§238δʼ εἰπεῖν οὐ πολλὴν αὐτῇ μόνον εἶναι τὴν θάλατταν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλαπλῆν, τὸ μὲν πρὸς βορέαν ἄνω πηγήν τινα καὶ ἀφορμὴν ἁπάσης τῆς πλοΐμου, τὸ δʼ αὖ πρὸς ἑσπέραν πορθμὸν τὸν μήκιστον καὶ χαριέστατον, τρίτον δὲ μέσον τούτων ἀμφοτέρων καὶ φύσει καὶ τόπῳ τοῦτο ὃ δὴ Προποντίδα κληθῆναι, πᾶν ὡς εἰπεῖν αὐτὴ πεπλήρωκε.
And it is possible to say that for her the sea is not only great but also manifold; on the one hand, that which is up toward the north is a kind of source and starting-point of all navigation; on the other hand, that which is toward the west is the longest and most beautiful strait; and thirdly, this sea between both of them, both by nature and by position, which indeed has been called the Propontis, she herself has, so to speak, entirely filled.
καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐκ θαλάττης τοιαῦτα· τὰ δʼ αὖ παρὰ τῆς γῆς ἀδελφά τε τούτων καὶ ἀντίρροπα.
Such, then, are the things from the sea; and those from the land, in turn, are sisterly to these and counterbalancing.
πολλὴ μὲν γῆ πᾶσα καὶ ἄφθονος, καὶ ὡς ἄν τις ἀξιώσειε κατʼ ἐπωνυμίαν τὴν ἤπειρον εἶναι τὸ μέγεθος, πολλαὶ δὲ αἱ φύσεις καὶ πλεῖστον ἀλλήλων κεχωρισμέναι καὶ πᾶσαι νεύουσαι πρὸς τὸ βέλτιστον.
All the land is vast and abundant, and of such a size that one might deem it worthy of the name "mainland" (Epeiros), and its natural features are many, very distinct from one another, and all tending toward the best.
ὄρη τε γὰρ ἐνταῦθα ἡμερώτερα τῶν παρʼ ἄλλοις πεδίων, πεδία τε ἀποχρῶντα οὐ πόλεως, ἀλλʼ ἐθνῶν εἶναι, καὶ ποταμοὶ καὶ λίμναι καὶ ἕλη καὶ νάπαι καὶ μακάρων δή τινες εὐθυμίαι.
For the mountains here are gentler than the plains in other places, and the plains are sufficient to belong not to a city, but to whole nations, and there are rivers, lakes, marshes, glades, and indeed some delights of the blessed.
ὥστε εἴ τις βούλοιτο πάντας οἰκίζειν τοὺς τόπους, πολλὰς μὲν ἂν τὰς περὶ τὰς λίμνας γενέσθαι πόλεις, πολλὰς δʼ ἐπὶ ταῖς ἀκταῖς τῆς θαλάττης, οὐκ ὀλίγας δὲ ἐν τῇ μεσογείᾳ, καὶ ταῖς πολλαῖς ἂν ὑπάρχειν ἀγνοεῖν ἀλλήλας, ὅσαι μὴ πόλεις πόλεων ἑξῆς τύχοιεν οὖσαι.
So that, if anyone should wish to colonize all these places, many cities would arise around the lakes, many on the shores of the sea, and not a few in the interior, and it would be the lot of most of them to be ignorant of one another, except those that happened to be cities adjacent to other cities.
καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐκ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης τῇ πόλει τοιαῦτα, ἀλλήλοις τε ἐφάμιλλα καὶ παραδείγμασιν οὐ πολλοῖς ἐνεχόμενα.
Such, then, are the things from land and sea for the city, vying with one another and bound by few parallels.
ἀλλὰ μὴν αὐτήν γε τὴν πόλιν καὶ ὡς νῆσον προσείποις ἂν καὶ ὡς χερρόνησον καὶ εἴ τι ἐπέκεινα χερρονήσου πρὸς ἤπειρον.
But indeed, the city itself you might address both as an island and as a peninsula, and if there is anything beyond a peninsula toward a mainland.
διὰ γὰρ τὸ μὴ κατʼ αὐχένα εἶναι διαβατὴν μηδὲ ἀπὸ στενοῦ τινος ὡρμῆσθαι, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ μήκους παρατείνουσαν τὴν ἤπειρον, κατʼ ἄμφω τὼ σκέλη συνεχῆ πρὸς αὐτὴν εἶναι, τό τε τῆς Σκύρου παράδειγμα ὑπερβέβληκε καὶ εἰ δή τις ἄλλη πόλις ἢ νῆσος παρὰ μικρὸν ἤπειρός ἐστι.
For because it is not passable by a narrow neck, nor does it start from some narrow point, but the mainland stretches along its length, and it is continuous with it along both legs, it has surpassed the example of Scyros, and indeed any other city or island that is almost a mainland.
καίτοι Θουκυδίδης γε ἐπαινεῖ Σικελίαν, ὅτι εἴκοσι σταδίους ἀπέχει τῆς ἠπείρου τοὐλάχιστον· ἡ δὲ τοσοῦτον ἄρα ἀπέχει τῆς ἠπείρου ὥστʼ ἐξεῖναι καὶ λαθεῖν τὸ μὴ νῆσον εἶναι, κἂν εἴ τις τὰ χώματα §239ἀνέλοι καὶ τὰς γεφύρας, ἐξεῖναι νήξασθαι πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐκ τῆς ἠπείρου.
And yet Thucydides praises Sicily because it is at least twenty stades distant from the mainland; but this city is so little distant from the mainland that it can even escape notice that it is not an island, and even if one should remove the moles and the bridges, it would be possible to swim to her from the mainland.
οὕτως καὶ ἡ νῆσος ἅπασα καὶ ἡ πόλις οὐδὲν ἀτιμοτέρα τὴν φύσιν τῶν μεγίστων νήσων Κρήτης καὶ Σικελίας.
Thus both the whole island and the city are in no way inferior in their nature to the greatest islands, Crete and Sicily.
κάλλη τοίνυν δημοσίων οἰκοδομημάτων καὶ τὴν ἅπασαν κατασκευὴν καὶ μέγεθος τῆς πόλεως οὔτʼ ἄπορος λόγων οὕτως οὐδεὶς ὥστε μὴ ἂν ἔχειν ἐπαινεῖν οὔθʼ οὕτω λέγειν ἱκανὸς ὥστε ῥᾳδίως ἂν ἐνδείξασθαι.
Indeed, as for the beauties of the public buildings, the entire construction, and the size of the city, no one is so lacking in words as not to be able to praise them, nor is anyone so capable of speaking as to be able to describe them easily.
ἐγὼ δὲ ἅπαντα τἄλλα παρεὶς, οὗ μάλιστα ἐμοὶ προσήκει μνημονεῦσαι, τοῦτο ἐκλέξομαι.
But I, letting pass all other things, will choose that which it is especially fitting for me to mention.
δοκεῖ γάρ μοι κάλλιστα δὴ τοῦτο συμβόλων δεικνύναι τὸν οἰκιστὴν, καὶ ὅτι τῶν κρειττόνων τινός ἐστι ποίημα· ἔοικε γάρ τις ἁπάντων εἶναι τῶν θεῶν ἱερὰ, ὥσπερ ἣν καλοῦσιν οὕτως ἀγοράν.
For it seems to me that this points out the founder in the most beautiful of proofs, and that it is the work of one of the higher powers; for she seems to be a kind of sanctuary of all the gods, just like that which they call by this name, the Agora.
ὥσπερ γὰρ κατὰ κλήρους ἅπασι θεοῖς ἐξῃρημένη πᾶσα δὴ μεμέρισται, καὶ αὐτὴν οἱ νεῲ διειλήφασιν ὥσπερ ἁμιλλωμένων θεῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας τῆς πόλεως.
For just as if she had been set apart and divided in its entirety for all the gods by lot, the temples have distributed her among themselves, as though the gods were vying with one another for the salvation of the city.
θυσίαι δὲ καὶ πομπαὶ καὶ πρόσοδοι καὶ θεραπεῖαι θεῶν μετὰ τῶν καθεστηκότων θεσμῶν οὐ πόρρω τῆς Ἀθηναίων πόλεως, τὸ μὴ τῇ συγγενείᾳ χρῆσθαι πρὸς τὸ βέλτιστον.
And sacrifices, processions, approaches, and worship of the gods, together with the established laws, are not far from those of the city of the Athenians, except for not using kinship for the best.
καὶ μὴν ἥ γε ἄλλη δύναμις τούτων ἀκόλουθος.
And indeed, their other power is in accordance with these.
τοσοῦτον γὰρ τῇ πόλει περίεστιν ὥστε καὶ τῶν ἑτέρωθι ναῶν καὶ ἄλλων κόσμων δημοσίων εἴ τις φαίη ταύτην εἶναι τὴν χορηγὸν, οὐκ ἂν αἰσχυνθείη· οὕτω λαμπρά τε καὶ κοινὰ πᾶσι τὰ ὄντα κέκτηται, καὶ οὔτε Ἰταλία τῶν ταύτης κτημάτων ὑπερορᾷ οὔτε Αἴγυπτος οὕτω πόρρω οὔτε Τυρρηνικὸν πέλαγος οὔτε Σύρων καὶ Κιλίκων, ποιητὴς ἂν εἴποι τις, ἐνστροφαὶ, οὔτε ἔθνος οὐδὲν ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν οὔτε κατʼ ἤπειρον οὔτʼ ἐν νήσοις, ὃ μὴ παρὰ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης κεκόσμηται.
For so much abundance remains to the city that if anyone should say that she is the sponsor of the temples elsewhere and of other public ornaments, he would not be put to shame; so brilliant and common to all are the possessions she has acquired, and neither Italy overlooks her possessions, nor Egypt so far away, nor the Tyrrhenian Sea, nor, as a poet might say, the windings of Syrians and Cilicians, nor, so to speak, any nation, whether on the mainland or in the islands, which has not been adorned by this city.
Ἴωνας δὲ καὶ Αἰολέας καὶ τὰς πρὸ ποδῶν νήσους τε καὶ πόλεις τί τις ἂν λέγοι;
And why should one speak of Ionians and Aeolians, and the islands and cities right before our feet?
καὶ τὸ δὴ νεανικώτατον, ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ ἀγαθοὶ δρομεῖς ἐκ πολλοῦ προέμενοι ῥᾳδίως αἱροῦσιν, οὕτως ἄρα καὶ ὑμεῖς πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ὧν ἐδεήθησαν παρασχόντες ἐπιστάντες αὐτοὶ τελευταῖοι.
And indeed, the most spirited thing: just as good runners, having let the others get far ahead, easily overtake them, so you too, having provided all men with what they needed, have yourself stood over them last of all.
πρὸς αὐτό γε ἥκω τὸ κλυδώνιον, πῶς ἂν εἴποιμι
I have come to the very crest of the wave; how might I speak of it?