Orationes 55
Orationes 55 Imperial Aelius Aristides Greek- Panegyric on the Water in Pergamum Of the meeting of the mountain-torrents Homer has said: "the shepherd far off in the hills heard their roar"; and he says that, shuddering, the shepherd drove his sheep into the cave. But as for me, though I am at present so far away from you, when I heard just now of the inrush of the water and of how great an ornament has been added to the city, I was unable to keep quiet for very pleasure, but uttered what I uttered, and felt my body lighter, and there was nothing of joy that was lacking—and this two days before I heard the news. For perhaps it is no worse to tell you of it; for you will hear it gladly, for the sake of the god who gave the foreshadowing, and for the auspiciousness of it as well. A vision came to me in my dreams that showed me the city, as it were, doubled in size, a tract of land continuously furnished to it by some addition, and public ornaments added to it most nearly resembling those about the temple of Zeus the Friend. For these reasons, then, I rejoiced even in the dream, and when I rose, I took it as a good omen both for the city and for myself. And on the third day after this, a message arrives from one of my close acquaintances, telling me that indeed all Asia keeps festival together with you over your good fortune in all things. For the water, he said, is the most abundant in quantity and the most beautiful in beauty of any that cities have obtained. So I kept a day not such as one keeps in spring, but such as it is fitting to keep when Zeus the bringer of good tidings and Asclepius the savior are honored everywhere. And I rejoiced with the city for what had been added to it, and with myself that I had been thought worthy to hear of it beforehand—plainly because the city belongs to me no less than to anyone. After this I reasoned that the rejoicing is shared in common by all, men and little children and women alike, since the sight itself procures the pleasure, but to adorn with a speech the gift of the Nymphs would perhaps be the task of one of those who have spent their time about the Healer and have been appointed to the office of words. And I called to mind the poets, that they always somehow bring the Nymphs and the Muses together, and that they always address Hermes as leader of the chorus of the Nymphs, and again Apollo as leader of the chorus of the Muses; and this same god has among you the title of "father of fair children," on his own father's account. In every way, then, it appeared fitting and not unseasonable to blend with the grace of the Nymphs the grace that comes from music. For thus I should be doing what is fitting toward all the gods I have named. From the beginning, as it seems, the fairest things were given to the city both by gods and by men. Here, it is told me, came to be the most ancient of the divine powers, the Cabeiri, and to them belong rites and mysteries, which are believed to have such power that, in seasons of extraordinary storms . . .