Libanius, Oratio 1

ἐν τούτοις δὲ ὄντι μοι γίνεται ὄναρ τοιόνδε· ἐδόκουν μοί τινες θύσαντες δύο παῖδε τοῖν νεκροῖν τὸν ἕτερον θεῖναι ἐν ἱερῷ Δῖός ὄπισθεν τῆς θύρας, ἀγανακτοῦντος δέ μου τῇ τοῦ Δῖός ὕβρει φάναι τινὰς μέχρι τῆς ἐσπέρας τοῦθ’ οὕτως ἕξειν, ἡκούσης δὲ δο- θήσεσθαι τάφῳ. φάρμακα δὲ καὶ μαγγανεύματα καὶ πόλεμον ἀπὸ γοήτων ἀνδρῶν ταῦτα ἐδόκει δηλοῦν.

While I was in this state, I had a dream of this sort. I dreamt that some people had sacrificed two boys and placed one of the two corpses in a temple of Zeus, behind the door; and when I was indignant at the outrage to Zeus, some said that it would stay like this until evening, and that when evening came it would be given burial. This seemed to signify drugs and spells and a war waged by sorcerers.

καὶ εἵπετο δὲ τὸ ἔργον, φόβοι τε ἐκεῖνοι καὶ πλὴν τελευτῆς οὐδενὸς ἐπιθυμία. ἀλλὰ περὶ τούτου λόγοι τε πρὸς τοὺς ἀεὶ παρόντας εὐχαί τε πρὸς θεούς. ἐχθρὸς μὲν ὁ λουτροῦ μεμνημένος, ἐχθρὸς δὲ ὁ δείπνου, καὶ φυγὴ μὲν ἀπὸ βιβλίων ἐν οἷς οἱ τῶν ἀρχαίων πόνοι, φυγὴ δὲ ἀπὸ γραφῆς τε καὶ ποιήσεως λόγων, κατελέλυτο δὲ τὸ λέγειν, καὶ ταῦτα τῶν νέων βοαῖς τοῦτο ἀπαιτούντων. ὁπότε γὰρ δὴ πρὸς αὐτὸ γιγνοίμην, ἀπεφερόμην, ὥσπερ ἀκάτιον ἐναντίῳ πνεύ- ματι, καὶ οἱ μὲν εἶχον ἀκροάσεως ἐλπίδας, ἐγὼ δ’ αὖ ἐσίγων. ἰατροὶ δὲ τὴν τούτων ἴασιν ἄλλοθι ζητεῖν ἐκέλευον, ὡς οὐκ ὄντων σφίσι τῶν τοιούτων ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ φαρμάκων. |

And the event followed: those fears, and a longing for nothing but death. Instead, there was talk of this to whoever was with me at the time, and prayers for it to the gods. Hateful was anyone who mentioned a bath, hateful anyone who mentioned dinner; there was flight from the books in which the labours of the ancients lie, flight from writing and composing speeches; speaking had been given up, and that while the young men demanded it with shouts. For whenever I did set about it, I was carried back, like a skiff by a contrary wind, and while they had hopes of a hearing, I for my part fell silent. The doctors told me to seek the cure for these things elsewhere, since there were no such drugs in their art.

ἐδόκει δὲ καὶ τούτοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ δίς, ὃ μήπω πρότερον, νοσῆσαί μοι τὰ ἄρθρα, χειμῶνός τε καὶ θέρους, δοῦναί τε τοῖς ἐπισκοπουμένοις ἀεὶ λέγειν, ὡς τῆς ἐπιούσης οἰχήσομαι. ταῖς δὲ δὴ ἄλλαις πόλεσι καὶ ἐδόκουν τε- θνάναι, καὶ τὰς πολλὰς δὴ ἠρώτων πρεσβείας, εἰ τοῦτο ὧδε ἔχοι.

This too seemed to them and to the others to come from the same source: that my joints became diseased twice, which had never happened before, in winter and in summer, and that it gave those who came to see me cause always to say that I would be gone by the next day. In the other cities I was even thought to have died, and they kept asking the many embassies whether this was so.

ἦσαν μὲν οὖν τῶν φίλων οἱ ἐμέ τε καὶ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐπί τινας ἐκίνουν, οἷς δόξα τούτων εἶναι τεχνίτας, ἐγὼ δὲ οὔτ’ αὐτός τι τοιοῦτον ἔπασχον ἐκείνους τε κατεῖχον, εὔχεσθαι δεῖν εἰπὼν μᾶλλον ἤ τινας ἕλκειν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν σκότῳ συντεθέντων.

There were some of my friends who were stirring both me and themselves up against certain people who were reputed to be the craftsmen of these things; but I was not myself moved in any such way, and I held them back, saying that we ought to pray rather than drag people [to court] over things put together in darkness.

καί- τοι | χαμαιλέων ἀναφανείς, οὐκ οἶδ’ ὁπόθεν, ἐν τῷ τῶν λόγων χορῷ, πολὺς μὲν τούτῳ τῷ χαμαιλέοντι χρόνος καὶ μηνῶν ὁ νεκρὸς οὐκ ὀλίγων, ποδῶν δὲ ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ὀπίσω κειμένην ἑωρῶμεν τὴν κεφαλήν, τῶν δὲ ἑτέρων ὁ μὲν ἦν οὐδαμοῦ, τὸ στόμα δὲ ἅτερος εἰς σιωπὴν ἔκλειεν.

And yet a chameleon appeared, from where I do not know, in my classroom: this chameleon had been [dead] a long time, a corpse of not a few months; we saw its head lying between its hind feet, and of the other feet one was nowhere, while the other was closing its mouth into silence.

ἀλλ’ ὅμως οὐδ’ ἐπὶ τηλικούτοις τοῖς ἀποκεκαλυμμένοις ὄνομά τινος ὑπῆγον τῷ φανέντι, δέος μέντοι μοι ἐδόκει τοὺς αὑτοῖς τι συνειδότας | εἰσελθεῖν καὶ τοὺς μὲν ὑφεῖναι τῆς συνεχείας, ἐμοὶ δὲ αὖθις ἐγγενέσθαι κινεῖσθαι. τύχης τοίνυν ρας ἃ κατωρώρυκτο κεῖσθαι ὑπὲρ γῆν τοῖς βουλο- μένοις ὁρᾶν.

Even so, despite such great things laid bare, I did not bring anyone's name [before a court] over what had come to light; but fear did seem to me to come over those who were conscious of something, and they let up from their persistence, and it became possible for me to move again. It was [the work] of fortune, then, [...] that the things which had been buried lay above ground for any who wished to see.