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variously adorned and emitting flashes of beauty. And to these we resort not once or twice or five times a year, but often we celebrate festivals, and often each day we offer hymns to their master. And the healthy ask for the preservation of their health, while those struggling with some disease ask for deliverance from their sufferings; childless men ask for children, and barren women entreat to become mothers, and those who have enjoyed this gift ask that their gifts be kept whole for them; and those setting out on a journey beseech these to be their fellow-travellers and guides on the road; while those who have returned offer their acknowledgement of the grace, approaching them not as gods, but entreating them as divine men and asking them to become intercessors on their behalf. 8.64 And that those who ask faithfully obtain what they ask is openly testified by their votive offerings which declare their healing. For some offer likenesses of eyes, others of feet, and others of hands; and some are made of gold, others of silver. For their Master accepts even the small and inexpensive, measuring the gift by the ability of the one who offers. And these things set forth declare the release from sufferings, 8.65 memorials of which were dedicated by those who had been made whole. These things proclaim the power of those who lie here; and their power shows their God to be the true God. For let us examine who and from where are those deemed worthy of this grace. Are they some who are eminent and renowned, or who boast of noble birth, or who are awash in the streams of wealth, or who 8.66 became famous from some position of power? Not at all, O men. For they had a share in none of these things, but were common people or soldiers, and some of them had even been slaves and maidservants, who struggled nobly in very weak bodies; and some chastely bearing the yoke of marriage, while others did not know what marriage is. And I for my part hear that some were even raised on the stage and suddenly were enrolled with the athletes and became worthy of victory and obtained their crowns, and after their proclamation greatly terrified the demons to whom they had formerly been subject; and many priests and temple-wardens also set up 8.67 trophies against impiety. From such men and women the choirs of the martyrs were composed. And philosophers and orators are given over to oblivion, and of kings and generals the many do not even know their names, but the names of the martyrs everyone knows better than the names of their dearest friends; and they are eager to give their children their names, procuring for them from this source safety and protection. 8.68 And why do I speak of philosophers and kings and generals? For they have wiped out the memory of the so-called gods themselves from the minds of men. For their temples were so completely destroyed that not even the form of their structures has survived, nor do people nowadays know the shape of their altars, but their 8.69 materials have been consecrated to the shrines of the martyrs. For the Master has brought in his own dead in place of your gods, and he has shown them to be gone, while to these he has assigned their honor. For instead of the Pandia and Diasia and Dionysia and your other festivals, public feasts are celebrated for Peter and Paul and Thomas and Sergius and Marcellus and Leontius and Antoninus and Mauricius and the other martyrs; and instead of the old procession and obscenity and shameful speech, sober festivals are celebrated, having not drunkenness and revelry and laughter, but divine hymns and the hearing of sacred oracles and prayer adorned with praiseworthy tears. 8.66 menai. And I for my part hear that some were even raised on the stage and suddenly were enrolled with the athletes and became worthy of victory and obtained their crowns, and after their proclamation greatly terrified the

