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Aelius Aristides · Sacred Tales VI §362

Visions Prompting the Journey to Epidaurus

Passage 1 of 1 · Greek

Summary

While living under the god's guidance, the narrator experiences many visions in the twelfth year of his illness urging him to go to Epidaurus, receiving an inspiring saying of Musonius and significant oracles concerning Athens and Italy.

§362τὰ μὲν δὴ πολλὰ οὕτω διῆγεν ἡμᾶς ὁ θεὸς, σημαίνων τε ἃ χρὴ ποιεῖν καὶ ἔχων ὑπακούοντας εἴ τις καὶ ἄλλος ἀνθρώπων ὑπήκουσε θεῷ.
For the most part, indeed, the god guided us in this way, indicating what must be done and keeping us obedient, as obediently as anyone else among men ever obeyed a god.
δευτέρῳ δὲ ἔτει μετὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν τὴν ἀπʼ Αἰσήπου, δωδεκάτῳ δὲ ἀφʼ οὗ πρῶτον ἔκαμον, πολλὰ καὶ θαυμαστὰ ἐφοίτα φαντάσματα, ἄγοντα εἰς Ἐπίδαυρον τὴν ἱερὰν τοῦ θεοῦ.
In the second year after the departure from the Aesepus, and the twelfth year since I first fell ill, many wondrous visions kept visiting me, leading me to Epidaurus, the sacred land of the god.
καὶ τό γε ἐν πρώτοις γενόμενον τοιοῦτον ἦν· προτρέπων μέ τις θαρρῆσαι Μουσωνίου διῄει λόγον·
And what happened first of all was as follows: someone, encouraging me to take heart, recounted a saying of Musonius.
ἐκεῖνος, ἔφη, βουλόμενός τινα ἀναστῆσαι κάμνοντα καὶ ἀπειρηκότα οὑτωσί πως εἰπεῖν καθαπτόμενος, τί μένεις;
That philosopher, he said, wishing to raise up someone who was sick and despondent, rebuked him and spoke somewhat like this: 'Why do you wait?
ποῖ βλέπεις;
Where are you looking?
ἢ μέχρι ἂν αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς παραστάς σοι φωνὴν ἀφιῇ;
Or is it until the god himself stands by you and utters a voice?
ἔκκοψον τὸ τεθνηκὸς τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ γνώσει τὸν θεόν. τοιαῦτʼ ἔφη τὸν Μουσώνιον εἰπεῖν.
Cut out the dead part of your soul, and you will know the god.' Such things, he said, Musonius spoke.
καὶ πρός γε τούτοις ἦσαν φωναὶ, σῶσον αὐτὸν τῇ Ἀθηναίων πόλει· τὸ δʼ ἦν οἷον τοῖς Ἕλλησι· καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ μεγάλαι προρρήσεις.
And in addition to these, there were voices saying, 'Save him for the city of the Athenians'; which meant as if for the Greeks as a whole; and there were great predictions concerning those in Italy.

Notes

  1. §362τὰ μὲν δὴ πολλὰ — Adverbial accusative, meaning "for the most part" or "in most cases".
  2. §362ἔχων ὑπακούοντας — The combination of the verb ἔχω with the active participle ὑπακούοντας expresses a continuous state: "keeping us obedient" or "having us in a state of obedience".
  3. §362ἀφʼ οὗ πρῶτον ἔκαμον — ἀφ' οὗ is an abbreviation for ἀπὸ τούτου [τοῦ χρόνου] ὅτε, meaning "since." The verb ἔκαμον is the aorist of κάμνω, functioning here as an ingressive aorist, denoting the beginning of the state: "I fell ill."
  4. §362τὸ δʼ ἦν οἷον τοῖς Ἕλλησι — tὸ δέ is a pronominal use referring to the preceding oracle ("save him for the city of the Athenians"). οἷον, here with the dative τοῖς Ἕλλησι, means "as if for" or "equivalent to," indicating that saving him for Athens was practically equivalent to saving him for the entire Greek world.

Cite this passage

Aelius Aristides, Sacred Tales VI §362. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0284.tlg028.humanitext-grc2:362

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