§5ἐκ τούτου γενομένης σιωπῆς, πάλιν οἱ περιηγηταὶ προεχειρίζοντο τὰς ῥήσεις.
When silence followed this, the guides again began to prepare their speeches.
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.
And when a certain metrical oracle had been spoken, I believe, concerning the kingship of Aegon the Argive, Diogenianus said that he had often wondered at the poorness and cheapness of the verses in which the oracles are delivered.
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.
"And yet, the god is the leader of the Muses, and it is no less fitting for him to have a share in so-called eloquence than in the euphony of melodies and songs, and he should far surpass Hesiod in elegance of expression and Homer in voice; yet we see that most of the oracles are full of irregularities and poorness in both their meters and their words." Then the poet Sarapion, who was present from Athens, said, "Shall we then, believing these verses to be the god's, dare again to say that they fall short in beauty of those of Homer and Hesiod, and shall we not use them as being most excellently and beautifully made, correcting our own judgment which has been preoccupied by bad habit?" Boethus the geometer, then, taking up the conversation (for you know that the man is already shifting his allegiance to Epicurus), said, "Have you then heard the story of the painter Pauson?" "Not I," said Sarapion.
ἀλλὰ μὴν ἄξιον.
"Yet indeed it is worthwhile.
ἐκλαβὼν γὰρ ὡς ἔοικεν ἵππον ἀλινδούμενον γράψαι τρέχοντʼ ἔγραψεν.
For having undertaken, as it seems, to paint a horse rolling on its back, he painted it running.
ἀγανακτοῦντος δὲ τάνθρώπου, γελάσας ὁ Παύσων κατέστρεψε τὸν πίνακα· καὶ γενομένων ἄνω τῶν κάτω, πάλιν ὁ ἵππος τρέχων ἀλλʼ ἀλινδούμενος ἐφαίνετο.
And when the man who commissioned it was angry, Pauson laughed and turned the tablet upside down; and when the top became bottom, the horse again appeared not running but rolling.
τοῦτό φησιν ὁ Βίων ἐνίους τῶν λόγων πάσχειν, ὅταν ἀναστρέφωσι.
This is what Bion says happens to some arguments when they are reversed.
διὸ καὶ τοὺς χρησμοὺς; ἔνιοι φήσουσιν εὖ καὶ καλῶς ἔχειν, ὅτι τοῦ θεοῦ εἰσιν· ἄλλοι τοῦ θεοῦ μὴ εἶναι, ὅτι φαύλως ἔχουσιν.
Therefore, some will say of the oracles that they are good and beautiful because they are of the god; others that they are not of the god because they are poor.
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;
For the former is unclear; but that the verses of the oracles are not well made is, I suppose, evident even to you as a judge, my friend Sarapion," he said.
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. §6καὶ ὁ Σαραπίων
νοσοῦμεν γάρ
εἶπεν ὦ Βόηθε, καὶ τὰ ὦτα καὶ τὰ ὄμματα, συνειθισμένοι διὰ τρυφὴν καὶ μαλακίαν τὰ ἡδίω καλὰ νομίζειν καὶ ἀποφαίνεσθαι.
"For you write poems that are philosophical and austere in their subject matter, but in power, grace, and verbal arrangement, they are more like those of Homer and Hesiod than those delivered by the Pythia." And Sarapion said, "For we are sick, Boethus, in both our ears and our eyes, being accustomed through luxury and softness to think and declare that the sweeter things are beautiful.
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.
Soon indeed we shall blame the Pythia because she does not speak more clearly than Glauce the cithara-player, and does not descend into the adytum anointed with perfumes or clothed in purple robes, nor burn cassia or ladanum or frankincense, but laurel and barley meal.
οὐχ ὁρᾷς, εἶπεν, ὅσην χάριν ἔχει τὰ Σαπφικὰ μέλη κηλοῦντα καὶ καταθέλγοντα τοὺς ἀκροωμένους;
Do you not see," he said, "how much grace the Sapphic melodies have, charming and enchanting the hearers?
Σίβυλλα δὲ μαινομένῳ στόματι
καθʼ Ηράκλειτον
ἀγέλαστα καὶ ἀκαλλώπιστα καὶ ἀμύριστα φθεγγομένη, χιλίων ἐτῶν ἐξικνεῖται τῇ φωνῇ διὰ τὸν θεόν.
But the Sibyl, with her raving mouth, according to Heraclitus, uttering words unlaughing, unadorned, and unperfumed, reaches with her voice through a thousand years because of the god.
ὁ δὲ Πίνδαρος
ἀκοῦσαι
φησὶ
τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν Κάδμον μουσικὰν ὀρθάν
οὐχ ἡδεῖαν οὐδὲ τρυφερὰν οὐδʼ ἐπικεκλασμένην τοῖς μέλεσιν.
And Pindar says that Cadmus heard from the god a music that was upright, not sweet nor tender nor broken in its melodies.
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. §7εἰπόντος 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.
For the pure and passionless does not admit pleasure, but here most of it was cast out along with Ate, and, as it seems, has flowed together into the ears of men." When Sarapion had said this, Theon said with a smile, "Sarapion indeed has paid his usual tribute to his character, having enjoyed the opportunity when the talk of Ate and pleasure presented itself; but let us, Boethus, even if these verses are poorer than those of Homer, not think that the god made them, but that while he gives the beginning of the motion, each of the prophetesses is moved as she is naturally constituted to be.
καὶ γὰρ εἰ γράφειν ἔδει μὴ λέγειν τοὺς· χρησμούς, οὐκ ἂν οἶμαι τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ γράμματα νομίζοντες ἐψέγομεν, ὅτι λείπεται καλλιγραφίᾳ τῶν βασιλικῶν.
For indeed, if it were necessary to write rather than speak the oracles, I do not think we should blame the writing, believing it to be the god's, because it falls short of royal calligraphy.
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.
For the voice is not the god's, nor the sound, nor the diction, nor the meter, but the woman's; he only presents the visions and produces light in the soul for the future; for inspiration is of this kind.
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.
To speak generally, for you prophets of Epicurus (for you yourself are clearly being carried away) there is no escape; but you blame those ancient prophetesses for using poor poems, and those of today for speaking the oracles in prose and through ordinary words, so that they may not submit to your examination of headless, loose, and short-tailed meters." And Diogenianus said, "Do not jest, by the gods, but solve for us this difficulty, which is common to us all.
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.
For there is no Greek who does not seek the cause and reason why the oracle has ceased using verses and words." Then Theon, taking up the conversation, said, "But even now, my boy, we seem by some spite to be robbing the guides of their proper work.
ἔασον οὖν γενέσθαι τὸ τούτων πρότερον, εἶτα περὶ ὧν βούλει καθʼ ἡσυχίαν διαπορήσεις
Let therefore their business come first, and then we shall discuss at leisure whatever you wish."