Letter XX.—To Adelphius the Lawyer95    σχολαστικὸς, or possibly “student,” but the title of λογιστὴς, afterwards employed of the person to whom the letter is addressed, rather suggests the profession of an “advocate,” than the occupation of a scholar..

I write you this letter from the sacred Vanota, if I do not do the place injustice by giving it its local title:—do it injustice, I say, because in its name it shows no polish. At the same time the beauty of the place, great as it is, is not conveyed by this Galatian epithet: eyes are needed to interpret its beauty. For I, though I have before this seen much, and that in many places, and have also observed many things by means of verbal description in the accounts of old writers, think both all I have seen, and all of which I have heard, of no account in comparison with the loveliness that is to be found here. Your Helicon is nothing: the Islands of the Blest are a fable: the Sicyonian plain is a trifle: the accounts of the Peneus are another case of poetic exaggeration—that river which they say by overflowing with its rich current the banks which flank its course makes for the Thessalians their far-famed Tempe. Why, what beauty is there in any one of these places I have mentioned, such as Vanota can show us of its own? For if one seeks for natural beauty in the place, it needs none of the adornments of art: and if one considers what has been done for it by artificial aid, there has been so much done, and that so well, as might overcome even natural disadvantages. The gifts bestowed upon the spot by Nature who beautifies the earth with unstudied grace are such as these: below, the river Halys makes the place fair to look upon with his banks, and gleams like a golden ribbon through their deep purple, reddening his current with the soil he washes down. Above, a mountain densely overgrown with wood stretches with its long ridge, covered at all points with the foliage of oaks, worthy of finding some Homer to sing its praises more than that Ithacan Neritus, which the poet calls “far-seen with quivering leaves96    Cf. Hom. Odyss. ix. 22..” But the natural growth of wood, as it comes down the hill-side, meets at the foot the planting of men’s husbandry. For forthwith vines, spread out over the slopes, and swellings, and hollows at the mountain’s base, cover with their colour, like a green mantle, all the lower ground: and the season at this time even added to their beauty, displaying its grape-clusters wonderful to behold. Indeed this caused me yet more surprise, that while the neighbouring country shows fruit still unripe, one might here enjoy the full clusters, and be sated with their perfection. Then, far off, like a watch-fire from some great beacon, there shone before our eyes the fair beauty of the buildings. On the left as we entered was the chapel built for the martyrs, not yet complete in its structure, but still lacking the roof, yet making a good show notwithstanding. Straight before us in the way were the beauties of