Oration in Praise of Constantine, Delivered at His Tricennalia

pure and sincere faith: and by prayers and supplications joined with the labor of our hands, whatever has been done for the benefit of men has been happily accomplished; since so much of benefit, both privately and publicly, has redounded to all, as each had wished for himself and his own kin. They also witnessed the battles, and were spectators of the struggle, when Divine Providence bestowed victory upon the people: they observed God favoring and inspiring our prayers. Indeed, a righteous prayer is an invincible thing, and he who has besought God in holiness never fails of his desire. Nor is any room for repulse left, except so often as faith has wavered. For God is always present and propitious, receiving the uprightness of men with a benign countenance. Wherefore, while it is human to slip at times, God is by no means the author of human failings. Whoever, therefore, pursue piety ^B ought to give thanks to the Savior of all, for our own salvation and theirs, and for the prosperous state of the commonwealth; and by holy prayers and continuous supplications ought to render Christ propitious to us, that He may deign to make His benefits perpetual. For He is the invincible helper and champion of the righteous; He is also the best judge, the leader of immortality, and the bestower of eternal life.

EUSEBIUS PAMPHILUS

ORATION ON THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE

AT HIS TRICENNALIA

PROLOGUE TO THE ORATION

On the praises of Constantine

^C I, truly, not having devised fables, nor discourses composed for the allurement of the ears, have entered this place, that I might soothe my hearers as if with the song of Sirens; nor with golden vessels, nor with lovely ^D flowers, nor with a composition of well-polished phrases, shall I offer to these people the draughts of pleasure...

^A of the senses. But, obeying the wise, I counsel all to flee and turn away from the public highways, and I exhort them not to be pushed along with the multitude. I have arrived, indeed, intending to begin among you a song newer than the imperial hymns. And whereas many are hastening to join the same dance with me, I, shunning the beaten path of men, shall tread a track untrodden, upon which it is not permitted for unwashed feet to set step. ^B For they, being of the common crowd, and pursuing discourses worn smooth with the sophisms of youths, and embracing a Muse that is sweet and popular, charm the mortal ears of men with mortal narrations, leaving the judgment of the matter to pleasure. But those who are initiates of universal wisdom, having attained to the knowledge of both divine and human things, and having placed the choice of the better part in the lot of what is good, have preferred the God-beloved virtues and pious deeds of the Emperor himself to human qualities, and have chosen to celebrate the latter when the former, the secondary goods, have been set aside. ^C For since wisdom concerns both divine and human things—and this is also in the soul of the Emperor—some things reaching toward God and others toward men, let those who stand outside the sacred precincts (who are indeed suitable) serve the human things, which are nevertheless venerable and sublime, and useful for life—for all things that belong to the Emperor are beautiful, though they still fall short of those that are more divine. But let those who have gone inside the holy royal palaces, and within the secret and forbidden chambers, and have closed the doors to profane ears, explain the secret mysteries of the Emperor to those who are their initiates only. And let those who have cleansed their ears with the fountains of piety, and have raised their mind ^D upon the soaring wings of the soul, dance about the King of all, silently celebrating the divine themes. But let the oracles, which have been uttered not by prophecy—or rather by the frenzy of a madman—but by the inspirations of divine light, be for us the teachers of the perfect, concerning the kingship itself, and concerning the King who is on high, and concerning the divine guard about the King of all, and concerning the royal image according to us, and concerning that which has counterfeited the seal, and concerning the order that accompanies each. Those who are thus initiated into the God-befitting rites, in this way we have touched upon the divine mysteries.

Chapter I

^A This, then, is a festival of the great Emperor, and we, the children of the kingdom, rejoice in it, being inspired by the teachings of holy words. The great Emperor himself is the author and standard-bearer of our feast. Now I call him the great Emperor who is truly great—and I speak of him (nor will the Emperor who is present be angry, but rather will join in the praise of this theology) who exists beyond all things, who is the highest of all, the most supreme, the vastest, whose throne of sovereignty is the heavens, and the earth is the footstool for his feet. No one ^B could ever worthily conceive of him; for the light flashing round about him with an inexplicable splendor of rays repels everyone from the sight of his divinity. Heavenly armies patrol about him; supercelestial powers perform the duty of bodyguards, recognizing him as the same Master, Lord, and Emperor. Countless multitudes of angels, gatherings of archangels, and choirs of holy spirits, drawing as if from perennial fountains of light from the rays surrounding him, are illuminated. All lights, and the divine and intellectual kinds of spiritual lights which have their abode beyond the heavens, celebrate this great Emperor with the highest and God-befitting hymns. The great heaven is stretched out as a blue veil, separating those who are outside from those who dwell within the royal halls. About this, just as courtiers in the vestibules of the imperial palace, the sun and moon and the other luminaries of heaven ^C run, bearing torches, honoring the Emperor, and by his own nod and word, they kindle inextinguishable lamps of light for those who have obtained the space outside the heavens, which is dark. It seems to me very well done that I should hymn this great Emperor of ours, Christ, and also our victorious Emperor, ^D conscious that we have been honored with only this kingdom alone.

^A They honor Him immensely, following His nod and command, even those who dwell far from heaven in the dark region, for they offer torches of unquenchable light. Therefore, since I am aware that this greatest Emperor is celebrated with hymns also by our Victorious Augustus, I seem to myself to act rightly; for I know that He alone is the author of our empire. The God-loving Caesars also recognize Him as the source of all good, being instructed in this by their parent. The armies, the peoples, and the crowds, as well in the country as in the cities, and the governors of provinces, when they gather into the church, worship Him in due form, being instructed by the great Savior and Teacher. Finally, the whole human race together, all nations, tribes, and languages, as well those brought together as one as those living apart, although they may disagree among themselves on other matters, in this confession alone they agree; they invoke this One and only God with innate reason and notions implanted in them, not derived from any master’s teaching. Why, does not even the whole element of the earth recognize Him as Master, by the growths and animals produced from it, signaling its subjection to the nod of the Superior? ^B This, the flowing streams of rivers, the outbursts of fountains gushing from the deep, eternal, infinite abysses, acknowledge as the cause of their ineffable wonder-working; Him the abysses of the deep sea, enclosed in infinite depths, and the swelling waves raised high into the air and threatening the earth with fear, yet stopping when they reach their shores, dread, fettered by the command of divine law; Him the measured rivers of winter rains, the crashes of thunder and the flashes of lightning, the reciprocating gusts of winds, and the movements of clouds through the air, reveal to those who are unable to behold His sight; but also the all-shining sun, traversing the long ages, knows Him alone as Lord, serving His nod, and never daring to step outside its boundaries; the moon, too, yielding its light to the sun, ^C and waning and waxing at fixed periods of time, is subject to divine laws; the beauties of the heavens, sparkling with the dances of the stars, walking with order and harmony, and measuring their own circles, proclaim Him the Giver of all kinds of light, and all the heavenly luminaries together, having composed one melody by His nod and Word, completing a long course through the cycles of long ages, run the contests of the ethereal stadium; the reciprocal movements of nights and days, the changes of seasons and times, and the rhythms... ^D

and the manifold ordering of the universe—the ^A ranks of all things (of the immeasurably great power 45) honor with their manifoldly complex wisdom; and there also invisible powers, as they fly about the plains that extend through the air, send up the due and fitting theology to Him. All the world together hymns this great King, and the heavens from above, and the choirs that are above the heavenly arches, honor Him. The hosts of angels hymn Him with ineffable songs, ^B and the spirits, offspring of the intellectual light, theologize their own Begetter. Him the timeless ages before this heaven and before the world, and other infinite ages of ages, before any constitution of visible things, inscribe only as the great Master and Lord. Him also the Word of God Himself, who is before all and over all and after all 46—the pre-existing one, the great High Priest of the great God, the eldest of all time and of all ages, consecrated to the honor of the Father 47—the first and ^C alone, intercedes for the salvation of all, being glorified with the primacies of the rule of the universe, and with the second places of the Father's kingdom 48, because He Himself was the light that transcends the universe, dancing around the Father, and acting as mediator and intercessor for the essence of created things, that unoriginate and unbegotten ^D Idea. This, truly, sprouting from above from the unalloyed and unoriginate Godhead, proceeds forth, and illuminates the super-celestial realm, and all things within the heaven, with rays of wisdom more brilliant than the sun; and He Himself would be the leader of this entire universe, the Word of God, moving over all and through all and in all, both seen and unseen; from whom and through whom the friend of God, the emperor, bearing the image of the kingdom on high, steers and directs the rudders of all things on earth, in imitation of the One who is greater.

of ours, dear to God, bearing the image of the kingdom on high, steers and directs the rudders of all things on earth, in imitation of the One who is greater. ^A

CAPUT II.

And He, indeed, the only-begotten Word of God, reigns with the Father from ages having no beginning unto infinite and unending ages. Our emperor, truly, most dear to Him in perpetuity, who from the heavenly fountain receives certain imperial effluences and is strengthened by the namesake of the divine appellation, already governs the earth for many circles and revolutions of years. Furthermore, He—the conservator of all things—prepares heaven and the whole world, and the heavenly kingdom itself, as a most becoming and fitting place for His Father. This friend of His, truly, out of those who dwell on the earth, brings those subject to his own rule to the only-begotten Word of God and Savior, and makes them suitable for His kingdom.

And He, indeed, the common Savior of all, drives far away—like a good shepherd with wild beasts—those rebellious powers which, flying about through this air above the earth, used to brood upon the souls of men, by an invisible and divine power. This friend of His, adorned from on high by Him with trophies over his enemies, conquers the manifest enemies of the truth by the law of war and brings them to their senses. ^B And the Word, existing before the world and being the Savior of all, delivering rational and saving seeds to His own associates, renders them rational and instructed in the knowledge of the Father's kingdom. This friend of His, as a kind of interpreter of the Word of God, recalls the whole human race to the knowledge of God, crying out to the ears of all, and with a clear voice announces the laws of true piety and truth to all who dwell throughout the world.

And He, the Savior of all, opens the heavenly gates of the Father’s kingdom to those migrating hence to that place. This one, however, in his zeal for the Greater One, after having purged the earthly kingdom of all the filth of godless error, invites the choirs of holy and pious men into sacred houses and basilicas, showing the utmost care and diligence so that the entire fleet which he has received to govern may be saved along with the passengers themselves. And he alone of all who have ever governed the Roman empire, having been honored by God, the universal King, with three successive cycles of ten years, ^C is glorified with the first prizes of the rule over all and with the second prizes of the paternal kingdom.

^A And he does not perform these rites to spirits of the underworld, according to the ancients, nor does he celebrate them with the phantoms of soul-deceiving demons, nor with the deceits and fabrications of impious men, but he renders thanks to God, by whom he has been honored, conscious of the good things he has received from Him. He does not follow the rite of the ancients, polluting the royal palaces with blood and gore, nor does he appease the spirits of the underworld with smoke and fire and the sacrifices of burnt offerings of animals. But he consecrates to God a victim that is pleasing and acceptable to the supreme King of all—namely, his own royal soul and his most God-befitting mind. For this alone is the sacrifice welcome to God, which our emperor has learned to offer without fire and blood, through the pure contemplations of his mind, while he confirms piety in his heart by means of true dogmas and inner convictions, while he glorifies the theology of God through magnificent speeches, and while he emulates the transcendent philanthropia of God through his royal deeds. Wholly devoted to Him, and dedicating himself to Him as a great gift, as the first-fruits of the world whose administration he has received—this, then, is the greatest sacrifice which the emperor, before all others, duly offers. And he sacrifices, being a good shepherd, not ^B by slaughtering the hecatombs of firstling lambs, but by leading the souls of the rational flock which is shepherded by him to the knowledge and worship of God.

CHAPTER III

He who rejoices in such a sacrifice, and gladly welcomes the gift offered to Him, and praises the high priest of this venerable and noble sacrifice, adds to his empire long periods of time, reciprocally increasing his benefits in proportion to the religion with which he is honored by the emperor. He has granted him to celebrate all kinds of festivals with the great ease of a single monarchy, and at each ten-year cycle of the festival, he appoints one of his sons to share in the royal throne. For first, he declared his eldest son, who is called by his father’s name, to be a partner in the royal inheritance during the first ten-year period of his reign ^C, and a second during the second decade, and a third likewise during the third decade of the festival now in hand. And now, as a fourth cycle begins to turn, as the lengths of time extend themselves ever further, increasing his sovereignty through the abundant partnership of his family and through the appointments of Caesars ^D.

^A He fulfills the divine oracles, which long ago loudly proclaimed here: «And the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom» (Dan. vii, 18). Thus, indeed, God himself, the King of all, bestowing upon the most God-beloved Emperor increments of both time and progeny, makes his sovereignty over the nations of the earth both flourishing and youthful, as if it had only just begun to sprout; and He himself completes this festival for him, establishing him as conqueror over all enemies and foes, and manifesting him to all upon the earth as a pattern of true piety.

Like the sun’s light with the radiance of the Caesars’ beams, he illuminates those who live in the farthest regions, shining upon them with the rays sent forth from him to distant lands; here, to us who have been allotted the East, he grants his own worthy fruit, ^B while to another part of humanity he gives another of his children, and again others elsewhere, distributing them like lamps and luminaries from the lights flowing out of him. And then, having yoked these most valiant Caesars under the single yoke of a royal chariot, as if they were his own colts, and having adjusted them with the reins of divine harmony and concord, he himself, as charioteer, drives from on high, riding over the whole earth, as much as the sun surveys, being present to all and overseeing everything. Then, adorned with the image of the heavenly kingdom, looking upward, he steers those below according to the archetypal ^C pattern, strengthened by the imitation of the monarchical power; for this the King of all has bestowed upon man alone of all creatures upon the earth; for this is the law. ^D

^A Indeed, it is the law of royal power which determines that all things are subject to one rule. For a single rule stands above all states and administrations. For the rule of many, having equal power among themselves, which is opposed to this, should rather be called a mob and a tumult. Therefore there is one God, not two, or three, or even more. For a multitude of gods is, strictly speaking, atheism. There is one King, and his Word and kingly law is one, ^B not uttered in words and syllables, nor worn away by length of time on papers and tablets, but the living and self-subsisting Word of God, who disposes and orders the kingdom of the Father for all who are under him and after him. Heavenly hosts encompass him, and infinite thousands of angels ministering to God, and throngs of the supramundane army, and spirits residing within the heavens, invisible, who serve the order of the whole world. Of all these the royal Word is the leader and prince, as a kind of prefect of the supreme Emperor. This master of the army, the great high priest, the prophet of the Father, the messenger of the great counsel, the radiance of the Father's light, the only-begotten Son, and other such countless titles do the sacred oracles of the theologians call him. ^C When the Father had established this living Word, this law and wisdom, the fullness of every good, he bestowed this supreme good as a gift upon all who are under his kingdom. And he, pervading all things and proceeding everywhere, and spreading the benefits of the Father copiously upon all, even to those rational animals that dwell upon the earth, produced a likeness of the royal sovereignty, adorning the human soul, fashioned in his own image, with divine faculties. Hence it is that the soul of man also participates in other virtues through a certain divine derivation. For he alone is wise who is also alone God. The same is alone good by nature, alone strong and powerful. The same is the procreator of justice, the father of reason and wisdom, the fountain of light and life, the dispenser of truth and virtue, and finally the author of the sovereignty itself, and of all rule and power. ^D

CHAPTER IV

^A Whence was the notion of legitimate empire and royal power offered to men? Whence did imperial power fall to a creature composed of flesh and blood? Who explained to those on earth the invisible and shapeless ideas, and the incorporeal and featureless substance? Verily, there was one interpreter of these things, the Word of God, who passes through all things; the Father of the rational and intellectual substance which is perceived in men, who alone is fastened to the divinity of the Father, and who waters his own offspring with paternal emanations. Hence for all men, Greeks and barbarians alike, there exist rational thoughts by nature without the instruction of any; hence come the notions of reason and wisdom; hence the seeds of prudence and justice; hence the comprehension of the arts; hence the knowledge of virtue and the honored name of philosophy and the venerable love of wisdom; hence the knowledge of every good and honest thing; ^B hence the image of God himself is fashioned in the soul, and a way of life answeringly suitable to divine worship. Hence, the power of kingship is supplied to man, and an unconquerable command over all things that are on earth. For when the Word, the Father of rational beings, had fashioned the character according to the image of God and His likeness in the soul of man, He made this animal royal, showing it to be the only one of those upon earth that knows both how to rule and how to be ruled, and to practice and learn beforehand ^C from this source the promised hope of the heavenly kingdom. For the sake of this, He himself has arrived, and the Father of children did not shrink from coming to associate with mortals; and, cultivating his own seeds and renewing the gifts from above, he announced to all that there would be an abundance of the heavenly kingdom. He likewise called all, and urged them to be ready and prepared for that journey into heaven, and to prepare for themselves a garment worthy of that calling. And by an ineffable power, he filled the whole world which the sun illuminates with his preaching, portraying the heavenly kingdom by the likeness of the kingdom upon earth; to which he encourages and impels the whole human race, having set forth this as a good hope.

CHAPTER V

Of this hope, our emperor, dear to God, becomes a participant even in this life, inasmuch as he has been adorned by God with innate virtues and has derived heavenly emanations into his soul from that source. For he is rational by reason of that universal Word; wise ^D by participation in divine wisdom, good by communion with the Good, and just by partaking of justice, and temperate by the practice of temperance.

^A For this cause, he will rightly be called emperor, who has fashioned his own soul with all the colors and lineaments of virtue, to the likeness of the heavenly empire. But he who is a stranger to these things, and who has denied the King of the universe, and has not acknowledged the heavenly Father of souls; nor has taken upon himself the adornment and splendor fitting an emperor, but has filled his soul with deformity and turpitude, and instead of imperial gentleness has taken on the ferocity of a wild beast; instead of a generous disposition, the pestilential poison of wickedness; instead of prudence, folly; and in short, in place of reason and wisdom, the most foul insipience of all vices—from which, as from a bitter potion, there spring up pernicious shoots: an intemperate and lost life, lusts, murders, war against God, and impiety—he who, I say, has been enslaved to all these vices, even if he may sometimes appear to rule by tyrannical violence, in truth he will never be deservedly called emperor. For how could he express the likeness of the heavenly monarchy, who carries in his soul thousands of false and adulterate images of demons impressed upon it? ^B How could he be a prince and master of all, who has himself brought into subjection to himself infinite and most cruel masters? Who is a slave to foul lust, a slave to intemperate madness for women, a slave to money acquired by unjust means, a slave to anger and rage, a slave to fear and panic, and finally, a vile chattel of bloodthirsty demons and spirits that create destruction in souls? Therefore, let only him be proclaimed by us as emperor, with truth as our witness, who is beloved by God, the King of all—he who is truly free, or rather, who is in very reality a master. He who is superior to the desire for money and the love of women, who is a victor over pleasures, even those which nature allows, who does not succumb to rage and anger but keeps those affects in his power—this man is truly emperor, having received a title befitting his actions. ^C He is truly Victor, for he has carried off the victory over the perturbations that are wont to crush the souls of men. He who has been fashioned toward that primitive archetype of the supreme Emperor of all, bears in his mind, as in a mirror, the splendor of virtues poured out from that heavenly exemplar, and thus, having been perfected by these virtues—temperate, good, just, brave, pious, a lover of God—this emperor is truly and alone a philosopher, who knows himself, and is fully aware of the dispensations of every good thing granted to him from without, or rather, from heaven. He who reveals the venerable name of the monarchical power in the exceptional covering of his mantle, and who alone is worthily wrapped in the imperial purple befitting him. ^D

^A This emperor, who by night and by day calls upon the heavenly Father and invokes Him in his prayers, is one who defines ^B himself by the highest kingdom. For, understanding that the present things are not worthy of the God who is King of all—things that are mortal, perishable, and flowing away like a river and passing to nothing—he longs for the incorruptible and incorporeal kingdom of God, and prays to attain it. Through a great-minded reason, he lifts his mind above the heavenly vault and is possessed by an unspeakable longing for the lights therein, by comparison with which he considers the treasures of the present life to be nothing different from darkness. He sees the sovereignty of men, a small and short-lived stewardship of a mortal and temporary life, as not much better than the rule of goatherds, or shepherds, or cowherds; indeed, he considers it more laborious and troublesome than the care of animals. Even the acclamations of the masses and the voices of flatterers he regards rather as a burden than as a pleasure, because of his steadfast character and the genuine discipline of his soul. Furthermore, ^C he is not at all struck with amazement when he looks upon the bodyguard of his subjects, the myriads of armies, the hosts of infantry and cavalry, slave and subject to him. Nor is he puffed up by his rule over these, for he turns his mind within himself and sees therein the common nature of all men. He laughs at the gold-woven robe embroidered with various flowers, and at the imperial purple and the diadem, seeing how the multitude is amazed by them, and how, like mere children, they stand in awe of such a phantom as if it were a terrifying mask. He himself, having suffered nothing of the sort ^D because of his knowledge of the divine, clothes himself in a garment that is truly suitable to an emperor, one adorned with temperance, justice, piety, and the rest of the virtues. Moreover, he considers the money so greatly desired by the many—I mean gold and silver and all the kinds of stones that are admired—to be in truth useless and worthless matter, for as they are by nature, so he sees them to be, unable to assist as a defense against evils. For what power do these have for the removal of diseases or the avoidance of death? Yet, even though he knows this with certainty, he utilizes them for the seemly decoration of those he rules, acting with an uninfluenced mind, while laughing at those who are wrapped in them.

these things due to a childish state of mind, drunkenness, and excessive indulgence in delicacies, such as are appropriate for gluttons; he considers that these things are appropriate for others but not for himself. For he is convinced that such things cause great harm and darken the intellectual power of the soul. For all these reasons, the emperor, having been instructed in divine matters and holding great thoughts, aspires to things better than the present life, calling upon the heavenly Father and longing for His kingdom, doing all things with piety, and presenting to those under his rule, as if they were being taught by a good master, the knowledge of God, the great King.

CAPUT VI.

^BMoreover, God, as if offering him certain pledges of future remuneration in advance, bestows upon him thirty-year crowns, woven from happy cycles of years. And now that three spaces of ten years have been completed, He grants that public festivals of the peoples—or rather, of the whole world—should be celebrated by all mankind. Meanwhile, while mortals, crowned with the flowers of the knowledge of God, exult, it would not be absurd if the heavenly choirs also, stirred by the laws of nature, were to leap with joy together with those on earth; and it is credible that the King of all Himself is affected with joy, like a good father, when He sees His good sons properly worshipping God; and for this reason, especially, He delights in honoring the prince and author of these things with more cycles of years. ^C So much so that He is no longer satisfied with granting thirty-year cycles to his empire, but extends it into the longest time and even to the final age. For the whole age is ageless and unending, and it does not lie in the nature of human reasoning to perceive its beginning or its end, nor can it be grasped in its middle center; nor does it allow those who wish to seize what is called "now," ^D let alone the future or the past of time; for...

what is past has already passed away, and what is future is not yet present, and therefore it does not exist at all. As for the "now," which refers to this moment, it slips away faster than either thought or speech. It is impossible in any other way to grasp it as if it were standing still. For one must either expect the future or contemplate the past; for as it slips away along with the thought itself, it flees. In this way, the whole of time does not endure being subjected to the calculations of mortals, but refuses to serve them. ^B Yet it does not refuse to acknowledge its own King and Master; it carries Him as He rides upon its back, exulting in the ornaments it has received from Him. And He who directs it from above does not bind it with a golden chain, as the poet has it, but, having bridled it as if with reins by means of the bonds of ineffable wisdom, He established within it months and times, seasons and years, and the alternating intervals of nights and days, with all harmony, having bounded it with various limits and measures. For it, being by nature straight ^C and extending to infinity—and having received the name of *aion* as though "always being"—is itself similar to its own parts, or rather, being partless and undivided, it increases by extending only in a straight line. But He, dividing it with middle segments, and having distinguished it as a straight line drawn out in length by points, deposited a great multitude within it. While it was one and assimilated to unity, He bound it with every kind of number, and, out of the formless, He established the variety within it. For first of all, He set up within it formless matter, as a kind of all-receptive substance. Second, He produced quality in the matter, by the power of the dyad, making form out of the formless. And by the number of the triad, ^D being extended threefold, into breadth, length, and depth, He fashioned a body composed of matter and form. And from the twofold dyad, the nature of the elements...

^A having devised the tetrad—earth, water, air, fire—He brought forth fountains as perpetual supplies for the benefit of this universe. For the tetrad begets the decad; since one, two, three, and four make up the number ten. And the triad, conjoined with the decad, formed the nature of the month. The month, by twelve revolutions, fulfilled the circuit of the sun. Hence come the cycles of years and the changes of seasons, which, as if in the variety of a many-flowered painting, fashioned the previously formless and featureless aeon, for the rest and pleasure of those who ride ^B through the course of life within it. For just as for those who, spurred by the hope of prizes, contend in the sacred contests, the intervals are marked out by stages, and for those traveling on a long journey, the public road is defined by certain resting places and stages, so that no one, extending his expectation into infinity, may become exhausted in his zeal; in the very same way, the King of all things, having encompassed the entire aeon with the bonds of wisdom, leads and steers it, driving as a charioteer in whatever way seems right to Him. The same Moderator of the universe, clothing the aeon, previously devoid of figure, with the beauty of colors and the freshness of flowers, brightened the day, indeed, with the brilliance of the sun, but by spreading night with a darker color, He caused the sparks of the stars to glitter therein like golden shavings. ^C Moreover, having kindled the bright beams of the morning star, and the changing light of the moon, and the highly luminous assemblies of the stars, He adorned the entire heaven, like a vast robe, with every kind of beauty of form. And having extended the air from the heights down into the depths, and by its means having cooled the entire breadth and length of the world, He commanded it to be adorned with every kind of bird, opening this vast sea—as it were—for all things passing through the air, both visible and invisible, to swim in. Finally, having balanced the earth in the middle like a center, He surrounded it with the Ocean, which exults in the ^D azure color of its garment. And after He had shown this to be the hearth, the nurse, and the mother of all living things within it, and had watered it with rains and fountain-fed streams, He granted it to flourish with all sorts of plants and seasonal flowers for the cheerful enjoyment of life. And having fashioned in it the most precious thing, and the one dearest to God Himself, after His own image—having endowed it with mind and knowledge, the offspring of reason and wisdom—He gave to rational man the power to rule, by sovereign authority, over all the rest of those things which creep and feed upon the earth. For man was to Him, of the animals upon the earth, the most God-beloved.

As a father, He entrusted ^A to him the generations of irrational creatures; for man, He rendered the sea navigable, and crowned the earth with plants of every kind; to him He gifted scientific faculties for the reception of all manner of knowledge; to him He made subject those things that creep in the depths and the birds that soar aloft; to him He revealed heavenly contemplations, making manifest the courses of the sun, the turnings of the moon, and the periods of the wandering and fixed stars. Man is the only being on earth whom He appointed to know the heavenly Father and to honor the great King of the entire age with hymns. But furthermore, the World-Maker wrapped the immutable age in the four seasons of the year, sketching the wintry hours by means of spring, and balancing the inception of the annual seasons ^B of spring with equal scales. Then, after having crowned the entire age with the abundant fruitfulness of spring, He handed it over in the peak of summer [(95)]—then, as if allowing it to rest from labor, He refreshed it with the autumnal interval. With the moist pouring of winter rains, as if washing down some royal steed, and rendering it bright with the streams from it, and having sufficiently watered it with the irrigation of the rains, He again set it at the threshold of the gates of spring.

From this point, therefore, the great King, having harnessed his own age within the cycle of the entire year with such reins of wisdom, commanded that it be borne under a greater ^C governor [(96)], having entrusted the reins of the whole to His own only-begotten Word, the common Savior of all things. And He, as one who has received the inheritance from a good Father, and having encompassed all things whatsoever are within and without the container of heaven [(97)], looks after his rational creatures on earth with justice. Having legislated the measures of life for those who pass through this mortal life, he practices the preludes of the life beyond the present age, and has granted it to all men; for he taught that there is indeed a divine and blessed life beyond the present age, and that it is stored up for those who have struggled well, in the hope of good things. And for those who have lived temperately and piously, he taught that the transition and migration from here to better things will come to pass, while for those convicted here, he assigns the appropriate place.

Then, as in the contests of the games, having proclaimed all kinds of crowns for those who have conquered, he crowns them with one trophy of virtues [(98)] upon another, but for the good King who has adorned himself with piety, he proclaims that greater prizes are prepared, for which he even now permits them to celebrate in the preludes, as a festival of the perfect.

^A composed of numbers, of triads, and of tripled units. Of these, the first triad might be called the offspring of the unit, while the unit is the mother of numbers, presiding already over all months, hours, years, and the entire cycle of time; and since it is the beginning, foundation, and element of every multitude, the unit may deservedly be so named from its "remaining." For while every multitude is diminished or increased by the subtraction or addition of numbers, the unit alone has attained stability and permanence, separated from all multitude and from the numbers generated from it, bearing an image of that essence which is undivided and distinct from all others, through the power and participation of which the nature of all things consists. For the unit is the creator of every number, since every multitude is strengthened by the composition and addition of units; nor is it possible otherwise, apart from the unit, to conceive of the substance of numbers. It would, however, be outside of multitude, most remote and superior to every number, making and constituting all things, while itself receiving increase from nothing ^B ever. The triad, related to it, is likewise inseparable and indivisible, and is the first of the numbers consisting of even and odd; for the even number two, having taken the unit to itself, gave birth to the nature of the triad, the first odd number; and the triad was the first to manifest justice, having led the way to equality, as it possesses a beginning, a middle, and an end that are equal. These are an image of the mystical, most holy, and royal Trinity, which, tied to the nature that is without beginning and unbegotten, has received the seeds, the reasons, and the causes of the substance of all created things. And the power of the triad, therefore, might deservedly be considered the beginning of everything; but the decad, having attained the limit of all numbers, halts the whole at itself, being deservedly called full and most perfect, inasmuch as it contains all ideas and all measures of all numbers, of ratios, and of concords and harmonies. ^C Units, indeed, having increased by composition, are bounded by the ten. Having acquired this mother and solid boundary, they run around it as a turning-post in a racecourse. Then, having completed a second circle, and again a third and fourth, and so on up to ten, they fill out the hundred from ten decades; then they run back to the first starting-point. From there, beginning again and advancing as far as ten, and running around the hundred ten times, they wheel back through the same turning-posts, running long double-courses, and from them they cycle back into themselves. For the tenth of the ten is the unit; and ten units manifest one decad; and the decad is the limit of units, a boundary, and a consolidating turning-post ^D from which it permits [one] to celebrate the festival composed of perfect numbers. Of the decades, then, it is the tripled [set], and of the triads, the decupled.

