τις τὸν πορθμὸν τὸν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν πλέων καὶ οὐδὲ τοῦτον ῥᾳδίως οὐδὲ εὐκόλως
ὑφιστάμενος ἀκούοι παρά του μαντικὴν ἐπαγγελλομένου τέχνην, [D] ὡς χρεὼν
αὐτὸν τὸν Αἰγαῖον ἀναμετρῆσαι καὶ τὸν Ἰόνιον καὶ τῆς ἔξω θαλάσσης ἅψασθαι,
καὶ “Νῦν μὲν” ὁρᾷς ὁ προφήτης λέγοι “τείχη καὶ λιμένας, ἐκεῖ δὲ γενόμενος
οὐδὲ σκοπιὰν οὐδὲ πέτραν ὄψει, ἀλλ᾽ ἀγαπήσεις καὶ ναῦν πόρρωθεν κατιδὼν
προσειπεῖν τοὺς ἐμπλέοντας, καὶ τῆς γῆς ὀψέ ποτε ἁψάμενος, τῷ θεῷ πολλάκις
προσεύξῃ, πρὸς αὐτῷ γοῦν τῷ τέλει τοῦ βίου τυχεῖν [255] ὅρμου καὶ τήν τε
ναῦν σώαν παραδοῦναι καὶ τοὺς ἐμπλέοντας ἀπαθεῖς τοῖς οἰκείοις κακῶν
παραστῆσαι καὶ τὸ σῶμα τῇ μητρὶ γῇ δοῦναι, τοῦτο δὲ ἐσόμενον ἴσως ἄδηλον
ἔσται σοι μέχρι τῆς τελευταίας ἐκείνης ἡμέρας·” ἆρ᾽ οἴει τούτων ἀκούσαντα
τῶν λόγων ἐκεῖνον πόλιν γ᾽ ἂν(374) οἰκεῖν ἑλέσθαι πλησίον θαλάσσης, οὐχὶ
δὲ χαίρειν εἰπόντα πλούτῳ καὶ τοῖς ἐξ ἐμπορίας ἀγαθοῖς περιγιγνομένοις,
γνωρέμων πολλῶν, ξενικῆς φιλίας, [B] ἱστορίας ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων ὑπεριδόντα
σοφὸν ἀποφαίνειν τὸν τοῦ Νεοκλέους, ὃς κελεύει λαθεῖν βιώσαντα; καὶ σὺ δὲ
ἕοικας τοῦτο καταμαθὼν προκαταλαμβάνειν ἡμᾶς ταῖς εἰς τὸν Ἐπίκουρον
λοιδορίαις καὶ προεξαιρεῖν τὴν τοιαύτην γνώμην. φὴς γάρ που σχολὴν
ἐπαινεῖν ἀπράγμονα καὶ διαλέξεις ἐν περιπάτοις προσήκειν ἐκείνῳ· [C] ἐγὲ
δὲ ὅτι μὲν οὐ καλῶς Ἐπικούρῳ ταῦτα ἐδόκει, πάλαι καὶ σφόδρα πείθομαι· εἰ
δὲ πάνθ᾽ ὁντινοῦν ἐπὶ πολιτείαν προτρέπειν ἄξιον, καὶ τὸν ἧττον πεφυκότα
καὶ τὸν οὔπω τελέως δυνάμενον, ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἴσως διαπορῆσαι χρή. λέγουσι
γάρ τοι καὶ τὸν Σωκράτη πολλοὺς μὲν οὐ σφόδρα εὐφυῶς(375) ἔχοντας
ἀπαγαγεῖν τοῦ βήματος, καὶ Γλαύκωνα ἐκεῖνον, Ξενοφῶν λέγει· τὸν δὲ(376)
τοῦ Κλεινίου παῖδα πειραθῆναι μὲν ἐπισχεῖν, [D] οὐ δυνηθῆναι δὲ
περιγενέσθαι τοῦ νεανίσκου τῆς ὁρμῆς. ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ ἄκοντας καὶ ξυνιέντας
αὑτῶν προσαναγκάσομεν, θαρρεῖν ὑπὲρ τηλικούτων ἔργων κελεύοντες, ὧν οὐκ
ἀρετὴ μόνον ἐστὶν οὐδὲ προαίρεσις ὀρθὴ κυρία, πολὺ δὲ πλέον ἡ τύχη
κρατοῦσα πανταχοῦ καὶ βιαζομένη ῥέπειν ᾗπερ ἂν ἐθέλῃ τὰ πράγματα;
Χρύσιππος δὲ δοκεῦ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα σοφὸς εἶναι καὶ νομισθῆναι δικαίως,
ἀγνοήσας δὲ τὴν τύχην καὶ τὸ αὐτόματον καί τινας ἄλλας αἰτίας [256]
τοιαύτας ἔξωθεν τοῖς πρακτικοῖς παρεμπιπτούσας οὐ σφόδρα ὁμολογούμενα
λέγειν οἷς ὁ χρόνος ἡμᾶς διὰ μυρίων ἐναργῶς διδάσκει παραδειγμάτων. ποῦ
γὰρ εὐτυχῆ καὶ μακάριον Κάτωνα φήσομεν; ποῦ δὲ Δίωνα τὸν Σικελιώτην
εὐδαίμονα; οἷς τοῦ μὲν ἀποθανεῖν ἔμελεν ἴσως οὐδέν, τοῦ δὲ μὴ λείπειν
ἀτελεῖς τὰς πράξεις, ἐφ᾽ ἃς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὥρμησαν, [B] καὶ σφόδρα ἔμελε, καὶ
πάντα ἂν εἵλοντο παθεῖν ὑπὲρ τούτου. σφαλέντες δὲ ἐν ἐκείνοις εἰ μὲν
εὐσχημόνως ἔφερον, ὥσπερ οὖν λέγεται, τὴν τύχην παραμυθίαν ἔσχον ἐκ τῆς
ἀρετῆς οὐ μικράν, εὐδαίμονες δὲ οὐκ ἂν λέγοιντο τῶν καλλίστων πράξεων
διημαρτηκότες, πλὴν ἴσως διὰ τὴν Στωικὴν ἔνστασιν· πρὸς ἣν ῥητέον, ὡς οὐ
ταὐτόν ἐστιν ἐπαινεῖσθα καὶ μακαρίζεσθαι, καὶ εἰ φύσει τὸ ζῷον εὐδαιμονίας
ὀρέγεται, [C] κρεῖττον εἶναι τὸ κατ᾽ ἐκείνην μακαριστὸν τέλος τοῦ κατ᾽
ἀρετὴν ἐπαινετοῦ. ἥκιστα δὲ φιλεῖ τῆς εὐδαιμονίας ἡ βεβαιότης τῇ τύχῃ
πιστεύειν. καὶ τοὺς ἐν πολιτείᾳ ζῶντας οὐκ ἔνεστιν ἔνευ ταύτης ἀναπνεῖν τὸ
δὴ λεγόμενον ...(377) ἀληθῶς θεωροῦντες εἴτε καὶ πεποιήκασι καὶ στρατηγὸν
λόγῳ(378), καθάπερ οἱ τὰς ἰδέας εἴτε καὶ ψευδῶς ξυντιθέντες, ἐν τοῖς
ἀσωμάτοις καὶ νοητοῖς ἱδρῦσθαί που τῶν τυχαίων ὑπεράνω πάντων, ἢ τὸν
Διογένους ἐκεῖνον
(But your method is more likely to discourage than to make one eager for
such an existence. Suppose that a man were navigating your strait,(379)
and were finding even that none too easy or safe, and then suppose some
professional soothsayer should tell him that he would have to traverse the
Aegaean and then the Ionian Sea, and finally embark on the outer sea.
“Here,” that prophet would say, “you see towns and harbours, but when you
arrive there you will see not so much as a watch‐tower or a rock, but you
will be thankful to descry even a ship in the distance and to hail her
crew. You will often pray to God that you may, however late, touch land
and reach a harbour, though that were to be the last day of your life. You
will pray to be allowed to bring home your ship safe and sound and restore
your crew unscathed to their friends, and then to commit your body to
mother earth. And this indeed may happen, but you will not be sure of it
until that final day.” Do you think that such a man after being told all
this would choose even to live in a sea‐port town? Would he not bid adieu
to money‐making and all the advantages of commerce, and caring little for
troops of friends and acquaintances abroad, and all that he might learn
about nations and cities, would he not approve the wisdom of the son of
Neocles(380) who bids us “Live in obscurity”? Indeed, you apparently
perceived this, and by your abuse of Epicurus you tried to forestall me
and to eradicate beforehand any such purpose. For you go on to say that it
was to be expected that so idle a man as he should commend leisure and
conversations during walks. Now for my part I have long been firmly
convinced that Epicurus was mistaken in that view of his, but whether it
be proper to urge into public life any and every man, both him who lacks
natural abilities and him who is not yet completely equipped, is a point
that deserves the most careful consideration. We are told that Socrates
dissuaded from the statesman’s profession(381) many who had no great
natural talent, and Glaucon too, Xenophon(382) tells us; and that he tried
to restrain the son of Cleinias(383) also, but could not curb the youth’s
impetuous ambition. Then shall we try to force into that career men who
are reluctant and conscious of their deficiencies, and urge them to be
self‐confident about such great tasks? For in such matters not virtue
alone or a wise policy is paramount, but to a far greater degree Fortune
holds sway throughout and compels events to incline as she wills.
