200

when they were being demolished, this oracle was found written on tablets in the foundations. But when the Nymphs, delighting, shall set up a sacred dance throughout the city along the well-crowned streets, and a wall shall be a much-lamented defense for the baths, then indeed countless tribes of widely-scattered men, savage, raging, clad in evil might, crossing the Cimmerian ford of the Ister with the spear will destroy the Scythian country and the Mysian land. And setting foot on Thrace with raging hopes there they will meet the end of their life and fate. And indeed everything happened thus. And when Valens returned after the victory over Procopius, he ambitiously endowed the city with a great quantity of water, constructing an aqueduct which he named after Valens. And the then-prefect of the city, demonstrating the joy to the city from this event, having constructed a Nymphaeum in the Taurus worthy of the city's size, celebrated a sacred festival, feasting all the people. And not long after these things, the barbarian nations followed, just as the writing had prophesied, pouring into Thrace, and after these things being destroyed around it. And again Valens moves against the churches. And a great earthquake occurred throughout the whole earth, so that even in Alexandria ships moored at the shore were lifted on top of the great walls. And some sailors 1.544 related that at that hour, as they were sailing in the middle of the Adriatic sea, their ships settled on the sea-bed, and after a short while the water returned, and so they sailed on.

In the fourth year he builds the aqueduct for the water which he named Valentinian. To this Valentinian a woman approached, named Berenice, saying that her property had been plundered by Rhodanus the praepositus; whom the emperor judged and ordered that her own things be restored to her. But when the praepositus did not obey, the woman approached the emperor at the hippodrome, and told the emperor of the disobedience. Therefore the emperor orders a pyre to be lit in the sphendone and the praepositus to be burned on it in his very robes, and for all his property to be given to the woman. In the fifth year of Valentinian, Valens, with the impious Eudoxius, carried out a worse persecution on behalf of the Hellenists against the orthodox. And in the sixth year the orthodox sent an embassy to Valens, 80 clerical men; all of whom Valens ordered to be set on fire along with the ship, and all were burned up with the ship, the ship lasting as far as Dakibyza. And in the seventh year, Valens the defiled gave the Greeks license to perform sacrifices and festivals. Likewise he also honored the Jews. But he was terribly persecuting only the orthodox and those of the apostolic church. 1.545 In the eighth year of Valentinian, Valens, having come 1.545 to Antioch in Syria, inflicted all manner of evils on the orthodox, killing many with the sword, and drowning others in the adjacent Orontes river. Likewise also in Edessa he arrested and murdered the multitude of the orthodox. And a certain orthodox woman, dragging her own child in haste, said "Come, child, it is the time of martyrdom; let us bear witness for Christ." This shamed Valens and prevented the pain, God clearly having arranged this. Similarly also in Cappadocia he was eager to hand over the churches to the Arians, seizing upon the opposition which Julian had from the great Basil, who was then a presbyter of the church of Caesarea, and Eusebius the bishop stirring him up to zeal for orthodoxy. But in the ninth year, when the much-tried Athanasius departed to the Lord, having been bishop for 40 years, in persecutions and in struggles for piety, Peter succeeded to the episcopate, whom the Arians drove out. Then many of the orthodox were impiously tortured, and many also were perfected in tortures. In the same year also the great Basil became bishop of the church of the Caesareans, after Eusebius had piously fallen asleep. In the tenth year Ambrose, after Eudoxius, led the church of the Mediolanenses, of Valentinian the emperor

200

λυομένων εὑρέθη εἰς τὰ θεμέλια ἐπὶ πλακῶν γεγραμμένος χρησμὸς οὗτος. ἀλλ' ὅτε δὴ νύμφαι ἱερὴν κατὰ ἄστυ χορείην τερπόμεναι στήσονται ἐϋστεφέας κατ' ἀγυιὰς καὶ τεῖχος λουτροῖσι πολύστονον ἔσσεται ἄλκαρ, δὴ τότε μυρία φῦλα πολυσπερέων ἀνθρώπων, ἄγρια, μαργαίνοντα, κακὴν ἐπιειμένα ἀλκήν, Ἴστρου Κιμμερίοιο πόρον διαβάντα σὺν αἰχμῇ καὶ Σκυθικὴν ὀλέσει χώραν καὶ Μυσίδα γαῖαν. Θρηϊκίης δ' ἐπιβάντα σὺν ἐλπίσι μαινομένῃσιν αὐτοῦ κεν βιότοιο τέλος καὶ πότμον ἐπίσποι. καὶ δὴ εἶχεν ἅπαντα οὕτως. ὡς δὲ μετὰ τὴν νίκην Προκοπίου ἐπανῆλθεν Οὐάλης, φιλοτιμεῖται τὴν πόλιν ὑδάτων πλήθει, κα τασκευασάμενος ὁλκὸν ὃν Οὐάλεντα ὠνόμασε. καὶ ὁ τότε τῆς πόλεως ἔπαρχος τὴν ἐκ τοῦ γεγονότος τῇ πόλει χαρὰν ἐπιδεικνύς, νυμφαῖον κατασκευασάμενος ἐν τῷ Ταύρῳ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς πόλεως ἄξιον, ἱερομηνίαν ἐπετέλεσεν, εὐωχήσας ἅπαντα τὸν λαόν. καὶ τούτοις οὐ μακρὰν τὰ ἐκ τῶν βαρβάρων ἠκολούθησεν ἔθνη, καθὼς τὸ γράμμα ἐχρησμολόγησεν, ἐπιχυθέντων μὲν τῇ Θρᾴ κων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δαπανηθέντων περὶ αὐτήν. καὶ πάλιν κατὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν Οὐάλης κινεῖται. σεισμὸς δὲ γέγονε καθ' ὅλης τῆς γῆς μέγας, ὡς καὶ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ πλοῖα προσωρμισμένα τῷ αἰγιαλῷ ἐπάνω γενέσθαι τῶν μεγάλων τειχῶν. ναυτικοὶ δέ τινες 1.544 ἐξηγήσαντο ὡς κατ' ἐκείνην τὴν ὥραν μέσον τοῦ Ἀδρία πελάγους πλεόντων εἰς τοὔδαφος καθίσαι τὰ πλοῖα, καὶ μετὰ βραχὺ πάλιν ἐλθεῖν τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ οὕτω πλεῦσαι.

