εὐλαβησόμεθα τὸν ἀγῶνα, μή ποτε ἄρα μικρὰ μεγάλοις καὶ φαῦλα σπουδῆς
ἀξίοις μείζονος παρατιθέναι δόζωμεν, [C] ἢ τολμήσομεν καὶ πρὸς τηλικοῦτον
ἔργον ἁμιλλᾶσθαι; οὐκοῦν ἐκεῖνο μὲν ἦν τὸ τεῖχος ὑπὲρ τῆς ᾐόνος, ἐν οὐδὲ
ὅλῳ τῷ πρὸ μεσημβρίας χρόνῳ συντελεσθέν, ὁποίους ἡμῖν τοὺς χάρακας ἔννομον
κατασκευάζεσθαι· τὸ δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἄλπεων τεῖχος παλαιόν τε ἦν φρούριον, καὶ
αὐτῷ χρῆται μετὰ τὴν φυγὴν ὁ τύραννος, ὥσπερ ἔρυμά τι νεουργὲς ἀποφήνας
καὶ ἀξιόλογον φρουρὰν ἀπολιπὼν ἐρρωμένων ἀνδρῶν. [D] οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ὡς
πορρωτάτω πορεύεται, ἔμενε δὲ ἐν τῇ πλησίον πόλει. ἔστι δὲ Ἰταλῶν ἐμπόριον
πρὸς θαλάττῃ μάλα εὔδαιμον καὶ πλούτῳ βρύον, φέρουσι γὰρ ἐντεῦθεν φορτία
Μυσοὶ καὶ Παίονες καὶ τῶν Ἰταλῶν ὁπόσοι τὴν μεσόγαιαν κατοικοῦσιν, Ἑνετοὶ
δὲ οἶμαι τὸ πρόσθεν ὠνομάζοντο. νῦν δὲ ἤδη Ῥωμαίων τὰς πόλεις ἐχόντων τὸ
μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὄνομα σώζουσι βραχείᾳ προσθήκῃ γράμματος ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς
ἐπωνυμίας· ἔστι δὲ αὐτοῦ σύμβολον χαρακτὴρ εἷς, [72] ὀνομάζουσι δὲ αὐτὸν
οὔ, καὶ χρῶνται ἀντὶ τοῦ βῆτα πολλάκις προσπνεύσεως οἶμαι τινὸς ἕνεκα καὶ
ἰδιότητος τῆς γλώττης. τὸ μὲν δὴ ξύμπαν ἔθνος ὦδε ἐπονομάζεται· τῇ πόλει
δὲ ἀετός, ὥς φασιν, οἰκιζομένῃ δεξιὸς ἐκ Διὸς ἱπτάμενος τὴν αὑτοῦ φήμην
χαρίζεται. οἰκεῖται δὲ ὑπὸ τοῖς ποσὶ τῶν Ἄλπεων· ὄρη δέ ἐστι ταῦτα
παμμεγέθη(330) καὶ ἀπορρῶγες ἐν αὐτοῖς πέτραι, μόλις ἁμάξῃ μιᾷ καὶ ὀρικῷ
ζεύγει τὴν ὑπέρβασιν βιαζομένοις ξυγχωροῦντα, [B] ἀρχόμενα μὲν ἀπὸ
θαλάττης, ἣν δὴ τὸν Ἰόνιον εἶναί φαμεν, ἀποτειχίζοντα δὲ τὴν νῦν Ἰταλίαν
ἀπό τε Ἰλλυριῶν καὶ Γαλατῶν καὶ ἐς τὸ Τυρρηνὸν πέλαγος ἀναπαυόμενα.