Chrysippus(384) indeed, though in other respects he seems a wise man and
to have been rightly so esteemed, yet in ignoring fortune and chance and
all other such external causes that fall in to block the path of men of
affairs, he uttered paradoxes wholly at variance with facts about which
the past teaches us clearly by countless examples. For instance, shall we
call Cato a fortunate and happy man? Or shall we say that Dio of Sicily
had a happy lot? It is true that for death they probably cared nothing,
but they did care greatly about not leaving unfinished the undertakings
which they had originally set on foot, and to secure that end there is
nothing that they would not have endured. In that they were disappointed,
and I admit that they bore their lot with great dignity, as we learn, and
derived no small consolation from their virtue; but happy one could not
call them, seeing that they had failed in all those noble enterprises,
unless perhaps according to the Stoic conception of happiness. And with
regard to that same Stoic conception we must admit that to be applauded
and to be counted happy are two very different things, and that if every
living thing naturally desires happiness,(385) it is better to make it our
aim to be congratulated on the score of happiness rather than to be
applauded on the score of virtue. But happiness that depends on the
chances of Fortune is very rarely secure. And yet men who are engaged in
public life cannot, as the saying is, so much as breathe unless she is on
their side ... and they have created a merely verbal idea of a leader who
is established somewhere above all the chances of Fortune in the sphere of
things incorporeal and intelligible, just as men define the ideas, whether
envisaging them truly or falsely imagining them. Or again they give us the
ideal man, according to Diogenes)
Ἄπολιν, [D] ἄοικον, πατρίδος ἐστερημένον,
(“The man without a city, without a home, bereft of a
fatherland,”(386))
οὐκ ἔχοντα μὲν εἰς ὅ,τι παρ᾽ αὐτῆς εὖ πάθῃ καὶ τοὐναντίον ἐν τίνι σφαλῇ·
τοῦτον δὲ ὃν ἡ συνήθεια καλεῖν εἴωθε καὶ Ὅμηρος πρῶτος,
(that is to say, a man who can gain nothing from Fortune, and on the other
hand has nothing to lose. But one whom we are in the habit of calling, as
Homer did first,)
Ὧι λαοί τ᾽ ἐπιτετράφαται καὶ τόσσα μέμηλεν,
(“The man to whom the people have been entrusted and so many cares
belong,”(387))
πῶς ἄν τις ἔξω τύχης ἀπαγαγὼν τὴν θέσιν φύλάσσοι; πάλιν [257] δ᾽ ὁ αὑτὸν
ὑποτιθεὶς ταύτῃ πόσης αὑτῷ δεῖν οἰήσεται παρασκευῆς(388) καὶ φρονήσεως
πηλίκης ὥστε τὰς ἐφ᾽ ἑκάτερα ῥοπάς, καθάπερ πνεύματος κυβερνήτην,
εὐσχημόνως φέρειν;
(how I ask shall we lead him beyond the reach of Fortune and keep his
position secure? Then again, if he subject himself to Fortune, how great
the provision he will think he must make, how great the prudence he must
display so as to sustain with equanimity her variations in either
direction, as a pilot must sustain the variations of the wind!)
Οὐκ ἔστι θαυμαστὸν ἀντιτάξασθαι προσπολεμούσῃ μόνον αὐτῇ, πολὺ δὲ
θαυμασιώτερον(389) τῶν ὑπαρξάντων παρ᾽ αὐτῆς ἀγαθῶν ἄξιον φανῆναι. τούτοις
ὁ μέγιστος ἑάλω βασιλεὺς ὁ τὴν Ἀσίαν καταστρεψάμενος [B] Δαρείου καὶ
Ξέρξου χαλεπώτερος καὶ μᾶλλον ἀλαζὼν φανείς, ἐπειδὴ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀρχῆς
κατέστη κύριος, τούτοις ἁλόντες τοῖς βέλεσιν ἄρδην ἀπώλοντο Πέρσαι,
Μακεδόνες, ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων δῆμος, Συρακούσιοι, τὰ Λακεδαιμωνίων τέλη,
Ῥωμαίων στρατηγοὶ καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς αὐτοκράτορες μυρίοι. πολὺ μῆκος ἂν
γένοιτο πάντας ἀπαριθμουμένῳ τοὺς διὰ πλοῦτον καὶ νίκας καὶ τρυφὴν
ἀπολομένους· ὅσοι δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν δυσπραγιῶν ἐπικλυσθέντες δοῦλοι [C] μὲν ἀντ᾽
ἐλευθέρων, ταπεινοὶ δὲ ἀντὶ γενναίων καὶ σφόδρα εὐτελεῖς ἀντὶ τῶν πρόσθεν
σεμνῶν ἅπασιν ὤφθησαν, τί με χρὴ νῦν ὥσπερ ἐκ δέλτου μεταγράφοντα
καταλέγειν; εἰ γὰρ ὤφελεν ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίος ἀπορεῖν παραδειγμάτων
τοιούτων. ἀλλ᾽ οὔτε ἐστὶν οὔτ᾽ ἂν γένοιτό ποτε τῶν τοιούτων ἐνδεὴς
παραδειγμάτων, ἕως ἂν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων διαμένῃ γένος.
(Yet it is nothing wonderful to withstand Fortune when she is merely
hostile, but much more wonderful is it to show oneself worthy of the
favours she bestows. By her favours the greatest of kings, the
conqueror(390) of Asia was ensnared, and showed himself more cruel and
more insolent than Darius and Xerxes, after he had become the master of
their empire. The shafts of her favours subdued and utterly destroyed the
Persians, the Macedonians, the Athenian nation, Spartan magistrates, Roman
generals, and countless absolute monarchs besides. It would be an endless
business to enumerate all who have fallen victims to their wealth and
victories and luxury. And as for those who, submerged by the tide of their
misfortunes, from free men have become slaves, who have been humbled from
their high estate after all their splendour and become poor and mean in
the eyes of all men, what need now to go through the list of them as
though I were copying it from a written record? Would that human life
afforded no such instances! But it does not nor ever will lack such, so
long as the race of man endures.)
[D] Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἐγὼ μόνος τὴν τύχην ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐν τοῖς πρακτέοις κρατεῖν
νενόμικα, λέγοιμ᾽ ἂν ἤδη σοι τὰ τοῦ Πλάτωνος ἐκ τῶν θαυμασίων Νόμων,
εἰδότι μὲν καὶ διδάξαντί με, ἀπόδειξιν δὲ ὥσπερ τοῦ μὴ ῥᾳθυμεῖν ποιούμενος
παραγέγραφά σοι τὴν ῥῆσιν ὧδέ πως ἔχουσαν. “Θεὸς μὲν πάντα καὶ μετὰ θεοῦ
τύχη καὶ καιρὸς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα διακυβερνῶσι ξύμπαντα. ἡμερώτερον μὴν τούτοις
συγχωρῆσαι [258] τρίτον δεῖν ἕπεσθαι τέχνην.” εἶτα ὁποῖον εἶναι χρὴ τὸν
τεχνίτην καὶ δημιουργὸν τῶν καλῶν πράξεων καὶ βασιλέα θεῖον(391)
ὑπογράφων· “Γινώσκων ὁ Κρόνος ἄρα, καθάπερ ἡμεῖς, φησί, διεληλύθαμεν, ὡς
ἀνθρωπεία φύσις οὐδαμῇ οὐδεμία ἱκανὴ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα διοικοῦσα αὐτοκράτωρ
πάντα μὴ οὐχ ὕβρεώς τε καὶ ἀδικίας μεστοῦσθαι, [B] ταῦτ᾽ οὖν διανοούμενος
ἐφίστη τότε βασιλέας καὶ ἄρχοντας ταῖς πόλεσιν ἡμῶν οὐκ ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλὰ
γένους θειοτέρου καὶ ἀμείνονος, δαίμονας, οἷον νῦν ἡμεῖς δρῶμεν τοῖς
ποιμνίοις καὶ ὅσων ἡμεροί εἰσιν ἀγέλαι· οὐ βοῦς βοῶν οὐδὲ αἶγας αἰγῶν
ἄρχοντας ποιοῦμεν αὐτοῖς τινας, ἀλλ᾽ ἡμεῖς αὐτῶν δεσπόζομεν, ἄμεινον
ἐκείνων γένος. ταὐτὸν δὴ καὶ ὁ θεὸς φιλάνθρωπος ὢν γένος ἄμεινον ἡμῶν
ἐφίστη τὸ τῶν δαιμόνων, ὃ διὰ πολλῆς μὲν αὐτοῖς ῥᾳστώνης, [C] διὰ πολλῆς
δ᾽ ἡμῖν, ἐπιμελόμενον ἡμῶν, εἰρήνην τε καὶ αἰδῶ καὶ δὴ ἀφθονίαν δίκης
παρεχόμενον, ἀστασίαστα καὶ εὐδαίμονα τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπειργάζετο γένη.
λέγει δὴ καὶ νῦν οὗτος ὁ λόγος ἀληθείᾳ χρώμενος, ὅσων πόλεων μὴ θεός, ἀλλά
τις ἄρχει θνητός, οὐκ ἔστι κακῶν αὐτοῖς οὐδὲ πόνων ἀνάψυξις· ἀλλὰ
μιμεῖσθαι δεῖν ἡμᾶς οἴεται πάσῃ μηχανῇ τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ Κρόνου λεγόμενον βίον,
[D] καὶ ὅσον ἐν ἡμῖν ἀθανασίας ἔνεστι, τούτῳ πειθομένους δημοσίᾳ καὶ ἰδίᾳ
τάς τε οἰκήσεις καὶ τὰς πόλεις διοικεῖν, τὴν τοῦ νοῦ διανομὴν ὀνομάζοντας
νόμον. εἰ δὲ ἄνθρωπος εἷς ἢ ὀλιγαρχία τις ἢ δημοκρατία ψυχὴν ἔχουσα ἡδονῶν
καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν ὀρεγομένην καὶ πληροῦσθαι [259] τούτων δεομένην ἄρξει δὴ
πόλεώς τινος ἢ ἰδιώτου καταπατήσας τοὺς νόμους, οὐκ ἔστι σωτηρίας μηχανή.”
(And to show that I am not the only one who thinks that Fortune has the
upper hand in practical affairs, I will quote to you a passage from that
admirable work the Laws of Plato. You know it well and indeed taught it to
me, but I have set down the speech which runs something like this, and
offer it as a proof that I am not really indolent. “God governs all things
and with God Fortune and Opportunity govern all human affairs: but there
is a milder view that Art must needs go with them and must be their
associate.”(392) He then indicates what must be the character of a man who
is the craftsman and artificer of noble deeds and a divinely inspired
king. Then he says: “Kronos therefore, as I have already related, knew
that human nature when endowed with supreme authority is never in any case
capable of managing human affairs without being filled with insolence and
injustice; therefore, having regard to this he at that time set over our
cities as kings and governors not men but beings of a more divine and
higher race, I mean demons; thus doing as we do now for our flocks and
domestic herds. We never appoint certain oxen to rule over other oxen or
goats to rule over goats, but we are their masters, a race superior to
theirs. In like manner then God, since he loves mankind, has set over us a
race of beings superior to ourselves, the race of demons; and they with
great ease both to themselves and us undertake the care of us and dispense
peace, reverence, aye, and above all justice without stint, and thus they
make the tribes of men harmonious and happy. And that account is a true
one which declares that in our day all cities that are governed not by a
god but by a mortal man have no relief from evils and hardships. And the
lesson is that we ought by every means in our power to imitate that life
which is said to have existed in the days of Kronos: and in so far as the
principle of immortality is in us we ought to be guided by it in our
management of public and private affairs, of our houses and cities,
calling the distribution of mind ‘law.’(393) But whether the government be
in the hands of one man or of an oligarchy or democracy, if it have a soul
that hankers after pleasure and the lower appetites and demands to indulge
these, and if such a one rule over a city or individual having first
trampled on the laws, there is no means of salvation.”(394))
Ταύτην ἐγώ σοι τὴν ῥῆσιν ἐξεπίτηδες ὅλην παρέγραφα, μή με κλέπτειν
ὑπολάβῃς καὶ κακουργεῖν μύθους ἀρχαίους προφέροντα, τυχὸν μὲν ἐμφερῶς, οὐ
μὴν ἀληθῶς πάντη ξυγκειμένους. ἀλλ᾽ ὅ γε ἀληθὴς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν λόγος τί φησιν;
ἀκούεις ὅτι, κἂν ἄνθρωπός τις ᾖ τῇ φύσει, θεῖον εἶναι χρὴ τῇ προαιρέσει
καὶ δαίμονα, πᾶν ἅπλως ἐκβαλόντα τὸ θνητὸν καὶ θηριῶδες τῆς ψυχῆς, [B]
πλὴν ὅσα ἀνάγκη διὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος παραμένειν σωτηρίαν; ταῦτα εἴ τις
ἐννοῶν δέδοικεν ἐπὶ τηλικοῦτον ελκόμενος βίον, ἆρά σοι φαίνεται τὴν
Ἐπικούρειον θαυμάζειν ἀπραγμοσύνην καὶ τοὺς κήπους καὶ τὸ προάστειον τῶν
Ἀθηνῶν(395) καὶ τὰς μυρρίνας καὶ τὸ Σωκράτους δωμάτιον; ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἔστιν
ὅπου γε ἐγὼ ταῦτα προτιμήσας τῶν πόνων ὤφθην. ἥδιστα ἄν σοι τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ
πόνους διεξῆλθον καὶ τὰ ἐπικρεμασθέντα παρὰ τῶν φίλων καὶ ξυγγενῶν, ὅτε
τῆς παρ᾽ ὑμῖν [C] ἠρχόμην παιδείας, δείματα, εἰ μὴ σφόδρα αὐτὸς ἠπίστασο.
τὰ δὲ ἐν Ἰωνίᾳ πρὸς τὸν καὶ γένει προσήκοντα καὶ φιλίᾳ μᾶλλον οἰκεῖον ὄντα
μοι πραχθέντα πρότερον ὑπὲρ ἀνδρὸς ξένου μικρά παντελῶς γνωρίμου μοι
γενομένου, τοῦ σοφιστοῦ φημί, λέληθεν οὐδέν σε. ἀποδημίας δὲ οὐχ ὑπέστην
τῶν φίλων ἕνεκα; καίτοι Καρτερίῳ μὲν οἶσθ᾽ ὅπως [D] συνηράμην πρὸς τὸν
ἑταῖρον ἡμῖν ἀφικόμενος Ἀράξιον ἄκλητος, ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ δεησόμενος. ὑπὲρ δὲ
τῶν τῆς θαυμασίας Ἀρετῆς κτημάτων καὶ ὧν ἐπεπόνθει παρὰ τῶν γειτόνων οὐκ
εἰς τὴν Φρυγίαν τὸ δεύτερον ἀφικόμην ἐν οὐδὲ ὅλοις μησὶ δύο, ἀσθενοῦς ἤδη
μοι παντελὼς ὄντος τοῦ σώματος διὰ τὴν ἐπιγενομένην ὑπὸ τῆς πρότερον
κακοπαθείας ἀρρωστίαν; ἀλλὰ δὴ τὸ τελευταῖον πρὸ τῆς εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα
γενομένης ἡμῖν ἀφίξεως, ὅτε περὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων, ὡς ἂν εἴποιεν οἱ πολλοί,
κινδυνεύων ἐγὼ τῷ στρατοπέδῳ παρέμενον, [260] ὁποίας ἔγραφον ἐπιστολὰς
πρὸς σὲ νῦν ὑπομνήσθητι, μήποτε ὀδυρμῶν πλήρεις, μήτι μικρὸν ἢ ταπεινὸν ἢ
λίαν ἀγεννὲς ἐχούσας. ἀπιὼν δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πάλιν, ὅτε με φεύγειν
ἐνόμιζον πάντες, οὐχ ὡς ἐν ἑορτῇ τῇ μεγίστῃ τὴν τύχην ἐπαινῶν ἡδίστην ἔφην
εἶναι τὴν ἀμοιβὴν ἐμοὶ [B] καὶ τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον
(I have purposely set down the whole of this speech for you lest you
should think that I am cheating and defrauding by bringing forward ancient
myths which may have some resemblance to the truth, but on the whole are
not composed with regard to truth. But what is the true meaning of this
narrative? You hear what it says, that even though a prince be by nature
human, he must in his conduct be divine and a demi‐god and must completely
banish from his soul all that is mortal and brutish, except what must
remain to safeguard the needs of the body. Now if, reflecting on this, one
is afraid to be constrained to adopt a life from which so much is
expected, do you therefore conclude that one admires the inaction
recommended by Epicurus, the gardens and suburbs of Athens and its
myrtles, or the humble home of Socrates? But never has anyone seen me
prefer these to a life of toil. That toil of mine I would willingly
recount to you, and the hazards that threatened me from my friends and
kinsfolk at the time when I began to study under you, if you did not
yourself know them well enough. You are well aware of what I did, in the
first place, in Ionia in opposition to one who was related to me by ties
of blood, but even more closely by ties of friendship, and that in behalf
of a foreigner with whom I was very slightly acquainted, I mean the
sophist. Did I not endure to leave the country for the sake of my friends?
Indeed, you know how I took the part of Carterius when I went unsolicited
to our friend Araxius to plead for him. And in behalf of the property of
that admirable woman Arete and the wrongs she had suffered from her
neighbours, did I not journey to Phrygia for the second time within two
months, though I was physically very weak from the illness that had been
brought on by former fatigues?(396) Finally, before I went to Greece,
while I was still with the army and running what most people would call
the greatest possible risks, recall now what sort of letters I wrote to
you, never filled with complaints or containing anything little or mean or
servile. And when I returned to Greece, when everyone regarded me as an
exile, did I not welcome my fate as though it were some high festival, and
did I not say that the exchange to me was most delightful, and that, as
the saying is, I had thereby gained)
χρύσεα χαλκείων, ἑκατόμβοι᾽ ἐννεαβοίων
(“gold for bronze, the price of a hundred oxen for the price of
nine”?(397))
ἔφην ἀντηλλάχθαι; οὕτως ἀντὶ τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ ἑστίας τὴν Ἑλλάδα λαχὼν ἐγανύμην,
οὐχ ἀγρόν, οὐ κῆπον, οὐ δωμάτιον ἐκεῖ κεκτημένος.
