§337ἢ τοιαύτην χρὴ γαμεῖν ἢ μὴ γαμεῖν; τοιαῦτʼ ἄττα ἑκατέρωθεν ἐλέγετο.
"either marry such a woman, or do not marry?" Such were the things said on both sides.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐδόκουν τοὺς μὲν πορεύεσθαι, αὐτὸς δὲ συνεξιέναι μετʼ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπειδὴ γιγνόμεθα πρὸς τῇ πυλίδι, οὗ ἡ ἐκτροπὴ πρὸς τὸ ἱερόν ἐστι, τοὺς μὲν βαδίζειν εὐθὺ τοῦ ἱεροῦ, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀπαλλαττόμενος δεξιοῦσθαί τε αὐτοὺς καὶ χάριν ἔχειν, ὅτι πανταχοῦ κοσμοῖεν καὶ μέλοι πάντως αὐτοῖς τῶν ἐμῶν.
And after this, they seemed to depart, and I myself to go out with them; and when we came to the little gate where there is the turn to the temple, they walked straight toward the temple, and I, parting from them, shook hands with them and thanked them, because they honored me everywhere and cared for my affairs in every way.
ὃν μὲν οὖν τρόπον εὐθὺς εὐδοκίμησε τὰ γράμματα ἀναγιγνωσκόμενά τε εἰς πάντας ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἡγεμόνος καὶ περιμάχητα πᾶσιν ὄντα λαβεῖν, καὶ ἃ πρὸς ταῦτα ἀντεπέστειλε καὶ οἷα τελευτῶν, ἐπειδὴ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐξῄει, τῇ μὲν ἴσως ἀλαζονίαν ἔχειν ἂν δόξειε διηγουμένῳ διὰ τὰς ὑπερβολὰς τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐνόντων, τῇ δʼ ὥσπερ μικρότης τις ἂν εἴη διατρίβειν ἐπὶ τούτοις, μετὰ τὰς παρὰ τῶν θεῶν τιμάς.
Now, how the letter was immediately well received, being read to everyone by the governor himself, and how it was fought for by all to obtain, and what he wrote in reply to this, and of what kind at last, when he was leaving his office, to describe this would perhaps seem to have some boastfulness for the narrator because of the excesses of the things contained in them, and on the other hand, it would be a kind of meanness to spend time on these things, after the honors from the gods.
ἀλλʼ ἅ γʼ εἰς τὸν παρόντα ἔφερε λόγον, τοιαῦτα μάλιστα ἐγένετο.
But at least what related to the present discourse was indeed of this kind.
καὶ ταῦτα μὲν τῶν ἄνω χρόνων ἐστὶν, ἐπεὶ δʼ ἐνταῦθα ἐγεγόνειν τοῦ λόγου καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας ἔμελλον εὐεργεσίας τοῦ θεοῦ τρέψεσθαι καὶ γράψειν ἐφεξῆς τὰς ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἡγεμόνων καὶ πραγμάτων γενομένας, ὄναρ μοι γίγνεται μεταξὺ τῆς γραφῆς, εἰς ταῦτα φέρον πως πάλιν.
And these things belong to former times, but when I had reached this point of my discourse and was about to turn to the other benefits of the god and write in succession those that occurred under other governors and affairs, a dream came to me in the midst of my writing, carrying me back somehow again to these things.
εἶχε δὲ οὑτωσί.
And it was as follows.
ἔδοξα λέγειν ἔν τισιν ἐνδεικνύμενος αὐτοῖς μεταξὺ τῶν λόγων ὧν ἠγωνιζόμην καλέσαι τὸν θεὸν ὡδὶ λέγων, δέσποτα Ἀσκληπιὲ, εἰ μὲν ὑπερέχω τε λόγοις καὶ πολὺ ὑπερέχω, ἐμοὶ μὲν ὑγίειαν, τοῖς βασκάνοις δʼ εἶναι ῥήγνυσθαι. καὶ ταῦτά τε ὡς ὄναρ τυγχάνειν ἑορακὼς καὶ γενομένης ἡμέρας βιβλίον τι λαβὼν ἀναγιγνώσκειν· εὑρεῖν οὖν ἐνόντα ἅπερ ἐφθεγξάμην.
I seemed to speak among some people, showing them in the midst of the contests of my discourses that I called upon the god, saying thus: "Lord Asclepius, if I excel in discourses, and excel by far, grant me health, and to the envious to burst." And having seen these things as a dream, and when day came, having taken up a certain book, I was reading it; and I found in it the very things that I had uttered.
θαυμάσας δὲ πρὸς Ζώσιμον εἰπεῖν, θέασαι ἃ λέγειν ἐδόκουν ὄναρ εὑρίσκω γεγραμμένα ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ. οὕτω δὴ καὶ ταῦτα καινὰ παλαιοῖς προσετέθη· εἰ δὲ τῆς γνώμης τοῦ θεοῦ τετυχήκαμεν αὐτὸς ἂν εἰδείη καλῶς.
And wondering, I said to Zosimus, "See what I seemed to say in a dream, I find written in the book." Thus indeed these new things were added to the old; and whether we have hit upon the mind of the god, he himself would know well.
τὰ μὲν περὶ τοὺς λόγους καὶ ὡς κατέστησεν ἡμᾶς ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἰς αὐτοὺς καὶ ψῆφον ὁποίαν τινὰ ἤνεγκε περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ ὅσα εἰς τοῦτο φέροντα ἐχρημάτιζε, καὶ τοὔνομα ὡς πρὸς τῷ ἀρχαίῳ τὸν Θεόδωρον προσέθετο, καὶ περὶ τῆς αὑτοῦ φύσεως ὁποῖʼ ἄττα ἔδειξε, καὶ ὅσα §338τοῦ τύπου τούτου, πάντα μὲν οὐδʼ ἐγγὺς εἴρηται, ὅσα δὲ ἦν ἔναυλα καὶ ἀφʼ ὧν ἔξεστι περὶ τῶν ἄλλων τεκμαίρεσθαι.
The matters concerning my discourses, and how he established us in them from the beginning, and what kind of vote he cast concerning them, and how many things referring to this he gave as oracles, and how he added the name Theodorus to the ancient one, and what kind of things he showed concerning his own nature, and all such things of this kind, have not even nearly been told, but only those which were fresh in my ears and from which it is possible to conjecture about the rest.
ἐπάνειμι δʼ οὗ μικρῷ πρόσθεν ἔφην στήσας καταλείψειν τὸν λόγον, ὡς καὶ τὰ ἄλλα σημαίνων καὶ πράττων καὶ προσεστὼς πανταχῆ φανερὸς ἦν.
And I will return to where a little before I said I would leave off my discourse, showing that he was manifest everywhere as signaling, performing, and standing by.
ὁ Σεβῆρος ὁ τῆς Ἀσίας ἡγεμὼν ἦρξεν, οἶμαι, ἐνιαυτῷ πρότερον τοῦ ἡμετέρου ἑταίρου.
Severus, the governor of Asia, ruled, I believe, a year before our friend.
ἦν δὲ ἀνὴρ ὑψηλὸς τοὺς τρόπους, καὶ ὅ τι γνοίη καὶ προέλοιτο οὐκ ἂν ὑφεῖτο οὐδενί.
He was a man of lofty character, and what he had decided and chosen, he would yield to no one.
διατρίβοντος δέ μου περὶ τὸν Αἴσηπον τότε καὶ αὖ περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Διὸς ἐποίησε τοιόνδε.
And when I was staying about the Aesepus at that time and again about the temple of Zeus, he did as follows.
ἐπέμπετο τοῖς ἡγεμόσι κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους ἀφʼ ἑκάστης πόλεως ἑκάστου ἔτους ὀνόματα δέκα ἀνδρῶν τῶν πρώτων.
There were sent to the governors in those times from each city every year the names of ten of the first men.
ταῦτα ἔδει σκεψάμενον τὸν ἡγεμόνα ἕνα ὃν προκρίνειεν ἐξ ἁπάντων καθιστάναι φύλακα τῆς εἰρήνης.
From these, the governor, having examined them, had to establish the one whom he preferred out of all as the guardian of the peace.
ἐκ δὴ πολίσματος τῆς Μυσίας, οὗ τοὔνομα οὐδὲν δέομαι λέγειν, ἀφικνεῖται παρʼ αὐτὸν τὰ προχειρισθέντα ὀνόματα.
From a town in Mysia, whose name I have no need to mention, the selected names came to him.
ὁ δʼ οὐδέν πω τῶν ἐμῶν σαφῶς εἰδὼς ἀλλʼ ἢ τοσοῦτον ἀκηκοὼς, ὅτι κτήματα εἴη μοι περὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον καὶ τὴν ἄλλην μοι δοκεῖν τάξιν ὅτι οὐ τῶν ἀφανῶν, παριδὼν καὶ ἀτιμάσας ἅπαντα τὰ πεμφθέντα ὀνόματα προὔκρινεν ἄρχειν ἐμὲ, οὐκ ἐνθυμηθεὶς οὔθʼ ὅτι τῆς Σμύρνης προσήκει πολλοῖς πρότερον χρόνοις, πρὶν ἐκείνοις γενέσθαι πόλεως ἐλπίδας, οὔθʼ ὅτι πᾶν ἀλλοῖον τὸ ἡμέτερον.
And he, knowing nothing clearly of my affairs yet, except having heard only this much, that I had estates about this place, and that my other position seemed to be not of the obscure, overlooking and disregarding all the sent names, preferred me to rule, not considering either that I belonged to Smyrna many years before they had hopes of being a city, or that our condition was entirely different.
καὶ πέμπει δὴ τοῖς ἄρχουσιν ἐπιστολὴν, οὐκ αὐτοῖς ἐπιστείλας, ἀλλʼ ἐμοί.
And indeed he sent a letter to the magistrates, not commanding them, but me.
οἱ δʼ ἐλθόντες ἀπεδίδοσαν.
And they came and delivered it.
τὰ δὲ γράμματα ἐκέλευε προστῆναι τῆς εἰρήνης.
The letter ordered me to protect the peace.
ἦν οὖν ἀπορία πολλή.
There was therefore great perplexity.
οὔτε γὰρ ἔκκλητον ἦν ποιῆσαι τὴν δίκην, οὐδενὸς ὄντος ἀντιδίκου ἐν μέσῳ, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἦν ὅ τε δοὺς τοὔνομα καὶ ὁ ἐπικυρῶν, οὔθʼ εὑρεῖν ὅτῳ τις μάχοιτο ἢ πρὸς ὅντινα καὶ ὅπως τὸ πρᾶγμα καταστήσαιτο, ἀλλʼ ἢ τοσοῦτον συνέδοξε κοινῇ βουλευομένοις ἡμῖν τε καὶ τοῖς ἄρχουσι, ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἔκκλητον, ὡς δὴ πρὸς αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἄρχοντας τοὺς ἀποδιδόντας τὰ γράμματα.
For it was neither possible to make an appeal, there being no opponent in the middle, but he himself was both the one who gave the name and the one who confirmed it, nor to find with whom one should fight or against whom and how to establish the matter, except only this much seemed good to us and the magistrates consulting in common, to make the appeal, as if indeed against the very magistrates who delivered the letter.
ἑσπέρα τε ἐπέρχεται καὶ ἠρώτων τὸν θεὸν τί τε εἴη ταῦτα καὶ τί χρὴ ποιεῖν.
And evening came, and I asked the god what these things were and what ought to be done.
καί μοι γίγνεται τὸ ἔπος τὸ ἐκ Δελφῶν
And the verse from Delphi came to me: