§287ἑκάστῃ τῇ ἐπιούσῃ πράξαντες ἂν πάλιν τὰ εἰωθότα οὕτω τροφὴν ᾑρούμεθα ὅσην δὴ, καὶ ὅτε γε ἐπὶ τῷ ἐμέτῳ ἀσιτία ἐγκατέλαβε, τοῦτο ἦν τὸ παραμυθησάμενον, ἡ περὶ ταῦτα ἀσχολία τε καὶ διατριβή· ὥσθʼ ὅταν ἐνθυμηθῶ τοῦ ἐκ τοῦ συμποσίου Σωκράτους ἐν Λυκείῳ διημερεύοντος, μηδὲν ἐλάττω μοι προσήκειν οἴεσθαι τῆς περὶ ταῦτα καρτερίας τε καὶ δυνάμεως χάριν εἰδέναι τῷ θεῷ.
On each following day, having again done our accustomed things, we would thus take as much food as we did, and indeed when fasting overtook me after the vomiting, this was what comforted me, my occupation and pastime with these studies; so that whenever I recall Socrates, who spent the day in the Lyceum after the banquet, I think that I am no less bound to feel gratitude to the god for my endurance and strength in these matters.
τοσαῦτα μὲν τὰ παρὰ τοῦ ἤτρου.
Such was the trouble with the abdomen.
ὅμοιον δὲ τῷ περὶ τὸ ἦτρον συνέβη καὶ τὸ τοῦ φύματος πολλοῖς ἔτεσι πρότερον.
And a similar thing to that of the abdomen happened also in the case of the tumor many years before.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ θεὸς προὔλεγεν ἐκ πολλοῦ δεῖν ὕδερον φυλάττεσθαι, καὶ ἄλλα τε ἔδωκεν ἀλεξιφάρμακα καὶ ὑποδήματα Αἰγύπτια, οἷσπερ οἱ ἱερεῖς χρῆσθαι νομίζουσι.
For the god had foretold from long ago that I must guard against dropsy, and gave other remedies and Egyptian shoes, which the priests are accustomed to use.
καὶ δὴ καὶ ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ τὸ ῥεῦμα ἀπάγειν κάτω.
And indeed it also pleased him to draw the flow downward.
καὶ γίγνεται φῦμα ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς οὐδεμιᾶς φανερᾶς τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἷον ἄν τῳ καὶ ἄλλῳ γένοιτο, ἔπειτα προῆλθεν εἰς ὄγκον ἐξαίσιον, καὶ ὅ τε βουβὼν μεστὸς ἦν καὶ πάντα ἐξῴδει, καὶ ὀδύναι παρηκολούθουν δειναὶ καὶ πυρετὸς ἔστιν ἃς ἡμέρας.
And there arose a tumor, from no visible origin at first, such as might happen to anyone else, then it progressed to an extraordinary size, and the groin was full and everything swelled, and terrible pains followed, and fever for some days.
ἐνταῦθα οἱ μὲν ἰατροὶ πάσας φωνὰς ἠφίεσαν, οἱ μὲν τέμνειν, οἱ δὲ ἐπικάειν φαρμάκοις, ἢ πάντως δεῖν ὑπόπυον γενόμενον διαφθαρῆναι.
Thereupon the doctors uttered all kinds of voices, some saying to cut, others to cauterize with drugs, or that in any case it must be destroyed when it became suppurated.
ὁ δὲ θεὸς τὴν ἐναντίαν ἐτίθετο, ἀντέχειν καὶ τρέφειν τὸν ὄγκον· καὶ δηλαδὴ οὐχ αἵρεσις ἦν ἢ τῶν ἰατρῶν ἀκούειν, ἢ τοῦ θεοῦ.
But the god took the opposite view, to hold out and nourish the swelling; and of course there was no choice whether to listen to the doctors or to the god.
ὁ δὲ ὄγκος ἔτι ἐπὶ μᾶλλον ᾔρετο καὶ ἦν ἀπορία πολλή.
And the swelling rose still more, and there was great perplexity.
