§15ἔστιν δὲ καὶ ἄλλος λόγος ἱρός, τὸν ἐγὼ σοφοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἤκουσα, ὅτι ἡ μὲν θεὴ Ῥέη ἐστίν, τὸ δὲ ἱρὸν Ἄττεω ποίημα.
There is also another sacred story, which I heard from a wise man, namely, that the goddess is Rhea, and the temple is the work of Attis.
Ἄττης δὲ γένος μὲν Λυδὸς ἦν, πρῶτος δὲ τὰ ὄργια τὰ ἐς Ῥέην ἐδιδάξατο.
Attis was by race a Lydian, and he was the first to teach the rites concerning Rhea.
καὶ τὰ Φρύγες καὶ Λυδοὶ καὶ Σαμόθρᾳκες ἐπιτελέουσιν, Ἄττεω πάντα ἔμαθον.
And the things that Phrygians, Lydians, and Samothracians perform, they learned all from Attis.
ὡς γάρ μιν ἡ Ῥέη ἔτεμεν, βίου μὲν ἀνδρηίου ἀπεπαύσατο, μορφὴν δὲ θηλέην ἠμείψατο καὶ ἐσθῆτα γυναικηίην ἐνεδύσατο καὶ ἐς πᾶσαν γῆν φοιτέων ὄργιά τε ἐπετέλεεν καὶ τὰ ἔπαθεν ἀπηγέετο καὶ Ῥέην ἤειδεν.
For when Rhea castrated him, he ceased from his manly life, changed to a female form, put on women's clothing, and wandering to every land, performed rites, related what he had suffered, and sang of Rhea.
ἐν τοῖσιν καὶ ἐς Συρίην ἀπίκετο.
Among these places, he also arrived in Syria.
ὡς δὲ οἱ πέρην Εὐφρήτεω ἄνθρωποι οὔτε αὐτὸν οὔτε ὄργια ἐδέκοντο, ἐν τῷδε τῷ χώρῳ τὸ ἱρὸν ἐποιήσατο.
And when the people beyond the Euphrates received neither him nor his rites, he established the temple in this place.
σημήια δέ· ἡ θεὸς τὰ πολλὰ ἐς Ῥέην ἐπικνέεται.
And the proofs: the goddess in most respects corresponds to Rhea.
λέοντες γάρ μιν φέρουσι καὶ τύμπανον ἔχει καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ πυργοφορέει, ὁκοίην Ῥέην Λυδοὶ ποιέουσιν.
For lions carry her, she holds a tympanum, and she wears a tower on her head, just as the Lydians represent Rhea.
ἔλεγεν δὲ καὶ Γάλλων πέρι, οἵ εἰσιν ἐν τῷ ἱρῷ, ὅτι Γάλλοι Ἥρῃ μὲν οὐδαμά, Ῥέῃ δὲ τέμνονται καὶ Ἄττεα μιμέονται.
He also spoke concerning the Galli who are in the temple, saying that the Galli by no means castrate themselves for Hera, but for Rhea, and they imitate Attis.
τὰ δέ μοι εὐπρεπέα μὲν δοκέει ἔμμεναι, ἀληθέα δὲ οὔ· ἐπεὶ καὶ τῆς τομῆς ἄλλην αἰτίην ἤκουσα πολλὸν πιστοτέρην.
But these things seem to me to be plausible, yet not true; since I heard another cause of the castration, which is much more credible.
§16ἁνδάνει δέ μοι ἃ λέγουσιν τοῦ ἱροῦ πέρι τοῖς Ἕλλησι τὰ πολλὰ ὁμολογέοντες, τὴν μὲν θεὸν Ἥρην δοκέοντες, τὸ δʼ ἔργον Διονύσου τοῦ Σεμέλης ποίημα· καὶ γὰρ δὴ Διόνυσος ἐς Συρίην ἀπίκετο κείνην ὁδὸν τὴν ἦλθεν ἐς Αἰθιοπίην.
And I am pleased with what they say concerning the temple, agreeing in most respects with the Greeks, considering the goddess to be Hera, and the work to be the creation of Dionysus, the son of Semele; for indeed Dionysus came to that Syria on the road he traveled to Ethiopia.
καὶ ἔστι πολλὰ ἐν τῷ ἱρῷ Διονύσου ποιητέω σήματα, ἐν τοῖσι καὶ ἐσθῆτες βάρβαροι καὶ λίθοι Ἰνδοὶ καὶ ἐλεφάντων κέρεα, τὰ Διόνυσος ἐξ Αἰθιόπων ἤνεικεν, καὶ φαλλοὶ δὲ ἑστᾶσι ἐν τοῖσι προπυλαίοισι δύο κάρτα μεγάλοι, ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπίγραμμα τοιόνδε ἐπιγέγραπται,
τούσδε φαλλοὺς Διόνυσος Ἥρῃ μητρυιῇ ἀνέθηκα. τὸ ἐμοὶ μέν νυν καὶ τόδε ἀρκέει, ἐρέω δὲ καὶ ἄλλʼ ὅ τι ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ νηῷ Διονύσου ὄργιον.
And there are many proofs in the temple of Dionysus as the founder, among which are barbarian garments, Indian stones, and tusks of elephants, which Dionysus brought from the Ethiopians; and also two very large phalli stand in the propylaea, upon which the following inscription is written: "These phalli I, Dionysus, dedicated to Hera, my stepmother." Now this also is sufficient for me, but I will speak of another rite of Dionysus which is in the temple.
φαλλοὺς Ἕλληνες Διονύσῳ ἐγείρουσιν, ἐπὶ τῶν καὶ τοιόνδε τι φέρουσιν, ἄνδρας μικροὺς ἐκ ξύλου πεποιημένους, μεγάλα αἰδοῖα ἔχοντας· καλέεται δὲ τάδε νευρόσπαστα.
The Greeks raise phalli for Dionysus, upon which they also carry something of this kind: small men made of wood, having large private parts; and these are called puppets.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ τόδε ἐν τῷ ἱρῷ· ἐν δεξιῇ τοῦ νηοῦ κάθηται μικρὸς ἀνὴρ χάλκεος ἔχων αἰδοῖον μέγα.
There is also this in the temple: on the right of the temple sits a small bronze man having a large private part.
§17τοσάδε μὲν ἀμφὶ τῶν οἰκιστέων τοῦ ἱροῦ μυθολογέουσιν.
So many things they mythologize about the founders of the temple.
ἤδη δὲ ἐρέω καὶ τοῦ νηοῦ πέρι θέσιός τε ὅκως ἐγένετο καὶ ὅστις μιν ἐποιήσατο.
But now I will speak also concerning the temple, both how its position was established and who made it.
λέγουσι τὸν νηὸν τὸν νῦν ἐόντα μὴ ἔμμεναι τὸν τὴν ἀρχὴν γεγενημένον, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνον μὲν κατενεχθῆναι χρόνῳ ὕστερον, τὸν δὲ νῦν ἐόντα Στρατονίκης ἔμμεναι ποίημα, γυναικὸς τοῦ Ἀσσυρίων βασιλέως.
They say that the temple now existing is not the one built in the beginning, but that the former one collapsed in later time, and the one now existing is the work of Stratonice, the wife of the king of the Assyrians.
δοκέει δέ μοι ἡ Στρατονίκη ἐκείνη ἔμμεναι, τῆς ὁ πρόγονος ἠρήσατο, τὸν ἤλεγξεν τοῦ ἰητροῦ ἐπινοίη· ὡς γάρ μιν ἡ συμφορὴ κατέλαβεν, ἀμηχανέων τῷ κακῷ αἰσχρῷ δοκέοντι κατʼ ἡσυχίην ἐνόσεεν, ἔκειτο δὲ ἀλγέων οὐδέν, καί οἱ ἥ τε χροιὴ πάμπαν ἐτρέπετο καὶ τὸ σῶμα διʼ ἡμέρης ἐμαραίνετο.
And it seems to me that she was that Stratonice, whom her stepson loved, whom the physician's cunning exposed; for when the disaster overtook him, being helpless because the evil seemed shameful, he fell sick in quietness, and lay suffering nothing, yet both his complexion changed completely and his body wasted away day by day.
ὁ δὲ ἰητρὸς ὡς εἶδέ μιν ἐς οὐδὲν ἐμφανὲς ἀρρωστέοντα, ἔγνω τὴν νοῦσον ἔρωτα ἔμμεναι.
But when the physician saw him wasting away for no manifest cause, he knew that the disease was love.
ἔρωτος δὲ ἀφανέος πολλὰ σημήια, ὀφθαλμοί τε ἀσθενέες καὶ φωνὴ καὶ χροιὴ καὶ δάκρυα.
And of hidden love there are many signs: weak eyes, voice, complexion, and tears.
μαθὼν δὲ ταῦτα ἐποίεε· χειρὶ μὲν τῇ δεξιῇ εἶχε τοῦ νεηνίσκου τὴν καρδίην, ἐκάλεε δὲ τοὺς ἀνὰ τὴν οἰκίην πάντας· ὁ δὲ τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ἐσιόντων πάντων ἐν ἠρεμίῃ μεγάλῃ ἦν, ὡς δὲ ἡ μητρυιὴ ἀπίκετο, τήν τε χροιὴν ἠλλάξατο καὶ ἱδρώειν ἄρξατο καὶ τρόμῳ εἴχετο καὶ ἡ καρδίη ἀνεπάλλετο.
Having learned these things, he did as follows: with his right hand he held the young man's heart, and he called all those in the house; and while all the others entered, the young man was in great quietness, but when his stepmother arrived, he both changed color and began to sweat, and was possessed by trembling, and his heart leaped.
τὰ δὲ γιγνόμενα ἐμφανέα τῷ ἰητρῷ τὸν ἔρωτα ἐποίεεν, καί μιν ὧδε ἰήσατο.
These occurrences made the love manifest to the physician, and he cured him in this way.