Cassiodorus Vivariensis Abbas, Historia Ecclesiastica Vocata Tripartita

Eodem tempore apud Persas Christianitas est dilatata. Inter Romanos enim et Persas semper propter diversas causas mittuntur legationes. Tunc ergo casus attulit ut Maruthas Mesopotamenus episcopus, cujus dudum meminimus, a Romanorum imperatore ad Persarum destinaretur regem. Qui multani revetentiam apud Marutham inveniens, eum decenter honorabat, et tanquam divinum respiciebat virum. Hoc factum mordebat magos, metuentes ne regem Christi.num fieri suaderet. Nam cum dolore capitis multo tempore torqueretur, magis eum curare non valentibus, Maruthas orationibus fecit incolumem ; ob hanc ergo causam mol.ti sunt quamdam magi fallaciam. Et quoniam Persae ignem colunt, consuevitque rex in quadam domo ignem ardentem perpetuo suppliciter adorare, magi sub terra bominem quemdam abscondentes tempore quo rex solebat adorare, eum talia ciamare fecerunt : Mitte foras regem ; impie cnim egit , quia sacerdotem Christianorum judicat esse venerandum. Hæc audiens i digerdes Persarum rex , licet reverentiam haberet, tamen Marutham abjicere cogitabat. Porro Maru has vere Deo venerabilis homo, vacabat orationibus, per quas invenit dolum magicis arlibus fabricatum. Veniensjue ad regein : Noli, inquit, illudi, rex; sed ingressus dum audieris vocem, fudi jube, et doli causas invenies. Non enim ignis loquitur, sed hominum molimina hujusmodi esse noscuntur. Hoc dicto flexus est Persarum rex; et rursus ingressus ubi ignis inexstinguibilis servabatur, cum audisset vocem, jussit fodi locum. Tunc qui mittebat quasi divinam vocem, iuventus arguitur. lratus itaqne rex, magorum genus usque ad decimam iussit imminui portionem. Hoc facto, Matruthæ dixit ut templa quae vellet ædificaret. Ex hoc apud Prsus sumpsit Christianitas incrementum. Tunc igitur Maruthas a Persis Constantinopolim remeavit. Et non Iungo post tempore rursum destinatus est. Iterumque magi machinabantur ne eum susciperet rex. Fe e- runtque fetorem quemdam in loco unde rex tr. nsire solebat; et quasi a Christianis id factum fuerit derogabant. Cumque rex suspectos jam habens magos, hoc cum s udio requisisset, denuo ab eis concinnatum esse cognovit. Quamobrem plurimos eorum suppliciis tradidit. Marutham vero potiori honore coluit, et Romanos valde dileiit, eorumque amplexus est pacem. Qui peDe Christianus fieri potuit, dum aliud miraculum per Marutham et Ablalem Per-idis episcopum provenisset. Ambo namque molestum daemonem a regis filio propulerunt, orationibus vacantes atjue jejuniis. Post h.rc autem hdigerde defuncto antequam lieret Christianus, ad ejus filium pervenit imperium. Cujus tempore inter Persas atque Romanos pacta suluta suut. SOCRATES, lib. VII, cap. 8, p. 344.

At the same time Christianity was spread among the Persians. For embassies are always being sent between the Romans and the Persians for various reasons. At that time, then, it chanced that Maruthas, bishop of Mesopotamia, whom we mentioned a while ago, was sent by the emperor of the Romans to the king of the Persians. The king, finding great reverence in Maruthas, honoured him fittingly and regarded him as a divine man. This stung the magi, who feared that he might persuade the king to become a Christian. For when the king had been tormented for a long time with a pain in the head, and the magi were unable to cure him, Maruthas made him well by his prayers; for this reason, then, the magi contrived a certain deceit. And since the Persians worship fire, and the king was accustomed to adore as a suppliant the fire that burned perpetually in a certain house, the magi hid a man under the ground and, at the time when the king used to worship, made him cry out such words as these: 'Put the king out; for he has acted impiously, since he judges the priest of the Christians worthy of veneration.' Hearing this, Yazdegerd, king of the Persians, although he held [Maruthas] in reverence, nevertheless thought of casting Maruthas off. But Maruthas, a man truly venerable to God, gave himself to prayers, through which he discovered the trick fabricated by magic arts. And coming to the king, he said: 'Do not be deceived, O king; but go in, and when you hear the voice, order [the ground] to be dug, and you will find the causes of the trick. For it is not the fire that speaks; such things are known to be the contrivances of men.' The king of the Persians was persuaded by this speech; and when he had gone in again to where the unquenchable fire was kept, and had heard the voice, he ordered the place to be dug. Then the man who was sending out the voice as if divine was found and exposed. The king therefore, enraged, ordered the race of the magi to be reduced to a tenth part. When this had been done, he told Maruthas to build whatever churches he wished. From this time Christianity grew among the Persians. Then Maruthas returned from the Persians to Constantinople. And not long afterwards he was sent again. And again the magi plotted that the king should not receive him. They made a certain stench in the place by which the king used to pass, and spread slander as though it had been done by the Christians. But when the king, already holding the magi under suspicion, had investigated this with care, he learned that it had once more been contrived by them. For this reason he handed over a great many of them to punishment. Maruthas, on the other hand, he treated with greater honour; and he loved the Romans greatly and embraced peace with them. He could very nearly have become a Christian, when another miracle came about through Maruthas and Ablales, bishop of Persia. For both of them drove a troublesome demon out of the king's son, giving themselves to prayers and fasting. But after this, Yazdegerd having died before he became a Christian, the empire passed to his son. In his time the treaties between the Persians and the Romans were broken. SOCRATES, book VII, chapter 8, p. 344.