τῶν δὲ φίλων οἱ μὲν ἐθαύμαζον τὴν καρτερίαν, οἱ δὲ ἐνεκάλουν ὡς λίαν ἅπαντα ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀνείρασι ποιουμένῳ, τινὲς δὲ καὶ ὡς ἄτολμον ἐπῃτιῶντο, ἐπειδὴ οὐ παρεῖχον τέμνειν οὐδʼ αὖ φαρμάκων ἠνειχόμην.
Of my friends, some wondered at my endurance, others accused me of doing everything too much on the strength of dreams, and some even blamed me as cowardly, since I did not allow them to cut nor did I tolerate drugs.
ὁ δʼ αὖ θεὸς διὰ τέλους ἀντεῖχε, κελεύων φέρειν τὸ παρόν· πάντως γὰρ αὐτὸ ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας εἶναι, εἶναι γὰρ τοῦ ῥύματος τούτου τὰς πηγὰς ἄνω, τοὺς δὲ κηπουροὺς τούτους οὐκ εἰδέναι τοὺς ὀχετοὺς ᾗ χρὴ τρέπειν.
But the god on his part held out to the end, ordering me to bear the present; for in any case it was for my salvation, since the sources of this flow were above, and these gardeners did not know into which channels they ought to turn it.
συνέβαινε δὴ θαυμαστά.
Indeed, wonderful things happened.
ἐγένοντο γὰρ μῆνες τέτταρες μάλιστα τῆς διατριβῆς ταύτης.
For this state of affairs lasted about four months.
ἐν δὲ τούτοις κεφαλὴ μὲν οὕτω κούφη καὶ τὰ ἄνω τῆς κοιλίας, ὡς ἂν μάλιστά τις εὔξαιτο· ἔτι δὲ οἷον πανήγυρις ἦν κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν.
During these, my head was so light and the upper part of my stomach, as one would most pray for; moreover, there was as it were a festival in the house.
οἱ γὰρ φίλοι τὰ πρῶτα τῶν τότε Ἑλλήνων ὄντες ἀπήντων ἀεὶ καὶ συνῆσάν μοι κατὰ τοὺς λόγους αὐτόθεν ἐκ κλίνης τοὺς ἀγῶνας ποιουμένῳ.
For my friends, who were the foremost of the Greeks of that time, always met and were with me, as I engaged in rhetorical contests right there from my bed.
§288πολλὰ μὲν οὖν καὶ παράδοξα ἐπετάχθημεν· ὧν δὲ ἀπομνημονεύω, δρόμος τέ ἐστιν ὃν ἔδει δραμεῖν ἀνυπόδητον χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ· καὶ πάλιν ἱππασία πραγμάτων ἀπορώτατον.
Now indeed we were ordered many and paradoxical things; and of those which I remember, there is a race which I had to run barefoot in the winter season; and again, riding, a most impossible thing.
καί τι καὶ τοσοῦτον μέμνημαι· τοῦ γὰρ λιμένος κυμαίνοντος ἐξ ἀνέμου λιβὸς καὶ τῶν πλοίων ταραττομένων, ἔδει διαπλεύσαντα εἰς τὸ ἀντιπέρας μέλιτος καὶ δρυὸς βαλάνων φαγόντα ἐμέσαι, καὶ γίγνεται δὴ κάθαρσις ἐντελής.
And I also remember something of this sort: when the harbor was rough from the southwest wind and the ships were tossed about, I had to sail across to the opposite side, and having eaten honey and acorns of an oak, to vomit, and indeed a complete purging took place.
πάντα δὲ ταῦτα ἐν ἀκμῇ τῆς φλεγμονῆς οὔσης ἐπράττετο καὶ δὴ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀναχωρούσης τὸν ὀμφαλόν.
All these things were done when the inflammation was at its height and indeed retreating toward the navel itself.
τέλος δὲ ὁ σωτὴρ σημαίνει τῆς αὐτῆς νυκτὸς ταυτὸν ἐμοί τε καὶ τῷ τροφεῖ, περιῆν γὰρ δὴ τότε ὁ Ζώσιμος, ὥστε ἐγὼ μὲν ἔπεμπον ἐκείνῳ φράσων ἃ εἰρηκὼς εἴη ὁ θεὸς, ὁ δʼ ἀπήντα φράσων αὐτός μοι ἃ ἀκηκόει τοῦ θεοῦ.
Finally, the Savior indicated the same thing on the same night both to me and to my foster-father, for Zosimus was indeed then still alive, so that I was sending to tell him what the god had said, while he met me to tell me himself what he had heard from the god.
ἦν δέ τι φάρμακον οὗ τὰ μὲν καθʼ ἕκαστα οὐ μέμνημαι, ἁλῶν δὲ ὅτι μετεῖχεν.
There was some drug of which I do not remember the particulars, but that it contained salt.
ὡς δὲ ἐπεπάσαμεν, ἔρρει δὴ ταχὺ τοῦ ὄγκου τὸ πλεῖστον, καὶ ἅμα ἕω παρῆσαν οἱ ἐπιτήδειοι χαίροντες μετὰ ἀπιστίας.
When we applied it, most of the swelling quickly flowed away, and at dawn my friends were present, rejoicing with disbelief.
ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ἤδη τῶν μὲν ἐγκλημάτων ἐπαύσαντο ἰατροὶ καὶ ἐθαύμαζον ὑπερφυῶς ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν πρόνοιαν, καὶ ὡς ἕτερόν τι ἦν ἄρα μεῖζον, ὃ λάθρα ἰᾶτο, τὸ δὲ τοῦ κόλπου τίνα ἂν τρόπον κατασταίη διεσκοποῦντο· καὶ ἐδόκει αὐτοῖς νῦν γε δὴ πάντως δεῖν τομῆς, οὐ γὰρ εἶναι ἄλλως εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον καταστῆναι.
From then on, the doctors ceased their accusations and wondered exceedingly at the providence of the god in each matter, and realized that there was indeed some other greater thing which he was curing in secret, but they considered how the cavity might be restored; and it seemed to them that now in any case cutting was absolutely necessary, for there was no other way to restore it to its former state.
καὶ μετὰ τοῦτό γε ἠξίουν συγχωρῆσαι, πάντως δὲ ἤδη πεπρᾶχθαι τά γε τοῦ θεοῦ.
And after this they asked me to consent, saying that the work of the god had in any case already been done.
ὁ δʼ ἄρα οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἐκείνοις παρῆκεν, ἀλλʼ οὔσης τῆς ἀποστάσεως θαυμαστῆς ὅσης καὶ δοκοῦντος ἅπαντος ἀπηλλοτριῶσθαι τοῦ δέρματος, ὠὸν κελεύσας ἐπιχρίειν οὕτως ἰάσατο καὶ συνήγαγε πάντα εἰς ταυτὸν, ὥστε ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν παρελθουσῶν οὐδεὶς οἷός τʼ ἦν εὑρεῖν ἐν ὁποτέρῳ μηρῷ τὸ φῦμα ἐκεῖνο ἐγένετο, ἀλλʼ ἤστην ἀμφοτέρω καθαρὼ τοῖς ἅπασι.
But he did not yield even this to them, but although the separation was wonderfully great and all the skin seemed to have been alienated, by ordering to smear egg on it, he thus cured it and brought everything together into the same place, so that when a few days had passed, no one was able to find on which thigh that tumor had been, but both were completely clean.
Ζώσιμος δὲ ἦν οὗτος, ᾧ μεγάλη δωρεὰ γίγνεται παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ χρόνῳ ὕστερον· ἔσχε δὲ οὑτωσί.
This was Zosimus, to whom a great gift came from the god some time later; and it was as follows.
ἀπῄειμεν διὰ Μυσίας εἰς Πέργαμον, ἐπισχόντος δὲ ὀνείρατος καθʼ ὁδὸν ἔμεινα ἡμέρας πλείους, συνεχῶς
We were going through Mysia to Pergamum, and a dream having stopped us on the way, I remained for several days, continuously...