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

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 refutation ranged through all their discoveries, but I also made use of many of their ideas for the strengthening of our own doctrine. Or what is it that the chief of our own philosophers have not collected a very large portion of the writings of Origen, and have called the collection Philocalia, because they were both wise in their learning, and in all things speaking and writing towards the truth? I have digressed this much, not wishing to boast myself, but to suggest to the many not to neglect learning, nor to make our doctrine a pretext for neglect and sloth; you may know the better things straightway, but where it is necessary, also reason, that you may one day sling at the foreigner; for the three stones are from our doctrine, but the art of the sling also from you, and there is fear lest some Goliath should one day stand against our Israel, and then we should not require a shepherd from outside for the destruction of the foreigner, and it is uncertain if there is now a son of Jesse being taken from behind the ewes in lamb and contending against the barbarian. Thus the things of the Greeks are demolished, thus the things of the Egyptians are dismantled, thus the things of the Babylonians are destroyed. I try, therefore, not to refute those who are illogical, but to teach how they might take the sword against them from their adversaries, just as the great apostle used the inscription of the temple in Athens against the Athenians. But let the discourse be brought back again to the turning-post. He, who has gathered the entire art and science of discourse for the one being praised, now wishes to say something also about his other virtues, which indeed he set before himself as the foundation of his discourse and with them he handled it, and through his whole life he is seen using them, for not like some, having been carried away by technical discourse, does he think it sufficient to have ascended to heaven through this alone. For not so did Elijah, but having first yoked to himself the four-horse chariot of the virtues, thus he dared to mount the chariot that had descended. For these reasons, having lingered on the more general virtues, and those from which one might benefit towards the others, he thus proceeded to the subordinate ones. For who is more upright in judgment than he, or who has served as so just a rule for affairs, giving the victory clearly to the better over the worse, and judging justly the mixture? Who has so honored or surpassed temperance, as not even to endure seeing for very long the one who bore him, as I have indeed heard from many, but to have scorned even this irreproachable part of nature? And against the passions, who has acted so courageously? He has mastered his innate passions, and has also routed any barbarians who might campaign from without, over whom he also raised the greatest trophies. Who has examined all things surpassingly with the parts of prudence, aiming at the opportune and the fitting? Who has so restrained his tongue, and that a youthful one knowing how to run, under a bridle both at the same time and artfully? Who applies his mind to what he says, and first colors each of the things said, and then brings it forth, often coloring the image, that it might be seen with a beautiful and fitting form? And who, having such great examples from his family, has himself sufficed as a most perfect example both for those before and those after him, and has helped not only in word, but in some cases also in deed? He himself, therefore, having disdained the honor here, but having exalted his entire family. What other has so spoken freely to the emperor or, having undertaken the direction of all affairs, has been sufficient for all in what was needful? Which of all men has been so honored by the rulers, as for them to place their right hands in his and to share a mixing-bowl and to allow him to eat from the same food? He who indeed surpassed all kings in virtue and

