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But when it was dawn, Peter, coming in, said: Let Clement with his mother Mattidia and my wife sit together on the carriage. And it happened just so. And as we were setting out on the road to Balanaea, my mother asked me how my father was doing. And I said: Having gone out in search of you and my twin brothers Faustinus and Faustinianus, he is not to be found. But I think for the most part that he has died, either having been shipwrecked, or having come to harm on the road, or having withered away from grief. And she, hearing this and becoming tearful, groaned in her grief, but rejoicing in finding me, she moderately blunted the grief from the remembrance. Nevertheless, we arrived at Balanaea. And on the following day we came to Paltus, and from there to Gabala, and on the next we arrived at Laodicea. And behold, before the doors Nicetas and Aquila met us, and having kissed us, led us to the lodging. And Peter, seeing a beautiful and great city, said: It is worthwhile to remain here for some days; for generally a large population is more able to produce those who are sought. So Nicetas and Aquila asked me who this strange woman was. And I said: My mother, whom God, through my lord Peter, has granted me to recognize. When I had said these things, Peter set forth everything to them in summary, how when I, Clement, had traveled with them before, I set forth to him my lineage and my mother's departure with her twin children because of the fabricated pretext of the dream, and also my father's departure in search of her, then also how Peter himself, after hearing these things, entered the island and, meeting the woman and seeing her begging and asking the reason for her begging, learned of her family, her upbringing, the feigned dream, and the names of the children—both of me who was left behind with my father and of the twin children who traveled with her, and how she supposed they had died in the deep. When these things were therefore related in summary by Peter, Nicetas and Aquila, being astonished, said: Indeed, master and lord of all, is this true or is it a dream? And Peter said: If we are not sleeping, it happens to be true. And they, after waiting a short while and becoming thoughtful, said: We are Faustinus and Faustinianus, and from the beginning of your discourse, looking at one another, we were conjecturing many things about ourselves, whether what was said did not perhaps pertain to us, reckoning that many similar things happen in life; therefore we kept silent, our hearts throbbing. But looking to the end of what was said, that what was said pertained to us, then we confessed who we were. And having said this, with tears they went in to their mother, and finding her sleeping, they wanted to embrace her at once. But Peter prevented them, saying: Let me present you to your mother in a suitable manner, lest from the great and sudden joy she fall into a frenzy, especially since she is sleeping and has her spirit occupied by sleep.

[HOMILY XIII.]

