Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.7.1 · 1.7.1
The fathers puzzle over the oracle
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Ταῦτα ὡς ἐκομίσθη τὰ μαντεύματα εἰς Ἔφεσον, εὐθὺς μὲν οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν ἦσαν ἐν ἀμηχανίᾳ καὶ τὸ δεινὸν ὅ τι ἦν πάνυ ἠπόρουν· συμβάλλειν δὲ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγια οὐκ ἐδύναντο· οὔτε γὰρ τίς ἡ νόσος οὔτε τίς ἡ φυγή, οὔτε τίνα τὰ δεσμὰ οὔτε ὁ τάφος τίς οὔτε ὁ ποταμὸς τίς οὔτε τίς ἡ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ βοήθεια.
When these oracles were brought to Ephesus, their fathers were immediately at a loss, utterly baffled as to what the danger was. They could not interpret the god's words, for they could not tell what the sickness was, or the flight, or the bonds, or the tomb, or the river, or the help from the god.
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The setting
Book 1, chapter 7. The envoys bring Apollo's answer back from Colophon to the two families in Ephesus.
A note on this passage
The fathers' questions follow the oracle's verses in order: the sickness, the flight over the sea, the bonds, the tomb, the river Nile, and Isis, whom the verses call "savior" (1.6.2). The rest of the book answers them one by one. When the Nile puts out the fire lit under Habrocomes in Book 4, the onlookers tell of "the help of the Nile," τὴν τοῦ Νείλου βοήθειαν, with the word the fathers use here (4.2.9).
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