§315νεωκόρον ἔγνων ὅτι εἴη κάθαρσις τριῶν, ὀποῦ τε ᾧ χριόμεθα καὶ μύρου ναρδίνου καὶ ἑτέρου μύρου τῶν πολυτελῶν, ἔστι δʼ, οἶμαι, τοῦ φύλλου ἐπώνυμον.
the temple-warden, I learned that it was a compound of three ingredients: the sap with which we anointed ourselves, nard ointment, and another expensive ointment which is named, I believe, after the leaf.
σκευάσας δὲ ἐχρώμην οὕτως τὸ λοιπὸν καὶ πάντα ἐκεῖνα ἐκεχάλαστο.
Having prepared it, I used it in this way for the remaining time, and all those symptoms were relaxed.
ἐφάνη δὲ καὶ ὁ Τελεσφόρος νύκτωρ, χορεύων περὶ τὸν τράχηλόν μου, καὶ ἀπέλαμπεν ἐν τῷ καταντικρὺ τοίχῳ σέλας ὥσπερ ἐξ ἡλίου.
Telesphorus also appeared at night, dancing around my neck, and a brilliance like that from the sun shone on the opposite wall.
περὶ δὲ τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον ἅμα τοιόνδε ἦν μοι, εἴτε ἐμοῦντι τῆς ἑσπέρας ἤδη εἴτε καὶ οὔπω ἦσαν οἱ ἔμετοι.
Around this time, the following also happened to me at the same time, whether I was already vomiting in the evening or the vomiting had not yet begun.
κάρυον καὶ ἰσχάδα καὶ φοίνικος βάλανον καὶ ἅμα ἄρτου τι πρὸς αὐτοῖς ἐσθίειν ἐδεῖτο ἐξ εὐνῆς.
The god required me to eat, upon rising from bed, walnuts, dried figs, dates, and along with these some bread.
τούτοις δὲ ἐχρώμην τε ἐκ τοῦδε ἐπὶ τῷ χρήματι.
I used these from then on in addition to the remedy.
στομάχου τε καὶ ὑποχονδρίων καὶ τοῦ περὶ ταῦτα τόπου φάρμακον δίδωσι καταπλαστὸν ἀνωτέρω μοι δοκεῖν τούτων.
For my stomach, hypochondria, and the region around them, the god gave a plaster remedy, earlier, I think, than these things.
δίδωσι δὲ τοιαύτην δόξαν παραστήσας· Ἀσκληπιακὸν τὸν ἰατρὸν ἐδόκουν εἰσελθόντα ὡς ἐμὲ καὶ ἐπισκοποῦντα καταπλάττειν, διὰ δικτάμνου καλουμένῳ φαρμάκῳ, καὶ ἅμα προλέγειν τριάκονθʼ ἡμέρας χρήσασθαι.
He gave it by presenting such a vision: I seemed to see the physician Asclepiacus enter my room, examine me, apply a plaster with a drug called dictamnus, and at the same time foretell that I should use it for thirty days.
ἐχρώμην, καὶ ἥ τε δὴ τριακοστὴ νὺξ ἧκε καὶ τὸν Ἀσκληπιακὸν αὖθις ἐδόκουν ἐλθόντα ἀφαιρεῖν τὸ κατάπλασμα.
I used it, and when the thirtieth night indeed arrived, I seemed to see Asclepiacus come again and remove the plaster.
χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον ἐκ τεττάρων τι συνθεὶς ἐπέθηκεν, ὧν τὰ μὲν δύο μέμνημαι, πίτταν ἐξ οἴνου καὶ οἴσυπον, τὼ δύο δὲ, εἰ φανείη τὰ ὀνείρατα, ἀναπληρώσομεν.
Sometime later, having composed something from four ingredients, he applied it; two of these I remember, wine-pitch and sheep-grease, and the other two, if the dreams should appear, we shall fill in.
καὶ μὴν περί γε τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ φαρμάκου τοῦ θηρείου τοιόνδε μέμνημαι.
Furthermore, concerning the name of the wild-beast remedy, I remember the following.
ἔτυχον μὲν ἅπας ἐσθίων καὶ πολὺ τῆς ἡμέρας ἀπολιπὼν, ὁ δὲ δειπνεῖν τε ἐπέταξε καὶ ἀναστάντα πιεῖν τοῦ φαρμάκου τούτου· καὶ εἰς πέντε ἑξῆς ἡμέρας ἐγένετο, οὗ τοὺς ἰατροὺς τἀναντία ᾔδειν κελεύοντας, ὁπότε τις μέλλοι πίεσθαι, μὴ δειπνεῖν, καὶ τέως εἰώθει.
I happened to be eating only once a day and leaving a large part of the day without food, but the god ordered me to dine and, upon rising, to drink of this remedy; and this went on for five consecutive days, though I knew the physicians ordered the opposite—that whenever one is about to drink a remedy, one should not dine, which had been my custom until then.
αὖθις δὲ ἐκέλευσε πρὸς ἄρτῳ φαγεῖν τοῦ αὐτοῦ τούτου φαρμάκου, καὶ ἔφαγον πρὸς τῷ τρίποδι τῷ ἱερῷ, ἀφορμήν τινα ταύτην ἀσφαλείας ποιούμενος.
Again, he ordered me to eat of this same remedy with bread, and I ate it by the sacred tripod, making this a sort of safeguard.
Φίλωνος δέ τις ἐστὶν, οἶμαι, κρᾶσις φάρμακον ἕτερον.
There is another remedy, I think, a compound of Philon.
ταύτης ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδʼ ὀσφρᾶσθαι οἷός τʼ ἦν πρὸ τοῦ, τοῦ δὲ θεοῦ σημήναντος χρῆσθαί τε καὶ ἅμα τὴν ὥραν ἣν ἔδει, οὐ μόνον εὐχερῶς ἔπιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πιὼν ἡδίων καὶ ῥᾴων εὐθὺς ἦν.
Previously, I was not even able to smell this, but when the god signaled to use it and at the very hour I must do so, I not only drank it easily, but having drunk it, I was immediately more comfortable and relieved.
ἄλλα τοίνυν μυρία ἂν εἴη λέγειν §316φαρμάκων ἐχόμενα, ὧν τὰ μὲν αὐτὸς συντιθεὶς, τὰ δὲ τῶν ἐν μέσῳ καὶ κοινῶν ἐδίδου θεραπείαν τοῦ σώματος, ὡς ἑκάστοτε συμβαίνοι.
There would be ten thousand other things to tell concerning remedies, some of which the god, compiling them himself, and others of the common and ordinary kinds, gave for the treatment of my body, as occurred on each occasion.
ὅτε δὲ ἡ συνέχεια τῶν κατάρρων ἦν καὶ ἡ ὑπερώα πυρίκαυτος, καὶ σταφυλὴ ἐφειστήκει, καὶ φλέβες οὐκ ἐπεῖχον τεινόμεναι, βιβλίον τι τῶν σπουδαίων ἔδοξα ἀναγιγνώσκειν, οὗ τὰ μὲν καθʼ ἕκαστον, πάλιν γὰρ τὸν αὐτὸν ἐρῶ λόγον, οὐκ ἂν ἔχοιμι εἰπεῖν.
When there was a continuous flow of catarrh and my palate was burning hot, and my tonsils were swollen, and my veins did not cease being tense, I dreamed that I was reading some important book, whose detailed contents—for I shall say the same thing again—I would not be able to tell.
πῶς γὰρ τοσοῦτόν γε ὕστερον, ἄλλως τε καὶ τῆς ἀπογραφῆς τὸ τῇ μνήμῃ προσέχειν ἀφελομένης;
For how could I so long afterward, especially when the recording of it has taken away the effort of keeping it in memory?
