CHAPTER LVI

OLYMPIAS

[1] THAT most venerable and devoted lady Olympias followed the counsel of Melania, attending to her precepts and walking in her footsteps. She was the daughter of Seleucus the ex-count, grand-daughter of Ablavius the ex-prefect, and bride for a few days of Nebridius, the ex-prefect of the city, but the wife of no man. For she is said to have died a virgin, but the spouse of the Word of Truth. [2] She dispersed all her goods and gave to the poor. She engaged in no mean combats for truth’s sake, instructed many women, addressed priests reverently, and honoured bishops; she was accounted worthy to be a confessor for truth’s sake. The inhabitants of Constantinople reckon her life among the confessors, for she died thus and went away to the Lord in the midst of her struggles for God’s honour.