δεκαπλασιόνων. ^A Since it consists in a nature exempt from origin and beginning, containing in itself the seeds, reasons, and causes of all things that have an origin. And the power of the triad is justly and deservedly considered the principle of all things. But the denary, containing the end of all numbers, halts and terminates all things that have progressed up to it; and it is deservedly called full and perfect in every respect, inasmuch as it embraces all species and all modes and measures of numbers, reasons, concurrences, and harmonies. Units, certainly, when increased by composition, are finished at the denary, and, having been allotted the decade ^B as a mother and a terminal boundary, run their course as if in a circus-track around this goal. Then, a second, third, and fourth time, until the tenth circuit is completed, they fill the centenary number from ten denaries. Hence, having returned to the first starting-points, and having progressed again by a repeated course to the denary; after they have circled the centenary ten times, they retrocede again, and complete the longest courses around the same goals, returning through a circuit into themselves. For in the denary, the unit is the tenth part; and ten units make one denary. The denary, indeed, is the limit, the end, the goal, and the perfection of units; it is the goal of the infinity of numbers, but the end—that is, the perfection—of the units. Furthermore, the ternary, when joined together with the denary, where it has completed the orbit of ten circuits, generates the number thirty, which is most natural. For what the ternary is in units, the very same is the tricenary in denaries. This ^C is also a certain boundary of that great luminary which is second from the sun. For the course of the moon from conjunction with the sun to the next conjunction completes the cycle of a month: upon which being finished, having again attained the beginning of its origin, it restores a new light and new days. And it is adorned by thirty units, but by three denaries, and by ten ternaries. By these same gifts, the empire of our August Victor, the lord of the whole world, is adorned by the most high Giver of all good things, and takes its beginning of new blessings; ^D hitherto indeed fulfilling the festival of the thirtieth year; but from this point on reaching toward longer intervals of time, and pledging hope of future blessings in the heavenly kingdom. Where not one sun, but hosts of innumerable lights exult around the supreme Emperor of all: of which each is more splendid than the sun itself, and [radiates] from the eternal fountain.

^A A sign [c8] by which, having vanquished death, [c7] He raised a triumph over His enemies; which, truly a victory-trophy and a scourge of demons, when you set it against the phantasms of error, bringing it into battle-array against all impious enemies and barbarians, and now also against the barbarians themselves, and other demons of this sort, you gained the victory [c(8)].

CHAPTER VII

^A supreme god was death. And because they would render no account of themselves after the dissolution which occurs in death, they determined to live a life that was by no means life, committing such deeds as were worthy of a thousand deaths. For since they neither took God to mind, nor expected the tribunals of divine judgment, nor rekindled the memory concerning the substance of their souls, but used one terrible leader, death, and persuaded themselves that the corruption of bodies from this was the dissolution of everything, they declared death itself to be a great and wealthy god, and indeed Pluto. And death was to them not only a god, but also the things prior to it that were prized, which contributed to their voluptuous life. For a god to them was the pleasure of the flesh, a god was food, a god was the growth of these, a god the budding of fruits, a god the debauchery through drunkenness, a god the desire of bodies, a god the pleasure of these things. Hence the mysteries of Demeter and Persephone, and the abduction of Kore by Aidoneus, and again her return; hence the initiations of Dionysus, and Heracles conquered as if by a god stronger than drunkenness; hence the adulterous orgies of Eros and Aphrodite; hence Zeus himself, mad for women and lusting after Ganymede, and the obscene inventions of myths about gods who were pleasure-seekers and passion-lovers. With such shafts of god-fighting error, then, the cruel barbarians and enemies of the King of all oppressed those on earth; and they took the whole race into subjection, so that everywhere on earth, statues of godlessness were raised, and temples and shrines of a falsely-named theology were established in every corner. Those who were then thought to rule ^B were so enslaved to this error that they would sacrifice to their own gods with the slaughter of their own kinsmen and relatives, and sharpen their swords against the champions of the truth, and wage an implacable war and raise impious hands, not against alien and foreign enemies, but against those of their own household and friends, against brothers and relatives and those most dear, who had decided to honor and worship the Divinity by the seriousness of their life, by temperance, and by truly pious undertakings. But while they, in such a way, through the madness of their minds, slaughtered those dedicated to the King of all for their own demons, the noble martyrs of true piety, having practiced preferring the glorious death for the truth to life itself, set at naught such a tyranny. Like soldiers of God, fortified by the virtue of endurance, they made every manner of death a matter of laughter; fire and iron and nails, wild beasts and the depths of the sea, the cutting off of limbs and branding irons, the plucking out of eyes, the mutilation of the whole body, and in addition to these, famine and mines and chains—they considered these sweeter than every good and every pleasure, because of their love and desire for their ^C God. Those who were at that time thought to hold power were so enslaved to this error, that they would sacrifice to these gods with the slaughter of their own kinsmen and relatives; and they would sharpen their swords against the champions of the truth, and wage an inexpiable war and stretch forth impious hands, not against alien and barbarian enemies, but against those of their own household and relatives, against brothers and friends, who by the seriousness and modesty of their life and the institutions of true piety, [were devoted to the divine]. Before the Christian religion had occupied the whole world, just as the Christian religion was afterwards called "the prevailing glory" (and the Christians "those who prevail," as I have noted in my books of *Ecclesiastical History*), so the Gentiles, as long as their superstition flourished, are rightly called "those who prevail"—though later, in chapter 9, at the beginning, he spoke of "the rulers of that time." ^D

^A Likewise, souls of women, no less virile than men, bore the same struggles as the men and carried off equal prizes for their virtue; while others, fleeing the corruption of their bodies, delivered their soul to death faster than they delivered their body to defilement. Thousands more, during the reign of the rulers of that time, were unable to endure even the mention of the threat of rape, and courageously underwent every form of torture and every death sentence. But while the champions of the great King fought through the trials of the polytheistic army with a steady soul and reasoned judgment, those enemies of God and foes of human salvation—more savage than any barbarian—rejoiced in such libations of human blood. And the ministers of these beings ^B offered them such draughts of unjust murder, providing a bitter and impious banquet to the ruin of the common race of man.

When matters stood thus, what was God, the King of those being oppressed, to do? Was He to ignore the salvation of His most beloved, and look down upon His own intimates being attacked in this way? Yet, that wise governor could never be called wise who would allow his ship to sink along with its passengers, having contributed nothing of his own skill and industry for the safety of those sailing; nor would that cautious and provident leader ever be called prudent who had betrayed his own people to the enemy, unavenged and undefended. Moreover, ^C no good shepherd would ever passively ignore a sheep of his flock that had strayed from the rest of the company, but would rather leave those that were well and secure in a safe place, and would suffer anything for the sake of the salvation of the one that had strayed, even if he had to wrestle with wild beasts.

But the great King did not concern Himself with an irrational creature; rather, He was anxious for the sake of His own army, and for those who were being warred against for His sake. Accepting their contests and their struggles on behalf of godliness, He honored those who had set out on the journey toward Him with the victory rewards that are with Him, and inscribed them into the angelic choirs of heaven. He watched over those on earth, remaining as embers and seeds of godliness for those born later, while also making them spectators of the retribution visited upon the ungodly and narrators of the history of the events that transpired. Then, stretching out His own right hand for the defense against the enemies, He punished them with invisible blows, and suddenly rendered them unseen. ^D

^A And thereby He compelled them, even against their will, to sing a palinode for the wrongs they had committed against themselves; while those who were down in the dust He raised up, exalting those who were once lowly and despaired of by all. And this the great Emperor enacted from heaven, having set forth his own servant as an invincible soldier; for our emperor rejoices to be addressed in this way, by reason of his abundance of piety, he who indeed proved to be the victor over the entire race of his enemies, having roused one against the many. For they were ten thousand, and many against many, being friends ^B of demons, or rather they were nothing at all, whence they do not even exist. But he, the one emperor descending from the One, is an image of the One who is the Universal King. And they, with godless soul, destroyed pious men with murderous slaughters; but he, imitating his own Savior, and knowing only how to save, saved even the godless, instructing them in piety.

Then, as one who is truly a victor, he overcame that twofold race of barbarians: the wilder tribes of men he tamed with rational embassies, and compelled them to know their betters and not to be ignorant, shifting them from a lawless and bestial life to a rational and lawful one; but the harsh and brutal nature of the invisible demons he exposed by deeds themselves, as having been long since vanquished by the One who is greater. For the Savior of all invisibly avenged Himself upon the invisible, while this one, as an official of the Great Emperor, ^C followed against those already conquered, plundering the long-dead and lost, and distributing the spoils abundantly to the soldiers of the Victor. God indeed established him as the victor over every race of enemies, having aroused him alone against the many. For they were indeed innumerable; and many, as being friends of many demons. Or rather, they were nothing, and therefore in the present they are nothing. But this man, one emperor from the One, bears the likeness of the one God, the Emperor of all. They, possessed of godless minds, destroyed pious men with bloody slaughters; but he, imitating the example of his Savior, and knowing nothing else but to save men, saved even the impious themselves, instructing them unto true piety. Then indeed, as truly a victor, he overcame that double race of barbarians: the men themselves endowed with barbarian ferocity he softened with prudent embassies, compelling them to submit to their betters and leading them from an illicit and bestial mode of living to a civil and more ^D humane one. The cruel and savage race of invisible demons, however, he exposed, through the very facts themselves, as having long since been overcome by God. For the common Savior of all had vanquished the invisible spirits by a certain invisible power. But this man, in…

^A truth, as he perceived that the untrained multitude of men, like infants, was vainly terrified by the phantoms of this error, though they were fashioned of gold and silver, he thought it necessary to remove them from the way, just as if they were certain stumbling-blocks cast before the feet of those walking in darkness, so that the royal road might henceforth be plain and level for all. Having thought on these things, he did not consider that he needed the hand of soldiers or a multitude of armies to repress these things, but one or two of his familiar friends sufficed him for the performance of this task, whom he sent into all the provinces by a mere nod. And they, trusting both in the piety of the emperor and in their own religion towards God, passing through the most crowded throngs of men and numerous populace, searched out the lurking-places of ancient error throughout cities and fields. And first, indeed, they commanded the priests themselves, not without laughter and disgrace, to bring forth their gods from certain dark recesses. Then, stripping these same gods of their external adornment, they subjected their internal deformity, which lay hidden beneath the painted figure, to the sight of all. Finally, having scraped off the more useful material and cast and melted it in the fire, they themselves reserved what seemed convenient and necessary, but whatever was superfluous and utterly useless, they left for the superstitious as a perpetual memory of their shame. Something else, too, similar to this, was performed by the prince worthy of all admiration. For at the same time that the images of the dead made of precious material were being despoiled in the manner we have described, he took care that the others, which were fashioned of bronze, should be gathered up. Therefore, those gods, celebrated in the old wives' tales of the Greeks, were led away bound in nets. Thereafter, the emperor, as if raising a most splendid torch from a certain vantage point, began to look around with royal eyes on every side, in case any hidden remains of error still survived. And just as an eagle possessed of the sharpest sight, when it has been carried up into the sky on its wings, easily discerns from on high those things on earth which are at a very great distance, so he, while he dwelt in the palace of his most beautiful city, looked out as from a watchtower upon a certain deadly snare for souls lurking in ^D Phoenicia. This was a grove and shrine, which was not placed in the middle of the city, nor in the forum or squares, as many such are seen in cities, built ambitiously for the sake of ornament; but it was remote, far from the crossroads and the public street, dedicated to a most foul demon whom they call Venus, on a part of the summit of Mount Lebanon. This was a school of wickedness for all the dissolute, who had corrupted their bodies with great ease. Indeed, certain effeminate men—not men, but those who had denied the dignity of their nature—propitiated the demon with a female sickness, and illegitimate unions of women, and adulterous corruptions, and unspeakable and infamous deeds were attempted in this temple, as in a lawless and unrestrained place; and there was no overseer of the things being done, as there was no one...

^A of sound mind or character who dared approach. But the great Emperor was not unaware of what was being enacted there; for since he saw these things with his own eyes through the imperial providence, he judged such a temple unworthy to be illuminated by the sun itself, and ordered the whole structure to be utterly destroyed from its very foundations. By the imperial command, those contrivances of an unrestrained error were immediately destroyed, and the military force assisted in the cleansing of the place; and those who had hitherto been given to licentiousness, terrified by the threats of the Emperor, learned to conduct themselves with modesty. In this way, when the Emperor had exposed to the gaze of all the masks and outward coverings of the wickedness that had seduced the minds of the people, he proclaimed his Savior before all. And there was no one who could come to the aid of those who were convicted and caught; neither demon nor god, neither soothsayer nor prophet. For the minds of men were no longer wallowing in deep darkness, but, being illuminated by the rays of true piety, they ^B condemned the ignorance of their ancestors and pitied their blindness, and accounted themselves blessed, for having been liberated from so terrible an error. Thus, in a short time, by the will of the great God and the ministry of the Emperor, the whole race of enemies, both visible and those who escape the sharp edge of the eyes, was destroyed; and henceforth, peace, the excellent nurse of youth, occupied the whole world. And there were no longer wars, for there were no longer gods. Nor did battles persist throughout the fields and cities as before, when the worship of demons flourished; nor was the shedding of blood among men seen to be rampant, as when the fury of the polytheistic mania was at its height.

CHAPTER IX.

It is now a fitting time to compare the new with the old, and to observe the change for the better brought about by the comparison with the worse; let us see in what manner, in former times, ^C vestibules and shrines, groves and temples, were laboriously constructed for them in every city, and the temples were crowned with very many votive offerings. And the gods were held in high regard by the tyrants of that time, and the nations and peoples in the fields and in every place, and already in their homes, in their own storerooms and chambers and with statues, were honoring the ancestral traditions.

