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The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret (CCEL)
Chapter XXX. Of the bold utterance of Trajanus the general.
After Valens had crossed the Bosphorus and come into Thrace he first spent a considerable time at Constantinople, in alarm as to the issue of the war. He had sent Trajanus in command of troops against the barbarians. When the general came back beaten, the emperor reviled him sadly, and charged him with infirmity and cowardice. Boldly, as became a brave man, Trajanus replied: “I have not been beaten, sir, it is thou who hast abandoned the victory by fighting against God and transferring His support to the barbarians. Attacked by thee He is taking their side, for victory is on God’s side and comes to them whom God leads. Dost thou not know,” he went on, “whom thou hast expelled from their churches and to whose government these churches have been delivered by thee?” Arintheus and Victor, 1 generals like Trajanus, confirmed the truth of what he said, and implored the emperor not to be angered by reproaches which were founded upon fact. 2
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Magister equitum. Amm. xxxi. 7. ↩
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Gibbon (chap. xxvi) records the conduct of the war by “Trajan and Profuturus, two generals who indulged themselves in a very false and favourable opinion of their own abilities.” “Anhelantes altius. sed imbelles.” Amm. The battle alluded to is presumably the doubtful one of Salices. Ammianus does not, as Gibbon supposes, imply that he had himself visited this particular battlefield, but speaks generally of carrion birds as “adsuetæ illo tempore cadaveribus pasci, ut indicant nunc usque albentes ossibus campi. ” Amm. xxxi. 7. 16. ↩
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ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ ΤΟΜΟΣ ΠΡΩΤΟΣ
ιζʹ.
Περὶ τοῦ ἐν Ἐδέσσῃ γενομένου διωγμοῦ.
Πάλιν τοίνυν ὁ Βάλης, τὴν ποίμνην τοῦ ποιμένος γυμνώσας, λύκον ἀντὶ ποιμένος ἐπέστησεν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἅπαντες τὴν πόλιν καταλιπόντες πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεως συνηθροίζοντο, ἀφίκετο μὲν αὐτὸς εἰς τὴν Ἔδεσσαν, τῷ δὲ ὑπάρχῳ προσέταξε (Μόδεστος δὲ τηνικαῦτα ἦν) τούς τε ὑπ´ αὐτὸν στρατιώτας ἀθροῖσαι οἳ τὰς εἰσφορὰς εἰσπράττειν εἰώθασι, καὶ τῆς ὁπλιτικῆς δυνάμεως τοὺς παρόντας παραλαβεῖν καὶ τὸ συναθροιζόμενον σκεδάσαι πλῆθος, καὶ ῥάβδοις παίοντας καὶ ῥοπάλοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις πολεμικοῖς ὀργάνοις εἰ δεήσοι χρωμένους. Ὑπὸ τὴν ἕω τοίνυν ὁ ὕπαρχος τὸ κελευόμενον ἔδρα. Διιὼν δὲ τὴν ἀγορὰν εἶδε γύναιον βρέφος φέρον ἐν ταῖς χερσὶ καὶ μάλα γε ἐπειγόμενον· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὴν τῶν ἡγουμένων διέκοψε τάξιν, πάντων ἐκείνων καταφρονήσασα. ψυχὴ γὰρ ὑπὸ θείου ζήλου πυρπολουμένη οὐδὲν ἀνθρώπινον εἰσδέχεται δέος, ἀλλὰ τὰ τοιαῦτα δείματα γέλωτα νομίζει καὶ παιδιάν. Τότε δὴ ταύτην ὁ ὕπαρχος θεασάμενος καὶ συνεὶς τὸ γιγνόμενον, ἤγαγέ τε καὶ ἤρετο ὅποι βαδίζοι. Ἡ δέ· »μεμάθηκα«, ἔφη, »τὰς κατὰ τῶν θείων θεραπόντων τυρευθείσας ἐπιβουλὰς καὶ θέλω τοὺς ὁμοπίστους καταλαβεῖν, ὀριγνωμένη ἵνα σὺν ἐκείνοις δέξωμαι τὰς ὑφ´ ὑμῶν ἐπιφερομένας σφαγάς«. »τὸ δὲ βρέφος«, ἔφη ὁ ὕπαρχος, »τί δή ποτε φέρεις;« ἡ δὲ ἔφη· »ἵνα καὶ τοῦτό μοι τῆς ἀξιεράστου τελευτῆς κοινωνήσῃ«. Ταῦτα ὁ ὕπαρχος παρὰ τῆς ἀνθρώπου μαθὼν καὶ διὰ ταύτης τὴν ἁπάντων ἐγνωκὼς προθυμίαν, ἀπήγγειλέ τε τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τὸν ἐσόμενον μάτην ἐδήλωσε φόνον· « Δύσκλειαν γάρ», ἔφη, «μόνον ἐκ τοῦ δρωμένου δρεψόμεθα, ἐκείνων δὲ τὴν προθυμίαν οὐ σβέσομεν.»
Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα εἰπὼν τὸ μὲν πλῆθος πεῖραν λαβεῖν τῶν προσδοκηθέντων οὐκ εἴασε λυπηρῶν· τοὺς δὲ τούτων ἡγουμένους, πρεσβυτέρους φημὶ καὶ διακόνους, ἀγαγεῖν τε προσετάχθη καὶ δυοῖν θάτερον, ἢ πεῖσαι κοινωνῆσαι τῷ λύκῳ, ἢ τοῦ ἄστεως ἐξελάσαι καὶ εἴς τινας ἐσχατιὰς παραπέμψαι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ συνήθροισεν ἅπαντας, ἠπίοις χρώμενος λόγοις πείθειν ἐπειρᾶτο ταῖς βασιλέως νομοθεσίαις ἀκολουθεῖν· παραπληξίας γὰρ ἔλεγεν εἶναι μεστὸν τῷ βασιλεῖ τηλικούτων καὶ τοσούτων ἡγουμένῳ εὐαριθμήτους ἀντιτείνειν ἀνθρώπους.