The Festival Speech on the Water in Pergamum is a formal panegyric oration by the Greek orator Aelius Aristides. Composed around 157–158 CE, it was delivered in the city of Pergamum to celebrate the completion of a new aqueduct, a benefaction from the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. The speech is a single, unified work in Attic Greek that adheres to classical rhetorical structure, progressing from an exordium to a narrative praising the emperor and the utility of his gift, and concluding with a powerful peroration. Its central theme is imperial benefaction, transforming the practical engineering of the aqueduct into a profound symbol of civic prosperity, public health, and the emperor's paternal care for his subjects. The oration simultaneously glorifies the city of Pergamum itself and promotes a vision of harmonious relations between the cultured Greek East and Roman imperial rule. A key document of the Second Sophistic period, the speech exemplifies how Greek intellectuals of the era employed traditional rhetoric and literary paideia to articulate their identity and negotiate their status within the Roman Empire. It was composed for delivery at a public festival and was subsequently published for circulation among educated elites. The text survives in full, transmitted through medieval manuscripts such as the 13th-century Parisinus graecus 2951, which preserves the complete corpus of Aristides' orations.
| [40] | Ὁμήρῳ μὲν εἰς τὴν δύνοδον τῶν χειμάρρων εἴρηται Τῶν δέ τε τηλόθι δοῦπον ἐν οὔρεσιν ἔκλυε ποιμήν· καὶ φρίξαντα δή φησιν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ σπήλαιον εἰσελαύνειν τὰς ὄϊς· ἐγὼ δὲ καίτοι τοσοῦτον ὑμῶν ἀπέχων τὸ νῦν ἀκούσας τοῦ ὕδατος τὴν εἰσβολὴν καὶ ὅσον τι κόσμου προσγέγονε τῇ πόλει, οὐχ οἷός τε ἦν ἡσυχάζειν ὑφ’ ἡδονῆς, ἀλλ’ ἐφθεγγόμην τε ἃ ἐφθεγγόμην καὶ τοῦ σώματος ᾐσθανόμην ἐλαφροτέρου καὶ χαρᾶς ἀπῆν οὐδέν, δυοῖν δ’ ἡμέραιν πρότερον πρὶν ἀκοῦσαι· οὐ γὰρ χεῖρον ἴσως πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰπεῖν· ἀκούσεσθε γὰρ ἡδέως τοῦ θεοῦ χάριν τοῦ προδείξαντος καὶ ἅμα τῆς εὐφημίας· ὄψις ὀνειράτων γενομένη μοι ὡσπερεὶ διπλασίαν ἐδείκνυε τὴν πόλιν, χωρίον τε δή τινος προσθήκῃ πεπορισμένου συνεχῶς πρὸς αὐτὴν καὶ δημοσίων δὴ κόσμων προσγενομένων παραπλησίων μάλιστά πως τοῖς περὶ τὸν φίλιον. διὰ ταῦτ’ οὖν ὄναρ τε ἐγανύμην καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἀνέστην, ἐλάμβανον εἰς ἀγαθὸν τῇ τε πόλει καὶ ἐμαυτῷ. τριταία δὲ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀγγελία παρὰ ἀνδρὸς τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἀφικνεῖται φράζουσα καὶ δὴ πᾶσαν ὑμῖν τὴν Ἀσίαν συνεορτάζειν τῆς περὶ πάντα ἀγαθῆς τύχης. εἶναι γὰρ τὸ ὕδωρ πλήθει τε πλεῖστον καὶ κάλλει κάλλιστον ὅσων ἔλαχον πόλεις. ἦγον οὖν οὐχ ὅσον ἠρινὴν ἡμέραν, ἀλλ’ οἵαν εἰκὸς ἄγειν Διός τε εὐαγγελίου καὶ Ἀσκληπιοῦ σωτῆρος πανταχῆ τιμῶντος. καὶ συνέχαιρον δὴ τῇ πόλει μὲν τῶν προσγεγονότων, ἐμαυτῷ δὲ ὡς ἠξιώθην προακοῦσαι, δῆλον ὅτι ὡς οὐδενὸς ἧττον ἐμοὶ τῆς πόλεως προσῆκον. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο ἐλογιζόμην ὡς τὸ μὲν χαίρειν κοινὸν ἁπάντων καὶ ἀνδρῶν καὶ παιδαρίων καὶ γυναικῶν, ἅτε τῆς ὄψεως προξενούσης τὴν ἡδονὴν, λόγῳ δὲ ἐπικοσμῆσαι τὴν τῶν Νυμφῶν δόσιν τάχα ἄν τινος εἴη τῶν περὶ τὸν Παιᾶνα διατριψάντων καὶ τῶν ἐπιταχθέντων τῶν ἐν λόγοις. ἀνεμιμνησκόμην δὲ τῶν ποιητῶν, ὅτι Νύμφας καὶ Μούσας ἀεί πως συνάγουσι. καὶ τὸν Ἑρμῆν ὡς χορηγὸν ἀεὶ προσαγορεύουσι τῶν Νυμφῶν· καὶ πάλιν γε Ἀπόλλωνα χορηγὸν Μουσῶν· ὁ δ’ αὐτὸς οὗτος ὑμῖν θεὸς καλλιτέκνου προσηγορίαν εἶχε, τοῦ πατρὸς ἕνεκα. ἁπανταχῆ δὴ πρέπον τε καὶ οὐκ ἄωρον ἐφαίνετο τῇ τῶν Νυμφῶν χάριτι συγκεράσαι τὴν παρὰ τῆς μουσικῆς. πᾶσι γὰρ ἂν προσήκοντα πράττειν οἷς εἶπον θεοῖς. ἐξ ἀρχῆς δ’, ὡς ἔοικε, τὰ κάλλιστα ἐδόθη τῇ πόλει καὶ παρὰ θεῶν καὶ παρὰ ἀνθρώπων. τοῦτο μοι πρεσβύτατοι δαιμόνων ἐνταῦθα λέγονται γενέσθαι Κάβειροι, καὶ τελεταὶ τούτοις καὶ μυστήρια, ἃ τοσαύτην ἰσχὺν ἔχειν πεπίστευται ὥστε χειμώνων τε ἐξαισίων ...... |