[12,0] ΟΛΥΜΠΙΚΟΣ Η ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΩΤΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΕΝΝΟΙΑΣ.	[12,0] THE OLYMPIC DISCOURSE: OR, ON MAN'S FIRST CONCEPTION OF GOD.
[12,1] Ἀλλ´ ἦ τὸ λεγόμενον, ὦ ἄνδρες, ἐγὼ καὶ παρ´ ὑμῖν καὶ παρ´ ἑτέροις πλείοσι πέπονθα τὸ τῆς γλαυκὸς ἄτοπον καὶ παράδοξον πάθος; ἐκείνην γὰρ οὐδὲν σοφωτέραν οὖσαν αὐτῶν οὐδὲ βελτίω τὸ εἶδος, ἀλλὰ τοιαύτην ὁποίαν ἴσμεν, ὅταν δήποτε φθέγξηται λυπηρὸν καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἡδύ, περιέπουσι τὰ ἄλλα ὄρνεα, καὶ ὅταν γε ἴδῃ μόνον, τὰ μὲν καθιζόμενα ἐγγύς, τὰ δὲ κύκλῳ περιπετόμενα, ὡς μὲν ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, καταφρονοῦντα τῆς φαυλότητος καὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας· οἱ δὲ ἄνθρωποί φασιν ὅτι θαυμάζει τὴν γλαῦκα τὰ ὄρνεα.	[12,1] CAN it be, Sirs, that here before you, just as before many another audience—to use a familiar saying - I have met with the strange and inexplicable experience of the owl ? For though she is no whit wiser than the other birds nor more beautiful in appearance, but on the contrary only what we know her to be, yet whenever she utters her mournful and far from pleasing note, they all flock to her —yes, and even when they merely see her, some alighting near and others circling about her, the reason being, as it seems to me, that they look with scorn upon her insignificance and weakness ; and yet people in general say that the birds admire the owl.
[12,2] πῶς δὲ οὐ τὸν ταῶ μᾶλλον ὁρῶντα θαυμάζει, καλὸν οὕτω καὶ ποικίλον, ἔτι δὲ αὐτὸν ἐπαιρόμενον καὶ ἐπιδεικνύντα τὸ κάλλος τῶν πτερῶν, ὅταν ἁβρύνηται πρὸς τὴν θήλειαν, ἀνακλάσας τὴν οὐρὰν καὶ περιστήσας αὑτῷ πανταχόθεν ὥσπερ εὐειδὲς ἄντρον ἤ τινα γραφῇ μιμηθέντα οὐρανὸν ποικίλον ἄστροις, σύν γε τῷ λοιπῷ σώματι θαυμαστόν, ἐγγύτατα χρυσοῦ κυάνῳ κεκραμένου, καὶ δὴ ἐν ἄκροις τοῖς πτεροῖς οἷον ὀφθαλμῶν ἐνόντων ἤ τινων δακτυλίων τό τε σχῆμα καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην ὁμοιότητα;	[12,2] Surely, however, the birds ought rather to admire the peacock when they see him, beautiful and manycoloured as he is, and then again truly when he lifts himself up in pride and shows the beauty of his plumage, as he struts before his hen with his tall spread out and arched all about him like a fair-shaped theatre or some picture of the heavens studded with stars — a figure well deserving of admiration for the colouring also, which is nearest to gold blended with dark blue ; and then too on the tips of his feathers there are eyes, as it were, or markings like rings both in shape and in their general similitude.