§236ἅπασι μὲν, ὡς ἐγὼ νομίζω, προφάσεις ἱκαναὶ τοῦ λέγειν ὡς ἐν τῷ παρόντι· ἥ τε γὰρ πόλις ἀξία σπουδῆς, εἰ δή τις ἄλλη τῶν Ἑλληνίδων, τό τʼ ἔργον ἐφʼ ᾧ τὴν ἱερομηνίαν ποιεῖται μέγιστον τῶν εἰς ὄψιν ἐλθόντων ἀνθρώποις, οἵ τε καιροὶ τῶν πώποτε ἄριστοι καὶ τελεώτατοι·
For all, indeed, as I think, there are sufficient reasons for speaking in the present circumstances; for the city is worthy of zeal, if indeed any other of the Greek cities is, and the work on account of which it celebrates the festival is the greatest of those that have come to the sight of men, and the occasions are the best and most perfect of any that have ever been.
ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ μάλιστα ἐναργὴς ἡ πρόφασις καὶ τῆς συνηθείας τοῦ βίου τοῦ ἡμετέρου.
But for me, the reason is especially clear and belongs to the habit of our life.
ὁ γὰρ Ἀσκληπιὸς κελεύει λέγειν· ὥστʼ οὔτʼ ἀσθένειαν σώματος οἷόν τε ὑπολογίσασθαι πρός γε αὐτὸν τὸν σωτῆρα οὔτε τῆς ὑποθέσεως τὸ μέγεθος καταδεῖσαι μὴ οὐ ῥᾴδιον ᾖ τυχεῖν· ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἔφη Πίνδαρος, θεοῦ δείξαντος ἀρχὴν οὐδὲν δὴ τὸ κωλῦον, ἄλλως τε καὶ οὐ νῦν πρῶτον αὐτοῦ πειρώμεθα, ἀλλʼ ἐν πολλοῖς τε καὶ μεγάλοις καὶ πρόσθεν ἔγνωμεν ἐφʼ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν, οὐχ ἑτέρων, ὁπόσον τὸ τῆς ῥᾳστώνης αὐτῷ περίεστι κἀν τοῖς καθάπαξ ἀπόροις εἶναι δοκοῦσι, καὶ μὴ ὅτι τοῖς χαλεποῖς μὲν, ἀπογνῶναι δʼ οὐκ ἀναγκαίως ἔχουσιν.
For Asclepius commands me to speak; so that it is neither possible to take bodily weakness into account in the presence of the Savior himself, nor to fear the magnitude of the subject, lest it should not be easy to succeed; but as Pindar said, when a god points out the beginning, there is indeed nothing to prevent, especially as we are not experiencing him now for the first time, but both in many and great matters we have previously known from our own experience, and not from others, how great is his abundance of ease even in those things which seem utterly desperate, and let alone in those which are difficult, but do not necessarily drive one to despair.
ἔγωγʼ οὖν πρὸς τοσοῦτον ἥκω τοῦ πιστεύειν ἑτέρῳ μελήσειν, ὥστʼ οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅντινα τρόπον αὐτοσχεδιάζω, πλὴν ὅσον οὐκ ἀπὸ στόματος παντελῶς, ἀλλὰ γράφων ἔτι.
I, at least, have come to such a degree of confidence that another will take care of it, that I am, in a way, speaking extempore, except that I am not doing so entirely from memory, but am still writing.
οὔτε γὰρ πρόσθεν ἔγνων ὅ τι χρὴ λέγειν, πρὶν ἔδει λέγειν ἤδη, ὅ τε προστάξας μείζων ἁπάσης ἔμοιγε παρασκευῆς.
For I did not know beforehand what I ought to say, before the time had already come to speak, and he who commanded is greater than all preparation on my part.
ἡγοῦμαι δὲ οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον περὶ τῶν πραγμάτων τῶν μεγάλων ἔχειν καὶ τῶν πελαγῶν· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὅσῳ μείζω, τοσούτῳ παρέχει πλείω τὸν φόβον, τὰ δʼ ἔστιν ὅπη καὶ βοηθεῖ, ἔστι γὰρ ὥσπερ ὅρμου λαβέσθαι πολλαχόθεν· ὥστʼ εἰ μὴ παντάπασί τις εἴη δυστυχὴς, τό γε τοῦ παντὸς
But I think that it is not the same case with great affairs as with the open seas; for the latter, the larger they are, the more fear they bring, but the former in some ways even help, for it is possible, as it were, to find anchorage from many sides; so that, unless one is completely unfortunate, at least...
§237δοκεῖν διαμαρτεῖν διαφεύξεται.
he will escape the appearance of failing completely.
πεπύσθαι δέ τινα ἤδη καὶ τῶν ἐν Ὑπερβορέοις οἶμαι τὸν περὶ Κυζίκου χρησμὸν καὶ τὸν μάρτυρα τῆς εὐδαιμονίας τῇ πόλει, ὃς ταῖς μὲν ἄλλαις πόλεσιν ἐξηγητής ἐστι, τῇ δὲ πόλει ταύτῃ καὶ ἀρχηγέτης.
And I think that even some of those among the Hyperboreans have already heard of the oracle concerning Cyzicus and the witness of the city's prosperity, who is an interpreter for other cities, but for this city also a founder.
τὰς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλας πόλεις διὰ τῶν οἰκιστῶν ᾤκισεν οὓς ἀπέστειλεν ἑκασταχόσε, ταύτης δὲ ἐκ τοῦ εὐθέος αὐτὸς γέγονεν οἰκιστής.
For indeed he founded the other cities through the colonists whom he sent out to various places, but of this one he himself directly became the founder.
ὥστε πῶς οὐκ εὐδαίμων Κύζικος, ἀπὸ τοιαύτης τε ἀρχῆς ἀρξαμένη εἰς τοιοῦτόν τε ἅμα τὸν οἰκιστὴν καὶ μάρτυρα ἀναφέρουσα;
So how is Cyzicus not prosperous, having started from such a beginning and at the same time referring back to such a founder and witness?
γνοίη δʼ ἄν τις καὶ πρὸς τὴν θέσιν εὐθὺς αὐτῆς ἀποβλέψας καὶ τὴν φύσιν τὴν ὅλην, ὅτι γιγνομένην αὐτῇ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἔθετο ὁ θεός· οὕτως καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάττης συμβαίνει.
And one might recognize this also by looking directly at its position and its whole nature, that the god bestowed on it a name that was perfectly suited to it; so indeed do the things from the land and the things from the sea turn out.
πρόκειται γὰρ τῆς Ἀσίας, ἀρχομένη μὲν ἐκ νήσου, καθισταμένη δʼ εἰς τὴν ἤπειρον, ἔνθεν μὲν τὸν Εὔξεινον πόντον προβεβλημένη, ἑτέρωθεν δὲ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, σύνδεσμός τις οὖσα τῆς θαλάττης ἑκατέρας, μᾶλλον δὲ ἁπάσης ἣν ἄνθρωποι πλέουσι.
For it lies in front of Asia, beginning indeed as an island, but establishing itself upon the mainland, having on one side the Euxine Sea projected before it, and on the other the Hellespont, being a kind of link between both seas, or rather of all the sea that men navigate.
παράπλοι δὲ αὐτὴν καὶ περίπλοι καὶ εἴσπλοι ναυτῶν ἁπάντων οὔποτε λείπουσιν, ἀλλʼ οἱ μὲν τὰ νῶτα κομίζονται οὐρίᾳ ἐφέντες εἰς τὸ πέλαγος διὰ νήσων τῆς πόλεως, οἱ δʼ εἰς αὐτὴν καταθέουσί τε καὶ ἀναθέουσι.
And coastal voyages past it, circumnavigations around it, and arrivals into it by all sailors never cease, but some carry their cargoes past its back, running before a fair wind into the open sea through the islands of the city, while others sail down and up into the city itself.
καίτοι εἰ τὴν Κορινθίων πόλιν εὐδαίμονα τοῖς ποιηταῖς ἔδοξε προσειπεῖν, ὅτι ἐπὶ τῷ Ἰσθμῷ κειμένη τοὺς ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα τῆς Πελοποννήσου βαδίζοντας ὑποδέχεται, ἦ που λαμπρῶς ταύτῃ γε προσήκει τῆς προσηγορίας.
And yet, if it seemed fit to the poets to call the city of the Corinthians prosperous because, lying on the Isthmus, it receives those who travel to either side of the Peloponnese, surely this city has an even more brilliant claim to that title.
τῆς γὰρ θαλάττης ἐν μέσῳ κειμένη συνάγει πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς ταυτὸν, τούς τε ἀπὸ τῆς εἴσω πρὸς τὴν ἔξω παραπέμπουσα καὶ τοὺς ἔξωθεν πρὸς τὰ εἴσω, ὥσπερ τις ὀμφαλὸς τοῦ μεταξὺ τόπου Γαδείρων καὶ Φάσιδος.
For lying in the middle of the sea, it brings all men together into the same place, escorting those from the inner sea to the outer, and those from the outer to the inner, just like a kind of navel of the region between Gadeira and Phasis.
ἔστι μὲν δὴ καὶ ἑτέραις, οἶμαι, νήσοις συμβεβηκὸς ἐν ἀφθόνῳ τῇ κύκλῳ θαλάττῃ κεῖσθαι, καὶ Κρήτην Ὅμηρος σεμνύνων ἔφη κεῖσθαι μέσην ἐνὶ οἴνοπι πόντῳ· τὸ δὲ τῆσδε σεμνότερον.
To other islands also, I suppose, it has happened to lie in an abundant surrounding sea, and Homer, extolling Crete, said that it lies in the middle of the wine-dark sea; but the case of this one is grander.
οὐ γὰρ ἑνὸς πελάγους τὸ μέσον κατείληφεν· ἔξεστι
For it has not occupied the middle of a single sea; it is possible...