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73

But his zeal made him more conspicuous. For when he saw his son slide into the then prevailing impiety, he drove him out of his house and publicly disowned him. And he, going to the emperor at the station near the city, declared both his own opinion and his father's disowning of him; but he ordered the young man to keep quiet, promising to reconcile his father. And when he arrived in Beroea, he summoned the magistrates and the most distinguished men to a feast; and among these was this man's father. He ordered this man to recline with his son on his own couch. And in the middle of the meal, he said to the father: "It does not seem right to me to force an opinion that is inclined elsewhere 2 and to change it against its will to other things. Do not therefore force your son to follow your doctrines against his will; for neither do I," he said, "force you to follow mine, although I could very easily compel you." But he, having sharpened his reason with faith in divine things, said: "Are you speaking, O emperor, about this avenger, this God-hated man who has preferred falsehood to truth?" But he, again putting on the mask of gentleness, said: "Cease, man, from your reviling." And turning his face to the young man, he said: "I will take care of you, since I have not persuaded your father to do this." However, I have not mentioned this narrative in vain, but wishing to show not only the admirable boldness of the wonderful man, but also that very many despised his power. For again in Antioch a certain excellent man, entrusted with the instruction of youths, was an intimate, as one who participated in more discussions than was fitting for a tutor, with the then leader of the teachers who was Libanius, the much-talked-of among the sophists. And this man, being impious and awaiting victory and imagining the threats of Julian, asked the tutor, mocking our affairs: "What is the carpenter's son doing now?" he said. But he, filled with divine grace, foretold what was about to happen shortly: "For the creator of the universe," he said, "O sophist, is making a coffin, he whom you, mocking, called the carpenter's son." And after a few days had passed, the death of that avenger was announced, and he was brought lying in a coffin, and the boast of his threats was shown to be empty. And he who imitated in the body the life of the bodiless, I mean Julian, 3 surnamed Sabas in the Syriac tongue, whose life we wrote in the "Philotheus Historia," offered more earnest supplication to the God of all, having learned of the threats of that impious one. And on that day on which that man received his death-blow, this man knew it while praying, although more than twenty stations were numbered from the monastery to the camp. And they say that while he was supplicating and entreating the merciful Lord, he suddenly checked the flow of his tears, and was diffused with joy and his face brightened and by this revealed the pleasure of his soul. His more intimate companions, seeing this change in him, begged him to reveal to them the cause of his gladness. And he said that the wild boar, the enemy of the divine vineyard, had paid the penalty for his injustices against it and lay dead, having ceased from his plotting. Learning these things, they all rejoiced and offered to God a hymn of thanksgiving. And they learned also from those who announced his death that it was the very day and hour on which that divine elder knew and foretold that the sinner had been slain. And his death showed his folly more clearly. For having crossed the river that separates the Roman dominion from that of the Persians and having brought his army across, he immediately burned the boats, compelling, not persuading, the soldiers to fight. But the best generals are accustomed to fill their subjects with enthusiasm, and if they see them disheartened, 4 they encourage and lift them up with hopes; but this man immediately the good

