§5Ἀλλὰ τί πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον ὁ Διόνυσος οὗτος; εἴποι τις ἄν. ὅτι μοι δοκοῦσι — καὶ πρὸς Χαρίτων μή με κορυβαντιᾶν ἢ τελέως μεθύειν ὑπολάβητε, εἰ τἀμὰ εἰκάζω τοῖς θεοῖς — ὅμοιόν τι πάσχειν οἱ πολλοὶ πρὸς τοὺς καινοὺς τῶν λόγων τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς ἐκείνοις, οἷον καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐμούς·
But someone might say, "What does this Dionysus have to do with the real Dionysus?" Because it seems to me—and, by the Graces, do not suppose that I am raving or completely drunk, if I compare my own affairs to the gods—that the majority of people experience something similar towards novel discourses, as indeed they do towards mine, as those Indians did.
οἰόμενοι γὰρ σατυρικὰ καὶ γελοῖά τινα καὶ κομιδῇ κωμικὰ παρʼ ἡμῶν ἀκούσεσθαι — τοιαῦτα γὰρ πεπιστεύκασιν, οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅ τι δόξαν αὐτοῖς ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ—οἱ μὲν οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀφικνοῦνται, ὡς οὐδὲν δέον παρέχειν τὰ ὦτα κώμοις γυναικείοις καὶ σκιρτήμασι σατυρικοῖς καταβάντας ἀπὸ τῶν ἐλεφάντων, οἱ δὲ ὡς ἐπὶ τοιοῦτό τι ἥκοντες ἀντὶ τοῦ κιττοῦ σίδηρον εὑρόντες οὐδʼ οὕτως ἐπαινεῖν τολμῶσι τῷ παραδόξῳ τοῦ πράγματος τεθορυβημένοι.
For, expecting to hear from us something satyric, ridiculous, and altogether comical—for they have believed such things, I know not on what opinion they hold about me—some do not even come in the first place, thinking that there is no need at all to turn their ears to feminine revels and satyric leapings, after descending from their elephants; while others, having come for something of this sort, on finding iron instead of ivy, do not even thus dare to praise it, being disturbed by the unexpectedness of the thing.
ἀλλὰ θαρρῶν ἐπαγγέλλομαι αὐτοῖς, ὅτι ἢν καὶ νῦν ὡς πρότερόν ποτε τὴν τελετὴν ἐθελήσωσιν ἐπιδεῖν πολλάκις καὶ ἀναμνησθῶσιν οἱ παλαιοὶ συμπόται κώμων κοινῶν τῶν τότε καιρῶν καὶ μὴ καταφρονήσωσιν τῶν Σατύρων καὶ Σιληνῶν, πίωσι δὲ ἐς κόρον τοῦ κρατῆρος τούτου, ἔτι βακχεύσειν καὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ πολλάκις μεθʼ ἡμῶν ἐρεῖν τὸ εὐοῖ.
But with confidence I promise them, that if even now, as once before, they wish to look upon the initiation-ceremony many times, and if the old drinking-companions remember the common revels of those times, and do not despise the Satyrs and Silenuses, but drink to satiety from this mixing-bowl, they too will yet rage with Bacchic frenzy and often say "euoi" with us.
§6οὗτοι μὲν οὖν — ἐλεύθερον γὰρ ἀκοή — ποιούντων ὅ τι καὶ φίλον.
Let them, therefore—for hearing is free—do whatever is dear to them.
ἐγὼ δέ, ἐπειδήπερ ἔτι ἐν Ἰνδοῖς ἐσμέν, ἐθέλω καὶ ἄλλο ὑμῖν διηγήσασθαί τι τῶν ἐκεῖθεν, οὐκ ἀπροσδιόνυσον οὐδʼ αὐτό, οὐδʼ ὧν ποιοῦμεν ἀλλότριον.
But I, since we are still among the Indians, wish to relate to you also another of the things from there, which is not itself unconnected to Dionysus, nor foreign to what we do.
ἐν Ἰνδοῖς τοῖς Μαχλαίοις, οἳ τὰ λαιὰ τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ ποταμοῦ, εἰ κατὰ ῥοῦν αὐτοῦ βλέποις, ἐπινεμόμενοι μέχρι πρὸς τὸν Ὠκεανὸν καθήκουσι, παρὰ τούτοις ἄλσος ἐστὶν ἐν περιφράκτῳ, οὐ πάνυ μεγάλῳ χωρίῳ, συνηρεφεῖ δέ· κιττὸς γὰρ πολὺς καὶ ἄμπελοι σύσκιον αὐτὸ ἀκριβῶς ποιοῦσιν.
Among the Machlaeans, a tribe of Indians who inhabit the left bank of the Indus river, if you look along its stream, extending as far as the Ocean, there is among them a grove in an enclosure, a place not very large, but thickly shaded; for abundant ivy and vines make it completely shaded.
ἐνταῦθα πηγαί εἰσι τρεῖς καλλίστου καὶ διειδεστάτου ὕδατος, ἡ μὲν Σατύρων, ἡ δὲ Πανός, ἡ δὲ Σιληνοῦ.
There are there three springs of most beautiful and transparent water: one of the Satyrs, another of Pan, and another of Silenus.
καὶ εἰσέρχονται εἰς αὐτὸ οἱ Ἰνδοὶ ἅπαξ τοῦ ἔτους ἑορτάζοντες τῷ θεῷ, καὶ πίνουσι τῶν πηγῶν, οὐχ ἁπασῶν ἅπαντες, ἀλλὰ καθʼ ἡλικίαν, τὰ μὲν μειράκια τῆς τῶν Σατύρων, οἱ ἄνδρες δὲ τῆς Πανικῆς, τῆς δὲ τοῦ Σιληνοῦ οἱ κατʼ ἐμέ.
And the Indians enter into it once a year to keep holiday to the god, and they drink from the springs—not all of them from all, but according to age: the youths from that of the Satyrs, the men from that of Pan, and those of my age from that of Silenus.
§7ἃ μὲν οὖν πάσχουσιν οἱ παῖδες ἐπειδὰν πίωσιν, ἢ οἷα οἱ ἄνδρες τολμῶσι κατεχόμενοι τῷ Πανί, μακρὸν ἂν εἴη λέγειν· ἃ δʼ οἱ γέροντες ποιοῦσιν, ὅταν μεθυσθῶσιν τοῦ ὕδατος, οὐκ ἀλλότριον εἰπεῖν·
What the youths experience when they drink, or what kind of things the men dare when possessed by Pan, would be long to tell; but what the old men do when they are drunk with the water is not foreign to relate.
ἐπειδὰν πίῃ ὁ γέρων καὶ κατάσχῃ αὐτὸν ὁ Σιληνός, αὐτίκα ἐπὶ πολὺ ἄφωνός ἐστι καὶ καρηβαροῦντι καὶ βεβαπτισμένῳ ἔοικεν, εἶτα ἄφνω φωνή τε λαμπρὰ καὶ φθέγμα τορὸν καὶ πνεῦμα λιγυρὸν ἐγγίγνεται αὐτῷ καὶ λαλίστατος ἐξ ἀφωνοτάτου ἐστίν, οὐδʼ ἂν ἐπιστομίσας παύσειας αὐτὸν μὴ οὐχὶ συνεχῆ λαλεῖν καὶ ῥήσεις μακρὰς συνείρειν.
When an old man has drunk, and Silenus has possessed him, immediately for a long time he is speechless, and seems like one with a heavy head and submerged in water; then suddenly a clear voice, a sharp articulation, and a shrill breath come upon him, and from being most silent he becomes most talkative, nor could you stop him by gagging his mouth so that he would not speak continuously and string together long speeches.
συνετὰ μέντοι πάντα καὶ κόσμια καὶ κατὰ τὸν Ὁμήρου ἐκεῖνον ῥήτορα·
Yet all is sensible and orderly, and after the manner of that orator of Homer; for they go through their discourse like winter snowflakes.
νιφάδεσσι γὰρ ἐοικότα χειμερίῃσι διεξέρχονται, οὐδʼ ἀποχρήσει σοι κύκνοις κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν εἰκάσαι αὐτούς, ἀλλὰ τεττιγῶδές τι πυκνὸν καὶ ἐπίτροχον συνάπτουσιν ἄχρι βαθείας ἑσπέρας.
Nor will it suffice for you, on account of their age, to liken them to swans; rather, they join together a dense and rapid strain like cicadas until late evening.
τοὐντεῦθεν δὲ ἤδη ἀφεθείσης αὐτοῖς τῆς μέθης σιωπῶσι καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀνατρέχουσι.
After that, their drunkenness having now left them, they are silent and return to their old state.
τὸ μέντοι παραδοξότατον οὐδέπω εἶπον· ἢν γὰρ ἀτελῆ ὁ γέρων μεταξὺ καταλίπῃ ὃν διεξῄει τὸν λόγον, δύντος ἡλίου κωλυθεὶς ἐπὶ πέρας αὐτὸν ἐπεξελθεῖν, ἐς νέωτα πιὼν αὖθις ἐκεῖνα συνάπτει ἃ πέρυσι λέγοντα ἡ μέθη αὐτὸν κατέλιπεν.
But the most wonderful thing of all I have not yet told: if an old man leaves unfinished the discourse which he was going through, being prevented by the setting of the sun from pursuing it to the end, on drinking again the next year, he joins together those things which the drunkenness left him saying last year.
§8ταῦτά μοι κατὰ τὸν Μῶμον εἰς ἐμαυτὸν ἀπεσκώφθω, καὶ μὰ τὸν Δίʼ οὐκ ἂν ἔτι ἐπαγάγοιμι τὸ ἐπιμύθιον· ὁρᾶτε γὰρ ἤδη καθʼ ὅ τι τῷ μύθῳ ἔοικα.
Let these things, after the manner of Momus, be scoffed at by me against myself, and by Zeus I would not bring in the moral of the story; for you already see in what way I am like the myth.
ὥστε ἢν μέν τι παραπαίωμεν, ἡ μέθη αἰτία· εἰ δὲ πινυτὰ δόξειε τὰ λεγόμενα, ὁ Σιληνὸς ἄρα ἦν ἵλεως.
So that if we play out of tune in any way, the drunkenness is to blame; but if the things said should seem wise, Silenus, it turns out, was propitious.