[12,83] οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸν Ἥφαιστον Ὅμηρος ἐν ἄλλοις πεποίηκεν ἐπιδεικνύμενον τὴν ἐμπειρίαν, ἀλλὰ τεχνίτην μὲν θεὸν εὐπόρησεν ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς ἀσπίδος ἔργον, ὕλην δὲ ἑτέραν οὐκ ἐφίκετο εὑρεῖν. φησὶ γὰρ οὕτω· χαλκὸν δ´ ἐν πυρὶ βάλλεν ἀτειρέα κασσίτερόν τε καὶ χρυσὸν τιμῆντα καὶ ἄργυρον. ἀνθρώπων μὲν οὖν ἔγωγε οὐδενὶ παραχωρήσαιμ´ ἂν κρείττονα ἐμοῦ ποτε γενέσθαι περὶ τὴν τέχνην, αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ Διί, δημιουργοῦντι τὸν ἅπαντα κόσμον οὐ χρὴ ξυμβάλλειν οὐδένα θνητόν.

[12,83] Indeed, not even Hephaestus did Homer represent as showing his skill in other materials, but while he furnished a god as the craftsman for the making of the shield, he did not succeed in finding any different sort of material for it. For he speaks as follows : "The stubborn brass, and tin, and precious gold, And silver, first he melted in the fire" ; nay, I will not concede to any man that there ever has been a better sculptor than I, but to Zeus, who fashioned the whole universe, it is not right to compare any mortal."

[12,84] ταῦτ´ οὖν εἰπόντα καὶ ἀπολογησάμενον τὸν Φειδίαν εἰκότως ἐμοὶ δοκοῦσιν οἱ Ἕλληνες στεφανῶσαι ἄν. {ἴσως δὲ τοὺς πολλοὺς λέληθεν ὁ λόγος ὑπὲρ ὧν γέγονε, καὶ μάλα, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν, φιλοσόφοις τε ἁρμόττων καὶ πλήθει ἀκοῦσαι, περί τε ἀγαλμάτων ἱδρύσεως, ὅπως δεῖ ἱδρῦσθαι, καὶ περὶ ποιητῶν ὅπως, ἄμεινον ἢ χεῖρον διανοοῦνται περὶ τῶν θείων, ἔτι δὲ περὶ τῆς πρώτης ἐπινοίας θεοῦ, ποία τις καὶ τίνα τρόπον ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐγένετο. πολλὰ δὲ οἶμαι καὶ περὶ δυνάμεως ἐρρήθη τοῦ Διὸς κατὰ τὰς ἐπωνυμίας. εἰ δὲ μετ´ εὐφημίας τοῦ τε ἀγάλματος καὶ τῶν ἱδρυσαμένων, πολὺ ἄμεινον.}

[12,84] So if Pheidias had laid these things in his defence, I believe that the assembled Hellenes would have been justified in conferring a crown upon him. But perhaps the majority of my hearers have falled to notice the several topics of my address, although, in my opinion, it has been quite as suitable for the multitude as for the philosophers to hear. It has dealt with the dedication of statues, how it should best be done, and with the poets, as to whether their conceptions of the gods are better or inferior, and also with the first conception of God, what it was and how it came into existence among men. And much too, I believe, was said about the power of Zeus and about his titles. If this was accompanied by a eulogy of the statue and of those who dedicated it, so much the better.