50

that nothing else be done in it, than that the worship fitting to the almighty and our savior and the lord of all, God, be performed; which it was fitting for you to observe with the necessary care, if indeed, as I am persuaded, your reverence desires to fulfill the things especially pleasing to my piety. May God preserve you, beloved brethren. 3.54.1 The emperor accomplished all these things, contributing to the glory of the saving power. And he continued in some such way to honor his savior God, 3.54.2 while he refuted the superstitious error of the gentiles in all sorts of ways. From this, naturally, the entrances of their temples in the cities were stripped bare, being emptied of their doors by the emperor's command, and of others the roofing upon the ceilings was destroyed when the coverings were removed, while of others the venerable bronze works, in which the deceit of the ancients had been glorified for long ages, were set out for public display to all in all the marketplaces of the emperor's city, so as to be set forth as an unseemly spectacle for those who saw here the Pythian, there the Sminthian, and in the Hippodrome itself the tripods at Delphi, and the Heliconian Muses 3.54.3 in the palace. And the whole city named after the emperor was filled throughout with the consecrated artistic beauties of bronze from every nation, to which those who were sick with the error, having offered in vain for long ages as many hecatombs and whole burnt offerings as possible in the name of the gods, at last came to their senses, as the emperor used these very things as toys for the laughter and sport of the beholders. 3.54.4 But the golden parts of the statues he dealt with in another way. For since he saw that the multitudes of the error were vainly fearing, like foolish infants, the bugbears fashioned from the substance of gold and silver, he thought it necessary to remove these out of the way just like some stumbling-blocks of stones thrown before the feet of those walking in darkness, and a smooth and level royal one for the future for all 3.54.5 to open up a road. Therefore, having determined on these things, he did not consider it necessary to have hoplites and a multitude of an army for the refutation of these things, but one and a second alone of his acquaintances were sufficient for the service, whom with a single 3.54.6 nod he sent throughout every nation. And they, taking courage from the emperor’s piety and their own reverence for the divine, passing through the midst of communities and peoples of ten thousand men throughout all cities and countries, made a detection of the long-standing error, commanding the priests themselves, with much laughter and shame, to bring their gods forth into the light from their dark recesses, and then stripping them of their outward appearance and showing the formlessness within the colored exterior to the eyes of all. Then, scraping off the seemingly useful part of the material, and testing it with smelting and fire, they kept in safe keeping whatever profitable part they considered necessary, but what was otherwise superfluous and useless they handed over to the superstitious as a memorial of their shame. 