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And what is the birth of the 53 city? And from what beginning of the nation do we see its origin? The woodcutter cuts the timber, the timber merchant trades in it, the shipwright buys the timber for money, he divides the craft into tasks. For one man cuts the wood into planks with a saw; another fashions the keel; another has the task of constructing the undergirding; another has topped off the prow and another the stern; this one is concerned with the mast and that one with the yardarm; others weave the flax into ropes; the hawseholes are the concern of the pilot; others work on the decks and the sail; others also add the embellishment of painting, and still others are smearing the joints with pitch and constructing the bilge in the middle. Certainly each one does not perform his own task at the same time, but one now, another a little later; and for this one the task is already finished, while that one is seen in the process of working. When, then, will the wise men assign its fate to the ship? When the wood is bought or when it is cut or when it is worked or when the iron is applied or when it is joined with pegs? For since there are many and various tasks involved in shipbuilding, and they do not happen at the same time, what time will you assign to fate, so that having received the necessity of sinking, it may destroy along with itself those who sail in it? And what would you say about cities? When do they think fate rules it? When 54 some plan for the settlement occurs to those undertaking it, or when they consider the suitability of the place, or when they trace out the plan, or when they now apply the iron to the work, or lay the stones, or gather the materials? Which of these is the beginning of its existence? And what would you say about the nation which was wiped out by the disasters of war? Who, or from where, taking its beginning against them, did fate slaughter some, and enslave others through captivity? How did Hannibal or Caesar or Alexander of Macedon, among all those with whom they campaigned, produce an equality of fate, so overpowering that necessity that all were brought together under the same measures of misfortune? But indeed, that the argument for thinking that the constellations create the fates of cities in the collapses caused by earthquakes is beyond probability, one might see from this: Who does not know that such afflictions of the earth occur not only in inhabited places but also in uninhabited ones? If anyone has known the mountain of the Gasagi, which lies near the borders of the Bithynians, either by his own experience or has heard of it from a narrative, he will find the truth of the argument, that at the very passes of the road the entire ridge, having subsided, has become a fearsome sight to travelers. Such also are the afflictions of the country of the Paphlagonians; 55 and there are places where even human habitations were dragged down with these chasms; but in many places the land is shown to be bare of inhabitants in such an affliction. And what need is there to speak individually of Cypriots and Pisidians and Achaeans, among whom there are many proofs of what is said? But the reason we mentioned what has been said is that all such things are afflictions of the earth. If, then, it should happen that a human habitation is also found in the place, by all necessity they too would have shared in the misfortune of the place; but if it were free of inhabitants, the misfortune of the place would have brought no harm to men. What then is the necessity of fate when both the inhabited and the uninhabited places alike sustain such an affliction? For if they were able to demonstrate that the earth was constructed in certain parts and not all at once, their idle talk might perhaps have an opportunity to say that when this part of the earth was created this conjunction of the stars was applied, so that this or that should necessarily happen. But since all things are comprehended together, heaven, earth, sea, and according to the account of Moses the earth even precedes the creation and motion of the stars, how will they assign the cause of partial events on the earth to the motion of the stars? If

