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until God called him forth, saying, 'Let me alone, that I may blot out this people'; so also did this man. When the emperor, therefore, saw him weeping and bowing down, he approached him himself, and what he suffered because of the priest’s tears, this he showed by the words he spoke to him. For his words were not those of one who was angry or indignant, but of one who was grieving; not of one enraged, but rather of one disheartened and possessed by extreme pain. And that this is true, you will know when you hear the words themselves. For he did not say, 'What on earth is this? Are you coming bringing an embassy on behalf of defiled and utterly defiled men, who ought not even to live, of tyrants, of innovators worthy of every punishment?' But setting aside all these words, he composed a defense full of shame and gravity, and he recounted his own benefactions, with which he had benefited our city during the whole time of his reign, and for each he would say: 'Was it necessary for me to suffer these things in return for those? For what wrongs did they exact this punishment from me? What charge, small or great, did they have, that they insulted not only me, but also those who have departed? Was it not enough for their anger to stop with the living? But unless they had also insulted the buried, they thought they were doing nothing bold. We have done wrong, as they themselves think; therefore, they should have spared the dead who had done no wrong, for surely they could not bring these charges against them as well. Did I not always set this city before all others, and consider it more cherished than the one that bore me, and was it not the object of my constant prayer to see that city, and did I not make this my oath to all?'

3. At this, the priest, groaning bitterly and shedding hotter tears, was no longer silent; for he saw that the emperor’s defense made our accusation greater. But groaning heavily and bitterly from deep within, 'We confess,' he says, 'O Emperor, and we would not deny this love which you have shown for our fatherland, and for this reason especially we mourn, that demons have bewitched a city so beloved, and we have appeared ungrateful to our 49.215 benefactor, and have provoked our ardent lover. Even if you tear it down, even if you burn it, even if you kill, even if you do anything else whatsoever, you have not yet exacted from us the punishment we deserve; for we ourselves have already inflicted upon ourselves things worse than ten thousand deaths. For what could be more bitter than when we are seen to have unjustly provoked our benefactor who loves us so, and the whole world learns of this and condemns our extreme ingratitude? If barbarians had overrun our city and torn down the walls, and burned the houses, and taking us captive had departed, the terrible thing would have been less. Why so? Because while you are living, and showing such goodwill towards us, there was hope that all those terrible things would be undone, and that we would return again to our former state, and would regain our freedom more splendidly. But now, with your goodwill taken away and your affection extinguished, which was safer for us than any wall, to whom shall we flee now? Where shall we be able to look elsewhere, having angered so sweet a master and so gentle a father? So they seem to have done unbearable things; but they have suffered things more terrible than all, daring to look no man in the face, nor even able to see the sun with free eyes, with shame everywhere casting down their eyelids and compelling them to be veiled. With their freedom of speech thus taken away, they are now in a more wretched state than all captives, and they endure the utmost dishonor, and contemplating the magnitude of their evils, and to what a height of insolence they have leaped, they are not even able to breathe, having drawn upon themselves as accusers all the men inhabiting the world, more vehement than he who seems to have been insulted. But if you are willing, O Emperor, there is a healing for the wound, and a remedy for such great evils. Often this has happened even in the case of private individuals; the great and unbearable

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ἕως ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ἐξεκαλέσατο εἰπὼν, Ἄφες με, καὶ ἐξαλείψω τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον· οὕτω καὶ οὗτος ἐποίησεν. Ἰδὼν τοίνυν αὐτὸν ὁ βασιλεὺς δακρύοντα καὶ κάτω κύπτοντα, προσῆλθεν αὐτὸς, καὶ ὅπερ ἔπαθε διὰ τῶν δακρύων τοῦ ἱερέως, τοῦτο ἐδείκνυ διὰ τῶν ῥημάτων τῶν πρὸς αὐτόν· οὐ γὰρ θυμουμένου οὐδὲ ἀγανακτοῦντος ἦσαν οἱ λόγοι, ἀλλ' ἀλγοῦντος· οὐκ ὀργιζομένου, ἀλλ' ἀθυμοῦντος καὶ περιοδυνίᾳ κατεχομένου μᾶλλον· καὶ ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀληθὲς, αὐτὰ τὰ ῥήματα ἀκούσαντες εἴσεσθε. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε· Τί ποτε τοῦτό ἐστιν; ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων μιαρῶν καὶ παμμιάρων, καὶ οὓς οὔτε ζῇν ἔδει, πρεσβείαν ἥκεις κομίζων, τῶν τυράννων, τῶν νεωτεροποιῶν τῶν πάσης ἀξίων κολάσεως; Ἀλλὰ πάντα ταῦτα ἀφεὶς τὰ ῥήματα, ἀπολογίαν συνέθηκεν ἐντροπῆς γέμουσαν καὶ βαρύτητος, καὶ τὰς ἑαυτοῦ κατέλεγεν εὐεργεσίας, ὅσας παρὰ πάντα τὸν καιρὸν τῆς βασιλείας τὴν πόλιν ἡμῶν εὐηργέτησε, καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ ἔλεγεν· Ταῦτά με ἀντ' ἐκείνων παθεῖν ἔδει; ποίων ἀδικημάτων με ταύτην ἐπράξαντο δίκην; Τί μικρὸν ἢ μέγα ἐγκαλεῖν ἔχοντες, οὐκ εἰς ἐμὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀπελθόντας ἐνύβρισαν; οὐκ ἤρκει τὸν θυμὸν στῆναι μέχρι τῶν ζώντων; ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ καὶ τοὺς ταφέντας καθυβρίσαιεν, οὐδὲν ἐνόμισαν νεανικὸν ποιεῖν. Ἠδικήκαμεν ἡμεῖς, ὡς αὐτοὶ νομίζουσι· οὐκοῦν τῶν νεκρῶν φείσασθαι ἔδει τῶν οὐδὲν ἠδικηκότων· οὐ γὰρ δὴ κἀκείνοις ταῦτα ἐγκαλεῖν εἶχον. Οὐχὶ ταύτην πάντων προὔθηκα τὴν πόλιν ἀεὶ, καὶ τῆς ἐνεγκούσης ποθεινοτέραν εἶναι ἐνόμιζον, καὶ εὐχῆς μοι διηνεκοῦς ἔργον ἦν, τὴν πόλιν ἐκείνην ἰδεῖν, καὶ τοῦτον ἐποιούμην ὅρκον πρὸς πάντας;

γʹ. Ἐνταῦθα πικρὸν ἀνοιμώξας ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ θερμότερα ἀφεὶς δάκρυα, οὐκέτι λοιπὸν ἐσίγα· ἑώρα γὰρ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπολογίαν μείζονα ποιοῦσαν τὴν κατηγορίαν ἡμῶν· ἀλλὰ στενάξας κάτωθεν βαρὺ καὶ πικρὸν, Ὁμολογοῦμεν, φησὶν, ὦ βασιλεῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἀρνηθείημεν τὸν ἔρωτα τοῦτον, ὃν περὶ τὴν πατρίδα ἐπεδείξω τὴν ἡμετέραν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα θρηνοῦμεν, ὅτι τὴν οὕτω φιλουμένην ἐβάσκηναν δαίμονες, καὶ περὶ τὸν 49.215 εὐεργέτην ἀγνώμονες ἐφάνημεν, καὶ τὸν σφοδρὸν ἡμῶν παρωξύναμεν ἐραστήν. Κἂν κατασκάψῃς, κἂν ἐμπρήσῃς, κἂν ἀποκτείνῃς, κἂν ὁτιοῦν ἕτερον πράξῃς, οὐδέπω τὴν ἀξίαν ἡμᾶς ἀπῄτησας δίκην· φθάσαντες γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἑαυτοὺς μυρίων θανάτων χαλεπώτερα διεθήκαμεν. Τί γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο πικρότερον, ἀλλ' ἢ ὅταν τὸν εὐεργέτην καὶ οὕτω φιλοῦντα φανῶμεν ἀδίκως παροξύναντες, καὶ τοῦτο πᾶσα ἡ οἰκουμένη μανθάνῃ, καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην ἡμῶν ἀγνωμοσύνην καταγινώσκῃ; Εἰ βάρβαροι τὴν πόλιν ἡμῶν καταδραμόντες κατέσκαψαν τὰ τείχη, καὶ τὰς οἰκίας ἐνέπρησαν, καὶ λαβόντες αἰχμαλώτους ἀπῆλθον, ἔλαττον ἦν τὸ δεινόν. Τί δήποτε; Ὅτι σοῦ ζῶντος, καὶ τοσαύτην ἐπιδεικνυμένου περὶ ἡμᾶς εὔνοιαν, ἐλπὶς ἦν ἐκεῖνα πάντα λυθήσεσθαι τὰ δεινὰ, καὶ πάλιν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὸ πρότερον ἐπανήξειν σχῆμα, καὶ λαμπροτέραν ἀπολήψεσθαι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν· νῦν δὲ, τῆς σῆς εὐνοίας ἀφῃρημένης καὶ τοῦ φίλτρου σβεσθέντος, ὃ παντὸς τείχους ἦν ἡμῖν ἀσφαλέστερον, πρὸς τίνα λοιπὸν καταφευξόμεθα; ποῦ δυνησόμεθα ἰδεῖν ἑτέρωσε, τὸν γλυκὺν οὕτω δεσπότην καὶ πατέρα προσηνῆ παροργίσαντες; Ὥστε δοκοῦσι μὲν ἀφόρητα πεποιηκέναι· ἔπαθον δὲ πάντων δεινότερα, πρὸς οὐδένα ἀνθρώπων ἀντιβλέψαι τολμῶντες, οὐδὲ αὐτὸν ἰδεῖν δυνάμενοι τὸν ἥλιον ἐλευθέροις ὀφθαλμοῖς, τῆς αἰσχύνης πανταχοῦ καταστελλούσης τὰ βλέφαρα καὶ ἐγκαλύπτεσθαι καταναγκαζούσης· τῆς παῤῥησίας οὖν αὐτοῖς ἀνῃρημένης, πάντων αἰχμαλώτων ἀθλιώτερον διάκεινται νῦν, καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην ὑπομένουσιν ἀτιμίαν, καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν κακῶν ἐννοοῦντες, καὶ εἰς ὅσον ἀπεσκίρτησαν ὕβρεως, οὐδὲ ἀναπνεῖν δύνανται τοῦ δοκοῦντος ὑβρίσθαι σφοδροτέρους τοὺς τὴν οἰκουμένην οἰκοῦντας ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους ἐπισπασάμενοι κατηγόρους. Ἀλλ' ἐὰν θέλῃς, ὦ βασιλεῦ, ἔστιν ἴασις τῷ τραύματι, καὶ φάρμακον τοῖς τοσούτοις κακοῖς. Πολλάκις καὶ ἐπὶ ἰδιωτῶν τοῦτο γέγονε· τὰ μεγάλα καὶ ἀφόρητα