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might seem to be flattering these, but when they catch something of what is hunted, it violently snatches the prey from their mouths; so indeed you also, wishing to have many bringing you taxes and tolls from land and sea, say that you care for their salvation, but you cause them eternal ruin, and above all to yourself, so that only wealth more useless than dung and filth might abound for you, you have unawares possessed darkness instead of light. But awaken from this subterranean sleep, open your closed eyes, and see the glory of our God shining upon all; and at last come to your senses. For understand, you senseless among the people, and you fools, at last be wise, says the prophet; understand that there is no god, except our God, and there is no salvation, except in him. But the king: Ceasing from this foolish nonsense of yours, show me Barlaam at once, or you will be tried by instruments of torture, of which you have never had experience. Therefore the magnanimous and most noble ascetic and lover of heavenly philo 340 sophy was in no way turned by the king's threats; but standing calmly he said: We are not ordered to do the things decreed by you, O king, but the things commanded by our Lord and God, who teaches us temperance to control all pleasures and desires, and to practice courage, so as to endure every pain and every affliction for the sake of righteousness. Therefore, whatever terrible things you bring upon us for the sake of piety, you will rather benefit us. Do therefore what you wish; for we will not tolerate doing anything beyond our duty, nor will we give ourselves over to sin. For do not consider this a small sin, if we betray our fellow-contestant and fellow-soldier into your hands. But you will not laugh this laugh against us, even if you surround us with a myriad deaths; for we are not so unmanly as to betray our philosophy for fear of your tortures, and to do something unworthy of the divine law. To this end, prepare every instrument of punishment, if you know of any; for to us to live is Christ, and to die for his sake is the best gain. At this, inflamed with anger, the ruler ordered their theological tongues to be cut out, their eyes to be gouged out, and their hands and feet to be cut off together. And when the sentence was given, the shield-bearers and guards surrounding them mutilated them misanthropically and mercilessly; and pulling out their tongues from their mouths with small hooks, they cut them off like beasts, and they gouged out their 342 eyes with iron claws, and with instruments for dislocating joints they dislocated and cut off their hands and feet. But those blessed and reverend and noble-minded men, as if called to a feast, courageously went to the tortures, encouraging one another and fearlessly proceeding to death for Christ's sake. In such manifold punishments, therefore, the holy ascetics, seventeen in number, commended their steadfast souls to the Lord. Confessedly, therefore, pious reason is ruler of the passions, as one of those who are not our own said, narrating the contests of an elderly priest and seven children with their like-minded mother, who contended for their ancestral law, from whose endurance and magnanimity these wonderful fathers and citizens and heirs of the Jerusalem above fell in no way short. χχιῃ When these, then, had been piously perfected, the king told the first councilor Arach to look to the second plan, since the first had failed, and to summon that Nachor. So Arach, in the dead of night, having reached his cave (for he lived in the deserts, practicing mantic arts), and all things to him the

