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has gone and has been drunk up, while we, for the sake of our own security, overlook the affairs of our neighbors, unable to even see this, that with the misfortune of the community, each individual thing is also destroyed, what must one even say, especially to a man who, foreseeing each thing from afar, both bore witness beforehand and proclaimed it beforehand, and you yourself rose up in advance and stirred up the rest with you, sending letters, coming yourself, what were you not doing, what voice did you not send forth? We remember these things at each of the outcomes, but we are no longer benefited by them. And now, if my sins had not stood against me (and first, our most reverent and beloved brother Eustathius the fellow deacon, having fallen into a grievous illness, delayed me for two whole months as I awaited his recovery day after day; then all those with me fell sick, the remaining details of which our brother Iosakes will recount; and finally, I myself was seized by this illness), I would have long been with your Honor, not providing any benefit to the common good, but acquiring a great gain for myself from meeting you. For I had decided to be outside the ecclesiastical darts, on account of our being unguarded against the plots of our enemies. May the great hand of God preserve you for your whole life, the noble guardian of the faith and sober protector of the Churches, and may He deem us worthy of meeting you before our departure, for the benefit of our souls.

137. To Antipater the Governor

137.1 Now I think I feel most keenly the loss which I am enduring because of

my illness, when, as such a man is governing our country, I am forced to be absent for the care of my body. For I have now been sitting for a whole month at the cure of the natural hot springs, as if I am going to get some benefit from it. But I seem to be toiling in vain in the wilderness, or even to appear worthy of laughter to many, not having heard the proverb that says there is no benefit from hot baths for the dead. Therefore, even in this condition, I wish, leaving all else, to reach your Excellency, so that I may enjoy the good things in you and fittingly arrange the affairs of my own house through your uprightness. For the house of our most revered mother Palladia is my own, whom not only kinship of birth connects to us, but also the grace of her character has made her a mother to us. Since, therefore, some disturbance has been stirred up concerning her house, we ask your Magnanimity to postpone the examination for a little while and to await our arrival, not so that justice may be corrupted (for I would choose to die ten thousand times rather than ask such a favor from a judge who is a friend to the laws and to justice), but so that you may learn from my own mouth the things which it is not proper for me to write. For in this way, neither will you miss the truth, nor will we suffer anything we do not wish. I ask, therefore, since the person is in custody and being held by the court, that you grant us this unburdensome and unenviable favor.

138. To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata

138.1 What spirit do you think I had, when I received the letter of your

God-fearing piety? For if I looked to the disposition in the letter, I was immediately eager to fly straight to Syria; but if to the illness of my body, by which I lay bound, I felt I was incapable not only of flying, but even of turning on my bed. For I was spending this fiftieth day in the

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οἴχεται καὶ προπέποται, ἡμῶν τῆς οἰκείας ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκεν τὰ τῶν πλησίον περιορώντων καὶ οὐδὲ τοῦτο συνορᾶν δυναμένων ὅτι τῇ τοῦ κοινοῦ κακοπραγίᾳ καὶ τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον συναπόλλυται, τί χρὴ καὶ λέγειν, ἄλλως τε καὶ πρὸς ἄνδρα ὃς πόρρωθεν ἕκαστα προειδὼς καὶ προδιεμαρτύρω καὶ προεκήρυξας καὶ αὐτός τε προεξανέστης καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς συνεπήγειρας, ἐπιστέλλων, αὐτὸς παραγινόμενος, τί οὐ ποιῶν, τίνα φωνὴν οὐκ ἀφιείς; Ὧν μεμνήμεθα μὲν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἐκβαινόν των, ὠφελούμεθα δὲ ἀπ' αὐτῶν οὐκέτι. Καὶ νῦν εἰ μὴ αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ἀντέστησάν μοι (καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ εὐλαβέστατος καὶ ἀγαπητὸς ἀδελφὸς ἡμῶν Εὐστάθιος ὁ συνδιάκονος, εἰς νόσον χαλεπὴν καταπεσών, εἰς ὅλους με δύο παρέτεινε μῆνας ἡμέραν ἐξ ἡμέρας τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτοῦ περιμένοντα· ἔπειτα δὲ οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ πάντες ἠσθένησαν, ὧν τὰ μὲν κατα λείμματα ἐξαριθμήσεται ὁ ἀδελφὸς Ἰωσάκης· τὸ δὲ τελευ ταῖον αὐτὸς ἐγὼ τῇ νόσῳ κατεσχέθην ταύτῃ), ἐπεὶ πάλαι ἂν ἤμην παρὰ τὴν σὴν τιμιότητα, οὐκ ὄφελός τι τοῖς κοινοῖς παρεχόμενος, ἀλλ' ἐμαυτῷ μέγα κέρδος ἐκ τῆς συντυχίας σου κτώμενος. Καὶ γὰρ ἐγνώκειν ἔξω τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν γενέσθαι βελῶν, διὰ τὸ ἀφύλακτον ἡμῶν πρὸς τὰ σκευωρούμενα παρὰ τῶν ἐναντίων. Σώζοι σε τῷ βίῳ παντὶ ἡ μεγάλη τοῦ Θεοῦ χείρ, τὸν γενναῖον φύλακα τῆς πίστεως καὶ νήφοντα τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν προστάτην, καὶ καταξιώσειεν ἡμᾶς πρὸ τῆς ἐξόδου τῆς συντυχίας σου ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν.

