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13.t MACEDONIUS 13.1 As for Macedonius, surnamed Crithophagus—for this kind of food gave him this nickname—everyone knows him, both Phoenicians and Syrians and Cilicians; and their neighbors and borderers also know him, some having become eyewitnesses of the man's wonders, others having heard of them from fame which sings and proclaims them; However, not all know everything, but some having learned this, others that, they naturally marvel only at what they know. But I, knowing the things concerning this divine man more accurately than others—for much prompted me to go to him and visit often—, will relate each thing as I am able. I have kept this order for him and placed his narrative after many others not because he was second to others in virtue—for he was a rival to the highest and first—, but because having lived a very long time, he received the end of his life after those whom I have mentioned. 13.2 This man, then, had as his wrestling-school and stadium the tops of the mountains, not being established in one place, but now living in this one, now moving to that one. And he did this not because he disliked the places, but fleeing the crowds of those who came together to him and ran together from all sides. He continued living in this way for forty-five years, using neither tent nor hut, but making his station in a deep pit, from which some even nicknamed him Gubbâ—and this name, when translated from the Syriac to the Greek tongue, signifies 'cistern'. But after this time, having become an old man, he yielded to those who supplicated him and built a hut. And later, when his acquaintances begged him, he used small dwellings, not his own but belonging to others. He continued for twenty-five years living in the hut and the small dwellings, so that the time of his contests comes to seventy years in total. 13.3 For food he used not bread or legumes, but hulled barley soaked only in water; and my mother, having become his acquaintance, supplied him with this food for a very long time. And once, having come to her when she was sick and learning that she was not persuaded to take food suitable to her illness—for she herself by then had embraced the ascetic life—, he advised her to yield to the physicians and to consider such food as medicine; for it is offered not for the sake of luxury, but of need. "For I myself," he said, "having used only barley, as you know, for forty years, when a certain weakness came upon me the other day, I ordered my companion to ask for and bring me a little bread. For a thought came to me that if I should die, I would be held accountable for my death before the just judge, as having fled the contests and as a runaway from the labors of servitude; for, when it was possible for death to be prevented by a little food and to remain in this life, toiling and enduring hardship and gathering the resulting wealth, I considered death from starvation more preferable than life in philosophy. Being filled with fear from this, then, and wishing to blunt the barbs of my reasoning, I ordered that the bread be requested and when it was brought, I partook of it; and I command you to no longer provide me with barley but with bread." From that truthful tongue, therefore, we have heard that for forty years he made barley his food. These things, then, are sufficient to prove the man's asceticism and love of labor. 13.4 But we shall show the integrity and simplicity of his character through other things. For when the great Flavian was appointed to shepherd the great flock of God, and learned the virtue of the man—for he was renowned and on everyone's lips—, he brings

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13.t ΜΑΚΕ∆ΟΝΙΟΣ 13.1 Μακεδόνιον δὲ τὸν ἐπίκλην Κριθοφάγον-ἡ γὰρ τοιάδε τροφὴ ταύτην αὐτῷ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἐπέθηκεν- ἴσασι μὲν ἅπαντες, Φοίνικές τε καὶ Σύροι καὶ Κίλικες· ἴσασι δὲ καὶ οἱ τούτων ὅμοροί τε καὶ γείτονες, οἱ μὲν αὐτόπται τῶν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς θαυμάτων γενομένοι, οἱ δὲ τῆς φήμης ᾀδούσης ταῦτα καὶ θρυλούσης ἀκούσαντες· οὐ μὴν ἅπαντες ἴσασιν ἅπαντα, ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν τοῦτο, οἱ δὲ ἐκεῖνο μεμαθηκότες, ὃ γινώσκουσιν εἰκότως μόνον θαυμάζουσιν. Ἐγὼ δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὴν θείαν ἐμοὶ κεφαλὴν τῶν ἄλλων ἀκριβεστέρον ἐπιστάμενος-πολλὰ γάρ με παρ' αὐτὸν ἰέναι καὶ θαμίζειν προέτρεπε-, διηγήσομαι ὡς ἂν ἕκαστα δύνωμαι. Ταύτην δὲ αὐτῷ τὴν τάξιν τετήρηκα καὶ μετὰ πολλοὺς αὐτοῦ τὸ διήγημα τέθηκα οὐκ ἐπειδὴ δεύτερος τῶν ἄλλων τὴν ἀρετήν-τοῖς γὰρ ἄκροις καὶ πρώτοις ἐφάμιλλος ἦν-, ἀλλ' ὅτι χρόνον βεβιωκὼς ὅτι μάλιστα πλεῖστον, μετ' ἐκείνους ὧν ἐμνήσθην τοῦ βίου τὸ πέρας ἐδέξατο. 13.2 Οὗτος τοίνυν παλαίστραν ἔσχε καὶ στάδιον τὰς τῶν ὀρῶν κορυφὰς οὐκ ἐφ' ἑνὸς ἱδρυμένος χωρίου, ἀλλὰ νῦν μὲν τούτῳ ἐνδιαιτώμενος, νῦν δὲ εἰς ἐκεῖνο μεταβαίνων. Ἐποίει δὲ τοῦτο οὐ τὰ χωρία δυσχεραίνων, ἀλλὰ τῶν ὡς αὐτὸν συνιόντων καὶ πάντοθεν συνθεόντων ἀποδιδράσκων τὰ πλήθη. Πέντε δὲ καὶ τετταράκοντα ἔτη τοῦτον διάγων διετέλεσε τὸν τρόπον, οὐ σκηνῇ χρώμενος, οὐ καλύβῃ, ἀλλ' ἐν ὀρύγματι βαθεῖ τὴν στάσιν ποιούμενος, ὅθεν καὶ Γουββᾶν αὐτόν τινες ἐπωνόμαζον-ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς σύρας εἰς τὴν ἑλλάδα φωνὴν τοῦτο μεταφερόμενον λάκκον σημαίνει τὸ ὄνομα. Μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον πρεσβύτης γενόμενος, εἶξε τοῖς ἱκετεύουσι καὶ καλύβην ἐπήξατο. Ὕστερον δὲ τῶν γνωρίμων ἀντιβολούντων καὶ οἰκιδίοις οὐκ οἰκείοις ἀλλ' ἀλλοτρίοις ἐχρήσατο. Πέντε δὲ καὶ εἴκοσι διατετέλεκεν ἔτη τῇ καλύβῃ καὶ τοῖς οἰκιδίοις ἐνδιαιτώμενος ὡς συνά γεσθαι λοιπὸν ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη τῶν ἀγώνων τὸν χρόνον. 13.3 Τροφῇ δὲ ἐκέχρητο οὐκ ἄρτῳ οὐδ' ὀσπρίοις, ἀλλὰ κριθαῖς πτισσομέναις καὶ μόνῳ ὕδατι δευομέναις· καὶ ταύτην αὐτῷ τὴν τροφὴν ἡ μήτηρ ἡ ἐμὴ γενομένη συνήθης ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐχορήγησε χρόνον. Καί ποτε πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀρρωστοῦσαν ἀφικόμενος καὶ μαθὼν ὡς οὐ πείθεται τροφῆς καταλλήλου τῇ νόσῳ μεταλαβεῖν-τὸν ἀσκητικὸν γὰρ λοιπὸν καὶ αὐτὴ ἠσπάζετο βίον-, εἶξαι παρῄνει τοῖς ἰατροῖς καὶ φάρμακον νομίσαι τὴν τοιαύτην τροφήν· οὐδὲ γὰρ τρυφῆς χάριν, ἀλλὰ χρείας προσφέρεται. "Καὶ γὰρ ἐγώ, ἔφη, τετταράκοντα ἔτη ταῖς κριθαῖς, ὡς οἶσθα, μόναις χρησάμενος, ἀσθενείας μοι τῇ προτεραίᾳ προσγενομένης τινός, τὸν σύνοικον ἐκέλευσα ἄρτον βραχὺν αἰτῆσαί τέ μοι καὶ κομίσαι. Ἔννοια γάρ τίς μοι γέγονεν ὡς εἰ τεθναίην εὐθύνας ὑφέξω τοῦ θανάτου παρὰ τῷ δικαίῳ κριτῇ ὡς τοὺς ἀγῶνας φυγὼν καὶ τῆς δουλείας δραπετεύσας τοὺς πόνους· δυνατοῦ γὰρ ὄντος τροφῇ βραχείᾳ κωλυθῆναι τὸν θάνατον καὶ τῷδε τῷ βίῳ προσμεῖναι πονοῦντα καὶ ταλαιπωρούμενον καὶ τὸν ἐντεῦθεν συναγείροντα πλοῦτον τὴν ἐκ λιμοῦ τελευτὴν τῆς ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ ζωῆς αἱρετωτέραν ὑπέλαβον. ∆είματος τοίνυν ἐντεῦθεν ἐμφορηθεὶς καὶ τοῦ λογισμοῦ τὰς ἀκίδας ἀμβλῦναι θελήσας αἰτῆσαί τε τὸν ἄρτον ἐκέλευσα καὶ κομισθέντος μετέλαβον· καί σοι παρεγγυῶ μηκέτι μοι τὰς κριθὰς ἀλλὰ τὸν ἄρτον παρέχειν." Ἐκ τῆς ἀψευδοῦς τοίνυν ἐκείνης ἀκηκόαμεν γλώττης ὡς τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη τροφὴν τὰς κριθὰς ἐποιήσατο. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀσκητικὸν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ φιλόπονον ἱκανὰ καὶ ταῦτα τεκμηριῶσαι. 13.4 Τὴν δὲ ἀκεραιότητα καὶ ἁπλότητα τῶν ἠθῶν δι' ἄλλων δηλώσομεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ μέγας Φλαβιανὸς τὴν μεγάλην τοῦ θεοῦ ποίμνην ποιμαίνειν ἐτάχθη, τὴν δὲ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἔμαθεν ἀρετήν-ᾔδετο γὰρ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἁπάντων ἐφέρετο στόμασιν-, ἄγει μὲν