ON SS. EUSTATHIUS AND THEOPISTE AND AGAPIUS AND THEOPISTUS, HIS WIFE AND SONS,
MARTYRS AT ROME,
About the year of Christ 118.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Eustathius, martyr, at Rome. (S.)
Theopiste, his wife, martyr, at Rome. (S.)
Agapius, his son, martyr, at Rome. (S.)
Theopistus, his son, martyr, at Rome. (S.)
BHL Number: 2769
BY J. C.
§1. The names of the holy Martyrs variously written: their various Acts: the Greek ones which we have present an author contemporary with the Saints, nor do they seem, as certainly not wholly fabulous, to be rejected.
The name of St. Eustathius, whose deeds come today to be illustrated from the Roman Martyrology, is akin to several others; whence among some writers there has arisen, The names of the holy Martyrs variously written everywhere. as is usual, a confusion. It is Greek, from Εὐστάθεια, steadfastness, and thence common to several Martyrs. In our work on various days there have hitherto occurred nine Eustasii, all martyrs except one; six Eustathii, and these too almost all crowned with the laurel; two Eustochii, of whom one gave his blood for Christ; finally, both among us and among the martyrologists there occur often the names Eustochium, Eustochia, which are near to the illustrious name of our holy Martyr. Three Eustachii, martyrs, I find designated among us, and among almost all martyrologists, both ancient and more recent, I find the name of our holy Roman Martyr so written; I have nevertheless preferred, from the Greek Acts, which have seemed to me better than the rest, to write Eustathius, as also Placida, his family name, for Placidus, which I read commonly elsewhere. Of the confusion arisen from the affinity of so many words I shall warn the reader when below I indicate the memory of the holy Martyr in the sacred calendars. Nor less various is the inflection of the names of his holy Companions. There are those who name his wife Theospita and Theospis, nay Philista, and before she received baptism Trajana: whence, unless I am mistaken, arose that opinion which imagines St. Eustathius the son-in-law of Trajan. Of the sons too you will not rarely find one called Agapitus and the other Theospitus, which I have thought must likewise be corrected from the Greek Acts, and that the holy Wife must be called Theopiste, who before baptism is called Tatiana; and the Sons Agapius and Theopistus, of which too the etymology from the Greek is everywhere obvious.
[2] We have their Acts in very many codices Moreover, for one about to illustrate the deeds of the most celebrated St. Eustathius or Placida, a very great abundance of documents, sought out with the utmost care from every quarter, is at hand. Nor are there lacking — since the Eustathian History is most famous — the judgments long since passed upon it by the learned. I first enumerate our own documents, meaning then to report the opinions of the moderns who go off into contrary judgments, and to discuss their reasons. The martyrdom therefore of holy Eustathius and his Companions is exhibited by four of our manuscript codices, marked P 159, P 97, P 91, Q 5, all sufficiently ancient, and among these one excellent and very old. Besides these we have three manuscript copies taken from various codices. The first of these Fr. Maurice Chardon of our Society had copied for us from an old codex of the abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland and sent it to us three years ago. The second is extracted from the Bertin library, and collated with the Utrecht manuscript of St. Saviour, the Trier one of St. Maximin, the codex of Cardinal Mazarin, an anonymous Paduan one, the Osnabrück one of Dom Schenckingk, and another of Saint-Omer, as the heading notes indicate. The third, taken from another manuscript of St. Maximin of Trier, is more contracted than those hitherto enumerated, and its discrepancy with the manuscript of the nuns of St. John at Capua is indicated by marginal signs. The same has been collated with the manuscripts of Anchin and three of the Queen of Sweden, of which one, mutilated at the beginning and the end, is marked number 136, another number 569, and the third finally 1604.
[3] There is added to these, from the papers of our Papebroch, a fragment of the Life of St. Eustachius surnamed Placidus, and copies in manuscript, which stands in a Cistercian manuscript, after the book of Peter Alphonsus, a Christian from a Jew, comprising about 550 verses, with this beginning:
There shone at Rome, while Trajan held the sceptre,
a man drawing an excellent race from either parent.
While he was still a boy, his virtue made him a man;
whence, pleasing to all, he had the name of Placidus.
All that has hitherto been recounted is Latin: we have a single Greek manuscript copy from a Medicean manuscript of the king of France, as I am informed at the head of it. The Acts of our holy Martyrs printed in type also stand in very many forms, translated also into various languages. The Latin ones you have in Lipomanus, Surius, and others, turned from the Greek of Simeon Metaphrastes. Athanasius Kircher, the most celebrated searcher of antiquity, exhibits the Deeds of St. Eustathius which he had before his eyes from Metaphrastes, Baronius, St. John Damascene, and Nicephorus, adorned in his own style, in part 1 of the Eustathio-Marian History, which he published at Rome in the sixty-fifth year of the past century. Concerning it he also wrote two letters to my elders, which were laid aside for this day. Besides the authors just recounted, the aforesaid Kircher seems to have used very much the Life of St. Eustathius which, in three books, some thirty years earlier Giovanni Battista Manzini had published in the Italian tongue: for thence only some things seem to have passed over into the Latin tongue.
[4] The wonderful Acts of the holy Martyr have come forth more than once in the French idiom also, which stand also printed in various languages, on the testimony of Combefis and Tillemont. Finally I have found the same printed in Spanish, in German, and even in this our own vernacular tongue: so that it may be said that the Eustathian History is scarcely any other among sacred histories more celebrated in the whole world. Among all the printed Acts there stands out in dignity the Martyrdom of the holy Eustathius, Theopiste, and their Children, dug out from Greek manuscripts of the royal library and turned into the Latin tongue by Combefis, and published at Paris with Notes appended in the year 1660. Of that work of the often-to-be-praised Combefis we shall have to treat more fully below; here it pleases to note beforehand a few things about the Deeds of St. Eustathius enumerated first, both manuscript and printed, and to warn the reader in what place with me and of what authority each of them is. Of the writers who published the History of the holy Martyr in their native tongue it can be said generally that the license of some at least is very great, nay unbridled, while each, according to the character of his nation and idiom, with a luxuriant pen — as is wont to happen in such cases, where wonderful facts impel authors to write — has adorned those things with one set of colors after another, and amplified them with such circumstances as our history needed less than any other for delighting the reader. Manzini alone, a little more sparing than those whom I have seen, does not so much exaggerate the facts as illustrate them with moral instructions.
[5] and all flowed from the same Greek source. To this may be reduced the Latin Life of Athanasius Kircher, adorned with new trappings of words, and increased also with some circumstances which cannot win it authority among critics. But of it, since it promises many things to the learned at the head, some particular things will have to be said below. As regards the manuscript Acts, most of them scarcely differ from one another in words, at least up to the last number but one, where the largest manuscript of St. Maximin of Trier is mutilated, a leaf being torn out, unless I am mistaken, and the manuscript of St. Gall departs from the rest. Two transcripts are more contracted than the others, namely the second of St. Maximin of Trier and the Capuan one; but the words, not the facts which are narrated in the others, are cut short. From all the Latin ones the proem is absent which is prefixed to the Greek Acts, both ours and Combefis's. For the rest, it strikes the eyes that all flowed from one source, our Greek Acts, I think, or the like, probably even before the times of Metaphrastes, or at least before his interpolation, from which the Latin manuscripts are free, was worn by the hands. Finally, the same things exactly are narrated in all, both Greek and Latin, upon which also the published works of the more recent writers rest: accordingly the lot of all must be one, so long as the genuineness of what is narrated is attacked or defended from the things narrated themselves, that is, from the facts.
[6] Opposite judgments of the learned about them. Moreover, the learned so dispute about the Eustathian History that, if the case is to be decided by the number of votes, those who defend it are far fewer than those who wish it rejected among old wives' fables. Among others, Leo Allatius vindicates the genuineness of the Acts, contending that our Greek ones have an author contemporary with the Saints. Such an one Combefis too strives with great effort to summon for his own Martyrdom in his Notes. Kircher, praised above, also leaves nothing untried to establish the truth of the Eustathian History from ancient monuments. On the opposite side stand, with several others, Tillemont and Baillet, who wretchedly tear these Acts to pieces. To them our Sollier seems in some measure to come near, in his Observations on Usuard on the 2nd day of November, where nevertheless he appears more inclined to give Baronius's judgment. More mildly do Baronius and our Papebroch think of the Deeds of St. Eustathius and his Companions, and take as it were a middle way, of whom the latter, in volume 1 of May, on the Greek-Muscovite Ephemerides, page 42, pronounces thus: They are most celebrated both among the Latins and among the Greeks from Acts written in both languages: whether something of poetic invention has not been mingled with them will have to be discussed in its own time. The most eminent author of the Annals had gone before, expressing his judgment nevertheless a little more rigidly, at the year of Christ 120, number 4, thus: We think, however, that many things have been added to them (the Eustathian Acts). I forbear to recount other writers for this side or that, since they rest on almost the same reasons as those already enumerated, and I now examine those reasons: and first of all of those who wish all credit to be undoubtedly denied to those Acts.
[7] The reasons of Tillemont and Baillet are examined, The aforesaid Tillemont, Ecclesiastical Monuments, volume 2, page 226, judges the Eustathian History so far proscribed by the judgment of all those who know how to discern true from false that he pronounces it unworthy of any further discussion. He nevertheless takes it up again on page 585 in his Notes on the Persecution of Hadrian, on an occasion offered from the Acts published and turned into Latin
by Combefis, and there again determines that that History has been rejected among fables by the learned so certainly and so deservedly that he thinks it superfluous to give any particular reason for his censure; and while he thus erases Leo Allatius, Combefis, Manzini, Athanasius Kircher, and not a few others from the roll of his own learned men, in exploding the Eustathian Acts he rests on that judgment of the learned alone, founded solely on the wondrous strangeness of a long series of marvellous events succeeding one another. With the same engine Baillet, following Tillemont, shakes our History; and finally, as many as I have hitherto seen attacking it hurl chiefly, and almost solely, this weapon, by which, thinking that they have at once undermined all the credit of the Acts, they neglect the rest as inglorious rubble.
[8] But this censure of theirs might seem too rigid if the Acts are so disapproved in all their parts who wish all credit undoubtedly that nothing of them is exempted from it, and the very foundation of the History is judged fabulous, which is nothing less than what the aforesaid critics seem to hint. Certainly that they should have attributed so much to that undiscussed judgment of the learned as to judge, not only that the Acts as a whole, such as they are, are fabulous, but that they are not even worthy to be attacked with the usual arguments according to the rules of criticism, might not at once be approved by all. It might be argued that a chain of marvellous events alone does not certainly prove the falsity of any history; that there are found in the sacred Letters certain deeds of Joseph, of Esther, of Daniel, of Susanna, of Jonah, and of others, whose connection is no less marvellous, and whose succession is continued through the most unusual chances, and which nevertheless divine authority makes altogether beyond doubt to us. Should they reply that such things obtain only that credit which the authority of the asserter gives, others might conclude that Acts of this kind ought at least to be held of uncertain or doubtful credit while the writer's credit is uncertain; since in that case, as nothing forbids that it was none, so neither does anything prove that it was not wholly to be despised. They might conclude, I say, that on account of the uncertain credit of the writer certain Deeds, like to which we have elsewhere confirmed by unconquered testimonies, cannot certainly be judged fabulous.
[9] It would be difficult to answer those who so argue. But arguments of this kind are rather those of philosophers than of critics, is taken away. Some things, who are wont not rarely, and not always undeservedly, to attribute more to their own experience and to the rules of their art, however doubtful, than to philosophical reasons, which therefore I do not here wish to hurl on behalf of the Eustathian Acts. I could wish, however, that the aforesaid critics had left our History in a better place, and one common to some other Acts, being wont so to reject other Acts, sprinkled as they are with badly cohering and absurd fables, as to point out the fictions, and, if they cannot overthrow the rest, to leave them doubtful or suspect. Certainly Honoré de Sainte-Marie in his Observations on the Rules of Criticism, Dissertation 6, article 3, §2, demonstrates from Tillemont's own principles that the Passion of St. Eustathius and his Companions can with some profit be reckoned among narratives of doubtful credit. To this conclusion indeed, deduced from another's rules, the aforesaid author does not seem to assent, nor should I wish those Acts in their whole extent to be held for merely doubtful, although they have some prerogatives which are found most rarely in other fabulous histories, and which I shall enumerate a little below. Nothing forbids, however, admitting as doubtful those things which savor less of invention, and which can be seen as the chief parts of the Eustathian Passion.
[10] And so with Papebroch I believe that some, or rather with Baronius I suspect that very many, things have been added and superadded to the Acts of our holy Martyrs, very many being rejected, seem among which there are not a few which at once betray themselves. The Savior appears between the horns of a stag and exhorts Eustathius to receive the faith. In a very few hours Eustathius and his wife Theopiste are instructed in the faith, and are presently baptized, presently are fed with the most sacred Body and Blood of the Savior; they speak so of divine things, they so recall examples and doctrines from the sacred Letters, that you would recognize men who are not Christians of a day or two. Entangled and ill-cohering are the things which Agapius and Theopistus recount in their mutual recognition. There are ready on either bank of the river a lion and a wolf, who on this side and on that carry off Eustathius's Children and give them back unharmed to the countrymen who run up. Theopiste happily guards the garden of a foreigner in that place where her Sons, who are to serve as soldiers, meet, and hears them opportunely narrating their own fortunes to one another, recognizes them, is moved in her bowels; yet she puts off revealing herself, and goes to the Master of the soldiers to ask that he would bring her, an exile, back to her fatherland; she recognizes her Husband from sure signs, and most happily presently shows him both Sons discovered; all of which, though possible, appear nevertheless less worthy of credit unless asserted on a sure surety.
[11] to be admitted among narratives of doubtful credit. The sighs of the exiled Eustathius to God and some other things are narrated which the writer must assuredly not have known, since he without doubt did not accompany the wandering Saint: to his invention therefore both these and other things of this kind, and above all the prayer of Eustathius when he was on the point of being consumed by fire, than which I do not know whether there be anywhere another more insipid, can be ascribed without scruple. But if you tear these away from the Acts, the rest seem in some measure capable of being defended as doubtful, yet in such a way that even these no one can prove not to be invented, which it seems can only unfairly be demanded. Certainly, if critics take certain other things from other Acts, in which nevertheless it is manifest that fables are sprinkled, as probable, I do not see why this can be denied to the chief parts of our History, which surely from other quarters has so much more probability than those from which others admit some things, that by prudent men it has been received, whole as it is, as genuine and authentic. And these men indeed, who have defended the Eustathian Acts, have brought forward arguments which deserve at least to be weighed and refuted, which let us now hear.
§2. The arguments drawn from the antiquity of the Acts are weighed.
The Acts are ancient, The often-praised Combefis seeks his chief support for our Acts from their antiquity. And that antiquity, and the old esteem of our History in the Church, he strives to show from St. John Damascene's third Oration On Images, in which he recites a fairly long passage from it in almost the same words, which I shall point out in the intercalated Notes. Against these Tillemont seems to observe that St. John Damascene is a writer of the eighth century, who flourished about the year 730, namely six centuries after the times of St. Eustathius, from whose testimony therefore little or no authority can accrue to this narration. And this indeed rightly, but not against those who do not beg authority for the Acts from St. John Damascene's testimony, but antiquity. Anyone will readily agree with Tillemont in this, that that holy man is not accurate in selecting Acts, nor altogether free from reporting little fables: but no one will readily believe that he was so imprudent and uncircumspect that for defending the cult of sacred images he reported examples from recent documents, of which there was then no commendation in the Church, at least from antiquity. And so it is likely that, since St. John attacks the Iconoclasts with the Eustathian Acts, they were already at that time held for ancient and genuine. For the rest, Combefis and Leo Allatius contend that our History not only has an ancient author, but one contemporary with St. Eustathius himself, or at least nearly so; and they say that the writer testifies this very thing in the proem.
[13] And thence they judge that undoubted credit accrues to the Acts, and Combefis contends that the writer professes himself thinking, unless I am mistaken, that everything must be held for genuine unless those who relegate his narration to inventions and fables convict a contemporary writer of lying and imposture, or prove that some things were afterwards stitched by an interpolator to the original History. Whether critics demand such proofs rightly or wrongly we shall see below: meanwhile let us hear Combefis. Behold, before all things, the passage from which he draws a contemporary author:
Πρόκεινται
δὲ
καὶ
ἐκ
τῶν
Θείων
γραφῶν
διδασκαλίαι
παμπληθεῖς·
καὶ
πράξεις
ἀνδρῶν
μακαρίων
και
ἀοιδίμων,
οἳ
εἰκόνες
τινές
εἰσιν
ἔμψυχαι
πρὸς
μίμησιν
τῶν
ἀγαθῶν
κατορθωμάτων,
τοῖς
βουλομένοις
ἕπεσθαι
ταῖς
αὐτῶν
ἀρεταῖς.
Οὐδὲν
οὖν
ἧττον
προεθέμην
προσθεῖναι
ἐγγράφως
τῶν
ἀρχαίων
ἀνδρῶν
ἀνδραγαθίας,
καὶ
τὰ
νῦν
ἐν
τοῖς
καιροῖς
ἡμῶν
κατορθωθέντα,
πρὸς
εὐεργεσίαν
μὲν
τῶν
ἀκουόντων,
ἐπιστροφὴν
δὲ
τῶν
φασκόντων,
μὴ
δύνασθαι,
νῦν
οἷα
τοιαῦτα
κατορτοῦσθαι,
ἐν
τοῖς
παλαιοῖς
χρόνοις,
ἵνα
γνῶσι
πάντες,
πῶς
οὔτε
χρόνων,
οὔτε
καιρῶν
δυσχέρειαι,
οὔδε
ἀναστροφὴ
ἀπηγορευμένου
βίου
ἐκπόδιον
γίνεται,
πρὸς
κατόρθωσιν
τῶν
ἀγαθῶν
ἔργων·
ἐὰν
γὰρ
θελήσῃ
τις
πρώτον
τῷ
φυσικῷ
νόμῳ
ἑπόμενος,
ἔτι
δὲ
καὶ
ταῖς
διδασκαλίαις
τῶν
προειρημένων
ὁσίων
πατέρων
ἀκολουθεῖν,
ῥαδίαν
εὑρήσει
ὁδὸν
τῆς
ἐναρέτου
πολιτείας.
[14] These Combefis renders thus: Nay, from the divine Scriptures also there stand forth very many doctrines; contemporary with the holy Martyrs. likewise the renowned deeds and exploits of blessed and famous men, who are set forth as plainly certain living images, by the emulation of the virtues in which they acted illustriously and with outstanding praise, for those willing to follow these their teachings. It has therefore been likewise resolved by me to consign to writing both the illustrious deeds of the heroes of old and those of the men who lately and in our own times have shone with the praise of virtue: namely, that hearers may feel the profit, but that those who utterly deny that we can now perform such things as in ancient times may cast away their error, and that all may know that neither the troubles of times nor of moments, nor indeed the past courses of an abandoned life, are a hindrance to a man's achieving illustrious things and duly cultivating virtue: for if only he have it resolved in mind to follow first the natural law, and then also the doctrines of the holy Fathers whom we have named, he will find easy the way of that discipline which shines with virtue. Thus, I say, the aforesaid editor of the Acts, who afterwards asserts in his appended Notes that the author betrays and signifies himself contemporary by these words; and not falsely, as he says, does he gather this from the character of a man most skillful in Christian simplicity.
[15] He trusts besides that Baronius, if he had seen the Acts published by him, But that would not have written what he has in the Annals at the year of Christ 120, number 4: We think, however, that many things have been added to them; but with his own candor would have held them with a milder censure, or rather, he says, would have venerated and praised the Acts as worthy of so great a Martyr, whose memory at Rome is illustrated by outstanding monuments, nay, most dear to the city and territory of Paris by the pledges of its protection, nay, most flourishing and most highly to be venerated in both the Christian world; would have venerated and praised them as so august, so full, so free of all paint; and would have adorned his most ample Annals with them as with a most precious and most beautiful gem. An outstanding elogium indeed, which would that one might adopt! As regards Baronius, the often-praised Tillemont notes that in Combefis's edition the same prodigies and admirable and unusual deeds are narrated as the Acts of Metaphrastes have, and which Baronius had seen and repudiated; and accordingly he suspects that he would not more mildly have judged Combefis's
Acts, against which the same reasoning would militate.
[16] from the Acts which he himself published, And of these one thing is altogether most certain, namely that, if you except a few things, and those of the very slightest moment, Metaphrastes not only added nothing new, but arranged and set forth those very things which in Combefis's Acts may seem less coherent in such a way that it appears he felt the difficulty and, having perceived it, strove to remove it. But it might be doubted whether Baronius held the strangeness of the facts so suspect that, if he had obtained a nearly contemporary author as surety for his credit, he would not have changed his censure, since in his Notes on the Martyrology, having adduced the ancient and constant memory of the holy martyr Eustathius and his Companions in both Churches, he shows himself favorable enough to our History. Although it is useless to dwell longer on such conjectures: let us return to Combefis's proem. The same Tillemont rightly observes that nothing can be made out from it for the antiquity of the Acts, at least that antiquity which Combefis tries to deduce from it. For if the biographer's words on which the aforesaid editor relies be more attentively considered — It has therefore been likewise resolved by me to consign to writing both the illustrious deeds of the heroes of old and those of the men who lately and in our own times have shone with the praise of virtue — it will remain at the least doubtful whether Placida, whose deeds he sets about to write, is to be reckoned among the heroes of old, or is rather one of those whom the anonymous writer asserts to have shone with the praise of virtue in his own time.
[17] it can by no means be made out. I say: it will remain at the least doubtful; for the sentence not obscurely hints that Eustathius must be referred to those earlier or ancient men, since the proem is prefixed to his Deeds, and it plainly becomes likely from the words adduced that the author began his work from the narrating of ancient deeds. One thing here I most greatly wonder at: namely that Combefis, who had Leo Allatius's Diatribe on the Writings of the Simeons handed over to him on deposit, as he testifies, and from it points out a passage different from his own manuscript, from which that which he was contending for with so great effort seemed to be made out by a plausible reasoning, did not rather publish these very Acts of Allatius — which without doubt he could easily have obtained — than his own, from which no one will hammer out a contemporary writer. Whatever be the case, behold the text of Allatius, which he produces in the Diatribe, page 108: Οὐδὲν
οὖν
ἧττον
προεθέμην
προσθῆναι
ταῖς
τῶν
ἀρχαίων
ἀνδρῶν
ἐγγράφοις
ἀνδραγαθίαις,
καὶ
τὰ
νῦν
ἐν
τοῖς
καιροῖς
ἡμῶν
κατορθωθέντα for which Combefis has: οὐδὲν
οὖν
ἧττον
προεθέμην
προσθῆναι
ἐγγράφως
τῶν
ἀρχαιῶν
ἀνδρῶν
ἀνδραγαθίαις,
καὶ
τὰ
νῦν
ἐν
τοῖς
καιροῖς
ἡμῶν
κατορθωθέντα.
[18] Allatius contends the same, from the Acts which he cites, Moreover both these and other things which he brings forward in the same place square word for word with our Medicean manuscript, whence I do not doubt that it was the very one which he had before his eyes. Wherefore I here present our proem almost entire, as I have made it Latin, that from the whole context it may more easily be judged what the sense of the aforecited words is. It is therefore this: Men have from nature itself, for the excellent exercise of the virtues, a domestic wrestling-school within themselves, which teaches that each ought to do to his neighbor those things which he himself would wish to be rendered to him by another; and that those thanks are to be rendered to God, the bestower of all benefits, which each would exact from him to whom he has done a benefit. And there are set forth in the divine Scriptures very many instructions and deeds of blessed and illustrious men, as it were certain living images for the emulation of things rightly and illustriously done, for those who wish to imitate their virtues. And so (behold the words in which Allatius's manuscript and ours differ from Combefis's) it has likewise been determined by me to add to the noble exploits of the ancients, which have been committed to letters, also those things which have now been excellently done in this our age, for the profit of the hearers, but for the conversion of those who judge that such things cannot at this time be rightly performed as were done with praise in ancient times; and that all may know that neither the times, nor the difficulties of these times, nor the depraved habit of a reprobate life is a hindrance to the perfect cultivating of virtue.
[19] For if only one strive, following first the law of nature, and we have manuscripts: nor improbably. and then also obeying the precepts of the holy Fathers whom I have named, he will find an easy way in the discipline of illustrious virtue. Here, I say, Allatius contends that the writer professes himself contemporary with the holy Martyr or nearly so, when he says that to the illustrious deeds of the ancients long since written he will subjoin those things which νῦν ἐν τοῖς καῖροις ἡμῶν, then in his own age, in his own time, had happened, which cannot be understood of the deeds of any others than of Eustathius, to which also the matter of the proem squares exactly. And this indeed is a sufficiently probable opinion of the learned man, but not certain; for one who should come to examine the proem with a mind prepossessed against the Eustathian History could — and that not with difficulty — twist the writer's somewhat ambiguous words so as to wish to persuade that he would have written truly even if he had lived two centuries and more after the times of our Saints. He might indeed argue that it is somewhat obscure whom the biographer names as ancients, to whose deeds he opposes the illustrious exploits of his own contemporaries. You render τὰ νῦν ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς ἡμῶν κατορθωθέντα, the critic will say, Those things which have now been illustriously done in this our age: but nothing forbids that Now in these our times should bear a wider sense. Certainly, if you say that the discourse is only of those ancients whose deeds are expressed in the divine Letters, you will assert not very incongruously that several centuries also, nay the whole space which had flowed from the times of the Apostles, is comprehended under νῦν ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς. Assuredly it is also doubtful of what ancient Fathers he here recalls the precepts to us, since he has nowhere made mention of any before.
[20] Although the writer seems to be left to Allatius, Arguments drawn from elsewhere do not take away who professes himself contemporary with the Saints or nearly so; for no necessity compels us to turn away from his words the more obvious sense, especially since examples past by many centuries must have availed little with those who denied that such illustrious things could be performed in their own time, whom nevertheless the anonymous author undertakes to unteach. Certainly the things which are further urged against so great an antiquity of the Acts can not ineptly be refuted. One is that negative argument which is wont to create no small difficulty for some. Namely, that deep silence for several centuries about our History in all calendars and monuments, both secular and profane and ecclesiastical and sacred. And indeed it might seem strange that of so many warlike expeditions and victories, of a commander of so illustrious a name, not a word, no mention of Placida or Eustathius, occurs anywhere among the writers who describe the deeds of Trajan's time; more to be wondered at, that so celebrated a History found no place in Eusebius, Jerome, and other holy Fathers and ancient ecclesiastical writers, who do not seem likely to have neglected it among the very many examples of virtue and steadfastness which they set before Christians for emulation, if it had existed at that time. Combefis felt the difficulty arising from these things against the age of the writer of his Acts, and strives to lighten it in his Notes.
[21] so great an antiquity. Perhaps the Placidus, And as regards profane writers, the aforesaid editor judges that he is a new man and a stranger at Rome and in Roman affairs who does not know that it was abundantly enough that Eustathius died as one accused of Christian superstition, for the memory of all his even most illustrious exploits to be swallowed by the bull of Phalaris. Certainly it is not alien from likelihood nor without example, what he says, that the gentiles set themselves to this, that the names of Christians, as of rebels and criminals, should be banished from the monuments, and, where inscribed with praise, should be erased, or that what they had illustriously done should be ascribed to others: so that on this side, which Placida has in common with certain others, the antiquity of the History seems able to suffer nothing. Moreover the aforesaid Combefis, following Baronius in the Notes on the Martyrology, seeks the memory of our Placida, which he acknowledges to be utterly deleted among the gentile writers, from Flavius Josephus, to whom, he says, Placidus was most well known in the Jewish war, as also to the emperor Trajan, who in the same war led the tenth legion. In the Life of Josephus, in the Basel edition of the year 1559, page 565, Placidus leads two cohorts and a squadron of horse to Ptolemais, and contends with Josephus's forces in many skirmishes, planning an irruption into Galilee. In the Jewish War, book 3, chapter 3, the tribune Placidus, commanding a thousand horse and six thousand foot, is sent by Vespasian as a help to the people of Sepphoris, and harasses Josephus's forces in various ways. In chapter 4 he first attacks Jotapata with a vain assault, but in chapter 13 he breaks in among the first with the cohorts obeying him and storms it.
[22] known to Flavius Josephus in the Jewish war, Then in book 4, chapter 2, he gains possession of Mount Tabor, the Jews being driven out. In book 5, chapter 3, he is sent by Vespasian against those who had fled from Gadara; having overtaken them he cuts them down, storms and plunders the village of Bethennabris, destroys with slaughter the Jews who had escaped thence, driven together to the bank of the Jordan, and finally makes the whole region beyond the river obey the Romans. So nearly Josephus concerning Placidus. But that this same man is our Placida I shall not affirm for certain. Josephus's Placidus was a tribune at the beginning of the Jewish war, whose beginning is bound to the year of Christ 66 according to Pagi's chronology, but to the preceding year according to others. Hadrian, under whom St. Eustathius suffered, came to the empire on Trajan's death on the 11th of August in the year of Christ 117. If we grant to the tribune Placidus an age of twenty-five years, capable of so many warlike expeditions, to Eustathius obtaining the laurel of martyrdom under Hadrian there will have to be attributed nearly eighty years: which old age will perhaps seem to some not to agree with the age of his Sons and Wife, with the labors of war, and with the other things which are narrated as done by Eustathius a little before his last laurel.
[23] is the same as our holy Martyr. But if anyone shall have judged a Man of so decrepit an age fit for bearing the hardships of war, by the example of Trajan, who at the same time had served as a soldier in Judæa, and a little before had died in subjugating the East, let him see that he does not exceed the longest period of life of all fixed for Trajan, sixty-three years. Certainly, if Trajan was born, as Pagi and others contend, on the 18th of September of the year 56, when he had stormed Japha in Josephus, book 3, chapter 11, on the 25th day of the month of June of the year of Christ 67, he would not yet have completed the twelfth year of his age: which let him admit who will. It is more likely to me, as Tillemont conjectures under Trajan, that Josephus's Trajan was the father of this emperor. Moreover those who so defend the Eustathian Acts as to hold as suspect these things which make against Combefis's opinion can in some measure conjecture from Josephus's testimony that the discourse there is of our Saint: for the diversity in the name is slight, and Eustathius could without difficulty have survived until Hadrian's times and been crowned with martyrdom, although it does not seem likely that those things were done by an Old man of so advanced an age
which were perhaps fastened upon him by the anonymous fable-maker.
[24] Combefis labors more in plucking out the scruple cast by the silence of the Christian authors. Against the antiquity of the History Of Eustathius, he says, the Latins also make mention, Usuard and Ado on the 2nd of November — if indeed Ado, and not his Appendix — and what they call the Eusebian Roman. It is strange that no memory of him exists in the Rosweydian Martyrology, if indeed that is truly the ancient Roman one … Although not rarely the memory of Saints and of Martyrs is more celebrated in other places than in those in which they lived or accomplished their combat. How ancient the title of Eustathius which exists at Rome is, is hidden from me. Certainly it is not recent, or else its origin must be laid open, if anyone contends that from the silence of the aforesaid Martyrology, or even of Gregory in the book of the Sacraments, the memory and cult of Eustathius are more recent. Thus he, after his custom, obscurely enough. That there is a memory of St. Eustathius in some ancient Martyrologies I shall show in §4: of the title of the Roman church of his name we shall likewise treat below, where some ancient documents about his cult will also be brought forward. But all these things, however ancient they be, prove indeed that the holy Martyr existed, but do not establish the antiquity of our History, since his announcement in the calendars is everywhere bare, and the rest can be drawn back to those earlier times only doubtfully.
[25] The more prudent are commonly wont to hold suspect the use of a negative argument of this kind, it is not effectively argued from the silence of the ancients, being taught by more than one example that those very men who use it are not rarely entangled in their own principles. And indeed its force is slight and commonly does not exceed a slight conjecture, unless it be circumscribed by strict rules. Among which, since critics commonly admit it, that it must be shown by those who have wished to use negative arguments that the fact against which they argue from a writer's silence could not have been hidden from him, and also that, if he had known it, he ought to have inserted it in his writings — the antiquity of the Acts is not much shaken by the silence of the cited authors, since we have more than one older history which they were ignorant of, and thence it may be conjectured that it could easily have happened that this of ours too did not reach them. For the rest, the often-praised Tillemont has tried to take away, or at least to weaken, from the style that probable antiquity and that prerogative arising from a contemporary writer: for he says: The style of the proem is by no means that which the Saints used who wrote in the second century. By these words, if I rightly grasp his mind, he hints two things: namely that the style of the preface is one, that of the appended History another; and secondly, that the style of the proem was not one usual to the Saints — Christians, unless I am mistaken — of the second century, though perhaps it was so to other writers of the same age.
[26] Since I have not undertaken to defend the Acts, it is not worth the labor to inquire too scrupulously from the style, how many and what Saints, writers of the second century, the aforesaid critic had, whose style was for him a whetstone and a rule by which he might test other writings, and in what that style differs from the method of other contemporary authors. The judgment of Leo Allatius, Combefis, and others about the style, which I have thought must here be particularly asked, I believe must be preferred to Tillemont's opinion, at least where Greek is in question. And they judge that the style of our anonymous author is not alien from that which was usual among the Greeks, even Catholic ones, of the first centuries. For the rest, no one will deny that the style of the proem is graver and more sublime than that in which the rest of the History is written. But how usual it was for writers of every age, and especially for biographers both Greek and Latin, to rise in their prefaces to an oratorical style, and afterwards to descend and pursue the deeds of their Hero with a lighter and more fluid pen, all know who have handled such monuments even with their first efforts. Ineptly therefore is anything urged from this against the biographer's age.
[27] and by the reasons which Baillet, Baillet in his Critical Table pronounces confidently thus: Allatius and Combefis contend that the writer of the Acts was contemporary with St. Eustathius: but if they had rightly proved this, they would rather have persuaded us that the Saint lived, together with the author, under the emperors of Constantinople, than have established that both flourished under the Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian. Confidently enough, I say, but without proof. For indeed I do not see by what rules of dialectic he would conclude that the biographer lived under emperors later than Constantine, if anyone should demonstrate that he was contemporary with the holy Martyrs. Not from the style: for he does not seem even to have read the Greek Acts. Perhaps because then the license of fable-making began to creep more widely and to spread more freely? But so to argue is, for philosophers, to beg the question: for Baillet has not demonstrated by certain arguments that the Eustathian Acts are fabulous according to their chief parts, which can at least be defended as doubtful. But if we also grant this for a while to the judgment of very many of the learned, that that History is not only clothed with some fables drawn from invention but also coheres wholly by nothing but fictions, Baillet's reasoning will still not cohere unless he shows that before the times of the emperors of Constantinople there were no fable-makers, no corrupters of Acts in the Church; which is surely most false.
[28] and others have alleged. Yet no great weight is set on I forbear to note that the aforesaid Baillet without any reason so accuses our anonymous author as being too shameless and impudent, who referred the affairs of his own time, corrupted with very many fables, to other emperors and to far earlier times, while at the same time he presents the men of those centuries as all fatuous and stupid, who held and believed such inventions, mingled with matters known to themselves, as true. For that they believed and held them for true may be suspected from what I said above about St. John Damascene. Moreover there are those who attack the antiquity of the Eustathian Acts on the ground that Eustathius is said to have been created Master of the soldiers by the emperor Trajan. They contend with Panciroli that the office or dignity of Master of the soldiers was instituted only by Alexander Severus; whence they argue that our Passion was written after his times. And these things can perhaps obtain something against the Latin version, but nothing against the original Greek Acts, where for Master of the soldiers is read Στρατηλάτης, which word signifies commander of an army and any other almost military dignity as much as, if not more frequently than, the Mastership of the soldiers. Let there remain therefore for the Eustathian Acts a writer who professes himself nearly contemporary with the holy Martyrs, whose deeds he narrates, or rather disfigures with countless ornaments.
[29] Although this testimony of the anonymous writer might be of no great weight among more severe critics. that testimony of the anonymous author about his own age. For they will reply that they have been taught by more than one example that the craftiest fable-makers are wont to feign themselves near to the things which they narrate, that they may summon so much the more authority, at least among simple and credulous men, for their fictions. But if you charge them with too severe a censure, and contend that anyone's bad faith must be established by due arguments, it can easily be answered that he can, from the known habit of fable-making, without injury be here at least held suspect. But if nevertheless you press more ardently and contend that his pretended age must be left to him, they will urge that you make him so much the more an impudent fable-maker, who sprinkled the affairs of his own time with such unusual inventions and clothed them all with the appearance of a poem, and that without doubt not for the sake of exercising his style, but from a zeal for deceiving his readers, whom indeed he professes to wish to instruct, not only to delight. Whether these things can be said rightly or wrongly, let the reader judge: assuredly with me, whether you set the biographer as nearly contemporary with the Saints or as later, you will not obtain that I believe that everything has been reported in good faith.
§3. A note of error in the faith is more rigidly fastened upon the author. There are brought forward the things which further seem in some measure to commend the Acts: finally it is determined in what place they can be held.
The Acts are charged with heresy by the more rigid, Hesselius, a critic not very severe in Tillemont's judgment, in his Censure of History, chapter 11, thus briefly settles the whole matter. The Life of St. Eustathius, he says, which begins "In the days of Trajan" … displeases. Because, besides fabulous things, it says against the Catholic faith: That, when he adored idols and served demons, he was full of all virtues, and that he was worthy to be called by God, and that he feared God and was acceptable to him, and that his alms were remembered in the sight of God, and that he was another Cornelius the Centurion. Tillemont admits Hesselius's censure, and about it Baillet pronounces thus, volume 3, column 263: The instruction which would seem to be the end or fruit of it (of the Eustathian History) is not without danger, if it be true that that Work contains very many things which are contrary to the faith, as some learned men have noted. Very many things of this kind I do not find; there are nevertheless some things there asserted rather crudely, which, if they be nakedly measured by theological rigor, seem to establish merit in the moral works of a heathen man. But such things are wont, even without danger, to be connived at in biographers, especially if they wrote before the heresies against which they seem incautiously to strike, and their words can be taken in a milder sense. Certainly, since our author compares Eustathius's works with the works of Cornelius the centurion, he seems to have acknowledged in Eustathius even then a faith in God, though he was perhaps still indulging an outward worship of idols. If in this sense, which some other things besides seem to suggest, the anonymous author's words be taken, they will be in some measure tolerable, as I shall show in the Annotations.
[31] The Eustathian Acts have this peculiar to them among perhaps all those which have come under suspicion of falsity, which they have peculiar among other fabulous ones, that without huge and heaped-up prodigies they so cohere that, God's continual providence alone governing, almost everything that is narrated seems to have been able to happen within the usual order of nature. For if you take away some apparitions and two or three not very unusual miracles, most of it does not stray from the common order of things, and it so coheres that to one searching most scrupulously not only will nothing impossible occur in it, but scarcely anything from which you might confirm the suspicion of invention arising from the marvellous connection of various chances; so that this anonymous fable-maker of ours must have been very prudent, who designated various places, expressed times here and there, and so described journeys and things like these, which are the rocks on which fable-makers commonly dash themselves, that he scarcely anywhere appears to have forgotten himself; nay, has alleged nothing which seems contrary to the assertions of other writers who have handed down the affairs of that time, as will be clear below, where I shall arrange some chronology of the Eustathian Acts.
[32] that the writer scarcely anywhere has forgotten himself There is one passage which, together with that to which it is referred, savors of fable among all of them not the least, and where the biographer, having forgotten himself, seems to betray himself a fable-maker. Namely, the conversation of Agapius and Theopistus in number 16, narrating their own fortunes to one another. For in number 10 Eustathius, one of his Sons having been carried across to the opposite bank of the river, returns to carry the other across likewise, and now the middle
channel he holds, when he sees him seized by a lion rushing upon him and carried off into the wood. The sorrowful Father returns to the one whom he had carried across the ford: but him too he sees snatched away by a wolf. But in the cited number 16 the firstborn Agapius narrates that he was carried off by the lion, and adds what befell his younger Brother on the opposite bank from the wolf, which nevertheless he must not have known, having already been seized before by the lion. This part of the narration, which is about Theopistus, is absent from the Greek, both ours and Combefis's, but all the Latin ones present Agapius speaking thus: A wolf coming carried off that younger Brother of mine: and before he (my Father) had drawn near to me, suddenly a lion, leaping out of the wood, carried me off; which makes me suspect that these things too were once in the Greek, especially since Theopistus answers: Ἐγνώρισα
γὰρ,
ἅ
διηγήσω
μοι
καὶ
οἱ
ἐμὲ
γὰρ
ἀναθρεψάμενοι
ταῦτα
μοι
ἔλεγον·
ὅτι
ἐκ
λύκου
σε
ἐῤῥυσάμεθα. For I know the things which you have narrated to me, for those also who brought me up used to say to me that we rescued you from a wolf; which not obscurely presuppose such a speech of Agapius. Metaphrastes, as I hinted above, seems to have felt this error of the biographer and to have tried so to correct it that Agapius says that both of them were carried off by the wild beasts as at one given signal: but even so it appears little intelligible how he could have learned his brother's mishap from the opposite bank; especially since in the Acts of Metaphrastes, §10, in Surius, it is even clearer than in ours that the elder-born was carried off long before the younger. Whatever be the case, these things can without doubt be dismissed to invention.
[33] as he thus narrates his own matters Elsewhere the anonymous author is happier, circumspect even as to the chronology itself. It pleases here to weave some chronology, that you may wonder at his prudence and dexterity in fable-making — unless you rather suspect that some original history of St. Eustathius was before his eyes, which in these matters he cautiously followed. And so Trajan came to the empire in the month of January of the year of Christ 98, and laid it down with his life in the month of August of the year 117. The first Dacian war is commonly fixed in the fourth year of his rule, upon which two or three years later followed another expedition, by which he subdued Decebalus and the nations allied to him, and made Dacia and some adjacent regions of Roman jurisdiction. About the same time Palma, prefect of Syria, subdued Arabia Petræa, for which victory games were celebrated at Rome. Then in the year of Christ 106 Trajan set out for the East, and at the beginning of the following year condemned St. Ignatius at Antioch, and from the East, the Armenians having been conquered and some neighboring regions subdued, as the learned today judge from coins, he returned to Rome, and about the year 112 advanced again against the Parthians, and subjected to the Roman empire Adiabene, Assyria, and all Persis, and all the dwellers by the Persian gulf; and while he was sailing toward the Ocean about the year 116, the Jews and very many other peoples rebelled, against whom he both set out himself and sent various commanders, who fought with varying success. Finally Trajan, having vainly attempted by siege Atra — others read Agara — a stronghold of the Arabs, being seized with sickness and about to return to Rome, died at Selinus in Cilicia. So nearly Tillemont concerning Trajan, from Pliny, Dio, Xiphilinus, Eutropius, and others.
[34] Placida is said, at the very beginning of the Acts, to be set over the soldiers by the emperor Trajan; so that with the testimonies of other writers which could have happened in the second or third year of his rule, of Christ 99 or 100; and if in the last of these or in the following you place the wonderful conversion of Eustathius, and grant one year to the misfortunes by which his domestic affairs melted away and to his flight toward Egypt, and add to these the fifteen years in which he acted as guardian of the fields at Badyssus, his recognition will run out into the year of Christ 116. Thence he was brought by a journey of fifteen days to Trajan, then staying in the East and perhaps in Arabia; he enrolled soldiers, advanced against the barbarians, crossed the river Hydaspes, penetrated into the inner region of the enemy, and, the war having been everywhere happily waged, returned to Rome with a victorious army about the year of Christ 118, since Hadrian did not come to Rome before that year, at the beginning of whose rule the Acts sufficiently hint that St. Eustathius suffered. These things being thus determined, whoever shall wish to indulge conjectures more freely will be able to clear up the remaining and more obscure points. And first indeed, to that search for Placida and to Trajan's anxiety, which seem less credible of a haughty and ambitious prince, such as writers everywhere depict Trajan, they will be able to reply that this ought to appear nothing strange, since a man otherwise magnanimous fell in spirit when he saw the labors of so many years and immense sums of money come to nothing in the almost universal tumult of the conquered peoples.
[35] Certainly that Trajan was worn out no less by sickness of mind than of body Xiphilinus hints from Dio, done in Trajan's time when he asserts that he labored much under dropsy, which he also assigns among the chief causes of his death. Nay, Dio in Baronius at the year of Christ 114 writes that a very great weariness of wars seized Trajan after these tumults of peoples rebelling on every side, and at the same time enumerates various commanders — Lusius, Maximus, Erucius Clarus, Alexander, and others — whom about that time the emperor sent with forces to repress the assaults of the barbarians, among whom perhaps Placida received forces to lead. About Badyssus one gropes in the dark. If any credit is to be given the Acts, that village seems not to have been far from the river where Eustathius is said to have lost his Children. On these matters James of Vitry writes thus in his Narration, or book 3 of the Eastern History, in Martène, volume 3 of the Anecdota, column 273: Lebanon is a mountain of Phœnicia, from whose root the rivers Pharphar and Abana of Damascus rise. The Abana flows across the plains of Mount Lebanon and of Arcas, joining itself to the Great Sea in those parts in which Eustachius, bereft of his Wife and Sons, withdrew desolate.
[36] may not with difficulty, There are (in Calmet on 4 Kings, chapter 5, verse 12) those who have surveyed Syria and Damascus, and assert that they found there no trace of the names Pharphar and Abana. Others in the same place report on the contrary that the river which cuts through Damascus is even today called Farfar and Farfaro. Very many confound the Abana with the Orontes, while very many again protest. Certainly among the recent Monuments of the Eastern Missions, volume 6, page 126, these two rivers are assigned on the borders of Damascus, and their course is described. The course of the Orontes in the Map of M. de l'Isle does not much deviate from the description of the Abana which James of Vitry here gives. In Cellarius, Notice of the Ancient World, book 3, page 242, an anonymous river washes the plain of Arcas or Arcena, which is a town of Phœnicia, and thence glides westward and mingles with the sea at Tripoli. But whether it be that one, or some other, whose channel has now either been turned elsewhere or drained by channels and ditches dug for watering the fields and refreshing the cities, our writer's discourse is of Phœnicia, of Antiochene, or of Seleucis, where, if Eustathius lay hidden, what is here narrated in the Acts fits together conveniently. Others think that he landed in Cilicia, Egypt, or Arabia Petræa with his Wife and Children, and, all these being afterwards lost, dwelt not far thence; in whose conjecture too there is nothing which is repugnant to what is narrated, since certainly at that time Trajan was in the East, and perhaps in Arabia itself, to whom therefore it is not incredible that he could come by a journey of fifteen days.
[37] at least by conjecture, be reconciled, About the barbarians whom he is said to have subdued there is likewise nothing which is opposed to the writers of those times. Placida crossed the river Hydaspes with a victorious army, and burst into the inner dominion of the routed barbarians. The cosmographers describe from the writers two rivers of that name: one Indian, eastward of the river Indus into which it flows; the other Persian, which waters Susiana and is called the Medus, because it either rises on the borders of Media or bursts forth after a subterranean course. It is by some confounded with the Choaspes and the Eulæus, is distinguished by others, and is by all placed nearest to the mouths of the Tigris. Of which of the two the discourse is in our Acts, if one must divine, the opinion must stand for the Persian. Against Trajan there without doubt rebelled peoples — if perhaps you except only the Parthians and the Mesenians — who widely surround Susiana, and against these Placida could have been sent with an army. That Trajan extended his victories beyond Parthia on the east is not sufficiently certain; and from there to the Indian Hydaspes is too great a space of lands for Placida to be believed to have penetrated thither.
[38] may be put together. For the rest, the manuscript of St. Gall, in that part in which it differs from the others, has concerning Eustathius's last expedition: And all were turned to flight, and the borders of Pannonia were thus freed: by which it is clearly hinted that Eustathius had to do with the Dacians or the neighboring barbarians. And that the Dacians indeed, and the nearest nations lately conquered with them, often tried to shake off the yoke of the Romans, we learn from Xiphilinus. It is likely too that those tumults were chiefly stirred up after Hadrian had gone off from Pannonia, where he had been with forces, into the East with Trajan in the year of Christ 111 or the following, and thus fell in that time in which the last expedition of St. Eustathius against the rebel barbarians must have happened. If he waged war in Pannonia, he did not extend it as far as the river Hydaspes: for from there to drive back and press the enemy as far as Susiana or India is to run over an immense tract of the world with an army; which neither do the Acts persuade, nor should I believe it. Therefore either some river about Pannonia, Thrace, or Mysia comes under the name of Hydaspes with our biographer, or Eustathius waged war in the East, whither also it would be easier to believe that his wife Theopiste was brought by the barbarian shipmaster, than that she was brought back from the East, whither they had sailed, to the regions neighboring Pannonia. However it be, from all these things it is clear that nothing is dug out of our Acts which is contrary to the testimonies of those writers who have left us the memory of the things done at that time: and accordingly on this side too they have something which elsewhere you would scarcely find in other fabulous Acts, and those so long.
[39] For the rest, it might be further inquired here what those chief parts of the Eustathian History are for me What things can be left as doubtful which I would wish left before the rest among narratives of doubtful credit. I answer: although certain definite ones cannot be certainly determined, all those are to me doubtful which are simpler and have not too openly the superinduced appearance of a poem. Some of this kind I have hitherto enumerated here and there as without doubt to be rejected to invention; to these let him who will add the apparitions, and I shall not oppose it; but the rest, as regards the thing itself — if here and there you should wish more obstinately to blame the manner in which the facts are narrated — remain at least doubtful to me. Assuredly into my mind
I cannot bring myself, nay I cannot even suspect, that the whole body of that History is false and drawn from the writer's invention, lest we erase Eustathius himself and his Wife and Children from the roll of mortals and believe them fabulous heroes of the Elysian fields. So far the editor of the Prato Usuard seems to have gone, when he says in his Observations at this day: For the rest, I do not wonder that Usuard struck Eustachius out of his codex (namely on the 20th of September); but I greatly wonder that he could ever (on the 2nd of November) have admitted him. By which words, unless I am mistaken, he wishes the very name of Eustathius erased from the sacred calendars.
[40] But with him, I say, I cannot agree, since of St. Eustathius there is in the Church so ancient from the Acts, which as fabulous, and so celebrated a memory, such as I shall bring forward in the following §, and which makes me believe with certainty that the foundation of this History is true, although I suspect with Baronius that very many things have been superadded to it by the writer's invention. It would be worth the labor to inquire further whether among those doubtful things there be none true and certain, and to cut these further away from the other suspect ones: and that we should perform this at this day Papebroch in the Greek-Muscovite Ephemerides and Sollier in his Observations on Usuard at the 1st of November seemed to promise; wherefore Baillet in advance — I do not know whether sincerely enough — thought thanks should be rendered to us. I would gladly satisfy in some measure my elders' doubtful promises and the wishes of the learned; but I candidly confess that I have attempted it diligently, and yet in vain, being destitute of that erudition and of that experience acquired by the long use of years, which alone here seem to have been likely to be a help to my elders; nay, since documents and testimonies older than our Acts, or coming near their age, and not derived from them, are not found, everything is lacking, in my judgment, from which the desired discrimination could be made with any probability and certainty.
[41] It would be easy to hammer out from the Acts some bare history: we shall publish the Greek and Latin to assert that Eustathius was a noble man in the army, was called to the faith, lost his Wife and Children in war, afterwards recovered them, and finally, after the profession of the Christian faith, was crowned with the laurel of martyrdom together with his Wife and Children. But on what authority would these things be asserted, except only the last, for which countless testimonies in the sacred calendars vote? Plainly on none. Therefore, as regards those things which I have not indicated can be cut away without scruple, I leave the judgment to the reader, and shall print the Eustathian Acts as fabulous: the Greek from the Medicean manuscript codex of the king of France, which seem to be the earliest of all and the most correct. I shall add a Latin version likewise most ancient from our excellent and very old codex marked Q Ms. 5, which, where it is deficient, I shall compare with other manuscripts, or shall myself supply, and shall illustrate after my custom with annotations, when I have first set forth what regards the cult of the holy Martyrs, and then have examined the pious endeavors of Athanasius Kircher.
§4. The ancient memory of St. Eustathius and his Companions in the sacred calendars, their cult in various places, their relics.
The memory of St. Eustathius and his Companions is found Usuard at the 2nd day of November brings back the memory of St. Eustathius, which, as they will have it, he had struck out at the 20th of September, in these words: At Rome in the times of the emperor Hadrian, the passion of the blessed Eustathius, surnamed Placidus (the Prato one, on the editor's testimony, has Placida) and of his wife Theospis, with his sons Agapius and Theospitus, whose wonderful Acts are read. That this is Usuard's own announcement Sollier judges, yet in such a way that he does not deny that in older monuments the memory of the Saints is found. Florentinius at the 1st day of November notes thus: At the dedication of the basilica of Macedonia, or the memory of the Martyrs, there precedes in the Corbie Martyrology the veneration of St. Eustachius the martyr with his Wife and Sons, which nevertheless, since it does not exist in our books nor in the Antwerp one, and since his feast both in the Hagiologies of the Latins and in the Menologies of the Greeks is celebrated on the 20th day of September, I should judge to have been added there by the pious devotion of some antiquary. On which Papebroch noted: Not so of it d'Achery, volume 4 of the Spicilegium, page 680, and so indeed signifies that he does not subscribe to Florentinius's judgment; and not undeservedly: for no reason is alleged why he should here reject the Corbie one, which not rarely he adopts before his own, namely because he is commemorated on another day in the Greek and Latin calendars; for this very thing is plainly false.
[43] in almost all the most ancient martyrologies, For, to say nothing of almost all the Usuardian ones which announce St. Eustathius on the 1st or 2nd day of November, the Hieronymian copies, and those which are reduced to them, make his memory on those days not a few times. The Martyrology of d'Achery praised above has this at the Kalends of November: And the passion of St. Eustachius the martyr with his Wife and Sons. At the same day the Corbie one in Martène, Anecdota, volume 3, column 1585, agrees, as also our Corbie one in volume 6 of June, except that mention of the holy Martyrs is made on the 2nd day of November, on which they are also celebrated in the Reichenau one printed in the same place, in these words: Of Eustachius and his Companions, martyrs. To the Hieronymian ones may likewise be reduced the ancient Calendar of the monastery of Lyre, in the aforesaid Martène, Anecdota, volume 3, column 1605, which almost alone among the ancient ones, together with the old Neapolitan Calendar lately found, mentions St. Eustasius and his Sons on the 20th of September. Bede's metrical martyrology in d'Achery is silent about our Saints, but in our work, volume 2 of March, among the Appendices to Florus, from the Arras and Tournai manuscripts they are commemorated thus: On the same day (the Kalends of November) the passion of the holy martyrs Eustachius and of his wife Theospis and of his sons Agapitus and Theospis, who in the time of the emperor Hadrian, when they were unwilling to sacrifice to the gods, being alike thrown into a brazen ox, were burned with fire. But in the Barberini copy: And elsewhere the deposition of Eustachius the soldier with his Wife and two sons.
[44] In the same place it is noted that the earlier announcement is found also in the Lérins one at the following day. which are attributed to Jerome, as also in In Martène, Ample Collection, volume 6, column 652 and following, three ancient calendars which can bear on this matter celebrate the holy Martyrs. An old English Calendar keeps the memory of St. Eustathius the martyr on the 4th of the Nones of November. At the same day the Martyrology of the distinguished church of Auxerre agrees: At Rome the passion of St. Eustachius with his Wife and two Sons. The Stavelot Calendar in the same place, unless I am mistaken, renews the memory of St. Eustathius twice: for at the 1st day of November it announces thus: The passion of St. Eustathius with his Sons; but it had premised at the 19th of September the name of St. Eustochia, corrupted from the name of our Saint, unless perhaps someone should contend that St. Eustochius, bishop of Tours, of whom on the preceding day, is designated. However it be, on the 20th day of September St. Eustathius is announced there also in the old Verdun Calendar. I forbear to recount other monuments which are wont to be referred to Bede or Florus, and come down to Ado. Three most praised codices of the Queen of Sweden, which were to Georgi the incitement and almost the sole cause for illustrating and collating Rosweyde's Ado, unanimously announce thus at the 2nd day of November: At Rome the passion of St. Eustachius the martyr, who before was called Placidus, with his Wife and two sons Agapius and Theopiste, whose wonderful Acts are read.
[45] From these few words the ancient Fulda Martyrology so differs, the copies of Bede or Florus, and in several Adonian codices. which the aforesaid Georgi printed after Ado: At Rome the birthday of holy Eustachius the martyr, who before was called Placida, with his Wife and Sons, whose wonderful passions are read. In the same place also the Vatican Calendar and both Milanese ones briefly mention Eustathius at the 20th of September. Rosweyde reported these things among the Appendices to his Ado at the same day: At Rome the birthday of the holy martyrs Eustachius, Agapitus, Theopistus, and Philista; and then on the 2nd of November: Likewise the passion of St. Eustachius, of his Wife, and of his Sons. From so many and so distinguished ancient monuments a scruple at least should seem to have arisen for those who judged that the elogium of Eustathius and his Companions must certainly be adjudged away from Jerome or Eusebius, from Bede, Florus, and Ado. I do not contend that it must be ascribed plainly to any of them; I only assert that it appears to me in some measure doubtful; but that what Florentinius had written is false, namely that St. Eustathius is celebrated at the 20th of September in the sacred calendars, since almost all the most ancient Latin ones place the memory of the holy Martyr either on the 4th of the Nones of November or on the Kalends themselves, on which he had read him inscribed in his own Corbie one. All the Latin Acts which I have seen vote with these, as may be seen in the Annotations there.
[46] Besides this, mention of St. Eustathius has been referred to other days. Among other martyrologists on different days, Wandelbert sings thus:
A specimen of virtue, and the form and glory of suffering
martyrdom, Eustachius triumphs on the thirteenth and tenth [*].
In Fronto's ancient Roman Calendar this is read on my page 137: On the 11th day of the month of September, the birthday of St. Eustochius (the same things are found in the Hautvillers Calendar in Martène, volume 5 of the Anecdota, column 76, letter l), which Fronto with Tillemont, Sollier, and others commonly judge must be referred to our St. Eustathius, since the Calendar itself betrays its own error, marking already before the 16th the memory of SS. Lucy and Euphemia: and accordingly they warn that the day must be corrected and 21, nay 20, be read. Moreover this same holy Martyr of ours with his Companions is announced on the 20th of May in the Martyrology of the Pilgrims in the most illustrious de Aste in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology, and in a manuscript of Cassino; but in Ludolf, in the sacred calendars of the Ethiopian church, Eustatius is celebrated by the Copts on the 15th of this month of September, as was said there among the Prætermissi, probably the same man who in the same author is indicated on this 20th day of September in these words: Eustathius with his Son and Wife.
[47] and even repeatedly, the holy Martyrs, Among the more recent martyrologists Canisius twice, and Maurolico three times, brings back mention of the holy Martyrs. Our manuscript Florarium on the 20th day of September has this: At Rome, of the holy martyrs Eustacius, surnamed Placidus, and Theopiste his Wife, Agapitus and Theopistus their sons, whose wonderful trial, and separation from one another, and again wonderful recognition, and glorious passion under the emperor Hadrian, are read. Their festival is chiefly kept on the morrow of All Saints; where afterwards this is read: At Rome, in the times of the emperor Hadrian, the passion of the blessed Eustacius, surnamed Placidus, and of his Wife Theospite with his sons Agapitus and Theospitus, whose wonderful acts are read. Although their festival is held on the twelfth of the Kalends of October, yet here at their translation it is more fully kept. For the rest, I forbear to recount the throng of martyrologists who keep the memory of the Saints on different days. All the Greek sacred calendars which I have seen — with Allatius's Calendar, the printed Basilian Menologium and our manuscripts, Sirmond's Synaxary, Selden's two Ethiopian calendars, the Greek-Muscovite Ephemerides printed among us in volume 1 of May, the Anthologies, the ancient one and that lately reprinted at Venice — celebrate the holy Eustathius and his Companions on this 20th of September.
[48] yet in the Greek calendars constantly at the 20th of September, On the same day in the Roman Martyrology of Baronius they are announced thus: At Rome the passion of the holy martyrs Eustachius and Theopistis his Wife with their two sons Agapius and Theopistus, who under the emperor Hadrian, being condemned to the beasts but by God's help in no way harmed by them, being shut up in a glowing brazen ox, consummated their martyrdom. The elogia which are in the Greek calendars commonly agree rather with the interpolation of Metaphrastes. In the Menæa it is sung thus:
Εὐστάθιον
βοῦς
παγγενῆ
καλκοῦς
φλέγει,
Καὶ
παγγενῆ
σὺ
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
σώζεις
λόγε.
Εἰκάδι
Εὐστάθιος
γενεῇ
ἅμα
ἐν
βοἳ
καύθη.
A brazen ox burns Eustathius with his whole household,
and thou, Word of God, savest him with his whole household.
On the twentieth Eustathius with his whole family is burned in an ox.
The Basilian Menologium celebrates the Saints with this elogium: The great martyr Eustathius, commander of the soldiery, was famous at Rome under the emperor Trajan, and his name before was Placida, but his Wife's Tatiana. But on account of his almsgiving God willed to take counsel for his salvation. For to Eustathius as he was hunting Christ appeared in the shape of a stag having between its horns a Cross surpassing the rays of the sun in splendor, and in the midst the image of Christ: and there came forth from the stag a voice, saying: Placida, why dost thou persecute me? I am Jesus Christ.
[49] are announced. The elogia which there Believing therefore in him, he was baptized together with his Wife and Sons and all his House. But he was so assailed by the devil that he not only suffered the loss of his goods, but saw his Wife led away captive, his Sons carried off by wild beasts, and himself, naked in a foreign land, compelled to seek his living by hired labor. But God restored to him his Wife and Sons and riches: for, being sought by the emperor, he is placed in his former grade of dignity. But afterwards, being known to be a Christian, he was thrown into a glowing brazen ox together with his Wife and Sons, and died. These things, as is clear, are abridged from the Acts. For the rest, as the memory of SS. Eustathius and his Companions is most celebrated in the Martyrologies and Calendars, so it is illustrious in other sacred calendars, and likewise referred to different days. In two most ancient Breviaries which we have in manuscript, mention of them is made on the 2nd of November, yet in such a way that there is nothing proper about the holy Martyrs in the Office. The Speyer one printed in the year 1478 venerates St. Eustathius and his Companions on the same day with a semi-double rite, and has three proper Lessons containing at length all that is narrated in our Acts. In other particular churches also, as is clear from Calendars and Breviaries, a cult is prescribed on the aforesaid 2nd day of November, which afterwards, as it had been drawn back to this day from the Kalends of November, where it is announced in the most ancient calendars and in the appendix to the Gregorian Sacramentary in Gavanto, on account of the introduced festival of All Saints, so afterwards was thrown back to other days on account of the occurring Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. Hence in the diocese of Paris on the 3rd of the same month, on the solemn feast of St. Marcellus, a commemoration is made of the holy Martyrs.
[50] In the ancient Roman ones, however, which we have printed at Venice in the year 1479 and 1518, stand, as also in as in the more recent ones, their memory is constantly set on the 20th of September. Baillet observes on these things from Gavanto that until the middle of the sixteenth century the universal feast through the Church was only simple; nay, that Pope Pius V removed the Lesson on St. Eustathius and ordered a Homily on the Vigil of St. Matthew the Evangelist to be put in its place; that Urban VIII afterwards in the year 1625 raised the feast to a semi-double rite, and finally Clement IX — nay X, namely on the 26th day of January 1671, as Merati notes — to a double, with which the holy Martyrs are hitherto prescribed to be venerated in the Roman Breviary, where also three Lessons abridged from the Acts are proper to them. We have a most complete Roman Breviary printed at Venice by the noble man Lord Luca de Giunta of Florence in the year from the Lord's nativity 1522, in which at the 20th of September this rubric is premised: On the Vigil of St. Matthew the office is made of St. Eustachius and his Companions as of a simple feast. The feast of St. Eustachius, if it fall on a Sunday, is transferred, and nine Lessons are made of it, notwithstanding the Rubric, because it has often been said that no feast passes on account of the Commemoration. And so it is also ordained and done by the Friars. Yet it is not everywhere a solemn feast, although it is a feast which does not pass. Wherefore the Ordinary sets down in the Missal that the Mass be of the Vigil of St. Matthew and a Commemoration of St. Eustachius.
[51] And therefore if this feast of Eustachius fall on a Monday, then on the Sunday it shall in no way be changed from the Chapter for that feast of St. Eustachius, certain ancient Breviaries. because according to all it was never a feast to which Sunday yielded or yields, and also it has no proper Responsories, nor is it privileged, except that it is not changed from its own place. Nay, according to the ancient Ordinary it is a lesser feast than a simple feast of 9 Lessons, because a simple feast of 9 Lessons occurring on a Sunday used to be transferred, and 9 Lessons were afterwards made of it. By which Gavanto's observation is confirmed. Moreover the Office which is there prescribed has nine Lessons, and, if you except the chapters and versicles, everything is proper to St. Eustathius and taken from his Acts. But as the memory of our holy Martyrs is everywhere most celebrated, so very many churches scattered through the whole Christian world claim their sacred relics for themselves. But it will be worth while to have noted beforehand that about most of them nothing certain can be asserted; for since the name of St. Eustathius is common to other Saints also, and akin to several, nay perhaps such as could be imposed on holy bodies dug out of the Roman cemeteries and, as we commonly say, baptized, the relics of a Saint of the same name, obtained or found, have easily been believed, as commonly happens, to be those of our most celebrated Martyr. Yet I should not wish anyone so to take these words as though I asserted that either all, or particularly some, of the relics to be recounted are wrongly believed to be the sacred pledges of Eustathius the Roman martyr; I only indicate the source from which the confusion could flow, and, being destitute of proofs and documents, such doubt as I have about them. And so, that I may not be endless, I enumerate some relics of St. Eustathius which have come in my way.
[52] Various churches claim the sacred relics. Most are uncertain. The body Our Belgium alone is said in Le Rays's Hierogazophylacium to be enriched with very many: where the church of St. Amatus of Douai, page 45, that of Echternach, page 212, and that of Liessies, page 280, glory in his sacred bones. A tooth of St. Eustathius Cologne Agrippina ascribes to its sacred treasures, and two other parts of the Saint's body, in Gelenius, pages 310, 266, and 688. In Germany, which venerates our St. Eustathius among her Auxiliary Saints, and under that name has erected altars to him in more than one place, there are two parts of the holy body, which are numbered in the Lipsanography of Brunswick-Lüneburg, pages 8 and 50. In the Diary of the sacred relics of the church of Prague in the Phosphorus, page 518, at this day there are numbered by Pessina some parts of the holy Protector and his Companions, one distinguished above the rest, brought by Charles in the year 1370. Others without doubt are honored in other cities and churches, but to review each would be long. Tamayo in his Notes on the Spanish Martyrology at the 20th day of September warns that Jerónimo de Quintana, History of Madrid, book 3, chapter 113, page 444, should be seen for the translation of our Saint's remains from Rome to Madrid to the royal monastery of discalced nuns sacred to St. Clare, and writes in the margin: The body at Madrid. The aforesaid History of Quintana I do not have at hand; I have consulted the Historical Relation of the foundation of that monastery written in Spanish by Juan Carrillo of the Order of St. Francis of the Observance, where a catalogue is woven of the sacred relics which the royal monastery possesses. Among them I have found none of our St. Eustathius, nor do I believe that the Saint's body was brought to Madrid after the year 1616, in which the work just praised was published.
[53] of the holy Martyr Tamayo wrongly contends to rest at Madrid, since the Romans Therefore Tamayo, who has striven to carry off with his pen almost all the sacred treasures of the whole world into Spain, calls a perhaps tiny part of the holy body a body, or has confounded the relics of one baptized, as we commonly say, from the cemeteries, or of another Saint of the same name, with the remains of our most celebrated Eustathius. Certainly Piazza in his Sacred Hemerology, part 2, at this 20th day of September asserts that in the church distinguished by the name of the holy martyr Eustathius there is preserved beneath the chief altar a part of a military spear and the bodies of our Saints. Understand this too of the greater part; for the aforesaid author subjoins that the churches of St. Andrew on the Quirinal hill and of St. Cecilia are enriched with the sacred remains of the glorious martyr Eustathius, but the basilica of St. Martin on the Mount with those of St. Theopiste his wife. A marble document, of whose credit I should not dare to doubt, and from which it can be proved that in the twelfth century the bodies of the Saints were still kept in the Eustathian church, you have in the often-to-be-praised Athanasius Kircher, Eustathio-Marian History, part 5, page 158. There it is said: Beneath the greater altar in an onyx casket (Martinelli reads in a shell-shaped one) are the bodies of the Saints with a marble title: "Here rest the bodies of the holy martyrs Eustachius and of his wife Theopiste, and of their sons Agapitus and Theopistus." I, Celestine, bishop of the Catholic Church, with the aforesaid bishops both saw with my eyes and handled with my hands (Martinelli has tractavi, I do not know whether faithfully) the bodies of the Saints, and laid them up with the ancient title in a mausoleum beneath the altar.
[54] To these things Baillet did not attend, who in volume 3, column 262, begins the second number nearly thus: [rightly claim it for themselves, the French, so far as appears, contending in vain] The body of St. Eustathius is said to have been preserved at Rome in the church of his name until the twelfth century, and then at the beginning of this century to have been translated thence into the Gauls, and laid up in the abbey of St. Denis. To the marble document mentioned above, I say, he did not attend: for the consecration of the Eustathian church is there said to have been made in the year of the Incarnation of the same (Jesus Christ) 1196, and in the 6th year of the lord Pope Celestine the Third, in the 14th Indiction, on a Sunday. Certainly at the same time, or perhaps a little before, took place the inspection of the sacred bodies, which the Pontiff testifies were laid up by him beneath the chief altar. How therefore had the body of St. Eustathius been translated into Gaul at the beginning of that century? for it is not credible that it was carried back to Rome again within that time. Certainly the same Baillet reports from Doublet that the sacred remains which were believed to be St. Eustathius's were religiously kept in that royal monastery until the year 1567, in which they were plundered by the Calvinists; which with these things do not
sufficiently cohere. But what then — am I not to believe that the holy Martyr's body rested in the aforesaid abbey, where a chapel was dedicated to his name, since the charters of William d'Aulnay written in the year 1123 and of Philip Augustus in the year 1194 assert it in express words in Doublet, pages 317 and 318? I answer: The testimony of the supreme Pontiff and of many bishops who were present avails more with me than the authority of those charters: especially since those who framed them did not inspect the sacred remains, and therefore their assertion rests on tradition alone, to which in such matters less is wont to be attributed than to an eyewitness.
[55] And so I believe that some remains of St. Eustathius were exposed to veneration in that place, some contending that two centuries ago it was kept in the abbey of St. Denis. and were venerated by so many illustrious men and endowed with various gifts. But if anyone should prove that the sacred body rested there entire, I shall say that it was perhaps that of another Saint of the same name, believed to be our holy Martyr's. But if you grant that the abbey of St. Denis possessed only some part of the sacred relics, I shall the more readily agree, being taught by more than one example that even small parts of some Saint have commonly and most liberally been called a Body. For the rest, Saussay notes in the Gallican Martyrology at this day that at Paris in the famous parish church of St. Eustachius no small portion of the pledges of that glorious Athlete of Christ has for some years been preserved. What is reported about the title of that church is very uncertain. It was once sacred to St. Agnes: but whence and when the name of holy Eustathius clung to it, French writers confess that they do not know. Some in the aforesaid Baillet believe that the error arose from the name of St. Eustasius, abbot of Luxeuil, whom the common people called Eustachius, and whose name was the title of a certain little sacred chapel situated near the church of St. Agnes. Whatever be the case, the sacred pledges of our holy Martyr, which they assert are venerated in that church to this day, Saussay writes were taken from the Dionysian remains, whence from what precedes let there be a judgment about them.
[56] Somewhere a translation is recorded, which is uncertain. For the rest, I noted above that in our manuscript Florarium the memory of our holy Martyrs occurs twice, and that at the 2nd day of November is read: Although their (SS. Eustathius's and his Companions') festival is held on the twelfth of the Kalends of October, yet here at their Translation it is more fully kept. But of what translation the discourse is here I have not hitherto been able to find. In the thickest darkness are wrapped whatever is reported about the sacred remains of SS. Eustathius and his Companions before the times of Celestine III, who in the year of Christ 1196 inspected the holy bodies at Rome, as will become clear from what I shall bring forward from Kircher in the following §. There already existed long before, as I shall there prove, a church at Rome distinguished by the name of St. Eustathius, and it seems certain that the sacred treasures were always kept there. That they were brought thither from elsewhere I do not believe, since the holy Martyrs suffered at Rome, where also their bodies with the ancient marble title were found and examined by the aforesaid Pontiff. Of that finding or elevation, which happened on the Sunday on which is sung Modicum, the matter is not here. Therefore he who wrote our Florarium, when he found the memory of the Saints recurring on that day, added the things about a translation, unless one prefer to believe that he found it so written in the older calendars which he had before his eyes. But then it may be conjectured that the author of the asserted translation, whoever he was, seized the occasion from finding mention of our Saints recorded on different days in different Martyrologies.
Annotations* the thirteenth of the Kalends of October
§5. The pious endeavors of Athanasius Kircher concerning the Eustathian History are examined, and the ancient cult of the holy Martyr in the church of the Blessed Mary of Vulturella and at Rome.
The censures of Tillemont and of our Sollier on the Eustathio-Marian History Papebroch announced beforehand a discussion of Kircher's work on the Eustathio-Marian History in volume 1 of May in the Greek-Muscovite Ephemerides, where he expressed its whole title. Having seen it, Tillemont, Ecclesiastical Monuments, volume 2, page 586, in his Notes on the Persecution of Hadrian, says: We fear that he has promised more than he can perform. And our Sollier in his Observations on Usuard at the 2nd of November writes of that same little work of Kircher: I am not ignorant how much Kircher labored to defend those Acts; there still exist here his letters on that subject given to our elders: yet, although they are cited by Nicephorus and Damascene, no one, I think, will have proved against Baronius that not many things have at least been superadded to the aforesaid Acts, in purging away which, if it can be done, we shall give our labor in its own place. I have given the labor which Sollier had promised, and have confessed that the way to performing what he had promised must be done if it could be seems to me closed on every side: I likewise agree with him that scarcely, or not even scarcely, can it be proved against Baronius, by a positive argument at least, that our History is on every side genuine; nor can I disagree with him about his censure of Kircher's work, which he hints in some measure obscurely; for whoever shall have considered more attentively both that work and the letters which he gave on that subject to my elders will easily perceive that his Eustathio-Marian History is the offspring rather of the love with which he burned most greatly toward the most lovable mother of God and ours, and of veneration toward the holy Martyr, than of an erudition exactly measured by the rules of criticism — at least as regards all those things which do not pertain to proving the ancient cult of the Saint in the Church.
[58] For whatever else he produces either rests on the very Acts already published, The censures of Athanasius Kircher do not seem unfair, at least whose genuineness and credit therefore cannot be made out from it, or is uncertain; and among these things not a few are false. Let the asserted chronology of the Eustathian History, which he arranged in the first part, as I noted, serve as a specimen. Placida is set down as having been master of the horse of the 12th legion in the Jewish war under Trajan as commander, about which see what I said in §2, number 23. At the very beginning it is premised that in the third year of Trajan's consulship Placida conquered Decebalus, king of the Dacians, and presently, setting out against the Persians, destroyed their huge army to the last man. But with the Persians, while Trajan was emperor, the Romans did not wage war before the 9th year of his rule, which is of Christ 106, unless one will call a Persian war that by which Aulus Cornelius Palma subjected Arabia Petræa to the Roman empire, which happened at the time of the last Dacian expedition, and therefore in the 6th year of Trajan's rule or the following. This is certain, that the second Dacian war was not finished before that time, so that accordingly St. Eustathius's conversion can here be set as having happened only in the 7th year of Trajan's rule. Moreover, if sixteen years be added to these, down to the return of the discovered Placida from Badyssus, one runs out into the year of Christ 120, when Trajan had already been dead three years. On that account it is there asserted, page 27, that Eustathius was received not by Trajan but by Hadrian, who had succeeded him, and was sent against the Persians and the Egyptians. I forbear to note that what is here invented about a war against the Persians under Hadrian seems contrary to the testimony of all the ancient writers, since these things sufficiently collapse from the Acts themselves upon which Kircher relies.
[59] But all the Acts, both ours and those of Metaphrastes, clearly assert as regards that part that Placida on his return was received by Trajan and sent with an army against the rebels, and that at last this emperor died while he was either waging the war or returning from it victorious to Rome, and was to find Hadrian substituted for Trajan. No less alien from the truth is what follows: he places the martyrdom of St. Eustathius and his Companions in the last time of Hadrian's rule, and subjoins on page 46: And being nothing the better for it (Hadrian) not long after … at Cumæ, by voluntarily taking poison, closed the last term of his life with an infamous and pitiable death. I do not examine what is here asserted about the cause and place of his death. The emperor Hadrian died on the 10th of July of the year of Christ 138. But he does not seem to have been in any way hostile to the Christians after the rescripts given to his prefects on their behalf in the year 126. Whatever be the case, however, in Kircher's chronology Eustathius suffers one or two years before his death — Eustathius who was present at the Jewish war, and therefore waged his last war under Hadrian and obtained the laurel of martyrdom being nearly a hundred years old: about which see what was said in §2, number 22. Another anachronism we have at the beginning of chapter 4, where Kircher writes that Trajan, when he had received news of the tumults of the barbarians, remembered Placidus: but that, since for nearly twenty years nothing had been known of him, who was already in everyone's opinion lost, he must have laid aside hope of recovering him, had he not been impelled by a certain hidden instinct of mind to seek him. To this twenty years I add seven, for I proved above in number 58 that so many must be granted, in which Eustathius before his flight had proved his service to Trajan against the Dacians, and I have Trajan reigning nearly 27 years, who nevertheless in the judgment of all writers did not see the twentieth completed.
[60] which does not regard It would be long, and not worth the labor, to recount and refute other things of this kind: I pass over also several ornaments which he has employed, not so much establishing the truth of the History as painting upon it a greater appearance of fable. From all these things let this alone be clear, that Kircher rather supposed the truth of that History than wished to discuss or confirm it. In part 2 of the Eustathio-Marian History the Genealogy of St. Eustachius is traced from the first times of the Roman kings down to the latest times of our own age: namely from the Octavian stock, from Octavius Mamilius, son-in-law of Tarquin the Proud, down to Augustus Cæsar, and thence in chapter 2 as far as Placida, in this order. There was at Rome in the year of salvation 20 Faustinus Octavius, father of St. Clement I, converted to the faith by St. Peter: then about the year 92, on Sabellico's testimony, there flourished in the City Agapitus Octavius, a splendid man of senatorial dignity, and from him was born our great Eustathius. By what way that Agapitus Octavius descended from Faustinus Octavius is not said. But if you require a proof that this very man was the parent of our St. Placida, you will receive, unless I am mistaken, the testimony of Zazzara, in volume 2 On the Nobility of Italy, weaving the genealogy of the Eustathian lineage. Thence the series, not everywhere sufficiently coherent, is carried down to Tertullus (of whom St. Gregory, book 2 of the Dialogues, chapter 3), and that he was of St. Eustathius's kindred is proved from this, that Tertullus wished the name Placidus to be given to his son, who was a Disciple of St. Benedict, illustrious in sanctity and crowned with martyrdom, in memory of our St. Placida or Eustathius.
[61] proving the ancient cult of St. Eustathius in the Church. This last has again the same Zazzara alone as witness, reasoning from certain ancient monuments. And hence it is clear that that series of the Eustathian stock rests, as ancient genealogies commonly do, on many things at the least very uncertain.
Certainly I should wish to see it more effectively proved that St. Eustathius was the son of Agapitus Octavius and sprung from the Octavian stock. In chapter 4 of the same place he draws out the Eustathian family to the counts of Tusculum from Wion and the same Zazzara, and thence to the counts of Segni, Anagni, Poli, and Valmontone as far as the year of Christ 1664, and contends that from it a branch was propagated at Naples into the most illustrious house of the Afflitti, so called from the afflictions of St. Eustathius. It is not of this place nor of our design to examine these things. Kircher exhibits the family shield of the Eustathian house in such a way that the left side represents SS. Agapius and Theopistus, the children of St. Eustathius, half swallowed by wild beasts, and the helmet the wonderful apparition of the Savior between the stag's horns.
[62] Various conjectures of Kircher about the place of St. Eustathius's conversion, More to our purpose are the things which the aforesaid Kircher treats in part 3 about the place of St. Eustathius's conversion to Christ, which he judges he has so certainly discovered that no doubt can remain for the reader. And he indicates it thus: Between Tivoli and Palestrina, he says, a chain of very high mountains extends from north to south … on the highest of these mountains, from the town of Poli … at a distance of three thousand paces as one ascends, there occurs Guadagnolium, commonly Guadagnolo, built within a rock conspicuous through all Latium. Then he interposes several things about the situation of that village and the manners of its inhabitants, and continues: From Guadagnolo, for nearly a thousand paces along a stony road, difficult and laborious by its steepness, one descends toward the northern quarter into a small plain, surrounded on every side by precipices, in which the church of the Mother of God, the subject proposed, meets one. The prospect of the surrounding places you have expressed in a geographical Map in Kircher. Another Plate, which exhibits the situation of that church, I here present engraved in copper after the copy of the aforesaid writer.
In the following chapter of his work Kircher continues thus: Behind the church … about 20 palms distant, there is seen that huge rock into which the stag leapt. That rock, measured by himself, he asserts to be nearly 100 palms high, and subjoins: Once it was inaccessible. In the course of time, however, to satisfy the devotion of the Faithful, hollows having been cut here and there to make the footing firm, it offered some approach to those ascending to its top, although laborious and full of dangers.
[63] So great, however, was the piety and devotion of the ancient Christians toward this place some of which are very slight, that on the summit of the rock, which admitted some breadth, for the perpetual memory of so miraculous a conversion they built a little chapel, and in it depicted the history of the whole affair, of which, though obscure, some of the elders of this territory have testified that they once observed traces of the painting still. Today, however, besides four walls, you would see nothing else remaining. Moreover, the fissure marked D, C, some of those same inhabitants say was opened by an earthquake while the Author of life and salvation was dying on the Cross. Others still more strangely assert, in Fatorio in the same place, page 90, that it prodigiously afforded a way to St. Eustathius, either as he was about to do a long penance there, or as he was avoiding the officers seeking him for martyrdom. Of what sort these things are, drawn from the futile traditions of unlearned men, and perhaps not even very ancient, there is no one who does not see. No other place therefore (he infers, page 96, from what he had premised) of so wonderful a vision could there be than that which we have described (and which you have depicted in the Plate as a hill). And that this may be more clearly evident, we shall now demonstrate each point in order most plainly by testimonies, that no further doubt may remain to the reader about the true place of Placida's conversion.
[64] others do not seem altogether improbable, though they are very uncertain. The first testimony therefore of this matter can be the very estates of Placidus and the villas near this place, as appeared from the preceding description. The aforesaid Athanasius had premised — whose words I abridge: Jerocomium or Hierocomium, even today to the natives Jericomio, was a most magnificent villa of Trajan Cæsar. Jerocomium is distant nearly seven miles from the Eustathian rock. Almost midway between them lies old Polustia, which to this day retains the name of Poli: and on its borders Eustathius, once lord of the district of Poli, possessed his villas and estates. The sureties for this last assertion are some tradition or other, and Zazzara. Receive the second proof: The second is (he says) the unbreakable and never interrupted tradition, persevering from the times of Constantine the Great and of Pope Sylvester down to this very day, than which nothing can be more effective for establishing truths. There is no critic, however severe, who denies this, provided the antiquity of that tradition be sufficiently shown. But what Kircher affirms in chapter 4 of part 3, namely that John, who had washed Placida with the sacred water, was the author of veneration toward this rock for the rest of the Christians, is said from mere conjecture, and therefore does not suffice to establish solidly enough the beginning of an ancient veneration.
[65] The monuments which he produces prove some antiquity of it better. although they are very uncertain. And they are: 1, the little chapel on the rock itself once built by the Christians, in which some of the elders told Kircher that the history of the whole affair was once depicted. 2, the chapel of St. Eustathius in the very church of the Mother of God of Vulturella, on the left side of the dome, built, as Kircher contends, originally together with the church by Constantine the Great: which he then strives to prove at length. And first indeed he says that among the countless basilicas which the most pious emperor built to God and to the Saints, one is recorded in Baronius, in the Catalogue of an anonymous author, built by that emperor on a mountain at the village of Pisa, which today is called Pisciano by the Italians, and is at the roots of Mount Vulturellus or of St. Eustathius's crag, toward the east, as may be seen in the chorography which he himself exhibits. By these words he judges that the basilica is designated which was once erected in that place where today the church of the Mother of God is, in memory of the wonderful conversion of St. Placida, and he asserts that it was dedicated by St. Sylvester. If in those mountainous places Constantine built a church, it must be believed that he was led to it by some particular reason and by an affection of particular veneration. But since there exists no memory of any illustrious deed there which he might have wished to preserve and venerate by that monument, except the tradition, confirmed by certain other monuments, about St. Eustathius's wonderful conversion at that rock, it is not incredible that this very thing was Constantine's cause for building a sacred edifice in that place. This seems certain, that in those places
[66] Moreover Kircher judges that that church, already fallen and destroyed before St. Benedict's times, was repaired and enlarged by that holy patriarch of monks and by his sons, when namely that whole district had passed to the monastery of Subiaco by the testament of Tertullus, the father of St. Placidus, who was St. Benedict's disciple. This too is credible enough, especially since he found there the ruins of an old monastery, as they appear in our Plate. But whatever we have hitherto brought forward does not exceed the limits of mere conjectures. Two things produced by Kircher remain, by which he further contends to prove the ancient cult of St. Eustathius in that place, and that its origin is derived from Constantine the Great and Pope St. Sylvester. In the chapel of St. Eustachius (he says, part 4, chapter, §1), which is seen built on the left of the choir opposite the rock, there appeared affixed a most ancient tablet framed of oak wood, in which, carved with a rude art proper to those times (namely of Constantine the Great, in which he judges it was made), the first dedication of this church, made by St. Sylvester, is expressed, which afterwards the duke of Poli, lest a monument of so great antiquity should perish by the neglect and squalor of the place, brought into the library of the castle of Poli, where even to this day it is set forth to be viewed by those zealous for ancient things. He produces a figure of that tablet, painted, as he asserts, with the utmost fidelity, which I too have had engraved by our engraver, and exhibit.
[67] He then sets forth at length the several details, which I here abridge into a few, that the holy Martyr was very celebrated omitting those which the curious reader will perceive from the mere sight of it. The sides A B, C D of the tablet have 5 palms and 8 fingers. The sides A C, B D contain 4 palms and 3 fingers. The whole work in oak wood is in relief; the painting rude, as the appearance of the ill-shaped images clearly shows. The images which are seen above the twisted columns, marked E G, represent, he says, the holy Peter and Paul, in exactly the same form under which they were found carved in the cave of the rock above a most ancient little table, as he had taught in part 3, chapter 1. The effigy of the Savior, F, in the midst of them, is of entirely the same form, except that the painter, hindered by his unskillfulness in art, has expressed most stupidly the hand and gesture of blessing — of the same form, I say, on Kircher's testimony, under which he is related to have appeared to the Roman people at the dedication of the Lateran church built by Constantine, and a copy of him in this guise is commonly seen, both on the vault of the choir of the said church, and on the Cross of Constantine, and finally on the outer front of the church where it looks toward the Appian gate, meeting all who enter at first sight. What is represented under the two arches needs no explanation; for it is clear that the dedication of the altar by St. Sylvester, whose name too the carver wrote, is exhibited, with ministers standing by. The inscription which is here read carved on the front of the altar, H, Kircher on page 126 prints thus.
[68] And he notes that the same inscription is seen inserted in a marble tablet of the first pillar to the right of the altar rail, and ancient for several centuries whence he sets it out thus: IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER, ON THE 24TH DAY, THE DEDICATION OF BLESSED MARY IN VULTVILLA. Then he inquires at length into the meaning or origin of the word Vultvilla or Vultilla, and suspects that Vulturella should be read, the name of the mountain being derived from the multitude of vultures once nesting in those rocky and desert places. These things, however very uncertain, appear to me nevertheless more credible than what he there testifies he received from a certain priest asserting that he had once read it in a manuscript book: namely, that when there was consultation about building a church of the Mother of God in this place, and they could not agree, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Sylvester in sleep and said that she wished a church to be built for her in that place in which her Son had wrought so great miracles with his servant Eustathius: whence St. Sylvester, admonished by the divine oracle, persuaded Constantine that it should be built at the Eustathian rock; but when the architects objected the narrowness of the place, the holy Pontiff said, Let it be built where She wills (ubi Vult illa), namely the Mother of God, whence the word Vultilla grew together and clung to the church. For these things, which I have recited in Kircher's words, will not readily, I think, find credit with anyone.
[69] What is expressed on the left part of the tablet, I, pertains chiefly to our holy Martyr, on Mount Vulturella and is the effigy of a stag bearing between its horns the image of the Savior. Hence Kircher deduces that a part of that church, or a chapel, was consecrated in honor of St. Eustathius, and then discourses at length,
why Christ is not exhibited fastened to the Cross, in the manner in which by all writers commonly he is related to have appeared to Placida; and he judges that the artist carved the Savior in that form which was then best known and most celebrated among the Christians, namely the Lateran one; or finally that he really so appeared to St. Eustathius, and concludes: Let us therefore leave to holy Hubert Christ Crucified between the horns of a stag, and to Eustathius his own Savior between the horns of a stag. Our Acts clearly assert that the form of the sacred Cross appeared, shining above the brightness of the sun; and if anyone prefer to believe them rather than the painting of an unskilled carver, and thus the more gladly subscribe to Kircher's first conjecture, he will do, I trust, no injury to St. Hubert if he takes from him the Crucified appearing between the stag's horns and restores him to holy Eustathius. For the rest, in the lower part of the tablet, K, the rude artist seems to have wished to represent a pavement, cut with lens-shaped and quadrangular hollows: and finally at the stag's mouth he expressed his own name. These things being thus explained at length, Kircher concludes: And this is that most ancient tablet …, which so clearly and evidently demonstrates that the church of the blessed Virgin of Vulturella was founded by Constantine the Great and consecrated by St. Sylvester in this very place where Christ deigned to work such miracles with his servant Eustathius, that, if all the tradition about this place, continued now for very many centuries, were lacking, that alone could suffice to demonstrate the truth of the History.
[70] his memory and veneration. So the learned man, from whom I am compelled here almost unwillingly to dissent concerning the excessive antiquity of the aforesaid tablet; for it does not appear to me credible that a plank of holm-oak or oak, with a relief painting, endured so long in a most damp place through so many changes of times, down to our own times, for fourteen whole centuries. The inscription too persuades the contrary — Master William made this work — which assuredly does not seem to present so great an age. The figures, I confess, and the ungainly attitudes of the images, exhibited after the manner of the Greeks, seem to require an antiquity of some centuries, and I do not wish that taken from the aforesaid tablet, and I gladly acknowledge that much weight accrues from it to the tradition, at least for proving an ancient cult of St. Eustathius in that place, though perhaps not carried back as far as Constantine's times. To it there also testify the various images originally painted throughout the whole church, which exhibit the Eustathian History and above all the prodigious apparition of Christ between the stag's horns. After these things, and after narrating the old devotion and veneration of Christians in that place and that stirred up anew by himself, the aforesaid Kircher in part 5 proceeds to the cult of St. Eustathius in the City, whither I follow him.
[71] The church of St. Eustathius at Rome And so there was once at Rome (says the most eminent author of the Annals in his Notes on the Martyrology) and still remains an illustrious church of that Martyr (Eustathius), whose beginnings do not seem able to be fixed at any sufficiently certain time. In our Acts, in the last number, it is said: But the Christians, secretly taking the bodies of the Saints, laid them in a most celebrated place: and after the persecution was quieted, they built there an oratory and laid them in it. And from the oratory here recorded some seek the origin of that church, and conjecture that Placida's house was there within the Baths of Alexander Severus, where today is the church sacred to his name, and where once his sacred remains and those of his Companions were laid up in a subterranean chapel built at first in a hasty work. But these things again, most of them destitute of ancient testimonies, rest on some tradition or other, nor will they find sufficiently certain credit among critics. The first marble document of the consecrated Eustathian church, copied out, as he testifies, with the utmost diligence, Kircher exhibits as authentic on page 158: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the year of his Incarnation 1196, and in the 6th year of the lord Pope Celestine the Third, in the 14th Indiction, on the Sunday on which is sung Modicum, this church was dedicated with the three altars which are in it, which consecration was performed by the same lord Pope, to whom these bishops were assistants: Octavian of Ostia, Peter Gallocia of Porto, John of Albano, Peter archbishop of Agger, Anastasius of Capaccio, Nicholas of Fossombrone, and Sabariscius of Bada.
[72] In the greater altar consecrated by the lord Pope himself, at which also the aforesaid bishop assisted, was only renewed by Celestine III: are these relics: of the wood of the Lord's Cross, of his Blood, of the crown of thorns, of his garments, of the relics and garments of the apostles Peter and Paul, of a rib of St. Andrew, of the fat and coals of holy Laurence, of the relics of the holy Eustachius, his Wife and his Sons. Beneath the greater altar in an onyx casket are the bodies of the Saints with a marble title: Here rest the bodies of the holy martyrs Eustachius and of his wife Theopiste and of their sons Agapitus and Theopistus. I, Celestine, bishop of the Catholic Church, with the aforesaid bishops both saw with my eyes and handled with my hands the bodies of the Saints, and laid them up with the ancient title in a mausoleum beneath the altar: for the anniversary of whose consecration we have ordained that as many as shall devoutly come together from that day until the Octave of Pentecost shall have a remission of two years of their sins. This consecration was made in the year and on the day above said by the zeal and labor of Peter the archpriest, surnamed Saccoccia, the clergy and people helping; and to the solemnity of that consecration none like has existed down to these times. For the rest, Kircher does not wish it to be gathered from this document that that church of St. Eustathius was first founded at that time, namely at the close of the twelfth century, however much it was then consecrated by Celestine III, and he cites the words of Panciroli in his support, which, because they teach us some things regarding our Saint's cult, I turn into Latin.
[73] Into which error, says Ippolito Panciroli of our Society in the Hidden Treasures of the Gracious City, for it is certain that it existed in the 9th century. Fr. Santi also fell, judging that the church was then built by that Pope (Celestine III). But it must be much more ancient, since it was placed among the deaconries of the Cardinals in the time of Gregory the Great. Here Panciroli recounts what I have premised from our Acts, and subjoins: But on many heads that church of St. Eustathius is most celebrated. First from its place, because it has communicated its name to that whole region of the City, and because in that place were the most famous baths of Nero and afterwards of Alexander Severus, … of which even today some traces are seen. Still more illustrious is that church on account of the martyrdom of St. Eustathius, who with his Wife and Sons was cast to be burned into a glowing brazen ox, and their venerable relics are asserted to rest there … There the college of procurators has a chapel of St. Michael, and there on the day of the dedication they come together with the auditors of the Rota and the consistorial advocates to celebrate the feast, and the Roman people on St. Eustathius's day come to make the accustomed offering of a chalice and a taper, and for the happy issue of the war of Ferrara they made a vow of offering every year on the 30th of January to that church with solemnity and pomp a cloth of double pile. Finally it is collegiate and parochial.
[74] A special cult of the holy Martyr On these things some observations must be made. That already from the times of Gregory the Great the Eustathian church in the City was enrolled among what they call the Deaconries I should not dare to affirm for certain, since I find no mention of the holy Martyr or of his church in Gregory. Among the Acts of Leo IV in the Catalogue it is said: In the deaconry of St. Eustachius he made a vestment of fundatum; and again in the same place in the Deeds of Gregory IV, who sat in the year of Christ 827, thirty-seven years after Leo: This illustrious Prelate offered in the basilica of blessed Eustachius the martyr one vestment of fundatum, having in the middle a history in gold thread: whence at least it is established that that church is much older than the twelfth century. This very thing the often-praised Kircher also proves, page 162, from the words carved in the basilica of St. Eustathius on the cornice between the columns on the left side at the entrance of the church: I, Stephania, for my own soul and my husband's and my sons' caused two columns to be erected: for he contends that Stephania is here designated as a Roman senatress, who at the end of the 10th century was joined in marriage to Alberic II, count of Tusculum, prince and consul of the Romans.
[75] in the same place. Let the credit of these things rest with Zazzara, from whom Kircher took his proof. Piazza in his Hemerology notes that the region which took its name from the church of St. Eustathius has for its emblem the head of a stag bearing a Crucifix between its horns, and adds that at St. Agnes's in the Piazza Navona an excellent altar has been erected to the same holy Martyr. For the rest, Baronius in his Notes on the Martyrology warns that in the Basilica of St. Eustathius, in memory of so great a Martyr who bestowed all his goods on the poor, solemn agapes used to be frequented, and that he found this in an ancient manuscript Ritual, where also this Prayer was read: Grant, O Lord, to thy servant N. to obtain the hoped-for supports, that he who has refreshed thy poor in thy holy church may deserve the fellowship at once of all the Saints and of the blessed martyr Eustachius and of his Companions, whose examples he has now followed: through Christ our Lord, etc. For the rest, what Panciroli records above about gifts to be offered every year by vow in the Eustathian church, the solemn and most religious custom of the Roman people down to this day approves. And these are almost all the things which I have found about our most celebrated holy martyr Eustathius and his cult; now I subjoin the Acts themselves, without doubt clothed with many ornaments from invention, and therefore in this sense to be reckoned among the fabulous.
FABULOUS ACTS
From a Medicean manuscript of the king of France, by an anonymous author who professes himself contemporary, with a version from our ancient manuscripts collated with others, supplied, and here and there emended.
Eustathius, martyr, at Rome. (S.)
Theopiste, his wife, martyr, at Rome. (S.)
Agapius, his son, martyr, at Rome. (S.)
Theopistus, his son, martyr, at Rome. (S.)
BHL Number: 2760
By an anonymous author.
PROLOGUE.
ΠΡόκειται
μὲν
τοῖς
ἀνθρώποις
καὶ
ἐκ
φύσεως
οἰκεῖόν
τι
διδασκαλεῖον
πρὸς
τὴν
τῶν
ἀρετῶν
κατόρθωσιν,
διδάσκον
ἐκεῖνα
ποιεῖν
τῷ
πλησίον,
ἅπερ
αὐτὸς
πάσχειν
παρ᾽
ἑτέρου
βούλεται,
ἐκεῖνας
τε
ἀποπληροῦν
τῷ
εὐεργέτῃ
Θεῷ
τὰς
εὐχαριστίας,
ἅπερ
καὶ
αὐτὸς
παρὰ
τῶν
εὐεργετουμένων
ἀπαιτεῖ.
Πρόκειται
δὲ
καὶ
ἐκ
τῶν
θείων
γραφῶν
διδασκαλεῖαι
παμπληθεῖς
καὶ
πράξεις
ἀνδρῶν
μακαρίων
καὶ
ἀοιδίμων,
οἷον
εἰκόνες
τινὲς
ἔμψυχοι
πρὸς
μίμησιν
τῶν
ἀγαθῶν
κατορθωμάτων
τοῖς
βουλουμένοις
ἕπεσθαι
ταῖς
αὐτῶν
ἀρεταῖς.
Οὐδὲν
οὖν
ἧττον
προεθέμην,
προσθῆναι
ταῖς
ἀρχαίων
ἀνδρῶν
ἐγγράφοις
ἀνδραγαθίαις
καὶ
τὰ
νῦν
ἐν
τοῖς
καιροῖς
ἡμῶν
κατορθωθέντα,
πρὸς
εὐεργεσίαν
μὲν
τῶν
ἀκουόντων,
ἐπιστροφὴν
δὲ
τῶν
φασκόντων,
μὴ
δύνασθαι
μὲν
τοιαῦτα
κατορθοῦσθαι,
οἶα
ἐν
τοῖς
παλαιοῖς
χρόνοις,
ἵνα
γνῶσι
πάντες
πῶς
οὖτε
χρόνος,
οὖτε
καιρῶν
δυσχέρειαι,
οὖτε
ἀναστροφὴ
ἀπηγορευμένου
βίου,
ἐμπόδιον
γίνεται
πρὸς
κατόρθωσιν
τῶν
ἀγαθῶν
ἔργων.
Ἐὰν
θέλῃ
τις
πρῶτον
τῷ
φυσικῷ
λόγῳ
ἑπόμενος,
ἔτι
καὶ
ταῖς
διδασκαλίαις
τῶν
προειρημένων
ὁσίων
πατρῶν
ἀκολουθεῖν,
ῥαδίαν
εὑρήσει
ὁδὸν
τῆς
ἐναρέτου
πολιτείας.
Οἷοι
εἰσὶν,
καὶ
οἱ
νῦν
ἡμῖν
προκείμενοι
πρὸς
διήγησιν
ἄνδρες,
ὧν
καὶ
τὸν
ἐξ
ἁρχῆς
βίον
ἀναγράψῳ,
καί
τὸν
τοῦ
τέλους
ἔπαινον
ἐκ
τῶν
παρ᾽
αὐτοῖς
ἔργων
ἐπιδείξω.
the proem Men have from nature itself, for the excellent exercise of the virtues, a domestic wrestling-school within themselves, which teaches that each ought to do to his neighbor those things which he himself would wish to be rendered to him by another, and that those thanks are to be rendered to God, the bestower of all benefits, which he himself would exact from him to whom he has done a benefit. And there are set forth in the divine Scriptures also very many instructions and deeds of blessed and illustrious men, as it were certain living images, for the emulation of things rightly and illustriously done, for those willing to imitate their virtues. And so it has likewise been determined by me to add to the noble exploits of the ancients, which have been committed to letters, also those things which have now been excellently done in this our age, for the profit a of the hearers, but for the conversion of those who judge that such things cannot at this time be rightly performed as were done in ancient times; and that all may know that neither the times, nor the difficulties of these times, nor the depraved habit of a reprobate life is a hindrance to the perfect cultivating of virtue. For if only one strive, following first the law of nature, and then also obeying the precepts of the holy Fathers whom I have named, he will find an easy way in the discipline of illustrious virtue. Such are the Men who are now set before us for our history, whose Life also from the beginning I shall write, and whose praise in death I shall exhibit from their illustrious works.
ANNOTATION.
CHAPTER I.
St. Eustathius is called to the faith by the wonderful apparition of the Savior between a stag's horns; he is baptized with his Wife and Sons, is reduced to want, and as a fugitive loses his Wife and Sons.
ἘΝ
ταῖς
ἡμέραις
τῆς
βασιλείας
Τραἳανοῦ,
τῆς
εἰδωλολατρείας
κρατούσης,
προήχθη
παρὰ
τοῦ
βασιλέως
στρατηλάτης,
ὀνόματι
Πλακίδας,
γένους
τοῦ
κατὰ
σάρκα
ἐπιδόξου,
πλούσιος
σφόδρα,
ὑπερβάλλων
πάντας
τοὺς
ἐνδόξους
ἔν
τε
κτήμασι
καὶ
χρυσίῳ
καὶ
ἀργυρίῳ
καὶ
ἀνδραπόδοις,
καὶ
τῇ
λοιπῇ
περιουσίᾳ;
ἕλλην
μὲν
οὖν
ὑπῆρχεν
καὶ
αὐτὸς
τὴν
θρησκείαν.
Τοῖς
δὲ
ἐργοῖς
τῆς
δικαιοσύνης
παντοίως
ἐκεκόσμητο,
ἀντιλαμβανόμενος
τῶν
καταπονουμενῶν,
συνηγορῶν
τοῖς
ἀδικουμένοις
καὶ
πολλοὺς
ἐκ
τῶν
δικαστηρίων
χρήμασιν
ἀνακαλούμενος,
γυμνητεύουσι
περιβόλαια
χαριζόμενος,
πεινώντας
διατρέφων,
καὶ
ἁπαξαπλῶς,
πᾶσι
τοῖς
ἐπιδεομένοις
τὰ
κατὰ
τὸν
βίον
οἰκονομῶν,
νέος
τις
Κορνήλιος
ἐν
τοῖς
καιροῖς
ἀνεφαίνετο.
Εἶχε
δὲ
Γυναῖκα
καὶ
αὐτὴν
μὲν
τῆς
τῶν
εἰδώλων
θρησκείας
ἐπάρχουσαν,
ὁμοιότροπον
δὲ
τῆς
ἀγαθῆς
αὐτου
γνώμης.
Τίκτονται
οὖν
αὐτοῖς
Παῖδες
δύο,
οὓς
ἀνέτρεφον
ὁμοίους
τῆς
ἑαυτῶν
προαιρέσεως·
ἦν
δὲ
τοσοῦτον
περιφανὴς
ὁ
ἀνὴρ
καὶ
διαβόητος
ἐπὶ
ταῖς
εὐπραγίαις
καὶ
δυναστείαις,
ὡς
καὶ
αὐτοὺς
τοὺς
βαρβάρους
ἐκ
τοῦ
ὀνόματος
μόνον
φοβεῖσθαι
αὐτὸν,
πολεμικώτατον
ὄντα
καὶ
δεξιᾷ
τύχῃ
ἐν
πᾶσιν
εὐδοκιμοῦντα.
Ἦν
δὲ
καὶ
περὶ
τὴν
θῆραν
σπουδαῖος
κατὰ
πᾶσαν
ἡμέραν
ἡδέως
κυνηγῶν.
Ἀλλ᾽
ὁ
φιλάνθρωπος
καὶ
ἀγαθός
Θεὸς,
ὅ
πάντοτε
καὶ
πανταχοῦ
τοὺς
ἑαυτοῦ
ἀξίους
προσκαλούμενος,
οὐ
περεῖδεν
τούτου
τὰς
εὐποιίας,
οὐδὲ
ἠθέλησεν
τὴν
ἀγαθὴν
αὐτου
καὶ
ἀξίαν
Θεοῦ
γνώμην
ἄμισθον
εἶναι
ἤ
ἐγκαταλειφθῆναι
σκότει
τῆς
εἰδωλολατρείας,
κατὰ
τὸ
γεγραμμένον,
ὅτι
ἐν
παντὶ
ἔθνει
ὁ
φοβούμενος
αὐτὸν
καὶ
ἐργαζόμενος
δικαιοσύνην
δεκτὸς
αὐτῷ
ἐστιν,
ἔφθασεν
δὲ
καὶ
εἰς
τοῦτον
τοῖς
Χρηστοῖς
αὐτοῦ
σπλάγχνοις
καὶ
σώζειν
αὐτὸν
βούλεται
τρόπῳ
τοιῶδε.
[3] Ἐξελθόντος
αὐτοῦ
μιᾷ
τῶν
ἡμέρων
ἐπὶ
τὰ
ὅρη
θηρεῦσαι
μετὰ
τοῦ
στρατοπέδου
πάσης
τῆς
θεραπείας
αὐτοῦ
κατὰ
τὸ
σύνηθες,
ὤφθη
αὐτῷ
ἀγέλη
ἐλάφων
βοσκομένη,
καὶ
διαστήσας
κατὰ
τὸ
σύνηθες
τὸν
στράτον,
ἐποιήσατο
τὴν
κατὰ
αὐτῶν
δίωξιν…περὶ
δὲ
τὴν
σύλληψιν
τῶν
ἐλάφων,
ὑπερμεγεθέστατος
πάσης
τῆς
ἀγέλης
καὶ
εὐειδέστερος,
ὅστις
ἀποσπασθεὶς
ἀπὸ
τῆς
ἀγέλης,
ὥρμησε
κατὰ
τοῦ
κρήμνου
ἐν
δασυτέροις
τόποις
τῆς
ὕλης,
καὶ
δυσβάτοις
χωρίοις·
ὅν
θεασάμενος
ὁ
Πλακίδας
καὶ
ἐπιθυμήσας
συλλάβεσθαι
αὐτὸν,
καταλιπὼν
πάντας,
μετ᾽
ὀλίγων
στρατιωτῶν
κατεδίωκεν.
Ἀτονισάντων
δὲ
πάντων
τῶν
συνόντων
αὐτῷ,
μόνος
προσεκαρτέρει
τῇ
διώξει.
Κατὰ
πρόνοιαν
δὲ
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
μήτε
τοῦ
ἵππου
αὐτοῦ
ἀτονήσαντος,
μήτε
δὲ
αὐτοῦ
πρὸς
τὴν
δυσχέρειαν
τοῦ
τόπου
ἀποκνήσαντος,
ἐπὶ
πολὺ
δὲ
καταδιώκων,
μάκραν
εὑρέθη
τοῦ
στρατοπέδου
αὐτοῦ,
ὁ
δὲ
ἔλαφος
ἐκεῖνος
καταλαβὼν
ἀκρώρειαν
πέτρας
ὑψηλοτάτης
ἔστη
ἐπάνω
αὐτῆς.
Φθάσας
δὲ
πλησίον
ὁ
Στρατηλάτης,
μηδενὸς
συνόντος
αὐτῷ,
ἔστηκεν
περισκοπῶν
πάντοθεν
ποίῳ
τρόπῳ
ἐπιλάβηται
τοῦ
ἐλάφου.
Ὁ
δὲ
πάνσοφος
καὶ
οἰκτίρμων
Θεὸς,
ὁ
παντοίας
ὁδοὺς
πρὸς
σωτηρίαν
ἀνθρώπων
ἐπινοῶν,
ἀντιθηρεύει
τοῦτον
ἐν
τῇ
θήρᾳ,
οὐχ
ὡς
Κορνήλιον
διὰ
τοῦ
Πέτρου,
ἀλλ᾽
ὡς
Παῦλον
διώκοντα
διὰ
τῆς
ἰδίας
ἐπιφανείας.
Ἐπὶ
πολὺ
δὲ
ἑστῶτος
τοῦ
Πλακίδα,
καὶ
ἀτενίζοντος
μὲν
εἰς
τὸν
ἔλαφον,
θαυμάζοντος
δὲ
αὐτοῦ
τὸ
μέγεθος,
καὶ
ἀμηχανοῦντος
ποίῳ
τρόπῳ
ἐπιλάβηται
τοῦ
ἑλάφου,
δείκνυσιν
ὁ
Κύριος
τεράστιον
τοιοῦτον,
οὐκ
ἀπεικὸς
οὐδὲ
ὑπερβαῖνον
τῆς
αὐτοῦ
δυνάμεως
τὸ
μέγεθος·
ἀλλ᾽
ὥσπερ
ἐπὶ
τῷ
Βαλαὰμ,
λόγον
ἐνθεὶς
τῇ
ὄνῳ,
ἠλέγξεν
αὐτοῦ
τὴν
ἄνοιαν,
οὕτως
καὶ
ἐνταῦθα
δείκνυσι
τοῦτον
ἐπὶ
μὲν
τῶν
κεράτων
τοῦ
ἐλάφου
τὸν
τύπον
τοῦ
τιμίου
σταυροῦ
ὑπὲρ
τὴν
λαμπρότητα
τοῦ
ἡλίου
λάμποντα,
μέσον
δὲ
τῶν
κεράτων
τὴν
εἰκόνα
τοῦ
θεοφόρου
σώματος,
ἥν
διὰ
τὴν
σωτηρίαν
ἡμῶν
ἀναλαβεῖν
κατεδέξατο,
καὶ
φωνὴν
ἀνθρωπίνην
ἐνθεὶς
τῷ
ἐλάφῳ,
προσκαλεῖται
αὐτὸν,
λέγων·
[4] Ὦ
Πλακίδα
τί
με
διώκεις;
ἴδου
ἕνεκέν
σου
παρείμι
ἐν
τῷ
ζώῳ
τούτῳ
ὀφτῆναι
σοι.
Ἐγώ
εἰμι
Ιησοῦς
ὅ
Χριστὸς,
ὅν
ἀγνοῶν
σέβῃ·
αἱ
γὰρ
εὐποιΐαι
καὶ
ἐλεημοσύναι
σου,
ἅς
ποιεῖς
εἰς
τοὺς
δεομένους
παρεστήκασιν
ἐνώπιόν
μου,
καὶ
ἦλθον
ἐμφανῆσαι
σοι
ἐμαυτὸν,
καὶ
ἀποκαταστῆσαι
διὰ
τοῦ
ἐλάφου
τούτου
καὶ
ἀντιζωγρεῦσαί
σε
καὶ
συσχεῖν
τοῖς
δικτύοις
τῆς
φιλανθρωπίας
μου·
οὐ
γάρ
ἐστιν
δίκαιον,
τὸν
ἐμοὶ
προσφιλῆ
διὰ
τῶν
ἀγαθῶν
ἔργων,
δουλεύειν
δαίμοσιν
ἀκαθάρτοις
καὶ
εἰδώλοις
νεκροῖς
καὶ
κωφοῖς
καὶ
ἀναισθήτοις·
διὰ
τοὔτο
ἦλθον
ἐπὶ
τῆς
γῆς
ἐν
τῳ
εἴδει,
ὅ
νῦν
ὁρᾶς
με,
σῶσαι
θέλων
τὸ
τῶν
ἀνθρώπων
γένος.
Ταῦτα
ἀκούσας
ὁ
στρατηλάτης
Πλακίδας,
καὶ
ἔμφοβος
γενόμενος,
ἔπεσεν
ἀπὸ
τοῦ
ἵππου
ἐπὶ
τὴν
γῆν.
Ὥρας
δὲ
διελθούσης,
εἰς
ἑαυτὸν
ἐλθὼν
ἀνέστη,
ἀκριβέστερον
ἰδεῖν
βουλόμενος,
τὸ
ὀφθὲν
αὐτῷ
θέαμα
καὶ
φησὶ·
τίς
ἡ
φωνὴ,
ἥν
ἀκούω;
ἀποκάλυψόν
μοι
ὁ
λαλῶν,
ἵνα
πιστεύσω
εἰς
σέ.
Καὶ
λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτὸν
ὁ
Κύριος·
Σύνες
ὦ
Πλακίδα.
Ἐγώ
εἰμι
Ἰησοῦς
Χριστὸς,
ὁ
τὸν
οὐρανὸν
καὶ
τὴν
γῆν
ἐκ
μὴ
ὄντων
συστησάμενος,
ὁ
τὴν
ἀδιάκριτον
ὕλην
διακρίνας,
ὁ
τὸ
φῶς
ἀναδείξας,
καὶ
τὸ
σκότος
διαχωρίσας.
Ἐγώ
εἰμι,
ὁ
τὸν
ἥλιον
εἰς
φῶς
τῆς
ἡμέρας
κατασκευάσας
καὶ
τὴν
σελήνην
σὺν
τοἰς
ἄστροις
εἰς
φαῦσιν
τῆς
νυκτός
τάξας.
Ἐγώ
εἰμι,
ὁ
καιροὺς
καὶ
χρόνους
καὶ
ἡμέρας
καὶ
ἑνιαυτοὺς
συστησάμενος.
Ἐγώ
εἰμι,
ὁ
καὶ
τὸν
ἄνθρωπον
ἐκ
γῆς
διαπλάσας,
ὁ
διὰ
τὴν
σωτηρίαν
τοῦ
γένους
τῶν
ἀνθρώπων
ἐπὶ
γῆς
φανεὶς
ἐν
σαρκὶ,
ὁ
σταυρωθεὶς
καὶ
ταφεὶς
καὶ
τῇ
τρίτῃ
ἡμέρᾳ
ἑγερθείς.
Ταῦτα
ἀκούσας
ὁ
στρατηλάτης
Πλακίδας
προσέπεσε
πάλιν
ἐπὶ
τὴν
γῆν,
λέγων·
Πιστεύω
εἰς
σὲ,
Κύριε,
ὅτι
σύ
εἶ,
ὁ
ποιητὴς
τῶν
ἁπάντων,
καὶ
ἐπιστροφεὺς
τῶν
πεπλανημένων,
καὶ
ἀνορθωτὴς
τῶν
πεπτωκότων,
καὶ
ζωοποιὸς
τῶν
τεθανατωμένων.
Λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτὸν
ὁ
Κύριος·
Εἰ
πιστεύεις
εἰς
ἐμὲ,
ἄπελθε
εἰς
τὴν
πόλιν
καὶ
πρόσελθε
τῷ
ἱερεῖ
τῶν
Χριστιανῶν,
καὶ
ζήτησον
παρ᾽
αὐτοῦ
τὴν
διὰ
τοῦ
βαπτίσματος
χάριν.
[5] Λέγει
ὁ
Πλακίδας·
Κελεύεις
ἀπαγγείλω
ταῦτα
τῇ
Γυναικί
μου
καὶ
τοῖς
Τέκνοις
μου,
ὅπως
καὶ
αὐτοὶ
πιστεύσωσιν
εἰς
σέ;
Λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτὸν
ὁ
Κύριος.
Ἀπάγγειλον
αὐτοῖς,
καὶ
δεξάμενοι
τὴν
ἐν
Χριστῷ
σφραγίδα
διὰ
τοῦ
βαπτίσματος
καθαρισθήσεσθε
ἀπὸ
τῶν
μολυσμάτων
τῶν
ἁμαρτιῶν
ὑμῶν,
καὶ
ἐλθὲ
ἐνθάδε,
καὶ
ὀφθήσομαί
σοι,
καὶ
ὑποδείξομαί
σοι
τὰ
μέλλοντα,
καὶ
φανερώσω
ὑμεῖν
τὰ
τῆς
σωτηρίας
μυστήρια.
Καταβὰς
δὲ
ὁ
στρατηλάτης
Πλακίδας,
ὀψίας
λοιπὸν
ἤδη
γενομένης,
ἤρξατο
διηγεῖσθαι
τῇ
Γυναικὶ
αὐτοῦ
τὰ
μεγάλα
θαυμάσια
τοῦ
Χριστοῦ,
ἅ
ἑώρακεν.
Ὡς
δὲ
συνετέλεσεν
ἐξηγούμενος
τὴν
ὅρασιν
καὶ
τὰ
λαληθέντα
αὐτῷ
διὰ
τῆς
ὀπτασίας,
ἀνεβόησεν
ἡ
Γυνὴ
αὐτοῦ,
λέγουσα·
Ὦ
Κύριέ
μου,
τὸν
ἐσταυρωμένον
ἑώρακας,
ὃν
οἱ
Χριστιανοὶ
σέβονται·
αὐτὸς
γάρ
ἐστιν
ὁ
μόνος
ἀληθινὸς
Θεὸς,
ὁ
διὰ
τοιούτων
σημείων
προσκαλούμενος
τοὺς
πιστεύοντας
εἰς
αὐτόν·
καὶ
ἐπὶ
πλεῖον
ἀναβοήσασα
ἔλεγεν.
