§339"ἐμοὶ μελήσει ταῦτα καὶ λευκαῖς κόραις. "
ποῖ οὖν τοῦτο ἐτελεύτησεν;
"These things shall be the care of myself and of the white maidens." Where then did this end?
ἡμέραις οὐ πολλαῖς ὕστερον ἐξ Ἰταλίας ἀφικνοῦνται ἐπιστολαί μοι παρὰ τῶν βασιλέων, τοῦ τε αὐτοκράτορος αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ παιδὸς, ἄλλας τε εὐφημίας ἔχουσαι καὶ τὴν ἀτέλειαν ἐπισφραγιζόμεναι τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς λόγοις, εἰ τυγχάνοιμι χρώμενος αὐτοῖς.
Not many days later, letters came to me from Italy from the emperors, both the emperor himself and his son, containing other words of praise and confirming the immunity based on my discourses, if I should happen to practice them.
ἥκει δέ μοι καὶ παρὰ Ἡλιοδώρου τοῦ τῆς Αἰγύπτου ὑπάρχου γενομένου γράμματα ἅμα τοῖς βασιλικοῖς, ἐμοί τε αὐτῷ καὶ ἕτερα ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ τῷ ἡγεμόνι, καὶ μάλʼ ἔντιμα καὶ λαμπρὰ, γραφέντα μὲν πολλῷ πρότερον τῆς χρείας ταύτης, ἀπαντήσαντα δὲ εἰς τὸν καιρὸν τότε.
There also came to me, along with the royal letters, writings from Heliodorus, the former prefect of Egypt, both to myself and others on my behalf to the governor, and indeed very honorable and splendid, written long before this need, but arriving at that very opportunity.
τὰς μὲν οὖν κόρας τὰς λευκὰς εἰς τὰς ἐπιστολὰς εὐθὺς ἔλαβον.
Therefore, I immediately took the "white maidens" to refer to the letters.
θαρρήσας δὲ τῷ τε χρησμῷ καὶ τῷ παρὰ τῆς τύχης συμβάντι κινεῖσθαι μὲν οὐχ οἷός τʼ ἦν τοῦ θεοῦ κατέχοντος, πέμπω δὲ γράμματα πρὸς τὸν ἡγεμόνα, τό τε σύμπαν δηλῶν ὁποῖον εἴη τοὐμὸν πρᾶγμα καὶ ὅτι παντάπασιν ἐοίκασιν οἱ πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰπόντες τοὐμὸν ὄνομα οὐδὲν πλέον εἰπεῖν ἢ τοὔνομα· τούς τε ἀφιέντας ἐδήλουν οἵτινες εἶεν καὶ τὰ γράμματα τὰ νεωστὶ ἥκοντα· ἅμα δὲ καὶ αὐτὰ ἔπεμπον μετὰ τῶν ἐμῶν, τά τε τῆς συστάσεως καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀφέσεως.
Encouraged by the oracle and by what had happened by fortune, though I was unable to move since the god held me back, I sent a letter to the governor, showing what my affair was as a whole and that those who told him my name seemed to have said absolutely nothing more than my name; and I declared who those were who excused me and the letters that had recently arrived; and at the same time I sent them along with my own, both those of recommendation and those of exemption.
ἔτι δὲ ὄντος μετεώρου τοῦ πράγματος ἐντολαὶ παντοῖαι παρὰ τῶν ἀγοραίων ἐφοίτων, ὅσοι φιλικῶς ἐδόκουν ἔχειν πρός με καὶ ἅμα τὰς ἀνάγκας ὁρᾶν ὀρθῶς· τήν τε γὰρ δύναμιν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἔφραζον ὅση καὶ ὅτι τῶν βασιλικῶν εἴη δικαστῶν εἷς, καὶ μάλιστα δὴ τὸν τόνον τῆς γνώμης καὶ τὴν ῥώμην, καὶ ὡς οὐδʼ ἂν εἴ τι γένοιτο, μεταθεῖτο τῶν δεδογμένων οὐδέν· ἐδέοντό τε μὴ προσκρούειν διὰ κενῆς.
While the matter was still in suspense, all kinds of warnings came from the men of the law-courts, who seemed to be friendly toward me and at the same time to see the necessities correctly; for they declared how great the power of the man was and that he was one of the imperial judges, and especially the tension of his mind and his strength, and that whatever happened, he would change nothing of his decisions; and they begged me not to clash with him in vain.
γράφω δὴ καὶ πρὸς τούτους μακρότερα καὶ νεανικώτερα ἐξεπίτηδες, εὖ εἰδὼς εἰς τὰς Σεβήρου χεῖρας ἥξοντα τὰ γράμματα, καὶ γὰρ ἤκουον αὐτοὺς ἐπιεικῶς συνήθως ἔχειν αὐτῷ.
So I wrote to them also at greater length and with more spirit on purpose, knowing well that the letters would come into the hands of Severus, for I heard that they were quite familiar with him.
κεφάλαιον δʼ ἦν ὅπερ καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπέστειλα, ὅτι ἀδύνατα ἀξιοῖεν.
The sum of it was the same as what I had written to him, that they were demanding impossible things.
μετὰ ταῦτα Σεβῆρος μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἄνωθεν χωρίων εἰς τὴν Ἔφεσον κατῄει δικῶν ἀγορὰν ἄξων, καὶ τὰ γράμματα ἀναγνοὺς §340ἐκέλευεν ἀπαντᾶν ἐκεῖσε.
After this, Severus came down from the upper regions to Ephesus to hold the court-days, and having read my letters he ordered me to meet him there.
ἐγὼ δʼ ἔπεμπον.
And I sent representatives.
ὡς δʼ ἧκεν ἡ κυρία καὶ τοὔνομα ἐκλήθη, παρῄεσαν οἱ σύνδικοι.
And when the appointed day came and my name was called, the advocates came forward.
καὶ πρὶν φθέγξασθαι μόνον αὐτοὺς, ὁ Σεβῆρος ἄνωθεν, Ἀριστείδην, ἔφη, γιγνώσκω, καὶ τῆς δόξης ἄγαμαι, καὶ σύμφημι πρωτεύειν περὶ λόγους, καὶ ταῦτά μοι καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἐν Ῥώμῃ φίλων ἐπέσταλται.
And before they had even uttered a sound, Severus from above said, "I know Aristides, and I admire his reputation, and I agree that he holds the first place in eloquence; and these things have been written to me also by my friends in Rome.
αἰτοῦμαι δʼ αὐτὸν, ἔφη, συνάρξαι μοι.
I request him," he said, "to share the office with me.
τὰ δὲ δίκαια τῆς ἀτελείας αὐτῷ καὶ βεβαιῶ καὶ μένει. ταῦτʼ εἶπε δημοσίᾳ, ταῦτʼ ἐνέγραψε τοῖς ὑπομνήμασι.
But his rights of immunity I both confirm, and they remain." These things he said publicly, and these things he entered into the records.
γενομένης δὲ τῆς γνώσεως τοιαύτης οἱ πεμφθέντες παρʼ ἐμοῦ τῆς δίκης ἕνεκα ἅμα μὲν τῶν τε συνδίκων συγχαιρόντων τῇ τιμῇ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μέγα ποιουμένων ὅτι ἐν παρακλήσεως μέρει ταῦτʼ ἔφη ποιεῖν ὁ Σεβῆρος καὶ ὅτι τὴν ἀτέλειαν ἐκύρου πρὸς ἅπαντα τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον καὶ ταῦτα ἀπόντι, καί τι καὶ αὑτοῖς εἰς τὸ πρόσω πεπεράνθαι νομίζοντες, καὶ οὐ παντάπασιν ἄπρακτοι δοκεῖν ἐπανήκειν, ἅμα δὲ οὐκ ἔχοντες ὅπως χρὴ ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἔφεσιν, ἀνθρώπου μὴ κρίσεως νόμῳ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀνατιθέντος, ἀλλʼ ὡσπερεὶ χάριν αἰτοῦντος καὶ φιλίας ἀρχήν τινα ταύτην καθισταμένου, στέρξαντες τοῖς παροῦσιν, ἐπανελθόντες ὡς ἐμὲ, διηγοῦνται τὸ πᾶν· ἐν δὲ τούτῳ καὶ ἡ προθεσμία παρεληλύθει ἡ τῆς ἐφέσεως.
When such a decision was made, those sent by me for the sake of the trial—on the one hand, since the advocates congratulated them on the honor and others made much of the fact that Severus said he did this by way of request, and that he confirmed the immunity for all the remaining time and that too in my absence, and thinking that something had been accomplished by themselves for the future, and not wishing to seem to have returned entirely unsuccessful, but on the other hand, not knowing how they ought to make the appeal against a man who did not impose the office by law of a judicial decision but as if asking a favor and establishing this as a kind of beginning of friendship—acquiesced in the present circumstances, and having returned to me, related the whole story; and in the meantime, the time-limit for the appeal had also passed.
ἔτι οὖν ἀπορώτερον ἢ πρότερον διεκείμεθα, οὐ γὰρ ἔμοιγε ἤρκει τετιμῆσθαι διὰ κενῆς.
We were therefore in a state of greater perplexity than before, for it was not enough for me to have been honored in vain.
πάλιν δὴ προσεκείμην τῷ θεῷ, δεόμενός τε καὶ πυνθανόμενος τί τις ἂν χρήσαιτο τῷ πράγματι τούτῳ.
Again indeed I applied myself to the god, begging and inquiring what one should do with this matter.
καί μοι δίδωσιν ὄναρ θαυμαστὸν οἷον, οὗ τὰ μὲν καθʼ ἕκαστα οὐκ ἂν οἷός τʼ εἴην εἰπεῖν, τὸ δʼ ὡσπερεὶ κεφάλαιον οὕτως εἶχεν.
And he gave me a dream of a wonderful kind, of which I should not be able to tell the details, but the sum of it was as follows.
ἐδόκουν τῷ γραμματεῖ τοῦ ἡγεμόνος διαλέγεσθαι περὶ τούτων, ἥκειν δʼ αὐτὸν ὡς ἐμέ.
I seemed to converse with the secretary of the governor about these things, and that he came to me.
ὡς δʼ ἀκοῦσαι πάντων, ὑπισχνεῖσθαι λύσειν καὶ μεταθήσειν τὰ γεγραμμένα, προέσθαι δὲ κελεύειν ὅσον δραχμὰς πεντακοσίας.
And when he had heard everything, he promised to release me and to alter what had been written, but ordered me to pay as much as five hundred drachmae.
γενομένου δὲ τοῦ ὀνείρατος τῇ μὲν ἡδίων γίγνομαι, ὅτι ἐπαγγελία τις ἐφαίνετο ἐνεῖναι καὶ οὐκ ἄντικρυς ἄρνησις ἦν, τῇ δʼ ὥσπερ εἰς ταυτὸν φέρειν ἐδόκει μοι.
When the dream occurred, on the one hand I became more pleased, because there seemed to be a certain promise in it and it was not an outright refusal, but on the other hand it seemed to me to amount to the same thing.
ποῦ γὰρ ἄν τις πεντακοσίων δραχμῶν πρίαιτο πρᾶγμα τοσοῦτον, καὶ ταῦτα παρʼ ἀνδρὸς οὕτω μὲν
For where could anyone buy so great a matter for five hundred drachmae, and that too from a man so...