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around that hill happened to be flourishing fig and olive trees. Of these, they say that more than five hundred were suddenly uprooted. And I have heard this from the neighboring farmers who related it, who, formerly held in the darkness of impiety, through his teaching and miracles received the light of the knowledge of God. 28.2 Since the wicked demons, having done this, did not frighten the athlete of philosophy, they brought forward other devices. For at night, using shrieks and displaying torches, they tried to terrify him and to throw his mind into confusion. But when he laughed at all their assaults, they later abandoned him and fled. 28.3 He constructed two wheels, having a diameter of two cubits, and joined both wheels with planks not fitted together but standing apart from each other. Then, sitting inside and fastening those separate planks with pegs and nails, he suspended the wheel in the open air. He fixed three other tall pieces of wood in the ground, and joining their tops with other pieces of wood, he tied that double wheel in the middle of them and hung it up—the interior of this has a height of two cubits and a width of one cubit—, sitting, or rather hanging, in this, he continued for ten years. Having a very large body, he is not able to straighten his neck even when sitting, but he always sits bent over, with his face fixed to his knees. 28.4 Arriving to him, I found him reaping the benefit of the divine gospels and very carefully gathering the profit from there. I asked, desiring to learn the reason for that new way of life. And he, using the Greek language—for he happened to be a Cilician by race—said: "I," he said, "being subject to many sins and believing in the threatened punishments, have devised this form of life, contriving moderate punishments for my body, so that I may reduce the mass of those expected things. For those are more severe not only in quantity but also in their very quality, for they are involuntary. What happens against one's will is very grievous, but the voluntary, even if it is painful, is less distressing. For the pain is self-chosen, not forced. If, therefore," he said, "by these small pains I lessen what is expected, from this I will carry away great profit." Hearing these things, I greatly admired him for his sagacity, because not only did he contend beyond the established arenas and devise other contests from his own resources, but also because he both knew the reasons for these things and taught them to others. 28.5 And the neighbors said that many miracles occurred through his prayer, with not only men, but also camels, donkeys, and mules enjoying cures. From there, that entire nation, long held in impiety, denied their ancestral deceit and received the splendor of the divine light. Using these as ministers, he also destroyed the sanctuary of the demons and erected a very large shrine to the victorious martyrs, setting the divine dead against the falsely-named gods. May it be by their intercessions that he, with the same victory, may reach the end of his contests, and that we, helped by them and by him, may become fervent lovers of the contests of philosophy. 29.t MARANA AND CYRA 29.1 Having written the way of life of the best men, I think it is worthwhile to also commemorate women who have contended no less, if not even more. For these are more worthy of greater praise, having received a weaker nature, but the same

