ὡς τοίνυν ἐγενόμεθα ἐν τῇ Σμύρνῃ, φαίνεταί μοι ἐν τοιῷδέ τινι σχήματι. ἦν ἅμα μὲν Ἀσκληπιὸς, ἅμα δὲ Ἀπόλλων, ὅ τε δὴ Κλάριος καὶ ὁ καλλίτεκνος καλούμενος ἐν Περγάμῳ, οὗ ὁ πρῶτος ‖J295‖ τῶν ναῶν τῶν τριῶν ἐστιν. ἐν τούτῳ τῷ σχήματι στὰς ἔμπροσθεν τῆς εὐνῆς προβαλὼν τοὺς δακτύλους καὶ χρόνους τινὰς συλλογισάμενος, ἔχεις, ἔφη, δέκα ἔτη παρʼ ἐμοῦ καὶ τρία παρὰ τοῦ Σαράπιδος—καὶ ἅμα τὰ τρία καὶ δέκα ὡς ἑπτακαίδεκα ἐφάνη τῇ θέσει τῶν δακτύλων— ταῦτα δὲ εἶναι οὐκ ὄναρ, ἀλλʼ ὕπαρ, εἴσεσθαι δὲ καὶ αὐτόν. φέρε δὴ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀποδῶμεν λόγον, καὶ συνάψωμεν ὡς ἔσχε τὰ τῆς χρησμῳδίας τῆς περὶ τῶν ἐτῶν. ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἅπαντα τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ σώζων καὶ ἡμέραν ἐφʼ ἡμέρᾳ δωρούμενος, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ νῦν αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ σώζων, συνίσασιν ὅσοι καὶ μικρόν τι τῶν ἡμετέρων ἴσασιν. ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ διεγένετο χρόνος ὁ τῆς προρρήσεως, συνέβη τοιάδε. μικρὸν δὲ ἀναλήψομαι. ἔτυχον μὲν ὢν ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ κατὰ θέρους ἀκμὴν, νόσος δὲ κατέσχε λοιμώδης πάντας σχεδὸν τοὺς προσχώρους. τῶν δὲ οἰκετῶν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον δύο καὶ τρεῖς ἔκαμνον, ἔπειτα ἄλλος καὶ ἄλλος· ἔπειτʼ ἔκειντο ἅπαντες καὶ νεώτεροι καὶ πρεσβύτεροι· τελευταῖος δὲ ἐλήφθην ἐγώ. ἰατροὶ δὲ ἐφοίτων ἐξ ἄστεος καὶ τοῖς ἀκολούθοις αὐτῶν ἐχρώμεθα διακόνοις, οἱ δέ τινες καὶ αὐτοὶ προσεδρεύοντες ἀντὶ διακόνων ἦσαν. ἔκαμνε δὲ καὶ ὑποζύγια, καὶ εἴ που κινηθείη τις, εὐθὺς πρὸ θυρῶν ἔκειτο· ὥστε οὐδʼ ἂν πλῷ χρήσασθαι περὶ τῶν συμβαινόντων ἐξῆν ἔτι ῥᾳδίως. πάντα δʼ ἦν μεστὰ ἀθυμίας, οἰμωγῆς, στόνου, δυσκολίας ἁπάσης, ἦσαν δὲ κἀν τῇ πόλει νόσοι δειναί. τέως μὲν οὖν ἀντεῖχον οὐδὲν ἧττον τῆς τῶν ἄλλων σωτηρίας ἢ τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ προνοούμενος, ἔπειτα ἐπέτεινέ τε ἡ νόσος καὶ κατελήφθην ὑπὸ δεινοῦ πυρὸς χολῆς παντοίας, ἣ συνεχῶς νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν ἠνώχλει, καὶ τῆς τροφῆς ἀπεκεκλείμην καὶ ἡ δύναμις κατελέλυτο. καὶ οἱ ἰατροὶ ἀφίσταντο καὶ τελευτῶντες ἀπέγνωσαν παντάπασι, καὶ διηγγέλθη ὡς οἰχησομένου αὐτίκα. τὸ μέντοι τοῦ Ὁμήρου κἀν τούτοις εἶπες ἂν, τὸ νόος γε μὲν ἔμπεδος ἦεν. οὕτω παρηκολούθουν ἐμαυτῷ, ὥσπερ ἂν ἄλλῳ τινὶ, καὶ ᾐσθανόμην ὑπολείποντος ἀεὶ τοῦ σώματος, ἕως εἰς τοὔσχατον ἦλθον. τοιούτων δὲ ὄντων ἔτυχον μὲν εἰς τὸ εἴσω τετραμμένος τῆς κλίνης, ἔδοξα δὲ ὡς ὄναρ· αὐτὸ δὲ ἦν ἄρα ἡ λύσις· ‖J300‖ ἔδοξα δὲ καὶ δὴ ἐπὶ τέλει τοῦ δράματος εἶναι, καὶ τοὺς ἐμβάτας ἀποτίθεσθαι, καὶ τὰς κρηπῖδας μεταλήψεσθαι τοῦ πατρός. κἀν τούτοις ὄντα στρέφει μὲ ὁ σωτὴρ Ἀσκληπιὸς τὴν εἰς τὸ ἔξω στροφὴν ἐξαίφνης. ἔπειτα οὐ πολὺ ὕστερον ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ φαίνεται τήν τε αἰγίδα ἔχουσα καὶ τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ σύμπαν δὴ σχῆμα οἵα περ ἡ Ἀθήνησιν ἡ Φειδίου. ἀπῶζε δὲ καὶ τῆς αἰγίδος ὅτι ἥδιστον, καὶ ἦν κηρῷ τινι προσφερὴς, θαυμαστὴ καὶ αὕτη τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὸ μέγεθος. ἐφαίνετο μὲν δὴ μόνῳ στᾶσα καταντικρὺ καὶ ὅθεν αὐτὴν ὡς κάλλιστα ἔμελλεν ὄψεσθαι. ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπεδείκνυν καὶ τοῖς παροῦσι, δύο δʼ ἤστην τῶν φίλων καὶ τροφὸς, βοῶν καὶ ὀνομάζων τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν ὅτι ἑστήκοι τε αὕτη ἀπαντικρὺ καὶ διαλέγοιτο καὶ τὴν αἰγίδα ἀπεδείκνυν· οἱ δʼ οὐκ εἶχον ὅ τι χρήσοιντο, ἀλλʼ ἠπόρουν τε καὶ ἐδεδοίκεσαν μὴ παραληρῶν ἄρα τυγχάνω, πρίν γε δὴ τήν τε δύναμιν συνεώρων ἀναφερομένην καὶ τῶν λόγων ἤκουσαν ὧν ἤκουσα παρὰ τῆς θεοῦ. καὶ ἔστιν ἃ μέμνημαι τοιάδε. ἀνεμίμνησκέ με τῆς Ὀδυσσείας καὶ ἔφασκεν οὐ μύθους εἶναι ταῦτα, τεκμαίρεσθαι δὲ χρῆναι καὶ τοῖς παροῦσι. δεῖν οὖν καρτερεῖν, εἶναι δʼ αὐτὸν πάντως καὶ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα καὶ τὸν Τηλέμαχον καὶ δεῖν αὐτῷ βοηθεῖν· καὶ ἄλλα τοιουτότροπα ἤκουσα. οὕτως ἐφάνη τε ἡ θεὸς καὶ παρεμυθήσατο καὶ ἀνέσωσε καὶ δὴ κείμενον καὶ τῶν εἰς τὴν τελευτὴν οὐδενὸς ἔτι ἐλλείποντος. καὶ δῆτα εὐθύς με εἰσῆλθε κλύσματι χρήσασθαι μέλιτος Ἀττικοῦ, καὶ ἐγένετο κάθαρσις χολῆς. καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἧκεν ἰάματα καὶ τροφαί· πρῶτον μὲν ἧπαρ, οἶμαι, χηνὸς μετὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἀπόρρησιν πρὸς ἅπαντα τὰ σιτία· ἔπειτα ὑείου τι ὑπογαστρίου. ἔπειτʼ ἐκομίσθην εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐπʼ ὀχήματος καταστέγου καὶ μακροῦ, καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν οὕτω συνηγειρόμην μόλις τε καὶ χαλεπῶς, οὐ μέντοι πρότερόν γε ὁ πυρετὸς παντελῶς ἐξέλιπε πρὶν ἐτελεύτησέ μοι τῶν τροφίμων ὁ πλείστου ἄξιος. τῇ δʼ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ὡς ὕστερον ἔγνων, ἐκεῖνός τε ἐτεθνήκει καὶ ἡ νόσος ᾤχετο ἀπιοῦσα. οὕτω τόν τε ἄχρι ‖J301‖ τούτου χρόνον δωρεὰν ἔσχον παρὰ τῶν θεῶν καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ἀνεβίων ὑπὸ τοῖς θεοῖς καί τις οἷον ἀντίδοσις αὕτη συνέβη. μένοντι δέ μοι αὐτόθι ἡμέρας τινὰς ἀγγέλλεται ἡ τῆς τροφοῦ θυγάτηρ ἀσθενοῦσα καὶ ἔχουσα σφαλερῶς. κἀκείνῃ μὲν ἰατρὸν ἔπεμπον, αὐτὸς δὲ, ἐπειδὴ τάχιστα παρέσχεν, εἰχόμην τῆς ὁδοῦ. ἐπισχόντων δέ με κἀνταῦθα ὀνειράτων ἐπέμεινα. πρὸς δὲ τοῖς ἐπισχοῦσι καὶ τοιόνδε ἐγεγόνει. ἐδόκουν ἱερεῖόν τι τεθυκὼς ἐπισκοπεῖσθαι τόν τε δὴ θεὸν, οἶμαι, καλούμενον καὶ λυτῆρα, καί τινος τῶν μάντεων ἐπελθόντος πυνθάνεσθαι τί βούλοιτο ὁ λυτὴρ, πότερον καθάπαξ λύοι τι ἢ μικρότερον ἀντὶ μείζονος ποιοίη καὶ ἀναβολῆς εἴη σημεῖον. ὁ δʼ ἐῴκει οὐ πάνυ τι ἰσχυρότατα ἡγουμένῳ εἰς τὸ καθάπαξ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀέρας καὶ ἀστέρας καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ᾐτιᾶτο. κἀν τούτῳ ἠγγέλθη περὶ τῆς κόρης ὅτι εἴη τεθνεῶσα. εὐθὺς μὲν οὖν ἀκούσασιν ἐδόκει θεῖον εἶναι τὸ μὴ τυχεῖν παρόντα ἐμὲ τῇ συμφορᾷ, ἀλλὰ προεξελθεῖν· ἔτι δὲ σαφέστερον ἐκ τῶν ὕστερον χρησμῶν ἐγένετο ὡς οὐκ ἄνευ δαιμονίου τινὸς πᾶν τοῦτο συνέβη. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ κατέβην ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους δευτέρᾳ νυκτὶ ὕστερον, ὤφθη τοιάδε, ἔμεινα δὲ καὶ πλείους κατέχοντος τοῦ θεοῦ. Τελεσφόρος ἦν ὀρεωκόμος· οὗτος ἐδόκει μοι ὁρμηθεὶς αὐτόθεν βαδίζειν ὀπίσω, τὰ χρησθέντα ἐπὶ τῇ Φιλουμένῃ σημαίνων, τοῦτο γὰρ ὄνομα τῇ κόρῃ, κεχρῆσθαι δʼ αὐτὰ Ἀλκίμῳ πατρὶ τῆς κόρης, καὶ δὴ καὶ γράμματα ἔχειν, εἴτε δὴ σεσημασμένα εἴτε καὶ μή· ἃ τὸν Ἄλκιμον νύκτωρ ἀκούσαντα παρʼ αὐτῆς ἀπομνημονεύσαντα γράψασθαι, θαυμαστὰ πλήθει καὶ δυνάμει, φέροντα εἰς ἐμὲ, ὥστε ‖J352‖ θαυμάζειν ὅπως καὶ ἀπεμνημόνευσε. κεφάλαιον δʼ ἦν, ὡς ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ σώματι τῆς Φιλουμένης καὶ τοῖς ἐντὸς, ὥσπερ ἐν σπλάγχνοις ἱερείων, ἐγγεγραμμένου παντὸς τοῦ περὶ αὐτὴν πράγματος. οἱ δʼ οὖν χρησμοὶ τοιοῦτοί τινες ἦσαν. ἐνεγέγραπτο μὲν τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ἐμὸν οὑτωσὶ, Αἴλιος Ἀριστείδης· καὶ σχεδὸν ἐκ διαλειμμάτων ἄλλα καὶ ἄλλα ἐπίσημα τοῦ ὀνόματος· προσενεγέγραπτο δὲ Σωσιμένης καὶ ἕτερα τοιαῦτα σωτηρίαν ἐπαγγελλόμενα, καὶ ὅτι ἡ Φιλουμένη ψυχὴν ἀντὶ ψυχῆς καὶ σῶμα ἀντὶ σώματος ἀντέδωκε, τὰ αὑτῆς ἀντὶ τῶν ἐμῶν. καὶ τἄλλα εἰς ταυτὸν φέροντα ἐνῆν, ἅπαντα ἐν βιβλίοις τισὶν ἐγγεγραμμένα, ἃ πάντα γράψαντος τοῦ Ἀλκίμου ἐδόκει ἀποκομίζειν ὁ Τελεσφόρος οἴκαδε. ταύτης τῆς κόρης Ἑρμείας ἐκεῖνος ἀδελφὸς ἦν, ὃς ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ νόσῳ, ὅτε καὶ ἡ θεὸς ἐφάνη μοι, ἀπέθανε καὶ αὐτὸς σχεδὸν ὡς εἰπεῖν ἀντʼ ἐμοῦ. τῇ γὰρ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ὡς ὕστερον ἐπυθόμην, ἐκεῖνός τε ἐτελεύτα κἀγὼ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπηλλαττόμην καὶ πάνυ χρονισθέντος. ἄμφω δὲ ἤστην παῖδες ἐμῆς συντρόφου Καλλιτύχης. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τοσοῦτον.

When we reached Smyrna, the god appeared to me in this form. He was Asclepius and Apollo at once: both the Apollo of Claros and the one called "Blessed in His Children" at Pergamum, whose temple comes first of the three there. In this form he stood in front of my bed, held out his fingers, and counted up some spans of time. "You get ten years from me," he said, "and three from Sarapis." And as he spoke, the way his fingers were set made the thirteen look like seventeen. This, he said, was no dream but a waking vision, and I would see that for myself. Come, let me tell the whole story from the beginning, and show how the prophecy about the years came out. Anyone who knows even a little about my life knows that the god kept me alive all that time, giving me one day after another. Or rather, he keeps me alive even now. Even so, once the time set by the prophecy had run out, this is what happened. First, though, I must go back a little. At the height of summer I was staying at my house outside the city. A plague-like sickness took hold of almost everyone who lived nearby. At first two or three of the household slaves fell sick, then one after another, until