Μανθάνοις ἄν.
(“Attend.”)
[B] Θύων ὁ Ῥωμύλος τὰ Κρόνια πάντας ἐκάλει τοὺς θεούς, καὶ δὴ καὶ αὐτοὺς[544] τοὺς καίσαρας. κλῖναι δὲ ἐτύγχανον παρεσκευασμέναι τοῖς μὲν θεοῖς ἄνω κατ᾽ αὐτό, φασίν, οὐρανοῦ τὸ μετέωρον,
(At the festival of the Kronia Romulus gave a banquet, and invited not only all the gods, but the Emperors as well. For the gods couches had been prepared on high, at the very apex, so to speak, of the sky,[545] on)
Οὔλυμπόνδ᾽, ὅθι φασὶ θεῶν ἕδος ἀσφαλὲς αἰεί.
(“Olympus where they say is the seat of the gods, unshaken for ever.”[546])
λέγεται γὰρ μεθ᾽ Ἡρακλέα παρελθεῖν ἐκεῖσε καὶ ὁ Κυρῖνος, ᾧ δὴ χρὴ καλεῖν αὐτὸν ὀνόματι, τῇ θείᾳ πειθομένους φήμῃ. τοῖς μὲν οὖν θεοῖς ἐκεῖσε παρεσκεύαστο τὸ συμπόσιον· [C] ὑπ᾽ αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν σελήνην ἐπὶ μετεώρου τοῦ ἀέρος ἐδέδοκτο τοὺς καίσαρας δειπνεῖν. ἀνεῖχε δὲ αὐτοὺς ἥ τε τῶν σωμάτων κουφότης, ἅπερ ἐτύγχανον ἠμφιεσμένοι, καὶ ἡ περιφορὰ τῆς σελήνης. κλῖναι μὲν οὖν ἔκειντο τέτταρες, εὐτρεπεῖς τοῖς μεγίστοις θεοῖς. ἐβένου μὲν ἦν ἡ τοῦ Κρόνου στιλβούσης καὶ πολλὴν ἐν τῷ μέλανι καὶ θείαν αὐγὴν κρυπτούσης, ὥστε οὐδεὶς οἷός τε ἦν ἀντιβλέπειν. [pg 348] ἔπασχε δὲ ταὐτὸ [D] πρὸς τὴν ἔβενον ἐκείνην τὰ ὄμματα δι᾽ ὑπερβολὴν τῆς λαμπηδόνος, ὅπερ οἶμαι πρὸς ἥλιον, ὅταν αὐτοῦ τῷ δίσκῳ τις ἀτενέστερον προσβλέπῃ. ἡ δὲ τοῦ Διὸς ἦν ἀργύρου μὲν στιλπνοτέρα, χρυσίου δὲ λευκοτέρα. τοῦτο εἴτε ἤλεκτρον χρὴ καλεῖν εἴτε ἄλλο τι λέγειν, οὐ σφόδρα εἶχέ μοι γνωρίμως ὁ Ἑρμῆς φράσαι. χρυσοθρόνω δὲ παρ᾽ ἑκάτερον ἐκαθεζέσθην[547] ἥ τε μήτηρ καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ, [308] Ἥρα μὲν παρὰ τὸν Δία, Ῥέα δὲ παρὰ τὸν Κρόνον. τὸ δὲ τῶν θεῶν κάλλος οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνος ἐπεξῄει τῷ λόγῳ, μεῖζον εἶναι λέγων αὐτὸ καὶ νῷ θεατόν, ἀκοῇ δὲ καὶ ῥήμασιν οὔτε προοισθῆναι ῥᾴδιον οὔτε παραδεχθῆναι δυνατόν. οὐχ οὕτω τις ἔσται καὶ φανεῖται μεγαλόφωνος, ὥστε τὸ μέγεθος ἐκεῖνο φράσαι τοῦ κάλλους, ὁπόσον ἐπιπρέπει τῇ τῶν θεῶν ὄψει.
(For we are told that after Heracles, Quirinus also ascended thither, since we must give Romulus the name of Quirinus in obedience to the divine will.[548] For the gods then the banquet had been made ready there. But just below the moon in the upper air he had decided to entertain the Emperors. The lightness of the bodies with which they had been invested, and also the revolution of the moon sustained them. Four couches were there made ready for the superior gods. That of Kronos was made of gleaming ebony, which concealed in its blackness a lustre so intense and divine that no one could endure to gaze thereon. For in looking at that ebony, the eyes suffered as much, methinks, from its excess of radiance as from the sun when one gazes too intently at his disc. The couch of Zeus was more brilliant than silver, but paler than gold; whether however one ought to call this “electron,”[549] or to give it some other name, Hermes could not inform me precisely. On either side of these sat on golden thrones the mother and daughter, Hera beside Zeus and Rhea beside Kronos. As for the beauty of the gods, not even Hermes tried to describe it in his tale; he said that it transcended description, and must be comprehended by the eye of the mind; for in words it was hard to portray and impossible to convey to mortal ears. Never indeed will there be or appear an orator so gifted that he could describe such surpassing beauty as shines forth on the countenances of the gods.)
[B] Παρεσκεύαστο δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις θεοῖς ἑκάστῳ θρόνος ἢ κλίνη κατὰ πρεσβείαν. ἤριζε δὲ οὐδείς, ἀλλ᾽ ὅπερ Ὅμηρος ὀρθῶς ποιῶν ἔφη, δοκεῖν μοι παρὰ τῶν Μουσῶν αὐτῶν ἀκηκοώς, ἔχειν ἕκαστον τῶν θεῶν θρόνον, ἐφ᾽ οὗ πάντως αὐτῷ θέμις καθῆσθαι στερεῶς καὶ ἀμετακινήτως· ἐπεὶ καὶ πρὸς τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ πατρὸς ἐξανιστάμενοι ταράττουσιν οὐδαμῶς τὰς καθέδρας οὐδὲ μεταβαίνουσιν οὐδὲ ὑφαρπάζουσιν ἀλλήλων, [C] γνωρίζει δὲ ἕκαστος τὸ προσῆκον αὑτῷ. πάντων οὖν κύκλῳ τῶν θεῶν καθημένων, ὁ Σειληνὸς ἐρωτικῶς ἔχειν μοι δοκῶν τοῦ Διονύσου καλοῦ καὶ νέου καὶ [pg 350] τῷ πατρὶ τῷ Διὶ παραπλησίου πλησίον αὐτοῦ, τροφεύς τις οἷα καὶ παιδαγωγός, [D] καθῆστο, τά τε ἄλλα φιλοπαίγμονα καὶ φιλόγελων καὶ χαριτοδότην[550] ὄντα τὸν θεὸν εὐφραίνων καὶ δὴ καὶ τῷ σκώπτειν τὰ πολλὰ καὶ γελοιάζειν.
(For the other gods had been prepared a throne or couch, for everyone according to seniority. Nor did any dispute arise as to this, but as Homer said,[551] and correctly, no doubt instructed by the Muses themselves, every god has his seat on which it is irrevocably ordained that he shall sit, firmly and immovably fixed; and though they rise on the entrance of their father they never confound or change the order of their seats or infringe on one another's, since every one knows his appointed place. Now when the gods were seated in a circle, Silenus, amorous, methinks, of Dionysus ever fair and ever young, who sat close to Zeus his father, took his seat next to him on the pretext that he had brought him up and was his tutor. And since Dionysus loves jesting and laughter and is the giver of the Graces, Silenus diverted the god with a continual flow of sarcasms and jests, and in other ways besides.)