§10Τυχιάδης
σύ μοι δοκεῖς,
ἦ δʼ ὃς ὁ Δεινόμαχος,
τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγων οὐδὲ θεοὺς εἶναι πιστεύειν εἴ γε μὴ οἴει τὰς ἰάσεις οἷόν τε εἶναι ὑπὸ ἱερῶν ὀνομάτων γίγνεσθαι. τοῦτο μέν,
ἦν δʼ ἐγώ,
μὴ λέγε, ὦ ἄριστε· κωλύει γὰρ οὐδὲν καὶ θεῶν ὄντων ὅμως τὰ τοιαῦτα ψευδῆ εἶναι.
Tychiades: "You seem to me," said Deinomachus, "by saying such things, not even to believe that there are gods, if indeed you do not think it possible for cures to come about by sacred names." "Do not say that," I said, "my excellent friend; for nothing prevents such things from being false even though there are gods.
ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ θεοὺς σέβω καὶ ἰάσεις αὐτῶν ὁρῶ καὶ ἃ εὖ ποιοῦσι τοὺς κάμνοντας ὑπὸ φαρμάκων καὶ ἰατρικῆς ἀνιστάντες·
I both revere the gods and see their cures, and the good they do to the sick by raising them up with drugs and medicine.
ὁ γοῦν Ἀσκληπιὸς αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ ἤπια φάρμακα πάσσοντες ἐθεράπευον τοὺς νοσοῦντας, οὐ λεοντᾶς καὶ μυγαλᾶς περιάπτοντες. §11Τυχιάδης
ἔα τοῦτον,
ἔφη ὁ Ἴων,
ἐγὼ δὲ ὑμῖν θαυμάσιόν τι διηγήσομαι.
Asclepius himself, at any rate, and his sons cured the sick by applying soothing drugs, not by tying lion's skins and shrew-mice around them." Tychiades: "Let him be," said Ion, "and I will tell you a wonderful story.
ἦν μὲν ἐγὼ μειράκιον ἔτι ἀμφὶ τὰ τετταρακαίδεκα ἔτη σχεδόν· ἧκεν δέ τις ἀγγέλλων τῷ πατρὶ Μίδαν τὸν ἀμπελουργόν, ἐρρωμένον εἰς τὰ ἄλλα οἰκέτην καὶ ἐργατικόν, ἀμφὶ πλήθουσαν ἀγορὰν ὑπὸ ἐχίδνης δηχθέντα κεῖσθαι ἤδη σεσηπότα τὸ σκέλος·
I was still a boy of about fourteen years old; and someone came announcing to my father that Midas the vine-dresser, a slave robust in other respects and hardworking, had been bitten by a viper around the time when the market-place fills, and was now lying with his leg already putrefying.
ἀναδοῦντι γὰρ αὐτῷ τὰ κλήματα καὶ ταῖς χάραξι περιπλέκοντι προσερπύσαν τὸ θηρίον δακεῖν κατὰ τὸν μέγαν δάκτυλον, καὶ τὸ μὲν φθάσαι καὶ καταδῦναι αὖθις εἰς τὸν φωλεόν, τὸν δὲ οἰμώζειν ἀπολλύμενον ὑπʼ ἀλγηδόνων.
For as he was binding up the vines and twisting them around the stakes, the beast crawled up and bit him on his big toe; and while the beast had quickly slipped back into its hole, he was groaning, dying of the pain.
ταῦτά τε οὖν ἀπηγγέλλετο καὶ τὸν Μίδαν ἑωρῶμεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ σκίμποδος ὑπὸ τῶν ὁμοδούλων προσκομιζόμενον, ὅλον ᾠδηκότα, πελιδνόν, μυδῶντα ἐπιπολῆς, ὀλίγον ἔτι ἐμπνέοντα.
These things were reported, and we saw Midas himself being carried in on a cot by his fellow slaves, swollen all over, livid, festering on the surface, and barely breathing.
λελυπημένῳ δὴ τῷ πατρὶ τῶν φίλων τις παρών,
θάρρει,
ἔφη,
ἐγὼ γάρ σοι ἄνδρα Βαβυλώνιον τῶν Χαλδαίων, ὥς φασιν, αὐτίκα μέτειμι, ὃς ἰάσεται τὸν ἄνθρωπον
καὶ ἵνα μὴ διατρίβω λέγων, ἧκεν ὁ Βαβυλώνιος καὶ ἀνέστησε τὸν Μίδαν ἐπῳδῇ τινι ἐξελάσας τὸν ἰὸν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, ἔτι καὶ προσαρτήσας τῷ ποδὶ νεκρᾶς παρθένου λίθον ἀπὸ τῆς στήλης ἐκκολάψας.
To my grieved father, one of his friends who was present said: 'Take heart, for I will immediately fetch for you a Babylonian man, one of the Chaldeans, as they say, who will cure the man.' And not to waste time in speaking, the Babylonian came and raised Midas up, having driven the poison out of his body by a certain incantation, and also having attached to his foot a stone chipped off from the tombstone of a dead virgin.
καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἴσως μέτριον· καίτοι ὁ Μίδας αὐτὸς ἀράμενος τὸν σκίμποδα ἐφʼ οὗ ἐκεκόμιστο ᾤχετο εἰς τὸν ἀγρὸν ἀπιών· τοσοῦτον ἡ ἐπῳδὴ ἐδυνήθη καὶ ὁ στηλίτης ἐκεῖνος λίθος. §12Τυχιάδης
ὁ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα ἐποίησε θεσπέσια ὡς ἀληθῶς· εἰς γὰρ τὸν ἀγρὸν ἐλθὼν ἕωθεν, ἐπειπὼν ἱερατικά τινα ἐκ βίβλου παλαιᾶς ὀνόματα ἑπτὰ καὶ θείῳ καὶ δᾳδὶ καθαγνίσας τὸν τόπον περιελθὼν ἐς τρίς, ἐξεκάλεσεν ὅσα ἦν ἑρπετὰ ἐντὸς τῶν ὅρων.
And this perhaps is moderate; yet Midas himself, taking up the cot on which he had been carried, went off back to the field; so great was the power of the incantation and of that stone from the tombstone." Tychiades: "And he did other truly marvelous things; for going to the field at dawn, having pronounced some seven sacred names from an ancient book, and having purified the place with sulfur and a torch, going around it three times, he called out all the reptiles that were within the boundaries.
ἧκον οὖν ὥσπερ ἑλκόμενοι πρὸς τὴν ἐπῳδὴν ὄφεις πολλοὶ καὶ ἀσπίδες καὶ ἔχιδναι καὶ κεράσται καὶ ἀκοντίαι φρῦνοί τε καὶ φύσαλοι, ἐλείπετο δὲ εἷς δράκων παλαιός, ὑπὸ γήρως, οἶμαι, ἐξερπύσαι μὴ δυνάμενος ἢ παρακούσας τοῦ προστάγματος·
There came, therefore, as if drawn by the incantation, many snakes, asps, vipers, horned vipers, dart-snakes, toads, and puff-toads; but there was left behind one ancient serpent, unable to crawl out, I think, because of old age, or having disobeyed the command.
ὁ δὲ μάγος οὐκ ἔφη παρεῖναι ἅπαντας, ἀλλʼ ἕνα τινὰ τῶν ὄφεων τὸν νεώτατον χειροτονήσας πρεσβευτὴν ἔπεμψεν ἐπὶ τὸν δράκοντα, καὶ μετὰ μικρὸν ἧκε κἀκεῖνος. ἐπεὶ δὲ συνηλίσθησαν, ἐνεφύσησε μὲν αὐτοῖς ὁ Βαβυλώνιος, τὰ δὲ αὐτίκα μάλα κατεκαύθη ἅπαντα ὑπὸ τῷ φυσήματι, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐθαυμάζομεν.
But the magician said that not all were present, but having appointed a certain one of the snakes, the youngest, as an envoy, he sent it to the serpent, and after a little while that one also arrived.
§13Τυχιάδης
εἰπέ μοι, ὦ Ἴων,
ἦν δʼ ἐγώ,
ὁ ὄφις δὲ ὁ πρεσβευτὴς ὁ νέος ἄρα καὶ ἐχειραγώγει τὸν δράκοντα ἤδη, ὡς φής, γεγηρακότα, ἢ σκίπωνα ἔχων ἐκεῖνος ἐπεστηρίζετο; σὺ μὲν παίζεις,
ἔφη ὁ Κλεόδημος,
ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπιστότερος ὤν σου πάλαι τὰ τοιαῦτα — ᾤμην γὰρ οὐδενὶ λόγῳ δυνατὸν γίγνεσθαι ἂν αὐτὰ — ὅμως ὅτε τὸ πρῶτον εἶδον πετόμενον τὸν ξένον τὸν βάρβαρον — ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων δὲ ἦν, ὡς ἔφασκεν — ἐπίστευσα καὶ ἐνικήθην ἐπὶ πολὺ ἀντισχών.
When they were gathered together, the Babylonian blew upon them, and they were immediately all burnt up by his breath, and we were astonished." Tychiades: "Tell me, Ion," I said, "did the young envoy snake then actually lead by the hand the serpent which was already, as you say, aged, or did that one lean upon a staff, having one?" "You are joking," said Cleodemus, "but I myself, who was formerly more disbelieving than you in such things—for I thought they could not possibly happen by any reason—nevertheless, when I first saw the foreign barbarian flying—he was from the Hyperboreans, as he said—I believed and was conquered, though I had resisted for a long time.
τί γὰρ ἔδει ποιεῖν αὐτὸν ὁρῶντα διὰ τοῦ ἀέρος φερόμενον ἡμέρας οὔσης καὶ ἐφʼ ὕδατος βαδίζοντα καὶ διὰ πυρὸς διεξιόντα σχολῇ καὶ βάδην; σὺ ταῦτα εἶδες,
ἦν δʼ ἐγώ,
τὸν Ὑπερβόρεον ἄνδρα πετόμενον ἢ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος βεβηκότα; καὶ μάλα,
ἦ δʼ ὅς, “ὑποδεδεμένον γε καρβατίνας, οἷα μάλιστα ἐκεῖνοι ὑποδοῦνται.
For what was one to do, seeing him carried through the air in broad daylight, and walking on water, and passing through fire slowly and at a walking pace?" "You saw these things," I said, "the Hyperborean man flying or walking upon the water?" "Indeed yes," he said, "and wearing raw-hide shoes, such as they especially wear.
τὰ μὲν γὰρ σμικρὰ ταῦτα τί χρὴ καὶ λέγειν ὅσα ἐπεδείκνυτο, ἔρωτας ἐπιπέμπων καὶ δαίμονας ἀνάγων καὶ νεκροὺς ἑώλους ἀνακαλῶν καὶ τὴν Ἑκάτην αὐτὴν ἐναργῆ παριστὰς καὶ τὴν Σελήνην καθαιρῶν;
For why should one even speak of those small things which he demonstrated, sending loves, bringing up spirits, calling back stale corpses, making Hecate herself appear visibly, and drawing down the Moon?"