^A The fruit of their piety, however, was not the peace which we now see with our eyes, but all things quite the contrary: wars, namely, and battles and seditions, by which they were worn out through their whole life, and filled their own lands with blood and internal slaughter. Moreover, the gods who were worshipped by them, while they enjoyed power at that time, promised them prophecies and oracles and the foreknowledge of future events, basely fawning upon them. Yet they could not foresee or predict their own destruction. This, indeed, is the greatest proof for convicting them of fraud. Certainly, no one of those who were formerly admired for their oracles ever predicted the most splendid advent of the common Savior of all upon the earth, nor the new proclamation of the divine knowledge brought forth by Him; ^B nor did the Pythian himself, nor any other of the number of great demons, foresee their own desolation, nor did he prophesy who was about to attack and overthrow them. And what soothsayer or prophet ever predicted that the worship of the gods would be utterly extinguished in the lands by the advent of a new one, but that the knowledge and piety toward the King of all would be handed down to all mankind? Who foresaw this holy and religious reign, this victor himself, and the trophies everywhere on earth erected by him against the demons, and the destruction of the high places ^C and their annihilation? And who of the heroes ever spoke of the smelting in fire, and the transformation of inanimate things from a useless form into necessary uses? Who of the gods ever made mention of his own statues being melted down and cut up into thin plates, not without mockery? Where, I ask, were their defenders, that they could not aid the monuments consecrated to themselves which were being destroyed by men? Where are they who previously stirred up wars, and who now behold their own conquerors living in the deepest peace? Where are they who trusted in them as gods, and who had puffed up their minds with vain persuasion; they who, when they had raised the error of their own superstition to the highest peak, and had undertaken an unjust war against the champions of the truth, perished miserably in their misery? Where is the troop of giants ^D fighting against God Himself? Where are the hissings of the dragons who, sharpening their tongues against the supreme Moderator of all, were uttering impious voices? For indeed they, having waged war against the King of all, and relying on a multitude of gods, advanced with a great force of military hand, protected by the images of dead men—those images of the dead, cast into lifeless statues—but he, protected by the breastplate of piety, [used] the saving and life-giving sign as a kind of terror...

and bulwark against the forces of the enemy, and won the victory over both the enemies and the demons alike. Thereafter, showing his grateful spirit, having offered prayers with thanksgiving to God who had been the author of the victory, he proclaimed the triumphal sign to all men with a loud voice and with the erection of statues; setting this signal trophy in the midst of the royal city against all enemies; and clearly declaring this to be the indelible saving sign of the Roman Empire, and indeed the protector of the whole dominion. He taught all men to know this, and before all, the military, whom he especially urged not to pin their hopes on spears and armor, nor on the strength of their bodies, but to acknowledge the God over all as the giver of every good thing and of the victory itself. Thus the Emperor himself—O what a marvelous report!—became the teacher of prayerful words to his own army, and delivered pious prayers to them in accordance with divine statutes, [bidding them] lift their hands on high toward heaven, and raise the eyes of their mind to the King in heaven, and call upon Him ^B as the giver of victory, savior, guardian, and helper; and moreover, he led them in observing the day of prayer appropriate thereto, the day that is truly the Lord's and is in reality the first.

On the Lord's Day

And custom and propriety require us to honor every Lord's Day and to keep festival on this day, for the reason that on this day our Lord Jesus Christ provided us with His resurrection from the dead. Wherefore it is also called in the Holy Scriptures the "first," as being the beginning of our life, and the "eighth," as having passed beyond the Jewish Sabbath. [alt-version omitted]

^{C D} [index: entries preserved]

^A And he handed down laws and ceremonies in accordance with this, so that, with hands raised heavenward, but with the eyes of their mind lifted even higher toward the heavenly King Himself, they might invoke Him as the author of victory, as Savior, protector, and helper in their prayers; and that they might judge that day to be the one consistent with their prayers which ^B truly is the first and the head of the rest, and which is truly the Lord’s and life-giving, and is called by the name of light, of life, of immortality, and of every good thing. Moreover, having himself become a teacher of such great blessings, he venerates his Savior in the very interior chambers of the palace; and now by praying he fulfills divine laws and ceremonies; now by the reading of the sacred Scriptures he instructs his mind. Furthermore, he appointed as ministers and as guards of his entire household men consecrated to God, who were adorned with the gravity of life and the rest of the virtues. Finally, his faithful protectors and attendants, armed with the weapons of benevolence, acknowledge the emperor himself as their teacher in a life of piety.

The emperor honors that triumphant sign, as one who has experienced the power of divinity hidden within it. For truly, hosts of enemy armies turned to flight before this sign, and armies of invisible demons were routed. By this sign the insolence of those who had declared war on God was suppressed; and the tongues of slanderers and impious men were bound. By this sign ^C barbarian nations were subdued, and the superstitious frauds and mockeries of the demons were exposed. Finally, to this, which is the head and sum of all good things, the emperor, as if paying a debt, erected triumphal arches everywhere on earth. He built temples and shrines in His honor with royal opulence and generosity, and commanded that oratories be built for everyone. Immediately, therefore,

The gathering of all, whether they remain in cities or in the country, on the day called of the Sun

(36) He says that it is named for light and life, not because the day of the Sun was [so] called by the Gentiles, but because it is the day of the Lord, on which, that is to say, the Lord rose again and gave us life and light: and because on that day we received the Holy Spirit, the illuminator of our souls. (37) "Himself becoming a teacher," that is, not content to instruct others, he himself did the things he teaches, according to the precept of the Gospel. (38) *Vulgate*. "Was raised up." It should be read "was raised up." Certainly in the codex of Fuk. it is read "was raised up."

^A dramatic spectacle, through which, as if defending the Divine, they straightway experienced the proof of their insanity. Nor indeed did a short space of time pass for them before, in one moment of a heaven-sent tempest, it rendered them invisible, so that neither race, nor seed, nor any remnant of their memory remained among men; but they were all utterly consumed in a short time, though they were divided into a multitude, being punished by heaven-sent scourges. But these men of God-opposing madness found such an end; whereas he who had been shielded by the saving trophy, alone—yet not alone, for the one true King was with him and helping him—rendered the new works that were built to replace those destroyed a little before far better, and the latter he made far more honorable than the first. In this way did he brighten the city that bears his name with various Churches of God; in this way did he honor the one that rules over the Bithynians, ^B by making it the greatest and most beautiful. (59) And as for the rest of the nations, he adorned the most powerful amongst them with similar works. But he took two particularly exceptional portions of the East: one in the Palestinian nation, as if from thence, as from a source, a life-giving stream had rained down upon all, and the other in the metropolis of the East, which claims the title of Antioch. (40) In the latter, as if at the head of all the nations of that region, he dedicated a divine and unique structure, for the sake of its size and beauty; enclosing the entire temple with long outer circuits, and inside, raising the palace to an inconceivable height, he adorned it in an octagonal shape; and by surrounding it with many halls and cloisters in a circle, he crowned it with every kind of beauty. Now ^C these things were being accomplished in such a way. But as to those in the Palestinian nation, in the midst of the royal seat of the Hebrews, at the very site of the saving martyrdom, (41) he decorated a vast house of prayer and a holy temple to the saving sign with rich and bountiful liberalities, a monument filled with eternal memory, and he honored the very trophies of the great Savior against death with adornments that surpass any description. And having taken three regions there, honored by three mysterious caves, (42) he adorned them with rich buildings: to the cave of the first theophany he allotted the honor that was appropriate, ^D and to that of the last...

ascension, he honored the memory upon the summit of the mountain, while in the cave that lies in the midst between the two, he extolled the struggles and victory of our Savior. All these caves the emperor magnificently adorned, proclaiming to all men the salutary sign of the cross. Furthermore, this sign, yielding the reward of piety to the emperor, amplifies his entire house and empire, and confirms the time of his reign with many circles of years, reserving the fruits of virtue and rewards for his excellent children and his lineage and their descendants. And this is the greatest argument of the power of God who is worshipped by the emperor, because, balancing the straight scales of justice with equal weight on both sides, he attributes to each party its congruent reward. For those who had stormed the holy houses, the penalty of impiety pursued them instantly. For all of them were straightway taken from the midst without offspring, without house, without hearth, and without a trace. But he who worships and observes his Lord with every kind of piety; and now builds basilicas in his honor, and now with gifts consecrated everywhere in the world displays him to his subjects, is seen by right and merit to have him as the savior and guardian of his family, empire, and lineage. In this way, the deeds of God, through the divine virtue of the salutary sign, became known to all.

CHAPTER X

to be worshiped. Of so many blessings, then, has He become the cause to men, which this great and marvelous sign has manifested; by which, those things that are worthless are no more, and those things that were not before, are now beaming forth to all the rays of piety; and words and instructions and exhortations to a sober and godly life are preached to the hearing of all nations, and the Emperor himself preaches them; and it is the greatest wonder that so great an Emperor, with a most mighty voice, like some interpreter of the sovereign King, God, cries out to the whole world, calling all those pastured under him, together, to the knowledge of the One who is; and indeed in the midst of the imperial palaces, no longer as before ^A the chatter of ungodly men, but priests and ministers of God, conspicuous in piety, celebrate the festival day with royal hymns of praise; and God, the one King of all, is proclaimed to all, and the evangelical word, promising all good things to us, joins the human race to God, announcing the heavenly Father to be propitious and kind to his children on earth; and choirs celebrate Him with songs of victory of every kind, and the whole mortal race joins its voice in song with the angelic hosts in heaven; and rational souls, through the bodies in which they are clad as if through musical instruments, send up to Him the fitting hymns and God-beloved theologies; and those who dwell toward the east, together with those who have obtained the regions toward the west, are instructed at the same moment of time in His teachings; and those who have occupied the northern lot, together with those who dwell toward the south, resound in harmonious melodies, following the same ways and words, pursuing a godly life; and they praise one God who is above all, and acknowledge one only-begotten Savior, the cause of all ^B good things, and acknowledge one corrector of the world on earth, and recognize his God-beloved children; and he, like a wise, high-seated pilot, sitting at the helm, and steering a straight course, with a favorable breeze, conducts all who are under him to a safe and calm harbor. But God Himself, the great King, extending His right hand to him from above, makes him, for the time being, the victor over all enemies and foes, increasing the power of his empire through long periods of years; and He is yet to show him a partaker of better blessings, confirming to him by deeds His own promises, which the present time does not allow to be spoken of; but one must wait for the journey thither, for it is not in the nature of mortal eyes, or of the ears of the flesh, to perceive divine things. ^C And he, like a wise ^D pilot, high-seated, sitting at the helm, and steering a straight course, with favorable wind, guides all his subjects to a safe and tranquil port. But God supremely...

^A granting to him from on high His right hand, thus far renders him victorious over all enemies and foes, and enlarges the strength of his empire through many circuits of years. But He is about to make him a participant in far superior blessings, and will confirm His promises by the things themselves. Which promises the present time does not yet allow to be commemorated, but his departure from this life must be awaited: since divine things can in no way be grasped by mortal eyes and ears of flesh.

CHAPTER XI

Come now, O greatest Victor Constantine, let us impart to you, in this imperial book, the mysteries of things unutterable concerning the King of all, ^B not that we may teach you who have been instructed by God: nor that we may reveal to you mysteries, to whom God Himself, long before our words—not from men nor through any man, but through the common Savior of all Himself, and through the divine appearance of His divinity which has often shone upon you—has opened and unveiled the hidden things of the sacred; but that we may lead ignorant and unlearned men to the knowledge of the truth, and explain to those who know not the causes and reasons for your pious and religious deeds. For those things which, for the honor and worship of the supreme Emperor God, your ^C extraordinary virtue performs daily throughout the whole world, are celebrated in the speech of all mortals. But those things which you have consecrated as tokens of grateful spirit to your guardian and savior in our own soil (I mean the province of Palestine) and in that city from which the saving word, as if from a fountain, overflowed into all men; and the trophies of victory over death which you have erected in the buildings of prayer-houses and the dedications of sacred temples—those lofty and exceedingly beautiful works of imperial magnificence, truly imperial, constructed around the saving monument of immortal life—do not have a cause manifest and plain to all. For those who are enlightened by the celestial power of the divine Spirit know and understand the cause itself; and they ^D justly admire and call you blessed for that counsel, and that impulse of soul which you assumed not without some divine motion. But those who are unskilled in divine matters, through the blindness of their soul, place ridicule and broad laughter upon the matter, supposing it unseemly and inappropriate for so great an emperor to be concerned with monuments of dead bodies and tombs; or rather, would it not be better, one of them might say,

^A to preserve ancestral customs and to propitiate the heroes and gods honored in each nation, nor to spit upon them and shun them on account of such calamities? For either they, too, ought to be honored with divine honors on account of their sameness of suffering, or, if they are to be rejected on account of their human sufferings, the same judgment must be passed upon this one.

These things some perhaps might say, with brow tightly furrowed, ^B thinking themselves wiser than the rest and elevating their own vanity with gravity of speech. Yet, to such a one, as one erring through imprudence, the most merciful Son of the all-good Father, the Word of God, granting pardon—not only to him, but freely inviting all who have strayed from the straight path to the instruction of divine discipline—builds schools and lecture halls throughout the entire world, in regions and villages, in fields and desert places, and in all cities alike, commanding Greeks and barbarians, the wise and the unlearned, the poor and the rich, servants and masters, ^C subjects and princes, the impious, the unjust, the ignorant, the profligate, and the blasphemous, to come and hasten to the divine therapy, as a most humane Savior and physician of souls. And so, announcing to all an oblivion of former sins, He once called out in a clear voice: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. XI, 28). And again: “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matt. IX, 13). And He adds the reason, saying: “For those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Ibid. 12). And: “I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should repent” (Ezech. XVIII, 23).

Hence, it occurs to the man trained in divine things, who has learned the causes of the zeal proposed, that it is through an inspiration greater than human that the assent of our Emperor is moved, and he marvels at the godliness of his manner, believing that his zeal for the memorial of the saving resurrection did not come about without God, but by the inspiration, truly, of a higher power, and he glories in being a good servant of a good Master. These things, greatest Emperor, since I am truly persuaded they are most dear and acceptable to you, the present discourse desires to explain to all, ^D acting as an interpreter of your mind, and rejoicing to exist as a messenger of your god-loving soul, teaching all things that it behoves one who has been trained in divine things to learn.

^A for those who possess an earnest desire to learn the words of the power of our God, through which He, who existed of old and was providing for the whole, at last descended to us from heaven, and through which He put on human nature, and through which He approached death, and the causes of the immortal life and the resurrection from the dead that followed! Not only this, but also logical demonstrations and clear teachings, necessary for those who still require them, it is time that we should take up the discourse from somewhere here.

Those who have transferred the worship of God, the Maker of the universe and Supreme Ruler of all, to those things brought into existence by Him—exchanging the sun and the moon and the remaining parts of the world, and the first elements of all things, earth, water, air, fire, honor with the same name as their Maker and Creator, and calling them gods, which never were and never would have existed, nor even have had a name, had they not stood in attendance upon the Word of God who is the Maker of the world—seem to me to differ but little from those who, overlooking the architect of the noble works within the imperial palaces, wonder exceedingly at the vaults, and the walls, and the polychrome and many-flowered paintings within them, and the gold-wrought decorations and the carvings of stones, ^B and ascribe to these very things the praise and the name of the artisan's skill; whereas it is fitting to attribute the cause of admiration, not to those things which are perceived by the eyes, but solely to the architect, and to confess that while the many works are indeed those of skill, he alone is skillful and wise who was the author of those things which are gazed upon by the many. Indeed, they would differ in no way from children who admire the musical instrument of the seven-stringed lyre itself, but not the inventor and master of its harmony; or those who pass by the hero in the wars, but adorn the spear and the shield with triumphal crowns; or those who honor the marketplaces, and plazas, and edifices void of sense, and temples, and gymnasia, with the same honor as the great emperor, the author of the great and royal city, ^C when, however, it is fitting to wonder, not at columns nor stones, but rather at the very founder and legislator of the great work. In the same way, those who behold this whole universe with the eyes of the flesh should not attribute the cause of it either to the sun, or to the moon, or to any other of the heavenly bodies, but to confess that all these things are the works of Wisdom, while likewise remembering their Maker and Creator, and setting it before all else to honor and worship Him. ^D And from this point of view, one must no longer worship with the eyes of the body, but with a clear and pure mind alone, and worship and theologize about the all-sovereign Word of God with the whole disposition of the soul; for even in the case of a man, no one has ever declared the cloak covering the body of the wise and learned man, or the furniture of his house, to be the wise, or the eyes, or the head, or the hands, or the feet, or the rest of the flesh!

παρέστη. ^A to acknowledge the works of wisdom; remembering meanwhile Him who created them, and preferring His worship and observance to all other things. From the sight of these things, one must venerate and adore with the whole affection of the soul Him who is perceived not by the eyes of the body, but by the pure and refined sight of the mind alone—namely, the Word of God, the commander of this universe. For no wise and learned man ever called the eyes, or the head, or the hands, or the feet, or the other limbs of a human body, "wisdom"; much less the cloak with which he is wrapped, or household furniture, or vessels necessary for the use of a philosopher; but every prudent man admires the mind itself that lies hidden and invisible within. Thus, too, before all the visible works of this world, which are corporeal and fabricated from one and the same matter, we ought to marvel at that invisible Word who formed and adorned this universe; who is the only-begotten Son of God, whom He, the Creator of all things, who transcends every substance, brought forth from Himself and appointed prince and ruler of this universe. ^B For since it was impossible that the fleeting substance of bodies and the nature of rational animals, which had been recently brought forth, should approach the most high Ruler of all, God, because they are surpassed by Him by infinite spaces—inasmuch as He is indeed unbegotten, set above and beyond all things, inexplicable, inaccessible, and to whom it is impossible to attain, dwelling in light unapproachable, as the sacred oracles speak—while those things were produced from nothing, divided and separated by a very long interval from that unbegotten nature; not without cause does God, the Best and Greatest, interpose as a medium the divine and pre-eminent power of His only-begotten Word. This power indeed dwells and converses most perfectly and closely with the Father; and remaining within Him, it enjoys His mysteries, yet nonetheless benignly descends, and in a certain manner composes and adapts itself to those who are furthest from the supreme heights. For otherwise it would be unlawful for Him who is set above and beyond all things to be joined with corruptible matter and body. Therefore, the divine Word, mingling Himself with this universe, taking into His hands the reins of the whole world, guides and carries it, steering it with all-wisdom, as seems fit to Him. And there is a clear proof of this Word. For if the parts of the world themselves, which we are accustomed to call the primary elements—earth, water, air, fire—which consist of a senseless nature, and which we behold with our own eyes; if one substance underlies them all, ^C which those skilled in these matters are wont to call the "all-receptive" mother and nurse—and this is formless and shapeless, and utterly lifeless and senseless—whence, one might ask, could the order that is in it exist within it? Whence the distinction of the elements? Whence the concurrence of opposites into one and the same place? Who commanded the heavy element of earth to be carried upon a liquid substance? Who…

turned back the downward-tending nature of water and carried it aloft in the clouds? Who constrained the power of fire and bade it lie hidden in wood and mix with things contrary to its nature? Who, having mixed the cold air with the hot nature of fire and broken off the mutual strife between them, brought them into grace and concord? Who propagated the mortal race by the device of succession to a long-lived state of a kind of immortal life? Who fashioned in the manner we see the male and female, and having joined both into one harmony, contrived a beginning of generation for all animals? Who made the fluid nature of seed, which was corruptible, flowing, and void of sense, to be prolific and fit for generating an animal? Who even now continues to perform all these things, and ten thousand things greater than these, which are beyond wonder and amazement? Who, on each day and hour, accomplishes the generations [and hours] ^B of these things by a secret and invisible power? But indeed, the wonder-working Word of God might justly be declared the cause of all these things. For the Word, truly almighty, having spread Himself through all things, and having stretched Himself incorporeally upwards to the height and downwards to the depth, having embraced the breadths and lengths ^C of the All as if with broad hands, gathered and tightened the whole, and having fashioned this, a panharmonic instrument, for Himself, He directs by unspoken reasons the irrational and formless and shapeless substance of bodies—very wisely and with logical power, effectively joining the disconnected ^D by means of the intervals—and He governs the sun itself, and the moon, and the light-bearers in the heavens, leading them to the utility of the whole. And the same Word of God, having also gone deep into the earth, established the kinds of animals and the multiform beauties of plants. This same Word of God, having also descended into the depths of the sea, devised the nature of swimming creatures, having there too wrought myriad and innumerable forms and differences of diverse animals. And this same One, inside the workshop of nature, completes and fashions the creatures within the womb. He it is who, having lifted ^D the fluid and heavy nature of the liquid substance up into the air, and then having sweetened it by the transformation, introduces it to the earth by measure, and completes the provision at appointed times. Here, as a skilled husbandman, having irrigated the land well and having mixed the moist with the dry, He transforms it in every way, at one time with beautiful flowers, at another time with various shapes, at another time with sweet fragrances,

or by providing a variety of fruits for the taste. Why need I venture to describe the powers of the Word of God, and attempt what is impossible, when His activity far surpasses every human intellect? ^A Some, indeed, have called Him the nature of the universe, others the soul of the whole, others fate; and there are those who, I know not how, confounding things that are most widely separated, have declared Him to be the God who is beyond all things—while yet casting down the Ruler of all and the unbegotten and most high Power to the earth, and binding Him up with corruptible matter, describing Him as taking a middle position between irrational and rational animals, and between mortal and immortal substances. But so much for them.

CHAPTER XII

The divinely inspired teaching, however, asserts that that which is the highest of all goods, the very cause of all things, is beyond all comprehension; and for this reason, it is ineffable, unspeakable, and nameless, surpassing not only voice but every conception, not comprised in any place, nor existing in bodies, nor in heaven, nor in the ether, ^B nor in any part of the universe, but being everywhere and outside of everything, stored up in the secret abyss of knowledge; and it designates this alone as the true God.

^A The sacred oracles teach that ^A He must be recognized as the only true God, who is separated from every corporeal substance, and is alien to every ministry of dispensation. Wherefore, all things are said to have existed from Him, but not through Him. But He Himself, like an emperor, dwelling within ^B secret and inaccessible recesses, inhabiting light inaccessible, everywhere ordains and commands according to the judgment of His own will. For by His will whatever exists comes to be; and by His not willing, it does not exist. Moreover, He wills all things that are good, because He is by His own nature goodness itself. But the Word of God, through whom are all things, flowing down from the good Father like an eternal and infinite fountain, ^C like a river, proceeds forth, gushing out entirely for the common salvation of all. And just as in our own example—the mind within us, which is spiritual and invisible, the substance of which ^D no mortal has ever known, or what it is, or of what kind—residing like an emperor in the secret recesses of the palace, alone looks upon what must be done. But the Word, like an only-begotten Son, generated from the mind itself in an ineffable way and by a secret power which cannot be expressed in words, goes out from its hidden bosom as from a parent; and having become the first messenger and interpreter of paternal thoughts, He openly announces to all what has been established by the parent in secret and hiddenly, and being brought to the ears of all, He executes the counsels of His Father by His very works. And while they indeed receive great benefit from the Word Himself, no one has ever beheld with their eyes the mind itself, which is the hidden and invisible parent of the Word. Thus plainly, or rather in a more excellent way and one far surpassing every comparison of example, the most perfect Word of God, the King of all, as His only-begotten Son, not consisting in the power of prolation, nor composed of syllables and names and words, nor expressed by voice through the striking of the air; but as the living and efficacious Word of the most high God, and personally subsisting: for He is the power of God and His wisdom, proceeding from the divinity and kingdom of the Father. And since He is the good offspring of a good Father, and the common conservator of all things, He permeates and irrigates the universe, and through the abundance of reason, wisdom, light, and all the good things that are in Him, He diffuses Himself into all things, irrigating not only the things that are near and next to Him, but even things far distant across land and sea, and whatever other lot may fall to them in the universe; to all of which together He ordains boundaries, regions, laws, and allotments in the most righteous manner, distributing and granting to each what is fitting with royal authority, and [D (part two)] for some He ordains the super-celestial arches, for others...

the heaven itself, for others the ether, for others the air, and for others the earth to be cultivated. ^A And again, moving them from these places to others, He judges the lives of each most excellently, and rewards their characters and the habits of their conduct; He provides for their sustenance and nourishment, not only for rational beings, but also for irrational animals for the use of the rational. And to some He grants the enjoyment of a mortal and temporal life, and to others participation in an immortal one, for He Himself, as God the Word, accomplishes all things, being present to all, and traversing all things with a rational power; looking upward to His own Father, He governs the lower things according to His nod, and those consequent to Him, as the common Savior of all; ^B being somehow in the middle, and gathering the begotten substance to the Unbegotten. This unbreakable bond of God is the Word, standing in the middle, binding togetherthings that are separated, and not allowing them to fall far away; this is the universal providence, this is the guardian and corrector of all; this is the power of God and the wisdom of God, this is the only-begotten God, the Word born of God: "For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that has been made," as the sacred voices of theological men teach us. This is the common cultivator of all, through whom the substance of all things grows and flourishes, being constantly watered by the showers ^C from Him, and providing the freshness of everything with a youthful and lovely bloom. And He who holds the reins completes His course by the Father’s nod, piloting the great vessel of the entire universe. Having thus, as the best of Fathers, begotten such an Artificer, the only-begotten Son, from Himself as an excellent fruit, the God who is above all gave Him to this world as the greatest good, as it were infusing His own Word into the irrational nature of bodies, just as a soul into a lifeless body, and enlightening and animating the formless, shapeless, and lifeless substance with the divine power of the Word. He is the one whom we must know and observe, present everywhere in matter and the elements of bodies, and animating all things—the same being light and the intellectual offspring of the ineffable Light, one in substance as being from one Father, ^D yet possessing many powers within Himself. For we ought not to believe that because there are many parts of the world, there are also many powers, nor because the things created are many,

must we therefore posit many gods. But like foolish ^A children, they have wandered into a terrible error, those born of polytheistic men, by deifying the parts of the universe and dividing the one world into many. Just as if someone, having taken the eyes of a man—since he is composed of one body—were to claim that these alone are a man, and again the ears were another man, and similarly the head, neck, chest, and shoulders, the feet and hands, and having fragmented the remaining limbs and divided the faculties of the senses by his reasoning, were to say that the one was many humans—he would provide nothing more than a laughingstock of folly to the sensible. Such would be he who posits countless gods for himself from the parts of one world, or who thinks that this generated world itself is God, consisting as it does of many parts; not knowing that the divine nature is not ^B even partible, for how could it ever consist of parts? For if it were composite, it would require another to compose it. It is not, then, partible; for how could it be divine, composed as it would be of unlike differences, of inferior and superior things? But the divine nature is utterly simple, indivisible, and incomposite, and is placed beyond all the arrangement of the world perceived by the eyes. ^C Therefore, that herald of truth loudly proclaims this clearly: "The Word of God, who existed before all things, is the only Savior of all rational beings. But the God who is above all, the principle and author of generation, being alone..." ^D

^A properly called Father, acknowledges no cause superior to himself. He therefore is the one God. But the Only-Begotten proceeds from him, the one Word of God, existing through all things and the conservator of all. And this sensible world, not otherwise than a lyre composed of many and dissimilar strings, of which some are acute, others grave; some relaxed, others intense; some intermediate between these, yet all well-tuned according to the precepts of the musical art: so also [the world] itself is composed of many parts, namely, of the cold and its contrary, heat; likewise of the moist and its contrary, the dry substance; and producing from all these one harmony, it may deservedly be called the great instrument and work of the great God. But the divine Word, who consists neither of parts nor is composed of contraries, but is simple and indivisible, skillfully and harmoniously touches this universe, and emits the due and fitting concert to his Father, the supreme moderator of all.

And just as in one body, parts and members, viscera also and intestines are fashioned together in great numbers, yet one soul is diffused through all things, and an indivisible and incorporeal mind is one: so in this universe, the world itself is indeed gathered into one from many parts; but the divine Word, powerful in much strength and omnipotent, is likewise one, existing through all things, and diffused through all without wandering error, [and] is the cause of all that happens in them. ^B Do you not see with your eyes this universal world? How the one heaven embraces the innumerable choirs of stars moving in circles around it. How also the one sun leads many other choirs of stars, and by the excellence of its light hides the splendor of all others. Thus, since the Father is one, one also must his Word be, as the best offspring of the best Father. But if anyone complains that there are not more [such fathers or words], he could with equal reason complain that there are not more suns, more moons, more worlds, and six hundred other things; like some madman, attempting to tear apart those things which have been most excellently and prudently constituted by nature. Indeed, just as among visible things the sun alone illuminates the world subject to the senses, so among things perceived by the intellect, the one omnipotent Word of God, by a certain invisible and, to us, occult reason, illuminates the universe. ^C For even in man, one soul and one faculty of reasoning is the artificer of many things at once, since the same soul [is able] to till a field, and build a ship and steer it, and construct a house; now it is carried here, now there, but as a soul, which is diffused through all the members at once, and does not wander from these to those. ^D For just as in one body, myriad limbs and parts, viscera and entrails are gathered, and a soul, invisible and one, is spread through the whole, and the mind is one—indivisible and incorporeal; so indeed in this [universe], the world consists of one [whole] through many parts, and the Word of God, likewise, being one, all-powerful and omnipotent, proceeding through all things and spread out without error through all, would be the cause of all things that are in them. Do you not see with your eyes the whole world? As one heaven embraces around it 91 myriads of choirs of stars revolving; again, the sun is one, but there are not several, and by its excess of light it covers the coruscations of all things; so indeed, since the Father is one, one also must his Word be, being good from the good Father. But if someone blames that there are not several [Gods], it is time for such a one, since he does not construct several suns, and moons, and worlds, and myriad other things, to be accused, after the manner of one who is mad, attempting to distort the right and well-ordered things of nature. But as in visible things the one sun illuminates the entire sensible world, so indeed even in intelligible things, invisible and unseen to us, the one omnipotent Word of God illuminates all things; since even in man one soul and one rational power could be the creator of most things at once, if the same soul, having learned to farm, and to build ships, and to govern, and to build, were to set itself to the task; and one mind and reason in man might accept myriads of sciences, and the same [mind] will measure geometry and study astronomy, and will deliver the discourses of grammar and rhetoric and medicine, and will preside over both studies and manual works; and yet no one has ever thought that there are several souls in one body, nor has he marveled at many essences in man, because of the reception of many learnings. And if someone, having found the formless matter of clay, and then having softened it with his hands, should give it the figure of a living creature, by one shape [giving] a head, and to another [part] hands and feet, and again to another eyes and likewise cheeks, ears and mouth and nose, chest and shoulders, sketching them with the plastic art; but since many shapes and parts and members have been fashioned under one body, it is not necessary to think that there are so many creators, but to know that one is the artificer of the whole at once, and it is necessary to praise the one who, with one reason and one power, fashioned the whole; so indeed even with regard to this universal world, being one, but having come into existence from very many parts, one must not hypothesize many creative powers, nor name many gods, but profess one theology, the all-wise and all-harmonious, the truly divine wisdom, one in power and one in virtue, resounding through all things, and moving through the whole world, and all things...

