---
title: "The Oracles at Delphi No Longer Given in Verse · De Pythiae oraculis"
author: "Plutarch"
translator: "Frank Cole Babbitt"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 1 of 2
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-oracles-at-delphi/1/
cite: "Plutarch, tr. Frank Cole Babbitt, The Oracles at Delphi No Longer Given in Verse · De Pythiae oraculis, section 1. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-oracles-at-delphi/1/"
---

# The Oracles at Delphi No Longer Given in Verse · De Pythiae oraculis

*Plutarch, tr. Frank Cole Babbitt*

Visitors at Delphi ask why the Pythia now answers in prose, and how the god speaks through her.

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0007.tlg091, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Frank Cole Babbitt, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0007.tlg091.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 1. Sections 2–16

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-oracles-at-delphi/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-oracles-at-delphi/1/#p-N

[¶0] Plutarch’s essay on the changed custom at Delphi is quite as interesting for its digressions as for its treatment of the main topic. Portents, coincidences, history, a little philosophy, stories of persons like Croesus, Battus, Lysander, Rhodope, finally lead up to the statement that many oracles used to be delivered in prose, although still more in early times were delivered in verse; but the present age calls for simplicity and directness instead of the ancient obscurity and grandiloquence. We possess a considerable body of Delphic oracles preserved in Greek literature, as, for example, the famous oracle of the “wooden wall” (Herodotus, vii. 141). Practically all of these are in hexameter verse. Many more records of oracles merely state that someone consulted the oracle and was told to perform a certain deed, or was told that something would or might happen, often with certain limitations. We have, therefore, no means of determining the truth of Plutarch’s statement, but there is little doubt that he is right. If we possessed his lost work, Χρησμῶν συναγωγή (no. 171 in Lamprias’s list), we should have more abundant data on which to base our decision. The essay often exhibits Plutarch at his best. Hartman thinks that Plutarch hoped that the.work would be read at Rome, and therefore inserted the encomium of Roman rule near the end. The essay stands as no. 116 in Lamprias’s catalogue. It is found in only two mss. and in a few places the tradition leaves us in doubt, but, for the most part, the text is fairly clear. The references to the topography and monuments of Delphi have become more intelligible since the site was excavated by the French. Pomtow, in the Berliner Pkilologische Wochenschrift, 1912, p. 1170, gives an account of the monuments visited by the company in this essay. (The persons who take part in the dialogue are Basilocles and Philinus, who serve to introduce the later speakers; Diogenianus, Theon, Sarapion, Boethus, as well as Philinus himself and some professional guides.) BASILOCLES. You people have kept it up till well into the evening, Philinus, escorting the foreign visitor around among the statues and votive offerings. For my part, I had almost given up waiting for you. PHILINUS. The fact is, Basilocles, that wre went slowly, sowing words, and reaping them straightway with strife, like the men sprung from the Dragon’s teeth, words with meanings behind them of the contentious sort, which sprang up and flourished along our way. BASILOCLES. Will it be necessary to call in someone else of those who were with you; or are you willing, as a favour, to relate in full what your conversation was and who took part in it? PHILINUS. It looks, Basilocles, as if I shall have that to do. In fact, it would not be easy for you to find anyone of the others in the town, for I saw most of them once more on their way up to the Cory ei an cave and Lycoreia with the foreign visitor. BASILOCLES. Our visitor is certainly eager to see the sights, and an unusually eager listener. PHILINUS. But even more is he a scholar and a student. However, it is not this that most deserves our admiration, but a winning gentleness, and his willingness to argue and to raise questions, which comes from his intelligence, and shows no dissatisfaction nor contrariety with the answers. So, after being with him but a short time, one would say, “O child of a goodly father!” You surely know Diogenianus, one of the best of men. BASILOCLES. I never saw him myself, Philinus, but I have met many persons who expressed a strong approval of the man’s words and character, and who had other compliments of the same nature to say of the young man. But, my friend, what was the beginning and occasion of your conversation?

> Greek: ΒΑΣΙΛΟΚΛΗΣ. ἑσπέραν ἐποιήσατε βαθεῖαν, ὦ Φιλῖνε, διὰ τῶν ἀναθημάτων παραπέμποντες τὸν ξένον· ἐγὼ γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἀναμένων ἀπηγόρευσα.
ΦΙΛΙΝΟΣ. βραδέως γὰρ ὡδεύομεν, ὦ Βασιλόκλεις, σπείροντες λόγους καὶ θερίζοντες εὐθὺς μετὰ μάχης ὑπούλους καὶ πολεμικούς, ὥσπερ οἱ Σπαρτοί, βλαστάνοντας ἡμῖν καὶ ὑποφυομένους κατὰ τὴν ὁδόν.
ΒΑΣ.. ἕετερον οὖν τινα δεήσει παρακαλεῖν τῶν παραγεγονότων, ἢ σὺ βούλει χαριζόμενος ἡμῖν διελθεῖν τίνες ἦσαν οἱ λόγοι καὶ τίνες οἱ λέγοντες;
ΦΙΛ. ἐεμόν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὦ Βασιλόκλεις, τὸ ἔργον. τῶν γὰρ ἄλλων οὐδενὶ ῥᾳδίως ἂν ἐντύχοις κατὰ πόλιν· τοὺς γὰρ πλείστους ἑώρων αὖθις εἰς τὸ Κωρύκιον τῷ ξένῳ καὶ τὴν Λυκουρίαν συναναβαίνοντας.
ΒΑΣ. ἦ φιλοθεάμων τις ἡμῖν καὶ περιττῶς φιλήκοός ἐστιν ὁ ξένος.
ΦΙΛ. φιλόλογός γε καὶ φιλομαθής ἐστι μᾶλλον. οὐ μὴν ταῦτα μάλιστα θαυμάζειν ἄξιον, ἀλλὰ πραότης τε πολλὴν χάριν ἔχουσα, καὶ τὸ μάχιμον καὶ διαπορητικὸν ὑπὸ συνέσεως, οὔτε δύσκολον οὔτε ἀντίτυπον πρὸς τὰς ἀποκρίσεις· ὥστε καὶ βραχὺ συγγενόμενον εὐθὺς εἰπεῖν τέκος ἀγαθοῦ πατρός. οἶσθα γὰρ Διογενιανὸν ἀνδρῶν ἄριστον.
ΒΑΣ. αὐτὸς μὲν οὐκ εἶδον, ὦ Φιλῖνε, πολλοῖς δʼ ἐντετύχηκα καὶ τὸν λόγον καὶ τὸ ἦθος τάνδρὸς ἰσχυρῶς ἀποδεχομένοις, ὅμοια δὲ τούτοις ἕτερα περὶ τοῦ νεανίσκου λέγουσιν. ἀλλὰ τίνʼ ἀρχὴν ἔσχον οἱ λόγοι καὶ πρόφασιν;

[¶1] 2. PHILINUS. The guides were going through their prearranged programme, paying no heed to us who begged that they would cut short their harangues and their expounding of most of the inscriptions. The appearance and technique of the statues had only a moderate attraction for the foreign visitor, who, apparently, was a connoisseur in works of art. He did, however, admire the patina of the bronze, for it bore no resemblance to verdigris or rust, but the bronze was smooth and shining with a deep blue tinge, so that it gave an added touch to the sea-captains (for he had begun his sight-seeing with them), as they stood there with the true complexion of the sea and its deepest depths. “Was there, then,” said he, “some process of alloying and treating used by the artizans of early times for bronze, something like what is called the tempering of swords, on the disappearance of which bronze carne to have a respite from employment in war? As a matter of fact,” he continued, “it was not by art, as they say, but by accident that the Corinthian bronze acquired its beauty of colour; a fire consumed a house containing some gold and silver and a great store of copper, and when these were melted and fused together, the great mass of copper furnished a name because of its preponderance.” Theon, taking up the conversation, said, “We have heard another more artful account, how a worker in bronze at Corinth, when he had come upon a hoard containing much gold, fearing detection, broke it off a little at a time and stealthily mixed it with his bronze, which thus acquired a wondrous composition. He sold it for a goodly price since it was very highly esteemed for its colour and beauty. However, both this story and that are fiction, but there was apparently some process of combination and preparation; for even now they alloy gold with silver and produce a peculiar and extraordinary, and, to my eyes, a sickly paleness and an unlovely perversion.”

> Greek: 2. ΦΙΛ. ἐπέραινον οἱ περιηγηταὶ τὰ συντεταγμένα, μηδὲν ἡμῶν φροντίσαντες δεηθέντων ἐπιτεμεῖν τὰς ῥήσεις καὶ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ἐπιγραμμάτων. τὸν δὲ ξένον ἡ μὲν ἰδέα καὶ τὸ τεχνικὸν τῶν ἀνδριάντων μετρίως προσήγετο, πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν ἔργων ὡς ἔοικε θεατὴν γεγενημένον ἐθαύμαζε δὲ τοῦ χαλκοῦ τὸ ἀνθηρὸν ὡς οὐ πίνῳ προσεοικὸς οὐδʼ ἰῷ, βαφῇ δὲ κυάνου στίλβοντος, ὥστε καὶ παῖξαί τι πρὸς; τοὺς ναυάρχους ʽἀπʼ ἐκείνων γὰρ ἦρκται τῆς θέασʼ οἷον ἀτεχνῶς θαλαττίους τῇ χρόᾳ καὶ βυθίους ἑστῶτας. ἆρʼ οὖν ἔφη κρᾶσίς τις ἦν καὶ φάρμαξις τῶν πάλαι τεχνιτῶν περὶ τὸν χαλκόν, ὥσπερ ἡ λεγομένη τῶν ξιφῶν στόμωσις ἧς ἐκλιπούσης ἐκεχειρίαν ἔσχεν ἔργων πολεμικῶν ὁ χαλκός;ʼ τὸν μὲν γὰρ Κορίνθιον οὐ τέχνῃ ἀλλὰ συντυχίᾳ τῆς χρόας λαβεῖν τὸ κάλλος, ἐπινειμαμένου πυρὸς οἰκίαν ἔχουσάν τι χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου, πλεῖστον δὲ χαλκὸν ἀποκείμενον· ὧν συγχυθέντων καὶ συντακέντων, ὄνομα τοῦ χαλκοῦ τῷ μείζονι τὸ πλῆθος παρέσχεν. ὁ δὲ Θέων ὑπολαβών ἄλλον ἔφη λόγον ἡμεῖς ἀκηκόαμεν πανουργέστερον· ὡς ἀνὴρ ἐν Κορίνθῳ χαλκοτύπος, ἐπιτυχὼν θήκῃ χρυσίον ἐχούσῃ πολὺ καὶ δεδοικὼς φανερὸς γενέσθαι, κατὰ μικρὸν ἀποκόπτων καὶ ὑπομιγνὺς ἀτρέμα τῷ χαλκῷ, θαυμαστὴν λαμβάνοντι κρᾶσιν, ἐπίπρασκε πολλοῦ διὰ τὴν χρόαν καὶ τὸ κάλλος ἀγαπώμενον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα μῦθόσἐστιν· ἦν δέ τις ὡς ἔοικε μῖξις καὶ ἄρτυσις, ὥς που καὶ νῦν ἀνακεραννύντες ἀργύρῳ χρυσὸν ἰδίαν τινὰ καὶ περιττὴν ἐμοὶ δὲ φαινομένην νοσώδη χλωρότητα καὶ φθορὰν ἀκαλλῆ παρέχουσι.

