§1ΒΑΣΙΛΟΚΛΗΣ. ἑσπέραν ἐποιήσατε βαθεῖαν, ὦ Φιλῖνε, διὰ τῶν ἀναθημάτων παραπέμποντες τὸν ξένον· ἐγὼ γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἀναμένων ἀπηγόρευσα.
ΒΑΣΙΛΟΚΛΗΣ. Basilocles: You have made it late evening, Philinus, by escorting the stranger through the dedications; for I, waiting for you, have grown quite exhausted.\nΦΙΛΙΝΟΣ.
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..
Philinus: Yes, for we were journeying slowly, Basilocles, sowing words and reaping them immediately in a battle under the surface and hostile, just like the Spartoi, sprouting up for us and growing under our feet along the way.\nΒΑΣ..
ἕετερον οὖν τινα δεήσει παρακαλεῖν τῶν παραγεγονότων, ἢ σὺ βούλει χαριζόμενος ἡμῖν διελθεῖν τίνες ἦσαν οἱ λόγοι καὶ τίνες οἱ λέγοντες;
Basilocles: Will it then be necessary to call upon someone else of those who were present, or are you willing, to do us a favor, to go through who the speakers were and what the words were?\nΦΙΛ.
ΦΙΛ. ἐεμόν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὦ Βασιλόκλεις, τὸ ἔργον.
Philinus: The task, as it seems, Basilocles, is mine.
τῶν γὰρ ἄλλων οὐδενὶ ῥᾳδίως ἂν ἐντύχοις κατὰ πόλιν· τοὺς γὰρ πλείστους ἑώρων αὖθις εἰς τὸ Κωρύκιον τῷ ξένῳ καὶ τὴν Λυκουρίαν συναναβαίνοντας.
For you would not easily meet any of the others in the city; for I saw most of them climbing back up to the Corycian cave and Lycoreia with the stranger.\nΒΑΣ.
ΒΑΣ. ἦ φιλοθεάμων τις ἡμῖν καὶ περιττῶς φιλήκοός ἐστιν ὁ ξένος.
Basilocles: Truly the stranger is some lover of sights for us, and exceedingly fond of listening.\n ΦΙΛ.
ΦΙΛ. φιλόλογός γε καὶ φιλομαθής ἐστι μᾶλλον.
Philinus: Rather he is a lover of discourse and a lover of learning.
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.
Indeed, it is not these things that are most worthy of admiration, but his gentleness, which possesses great grace, and his combative and inquiring disposition guided by intelligence, being neither difficult nor resistant to answers; so that even after being with him for a short time, one would immediately say:\n"Child of a noble father."\nFor you know Diogenianus, the best of men.\nΒΑΣ.
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.
Basilocles: I myself have not seen him, Philinus, but I have met many who strongly accept both the discourse and the character of the man, and they say other things similar to these about the young man.
ἀλλὰ τίνʼ ἀρχὴν ἔσχον οἱ λόγοι καὶ πρόφασιν;
But what beginning and pretext did the talks have?\n ΦΙΛ.
§2ΦΙΛ. ἐπέραινον οἱ περιηγηταὶ τὰ συντεταγμένα, μηδὲν ἡμῶν φροντίσαντες δεηθέντων ἐπιτεμεῖν τὰς ῥήσεις καὶ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ἐπιγραμμάτων.
Philinus: The guides were completing their prescribed accounts, paying no heed to us when we begged them to curtail the speeches and most of the inscriptions.
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.
But the stranger was only moderately attracted by the form and the workmanship of the statues, since he had been a spectator of many beautiful works, as it seems; but he was admiring the bloom of the bronze, as it was not like grime or rust, but shining with the dye of glittering blue, so that he even made a jest to the admirals (for the viewing had begun with them) that they were standing there absolutely marine and deep-sea in their color.\n"Was there then," he said, "some mixture and processing of bronze by the craftsmen of old, just like the so-called tempering of swords, upon the disappearance of which bronze obtained a truce from warlike deeds?"\nFor he said that the Corinthian bronze obtained the beauty of its color not by art but by a coincidence, when a fire overran a house that contained some gold and silver, but with a very large amount of bronze stored in it; and when these were fused and melted together, the bronze, by its greater quantity, provided the name for the whole.\nBut Theon, taking up the conversation, said:\n"We have heard another story that is more mischievous: how a certain bronze-smith in Corinth, having come upon a chest containing much gold, and fearing to be discovered, cut it off little by little and mixed it gently with the bronze, which took on a wonderful alloy, and he sold it for a high price because it was appreciated for its color and beauty.
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.
But both this story and that are myths; rather, there was, as it seems, some mixture and preparation, just as now, when people mix silver with gold, they produce a certain peculiar and extraordinary paleness, which appears to me unhealthy, and an unlovely corruption."