Ἐλέησόν
με,
Κύριε
Ἰησοῦ
Χριστέ,
καὶ
τὰ
δύο
μου
Νήπια.
Καὶ
λέγει
τῷ
Ἀνδρὶ·
Ἐν
τῇ
παρελθούσῃ
νυκτὶ
ἐθεασάμην
κἀγὼ
αὐτὸν
λέγοντά
μοι·
Αὔριον
σὺ
καὶ
ὁ
Ἀνήρ
σου
καὶ
τὰ
Τἐκνα
ὑμῶν
ἐλεύσεσθε
πρός
με,
καὶ
γνώσεσθε,
ὅτι
ἐγώ
εἰμι
Ἰησοῦς
Χριστός.
Ἐβουλήθη
οὖν
ἐν
τοιούτῳ
σχήματι
καὶ
τῷ
παραδόξῳ
θεάματι
διὰ
τοῦ
ἐλάφου
σοι
ὀφθήναι,
ἵνα
θαυμάσας
τὴν
δύναμιν
αὐτοῦ
πιστεῦσῃς
εἰς
αὐτὸν.
Δεῦρο
οὖν
ἐν
τῇ
νυκτὶ
ταύτῃ
προσέλθωμεν
καὶ
τύχωμεν
τοῦ
βαπτίσματος
τῶν
Χριστιανῶν,
διὰ
τούτου
γὰρ
οἰκειοῦνται
αὐτῷ
οἱ
πιστεύοντες
εἰς
αὐτὸν.
Λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτὴν
ὁ
Πλακίδας·
Τοῦτο
γὰρ
καὶ
εἶπεν
μοι
ὁ
ὀφθείς
μοι.
Μεσούσης
δὲ
νυκτὸς
λαθραίως
λαβόντες
τὰ
δύο
Νήπια
καὶ
ὀλίγους
τῶν
οἰκετῶν
προσῆλθον
τῷ
ἱερεῖ.
[6] Κατ᾽
ἰδίαν
γενόμενοι
καταλιπόντες
ἔξω
τοὺς
οἰκέτας
καὶ
ἀνήγγειλαν
τῷ
ἱερεῖ
πᾶσαν
τὴν
γενομένην
αὐτοῖς
ὀπτασίαν,
καὶ
ὁμολογήσαντες
πιστεύειν
ἐπὶ
τὸν
Κύριον
Ἰησοῦν
Χριστὸν,
παρεκάλεσαν
αὐτὸν
δοῦναι
αῦτοῖς
τὴν
ἐν
Χριστῷ
σφραγίδα
διὰ
τοῦ
βαπτίσματος.
Ὁ
δὲ
περιχαρὴς
γενόμενος
καὶ
δοξάσας
τὸν
Κύριον
Ἰησοῦν
Χριστὸν,
τὸν
θέλοντα
πάντας
ἀνθρώπους
σωθῆναι
καὶ
εἰς
ἐπίγνωσιν
ἀληθείας
ἐλθεῖν,
λαβὼν
κατήχησεν
αὐτοὺς,
ἐκθέμενος
αὐτοῖς
τὸ
μηστήριον
τῆς
πίστεως,
καὶ
ἐβάπτισεν
αὐτοὺς
εἰς
τὸ
ὄνομα
τοῦ
Πατρὸς,
καὶ
τοῦ
Υιοῦ,
καὶ
τοῦ
ἁγίου
Πνεύματος.
Τὸν
μὲν
Πλακίδαν
ὀνομάσας
Εὐστάθιον,
τὴν
δὲ
Γυναῖκα
αὐτοῦ
Τατιανὴν
μετονομάσας
Θεοπίστην,
τὰ
δὲ
Τέκνα
αὐτοῦ,
τὸν
μὲν
πρωτοτοκόν
ὀνομάσας
Αγάπιον,
τὸν
δὲ
ἕτερον
ὀνομάσας
Θεόπιστον.
Καὶ
μετέδωκεν
αὐτοῖς
τοῦ
ἁγίου
σώματος
καὶ
τοῦ
τιμίου
αἵματος
τοῦ
Κυρίου
ἡμῶν
Ἰησοῦ
Χριστοῦ,
καὶ
ἀπέλυσεν
αὐτοὺς,
εἰπὼν·
Ὁ
Θεὸς
καὶ
ὁ
Χριστὸς
ἔστω
μεθ᾽
ὑμῶν,
καὶ
χαρίσεται
ὑμῖν
τὴν
αὐτοῦ
βασιλείαν·
ἔγνων
γὰρ
ὅτι
χεὶρ
Κυρίου
ἐφ
ὑμᾶς
ἐστιν.
Ὑμεῖς
δὲ
ὅταν
αὐλίζησθε
ἐν
παραδείσῳ
τῆς
τρυφῆς
μνησθήτε
τῆς
ψυχῆς
ἐμου
Ἰωάνου;
ναὶ
παρακαλῶ
ὑμᾶς.
Πρωΐας
δὲ
γενομένης,
λαβὼν
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος
ὀλίγους
ἱπποῦς
μεθ᾽
ἑαυτοῦ,
ἀνῆλθεν
εἰς
τὸ
ὅρος,
καὶ
ἐγγίσας
γενὀμενος
τοῦ
τόπου,
ἐν
ᾦ
τὴν
ὀπτασίαν
ἑώρακεν,
ἀπέστειλεν
τοῦς
στρατιώτας
αὐτοῦ,
ὡς
ἐν
προφάσει
δῆθεν
ἐκζητῆσαι
θήραμα,
καὶ
μόνος
ἀπομείνας
μικρὸν,
προσῆλθεν
ᾧ
ἔδει
αὐτὸν
ἐγγίσαι
τόπῳ.
Καὶ
ὁρᾶ
τὸν
τόπον
τῆς
δειχθείσης
αὐτῷ
ὀπτασίας
τὸ
πρότερον,
καὶ
πεσὼν
ἐπὶ
πρόσωπον
ἐβόα
λέγων·
[7] Δέομαί
σου
Κύριε
Ἰησοῦ
Χριστὲ,
ἔγνωκα,
ὅτι
σὺ
εἶ
ὁ
Χριστὸς
ὁ
υἱὸς
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
τοῦ
ζῶντος,
καὶ
πιστεύω
εἰς
Πατέρα
καὶ
Υἱὸν
καὶ
ἅγιον
Πνεῦμα,
καὶ
νῦν
ἥκω
δεόμενος
τῆς
ἀχράντου
σου
θεότητος,
ὅπως
γνωρίσῃς
μοι
ἅπερ
ἐπηγγείλω.
Καὶ
λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτὸν
ὁ
Κύριος·
Μακάριος
εἶ
Ευστάθιε,
δεξάμενος
τὸ
λουτρὸν
τῆς
χάριτός
μου,
καὶ
ἐπαμφιασάμενος
τὴν
ἀθανασίαν.
Νῦν
οὖν
νενίκηκας
τὸν
πονηρὸν,
νῦν
ἐπάτησας
τὸν
ἀπατήσαντά
σε,
νῦν
ἀπεδύσω
τὸν
φθαρτὸν
ἄνθρωπον
καὶ
ἐνεδύσω
τὸν
ἄφθαρτον,
τὸν
διαμένοντα
εἰς
αἰῶνα
αἰῶνος·
νῦν
τῆς
πίστεως
σου
δειχθήσεται
τὸ
ἔργον,
ἐπειδήπερ
φθόνῳ
κεκίνηται
κατὰ
σου
ὁ
διάβολος,
διότι
ἐγκατέλιπες
αὐτὸν,
καὶ
σπουδάζει
πᾶσαν
ἐπίνοιαν
κατὰ
σοῦ
κινῆσαι,
δεῖ
σε
τινὰ
πειρασμὸν
ὑπενεγκεῖν,
ὃν
ἐὰν
ὑπενέγκῃς,
κομίζῃ
τὸν
στέφανον
τὸν
νίκης.
Ἰδοὺ
ὑψώθης
ἕως
τοῦ
νῦν
ἐν
ταῖς
πραγματείαις
τοῦ
βίου
τούτου
τοῦ
προσκαίρου·
δεῖ
οὖν
ταπεινωθῆναι
σε
ἀπὸ
τοῦ
ὕψους
τοῦ
ματαίου
τούτου,
αὖθις
πάλιν
ὑψωθῆναι
σε
ἐν
τῷ
πνευματικῷ
πλούτῳ.
Μὴ
οὖν
δειλανδρήσῃς,
μὴ
δὲ
ἀπίδῃς
πρὸς
τὴν
ὑπάρξασαν
κοσμικὴν
δόξαν,
ἀλλ᾽
ὥσπερ
πολεμῶν
ἀνθρώποις
ἀριστεύων
ἐφαίνου,
βασιλεῖ
ἀρέσαι
σπουδάζων
τῷ
ἐπιγείῳ,
οὕτως
καὶ
κατὰ
τοῦ
διαβόλου
ἀνδραγασθῆσαι
σπούδασον,
ἐμοὶ
τῷ
ἀθανάτῳ
βασιλεῖ
τὴν
πίστιν
φυλάττων·
δεί
γὰρ
καὶ
ἐν
τοῖς
καιροῖς
τουτοῖς
ἄλλον
Ἰώβ
ἀναδειχθῆναί
σε
νέον
ἐν
τοῖς
πειρασμοῖς
καὶ
νικητήν
τοῦ
διαβόλου
αναφανῆναί
σε.
Ὅρα
οὗν
μήπως
ἐν
τῇ
καρδίᾳ
σου
λογισμός
τις
δυσφημίας
ἀνάβῃ,
ὅταν
γὰρ
ταπεινωθῇς,
ἐλεύσομαι
πρός
σε,
καὶ
πάλιν
ἀποκαταστήσω
σε
ἐν
τῇ
προτέρᾳ
σου
δόξῃ.
Καὶ
ταῦτα
εἰπών
ὁ
Κύριος,
ἀνῆλθεν
εἰς
τούς
οὐρανοὺς,
λέγων
τῷ
Εὐσταθίῳ·
Νῦν
βούλει
δέξασθαι
τὸν
προκείμενόν
σοι
πειρασμὸν,
ἢ
ἐπι
ἐσχάτων
τῶν
ἡμερῶν;
[8] Λέγει
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος·
Δέομαί
σου
Κύριε,
εἰ
οὔκ
ἐστιν
παρελθεῖν
τὰ
ὁρισμένα
ἐφ᾽
ἡμῶν,
νῦν
μᾶλλον
δέξασθαι
ἡμᾶς
τὸν
πειρασμὸν
κέλευσον,
καὶ
δὸς
δύναμιν
ὑπενεγκεῖν
τὰ
ἐπαγόμενα,
ἵνα
μὴ
λογισμός
τις
ἐπελθὼν
πονηρὸς
σαλεύσῃ
τὴν
διάνοιαν
ἡμῶν
ἀπὸ
τῆς
εἰς
σὲ
πίστεως.
Λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτὸν
ὁ
Κύριος·
Ἀγωνίζου
καὶ
ἴσχυε
Εὐστάθιε,
ἡ
γὰρ
χάρις
μου
ἔσται
μεθ᾽
ὑμῶν,
διαφυλάσσουσα
ὑμῶν
τὰς
ψυχάς.
Κατελθὼν
δὲ
ἀπὸ
τοῦ
ὄρους
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος
καὶ
εἰσελθὼν
εἰς
τὴν
οἰκίαν,
ἀπήγγειλεν
τῇ
Γυναικὶ
τὰ
λαληθέντα
αὐτῷ,
καὶ
κλίναντες
τὰ
γόνατα,
ἐδέοντο
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
λέγοντες.
Τὸ
θέλημά
σου
Κύριε
γενέσθω.
Ὀλίγων
δὲ
ἡμέρων
διελθουσῶν,
συνέβη
νόσον
λοιμικὴν
ἐνσκῆψαι
ἐν
τῇ
οἰκίᾳ
αὐτοῦ
καὶ
τελευτῆσαι
πάντας
τοὺς
παῖδας
αὐτοῦ
καὶ
τὰς
παιδίσκας.
Τούτου
δὲ
γενομένου,
ἤσθετο
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος
τὸν
προμηνυθέντα
αὐτῷ
πειρασμὸν
εἶναι,
καὶ
εὐχαρίστως
δεξάμενος,
παρεκάλει
τὴν
Γυναῖκα
αὐτοῦ
μὴ
μικροψυχῆσαι.
Καὶ
μετ᾽
ὀλίγον
τινὰ
χρόνον
ἔφθασε
κατὰ
τῶν
ἵππων
αὐτοῦ
καὶ
τῶν
ἄλλων
κτηνῶν
μοῖρὰ
τις
θανατικὴ·
καὶ
παραχρῆμα
ἀπέθανον
πάντα
τὰ
κτήνη
τὰ
προσόντα
αὐτῷ.
Καὶ
οὕτως
δεξάμενος
καὶ
ταύτην
τὴν
συμφορὰν
εὐχαρίστως,
ἀνεχώρησε
τῆς
οἰκίας
αὐτοῦ
λεληθότως,
ἅμα
τῇ
Γυναικί
καὶ
τοῖς
Τέκνοις
εἰς
ἀνακεχωρισμένον
τόπον.
Καὶ
θεασάμενοί
τινες
τῶν
κακούργων
τὴν
ἀναχώρησιν
αὐτῶν,
ἐλθόντες
ἐν
νυκτὶ,
διαρπαγὴν
ἐποιήσαντο
πάντων
τῶν
ὑπαρχόντων
αὐτοῦ
ἔν
τε
χρυσίῳ
καὶ
ἀργυρίῳ
καὶ
ἀνδραπόδοις
καὶ
ἰματισμῷ,
ὡς
μηδὲν
ὑπολείπεσθαι
τῆς
οὐσίας
αὐτῶν,
πλὴν
ὧν
περιεβέβληντο.
Τοιαύταις
ἐπηρείαις
καὶ
συμφοραῖς
καὶ
πᾶσα
ἡ
λοιπὴ
αὐτῶν
κτῆσίς
τε
καὶ
ὕπαρξις
εἰς
ἀνυπαρξίαν
κατέλιξεν
ἐξ
ἐπιβουλῆς
τοῦ
ἀντικειμένου.
[9] Ἐν
δὲ
ταῖς
ἡμέραις
ἐκείναις
δημοτελοῦς
ἑορτῆς
ἐπιτελουμένης
ἐπινικίων
τῆς
κατὰ
τῶν
Περσῶν
νίκης,
καὶ
χαρμοσύνης,
ὡς
εἰκὸς,
μεγίστης,
ἑορτάζειν
συνέβαινε
καὶ
τὸν
βασιλέα.
Ἔδει
δὲ
καὶ
τὸν
στρατηγὸν
πρὸ
πάντων
παρεῖναι
τῇ
ἑορτῇ,
ὡς
ἅ
τε
στρατηλάτην
ὄντα
καὶ
πρῶτον
τῆς
συγκλήτου.
Καὶ
ἐζητεῖτο
καὶ
οὐχ
εὑρίσκετο.
Πάντας
οὖν
ἀμηχανία
κατεῖχεν,
ὅτι
οὕτως
ἐν
μιᾷ
καιροῦ
ῥοπῇ
μηδὲν
ὑπολειφθῆναι
τῶν
αὐτοῦ,
μήτε
δὲ
αὐτὸν
εὑρίσκεσθαι.
Ἐλυπήθη
οὖν
ὁ
βασιλεὺς,
καὶ
πᾶσα
ἡ
σύγκλητος
περὶ
αὐτοῦ,
καὶ
πᾶσα
ἔκπληξις
κατεῖχεν
περὶ
τοῦ
συμβεβηκότος.
Τότε
λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτὸν
ἡ
Γυνὴ
αὐτοῦ·
Μέχρι
τίνος
περιμένομεν
ἐνταῦθα
Κύριέ
μου;
Δεῦρο
λαβόντες
τὰ
Νήπια
ἡμῶν,
αὐτὰ
γὰρ
μόνα
περιλέλειπται
ἡμῖν,
ἀναχωρήσωμεν
τῆς
χώρας
ταύτης,
ὅτι
ὄνειδος
γεγόναμεν
τοῖς
γινώσκουσιν
ἡμᾶς.
Νυκτὸς
δὲ
ἐπικαταλαβούσης
λαβόντες
τὰ
δύο
Νήπια
ἐβάδιζον
ὡς
ἐπὶ
τὴν
Αἴγυπτον.
Ἡμέρων
δὲ
δύο
τὴν
πορείαν
ποιησάμενοι
προσέλαβον
τῇ
θαλάσσῃ,
καὶ
εὑροντες
πλοῖον
προσόρμησαν
τῷ
λιμένι,
ἐζήτουν
εἰσελθεῖν
εἰς
αὐτὸ
καὶ
πλεῦσαι.
Συνέβη
δὲ
καὶ
τὸν
ναύκληρον
τοῦ
πλοίου
ἐκείνου
βάρβαρόν
τινα,
καὶ
ἀνήμερον
εἶναι.
Ἐμβάντες
οὖν
ἔπλεον,
θεασάμενος
δὲ
ὁ
ναύκληρος
τὴν
Γυναῖκα
τοῦ
Εὐσταθίου,
ὅτι
ὡραῖα
ἦν
τῇ
ὄψει
σφόδρα
ἠράσθη
αὐτῆς.
Καὶ
ἐν
τῷ
διαπερᾶσαι
αὐτοὺς
τὴν
θάλασσαν,
ἐζήτει
παρ᾽
αὐτῶν
τὸ
ναῦλον.
Μὴ
ἐχόντων
δὲ
αὐτῶν
ἀποδοῦναι,
κατέσχεν
τῆν
Γυναῖκα
τοῦ
Εὐσταθίου,
ὡς
ἐν
προφάσει
δήθεν
τοῦ
ναύλου,
τοῦτο
γὰρ
καὶ
ἐβουλεύσατο
ἅμα
τοῦ
θεάσασθαι
αὐτὴν,
καὶ
οὐκ
ἤθελεν
ἀποδοῦναι.
Ἐπὶ
πολὺ
δὲ
ἀντιλέγοντος
τοῦ
Εὐσταθίου
καὶ
παρακαλοῦντος,
νεύει
ὁ
ναύκληρος
ταῖς
ναύταις
αὐτοῦ
εἰς
τὸ
πέλαγος
αὐτὸν
ἀκοντίσαι.
[10] Γνοῦς
δὲ
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος
τὴν
ἐπιβουλὴν
αὐτῶν,
ἀκῶν
κατέλιπεν
τὴν
ἑαυτοῦ
Γυναῖκα,
καὶ
παραλαβὼν
τὰ
δύο
Νήπια,
ἐπορεύετο
ὀδυρόμενος
καὶ
λέγων·
Οὐαί
μοι
καὶ
ὑμῖν,
ὅτι
ἡ
Μητὴρ
ὑμῶν
ἐξεδόθη
ἀνδρὶ
ἀλλοφύλῳ.
Πορευόμενος
δὲ
μετὰ
στεναγμοῦ
καὶ
δακρύων
ψυχῆς
κατέλαβέν
τινα
ποταμὸν,
καὶ
διὰ
τὸ
πλῆθος
τοῦ
ὕδατος
ἐδειλίασεν
τὰ
δύο
βαστάζων
Νήπια
διελθεῖν
τὸν
ποταμόν.
Βαστάσας
οὖν
τὸ
ἓν
ἐπὶ
τῶν
ὤμων
αὐτοῦ,
κατέλιπεν
τὸ
ἕτερον
ἐντεῦθεν
ἐπὶ
τὴν
ὄχθην
τοῦ
ποταμοῦ,
καὶ
διαπεράσας,
τίθησιν
ἐπὶ
τὴν
γῆν
τὸ
Παιδίον
αὐτοῦ,
ὃ
ἐβάσταζεν,
καὶ
ὑπέστρεψεν
ὀφείλων
διασῶσαι
καὶ
τὸ
ἄλλο.
Γενόμενος
δὲ
κατὰ
τὸ
μέσον
τοῦ
ποταμοῦ
ἀτενίσας
θεωρεῖ,
ὅτι
λέων
ἥρπασε
τὸ
Παιδίον
αὐτοῦ
καὶ
ἐπορεύετο.
Καὶ
ἀπελπίσας
αὐτοῦ
περιεστράφη
λοίπον
μόνην
ἐλπίδα
ἔχων
εἰς
τὸ
ἕτερον.
Καὶ
θεωρεῖ
ὁμοίως
καὶ
αὐτὸ
ὑπὸ
λύκου
ἁρπαγέν.
Θεασάμενος
οὖν
τὰ
Τέκνα
αὐτοῦ
θηριάλωτα
γενόμενα,
τίλλων
αὐτοῦ
τὴν
κόμην
τῆς
κεφαλῆς
καὶ
ὀδυρόμενος
πικρῶς
ἐπειρᾶτο
ἑαυτὸν
καταβαλεῖν
ἐν
τῷ
ὕδατι
τοῦ
ποταμοῦ.
Ἐστήρισε
δὲ
αὐτὸν
ἡ
πρόνοια
τοῦ
Θεοῦ,
ἡ
προορωμένη
τὰ
μέλλοντα,
καὶ
μὴ
ποιήσας
τοῦτο,
ἐξῆλθεν
ἐκ
τοῦ
ὕδατος.
Ὁ
δὲ
λέων
λαβὼν
τὸ
Παιδίον
καὶ
διαφυλάξας
ἀβλαβῆ
κατὰ
πρόνοιαν
Θεοῦ
διεπέρασε
τὸν
ποταμὸν
ἀνωτέρω
καὶ
ἐπορεύετο
ἐπὶ
τὴν
ἔρημον.
Θεασάμενοι
δὲ
ποιμένες
τὸ
Παιδίον
βασταζόμενον
ὑπὸ
τοῦ
λεοντος
ζῶν,
καὶ
μηδὲν
ἀδικηθέν,
στοχασάμενοι
ἐκ
προνοίας
Θεοῦ
πεφυλάχθαι
τὸ
Παιδίον,
ἥτις
καὶ
αὐτοῖς
βοηθήσει
πρὸς
τὸ
ἐξελέσθαι
αὐτὸ
ἐκ
τοῦ
θηρὸς,
κατέδραμον
τῷ
λεόντι
μετὰ
κυνῶν.
Κατὰ
οἰκονομίαν
δὲ
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
θρυλληθεὶς
ὁ
λέων
ἔῤῥιψε
τὸ
Παιδίον
σῶον
καὶ
ἀνεχώρησεν.
Τὸ
δὲ
ἕτερον
Παιδίον
ἁρπαγὲν
ὁμοίως
ὑπὸ
τοῦ
λύκου,
διεφυλάχθη
καὶ
αὐτὸ
ὑπὸ
τῆς
θείας
προνοίας,
ὅπερ
ἰδόντες
τινὲς
ἀροτῆρες
ἐπιδραμόντες
μετὰ
θορύβου
ἀφείλαντο
ἐν
τοῦ
λύκου
μηδὲν
ἀδικηθέν.
[11] Ἑκάτεροι
δὲ
οἵ
τε
ποιμένες,
καὶ
οἱ
ἀρατῆρες
ἐκ
μιᾶς
κώμης
ὑπῆρχον,
καὶ
λαβόντες
τὰ
Παιδία
ἀνεθρέψαντο
παρ᾽
ἑαυτοῖς.
Ταῦτα
δὲ
Εὐστάθιος
οὐκ
ἤδει,
ἀλλ᾽
ἐπορεύετο
ὀδυρόμενος
καὶ
θρηνῶν
ἅμα
καὶ
ταῦτα
λέγων·
Οἴμοι
τῷ
ποτὲ
θάλλοντι
ὡς
δένδρον,
νυνὶ
δὲ
γυμνωτεντί.
Οἵμοι
τῷ
ποτὲ
ἐν
εὐθηνίᾳ
πολλῇ
διάγοντι,
νυνὶ
δὲ
αἰχμαλώτου
τρόπῳ
μεμοναμένῳ.
Οἵμοι
ὁ
στρατοπεδάρχης
ὁ
ὑπὸ
μυριάδων
λαοῦ
δορυφορούμενος,
νυνὶ
δε
μονώτατος
καταλελειμένος,
μήδε
τὰ
Τέκνα
μου
συγχωρηθεὶς
ἔχειν.
Ἀλλὰ
σὺ,
Κύριε,
μή
με
εἰς
τέλος
ἐγκαταλίπῃς,
μήδε
παρίδῃς
τὰ
δάκρυά
μου.
Μέμνημαι
Κύριε
εἰρηκότος
σου,
Ὅτι
δεῖ
σε
πειρασθῆναι
ὡς
καὶ
τὸν
Ἰώβ.
Καὶ
ἰδού
πλεόν
τι
ἐπ᾽
ἐμοὶ
γενόμενον
ὁρῶ.
Ἐκεῖνος
εἰ
καὶ
τῶν
κτημάτων
ἐστερήθη,
ἀλλά
τὴν
κοπρίαν
ἔσχεν,
ἐφ᾽
ἣν
καθεσθῆναι
συνεχωρήθη,
ἐγὼ
δὲ
ἐπὶ
τῆς
ξένης
τὰς
αὐτὰς
ὑπομένω
τιμωρίας.
Ἐκεῖνος
φίλους
ἔσχεν
συμπάσχοντας
καὶ
παρηγοροῦντας
αὐτὸν,
ἐγώ
δὲ
ἐπὶ
τῆς
ἐρημίας
τοῦς
ἀγρίους
θῆρας
ἔσχον
τὴν
παραμυθίαν
τῶν
Τέκνων
μου
ἀρπάσαντας.
Ἔκεῖνος
εἰ
καὶ
τῶν
κλάδων
ἐστερήθη,
ἁλλὰ
τὴν
ῥίζαν
τῆς
Γυναικὸς
βλέπων
μεθ᾽
ἑαυτοῦ
παρηγορεῖτο,
ὁ
δὲ
τάλας
ἐγὼ
πάντοθεν
ἔκριζος
ἐγενόμην
μήδε
σπινθῆρα
γένους
μου
ἀφορῶν,
ἀλλὰ
κλάδου
δίκην
ἐν
ἐρήμῳ
ἱσταμένου
πανταχόθεν
κλονοῦμαι
ὑπὸ
λαίλαπος
τοῦ
πονηροῦ.
Μή
με
ἐγκακήσης,
Κύριε
Ἰησοῦ
Χριστέ,
τὸν
σὸν
δοῦλον
πολυλογοῦντα,
πόνῳ
γὰρ
ἀγώμενος
ἄκων
λέγω
τὰ
μὴ
δέοντα.
Θοῦ,
Κύριε,
φυλακὴν
τῷ
στόματί
μου,
καὶ
θύραν
περιοχῆς
περὶ
τὰ
χείλη
μου,
ἵνα
μὴ
ἐκκλίνῃ
ἡ
καρδία
μου
εἰς
λόγους
πονηρίας,
καὶ
ἀποῤῥιφῷ
ἀπὸ
τοῦ
προσώπου
σου.
Δὸς
δὲ
μοι,
Κύριε,
λοιπὸν
κατάπαυσιν
τῶν
πολλῶν
μου
θλίψεων.
Καὶ
ταῦτα
λέγων
μετὰ
σεναγμοῦ
καὶ
δακρύων
ψυχῆς,
κατέλαβέν
τινα
κώμην,
καλουμένην
Βαδισσών.
καὶ
εἰσελθὼν
ἐν
αυτῇ
εἰργάζετο
τὴν
ἐφήμερον
τροφήν.
Διατριψας
δὲ
ἐν
αὐτῇ
ἔτη
πλείονα
παρεκάλεσε
τούς
τῆς
κώμης,
καὶ
κατέστησαν
αὐτὸν
φυλάττειν
τοὺς
καρποὺς,
καὶ
τὸν
μισθὸν
κομιζόμενος
διῆγεν
ἐπὶ
ἔτη
ιε᾽.
St. Eustathius, still a gentile, merciful toward the wretched, In the days of the emperor Trajan, the deceit of the demons a prevailing, there was a certain b master of the soldiers, by name Placidas, distinguished in race according to the flesh, strong in wealth, and excelling all in honor [c as much in animals as in gold and silver and slaves and all the goods of his substance], but also caught by the error of the demons d. But he was endowed with works of justice and with all virtues and merits e. He came to the aid of the oppressed, he was an advocate for those burdened by judgment, and many condemned unjustly by the judges f he relieved with his own wealth; he clothed the naked, he satisfied the hungry: and, to speak truly, dispensing to all the needy in his lifetime, so that (as is read in the Acts of the Apostles g) he seemed to be a Cornelius even in these times. And he had a Wife likewise under the demons'
worship, but like in character to her Husband's mind. Two Sons are begotten to them, whom they brought up equal h to their own will. And [i the Man was so famous and celebrated for his outstanding exploits and for the dignities of the offices he had held, that even to the barbarians themselves his mere name was a terror, and that he had among all the estimation of one most brave in war and enjoying prosperous fortune in all things. He gave very much attention also to hunting, and rejoiced day by day to pursue wild beasts.] But the merciful God, who always and everywhere calls to himself those worthy of him, did not despise this man's good works: nor did he wish a mind k kindly and worthy of God to be abandoned without reward, covered by the darkness of idolatry, but, according to what is written, that in every nation he that worketh justice is acceptable to him, his kindly mercy came to this man, and he willed to save him in such a manner.
[3] As he went out one day, after his accustomed manner, to hunt in the mountains with his troop and all his retinue, in hunting, by Christ, there appeared to him a herd of stags feeding; and, arranging his troop after the usual manner, he set about to pursue them l. But while all the soldiers were occupied about the taking of the stags, there appeared one of the stags huge beyond the measure of the whole herd, and beautiful, which, leaping back from the herd, made a rush into the wood and into the thicker places m: seeing which, Placidas, and desiring to take it, leaving all behind, pursues it with a few soldiers. But when all who were with him had grown weary, he alone persevered in pursuit. But by God's providence, his horse not growing weary nor he himself desisting on account of the difficulty of the place n, but pursuing long, he was carried far away from his troop: and that stag, taking the height of a rock o, stood upon it. And the Master of the soldiers, coming nearer without a companion, stood, looking about on every side and considering how he might take the stag. But the God of all wisdom and mercy, who provides all ways for the salvation of men, hunted the hunter: not as Cornelius through Peter, but as Paul the persecutor through his own showing of himself. And while Placida stood long, and gazed at the stag, and marvelled at its hugeness, and was at a loss about taking it [p], God shows him such a sign as he need not fear, nor was it beyond the greatness of his own power: but as under Balaam, granting speech to the she-ass, he reproved his folly, so also to this man he showed between the stag's horns the form of the sacred Cross, shining above the brightness of the sun, and in the midst of the horns the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [q]. Who also, setting a human voice in the stag, calls Placida, saying to him:
[4] O Placida, why dost thou pursue me? Behold, for thy sake I have come, himself appearing, to appear to thee in this animal. I am Christ, whom in ignorance [r] thou worshippest; the alms which thou doest to the needy have stood before me, and I have come to show myself to thee through this stag, and to hunt thee, and to take thee in the nets of my mercy; for it is not just that one beloved by me for his good works should serve unclean demons and things lacking life and empty and senseless. For this therefore I came upon earth in this form in which thou now seest me, to save the human race. Hearing these things, the Master of the soldiers was filled with the greatest fear, and fell from his horse to the ground. And when an hour had passed, he came to himself and rose, and, wishing to see more carefully the sight which had appeared to him, he said within himself: What is this voice which I hear? Reveal thyself to me, who speakest, that so I may believe in thee. And the Lord said to him: Attend, Placida. I am Jesus Christ, who made heaven and earth from nothing, who distinguished undistinguished matter, who made the light to arise and divided the darkness. I am he who made the sun for the light of day [s and formed the moon with the stars for the light of night.] I am he who established the seasons and days and years. I am he who formed man from the slime of the earth, who for the salvation of the human race appeared on earth in flesh, who, being crucified and buried, rose again on the third day. Hearing these things, the Master of the soldiers fell again to the ground, saying: I believe, Lord, that thou art he who made all things, who convertest the erring [t], who raisest up the fallen, and givest life to the dead. The Lord says to him: If thou believest, go to the city and hear the pontiff of the Christians, and seek from him the baptism of grace.
[5] he is prodigiously called to the faith. Placidas answered: Lord, dost thou bid me to report these things to my Wife and my Sons, that they also may believe in thee? The Lord said to him: Report them to them, and, receiving the sign of baptism, be cleansed from the pollution of the idols [u], and come hither, and again I shall appear to thee and shall show thee things to come, and shall lay open to thee the mysteries of salvation. Coming down therefore from the mountain, when night had fallen, he began to set forth to his Wife all that he had seen. But when he had finished all, setting forth the vision and what had been said to him, his Wife cried out, saying: My lord, thou hast seen the Crucified Lord whom the Christians worship, for he alone is the true God, who by such signs calls to himself those who believe: [and crying out more loudly, she said: Have mercy on me, Lord Jesus Christ, and on my two Little Ones.] Then she says to her Husband: In the night that is past I too saw him saying to me: Tomorrow thou and thy Husband and thy Sons shall come to me, and shall know that I am Jesus Christ. He willed therefore under such a figure of a wonderful sight to appear to thee through a stag, that thou mightest be able to marvel at his power, believing in him. Come therefore this night, and let us go and obtain the holy baptism of the Christians; for through this those become his own [x] who believe in him. Placidas said to her: This also he said to me who appeared to me. And at midnight, two Children being secretly taken along and a few of the servants, they went to the priest of the Christians.
[6] [The matter being told to his Wife and confirmed, they are baptized with their Sons.] And being alone, the servants having been left at the doors, they related to him all that had been done or said to them, and, saying that they at once believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, they besought him to give them the seal of baptism. And he, filled with eager joy and glorifying the Lord God, who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, receiving them, catechized them, and, setting forth to them the mystery of the faith, baptized them in the name of the most holy Trinity. And Placida indeed he called Eustathius, and his wife Theopista [y], and of their sons the firstborn he called Agapius, and the other Theopistus. And he bestowed upon them the holy Sacrament of our Lord Jesus Christ [z] and dismissed them, saying: May the Lord and Jesus Christ the Son of God be with you, and grant you the eternal kingdoms; for I have known that the hand of the Lord is with you. But you, when you shall enjoy the paradise of delight, remember my soul, John's; so I ask you. And when morning had come, Eustathius, taking a few horsemen with him, made his way to the mountain, and coming near the place where he had seen the vision, he sent away his soldiers, as if under pretext of searching out game; and remaining alone, he drew near to the place, and saw the former shape of the vision shown him, and, falling on his face, he cried out, saying:
[7] I beseech thee, Lord; I have known that thou art Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, [To Eustathius, returned to the place of the prodigy, the impending calamities are foretold,] and I believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and now I have come beseeching thy undefiled Divinity to make manifest what thou hadst promised me. And the Lord says to him: Blessed art thou, Eustathius, who hast received the laver of my grace, and who hast clothed thyself with immortality. Now thou hast overcome the devil, now thou hast trodden underfoot him who had deceived thee, now thou hast stripped off the corruptible man and hast put on the incorruptible, abiding unto the ages of ages; now the works of thy faith shall be shown, since the devil's envy shall be stirred against thee, because thou hast forsaken him, and he hastens to set every device in motion against thee; for thou must endure many things that thou mayest receive the crown of victory. For behold, thou hast until now been exalted by the affairs of this world and by temporal wealth. It behooves thee therefore to be humbled from thy lofty vanity, and again to be exalted in spiritual riches. Let not therefore thy strength fail, nor look back to the glory which was formerly thine, but as, contending against men, thou didst desire to be shown a victor, hastening to please a mortal emperor, so hasten to act vigorously also against the devil and to keep faith with me, the immortal emperor: for in these times also another Job must be shown through temptations, and thou must be shown a conqueror of the devil through endurance. See therefore that no thought of blasphemy rise in thy heart; for when thou shalt have been humbled, I shall come to thee and shall again restore thee to thine own glory. And after the Lord had said these things, he ascended into the heavens, saying to Eustathius: Wilt thou now receive the temptation that hangs over thee, or in thy last days?
[8] Eustathius says: I beseech thee, Lord Jesus, if it is not possible to avoid which he presently experiences, what has been decreed by thee for us, bid us rather receive the temptation now, and give us strength to endure what has been promised [aa], lest the adversary, finding some malignant word, should move our mind from thy faith. And the Lord said: Contend, Eustathius, for my grace is with you, guarding your souls. And coming down from the mountain and entering his house, he reported to his Wife all that had been said to him by the Lord, and, bending their knees together, they besought the Lord, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, thy will be done. And when a few days had passed, it happened that his house was afflicted with a pestilent sickness, and that all his menservants and maidservants died. This having been done, Eustathius, perceiving that the temptation foretold him had come, and receiving it thankfully, begged his Wife not to fail under tribulation; and after some time a certain deadly air seized his horses and his other cattle: and all that he had died. And receiving this temptation also with giving of thanks, he departed secretly from his house, together with his Wife and Sons, to a more remote place. But when certain wicked men saw their departure, attacking by night, they plundered all that they possessed: gold and silver and slaves and garments; so that nothing was left of their substance except what they were clothed in. When therefore they were in such sadness, the rest of their possession and substance came to nothing through the frauds of the enemy.
[9] despoiled of all his fortunes. Fleeing In those days, when all the people [bb] were celebrating the festival
with the emperor for the victory which had been won in Persia, it behooved Placida also to hold his festival in his presence, since indeed he was master of the soldiers and prince of the senate. He was sought, and could not be found [cc]. [Amazement therefore held all, that in one moment of time their affairs had so melted away that nothing remained to them of what they had possessed,] nor could he himself be found. The emperor was struck with sorrow for him, and all the senate, and all were amazed at what had befallen him. Then his Wife says to him: How long do we wait here? Come, and let us take our two Infants, for they alone are left to us, and let us withdraw hence, for we have become a reproach to all who know us. And when night came on, taking their two Infants, they made their way toward Egypt. But after they had made a journey of two days, drawing near to the sea and finding a ship put in to shore, they wished to enter it and sail. But it happened that the master of that ship was a barbarian and cruel. Entering therefore they sailed; and the master of the ship, seeing that Eustathius's Wife was of comely face, greatly desired her. And when they had crossed the sea, he demanded from them the fare. And since they had nothing with which to pay, he retained his Wife, as it were for the fare, for [dd he had taken this counsel as soon as he had beheld her, and he was unwilling to give her back. But when Eustathius greatly resisted and strove against it,] the master of the ship signed to his sailors to throw him into the midst of the sea.
[10] He loses his Wife and Sons, But when Eustathius perceived their treachery, he left his Wife, and, taking his two Infants, went groaning and saying: Woe to me and to you, because your Mother has been delivered over to a foreign husband. Going on with groaning and tears, he came to a certain river, and on account of the abundance of the waters he did not dare to enter the water with his two Sons. But carrying one Infant on his shoulders, he left the other by the bank, and set the Infant whom he had carried on the ground, and was going to carry over the other also. But when he had come to the middle of the river (and the river was very wide), looking, he saw, and behold, a lion carried off his Son and went away into the woods. And despairing of him, he returned in patience, having hope of the other; and as he was going, he saw, and behold, likewise a wolf carried off his other Son and went away, and he could not overtake him. And when he was in the middle of the river, he began to tear out the hairs of his head, lamenting and howling, and wished to cast himself into the water; but the providence of God, which foresaw things to come, made him steadfast; and that assault of grief being overcome, he came out of the waters. But the lion, carrying off the Boy, kept him unharmed by God's providence, and crossing the river higher up, went away into the desert. But shepherds, seeing the Boy carried alive by the lion, [and affected by no harm, and judging that by divine providence that Boy had been kept safe, and that by the same providence's help they would snatch him from the beast,] pursued the lion with dogs. And by God's dispensation the lion, roaring, cast down the Infant unharmed and withdrew. But the other Infant, who had been carried off by the wolf, him too the divine providence preserved: for certain ploughmen, seeing and pursuing the wolf, freed him unharmed.
[11] and acts as a hired laborer for 15 years. Both parties therefore, whether the shepherds or the ploughmen, were of one village; and receiving the Boys, they brought them up with themselves. But Eustathius did not know these things, but went on, lamenting and mourning alike, and saying these things: Alas for me, who was once flourishing like a tree, but now am stripped bare! Alas for me, who had been in exceeding abundance, and now am left desolate after the manner of captivity. Alas for me, who as master of the soldiers had been surrounded by a multitude of armies, and now am left alone, nor am I granted to have my Sons! But do thou, Lord, forsake me not to the end, nor despise my tears. I remember, Lord, that thou saidst that I must be tempted like Job. But behold, I see something more done in me. For he, though he lacked possessions, yet had a dunghill upon which it was granted him to sit: but I in a strange land suffer the same torments. He had friends who had compassion on him: but I in the desert have savage beasts for my consolation, which have carried off my Sons. He, though he lacked branches, yet, looking upon the root of his wife, comforted himself with her; but I, unhappy, am on every side made rootless, seeing no [ee spark of my race?] but I am like branches in the desert, which on every side are shaken by storms. Do not curse, Lord, thy servant's many words, for I grieve while I say what I ought not. Set, Lord, a guard to my mouth and a door of defence about my lips, that my heart may not turn aside to words of malice, and I be cast out from thy face. But give now, Lord, rest from my many tribulations. And saying these things with tears and groaning of soul, he went to a certain village which was called Badyssus [ff]; and entering it he worked and gained his living. And staying in it for a very long time, he made request of the men of that village, and they set him to guard their fields; and receiving wages, he lived there fifteen years [gg].
ANNOTATIONS.
p. More conformably to our Latin manuscript Combefis reads ἀμηχανοῦντος δὲ πρὸς τὴν σύλληψιν. More closely to our Medicean one render: And when he was without counsel how he might get possession of the stag.
q. In the Greek it is: The image of his divine body, which for our salvation he most kindly assumed.
r. That is, by exercising the works of natural justice from a right instinct of nature, or such as, if you believed in me, would through my grace become meritorious of eternal life. Consult what I noted above.
s. What was lacking in ours has been supplied from the first manuscript of St. Maximin.
t. These things I have supplied, because they were wanting in the Latin ones. Let the same judgment be made of those which you will find enclosed in brackets, where I have not indicated that they were taken from elsewhere.
u. Correct from the Greek: And receiving the seal of baptism in Christ, be cleansed from the defilements of your sins. And a little below: I shall lay open to thee the mysteries of salvation.
x. Tatiana must have been well instructed about everything by that first vision, who here sets forth very many things so clearly. Combefis reads: ἵνα θαυμάσασα τὴν δύναμίν μου, πιστεύσῃς είς ἐμέ, which make this sense: It pleased me therefore to appear to thee in such a figure and in this new and unusual sight in a stag, that, having marvelled at my power, thou mightest believe in me. These are the words of Christ to Theopiste, and thus a new apparition is imagined.
y. Everywhere in our Latin manuscripts her family name is omitted. The Acts of Metaphrastes have Trajana for Tatiana, as it is read in ours; and her Christian name is written in some manuscript Acts and sacred calendars Theospite, for Theopiste or Theopista, but faultily; as also Agapitus for Agapius, and Theospitus for Theopistus. For the rest, from St. Theopiste's faulty name Trajana I suspect there arose the opinion which sets Eustathius as Trajan's son-in-law: for nowhere else have I been able to find anything on which so unusual a conjecture might rest. If it please you to conjecture from nearness of name, you have in Dio and others Tatianus, the guardian of Hadrian Cæsar, a very powerful man, to whom you may refer Tatiana.
z. So all the Latin manuscripts. In Greek it is: And he made them partakers of the most sacred body and precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. A little below most of the manuscripts have: John, I ask you; but the greater one of St. Maximin of Trier deviates in this manner: But I commend you to St. John the apostle.
aa. Combefis reads ἐπαγγελλόμενα, the things which are announced, and more correctly; unless it please you to interpret ἐπάγειν as to threaten. In the Latin below read: Lest any hostile thought, for malignant word; and then: Fight, Eustathius, and be strengthened, for contend, etc.
bb. Render more closely to the Greek text: When the public feast of the victory over the Persians was being held with pomp, and the joy, as was fitting, was very great, it happened that the emperor also kept that solemn day. And it behooved Placida to be present at the celebration before others, because he was commander of the soldiery and prince of the senate. What triumph the writer here means, unless he invented that too, is not easy to say. If one must divine, I suspect that some celebration long since instituted is signified, not joy at a recent victory over the Persians and games instituted on that account. Certainly with the Persians there was no war in the first years of Trajan's rule, unless one will have the name of a Persian victory apply to the invasion of Arabia Petræa, which Palma, prefect of Syria, subjected to the Roman empire. That victory indeed not a little increased the joy of the City at Trajan's second triumph over the Dacians. But since he did not triumph a second time over the Dacians before the year of Christ 105, the 8th of his rule, this conjecture does not cohere with our chronology. Therefore understand these things of some annual feast, of which very many occur in the calendars. For the rest, the Princedom of the senate was a kind of honor wont to be granted only to those who excelled in merits and greatness: for the Prince of the senate went before all magistrates in dignity, although he had no jurisdiction. He was wont to be chosen Prince of the senate before the rest who was the oldest of the ex-censors, although that custom was not always observed, since those to whom the right of choosing belonged sometimes preferred other outstanding men according to their own judgment and their merits. As sureties for the assertion you have very many ancient writers and antiquaries in Samuel Pitiscus's Lexicon of Antiquities. Brief there is Livy's testimony, who writes: Cornelius said that the custom handed down from the fathers should be followed, that they should choose as Prince him who had been the first censor of those who were living. This was T. Manlius Torquatus. Yet Sempronius did not follow this custom, but, when there had long been contention in words, he made by his own judgment Q. Fabius Maximus the consul Prince in the senate.
cc. All the Latin manuscripts have it faultily: All therefore doubting, that thus in one moment he had left nothing of his own: Combefis, τῶν αὐτοῦ χρημάτων. Meanwhile our Latin ones show well enough that these words were long ago absent.
dd. Combefis's edition here departs somewhat from our manuscript. In the Latin copies it is read corruptly thus: Wishing to have her with him. But when Eustathius saw it, he was unwilling to give her. But when he long contradicted and besought, etc.
ee. I have supplied from the Greek the words of the ill-cohering metaphor, because in the Latin they were contorted; for ours has: Now looking upon a spark, thou makest, of my race: the manuscript of St. Maximin to look upon. Below, for I grieve, etc., put: For, carried away by grief and unwillingly, I speak what is not fitting.
ff. This word is read variously and faultily in various Latin manuscripts. From the Greek it is Badissus, of which I have found nothing except from this passage. There are those who conjecture that it was some town of Persia, but since they assign no traces of it from elsewhere, their opinion rests on no great foundation. See what I said in the preliminary Commentary, §3, number 35.
gg. Here in our Greek manuscript Chapter 1 ends. For the rest, from the determined number of years here which he spent as a hired laborer at Badyssus, I have set out some chronology in the preliminary Commentary, §3, number 33 and following.
CHAPTER II.
Eustathius, being everywhere sought by the emperor's order, is found, is set over the forces, recovers his Wife and Children, and, having happily accomplished the war, because he was unwilling to sacrifice to the idols, is crowned with martyrdom together with his Wife and Sons.
Οἱ
δὲ
Υἱοὶ
αὐτοῦ
ἀνετράφησαν,
καθὼς
προείρηται,
ἐν
τῇ
ἑτέρᾳ
κώμῃ,
μὴ
ἐπιγινώσκοντες
ἀλλήλους,
ὅτι
εἰσὶν
ἀδελφοί.
Ὁ
δὲ
ναύκληρος
ἐκεῖνος
ὁ
ἀλλόφυλος,
λαβὼν
τὴν
Γυναῖκα
τοῦ
Εὐσταθίου,
ἀπήγαγεν
εἰς
τὴν
ἰδίαν
πατρίδα,
καὶ
τοιαύτη
χάρις
ἐπεσκίασεν
τῇ
Γυναικὶ,
ὥστε
μὴ
πλησιᾶσαι
αὐτῇ
τὸν
ἀλλόφυλον
ἐν
πᾶσι
τοῖς
χρόνοις
ἐκείνοις.
Τοῦτο
γὰρ
καὶ
ἠτεῖτο
παρ᾽
αὐτοῦ
Θεοῦ
ἡ
Γυνὴ
τοῦ
διαφυλαχθῆναι
αὐτὴν
ἀπὸ
τῆς
τοῦ
ἀλλοφύλου
κοινωνίας.
Συνέβη
δὲ
τελευτῆσαι
τὸν
ἀλλόφυλον,
καὶ
αὐτὴν
ἐπ᾽
ἀδείας
διάγειν.
Μετὰ
δὲ
τὰς
ἡμέρας
ἐκείνας
ἐγένετο
ἐπανάστασις
τῶν
ἀλλοφύλων
ἐκείνων,
εἰς
οὕς
ἦν
ἡ
Γυνὴ
τοῦ
Εὐσταθίου·
οἵτινες
ἐξελθόντες
πολλὴν
ἀφείλαντο
χώραν
τῶν
Ρωμαίων.
Ἐν
πολλῃ
οὖν
ἀδημονίᾳ
ὑπῆρχεν
ὁ
βασιλεὺς
περὶ
τῆς
ἐπαναστάσεως
τῶν
ἀλλοφύλων,
καὶ
ἐπῆλθεν
αὐτῷ
μνήμη
περὶ
τοῦ
Πλακίδα,
διὰ
τὸ
μάλιστα
πλειστάκις
ἀνδραγαθῆσαι
αὑτὸν
κατὰ
τῶν
ἀλλοφύλων,
καὶ
ἀνανεώσας
τὴν
περὶ
αὐτοῦ
μνήμεν,
διηπόρει
περὶ
τῆς
ἀθρόας
μεταβολῆς
τοῦ
Εὐσταθίου.
Στρατολογήσας
οὖν
τοὺς
ὑπὸ
τὴν
βασιλείαν
αὐτοῦ
στρατιώτας,
καὶ
σκεπτόμενος
περὶ
τοῦ
πολέμου,
ἐμάνθανεν
παρ᾽
ἑκάστου
αὐτῶν
περὶ
τοῦ
Πλακίδα,
τί
ἔγνωσαν
περὶ
αὐτοῦ,
ζῆν
αὐτὸν,
ἤ
τεθνάναι;
καὶ
ἐδίδου
ἐντολὰς
ἑκάστῳ
τῶν
στρατιωτῶν
ἀναζητεῖν
αὐτὸν
εἰ
ζῇ.
Καὶ
ἀπέστειλε
κατὰ
πᾶσαν
πόλιν
καὶ
χώραν
ὑπὸ
τὴν
βασιλείαν
αὐτοῦ
ἐκζητῆσαι
αὐτὸν,
εἰπών·
Ὅτι
ὅστις
ἐάν
ἀναζητήσας
εὕρῃ,
καὶ
μηνύσῃ
μοι,
προσθήσω
αὐτῷ
τιμὴν
μείζονα,
καὶ
ἀνόνας
πλείους
ὧν
ἔχει.
Δύο
δέ
τινες
τῶν
στρατιωτῶν
ὧν
τὰ
ονόματα
Ἀκάκιος
καὶ
Ἀντίοχος,
οἱ
ποτὲ
ἀδιαλείπτως
ὑπηρετοῦντες
τῷ
Πλακίδᾳ,
ἐπορεύθησαν
εἰς
ἀναζήτησιν
αὐτοῦ·
καὶ
περιελθόντες
σχεδὸν
πᾶσαν
τὴν
οἰκουμένην,
ἦλθον
εἰς
τὴν
κώμην,
ἐν
ᾗ
διήγεν
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος.
Παραπορευόμενοι
δὲ
εἰς
τοὺς
τόπους
ἐκείνους,
εἰς
οὕς
ἐφύλαττεν
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος,
ἠπόρουν
ἐπερωτῆσαι
αὐτὸν.
[13] Ὁ
δὲ
Εὐστάθιος
πόῤῥωθεν
θεασάμενος
αὐτοὺς,
ἐκ
τοῦ
τρόπου
τῆς
κινήσεως
αὐτῶν
ἐπέγνω
αὐτοὺς,
καὶ
ἀναμνημονεύσας
τῆς
προτέρας
αὐτοῦ
διαγωγῆς,
ἤρξατο
προσεύχεσθαι
καὶ
λέγειν·
Κύριε
ὁ
Θεὸς
ὁ
ἐλεήμων
ὁ
ἐκ
πάσης
θλίψεως
ῥυόμενος
τοὺς
ἐλπίζοντας
έπί
σε,
ὡς
τούτους
παρ᾽
ἐλπίδα
ἐθεασάμεν,
τοὺς
ποτὲ
συνόντας
μοι,
κέλευσον
λοιπὸν
θεάσασθαί
με
καὶ
τὴν
δούλην
σου
τὴν
ὁμόζυγόν
μου·
τὰ
γὰρ
ἄθλια
Νήπια
οἶδα
ὅτι
διὰ
τὴν
ἐμὴν
κακοπραγίαν
θηριάλωτα
γεγόνασιν.
Δὸς
οὖν,
Κύριε
ὁ
Θεὸς
ὁ
ἐλεήμων,
ὁ
μόνος
ἀληθινὸς
Θεὸς
Ἰησοῦς
Χριστὸς,
ὅπως
κἂν
ἐν
τῇ
ἡμέρᾳ
τῆς
ἀναστάσεως
θεατὴς
γένομαι
τῶν
Μελῶν
μου.
Καὶ
ταῦτα
λέγοντος
αὐτοῦ,
ἤκουσεν
φωνὴν
οὐράνοθεν
λέγουσαν·
Θάρσει
Εὐστάθιε,
ἐν
γὰρ
τῷ
παρόντι
καιρῷ
ἐπανελεύσῃ
εἰς
τῆν
προτέραν
σου
κατάστασιν,
καὶ
ἀπολήψῃ
τὴν
Γυναῖκα
σου
καὶ
τοὺς
Υἱούς
σου.
Ἐν
δὲ
τῇ
ἀναστάσει
μείζονα
τούτων
ὄψει,
καὶ
αἰωνίων
ἀγαθῶν
ἀπόλαυσιν
εὑρήσεις,
καὶ
τὸ
ὄνομά
σου
μεγαλυνθήσεται
ἐν
γενεαῖς
γενεῶν.
Ταῦτα
ἀκούσας
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος,
καὶ
ἔμφοβος
γενόμενος,
ἐκαθίζετο.
Θεασάμενος
δὲ
τοὺς
στρατιώτας
ἐγγίζοντας
αὐτῷ,
κατελθὼν
ἀπὸ
τοῦ
τόπου,
οὗ
ἐκαθέζετο,
ἔστη
ἐπὶ
τῆς
ὀδοῦ
ἀντικρὺ
αὐτῶν,
καὶ
πλησίον
αὐτῶν
γενόμενος,
πλεῖον
ἐπέγνω
αὐτούς.
Αὐτοὶ
δὲ
οὐκ
ἐπέγνωσαν
αὐτὸν·
Καὶ
πρὸς
αὐτὸν
εἶπον·
Χαίροις
ἐταῖρε.
Ὁ
δὲ
πρὸς
αὐτοὺς·
Εἰρήνη
ὑμῖν
ἀδελφοί.
Λέγουσι
πρὸς
αὐτὸν·
Εἶπε
ημῖν,
εἰ
ἔγνως
ἐνταῦθα
ξένον
τινὰ
ὀνόματι
Πλακίδαν
μετὰ
Γυναικὸς
καὶ
δύο
Τέκνων;
Καὶ
ἐὰν
ὑποδείξῃς
ἡμῖν
αὐτὸν,
δώσομέν
σοι
χρήματα.
Ὁ
δὲ
λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτοὺς·
Τινὸς
ἕνεκεν
ζητεῖτε
αὐτὸν;
Οἱ
δὲ
λέγουσιν
αὐτῷ·
Φίλος
ἡμῶν
τυγχάνει,
καὶ
θέλομεν
συντυχεῖν
αὐτῷ
διὰ
πολλῶν
ἐτῶν.
Λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτοὺς
ὁ
Εὑστάθιος·
Οὐκ
ἔγνωκα
τοιοῦτον
ἄνδρα
ἐνταῦθα.
Τέως
δὲ
βραχὺ
καταλύσατε
εἰς
ὅν
ξενίζομαι
οἶκον·
καὶ
γὰρ
αὐτὸς
ξένος
τυγχάνω.
Καὶ
λαβὼν
αὐτοὺς
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος
ἀπήγαγεν
εἰς
τὴν
ξενείαν
αὐτοῦ,
καὶ
ἐπορεύθη
πριᾶσθαι
οἶνον
διὰ
τὸν
καύσωνα.
[14] Καὶ
λέγει
τῷ
κυρίῳ
τῆς
οἰκίας
ἐν
ᾗ
κατήγετο·
Γνωστοί
μου
εἰσὶν
οἱ
ἀνθρωποι
οὗτοι,
καὶ
διὰ
τοῦτο
ἤκασιν
ᾧδε·
παράσχου
οὖν
μοι
τροφὰς
καὶ
οἶνον
πρὸς
ἀπόλαυσιν
αὐτῶν,
καὶ
αποδώσω
σοι
ἐν
τῷ
καιρῷ
ἐκ
τοῦ
μισθοῦ
τῆς
ἐργασίας
μου.
Ὁ
δὲ
προθύμως
παρέσχεν
αὐτοῖς
τὰ
πρὸς
τὴν
χρείαν.
Θεραπεύων
δὲ
αὐτοὺς
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος
οὐκ
ἠδύνατο
ὑπενεγκεῖν
ἐννοῶν
τὸν
πρότερον
αὐτοῦ
βίον,
ἀλλὰ
συνείχετο
τοῖς
δάκρυσιν·
ἐκπορευομένου
δὲ
αὐτού
ἔξω
ἔκλαιεν,
καὶ
ἀπενίπτετο
τὸν
πρόσωπον
αὐτοῦ,
καὶ
εἰσερχόμενος
πάλιν
διηκόνει
αὐτοῖς.
Οἱ
δὲ
θεωροῦντες
αὐτὸν,
ἤρξαντο
μετὰ
μικρὸν
εἰς
ἐπίγνωσιν
τῆς
ἰδέας
αὐτοῦ
ἔρχεσθαι,
καὶ
πρὸς
ἀλλήλους
κατ᾽
ἰδίαν
ἔλεγον·
Τί
ὅμοιος
τυγχάνει
ὁ
ἄνθρωπος
οὗτος
τοῦ
ζιτουμένου
παρ᾽
ἡμῶν.
Λέγει
ὁ
εἷς
τῷ
ἑταίρῳ
αὐτοῦ·
Πάνυ
ὅμοιος
αὐτῷ
τυγχάνει.
Οἶδα
δὲ
ἐγὼ,
ὅτι
εἶχεν
σύσσημόν
τινα
οὐλὴν
ἐν
τῷ
τραχήλῳ
αὐτοῦ,
πληγεὶς
ἐν
τῷ
πολέμῳ.
Θεωρήσωμεν
οὖν,
εἰ
ἔχει
τὸ
σύσσημον
ἐκεῖνο
ἐν
τῷ
τραχήλῳ
αὐτοῦ,
οὗτος
αὐτός
ἐστιν,
ὁ
ζητούμενος
παρ᾽
ἡμῶν.
Καταμαθόντες
οὖν
ἐπιμελέστερον
θεωροῦσι
τὴν
οὐλὴν
ἐν
τῷ
τραχήλῳ
αὐτοῦ,
καὶ
εὐθέως
ἀναπηδήσαντες,
κατεφίλουν
αὐτὸν,
καὶ
μετὰ
δακρύων
ἠρωτῶν
αὐτὸν,
εἰ
αὐτὸς
εἴη
ὁ
τοτὲ
στρατηλάτης
αὐτῶν
Πλακίδας·
Ὁ
δὲ
συσχεθεὶς
τοῖς
δάκρυσιν
ἀπεκρίνατο
αὐτοῖς
λέγων·
Ὅτι
οὐκ
εἰμὶ
ἐγώ
Ἐπιδεικνύντων
δὲ
αὐτῶν
τὸ
σύσσημον
ἐν
τῷ
τραχήλῳ
αὐτοῦ,
καὶ
ἐξομνυμένων
αὐτῶν,
ὅτι
αὐτός
ἐστιν
ὁ
στρατηλάτης
Πλακίδας,
καὶ
περὶ
τῆν
Γυναικὸς
αὐτοῦ
καὶ
τῶν
Τέκνων
ἐπηρώτων
αὑτὸν.
Τότε
ὡμολόγησεν
ὅτι
αὐτός
ἐστιν·
περὶ
δὲ
τῆς
Γυναικὸς
αὐτοῦ
καὶ
τῶν
Τέκνων
ἀπήγγειλεν
αὐτοῖς
ὅτι
τεθνήκασι.
Καὶ
τούτων
λεγομένων,
συνέδραμον
πάντες
οἱ
ἐκ
τῆς
κώμης,
ὡς
ἐπὶ
μεγίστῳ
θεάματι.
Τότε
οἱ
στρατιώται
καταστείλαντες
τὸν
θορυβὸν
ἐξηγοῦντο
αοὐτοῖς
περὶ
τῆς
τοῦ
Ἀνδρὸς
ἀρετῆς
καὶ
τῆς
προτέρας
αὐτοῦ
δόξης.
Ἀκούσαντες
δὲ
οἱ
ἐκ
τῆς
κώμης
ὠδύροντο,
λέγοντες·
ὦ
οἷον
γαυρίαμα
Ἀνδρὸς·
μισθωτὸς
ἡμῶν
γέγονεν.
[15] Τότε
οἱ
στρατιῶται
ἐνεφάνισαν
αὐτῷ
τὸ
πρόσταγμα
τοῦ
βασιλέως,
καὶ
ἐνέδυσαν
αὑτὸν,
ἐξ
ὧν
ἐπεφέροντο
ἱματίων,
παραλαβόντες
δὲ
αὐτὸν,
ὥρμησαν
ἐπὶ
τὴν
ἑαυτῶν
ὁδὸν.
Πάντες
δὲ
οἱ
ἐκ
τῆς
κώμης
ἐκείνης
προέπεμπον
αὐτὸν,
ὁ
δὲ
παρακαλέσας
αὐτοὺς
ἀπέλυσεν.
Πορευομένων
δὲ
αὐτῶν,
διηγήσατο
αὐτοῖς,
πῶς
ἴδεν
τὸν
Χριστόν,
καὶ
ὅτι
μετωνομάσθη
Εὐστάθιος
ἐν
τῷ
βαπτίσματι,
καὶ
πάντα
τὰ
συμβάντα
αὐτῷ
διηγήσατο
αὐτοῖς.
Καὶ
διανύσαντες
ὁδὸν
δι᾽
ἡμερῶν
δεκαπέντε,
ἦλθον
πρὸς
τὸν
βασιλέα,
καὶ
εἰσελθόντες
ἀπήγγειλαν
αὐτῷ,
τὸ
πῶς
εὗρον
τὸν
Πλακίδαν.
Καὶ
ἐξέλθων
ὁ
βασιλεὺς
εἰς
ἀπάντησιν
αὐτοῦ,
κατεφίλησεν
αὐτὸν,
καὶ
πολλὰ
δακρύσας
ἐπηνθάνετο
παρ᾽
αὐτοῦ
τὴν
αἰτιαν
τῆς
ἀναχορήσεως
αὐτοῦ·
ὁ
δὲ
καθεξῆς
διηγήσατο
τῷ
βασιλεῖ
καὶ
πάσῃ
τῇ
συγκλήτῳ
τὰ
συμβάντα
αὐτῷ·
καὶ
περὶ
τῆς
Γυναικὸς
αὐτοῦ,
καὶ
τῶν
Τέκνων,
πῶς
ἐν
τῇ
θαλάσσῃ
κατέλιπεν
αὐτὴν,
καὶ
πῶς
τὰ
Τέκνα
αὐτοῦ
θηριάλωτα
γενόνασι,
καὶ
πᾶσαν
τὴν
θλίψιν
αὐτοῦ
διηγήσατο
αὐτοῖς.
Ἐγένετο
δὲ
χαρὰ
μεγάλη
ἐν
τῇ
ἀνευρέσει.
Παρεκάλεσε
δὲ
αὐτὸν
ὁ
βασιλεὺς
καὶ
ζώννυται
κατὰ
τὸ
πρότερον
στρατηλάτης.
Καὶ
επισκεψάμενος
τὸν
στρατὸν,
καὶ
γνοὺς
μὴ
ἐπαρκεῖν
πρὸς
τὴν
καταδρομὴν
τῶν
βαρβάρων,
ἐκέλευσεν
τηρωνάτον
γενέσθαι·
καὶ
ἐγράφησαν
κατὰ
πᾶσαν
πόλιν
καὶ
κώμην
τῆς
Ῥομανίας
πεμφθῆναι
εἰς
τηρώνας.
Συνέβη
δὲ
καὶ
εἰς
ἐκείνην
τὴν
κώμην,
εἰς
ἥν
ανετράφησαν
οἰ
Υἱοὶ
τοῦ
Εὐσταθίου,
φθάσαι
τοὺς
εἰς
τοῦτο
τεταγμένους.
Πάντες
οὖν
οἱ
ἐκ
τῆς
κώμης
ἐκείνης
τοὺς
δύο
Νεωτέρους
ἐκείνους,
ὡς
ἅτε
ξένους,
ψηφησάμενοι,
παρέδωκαν
τοῖς
στρατιώταις…
Συναχθέντων
δὲ
πάντων
τῶν
τηρώνων
καὶ
προσαχθέντων
τῷ
Στρατηλάτη,
θεασάμενος
αὐτοὺς
πάντας
κατέταξεν
εἰς
νούμερα.
Ἰδὼν
δὲ
ἐκείνους
τοὺς
δύο
Νεωτέρους,
ὑπὲρ
πάντας
εὐηδεῖς,
κατέστησεν
αὐτοὺς
εἰς
τὴν
ἰδίαν
ὑπερεσίαν,
καὶ
κατανοῶν
αὐτῶν
τὸ
εὐγενὲς
τῶν
τρόπων,
φυσικῇ
τινι
φιλοστοργίᾳ
ἑλκόμενος
πρὸς
πόθον
αὐτῶν,
ἐκέλευσεν
αὐτοὺς
μετέχειν
τῆς
τραπέζης
αύτοῦ
συνεστίους
αὐτοὺς
καταστήσας.
[16] Καὶ
δὴ
τάξας
τὴν
στρατείαν,
ὡς
εἰώτει,
ἐπορεύθη
εἰς
τὸν
πόλεμον,
καὶ
τὴν
μὲν
χώραν
ἥν
ἀφείλαντο
πρώην
οἱ
βάρβαροι
ἠλευθέρωσεν·
αὐτοὺς
δὲ
τροπωσάμενος
ἐξεπέρασε
τὸν
ποταμὸν
τὸν
καλούμενον
Ὑδάσπην,
καὶ
ἐπὶ
τὸ
ἔμπροσθεν
προχωροῦντες
ἀνέβησαν
εἰς
τὴν
ἐσωτέραν
χώραν
τῶν
βαρβαρῶν,
κἀκείνους
τροπωσάμενος
καὶ
πᾶσαν
ἐκπορθήσας
τὴν
χώραν
αὐτῶν.
Περαιτέρω
κτεῖναι
ἐβουλεύσατο,
τάχα
τῆς
προνοίας
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
καλούσης
αὐτὸν
ἀπελθεῖν,
ὅπου
ἦν
ἡ
Γυνὴ
αὐτοῦ,
ἥτις
ὡς
προείρηται,
διαφυλαχθεῖσα
ἀπὸ
τῆς
τοῦ
ἀλλοφύλου
ἐκείνου
τυραννίδος,
κατὰ
πρόνοιαν
Θεοῦ
τελευτήσαντος
αὐτοῦ,
ἀναχωρήσασα,
καθ᾽
ἑαυτὴν
ᾤκει
εἰς
κῆπόν
τινος
τῶν
οἰκητόρων,
ἐκλαβοῦσα
καὶ
ποιήσασα
σκηνὴν,
παρεφύλαττεν
τοὺς
καρπούς.
Καταλαβὼν
οὖν
τὴν
κώμην
ἐκείνην
ὁ
Στρατηλάτης,
καὶ
πολιορκήσας
αὐτὴν,
ἔπηξεν
φωσσάτον
ἐν
αὐτῇ,
καὶ
παρέτεινεν
ἐπὶ
ἡμέρας
τρεῖς,
διαναπαύων
τὸν
στρατὸν,
ὡς
ἐπιτηδείου
ὄντος
τοῦ
χωρίου
πρὸς
ἀπόλαυσιν
αὐτῶν.
Συνέβη
δὲ
τὸν
παπυλεῶνα
αὐτοῦ
παγῆναι
παρὰ
τὸν
κῆπον
ἐκεῖνον,
ὅν
ἐφύλαττεν
ἡ
Γινὴ
αὐτοῦ.
Οἱ
οὖν
Νεανίσκοι
ἐκεῖνοι
κατέλυσαν
εἰς
τὴν
σκηνὴν
τῆς
Γυναικὸς,
μὴ
εἰδότες,
ὅτι
αὕτη
ἐστὶν
ἡ
μητὴρ
αὐτῶν.
Καὶ
μεσημβρίας
γενομένης
κατεζόμενοι
ἐξηγοῦντο
ἀλλήλοις
τὰ
τῆς
νηπιότητος
αὑτῶν·
εἶχον
γὰρ
ἀμυδρὰν
ἐν
ἐαυτοῖς
τῶν
συμβεβηκότων
τὴν
μνήμην.
Ἡ
δὲ
τούτων
Μητὴρ
κατεζομένη
ἀπέναντι
αὐτῶν
ἀκρόασιν
ἐποιεῖτο
τῶν
λεγομένων
παρ᾽
αὐτῶν.
Ἔλεγεν
γὰρ
ὁ
πρεσβύτερος
ἀδελφὸς
πρὸς
τῶν
νεώτερον·
Ὅτι
ἐγὼ
πάνυ
νήπιος
ὤν,
οὐδὲν
ἕτερον
εἰς
μνήμην
φέρω,
εἰ
μὴ
τοῦτο,
ὅτι
ὁ
Πατήρ
μου
στρατηλάτης
ἦν,
ἡ
δὲ
Μητήρ
μου
εὐμορφωτάτη
πάνυ,
καὶ
δύο
Τέκνα
εἶχον,
ἐμέ
τε
καὶ
ἕτερον
μειράκιον
μικρότερον
ἐμοῦ,
ξανθὸν
ταῖς
θριξὶ,
ὡραῖον
τῇ
ὄψει
σφόδρα.
Καὶ
λαβόντες
ἡμᾶς
ἀμφότεροι
ἐξῆλθον
τῆς
οἰκίας
ἐν
νυκτὶ,
καὶ
ἐνέβησαν
εἰς
πλοῖον
μεθ᾽
ἡμῶν,
οὐκ
οἶδα
ποῦ
βουλόμενοι
ἀπελθεῖν.
Ἐν
δὲ
τῷ
ἐξελθεῖν
ἡμᾶς
ἐπὶ
τὴν
γὴν,
ἡ
Μήτηρ
ἡμῶν
οὐκ
ἦν
μεθ᾽
ἡμῶν·
καὶ
οὐκ
ἑπίσταμαι
πῶς
ἐν
τῇ
θαλάσσῃ
κατελείφθη.
[17] Ὁ
δὲ
Πατὴρ
ἡμῶν
βαστάσας
ἡμᾶς
τοὺς
δύο,
ἀδυρόμενος
ἐπορεύετο.
Καταλαβὼν
δέ
τινα
ποταμὸν,
ἐξεπέρασε
μετὰ
τοῦ
ἑνὸς
παιδίου
τοῦ
μικροτέρου,
καὶ
ἐμὲ
κατέλιπεν
ἐντεῦθεν.
Βουλόμενος
οὖν
ἀνακάμπτειν
πρὸς
τὸ
λαβεῖν
κᾀμὲ,
λέων
έπελθὼν
ἥρπασέ
με,
καὶ
ἐπορεύετο
εἰς
τὸν
δρυμὸν·
ποιμένες
οὖν
προβάτων
ἐξείλαντό
με
ἐκ
τοῦ
λέοντος,
καὶ
ἀνετράφην
εἰς
τὴν
κώμην,
εἰς
ἥν
καὶ
αὐτὸς
ἐπίστασαι,
καὶ
οὐκ
ἔγνων
λοιπὸν
περὶ
τοῦ
Πατρὸς,
καὶ
τοῦ
Παιδίου,
τὸ
τί
ἐγένοντο.
Ταῦτα
ἀκούσας
ὁ
νεώτερος
παρὰ
τοῦ
πρεσβυτέρου
ἀδελφοῦ
ἀνεπιδήσεν
κλαίων;
καὶ
λέγων·
Μὰ
τὴν
δύναμιν
τοῦ
Χριστοῦ
άδελφὸς
σου
τυγχάνω,
ἐγνώρισα
γὰρ,
ἅ
διηγήσω
μοι,
καὶ
οἱ
ἐμὲ
γὰρ
ἀναθρεψάμενοι
ταῦτα
μοι
ἔλεγον,
ὅτι
ἐκ
λύκου
σε
ἐῤῥυσάμεθα.
Καὶ
περιλαβὼν
αὐτὸν
κατεφίλει.
Ἀκούσασα
δὲ
ταῦτα
ἡ
Μητὴρ
αὐτῶν,
καὶ
γνωρΐσασα
τῆν
μέχρι
τοῦ
πλοὸς
διήγησιν,
καὶ
στοχασαμένη
περὶ
αὐτῶν
οὕτως
ἔχειν,
ἔπαθεν
τὴν
ψοχήν
σφόδρα,
καὶ
ἐταράττετο
τὰ
σπλάγχνα
αὐτῆς·
καὶ
μάλιστα
βλέπουσα
καταφιλοῦντας
ἀλλήλους
καὶ
κλαίοντας.
Καὶ
ἐπεῖχεν
θεωροῦσα
αὐτοὺς
ἅμα
καὶ
διαλογιζομένη,
μήπως
αὐτοί
εἰσιν
οἱ
Υἰοὶ
αὐτῆς,
καὶ
μάλιστα
περὶ
τοῦ
Πατρὸς
αὐτῶν
εἰπόντων
ὅτι
στρατηλάτης
ἦν,
καὶ
ὅτι
ἐν
τῇ
θαλάσσῃ
ἡ
Μητὴρ
κατελείφθη.
Τῇ
δὲ
ἐπιούσῃ
ἡμέρᾳ
προσῆλθεν
τῷ
Στρατηλάτῃ
ἡ
Γυνὴ,
λέγουσα·
Δέομαί
σου
κύριέ
μου,
ἐγὼ
ἐκ
γῆς
Ρωμαίων
ὑπάρχω,
καὶ
αἰχμάλωτός
εἰμι
ἐνταῦτα·
ἀνάγαγέ
με
οὖν
εἰς
τὴν
πατρίδα
μου.
Καὶ
ταῦτα
λέγουσα
τῷ
Ἀνδρὶ
ἡ
Γυνὴ,
κατενόει
τὰ
σημεῖα
αὐτοῦ,
καὶ
ἐπιγνοῦσα
ἐφοβεῖτο
αὐτὸν
ἐξετᾶσαι.
Μὴ
διναμένη
δὲ
ἐπὶ
πολὺ
ἀνασχέσθαι,
προσπεσοῦσα
αὐτῷ,
ἔλεγεν·
Δέομαί
σου,
κύριέ
μου,
μὴ
ἀγανακτήσῃς
κατὰ
τῆς
δούλης
σου,
ἀλλ᾽
εὐμενῶς
ἄκουσον,
καὶ
φράσον
μοι
τὴν
ἀρχαίαν
σου
πολυτείαν.
[18] Ἐγὼ
γὰρ
νομίζω
σε
εἶναι
τὸν
στρατηλάτην
Πλακίδαν,
τὸν
μετονομασθέντα
Εὐστάθιον
ἐν
τῷ
βαπτίσματι,
ὅστις
ὀφθέντος
αὐτῷ
τοῦ
Χριστοῦ
διὰ
τοῦ
ἐλάφου,
ἐπίστευσεν
εἰς
αὐτὸν,
καὶ
πειρασμοῖς
περιπεσὼν,
λαβὼν
τὴν
Γυγαῖκα
αὐτοῦ,
ἥτις
εἰμὶ
ἐγώ,
καὶ
τὰ
δύο
παιδία,
Αγάπιον
καὶ
Θεόπιστον,
ἐξώρμησεν
ἐπὶ
τὴν
Αἴγυπτον·
καὶ
ἐν
τῷ
ἀποπλεῖν
ἡμᾶς,
ἀπώλεσεν
ἐμὲ,
διὰ
τὸ
τὸν
ναύκληρον
βάρβαρον
εἰναῖ,
καί
κατασχεῖν
με,
ὅστις
ἤγαγέν
με
εὶς
τὴν
πατρίδα
ταύτην.
Καὶ
μαρτυρεῖ
μοι
ὁ
δεσπότης
Χριστὸς,
ὅτι
οὔτε
ἐκεῖνος
ἐμίανέν
με,
οὔτε
ἄλλος
τίς·
ἀλλ᾽
εἰμὶ
μέχρι
τῆς
σήμερον
φυλάξασα
τὴν
σωφροσύνην
μου.
Εἰ
οὖν
σὺ
εἶ,
ὅν
ἐγὼ
ἐκ
τῶν
προσόντων
σοι
σημάντρων
γνωρίζω,
ἀνάγγειλόν
μοι
τὴν
δύναμίν
σοι
τοῦ
Χριστοῦ.
Ἀκούσας
δὲ
ταῦτα
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος
παρ᾽
αὐτῆς,
καὶ
αὐτὸς
ὁμοίως
ἐνοπτριζόμενος
τὸ
εἶδος
αὐτῆς,
ἐπιγνοὺς
αὐτὴν,
ἀκατασχέτῳ
ληφθεὶς
χαρᾷ,
δάκρυά
τε
πολλὰ
προχέας,
εἶπεν·
Ἐγώ
εἰμι,
ὅν
λέγεις,
καὶ
ἀναστὰς
περιεπλάκη,
αὐτῇ,
καὶ
κατεφίλουν
ἀλλήλους
δόξαν
ἀναπέμποντες
τῷ
δεσπότῃ
Χριστῷ,
τῷ
παντοίως
εὐεργετοῦντι
τοὺς
ἑαυτοῦς
δούλους,
καὶ
ἀνακαλουμένῳ
ἐκ
πολλῶν
θλίψεων.
Καὶ
λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτὸν
ἡ
Γυνὴ
αὐτοῦ·
Κύριε
ποῦ
εἰσι
τὰ
Τέκνα
ἡμῶν;
Ὁ
δε
εἶπεν·
θηριάλωτα
γεγόνασι·
καὶ
διηγήσατο
αὐτῇ
πῶς
ἀπώλεσε
τὰ
Νήπια.
Ἡ
δὲ
ἔλεγεν
αὐτῷ·
Εὐχαριστήσωμεν
τῷ
εὐεργέτῃ
Χριστῷ,
τάχα
γὰρ,
ὡς
ἡμῖν
ἐχαρίσατο
τὸ
εὐρεῖν
ἀλλήλους
καὶ
ἐπιγνῶναι,
παρέξει
καὶ
τὰ
Τέκνα
ἡμῶν
ἀπολαβεῖν
ἡμᾶς.
Λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτὴν
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος·
Εἶπόν
σοι
ὅτι
θηριάλωτα
γεγόνασι.
Λέγει
πρὸς
αὐτὸν
ἡ
Γυνὴ
αὐτοῦ·
Τῇ
χθὲς
ἡμέρᾳ
ἤκουσα
Νεανίσκων
τινῶν
πρὸς
ἀλλήλους
διαλεγομένων,
καὶ
ἐξηγουμένων
τὰ
τῆς
νηπιότητος
αὐτῶν·
καὶ
ἐπέγνων
αὐτοὺς,
ὅτι
οἱ
Υἱοὶ
ἡμῶν
εἰσιν·
ἀλλ᾽
οὐδὲ
αὐτοὶ
ἤδεισαν
ἀλλήλους,
ὅτι
εἰσὶ
ἀδελφοὶ,
εἰ
μὴ
ἐκ
τῆς
διηγήσεως
τοῦ
πρεσβυτέρου
ἐπέγνωσαν
ἀλλήλους
τῇ
χθὲς
ἡμέρᾳ.
[19] Εἰ
οὖν
μέχρι
τῆς
σήμερον
ἀγνοεῖς
τοῦτο,
γνῶθι
πῶς
ἡ
πολυσπλαχνία
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
τὴν
ἐπίγνωσιν
ἀλλήλοις
ἐχαρίσατο.
Μάθε
οὖν
παρ᾽
αὐτῶν,
καὶ
ἐροῦσι
σοι.
Προσκαλεσάμενος
οὖν
ὁ
Στρατηλάτης
τοῦς
δύο
Νεωτέρους,
ἐπυνθάνετο
παρ᾽
αὐτῶν,
τίνες
εἶεν,
καὶ
τί
τὰ
συμβάντα
αὐτοῖς.
Καὶ
διηγήσαντο
αὐτῷ
πάντα
τὰ
συμβάντα
αὐτοῖς,
καὶ
ἐπέγνω
αὐτοὺς,
ὅτι
αὑτοί
εἰσιν
οἱ
Υἱοὶ
αὐτῶν.
Καὶ
ἐπιλαβόμενος
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος
κατεφίλησεν
αὐτοὺς,
ὁμοίως
δὲ
καὶ
ὴ
Μητὴρ
αὑτῶν
περιπλεκομένη
κατεφίλει
αὐτοὺς,
καὶ
ἐπιπεσόντες
ἐπὶ
τοὺς
τραχήλους
τῶν
Τέκνων
αὐτῶν
μετὰ
δακρύων
ηὐχαρίστουν
τῷ
φιλανθρώπῳ
Θεῷ
ἐπὶ
τῇ
παραδόξῳ
ἀνευρέσει
αὐτῶν.
Ἀπὸ
δὲ
ὥρας
δευτέρας
ἕως
ὥρας
ἕκτης
διέδραμεν
περὶ
τῶν
συμβεβηκώτων
φήμη
καθόλου
τοῦ
στρατοπέδου,
ὡς
πάντα
συναθροισθέντα
τὸν
στρατὸν
θαυμάζειν
καὶ
ἀγαλλιᾶσθαι
ἐπὶ
τῇ
ἀνευρέσει
αὐτῶν
πλέον,
ἤ
ἐπὶ
τῇ
τῶν
βαρβάρων
νίκῃ.
Ἐορτὴν
δὲ
μεγίστην
ποιούμενος
ἐπὶ
τῷ
ἀναγνωρισμῷ
αὐτῶν
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος,
καὶ
τῇ
ἐξῆς
τὸν
Θεὸν
ἐπικαλεσάμενος
καὶ
εὐχαριστηρίους
φωνὰς
ἀναπέμπων
τῷ
δεσπότῃ
Χριστῷ
ἐπὶ
τῇ
μεγίστῃ
αὐτοῦ
φιλανθρωπίᾳ.
Τροπωσάμενος
πᾶσαν
τὴν
περὶ
κύκλῳ
χώραν
τῶν
βαρβάρων,
ὐπέστρεψεν
μετὰ
νίκης
μεγάλης,
λάφυρα
τε
πολλὰ
ἐπιφερόμενος
καὶ
αἰχμαλώτους
πλείονας.
Συνέβη
δὲ,
πρὶν
ἐπανελθεῖν
τὸν
Εὐστάθιον
ἐκ
τοῦ
πολέμου,
τελευτῆσαι
τὸν
βασιλέα
Τραἳανὸν,
καὶ
βασιλεῦσαι
ἀντ᾽
αὐτοῦ
ἕτερον,
ὀνόματι
Αδριανὸν,
ἕλληνα
καὶ
αὐτὸν
ὁμοίως,
καὶ
ἀσεβέστερον
τῶν
πρὸ
αὐτοῦ
βασιλέων
τυγχάνοντα.
Ἐπανελθόντος
οὖν
τοῦ
Εὐσταθίου,
ἀπαντὴν
ποιούμενος
ὁ
βασιλεὺς,
ὡς
ἔθος
ἐστὶν
Ρωμαίοις,
ἐπινίκιον,
ἑορτὴν
ἦγεν.
Καὶ
μαθών
τὴν
ἐν
τῷ
πολέμῳ
ἀνδραγαθίαν,
τήν
τε
εὕρεσιν
τῆς
Γυναικὸς
καὶ
τῶν
Τἐκνων
αὐτοῦ,
ἐπὶ
πλεῖον
παρέτεινε
τὴν
εὐωχίαν.
Καὶ
ὥρμησεν
εἰς
τὸν
ναὸν
ἐπινικίους
θυσίας
ἀνενεγκεῖν
τοῖς
εἰδώλοις.
Εἰσερχομένου
δὲ
αὐτοῦ
εἰς
τὸν
ναὸν
τοῦ
Ἀπόλλωνος,
οὐ
συνεισῆλθεν
αὐτῷ
ὁ
Εὐστάθιος,
ἀλλ᾽
ἀποπηδήσας
ἔστη
ἔξω.
[20] Ὁ
δὲ
βασιλεὺς
προσκαλεσάμενος
αὐτὸν
ἐπυνθάνετο
παρ᾽
αὐτοῦ,
διατί
οὐκ
ἐπέθυσεν
τοῖς
εἰδώλοις,
ἐπανελθὼν
ἀπὸ
τῆς
νίκης.
Ἔδει
σε
γάρ,
φησι,
εὐχαριστηρίους
σπονδὰς
ἀναπέμψαι
τοῖς
θεοῖς
μάλιστα
διὰ
τὴν
ἀνεύρεσιν
τῆς
Γυναικός
σου
καὶ
τῶν
Τέκνων
σου.
Ὁ
δὲ
Εὐστάθιος
λέγει
πρὸς
τὸν
βασιλέα·
Εγὼ
τῷ
Χριστῷ
μου
ἀνέπεμψα,
καὶ
ἀναπέμπω
ἀπαύστως
δεήσεις
καὶ
ἱκετηρίας,
ὅτι
ἐλέησέν
μου
τὴν
ταπείνωσιν,
καὶ
ἀνεκαλέσατό
με
τῆς
αἰχμαλωσίας,
καὶ
ἀπέδωκέν
μοι
τὴν
Γυναῖκα
μου
καὶ
τοὺς
Υἱούς
μου·
ἕτερον
γὰρ
Θεὸν
οὔτε
οἶδα,
οὔτε
σέβομαι,
εἰ
μὴ
τὸν
Θεὸν
τὸν
ποιήσαντα
ἑνὶ
λώγῳ
τὰ
πάντα.
Τότε
κελεύει
ὁ
βασιλεὺς
διαδεχθῆναι
αὐτὸν
ἀπὸ
τῆς
ἀρχῆς,
καὶ
ἐκέλευσεν
ὡς
παγανὸν
παραστῆναι
αὐτὸν
ἅμα
τῇ
Γυναικὶ
καὶ
τοῖς
Τέκνοις,
καὶ
οὕτως
ἐποιεῖτο
τὴν
κατ᾽
αὐτῶν
ἐξέτασιν.
Θεασάμενος
δὲ
ὁ
βασιλεὺς
τὸ
ἀμετάθετον
αὐτοῦ
τῆς
εἰς
Χριστὸν
πίστεως,
ἐκέλευσεν
αὐτὸν
καὶ
τὴν
Γυναῖκα
αὐτοῦ
καὶ
τὰ
Τέκνα
εἰσαχθῆναι
εἰς
τὸ
στάδιον,
καὶ
ἀπολυθῆναι
αὐτοῖς
λέοντα.
Προσδραμὼν
δὲ
αὐτοῖς
ὁ
λέων
καὶ
πλησίον
στὰς
τῶν
Μακαρίων
καὶ
ἀοιδίμων,
ὑποκλίνας
τὴν
κεφαλὴν
καὶ
τρόπῳ
τινὶ
προσκυνήσας
αὐτοὶς
ἀνεχώρησε,
καὶ
ὥρμησεν
ἐξελθεῖν
ἐκ
τοῦ
σταδίου.
Τότε
ὁ
βασιλεὺς
θεασάμενος
τὸ
παράδοξον
θέαμα,
ὅτι
οὐχ
ἥψατο
αὐτῶν
τὸ
θήριον
ἀπορηθεὶς,
ἐκέλευσεν
βοῦν
χαλκοῦν
ἐκκαῆναι,
κἀκεῖ
ἐμβληθῆναι
τοὺς
Ἁγίους.
Συνήρχετο
δὲ
πᾶν
τὸ
πλῆθος
τῶν
πιστῶν,
καὶ
τῶν
ἐλλήνων
θεάσασθαι
τοὺς
Ἁγίους,
ἐμβαλλομένους
ἐν
τῷ
χαλκουργήματι.
Προσαχθέντες
δὲ
τῷ
μηχανήματι,
παρεκάλεσαν
οἱ
Ἅγιοι
τοὺς
δημίους
δοῦναι
αὐτοῖς
διορίαν
εἰς
τὸ
προσεύξασθαι.
Καὶ
ἐκτείναντες
τὰς
χεῖρας
εἰς
τῆς
οὐρανὸν
προσηύξαντο,
λέγοντες·
Κύριε
ὁ
Θεὸς
τῶν
δυνάμεων,
ὁ
πᾶσιν
ἀόρατος,
ἡμῖν
δὲ
ὁρώμενος
ὡς
ἠβουλήθης,
ἐπάκουσον
ἡμῶν
δεομένων
σου.
Ἰδοὺ
γὰρ
ἡ
εὐχὴ
ἡμῶν
πεπλήρωται,
δίοτι
ἀπολαβόντες
ἀλλήλους
καὶ
ἐνωθέντες
κατηξιώθημεν
τῆς
μερίδος
τῶν
Ἁγίων
σου
τυχεῖν.
[21] Ὡς
δὲ
τρεῖς
παῖδες
οἱ
ἐν
βαβυλῶνι
διὰ
πυρὸς
δοκιμασθέντες,
καὶ
μὴ
ἀρνησάμενοί
σε,
οὕτως
καὶ
ἡμεῖς
τελειωθώμεν
διὰ
τοῦ
πυρὸς
τούτου.
Καὶ
προσδεχθείημεν
τῷ
πυρὶ
τούτῳ
ὁλοκαυτούμενοι.
Δὸς
Κύριε
χάριν
καὶ
τοὶς
λειψάνοις
ἡμῶν
…
σχῇ
μέρος
ἐν
τῇ
βασιλείᾳ
τῶν
οὐρανῶν,
καὶ
γῆς
εὐθηνίαν·
κἂν
ἐν
τῇ
θαλάσσῃ
κἂν
ἐν
ποτάμῳ
κινδυνεύοντες,
ἐπικαλέσωνταί
σε
διὰ
τοῦ
ὀνόματος
ἡμῶν,
ῥυσθῶσιν
ἐκ
τῶν
κινδύνων,
τοὺς
ἐν
ἁμαρτίαις
διὰ
τῆς
ταπεινώσεως
ἡμῶν
προσπίπτοντάς
σοι
συγχώρησιν
χάρισαι
τῶν
ἀμαρτιῶν,
καὶ
πάντων
τῶν
μεμνημένων
καὶ
δοξαζόντων
σε,
παντὶ
βοηθὸς
καὶ
εὐεργέτης
γενοῦ.
Δὸς
δὲ
Κύριε
καὶ
τὴν
ἀπειλὴν
τοῦ
δεινοτάτου
πυρὸς
εἰς
δρόσον
μεταβλήθηναι,
καὶ
ἡμᾶς
ἐν
αὐτῷ
τελειωθῆναι.
Εὐδόκησον
τὰ
σώματα
ἡμῶν,
μὴ
διαχωρισθήτωσαν,
ἀλλ᾽
ὁμοθυμαδὸν
αὐτὰ
κατατεθῆναι
εὐδόκησον.
Καὶ
ταῦτα
εὐξαμένων
αὐτῶν,
φωνὴ
αὐτοῖς
ἦλθεν
ἀπὸ
τῶν
οὐρανῶν,
λέγουσα·
Οὕτως
ἔσται
ὑμῖν
καθὼς
ἠτήσασθε
καὶ
περισσότερον
τούτων
γενήσεται
ὑμῖν.
Ὅτι
ἀθληταὶ
διὰ
βίου
ἐγένεσθε
πολλοὺς
καὶ
μεγάλους
ὑπομείναντες
πειρασμοὺς
καὶ
μὴ
ἡττηθέντες,
δεῦτε
ἐν
εἰρήνῃ
ἀποληψάμενοι
τοὺς
στεφάνους
τῆς
νίκης
ἡμῶν,
καὶ
ἀντὶ
τῆς
προσκαίρου
κακοπαθείας
εἰς
αἰῶνας
αἰώνων
ἀπολαύσαντες
τῶν
ἡτοιμασμένων
ἀγαθῶν
τοῖς
Ἁγίοις.
Καὶ
ταῦτα
ἀκούσαντες
οἱ
Μακάριοι
προθύμως
ἑαυτοὺς
παρέδωκαν
τῷ
πυρὶ,
καὶ
ἐμβληθέντων
αὐτῶν
ἐν
τῷ
χαλκουργήματι,
εὐθέως
ἡ
ἀπειλὴ
τοῦ
πυρὸς
κατεστάλη.
Καὶ
δοξάσαντες
τὴν
ἄχραντον
καὶ
πανύμνητον
Τριάδα,
ἄσαντες
ἀδὴν
ἐπινίκιον
ἀπέδωκαν
ἐν
εἰρήνῃ
τὰς
θεολόγους
αὐτῶν
ψυχάς·
καὶ
οὐχ
ἥψατο
αὐτῶν
τὸ
πῦρ
μέχρι
καὶ
οὐδὲ
τριχὸς.
Καὶ
μετὰ
τρεῖς
ἡμέρας
παρεγένετο
ὁ
ἀσεβέστατος
βασιλεὺς
ἐπὶ
τὸν
τόπον,
καὶ
ἐκελεύσεν
ἀνοιγῆναι
τὸ
χαλκούργημα,
πρὸς
τὸ
θεάσασθαι,
τὸ
τί
ἐγένοντο
τὰ
σώματα
τῶν
αὐτῶν,
καὶ
εὑρόντες
ζῶα
τὰ
λείψανα
τῶν
Ἁγίων,
ἐνόμισαν
αὐτοὺς
ζῆν,
καὶ
ἐξενέγκαντες
ἀπέθεντο
ἐν
τῇ
γῇ.
[22] Θαῦμα
δὲ
ἔσχεν
πάντας
τοὺς
περιεστῶτας,
ὅτι
οὔτε
τριχὸς
αὐτῶν
κατεκυρίευσε
τὸ
πῦρ,
ἀλλ᾽
ἦσαν
τὰ
σώματα
αὐτῶν
λάμποντα
ὑπὲρ
χιόνα.
Καὶ
φοβηθεὶς
ὁ
ἀνοσιώτατος
βασιλεὺς
ἀνεχώρησε.
Τὰ
δὲ
πλήθη
ἀνέκραξεν·
Ἀληθῶς
μέγας
ἐστὶν
ὁ
Θεὸς
τῶν
Χριστιανῶν,
εἷς
μόνος
ἀληθινὸς
Ἰησοῦς
Χριστὸς,
καὶ
οὐκ
ἔστιν
ἄλλος,
ὅς
ἐφύλαξε
τοὺς
Ἁγίους
αὐτοῦ,
καὶ
οὔτε
τριχὸς
αὐτῶν
κατεκυρίευσε
τὸ
πῦρ.
Λάθρα
δὲ
οἱ
Χριστιανοὶ
κλέψαντες
τὰ
σώματα
τῶν
ἁγίων
Μαρτύρων,
κατέθεντο
αὐτὰ
ἐν
ἐπισήμῳ
τόπῳ,
καὶ
μετὰ
τὸ
παυθῆναι
τὸν
διωγμὸν,
οἶκον
εὐκτήριον
οἰκοδομήσαντες
κατέθεντο
αὐτοὺς,
ἐπιτελοῦντες
τὴν
μνήμην
τῶν
ἁγίων
Μαρτύρων
τῇ
εἰκάδι
τοῦ
Σετεμβρίου
μηνὸς.
Αὕτη
ἡ
πολιτεία
τῶν
ἀγίων
καὶ
ἀοιδίμων
Μαρτύρων,
τοῦτο
τὸ
τέλος
τῆς
ἐνδόξου
αὐτῶν
ἀθλήσεως.
Πάντες
οὖν,
οἱ
καταξιούμενοι
ἐπιτελεῖν
τὴν
μνήμην
αὐτῶν,
καὶ
ἐπικαλεῖσθαι
αὐτοὺς
εἰς
βοήθειαν,
τυγχάνουσι
τῶν
ἐπηγγελμένων
ἀγαθῶν
τοὶς
διακαίοις
δια
τῆς
χάριτος
τοῦ
Κυρίου
ἡμῶν
Ἰησοῦ
Χριστοῦ,
ᾧ
ἡ
δόξα
καὶ
τὸ
κράτος
εἰς
τοὺς
αἰῶνας
τῶν
αιώνων.
ἀμήν.
War impending, by the emperor's But his Sons were brought up, as we said above, in another village, not knowing one another, that they were brothers. And that foreign master of the ship, taking the Wife of Eustathius, led her to his own country. But the Lord's grace overshadowed the Woman, so that the foreigner did not have intercourse with her in all that time: for this too she asked of God, that she might be kept from the foreigner's fellowship. And it happened that that foreigner died, and that she was in her own power. But after these days there was an inroad of enemies into that land where Eustathius's Wife was; who, coming out, invaded very many lands of the Romans a. In great tumult therefore the emperor stood over the invasion of the enemy, and he remembered Placida, because for the most part he had acted vigorously against those same enemies, and, mention of him being often renewed, he was saddened at his sudden change of fortune. And gathering his army and inspecting all the soldiers, he inquired about Placida from those who might know of him, whether he lived or was dead. And he gave a command to each of the soldiers to seek him out. And he sent through every city and land which was under his rule, that they should search for him, saying: If anyone shall have found him and told me, I shall add greater honors to him and shall increase the comforts of his emoluments. And two soldiers, by name Antiochus and b Achacius, who had once served Placida, set out to seek him: and traversing all the land which was under the rule of the Romans, they came to that village where Eustathius was living. [But passing by that place where Eustathius was discharging the office of guardian, they doubted whether they should ask him.]
[13] But Eustathius, considering them from afar, recognized them by the habitual manner of their walk, command he is sought, and, coming into remembrance of his former manner of life, he began to be troubled, and praying to say: Lord our God, who deliverest from every tribulation those who hope in thee, as I have beyond hope seen these men who were once with me, grant that I may see thy handmaid my Wife; for my Infants, I know, have been eaten by wild beasts on account of my wickedness. Grant therefore, Lord merciful God, who alone art the true God and Jesus Christ, that at least on the day of resurrection I may see my Sons. And as he said these things, he heard a voice from heaven saying to him: Trust, Eustathius, for in the present time thou shalt return to thy former state, and shalt receive thy Wife and Sons. But in the resurrection thou shalt see greater things than these, and shalt find the delight of eternal goods, and thy name shall be magnified unto generation and generation. Hearing these things, Eustathius sat struck with awe. But [c seeing the soldiers drawing near to him, coming down from the place where he was sitting, he stood in the road over against them, and, being made nearer to them,] he recognized them the more. But they did not know him; and they said to him: Hail, brother. And he said: Peace be with you, brothers. And they again say to him: Tell us, if you know here any stranger, by name Placida, with a Wife and two Sons? And if you shall show him to us, we give you money. To whom he said: Why do you seek him? And they said to him: He was our friend, and we wish to see him after many years. Eustathius says to them: Such a man I have not known here d. Nevertheless, come up hither, into the house in which I am lodged; for I too am a stranger. And taking them he led them into his lodging, and went to buy wine that he might give them to drink because of the heat.
[14] is found, and to him And he said to the master of the house in which he was lodging: These men are known to me, and for this reason they have come hither: give me therefore food and wine, that they may enjoy it, and I shall repay it to you in time out of my wages. And he readily supplied them with what was needful. But Eustathius, refreshing them, could not bear it, calling to mind his former life, but was bathed in tears: and he wept as he went outside and washed his face, and again came in and served them. But they, looking at him, began little by little to come to a recognition of his appearance, and said to one another: How like is this man to him whom we seek! And one said to his companion: He is very like him: but I know that he has a certain mark of a scar on his neck from a blow in war. Let us look therefore: if he has a mark on his neck, he is the man who is sought by us. And looking more carefully, they see the scar on his neck, and at once leaping up they kissed him, and with tears asked whether he were the man who had once been their master of the soldiers. But he, pouring out tears, said: I am not he. But they, showing the mark on his neck and swearing that he was the master of the soldiers Placida. And about his Wife and Sons they asked him, and recalled to him many other things. Then he confessed that it was he: and about his Wife and Sons
he told them how they had died. And while these things are being said, all the men of that village came, as it were to a signal and a spectacle. Then therefore the soldiers, the tumult being quieted, set forth to them the valor of the Man and his former glory. And hearing it they wept, saying: How great is the exaltation of the Man who served us for hire!
[15] being brought, he is set over the forces. Then the soldiers made known to him the emperor's command, and, clothing him in the best garments, taking him they went on their way. And all of the village went forth with him: but he, kissing them, dismissed them. And as they walked he set forth to them how he had seen Christ, and how he was named Eustathius in baptism, and set forth to them all that had befallen him. And after a journey of fifteen days e, they came to the emperor, and the soldiers, entering, announced to him how they had found Placida. And the emperor going out to meet him kissed him, and weeping much asked him the cause of his departure: and he set forth each thing to the emperor and to the whole senate. And of his Wife and Sons: her how she had been left at sea, and how his Sons had been seized by wild beasts, and set forth all his sorrow. And there was great gladness at his finding f. Moreover the emperor consoled him, and he is girded as before master of the soldiers. And he, reviewing the soldiery and learning that it did not suffice to check the inroads of the enemy, ordered recruits to be levied, [and men were sent through all the cities and towns of the Roman empire to enroll recruits.] And it happened that that land also in which his Sons were brought up g was registered, so that they should give two recruits. And all the tillers of that village, adjudging those two Youths as being strangers, hand them over to those making the levy h. And they were of tall stature and very comely of face. And when all the recruits had been gathered and brought before the Master of the soldiers, he, considering them all, assigned them to their companies. But seeing those two Young men, that they were above all comely in appearance and stature, he set them first in his own service, and, seeing in them a nobility of manners, moved by a natural affection into love of them, he ordered them to be numbered among the guests of his own table.
[16] And after the soldiery was ordered, as is customary, he set out for the war, He sets out against the barbarians, and freed the land indeed which the barbarians had carried off; and, they being subdued, he crossed the river which is called Hydaspes i. And proceeding by a direct route [k they penetrated into the inner land of the barbarians, whom, having overcome them in war and widely laid waste their region, he resolved utterly to destroy. And, God's providence indeed calling him thither, he came to the place where his Wife was, who, as we have said, by God's protection had been preserved from that foreigner's tyranny, and, when he died, had departed and was dwelling alone in the little garden of one of the natives, of which she had the care, where, a tent having been built, she guarded the fruits.] When therefore the Master of the soldiers had come into that village, he pitched camp and dwelt there three days, resting his army, for the estate was suited to every delight. And it happened l that his tents were pitched near that little garden which the Woman guarded. Those two Young men therefore lodged in the tent of their Mother, not knowing that she was their Parent. And, midday having come, sitting they set forth to one another about their infancy: for they had somewhat obscurely in memory the things which had befallen them. But their Mother, sitting opposite, listened attentively to what they set forth. The elder brother therefore said to the younger: I, while I was an infant, have nothing else in memory but this, that my Father had been master of the soldiers, and my Mother very beautiful, and they had two sons, me and another younger one with yellow hair, and he too exceedingly beautiful. And taking us both, they went out of the house by night, and entered a ship with us, I know not whither they wished to go. But when we came out of the ship, our Mother was not with us: I know not how she was left at sea.
[17] And my Father, carrying us two, went on weeping. and the war being happily waged, And coming to a certain river, he crossed over with my younger brother, and left me above the bank of the river. But when he was returning to take me also, a wolf [m coming carried off that younger brother of mine, and before he had drawn near to me,] suddenly a lion, leaping out of the wood, carried me off and led me into the wood: but shepherds rescued me from the lion's mouth, and I was brought up on the estate in which you yourself also were, and I could not learn what became of my Father, nor of the Infant. Hearing these things, the younger, as his elder brother spoke, leaping up began to weep and to say: By the God of the Christians, as I hear, I am your brother! For I know the things which you have narrated to me, since those also who brought me up used to say these things, that We rescued you from a wolf. And embracing they kissed one another. And their Mother, hearing these things and considering what they had set forth as far as the voyage, [and conjecturing that all had so happened concerning them, was greatly moved in mind] and troubled in her bowels n; the more too as she saw the Young men embracing one another and kissing and weeping. And then, considering, she began long to debate within herself whether perchance they were her Sons, chiefly because they had said of their Father that he had been master of the soldiers, and that their Mother was left at sea. And on the next day she appealed to the Master of the soldiers, saying: I beseech thee, Lord; I am of the land of the Romans, and was brought hither a captive: lead me back to my country. And saying these things, and considering, she saw the marks which were on her Husband; and, recognizing him, she feared to question him. But when she could not long contain herself, falling down before him, she said: I beg thee, Lord, be not angry against thy Handmaid, but hear me favorably, and set forth to me thy former life.
[18] His Wife and Sons, who were serving unknown under him, For I think that thou art the master of the soldiers Placida, who wast surnamed Eustathius in baptism, whom also the Savior himself deigned to call to himself through a stag, that he might believe in him; and, falling into temptations, and taking his Wife — who am I — and two Sons, Agapius and Theopistus, he made his way to Egypt; and when we were sailing, he lost me, because the master of the ship was a barbarian and retained me, who brought me into this country. And Christ is my witness that neither did he defile me, nor another; but until this day the Lord has kept my chastity. And behold, I have told thee the tokens; and do thou, recognizing them, tell me by the power of Christ the Savior. And hearing these things, Eustathius, likewise considering her appearance, recognized her, and, at once pouring out tears for gladness, [said: I am the very man of whom thou speakest: and rising he rushed into her embrace, and they kissed one another,] and they gave glory to Christ the Savior, who in every place profits his servants and calls them back and comforts them out of many tribulations. Then his Wife says to him: My lord, where are our Sons? To whom he said: They were carried off by wild beasts: and he set forth to her how he had lost them. And his Wife said to him: Let us give thanks to Christ; for I think that, as God has granted o that we should find one another, he has granted also that we should recognize our Sons. Eustathius said to her: I have told thee that they were seized by wild beasts. His Wife says to him: Yesterday, sitting in the garden, I heard two Young men speaking to one another and narrating about their infancy; and I know that they are our Sons: nor did they themselves know that they were brothers, until through the elder brother's account they recognized each other yesterday.
[19] he recognizes, and as victor Now therefore since thou hast hitherto been ignorant of this, know how great is the loving-kindness of Christ, who granted recognition to both. Learn therefore from them [p], and they will tell thee. Calling the Young men therefore, the Master of the soldiers inquired of them who they were, and what had befallen them? And they set forth to him all that had happened, as we have set forth above, and he recognized them, that they were his Sons. And Eustathius, embracing them, kissed them: and likewise their Mother in an embrace kissed them, and, falling upon the [q necks of their Sons, with tears they gave thanks to the most kindly God for their wonderful recognition. And from the second hour to the sixth the report of what had happened ran widely through the camp, so that the assembled army marvelled and exulted more for their finding than for the victory [r] won over the barbarians. And Eustathius appointed a very great celebration on account of the recognition of his own. And on the next day, God being invoked, with praise he rendered thanks to Christ the Lord for his very great kindness and clemency.] And after they had subdued all the surrounding land of the barbarians, they returned with a great victory, carrying much spoil and leading very many captives. And it happened therefore that, before Eustathius returned from the war, the emperor Trajan died, and another rose as emperor in his stead, by name Hadrian, himself a gentile, worse in impieties [s]. When therefore Eustathius returned, the emperor came to meet him, as is the custom of the Romans, and celebrated a festival of the victory. And asking how he had borne himself manfully in battle, and about the recognition of his Wife and Sons, he prolonged the banquet at greater length. On the next day he made his way into the temple of the idols to offer a sacrifice to the idols for the victory. But when the emperor entered the temple of Apollo, Eustathius did not enter with him, but drawing back stood outside.
[20] But the emperor, summoning him, asked why he had not sacrificed to the gods for the victory, [returning to Rome, and refusing to sacrifice to the gods, he is thrown to the beasts with his Wife and Sons.] and had not offered victims [t] to them, especially for the finding of his Wife and Sons. And he said to the emperor: I beseech Christ my Lord and offer him prayers unceasingly, who had mercy on my lowliness and called me back from captivity and restored to me my Wife and Sons: but another God I neither know nor worship, save [u] the heavenly God who has done wonders. Then the emperor, filled with anger, ordered his belt to be loosed, and that he should stand as a transgressor together with his Wife and Sons, and so he held an inquiry against him. Considering therefore his unchangeable faith in Christ, the emperor ordered him to be brought with his Wife and Sons into the arena, and a lion to be let loose against them. But the lion, running up and standing near the Blessed ones, lowering its head and as it were adoring, withdrew and began to go out of the arena. Then therefore the emperor, seeing the wonderful spectacle, that it had not touched
them, the beast, ordered a brazen ox to be heated and the Saints to be brought in [x] there. And the whole people of the Faithful and of the pagans came together to await the Saints, how they should be brought into the brazen ox. But being brought into the machine, they besought the executioners to give them space for prayer. And stretching out their hands to heaven they prayed, saying: Lord God of hosts, who art invisible to all, but hast willed to be seen by us, hear us beseeching thee. For behold, our vow has been accomplished, since, receiving one another back and united, we have deserved to receive the lot of thy Saints.
[21] As the three children at Babylon were tried by fire, [Thence the Martyrs, unharmed, being cast into a glowing ox, are crowned with the laurel of martyrdom.] and did not deny thee, so bid us also [y] to make our end through this fire. And let us be received in this fire as a whole burnt offering to thee. But grant, Lord, grace [z] to our relics, that everyone who shall be mindful of us may have a portion with us in the kingdom of heaven and abundance upon earth; or if at sea [aa] or in a river they shall have been in peril and shall have called upon thee in our name, let them be freed from the peril; and if they shall have fallen into sins, through our lowliness grant to those who beseech thee pardon of their sins; and to all who have memory of us and glorify thee, grant help and come to their aid. But grant, Lord, [bb] also that the threat of the fire be turned into terror, and bid us make our end in this. And be pleased concerning our bodies, that they be not separated, but bid them so to be laid together. And as they said these things, a voice came to them from heaven, saying: So shall it be for you as you have besought, and more than these things shall be done. Since by a good life you have been made contenders, enduring many and great temptations, and have not been overcome, come in peace to receive the crowns of victory, and for temporal evils enjoy unto the ages of ages the goods prepared for the Saints. And hearing these things, the Most Blessed ones eagerly delivered themselves to the fire, and when they had been put into the brazen machine straightway the threat of the fire was checked. And glorifying the undefiled and praiseworthy Trinity and singing a hymn, they gave up their souls in peace; and the fire did not touch them, nor did a hair of their head feel the smell of fire. But after three days the most impious emperor came to the place and ordered the brazen machine to be opened, that he might see what had been done with the remains of the Saints; and seeing their bodies, they thought that they were still alive, and, casting them out, they laid them upon the ground.
[22] they are crowned. But amazement seized all who stood about, because not even to a hair had the fire had mastery over them, but their bodies were shining above snow. And the emperor, being afraid, went away to his palace; but the multitude which stood about cried out, saying: Great is the God of the Christians; one and true God is Jesus Christ, and there is no other, since he has preserved his Saints, and not even over their hair had the fire mastery. And the Christians secretly, taking the bodies of the Saints, laid them in a most celebrated place [cc], and after the persecution was quieted, they built there an oratory and laid them in it, celebrating the memory of the relics of the Saints on the Kalends of November [dd]. That is the life of the holy and renowned Martyrs, and this the end of their glorious contest. All therefore who deserve to celebrate their memory and to invoke them for protection obtain what has been promised to the Saints, through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. Those who hold this whole History for a mere fiction can here convict the writer of unskillfulness. For indeed, if it pleased one to weave a fable, I should not wish to imagine such a mother, who loves her sons most tenderly, grieves for them long lost, at last suddenly recognizes them present from undoubted tokens, is moved in all her bowels, and yet defers to betray her joy and love while she goes to meet a man hitherto unknown to her (however much she be supposed to have suspected something from hearing Placida's name), the commander of an army, to ask that she, an exile, be brought back to her fatherland.
q. A little before, Combefis's manuscript varies, but in the words alone. Here I have thought the punctuation should be such that from the second hour coheres with ran, and not with they gave thanks, as our translator renders it. Moreover, after and they set forth to him, the manuscript of St. Gall departs from the others, and continues thus to the end: The report reached the barbarians' army that Placidus, a great warrior, was going against them into battle, and all were turned to flight, and the borders of Pannonia were thus freed. Eustathius returned with joy. Hadrian, made Cæsar, went out to meet Eustathius as he was then returning with victory. While he was offering victims to his gods in the temple and adoring, together with all the soldiery, the Master of the soldiers with his own despised the idols. The tyrant said to him: Come, sacrifice. He answered: In these there is no divinity: we worship the true God who made all things, who makes us glad after so great sadness, through whom we hope to have eternal joys. Hadrian was filled with cruel anger, and ordered a great lion to be loosed against him. The beast began to lick the feet of the Saints. The emperor ordered the lion to be killed, and ordered a brazen ox to be kindled with fire. While they were kindling the brazen ox with fire, Eustathius besought God thus: Lord God, what I ask, do thou grant me. Let no one now be able to divide our bodies, but we desire to be buried (perhaps to be buried: for I note that in our copy very many things are dislocated by the copyist's carelessness) under one sod. Still, King of angels, I ask thee suppliantly, let no one now be able to divide our bodies: whoever shall seek thy name through us, hear their prayers, most loving Father, that, freed from evils, they may live happily. A voice sounded from heaven: So art thou heard. Then all four, being put into the brazen ox, consummated their martyrdom in good, and deserved to have the fellowship of Christ, and all were buried in one tomb, where they flourish in many virtues. How much these things differ from the Greek and from the other Latin ones, so much does the style differ from that which is set before it in the same manuscript, and which nearly agrees with the rest: so that it is clearer than the noonday light that they were long since sought from elsewhere, or afterwards abridged by someone. The method of writing seems to present more than ours the brevity of the ancients, but that speech is not much less absurd.
r. These things were held in the Latin copies thus badly dislocated: Bending themselves over their Sons, they gave thanks to Christ from the second hour to the sixth for their finding. This report therefore ran through the whole army, and all being gathered marvelled and exulted at their finding, even more than for the storming of the barbarians. And on the next day, holding a very great celebration, they gave thanks to God for his great loving-kindness.
s. In the Greek it is: A gentile himself also, and surpassing all the previous emperors in impiety. Hadrian came to the empire on the 11th of August of the year of Christ 117, in which therefore, or in the following, the Acts relate that Eustathius suffered.
t. Read: For it behooves thee, he says, to offer victims to the gods in thanksgiving; especially, etc.
u. In Greek it is: Save the God who by one word created all things. I wonder here that our writer did not adorn with his own pen the inquiry instituted by Hadrian. Perhaps he was unwilling to walk in the path worn by others, having learned to make fables more subtly.
x. Kircher, Eustathio-Marian History, part 5, page 167, writes that the Roman canons assert that the chapel of St. Eustathius, which today is St. Michael's, was once sacred to that same Saint, as being set upon the place where before there had been a subterranean oratory of the Christians, and in which the sacred remains of our holy Martyr and his Companions had been religiously venerated. He adds from tradition that they are also said to have suffered there, and that the brazen ox lies buried there, which he at length hopes will by divine providence be dug out of the ruins. But no prudent man, I think, will readily spend labor in searching for it.
y. Insipid enough is this comparison, from which the writer begins an almost foolish speech. More about these things I have premised in the preliminary Commentary, number 11, which consult if you please.
z. Unless our copy has been corrupted by the copyist's fault, the Medicean manuscript must here be mutilated. Combefis's Acts have: δὸς δὲ Κύριε χάριν καὶ τοὶς λειψάνοις ἡμῶν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ μνημονεύων ἡμῶν σχῇ μέρος, which make a more perfect sense, and agree with the Latin.
aa. Here the manuscript of St. Maximin of Trier ends, the rest being without doubt torn away by an unfriendly hand.
bb. Correct the Latin antiphrasis from the Greek: That the threats of the most savage fire be turned into dew. The following words are omitted in Combefis down to καὶ ταῦτα εὐξαμένων αὐτῶν, and as they said these things.
cc. Of our Saints' relics and of those sacred edifices I have treated at length in the preliminary Commentary, §4: see also what was said here at letter x.
dd. So all the Latin manuscripts, with not a few likewise Latin calendars: thence the memory of the holy Martyrs passed among the Latins to the following day. Hence Usuard: Although their festival is held on the Kalends, yet here (on the 4th of the Nones of November) it is more fully kept. Thence also it was afterwards, on account of the Commemoration of the faithful departed, thrown back to the following and to another day. But all the Greeks, both with the Greek Acts, ours and Combefis's, and with some Latin calendars and the modern Roman Martyrology, celebrate St. Eustathius and his Companions on the 20th of September. Moreover from this whole sentence it is clear that the writer wrote at least some years after the Saints' passion: for Hadrian's persecution, recounted by Sulpicius Severus and Jerome, although Hadrian vexed the faithful by no new edict, did not cease before the year of Christ 126, in which the emperor, broken by the apologies of SS. Quadratus and Aristides, not only gave rescripts to his prefects on behalf of the Christians, but is even said by Lampridius to have wished to erect temples to Christ. Finally, since the anonymous author not obscurely hints that the Saints gave their patronage to many after the oratory was built for them, some years also must certainly be granted for the obtaining of those benefits. Of that Oratory see more in §4.