§43παρείχοντο τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς καὶ οὐχ ὅσον ἰατροὶ συνῆσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ὅπλοις ὠφέλουν, καὶ πολλάκις μὲν δὴ τῶν πολεμίων τροπὴν ποιήσασθαι λέγονται, τὸ δʼ ἁλῶναι τὴν Τροίαν καὶ παντάπασιν ἦλθεν εἰς αὐτοὺς τῇ τε ἄλλῃ καὶ τὴν Φιλοκτήτου νόσον, ἣν Ὀδυσσεὺς καὶ Ἀτρεῖδαι προκαταγνόντες ἀνίατον εἶναι Φιλοκτήτην οὐχὶ δικαίως ἐν Λήμνῳ κατέλιπον, οὗτοι δὲ δέκα ἔτεσιν αὐξηθεῖσαν ἰάσαντο.
[They] provided [to the Achaeans, and not only] did they accompany them as physicians, but they also helped with weapons, and they are said to have often put the enemy to flight; and the capture of Troy also came entirely to their credit, both in other respects and especially concerning the disease of Philoctetes. Odysseus and the sons of Atreus, having beforehand judged this disease to be incurable, had unjustly left Philoctetes behind in Lemnos, but these men cured it when it had grown worse over ten years.
καὶ γίγνεται Φιλοκτήτης τε ἐνεργὸς τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς καὶ Φιλοκτήτῃ τὰ βέλη τοῦ Ἡρακλέους χρήσιμα τῇ ʼκείνων τέχνῃ.
And so Philoctetes became active for the Achaeans, and the arrows of Heracles became useful to Philoctetes through their skill.
ἐπεὶ δὲ ἑάλω Τροία, προειδότες τὰς ἐσομένας ὕστερον Ἑλλήνων εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀποικίας καὶ ἅμα βουλόμενοι τῆς αὐτῶν εὐεργεσίας ὅτι πλείστους ἀπολαύειν, τοῦτο μὲν Τευθρανίαν ἡμεροῦσιν εἰς ὑποδοχὴν τοῦ πατρὸς, τοῦτο δὲ, ὡς ὁ Κώων λόγος, πλεύσαντες εἰς Κῶ τὴν Μεροπίδα, ἣν οἰκουμένην ὑπὸ Μερόπων Ἡρακλῆς ἐκ Τροίας ἀνιὼν ἔτι πρότερον ἀδικίαν ἐγκαλέσας ἐπόρθησεν, οἰκίζουσί τε καὶ εἰς ἤθη πρέποντα τῇ φύσει τῆς χώρας κατέστησαν, τὸ λεγόμενον περὶ τοῦ προγόνου τοῦτο, ὡς ἔοικε, μιμησάμενοι.
And when Troy was taken, because they foresaw the future colonies of the Greeks into Asia and at the same time wished as many as possible to enjoy their beneficence, on the one hand they civilized Teuthrania for the reception of their father, and on the other hand, as the story of the Coans goes, having sailed to Meropis, Coos, which Heracles, returning from Troy even earlier, had sacked after accusing them of injustice when it was inhabited by the Meropes, they colonized it and established customs suitable to the nature of the region, therein apparently imitating what is related of their ancestor.
Ἀπόλλω τε γάρ φασιν οἱ ποιηταὶ τὴν Δῆλον φερομένην πρότερον στῆσαι κατὰ τοῦ πελάγους ἐρείσαντα, ἐπειδὴ πρῶτον ἐν αὐτῇ ἐγένετο, καὶ οὗτοι τῆς Μεροπίδος τότε ἐπιβάντες, προκρίναντες ἁπασῶν εἶναι καλλίστην, ὅσαι παραπλήσιαι μέγεθος, ἰάσαντό τε καὶ ἀπέφηναν ἐμβατὸν πᾶσιν Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις, πρότερον σφαλερὰν καὶ ὕποπτον οὖσαν, καὶ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν κυρίαν τῇ νήσῳ κατέστησαν.
For the poets say that Apollo fixed Delos, which was previously drifting, securing it against the sea when he was first born on it; and these men also, having set foot on Meropis at that time, and having judged it to be the most beautiful of all islands of comparable size, cured and showed it to be accessible to all Greeks and barbarians—whereas previously it had been dangerous and suspected—and established prosperity as mistress of the island.
οἶμαι δὲ καὶ Ῥοδίοις πολλῶν ἐκ πολλοῦ σεμνῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἐν πρώτοις εἶναι τὴν ἐκείνων ἀρχὴν, ἣν αὐτοὶ προκρίναντες εἵλοντο σφῶν ἄρχειν Ἀσκληπιάδας, Ἡρακλειδῶν ποιησάμενοι διαδόχους.
And I think that for the Rhodians too, though they have had many grand things from of old, their government was among the first, which they themselves chose by selecting the Asclepiadae to rule over them, making them successors of the Heracleidae.
ἔσχον δὲ καὶ τὸν Καρικὸν τόπον καὶ Κνίδον τὴν τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἱεράν· ὅ τι γὰρ ἢ ὁ ἕτερος ἢ ἀμφότεροι, κεκοινωνήσθω τὰ νῦν.
And they also possessed the Caric region and Cnidus, the sanctuary of Aphrodite; for whatever either one or both performed, let it be shared in common for the present.
ἀπέλαυσε δέ τι καὶ Κύρνος αὐτῶν.
And Cyrnus also enjoyed some of their benefit.
ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μέν ἐστι λόγων πολλῶν.
But these things belong to many speeches.
ποιησάμενοι δὲ §44παῖδας συνεργούς τε καὶ διαδόχους τῆς σφετέρας ἐπιστήμης ὡσπερεὶ κεφάλαιον τοῦτο ἐπέθηκαν τῶν εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας εὐεργεσιῶν, προσθήσω δὲ καὶ εἰς ἅπαντας ἤδη, ἵνα μή ποτε ἐπιλίπῃ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος ἡ παρʼ αὐτῶν ἐπικουρία καὶ χάρις, ἀλλʼ ὦσιν ἐκ προγόνων τε καὶ ἐκγόνων σωτῆρες ἀθάνατοι τῆς φύσεως, τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον κατʼ ἀνθρώπους πολιτευόμενοι καὶ συνόντες ἅπασιν ὥσπερ τοῖς ἐφʼ αὑτῶν.
Having made, on the one hand, their children helpers and successors of their knowledge, they placed this as a crown, as it were, on their benefits to the Greeks—and I will add, now even to all mankind—so that the aid and favor from them might never fail the race of men, but that they might be, from ancestors to descendants, immortal saviors of human nature, managing public affairs among men for all time and being present with all just as with those of their own day.
καὶ γάρ τοι κατέλυσαν μὲν τοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ βεβοημένους, τὰς δʼ εὐεργεσίας σύμβολον τοῦ γένους ἐποιήσαντο.
For indeed, they put an end to the famous physicians in Egypt, and made their benefits the token of their race.
ἵδρυνται δὲ οὔτε ἐν Θετταλίᾳ οὔτε ἐν τοῖς τῶν Κώων προαστείοις, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἰατρικῆς ἐνέπλησαν, ὥσπερ ὁ Τριπτόλεμος σίτου διὰ τῶν σπερμάτων· πάντα γὰρ ἐκ τούτων καὶ παρὰ τούτων ἐξεφοίτησε.
And they did not settle in Thessaly nor in the suburbs of the Coans, but filled all places with medicine, just as Triptolemus filled all with corn through his seeds; for everything went out from these and through them.
καὶ καθάπερ τὴν Μήδειάν φασι διὰ τοῦ Θετταλῶν πεδίου φεύγουσαν, ἐκχυθέντων τῶν φαρμάκων, ποιῆσαι Θετταλίαν ἅπασαν πολυφάρμακον, οὕτως ἡ τούτων ἐπιστήμη τε καὶ φιλανθρωπία χυθεῖσα ἐπὶ πλεῖστον πάσας μὲν πόλεις Ἑλλήνων, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων τόπους ἐκόσμησέ τε καὶ κοσμεῖ, καὶ προσέτι γε ἔσωσε καὶ σώζει, καὶ ὁ τρίτος ἐπʼ ἀμφοῖν προσέστω χρόνος.
And just as they say that Medea, fleeing through the Thessalian plain, made all Thessaly rich in drugs by the spilling of her medicines, so their knowledge and philanthropy, having been poured out to the widest extent, adorned and still adorn all cities of the Greeks, and many places of the barbarians as well, and moreover saved and still save them, and let the third time be added to both of these.
εἰ δʼ ἀνὴρ εἷς ἀπὸ τούτων Ἱπποκράτης ἔφυ κληρονόμος τῆς τέχνης, διὰ πάντων ἰδιωτῶν τῶν μέσων ἱκανὴ τῇ τε γῇ φορὰ καὶ χάρις τούτοις παρʼ ἀνθρώπων ἦν ἂν τῆς σπορᾶς· νῦν δὲ ὥσπερ ἔθνος τὸ τῶν Ἀσκληπιαδῶν κατεσκευάσθη διʼ αἵματος τὴν τέχνην σῶζον, οὕτω θεία μοῖρα ἡγήσατο Μαχάονι καὶ Ποδαλειρίῳ τῆς γενέσεως.
And if one man from them, Hippocrates, was born heir to the art, through all the intermediate private persons, that crop of his seed would have been sufficient as fruit for the earth and favor to them from men; but as it is, a whole nation of Asclepiadae was established, preserving the art through blood, and so a divine fate guided the birth of Machaon and of Podalirius.
μάθοι δʼ ἄν τις τοῖς Ἡρακλείδαις αὐτοὺς ἀντεξετάζων τῆς χρείας ἕνεκα τῆς κοινῆς καὶ τῆς ἰδίας τύχης.
One might learn this by comparing them with the Heracleidae, for the sake of both common utility and their individual fortune.
Ἡρακλεῖδαι γὰρ ἓν μὲν καὶ πρῶτον ἐσκεδάσθησαν καὶ οὐχ ἓν σύνταγμα αὐτῶν ἐγένετο, ὡς δʼ εἰπεῖν οὐδὲ ἓν φῦλον.
For the Heracleidae, first of all, were scattered and did not become a single organized body, nor indeed, so to speak, even a single tribe.
οὐ γὰρ ἦσαν ὁμότιμοι, ὥστε ἀλλήλοις ἀντὶ ξένων καθειστήκεσαν· ἔπειθʼ ὅσον αὐτῶν ἦν κράτιστον, οὔτε συμφορῶν ἄμοιρον λέγεται γενέσθαι τήν τε πατρῴαν οὐ παντελῶς διασώσασθαι τέχνην.
For they did not hold equal honor, so that they stood in the relation of strangers to one another; and then, even the most powerful among them is said not to have been free from misfortunes, nor to have completely preserved their ancestral art.
οὐ γὰρ ταῖς εἰς τὸ κοινὸν εὐεργεσίαις, ἀλλὰ τῇ καθʼ αὑτοὺς
For not by benefits to the public, but by their own...