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to follow the observance of his religion, that he might adhere to his own purpose without hindrance and be impeded or prevented by no one, and that they should have the liberty, without any fear or suspicion, to do what is pleasing to each. 9.10.9 Yet not even now has it been possible for it to escape our notice that some of the judges were disregarding our commands and were causing our people to hesitate concerning our orders, and were making them approach more reluctantly those religions to which they were inclined. 9.10.10 Therefore, in order that for the future all suspicion or fearful ambiguity may be removed, we have decreed that this edict be published, so that it may be clear to all that it is permitted for those who wish to follow this sect and religion, by this grant of ours, to follow this religion which they have chosen to practice according to their custom, just as each one wishes or finds it pleasant to him. And it is also permitted that they may build their own houses of the Lord. 9.10.11 And that our grant may be even greater, we have also seen fit to decree this, that if any houses and lands which previously belonged by right to the Christians, by the command of our parents have passed into the possession of the fiscus or have been seized by any city, whether a sale of them has been made or they have been given as a gift to anyone, we have commanded that all these be restored to the former ownership of the Christians, so that in this matter also all may perceive our piety and providence.” 9.10.12 These were the words of the tyrant, issued not a whole year after his decrees against the Christians had been set up on pillars. And by him by whom a little before we were considered impious and atheists and destroyers of all life, so that we were not permitted to live in a city, nor even in the country or the desert, by this same man decrees and laws were being drawn up in favor of the Christians. And those who a little while ago were being destroyed by fire and sword, as food for beasts and birds, before his very eyes, and were enduring every kind of punishment and penalty and a most pitiable removal from life as atheists and impious men, these were now by the same man acknowledged to practice their religion and permitted to build their houses of the Lord, and the tyrant himself confesses that certain rights belong to them. 9.10.13 And having confessed such things, as if he had obtained some benefit on account of these very things, having suffered indeed less than he ought to have suffered, struck by a sudden scourge of God, he is destroyed in the second engagement of the war. 9.10.14 But the circumstances of his destruction were not such as often befall generals and commanders who, fighting bravely in war for virtue and friends, courageously sustain a glorious death. But as an impious man and a fighter against God, while his army was still drawn up before the field, he himself remained at home and in hiding, he undergoes the fitting punishment. Struck by a sudden scourge of God over his whole body, so that, driven by terrible pains and torments, he fell prostrate, being consumed by hunger, and his whole flesh melting with an invisible and divinely sent fire, so that having wasted away, the entire shape of his former form disappeared, and only the dry bones, like a specter skeletonized over a long time, were left behind, so that those present thought nothing else than that his body had become a tomb for his soul, buried in what was already dead and completely wasted away. 9.10.15 And as the burning consumed him yet more fiercely from the depth of his marrow, his eyes leaped out, and falling from their proper sockets left him blind. But while still breathing in this state, he made confession to the Lord and called upon death. And at the very last, confessing that he justly suffered these things on account of his insolence against Christ, he gave up his spirit. 9.11.1 Thus, indeed, with Maximinus out of the way, who alone still remained of the enemies of religion and had shown himself the worst of all, the restoration of the churches from

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φυλακῇ τῆς θρῃσκείας ἕπεσθαι, τοῦτον ἀνεμποδίστως ἔχεσθαι τῆς προθέσεως τῆς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ἐμποδίζεσθαι μηδὲ κωλύεσθαι καὶ εἶναι αὐτοῖς εὐχέρειαν δίχα τινὸς φόβου καὶ ὑποψίας τοῦθ' ὅπερ ἑκάστῳ ἀρέσκει, ποιεῖν. 9.10.9 πλὴν οὐδὲ νῦν λαθεῖν ἡμᾶς ἐδυνήθη ὅτι τινὲς τῶν δικαστῶν παρενεθυμοῦντο τὰς ἡμετέρας κελεύσεις καὶ διστάζειν τοὺς ἡμετέρους ἀνθρώπους περὶ τὰ προστάγματα τὰ ἡμέτερα παρεσκεύασαν καὶ ὀκνηρότερον προσιέναι ταύταις ταῖς θρῃσκείαις αἷς ἦν ἀρεστὸν αὐτοῖς, ἐποίησαν. 9.10.10 ἵνα τοίνυν εἰς τὸ ἑξῆς πᾶσα ὑποψία ἢ ἀμφιβολία τοῦ φόβου περιαιρεθῇ, τοῦτο τὸ διάταγμα προτεθῆναι ἐνομοθετήσαμεν, ἵνα πᾶσιν δῆλον γένηται ἐξεῖναι τούτοις οἵτινες ταύτην τὴν αἵρεσιν καὶ τὴν θρῃσκείαν μετιέναι βούλονται, ἐκ ταύτης τῆς δωρεᾶς τῆς ἡμετέρας, καθὼς ἕκαστος βούλεται ἢ ἡδέα αὐτῷ ἐστιν, οὕτως προσιέναι τῇ θρῃσκείᾳ ταύτῃ ἣν ἐξ ἔθους θρῃσκεύειν εἵλετο. καὶ τὰ κυριακὰ δὲ τὰ οἰκεῖα ὅπως κατασκευάζοιεν, συγκεχώρηται. 9.10.11 ἵνα μέντοι καὶ μείζων γένηται ἡ ἡμετέρα δωρεά, καὶ τοῦτο νομοθετῆσαι κατηξιώσαμεν ἵνα εἴ τινες οἰκίαι καὶ χωρία ἃ τοῦ δικαίου τοῦ τῶν Χριστιανῶν πρὸ τούτου ἐτύγχανον ὄντα, ἐκ τῆς κελεύσεως τῶν γονέων τῶν ἡμετέρων εἰς τὸ δίκαιον μετέπεσεν τοῦ φίσκου ἢ ὑπό τινος κατελήφθη πόλεως, εἴτε διάπρασις τούτων γεγένηται εἴτε εἰς χάρισμα δέδοταί τινι, ταῦτα πάντα εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον δίκαιον τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἀνακληθῆναι ἐκελεύσαμεν, ἵνα καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τῆς ἡμετέρας εὐσεβείας καὶ τῆς προνοίας αἴσθησιν πάντες λάβωσιν.» 9.10.12 αὗται τοῦ τυράννου φωναί, οὐδ' ὅλον ἐνιαυτὸν τῶν κατὰ Χριστιανῶν ἐν στήλαις ἀνατεθειμένων αὐτῷ διαταγμάτων ὑστερήσασαι, καὶ παρ' ᾧ γε μικρῷ πρόσθεν δυσσεβεῖς ἐδοκοῦμεν καὶ ἄθεοι καὶ παντὸς ὄλεθροι τοῦ βίου, ὡς μὴ ὅτι γε πόλιν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ χώραν οὐδ' ἐρημίαν οἰκεῖν ἐπιτρέπεσθαι, παρὰ τούτῳ διατάξεις ὑπὲρ Χριστιανῶν καὶ νομοθεσίαι συνετάττοντο, καὶ οἱ πρὸ βραχέος πυρὶ καὶ σιδήρῳ θηρίων τε καὶ οἰωνῶν βορᾷ πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ διαφθειρόμενοι καὶ πᾶν εἶδος κολάσεως καὶ τιμωρίας ἀπαλλαγῆς τε βίου οἰκτρότατα ὡς ἂν ἄθεοι καὶ δυσσεβεῖς ὑπομένοντες, οὗτοι νῦν πρὸς τοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ θρῃσκεύειν ὁμολογοῦνται θρῃσκείαν καὶ ἐπισκευάζειν κυριακὰ ἐπιτρέπονται, καὶ δικαίων τινῶν αὐτοῖς μετεῖναι αὐτὸς ὁ τύραννος ὁμολογεῖ. 9.10.13 καὶ δὴ τοιαῦτα ἐξομολογησάμενος, ὥσπερ τινὸς τυχὼν εὐεργεσίας τούτων δὴ αὐτῶν ἕνεκα, ἧττον ἢ παθεῖν αὐτὸν χρῆν δήπου παθών, ἀθρόᾳ θεοῦ πληγεὶς μάστιγι ἐν δευτέρᾳ τοῦ πολέμου συμβολῇ καταστρέφει· 9.10.14 γίνεται δ' αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς καταστροφῆς οὐχ οἷα στρατηγοῖς πολεμάρχαις ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς καὶ γνωρίμων πολλάκις ἀνδριζομένοις ἐν πολέμῳ τὴν εὐκλεῆ τελευτὴν εὐθαρσῶς ὑπομεῖναι συνέβη, ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἅτε τις δυσσεβὴς καὶ θεομάχος, τῆς παρατάξεως ἔτ' αὐτῷ πρὸ τοῦ πεδίου συνεστώσης οἴκοι μένων αὐτὸς καὶ κρυπταζόμενος, τὴν προσήκουσαν τιμωρίαν ὑπέχει, ἀθρόᾳ θεοῦ πληγεὶς καθ' ὅλου τοῦ σώματος μάστιγι, ὡς ἀλγηδόσιν δειναῖς καὶ περιωδυνίαις ἐλαυνόμενον πρηνῆ καταπεσεῖν, λιμῷ φθειρόμενον τάς τε σάρκας ὅλας ἀοράτῳ καὶ θεηλάτῳ πυρὶ τηκόμενον, ὡς διαρρεύσαντα τὸ μὲν πᾶν εἶδος τῆς παλαιᾶς μορφῆς ἀφανισθῆναι, ξηρῶν δ' αὐτὸ μόνον ὀστέων οἷόν τι μακρῷ χρόνῳ κατεσκελετευμένον εἴδωλον ὑπολειφθῆναι, ὡς μηδ' ἄλλο τι νομίζειν τοὺς παρόντας ἢ τάφον αὐτῷ τῆς ψυχῆς γεγονέναι τὸ σῶμα, ἐν ἤδη νεκρῷ καὶ παντελῶς ἀπορρεύσαντι κατορωρυγμένης. 9.10.15 σφοδρότερον δ' ἔτι μᾶλλον τῆς θέρμης αὐτὸν ἐκ βάθους μυελῶν καταφλεγούσης, προπηδῶσιν μὲν αὐτῷ τὰ ὄμματα καὶ τῆς ἰδίας λήξεως ἀποπεσόντα πηρὸν αὐτὸν ἀφίησιν, ὃ δ' ἐπὶ τούτοις ἔτ' ἐμπνέων ἀνθομολογούμενος τῷ κυρίῳ θάνατον ἐπεκαλεῖτο, καὶ τὸ πανύστατον ἐνδίκως ταῦτα τῆς κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ παροινίας χάριν ὁμολογήσας παθεῖν, τὴν ψυχὴν ἀφίησιν. 9.11.1 Οὕτω δῆτα Μαξιμίνου ἐκποδὼν γενομένου, ὃς μόνος ἔτι λείπων τῶν τῆς θεοσεβείας ἐχθρῶν, ἁπάντων χείριστος ἀναπέφηνεν, τὰ μὲν τῆς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἀνανεώσεως ἐκ