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
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, as you see, but he is yet more bold and looks with a terrible gaze. But he does not yet care about his companions; for he has prepared himself on his own behalf, and they stand by. But alas for their faces! The art has beautified itself upon them. For it has made one already transformed, another still being transformed, and another about to be; whence this one's snout has been lengthened and his form is simply swinish, while another's eyes are changed and his face has relaxed a little, but his nose has not yet ended in a point, and for the other his face has already swollen and the transformation has begun. Why then has the mixing-bowl overcome some, while he has prevailed? You will hear a philosophical account, my child, and you will not at all blame the wrapping of the myth; for it is the way of poetry to hide the secrets of philosophy under another form. For understand Circe to be pleasure itself, transforming souls according to whatever passion each was moved by. And the potion is a mixed drink and simply a cup of forgetfulness; for souls, when they drink of the liquid, forget their own worth, whence, having disregarded their innate reason, they are moved to a beastly form. So Circe has power over such souls and seems to be someone terrible and, along with her beauty, grim and haughty. But the demigod souls, wavering between a mortal body and an incorruptible nature, do not at all fear the transformation of Circe nor are they captured by her form, but looking back more nobly they terrify her, and they escape the transformation into passions. 34 {1 Ekphrasis on an Eros carved in stone Do not be surprised, young man, seeing the Eros in the stone now sunk in deep sleep, so that his wings are at rest, and the quiver of arrows hangs idle from one of his hands. For the one who sculpted the stone and fashioned it into the form of Eros seems to me [not] to have been ignorant of the higher philosophy nor of the distinction of souls and how some of [them] η᾿̣κ̣χα... under generation, for whom Eros is not sleepless [δεσυντ φερε 10 λιττ.], while some have surpassed his wing, under whom the κ̣α̣ι`̣ θε´̣αν ..τ.../ [..] το[ῦ] δ̣[δεσυντ φερε 10 λιττ.], so that we must place Eros in the middle region, so that for some .... ω̣τιφ..γ̣·[δεσυντ φερε 11 λιττ.]. and let us not be too timid of his wing nor fear his arrow; for he does not flap his wings ἐ[δεσυντ φερε 11 λιττ.] nor does he shoot accurately at all, but even of those he aims at [δεσυντ φερε 12 λιττ.]μ̣η̣ται. But if the sculptor was able to carve in stone the weaker of the Erotes, sober [δεσυντ φερε 7 λιττ.] he showed it hastening towards the better of the souls. For there is also another kind of a higher and ever-watchful Eros who does not lead souls down into the forms of bodies, but leads minds up to the form of god; however let us not drive away the more earth-bound Eros, if we must be persuaded by the wonderful philosopher (I mean Plato). This one also prepares souls from visible beauty for the pleasure that leads upwards and, since it cannot