§1τίνες οἱ ἐν Ἐπιδαύρῳ κονίποδες καὶ ἄρτυνοι;
Who are the dusty-feet and the regulators in Epidaurus?
οἱ μὲν τὸ πολίτευμα ἔχοντες ὁγδοήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἄνδρες ἦσαν ἐκ δὲ τούτων ᾑροῦντο βουλευτάς, οὓς
ἀρτύνους ἐκάλουν.
The ones who held the government were one hundred and eighty men; from these they elected councillors, whom they called regulators.
τοῦ δὲ δήμου τὸ πλεῖστον ἐν ἀγρῷ διέτριβεν· ἐκαλοῦντο δὲ
κονίποδες,
ὡς συμβαλεῖν ἔστιν ἀπὸ τῶν ποδῶν γνωριζόμενοι κεκονιμένων, ὁπότε κατέλθοιεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν.
The majority of the common people lived in the country; they were called dusty-feet, being recognized, as one may conjecture, from having their feet covered in dust whenever they came down to the city.
§2τίς ἡ παρὰ Κυμαίοις ὀνοβάτις;
Who is the donkey-rider among the Cymaeans?
τῶν γυναικῶν τὴν ἐπὶ μοιχείᾳ ληφθεῖσαν ἀγαγόντες εἰς ἀγορὰν ἐπὶ λίθου τινὸς ἐμφανῆ πᾶσι καθίστασαν· εἶθʼ οὕτως ἀνεβίβαζον ἐπʼ ὄνον, καὶ τὴν πόλιν κύκλῳ περιαχθεῖσαν ἔδει πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸν αὐτὸν λίθον καταστῆναι καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἄτιμον διατελεῖν,
ὀνοβάτιν
προσαγορευομένην.
Bringing the woman caught in adultery to the marketplace, they made her stand on a certain stone in plain view of everyone; then, in this manner, they made her mount a donkey, and after she was led around the city in a circle, she had to stand again on the same stone, and pass the rest of her life in dishonor, addressed as donkey-rider.
τὸν δὲ λίθον ἀπὸ τούτου οὐ καθαρὸν νομίζοντες ἀφωσιοῦντο.
Since they considered the stone to be unclean because of this, they purified it.
ἦν δὲ καὶ φυλάκτου τις ἀρχὴ παρʼ αὐτοῖς· ὁ δὲ ταύτην ἔχων τὸν μὲν ἄλλον χρόνον ἐτήρει τὸ δεσμωτήριον, εἰς δὲ τὴν βουλὴν ἐν τῷ νυκτερινῷ συλλόγῳ παριὼν ἐξῆγε τοὺς βασιλεῖς τῆς χειρὸς καὶ κατεῖχε, μέχρι περὶ αὐτῶν ἡ βουλὴ διαγνοίη, πότερον ἀδικοῦσιν ἢ οὔ, κρύβδην φέρουσα τὴν ψῆφον.
There was also among them an office of the warden; the one who held this office watched over the prison at other times, but entering the council in its nightly meeting, he led out the kings by the hand and held them fast until the council should decide about them, whether they were guilty or not, casting their votes in secret.
§3τίς παρὰ Σολίοις ἡ ὑπεκκαύστρια;
Who is the stoker among the Solians?
τὴν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἱέρειαν οὕτω καλοῦσιν, ὅτι ποιεῖταί τινας θυσίας καὶ ἱερουργίας ἀποτροπαίους. .
They call the priestess of Athena by this name, because she performs certain averting sacrifices and sacred rites.
§4τίνες ἐν Κνίδῳ οἱ ἀμνήμονες καὶ τίς ὁ ἀφεστήρ;
Who are the unmindful in Cnidus, and who is the proclaimer?
ἑξήκοντα προκρίτοις ἀνδράσιν ἐκ τῶν ἀρίστων οἷον ἐπισκόποις ἐχρῶντο διὰ βίου καὶ προβούλοις τῶν μεγίστων· ἐκαλοῦντο δὲ
ἀμνήμονες,
ὡς ἂν τις εἰκάσειε, διὰ τὸ ἀνυπεύθυνον, εἰ μὴ νὴ Δία πολυμνήμονές τινες ὄντες.
They employed sixty chosen men from the best families as life-long overseers, as it were, and preliminary councillors for the most important matters; they were called unmindful, as one might guess, because of their being unaccountable, unless, by Zeus, they were indeed men of great memory.
ὁ δὲ τὰς γνώμας ἐρωτῶν
ἀφεστήρ.
And the one who asked for opinions was the proclaimer.
§5τίνες οἱ παρʼ Ἀρκάσι καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις χρηστοί;
Who are the worthy ones among the Arcadians and Lacedaemonians?
Λακεδαιμόνιοι Τεγεάταις διαλλαγέντες ἐποιήσαντο συνθήκας καὶ στήλην ἐπʼ Ἀλφειῷ κοινὴν ἀνέστησαν, ἐν ᾗ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων γέγραπται
Μεσσηνίους ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς χώρας, καὶ μὴ ἐξεῖναι
χρηστοὺς
ποιεῖν.
The Lacedaemonians, having reconciled with the Tegeans, made a treaty and set up a common pillar by the Alpheus, on which among other things it was written: to expel the Messenians from the land, and that it is not permitted to make them worthy ones.
ἐξηγούμενος οὖν ὁ Ἀριστοτέλης τοῦτό φησι δύνασθαι τὸ μὴ ἀποκτιννύναι βοηθείας χάριν τοῖς λακωνίζουσι τῶν Τεγεατῶν.
Aristotle, explaining this, says that this means not to kill them for the sake of aiding those of the Tegeans who favored the Spartans.
§6τίς ὁ παρʼ Ὀπουντίοις κριθολόγος;
Who is the barley-gatherer among the Opuntians?
οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων πρὸς τὰς πάνυ παλαιὰς θυσίας ἐχρῶντο ταῖς κριθαῖς, ἀπαρχομένων τῶν πολιτῶν.
Most of the Greeks used barley for their very ancient sacrifices, when the citizens offered the first fruits.
τὸν μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τῶν θυσιῶν ἄρχοντα καὶ ταύτας κομιζόμενον τὰς ἀπαρχάς
κριθολόγον
ὠνόμαζον.
Therefore, they called the official in charge of the sacrifices and the recipient of these first fruits the barley-gatherer.
δύο δʼ ἦσαν ἱερεῖς παρʼ αὐτοῖς, ὁ μὲν περὶ τὰ θεῖα τεταγμένος, ὁ δὲ περὶ τὰ δαιμόνια.
There were two priests among them, one appointed for divine matters, the other for daemonic matters.
§7τίνες αἱ πλωιάδες νεφέλαι;
What are the sailing clouds?
τὰς ὑπόμβρους μάλιστα καὶ περιφερομένας ἐκάλουν
πλωιάδας,
ὡς Θεόφραστος ἐν τετάρτῃ περὶ μεταρσίων εἴρηκε κατὰ λέξιν,
ἐπεὶ καὶ αἱ πλωιάδες αὗται νεφέλαι αἱ καὶ αἱ συνεστῶσαι, ἀκίνητοι δὲ καὶ τοῖς χρώμασιν ἔκλευκοι, δηλοῦσι διαφοράν τινα τῆς ὕλης, ὡς οὔτʼ ἐξυδατουμένης οὔτʼ ἐκπνευματουμένης. §8τίς ὁ παρὰ Βοιωτοῖς πλατιοικέτας;
They called those clouds that are rainy and especially carried about sailing clouds, as Theophrastus has stated word for word in his fourth book on meteorology: "Since indeed these sailing clouds, both those that are condensed, yet motionless and very white in their colors, show some difference in their matter, as it is neither turning into water nor turning into wind." Who is the broad-dweller among the Boeotians?
τοὺς οἰκίᾳ γειτνιῶντας ἢ χωρίοις ὁμοροῦντας αἰολίζοντες οὕτω καλοῦσιν ὡς τὸ πλησίον ἔχοντας.
Using the Aeolic dialect, they call those who neighbor a house or border on fields by this name, as having their home nearby.
παραθήσομαι δὲ λέξιν μίαν ἐκ τοῦ θεσμοφυλακίου νόμου, πλειόνων οὐσῶν. . . .
I shall cite one word from the law of the treasury of laws, though there are many...
§9τίς ὁ παρὰ Δελφοῖς ὁσιωτὴρ καὶ διὰ τί βύσιον ἕνα τῶν μηνῶν καλοῦσιν;
Who is the purifier among the Delphians, and why do they call one of the months Bysios?
ὁσιωτῆρα
μὲν καλοῦσι τὸ θυόμενον ἱερεῖον, ὅταν
ὅσιος
ἀποδειχθῇ.
They call the victim sacrificed purifier when it is declared holy.
πέντε δʼ εἰσὶν ὅσιοι διὰ βίου, καὶ τὰ πολλὰ μετὰ τῶν προφητῶν δρῶσιν οὗτοι καὶ συνιερουργοῦσιν, ἅτε γεγονέναι δοκοῦντες ἀπὸ Δευκαλίωνος.
There are five holy men for life, and these perform most things with the prophets and assist in the sacred rites, as they are believed to be descended from Deucalion.
ὁ δὲ
βύσιος
μήν, ὡς μὲν οἱ πολλοὶ νομίζουσι, φύσιός ἐστιν ἔαρος γὰρ ἄρχει καὶ τὰ πολλὰ φύεται τηνικαῦτα καὶ διαβλαστάνει. τὸ δʼ ἀληθὲς οὐκ ἔχει οὕτως·
The month Bysios is, as the majority believe, the month of nature, for spring begins and most things grow and sprout at that time.
οὐ γὰρ ἀντὶ τοῦ τῷ β χρῶνται Δελφοί, καθάπερ Μακεδόνες
Βίλιππον
καὶ
βαλακρὸν
καὶ
Βερονίκην
λέγοντες, ἀλλʼ ἀντὶ τοῦ π· καὶ γὰρ τὸ πατεῖν
βατεῖν
καὶ τὸ πικρὸν
βικρὸν
ἐπιεικῶς καλοῦσιν.
But the truth is not so; for the Delphians do not use beta instead of phi, as the Macedonians do when they say Bilippos, balakros, and Beronike, but instead of pi; indeed, they commonly call patein "batein", and pikron "bikron".
ἔστιν οὖν πύσιος ὁ
βύσιος,
ἐν ᾧ πυστιῶνται καὶ πυνθάνονται τοῦ θεοῦ· τοῦτο γὰρ ἒννομον καὶ πάτριον.
Therefore, Bysios is the month of inquiry, in which they inquire and ask of the god; for this is lawful and ancestral.
ἐν τῷ μηνὶ γὰρ τούτῳ χρηστήριον ἐγίγνετο καὶ ἑβδόμην ταύτην νομίζουσι τοῦ θεοῦ γενέθλιον, καὶ πολύφθοον ὀνομάζουσιν οὐ διὰ τὸ πέττεσθαι φθόις, ἀλλὰ πολυπευθῆ καὶ πολυμάντευτον οὖσαν.
For in this month the oracle was active, and they regard this seventh day as the birthday of the god, and they call it the month of many cakes, not because of the baking of cakes, but because it is of many inquiries and many divinations.
ὁτὲ γὰρ ἀνείθησαν αἱ κατὰ μῆνα μαντεῖαι τοῖς δεομένοις, πρότερον δʼ ἅπαξ ἐθεμίστευεν ἡ Πυθία τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ἡμέραν, ὡς Καλλισθένης καὶ Ἀναξανδρίδης ἱστορήκασι.
For at one time the monthly consultations of the oracle were opened to those who asked, but formerly the Pythia gave oracles only once a year, on this day, as Callisthenes and Anaxandrides have recorded.