nt to the Sultan, dwelt on the dogmas of the Christian
Faith.[251]
[Illustration: FIG. 49.]
The text of the epitaph, portions of which appear on
the exterior face of the south wall of the parecclesion of
the church of the Pammakaristos (_Carmina Philae_, ccxxiii.
ed. Miller, vol. i. pp. 117-18) reads as follows:--
[Greek: Aner, to phos, to pneuma, to prosphthegma mou,
kai touto soi to doron ek tes syzygou;
sy men gar hos agrypnos en machais leon
hypnois, hypelthon anti lochmes ton taphon;
ego de soi teteucha petraian stegen, 5
me palin heuron ho stratos se synchee,
kan deuro ton choun ektinaxas ekrybes,
e tou pachous rheusantos herpages ano,
pan hoplon apheis ekkremes to pattalo;
tas gar epi ges ebdelyxo pastadas 10
en eutelei triboni phygon bion
kai pros noetous antetaxo satrapas,
sterrhan metendys ek theou panteuchian.
hos ostreon goun organo soi ton taphon,
e kochlon e kalyka kentrodous batou; 15
margare mou, porphyra, ges alles rhodon,
ei kai trygethen ekpieze tois lithois
hos kai stalagmous proxenein moi dakryon,
autos de kai zon kai Theon zonta blepon
hos nous katharos ton pathon ton ex hyles 20
ton son palin thalamon eutrepize moi;
he syzygos prin tauta soi Martha graphei,
protostrator kalliste kai tethammenon].[252]
O my husband, my light, my breath, whom I now greet.
This gift to thee also is from thy wife.
For thou indeed who wast like a sleepless lion in battles
Sleepest, having to endure the grave, instead (of occupying) thy lair.
But I have erected for thee a dwelling of stone,
Lest the army finding thee again, should trouble thee,
Although here thou art hidden, having cast off thy (body of) clay,
Or, the gross flesh having dropped off, thou hast been transported
above,
Leaving every weapon hung up on its peg.
For thou didst abhor the mansions in the world,[253]
Having fled from life in the cheap cloak (of a monk),
And didst confront invisible potentates,
Having received instead (of thine own armour) a strong panoply from
God.
Therefore I will construct for thee this tomb as a pearl oyster shell,
Or shell of the purple dye, or bud on a thorny brier.
O my pearl, my purple, rose of another clime,
Even though being plucked thou art pressed by the stones
So as to cause me sheddings of tears.
Yet thou thyself, both living and beholding the living God,
As a m
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