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Contra Julianum imperatorem i

ORATION 4.

First Invective Against the Emperor Julian. I. Hear these things, all you nations; give ear, all you who inhabit the world; for I summon all, as if from some lofty and central watch-tower, with a great and loud proclamation; hear, you peoples, tribes, tongues, every race of men, and every age, both those who are now, and those who shall be; and that my proclamation may be greater, every power of the heavens, all you angels, whose work is the overthrow of the tyrant, who are to overthrow not Sihon king of the Amorites, nor Og king of Bashan, petty despots, and afflicting a small part of the world, Israel; but the dragon, the apostate, the great mind, the Assyrian, the common enemy and foe of all, who raved and threatened many things on earth, and spoke and meditated much injustice against the height.

II. Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth; for it is time for me to utter the same things as the most loud-voiced of the prophets 35.533 Isaiah. Except that he calls and testifies these things against an apostate Israel; but I against a tyrant, who both apostatized and fell a fall worthy of his impiety.

III. Hear, also, O soul of the great Constantius, if you have any perception, and all you souls of Christian-loving kings before him; and of him most of all, inasmuch as having grown up with the inheritance of Christ, and having increased it in power, and confirmed it over time, so that for this reason he became the most renowned of all kings that ever were, (O the insolence!) he committed an error of judgment most unworthy of his own piety: he unwittingly nurtured for the Christians the enemy of Christ, and in this one thing of all he did not act with true philanthropy, in saving and making king one who was evilly both saved and made king; and for this reason he would be most pleased, as with the overthrow of impiety, and with Christian affairs returning to their original state, so also with my oration. For I will offer to God an oration of thanksgiving, more sacred and purer than any irrational sacrifice, not according to his accursed speeches and trifles, and his even more accursed sacrifices, whose abundance and power were the power of impiety, and an unwise wisdom, if I may so call it; since all the power and learning of this age travels in darkness, and falls far from the light of truth. Such indeed was that wisdom among such men, bearing such fruits, like grass quickly withering, and like the green herb quickly fading away, and departing along with their fathers who perish with a sound, and are more conspicuous in their fall than in their impiety.

IV. But as for me, who today offer a sacrifice of praise, and kindle the bloodless honor of orations, who will provide an audience equal to the grace? or what tongue will resound as much as I desire? What ear will eagerly listen to the oration? For not only to the Word is the grace through word most fitting, among the other things He is named, as He especially rejoices in this title and in the power of the name; but also it is a fitting penalty for that man, to be punished by a word 35.536 for his transgression against words; which, being common to all rational beings, he, as if they were his own property, begrudged to Christians, having thought most irrationally about words, he who was, as he supposed, the most eloquent of all.

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Contra Julianum imperatorem i

ΛΟΓΟΣ ∆ʹ.

Κατὰ Ἰουλιανοῦ Βασιλέως Στηλιτευτικὸς πρῶτος. Αʹ. Ἀκούσατε ταῦτα, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ἐνωτί σασθε πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν οἰκουμένην· καλῶ γὰρ ἅπαντας, ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀπόπτου τινὸς καὶ μεσαιτάτης περιωπῆς, μεγάλῳ καὶ ὑψηλῷ τῷ κηρύγματι· ἀκούσατε, λαοὶ, φυλαὶ, γλῶσ σαι, πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἡλικία πᾶσα, ὅσοι τε νῦν ἐστε, καὶ ὅσοι γενήσεσθε· καὶ ἵν' ᾖ μοι μεῖζον τὸ κήρυγμα, πᾶσα δύναμις τῶν οὐρανῶν, πάντες ἄγγελοι, οἷς ἔργον ἡ τοῦ τυράννου κατάλυσις, οὐ τὸν Σηὼν καθελοῦσι τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἀμοῤ ῥαίων, οὐδὲ τὸν Ὢγ βασιλέα τῆς Βασὰν, μικροὺς δυ νάστας, καὶ μικρὸν μέρος τῆς οἰκουμένης κα κοῦντας τὸν Ἰσραήλ· ἀλλὰ τὸν δράκοντα, τὸν ἀποστά την, τὸν νοῦν τὸν μέγαν, τὸν Ἀσσύριον, τὸν κοινὸν ἁπάντων ἐχθρὸν καὶ πολέμιον, τὸν πολλὰ μὲν ἐπὶ γῆς μανέντα καὶ ἀπειλήσαντα, πολλὴν δὲ ἀδικίαν εἰς τὸ ὕψος λαλήσαντά τε καὶ μελετήσαντα.

Βʹ. Ἄκουε, οὐρανὲ, καὶ ἐνωτίζου, γῆ· καιρὸς γάρ μοι τὰ αὐτὰ τῷ μεγαλοφωνοτάτῳ τῶν προφητῶν 35.533 Ἠσαΐᾳ συμφθέγξασθαι. Πλὴν ὅσον ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἀθετήσαντι ταῦτα καλεῖ καὶ μαρτύρεται· ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπὶ τυράννῳ, καὶ ἀθετήσαντι καὶ πεσόντι πτῶμα τῆς ἀσεβείας ἄξιον.

Γʹ. Ἄκουε, καὶ ἡ τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίου ψυχὴ, εἴ τις αἴσθησις, ὅσαι τε πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασι λέων φιλόχριστοι· τοῦ δὲ καὶ πάντων μάλιστα, ὅσῳ τῇ Χριστοῦ κληρονομίᾳ συναυξηθεὶς, καὶ αὐξή σας ταύτην εἰς δύναμιν, καὶ χρόνῳ βεβαιωσάμενος, ὥστε καὶ πάντων διὰ τοῦτο γενέσθαι τῶν πώποτε βασιλέων ὀνομαστότατος, (ὢ τῆς ἐπηρείας!) ἀγνόημα ἠγνόησε σφόδρα τῆς οἰκείας εὐσεβείας ἀν άξιον· ἔλαθεν ἐπιτρέφων Χριστιανοῖς τὸν Χριστοῦ πολέμιον, καὶ τοῦτο μόνον τῶν ἁπάντων οὐ καλῶς ἐφιλανθρωπεύσατο, καὶ σῶσαι καὶ βασιλεῦσαι τὸν κακῶς καὶ σωθέντα καὶ βασιλεύσαντα· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα ἂν ἡσθείη, ὥσπερ τῇ καταλύσει τῆς ἀσεβείας, καὶ τοῖς Χριστιανῶν πράγμασιν εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἐπανελθοῦσιν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τῷ λόγῳ. Λό γον γὰρ ἀναθήσω τῷ Θεῷ χαριστήριον, πάσης ἀλό γου θυσίας ἱερώτερόν τε καὶ καθαρώτερον, οὐ κατὰ τοὺς ἐναγεῖς ἐκείνου λόγους καὶ λήρους, καὶ τὰς ἐναγεστέρας θυσίας, ὧν ἡ περιουσία καὶ τὸ δυ νατὸν ἀσεβείας ἦν δύναμις, καὶ ἄσοφος, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, σοφία· ἐπεὶ καὶ πᾶσα ἡ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου δύναμίς τε καὶ παίδευσις ἐν σκότει διαπορευο μένη, καὶ τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας φωτὸς πόῤῥω πίπτουσα· ἐκείνη μὲν δὴ τοιαύτη καὶ παρὰ τοιούτοις, καὶ τοιαύ τας ἔχουσα τὰς ἐπικαρπίας, ὡσεὶ χόρτος ταχὺ ἀπο ξηραινομένη, καὶ ὡσεὶ λάχανα χλόης ταχὺ ἀποπί πτουσα, καὶ συναπιοῦσα τοῖς πατράσιν ἀπολλυμένοις μετ' ἤχου, καὶ περιφανεστέροις τὴν πτῶσιν ἢ τὴν ἀσέβειαν.

∆ʹ. Ἐμοὶ δὲ θύοντι θυσίαν αἰνέσεως σήμερον, καὶ τὴν ἀναίμακτον τῶν λόγων τιμὴν ἀνάπτοντι, τίς θέατρον περιστήσει τῇ χάριτι παρισούμενον; ἢ τίς συνηχήσει γλῶσσα τοσοῦτον, ὁπόσον καὶ βούλο μαι; Τίς ἀκοὴ τῷ λόγῳ συμπροθυμηθήσεται; Καὶ γὰρ οὐ τῷ Λόγῳ μόνον ἡ διὰ λόγου χάρις οἰκειοτάτη μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ὧν ὀνομάζεται, καὶ ταύτῃ χαίροντι τῇ προσηγορίᾳ διαφερόντως καὶ τῇ δυνάμει τῆς κλήσεως· ἀλλὰ κἀκείνῳ πρέπουσα δίκη, λόγῳ 35.536 κολάζεσθαι ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς λόγους παρανομίας· ὧν κοινῶν ὄντων λογικοῖς ἅπασιν, ὡς ἰδίων αὐτοῦ, Χριστιανοῖς ἐφθόνησεν, ἀλογώτατα περὶ λόγων δια νοηθεὶς, ὁ πάντων, ὡς ᾤετο, λογιώτατος.