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 mind pure from material passions, Prepare for me again thy home. Martha,[254] thy wife formerly, writes these things to thee, O protostrator, fairest also of the dead!
The following epitaph in honour of the protostrator Glabas[254] was to be placed in the parecclesion of the church of the Pammakaristos (_Carmina Philae_, ccxix., ed. Miller, vol. i. pp. 115-16):--
[Greek: Epigramma eis ton naon hon ôkodomêsen hê tou prôtostratoros symbios apothanonti tô andri autês.
hê men dia sou pasa tôn ontôn physis ou dynatai chôrein se tên prôtên physin; plêrois gar autên alla kai pleiôn meneis, Theou Loge zôn kai draki to pan pherôn, kan sarx alêthês heuretheis perigraphê, 5 psychais de pistais mystikôs enidryê monên seautô pêgnyôn athanaton; oukoun dechou ton oikon hon teteucha soi deiknynta saphôs tês psychês mou tên schesin; ton syzygon de pheu teleutêsanta moi 10 kai tês choikês apanastanta stegês, oikison eis aphtharton autos pastada, kantautha têrôn tên soron tou leipsanou, mê tis enechthê syntribê tois osteois. 15 prôtostrator kai tauta sên dêpou charin hê syzygos prin, alla nyn Martha graphei.]
The whole nature of existing things which thou hast made Cannot contain Thee, the primordial nature, For Thou fillest it, and yet remainest more than it; O Logos of God, living and holding all in the hollow of Thy hand, Although as true flesh Thou art circumscribed, And dwellest, mystically, in faithful souls, Establishing for Thyself an immortal habitation, Yet accept the house which I have built for Thee, Which shows clearly the disposition of my soul. My husband who, alas! has died to me And gone forth from his house of clay, Do Thou Thyself settle in an incorruptible mansion, Guarding also here the shrine of his remains, Lest any injury should befall his bones. O protostrator, these things, too, for thy sake I trow, Writes she who erewhile was thy wife, but now is Martha.[256]