§3μή ποτε κινδυνεύσῃ, οὐδʼ ἔστι πρεσβύτερον οὐδὲν Διὸς, οὐ μᾶλλόν γε ἢ υἱεῖς τε πατέρων πρεσβύτεροι γένοιντʼ ἂν καὶ τὰ γιγνόμενα τῶν ποιούντων, ἀλλʼ ὅδε ἐστὶ πρῶτός τε καὶ πρεσβύτατος καὶ ἀρχηγέτης τῶν πάντων, αὐτὸς ἐξ αὑτοῦ γενόμενος.
May he never run any risk, nor is there anything older than Zeus, no more indeed than sons could be older than their fathers and things created than their creators; but this one is the first and oldest and the beginner of all things, having come into being from himself.
ὁπότε δὲ ἐγένετο οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἦν τε ἄρα ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἔσται εἰσαεὶ, αὐτοπάτωρ τε καὶ μείζων ἢ ἐξ ἄλλου γεγονέναι.
And when he came into being it is not possible to say, but he was from the beginning and will be forever, his own father, and too great to have been born from another.
καὶ ὥσπερ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν ἄρα ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἔφυσε καὶ γάμου οὐδὲν προσεδεήθη εἰς αὐτὴν, οὕτως ἔτι πρότερον αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐξ αὑτοῦ ἐποίησε καὶ οὐδὲν προσεδεήθη ἑτέρου εἰς τὸ εἶναι, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸ τοὐναντίον πάντα εἶναι ἀπʼ ἐκείνου ἤρξατο καὶ οὐκ ἔστι χρόνον εἰπεῖν.
And just as he produced Athena from his head and had no need of marriage for her, so still earlier he made himself from himself and had no need of another for his existence, but on the contrary, all things began to exist from him, and it is not possible to state the time.
οὐδὲ γὰρ χρόνος ἦν πω τότε, ὅτι μηδὲ ἄλλο μηδέν.
For neither was there yet time then, because neither was there anything else.
δημιουργοῦ γὰρ ἔργον οὐδέν ἐστι πρεσβύτερον.
For no work is older than its craftsman.
οὕτως δὴ ἀρχὴ μὲν ἁπάντων Ζεύς τε καὶ ἐκ Διὸς πάντα.
Thus indeed Zeus is the beginning of all, and all things are from Zeus.
ἅτε δὲ ὢν χρόνου τε κρείττων καὶ οὐδένα ἔχων τὸν ἀντικόψοντα, αὐτός τε ὁμοῦ καὶ ὁ κόσμος ἦν.
And since he was both superior to time and had no one to oppose him, both he and the cosmos existed together.
οὕτως ταχὺ πάντα ἐποίησεν.
Thus quickly did he make all things.
ἐποίησε δὲ ὧδε· εἰ δέ πη σφαλλόμεθα, ὁ μείλιχος ἡμῖν κεκλήσθω· ἄρχεται ἐκ θεμελίων καὶ ποιεῖ γῆν, ὅπως αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἐπὶ ταύτης βεβήκοι, ῥιζώσας τε ῥίζαις ἀπείροις τὸ βάθος καὶ πυκνώσας, πέτραις τε ἀντὶ γόμφων καὶ τῇ δʼ ἄλλῃ ἣ πυκνῶσαι φύσιν εἴληχεν, ὄρη τε ἐξαναστήσας, ὑετῶν καὶ κυμάτων ἀλεξητήρια, καὶ πεδία ἐν μέσῳ καταμίξας, ὀρῶν ἕδρας καὶ γῆς, ὅ τί περ δύναμιν τῷ ἑτέρῳ τὸ ἕτερον πηγνύς.
And he made them in this way—and if we stumble in any way, let the Gracious One be called upon by us: he begins from the foundations and makes the earth, so that all things might stand firm for him upon it, having rooted it with roots infinite in depth and made it dense, using rocks instead of bolts and that other thing which has obtained by nature the property of making solid, and having raised up mountains as defenses against rains and waves, and having mixed plains in the middle, the foundations of mountains and earth, fixing each so as to give strength to the other.
ὅσα δὲ αὐτῷ τὰ δεύτερα τοῦ βάρους εἶχεν ἐπῆγε, θάλατταν ἐπὶ τῇ γῇ μέσην ἐν μέσῃ τιθείς· οἷα δὲ ἐπὶ γειτόνων φιλίαν καὶ κοινωνίαν πραγματευόμενος ποταμοὺς ἐγκατέμιξεν, οἳ ἔκ τε γῆς εἰς τὴν θάλατταν ῥυήσεσθαι καὶ πάλιν ἐκ τῆς θαλάττης κατʼ ἄλλους ἀφανεῖς τόπους εἰς τὴν γῆν ἔμελλον ὑπορρυήσεσθαι καὶ συνάπτειν ἑκάτερα πρὸς ἄλληλα.
And whatever had for him the second degree of weight he brought in, placing the sea in the middle upon the middle of the earth; and as if arranging friendship and community among neighbors, he mixed in rivers, which were to flow from the earth into the sea, and again from the sea through other hidden places to flow under into the earth and to join both to each other.
συνέπλεξέ τε αὐτὰ οὕτως ὡς εἶναι μέσα ἑκάτερα ἀλλήλων, §4νήσοις τε καὶ πορθμοῖς καὶ ἰσθμοῖς τὸ ἕτερον τοῦ ἑτέρου ἀεὶ ἐν μέσῳ γιγνόμενον.
And he intertwined them in this way so that both should be in the middle of each other, by islands and straits and isthmuses, the one always becoming in the middle of the other.
ὥσπερ δὲ τὴν γῆν διʼ ἑκατέρου τοῦ σχήματος ὠχύρωσεν, οὕτω τὴν γῆν αὖ καὶ τὴν θάλατταν, διʼ ἀλλήλων ἀμφότερα ἀσφαλῆ ποιῶν· ἀέρα τε ὑπὲρ ἀμφοτέρων ἔστησε, γῆς καὶ θαλάττης ἀναπνοήν.
And just as he secured the earth through each of the two forms, so in turn he made both the earth and the sea safe through each other; and he established air above both, the breath of earth and sea.
καὶ πῦρ ἄνωθεν, ὃ δὴ αἰθέρα ὀνομάζουσιν, ἐπιστήσας, τετάρτῳ τούτῳ τὰ πάντα κατέλαβε, τῆς τε φιλοτεχνίας τὰ κράτιστα ἐνταῦθα τοῦτʼ εἰσηνέγκατο, κοσμήσας μὲν ἄστροις τὸν πάντα οὐρανὸν, ὥσπερ ταῖς νήσοις τὴν θάλατταν, καὶ διʼ αὐτῶν ποιήσας διαφανῆ, τήν τε τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπορροὴν καταπέμψας μέχρι γῆς, οὐκ ἐν ὅσῳ νῦν ἡμεῖς διήλθομεν χρόνῳ περὶ αὐτῶν ἀποτελεώσας ἅπαντα ταῦτα, ἀλλʼ ὀξύτερον ἢ νοῆσαι ἐγχωρεῖ·
And having placed fire above, which indeed they call ether, with this fourth element he enclosed all things, and there he brought in the best of his craftsmanship, having adorned the whole heaven with stars, just as the sea with islands, and having made it radiant through them, and having sent down the outflow of fire as far as the earth, completing all these things not in as much time as we have now gone through them, but swifter than it is possible to conceive.
ἅμα δὲ τῇ ποιήσει τε καὶ δημιουργίᾳ διῄρει κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς ἕκαστα καὶ κλήρους ἀπένεμε, ποιῶν μὲν ζῶα τὰ πρέποντα ἑκάστοις τόποις, τάς τε οἰκείους γονὰς, οἰκήσεις τε καὶ λήξεις τοῖς γεννηθεῖσιν ἀποδιδούς· θεοῖς μὲν ἐν οὐρανῷ οἷον ἐν ἀκροπόλει τοῦ παντὸς οἰκεῖν, ὃ δὴ κάλλιστόν τε καὶ λαμπρότατον, οἰκητηρίων ἁγνότατον· οὐδὲ γῆρας εἴσεισιν εἰς αὐτό· ἀνθρώποις δʼ ἐπὶ γῆς, θαλαττίοις δὲ φύλοις τὴν θάλατταν ἀπέδωκε, καὶ πτηνοῖς ἀέρα, ὡς μάλιστα τῆς ἀξίας ἔμελλον ἕκαστοι τεύξεσθαι κατὰ τὴν αὑτῶν φύσιν τε καὶ δύναμιν τὰς λήξεις εὑρισκόμενοι καὶ τὰς συγγενεῖς οἰκήσεις λαμβάνοντες· τὸ μὲν γηγενές τε καὶ γεῶδες φῦλον τὴν γῆν, τὸ δὲ ὑγρότερον τὴν θάλατταν, τὸ δὲ κουφότερον καὶ ξηρότερον τὸν ἀέρα, τὸ δʼ αὖ νοτερόν τε καὶ διάπυρον καὶ πᾶσι τούτοις ἐπιτεταμένον τὸν αἰθέρα τε καὶ οὐρανόν.
And along with the making and creation, he divided each thing according to what was fitting and assigned lots, making the animals that were suitable to each place, and rendering to those brought forth their proper lineages, dwellings, and portions: for gods to dwell in heaven as in the acropolis of the universe, which indeed is the most beautiful and radiant, the purest of dwellings; nor does old age enter into it; but to men he gave the earth, and to the sea-dwelling races the sea, and to the winged creatures the air, so that each might most of all obtain their due according to their own nature and power, finding their portions and receiving their kindred dwellings: the earth-born and earthy race the earth, the wetter one the sea, the lighter and drier one the air, and again the moist yet fiery one, which is stretched over all these, the ether and heaven.
οὕτως δὴ ὥσπερ πόλιν ποιῶν αὐτὴν ἢ δειμάμενος, εἶτα τοὺς ἄνδρας εἰσῆγεν.
Thus indeed, as if making a city or building it, he then introduced its inhabitants.
ὡς δὲ διέκρινε τὴν ὕλην καὶ κατεσκευάσατο τὸν κόσμον, ἐπλήρου γενῶν πάντα ἑξῆς ποιῶν σὺν ἁρμονίᾳ καὶ προνοίᾳ τοῦ μηδὲν παραλειφθῆναι τὸ μὴ οὐ πάντα πρέποντα καὶ τέλεα ἀλλήλοις δημιουργὸς αὐτὸς καὶ οἰκιστὴς τοῦ παντὸς οὐσίας τε καὶ δυνάμεως ἔχων.
And when he distinguished the matter and constructed the cosmos, he filled all things with classes, making them in order with harmony and providence, so that nothing should be left out, lest all things should not be fitting and perfect for one another, being himself the craftsman and founder of the universe, possessing its essence and power.