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περὶ τὸν λόφον ἐκεῖνον συκαῖ τε καὶ ἐλαῖαι τεθηλυῖαι ἐτύγχανον οὖσαι. Ἐκ τούτων πλείους ἢ πεντακοσίας ἐξαπιναίως ἀνασπασθῆναί φασι. Καὶ τοῦτο τῶν γειτονευόντων ἀγροίκων διηγουμένων ἀκήκοα, οἳ πάλαι τῷ τῆς ἀσεβείας κατεχόμενοι ζόφῳ διὰ τῆς τούτου διδασ καλίας τε καὶ θαυματουργίας τὸ τῆς θεογνωσίας ὑπεδέξαντο φῶς. 28.2 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο δράσαντες οἱ ἀλιτήριοι δαίμονες οὐκ ἐδεδίξαντο τῆς φιλοσοφίας τὸν ἀθλητήν, καὶ ἕτερα αὖθις προσέφερον μηχανήματα. Νύκτωρ γὰρ ὀλολυγῇ χρώμενοι καὶ λαμπάδας ἐπιδεικνύντες ἐκδειματοῦν ἐπει ρῶντο καὶ θόρυβον ἐμβάλλειν τῷ λογισμῷ. Ὡς δὲ πάσας αὐτῶν τὰς ἐφόδους κατεγέλασεν, ὕστερον καταλιπόντες ἀπέδρασαν. 28.3 Ὁ δὲ δύο τροχοὺς κατασκευάσας δύο πήχεων διάμετρον ἔχοντας, σανίσιν οὐ συνηρμοσμέναις ἀλλήλαις ἀλλὰ δίχα διεστηκυίαις ἄμφω συνέζευξε τὼ τροχώ· εἶτα ἔνδον καθίσας καὶ γόμφοις καὶ ἥλοις τὰς διεστηκυίας ἐκείνας καταπήξας σανίδας, ὕπαιθρον ἐξήρτησε τὸν τροχόν· τρία ἕτερα ξύλα ὑψηλὰ εἰς τὴν γῆν καταπήξας, καὶ τὰς ἄνω τούτων ἀρχὰς ξύλοις ἑτέροις συνάψας, καὶ τούτων ἐν μέσῳ προσδήσας τὸν διπλοῦν ἐκεῖνον τροχὸν καὶ αἰωρήσας- τούτου δὲ τὸ ἐντὸς δύο μὲν πήχεων ἔχει τὸ ὕψος, πήχεως δὲ τὸ εὖρος-, ἐν τούτῳ καθήμενος, μᾶλλον δὲ κρεμάμενος, δέκα τέως διετέλεσεν ἔτη. Σῶμα δὲ μέγιστον ἔχων, οὐδὲ καθήμενος ἀνορθοῦν δύναται τὸν αὐχένα, ἀλλὰ συγκεκυφὼς ἀεὶ κάθηται, τοῖς γόνασι προσηλωμένον τὸ πρόσωπον ἔχων. 28.4 Πρὸς τοῦτον ἀφικόμενος ηὗρον μὲν αὐτὸν τῶν θείων εὐαγγελίων τὴν ὠφέλειαν καρπούμενον καὶ λίαν ἐπιμελῶς τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ὠφέλειαν συλλέγοντα. Ἠρόμην δὲ μαθεῖν τῆς καινῆς ἐκείνης πολιτείας τὴν αἰτίαν ποθῶν. Ὁ δὲ τῇ ἑλλάδι χρησάμενος φωνῇ-Κίλιξ γὰρ τὸ γένος ἐτύγχανεν ὤν· "Ἐγώ, ἔφη, πολλαῖς ὑποκείμενος ἁμαρτίαις καὶ ταῖς ἠπειλημέναις τιμωρίαις πιστεύων τόδε τοῦ βίου τὸ εἶδος ἐπινενόηκα, κολάσεις μετρίας τῷ σώματι μηχανώμενος, ἵν' ἐκείνων τῶν προσδοκωμένων ὑποσυλήσω τὸν ὄγκον· χαλεπώτεραι γὰρ ἐκεῖναι οὐ τῇ ποσότητι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῇ τῇ ποιότητι· ἀκούσιοι γάρ· τὸ δὲ παρὰ γνώμην γιγνόμενον λίαν ἀνιαρόν· τὸ δὲ ἐθελούσιον, κἂν ἐπίπονον ᾖ, ἧττόν ἐστιν ἀλγεινόν. Αὐθαίτερος γάρ, ἀλλ' οὐ βίαιος ὁ πόνος. Ἢν τοίνυν, ἔφη, ταῖς μικραῖς ταύταις ἀνίαις ἐλαττώσω τὰ προσδοκώμενα, μέγα ἐντεῦθεν ἀποίσω τὸ κέρδος." Τούτων ἀκούσας λίαν αὐτὸν τῆς ἀγχινοίας ὑπερ ηγάσθην ὅτι οὐ μόνον ὑπὲρ τὰ κείμενα ἠγωνίζετο σκάμματα καὶ ἄλλα οἴκοθεν ἐπενόει ἀγωνίσματα, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ τούτων τὰς αἰτίας ἐγίγνωσκέ τε καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐδίδασκεν. 28.5 Καὶ θαύματα δὲ διὰ τῆς τούτου προσευχῆς πολλὰ γίνεσθαι ἔφασαν οἱ περίοικοι, οὐκ ἀνθρώπων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ καμήλων καὶ ὄνων καὶ ἡμιόνων θεραπείας ἀπολαυόντων. Ἐντεῦθεν ἀσεβείᾳ πάλαι κατεχόμενον ἅπαν ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἔθνος τὴν μὲν πατρῴαν ἐξαπάτην ἠρνήθη, τοῦ θείου δὲ φωτὸς τὴν αἴγλην ἐδέξατο. Τούτοις χρώμενος ὑπουργοῖς καὶ τὸ τῶν δαιμόνων κατέλυσε τέμενος καὶ σηκὸν μέγιστον τοῖς καλλινίκοις ἀνήγειρε μάρτυσι, τοῖς ψευδωνύμοις θεοῖς τοὺς θείους ἀντιτάξας νεκρούς. Ταῖς δὲ τούτων εἴη πρεσβείαις καὶ τοῦτον μετὰ τῆς αὐτῆς νίκης τῶν ἀγώνων τὸ τέρμα καταλαβεῖν καὶ ἡμᾶς, ὑπὸ τούτων κἀκείνου βοηθουμένους, ἐραστὰς γενέσθαι θερμοὺς τῶν τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἀγωνισμάτων. 29.t ΜΑΡΑΝΑ ΚΑΙ ΚΥΡΑ 29.1 Τῶν ἀρίστων ἀνδρῶν τὴν πολιτείαν συγγράψας προὔργου νομίζω καὶ γυναικῶν οὐδὲν ἧττον εἰ μὴ καὶ μᾶλλον ἠγωνισμένων ἐπιμνησθῆναι. Αὗται γὰρ εὐφημίας μείζονός εἰσιν ἀξιώτεραι, φύσιν μὲν ἀσθενεστέραν λαχοῦσαι, τὴν αὐτὴν δὲ