμὰς ἐκείνους τοῦ καθαιρῆσαι ἐμὲ προσλήψεσθε. ἄρ' ἂν συνωμολογήσατε ἢ παντάπασιν ἀπηρνήσασθε, καὶ προσέθεσθε ὡς οὐδ' ἀκροθιγῶς τούτους προσήσεσθε τοῖς ἱεροῖς κανόσιν ἑπόμενοι; οὐκοῦν ἄτοπον εἰ ἃ ὡς ἄτοπα μὴ προσήσεσθαι διενέστητ' ἄν, ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ὡς ἔννομα λίαν ἐπισφραγίσετε; εἴπατε γάρ μοι, πρὸς τῆς ἱερωσύνης αὐτῆς καὶ τοῦ βήματος· τί τῶν κατὰ νόμους ἐγένετο, τί πέπρακται ὃ κανόσι μὴ προδιείληπται; ὑπέστην τὴν πρόκλησιν τῆς διαφορᾶς, εἰσῆλθον τὸ δικαστήριον, μηδὲν ὧν κατηγορηθῆναι ἔμελλον προειδώς· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο πολλὴν τὴν διαφορὰν ἔχει καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ τέλους ἕκαστον ὧν χρὴ προειδέναι τε καὶ μὴ κρίνεται. ἂν μὲν γὰρ εἰς ζημίαν ἡ ὑπόθεσις τελευτᾷ, οὐδὲν πρᾶγμα εἴτ' οἶδέ τις εἴτε μή· ἂν δ' εἰς ὕβριν, ἂν δ' εἰς ποινὴν ἢ καθαίρεσιν, χρή γε καὶ προειδέναι καὶ ἑτοιμάζεσθαι. ἐγὼ δ' οὐδὲν ᾔδειν, ἀλλ' εἰσῆλθον ὡς ἐπ' ἄλλοις κατηγορήμασιν ἀπολογησόμενος· ἓν τοῦτό μοι πρῶτον μαχόμενον, ἔπειτα καὶ τἆλλα σκοπεῖτε. οἱ μὲν ἐτίθουν, ἐγὼ δ' ἀντετίθουν, καὶ τοὺχς μὲν προσίεντο, ἐμὲ δ' ἀπεπέμποντο. κἀκεῖνοι μέν, καίτοι πόρρω τὸ δρᾶμα συνθέμενοι καὶ προμελετήσαντες, αὐτοὶ ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν ἵσταντο, μηδὲν ὁτιοῦν ἀποδεικνύντες ἔξωθεν καὶ πιστούμενοι· ἐγὼ δ' ὑπισχνούμην, εἰ ἀφεθείην, πολλοὺς παραγαγεῖν μοι τῶν εἰδότων συνηγορήσοντας κἀκείνους ἐλέγξοντας. καὶ μάτην ἐλήρουν, κἀκείνοις μὲν ὡς χρησμοῖς ἐπίστευον οἱ ἀκούοντες, ἐμοὶ δ' εὐθὺς ὡς κατακρίτῳ προσέβαινον. καὶ τί γὰρ ἦν δρᾶν τὸν τοῦ βήματος προκαθήμενον προεαλωκότα τοῖς αὐτῶν λόγοις καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν λεγομένων δριμυττόμενον τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τῶν βασιλίδων ὑπεραλγοῦντα, ὁπότε κἀκείνων οἱ κατηγορήσαντες ἅπτοιντο; ὅτε, εἰ ἕτερος ἦν, οὐκ ἂν αὐτὸς ἔφθανον πυρὶ καιόμενος καὶ σιδήρῳ τυπτόμενος καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην τῶν βλασφημιῶν τυπτόμενός τε καὶ κολαζόμενος. ἐπὶ τοιούτων οὖν ὑμεῖς τῶν ἀρχῶν ἥδρασθε καὶ τοιαύταις ἀφορμαῖς ἵστασθε εἰς ἀρχιερέως καθαίρεσιν. δέδοικα μὴ καθ' ὑμῶν ὑμεῖς αὐτοὶ προγυμνάζησθε καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἐμοῦ παραδείγματος πολλοὺς ἑαυτοῖς ἀναπλάσητε συκοφάντας καὶ οὐκ ἂν φθάνοιτε καθαιρόμενοι. ἆρα δέ, εἰ αὐτὸς ἐγὼ ἑνὸς ὑμῶν κατηγορῆσαι βουλήσομαι καὶ γραφὴν γράψαι καθοσιώσεως, πιστεύσετε καὶ ὑπογυμνώσετε τοῦτον τοῦ σχήματος; εἰ δ' οὐχί, διατί ἑτέρῳ μὲν πιστεύετε κατ' ἐμοῦ, ἐμὲ δ' οὐ προσίεσθε καθ' ἐτέρου λέγοντα; καὶ τὸ διάφορον ὅσον; 1340 μὲν ἕτερόδοξος·