that coming to you I no longer grind out words. Do not, therefore, weary yourself, man, saying this and that; begin concisely from his very own ancestors. For this is a pure form and order of an encomium, to teach those who follow from where this man's root comes.” I, leaving the others, will discuss with him and this one alone, just as it is, clearly the matters concerning this. If only, indeed, it were of a different nature; and learn from where you sprang. I once heard someone speaking these things to me; for he said he had words concerning your ancestors, that while striving to flee the lands of the Persians, when they were mercilessly sacking the East, they fell in with other lawless and corrupt barbarians, Parthians, Huns, Hagarenes, Cumans, Armenians, by whom they were captured immediately each day, and such things as barbarians are wont to do to their captives, this indeed they also did wretchedly to your grandmother. Whence, as one can see from here without a doubt, your wonderful grandmother debased your lineage; for the noble woman also bore a child from herself, having indecently mingled with the aforementioned nations; from whom with his brothers †and according to† his own. From this I call you a Libyan beast, not indeed one of the well-born, as you boasted you were. The philosophers of the Greeks say such things, of whom Aristotle happens to be one and the first, that there is a waterless place, the land of Libya, in which there is one single small spring, at which the beasts from everywhere gather to relieve the burning heat of their thirst and have their unions there promiscuously, whenever the time for coupling comes down †to them†. For this reason that which is born from many noble parents has been named a Libyan beast, as being of many seeds. It is possible also to bring you a saying from scripture, so that the things concerning you might be firmly established for the worse, that your father is an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. Therefore he who told me the aforementioned narrative lied in no way, whoever he was, since you have now brought to fruition what was said by him. For still possessing a paternal and narrow tongue, barbarous as one might say, as one should not even speak, and not having yet learned, it seems, the ways of Greece, for this reason you frequent the learned men of the †grykoi†, learning †thrice-cursed† verses and sending them to us. But you also strove in vain for the writing of the Muses, for you made little progress, being a late-learner in life. But this is the genealogy of your line, offspring of Persians, Arabs and Scythians, Parthians and Medes; but your profession is something more and varied. Nevertheless, let us speak of the first thing first to those who wish it. The philosopher Plato spoke of a twofold art, the practical and the logical, for so it truly is. Of which, having learned one, being raised in Crete, you were not strong enough to grasp the second at all. Which I for my part will not call an art at all; do not think I mean the logical, for I am speaking of the practical. For who would call brick-making an art? But not even this did you practice with precision, as I hear, being so ungifted, so lazy, so fond of trifles, still toiling, still in the company of the mud-carriers before you adopted this habit of the monks. And if you refuse to believe my †dribblings†, uncover your shoulder, take off your tunic, and you will show everyone the scars from the kneading-troughs. For just as †alone he was giving near the part from ivory, being seen by wild ears†, so it reveals that you have fallen prey to evil torments. But it was necessary, entirely necessary, for you to live and co-exist with one art and one only, and not to choose many and harm your brother in the manner of greed. For God, ordering our affairs for our benefit, for this reason devised for us all knowledge, so that one person pursuing this might provide for his need, and another practicing that might have his living in the same way. But you, having taken up almost all of them out of greed, how did you not consider at all that you were depriving your brother, while Paul's word prevails to be sober from injustice? For at one time, they say, you were a brick-cutter, and at another time again a gardener at the polo-ground,