all of them lay sick, young and old alike. Last of all, I was taken. Doctors came out from the city. We used their attendants as our servants, and some of the doctors themselves sat by us and did the servants' work. The pack animals fell sick too. If anyone so much as stirred, he soon lay collapsed at the door. As things stood, it was no longer easy to travel even by sea. The whole place was full of despair, wailing, groaning, and every kind of misery. In the city, too, there were terrible sicknesses. For a while I held out, caring for the others' safety as much as for my own. Then the sickness grew worse, and I was seized by a terrible fever and by bile of every kind, which tormented me night and day without a break. I could not take food, and my strength was gone. The doctors stepped back and finally gave up all hope, and word went out that I would die at any moment. Even then, you could have said of me what Homer said: "But his mind stayed steady." I watched myself as if I were watching someone else, and I could feel my body slipping away, little by little, until I reached the very end. Things stood like this when I happened to turn toward the wall. Then I had what seemed to be a dream, though in fact it was the turning point. I seemed to have come to the end of a play, and I was taking off my actor's boots and getting ready to put on my father's shoes. While I was in this state, Asclepius the Savior suddenly turned me over to face the room. Not long after, Athena appeared. She had her aegis, and in beauty, in size, and in her whole form she looked just like Phidias's Athena in Athens. A wonderful sweet scent came from the aegis. It had something of wax about it, and it, too, was a marvel of beauty and size. She appeared to me alone. She stood right in front of me, where I could see her at her most beautiful. I pointed her out to the people in the room, my nurse and two of my friends, shouting her name. I told them Athena was standing right in front of me and talking to me, and I pointed to her aegis. They were at a loss and feared I was raving—until they saw my strength coming back and heard the words I had heard from the goddess. Here is part of what I remember. She reminded me of Homer's Odyssey. She said its stories were not just tales, and that I should judge them by what was happening to me now. So I must hold on. I was both Odysseus and Telemachus, she said, and she had to help me. I heard other things like this. This is how the goddess appeared to me, comforted me, and saved me, as I lay there with nothing left between me and death. At once I thought of an enema made with Attic honey, and it purged the bile from my body. After that came cures and food. First, I think, came goose liver, after I had turned away from all food for so long. Then came some pork belly. Later, a long covered wagon carried me into the city, and little by little, slowly and with great effort, I got back on my feet. But the fever did not leave me completely until the dearest of my foster-children had died. On that same day, as I learned later, he died and the sickness left me. So I had held the years up to that point as a gift from the gods, and after that I lived again in their keeping. It was a kind of exchange. After I had stayed there a few days, word came that my foster-sister's daughter was sick and in danger. I sent her a doctor, and as soon as I could, I set out on my journey myself. Here, too, dreams held me back, so I stayed. And besides those dreams, something else had happened. I dreamed I had sacrificed an animal and was inspecting the part of it called, I think, "the god" and also "the Releaser." One of the seers came up, and I asked what the Releaser meant. Would it release something for good? Or would it take something smaller in place of something greater, as a sign of delay? The seer did not seem to lean strongly toward "for good." Instead, he blamed the air and the stars and things like that. Just then the news came that the girl was dead. As soon as we heard it, it seemed to be the gods' doing that I had not been there for the disaster but had left ahead of time. Later oracles made it even clearer that all of this happened by some divine power. Two nights after I came down from the mountain, I had the following vision. (I stayed on for several more days, because the god kept me there.) A mule driver named Telesphorus seemed to have set out from there and to be on his way back. He brought news of the oracles given about Philumene (that was the girl's name). The oracles, he said, had come to her father, Alcimus, and Telesphorus seemed to carry written pages, sealed or not. Alcimus had heard these things from her at night, remembered them, and written them down. They were astonishing in number and power, and they all pointed to me. I marveled that he had been able to remember them at all. The main point was this: the whole story about her was written in Philumene's own body and in her insides, just as signs are written in the entrails of sacrificed animals. Anyway, the oracles went something like this. My name was written in full: Aelius Aristides. Here and there, at intervals, other titles were added to my name. The name Sosimenes was written there too, with other words like it that promised safety. And it said that Philumene had given a life for a life, a body for a body: she gave hers in place of mine. Other things pointing the same way were there too, all written in certain books. Alcimus had written them all down, and Telesphorus seemed to be carrying them home. This girl's brother was the Hermias who died during the great sickness, when the goddess appeared to me. He too died, one might almost say, in my place. He died, I learned afterward, on the very day I was freed from a fever that had lasted a very long time. Both were children of Callityche, my foster-sister. So much for that.