[A]
ὥσπερ ὀνείρατα ὁρῶν, ἱερεῖα καὶ σπονδὰς καὶ χοροὺς τῷ θεῷ καὶ θυμιάματα καὶ τοὺς ἐφήβους ἐκεῖ περὶ τὸ τέμενος θεοπρεπέστατα μὲν τὰς ψυχὰς κατεσκευασμένους, λευκῇ δ ̓ ἐσθῆτι καὶ μεγαλοπρεπεῖ κεκοσμημένους. ὡς δὲ εἴσω παρῆλθον τοῦ τεμένους, οὔτε θυμιάματα κατέλαβον οὔτε πόπανον οὔτε ἱερεῖον. αὐτίκα μὲν οὖν ἐθαύμασα καὶ ᾤμην ἔξω τοῦ τεμένους εἶναι, περιμένειν δ ̓ ὑμᾶς,
[B]
ἐμὲ δὴ τιμῶντας ὡς ἀρχιερέα, τὸ σύνθημα παρ ̓ ἐμοῦ. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἠρόμην, τί μέλλει θύειν ἡ πόλις ἐνιαύσιον ἑορτὴν ἄγουσα τῷ θεῷ, ὁ ἱερεὺς εἶπεν· ἐγὼ μὲν ἥκω φέρων οἴκοθεν τῷ θεῷ χῆνα ἱερεῖον, ἡ πόλις δὲ τὰ νῦν οὐδὲν ηὐτέεπισται.
Ἐνταῦθα ὁ φιλαπεχθήμων ἐγὼ πρὸς τὴν βουλὴν ἀνεπιεικεῖς πάνυ διελέχθην λόγους, ὧν ἴσως οὐκ ἄτοπον καὶ νῦν μνημονεῦσαι. “Δεινόν,” ἔφην ἐγώ, “τὴν τοσαύτην πόλιν οὕτω τῶν θεῶν ὀλιγώρως ἔχειν, ὡς οὐδεμία παροικοῦσα ταῖς ἐσχατιαῖς τοῦ Πόντου κώμη·
[C]
μυρίους κλήρους γῆς ἰδίας κεκτημένη, τῷ πατρίῳ θεῷ νῦν πρῶτον ἐπιστάσης ἑορτῆς ἐνιαυσίου, ἐπειδὴ διεσκέδασαν οἱ θεοὶ τῆς ἀθεότητος τὴν νεφέλην, μίαν ὄρνιν1μίαν ὄρνιν Hertlein suggests, ὄρνιν MSS. ὑπὲρ αὑτῆς οὐ προσάγει, ἣν ἐχρῆν μάλιστα μὲν καὶ κατὰ φυλὰς βουθυτεῖν, εἰ δὲ μὴ ῥᾴδιον, ἕνα γε2ἕνα γε Hertlein suggests, ἕνα MSS. κοινῇ πᾶσαν ὑπὲρ αὑτῆς προσφέρειν τῷ θεῷ ταῦρον.
[D]
ὑμῶν δ ̓ ἕκαστος ἰδίᾳ μὲν εἰς τὰ δεῖπνα καὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς χαίρει δαπανώμενος, καὶ εὖ οἶδα πολλοὺς ὑμῶν πλεῖστα εἰς τὰ δεῖπνα τοῦ Μαϊουμᾶ χρήματα ἀπολέσαντας, ὑπὲρ δ ̓ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς σωτηρίας τῆς πόλεως οὐδεὶς θύει οὔτε ἰδίᾳ τῶν πολιτῶν οὔτε ἡ πόλις κοινῇ, μόνος δ ̓ ὁ ἱερεύς, ὃν οἶμαι δικαιότερον ἦν ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν προσφερομένων τῷ θεῷ παρ ̓ ὑμῶν οἴκαδε ἀπιέναι μερίδας ἔχοντα. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἱερεῦσιν οἱ θεοὶ καλοκἀγαθίᾳ τιμᾶν αὑτοὺς καὶ ἀρετῆς ἐπιτηδεύσει προσέταξαν καὶ λειτουργεῖν σφίσι τὰ εἰκότα·
[A]
beasts for sacrifice, libations, choruses in honour of the god, incense, and the youths of your city there surrounding the shrine, their souls adorned with all holiness and themselves attired in white and splendid raiment. But when I entered the shrine I found there no incense, not so much as a cake, not a single beast for sacrifice. For that moment I was amazed and thought that I was still outside the shrine and that you were waiting the signal from me,
[B]
doing me that honour because I am supreme pontiff. But when I began to inquire what sacrifice the city intended to offer to celebrate the annual festival in honour of the god, the priest answered, “I have brought with me from my own house a goose as an offering to the god, but the city this time has made no preparations.”
Thereupon, being fond of making enemies, I made in the Senate a very unseemly speech which perhaps it may now be pertinent to quote to you. “It is a terrible thing,” I said, “that so important a city should be more neglectful of the gods than any village on the borders of the Pontus.3cf. Themistius 332 D.
[C]
Your city possesses ten thousand lots of land privately owned, and yet when the annual festival in honour of the god of her forefathers is to be celebrated for the first time since the gods dispelled the cloud of atheism, she does not produce on her own behalf a single bird, though she ought if possible to have sacrificed an ox for every tribe, or if that were too difficult, the whole city in common ought at any rate to have offered to the god one bull on her own behalf.
[D]
Yet every one of you delights to spend money privately on dinners and feasts; and I know very well that many of you squandered very large sums of money on dinners during the May festival. Nevertheless, on your own behalf and on behalf of the city’s welfare not one of the citizens offers a private sacrifice, nor does the city offer a public sacrifice, but only this priest! Yet I think that it would have been more just for him to go home carrying portions from the multitude of beasts offered by you to the god. For the duty assigned by the gods to priests is to do them honour by their nobility of character and by the practice of virtue, and also to perform to them the service that is due;
EN translation: Wilmer Cave Wright, 1913
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| Title | London: The Works of the Emperor Julian, Volume II/III |
| Publisher | London: William Heinemann |
| Year | 1913-23 |
| Pages | 416-511 pp. [vol. II: 538 pp.] |
| Translation | Wilmer Cave Wright. PhD |
| Editors | T.E. Page and W.H.D. Rouse |
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