[¶2] 3. “What do you think, then,” said Diogenianus, “has been the cause of the colour of the bronze here?” Theon replied, “When of the primal and simplest elements in Nature, as they are called and actually are — fire, earth, air, and water — there is none other that comes near to the bronze or is in contact with it, save only air, it is clear that the bronze is affected by this, and that because of this it has acquired whatever distinctive quality it has, since the air is always about it and environs it closely. Of a truth “All this I knew before Theognis’ day,” as the comic poet has it. But is it your desire to learn what property the air possesses and what power it exerts in its constant contact, so that it has imparted a colouring to the bronze?” As Diogenianus assented, Theon said, “And so also is it my desire, my young friend; let us, therefore, investigate together, and before anything else, if you will, the reason why olive-oil most of all the liquids covers bronze with rust. For, obviously, the oil of itself does not deposit the rust, since it is pure and stainless when applied.” “Certainly not,” said the young man. “My own opinion is that there must be something else that causes this, for the oil is thin, pure, and transparent, and the rust, when it encounters this, is most visible, but in the other liquids it becomes invisible.” “Well done, my young friend,” said Theon, “and excellently said. But consider, if you will, the reason given by Aristotle.” “Very well,” said he, “I will.” “Now Aristotle says that when the rust absorbs any of the other liquids, it is imperceptibly disunited and dispersed, since these are unevenly and thinly constituted; but by the density of the oil it is prevented from escaping and remains permanently as it is collected. If, then, we are able of ourselves to invent some such hypothesis, we shall not be altogether at a loss for some magic spell and some words of comfort to apply to this puzzling question.”

> Greek: 3. τίνʼ οὖν αἰτίαν ἔφη ὁ Διογενιανός; οἴει τῆς ἐνταῦθα τοῦ χαλκοῦ χρόας γεγονέναι καὶ ὁ Θέων ὅταν ἔφη τῶν πρώτων καὶ φυσικωτάτων καὶ ἐσομένων καὶ ὄντων, πυρὸς καὶ γῆς καὶ ἀέρος καὶ ὕδατος, μηδὲν ἄλλο τῷ χαλκῷ πλησιάζῃ μηδʼ ὁμιλῇ πλὴν μόνος ὁ ἀήρ, δῆλός ἐστιν ὑπὸ τούτου πεπονθὼς καὶ διὰ τοῦτον ἐσχηκὼς ἣν ἔχει διαφορὰν ἀεὶ συνόντα καὶ προσκείμενον· ἢ τουτὶ μὲν ᾕδεις πρὶν Θέογνιν γεγονέναι κατὰ τὸν κωμικόν, ἣν δʼ ἔχων φύσιν ὁ ἀήρ τε χρώμενος δυνάμει κατὰ τὰς ἐπιψαύσεις ἐπικέχρωκε τὸν χαλκὸν ἐπιθυμεῖς μαθεῖν;ʼ φήσαντος δὲ τοῦ Διογενιανοῦ, καὶ γὰρ ἐγώ εἶπεν ὦ παῖ· ζητῶμεν οὖν κοινῇ καὶ πρότερον, εἰ βούλει, διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν μάλιστα τῶν ὑγρῶν ἀναπίμπλησιν ἰοῦ τοὔλαιον· οὐ γὰρ αὐτόν γε δήπου τῷ χαλκῷ προστρίβεσθαι τὸν ἰόν, ἅτε δὴ καθαρὸν αὐτῷ καὶ ἀμίαντον πλησιάζοντα· οὐδαμῶς εἶπεν ὁ νεανίας,ἄλλοδʼ αὐτῷ μοι δοκεῖ τούτου τὸ αἴτιον ὑπάρχειν· λεπτῷ γὰρ ὄντι καὶ καθαρῷ καὶ διαυγεῖ προσπίπτων ὁ ἰὸς ἐκφανέστατός ἐστιν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὑγροῖς ἀφανίζεται.ʼ καὶ ὁ Θέων εὖγʼ εἶπεν ὦ παῖ, καὶ καλῶς· σκόπει δʼ εἰ βούλει καὶ τὴν ὑπʼ Ἀριστοτέλους αἰτίαν λεγομένην ἀλλὰ βούλομαι εἶπε. φησὶ τοίνυν τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ὑγρῶν ἐπιόντα διέχειν ἀδήλως καὶ διασπείρεσθαι τὸν ἰόν, ἀνωμάλων τῶν πόρων καὶ μανῶν ὄντων· τοῦ δʼ ἐλαίου τῇ πυκνότητι στέγεσθαι καὶ διαμένειν ἀθροιζόμενον. ἂν οὖν καὶ αὐτοί τι τοιοῦτον ὑποθέσθαι δυνηθῶμεν, οὐ παντάπασιν ἀπορήσομεν ἐπῳδῆς καὶ παραμυθίας πρὸς τὴν ἀπορίαν.

[¶3] 4. Since, therefore, we urged him on and gave him his opportunity, Theon said that the air in Delphi is dense and compact, possessing a certain vigour because of the repulsion and resistance that it encounters from the lofty hills; and it is also tenuous and keen, as the facts about the digestion of food bear witness. So the air, by reason of its tenuity, works its way into the bronze and cuts it, disengaging from it a great quantity of rust like dust, but this it retains and holds fast, inasmuch as its density does not allow a passage for this. The rust gathers and, because of its great abundance, it effloresces and acquires a brilliance and lustre on its surface. When we had accepted this explanation, the foreign visitor said that the one hypothesis alone was sufficient for the argument. “The tenuity,” said he, “will seem to be in contravention to the reputed density of the air, but there is no need to bring it in. As a matter of fact the bronze of itself, as it grows old, exudes and releases the rust which the density of the air confines and solidifies and thus makes it visible because of its great abundance.” Theon, taking this up, said, “My friend, what is there to prevent the same thing from being both tenuous and dense, like the silken and linen varieties of cloth, touching which Homer has said Streams of the liquid oil flow off from the close-woven linen, showing the exactitude and fineness of the weaving by the statement that the oil does not remain on the cloth, but runs off over the surface, since the fineness and closeness of the texture does not let it through? In fact the tenuity of the air can be brought forward, not only as an argument regarding the disengaging of the rust, but, very likely, it also makes the colour itself more agreeable and brilliant by blending light and lustre with the blue.”

> Greek: 4. ὡς οὖν ἐκελεύομεν καὶ συνεχωροῦμεν, ἔφη τὸν ἀέρα τὸν ἐν Δελφοῖς, πυκνὸν ὄντα καὶ συνεχῆ καὶ τόνον ἔχοντα διὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ὀρῶν ἀνάκλασιν καὶ ἀντέρεισιν, ἔτι καὶ λεπτὸν εἶναι καὶ δηκτικόν, ὥς που μαρτυρεῖ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς πέψεις τῆς; τροφῆς ἐνδυόμενον οὖν ὑπὸ λεπτότητος καὶ τέμνοντα χαλκὸν ἀναχαράσσειν πολὺν ἰὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ γεώδη, στέγειν δὲ τοῦτον αὖ πάλιν καὶ πιέζειν, τῆς πυκνότητος διάχυσιν μὴ διδούσης, τὸν δʼ ὑφιστάμενον αὐτοῦ διὰ πλῆθος ἐξανθεῖν καὶ λαμβάνειν αὐγὴν καὶ γάνωμα περὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν. ἀποδεξαμένων δʼ ἡμῶν, ὁ ξένος ἔφη τὴν ἑτέραν ἀρκεῖν ὑπόθεσιν πρὸς τὸν λόγον. ἡ δὲ λεπτότης ἔφη δόξει μὲν ὑπεναντιοῦσθαι καὶ πρὸς τὴν λεγομένην πυκνότητα τοῦ ἀέρος, λαμβάνεται δʼ οὐκ ἀναγκαίως· αὐτὸς γὰρ ὑφʼ ἑαυτοῦ παλαιούμενος ὁ χαλκὸς ἀποπνεῖ καὶ μεθίησι τὸν ἰόν, ὃν ἡ πυκνότης συνέχουσα καὶ παχνοῦσα ποιεῖ ἐκφανῆ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος. ὑπολαβὼν δʼ ὁ Θέων, τί γάρ εἶπεν ὦ ξένε, κωλύει ταὐτὸν εἶναι καὶ λεπτὸν καὶ πυκνόν, ὥσπερ τὰ σηρικὰ καὶ τὰ βύσσινα τῶν ὑφασμάτων, ἐφʼ ὧν καὶ Ὅμηρος εἶπε καιροσέων δʼ ὀθονῶν ἀπολείβεται ὑγρὸν ἔλαιον, ἐνδεικνύμενος τὴν ἀκρίβειαν καὶ λεπτότητα τοῦ ὕφους τῷ μὴ προσμένειν τὸ ἔλαιον ἀλλʼ ἀπορρεῖν καὶ ἀπολισθάνειν, τῆς λεπτότητος καὶ πυκνότητος οὐ διιείσης; καὶ μὴν οὐ μόνον πρὸς τὴν ἀναχάραξιν τοῦ ἰοῦ χρήσαιτʼ ἄν τις τῇ λεπτότητι τοῦ ἀέρος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν χρόαν αὐτὴν ποιεῖν ἔοικεν ἡδίονα καὶ γλαυκοτέραν, ἀναμιγνύουσα τῷ κυάνῳ φῶς καὶ αὑγήν ἐκ τούτου γενομένης σιωπῆς, πάλιν οἱ περιηγηταὶ προεχειρίζοντο τὰς ῥήσεις.