73

περιφανέστερον δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ ζῆλος ἀπέφηνε. τὸν γὰρ υἱὸν θεασάμενος εἰς τὴν τότε κρατοῦσαν ἀσέβειαν ἐξοκείλαντα ἐξήλασε τῆς οἰκίας καὶ προφανῶς ἀπεκήρυξεν. ὁ δὲ ἐν τῷ πελάζοντι τῇ πόλει σταθμῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ προσελθών, τήν τε οἰκείαν γνώμην καὶ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἐδήλωσεν ἀποκήρυξιν· ὁ δὲ ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν τῷ νέῳ προσέταξε, καταλλάξειν ὑποσχόμενος τὸν πατέρα. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀφίκετο εἰς τὴν Βέροιαν, τοὺς ἐν τέλει καὶ ἀξιω τάτους συνεκάλεσεν εἰς ἑστίασιν· ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἦν καὶ ὁ τούτου πατήρ. τοῦτον δὲ μετὰ τοῦ παιδὸς εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ στιβάδα κατακλι θῆναι προσέταξε. τοῦ δὲ ἀρίστου μεσοῦντος ἔφη πρὸς τὸν πατέρα· "οὐ δίκαιον εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ βιάζεσθαι γνώμην ἑτέρωσε κλινομένην 2 καὶ μετάγειν μὴ βουλομένην εἰς ἕτερα. μὴ δὴ οὖν βιάσῃ τὸν παῖδα τοῖς σοῖς δόγμασιν ἀκολουθεῖν οὐ βουλόμενον· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐγώ σε", ἔφη, "βιάζομαι τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἕπεσθαι, καίτοι μάλα ῥᾳδίως ἀναγκάσαι δυνάμενος". ὁ δὲ τῇ περὶ τὰ θεῖα πίστει τὸν λογισμὸν παραθήξας· "περὶ τούτου", ἔφη, "ὦ βασιλεῦ, τοῦ ἀλάστορος λέγεις τοῦ θεομισοῦς καὶ τὸ ψεῦδος τῆς ἀληθείας προελομένου;" ὁ δὲ πάλιν τὸ τῆς πρα ότητος περιθεὶς προσωπεῖον· "παῦσαι", ἔφη, "ἄνθρωπε, λοιδορού μενος". καὶ πρὸς τὸν νέον ἀποκλίνας τὸ πρόσωπον· "ἐγώ σου". ἔφη, "φροντιῶ, ἐπειδή σου τὸν πατέρα δρᾶσαι τοῦτο οὐκ ἔπεισα". τοῦδε μέντοι τοῦ διηγήματος οὐ μάτην ἐμνήσθην, ἀλλὰ δεῖξαι βου λόμενος οὐ μόνον τοῦ θαυμασίου ἀνδρὸς τὴν ἀξιάγαστον παρρησίαν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ πλεῖστοι τῆς ἐκείνου κατεφρόνησαν δυναστείας. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ πάλιν ἀνήρ τις ἄριστος, παιδαγωγεῖν μειράκια πεπιστευμένος, συνήθης μὲν ἦν, ὡς πλειόνων λόγων ἢ κατὰ παιδαγωγὸν μετασχών, τῷ τηνικαῦτα τῶν διδασκάλων ἡγουμένῳ Λιβάνιος δὲ ἦν, ὁ ἐν σοφισταῖς πολυθρύλητος. δυσσεβὴς δὲ οὗτος ὢν καὶ τὴν νίκην προσμένων καὶ τὰς Ἰουλιανοῦ φανταζόμενος ἀπει λάς, ἤρετο τὸν παιδαγωγὸν κωμῳδῶν τὰ ἡμέτερα· "τί νῦν ποιεῖ", λέγων, "τοῦ τέκτονος ὁ υἱός;" ὁ δὲ τῆς θείας ἀναπλησθεὶς χάριτος προείρηκε τὸ μετ' ὀλίγον γενόμενον· "γλωσσόκομον γάρ", ἔφη, "ὦ σοφιστά, ὁ τοῦ παντὸς κατασκευάζει δημιουργός, ὃν σὺ κωμῳδῶν τέκτονος υἱὸν προσηγόρευσας". ὀλίγων δὲ διελθουσῶν ἡμερῶν, ὁ τοῦ ἀλάστορος ἐκείνου θάνατος ἐμηνύθη καὶ ἐν γλωσσοκόμῳ κείμενος ἐκομίσθη καὶ τῶν ἀπειλῶν ὁ κόμπος μάταιος ἀπεφάνθη. Καὶ ὁ τῶν ἀσωμάτων δὲ τὸν βίον ἐν σώματι μιμησάμενος, Ἰου 3 λιανὸν λέγω τὸν Σάβαν ἐπίκλην τῇ Σύρων φωνῇ προσαγορευόμενον, οὗ τὴν πολιτείαν ἐν τῇ Φιλοθέῳ συνεγράψαμεν Ἱστορίᾳ, σπουδαιο τέραν τῷ θεῷ τῶν ὅλων ἱκετείαν προσέφερε, τὰς τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς ἐκείνου μεμαθηκὼς ἀπειλάς. κατ' ἐκείνην δὲ τὴν ἡμέραν καθ' ἣν ἐκεῖνος ἐδέξατο τὴν σφαγήν, οὗτος ταύτην προσευχόμενος ἔγνω, καίτοι πλειόνων ἢ εἴκοσι σταθμῶν ἐκ τοῦ φροντιστηρίου μέχρι τοῦ στρα τοπέδου ἀριθμουμένων. φασὶ δὲ αὐτὸν ποτνιώμενον καὶ τὸν φιλάν θρωπον ἀντιβολοῦντα δεσπότην ἐπισχεῖν μὲν ἐξαπίνης τὴν τῶν δακρύων φοράν, διαχυθῆναι δὲ καὶ θυμηδίας πλησθῆναι καὶ γανωθῆ ναι τὸ πρόσωπον καὶ τούτῳ μηνῦσαι τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἡδονήν. ταύ την οἱ συνηθέστεροι τὴν μεταβολὴν αὐτοῦ θεασάμενοι, μηνῦσαι σφίσιν ἱκέτευσαν τῆς εὐφροσύνης τὴν ἀφορμήν. ὁ δὲ τὸν σῦν ἔφη τὸν ἄγριον τὸν τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος τοῦ θείου πολέμιον δίκας εἰσπεπρᾶχθαι τῶν εἰς τοῦτον ἀδικημάτων καὶ κεῖσθαι νεκρόν, τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς πε παυμένον. ταῦτα μεμαθηκότες ἐχόρευον ἅπαντες καὶ τῷ θεῷ τὸν χαριστήριον προσέφερον ὕμνον. ἔγνωσαν δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῶν τὴν ἐκεί νου τελευτὴν μεμηνυκότων αὐτὴν εἶναι καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ τὴν ὥραν καθ' ἣν ἀνῃρῆσθαι τὸν ἀλιτήριον ὁ θεῖος ἐκεῖνος πρεσβύτης ἔγνω τε καὶ προείρηκε. Τὴν ἐκείνου δὲ ἀβουλίαν σαφέστερον ὁ θάνατος ἔδειξε. διαβὰς γὰρ τὸν ὁρίζοντα ποταμὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Περσῶν τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίαν καὶ τὴν στρατιὰν διαβιβάσας, ἐνέπρησε παραυτίκα τὰ σκάφη, πολε μεῖν ἀναγκάζων, οὐ πείθων, τοὺς στρατιώτας. οἱ δὲ ἄριστοι στρατηγοὶ προθυμίας ἀναπιμπλάναι τοὺς ἀρχομένους εἰώθασι, κἂν ἀθυμοῦντας 4 ἴδωσι, ψυχαγωγοῦσι καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐπαίρουσιν· οὗτος δὲ τὴν ἀγαθὴν εὐθὺς