109

«But we too must have some share in the comedy and not put on airs, as if we had not fallen into the common delusion, and speak of the merchandise of wisdom that we ourselves trafficked in from Asia, O Clarius, from you: "There is in the land of Trachis a garden of Heracles, having all things flourishing, plucked by all, all day long, nor is it diminished, but it is heavy with continuous streams." 5.22.2 Then I, the fool, having heard this was myself puffed up by Heracles, and daydreamed of some Hesiodic sweat because of the flourishing garden of Heracles on account of 5.22.3 Trachis and then an easy life on account of the flourishing garden. Then when I asked if the gods agreed with me, one from among the many says, swearing by those very gods who agreed, that he had surely heard from you this very thing 5.22.4 had been given to Callistratus, a certain merchant from Pontus. When I heard this, then, how do you think I was vexed, as though being deprived of my excellence by him? But nevertheless, though I was distressed, I considered the merchant, if he too had been warmed by Heracles; for he also seemed to be undergoing some labor and to be aiming at profit 5.22.5 and to be expecting a pleasant life from that profit. But when the merchant appeared to be on equal footing, I no longer accepted the oracle nor Heracles, but thought it unworthy to have things in common with them, looking both to their present toils and the 5.22.6 mangers in their hopes. But neither did the robber seem to have no share in the oracle, nor the soldier, nor a man in love, nor a woman in love, nor a flatterer, nor an orator, nor a sycophant; for in each of the things they desire, toil is thought to lead the way, but gladness is expected.» 5.22.7 Having set these things out, he immediately adds that having asked a second and a third time he found that the wonderful ones knew nothing, but were concealing their own ignorance only by the darkness of obscurity. He says, then: 5.23.1 23. That they conceal their own ignorance in the darkness of obscurity

«But since my business was already before me on my journey, and I needed a man to guide me to wisdom, and he seemed hard to find, I asked you to be the one to point him out: "He will set you in your need among the well-tilled and the Achaeans, and what is divined will by no means miss you." 5.23.2 What do you say? If I desired to become a sculptor or a painter and was seeking teachers, would it have been enough for me to hear 'he will set you among the well-tilled,' but would I not 5.23.3 have said the speaker was mad? But perhaps you are not able to comprehend this, for human characters have much obscurity; but where it is better for me to travel from Colophon is no longer so unclear to the god: "From a tautly-twisted stone sling a man casting killed innumerable grass-eating geese with his shots." But who will reveal to me what the innumerable grass-eating geese mean? And who the tautly-twisted sling? Amphilochus or the one at Dodona or you, if I were at Delphi, will you not perhaps go away and hang yourself with the tautly-twisted sling along with the unintelligible poem?» 5.23.4 But since these things have been thus refuted, it is time to consider again from the beginning how the same man refutes the most ancient oracles at Delphi, those indeed most admired in the Greek histories. 5.23.5 «The Persian army was great, armed against the Athenians, and there was no other hope of salvation for them than the god alone; who, knowing who this was, 5.23.6 called upon their ancestral helper; this was Apollo at Delphi. What then did this wonderful one do? Did he fight for his own people? Did he remember the libations and the savor of burnt offerings and those who customarily performed hecatombs for him as sacrifices? Not at all. But what does he say? To flee, and to flee having prepared a wooden wall, thus indicating the navy, by which alone he says they would be saved after the 5.23.7 city had been burned. O great help from a god! Then a siege not only of the other buildings in the city, but also of the very

109

«Ἀλλὰ δὴ ἔδει τι καὶ ἡμᾶς τῆς κωμῳδίας μετασχεῖν καὶ μὴ σεμνύνεσθαι, ὡς οὐκ ἐμπεσόντας εἰς τὴν κοινὴν παραπληξίαν, καὶ τὴν ἐμπορίαν εἰπεῖν, ἣν καὶ αὐτοὶ περὶ σοφίας ἐνεπορευσάμεθα ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας, ὦ Κλάριε, παρὰ σοῦ· ἔστιν ἐν Τρηχῖνος αἴῃ κῆπος Ἡρακλήιος πάντ' ἔχων θάλλοντα, πᾶσι δρεπόμενος πανημαδόν, οὐδ' ὀλιζοῦται, βέβριθε δ' ὑδάτεσιν διηνεκές. 5.22.2 εἶτ' ἐγὼ ἀκούσας ὁ βάκηλος καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἡρακλέος ἐφυσήθην, καὶ τοῦ Ἡρακληίου κήπου θάλλοντος Ἡσιόδειόν τινα ὀνειροπολῶν ἱδρῶτα διὰ τὴν 5.22.3 Τρηχῖνα καὶ ῥηιδίην αὖθις ζωὴν διὰ τὸν θάλλοντα κῆπον. εἶτά μοι ἐπερο μένῳ εἴ μοι συναίρονται οἱ θεοί, εἷς τις ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν λέγει, ἐπομνύμενος αὐτοὺς τοὺς συναιρομένους θεούς, ἦ μὴν παρὰ σοῦ ἀκηκοέναι αὐτὸ τοῦτο 5.22.4 Καλλιστράτῳ δεδομένον Ποντικῷ τινὶ ἐμπόρῳ. ἐγὼ οὖν ὡς ἤκουσα, πῶς οἴει ἠγανάκτησα, ὡς δὴ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἀποστερούμενος; ἀλλὰ καίπερ ὅμως δυσφορῶν ἀνεσκοπούμην τὸν ἔμπορον, εἴ τι κἀκεῖνος ἐθάλφθη ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἡρακλέος· ἐφαίνετο δὴ οὖν κἀκεῖνος πόνον τινὰ πονεῖν καὶ κέρδους ἐφίεσθαι 5.22.5 καὶ βίον τινὰ ἡδὺν ἐκ τοῦ κέρδους προσδοκᾶν. ὡς δ' ἐφαίνετο ὁ ἔμπορος ἐξισούμενος, οὐκέτι τὸν χρησμὸν ἐδεχόμην οὐδὲ τὸν Ἡρακλέα, ἀλλ' ἀπηξίουν τῶν αὐτῶν κοινωνεῖν, εἴς τε τοὺς παρόντας πόνους αὐτῶν ἀποβλέπων καὶ τὰς 5.22.6 ἐν ἐλπίδι φάτνας. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ὁ λῃστὴς ἄμοιρος τοῦ χρησμοῦ ἐφαίνετο οὐδὲ ὁ στρατιώτης οὐδὲ ἐρῶν ἀνὴρ οὐδὲ ἐρῶσα γυνὴ οὐδὲ κόλαξ οὐδὲ ῥήτωρ οὐδὲ συκοφάντης· ἑκάστῳ γὰρ ὧν ἐπιθυμεῖ ἡγεῖσθαι μὲν τὸν πόνον, προσδοκᾶσθαι δὲ τὴν εὐφροσύνην.» 5.22.7 Ταῦτα ἐκθέμενος εὐθὺς ἐπισυνάπτει ὡς καὶ δεύτερον ἐρωτήσας καὶ τρίτον οὐδὲν εἰδότας ἔγνω τοὺς θαυμασίους, μόνῳ δὲ τῷ τῆς ἀσαφείας σκότῳ τὴν σφῶν ἄγνοιαν ἐπικρύπτοντας. λέγει δ' οὖν· 5.23.1 κγʹ. ΟΤΙ ΤΩΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΣΑΦΕΙΑΣ ΣΚΟΤΩΙ ΤΗΝ ΣΦΩΝ ΑΓΝΟΙΑΝ ΕΠΙΚΡΥΠΤΟΥΣΙΝ

«Ἐπεὶ δέ μοι τὰ τῆς ἐμπορίας ἤδη πρὸ ὁδοῦ ἦν, ἀνδρὸς δὲ ἔδει τοῦ ξεναγωγήσοντος ἐπὶ τὴν σοφίαν, ἄπορος δὲ ἐφαίνετο οὗτος, σὲ ἐδεόμην καὶ τούτου γενέσθαι ἐνδείκτην· «Ἔν σε τοῖσιν εὐπελέσσιν ἠδ' Ἀχαιοῖσιν χρέως θήσεται, τὸ δ' ἐκτεκμαρθὲν οὐδὲ μήν σ' ἀμφεύξεται.» 5.23.2 τί φῄς; εἰ δ' ἀγαλματοποιός τις ἢ ζωγράφος ἐπεθύμουν γενέσθαι καὶ διδασκάλους ἐζήτουν, ἆρά μοι ἤρκει ἀκοῦσαι «ἔν σε τοῖσιν εὐπελέσσιν», ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν 5.23.3 μαίνεσθαι εἶπον τὸν λέγοντα; ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ἴσως οὐχ ἱκανὸς εἶ διανοῆσαι, ἀσάφειαν γὰρ ἔχει πολλὴν τὰ ἀνθρώπεια ἤθη· ὅπου δέ μοι ἐκ Κολοφῶνος ἄμεινον πορεύεσθαι, οὐκέθ' οὕτως ἀφανὲς τῷ θεῷ· ἐκ τανυστρόφοιο λᾶας σφενδόνης ἱεὶς ἀνὴρ χῆνας ἐνάριζεν βολαῖσιν ἀσπέτους ποιηβόρους. τοὺς δὲ ἀσπέτους ποιηβόρους χῆνας τίς μοι μηνύσει ὅ τί ποτε λέγουσιν; τίς δὲ τὴν τανύστροφον σφενδόνην; ὁ Ἀμφίλοχος ἢ ὁ ∆ωδωναῖος ἢ σὺ ἐν ∆ελφοῖς εἰ γενοίμην, οὐκ ἀπάγξῃ που ἀπελθὼν τῇ τανυστρόφῳ σφενδόνῃ μετὰ τοῦ ἀδιανοήτου ποιήματος;» 5.23.4 Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τούτων ὧδε ἐληλεγμένων ὥρα συνιδεῖν αὖθις ἄνωθεν ὅπως τοὺς παλαιτάτους χρησμοὺς τοὺς ἐν ∆ελφοῖς ὁ αὐτὸς ἀπελέγχει, τοὺς δὴ μάλιστα ἐν ταῖς Ἑλληνικαῖς ἱστορίαις θαυμαζομένους. 5.23.5 «Πολὺς ἦν ὁ Περσῶν στρατὸς ὡπλισμένος κατὰ Ἀθηναίων, οὐδ' ἦν τις αὐτοῖς ἄλλη σωτηρίας ἐλπὶς ἢ μόνος ὁ θεός· οἳ δὴ τοῦτον ὅστις ἦν εἰδότες 5.23.6 τὸν πατρῷον ἀρωγὸν ἐπεκαλοῦντο· ὁ ἐν ∆ελφοῖς Ἀπόλλων οὗτος ἦν. τί οὖν ὁ θαυμαστὸς οὗτος; ἆρά γε τῶν οἰκείων ὑπερεμάχει; ἆρα λοιβῆς καὶ κνίσης ἐμέμνητο καὶ ὧν αὐτῷ συνήθως ἐτέλουν τὰς ἑκατόμβας ἐπιθύοντες; οὐμενοῦν. ἀλλὰ τί φησιν; φεύγειν, καὶ φεύγειν ξύλινον τεῖχος παρασκευασαμένους, οὕτω τὸ ναυτικὸν δηλῶν, δι' οὗ μόνου φησὶν αὐτοὺς σωθήσεσθαι τῆς 5.23.7 πόλεως ἐμπρησθείσης. ὦ μεγάλης θεοῦ βοηθείας. εἶτα πολιορκίαν οὐ μόνον τῶν ἄλλων κατὰ τὴν πόλιν οἰκοδομημάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν