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He ministered to strangers, but did not dine with them. 17.8 Spending his days on the lawsuits of those who were quarreling, he persuaded some to be reconciled with one another, and he compelled those who were not persuaded by his gentle teachings. No unjust man departed having conquered justice with audacity; for by always adding the portion of justice to the one who was wronged, he showed him to be invincible and stronger than the one wishing to do wrong. And he was like the best physician, always preventing the excess of the humors and contriving an equal measure for the substances. 17.9 The emperor also longed for the sight of him—for rumor is swift-winged, easily reporting all things, both the good and the worse—and he summoned him to himself, and when he arrived, he embraced him and considered that rustic goatskin cloak more honorable than his own purple robe. And the company of the empresses touched his hands and knees; and they supplicated a man who did not even know how to understand the Greek tongue. 17.10 Thus, for emperors and all men, philosophy is a thing worthy of reverence; and when the lovers and students of it die, they attain greater renown. And this can be learned from many sources, but not least from the things concerning this divine man. For when he died and the emperor learned of this, he wished to lay him in one of the sacred chapels; but learning that it was holy for the body of the shepherd to be returned to his flock, he himself led the procession, and the company of the empresses followed, and all rulers and subjects, soldiers and civilians. With this zeal the city of Antioch received him, and the cities after it, until he came to that great river; and along the bank of the Euphrates, citizens ran together, strangers and all the country folk ran together, and the neighbors hurried to enjoy the blessing. And many rod-bearers followed the bier, frightening away, as if they would strike them, those who were trying to strip the body of its clothing and desiring to take rags from it. And one could hear some singing psalms, and others lamenting; for one woman who was wailing called him a protector, another a nurturer, another a shepherd and teacher; and one man, weeping, called him father, another a helper and guardian. With such acclamations and laments they committed that holy and sacred body to the tomb. 17.11 But I, marveling that having changed his station he did not change his life, nor did he love a relaxed regimen in his high office, but increased his ascetic labors, I have included him in the history of the monks and have not separated him from the company he loved, desiring the blessing from it. 18.t EUSEBIUS 18.1 To the aforementioned saints I will add also the great Eusebius, who died not long ago, and having lived very many years, he endured toil equal to his time, and gathered virtue equal to his toil, and from it he carried away a manifold profit. For the prize-giver, in the generosity of his rewards, surpasses the contests. This man, therefore, at first entrusting his own care to others, was led as they would lead him; for they themselves were divine men and athletes and trainers of virtue. And having spent time with them and having received rightly and well the knowledge of philosophy, he embraced the solitary life; and having occupied a certain ridge of a mountain—and a very large village lies upon it, and they call it Asicha—using only an enclosure and not even joining the stones with mortar, in the open air
