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146. TO ANTIOCHUS

146.1 I cannot blame you for idleness nor for indolence, because when an opportunity for writing arose you were silent. For the greeting which you sent by your hand so dear to me I consider more precious than many letters. In return for this, therefore, I greet you and I exhort you to zealously hold fast to the salvation of your soul, training all the passions of the flesh by reason and constantly having the thought of God established in your own soul, as in some most holy temple; and in every deed and every word to keep before your eyes the judgment seat of Christ, so that your individual actions, having been gathered together, at that exact and fearful examination, may bring you glory on the day of recompense, as you are deemed worthy of praise before all creation. And if the great one should accept the journey to us, it would be no small gain to see you with him in our land.

147. TO ABURGIUS

147.1 I used to think the things of Homer a myth, when I went through the other part of his poetry, in which he relates the sufferings of Odysseus. But those things, previously mythical and completely unbelievable, the misadventure concerning the all-excellent Maximus has taught us to consider plausible. For he also became ruler of a nation by no means insignificant, just like that general of the Cephallenians. And that one, although carrying much wealth, returned naked, and misfortune has so disposed this man that he was in danger of being seen by his own people in another's rags. And he has suffered these things, perhaps having provoked the Laestrygonians against himself and having fallen upon a Scylla in a woman's form, having a dog-like inhumanity and savagery. Since, therefore, it was scarcely possible for him to swim through this inescapable flood, he implores you through us, asking that you respect our common nature and, grieving at his undeserved misfortunes, not hide his affairs in silence, but report them to those in power, so that, in the best case, some help might come to him against the plotted outrage, but if not, at least that the character of the one who behaved outrageously toward him be made public. For sufficient consolation for the one who has been wronged is the exposure of the wickedness of those who plotted against him.

148. TO TRAJAN

148.1 It brings much consolation to those who are distressed to be able to lament their own misfortunes, and especially when they happen upon men who are able to sympathize with their painful circumstances from the nobility of their character. Wherefore also our most revered brother Maximus, who was governor of our native land, having suffered such things as no other man ever has, and having been stripped of all his possessions, both what was his by inheritance and what had been gathered from former labors, and having suffered countless evils in his body in his wanderings up and down, and not even having preserved unmolested his very honor, for the sake of which to endure all things is customary for free men, greatly lamented to us about the things that had happened to him, and he asked through us that the Iliad of woes that befell him be made known to you in summary. And I, since I was able in no other way to take away any of his terrible sufferings, readily granted this favor, to announce to your excellency a few of the many things I heard from him, since he himself seemed to me to blush to relate his own misfortunes clearly. For even if the things that have happened prove the one who did the wrong to be wicked, nevertheless the one who has suffered

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146.τ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΩ

146.1 Οὐκ ἔχω μέμψασθαί σοι ἀργίαν οὐδὲ ῥᾳθυμίαν, ὅτι καιροῦ παραπεσόντος γραμμάτων ἀπεσιώπησας. Ἣν γὰρ διὰ τῆς τιμίας ἐμοὶ χειρὸς διεπέμψω προσηγορίαν πολλῶν ἐπιστολῶν τιμιωτέραν ποιοῦμαι. Ἀντὶ οὖν ταύτης προσα γορεύω σε καὶ παρακαλῶ σπουδαίως ἀντέχεσθαι τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν σωτηρίας, πάντα τὰ πάθη τῆς σαρκὸς παιδαγω γοῦντα τῷ λόγῳ καὶ διηνεκῶς τὴν περὶ Θεοῦ ἔννοιαν, οἷον ἐν ναῷ τινι ἁγιωτάτῳ, τῇ σαυτοῦ ψυχῇ ἐνιδρυμένην ἔχοντα· ἐπὶ πάσης δὲ πράξεως καὶ παντὸς λόγου πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν λαμβάνειν τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δικαστήριον, ὥστε σοι τὰς κατὰ μέρος ἐνεργείας συναχθείσας, ἐπὶ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς ἐκείνης καὶ φοβερᾶς ἐξετάσεως δόξαν, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως ἐνεγκεῖν ἐπὶ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως τῶν ἐπαίνων ἀξιουμένῳ. Εἰ δὲ καταδέχοιτο τὴν μέχρις ἡμῶν ὁδὸν ὁ μέγας, οὐ μικρὸν κέρδος ἰδεῖν σε μετ' αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας.

147.τ ΑΒΟΥΡΓΙΩ

147.1 Μῦθον ἐνόμιζον τέως τὰ τοῦ Ὁμήρου, ὅτε ἐπῄειν αὐτοῦ τὸ ἕτερον

μέρος τῆς ποιήσεως, ἐν ᾧ τὰ Ὀδυσσέως πάθη μεταδιδάσκει. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνα τὰ μυθικὰ τέως καὶ ἄπιστα πάνυ ἡμᾶς πιθανὰ νομίζειν ἐδίδαξεν ἡ περὶ τὸν πάντα ἄριστον Μάξιμον περιπέτεια. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος ἄρχων ἐγένετο ἔθνους οὐ φαυλοτάτου, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος ὁ στρατηγὸς τῶν Κεφαλλήνων. Καὶ πολλὰ χρήματα ἄγων ἐκεῖνος γυμνὸς ἐπανῆλθε, καὶ τοῦτον οὕτως ἡ συμφορὰ διέθηκεν ὡς κινδυνεῦσαι ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις ῥάκεσιν ὀφθῆναι τοῖς οἰκείοις. Καὶ ταῦτα πέπονθε Λαιστρυγόνας τάχα που ἐφ' ἑαυτὸν παροξύνας καὶ Σκύλλῃ περιπεσὼν ἐν γυναικείᾳ μορφῇ κυνείαν ἐχούσῃ ἀπανθρωπίαν καὶ ἀγριότητα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν μόλις αὐτῷ ὑπῆρξε τὸν ἄφυκτον τοῦτον διανήξασθαι κλύδωνα, σὲ δι' ἡμῶν ἱκετεύει ἀξιῶν αἰδεσθῆναι τὴν κοινὴν φύσιν καὶ ἐπὶ ταῖς παρ' ἀξίαν αὐτοῦ συμφοραῖς ἀλγή σαντα μὴ σιωπῇ κρύψαι τὰ κατ' αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ διαγγεῖλαι τοῖς ἐν δυνάμει, ὥστε μάλιστα μὲν καὶ γενέσθαι τινὰ αὐτῷ βοήθειαν πρὸς τὴν σκευωρηθεῖσαν ἐπήρειαν, εἰ δὲ μή, δημοσιευθῆναι γοῦν τὴν προαίρεσιν τοῦ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐμπαρ οινήσαντος. Ἀρκοῦσα γὰρ τῷ ἠδικημένῳ παραμυθία ἡ τῶν ἐπιβουλευσάντων αὐτῷ τῆς πονηρίας φανέρωσις.

148.τ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΩ

148.1 Πολλὴν φέρει τοῖς καταπονουμένοις παραμυθίαν καὶ τὸ ἔχειν

ἀποδύρασθαι τὰς ἑαυτῶν συμφοράς, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν ἀνδρῶν ἐπιτύχωσι δυναμένων ἐκ τῆς τοῦ τρόπου καλοκἀγαθίας συμπαθῆσαι τοῖς ἀλγεινοῖς. Ὅθεν καὶ ὁ αἰδεσιμώτατος ἀδελφὸς Μάξιμος, ὁ τῆς πατρίδος ἡμῶν ἡγησάμενος, παθὼν οἷα οὐδέπω τις ἀνθρώπων ἕτερος καὶ πάντων μὲν γυμνωθεὶς τῶν προσόντων ὅσα τε ἦν αὐτῷ πατρῷα καὶ ὅσα ἐκ προτέρων πόνων συνειλεγμένα, κακο παθήσας δὲ τῷ σώματι μυρία ταῖς ἄνω καὶ κάτω πλάναις καὶ οὐδὲ αὐτὴν τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν ἀνεπηρέαστον διασώσας, ἧς ἕνεκα πάντα πονεῖν τοῖς ἐλευθέροις σύνηθες, πολλὰ μὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς περὶ τῶν συμβάντων αὐτῷ ὠλοφύρατο, ἠξίωσε δὲ δι' ἡμῶν ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ φανερὰν γενέσθαι σοι τὴν περιστᾶσαν αὐτὸν τῶν κακῶν Ἰλιάδα. Κἀγώ, ἐπειδὴ ἄλλως οὐδὲν ἀφελεῖν αὐτοῦ τῶν δεινῶν ἠδυνήθην, ἑτοίμως ταύ την ἔδωκα τὴν χάριν, τὸ ὀλίγα ἐκ πολλῶν ὧν ἤκουσα παρ' αὐτοῦ διαγγεῖλαι τῇ κοσμιότητί σου, ἐπειδὴ αὐτός μοι ἐρυθριᾶν ἐδόκει τὰς ἑαυτοῦ συμφορὰς ἐναργῶς διηγή σασθαι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πονηρὸν τὰ γεγονότα συνίστησι τὸν ἠδικηκότα, ἀλλ' οὖν γε τὸν πεπονθότα