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

Declamations and Orations: Oration 18 (To the First Student from Cappadocia) by Himerius the Sophist

This welcome to Himerius's first student from Cappadocia opens with the Scythian who rode an arrow over land and sea. It tells how Dionysus led the Indians he had won into Cappadocia, where a river turned black when they bathed in it and took its name from them. Fame brought the young man from there, and the school's wealth, the speaker says, is not Lydian gold but its students.

Part of Declamations and Orations

Εἰς τὸν πρῶτον ἐκ Καππαδοκίας αὐτοῦ ἀκροασάμενον.

Οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ Ἴστρον αὐτὸν καὶ Τάναϊν, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν γῆν καὶ θάλατταν ἦλθεν ὁ Σκύθης ὑπὲρ τοῦ βέλους ὀχούμενος· λόγος δὲ ἄρα τὸ βέλος Ἀπόλλωνος ...

Καὶ ποταμὸς ἐκεῖ μῦθον ἔχων ἀκοῆς Ἑλλήνων ἄξιον. ἦλθεν ἐπʼ Ἰνδοὺς ὁ Διόνυσος, γένος τὴν Διονύσου χάριν ἀρνούμενον· ἦν δὲ ὁ μὲν στρατὸς Βάκχαι καὶ Σάτυροι, τὰ δὲ ὅπλα, νεβρίδες καὶ θύρσοι. οἱ δὲ ἄρα ὁμοῦ τε εἶδον τὸν θεὸν καὶ ᾕρηντο· καὶ τὰ ὅπλα ῥίψαντες· χορὸς οἱ τέως μαχόμενοι τῷ Διονύσῳ καθίσταντο. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐν ὅροις Καππαδοκῶν ἦσαν ἀγόμενοι, σκηνοῦσι μὲν ἐπὶ τῷ χείλει τοῦ ποταμοῦ, ᾧ καὶ δώσειν τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἤμελλον· δεῆσαν δὲ τοῖς νάμασι λούσασθαι, ἀμείβεται μὲν ὁ ποταμὸς καὶ τὸ ἀργυροῦν ὕδωρ Ἰνδοῖς ὁμιλῆσαν μελαίνεται· οἱ δὲ ὅπερ ἦσαν αὐτοί, τοῦτο καὶ εἶναι καὶ καλεῖσθαι τὸν ποταμὸν ἀπεργάζονται ...

Ἐντεῦθεν ἄγει τὸν νεανίσκον ἡ φήμη ...

Ὁ δὲ ἡμέτερος πλοῦτος οὐ χρυσός τις Γυγάδας ἢ Λύδιος, ἀλλά τινες παῖδες ἡβῶντες μὲν τὴν ὥραν καὶ τὴν ἡλικίαν ἀκμάζοντες, σοβαροὶ μὲν ἰδεῖν καὶ ὑψαύχενες, ἅτε ἐκ μέσων Διὸς στέρνων γεινάμενοι ...