the house, where one part is marked out from another by some delicate invention. There were projecting towers, and preparations for banqueting among the wide and high-arched rows of trees crowning the entrance before the gates97    The text is clearly erroneous, and perhaps στεφανοῦσι is the true reading: it seems clearer in construction than στεφανοῦσαι suggested by Caraccioli.. Then about the buildings are the Phaeacian gardens; rather, let not the beauties of Vanota be insulted by comparison with those. Homer never saw “the apple with bright fruit98    Cf. Hom. Od. vii. 115.” as we have it here, approaching to the hue of its own blossom in the exceeding brilliancy of its colouring: he never saw the pear whiter than new-polished ivory. And what can one say of the varieties of the peach, diverse and multiform, yet blended and compounded out of different species? For just as with those who paint “goat-stags,” and “centaurs,” and the like, commingling things of different kind, and making themselves wiser than Nature, so it is in the case of this fruit: Nature, under the despotism of art, turns one to an almond, another to a walnut, yet another to a “Doracinus99    The word seems otherwise unknown. It may be a Græcizing of the Latin “duracinus,” for which cf. Plin. XV. xii. 11.,” mingled alike in name and in flavour. And in all these the number of single trees is more noted than their beauty; yet they display tasteful arrangement in their planting, and that harmonious form of drawing—drawing, I call it, for the marvel belongs rather to the painter’s art than to the gardener’s. So readily does Nature fall in with the design of those who arrange these devices, that it seems impossible to express this by words. Who could find words worthily to describe the road under the climbing vines, and the sweet shade of their cluster, and that novel wall-structure where roses with their shoots, and vines with their trailers, twist themselves together and make a fortification that serves as a wall against a flank attack, and the pond at the summit of this path, and the fish that are bred there? As regards all these, the people who have charge of your Nobility’s house were ready to act as our guides with a certain ingenuous kindliness, and pointed them out to us, showing us each of the things you had taken pains about, as if it were yourself to whom, by our means, they were showing courtesy. There too, one of the lads, like a conjuror, showed us such a wonder as one does not very often find in nature: for he went down to the deep water and brought up at will such of the fish as he selected; and they seemed no strangers to the fisherman’s touch, being tame and submissive under the artist’s hands, like well-trained dogs. Then they led me to a house as if to rest—a house, I call it, for such the entrance betokened, but, when we came inside, it was not a house but a portico which received us. The portico was raised up aloft to a great height over a deep pool: the basement supporting the portico