§17ἐπειδὴ τῆς γε Ὀλυμπικῆς πανηγύρεως ἀπελείφθην τύχῃ τινι ἀδυνάτως ἔχων κατὰ τὸ σῶμα συμμετασχεῖν ὑμῖν τῶν γιγνομένων, κινδύνου τε εἰς ἔσχατον ἐλθὼν ἐκ τοῦ τότε μοι συμπεσόντος νοσήματος, Διός γε σωτῆρος τυχὼν καὶ Ποσειδῶνος ἀδελφοῦ Διὸς ἀσφαλίου, καί τινος οἷον λιμένος τῆς τε παρούσης ταύτης ὑγιείας τε καὶ σωτηρίας λαβόμενος καὶ τῆς διατριβῆς τῆς μεθʼ ὑμῶν, πρὸς δὲ καὶ λόγου διαγγελθέντος ἐπὶ τούτῳ τοιούτου τινὸς, ὡς ἄρα ἐπόθουν τινὲς τὴν ἐμὴν παρουσίαν, καὶ τούτων οἱ ἐμφανέστατοι, οὐ διʼ ἐμὲ τοσοῦτον, ὥς γε ἐγὼ νομίζω, οὐδὲ διὰ τοὺς λόγους τοὺς ἐμοὺς, ἀλλʼ ἐνδεικνύμενοι τό τε γενναῖον καὶ τὸ φιλότιμον τὸ περὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους τιμήν τε καὶ εὔνοιαν ὁπόσοις ὁ βίος ἐν τούτοις, ὑφʼ ὧν καὶ πρότερον ἡσθέντας πολλάκις ἑαυτοὺς μέμνηνται καὶ ἡδίους γενομένους ἐν ταῖς κοιναῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων πανηγύρεσιν, ἔγνων μὴ ὀκνητέον εἶναί μοι διὰ ταῦτα παρελθεῖν εἰς ὑμᾶς, ἀλλʼ ἅμα ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἀποτιστέον διπλῆν ἔκτισιν δυοῖν ἀδελφοῖν, τὴν μὲν προτέραν τε καὶ §18πρεσβυτέραν καὶ τρόπον τινὰ εἰωθυῖαν, τὴν δὲ νῦν ἄρξεσθαι μέλλουσαν.
Since, by some fortune, because of a bodily weakness I was left behind from the Olympic festival and was unable to participate with you in what took place, and having come to the brink of danger from the disease that befell me then, yet obtaining the aid of Zeus the Savior and Poseidon, the brother of Zeus who grants safety, and having laid hold of a kind of harbor of this present health and safety and of my life among you; and moreover, a report of this sort having been spread abroad, that some people—and indeed the most eminent among them—were longing for my presence, not so much on my account, as I think, nor because of my speeches, but showing their nobility and ambition concerning these matters and their honor and goodwill toward those joys whose life is in these pursuits (by whom they remember they were often pleased and made happier in the common festivals of the Greeks); I resolved that I must not hesitate because of these things to appear before you, but at the same time I must pay a double debt to the two brothers, the first and\n older and in a way customary one, and the other which is now about to begin.
εἶναι γὰρ οὐδὲ εὐαγὲς ἴσως ἐμὲ πανταχοῦ τοῦ θείου μεμνημένον, καὶ σχεδὸν τῆς πλείστης μοι διατριβῆς τῶν λόγων περὶ ταῦτα οὔσης, παρεορακέναι δοκεῖν τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων ἔρανον πρὸς μόνον θεῶν τοῦτον, καὶ μηδένα εἶναι λόγον ἐπώνυμον ἐμὸν μήτε τοῦ θεοῦ μήτε αὐτοῦ τοῦ τόπου τούτου ἐν ᾧ νῦν ἐσμὲν, ἀλλʼ ὠλιγωρῆσθαι πρᾶγμα τηλικοῦτον· ὑπὲρ οὗ καλῶς ἂν ἔχειν ἴσως καὶ ἐξιλάσασθαί μοι τὸν θεὸν πρότερον καὶ ἐξευμενίσασθαι, τῶν μὲν πρότερον συγγνώμην ἔχειν, εἰ ἄρα τι παρῶπταί μοι εἰς ταῦτα, τὰ δὲ παρόντα ταῦτα εὐμενῶς προσδέξασθαι καὶ ἵλεῳ τῇ γνώμῃ καὶ τἄλλα τε ἀγαθὰ διδόναι καὶ εἰπεῖν τι οἷον χρή.
For it is perhaps not even pious that I, who everywhere make mention of the divine, and whose speech-making is almost entirely devoted to these matters, should seem to have overlooked the contribution of speech to this god alone, and that there should be no speech of mine named after either the god or this place where we now are, but that so great a matter should have been neglected; for which it would perhaps be well for me first to propitiate and win the favor of the god—on the one hand to have pardon for the past, if indeed anything has been overlooked by me in these matters, and on the other hand to receive these present offerings favorably and with a propitious mind, and to grant other good things, and to speak what is fitting.
κἂν ὡς ἑτέρως συμβαίνῃ, πρὸς τὴν ἐμὴν δύναμιν ὁρᾶν, καὶ μὴ πρὸς τὸ τοῦ λόγου μέγεθος ἀμύθητον ὂν, καὶ ταῦτα ὂν ἀτεχνῶς τὸ λέγειν τι περὶ τούτων καὶ ἐγχειρεῖν ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις ἐξαριθμεῖσθαι βούλοιτο τοὺς χόας τῆς θαλάττης.
Even if it turn out otherwise, let him look to my ability and not to the greatness of the speech, which is unspeakable; and indeed, to say anything or attempt anything about these things is just as if someone wished to count the measures of the sea.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὰ μέγιστα τῶν πελαγῶν καὶ ἀνήνυτα παρέχειν ὁ θεὸς οὗτος εἴωθε πορεύσιμα, καὶ ἐνίοτέ γε καὶ ἐξ οὐρίων οἷς ἂν ἵλεως ὢν τυγχάνῃ, ἀνήχθω καὶ νῦν ἡμῖν ὁ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος· καὶ ἀνήφθω γε ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ πρυμνησίου τινὰ τρόπον, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις.
Nevertheless, since this god is accustomed to make even the greatest and endless seas passable, and sometimes even with favorable winds for those to whom he happens to be propitious, let our speech about him set sail even now; and let it be fastened, as it were, to the god himself like a stern-cable, as one might say.
ὅσα μὲν οὖν εἰς τὴν τῶν ὅλων φύσιν ἀνάγειν ἀξιοῦντες οἱ πρῶτοι ταῦτα φιλοσοφήσαντες τοὺς περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου λόγους πᾶν ὅσον ὑγρὸν ἐν τῷ παντὶ, ἤτοι μέρος ὂν τὸ μέγιστον τοῦ σύμπαντος ἢ καὶ τὸ σύμπαν αὐτὸ τοῦτο· λέγω δὲ τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν οὕτω κληθεῖσαν, καθὰ καὶ ὁ τῶν ποιητῶν λόγος μαρτυρεῖ, γένεσιν τοῦτʼ εἶναι θεῶν φάσκων, ὥς που εἴρηται
ὠκεανόν τε θεῶν γένεσιν,
ἐν ἑτέρῳ ὀνόματι τῷ τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ, καὶ τροφήν τε καὶ ζωὴν ξυμπάντων ὁπόσα τε θεῖα καὶ τῆς κάτω μοίρας· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὅρκον τοῦτʼ εἶναι μέγιστον θεῶν ἐν ἑτέρῳ πάλιν ὀνόματι τῷ τῆς Στυγὸς ὕδατι· καὶ ὡς θεοὺς πηγὰς καὶ ποταμοὺς ἐνόμιζον οἱ πρῶτοι μεγίστους τε καὶ πρώτους,
Now, as for all those who, seeking to refer these things to the nature of the universe, were the first to philosophize on these matters, and who directed their arguments about this god to all that is moist in the universe, as being either the greatest part of the whole or the whole itself—and I mean the moist substance so called, even as the testimony of the poets witnesses, declaring this to be the origin of the gods, as it is said somewhere, "Oceanus, the origin of the gods," under another name, that of Ocean, and the nourishment and life of all things, both divine and of the lower portion; and for this reason also, that this is the greatest oath of the gods, under yet another name, the water of Styx; and how the first men considered springs and rivers to be the greatest and first gods—