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demons, to whom they were formerly subject; and many priests and temple-keepers raised 8.67 trophies against impiety. From such men and women the choirs of the martyrs were composed. And while philosophers and orators are given over to oblivion, and the many do not even know the names of kings and generals, everyone knows the names of the martyrs better than the names of their dearest friends; and they are eager to give their children these names, contriving for them from this safety and protection. 8.68 And why do I speak of philosophers and kings and generals? For they have erased the memory even of the so-called gods from the mind of men. For their sacred precincts 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 were consecrated for the shrines of the martyrs. For the Lord has introduced his own dead in place of your gods, and has shown the one to be gone, and to these he has assigned their honor. For indeed, instead of the Pandia and Diasia and Dionysia and your other festivals, public feasts of Peter and Paul and Thomas and Sergius and Marcellus and Leontius and Antoninus and Mauricius and the other martyrs are celebrated; and instead of the old processions and shameful deeds and foul speech, temperate 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. 8.70 Seeing, therefore, the benefit of the honor of the martyrs, flee, O friends, the deceit of the demons; and using these as luminaries and guides, travel the path that leads to God, so that you may share in their chorus in the eternal ages.

9.t CONCERNING LAWS.

9.1 You, O men, desire to hear finely-worded speeches and seek to be charmed by them; but where you do not find these, you laugh and mock and stop up your ears and do not wish to listen to 9.2 what is said. But you should have understood that most of the most precious things are covered in humble casings. For the costly pearl, thrice-desired by the rich, a contemptible oyster both bears and nourishes, and indeed also conceals; but those who buy it, giving the greatest possible 9.3 amount of gold, bid farewell to the oyster. And around those translucent gems which adorn the royal head, another nature of stone, utterly useless, is placed on the outside; but the craftsmen of such an ornament, by cutting around and scraping off this superfluous and useless part, lay bare the beauty of those transparent 9.4 stones. And sand and earth cover the gold that is so desirable to many, and also the silver and the bronze and the iron; but those who search out the veins of gold and silver dig through the mines and collect the nuggets. And when the gold has been stamped and has received the royal impress, not gold from 9.5 without, but either leather or wooden chests guard it. It is fitting, therefore, that the true doctrine concerning things divine and human is proclaimed not by certain splendid and pompous speeches, but by simple and pedestrian ones, known to all, and that very humble chests carry the great and ineffable 9.6 treasure. But how much strength and power these have, one might most easily perceive by bringing forward the lawgivers of the Greeks and Romans and comparing with them our fishermen and tax collectors. For he will find that the former did not persuade even their neighbors to live according to their own laws, but the Galileans have persuaded not only Romans and Greeks, but also all the

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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. 8.70 Ὁρῶντες τοίνυν τῆς τῶν μαρτύρων τιμῆς τὸ ὠφέλιμον, φεύγετε, ὦ φίλοι, τῶν δαιμόνων τὸν πλάνον· καὶ τούτοις φωσ τῆρσι καὶ ποδηγοῖς κεχρημένοι, τὴν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἄγουσαν πορείαν ὁδεύσατε, ἵνα τῆς τούτων χορείας ἐν τοῖς ἀνωλέθροις αἰῶσι μετάσχητε.

9.t ΠΕΡΙ ΝΟΜΩΝ.

9.1 Ὑμεῖς μέν, ὦ ἄνδρες, κεκαλλιεπημένων ποθεῖτε λόγων ἀκούειν καὶ τούτοις κατακηλεῖσθαι ζητεῖτε· οὗ δ' ἂν τούτους μὴ εὕροιτε, γελᾶτε καὶ κωμῳδεῖτε καὶ τὰς ἀκοὰς βύετε καὶ τῶν 9.2 λεγομένων ἐπαΐειν οὐ βούλεσθε. Ἔδει δὲ ξυνιδεῖν, ὡς τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ἄγαν τιμιωτάτων ἐν ἐλύτροις εὐτελέσι καλύπτεται. Καὶ γὰρ τὸν πολυτελῆ μαργαρίτην καὶ τοῖς πλουτοῦσι τριπόθητον εὐκα ταφρόνητον ὄστρεον καὶ τίκτει καὶ τρέφει, καὶ μέντοι καὶ κατα κρύπτει· οἱ δὲ τοῦτον ὠνούμενοι, χρυσίον διδόντες ὅτι μάλιστα 9.3 πλεῖστον, χαίρειν ἐῶσι τὸ ὄστρεον. Καὶ τοῖς διαυγέσι δὲ λιθι δίοις ἐκείνοις, ἃ τὴν βασιλικὴν διακοσμεῖ κεφαλήν, ἑτέρα λίθου φύσις ἔξωθεν περίκειται παντάπασιν ἄχρηστος· οἱ δὲ τοῦ τοιοῦδε κόσμου δημιουργοί, τοῦτο τὸ περιττόν τε καὶ ἄχρηστον περι κόπτοντές τε καὶ ἀποξύοντες, τῶν διαφανῶν λίθων ἐκείνων γυμ 9.4 νοῦσι τὸ κάλλος. Καὶ τὸν χρυσὸν δὲ τὸν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀξιέραστον, καὶ μέντοι καὶ τὸν ἄργυρον καὶ τὸν χαλκὸν καὶ τὸν σίδηρον ψάμμος καὶ γῆ ξυγκαλύπτουσιν· ἀλλ' οἱ τὰς χρυσίτιδας καὶ ἀργυρίτιδας διερευνώμενοι φλέβας διορύττουσι μὲν τὰ μέταλλα, ξυλλέγουσι δὲ τὰ ψήγματα. Καὶ ἐπίσημον δὲ γενόμενον τὸν χρυσὸν καὶ τὸν βασιλικὸν δεξάμενον χαρακτῆρα οὐ χρυσὸς ἔξω 9.5 θεν, ἀλλ' ἢ σκύτιναι ἢ ξύλιναι φυλάττουσι θῆκαι. Εἰκότως οὖν ἄρα καὶ τὴν ἀληθῆ περὶ τῶν θείων καὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων δόξαν οὐ λαμπροί τινες καὶ ὄγκον ἔχοντες, ἀλλ' ἁπλοῖ καὶ πεζοὶ καὶ πᾶσι γνώριμοι κηρύττουσι λόγοι, καὶ τὸν μέγαν καὶ ἄρρητον 9.6 θησαυρὸν εὐτελεῖς ἄγαν φέρουσι θῆκαι. Ὅσην δέ γε οὗτοι ῥώμην καὶ δύναμιν ἔχουσι, ῥᾷστα ἄν τις ξυνίδοι, τοὺς Ἑλλήνων καὶ Ῥωμαίων νομοθέτας παραγαγὼν καὶ τούτοις τοὺς ἡμετέρους ἁλιέας καὶ τελώνας παρεξετάσας. Εὑρήσει γὰρ τοὺς μὲν οὐδὲ τοὺς ὁμόρους πείσαντας κατὰ τοὺς σφῶν πολιτεύεσθαι νόμους, τοὺς δὲ Γαλιλαίους οὐ μόνον Ῥωμαίους πεπεικότας καὶ Ἕλληνας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντα τῶν