Τῷ δʹ ἔτει τὸν ἀγωγὸν τοῦ ὕδατος οἰκοδομεῖ ὃν Οὐαλεντι νιανὸν ὠνόμασε. τούτῳ τῷ Οὐαλεντινιανῷ γυνὴ προσῆλθε, Βε ρενίκη λεγομένη, λέγουσα ὑπὸ Ῥοδανοῦ πραιποσίτου διαρπαγῆναι τὴν οὐσίαν· οὓς κρίνας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀποδοθῆναι αὐτῇ τὰ ἴδια προσέταξε. τοῦ δὲ πραιποσίτου μὴ πειθομένου προσῆλθεν ἡ γυνὴ τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐπὶ ἱπποδρομίου, καὶ τὴν ἀπείθειαν ἐξεῖπε τῷ βασιλεῖ. κελεύει οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς πυρὰν ἐν τῇ σφενδόνῃ ἀναφθῆναι καὶ τὸν πραιπόσιτον αὐτοῖς ἀμφίοις ἐν αὐτῇ κατακαῆναι, τῇ δὲ γυναικὶ τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν ἀποδοθῆναι. Τῷ εʹ ἔτει Οὐαλεντινιανοῦ χείρονα διωγμὸν Οὐάλης μετὰ Εὐδοξίου τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἑλληνιστῶν πρὸς τοὺς ὀρθοδόξους ἐποίησε. Καὶ τῷ ʹ ἔτει πρεσβείαν ἀπέστειλαν οἱ ὀρθόδοξοι πρὸς Οὐάλεντα, ἄνδρας ἱερατικοὺς πʹ· οὓς πάντας σὺν τῷ πλοίῳ ὑφαφθῆναι Οὐάλης ἐκέλευσε, καὶ πάντες σὺν τῇ νηῒ κατεφλέ χθησαν, μέχρι ∆ακιβύζων τοῦ πλοίου διαρκέσαντος. Ἐν δὲ τῷ ζʹ ἔτει Οὐάλης ὁ μιαρὸς τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἄδειαν δέ δωκε θυσίας καὶ πανηγύρεις ἐπιτελεῖν. ὡσαύτως καὶ Ἰουδαίους ἐτίμα. μόνους δὲ τοὺς ὀρθοδόξους καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς ἐκ κλησίας ἦν δεινῶς διώκων. 1.545 Τῷ ηʹ ἔτει Οὐαλεντινιανοῦ ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῆς Συρίας ἐλθὼν 1.545 Οὐάλης πάνδεινα κακὰ τοῖς ὀρθοδόξοις ἐνεδείξατο, πολλοὺς μὲν ἀνελὼν μαχαίρᾳ, ἄλλους ἀποπνίξας εἰς τὸν παραρρέοντα Ὀρόν την ποταμόν. ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἐδέσσῃ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὀρθο δόξων συλλαβὼν ἐφόνευσε. καί τις γυνὴ ὀρθόδοξος τὸ ἴδιον τέ κνον ἕλκουσα σπουδῇ ἔλεγε "δεῦρο τέκνον, καιρὸς μαρτυρίας· μαρτυρήσωμεν ὑπὲρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ." τοῦτο τὸν Οὐάλεντα ᾔσχυνε καὶ τὸ ἄλγος ἐκώλυσε, θεοῦ δηλαδὴ τοῦτο οἰκονομήσαντος. ὁμοίως καὶ ἐν Καππαδοκίᾳ τὰς ἐκκλησίας Ἀρειανοῖς παραδοῦναι ἐσπούδασε, τῆς ἐναντιώσεως δραξάμενος ἧς ἔσχε παρὰ τοῦ μεγά λου Βασιλείου Ἰουλιανός, πρεσβυτέρου τότε τυγχάνοντος τῆς ἐκ κλησίας Καισαρείας, καὶ Εὐσεβίου τοῦ ἐπισκόπου διεγείροντος εἰς ζῆλον ὀρθοδοξίας. Τῷ δὲ θʹ ἔτει τοῦ πολυάθλου Ἀθανασίου πρὸς κύριον ἐκδη μήσαντος, ἐπισκοπήσαντος ἔτη μʹ, ἐν διωγμοῖς δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἀγῶσι, Πέτρος τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν διεδέξατο, ὃν οἱ Ἀρεια νοὶ ἀπήλασαν. τότε πολλοὶ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων ἀθέως ᾐκίσθησαν, πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ἐν βασάνοις ἐτελειώθησαν. τῷ δ' αὐτῷ ἔτει καὶ ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος τῆς Καισαρέων ἐπεσκόπησεν ἐκκλησίας, τοῦ Εὐσεβίου εὐσεβῶς κοιμηθέντος. Τῷ ιʹ ἔτει Ἀμβρόσιος μετὰ Εὐδόξιον τῆς ἐκκλησίας Μεδιο λανῶν ἡγήσατο, Οὐαλεντινιανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως