ON ST. PROCOPIUS THE LECTOR, AND PERHAPS ANOTHER PROCOPIUS THE COMMANDER,
AT CÆSAREA IN PALESTINE,
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FOURTH CENTURY, UNDER DIOCLETIAN.
PRECEDING COMMENTARY.
Procopius the Lector, Martyr at Cæsarea in Palestine (S.)
Another Procopius the Commander, in the same place.
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
§ I. The sacred cult of the Martyrs; on what day St. Procopius the Lector suffered; whether these are two Martyrs, or only one.
Most celebrated today, both among the Latins and among the Greeks, is the memory of St. Procopius the Martyr that is recalled. It would be long to heap up here several announcements from the classic Latin Martyrologies, concerning which Usuard illustrated may be seen, The cult of Procopius the Lector among the Latins; on this day, the eighth of July. One thing, however, I should wish observed, namely that the Latin announcements agree with Procopius the Lector, who, led from Scythopolis to Cæsarea, at the first boldness of his responses, is handed down by the same Usuard, following the more ancient Martyrologists, to have been beheaded by the judge Fabianus. At last the announcement of the Roman Martyrology also designates Procopius the Lector, not the Commander, who as Commander obtained the laurel of martyrdom not by a hasty death, like the Lector, at the first boldness of his responses, but by the most bitter and frequently repeated torments of various kinds. You may believe, on account of the constant silence of nearly all the Latin Martyrologists, both ancient and more recent, that Procopius the Commander was unknown, because so universally passed over.
[2] On the contrary, in several tables of the Greeks Procopius is expressed, The cult of Procopius the Commander among the Greeks Μεγαλομάρτυρ, or great Martyr, who coincides with the Commander, as is to be seen in the printed Menæa; likewise in a manuscript Menology, which seems to have belonged to the church of Constantinople, and also in the Basilian Menology, and the Slavo-Russian, in which last, however, it is wrongly added that he suffered under Licinius, in the time of Constantine. Add the Menology of Sirletus, and Maximus, Bishop of Cythera. But indeed the Greek Horologium reads Procopius without addition; the Index to the Typicum of St. Sabas, the Index to the printed Menæa, the supplement to the printed Menæa from the Synaxary of Sirmond and the manuscript of Chifflet, the Index to the manuscript Greek Menæa of the Ambrosian library, and finally the Menæum of Chifflet, refer the memory of St. Procopius the martyr; in which Supplement, already designated, there is indicated the place dedicated to the sacred cult of the Martyr, in these words: Τελεῖται δὲ ἡ αὐτοῦ σύναξις ἐν τῷ ἁγιωτάτῳ αὐτου μαρτυρίῳ, τῷ ὄντι πλησίον τῆς Χελώνης, καὶ ἐν τῷ Κονδυλίῳ. But his memory is celebrated in his most holy oratory, which is near the Testudo (Tortoise), and in the place which is called κονδύλιον. Concerning which places consult the following number.
[3] the veneration and the sacred places; In the Greek Menologies which we have, whether manuscript or printed, as far indeed as it has been permitted me to consult them, I find once St. Procopius expressly marked with the surname of Exorcist, and that in the Synaxary of Sirmond, where I thus read: Ἄθλησις τοῦ ἁγίου Προκοπίου, τοῦ Ἐφορκιστοῦ ἐν Καισαρείᾳ τῆς Παλαιστίνης. The passion of St. Procopius, Exorcist, at Cæsarea in Palestine. Moreover that the feast of St. Procopius, Μεγαλομάρτυρος, was in no small honor among the Greeks, is clear from the Novella of the emperor Manuel Comnenus, where it is said that the tribunal is vacant on the eighth of July on account of the feast of the Great Martyr Procopius, as may be read in Baronius at the year 1166, number 42. The same is not obscurely clear from this, that a double sacred edifice was once built in honor of St. Procopius, concerning which Cangius in Christian Constantinople, book 4, section 6, numbers 83 and 84; saying that one indeed, τὴν Χελώνην, that is, the Tortoise, of which above, was built by Constantine the Great, and citing Codinus, page 39; but the other, of which likewise above, called τὸ Κονδύλιον, he mentions from the same Codinus, page 46, took its name thence, διὰ τὸ Κωνσταντῖνον τὸν πατέρα Ἰουστινιανοῦ τοῦ Ῥινοτμήτου κονδυλίσαι ἐκεῖ τὸν ἵππον αὐτοῦ καὶ ῥίψαι αὐτόν. Because Constantine, the father of Justinian Rhinotmetus, in that place goading his horse with his fists, was thrown off by it. Here is designated Constantine Pogonatus, who died in the year 685. Ruinart in his prefatory admonition to the Passion of St. Procopius asserts that Cyril in the life of St. Sabbas makes mention of a church of the holy Martyr Procopius, built near Scythopolis.
[4] The printed Menæa prefix to the eulogy of St. Procopius the Μεγαλομάρτυρ the three following little verses: the little verses; Ἔοικε Προκόπιος αὐχένα κλίνων, Λέγειν, κοπείτω, τῇ πλάνῃ κᾂν οὐ θύω. Ὀγδοάτῃ Προκοπίου ἀρηιθόου κράτα κέρσαν. Procopius, about to give his neck to the sword, come; Why does the blow delay, he says? To error I sacrifice not. On the eighth, the sword took away the head of excellent Procopius. To these little verses is subjoined there the eulogy of the Martyr, which may be reckoned to report in compendium the things which are related at greater length in the Acts, to be produced afterward; and for that reason we have judged it to be here suppressed. Somewhat briefer is the eulogy in the Synaxary, collected from the Menology by order of the Emperor Basil. This eulogy of Procopius, from the first tome of our July, I thus render in Latin: The great Martyr Procopius was born in the city of Ælia, of a Christian father and a gentile mother, Diocletian reigning. Being of riper age, after the death of his father, he was led by his mother to Diocletian, for the sake of obtaining honor.
[5] Who, having created him Commander of Alexandria, set him not only against the enemies, the eulogy. but also against the Christians. But when he was returning home, a voice from heaven sounded in his ears, saying: Neanias, cease to assail my servants, that you perish not. And a sign of the Cross appeared to him, visible. And without delay, hastening to Scythopolis, he summoned a goldsmith and ordered a sign of the Cross to be made conformable to the figure shown him, and he wore it. After a victory reported over the Saracens, having returned, he was reported by his mother to the Emperor, that he was a Christian, and tortured in various ways and illustrious for prodigies, he not only led many others to believe in Christ, but also his very mother, and some women. With whom, beheaded together, he passed to God. What the Slavo-Russian Menology means, when after the announcement of St. Procopius the Great Martyr, it subjoins another of St. Procopius, comely for Christ, the Thaumaturge of the people of Ustiug, I do not indeed sufficiently understand. And this concerning the cult.
[6] But now, that holy Procopius the Lector underwent martyrdom on one day, On what day St. Procopius the Lector suffered. and was inscribed in the sacred tables on another, is with sufficient certainty gathered from the text of Eusebius, who in chapter 1 concerning the Martyrs of Palestine, having begun their Acts from the martyrdom of St. Procopius the Lector, mentions, τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποτέμνεται .. Δεσίου μηνὸς ὀγδόῃ, πρὸ ἑπτὰ εἰδῶν Ἰουνίων λέγοιτ᾽ ἂν παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις. He is beheaded … on the eighth of the month Desius, which among the Romans might be said, the seventh before the Ides of June. Here the Latin Acts vary. Those which we are about to give presently read that the Saint died on the seventh of Desius of the month of July, which is called the Nones of July among the Latins. Henry Valesius, in his annotations on this passage of Eusebius, reports that in two manuscript codices of the library of St. Germain at Paris it was written: It was the seventh day of the month of July, which is called the seventh before the Ides of July among the Latins. But those copies are manifestly proved to have been corrupted from the cited text of Eusebius, from whose words Δεσίου μηνὸς ὀγδόῃ you will never elicit this, it was the seventh day. To the corruption in part a certain Latin version may have furnished a handle, from whose words Desii mensis (of the month Desius) some unskilled person easily formed dies erat (it was the day). However that be, let it suffice to have observed these things, that we may distinguish the day sacred to the cult of the Martyr from the day on which he passed to the Saints above. And hence it is clear that the inscription of the Latin Acts in Valesius is to be corrected, where he is handed down to have suffered on the fourth before the Nones of August.
[7] It seems more likely that there was only one Procopius the Lector, Now another question comes here to be discussed by us, namely whether Procopius the Lector and Exorcist is one and the same with Procopius the Commander, or different, and thus whether here there is only one Procopius the martyr, or there are two. Since in the present controversy I judge that nothing solid can be hoped from antiquity for the decision of either party, it is to be seen whether that cannot be had from elsewhere. Baronius, at the year 308, distinguishes the one from the other, relying on the diversity of death, which to the one indeed befell longer, more bitter, and more violent than to the other. Valesius follows him in the mentioned notes on the book of Eusebius concerning the Martyrs of Palestine, heaping up several circumstances to establish his opinion. Namely, that the one was Lector and Exorcist, but the other Commander of Egypt. The former a Christian from a boy, the other translated from the worship of demons to Christ. The former underwent a brief and easy martyrdom; but the other, under the two Presidents of Palestine, Justus and Flavianus, was dreadfully mangled, and at last beheaded, and by the Greeks placed among the more illustrious martyrs or Μεγαλομάρτυρας. Finally, that the first was taken at Scythopolis, and thence led to Cæsarea of Palestine, and there beheaded; but the other, apprehended in Egypt, consummated his martyrdom in the Phoenician city of Cæsarea, which was also called Paneas. The most illustrious Francis Maria de Aste, Archbishop of Otranto, in his Disputations on the Roman Martyrology, published in the year 1716, has various things concerning the place of martyrdom; but nothing which greatly merits to be referred here.
[8] from the silence of Eusebius, Nor does Valesius seem obscurely to hint on what foundation he builds the said distinction of the Martyrs, if not wholly, at least in part, when he adds this clause, if we believe Symeon Metaphrastes; on whose authority whether and how far one is here to stand, we shall treat a little later, where we shall set up a discourse concerning the author, quality, and value of the Acts. Meanwhile the reasons which are brought forward for the identity of Procopius the Lector and the Commander appear to me sufficiently probable, at least so far as to render Procopius the Commander doubtful. He was doubtful also to Papebroch, because, as he writes in his Responses to the pretended Exhibitions of errors, article 4, §10: I certainly cannot conceive, he says, how Eusebius, writing scarcely thirty years after the passion of any Procopius, accomplished in his own city, should have made mention of one martyrdom, not very memorable, passing over the other, memorable to all posterity for events and contests so various and so wonderful; if (which most, with Baronius, prefer) two Procopii Martyrs existed in the same city, under the same persecutor. This argument, although merely negative, as they call it, deserves to be maturely weighed.
[9] speaking of Procopius the Lector, not of the Commander; For I ask, whether it is likely, much less probable or credible, that Eusebius, most highly esteemed for historical fidelity, equal in age or at least nearly so to those two whom he committed to writing, the Bishop of that city which had been a little before the arena
of the Martyrs of whom we here treat; is it, I say, likely that such an author, writing in these circumstances of time and place, committed to letters, and in the first place, the Acts of a Martyr, in whose death or its circumstances you would scarcely find anything worthy of memory, besides a death undergone for Christ in a moment, so to speak, of time; and passed over another to be remembered by so many titles? Who would believe that a diligent and accurate historian either would or could keep silence of so great an abundance of matters, many in number, illustrious in kind, various in diversity, and plainly wonderful in events beyond the common run of histories? All which he would not have hesitated to commend to posterity, by describing the wonderful conversion, the apparition, the heroic and more-than-common constancy in enduring the most savage tortures, the prodigies, and the conversions of others to Christ so singular and remarkable, if indeed even the least fame of them had reached the ears of Eusebius himself; which, supposing the truth of the things, could not but reach his ears. Nay, grant that Procopius the Commander was only a common or ordinary Martyr, how or why would the praised Historian have suppressed him in silence, being otherwise so diligent in narrating, so accurate in writing?
[10] But this opinion, of admitting only one martyr Procopius, concerning whom last the ancient Martyrologies keep deep silence. the said Papebroch there confirms by this reason: especially, he says, since the most ancient Martyrology, which is ascribed to Eusebius and Jerome, makes mention of only one Procopius at Cæsarea, and that on the eighth before the Ides of July. Add, that the other older Latin Martyrologies knew only one Procopius, slain, so to speak, on the first threshold of his sacred combat, as we reported above, number 1. The foundation of the opposite opinion, therefore, which sets up two Procopii, seems to rest solely on the Acts of Procopius the Commander, and thus it does not appear that the said opinion ought to have greater authority, firmness, or certitude than the Acts themselves have. It is not, however, for me to dislodge St. Procopius the Commander, distinguished from the Lector, from the ancient possession which he has hitherto enjoyed, which would indeed be more certainly established if it rested on more certain monuments of antiquity. Now concerning the Acts of both Saints it will be seen in the next paragraph.
§ II. The Acts of Procopius the Lector are genuine; whether, and how far, written by Eusebius. The Acts of Procopius the Commander are suspect of fabulousness; the author's hallucinations and digressions; their various manuscripts.
Twin Acts of St. Procopius the Lector are extant (unless you prefer to call them only one and the same, for reasons soon to be given), of which the one, The most brief Acts of St. Procopius the Lector, written by Eusebius; most brief in text, are had in Eusebius, and make the beginning of the first chapter concerning the Martyrs of Palestine; the other are edited in Latin, first by Valesius in his notes on the book of Eusebius concerning the Martyrs of Palestine, and after him, reported by Ruinart among the select and genuine Acts of the Martyrs. The first, edited in Greek by the author Eusebius, thus have in Latin from our version: Therefore of the Martyrs of Palestine, first Procopius, before he had experienced the prison, straightway at his first entrance, being led to the President's tribunal and ordered to sacrifice to those who are called gods, said that he knew one only: to whom sacrifice must be made in that rite in which he himself wills … But when he was ordered also to pour libation to four Emperors, having spoken a certain Homeric saying, which by no means pleased them: A bad thing, many lords; let there be one master, one King: at once he is beheaded, on the eighth day of the month Desius, that is, which by the Romans might be said, the seventh before the Ides of June, the fourth day of the week. This first martyrdom at Cæsarea of Palestine was consummated.
[12] others somewhat longer And this is the most compendious description of the martyrdom of St. Procopius the Lector, committed to letters by a most weighty author, who, if he was not present in person at the deeds which he here set forth, was at least closest to them by hearsay, and in the same place also, as I was saying above, some years after governed the episcopal chair, at which time the earth still, so to speak, reddened, purpled with the sacred blood of the martyrs. But concerning the Author and the sincerity of these Acts no prudent doubt can occur to anyone. But that the text should not detain you even a little, on the fourth day of the week, rendered word for word from the Greek; understand the fourth feria of the week. See Valesius in his Notes on this passage. But whether the Acts which are extant in Latin, and are somewhat longer, were first composed in Greek by the same Author, is not so certainly settled. Valesius, in the place cited above, reports the passion of St. Procopius, of which we here speak, which he judged to have been incautiously detracted, by the carelessness of the copyists, from the text of Eusebius. He proves, moreover, that the Latin passion was described and translated from the Greek, from these words of the Greek text: πρῶτος τοιγαροῦν τῶν ἐπὶ Παλαιστίνης Μαρτύρων Προκόπιος. Which in the Latin Acts are thus read: First of the Martyrs who are in Palestine appeared Procopius. There are also certain other things which agree well enough with the Greek Acts, and seem to savor of the same source.
[13] they seem to be ascribed to the same Eusebius, For those words of Eusebius, πρὶν ἢ φυλακῆς πεῖραν λαβεῖν, before he had experienced the prison, the Latin Acts thus report: Before he experienced the straits of prison or of bonds. The Greek thus proceeds: Εὐθὺς ἀπο πρώτης εἰσόδου τοῖς ἡγεμονικοῖς παραστὰς δικαστηρίοις, θύειντε τοῖς λεγομένοις προσταχθεὶς θεοῖς, straightway at his first entrance being led to the president's tribunal, and ordered to sacrifice to the so-called gods. The Latin thus have: At his very entrance, he is impelled by the Judge Flavianus to sacrifice to the gods. Finally at the close, τοῦτο πρῶτον ἀπὸ Καισαρείας τῆς Παλαιστίνης ἀπετελέσθη σημεῖον: This first at Cæsarea of Palestine was consummated as martyrdom (literally it is "sign"). The Latin passion follows in this manner: This first martyrdom at Cæsarea was consummated. Do not many things here agree sufficiently, so that the one may be said to be described from the other, and to breathe the same author? notwithstanding that the Latin varies a little in designating the day of martyrdom; as we noted at number 6.
[14] and why? And that we may return to the asserted consonance of the said Acts, and by the same labor to the author Eusebius; Valesius rightly observes that the family and fatherland of the other Martyrs who are commemorated in the book concerning the Martyrs of Palestine are accurately reported by Eusebius; and if perhaps any of them obtained some grade of ecclesiastical honor, he is wont to note that distinctly. If he did this in others, is it likely that he neglected the same in Procopius, the prince and standard-bearer of all who shone in Palestine among the martyrs? That this was in fact not done with respect to St. Procopius, the same Author imputes to the fault of the copyists. And so that defect may be supplied from the Latin passion, in which are distinctly handed down his fatherland, his dwelling, his triple office, namely of lector, exorcist, and interpreter; the innocence of his morals from his early age, and the severity of his life. Add, that these words, reported there near the end, in the first year in which persecution was against us, do not seem to leave a doubt that the Acts were written by a coeval author. Which, to whom can it more likely be attributed than to Eusebius? Finally, would I stray from the truth, if I should say that there shine forth there those marks which seem to breathe the vein and genius of the writer Eusebius, and which one might miss in genuine Acts?
[15] Of a worse stamp are the Acts of Procopius the Commander, of which we now undertake to speak. The Acts of St. Procopius the Commander, of a worse stamp; Baronius, at the year 308, establishing Procopius the Lector as different from Procopius the Commander, says that the Acts of this last, a very few things being emended, are reckoned legitimate and genuine, written by the author himself before the reign of Julian. But by what reason does he prove the sincerity of the Acts? by nothing else than by producing a brief synopsis of them from Nicephorus, and a fragment, torn from the same, and recited in the Second Nicene Council, concerning the cross, which he ordered to be fabricated, honored with apparitions and inscriptions, of which see in the Acts, to be produced here afterward, from number 13. But so far is it that that holy Synod wished to approve, much less to define, the truth of those Acts, or to give surety for it, that it did nothing else here than permit the same Acts to be read before it. And so there is no cause here for anyone to raise a scruple, as though indeed an irreverence had been committed against the decrees of the said Synod; which I wipe away as easily as that one, very frivolously objected to himself by the pretended Exhibitor of errors, was wiped away by Papebroch in the first part of the Responses, page 148; where several things pertaining to this may be seen.
[16] To those things by which Baronius proves that those Acts were written by the author before the reign of Julian, was it written before Julian? namely, that by Julian the statue of the Savior, erected by the woman with the issue of blood, was utterly broken to pieces, and melted down into another, as he says he will state in its place: and that the Author himself, when he makes mention of it, says that it is surviving. But that that author speaks in the words of another, not his own, seems able to be gathered from this, that the context, relating the history of the woman healed of the flux of blood through Christ, agrees too closely with Eusebius, book 7 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 18, for the said Author not to have taken it thence, and inserted it into the Procopian acts, this clause, however, at least in our copy, being passed over, which is read in Eusebius: Moreover it remained (he speaks of the said statue) even to our times, and we ourselves, having entered that city, beheld it; which clause Baronius doubtless read in his copy, since on it he founds his opinion concerning the age of the writer of the Acts. The same clause also, turned into nearly the same Latin words, is read in Surius.
[17] But now let us heap up some reasons, from which, as by so many characteristic marks, we may discern that the Acts of Procopius the Commander, why they are suspect of fabulousness; very far removed from genuine sincerity, are to be held of doubtful trust, and rather to report a pious drama, adorned with episodes, than a true history. And first indeed not moderately does the silence of Eusebius weaken their trust, in the circumstances of matters and times of this kind; concerning which it was treated at number 8. Besides, these Acts do not seem sufficiently to agree with the same Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, book 8, chapter 12, where, treating of the tortures exercised with the utmost savagery against the Martyrs, he makes no word concerning St. Procopius the Commander, the most prodigious victor of torments, if we believe the Acts. For truly they seem to savor either of Metaphrastes, or of an interpolator of like flour, in the digressions, the apparitions so frequent, the continual addresses, the prodigies, the wonderful events, the unexpected outcomes, the apostrophes, the entrances and returns into prison so easy and many; the conversions, the Presidents punished with death (concerning all which there, in various places). What of this? at number 21 especially, does not the invocation of gods and goddesses savor of the theater and smack of poetic composition? Add the prayers of the Martyr, set at the close of the Acts, in which the Saint asks of God health for the sick, for widows and orphans the supplying of the things they need; for those suffering injuries relaxation, for the wandering return; for those, moreover, who of his
they should keep his memory, tranquillity of life, and the extermination of all pain. Which clause is very universal; and unless I greatly err, alien to genuine and sincere Acts of the Martyrs. Consult the things which Papebroch long ago said concerning the history of St. Flamina, part 1 of the Responses, page 271. Judge the same of the Sibylline verses, prophesying Christ and the Cross; the same of the oracle of Apollo, sprinkled into the Surian edition, which are not read in our copy; and on that account it is to be preferred to it.
[18] the hallucinations of the author; What shall I say of the topographical and chronological error of the author, confounding Cæsarea of Philippi in Phoenicia with Cæsarea of Palestine, once called the Tower of Straton? He establishes that the edicts of Diocletian against the Christians were passed before the Persian and Egyptian war, and also before Constantius and Galerius were raised to be Cæsars; which lapses prove that the Author wrote long after the times of Julian, and thus long after the martyrdom of St. Procopius. What of this? that the Acts of St. Ephysius the Martyr, which you have on the fifteenth of January, are plainly similar to the Acts of St. Procopius, has long ago there been observed; so that it is sufficiently clear that the one was described from the other, at least in great part. But since the Acts of Ephysius are of no great value, being interpolated by a writer of a later age, as is said in the notes to chapter 3; why should the Procopian Acts be reckoned of greater?
[19] The same Acts applied to three different Martyrs: Nay rather the same Acts recur a third time, and are applied to St. John the martyr, translated from Constantinople to Venice, of whom it is treated on the nineteenth of May; where Papebroch shows how perfectly the two agree with each other, if you except very few things. I ask now, whether the same Acts in substance, applied to three different holy Martyrs, deserve to be numbered among the sincere or among the suspect, corrupt, and fabulous? What shall I say of the journey from Antioch to Apamea, which is related in the Acts, chapter 2; whence, having gone aside thirty stades, Procopius had a vision most like that which the Teacher of the nations had in his famous conversion to Christ; and yet, what you may wonder at, that same night St. Procopius reached Scythopolis. As for Baronius, whom we said above stands for the distinction of Procopius the Lector from Procopius the Commander, and for the sincerity of the Acts; he certainly does not speak so affirmatively in his notes to the Roman Martyrology as in his Annals. Perhaps more arguments could be brought forward against the Acts of St. Procopius the Commander; but let these suffice, that it may be shown that the same are deservedly suspect and doubtful; that St. Procopius himself the Great Martyr, distinct from the Lector Procopius, resting chiefly on the sole authority of those same Acts, is rendered almost suspect and doubtful.
[20] For the same cause St. Theodosia, the mother of Procopius the Commander, does not seem to lack all suspicion, [What is to be said of St. Theodosia, mother of Procopius the Commander; what of the Companions] converted from the worship of idols to Christ, of whom in the Greco-Latin Acts in more than one place. Judge the same of the companion Martyrs of St. Procopius the Commander; who in a very ancient manuscript Greek Synaxary of the church of Constantinople, preserved at Paris in the Clermont College, is extant with such a eulogy; but doubtless excerpted from the Acts: St. Procopius was led into the temple of idols, and by prayer cast down the idols; which, broken by their fall, and dissolved into water, were poured out through the doors of the temple. Seeing which, the soldiers of a double rank, called Numeri, with their two Tribunes Nicostratus and Antiochus, embraced the Christian faith, and were baptized by Bishop Leontius, and beheaded by order of the Emperor. Which same things, the phrase somewhat changed, are read in the manuscript and printed Greek Menæa, likewise in Maximus, Bishop of Cythera, ἐν βίοις τῶν Ἁγίων (in the Lives of the Saints). And so not without cause was it said by our Predecessors, to the present purpose, partly indeed in tome 5 of May, among the Passed-over on the twenty-first day, where concerning Nicostratus and Antiochus the Tribunes, and other soldiers, as having suffered at Cæsarea, it is reported that they, although inscribed in the modern Roman Martyrology from the Acts of St. Procopius, do not therefore lack all suspicion; because the Acts, although praised by the Second Nicene Synod, are nevertheless vehemently suspect to us of fiction on account of Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, book 8, chapter 12. Wherefore also Baronius is compelled to acknowledge two Procopii, having suffered in the same persecution and in the same place. It is difficult for us to prove such a doubling, and thus to confess that he was passed over by Eusebius, who (if these Acts be true) was in infinite ways more illustrious than the other; since the whole credit of the martyrdom depends on the credit of those Acts. And so, the decision of the whole matter being deferred to the present day, we scarcely seem able to elicit from suspect and doubtful Acts any other Martyrs than suspect and doubtful ones. I know that Theodosia, mother of Procopius, is read in the Supplement to the printed Menæa from the Synaxary of Sirmond and the manuscript of Chifflet, likewise in the Menology of Sirletus, with twelve matrons of senatorial rank; besides in the Menæum of Chifflet; and in the former place indeed this distich is added:
Ἀθλητομήτωρ οὖσα Θεοδοσία, Ἔσπευσεν εἶναι καὶ ξίφους ἀθληφόρος.
Theodosia, who was the mother of an Athlete, hastened by the sword to bear the honor of the Athletes.
[21] I know besides, that she with twelve companions is entered in the Roman Martyrology on the twenty-ninth of May, and of the companion Martyresses; in these words: At Cæsarea of Philippi, of the holy Martyresses Theodosia, mother of St. Procopius the Martyr, and of twelve other noble matrons, who in the persecution of Diocletian were consummated by beheading; but the source being considered, from which their cult flowed, that is, fabulous Acts; again it seems that without sin one may repeat what was long ago said in the Passed-over on the twenty-ninth of May; namely that we do not dare here to enroll them in the number of the holy women, of whom we doubt whether they were really in the nature of things. What if the name of Theodosia, as it is there written, was borrowed from her whom we said above is venerated today (the twenty-ninth of May) by the Greeks, the virgin and Martyr of Cæsarea; just as the name of Procopius from a certain Martyr of the same name in the same place, of whom Eusebius; and we above at length.
[22] what of the relics of St. Procopius the Commander? While I discuss the present argument, there fell into my hands a little book concerning the life of St. Procopius the Commander, edited in French in the year 1617; in which, chapter 17, the last of the book, it is treated of the various torments, not without miracle drained by the Saint, and of his martyrdom; a note being added in the margin, by which it is said that his right hand is in the church of the college of the Society of Jesus at Tournai. Whether the right hand, there preserved and honored, is that of St. Procopius the Commander, is the more doubtful to us, since the Acts are doubtful, and the Martyr not sufficiently certain. Perhaps it was the right hand of some other anonymous Martyr, hitherto venerated under the name of the right hand of Procopius the Commander; but of what Saint the relics are, I have not whence to determine, nor does it pertain here to inquire. Again, in the same little book, mention of the aforesaid right hand is prefixed to the first chapter, and it is said to have been at that time clothed with flesh, sinews, and nails, in the manner in which it is there hitherto preserved.
[23] Various manuscripts. Of the manuscripts which we have at hand, thus receive it. There is among them one which is inscribed the Passion of St. Procopius; and it is the passion not of the Commander, but of the Lector, taken from the manuscript of St. Maximin at Trier, and collated with it, and conformable to the copy which we shall presently produce published in print; in which, however, is read, it was the seventh day of the month of July, which is called the seventh before the Ides of July among the Latins, where the other manuscript, to be given here, reads, on the seventh of Desius of the month of July, which is called the Nones of July among the Latins; concerning which reading at length above. There is also another manuscript of ours, from tome 147 of the manuscript of the Cassinese library, in letters, as is there noted, Lombardic; but of no value; since, confounding the Acts of Procopius the Lector and of the Commander, it has applied to one and the same, whom they name Lector and Exorcist, those things which, according to the Acts of both, cannot but agree with two Procopii; who nevertheless consummated his martyrdom by a premature and almost momentary, and thus most diverse, death from Procopius the Commander, slain after a great multitude of torments. In this manuscript the episodes are omitted which occur here and there in the Greco-Latin Acts, which I do not think it worthwhile to recount here one by one.
[24] of which an account is here rendered. A third manuscript our Father John Gamans sent in the year 1641, and it came from the monastery of Bödeken, of the Order of the Regulars of St. Augustine in the diocese of Paderborn; but of how bad a stamp the copy is, besides other indications, is gathered from this one thing, that it fixes the martyrdom of St. Procopius in the age of the Emperor Julian. Moreover, that other Greek Acts of St. Procopius the Commander once existed, is gathered from the beginning, different from the beginning of the Greek Acts which will here be given, namely κατα τοὺς καιροὺς ἐκείνους ἐβασίλευσε Διοκλητιανὸς ὁ τύραννος, In those times Diocletian the tyrant reigned. Which the Second Nicene Synod mentions, action 4, and Leo Allatius in his Diatribe concerning the writings of the Simeons, page 98, who there, page 120, among the writings which he denies to Metaphrastes, commemorates a beginning of the martyrdom of St. Procopius different from ours. What more? We have besides a double Greek transcript, from the Medicean manuscript of the King of France, both of the same argument; both not useless for the collation preliminary to the edition. Whether the eulogy which is cited by Allatius, in the aforesaid place, page 108, as of Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem (whom Tillemont, tome 5, page 40, reports to have lived in the fifth century), agrees with Procopius the Lector, or rather with another Martyr of the same name, I would not easily say: for homonymous Martyrs are had in the Greek Menæa on the twenty-second and twenty-fourth of November, of whom it may be treated in their place. This concerning the Procopian Acts and writings. Now I subjoin the Acts of both; and the Greek indeed rendered into Latin by me in a new translation.
PASSION
OF ST. PROCOPIUS THE LECTOR,
Edited by Ruinart among the sincere and select Acts of the first Martyrs.
From three manuscript codices and Valesius in his notes on Eusebius.
Procopius the Lector, Martyr at Cæsarea in Palestine (S.)
Another Procopius the Commander, in the same place. BHL Number: 6949
First of the Martyrs who are in Palestine appeared Procopius, a man of heavenly grace, who even before his martyrdom so ordered his life, St. Procopius's integrity of life, austerity, offices; that even from a small age he always studied chastity and the virtues of morals. His body indeed he so wore down that it was thought almost dead; but his soul he so comforted with divine words that he ministered strength even to the body from this refreshment. His food and drink was bread and water: these alone he used, when after two and three days, sometimes even after a week, he returned to food. The meditation of the sacred discourses also had so bound his mind that day and night he remained untiring in it. But of clemency and meekness, as though
inferior to the rest, he gave proof of himself, an abundance of speech. In the divine words he had so great zeal. But those things which are external he had touched moderately. Therefore, by birth indeed an Ælian, but by conversation or habitation a Scythopolitan. There he rendered three ministries to the church: one in the office of reading, the second in the interpretation of the Syriac tongue, and the third accomplishing against demons by the imposition of hands.
[2] martyrdom straightway consummated. And when he had been sent over from Scythopolis together with his companions into Cæsarea, from the very gates he is led to the president, and before he experienced the straits of prison or of bonds, at his very entrance he is impelled by the judge Flavianus to sacrifice to the gods. But he with a great voice testified that there are not many gods, but one maker and artificer of all things. And the judge, struck by the blow of his discourse, and wounded in conscience, agrees with his discourse, and betakes himself again to other arguments, that at least he should sacrifice to the kings. But the holy Martyr of God, despising his discourse, spoke a verse of Homer, saying: It is not good that there be many lords. There is one Lord, one King. And so, this word of his being heard, as one who had uttered things ill-omened for the kings, by the judge's order he is led to death, and his head being cut off, the blessed one found an entrance into the heavenly life, or a shortcut, on the seventh of Desius of the month of July, which is called the Nones of July among the Latins, in the first year in which the persecution was against us. This first martyrdom at Cæsarea was consummated, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. a
ANNOTATED.
GRECO-LATIN ACTS
of St. Procopius the Commander, suspect of fabulousness,
From the Medicean manuscript of the King of France, translated by J. P.
Procopius the Lector, Martyr at Cæsarea in Palestine (S.)
Another Procopius the Commander, in the same place.
FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.
CHAPTER I.
The dire persecution under Diocletian and Maximian; the birth of St. Procopius; the prefecture of Alexandria.
Διοκλητιανοῦ καὶ Μαξιμιανοῦ τὴν βασιλείαν ἰθυνόντων ἀρχὴν, δεινός τις καὶ ἄγριος κατὰ τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἐκεκίνητο πόλεμος, ὁμίχλητε δυσσεβείας τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς κατεσκέδαστο, καὶ γνόφος ἀγνοίας ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπεσκότει ψυχαῖς, σκοπὸν ἕνα ποιουμένων τῶν βασιλέων, τὸ εὐσεβὲς ἅπαν ἀπολέσαι, καὶ Χριστιανοὺς ἐκτρίψαι πανωλετρίᾳ. Πολλὴ μὲν οὖν ἡ πρὸς ταῦτα σπουδὴ καὶ παρ᾽ αὐτῶν δήπου τῶν ὑπηκόων τοῖς ἄρχουσι συνεισήγετο. Πολλὰ δὲ καὶ διὰ γραφῆς προστάγματα διὰ πάσης ἐφοίτα τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἀπροφάσιστον ἀπαιτοῦντα καὶ σύντονον πρὸς τὰ διατεταγμένα τὴν ὑπουργίαν. Ἓν, οὗν τῶν τοιούτων ἐγγράφων ἐπιταγμάτων, καὶ τὸ κατὰ τῆς Αἰλιέων πόλεως ἐκπεμφθὲν ἦν, ὅπερ καὶ τοῖς γαράμμασιν εἶχεν οὕτως· Βασιλεὺς μέγας αὐτοκράτωρ Διοκλητιανὸς, πᾶσι τοῖς εὐνοικῶς διακειμένοις περὶ τοῦς ἀηττήτους θεοὺς, χαίρειν. Προσῆκόν ἐστιν ἅπαντας περὶ τὴν τῶν μεγίστων θεῶν θεράπειαν πάσῃ σπουδῇ χρήσασθαι, ἀνεγείρειν τε τοῦς αὐτῶν ναοὺς καὶ βωμοὺς, καὶ ἑορτὰς αὐτοῖς καὶ θυσίας πανδήμους ἐπιτελεῖν. Ἐγνωρίσθη γὰρ ἡμῖν περί τινων, νεώτερα δοξαζόντων, καὶ τῆς ἑλληνικῆς καὶ πατροπαραδότου θρησκείας ἀλλότρια. Οὖ χάριν καὶ τὸ παρὸν ἐκτίθεμεν δόγμα, παρακελευόμενοι πᾶσι σέβειντε τοῦς θεοὺς καὶ αὐτοῖς προσανέχειν, ἀκριβῶς εἰδόσιν, ὅτι τοῦς μὴ οὕτω φρονεῖν βουλομένοις, τιμωρίαι χαλεπαὶ καὶ βίαιοι παραλήψονται θάνατοι· οἷα δὴ πάλιν τοῦς καταπειθεῖς γινομέννους, μυρίων ἀγαθῶν ἀμοιβαὶ θεραπεύσουσι, καὶ παρ᾽ ὅλην αὐτῶν τὴν ζωὴν εἶτε καὶ ὡς φίλον αὐτοῖς, ἕξουσι.
[2] Τοιούτου διατάγματος ἐκδοθέντος, ἐξ Ἰταλίας ἐχώρει Διοκλητιανὸς πρὸς Αἴγυπτον. Ἐκάλει γὰρ αὐτὸν, οὐ μέτριόν τε καὶ τὸ τυχὸν (ἄλλ᾽ ἡ κατὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν τότε κινηθεῖσα στάσις, Ἀχιλλέως τινὸς ὄνομα, θυραννίδος ἐπίθεσιν μεμελετηκότος) ἐπεὶ δὲ ἡ φροντὶς ἄγαν καιρία ἀγῶνα θέειν τὸν περὶ ψυχῆς ἠπείγετο. Μαξιμιανὸν μὲν εἰς τὰ ἐπέκεινα τῶν Ἀλπέων ἔθνη παραπέμπειν ἔγνω. Πρὸς δὲ καίσαρας ἐγχειρίζεται δύο, Μαξιμιανὸν, τὸν ἐπίκλην Γαλλέριον, καὶ Κωνστάντιον τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου πατέρα, ὃς ἀπὸ τῆς Κλαυδίου θυγατρὸς ἐτύγχανεν ὤν. Τούτους οὖν ὡς τὴν παρ᾽ αὐτῶν εὔνοιαν ἀξιοπιστοτέραν θέσθαι βουλόμενος, ἃς μὲν εἶχον ἤδη γυναῖκας, ἀποβαλεῖν ἀναγκάζει. Κατεγγυιᾶται δὲ Κωνσταντίῳ μὲν Θεοδώραν τῆς τοῦ Ἑρκουλέου Μαξιμιανοῦ γαμετῆς θυγατέρα. Μαξιμιανῷ δὲ τῷ Γαλλερίῳ Βαλλερίαν, ἧς αὐτὸς ἐτύγχανε πατὴρ ὤν.
[3] Καὶ ταῦτα δὴ τόνδε τὸν τρόπον διοικησάμενος, Μαξιμιανόν μὲν τὸν Γαλλέριον ἐκπέμπει κατὰ Περσῶν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὰς δυνάμεις συναγαγὼν, εὐθὺς ὡς εἶχε τάχους ἐπ᾽ Αἴγυπτον, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, πρὸς Ἀχιλλέα ἐχώρει. Οὐ δὲ γὰρ εἴα καθεύδειν αὐτὸν οὐ τὸ Μιλτιάδου τρόπαιον, ἀλλὰ φόβος τοῦ μὴ τῆς ἀρχῆς κακῶς ἐκπεσεῖν᾽ ᾧγε δὴ καὶ περὶ τὸ Πηλούσιον ἐμμίξας (ὑπήντα γὰρ) ὡς οὐδαμῶς εὐεπιχειρήτως προσβαλεῖν αὐτῷ Διοκλητιανὸν οἰόμενος· καὶ συμπεσὼν, δευτέρας οὐ μὲν οὐν ἐκεῖνος προσβολῆς ἐδεήθη· ἀλλ᾽ αὐτῇ τυραννίδι δι᾽ αὐτόν τε ἐκεῖνον, καὶ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν ἐξέτριψε. Τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἔργον καὶ τὸ τῆς νίκης ἐπιφανὲς, εἰς ἀπόνοιαν ἐπῆρε Δικλητιανὸν, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα βαρύτατος τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ὤφθη, τὸν πρὸς Ἀχιλλέα συνθηκῶν αὐτοὺς τιμωρούμενος.
[4] Τάτε γὰρ τείχη αὐτῶν ἠρήμωσε, καὶ τῶν συνασπισάντων ἐκείνῳ συχνοὺς ἀπέκτεινε. Τὰ ἐπισημά τε τῶν ἀναθημάτων ἀφείλετο, προσῆλθε δὲ καὶ μέχρι Βουσίρεως, τὴν ἀντίπαλον χεῖρα κολάζων ἅπασαν. Οὐ μὲν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς βίβλους, ὅσαι περὶ χειμείας ἀργύρου τε καὶ χρυσοῦ τοῖς παλαιοτέροις τῶν Αἰγυπτίων κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐγράφησαν, ἀνάλωμα πυρὸς αὐτὰς ἔθηκεν, εἵργων Αἰγυπτίους πορισμοῦ χρημάτων· ὥστε μὴ ἐκ τῆς δὲ τῆς τέχνης εὐκοπώτατα χρηματιζομένους, ῥᾳδίως πρὸς νεωτερισμοὺς ὑπάγεσθαι, εἰδὼς, ὅτι πλούτου γένημα ὕβρις (ὡς ἳππου τρυφῶντος ἀτεχνῶς σκίρτημα) καὶ λογισμοὶ σῶφρον οὐδὲν ἔχοντες, οὐδὲν μέτριον, ἀλλὰ κενῶν καὶ ἀλλοκότων ἐπιθυμίας πραγμάτων.
[5] Πλὴν ὁ συνεῖναι ταῦτα δυνάμενος, τοῦτο δὴ παντάπασιν ἀλόγιστον ὂν, τὸ παριδεῖν μὲν ἀληθῆ θεὸν, οὗ ἔργα χειρῶν ἐπιδήλως οἱ οὐρανοὶ, προσκυνεῖν δὲ θεοὺς, ἔργα χειρῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὐδαμῶς συνίει. Ἀλλὰ μὴν οὕτω τὰ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καταστησάμενος, καὶ εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν, τὴν πρὸς Ὀρόντῃ ποταμῷ παραγίνεται, καὶ τινα τῶν ἐκεῖ δημοσίων, ὡς ἐκείνῳ δοκοῦν, εὖ διαθέμενος, αὖθις ἐπὶ Δάφνην ἐξῄει, τῷ τοῦ ἐκεῖσε Ἀπόλλωνος βδέλυγματι θύσων· τὸ γὰρ ὅμοιον, ὡς ὁ λόγος, τῷ ὁμοίῳ χαίρει, τῷ ἀνοήτῳ, φημὶ, ὁ ἀνόητος.
[6] Μαθὼν δὲ ὡς πᾶσα ἡ Ἀντιόχεια ἐκ πολλοῦ ἤδη τὴν πλάνην ἀπομαθόντες, Χριστῷ συνετάγησαν, καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ πἵστεως νεόφυτα γεγόνασιν ἱδρυμένα. Πρώτη γὰρ Ἀντιόχεια καρπὸς εὐσεβείας, καὶ ἁλιέων οὗτοι θήραμα πρῶτον· ἐν γὰρ τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ Θεὸς τὸ πρῶτον ὠνομάσθη Χριστὸς, καὶ οἵγε πιστεύσαντες αὐτῷ, Χριστιανοὶ πρῶτοι προσηγορεύθησαν, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ Λουκὰς ὁ θεῖος ἐν τοῖς Πράξεσιν ἱστορεῖ. Τοῦτο Διοκλητιανὸς εἰς ὦτα λαβὼν, τότε μὲν ἀναβάλλεται τὴν ἐξέτασιν, τῆς θυσίας αὐτὸν ἐπειγούσης, ἣν ἔμελλεν, ὥσπερ ἔφημεν, προσενεγκεῖν τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι, ἅμα παντὶ στρατεύματι ἑορτάζων καὶ χιλιόμβας αὐτῷ θυόμενος. Ὡς δὲ τέλος ἐλάμβανεν ἡ θυσία, πρὸς τὴν πόλιν αὖθις ἐπανῄει. Εἰσιόντα τὴν περιφανῆ Ἀντιόχειαν, φωναῖς αὐτὸν καὶ τυμπάνοις οἱ τῆς πόλεως ὑπεδέχοντο, ὅπερ οὐκ εὐνοίας ἀληθοῦς ἦν, ἀλλὰ θεραπείας μᾶλλον ἐπιδεικτικῆς καὶ προσκαίρου.
[7] Γυνὴ δέ τις [ἦν] κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνο τοὔνομα Θεοδοσία, συγκλητικὴ μὲν καὶ πρωτεύουσα δηλαδὴ τῆς πόλεως. Ἥ γε πόλις Ἱεροσόλυμα μὲν τὸ πρῶτον καὶ Σιὼν ἐκαλεῖτο, μετὰ μέντοι τὴν ἅλωσιν, ἣν διὰ τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν τόλμαν ὑπέστη, Ἀδριανοῦ δὲ ἤδη τῶν βασιλικῶν σκήπτρων ἐπειλημμένου, Αἰλία ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ ἐκέκλητο. Ἐκ ταύτης Θεοδοσία τὸ γένος ἕλκουσα, συγκλητικὴ μὲν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, καὶ περίβλεπτος ἦν. Χηρεύουσα δὲ οὐκ ἀνδρὸς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸν ἄνδρα Θεοσεβείας· Χριστιανὸς μὲν γὰρ ὢν ὁ Χριστοφόρος, οὕτω γὰρ ἐκαλεῖτο, καὶ τὸ σέβας ἔχων ὑποδηλούμενον τῷ ὀνόματι, ἡ δὲ τὰ ἑλλήνων σέβουσα μέχρι τινός. Οὗτος οὖν ὁ Χριστοφόρος υἱὸν τῇ γαμετῇ καταλείπει, τοὔνομα Νεανίαν, πλοῦτον μὲν καὶ χρημάτων ἴσως πολλῶν, τῆς ἰδίας δὲ δόξας καὶ πίστεως ἥκιστα κληρονόμου. Τῇ μητρικῇ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος συνείπετο δυσσεβείᾳ, οὐ γάλακτος μόνον αὐτῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ σεβάσματος ἐκπιὼν, ἕως ὁμοίαν Παύλῳ καὶ οὗτος τὴν ἄνωθεν κλῆσιν ἐδέξατο, καὶ τὴν μεταβολὴν ἐπεδείξατο. Δηλώσει δὲ ταῦτα μετ᾽ ὀλίγον ὁ λόγος.
[8] Τοῦτον ἡ μήτηρ ἐπὶ σύχνοις χρήμασι πρὸς Διοκλητιανὸν ἦγεν εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν, δόξης τε καὶ ζώνης; τῆς παρ᾽ ἐκείνου, τευξόμενον. Προσελθοῦσα τοιγαροῦν ἐδεῖτο· καὶ ὃς πρότερον, ἥτις ἐστὶ πυθόμενος, καὶ μαθὼν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῆς θρησκείας ὅτιπερ ἐν τούτῳ κοινωνὸς οὐκ ὤφθη τῷ γημαμένῳ οὐ δὲ τᾦ παντὶ σύζυγος ἦν ἀλλὰ θεούς τε ὀνομάζουσα καὶ ὁμοίως αὐτῷ δὴ τούτῳ συνευφαίνουσα τῷ κρατοῦντι. Ταῦτα ἐπεὶ μάθοι Διοκλητιανὸς, ἤσθη τε διαφερόντως· καὶ τὰ μὲν χρήματα προσήκατο, εἰς πέρας δὲ ἀγαγεῖν καὶ τὴν αἴτησιν ἐπηγγείλατο, οὐ μὴν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς ὀφθαλμῶν ἀξιώσας ἰδίων, ἡδέως τε κοινολογησάμενος καὶ μαθὼν, ὅτι πρὸς ἀλήθειαν τῆς μητρός ἐστιν, ὡς ὁ λόγος φησὶ, τὸ παιδίον, ἔπειτα δ᾽ ὅτι καὶ παιδείας ἑλληνικῆς οὐκ ἄκρῳ δακτύλῳ γευσάμενος, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς κόρον αὐτῆς μετασχών.
[9] Τοῦτο Διοκλητιανὸς ἐπεὶ ἔγνω, ἔτι μᾶλλον τῷ Νεανίᾳ προστίθεται. Οὐ ταῦτα δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς γνώμης τὸ στάσιμον καὶ τὴν τῶν ἠθῶν εὐκοσμίαν, ὅπως ἔχοι κατανοήσας, καὶ ὅπως νεαρῷ σώματι φρόνημα κέκρυπται πολιόν. Τούτων ἐκεῖνος ἀκριβῶς καταστοχασάμενος, καὶ οἱονεὶ ὡς ῥινηλατήσας, τὸν Νεανίαν Ἀλεξανδρείας δοῦκα θαῤῥῶν προχειρίζεται· Ἐκεῖσε τοίνυν πέμπων αὐτὸν, ἐπισκηπτει, ὅσους ἂν εὗροι, Χριστιανοὺς ἑαυτοὺς ὀνομάζοντας τῶν μὲν ὄντων αὐτοὺς παραχρῆμα ψιλοῦν, ὅσων εἰσὶ κύριοι, καὶ τῷ δημοσίῳ αὐτὰ κοινοῦσθαι, ἐκείνους δὲ κατὰ τὸ πολλαῖς ὑποκαλεῖν τιμωρίαις, εἰ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπιμένοιεν, ἔτι πρὸς τοῖς οὖσιν ἀφαιρεῖσθαι καὶ τὴν ζωήν. Οὕτω παραγγείλας ἐκεῖνος, καὶ δύο νούμερα στρατιωτῶν, ἀρκοῦσαν χεῖρα κατὰ τῶν, ὡς εἰκὸς, ἀπειθεστέρων ὀφθησομένων, αὐτῷ παρασχόμενος ἀποστίλλει· ἔξεισι τοίνυν ὁ Νεανίας, κεφαλὴν κινῶν, τὸ τῆς θείας φάναι γραφῆς, καὶ βαρὺ κατὰ Χριστιανῶν πνέων, ὃ μέγα Χριστιανοῖς κλέος μετ᾽ ὀλίγον ἐσόμενος.
Diocletian and Maximian administering the empire, a certain atrocious and truculent war had broken out against the Christians, Diocletian raging against the Christians, and a storm of impiety raged through the whole world, and a darkness of ignorance wrapped the minds of men in shadows, the emperors setting themselves one single aim, to destroy all worship of the true God, and to blot out the Christians utterly. And to this end much labor was expended also by those who obeyed the commands of the Princes. And very many edicts, written out, were published throughout the whole world, requiring an effective and prompt aid for the execution of the
commands. One of those edicts, then, sent to Æliopolis a, ran thus: Diocletian the great emperor, to all well-affected toward the invincible gods, greeting. It befits all to apply themselves with all zeal to the worship of the greatest gods, to build their temples and altars, and to perform for them festal days and public sacrifices. For it has become known to us that there are some who hold new opinions, contrary to the Greek religion handed down from our ancestors. Wherefore we set forth the present decree, commanding all to venerate the gods and to cleave to them, well knowing that upon those who shall refuse to think thus, harsh punishments and violent deaths shall come; just as, on the contrary, those who shall obey, the rewards of innumerable good things shall cherish, and it shall be prosperously and heartily with them throughout their whole life.
[2] he sets out from Italy into Egypt, Such an edict being issued, Diocletian set out from Italy into Egypt (for it was no slight or chance matter that called him, but a sedition then stirred up at Alexandria, of a certain man named Achilles b, who had contrived a tyrannical usurpation); and because the present care was cooking him exceedingly, he hastened to fight the decisive battle in season. Maximian he decided to send to the nations beyond the Alps. Besides, he appointed two Cæsars, Maximian surnamed Galerius, and Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, sprung from the daughter of Claudius c. Wishing therefore to make these more assured of his benevolence, he compelled them to the repudiation of the wives they already had; and to Constantius he betrothed Theodora, stepdaughter of Herculius Maximian; but to Maximian Galerius, Valeria, of whom he himself was the father.
[3] where he routs the invader Achilles These things thus settled, he sends Maximian Galerius against the Persians; but he himself, gathering his forces, with all the speed he could, hastened into Egypt, as was said, against Achilles. (For it was not so much the trophy of Miltiades that took away his sleep, as the fear lest he should unhappily fall from his rule.) With whom he engaged at Pelusium (for there he came to meet him), thinking that Diocletian would not so easily attack him. And indeed there was no need of a second onset for the slaughter; but by the same, both by himself and by his men, the victor destroyed the tyranny. But so great a work and the splendor of victory filled Diocletian with fury, showing himself most hostile to the Egyptians for these things, and punishing them for the covenants agreed with Achilles.
[4] and he punishes the Egyptians. For he demolished their walls, and slew a great number of those who had joined shields with him: he took away the splendid votive offerings, and proceeded even to the savagery of Busiris, punishing every hostile hand. Nor did his fury stop here; but as many books as had been carefully written by the more ancient Egyptians concerning the manner of smelting silver and gold, he set as fuel to the fire, restraining the Egyptians by a want of wealth, lest, making money most easily by the aid of this art, they should easily return to novelties; knowing that the offspring of riches is insolence (not otherwise than the disordered prancing of a wanton horse), and thoughts having nothing of temperance, nothing of moderation, but the desire of empty and monstrous things.
[5] He comes to Antioch, But he who could understand these things, that which was altogether contrary to reason, namely to overlook the true God (whose works of hands the heavens manifestly are), and to adore gods, the works of the hands of men, by no means understood. Having therefore thus settled the affairs in Egypt, he came to Antioch, situated on the river Orontes, and having rightly ordered some of the public affairs there, according to his mind, he went out again to Daphne, to sacrifice to the idol of Apollo there: for like, as the proverb says, rejoices in like—the fool, I say, in the fool.
[6] But he learned that all Antioch, having long ago laid aside its error, most flourishing in the Christian religion. had been converted to Christ, and had been founded as a new germ, so to speak, of the Christian faith. For Antioch was the first fruit of piety: its inhabitants the first catch of the Fishermen, and in this city Christ was first named God, and those embracing his faith were first called Christians, as the divine Luke narrates in the Acts. When Diocletian had received this into his ears, then indeed he deferred the inquisition, the sacrifice urging him, which, as we said, he was about to offer to Apollo. At once himself, at once all the army kept festival, offering him a hecatomb of a thousand d. The sacrifice finished, he returned again to the city. As he entered illustrious Antioch, the citizens received him with acclamations and drums, not so much out of true benevolence, as rather out of a show of obsequiousness serving the time.
[7] There was at that time a certain woman, named Theodosia, the mother of the holy Martyr, named Theodosia, of senatorial stock, holding the first place in the city. But the city was first called Jerusalem and Sion: after the captivity, however, which it underwent for its nefarious crime against Christ, Hadrian then holding the imperial scepter, it was called Ælia from him e. From this city Theodosia, drawing her family, was, as was said, of senatorial stock and conspicuous. But she was a widow, not only of her husband, but also of the worship of God which her husband had held. For Christophorus (for so he was called) was a Christian, and had a religion consonant with his name; but she hitherto followed the rites of the gentiles. And so this Christophorus leaves to his wife a son, named Neanias, heir indeed of wealth and certainly of much substance, but least of all of his own glory and faith: for this one too followed his mother's impiety, having drunk in not only her milk, but also her worship; until he too received, like Paul, a calling from above, and showed his change. But this the discourse will declare a little later.
[8] she presents her son to Diocletian, Him therefore his mother led with much wealth to Diocletian at Antioch, that he might obtain glory and the belt from him. At his first entrance therefore she asked this. And he, having first inquired who she was, and being informed of this, and moreover of what religion: because in this she did not appear to share, nor to be at all a consort to her spouse; but, naming the gods, she was equally affected toward them as the Emperor himself. When Diocletian had understood these things, he was variously affected, and admitted her wealth; and promised that he would bring her petition to an end: nor this only; but also, having deigned her son his own eyes, and pleasantly conversing with him, and learning that the boy was truly, as it is said, his mother's son, and then that he had tasted Greek learning not with the fingertip only, but had partaken of it to the full.
[9] After Diocletian knew this, he was still more attached to Neanias. by whom he is made Commander of Alexandria. Nay rather he observed with what maturity of mind, with what elegance of morals he was endowed; and how in a youthful body a senile prudence lay hidden. These things being diligently inspected and skillfully in a manner traced out, he confidently appointed Neanias Commander of Alexandria. Sending him therefore thither, he charges that as many as he should find naming themselves Christians, he should straightway strip of their goods, whatever they possessed, and assign them to the treasury; and after he had subjected them to many torments, if they remained in the same opinion, besides their goods, he should take away also their life. Having thus commanded, and granted two cohorts of soldiers, a sufficient force with a great multitude against those who, as was fitting, should show themselves less obedient, he sends him off. Neanias therefore goes forth, moving his head, to use the words of the divine Scripture, and breathing something grievous against the Christians; who a little after was to be a great glory to the Christians.
ANNOTATED.
CHAPTER II.
The wonderful conversion of Procopius.
Ὡς δὲ τὴν πρὸς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν φέρουσαν ἀπῄει, ἐπεὶ ὁ τόπος κομιδῇ καυσώδης καὶ πυρὸς ἴσην τὴν ἀλέαν καταδεχόμενος, συνέβαινέ τε μήτε αὐτοὺς ὁδιπορεῖν δύνασθαι· καὶ τοὺς ἵππους δι᾽ ὀλίγου καματηροὺς γένεσθαι, νυκτοπορεῖν ἔγνω μᾶλλον, καὶ οὕτως ελάττονι τῷ πόνῳ κεχρῆσθαι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τὴν τῆς Συρίας Ἀπάμειαν κατελάμβανε, πᾶσα μὲν ἡ πόλις, ἄρτι τῆς ἡμέρας ὑπολαμπούσης, ὑπήντων αὐτὸν πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεος, καθάπερ ἔθος καιροῖς χαρίζεσθαι καὶ τοῖς τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐπιτετραμμένοις. Εἰθ᾽ οὕτως ἐκεῖθεν ἐξελθόντος, καὶ αὖθις ὁδεύσαντος, οὐ πλείους ἢ τριάκοντα σταδίους, τρίτη μὲν ἦν ἤδη τῆς νυκτὸς ὥρα, σεισμοῦ δὲ κλόνος ἰσχυρὸς γίνεται, καὶ κεραυνὸς οἷος φοβερὸς ἐξάλλεται, δέος τε τὰς αὐτῶν ψυχὰς μᾶλλον, ἢ ὁ κλόνος τὴν γῆν κατασείει.
[11] Φωνὴ τε ἄνωθεν ἐξηχεῖται, Νεανία, λέγουσα, ποῦ πορεύῃ; Κατὰ τίνος καὶ ἡ ὁρμὴ φέρεται; Καὶ ὃς, γνώμης ὢν ἐλευθέρας, ὡς εἶχε πάντα, διασαφεῖ κατὰ μέρος. Ὁ βασιλεὺς, εἰπὼν, δοῦκά με Ἀλεξανδρείας χειροτονήσας, ἐκέλευσε παρ᾽ αὐτὴν ἀφικέσθαι, καὶ τῶν Γαλιλαίων, ὅσους ἂν εὕροιμι, Χριστιανοὺ ὀνομάζοντας ἑαυτοὺς, καὶ τῷ Ἔσταυρωμένῳ πιστεύοντας, πρῶτα μὲν τιμωρίαις ἐπιτρίβειν χαλεπωτάταις, ἔπειτα μη πειθομένους, μετὰ τῶν ὄντων ἀποστερεῖν αὐτοὺς καὶ τοῦ ζῆν. Αὖθις δὲ ἤκουε. Τί δὲ, ὦ Νεανία, κατ᾽ ἐμοῦ λοιπὸν καὶ αὐτὸς ἥκεις; Καὶ ὃς· Σὺ δὲ, ὦ Κύριε, τίς ποτε εἶ; οὐκ ἔχω γὰρ συμβαλεῖν.
[12] Οὕτως εἰπόντι σταυρὸς αὐτῷ παραχρῆμα κρυστάλλῳ ἐμφερὴς ἐπιδείκνυται, φωνή τε τοῦ σταυροῦ προῄει· Ἐγώ εἰμι, λέγουσα, Ἰησοῦς ὁ ἐσταυρωμένος, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ υἱός. Πρὸς ταῦτα πάλιν ὁ Νεανίας. Καὶ εἰ ταῖς ἀληθείαις τοῦ Θεοῦ υἱὸς ἦς, ὅτου χάριν τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀρχιερεῖς θανάτῳ σε κατακρίνουσι; πῶς δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἠνέσχου ξύλῳ τε προσπαγῆναι, καὶ ὄξος προσέσθαι χολῇ μεμιγμένον; Καὶ ἡ φωνὴ αὖθις· Νεανία, ἐπεὶ μέλλεις καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκλογῆς ἔσεσθαί μοι σκεῦος, δεῖ πάντως καὶ τὰ τῆς οἰκονομίας τῆς ἐμῆς, ὅπως ἔχει, δῆλά σοι γενέσθαι. Ἴσθιτοίνυν, ὡς οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἕνεκα σωτηρίας ἐκὼν ἠνεσχόμην, καὶ εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς οὕτως ταπεινοῦσθαι, οὐκ ἂν ἐκεῖνοι τοῦ κακῶς πάσχειν ἀπηλάττοντο.
[13] Τοιαῦτα δὴ ὁ φανεὶς εἴρηκε, καὶ χαρᾶς θείας τὴν τοῦ Νεανίου πληρώσας ψυχὴν, εἰς οὐρανοὺς αὖθις ἀνῄει, ἐν τούτῳ εἰρηκὼς τῷ ὀφθέντι σοι τύπῳ νικῶν ἔσο τοὺς πολεμίους, εἰρήνη τε ἀεὶ ἡ ἐμὴ μετά σου ἔσται. Ὁ δὲ χαρᾶς, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ θάρσους ὑποπλησθεὶς, αὐτῆς ὥρας αὐτοῖς ἅμα τοῖς στρατιώταις εὐθὺ Σκυθοπόλεως ἐπανῄει. Εἶτα κατὰ τὸ λανθάνον ὁ Νεανίας τῶν χρυσοχόων τε καὶ ἀργυροτύπων, ὅσοι παρὰ τῇ πόλει διατρίβοντες ἦσαν, πάντας εὐθὺς μετακαλεσάμενος, Ἀλλ᾽ ὑμεῖς,
ἔφη, δύνασθέ μοι, ὃ ἂν ὑμῖν αὐτὸς ὑπόθωμαι, ἐργάσασθαι σκεῦος; Οἱ δὲ τὸν μὲν οὕτω κρυφίαν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς πρόσκλησιν ἐλευθέραν ὑπονοίας οὐκ εἶχον· πλὴν ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀπόβλεπτον αὐτου καὶ περιφανὲς ὑποδείσαντες, ἔπειτα κοινολογησάμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἕνα τὸν διαφορώτατον ἐν αὐτοῖς, ὄνομα Μάρκον, παραγαγόντες, Οὗτος, ἔφησαν, Κύριε, ὑπουργὸς ἔσται σοι παρέχων χεῖρας, εὖ πάντα κατὰ τὸ δοκοῦν διοικούμενος.
[14] Ἀφεὶς οὖν τοὺς ἄλλους καὶ τὸν Μάρκον εὐθέως ἀπολαβὼν, εἰς τὸν κοιτῶνα τὸν ἑαυτοῦ εἰσάγει, μόνῳ τε ἐντυχὼν μόνος. Εἰ ποιήσεις, μοι, ἔφη, ὅπως ἂν ἐγὼ ἐπιτάξω σοι, ἔση τε κεχαρισμένος ἐμοὶ καὶ μισθῶν ἀπολαύσεις ἅμα παρ᾽ οὐδὲν ὅλως τοὺς πόνους σοι τιθεμένων. Τοῦ δὲ συνθεμένου, χρυσοῦ τε καὶ ἀργύρου ὕλην, ὅση ἄρα ἦν ἀποχρῶσα, εἰς ἐργασίαν αὐτῷ παρετίθει. Ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τύπον τοῦ ὀφθέντος αὐτοῦ σταυροῦ· ὁ Νεανίας μὲν τῷ δακτύλῳ ἔσημαινε. Τὸν δὲ Μάρκον δέος τε ἰδόντα εὐθὺς εἰσῄει, καὶ, ὦ κύριε, οὐ δυνήσομαι ἐγὼ, ἔφη, τούτῳ ἐπιχειρῆσαι· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐπίσταμαι τουτὶ ἄρα καὶ τὸ σημεῖον ἀτεχνῶς εἶναι τῶν Γαλιλαίων, καὶ εἰ δῆλον ὅλως τῷ βασιλεῖ γένοιτο, κακῶς ἐγὼ ἀπολοῦμαι. Καὶ ὁ Νεανίας ὅρκοις αὐτὸν εὐθέως καὶ πίστεσιν, ὡς οἷόν τε ἦν, κατελάμβανεν, ὡς οὐκ ἄν ποτε τοῦτο οὐδενὶ λέγων πρὸς ὦτα ἔλθοι· ἀλλὰ καρδίας αὐτὸ μυχοῖς ἄριστα κατακρύψω καὶ ἀπόῤῥητον ἄχρι βίου μου, φησὶ, καὶ ἄδηλον τῷ παντὶ ἔσται.
[15] Οὕτω γοῦν ὁ Μάρκος μόλυς πεισθεὶς, ἐργάζεται αὐτῷ τὸν σταυρὸν, ἐγκλεισάμενος καὶ τὴν τοῦ ᾅδου κυνῆν, τὸ τοῦ λόγου εὖ περιθέμενος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ εἰς τέλος ἰέναι ἔμελλεν, ἐξανατέλλουσί πως ἐν αὐτῷ τρεῖς εἰκόνες, γραφαῖς ὀνομάτων ὑποσημαίνουσαι τὰς μορφάς. Αἱ δὲ γραφαὶ τῆς Ἐβραΐδος γλώττης ἐτύγχανον οὖσαι. Πρὸς μὲν τῇ ἀρχῇ ἄνω Ἐμμανουὴλ, ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἐκατέρωθεν αὖθις ἀρχαῖς Μιχαήλ τε οὕτω καὶ Γαβριὴλ ἔχουσαι. Βουληθέντι οὖν ἐξαλείφειν τῷ Μάρκῳ ἀδύνατα ἦν, τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ ἀπράκτου μενούσης· Ἐπεὶ δὲ νυκτὸς εἰς τὸν τοῦ Μάρκου οἶκον εἰσῄει ὁ Νεανίας, ὥστε τὸν σταυρὸν ἤδη εἰς πήρας εἰργασμένον λαβεῖν, ἰδὼν εὐθὺς προσεκύνει, πρὸς δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐπιφαινομένων αὐτῷ εἰκόνων καὶ τῶν ἐπιγραφῶν ἤρετο. Ὁ δὲ ὁ πηνίκα ἔφη· Κύριε, τοῦ ἔργου ἤδη ἐν πέρατι ἤμην, αἱ τρεῖς αὐταί μοι εἰκόνες εὐθὺς ἐξανέτειλαν· οὐκ ἔχω δὲ εἰδέναι, τινὸς ἄρα εἰσὶν, καὶ τίποτε δηλοῦσι ταυτὶ τὰ ὀνόματα.
[16] Ὀ μέντοι Νεανίας οὐκέτι ἀμαθὴς ἦν, οὐ δὲ ἀσύνετα αὐτῷ τὰ θεῖα δι᾽ ὅλου, ἀλλὰ δύναμίν τινα εἶναι θειοτέραν ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ ἡγησάμενος, αὖθίς τε σὺν αἰδοῖ προσεκύνει, καὶ τὸ ἑξῆς πολυτίμῳ τινὶ πορφύρᾳ περιειλήσας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς μισθοὺς φιλοτίμως τῷ Μάρκῳ ἀριθμησάμενος, θερμοτέρῳ πνεύματι καὶ ψυχῇ ἄγαν ἡδομένῃ, τῆς ὁδοῦ τε εἴχετο καὶ σὺν ἅμα τοῖν δυοῖν νουμέροιν τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῦ κατελάμβανεν. Ἐπήρεια δέ τις κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ, τῇ πόλει συνήθως ἐπικρατοῦσα ἦν, μάλα μὲν ἀπηνὴς, μάλα δὲ θρασεῖα, καὶ τὴν βίαν ἥκιστα φορητή. Τὰς γὰρ τῶν ἐπισήμων ἀνδρῶν θυγατέρας Ἀγαρήνων παῖδες ἐπιόντες, εἰς γυναῖκας νόμῳ χειρῶν ἐλάμβανον. Τὸ δὲ μιαρόν τε ἦν ἅμα καὶ ὀδύνης ὑπόπλεω, πατρικῶν τε σπλάγχνων ἁπτόμενον ἰσχυρῶς.
[17] Ὡς οὖν τότε συνελθόντες ἦσαν, ἔνθα δὲ καὶ ὁ Νεανίας ἐτύγχανεν ὢν, τὴν ἁρπαγὴν ἤδη ποιησόμενοι, ἀθροίζονται πανδημεὶ πάντες, ὅσοι τὴν πόλιν ταύτην ἦσαν οἰκοῦντες. Καὶ τῷ Νεανίᾳ κοινωσάμενοι, περὶ τοῦ δὲ δέονται μάλα θερμῶς, εἰς ἔλεον τὴν συμφορὰν αὐτῶν θέμενον, συνέρχεσθαι κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, μὴ δὲ περἳιδεῖν οὕτως ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνων τὰ χαλεπώτατα πάσχοντας. Ὁ δὲ καὶ (τίς γὰρ ἐκείνου πρὸς ἔλεον ἐτοιμότερος;) ξυρὸς εἰς ἀκόνην, ὃ λέγεται, καὶ δαλὸς εἰς πῦρ, πείθεται παραχρῆμα, καὶ ἀμφοτέραις αὐτίκα χερσὶ συλλαβέσθαι αὐτοῖς ἐπαγγέλλεται· αὐτίκα γοῦν ἔξεισιν ἐπαγόμενος ἅμα καὶ τὸν σταυρὸν, ὅπλον ἄμαχον, ὅπλον καὶ ὁρωμένοις ἐχθροῖς καὶ ἀοράτοις ἀπρόσιτον, ᾧ πεποιθὼς ἦν μᾶλλον ἢ Πηλεὺς ἐπὶ τῇ μαχαίρᾳ· καὶ ἅμα εἴσομαι, ἔφη, εἰ σὺ, ὁ ὀφθείς μοι, υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ ζῶντος Θεοῦ, καὶ παραχρῆμα φωνῆς ἤκουσεν οὐρανόθεν, Θάρσει λεγούσης, ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι κύριος ὁ Θεός σου, καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι μετά σου.
[18] Τοῦτο ἀκούσας, θάρσους τε ἅμα ὑποπίμπλᾶται, καὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐπιτίθεται, λέοντι τὴν ῥώμην ἐοικώς. Ἐπαγόμενος μὲν καὶ τοὺς στρατιῶτας, τοῦτο δὲ μόνον αὐτοῖς ἐπειπὼν, Θαρσεῖτε, τοὺς γὰρ ἐχθροὺς ἀπολοῦμεν, συμμαχοῦντος ἡμῖν τοῦ Ἐσταυρωμένου. Οὕτως εἶπε, καὶ ὁ λόγος εὐθὺς ἔργον ἦν· καὶ οἱ ἐχθροὶ ῥᾳδίως, ὡσεὶ χόρτος, ἐξεκόπτοντο, καὶ εἰς γῆν προεῤῥίπτοντο· θνήσκουσί τε τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν οὐκ ἐλάττους ἢ χιλιάδες ἓξ, οὐδενὸς τῶν ἐκείνου οὐχ ὅπως ἀπολωλότος, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ πληγὴν ἥντινα οὖν εἰληφότος οὐδὲ μικρὰν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἄδακρυν, ὃ λέγεται, πόλεμον ἀκριβῶς ἀγωνισαμένων. Τούτου δὴ τοῦ μεγάλου τροπαίου ῥωμῃ τοῦ θείου σταυροῦ ἐμφανέστατα γενομένου, αὐτίκα ὁ Νεανίας εἰς τὴν μητέρα πέμπει, μηνύων τὰ εὐαγγέλια· ᾧ ὑπήντα φιλοφρόνως ἐκείνη· καὶ περὶ τῶν συμπεσόντων ἕκαστα διῆρτα, μαθοῦσα δὲ χαρᾶς ἐπληροῦτο. Βραχὺ τὸ ἐν μέσῳ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἥκει ὁ Νεανίας αὐτὸς, ὁ τῇ μητρὶ φίλτατος, ὃν καὶ περιλαβοῦσα ὡς ἥδιστα, καὶ οἷα μήτηρ φιλοστόργως ἀσπαζομένη, Τοῖς θεοῖς ἔλεγε, τέκνον, προσῆκον ὁμολογεῖν χάριτας· πολλὰ γὰρ κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιόντός σου, ἐδεήθην αὐτῶν.
[19] Ὁ δὲ, Καλῶν μὲν, ὦ μῆτερ, ἔφη, αὐτὴ ἐποίεις, παιδὸς ὑπεραλγοῦσα καὶ κηδομένη· ἐγὼ δὲ θερμῆς ἀπέλαυσα τῆς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ βοηθείας. Κᾀκείνη· Μὴ λέγε οὕτως, ὦ τέκνον, φησὶ, μηδὲ Θεῷ ἑνὶ τὴν χάριν ἀνομολόγει, μὴ καὶ χαλεπήναντες οἱ ἄλλοι, διάθωνταί σε κακῶς. Καὶ ὁ Νεανίας οἷα παρανοίγων μητρὶ τὴν εὐσέβειαν, καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ καινότατον, γονέων υἱὸν χάριτας ὑπερβῆναι φιλονεικῶν· τὸ γὰρ εὖ εἶναι τῇ ἁπλῶς τὸ εἶναι δωρησαμένῃ ἀντιδοῦναι προήρητο. Ἐπιγνῶναι χρή, φησι, τίς ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας ὁδὸς, καὶ ταύτην ἀμελλητὶ πορευθῆναι, ὡς νῦν γε ἀπάτη σε ἰσχυρὰ κατέχει, παχεῖαν ἀχλὺν τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καταχέασα. Καὶ ὅπως αὐτό, φησι, δείξω.
[20] Οὕτως ἔφη, καὶ παραλαβὼν τὴν μητέρα εἰς τὸν κοιτῶνα εἰσήει τὸν ἑαυτῆς, προσχών τε τοῖς εἰδώλοις, ἃ ἐκεῖσε ὄντα ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς ἐλατρεύετο, Ὑμῖν λέγω τοῖς θεοῖς, ἔφη. Τίς ἄρα ἐστὶν, ὁ ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ μοι βεβοηθηκώς; Οὕτως ὡ μὲν ἤρετο· Οἱ δὲ τὸ ἑαυτῶν ἐποίουν, καὶ λίθοι ὄντες, ἐκώφευον, ἔργῳ δὲ μᾶλλον τὴν τῶν σεβομένων ἐβόων ἡλιθιότηθα. Ἐπίστραφεὶς οὖν αὐτίκα πρὸς τὴν μητέρα, τὸ λεχθὲν, Οἱ θεοὶ, ἔφη, τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν οὐ δύνανται. Κᾀκείνη Οὐκοῦν, φησὶν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ ὡς ἀναγελῶν προσῆλθες, ἀνόητον ἡγήσαντο καὶ περιττὴν τὴν ἀπόκρισιν. Καὶ ὃς· Ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὴ προσελθοῦσα καὶ ἐρωμενη, ἕξεις παντῶς οὐ τοὺς κατὰ ῥῆμά σοι ἀποκρινομένους· κᾀκείνη παραχρῆμα προσχοῦσα μεθ᾽ οἷας οὐκ ἄν τις εἴποι τῆς εὐλαβείας· Δέομαι ὑμῶν, εἶπε, θεοὶ οὐράνιοι, Ζεῦ ὕπατε παντοκράτορ, Ἥρα βασίλεια, καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ θαλάσσης δεσπόζων Πόσειδον, καὶ μαντικὲ Ἥλιε καὶ πολιοῦχε Παλλὰς, καὶ ὅσοι ἄλλοι θεοὶ, οὐχ᾽ ὑμεῖς ἐστε διαδήλως, οἵγε τῷ ἐμῷ μὲν υἱῷ, ὑμῶν δὲ οἱκέτῃ βεβοηθήκατε;
[21] Καὶ ἐπίσης ἄφωνα ἦν τὰ ἄφωνα, μᾶλλον δὲ, τὸ τῆς θείας φάναι γραφῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἦν φωνὴ καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἀκρόασις. Παραυτίκα τοίνυν ὁ Νεανίας ἐν χερσὶν ἔχων τὸ τοῦ θείου σταυροῦ ὕπλον, ἐκδύεται μὲν τὴν χλαμύδα, τὴν δὲ λεοντὴν ἧκε, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ ζῆλος ἦν. Τοῦτον ἐκεῖνος ἐνδὺς, ἠρέμα μὲν διωθεῖ τὴν μητέρα, ἐφάλλεται δὲ στεῤῥῶς τοῖς εἰδώλοις, καὶ λὰξ αὐτοῖς νεανικώτερον ἐμβαλὼν, εἰς ἔδαφος εὐθὺς κατασπᾷ, εἶτα καὶ εἰς λεπτὰ διελὼν, καὶ γὰρ ἦσαν οὐκ ὀλίγα, χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργυροῦ πεποιημένα, πένησι διανέμει, ὠφέλημα οὕτω θέμενος, τὰ πρὸς οὐδὲν χρήσιμα. Τῇ μητρί τε, θαρροῦντος ἐμοῦ παρὰ τοῦ Ἐσταυρωμένου, φησὶν, ἡ βοήθεια. Τὰ δὲ οἰμωζέτω, κακὰ κακῶς ἀπολλύμενα.
The wonderful conversion. Having entered the road which leads to Alexandria, it happened that, because the place was very hot and offered a plain like fire, and they could not advance the journey; and the horses after a little labor were wearied, he determined to make the journey by night, and thus to accomplish it with less toil. When therefore he reached Apamea of Syria, the whole city, the sun being now risen, came out to meet him before the town, as it was the custom to gratify friends, and those conspicuous with the first dignity of empire. After he had departed thence and again set out on a journey of not more than thirty stades, and it was now the third hour of the night, a violent earthquake and crash arising, a most formidable lightning-bolt broke forth, and fear shook their souls more than the crash shook the earth.
[11] Neanias to Christ; And a voice was sent forth from heaven, saying: Whither do you go, Neanias? Against whom are you roused with such impetus? But he, being of a free spirit, and setting forth the whole matter, as it stood, one by one: The Emperor, he says, after he made me Commander of Alexandria, ordered me to go thither, that whomsoever of the Galileans, or of those who name themselves Christians, and believe in the Crucified, I could find, first indeed I should torture with the most atrocious torments, and then that I should deprive the obstinate of life together with their goods. Again he heard: But what, O Neanias; do you too at length come against me? He again: And you, lord, who are you? For this I cannot conjecture.
[12] who, appearing to him, To him so speaking a cross straightway appeared, rivaling crystal, and a voice sounded from the cross: I am called Jesus the crucified, the Son of God. To which again Neanias: If you were truly the Son of God, why did the pontiffs of the Jews condemn you to death? How did you endure to be fixed to a tree, how to be given vinegar mixed with gall? And again a voice: Neanias, since you are to be a vessel of election to me, it is altogether necessary that the things which pertain to the economy of the flesh assumed be made known to you. Know therefore thus: that for no other reason than for the salvation of men, and indeed of my own will, I endured these things; and unless I myself had so suffered, men could not have been freed from the suffering of evils.
[13] Such things he who had appeared having spoken, filled the soul of Neanias with divine joy, and again ascended into the heavens, he raises his spirit with the hope of victory. and said: In this sign a which has appeared to you, be victor over your enemies. And truly my peace shall always be with you. He, as was said, filled with joy indeed, but more with confidence, at this very time together with the soldiers hastened to Scythopolis. b Then the goldsmiths and silver-chasers, as many as dwelt in the city, secretly
being presently summoned, he thus addresses them: Can you fabricate for me a vessel which I shall commit to you? But they did not hold that so secret a summons of the man free from suspicion: yet, revering his illustrious splendor, having conferred discourses among themselves, they brought forward one, the most excellent of all, named Marcus, and said: He, O lord, will do you good service, and will accomplish all things according to the mind of your spirit.
[14] The others therefore being dismissed, he presently takes Marcus, and leads him into his own chamber. The cross being ordered to be fabricated by Neanias, And when now he was alone with him alone, If you shall do, he says, whatever I shall command you, you shall gain great favor from me, and shall be endowed with a reward such as never before this time for your labor. When he had received this upon himself, he supplied the material of gold and silver, as much as was needed, for the working, and afterward Neanias delineated with his finger the figure of the cross which had appeared to him. But indeed a sudden fear invaded Marcus, beholding this, and he said: I truly shall not be able to accomplish it; for I know this to be the genuine sign of the Christians, and if this become known to the Emperor, wretchedly have I perished. But Neanias by oath, as much as he could, bound his faith to him, that he would never, by revealing it, commit it to anyone's ears; but would most diligently conceal it in the recesses of his heart; saying that it would be a secret hidden from all.
[15] Thus therefore Marcus, scarcely at last persuaded, fashions the cross for him, three images suddenly appear: enclosing the armor against Tartarus, well representing the things which pertain to the Word. But when he was about to come to the end of the work, three images suddenly arise, distinguished by figures with writings of names; and the writings happened to be written in the Hebrew tongue: above indeed at the top was Emmanuel, but at the beginnings on either side, Michael likewise and Gabriel. Which Marcus, laboring earnestly, could not efface, his hand's labor being frustrated. Neanias, having entered the house of Marcus by night, that he might receive the cross now finished, gazing upon it, presently adored. To him, asking concerning the images and writings which had appeared, the other answered: Lord, the work being now brought to an end, presently these three images arose. Nor have I it ready to know whose they are, and what these names mean.
[16] But Neanias, not now altogether unskilled or ignorant of the things which pertain to God, of the Agarenes, but judging a certain divine power to be in the cross, again reverently adored it; and presently, having wrapped it in precious purple, the reward being kindly counted out to Marcus, with a more fervent spirit and a mind exceedingly glad, he betook himself to the road, and together with the two legions came to his city. At that time a certain custom had grown strong in the city, exceedingly nefarious and bold, and by reason of its violence by no means tolerable. For the Agarenes, assailing the daughters of illustrious men, took them by violence for wives. Which was both flagitious and lamentable, and vehemently moved the paternal bowels.
[17] violently seizing daughters And so, as soon as they had come thither, where Neanias also was present, to exercise the rapine; all who inhabited this city come together publicly, and, the matter being communicated with Neanias, earnestly ask him that, pitying their calamities, he would contend against the enemies, and would not overlook those afflicted by them with the gravest injuries. But he (for who was readier than he to mercy?) like a razor to the whetstone, as it is said, and a firebrand to the fire, straightway complies, and promises that with both hands he will at once take up their patronage. Without delay, he goes forth carrying with him the cross, invincible arms, arms impenetrable to visible and invisible enemies alike, in which he placed more confidence than Peleus in his sword. And truly, I will see, he says, whether you, who appeared, are the Son of the living God. And straightway he heard a voice from heaven saying: Be of good courage: for I am the Lord your God, and I am with you.
[18] Hearing these things, full of spirit he rushed upon the enemies, in strength like a lion. And to the soldiers whom he had led with him, for wives, he represses the boldness by the power of the Cross: he said this one thing: Have confidence, we shall destroy the enemies, the Crucified fighting with us. So he said, and presently made the saying a deed: for the enemies were easily, like hay, cut down, and laid low on the ground. Nor were fewer than six thousand of the Agarenes lost, none at all of those who stood with Neanias being wounded with even the slightest blow, much less lost, but they accomplished, as it is said, a tearless war, to a man all of them. This great triumph being most brilliantly won by the power of the divine cross, without delay Neanias imparts the happy news to his mother. To whom she went out gladly to meet, and, having inquired and been informed one by one concerning the things that had happened, was filled with joy. After a little while, Neanias himself, most dear to his mother, is present; whom, having embraced as sweetly as she could, and, like a mother, kissed with the tenderest affection; It befits us, she says, son, to give thanks to the gods: for I prayed them much, when you assailed the enemies.
[19] showing to his mother, Then he: Well done, O mother, he says, that you grieved for your son, and had care of me. I indeed have used the present help of God. And she: Do not, she says, speak thus, son, nor refer this as due to one God; lest the others, taking it ill, do you harm. But Neanias opened to his mother an approach to piety. And this is a new thing, as much as anything, that a son should strive to surpass the thanks which he received from his parents. For to her who had given only that he should be, he resolved to repay that he should be well. It is necessary, he says, to know what is the way of truth, and to run that way with strained effort; how mighty a deceit now holds you, pouring a thick darkness over your eyes; and this very thing I will show.
[20] how nothing So having spoken, he takes his mother, and entered her chamber: and turning to the idols which were there, and were worshiped by her; To you, he says, gods, I speak: Did any of you bring me aid in the war? At these words they were dumb, doing their office, as being stones. Nay rather by the very fact they cried out that to bestow worship on themselves was the greatest madness. Presently therefore, turning to his mother, he says that which had already been said: The gods can say nothing true. To whom she: Not so: for since you came in derision, they thought it foolish and superfluous to give an answer. He again: Nay, approach yourself, their friend, and you will have none who answer you even with a word. Without delay, she approached with a devotion which one could not easily set forth: I beseech you, she says, heavenly gods, supreme Jupiter almighty, queen Juno, and you ruler of the sea Neptune, and prophetic Sun, Pallas guardian of the city, and as many other gods as there are c; Are you not those who brought aid to my son, and your servant?
[21] Nor the less did those which had been without voice remain without voice; the idols could avail. and, that I may rather speak with the divine Scripture: There was no voice, and there was no hearing. Straightway therefore Neanias, bearing in his hands the arms of the divine cross, put off his cloak, and put on the lion's skin, the zeal, I say, of God. Clad in it, he calmly restrained his mother, leaped with great force upon the idols, and striking them more vehemently with his heels, presently dashed them to the pavement, then broke them into fragments: and since not a few of them were of gold and silver, he distributed them to the poor, thus rendering useful the things which lacked all use whatsoever. Then he says to his mother: I being confident, the help is from the Crucified. But let these perish, and, being evil, be evilly lost and destroyed.
ANNOTATED.
CHAPTER III.
Procopius's constancy in the faith.
Τοῦτο ἐκείνη θεασαμένη, παραχρῆμα τὰ μέλη λύεται, κλόνῳ βάλλεται, θυμοῦ πληροῦται, παντοία γίνεται, μικροῦ καὶ ἀποπήγνυται τῷ θεάματι· ἔπειτα καὶ ὁδοῦ μῆκος, καὶ φύσιν ἅμα καὶ σπλάγχνα δήπου τὰ μητρικὰ δι᾽ ἐλάττονος τῆς πρὸς τὰ εἴδωλα θεμένη λατρείας, πρὸς Διοκλητιανὸν ἄπεισι. Καὶ ὦ βασιλεῦ, ἔφη, μεγάλῃ, φεῦ, ὁ ἐμὸς περιπέσοι μανίᾳ, πεπίστευκε γὰρ τῷ Ἐσταυρωμένῳ, καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων κατεξανέστη θεῶν καὶ γὰρ οὓς ἐν τῷ ἐμῷ κοιτῶνι εἶχον, κατέσπασεν εἰσελθὼν, καὶ κατέῤῥαξε λίαν ὑβριστικῶς καὶ θρασέως, καὶ εἰς λεπτὰ πάντας διῇλε, καὶ τὸ μηδὲν εἶναι πεποίηκεν.
[23] Ὁ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ σάλου τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ τοῦ λίαν διασπασμένου πνεύματός τε καὶ φθέγματος τὴν εἴσω διακαιομένην τοῖς σπλάγχνοις κατανοήσας ἀνθρακιὰν, καὶ ἅμα μὲν οἰκτείρων τοῦ πάθους, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας ἀποδεχόμενος, Ἄλυπά σοι ἔστω, φησὶν, ὦ γύναι, καὶ ἄδικα τὰ παρόντα, πρῶτα μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲ ἀνέλπιστος τὸ λοιπὸν ἡ τοῦ σου παιδὸς μεταμέλεια, ἔπειτα δὲ κᾂν ἀνίατος ὀφθῇ τὸ παράπαν. Ἀλλὰ σύγε διὰ πάσης ἀκριβῶς τῆς συγκλήτου τὴν βάσανον ἄγουσα καὶ φιλοκρίνουσα, ὃν ἂν ἴδοις καλὸν τὴν ὅρασιν καὶ μᾶλλον κατὰ γνώμην τὴν σὴν, εἰς υἱὸν ἑλοῦ, καὶ ὡς παιδὶ γνησίῳ τὸ μετὰ ταῦτα κέχρησο. Αὐτὸν δὲ, εἰ οὕτως ἔχων ἐμμείνοι, οἷα δὴ κακὸν ὀφθέντα οὐ πρός σε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς γε καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς, πολλαῖς βασάνοις ἀπολέσθαι κακῶς ἔασον.
[24] Κατ᾽ ἐκείνου δὲ καιροῦ τὴν τῆς Παλαιστίνης ἀρχὴν Οὐλκίων τὸ ὄνομα πιστευθεὶς ἦν, γένος Ἰταλὸς, φρόνημα σκολιὸς, τὴν γνώμην ἀπηνέστατός τε καὶ ἀγριώτατος, καὶ συνελόντα φάναι, ὑπηρετεῖν ἄξιος τῷ πιστεύσαντι τὴν ἀρχήν. Τούτῳ γράφει Διοκλητιανὸς οὕτως· Τῶν πέριξ πόλεὠν τοὺς ἐπισημοτέρους λαβὼν, πρὸς Νεανίαν ἐπείχθητι δοῦκα, τὸν τῆς Θεωδοσίας υἱόν· ἀκηκόαμεν γὰρ παρ᾽ ἀυτῆς, ὡς ἀνηκέστῳ περιπέσοι πλάνῃ, τῷ θνητῷ γε καὶ ἀνεσκωλοπισμένῳ πεπιστευκώς. Ὃν εἰ μὲν πείσεις ἀπώμοθον θέσθαι τὴν νενεουργημένην αὐτοῦ θρησκείαν, ἀυτῷ τε καλῶς ἔσται, καί σοι οὐ μετρία τοῦ δὲ κείσεται χάρις· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐθελοκακῶν ὀφθείη καὶ βελτιωθῆναι, μήδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν ἀνεχόμενος, ἀλλὰ τὴν ζώνην ἀφαιρεθεὶς βασάνοις ὑποβληθήτω τοσαύταις τὸ πλῆθος, καὶ τοιαύταις τὴν χαλεπότητα, ὥστε κᾂν αὐτὸς ἀνίατος ὢν ἀποβήσῃ, ἀλλ᾽ οὖν ἑτέρους ὠφελήσῃ, μὴ καὶ τοῖς ὁμοίοις περιπεσεῖν.
[25] Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ταύτην Οὐλκίων εἰς χεῖρας εἴληφε καὶ ἀνέγνω, παραλαβὼν εὐθὺς τοὺς τῆς συγκλήτου, καὶ τοῦτο κατὰ τὸ τοῦ Διοκλητιανοῦ πρόσταγμα, εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Δουκὸς ἀφικνεῖται, καὶ εἰσελθὼν, πρῶτα μὲν ἀσπασμὸν, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν αὐτῷ δίδωσι, τὸ περιφανὲς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς δυσωπούμενος, καὶ ὀκνῶν ἀπὸ στόματος αὐστηροτέραν ἐξενεγκεῖν ἀγγελίαν. Ὁ δὲ ἀναγνοὺς, καὶ ἃ ἦν ἐκεῖ βλάσφημα κατὰ Χριστοῦ διελθὼν, καὶ ἀλγήσας, οὐκ ἤνεγκεν ἡσυχῆ τὸ πάθος, ἀλλ᾽ ὃ ἦν ἐκείνην ἄξιον παθεῖν, αὐτὸς
ἐποίει, διαῤῥήξας καὶ εἰς πολλὰ μέρη κατατεμὼν, αὔραις ἐδίδου, ἔργῳ πρότερον ἐξαγγείλας τὸ φρόνημα, εἶτα καὶ ἐπειπών· Ἐγὼ Χριστιανός εἰμι, ποίει αὐτὸς τὸ κεκελευσμέννον. Τοίνυν Οὐλκίων τὴν ἀποτομίαν τοῦ ἐγχειρήματος, καὶ τὸ δεινὸς εὔτολμον, καὶ πεπαῤῥησιασμένον, οὐ ζήλου περιουσίαν, ἀλλὰ φρονήματος μᾶλλον ἀλαζονείαν ὑπολαβὼν, ἐμβλέψας ἐμφαντικώτερόν τι τῷ Νεανίᾳ, Βασιλικῷ δέει, ἔφη, καὶ τῇ σῇ αἰδοῖ μεριζόμενος, τί ἂν καὶ διαπράξομαι, ἀπορῶ πλήν.
[26] Ἀλλὰ πεισθεὶς ἐμοί τε καὶ τῇ συγκλήτῳ τῇδε, φάνηθι βασιλικῷ κελεύσματι εἴκων, καὶ ἐπ᾽ ὄψεσιν ἡμετέραις θῦσαι θέλησον, ὡς ἂν καὶ ἡμεῖς τοῦτο μόνον, ὅτι πέπεισαι, βασιλεῖ δῆλον θέμενοι, δέους καὶ φροντίδων ἀπαλλαγῶμεν· ἐπεί τι ἄλλο, ἡ ἀνάγκη πάντως καὶ ἄκοντας τὰ προστεταγμένα ποιεῖν. Καὶ ὁ Νεανίας, Καλῶς ἐμὲ θύειν ἐκέλευσας, ἔφη, θύσω γὰρ, ἀλλ᾽ ἐμ᾽ αὐτὸν τῷ Χριστῷ, ὃν διαφερόντως ἠγάπησα, καὶ οὐ δέδοικα τὰς κολάσεις μᾶλλον, ἢ τὰς παρ᾽ ὑμῶν ἐπινοουμένας, ἅτε δὴ πρόσκαιρον ἐχούσας τὴν ἀλγηδόνα· ἰδοὺ οὖν, πρόκειμμαί σοι, ὅλως παραχωρῶ σοι, καὶ ὥρας εὐμαράντου καὶ σαρκῶν φθειρομένων, κόλαζε Οὔλκιον, μηδὲν ἡμῶν φροντίζων, μηδὲ περιαλγῶν τὸ βραχύτατον. Καὶ ὁ Δικαστὴς τὸ τοῦ φρωνήματος εὐγενὲς καὶ ἀκάθεκτον καὶ τὸ πρὸς βασάνους ἀτρεπὲς καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπέχον ἐθελουσίου δυσωπηθεὶς· Μὴ οὕτως, ἔφη, ἐπεὶ καὶ περιφανὴς σὺ καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ προσφιλὴς, καὶ παρ᾽ αὐτῷ μάλιστα τιμῆς ἀξιούμενος.
[27] Εἶτα ὁ Νεανίας ὑποπτεύσας τὸ ὑφειμένον τοῦτο καὶ θεραπευτικὸν τοῦ Ἄρχοντος, μὴ καί τις ἔνδοσις εἴη τῆς πρὸς τὸ κολάζειν ὁρμῆς, καὶ αὐτὸς τὸ μὴ διὰ Χριστὸν παθεῖν κινδυνεύσειε, παραυτίκα λόγοις, ὑπὸ παῤῥησίας εὖ τεθηγμένοις, ἐξοργίζειν αὐτὸν ἤρξατο, καὶ εἰς θυμὸν ἀνάπτειν ἐπίτηδες. Εἶπόν σοι, λέγων, ὅτι τοῦ Ἐσταυρωμένου δοῦλός εἰμι, καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ πιστεύω. Τοῦτο πεποιθότως εἰπὼν, εἶτα καὶ τὴν ζώνην λῦσαι ἐπαφῆκεν αὐτοῦ παραχρῆμα, χαλεπεῖν ἐπιτηδὲς χρῆμα, χαλεπῆναι ποιεῖ τὸν Οὐλκίονα καὶ τῇ συγκλήτῳ ἅμα συνεξαναστάντα κελεῦσαι συλληφθῆναι τὸν Ἅγιον καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ Καισάρειαν εὐθὺς ἄγεσθαι, ἔνθα δή τινος καὶ οἰκονομίας ναοῦ ἐπισκεπτόμενος ἦν. Καισάρειαν δὲ ταύτην φαμὲν, ἣν καὶ Φιλίππου καλεῖν εἰώθαμεν, αὕτη δὲ καὶ Στράτωνος μὲν πύργος τὸ πρότερον ἐκαλεῖτο. Φοίνικες δὲ Πανεάδα κατονομάζουσιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ γείτονος αὐτῇ ὄρους Πανέου τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν θέμενοι.
[28] Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεὶ τῆς δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἅπαξ ἐν μνήμῃ ἤλθομεν, ῥάθυμον ἴσως τὸ διήγησιν παριδεῖν ἀστείαν ἐπιεικῶς, καὶ σιωπῆς οὐδαμῶς ἀξίαν. Τὴν γὰρ Αἱμοῤῥοῦσαν, ἣν ἰαθῆναι παρὰ Χριστοῦ μεμαθήκαμεν, ἔνθεν ὁρμᾶσθαί φασιν, μαρτύριον ἀψευδὲς, ὅτε οἶκος αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως ἱδρυμένος, καὶ ἄλλα περιφανῆ σύμβολα τῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ τοῦ Δεσπότου θεοσημείας. Πρὸς γὰρ ταῖς πύλαις τοῦ δὲ τοῦ οἴκου γυναικὸς ἐκτύπωμα λέγουσιν ἐφ᾽ ὑψηλοῦ ἱστάναι τοῦ λίθου, χαλκοῦ μὲν πεποιημένον, ἐπὶ γόνυ δὲ κλίνεσθαι, καὶ τεταμέναις ἐπὶ τὰ ἔμπροσθεν ταῖς χερσὶ τῇ δεομένῃ σαφῶς ἐοικέναι. Τούτου δὲ ἀντικρὺ, ἀνδριάντα πάλιν ἱστάναι, τῆς μὲν αὐτῆς ὕλης εἰργασμένον, τὸ σχῆμα δὲ ὄρθιον, διπλοΐδα δὲ ἐκεῖνος ἀναβέβληται μάλα κοσμίως, τὴν χεῖρά τε προτείνει φιλανθρώπως τῇ γυναικὶ ἐπικλώμενος.
[29] Οὗ παρὰ πόδας ξενόντι βοτάνης εἶδος τὸ πέδον ἀνίησι, μέχρι γοῦν τοῦ κρασπέδου τῆς διπλοΐδος ἀνιὸν, μένει ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτὸ, μὴ προβαῖνον ἐπίπροσθεν. Ταύτης δὲ τῆς βοτάνης οὐδὲν νόσημα ὅλως ἢ πήρωμα κρεῖττον ἱρᾶσθαι, ἀλλὰ πάντα εἴκειν αὐτῇ, καὶ κομιδῇ λύεσθαι. Τοῦτον ἄρα τὸν ἀνδριάντα τὸν Χριστὸν αὐτόχρημα εἶναι, πάντες ὁμολογοῦσι, καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ φερέσβιον εἰκόνα πρὸς τὸ ὁμοιότατον ἀκριβῶς ἐξεικασμένην. Ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἅλις. Ἐχέσθω δὲ ὁ λόγος τῶν ἀκολούθων παρ᾽ αὐτῇ τῇ Καισαρείᾳ.
This the mother, having beheld, is loosed in her limbs, is cast down with agitation, is filled with wrath, is turned into every shape, Theodosia, on account of the broken idols, and almost grows stiff at the spectacle. Then, making light of the length of the way, and of the force of nature, and of the maternal bowels themselves, in comparison with the worship of the idols, she goes to Diocletian, saying: O emperor; alas! my son must have fallen into great madness; for he has believed the Crucified, and, inveighing against our gods, whom I had in my chamber, entering he has broken and cast them down with the greatest injury and boldness; he has crushed them all to fragments and reduced them to nothing.
[23] He, understanding from the agitation of her eyes, from her spirit and speech greatly perturbed, accuses her son before Diocletian; that her bowels within were kindled with a great heat; and at once pitying her grief, at once approving her veneration of the gods; Do not grieve, he says, for those crimes which have now been done. For first, the repentance of your son is not hereafter to be despaired of, however altogether incurable he may be able to appear. But do you make a choice out of the whole senate, and discern; and whomsoever you shall see fair of aspect, and pleasing to your mind, choose for a son, and have him hereafter as a genuine son. But Neanias, if indeed he persist the same, hated not by you only, but also by us, and even by the gods themselves, suffer to perish miserably by many torments.
[24] There was at that time set over the administration of Palestine one named Ulcion a, by race an Italian, crafty in mind, most harsh and most savage in disposition, and, to sum up in a word, worthy to serve Diocletian, who had committed that province to him, who, Ulcion the prefect of Palestine as minister. To this man therefore Diocletian thus writes: Taking the more distinguished of those who hold the cities round about, hasten to Neanias the Commander, the son of Theodosia. For we have heard from her that he has fallen into an incurable error, believing in a mortal and one hanged upon a cross. If you can persuade him to abjure his new religion, both it shall be well with him, and no small thanks shall thence await you; but if he shall be seen to persist in his malice, and give no hope of better fruit; spare nothing, but, deprived of his belt, let him be subjected to torments, so many in number, so horrible in gravity, that although he himself, being incurable, come to no good, yet at least he may profit others, that they fall not into like things.
[25] by letters given, he stirs up against him: Ulcion, this epistle received and read, according to Diocletian's prescript, presently convoking the senators, came to the Commander's house, and having entered, imparted to him first indeed a greeting, then the epistle (for he hesitated to announce the harsher things by word, revering the Man's splendor). Which when Neanias had read, and had run through whatever of blasphemy it vomited against Christ, he digested his grief not silently; but rendered effected that which was worthy to be done against it. For after he had torn it, and cut it into many fragments, he gave it to the winds, declaring by the very deed rather than by words what he thought. Afterward he added: I am a Christian; accomplish what is commanded. Then Ulcion, thinking this new and bold undertaking was to be measured by arrogance of mind, not by an abundance of zeal, and with a fixed gaze surveying Neanias; Distracted, he says, here by fear of the Emperor, there by veneration of you, I know not what to do, uncertain of counsel.
[26] but in vain; But comply with me and with this council, and obey the Emperor's edict; sacrifice while we look on, that at least declaring this one thing to the Emperor, that you have obeyed, we may free him from fear and cares. But if not, it is altogether necessary for us to execute the commands even upon the unwilling. And Neanias: Rightly, he says, have you truly ordered me to sacrifice: I will indeed sacrifice, and gladly, but I will sacrifice myself to Christ, whom I have loved with a singular love. Nor do I dread the punishments devised by you; since they afflict only for a time. Behold I am ready, and I yield myself to you; the time passes, and the body is corrupted. Take punishments, Ulcion; regard us in nothing, nor care even a little. But the Judge, wondering at his prompt and immovable mind, and ready for torments; Not so, he says: for you are illustrious, and very friendly to the Emperor, and held worthy of the highest honors by him.
[27] Neanias insulting him; Then Neanias, despising this submissive obsequiousness of the Prefect, and fearing lest it should hinder the desire of punishments with which he burned, and lest he should incur the danger of not suffering for Christ, presently with words full of freedom began to provoke him to anger, and vehemently to kindle his spirit. I have told you, he says, that I am the servant of the Crucified; and in him alone I believe. Having spoken this confidently, he then presently gave leave for his belt to be loosed, a thing done on purpose to be troublesome to him. Without delay: he moved the bile of Ulcion; who, rising together with the council, ordered the Saint to be apprehended, and straightway led to Cæsarea; for there he was overseeing the building of a certain temple. And this Cæsarea we mean which we are wont also to call Philippi, and which formerly had the surname the Tower of Straton. But the Phoenicians name it Paneas, the appellation being given from the neighboring mountain Paneus b.
[28] But since we have once come to the mention of this city, who is apprehended and led to Cæsarea Philippi, it would be the mark of a sluggish mind not to weave out a narration altogether elegant, and by no means worthy of silence. For the woman laboring under an issue of blood, whom we have received to have been restored by Christ to her former health, is handed down to memory to draw her origin hence. The matter is confirmed by a genuine testimony, both her house, built in the city, and other by no means obscure tokens of the beneficence bestowed upon her by the Lord, showing himself God. At the doors of the woman's house, it is reported, an image stands upon a high stone, made of bronze, but with knee bent, and hands stretched forth in front, plainly resembling one supplicating. But opposite it stands a statue of a man, cast of the same material, of upright figure, but very elegantly clad in a double cloak, and kindly stretching forth his hand to the woman, to whom he inclines himself.
[29] Before whose feet a certain new kind of herb breaks forth from the ground, the fatherland of the evangelical woman with the issue of blood. rising even to the fringe of the double cloak, and there stopping, nor tending further. But there is no disease at all, no wound, which this herb does not overcome; but all yield to it, and are perfectly healed. Now that this statue represents in very deed Christ, all confess, and that his saving image is there expressed to the life c. But concerning these things enough. Now let the discourse pursue the things which were afterward done in this same city of Cæsarea.
ANNOTATED.
CHAPTER IV.
Tortured with torments, he is visited by Christ and the Angels; he is baptized; he converts many to Christ; he casts down the idols by the sign of the cross.
Προκαθίσας Οὐλκίων τοῦ βήματος, μετακαλεῖται τὸν Ἅγιον· ὃν τὸ πλῆθος τῆς πόλεως θεασάμενοι, καὶ τῇ περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πλάνῃ περιττῶς ἐκμεμεθυσμένοι, γεγωνότεροι ἐξεβόων, οὐκ αὐτοὶ δὲ μᾶλλον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι᾽ ἐκείνων ὁ τῆς κακίας πατὴρ καὶ διδάσκαλος. Οὗτός ἐστι, λέγοντες, ὁ τὰς μὲν θυσίας τῶν
θεῶν ἀναίρων, ἐκείνους τε καθαίρων, καταφρονοῦν δὲ προδήλων τῶν βασιλέων. Ὧν ἀκούσας, καὶ Οὐλκίων, καὶ οἷα δὴ προφάσεως εὐπορήσας, καὶ τὸν καιρὸν ἢ μᾶλλον τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀγριότητα θεραπεύων, λύκος ἦν προβάτῳ περιτυχών· καὶ παραχρῆμα τὸν Ἅγιον ἀναρτᾶσθαι κελεύει καὶ ἰσχυρῶς ξέεσθαι. Οὗ γενομένου, ἔνιοι τῶν παρόντων ἐλεοῦντες ὥσπερ τῆς ἡλικίας τὸν Μάρτυρα, περιστάντες αὐτὸν ἔκλαιον.
[31] Σόφισμα καὶ τοῦτο σὸν πονηρέ· οὐ γὰρ ἐκείνους ἐχθροὺς ὄντας σύμβολόν τι φιλανθρωπίας ἐπιδείκνυσθαι ἥδει, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα σὺ μᾶλλον ὑποθηλύνῃς τὸν Ἀθλητὴν, καὶ μαλακόν τι βλέψαι, καὶ φιλοσώματον πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα παρασκευάσῃς. Οὓς θεασάμενος ὁ Γενναῖος καὶ μήτε πάθει ψυχῆς, μήτε βασάνοις ὅλως καμφθεὶς, Πατέρες ἔφη, καὶ ἀδελφοὶ, τὸ ἐπ᾽ ἐμοὶ κλαίειν ἀφέντες, ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπολείᾳ μᾶλλον τῶν ὑμετέρων ψυχῶν κλαύσατε· τοῦτο γὰρ δακρύων ἀληθῶς ἄξιον, ὡς τόγε ἐμὸν πλῆρές ἐστιν εὐφροσύνης· εἴγε δὴ καὶ τῷ σπείροντι γλυκεῖς εἶναι τοῦς πόνους διὰ τὴν τῶν καρπῶν ἐλπίδα, πάντες γιγνώσκουσι. Καὶ αἱ κολάσεις, αἱ νῦν αὗταί μοι ἐπαγόμεναι, προσκαίρους ἔχουσαι τοὺς πόνους, αἰωνίαν ἐμοὶ τὴν ἀγαλλίασιν γεωργήσουσι.
[32] Τοῦτο εἰπὼν, ἀπεῖδεν εὐθὲς ἐπὶ τὸν δυνάμενον σώζειν, εἰς τὰ ὄρη τοὺς ἐφθαλμοὺς ἐπῇρεν, ὅθεν ἥξειν ἤλπισε τὴν βοήθειαν. Ὁ Θεός τε, ἔφη, ὁ βοηθὸς τῶν ἐν θλίψεσιν, αὐτός με ἐνίσχυσον τῷ βραχίονί σου, τὰ βέλη συντρίψαι τοῦ πονηροῦ εἰς δόξαν τοῦ ὀνόματός σου καὶ τῆς ἀποῤῥήτου μεγαλειότητος. Ὡς δὲ οἱ ξεόντες μὲν ἀπειρήκασιν, αἱ σάρκες δὲ ὡς μάταιόν τι καὶ περιττὸν αὐτῷ κατὰ γῆς ἔῤῥεον, πᾶσά τε ἡ τῶν μελῶν διάπλασις μικροῦ ἐδεδαπάνητο, τῶν ὀστέων ἤδη γυμνῶν ὑποφαινομένων. Καὶ γὰρ ἐπίσης ἐκπλήττουσα ἦν ἥτε τοῦ ἄρχοντος πρὸς τὸ κολάζειν ἀπανθρωπία, καὶ ἡ τοῦ Μάρτυρος, πρὸς τὸ γενναίως φέρειν, εὐψυχία μόλις καταχθῆναι συνεχωρεῖτο· καὶ μάλιστα ἤδη καὶ τοῦ καιροῦ ἐπείθοντο, ἑσπέρα γὰρ ἦν, καὶ εἰς τὴν φυλακὴν ἀπήγετο.
[33] Ὁ μέντοι δεσμοφύλαξ Τερέντιος (τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτῷ ὄνομα) συνήθης ὢν τῷ Ἁγίῳ, καὶ πολλῶν ἀγαθῶν αὐτῷ διαμνημονεύων, εἰς τὴν ἐσωτέραν μὲν αὐτὸν φυλακὴν ἐγκλεῖ δέει τοῦ ἄρχοντος, χόρτον δὲ μαλακὸν ὑποστρὼς σινδόνα τε ἐπιθεὶς, οὕτω τὸν Ἅγιον τίθησιν. Ἥδη δὲ περὶ μέσας νύκτας σείει μὲν ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τῇ πόλει μέγα. Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Κύριος ὑπὸ φρικτῶν κάτεισι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ἐπισκψάμενος καὶ παρακαλέσων τὸν ἀθλητήν. Καὶ πῶς γὰρ ἦν ἐκείνου παριδεῖν αὐτὸν, οὕτως ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πάσχοντα; Εὐθὺς οὖν αὐτομάτη μὲν ἡ φυλακὴ διανοίγεται, αἱ ἁλύσεις δὲ τῶν συνκαταδίκων ἀνίενται, εἶτα τὴν ἐσωτέραν φυλακὴν εἰσελθόντες, ἔνθα δὴ καὶ ὁ Μάρτυς ἐκέκλειστο, πρὸς ὄνομα καλοῦσιν αὐτὸν ἐν προσχήματι ἀνθρώπων οἱ ἄγγελοι. Νεανία, λέγοντες, ἀνάβλεψον. Καὶ ὃς ἀνέβλεψέ τε, καὶ εἶδε, Καὶ οἱ παρόντες, τίνες ἐστὲ, πρᾴως ἤρετο. Οἱ δὲ, Ἄγγελοι Θεοῦ, ἡμεῖς, εἶπον, ἀπεσταλμένοι πρός σε.
[34] Καὶ ὁ Νεανίας, δοκίμιον προτείνων αὐτοῖς, καὶ εἰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἶπέν, ἐστε, ἀλλ᾽ ὑμεῖς γε τότε γόνυ αὐτῷ κλίνατε καὶ ὁ τοῦ σταυροῦ τύπος ταῖς ὑμῶν ὄψεσιν ἐπισημανθήτω· κᾀκεῖνοι οὕτως ἐποίουν, καὶ προσθέντες, Τί δ᾽ οὖν ἐπιδοιάζεις, εἶπον, εἰ παρὰ Χριστοῦ ἡμεῖς ἀπεστάλμεθα; Ὁ δὲ ὥσπερ ἐπιλαθόμενος οἵων ἔναχος ὑπέστη βασάνων τῶν μειζόνων ἴσως διὰ Χριστὸν ἐφίεσθαι. Πρὸς τοὺς τρεῖς, ἔφη, παῖδας ὁ Κύριος πρὸς καμίνου φλόγα διαπαλαίοντας (ταῦτα δὲ εἰκὸς ἦν παρὰ τῶν εὐσεβῶν ἀκοῦσαι τὸν Ἅγιον, ὅς καὶ παρ᾽ ἀυτοῦ τοῦ καλέσαντος εἰκότως τε τῆς ἰδίας ἐπισκοπῆς ἡξίου) καὶ ἄγγελον ἠφίει δρωσοβόλον, τὴν φλόγα λύοντα· ἐμοὶ δὲ τί τοιοῦτον εἴργασται, ἢ πρὸς ποῖον πῦρ αὐτὸς διηγώνισμαι, ἴσα τῆς δι᾽ ἀγγέλων ἄξιος ὀφθῶ παρακλήσεως; Καὶ τοιαῦτα μὲν ὁ Μάρτυς. Χριστὸς δὲ ἦν ἄρα, ὁ τὸ πολὺ τοῦτο τῆς μετριοφροσύνης αὐτῷ ἐνεὶς, ὃς καὶ δῆλος γενόμενος τῷ γενναίῳ μορφῇ δηλονότι τῇ ἀνθρωπείᾳ, φῶς τε ἀφῆκεν οἷον λαμπρότατον, καὶ ὕδατι ῥαντίσας αὐτὸν καὶ ἁψάμενος, ἀνέστησε λέγων·
[35] Οὐκ ἔτι σὺ Νεανίας, ἀλλὰ Προκότιος ἔση φερωνύμως καλούμενος. Ἴσχυε τοιγαροῦν καὶ ἀνδρίζου, προκόπτων γὰρ προκόψεις, καὶ τῷ περὶ τῷ ἐμῷ ποιήσεις ποίμνιον. Τὸν δὲ τρόμος τε εἴληφε καὶ εἰς γόνυ κλιθεὶς, Δέσποτα εἴρηκεν, ἴκετεύω τὸ ἀνεικάστως φιλάνθρωπον ἐνδυναμῶσαί μου τὸ ἀσθενὲς τῆς ψυχῆς· δέδοικα γὰρ, μήποτε δειλιάσας πρὸς τὰς τῶν βασάνων ἐπαγωγὰς κινδυνεύσω περὶ τὴν ὁμολογίαν τῆς εἰς σὲ πίστεως. Πρὸς ταῦτα, Μὴ φοβοῦ φάναι τὸν Κύριον· ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι μετά σου. Οὕτως εἰπὼν, θάρσους τε ἅμα καὶ χαρᾶς ἐμπλήσας τὴν ἐκείνου ψυχὴν καὶ πρὸς οὐρανοὺς εὐθὺς ἀνελθών.
[36] Οὐδὲ τὰ τοῦ σώματος ἄμοιρα τῆς αὐτοῦ λιπόντα θεοσημείας· εὑρέθη γὰρ ὅλον καὶ αὐτο καθαρὸν, ὅλον ἄψαυστον, οὐ δὲ τὸ τυσχὸν λειψανον ἀποσῶζον πληγῆς· πληγῆς εἶπον, οὐδὲ κέπου τις ἦν ὑπόμνησις ἢ νωθρείας δήλωσις ἐνσκήπτουσα τῷ Ἁγίῳ, ἄλλ᾽ ἦν ὅλως ψυχὴν μὲν εὐτυμώτατος, σῶμα δὲ ὑγιεινότατός τε καὶ ἀκμαιότατος· ἐπὶ Θεῷ γὰρ ἤλπισε, καὶ ἐβοηθήτη, ἀνέταλέ τε ἡ σὰρξ αὐτῷ, κατὰ τὸν θεῖον φάναι Δαβιδ, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Ὑψίστου δεξίας ἐδέξατο τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν· ταῦτα δὲ ἀσεβῶν ἀκοαῖς ἀχώρητά τε καὶ ἀπαράδεκτα· μέγα γὰρ ἡ εὐσέβεια, καὶ μεγάλων δεομένη ψυχῶν. Οἱ δὲ ταπεινοὶ καὶ μικρόφρονες, καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν τὸ παράπαν χαμαιπετεῖς· καὶ τοῦτο δηλώσων ὁ λόγος ἔρχεται.
[37] Τὴν γὰρ ἐπιοῦσαν, ἕνα δὴ τῶν τῆς τάξεως Οὐλκίων ἐκπέμπει πευσόμενον, εἰ τέθνηκεν ὁ Νεανίας. Τούτῳ δὲ Τερέντιος, ὁ δεσμοφύλαξ, πάντα ὅσα ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ πέπρακτο, δῆλα ποιεῖ καὶ ὃς ἀκούσας, ἔρωτα ἔσχε τὸν Ἅγιον ἐν αὐτῇ γοῦν θεάσασθαι τῇ εἱρκτῇ, καὶ προσελθὼν ἐκάλει, καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπήκουσεν. Ὁ δὲ ἐοίκει τυφλῷ καὶ τὴν πήρωσιν αὐτίκα διωμολόγει, Οὐ μοι δύναμις, λέγων, θεάσασθαί σε. Πρὸς ὃν ὁ θεῖος Προκόπιος· Πᾶς ὁ τοῦ φωτὸς ἀποστὰς καὶ διακονῶν δαίμοσιν, ἐν σκότει τέ ἐστι, καὶ ὅποι δὴ καὶ πορεύεται ἀγνοεῖ. Ἀπαγγέλλει ταῦτα Οὐλκίωνι ὁ τῆς τάξεως καὶ ἄλλοις συγνοῖς. Οὐλκίων δὲ παραχρῆμα μετακαλεῖται τὸν Ἅγιον.
[38] Τοῦ δὲ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀπαγομένου παραπλησίως μὲν ἡλίῳ τὸ πρόσωπον εἶχε, τὸ δὲ σωμα ὅλον καθαρώτατόν τε καὶ ἀπαθέστατον ἦν, ὥσπερ ἄρα καὶ προλαβὼν ὁ λόγος ἐδήλωσε. Τοῦτο πολλοῖς τῶν θεασαμένων ἔκπληξιν ἐνῆκε, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ θεοσεβείας αὐγὴν ἐμβαλὸν, ἐποίει σὺν ἅμα τοῖς στρατιώταις κατὰ τὸ λεληθὸς ὑποφθέγγεσθαι· Ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ἁγίου τούτου βοήθησον ἡμῖν. Καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐκείνων τοιαῦτα. Οὐχ οὕτως ὁ ἀσεβής Οὐλκίων, οὐχ οὕτως· κομιδῆ γὰρ ἡ ἐκείνου ψυχὴ ἀγαθαῖς ἐννοίαις ἀτύπωτός τε καὶ ἀκοινώνητος. Οὐδὲ γὰρ μόνον αὐτὸς οὐ συνίει, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς μικρόν τε συνιέντας ἔργον αὐτῷ διαστρέφειν. Ἀμέλει καὶ ἀναστὰς τοῦ θρόνου, καὶ τὴν δεξιὰν τῷ πλήθει προτείνας, Ἀδελφοὶ, ἔφη, τι μέγα θεασαμένοις ὑμῖν ἐπῆλθε θαυμάζειν, ὅτι περ οἱ θεοὶ φιλανθρωπότερον τῷ ἀλιτηρίῳ τῷδε χρησάμενοι, ἃς διὰ φρενοβλάβειαν αὐτὸς ὑπέστη πληγὰς, ἰάσαντο καὶ παραδόξως αὐτὸν ἀνεπλάσαντο.
[39] Καὶ πρὸς ὃν ὁ Ἅγιος· Ὄτι μὲν ἀναπέπλασμαι, εἶπεν, αὐτὰ μαρτυρεῖ τὰ πράγματα· οὐκ οἶδα δὲ, εἰ τοῖς θεοῖς τὴν ἀνάπλασιν ἐπιγράφειν δεῖ· πλὴν ἰτέον ἡμῖν ἐπὶ τὸν ναόν. Εἰσόμεθα γὰρ, τίς ἄρα τούτων ἐμμενεστέροις ἡμᾶς ἰδὼν ὀφθαλμοῖς, οὕτω θαυμασίως ἀνέπλασε. Ὁ δὲ (καὶ γὰρ ἡ ἄγνοια πεισθῆναι ῥᾳδία, ἄλλως τε δὲ τῷ βούλεσθαι τοῦ πιστεύειν οὐχ ἥκιστα συνεφαπτομένου) τοῦτο ἀκούσας, πληροῦται χαρᾶς παραχρῆμα, μεταπεισθῆναι τὸν Νεανίαν ἐκ παντὸς ἐλπίσας, ὅπερ οὐδὲν ἧττον ἀμήχανον ἦν, ἢ τὸν ἥλιον εἰς σκότος μεταβαλεῖν. Κελεύει τοιγαροῦν εὐκοσμηθῆναι τὴν ἀγορὰν ὅσον ἀπὸ τοῦ πραιτωρίου πρὸς τὸν ναὸν ἀπάγει, σινδόσι τε καταστρωθῆναι τὸ ἔδαφος, κήρυκάς τε τὸ τεῖχος ἐπαναβάντας κρατικώτερον ἐκβοᾶν, ὅτι Νεανίας, ὁ τῆς συγκλητικῆς Θεοδοσίας υἱὸς, ἐπιδήλως γνωσιμαχεῖ καὶ τῆς Χριστιανῶν δόξης μεταμελῆσαι αὐτῷ εἰς τὸν ναὸν ἄπεισι, νῦν θυσίας προσοίσων τοῖς ἀθανάτοις θεοῖς.
[40] Τοῦτο διαδοθὲν εἰς τὴν πόλιν πανδημεὶ, πάντες ἐκεῖ συνέῤῥεον. Ὁ μέντοι Ἅγιος μόνος εἰσελθεῖν ἀξιώσας, Ἐπεὶ, λέγων, οὐκ ὀλίγα ἐξύβρισα εἰς αὐτοὺς, δεῖ πάντως ἰδικώτερον προσελθεῖν καὶ θερμωτέραν οὕτω προσενεγκεῖν τὴν ἀπολογίαν· εἰσελθὼν καὶ ἐπικλεισάμενος, ἱστατο μὲν πρὸς ἀνατολὰς, σφραγίζει δὲ ἅπαν τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἑαυτοῦ, εἶτα καὶ ὄμματα αἰσθητά τε ἅμα καὶ νοητὰ ἐπάρας εἰς οὐρανοὺς, Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ, παῖ μονογενὲς ἀοράτου Πατρὸς, ἔφη, ὁ πάντα λόγῳ παραγαγὼν, καὶ θελήματί σου συνέχων, ὁ παγεὶς ἐπὶ ξύλου καὶ δήσας τὸν ἰσχυρόν· καὶ τοῖς ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνου δεδεσμημένοις αἰωνίαν ἄνεσιν παρασχόμενος, αὐτὸς, Κύριε, καὶ τὰ νῦν ἐκτείνων σου τὴν χεῖρα, τὴν παντουργὸν, καὶ τὰ μιαρὰ ταῦτα τῶν ψευδωνύμων θεῶν ἀγάλματα ἐπὶ πλάνῃ τοῦ πλάσματός σου δεδημιουργημένα ἐν τῷ μηδενὶ σύντριψον, ὥστε καὶ τὴν αὐτῶν ἀσθένειαν ἐλεγχθῆναι, καὶ τὸν παράνομον βασιλέα σὺν τῷ ἡγεμόνι κατάσχυνθῆναι, καὶ πάντας ἀκριβῶς γνῶναι, ὅτι σὺ ἀληθὴς Θεὸς μόνος, καὶ βασιλεὺς μόνος αἰώνιος καὶ ἀθάνατος.
[41] Τοιαῦτά τινα εἰρηκὼς, καὶ τοῦ ζωηφόρου σταυροῦ σημεῖον τῷ ἀέρι κατὰ τῶν ξοάνων ἐπιβαλὼν, Ὑμῖν, ἔφη, τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις βδελύγμασι λέγω, τὸ τὴν ἐμοῦ Θεοῦ καταπτήξαντα ὄνομα, εἰς ὕδωρ εύθὺς διαλυθῆτε καὶ τοῦ ναοῦ τούτου κατασκεδάσθῆτε. Εἶτα τῆς τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἐπισπασάμενος δεξιᾶς, κατασπᾶν εὐθὺς ἤρξατο, καὶ παραχρῆμα οὐκ ἔλαττον ἢ τριάκοντα ξόανα καταβέβλητό τε καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ ἐλύετο, καὶ τοῦ ναοῦ θύραθεν διεχεῖτο, ὡς καί τινας τῶν ἐκεῖ παρόντων στρατιωτῶν, θεατὰς τοῦ θαύματος γενομένους, ἐκπλαγῆναί τε τὰς ψυχὰς, καὶ Ὦ Θεὸς τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἐκβοῆσαι, βωήθησον ἡμῖν. Ταύτῃ καὶ Οὐλκίωνι πολλῇ καταληφθέντι ἀμηχανίᾳ, οὐκ ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν εἰδώλων συντριβῇ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀθρόᾳ μεταβολῇ, ὁ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀεὶ βασκαίνων διάβολος, τὸν μὲν ἁγίον τῶν Χριστοῦ Μάρτυρα εἰς τὴν εἱρκτὴν ἐμβαλεῖν ὑποβάλλει, τοὺς δε στρατιώτας ποικίλως κολάσαι, καὶ οὕτω παραμύθιόν τι τῷ ἑαυτοῦ θυμῷ δοῦναι.
[42] Ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνος δείσας, μήπως ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν δύο καταστασιασθεὶς νουμέρων, εὐχερῶς παραπόλοιτο, χειρὶ στρατιωτῶν ἔγνω πλείονι αὐτοῖς ἐπελθεῖν, κλέψας τὴν αἴσθησιν, καὶ οὕτω κυκλωσάμενος ἀνελεῖν. Οἱ δὲ ὡς ἤδη καὶ ἡ νὺξ προσῆγεν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοῦς δύο τριβούνους ἔχοντες, τὰ ἴσα φρονοῦτας, εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήρίον τε ἀπίασιν οὐδενὶ θορύβῳ, καὶ τὸν Ἅγιον ἐπιμελῶς ἠξίουν, τῷ καταλόγῳ τῶν Χριστιανῶν καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐνταγῆναι. Πρὸς οὓς ὁ Ἅγιος· Επ᾽ ἀληθείας, ἀδελφοὶ, ἕφη, βουλομένοις ὑμῖν ἐστι τῷ ἐμῷ στρατεύεσθαι βασιλεῖ. Οἱ δὲ καὶ
ῥήματι, καὶ σχήματι καὶ ὀφθαλμῶν βλέμματι κατετίθεντο καὶ ζωῆς· αὐτῆς ἔλεγον τὸ πρᾶγμα ἡμεῖς ἀλαττόμεθα. Ἥσθη ἐπὶ τούτοις ὁ Μάρτυς, καὶ δεηθεὶς τοῦ δεσμοφύλακος (καὶ γὰρ ἦν, ὡς προείρηται, φιλίως πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔχων) μεθίεται τῆς φυλακῆς ἐξελθεῖν ἅμα τοῖς τριβούνοις καὶ στρατιώταις. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ἐξελθὼν πρὸς τὸν τῆς πόλεως ἐπίσκοπον, Λεόντιος οὗτος ἐκαλεῖτο, νυκτὸς ἀφικνεῖται.
[43] Καὶ προσελθὼν παραδίδωσι τοὺς στρατιώτας αὐτῷ ἅμα τοῖς τριβούνοις παραγγείλας ἐπιμελῶς, τὰ περὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος αὐτῶν θέσθαι. Ὁ δὲ παραλαβὼν, εἶτα κατηχίσας βαπτίζει, καὶ τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ αὐτοῖς σώματός τε καὶ αἵματος Χριστοῦ μεταδίδωσιν· οὓς μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα πάλιν ὁ θεῖος Προκόπιος, εἰς τὸ δεσμοτήριον ὑποστρέψας, τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐδίδασκεν, ὑπὸ τῆς θείας χάριτος αὐτὸς διδασκόμενος, καὶ τοῦτο γινόμενος τοῖς πεπιστευκόσιν, ὅπερ ἐκείνῳ τὸ θεῖον πνεῦμα διαφερόντως ἐγίνετο. Ὁποῖα δὲ καὶ τὰ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ διδασκόμενα·
[44] Ἀδελφοὶ οἴδατε πάντως ποίῳ ἄρα καὶ ἐστρατεύθητε βασιλεῖ, καὶ πρὸς ὃν τὰς ὁμολογίας ἔθεσθε. Λείπεται οὖν βεβαίας αὐτῷ ταύτας φυλάξαι, καὶ μηδενὸς ὅλως τῶν εἴτε λυπεῖν, εἴ τε εὐφραίνειν ἢ φοβεῖν δυναμένων ἡττηθῆναι, καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀποστῆναι φιλίας. Τοῦτο δὲ ῥᾷον ἂν φυλαχθείη, εἰ τὰ παρόντα τοῖς μέλλουσιν ὑμῖν εὐλογίστως ἀντιτέθη. Τί γὰρ ἂν οὕτω φοβερον εἴη τῶν παρόντων ὡς γέεννα πυρὸς αἰωνίου, μήτε τοῦ φλέγοντος αὐτοῦ ποτε σβευννυμένου, μήτε τοῦ κολάζοντος ὃλως λήγοντος. Ποῦ δ᾽ ἂν πάλιν τῶν τοῦ κόσμου καλῶν οὕτως ἂν εὐφράνοι, ὡς ὁ Θεὸς οἶδε θέλγειν τὰς ἐρώσας αὐτοῦ ψυχάς; οὗ κάλλος μὲν ἄφατον, ῥώμη δὲ ἄμαχος, δόξα δὲ ἀδιήγητος, καὶ ὃς τὰ αὐτοῦ πάντα κοινὰ τοῖς ἠγαπηκόσι ποιεῖ. Οὐχ ὅπως ἂν εἴποις γῆς ἁπάσης καὶ θαλάσσης ὅρια, οὐρανοῦ τε καὶ ἡλίου καὶ ἄστρων κάλλη, θαυμαστὰ καὶ μεγέθη. Τί γὰρ ταῦτα πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὂντως ἀγαθῶν περιφάνειαν, τῶν τοῖς Θεοῦ φίλοις ἀποκειμένων, ἃ μή τε ὀφθαλμὸς εἶδε, μήτε οὖς ἤκουσε, μήτε ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου ὅλως ἀνέβη.
When therefore Ulcion sat before the tribunal, he summons the Saint. Whom the multitude of the city, having beheld, The holy Martyr and being drunk with the error of the idols, cried out with disorderly voices, or rather not so much they themselves, as through them the parent and master of impiety. Behold, they said, he who abolishes the sacrifices of the gods, overthrows the gods themselves, and openly despises the Emperors. Which being heard, Ulcion, seizing the occasion, and rather obeying the time, or his own cruelty, leaped like a wolf upon a sheep. At once he ordered the Saint to be hung up, and cruelly raked. Which being done, some of those present and standing by, pitying indeed the Martyr's age, wept for him.
[31] But this is your deceit, O malignant spirit: for it was not sweet to those, the Martyr's enemies, tortured with torments. to show him a sign of benevolence; but that you might the more easily effeminate the champion, you brought forth a spectacle to the contest, aiming at something soft toward love of the body. Whom when the generous champion, and neither by compassion of mind nor by torments even a little bent, beheld, Fathers, he said, and brothers, do not weep over me, but weep over the destruction of your souls: for your state is worthier of tears; but mine is full of gladness. For who does not know that labors are sweet to the sower because of the hope of the fruits? And truly the very torments which now befall me, and torture me sorely for a time, will work for me an eternal exultation.
[32] he flees to God; Having said these things, he looked to him who is able to save; and lifted up his eyes to the mountains, whence he hoped help would come. O God, he says, O helper in afflicted things! confirm me by your arm, that I may break the darts of the malignant enemy, to the glory of your name, and of your ineffable greatness. And now the torturers were weary, and the flesh, as something vain and superfluous, flowed down to the ground; the whole frame of the limbs being almost dissolved, the bare bones appeared without flesh. For indeed the president's savagery to punish was now slower, as being astonished, and the Martyr's spirit to endure generously was more erect. And because they especially served the time, for it was evening, he was led back to the ward.
[33] he is visited by angels, The keeper of the prison, Terentius (for that was the man's name), had a great familiarity with the Saint; for he held in memory very many good things received from him, yet nonetheless, for fear of the President, he hid him in the inner prison, spreading soft hay upon the pavement, and laying a linen cloth. And thus he received the Saint. And now in the dead of night God stirred up a great commotion in the city, and the Lord himself with terror, accompanied by angels, came to visit and console the Athlete. And truly could he overlook him, having suffered such hard things for his sake? Straightway therefore the doors of the prison open of their own accord, and the fetters of the captives are loosed: then, having entered the inner prison, in which the Martyr was shut up, the angels, having put on human form, address him by name, and say: Neanias, lift up your eyes. He lifted up his eyes, and saw. Then he asked gently: Who are you who are present? But they: Angels of God, they say, we are sent to you.
[34] of whose presence he thinks himself unworthy; Then Neanias, wishing to prove them, If, he says, you are of Christ, now bend your knee to him, and express the figure of the cross on your faces. They obeyed the words, and added: Why do you doubt whether we are sent by Christ? He, as though forgetful of all the torments which he had a little before endured (perhaps because he panted for greater ones for Christ), said: To the three children, contending with the flames of the furnace (for it was fitting that the Saint should hear these things among the pious, whom deservedly he who called him deigned with his visitation), the Lord sent a dew-bearing angel, who quenched the flame. But by me what of this kind has been done? Or with what fire have I contended, that I should seem worthy of angelic consolation? These things the Martyr. And truly Christ inspired this great modesty of mind in him, who also appeared manifest in human form to the generous Martyr, and sent forth a most brilliant light, and sprinkling him with water and touching him, raised him up with these words:
[35] by Christ, from Neanias he is called Procopius: No longer shall you be addressed by the name of Neanias, but of Procopius (only be of a strong and manly heart); for advancing a you shall advance, and shall increase the flock of my Father. But a trembling seized him, and with bended knee; I beseech, he says, your incomparable benignity, Lord, to strengthen the weakness of my soul. For I fear lest, terrified by the approach of the torments, I incur danger, the confession of my faith in you being urgent. To this Christ: Do not fear to proclaim the Lord: for I am with you. Having so spoken, he filled his mind with confidence and joy alike, and forthwith ascended into heaven.
[36] As for the body; it did not lack the fruit of the divine apparition: and is healed in body; but wholly pure, wholly untouched, it preserved no remains of the wounds with which it had been marked. Wounds, did I say? Nay rather no memory of the labor, or indication of weariness, lay upon the Saint. But in soul indeed he was most erect, and in body most vigorous and exceedingly lively. For he hoped in God, and was helped, his flesh flourished again, to use the words of the divine David, and received the change of the right hand of the Most High. But these things were incredible to the ears of the impious, and surpassed all understanding. For a great thing is piety, and requires great souls. But those were abject, and altogether fixed on earthly things, they crept on the ground, which the discourse is about to demonstrate.
[37] On the next day Ulcion sent a soldier to inquire whether Neanias was now dead. his countenance radiates To whom Terentius the keeper of the prison set forth whatever had happened in the prison. Which being heard, he burned with desire of beholding the Saint even in the prison itself, and approaching, addressed him; and he answered. But this man was like a blind man, and presently confessed his blindness, saying: I cannot behold you. To whom the divine Procopius: Whoever recedes from the light, and serves demons, is in darkness, and knows not whither he goes. This the soldier reports to Ulcion, and to several others. Who forthwith summons the Saint.
[38] He, led to the President, his countenance radiant like the sun, with heavenly light; had his whole body most pure and subject to no wound, as has already been said. That thing struck no small number of the spectators with amazement, and, as though emitting some light of divine worship, compelled them together with the soldiers by a hidden force to cry out: O God of this Saint, bring us aid. And thus indeed they. But not so the impious Ulcion, not so. His mind admitted no lineaments of good thoughts, and nothing in common with them: neither did he himself understand anything, but he busied himself to pervert also those who understood even a little. At last, rising from his seat, and stretching out his right hand to the crowd, Brethren, he says, a great thing has come upon you, beholding it, to wonder at, that the gods, dealing more indulgently with this wretch, have healed the wounds which he sustained on account of his madness, and unexpectedly restored him.
[39] To whom the Saint: That I have been restored, the images of the gods, the very fact testifies. But to whom I ought to refer my restoration, I know not. But the temple must be approached by us. We shall see who, looking upon us with kinder eyes, has so wonderfully reformed us. These things being heard, suddenly the President is filled with joy (for ignorance is easily credulous, then especially when the will not a little promotes credulity), altogether hoping that Neanias would come to his senses. But this was of no less difficulty than to turn the sun into darkness. He therefore orders the forum, by which one goes from the Praetorium to the temple, to be adorned, the pavement to be strewn with linen, the heralds to climb the walls, and with lifted voice to cry that Neanias, son of Theodosia, a senatorial woman, openly comes to his senses, hates the Christian religion, and now enters the temple, about to sacrifice to the immortal gods.
[40] This report being spread through the city, all flocked thither eagerly. a prayer being sent before, The Saint, having asked leave that the entrance might lie open to him alone, added these things: I have afflicted the gods with no small injury: it behooves that, the others being removed, I enter, that so I may the more earnestly purge myself. Having entered, he shut the doors, and standing toward the east, signs his whole body; then, lifting the eyes of his body and of his mind alike to heaven; Lord Jesus, he says, only-begotten Son of the invisible Father, who produced all things by your word, and by your will contain the universe; who were stretched upon the tree, and bound the strong one, and to those who groaned under his chains asserted eternal liberty; You yourself, Lord, now stretch forth your hand, the maker of all things, and break to fragments these execrable statues of the false gods, fabricated for the deceit of your creature, that their weakness may be convicted, and the iniquitous Emperor with the Prefect may be put to shame, and all may rightly know that you are the only God, the only King eternal and immortal.
[41] and, the sign of the Cross being made, destroyed; Having so spoken, the sign of the life-giving cross in the air
he forms against the statues; And to you, he says, unclean images, dreading the name of my God, be dissolved at once into water, and be scattered through this temple. After this, seizing the right hand of Apollo, he straightway began to pull it down. And presently no fewer than thirty statues were cast down, and dissolved into water, and poured out from the doors of the temple; so that some of the soldiers who were there present, spectators of the miracle, struck in their minds, cried out: O God of the Christians, help us. Ulcion being distracted with a doubtful care of mind, not only on account of the breaking of the idols, but on account of the frequent conversion of the soldiers, the devil, hater of good things, was the author, that the holy Martyr of Christ should be shut up in prison, but the soldiers tortured in various ways, and thus some solace be brought to his anger.
[42] the soldiers But he, fearing lest, a sedition arising from the multitude of the two legions, he should easily perish, resolved to attack them secretly with a great band of soldiers, lest it should leak out to anyone, and in this way to take away from the midst those cut off. Now the time of night was approaching; when they, together with the two tribunes, sharers of the same purpose, without any noise departed to the prison, and earnestly asked the Saint that it might be permitted them also to be numbered among the Christians. To whom the Saint answered: Truly, brothers, it shall be given you, if you will, to serve as soldiers under my King. They assented by word, by the conformation of the body, and by the gaze of their eyes, and said: It is fixed for us to change our manner of life. Wherefore the Martyr, rejoicing, obtains by prayers from the keeper of the prison (for a great intimacy passed between them, as was said before) an exit for himself with the tribunes and soldiers together. When he had gone out, he departs by night to the bishop of the city, surnamed Leontius.
[43] washed by baptism When he came thither, he hands over the soldiers together with the tribunes, having exhorted most diligently that he should take care of their baptism. He received them; then, imbued with the first instructions of the faith, washed them with baptism, and imparted the life-giving communion of the body and blood of Christ. After the baptism the divine Procopius, returned again to the prison, taught them the piety which he himself had been taught by divine grace; showing himself toward those who had believed such as he had excellently experienced the divine Spirit toward himself. His doctrine was of this kind:
[44] and confirmed in faith. Under what King you serve, brothers, you know; and what confessions you have made; it remains that you render to him the faith given; and, overcome by no thing at all, whether of those which can bring trouble, or of those which can bring joy or fear, you depart not from his friendship. And truly this can be observed more easily, if you shall wish to compare present things with future in an equal balance of reason. For what among present things can be so terrible as the gehenna of eternal fire; since that which burns in it is never extinguished, and what tortures never ceases. Besides, how can the specious goods of this world so delight anyone, as God knows how to soothe the souls that love him? Whose beauty cannot be set forth in words, whose strength cannot be overcome, whose glory cannot be bounded; who also admits those who love him into the communion of his own things. Nor further let anyone recount the bounds of the whole world and of the Ocean; nor the wonderful adornment and greatness of heaven, and of the sun and stars. For what are all these, to the splendor of the true goods which await the friends of God? which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor have they at all ascended into the heart of man.
ANNOTATED.
CHAPTER V.
The death of the soldiers converted to Christ; the constancy and martyrdom of the women; Theodosia the mother of St. Procopius converted; Procopius tortured with torments.
Ταῦτα διεξιὼν ὁ Μάρτυς, οὐκ ἀέρι καὶ αὔραις ἁπλῶς διεξῆ, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ὦτα δὴ καὶ ψυχὰς εὖ τὰ λεγόμενα δεχομένας, ἦν γὰρ καὶ τὸν λόγον ἡδὺς, καὶ τὴν γνώμην ἐπιεικὴς, καὶ τὴν ὄψιν ἐπιτερπὴς, καὶ τὴν διδαχὴν πιθανώτατος· πλὴν ἄλλῃ τὸν λόγον ἔτι παρατείνειν ἐθέλοντος, ὁ ἡγεμὼν, οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀμελῶς εἶχεν, οὐτ᾽ αὐτὸς οὔτε μὴν ὁ ὑφηγητὴς αὐτοῦ διάβολος, τῶν τῆς τάξεως ἐκπέμπει τινὰ, τόν τε Ἅγιον καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας μετακαλούμενος. Καὶ οἱ παρίσταντο. Ἀπιδὼν οὖν πρὸς τοὺς στρατιώτας, Πάντως ἤδη μετάνοιά τις ὑμᾶς εἰσῆλθέ, φησι, τῆς προλαβούσης ἀπάτης, ἣν ὁ κατάρατος οὗτος, τὸν μάρτυρα ὑποφαίνων, ταῖς ὑμετέραις ἀθλίως ψυχαῖς ἐμβέβληκεν. Εἰ οὖν ταῦτα, ὥσπερ ἔφημεν, ἔχει, προσελθόντες ὑμεῖς τοῖς θεοῖς θύσατε· εἴσεσθε γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων, οἵων ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ δωρεῶν τεύξεσθε.
[46] Τούτων οἱ στρατιῶται ὡς ἤκουσαν, οἱονεὶ δεῖξαι βουληθέντες, ὡς τοῦ Μάρτυρος λόγος οὐκ ἐν πέτραις, οὐδ᾽ ἐν ἀκάνθαις, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τὴν γῆν ὄντως τὴν ἀγαθὴν πέπτωκε, καὶ πολύχουν ἤνεγκε τὸν καρπόν. Ποίοις θεοῖς θύσομεν, εἶπον, ποίαν δὲ παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἕξειν ἐλπίζοντες τὴν ὠφέλειαν, οἱ μηδὲ ἑαυτοῖς ἐπαμῦναι δυνατοὶ ὤφθησαν; ἀλλ᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς ἆθλον γεγόνασι, καὶ ταῦτα δεσμίου. Τίς οὖν ἀνθρώπων δὲ μετρίως φρενῶν κοινωνήσας, ὑπολιπεῖν μὲν ἀνέξεται τὸν δι᾽ οὗ τὰ πάντα προήχθη, Θεὸν, λατρεῦσαι δὲ ἔργα χειρῶν δήλην οὕτω περικείμενα τὴν ἀσθένειαν, ἵνα δὴ καὶ οἰκείως κωφῶν καὶ ἀνοήτων θεῶν λατρευταὶ ἦμεν ἀνόητοι. Θυμοῦ πληροῦσι ταῦτα τὸν ἄφρονα δικαστήν. Κελεύει γοῦν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀρχὰς γενέσθαι σπεκουλατόρων ἐννέα, συνεπομένης αὐτοῖς πάσης τῆς ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνῳ χειρὸς, εἶτα περιλαβόντας τοὺς στρατιώτας οὐδενὶ οἴκτῳ σφαγίαζεν αὐτοὺς, τὸν Μάρτυρα δὲ θεατὴν παρεῖναι, σιδήροις οὐ ῥᾷον φορητοῖς βαρυνόμενον, οἷα δὴ μορμολύττεσθαι τοῦτον ἐκ τῆς θέας ὑπολαβών.
[47] Ὁ δὲ τοῦτον ἀπέσχετο δεῖλόν τι καὶ ἀγενὲς ὑποστῆναι, ὥστε καὶ ἐζήλου μᾶλλον τοῦς στρατιώτας τῆς θελευτῆς, καὶ ἀξιωθῆναι τοῦ καταλόγου τῶν μαρτύρων αὐτοῦς ηὔχετο· διὸ καὶ ἐπακούοντος ἐτύγχανε τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τοῦτο δηλούσης φωνῆς οὐρανόθεν ἤκουεν, ἧν γὰρ ὁρῶν τοῦς εὐκλεεῖς ἄνδρας ἐκείνους ὁρμὴν τοιαύτην ποιοῦντας πρὸς τὴν σφαγὴν ὥσπερ οὐ πρὸς τὸ ἐκκοπῆναι τὰς κεφαλὰς, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ στεφανωθῆναι μᾶλλον ἐπειγομένους καὶ πρὸς τοῦς δημίους ἀπηνεῖς ὁρῶντας, εὐμενὲς βλέποντας καὶ ἀγαθῶν αἰτίους λογιζομένους.
[48] Οὕτων οὖν ἅπαντες σὺν ἅμα τοῖς δυσὶ τριβούνοις, Νικοστράτῳ καὶ Ἀντιόχῳ, τὰς ἱερὰς ἐκτέμνονται κεφαλὰς, εἰκάδα πρώτην τοῦ Μαΐου μηνὸς ἄγοντος. Εὐλάλιος δέ τις τῶν ἐπιφανῶν, ὃς μετὰ τοῦ θεοσεβὴς εἶναι καὶ ἀρετῆς ἦν μεταποιούμενος, νυκτὸς ἐκεῖσε γενόμενος τῶν τιμίων ἕνεκα λειψάνων, καὶ ἀνελόμενος αὐτὰ καὶ μυρίσας, ἐν ἐπιτηδείῳ κατατίθησι τόπῳ, Χριστιανοῖς εὕρεμα τιμιώτατον. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μάρτυς Προκόπιος, τῷ βάρει τῶν σιδήρων, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, πιεξόμενος, ἔτι καὶ τὴν φυλακὴν κατακρίνεται, ὁ τῶν οὐρανίων ὄντως μονῶν ἄξιος καὶ ἦν οὕτως τῶν μὲν δεσμῶν ὀλίγα φροντίζων, προσευχῇ δὲ καὶ τῷ Θεῷ διαπαντὸς προσέχειν καὶ λίαν ἐπιμελόμενος.
[49] Προσίασιν οὖν αὐτῷ γυναῖκες συγκλητικαὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν δώδεκα, τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν πίστιν ὁμολογοῦσαι, ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸ τὰς ἀκοὰς τοῦ Δικάζοντος οὐ διαφυγὸν, συλλαμβάνονται παραχρῆμα καὶ αὐταὶ, καὶ τῷ Ἁγίω ἅμα συγκλείονται· ἐπεὶ οὖν ἑώρα σκυθρωπαζούσας αὐτὰς τοῖς παραινετικοῖς ἀνελάμβανε· Μητέρες λέγων καὶ ἀδελφαὶ, οὐ σκυθρωπάζειν δέον, οὐ δὲ μικροψυχεῖν ὅλως, ἀλλὰ δεήσεις μᾶλλον τῷ ἀγαθῷ δεσπότῃ προσάγειν, τὸ ἀσθενὲς ἡμῶν τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπιῤῥῶσαι καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ θάρσους ἐμπνεῦσαι· ὅπου γὰρ κᾂν τοῖς ἄλλοις τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀδύνατος ἡμῶν ἕκαστος ἀνῦσαί τι τῶν σπουδαζομέννων, μὴ καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ χειρὸς ἡμῖν συνεφαττομένης, σχολῇ γἂν ἐν τούτῳ μεγάλῳ τοῦ μαρτυρίου πράγματι δυνηθῆναί τι δράσαι μὴ καὶ Θεοῦ τυχόντας συναιρομένου· τὸ μὲν γὰρ πνεῦμα πρόθυμον, ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἀσθενὴς, καλῶς ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ διδασκόμεθα.
[50] Τοιαῦτα τοῦ Μάρτυρος ταῖς γυναιξὶ παραινοῦντος, ἀποστείλας ὁ Ἡγεμὼν, παραστῆναι ταύτας κελεύει τῷ κριτηρίῳ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τούτων καὶ ἡ συγκλητικὴ μάθοι Θεοδοσία (μητέρα δὲ ταύτην εἶναι τοῦ Μάρτυρος, ὁ λόγος ἤδη δεδήλωκε) παραγίνεται καὶ αὐτὴ, τίποτε ἄρα ἔσται, ὃ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἀποβήσεται, μαθεῖν βουλομένη. Ταύταις οὖν παραστάσαις ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος ὁ Ἡγεμὼν, Πείθεσθε, λέγει, καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς θύετε ἵνα καὶ τιμῆς ἀπολαύσητε. ἢ τῆς ματαίας ὑμῶν καὶ ἔτι θρησκείας ἔχησθε. Αἱ δὲ πρὸς Θεὸν ἄρασαι τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶτῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι νευρωθεῖσαι, Ἡ τιμή σου, εἶπον, παρά σου ἔστω· καὶ ταύτης ἀπόλαυε σὺ· ἡμῖν δὲ τιμὴ μία ἡ πρὸς Χριστὸν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον οἰκείωσις. Πρὸς ταῦτα οὐκ ἐνεγκὼν ὁ κολάζων, κελεύει ῥάβδοις λεπταῖς καὶ τοῦς δύο περιστάντας παίειν αὐτὰ, εἶτα ξύλῳ ἀναρτηθείσας, πλευράς τε καὶ μασχάλας πυρὶ καταφλέγεσθαι. Ὡς δὲ τὸ πῦρ ἤδη τὰς σάρκας αὐτῶν κατενέμετο, προσευχῇ τὰς ὀδύνας παρακαλεῖν ἔγνωσαν.
[51] Οὐκ ἤρεσε ταῦτα τῷ ἀπηνεῖ Δικαστῇ, ἀλλὰ καὶ θηλὰς αὐτῶν ἐκκοπῆναι κελεύει, κατειρωνευσάμενος οὕτω πως ὁ κατάπτυστος. Μὴ γὰρ ὁ Ἐσταυρωμένος οὐχ ἥξει βοηθήσων αὐταῖς; Αἱ δὲ, Καὶ ἠβοήθησε καὶ τοῖς ἔχουσι νοῦν· οὐκ ἀφανὴς ἡ ὑπόδειξις· πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἄλλως ἡμῖν γυναιξὶν οὔσαις, γένος ἀσθενὲς, καὶ εὐχείρωτον, καταγελᾷν ἐξεγένετο τῶν βασάνων τῶν σῶν, εἰ μὴ τοιούτου ἄρα τοῦ βοηθοῦντος ἐτύχομεν. Πρὸς πλείονα ταῦτα τὸν δικαστὴν ἀνῆπτε μανίαν, καὶ ὕλη τῷ ἐκείνου θυμῷ καθίστατο. Δια τοῦτο γοῦν σφαῖραί τε χαλκαὶ ἐπυροῦντο πάλιν καὶ ταῖς μασχάλοις αὐτῶν ἐπετίθεντο· αὖθις τοίνυν ὁ Ἡγεμὼν ὥσπερ ἐπιχλευάζων, Ἤσθεσθε τοῦ πυρὸς, ἔφη; Αἱ δὲ Σὺ μᾶλλον, εἶπον, αἰσθήσῃ τοῦ ὕλου πυρὸς καὶ μηδέποτε σβεννυμένου, ἡμῖν δὲ βραχεῖα ταῦτα φροντὶς, τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνωθέν ἐπιβοηθοῦντος, ὃς οὐδὲ ὁρατός σοι γίνεται, οὐ μᾶλλον ἢ καὶ τυφλῷ ἥλιος.
[52] Ταῦτα περισταμένη, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ἡ μεγάλη Θεοδοσία καὶ ὀφθαλμοῖς ἰδίοις παραλαμβάνουσα, ἐγκύμων εὐθὺς θείων ἐννοιῶν γίνεται, εἰσέδυ γὰρ αὐτὴν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, ὃς καὶ διστόμου μαχαίρας [ὥς] φησιν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος, τομώτερος ὤν· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπιτηδείαν εὐρὼν κατὰ τὴν ὕελον φύσιν, ὥστε καὶ αὐγὰς εἰσδέξασθαι θεοσεβείας, ἐφώτισέ τε ὅλην αὐτὴν καὶ πυρώδη πρὸς εὐσέβειαν μετεσκεύσασε. Αὕτη τοιγαροῦν πλοῦτον, εὐγένειαν, δόξαν, τιμὰς, μικρὰ πάντα λογισαμένη, καὶ μικρὰ τῷ ὄντι, ψυχῶν ἔρωτας ταῖς ἠτιλωμέναις γυναιξὶ μᾶλλον καὶ βασάνοις ὀδυνομέναις διὰ τῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὀδυνηθέντα Χριστὸν, ἑαυτὴν συγκατέταξε, καὶ τὴν μακαρίαν λέγει σὺν ἐκείναις φωνήν· Δούλη κᾀγώ εἰμι τοῦ Ἐσταυρωμένου.
[53] Ταύτην ὁ Ἡγεμὼν θεασάμενος, καὶ τὴν ἀθρόαν αὐτῆς μεταβολὴν ἐκπλαγεὶς, Κυρία, λέγει, Θεοδοσία, πῶς οὕτως ἠλλοίωσαι; πῶς ἠπάτησαι παραδόξως, ὥστε τῶν μὲν πατρόων κατολιγωρῆσαι θεῶν, καινὸν δὲ τοιοῦτον ἀνατελέσθαι σέβας. Ἡ δὲ, Οὐ νῦν ἠπάτημαι ἔφη· μᾶλλον οὖν ἠπατόμην τὸ πρότερον, Θεοῦ μὲν ὑπεριδοῦσα, οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς καὶ τῶν ἐν μέσῳ δημιουργοῦ, ἔργα δὲ ἀνθρωπίνων χειρῶν σέβουσα, τὰ θεοὺς καλεῖσθαι κατεψευμένη. Πολλῶν οὖν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ λόγων λεχθέντων, ἐπεὶ
εὕρισκε ταύτην Ἡγεμὼν οὐ δὲ βραχὺ πειθομένην, τὴν φυλακὴν αὐτῆς κατακρίνει, καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις συγκατακλείει μάρτυσιν.
[54] Ἡ δὲ τί οὐκ ἐποίησε τὰς ἱερὰς ἐκείνας περιοῦσα γυναῖκας καὶ θεραπεύειν ὅλως προῃρημένῃ; Ἐπῄνει τῆς καρτερίας, ἐμακάριζε τῶν βασάνων, ἐφίλει τὰς πληγὰς, όθόναις ἀπέματτε ταύτας, ἀλεξίκακα φάρμακα ἐπετίθει, ἐπεὶ καὶ τέχνης ἦν ἰατρικῆς οὐκ ἀπαίδευτος. Ταύτην ἐπεὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεῖος αὐτῆς υἱὸς ἔνδον τῆς φυλακῆς οὖσαν, καὶ ὡς πιστὴν ὑπόδικον γενομένην, σκιρτῶσαν εὐθὺς εἶχε τὴν καρδίαν τῷ παριόντι τῆς ἡδονῆς καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς μεταβολῆς ἐζήτει μαθεῖν. Ἡ δὲ, Τέκνον ἐμὸν, τὸ ἐξαίσιον, εἶπε, τῆς καρτερίας τῶν ἐπίσης ἀσθενῶν ἐμοὶ γυναικῶν συνεῖναί με παρεσκεύασεν, ὅτι ἀμήχανον, φύσιν οὕτω σαθρὰν βασάνους ὑπομένειν τοιαύτας, εἰ μήτις δύναμις ἀῤῥήτως ἐπεβοηθῇ, τοῦτο κᾀμὲ παρεσκεύσαε δούλην τοῦ Ἐσταυρωμένου καὶ εἶναι καὶ ὀνομάζεσθαι.
[55] Ταῦτα ἐκείνη μὲν ἔφη. Ὁ δὲ τῇ μητρὶ τὸ σύβολον ἐοικὼς, καὶ ῥίζης καρπὸς ὢν τῆς ἀγαθῆς ἀγαθός, Μακαρία εἶ τῆς συνέσεως, ὦ μῆτερ, εἶπε, καὶ τῶν ὑψιλῶν τούτων σου λογισμῶν μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἀγιαστικῆς χάριτος, ἥτις ἀοράτως ἁψαμένη σου τῆς καρδίας, τοιαῦτα λογίζεσθαι παρεσκεύασεν. Οὕτως εἰπὼν τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ καὶ αὐτὴν ἐγχειρίζει καὶ δι᾽ ἐκείνου καλῶς αὐτὴν τῷ θείῳ τελειοῖ βαπτίσματι· εἶτα τῆς φυλακῆς πάσας ἐχούσης, παρῄνει αὐταῖς ὁ Ἅγιος καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ ἤλειφεν ἀγῶνας. Ἐῴκει δὲ τὰ ἐκείνου ῥήματα οἷά τις δρόσος πρὸ τὰς αὐτῶν εἰσπίπτων ψυχάς. Εἶθ᾽ οὕτως ὁ Ἡγεμὼν πέμψας, παρέστησε μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ βήματι πάσας, πρὸς μέντοι τὴν Θεοδοσίαν πρώτην ἀποβλέψας, Ὁρᾶς, ὅπως σου κήδομαι, ἔφη, καὶ ὅτι ἀβούλητον ὅλως ἐμοὶ, τιμωρίας σε παραδοῦναι; ἐπιστράφηθι τοιγαροῦν καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ἐξιλέωσαι, καὶ τεύξῃ τούτων εὐμενῶν, ἢ τὸ πρότερον. Ἡ δὲ, Ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ, ἔφη, σαφῶς τὰ χειροποίητα δὴ ταῦτα καὶ κωφὰ, θεοὺς ὀνομάζειν; Οἶδα τὸ ὁμοιωθῆναι θεῷ κατὰ δύναμιν, μακάριον ἐν ἀνθρώποις. Εἴπερ ἄρα σοί τις τὴν πρὸς αὐτὰ ὁμοίωσιν ὅλως εὔξαιτο, οὐκ ἐπήρασμαι ἂν εἴη μᾶλλον, ἤπερ εὐχόμενος.
[56] Οὐκ ἤνεγκε τοῦς λόγους πρᾴως ὁ Δικαστὴς, ἀλλὰ τὸ λαλῆσαν στόμα κελεύει τύπτεσθαι, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ διαταθεῖσαν ἐκ τεσσάρων ῥαβδίζέσθαι ταύτην. Ἐπὶ τοιούτοις κακῶς φιλότιμος ὢν ἐκεῖνος καὶ πρὸς χορηγίαν ἄφθονος, προστάττει καὶ χερσὶ σιδηραῖς τὰς Ἁγίας αὐτῆς πλευρὰς ξέεσθαι. Αἱ μέντοι ἄλλαι γυναῖκες οὕτω πάσχουσαι, ὁρῶσαι καὶ τὸ αἷμα τοῦ πλευρῶν αὐτῆς ἀποῤῥέον, δάκρυσιν ἐκεῖναι τὰς παρειὰς κατέβρεχον, εὐχήν τε· τὴν προσηκουσαν τῷ καιρῷ ἐποιοῦντο. Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, λέγουσαι, καταφυγὴ καὶ δύναμις, βοηθὸς ἐν θλίψεσι ταῖς εὑρούσαις ἡμᾶς σφόδρα, πρόφθασον, Κύριε, καὶ ἐξελοῦ ἡμᾶς ἐκ χειρὸς υἱῶν ἀλλοτρίων. Οὕτως εὐχομένων ἀκούσας ὁ Ἡγεμὼν, μολιβδίσι καὶ αὖθις τὰς σιαγόνας αὐτῶν κελεύει παίεσθαι, ὡς δὲ πάντα μὲν ἀψύχως ἔφερον αἱ γυναῖκες. Ὁ δὲ Ἡγεμὼν ἔπασχεν αὐτὸς μᾶλλον, ἀδυνάτοις ἐπιχειρῶν, ἢ αὐτὰς πάσχειν ἐποίει.
[57] Καὶ συνεὶς, ὡς ἐναντία μᾶλλον, ὧν βούλεται, δρᾷ, προσθήκην τῶν πιστευόντων διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς αὐτῶν ἐργαζόμενος, φίλανθρωπεύεται καὶ ἄκων ὁ βιαιότατος καὶ πλείους εἰς νοῦν βάλλεται μὴ προσθῆναι βασάνους, ἀλλὰ ἀποφαίνεται μιᾷ ταύτας ἀλύσει δεθείσας εἰς τὸν ἀποτεταγμένον εὐτὺς ἀπαχθῆναι τόπον, καὶ ξίφει τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀποτμηθῆναι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τῆς ἀποφάσεως ἤκουον, ἄλλαι γένους γυναῖκες ἐν καιρῷ τοιούτῳ τὰ καθήκοντα γυναιξὶν ἐποίουν, ἐσκυθρώπαζον ἂν, δακρύων ἀγεννῶν ἀθλίως ὑπεμιμνήσκοντο, καὶ τῶν πρὸς τὰς συνήθεις ἐσχάτων περιπλοκῶν. Ταῖς δὲ οὐδὲν τοιοῦτο, ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ εἰδυῖαι καλῶς εἰς οἵαν ἀπάγονται τὴν μακαριότητα, καὶ ὅτι ἄληκτος ἄνεσις ἀντὶ κόπων, ὧν εἶδον, αὐτὰς ὑποδέξεται, ἠγάλλοντο μᾶλλον καὶ θαλερὸν εἶχον τὸ πρόσωπον, ἀψευδῆ ἄγγελον τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν ἡδονῆς. Ὡς δὲ καὶ εἰς τὸν τόπον ἀπήχθησαν, κλίνασαι τοῦς αὐχένας ἡδέως ὁμοῦ καὶ γενναίως τὴν ἐκτομὴν καταδέχονται, ἑνάτην ἐπὶ εἰκάδι τοῦ Μαΐου μηνὸς ἄγοντος.
[58] Οὕπω πολλαὶ παρῆλθον ἡμέραι, καὶ ὁ Ἡγεμὼν τοῦ βήματος προκαθίσας, δεινόν τι πνέων καὶ ἄγριον, μετακαλεῖται τὸν Ἀθλητήν· ᾧ παραστάντι, Τί δὲ οὕπω σοι κόρος, ἔφη, τοσαύτας ἀπολωλεκότι ψυχάς; Οὐκ ἀπώλεσα, ὁ θεῖος ἔφη Προκόπιος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀπολείας ἀνεῤῥυσάμην. Οὕτως ταῖςπε, καὶ παραχρῆμα τὸ τίμιον ἐκείνου πρόσωπον ὄνυξι σιδηραῖς κατεξαίνετο, καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν θαῦμα φρίκης μεστὸν, τοῦς μὲν κολάζοντας, οἷα θῆρας ἀγρίους, ἐπιόντας τῷ Μάρτυρι, τὸν δὲ ὡς ἀνδριάντα μᾶλλον ἢ ἄνδρα, καὶ σαρκῶν κρείττονα, φέροντα τὰς πληγάς. Τὸ μὲν οὖν αἷμα δαψιλῶς κατέῤῥει, καὶ ἡ γῆ δεινῶς ἐφοινίσσετο· στεναγμὸς δὲ οὐδεὶς ἐξηκούετο, οὔτε ἄλλό τι σύμβολον ἀλγούσης ψυχῆς ἐδείκνυτο, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ πάλιν ἔλεός τις, καὶ μικρὸς οἰκτὸς τῆς τοῦ Ἡγεμόνος ψυχῆς ἥπτετο, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ δρυὸς ἐκεῖνος ἢ πέτρης ἀτεχνῶς, τὸ ᾀδόμενον· ὥστε οὐκ εἶχέ τις πλέον, ἢ τὸν Ἅγιον θαυμάσαι τῆς καρτερίας, ἣ τὸν Δικαστὴν μισῆσαι τῆς ἀγριότητος.
[59] Ὁ δὲ καὶ προσετίθει μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῷ ἄλγει τῶν τραυμάτων αὐτοῦ, καὶ κελεύει πάλιν ταῖς μολιβδίσι τὸν αὐχένα συντρίβεσθαι. Ὃς δὲ καὶ τοῦτο πάσχων, οὐδὲν ἧττον ὁ αὐτὸς ἦν, ἡ φυλακὴ καὶ αὖθις αὐτὸν ἐξεδέχετο, οὐχ ὥστε καὶ μικρὸν ἀνεθῆναι (ποῦ γὰρ ἂν ἀπάνθρωπος ψυχὴ τοιοῦτον ἐννοηθείη φιλάνθρωπον;) ἀλλ᾽ ὥστε σκοπῆσαι μᾶλλον αὐτὸν, ποίαν ἄρα τιμωρίαν ἐπενεγκὼν, τῆς γενναίας ἐκείνου ψυχῆς καθίκοιτο. Πλὴν ἀλλ᾽ ὁ θεῖος Προκότιος τὴν φυλακὴν εἰσελθὼν, εὐχῇ προσεῖχεν ἐκτενεστέρᾳ. Ἡ δὲ εὐχὴ, κρατυνθῆναι μὲν τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας, καὶ αὐτὸν εἰς τέλος τὴν ὁμολογίαν διενεγκεῖν, καταισχυνθῆναι δὲ τὴν ἀσέβειαν, καὶ τὰς κατὰ Χριστιανῶν Οὐλκίονος μηχανὰς ἀσθενεῖς ἐλεχθῆναι.
[45] When the Martyr said such things, he was not making words to the air, nor to the breeze in vain, but to ears and minds eagerly receiving what was said. Of the soldiers For he was sweet in speech, kindly in disposition, pleasant in aspect, powerful in the persuasion of his teaching. Amid these things, while he wished to prolong his discourse further; the Prefect (for neither then did he, nor his leader the devil, give place to negligence) sent one from the legion to summon the holy Martyr together with the soldiers. And these stood by. Looking therefore upon the soldiers, Without doubt, he says, some repentance has come upon you of the preceding error, which that wretch (he meant the Martyr) miserably cast into your minds. But if these things are, as we have said, approach and sacrifice to the gods. For by the very deed you will perceive of how many goods and gifts you shall be made partakers.
[46] These things being heard, the soldiers, wishing to show that the Martyr's discourse had fallen not upon rock, nor among thorns, for the faith of Christ but upon altogether good ground, and brought forth manifold fruit; To what gods, they say, shall we sacrifice? What advantage shall we hope for from them? Whom we have beheld unable to aid themselves, but yielding the palm to one man, and that a captive? Who therefore of mortals, partaker even of mean understanding, would endure to send back a message of refusal to that God, through whom all things were produced? Who would venerate the works of hands, which bear so manifest a weakness before them, that we, worshipers of dumb and senseless gods, should be at once senseless ourselves. These things filled the mad judge with fury. Without delay, he orders nine ranks of executioners to be made, whom the whole multitude under him should follow; then that they should apprehend the soldiers, and mercilessly slaughter them; that they should set the Martyr as a spectator, bound with the heaviest iron chains. For by this spectacle he suspected he was to be terrified.
[47] But so far was it that he showed anything timid and unwarlike, Procopius looking on; that he envied the soldiers their death, and prayed that they might be enrolled in the catalogue of the holy Martyrs. And therefore he obtained God propitious, and heard a voice from heaven, the messenger of this thing. For he saw these glorious men burning with so great a desire for slaughter, that they hastened not to the cutting off of their heads, but rather to triumphal crowns, and looked upon the merciless lictors with kindly countenance, and reckoned them the authors of good things.
[48] martyrdom. Thus all together with the two tribunes, Nicostratus and Antiochus, were beheaded with sacred heads, on the twenty-first day of the month of May a. But a certain Eulalius, an illustrious man, and conspicuous no less for religion than for the splendor of the other virtues, came thither by night for the sake of venerating the bodies, gathered them, anointed them, and laid them in a fitting place, a most precious treasure indeed to the Christians. The holy martyr of Christ Procopius, burdened, as was said, with the weight of iron, is again consigned to prison; a man truly worthy of a heavenly habitation; and even therefore he cared little for the chains, striving earnestly to give himself to God and to prayer.
[49] Twelve women There come to him therefore women of senatorial stock, twelve in number, professing the faith of Christ. Which thing, when it had not escaped the ears of the Judge, they too are apprehended, and shut up together with the Saint. Beholding them sad of countenance, the Saint raised them by exhortations. Mothers, he says, and sisters, you ought not to indulge sadness, nor pusillanimity, but to offer prayers to the good Lord, that he may confirm the weakness of your flesh, and inspire boldness into your soul. Where, if anywhere in other goods, none of us is able to accomplish that which he intends, unless he himself stretch out his hand to us; much less in martyrdom, so excellent a thing, will he be able to effect even a little, unless with God as helper. For that the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh weak, we have been rightly taught by him.
[50] grievously tortured, The Martyr thus exhorting the women, the Prefect sends men to set them in judgment. Meanwhile Theodosia herself also, informed of the whole matter (that she was the mother of the Martyr, has been said), came, wishing to learn what outcome awaited the women. To them therefore, standing at the tribunal, the Prefect: Obey, he says, and offer sacrifice to the gods, that you may attain glory, rather than persist to the end in your foolish religion. But they, with mind lifted up to God, and strengthened by his grace: Your glory, they say, be with you: enjoy it yourself: for us there is one honor, to dwell with Christ crucified. Which the Judge not bearing, orders them to be beaten by two of the bystanders with slender rods, then to be hung from wood, and their sides and armpits to be burned with fire. While the fire penetrated their bodies, they soothed the pain by the aid of prayer.
[51] but not called from their purpose. Nor further were these things enough for the cruel Judge. Nay he orders, the execrable one, their breasts to be cut off, and rebukes them with this bitter irony: Will not the Crucified come, to bring them aid? To whom they: He has brought aid even now: nor is the proof obscure to those who are endowed with understanding. For how otherwise would it have come into the minds of us, who are women, a weak sex and easily overcome, to mock at your torments, if we had not had such a helper? These things and many others kindled the Judge's fury, and supplied material for his anger. Therefore bronze balls
glowing hot were again applied to their armpits. Then again the Prefect, in the manner of one mocking, said: Have you felt the fire, or not yet? They answer: Nay rather you shall feel the material of a fire never afterward to be extinguished. These things trouble us little, God the good aiding us from heaven: who becomes visible to you no more than the sun to a blind man.
[52] These things, standing by, as was said, and beholding, great Theodosia is made a partaker of divine notions. By whose example For the word of God, sharper than a two-edged sword, as is read in the divine Apostle, penetrated her; and, as it were having found the opportunity, that she herself, like shining glass, might admit the rays of piety, illumined her wholly, and kindled her with the fiery flame of piety. Reckoning therefore riches, wealth, glory, honors, among the least, and counting them the trifles of a mean spirit, as in fact they are, she gladly joined herself to the fellowship of the tender women, who were afflicted with torments for the sake of Christ, who suffered pains for our sake; uttering with them this fortunate voice: I too am the handmaid of the Crucified.
[53] The Prefect, beholding her, and struck by the sudden change, Theodosia, Procopius's mother Lady, he says, Theodosia, how are you so changed; how have you been unexpectedly deceived, that, the ancestral gods being neglected, you follow this new worship? To whom she: We are not now deceived, she says; but rather I was deceived before, when, despising the God of heaven and earth, and of all things which are contained in them, the creator, I venerated the works of the hands of men, deceitfully persuaded that these were called gods. Many discourses therefore being held to and fro; the Prefect, seeing that she was not moved even a little from her purpose, consigns her to prison, and shuts her up closely together with the other Martyrs.
[54] But she, going about among the holy women, and altogether wishing to serve them, converted to Christ, what did she not do? She praised their patience, called them blessed for their chains, kissed their wounds, wiped them with linen, and, since she was not ignorant of the medical art, applied medicines. As soon as her holy Son beheld her being in the prison, and called into accusation for the sake of the faith; at once his heart leaped within him for such present joy, and he wished to understand the cause of the change. To whom she, My son, she says, the wonderful constancy of the women, of the same weakness with me, has illumined my understanding. For it cannot at all be that a sex so frail should suffer torments of this kind, unless some hidden power supplies strength to their spirits. This very thing impelled me that I should both be and be called the handmaid of the Crucified.
[55] So she. But Procopius, plainly like his mother, and the good fruit of a good root, he despises the tyrant Thrice and oftener, he says, I proclaim your perspicacity blessed, O mother. Blessed you for such sublime thoughts, or rather for the sanctifying grace, which invisibly kindled your heart, and prepared it to meditate such things. Having said this, he commits her also to the Bishop, and by his work sees to it that she be baptized. After this the Saint admonished all the women shut in prison, and anointed them to endure the contest for Christ: for his words were wont to fall like dew upon their souls. Then the Prefect sent, and ordered all to be set at his tribunal. And first indeed, beholding Theodosia, Do you see, he says, how you are a care to me, and how unwillingly I hand you over to torments? Turn therefore, and appease the gods; and use them as kindly, as before. But Theodosia: Are you not ashamed, she says, to name these handmade and dumb images gods? I know indeed that to be made like to the gods is held blessed among men. But now if anyone should pray that you might be altogether like to them; would he not rather devote you to curses, than pray for you?
[56] by whose order she is beaten and tortured; The Prefect did not take these words calmly, but orders the mouth which had uttered them to be struck; and then, herself being stretched out by four men, to be scourged with whips. To this, since he was evilly desirous of honor, and not sparing in supplying expenses; he orders her sides to be raked with iron hands. The other women, suffering the same things, and seeing the gore dripping from her sides, bedewed their cheeks abundantly with a copious weeping of the cheeks, and made prayers, suited to the time, in this manner: O our God, refuge and strength: helper in tribulations, which have found us exceedingly. Hasten, Lord, and snatch us from the hand of alien sons. These prayers being heard, the Prefect commands their jaws to be struck again with plates of lead; all which the women bore, as though devoid of sense. Nay rather the Prefect tortured himself more than them, laboring and profiting nothing.
[57] at last with the women she undergoes martyrdom. At last, knowing that he was rather doing the contrary of what he wished, promoting namely the increase of believers through their patience, he becomes gentler even against his will, though he was most violent, and resolved not to apply more torments, and passed sentence that, bound with one chain, they should straightway be led to the appointed place, and beheaded. The sentence being understood, other women, as befits females at such a time, with downcast countenance, would have wretchedly indulged in unwarlike tears; and given their friends the last embraces. But no such deed of these. But well knowing to how great a felicity they were hastening; and a rest never to cease, in place of the troubles which they saw awaited them, they rather exulted, and displayed a cheerful brow, the sincere messenger of inward delight. Led to the place, with bent neck they gladly and generously received the stroke, on the twenty-ninth day of the month of May b.
[58] Again the Saint Nor had many days passed, when the President, sitting before the tribunal, and breathing something grim and truculent, summons the Champion. To whom, standing by; What? Not yet, he says, does satiety hold you, after you have destroyed so many souls? Not at all have I destroyed them, says the divine Procopius, but have freed them from destruction. So he said. Whereupon without delay he tore his venerable countenance with iron claws. And, a miracle full of horror, it was to be seen the torturers, like savage beasts, rushing upon the Martyr; but him, a statue of a man rather than a man, stronger than flesh, bearing the blows. Blood therefore flowed abundantly, and the earth reddened, purpled horribly. Yet no groan was heard: no sign of a grieving soul appeared. Nor did any mercy, or little compassion, touch the tyrant's heart; but he was truly sprung from oak or rock, as is sung by the poets. So that one had nothing rather to do than to wonder at the Martyr's constancy, or to detest the Judge's cruelty.
[59] is tortured with new torments. Nay he added wounds to wounds, and ordered the Martyr's neck to be crushed with plates of lead. Him, having suffered these things, but in nothing weaker, the prison again received; not that he might rest a little (for how can that thought fall upon a man alien from all humanity?) but rather that he might consider by what torture to be inflicted he might move his generous soul. But the divine Procopius, having entered the prison, gave himself to a more prolonged prayer, that he might confirm piety, bring his confession to an end, that impiety might be confounded, and all Ulcion's machinations against the Christians be made weak.
ANNOTATED.
CHAPTER VI.
The holy Martyr commands the demons; he is tested with new torments; he assails the idols; he is refreshed by a heavenly voice; he endures various tortures.
Αὐτὸν μέντοι τὸν Οὐλκίονα καὶ πολλή τις ἔκπληξις καὶ ἀπορία συνεῖχεν οὐ μετρία, τὴν θαυμαστὴν ἔνστασιν τοῦ Μάρτυρος καθορῶντα. Οὗ χάριν οὐδὲ προῆλθε τῆς οἰκίας, οὐδὲ λόγου μετέδωκεν οὐδενὶ παρ᾽ ὅλην ἡμέραν, πυρετῷ δὲ πίονι μᾶλλον κατασχεθεὶς, καὶ μηδὲ τοῦτο συνεὶς, ὄθεν ἡ μάστιξ, ὅτι παιδεία ἦν παρὰ Κυρίου, καλοῦντος αὐτὸν εἰς μετάνοιαν, τὴν αἰωνίων ὄντως πληγῶν άξίαν ἀφῆκε ψυχήν. Ἡ εὐχὴ δὲ τῷ Μάρτυρι πέρας εἶχε, καὶ ὁ τῆς εὐσεβείας λόγος ηὔξανε καὶ ἐκραταιοῦτο, πολλῶν ἑκάστης οὐκ ἀνδρῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναικῶν τῇ πίστει προστιθεμέννων, οἷα δὴ καὶ τοῦ Μάρτυρος χειρὶ μεγίστῃ πρὸς ταῦτα συναιρομένου, καὶ πολλοὺς ἰωμένου τῶν δαιμονώντων οὐ τριβῇ χρόνου καὶ παρατάσει πολυημέρῳ, ἀλλὰ σφραγίδι μόνῃ τοῦ θείου σταυροῦ καὶ τῷ πρὸς τὰ πονηρὰ πνεύματα ἐπιτάγματι, ἁ τοσοῦτον ἀπεῖχε τὸ κελευσθὲν μὴ ποιεῖν, ὡς μικροῦ τῇ φυγῇ φθάνειν αὐτὰ τὸ ἐπίταγμα.
[61] Ἐπεὶ δὲ Οὐλκίων ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἦν, τὴν τῆς Παλαίστίνης ἀρχὴν Φλαβιανὸς ἐγχειρίζεται, Ἰταλὸς μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ τῶν εὖ γεγονότων. οὐδὲν δὲ Οὐλκίονος εἰς κακίαν ἐνδοτικώτερος, ὅτι μὴ καὶ μᾶλλον κακοηθείᾳ καὶ σκολιότητι καὶ ψυχῆς ἀγριότητι τὸν φθάσαντα παρελαύνων. Ὃς οὖν τῇ Καισαρείᾳ προσέβαλεν ἤδη τῶν πολιτῶν αὐτῷ τινες ἐντυχόντες, τὰ τοῦ Μάρτυρος εἰσηγοῦντο, ἅμα μὲν φθονούντων, ἅμα δὲ καὶ θωπευόντων ἔργον πληροῦντες. Καὶ ὃς οὐ δευτέρων ὅλως φροντίδων τὸ ἀκουσθὲν ἀξιῶν, παρίστησι τὸν Ἅγιον παραχρῆμα, καὶ πρῶτον περὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἐπυνθάνετο. Ὁ δὲ, τὸ μὲν ἀναγκαῖον, εἶπε, καὶ κύριον, καὶ ὃ μάλιστα καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκθύμως ἐπιζητεῖς, Χριστιανὸς ἀψευδής εἰμί τε καὶ ὀνομάζομαι, καλοῦμαι δὲ καὶ Προκόπιος, οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἔχων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου μου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ χάριτος.
[62] Καὶ ὁ Φλαβιανός· Σοὶ μόνῳ ἠγνόηται, ἔφη, τίποτε ἄρα τὸ βασιλικὸν βούλεται πρᾶγμα; βούλεται γὰρ τοὺς μὴ πειθομένους θύειν τοῖς θεοῖς, πρῶτα μὲν χαλεπαῖς βασάνοις, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ θανάτῳ πικρῷ δίδοσθαι. Ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ θαυμάζειν ἔπεισι, πῶς εἰς τοῦτο ἡλικίας ἥκων, ἔτι παιδαριώδη φρονεῖν οὐκ αἰδεῖται· τὸ γὰρ Θεὸν ἐκ γυναικὸς γεγενῆσθαι λέγειν, ἔπειτα καὶ παρὰ ἀνθρώπων, οἷα καὶ ἄνθρωπον, ἐσταυρῶσθαι, καὶ αὐτὸν δὴ τοῦτον (ὦ ἥλιε) προσκυνεῖν ὡς Θεὸν, πῶς οὐκ ἀνοίας μᾶλλον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μανίας ἐχόμενον; Πεισθεὶς οὖν μοι, τῆς θρησκείας ἀπόστηθι ταύτης, καὶ οὐδὲν ἴσως μεταμελήσει σοι τῆς εὐπειθείας.
[63] Πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ Μάρτυς, ὥσπερ πλείονα τὴν σύνεσιν ἐπιδείξασθαι θέλων, πρὸς τὸν πλείονι δήπου καὶ τῇ δεινότητι χρώμενον, Ἐχρῆν μέν σε, ὦ Ἡγεμὸν, ἐφη, τὸν δημιουργὸν, ὅστις εἴη οὐρανοῦ τε καὶ γῆς εἰδέναι, καὶ τοῦτον ἕνα καὶ μόνον ἀληθῆ Θεὸν ἐν ἀτρέπτῳ φύσει καὶ ἀπαθεῖ εἶναι πιστεύειν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου σοφίας ὁρμώμενος, πολλοὺς εἶναι δοξάζεις θεοὺς, καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ σέβας ὑγιῶς ἔχειν δοκεῖς, εἰ βούλει, δείξω σοι καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν σοφῶν οἵων, Ἑρμοῦ φημι καὶ Πλάτωνος καὶ Ἀριστοτέλους καὶ ἄλλων δή τινων οὐκ ὀλίγων, ἕνα Θεὸν πρεσβευόμενον καὶ οὐ πολλοὺς, τοῦς δὲ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων εἰς θεοὺς μεταβαλεῖν λεγομένους, παιζομένους μᾶλλον ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν οὐ μὴ νῦν τιμωμένους· Σωκράτει δὲ καὶ Ἡρακλείτῳ ἐκκηρυκτόστε καὶ ἀπαράδεκτος ἡ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ὅλως προσκύνησις, δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ ὁ μὲν τῆς Ἐφέσεως ἐξωθεῖται, ὁ δὲ τὸ κώνειον προσέσθαι πρὸς τῶν Ἀθηναίων καταψηφίζεται.
[64] Ἐπὶ δὲ καὶ τὸ τὸν Χριστὸν ἐκ γυναικὸς γεγεννῆσθαί τε
καὶ ἐσταυρῶσθαι εἰς ὄνειδος ἡμῖν προτείνεις, εἰ βούλει περὶ τοῦ μεγάλου τούτου διακοῦσαι μυστηρίου, καιρὸς διδόσθω καὶ ἀκούσῃ σαφῶς. Τούτων οὕτως ὑπὸ τοῦ Μάρτυρος λεγομένων, Φλαβιανὸς ὅνος ἦν, τὸ ᾀδόμενον, λύρας ἀκούων ἀμέλει, καὶ τῶν λεχθέντων οἷα δὴ κατορχούμενος, Καλὸς ἡμῖν ὤφθης, φησὶ, τῶν περὶ θεοῦ τε καὶ ἄλλων θείων ἐξηγητὴς, ἅτε δὴ ἄνωθεν ἥκων καὶ τὰς οὐρανίους κλεῖς αὐτῷ ἐκεχειρισμένος, πλὴν ἀλλὰ συμβουλεύω σοι πεισθῆναι πρότερον ἢ τῶν ἐμῶν, ὦν προσοίσω σοι, πειραθῆναι βασάνων. Εἰ δ᾽ οὖν, ἴσθι τοῦτο μόνον, ἀπολαύσων τῆς ἀπειλείας, τὸ κολάσεις ὅτι πλείστας οὐδὲν δέον ὑπενεγκεῖν· εἶτα καὶ μὴ βουλόμενος εἶξαι καὶ εἰς ἔργον ἀγαγεῖν τὸ κεκελευσμένον.
[65] Ὁ δὲ Ἅγιος· Ἐπειδὴ, εἶπε, τὸν ἀληθῆ Θεὸν εἰδέναι μὴ βούλει, πήρωσιν ἑλόμενος ἑκούσιον καὶ πρὸς τὸ βλάπτειν μόνον καὶ κολάζειν ἐμπαράσκευος εἶ, σὺ με σφάττε, καὶ κρεούργει καὶ μαγείρευε σάρκας ἀνθρώπων· ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ λίθοις οὐδὲ χειροποιήτοις ἄλλοις, ἀλλὰ τῷ Θεῷ μου θύσω θυσίαν αἰνέσεως διὰ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ὁμολογίας ἐκ θελήματός μου, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. Εἰ γὰρ τίμιον ὁ λίθος, ὃν προσκυνεῖς καὶ Θεὸς εἶναι παρά σοι πεπίστευται, ὅτου χάριν αὐτὸν τέμνεις καὶ εἰς πολλὰ διαιρεῖς; καὶ τῷ μὲν ὡς θεῷ πρεσβεύεις καὶ λιβανωτὸν αὐτῷ καὶ θυσίας ἄλλας προσάγει, τὰ δὲ πρὸς οἰκοδομὰς καὶ πεδίων καταστρώσεις λαμβάνεις Ἔτι δὲ οἷς καὶ πρὸς ἐκκρίσεις καί τινας ἄλλας χρείας ἀτιμοτέρας. Τὰ ὅμοια δέ σοι καὶ εἰς χρυσὸν καὶ χαλκὸν καὶ ξύλα καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τῶν ὑλῶν διαπέπρακται. Ποίας οὖν σοφίας τοῦτο ἢ τί τῆς ἡμετέρας δόξης τὸ σεσιωπημένον τοῦτο καὶ ἀπόῤῥητον;
[66] Ὅτι ᾧ προσφέρεις θυσίαν, τοῦτο πάλιν τῷ πυρὶ δίδως, καὶ ὅπερ αὖθις δίδως πυρὶ, παρὰ τούτου, φεῦ, οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν ὑπολογιζόμενος σωθηρίαν αἰτεῖς, ὡς τοιαῦτα πάντως δυναμένου ποιεῖν, τὸ μηδὲν μετὰ τὸ εἰς θεοὺς ὑμῖν ἐγγραφῆναι ἄμεινον ἔχοντος ἢ ἰσχύοντος. Ὥστε κᾂν τῷ σιδήρῳ θύειν βούλησθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ἰῷ βλάπτεται, καὶ πυρὶ δοθεὶς μαλακώτερος γίνεται. Κᾂν τὸ πῦρ εἴπῃς, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸ ὕλης ἀπορῆσαν, ὑφ᾽ ἧς ἄρα καὶ διατρέφεται, σβέννυται. Ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐπικρατέστερον αὐτοῦ γίνεται. Δεῖ οὖν ὑμᾶς ἀνωτέρους τῶν ὑλῶν γενομένους, αἳ καὶ εἰς φθορὰν πολλάκις ἀλλήλων καθίστανται, καθαρῷ νῷ καθαροῖς χείλεσι τὴν δι᾽ αἰνέσεως προσφέρειν θυσίαν. Εἰ μὲν οὖν δοκεῖ σοι πεισθῆναι τοῖς ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν λεγομένοις, εἰδ᾽ οὐ, ὥρά σοι τὰς καθ᾽ ἡμῶν ἐπάγειν βασάνους. Οὐ γὰρ πλειόνων ἐρᾶς ἔτι ῥημάτων, ἀλλὰ πληγῶν.
[67] Ταῦτα τοῦ Μάρτυρος λαμπρᾷ τῇ φωνῇ πρόστε τὸν Ἄρχοντα, πρόστε τοὺς περιεστῶτας εἰπόντος, ἐκεῖνος τὸ εὔτολμον τοῦτο καὶ πεπαῤῥησιασμένον οὐκ ἐνεγκὼν, ἀλλ᾽ ἥττων θυμοῦ γενόμενος, Ἀρχελάῳ τινὶ προστάττει τὸ ξίφος σπασάμενον διαχειρίσασθαι τὸν Γεννάδα. Καθάπερ ἐκείνου πρότερον ἴσα δὴ καὶ ξίφει τῷ λόγῳ κατατρωθέντος, ᾧ μὲν οὖν εὐθὺς ὥρμα, δέει τοῦ Δικαστοῦ εἴκων. Ὁ Μάρτυς δὲ αὖθις πόθῳ τῷ περὶ τὸν Χριστὸν, ὁξύτερον ἐχώρει πρὸς τὴν σφαγήν. Ἡ δίκη δὲ Ἀρχέλαον θᾶττον ἀμείβεται· ἡ χεὶρ γὰρ αὐτῷ παραχρῆμα παρεῖτο, αὐτός τε εὐθέως εἰς γῆν ἐβάλλετο καὶ τοῦ ζῆν ἀπηλλάττετο· Ἐξέπληξε ταῦτα Φλαβιανὸν, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ πλέον ἐξέμῃνε, καὶ ὁ θυμὸς αὐτῷ κατὰ τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ ὄφεως ἀκριβῶς ἀνήπτετο. Κελεύει τοιγαροῦν χεῖράς τε καὶ πόδας τὸν Ἅγιον πεδηθέντα σιδήροις, οὕτως οἰκῆσαι τὴν φυλακήν. Ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς, καίτοι πεπεδημένος, καὶ εἰς γῆν κείμενος, οὐκ ἠμέλει τοῦ πρὸς Θεὸν ἀνάγειν τὸν νοῦν.
[68] Καὶ πρῶτα μὲν κοινὴν ἀναφέρει αὐτῷ τὴν εὐχαριστίαν τῆς πρὸς ἀνθρώπους χρηστότητος, ὃς καὶ πεσόντας ἡμᾶς ἀνώρθωσε καὶ δούλους γεγονότας διὰ δεσποτικοῦ αἵματος ἠλευθέρωσεν. Ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ἰδικωτέραν ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ προσῆγε τὴν δέησιν, ὥστε καὶ βοηθείας ἔτι τῆς πρὸς τὸν προκείμενον ἀγῶνα τυχεῖν, καὶ, ὃν τρέχει δρόμον, εἰς πέρας ἀγαγεῖν. Οὕτω τε ηὔχετο καὶ φωνὴν ἤκουεν αὖθις ἀνακτωμένης αὐτόν. Ἕκτης δὲ διαγενομένης ἡμέρας, Φλαβιανὸς πάλιν αὐτὸν μετακαλεσάμενος, καὶ ὥσπερ τρόπον τινὰ οἰόμενος μεταμελήσειν αὐτῷ τῶν προτέρων, ἐκ τοῦ βούλεσθαι τάχα λαβὼν τὸ οἴεσθαι, Πρὸ τοῦ τὰς σάρκας σου, ἔφη, ἀναλῶσαί με, τοῖς ἐμοῖς πείσθητι λόγοις· καὶ ὁ Μάρτυς, Πρόκειταί σοι τὸ σῶμα τοὐμὸν, ἀμελλητὶ αἴκιζε, τοὺς ὁμοίους σου δαίμονας θεραπεύων. Καὶ ὁ Ἡγεμὼν, οὐκ ἐξοργιεῖς με ταῖς δὲ ταῖς ὕβρεσιν, οὐ παροξυνεῖς, οὐ κινήσει ἐπίτομόν σοι τὸ πέρας ἐπαγαγεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ γοητείαις ἄπρακτόν τε τὸ ξίφος ἔδειξας, καὶ τὸν σπεκουλάτορα ὤλεσας, καὶ τῶν φρενῶν ὥσπερ εἴ τινα σκοτοδινίαν κατέχεας, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ παύσομαί σε κατὰ μέρος ἄρα καὶ μέλος ἀνηλεῶς αἰκιζόμενος, ἕως ἐπιπειθῆ ποιῆσθαι καὶ τὸ κελευσόμενόν σοι πράττειν παραοκευάσαι. Τεινέσθω τοιγαροῦν [ἔφη] ὁ φλύαρος ἱάσι λεπτοῖς ἐκ τεσσάρων ὑπὲρ τὴν γῆν αἰρόμενος, καὶ νεύροις ὠμῶς τὰς σάρκας ξαινέσθ, εἰθ᾽ οὕτως ἀνθράκων ζεόντων τὰ νῶτα πληροῦσθαι. Ὄνησις γὰρ ἄφρονι τιμωρίας ἐπίτασις.
And Ulcion himself was seized by much amazement, and no small want of counsel, when he beheld the wonderful constancy of the Martyr. The Prefect Ulcion being taken from the living, Therefore he did not set foot out of his house; nor did he hold speech with anyone for a whole day, but was seized with a violent fever; and, not yet understanding the cause of the scourge, namely that it was the chastisement of the Lord, calling him to repentance, he breathed out a soul worthy of eternal torments. And now the Martyr's prayer had its end; and piety was growing and being strengthened, many day by day, not only men, but also women, coming to the faith; while the Martyr himself also was raised to these things by the mighty hand of God, and healed many demoniacs, not by the passing of time and the interval of many days, but by the sole seal of the divine cross, and a command against the malignant spirits; who were so far from not doing what was commanded, that by their flight they all but anticipated his command.
[61] Ulcion being taken from the living, Flavianus is set over Palestine, the holy Martyr is summoned to Flavianus, himself also an Italian, sprung of illustrious birth; nor did he yield to Ulcion in malice, if in perversity of morals, in cunning, and in cruelty of soul he did not rather surpass his predecessor. When therefore he came to Cæsarea, some of the citizens met him, recounting the deeds of the Martyr, and at once performing the office of his haters, at once of flatterers. He, thinking that what he had heard was not to be discussed with second cares, presently sets the Saint before him, and first inquires his name. He answers: That which is chiefly necessary, and which you most eagerly inquire; I am indeed a Christian, and am so called. My name is Procopius: nor did I receive it from men, but from the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ.
[62] Then Flavianus: Are you, he says, alone ignorant what the Emperor's edict means? by whom, being interrogated, For it wills that those who refuse to sacrifice to the gods, first be punished with grievous torments, then with a bitter death. But it comes upon me to wonder, that you, who are of that age, are not yet ashamed to follow childish things. For to say that God was born of a woman; and then that he was fixed to a cross by men, as a man; and to adore that very one (if it please the Sun) as God, how is it not mad, nay furious? And so, complying with me, dismiss this worship; and you will not repent of your obedience.
[63] To this the Martyr of Christ, wishing rather by the sagacity of his mind to refute him, he answers intrepidly, who had used much vehemence in speaking; It behooved you, he says, O prefect, to know who is the maker of heaven and earth, and to believe that this one and only God exists in a nature that knows not to be changed or to suffer. But because you, sprung from the wisdom of the world, think that there are many gods, and judge this worship to be right; I will show you, if you will, even from those who flourish among you with the praise of the wise, from Hermes a, Plato, Aristotle, and certainly not a few others, that one God was worshiped, not many; and that those who are said to have been enrolled from men into gods, were truly mocked by them, not honored. And therefore Socrates and Heraclitus plainly judged that the adoration of statues was not to be admitted, but to be done away. And this one was driven out of Ephesus: but the other was condemned by the Athenians to drink hemlock.
[64] and refutes the objections, But because you cast it upon us as a reproach that Christ was born of a woman and fixed to a cross; if it please you to hear of this great mystery, let time be given, and you shall hear it clearly. These things being thus uttered by the Martyr, Flavianus was an ass, as the proverb sings, hearing a lyre, and, as it were dancing over the things that were said, Well, he says, have you seemed to us to discourse of God and of divine things (as one coming from on high, and holding the administration of the heavenly keys); yet I counsel you to obey before I set you to the question, to be tortured with my torments. But if not, know this one thing, that punishments await you, the only fruit of your disobedience; and there will be no need of many, that at last you may be willing to yield, and to commit the commands to execution.
[65] showing The Saint on the contrary; Since, he says, you will not know the true God, seized with a voluntary blindness; and are ready only to harm and to punish; come, slay, tear, cut in pieces the flesh of men. But I will sacrifice, not to stones, nor to other things made by hand, but to my God, a sacrifice of praise, by a voluntary confession of him, as it is written. If the stone which you adore is a thing worthy of worship, and is believed by you to be a divinity; why do you cut it, and divide it into many parts? This one indeed you honor as a god, and offer to it incense and other sacrifices; but those you use only for building and paving the ground; nay, some you use for excrements, and certain other viler uses. Like things have been done by you in gold, bronze, wood, and other material. Of what wisdom, then, or of what glory to us, is this thing kept in silence and secret?
[66] that the idols are not gods, For that to which you offer a victim, this same you deliver again to the fire; and from that which has been delivered to the fire (alas!) having no account of the injury, you ask salvation, as from one that can altogether furnish such things; while yet it has or avails nothing good, in order to be enrolled by you among the gods. So, though you should wish to sacrifice to iron; yet this very thing is consumed with rust, and given to the fire, becomes softer. But if you should call the fire a god; it, for want of the material by which it is fed, is extinguished. It happens also that water becomes stronger than it. It behooves you therefore, you who are higher than things composed of matter, which often conspire to mutual corruption, with a mind
pure, with pure lips, to offer the sacrifice of praise; if you judge that my words are to be obeyed; but if not, it is time that you assail me with torments: for you value not words, but blows.
[67] with great freedom. When the Martyr had said such things with a clear voice both to the President and to the bystanders; that same President did not bear the boldness and freedom of speech; but overcome by anger, commands a certain Archelaus to take the generous Champion out of the way with drawn sword. But when he had been wounded by his discourse, as by a sword, without delay he rushed upon him, obeying the fear of the Judge. But the Martyr, burning with desire of Christ, leaped forth the more swiftly to death. But Archelaus straightway paid the penalty. For his hand suddenly withered, and straightway, cast to the ground, he ceased to live. These things struck Flavianus with amazement. Nonetheless he burned with fury, and his anger was kindled greatly like a serpent. He orders therefore the Martyr, bound hand and foot with iron chains, to be consigned to prison. But he, however bound and prostrate on the ground, by no means neglected to lift up his mind to God.
[68] And first indeed he gives common thanks for the kindness bestowed on men, New torments are announced to him. who raised us up when fallen, and, reduced to servitude, asserted us into liberty by the blood of the Lord. Then he set up a particular prayer for himself, that he might obtain help for the imminent contest, and consummate the course of the combat which he was running. Having thus prayed, again he heard a voice confirming him. Six days now being past, Flavianus ordered him to be set before him again, thinking namely that he would somehow bring upon him repentance for the past; easily believing what he wished: Obey, he says, my words, before I consume your flesh. Then the Martyr: My body is at hand; torture quickly, serving the demons, like to yourself. Again the Prefect: You shall not move my bile by your insults, nor kindle me, nor make me moved, so that I should bring upon you a short cut, as it were, to the end of life. For though as a sorcerer you eluded the sword, destroyed the executioner, and poured a certain dark cloud over minds; yet I will not cease to torture you mercilessly, joint by joint and limb by limb, until I have rendered you obedient and complying with the commands. Let therefore that babbler, he says, be stretched, raised above the earth by very thin thongs on four sides, and let his flesh be torn with raw sinews; then let his back be filled with glowing coals. For to a madman the intensification of punishment is profitable.
ANNOTATED.
CHAPTER VII.
St. Procopius, tortured with the most atrocious torments, at last is beheaded.
Τούτων ἀκούσαντι τῷ Ἀθλητῇ καὶ ἤδη πρὸς τὴν βάσανον ἑλκομένῳ, οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν δέος ἐπῆν τὸ τῆς κολάσεως δῆθεν ἐφορομένῳ μέγεθος, ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ καὶ φανερὸς εἶναι βουλόμενος, ὅτι πρὸς ταῖς βασάνοις καὶ αὐτοῦ δὴ τοῦ τὰς βασάνους ψηφιζομένου καταφρονεῖ, ἐλοιδορεῖτο φιλοτίμως αὐτὸν ὑπὸ μάρτυσι τοῖς παροῦσιν ἄρδην τὰς ὕβρεις ἐκχέων· Ἀνομίας υἱὲ, λέγων, ὕλη τοῦ αἰωνίου πυρὸς, σὺ λέγεις ἐμοὶ τὰς κολάσεις, ὡς ἄφρονι λυσιτελῶς ἐπάγεσθαι· εἶτα ἐπάγεις σὺ τὰς οἱονεὶ τιμωρούμενος, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι τὸ πάντων ἥδιον ἐμοὶ προξενεῖς. Τί γὰρ εὐγνώμονι δούλῳ ποθεινὸν οὕτως, ὡς τὸ πάσχειν ὑπὲρ δεσπότου, ὥστε καὶ δέδοικα, μήποτε γνοὺς, ὅπως ἀντὶ τοῦ λυπεῖν μᾶλλον τὰ πρὸς ἡδονὴν προσάγεις ἡμῖν, ἀποστῇς τοῦ κολάζειν καὶ τῷ ἐχθρῷ τοιαῦτα χαρίζεσθαι.
[70] Καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ὁ Ἅγιος. Ὁ φρενοβλαβὴς μέντοι Φλαβιανὸς, ἔτι μᾶλλον τοῦ Γενναίῳ τῆς παῤῥησίας ἐπιμαινόμενος, νιφάδας αὐτῷ βασάνων ἐπάγει καὶ πῦρ ἐπὶ πῦρ, κακὸν, ὡς ὁ λόγος, ἐπὶ κακοῖς. Ὀβελίσκοι γοῦν ἐξηνθρακωμένοι, πρῶτα μὲν τοῖς προλαβοῦσι τραύμασιν ἐπιτίθενται. Ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ἄλλαις ταῖς πληγαῖς ἐπιβάλλονται, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ὀβελίσκοις αὖθις κατακενσεῖται, ἵνα κᾂν οὕτως, εἰπόντος τοῦ Ἡγεμόνος, αἴσθηται τῶν βασάνων, καὶ παύσηται τοὺς θεοὺς κακῶς λέγειν, οἷς οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς κοινῆς ἕνεκα σωτηρίας τιμὰς προσφέρουσιν. Οὕτω πάσχων ὁ Μάρτυς, αὐτὸς μὲν οὐδὲν πάσχειν ὅλως ἐῴκει· πλήττειν δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν Δικαστὴν, καὶ πλήττειν διπλῆ, τῷ τε φέρειν εὐψύχως τὰ ἐπαγόμενα, καὶ τῷ περὶ τὰς ἀποκρίσεις εὐσυνέτως κομιδῆ διατίθησθαι. Οἷα δὴ καὶ τότε πρὸς τὸν Ἡγεμόνα Σωτηριαν, ἔφη, τὴν λύμην ἀποκαλεῖς; ἣν οἱ πάντολμοι βασιλεῖς ἐπεισήγαγον τοῖς ἀθρώποις, τὰς τῶς δαιμόνων ἐπαυξήσαντες θεραπείας, οὓς ἀληθὴς Θεὸς οὐκ εἰς ἀναβολὰς ἔτι τὴν ὀργὴν ἐπέχων; ἀλλ᾽ ὅσον οὕτω τὴν δικαίαν εἰσπράξεται τιμωρίαν, τῆς ἡμῶν ἀψεύστως κηδόμενος σωτηρίας.
[71] Καὶ ὁ Ἡγεμὼν πρὸς τοῦτο χαλεπήνας ἔτι καινὴν ἐπινοεῖ τῷ Μάρτυρι τιμωρίαν. Ἡ δὲ ἦν, βωμὸς ὑπτίθεται βδελυρὸς, τὴν δεξιὰν ὁ Μάρτυς κελεύεται, ἀνθράκων ἤδη πληρωθείσαν πεπυρωμένων, ἐπανωδὴ τοῦ βωμοῦ προτεῖναι, λιβάνου τοῖς ἄνθραξιν αὖθις ἐπιτεθέντος (τί βούλεται τοῖς πονηροῖς τὸ ἐνθύμημα;) ὡς εἴπερ ἀλγήσας ὁ Μάρθυς ἐπαφῇ τῷ βωμῷ τοῦς ἄνθρακας, μηκέτι πλείοσιν ἄλλοις ἐπιχειρεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτός τε ὡς θύσας λογίζεσθαι, κᾀκείνους ἀπηλλάχθαι πραγμάτων. Ὁ μὲν οὖν βωμὸς ὑπέκειτο, ἡ δὲ τοῦ Μάρτυρος χεὶς ἐφήπλωτο, ὁ λίβανος ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς ἅμα καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἐβαστάζετο, καὶ τὸ μὲν πῦρ ἐνήργει τὸ ἑαυτοῦ, ἡ δὲ φύσις ἠρνεῖτο τὸ ἴδιον, ἡ χεὶρ δεδαπάνηται, καὶ ὁ νοῦς, ἐμπεδώσας αὐτὴν, ἀκίνητος εἶχε. Πᾶς ὁ παρὼν ἐξεπλήττετο, καὶ τὰ τῆς πλάνης διεσαλεύετο. Ἵστατο δὲ ὁ Μάρτυς ἡδὺ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀφορῶν, στεναγμόν τε καὶ δάκρυον ἐπαφιεὶς οὐ μικροψυχίας, ἀλλ᾽ εὐχαριστίας, ἧς ἐποιεῖτο πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Ἐκράτησας, λέγων, τῆς χειρὸς τῆς δεξιᾶς μου, καὶ ἔθου τόξον χαλκοῦν τοὺς βραχίονάς μου, ἔδωκάς μοὶ ὑπερασπισμὸν σωτηρίας καὶ ἡ δεξιά σου ἀντελάβετό μου.
[72] Ὑπὸ πολλῆς οὖν ἀπορίας ὁ Δικαστὴς ἐχόμενος ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς χειρὸς εὐσταθείᾳ, Επεὶ λέγεις, ἔφη, κρείττων εἶναι βασάνων, πόθεν οἱ στεναγμοὶ; καὶ ὁ Μάρτυς τὸ δάκρυον μή σοι γένοιτο φάναι, δακρύων ἀληθῶς ἄξιε, πόνων ἡμᾶς σωματικῶν ἡττωμένους ἰδεῖν, καὶ ἀβούλητον ἀφίεντας δάκρυον, οὐχ οὕτως ἀγεννὴς ἐγὼ, οὐδὲ Θεοῦ ἄγευστος βοηθείας, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεὶ τοῦτο τὸ σῶμα πηλὸς ἄντικρυς, ὁ δὲ πηλὸς θέρμῃ περιτυχὼν, ὕδωρ πέφυκεν ἀποῤῥεῖν. Ἔχει τι κᾀντεῦθεν ἡ τῶν δακρύων ἐπιῤῥοή. Τὸ δὲ πλέον, ὅτι τὴν σὴν δακρύω ψυχὴν ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ὑποστὰς ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος, δαίμονας ὡς θεοὺς θεραπεύεις, καὶ βασιλεῖς ἐκείνων θεραπευτάς. Ὑπὲρ ὧν αἰώνιόν σε πῦρ ὑποδέξεται, καὶ κολάσεις πέρας οὐδαμῶς ἔχουσαι. Φρουρὰ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα λαμβάνει τὸν Ἅγιον. Εἶτα ὁ Δικαστὴς, ὡς ἂν οὔπω διακορὴς ὢν τῶν ἐκείνου τιμωριῶν, ἔτι καὶ ἑτέραν ἐπινοεῖ, πολλῷ τῶν ἄλλων χαλεπωτέραν. Κελεύει γὰρ ἐξαρτηθῆναι μὲν αὐτὸν τῶν χειρῶν, δύο δὲ λίθους, οὐδαμῶς φέρειν ῥᾳδίους, ἐκκρεμασθῆναι τῶν τούτου ποδῶν, ὥστε τῇ βαρύτητι τῶν λίθων κατασπασθῆναι πάσας αὐτῷ καὶ λυθῆναι τὰς ἁρμονίας.
[73] Πάλιν οὖν ὁ Μάρτυς καὶ ταύτης κρείττων ἐδείκνυτο τῆς κολάσεως, καὶ πάλιν ὁ Δικαστὴς ἑτέραν ἐπινοεῖ· οὕτε γὰρ τὸν Ἀθλητὴν ἐπέλιπεν ἐξ ἁγίου βοήθεια, οὕτε τὸν Δικαστὴν ἐκ δαιμόνων πρὸς τὸ τιμωρεῖσθαι κακοτεχνία. Κελεύει τοιγαροῦν κλίβανον ἐξαφθῆναι πυρὸς· οὗ δεινῶς ἐκκαυθέντος, εἴσω τὸν Ἅγιον ἐκβληθῆναι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ εἰσήγετο, πρῶτον μὲν ὁ θεῖος σταυρὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐτύπετο, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ προσευχὴ εἵπετο. Ἔτι δὲ τῶν χελέων αὐτῷ κινουμενων, ἡ φλὸξ ἐσκεδαννυτο, καὶ τοὺς ὑπουργοὺς κύκλῳ περιλαβοῦσα, τὸ ἑαυτῆς ἐπεδείκνυτο. Τοῦτο τοὺς θεωμένους ἐξέπληττε μὲν, ἀλλὰ καὶ δέος εἰς τὰς ἐκείνων ἐνίει ψυχὰς, ὥστε καὶ βοᾷν· Ἀρθήτω, λέγοντας, ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν, ἀρθήτω ἐκ ποδῶν, ἢ τάχος γενέσθω, κινδυνεύει γὰρ ἡ πόλις ἅπασα ταῖς αὐτοῦ γοητείαις διαστραφῆναι. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ τότε μὲν ὁ Ἡγεμὼν φόβου καὶ θαύματος καὶ αὐτὸς πλήρης ὢν, εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον καὶ αὖθις ἐμπέμπει τὸν Ἀθλητήν.
[74] Ἐπεὶ δέ τινες ἡμέραι παρῆλθον, οὐδὲν πλέον ἐπινοεῖν ἔχων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ὅλοις ἀπορηθεὶς, τὸν διὰ ξίφους αὐτοῦ θάνατον κατακρίνει. Εἰς τὸν τόπον οὖν ὁ Ἅγιος τὸν ἀποτεταγμένον ἐληλυθὼς, αἰτεῖται χάριν παρὰ τοῦ ἀνελεῖν ἐπιτετραμμένου μικράν τε καὶ τελευταίαν, καὶ οἵαν ἂν οὐδ᾽ ἐχθρὸς ἀνὴρ ἀναβάλοιτο παρασχεῖν, βραχυτάτην καιροῦ ἔνδοσιν, ὥστε προσευξάμενον οὕτως ἀποθανεῖν· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐδίδου. Αὐτὸς δὲ στὰς πρὸς ἀνατολὰς καὶ εἰς οὐρανὸν ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐπάρας, εὐθὺς προσηύχετο σωτηρίαν μὲν τῇ πόλει πάση, καὶ φυλακὴν τῆς τοῦ ἀντικειμένου ἐπιβουλῆς αἰτούμενος, μνήμην δὲ Θεοῦ τὴν ἐν ἐλέει παντὸς τοῦ ἰδίου λαοῦ, ἴασιν τοῖς νόσῳ πιεζομένοις, χήραις καὶ ὀρφανοῖς, ὧς ἐπιδεεῖς εἰσι, πρόνοιαν, ἐπηρεαζομένοις ἄνεσιν, πεπλανημένοις ἐπιστροφήν. Πρὸς δὲ καὶ τοῖς μνήμην αὐτοῦ ποιουμένοις ἀσφάλειαν βίου καὶ παντὸς λυποῦντος ἀποφυγήν.
[75] Ταῦτα ηὔξατο, καὶ φωνῆς ἤκουεν οὐρανόθεν ἅμα μὲν πίστιν αὐτῷ παρεχούσης, ὡς πέρας τὰ αἰτηθέντα λήψεται, ἅμα δὲ καὶ ὡς κληρονόμος αὐτὸς τῶν οὐρανίων γενήσηται. Τοῦτον ἀκούσας, τὸν αὐχένα προτείνει, ξίφει τε τὴν κεφαλὴν τέμνεται, καὶ στέφει οὐρανίῳ αὐτὴν κασαστέφεται ὀγδόην τότε τοῦ Ἰουλίου μηνὸς ἄγοντος. Τινὲς δὲ τῶν φιλευσεβῶν ἐπιστάντες, τὸ ἱερὸν αὐτοῦ ὑφαιροῦνται σῶμα, μύροις τε καὶ ἀρώμασι τὸ παντὸς ἀρώματος εὐωδέστερον ἐκεῖνοι μυρίσαντες, ἐν τόπῳ ἐπιτηδείῳ φιλοθέως κατατιθέασιν εἰς δόξαν Πατρὸς, Υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, τῆς μιᾶς καὶ ἀληθοῦς θεότητος, ᾗ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα, τιμὴ καὶ προσηύνησις νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.
Hearing these things, and now dragged to the tortures, not only did no fear invade the Champion, though he beheld the magnitude of the torments from afar, St. Procopius insults the tyrant; but, wishing openly to show that he despised the torments and the very author of the torments, he began sharply to inveigh against him before the others who were present, pouring out abundance of reproaches. Son, he says, of iniquity, fuel of the eternal fire! you proclaim that torments are usefully inflicted upon me as upon a madman: there will come indeed a time when you shall be tortured with the same, not knowing that you have rendered me a thing far most pleasing. For what is so desirable to a grateful servant as to suffer for his Lord? So that I fear lest, conscious in what manner you make the things that are sad pleasant to me, you desist from punishing, and confer that benefit upon the enemy.
[70] The Saint had said these things; when Flavianus, poor in spirit, and raging the more on account of the freedom of his speech, therefore new torments heaped storms of torments against him, adding, as the proverb has it, fire to fire, evil to evils. And so first they lay glowing hot spits upon the preceding wounds. Then they afflict him with new blows: and moreover he is again pierced through with spits, that so at least, as the Prefect said, he might feel the torments, and cease to speak ill of the gods, to whom even the Emperors themselves render honors for the sake of the common safety. Thus suffering, the Martyr
seemed to suffer nothing at all. But the Judge rather was struck, and struck for a double cause: both because the Martyr had borne with great spirit the things which had happened, and because in his answers he bore himself very prudently. With such words therefore even then he rebuked the Judge: Do you call by the name of salvation that destruction which the nefarious Emperors brought in, increasing the worship of demons? whom the true God will not long delay to punish, but will take just penalties even now, bearing sincere care for our salvation.
[71] are prepared against him: The Prefect, angered at these words, instructs a new kind of torment: a sacred altar is set up: and the Martyr is ordered to stretch out over the altar his right hand, filled with glowing coals: then incense is placed on the coals (what does the machination of the impious mean?), that, if the Martyr, overcome by pain, should cast the coals into the altar, nothing might be attempted further, but he might seem to have sacrificed, and they themselves be freed of cares. And now the altar was at hand, and the hand of the Martyr spread out; the incense together with the fire was carried in it; the fire indeed did that which was its own; but nature refused that which it holds proper. The hand was consumed, and the mind confirming it remained unmoved. All who were present were amazed; and the deceit vanished. The Martyr stood, gazing gently at heaven, and emitting groans and tears, not of a broken spirit, but of the thanksgiving which he rendered to God. You have held, he said, my right hand, and made my arms like a bow of bronze: you have given me the protection of salvation, and your right hand has upheld me.
[72] his answers to the President. The Judge, therefore, very uncertain of mind at the immovable retention of the hand, thus begins: Since you say that you are superior to torments, whence then the groans and tears? To whom the Martyr: Let it not come into your mind to say, O you who are deservedly to be lamented with tears, that we seem overcome by bodily pains, even when we shed a tear against our will; not so unwarlike am I, nor untasting of divine help. But because this body is composed almost of clay; and clay, surrounded by heat, is wont to distill water; hence the effusion of tears. But, what is more, I weep for your soul, inasmuch as, falling away from the true God and Savior, you hold demons in place of gods, and venerate the Emperors, their worshipers. Therefore a perpetual fire awaits you, and torments that shall have no end. After this the ward receives the Saint. Then the Judge, not yet sated with his punishments, meditates another, far more bitter in savagery than the rest. For he orders him to be lifted up by the hands, and two stones, by no means easy to bear, to be hung from his feet, so that by the weight of the stones the whole frame of the body might be wrenched apart and loosed.
[73] After new But the Martyr again appeared stronger than that torture also; again the Judge devised something new. For as help from the Holy One by no means failed the Martyr, so neither did ingenious and diabolical malice for punishments fail the Judge. Therefore he commands an oven to be kindled with fire, that the Saint might be cast into it, burning vehemently. Cast in thither, he first signed himself there with the divine cross, whose companion, prayer, followed. But while he still moved his lips, the flame was dissipated, and, seizing round about the lictors, manifested also its own force. These things not only struck the spectators, but drove terror into their minds, so that they cried: Let him be taken from our sight; let him be taken from the midst, the quicker the better; for the whole city, however great, is in peril of being perverted by his sorceries. Then the prefect, full himself also of fear and admiration, again sent the Champion down to the praetorium.
[74] A few days after, the Prefect had nothing left which he might devise, torments again endured, but destitute of all things, condemns him to be beheaded. The Saint, having gone forth to the appointed place, asks of the lictor this small and last favor to be granted him, such as even a hostile man could not refuse, namely a very brief delay of time, that he might be able to pray; so he would die. He assented. Then the Martyr, standing toward the east, with eyes lifted to heaven, straightway prayed for the safety of the whole city, and for deliverance from the snares of the enemy, and that God might be mindful of his people in mercy. He asked health for the sick, for widows and orphans the supplying of the things they need, for those suffering injury relaxation, for the wandering return: for those, moreover, who should keep his memory, tranquillity of life, and the extermination of all pain a.
[75] Having prayed these things, he heard a voice from heaven, which gave him confidence at last he is beheaded. that he would be made master of the things he had asked, and heir of the heavenly goods. These things being heard, he stretched out his neck, and his head is cut off with the sword; which is crowned with a heavenly crown on the eighth day of the month of July. Some who stood by, conspicuous for the praise of piety, take away his sacred body, and embalm it with unguents and spices, though it was more fragrant than these; and at last religiously lay it in a fitting place, to the honor of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the one and true deity, whom befits all glory, honor, and adoration, now, and always, and forever and ever. Amen.