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τοδαπῶς πεποικιλμένοι καὶ κάλλους ἀφιέντες μαρμαρυγάς. Εἰς δὲ τούτους οὐχ ἅπαξ ἢ δίς γε τοῦ ἔτους ἢ πεντάκις φοιτῶμεν, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις μὲν πανηγύρεις ἐπιτελοῦμεν, πολλάκις δὲ ἡμέ ρας ἑκάστης τῷ τούτων δεσπότῃ τοὺς ὕμνους προσφέρομεν. Καὶ οἱ μὲν ὑγιαίνοντες αἰτοῦσι τῆς ὑγείας τὴν φυλακήν, οἱ δέ τινι νόσῳ παλαίοντες τὴν τῶν παθημάτων ἀπαλλαγήν· αἰτοῦσι δὲ καὶ ἄγονοι παῖδας, καὶ στέριφαι παρακαλοῦσι γενέσθαι μητέρες, καὶ οἱ τῆσδε τῆς δωρεᾶς ἀπολαύσαντες ἀξιοῦσιν ἄρτια σφίσι φυλαχθῆ ναι τὰ δῶρα· καὶ οἱ μὲν εἴς τινα ἀποδημίαν στελλόμενοι λιπα ροῦσι τούτους ξυνοδοιπόρους γενέσθαι καὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἡγεμόνας· οἱ δὲ τῆς ἐπανόδου τετυχηκότες τὴν τῆς χάριτος ὁμολογίαν προσ φέρουσιν, οὐχ ὡς θεοῖς αὐτοῖς προσιόντες, ἀλλ' ὡς θείους ἀνθρώπους ἀντιβολοῦντες καὶ γενέσθαι πρεσβευτὰς ὑπὲρ σφῶν 8.64 παρακαλοῦντες. Ὅτι δὲ τυγχάνουσιν ὧνπερ αἰτοῦσιν οἱ πιστῶς ἐπαγγέλλοντες, ἀναφανδὸν μαρτυρεῖ τὰ τούτων ἀναθήματα τὴν ἰατρείαν δηλοῦντα. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὀφθαλμῶν, οἱ δὲ ποδῶν, ἄλλοι δὲ χειρῶν προσφέρουσιν ἐκτυπώματα· καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐκ χρυσοῦ, οἱ δὲ ἐξ ὕλης πεποιημένα. ∆έχεται γὰρ ὁ τούτων δεσπότης καὶ τὰ σμικρά τε καὶ εὔωνα, τῇ τοῦ προσφέροντος δυνάμει τὸ δῶρον μετρῶν. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ ταῦτα προκείμενα τῶν παθημάτων τὴν λύσιν, 8.65 ἧς ἀνετέθη μνημεῖα παρὰ τῶν ἀρτίων γεγενημένων. Ταῦτα δὲ κηρύττει τῶν κειμένων τὴν δύναμιν· ἡ δὲ τούτων δύναμις τὸν τούτων Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἀποφαίνει Θεόν. Ἐξετάσωμεν γάρ, τίνες καὶ πόθεν οἱ ταύτης ἀξιωθέντες τῆς χάριτος. Ἆρά τινες ἐπίσημοι καὶ περιφανεῖς ἢ γένους αὐχοῦντες λαμπρότητα ἢ τοῖς τοῦ πλούτου περιρρεόμενοι ῥεύμασιν ἢ ἐκ 8.66 δυναστείας τινὸς γενόμενοι γνώριμοι; Οὐδαμῶς, ὦ ἄνδρες. Τού των γὰρ οὐδενὸς μετεσχήκασιν, ἀλλ' ἰδιῶται ἦσαν ἢ στρατιῶται, τινὲς δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ οἰκέται γεγένηνται καὶ θεραπαινίδες, ἐν ἀσθε νέσι δ' ἄγαν σώμασι γενναίως ἀγωνισάμεναι· καὶ αἱ μὲν σωφρό νως ἕλκουσαι τὸν τοῦ γάμου ζυγόν, αἱ δὲ τί γάμος οὐκ ἐπιστά μεναι. Ἀκούω δὲ ἔγωγέ τινας καὶ τῇ σκηνῇ ξυντραφέντας καὶ ἐξαπίνης τοῖς ἀγωνισταῖς ξυνταχθέντας καὶ ἀξιονίκους γεγενημέ νους καὶ τῶν στεφάνων τετυχηκότας καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάρρησιν σφόδρα δεδιττομένους τοὺς δαίμονας, οἷς ἦσαν ὑποχείριοι πάλαι· πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ἱερεῖς καὶ νεωκόροι τὰ κατὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας ἀνέστη 8.67 σαν τρόπαια. Ἐκ τοιούτων ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν ξυνέστησαν οἱ τῶν μαρτύρων χοροί. Καὶ φιλόσοφοι μὲν καὶ ῥήτορες παραδέ δονται λήθῃ, καὶ βασιλέων καὶ στρατηγῶν οὐδὲ τὰς προσηγορίας γινώσκουσιν οἱ πολλοί, τὰς δὲ τῶν μαρτύρων προσηγορίας μᾶλ λον ἴσασιν ἅπαντες ἢ τὰ τῶν φιλτάτων ὀνόματα· καὶ τοῖς παισὶ δὲ τὰς τούτων προσηγορίας ἐπιτιθέναι σπουδάζουσιν, ἀσφάλειαν αὐτοῖς ἐντεῦθεν καὶ φυλακὴν μηχανώμενοι. 8.68 Καὶ τί λέγω φιλοσόφους καὶ βασιλέας καὶ στρατηγούς; καὶ γὰρ αὐτῶν τῶν καλουμένων θεῶν τὴν μνήμην ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐξήλειψαν διανοίας. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκείνων οὕτω παντελῶς διελύθη τεμένη, ὡς μηδὲ τῶν σχημάτων διαμεῖναι τὸ εἶδος, μηδὲ τῶν βωμῶν τὸν τύπον τοὺς νῦν ἀνθρώπους ἐπίστασθαι, αἱ δὲ τούτων 8.69 ὕλαι καθωσιώθησαν τοῖς τῶν μαρτύρων σηκοῖς. Τοὺς γὰρ οἰκείους νεκροὺς ὁ δεσπότης ἀντεισῆξε τοῖς ὑμετέροις θεοῖς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν φρούδους ἀπέφηνε, τούτοις δὲ τὸ ἐκείνων ἀπένειμε γέρας. Ἀντὶ γὰρ δὴ τῶν Πανδίων καὶ ∆ιασίων καὶ ∆ιονυσίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὑμῶν ἑορτῶν Πέτρου καὶ Παύλου καὶ Θωμᾶ καὶ Σεργίου καὶ Μαρκέλλου καὶ Λεοντίου καὶ Ἀντωνίνου καὶ Μαυρικίου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μαρτύρων ἐπιτελοῦνται δημοθοινίαι· καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς πάλαι πομπείας καὶ αἰσχρουργίας καὶ αἰσχρορημοσύνης σώφρονες ἑορτάζονται πανηγύρεις, οὐ μέθην ἔχουσαι καὶ κῶμον καὶ γέλωτα, ἀλλ' ὕμνους θείους καὶ ἱερῶν λογίων ἀκρόασιν καὶ προσευχὴν ἀξιεπαίνοις κοσμουμένην δακρύοις. 8.66 μεναι. Ἀκούω δὲ ἔγωγέ τινας καὶ τῇ σκηνῇ ξυντραφέντας καὶ ἐξαπίνης τοῖς ἀγωνισταῖς ξυνταχθέντας καὶ ἀξιονίκους γεγενημέ νους καὶ τῶν στεφάνων τετυχηκότας καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάρρησιν σφόδρα δεδιττομένους τοὺς