Orationes 24

291. Come then, let me recall also the earlier events, if I am able. At first it did not occur to me at all to write them down, from disbelief that I should survive; and then too my body, being in such a state, did not allow me leisure for these things. And as time went on, it seemed one of the impossibilities both to remember each thing and to relate it with precision; so it was better to keep wholly silent than to do violence to such great works. And many excuses on this account arose for me, both toward the god and toward those of my friends who were always asking me to speak and to write about them. But now, after so many years and so long a time, the visions of dreams compel me to bring them somehow into the open. And yet I can say at least this much, that straightway from the beginning the god enjoined me to write down my dreams; and this was the first of his commands. And I made a record of the dreams, dictating them whenever I was unable to write with my own hand; yet I did not add either in what circumstances each occurred, or what sort of things came to pass from them, but it sufficed me, as it were, to make my devotion to the god—partly because of the weakness of my body, as I said, partly because I never could have hoped that the god's forethought would proceed to so great a length; and let Adrasteia be invoked by me, together with him. And further, by not having begun from the start to write everything down, I gave up the rest as well, as though stung—some willingly, some unwillingly; but I found other roads of thanksgiving toward the god—since I reckon the record amounts to no fewer than three hundred thousand lines, but it is surely not easy to go through them, nor to fit each to its proper place in time; and besides this, some were carried off in the manifold ruin and disorder of the household about these times. What remains, then, is to relate the chief points, recalling now this, now that, 292. as the god leads and moves me; and we call upon him for these very things, as for all. And altogether he is to be called upon for all things, if any god is.

For when I had been brought back from Italy, having gathered into my body many ailments of every kind from the continuous toils and storms which I underwent on my way through Thrace and Macedonia—still ailing when I set out from home—there was great perplexity among the physicians, who not only were unable to help, but could not even recognize what the whole thing was. The hardest and most baffling of all was that I was shut off from breathing, and only with great labour and against my expectation could I scarcely ever draw breath, violently and as a thing to be cherished; and continual chokings followed in my throat, and my sinews shuddered, and I needed more covering than I could bear; and apart from these, countless other things distressed me. It seemed, then, that I must use the hot waters, in case I might become somewhat easier, or somehow better endure the air; for it was already the season of winter, and the place is not far from the city. There first the Saviour began to give his oracles. For he enjoined me to go forth unshod, and indeed I cried out in the dream, as in a waking vision and at a completed dream, "Great is Asclepius; the command is fulfilled." This I seemed to cry as I went forward. After this came a summons and a journey from Smyrna to Pergamum, with good fortune. What followed is not for a man to relate, but I must attempt, as I proposed, to go through some of it cursorily. But if anyone wishes to know the most exact details of what has been done for us by the god, it is time for him to seek out the parchment-rolls and the dreams themselves. For there he will find cures of every kind, and certain dialogues, and discourses at length, and visions of every sort, and all the predictions and oracles concerning matters of every kind, some in prose, some delivered in verse, all worthy of greater thanks to the god than anyone could conjecture. But now let us begin from somewhere here: that, when we had come into the temple, on the first of the nights the god appeared to my foster-father in the likeness of Salvius, the present consul—and who Salvius was we did not then yet 293. know; but he happened to be in attendance upon the god at that time—the foster-father said, then, that in this likeness he conversed with him about my discourses, among other things, I think, and that he gave a sign of approval, saying thus: "Sacred Tales." So much for this. After this he gave the cures to me myself, of which the first was, as I recall, the juice of balsam, and it was to be a gift of Telesphorus of Pergamum; and I had to use it as I bathed, going out from the hot water into the cold; then certain cleansing-pastes mixed of raisins and other things; then thousands upon thousands, all of which I pass over, but I wish of necessity to mention the marvels.