107

Ὄρθρου δὲ γενομένου εἰσιὼν ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Ὁ μὲν Κλήμης μετὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ μητρὸς Ματτιδίας καὶ τῆς ἐμῆς γυναικὸς ἅμα ἐπὶ τοῦ ὀχή- ματος καθεζέσθωσαν. καὶ ὁμῶς οὕτως ἐγένετο. ὁρμώντων δὲ ἡμῶν τὴν ἐπὶ Βαλαναίας ὁδὸν ἐπύθετό μου ἡ μήτηρ πῶς ὁ πατὴρ διάγει. κἀγὼ ἔφην· Ἐπὶ τὴν ζήτησίν σου καὶ τῶν διδύμων ἀδελφῶν μου Φαυ- στίνου τε καὶ Φαυστινιανοῦ ἐκβὰς ἀνεύρετός ἐστιν. οἶμαι δὲ ἐκ τοῦ πλείστου τελευτῆσαι αὐτόν, ἢ ναυφραγίῳ περιπεσόντα ἢ ἐν ὁδῷ σφα- λέντα ἢ ὑπὸ λύπης μαρανθέντα. ἡ δὲ ἀκούσασα καὶ ἐπίδακρυς γενομένη ἐστέναξεν λυπηθεῖσα, τῇ δὲ πρὸς ἐμὲ εὑρέσει χαίρουσα τὴν ἐκ τῆς ὑπομνήσεως λύπην μετρίως ἀπήμβλυνεν. ὁμῶς οὖν κατηντήσαμεν εἰς Βαλαναίας. τῇ δὲ ἐπιούσῃ ἡμέρᾳ εἰς Πάλτον ἤλθαμεν κἀκεῖθεν εἰς Γάβαλα, τῇ δὲ ἑτέρᾳ κατηντήσαμεν εἰς Λαοδίκειαν. καὶ ἰδοὺ πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν Νικήτης καὶ Ἀκύλας ἀπήντων ἡμῖν καὶ καταφιλήσαντες ἦγον ἐπὶ τὴν ξενίαν. ὁ δὲ Πέτρος καλὴν καὶ μεγάλην πόλιν ἰδών· Ἄξιον, ἔφη, ἐνταῦθα ἡμερῶν ἐπιμεῖναι· ὡς γὰρ ἐπίπαν τὸ πλῆθος δυνατώτερόν ἐστιν τίκτειν τοὺς ζητουμένους. ὁ μὲν οὖν Νικήτης καὶ Ἀκύλας ἐπυνθά- νοντό μου τίς εἴη αὕτη ἡ ξένη γυνή. κἀγὼ ἔφην· Ἐμὴ μήτηρ, ἣν ἐπι- γνῶναί μοι ὁ θεὸς διὰ Πέτρου τοῦ κυρίου μου ἐδωρήσατο. Ταῦτά μου εἰπόντος ὁ Πέτρος πάντα αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων ἐξέ- θετο, ὡς ἅμα αὐτοὺς προοδεῦσαι ἐγὼ Κλήμης τὸ ἐμὸν γένος αὐτῷ ἐξεθέ- μην καὶ τῆς μητρὸς τὴν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ὀνείρου πλαστῆς προφάσεως μετὰ τῶν διδύμων αὐτῆς τέκνων γενομένην ἀποδημίαν, ἔτι τε καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν ἐπὶ ζήτησιν αὐτῆς ἀποδημίαν, ἔπειτα καὶ ὡς αὐτὸς Πέτρος μετὰ τὸ ἀκοῦσαι ταῦτα εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὴν νῆσον καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ συντυχὼν καὶ προσαιτοῦσαν ἰδὼν καὶ τοῦ προσαιτεῖν τὴν αἰτίαν πυθόμενος, ἔγνω αὐτῆς γένος, ἀνατροφήν, τὸν πλαστὸν ὄνειρον καὶ τῶν τέκνων τὰ ὀνόματα ἐμοῦ τε τοῦ καταλειφθέντος παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῶν αὐτῇ συμπορευ- θέντων διδύμων τέκνων, καὶ ὡς ἐν βυθῷ ὑπενοεῖτο τεθνηκέναι. τού- των οὖν κεφαλαιωδῶς ·ηθέντων ὑπὸ Πέτρου, ὁ Νικήτης καὶ ὁ Ἀκύλας ἐκπλαγέντες ἔλεγον· Ἀρά γε, δέσποτα καὶ κύριε τῶν ἁπάντων, τοῦτο ἀληθὲς ἢ ὄνειρός ἐστιν; καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Eἰ μὴ κοιμώμεθα, ἀληθὲς τυγχάνει. οἱ δὲ βραχὺ μείναντες καὶ σύννοες γενόμενοι ἔφασαν· Ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν Φαυστῖνος καὶ Φαυστινιανός, καὶ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς σου διαλεγομένου ἀλλήλοις ἐμβλέποντες πολλὰ περὶ ἑαυτῶν κατεστοχαζόμεθα μὴ ἄρα οὐχ ἡμῖν διαφέρει τὰ λεγόμενα, λογιζόμενοι ὅτι πολλὰ παρόμοια γίνε- ται ἐν τῷ βίῳ· διὸ ἐσιωπῶμεν παλλόμενοι τὰς καρδίας. πρὸς δὲ τὸ τέλος τοῦ λεγομένου ἀποβλέψαντες ὅτι ἡμῖν διαφέρει τὰ λεγόμενα, τότε ἑαυτοὺς ὡμολογήσαμεν. καὶ τοῦτ' εἰπόντες μετὰ δακρύων ἐπεισῆλθαν τῇ μητρὶ καὶ κοιμωμένην εὑρόντες ἤδη περιπλέκεσθαι ἐβούλοντο. ὁ δὲ Πέτρος ἐκώλυεν αὐτοὺς εἰπών· Ἐάσατέ με προσαγωγῶς ὑμᾶς παραστῆσαι τῇ μητρί, μήπως ὑπὸ τῆς πολλῆς αἰφνιδίου χαρᾶς εἰς ἔκστασιν ἔλθῃ φρενῶν, ἅτε δὴ κοιμωμένη καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ὑπὸ τοῦ ὕπνου ἀπησχολημένον ἔχουσα.

[OΜIΛIA IΓ.]