Ῥωμαῖοι γὰρ ἐπειδὴ τῆς χώρας ἁπάσης ἐκράτουν· ἔστι δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ τό τε τῶν
Ἑνετῶν ἔθνος καὶ Λίγυές τινες καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Γαλατῶν οὐ φαύλη μοῖρα· τὰ μὲν
ἀρχαῖα σφῶν ὀνόματα σώζειν οὐ διεκώλυσαν, τῷ κοινῷ δὲ τῶν Ἰταλῶν ξυγχωρεῖν
κατηνάγκασαν. καὶ νῦν ὁπόσα μέν εἴσω τῶν Ἄλπεων κατοικεῖται, [C] ἔστε ἐπὶ
τὸν Ἰόνιον καὶ τὸν Τυρρηνὸν καθήκοντα, ταύτῃ κοσμεῖται τῇ προσωνυμίᾳ· τὰ
δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἄλπεων τῶν πρὸς ἑσπέραν Γαλάται νέμονται, καὶ Ῥαιτοὶ δὲ τὰ ὑπὸ
τῆν ἄρκτον, ἵνα Ῥήνου τέ εἰσιν αἱ πηγαὶ καὶ αἱ τοῦ Ἴστρου πλησίον παρὰ
τοῖς γείτοσι βαρβάροις· τὰ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἕω ταῦτα δὴ τὰς Ἄλπεις ὀχυροῦν
ἔφαμεν, ἵναπερ ὁ τύραννος τὴν φρουρὰν κατεσκευάσατο. οὕτω δὴ τῆς Ἰταλίας
ἁπανταχόθεν ὄρεσὶ [D] τε συνεχομένης λίαν δυσβάτοις καὶ θαλάσσῃ τεναγώδει,
ἅτε ἐσρεόντων ποταμῶν μυρίων, οἳ ποιοῦσιν ἕλος προσεοικὸς τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις
ἕλεσι, τὸ ξύμπαν τῆς ἐκείνῃ θαλάττης πέρας βασιλεὺς ὑπὸ σοφίας ἔλαβε καὶ
ἐβιάσατο τὴν ἄνοδον.
(together with Sarpedon. Shall I therefore shrink from competition as
though I could not cite on behalf of the Emperor any such exploit, and
must therefore avoid seeming to compare the trivial with the important and
things of little account with what deserves more serious consideration, or
shall I venture to enter the lists even against an achievement so famous?
Now that wall was to protect the beach, and was a palisade such as we are
wont to construct, and was completed in less than a morning. But the wall
that was on the Alps was an ancient fort, and the usurper used it after
his flight, converting it into a defence as strong as though it had been
newly built, and he left there an ample garrison of seasoned troops. But
he did not himself march all the way there, but remained in the
neighbouring city.(331) This is a trading centre of the Italians on the
coast, very prosperous and teeming with wealth, since the Mysians and
Paeonians and all the Italian inhabitants of the interior procure their
merchandise thence. These last used, I think, to be called Heneti in the
past, but now that the Romans are in possession of these cities they
preserve the original name, but make the trifling addition of one letter
at the beginning of the word. Its sign is a single character(332) and they
call it “oo,” and they often use it instead of “b,” to serve, I suppose,
as a sort of breathing, and to represent some peculiarity of their
pronunciation. The nation as a whole is called by this name, but at the
time of the founding of the city an eagle from Zeus flew past on the
right, and so bestowed on the place the omen derived from the bird.(333)
It is situated at the foot of the Alps, which are very high mountains with
precipices in them, and they hardly allow room for those who are trying to
force their way over the passes to use even a single waggon and a pair of
mules. They begin at the sea which we call Ionian, and form a barrier
between what is now Italy and the Illyrians and Galatians, and extend as
far as the Etruscan sea. For when the Romans conquered the whole of this
country, which includes the tribe of the Heneti and some of the Ligurians
and a considerable number of Galatians besides, they did not hinder them
from retaining their ancient names, but compelled them to acknowledge the
dominion of the Italian republic. And, in our day, all the territory that
lies within the Alps and is bounded by the Ionian and the Etruscan seas
has the honour of being called Italy. On the other side of the Alps, on
the west, dwell the Galatians, and the Rhaetians to the north where the
Rhine and the Danube have their sources hard by in the neighbouring
country of the barbarians. And on the east, as I said, the Alps fortify
the district where the usurper stationed his garrison. In this way, then,
Italy is contained on all sides, partly by mountains that are very hard to
cross, partly by a shallow sea into which countless streams empty and form
a morass like the marshlands of Egypt. But the Emperor by his skill gained
control of the whole of that boundary of the sea, and forced his way
inland.)
