§240ὅσον βούλομαι;
How might I speak of it as much as I wish?
ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον ἂν εἴποιμι ὅσον εἰπὼν συγγνοίην ἐμαυτῷ.
But I would say just so much as, by saying it, I might forgive myself.
πάντας γὰρ μικροῦ δέω λέγειν ὅσοι τοῖς ὁμοίοις ἐνεχείρησαν ὡσπερεὶ παῖδας ἀπεφήνατε, τοσοῦτον ἔργον ἐγείραντες, ὅσον ἐνθυμηθῆναι μὲν ἂν μανίας ἔργον εἶναι ἔδοξεν, ἐκτελέσαι δὲ κρεῖττον ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον.
For, by raising up so great a work, you have shown almost all who have attempted similar things to be like children, so to speak—a work which to conceive would have seemed to be the act of madness, but to complete is beyond human power.
ἀπορήσαι τις ἂν πότερον ἐνταυθοῖ μετενήνεκται τῆς νήσου τὸ πλεῖστον ἢ κατὰ χώραν μένει.
One might wonder whether the greater part of the island has been transferred here, or remains in its place.
οἶμαι δʼ ἂν ἅπαντας συμφῆσαι μήτε πόλεως ἂν ἄλλης εἶναι τὸ ἀνάθημα μήτε λιθοτομίας ἑτέρας ἢ τῆς ὑμετέρας· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἀρκέσαι τὴν φύσιν.
And I think everyone would agree that the offering could belong to no other city, nor come from any other quarry than yours; for nature would not have sufficed.
πρότερον μὲν γὰρ τῶν νήσων ταῖς κορυφαῖς ἐτεκμαίροντο οἱ πλέοντες, Κύζικος ἥδε, Προκόννησος αὕτη, τῶν ἄλλων ἣν ἴδοι τις· νῦν δὲ ὁ νεὼς ἀντὶ τῶν ὀρῶν ἀρκεῖ, καὶ μόνοις ὑμῖν οὐδὲν δεῖ λαμπτήρων οὐδὲ πυρσῶν οὐδὲ πύργων πρὸς τοὺς καταίροντας, ἀλλʼ ὁ νεὼς πληρῶν ἅπαν τὸ ὁρώμενον τήν τε πόλιν καὶ τὴν μεγαλοψυχίαν τῶν ἐχόντων αὐτὴν ὁμοῦ δηλοῖ, καὶ τοσοῦτος ὢν καλλίων ἐστὶν ἢ μείζων.
For previously, mariners used to judge by the summits of the islands—this is Cyzicus, that is Proconnesus, or whatever other island one might see; but now the temple suffices instead of the mountains, and for you alone there is no need of lamps, nor of torches, nor of towers for those who are putting in to port; rather, the temple, filling the whole visible space, displays at once both the city and the high-mindedness of those who possess it, and, being so great, it is even more beautiful than it is large.
εἰ δʼ ἔτυχον παριόντες Ὅμηρος καὶ Ἡσίοδος, ῥᾳδίως ἄν μοι δοκοῦσιν εἰπεῖν τὸ περὶ τοῦ τείχους τοῦ Τρωικοῦ μυθολόγημα μεταθέντες, ὡς ἄρα Ποσειδῶν καὶ Ἀπόλλων κοινῇ φιλοτεχνήσαντες ἀπειργάσαντο τὸ ἔργον τῇ πόλει, ὁ μὲν τὴν πέτραν παρασχὼν ἐκ τοῦ βυθοῦ τῆς θαλάττης καὶ ἅμα ποιήσας δυνατὴν εἶναι κομισθῆναι, ὁ δʼ ὥσπερ εἰκὸς οἰκιστὴν βουληθεὶς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν κοσμῆσαι προσθήκῃ τηλικαύτῃ.
And if Homer and Hesiod had happened to pass by, they would easily, it seems to me, have spoken by transferring the myth about the Trojan wall, saying that indeed Poseidon and Apollo, having crafted it in common with art, accomplished the work for the city, the one having provided the rock from the depth of the sea and at the same time made it possible to be conveyed, and the other, as is reasonable, wishing to adorn his own city with such a great addition.
φαίης ἂν τῶν μὲν λίθων ἕκαστον ἀντὶ νεὼ τοῦ παντὸς εἶναι, τὸν δὲ νεὼν ἀντὶ τοῦ παντὸς περιβόλου, τὸν δʼ αὖ περίβολον τοῦ νεὼ πόλεως ἀποχρῶντα γίγνεσθαι.
One might say that each of the stones is equivalent to a whole temple, and the temple itself to an entire circuit wall, and the circuit wall of the temple in turn becomes sufficient for a city.
εἰ δὲ βούλει τὰ τῆς ῥᾳστώνης καὶ τρυφῆς, ἀντὶ γὰρ τῶν οἰκιῶν τῶν τριωρόφων καὶ τῶν τριήρων πάρεστιν ὁρᾶν νεὼν τὸν μέγιστον, τῶν μὲν ἄλλων πολλαπλασίονα, αὐτὸν δὲ τριπλοῦν τῇ φύσει.
And if you wish to consider the things of ease and luxury, instead of three-story houses and triremes, it is possible to see the greatest temple, many times larger than the others, and itself threefold in its nature.
τὰ μὲν γὰρ αὐτοῦ κατάγειός ἐστι θέα, τὰ δʼ ὑπερῶος, μέση δὲ ἡ νενομισμένη.
For part of it is a subterranean sight, another is the upper floor, and the middle is the customary one.
δρόμοι δὲ §241ὑπὸ γῆν τε καὶ κρεμαστοὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ διήκοντες κύκλῳ, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἐν προσθήκης μέρει, ἀλλʼ ἐξεπίτηδες εἶναι δρόμοι πεποιημένοι.
And tracks both under the earth and suspended running through it in a circle, as if not by way of addition, but having been made on purpose to be tracks.
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν οὐδὲν δεῖ λόγῳ κοσμεῖν, ἀλλʼ εἰς τοὺς γεωμέτρας καὶ ἐπαινέτας ἀποθέσθαι, καὶ τούτων ὅσοι τέλειοι καὶ ἱκανοὶ μετρῆσαι πρᾶγμα τοσοῦτον· ὡς ἐγὼ καὶ τοῦτο ὀρρωδῶ, μὴ οὐδὲ τούτοις πᾶσιν ᾖ τὴν ἀκρίβειαν ἐξευρεῖν.
These things, therefore, there is no need to adorn with speech, but they should be set aside for the geometers and praisers, and of these, those who are perfect and capable of measuring so great a thing; since I fear even this, lest it not be possible even for all of them to find the accuracy.
εἰ γάρ τις ἀποσταίη τῶν λόγων τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ νεὼ, ἱκανὸν καὶ τὰ μηχανήματα καὶ τὰ ὀχήματα θαυμάσαι, ἃ πρόσθεν οὐκ ὄντα κατʼ ἀνθρώπους ἐξεῦρεν ἡ χρεία τοῦ νεώ.
For if one should stand aloof from the words concerning the temple itself, it is enough to marvel also at the machines and the carriages, which, not existing before among men, the need of the temple invented.
ἄξιον δὲ καὶ τῆς τύχης ἕνεκα ὑμῖν συνησθῆναι.
And it is worthy to rejoice with you also on account of your fortune.
ἐπεγράψασθε μὲν γὰρ τὸν ἄριστον τῶν εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον βασιλέων· ἥκει δὲ ὑμῖν τὸ ἔργον πρὸς τέλος ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς καιροῖς, οἳ τὰ καλῶν αὖ κάλλιστα εἰλήχασι καὶ ὑπὲρ ὧν δικαιότατʼ ἂν χαριστήριον τοσοῦτον ἑστηκὸς εἴη τοῖς θεοῖς, ἐπειδήπερ οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἦν μεῖζον ἐξευρεῖν.
For you enrolled the best of the kings of that time; and the work has come to an end for you in these times, which have indeed obtained by lot the most beautiful of beautiful things, and for which it would be most just that such a great thank-offering should stand for the gods, since indeed it was not easy to find a greater one.
ὅτι μὲν δὴ πλείστους οὗτοι τῶν πρὸ αὐτῶν βασιλέων προγόνους βασιλέας παρέσχοντο καὶ ὁποία τις ἡ τοῦ γένους αὐτοῖς ἀμφοτέρωθεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς κατασκευὴ, καὶ τροφὴν ἥντινα ἐτράφησαν καὶ ἐφʼ οἷστισι, καὶ τῆς παιδείας τῆς συμπάσης τὴν περιούσιαν, μακρός τε λόγος διεξιέναι καὶ οὐδαμῶς πληρῶσαι ῥᾴδιος· ὃ δὲ τῇ τε παρούσῃ συνόδῳ μάλιστα πρέπειν ἀκοῦσαί μοι δοκεῖ καὶ αὐτῶν ἰδιαιότατον ἐγκώμιον καὶ τῶν εἰς μνήμην ἡκόντων ἐν λόγῳ θαυμαστότατον καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν εὐγένειάν τε καὶ παιδείαν ἔχει συλλαβὸν καὶ οὔτʼ ἰδιώτης οὐδεὶς δύναται σιωπᾶν πόλις τε ἅπασα καὶ γένη ἅπαντα ἀνθρώπων ἐκπέπληκται, περὶ τοῦτο εἰς ὅσον ἔξεστι διατρίψομεν.
Now, that these kings provided more ancestral kings than any of those before them, and what kind of ancestral establishment of family there was for them from the beginning on both sides, and what training they were trained in and upon what principles, and the abundance of their entire education—this is a long story to relate and in no way easy to complete; but that which seems to me especially to benefit the present assembly to hear, and is their own most particular praise, and the most wondrous among those that have come into memory in speech, and which contains in itself all their noble birth and education, and which no private citizen can keep silent, and at which every city and every race of men has been struck with amazement—upon this, as far as it is permitted, we shall dwell.
οὗτοι γάρ εἰσιν οἱ τὴν παροιμίαν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἄραντες καὶ διὰ τῶν μεγίστων ἔργων ὅρον δείξαντες ὅτι τῷ ὄντι κοινὰ τὰ φίλων, οὐχ ἵππων ἀγέλης, οὐδὲ σκευῶν, οὐδὲ πλέθρων τινῶν γῆς κοινωνήσαντες, οὐδʼ εἰς ὅσον πρόσθεν μήκιστον
For these are they who have raised the proverb to the highest degree and shown by their greatest works the definition, that in truth the things of friends are common, having shared not a herd of horses, nor vessels, nor some plethra of land, nor as far as the longest before...