Chapter IV: Part 4

(The time has now come when it is proper to consider whether your career, so far as I have described it, is at every point in harmony with virtue and the promptings of a noble disposition. For to this, as I said at the beginning of my speech, I think it right to pay special attention. Let me therefore mention once more what I said some time ago, that to your father you were dutiful and affectionate, and that you constantly maintained friendly relations with your brothers, for your father you were ever willing to obey, and as the colleague of your brothers in the empire you always displayed moderation. And if anyone thinks this a trifling proof of merit, let him consider the case of Alexander the son of Philip, and Cyrus the son of Cambyses, and then let him applaud your conduct. For Alexander, while still a mere boy, showed clearly that he would no longer brook his father’s control, while Cyrus dethroned his grandfather. Yet no one is so foolish as to suppose that, since you displayed such modesty and self‐ control towards your father and brothers, you were not fully equal to Alexander and Cyrus in greatness of soul and ambition for glory. For when fortune offered you the opportunity to claim as your right the empire of the world, you were the first to make the essay, though there were many who advised otherwise and tried to persuade you to the contrary course. Accordingly, when you had carried through the war that you had in hand, and that with the utmost ease and so as to ensure safety for the future, you resolved to liberate that part of the empire which had been occupied by the enemy, and the reason that you assigned for going to war was most just and such as had never before arisen, namely your detestation of those infamous men. Civil war one could not call it, for its leader was a barbarian who had proclaimed himself emperor and elected himself general. I dislike to speak too often of his evil deeds and the crimes that he committed against your house. But could anything be more heroic than your line of action? For should you fail in your undertaking the risk involved was obvious. But you faced it, and you were not bidding for gain, nay nor for undying renown, for whose sake brave men so often dare even to die, selling their lives for glory as though it were gold, nor was it from desire of wider or more brilliant empire, for not even in your youth were you ambitious of that, but it was because you were in love with the abstract beauty of such an achievement, and thought it your duty to endure anything rather than see a barbarian ruling over Roman citizens, making himself master of the laws and constitution and offering public prayers for the common weal, guilty as he was of so many impious crimes and murders. Who could fail to be dazzled by the splendour of your armament and the vast scale of your expenditure? And yet I am told that Xerxes, when he mustered all Asia against the Greeks, spent no less than ten years in preparing for that war. Then he set out with twelve hundred triremes, from the very spot, as I understand, where you gathered your fleet together, having built it in rather less than ten months, and yet you had more ships than Xerxes. But neither his fortune nor his achievements can properly be compared with yours.)

Τὴν δὲ εἰς τὰ λοιπὰ δαπανήματα μεγαλοπρέπειαν μὴ πολὺ λίαν ἔργον ᾖ φράζειν, οὐδὲ ὁπόσα ταῖς πόλεσι πάλαι στερομέναις ἀπεδίδους ἀπαριθμούμενος ἐνοχλήσω τὰ νῦν. [43] πλουτοῦσι μὲν γὰρ ἅπασαι διὰ σὲ ἐπὶ τῶν(194) ἔμπροσθεν ἐνδεεῖς οὖσαι καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων, ἐπιδίδωσι δὲ τῶν ἰδίων ἕκαστος οἴκων διὰ τὰς κοινὰς τῶν πόλεων εὐετηρίας. ἀλλὰ τῶν εἰς τοὺς ἰδιώτας ἄξιον δωρεῶν μεμνῆσθαι, ἐλευθέριόν σε καὶ μεγαλόδωρον βασιλέα προσαγορεύοντα, ὃς πολλοῖς μὲν στερομένοις πάλαι τῶν αὑτῶν κτημάτων, τοῦ πατρῴου κλήρου συμφορᾷ περιπεπτωκότος ἐν δίκῃ καὶ παρὰ δίκην, ἐπειδὴ πρῶτον ἐγένου κύριος, [B] τοῖς μὲν καθάπερ δικαστὴς ἀγαθὸς τὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἁμαρτήματα διορθωσάμενος κυρίους εἶναι τῆς αὑτῶν οὐσίας παρέσχες, τοῖς δὲ ἐπιεικὴς κριτὴς γενόμενος ταῦτα μὲν ὧν ἀφῄρηντο πάλιν ἐχαρίσω, ἀρκεῖν οἰόμενος τὸ μῆκος τοῦ χρόνου πρὸς τιμωρίαν τοῖς παθοῦσιν· ὅσα δὲ αὐτὸς οἴκοθεν χαριζόμενος πλουσιωτέρους ἀπέθηνας πολλοὺς τῶν πάλαι δοξάντων ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν χρημάτων εὐπορίᾳ σεμνύνεσθαι, [C] τί χρὴ νῦν ὑπομιμνήσκοντα περὶ μικρὰ διατρίβειν δοκεῖν; ἄλλως τε καὶ πᾶσιν ὄντος καταφανοῦς, ὅτι μηδεὶς πώποτε πλὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Φιλίππου τοσαῦτα βασιλεῦς τοῖς αὑτοῦ φίλοις διανέμων ὤφθη. ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν ὁ τῶν φίλων πλοῦτος τῆς τῶν πολεμίων ῥώμης ὕποπτος ἐφάνη μᾶλλον καὶ φοβερώτερος, ἄλλοι δὲ τὴν τῶν ἀρχομένων εὐγένειαν ὑπιδόμενοι πάντα τρόπον τοὺς εὖ γεγονότας προπηλακίζοντες [D] ἢ καὶ ἀναιροῦντες ἄρδην τὰς οἰκίας κοινῇ μὲν ταῖς πόλεσι συμφορῶν, ἰδίᾳ δὲ αὑτοῖς ἀνοσίων ἔργων αἰτιώτατοι κατέστησαν. οὐκ ἀπέσχοντο δὲ ἤδη τινὲς τοῖς τοῦ σώματος ἀγαθοῖς, ὑγιείᾳ φημὶ καὶ κάλλει καὶ εὐεξίᾳ, βασκαίνοντες· ψυχῆς τε ἀρετὴν ἔν τινι τῶν πολιτῶν γενομένην οὐδὲ ἀκούειν ὑπέμενον, ἀλλ᾽ ἦν ἀδίκημα τοῦτο, καθάπερ ἀνδροφονία καὶ κλοπὴ καὶ προδοσία, τὸ δοκεῖν ἀρετῆς μεταποιηθῆναι. [44] καὶ ταῦτα τυχὸν ἀληθῶς οὐ βασιλέων φήσει τις, πονηρῶν δὲ καὶ ἀνελευθέρων τυράννων ἔργα καὶ πράξεις. ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἤδη τὸ πάθος οὐ τῶν ἀνοήτων μόνον, ἀλλά τινων ἐπιεικῶν καὶ πρᾴων ἀνδρῶν ἁψάμενον, τὸ τοῖς φίλοις ἄχθεσθαι πλέον ἔχουσι(195) καὶ πολλάκις ἐλαττοῦν ἐθέλειν καὶ τῶν προσηκόντων αὐτοὺς ἀφαιρεῖσθαι, τίς ἐπὶ σοῦ λέγειν ἐτόλμησε; τοῦτο καὶ Κῦρόν φασι τὸν Πέρσην γάμβρον ὄντα βασιλέως παρὰ τοῦ κηδεστοῦ παθεῖν ἀχθομένου τῇ παρὰ τοῦ πλήθους εἰς τὸν ἄνδρα τιμῇ, καὶ ἀγησίλαος δὲ [B] δῆλος ἦν ἀχθόμενος τιμωμένῳ παρὰ τοῖς Ἴωσι Λυσάνδρῳ.

(I fear that it is beyond my powers to describe the magnificence of your outlay for other purposes, nor will I risk being tedious by staying now to count up the sums you bestowed on cities that had long been destitute. For whereas, in the time of your predecessors, they lacked the necessaries of life, they have all become rich through you, and the general prosperity of each city increases the welfare of every private household in it. But it is proper that I should mention your gifts to private persons, and give you the title of a generous and open‐handed Emperor; for since there were many who long ago had lost their property, because, in some cases justly, in others unjustly, their ancestral estates had suffered loss, you had no sooner come into power, than like a just judge you set right in the latter cases the errors committed by men in the past, and restored them to the control of their property, while in the former cases you were a kindly arbiter, and granted that they should recover what they had lost, thinking that to have suffered so long was punishment enough. Then you lavished large sums from your privy purse, and increased the reputation for wealth of many who even in the past had prided themselves on their large incomes. But why should I remind you of all this and seem to waste time over trifles? Especially as it must be obvious to all that no king except Alexander the son of Philip was ever known to bestow such splendid presents on his friends. Indeed some kings have thought that the wealth of their friends gave more grounds for suspicion and alarm than did the resources of their enemies, while others were jealous of the aristocrats among their subjects, and therefore persecuted the well‐born in every possible way, or even exterminated their houses, and thus were responsible for the public disasters of their cities and, in private life, for the most infamous crimes. There were some who went so far as to envy mere physical advantages, such as health or good looks, or good condition. And as for a virtuous character among their subjects, they could not bear even to hear of it, but counted it a crime like murder or theft or treason to appear to lay claim to virtue. But perhaps someone will say, and with truth, that these were the actions and practices not of genuine kings but of base and contemptible tyrants. Nay, but that other malady which has been known to attack not only those who were irrational, but some even who were just and mild, I mean the tendency to quarrel with friends who were too prosperous and to wish to humble them and deprive them of their rightful possessions, who I ask has ever dared so much as to mention such conduct in your case? Yet such, they say, was the treatment that Cyrus the Persian, the king’s son‐in‐law, received from his kinsman,(196) who could not brook the honour in which Cyrus was held by the common people, and Agesilaus also is well known to have resented the honours paid to Lysander by the Ionians.)

