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offenses have become the occasion of great affection; so also it happened in the case of our nature. For when God made man and brought him into paradise and deemed him worthy of great honor, the devil, not bearing such great prosperity, both envied him and cast him out of the preeminence that had been given. But God not only did not abandon him, but also in place of paradise opened heaven to us, by this very thing both showing His own loving-kindness, and punishing the devil more greatly. You do this also; the demons have now set everything in motion, so as to tear away the city dearest to you of all from your good will; knowing this, therefore, exact whatever justice you wish, but do not cast us out from our former friendship. But if I must say something astonishing, show us a greater good will now, and enroll it again in the first ranks of those who are loved, if indeed you wish to take vengeance on the demons who contrived these things. For if you pull down and demolish and destroy, you will accomplish the very things which they long ago wanted; but if you put away your anger and again confess that you love it as you formerly loved it. you will have given them a fatal blow, and you will have exacted from them the ultimate penalty, by showing that not only did they gain nothing from their plot, but also everything turned out the opposite for them, from what they wanted. And you would be just to do these things and to have mercy on a city, which the demons envied on account of your friendship; for if you had not loved it so very much, they would not have envied it so greatly. So that 49.216 even if what is said is astonishing, yet it is true, that because of you and your friendship it has suffered these things. Than how many burnings, than how much destruction are these words more bitter, which you spoke in your defense? Now you say that you have been insulted, and have suffered such things as no one of the former emperors ever did; but if you are willing, O most philanthropic and most philosophic and full of great piety, this insult will place upon you a crown greater and more splendid than this diadem. For this diadem is on the one hand a proof of your virtue; and it is also a token of the munificence of the one who gave it; but the crown woven for you from this loving-kindness will be your achievement alone and that of your philosophy; and all will not so much admire you on account of these precious stones, as they will praise you on account of your contempt for anger. Did they pull down your statues? but it is possible for you to erect ones more splendid than those. For if you forgive the charges against those who did wrong, and exact no penalty from them, they will not erect a bronze statue of you in the marketplace, nor a gold one, nor one studded with gems, but a monument more precious than any material, you, clothed with loving-kindness and mercy. Thus will each person erect you in their own mind, and you will have as many statues, as there are people who inhabit, and will inhabit, the world. For not only we, but also those after us, and all those after them will hear these things; and as if they themselves had been well-treated, so will they admire and love you. And that I do not say these things in flattery, but that it will certainly be so, I will tell you a certain ancient story, so that you may learn, that it is not so much armies and weapons and money and a multitude of subjects and other such things that are accustomed to make emperors glorious, as philosophy of soul and gentleness. It is said that the blessed Constantine, when his image was once stoned, with many urging him on to proceed against the insolent men and to exact justice, and saying that they had wounded his whole face by hurling stones, having touched his face with his hand, and smiling gently, said, "I see no wound at all made on my forehead, but my head is sound, and my whole face is sound," and that they, blushing and ashamed, desisted from this unjust counsel. And this saying all people sing to this day, and so much time has not withered, has not extinguished the memory of this philosophy. Than how many trophies would this not be more splendid? Many and great cities

