§323φήμης καὶ τύχης.
reputation and fortune.
καὶ χρόνοις δὴ ὕστερον ἡ λοιμώδης ἐκείνη συνέβη νόσος, ἧς ὅ τε σωτὴρ καὶ ἡ δέσποινα Ἀθηνᾶ περιφανῶς ἐρρύσαντό με.
And a long time afterwards, that pestilential disease occurred, from which both the Savior and the mistress Athena manifestly rescued me.
καὶ ἓξ μῆνας μέν τινας θαυμαστῶς ὡς τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο διήγαγον· ἔπειτα ἡ ξηρότης πολλὴ ξυνέβη καὶ ἕτερα ἠνώχλησεν· ἃ πάντα ὁ θεὸς καθίστη τε καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ γε εἰρῆσθαι καθίστησι ταῖς ἐφημέροις διαίταις καὶ προρρήσεσι.
And for some six months after this, I lived in a wonderful manner; then a great dryness occurred and other things troubled me; all of which the god restored and, be it said with his help, still restores by daily regimens and prophecies.
τότε δʼ οὖν ὡς ἐπανῆλθον ἀπὸ τοῦ Αἰσήπου, εὐθὺς μὲν προσιόντος ἐγίγνοντο φῆμαι καὶ παιδίων καὶ ἄλλων ἀγαθαὶ καὶ παίζοντα ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐβόα, καλῶς κυρίῳ. καὶ ἡ τροφὸς εὐθὺς ἀνειστήκει καὶ ἀπήντα καὶ ἔρρωτο καὶ ἦν ἅπερ εἰκὸς ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις.
At that time, then, when I returned from the Aesepus, immediately as I approached, favorable words came from both children and others, and children playing among them cried out, "All is well for the master!" And the nurse immediately stood up and met me, and she was in good health, and things were as might be expected in such circumstances.
ἔπειτα κελεύει ὁ θεὸς ὡς δεῖ ἀντὶ τοῦ κατορυχθῆναι ἐπαμήσασθαι τῆς λευκῆς γῆς, τὸν ἐν παλαίστρᾳ δὴ τρόπον, βεβαιότητος οὕνεκα καὶ ὡς εἴη τρόπον τινὰ καὶ τοῦτο ἐκπεπληρωμένον· ἔτι δὲ λούσασθαι ψυχρῷ, τὸ δʼ ἦν ἄρα χιόνι λούσασθαι· οὕτω πάντα κατεῖχεν ἡ χιὼν, καὶ ἔδαφος καὶ δένδρα καὶ κρήνας.
Then the god ordered that, instead of being buried, I should sprinkle myself with white earth, in the manner of the palaestra, for the sake of safety and so that this might in some way be fulfilled; and furthermore, that I should bathe in cold water, which turned out to be bathing in snow; for so did the snow cover everything, ground, trees, and springs.
καὶ δῆλον δὴ ὅτι καὶ ταῦτα ὑπηκούομεν ἀσμένως.
And it is clear that we joyfully obeyed these commands as well.
τοιαῦτα μὲν κατὰ τὴν πορείαν τὴν ἐπʼ Αἴσηπον καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν αὖθις ἀναστροφήν.
Such were the events during the journey to the Aesepus and the return from there.
ἦν δὲ ἡγεμὼν τῆς Ἀσίας τότε ἀνὴρ καὶ μάλα τῶν γνωρίμων Σεβῆρος τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν Φρυγίας· περὶ ὃν θαυμαστὰ ἐπράχθη τῷ θεῷ, διαφέροντα ἐμοί· περὶ ὧν ἴσως ἐφεξῆς ἂν εἴη λέγειν.
The governor of Asia at that time was Severus, a man of high distinction from Upper Phrygia; in connection with him, wonderful things were performed by the god, which concerned me, of which it would perhaps be best to speak next.
τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον, ὥσπερ ἔφην, οὕτω παρέστη μοι διελθεῖν εὐθὺς τοὺς περὶ τοῦτο εὐεργεσίας.
First, then, as I said, it seemed appropriate for me to go through the benefits concerning this matter immediately.
ἔπειτʼ ἔδοξεν ἀνελθεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄνω χρόνους καὶ τὰς ἄλλας προδιηγήσασθαι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τιμὰς εἰς τὸ δυνατόν· πρῶτον μὲν τὰς εἰς τοὺς λόγους γενομένας καὶ ὅσαι τοιαῦται, ἔπειτα τὰς ἐπὶ τῶν πράξεων τῶν κατὰ τὰς ἡγεμονίας.
Then it seemed best to go back to earlier times and relate beforehand the other honors from the god as far as possible; first, those concerning speeches and all such things, and then those in actions during the governorships.
ἔπειθʼ ὅταν συμβαίνῃ κἀκ τῶν χρόνων, ὅρος τις κείσεται τοῦ προτέρου λόγου, πρὸς ὃν τὰ λοιπὰ συνάπτειν δεήσει.
Then, when it is appropriate from the timeline, a certain limit will be set to the previous narrative, to which it will be necessary to join the rest.
ἐνιαυτὸν μὲν γὰρ μάλιστα τὸν πρῶτον τῆς ἀσθενείας ἐξέλιπον τὴν περὶ τοὺς λόγους διατριβὴν, οἷα ἐν τοσούτοις τε καὶ τοιούτοις πράγμασι τοῦ σώματος, καὶ ἅμα ἀπηλγήκειν.
For, for about the first year of my illness, I abandoned my occupation with speeches, amidst so many and such troubles of the body, and at the same time I had despaired of recovery.
καθημένῳ δέ μοι ἤδη ἐν Περγάμῳ κατὰ τὴν κλῆσίν τε καὶ ἱκετείαν γίγνεται παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πρόσταγμα §324καὶ παράκλησις, μὴ προλιπεῖν τοὺς λόγους.
But when I was already staying in Pergamum, according to the summons and supplication, there came a command from the god and an encouragement, not to abandon speeches.
ὅ τι μὲν δὴ πρῶτον τῶν ὀνειράτων ἀφίκετο, ἢ πῶς ἕκαστον ἔχον τοῖς ἅπασιν, ἀμήχανον εἰπεῖν ὑπὸ πλήθους ἐτῶν.
What dream first arrived, or how each stood in relation to the whole, is impossible to say due to the number of years.
ἦν δʼ οὖν ἐκεῖνά τε τῶν παρακλητικῶν, σοὶ πρέπουσι λόγοι σὺν Σωκράτει καὶ Δημοσθένει καὶ Θουκυδίδῃ κατὰ πρώτας εὐθὺς γενόμενα. καὶ δὴ καὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς τοῖς χρόνοις ἐνδόξων ἐδείχθη τις, ὡς ἂν μάλιστα ἐκινήθην εἰπεῖν.
At any rate, among those encouraging dreams, the very first to occur was this: "Speeches fit for you in the company of Socrates, Demosthenes, and Thucydides." And indeed, one of those famous in times before us was shown to me, in order that I might be most strongly moved to speak.
καὶ τό γε σφόδρα πρῶτον ἀπάρξασθαί με ἐκέλευεν ἑαυτῷ προσελθόντα εἰς τὴν στοὰν τοῦ ἱεροῦ τὴν πρὸς τῷ θεάτρῳ τῶν αὐτοσχεδίων δὴ τούτων λόγων καὶ ἀγωνιστικῶν· καὶ συνέβη οὑτωσί.
And at the very beginning, he ordered me to go to the portico of the temple near the theater and begin these very improvisational and competitive speeches on my own; and it happened like this.
θεωρία τις ἦν ἐν τῇ πόλει πάνυ λαμπρὰ, ἢ ταύρων θήρα μοι δοκεῖν, ἤ τι τοιοῦτον.
There was a very brilliant festival in the city, a bull-hunt, as it seemed to me, or something of that sort.
οἵ τε οὖν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ καταδεδραμήκεσαν πάντες ἥ τε πόλις περὶ ταῦτα εἶχε.
So everyone had run down from the temple, and the city was occupied with these things.
καταλελείμμεθα δὲ ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῶν γνωριμωτέρων θεραπευτῶν δύο, ἐγώ τε καὶ Νικαεὺς, ἀνὴρ τῶν ἐστρατηγηκότων Ῥωμαίοις, Σηδᾶτος ὄνομα, τὸ δʼ ἀρχαῖον Θεόφιλος.
We two of the better-known worshippers were left behind in the temple, myself and a man from Nicaea who had served as a commander for the Romans, Sedatus by name, but formerly called Theophilus.
καθήμεθα οὖν ἐν Ὑγιείας, οὗ ὁ Τελεσφόρος, καὶ διεπυνθανόμεθα ἀλλήλων ὥσπερ εἰώθειμεν εἴ τι καινότερον εἴη παρηγγελκὼς ὁ θεός· καὶ γάρ πως ἔστιν ἃ καὶ παραπλήσια ἐκάμνομεν.
We were sitting, then, in the temple of Hygieia, where Telesphorus is, and we were asking each other, as we were accustomed to do, if the god had commanded anything newer; for we were in some ways suffering from similar illnesses.
ἔφην οὖν ἐγὼ μὴ ἔχειν ὅ τι χρήσομαι, προστετάχθαι γάρ μοι ἴσα καὶ πέτεσθαι, μελέτην λόγων ἀναπνεῖν οὐ δυναμένῳ, καὶ ταύτην ἐνταυθοῖ· λέγων αὐτῷ τὴν στοὰν καὶ τὸ ὄναρ διηγοῦμαι.
So I said that I did not know what to do, for I was ordered to do what was equivalent to flying, since I was unable even to breathe the practice of speeches, and that too in this very place; and telling him of the portico, I related the dream.
καὶ ὃς ἀκούσας, τί οὖν, ἔφη, ποιήσεις, καὶ πῶς ἔχεις;
And he, having heard it, said, "What then will you do, and how are you?" "What else," I said, "than what is possible?
τί δʼ ἄλλο γε, ἔφην, ἢ ἅπερ δυνατὸν, ταῦτα ποιήσω, περιβαλλόμενος θοἰμάτιον, στὰς οὑτωσὶ, τὸ πρόβλημα ἀποσημήνας αὐτὸς πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν, καὶ μίκρʼ ἄττα ὑπαρξάμενος εἶτʼ ἀπαλλάξομαι, καὶ οὕτως ἀφωσίωταί μοι; μηδαμῶς, ἔφη, μὴ οὕτως.
I will wrap my cloak around me, stand like this, declare the subject to myself, and after making some small beginning, I will depart, and thus my duty will have been discharged?" "By no means," he said, "not like that.
ἀλλʼ ἐμέ τʼ ἀκροατὴν ἔχεις τουτονὶ καὶ ἀγώνισαι πάσῃ προθυμίᾳ·
But you have me here as a listener; contend with all eagerness.
δυνάμεως δὲ μελήσει τῷ θεῷ.
The god will care for the strength.
τί οἶσθα εἰ καὶ εἰς πλέον φέρει τὸ ὄναρ; καὶ ἅμα διηγεῖταί μοι ἔργον τοῦ θεοῦ θαυμαστὸν, ὥς τινι κάμνοντι προστάξας οὕτω διαγωνίσασθαι συμβάντος ἱδρῶτος διʼ ἀγωνίαν λύσειε τὸ
How do you know if the dream does not lead to something more?" And at the same time he related to me a wonderful deed of the god, how having ordered some sick man to contend in this way, he cured the trouble when sweat occurred because of the struggle.