Τούτους οὖν(197) πάντας ὑπερβαλλόμενος ἀρετῇ, τοῖς πλουτοῦσι μὲν τὸ πλουτεῖν ἀσφαλέστερον ἢ πατὴρ τοῖς αὑτοῦ παισί κατέστησας, εὐγενείας δὲ τῆς τῶν ὑπηκόων προνοεῖς καθάπερ ἁπάσης πόλεως οἰκιστὴς καὶ νομοθέτης· καὶ τοὶς ἐκ τῆς τύχης ἀγαθοῖς πολλὰ μὲν προστιθείς, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ ἀρχῆς χαριζόμενος, δῆλος [C] εἶ τῷ μεγέθει μὲν τὰς παρὰ τῶν βασιλέων δωρεὰς ὑπερβαλλόμενος, τῇ βεβαιότητι δὲ τῶν ἅπαξ δοθέντων τὰς παρὰ τῶν δήμων χάριτας ἁποκρυπτόμενος. τοῦτο δὲ οἶμαι καὶ μάλα εἰκότως συμβαίνει. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐφ᾽ οἷς συνίσασιν αὑτοῖς ἀπολειφθεῖσιν ἀγαθοῖς, τοῖς κεκτημένοις βασκαίνουσιν, ὅτῳ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῆς τύχης ἐστὶ λαμπρὰ καὶ οἷα οὐδενὶ τῶν ἄλλων, τὰ δὲ ἐκ τῆς προαιρέσεως τῶν ἐκ τῆς τύχης μακρῷ σεμνότερα, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτου δεόμενος τῷ κεκτημένῳ φθονήσειεν. [D] ὃ δὴ καὶ σαυτῷ μάλιστα πάντων ὑπάρχειν ἐγνωκὼς χαίρεις μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθοῖς, εὐφραίνει δὲ σε τὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων κατορθώματα· καὶ τιμὰς ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς τὰς μὲν ἐχαρίσω, τὰς δὲ ἤδη μέλλεις, ὑπὲρ δὲ ἐνίων βουλεύῃ· καὶ οὐκ ἀπόχρη σοι πόλεως μιᾶς οὐδὲ ἔθνους ἑνὸς οὐδὲ πολλῶν ὁμοῦ τοῖς φίλοις ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐπ᾽ αὐταῖς τιμὰς διανέμειν· ἀλλ᾽ εἰ μὴ καὶ βασιλείας [45] ἕλοιο κοινωνόν, ὑπὲρ ἧς τοσοῦτον ὑπομείνας πόνον τὸ τῶν τυράννων γένος ἀνῄρηκας, οὐδὲν ἄξιον τῶν σαυτοῦ κατορθωμάτων ἔργον ὑπέλαβες. καὶ ὅτι μὴ χρείᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ χαίρειν πάντα δωρούμενος ἐπὶ ταύτην ὥρμησας τὴν γνώμην, ἅπασιν οἶμαι γνώριμον γέγονε. τῶν μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τοὺς τυράννους ἀγώνων κοινωνὸν οὐχ εἵλου, τῆς τιμῆς δὲ τὸν οὐ μετασχόντα τῶν πόνων ἠξίωσας μεταλαβεῖν μόνον, ὅτε μηδὲν ἔτι φοβερὸν ἐδόκει. [B] καὶ τῆς μὲν οὐδὲ ἐπ᾽ ὀλίγον ἀφελὼν δῆλος εἶ, τῶν πόνων δὲ οὐδὲ ἐπὶ σμικρὸν κοινωνεῖν ἀξιοῖς. πλὴν εἴ που δέοι πρὸς ὀλίγον ἑπόμενον σοι στρατεύεσθαι. πότερον οὖν καὶ περὶ τούτων μαρτύρων τινῶν καὶ τεκμηρίων τῷ λόγῳ προσδεῖ; ἢ δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ λέγοντος, ὅτι μὴ ψευδεῖς ἐπεισάγει λόγους; ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ μὲν τούτων οὐδὲν ἔτι πλέον ἄξιον ἐνδιατρίβειν.

(All these, then, you have surpassed in merit, for you have made their wealth more secure for the rich than a father would for his own children, and you take thought that your subjects shall be well‐born, as though you were the founder and law‐giver of every single city. Those to whom fortune has been generous you still further enrich, and in many cases men owe all their wealth to your generosity, so that in amount your gifts clearly surpass those of other princes, while, in security of ownership of what has once been given, you cast into the shade any favours bestowed by democracies.(198) And this is, I think, very natural. For when men are conscious that they lack certain advantages, they envy those who do possess them, but when a man is more brilliantly endowed by fortune than any of his fellows, and by his own initiative has won even higher dignities than fate had assigned him, he lacks nothing, and there is none whom he need envy. And since you realise that in your case this is especially true, you rejoice at the good fortune of others and take pleasure in the successes of your subjects. You have already bestowed on them certain honours, and other honours you are on the point of bestowing, and you are making plans for the benefit of yet other persons. Nor are you content to award to your friends the government of a single city or nation, or even of many such, with the honours attaching thereto. But unless you chose a colleague(199) to share that empire on whose behalf you had spared no pains to exterminate the brood of usurpers, you thought that no act of yours could be worthy of your former achievements. That you reached this decision not so much because it was necessary as because you take pleasure in giving all that you have to give, is, I suppose, well known to all. For you chose no colleague to aid you in your contests with the usurpers, but you thought it right that one who had not shared in the toil should share in the honour and glory, and that only when all danger seemed to be over. And it is well known that from that honour you subtract not even a trifling part, though you do not demand that he should share the danger even in some small degree, except indeed when it was necessary for a short time that he should accompany you on your campaign. Does my account of this call for any further witnesses or proofs? Surely it is obvious that he who tells the tale would not be the one to introduce a fictitious account. But on this part of my subject I must not spend any more time.)

Σωφροσύνης δὲ ὑπὲρ τῆς σῆς καὶ φρονήσεως καὶ ὅσην εὔνοιαν τοῖς ὑπηκόοις ἐνειργάσω, [C] βραχέα διελθεῖν ἴσως οὐκ ἄτοπον. τίς γάρ σ᾽(200) ἀγνοεῖ τῶν ἁπάντων τοσαύτην ἐκ παίδων τῆς ἀρετῆς ταύτης ἐπιμέλειαν ἐσχηκότα, ὅσην οὐδεὶς ἄλλος τῶν ἔμπροσθεν; καὶ τῆς μὲν ἐν παισὶ σωφροσύνης μάρτυς ὁ πατὴρ γέγονεν ἀξιόχρεως, σοὶ τὰ περὶ τὴς ἀρχὴν καὶ τὰ πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς διοικεῖν ἐπιτρέψας μόνῳ, ὄντι γε οὐδὲ πρεσβυτάτῳ τῶν ἐκείνου παίδων· τῆς δὲ ἐν ἀνδράσιν ἅπαντες αἰσθανόμεθα, [D] καθάπερ πολίτου τοῖς νόμοις ὑπακούοντος, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ βασιλέως τῶν νόμων ἄρχοντος, ἀεί σου προσφερομένου τῷ πλήθει καὶ τοῖς ἐν τέλει. τίς γάρ σ᾽(201) ἔγνω μεῖζον ὑπὸ τῆς εὐτυχίας φρονήσαντα; τίς δὲ ἐπαρθέντα τοῖς κατορθώμασι τοσούτοις(202) καὶ τηλικούτοις ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ γενομένοις; ἀλλὰ τὸν Φιλίππου φασὶν Ἀλέξανδρον, ἐπειδὴ τὴν Περσῶν καθεῖλε δύναμιν, οὐ μόνον τὴν ἄλλην δίαιταν πρὸς ὄγκον μείζονα καὶ λίαν ἐπαχθῆ τοῖς πᾶσιν ὑπεροψίαν μεταβαλεῖν, [46] ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη καὶ τοῦ φύσαντος ὑπερορᾶν καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἁπάσης φύσεως. ἠξίου γὰρ υἱὸς Ἄμμωνος, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ Φιλίππου νομίζεσθαι, καὶ τῶν συστρατευσαμένων ὄσοι μὴ κολακεύειν μηδὲ δουλεύειν ἠπίσταντο τῶν ἑαλωκότων πικρότερον ἐκολάζοντο. ἀλλὰ σοῦ γε τῆς εἰς τὸν πατέρα τιμῆς ἆρα ἄξιον ἐνταῦθα μεμνῆσθαι; ὃν οὐκ ἰδίᾳ μόνον σεβόμενος, ἀεὶ δὲ ἐν τοῖς κοινοῖς συλλόγοις διετέλεις ἀνακηρύττων καθάπερ ἀγαθὸν ἥρωα. τῶν φίλων δέ, [B] ἀξιοῖς γὰρ αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἄχρις ὀνόματος μόνον τῆς τιμῆς, πολὺ δὲ πλέον διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων βεβαιοῖς ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν τοὔνομα· ἔστιν οὖν ἄρα τις ὁ μεμφόμενος ἀτιμίαν ἢ ζημίαν ἢ βλάβην ἤ τινα μικρὰν ὑπεροψίαν ἢ μείζονα; ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἂν οὐδαμῶς εἰπεῖν ἔχοι τοιοῦτον οὐδὲν. τούτων γὰρ οἱ μὲν γηραιοὶ σφόδρα, ταῖς ἀρχαῖς εἰς τὴν εἱμαρμένην τελευτὴν τοῦ βίου παραμείναντες, τὰς ἐπιμελείας τῶν κοινῶν συναπέθεντο τοῖς σώμασι, [C] παισὶν ἢ φίλοις ἤ τισι πρὸς γένους τοὺς κλήρους παραπέμποντες· ἄλλοι δὲ πρὸς τοὺς πόνους καὶ τὰς στρατείας ἀπαγορεύοντες, ἀφέσεως ἐντίμου τυχόντες, ζῶσιν ὄλβιοι· τινὲς δὲ καὶ μετήλλαξαν, εὐδαίμονες παρὰ τοῦ πλήθους εἶναι κρινόμενοι. ὅλως δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲ εἷς, ὃς ἐπειδὴ ταύτης ἠξιώθη τῆς τιμῆς, εἰ καὶ μοχθηρὸς ὕστερον ἐφάνη, τιμωρίας ἔτυχε μικρᾶς ἢ μείζονος· ἤρκεσε δὲ αὐτὸν ἀπηλλάχθαι μόνον καὶ μηδὲν ἐνοχλεῖν ἔτι.