Whence, then, should one begin, there being so many and various, and not all of them in memory—except indeed the gratitude on their behalf? He sent me to Chios, saying that he sent me for the sake of purgation. We went, then, by the road to Smyrna, and very much in displeasure, thinking that we were being left without our protector and were truly sailing on our own resources, since we had got outside the temple. In what way, then, all were thunderstruck at Smyrna, when they saw him appear to them beyond hope, what need to tell? But when we came to Clazomenae, it seemed best to cross straight to Phocaea. And when we were about the islands, Drymousa and Pele, a breeze of the east wind began, and as we went further on it was already a brilliant east wind, and at last a tremendous gale burst forth. And the ship, lifted from the prow, sank back upon the stern and all but went under; then it was flooded from this side and that; then it was turned outward toward the open sea. And there was sweat and uproar of the sailors and all manner of cries from those aboard, for some of my friends too were sailing with us; but for me it sufficed to say only this much: "O Asclepius." Having faced many and various dangers, and at last, near the very landing, having been a thousand times capsized and driven back, and having caused great anguish to those who watched, we were saved gladly and with difficulty. And when night came, the god bade me make the purgation, indicating from what. And it became no less than that from 294. hellebore, as those experienced in it declared, inasmuch as everything had been stirred up by the surge. And he tells the whole, that it was fated for me to be shipwrecked, and that for this reason these things had come to pass; and that now I must still, for safety and to fulfil the destiny utterly, embark in a skiff in the harbour and act so that the skiff should be overturned and sink, and that I myself, lifted up by someone, should be carried out to land; for in this the necessary things would be accomplished. We did these things gladly, of course. And to all it seemed a marvellous device of shipwreck, taking place after a real danger. Whence indeed we knew that it was he himself who had saved us from the open sea as well. And the purgation was an addition to the benefaction. After this he kept me in Phocaea, indicating marvels of all kinds, not only such as concerned the body, but many others besides. And indeed we used to hear in advance, fairly well, of the winds that would come, so that whenever our host Rufus heard the dreams—and he was in other respects too the first of the Phocaeans, and somehow not himself unacquainted with Asclepius—great was his amazement at hearing from us indoors the things which he had left outside on coming in. And once there was need of milk, the god commanding it; but there was none yet, for it was nearly the fourteenth of the second month, as we who live here reckon, and yet it seemed best to seek. And Rufus, going to some remote part of his own land, finds a ewe that had given birth that very night, and bringing it, gives the milk. At last the god releases us from the voyage to Chios, having both shown and foretold other things, and at the end I seemed to see that the ship was broken up and there was nothing left. There is a place called Gennais, not far from Phocaea; there, having kept us some days at the waters, he led us up to Smyrna. So when we came to Smyrna, he appears to me in some such likeness. He was at once Asclepius and at once Apollo, both the Clarian and the one called Father of Fair Children at Pergamum, whose temple is the first 295. of the three temples. Standing in this likeness before the bed, holding out his fingers and reckoning up certain spans of time, he said: "You have ten years from me and three from Sarapis"—and at once the three and ten appeared as seventeen by the placing of the fingers—and that these were not a dream but a waking vision, and that I should know it too. And at the same time he bids me go down to the river that flows before the city and bathe, and that a beardless boy would lead the way, and he points out the boy.

And these are the chief points of the epiphany, which I would have given anything to be able to go through, point by point, with precision. It was indeed mid-winter and a great north wind and frost, and the pebbles were so bound to one another by the ice as to resemble one continuous crystal, and the water was such as is likely in such air. And when the matter of the epiphany was reported, my friends escorted me, and of the physicians both my familiars and others, some as though in anxiety, some for the sake of the inquiry; and there came on besides a great crowd, for there happened to be also some distribution outside the gates, and everything was visible from the bridge. And there was a certain Heracleon, a physician, our companion, who admitted to me the next day that he had truly persuaded himself, on coming, that even if I fared as well as possible, I should be seized by tetanus or some other such thing. So when we came to the river, there was no need of anyone to urge me on, but, still full of the warmth from the vision of the god, I threw off my clothes, and, not even needing to be rubbed down, I cast myself where the river was deepest. Then, as in a swimming-pool of very mild and tempered water, I passed the time, swimming about and splashing myself all over. And when I came out, when all my skin was flushed and my whole body was light, there was a great cry from those present and those coming up, all crying that much-celebrated phrase, "Great is Asclepius." And who could relate what followed? For all the rest of the day and the night until 296. bedtime I kept the disposition I had at the bath, and I felt my body neither drier nor moister; nothing of the warmth relaxed, nothing was added, nor again was the warmth such as might arise from any human contrivance, but it was a continuous glow, bearing an equal power through the whole body and the whole time. And the state of my mind was much the same. For it was neither a conspicuous pleasure, nor would you have said it was according to any human sobriety, but there was a certain unspeakable cheerfulness which set everything second to the present moment, so that even when I looked at other things I did not seem to see them: so wholly was I with the god. But what follows now is yours, O Lord, to show and to set before us—what we should say next, and whither we should turn, that we may do things pleasing to you and carry the discourse forward as nobly as may be. Since I have made mention of a river and of such a winter and of a bath, shall I go on to relate other things of the same kind in succession, and make, as it were, a catalogue of bathings, wintry and divine and altogether marvellous? Or shall I divide the discourse and relate some of the intervening matters? Or is it best, passing over all that lies between, to render the conclusion to the first discourse—how the matter of the oracle concerning the years stood, and how everything turned out? For the god gave many other signs too, snatching me from the dangers that ever stood at hand, which were thick about every night and day, now these, now those assailing, and then the same returning, and whenever one was got rid of, others taking hold; and against each of these came antidotes from the god and consolations of every sort, both in deed and in word. And this one thing too I remember done by him once. He said that I must die on the third day, and that this was necessary; and at the same time he gave tokens, and what the things of the next day would be like—for he gave what the air would be like, and where the charioteer would appear, and other tokens of the truth; but that I must do thus: first, mounting the carriage, go to the river that flows through the city, and, when I was already outside the city, perform 297. the sacrifices "at the pits"—for so he named them; and I had then to dig pits and upon them perform the rites to whatever gods I must; then, turning back, taking coins, to cross the river and throw them away, and certain other things, I think, he bade me besides. After this, going to the temple, to sacrifice a perfect victim to Asclepius and to set up sacred mixing-bowls and to distribute sacred portions to all my fellow-worshippers; and that I must also cut off part of my own body for the safety of the whole. But since this was laborious, this he indeed remitted to me, and in place of it bade me take off the ring I wore and dedicate it to Telesphorus—for to do so was the same as if I had given up the finger itself—and to inscribe upon the bezel of the ring "Son of Cronus"; and that for him who did these things there was safety. What followed this it is possible to conjecture—how we were disposed, and into what kind of harmony the god again attuned us. For we passed through all these things almost as in a mystic rite, the good hope standing by together with the fear. And consistent with these and tending to the same end were also the things that happened later in time, from which I drank wormwood.