[¶4] 5. Following this a silence ensued, and again the guides began to deliver their harangues. A certain oracle in verse was recited (I think it concerned the kingdom of Aegon the Argive, whereupon Diogenianus said that he had often wondered at the barrenness and cheapness of the hexameter lines in which the oracles are pronounced. “Yet the god is Leader of the Muses, and it is right and fair that he should take no less interest in what is called elegance of diction than in the sweetness of sound that is concerned with tunes and songs, and that his utterances should surpass Hesiod and Homer in the excellence of their versification. Yet we observe that most of the oracles are full of metrical and verbal errors and barren diction.” Sarapion, the poet who was present from Athens, said, “Then do we believe these verses to be the god’s, and yet dare to say that in beauty they fall short of the verses of Homer and Hesiod? Shall we not treat them as if they were the best and fairest of poetic compositions, and correct our own judgement, prepossessed as it is as the result of unfortunate habituation?” At this point Boëthus the mathematician entered into the conversation. (You know that the man is already changing his allegiance in the direction of Epicureanism.) Said he, “Do you happen to have heard the story of Pauson the painter?” “No,” said Sarapion, “I have not.” “Well, it is really worth hearing. It seems that he had received a commission to paint a horse rolling, and painted it galloping. His patron was indignant, whereupon Pauson laughed and turned the canvas upside down, and, when the lower part became the upper, the horse now appeared to be not galloping, but rolling. Bion says that this happens to some arguments when they are inverted. So some people will say of the oracles also, not that they are excellently made because they are the god’s, but that they are not the god’s because they are poorly made! The first of these is in the realm of the unknown; but that the verses conveying the oracles are carelessly wrought is, of course, perfectly clear to you, my dear Sarapion, for you are competent to judge. You write poems in a philosophic and restrained style, but in force and grace and diction they bear more resemblance to the poems of Homer and Hesiod than to the verses put forth by the prophetic priestess.”

> Greek: 5. χρησμοῦ δέ τινος ἐμμέτρου λεχθέντος, οἶμαι, περὶ τῆς Αἴγωνος τοῦ Ἀργείου βασιλείας, πολλάκις ἔφη θαυμάσαι τῶν ἐπῶν ὁ Διογενιανός, ἐν οἷς οἱ χρησμοὶ λέγονται, τὴν φαυλότητα καὶ τὴν εὐτέλειαν. καίτοι μουσηγέτης ὁ θεός, καὶ τῆς λεγομένης λογιότητος οὐχ ἧττον αὐτῷ καλὸν ἢ τῆς περὶ μέλη καὶ ᾠδὰς εὐφωνίας μετεῖναι, καὶ πολὺ τὸν Ἡσίοδον εὐεπείᾳ καὶ τὸν Ὅμηρον ὑπερφθέγγεσθαι· τοὺς δὲ πολλοὺς τῶν χρησμῶν ὁρῶμεν καὶ τοῖς μέτροις καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι πλημμελείας καὶ φαυλότητος ἀναπεπλησμένους. παρὼν οὖν Ἀθήνηθεν ὁ ποιητὴς Σαραπίων εἶτʼ ἔφη ταῦτα τὰ ἔπη τοῦ θεοῦ πιστεύοντες εἶναι, τολμῶμεν αὖ πάλιν, ὡς λείπεται κάλλει τῶν Ὁμήρου καὶ Ἡσιόδου, λέγειν, καὶ οὐ χρησόμεθα τούτοις ὡς ἄριστα καὶ κάλλιστα πεποιημένοις, ἐπανορθούμενοι τὴν αὑτῶν κρίσιν προκατειλημμένην ὑπὸ φαύλης συνηθείας ὑπολαβὼν οὖν Βόηθος ὁ γεωμέτρης ʽ οἶσθα γὰρ τὸν ἄνδρα μεταταττόμενον ἢδη πρὸς τὸν Ἐπίκουρονʼ, ἆρʼ οὖν ἔφη τὸ τοῦ ζωγράφου Παύσωνος ἀκήκοας;ʼ οὐκ ἔγωγʼ εἶπεν ὁ Σαραπίων. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἄξιον. ἐκλαβὼν γὰρ ὡς ἔοικεν ἵππον ἀλινδούμενον γράψαι τρέχοντʼ ἔγραψεν. ἀγανακτοῦντος δὲ τάνθρώπου, γελάσας ὁ Παύσων κατέστρεψε τὸν πίνακα· καὶ γενομένων ἄνω τῶν κάτω, πάλιν ὁ ἵππος τρέχων ἀλλʼ ἀλινδούμενος ἐφαίνετο. τοῦτό φησιν ὁ Βίων ἐνίους τῶν λόγων πάσχειν, ὅταν ἀναστρέφωσι. διὸ καὶ τοὺς χρησμοὺς; ἔνιοι φήσουσιν εὖ καὶ καλῶς ἔχειν, ὅτι τοῦ θεοῦ εἰσιν· ἄλλοι τοῦ θεοῦ μὴ εἶναι, ὅτι φαύλως ἔχουσιν. ἐκεῖνο μὲν γὰρ ἐν ἀδήλῳ· τὸ δʼ οὐκ εὖ τὰ ἔπη πεποιῆσθαι τὰ περὶ τοὺς χρησμοὺς καὶ σοὶ κριτῇ δήπουθεν, ὦ φίλε Σαραπίων, εἶπεν, ἐναργές; ἐστι. ποιήματα γὰρ γράφεις τοῖς μὲν πράγμασι φιλοσόφως καὶ αὐστηρῶς, δυνάμει δὲ καὶ χάριτι καὶ κατασκευῇ τῇ περὶ λέξιν ἐοικότα τοῖς Ὁμήρου καὶ Ἡσιόδου μᾶλλον ἢ τοῖς ὑπὸ τῆς Πυθίας ἐκφερομένοις.

[¶5] 6. “The fact is, Boëthus,” said Sarapion, “that we are ailing both in ears and eyes, accustomed as we are, through luxury and soft living, to believe and to declare that the pleasanter things are fair and lovely. Before long we shall be finding fault with the prophetic priestess because she does not speak in purer tones than Glaucê, who sings to the lyre, and because she is not perfumed and clad in purple when she goes down into the inner shrine, and does not burn upon the altar cassia or ladanum or frankincense, but only laurel and barley meal. Do you not see,” he continued, “what grace the songs of Sappho have, charming and bewitching all who listen to them? But the Sibyl ‘with frenzied lips,’ as Heracleitus has it, ‘uttering words mirthless, unembellislied, unperfumed, yet reaches to a thousand years with her voice through the god.’ And Pindar says that ‘Cadmus heard the god revealing music true,’ not sweet nor voluptuous nor with suddenly changing melody. For the emotionless and pure does not welcome Pleasure, but she, as well as Mischief, was thrown down here, and the greater part of the evil in her has, apparently, gathered together to flood the ears of men.”

> Greek: 6. καὶ ὁ Σαραπίων νοσοῦμεν γάρ εἶπεν ὦ Βόηθε, καὶ τὰ ὦτα καὶ τὰ ὄμματα, συνειθισμένοι διὰ τρυφὴν καὶ μαλακίαν τὰ ἡδίω καλὰ νομίζειν καὶ ἀποφαίνεσθαι. τάχα δὴ μεμψόμεθα τὴν Πυθίαν, ὅτι Γλαύκης οὐ φθέγγεται τῆς κιθαρῳδοῦ λιγυρώτερον, οὐδὲ χριομένη μύροις οὐδʼ ἁλουργίδας ἀμπεχομένη κάτεισιν εἰς τὸ ἄδυτον, οὐδʼ ἐπιθυμιᾷ κασίαν ἢ λήδανον ἢ λιβανωτὸν ἀλλὰ δάφνην καὶ κρίθινον ἄλευρον. οὐχ ὁρᾷς, εἶπεν, ὅσην χάριν ἔχει τὰ Σαπφικὰ μέλη κηλοῦντα καὶ καταθέλγοντα τοὺς ἀκροωμένους; Σίβυλλα δὲ μαινομένῳ στόματι καθʼ Ηράκλειτον ἀγέλαστα καὶ ἀκαλλώπιστα καὶ ἀμύριστα φθεγγομένη, χιλίων ἐτῶν ἐξικνεῖται τῇ φωνῇ διὰ τὸν θεόν. ὁ δὲ Πίνδαρος ἀκοῦσαι φησὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν Κάδμον μουσικὰν ὀρθάν οὐχ ἡδεῖαν οὐδὲ τρυφερὰν οὐδʼ ἐπικεκλασμένην τοῖς μέλεσιν. ἡδονὴν γὰρ οὐ προσίεται τὸ ἀπαθὲς καὶ ἁγνόν, ἀλλʼ ἐνταῦθα μετὰ τῆς Ἄτης ἐρρίφη καὶ τὸ πλεῖστον αὐτῆς; καὶ ὡς ἔοικεν εἰς τὰ ὦτα τῶν ἀνθρώπων συνερρύηκεν.

[¶6] 7. When Sarapion had said this, Theon smiled and said, “Sarapion has yielded as usual to his propensity by taking advantage of the incidental mention of Mischief and Pleasure. But as for us, Boëthus, even if these verses be inferior to Homer’s, let us not believe that the god has composed them, but that he supplies the origin of the incitement, and then the prophetic priestesses are moved each in accordance with her natural faculties. Certainly, if it were necessary to write the oracles, instead of delivering them orally, I do not think that we should believe the handwriting to be the god’s, and find fault with it because in beauty it fell short of that of the royal scribes. As a matter of fact, the voice is not that of a god, nor the utterance of it, nor the diction, nor the metre, but all these are the woman’s; he puts into her mind only the visions, and creates a light in her soul in regard to the future; for inspiration is precisely this. And, speaking in general, it is impossible to escape you who speak for Epicurus (in fact you yourself, Boëthus, are obviously being borne in that direction); but you charge the prophetic priestesses of old with using bad verse, and those of the present day with delivering their oracles in prose and using commonplace words, so that they may not be liable to render an account to you for their wrong use of a short syllable at the beginning, middle, or end of their lines!” “In Heaven’s name,” said Diogenianus, “do not jest, but solve for us this problem, which is of universal interest. For there is not one of us that does not seek to learn the cause and reason why the oracle has ceased to employ verse and metre.” Whereupon Theon, interrupting, said, “But just now, my young friend, we seem rather rudely to be taking away from the guides their proper business. Permit, therefore, their services to be rendered first, and after that you shall, at your leisure, raise questions about any matters you wish.”

> Greek: 7. εἰπόντος δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ Σαραπίωνος, ὁ Θέων μειδιάσας ὁ Σαραπίων μέν εἶπε τὸεἰωθὸς ἀποδέδωκε τῷ τρόπῳ, λόγου περὶ Ἄτης καὶ ἡδονῆς παραπεσόντος ἀπολαύσας ἡμεῖς δʼ ὦ Βόηθε, κἂν ᾖ φαυλότερα τῶν Ὁμήρου ταῦτα τὰ ἔπη, μὴ νομίζωμεν αὐτὰ πεποιηκέναι τὸν θεόν, ἀλλʼ ἐκείνου τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς κινήσεως ἐνδιδόντος, ὡς ἑκάστη πέφυκε κινεῖσθαι τῶν προφητίδων. καὶ γὰρ εἰ γράφειν ἔδει μὴ λέγειν τοὺς· χρησμούς, οὐκ ἂν οἶμαι τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ γράμματα νομίζοντες ἐψέγομεν, ὅτι λείπεται καλλιγραφίᾳ τῶν βασιλικῶν. οὐ γὰρ ἔστι θεοῦ ἡ γῆρυς οὐδʼ ὁ φθόγγος οὐδʼ ἡ λέξις οὐδὲ τὸ μέτρον ἀλλὰ τῆς γυναικός· ἐκεῖνος δὲ μόνας τὰς φαντασίας παρίστησι καὶ φῶς ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ποιεῖ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον· ὁ γὰρ ἐνθουσιασμὸς; τοιοῦτόν ἐστι. καθόλου δʼ εἰπεῖν, ὑμᾶς τοὺς τοῦ Ἐπικούρου προφήτας (δῆλος γὰρ εἶ καὶ αὐτὸς ὑποφερόμενος) οὐκ ἔστι διαφυγεῖν, ἀλλὰ κἀκείνας αἰτιᾶσθε τὰς πάλαι προφήτιδας ὡς φαύλοις ποιήμασι χρωμένας, καὶ τὰς νῦν καταλογάδην καὶ διὰ τῶν· ἐπιτυχόντων ὀνομάτων τοὺς χρησμοὺς λεγούσας, ὅπως ὑμῖν ἀκεφάλων καὶ λαγαρῶν μέτρων καὶ μειούρων εὐθύνας μὴ ὑπέχωσι. καὶ ὁ Διογενιανός μὴ παῖζʼ εἶπεν ὦ πρὸς θεῶν, ἀλλὰ διάλυσον ἡμῖν ταύτην τὴν ἀπορίαν κοινὴν οὖσαν. οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἔστιν Ἑλλήνων, ὃς οὐκ αἰτίαν ἐπιζητεῖ καὶ λόγον, πῶς πέπαυται τὸ μαντεῖον ἔπεσι καὶ λόγοις χρώμενον. ὑπολαβὼν οὖν ὁ Θέων ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν εἶπεν ὦ παῖ, δοκοῦμεν ἐπηρείᾳ τινὶ τοὺς περιηγητὰς ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον. ἔασον οὖν γενέσθαι τὸ τούτων πρότερον, εἶτα περὶ ὧν βούλει καθʼ ἡσυχίαν διαπορήσεις ἤδη δὲ προϊόντες ἦμεν κατὰ τὸν Ἱέρωνος ἀνδριάντα τοῦ τυράννου·

[¶7] 8. By this time we had proceeded until we were opposite the statue of Hiero the despot. The foreign visitor, by reason of his genial nature, made himself listen to the various tales, although he knew them all perfectly well; but when he was told that a bronze pillar of Hiero’s standing above had fallen of itself during that day on which it happened that Hiero was coming to his end at Syracuse, he expressed his astonishment. Whereupon I proceeded to recall to his mind other events of a like nature, such, for example, as the experience of Hiero the Spartan, how before his death, which came to him at Leuctra, the eyes fell out of his statue, and the stars disappeared which Lysander had dedicated from the naval battle at Aegospotami; and the stone statue of Lysander himself put forth a growth of wild shrubs and grass in such abundance as to cover up the face; and at the time of the Athenian misfortunes in Sicily, the golden dates were dropping from the palm-tree and ravens were pecking off the edge of the shield of Pallas Athena; and the crown of the Cnidians which Philomela, despot of the Phocians, had presented to the dancing-girl, Pharsalia caused her death, after she had emigrated from Greece to Italy and was disporting herself in the vicinity of the temple of Apollo at Metapontum; for the young men made a rush for the crown, and as they struggled with one another for the gold, they tore the girl to pieces. Aristotle used to say that Homer is the only poet who wrote words possessing movement because of their vigour; but I should say that among votive offerings also, those dedicated here have movement and significance in sympathy with the god’s foreknowledge, and no part of them is void or insensible, but all are filled with the divine spirit. “Yes indeed,” said Boethus. “It is not enough to incarnate the god once every month in a mortal body, but we are bent upon incorporating him into every bit of stone and bronze, as if we did not have in Chance or Accident an agent responsible for such coincidences.” “Then,” said I, “does it seem to you that chance and accident have ordered every single one of such occurrences; and is it credible that the atoms slipped out of place and were separated one from another and inclined towards one side neither before nor afterwards, but at precisely the time when each of the dedicators was destined to fare either worse or better? And now Epicurus comes to your aid, apparently, with what he said or wrote three hundred years ago; but it does not seem to you that the god, unless he should transport himself and incorporate himself into everything and be merged with everything, could initiate movement or cause anything to happen to any existent object!”

> Greek: 8. καὶ τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ὁ ξένος εἰδὼς ἅπαντα παρεῖχεν ὅμως ὑπʼ εὐκολίας ἀκροατὴν αὑτόν· ἀκούσας δʼ ὅτι κίων τις ἑστὼς ἄνω χαλκοῦς Ἱέρωνος ἔπεσεν, αὐτομάτως τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης, τὸν Ἱέρωνα συνέβαινεν ἐν Συρακούσαις τελευτᾶν, ἐθαύμασε. κἀγὼ τῶν ὁμοίων ἅμα συνανεμίμνησκον, οἷα δὴ τοῦ Ἱέρωνος μὲν τοῦ Σπαρτιάτου, ὅτι πρὸ τῆς ἐν Λεύκτροις αὐτῷ γενομένης τελευτῆς ἐξέπεσον οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ τοῦ ἀνδριάντος, οἱ δʼ ἀστέρες ἠφανίσθησαν οὓς Λύσανδρος ἀνέθηκεν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς ναυμαχίας. ὁ δʼ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Λυσάνδρου λίθινος ἀνδριὰς ἐξήνθησεν ἀγρίαν λόχμην καὶ πόαν τοσαύτην τὸ πλῆθος, ὥστε κατακρύψαι τὸ πρόσωπον. ἐν δὲ τοῖς Σικελικοῖς τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀτυχήμασιν αἵ τε χρυσαῖ τοῦ φοίνικος ἀπέρρεον βάλανοι, καὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα τοῦ Παλλαδίου κόρακες περιέκοπτον. ὁ δὲ Κνιδίων στέφανος, ὃν Φαρσαλίᾳ τῇ ὀρχηστρίδι Φιλόμηλος ὁ Φωκέων τύραννος ἐδωρήσατο, μεταστᾶσαν αὐτὴν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν, ἀπώλεσεν ἐν Μεταποντίῳ παίζουσαν περὶ τὸν νεὼν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος· ὁρμήσαντες γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸν στέφανον οἱ νεανίσκοι καὶ μαχόμενοι περὶ τοῦ χρυσίου πρὸς ἀλλήλους διέσπασαν τὴν ἄνθρωπον. Ἀριστοτέλης μὲν οὖν μόνον Ὅμηρον ἔλεγε κινούμενα ποιεῖν ὀνόματα διὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν ἐγὼ δὲ φαίην ἂν καὶ τῶν ἀναθημάτων τὰ ἐνταυθοῖ μάλιστα συγκινεῖσθαι καὶ συνεπισημαίνειν τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ προνοίᾳ· καὶ τούτων μέρος μηδὲν εἶναι κενὸν μηδʼ ἀναίσθητον, ἀλλὰ πεπλῆσθαι πάντα θειότητος;. καὶ ὁ Βόηθος ναί εἶπεν· οὐ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ τὸν θεὸν εἰς σῶμα καθειργνύναι θνητὸν ἅπαξ ἑκάστου μηνός, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίθῳ παντὶ καὶ χαλκῷ συμφυράσομεν αὐτόν, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἔχοντες ἀξιόχρεων τῶν τοιούτων συμπτωμάτων τὴν τύχην δημιουργὸν καὶ ταὐτόματον. εἶτʼ ἔφην ἐγώ τύχῃ σοι δοκεῖ καὶ αὐτόματον τῶν τοιούτων ἕκαστον ἐοικέναι, καὶ πιθανόν ἐστι τὰς ἀτόμους ἐξολισθεῖν καὶ διαλυθῆναι καὶ παρεγκλῖναι μήτε πρότερον μήθʼ ὕστερον, ἀλλὰ κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον, ἐν ᾧ τῶν ἀναθέντων ἕκαστος; ἢ χεῖρον ἔμελλε πράξειν ἢ βέλτιον; καὶ σὲ μὲν Ἐπίκουρος ὠφελεῖ νῦν ὡς ἔοικεν ἀφʼ ὧν εἶπεν ἢ ἔγραψε πρὸ ἐτῶν τριακοσίων· ὁ θεὸς δʼ, εἰ μὴ συνείρξειε φέρων ἑαυτὸν εἰς ἅπαντα μηδʼ ἀνακερασθείη πᾶσιν, οὐκ ἄν σοι δοκοίη κινήσεως ἀρχὴν καὶ πάθους αἰτίαν παρασχεῖν οὐδενὶ τῶν ὄντων;ʼ τοιαῦτα μὲν ἐγὼ πρὸς τὸν Βόηθον ἀπεκρινάμην, ὅμοια δὲ περὶ τῶν Σιβυλλείων.

[¶8] 9. Such was my answer to Boëthus, and in similar vein mention was made of the oracles of the Sibyl. For when we halted as we reached a point opposite the rock which lies over against the council-chamber, upon which it is said that the first Sibyl sat after her arrival from Helicon where she had been reared by the Muses (though others say that she came from the Malians and was the daughter of Lamia whose father was Poseidon), Sarapion recalled the verses in which she sang of herself: that even after death she shall not cease from prophesying, but that she shall go round and round in the moon, becoming what is called the face that appears in the moon; while her spirit, mingled with the air, shall be for ever borne onward in voices of presage and portent; and since from her body, transformed within the earth, grass and herbage shall spring, on this shall pasture the creatures reared for the holy sacrifice, and they shall acquire all manner of colours and forms and qualities upon their inward parts, from which shall come for men prognostications of the future. Boëthus even more plainly showed his derision. The foreign visitor remarked that even if these matters appear to be fables, yet the prophecies have witnesses to testify for them in the numerous desolations and migrations of Grecian cities, the numerous descents of barbarian hordes, and the overthrow of empires. “And these recent and unusual occurrences near Cumae and Dicaearcheia, were they not recited long ago in the songs of the Sibyl? and has not Time, as if in her debt, duly discharged the obligation in the bursting forth of fires from the mountain, boiling seas, blazing rocks tossed aloft by the wind, and the destruction of such great and noble cities that those who came there by daylight felt ignorance and uncertainty as to where these had been situated, since the land was in such confusion? Such things, if they have come to pass, it is hard to believe, to say nothing of foretelling them, without divine inspiration.”

> Greek: 9. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔστημεν κατὰ τὴν πέτραν γενόμενοι τὴν κατὰ τὸ βουλευτήριον, ἐφʼ ἧς λέγεται καθίζεσθαι τὴν πρώτην Σίβυλλαν ἐκ τοῦ Ἑλικῶνος παραγενομένην ὑπὸ τῶν Μουσῶν τραφεῖσαν (ἔνιοι δέ φασιν ἐκ Μαλιέων ἀφικέσθαι Λαμίας οὖσαν θυγατέρα τῆς Ποσειδῶνος), ὁ μὲν Σαραπίων ἐμνήσθη τῶν ἐπῶν, ἐν οἷς ὕμνησεν ἑαυτήν, ὡς οὐδʼ ἀποθανοῦσα λήξει μαντικῆς· ἀλλʼ αὐτὴ μὲν ἐν τῇ σελήνῃ περίεισι τὸ καλούμενον φαινόμενον γενομένη πρόσωπον, τῷ δʼ ἀέρι τὸ πνεῦμα συγκραθὲν ἐν φήμαις ἀεὶ φορήσεται καὶ κληδόσιν· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ σώματος μεταβαλόντος ἐν τῇ γῇ πόας; καὶ ὕλης ἀναφυομένης, βοσκήσεται ταύτην ἱερὰ θρέμματα, χρόας τε παντοδαπὰς ἴσχοντα καὶ μορφὰς καὶ ποιότητας ἐπὶ τῶν σπλάγχνων ἀφʼ ὧν αἱ προδηλώσεις ἀνθρώποις τοῦ μέλλοντος. ὁ δὲ Βόηθος ἔτι μᾶλλον ἦν φανερὸς καταγελῶν τοῦ δὲ ξένου εἰπόντος, ὡς, εἰ καὶ ταῦτα μύθοις ἔοικεν, ἀλλὰ ταῖς γε μαντείαις ἐπιμαρτυροῦσι πολλαὶ μὲν ἀναστάσεις καὶ μετοικισμοὶ πόλεων Ἑλληνίδων, πολλαὶ δὲ βαρβαρικῶν στρατιῶν ἐπιφάνειαι καὶ ἀναιρέσεις ἡγεμονιῶν· ταυτὶ δὲ τὰ πρόσφατα καὶ νέα πάθη περί τε Κύμην καὶ Δικαιάρχειαν οὐχ ὑμνούμενα πάλαι καὶ ᾀδόμενα διὰ τῶν Σιβυλλείων ὁ χρόνος ὥσπερ ὀφείλων ἀποδέδωκεν, ἐκρήξεις πυρὸς ὀρείου καὶ ζέσεις θαλασσίας, καὶ πετρῶν καὶ φλεγμονῶν ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἀναρρίψεις, καὶ φθορὰς πολεων ἅμα τοσούτων καὶ τηλικούτων, ὡς μεθʼ ἡμέραν ἐπελθοῦσιν ἄγνοιαν εἶναι καὶ ἀσάφειαν ὅπου κατῴκηντο τῆς χώρας συγκεχυμένης; ταῦτα γὰρ εἰ γέγονε πιστεῦσαι χαλεπόν ἐστι, μὴ τί γε προειπεῖν ἄνευ θειότητος καὶ ὁ Βόηθος ποῖον γάρ εἶπεν ὦ δαιμόνιε, τῇ φύσει πάθος ὁ χρόνος οὐκ ὀφείλει;

[¶9] 10. Thereupon Boëthus said, “My good sir, what kind of an occurrence can there be that is not a debt owed by Time to Nature? What is there strange and unexpected round about land or sea or cities or men which one might foretell and not find it come to pass? Yet this is not precisely foretelling, but telling; or rather it is a throwing and scattering of words without foundation into the infinite; and oftentimes Chance encounters them in their wanderings and accidentally falls into accord with them. As a matter of fact, the coming to pass of something that has been told is a different matter, I think, from the telling of something that will come to pass. For the pronouncement, telling of things non-existent, contains error in itself, and it is not equitable for it to await the confirmation that comes through accidental circumstances; nor can it use as a true proof of having foretold with knowledge the fact that the thing came about after the telling thereof, since Infinity brings all things to pass. Much more - is it true that the ‘good guesser,’ whom the proverb has proclaimed ‘the best prophet,’ is like unto a man who searches the ground over, and tries to track the future by means of reasonable probabilities.” “These prophets of the type of the Sibyl and Bacis toss forth and scatter into the gulf of time, as into the ocean depths with no chart to guide them, words and phrases at haphazard, which deal with events and occurrences of all sorts; and although some come to pass for them as the result of chance, what is said at the present time is equally a lie, even if later it becomes true in the event that such a thing does happen.”

> Greek: 10. τί δʼ ἔστι τῶν ἀτόπων καὶ ἀπροσδοκήτων περὶ γῆν ἢ θάλατταν ἢ πόλεις ἢ ἄνδρας, ὅ τις ἂν προειπὼν οὐ τύχοι γενομένου; καίτοι τοῦτό γε σχεδὸν οὐδὲ προειπεῖν ἔστιν ἀλλʼ εἰπεῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ ῥῖψαι καὶ διασπεῖραι λόγους οὐκ ἔχοντας ἀρχὴν εἰς τὸ ἄπειρον· οἷς πλανωμένοις ἀπήντησε πολλάκις ἡ τύχη καὶ συνέπεσεν αὐτομάτως. διαφέρει γὰρ οἶμαι γενέσθαι τὸ ῥηθὲν ἢ ῥηθῆναι τὸ γενησόμενον. ὁ γὰρ εἰπὼν τὰ μὴ ὑπάρχοντα λόγος ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ἡμαρτημένον ἔχων οὐ δικαίως ἀναμένει τὴν ἐκ ταὐτομάτου πίστιν οὐδʼ ἀληθεῖ τεκμηρίῳ χρῆται τοῦ προειπεῖν ἐπιστάμενος τῷ μετὰ τὸ εἰπεῖν γενομένῳ, πάντα τῆς ἀπειρίας φερούσης· μᾶλλον δʼ δʼ μὲν εἰκάζων καλῶς, ὃν ἄριστον μάντιν ἀνηγόρευκεν ἡ παροιμία, ἰχνοσκοποῦντι καὶ στιβεύοντι διὰ τῶν εὐλόγων τὸ μέλλον ὅμοιός ἐστι. Σίβυλλαι δʼ αὗται καὶ Βάκιδες ὥσπερ εἰς πόντον ἀτεκμάρτως τὸν χρόνον κατέβαλον καὶ διέσπειραν ὡς ἔτυχε παντοδαπῶν ὀνόματα καὶ ῥήματα παθῶν καὶ συμπτωμάτων· οἷς, γιγνομένων ἐνίων ἀπὸ τύχης, ὁμοίως ψεῦδός ἐστι τὸ νῦν λεγόμενον, κἂν ὕστερον ἀληθές, εἰ τύχοι, γένηται.

[¶10] 11. When Boëthus had expounded these views, Sarapion said, “That is setting a fair valuation on things which are predicated, as Boëthus affirms, so indefinitely and groundlessly. Granted that victory was foretold for a general: he is victorious; or the destruction of a city: it is now overthrown. But where there is stated not only what shall come to pass, but also how and when and after what and attended by what, that is not a guess about what may perhaps come to pass, but a prognostication of things that shall surely be. These, for example, are the lines referring to the lameness of Agesilaüs:
Sparta, take thought as thou must, although thou art haughty and boastful,
Lest from thee, who art sturdy of foot, shall spring a lame kingship,
Since for a long time to come shall troubles unlocked for engage thee.
Likewise the onrushing billow of war, bringing death to thy people.
And then again these lines about the island which the sea cast up in front of Thera and Therasia, and also about the war of Philip and the Romans;
But when the offspring of Trojans shall come to be in ascendant
Over Phoenicians in conflict, events shall be then beyond credence;
Ocean shall blaze with an infinite fire, and with rattling of thunder
Scorching blasts through the turbulent waters shall upward be driven;
With them a rock, and the rock shall remain firm fixed in the ocean,
Making an island by mortals unnamed; and men who are weaker
Shall by the might of their arms be able to vanquish the stronger.
The fact is that these events, all occurring within a short space of time — the Romans’ prevailing over the Carthaginians by overcoming Hannibal in war, Philip’s coming into conflict with the Aetolians and being overpowered by the Romans in battle, and finally an island’s rising out of the deep accompanied by much fire and boiling surge — no one could say that they all met together at the same time and coincided by chance in an accidental way; no, their order makes manifest their prognostication, and so also does the foretelling to the Romans, some five hundred years beforehand, of the time when they should be at war with all the nations of the world at once: this was their war with their slaves, who had rebelled. In all this, then, there is nothing unindicated or blind which is helplessly seeking to meet chance in infinity; and reason gives many other trustworthy assurances regarding experience, and indicates the road along which a destined event travels. Eor I do not think that anybody will say that by chance it coincides in time with those things with which it was foretold that it should be attended. If that were so, what is to hinder someone else from declaring that Epicurus did not write his Leading Principles for us, Boëthus, but that, by chance and accidentally, the letters fell in with one another as they now stand, and the book was completed?”

> Greek: 11. τοιαῦτα τοῦ Βοήθου διελθόντος, ὁ Σαραπίων δίκαιον ἔφη τὸ ἀξίωμα περὶ τῶν οὕτως, ὡς λέγει Βόηθος, ἀορίστως καὶ ἀνυποθέτως λεγομένων· εἰ νίκη στρατηγῷ προείρηται, νενίκηκεν· εἰ πόλεως ἀναίρεσις, ἀπόλωλεν ὅπου δʼ οὐ μόνον λέγεται τὸ γενησόμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πῶς καὶ πότε καὶ μετὰ τί καὶ μετά τίνος, οὐκ ἔστιν εἰκασμὸς τῶν τάχα γενησομένων ἀλλὰ τῶν πάντως ἐσομένων προδήλωσις. καὶ ταῦτʼ ἔστιν εἰς τὴν Ἀγησιλάου χωλότητα·
φράζεο δή, Σπάρτη, καίπερ μεγάλαυχος ἐοῦσα,
μὴ σέθεν ἀρτίποδος βλάψῃ χωλὴ βασιλεία.
δηρὸν γὰρ μόχθοι σε κατασχήσουσιν ἄελπτοι,
φθισίβροτὸν τʼ ἐπὶ κῦμα κυλινδομένου πολέμοιο
καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς νήσου πάλιν, ἣν ἀνῆκεν ἡ πρὸ Θήρας καὶ Θηρασίας; θάλασσα· καὶ περὶ τὸν Φιλίππου καὶ Ῥωμαίων πόλεμον·
ἀλλʼ ὁπότε Τρώων γενεὰ καθύπερθε γένηται
Φοινίκων ἐν ἀγῶνι, τότʼ ἔσσεται ἔργα ἄπιστα·
πόντος μὲν λάμψει πῦρ ἄσπετον, ἐκ δὲ κεραυνῶν
πρηστῆρες μὲν ἄνω διὰ κύματος ἀίξουσιν
ἄμμιγα σὺν πέτρᾳ, ἡ δὲ στηρίξεται αὐτοῦ
οὐ φατὸς ἀνθρώποις νῆσος καὶ χείρονες ἄνδρες
χερσὶ βιησάμενοι τὸν κρείσσονα νικήσουσι.
τὸ γὰρ ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ Ῥωμαίους τε Καρχηδονίων περιγενέσθαι καταπολεμήσαντας Ἀννίβαν, καὶ Φίλιππον Αἰτωλοῖς συμβαλόντα καὶ Ῥωμαίοις μάχῃ κρατηθῆναι, καὶ τέλος ἐκ βυθοῦ νῆσον ἀναδῦναι μετὰ πυρὸς πολλοῦ καὶ κλύδωνος ἐπιζέσαντος, οὐκ ἂν εἴποι τις ὡς ἀπήντησεν ἅμα πάντα καὶ συνέπεσε κατὰ τύχην καὶ αὐτομάτως, ἀλλʼ ἡ τάξις ἐμφαίνει τὴν πρόγνωσιν καὶ τὸ Ῥωμαίοις πρὸ ἐτῶν ὁμοῦ τι πεντακοσίων προειπεῖν τὸν χρόνον, ἐν ᾧ πρὸς ἅπαντα τὰ ἔθνη πολεμήσοιεν ἅμα· τοῦτο δʼ ἦν τὸ πολεμῆσαι τοῖς οἰκέταις ἀποστᾶσιν. ἐν τούτοις γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀτέκμαρτον οὐδὲ τυφλὸν ἀμφί τε τύχην ζητεῖν ἐν ἀπειρίᾳ ὁ λόγος ἀλλὰ πολλὰ τῆς πείρας ἐνέχυρα δίδωσι καὶ δείκνυσι τὴν ὁδόν, βαδίζει τὸ πεπρωμένον. οὐ γὰρ οἶμαὶ τινʼ ἐρεῖν, ὅτι μετὰ τούτων ὡς προερρήθη συνέπεσε κατὰ τύχην ἐπεὶ τί κωλύει λέγειν ἕτερον, ὡς προερρήθη οὐκ ἔγραψε τὰς *kuri/as ὑμῖν Ἐπίκουρος, ὦ Βόηθε, δόξας, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ τύχης καὶ αὐτομάτως οὕτω πρὸς ἄλληλα τῶν γραμμάτων συνεμπεσόντων, ἀπετελέσθη τὸ βιβλίον;ʼ ἅμα δὲ τούτων λεγομένων προῄειμεν.

[¶11] 12. During this conversation we were moving forward. While we were looking at the bronze palm-tree in the treasure-house of the Corinthians, the only one of their votive offerings that is still left, the frogs and water-snakes, wrought in metal about its base, caused much wonder to Diogenianus, and naturally to ourselves as well. For the palm does not, like many other trees, grow in marshes, or love water; nor do frogs bear any relation to the people of Corinth so as to be a symbol or emblem of their city, even as, you know, the people of Selinus are said to have dedicated a golden celery plant, and the people of Tenedos the axe, derived from the crabs which are found on the island in the neighbourhood of Asterium, as the place is called. For these, apparently, are the only crabs that have the figure of an axe on the shell. Yet, in fact, wre believe that to the god himself ravens and swans and wolves and hawks, or anything else rather than these creatures, are pleasing. Sarapion remarked that the artisan had represented allegorically the nurture and birth and exhalation of the sun from moisture, whether he had read what Homer says, “Swiftly away moved the Sun, forsaking the beautiful waters,” or whether he had observed that the Egyptians, to show the beginning of sunrise, paint a very young baby sitting on a lotus flower. I laughed and said, “Where now, my good friend? Are you again slyly thrusting in your Stoicism here and unostentatiously slipping into the discussion their ‘kindlings’ and ‘exhalations,’ not indeed bringing down the moon and the sun, as the Thessalian women do, but assuming that they spring up here from earth and water and derive their origin from here? For Plato called man also ‘a celestial plant,’ as though he were held upright from his head above as from a root. But you Stoics ridicule Empedocles for his assertion that the sun, created by the reflection of celestial light, about the earth, “Back to the heavens again sends his beams with countenance fearless.” And you yourselves declare the sun to be an earth-born creature or a water-plant, assigning him to the kingdom of the frogs or water-snakes. But let us refer all this to the heroics of the Stoic school, and let us make a cursory examination of the cursory work of the artisans. In many instances they indeed show elegance and refinement, but they have not in all eases avoided frigidity and over-elaboration. Just as the man who constructed the cock upon the hand of Apollo’s statue showed by suggestion the early morning and the hour of approaching sunrise, so here, one might aver, has been produced in the frogs a token of springtime when the sun begins to dominate the atmosphere and to break up the winter; that is, if, as you say, we must think of Apollo and the Sun, not as two gods, but as one.” “Really,” said Sarapion, “do you not think so, and do you imagine that the sun is diiferent from Apollo?” “Yes,” said I, “as different as the moon from the sun; but the moon does not often conceal the sun, nor conceal it from the eyes of all, but the sun has caused all to be quite ignorant of Apollo by diverting the faculty of thought through the faculty of perception from what is to what appears to be.”

> Greek: 12. ἐν δὲ τῷ Κορινθίων οἴκῳ τὸν φοίνικα θεωμένοις τὸν χαλκοῦν, ὅσπερ ἔτι λοιπός ἐστι τῶν ἀναθημάτων, οἱ περὶ τὴν ῥίζαν ἐντετορευμένοι βάτραχοι καὶ ὕδροι θαῦμα τῷ Διογενιανῷ παρεῖχον, ἀμέλει δὲ καὶ ἡμῖν. οὔτε γὰρ φοίνιξ, ὡς ἕτερα δένδρα, λιμναῖόν ἐστι καὶ φίλυδρον φυτόν, οὔτε Κορινθίοις· τι βάτραχοι προσήκουσιν, ὥστε σύμβολον ἢ παράσημον εἶναι τῆς πόλεως· ὥσπερ ἀμέλει Σελινούντιοί ποτε χρυσοῦν σέλινον ἀναθεῖναι λέγονται, καὶ Τενέδιοι τὸν πέλεκυν ἀπὸ τῶν καρκίνων τῶν γιγνομένων περὶ τὸ καλούμενον Ἀστέριον παρʼ αὐτοῖς· μόνοι γὰρ ὡς ἔοικεν ἐν τῷ χελωνίῳ τύπον πελέκεως ἔχουσι. καὶ μὴν αὐτῷ γε τῷ θεῷ κόρακας καὶ κύκνους καὶ λύκους καὶ ἱέρακας καὶ πάντα μᾶλλον ἢ ταῦτʼ εἶναι προσφιλῆ τὰ θηρία νομίζομεν εἰπόντος δὲ τοῦ Σαραπίωνος, ὅτι τὴν ἐξ ὑγρῶν ᾐνίξατο τροφὴν τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ γένεσιν καὶ ἀναθυμίασιν ὁ δημιουργός, εἴθʼ Ὁμήρου λέγοντος ἀκηκοώς ἠέλιος δʼ ἀπόρουσε λιπὼν, περικαλλέα λίμνην· εἴτʼ Αἰγυπτίους ἑωρακὼς ἀρχὴς ἀνατολῆς παιδίον νεγνὸν γράφοντας ἐπὶ λωτῷ καθεζόμενον γελάσας ἐγὼ ποῦ σὺ πάλιν εἶπον ὦ χρηστέ, τὴν Στοὰν δευρὶ παρωθεῖς καὶ ὑποβάλλεις ἀτρέμα τῷ λόγῳ τὰς ἀνάψεις καὶ ἀναθυμιάσεις, οὐχ ὥσπερ αἱ Θετταλαὶ κατάγων τὴν σελήνην καὶ τὸν ἣλιον, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν ἀπὸ γῆς καὶ ὑδάτων βλαστάνοντας καὶ ἀρδομένους; ὁ μὲν γὰρ Πλάτων καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον οὐράνιον ὠνόμασε φυτόν, ὥσπερ ἐκ ῥίζης ἄνω τῆς κεφαλῆς ὀρθούμενον ὑμεῖς δὲ τοῦ μὲν Ἐμπεδοκλέους καταγελᾶτε, φάσκοντος τὸν ἣλιον περὶ γῆν ἀνακλάσει φωτὸς οὐρανίου γενόμενον αὖθις ἀνταυγεῖν πρὸς ὄλυμπον ἀταρβήτοισι προσώποις αὐτοὶ δὲ γηγενὲς ζῷον ἢ φυτὸν ἕλειον ἀποφαίνετε τὸν ἥλιον, εἰς βατράχων πατρίδα ἢ ὕδρων ἐγγράφοντες. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τὴν Στωικὴν ἀναθώμεθα τραγῳδίαν, τὰ δὲ τῶν χειροτεχνῶν πάρεργα παρέργως ἐξετάσωμεν. ἐν πολλοῖς γάρ εἰσι κομψοί, τὸ δὲ ψυχρὸν οὐ πανταχοῦ καὶ περίεργον ἐκπεφεύγασιν. ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ τὸν ἀλεκτρυόνα ποιήσας ἐπὶ τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἑωθινὴν ὑπεδήλωσεν ὥραν καὶ καιρὸν ἐπιούσης ἀνατολῆς, οὕτως ἐνταῦθα τοὺς βατράχους ἐαρινῆς ὥροις φαίη τις ἂν γεγονέναι σύμβολον ἐν κρατεῖν ἄρχεται τοῦ ἀέρος ὁ ἥλιος καὶ τὸν χειμῶνα διαλύειν, εἴ γε δεῖ καθʼ ὑμᾶς τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα καὶ τὸν ἥλιον μὴ δύο θεοὺς ἀλλʼ ἕνα νομίζειν καὶ ὁ Σαραπίων σὺ γάρ εἶπεν οὐχ οὕτω νομίζεις ἀλλʼ οἴει τὸν ἣλιον διαφέρειν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος;ʼ ἔγωγʼ εἶπεν ὡς τοῦ ἡλίου τὴν σελήνην ἀλλʼ αὕτη μὲν οὐ πολλάκις οὐδὲ πᾶσιν ἀποκρύπτει τὸν ἥλιον, ὁ δʼ ἥλιος ὁμοῦ τι πάντας ἀγνοεῖν τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα πεποίηκεν ἀποστρέφων τῇ αἰσθήσει τὴν διάνοιαν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄντος ἐπὶ τὸ φαινόμενον.

[¶12] 13. Following this, Sarapion asked the guides why it is that they call the treasure-house, not the house of Cypselus the donor, but the house of the Corinthians. When they were silent, as I think, for lack of any reason to give, I laughed and said, “What knowledge or memory do we imagine these men have still remaining, when they are utterly dumbfounded by your high-flown talk? As a matter of fact, we heard them say earlier that when the despotism wras overthrown, the Corinthians wished to inscribe both the golden statue at Olympia and the treasure-house here with the name of their city, and the people of Delphi accordingly granted this as being a fair request, and gave their consent; but the Eleans refused out of ill-will, and the Corinthians voted that the Eleans should not be allowed to take part in the Isthmian Games. Consequently, from that time on there has been no competition from Elis at these games. The slaying of the Molionidae by Heracles near Cleonae is not, as some think, a cause contributing in any way to the exclusion of the Eleans. On the contrary, it would have been appropriate for them to exclude the Corinthians, if they had taken offence against them for this reason.” That was all I said.

> Greek: 13. ἐκ τούτου τοὺς περιηγητὰς; ὁ Σαραπίων ἤρετο τί δὴ τὸν οἶκον οὐ Κυψέλου τοῦ ἀναθέντος ἀλλὰ Κορινθίων ὀνομάζουσιν. ἀπορίᾳ δʼ αἰτίας ἐμοὶ γοῦν δοκεῖ σιωπώντων ἐκείνων, ἐπιγελάσας ἐγὼ τί δʼ εἶπον ἔτι τούτους οἰόμεθα γιγνώσκειν ἢ μνημονεύειν ἐκπεπληγμένους παντάπασιν, ἡμῶν μετεωρολεσχούντων; ἐπεὶ πρότερὸν γʼ αὐτῶν ἠκούομεν λεγόντων, ὅτι τῆς τυραννίδος καταλυθείσης ἐβούλοντο Κορίνθιοι καὶ τὸν ἐν Πίσῃ χρυσοῦν ἀνδριάντα καὶ τὸν ἐνταῦθα τουτονὶ θησαυρὸν ἐπιγράψαι τῆς πόλεως. Δελφοὶ μὲν οὖν ἔδοσαν ὡς δίκαιον, καὶ συνεχώρησαν, Ἠλείους δὲ φθονήσαντας ἐψηφίσαντο μὴ μετέχειν Ἰσθμίων ὅθεν οὐδεὶς ἐξ ἐκείνου γέγονεν Ἰσθμίων ἀγωνιστὴς Ἠλεῖος. ὁ δὲ Μολιονιδῶν φόνος ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους περὶ Κλεωνὰς οὐδέν ἐστι, μεταίτιος, ὡς ἔνιοι νομίζουσιν, Ἠλείοις τοῦ εἴργεσθαι· τοὐναντίον γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῖς προσῆκον εἴργειν, εἰ διὰ τοῦτο Κορινθίοις προσεκεκρούκεσαν. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ταῦτʼ εἶπον.

[¶13] 14. When we had passed the house of the Acanthians and Brasidas, the guide pointed out to us the site where iron spits of Rhodopis the courtesan were once placed, at which Diogenianus indignantly said, “So, then, it was the province of the same State to provide Rhodopis with a place where she might bring and deposit the tithes of her earnings, and also to put to death Aesop, her fellow-slave.” “Why,” said Sarapion, “are you indignant over this, my good sir? Look up there and behold among the generals and kings Mnesaretê wrought in gold, who, as Crates said, stands as a trophy to the licentiousness of the Greeks.” The young man accordingly looked at it and remarked, “Then it was about Phrynê that this statement was made by Crates?” “Yes,” said Sarapion, “she was called Mnesaretê, but she got the nickname of Phrynê because of her sallow complexion. In many instances, apparently, nicknames cause the real names to be obscured. For example, Polyxena, the mother of Alexander, they say was later called Myrtalê and Olympias and Stratonicê. Eumetis of Rhodes most people call, even to this day, Cleobulina from her father; and Herophilê of Erythrae, who had the gift of prophecy, they addressed as Sibyl. You will hear the grammarians assert that Leda was named Mnesinoë and Orestes Achaeus … But how,” said he, with a look at Theon, “do you think to demolish this charge of guilt against Phrynê?”

> Greek: 14. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸν Ἀκανθίων καὶ Βρασίδου παρελθοῦσιν οἶκον ἡμῖν ἔδειξεν ὁ περιηγητὴς χωρίον, ἐν ᾧ Ῥοδώπιδος ἔκειντό ποτε τῆς ἑταίρας ὀβελίσκοι σιδηροῖ, δυσχεράνας ὁ Διογενιανὸς ἦν ἄρα τῆς αὐτῆς ἔφη πόλεως Ῥοδώπιδι μὲν χώραν παρασχεῖν, ὅπου τὰς δεκάτας φέρουσα καταθήσεται τῶν μισθῶν, Αἴσωπον δʼ ἀπολέσαι τὸν ὁμόδουλον αὐτῆς. καὶ ὁ Σαραπίων τί δὲ ταῦτʼ ἔφη μακάριε, δυσχεραίνεις; ἐκεῖ βλέψον ἄνω καὶ τὴν χρυσῆν ἐν τοῖς στρατηγοῖς καὶ βασιλεῦσι θέασαι Μνησαρέτην, ἣν Κράτης εἶπε τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀκρασίας ἀνακεῖσθαι τρόπαιον. ἰδὼν οὖν ὁ νεανίας εἶτʼ οὐ περὶ Φρύνης ἔφη τοῦτʼ ἦν εἰρημένον τῷ Κράτητι;ʼ ναί εἶπεν ὁ Σαραπίων· Μνησαρέτη γὰρ ἐκαλεῖτο, τὴν δὲ Φρύνην ἐπίκλησιν ἔσχε διὰ τὴν ὠχρότητα. πολλὰ δʼ ὡς ἔοικε τῶν ὀνομάτων ἀποκρύπτουσιν αἱ παρωνυμίαι. τὴν γοῦν Ἀλεξάνδρου μητέρα Πολυξένην εἶτα Μυρτάλην Ὀλυμπιάδα τε καὶ Στρατονίκην κληθῆναι λέγουσι· τὴν δὲ Ῥοδίαν Εὔμητιν ἄχρι νῦν Κλεοβουλίνην πατρόθεν οἱ πλεῖστοι καλοῦσιν Ἡροφίλην δὲ τὴν Ἐρυθραίαν μαντικὴν γενομένην Σίβυλλαν προσηγόρευσαν., τῶν δὲ γραμματικῶν ἀκούσῃ καὶ τὴν Λήδαν Μνησινόην, καὶ τὸν Ὀρέστην Ἀχαιὸν … ὠνομάσθαι φασκόντων. ἀλλὰ πῶς, ἔφη, διανοῇ σὺ ʽ βλέψας πρὸς τὸν Θέωνἀ τουτὶ διαλῦσαι τὸ περὶ Φρύνης αἰτίαμα;

[¶14] 15. Theon, with a quiet smile, said, “In such a way as to lodge complaint against you as well for bringing up the most trifling of the peccadilloes of the Greeks. For just as Socrates, while being entertained at Gallias’s house, shows hostility toward perfume only, but looks on with tolerance at children’s dancing, and at tumbling, kissing, and buffoons; so you also seem to me, in a similar way, to be excluding from this shrine a poor weak woman who put the beauty of her person to a base use, but when you see the god completely surrounded by choice offerings and tithes from murders, wars, and plunderings, and his temple crowded with spoils and booty from the Greeks, you show no indignation, nor do you feel any pity for the Greeks when upon the beautiful votive offerings you read the most disgraceful inscriptions: ‘Brasidas and the Acanthians from the Athenians,’ and ‘The Athenians from the Corinthians,’ and ‘The Phocians from the Thessalians,’ and ‘The Orneatans from the Sicyonians,’ and ‘The Amphictyons from the Phocians.’ But Praxiteles, apparently, was the only one that caused annoyance to Crates by gaining for his beloved the privilege of a dedication here, whereas Crates ought to have commended him because beside these golden kings he placed a golden courtesan, thus rebuking wealth for possessing nothing to be admired or revered. For it would be well for kings and rulers to dedicate votive offerings to commemorate justice, self-control, and magnanimity, not golden and luxurious affluence, which is shared also by men who have led the most disgraceful lives.”

> Greek: 15. κἀκεῖνος ἡσυχῆ διαμειδιάσας οὕτως εἶπεν ὥστε καὶ σοὶ προσεγκαλεῖν τὰ μικρότατα τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν πλημμελημάτων ἐλέγχοντι. καθάπερ γὰρ ὁ Σωκράτης; ἑστιώμενος ἐν Καλλίου τῷ μύρῳ πολεμεῖ μόνον, ὀρχήσεις δὲ παίδων καὶ κυβιστήσεις καὶ φιλήματα καὶ γελωτοποιοὺς ὁρῶν ἀνέχεται καὶ σύ μοι δοκεῖς ὁμοίως γύναιον εἴργειν τοῦ ἱεροῦ χρησάμενον ὥρᾳ σώματος οὐκ ἐλευθερίως, φόνων δὲ καὶ πολέμων καὶ λεηλασιῶν ἀπαρχαῖς καὶ δεκάταις κύκλῳ περιεχόμενον τὸν θεὸν ὁρῶν, καὶ τὸν νεὼν σκύλων Ἑλληνικῶν ἀνάπλεων καὶ λαφύρων οὐ δυσχεραίνεις, οὐδʼ οἰκτίρεις τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐπὶ τῶν καλῶν ἀναθημάτων αἰσχίστας ἀναγιγνώσκων ἐπιγραφὰς Βρασίδας καὶ Ἀκάνθιοι ἀπʼ Ἀθηναίων καὶ ʽ Ἀθηναῖοι ἀπὸ Κορινθίων καὶ Φωκεῖς ἀπὸ Θεσσαλῶν, Ὀρνεᾶται δʼ ἀπὸ Σικυωνίων, Ἀμφικτύονες δʼ ἀπὸ Φωκέων. ἀλλὰ Πραξιτέλης ὡς· ἔοικε· μόνος ἠνίασε Κράτητα τῇ ἐρωμένῃ τυχὼν αὐτόθι δωρεᾶς, ὃν ἐπαινεῖν ὤφειλε Κράτης, ὅτι τοῖς χρυσοῖς βασιλεῦσι τούτοις παρέστησε χρυσῆν ἑταίραν, ἐξονειδίζων τὸν πλοῦτον ὡς οὐδὲν ἔχοντα θαυμάσιον οὐδὲ σεμνόν. δικαιοσύνης γὰρ ἀναθήματα καὶ σωφροσύνης καὶ μεγαλονοίας καλῶς ἔχει τίθεσθαι παρὰ τῷ θεῷ τοὺς βασιλεῖς καὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας, οὐ χρυσῆς καὶ τρυφώσης εὐπορίας ἧς μέτεστι καὶ τοῖς αἴσχιστα βεβιωκόσιν.

[¶15] 16. “There is one thing that you omit to mention,” said one of the guides, “that Croesus had a golden statue made of the woman who baked his bread, and dedicated it here.” “Yes,” said Theon, “only he did it not in mockery of the holy shrine, but because he found an honourable and righteous cause for so doing. For it is said that Alyattes, the father of Croesus, married a second wife, and was rearing a second group of children. So the woman, in a plot against Croesus, gave poison to the baker and bade her knead it into the bread and serve it to Croesus. But the baker secretly told Croesus and served the bread to the stepmother’s children; in return for this action Croesus, when he became king, as it were in the sight of the god as a witness, requited the favour done by the woman and also conferred a benefit upon the god. Wherefore,” he continued, “it is right and proper, if there is any similar votive offering from States, to honour and respect it, as, for example, that of the Opuntians. For, when the despots of the Phocians melted up many of the votive offerings made of gold or silver, and minted coins and put them into circulation among the various States, the Opuntians, collecting what money they could find, sent back here a water-jar for the god, and consecrated it to him. For my part, I commend also the inhabitants of Myrina and of Apollonia for sending to this place fruits of the harvest fashioned of gold; and still more the inhabitants of Eretria and Magnesia who presented the god with the first-fruits of their people, in the belief that he is the giver of crops, the god of their fathers, the author of their being, and the friend of man. And I blame the Megarians because they are almost the only people who erected here a statue of the god with spear in hand to commemorate the battle in which they defeated and drove out the Athenians, who were in possession of their city in the period following the Persian Wars. Later, however, they dedicated to the god a golden plectrum, calling attention, apparently, to Scythinus, who says regarding the lyre,
Which the son of Zeus,
Fair Apollo, who embraces origin and end in one,
Sets in tune, and for his plectrum has the bright rays of the sun.”

> Greek: 16. ἐκεῖνο δʼ οὐ λέγεις εἶπεν ἅτερος τῶν περιηγητῶν ὅτι Κροῖσος ἐνταῦθα καὶ τῆς ἀρτοποιοῦ χρυσῆν εἰκόνα ποιησάμενος ἀνέθηκε … πλὴν οὐκ ἐντρυφῶν τῷ ἱερῷ, καλὴν δὲ λαβὼν αἰτίαν καὶ δικαίαν. λέγεται γὰρ Ἀλυάττην τὸν πατέρα τοῦ Κροίσου δευτέραν ἀγαγέσθαι γυναῖκα καὶ παῖδας ἑτέρους τρέφειν· ἐπιβουλεύουσαν οὖν τῷ Κροίσῳ τὴν ἄνθρωπον φάρμακον δοῦναι τῇ ἀρτοποιῷ, καὶ κελεῦσαι διαπλάσασαν ἄρτον ἐξ αὐτοῦ τῷ Κροίσῳ παραθεῖναι τὴν δʼ ἀρτοποιὸν κρύφα τῷ Κροίσῳ φράσαι, παραθεῖναι δὲ τοῖς ἐκείνης παισὶ τὸν ἄρτον. ἀνθʼ ὧν βασιλεύσαντα τὸν Κροῖσον οἷον ἐπὶ μάρτυρι τῷ θεῷ τὴν χάριν ἀμείψασθαι τῆς γυναικός, εὖ γε ποιοῦντʼ ἐκεῖνον. ὅθεν, εἶπεν, ἄξιον δὴ καὶ τῶν πόλεων εἴ τι τοιοῦτόν ἔστιν ἀνάθημα τιμᾶν καὶ ἀγαπᾶν, οἷον τὸ Ὀπουντίων. ἐπεὶ γὰρ οἱ Φωκέων τύραννοι πολλὰ τῶν χρυσῶν καὶ ἀργυρῶν ἀναθημάτων συγχέαντες ἔκοψαν νόμισμα καὶ διέσπειραν εἰς τὰς πόλεις, Ὀπούντιοι συναγαγόντες ὅσον ἀργύριον, ὑδρίαν ἔπεμψαν ἐνθάδε τῷ θεῷ καὶ καθιέρωσαν. ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ Μυριναίους ἐπαινῶ καὶ Ἀπολλωνιάτας θέρη χρυσᾶ δεῦρο πέμψαντας· ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον Ἐρετριεῖς καὶ Μάγνητας, ἀνθρώπων ἀπαρχαῖς; δωρησαμένους τὸν θεόν, ὡς καρπῶν δοτῆρα καὶ πατρῷον καὶ γενέσιον καὶ φιλάνθρωπον αἰτιῶμαι δὲ Μεγαρεῖς, ὅτι μόνοι σχεδὸν ἐνταῦθα λόγχην ἔχοντα τὸν θεὸν ἔστησαν ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης, ἣν Ἀθηναίους μετὰ τὰ Περσικὰ τὴν πόλιν ἔχοντας αὐτῶν νικήσαντες ἐξέβαλον. ὕστερον μέντοι πλῆκτρον ἀνέθηκαν τῷ θεῷ χρυσοῦν ἐπιστήσαντες ὡς ἔοικε Σκυθίνῳ λέγοντι περὶ τῆς λύρας,
ἣν ἁρμόζεται
Ζηνὸς εὐειδὴς; Ἀπόλλων, πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν καὶ τέλος
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