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ξένοις διηκόνει μέν, οὐ συνειστιᾶτο δέ. 17.8 Ἐν δὲ ταῖς τῶν ζυγομαχούντων δίκαις διημερεύων, τοὺς μὲν καταλλάττεσθαι ἀλλήλοις ἀνέπειθε, τοὺς δὲ κατ ηνάγκαζε ταῖς ἡμέροις διδασκαλίαις μὴ πειθομένους. Οὐδεὶς δὲ τῶν ἀδίκων θρασύτητι τὸ δίκαιον ἀπῆλθε νενικηκώς· τῷ γὰρ ἀδικουμένῳ τὴν τοῦ δικαίου μοῖραν ἀεὶ προστιθεὶς ἄμαχον ἐδείκνυ καὶ τοῦ ἀδικεῖν ἐθέλοντος κρείττονα. Καὶ ἰατρῷ ἀρίστῳ ἐῴκει τῶν χυμῶν ἀεὶ τὸ πλεονάζον κωλύοντι καὶ τὴν ἰσομετρίαν μηχανωμένῳ ταῖς ὕλαις. 17.9 Τούτου καὶ τὴν θέαν ἐπόθησε βασιλεύς-ὑπόπτερος γὰρ ἡ φήμη πάντα ῥᾳδίως καὶ τὰ καλὰ καὶ τὰ χείρω μηνύουσα-καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐκάλει καὶ ἀφικνούμενον ἠσπάζετο καὶ τὴν ἀγροικικὴν ἐκείνην σισύραν τῆς οἰκείας ἁλουργῖδος τιμιωτέραν ἡγεῖτο. Καὶ ὁ τῶν βασιλίδων χορὸς καὶ χειρῶν ἥπτετο καὶ γονάτων· καὶ ἱκέτευον ἄνδρα οὐδὲ ἐπαίειν τῆς ἑλλάδος ἐπιστάμενον γλώττης. 17.10 Οὕτω καὶ βασιλεῦσι καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις αἰδοῦς ἄξιόν ἐστι χρῆμα φιλοσοφία· καὶ τελευτήσαντες δὲ οἱ ταύτης ἐρασταὶ καὶ φροντισταὶ μείζονος εὐκλείας τυγχά νουσιν. Καὶ τοῦτο πολλαχόθεν μέν ἐστι καταμαθεῖν, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν κατὰ τόνδε τὸν θεσπέσιον ἄνθρωπον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐτελεύτησε καὶ τοῦτο ἔμαθεν ὁ βασιλεύς, ἐβουλήθη μὲν ἔν τινι τῶν ἱερῶν αὐτὸν καταθεῖναι σηκῶν· μαθὼν δὲ ὡς ὅσιον εἴη τοῖς ποιμνίοις ἀποδοθῆναι τοῦ ποιμένος τὸ σῶμα, καὶ αὐτὸς προὔπεμπεν ἡγούμενος καὶ ὁ τῶν βασιλίδων χορὸς ἐφεπόμενος καὶ ἄρχοντες ἅπαντες καὶ ἀρχόμενοι, στρατιῶται καὶ ἰδιῶται. Μετὰ ταύτης αὐτὸν τῆς σπουδῆς καὶ ἡ Ἀντιόχου ὑπεδέξατο πόλις καὶ αἱ μετὰ ταύτην ἕως εἰς τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον ἀφίκετο ποταμόν· παρὰ δὲ τοῦ Εὐφράτου τὴν ὄχθην συνέθεον μὲν ἀστοί, συνέθεον δὲ ξένοι καὶ χωριτικοὶ πάντες καὶ οἱ ὅμοροι δὲ τῆς εὐλογίας ἀπολαύειν ἠπείγοντο. Ῥαβδοφόροι δὲ πολλοὶ τῇ κλίνῃ παρείποντο τοὺς γυμνοῦν τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἐσθῆτος πειρωμένους καὶ ῥάκια λαμβάνειν ἐκεῖθεν ἐφιεμένους ὡς παίσοντες δεδιττόμενοι. Καὶ ἦν ἀκούειν τῶν μὲν ψαλλόν των, τῶν δὲ θρηνῳδούντων· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὀδυρομένη προστάτην ἐκάλει, ἡ δὲ τροφέα, ἡ δὲ ποιμένα τε καὶ διδάσκαλον· καὶ ὁ μὲν δακρύων πατέρα ὠνόμαζεν, ὁ δὲ ἐπίκουρον καὶ κηδεμόνα. Μετὰ τοιούτων εὐφημιῶν τε καὶ θρήνων τῷ τάφῳ τὸ ἅγιον ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἱερὸν παρέδωκαν σῶμα. 17.11 Ἐγὼ δὲ θαυμάσας ὅτι τὴν πολιτείαν ἀμείψας τὸν βίον οὐ συμμετέβαλεν, οὐδὲ ἀνειμένην ἐν τῇ προεδρίᾳ ἠγάπησε δίαιταν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀσκητικοὺς ἐπηύξησε πόνους, ἐν τῇ τῶν μοναχῶν αὐτὸν ἱστορίᾳ κατέλεξα καὶ τῆς ἀγαπη θείσης ὑπ' αὐτοῦ συμμορίας οὐκ ἐχώρισα καὶ τῆς ἐντεῦθεν ἐφιέμενος εὐλογίας. 18.t ΕΥΣΕΒΙΟΣ 18.1 Τοῖς προειρημένοις ἁγίοις προσθήσω καὶ τὸν μέγαν Εὐσέβιον ὃς οὐ πρὸ πολλοῦ μὲν ἐτελεύτησε χρόνου, πάμπολλα δὲ ἔτη βεβιωκὼς ἰσόμετρον μὲν τῷ χρόνῳ τὸν πόνον ὑπέμει νεν, ἰσόμετρον δὲ τῷ πόνῳ συνέλεξεν ἀρετήν, πολλαπλάσιον δὲ τὸ ἐντεῦθεν ἀπηνέγκατο κέρδος. Ὁ γὰρ ἀγωνοθέτης τῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ τῶν ἀντιδόσεων ὑπερβαίνει τοὺς ἄθλους. Οὗτος τοίνυν ἄλλοις τὰ πρῶτα τὴν οἰκείαν καταπιστεύσας ἐπιμέλειαν ἤγετο ᾗ ἂν ἐκεῖνοι ἦγον· ἄνδρες γὰρ ἦσαν καὶ αὐτοὶ θεῖοι καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀθληταί τε καὶ γυμνασταί. Χρόνον δὲ τούτοις συνδιατρίψας καὶ εὖ καὶ καλῶς τῆς φιλοσοφίας τὴν ἐπιστήμην παραλαβὼν τὸν μονήρη βίον ἠσπάσατο· καί τινα ῥαχίαν ὄρους καταλαβών-ἐπίκειται δὲ αὐτῇ κώμη μεγίστη, Ἀσιχᾶν δὲ αὐτὴν ὀνομάζουσι-, θριγκίῳ μόνῳ χρησάμενος καὶ τοὺς λίθους οὐδὲ πηλῷ συναρμόσας, ὑπαίθριος