§291φέρε δὴ καὶ τῶν ἀνωτέρω μνημονεύσωμεν, ἐάν τι δυνώμεθα· ὧν τὸ μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐδὲν ἡμῖν ἐπῄει γράφειν, ἀπιστίᾳ τοῦ μὴ περιέσεσθαι· ἔπειτα καὶ τὸ σῶμα οὕτως ἔχον οὐκ εἴα σχολάζειν τούτοις.
Come now, let us also recall those things of earlier times, if we are at all able; of which, at first, it did not occur to us at all to write, through disbelief that we would survive; then too, the body being in such a state did not permit us to attend to these things.
χρόνου δὲ αὖ προελθόντος ἕν τι τῶν ἀδυνάτων εἶναι ἐδόκει καὶ μνημονεῦσαι ἕκαστα καὶ διʼ ἀκριβείας εἰπεῖν· κρεῖττον οὖν εἶναι σιωπᾶν ὅλως ἢ λυμήνασθαι τοσούτοις ἔργοις.
And as time passed again, it seemed to be one of the impossible things both to recall each detail and to speak with accuracy; therefore, it seemed to be better to keep silence altogether than to ruin such great deeds.
καὶ πολλαί μοι παραιτήσεις ἐγίγνοντο ὑπὲρ τούτων καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους τοὺς ἀεὶ δεομένους εἰπεῖν καὶ ποιῆσαι περὶ αὐτῶν.
And many excuses were made by me on behalf of these things both to the god and to my friends who were always begging me to speak and write about them.
νυνὶ δὲ τοσούτοις ἔτεσι καὶ χρόνοις ὕστερον ὄψεις ὀνειράτων ἀναγκάζουσιν ἡμᾶς ἄγειν αὐτά πως εἰς μέσον.
But now, so many years and seasons later, visions of dreams compel us to bring them somehow into the open.
καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γε ἔχω λέγειν, ὅτι εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς προεῖπεν ὁ θεὸς ἀπογράφειν τὰ ὀνείρατα· καὶ τοῦτʼ ἦν τῶν ἐπιταγμάτων πρῶτον.
And yet, this much at least I can say, that straight from the beginning the god commanded us to register the dreams; and this was the first of his commands.
ἐγὼ δὲ τῶν μὲν ὀνειράτων τὴν ἀπογραφὴν ἐποιούμην, ὁπότε μὴ δυναίμην αὐτοχειρίᾳ, ὑπαγορεύων· οὐ μέντοι προσετίθην οὔτʼ ἐν οἷς ὄντι προσεγίγνετο ἕκαστα οὔθʼ ὁποῖʼ ἄττʼ ἀπέβαινεν ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἀλλʼ ἤρκει μοι ὥσπερ ἀφοσιοῦσθαι πρὸς τὸν θεὸν, ἅμα μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀδυναμίαν, ὥσπερ ἔφην, τοῦ σώματος, ἅμα δὲ οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἤλπισα εἰς τοσοῦτον προβήσεσθαι προνοίας τὸν θεόν· ἡ δʼ Ἀδράστεια κεκλήσθω μοι σὺν αὐτῷ.
And I used to make the registration of the dreams, whenever I was unable to do so with my own hand, by dictating them; however, I did not add either in what circumstances each occurred to me, or what kind of things resulted from them, but it was enough for me, as it were, to discharge my duty to the god, partly because of the weakness of my body, as I said, and partly because I would never have expected the god to advance to such a degree of providence; but let Adrasteia be invoked by me along with him.
ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῷ μὴ πάντα ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀρξάμενος γράφειν, ὥσπερ δακνόμενος καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ προϊέμην, τὰ μὲν ὡς ἂν ἑκών τις, τὰ δὲ ὡς ἄκων· ἑτέρας δὲ ὁδοὺς χαρίτων εὕρισκον πρὸς τὸν θεόν· ἐπεὶ μυριάδας γε ἐπῶν οὐκ ἔλαττον ἢ τριάκοντα ἡγοῦμαι τῆς ἀπογραφῆς εἶναι, ἀλλʼ οὔτʼ ἐπελθεῖν δή που ῥᾴδιον αὐτὰς οὔτʼ ἐφαρμόττειν ἑκάστοις ὅπως εἶχε τὰ τῶν χρόνων· πρός τε τούτοις ἔστιν ἃ καὶ διεφορήθη ἐν τῇ παντοδαπῇ φθορᾷ καὶ ἀκρασίᾳ τῶν κατʼ οἶκον περὶ τοὺς χρόνους τούτους.
Furthermore, also because of not having begun to write everything from the beginning, as if vexed, I let the rest go too, some as if willingly, and some as if unwillingly; and I was finding other ways of gratitude toward the god; since indeed I think that the register consists of no less than thirty tens of thousands of lines, but it is surely neither easy to go over them nor to fit to each how the circumstances of time stood; and in addition to these, there are some which were also dispersed in the total destruction and disorder of my household affairs around these times.
ὑπόλοιπον οὖν ἐστι κεφάλαια λέγειν, ἄλλα ἄλλοθεν §292ἀναμιμνησκόμενον, ὅπως ἂν ὁ θεὸς ἄγῃ τε καὶ κινῇ· καλοῦμεν δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ πρὸς αὐτὰ ταῦτα, ὥσπερ πρὸς ἅπαντα.
It remains, therefore, to state the main points, recalling some things from one source and some from another, recalling them, in whatever way the god may lead and move me; and we call upon him for these very things, just as for everything.
πάντως δʼ ἐστὶ πρὸς ἅπαντα κλητὸς, εἰ δή τις θεῶν.
In any case, he is to be invoked for everything, if indeed any of the gods is.
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐκομίσθην ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας, πολλὰ καὶ παντοῖα συνειλοχὼς τῷ σώματι ἀπὸ τῶν συνεχῶν καμάτων τε καὶ χειμώνων, οἷς ἐχρησάμην ἀπιὼν διὰ Θρᾴκης καὶ Μακεδονίας, ἔτι κάμνων ἐξελθὼν οἴκοθεν, ἦν τοῖς ἰατροῖς ἀπορία πολλὴ μὴ ὅτι ὠφελεῖν οὐκ ἔχουσιν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ γνωρίσαι ὅ τι εἴη τὸ σύμπαν.
For when I returned from Italy, having contracted many and various ailments in my body from the continuous hardships and winter storms which I experienced as I went away through Thrace and Macedonia, while I was still sick when I set out from home, there was great perplexity for the doctors, not to say that they had no power to help, but they could not even recognize what the whole illness was.
χαλεπώτατον δʼ ἁπάντων καὶ ἀπορώτατον ὅτι τοῦ πνεύματος ἀπεκεκλείμην, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς πραγματείας καὶ ἀπιστίας μόλις ἄν ποτε ἀνέπνευσα βιαίως καὶ ἀγαπητῶς, πνιγμοί τε παρηκολούθουν συνεχεῖς ἐν τῷ τραχήλῳ καὶ τὰ νεῦρα ἐπεφρίκει καὶ σκέπης ἔδει πλείονος ἢ φέρειν δυναίμην· χωρὶς δʼ ἕτερα ἀμύθητα ἠνώχλει.
And the most difficult and perplexing of all was that I was cut off from my breath, and with much trouble and disbelief, I would only with difficulty and by force, with relief, draw a breath at some time; and continuous suffocations in my throat followed, and my nerves shivered, and there was need of more covering than I was able to bear; and apart from these, other unspeakable troubles vexed me.
ἐδόκει δὴ χρῆναι τοῖς ὕδασι χρήσασθαι τοῖς θερμοῖς, εἴ τι δυναίμην γενέσθαι ῥᾴων, ἢ τὸν ἀέρα μᾶλλόν πως ἀνασχέσθαι· καὶ γὰρ ἦν ἤδη χειμῶνος ὥρα, ἀπέχει δὲ τῆς πόλεως οὐ πολύ.
So it seemed necessary to use the hot waters, in case I might become at all easier, or might somehow endure the air better; for indeed it was already the winter season, and they are not far distant from the city.
ἐνταῦθα πρῶτον ὁ σωτὴρ χρηματίζειν ἤρξατο.
There first the Savior began to give oracles.
ἀνυπόδητόν τε γὰρ προελθεῖν ἐπέταξε καὶ ἐβόων δὴ ἐν τῷ ὀνείρατι ὡς ἂν ὕπαρ τε καὶ ἐπʼ ὀνείρατι τετελεσμένῳ, μέγας ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς, τετέλεσται τὸ πρόσταγμα. ταῦθʼ ἅμα προϊὼν ἐδόκουν βοᾶν.
For he ordered me to go forth unshod, and indeed I cried out in the dream as if awake and as if over a completed dream: "Great is Asclepius, the command has been fulfilled!" I seemed to cry these things out at the same time as I went forward.
μετὰ ταῦτα κλῆσις καὶ ἄφιξις ἀπὸ Σμύρνης εἰς Πέργαμον μετὰ τῆς ἀγαθῆς τύχης.
After this, there was a summons and arrival from Smyrna to Pergamum with good fortune.
τὰ δʼ ἐντεῦθεν ἔστι μὲν οὐ κατʼ ἄνθρωπον διηγήσασθαι, ἐγχειρητέον δὲ, ὥσπερ ὑπεθέμην, ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς ἔνια αὐτῶν διελθεῖν.
The events from then on are impossible for a human being to narrate fully, but I must attempt, as I proposed, to go through some of them in a cursory way.
εἰ δέ τις τὰ ἀκριβέστατα γνῶναι βουλήσεται τῶν γεγενημένων ἡμῖν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὥρα τὰς διφθέρας αὐτῷ ζητεῖν καὶ τὰ ὀνείρατα αὐτά.
And if anyone wishes to know the most precise details of what was done for us by the god, it is time for him to look for the parchment rolls and the dreams themselves.
καὶ γὰρ ἰάματα παντὸς εἴδους καὶ διαλόγους τινὰς εὑρήσει καὶ λόγους ἐν μήκει καὶ φάσματα παντοῖα καὶ προρρήσεις ἁπάσας καὶ χρησμῳδίας περὶ παντοδαπῶν πραγμάτων, τὰς μὲν καταλογάδην, τὰς δὲ ἐν μέτροις γεγονυίας, καὶ χαρίτων πάντʼ ἄξια τῷ θεῷ μειζόνων ἤ τις ἂν εἰκάσαι.
For indeed he will find remedies of every kind, and certain dialogues, and speeches at length, and all kinds of visions, and all predictions and prophecies about all kinds of matters, some in prose, others having been made in verse, and all worthy of greater gratitude to the god than anyone could guess.
νῦν δὲ ἐνθένδε ποθὲν ἀρξώμεθα, ὡς ἐπειδὴ ἐγενόμεθα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν νυκτῶν φανεὶς ὁ θεὸς τῷ τροφεῖ μου ἐν τῷ Σαλβίου τοῦ νῦν ὑπάτου σχήματι—ὅστις δὲ ὁ Σάλβιος οὔπω τότε γε
But now, let us begin from somewhere around here: when we arrived at the temple, on the first of the nights the god appeared to my foster-father in the guise of Salvius, the current consul—who Salvius was, not yet indeed at that time...