Epigram 1.10

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Codex Palatinus 23 p. 50
Codex Palatinus 23 p. 51
Codex Palatinus 23 p. 52

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Εὐδοκίη μὲν ἄνασσα Θεὸν σπεύδουσα γεραίρειν,
πρώτη νηὸν ἔτευξε θεοφραδέος Πολυεύκτου
ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τοῖον ἔτευξε καὶ οὐ τόσον οὔ τινι φειδοῖ,
οὐ κτεάτων χατέουσα — τίνος βασίλεια χατίζει; —

ἀλλ᾽ ὡς θυμὸν ἔχουσα θεοπρόπον, ὅττι γενέθλην
καλλείψει δεδαυῖαν ἀμείνονα κόσμον ὀπάζειν.
ἔνθεν Ἰουλιανή, ζαθέων ἀμάρυγμα τοκήων,
τέτρατον ἐκ κείνων βασιλήιον αἷμα λαχοῦσα,
ἐλπίδας οὐκ ἔψευσεν ἀριστώδινος ἀνάσσης:

ἀλλά μιν ἐκ βαιοῖο μέγαν καὶ τοῖον ἐγείρει,
κῦδος ἀεξήσασα πολυσκήπτρων γενετήρων
πάντα γὰρ ὅσσα τέλεσσεν ὑπέρτερα τεῦξε τοκήων,
ὀρθὴν πίστιν ἔχουσα φιλοχρίστοιο μενοινῆς.
τίς γὰρ Ἰουλιανὴν οὐκ ἔκλυεν, ὅττι καὶ αὐτοὺς

εὐκαμάτοις ἔργοισιν ἑοὺς φαίδρυνε τοκῆας,
εὐσεβίης ἀλέγουσα; μόνη δ᾽ ἱδρῶτι δικαίῳ
ἄξιον οἶκον ἔτευξεν ἀειζώῳ Πολυεύκτῳ.
καὶ γὰρ ἀεὶ δεδάηκεν ἀμεμφέα δῶρα κομίζειν
πᾶσιν ἀεθλητῆρσιν ἐπουρανίου βασιλῆος.


πᾶσα χθὼν βοάᾳ, πᾶσα πτόλις, ὅττι τοκῆας
φαιδροτέρους ποίησεν ἀρειοτέροισιν ἐπ᾽ ἔργοις,
ποῦ γὰρ Ἰουλιανὴν ἁγίοις οὐκ ἔστιν ἰδέσθαι
νηὸν ἀναστήσασαν ἀγακλέα; ποῦ σέο μούνης
εὐσεβέων οὐκ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν σημήια χειρῶν;

ποῖος δ᾽ ἔπλετο χῶρος, ὃς οὐ μάθε σεῖο μενοινὴν
εὐσεβίης πλήθουσαν; ὅλης χθονὸς ἐνναετῆρες
σοὺς καμάτους μέλπουσιν ἀειμνήστους γεγαῶτας.
ἔργα γὰρ εὐσεβίης οὐ κρύπτεται: οὐ γὰρ ἀέθλους
λήθη ἀποσβέννυσιν ἀριστοπόνων ἀρετάων.

ὅσσα δὲ σὴ παλάμη θεοπειθέα δώματα τεύχει
οὐδ᾽ αὐτὴ δεδάηκας: ἀμετρήτους γάρ, ὀίω,
μούνη σὺ ξύμπασαν ἀνὰ χθόνα δείμαο ναούς,
οὐρανίου θεράποντας ἀεὶ τρομέουσα Θεοῖο.
ἴχνεσι δ᾽ εὐκαμάτοισιν ἐφεσπομένη γενετήρων

πᾶσιν, ἀειζώουσαν ἑὴν τεκτήνατο φύτλην,
εὐσεβίης ξύμπασαν ἀεὶ πατέουσα πορείην.
τοὔνεκά μιν θεράποντες ἐπουρανίου βασιλῆος,
ὅσσοις δῶρα δίδωσιν, ὅσοις δωμήσατο νηούς,
προφρονέως ἐρύεσθε σὺν υἱέι, τοῖό τε κούραις:

μίμνοι δ᾽ ἄσπετον εὖχος ἀριστοπόνοιο γενέθλης,
εἰσόκεν ἠέλιος πυριλαμπέα δίφρον ἐλαύνει.

— Paton edition

On the Church of the Holy Martyr Polyeuctus

Eudocia the empress, eager to honour God, first built here a temple of Polyeuctus the servant of God. But she did not make it as great and beautiful
as it is, not from any economy or lack of possessions — what doth a queen lack ? — but because her prophetic soul told her that she should leave a family well knowing how better to adorn it. Whence Juliana, the glory of her blessed parents, inheriting their royal blood in the fourth generation, did not defeat the hopes of the Queen, the mother of a noble race, but raised this from a small temple to its present size and beauty, increasing the glory of her many-sceptred
ancestors ; for all that she made, she made more magnificent than they, holding the true faith of a mind devoted to Christ. Who hath not heard of Juliana,
how in her pious care she glorified even her parents by fair-fashioned works ? All alone by her righteous toil she built a worthy house to immortal Polyeuctus,
for she had ever studied to give blameless gifts to all athletes of the Heavenly King. Every country cries, every city, that she made her parents more glorious
by better works. Where do we not find that Juliana hath raised splendid temples to the Saints? Where do we not see the signs of the pious hand of thee
alone ? What place hath not learnt that thy mind is full of piety? The inhabitants of the whole world sing thy works, which are eternally remembered.
For the works of piety are not hidden ; oblivion doth not quench the labours of beneficent virtue. Not even thyself knoweth how many houses dedicated to God thy hand hath made ; for thou alone, I ween, didst build innumerable temples all over the world, ever fearing the servants of God in Heaven. Following by her good works all the footsteps of her parents she made the fame of her race
immortal, always walking in the whole path of piety. Therefore, all ye servants of the Heavenly King to whom she gave gifts or built temples, preserve her gladly with her son and his daughters, and may the immeasurable glory of the most beneficent family survive as long as the Sun drives his burning
chariot.

At the Entrance of the same Church, outside the Narthex towards the Apse

What quire is sufficient to chant the works of Juliana, who after Constantine, the adorner of his Rome, and after the holy golden light of Theodosius, and after so many royal ancestors, in a few years accomplished a work worthy of her race, yea, more than worthy ? She alone did violence to Time and surpassed the wisdom of renowned Solomon by raising a habitation for God, whose
glittering and elaborate beauty the ages cannot celebrate — how it rises from its deep-rooted foundations, running up from the ground and aspiring to
the stars of heaven, and how from east to west it extends itself glittering with unspeakable brightness in the sunlight on both its sides ! On either side of its aisle columns standing on firm columns support the rays of the golden dome, while on each side arched recesses scattered on the dome reproduce the ever-revolving light of the moon. The opposite walls in innumerable paths are clothed in marvellous metallic veins of colour, like flowery meadows which Nature made to flower in the depth of the rock, and hid their glory, keeping them for the
House of God, to be the gift of Juliana, so that she might produce a divine work, following in her toil the stainless dictates of her heart. What singer of
skilful works shall now hasten to the west, armed with a hundred eyes, and read aright the various devices on the walls, gazing on the circle of the shining house, one story set on another? There you may see a marvellous creation of the holy pencils above the centre of the porch, the wise Constantine, how escaping from the idols he quenched the impious fury of the heathen and found the light of the Trinity by cleansing his limbs in water. Such is the labour that Juliana, after a countless swarm of labours, accomplished for the souls of her parents, and for
her own life, and for that of those who are and shall be.

— Paton edition

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