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τίς δὲ ὁ τῆς 53 πόλεως τόκος; ἐκ ποίας δὲ ἀρχῆς τοῦ ἔθνους καθορῶμεν τὴν γένεσιν; τέμνει ὁ δρυοτόμος τὴν ὕλην, ἐμπορεύεται ταύτην ὁ τὸ ξύλον ἐμπορευόμενος, χρημάτων ὁ ναυπηγὸς τὴν ὕλην ὠνεῖται, μερίζει τῇ ἐργασίᾳ τὴν τέχνην. ὁ μὲν γάρ τις διαιρεῖ τὸ ξύλον εἰς σανίδας τῷ πρίονι· ὁ δὲ τὴν τρόπιν τεκταίνεται· ἕτερος περὶ τὰ ὑποζώματα τὴν σπουδὴν τῆς κατασκευῆς ἔχει· ἄλλος τὴν πρώραν καὶ ἄλλος τὴν πρύμναν ἐκορυφώσατο· τούτῳ τοῦ ἱστοῦ μέλει καὶ τῆς κεραίας τῷ ἑτέρῳ· οἱ δὲ τὸ λίνον εἰς κάλους πλέκουσιν· οἱ δὲ αὐχένες τῷ κυβερνήτῃ διὰ φροντίδος γίνονται· ἄλλοι τὰ καταστρώματα καὶ τὴν ὀθόνην ἐνεργοῦσιν· ἄλλοι καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῆς ζωγραφίας καλλωπισμὸν ἐπάγουσιν, ἕτεροί τε αὖ διαχρίοντες τῇ πίσσῃ τὰς ἁρμονίας καὶ τὸν ἄντλον ἐν τῷ μέσῳ κατασκευάζοντες. πάντως οὐ κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἕκαστος τὸ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐνεργοῦσιν, ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν νῦν, ὁ δὲ μετ' ὀλίγον· καὶ τῷδε ἤδη πέρας τὸ σπουδαζόμενον ἔσχεν, ὁ δὲ ἐν τῷ ἐνεργεῖν καθορᾶται. πότε τοίνυν τῇ νηῒ τὴν εἱμαρμένην οἱ σοφοὶ ἐπιστήσουσιν; ὅτε ὠνεῖται τὸ ξύλον ἢ ὅτε τέμνεται ἢ ὅτε μεταχειρίζεται ἢ ὅτε ἐπάγει τὸν σίδηρον ἢ ὅτε συναρμόζει τοῖς γόμφοις; πολλῶν γὰρ καὶ διαφόρων ὄντων τῶν κατὰ τὴν ναυπηγίαν σπουδαζομένων καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀλλήλοις χρόνον συνισταμένων ποῖον ἀναθήσῃ χρόνον τῇ εἱμαρμένῃ, ἵνα τὴν ἀνάγκην τῆς καταδύσεως δεξαμένη συν διαφθείρῃ μεθ' ἑαυτῆς τοὺς ἐμπλέοντας; τί δ' ἂν εἴποις περὶ τῶν πόλεων; πότε αὐτῆς κρατεῖν τὴν εἱμαρμένην οἴονται; ὅτε 54 βουλή τις τοῦ οἰκισμοῦ τοῖς σπουδάζουσι γίνεται ἢ ὅτε τοῦ τόπου τὴν εὐφυΐαν ἐπιλογίζονται ἢ ὅτε τὸ σχῆμα κατα χαράσσουσιν ἢ ὅτε ἐπάγουσιν ἤδη τῇ ἐργασίᾳ τὸν σίδη ρον ἢ τοὺς λίθους ἐναποτίθενται ἢ συμφοροῦσι τὰς ὕλας; τί τούτων ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ τῆς συστάσεως; τί δ' ἂν εἴποις περὶ τοῦ ἔθνους ὃ ταῖς κατὰ πόλεμον συμφοραῖς ἐξετρίβη; τίς ἢ πόθεν κατ' αὐτῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν λαβοῦσα ἡ μοῖρα τοὺς μὲν κατ εφόνευσε, τοὺς δὲ δι' αἰχμαλωσίας κατεδουλώσατο; πῶς Ἀννίβας ἢ Καῖσαρ ἢ καὶ ὁ ἐκ Μακεδονίας Ἀλέξανδρος παρ' οἷς ἂν ἐγένοντο στρατευόμενοι πᾶσιν ὁμοτιμίαν εἱμαρμένης εἰργάσαντο τοσοῦτον τῆς ἀνάγκης ἐκείνης ὑπερισχύοντες ὡς τοῖς αὐτοῖς τοῦ κακοῦ μέτροις πάντας συνάγεσθαι; ἀλλὰ μὴν τὸ οἴεσθαι τὰς τῶν πόλεων εἱμαρμένας ἐν τοῖς τῶν σεισμῶν καταπτώμασι τὰς συναστρίας ποιεῖν, ὡς ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος ὁ λόγος ἐστίν, ἐντεῦθεν ἄν τις κατίδοι· τίς οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι τὰ τοιαῦτα πάθη τῆς γῆς οὐ μόνον ἐν τοῖς οἰκουμένοις τόποις ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀοικήτοις συνίσταται; εἴ τις τὸ τῶν Γασάγων ὄρος τὸ πρὸς τοῖς ὁρίοις τῶν Βιθυνῶν κείμενον ἢ τῇ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἔγνω πείρᾳ ἢ ἐκ διηγήματος ἤκουσεν, εὑρήσει τὴν τοῦ λόγου ἀλήθειαν, ὅτι κατ' αὐτὰς τῆς ὁδοῦ τὰς ὑπερβολὰς πᾶσα ἡ ἀκρώρεια ὑπονοστήσασα φοβερὸν θέαμα τοῖς διοδεύουσι γίνεται. τοιαῦτα καὶ τῆς χώρας τῶν Παφλαγόνων τὰ πάθη· 55 ἔστι δὲ ὅπου καὶ οἰκήσεις ἀνθρώπων τοῖς χάσμασι τούτοις συγκατεσπάσθησαν· πολλαχῇ δὲ τῶν οἰκητόρων γυμνὸς ὁ χῶρος ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ δείκνυται πάθει. καὶ τί χρὴ καθ' ἕκαστον λέγειν Κυπρίους καὶ Πισίδας καὶ Ἀχαιούς, ἐν οἷς πολλὰ τῶν λεγομένων ἐστὶ τεκμήρια; ἀλλ' οὗ χάριν τῶν εἰρημένων ἐμνήσθημεν, ὅτι πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα γῆς ἐστι πάθη. εἰ μὲν οὖν συνενεχθείη καὶ οἴκησιν ἀνθρώπων ἐφευρεθῆναι τῷ τόπῳ, κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην κἀκεῖνοι τοῦ κατὰ τὸν τόπον δυστυχήματος παραπέλαυσαν· εἰ δὲ ἐλεύθερος εἴη τῶν οἰκητόρων, οὐδεμίαν ἀνθρώποις ἤνεγκε βλάβην τὸ περὶ τὸν τόπον δυστύχημα. τίς οὖν ἡ τῆς εἱμαρμένης ἀνάγκη ἐπίσης τῶν τε οἰκουμένων καὶ τῶν ἀοικήτων τὸ τοιοῦτον πάθος ὑπομενόντων; εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἶχον ἀποδεικνύειν κατὰ μέρη τινὰ καὶ μὴ κατὰ τὸ ἀθρόον πᾶσαν κατεσκευάσθαι τὴν γῆν, εἶχεν ἂν αὐτοῖς ἴσως καιρὸν ἡ ματαιολογία τῷδε τῷ μέρει τῆς γῆς κτιζομένης τῆσδε τῶν ἄστρων συμπλοκῆς ἐφαρμοσθείσης ἢ τοῦτο ἢ ἐκεῖνο κατ' ἀνάγκην γενέσθαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντα μετ' ἀλλήλων καταλαμβάνεται, οὐρανός, γῆ, θάλασσα, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Μωϋσέως λόγον καὶ προτερεύει ἡ γῆ τῆς τῶν ἄστρων κατασκευῆς καὶ κινήσεως, πῶς τῶν μερικῶν κατὰ τὴν γῆν συμπτωμάτων τὴν αἰτίαν εἰς τὴν τῶν ἄστρων ἀναθήσονται κίνησιν; εἰ