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we must consider the people also with respect to this festival, for the sake of which I was led into these discussions. 7..1 As the other heresies were being torn apart, as has been said, the catholic church grew still more, with many being added to it both from the dissension of the heterodox among themselves and especially from the Hellenic multitude. For when the emperor saw that the custom of past times still drew his subjects toward the ancestral worship and the places venerated by them, upon beginning his reign he forbade them to enter these; and finally 7..2 he also demolished many. And they, for want of prayer-houses, in time became accustomed to frequent the churches; for it was not even safe to sacrifice secretly in the Hellenic manner, but a law was in place ratifying the penalty of removal of head and property against those who dared such things. At that time, they say that the river of Egypt was behind schedule concerning the first rising of its waters; and the Egyptians were angry because they were not permitted to sacrifice to the 7..3 river according to the ancestral law. But the governor of the province, suspecting that they were preparing for a revolt, reported these things. And the emperor, upon learning of it, said it was better to remain faithful to the divine than to prefer the streams of the Nile and the resulting prosperity over piety; for that river should never flow, if indeed it is able to be brought on by sorceries and to delight in sacrifices and by a flow 7..4 of blood to defile the streams from the divine paradise. And not long after, the Nile overflowed greatly and sent its currents to the higher places. And when it reached the most complete and rarely filled measure, and the water nevertheless crested, the Egyptians were beset by the opposite fear; and there was dread that it might inundate both the city of Alexander and part of Libya 7..5 [being]; at which time it is said that the Hellenists of Alexandria, being indignant at the unexpected event, mocked and cried out in the theaters that the river had urinated like an old and foolish man. And from this, very many of the Egyptians condemned their ancestral superstition and converted to Christianity. And these things are as I have learned them. 7.21.1 And about this time the head of John the Baptist was transported to Constantinople, which Herodias had asked for from Herod the tetrarch. It is said to have been found in the possession of some monks of the Macedonian heresy, who at first were living in Jerusalem, but later migrated to 7.21.2 Cilicia. And during the preceding reign, upon the report of Mardonius, who was the chief eunuch of the imperial household, Valens ordered it to be brought to Constantinople. And those sent for this purpose, placing it on a public wagon, were conveying it; but when they arrived at Panteichion (this is a district of Chalcedon), the mules pulling the wagon would not go any further, and this despite the stable-boys threatening 7.21.3 and the charioteer striking hard with the whip. And since they accomplished nothing (and the matter seemed astonishing and divine to all, even to the emperor himself), they deposited this sacred head in the village of Cosilaus; for it happened to be 7.21.4 nearby and the property of this Mardonius. And about this time, moved either by God or by the prophet himself, the emperor Theodosius came to this village, and as he wished to take the relic of the Baptist, they say only Matrona spoke against it, who was a sacred virgin, and followed it as a deaconess and guardian; but he did not think it 7.21.5 right to compel her as she resisted with all her strength, but supplicating he begged her to allow it. And when she reluctantly yielded, believing the undertaking to be impossible for the ruler according to what had happened in the time of Valens, he wrapped the reliquary in which it lay with his purple robe and returned with it, and he placed it before the city of Constantinople in the place called Hebdomon, having erected there a very great and most beautiful temple to God. But though he often earnestly entreated Matrona and promised her favors, he did not persuade her to move 7.21.6

