eul_wid: siy-at
DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20335421 PDFMarkdown

Declamations and Orations: Oration 17 (On the Visit of the Cyprians) by Himerius the Sophist

Greeting visitors from Cyprus, Himerius celebrates their island as Aphrodite's, as Delos is Apollo's, and cites Sappho and Anacreon calling on Cypris. He tells of Aphrodite's birth from the sea and the calm that fell on the waves, and sets the heavenly Aphrodite, whose golden Loves aim at the newly initiated and pure, against the common one. It ends with a warning against admitting a false lover.

Part of Declamations and Orations

Εἰς τὴν τῶν Κυπρίων ἐπιδημίαν.

Τὴν Κύπρον οἱ ποιηταὶ θεῶν Ἀφροδίτῃ χαρίζονται, ὥσπερ τὴν Δῆλον Ἀπόλλωνι. ἡ γὰρ Κύπρος πόλις μεγάλη ...

Σαπφὼ καὶ Ἀνακρέων ὁ Τήιος, ὥσπερ τι προοίμιον τῶν μελῶν, τὴν Κύπριν ἀναβοῶντες οὐ παύονται ...

Εὖ ἔχειν οὐ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐρανοῦ φασι τὴν νῆσον ταύτην ...

Δῆμοι τὴν γλῶτταν ἀκριβῶς Ἕλληνες ...

Ὤδινεν ἐξ Οὐρανοῦ τὴν Ἀφροδίτην ἡ θάλαττα· τὰς δὲ ὠδίνας ταύτας, αἵτινές ποτε εἰσί, μυστικοὶ λόγοι κρύπτειν κελεύουσι. καὶ ἔδει γὰρ λοιπὸν ἐκκυηθῆναι τὴν δαίμονα· ἵσταται μὲν εὐθὺς καὶ ἄγει γαλήνην ἡ θάλαττα, ἁπαλοῖς κύμασι περὶ τὸν τόκον πορφύρουσα ...

Λειμῶνα φαίη τις ἂν εἶναι τὴν νῆσον Ἀφροδίτης αὐτῆς, καὶ ταύτην, οἶμαι, Ἐρώτων πάμφορον ...

Πανδήμῳ δʼ Ἀφροδίτῃ πρὸς τὴν οὐρανίαν οὐδὲν κοινόν· ἡ μὲν γὰρ βεβήλους καὶ οὐ καθαροὺς τὴν φύσιν γεννᾷ τοὺς ἔρωτας· τῇ δὲ χρυσοῖ μὲν οἱ παῖδες, χρυσᾶ δὲ τὰ τούτων καὶ βέλη· σκοποὶ δὲ αὐτοῖς ψυχαὶ νεοτελεῖς καὶ ἀκήρατοι ...

Μὴ παραλανθάνωμεν ὑμᾶς αὐτοὺς ὕπουλον ἐραστὴν εἴσω προθύρων δεχόμενοι ...