So great was my joy at obtaining the chance to live in Greece instead of
in my own home, though I possessed there no land or garden or the humblest
house.
Ἁλλὰ ἴσως ἔοικα ἐγὼ τὰς μὲν δυσπραγίας οὐκ ἀγεννῶς φέρειν, πρὸς δὲ τὰς
παρὰ τῆς τύχης δωρεὰς ἀγεννής τις εἶναι καὶ μικρός, ὅ γε ἀγαπῶν τὰς Ἀθήνας
μᾶλλον τοῦ νῦν περὶ ἡμᾶς ὄγκου, τὴν σχολὴν δήπουθεν ἐκείνην ἐπαινῶν, διὰ
δὲ τὸ [C] πλῆθος τῶν πράξεων τοῦτον αἰτιώμενος τὸν βίον; ἀλλὰ μή ποτε χρὴ
περὶ ἡμῶν ἄμεινον κρίνειν, οὐκ εἰς ἀπραξίαν καὶ πρᾶξιν βλέποντας, μᾶλλον
δὲ εἰς τὸ Γνῶθι σαυτὸν καὶ τὸ
(But perhaps you think that though I can bear adversity in the proper
spirit, yet I show a poor and mean spirit towards the good gifts of
Fortune, seeing that I prefer Athens to the pomp that now surrounds me;
because, you will doubtless say, I approve the leisure of those days and
disparage my present life because of the vast amount of work that the
latter involves. But perhaps you ought to judge of me more accurately, and
not consider the question whether I am idle or industrious, but rather the
precept, “Know thyself,” and the saying,)
Ἔρδοι δ᾽ ἕκαστος ἥντιν᾽ εἰδείη τέχνην.
(“Let every man practise the craft which he knows.”(398))
Μεῖζον ἔμοιγε φαίνεται τὸ βασιλεύειν ἢ κατ᾽ ἄνθρωπον καὶ φύσεως δεῖσθαι
δαιμονιωτέρας βασιλεύς, [D] ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ Πλάτων ἔλεγε· καὶ νῦν
Ἀριστοτέλους εἰς ταῦτὸ συντείνοντα παραγράψω λόγον, οὐ γλαῦκα Ἀθηναίοις
ἄγων, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι μὴ παντάπασιν ἀμελῶ τῶν ἐκείνου λόγων ἐπιδεικνύμενος. φησὶ
δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ ἐν τοῖς πολιτικοῖς συγγράμμασιν· “Εἱ δὲ δή τις ἄριστον θείη τὸ
βασιλεύεσθαι ταῖς πόλεσι, τῶς ἕξει τὰ περὶ τῶν τέκνων; πότερον καὶ τὸ
γένος δεῖ βασιλεύειν; ἀλλὰ γιγνομένων ὁποῖοί τινες ἔτυχον, βλαβερόν. ἀλλὰ
οὐ παραδώσει [261] κύριος ὢν τοῖς τέκνοις; ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἔτι ῥᾴδιον τοῦτο
πιστεῦσαι· χαλεπὸν γὰρ καὶ μείζονος ἀρετῆς ἢ κατ᾽ ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν.” ἑξῆς
δὲ περὶ τοῦ κατὰ νόμον λεγομένου βασιλέως διεξελθών, ὡς(399) ἐστὶν
ὑπηρέτης καὶ φύλαξ τῶν νόμων, καὶ τοῦτον οὐδὲ βασιλέα καλῶν, οὐδὲ τὸν
τοιοῦτον εἶδος πολιτείας(400) οἰόμενος, προστίθησι· “[B] Περὶ δὲ τῆς
παμβασιλείας καλουμένης, αὕτη δ᾽ ἐστὶ καθ᾽ ἣν ἄρχει πάντων κατὰ τὴν αὑτοῦ
βούλησιν ὁ βασιλεύς, δοκεῖ τισιν οὐδὲ κατὰ φύσιν εἶναι τὸ κύριον ἕνα
πάντων εἶναι τῶν πολιτῶν· τοῖς γὰρ ὁμοίοις φύσει τὸ αὐτὸ δίκαιον ἀναγκαῖον
εἶναι.” εἶτα μετ᾽ ὀλίγον φησίν· “Ὁ μὲν οὖν τὸν νοῦν κελεύων ἄρχειν δοκεῖ
κελεύειν ἄρχειν τὸν θεὸν καὶ τοὺς νόμους· ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπον κελεύων προστίθησι
καὶ θηρία· [C] ἥ τε γὰρ ἐπιθυμία τοιοῦτον καὶ ὁ θυμὸς ὃς(401) διαστρέφει
καὶ τοὺς ἀρίστους ἄνδρασ· διόπερ ἄνευ ὀρέξεως ὁ νοῦς νόμος ἐστίν.” ὁρᾷς, ὁ
φιλόσοφος ἔοικεν ἐνταῦθα σαφῶς ἀπιστοῦντι καὶ κατεγνωκότι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης
φύσεως. φησὶ γὰρ οὕτω ῥήματι τοῦτο λέγων· οὐδεμίαν ἀξιόχρεων εἶναι φύσιν
ἀνθρωπίνην πρὸς τοσαύτην τύχης ὑπεροχήν· [D] οὔτε γὰρ τῶν παίδων τὸ κοινῇ
τοῖς πολίταις συμφέρον προτιμᾶν ἄνθρωπόν γε ὄντα ῥᾴδιον ὑπολαμβάνει, καὶ
πολλῶν ὁμοίων ἄρχειν οὐ δίκαιον εἶναί φησι, καὶ τέλος ἐπιθεὶς τὸν κολοφῶνα
τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λόγοις νόμον μὲν εἶναί φησι τὸν νοῦν χωρὶς ὀρέξεως, ᾧ μόνῳ
τὰς πολιτείας ἐπιτρέπειν χρῆναι, ἀνδρῶν δὲ οὐδενί. ὁ γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς νοῦς,
κἂν ὦσιν ἀγαθοί, συμπέπλεκται θυμῷ καὶ ἐπιθυμίᾳ, θηρίοις χαλεπωτάτοις.
ταῦτα ἐμοὶ [262] δοκεῖ τοῖς τοῦ Πλάτωνος ἄκρως ὁμολογεῖν, πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι
κρείττονα χρὴ τῶν ἀρχομένων εἶναι τὸν ἄρχοντα, οὐκ ἐπιτηδεύσει μόνον, ἀλλὰ
καὶ φύσει διαφέροντα· ὅπερ εὑρεῖν ἐν ἀνθρώποις οὐ ῥᾴδιον·(402) ... καὶ
τρίτον ὅτι πάσῃ μηχανῇ κατὰ δύναμιν νόμοις προσεκτέον οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ παραχρῆμα
κειμένοις οὐδὲ ὡς ἔοικε νῦν τεθεῖσιν ὑπ᾽ ἀνδρῶν οὐ πάντη κατὰ νοῦν
βεβιωκότων, ἀλλ᾽ ὅστις μᾶλλον τὸν νοῦν καθαρθεὶς καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν οὐκ εἰς τὰ
παρόντα [B] ἀφορῶν ἀδικήματα οὐδὲ εἰς τὰς παρεστώσας τύχας τίθησι τοὺς
νόμους, ἀλλὰ τὴν τῆς πολιτείας φύσιν καταμαθὼν καὶ τὸ δίκαιον οἷόν(403)
ἐστι τῇ φύσει καὶ ποταπόν ἐστι τἀδίκημα τεθεαμένος τῇ φύσει, εἶθ᾽ ὅσα
δυνατὸν ἐστιν ἐκεῖθεν ἐνταῦθα μεταφέρων καὶ τιθεὶς νόμους τοῖς πολίταις
κοινούς, οὔτε εἰς φιλίαν οὔτε εἰς ἔχθραν ἀφορῶν [C] οὔτε εἰς γείτονα καὶ
ξυγγενῆ· κρεῖσσον δέ, εἰ μηδὲ τοῖς καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν ἀνθρώποις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς
ὕστερον ἢ ξένοις γράψας ἀποπέμποι νόμους, ἔχων γε οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἐλπίζων πρὸς
αὐτοὺς ἕξειν ἰδιωτικὸν συνάλλαγμα. ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸν Σόλωνα τὸν σοφὸν ἀκούω
μετὰ τῶν φίλων συμβουλευσάμενον ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν χρεῶν ἀναιρέσεως τοῖς μὲν
εὐπορίας ἀφορμήν, αὑτῷ δὲ αἰσχύνης αἰτίαν παρασχεῖν, καὶ ταῦτα τῷ
πολιτεύματι τὸν δῆμον ἐλευθερώσαντα. οὕτως [D] οὐ ῥᾴδιόν ἐστι τὰς τοιαύτας
ἐκφυγεῖν κῆρας, κἂν τὸν αὑτοῦ νοῦν παράσχῃ τις ἀπαθῆ πρὸς τὴν πολιτείαν.