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he had come forward, being an old man and having his eyes afflicted with 5.4. cataracts. But when, mocking as he was accustomed, blaspheming against Christ, he said, "Not even your Galilean god will heal you," Maris replied, "But I give thanks to my God for my blindness," he said, "so that I may not see you, who have fallen from piety." And the emperor, answering nothing, passed by. For he thought that in this way he would rather strengthen Hellenism, by unexpectedly showing himself forbearing and gentle to the multitude of Christians. 5.5.1 Being zealous in these matters, he remitted the exile for all those who had been banished under Constantius on account of religion, and by law he restored their property to those whose goods had been confiscated; and he proclaimed to the people that no one should wrong the Christians, nor insult them, nor drag them unwillingly to sacrifice, but that those who willingly approached the altars should first propitiate those whom the Hellenes call averting deities, and 5.5.2 be purified with the customary purifications. However, he took away from the clergy all immunity and honor and the grain allowances, and he annulled the laws established for them, and restored them to the city councils, and he ordered that even virgins and widows, who because of poverty were enrolled among the clergy, were to be made to pay back 5.5.3 what they had previously received from the public treasury. For when Constantine was arranging the affairs of the churches, from the taxes of each city he assigned what was sufficient for the provision of necessaries to the clergy everywhere, and he confirmed this by a law, which is still in force, being carefully observed since Julian died. 5.5.4 And they say that this exaction became most cruel and most harsh. And the records then made by the tax-collectors for those from whom the exactions were made, as proof of the repayment of what they had received according to the law of Constantine, also bear witness to this. 5.5.5 The hostility of the ruler towards the religion did not stop only with these things; but in his zeal born of hatred for the doctrine, he left no form of attack untried for the destruction of the church, taking away its money and votive offerings and sacred vessels, and compelling those who had demolished the temples during the reign of Constantine and Constantius to rebuild them or to pay the assessed value for them. And since they were able to accomplish neither of these things, and moreover, during the search for the sacred treasures, many priests and clerics and other Christians were cruelly tortured and cast into prisons. 5.5.6 So that one may conclude from all this that, with respect to murders and the ingenuity of bodily tortures, he was more moderate than those before him who had persecuted the church, but in other respects he was harsher. For he appears in all things to have harmed it, except that he recalled the priests who had been condemned to live in foreign lands 5.5.7 during the reign of Constantius. And it is said that he ordered these things not out of any concern for them, but so that either the church, through strife with one another, might be warred against in a civil battle and fail in its own ordinances, or to slander Constantius. For he thought that he would stir up hatred against him even after he was dead among nearly all his subjects, by courting the Hellenists as like-minded, and by pitying as wronged men those who had suffered for Christ's sake under him. 5.5.8 Accordingly, he also expelled the eunuchs from the palace as being dear to him; and Eusebius, the grand chamberlain of the imperial court, he punished with death; for he also had a private grievance against him, inasmuch as he suspected 5.5.9 that his brother Gallus had been put to death by his plot. And Aetius, the leader of the Eunomian heresy, who had been condemned by Constantius to exile in a foreign land and was otherwise suspect on account of his association with Gallus, he recalled to himself, writing very graciously and providing him with public transport. 5.5.10 And from a similar motive he then ordered Eleusius, the bishop of Cyzicus, under a very heavy penalty, to rebuild at his own expense within only two months the church of the Novatians which he had demolished under Constantius. And one might find many other things, which, on account of hatred for the one who had reigned before him

