§3.66.1αὗται μὲν οὖν αἱ γενέσεις συμφωνοῦνται μάλιστα παρὰ τοῖς παλαιοῖς· ἀμφισβητοῦσι δὲ καὶ πόλεις οὐκ ὀλίγαι Ἑλληνίδες τῆς τούτου τεκνώσεως·
These accounts, then, of his births are those on which the ancients are most in agreement; but not a few Greek cities dispute about his birth.
καὶ γὰρ Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Νάξιοι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις οἱ τὰς Ἐλευθερὰς οἰκοῦντες καὶ Τήιοι καὶ πλείους ἕτεροι παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς ἀποφαίνονται τεκνωθῆναι.
For the Eleans and the Naxians, and in addition to these the inhabitants of Eleutherae and the Teians and several others declare that he was born among them.
§3.66.2καὶ Τήιοι μὲν τεκμήριον φέρουσι τῆς παρʼ αὐτοῖς γενέσεως τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τεταγμένοις χρόνοις ἐν τῇ πόλει πηγὴν αὐτομάτως ἐκ τῆς γῆς οἴνου ῥεῖν εὐωδίᾳ διαφέροντος· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων οἱ μὲν ἱερὰν Διονύσου δεικνύουσι τὴν χώραν, οἱ δὲ ναοὺς καὶ τεμένη διαφερόντως ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων αὐτῷ καθιδρυμένα.
And the Teians, on their part, offer as proof of the birth of the god among them the fact that even to this day, at appointed times, a spring of wine of exceptional fragrance flows of its own accord from the earth in their city; and of the others, some point to their land as being sacred to Dionysus, while others show temples and sacred precincts dedicated to him from ancient times in an exceptional manner.
§3.66.3καθόλου δʼ ἐν πολλοῖς τόποις τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀπολελοιπότος τοῦ θεοῦ σημεῖα τῆς ἰδίας εὐεργεσίας ἅμα καὶ παρουσίας, οὐδὲν παράδοξον ἑκάστους νομίζειν οἰκειότητά τινα γεγονέναι τῷ Διονύσῳ πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῶν πόλιν τε καὶ χώραν.
In general, since the god has left behind in many places of the inhabited world signs of both his beneficence and his presence, it is not at all surprising that each people should think that some special relationship existed between Dionysus and their own city and land.
μαρτυρεῖ δὲ τοῖς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν λεγομένοις καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς ἐν τοῖς ὕμνοις, λέγων περὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητούντων τῆς τούτου γενέσεως καὶ ἅμα τεκνωθῆναι παρεισάγων αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν Νύσῃ,
"οἱ μὲν γὰρ Δρακάνῳ δʼ, οἱ δʼ Ἰκάρῳ ἠνεμοέσσῃ φάσʼ, οἱ δʼ ἐν Νάξῳ, δῖον γένος, εἰραφιῶτα, οἱ δέ σʼ ἐπʼ Ἀλφειῷ ποταμῷ βαθυδινήεντι κυσαμένην Σεμέλην τεκέειν Διὶ τερπικεραύνῳ, ἄλλοι δʼ ἐν Θήβῃσιν, ἄναξ, σε λέγουσι γενέσθαι, ψευδόμενοι· σὲ δʼ ἔτικτε πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε πολλὸν ἀπʼ ἀνθρώπων κρύπτων λευκώλενον Ἥρην.
And testimony is borne to what we are saying by the poet also in his Hymns, when he speaks of those who dispute about his birth and at the same time represents him as having been born in the Arabian Nysa: "For some say at Dracanum, and some on windy Icarus, and some in Naxus, O heaven-born one, Eiraphiotes, and others by the deep-eddying river Alpheus that pregnant Semele bare thee to Zeus who delights in thunder; and others, O lord, say that thou wast born in Thebes— lying all of them; for the Father of men and gods bare thee far away from men, hiding thee from white-armed Hera.
ἔστι δέ τις Νύση, ὕπατον ὄρος, ἀνθέον ὕλῃ, τηλοῦ Φοινίκης, σχεδὸν Αἰγύπτοιο ῥοάων. " §3.66.4οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δʼ ὅτι καὶ τῶν τὴν Λιβύην νεμομένων οἱ παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν οἰκοῦντες ἀμφισβητοῦσι τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ γενέσεως, καὶ τῆν Νῦσαν καὶ τἄλλα τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ μυθολογούμενα παρʼ ἑαυτοῖς δεικνύουσι γεγενημένα, καὶ πολλὰ τεκμήρια τούτων μέχρι τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίου διαμένειν κατὰ τὴν χώραν φασί· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὅτι πολλοὶ τῶν παλαιῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι μυθογράφων καὶ ποιητῶν συμφωνούμενα τούτοις ἱστοροῦσι καὶ τῶν μεταγενεστέρων συγγραφέων οὐκ ὀλίγοι.
There is a certain Nysa, a mountain most high, blooming with wooded growth, far from Phoenicia, near to the streams of Egypt." But I am not unaware that also among the inhabitants of Libya, those who dwell by the ocean lay claim to the birth of the god, and point to Nysa and the other mythical events related of him as having occurred among themselves, and say that many proofs of these things remain in their land down to our own lifetime; and in addition to this, that many of the ancient mythographers and poets among the Greeks, and not a few of the later historians, record accounts in agreement with these.
§3.66.5διόπερ, ἵνα μηδὲν παραλίπωμεν τῶν ἱστορημένων περὶ Διονύσου, διέξιμεν ἐν κεφαλαίοις τὰ παρὰ τοῖς Λίβυσι λεγόμενα καὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν συγγραφέων ὅσοι τούτοις σύμφωνα γεγράφασι καὶ Διονυσίῳ τῷ συνταξαμένῳ τὰς παλαιὰς μυθοποιίας.
Therefore, in order that we may omit nothing of what has been recorded concerning Dionysus, we shall recount in summary the things told among the Libyans, and those Greek writers who have written in agreement with them, and Dionysius who compiled the ancient myths.
§3.66.6οὗτος γὰρ τά τε περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον καὶ τὰς Ἀμαζόνας, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ἰλιακὸν πόλεμον πραχθέντα καὶ πόλλʼ ἕτερα συντέτακται, παρατιθεὶς τὰ ποιήματα τῶν ἀρχαίων, τῶν τε μυθολόγων καὶ τῶν ποιητῶν.
For this writer has compiled the stories of Dionysus and the Amazons, and also of the Argonauts and the events connected with the Trojan War, and many other things, placing side by side the poems of the ancient mythologists and poets.