^A both in general and in particular, as well as the bodies and elements, receiving from it a varied supply; just as the light of the sun, being one and the same radiance, at once and at the same moment illuminates the air, lights up the eyes, warms the touch, makes the land fertile, increases plants, establishes time, leads the stars, moves around the heavens, makes the world bright, and establishes God’s visible power in everything—all these things it accomplishes by a single impulse of nature. In the same way, the nature of fire, in a single burning power, purges gold, melts lead, dissolves wax, dries out mud, and burns wood, ^B achieving so many things by one act. Thus, the all-sovereign Word of God, who comes through all things, being in all, and observing all—heavenly and earthly, hidden and visible—governs them, steering the sun itself, the heaven, and the entire universe with ineffable powers; present in all things by an active power, and passing through all regions. If He pours eternal light from His own fountain upon the sun, the moon, and the stars, and holds up the heavens as a most fitting image of His own magnitude forever, He also fills the powers beyond heaven and the world—the angels and spirits, those intellectual and rational beings, with life and light, with wisdom and all virtue, with everything beautiful and good—from the treasures within Himself. ^C By one and the same creative art, He never ceases to provide substance to the elements, and to bodies their mixtures and temperaments, and even their forms and shapes, and countless qualities, both in animals and in plants, and in souls both rational and irrational, decorating them now in one way, now in another, and providing all things for all at once by a single power. He openly demonstrates that this is not a seven-stringed lyre, but one world, full of many harmonies, the work of one world-creating Word. ^D

CHAPTER XIII.

Let us now proceed to explain the reason why such a Word of God descended upon the earth. Foolish and senseless men, not understanding this Word of God (who is the presiding ruler of heaven and earth, brought forth from the divinity of the Father as from a fount, and who is ever present and co-existent with this world, providing clear tokens of His providence and of His benevolence toward men), did not hesitate to bestow the venerable name of God upon the sun, the moon, the heaven itself, and the stars. And not stopping there, they deified the earthly nature, the fruits produced from the earth, and every kind of nourishment for the body, fashioning for themselves images of ^A Ceres, Proserpina, Bacchus, and other such deities. Nor did they halt their progress here; for they did not scruple to call the very thoughts of their own minds and reason itself, the interpreter of those thoughts, gods: naming the mind Minerva, reason Mercury, and the faculties of the soul by which the arts are learned, Moneta and the Muses.

And still they did not stop here, but, increasing their madness through an excess of impiety, they heaped new additions upon their delusions day by day, and consecrated the very perturbations of their own souls—which they ought to have detested and repressed by the precepts of temperance. Indeed, they called their own cupidity—that passionate and licentious disease of the soul—and the very parts and members of ^B the body that drive one toward obscenity, and finally that intemperance which is poured out into shameful pleasures, by the names of Cupid, Priapus, and Venus.

Nor did they stop here; but falling down to the generation of bodies and this mortal life on earth, they deified mortal men, and after the common death, they proclaimed them heroes and gods, imagining that the divine and immortal essence wandered about tombs and sepulchers. Nor did their insanity stay here, but they honored various kinds of brute animals, even the most baneful of serpents, with the august name of divinity. And proceeding further, having hewn trees and stones, and having dug up the metals of the earth—bronze, iron, and other materials—they fashioned the likenesses of women and men, and the forms of beasts ^C and serpents, and thereafter offered them worship.

Nor did they reach the end of their madness here; but they gave the very name of gods to the wicked demons who lurked hidden within the images, and who had taken up residence in dark recesses, and who were greedy for the libations and odors of offerings. And not satisfied with this, they [sought to control] those very demons and the invisible powers that are carried about through the air, by means of certain forbidden magical arts. ^D

^A And, having invited these to be their assessors, they have bound themselves by means of wicked and impious chants and incantations. And not all men have consecrated the same beings, but some have consecrated others. The Greeks, indeed, have honored Bacchus, Hercules, Aesculapius, Apollo, and certain other men with the appellation of gods and heroes. The Egyptians, for their part, have deemed Horus, Isis, and Osiris, and other men similar to these, to be gods. And those who boast that the disciplines of geometry, astronomy, and arithmetic were discovered among them—although they consider themselves so very wise—have, ^B by no means, been able to understand or discern the limit of divine power, nor how great a difference there is between this and mortal, brute nature. Hence, they have not hesitated to call even the most repulsive species of various brutes, as well as venomous serpents and wild beasts, gods. The Phoenicians, in turn, proclaimed Melcatharus ^C and Usorus, and certain other less noble men of old, to be gods; the Arabs likewise proclaimed one Dusares and Obodas, the Getae proclaimed Zamolxis, the Cilicians Mopsus, the Thebans Amphiaraus; and some, indeed, made these into gods, and others made those, in no way differing from the common nature of men, but in reality being mere men. All, in truth, with one consent—Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Greeks, and the entire mortal race that is illuminated by the rays of the sun—have conferred divine honors upon the parts of the world, its elements, and the fruits that grow from the earth. And what is more to be wondered at is that, while they acknowledge their adulteries, ^D their shameful deeds with boys, and their rapes of women, they nonetheless filled all their cities, villages, and fields with temples, shrines, and statues, destroying their own souls by such imitation of the gods. And thus, they proclaimed [all these] as gods and children of gods.

^A Indeed, you might often hear them called by these names—gods, sons of gods, heroes, and good spirits—but the reality of the matter is clearly the opposite. For they honored contraries with contraries, just as if someone, wishing to show another the sun and the lights of the heavens, were not to lift his eyes upward, but instead cast his hands down to the earth and, throwing himself upon the ground, were to seek out the heavenly powers in mud and mire. Thus, the human race, deceived by mental blindness and the fraud of wicked demons, persuaded itself that the intelligible divine nature, which transcends both heaven and the world itself, resided down here in the generation of bodies and in human passions and death.

Indeed, men progressed to such a degree of madness that they even sacrificed their own dearest pledges; nor did they spare nature itself, but in their frenzy and mental aberration, they slaughtered even their own only-begotten and beloved children. For what could be more frenzied than this—to sacrifice men, and to pollute entire cities and their own households with domestic murders? ^B Or do the sons of the Greeks themselves not testify to these things, and is not all history filled with the remembrance of them? For the Phoenicians used to sacrifice their beloved and only-begotten children to Cronus every year. To this same god, on the sixth day of the month Metageitnion, they used to slaughter men in Rhodes. At Salamis, in the sanctuary of Athena Agraulos and Diomedes, it was the custom for a man to be driven while his pursuers made him circle the altar three times; then the priest would pierce his stomach with a spear, and thus cast him upon the burning pyre to be utterly consumed. ^C Numerous human sacrifices also occurred in Egypt; and at Heliopolis, three men were sacrificed daily to Hera, until King Amosis, perceiving the cruelty of the deed, ordered that waxen figures be substituted in their place. In the island of Chios, they sacrificed a man to Dionysus Omadios, and likewise in Tenedos. In Lacedaemon, too, a human victim was sacrificed to Ares. The same was done in Crete, where they sacrificed a man to Cronus. In Laodicea of Syria, a virgin was sacrificed annually to Athena, though now a deer is offered instead. The Africans and Carthaginians also placated their gods with human sacrifices. The Dumateni of Arabia, too, used to sacrifice a boy every year, whom they would bury beneath the altar; ^D and history teaches that all Greeks, generally, before setting out for war, would offer human sacrifice, as the Thracians and Scythians likewise did. The Athenians also [sacrificed] the Leocorai.

Certainly, Porphyry, when he was dealing with human victims and speaking about the Athenians, ought not to have omitted this example. There was once a man among the Athenians named Leos, the son of Orpheus, as Suidas says; when Attica was suffering from famine, and it was answered by the Delphic Apollo that the city would not be saved unless one of the citizens sacrificed his own daughters, he offered his three daughters—virgins—to be slaughtered for the salvation of the city: Phasithea, Theope, and Eubule. Aelian, in book XII of his *Various History*, ch. 28, names Praxithea instead of Phasithea. Nothing occurs more frequently among the Greek orators than the mention of these daughters of Leos; as in Aristides in his *Panathenaic*, or Libanius in his *Declamation XIII*; Demosthenes, or whoever else the author may be in the oration which is inscribed [Funeral Oration], counts this Leos among the *eponymoi* or founders of the tribes, from whom the Leontian tribe received its name.

The Leontidae, whom the myth speaks of as the daughters of Leos, had heard that they were to be given as a sacrifice for the citizens for the sake of the country. Phocion, a man of good character, said that those who were to be surrendered must imitate the daughters of Leos and the Hyacinthides, and willingly endure death so that the fatherland should suffer no irremediable harm. In the Funeral Oration, all the Erechtheidae [are said] to have sacrificed Erechtheus, their eponym, to save the country, and his own children, whom they call the Hyacinthides, to a death determined in advance. Euripides, at any rate, in his *Erechtheus*, says that the daughters of Erechtheus—three in number—became the Hyades. ^A They commemorate the daughter of Erechtheus who was sacrificed. Yet who is ignorant, even now, of the human being sacrificed in the great city ^B at the festival of Jupiter Latiaris? The most approved philosophers have testified that these things are so. Diodorus, the abbreviator of the libraries, says that the Libyans publicly sacrificed two hundred of the most prominent children to Cronus, and that they added three hundred others to the sacrifice. And Dionysius, the writer of the Roman history, states by name that Zeus and Apollo demanded human sacrifices in Italy from those called Aborigines. He says that those who were requested to pay the debt of all their crops to the gods, because they did not also sacrifice human beings, ^C at the time of the truce the prefect did not perform the Latiaria—things neither otherwise fitting for him, nor accustomed to be done at that time—in the same way as the idol honored among you; on which not only is the blood of irrational animals sprinkled, but also that of humans, as they perform the libation of the blood of the slain through the most distinguished and noble man among you. ^D

s from the aboriginal peoples but from the Pelasgians; nor that human beings were slaughtered by them, but sent away outside the country. In the Codex Fukensis the word is missing. ^A Thus they were caught in all manner of disasters, and found no respite from their evils until they had tithed themselves; and so, being deprived of tenths of human beings and sacrificing them, they became the cause of the desolation of their land. By such evils the whole race of man was previously being worn down. Nor did it suffice for them to be faring ill in these matters alone, for they were enslaved by ten thousand other irreparable calamities. For the nations throughout the whole inhabited world, Greeks and barbarians alike, as if goaded by demonic energy, were divided by a terrible and most grievous disease, because the race of men was unmixable and irreconcilable toward itself; the great body of common nature was thus torn apart, and in every corner of the earth people were rebelling, contending with one another through their laws and polities. ^B And not only this, but they were also becoming savage through frequent uprisings against one another, so that they spent their whole lives in mutual strife and war, and it was not possible for anyone who wished to travel anywhere unless armed in the manner of an enemy. In the fields and villages the farmers went about carrying swords, and they procured the implements of war rather than those necessary for the cultivation of the fields, and they considered it a virtue to plunder and to take into slavery those who were their neighbors. And not only this, but also from the very stories they invented about their own gods, they took provision for a shameful and lawless life, and in all manners of incontinence they corrupted both their bodies and their souls. ^C And not only this, but they even crossed the limits of nature, proceeding further into unspeakable deeds and things incredible to hear of, behaving wantonly against one another, “males with males working indecency, and receiving in themselves the due recompense of their error,” as the holy words say. And not only this, but they also perverted the natural notions concerning God, imagining that all things here were without providence or oversight, and they attributed the origination and constitution of the whole universe to irrational and automatic nature and to the necessity of fate. And not only this, but also, because they supposed that their souls perished along with their bodies, they led a bestial life and an unlivable existence, neither investigating the substance of the soul, nor awaiting the tribunals of divine judgment, nor contemplating in their minds the rewards of virtue or the punishments prepared for an unjust life. ^D Indeed, whole nations were already wasting away in the bestial life through manifold species of wickedness—some having shameful and most lawless intercourse with their mothers, others marrying their own sisters, others corrupting their own daughters. Some were slaughtering visiting strangers, others were even tasting human flesh, some were strangling the aged with a noose and then feasting upon them, and others were throwing them while still alive to dogs. Time will fail me to tell of all the

evils of that ancient ^A malady which had oppressed the whole human race, ^B and which I have been describing as having laid hold of all mankind. These things, and countless others akin to them, were the reason why the Word of God, who loves mankind, taking pity on the rational flock of men, long ago through certain of his prophets, and even before them through other men beloved of God, and after them through those who later became renowned, called back those who had been given up for lost, by means of various laws and exhortations and teachings, laying down for men the very foundations and seeds of piety. But when the human race no longer required merely human aid, but stood in need of a more excellent power and might—inasmuch as it was being carried about here and there in wandering error, and was being cruelly torn, not by wolves and untamed beasts, but by terrible and savage demons and by cruel and soul-destroying spirits—at last he himself, the Word of God, came to us most willingly, and arrived at our encampments, obeying the nod of the all-good Father. The cause of his presence here below was what has been described. On account of all this, approaching the company of mortals, he did not do what was familiar and usual to him—for he, being incorporeal and invisibly pervading the entire universe, was wont to manifest his own greatness of power by his very works, both heavenly and those upon earth—but he used a new and unusual manner of acting. For, having assumed a mortal body, he deigned to converse and associate with mortals, with the intention of saving the race of mortals through that which was like unto itself. ^C

CHAPTER XIV

Come now, let us also explain for what reason the incorporeal Word of God, having assumed a body as a kind of instrument, drew near to the dwellings of men. And in what other way could that divine and intangible, immaterial and invisible essence have shown itself to those who seek God in matter and down upon the earth, since they are unable—or perhaps unwilling—to look upon the Creator and Artificer of all things, unless it had presented itself to be seen under a human form and appearance? Therefore, having assumed a mortal body as a most suitable instrument, it descended to converse with mortals, because this was pleasing to them; for as they say, like naturally delights in like.

^A Since then those who are led by the sense of sight, and who seek for the divine in the carvings of statues and inanimate images, imagining the divine to be in matter and body, declare mortal men to be gods, in this same way the Word of God showed himself. Wherefore he prepared for himself a most holy temple, a bodily instrument, a sensible dwelling-place of rational power, a venerable and most sacred image, more precious than any inanimate statue. For while that image made of inanimate material, fashioned by the hands of base men in an icon of bronze and iron, of gold and ivory, of stone and wood, would be a suitable dwelling for demons; the divine image, adorned by the power of divine wisdom, was a participant in life and intellectual substance, an image filled with every virtue, an image and dwelling-place of the Word of God, and a holy temple of the holy God. ^B In this the indwelling Word, while he companied with and was known to mortals through that which was familiar and kindred to them, yet did not succumb to their passions, nor was he bound to the body in the manner of a human soul, nor, by becoming less than himself, did he alter his own divinity. For just as the rays of the sun, which fill all things and touch both dead bodies and impure things, suffer nothing thereby, so much the more the incorporeal power of the Word of God, even while it was applied incorporeally to a body, would neither suffer in its substance, nor be harmed, nor ever become worse than itself. Thus did the Savior of all become beneficial and saving to all, through the instrument of the human nature he had taken up, just as a musician might display his skill through the lyre. ^C The Greek myth tells that Orpheus, by his song, charmed all kinds of wild beasts and tamed the ferocity of the wild, with an instrument whose strings were struck by a plectrum; and this is sung everywhere in the choir of the Greeks, and it is believed that a lifeless lyre tamed the beasts, and even changed the oak trees by the charm of its music. Therefore, the all-wise and all-harmonious Word of God, applying every kind of healing to the souls of men who were subjected to manifold wickedness, taking up as a musical instrument the human nature fashioned by his own wisdom, ^D played songs and incantations through it, not to irrational beasts, but to rational beings; and through the remedies of divine instruction, he healed in every way the untamed passions of the souls both of Greeks and of barbarians, and of those who, being in a diseased state of soul, sought for the divine in generation and in bodies, acting like a most excellent physician, and by a kindred and suitable remedy made God present in man. Furthermore, being no less concerned for bodies than for souls, he provided the eyes of the flesh to see certain paradoxical wonders and divine marvels and powers, and again to the ears of the flesh he whispered teachings through his tongue and body, and accomplished all things through that which he had assumed, the human nature, through the medium of the instrument he had assumed.

^A It was to those who could perceive his divinity in no other way than this that he ministered in accordance with the Father's counsels, remaining himself immaterial, just as he was before this with the Father, having neither altered his essence, nor having had his own nature obliterated, nor having been fettered by the bonds of flesh. Nor was he, while residing here where he had his human vessel, prevented from being present elsewhere in the universe. Rather, even in that time when he lived among men, he filled all things, and was with the Father, and was in Him; and he cared for all things together, both those in heaven and those upon earth, in no way restricted like us to a localized presence, nor hindered from performing his divine works in his customary manner. ^B But he gathered what was from himself and imparted it to the human nature, while he himself, in turn, did not receive the things belonging to the mortal nature. And thus he conferred his divine power upon the mortal nature, yet he himself derived nothing from its participation. Therefore, he was not defiled by any stain while his body was brought into the light, nor again, while it was being dissolved, did he himself, as one impassible, suffer any detriment to his substance. For neither, if a lyre should by some chance be broken, or its strings, being fragile, be snapped, is it necessary for the one who plays the lyre to suffer anything. Nor, if by chance the body of some wise man should happen to be subjected to punishment, would any reasonably say that the wisdom that is in him, or the soul that is hidden in his body, is struck or burned. ^C By the same token, and by a much stronger right, it is reasonable to say that the power of the Word suffered no damage from the passions of the body, just as even the example of light does not allow the solar rays, which are sent down from heaven to earth, to be defiled by touching mud and mire and every species of pollution. For while one could not deny that these things are illuminated by the rays of the light themselves, the light is not thereby rendered muddy, nor is the sun defiled by the commingling with bodies. And yet, such things would not be foreign to the nature of light. But the Saviour, and incorporeal Word of God, being life-itself 26 and intellectual light-itself, whatever he might touch with his divine and incorporeal power, that thing must necessarily live and exist in rational light. ^D For this reason, whatsoever part of the body he touched was hallowed and illuminated, and immediately every disease and infirmity and passion departed from it, and it received from his fullness what it lacked. For this reason, then, he spent his whole life in this way, at one time demonstrating through the bodily instrument the fellowship of suffering that he had with us, and at another time revealing the Word of God, performing great works and wonders as God, and proclaiming beforehand the prophecies of things to come, and [the One who is not...]

^A neither should the power of the divine Word be said to have suffered any loss from the accidents of the body; just as that example of light we have already used—sunbeams sent from heaven to earth, which touch mire, mud, and filth of every kind—does not allow itself to be defiled in any way. For although nothing prevents our saying that those things are illuminated by the splendor of the light, we do not for that reason say that the light itself is stained by the mud, or that the sun is tarnished by contact with bodies, even though these things are not entirely alien to its nature. But that Savior and incorporeal Word of God, since He is life itself and intellectual light itself, whatever thing He once touches with His divine and incorporeal power must necessarily thereafter live and move in rational light. Likewise, whatever body He touches is immediately made holy and is illuminated, and all disease, sickness, and perturbation withdraws from it; and those parts which were previously empty receive a portion from His abundance. Therefore, He passed through almost the whole course of His life in such a way that He would at one time show His body to be subject to the same affections as our own, and at another time indicate that He was God the Word; while He performed certain great and admirable works as God, and foretold future things long before they happened, and manifested the Word of God—who was seen by most people not at all—through the very facts themselves, by means of prodigious works, miracles, signs, and stupendous powers, and finally by divine preachings, by which He spurred the minds of men to prepare themselves for the blessedness of that supernal dwelling which is beyond the heavens.

CHAPTER XV

^A For this reason, then, since it was necessary that the mortal instrument, after the sufficient service which it had performed for the divine Word, should attain an end worthy of God, through this very path also death was ordained for Him. For since two possibilities remained at the end, either to deliver the whole to corruption and destruction and to make the closing of his life the most shameful of any drama, or to show Himself superior to death by establishing His mortal nature as immortal through divine power; the former was foreign to His promise. For it is not the property of fire to cool, nor of light to darken ^B (54); and thus it is not the property of life to bring death, nor of the divine Word to act irrationally. What reason, then, would there be to overlook His own instrument being corrupted—He who had promised life to others—to deliver to destruction His own image and to allow the interpreter of His divinity to be ravaged by death, He who promised immortality to those who took refuge in Him? Accordingly, the second was necessary, I mean that He should show Himself superior to death. How, then, was this to be done? Secretly and by stealth, or openly and clearly to all? But a triumph achieved in darkness and in secret, known to no one, would have benefited no one, whereas one proclaimed and heard by all would provide the greatest benefit to all through the miracle of the event. Reasonably, therefore, since it was necessary that His instrument be shown superior to death, and that this be done not in secret but before the eyes of men, He does not flee death—for in that case He would have been thought a coward and inferior to death—but by the ^C engagement with death as with an adversary, He presents His mortal nature as immortal, having undertaken this struggle on behalf of the life, immortality, and salvation of all. And just as if someone wished to demonstrate to us a vessel that is fireproof and stronger than fire (35), he could not otherwise demonstrate the wonder than by committing to the fire the object in his hands and then bringing it out from the fire safe and incorrupt, in the same way the Word of God, the Life-giver of all, wishing to show that the mortal instrument which He had used for the salvation of men was superior to death, and to make it a partaker of His own life and immortality, very usefully underwent ^D the economy (56) Alias præterea rationes affert, quibus id astruat. Quibus expositis ita demum concludit. Has omnes ob causas, inquit, quando quidem prorsus necesse erat ut corpus illius exitum Deo dignum sortiretur, mortem suam Christus ita dispensavit. Duorum alterum in fine hujus vitæ ipsi faciendum erat, et cætera, ut jam dixi. Et hæc quidem optime inter se cohærent. Interpretis autem expositio, ab Eusebii mente prorsus aliena est, cum Eusebius non duplicem ex hac vita discedendi rationem, sed unicam Christo relictam fuisse demonstraverit.

^A And he provided that which was mortal with that which is immortal; yet, since he underwent death for the life and salvation of all, even as if someone wished to show us a certain fire-proof vessel, and one superior to any conflagration, he could not otherwise obtain belief in the miracle unless he took the vessel himself with his hand and cast it into the fire, and then brought it forth from the flames whole and unharmed; so, clearly, the Word of God, who bestows life upon all, when He wished to manifest more powerfully than death itself—and to reveal as a participant in His own life and immortality—that mortal body of His which He had used as an instrument for the salvation of mankind, He underwent a useful dispensation: for a little while He abandoned His body, and delivered what was mortal to death, so that its nature might be proven by this test ^B and then, shortly after, He withdrew it from death, that He might declare His divine power, by which He showed that this eternal life, which He Himself had promised to all, was superior to every death. The cause of this matter is manifest and clear. For since it was absolutely necessary for His disciples that they should behold with their own eyes the restoration of future life, in which He had taught them to place their hope, since He was making them contemptuous of death and victors over it, it was not without cause that He wished them to see it with their own eyes. For whoever is about to enter upon a pious and religious life must necessarily draw this first and most necessary instruction ^C into their very eyes; and this is especially true for those who were about to preach Him immediately throughout the whole world, and to announce to all men the knowledge of God, the seeds of which He Himself had already scattered among the nations. For it was necessary that they should receive a firmest persuasion [(41)] of the life after death, so that, being fearless and undaunted by death, they might eagerly undertake the struggle against the polytheistic error of the nations [(42)]; for if they had not been trained to despise death, they would never have been prepared for hardships. Therefore, of necessity, arming them against the tyranny of death, He did not deliver the lesson in empty words and mere sounds, nor, as human discourse is wont, by constructing a persuasive argument regarding the immortality of the soul from probabilities; but by the very deed He demonstrated to them the trophies against death. This, then, is the first and greatest cause of our Savior’s battle against death: He showed that death, which is terrible to all, was in fact nothing to His disciples, and [He proved] the life promised by Him to those who followed Him. ^D

^A This He placed before their eyes by a clear manifestation, as the first fruits of our hope and of the life and immortality with God in the future, having made it that very thing. A second reason for the resurrection would be the manifestation of the divine power which had resided in His body. For since people formerly used to deify men who had been vanquished by death, and were accustomed to call those who had been mastered by death heroes and gods, for this very reason the most loving Word of God quite rightly proclaimed Himself, showing to men a nature ^B superior to death, leading the mortal part after its dissolution to a second life, and providing for all to see a trophy of immortality over death, and teaching them to confess that He alone is the true God in death, He who bore away the prizes of victory over death. I could also describe to you a third reason for the Lord’s death. That was a certain sacred victim offered to God, the King of all, for the whole human race: a victim sacrificed for the entire flock of mankind, a victim that put to flight the error of daemonic superstition. For after that one victim and outstanding sacrifice, namely the most holy body of our Saviour, was slaughtered for the human race, and was offered as a kind of substitute for the life of all the nations, which were bound by the impiety of daemonic superstition and held guilty as if of high treason, the entire power of the foul and profane ^C demons thereafter collapsed; and every earthly and fraudulent error was immediately broken and weakened by a stronger power. Thus, the saving sacrifice from among men, the very bodily organ itself of the Word, was consecrated for the common flock of mankind; and this, then, was the victim cast before death, concerning which the voices of the sacred oracles cry out, at one time saying thus: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," and at another time proclaiming beforehand thus: "As a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb." And they teach the cause, adding: "He bears our sins, and suffers for our sake. And we considered Him to be in toil and in blow and in affliction; but He was wounded for our sins, and was made weak for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. By His stripe we were healed; all we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord delivered Him up to our ^D sins."

The human instrument of the Word of God was therefore consecrated for these reasons. But that great High Priest, who was consecrated to the universal Ruler and all-sovereign God, being himself other than the sacrifice—the Word of God, the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God—before long recalled his mortal body from death. And this offering he presented to the Father as the first-fruits of our common salvation, setting it up for the entire human race as a triumphal trophy over death and the demonic host, and as an averter of the ancient bloody sacrifices. ^B

CHAPTER XVI

But since these things are so, it is time to come to the proofs; if, that is, the truth of these matters requires proof, and if it is necessary to confirm the testimonies by evident facts. Receive these proofs, then, having prepared your ear to be well-disposed to the hearing of this discourse. All the nations on earth of old, and the whole human race, ^C were divided into provinces and ethnarchies, and toparchies, and had been split into tyrannies and multi-regencies; from which there resulted constant strife and wars, and sackings and enslavements in the countryside and in the cities, which never left them; and there were countless themes of history, adulteries, and the rape of women, whence came the woes of Troy and the tragedies of antiquity remembered by all men. You would not be wrong if you were to attribute the causes of these to the polytheistic error. But when the saving instrument, that most holy body of Christ itself—having been seen to be stronger than any demonic error and alien to any evil in deed or word—was raised up as a victorious trophy and an averter of ancient evils against the demons, all the works of the demons were immediately dissolved; and there were no longer toparchies and multi-regencies, tyrannies and democracies, nor the sackings and sieges that arose in cities and regions on their account; but one God was proclaimed to all. At the same time, also, one kingdom, that ^D of the Romans, flourished for all.

^A And that ancient and implacable hatred of the nations, which had existed from all time, was suddenly extinguished. And just as the knowledge of one God and one way of religion and salvation, namely the doctrine of Christ, was being delivered to men, so at the same time, when one emperor of the whole Roman world had been established, the deepest peace prevailed everywhere on earth. Thus, by the will of one God, two supreme goods for humanity, like two shoots, sprang up simultaneously at the same moment: namely, the Roman Empire and the doctrine of Christian piety. ^B And before that, some held the kingdom of Syria, others Asia, others Macedonia; others possessed Egypt, separate from the rest, and others likewise Arabia; and indeed, even the Palestinian lands were held by the people of the Jews. In individual villages and cities and in every place, men, as if seized by a certain insanity and truly demonized, were carried away into mutual slaughter through continuous wars and battles. But suddenly, as if from one starting line, two great powers went forth and tamed them and brought them into friendship: the Roman Empire, which from that time became a monarchy, and the doctrine of Christ, both having flourished together at the same time. ^C The power of our Savior indeed overturned the polyarchies and polytheisms of the demons, proclaiming to all men, both Greeks and Barbarians and those dwelling even at the ends of the earth, one kingdom of God. But the Roman Empire, as if the causes of polyarchy had been previously removed, joined to its own rule those that still remained: striving above all to bind the whole human race together in a common bond of concord. And it has already gathered and reconciled most nations; but in a short time it will reach even the extreme boundaries of the inhabited world, since the saving doctrine, joined with a certain divine power, renders all things easy and smooth for it. This surely will be confessed to be a great miracle by those who, led by a zeal for the truth, would rather consider the matter more attentively than seek to disparage the most beautiful things. ^D For at the same time the error of demonic superstition was refuted, and the hatred and war among the nations that had raged since ancient times was brought to an end; at the same time, one God and the knowledge of Him was proclaimed to all; at the same time, one kingdom was strengthened among men; and the whole human race was transformed into peace and friendship, and all acknowledged one another as brothers and recognized their own nature. Immediately, therefore, as if born of one father and as children of one God, and of one mother, the true piety, they greeted and embraced one another peacefully, so that the entire inhabited world was in no way lacking to become one well-ordered household and kinship, and it was possible for anyone who wished to travel anywhere with the greatest ease—those from the west safely going to the east, and those from there again to the other side—as if toward their own homeland.

^A Thus were the oracles of the ancients fulfilled, and the proclamations of the prophets brought to pass—a myriad of others which there is no leisure to cite now, but especially those concerning the saving Word, which cry out in this way: "He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth" (Ps. LXXI, 8). And again: "In his days shall righteousness flourish, and abundance of peace" (Ps. LXXI, 7). "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isa. II, 4). These things were predicted and proclaimed in the Hebrew tongue from long ago. These things, as they are seen to happen in our own time, confirm the testimony of the ancient voices. But if you desire an abundance of other proofs, do not look to words, but take these things to heart. Open the eyes of your own mind, and throw wide the gates of your understanding. Stay a long while with yourself and think; ask yourself, and as though inquiring of another, explore the nature of things in this way: "Who ^B of all the kings, or rulers, or philosophers, or lawgivers, or prophets from the beginning of time, whether Greek or Barbarian, ever attained to such virtue—not even after death, but while still living and breathing, and possessed of great power—to fill the ears and tongues of all mankind on earth with his own name?" Surely no one, except our one Savior, who accomplished this after his victory over death, having said to his own disciples and performed it in deed: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations in my name" (Matt. XXVIII, 19). Having told them this, and having foretold and declared that his Gospel must be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, he brought the deed to follow immediately upon the word. And straightway, not long after, the whole world was filled with his teachings. What then could he say to this, he who at the beginning of this discourse found fault with us, when the testimony provided by the evidence of one's own eyes is superior to all argument? For who ^C since the beginning of time has driven the destructive and deadly race of demons, which formerly preyed upon the whole nature of men and displayed many sorceries among men through the movement of idols, away from the flock of mankind like terrible wild beasts, with an invisible and mighty hand? And who else, like our Savior, through the invocation of him in the purest prayers sent up through him to the God of the universe, has granted power to those who live clearly and sincerely according to the philosophy handed down by him, to drive the remnants of evil spirits from men? Who else, save our one Savior, has handed down to his followers the performance of bloodless and rational sacrifices through prayers and secret theology? Therefore, throughout the whole inhabited world of men, altars have been ^D established, and offerings of churches.

^A And the hallowed ministries of intellectual and rational sacrifices are offered to the one Ruler of all, God, by all the nations. But the sacrifices formerly performed with blood, gore, and smoke—the cruel and maddened slaughters of men and human victims—who was it that caused them to be abolished and utterly extinguished by an invisible and unseen power, so that even the histories of the Gentiles themselves bear witness to this? For not until after the divine preaching of our Savior, around the times of Hadrian ^B, were all the human sacrifices of the earth everywhere abolished. Given such evident proofs, proving the virtue and power of our Savior after His death, who is so steely-hearted as not to bear witness to the truth and confess His divine life? For the achievements mentioned are those of the living, not the dead; they say that the things perceived are appearances of things unseen. Immediately, then, yesterday and a short time ago, a race of God-fighters disturbed, led about, and drove the life of men, and had much power. But since it has departed from men, it has lain upon the earth since then, ^C more cast-out than dung, breathless, motionless, speechless, and there is no longer any account or memory of them; for this is the nature of the dead, and he who is no longer is nothing. But could he who is nothing perform any act? But if someone is acting and working, and is more powerful than the living, how could he be supposed not to exist? And if he were invisible to the eyes of the flesh, he would not be so to the mind's faculty of judgment, ^D nor do we learn technical arguments or scientific theories through the senses of the body.

On the abolishing of sacrifices

(58) *The sacrifices performed with smoke:* He speaks of the sacrifices performed with smoke and fire, and the raw [meat], etc.; on this point nothing is more certain.

(59) *Around the times of Hadrian:* He borrowed this from Porphyry's book *On Abstinence*, where he writes thus: "Pallas, who wrote most excellently of all on the mysteries of Mithras, says that human sacrifices were almost everywhere abolished during the principate of the Emperor Hadrian." This is also confirmed by Lactantius in book 1 of the *Divine Institutions*, chapter 21, in these words: "Among the Cyprians, Teucer offered human victims to Jupiter, and handed down that sacrifice to his descendants: which was recently abolished under the Emperor Hadrian."

(60) *More cast-out than dung:* Eusebius alludes to that famous saying of Heraclitus, which Strabo mentions at the end of book 16, and Origen mentions in book 5 *Against Celsus*. From which the proverbial expression has flowed regarding a man of no value. Pollux in book 5, chapter 46: Julian, in his oration against the Cynic Heraclitus, page 421, makes use of the same opinion of Heraclitus with these words: "To disregard the body entirely, and to consider it, according to Heraclitus, even more cast-out than dung." And to perform its care with the greatest ease, until God commands the body to be used as an instrument.

(61) *Could he who is nothing perform any act?:* It must be written as a question, so that it reads "could he who is nothing perform any act?" And thus it seems Christophorsonus read. Certainly in the Fukelian codex it is written that it should be written as an interrogation.

(62) *Nor to the mind's faculty of judgment:* It is evident that *the judgment* is not placed in the sense. Therefore the word "is" is to be understood here, which Christophorsonus did not see, since he wrongly joined these words with the following ones. There was a great dispute among the ancient philosophers concerning the *criterion*. They called this the norm and rule by which the truth of things is judged by men. The most ancient philosophers indeed [held] this power and faculty not in the senses, but in reason.

^A nor did anyone ever behold with his eyes the mind that is in men, much less the power of God, but from [their] works such things are naturally expected to be considered; wherefore, concerning our Saviour, it is appropriate to examine and discern His invisible power from His works, whether one ought to confess that He is alive, seeing that the things accomplished by Him continue to this day, or whether one should say that He does not exist. But the question is foolish and inconsistent; for how could anyone reasonably say that He who is not, exists? If that which is not is by all votes declared to be nothing, nor to be able to do anything, nor to act, nor to perform acts; for this is the nature of the living [(63)], and the opposite is that of the dead.

CHAPTER XVII

^A And so, while they were setting up their own champions and defenders against our Master—having transformed their opinion and dared to wage war against God, placing their gods like vanguards and protectors in battle against our God—in an instant, at a single turning of the moment, by the nod and power of God whom they were attacking, all of them gave account for their transgressions. Yielding to Him who was being attacked, fleeing and turning their backs upon Him, they confessed His divinity and hastened to concede and permit the opposite of what they had dared only a short time before. Immediately, our Savior raised up trophies of victory everywhere on earth, and having adorned the whole world anew from the foundations upwards with holy temples and venerable shrines for prayer, He dedicated them in cities and villages, in all the countryside, and in the barbarian deserts; He dedicated them as holy places and temples to the one King of all, God, who is in very truth the Master of all. ^B Hence also these consecrated places have been deemed worthy of the Master's name, having gained this title not from men, but from the Master of all Himself. Indeed, from Him, they are called "Lord's houses" (Dominica). Let any man who wishes step forward and instruct us: who, after such subversion and desolation, raised up holy buildings from the very foundations to their highest peaks? Who renewed things for which no hope remained, making them much more illustrious than they had been before? And, what is most wonderful, he did not renew them after the death of those enemies of God, but while they themselves, who had subverted them, were still alive, so that they might sing their own palinode with their own mouths and in their own writings. And they did this not at a time when they were living in great joy and pleasure—for one might perhaps think that they had done this led by humanity—but at the very time when they were being afflicted by divinely-inflicted blows. Who, after so many and such storms of persecution, and in the very heat of these crises, established throughout the whole world—according to the precepts and instructions of His divine doctrine—innumerable followers of true philosophy and worshippers of God, consisting of men, and also holy women, and choirs of virgins who had dedicated themselves to perpetual chastity of soul and body? Who taught them to abstain most willingly from food and wine for many days, and to live a hard and severe life with singular modesty and temperance? Who compelled such an immense multitude of men and women, ^C that, spurning the food of the body, they might…

^A seek rather the rational food of divine readings, which is most suitable for souls endowed with reason? Who has taught barbarous and rustic men, and likewise women, children, and slaves, and in short an infinite multitude of every nation, to despise death, and to persuade themselves that their own soul is immortal, and that there is a certain eye of justice ^B which looks upon human affairs, and to expect the future judgment of God concerning the pious and the impious, and for this reason to strive to lead a life justly and holily? For those who might be otherwise disposed, it is in no way possible to submit to the yoke of piety; all of which things our Savior alone even now conspicuously performs. But let us pass over these things.

But come, let us approach him whose mind has hardened like flint, and let us attempt to overcome him with such-like interrogations, thus inquiring of him:

Tell me, you there, and at long last utter a rational voice, not bringing forth fruit from a brutish breast, but from a soul endowed with reason and intellect. Tell me, I say, having long pondered it within yourself: who among all the number of wise men who have existed before, has been, like our Savior, known and proclaimed before by the prophetic voices of old for ten thousand years among the ancient, God-beloved children of the Hebrews? ^C They who anticipated and committed to sacred books his very place of birth, and the times of his arrival, and his manner of life, and his powers, and words, and accomplishments. Or who has been shown to be so swift an avenger of those who dared things against him, that, at the same time with the impiety against him, the whole nation of the Jews was troubled by an invisible power, and their royal seat was uprooted from its foundations, and that very temple itself, along with the sacred things within it, was razed to the ground? And who has foretold regarding these very impious men, and concerning the Church established by him over the whole world, ^D speaking in a manner befitting the facts and confirming the truth of his predictions by the events themselves, as has our Savior? For regarding the temple of the impious he said: "Your house is left unto you desolate," and, "There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." But regarding his Church: "Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

And as for his having taken lowly and rustic men from their fishing, and having manifested these as legislators and teachers of the inhabited world, how does that seem to you? And that he should have promised—and in word indeed said, but in deed performed—to make them fishers of men, and to have bestowed upon them such virtue and power, as both to compile writings and to deliver books, and to strengthen all to such a degree, that over the whole inhabited world...

as they were translated into the tongue of both Barbarians and Greeks, they might be studied by all nations, and the oracles contained in them might be believed to be divine—how much does this contribute to declaring his divinity clearly? ^A Such as his having prophesied the future, and having testified beforehand to his disciples that they would be led before kings and rulers, and would suffer punishment and the ultimate torments, not for any wrong action, but for the sole confession of his name? And that he made them eagerly endure these things, and so fortified them with the arms of piety that they appeared in the contests against their adversaries with souls firmer than adamant—what speech could ever surpass this? And that he strengthened the powers of the soul ^B not only of those who had followed him, but even of their successors, and again of those who came later, and of those even down to our own time, such that, having done nothing worthy of death, they endured all manner of punishments and every kind of torture with joy, for the sake of their piety toward the God of all—what wonder could surpass this? But who among kings has ever continued to rule for such an age? Who thus makes war after death, and erects trophies against enemies, and subdues every place, and region, and city, ^C Greeks and Barbarians alike, overcoming his adversaries with an invisible and unseen hand? And what is the crown of all these things, the peace that was dispensed throughout the whole world by his power, concerning which we have discoursed at the appropriate time above—what mouth of slanderers would it not block, when in this way the teaching of our Savior, through the proclamation sent forth by him to the whole world, has worked in concert with the concord and harmony of all nations, and when in this way the peace of the nations of the world and the word delivered by him to the nations had been foretold long ago by the prophets of God? The entire length of the day ^D would fail me, O Emperor, if I should attempt to assemble in one place the manifest proofs of the divine power of our Savior, those drawn from the things we now see. For no one from all ages, neither among Greeks nor among Barbarians, has displayed such power of divine virtue as our Savior. And why do I speak of men? For not even they whom all nations call gods have exhibited such power and might on earth. Or if any one wishes, let him demonstrate it. Let every philosopher come forward and tell us: who from all ages has ever been heard of, whether god or hero, who has handed down to men teachings of eternal life and heavenly kingdom, such as our Savior has, having caused countless multitudes throughout the whole world to be trained in philosophical doctrines, and having persuaded them to pursue heaven and to hope for the dwellings in heaven reserved for God-loving souls? Which god or hero among men has ever—

^A—been heard of—whether god or hero—who delivered to men the doctrine of eternal life and the heavenly kingdom, as was done by our Savior, who spurred countless men everywhere on earth to organize their lives according to the precepts of heavenly philosophy? Who, whether god or hero or man, has ever bathed the whole compass of the earth from the rising to the setting sun in the most splendid rays of his own doctrine, running a course almost equal to that of the sun, to the point that all nations everywhere render one and the same worship to one God? Who, whether god or hero, has ever, by bringing all the gods and heroes of the Greeks and barbarians under his yoke, enacted a law forbidding anyone to be held as a god; and ensured that this law was valid everywhere; and then, although he was opposed by all, did he himself single-handedly rout all the forces of his adversaries, and conquer those who had been considered gods and heroes from all time; and accomplish that, throughout the entire world, he alone from the ends of the earth should be proclaimed by all peoples of the world as the Son of God? Who has commanded all those who inhabit this great element of the earth, both those on land and those on the sea, to gather together on the Lord’s day each week to celebrate a festival, and to nourish not their bodies, but to revive their souls with divine instructions? What god or hero, having been so opposed, has raised victorious trophies over his enemies, as our Savior has done? For they, from the very beginning and until the end, have not ceased to lay siege to his teaching and his people; he, however, the invisible one, by an invisible power, has raised his servants together with their holy houses to the height of glory. But what need is there to ambitiously gather in speech the divine powers of our Savior, which surpass every power of expression, when, even if we were silent, the deeds themselves speak clearly enough to those who possess ears of the mind? This is truly strange and paradoxical, and was seen only once in the race of mortals, that he who alone was the Son of God from all eternity should be seen on earth and should bring so many and such great goods to men. ^B

CHAPTER XVIII

But these things that are said by me, Emperor, would perhaps be superfluous for you, who have frequently experienced the presence of our Savior’s divinity, and have stood as a herald of the truth to all men not so much by words as by deeds. For you yourself, when you have leisure, will be able to tell us, if you wish, of the countless manifestations of our Savior showing his own divinity to you, the countless visions in dreams: I do not speak of those arcane mysteries suggested to you by him, ^{C D}