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προεληλύθει γέρων ὢν καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑποκεχυ5.4. μένος. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ἐπισκώπτων, οἷά περ εἰώθει, εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν βλασφημῶν «οὐδὲ ὁ Γαλιλαῖός σου θεός», εἶπε, «θεραπεύσει σε», ὑπολαβὼν Μάρις «ἀλλ' ἐγὼ χάριν ἔχω τῷ θεῷ μου τῆς τυφλώσεως», ἔφη, «ἵνα μή σε θεάσωμαι τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐκπεπτωκότα.» καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς μηδὲν ἀποκρινάμενος παρέδραμεν. ᾤετο γὰρ ταύτῃ μᾶλλον τὸν ῾Ελληνισμὸν κρατῦναι, ἀνεξίκακον καὶ πρᾶον ἀδοκήτως τῷ πλήθει τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδεικνύς. 5.5.1 Ταῦτα δὲ σπουδάζων πᾶσι μὲν τοῖς ἐπὶ Κωνσταντίου φυγαδευθεῖσι διὰ θρησκείαν ἀνῆκε τὴν φυγήν, καὶ τοῖς δημευθεῖσι νόμῳ τὰ σφέτερα ἀπέδωκε· τοῖς δὲ δήμοις προηγόρευεν μηδένα ἀδικεῖν τῶν Χριστιανῶν μηδὲ ὑβρίζειν μηδὲ ἄκοντας πρὸς θυσίαν ἕλκειν, τοὺς δὲ ἑκοντὶ τοῖς βωμοῖς προσιόντας πρότερον ἐξιλεοῦσθαι οὓς ῞Ελληνες καλοῦσιν ἀποτροπαίους δαίμονας, καὶ 5.5.2 καθαίρεσθαι καθαρσίοις οἷς ἔθος αὐτοῖς. κληρικοὺς μέντοι πᾶσαν ἀτέλειαν καὶ τιμὴν καὶ τὰ σιτηρέσια ἀφείλετο, καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν κειμένους νόμους ἀνεῖλε, καὶ τοῖς βουλευτηρίοις ἀπέδωκε, μέχρι τε παρθένων καὶ χηρῶν τὰς δι' ἔνδειαν ἐν τοῖς κλήροις τεταγμένας εἰσπράττεσθαι προσ5.5.3 έταξεν, ἃ πρὶν παρὰ τοῦ δημοσίου ἐκομίσαντο. ἡνίκα γὰρ Κωνσταντῖνος τὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν διέταττε πράγματα, ἐκ τῶν ἑκάστης πόλεως φόρων τὰ ἀρκοῦντα πρὸς παρασκευὴν ἐπιτηδείων ἀπένειμε τοῖς πανταχῇ κλήροις, καὶ νόμῳ τοῦτο ἐκράτυνεν, ὃς καὶ νῦν κρατεῖ, ἐξ οὗ τέθνηκεν ᾿Ιουλιανὸς ἐπι5.5.4 μελῶς φυλαττόμενος. ὠμοτάτην δὲ καὶ χαλεπωτάτην τήνδε γενέσθαι φασὶ τὴν εἴσπραξιν. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ τότε παρὰ τῶν πρακτόρων γενόμενα γραμματεῖα τοῖς εἰσπραχθεῖσιν εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἀναδόσεως ὧν εἰλήφεσαν κατὰ τὸν Κωνσταντίνου νόμον. 5.5.5 Οὐκ ἐν τούτοις δὲ μόνον ἵστατο ἡ τοῦ κρατοῦντος πρὸς τὴν θρησκείαν ἀπέχθεια· σπουδῇ δὲ τοῦ πρὸς τὸ δόγμα μίσους οὐδὲν εἶδος παρέλειπεν εἰς καθαίρεσιν τῆς ἐκκλησίας, χρήματά τε καὶ ἀναθήματα καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ σκεύη ἀφαιρούμενος, τούς τε καταβληθέντας νεὼς ἐπὶ τῆς Κωνσταντίνου καὶ Κωνσταντίου ἡγεμονίας βιαζόμενος τοὺς καθελόντας ἀνοικοδομεῖν ἢ τὰς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποτιμήσεις ἐκτιννύειν. ἐκ δὲ τούτων μηδέτερον ἐπιτελεῖν δυνάμενοι, προσέτι δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἀναζήτησιν τῶν ἱερῶν χρημάτων, ἱερεῖς τε καὶ κληρικοὶ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Χριστιανῶν πολλοὶ χαλεπῶς ἐβασανίζοντο καὶ δεσμω5.5.6 τηρίοις ἐνεβάλλοντο. ὥστε πανταχόθεν συμβαλεῖν ἔστι φόνων μὲν ἕνεκα καὶ περινοίας τῶν εἰς τὸ σῶμα τιμωριῶν μετριώτερον αὐτὸν γενέσθαι τῶν πρὸ τοῦ διωξάντων τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις χαλεπώτερον. φαίνεται γὰρ ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὴν κακῶς ποιήσας, πλὴν ὅτι τοὺς ἀλλοτρίαν οἰκεῖν κατα5.5.7 δικασθέντας ἱερέας ἐπὶ τῆς Κωνσταντίου βασιλείας μετεκαλέσατο. λέγεται δὲ μὴ φειδοῖ τῇ περὶ αὐτοὺς ταῦτα προστάξαι, ἀλλ' ὥστε ἢ ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔριδος ἐμφυλίῳ μάχῃ πολεμεῖσθαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τῶν οἰκείων διαμαρτεῖν θεσμῶν, ἢ Κωνστάντιον διαβάλλων. ᾤετο γὰρ σχεδὸν πρὸς πᾶν τὸ ὑπήκοον καὶ τελευτήσαντι τούτῳ μῖσος κατασκευάσειν τοὺς μὲν ῾Ελληνιστὰς ὡς ὁμόφρονας θεραπεύων, τοὺς δὲ διὰ Χριστὸν ἐπ' ἐκείνου κακῶς παθόντας ὡς 5.5.8 ἠδικημένους ἐλεῶν. ἀμέλει τοι καὶ τοὺς εὐνούχους ὡς αὐτῷ καταθυμίους τῶν βασιλείων ἐξέβαλεν· Εὐσέβιον δὲ τὸν μείζονα τῆς βασιλικῆς αὐλῆς θανάτῳ ἐζημίωσε· καὶ ἰδίᾳ γὰρ αὐτῷ λύπη τις ἦν πρὸς τοῦτον, καθότι 5.5. Γάλλον τὸν ἀδελφὸν τῇ αὐτοῦ ἐπιβουλῇ ἀνῃρῆσθαι ὑπώπτευεν. ᾿Αέτιον δὲ τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς Εὐνομίου αἱρέσεως, ὡς ὑπὸ Κωνσταντίου ὑπερορίαν φυγὴν καταδικασθέντα καὶ ἄλλως ὕποπτον διὰ τὴν πρὸς Γάλλον ὁμιλίαν, εὐμενῶς μάλα γράψας μετεκαλέσατο πρὸς αὐτόν, δημόσια ὑποζύγια δεδωκώς. 5.5.10 ἐκ τοιαύτης δὲ αἰτίας καὶ ᾿Ελεύσιον τὸν Κυζίκου ἐπίσκοπον ὑπὸ βαρυτάτῳ ἐπιτιμίῳ προσέταξε τότε ταῖς αὐτοῦ δαπάναις ἐν δύο μόνοις μησὶν ἀνοικοδομῆσαι τὴν Ναυατιανῶν ἐκκλησίαν ἣν ἐπὶ Κωνσταντίου καθεῖλε. καὶ ἄλλα δὲ πολλὰ ἂν εὕροι τις, ἃ διὰ μῖσος τοῦ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἡγεμονεύσαντος