[12,49] εἰ γάρ τις Φειδίαν πρῶτον ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εὐθύνοι, τὸν σοφὸν τοῦτον καὶ δαιμόνιον ἐργάτην τοῦ σεμνοῦ καὶ παγκάλου δημιουργήματος, καθίσας δικαστὰς τοὺς βραβεύοντας τῷ θεῷ τὸν ἀγῶνα, μᾶλλον δὲ κοινὸν δικαστήριον ξυμπάντων Πελοποννησίων, ἔτι δὲ Βοιωτῶν καὶ Ἰώνων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων τῶν πανταχοῦ κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν, οὐ τῶν χρημάτων λόγον ἀπαιτῶν οὐδὲ τῆς περὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα δαπάνης, ὁπόσων χρυσὸς ὠνήθη ταλάντων καὶ ἐλέφας, ἔτι δὲ κυπάριττος καὶ θύον πρὸς τὴν ἐντὸς ἐργασίαν μόνιμος ὕλη καὶ ἀδιάφθορος, τροφῆς τε καὶ μισθῶν ἀναλώματος τοῖς ἐργασαμένοις οὐκ ὀλίγοις οὐδὲ ὀλίγον χρόνον ἄλλοις τε οὐ φαύλοις δημιουργοῖς καὶ τὸν πλεῖστον {καὶ τελεώτατον} μισθὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς τέχνης Φειδίᾳ·

[12,49] Suppose, for instance, that someone were to take Pheidias first and question him before the tribunal of the Hellenes, Pheidias, that wise and divinely-inspired creator of this awe-inspiring masterpiece of surpassing beauty, and should appoint as judges the men who are directing this contest in honour of the god, or better, a general court of all the Peloponnesians and of the Boeotians, too, and Ionians and of the other Hellenes, wherever they are to be found in Asia as well as in Europe, and then suppose they should demand an accounting, not of the monies or of the sum spent on the statue—the number of talents paid for gold and ivory, and for cypress and citronwood, which are durable and indestructible timber for the interior work, or of the expenditure for the maintenance and wages of the workmen, who were not few in number and worked for so long a time, the wages not only of the men in general, who were no mean artisans, but of Pheidias also, to whom went the greatest and fullest reward on account of his artistic skill—of these items, I say, it was fitting that the Eleans, who poured out their money so lavishly and magnificently, should have called for a reckoning ;

[12,50] ταῦτα μὲν γὰρ Ἠλείοις προσήκοντα λογίσασθαι τοῖς ἀναλώσασιν ἀφθόνως καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῶς· ἡμεῖς δὲ ὑπὲρ ἄλλου φήσομεν τῷ Φειδίᾳ προκεῖσθαι τὸν ἀγῶνα· εἰ οὖν δὴ λέγοι τις πρὸς αὐτόν, Ὦ βέλτιστε καὶ ἄριστε τῶν δημιουργῶν, ὡς μὲν ἡδὺ καὶ προσφιλὲς ὅραμα καὶ τέρψιν ἀμήχανον θέας εἰργάσω πᾶσιν Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις, ὅσοι ποτὲ δεῦρο ἀφίκοντο πολλοὶ πολλάκις, οὐδεὶς ἀντερεῖ.

[12,50] but as for us, we shall maintain that it is for something else that Pheidias must submit to trial. Suppose, then, that someone should actually say to him : "O best and noblest of artists, how charming and pleasing a spectacle you have wrought, and a vision of infinite delight for the benefit of all men, both Greeks and barbarians, who have ever come here, as they have come in great throngs and time after time, no one will gainsay.