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

receiving. When the most compassionate soul heard this supplication, since she also knew the circumstances concerning the bestarches, and that for many years these things had been granted to him and confirmed again, being immediately moved to pity she brought a final judgment, and condemned Elpidios to the removal of his belt, and the verdict was both final and in writing and in itself contained what was just, so as not to be subject to any review or revision. but it was entrusted to us concerning what the empress had judged and decreed, not to take up with secondary examinations, but to arbitrate on the dissolution of the betrothal with proposals and counter-proposals. Thus we, having been summoned to such a trial and having come together in the same place, gave entrance to the parties for the judgment. And so they were brought in, on the one side the monk Michael, who had been a bestarches, and on the other side Elpidios, of the patricians, represented by the spatharios Kyr John Kordakas. And when the bestarches was given leave to speak on why he was dissolving the betrothal, he seemed to be distressed that he was forced to make public the circumlocution of his tongue in a court of law; but beginning to speak from the start of the things he had demonstrated towards Elpidios at every opportunity, concerning which indeed the account has already narrated above, which he immediately received from him in return, he added to his narrative, the ill-nature of his soul, his hateful and unteachable attitude towards learning, the impropriety of his conduct, his unwillingness to obey him, his not living according to senatorial standards, but preferring to associate with mimes and triflers, his not being reformed towards what is proper by either exhortations or reprimands, the intensity and inflexibility of his opinion and his lack of remorse for whatever he might say and do, his hating his betrothed as much as the adversary hates the man through whom he has been deemed worthy of both deep wealth and such great dignities. These things he not only said, but also proved with witnesses, and the witnesses were beyond refutation and inherently credible. For they were the hypatos Theodore and the epi tes katastaseos Myralides, and the mystographos Euphrosynos and the asecretis Gabriel the Xeritai, and the asecretis Michael and the exarchos of the vestiopratai. For the hypatos Theodore Myralides testified to the hardness of his opinion, and his hateful attitude toward the bestarches, and his aversion toward his betrothed. And the Xeritai testified to these same things and his unwillingness to live according to the bestarches's commands, but choosing his own life and embracing a different way than the one the bestarches would choose. And the asecretis Michael, having gathered the testimonies of the other witnesses, additionally testified against him of ingratitude towards the bestarches, and shamelessness and arrogance, and his never being willing to be subject to his benefactor. But these things were in agreement with what the bestarches had lamented in his petition to our great empress, proving the truthfulness of his narrative to her, on account of which that wonderful soul, moved by imperial sentiment, made that wonderful decision, and made Elpidios a living monument of a malevolent soul. But some things were lacking for the dissolution of the betrothal. if, at least, one wished to adhere to the precision of the laws. Wherefore the judges said one of two things to the bestarches: either to add the other things, if he had them, through which the dissolution would be without penalty for him, or, if he did not wish to remain in the betrothal, to give the fine and be rid of the matter. At this point the bestarches, falling silent for a short while and as if wrestling with his reasoning: "But I," he said, "O laws and judges and all who stand around, I would never disgrace these grey hairs"—pointing to his own—"nor would I impose a different character on the preceding form of my life, nor for the sake of fifteen pounds of gold upon

δεχόμενος. Ταύτης τῆς ἱκετηρίας ὡς ἤκουσεν ἡ συμπαθεστάτη ψυχή, ἅτε καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν βεστάρχην ἐπειδυῖα, καὶ ὡς πολλῶν ἐτῶν ταῦτα τούτῳ δεδώρητο καὶ αὖθις ἐπικεκύρωτο, εἰς οἶκτον εὐθὺς κατενεχθεῖσα αὐτοτελῆ τὴν κρίσιν ἠνέγκατο, καὶ ζώνης ἀφαίρεσιν τοῦ Ἐλπιδίου κατεψηφίσατο, καὶ ἡ ψῆφος αὐτοτελής τε καὶ ἔγγραφος καὶ αὐτόθεν τὸ δίκαιον ἔχουσα, ὡς ἀναψηλαφήσει τινὶ ἢ ἐπικρίσει μὴ ὑποπίπτουσα. ἡμῖν δὲ ἐπετέτραπτο περὶ μὲν ὦν ἡ βασιλὶς ἔκρινέ τε καὶ ἀπεφήνατο, μὴ δευτέραις διαλαβεῖν διαγνώσεσι, ταῖς δὲ περὶ τῆς διαλύσεως τῆς μνηστείας διαιτῆσαι προτάσεσί τε καὶ ἀντιθέσεσιν. Οὕτως ἡμεῖς ἐκκέλευστοι πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην γεγονότες δίκην καὶ εἰς ταὐτὸν συνεληλυθότες, εἴσοδον τοῖς μέρεσι πρὸς τὴν κρίσιν δεδώκαμεν. καὶ εἰσήχθησαν οὖν, ἔνθεν μὲν ὁ μοναχὸς Μιχαὴλ καὶ γεγονὼς βεστάρχης, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ καὶ ὁ ἀπὸ πατρικίων Ἐλπίδιος συνηγορούμενος τῷ σπαθαρίῳ κῦρ Ἰωάννῃ τῷ Κορδακᾷ. λόγου δὲ δοθέντος εἰπεῖν τῷ βεστάρχῃ ἐφ' ᾧ διαλύοιτο τὴν μνηστείαν, ἐῴκει μὲν δυσπαθοῦντι ὅτι περ ἐν δικαστηρίῳ τὴν τῆς γλώττης περιβολὴν δημοσιεύειν ἠνάγκαστο· ἀπ' ἀρχῆς δὲ λέγειν ἀρξάμενος ὧν εἰς τὸν Ἐλπίδιον καθ' οὗς ἠδύνατο καιροὺς ἐνεδείξατο, περὶ ὧν δὴ καὶ φθάσας ὁ λόγος ἄνωθεν διηγήσατο, ἀ παρ' αὐτοῦ εὐθὺς ἀντελάμβανεν, ἐπισυνεῖρε τῷ διηγήματι, τὸ κακόηθες τῆς ψυχῆς, τὸ πρὸς μάθησιν ἀπεχθές τε καὶ ἀνεπίστροφον, τὸ τῆς διαγωγῆς ἀπρεπές, τὸ μὴ ἐθέλειν ὑπείκειν αὐτῷ, τὸ μὴ κατὰ συγκλητικοὺς ζῆν, ἀλλ' ἀσπάζεσθαι μίμοις καὶ φλυάροις ἀνδράσι συναναστρέφεσθαι, τὸ μήτε παρακλήσεσι μήτ' ἐπιτιμήσεσι πρὸς τὸ δέον μεταρρυθμίζεσθαι, τὸ ἔντονον τῆς γνώμης καὶ ἄτεγκτον καὶ ἐφ' οἷς ἂν λέγοι καὶ πράττοι ἀμεταμέλητον, τὸ ἀπεχθάνεσθαι τῇ μνηστῇ ὅσα καὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ὁ ἀντικείμενος δι' ὃν καὶ πλούτου βαθέος καὶ τῶν τηλικούτων ἀξιωμάτων ἠξίωται. ταῦτ' οὐκ ἔλεγε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μάρτυσιν ἀπεδείκνυε, καὶ οἱ μάρτρες ἀπαραλόγιστοι καὶ αὐτόθεν τὸν πιστὸν ἔχοντες. ἦσαν γὰρ ὅ τε ὕπατος θεόδωρος καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς καταστάσεως ὁ Μυραλίδης, ὅ τε μυστογράφος Εὐφρόσυνος καὶ ὁ θεσμογράφος Γαβριὴλ οἱ Ξηρῖται, ὅ τε θεσμογράφος Μιχαὴλ καὶ τῶν βεστιοπρατῶν ὁ ἔξαρχος. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ὕπατος Θεόδωρος ὁ Μυραλίδης τὸ σκληρὸν τῆς γνώμης αὐτοῦ, καὶ πρὸς μὲν τὸν βεστάρχην ἀπεχθές, πρὸς δὲ τὴν μνηστὴν ἀπόστροφον ἐμαρτύρει. οἱδέ γε Ξηρῖται αὐτά τε καὶ τὸ μὴ ἐθέλειν κατὰ τὰ τοῦ βεστάρχου ἐντάλματα ζῇν, ἀλλ' οἰκείαν αἱρεῖσθαι ζωὴν καὶ ἕτερον τρόπον ἀσπάζεσθαι ἢ ὃν ὁ βεστάρχης αἱροῖτο. ὁ δὲ θεσμογράφος Μιχαὴλ τὰς τῶν ἄλλων μαρτύρων φωνὰς συνειλοχώς, προσέτι καὶ ἀχαριστίαν αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸν βεστάρχην προσεμαρτύρησεν, ἀναισχυντίαν τε καὶ αὐθάδειαν, καὶ τὸ μὴ ἐθέλειν ποτὲ τῷ εὐεργετήσαντι ὑποτάσσεσθαι. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν σύμφωνα οἷς ὁ βεστάρχης ἐν τῷ ἱκεσίῳ γράμματι πρὸς τὴν μεγάλην ἡμῶν βασιλίδα ἀπωλοφύρατο, τὸ ἀψευδὲς τῆς πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀποδεικνύοντα διηγήσεως, ἐφ' οἷς ἡ θαυμασία ἐκείνη ψυχὴ ἐκ βασιλικοῦ ὁρμηθεῖσα φρονήματος τὴν θαυμασίαν ἐκείνην ἀπόφασιν ἐποιήσατο, καὶ στήλην ἔμψυχον κακοήθους ψυχῆς τὸν Ἐλπίδιον ἀπειργάσατο. ἐλλείποντο δέ τινα πρὸς μνηστείας διάλυσιν. εἴ γέ τις βούλοιτο τῇ ἀκριβείᾳ τῶν νόμων παρίστασθαι. ὅθεν δυοῖν θάτερον πρὸς τὸν βεστάρχην οἱ δικάζοντες ἔφασαν· ἢ καὶ τἆλλα προσθεῖναι εἴπερ ἔχοι δι' ὧν ἂν αὐτῷ ἀζήμιος ἡ διάλυσις γένοιτο, ἤ, εἰ μὴ ἐμμένειν ἐθέλοι τῇ μνηστείᾳ, τὸ πρόστιμον δοῦναι καὶ πραγμάτων ἀπαλλαγῆναι. ἐνταῦθα ὁ βεστάρχης, βραχύ τι σιωπήσας καὶ ὥσπερ παλαίοντι τῷ λογισμῷ ἐοικώς· "ἀλλ' ἔγωγε," ἔφησεν, "ὦ νόμοι καὶ δικασταὶ καὶ πάντες οἱ περιεστηκότες, οὐκ ἄν ποτε ταύτας δὴ τὰς πολιὰς καταισχύναιμι"-τὰς ἑαυτοῦ δείξας-"οὐδὲ ἀλλοῖον ἐπεμβαλῶ χαρακτῆρα τῷ προηγησαμένῳ τῆς ζωῆς μου μορφώματι, οὐδὲ χρυσίου λιτρῶν εἵνεκα πεντεκαίδεκα ἐπὶ