ἐγνώκειν μόνον ὁπόσα Ἕλληνες οὐδ' ὁπόσα Χαλδαῖοι ἢ Αἰγύπτιοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατεγνώκειν αὐτῶν, πλὴν οὐ πάντων, οὐδέ μοι ὁ ἔλεγχος διὰ πάντων τῶν ἐκείνοις εὑρημένων πεφοίτηκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοῖς τῶν παρ' ἐκείνοις πρὸς τὴν ἰσχὺν τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγου ἀπεχρησάμην. ἢ τί ποτε τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς φιλοσόφων οἱ ἄκροι τῶν Ὠριγένους συγγραμμάτων οὐκ ἐλάχιστον μέρος συνειλόχασι, καὶ Φιλοκαλίαν τὸ συνειλεγμένον κατωνομάκασιν, ὅτι καὶ σοφοὶ τὴν παίδευσιν ἤστην, καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν πάντα καὶ λέγοντες καὶ συγγράφοντες; Τοσοῦτο δὲ παρεκβέβηκα, οὐκ αὐτὸς κομπᾶσαι βουλόμενος, ἀλλὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ὑποθεῖναι μὴ καταμελεῖν παιδείας, μηδὲ πρόφασιν ἀμελείας καὶ ῥᾳθυμίας τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον ποιεῖν· ἔσο τὰ κρείττω αὐτόθεν εἰδώς, ἀλλ' ἔνθα δεῖ καὶ συλλόγισαι, ἵνα σφενδονήσῃς ποτὲ τὸν ἀλλόφυλον· οἱ μὲν γὰρ τρεῖς λίθοι παρὰ τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγου, ἡ δὲ τῆς σφενδόνης τέχνη καὶ παρὰ σοῦ, καὶ δέος μή πού τις ἀντισταίη ποτὲ καὶ Γολιὰθ τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς Ἰσραήλ, εἶτα μὴ ποιμένος ἔξωθεν δεηθείημεν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἀλλοφύλου ἀναίρεσιν, καὶ ἄδηλον εἴ τίς ἐστι νῦν υἱὸς Ἰεσσαὶ ὄπισθεν τῶν λοχευομένων ἀναλαμβανόμενος καὶ πρὸς τὸν βάρβαρον ἀνταγωνιζόμενος. οὕτω τὰ Ἑλλήνην καθῄρηται, οὕτω τὰ Αἰγυπτίων ἀπεσκεύασται, οὕτω τὰ Βαβυλωνίων διέφθαρται. οὐκ ἐλέγχειν γοῦν πειρῶμαι τοὺς ἀσυλλογίστους, ἀλλὰ διδάσκειν ὅπως ἂν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων κατ' ἐκείνων τὴν μάχαιραν λάβοιεν, ὥσπερ δὴ καὶ τὸ ἐπίγραμμα τοῦ Ἀθήνησι ναοῦ κατὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ὁ μέγας ἀπόστολος. Ὁ δὲ λόγος αὖθις ἐπὶ τὴν νύσσαν ἐπαναγέσθω. ὃς τὴν σύμπασαν τοῦ λόγου τέχνην καὶ ἐπιστήμην τῷ ἐγκωμιαζομένῳ συνειλοχώς, νῦν βούλεταί τι ἐρεῖν καὶ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν αὐτοῦ ἀρετῶν, ἃς δὴ καὶ τοῦ λόγου ἑαυτῷ προϋπέθετο καὶ σὺν αὐταῖς τοῦτον μετεχειρίσατο, καὶ διὰ παντὸς βίου ταύταις φαίνεται χρώμενος, οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἔνιοι τῷ τεχνικῷ λόγῳ ἐποχηθείς, ἀρκεῖν οἴεται δι' αὐτοῦ δὴ τούτου μόνου ἀναβεβηκέναι πρὸς οὐρανόν. οὐ γὰρ οὕτως Ἠλίας, ἀλλ' ἑαυτῷ πρότερον ὑποζεύξας τὸ τῶν ἀρετῶν τέθριππον, οὕτω τοῦ καταβάντος ὀχήματος κατετόλμησε. διὰ ταῦτα ταῖς γενικωτέραις ἐμφιλοχωρήσας τῶν ἀρετῶν, καὶ ἀφ' ὧν τις πρὸς τὰς λοιπὰς ὄναιτο, οὕτω πρὸς τὰς ὑποβεβηκυίας ἐχώρησε. Τίς γὰρ τούτου τὴν γνώμην εὐθύτερος, ἢ τίς οὕτω στάθμη δικαία τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐχρημάτισε, τῷ κρείττονι δοὺς κατὰ τοῦ χείρονος ἀριδήλως τὰ νικητήρια, καὶ δικάσας δικαίως τῷ κράματι; τίς δὲ σωφροσύνην οὕτω τετίμηκεν ἢ ὑπερεβάλετο, ὡς μὴ δὲ τὴν γειναμένην, ὥσπερ δὴ παρὰ πολλῶν ἠκηκόειν, ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἰδεῖν ὑπενεγκεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ δὴ τοῦ ἀδιαβλήτου καταφρονῆσαι μέρους τῆς φύσεως; κατὰ δὲ τῶν παθῶν, τίς οὕτως ἠνδρίσατο; καὶ κεκράτηκε μὲν τῶν ἐμφυλίων παθῶν, κατετροπώσατο δὲ καὶ εἴ τινες ἔξωθεν ἐπιστρατεύοιεν βάρβαροι, καθ' ὧν καὶ μέγιστα ἤγειρε τρόπαια. τίς δὲ πάντα ὑπερφυῶς τοῖς τῆς φρονήσεως διεσκέψατο μέρεσι καιροῦ καὶ πρέποντος στοχασάμενος; γλῶτταν δὲ τίς οὕτως ἐπέσχε, καὶ ταῦτα νεανικὴν καὶ τρέχειν ἐπισταμένην ὑπὸ χαλινὸν ἅμα καὶ τεχνικῶς; τίς δὲ οἷς λέγει νοῦν ἐφιστάνει, καὶ τῶν λεγομένων ἕκαστον ἐπιχρώννυσι πρώτως, εἶθ' οὕτως ἐξάγει, πολλάκις ἐπιχρώσας τὸ εἰκονιζόμενον, ἵνα σὺν καλῷ καὶ πρέποντι ὀφθείη τῷ σχήματι; τίς δὲ τηλικαῦτα ἔχων παρὰ τοῦ γένους τὰ ὑποδείγματα, αὐτὸς καὶ τοῖς ἄνω καὶ τοῖς μετ' αὐτὸν εἰς τελεώτατον παράδειγμα ἤρκεσε, καὶ βεβοήθηκεν οὐ τῷ λόγῳ μόνον, ἀλλ' ἔστιν οὗ καὶ τοῖς πράγμασιν; αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν τῆς ἐνταῦθα τιμῆς κατωλιγωρηκώς, τὸ δὲ γένος ξύμπαν ἀνενεγκών. τίς δὲ ἕτερος οὕτως ἢ πρὸς βασιλέα πεπαρρησίασται ἢ τὴν τῶν ὅλων προστασίαν ἀναδεξάμενος πᾶσι πρὸς τὸ δέον ἐξήρκεσε; ποῖος δὲ τῶν πάντων οὕτω παρὰ τῶν κρατούντων τετίμηται, ὡς καὶ δεξιὰς τούτῳ ἐμβάλλειν καὶ κοινωνεῖν κρατῆρος καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς σιτεῖσθαι ἐᾶν; Ὅ γέ τοι τοὺς βασιλεῖς πάντας ὑπερβαλόμενος ἀρετῇ καὶ