Oratoria minora
these things the phalanx-commander more courageous, the leader of the company stronger, the hoplite more ready for the needs of the moment, the one i
This gathering is a symbol of peace, O wise and beloved audience of mine, and, to speak with God, a most accurate stamp of coming peace. But it also h
of the barrier, may he himself also now make peace in our affairs and crush the opposing powers and find a way and a means for the desperate, he who b
through whom corruption has stolen into our souls. But neither are you free from the things of envy for upon your breast and your belly you have walk
None of you is without a share of lily-beds and rose-gardens, nor of other fragrance, what graces would one not enjoy when spring has arrived? But sin
virtues, but these they practiced and pursued, and all, having made the body lean through fasting and having released the soul from the bonds of natur
the heaven, how great, how ever-moving in its revolution, how wonderful in its nature? and the sun, how it is the source of the light here, how it is
is tested by countless signs, but Egypt is punished by darkness and you, the new Israel, have been freed from the clay and the brick-making thence al
has entrusted the rule of all. And having reviewed in his mind everyone, both soldiers and citizens, senators and governors, and all who had gained a
Rejoice and exult at my proclamation which God has shown to be splendid and most illustrious as never another. 6 {1To those who think the philosopher
so as to move the world, not to mention lead it up to heaven, but I am within the great circuit, for these reasons I have not wished to run in the sta
of actions, but you do not act in the proper way, nor do you emulate those ancient orators, Pericles, Cimon, Demosthenes and the others who have under
the pleasure of a matter drawing forth laughter, and the philosopher alone. But here it is the opposite in the case of your creation for you are the
testifying to the sweetness in a philosophical man. And Plato often rebukes Dion for the sullenness and smilelessness of his soul but is not the phil
A second matter is both adorned and set in order. This is the philosophy I too have emulated and if you examine it in one respect, you will count me
are divided into an aristocracy, to be of lesser concern, because it is necessary to adorn the inner nature, while these things superficially beautify
achievements. Aristotle also divided his entire force into cavalry and infantry. and of the infantry, he positioned the light-armed to throw stones an
to judge their customs worthy of comparison to philosophy) those things lift one up above the ether on a whole wing, but this they sink in the sea, ju
dividing and heaping up solids. But I also frequently showed you the images in mirrors and measured their sizes for you optically, having taken their
To those who envied him for the most esteemed honor Neither will an occasion for envy be left for you, nor for me a cause for honor and advancement f
ordained by God. But of the others, some excelled in these things, others in those, and no one in everything, or if anyone did, it was not as I have (
I am called for there are those who give me this name. If, then, I embark on the matter as if it were not permitted or unskillfully, show me this ver
they have imitated my manner for themselves. But look up also to the heavens at night, when all is clear, and see how not all the stars are of equal h
oversights, and the other things of which the tragic daemons are providers for all things are abundant, as if dripping from some spring of evils. The
a more grievous and troublesome evil. How very pleasing to them is the banquet hall. For as if shut up and squeezed together in some narrow place with
he was showing the strength of his words for a prize set before him, but for a matter from which it was not possible to profit from buffoonery and ins
We have known you as one who counterfeits its laws and has not understood even a trace of true wisdom. But O huckster, I have now suddenly changed my
being torn away from the laws as if from your own limbs, and clinging to other limbs whose form you did not know nor whose use you had studied? How th
and thus, having harmonized them with the rules of dialectic, you thence winged your way to theology. But you, as if having passed over the vale of th
For such a thing had happened to these men, and Herodotus indeed mentions the story right at the beginning of the first of the Muses. And if you shoul
sitting on the floor, knowing not even as much as mules. But I fear lest one of those standing by, taking hold of your cloak, might say, Friend, how
He forces the nonsense into truth. Do not, therefore, speak with the man, do not touch him, do not share a table, neither of salt nor of other things,
Taking a Megarian jar firmly in his two hands and raising it with both and fitting it to his lips, he drinks without taking a breath just like the oxe
they judge matters by their own life, but not by the rule of truth. For since these men have hated indifference, and they live like bees arranged unde
as you are writing, standing by your life. But we too shall write against our persecutors. For just as the seemliness of hair pleased you, so the unke
sitting and with his fingers harnessing and re-harnessing horses in the shadows but there, one fighting against contrary winds and quickly backing wa
Geometry, having taken its beginning from bodies, ended in the mind, though its nature is not so. For perception does not know how to beget mind, but
he has set down some introductions to the subject, then, as if out of necessity, he turned his argument to what he wanted. And he has not chosen in an
It is interwoven with its arguments and divided by its complexities and turned back upon itself. But if such styles have been assigned to perfect orat
he puts to sleep. But the others have leaped out from here and there, from the dormouse-holes and from the caves, one a palm-breadth tall, another but
changing the parts, preserves the same idea of the sound. But you must also take care for the art concerning the arrangement of the argument and do n
mysteries, and there they were taught the equality of geometry, and when they needed to philosophize, they went to Egypt, and having chosen to study a
but drawing them upon yourselves whence someone might indict you for sacrilege for having most shamelessly plagiarized things dedicated to divine men
and you are zealous but you render the account for your studies just as one of the necessary debts which some are required to pay even unwillingly. A
The birth-pangs of Plato and Aristotle are a bringing forth, by whom I am both born and fashioned. Do you see how from every side the argument has pro
you render to me. And while I seem to neglect other things, your affair is my pursuit and care whence, staying awake far into the nights, as soon as
to have the contemplation concerning these things, but from our wisdom to know the type and the truth, and to break the letter as if it were a shell,
having done no wrong thus you are elegant and sophistic, or rather powerful men and tyrants, and you dance upon a gentle character. But you are still
to the philosophers the technical matters, to learn the introductions, the proofs, the matters concerning demonstrations, how one reminds, how one pro
they might fit a diatonic melody and arrange the strings for it, do they not play a prelude for it and practice beforehand, not just once, but as many
should I enumerate poets and orators, who treated ancient genealogies with myths, from the very foundation basing their own discourse on myth? How the
quality and draws as much as its appetite desired but if it sees the liquid of the water corrupted, it leaves this spring, and goes to another and se
27 Encomium on the Flea They say ‘the gnat as an elephant.’ And so that our discourse may proceed along its path, let us attempt the flea as a leopard
its begetter for it is precisely black, like an eastern Ethiopian having changed his skin color from sun-burning, and it immediately reveals the heat
grieving. For it has appointed two masters of all things for itself, the sun for its birth, and man for its growth for from the one it has come into
lest it produce apoplexy, nature has cut the skull into various sutures but it also divided the entire bone of the suture with certain small holes, t
the awns guard, so also do the hairs of the louse ward off every attack. And even if the hunt should get close to the skin, it, just as they say spong
So indeed this creature has received its natural power in all the parts of its body. Now, the other beasts, being ambushed from behind, are by nature
from every side, equality bestows youth on nature. For men, when they grow old, and especially those who are graceful and tall in body, are filled wit
He was being plotted against by those revolting within him because of the absence of the regulator and shield-bearer of health and adversary of diseas
This is clear from the fact that it is possible to live without it and be well in the other senses, but the inactivity of these begets sickness and de
shouting like a Bacchant and acclaiming the son of Zeus and Semele. And from where did this good thing come to you, he says, O blessed one? Did you
let your communion with one another not be from habit and the opinion of the many, but let its principle be knowledge, and let the wandering and disor
souls? Far from it. But the body does not work against the spermatic logos (for this reason it is formed according to what that logos wishes), but the
working for just as the most drinkable of waters and the most temperate of airs dispose bodies well and generate a similar disposition, so also the c
But let the one who fails take pride that his brother happens to be better than he. Agesilaus happened to be the first among the Lacedaemonians even b
Let us summarize, by virtue, by reason, and by ancestral goods, using these three things for the best ends, you will be left behind in no part of eter
All things are mixed. But she fails in her plan, as the hero draws his sword against her, whence she almost breathed her last for her form is changed
by reason for see how the limbs have been fitted to nature. or rather, I shall marvel at the artist even from the stone for he did not place the var
being brought up, was he not turned away? Was not the compassionate one pricked to the heart over you? For this reason he shall be un-sacrificed and u
Nothing that exists is above Olympus. and so that I might make the last things of my discourse first, heaven is indeed adorned with stars, but these a
they have been hollowed out spontaneously, he will find how he might live luxuriously. For if he should go under the shade of a tree, immediately soft
pleasing, but all things were full of all things- the first tabernacle, the mercy-seat, the veil, the temple, the side-scenes, the vestibules, the out
discerning that man is an animal, which he did not know, and whatever else belongs to this, lest I make a further example of the foolish, or of the on
Intently and from every side examining subtleties, I was investigating the extensions, the releases, the intonations, the transitions, the displacemen
he has come, nor has he arrived to gather spiritual fruits, but only for the sake of this man whom you see reading with pleasure. For just as one who
Who will relate your magadis upon the breast and the songs and warblings upon your tongue, that all-harmonious melody, the pleasure that knows no sati
and himself, but what kind the others are, I do not know. For I see a form above human nature, and a look in one way cherubic, in another leonine, in
an ineffable sympathy and in turn feels a contrary passion, as the cosmos happens to be one living being, and how Plato, having posited the elements a
I have not heard of him rising up against anyone nor boasting for the whole time, but just as they say that the very learned accuse themselves of a te
to know what sort of thing your grandfather had become in life and what command of language he had. But I shall praise you, not by bringing in falseho
to revel. But whenever your bond was loosened and you shed the swaddling clothes, you did not know what to do with yourself, looking more cheerful, sm
through whom corruption has stolen into our souls. But neither are you free from the things of envy; for upon your breast and your belly you have walked and you lick up the dust of the earth, and watching for our fall and biting on the way, you have had your head crushed and shattered. However, it was necessary that neither these things happen nor the first things had happened, but to have the first and blessed life and not to need troubles and many wanderings. But since it has happened, as it should not have, let us dissolve the agreement and let us separate the union and let us delight in God alone; and if we love the delight below, let us eat the bread of angels, let us drink the streams of life. What then are these? The contemplations of beings, the comprehension of nature, the understanding of the elements, how they are united, how they are divided, how they are both parallel and corresponding. Let us delight in the movement of heaven, the diffusion of air, the stability of earth, the flow of waters. But are these things difficult for knowledge and truly supernatural? There is also some enjoyment in small things, some charming the eye, others sweetening the hearing. Delight in the beauty of the peacock, the mixture of colors on its breast, how the dyes are layered and interspersed, what tiara on its crest is more blessed than the Persian, what sort of circles are on its plumage and how this lowly creature is adorned with stars. I do not envy you the song of the cicadas nor do I begrudge you the warblings of the nightingale. But if you do not wish to delight in <God> alone, let these various kinds of pleasures be set before you; There is for you a table of greatness and enjoyment of beauty and a feast of simpler and more varied characters, the colors of the flowers, the richness of the earth, the graces of the plants, the other things, so that I may not speak in order, what a wealth of luxuries and enjoyments. But if these things are not most pleasant for enjoyment for the many, but the speech is difficult, let us delight in each other. For I do not envy you the equality here; for the gold-woven robe is enough for me and the gold-bound crown around my head and the purple garment and the other things, as many as are the special privileges of the kingdom. But for me, even more than these, the things concerning you and from you are preferred. And, so that I may completely part the cloud and reveal to you the light of my soul, I have a paternal friendship for you and I preserve the disposition pure and I have imitated the character of my father; and I speak to you as to paternal friends. May God from above hear and may the powers around him bear witness that, if the royal dignity had not fallen to me, I would have had nothing more than you, neither of companionship nor of conversation. Thus have I been consumed by love for you, thus have I taken hold of your souls. And I would wish, if indeed I were able, to pour out every grace, every adornment on the head of each of you. But the times, but the changes of affairs for the worse constrain the breadth and ambition of my soul. Yet they have not constrained it so much, but you see that for me jets from springs gush forth everywhere; but I hold back, lest my stream become an outflow and the spring stand as an empty name. Thus gently, so that I might turn to another topic, I take up the royal charioteering; and some horses I rein in, others I allow to run straight and swiftly. But it is necessary not only for me, the pilot, but also for you, the sailors, to steer the vessel together and not to oppose the helmsman nor to row against the tiller, but to blow with and keep balance and to preserve the great cargo ship of the state. And if now many north winds and Boreas and bright Hellespontine winds roll a great wave and make the sea swell, but before long south winds and west winds will blow on us and the surging will be stilled, and the sea will be smooth-waved and our affairs will be settled into joys and graces. And if, while winter still prevails, I am in full bloom for all of you and I flower all around and
δι' οὗ ἡ φθορὰ ταῖς ἡμετέραις εἰσεφθάρη ψυχαῖς. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ σοὶ τὰ τῆς βασκανίας ἐλεύθερα· ἐπὶ τῷ στήθει γὰρ καὶ τῇ κοιλίᾳ πεπόρευσαι
καὶ τὸν τῆς γῆς ἀπολιχμάζῃ χοῦν, καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν πτῶσιν τηρῶν καὶ δάκνων ἐφ' ὁδοῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν συντέθλασαι καὶ συντέτριψαι.
Πλὴν ἔδει μὲν μήτε ταῦτα γίνεσθαι μήτε τὰ πρῶτα γενέσθαι, ἀλλ' ἔχειν τὴν πρώτην καὶ μακαρίαν ζωὴν καὶ μὴ πραγματείας χρῄζειν
καὶ περιόδων πολλῶν. ἐπεὶ δὲ γέγονεν, ὡς οὐκ ὤφελεν, ἀναλύσωμεν τὴν συνθήκην καὶ τὴν ἕνωσιν διέλωμεν καὶ θεοῦ μόνου κατατρυφήσωμεν·
εἰ δὲ καὶ τῆς κάτω τρυφῆς ἐρῶμεν, φάγωμεν ἄρτον ἀγγέλων, πίωμεν νάματα ζωῆς. τί ποτε δὲ ταῦτα; αἱ θεωρίαι τῶν ὄντων, ἡ τῆς
φύσεως κατάληψις, ἡ τῶν στοιχείων κατανόησις, πῶς ἥνωνται, πῶς διῄρηνται, πῶς παράλληλά τέ εἰσι καὶ συνάλληλα. κατατρυφήσωμεν
κινήσεως οὐρανοῦ, χύσεως ἀέρος, στάσεως γῆς, ὑδάτων ῥύσεως. ἀλλὰ χαλεπὰ ταῦτα πρὸς γνῶσιν καὶ ὄντως ὑπερφυῆ; ἔστι τις καὶ
μικρολογίας ἀπόλαυσις, τὰ μὲν τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν θέλγουσα, τὰ δὲ τὴν ἀκοὴν καθηδύνουσα. τρύφησον τὸ τοῦ ταὼ κάλλος, τὴν ἐν τῷ στήθει
τῶν χρωμάτων μῖξιν, πῶς ἐπάλληλοι καὶ διάλληλοι αἱ βαφαί, τίς ἡ ἐν τῇ κορυφῇ τιάρα εὐδαιμονεστέρα τῆς Περσικῆς, ποταποὶ οἱ
ἐν τῷ πτερώματι κύκλοι καὶ πῶς τοῖς ἄστρασι τὸ χθαμαλὸν τοῦτο ζῷον ἠγλάισται. οὐ φθονῶ σοι τῆς τῶν τεττίγων ᾠδῆς οὐδὲ βασκαίνω
σοι τῶν τῆς ἀηδόνος τερετισμάτων. ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ βούλοιο <θεοῦ> μόνου κατα τρυφᾶν, προκείσθωσάν σοι τὰ παντοδαπὰ ταῦτα γένη τῶν
ἀπολαύσεων· ἔστι σοι καὶ μεγέθους τράπεζα καὶ κάλλους ἀπόλαυσις καὶ πανδαισία ἠθῶν ἁπλουστέρων καὶ ποικιλωτέρων, αἱ δὲ τῶν
ἀνθῶν χροιαί, αἱ δὲ τῆς γῆς πιότητες, αἱ δὲ τῶν φυτῶν χάριτες, τἆλλα, ἵνα μὴ καθεξῆς λέξω, ποταπόν τι χρῆμα τρυφῶν τε καὶ
ἀπολαύσεων. Εἰ δὲ μὴ ταῦτα τοῖς πολλοῖς ἥδιστα εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν, ἀλλὰ δυσχερὴς ὁ λόγος, ἀντιτρυφήσωμεν ἀλλήλους. οὐ γὰρ φθονῶ
ὑμῖν τῆς ἐνταῦθα ἰσότητος· ἀρκετὸν γάρ μοι ἡ χρυσοϋφὴς στολὴ καὶ ἡ χρυσόδετος περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν στεφάνη καὶ ἡ περιπόρφυρος
ἐσθὴς καὶ τἆλλα, ὁπόσα τῆς βασιλείας ἐξαίρετα. ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ τούτων τὰ πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ τὰ παρ' ὑμῶν προτετίμηται. καί, ἵνα πάντῃ
