124

But he, filled with divine zeal, both tore his tunic and threw it at him, saying: "If you think because of this to make me abandon piety, take your gift along with your impiety." The king, having seen this courage of his, thus drove him out of the kingdom naked. And Sahênês, a master of a thousand servants, who had contradicted him and would not endure to deny the Creator, having asked who was the wickedest of the servants, to that one he handed over the mastership of the others and ordered the master to serve him. And he yoked to him also the mistress, the master's wife, supposing that by this he would dissuade the champion of the truth. But he was disappointed in his hope; for he had his house built upon the rock. A certain deacon, Benjamin, he arrested and imprisoned. And when two 346 years had passed, an ambassador of the Romans arrived, being an envoy concerning certain other matters; then, having learned this, he asked the king for the release of the deacon. But the king ordered Benjamin to promise that he would not offer Christian teaching to any of the magi. And the ambassador, for his part, promised that Benjamin would keep what was commanded. But Benjamin, having heard the exhortations of the ambassador, said: "It is impossible for me not to share the light of which I have partaken. For the history of the holy gospels teaches of how much punishment it is worthy to hide the talent." But the king, knowing none of these things at that time, ordered him to be released from his bonds. And he continued doing his usual things, both taking alive those held by the darkness of ignorance and bringing them to the intelligible light. And when a year had passed, what was being done by him was reported to the king, and having brought him, he ordered him to deny the one worshiped by him; and he asked the king of what he deems worthy one who has abandoned his own kingdom, and chosen another. And when he said that of death and extreme punishment, the most wise man said: "What then would a man not justly suffer, abandoning the maker and creator and nourisher and savior, and deifying one of his fellow servants and offering to this one the worship owed to that one?" Therefore, the king, enraged at such words, having sharpened twenty reeds, pierced them under the nails of his hands and feet. And when he saw him considering the punishment a game, having sharpened yet another reed, he inserted it into his genital organ and by continually taking it out and putting it in, he caused certain unspeakable pains. After this punishment, the impious and beastly man ordered a thick staff, having knots on all 347 sides, to be thrust in through his seat. Thus the noble combatant gave up his spirit. And countless other such things were dared by those impious men. But one must not wonder that the ruler of all things endures their bestiality and impiety. For even before the reign of Constantine the Great, as many of the Romans as became emperors raged against the champions of the truth. But Diocletian, on the day of the saving passion, destroyed the churches throughout the entire Roman dominion; but when nine years had passed, they themselves flourished and received a manifold increase in size and beauty, but he, along with his impiety, was extinguished. And these wars the Lord foretold, and the unconquerableness of the church. And the facts themselves also teach us that war provides us more benefit than peace; for the one makes us soft and lax and cowardly, but war both whets our spirits and prepares us to despise present things as fleeting. But these things, we have often said in other treatises as well. And at that time during which the divine Theodotus was guiding the church of the Antiochenes, Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia, and teacher of the whole church, having fought most excellently against every heretical phalanx, received the end of his life. This man enjoyed the teaching of the great Diodore, and of the most divine John he became both a partner and a 348 co-worker; for together they enjoyed the spiritual streams of Diodore. And six and

124

ὁ δὲ ζήλου θείου πλησθεὶς διέρρηξέ τε τὸν χιτωνίσκον καὶ προσέρριψεν εἰπών· "εἰ διὰ τοῦτό με οἴει τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐκστή σεσθαι, ἔχε τὸ δῶρον μετὰ τῆς δυσσεβείας". ταύτην αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀνδρείαν ὁ βασιλεὺς θεασάμενος γυμνὸν οὕτω τῆς βασιλείας ἐξήλασε. Καὶ Σαήνην δὲ χιλίων οἰκετῶν δεσπότην, ἀντειπόντα αὐτῷ καὶ ἀρνηθῆναι τὸν ποιητὴν οὐκ ἀνεχόμενον, ἐρόμενος ὅστις εἴη τῶν οἰκετῶν ὁ κάκιστος, ἐκείνῳ τῶν ἄλλων τὴν δεσποτείαν παρέδωκε καὶ τὸν δεσπότην ἐκείνῳ δουλεύειν προσέταξε. συνέζευξε δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν δέσποιναν τὴν τοῦ δεσπότου ὁμόζυγα, ταύτῃ μεταπείσειν ὑποτοπήσας τῆς ἀληθείας τὸν πρόμαχον. ἀλλ' ἐψεύσθη τῆς ἐλπίδος· ἐπὶ γὰρ τῆς πέτρας ᾠκοδομημένην εἶχε τὴν οἰκίαν. Βενιαμὶν δέ τινα διάκονον συλλαβὼν καθεῖρξε. δύο δὲ διελη 346 λυθότων ἐτῶν, πρεσβευτὴς Ῥωμαίων ἀφίκετο περὶ ἑτέρων τινῶν πρεσβεύων πραγμάτων· εἶτα τοῦτο μαθὼν ᾔτησε τὸν βασιλέα τοῦ διακόνου τὴν ἄφεσιν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ὑποσχέσθαι προσέταξε τὸν Βενιαμὶν ὡς οὐδενὶ τῶν μάγων τὴν Χριστιανικὴν διδασκαλίαν προσ οίσει. καὶ ὁ μὲν πρεσβευτὴς φυλάξειν τὸν Βενιαμὶν τὰ προσταχθέντα ἐπηγγείλατο. ὁ δὲ Βενιαμὶν ἀκούσας τῶν τοῦ πρεσβευτοῦ παραινέ σεων· "ἀδύνατον", ἔφη, "μὴ μεταδοῦναί με τοῦ φωτὸς οὗ μετέλαχον. ὁπόσης γὰρ ἄξιον τιμωρίας τὸ κατακρύψαι τὸ τάλαντον, ἡ τῶν ἱερῶν εὐαγγελίων ἱστορία διδάσκει". ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν οὐδὲν τηνι καῦτα γνοὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν τῶν δεσμῶν ἀφεθῆναι. ἐκεῖνος δὲ τὰ συνήθη δρῶν διετέλει, καὶ ζωγρῶν τοὺς τῷ ζόφῳ τῆς ἀγνοίας κατεχομένους καὶ τῷ νοερῷ προσάγων φωτί. ἐνιαυτοῦ δὲ διελθόντος, ἐμηνύθη τῷ βασιλεῖ τὰ παρ' ἐκείνου γιγνόμενα, καὶ ἀγαγὼν αὐτὸν ἀρνηθῆναι προσέταξε τὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ προσκυνούμενον· ὁ δὲ ἤρετο τὸν βασιλέα τίνος τιμᾶται τὸν τὴν μὲν ἑαυτοῦ καταλιπόντα βασιλείαν, ἑτέραν δὲ προαιρούμενον. ἐκείνου δὲ εἰπόντος ὅτι θανάτου καὶ τιμωρίας ἐσχάτης, εἶπεν ὁ σοφώτατος ἀνήρ· "τί οὖν οὐκ ἂν πάθοι δικαίως ἄνθρωπος, τὸν μὲν ποιητὴν καὶ δημιουργὸν καὶ τροφέα καὶ σωτῆρα καταλιμπάνων, ἕνα δὲ τῶν ὁμοδούλων θεοποιῶν καὶ τὸ ὀφειλόμενον ἐκείνῳ σέβας τούτῳ προσφέρων;" χαλεπήνας δὴ οὖν πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους λόγους ὁ βασιλεύς, εἴκοσι καλάμους ὀξύνας τοῖς τῶν χειρῶν καὶ τῶν ποδῶν ἐνέπειρεν ὄνυξιν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἑώρα παίγνιον τὴν τιμωρίαν ὑπολαμβάνοντα, ἕτερον αὖ πάλιν κάλαμον ὀξύνας ἐνέβαλε τῷ παιδογόνῳ μορίῳ καὶ τοῦτον συνεχῶς ἐξαίρων τε καὶ ἐνείρων ἀρρήτους τινὰς ἀλγηδόνας εἰργάζετο. μετὰ τήνδε τὴν τιμωρίαν ὁ δυσσεβὴς καὶ θηριώδης ῥάβδον παχεῖαν ὄζους πάντοθεν 347 ἔχουσαν εἰσωθῆναι διὰ τῆς ἕδρας ἐκέλευσεν. οὕτω τὸ πνεῦμα παρέδωκεν ὁ γενναῖος ἀγωνιστής. καὶ ἄλλα δὲ μυρία τοιαῦτα παρ' ἐκείνων ἐτολμήθη τῶν δυσσεβῶν. Οὐ χρὴ δὲ θαυμάζειν ὅτι τῆς ἐκείνων θηριωδίας καὶ δυσσεβείας ἀνέχεται τῶν ὅλων ὁ πρύτανις. καὶ γὰρ πρὸ τῆς Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλείας ὅσοι Ῥωμαίων ἐγένοντο βασιλεῖς κατὰ τῶν θιασωτῶν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐλύττησαν. ∆ιοκλητιανὸς δὲ ἐν τῇ τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους ἡμέρᾳ τὰς ἐν ἁπάσῃ τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίᾳ κατέλυσεν ἐκκλησίας· ἀλλ' ἐννέα διεληλυθότων ἐτῶν αὐταὶ μὲν ἤνθησαν καὶ πολλαπλάσιον ἐδέξαντο μέγεθός τε καὶ κάλλος, ἐκεῖνος δὲ μετὰ τῆς δυσσεβείας ἀπέσβη. καὶ τοὺς πολέμους δὲ τούτους προείρηκεν ὁ δεσπότης καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀήττητον. καὶ αὐτὰ δὲ ἡμᾶς διδάσκει τὰ πράγματα ὡς πλείονα ἡμῖν τῆς εἰρήνης ὁ πόλεμος πορίζει τὴν ὠφέλειαν· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἁβροὺς ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀνειμένους καὶ δειλοὺς ἀπεργάζεται, ὁ δὲ πόλεμος τά τε φρονήματα παραθήγει καὶ τῶν παρόντων ὡς ῥεόντων παρασκευάζει καταφρονεῖν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν καὶ ἐν ἑτέραις πραγματείαις πολλάκις εἰρήκαμεν. Κατ' ἐκεῖνον δὲ τὸν χρόνον καθ' ὃν ὁ θεῖος Θεόδοτος τὴν Ἀντιοχέων ἴθυνεν ἐκκλησίαν, Θεόδωρος ὁ Μοψουεστίας μὲν ἐπίσκοπος, πάσης δὲ ἐκκλησίας διδάσκαλος κατὰ πάσης φάλαγγος αἱρετικῆς ἀριστεύσας, τοῦ βίου τὸ τέλος ἐδέξατο. οὗτος τῆς μὲν ∆ιοδώρου τοῦ πάνυ διδασκαλίας ἀπήλαυσεν, Ἰωάννου δὲ τοῦ θειοτάτου γεγένηται 348 κοινωνός τε καὶ συνεργός· κοινῇ γὰρ τῶν πνευματικῶν ∆ιοδώρου ναμάτων ἀπήλαυον. ἓξ δὲ καὶ