skill, do you think that in justice such a one ought to receive no higher praise than Pericles? And shall we not hold in higher honour her character and that authority which enables her to do what she will, since what she wills is the good of all? For this I make the sum and substance of my whole encomium, though I do not lack other narratives such as are commonly held to be marvellous and splendid.) Εἰ γὰρ δή τις τὴν περὶ τῶν ἄλλων σιωπὴν ὑποπτεύσειεν ὡς ματαίαν οὖσαν προσποίησιν καὶ ἀλαζονείαν κενὴν καὶ αὐθάδη, οὔτι που καὶ τὴν ἔναγχος ἐπιδημίαν γενομένην αὐτῇ τὴν εις τὴν Ῥώμην, [C] ὁπότε ἐστρατεύετο βασιλεὺς ζεύγμασι καὶ ναυσὶ τὸν Ῥῆνον διαβὰς ἄγχου τῶν Γαλατίας ὁρίων, ψευδῆ καὶ πεπλασμένην ἄλλως ὑποπτεύσει. ἐξῆν δὴ οὖν, ὡς εἰκός, διηγουμένῳ ταῦτα τοῦ δήμου μεμνῆσθαι καὶ τῆς γερουσίας, ὅπως αὐτὴν ὑπεδέχετο σὺν χαρμονῇ, προθύμως ὑπαντῶντες καὶ δεξιούμενοι καθάπερ νόμος βασιλίδα, καὶ τῶν ἀναλωμάτων τὸ μέγεθος, ὡς ἐλευθέριον καὶ μεγαλοπρεπές, καὶ τῆς παρασκευῆς τὴν πολυτέλειαν, ὁπόσα τε ἔνειμε τῶν φυλῶν [D] τοῖς ἐπιστάταις καὶ ἑκατοντάρχαις τοῦ πλήθους ἀπαριθμήσασθαι. ἀλλ᾽ ἔμοιγε τῶν τοιούτων οὔτε ἔδοξέ ποτε ζηλωτὸν οὐδέν, οὔτε ἐπαινεῖν ἐθέλω πρὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν πλοῦτον. καίτοι με(607) οὐ λέληθεν ἡ τῶν χρημάτων ἐλευθέριος δαπάνη μετέχουσά τινος ἀρετῆς· ἀλλ᾽ οἶμαι κρεῖττον ἐπιείκειαν καὶ σωφροσύνην καὶ φρόνησιν καὶ ὅσα δὴ ἄλλα περὶ αὐτῆς λέγων πολλοὺς μὲν καὶ ἄλλους, [130] ἀτὰρ δὴ καὶ ἐμαυτὸν ὑμῖν καὶ τὰ ἐπ᾽ ἐμοὶ πραχθέντα παρεῖχον μάρτυρα. εἰ δὴ οὖν καὶ ἄλλοι τὴν ἐμὴν εὐγνωμοσύνην ζηλοῦν ἐπιχειρήσειαν, πολλοὺς ἔχει τε ἤδη καὶ ἕξει τοὺς ἐπαινέτας. (For if anyone should suspect that my silence about the rest is vain affectation and empty and insolent pretension, this at least he will not suspect, that the visit which she lately made to Rome,(608) when the Emperor was on his campaign and had crossed the Rhine by bridges of boats near the frontiers of Galatia, is a false and vain invention. I could indeed very properly have given an account of this visit, and described how the people and the senate welcomed her with rejoicings and went to meet her with enthusiasm, and received her as is their custom to receive an Empress, and told the amount of the expenditure, how generous and splendid it was, and the costliness of the preparations, and reckoned up the sums she distributed to the presidents of the tribes and the centurions of the people. But nothing of that sort has ever seemed to me worth while, nor do I wish to praise wealth before virtue. And yet I am aware that the generous spending of money implies a sort of virtue. Nevertheless I rate more highly goodness and temperance and wisdom and all those other qualities of hers that I have described, bringing before you as witnesses not only many others but myself as well and all that she did for me. Now if only others also try to emulate my proper feeling, there are and there will be many to sing her praises.) ORATION IV Introduction To Oration IV