establish the intelligible and divine beauty upon its own nature, it makes certain echoes and appearances into images in bodies, which a beauty-loving soul, upon seeing, is simply maddened and gushes forth warmly, recognizing in the appearances the trace of that intelligible soul. And so it must be understood that if someone, seeing beauty in a body, remains in the underlying matter and embraces the image alone, this one is a body-lover but not a beauty-lover; but if from there he should turn toward the form that leads upwards, this is the Platonic lover whose account those who are ignorant attack with jests. But about the better Eros, let another occasion be reserved, but of this carved one let the sculptor also enjoy the fruits
πάντα συγκέκραται. ἀποτυγχάνει δὲ τοῦ βουλήματος, σπασαμένου ἐπ' αὐτὴν τὸ ξίφος τοῦ ἥρωος, ὅθεν μικροῦ δεῖν καὶ ἀποπε πνεύκει·
ἠλλοίωται γάρ, ὡς ὁρᾷς, τὴν μορφήν, ὁ δὲ ἔτι μᾶλλον θαρσεῖ καὶ φοβερῷ βλέπει τῷ βλέμματι. περὶ δὲ τῶν ἑταίρων οὔπω τούτῳ μέλει·
ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ γὰρ παρεσκεύασται, οἱ δὲ ἑστᾶσιν. ἀλλὰ βαβαὶ τῶν προσ ώπων· ἐκαλλωπίσατο δὲ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ἡ τέχνη. τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἤδη
μεταποιη θέντα πεποίηκε, τὸν δὲ ἔτι μεταμορφούμενον, τὸν δὲ μέλλοντα· ὅθεν τούτῳ μὲν ὁ μυκτὴρ ἀπομεμήκυται καὶ ὕειος αὐτῷ
ἀτεχνῶς ἡ μορφή, ὁ δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς μὲν διήλλακται καὶ βραχύ τι τοῦ προσώπου κεχάλα σται, οὔπω δὲ ἡ ῥὶς κατέληξεν εἰς ὀξύ,
τῷ δὲ ἐξῴδηκεν ἤδη τὸ πρόσωπον καὶ ἦρκται τοῦ μετασχηματισμοῦ. Τί ποτ' οὖν ὁ κρατὴρ τῶν μὲν κεκράτηκεν, ὁ δὲ ὑπερίσχυσε; φιλόσοφον,
ὦ παῖ, λόγον ἀκούσῃ καὶ οὐ πάνυ τὴν περιβολὴν τοῦ μύθου μέμψῃ· ποιητικὸν γὰρ ὑφ' ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ τὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας κρύπτειν ἀπόρρητα.
τὴν γάρ τοι Κίρκην ἡδονὴν ἄντικρυς νόησον μεταποιοῦσαν ψυχὰς πρὸς ὃ ἑκάστη πάθος κεκίνητο. ὁ δὲ κυκεὼν σύγκρατόν ἐστι πόμα
καὶ ἀτεχνῶς λήθης ποτήριον· ἐπιλανθάνονται γοῦν αἱ ψυχαὶ τῆς οἰκείας ἀξίας πιοῦσαι τοῦ νάματος, ὅθεν τὸν ἔμφυτον ἀλογώσασαι
λόγον εἰς τὴν κτηνώδη μετακεκίνηνται μόρφωσιν. δύναται γοῦν κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἡ Κίρκη ψυχῶν καὶ δοκεῖ φοβερά τις εἶναι καὶ
μετὰ τοῦ κάλλους βλοσυρά τε καὶ σοβαρά. αἱ δὲ ἡμίθεοι τῶν ψυχῶν, ἐν μέσῳ θνητοῦ τε σαλεύουσαι σώματος καὶ τῆς ἀκηράτου φύσεως,
οὐ πάνυ δεδίασι τὴν τῆς Κίρκης μεταβολὴν οὐδὲ ἁλίσκονται τῆς μορφῆς, ἀλλὰ γενναιότερον ἀντιβλέψασαι τὴν μὲν καταδειμαίνουσιν,
ἐκεῖναι δὲ τὴν εἰς τὰ πάθη ἀποφυγγάνουσι μετα ποίησιν. 34 {1Ἔκφρασις εἰς Ἔρωτα ἐγγεγλυμμένον λίθῳ Μὴ θαυμάσῃς, ὦ μειράκιον,
ὁρῶν τὸν ἐν τῷ λίθῳ Ἔρωτα πρὸς βαθὺν ὕπνον ἤδη κατενεχθέντα, ὡς ἐπαναπαύεσθαι μὲν αὐτῷ τὰς πτέρυγας, τὴν δὲ γωρυτὸν τῶν βελῶν
ἄπρακτον θατέρᾳ παρῃω̣ρ̣η῀̣σ̣θαι τῶν χειρῶν. ὁ γάρ τοι πλάσας τὸν λίθον καὶ εἰς ἰδέαν τεχνιτεύσας Ἔρωτος [οὔ] μοι δοκεῖ τὴν
ὑψηλοτέραν ἠγνοηκέναι φιλοσοφίαν οὐδὲ τὴν διάκρισιν τῶν ψυχῶν καὶ ὡς τι̣ν̣ε`̣ς̣ μὲν αὐτ[ῶν] η᾿̣κ̣χα... ὑπὸ γένεσιν, αἷς ο̣υ᾿̣[κ
ἄ] γρυπν[ος] ὁ Ἔρως [δεσυντ φερε 10 λιττ.], τινὲς δὲ ὑπ[ερ]βεβήκασι τὸ ἐκείνου πτερόν, ὑφ' αἷς ὁ κ̣α̣ι`̣ θε´̣αν ..τ.../ [..]
το[ῦ] δ̣[δεσυντ φερε 10 λιττ.], ὥστε τὴν μέση[ν χ]ω´̣ραν τακτέον ἡμῖν τὸν Ἔρωτα, ἵνα τοῖς μὲν .... ω̣τιφ..γ̣·[δεσυντ φερε
11 λιττ.]. καὶ μὴ πάνυ δειλιῶμεν τὸ τού του πτερὸν μηδὲ φοβώμεθα τὸν ὀιστόν· οὐ γὰρ ἐ[δεσυντ φερε 11 λιττ.] πτερύσσεται οὐδ'
ἐπὶ πᾶσιν εὔσ̣[τοχ]α βάλλει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὧν ἂν καταστοχῇ [δεσυντ φερε 12 λιττ.]μ̣η̣ται. Εἰ δέ γε τῶν Ἐρώτων τὸν ἥτ[τω] ἐν λίθῳ
γλύφειν ὁ πλάστης ἠδύνατο νήφο̣ντ̣[α δεσυντ φερε 7 λιττ.] σπουδάζοντα ἐπὶ ταῖς κρείττοσιν ὑπέδειξε τῶν ψυχῶν. ἐστὶ γάρ τι
καὶ γένος ἕτε̣ρ̣[ον] ὑψηλοτέρου κ̣α̣ι`̣ ἐγρηγορότος ἐσαεὶ Ἔρωτος ὃς οὐ κατάγει ψυχὰς ἐς σωμάτων μορφάς, ἀλλ' α᾿̣ν̣[ά]γει νοῦς
ἐς εἶδος θεοῦ· πλὴν μηδὲ τὸν χθαμαλώτερον ἀποδιοπομπησώμεθα Ἔρωτα, εἰ δεῖ πεπεῖσθαι τῷ θαυμασίῳ φιλοσόφῳ (φημὶ δὴ τῷ Πλάτωνι).
ἑτοιμάζει καὶ οὗτος τὰς ψυχὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐμφανοῦς κάλλους πρὸς τὴν ἀναγωγὸν ἡδονὴν καί, ἐπεὶ μὴ δύναται τὸ νοερὸν καὶ ἀπόθετον
κάλλος ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ὑποστήσασθαι φύσεως, ἀπηχήματά τινα καὶ ἐμφάσεις εἰδωλο ποιεῖ ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν, ἅπερ ἰδοῦσα ψυχὴ φιλόκαλος
οἰστρεῖ ἀτεχνῶς καὶ ἀνακηκίει θερμῶς, ἐπιγνοῦσα ἐν ταῖς ἐμφάσεσι τὸ ἴχνος τῆς νοερᾶς ἐκείνης ψυχῆς. οὕτω δὲ διατακτέον ὡς
εἰ μέν τις ἰδὼν κάλλος ἐν σώματι ἐναπομείνοι τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ καὶ τὸ εἴδωλον μόνον ἐναγκαλίσαιτο, φιλοσώ ματος οὗτος ἀλλ' οὐ
φιλόκαλος· εἰ δ' ἐκεῖθεν ἐπιστραφείη πρὸς τὸ ἀναγωγὸν εἶδος, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Πλατωνικὸς ἐραστὴς οὗ τὸν λόγον οἱ ἀγνοήσαντες
βάλλουσι σκώμμασιν. Ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τοῦ κρείττονος Ἔρωτος ἕτερος ταμιευέσθω καιρός, τοῦ δὲ γεγλυμμένου τούτου παραπολαυέτω καὶ
ὁ πλάστης