μηκέτι παρὰ σὲ μολὼν ἀλήθῃ λόγους. μὴ τοίνυν κάμνῃς, ἄνθρωπε, τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο λέγων· ἄρξου συντόμως ἀπ' αὐτῶν αὐτοῦ τῶν προπατόρων. τοῦτο γὰρ εἶδος καθαρὸν καὶ τάξις ἐγκωμίου, τὸ διδάξαι τοὺς ἐφεξῆς πόθεν ἡ τούτου ῥίζα.» Ἐγὼ λιπὼν τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς αὐτῷ καὶ τούτῳ μόνῳ ὡς ἔχει διαλέξομαι σαφῶς τὰ περὶ τούτου. εἴθε γοῦν ἑτεροφυές· καὶ μάθε πόθεν ἔφυς. ἀκήκοά ποτέ τινος τάδε λαλοῦντος πρός με· καὶ γὰρ εἰς τοὺς προπάτορας ἔφασκε λόγους ἔχειν, ὅτι τὰς χώρας τῶν Περσῶν σπουδάζοντες ἐκφεύγειν, ἡνίκα τὴν ἀνατολὴν ἀφειδῶς κατεπόρθουν, ἀνόμοις ἄλλοις καὶ φθόροις συνέπιπτον βαρβάροις, Πάρθοις, Οὔννοις, Ἀγαρηνοῖς, Κωμάνοις, Ἀρμενίοις, ὑφ' ὧν συλλαμβανόμενοι παραυτὰ καθ' ἑκάστην, οἷα φιλοῦσιν βάρβαροι δρᾶν ἐν τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις, τοῦτο δὴ κἂν τῇ μάμμῃ σου δεδράκασιν ἀθλίως. ὅθεν, ὡς ἔστι συνιδεῖν ἐντεῦθεν ἀδιστάκτως, γένος τὸ σὸν ἐνόθευσεν ἡ θαυμαστή σου μάμμη· καὶ γὰρ καὶ παῖδα τέτοκεν ἐξ αὑτῆς ἡ γενναία, τοῖς προλεχθεῖσιν ἔθνεσιν ἀσέμνως συμπλακεῖσα· ἐξ οὗ μετὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν †κατά τε† τῶν ἰδίων. Ἔνθεν ἐγώ σε Λιβυκὸν ἀποκαλῶ θηρίον, οὐ μήν τινα τῶν εὐγενῶν, ὡς αὐχεῖς, ἐκομπώθης. λέγουσιν οἱ φιλόσοφοι τοιάδε τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὧν εἷς καὶ πρῶτος πέφυκεν Ἀριστοτέλης εἶναι, ὡς ἔστι τόπος ἄνυδρος, ὁ τόπος τῆς Λιβύης, μιᾶς καὶ μόνης ἐν αὐτῇ πηγῆς βραχείας οὔσης, ἐφ' ᾗ καὶ συναγόμενα τὰ πανταχοῦ θηρία πρὸς τὸ παραμυθήσασθαι τὸν καύσωνα τῆς δίψης φύρδην ποιοῦνται τὰς αὐτῶν ἐκεῖσε συνουσίας, ὅταν καιρὸς πρὸς συμπλοκὴν κατάγεται †εἰς αὕτα†. διὸ καὶ τὸ γενόμενον ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν γεννάδων Λιβυκὸν ὡς πολύσπορον ὠνόμασται θηρίον. Ἔξεστι δὲ καὶ γραφικὴν ἐπαγαγεῖν σοι ῥῆσιν, ὅπως εἴη τὰ κατὰ σὲ κακῶς κεκυρωμένα, ὡς Ἀμορραῖός σοι πατήρ, ἡ μήτηρ δὲ Χετταία. οὐδὲν οὖν κατεψεύσατο κἂν ὅστις ἦν ἐκεῖνος, ὁ τὴν ἀφήγησιν εἰπὼν ἐμοὶ τὴν προκειμένην, εἰς ἔργον τὸ λεχθὲν αὐτῷ σοῦ νῦν ἐξενεγκόντος. ἔτι γὰρ γλῶσσαν πάτριον καὶ στενὴν κεκτημένος, βαρβάρους ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις ὡς μηδὲ χρὴ λαλῆσαι, καὶ μὴ μαθών, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀκμὴν τὰ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, τούτου χάριν ἐπιφοιτᾷς πρὸς †γρύκων† τοὺς λογίους, μανθάνων στίχους †τρίκιστους† καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐκπέμπων. ἀλλὰ καὶ γράμμα τῶν Μουσῶν ἐνηγωνίζου μάτην, ὀλίγα γὰρ προέκοψας ὀψιμαθὴς ἐν βίῳ. Ἀλλ' αὕτη μὲν τῆς σῆς σειρᾶς ἡ γενεαλογία, Περσῶν, Ἀράβων καὶ Σκυθῶν, Πάρθων καὶ Μήδων γόνε· τὸ δ' ἐπιτήδευμα οἷον, πλεῖόν τι καὶ ποικίλον. ὅμως τὸ πρῶτον εἴπωμεν τοῖς θέλουσιν ἐν πρώτοις. διττὴν τὴν τέχνην εἴρηκεν φιλόσοφος ὁ Πλάτων, πρακτικήν τε καὶ λογικήν, ὄντως γὰρ οὕτως ἔχει. ὧνπερ τὴν μίαν σὺ μαθών, ἀνατραφεὶς εἰς Κρήτην, καταλαβεῖν οὐκ ἴσχυσας οὐδ' ὅλως τὴν δευτέραν. ἣν οὐδὲ τέχνην ἔγωγε λελέξω τὸ παράπαν· μὴ νόμιζε τὴν λογικήν, τὴν πρακτικὴν γὰρ λέγω. τίς γὰρ πλινθοποιητικὴν ὀνομάσαιτο τέχνην; ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ταύτην ἀκριβῶς ἤσκησας, ὡς ἀκούω, ὡς ἀφυής, ὡς ὀκνηρός, ὡς ἀθύρμασι χαίρων, ἔτι τελῶν, ἔτι συνὼν μετὰ τῶν πηλοφόρων πρὸ τοῦ τὸ σχῆμα μετελθεῖν τοῦτο τῶν μοναζόντων. καὶ εἴπερ μου τοῖς †λίβασιν† πιστεύειν ἀπαναίνῃ, τὸν ὦμον ἀποκάλυψον, ἄρξου τὸν χιτωνίσκον, καὶ πάντας ὄψει τὰς οὐλὰς τὰς ἐκ τῶν καρδοπίων. καθάπερ γὰρ τοὺς Πέλοπος †μόνος ἐδίδου πέλας τὸ παρ' ἐλέφαντος ὠσὶν ὡρόμενοι ἀγρίοι†, οὕτω καὶ σὲ δηλοῖ κακαῖς αἰκίαις παραπέσειν. Ἀλλ' ἔδει πάντως, ἔδει σε μιᾷ καὶ μόνῃ τέχνῃ συμβιοτεύειν καὶ συζῆν, καὶ μὴ πολλὰς αἱρεῖσθαι καὶ ζημιοῦν τὸν ἀδελφὸν πλεονεξίας τρόπον. ὁ γὰρ θεὸς οἰκονομῶν τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς χρησίμως τούτου χάριν πᾶσαν ἡμῖν ἐξεῦρεν ἐπιστήμην, ἵν' ὁ μὲν ταύτην μετιὼν πορίζοιτο τὴν χρείαν, ὁ δ<έ γ>' ἐκείνην ἐξασκῶν τὸ ζῆν ὡσαύτως ἔχοι. σὺ δὲ τὰς πάσας συλλαβὼν σχεδὸν ἐξ ἀπληστίας ἀποστερεῖν τὸν ἀδελφὸν πῶς οὐδὲν ἐλογίσω, τοῦ Παύλου κυριεύοντος νήφειν ἐξ ἀδικίας; καὶ γὰρ ποτὲ μέν, λέγουσιν, ὑπῆρχες πλινθοκόπος, ποτὲ δὲ πάλιν κηπουρὸς εἰς τὸ τζουκανιστήριν,