§272ἐθαύμασεν;
...would not have admired and wondered?
οὔτε γὰρ ἐξεπλάγη πρὸς τὴν συμφορὰν, παραμυθίαν τε οὐκ ἐζήτησεν, οὐδʼ ἀνέμεινε καλλίω τῆς παρὰ τῶν βασιλέων ἅμα ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ γιγνομένης.
For the people were neither dismayed by the disaster, nor did they seek consolation, nor did they wait for anything more beautiful than the aid coming from the Emperors in both word and deed.
ὥστε ὁ τοῦ πένθους αὐτῷ καιρὸς ἑορτή τις ἐγεγόνει. καὶ μὴν τά γʼ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἡμεῖς μὲν ἀκοῇ γιγνώσκομεν, σὺ δʼ ὁρῶν κἂν ἑτέροις αὐτὸς ἐξηγοῖο.
Consequently, the very time of mourning had become a kind of festival for them.\nAnd indeed, as for what followed, we know it by report, but you, seeing it, could yourself explain it to others.
ἔοικε γὰρ οὐ πόρρω πεπραγέναι τοῦ μυθολογήματος ἡ πόλις τοῦ περὶ τὸν ἀρχηγέτην αὐτῇ λεχθέντος.
For the city seems to have fared not far from the myth told about her founder.
οἶσθʼ ὅτι φασὶν οἱ ποιηταὶ τὸν Πέλοπα κατὰ μέλη τμηθέντα ἑψηθέντα ἐν λέβητι συντεθῆναι πάλιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐκ τοῦ λέβητος, ἐλλείποντος δὲ τοῦ ὤμου σχεῖν ἐλεφάντινον ἀντὶ τοῦ παλαιοῦ· καὶ φασὶ τὸ ἔργον Δήμητρος γενέσθαι.
You know that the poets say Pelops was cut limb from limb, boiled in a cauldron, and put together again from the beginning out of the cauldron, and because his shoulder was missing, he had an ivory one instead of the old one; and they say this deed was the work of Demeter.
ὣς δὲ καὶ τῇ πόλει μετʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν λέβητα, ὃς αὐτῇ πάντα ἐπέφλεξεν, ἡ δευτέρα σύστασις εἰς θαυμαστήν τινα ἐλήλυθε κάλλους περιουσίαν, ὥσπερ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἐξεπίτηδες τῇ τριαίνῃ κινήσαντος αὐτὴν, ἵνʼ ἴδοι καλλίονα ἢ πρὸ τοῦ· οἷόν τι καὶ περὶ Θετταλίαν λέγεται φιλανθρωπεύσασθαι, τὴν διασφάγα ποιήσας τῶν Τεμπῶν ἕνεκα τῷ Πηνειῷ.
In the same way, for the city also, after that cauldron which consumed her entirely, her second reconstruction has attained a wondrous abundance of beauty, just as if Poseidon had purposely shaken her with his trident, so that he might see her more beautiful than before; in the same manner as he is said to have acted kindly towards Thessaly, making the cleft of Tempe for the sake of the river Peneius.
καὶ γάρ τοι πρότερον μὲν οὐδʼ εἰς ἐπίνοιαν ὑπερβολῆς ἐλθεῖν ἦν, ἀλλʼ ἐδόκει παράδειγμα κάλλους ἡ πόλις εἶναι, νυνὶ δʼ ἐξηλέγχθημεν ἄρα οὐκ ὀρθῶς δοξάζοντες.
For indeed, previously it was not even possible to conceive of an excess of beauty, but the city seemed to be a model of beauty; yet now we are proved after all to have held an incorrect opinion.
τότε μὲν γὰρ τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις, νῦν δʼ αὐτὴ σχεδὸν ὡς εἰπεῖν ἑαυτὴν νενίκηκε· καί μοι δοκεῖ προσόμοιον τῇ μητροπόλει παθεῖν.
For then she conquered other cities, but now she has, so to speak, conquered herself; and she seems to me to have experienced something very similar to her mother city.
μνησθήσομαι δʼ εἰκόνος οὐ μυθώδους, ἀλλʼ ἀναγκαίας πιστεῦσαι.
I will mention an image not mythical, but one which we are compelled to believe.
ἐκείνη τε γὰρ ἐμπρησθεῖσα ὑπὸ τοῦ Πέρσου καὶ πάντα τρόπον διαφθαρεῖσα ἐπέδωκεν ἁπανταχῆ, τῇ τε πόλει κέρδος τὸ σύμπτωμα, ὑπὸ τοιαύτης χειρὸς ἐγείρεται πάντη σεμνοτέρα καὶ ὑψηλοτέρα καὶ στεγανωτέρα, καλοῦμεν δὲ Ἀδράστειαν, καλῶν δὲ ὄντων ἁπάντων τῶν ὁρωμένων τούτων κόσμων ἕτερον μείζω προσείληφεν.
For that city, having been burnt by the Persian and destroyed in every way, made progress in every direction, the disaster turning into a gain for the city; and by such a hand she is raised up, in every way more august, higher, and more secure. We invoke Adrasteia, but while all these visible adornments are beautiful, she has acquired another greater ornament.