τὸ νέφος διάσχωμαι καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς φῶς ἀνακαλύψω ὑμῖν, πατρῴα μοι πρὸς ὑμᾶς φιλία ἐστὶ καὶ σῴζω ἀκραιφνῆ τὴν διάθεσιν καὶ
τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἤθη μεμίμημαι· καὶ ὡς φίλοις ὑμῖν πατρικοῖς διαλέγομαι. ἀκούοι θεὸς ἄνωθεν καὶ συμμαρτυροῖεν αἱ περὶ ἐκεῖνον
δυνάμεις ὡς, εἰ μή μοι τὸ βασιλικὸν ἀξίωμα ἔπιπτεν, οὐδὲν ἂν ὑμῶν εἶχον πλέον, οὔτε τῆς συνδιαγωγῆς οὔτε τῆς διαλέξεως. οὕτως
ἐκδεδαπάνημαι τῷ ἔρωτι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, οὕτως ἀντείλημμαι τῶν ὑμετέρων ψυχῶν. καὶ βουλοίμην μέν, εἴ γε δυναίμην, πᾶσαν μὲν χάριν,
πάντα δὲ κόσμον ἑκάστῳ ὑμῶν τῆς κεφαλῆς καταχέαι. ἀλλ' οἱ καιροί, ἀλλ' αἱ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐπὶ τὸ ἧττον μεταβολαὶ στενοχωροῦσί
μοι τὸ πλατὺ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ φιλότιμον. οὐ μήν γε τοσοῦτον ἐστενοχώρησαν, ἀλλ' ὁρᾶτε ὅτι μοι τῶν πηγῶν πανταχοῦ πίδακες ἀναβλύζουσι·
ἐπέχω δέ, μὴ ἔκρουν τὸ νᾶμά μοι γένηται καὶ ὄνομά τι κενὸν ἡ πηγὴ καθεστήκοι. Οὕτως ἠρέμα, ἵν' ἐφ' ἑτέραν μεταβαίην τροπήν,
τῆς βασιλικῆς ἡνι οχήσεως ἅπτομαι· καὶ τὰ μὲν ἀνασειράζω τοὺς ἵππους, τὰ δὲ εὐθυδρομεῖν καὶ ταχυδρομεῖν δίδωμι. δεῖ δὲ μὴ
τὸν κυβερνήτην ἐμὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πλωτῆρας ὑμᾶς συνιθύνειν τὸ σκάφος καὶ μὴ ἀντιπίπτειν τῷ ἰθυντῆρι μηδὲ ἀντικωπηλατεῖν
πρὸς τὸν οἴακα, ἀλλὰ συμπνεῖν καὶ ἰσοζυγεῖν καὶ τὴν μεγάλην τοῦ κράτους περισῴζειν ὁλκάδα. εἰ δὲ νῦν μὲν ἀπαρκτίαι πολλοὶ
καὶ βορέαι καὶ Ἑλλησποντίαι λαμπροὶ μέγα κῦμα κυλίνδουσι καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν ἐξοιδαίνουσιν, ἀλλ' οὐ πολύς ἐστι χρόνος καὶ ἐμπνεύσειαν
ἡμῖν νότοι καὶ ζέφυροι καὶ στορεσθήσεται μὲν τὸ κλυδώνιον, λειοκυμονήσει δὲ θάλασσα καὶ πράγματα ἡμῖν εἰς εὐφροσύνας καὶ χάριτας
καταστήσεται. καὶ εἰ χειμῶνος ἔτι κρατοῦντος περιανθῶ πᾶσιν ὑμῖν καὶ περιανθίζω καὶ
