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to offer incense nor did they endure to receive a gift from the emperor, while others, under the pretext of law and antiquity, did not even consider what they were sinning, and others, enticed by the apparent gain or overcome by fear and confusion from the scene that had suddenly appeared, even if 5.17.10 they understood they were Hellenizing, they did not escape suffering this. Of those who again fell into this sin through ignorance, some are said, as they were feasting, showing friendliness as is wont to happen at drinking parties, and toasting one another, to have named Christ over their cups. But one of the guests retorted, "A wonderful thing," he said, "you endure, calling upon Christ, whom a short while ago you denied, when, having accepted the gift from the emperor, you 5.17.11 placed the incense upon the fire." As soon as they heard this and understood what they had done, they immediately leaped up and ran in public, shouting and weeping, and calling both God himself and all men to witness that they were and would remain Christians, and that in ignorance of what had happened, if it can be said at all, 5.17.12 only the hand had Hellenized, the mind not having cooperated. And when they came to the emperor, throwing down the gold he had given them, very bravely they asked to receive their own gift back, and for him to kill them; for they would not repent, if for what the right hand had sinned without forethought, they should pay the penalty with their whole body for Christ's sake. But the emperor, although he was greatly annoyed, refrained from killing them, lest they should be deemed worthy of the rewards of martyrdom; but having stripped them of their military rank, he drove them from the palace. 5.18.1 He was of this mind also toward all Christians, having taken the opportunity; inasmuch as, having nothing to charge against those who refused to sacrifice, he grudged them equal civil rights and participation in assemblies and markets, and he did not grant them a share in judging or governing or in honors; nor indeed did he permit their children to be taught the poets and writ5.18.2ers among the Greeks, nor to attend their teachers. For Apollinarius the Syrian, prepared for all kinds of knowledge and styles of speech, grieved him not a little, as did Basil and Gregory the Cappadocians, surpassing the orators of that time, and many other learned men besides them, some of whom emulated 5.18.3 the doctrine of Nicaea, while others had sprung from the heresy of Arius. Therefore, thinking that persuasiveness was created from this alone, he did not permit Christians to be trained in the learning of the Greeks; at which time this Apollinarius, opportunely using his great learning and natural ability, instead of the poetry of Homer, wrote the Hebrew antiquities in heroic verse up to the reign of Saul, and