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νομιστέον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ περὶ ταύτην τὴν ἑορτήν, ἧς ἕνεκεν εἰς τοὺς περὶ τούτων ἐξηνέχθην λόγους. 7..1 ∆ιασπωμένων δὲ ὡς εἴρηται τῶν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων αἱρέσεων ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐπεδίδου ἡ καθόλου ἐκκλησία, προστιθεμένων αὐτῇ πλείστων ἔκ τε τῆς τῶν ἑτεροδόξων πρὸς σφᾶς διχονοίας καὶ μάλιστα ἐκ τοῦ ῾Ελληνικοῦ πλήθους. ἐπεὶ γὰρ εἶδεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν συνήθειαν τοῦ παρελθόντος χρόνου ἔτι πρὸς τὸ πατρῷον σέβας καὶ τοὺς θρησκευομένους παρ' αὐτῶν τόπους ἕλκουσαν τὸ ὑπήκοον, ἀρξάμενος βασιλεύειν ἐκώλυσε τούτων ἐπιβαίνειν· τελευτῶν δὲ 7..2 καὶ πολλοὺς καθεῖλεν. οἱ δὲ ἀπορίᾳ εὐκτηρίων οἴκων τῷ χρόνῳ προσειθίσθησαν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις φοιτᾶν· οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ λάθρα θύειν ῾Ελληνικῶς ἀκίνδυνον ἦν, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀφαιρέσει κεφαλῆς καὶ οὐσίας νόμος ἔκειτο κατὰ τῶν ταῦτα τολμώντων τὴν τιμωρίαν κυρῶν. τηνικαῦτα δέ φασι τὸν Αἰγύπτου ποταμὸν κατόπιν τοῦ καιροῦ γενέσθαι περὶ τὴν πρώτην ἀνάβασιν τῶν ὑδάτων· οἱ δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι ἐχαλέπαινον ὅτι μὴ συγχωροῖντο κατὰ τὸν πάτριον νόμον τῷ 7..3 ποταμῷ θύειν. ὑπονοήσας δὲ ὁ τοῦ ἔθνους ἡγούμενος εἰς στάσιν αὐτοὺς παρασκευάζεσθαι τάδε ἐμήνυσεν. μαθὼν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἄμεινον ἔφη πρὸς τὸ θεῖον διαμεῖναι πιστὸν ἢ τὰ Νείλου νάματα καὶ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν εὐετηρίαν προτιμῆσαι τῆς εὐσεβείας· μηδέποτε γὰρ ῥεύσοιεν ἐκεῖνος ὁ ποταμός, εἴπερ ἀληθῶς οἷός τέ ἐστι γοητείαις ὑπάγεσθαι καὶ θυσίαις χαίρειν καὶ αἱμάτων 7..4 ῥύσει μιαίνειν τὰς ἐκ τοῦ θείου παραδείσου ἐπιρροάς. οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν δὲ ὁ Νεῖλος πολὺς ἐκχυθεὶς καὶ τοῖς ὑψηλοτέροις ἐπαφῆκε τὰ ῥεύματα. ἐπεὶ δὲ πρὸς τὸ τελειότατον καὶ σπανίως πληρούμενον μέτρον ἔφθασεν, οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον ἐκορυφοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ, εἰς ἐναντίον φόβον περιέστησαν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι· καὶ δέος ἦν μὴ καὶ τὴν ᾿Αλεξάνδρου πόλιν καὶ Λιβύης μέρος 7..5 [οὖσαν] κατακλύσῃ· ἡνίκα δὴ λέγεται τοὺς ῾Ελληνιστὰς ᾿Αλεξανδρέων ἀγανακτοῦντας πρὸς τὸ συμβὰν παρὰ γνώμην ἐπιτωθάσαι καὶ ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις ἀναβοῆσαι, ὡς οἷα γέρων καὶ λῆρος ἐξούρησεν ὁ ποταμός. ἐκ τούτου δὲ πλεῖστοι Αἰγυπτίων τῆς πατρῴας δεισιδαιμονίας κατέγνωσαν καὶ εἰς Χριστιανισμὸν μετεβάλοντο. καὶ τὰ μὲν ὡς ἐπυθόμην. 7.21.1 ῾Υπὸ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον διεκομίσθη εἰς Κωνσταντινούπολιν ἡ ᾿Ιω-άννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ κεφαλή, ἣν ῾Ηρῳδιὰς ᾐτήσατο παρὰ ῾Ηρῴδου τοῦ τετράρχου. λέγεται δὲ εὑρεθῆναι παρὰ ἀνδράσι μοναχοῖς τῆς Μακεδονίου αἱρέσεως, οἳ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα ἐν ῾Ιεροσολύμοις διέτριβον, ὕστερον δὲ εἰς 7.21.2 Κιλικίαν μετῳκίσθησαν. ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς πρὸ ταύτης ἡγεμονίας Μαρδονίου μηνύσαντος, ὃς τῆς βασιλικῆς οἰκίας μείζων ἦν εὐνοῦχος, προσέταξεν Οὐάλης εἰς Κωνσταντινούπολιν αὐτὴν κομισθῆναι. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἀποσταλέντες ἐπιθέντες ὀχήματι δημοσίῳ ἦγον· ὡς δὲ εἰς τὸ Παντείχιον ἧκον (χωρίον δὲ τοῦτο Χαλκηδόνος), οὐκέτι προσωτέρω βαδίζειν ἠνείχοντο αἱ τὸ ὄχημα καθέλκουσαι ἡμίονοι, καὶ ταῦτα τῶν ἱπποκόμων ἐπαπειλούντων 7.21.3 καὶ τοῦ ἡνιόχου χαλεπῶς τῇ μάστιγι κεντοῦντος. ὡς δὲ οὐδὲν ἤνυον (ἐδόκει δὲ πᾶσι καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ παράδοξον εἶναι καὶ θεῖον τὸ πρᾶγμα), ἀπέθεντο ταύτην τὴν ἱερὰν κεφαλὴν ἐν τῇ Κοσιλάου κώμῃ· ἔτυχε γὰρ ἐκ 7.21.4 γειτόνων οὖσα καὶ Μαρδονίου τούτου κτῆμα. περὶ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἢ τοῦ θεοῦ ἢ αὐτοῦ τοῦ προφήτου κινοῦντος ἧκεν εἰς τήνδε τὴν κώμην Θεοδόσιος ὁ βασιλεύς, βουλομένῳ τε τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ τὸ λείψανον λαβεῖν μόνην φασὶν ἀντειπεῖν Ματρώναν, ἣ παρθένος μὲν ἦν ἱερά, εἵπετο δὲ αὐτῷ διάκονος καὶ φύλαξ· ἀνθισταμένην δὲ παντὶ σθένει βιάσασθαι οὐχ ἡγήσατο 7.21.5 δεῖν, ἀντιβολῶν δὲ ἐδεῖτο συγχωρεῖν. ἐπεὶ δὲ μόλις εἶξεν ἀνήνυτον εἶναι νομίσασα τῷ κρατοῦντι τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν κατὰ τὸ συμβὰν ἐπὶ τῶν Οὐάλεντος χρόνων, περιλαβὼν τῇ ἁλουργίδι τὴν θήκην ἐν ᾗ ἔκειτο ἔχων ἐπανῆλθε, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεως Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἔθετο ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ ῾Εβδόμῳ, μέγιστον καὶ περικαλλέστατον τῷ θεῷ ἐνθάδε ναὸν ἐγείρας. πολλὰ δὲ πολλάκις λιπαρήσας Ματρώναν καὶ κεχαρισμένα ὑποσχόμενος οὐκ ἔπεισε μετα7.21.6