The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

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EVAGRIUS
city after escaping there, and he had a discussion with them while they
spoke as if they had su¡ered nothing; and whereas their tongues had
been cut out at the very root, their voice was clear and they conversed
intelligibly, [164] a strange and wondrous miracle. They are also
mentioned in a constitution of Justin. Two of these indeed lapsed, as the
same Procopius records. For when they wanted to consort with women,
they were deprived of their voice, since the grace of their martyrdom
remained with them no longer. 38
15 And he relates another marvellous action of the saviour God, Who
e¡ected a miracle among men alien in their religion but who acted
piously in this case. He says that Cabaon was leader of the Moors near
Tripolis: 39
‘This Cabaon’, he says (for it is worth using his words, since he
describes these matters too in a noteworthy way),
when he learnt that the Vandals were taking the ¢eld against him,
did as follows: ¢rst he instructed his followers to abstain from all
injustice and food that is conducive to luxury and, especially,
from contacts with women. After establishing two stockades, he
himself encamped in the one with all the men while in the other
he con¢ned the women, and threatened that death would be the
penalty if anyone went to the women’s stockade. Then he sent
spies to Carthage with these instructions: whenever the Vandals,
as they were proceeding on campaign, committed outrages
against any shrine which the Christians revere, they should
observe what happened, but when the Vandals moved to another
location they should do the exact opposite to the holy place from
which those people had departed on their march. It is said that
38 The persecutions of Huneric (477^84) are described at Wars iii.8.1^4, though the description
of the tongueless talkers is a rather free adaptation: Procopius does not actually
claim to have ‘had a discussion with them’, but merely that the men were still around in
Constantinople in his time (e ’ntugwei“ n could be translated more weakly as ‘met’, but I
accept the stronger interpretation, as do BEL and Festugie' re, because of the context). He
also does not mention the law of Justinian (not Justin), Cod. Iust. i.27.1, 4. Many more
details of the persecution are recorded by Victor of Vita, including the story that certain
people had their tongues and right hands cut o¡ but remained capable of talking clearly ^
as an example, the subdeacon Reparatus is mentioned, who was held in high esteem by Zeno
and Ariadne at Constantinople (Victor iii.30).
39 Wars iii.8.15^29, with a few minor variations noted in Bidez^Parmentier’s apparatus.