divided the whole work into twenty-four parts, giving to each book a name corresponding to the 5.18.4 letters among the Greeks according to their number and order. He also composed comedies modeled on the plays of Menander, and imitated the tragedy of Euripides and the lyre of Pindar. And, to speak simply, taking his subjects from the divine scriptures for the so-called encyclical studies, in a short time he produced treatises equal in number and power, similar in tone and phrasing and character and structure to those who were esteemed among the 5.18.5 Greeks in these matters; so that if men had not honored antiquity and considered customary things dear, they would, I think, have praised and studied the work of Apollinarius equally with the ancients, admiring his genius all the more in this, that whereas each of the ancients applied himself to one thing only, he, having practiced all things in a pressing need, reproduced the excellence of each. 5.18.6 Not ignoble also is his discourse to the emperor himself, or rather to the philosophers among the Greeks, which he entitled *On Behalf of Truth*; in which, even without the testimony of the sacred scriptures, he showed that they had been delud5.18.7ed from thinking what is right concerning God. For the emperor, mocking the distinguished bishops of that time, wrote this: "I have read, I have understood, I have condemned," and they, in response to these things
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θυμιᾶσαι οὔτε δῶρον παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως λαβεῖν ἠνέσχοντο, οἱ δὲ προσχήματι νόμου καὶ ἀρχαιότητος οὐδὲ εἰς νοῦν ἔλαβον ὃ ἡμάρτανον, οἱ δὲ τῷ φαινομένῳ κέρδει δελεασθέντες ἢ δέει καὶ θορύβῳ προκατειλημμένοι ἐκ τῆς παραυτίκα ἀναφανθείσης σκηνῆς, εἰ καὶ 5.17.10 συνῆκαν ἑλληνίζοντες, τὸ μὴ τοῦτο παθεῖν οὐ διέφυγον. τῶν δ' αὖ ἀγνοίᾳ περιπεσόντων ταύτῃ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ λέγονταί τινες, τὴν δαῖτα ὡς εἱστιῶντο, φιλοφρονούμενοι οἷά γε ἐν τοῖς πότοις γίνεσθαι φιλεῖ, καὶ προπίνοντες ἀλλήλοις, Χριστὸν ἐπονομάσαι ταῖς κύλιξιν. ὑπολαβόντα δέ τινα τῶν δαιτυμόνων «θαυμαστόν», ἔφη, «ὑπομένετε Χριστὸν ἐπικαλούμενοι, ὃν πρὸ βραχέος ἠρνήσασθε, ἡνίκα τὸ δῶρον παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως δεξάμενοι τῷ 5.17.11 πυρὶ τὸν λίβανον ἐπιτεθείκατε.» ἅμα δὲ τοῦτο ἤκουσαν καὶ συνῆκαν ὅπερ εἰργάσαντο, αὐτίκα ἀναπηδήσαντες δημοσίᾳ ἔθεον βοῶντες καὶ δεδακρυμένοι καὶ θεὸν αὐτὸν καὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους μαρτυρόμενοι Χριστιανοὺς εἶναι σφᾶς καὶ διαμεῖναι, ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ δὲ τοῦ γεγονότος, εἴ γε ὅλως εἰπεῖν ἔστι, 5.17.12 μόνην ἑλληνίσαι τὴν χεῖρα μὴ συμπραξάσης τῆς διανοίας. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὡς βασιλέα ἦλθον, προσρίψαντες ὃν δεδώκει χρυσὸν εὖ μάλα ἀνδρείως τὸ οἰκεῖον δῶρον ἀπολαβεῖν ᾔτουν, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἀνελεῖν· μὴ μεταμεληθήσεσθαι γάρ, εἰ ὑπὲρ ὧν προνοίας ἐκτὸς ἥμαρτεν ἡ δεξιὰ τῷ παντὶ σώματι δίκην δοῖεν διὰ Χριστόν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς καίπερ χαλεπῶς ἐνεγκὼν κτεῖναι μὲν αὐτοὺς ἐφυλάξατο, μὴ μαρτυρίας γερῶν ἀξιωθεῖεν· ἀφελόμενος δὲ τῆς στρατείας ἐξεώσατο τῶν βασιλείων. 5.18.1 Ταύτης δὲ τῆς γνώμης καὶ περὶ πάντας τοὺς Χριστιανοὺς ὑπῆρχεν ἀφορμῆς λαβόμενος· ὅπου γε καὶ μηδὲν ἐγκαλεῖν ἔχων παραιτουμένοις θύειν ἰσοπολιτείας ἐφθόνει καὶ συλλόγων καὶ ἀγορῶν μετέχειν, καὶ τοῦ δικάζειν ἢ ἄρχειν ἢ ἀξιωμάτων κοινωνεῖν οὐ μετεδίδου· οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τοὺς αὐτῶν παῖδας ξυνεχώρει ἐκδιδάσκεσθαι τοὺς παρ' ῞Ελλησι ποιητὰς καὶ συγγρα5.18.2 φέας οὐδὲ τοῖς τούτων διδασκάλοις φοιτᾶν. ἐλύπει γὰρ αὐτὸν οὐ μετρίως ᾿Απολινάριος ὁ Σύρος, πρὸς παντοδαπὴν εἴδησιν καὶ λόγων ἰδέαν παρεσκευασμένος, Βασίλειός τε καὶ Γρηγόριος οἱ Καππαδόκαι, παρευδοκιμοῦντες τοὺς τότε ῥήτορας, ἄλλοι τε ἐπὶ τούτοις πλεῖστοι ἐλλόγιμοι, ὧν οἱ μὲν ἐζή5.18.3 λουν τὴν ἐν Νικαίᾳ δόξαν, οἱ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ᾿Αρείου ὥρμηντο αἱρέσεως. ἐντεῦθεν οὖν μόνον δημιουργεῖσθαι τὸ πεῖθον οἰόμενος οὐ συνεχώρει τοῖς Χριστιανοῖς ἐν τοῖς τῶν ῾Ελλήνων ἀσκεῖσθαι μαθήμασιν· ἡνίκα δὴ ᾿Απολινάριος οὗτος εἰς καιρὸν τῇ πολυμαθείᾳ καὶ τῇ φύσει χρησάμενος, ἀντὶ μὲν τῆς ῾Ομήρου ποιήσεως ἐν ἔπεσιν ἡρῴοις τὴν ῾Εβραϊκὴν ἀρχαιολογίαν συν- εγράψατο μέχρι τῆς Σαοὺλ βασιλείας καὶ εἰς εἰκοσιτέσσαρα μέρη τὴν πᾶσαν πραγματείαν διεῖλεν, ἑκάστῳ τόμῳ προσηγορίαν θέμενος ὁμώνυμον τοῖς 5.18.4 παρ' ῞Ελλησι στοιχείοις κατὰ τὸν τούτων ἀριθμὸν καὶ τάξιν. ἐπραγματεύσατο δὲ καὶ τοῖς Μενάνδρου δράμασιν εἰκασμένας κωμῳδίας, καὶ τὴν Εὐριπίδου τραγῳδίαν καὶ τὴν Πινδάρου λύραν ἐμιμήσατο. καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν ἐκ τῶν θείων γραφῶν τὰς ὑποθέσεις λαβὼν τῶν ἐγκυκλίων καλουμένων μαθημάτων, ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ ἐπόνεσεν ἰσαρίθμους καὶ ἰσοδυνάμους πραγματείας ἤθει τε καὶ φράσει καὶ χαρακτῆρι καὶ οἰκονομίᾳ ὁμοίας τοῖς παρ' 5.18.5 ῞Ελλησιν ἐν τούτοις εὐδοκιμήσασιν· ὥστε εἰ μὴ τὴν ἀρχαιότητα ἐτίμων οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ τὰ συνήθη φίλα ἐνόμιζον, ἐπίσης, οἶμαι, τοῖς παλαιοῖς τὴν ᾿Απολιναρίου σπουδὴν ἐπῄνουν καὶ ἐδιδάσκοντο, ταύτῃ πλέον αὐτοῦ τὴν εὐφυΐαν θαυμάζοντες, ὅσῳ γε τῶν μὲν ἀρχαίων ἕκαστος περὶ ἓν μόνον ἐσπούδασεν, ὁ δὲ τὰ πάντων ἐπιτηδεύσας ἐν κατεπειγούσῃ χρείᾳ τὴν ἑκάστου 5.18.6 ἀρετὴν ἀπεμάξατο. οὐκ ἀγεννὴς δὲ καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν βασιλέα ἤτοι τοὺς παρ' ῞Ελλησι φιλοσόφους ἐστὶν αὐτοῦ λόγος, ὃν ῾Υπὲρ ἀληθείας ἐπέγρα-ψεν· ἐν ᾧ καὶ δίχα τῆς τῶν ἱερῶν λόγων μαρτυρίας ἔδειξεν αὐτοὺς ἀποβουκο5.18.7 ληθέντας τοῦ δέοντος περὶ θεοῦ φρονεῖν. τάδε γὰρ ἐπιτωθάζων ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῖς τότε διαπρέπουσιν ἐπισκόποις ἐπέστειλεν· «ἀνέγνων, ἔγνων, κατέγνων», τοὺς δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα