Laudator Temporis Acti

Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 41.1411 (oracle of Apollo of Claros to the people of Syedra, with modified apparatus), tr. Philip de Souza, "Romans and Pirates in a Late Hellenistic Oracle from Pamphylia," Classical Quarterly 47.2 (1997) 477-481 (at 477):

The Pamphylians of Syedra, who share common lands, living on the fertile land of mixed peoples, offer a sacrifice, setting up on the summit of the city an image of Ares the bloodstained slayer of men, held in the iron chains of Hermes. On his other side may Justice, laying down the law, give judgement upon him. And may he become like one who begs. For, in this way, he will be at peace with you, driving the hostile horde far away from the fatherland, and he will call forth the prosperity you have greatly implored. And, in addition, you should take up the fierce battle, either driving away, or binding in unbreakable chains, and do not, through fear, pay a terrible penalty because of the pirates, in this way you will certainly escape all punishment.

Πάμφυλοι Συεδρῆες ἐπιξύν[ῳ ἐν ἀρούρῃ]
ναίοντες χθόνα παμμιγέων ἐ[ριβώλ]ακα φωτῶν,
Ἄρηος δείκηλον ἐναιμέος ἀνδροφόνοιο
στήσαντες μεσάτῳ πόλιος [π]α[ρ]ὰ ἔρδετε θύσθλα,
δεσμοῖς Ἑρμείαο σιδηρείοις μιν ἔχοντ&ltlο>ς·        5
ἐγ δ' ἑτέροιο Δίκη σφε θεμιστεύουσα δικάζ[οι]·
αὐτὰρ ὁ λισσομένῳ ἴκελος πέλοι· ὧδε γ[ὰρ ὑ]μεῖν
ἔσσεται εἰρηναῖος, ἀνάρσιον ὄχλον ἐ[λά]σσας
τῆλε πάτρης, ὄρσει δὲ πολύλλιτον εὐοχθείαν·
σὺν δὲ καὶ ὑμέες ἅπτεσθαι κρατεροῖο [π]όν[οι]ο,        10
ἢ σεύοντες ἢ ἐν δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις πε[δ]όω[ντες],
μηδ' ὄκνῳ δόμεναι ληιστήρων τίσ[ι]ν αἰν[ήν]·
οὕτω γὰρ μάλα πᾶσαν ὑπεγδύσε[σθε κ]όλο[υσιν].

1 ἐπιξύν[ῳ ἐν ἀρούρῃ] Louis Robert: ἐπίξυν[ον πάτριόν τε] George Ewart Bean et Terence Bruce Mitford
2 ἐ[ριβώλ]ακα Egon Maróti: ἐ[πιδείγμ]ατα Franciszek Sokolowski
3 [κ]α[λ]ά, Sokolowski
5 ἔχοντος Robert: ἔχοντες lapis

Christopher A. Faraone, The Transformation of Greek Amulets in Roman Imperial Times (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), pp. 112-113, with notes on p. 343:

In a hexametrical oracle issued in the imperial era, for example, Apollo advises the people of Syedra to stop the incessant attacks of pirates or brigands by setting up "an image of Ares, the blood-stained slayer of men, in the midst of your town and perform sacrifices beside it, while holding him in the iron bonds of Hermes.²⁹ On the other side let Dike ("Justice") giving sentence judge him, while he himself is like to one pleading." This image, the oracle predicts, will force Ares to march his "unholy mob" far from the city and to be peacefully disposed to the city.³⁰ We are to imagine, in short, a statue group of Ares bound before the triumphant figure of Dike, who stands over him in a threatening pose.³¹ It is clear, in short, that scene itself is expected to restrain and humble the hostile force of the pirates in some "persuasively" magical way. This image is not an apotropaic device placed at an entranceway to frighten away disease or danger. It is set up "in the midst" of their town and works at a more abstract level by the process of persuasive analogy: the image of Ares bound is understood to bind the brigands themselves and make them subservient to Dike, who is here probably understood as the forces of law and order.³²

29. It is unclear why these bonds are said to be "of Hermes." Sokolowski (1966) imagines a three-person scene, but it is unclear what role Hermes would play in such a scene or where he would stand. For the binding of images of Ares in Boeotia and Thrace with the goal of preventing armed invasion; see Faraone (1992b) 74-78.

30. Sokolowski (1966); for the date, see Maroti (1968).

31. Faraone (1992b) 77-78.

32. Images of Ares bound or incarcerated were also deployed by themselves in this period as amulets to avert military invasion, but because they do not depict the agent of the binding, they do not constitute a two-figured scene. See Faraone (1992b) 74-78 for a full discussion.

In n. 29 Faraone wonders "what role Hermes would play in such a scene or where he would stand." The answer appears on some coins representing Ares bound, between Justice and Hermes, as described in the inscription: Fritz Graf, "The Oracle and the Image. Returning to Some Oracles from Clarus," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 160 (2007) 113-119 (at 116, after quoting lines 2-6 of the inscription):

This is a group of three statues — a bound Ares, with Hermes on one side and Dike on the other. The group is know from Syedrian coins, from Lucius Verus (ruled A.D. 161-169) to Gallienus (ruled A.D. 260-268): its erection thus precedes Lucius Verus, and the Syedrians were proud of it: in the second and third centuries A.D., many cities put images of famous statues on their coins, as part of the Hellenic self-definition from a glorious cultural past¹⁸.

¹⁸ Léon Lacroix, Les reproductions de statues sur les monnaies grecques (Liège, 1949).