ἀλλὰ πρὸς τῷ τέλει τοῦ βιβλίου τοιάδε μάλιστα ἐνῆν. ἦν δὲ ὡς ἐπί τινος τῶν ἀγωνιστῶν λεγόμενα.
But toward the end of the book, there was especially something of this kind, spoken as if concerning one of the athletic competitors.
ταῦτα δὴ πάντα ὁ θεὸς συλλογισάμενος καὶ ὁρῶν τὸ ῥεῦμα ἄρδην φερόμενον προσέταξεν ὕδωρ πίνειν, οἴνου δὲ ἀπέχεσθαι, εἴ τι δεῖται νικῆσαι· ἃ δὴ καὶ σοὶ, ἔφη, ἔξεστι μιμησαμένῳ στεφανοῦσθαι ἢ συστεφανοῦσθαι. ἐνταῦθα ἔληγεν.
Having considered all these things and seeing the flow of mucus rushing headlong, the god ordered him to drink water and abstain from wine, if he needed to win; "which things indeed," he said, "it is possible for you also, by imitating him, to be crowned or crowned together." Here the book ended.
εἶθʼ ὑπεγέγραπτο τοῦ λόγου δὴ τοὐπίγραμμα, φιλοστέφανος, ἢ φιλησιστέφανος. ὅσον μὲν οὖν τινα χρόνον διήνεγκα τὴν ὑδροποσίαν, οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἔχω λέγειν· ὅτι δʼ εὐκόλως τε καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἀεί πως πρότερον δυσχεραίνων τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ ναυτιῶν.
Then there was written below, as the title of the work, "Lover of the Crown" or "Lover of Winning the Crown." How long a time I endured this water-drinking, I cannot say; but that I did so easily and readily, though previously always disliking water and feeling nauseous.
ὡς δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἐλελειτούργητο, τοῦ μὲν ὕδατος ἀφίησί με, οἴνου δὲ ἔταξε μέτρον, καὶ ἦν γε τὸ ῥῆμα ἡμίνα βασιλική· γνώριμον δή που ὅτι ἔφραζεν ἡμικοτύλιον.
When this service also had been performed, the god released me from the water and prescribed a measure of wine, and the phrase was indeed "a royal hemina"; it is clear, of course, that he meant a half-kotyle.
ἐχρώμην τούτῳ καὶ οὕτως ἤρκει ὡς οὐκ ἤρκει πρότερον τὸ διπλάσιον, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε καὶ φειδομένῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ δεδιέναι μὴ ἐπιλείπῃ περιῆν.
I used this, and it was so sufficient that previously double the amount was not enough, and sometimes it even remained over when I spared it through fear that it might fail.
οὐ μὴν τοῦτό γε ἐποιούμην ἐξαίρετον εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίαν, ἀλλʼ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔδει τῷ μέτρῳ στέργειν.
I did not indeed make this a special reserve for the next day, but from the beginning I had to be content with the measure.
ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ταύτην εἶχε τὴν πεῖραν, ἀφίησιν ἤδη πίνειν πρὸς ἐξουσίαν, οὑτωσί πως χαριεντισάμενος, ὅτι μάταιοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἶεν ὅσοι τῶν ἱκανῶν εὐποροῦντες μὴ τολμῶσιν ἐλευθέρως χρῆσθαι.
When this trial also was over, he allowed me now to drink at will, joking in some such way, that those of men are foolish who, having an abundance of sufficient things, do not dare to use them freely.
καὶ τὸ βιβλίον αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐδόκει εἶναι Ἀντισθένους περὶ χρήσεως· ἔφερε δὲ εἰς οἶνον, καὶ Διονύσου προσῆν τινα σύμβολα.
And this very book seemed to be that of Antisthenes *On Use*; it related to wine, and some symbols of Dionysus were on it.
οὕτω δʼ οὖν ὑπὸ τῆς συνηθείας διεκείμην, ὥστε
In any case, I was so disposed by habit that...