3.54.7 The admirable emperor also did such a thing as this: for as the parts of precious material of the dead idols were being despoiled in the manner described, he went after the remaining human statues made of bronze. And these gods of myths indeed were led as prisoners, draped in the weavings of aged hair. 3.55.1 After these things the emperor, having kindled as it were a very bright torch, lest any hidden remnant of error escape his notice, looked around with a kingly eye. And just as some sky-soaring, most sharp-sighted of eagles might see from on high the things most distant upon the earth, so also he, attending to the royal hearth of his own fair city, a certain terrible trap for souls lying hidden among the nation of the Phoenicians 3.55.2 he perceived from afar. This was a grove and a sanctuary, not in the middle of cities nor in marketplaces and broad streets, such as are mostly provided for cities for the sake of adornment, but it was off the beaten track of crossroads and main roads, outside for the shameful demon Aphrodite on a part of the summit of Lebanon, at Aphaca, estab3.55.3 lished. This was a school of wickedness for all the licentious, with much

50

μηδὲν ἕτερον ἐπ' αὐτοῦ πράττεσθαι, ἢ τὴν πρέπουσαν τῷ παντοκράτορι καὶ σωτῆρι ἡμῶν καὶ τῶν ὅλων δεσπότῃ θεῷ τελεῖσθαι θρησκείαν· ὅπερ μετὰ τῆς δεούσης προσῆκεν φυλάττειν ὑμᾶς φροντίδος, εἴ γέ μοι τὰ καταθύμια τῆς θεοσεβείας ἐξαιρέτως ἠρτημένα, ὥσπερ οὖν πέπεισμαι, ἡ ὑμετέρα σεμνότης πληροῦσθαι βούλεται. Ὁ θεὸς ὑμᾶς διαφυλάξοι, ἀδελφοὶ ἀγαπητοί. 3.54.1 Πάντα μὲν δὴ ταῦτα συντελῶν εἰς δόξαν τῆς σωτηρίου δυνάμεως βασιλεὺς διεπράττετο. καὶ τὸν μὲν αὐτοῦ σωτῆρα θεὸν ὧδέ πη διετέλει γεραίρων, 3.54.2 τὴν δέ γε τῶν ἐθνῶν δεισιδαίμονα πλάνην παντοίοις ἐξήλεγχε τρόποις. ἔνθεν εἰκότως ἐγυμνοῦτο μὲν αὐτοῖς τῶν κατὰ πόλεις νεῶν τὰ προπύλαια θυρῶν ἔρημα γινόμενα βασιλέως προστάγματι, ἑτέρων δ' ἡ ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀρόφοις στέγη τῶν καλυπτήρων ἀφαιρουμένων ἐφθείρετο, ἄλλων τὰ σεμνὰ χαλκουργήματα, ἐφ' οἷς ἡ τῶν παλαιῶν ἀπάτη μακροῖς ἐσεμνύνετο χρόνοις, ἔκδηλα τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐν ἀγοραῖς πάσαις τῆς βασιλέως πόλεως προὐτίθετο, ὡς εἰς ἀσχήμονα θέαν προκεῖσθαι τοῖς ὁρῶσιν ὧδε μὲν τὸν Πύθιον, ἑτέρωθι δὲ τὸν Σμίνθιον, ἐν αὐτῷ δ' ἱπποδρομίῳ τοὺς ἐν ∆ελφοῖς τρίποδας, τὰς δ' Ἑλικωνίδας Μούσας 3.54.3 ἐν παλατίῳ. ἐπληροῦτο δὲ δι' ὅλου πᾶσα ἡ βασιλέως ἐπώνυμος πόλις τῶν κατὰ πᾶν ἔθνος ἐντέχνοις χαλκοῦ φιλοκαλίαις ἀφιερωμένων, οἷς θεῶν ὀνόματι πλείστας ὅσας ἑκατόμβας ὁλοκαύτους τε θυσίας εἰς μάταιον ἀποδόντες μακροῖς αἰῶσιν οἱ τὴν πλάνην νενοσηκότες ὀψέ ποτε φρονεῖν ἔγνωσαν, τούτοις αὐτοῖς ἀθύρμασιν ἐπὶ γέλωτι καὶ παιδιᾷ τῶν ὁρώντων βασιλέως κεχρημένου. 3.54.4 τὰ δέ γε χρύσεα τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ἄλλῃ πη μετήρχετο. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ συνεῖδε μάτην δειμαίνοντα νηπίων δίκην ἀφρόνων τὰ πλήθη τῆς πλάνης τὰ μορμολύκεια ὕλῃ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου πεπλασμένα, καὶ ταῦτα ἐκποδὼν ᾤετο δεῖν ἄρασθαι ὥσπερ τινὰ λίθων ἐγκόμματα τοῖς ἐν σκότῳ βαδίζουσι πρὸ τῶν ποδῶν ἐρριμμένα, λείαν τε καὶ ὁμαλὴν τοῦ λοιποῦ τὴν βασιλικὴν τοῖς πᾶσιν 3.54.5 ἀναπετάσαι πορείαν. ταῦτα δ' οὖν διανοηθεὶς οὐχ ὁπλιτῶν αὐτῷ καὶ πλήθους στρατοπεδείας ἡγήσατο δεῖν πρὸς τὸν τούτων ἔλεγχον, εἷς δὲ μόνος αὐτῷ καὶ δεύτερος τῶν αὐτοῦ γνωρίμων πρὸς τὴν ὑπηρεσίαν ἀπήρκουν, οὓς ἑνὶ 3.54.6 νεύματι κατὰ πᾶν ἔθνος διεπέμπετο. οἱ δὲ τῇ βασιλέως ἐπιθαρροῦντες εὐσεβείᾳ σφῶν τε αὐτῶν τῇ περὶ τὸ θεῖον εὐλαβείᾳ, μυριάνδρων δήμων τε καὶ λαῶν μέσοι παριόντες ἀνὰ πάσας πόλεις τε καὶ χώρας πολυχρονίου πλάνης ἐποιοῦντο φωράν, αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἱερωμένους σὺν πολλῷ γέλωτι καὶ σὺν αἰσχύνῃ παράγειν εἰς φῶς ἐκ σκοτίων μυχῶν τοὺς αὐτῶν θεοὺς ἐγκελευόμενοι, κἄπειτ' ἀπογυμνοῦντες τοῦ φάσματος καὶ τὴν εἴσω τῆς ἐπικεχρωσμένης μορφῆς ἀμορφίαν τοῖς πάντων ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐνδεικνύμενοι. εἶτ' ἀποξέοντες τὸ δοκοῦν χρήσιμον τῆς ὕλης, χωνείᾳ τε καὶ πυρὶ δοκιμάζοντες, τὸ μὲν λυσιτελὲς ὅσον αὐτοῖς ἀναγκαῖον ἐνομίζετο ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ τιθέμενοι συνεῖχον, τὸ δ' ἄλλως περιττὸν καὶ ἄχρηστον εἰς μνήμην αἰσχύνης παρεχώρουν τοῖς δεισιδαίμοσιν. 3.54.7 οἷον δὲ καὶ τόδ' ἔρρεξε βασιλεὺς ὁ θαυμάσιος· ὡς γὰρ τῶν νεκρῶν εἰδώλων τὰ τῆς πολυτελοῦς ὕλης τὸν ἀποδοθέντα τρόπον ἐσκυλεύετο, τὰ λοιπὰ μετῄει ἀνδρείκελα χαλκοῦ πεποιημένα. δέσμιοι δῆτα καὶ οἵδε μύθων θεοὶ γεγηρακότων τριχῶν ὑφάσμασιν ἤγοντο περιβληθέντες. 3.55.1 Ἐπὶ τούτοις βασιλεὺς ὥσπερ τινὰ πολυφεγγῆ πυρσὸν ἐξάψας, μή πη λανθάνοι κρύφιόν τι πλάνης λείψανον, ὄμματι βασιλικῷ περιεσκόπει· οἷα δέ τις οὐρανοπετὴς ἀετῶν ὀξυωπέστατος ἄνωθεν ἀφ' ὑψηλοῦ τὰ πορρωτάτω διεστῶτα κατὰ γῆς ἴδοι, ὧδε καὶ οὗτος τῆς αὐτοῦ καλλιπόλεως τὴν βασιλικὴν ἀμφιπολεύων ἑστίαν δεινόν τι ψυχῶν θήρατρον ἐπὶ τοῦ Φοινίκων λανθάνον ἔθνους 3.55.2 ἐξ ἀπόπτου συνεῖδεν. ἄλσος δὲ τοῦτ' ἦν καὶ τέμενος, οὐκ ἐν μέσαις πόλεσιν οὐδ' ἐν ἀγοραῖς καὶ πλατείαις, ὁποῖα τὰ πολλὰ κόσμου χάριν ταῖς πόλεσι φιλοτιμεῖται, τὸ δ' ἦν ἔξω πάτου τριόδων τε καὶ λεωφόρων ἐκτὸς αἰσχρῷ δαίμονι Ἀφροδίτης ἐν ἀκρωρείας μέρει τοῦ Λιβάνου τῆς ἐν Ἀφάκοις ἱδρυ3.55.3 μένον. σχολή τις ἦν αὕτη κακοεργίας πᾶσιν ἀκολάστοις πολλῇ