He Writes and Speaks to the End of His Life

These offenders, however, were soon overtaken by God’s punishment. But to return to our emperor. He had trained his mind so thoroughly in the art of reasoning that to the very end he went on composing discourses on various subjects, giving frequent public speeches, and instructing his listeners in the sacred doctrines of religion. He was also constantly at work making laws on both civil and military matters, and in short devising whatever might serve the general welfare of the human race. It is well worth noting that very shortly before he departed this life, he delivered a funeral oration before his usual audience. In it he spoke at length on the immortality of the soul, on the state of those who had persevered in a godly life, and on the blessings God has stored up for those who love him. On the other hand he showed, with full and conclusive arguments, what the end will be of those who have followed the opposite course, and he described the final ruin of the ungodly in vivid language. His powerful testimony on these subjects seemed to touch the consciences of those around him so deeply that one of the self-styled philosophers, whom he asked for his opinion of what he had heard, bore witness to the truth of his words, and gave a real, if reluctant, tribute of praise to the arguments by which he had exposed the worship of many gods. By conversation of this kind with his friends before his death, the emperor seemed, as it were, to smooth and prepare the way for his passage to a happier life. [a]