(A few words about your temperance, your wisdom, and the affection that you inspired in your subjects, will not, I think, be out of place. For who is there among them all who does not know that from boyhood you cultivated the virtue of temperance as no one had ever done before you? That in your youth you possessed that virtue your father is a trustworthy witness, for he entrusted to you alone the management of affairs of state and all that related to your brothers, although you were not even the eldest of his sons. And that you still display it, now that you are a man, we are all well aware, since you ever behave towards the people and the magistrates like a citizen who obeys the laws, not like a king who is above the laws. For who ever saw you made arrogant by prosperity? Who ever saw you uplifted by those successes, so numerous and so splendid, and so quickly achieved? They say that Alexander, Philip’s son, when he had broken the power of Persia, not only adopted a more ostentatious mode of life and an insolence of manner obnoxious to all, but went so far as to despise the father that begat him, and indeed the whole human race. For he claimed to be regarded as the son of Ammon instead of the son of Philip, and when some of those who had taken part in his campaigns could not learn to flatter him or to be servile, he punished them more harshly than the prisoners of war. But the honour that you paid to your father need I speak of in this place? Not only did you revere him in private life, but constantly, where men were gathered together in public, you sang his praises as though he were a beneficent hero‐god. And as for your friends, you grant them that honour not merely in name, but by your actions you make their title sure. Can any one of them, I ask, lay to your charge the loss of any right, or any penalty or injury suffered, or any overbearing act either serious or trifling? Nay there is not one who could bring any such accusation. For your friends who were far advanced in years remained in office till the appointed end of their lives, and only laid down with life itself their control of public business, and then they handed on their possessions to their children or friends or some member of their family. Others again, when their strength failed for work or military service, received an honourable discharge, and are now spending their last days in prosperity; yet others have departed this life, and the people call them blessed. In short there is no man who having once been held worthy of the honour of your friendship, ever suffered any punishment great or small, even though later he proved to be vicious. For them all that he had to do was to depart and give no further trouble.)

[D] Ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἅπασιν ὢν καὶ γεγονὼς τοιοῦτος ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡδονῆς ἁπάσης, ᾗ πρόσεστιν ὄνειδος καὶ μικρόν, καθαρὰν τὴν ψυχὴν διεφύλαξας. μόνον δὲ οἶμαι σὲ τῶν πρόσθεν αὐτοκρατόρων, σχεδὸν δὲ πλὴν σφόδρα ὀλίγων καὶ πάντων ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ἀνδράσι μόνον παράδειγμα πρὸς σωφροσύνην παρασχεῖν κάλλιστον, καὶ γυναιξὶ δὲ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἄνδρας κοινωνίας. [47] ὅσα γὰρ ἐκείναις ἀπαγορεύουσιν οἱ νόμοι τοῦ γνησίους(203) φύεσθαι τοὺς παῖδας ἐπιμελόμενοι, ταῦτα ὁ λόγος ἀπαγορεύει ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις παρὰ σοί. ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ μὲν τούτων ἔχων ἔτι πλείονα λίγειν ἀφίημι.

(While this has been your character from first to last in all these relations, you always kept your soul pure of every indulgence to which the least reproach is attached. In fact I should say that you alone, of all the emperors that ever were, nay of all mankind almost, with very few exceptions, are the fairest example of modesty, not to men only but to women also in their association with men. For all that is forbidden to women by the laws that safeguard the legitimacy of offspring, your reason ever denies to your passions. But though I could say still more on this subject, I refrain.)

Τῆς φρονήσεως δὲ ἄξιον μὲν ἔπαινον διελθεῖν οὐδαμῶς εὐχερές, μικρὰ δὲ ὅμως καὶ ὑπὲρ ταύτης ῥητέον. ἔστι δὲ τὰ μὲν ἔργα τῶν λόγων οἶμαι πιστότερα. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν εἰκὸς τοσαύτην ἀρχὴν [B] καὶ δύναμιν μὴ παρὰ τῆς ἴσης διοικουμένην καὶ κρατουμένην φρονήσεως πρὸς τοσοῦτον μέγεθος ἀφικέσθαι καὶ κάλλος πράξεων· ἀγαπητὸν δὶ, εἰ καὶ τῇ τύχῃ μόνον δίχα φρονήσεως ἐπιτρεπομένη(204) ἐπὶ πολὺ μένει.(205) ἀνθῆσαι μὲν γὰρ τῇ τύχῃ προσσχόντα πρὸς βραχὺ ῥάδιον, διαφυλάξαι δὲ τὰ δοθέντα ἀγαθὰ δίχα φρονήσεως οὐ λίαν εὔκολον, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀδύνατον ἴσως. ὄλως δὲ εἰ χρὴ καὶ περὶ τούτων ἐναργὲς φράζειν τεκμήριον, πολλῶν καὶ γνωρίμων οὐκ ἀπορήσομεν. [C] τὴν γὰρ εὐβουλίαν ὑπολαμβάνομεν τῶν περὶ τὰς πράξεις ἀγαθῶν καὶ συμφερόντων ἐξευρίσκειν τὰ κράτιστα. σκοπεῖν οὖν ἄξιον ἐφ᾽ ἁπάντων ἁπλῶς, εἰ μὴ τοῦθ᾽ ἕν ἐστι τῶν σοι πραχθέντων. οὐκοῦν ὅπου μὲν ἦν ὁμονοίας χρεία, ἔχαιρες ἐλαττούμενος, ὅπου δὲ τοῖς κοινοῖς ἐχρῆν βοηθεῖν, τὸν πόλεμον ἀνείλου(206) προθυμότατα. καὶ Περσῶν μὲν τὴν δύναμιν καταστρατηγήσας οὐδένα τῶν ὁπλιτῶν ἀποβαλὼν διέφθειρας, τὸν πρὸς τοὺς τυράννους δὲ πόλεμον διελὼν τοῦ μὲν ἐκράτησας ταῖς δημηγορίαις, [D] καὶ τὴν μετ᾽ ἐκείνου δύναμιν ἀκέραιον καὶ κακῶν ἀπαθῆ προσλαβὼν κατεπολέμησας μᾶλλον διὰ τῆς συνέσεως ἢ διὰ τῆς ῥώμης τὸν τοσούτων τοῖς κοινοῖς αἴτιον συμφορῶν. βούλομαι δὲ σαφέστερον περὶ τούτων εἰπὼν ἅπασι δεῖξαι, τίνι μάλιστα πιστεύσας(207) τοσούτοις σαυτὸν ἐπιδοὺς πράγμασιν οὐδενὸς ὅλως διήμαρτες. [48] εὔνοιαν οἴει δεῖν παρὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων ὑπάρχειν τῷ βασιλεύοντι ἐρυμάτων ἀσφαλέστατον. ταύτην δὲ ἐπιτάττοντα μὲν καὶ κελεύοντα καθάπερ εἰσφορὰς καὶ φόρους κτήσασθαι παντελῶς ἄλογον. λείπεται δὴ λοιπόν, καθάπερ αὐτὸς ὥρμηκας, τὸ πάντας εὖ ποιεῖν καὶ μιμεῖσθαι τὴν θείαν ἐν ἀνθρώποις φύσιν· πρᾴως μὲν ἔχειν πρὸς ὀργήν, [B] τῶν τιμωριῶν δὲ ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τὰς χαλεπότητας, πταίσασι δὲ οἶμαι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐπιεικῶς καὶ εὐγνωμόνως προσφέρεσθαι. ταῦτα πράττων, ταῦτα θαυμάζων, ταῦτα τοῖς ἄλλοις προστάττων μιμεῖσθαι τὴν Ῥώμην μέν, ἔτι τοῦ τυράννου κρατοῦντος τῆς Ἰταλίας, διὰ τῆς γερουσίας εἰς Παιονίαν μετέστησας, προθύμους δὲ εἶχες τὰς πόλεις πρὸς τὰς λειτουργίας.

(Your wisdom it is by no means easy to praise as it deserves, but I must say a few words about it. Your actions, however, are more convincing, I think, than my words. For it is not likely that this great and mighty empire would have attained such dimensions or achieved such splendid results, had it not been directed and governed by an intelligence to match. Indeed, when it is entrusted to luck alone, unaided by wisdom, we may be thankful if it last for any length of time. It is easy by depending on luck to flourish for a brief space, but without the aid of wisdom it is very hard, or rather I might say impossible, to preserve the blessings that have been bestowed. And, in short, if we need cite a convincing proof of this, we do not lack many notable instances. For by wise counsel we mean the ability to discover most successfully the measures that will be good and expedient when put into practice. It is therefore proper to consider in every case whether this wise counsel may not be counted as one of the things you have achieved. Certainly when there was need of harmony you gladly gave way, and when it was your duty to aid the community as a whole you declared for war with the utmost readiness. And when you had defeated the forces of Persia without losing a single hoplite, you made two separate campaigns against the usurpers, and after overcoming one of them(208) by your public harangue, you added to your army his forces, which were fresh and had suffered no losses, and finally, by intelligence rather than by brute force, you completely subdued the other usurper who had inflicted so many sufferings on the community. I now desire to speak more clearly on this subject and to demonstrate to all what it was that you chiefly relied on and that secured you from failure in every one of those great enterprises to which you devoted yourself. It is your conviction that the affection of his subjects is the surest defence of an emperor. Now it is the height of absurdity to try to win that affection by giving orders, and levying it as though it were a tax or tribute. The only alternative is the policy that you have yourself pursued, I mean of doing good to all men and imitating the divine nature on earth. To show mercy even in anger, to take away their harshness from acts of vengeance, to display kindness and toleration to your fallen enemies, this was your practice, this you always commended and enjoined on others to imitate, and thus, even while the usurper still controlled Italy, you transferred Rome to Paeonia by means of the Senate and inspired the cities with zeal for undertaking public services.)

Τῶν στρατευμάτων δὲ τὴν εὔνοιαν τίς ἂν ἀξίως διηγήσαιτο; τάξις μὲν ἱππέων πρὸ τῆς ἐν τῇ Μύρσῃ παρατάξεως μεθειστήκει, [C] ἐπεὶ δὲ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐκράτησας, πεζῶν κατάλογοι καὶ τέλη λαμπρά. ἀλλὰ τὸ μικρὸν μετὰ τὴν τοῦ τυράννου δυστυχῆ τελευτὴν ἐν Γαλατίᾳ γενόμενον κοινὴν ἁπάντων ἔδειξε στρατοπέδων τὴν εὔνοιαν, τὸν θρασυνόμενον καθάπερ ἐπ᾽ ἐρημίας καὶ τὴν γυναικείαν ἁλουργίδα περιβαλόμενον ὥσπερ τινὰ λύκον(209) ἐξαίφνης διασπασαμένων. ὅστις δὲ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ γέγονας τῇ πράξει, καὶ ὅπως πρᾴως ἅπασι καὶ φιλανθρώπως τοῖς ἐκείνου γνωρίμοις προσηνέχθης, ὅσοι μηδὲν ἠλέγχοντο ἐκείνῳ συμπράξαντες, πολλῶν ἐφεστηκότων τῇ κατηγορίᾳ συκοφαντῶν, [D] καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον φιλίαν ὑποπτεύειν μόνον κελευόντων, ἐγὼ μὲν ἁπάσης ἀρετῆς τίθεμαι τοῦτο(210) κεφάλαιον. καὶ γὰρ ἐπιεικῶς καὶ δικαίως φημὶ καὶ πολὺ πλέον ἐμφρόνως πεπράχθαι. ὅστις δὲ ἄλλως ἡγεῖται καὶ τῆς περὶ τοῦ πράγματος ἀληθοῦς ὑπολήψεως καὶ τῆς σῆς γνώμης διήμαρτε. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἐλεγχθέντας δίκαιον ἦν, ὡς εἰκός, [49] σώζεσθαι, ὑπόπτους δὲ τὰς φιλίας καὶ διὰ τοῦτο φευκτὰς οὐδαμῶς ᾤου δεῖν κατασκευάζειν, ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν ὑπηκόων εὐνοίας ἐς τοῦτο μεγέθους ἀρθεὶς καὶ πράξεων. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν παῖδα τοῦ τετολμηκότος νήπιον κομιδῇ τῆς πατρῴας οὐδὲν εἴασας μετασχεῖν ζημίας. οὕτω σοι πρὸς ἐπιείκειαν ἡ πρᾶξις ῥέπουσα τελείας ἀρετῆς ὑπάρχει γνώρισμα. * * *

(As for the affection of your armies, what description could do it justice? Even before the battle at Myrsa, a division of cavalry came over to your side,(211) and when you had conquered Italy bodies of infantry and distinguished legions did the same. But what happened in Galatia(212) shortly after the usurper’s miserable end demonstrated the universal loyalty of the garrisons to you; for when, emboldened by his isolated position, another(213) dared to assume the effeminate purple, they suddenly set on him as though he were a wolf and tore him limb from limb.(214) Your behaviour after that deed, your merciful and humane treatment of all those of his friends who were not convicted of having shared his crimes, and that in spite of all the sycophants who came forward with accusations and warned you to show only suspicion against friends of his, this I count as the culmination of all virtue. What is more, I maintain that your conduct was not only humane and just, but prudent in a still higher degree. He who thinks otherwise falls short of a true understanding of both the circumstances and your policy. For that those who had not been proved guilty should be protected was of course just, and you thought you ought by no means to make friendship a reason for suspicion and so cause it to be shunned, seeing that it was due to the loyal affection of your own subjects that you had attained to such power and accomplished so much. But the son of that rash usurper, who was a mere child, you did not allow to share his father’s punishment. To such a degree does every act of yours incline towards clemency and is stamped with the mint‐mark of perfect virtue * * * * *.)(215)

ORATION II

Introduction To Oration II

The Second Oration is a panegyric of the Emperor Constantius, written while Julian, after his elevation to the rank of Caesar, was campaigning in Gaul.(216) It closely resembles and often echoes the First, and was probably never delivered. In his detailed and forced analogies of the achievements of Constantius with those of the Homeric heroes, always to the advantage of the former, Julian follows a sophistic practice that he himself condemns,(217) and though he more than once contrasts himself with the “ingenious rhetoricians” he is careful to observe all their rules, even in his historical descriptions of the Emperor’s campaigns. The long Platonic digression on Virtue and the ideal ruler is a regular feature of a panegyric of this type, though Julian neglects to make the direct application to Constantius. In the First Oration he quoted Homer only once, but while the Second contains the usual comparisons with the Persian monarchs and Alexander, its main object is to prove, by direct references to the Iliad, that Constantius surpassed Nestor in strategy, Odysseus in eloquence, and in courage Hector, Sarpedon and Achilles.

ΙΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ

(Julian, Caesar)

ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΟΣ ΠΡΑΞΕΩΝ Η ΠΕΡΙ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑΣ.

(The Heroic Deeds of the Emperor Constantius, Or, On Kingship)

Τὸν Ἀχιλλέα φησὶν ἡ ποίησις, ὁπότε ἐμήνισε καὶ διηνέχθη πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, μεθεῖναι μὲν ταῖν χεροῖν τὴν αἰχμὴν καὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα, ψαλτήριον δὲ ἁρμοσάμενον καὶ κιθάραν ᾄδειν καὶ ὑμνεῖν τῶν ἡμιθέων τὰς πράξεις, καὶ ταύτην διαγωγὴν τῆς ἡσυχίας ποιεῖσθαι, εὖ μάλα ἐμφρόνως τοῦτο διανοηθέντα. [D] τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀπεχθάνεσθαι καὶ παροξύνειν τὸν βασιλέα λίαν αὔθαδες καὶ ἄγριον· τυχὸν δὲ οὐδὲ ἐκείνης ἀπολύεται τῆς μέμψεως ὁ τῆς Θέτιδος, ὅτι τῷι καιρῷ τῶν ἔργων εἰς ᾠδὰς καταχρῆται καὶ κρούματα, ἐξὸν τότε μὲν ἔχεσθαι τῶν ὅπλων καὶ μὴ μεθιέναι, αὖθις δὲ ἐφ᾽ ἡσυχίας ὑμνεῖν τὸν βασιλέα καὶ ᾄδειν τὰ κατορθώματα. [50] οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονά φησιν ὁ πατὴρ ἐκείνων τῶν λόγων μετρίως καὶ πολιτικῶς προσενεχθῆναι τῷ στρατηγῷ, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπειλῇ τε χρῆσθαι καὶ ἔργοις ὑβρίζειν, τοῦ γέρως ἀφαιρούμενον. συνάγων δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐς ταὐτὸν ἀλλήλοις ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας μεταμελομένους, τὸν μὲν τῆς Θέτιδος ἐκβοῶντα

(Achilles, as the poet tells us, when his wrath was kindled and he quarrelled with the king,(218) let fall from his hands his spear and shield; then he strung his harp and lyre and sang and chanted the deeds of the demi‐gods, making this the pastime of his idle hours, and in this at least he chose wisely. For to fall out with the king and affront him was excessively rash and violent. But perhaps the son of Thetis is not free from this criticism either, that he spent in song and music the hours that called for deeds, though at such a time he might have retained his arms and not laid them aside, but later, at his leisure, he could have sung the praises of the king and chanted his victories. Though indeed the author of that tale tells us that Agamemnon also did not behave to his general either temperately or with tact, but first used threats and proceeded to insolent acts, when he robbed Achilles of his prize of valour. Then Homer brings them, penitent now, face to face in the assembly, and makes the son of Thetis exclaim)

Ἀτρείδη, ἦ ἄρ τι τόδ᾽ ἀμφοτέροισιν ἄρειον
Ἔπλετο, σοὶ καὶ ἐμοί,

(“Son of Atreus, verily it had been better on this wise for both
thee and me!”(219))

[B] εἶτα ἐπαρώμενον τῇ προφάσει τῇ ἀπεχθείας καὶ ἀπαριθμούμενον τὰς ἐκ τῆς μήνιδος ξυμφοράς, τὸν βασιλέα δὲ αἰτιώμενον Δία καὶ Μοῖραν(220) καὶ Ἐρινύν, δοκεῖ μοι διδάσκειν, ὥσπερ ἐν δράματι τοῖς προκειμένοις ἀνδράσιν οἷον εἰκόσι χρώμενος, ὅτι χρὴ τοὺς μὲν βασιλέας μηδὲν ὕβρει πράττειν μηδὲ τῇ δυνάμει πρὸς ἅπαν χρῆσθαι μηδὲ ἐφιέναι τῷ θυμῷ, καθάπερ ἵππῳ θρασεῖ χήτει χαλινοῦ καὶ ἡνιόχου φερομένῳ, παραινεῖν δὲ αὖ τοῖς [C] στρατηγοῖς ὑπεροψίαν βασιλικὴν μὴ δυσχεραίνειν, φέρειν δὲ ἐγκρατῶς καὶ πρᾴως τὰς ἐπιτιμήσεις, ἵνα μὴ μεταμελείας αὐτοῖς ὁ βίος μεστὸς ᾖ.

(Later on he makes him curse the cause of their quarrel, and recount the disasters due to his own wrath, and we see the king blaming Zeus and Fate and Erinys. And here, I think, he is pointing a moral, using those heroes whom he sets before us, like types in a tragedy, and the moral is that kings ought never to behave insolently, nor use their power without reserve, nor be carried away by their anger like a spirited horse that runs away for lack of the bit and the driver; and then again he is warning generals not to resent the insolence of kings but to endure their censure with self‐control and serenely, so that their whole life may not be filled with remorse.(221))

Ταῦτα κατ᾽ ἐμαυτὸν ἐννοῶν, ὦ φίλε βασιλεῦ, καὶ σὲ μὲν ὁρῶν ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων τὴν Ὁμηρικὴν παιδείαν ἐπιδεικνύμενον καὶ ἐθέλοντα πάντως κοινῇ μὲν(222) ἅπαντας ἀγαθόν τι δρᾶν, ἡμῖν δὲ ἰδίᾳ τιμὰς καὶ γέρα ἄλλα ἐπ᾽ ἄλλοις παρασκευάζοντα, τοσούτῳ δὲ οἶμαι κρείττονα τοῦ τῶν Ἐλλήνων βασιλέως εἶναι ἐθέλοντα, ὥστε ὁ μὲν ἠτίμαζε τοὺς ἀρίστους, σὺ δὲ οἶμαι καὶ τῶν φαύλων πολλοῖς τὴν συγγνώμην νέμεις, τὸν Πιττακὸν ἐπαινῶν τοῦ λόγου, ὃς τὴν συγγνώμην τῆς τιμωρίας προυτίθει, [D] αἰσχυνοίμην ἄν, εἰ μὴ τοῦ Πηλέως φαινοίμην εὐγνωμονέστερος μηδὲ(223) ἐπαινοίην εἰς δύναμιν τὰ προσόντα σοί, οὔτι φημὶ χρυσὸν καὶ ἁλουργῆ χλαῖναν, οὐδὲ μὰ Δία πέπλους παμποικίλους, γυναικῶν ἔργα Σιδωνίων, οὐδὲ ἵππων Νισαίων κάλλη καὶ χρυσοκολλήτων ἁρμάτων ἀστράπτουσαν αἴγλην, [51] οὐδὲ τὴν Ἰνδῶν λίθον εὐανθῆ καὶ χαρίεσσαν. καίτοι γε εἴ τις ἐθέλοι τούτοις τὸν νοῦν προσέχων ἕκαστον ἀξιοῦν λόγου, μικροῦ πᾶσαν οἶμαι τὴν Ὁμήρου ποίησιν ἀποχετεύσας ἔτι δεήσεται λόγων, καὶ οὐκ ἀποχρήσει σοὶ μόνῳ τὰ ξύμπασι ποιηθέντα τοῖς ἡμιθέιος ἐγκώμια. ἀρξώμεθα δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ σκήπτρου πρῶτον, εἰ βούλει, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτῆς· [B] τί γὰρ δή φησιν ὁ ποιητὴς ἐπαινεῖν ἐθέλων τῆς τῶν Πελοπιδῶν οἰκίας τὴν ἀρχαιότητα καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἐνδείξασθαι;

(When I reflect on this, my beloved Emperor, and behold you displaying in all that you do the result of your study of Homer, and see you so eager to benefit every citizen in the community in every way, and devising for me individually such honours and privileges one after another, then I think that you desire to be nobler than the king of the Greeks, to such a degree, that, whereas he insulted his bravest men, you, I believe, grant forgiveness to many even of the undeserving, since you approve the maxim of Pittacus which set mercy before vengeance. And so I should be ashamed not to appear more reasonable than the son of Peleus, or to fail to praise, as far as in me lies, what appertains to you, I do not mean gold, or a robe of purple, nay by Zeus, nor raiment embroidered all over, the work of Sidonian women,(224) nor beautiful Nisaean horses,(225) nor the gleam and glitter of gold‐mounted chariots, nor the precious stone of India, so beautiful and lovely to look upon. And yet if one should choose to devote his attention to these and think fit to describe every one of them, he would have to draw on almost the whole stream of Homer’s poetry and still he would be short of words, and the panegyrics that have been composed for all the demi‐gods would be inadequate for your sole praise. First, then, let me begin, if you please, with your sceptre and your sovereignty itself. For what does the poet say when he wishes to praise the antiquity of the house of the Pelopids and to exhibit the greatness of their sovereignty?)

ἀνὰ δὲ κρείων Ἀγαμέμνων
Ἔστη σκῆπτρον ἔχων, τὸ μὲν Ἥφαιστος κάμε τεύξων,

“(Then uprose their lord Agamemnon and in his hand was the sceptre
that Hephaistos made and fashioned.)”(226)

καὶ ἔδωκε Διί, ὁ δὲ τῷ τῆς Μαίας καὶ ἑαυτοῦ παιδί, Ἑρμείας δὲ ἄναξ δῶκε Πέλοπι,(227) Πέλοψ δὲ

(and gave to Zeus; then Zeus gave it to his own and Maia’s son, and Hermes the prince gave it to Pelops, and Pelops)

δῶκ᾽ Ἀτρέι ποιμένι λαῶν·
Ἀτρεὺς δὲ θνήσκων ἔλιπε πολύαρνι Θυέστῃ·
Αὐτὰρ ὅγ᾽ αὖτε Θυέστ᾽ Ἀγαμέμνονι δῶκε φορῆναι, [C]
Πολλῇσιν νήσοισι καὶ Ἄργεï παντὶ ἀνάσσειν·

(“Gave it to Atreus, shepherd of the host, and Atreus at his death
left it to Thyestes, rich in flocks; and he in turn gave it into
the hands of Agamemnon, so that he should rule over many islands
and all Argos.”)

Αὕτη σοι τῆς Πελοπιδῶν οἰκίας ἡ γενεαλογία, εἰς τρεῖς οὐδὲ ὅλας μείνασα γενεάς· τά γε μὴν τῆς ἡμετέρας ξυγγενείας ἤρξατο μὲν ἀπὸ Κλαυδίου, μικρὰ δὲ ἐν μέσῳ διαλιπούσης τῆς ἡγεμονίας τὼ πάππω τὼ σὼ διαδέχεσθον. καὶ ὁ μὲν τῆς μητρὸς πατὴρ τὴν Ῥώμην διῴκει καὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν, [D] καὶ τὴν Λιβύην τε ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ, καὶ Σαρδὼ καὶ Σικελίαν, οὔτι φαυλοτέραν τῆς Ἀργείας καὶ Μυκηναίας δυναστείαν, ὅ γε μὴν τοῦ πατρὸς γεννήτωρ Γαλατίας ἔθνη τὰ μαχιμώτατα καὶ τοῦς Ἑσπερίους Ἴβηρας καὶ τὰς ἐντὸς Ὠκεανοῦ νήσους, αἳ τοσούτῳ μείζους τῶν ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ τῇ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ὁρωμένων εἰσίν, ὅσῳ καὶ τῆς εἴσω θαλάττης ἡ τῶν Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν ὑπερχεομένη. ταύτας δὲ ὅλας τὰς χώρας καθαρὰς ἀπέφηναν πολεμίων, κοινῇ μὲν ἐπιστρατεύοντες, [52] εἴ ποτε τούτου δεήσειεν, ἐπιφοιτῶντες δὲ ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν ἕκαστος τῶν ὁμόρων βαρβάρων ὕβριν τε καὶ ἀδικίαν ἐξέκοπτον. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν δὴ τούτοις ἐκοσμοῦντο. ὁ πατὴρ δὲ τὴν μὲν προσήκουσαν αὐτῷ μοῖραν μάλα εὐσεβῶς καὶ ὁσίως ἐκτήσατο, περιμείνας τὴν εἱμαρμένην τελευτὴν τοῦ γεγεννηκότος, τὰ λοιπὰ δὲ ἀπὸ βασιλείας εἰς τυραννίδας ὑπενεχθέντα δουλείας ἔπαυσε χαλεπῆς, [B] καὶ ἦρξε συμπάντων τρεῖς ὑμᾶς τοὺς αὑτοῦ παῖδας προσελόμενος ξυνάρχοντας. ἆρ᾽ οὖν ἄξιον μέγεθος δυνάμεως παραβαλεῖν καὶ τὸν ἐν τῇ δυναστείᾳ χρόνον καὶ πλῆθος βασιλευσάντων;(228) ἢ τοῦτο μέν ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ἀρχαῖον, μετιτέον δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν πλοῦτον καὶ θαυμαστέον σου τὴν χλαμύδα ξὺν τῇ πόρπῃ, ἃ δὴ καὶ Ὁμήρῳ διατριβὴν παρέσχεν ἡδεῖαν; λόγου τε ἀξιωτέον πολλοῦ τὰς Τρωὸς ἵππουσ, αἳ τρισχίλιαι οὖσαι

(Here then you have the genealogy of the house of Pelops, which endured for barely three generations. But the story of our family began with Claudius; then its supremacy ceased for a short time, till your two grandfathers succeeded the throne. And your mother’s father(229) governed Rome and Italy and Libya besides, and Sardinia and Sicily, an empire not inferior certainly to Argos and Mycenae. Your father’s father(230) ruled the most warlike of all the tribes of Galatia,(231) the Western Iberians(232) and the islands that lie in the Ocean,(233) which are as much larger than those that are to be seen in our seas as the sea that rolls beyond the pillars of Heracles is larger than the inner sea.(234) These countries your grandfathers entirely cleared of our foes, now joining forces for a campaign, when occasion demanded, now making separate expeditions on their own account, and so they annihilated the insolent and lawless barbarians on their frontiers. These, then, are the distinctions that they won. Your father inherited his proper share of the Empire with all piety and due observance, waiting till his father reached his appointed end. Then he freed from intolerable slavery the remainder, which had sunk from empire to tyranny, and so governed the whole, appointing you and your brothers, his three sons, as his colleagues. Now can I fairly compare your house with the Pelopids in the extent of their power, the length of their dynasty, or the number of those who sat on the throne? Or is that really foolish, and must I instead go on to describe your wealth, and admire your cloak and the brooch that fastens it, the sort of thing on which even Homer loved to linger? Or must I describe at length the mares of Tros that numbered three thousand, and)

ἕλος κάτα βουκολέοντο, [C]

(“pastured in the marsh‐meadow”)(235)

καὶ τὰ φώρια τὰ ἐντεῦθεν; ἢ τοὺς Θρᾳκίους ἵππους εὐλαβησόμεθα λευκοτέρους μὲν τῆς χιόνος, θεῖν δὲ ὠκυτέρους τῶν χειμερίων πνευμάτων, καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἅρματα; καὶ ἔχομέν σε ἐν τούτοις ἐπαινεῖν, οἰκίαν τε οἶμαι τὴν Ἀλκίνου καὶ τὰ τοῦ Μενέλεω δώματα καταπληξάμενα καὶ τὸν τοῦ πολύφρονος Ὀδυσσέως παῖδα καὶ τοιαῦτα ληρεῖν ἀναπείσαντα τοῖς σοῖς παραβαλεῖν ἀξιώσομεν, [D] μὴ ποτε ἄρα ἔλασσον ἔχειν ἐν τούτοις δοκῇς, καὶ οὐκ ἀπωσόμεθα τὴν φλυαρίαν; ἀλλ᾽ ὅρα μή τις ἡμᾶς μικρολογίας καὶ ἀμαθίας τῶν ἀληθῶς καλῶν γραψάμενος ἕλῃ. οὐκοῦν ἀφέντας χρὴ τοῖς Ὁμηρίδαις τὰ τοιαῦτα πολυπραγμονεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ τούτων ἐγγυτέρω πρὸς ἀρετήν, καὶ ὧν μείζονα ποιεῖ προμήθειαν, σώματος ῥώμης καὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἐμπειρίας, θαρροῦντας(236) ἰέναι.

(and the theft that followed?(237) Or shall I pay my respects to your Thracian horses, whiter than snow and faster than the storm winds, and your Thracian chariots? For in your case also we can extol all these, and as for the palace of Alcinous and those halls that dazzled even the son of prudent Odysseus and moved him to such foolish expressions of wonder,(238) shall I think it worth while to compare them with yours, for fear that men should one day think that you were worse off than he in these respects, or shall I not rather reject such trifling? Nay, I must be on my guard lest someone accuse and convict me of using frivolous speech and ignoring what is really admirable. So I had better leave it to the Homerids to spend their energies on such themes, and proceed boldly to what is more closely allied to virtue, and things to which you yourself pay more attention, I mean bodily strength and experience in the use of arms.)

Τίνι δήποτε οὖν τῶν ὑπὸ τῆς Ὁμηρικῆς ὑμνουμένων σειρῆνος εἴξομεν; [53] ἔστι μὲν γὰρ τοξότης παρ᾽ αὐτῷ Πάνδαρος, ἀνὴρ ἄπιστος καὶ χρημάτων ἥττων, ἀλλα καὶ ἀσθενὴς τὴν χεῖρα καὶ ὁπλίτης φαῦλος, Τεῦκρος τε ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ καὶ Μηριόνης, ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς πελειάδος τῷ τόξῳ χρώμενος, ὁ δὲ ἠρίστευε μὲν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ ἐδεῖτο δὲ ὥσπερ ἐρύματος καὶ τειχίου. ταῦτά τοι καὶ προβάλλεται τὴν ἀσπίδα, οὔτι τὴν οἰκείαν, τἀδελφοῦ δέ, καὶ στοχάζεται καθ᾽ ἡσυχίαν τῶν πολεμίων, γελοῖος ἀναφανεὶς στρατιώτης, [B] ὅς γε ἐδεῖτο μείζονος φύλακος καὶ οὐκ ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἐποιεῖτο τῆς σωτηρίας τὰς ἐλπίδας. σὲ δῆτα ἐθεασάμην, ὦ φίλε βασιλεῦ, ἄρκτους καὶ παρδάλεις καὶ λέοντας συχνοὺς καταβάλλοντα τοῖς ἀφιεμένοις βέλεσι, χρώμενον δὲ πρὸς θήραν καὶ παιδιὰν τόξῳ, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς παρατάξεως ἀσπίς ἐστί σοι καὶ θώραξ καὶ κράνος· καὶ οὐκ ἂν καταδείσαιμι τὸν ἀχιλλέα τοῖς Ἡφαιστείοις λαμπρυνόμενον καὶ ἀποπειρώμενον αὑτοῦ καὶ τῶν ὅπλον,

(And now which one of those heroes to whom Homer devotes his enchanting strains shall I admit to be superior to you? There is the archer Pandaros in Homer, but he is treacherous and yields to bribes(239); moreover his arm was weak and he was an inferior hoplite: then there are besides, Teucer and Meriones. The latter employs his bow against a pigeon(240) while Teucer, though he distinguished himself in battle, always needed a sort of bulwark or wall. Accordingly he keeps a shield in front of him,(241) and that not his own but his brother’s, and aims at the enemy at his ease, cutting an absurd figure as a soldier, seeing that he needed a protector taller than himself and that it was not in his weapons that he placed his hopes of safety. But I have seen you many a time, my beloved Emperor, bringing down bears and panthers and lions with the weapons hurled by your hand, and using your bow both for hunting and for pastime, and on the field of battle you have your own shield and cuirass and helmet. And I should not be afraid to match you with Achilles when he was exulting in the armour that Hephaistos made, and testing himself and that armour to see)

[C] Εἴ οἱ ἐφαρμόσσειε καὶ ἐντρέχοι ἀγλαὰ γυῖα·

(“Whether it fitted him and whether his glorious limbs ran free
therein;”(242))

ἀνακηρύττει γὰρ εἰς ἅπαντας τὴν σὴν ἐμπειρίαν τὰ κατορθώματα.

(for your successes proclaim to all men your proficiency.)

Τήν γε μὴν ἱππικὴν καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς δρόμοις κουφότητα ἆρά σοι παραβαλεῖν ἄξιον τῶν πρόσθεν τοὺς ἀραμένους ὄνομα καὶ δόξαν μείζονα; ἢ τὸ μὲν οὐδὲ ηὕρητό πω; ἅρμασι γὰρ ἐχρῶντο καὶ οὔπω πώλοις ἄζυξι· τάχει δὲ ὅστις διήνεγκε, τούτῳ πρὸς σὲ γέγονεν ἀμφήριστος κρίσις· [D] τάξιν δὲ κοσμῆσαι καὶ φάλαγγα διατάξαι καλῶς δοκεῖ Μενεσθεὺς κράτιστος, καὶ τούτῳ διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν ὁ Πύλιος οὐχ ὑφίεται τῆς ἐμπειρίας. ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν οἱ πολέμιοι πολλάκις τὰς τάξεις συνετάραξαν, καὶ οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ τείχους ἴσχυον ἀντέχειν παραταττόμενοι· σοὶ δὲ μυρίαις μάχαις ξυμμίξαντι καὶ πολεμίοις πολλοῖς μὲν βαρβάροις, οὐκ ἐλάττοσι δὲ τούτων τοῖς οἴκοθεν ἀφεστῶσι καὶ συνεπιθεμένοις τῷ τὴν ἀρχὴν σφετερίσασθαι προελομένῳ ἀρραγὴς ἔμεινεν ἡ φάλανξ καὶ ἀδιάλυτος, [54] οὐδ᾽ ἐπὶ σμικρὸν ἐνδοῦσα. καὶ ὅτι μὴ λῆρος ταῦτα μηδὲ προσποίησις λόγων τῆς ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ἀληθείας κρείττων, ἐθέλω τοῖς παροῦσι διεξελθεῖν. γελοῖον γὰρ οἶμαι πρὸς σὲ περὶ τῶν σῶν ἔργων διηγεῖσθαι· καὶ ταὐτὸν ἂν πάθοιμι φαύλῳ καὶ ἀκόμψῳ θεατῇ τῶν Φειδίου δημιουργημάτων πρὸς αὐτὸν Φειδίαν ἐπιχειροῦντι διεξιέναι περὶ τῆς ἐν ἀκροπόλει παρθένου καὶ τοῦ παρὰ τοῖς Πισαίοις Διός. εἰ δὲ ἐς τοὺς ἄλλους ἐκφέροιμι τὰ σεμνότατα τῶν ἔργων, [B] ἴσως ἂν ἀποφύγοιμι τὴν ἁμαρτάδα, καὶ οὐκ ἔσομαι ταῖς διαβολαῖς ἔνοχος· ὥστε ἤδη θαρροῦντα χρὴ λέγειν.

(As for your horsemanship and your agility in running, would it be fair to compare with you any of those heroes of old who won a name and great reputation? Is it not a fact that horsemanship had not yet been invented? For as yet they used only chariots and not riding‐horses. And as for their fastest runner, it is an open question how he compares with you. But in drawing up troops and forming a phalanx skilfully Menestheus(243) seems to have excelled, and on account of his greater age the Pylian(244) is his equal in proficiency. But the enemy often threw their line into disorder, and not even at the wall(245) could they hold their ground when they encountered the foe. You, however, engaged in countless battles, not only with hostile barbarians in great numbers, but with just as many of your own subjects, who had revolted and were fighting on the side of one who was ambitious of grasping the imperial power; yet your phalanx remained unbroken and never wavered or yielded an inch. That this is not an idle boast and that I do not make a pretension in words that goes beyond the actual facts, I will demonstrate to my hearers. For I think it would be absurd to relate to you your own achievements. I should be like a stupid and tasteless person who, on seeing the works of Pheidias should attempt to discuss with Pheidias himself the Maiden Goddess on the Acropolis, or the statue of Zeus at Pisa. But if I publish to the rest of the world your most distinguished achievements, I shall perhaps avoid that blunder and not lay myself open to criticism. So I will hesitate no more but proceed with my discourse.)

Καί μοι μή τις δυσχεράνῃ πειρωμένῳ πράξεων ἅπτεσθαι μειζόνων, εἰ καὶ τὸ τοῦ λόγου συνεκθέοι μῆκος, καὶ ταῦτα θέλοντος ἐπέχειν καὶ βιαζομένου, ὅπως μὴ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν ἔργων ἡ τῶν λόγων ἀσθένεια περιχεομένη διαλυμήνηται· καθάπερ δὴ τὸν χρυσόν φασι τοῦ Θεσπιᾶσιν [C] Ἔρωτος τοῖς πτεροῖς ἐπιβληθέντα τὴν ἀκρίβειαν ἀφελεῖν τῆς τέχνης. δεῖται γὰρ ἀληθῶς τῆς Ὁμηρικῆς σάλπιγγος τὰ κατορθώματα, καὶ πολὺ πλέον ἢ τὰ τοῦ Μακεδόνος ἔργα. δῆλον δὲ ἔσται χρωμένοις ἡμῖν τῷ τρόπῳ τῶν λόγων, ὅνπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς προυθέμεθα. ἐφαίνετο δὲ τῶν βασιλέως ἔργων πρὸς τὰ τῶν ἡρώων πολλὴ ξυγγένεια, καὶ αὐτὸν ἔφαμεν ἁπάντων προφέρειν ἐν ᾧ μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστος διήνεγκε, καὶ ὅπως ἐστὶ τοῦ μὲν δὴ βασιλέως αὐτοῦ βασιλικώτερος, [D] εἴ που μεμνήμεθα τῶν ἐν προοιμίῳ ῥηθέντων, ἐπεδείκνυμεν, ἔσται δὲ καὶ μάλα αὖθις καταφανές. νῦν δὲ, εἰ βούλεσθε, τὰ περί τὰς μάχας καὶ τοὺς πολέμους ἀθρήσωμεν. τίνας οὖν Ὅμηρος διαφερόντως ὕμνησεν Ἑλλήνων ὁμοῦ καὶ βαρβάρων; αὐτὰ ὑμῖν ἀναγνώσομαι τῶν ἐπῶν τὰ καιριώτατα.

(I hope no one will object if, when I attempt to deal with exploits that are so important, my speech should become proportionately long, and that though I desire to limit and restrain it lest my feeble words overwhelm and mar the greatness of your deeds; like the gold which when it was laid over the wings of the Eros at Thespiae(246) took something, so they say, from the delicacy of its workmanship. For your triumphs really call for the trumpet of Homer himself, far more than did the achievements of the Macedonian.(247) This will be evident as I go on to use the same method of argument which I adopted when I began. It then became evident that there is a strong affinity between the Emperor’s exploits and those of the heroes, and I claimed that while one hero excelled the others in one accomplishment only, the Emperor excels them all in all those accomplishments. That he is more kingly than the king himself(248) I proved, if you remember, in what I said in my introduction, and again and again it will be evident. But now let us, if you please, consider his battles and campaigns. What Greeks and barbarians did Homer praise above their fellows? I will read you those of his verses that are most to the point.)

[55] Τίς τ᾽ ἂρ τῶν ὄχ᾽ ἄριστος ἔην, σύ μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα,
Ἀνδρῶν ἠδ᾽ ἵππων, οἳ ἃμ᾽ Ἀτρείδαισιν ἕποντο.
Ἀνδρῶν μὲν μέγ᾽ ἄριστος ἔην Τελαμώνιος Αἴας,
Ὄφρ᾽ Ἀχιλεὺς μήνιεν· ὁ γὰρ πολὺ φέρτατος ἦεν.

(“Tell me, Muse, who was foremost of those warriors and horses
that followed the sons of Atreus. Of warriors far the best was
Ajax, son of Telamon, so long as the wrath of Achilles endured.
For he was far the foremost.”(249))

καὶ αὖθις ὑπὲρ τοῦ Τελαμωνίου φησίν·

(And again he says of the son of Telamon:)

Αἴας, ὃς περὶ μὲν εἶδος, περὶ δ᾽ ἔργ᾽ ἐτέτυκτο,
[B] Τῶν ἄλλων Δαναῶν μετ᾽ ἀμύμονα Πηλείωνα.

(“Ajax who in beauty and in the deeds he wrought was of a mould
above all the other Danaans, except only the blameless son of
Peleus.”(250))

Ἑλλήνων μὲν δὴ τούτους ἀρίστους ἀφῖχθαί φησι, τῶν δὲ ἀμφὶ τοὺς Τρῶας Ἕκτορα καὶ Σαρπηδόνα. βούλεσθε οὖν αὐτῶν τὰ λαμπρότατα ἐπιλεξάμενοι περιαθρῶμεν τὸ μέγεθος; καὶ γάρ πως ἐς ταὐτόν τισι τῶν βασιλέως(251) ξυμφέρεται ἥ τε ἐπὶ τῷ ποταμῷ τοῦ Πηλέως μάχη καὶ ὁ περὶ τὸ τεῖχος τῶν Ἀχαιῶν πόλεμος· [C] Αἴας τε ὑπεραγωνιζόμενος τῶν νεῶν καὶ ἐπιβεβηκὼς τῶν ἰκρίων ἴσως ἂν τυγχάνοι τινὸς ἀξίας εἰκόνος. ἐθέλω δὲ ὑμῖν διγγεῖσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ ποταμῷ μάχην, ἣν ἠγωνίσατο βασιλεὺς ἔναγχος. ἴστε δὲ ὅθεν ὁ πόλεμος ἐξερράγη, καὶ ὅτι ξὺν δίκῃ καὶ οὐ τοῦ πλείονος ἐπιθυμίᾳ διεπολεμήθη. κωλύει δὲ οὐδὲν ὑπομνησθῆναι δι᾽ ὀλίγων.

(These two, he says, were the bravest of the Greeks who came to the war, and of the Trojan army Hector and Sarpedon. Do you wish, then, that I should choose out their most brilliant feats and consider what they amounted to? And, in fact, the fighting of Achilles at the river resembles in some respects certain of the Emperor’s achievements, and so does the battle of the Achaeans about the wall. Or Ajax again, when, in his struggle to defend the ships, he goes up on to their decks, might be allowed some just resemblance to him. But now I wish to describe to you the battle by the river which the Emperor fought not long ago. You know the causes of the outbreak of the war, and that he carried it through, not from desire of gain, but with justice on his side. There is no reason why I should not briefly remind you of the facts.)

Ἀνὴρ ἄπιστος καὶ θρασὺς τῆς οὐ προσηκούσης [D] ὀρεχθεὶς ἡγεμονίας κτείνει τὸν ἀδελφὸν βασιλέως καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς κοινωνόν, καὶ ᾔρετο λαμπραῖς ταῖς ἐλπίσιν, ὡς τὸν Ποσειδῶνα μιμησόμενος καὶ ἀποφανῶν οὐ μῦθον τὸν Ὁμήρου λόγον, παντὸς δὲ ἀληθῆ μᾶλλον, ὃς ἔφη περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ·

(A rash and traitorous man(252) tried to grasp at power to which he had no right, and assassinated the Emperor’s brother and partner in empire. Then he began to be uplifted and dazzled by his hopes, as though he was about to imitate Poseidon and to prove that Homer’s story was not mere fiction but absolutely true, where he says about the god)

Τρὶς μὲν ὀρέξατ᾽ ἰών, τὸ δὲ τέτρατον ἵκετο τέκμωρ,
Αἰγάς,

(“Three strides did he make, and with the fourth came to his goal,
even to Aegae,”(253))

καὶ ὡς ἐντεῦθεν τὴν πανοπλίαν ἀναλαβῶν καὶ ὑποζεύξας τοὺς ἵππους διὰ τοῦ πελάγους ἐφέρετο.

(and how he took thence all his armour and harnessed his horses and drove through the waves:)

[56] Γηθοσύνῃ δὲ θάλασσα διίστατο· τοὶ δ᾽ ἐπέτοντο
Ῥίμφα μάλ᾽, οὐδ᾽ ὑπένερθε διαίνετο χάλκεος ἄξων,

(“And with gladness the sea parted before him, and the horses
fared very swiftly, and the bronze axle was not wetted beneath,”)

ἅτε οὐδενὸς ἐμποδὼν ὄντος, πάντων δὲ ἐξισταμένων καὶ ὑποχωρούντων ἐν χαρμονῇ. οὔκουν οὐδὲν αὑτῷ πολέμιον οὐδὲ ἀντίπαλον ᾤετο καταλιπέσθαι, οὐδὲ αὑτὸν κατείργειν οὐδὲ ἓν τὸ μὴ ἐπὶ τοῦ Τίγρητος στῆναι ταῖς ἐκβολαῖς. εἵπετο δὲ αὐτῷ πολὺς μὲν ὁπλίτης,(254) ἱππεῖς δὲ οὐχ ἥττους, [B] ἀλλ᾽ οἳπερ ἄλκιμοι, Κελτοὶ καὶ Ἴβηρες Γερμανῶν τε οἱ πρόσοικοι Ῥήνῳ καὶ τῇ θαλάττῃ τῇ πρὸς ἑσπέραν, ἣν εἴτε Ὠκεανὸν χρὴ καλεῖν εἴτε Ἀτλαντικὴν θάλατταν εἴτε ἄλλῃ τινὶ χρῆσθαι προσωνυμίᾳ προσῆκον, οὐκ ἰσχυρίζομαι· πλὴν ὅτι δὴ αὐτῇ προσοικεῖ δύσμαχα καὶ ῥώμῃ διαφέροντα τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν γένη βαρβάρων, οὐκ ἀκοῇ μόνον, ἥπερ δὴ τυγχάνει πίστις οὐκ ἀσφαλής, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτῇ πείρᾳ τοῦτο ἐκμαθὼν οἶδα. [C] τούτων δὴ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐξαναστήσας οὐκ ἔλαττον πλῆθος τῆς οἴκοθεν αὐτῷ ξυνεπισπομένης(255) στρατιᾶς, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ μὲν ὡς οἰκεῖον εἵπετο πολὺ καὶ αὐτῷ ξύμφυλον, τὸ δὲ ἡμέτερον· οὕτω γὰρ καλεῖν ἄξιον· ὁπόσον Ῥωμαίων βίᾳ καὶ οὐ γνώμῃ ξυνηκολούθησεν, ἐοικὸς ἐπικούροις καὶ μισθοφόροις, ἐν Καρὸς εἵπετο τάξει καὶ σχήματι, δύσνουν μέν, ὡς εἰκός, βαρβάρῳ καὶ ξένῳ, μέθῃ [D] καὶ κραιπάλῃ τὴν δυναστείαν περιφρονήσαντι καὶ ἀνελομένῳ, ἄρχοντι δέ, ὥσπερ ἦν ἄξιον τὸν ἐκ τοιούτων προοιμίων καὶ προνομίων ἀρξάμενον. ἡγεῖτο δὲ αὐτὸς οὔτι κατὰ τὸν Τυφῶνα, ὃν ἡ ποιητικὴ τερατεία φησὶ τῷ Διὶ χαλεπαίνουσαν τὴν Γῆν ὠδῖναι, οὐδὲ ὡς γιγάντων ὁ κράτιστος, ἀλλ᾽ οἵαν ὁ σοφὸς ἐν μύθοις Πρόδικος τὴν Κακίαν δημιουργεῖ πρὸς τὴν Ἀρετὴν(256) διαμιλλωμένην καὶ ἐθέλουσαν τὸν τοῦ Διὸς ἀναπείθειν παῖδα, ὅτι ἄρα αὐτῷ μάλιστα πάντων τιμητέα εἴη. προάγων [57] δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν μάχην προυφέρετο τὰ τοῦ Καπανέως, βαρβαρίζων(257) καὶ ἀνοηταίνων, οὔτι μὴν κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τῇ ῥώμῃ τῆς ψυχῆς πίσυνος οὐδὲ ἀλκῇ τοῦ σώματος, τῷ πλήθει δὲ τῶν ξυνεπομένων βαρβάρων, οἷς δὴ καὶ λείαν ἅπαντα προθήσειν ἠπείλει, ταξίαρχον ταξιάρχῳ καὶ λοχαγὸν λοχαγῷ καὶ στρατιώτην στρατιώτῃ τῶν ἐξ ἐναντίας αὐταῖς ἀποσκευαῖς καὶ κτήμασιν, οὐδὲ τὸ σῶμα ἁφιεὶς ἐλεύθερον. αὔξει δὲ αὐτοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν ἡ βασιλέως(258) δεινότης, [B] καὶ ἐκ τῶν δυσχωριῶν εἰς τὰ πεδία κατάγει γανύμενον καὶ οὐ ξυνιέντα, δρασμὸν δὲ ἀτεχνῶς καὶ οὐ στρατηγίαν τὸ πρᾶγμα κρίνοντα. ταῦτά τοι καὶ ἁλίσκεται, καθάπερ ὄρνιθες καὶ ἰχθύες δικτύοις. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐς τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν καὶ τὰ πεδία τῶν Παιόνων ἦλθε καὶ ἐδόκει λῷον ἐνταῦθα διαγωνίζεσται, τότε δὴ βασιλεὺς τούς τε ἱππέας ἐπὶ κέρως τάττει χωρὶς ἑκατέρου.