§23θαλάττῃ· πάντα τε δεῦρο φοιτᾶν τὰ πανταχόθεν κατά τε γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν, καὶ τοῦτʼ εἶναι ὑφʼ οὗ καὶ ἐκ παλαιοτάτου ἀφνειόν τε ὕμνηται χωρίον ὑπὸ τῶν ποιητῶν, ἅμα μὲν διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν παρόντων ἀγαθῶν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν εὐδαιμονίαν ἐν αὐτῷ.
sea; and that all things from all sides come here both by land and by sea, and that this is the reason why from the oldest times it has been sung of as a wealthy place by the poets, both because of the abundance of present goods and because of the prosperity existing in it.
ἔστι γὰρ οἷον ἀγορά τις καὶ αὐλὴ κοινὴ τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ πανήγυρις, οὐχ ἣν διὰ δυοῖν ἐτοῖν συμπληροῖ αὐτῇ τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν, καθάπερ ἡ παροῦσα αὕτη, ἀλλʼ ἣν διὰ παντὸς ἔτους καὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν ἑκάστην.
For it is like a sort of agora, a common court, and a festival of the Greeks, not one which the Greek world fills up for her every two years, like this present one, but one which goes on through the whole year and every single day.
εἰ δὲ ἦν ὥσπερ ἀνδράσιν, οὕτως δὴ καὶ πόλεσι προξενία πρὸς ἀλλήλας, τοῦτʼ ἂν εἶχεν ἡ πόλις τοὔνομα καὶ τὴν τιμὴν ταύτην ἁπανταχοῦ· ὑποδέχεται γὰρ ἁπάσας εἰς ἑαυτὴν καὶ προπέμπει πάλιν ἐξ αὑτῆς, καὶ κοινὴ πάντων ἐστὶ καταφυγή· καθάπερ τις ὁδὸς καὶ διέξοδος ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων, ὅποι καὶ μόνον πορεύοιτό τις, καὶ κοινὸν ἄστυ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, οἷον μητρόπολίς τις ἀτεχνῶς καὶ μήτηρ αὐτὸ τοῦτο.
And if, just as among men, so also among cities there were mutual hospitality toward one another, this city would have had that name and this honor everywhere; for she receives all of them into herself and sends them forth again from herself, and is a common refuge for all; just like a sort of road and passageway for all men, wherever one might go, and a common city of the Greeks, literally a sort of metropolis and mother in this very sense.
τά τε γὰρ ἄλλα καὶ οὐκ ἔσθʼ ὅπη τις ἀναπαύσαιτο καθάπερ ἐν μητρὸς κόλποις οὔτε ἥδιον οὔτε προσφιλέστερον, οἷον αὐτὴ ἀνάπαυλά τέ ἐστι καὶ καταφυγὴ καὶ σωτηρία πᾶσι τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν.
For among other things, there is no place where one could rest sweeter or more beloved than as if in a mother's bosom, so much is she herself a rest, a refuge, and a salvation to all who meet her.
ἀλλὰ δῆτα τοῦ κάλλους αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν ἱμέρων καὶ τῶν ἐρώτων ὅσον ἐξῆπται τὸ πλῆθος, ὡς πάντας μὲν ἀναδήσασθαι τῷ ἡδεῖ, φλέγεσθαί τε ἅπαντας ἐπʼ αὐτῇ ὁμοίως, ἔχειν δὲ ἐν ἑαυτῇ φιλότητας, ἱμέρους, ὀαριστὺν, πάρφασιν, ὡς κλέψαι τὸν νοῦν καὶ τῶν μέγα ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῖς φρονούντων, καὶ εἰ δεῖ τι ἄλλο πρὸς τούτοις πάντα ὅσα λέγεται τῆς θεοῦ φάρμακα, ὡς εἶναι σαφῶς τε Ἀφροδίτης τὴν πόλιν, ἣν ἐμοὶ ἐπονομάζειν ἔπεισιν· ὅστις ποτὲ οὗτος ὁ κεστός ἐστιν, ᾧ πάντας ἡ θεὸς ἀναδεῖται πρὸς ἑαυτὴν, καὶ καθάπερ τινὰ ὅρμον καὶ περιδέραιον συμπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος τοῦτʼ εἶναι, καὶ τέμενος Νυμφῶν, Ναΐδων ἁπασῶν ἐνταυθοῖ ναουσῶν, καὶ θάλαμον Ὡρῶν, ᾧ πάντα τὸν χρόνον ἐγκάθηνται καὶ ὅθεν προέρχονται ἀνοιγνῦσαι τὰς πύλας εἴτε Διὸς σύ γε βούλει καλεῖν εἴτε Ποσειδῶνος.
But indeed, how great a multitude of her beauty and longings and loves has been kindled, so as to bind everyone with sweetness and to set everyone on fire for her alike, and to have within herself friendships, longings, intimate converse, and persuasive talk, so as to steal away the mind even of those who think highly of themselves; and if there is need of anything else besides these—all the so-called remedies of the goddess—so that the city is clearly that of Aphrodite, which it occurs to me to name; whatever this girdle is, with which the goddess binds everyone to herself, and that this is like a sort of collar and necklace of the whole of Greece, and a sanctuary of the Nymphs, of all the Naiads dwelling here, and a bridal chamber of the Hours, in which they sit all the time and from which they go forth to open the gates, whether you wish to call them those of Zeus or of Poseidon.
εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔρις ποτὲ περὶ κάλλους §24ἐνέπεσε ταῖς πόλεσιν, ὥσπερ ταῖς θεαῖς λέγεταί ποτε γενέσθαι ἐν ἀλλήλαις, μετὰ Ἀφροδίτης ἂν ἦν.
And if ever a strife concerning beauty had fallen upon the cities, just as it is said once to have occurred among the goddesses, it would have been on the side of Aphrodite.
καὶ περὶ μὲν τοῦ εἴδους τῆς πόλεως τί ἄν τις καὶ λέγοι, ὅ γε οὐδὲ οἱ πάντων ὀφθαλμοὶ χωρεῖν εἰσιν ἱκανοί;
And concerning the appearance of the city, what could anyone even say, since not even the eyes of all men are sufficient to contain it?
μεγέθους γε μὴν τί ἄν τις μεῖζον τεκμήριον ποιήσαιτο ἢ τὸ ἀποτετάσθαι αὐτὴν εἰς ἁπάσας θαλάττας, καὶ συνῳκίσθαι τε αὐταῖς καὶ παρακατῳκίσθαι, οὐ τῇ μὲν, τῇ δὲ οὒ, ἀλλὰ πάσαις ὁμοίως.
And as for its size, what greater proof could one make than that she is stretched out to all seas, and is settled together with them and built alongside them, not in one part and not in another, but in all alike?
καὶ μὴν εὐνομίας γε ὁρμητήριον ἡ πόλις ἔτι καὶ νῦν βραβεύει τὰ δίκαια τοῖς Ἕλλησι.
Moreover, as a base of good order, the city even now awards justice to the Greeks.
πλούτου γε μὴν καὶ πλήθους ἀγαθῶν ὅσον εἰκὸς ἐπαντλούσης αὐτῇ τῆς τε γῆς τῆς πανταχόθεν καὶ τῆς πανταχόθεν θαλάττης, οἷον ἐννάουσαν ἐν μέσοις τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ περικλυζομένην αὐτὴν, καθάπερ τινὰ ὁλκάδα ἐν κύκλῳ μεστὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν·
And as for wealth and the abundance of goods, since the land from all sides and the sea from all sides pour upon her as much as is fitting, she is as if dwelling in the midst of goods and washed around by them, just like a merchant ship full of goods all around.
σοφὸν δὲ δὴ καὶ καθʼ ὁδὸν ἐλθὼν ἂν εὕροις· καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἀψύχων μάθοις ἂν καὶ ἀκούσειας· τοσοῦτοι θησαυροὶ γραμμάτων περὶ πᾶσαν αὐτὴν, ὅποι καὶ μόνον ἀποβλέψειέ τις, καὶ κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτὰς καὶ τὰς στοάς.
And as for wisdom, even by walking along the road you would find it; and you might learn and hear it even from inanimate things; so many are the treasuries of letters all around her, wherever one might only look, even along the streets themselves and the colonnades.
ἔτι τὰ γυμνάσια, τὰ διδασκαλεῖα, καὶ μαθήματά τε καὶ ἱστορήματα.
Furthermore, there are the gymnasia, the schools, both studies and histories.
τί οὖν δεῖ Σισύφου μεμνῆσθαι, ἢ τῆς Σισύφου συνέσεως, ἢ Κορίνθου τοῦ Διὸς, ἢ Βελλεροφόντου τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος, ἢ ἄλλου του τῶν ἡρώων τε καὶ τῶν ἡμιθέων, ἢ τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα πάλιν τοὺς ἐξευρόντας σταθμά τε καὶ ζυγὰ καὶ μέτρα, καὶ τὸ ἐν τούτοις δίκαιον, καὶ τὸ ὡς ναῦν ἐναυπηγήσατο αὕτη ἡ πόλις, οὐ τριήρη μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν Ἀργὼ ἔγωγʼ ἂν φαίην.
Why then is there need to mention Sisyphus, or the understanding of Sisyphus, or Corinthus son of Zeus, or Bellerophon son of Poseidon, or any other of the heroes and demigods, or, after these things, those who in turn invented weights and scales and measures, and the justice in these things, and how this city built ships—not only the trireme, but I would even say the Argo itself?
ὁ γοῦν ἡγεμὼν αὐτῆς τοῦ στόλου μετὰ τὸν ἀνάπλουν τὸν ἐκεῖθεν φαίνεται δεῦρό τε καταγόμενος αὐτὴν καὶ δεῦρο ὁρμισάμενος· ἢ τὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ πάλιν, τὸ Πηγάσου πτερὸν λεγόμενον εἴτε ὡς ἵππου σὺ φήσεις, εἴτε καὶ ὡς ὄρνιθος· καὶ τὸν πρῶτον ἐπιτολμήσαντα αὐτῷ τὸν μετάρσιον ἱππέα.
At any rate, the leader of its voyage, after the sailing up from there, appears to have brought her down here and moored her here; or again, the things on land: the so-called wing of Pegasus, whether you will call it that of a horse or even that of a bird; and the first rider who dared to mount it in mid-air.
ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν παλαιὰ καὶ μυθώδη· τά γε μὴν ἔτι καὶ νῦν μνημονευόμενα εἰρηναῖά τε ὅσα αὐτῶν καὶ πολεμικὰ
But these indeed are ancient and mythical; while those things which are still even now remembered, both peaceable and warlike...