of triangular shape, like a gateway leading to the delights within, was washed by the water. Straight before us in the interior a sort of house occupied the vertex of the triangle, with lofty roof, lit on all sides by the sun’s rays, and decked with varied paintings; so that this spot almost made us forget what had preceded it. The house attracted us to itself; and again, the portico on the pool was a unique sight. For the excellent fish would swim up from the depths to the surface, leaping up into the very air like winged things, as though purposely mocking us creatures of the dry land. For showing half their form and tumbling through the air, they plunged once more into the depth. Others, again, in shoals, following one another in order, were a sight for unaccustomed eyes: while in another place one might see another shoal packed in a cluster round a morsel of bread, pushed aside one by another, and here one leaping up, there another diving downwards. But even this we were made to forget by the grapes that were brought us in baskets of twisted shoots, by the varied bounty of the season’s fruit, the preparation for breakfast, the varied dainties, and savoury dishes, and sweetmeats, and drinking of healths, and wine-cups. So now since I was sated and inclined to sleep, I got a scribe posted beside me, and sent to your Eloquence, as if it were a dream, this chattering letter. But I hope to recount in full to yourself and your friends, not with paper and ink, but with my own voice and tongue, the beauties of your home.

[20] Πρὸς Ἀδέλφιον σχολαστικόν Ἐκ τῶν ἱερῶν Οὐανώτων, εἴ γε μὴ ἀδικῶ καλῶν ἐπιχωρίως τὸν τόπον, ταύτην σοι τὴν ἐπιστολὴν διεχάραξα: ἀδικεῖν δέ φημι τὸν χῶρον, ὅτι μηδὲν ἔχει γλαφυρὸν ἡ ἐπωνυμία, καὶ ἡ τοσαύτη τοῦ τόπου χάρις οὐ συνεμφαίνεται τῷ Γαλατικῷ τούτῳ προσρήματι, ἀλλ' ὀφθαλμῶν ἐστι χρεία τῶν ἑρμηνευόντων τὴν χάριν. πολλὰ γὰρ ἐγὼ καὶ παρὰ πολλοῖς ἤδη τεθεαμένος, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν λόγων ὑπογραφῆς ἐν τοῖς διηγήμασι τῶν ἀρχαίων κατανοήσας, λῆρον ἡγοῦμαι τὰ πάντα ὅσα τε εἶδον καὶ ὅσα ἤκουσα συγκρίσει τῶν τῇδε καλῶν. οὐδὲν ἐκεῖνος ὁ Ἑλικών: μῦθος τῶν μακάρων αἱ νῆσοι: μικρόν τι χρῆμα τὸ πέδον τὸ Σικυώνιον: κόμπος τις ἄλλως ποιητικὸς τὰ κατὰ τὸν Πηνειὸν διηγήματα, ὅν φασι πλουσίῳ τῷ ῥείθρῳ τὰς ἐκ πλαγίων ὄχθας ὑπερχεόμενον τὰ πολυύμνητα πεδία τοῖς Θετταλοῖς ἀπεργάζεσθαι. τί γὰρ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν παρ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰρημένων, οἷον ἡμῖν ἡ Οὐάνωτα τοῖς οἰκείοις ἐπεδείξατο κάλλεσιν; εἴτε γάρ τις τὴν φυσικὴν ἐπιζητοίη τοῦ τόπου χάριν, ἀπροσδεής ἐστι τῶν ἐκ τῆς τέχνης καλῶν, εἴτε τὰ ἐκ τῆς ἐπιτεχνήσεως προσγινόμενα βλέποι, τοιαῦτα καὶ τοσαῦτά ἐστιν ὡς καὶ φύσεως δύνασθαι δυσκληρίαν νικῆσαι. ἃ μὲν γὰρ ἡ φύσις τῷ τόπῳ χαρίζεται τῇ ἀκατασκεύῳ χάριτι τὴν γῆν ὡραΐζουσα, τοιαῦτά ἐστι: κάτωθεν μὲν ποταμὸς Ἅλυς ταῖς ὄχθαις καλλωπίζων τὸν τόπον, οἷόν τις ταινία χρυσῆ διὰ βαθείας ἁλουργίδος ὑποστίλβει, διὰ τῆς ἰλύος ἐρυθραίνων τὸ ῥεῖθρον: ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἄνωθεν μέρους ὄρος ἀμφιλαφές τε καὶ λάσιον μακρᾷ τῇ ῥαχίᾳ παρατείνεται δρυσὶν ἁπανταχόθεν κατάκομον, ἄξιον Ὁμήρου τινὸς ἐπιτυχεῖν ἐπαινέτου μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ Νήριτον ἐκεῖνο τὸ Ἰθακήσιον, ὅ φησιν ὁ ποιητὴς ἀριπρεπές τε εἶναι καὶ εἰνοσίφυλλον. ἐπικατιοῦσα δὲ πρὸς τὸ πρανὲς ἡ αὐτόματος ὕλη τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς γεωργίας κατὰ τὴν ὑπώρειαν συνάπτεται: εὐθὺς γὰρ ἄμπελοι διηπλωμέναι κατὰ τὰ πλάγιά τε καὶ ὕπτια καὶ κοῖλα τῆς ὑπωρείας, οἷον ἱμάτιόν τι χλοερὸν τὴν βαφήν, πάντα τὸν ὑποκείμενον χῶρον ἀπολαμβάνουσι: προσετίθετο δὲ τῇ ὥρᾳ καὶ ὁ καιρὸς θεσπέσιόν τι χρῆμα τῶν βοτρύων ὑποδεικνύς, ὃ δὴ καὶ μᾶλλον εἰς ἔκπληξιν ἤγαγεν, ὅτι τῆς γείτονος χώρας ἐν ὄμφακι τὸν καρπὸν δεικνυούσης, ἐνταῦθα κατατρυφᾶν ἐξῆν τῶν βοτρύων καὶ κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἐμφορεῖσθαι τῆς ὥρας. εἶτα πόρρωθεν ἡμῖν οἷόν τις πυρσὸς ἐκ φρυκτωρίας μεγάλης ἡ τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων χάρις ἐπέλαμπεν, [ἐν] ἀριστερᾷ μὲν εἰσιόντων ὁ εὐκτήριος οἶκος τοῖς μάρτυσιν ἡτοιμασμένος, οὔπω μὲν τὸ τέλειον τῆς δομήσεως ἔχων ἀλλ' ἔτι τῷ ὀρόφῳ λειπόμενος, λάμπων δὲ ὅμως: κατ' εὐθὺ δὲ ἦν τῆς ὁδοῦ τὰ τῆς οἰκήσεως κάλλη, ἄλλο πρὸς ἄλλο τι τῶν κατὰ τρυφὴν ἐπινενοημένων μεμερισμένα, πύργων προβολαὶ καὶ συμποσίων παρασκευαὶ ἐν εὐρυχώροις τε καὶ ὑψορόφοις πλατάνων στίχοις πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν στεφανοῦντες τὴν εἴσοδον, εἶτα περὶ τοὺς οἴκους οἱ Φαιάκιοι κῆποι. μᾶλλον δὲ μὴ ὑβριζέσθω τῇ πρὸς ἐκεῖνα συγκρίσει τὰ Οὐανώτων κάλλη: οὐκ εἶδεν Ὅμηρος τὴν ἐνταῦθα μηλέαν τὴν ἀγλαόκαρπον πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἰδίου ἄνθους χροιὰν τῷ ὑπερβάλλοντι τῆς εὐχροίας ἐπανιοῦσαν, οὐκ εἶδε τὴν ὄγχνην λευκοτέραν τοῦ νεοξέστου ἐλέφαντος. τί δ' ἄν τις εἴποι τῆς Περσικῆς ὀπώρας τὸ ποικίλον τε καὶ πολυειδὲς καὶ ἐξ ἑτερογενῶν συμμεμιγμένον καὶ σύνθετον; ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ τοὺς τραγελάφους καὶ ἱπποκενταύρους καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μιγνύντες ἐκ διαφόρων καὶ τὴν φύσιν παρασοφιζόμενοι γράφουσιν, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ὀπώρας ταύτης τὸ μὲν πρὸς ἀμυγδαλῆν, τὸ δὲ πρὸς κάρυον, ἕτερον δὲ πρὸς τὸ δωράκινον κατά τε τὸ ὄνομα καὶ τὴν γεῦσιν μεμιγμένον τυραννηθεῖσα παρὰ τῆς τέχνης ἡ φύσις ἐποίησε: καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις τὸ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ πλῆθος ὑπὲρ τὸ κάλλος ἐδείκνυτο. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ φυτείᾳ διάθεσιν καὶ τὴν εὔρυθμον ζωγραφίαν ἐκείνην (ἀληθῶς γὰρ γραφέως μᾶλλον ἢ γεωπόνου τὸ θαῦμα, οὕτω τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῶν ταῦτα διατιθέντων ἡ φύσις εὐκόλως ἐπηκολούθησεν) οὐκ οἶμαι δυνατὸν εἶναι διὰ λόγων ἐνδείξασθαι. τὴν δὲ ὑπὸ τὰς ἀναδενδράδας ὁδὸν καὶ τὴν γλυκεῖαν ἐκείνην ἐκ τῶν βοτρύων σκιὰν καὶ τὴν καινὴν ἐκ πλαγίων τειχοποιΐαν, ῥόδων ὅρπηξι καὶ κληματίσιν ἀμπέλων ἀλλήλαις συνδιαπλεκομένων καὶ ἀντὶ τοίχων διατειχιζόντων τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ πλάγια πάροδον, τήν τε κατὰ τὸ ἄκρον τοῦ τοιούτου δρόμου κολυμβήθραν τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ τρεφομένους ἰχθύας τίς ἂν ἐνδείξαιτο πρὸς ἀξίαν τῷ λόγῳ; ἐν γὰρ τούτοις πᾶσι μετά τινος ἐλευθερίου φιλοφροσύνης οἱ τὴν οἰκίαν ἐπιτροπεύοντες τῆς εὐγενείας σου κατὰ σπουδὴν περιηγοῦντο, καὶ ὑπεδείκνυον τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν σοι πεπονημένων, ἐπιδεικνύμενοι ὡς ἂν αὐτῷ σοι δι' ἡμῶν χαριζόμενοι. ἔνθα καί τις τῶν νεανίσκων, καθάπερ τις θαυματοποιός, ἐπεδείξατο ἡμῖν θέαμα μὴ λίαν ἐπιχωριάζον τῇ φύσει: καταβὰς γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ βάθος, κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἀνῃρεῖτο τῶν ἰχθύων τοὺς κατὰ γνώμην, κἀκεῖνοι πρὸς τὴν ἐπαφὴν τοῦ ἁλιέως οὐκ ἐξενίζοντο, οἷόν τινες χειροήθεις σκύλακες τιθασοὶ ὄντες τῇ χειρὶ τοῦ τεχνίτου καὶ ὑποχείριοι. εἶτά με παρῆγον ἐπί τινα οἶκον, δῆθεν ὡς ἀναπαυσόμενον: οἶκον γὰρ ἐνεδείκνυτο ἡμῖν ἡ εἴσοδος, ἀλλ' ἐντὸς τῆς θύρας γενομένους ἡμᾶς οὐχὶ οἶκος ἀλλὰ στοὰ διεδέξατο: ἡ δὲ στοὰ μετέωρος ἦν λίμνῃ βαθείᾳ ἐκ πολλοῦ τοῦ ὕψους ἐπῃωρημένη. προσεκλύζετο δὲ τῷ ὕδατι ἡ κρηπὶς ἡ τὴν στοὰν ἀνέχουσα τριγώνῳ τῷ σχήματι, οἷόν τι προπύλαιον τῆς ἔνδον τρυφῆς. κατ' εὐθεῖαν γὰρ ἐπὶ τὰ ἐντὸς οἶκός τις τὴν τοῦ τριγώνου προβολὴν διεδέχετο ὑψηλὸς τὸν ὄροφον, πανταχόθεν ταῖς τοῦ ἡλίου ἀκτῖσι περιλαμπόμενος, γραφαῖς ποικίλαις διηνθισμένος: ὥστε ἡμᾶς περὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον λήθην μικροῦ δεῖν τῶν προλαβόντων ποιήσασθαι: ὁ οἶκος πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπεσπάσατο, ἡ στοὰ πάλιν [ἡ] ἐπὶ λίμνῃ ἴδιόν τι θέαμα ἦν: οἱ γὰρ βέλτιστοι ἰχθύες, ὥσπερ ἐξεπίτηδες τοὺς χερσαίους ἡμᾶς διαπαίζοντες, ἐκ τῶν βυθῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ἀνενήχοντο, οἷόν τινες πτηνοὶ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀέρος κατασκιρτῶντες: ἡμιφανεῖς γὰρ γινόμενοι καὶ διακυβιστῶντες τὸν ἀέρα, πάλιν εἰς τὸν βυθὸν κατεδύοντο. ἄλλοι δὲ κατ' ἀγέλας στοιχηδὸν ἀλλήλοις ἑπόμενοι θέαμα τοῖς ἀήθεσιν ἦσαν: ἦν δὲ ἰδεῖν ἑτέρωθι ἄλλην ἰχθύων ἀγέλην βοτρυδὸν περὶ τρύφος ἄρτου πεπυκνωμένους καὶ ἄλλον ὑπ' ἄλλου παρωθουμένους καὶ ἕτερον ἐφαλλόμενον καὶ ἄλλον ὑποδυόμενον. ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτων ἐποίει λήθην ἐν κληματίσι καὶ ταλάροις ὁ βότρυς ἡμῖν εἰσκομιζόμενος καὶ ἡ ποικίλη τῆς ὀπώρας φιλοτιμία καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἀρίστου παρασκευὴ καὶ τὰ ποικίλα ὄψα καὶ καρυκεῖαι καὶ πέμματα καὶ φιλοτησίαι καὶ κύλικες.
Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἤδη μετὰ τὸν κόρον πρὸς ὕπνον κατεφερόμην, παραστησάμενος τὸν ὑπογράφοντα, ταύτην σου τῇ λογιότητι καθάπερ ἐνύπνιον τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀπελήρησα: εὔχομαι δὲ μὴ διὰ χάρτου καὶ μέλανος, ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτῆς τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ φωνῆς τε καὶ γλώττης τὰ παρὰ σοὶ καλά σοί τε αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς ἀγαπῶσί σε διὰ παντὸς διηγεῖσθαι.