It is plain, indeed, that it is altogether more awe-inspiring and more vivid to relate the visions themselves in their pure form; but it is necessary, in most cases, to use the method which I set before me, and to run over the chief points, as it meets the discourse. There was Philadelphus, one of the temple-wardens. To him there came on the same night a vision of a dream just like mine, but it differed somewhat in small respects. Philadelphus seemed—for this much I am able to recall—that in the sacred theatre there was a multitude of people clothed in white and gathered together in honour of the god, and that I, standing among them, was making a public address and hymning the god, saying among other things of every kind, and how he had turned aside my destinies in many other ways, and lately too when, having discovered wormwood, he ordered me to drink it diluted with vinegar, that I might not be distressed. And he announced, I think, a certain sacred ladder and a presence and certain marvellous powers of the god. These things Philadelphus 298. seemed to see; but to me myself such things came about. I seemed to stand in the forecourt of the temple, and many others too to be gathered, just as when the temple becomes purified, and to be clothed in white and the rest befitting the occasion. There then I uttered other cries to the god and also addressed him as "Apportioner of destinies," as distributing destinies to men. And the phrase was prompted in me from what concerned myself. And upon this there was the wormwood, made plain in some way—and it was made plain most vividly, just as countless other things too had the presence of the god made vivid. For it was as though one seemed to touch him and to perceive that he himself had come, and to be midway between sleep and waking, and to wish to look out, and to be anxious lest he depart beforehand, and to have laid one's ears alongside and to be hearing, partly as in a dream, partly as in a waking vision; and one's hair stood on end, and there were tears with joy, and the weight of one's understanding was without burden; and what man could indicate these things in words? But if anyone is among the initiated, he knows and recognizes. When these things had been seen, as soon as it was dawn I call the physician Theodotus; and when he came, I relate the dreams. And he marvelled how more than mortal they were, but was at a loss what to do, in the winter season and at the same time fearing the excessive weakness of my body; for I had now been lying indoors for many months. It seemed best to us, then, not to be the worse for sending also for the warden of Asclepius—I was dwelling in his house at that time—and besides, I was accustomed to share most of my dreams with him. The warden came; and we had no sooner begun to speak to him than he begins to relate to us: "Just now," he said, "I have come from my fellow-warden"—meaning Philadelphus—"and he himself summoned me; for he saw a marvellous vision in the night concerning you." And thus the warden of Asclepius related what Philadelphus had seen, and Philadelphus himself, summoned by us, related it in addition. And as the dreams agreed, we now used the remedy, and I drank more than anyone ever had before, and on the next day likewise, the god giving the same sign. And as for the relief in the drinking, or how much it helped, what need to tell? But whence this discourse set out—the matter of the destinies, how he established it for me—this, together with many other 299. oracles given both before and after, was revealed to both of us alike at the same time, with such help as this.

Come then, let me render the discourse from the beginning, and let me join on how the matter of the oracle concerning the years stood. That through all this time he himself was the one saving me and granting day after day—rather, that even now he himself is the one saving me—all who know even a little of our affairs know well. But when the time of the prophecy had elapsed, the following came to pass. I shall take it up a little. I happened to be in the suburb at the height of summer, and a pestilential disease seized almost all the neighbours. And of the servants first two and three fell ill, then one after another; then all lay sick, both younger and older; and last of all I was taken. Physicians came from the city, and we used their attendants as helpers, and some of them too sat by as helpers in place of servants. The beasts of burden also were ailing, and if any was moved at all, it straightway lay down before the doors; so that it was no longer easy even to make use of a voyage about what was happening. And everything was full of despondency, wailing, groaning, and every difficulty; and there were terrible sicknesses in the city too. For a while, then, I held out, taking forethought for the safety of the others no less than for my own; then the disease grew intense, and I was seized by a terrible fever of bile of every kind, which distressed me continually night and day, and I was shut off from food, and my strength was undone. And the physicians withdrew, and at last gave me up entirely, and it was reported that I should depart at once. Yet even in these things you would have said the saying of Homer applied, that "the mind at least was steadfast." So I followed my own case, as though it were another's, and perceived my body ever failing, until I came to the very end. While things were thus, I happened to be turned toward the inner part of the bed, and I had a vision as in a dream—and this very thing was the deliverance. 300. I seemed to be already at the end of the drama, and to be putting off the buskins, and that I should take up my father's boots. And while I was in these things, the Saviour Asclepius turns me suddenly the turn toward the outside. Then, not long after, Athena appears, having the aegis and the beauty and the magnitude and the whole figure such as the Athena of Pheidias at Athens. And from the aegis too there breathed a most sweet odour, and it was like some wax, marvellous itself too in beauty and magnitude. She appeared to me alone, standing opposite, and from where I was likely to see her most beautifully. And I pointed her out to those present too—there were two of my friends and my nurse—crying out and naming Athena, that she had stood opposite and was conversing, and I pointed out the aegis. But they did not know what to make of it, but were at a loss and feared that I was raving, until they saw my strength being restored and heard the words which I heard from the goddess. And some of them I remember are these. She reminded me of the Odyssey, and said that these were not fables, but that one must judge by the present circumstances too. I must therefore endure, being myself altogether both Odysseus and Telemachus, and that she must help me; and other such things I heard. Thus the goddess appeared and consoled and saved me, lying as I was and with nothing now lacking of the things that lead to the end. And straightway it came into my mind to use a clyster of Attic honey, and there was a purging of bile. And after this came cures and foods: first a goose's liver, I think, after the long abstinence from all food; then some pig's belly. Then I was carried into the city on a covered and long carriage, and thus little by little I was being gathered together again, with difficulty and hardship; yet the fever did not entirely depart before there died for me the most precious of my foster-children. And on the same day, as I learned afterward, both he had died and the disease had gone away departing. Thus the time 301. up to this I had as a gift from the gods, and after this I came to life again under the gods, and there happened, as it were, this exchange.

And so it was with the prophecy concerning the years, and with the later weakness that came to a head in this, and with the epiphanies concerning these things. It would perhaps be fitting now to speak about the baths through which he led us, since at the very beginning, together with the prophecy, he enjoined the bath in the river. There were the catarrhs and the trouble about the palate, and everything was full of rime and fire, and the affliction of the stomach was at its height, and many other things of every kind, and I was shut indoors in the summer season. And these things were happening at Pergamum in the house of the warden of Asclepius. First, then, he enjoined me to draw off blood from the elbow, and he added, as far as I remember, a hundred and twenty litrae—and this was meant to show that there would be need of not a few of these phlebotomies, as appeared from later events. For the wardens, being then of an age, and all the attendants about the god and those holding rank, agreed that none of all men they knew of had ever been cut so much, except Ischyron, and that even his case was among the marvels, but that even so it surpassed our own, apart from the other marvels which attended the phlebotomies, such as indeed happened straightway then too. For one day, I think, later, or two, he bade me again draw off blood from the forehead, and he gave this same command to one of the Roman senate who was also in attendance, signifying that it had been enjoined upon Aristides too—Sedatus was his name, the best of men, who himself related these things to me. And in the midst of these phlebotomies he enjoins me the bath in the Caicus, and I had to throw off the wool and walk and bathe; and I should see a horse being washed and the warden of Asclepius standing on the bank. These things were foretold and these things came to pass. While I was still approaching the river, I see the horse being washed. And as I bathed the warden was present and, standing on the bank, watched. And the lightness and refreshment upon this it is very easy for a god to know, 302. but for a man neither to grasp with the mind nor to indicate in words is not at all easy. Then another bath was enjoined at Smyrna at the beginning of winter, and I had to go to the hot springs, not using the hot water, but the river that flowed beside it; and the whole day was rainy and cold, and the water left off just so much as sufficed for the journey: and this was the first of the wonders. It was late afternoon, and the bath was taken, and a keen north wind was blowing. And these things again at Pergamum, in winter and in a marvellous thinness of body, so that for a very long time I did not go out of the chamber where I lay. He bade me bathe in the river that flows through the city; and it was running high from the rains, and he foretold that there would be three baths. When the command had come, as they learned of it, the most zealous of my friends came together, escorting me and anxious as to what would come of it, and at the same time making it, in place of any other inquiry, to see what was happening; for indeed the day was wintry. First, then, we were rained upon along the way, and this was the first of the baths; for we were going up higher, the road by Hippon, wishing to meet with clean water and such as had not yet come into contact with the city. But when we came to the bank, none of my friends dared to urge me on, although the warden himself was present, and some of the philosophers too were present, men noble and good, but nevertheless all were plainly in anguish and at a loss. And I threw off my clothes, and calling on the god, cast myself into the middle of the channel. And it rolled stones and carried timber and surged as from a wind, and nothing of what was below was visible, and there was a great roar and uproar. There then the stones flowed round me in place of leaves, and the water was so light as nothing of the purely transparent kinds, and I tarried as long as I could. And when I came out upon the bank, warmth spread through the whole body and much steam rose up, and everything was flushed, and we sang the paean. And as we were going back, again water comes on from Zeus, and the third of the baths ended in this.

Then there was another at this Elaea. He sent me to bathe in the sea, having foretold a ship 303. named Asclepius lying at anchor at the mouth of the harbour, at which point I had to throw myself in, and certain cries of the sailors and other things which I do not remember, all of them agreeing in order with what came to pass when I disembarked by day. So when we came down to Elaea, we were present outside by the harbour, and at once the ship was found, named Asclepius, and at once the sailors cried out to the god, when they saw what was happening. And there was a brilliant north wind, so that on coming out I needed covering. Again, then, on the following night he bids me use the sea in the same way, and, coming out of the water, to stand facing the wind and thus to tend the body. And that such things have been enjoined upon many already I know; but first, in this very point, the work of the god is more marvellous, in that over many cases and continuously he manifests his own power and forethought; and then, if anyone should consider our whole case. And yet who could grasp by reckoning the state in which we then were? Those present on each occasion know, both how things stood with the skin and how within. And further, the flux that was carried down from the head every day and night, and the surging in the chest, and the breath rising up against the flux and being held fast in the throat, and the burning, and ever so great an expectation of death that I did not even dare to call a servant, but thought I should call in vain, for the thing would be finished beforehand. And besides these, all manner of afflictions of the ears and teeth, and a tension of the veins all round, and food impossible to keep down, impossible to vomit up; for whatever even slightly touched the gullet or the palate closed the passage, and then it was not possible to recover. And there was a fiery pain into the brain and assaults of every kind, and in the nights an impossibility of reclining, but I had to bear it propped up and bent forward, holding my head against my knees. And to these, I think, being such, and to countless others, there necessarily followed being wrapped in wool and other coverings; and there was a strict confinement, everything being shut up, so that the day could endure night, but the 304. nights, instead of days, were sleepless. "Who of mortal men could tell all those things?" For not a five-year nor a six-year span suffices. But perhaps the narration is of no fewer years than those in which the events took place. If indeed someone should take these things into account, and consider over how many and what sufferings, and with what necessity in these matters, he led me to sea and rivers and wells, and enjoined me to fight with the winter, he will say that it is all truly beyond marvels, and will see the god's power and forethought more greatly, and will rejoice with me in the honour with which I was honoured, and would not so much grieve at my weakness.

Whence, then, so great a thing was contrived—this perhaps someone would wish to hear. It is beyond the tale of Alcinous, but I shall try somehow to tell it cursorily. I went out to Rome in the middle of winter, ailing from the start at home from waters and chill, taking no account of the present season, but trusting to the training of my body and to the good fortune that attended me in all things. And having advanced as far as the Hellespont, I was ailing in the ear beyond measure and was otherwise in no chance state, and, having recovered a little, I went on further. After this, rains, frosts, ice, all the winds: the Hebrus just now cut open, so as to be passable for ships, but otherwise it was wholly mainland under the ice; and plains turned to lakes as far as the eye could reach; and a scarcity of lodgings, and more water flowing out of the roofs than from Zeus; and amid all these, haste and running contrary to the established season and to the strength of the body. For not even the soldiers carrying the dispatches passed us by—that I may say nothing more—and most of my servants went the road at their leisure. And I myself sought out the carriers, wherever there was need, and even this did not happen most easily. For it was necessary to draw men shrinking away like barbarians, partly persuading, partly even using force. From all these things, then, the disease was raised up. And in this matter of the teeth I came into such a state that I held out my hands, as if always about to receive them. And from food 305. I was wholly shut off, except for milk only; and I then first felt the asthma about the chest, and strong fevers seized me, and other things unspeakable; and I lay at Dessa by the cataract, and scarcely on the hundredth day after I had set out from home do I come to be in Rome. And not long after, my inward parts were swollen and my sinews chilled and a shuddering ran through the whole body and the breath was shut off. And the physicians applied purges, and having drunk a drastic, I was purged for two days, until it broke out into blood. And fevers seized me, and everything was now hopeless, and there was no hope whatever of safety. And at last the physicians cut me, beginning from the chest and going through everything in order down to the bladder; and when the cupping-instruments fastened on, my breath was wholly cut off, and a numbing pain, impossible to bear, passed through, and everything was befouled with blood, and I become exceedingly pained. And I felt my inward parts as though cold and hanging out, and the helplessness about my breathing was intensified. And there was nothing to do, for indeed food, when I took it, and even speaking, stuck in the midst, and I had to seem to be choked. And the rest of the body's weakness was in proportion to these. And drugs, both of wild beasts and others of every kind, were given to no purpose. It seemed best, then, to convey me home, if somehow I might hold out. By land it was impossible, for the body could not bear the jolting; so we attempted it by sailing. And of the beasts of burden some had died from the storms, and those that survived we sold off. And there happens a kind of Odyssey: straightway in the Tyrrhenian sea a tempest and gloom and the south-west wind and an irresistible commotion of the sea, and the steersman let go the rudders, and the shipowner and the sailors, pouring ashes over themselves, bewailed both themselves and the ship. And the sea poured in abundantly over prow and stern, and I was flooded by both the wind and the waves, and these things went on day and night. It was nearly midnight when we were brought to the Pelorid headland 306. of Sicily. Then in the strait there were wanderings and runnings, some forward, some backward. And the open sea of the Adriatic we crossed in two nights and a day, the current escorting us soundlessly. But when we had to put in toward Cephallenia, again a high wave, and the wind would not bear us, but we wandered up and down, every kind of weariness of the body and dissolution. And what happened again in the Achaean strait, at the very equinox, when the good sailors set out from Patrae against my will and my objecting from the start, you could not say even in telling, in all which both the chest and the rest were still more grievously afflicted. And like to these were the events in the Aegean, arising from the wretchedness of the steersman and sailors, who thought it right to sail against the winds and would hear nothing of me. These were again fourteen days and nights, while we were borne about in a storm through the whole sea, and in these were not a few fastings, and scarcely were we brought to Miletus. And I was neither able to stand and my ears had been deafened, and there was nothing that did not distress me. And going on little by little, we thus come to be at Smyrna, beyond all hope. And it was now winter, and the matter of the palate was altogether grievous and the rest likewise. And the physicians and the trainers came together, and they neither could help nor recognized the variety of the disease. This much, then, was agreed: to convey me to the hot springs, since I was unable to bear even the air in the city. And what followed upon these things I was relating a little before. From such and so many things, to speak briefly and dimly, the disease was wrought and contrived, ever advancing by the addition of time. And when a year and some months had passed, we came to the residence at Pergamum.

307. Now from where we left off let us turn to the divine baths; and let pains and sicknesses and all dangers be gone. I had been lying within, between the doors and the railings of the temple, according to a certain vision of a dream; and the god gives me this oracular verse: "And in the evening they flourished by the verdant springs." Then I was anointed in the open air, in the enclosure of the temple, and bathed at the sacred well, and there was no one who, seeing it, did not disbelieve. And I all but cast off the whole disease, had not the god, showing signs and already changing the regimen—for I myself was so disposed as to do thus—the evil counsel of companions prevailed, who, laying claim to wisdom and seeming to have a certain cleverness in these matters, interpreted the dreams more absurdly, asserting that the god was showing by way of excess that I must remain in the same things. And I gave way, unwillingly and suspiciously, and thinking that I myself knew better, but that I might not seem to myself to be someone obeying himself alone. And by suffering I learned well how rightly I had judged. But let all the ways in which my advisers erred be set aside—and yet these too seem to belong to the things exceedingly of the god. For that the same regimen and the same actions, whenever the god led and expressly spoke, brought safety, strength, lightness, ease, cheerfulness, all the noblest things both to the body and to the soul; but when someone else advised and had not aimed at the god's intent, brought on everything contrary to these—how is this not the greatest sign of the god's power? Come, then, let us again recall things from him. It was the equinox after winter, when men make offerings of mud to the god, but for me it was not possible to stir unless he gave some sign. So I shrank back; and the day, by my recollection, became very warm indeed. But not many days later a storm comes on and the north wind drove the whole sky, and black clouds were gathered continuously, and again from anew a storm. While things were thus, he enjoined me to use the mud at the sacred well and to bathe from there. I afforded, 308. then, a spectacle then too, and so great was the cold of the mud and of the air that I made it a windfall to run to the well, and the water served me in place of any other warmth.

And these are the first of the wonder. On the following night he enjoins me to use the mud again in the same way and to run in a circle around the temples three times; and the violence of the north wind was unspeakable and the frost was increased, you would not have found clothing so thick as to be sufficient to shelter one, but it passed through and fell upon the sides like an arrow. Some of my companions, then, as though wishing to console me—and that too when I needed it not at all—resolved to share the danger and imitate me. I, then, having anointed myself, ran round, offering myself to the north wind to card well and finely, and at the end, coming to the well, I washed myself off; but of the others, one was straightway turned away, and another was seized by a spasm and, conveyed in haste to a bath-house, was warmed up again with much trouble. But we, now after this, were leading a spring-like day; and again, in the winter season and frost and a wind of the coldest sort, he bids me take some of the mud and, pouring it over myself, sit down in the court of the temple, calling upon Zeus, highest and best of gods. These things too came about among many spectators. And what was admired no less than any of the things mentioned: for when the continuity of the fevers was forty days and still more, and some even of the harbours were frozen over, and of the sea by Elaea as much of the shore as one descending from Pergamum comes upon, then he enjoins me to put on a little linen tunic and nothing else whatever, but to endure in this, and, coming forth from the bed, to wash myself off at the spring outside. But it was a labour to find water, for everything had frozen, and the spout was straightway chilled in itself, and there was, as it were, a tube of crystal, and whatever hot thing you poured in was immediately frozen. Yet nevertheless we came to the spring and the linen sufficed, and all were colder than I, and almost the greatest part of my regimen was accomplished by me about the temple. And akin to these were also the continual goings unshod in the winters and 309. the lyings-down throughout the whole temple, in the open air and wherever it chanced, and not least that one which took place on the road to the temple, beneath the very sacred torch of the goddess. And I wore a cloak without a tunic, I do not know how many days. And indeed, all the times he enjoined me to use rivers, springs, or even the sea, either before these or after, some at Elaea, some at Smyrna, and at what seasons each of them, it would be unspeakable to tell. But when lately he sent me to Ephesus according to the oracles, we were rained upon along the road too, much, on the third of the days—for the second day he himself held back—and it happened that the rain came at once then. And almost the things shown referred not only to that day but also to the next, and I foretold these to those with me. But they brought forward the other consideration, that of going forward, especially seeing the eagerness of the people, how they stood toward us. For there are those who go to Pergamum for the sake of the festivals, and when they saw us, they turned back to Ephesus at a run. And so it was. But after I had been rained upon and was in anguish, not many days later, when I came to be in Ephesus, he enjoins a cold bath, and I bathed in the gymnasium by Coressus. And those who saw marvelled no less at the bath than at the oracles; and both alike were from the god.