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The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret (CCEL)
Chapter XXXII. Of the expedition of Valens against the Goths and how he paid the penalty of his impiety.
Valens , however, spurned these excellent counsellors, and sent out his troops to join battle while he himself sat waiting in a hamlet for the victory. His troops could not stand against the barbarians’ charge, turned tail and were slain one after another as they fled, the Romans fleeing at full speed and the barbarians chasing them with all their might. When Valens heard of the defeat he strove to conceal himself in the village where he lay, but when the barbarians came up they set the place on fire and together with it burnt the enemy of piety. P. 131 Thus in this present life Valens paid the penalty of his errors. 1
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“On the 9th August, 378, a day long and fatally memorable in the annals of the empire, the legions of Valens moved forth from their entrenched camp under the walls of Hadrianople, and after a march of eight miles under the hot sun of August came in sight of the barbarian vanguard, behind which stretched the circling line of the waggons that guarded the Gothic host. The soldiers of the empire, hot, thirsty, wearied out with hours of waiting under the blaze of an August sun, and only half understanding that the negotiations were ended and the battle begun, fought at a terrible disadvantage but fought not ill. The infantry on the left wing seem even to have pushed back their enemies and penetrated to the Gothic waggons. But they were for some reason not covered as usual by a force of cavalry and they were jammed into a too narrow space of ground where they could not use their spears with effect, yet presented a terribly easy mark to the Gothic arrows. They fell in dense masses as they had stood. Then the whole weight of the enemy’s attack was directed against the centre and right. When the evening began to close in, the utterly routed Roman soldiers were rushing in disorderly flight from the fatal field. The night, dark and moonless, may have protected some, but more met their death rushing blindly over a rugged and unknown country. “Meanwhile Valens had sought shelter with a little knot of soldiers (the two regiments of “Lancearii and Mattiarii”), who still remained unmoved amidst the surging sea of ruin. When their ranks too were broken, and when some of his bravest officers had fallen around him, he joined the common soldiers in their headlong flight. Struck by a Gothic arrow he fell to the ground, but was carried off by some of the eunuchs and life-guardsmen who still accompanied him, to a peasant’s cottage hard by. The Goths, ignorant of his rank, but eager to strip the gaily-clothed guardsmen, surrounded the cottage and attempted in vain to burst in the doors. Then mounting to the roof they tried to smoke out the imprisoned inmates, but succeeding beyond their desires, set fire to the cottage, and emperor, eunuchs, and life-guardsmen perished in the flames. Only one of the body-guard escaped, who climbed out through one of the blazing windows and fell into the hands of the barbarians. He told them when it was too late what a prize they had missed in their cruel eagerness, nothing less than the emperor of Rome. Ecclesiastical historians for generations delighted to point the moral of the story of Valens, that he who had seduced the whole Gothic nation into the heresy of Arius, and thus caused them to suffer the punishment of everlasting fire, was himself by those very Goths burned alive on the terrible 9th of August. Thomas Hodgkin—“The Dynasty of Theodosius,” page 97. ↩
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ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ ΤΟΜΟΣ ΠΡΩΤΟΣ
ιθʹ.
Περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Βασιλείου τοῦ Καισαρείας ἐπισκόπου, καὶ τῶν κατ´ αὐτοῦ γεγενημένων ὑπὸ Βάλεντος τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ Μοδέστου ὑπάρχου.
Ὁ δὲ Βάλης, πᾶσαν ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ ποιμένος γυμνώσας, εἰς τὴν Καισάρειαν ὥρμησεν ἧς οἰκήτορες Καππαδόκαι ἡγεῖτο δὲ ταύτης τηνικαῦτα Βασίλειος, ὁ τῆς οἰκουμένης φωστήρ. Προὔπεμψε δὲ τὸν ὕπαρχον, ἐντειλάμενος ἢ πεῖσαι τὸν Βασίλειον τὴν πρὸς Εὐδόξιον ἀσπάσασθαι κοινωνίαν ἢ μὴ πειθόμενον ἐξελάσαι. Τοῦ γὰρ ἀνδρὸς τὸ κλέος προπεπυσμένος πρώτῳ προσβαλεῖν οὐκ ἠθέλησεν, ἵνα μὴ γενναίως τὴν προσβολὴν δεξάμενος καὶ ταύτην ἀποκρουσάμενος ἀνδρείας τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀρχέτυπος γένηται. Ἀλλ´ ἀράχνης ἱστῷ τὸ μηχάνημα παραπλήσιον ὤφθη. ἤρκεσε γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀρχιερεῦσιν εἰς ὠφέλειαν τὰ παλαιὰ διηγήματα, καὶ οἷόν τινες πύργοι τὸν τῆς πίστεως περίβολον ἀκλινῆ διετήρησαν. Ὁ μέντοι ὕπαρχος εἰς τὴν Καισάρειαν ἀφικόμενος καὶ Βασίλειον τὸν μέγαν μεταπεμψάμενος, τιμῆς τε ἠξίωσε καὶ λόγοις πρὸς αὐτὸν ἠπίοις ἐχρήσατο, εἶξαί τε τῷ καιρῷ παραινῶν καὶ μὴ προέσθαι τοσαύτας ἐκκλησίας δι´ ὀλίγην δογμάτων ἀκρίβειαν· ὑπισχνεῖτο δὲ καὶ τὴν βασιλέως φιλίαν καὶ τὰς ἐκ ταύτης δι´ αὐτοῦ πολλοῖς ἐσομένας εὐεργεσίας. Ὁ δὲ θεῖος ἐκεῖνος ἀνὴρ μειρακίοις ἔφη τούτους ἁρμόττειν τοὺς λόγους.
« Ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ καὶ οἱ ἐκείνοις προσόμοιοι περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα κεχήνασιν· οἱ δὲ τοῖς θείοις λογίοις ἐντεθραμμένοι προέσθαι μὲν τῶν θείων δογμάτων οὐδεμίαν ἀνέχονται συλλαβήν, ὑπὲρ δὲ τούτων, εἰ δέοι, καὶ πάσας τοῦ θανάτου τὰς ἰδέας ἀσπάζονται. Τὴν δὲ βασιλέως φιλίαν μέγα μὲν ἡγοῦμαι μετ´ εὐσεβείας, δίχα δὲ ταύτης ὀλεθρίαν ἀποκαλῶ. »
Τοῦ δὲ ὑπάρχου χαλεπήναντος καὶ ἀνόητον εἶναι φήσαντος, ὁ θεῖος ἔφη Βασίλειος·
« Ταύτην ἔχειν εἰς ἀεὶ τὴν ἄνοιαν εὔχομαι. »
Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐξελθεῖν προσετάχθη καὶ τὸ πρακτέον βουλεύσασθαι καὶ τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ δηλῶσαι τὴν γνώμην (συνῆπτο δὲ τοῖς λόγοις καὶ ἀπειλή), φάναι λέγεται ὁ πανεύφημος ἐκεῖνος ἀνήρ·
« Ἐγὼ μὲν ὁ αὐτός σοι καὶ αὔριον ἥξω· σὺ δὲ μὴ μεταβάλῃς τὴν γνώμην, ἀλλὰ χρῆσαι ταῖς ἀπειλαῖς. »
Μετὰ τούσδε τοὺς λόγους ὁ ὕπαρχος ὑπαντήσας τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀπήγγειλέ τε τὰ εἰρημένα καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀνεδίδαξεν ἀρετήν, καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀνδρεῖον καὶ θαρραλέον ἐμήνυσε. Καὶ τότε μὲν σιγήσας ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰσελήλυθεν.
Ἐπειδὴ δὲ κατὰ τῆς οἰκίας εἶδεν θεηλάτους καταπεμφθείσας πληγὰς (ὅ τε γὰρ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἀρρωστήσας παρ´ αὐτὰς ἦν τοῦ θανάτου τὰς πύλας καὶ τὴν γαμετὴν διάφορα ἐπολιόρκει παθήματα) καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπέγνω τῶν σκυθρωπῶν, τὸν θεῖον ἄνθρωπον, ὃν κολάσειν ἠπείλησεν, ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν ἠντιβόλησεν. Οἱ δὲ στρατηγοὶ τοῖς βασιλικοῖς διηκόνουν προστάγμασι. Τότε ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος καταλαβὼν τὰ βασίλεια καὶ τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως υἱὸν παρ´ αὐτὴν ὄντα τὴν τελευτὴν θεασάμενος, πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν τοῦτον ἀναστρέψειν ὑπέσχετο, εἰ τοῦ παναγίου διὰ τῶν εὐσεβούντων ἀξιωθείη βαπτίσματος· καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν ἐξελήλυθεν. Ὁ δὲ τῶν ὅρκων κατὰ τὸν ἀνόητον μεμνημένος Ἡρώδην τοῖς συμπαροῦσιν αὐτῷ ἐκ τῆς Ἀρείου συμμορίας βαπτίσαι τὸ παιδίον προσέταξε· τὸ δὲ παραυτίκα τοῦ βίου τὸ τέλος ἐδέξατο.
Μεταμεληθεὶς δὲ Βάλης καὶ τὴν ἐπιβλαβῆ τῶν ὅρκων ἀλήθειαν λογισάμενος, εἴς τε τὸν θεῖον νεὼν εἰσελήλυθε καὶ τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου διδασκαλίας ἀπήλαυσε καὶ τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ τὰ εἰωθότα προσενήνοχε δῶρα. Καὶ εἴσω δὲ αὐτῶν τῶν παραπετασμάτων ἔνθα καθῆστο γενέσθαι κελεύσας, πολλοὺς πρὸς αὐτὸν περὶ τῶν θείων δογμάτων ἐποιήσατο λόγους καὶ δὴ καὶ λέγοντος ἤκουσεν. Παρῆν δέ τις Δημοσθένης καλούμενος τῶν βασιλικῶν προμηθούμενος ὄψων, ὃς τῷ διδασκάλῳ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐπιμεμψάμενος ἐβαρβάρισεν. Ὁ δὲ θεῖος Βασίλειος μειδιάσας· »ἐθεασάμεθα«, ἔφη, »καὶ Δημοσθένην ἀγράμματον«. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐκεῖνος πλέον δυσχεράνας ἠπείλησε· »σόν ἐστιν«, ἔφη ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος, »τῆς τῶν ζωμῶν καρυκείας φροντίζειν· δογμάτων γὰρ θείων ἐπαΐειν οὐ δύνασαι, βεβυσμένας ἔχων τὰς ἀκοάς«. Ταῦτα μὲν δὴ πρὸς τοῦτον ἔφη. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς οὕτως ἠγάσθη τὸν ἄνδρα ὡς καὶ χωρία τὰ κάλλιστα ὧν εἶχεν αὐτόθι τοῖς ὑπ´ αὐτοῦ φροντιζομένοις δωρήσασθαι πένησιν, οἳ τὸ σῶμα ἅπαν λελωβημένοι πλείονος ὅτι μάλιστα θεραπείας προσδέονται·
Τὴν μὲν οὖν πρώτην τοῦ Βάλεντος προσβολὴν οὕτω διέφυγεν ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ πάλιν ἧκεν αὐτόσε, καὶ τῶν προτέρων ἐπιλελησμένος (ὑπὸ γὰρ τῶν ἐξαπατώντων ἐπολιορκεῖτο τὴν γνώμην) τῆς τῶν ἐναντίων αὐτὸν αὖθις γενέσθαι μερίδος παρῄνεσεν, εἶτα μὴ πείσας τὸν περὶ τῆς ἐξορίας γραφῆναι νόμον ἐκέλευσε. Τοῦτον δὲ τῇ χειρὶ πειραθεὶς βεβαιῶσαι οὐδεμίαν στοιχείου κεραίαν ἐξέτεινεν· ὁ γὰρ κάλαμος συνετρίβη. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ὁ δεύτερος καὶ ὁ τρίτος κάλαμος ταὐτὸ πάθος ὑπέμεινε καὶ βεβαιῶσαι τὸν δυσσεβῆ νόμον ἐκεῖνον ἐφιλονείκει, ἐσείσθη μὲν ἡ δεξιὰ καὶ τρόμον ἐδέξατο· δείματος δὲ πλήρης ἡ ψυχὴ γενομένη ἀμφοῖν τοῖν χεροῖν τὸν χάρτην διέρρηξε. Καὶ πέπεικε τῶν ὅλων ὁ πρύτανις ὡς καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους αὐτὸς ἐνδέδωκεν ἐκεῖνα παθεῖν, καὶ τοῦτον τῶν ἐπιβουλῶν ἀπέφηνε κρείττονα· διὰ μὲν τῶν περὶ τοῦτον γεγενημένων τὴν δύναμιν τὴν οἰκείαν δεικνύς, διὰ δὲ τῆς ἑτέρας οἰκονομίας τῶν ἀρίστων ἀνδρῶν τὴν ἀνδρείαν κηρύττων. Ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν ὁ Βάλης προσβαλὼν τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐψεύσθη.