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Praefatio in epistulas Theodori Lascaris

Of the Grand Logothete kyr George Akropolites.

If the skin bears the circle of heaven And a narrow volume describes the hollow of the earth, And an unmeasured abyss of knowledge This book manages to enclose, An infinite, indefinite, abundant flow Of wise streams from monstrous veins. Like stars, it has white-composed discourses Fallen into an unmeasured multitude And all-luminous to those who behold them, Illuminating from within the nature of men And brightening their minds. As, again, a many-colored sight of flowers, The varied composition of what has been written The all-brilliant book confines within, As an oyster a pearl, as a calyx a rose, As a sea-bred shell the flower of purple, Letters wrought to beauty, Which, also a profit for word-merchants, Of Theodore Laskaris the emperor, Son of the all-glorious lord John, Whose fame ran forth into all the earth, Whose skill in arms and in horsemanship, A mighty hand, a skillful drawing of the bow, And every other soldierly art And every other manliness of soul Is the nature of other discourses and studies; But now there are writings and seemliness of words, A composed work of letters. He produces other long discourses, Some for examination, for which nature is the subject, Others for development, for which a higher definition is the subject, And yet others boasting the matter of encomia, But all are august, as being exceptional In thoughts, figures, and other forms, By which every discourse is brilliantly adorned. Who could sail past their grace, Like the son of Laertes past the Sirens, And not at the very caskets of the letters Moor the vessel of his mind? Since not the destruction of the listeners, But rather life do the books provide, Not one, then, that perishes with time like that of bodies. And these things are about the lengthy compositions, But here is another grace of letters, Epistolary, and for friends of words, A new Helicon and Pieria of the Muses, A clear-toned song and a clapping of dances. What mouth could speak the pleasure of the song? What discourse could express the majesty of the sound? The reveller Bacchus was at once found, Sated with nectar, a divine drink, As if flowing from the pole of the book itself. Why then do I stretch out my speech, And at the gates of the chamber hold back The eager listening, which hastens to enter, As if to suffer no moderate loss? Enter quickly, quickly within, stranger, Revel in the wise thoughts, And be filled to satiety also with the figures, Lest you should run past some seasoning of phrase; For it will be to you as sweetening honey. Partake fully of all of the book And marvel at the primary fount of the words.

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Praefatio in epistulas Theodori Lascaris

Τοῦ μεγάλου λογοθέτου κυροῦ Γεωργίου τοῦ Ἀκροπολίτου.

Ἂν οὐρανοῦ τὸν γῦρον ἡ δέρρις φέρῃ Καὶ γῆς τὸ κύτος ὁ στενὸς γράφῃ τύπος, Καὶ γνώσεως ἄβυσσον οὐ μετρουμένην Ἡ βίβλος ἥδε συμπερικλείειν φθάνει, Ἄπειρον ἀόριστον ἄφθονον χύσιν Σοφῶν ναμάτων ἐκ φλεβῶν τεραστίων. Ὡς ἀστέρας μὲν λευκοσυνθέτους λόγους Εἰς πλῆθος ἀμέτρητον ἐκπεπτωκότας Καὶ παμφαεῖς ἔσχηκε τοῖς θεωμένοις, Ἔσωθεν αὐγάζοντας ἀνθρώπων φύσιν Καὶ καταλαμπρύνοντας αὐτῶν τὰς φρένας. Ὡς ποικιλόχρουν αὖθις ἀνθέων θέαν Τὸ ποικίλον σύνταγμα τῶν γεγραμμένων Πάνλαμπρον ἔνδον ἐγκαθειργνύει βίβλος, Ὡς ὄστρεον μάργαρον, ὡς κάλυξ ῥόδον, Ὡς ἁλιθρέμμων κόχλος ἄνθος πορφύρας, Ἐπιστολὰς εἰς κάλλος ἐξειργασμένας, Ἣ, καὶ λυσιτέλημα τῶν λογεμπόρων, Θεοδώρου Λάσκαρι τοῦ βασιλέως Ἄνακτος υἱοῦ παγκλεοῦς Ἰωάννου, Οὗ θρύλλος ἐξέδραμεν εἰς πᾶσαν χθόνα, Οὗ τὸ πρὸς ὅπλα καὶ πρὸς ἱππηλασίαν, Χεῖρα κραταίαν, εὐφυᾶ τόξου τάσιν, Καὶ πᾶσαν ἄλλην στρατιώτιδα τέχνην Καὶ πᾶσαν ἄλλην ψυχικὴν εὐανδρίαν Ἄλλων λόγων πέφυκε καὶ σπουδασμάτων· Νυνὶ δὲ γραφαὶ καὶ λόγων εὐκοσμία, Ἐπιστολῶν πόνημα συντεταγμένον. Μακροὺς μὲν ἄλλους οὗτος ἐκφέρει λόγους, Τοὺς μὲν πρὸς ἐξέτασιν οἷς φύσις τόπος, Τοὺς δὲ πρὸς ἀνάπτυξιν οἷς κρείττων ὅρος, Ἐγκωμίων αὐχοῦντας ἄλλους δ' αὖ ὕλην, Πάντας δὲ σεμνοὺς ὡς ὑπεξῃρημένους Νοήμασι σχήμασι λοιπαῖς ἰδέαις, Αἷς λαμπρῶς ἅπας ἀγλαΐζεται λόγος. Τίς δὲ παραπλεύσειεν αὐτῶν τὴν χάριν, Σειρῆνας ὥσπερ τοῦ Λαερτίου γόνος, Καὶ μὴ πρὸς αὐταῖς πυξίσι τῶν γραμμάτων Τὸ σκάφος αὐτοῦ τοῦ νοὸς καθορμίσῃ; Ἐπείπερ οὐκ ὄλεθρον ἀκροωμένων, Ζωὴν δὲ μᾶλλον προξενοῦσιν αἱ βίβλοι Οὔκουν χρόνῳ φθίνουσαν ὡς τῶν σωμάτων. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν δὴ μακροσυνθέτων πέρι, Ἀλλ' ἐνθαδὶ χάρις τις ἄλλη γραμμάτων Ἐπιστολιμαία τε πρὸς λόγων φίλους, Μουσῶν Ἑλικὼν καὶ Πιερία νέα, Μέλος λιγυρὸν καὶ χορευμάτων κρότος. Ὠιδῆς τὸ τερπνὸν ποῖον ἐξείποι στόμα; Ἠχῆς τὸ σεμνὸν ποῖος ἐκφράσοι λόγος; Ὁ θιασώτης Βάκχος εὐθὺς εὑρέθη Ἐπεμφορηθεὶς νέκταρος, θείου πότου, Ὡς ἐκ πόλου ῥέοντος αὐτῆς τῆς βίβλου. Τί δῆτα μακρὸν ἀποτείνω τὸν λόγον Καὶ πρὸς πυλῶσι κατέχω τοῦ θαλάμου Τὴν λίχνον ἀκρόασιν, ἣ σπεύδει δῦναι, Ὡς ζημιοῦσθαι ζημίαν οὐ μετρίαν; Εἴσελθε τάχος τάχος ἔνδοθεν, ξένε, Κατατρύφησον τῶν σοφῶν νοημάτων, Καὶ πρὸς κόρον πλήσθητι καὶ τῶν σχημάτων, Μὴ φράσεως ἥδυσμά τι παραδράμῃς· Γενήσεται γὰρ ὡς γλυκάζον σοι μέλι. Πάντων κατάκρως ἐμφοροῦ τοῦ βιβλίου Καὶ τῶν λόγων θαύμαζε τὴν πρώτην βρύσιν.