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appearing to do. But since the patriarch also attributes to me the destruction caused by the war, let us consider who is responsible for it. For in the first place, I think that anyone at all will assign the cause of what has happened to the one who started the war; for no one has ever blamed one who defends himself, because he is saving himself. Then let us examine the details: from whom have come the confiscations and massacres and exiles and prisons and tortures? Is it not from them? Did they not fill all the cities with tears? And with blood? Like common enemies of the Romans, do they not go about destroying the best men everywhere? Have they not spent both the public and private funds of the Romans for no good purpose? For I omit to speak of our own resources, so great in amount, which, if they themselves had not squandered them by starting the war, would have been spent for the common good, as I was preparing to do, as God, the knower of all things unseen and hidden, is my witness. Did they not themselves hand over cities, some to the Mysians, and others they voluntarily surrendered to the Triballians? Were they not the first to bring barbarians against the Romans, overrunning Macedonia and enslaving its people, as if it were an enemy land? Did they not themselves render all of Thrace uninhabited with their frequent campaigns? Did they not yesterday and the day before destroy Morrha, on the grounds that it was under my authority? Did they not cause all the public revenues to fail? Of the army, did they not destroy one part as hostile, and neglect the other as suspect, with little left and that of poor quality? But what such thing have I done? Except that I defend myself against the attacking Mysians and Triballians, and since they bring the remaining power of the Romans against me and I am unable to resist it, out of necessity I summon barbarian allies, just as I was taught by them. Who, then, is the cause of the destruction and the plunder, or rather, the perpetrator? Is it not they? But what happens to them is as if someone shooting arrows at the sky, and then being pierced by the falling arrows, should attribute the cause of the wound not to himself, but to the sky. That they themselves, therefore, have wrought the unspeakable misfortune of the Romans in the cities and are themselves most to blame for the enslavement and the plundering of the rest of the country, not even with the tips of their ears accepting peace, in order that they might destroy me alone, is clear from these things. But it occurs to me to marvel at the patriarch's inactivity, if I should not rather call it wickedness, that, when I often begged for peace, and especially of him, as a guardian of peace and one who proclaims peace to all daily, at that time he was never moved, nor did he say the church would open its heart, but it was harder than bronze, yet now when he has heard the fabrications and lies of his bedfellow, because they are most pleasing to him, he has suddenly appeared gentle and mild. And yet I would ask him, what sort of church he means by this. For if he means the general brotherhood of bishops, let him know that it has never closed its heart to me, but has kept it open to me from the beginning until now. For the majority think as I do, and they condemn their great cruelty on account of the wars and the murders. But if he means himself and certain men with him, in the first place, not even all of them are pleased with what is happening, but they lament for themselves because of the deceit and being swept away into evil deeds; in the second place, these men are not the church, but the common assembly of the faithful is called the church. Of whom the bishops and the chosen among the monks are, as it were, the select part. Of whom the best part and that which holds to right reason, pays heed to me, as one who has both from the beginning chosen and is now doing what is just and advantageous for the church of the Christians. Therefore, neither did the church formerly close its heart to me, nor does it now open it, but he himself, having committed perjury and slander and having stirred up the war, those things which he was not able to accomplish before through much bloodshed and incurable evils, namely, to destroy me, these things he now, hoping for them from the falsehoods of his friend, has opened, as he says, his heart, not in order to receive me humanely, for having long begged for this

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φαινόμενος ποιεῖν ἐπεὶ δέ μοι καὶ τὴν γεγενημένην φθορὰν ὑπὸ τοῦ πολέμου προστρίβεται ὁ πατριάρχης, σκεψώμεθα, τίς αἴτιος αὐτῆς. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ οἴομαι πάντα ὁντινοῦν τῷ ἄρχοντι πολέμου τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν γινομένων ἀναθήσειν· ἀμυνομένῳ γὰρ οὐδέποτε οὐδεὶς ἐνεκάλεσεν, ὅτι διασώζει ἑαυτόν. ἔπειτα ἐξετάσωμεν καὶ τὰ κατὰ μέρος, παρὰ τίνων δημεύσεις καὶ σφαγαὶ καὶ ἐξορίαι καὶ δεσμωτήρια καὶ στρεβλώσεις. οὐχὶ παρ' αὐτῶν; οὐ δακρύων ἐνέπλησαν τὰς πόλεις πάσας; οὐχ αἱμάτων; οὐχ ὥσπερ κοινοὶ τῶν Ῥωμαίων πολέμιοι περιόντες τοὺς ἑκασταχοῦ ἀρίστους διαφθείρουσιν; οὐ τά τε κοινὰ καὶ τὰ ἴδια τῶν Ῥωμαίων χρήματα ἀνάλωσαν εἰς οὐδὲν δέον; ἐῶ γὰρ λέγειν τὰ ἡμέτερα τοσαῦτα ὄντα, ἃ εἰ μὴ αὐτοὶ διέφθειρον τὸν πόλεμον κεκινηκότες, ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς ὠφελείας ἂν ἀνάλωτο, ὥσπερ παρεσκευαζόμην, ἴστω θεὸς ὁ πάντων τῶν ἀδήλων καὶ κρυφίων γνώστης. οὐ 2.461 πόλεις, τὰς μὲν αὐτοὶ παραδεδώκασι Μυσοῖς, τὰς δ' ἑκοντὶ προεῖντο Τριβαλοῖς; οὐ βαρβάρους αὐτοὶ πρῶτοι τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ἐπήγαγον Μακεδονίαν κατατρέχοντες καὶ ἐξανδραποδιζόμενοι, ὡς πολεμίαν; οὐ Θρᾴκην πᾶσαν ταῖς συχναῖς αὐτοὶ στρατείαις ἀοίκητον ἀπέδειξαν; οὐ χθὲς καὶ πρώην Μόῤῥαν διέφθειρον, ὡς ὑπ' ἐμοὶ τελοῦσαν; οὐ τὰς κοινὰς προσόδους πάσας ἐποίησαν ἀπολιπεῖν; οὐ τῆς στρατιᾶς τὸ μὲν, ὡς πολέμιον, αὐτοὶ διέφθειραν, τοῦ δὲ ἠμέλησαν, ὡς ὑπόπτου, ὀλίγον δὲ ἔτι τὸ λειπόμενον καὶ φαῦλον; ἐμοὶ δὲ τί τοιοῦτον εἴργασται; πλὴν ὅτι ἀμύνομαι ἐπιόντας καὶ Μυσοὺς καὶ Τριβαλοὺς, καὶ τὴν Ῥωμαίων ὑπολειπομένην ἐπάγουσι δύναμιν μὴ δυνάμενος ἀντικαθίστασθαι, ἐξ ἀνάγκης βαρβάρους συμμάχους προσκαλοῦμαι, ὥσπερ ἐδιδάχθην ὑπ' αὐτῶν. ὁπότερος οὖν τῆς φθορᾶς καὶ τῆς λεηλασίας αἴτιος, μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτουργός; οὐχ οὗτοι; συμβαίνει δὲ αὐτοῖς ὡσπερὰν εἴ τις εἰς οὐρανὸν τοξεύων, ἔπειτα περιπειρόμενος ὑπὸ κατιόντων τῶν βελῶν, οὐχ ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλ' οὐρανῷ προσλογίζοιτο τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς πληγῆς. ὅτι μὲν οὖν τήν τε κατὰ τὰς πόλεις ἀμύθητον Ῥωμαίων δυστυχίαν αὐτοὶ εἰργάσαντο καὶ τοῦ ἀνδραποδισμοῦ καὶ τῆς λεηλασίας τῆς ἄλλης χώρας αἰτιώτατοι αὐτοὶ, μηδ' ἄκροις ὠσὶ παραδεχόμενοι τὴν εἰρήνην, ἵν' ἐμὲ ἀνέλωσι μόνον, ἐκ τούτων δῆλον. ἔπεισι δέ μοι τοῦ 2.462 πατριάρχου, εἰ δεῖ μὴ μᾶλλον τὴν πονηρίαν, ἢ ἀπραγμοσύνην λέγειν, θαυμάζειν, ὅτι, πολλὰ πολλάκις ἐμοῦ περὶ εἰρήνης δεηθέντος καὶ μάλιστα αὐτοῦ, οἷα δὴ προστάτου τῆς εἰρήνης καὶ καθημέραν εἰρήνην πᾶσιν ἐπιλέγοντος, τότε μὲν οὐδέποτε ἐκάμφθη, οὐδὲ τὰ σπλάγχνα ἔφασκεν ἀνοιγνύναι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ἀλλ' ἦσαν σκληρότερα χαλκοῦ, νυνὶ δ' ὅτε τῶν πλασμάτων καὶ ψευδολογιῶν ἀκήκοε παρακοιμωμένου, ὅτι καθ' ἡδονὴν μάλιστά εἰσιν αὐτῷ, ἐξαίφνης πρᾷος καὶ ἥμερος ἀνεφάνη. καίτοι γε ἐροίμην αὐτὸν, ὁποίαν τινὰ λέγει τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ταύτην. εἰ μὲν γὰρ τὴν καθόλου τῶν ἐπισκόπων ἀδελφότητα, ἴστω μηδέποτε ἐμοὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα κλείσασαν ἐκείνην, ἀλλ' ἀνεῳγμένα μοι εἰς τόδε ἐξαρχῆς διατηροῦσαν· οἱ πλείους γὰρ ἐμοὶ φρονοῦσιν ἴσα, καὶ πολλὴν αὐτῶν ὠμότητα καταγινώσκουσι τῶν πολέμων καὶ τῶν φόνων ἕνεκα. εἰ δ' αὐτὸν καὶ τοὺς συνόντας τινὰς λέγει, πρῶτα μὲν οὐδ' αὐτοὶ τοῖς γινομένοις πάντες ἥδονται, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀπάτης καὶ τῆς εἰς τὰ φαῦλα συναρπαγῆς θρηνοῦσιν ἑαυτοὺς, ἔπειτα οὐδ' ἐκκλησία εἰσὶν οὗτοι, ἀλλὰ τὸ κοινὸν τῶν πεπιστευκότων ἄθροισμα ἐκκλησία προσηγόρευται· ὧν ὥσπερ ἐξαίρετα οἵ τε ἐπίσκοποί εἰσι καὶ τῶν μοναζόντων οἱ λογάδες· ὧν μάλιστα τὸ ἄριστον καὶ τῶν ὀρθῶν ἐχόμενον λογισμῶν, ἐμοὶ προσέχουσιν, ὡς δίκαια καὶ λυσιτελοῦντα τῶν Χριστιανῶν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ προῃρημένῳ ἐξαρχῆς καὶ πράττοντι. οὔτε γοῦν μοι πρότερον κέκλεικε τὰ σπλάγχνα ἡ ἐκκλησία, οὔτε νῦν 2.463 ἀνοίγνυσιν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἐπιορκήσας καὶ συκοφαντήσας καὶ τὸν πόλεμον κεκινηκὼς, ἃ πρότερον οὐκ ἠδυνήθη διὰ τῶν πολλῶν αἱμάτων καὶ τῶν ἀνηκέστων καταπράξασθαι κακῶν, τὸ ἐμὲ διαφθεῖραι, ταῦτα νῦν ἐλπίσας ἐκ τῶν ψευδολογιῶν τοῦ φίλου, ἤνοιξεν, ὥς φησι, τὰ σπλάγχνα, οὐχ ἵνα φιλανθρώπως δέξηται, τοῦτο γὰρ ἐκ πολλοῦ δεόμενος