§28ἡγείσθω μὲν αὐτὸς Ἀσκληπιὸς ὁ φήνας τὸ ὄναρ, ἡγείσθω δὲ Διόνυσος αὐτὸς, ᾧ χορεῦσαι δεῖ, Ἀπόλλων τε μουσηγέτης, τοῦ μὲν πατὴρ, τοῦ δὲ ἀδελφὸς, ὡς λόγος.
Let Asclepius himself, who revealed the dream, lead the way, and let Dionysus himself, for whom one must dance, also lead, along with Apollo, leader of the Muses, who is, as the story goes, the father of the former and the brother of the latter.
τοὺς μὲν οὖν τελέους ὕμνους τε καὶ λόγους περὶ Διονύσου Ὀρφεῖ καὶ Μουσαίῳ παρῶμεν καὶ τοῖς ἀρχαίοις τῶν νομοθετῶν· αὐτοὶ δὲ ὡσπερεὶ συμβόλου χάριν ὡς οὐ τῶν ἀμυήτων ἄρʼ ἦμεν, συμμέτρῳ τῇ φωνῇ προσείπωμεν τὸν θεόν· πάντως δὲ καὶ μήκη καὶ βραχύτητες καὶ ὁτιοῦν τῶν ἐν τῇ φύσει φίλον αὐτῷ.
Now, let us leave the complete hymns and discourses about Dionysus to Orpheus and Musaeus and the ancient legislators; but let us ourselves, as if for the sake of a token to show that we were not, after all, of the uninitiated, address the god with a measured voice; for in any case, both lengths and shortnesses and whatever else in nature is dear to him.
καί πως καὶ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ ὀνείρατος συμβαίνει, τὸ δεῖν εἶναι πολυμηχάνους περὶ τοὺς λόγους.
And somehow the things from the dream also coincide—namely, the necessity of being resourceful regarding discourses.
Ζεὺς §29Σεμέλῃ συγγίγνεται· καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἐκύει ἡ Σεμέλη, ὁ Ζεὺς βουλόμενος ἀμφότερα αὐτὸς ᾧ Διονύσῳ γενέσθαι, πατήρ τε καὶ μήτηρ, τὴν μὲν Σεμέλην ἐκ τῆς γῆς εἰς τὸν Ὄλυμπον κομίζει διὰ πυρὸς, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀναλαβὼν τὰς αὑτοῦ γονὰς ἐρραψάμενος τῷ μηρῷ ἐφόρει δέκα μῆνας ἐξ ἀρχῆς, δίαιταν ἔχων ἐν Νύσῃ τῇ ὑπὲρ Αἰθιοπίας.
Zeus unites with Semele; and when Semele was pregnant, Zeus, wishing himself to become both father and mother to Dionysus, carried Semele from the earth to Olympus through fire, and having taken up his own offspring himself and sewn them into his thigh, carried them from the beginning for ten months, having his abode in Nysa which is beyond Ethiopia.
καὶ ἐπειδὴ ὡραῖον ἦν, καλέσας τὰς Νύμφας λύει τὸ ῥάμμα, καὶ γίγνεται δὴ οὕτως ὁ Διόνυσος διχόθεν προσήκων τῷ πατρί.
And when the proper time came, having called the Nymphs, he loosed the seam, and thus indeed Dionysus was born, belonging to his father from both sides.
οὕτω δή τι διαφερόντως αὐτὸν ὁ Ζεὺς ἐτίμησε παρὰ πάντας θεούς τε καὶ ἀνθρώπους.
Thus in some outstanding way did Zeus honor him beyond all gods and humans.
οὔτε γὰρ αὐτὸς ἄλλῳ τῳ ταῦτα ἄμφω κατέστη οὔτε ἄλλος ἄλλῳ τῳ.
For neither did he himself become both of these to anyone else, nor did anyone else to any other.
ταῦτʼ ἄρα καὶ ἄρρην τε καὶ θῆλυς ὁ θεὸς, φασὶν, ὅτι αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἑκατέρας τῆς φύσεως μετέσχεν εἰς αὐτόν.
For this very reason, they say, the god is both male and female, because his father shared in each of the two natures towards him.
ἤδη δέ τινων ἤκουσα καὶ ἕτερον λόγον ὑπὲρ τούτων ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ Ζεὺς εἴη ὁ Διόνυσος.
But I have already heard from some people another story about these matters, that Zeus himself is Dionysus.
καὶ τί ἂν εἴποις ὑπὲρ τοῦτο;
And what could one say beyond this?
ἔστι δὲ τῇ φύσει καὶ τὴν μορφὴν προσεοικώς.
For he is also like him in nature and form.
ὥσπερ γὰρ δίδυμος πάντη αὐτὸς πρὸς ἑαυτόν ἐστι.
For he is, as it were, completely a twin to himself.
καὶ γὰρ ἐν ᾐθέοις καὶ ἐν κόραις * * καὶ αὖ ὡς ἐν ἄρρεσιν ἀγένειός τε καὶ Βρισεὺς, καὶ πολεμικός τε δὴ καὶ εἰρηναῖος διαφερόντως θεῶν.
For indeed both among youths and among maidens * * and again as among males both beardless and Briseus, and outstandingly among the gods both warlike and peaceful.
διδόασι δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ τὸν Πᾶνα χορευτὴν τελεώτατον θεῶν ὄντα, ὡς Πίνδαρός τε ὑμνεῖ καὶ οἱ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον ἱερεῖς κατέμαθον.
And they also give him Pan as a companion, who is the most perfect dancer of the gods, as Pindar sings and the priests in Egypt learned.
καὶ μὴν καὶ τὴν Ἥραν λέγουσιν ὡς μόνος θεῶν τῷ υἱεῖ διήλλαξε κομίσας τὸν Ἥφαιστον ἄκοντα εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ ταῦτά γε ἀναθεὶς ὄνῳ.
And indeed they say that he alone of the gods reconciled Hera with her son, by bringing Hephaestus back to heaven against his will, and that too having mounted him on an ass.
καὶ ὡς μὲν αἴνιγμά ἐστιν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ δῆλον, δῆλον δὲ καὶ οἷ τελευτᾷ τὸ αἴνιγμα, ὡς ἄρα πολλή τις καὶ ἄμαχος ἡ δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ δύναιτʼ ἂν καὶ ὄνους πτεροῦν, οὐχ ἵππους μόνον· ὥσπερ καὶ λεόντων γάλα ἀμέλγειν ἀνέθηκέ τις αὐτῷ Λακωνικὸς ποιητής· καὶ οὐδὲν ἄρα οὕτως βεβαίως δεδήσεται, οὐ νόσῳ, οὐκ ὀργῇ, οὐ τύχῃ οὐδεμιᾷ, ὃ μὴ οἷόν τʼ ἔσται λῦσαι τῷ Διονύσῳ.
And that there is a riddle in the story is clear, and it is also clear where the riddle ends—namely, that the power of the god is indeed great and invincible, and that he could even give wings to asses, not only to horses; just as a certain Laconian poet also attributed to him the milking of lions' milk; and thus nothing will be bound so securely, neither by disease, nor by anger, nor by any fortune, which it will not be possible for Dionysus to release.
ἀλλὰ καὶ συμπότης ὁ τέως πολέμιος, καὶ ὁ γέρων ἀνηβήσει, καὶ πίεται κινοῦντος τοῦ θεοῦ.
Nay, even the former enemy will become a drinking companion, and the old man will grow young again, and will drink when the god moves him.
ταῦτα αὖ Σειληνοί τε
These things in turn the Sileni...