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 satiety, the ineffable and unsurpassable method? Away with Aeschyluses and Stesichoruses, knowing perhaps with flutes, as the story goes, {δὲ} to charm the many, but having lost their lives badly and having become the byproduct of a robber's hand, <καὶ> Caphisias and Neoptolemus and Reginus, of whom, when his string broke, as they say, a cicada flew on and sounded out the melody; for all are inferior to him in melody, in euphony, in the relaxed mode, the strained, the middle, and all the others together (for the man knows these things clearly, and that the tone is a place of unvarying sound, and the hypate is the first and greatest of the strings on the lyre, and the mese is this very thing, middle; for it is stretched, holding the place of a center, as it were, between the hypates and the homonymously named mesai and the netes and the hyperboles themselves); by how much? By as much as the things voiced by both parties are, the ones divine, the others human, and the ones clear-toned, the others broken, and the ones delighting the body, the others the soul. Is it not then a marvel, this also, more wondrous than those things that were sung? For he made some lament at these things and dreadful tears to flow from their eyes, which all, very reasonably, call messengers of the soul, but others he made laugh and be poured out in pleasures, while others he gave over completely to weeping. But one of these, when the words touched his soul, taking off his tunic, gave it to a poor man (for the temple was not lacking in these) and chose to be naked for Christ's sake and for the reward from thence, which indeed offers manifold graces in return and bestows the life that always abides. For indeed, as I myself see, the simple argument is an upright thing, but it has less power than the oblique one, in the opposite way to a blow from a spear; for that, when thrust straight, struck, but when turned aside, it grazed, but the argument, when colored with art, being cast into the heart itself, was fixed there, but when let in without art, it played at the door by the ear. For who would that man have been who, having observed his tyrannical impersonations and the voices of his opponents and his imitations of them, did not immediately smile or marvel, to put it better, and extol this man as a god? and imitating dialects and assuming the tongue of barbarians and weaving in Armenian words and thus setting himself against the tyrant—if anyone heard him, he does not need the reminder. At least you who have not come to the experience, know that you have missed out on a great good. I, therefore, heard him after these things, also reading with a certain learned man who made a great addition to the matter; but what has an ox in common with a dolphin? What has denial in common with affirmation? What has destruction in common with generation? What have objects of sense in common with objects of knowledge? What has wisdom in common with sophistry, that I may not say more out of respect for his learning? Those who were present know, and the temple of the Virgin of Cyrus knows. At that time some were asking me this customary question, and being at a loss they were seeking the cause, but I found a teacher similar to them. "For what in the world," they said to me, "is this man, who possesses a voice sweeter than any, and surpasses every lyre, and far exceeds the songs of cicadas and nightingales and swallows and trumpets, if I might put it so, who has a character adaptable to all things, and a musical and truly sweet-sounding tongue, and an art which no one is able to describe?" And I in turn again remembered at the right time the Platonic saying: For when Socrates asked Timaeus what God is, he says: "That he exists, I know, but what he is, I do not know; for that he is neither body nor color nor angel nor any such thing, but is better than these, I know, but what he is, I do not understand." "For that," I myself said, "this is a man subject to the same definition as all, I certainly know

Τίς σου τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους μαγάδα διεξηγήσεται καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γλώτ της ᾄσματα καὶ τερετίσματα, τὸ μέλος ἐκεῖνο τὸ παναρμόνιον, τὴν ἡδονὴν τὴν κόρον οὐκ ἔχουσαν, τὴν ἄφατον κἀνυπέρβλητον μέθοδον; ἐρρέτωσαν Αἰσχύλοι καὶ Στησίχοροι αὐλοῖς μέν, ὡς λόγος, εἰδότες ἴσως {δὲ} καταθέλγειν τοὺς πλείονας, κακῶς δὲ τὸ ζῆν ἀπολωλεκότες καὶ πάρεργον χειρὸς γενόμενοι λῃστρικῆς, <καὶ> Καφισίας καὶ Νεοπτόλεμος καὶ Ῥηγῖνος, οὗ ῥαγείσης, ὥς φασι, τῆς χορδῆς τέττιξ ἐπιπτὰς ἐξήχει τὸ μέλος· ἥττονες γὰρ τούτου σύμπαντες τῆς μελῳδίας, τῆς εὐφωνίας, τοῦ κεχαλασμένου μέλους, τοῦ συντόνου, τοῦ μέσου, τῶν ἄλλων ὁμοῦ (οἶδε γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα σαφῶς ὁ ἀνὴρ καὶ ὡς ὁ τόνος μὲν τόπος ἐστὶ τῆς φωνῆς ἀπαλατής, ἡ δέ γε ὑπάτη ἡ πρώτη καὶ μεγίστη τῶν ἐν τῇ κιθάρᾳ χορδῶν, ἡ μέση δὲ καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο μέση· τέταται γὰρ οἱονεὶ κέντρου λόγον ἐπέχουσα ταῖς τε ὑπάταις καὶ ταῖς ὁμωνύμως λεγομέναις μέσαις ταῖς τε νήταις καὶ ταῖς ὑπερβολαῖς αὐταῖς)· πόσον; ὅσῳ καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑκατέρων φωνούμενα τὰ μὲν θεῖα, τὰ δὲ ἀνθρώπινα, καὶ τὰ μὲν λιγυρά, τὰ δὲ κεκλασμένα, καὶ τὰ μὲν σῶμα, τὰ δὲ ψυχὴν κατευφραίνοντα. Ἆρ' οὖν οὐ θαῦμα καὶ τοῦτο τῶν ᾀδομένων ἐκείνων παραδοξότερον; τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐποίει θρηνεῖν καὶ δεινὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καταρ ρέειν τὰ δάκρυα, ἃ ψυχῆς μηνύματα λέγουσι καὶ λίαν εἰκότως ἅπαντες, τοὺς δὲ γελᾶν καὶ ἐκκεχύσθαι ταῖς ἡδοναῖς, τοὺς δὲ παντάπασιν ἐδίδου κλαυθμῷ. εἷς δέ τις τούτων, ἁψαμένων αὐτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς τῶν ῥημάτων, τὸν χιτῶνα ἀποδυσάμενος τῷ πένητι δέδωκεν (οὐδὲ τούτων γὰρ ὁ νεὼς ἠμοίρει) καὶ γυμνιτεύειν προείλετο διὰ Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἀντίδοσιν, ἣ δὴ πολλαπλασίους ἀντιπαρέχει τὰς χάριτας καὶ ζωὴν πρυτανεύει τὴν ἀεὶ διαμένουσαν. καὶ γάρ, ὡς αὐτὸς ὁρῶ, ὀρθὸν μέν τι πρᾶγμα καὶ ὁ ἁπλοῦς λόγος ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ἧττον τοῦ πλαγίου δεδύνηται, ἐναντίως ἤπερ ἡ διὰ τοῦ δόρατος ἔχει πληγή· ἐκεῖνο γὰρ εὐθὺ μὲν ὠσθὲν ἔπληξε, παρεκκλῖναν δὲ παρέξεσεν, ὁ δέ γε λόγος τέχνῃ μὲν χρωσθεὶς εἰς τὴν καρδίαν αὐτὴν βληθεὶς ἐνεπάγη, ἀτεχνῶς δὲ εἰσχεθεὶς παρὰ τὸ οὖς ἐθυραύλησε. Καὶ ποῖος γὰρ ἂν ἦν ἐκεῖνος ὁ τὰς τυραννικὰς αὐτοῦ κατιδὼν ὑποκρίσεις καὶ τὰς φωνὰς τῶν ἀντιπιπτόντων καὶ τὰ μιμήματα τούτων, ὁ μὴ αὐτίκα προσμειδιάσας ἢ θαυμάσας, εἰπεῖν κάλλιον, καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον κατ εκθειάσας; διαλέκτους δὲ προσμιμούμενον καὶ βαρβαριζόντων γλῶσσαν ὑποδυόμενον καὶ Ἀρμενίους λέξεις συμπλέκοντα καὶ οὕτως ἀντιπαρατιθέ μενον πρὸς τὸν τύραννον εἴ τις ἤκουσεν, οὐ δεῖται τῆς ἀναμνήσεως· οἱ γοῦν μὴ πρὸς πεῖραν ἐληλυθότες ἴστε μεγάλου διαπεπτωκέναι καλοῦ. Ἔγωγ' οὖν αὐτοῦ μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ μετά τινος λογίου ἀναγινώσκοντος ἤκουσα προσθήκην μεγάλην ἐπὶ τῷ πράγματι θήσαντος· ἀλλὰ τί κοινὸν βοῒ καὶ δελφῖνι; τί δὲ ἀποφάσει καὶ καταφάσει; τί ἀναιρέσει τε καὶ γενέ σει; τί αἰσθητοῖς καὶ ἐπιστητοῖς; τί σοφίᾳ καὶ σοφιστείᾳ, ἵνα μηδὲ πλέον αἰδοῖ φήσω τῆς λογιότητος; ἴσασιν οἱ παρατυχόντες καὶ ὁ τῆς Παρθένου τῶν Κύρου νεώς. Τηνικαῦτά μοι καὶ τὸ σύνηθες τοῦτό́ τινες ἐπηρώτων καὶ διαπορούμενοι τὴν αἰτίαν ἐζήτουν, ἀλλ' εὗρον διδάσκαλον ἐκείνοις παρόμοιον. «τί ποτε γάρ, φησιν», οὗτοι ἔλεγον πρός με, «ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ φωνὴν μὲν ἡδυτέραν κεκτημένος παντός, πᾶσαν δὲ λύραν ὑπερνικῶν καὶ μέλη τεττίγων ὑπερβάλλων πολὺ καὶ ἀηδόνων καὶ χελιδόνων καὶ σαλπίγγων, ἵν' οὕτως φήσαιμι, ὁ ἦθος εὔπλαστον ἔχων εἰς ἅπαντα καὶ γλῶσσαν εὔμουσον καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς καλλικέλαδον καὶ τέχνην ἣν εἰπεῖν οὐδεὶς ἱκανός;» κἀγὼ δὲ πάλιν τοῦ Πλατωνικοῦ κατὰ καιρὸν ἐμεμνήμην ῥητοῦ· Σωκρά τους γὰρ ἐρωτῶντος τὸν Τίμαιον τί ποτέ ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς λέγει ἐκεῖνος· «ὅτι μὲν ἔστιν οἶδα, τί δέ ἐστιν οὐκ οἶδα· ὅτι μὲν γὰρ οὔτε σῶμά ἐστιν οὔτε χρῶμα οὔτε ἄγγελος οὔτε τι τῶν τοιούτων, κρείττων δὲ ἢ κατὰ ταῦτα οἶδα, τί δέ ἐστιν οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι». «ὅτι μὲν γάρ», καὶ αὐτὸς ἔλεγον, «ἄνθρωπος οὗτός ἐστι τῷ αὐτῷ πᾶσιν ὑποκείμενος ὁρισμῷ οἶδα πάντως