137.τ ΑΝΤΙΠΑΤΡΩ ΗΓΕΜΟΝΙ

137.1 Νῦν μοι δοκῶ μάλιστα ἐπαισθάνεσθαι τῆς ζημίας ἣν ὑπομένω διὰ τὸ

ἀρρωστεῖν, ὁπότε ἀνδρὸς τοιούτου τὴν πατρίδα ἡμῶν ἐφέποντος αὐτὸς ἀπεῖναι διὰ τὴν ἐπι μέλειαν τοῦ σώματος ἀναγκάζομαι. Μῆνα γὰρ ὅλον ἤδη προσκαθέζομαι τῇ ἐκ τῶν αὐτοφυῶν θερμῶν ὑδάτων θεραπείᾳ, ὡς δή τι ὄφελος ἐντεῦθεν ἕξων. Ἔοικα δὲ διακενῆς πονεῖν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρημίας ἢ καὶ γέλωτος τοῖς πολλοῖς ἄξιος εἶναι φαίνεσθαι, μηδὲ τῆς παροιμίας ἀκούων τῆς οὐδὲν ἀπὸ θερμῶν ὄφελος εἶναι τοῖς τεθνηκόσι λε γούσης. ∆ιόπερ καὶ οὕτως ἔχων βούλομαι πάντα παρεὶς καταλαβεῖν σου τὴν σεμνοπρέπειαν, ὥστε τῶν ἐν σοὶ καλῶν ἀπολαύειν καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν οἶκον τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ πράγματα διὰ τῆς σῆς ὀρθότητος εὐπρεπῶς διαθέσθαι. Ἐμὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἴδιος ὁ τῆς σεμνοτάτης μητρὸς ἡμῶν Παλλαδίας οἶκος, ἣν οὐ μόνον ἡ τοῦ γένους οἰκειότης ἡμῖν συνάπτει, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τοῦ τρόπου δεξιὸν ἀντὶ μητρὸς ἡμῖν εἶναι πεποίηκεν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν κεκίνηταί τις ταραχὴ περὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς, ἀξιοῦμέν σου τὴν μεγαλόνοιαν μικρὸν ὑπερθέσθαι τὴν ἐξέτασιν καὶ ἀναμεῖναι ἡμῶν τὴν παρουσίαν, οὐχ ὥστε διαφθαρῆναι τὸ δίκαιον (μυριάκις γὰρ ἂν ἀποθανεῖν ἑλοίμην ἢ τοιαύτην αἰτῆσαι χάριν παρὰ δικαστοῦ φίλου τοῖς νόμοις καὶ τῷ δικαίῳ), ἀλλ' ὥστε ἃ οὐκ εὐπρεπὲς ἐμοὶ γράφειν, ταῦτα ἀπὸ στόματος ἀπαγγέλλοντός μου μαθεῖν. Οὕτω γὰρ οὔτε αὐτὸς τῆς ἀληθείας διαμαρτήσει οὔτε ἡμεῖς πεισόμεθά τι τῶν ἀβουλήτων. ∆έομαι οὖν, τοῦ προσώπου ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ ὄντος καὶ κατεχομένου παρὰ τῆς τάξεως, ἀνεπαχθῆ ταύτην χάριν καὶ ἀνεπίφθονον ἡμῖν καταθέσθαι.

138.τ ΕΥΣΕΒΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΣΑΜΟΣΑΤΩΝ

138.1 Τίνα με οἴει ψυχὴν ἐσχηκέναι, ὅτε τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐδεξάμην τῆς

θεοσεβείας σου; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὴν ἐν τῷ γράμματι ἀπεῖδον διάθεσιν, εὐθὺς ὥρμων πέτεσθαι τὴν εὐθὺ Σύρων· εἰ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀρρωστίαν τοῦ σώματος, ὑφ' ἧς πεπεδημένος ἐκείμην, ᾐσθανόμην οὐχὶ τοῦ πέτεσθαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης στρέφεσθαι ἐνδεῶς ἔχων. Πεντηκοστὴν γὰρ ταύτην ἡμέραν ἦγον ἐν τῇ