Καὶ ἵνα μὴ διατρίβειν δοκῶ αὖθίς τε ὑπὲρ τῶν δυσχωριῶν διαλεγόμενος, καὶ
ὡς οὔτε στρατόπεδον ἦν οὐδὲ χάρακα πλησίον καταβαλέσθαι, οὔτε ἐπάγειν
μηχανὰς καὶ ἑλεπόλεις, ἀνύδρου δεινῶς ὄντος καὶ οὐδὲ μικρὰς λιβάδας
ἔχοντος [73] τοῦ πέριξ χωρίου, ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν εἶμι τὴν αἵρεσιν. καὶ εἰ βούλεσθε
τὸ κεφάλαιον ἀθρόως ἑλεῖν τοῦ λόγου, ὑπομνήσθητε τῆς τοῦ Μακεδόνος ἐπὶ
τοὺς Ἰνδοὺς πορείας, οἳ τὴν πέτραν ἐκείνην κατῴκουν, ἐφ᾽ ἣν οὐδὲ τῶν
ὀρνίθων ἦν τοῖς κουφοτάτοις ἀναπτῆναι, ὅπως ἑάλω, καὶ οὐδὲν πλέον ἀκούειν
ἐπιθυμήσετε· πλὴν τοσοῦτον μόνον, ὅτι Ἀλέξανδρος μὲν ἀπέβαλε πολλοὺς
Μακεδόνας ἐξελὼν τὴν πέτραν, ὁ δὲ ἡμέτερος ἄρχων καὶ στρατηγὸς οὐδὲ
χιλίαρχον ἀποβαλὼν ἢ λοχαγόν τινα, [B] ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ὁπλίτην τῶν ἐκ καταλόγου,
καθαρὰν καὶ ἄδακρυν περιεποιήσατο τὴν νίκην. Ἕκτωρ δὲ οἶμαι καὶ Σαρπηδὼν
πολλοὺς ἐκ τοῦ τειχίσματος κατέβαλον,(334) ἐντυχόντες δὲ ἀριστεύοντι
Πατρόκλῳ ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν νεῶν κτείνεται, ὁ δὲ ἔφευγεν αἰσχρῶς οὐδὲ
ἀνελόμενος τὸ σῶμα τοῦ φίλου. οὕτως οὐδενὶ ξὺν νῷ, ῥώμῃ δὲ μᾶλλον σωμάτων
θρασυνόμενοι τὴν ἐς τὸ τεῖχος πάροδον ἐτόλμων. βασιλεὺς δὲ οὗ μὲν ἀλκῆς
ἔργον ἐστι καὶ θυμοῦ χρῆται τοῖς ὅπλοις καὶ κρατεῖ ξὺν εὐβουλίᾳ,(335) [C]
οὗ δὲ μόνον ἐδέησε γνώμης, ταύτῃ κυβερνᾷ καὶ κατεργάζεται πράγματα
τοσαῦτα, ὁπόσα οὐδ᾽ ἄν ὁ σίδηρος ἐξελεῖν ἰσχύσειεν.(336)
(I will now relate how the city was actually taken, lest you should think
I am wasting time by describing once more the difficulties of the ground,
and how it was impossible to plant a camp or even a palisade near the city
or to bring up siege‐engines or devices for storming it, because the
country all about was terribly short of water, and there were not even
small pools. And if you wish to grasp the main point of my narrative in a
few words, remember the Macedonian’s(337) expedition against those Indians
who lived on the famous rock(338) up to which not even the lightest birds
could wing their flight, and how he took it by storm, and you will be
content to hear no more from me. However I will add this merely, that
Alexander in storming the rock lost many of his Macedonians, whereas our
ruler and general lost not a single chiliarch or a captain, nay not even a
legionary from the muster‐roll, but achieved an unsullied and
“tearless”(339) victory. Now Hector and Sarpedon, no doubt, hurled down
many men from the wall, but when they encountered Patroclus in all his
glory Sarpedon was slain near the ships, while Hector, to his shame, fled
without even recovering the body of his friend. Thus without intelligence
and emboldened by mere physical strength they ventured to attack the wall.
But the Emperor, when strength and daring are required, employs force of
arms and good counsel together, and so wins the day, but where good
judgment alone is necessary it is by this that he steers his course, and
thus achieves triumphs such as not even iron could ever avail to
erase.(340))
Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ καθ᾽ αὑτὸν ὁ λόγος φερόμενος ἥκει πάλαι ποθῶν τὴν ξύνεσιν
ἐπαινεῖν καὶ τὴν εὐβουλίαν, ἀποδοτέον. καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτων ὀλίγα πάλαι(341)
διεληλύθαμεν· ὁπόσα δὲ ἡμῖν ἐφαίνετο [D] πρὸς τὰ τῶν ἡρώων ἐκείνων ἔχειν
ξυγγένειαν, μεγάλα μικροῖς εἰκάζοντες, δι᾽ ὁμοιότητα διήλθομεν.(342) δῆλον
δὲ ἀποβλέψαντι πρὸς τὸ τῆς παρασκευῆς μέγεθος καὶ τῆς δυνάμενως τὴν
περιουσίαν. τότε γὰρ ἥ τε Ἑλλὰς ἐκεκίνητο ξύμπασα καὶ Θρᾳκῶν μοῖρα καὶ
Παιόνων τό τε τοῦ Πριάμου ξύμπαν ὑπήκοον,
(But since my speech has of its own accord reached this point in its
course and has long been eager to praise the Emperor’s wisdom and wise
counsel, I allow it to do so. And in fact I spoke briefly on this subject
some time ago, and all the cases where there seemed to me to be any
affinity between the heroes of Homer and the Emperor, I described because
of that resemblance, comparing great things with small. And indeed if one
considers the size of their armaments, the superiority of his forces also
becomes evident. For in those days all Greece was set in motion,(343) and
part of Thrace and Paeonia, and all the subject allies of Priam,)
Ὅσσον Λέσβος ἔσω Μάκαρος ἕδος ἐντὸς ἐέργει
Καὶ Φρυγίη καθύπερθε καὶ Ἑλλήσποντος ἀπείρων.
(“All that Lesbos, the seat of Makar, contains within, and Phrygia
on the north and the boundless Hellespont.”(344))
[74] τὰ δὲ νῦν ἔθνη συνιόντα βασιλεῖ καὶ συμπολεμοῦντα τὸν πόλεμον καὶ
τοὺς ἀντιταξαμένους καταριθμεῖν μὴ λῆρος ᾖ καὶ φλυαρία περιττὴ καὶ λίαν
ἀρχαῖον.(345) ὅσῳ δὲ μείζους αἱ συνιοῦσαι δυνάμεις, τοσούτῳ τὰ ἔργα
προφέρειν εἰκός· ὥστε ἀνάγκη καὶ ταῦτα ἐκείνων ὑπεραίρειν. πλήθει γε μὴν
ποῦ ποτε ἄξιον συμβαλεῖν; οἱ μὲν γὰρ περὶ μιᾶς ἐμάχοντο πόλεως ξυνεχῶς,
καὶ οὔτε Τρῶες(346) ἀπελάσαι τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς ἐπικρατοῦντες ἠδύναντο, οὔτε
ἐκεῖνοι νικῶντες ἐξελεῖν καὶ ἀνατρέψαι τῶν Πριαμιδῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν
βασιλείαν ἴσχυον, δεκαέτης δὲ αὐτοῖς ἀναλώθη χρόνος. [B] βασιλεῖ δὲ πολλοὶ
μέν εἰσιν ἀγῶνες· καὶ γὰρ(347) ἀνεγράφη Γερμανοῖς τοῖς ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ῥήνου
πολεμῶν, τά τε ἐπὶ τῷ Τίγρητι ζεύγματα καὶ τῆς Παρθυαίων δυνάμεως καὶ τοῦ
φρονήματος ἔλεγχος οὐ φαῦλος, ὅτε οὐχ ὑπέμενον ἀμῦναι τῇ χώρᾳ πορθουμένῃ,
ἀλλὰ περιεῖδον ἅπασαν τμηθεῖσαν τὴν εἴσω Τίγρητος καὶ Λύκου, [C] τῶν γε
μὴν πρὸς τὸν τύραννον πραχθέντων ὅ τε ἐπὶ Σικελίαν ἔκπλους καὶ ἐς
Καρχηδόνα, Ἠριδανοῦ τε αἱ προκαταλήψεις τῶν ἐκβολῶν ἁπάσας αὐτοῦ τὰς ἐν
Ἰταλίᾳ δυνάμεις ἀφελόμεναι, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον καὶ τρίτον πάλαισμα περὶ
ταῖς Κοττίαις Ἄλπεσιν, ὃ δὴ βασιλεῖ μὲν παρέσχεν ἀσφαλῆ καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος
ἀδεᾶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης ἡδονήν, τὸν δὲ ἡττηθέντα δίκην ἐπιθεῖναι δικαίαν
αὑτῷ καὶ τῶν ἐξειργασμένων [D] πάνυ ἀξίαν κατηνάγκασε.
