Epistulae Collectio Patmensis

LETTERS OF THE MOST BLESSED THEODORETUS, BISHOP OF CYRUS, TO BASILIUS, BISHOP OF ISAURIA. Although I send many letters to your piety, I receive few; and I do not know the reason, for I hesitate to accuse you of negligence. I, however, make haste to write by every one who sets out from here to you, considering such silence a loss, and desiring to gather the lovely wealth of the fruits of love. These present writings also give evidence of my disposition; for though I have not received a letter from your holiness, yet through the most God-beloved Paul the bishop I both write and embrace the head so dear to me, and I entreat that in letters I may obtain equal measure, and in prayers greater things. For I boast greatly that I gain much when I partake of your prayers. 2 TO EUSEBIUS, BISHOP OF ANCYRA. The promise of our God and Savior is therefore true. He promised that the teaching of the knowledge of God would be poured out over the whole inhabited world; and the facts cry out, bearing witness to the word. For not only do the nurslings of piety and those deemed worthy of the priesthood guide nations and cities and villages and fields and the farthest regions, but even the very companies of soldiers, dwelling in cities and villages, have consecrated shepherds. One of these is also the most devout deacon Agapetus, who boasts as his city the metropolis of our province, and was appointed to order a military company toward things divine; for which reason he has now also set out for Thrace, for it happens that his unit is stationed there. For he fears that lordly commandment:

O shepherds, shepherds," it says, "you have not bound up the broken, you have not raised up the fallen, you have not brought back the wandering. He, then, fearing this accusation, departed from here, but he procured for me what I greatly desired; for the letters to your holiness are lovely to me. And this has both created and nourishes my love: the good report of your holiness carried by all, which I pray may increase each day to the hymnody of the Master Christ and the benefit of the peoples thrice desired by him. But for me the greatest good is to obtain the divine loving-kindness for sins; may I enjoy it easily if you would pray, master. To Theodotus the Count. I continually keep inquiring of those who arrive from there how your magnificence is disposed, both in soul and in body, for which I have great care, and exceedingly great. For this is mortal and ephemeral and has nothing lasting; for the flower of youth slips away and withers, and the season has many changes, some wrought by time, some by sufferings. And so in turn strength is consumed, and weakness succeeds good health. But the goods of the soul are inviolable, and its beauty is ageless, and its wealth is exposed neither to informers nor to evildoers, but surpasses every plot and endures into the boundless ages. For this reason, caring especially about this, I rejoice to learn that

Your Magnificence cares for the life that is to come and for those thrice-desired promises that our Master made to us, promising to give to those who love him what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, teaching that the things hoped for are beyond the things seen. For this reason those who live in holiness, nourished by those hopes, look down on the things present and refer most of their possessions to that life, so that when they depart they may have provision for the journey. And since they dread that fearful judgment seat, they hire the poor, as it were, as advocates, so that through them they may draw the righteous Judge to mercy and purchase loving-kindness by their compassion toward their neighbor. For only those things accompany those who depart from here which, while still alive, they send ahead through those in need; the rest become the property of others, who are in no way able to benefit those who have gone. Your Magnificence, having clearly learned this, will dispense the God-given wealth as is fitting; for a man's own wealth is his ransom, according to the divine Scripture. To Agathon the Archimandrite.

Those who know how to profit gather profit from every quarter and imitate the bee, which, drawing the sweetest moisture even from bitter plants, brings to men the most pleasant honey. Your Piety, imitating this, says that it has gained something even from us. But we do not understand the profit of the writing, yet we praise your godliness, which hunts everywhere for opportunities of trade, and we pray that you may run through to the end and receive the prize of victory. To Florentius the Prefect. Otherwise I would not have dared to address your Magnificence by letter, knowing as I do my own lowliness and being aware of the bulk of your authority. But since, adorned with faith and instructed in divine things, you have deigned to descend so far and have thought worthy of your letters an insignificant man and one known from nowhere, I too have taken courage, according to the prophecy, for a lamb to dwell together with a lion. The wonder-worker of these strange things is Christ, the Master of all, who through fishermen and tax collectors and cobblers guided the wandering into the straight road. I therefore inform your Magnificence that we have been entrusted to shepherd another province, yet we can nevertheless offer brotherly counsel; and this indeed we shall do, since you have commanded it, and we shall try to persuade those who control the vote to yield to your letters. For I too have learned that the most godly presbyter Eustathius is adorned with piety and takes great care for the service of the Master God.

To Titus, Count and Domesticus. The abundance of the good qualities that are in you makes us ardent lovers of you and renders the memory of your magnificence unforgettable. Therefore, when we are present, we satisfy our longing by continual sight of you, and when we are absent, we strive to entertain ourselves with letters. And may it be, by the prayers of the saints, that you attain to the utmost of virtue and ascend to the very summit of good things, so that all who think on divine matters may be adorned by your successes. For truly it is a great thing for good report, amid the belt and cloak and such great authority, that piety and gentleness and nobility and the honor of justice [be found]. To Aerius the Sophist. You, best of men, when you are with us, always bring the banquet made ready from rhetoric and philosophy, and weaving the honeycombs of speech more gracefully than the Attic bee, and pouring in sweeter streams, you are accustomed to entertain us generously. But we, living in poverty of words and longing to repay your feast, have sent you the best fruit of our homeland, which the branches of vines produce, nourished by the rains from the clouds, and which time and old age make most precious and sweetest, mild and gentle, and not at war with the heads of those who drink it; and besides its fragrance and the pleasure of its taste, it is able, like a physician, to heal the stomach. And so that envy may not do harm to the beauty of the gift, we have sent bread along with it, indicating the desolation of the city. But you will release this reproach of the homeland by sending to it a maker of bread.

To Eulalius, Germanus, and Proteus, who are enrolled in the regiment. A rumor that ran about and taught that a deed is being dared among you—a deed unworthy of you and alien to piety—grieved us exceedingly. For how could we not grieve, learning that so great an abomination is being undertaken by men sprung from high priests and reared in piety, and who even now promise to hold to it? And would that the rumor were false; but if it should prove true, the things dared are truly worthy of lamentation and wailing. For it says that some of you have betrothed your daughters to your nephews, and others, being uncles of the nephews, have chosen the marriage. But this is forbidden not only by divine but also by human laws; for it is abominable and hateful to God and alien to pious hearing. But perhaps those who marry will procure for themselves release from this transgression by imperial letters; but one must know clearly that those who reign, even if they are made splendid by the purple and hold the scepters of the world, can put an end to the punishments of this life, but cannot loose sins themselves nor free those who have fallen from their offenses. So that even if the transgressor is released from accusation ten thousand times by imperial letters, he has the stain of sin and will render account to the righteous judge. Consider, then, how great a thing it is to be pricked throughout life by the goads of conscience; for the transgression will not be dared in a single moment of time, but the abomination will travel through the whole life of those who marry.

Examine, then, among yourselves the nature of the relationship, that it is the same for a divine father and a brother's daughter. It is for Persians to dare these things, not for Romans, who are nursed in piety. But I consider that those who legislated these things were not even nursed in piety, but, living for a time in superstition, they ordained these things. Consider, then, the magnitude of the absurdity; for if the impious have legislated these things and have set them down as in accord with the divine laws, then for Christians to transgress will leave no excess of impiety remaining. I exhort, then, your keen understanding to respect the lawgiver, and to fear the righteous judge, and not to become a bad example to others, nor to open the door of lawlessness to the pleasure-loving, nor to prefer the pleasant to the advantageous. For you yourselves will find sons-in-law worthy of the kinship, and you yourselves will find maidens able to adorn—but not to fill your bridal chambers with stains. Neither men nor women have failed, so that scarcity might serve as an excuse

you are putting forward, when no such pretext lies before you. With what eyes will you look up to heaven? And with what tongues will you ask the lawgiver, whom you have insulted, to grant the fruit of children to the marriage? Having reasoned these things and those like them among yourselves, and having received the counsel as from a father, cease from that wicked undertaking, and honor marriage by the keeping of the laws, and procure for yourselves salvation through obedience, and for us who have counseled you, gladness. To the same. Those who succeed to the paternal inheritance do not rest content with what has been given, but strive to increase it. This zeal ought to be transferred to spiritual things, and to make the ancestral piety and the generosity toward the poor ten thousand times greater. I exhort your nobility to give to the holy Church of God among us those things that your grandfather left, and to keep his memory unextinguished. This will also procure a blessing for the other possessions. Consider, moreover, that if anyone should take away what has once been dedicated to God and has become a votive offering, the deed is clearly sacrilege, and needs no accusers. For those who dare this confess it to be so, compelled by their own conscience. But may it never befall you to endure this; rather may it be yours to double the ancestral blessings, and to offer to God double gifts in place of single.

To the sophist Aerios. You do us wrong, excellent sir, in not letting us taste even with the tips of our fingers, as the saying goes, of your education, but overlooking us while we thirst and hiding the springs of your words. For although you ought to set out the streams for the ignorant, you do not even allow those acquainted with them to enjoy them. And indeed, wealth that is hidden is useless to its possessors, but when it appears it makes them illustrious and admired. They say too that wells, if not drawn from, grow tiresome to those who use them, but when drawn from they furnish sweeter and purer streams. And it is characteristic of the art which you offer to the young, not the silence of Pythagoras, but close-packed contention and words borne along like a winter torrent. But if you are silent toward us alone, tell us also the reason for your silence, so that we may convict you of being silent without just cause. To Titus the count. Justice has many enemies; for injustice, its adversary, arms its own nurslings against it, yet it is defeated even though it has many subjects, since the lovers of justice eagerly contend on its behalf and most easily scatter its opponents. And you are one of those who contend so splendidly, excellent sir, and the witnesses to this are those who have been delivered through your assistance from the manifold devices of injustice. So I urge your magnificence to play the champion now as well, and eagerly to come to the aid of the lord Palladius the philosopher, who is being wronged, as he says, by certain barbarians; for by hurling false accusations they have contrived that the soldier given to him for assistance be brought as a prisoner to that court.

Here we need your inflexible scales and your impartial vote, so that you may order the philosopher, who is most worthy of all reverence, to obtain justice, and give courage to the soldier who is being slandered, so that by teaching what has happened he may show the accusation that was dared against him to be false. 12 To Palladius the Philosopher. Not without reason, excellent sir, do you find this bitter and grievous life hard to bear; for life is full of many and manifold evils, and very few are those who care for virtue and are lovers of philosophy; but the greater part of mankind has loved disorder, and especially the present time has brought a flood of wicked men, who pursue every form of evil without fear, and neither shame, nor fear of the laws, nor hope of things to come is sufficient to check the rush of wickedness, and now they do not even cloak their misdeeds as in former times, but arm injustice with shamelessness and call impudence frankness of speech. And the footpad fears being caught, but the covetous man openly plunders and breaks through walls and takes away his neighbor's goods and calls his own what belongs to him in no way. For these reasons I too am grieved, and I long for death, and I desire to be released from the present life; yet I accept what seems good to God, and I love the movements of his wise rudder, and I am carried wherever he carries me. And I exhort you also to bear grievous things nobly and to remember the words of Demosthenes: For it is necessary, he says, that good men undertake all noble things, setting before them good hope, and bear nobly whatever God gives. Thucydides also wrote such things before him:

For it is necessary, he says, to bear both what comes from the divine powers and what comes from enemies—the one with compulsion, the other with courage. These things are for your tongue to utter, O best of men. But we, nurtured on the writings of the fishermen, are able to speak what we have learned from them. They are words whose shell is cheap, but whose treasure of meanings is unspeakable and mystical. Having written a letter to the most magnificent general, I have sent it to your learnedness. To Olympius Germanicus. If the preconception of your doctrine had not corrupted the beauty of your soul, and having turned aside the eye of the upright to another direction, made it be carried away, I would have said that I had beheld the best of all those who conduct themselves in life. So much did the sweetness of your character capture me. But I am grieved, and greatly grieved, seeing such great virtue in need of a head, and beholding so much beauty of building lying on a slippery foundation. Therefore gladden us, O wonderful one, and prepare for us the greatest festival, by making an exchange of the foundation, and by exchanging truth for falsehood, and set straight the eyes of your soul, having taken on purity. But Hermes and the Muses, whom you have inscribed in your writings along with Eunomius, banish far from the sacred words. For it is not fitting for tongues taught to speak reverently to utter the names of demonic deceivers of the people. For what, says the holy Apostle, is the agreement of Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? Or what consent has the temple of God with idols? I write these things out of care, and thirsting for your perfection, O head dear to me. To Irenaeus the count.

The most God-beloved archdeacon, by announcing the arrival of your magnificence, recently delighted me and filled my soul with pleasure, and gave wings to my hopes, and made me watch the roads, dreaming of it by night and picturing it by day. Thus I spent the whole holy Lent expecting to enjoy your company; but I was deceived in my hopes and enjoyed the gladness as in a dream. I would not, then, blame him; for in this too he has granted me great favors. For you bring me the greatest joy to my soul even when appearing in a dream, let alone when pictured by day. But I wish altogether to learn from whom I have been deceived, not that I may exact punishment from the deceiver, but that I may give thanks; for I have gained no small profit from the deception. But if it seems good to you also to grant that truth to those good tidings, and nothing more pressing prevents it, grant to yourself the blessing of the saints, and to me your company, which I consider the most desirable of all things. To Proclus, Bishop of Constantinople. We, dwelling in small and very desolate towns, often find even life itself burdensome, worn out by those who come to us and need some assistance; but your holiness, dwelling in a city—or rather a sea of men—that is inhabited, and receiving like rivers those who flow in from every side, takes thought not only for them, but also for those throughout the whole inhabited world that is ours.

And if anyone should ask for a letter to someone, you do not consent to write even simply and in this casual way, as men amid a crowd of affairs, not genuinely, nor elegantly, nor with precision, but all things run together in your letters at once: both the beauty of words and the abundance of thoughts and the harmony of arrangement and the honor that nourishes those who receive the letters, and the finest of all good things, the moderation of mind that blooms upon your words. Receiving such letters of your Holiness, we greatly marvel at your apostolic understanding, and we see that wondrous voice fitting you: Our heart has been enlarged. You are not constrained among us. For this reason we entreat the God of all that your Holiness may move these rudders to the greatest extent, so that the ship of the Church may travel with favoring winds. We love the most illustrious and most faithful tribune Naukratianos both for the noble goodness of his character and for his great gentleness. And having received the letters of your Holiness, I both love and cherish and honor the man doubly.

To Nomus the Consul. To Dionysius, Count of the East. Many wish to rule others, but few know how. For the care of men requires prudence beyond every art and science, so that the one who cares for them, adorned with this, may find what must be done; and it requires temperance and justice as well, so that what is found by the former, confirmed by these, may become deed and not be corrupted by contrary dispositions. For this reason such a man also needs courage and prudence; for this scatters the opposing phalanx. Your magnificence, adorned with these things, has brought the knowledge of rule to success, and if indeed the sum of these things—piety—were present (for I cannot endure to be silent, having become accustomed to it, but I will set forth the greatest matters), reproach could not have the strength to let loose even the slightest abuse. But concerning this I need a longer discourse. Now, however, I exhort your greatness to use in season both your nobility toward your subjects and your care for public affairs, and to set Cyrus aright, which is more useful to the public revenues than many splendid and illustrious cities. For it contributes many times more than they do, and it is not just that it become a side matter of sycophancy, which through your favor will be shown forthright immediately. For our wonderful son Philip has reached the capital and will teach the highest authority of the city its sufferings and will certainly receive

...healing remedies, dissolving the danger that hangs over us. For this reason I announce a short delay; for we hope that our loving-kindness-loving Master will very quickly scatter this murky and grating cloud. To Areobindus the Stratelates. When I was pursuing the solitary life, I preferred the quiet of all things together; for this is what the law of that life enjoins. But since God has commanded me, though unworthy to shepherd souls, I am compelled, often against my will, to take care of matters whose concern is distressing to me but lawful and beneficial to those who use them; for the apostolic law cries out: If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; and again: the one who presides, in earnestness. Serving these laws, I address your great natural excellence through letters and beg that the place of Sergitheon (this belongs to our district), being under your authority, may enjoy your loving-kindness. For the tax on oil which they exact wears down those who farm it, since neither last year nor this year has the land produced fruit, or very little indeed. And it is fitting for you, who are made illustrious by your office, with which you also adorn your courage, † to deem worthy of sparing the tillers of the land the things supplied by God from the farmers, even if at some time the flow of fruits should be checked †, since they are unable to pay the fixed revenue; for neither can the streams offer the flows of waters when they do not receive them from the springs. This is the entreaty we offer, having often been troubled by the farmers.

Your magnificence, having considered what must be done and knowing well that what is fitting in what has been said will impart kindness, since you desire to obtain this from the God of all. To Constantine, former prefect. God, the ruler of all, adorned the nature of men with reason; for this reason nature itself also finds what is needful by itself; and the men of old are witnesses, who did not receive laws from others, but themselves discovered laws and introduced a manner of life suited to rational beings. But if someone, in addition to nature, should also acquire education and be carefully nurtured in the labors of others, he brings, as it were, all kinds of teaching as material to nature. And nature, like one who knows, rejects the superfluous and receives what is beneficial, and builds up the lovely statues of virtue; for it does not receive the lessons simply and as it happens from poets or philosophers or indeed from other prose writers, but, imitating the bee, it collects what is useful and lets the superfluous alone. Your magnificence, embracing this manner of life, has increased the reason implanted in nature—or rather has shown it forth when it was hidden; for the passions make it submerged; but when it obtains wings, it swims above and rises up and lives as in the light. For this reason I entreat your magnificence especially on behalf of those who need forethought; for, being moved more rationally, you take care of them with greater zeal.

I beseech you to let the most admirable and most illustrious Dionysius also enjoy this care—a man who held office not by his own choice, who lives in poverty, who embraces a gentle and modest life, and who is being exacted of sums that not even a slave, having become free in place of a slave, could pay. But if he be permitted to set forth the tragedy of his own misfortunes (and you will certainly permit it, being made illustrious by your gentleness), he will obtain pity and forbearance not only from you who are readily inclined to mercy, but also from those who choose the opposite course. So pitiable is the drama of this man's sufferings. To Proclus, bishop of Constantinople. Through other letters as well I brought to your holiness's right hand our most magnificent son Philip, and I besought that he might enjoy your providence; but the most God-beloved and most holy man of God, the lord Jacob, commanded me to add a second letter to the first, enjoining me also to add this to the letters and to inform your holiness that he himself likewise asks for the favor through us. And he who is worthy of love before God because of the excess of his virtue, and surely worthy of admiration before God's people, and especially before your holiness—which previously gladdened him with letters and crowned him with many praises—for the sake of this sacred and most dear to God head, let him enjoy your care, and let the dignity of our city be preserved.

To Areobindas the Patrician. To Eusebius Bishop of Ancyra. If human nature had kept the divine laws, it would have enjoyed goods that are lasting and enduring. But since we have turned aside from the straight path and have despised the divine commandments, we have necessarily been allotted a painful life, so that by investigating the causes of our sorrows and finding sin to be their mother, we may flee from it as an enemy and embrace the divine laws. For this reason not only do certain individuals fall from prosperity, but cities and nations also lose their well-being and fall into the utmost misfortune. This is what the land of Libya also suffered—the land once called Libya, but now called Africa; for though it was full of all good things, it suddenly became destitute of them. Men who have nothing gentle in them, but live with cruelty and beastliness, drive and carry it off; and for this reason most of the most God-beloved bishops have chosen a foreign land instead of their fatherland, having as their consolation hope in God and as their supply for the body's necessary need the hands of God-beloved men. One of these is the most God-beloved bishop, the lord Florentius, who is hastening to reach the greatest city, and makes his journey through your holiness; and I know that he will be moored in a harbor well-sheltered and well-mouthed and windless and full of goods of every kind.

Having enjoyed his company for a short time, I also partook of the greetings of your reverence, which I hold in high esteem, and at the same time I hasten to send them, deriving gladness from them and stirring up that worthy elder to prayers on my behalf. To Aerius the Sophist. Long ago the Athenians lamented the Sicilian disasters; but the present time has produced those of Libya and Carthage. These are more grievous and far more severe. Barbarian cruelty and audacity brought them about. Of these things Maximianus also, the most well-born, has become a part, and by recounting the sufferings he pierces his hearers and channels a stream of tears. The most God-beloved and most holy bishop, lord Juvenalius, has borne witness to the truth of what he says, having put his testimony in writing. Let him therefore enjoy the hospitality of Alcinous, since he too has escaped many violent storms. For the shipwrecks of the mainland are also grievous. 24 To Basilius the Presbyter. 25 To Martyrius the Presbyter.

To Ulpian the count, equal in rank to a sophist. Our bees are again running to your Attic meadows, having learned by experience the usefulness of those flowers. So let your instruction fill them with honey and teach them to weave the combs with skill. For your glory is the eloquence of your students. And I ask that they enjoy even greater forethought. For I wish our city also to be made illustrious by your fruits. To the same. If I had more sons, I would have sent you more students. Those I have, then, I both send and deem worthy to share in your instruction. One of these is our most noble son Theodotus, both priding himself on his paternal nobility and adorned with his own manners. And for these reasons, therefore, and also for my sake, I ask your wisdom to take up this form of beneficence; for it is a beneficence, at least according to the aim of your magnificence, even if those who know the affairs of cities consider it a harm. For your magnificence, by doing this, will again show paternal affection. To Cyrus the presbyter.

Having been asked by the man of God for a letter to your Holiness, and having done this, I considered that I had received rather than given a favor; for both are dear to me—the one who asked and your Holiness to whom he asked. I, then, being so disposed, have written; and let your Piety both look upon him with pleasure and gladden us with reciprocal kindness. For in this way you will increase our friendship. To Archelaus, bishop of Seleucia. The sea is thought to cut both continents in two, having been appointed to occupy the space between them. But if one wishes to search out the truth, it joins rather than cuts their extremities; for by providing merchants an easy and swift conveyance of necessities, it makes the continent on the opposite side run hither, and this one hasten toward that, and spread the sail, and move the rudders. But if the sea were also a continent, who among merchants, with so great a journey lying before them, would be able either to bring what each land lacks or to carry out what is superfluous? But as it is, by offering its back to those who wish to sail, it fulfills the needs of both sellers and buyers. I praise it, then, also for these reasons, but I praise it more because it has become for me the procurer of letters to your Holiness, and by calling us through the need of necessities to itself, it has prepared us to converse with that most divine and dearest to me of all head. For that is the true praise of your Holiness—the neighborhood of your Piety; for you are a harbor of a harbor, sheltering those storm-tossed in that very harbor.

receiving and delivering from the waves of injustice. But for your Holiness the ornament is not the harbor, which receives the merchant ships of the world, but the possession of divine love. UNTITLED. I am both devoid of splendid words and destitute of good deeds. But you fulfill the laws of friendship, weaving praises for your friends, and by the power of your words raising them to a height, and showing how much strength words have, since they are able even to make very small things appear great; gathering their beauty and their power from every side, you offer the fruits of these, now conversing in company, now speaking through letters, and placing Attic eloquence in your letters, and charming those who encounter them more by the pleasure of your words than the Sirens of myth enchanted Odysseus with their songs. And I write this trusting more to experience than to report; for I have often lent my ears to you as you conversed, and now in your letters I have seen what I knew, and I have acknowledged great thanks to the most reverend Phasganius, who brought me such a feast of words, and I have been grateful for this benefaction. For what he announced I gladly heard; and if it also reached the desired end—the very thing that brought him to us—let this be considered the work of his own zeal and diligence. But let your virtue write to us frequently and procure us pleasure.

TO THEODOTUS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH. So there is, then, even from those who attempt to do wrong, the greatest enjoyment of benefits, and experience has been my teacher in this; for having spent a longer time in Antioch, compelled on account of that injustice, I richly enjoyed the honey of your Holiness, and I knew more clearly how many goods the company of your Holiness procures. For the consolation of your sight conquered the pain caused by the injustice, and the pleasure of your sweetness plundered the grief. Therefore, unforgettable is your affection toward us... 33..., he received authority and was proclaimed first among the governors, but because he is a man full of wisdom, knowing how to benefit, honoring virtue, knowing how to rule, holding the scales of justice unwavering, more exact than a balance in what is just, having earnestly sought to show mercy to his subjects, using philanthropy as his counselor, raising up cities that lay fallen, bringing back to life their council chambers, which were gasping for breath and known only by their names, and giving refreshment by the power of his authority to those who possessed them and had been compelled to contribute and had finally given up, and in a word doing all things that serve the God who is the president of all things and the gentlest king of all; for he is of one mind with God, having willed to worship him piously. For these things we rejoice, for these things we consider life a festival. But you, the most excellent of all, not only by authority but also by your zeal for benefiting others, grant us the first favor in this throne, which you promised recently.

For I have already written to your greatness, while the king was still dictating the laws, beseeching that the most reverent and most God-beloved Euthalius the presbyter be released from the tax of the praetorship of Telesma, a man full of all philosophy, both in letters and in deed, and possessing little, barely sufficient for himself and his household. But the most magnificent and most glorious prefect of the city ordered him to be charged this tax, not knowing that he is not a most illustrious man but a most senior one. And even if he were still most illustrious, he would have been exempt from such a tax, since the law honoring the memorialists clearly ordains this. But I beseech and again beseech and implore. Honor philosophy; free the priesthood from outrage; grant us this exemption. And it is easy for you if you wish it; for affairs follow your nod. And you will wish it, I know well, since you have been eager to confer both common and private favors. MARANAS THE SCHOLASTICUS.

I do not know what to call you, friendless or city-hating? For the truth I do not know; but one of two things I am compelled to suspect, since you have come to us at none of the festivals, but have preferred a field and teams and mattocks to friendship and fatherland, and to those who strive about debts and boundaries and run past the scales of your vote. But I am greatly vexed, seeing the fatherland outraged by its offspring, and I shall not endure to overlook it. In order, therefore, that you may escape such a writing, reach the land that bore you and make it more splendid by your presence; for it is absurd that the field be made bright by your dwelling, while the city is diminished by your absence. To Romylus. Both fathers of well-disciplined children make the good repute their own, and masters of dutiful servants hold their service in great account. But if such a law is observed among men, where envy often prevails, much more with God, who is good and by nature benefits all without passion. Wherefore now he says to Abraham: I will bless those who bless you; and now to the holy apostles: He who receives you receives me. Since, therefore, he regards the honor of his nurslings as his own, be entreated, most wonderful one, to honor his Prophets, his holy Apostles, by your presence. To Theodotus the ruler.

To little children the bogey is terrifying, to youths tutors and teachers, but to those already come to manhood the most terrifying of all things is a judge and a tribunal and heralds and rod-bearers and exactions; and if hardship be added to these, the fear is doubled. Why I have gone through all this, I will teach your virtue. The consecration of the apostolic and prophetic shrines, on the fourteenth of the month Gorpiaeus, God willing, we expect to accomplish. But those who govern among us, as I said, fear your presence. They fear not the gentlest Theodotus, but the mask of office which you wear; without which we would have paid a great price both for you to be present with us as we celebrate and to share in the festival and to adorn the city and to be the leader of those who assemble. Be persuaded, then, O best of men, to give the Gorpiaeus to the sacred season and to dedicate it to God and to the lovers and beloved of God. For in this way, even though absent, you will share in the festival, honoring the holy Apostles and Prophets with quiet and respite, and you will enjoy the blessing that comes from them, and you will serve God, who delights in the honor of the saints, and you will give joy to us also, who desire and pray that peace and gladness be poured out upon us in that feast.

To the young governor. This is the boundary of rule; this is the just and advantageous authority for the common good. For the care of the governed benefits not only them but also greatly profits those who have undertaken the rule. For those who care immoderately for one side harm both; but those who blend energy with gentleness, and dull the vehemence of action with philanthropy, and honor measure, according to the philosopher's definition, these truly benefit both those who are taxed and those who are ordered to tax. I know that your prudence does this; for you steer your authority with shrewdness, and for this reason you rejoice in paternal gentleness, and having employed mild words, you make the exactions of the contributions better than any harsh and fire-breathing one. For those who are asked, ashamed of your gentleness, forgetting their poverty, are stripped even of their cheap rags. Indeed even now, in such a scarcity of gold, when goods have been thrown away, with no one approaching either wet or dry fruits, having borrowed fifteen and twenty gold pieces, and having stripped the soldiers stationed among us, they sent the gold, as much as you ordered to be given. So much can gentleness mixed with understanding do; for that tragic saying is truly exact: one wise counsel conquers many hands... Thus, then, O best one, you will continue to steer, saying much farewell to those who provoke, and preferring the providence of the common good to all things together.

For in this way you will both serve the God of all and preserve for the emperor the cities entrusted to you, and you will reap the good repute that comes from all. To Isokasios the sophist. I have sent to your magnificence the good and noble Gerontios, who knows best how to work wood, and has learned from his craft to inlay into the wood images of every kind of living creature and tree, and whose character, surpassing in the finest way, conquers the excellence of his craft—though I am greatly in need of his craft myself, I have preferred your service to my own need. For having learned from the most illustrious Eurykianos that the man's size is needed for the adornment of your house, I have straightway sent him to your wisdom, so that you may entrust the work to the best of his fellow craftsmen and that he may return to us as quickly as possible. Since, then, having the man in hand, we have given precedence to your affairs, I promise that we shall obtain the same favor; and we shall obtain it, if, having appointed those who are needed over your works, he returns to us as quickly as possible.

To Antiochus, former prefect. From many other quarters too it is possible to see your judicial discernment; but above all the vote concerning the governors shows you forth, to whom you have entrusted the leadership of both nations and cities. For making the care of all their subjects a common concern, and choosing those most free from bribes and superior to money and holding the scales of justice evenly, and in a word the best men, you have set them over the cities as fathers and physicians and pilots. Now we have met with many other good and noble men who obtained office by your vote, but we have seen one especially worthy of admiration and most worthy of reverence, the most illustrious Neon. For we have had fuller experience of him, since he obtained the helm of our own fatherland and throughout the whole time of his office he wisely steered and ensured that the vessel was carried with favoring winds. He now, having ceased from office, has himself been released from tumults together with cares, but he has stripped his subjects of a fatherly care; and he runs to your greatness, having gained glory instead of money and being made illustrious by his wonderful poverty, worthy of many praises. But send him back to us again with the rudders. For may it not be that a man who knows how to do good should lack occasions for beneficence. To Domitian, quaestor.

From the facts themselves we have learned that it is not nature but the judgment of men that prevails in virtue and vice. Some honor licentiousness, others temperance, governed not by nature but by choice. For while many were accusing the race of the Isaurians, saying that they are lovers of money and lovers of gold and grasp after more, we found the most illustrious Neon, born and raised among them, who loathed the life of greed—or rather, who not only did not endure to stretch out his hand unjustly, but did not even choose to gain justly, but gave up his own property for the care of the cities, and who lent his ear to every wronged man, but shut the bars of the courtroom against the unjust and the sycophants. What then would those suffer who are deprived of such guardianship? From these things your magnificence can learn. 41 To Andrew, bishop of Samosata. You have painted for us wonderfully, excellent sir, using the colors of words, the most God-beloved Damian the presbyter; for we saw him to be such as you interpreted him through your letters. And I had experience of his character, but the people enjoyed his discourse. For illness prevented me, and I have only heard from the hearers that the man is such as your holiness indicated. But having given us a taste, even now, imitating the clouds that lie above, he lets fall a few drops and passes by the thirsty. And it pleased me that he became the cause of my letters to your holiness; for though I was in a weak state, I was eager through him to greet your holiness and to stir you up to prayer on my behalf.

To Euthalius the Presbyter. Having had one consolation in this city—the company of your piety—I was greatly grieved at not enjoying it for so long a time. But I grieve more because, having fallen into this unexpected loss and being, as is likely, disheartened, you do not even have one to cheer your soul and to drive away your despondency with the incantations of the all-holy Spirit. But, O wonderful one, become your own counselor and teacher, and display in your struggles the philosophy which you have pursued from childhood, and let all learn that you philosophize in deed rather than in word, counting human things as nothing, and reckoning the streams of wealth and the extremest poverty as equal. For each of these, as you know, is by nature wont to shift hither and thither according to the flow of Euripus, and now to be this and now that. But virtue, of which you are a nursling, is a lasting good, and the one who possesses it must guard it securely, and the one who does not have it must seek it earnestly; but gold and the other goods of wealth, when present, one should manage as is fitting, and when absent, one should not long for them. These things you continue to philosophize; these things you have often taught to others as well. Let those, then, who seek learn that they are able to take money, but they can never plunder virtue.

To the most holy monk. "Nothing in excess" and "measure is best," and all such sayings of the ancient sages, I consider to apply to every good and profitable thing. For those who undertook the ordering of morals said these things wishing to restrain not only lofty and overweening thoughts, but also to set upright the excessively lowly and those lying somewhere too far below measure, and to teach due proportion. It is necessary, then, master, for you—being wise and able to make others wise, and being full of such words, and having been taught to love your neighbor as yourself—not to harm the mind of the beloved by your praises, nor to raise him to a height and lift him up with words while humbling yourself beyond measure and choosing this excess that is not to be praised, nor to measure your eulogy by your longing, but to prefer truth to friendship, and to conceal the blemishes of a friend (for the lawgiver of friendship enjoins this, saying, "Love will cover a multitude of sins"), and to admire his evident achievements in due measure. And in saying these things, I am not instructing your keen understanding, which is especially well educated in such matters, but I am rejecting my own praises; for one of these two things wears me out. And I have heard God speaking through the prophet to Israel: "My people, those who call you blessed lead you astray, and they disturb the path of your feet." Concerning these matters I offer this supplication to your piety.

Concerning the girl, I instruct your piety, that I care for her because of her orphanhood, yet I have not myself entered into discussions about betrothal, but have yielded the authority to her mother. I ask your holiness to make known to us both the name and the family of the one who wishes to marry her (for the letter contained none of these things), so that I may make these things known to the mother and the relatives of the girl and advise what is fitting. 44 To Isokasios the Sophist. The young men who attend your school you do not only educate in the Greek language and teach Attic eloquence, but you also deem them worthy of other provision, caring for the orderliness of their morals and preparing their life to look toward virtue; and in addition to these things you also exercise other guardianship over them, delivering them from those who try to wrong them, standing them with those who are able to help, and simply doing the works of fathers; for these things are proper to those who, in your manner, instill this rational wisdom into the souls of men. Such benefits from your great-mindedness has our most noble and most beloved son Philip. For when the contests concerning the office of the cera[rch] had arisen, you were among those contending and doing everything on behalf of the young man. And now too, as I have learned, your great natural ability has contributed much zeal, so that he is not among those led and carried about by the good leaders, but among those who are honored and deemed worthy of honor. And may many good things be yours, as you exercise such guardianship over those deprived of a father.

For these things, then, we also give thanks to your magnificence. But since for the present the office is injuring him (for it deprives him even of the first place in the council), and all those close to him are vexed at this and threaten no longer to attend to public affairs if this should happen, I entreat your wisdom to take up this kind of benefaction; for it is a benefaction, according to the purpose of your magnificence, even if those who know the city's affairs consider it a harm. For by doing this, your magnificence will again show your fatherly affection. To Theodotus, bishop of Antioch. Nature has given children the right to speak freely to their fathers in due season, and the law of servitude has given slaves the right both to honor their masters in silence and to speak to their owners with truth concerning what is needful. This is also the law for tutors and trainers and for all who have been allotted to rule or to teach any craft or branch of knowledge. Trusting in this law, and in addition to it in the gentleness and disposition of your sacred soul, of which your piety has deemed us worthy from the beginning, I overstep the bounds and, with that frankness which I have mentioned, I inform my master of the discouragement that has unexpectedly befallen me. For I grieved truly and was exceedingly discouraged that no one reported to me the visit of your holiness—I mean the visit to Archaios—not even the most God-beloved Aetius the presbyter. For I bring a charge against him before your holiness as one who has been greatly wronged.

For I wished both to learn beforehand of your lovely presence and to run as if on wings and to cross the Gindarus and to pay at least the smallest portion of the honor I owed, and to spend those few days together, and to bring every constraint of fatherly affection, and to persuade you to sanctify our city with your sacred feet. But now I have been deprived of all these things. For when your holiness arrived, I did not know; but on the fourteenth, while celebrating the festival of the victorious Martyrs at Menigni, I heard this being talked about. And inquiring and examining the truth, I found others saying that your piety had set out, having stayed there only two days; and not trusting the second report, but sending to Maschalae and learning that both reports were true, I was prevented from the journey. And I grieved bitterly in my soul both that I did not seek the paternal honor, but was deprived of the spiritual benefit, and that I was not counted in the lot of those who attend to your holiness; for not having been approved among them, I remained uninformed of your arrival, O father. Grieving as a son over these things, I have informed the father and master most revered by me for all things, both making defense for my ignorance and grieving because of the ignorance.

To Helladius the Curator. Rumor has made your magnificence known to me; and I did not believe it lightly, but when it spoke I listened to it in every respect, as it wove together its praises of you and recounted the catalogue of your achievements. For there is nothing else to be heard concerning your magnificence than what it is fitting for a lover of virtue to possess. One of those who recount these things is the most reverent deacon Pappos; for he himself urged us also to write, saying that your spirit is not proportionate to your power, but is what befalls a man who is wise and prudent and has examined nature. Therefore I have taken courage to write the letter, and I address your greatness and entreat the God of all both to preserve the present good things for you and to grant you greater ones. To Eurycianus the Tribune, Consolatory. I know the gloom of winter and I understand the violence of the surge, and the present life has nothing stable or lasting; only the beauty of virtue is unfading. And these things for the present I say in common, as one speaking to men; but it is time now also to remind you of the divine doctrines, and to transfer you from your suffering to those great hopes, and to scatter the cloud of despondency, and to show forth in word those things which up to the present are seen through faith. The power of death has been dissolved, and that fearful sleep has become death, and we all who have received the ray of faith await the resurrection. For this reason also our Master Christ, the only-begotten Word of God, who existed before the ages, who is co-eternal with the

to the one who begot him, the Maker and Adorner and Governor of all things delivered his own body, which he took from us and for us, to death, not so that he might leave it dead, but having first raised it, through it he might sow the hopes of the resurrection in us. And teaching this clearly, the Lord himself said: When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself; and again: The hour is coming when those in the tombs will hear the Son of God, and those who have done good will come out to a resurrection of life, but those who have done evil to a resurrection of judgment. Confirming this hope for the holy Apostles, he called Lazarus's death sleep, saying: Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep. Then, when they did not understand what was said and replied: If he has fallen asleep, he will be saved, he added: Lazarus has died. You do not understand, he says, what I say; understand as I say it; for I called death sleep. And the blessed Paul also, handing on to us the account of the dispensation more clearly, said when writing to the Corinthians: But if Christ is proclaimed, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised; and a little later: But now Christ has been raised from the dead; he has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, so also through a man comes the resurrection of the dead. And just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. And instructing the Thessalonians he says thus: I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep.

And he does not say "of the dead" or "of those who have died"; for since the realities have undergone a change, it is reasonable that the names also be exchanged. I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve as the rest also do who have no hope. For he does not cast out grief, nor does he legislate impassibility, nor does he exhort us to come to be outside the bounds of nature, but he measures grief by faith, almost saying: You and the Greeks and the Jews, and among the heretics those who consider the resurrection nonsense, do not walk on the same hopes; nor do you have the same starting points for consolation. For they consider death the dissolution of the living creature, and they suppose the end to be complete corruption; but you, foreseeing the things to come with the eyes of faith, regard the separation of soul and body as a departure; you believe it to be a change and a transition; a sleep longer than the customary one. All these things instruct us—both Apostles and prophets. It was into these hopes that we were baptized; for the saving baptism itself bears the type of death and resurrection. Therefore also the blessed Paul cries out: As many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death; and again: For if we have become united with the likeness of his death, we shall also be of the resurrection. Having such hopes, then, I exhort you, let us measure our discouragement by piety; let us display to all the philosophy which we have been taught by faith.

I will teach those still sick with unbelief how many good things faith has procured for us even in the present life, preparing us to bear all things nobly, and teaching us that death is not death but a departure. It was not marriage that gave you your little daughter, nor did marriage make you parents, but our Maker and Lawgiver of marriage made you fathers; he does not give us children as one paying a debt, but using generosity he pours out good things upon men. Let us not then be vexed that he has taken what he gave; for he gave as he willed, and he has taken what is his own, not what is ours; and having taken it, he does not destroy it, but will restore it to us immortal, and impassible, and unchanging, on the day of the resurrection. Let us give thanks, that he took her blameless, free from sins, uninitiated into wickedness, unacquainted with evil. Do we love the girl? Let us rejoice with her at her change, that she has crossed the salt and bitter sea of life, and has been brought to anchor in the wave-less harbors, and has become superior to this fierce and grievous billow, of which you have now tasted. Let us conquer the stings of nature by reason. Let us regard the trial as a time of martyrdom. Does nature urge us to grieve? Let reason give thanks, and follow his nod. Does the memory of the girl pierce us? Let us set against it the memory of the Maker. Let us say: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has come to pass; may the name of the Lord be blessed forever.

The one who spoke these words sent a chorus of ten children to death all at once, and he did not send them to the graves one by one, nor after they had been sick for a time, so that the suffering, prolonged by time, might make the pain duller; but suddenly he heard of the death of them all, and a strange and extraordinary death. For while they were feasting and reclining on a couch, they perished utterly, when the house collapsed upon them. What more grievous thing than that spectacle has ever happened in life? What tragedy has received such calamities? Consider how bitter and pitiable it was that the house had become a mound of earth, and then to dig and search out the bodies of the children, and to find one lying with his cup, another with his hand stretched out toward the table, one with his eyes torn out from seeing, another with his legs broken, another with his hands cut off, another with his brain dashed out. Seeing all these things, that noble father uttered nothing burdensome, but continued hymning the Creator and giving thanks for all things: The Lord, he says, gave, the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord forever. The blessed Abraham, the patriarch, had one son, and him in old age, and after many promises, when many years had passed; but when it was finally time to see him a bridegroom, then God, the Lord of all, commanded him to offer him as a priest and bring him as a sacrifice. And he did not contradict, he did not resent the request, but ran with joy, and the length of the journey did not weary him, and he wished to bring the sacrifice at once.

Having reached the place of sacrifice, he immediately built the altar and arranged the wood; he bound the boy and stretched out his fatherly right hand against his dearest one. And let no one say that God there prevented the slaughter, but let him examine Abraham's readiness. Perhaps someone might say that God there commanded, and that for this reason Abraham obeyed. But here too God took. For what if He had not said, Give me your only-begotten daughter, whom you loved? But we know that He Himself took her; for in His hand is the soul of all the living. And the blessed David too: You will take away their spirit and they will fail; You will send forth Your spirit and they will be created, and You will renew the face of the earth. Let us therefore believe that we too have offered our daughter as a sacrifice to God; for if we philosophize thus, we shall be deemed worthy of the bosom of Abraham, and in the present life the Lord will give us another gift in place of the one He took. For indeed the much-famed Anna, having borne Samuel through prayer and then brought him to God, became the mother of other sons, according to the priest's blessing. Bearing the suffering nobly, then, we shall obtain many good things; for we shall have God propitious, and in the present life we shall enjoy His providence, and in the life to come we shall receive those ineffable recompenses, and we shall see the daughter whom we sent ahead crowned with garlands, and in the present life we shall reap the good repute that comes from all, and we shall be a model of philosophy for those who wish to be benefited. These things

I write, since the season of the festival enjoins me to remain here. For otherwise I would have run and brought you this consolation in my own voice; but since the need of the many has prevented me from doing this, I have sent the most God-beloved presbyter Agape to your virtue in my place. To the worthy deacon, a letter of consolation. You know the mortality of human nature and you have been taught the hopes of the resurrection. Both of these are sufficient to blunt the despondency over the dead; and if someone departs this life with good repute, grief ought to be entirely extinguished. For all these reasons, then, I urge you to bear nobly the death of the blessed Sosanna. And let the praises from all—both those who dwell in the country and those in our city—especially cheer your piety. For all sing of her praiseworthy life; one recounts her chastity, another her love of humanity, another her care for her household. And I am a witness to what is said by all—or rather, I say more than all, insofar as I take care to learn more than others. Therefore give thanks, O Christ-lover, to the Master Christ, because having perfected her in many forms of virtue, he has transferred her to the life free from sorrow, rejoicing and glad, and angry at those who weep; and consider the separation from your daughter to be an exercise in philosophy, and persuade yourself that she has departed to a farther land, living to God and awaiting the rewards of virtue. To Basil, bishop of Seleucia in Isauria.

Carrying fountains of words on your tongue, most holy one, you said you were thirsty and longed for my little drops, doing just as if someone should say that the Egyptian river needed a small trickle. Yet even a brief drizzle brings me great benefit; but your godliness offers springs to others. Nevertheless I praise your noble insatiability, for it has as its fruit the divine blessing: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." How great the gladness I procured from the letter it is not easy to set forth. For first it displayed to me the marks of your love of God and kindled the torch of friendship; then the company of the one who brought it produced in me greater joy. For the most godly fellow presbyter Domitian is sufficient both to scatter every despondency and to instill gladness in its place; for he has a character sweeter than honey, and carries within himself the wealth of the divine oracles, adorning himself not only with the outer casing of the letters but also showing forth the pearl hidden within them. But though he gladdened us greatly, he grieved us as much as he gladdened us, by departing as quickly as possible. Therefore through him I greet your holiness and entreat you to let me enjoy the aid of your prayers. TO AERIUS THE SOPHIST If you did not know the man and his manner and life, my dear head, you would reasonably be hymning mercy and recounting praises of his philanthropy; but since you know who the man is, and that the inclination of his judgment grows toward the worse, and he does not wish to sing a palinode, learn from your own Plato what this man deserves.

But if you say that his laws do not prevail at present, hear the Master of all things legislating. 51 To Apelles. I have not been ignorant of human nature, nor do I resent mercy, of which I am most in need. I know how to grant it to friends who ask, since I too, being in need of it, wish to receive it. But I wish both to be asked and to ask for things that do not work great harm. And if someone, not knowing, should ask for something of that sort, I am compelled to strip the request bare, and to persuade him that I have heard it with displeasure. For the favor harms both the one who asks and the one who gives. This I have deemed it useful to do now as well, and to persuade your magnificence—and to persuade it, with my conscience as witness, that I have no human ill will against a certain person; but it grieves me that he has wholly renounced the divine laws and become an instrument of the opposing power. 52 To Isokasios the Sophist. True, then, is the tragic saying—that of the man who seeks a life free from grief and cries out that he has found it in no one; for most people fall into unforeseen calamities. This has also befallen Theokles, our most noble son. For his father made him master of a single field; but this field bears, not myrtles and flowers, like that field of the comic poet, but the drunken outrages over the taxes. Having inherited so much, he was summoned to the most just praetorship, and though he is barely able to partake of necessary food, he is compelled to worry over so great a burden of loss; for which reason he is eager to reach the imperial city.

He therefore entreats your magnificence through us that he may come with your letters, since they nobly and with rhetorical skill make a tragedy of his poverty. For entering the courtroom with such testimony, he will persuade all the judges to cast their vote for mercy alone.