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κολακεύων ταῦτα φαίνοιτο, ἡνίκα δὲ κατάσχωσί τι τῶν θηρευομένων, βιαίως αὐτῶν τοῦ στόματος τὸ θηρευθὲν ἀφαρπάζει· οὕτω δὴ καὶ σύ, πολλοὺς θέλων ἔχειν τοὺς φόρους σοι καὶ τέλη ἐκ γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης κομίζοντας, λέγεις μὲν τῆς αὐτῶν φροντίζειν σωτηρίας, ἀπώλειαν δὲ αὐτοῖς προξενῶν αἰώνιον, πρὸ δὲ πάντων σεαυτῷ, ἵνα μόνον σοι ὁ σκυβάλων καὶ σαπριῶν ἀχρηστότερος βρίθοιτο πλοῦτος, λέληθας σκότος ἀντὶ φωτὸς κατέχων. ἀλλ' ἀνάνηψον τοῦ καταχθονίου ὕπνου τούτου, διάνοιξόν σου τοὺς μεμυκότας ὀφθαλμούς, καὶ ἴδε τὴν περιλάμπουσαν πᾶσι τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν δόξαν· καὶ σύ ποτε σεαυτοῦ γενοῦ· Σύνετε γάρ, ἄφρονες ἐν τῷ λαῷ, καὶ μωροί ποτε φρονήσατε, φησὶν ὁ προφήτης· σύνες ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι θεός, πλὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι σωτηρία, εἰ μὴ ἐν αὐτῷ. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεύς· Τῆς μωρᾶς σου ταύτης φλυαρίας παυσάμενος, τὸν Βαρλαὰμ αὐτίκα μοι ὑπόδειξον, ἢ πειρασθήσῃ κολαστηρίων ὀργάνων, ὧν οὐδέποτε πεῖραν εἴληφας. ὁ μεγαλόφρων οὖν καὶ γενναιότατος ἀσκητὴς καὶ τῆς οὐρανίου φιλο 340 σοφίας ἐραστὴς κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον ταῖς τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπειλαῖς μετετρέπετο· ἀλλ' ἀτρέμας ἑστὼς ἔλεγεν· Οὐ τὰ παρὰ σοῦ θεσπιζόμενα ποιεῖν, ὦ βασιλεῦ, προστετάγμεθα, ἀλλὰ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἡμῶν καὶ Θεοῦ κεκελευσμένα, ὃς σωφροσύνην ἡμᾶς ἐκδιδάσκει τοῦ πασῶν τῶν ἡδονῶν καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν κρατεῖν, καὶ ἀνδρείαν ἐξασκεῖν, ὥστε πάντα πόνον καὶ πᾶσαν κάκωσιν ὑπὲρ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ὑπομένειν. ὅσα γοῦν ἐπάξεις ἡμῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας δεινὰ μᾶλλον εὐεργετήσεις. ποίει οὖν ὃ βούλει· ἡμεῖς γὰρ ἔξω τοῦ καθήκοντος πρᾶξαί τι οὐκ ἀνεξόμεθα, οὐδὲ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδώσομεν. μὴ μικρὰν γὰρ ταύτην νομίσῃς ἁμαρτίαν, εἰ τὸν συναγωνιστὴν ἡμῶν καὶ συστρατιώτην εἰς τὰς σὰς προδώσομεν χεῖρας. ἀλλ' οὐ γὰρ γελάσεις καθ' ἡμῶν τὸν γέλωτα τοῦτον, κἂν μυρίοις ἡμᾶς περιβάλῃς θανάτοις· οὐχ οὕτως γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἄνανδροι, ὡς φόβῳ τῶν σῶν βασάνων τὴν ἡμετέραν προδοῦναι φιλοσοφίαν, καὶ ἀνάξιόν τι δρᾶσαι τῆς θείας νομοθεσίας. πρὸς ταῦτα πᾶν, εἴ τι γινώσκεις, ἀμυντήριον εὐτρέπιζε ὄργανον· ἡμῖν γὰρ τὸ ζῆν Χριστός ἐστι, καὶ τὸ θανεῖν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ κέρδος ἄριστον. Ἐπὶ τούτοις θυμῷ ἐξαφθείς, ὁ κρατῶν ἐκέλευσε τὰς μὲν θεολόγους αὐτῶν ἐκκοπῆναι γλώσσας ἐξορυχθῆναι δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, χεῖράς τε ὁμοῦ ἀποτμηθῆναι καὶ πόδας. τῆς δ' ἀποφάσεως δοθείσης, οἱ μὲν ὑπασπισταὶ περιστάντες αὐτοῖς καὶ δορυφόροι μισανθρώπως καὶ ἀνηλεῶς ἠκρωτηρίαζον· καὶ τὰς μὲν γλώσσας ὀγκινίσκοις τῶν στομάτων ἐξελκύσαντες, θηριωδῶς ἀπέτεμνον, τοὺς 342 ὀφθαλμοὺς δὲ σιδηροῖς ἐξώρυττον ὄνυξιν, ἀρθρεμβόλοις δὲ ὀργάνοις τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν καὶ τοὺς πόδας ἐξαρθροῦντες ἀπέτεμνον. οἱ δὲ μακάριοι ἐκεῖνοι καὶ αἰδήμονες καὶ γενναῖοι τὸν λογισμόν, ὡς πρὸς εὐωχίαν καλούμενοι, ἀνδρείως προσήρχοντο ταῖς βασάνοις, ἀλλήλους παραθήγοντες καὶ πρὸς τὸν διὰ Χριστὸν θάνατον ἀφόβως χωροῦντες. Ἐν τοιαύταις οὖν πολυειδέσι τιμωρίαις τὰς καρτερικὰς αὐτῶν ψυχὰς τῷ Κυρίῳ παρέθεντο οἱ ἱεροὶ ἀσκηταί, ἑπτακαίδεκα τὸν ἀριθμὸν τελοῦντες. ὁμολογουμένως οὖν αὐτοκράτωρ ἐστὶ τῶν παθῶν ὁ εὐσεβὴς λογισμός, καθάπερ τις τῶν οὐχ ἡμετέρων ἔφησεν, ἄθλους διηγούμενος πρεσβύτου ἱερέως καὶ παίδων ἑπτὰ σὺν ὁμόφρονι μητρί, τοῦ πατρῴου ὑπεραθλησάντων νόμου, ὧν τῆς καρτερίας καὶ μεγαλοψυχίας οὐδὲν καθυστέρησαν οἱ θαυμάσιοι οὗτοι πατέρες καὶ τῆς ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ πολῖται καὶ κληρονόμοι. χχιῃ Τούτων οὖν εὐσεβῶς τελειωθέντων, ὁ βασιλεὺς τῷ πρωτοσυμβούλῳ ἔλεγεν Ἀραχῇ πρὸς τὴν δευτέραν ἀποβλέψαι βουλήν, τοῦ πρώτου διαμαρτόντος, καὶ τὸν Ναχὼρ ἐκεῖνον προσκαλέσασθαι. ὁ γοῦν Ἀραχὴς νυκτὶ βαθείᾳ τὸ ἐκείνου καταλαβὼν σπήλαιον (τὰς ἐρήμους γὰρ ᾤκει, μαντικαῖς σχολάζων τέχναις), καὶ πάντα αὐτῷ τὰ