lamp of the countenance having turned us around. Do not, therefore, fret at the deferral of the repayment; for in every case, by as much as the time becomes longer, by so much does the interest increase for you. For we shall pay out this money with interest; since the Master who deposited it A commanded it so. Confiding, therefore, in the things lent, as both the principal and the profit remain yours, let us not pass over the gain that has fallen our way today, but let us feast upon the righteous achievements of the blessed Babylas. Now, how he stood at the head of the Church among us, and saved this sacred ship in winter, and turbulence, and surge, and how much boldness he displayed before the king, and how he laid down his soul for the sheep, and received that blessed slaughter— these things, and such as these, we shall leave to the older of the teachers and to our common father to tell. For those who have reached old age among you are able to recount the older events well; but those things which have happened recently, and in our own lifetime, these I, the younger, shall narrate to you—I mean those after the departure, those after the burial of the martyr, when he was living in the suburb. And I know indeed that the Greeks will laugh at our promise, if we claim to speak of the virtuous deeds of one who was buried and dissolved into dust after his departure and burial; yet we shall not be silent for this reason, but for this very reason we shall speak, so that by demonstrating the truth of this paradox, we may turn their laughter back upon their own heads. For indeed, the virtuous deeds of a man, simply speaking, could not occur after his departure; but of a martyr there could be many and great ones, not so that he might become more brilliant (for he has no need of glory from the multitude), but so that you, the unbeliever, may learn that the death of martyrs is not death, but the beginning of a better life and the precursors of a more spiritual walk of life, and a passage from the lesser to the better things. For do not look upon this—that the martyr's body lies bare and destitute of soul-activity; but observe this—that another power, greater than he, sits beside it, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which pleads for everyone concerning the resurrection through the things it works by miracles. B For if God has granted to dead bodies, and those dissolved into dust, a power greater than all the living, much more will He grant to them a life better than the former, and more blessed at the time of the crowns. What, then, are his virtuous achievements? But do not be troubled if we lead the discourse a little further back. For those who wish to display paintings well, having removed the viewers a little distance from the panel, thus uncover them, making the sight clearer to them by the distance. Bear with it, therefore, you also, as we draw the discourse back. Since Julian, having surpassed all in impiety, ascended to the kingly throne and took hold of the sovereign scepter, straightway he lifted his hands against the God who had made him, and he did not recognize his Benefactor, and looking from the earth below up to heaven, he barked like the maddest of dogs, which cry out equally against those who do not feed them and those who do feed them—or rather, he raged with a madness wilder even than theirs. For they both distance themselves from and hate their own kith and kin and strangers alike; but this man fawned upon the demons who were strangers to his salvation, and served them by every manner of worship; but the Benefactor and Savior, who did not even spare His Only-Begotten for his sake, he spurned and hated, and he ridiculed the Cross, the thing which raised up the world lying prone on its face, and dispelled the darkness from every side, and introduced to us a light brighter than the sun’s rays. And not even there did his madness stop, C but he promised to snatch the nation of the Galileans from the midst of the world—for thus he was accustomed to call us. And yet, if he thought the name of Christians to be an abomination, and that the matter was full of much shame, for what reason did he desire to shame us not from that, but by a strange name? But he knew clearly that being called by one’s kinship to Christ is a great ornament not only to men, but also to angels and to the powers above. For this reason he moved everything, so that he might rob us of this ornament and dissolve the proclamation. But this was impossible, O wretched and miserable one, just as it was impossible to tear down the heaven, and to extinguish the sun, and to shake and cast down the foundations of the earth. And Christ proclaimed these things beforehand, saying thus: Heaven and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away (Matt. 24. 35). But you do not endure Christ speaking; therefore, accept the voice from the facts themselves. For I, having been deemed worthy to know what an ordinance of God is, how strong and invincible a thing it is, and that it is more trustworthy than natural consequence and the experience of all things, have believed it to be so; but you, who still drag yourself upon the ground and are fluttered by the examination of human reasoning, accept the testimony from the facts; I do not gainsay or contend.
2. What, then, do the facts say? Christ said that it is easier for heaven and earth to be destroyed than for any one of his words to fall away (Luc. 16. 17): the king spoke in opposition to these, and threatened that he would destroy the dogmas. Where, then, is the king who threatened such things? He has perished, and is corrupted, and is now in Hades awaiting the inescapable punishment. And where is Christ, who declared those things? In the heavens, at the right hand of the Father, holding the highest throne of glory. Where are the king's blasphemous utterances, and his licentious tongue? It has become ash, and dust, and food for worms. Where is Christ's decree? It shines from the very truth of the facts, flashing forth as if from a golden pillar of the outcome of works. And yet the king did not then omit anything, intending to wage the war against us; but he also called on augurs, and assembled sorcerers, and everything was full of demons and evil spirits. What, then, are the rewards of this service?