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I will do, nor will I betray the sheepfold to the wolves, nor will I hand over the divine temple to blasphemers; but if it seems good to you to kill me, bring the sword or the spear against me inside; for I will gladly receive such a slaughter". After much time had passed, Maximus learned of the things being dared against the great-voiced herald of the truth, and he wrote to Valentinian, exhorting him to put an end to the war against piety and advising him not to forsake his ancestral piety; and he added the threat of war if he would not be persuaded, and indeed he added the deed to his words. For having gathered his army, he marched on Milan where that one was living. But he, learning of the attack, went fleeing to Illyricum, having learned by experience what he had reaped from his mother’s counsel. When Theodosius the all-praised emperor learned of both the things done by the emperor and the things written by the tyrant, he wrote to the young man who had fled that he should not be surprised if fear was joined to the emperor, and power to the tyrant; for the emperor had made war on piety, while the tyrant had come to its aid. And the one who aban 305 doned it flees naked, while the one armed with it conquers the one who has been stripped naked; for with piety is also its lawgiver. These things, then, he wrote while he was far away. But when, having learned of the flight, he came to his aid and saw him who had abandoned his own kingdom and had come into his, first, he brought healing to his soul and drove out the disease of impiety that had come upon him and brought him back to his ancestral piety; then, having urged him to be of good courage and having marched against the tyrant, he handed over the kingdom to the young man without bloodshed, and killed the tyrant. For he considered it an injustice and a violation of the treaties made with Gratian, if he did not exact punishment for the slaughter from those who had killed him. After his return from there, the admirable Amphilochius arrived, whom I have often mentioned, pleading that the assemblies of the Arians be driven out of the cities; but the emperor, considering the request too harsh, did not accept it. But the most wise Amphilochius, falling silent for the moment, devised a scheme worthy of remembrance. For having come inside the palace again and seeing his son Arcadius standing beside the emperor (for he had recently been ordained emperor), he greeted the emperor himself as was customary, but left his son unhonored. But the emperor, thinking that Amphilochius had forgotten, ordered him to approach and kiss his son; but he said that the honor he had offered him was sufficient. But he, being displeased, called the dishonor of his child his own insult. Then, at last, the most wise Amphilochius reveals the purpose of what had been done and said, crying out: "You see, O emperor, how you do not bear the dishonor of your child, but are bitterly angry with those who 306 insult him. Believe, then, that the God of all also abhors those who blaspheme his only-begotten Son, and hates them as ungrateful toward their savior and benefactor". Thus the emperor understood and, marveling at both what had been done and what had been said, immediately wrote a law forbidding the assemblies of the heretics. But it is not easy to escape all the nets of the common enemy of men. For often someone, having escaped the passion of licentiousness, is entangled in the snare of greed; and if he should prove superior to this as well, from another side the pit of envy springs up; and if he should leap over this again, he will find the net of anger lying before him; and he sets countless other snares for men, hunting them for destruction. and the passions of the body he has as servants for the devices contrived by him against the soul; but only the watchful mind overcomes, by its inclination toward divine things, breaking the force of the devices. Of human nature, therefore, this admirable emperor also partook, and shared in its passions, and an excess added to his righteous anger worked something cruel and lawless

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δράσω, οὐδὲ προδώσω τοῖς λύκοις τὸν τῶν προβάτων σηκόν, οὐδὲ τοῖς βλασφημοῦσι τὸν θεῖον παραδώσω νεών· ἀλλ' εἴ σοι κτεῖναι δοκεῖ, ἔνδον ἐπένεγκέ μοι τὸ ξίφος ἢ τὴν αἰχμήν· ἀσπα σίως γὰρ δέξομαι τὴν τοιαύτην σφαγήν". Χρόνου δὲ συχνοῦ τριβομένου, μεμάθηκε μὲν ὁ Μάξιμος τὰ κατὰ τοῦ μεγαλοφώνου κήρυκος τῆς ἀληθείας τολμώμενα, ἐπέστειλε δὲ τῷ Βαλεντινιανῷ, τὸν κατὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας πόλεμον καταλῦσαι παρεγγυῶν καὶ παραινῶν μὴ προέσθαι τὴν πατρῴαν εὐσέβειαν· προστέθεικε δὲ καὶ τοῦ πολέμου τὴν ἀπειλὴν εἰ μὴ πείθοιτο, καὶ μέντοι καὶ τοῖς λόγοις τὸ ἔργον ἐπέθηκε. τὴν γὰρ στρατιὰν ἀγείρας ἐπὶ τὴν Μεδι όλανον ὥρμησεν ἔνθα ἐκεῖνος διῆγεν. ὁ δὲ μαθὼν τὴν ἔφοδον εἰς Ἰλλυρίους ᾤχετο φεύγων, τῇ πείρᾳ μαθὼν τίνων ἐκ τῆς μητρῴας ἀπώνατο συμβουλῆς. Πυθόμενος δὲ Θεοδόσιος ὁ πανεύφημος βασιλεὺς τά τε παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως πραχθέντα καὶ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ τυράννου γραφέντα, ἔγραψε τῷ πεφευγότι νέῳ μὴ χρῆναι θαυμάζειν, εἰ τῷ μὲν βασιλεῖ τὸ δέος, τῷ δὲ τυράννῳ τὸ κράτος συνέζευκται· τῇ γὰρ εὐσεβείᾳ πεπολέμηκε μὲν ὁ βασιλεύς, ὁ δὲ τύραννος ἐπεκούρησε. καὶ ὁ μὲν ταύτην προ 305 έμενος ἀποδιδράσκει γυμνός, ὁ δὲ ταύτῃ καθωπλισμένος τοῦ γεγυμνω μένου κρατεῖ· τῇ γὰρ εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ ὁ ταύτης σύνεστι νομοθέτης. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἑκὰς ὢν ἐπέστειλεν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὴν φυγὴν μεμαθηκὼς εἰς ἐπικουρίαν ἀφίκετο καὶ τὴν μὲν οἰκείαν καταλελοιπότα βασιλείαν εἰς δὲ τὴν αὐτοῦ παραγενόμενον εἶδε, πρῶτον μὲν τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν θεραπείαν προσήνεγκε καὶ τὴν ἐπιγενομένην τῆς ἀσεβείας ἐξήλασε νόσον καὶ εἰς τὴν πατρῴαν εὐσέβειαν ἐπανήγαγεν· εἶτα θαρρεῖν παρεγ γυήσας καὶ κατὰ τοῦ τυράννου στρατεύσας, ἀναιμωτὶ μὲν τῷ νέῳ τὴν βασιλείαν παρέδωκε, τὸν δὲ τύραννον ἔκτεινεν. ἀδικεῖν γὰρ ὑπέλαβεν καὶ τὰς πρὸς Γρατιανὸν γεγενημένας παραβαίνειν συνθήκας, εἰ μὴ ποινὴν τοὺς ἀπεκταγκότας εἰσπράξαιτο τῆς σφαγῆς. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐπάνοδον ἀφίκετο μὲν Ἀμφιλόχιος ὁ θαυ μάσιος, οὗ πολλάκις ἐμνήσθην, ἀντιβολῶν τοὺς τῶν Ἀρειανῶν ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ἐξελαθῆναι συλλόγους· ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀπηνεστέραν ὑπο λαβὼν τὴν αἴτησιν οὐκ ἐδέξατο. ὁ δὲ σοφώτατος Ἀμφιλόχιος παραυ τίκα σιγήσας μνήμης ἀξίαν ἐξηύρηκεν μηχανήν. εἴσω γὰρ αὖθις τῶν βασιλείων γενόμενος καὶ παρεστῶτα τῷ βασιλεῖ τὸν υἱὸν Ἀρκά διον θεασάμενος (νεωστὶ δὲ οὗτος κεχειροτόνητο βασιλεύς), αὐτὸν μὲν ἠσπάσατο συνήθως τὸν βασιλέα, ἀγέραστον δὲ κατέλιπε τὸν υἱόν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεύς, ἐπιλησθῆναι νομίσας τὸν Ἀμφιλόχιον, προσελθεῖν καὶ φιλῆσαι προσέταξε τὸν υἱόν· ὁ δὲ ἀποχρῆν ἔφη τὴν αὐτῷ παρ' αὐτοῦ προσενεχθεῖσαν τιμήν. ὁ δὲ δυσχεράνας οἰκείαν ἐκάλει παροινίαν τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς ἀτιμίαν. τηνικαῦτα λοιπὸν ὁ σοφώτατος Ἀμφιλόχιος ἐκκαλύπτει τὸν τοῦ γεγενημένου σκοπὸν καὶ βοῶν ἔφη· "ὁρᾷς, ὦ βασιλεῦ, ὅπως οὐ φέρεις τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς ἀτιμίαν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς εἰς τοῦτον 306 παροινοῦσι χαλεπαίνεις πικρῶς. πίστευσον δὴ οὖν καὶ τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν τοὺς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ βλασφημοῦντας βδελύττεσθαι, καὶ ὡς ἀχαρίστους περὶ τὸν σωτῆρα καὶ εὐεργέτην γεγενημένους μισεῖν". οὕτω συνεὶς ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ τά τε πεπραγμένα καὶ τὰ εἰρη μένα θαυμάσας, νόμον εὐθὺς ἔγραψε τοὺς τῶν αἱρετικῶν συλλόγους κωλύοντα. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐ ῥᾴδιον πάσας διαφυγεῖν τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώ πων πολεμίου τὰς ἄρκυς. πολλάκις γάρ τις διαδρὰς τῆς ἀσελγείας τὸ πάθος τῇ τῆς πλεονεξίας περιπείρεται πάγῃ· εἰ δὲ καὶ ταύτης κρείττων φανείη, ἑτέρωθεν ἀναφύεται τοῦ φθόνου τὸ βάραθρον· κἂν τοῦτο δὲ πάλιν ὑπερπηδήσῃ, τοῦ θυμοῦ τὸ δίκτυον εὑρήσει προκεί μενον· καὶ ἄλλας δὲ μυρίας τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τίθησι ποδοστράβας, ἀγρεύων εἰς ὄλεθρον. καὶ τὰ μὲν πάθη τοῦ σώματος ὑπουργοῦντα ἔχει ταῖς κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς τεκταινομέναις ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μηχαναῖς· μόνος δὲ ὁ νοῦς ἐγρηγορὼς περιγίγνεται τῇ περὶ τὰ θεῖα ῥοπῇ τῶν μηχα νημάτων διαλύων τὴν ῥύμην. τῆς ἀνθρωπείας δὴ οὖν φύσεως καὶ ὁ θαυμάσιος οὗτος μετασχὼν βασιλεὺς καὶ τῶν παθημάτων μετέλαχε, καὶ τῷ δικαίῳ θυμῷ ἀμετρία προσγινομένη ὠμόν τι καὶ παράνομον εἰργάσατο