οἰκισταὶ γὰρ αὐτῆς οἱ πάσας τὰς πόλεις ὑφʼ ἑαυτοὺς ἔχοντες, οὓς οὔτε φιλανθρωπίᾳ οὔτε ἔργων ἀποδείξεσιν οὐδείς πω νενίκηκεν· ὧνπερ οἶμαι καὶ μόνων ἦν κρεῖττόν τι τῆς §273τότε Σμύρνης ἐξευρεῖν. τοιαύτη τις ἡμῖν τῆς τύχης ἡ περὶ τὴν πόλιν γέγονε παλινῳδία.
For her refounders are those who hold all cities under their sway, whom no one has ever yet surpassed either in benevolence or in the demonstration of deeds; by whom alone, I believe, it was possible to devise something better than the Smyrna of that time.\nSuch has been for us this recantation of fortune concerning the city.
καὶ δὴ τῇ τε Ἰωνίᾳ καλῶς ὁ στέφανος σέσωσται ἥ τε Ἀσία τὸ πρόσχημα κεκόμισται.
And indeed, the crown has been finely preserved for Ionia, and Asia has recovered her ornament.
παράδειγμα δὲ τῶν ἀνελπίστων τὰ τῆς πόλεως γέγονε πράγματα, ὡς οὔτʼ ἐξ οὐρίων θέουσιν οὐδὲν ἀπώμοτον οὔτε λυθείσης τῆς νεὼς ἀνέλπιστον τὸ μὴ οὐ κρεῖττόν τι συμβήσεσθαι.
The affairs of the city have become an example of things unexpected, showing that nothing is to be sworn impossible for those running before a favorable wind, nor is it hopeless for those whose ship is wrecked that some better thing will not happen.
Μέλητα δὲ κοσμεῖν ἑτέροις τὰ νῦν παρίημι· καίτοι μέγιστός γε αὐτὸς αὑτῷ κόσμος ἐστὶν ὁρώμενος, ᾧ γε καὶ θέρος καὶ χειμὼν τὸν αὐτὸν ἔχει λόγον, καὶ οὔτε ἐξ ὄμβρων ποτὲ ὕβρισεν οὔτε αὐχμοῖς εἶξεν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἀκινήτων, ἓν μὲν σχῆμα, μίαν δὲ χρόαν τὸν ἀεὶ σώζει χρόνον.
But to adorn the Meles, I now leave to others; and yet he is himself his own greatest ornament as he is seen, for whom both summer and winter have the same character, and he has never run riot from rains nor yielded to droughts, but like some other of things immovable, he preserves one form and one color through all time.
καὶ μὴν οὐ πλάνης γε ὁ Μέλης οὐδʼ οἷος ἀποφοιτᾶν, ἀλλʼ ἔοικεν ἐραστῇ τινι τῆς πόλεως οὐ τολμῶντι μακροτέραν ἀπογίγνεσθαι, ἅτε, οἶμαι, ἄσβεστον μὲν αὐτῆς τὸν ἔρωτα, ἄσβεστον δὲ τὴν φυλακὴν ἔχων.
And indeed, the Meles is no wanderer, nor one to depart, but seems like a lover of the city who does not dare to be away for long, since, I suppose, he has an unquenchable love for her and an unquenchable guardianship.
ὥστε αὐτόθεν ὁρμηθεὶς αὐτοῦ καὶ παύεται, παρατείνας κώλῳ τινὶ τῆς πόλεως ἑαυτόν.
So, starting from that very place, he also ends there, stretching himself along some limb of the city.
ταυτὶ μὲν οὖν ὥσπερ οἱ νυμφόληπτοι δυνάμει τινὶ τῶν Νυμφῶν αὐτῶν ἔοικα προσμελῳδῆσαι περὶ τὸν Μέλητα, οὐχ οὕτω προθέμενος.
These things indeed I seem to have sung in addition about the Meles, like those possessed by nymphs, through some power of the Nymphs themselves, without having so intended.
ἔδει δὲ ἴσως καὶ τοῖς παισὶν ὥσπερ ἄλλην τινὰ μοῖραν τοῦ λόγου σωθῆναι.
But perhaps it was necessary that for his children too, as it were, another portion of the speech should be preserved.
τιθείη δʼ ἄν τις καὶ τοῦτʼ εἰς ἀγαθὸν σύμβολον σέ τε ἡμῖν ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις ἥκειν καὶ τὴν περίοδον οὕτω συμβαίνειν, ὥστε σὲ τὴν πατρῴαν ἀρχὴν ἀκριβῶς ἀνανεώσασθαι ταῖς περὶ τὴν Σμύρναν διατριβαῖς.
One might also count this as a good omen, that you have come to us to visit the cities, and that your circuit so coincides that you accurately renew your father's rule by your stay around Smyrna.
τῆς γὰρ πόλεως ὁ καιρὸς πολὺς, νικῴη δὲ τὰ τῆς ἀγαθῆς τύχης πανταχῆ.
For the city's opportunity is great, and may the affairs of good fortune conquer everywhere.