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of building, but 20.9 still lacking a roof, but shining nevertheless; and directly from the road were the beauties of the dwelling, divided one from another according to the various contrivances for luxury, projections of towers and preparations for banquets in spacious and high-roofed rooms, with rows of plane-trees before the doors crowning the 20.10 entrance, then around the houses the Phaeacian gardens. Or rather, let not the beauties of Vanota be insulted by the comparison with those; Homer did not see the apple-tree here, with its splendid fruit, returning to the color of its own blossom in the excess of its loveliness, he did not see the pear 20.11 whiter than newly polished ivory. And what could one say of the Persian fruit, so varied and diverse and mixed and composite from different kinds? For just as those who paint goat-stags and hippocentaurs and such things, mixing them from different creatures and outwitting nature, so also with this fruit, nature, tyrannized by art, has made one mixed with the almond, another with the walnut, and another with the peach both in name and in taste; and in addition to all these things, the quantity of each was shown 20.12 to be greater than its beauty. But also the arrangement in the planting and that rhythmic painting (for truly the marvel is of a painter rather than a farmer, so easily did nature follow the desire of those who arranged these things) I do not think it is 20.13 possible to set forth in words. And the path under the trellises and that sweet shade from the clusters of grapes and the novel wall-construction on the sides, with rose-shoots and vine-branches intertwined with one another and partitioning off the side-path instead of walls, and the pool of water at the end of such a path and the fish being raised in it, 20.14 who could describe worthily in words? For in all these things, with a certain noble friendliness, those who manage the house of your nobility eagerly led us around, and they pointed out each of the things labored for you, showing them as if doing a favor to you yourself through 20.15 us. There one of the young men, like some wonder-worker, showed us a sight not very natural to its kind; for having gone down into the deep, he would take up at will those of the fish he chose, and they were not startled by the touch of the fisherman, like some hand-tamed puppies, 20.16 being tame and submissive to the hand of the expert. Then they led me to a certain house, supposedly so I could rest; for the entrance indicated a house to us, but once we were inside the door, not a house but a portico received us; and the portico was suspended, hanging over a deep lake from a great height. The foundation supporting the portico, triangular in shape, was washed by the water, like a sort of gateway 20.17 to the luxury within. For straight on, a house with a high roof followed the projection of the triangle, illuminated on all sides by the sun's rays, adorned with varied paintings; so that in this place we almost forgot the things that came 20.18 before; the house drew one to itself, again the portico over the lake was a special sight; for the best fish, as if deliberately mocking us land-dwellers, swam up from the depths to the surface, like some winged creatures, even leaping in the air itself; for becoming half-visible and tumbling through the air, 20.19 they would dive back into the deep. And others, following one another in schools in a line, were a sight for those unaccustomed; and elsewhere one could see another school of fish clustered like grapes around a crumb of bread, and one being pushed by another, and another leaping on it, and another diving 20.20 under. But even these things were made to be forgotten by the cluster of grapes brought to us in vine-twigs and baskets, and the varied bounty of fruit, and the preparation of the breakfast, and the various delicacies, and seasonings, and cakes, and toasts, and cups. 20.21 Since then, after satiety, I was already being carried off to sleep,

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δομήσεως ἔχων ἀλλ' 20.9 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 εἴσο20.10 δον, 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 λευ20.11 κοτέραν 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 ἐδεί20.12 κνυτο. 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 20.13 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 20.14 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 χαριζό20.15 μενοι. 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 20.16 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 20.17 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 20.18 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, 20.19 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 ὑποδυό20.20 μενον. 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. 20.21 Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἤδη μετὰ τὸν κόρον πρὸς ὕπνον κατεφερόμην,