(But to try to count up the nations who lately marched with the Emperor
and fought on his side in the war, would be idle talk, superfluous
verbiage, and absurd simplicity. And it is natural that, in proportion as
the armies are larger, their achievements are more important. So it
follows of necessity that, in this respect as well, the Emperor’s army
surpassed Homer’s heroes. In mere numbers, at any rate, at what point, I
ask, could one justly compare them? For the Greeks fought all along for a
single city and the Trojans when they prevailed were not able to drive
away the Greeks, nor were the Greeks strong enough, when they won a
victory, to destroy and overthrow the power and the royal sway of the
house of Priam, and yet the time they spent over it was ten years long.
But the Emperor’s wars and undertakings have been numerous. He has been
described as waging war against the Germans across the Rhine, and then
there was his bridge of boats over the Tigris, and his exposure of the
power and arrogance of the Parthians(348) was no trivial thing, on that
occasion when they did not venture to defend their country while he was
laying it waste, but had to look on while the whole of it was devastated
between the Tigris and the Lycus. Then, when the war against the usurper
was concluded, there followed the expeditions to Sicily and Carthage, and
that stratagem of occupying beforehand the mouth of the Po, which deprived
the usurper of all his forces in Italy, and finally that third and last
fall(349) at the Cottian Alps, which secured for the Emperor the pleasure
of a victory that was sure, and carried with it no fears for the future,
while it compelled the defeated man to inflict on himself a just penalty
wholly worthy of his misdeeds.)
Τοσαῦτα ὑπὲρ τῶν βασιλέως ἔργων ἐν βραχεῖ διεληλύθαμεν, οὔτε κολακείᾳ
προστιθέντες καὶ αὔξειν ἐπιχειροῦντες τυχὸν οὐδενὸς διαφέροντα τῶν ἄλλων,
οὔτε πόρρωθεν ἕλκοντες καὶ βιαζόμενοι τῶν ἔργων τὰς ὁμοιότητας, καθάπερ οἱ
τοὺς μύθους ἐξηγούμενοι τῶν ποιητῶν καὶ ἀναλύοντες ἐς λόγους πιθανοὺς καὶ
ἐνδεχομένους τὰ πλάσματα ἐκ μικρᾶς πάνυ τῆς ὑπονοίας ὁρμώμενοι [75] καὶ
ἀμυδρὰς λίαν παραλαβόντες τὰς ἀρχὰς πειρῶνται ξυμπείθειν, ὡς δὴ ταῦτα γε
αὐτὰ ἐκείνων ἐθελόντων λέγειν. ἐνταῦθα δὲ εἴ τις ἐξέλοι τῶν Ὁμήρου μόνον
τὰ τῶν ἡρώων ὀνόματα, ἐνθείη δὲ τὸ βασιλέως καὶ ἐναρμόσειεν, οὐ μᾶλλον εἰς
ἐκείνους ἢ τοῦτον πεποιῆσθαι δόξει τὰ(350) τῆς Ἰλιάδος ἔπη.
(I have given this brief account of the Emperor’s achievements, not adding
anything in flattery and trying to exaggerate things that are perhaps of
no special importance, nor dragging in what is far‐fetched and unduly
pressing points of resemblance with those achievements, like those who
interpret the myths of the poets and analyse them into plausible versions
which allow them to introduce fictions of their own, though they start out
from very slight analogies, and having recourse to a very shadowy basis,
try to convince us that this is the very thing that the poets intended to
say. But in this case if anyone should take out of Homer’s poems merely
the names of the heroes, and insert and fit in the Emperor’s, the epic of
the Iliad would be seen to have been composed quite as much in his honour
as in theirs.)
