§16εἶτά μοι ἐπινόησον οἰκίσκον οὐ πάνυ φαιδρὸν οὐδὲ εἰς κόρον τοῦ φωτὸς δεχόμενον καὶ πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων συγκλύδων, τεταραγμένων καὶ προεκπεπληγμένων καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐπαιωρουμένων, οἷς εἰσελθοῦσι τεράστιον ὡς εἰκὸς τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐφαίνετο, ἐκ τοῦ τέως μικροῦ ἑρπετοῦ ἐντὸς ἡμερῶν ὀλίγων τοσοῦτον δράκοντα πεφηνέναι, ἀνθρωπόμορφον καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τιθασόν.
Then, imagine for me a small room, not very bright nor admitting light to satiety, and a crowd of mixed people, agitated, pre-astonished, and suspended by their hopes. To them, upon entering, the matter naturally appeared miraculous: that from a previously small reptile, within a few days, such a huge serpent had appeared, and moreover human-shaped and tame.
ἠπείγοντο δὲ αὐτίκα πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον, καὶ πρὶν ἀκριβῶς ἰδεῖν, ἐξηλαύνοντο ὑπὸ τῶν ἀεὶ ἐπεισιόντων· ἐτετρύπητο δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἀντίθυρον ἄλλη ἔξοδος.
And they were immediately urged toward the exit, and before seeing accurately, they were driven out by those who were always entering; for another exit had been pierced opposite the door.
οἷόν τι καὶ τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ποιῆσαι ἐπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ νοσοῦντι λόγος, ὅτε ὁ μὲν ἤδη πονήρως εἶχεν, οἱ δὲ περιστάντες τὰ βασίλεια ἐπόθουν ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ προσειπεῖν τὸ ὕστατον.
It is like the story told of what the Macedonians did in Babylon in the case of the sick Alexander, when he was already in a bad state, and they, surrounding the palace, longed to see him and address him for the last time.
τὴν δὲ ἐπίδειξιν ταύτην οὐχ ἅπαξ ὁ μιαρός, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις ποιῆσαι λέγεται, καὶ μάλιστα εἴ τινες τῶν πλουσίων ἀφίκοιντο νεαλέστεροι.
And this exhibition that shameful man is said to have made not once, but many times, especially if any of the richer newcomers arrived.
§17ἐνταῦθα, ὦ φίλε Κέλσε, εἰ δεῖ τἀληθῆ λέγειν, συγγνώμην χρὴ ἀπονέμειν τοῖς Παφλαγόσι καὶ Ποντικοῖς ἐκείνοις, παχέσι καὶ ἀπαιδεύτοις ἀνθρώποις, εἰ ἐξηπατήθησαν ἁπτόμενοι τοῦ δράκοντος — καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο παρεῖχεν τοῖς βουλομένοις ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος — ὁρῶντές τε ἐν ἀμυδρῷ τῷ φωτὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν δῆθεν αὐτοῦ ἀνοίγουσάν τε καὶ συγκλείουσαν τὸ στόμα, ὥστε πάνυ τὸ μηχάνημα ἐδεῖτο Δημοκρίτου τινὸς ἢ καὶ αὐτοῦ Ἐπικούρου ἢ Μητροδώρου ἤ τινος ἄλλου ἀδαμαντίνην πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα τὴν γνώμην ἔχοντος, ὡς ἀπιστῆσαι καὶ ὅπερ ἦν εἰκάσαι, καὶ εἰ μὴ εὑρεῖν τὸν τρόπον ἐδύνατο, ἐκεῖνο γοῦν προπεπεισμένου, ὅτι λέληθεν αὐτὸν ὁ τρόπος τῆς μαγγανείας, τὸ δʼ οὖν πᾶν ψεῦδός ἐστι καὶ γενέσθαι ἀδύνατον.
At this point, my friend Celsus, if the truth must be told, one must grant forgiveness to those Paphlagonians and Pontics, thick and uneducated men, if they were deceived while touching the serpent—for Alexander also allowed this to those who wished—and seeing in the dim light its head, so to speak, opening and closing its mouth; so that the contrivance thoroughly required some Democritus, or even Epicurus himself, or Metrodorus, or someone else having a mind of adamant against such things, so as to disbelieve and guess what indeed it was, and even if he could not find out the method, at least to be pre-convinced of this: that the method of the trickery had escaped him, but that the whole thing was nevertheless a lie and impossible to happen.
§18κατʼ ὀλίγον οὖν καὶ ἡ Βιθυνία καὶ ἡ Γαλατία καὶ ἡ Θρᾴκη συνέρρει, ἑκάστου τῶν ἀπαγγελλόντων κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς λέγοντος ὡς καὶ γεννώμενον ἴδοι τὸν θεὸν καὶ ὕστερον ἅψαιτο μετʼ ὀλίγον παμμεγέθους αὐτοῦ γεγενημένου καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον ἀνθρώπῳ ἐοικότος.
Gradually, therefore, Bithynia, Galatia, and Thrace flowed in together, each of those reporting saying, as was natural, that he had both seen the god being born and later touched him after he had become very large in a short time and had a face resembling a human's.
γραφαί τε ἐπὶ τούτῳ καὶ εἰκόνες καὶ ξόανα, τὰ μὲν ἐκ χαλκοῦ, τὰ δὲ ἐξ ἀργύρου εἰκασμένα, καὶ ὄνομά γε τῷ θεῷ ἐπιτεθέν· Γλύκων γὰρ ἐκαλεῖτο ἔκ τινος ἐμμέτρου καὶ θείου προστάγματος.
Paintings and images and statues were made because of this, some modeled from bronze, others from silver, and a name indeed was bestowed upon the god; for he was called "Glycon" by a certain metrical and divine command.
ἀνεφώνησε γὰρ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος
"Εἰμὶ Γλύκων, τρίτον αἷμα Διός, φάος ἀνθρώποισιν. " §19καὶ ἐπειδὴ καιρὸς ἦν, οὗπερ ἕνεκα τὰ πάντα ἐμεμηχάνητο, καὶ χρᾶν τοῖς δεομένοις καὶ θεσπίζειν, παρʼ Ἀμφιλόχου τοῦ ἐν Κιλικίᾳ τὸ ἐνδόσιμον λαβών — καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος, μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς τελευτὴν τοῦ Ἀμφιάρεω καὶ τὸν ἐν Θήβαις ἀφανισμὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκπεσὼν τῆς οἰκείας εἰς τὴν Κιλικίαν ἀφικόμενος, οὐ πονήρως ἀπήλλαξεν, προθεσπίζων καὶ αὐτὸς τοῖς Κίλιξι τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ δύʼ ὀβολοὺς ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ χρησμῷ λαμβάνων — ἐκεῖθεν οὖν τὸ ἐνδόσιμον λαβὼν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος προλέγει πᾶσι τοῖς ἀφικομένοις ὡς μαντεύσεται ὁ θεός, ῥητήν τινα ἡμέραν προειπών.
For Alexander proclaimed: "I am Glycon, the third blood of Zeus, a light to men." And when it was time, for the sake of which everything had been devised, to give oracles to those in need and to prophesy, having taken his cue from Amphilochus in Cilicia—for he too, after the death of his father Amphiaraus and his disappearance in Thebes, having been cast out of his home and arrived in Cilicia, fared not badly, prophesying himself also to the Cilicians the future and receiving two obols for each oracle—having taken his cue from there, Alexander announced to all who arrived that the god would prophesy, naming beforehand a certain stated day.
ἐκέλευσεν δὲ ἕκαστον, οὗ δέοιτο ἂν καὶ ὃ μάλιστα μαθεῖν ἐθέλοι, εἰς βιβλίον ἐγγράψαντα καταρράψαι τε καὶ κατασημήνασθαι κηρῷ ἢ πηλῷ ἢ ἄλλῳ τοιούτῳ.
And he ordered each person, whatever they might need and what they most wished to learn, to write on a little scroll, sew it up, and seal it with wax or clay or some other such thing.
αὐτὸς δὲ λαβὼν τὰ βιβλία καὶ εἰς τὸ ἄδυτον κατελθὼν — ἤδη γὰρ ὁ νεὼς ἐγήγερτο καὶ ἡ σκηνὴ παρεσκεύαστο — καλέσειν ἔμελλε κατὰ τάξιν τοὺς δεδωκότας ὑπὸ κήρυκι καὶ θεολόγῳ, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀκούων ἕκαστα τὸ μὲν βιβλίον ἀποδώσειν σεσημασμένον ὡς εἶχε, τὴν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸ ἀπόκρισιν ὑπογεγραμμένην, πρὸς ἔπος ἀμειβομένου τοῦ θεοῦ περὶ ὅτου τις ἔροιτο.
And he, taking the scrolls and descending into the inner shrine—for by now the temple had been erected and the stage prepared—was going to call in order those who had given them under a herald and a theologian, and hearing each answer from the god, he would return the scroll sealed as it was, with the response written under it, the god answering word for word concerning whatever anyone asked.