66

cut to pieces, having barely recovered from his great madness, he orders those striking them to stop. And he says to them: Why do you carry around these bones of the dead? If you carry these because you long for those whose bones they are, at this very hour I will place you with them, so that, having obtained those you long for, you may acknowledge a favor to me 334. But the leader and guide of that divine phalanx, considering the king's threats as nothing, as if nothing distressing had happened to him, with a free voice and a most radiant face that signified the grace dwelling in his soul, said: We carry around these pure and holy bones, O king, both fulfilling our devotion for the wondrous men to whom they belong, and bringing ourselves to the memory of their asceticism and God-loving way of life and stirring ourselves to a similar zeal, and contemplating the repose and delight in which they now live; and while counting these men blessed, we hasten, encouraging one another, to follow in their footsteps. Moreover, we also acquire for ourselves the memory of death, which is very beneficial and eagerly lifts us up for the struggles of the ascetic life, and we draw sanctification from touching them. And again the king says, If the memory of death is beneficial, as you say, why do you not receive this memory from the bones in your own bodies, which are your own and will very soon perish, rather than from these foreign and decayed ones? And the monk says, Though I have stated five reasons for carrying the relics, you, by responding to only one, seem to mock us; but know well, the bones of the deceased present the memory of death more clearly than those of the living. But since you know that these things are so and the bones in your flesh prefigure death for you, why do you not also 336 yourself, remembering the end that will come very soon, set your own affairs in order, but instead have given your soul over to all lawlessness, and violently and pitilessly destroy the worshippers of God and lovers of piety, who have wronged you in nothing, nor share with you any of the present things or strive to take them away? And the king said: I rightly punish you terrible people and deceivers of the people, because you deceive all, suggesting they abstain from the pleasures of life, and, instead of the sweet life and most desirable longing and pleasure, you compel them to choose this hard and foul and squalid conduct, and you preach that the honor of the gods should be given to Jesus. Therefore, so that the people, following your deceit, do not leave the earth deserted and, abandoning their ancestral gods, worship a foreign one, I have judged it right to subject you to punishments and death. And the monk says: If you desire for all to partake of the good things of life, why do you not share luxury and wealth equally with all, but instead the majority suffer in poverty, while you, snatching away their things, add them to your own? You do not, then, care for the salvation of the many, but you fatten your own flesh, preparing material for the worms to devour. For this reason, having also denied the God of all, you have acclaimed as gods those who are not, the inventors of every lawlessness, so that for you, being licentious and lawless in imitation of them, the title of 'imitator of your gods' may be added. For what your gods 338 did, how shall the people who heed them not also do? You have been greatly deceived, therefore, O king. And you are afraid that we might persuade some of the people, agreeing with our ways, to withdraw from your hand and be joined to the hand that holds all things; for you want there to be many servants of your greed, so that they may suffer, while the profits from them come to you. In the way that someone raising dogs or birds tamed for the hunt, before the hunt

66

κατακοπέντας, μόλις τῆς πολλῆς ἀνενεγκὼν μανίας, παύσασθαι τοὺς τύπτοντας κελεύει. καί φησι πρὸς αὐτούς· Τί τὰ ὀστᾶ ταῦτα τῶν τεθνεώτων περιφέρετε; εἰ, ὧν τὰ ὀστᾶ εἰσι ποθοῦντες, ταῦτα βαστάζετε, ταύτῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ θήσομαι καὶ ὑμᾶς μετ' αὐτῶν, ἵνα, τῶν ποθουμένων τυχόντες, χάριν μοι 334 ὁμολογήσητε. ὁ δὲ τῆς θείας ἐκείνης φάλαγγος ἔξαρχος καὶ καθηγητὴς παρ' οὐδὲν τὰς τοῦ βασιλέως τιθέμενος ἀπειλάς, ὡς μηδενὸς αὐτῷ συμβεβηκότος ἀνιαροῦ, ἐλευθέρᾳ φωνῇ καὶ λαμπροτάτῳ προσώπῳ καὶ τὴν ἐνοικοῦσαν τῇ ψυχῇ σημαίνοντι χάριν ἔφη· Τὰ ὀστᾶ ταῦτα τὰ καθαρὰ καὶ ἅγια περιφέρομεν, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὸν πόθον τε ἀφοσιούμενοι ὧν εἰσι θαυμασίων ἀνδρῶν, καὶ τῆς ἀσκήσεως αὐτῶν καὶ θεοφιλοῦς πολιτείας εἰς μνήμην ἑαυτοὺς ἄγοντες καὶ πρὸς τὸν ὅμοιον διεγείροντες ζῆλον, τὴν ἀνάπαυσίν τε ἐνοπτριζόμενοι καὶ τρυφὴν ἐν ᾗ νῦν διάγουσι· καὶ τούτους μὲν μακαρίζοντες, ἀλλήλους δὲ παραθήγοντες τοῖς αὐτῶν ἐξακολουθεῖν ἴχνεσι σπεύδομεν. πρὸς δέ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ θανάτου ἑαυτοῖς περιποιούμεθα μνήμην, πάνυ ὠφέλιμον οὖσαν καὶ πρὸς τοὺς τῆς ἀσκήσεως ἀγῶνας προθύμως ἀναπτεροῦσαν, καὶ ἁγιασμὸν δὲ τῇ τούτων ἀρυόμεθα προσψαύσει. Αὖθις δὲ ὁ βασιλεύς, Εἰ ὠφέλιμος, φησίν, ἡ τοῦ θανάτου μνήμη, καθώς φατε, τί μὴ τοῖς ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν ὑμῶν ὀστέοις τὴν τούτου ὑποδέχεσθε μνήμην, τοῖς οἰκείοις ὑμῖν καὶ ὅσον οὔπω φθαρησομένοις, ἤπερ τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις τούτοις καὶ διεφθαρμένοις; Καὶ ὁ μοναχός, Πέντε μέν, φησίν, ἐμοῦ εἰρηκότος αἰτίας τῆς τῶν λειψάνων περιφορᾶς, πρὸς μίαν αὐτὸς ἀνταποκρινόμενος, χλευάζειν ἡμᾶς δοκεῖς· ἀλλ' ἐναργέστερον, εὖ ἴσθι, τὰ τῶν προτετελευτηκότων ὀστᾶ τὴν τοῦ θανάτου παριστῶσι μνήμην, ἤγε τῶν ζώντων. ἀλλ', ἐπείπερ ταῦθ' οὕτως εἶναι γινώσκεις καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ σαρκί σου ὀστᾶ τὸν θάνατόν σοι ὑποτυποῦσι, τί μὴ καὶ 336 αὐτός, τῆς ὅσον οὔπω ἐλευσομένης μνημονεύων τελευτῆς, εὖ τὰ σεαυτοῦ διατίθης, ἀλλὰ πάσαις μὲν τὴν ψυχήν σου ἐκδέδωκας παρανομίαις, βιαίως δὲ καὶ ἀνηλεῶς ἀναιρεῖς τοὺς λατρευτὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐραστάς, τοὺς μηδέν σοι ἠδικηκότας, μηδέ σοι τῶν παρόντων τι συμμεριζομένους ἢ ἀφελέσθαι φιλονεικοῦντας; Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἔφη· Τοὺς δεινοὺς ὑμᾶς καὶ λαοπλάνους εἰκότως κολάζω, ὅτι πάντας ἀπατᾶτε, ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν τερπνῶν τοῦ βίου ὑποτιθέμενοι, καί, ἀντὶ τῆς γλυκείας ζωῆς καὶ τῆς ποθεινοτάτης ἐπιθυμίας καὶ ἡδονῆς, τὴν σκληρὰν καὶ ῥυπώδη ταύτην καὶ πιναρὰν ἐκλέγεσθαι ἀγωγὴν ἐκβιάζεσθε, καὶ τὴν τῶν θεῶν τιμὴν τῷ Ἰησοῦ ἀπονέμειν κηρύττετε. ἵνα οὖν μή, τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ ἀπάτῃ ἐξακολουθοῦντες, οἱ λαοὶ ἔρημον τὴν γῆν καταλίπωσι, καί, τῶν πατρίων ἀποστάντες θεῶν, ἀλλοτρίῳ λατρεύσωσι, τιμωρίαις ὑμᾶς καὶ θανάτοις ὑποβαλεῖν δίκαιον ἔκρινα. Ὁ δὲ μοναχὸς φησίν· Εἰ πάντας μετέχειν τῶν ἀγαθῶν τοῦ βίου ὀρέγῃ, τί μὴ πᾶσιν ἐπ' ἴσης μεταδίδως τῆς τρυφῆς καὶ τοῦ πλούτου, ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν πλείους πενίᾳ ταλαιπωροῦνται, σὺ δὲ τὰ αὐτῶν προσαφαρπάζων τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ προστίθης; οὐκ ἄρα τῆς τῶν πολλῶν φροντίζεις σωτηρίας, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἰδίαν πιαίνεις σάρκα, ὕλην ἑτοιμάζων τῇ τῶν σκωλήκων καταβρώσει. διὰ τοῦτο, καὶ τὸν τῶν πάντων ἀπαρνησάμενος Θεόν, τοὺς μὴ ὄντας προσηγόρευσας θεούς, τοὺς πάσης παρανομίας ἐφευρετάς, ἵνα σοι, κατὰ μίμησιν αὐτῶν ἀσελγαίνοντι καὶ παρανομοῦντι, τὸ μιμητὴς ἀναγορεύεσθαι τῶν θεῶν σου προσγένηται. οἷα γὰρ οἱ θεοὶ ὑμῶν 338 ἔπραξαν, πῶς οὐχὶ καὶ οἱ προσέχοντες αὐτοῖς ἄνθρωποι πράξουσι; πλάνην οὖν μεγάλην πεπλάνησαι, ὦ βασιλεῦ. δέδοικας δὲ μή τινας τοῦ λαοῦ πείσαιμεν, τοῖς ἡμετέροις συνθεμένους, ἀποστῆναί σου τῆς χειρὸς καὶ τῇ τὰ πάντα συνεχούσῃ προσοικειωθῆναι χειρί· θέλεις γὰρ πολλοὺς εἶναι τοὺς ὑπουργοὺς τῆς σῆς πλεονεξίας, ἵν' αὐτοὶ μὲν ταλαιπωρῶσι, σοὶ δὲ τὰ παρ' αὐτῶν προσγένοιτο κέρδη. ὃν τρόπον κύνας τις τρέφων ἢ ὄρνεα εἰς θήραν τιθασσευόμενα, πρὸ μὲν τῆς θήρας