Ἀλλ᾽ ὅπως μὴ τὰ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἔργων μόνον ἀκούοντες τὰ τῶν κατορθωμάτων
τῶν(351) ἐς τὸν πόλεμον ἔλαττον [B] ἔχειν ὑπολαμβάνητε βασιλέα περὶ τὰ
σεμνότερα καὶ ὧν ἄξιον μείζονα ποιεῖσθαι λόγον, δημηγοριῶν φημι καὶ
ξυμβουλιῶν, καὶ ὁπόσα γνώμη μετὰ νοῦ καὶ φρονήσεως κατευθύνει, ἀθρεῖτε ἐν
Ὀδυσσεῖ καὶ Νέστορι τοῖς ἐπαινουμένοις κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν, καὶ ἤν τι μεῖον
ἐν βασιλεῖ καταμανθάνητε, τοῖς ἐπαινέταις τοῦτο λογίζεσθε, πλέον δὲ ἔχοντα
δικαίως ἂν(352) αὐτὸν μᾶλλον ἀποδεχοίμεθα. οὐκοῦν ὁ μέν, ὁπηνίκα
χαλεπαίνειν καὶ στασιάζειν ἤρχοντο περὶ τῆς αἰχμαλώτου κόρης, λέγειν
ἐπιχειρῶν οὕτω δή τι πείθει τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τὸν τῆς Θέτιδος, [C] ὥστε ὁ
μὲν ἀκόσμος διέλυσε τὸν ξύλλογον, ὁ δὲ οὐδὲ περιμείνας ἀφοσιώσασθαι τὰ
πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ἔτι δὲ αὐτὰ δρῶν καὶ ἀφορῶν ἐς τὴν θεωρίδα, στέλλει τοὺς
κήρυκας ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀχιλλέως σκηνὴν, ὥσπερ οἶμαι δεδιὼς μὴ τῆς ὀργῆς
ἐπιλαθόμενος καὶ ἀπαλλαγεὶς τοῦ πάθους μεταγνοίη καὶ ἀποφύγοι τὴν
ἁμαρτάδα· ὁ δὲ ἐκ τῆς Ἰθάκης ῥήτωρ πολύτροπος πείθειν ἐπιχειρῶν πρὸς
διαλλαγὰς Ἀχιλλέα καὶ δῶρα πολλὰ διδούς, [D] μυρία δὲ ἐπαγγελλόμενος, οὕτω
τὸν νεανίσκον παρώξυνεν, ὥστε πρότερον οὐ(353) βουλευσάμενον τὸν ἀπόπλουν
νῦν(354) παρασκευάζεσθαι. ἔστι δὲ αὐτῶν τὰ θαυμαστὰ τῆς συνέσεως δείγματα
αἵ τε ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον παρακλήσεις καὶ ἡ τειχοποιία τοῦ Νέστορος,
πρεσβυτικὸν λίαν καὶ ἄτολμον ἐπινόημα. οὔκουν οὐδὲ ὄφελος ἦν πολὺ τοῖς
Ἀχαιοῖς τοῦ μηχανήματος· [76] ἀλλὰ ἡττῶντον τῶν Τρώων τὸ τεῖχος
ἐπιτελέσαντες, καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. τότε μὲν γὰρ αὐτοὶ τῶν νεῶν ᾤοντο
προβεβλῆσθαι καθάπερ ἔρυμα γενναῖον· ἐπεὶ δὲ ᾔσθοντο σφῶν(355) προκείμενον
καὶ ἀποικοδομούμενον(356) τεῖχος τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ καὶ πασσάλοις ὀξέσι
διηλούμενον,(357) κατερρᾳθύμουν καὶ ὑφίεντο τῆς ἀλκῆς τῷ τειχίσματι
πεποιθότες. ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γὰρ εἴ τις ἐκείνοις μέμφοιτο καὶ ἐπιδεικνύοι
διαμαρτάνοντας, οὗτός ἐστι βασιλέως ἀξιόχρεως ἐπαινέτης· ὅστις δὲ οἶμαι
τῶν ἔργων ἀξίως μνησθείη, [B] οὐ μάτην οὐδὲ αὐτομάτως οὐδὲ ἀλόγῳ φορᾷ
γενομένων, προβουλευθέντων δὲ ὀρθῶς καὶ διοικηθέντων, οὗτος ἀρκούντως
ἐπαινεῖ τὴν βασιλέως ἀγχίνοιαν.
