part I

envy the good fortune of any man to whom the god has granted to inherit a body built of the seed of holy and inspired ancestors, so that he can unlock the treasures of wisdom; nor do I despise that lot with which I was myself endowed by the god Helios, that I should be born of a house that rules and governs the world in my time; but further, I regard this god, if we may believe the wise, as the common father of all mankind.(623) For it is said with truth that man and the sun together beget man, and that the god sows this earth with souls which proceed not from himself alone but from the other gods also; and for what purpose, the souls reveal by the kind of lives that they select. Now far the best thing is when anyone has the fortune to have inherited the service of the god, even before the third generation, from a long and unbroken line of ancestors; yet it is not a thing to be disparaged when anyone, recognising that he is by nature intended to be the servant of Helios, either alone of all men, or in company with but few, devotes himself to the service of his master.)

Φέρε οὖν, ὅπως ἂν οἷοί τε ὦμεν, ὑμνήσωμεν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἑορτήν, ἣν ἡ βασιλεύουσα πόλις ἐπετησίοις ἀγάλλει θυσίαις. ἔστι μὲν οὖν, εὖ οἶδα, χαλεπὸν καὶ τὸ ξυνεῖναι περὶ αὐτοῦ μόνον, ὁπόσος τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἀφανὴς [132] ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ λογισαμένῳ, φράσαι δὲ ἴσως ἀδύνατον, εἰ καὶ τῆς ἀξίας ἔλαττον ἐθελήσειέ τις. ἐφικέσθαι μὲν γὰρ τοῦ πρὸς ἀξίαν εὖ οἶδα ὅτι τῶν ἁπάντων οὐδεὶς ἂν δύναιτο, τοῦ μετρίου δὲ μὴ διαμαρτεῖν ἐν τοῖς ἐπαίνοις τὸ κεφάλαιόν ἐστι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἐν τῷ δύνασθαι φράζειν δυνάμεως. ἀλλ᾽ ἔμοιγε τούτου παρασταίη βοηθὸς ὅ τε λόγιος(624) Ἑρμῆς ξὺν ταῖς Μούσαις ὅ τε Μουσηγέτης Ἀπόλλων,(625) [B] ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτῷ προσήκει τῶν λόγων, καὶ δοῖεν δὲ εἰπεῖν ὁπόσα τοῖς θεοῖς φίλα λέγεσθαί τε καὶ πιστεύεσθαι περὶ αὐτῶν. τίς οὖν ὁ τρόπος ἔσται τῶν ἐπαίνων; ἢ δῆλον ὅτι περὶ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ καὶ ὅθεν προῆλθε καὶ τῶν δυνάμεων καὶ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν διελθόντες, ὁπόσαι φανεραὶ ὅσαι τ᾽ ἀφανεῖς, καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν δόσεως, ἣν κατὰ πάντας ποιεῖται τοὺς κόσμους, οὐ παντάπασιν ἀπᾴδοντα ποιησόμεθα τῷ θεῷ τὰ ἐγκώμια; [C] ἀρκτέον δὲ ἐνθένδε.

(Come then, let me celebrate, as best I may, his festival which the Imperial city(626) adorns with annual sacrifices.(627) Now it is hard, as I well know, merely to comprehend how great is the Invisible, if one judge by his visible self,(628) and to tell it is perhaps impossible, even though one should consent to fall short of what is his due. For well I know that no one in the world could attain to a description that would be worthy of him, and not to fail of a certain measure of success in his praises is the greatest height to which human beings can attain in the power of utterance. But as for me, may Hermes, the god of eloquence, stand by my side to aid me, and the Muses also and Apollo, the leader of the Muses, since he too has oratory for his province, and may they grant that I utter only what the gods approve that men should say and believe about them. What, then, shall be the manner of my praise? Or is it not evident that if I describe his substance and his origin, and his powers and energies, both visible and invisible, and the gift of blessings which he bestows throughout all the worlds,(629) I shall compose an encomium not wholly displeasing to the god? With these, then, let me begin.)

Ὁ θεῖος οὗτος καὶ πάγκαλος κόσμος ἀπ᾽ ἄκρας ἁψῖδος οὐρανοῦ μέχρι γῆς ἐσχάτης ὑπὸ τῆς ἀλύτου συνεχόμενος τοῦ θεοῦ προνοίας ἐξ ἀιδίου γέγονεν ἀγέννητος(630) ἔς τε τὸν ἐπίλοιπον χρόνον ἀίδιος, οὐχ ὑπ᾽ ἄλλο