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προσκρούσματα μεγάλης διαθέσεως γέγονεν ὑπόθεσις· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς φύσεως συνέβη τῆς ἡμετέρας. Ὅτε γὰρ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ εἰς τὸν παράδεισον εἰσήγαγε καὶ πολλῆς ἠξίωσε τιμῆς, οὐ φέρων τὴν τοσαύτην εὐημερίαν ὁ διάβολος ἐβάσκηνέν τε αὐτῷ καὶ τῆς δοθείσης ἐξέβαλε προεδρίας. Ἀλλ' ὁ Θεὸς οὐ μόνον αὐτὸν οὐ κατέλιπεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀντὶ παραδείσου τὸν οὐρανὸν ἡμῖν ἀνέῳξε, τούτῳ τε αὐτῷ τήν τε οἰκείαν φιλανθρωπίαν ἐπιδεικνύμενος, καὶ τὸν διάβολον μειζόνως κολάζων. Τοῦτο καὶ σὺ ποίησον· πάντα ἐκίνησαν οἱ δαίμονες νῦν, ὥστε τὴν πασῶν σοι φιλτάτην πόλιν ἀποῤῥῆξαί σου τῆς εὐνοίας· τοῦτο τοίνυν εἰδὼς, δίκην μὲν ἣν θέλεις ἀπαίτησον, τῆς δὲ φιλίας μὴ ἐκβάλῃς ἡμᾶς τῆς προτέρας. Ἀλλ' εἰ δεῖ τι καὶ θαυμαστὸν εἰπεῖν, μείζονα ἡμῖν ἐπίδειξαι τὴν εὔνοιαν νῦν, καὶ πάλιν εἰς τὰς πρώτας τῶν φιλουμένων αὐτὴν ἔγγραψον, εἴ γε βούλει τοὺς ταῦτα κατασκευάσαντας ἀμύνασθαι δαίμονας. Ἂν μὲν γὰρ καθέλῃς καὶ κατασκάψῃς καὶ ἀφανίσῃς, ἅπερ ἐκεῖνοι πάλαι ἐβούλοντο, ταῦτα ἐργάσῃ· ἂν δὲ ἀφῇς τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ πάλιν ὁμολογήσῃς φιλεῖν αὐτὴν ὥσπερ πρότερον ἐφίλεις. καιρίαν αὐτοῖς ἔδωκας τὴν πληγὴν, καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην αὐτοὺς ἀπῄτησας δίκην, δείξας ὡς οὐ μόνον αὐτοῖς οὐδὲν πλέον γέγονεν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐναντία αὐτοῖς ἅπαντα ἀπέβη, ἤπερ ἐβούλοντο. ∆ίκαιος δ' ἂν εἴης ταῦτα ποιῆσαι καὶ ἐλεῆσαι πόλιν, ᾗ διὰ τὴν σὴν ἐφθόνησαν φιλίαν οἱ δαίμονες· εἰ γὰρ μὴ σφόδρα αὐτὴν οὕτως ἠγάπησας, οὐκ ἂν αὐτὴν οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνοι τοσοῦτον ἐβάσκηναν ἄν. Ὥστε 49.216 εἰ καὶ θαυμαστὸν τὸ λεγόμενον, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐστὶν ἀληθὲς, ὅτι διὰ σὲ καὶ τὴν σὴν φιλίαν ταῦτα ἔπαθε. Πόσων ἐμπρησμῶν, πόσης καταστροφῆς τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα πικρότερα, ἅπερ ἀπολογούμενος ἔλεγες; Νῦν ὑβρίσθαι φὴς, καὶ πεπονθέναι οἷα μηδεὶς πώποτε τῶν προτέρων βασιλέων· ἀλλ' ἐὰν θέλῃς, ὦ φιλανθρωπότατε καὶ φιλοσοφώτατε καὶ πολλῆς εὐσεβείας γέμων, τοῦ διαδήματος τούτου μείζονά σοι καὶ λαμπρότερον ἡ ὕβρις αὕτη περιθήσει στέφανον. Τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ τὸ διάδημά ἐστι καὶ μὲν τῆς σῆς ἀρετῆς ἀπόδειξις· ἔστι δὲ καὶ τῆς τοῦ δεδωκότος φιλοτιμίας τεκμήριον· ὁ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας σοι ταύτης πλεκόμενος στέφανος σὸν μόνον ἔσται κατόρθωμα καὶ τῆς φιλοσοφίας τῆς σῆς· καὶ οὐχ οὕτω σε θαυμάσονται πάντες διὰ τοὺς λίθους τοὺς τιμίους τούτους, ὡς ἐπαινέσονται διὰ τὴν ὑπεροψίαν τὴν κατὰ τῆς ὀργῆς. Καθεῖλόν σου τοὺς ἀνδριάντας; ἀλλ' ἔξεστί σοι λαμπροτέρους ἀναστῆσαι ἐκείνων. Ἂν γὰρ ἀφῇς τοῖς ἠδικηκόσι τὰ ἐγκλήματα, καὶ μηδεμίαν ἀπαιτήσῃς δίκην αὐτοὺς, οὐ χαλκοῦν σε ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἀναστήσουσιν, οὐδὲ χρυσοῦν, οὐδὲ λιθοκόλλητον, ἀλλὰ τὴν πάσης ὕλης τιμιωτέραν στήλην, φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ ἐλεημοσύνην ἀναβεβλημένον. Οὕτως ἐπὶ τῆς διανοίας ἕκαστος ἀναστήσουσί σε τῆς ἑαυτῶν, καὶ τοσούτους ἕξεις ἀνδριάντας, ὅσοι τὴν οἰκουμένην οἰκοῦσιν ἄνθρωποι, καὶ οἰκήσουσιν. Οὐ γὰρ ἡμεῖς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ μεθ' ἡμᾶς, καὶ οἱ μετ' ἐκείνους ἅπαντες ταῦτα ἀκούσονται· καὶ καθάπερ εὖ παθόντες αὐτοὶ, οὕτω σε θαυμάσονται καὶ φιλήσουσι. Καὶ ὅτι ταῦτα οὐ κολακεύων λέγω, ἀλλ' οὕτως ἔσται πάντως, ἐρῶ σοι παλαιόν τινα λόγον, ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι οὐχ οὕτω στρατόπεδα καὶ ὅπλα καὶ χρήματα καὶ ὑπηκόων πλῆθος καὶ τὰ ἄλλα δὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα λαμπροὺς ποιεῖν τοὺς βασιλεῖς εἴωθεν, ὡς φιλοσοφία ψυχῆς καὶ ἡμερότης. Ὁ μακάριος λέγεται Κωνσταντῖνος, τῆς εἰκόνος αὐτοῦ καταλευσθείσης ποτὲ, παροξυνόντων αὐτὸν πολλῶν ἐπεξελθεῖν τοῖς ὑβρικόσι καὶ δίκην ἀπαιτῆσαι, καὶ λεγόντων, ὅτι πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν ὄψιν ἔτρωσαν τοὺς λίθους ἐξακοντίζοντες, ψηλαφήσας τῇ χειρὶ τὸ πρόσωπον, καὶ ἠρέμα μειδιάσας, εἶπεν, ὅτι Οὐδαμοῦ πληγὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ μετώπου γεγενημένην ὁρῶ, ἀλλ' ὑγιὴς μὲν ἡ κεφαλὴ, ὑγιὴς δὲ ἡ ὄψις ἅπασα, κἀκείνους ἐρυθριάσαντας καὶ αἰσχυνθέντας ἀποστῆναι τῆς ἀδίκου ταύτης συμβουλῆς. Καὶ τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο μέχρι νῦν ᾄδουσιν ἅπαντες, καὶ τοσοῦτος χρόνος οὐκ ἐμάρανεν, οὐκ ἔσβεσε τῆς φιλοσοφίας ταύτης τὴν μνήμην. Πόσων οὐκ ἂν εἴη τοῦτο τροπαίων λαμπρότερον; Πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας πόλεις