[198] ἀλλ´, ὦ ἄνδρες, οἱ τῆς μεγάλης ἔνοικοι πόλεως, εἴ τι μέτεστιν ὑμῖν προνοίας μὴ ἐμὲ ψεύσασθαι τὴν εὐχὴν, συνάρασθε τῷ τολμήματι, ἵνα τῶν ἐγκωμίων πρῶτον ἀρχόμενοι καὶ τοῦτο ἔχωμεν λέγειν ὅτι εὐθὺς μὲν τοιούτοις ἀνδράσιν ἐντυχεῖν ἦν, ὑφ´ ὧν τις, κἂν ἄμουσος ᾖ τὸ πρὶν, κατ´ Εὐριπίδην, ἐμμελής τε καὶ δεξιὸς εὐθὺς γίγνεται καὶ δύναται λέγειν καὶ περὶ τῶν μειζόνων ἢ καθ´ αὑτόν· τὴν δὲ πόλιν ᾄδουσι μὲν πάντες καὶ ᾄσονται, τοσούτῳ δὲ ἐλάττω ποιοῦσιν ἢ σιωπῶντες, ὅσῳ παρὰ μὲν τὴν σιωπὴν οὔτε μείζονα οὔτ´ ἐλάττονα ἔστι ποιῆσαι τῆς οὔσης, ἀλλ´ ἀκέραιος τῇ γνώσει μένει, οἱ δὲ λόγοι τοὐναντίον οὗ βούλονται ποιοῦσιν· ἐπαινοῦντες γὰρ οὐ δεικνύουσιν ἀκριβῶς ὃ θαυμάζουσιν, ἀλλ´ ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις ζωγράφος σῶμα καλὸν καὶ περίβλεπτον ἐπιχειρῶν δεῖξαι διὰ τέχνης, εἶτα ἀπολείποιτο, πᾶς τις ἂν φαίη δή που λυσιτελεῖν μὴ γράφειν, ἀλλ´ ἢ αὐτὸ ἰδεῖν ἐᾶν, ἢ μὴ δεικνύειν αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον μιμούμενον, ὣς δὲ καὶ περὶ ταύτης μοι δοκεῖ τῆς πόλεως ἔχειν· ἀφαιροῦσιν οἱ λόγοι τὰ πολλὰ τῶν θαυμάτων καὶ ποιεῖν δοκοῦσί μοι παραπλήσιον ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις στρατιᾶς πλῆθος ἐξαγγεῖλαι βουλόμενος, οἷον τῆς Ξέρξου, καὶ πάνυ δὴ θαυμάζων, εἶτα λέγοι μυρίους ἢ δισμυρίους στρατιώτας ἰδεῖν, ἵππον δὲ τόσην καὶ τόσην, οὐδὲ πολλοστὸν μέρος τοῦ παντὸς λέγων ἐν οἷς θαυμάζει. Ἡ γὰρ δὴ πρώτη λόγου δύναμιν ἐξελέγξασα οὐκ ἐπὶ πᾶν ἐφικνουμένην ἥδε ἐστί· περὶ ἧς μὴ ὅτι εἰπεῖν κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἔστιν, ἀλλ´ οὐδ´ ἰδεῖν ἀξίως αὐτὴν, ἀλλ´ ὡς ἀληθῶς Ἄργου τινὸς πανόπτου, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦ κατέχοντος αὐτὴν πανόπτου θεοῦ δεῖ. τίς γὰρ ἂν τοσάσδε ὀρῶν κορυφὰς κατειλημμένας, ἢ πεδίων νομοὺς ἐκπεπολισμένους, ἢ γῆν τοσήνδε εἰς μιᾶς πόλεως ὄνομα συνηγμένην,

[198] If you gentlemen who live in this metropolis share any concern for the fulfilment of my vow, lend a hand to this rash scheme. Let me at the very beginning of my eulogy be able to say that here a person will instantly meet the kind of men who instantly impart to him culture, wit, and the power of speaking on subjects beyond his range, Even if (to quote Euripides) he was unskilled before. The city is and will be celebrated by all, but they make her smaller than if they kept silent. By silence you cannot make her either greater or less than she is; she remains unmarred in men's estimation. But words do the opposite of what they intend. They praise, but do not give an exact view of the thing admired. Now if a painter through the medium of art tries to show us a beautiful and universally admired figure, but falIs short, surely everyone will say, "Instead of painting, better let us see the object itself; don't show us an inferior copy." It is the same, I think, with this city. A speech suppresses most of her wonders; and its effect seems to me almost as if a man who wanted to report the size of an army (like Xerxes), which utterly amazed him, were to say that he saw ten or twenty thousand soldiers, and such-and-such a number of cavalry — not mentioning in his amazement even a tiny part of the whole. This — before you — is the first proof that no power of words can be altogether adequate. Far from being able to talk adequately about Rome, one cannot even get an adequate view. It really takes an all-seeing Argus, or rather the all-seeing god that rules her. For what man could accurately take in so many hill-tops comprised under the name of one city, so many tracts of plain built up, so much land enclosed?