(But that you may not think, if you hear only about his achievements and
successes in war, that the Emperor is less well endowed for pursuits that
are loftier and rightly considered of more importance, I mean public
speaking and deliberations and all those affairs in which judgment
combined with intelligence and prudence take the helm, consider the case
of Odysseus and Nestor, who are so highly praised in the poem; and if you
find that the Emperor is inferior to them in any respect, put that down to
his panegyrists, but we should rather in fairness concede that he is far
superior. Nestor, for instance, when they began to disagree and quarrel
about the captive damsel,(358) tried to address them, and he did persuade
the king and the son of Thetis, but only to this extent that Achilles
broke up the assembly in disorder, while Agamemnon did not even wait to
complete his expiation to the god, but while he was still performing the
rite and the sacred ship was in view, he sent heralds to the tent of
Achilles, just as though, it seems to me, he were afraid that he would
forget his anger, and, once free from that passion, would repent and avoid
his error. Again, the far‐travelled orator from Ithaca, when he tried to
persuade Achilles to make peace, and offered him many gifts and promised
him countless others, so provoked the young warrior that, though he had
not before planned to sail home, he now began to make preparations.(359)
Then there are those wonderful proofs of their intelligence, their
exhortations to battle and Nestor’s building of the wall, a cowardly
notion and worthy indeed of an old man. Nor in truth did the Achaeans
benefit much from that device. For it was after they had finished the wall
that they were worsted by the Trojans, and naturally enough. For before
that, they thought that they were themselves protecting the ships, like a
noble bulwark. But when they realised that a wall lay in front of them,
built with a deep moat and set at intervals with sharp stakes, they grew
careless and slackened their valour, because they trusted to the
fortification. Yet it is not anyone who blames them and shows that they
were in the wrong who is therefore a fit and proper person to praise the
Emperor. But he who, in a worthy manner, recounts the Emperor’s deeds,
which were done not idly or automatically, or from an irrational impulse,
but were skilfully planned beforehand and carried through, he alone
praises adequately the Emperor’s keen intelligence.)
Τὸ δὲ ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστῃ συνόδῳ τὰς δημηγορίας ἐκλέγειν τὰς(360) ἐς τὰ στρατόπεδα
καὶ δήμους καὶ βουλευτήρια μακροτέρας δεῖται τῆς ξυγγραφῆς. ἑνὸς δὲ ἴσως
ἐπακούειν οὐ χαλεπόν. καί μοι πάλιν ἐννοήσατε τὸν Λαέρτου, ὁπότε
ὡρμημένους ἐκπλεῖν τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐπέχει τῆς ὁρμῆς [C] καὶ ἐς τὸν πόλεμον
μετατίθησι τὴν προθυμίαν, καὶ(361) βασιλέως τὸν ἐν Ἰλλυριοῖς ξύλλογον, ἵνα
δὴ πρεσβύτης ἀνὴρ ὑπὸ μειρακίων παιδικὰ φρονεῖν ἀναπειθόμενος ὁμολογιῶν
ἐπελανθάνετο καὶ πίστεων, καὶ τῷ μὲν σωτῆρι καὶ εὐεργέτῃ δυσμενὴς ἦν,
σπονδὰς δὲ ἐποιεῖτο πρὸς ὃν ἦν ἄσπονδος καὶ ἀκήρυκτος βασιλεῖ πόλεμος,
στρατόν τε ἤγειρε καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς [D] ὁρίοις ἀπήντα τῆς χώρας, κωλῦσαι τοῦ
πρόσω χωρεῖν ἐπιθυμῶν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐς ταὐτὸν ἦλθον ἀμφοτέρω τὼ στρατεύματε καὶ
ἐχρῆν ἐπὶ τῶν ὁπλιτῶν ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, βῆμά τε ὑψηλὸν ᾔρετο καὶ
αὐτὸ περιέσχεν ὁπλιτῶν δῆμος καὶ ἀκοντιστῶν καὶ τοξοτῶν ἱππεῖς τε
ἐνσκευασάμενοι τοὺς ἵππους καὶ τὰ σημεῖα τῶν τάξεων· ἀνῄει τε ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸ
βασιλεὺς μετὰ τοῦ τέως ξυνάρχοντος οὔτε αἰχμὴν φέρων οὔτε ἀσπίδα [77] καὶ
κράνος, ἀλλὰ ἐσθῆτα τὴν συνήθη. καὶ οὐδὲ αὐτῷ τις τῶν δορυφόρων εἵπετο,
μόνος δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος εἱστήκει πεποιθὼς τῷ λόγῳ σεμνῶς ἡρμοσμένῳ.
ἐργάτης γάρ ἐστι καὶ τούτων ἀγαθός, οὐκ ἀποσμιλεύων οὐδὲ ἀπονυχίζων τὰ
ῥήματα οὐδὲ ἀποτορνεύων τὰς περιόδους καθάπερ οἱ κομψοὶ ῥήτορες, σεμνὸς δὲ
ἅμα καὶ καθαρὸς καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι ξὺν καιρῷ χρώμενος, ὥστε ἐνδύεσθαι ταῖς
ψυχαῖς [B] οὐ τῶν παιδείας καὶ ξυνέσεως μεταποιουμένων μόνον, ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη καὶ
τῶν ἰδιωτῶν ξυνιέναι πολλοὺς καὶ ἐπαïειν τῶν ῥημάτων. οὐκοῦν ᾕρει μυριάδας
ὁπλιτῶν συχνὰς καὶ χιλιάδας ἱππέων εἴκοσι καὶ ἔθνη μαχιμώτατα(362) καὶ
χώραν πάμφορον, οὐ βίᾳ ἕλκων οὐδὲ αἰχμαλώτους ἄγων, ἑκόντας δὲ αὐτῷ
πειθομένους καὶ τὸ ἐπιταττόμενον ποιεῖν ἐθέλοντας. ταύτην ἐγὼ τὴν νίκην
κρίνω τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἐκείνης(363) μακρῷ σεμνοτέραν· ἡ μέν γε ἦν ἄδακρυς
μόνοις(364) τοῖς κρατοῦσιν, [C] ἡ δὲ οὐδὲ τοῖς κρατηθεῖσιν ἤνεγκε δάκρυα,
ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος κατῆλθεν ὁ τῆς βασιλείας ὑποκριτὴς δικασάμενος καὶ
ὥσπερ ὄφλημα βασιλεῖ πατρῷον ἀποδοὺς τὴν ἁλουργίδα· τἆλλα δὲ αὐτῷ δίδωσι
βασιλεὺς ἄφθονα μᾶλλον ἢ Κῦρόν φασι παρασχεῖν τῷ πάππῳ, ζῆν τε ἐποίησε καὶ
διαιτᾶσθαι καθάπερ Ὅμηρος ἀξιοῖ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τοὺς ἀφηλικεστέρους,
(But to report to you those speeches which he made at every public
gathering to the armies and the common people and the councils, demands
too long a narrative, though it is perhaps not too much to ask you to hear
about one of these. Pray then think once more of the son of Laertes when
the Greeks were rushing to set sail and he checked the rush and diverted
their zeal back to the war,(365) and then of the Emperor’s assembly in
Illyria, when that old man,(366) persuaded by mere youths to think
childish thoughts, forgot his treaties and obligations and proved to be
the enemy of his preserver and benefactor, and came to terms with one
against whom the Emperor was waging a war that allowed no truce nor herald
of a truce,(367) and who was not only getting an army together, but came
to meet the Emperor on the border of the country, because he was anxious
to hinder him from advancing further. And when those two armies met, and
it was necessary to hold an assembly in the presence of the hoplites, a
high platform was set up and it was surrounded by a crowd of hoplites,
javelin‐men and archers and cavalry equipped with their horses and the
standards of the divisions. Then the Emperor, accompanied by him who for
the moment was his colleague, mounted the platform, carrying no sword or
shield or helmet, but wearing his usual dress. And not even one of his
bodyguard followed him, but there he stood alone on the platform, trusting
to that speech which was so impressively appropriate. For of speeches too
he is a good craftsman, though he does not plane down and polish his
phrases nor elaborate his periods like the ingenious rhetoricians, but is
at once dignified and simple, and uses the right words on every occasion,
so that they sink into the souls not only of those who claim to be
cultured and intelligent, but many unlearned persons too understand and
give hearing to his words. And so he won over many tens of thousands of
hoplites and twenty thousand cavalry and most warlike nations, and at the
same time a country that is extremely fertile, not seizing it by force, or
carrying off captives, but by winning over men who obeyed him of their own
free will and were eager to carry out his orders. This victory I judge to
be far more splendid than that for which Sparta is famous.(368) For that
was “tearless” for the victors only, but the Emperor’s did not cause even
the defeated to shed tears, but he who was masquerading as Emperor came
down from the platform when he had pleaded his cause, and handed over to
the Emperor the imperial purple(369) as though it were an ancestral debt.
And all else the Emperor gave him in abundance, more than they say Cyrus
gave to his grandfather, and arranged that he should live and be
maintained in the manner that Homer recommends for men who are past their
prime:—)
Τοιούτῳ γὰρ ἔοικεν, ἐπεὶ λούσαιτο φάγοι τε,
Εὐδέμεναι μαλακῶς· [D] ἣ γὰρ δίκη ἐστὶ γερόντων.
(“For it is fitting that such a one, when he has bathed and fed,
should sleep soft, for that is the manner of the aged.”(370))