ὑπέλαβες; οὕτως ἀνόητόν ἐστί σοι καὶ φαῦλον, ὦ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀμαθέστατε
καὶ φιλαπεχθημονέστατε, τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγεννεστάτων σῶφρον τουτὶ
ψυχάριον, ὃ δὴ σὐ κοσμεῖν καὶ καλλωπίζειν σωφροσύνῃ χρῆναι νομίζεις; οὐκ
ὀρθῶς, ὅτι πρῶτον μὲν ἡ σωφροσύνη ὅ,τι [343] ποτ᾽ ἔστιν οὐκ ἴσμεν, ὄνομα
δ᾽ αὐτῆς ἀκούοντες μόνον ἔργον οὐχ ὁρῶμεν. εἰ δ᾽ ὁποῖον σὺ νῦν ἐπιτηδεύεις
ἐστίν, ἐπίστασθαι μὲν ὅτι θεοῖς χρὴ δουλεύειν καὶ νόμοις, ἐκ τῶν ἴσων δὲ
τοῖς ὁμοτίμοις προσφέρεσθαι, καὶ τὴν ἐν τούτοις ὑπεροχὴν φέρειν πρᾳότερον,
ἐπιμελεῖσθαι καὶ προνοεῖν, ὅπως οἱ πένητες ὑπὸ τῶν πλουτούντων ἥκιστα
ἀδικήσονται, καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτου πράγματα ἔχειν, ὁποῖα εἰκός ἐστί σοι γενέσθαι
πολλάκις, ἀπεχθείας, ὀργάς, [B] λοιδορίας· εἶτα καὶ ταῦτα φέρειν ἐγκρατῶς
καὶ μὴ χαλεπαίνειν μηδ᾽ ἐπιτρέπειν τῷ θυμῷ, παιδαγωγεῖν δὲ αὑτόν, ὡς
ἐνδέχεται, καὶ σωφρονίζειν· εἰ δὲ καὶ τοῦτό τις ἔργον θεῖτο σωφροσύνης,
ἀπέχεσθαι πάσης ἡδονῆς οὐ λίαν ἀπρεποῦς οὐδ᾽ ἐπονειδίστου δοκούσης ἐν τῷ
φανερῷ, πεπεισμένος ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἰδίᾳ σωφρονεῖν [C] καὶ λάθρᾳ τὸν δημοσίᾳ
καὶ φανερῷς ἀκόλαστον εἶναι θέλοντα καὶ τερπόμενον τοῖς θεάτροις· εἰ δὴ
οὖν ὄντως ἡ σωφροσύνη τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, ἀπόλωλας μὲν αὐτός, ἀπολλύεις δὲ
ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἀνεχομένους ἀκούειν πρῶτον ὄνομα δουλείας οὔτε πρὸς θεοὺς οὔτε
πρὸς νόμους· ἡδὺ γὰρ ἐν πᾶσι τὸ ἐλεύθερον.
(“What then?” you answer, “did you really suppose that your boorish
manners and savage ways and clumsiness would harmonise with these things?
O most ignorant and most quarrelsome of men, is it so senseless then and
so stupid, that puny soul of yours which men of poor spirit call
temperate, and which you forsooth think it your duty to adorn and deck out
with temperance? You are wrong; for in the first place we do not know what
temperance is and we hear its name only, while the real thing we cannot
see. But if it is the sort of thing that you now practise, if it consists
in knowing that men must be enslaved to the gods and the laws, in behaving
with fairness to those of equal rank and bearing with mildness any
superiority among them; in studying and taking thought that the poor may
suffer no injustice whatever at the hands of the rich; and to attain this,
in putting up with all the annoyances that you will naturally often meet
with, hatred, anger, and abuse; and then in bearing these also with
firmness and not resenting them or giving way to your anger, but in
training yourself as far as possible to practise temperance; and if again
this also one defines as the effect of temperance that one abstains from
every pleasure even though it be not excessively unbecoming or considered
blameworthy when openly pursued, because you are convinced that it is
impossible for a man to be temperate in his private life and in secret, if
in public and openly he is willing to be licentious and delights in the
theatres; if, in short, temperance is really this sort of thing, then you
yourself have ruined yourself and moreover you are ruining us, who cannot
bear in the first place even to hear the name of slavery, whether it be
slavery to the gods or the laws. For sweet is liberty in all things!)
“Ἡ δὲ εἰρωνεία πόση; δεσπότης εἶναι οὐ φὴς οὐδὲ ἀνέχῃ τοῦτο ἀκούων, ἀλλὰ
καὶ ἀγανακτεῖς, [D] ὥστε ἤδη ἔπεισας τοὺς πλείστους ἐθάδας πάλαι
γενομένους ἀφελεῖν ὡς ἐπίφθονον τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα, δουλεύειν δ᾽
ἡμᾶς ἀναγκάζεις ἄρχουσι καὶ νόμοις. καίτοι πόσῳ κρεῖττον ἦν ὀνομάζεσθαι
μέν σε δεσπότην, ἔργῳ δὲ ἐᾶν ἡμᾶς εἶναι ἐλευθέρους, ὦ τὰ μὲν ὀνόματα
πρᾳότατε, πικρότατε δὲ τὰ ἔργα; [344] πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἀποκναίεις
βιαζόμενος μὲν τοὺς πλουσίους ἐν δικαστηρίοις μετριάζειν, τοὺς πένητας δὲ
εἴργεις συκοφαντεῖν. ἀφεὶς δὲ τὴν σκηνὴν καὶ τοὺς μίμους καὶ τοὺς ὀρχηστὰς
ἀπολώλεκας ἡμῶν τὴν πόλιν, ὥστε οὐδὲν ἡμῖν ἀγαθὸν ὑπάρχει παρὰ σοῦ πλὴν
τῆς βαρύτητος, ἧς ἀνεχόμενοι μῆνα ἕβδομον τουτονὶ τὸ μὲν εὔχεσθαι πάντως
ἀπαλλαγῆναι τοῦ τοσούτου κακοῦ τοῖς περὶ τοὺς τάφους καλινδουμένοις
γρᾳδίοις ξυνεχωρήσαμεν, ἡμεῖς δὲ αὐτὸ διὰ τῆς ἡμῶν αὐτῶν εὐτραπελίας [B]
ἐξειργασάμεθα βάλλοντές σε τοῖς σκώμμασιν ὥσπερ τοξεύμασι. σὺ δέ, ὦ
γενναῖε, πῶς ἀνέξῃ τὰ Περσῶν βέλη, τὰ ἡμέτερα τρέσας σκώμματα;”
(“But what an affectation of humility is yours! You say that you are not
our master and you will not let yourself be so called, nay more, you
resent the idea, so that you have actually persuaded the majority of men
who have long grown accustomed to it, to get rid of this word ‘Government’
as though it were something invidious; and yet you compel us to be
enslaved to magistrates and laws. But how much better it would be for you
to accept the name of master, but in actual fact to allow us to be free,
you who are so very mild about the names we use and so very strict about
the things we do! Then again you harass us by forcing the rich to behave
with moderation in the lawcourts, though you keep the poor from making
money by informing.(703) And by ignoring the stage and mimes and dancers
you have ruined our city, so that we get no good out of you except your
harshness; and this we have had to put up with these seven months, so that
we have left it to the old crones who grovel among the tombs to pray that
we may be entirely rid of so great a curse, but we ourselves have
accomplished it by our own ingenious insolence, by shooting our satires at
you like arrows. How, noble sir, will you face the darts of Persians, when
you take flight at our ridicule?”)
Ἰδού, βούλομαι πάλιν ἀπ᾽ ἄλλης ἀρχῆς ἐμαυτῷ λοιδορήσασθαι. “Φοιτᾷς εἰς τὰ
ἱερά, δύσκολε καὶ δύστροπε καὶ πάντα μοχθηρέ. συρρεῖ διὰ σὲ τὰ πλήθη πρὸς
τὰ τεμένη καὶ μέντοι καὶ οἱ πλείους τῶν ἐν τέλει, καὶ ἀποδέχονταί σε σὺν
βοῇ μετὰ κρότων λαμπρῶς ἐν τοῖς τεμένεσιν ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις. [C] τί
οὖν οὐκ ἀγαπᾷς οὐδ᾽ ἐπαινεῖς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπιχειρεῖς εἶναι σοφώτερος τὰ τοιαῦτα
τοῦ Πυθίου, καὶ δημηγορεῖς ἐν τῷ πλήθει, καὶ καθάπτῃ τῶν βοώντων πικρῶς
αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο λέγων, ὡς Ὑμεῖς τῶν θεῶν ἕνεκεν ὀλιγάκις εἰς τὰ τεμένη
συνέρχεσθε, συνδραμόντες δὲ δι᾽ ἐμὲ πολλῆς ἀκοσμίας ἀναπίμπλατε τὰ ἱερά.
[D] πρέπει δ᾽ ἀνδράσι σώφροσι κεκοσμημένως εὔχεσθαι σιγῇ παρὰ τῶν θεῶν
αἰτουμένοις τὰ ἀγαθά. τοῦτον οὐκ ἠκροᾶσθε τὸν νόμον Ὁμήρου
(Come, I am ready to make a fresh start in abusing myself. “You, sir, go
regularly to the temples, ill‐tempered, perverse and wholly worthless as
you are! It is your doing that the masses stream into the sacred
precincts, yes and most of the magistrates as well, and they give you a
splendid welcome, greeting you with shouts and clapping in the precincts
as though they were in the theatres. Then why do you not treat them kindly
and praise them? Instead of that you try to be wiser in such matters than
the Pythian god,(704) and you make harangues to the crowd and with harsh
words rebuke those who shout. These are the very words you use to them:
‘You hardly ever assemble at the shrines to do honour to the gods, but to
do me honour you rush here in crowds and fill the temples with much
disorder. Yet it becomes prudent men to pray in orderly fashion, and to
ask blessings from the gods in silence. Have you never heard Homer’s
maxim,)
Σιγῇ ἐφ᾽ ὑμείων—,
(“In silence, to yourselves”(705)—,)
οὐδ᾽ ὡς Ὀδυσσεὺς ἐπέσχε τὴν Εὐρύκλειαν ἐκπεπληγμένην ὑπὸ μεγέθους τοῦ
κατορθώματος,
(or how Odysseus checked Eurycleia when she was stricken with amazement by
the greatness of his success,)
Ἐν θυμῷ, γρηῦ, χαῖρε καὶ ἴσχεο μηδ᾽ ὀλόλυζε;
(“Rejoice, old woman, in thy heart, and restrain thyself, and
utter no loud cry”?(706))
τὰς δὲ δὴ Τρῳάδας οὔτι πρὸς τὸν Πρίαμον ἤ τινα τῶν τούτου θυγατέρων ἢ
υἱέων, οὐ μὴν οὐδ᾽ αὐτὸν τὸν Ἔκτορα· [345] καίτοι τούτῳ φησὶν ὡς θεῷ τοὺς
Τρῶας εὔχεσθαι· εὐχομένας δὲ οὐκ ἔδειξεν ἐν τῇ ποιήσει οὔτε γυναῖκας οὔτε
ἄνδρας, ἀλλὰ τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ ὀλολυγῇ πᾶσαι, φησί, χεῖρας ἀνέσχον, βαρβαρικὸν μὲν
καὶ τοῦτο καὶ γυναιξὶ πρέπον, οὐ μὴν ἀνόσιον πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς ὥσπερ τὸ παρ᾽
ὑμῶν ποιούμενον. ἐπαινεῖτε γὰρ ἀντὶ τῶν θεῶν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, [B] μᾶλλον δὲ
ἀντὶ τῶν θεῶν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἡμᾶς κολακεύετε. κάλλιστον δ᾽ ἔστιν οἶμαι
μηδ᾽ ἐκείνους κολακεύειν, ἀλλὰ θεραπεύειν σωφρόνως.”
(“ ‘And again, Homer did not show us the Trojan women praying to Priam or
to any one of his daughters or sons, nay not even to Hector himself
(though he does indeed say that the men of Troy were wont to pray to
Hector as to a god); but in his poems he did not show us either women or
men in the act of prayer to him, but he says that to Athene all the women
lifted up their hands with a loud cry,(707) which was in itself a barbaric
thing to do and suitable only for women, but at any rate it displayed no
impiety to the gods as does your conduct. For you applaud men instead of
the gods, or rather instead of the gods you flatter me who am a mere man.
But it would be best, I think, not to flatter even the gods but to worship
them with temperate hearts.’ ”)
Ἰδού, πάλιν ἐγὼ τὰ συνήθη τεχνιτεύω λεξείδια καὶ οὐδ᾽ ἐμαυτῷ συγχωρῶ
φθέγγεσθαι ὡς ἔτυχεν ἀδεῶς καὶ ἐλευθέρως, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ τῆς συνήθους σκαιότητος
καὶ ἐμαυτὸν συκοφαντῶ. ταῦτά τις καὶ τοιαῦτ᾽ ἂν λέγοι πρὸς ἄνδρας οὐ τὰ
πρὸς τοὺς ἄρχοντας μόνον, [C] ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς ἐλευθέρους εἶναι
θέλοντας, ὅπως τις εὔνους αὐτοῖς ὥσπερ πατὴρ ἤπιος νομισθείη, φύσει
πονηρὸς ὢν ὥσπερ ἐγώ. ἀνέχου τοίνυν αὐτῶν μισούντων καὶ λοιδορούντων λάθρᾳ
ἢ καὶ φανερῶς, ἐπειδὴ κολακεύειν ἐνόμισας τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς ὁρμῇ
μιᾷ(708) σε ἐπαινοῦντας. οὐ γὰρ οἶμαι διενοήθης ὅπως ἁρμόσει τῶν ἀνδρῶν
οὔτε τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν οὔτε τοῖς βίοις οὔτε τοῖς ἤθεσιν. εἶεν. ἀλλ᾽
ἐκεῖνο τίς ἀνέξεταί σου; καθεύδεις ὡς ἐπίπαν νύκτωρ μόνος οὐδ᾽ ἔστιν
οὐδέν, [D] ὅ σου τὸν ἄγριον καὶ ἀνήμερον μαλάξει θυμόν· ἀποκέκλεισται δὲ
πάσῃ πανταχοῦ πάροδος γλυκυθυμίᾳ· καὶ τὸ μέγιστον τῶν κακῶν, ὅτι τοιοῦτον
ζῶν βίον εὐφραίνῃ καὶ πεποίησαι τὰς κοινὰς κατάρας ἡδονήν. εἶτα
ἀγανακτεῖς, εἴ του τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀκοίεις; ἐξὸν εἰδέναι χάριν τοῖς ὑπ᾽ εὐνοίας
ἐμμελέστερόν σε νουθετοῦσιν ἐν τοῖς ἀναπαίστοις ἀποψιλῶσαι μὲν τὰς
παρειάς, καλὰ δὲ ἀπὸ σαυτοῦ πρῶτον ἀρξάμενον δεικνύειν πάντα τῷ δήμῳ τῷ
φιλογέλωτι τῷδε θεάματα, [346] μίμους, ὀρχηστάς, ἥκιστα αἰσχυνομένας
γυναῖκας, παιδάρια περὶ κάλλους ἁμιλλώμενα ταῖς γυναιξίν, ἄνδρας
ἀπεψιλωμένους οὔτι τὰς γνάθους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἅπαν τὸ σῶμα, λειότεροι τῶν
γυναικῶν ὅπως φαίνοιντο τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν, ἑορτάς, πανηγύρεις, οὔτι μὰ
Δία τὰς ἱεράς, ἐν αἷς χρὴ σωφρονεῖν· ἅλις μὲν γὰρ ἐκείνων ἐστίν, ὥσπερ τῆς
δρυός, [B] καὶ πολὺς ὁ κόρος αὐτῶν. ἔθυσεν ὁ καῖσαρ ἐν τῷ τοῦ Διὸς ἅπαξ,
εἶτα ἐν τῷ τῆς Τύχης, εἰς τὸ τῆς Δήμητρος τρὶς ἐφεξῆς ἐβάδισεν·
ἐπιλέλησμαι γὰρ εἰς τὸ τῆς Δάφνης ὁσάκις εἰσῆλθον πέμενος, προδοθὲν μὲν
ὀλιγωρίᾳ τῶν φυλάκων, ταῖς δὲ τῶν ἀθέων ἀνδρῶν τόλμαις ἀφανισθέν. ἡ Σύρων
ἥκει νουμηνία, καὶ ὁ καῖσαρ αὖθις εἰς Φιλίου Διός· εἶτα ἡ πάγκοινος ἑορτή,
καὶ ὁ καῖσαρ εἰς τὸ τῆς [C] Τύχης ἔρχεται τέμενοσ. ἐπισχὼν δὲ τὴν ἀποφράδα
πάλιν ἐς Φιλίου Διὸς τὰς εὐχὰς ἀναλαμβάνει κατὰ τὰ πάτρια. καὶ τίς
ἀνέξεται τοσαυτάκις εἰς ἱερὰ φοιτῶντος καίσαρος, ἐξὸν ἅπαξ ἢ δὶς ἐνοχλεῖν
τοῖς θεοῖς, ἐπιτελεῖν δὲ τὰς πανηγύρεις ἐκείνας, ὁπόσαι κοιναὶ μέν εἰσι
παντὶ τῷ δήμῳ καὶ ὧν ἔξεστι μετέχειν οὐ τοῖς ἐπισταμένοις μόνον
θεούς,(709) ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ὦν(710) ἐστιν ἡ πόλις πλήρης; ἡδονὴ δὲ πολλὴ καὶ
χάριτες, ὁποίας ἄν τις εὐφραίνοιτο διηνεκῶς καρπούμενος, [D] ὁρῶν
ὀρχουμένους ἄνδρας καὶ παιδάρια καὶ γύναια πολλά.
(See there I am again, busy with my usual phrase‐making! I do not even
allow myself to speak out at random fearlessly and freely, but with my
usual awkwardness I am laying information against myself. It is thus and
in words like these that one ought to address men who want to be free not
only with respect to those who govern them but to the gods also, in order
that one may be considered well‐disposed towards them, “like an indulgent
father,”(711) even though one is by nature an ill‐conditioned person like
myself: “Bear with them then, when they hate and abuse you in secret or
even openly, since you thought that those who applauded you with one
accord in the temples were only flattering you. For surely you did not
suppose that you would be in harmony with the pursuits or the lives or the
temperaments of these men. I grant that. But who will bear with this other
habit of yours? You always sleep alone at night, and there is no way of
softening your savage and uncivilised temper—since all avenues are closed
to anything that might sweeten your disposition,—and the worst of all
these evils is that you delight in living that sort of life and have laid
pleasure under a general ban. Then can you feel aggrieved if you hear
yourself spoken of in such terms? No, you ought to feel grateful to those
who out of kindness of heart admonish you wittily in anapaestic verse to
shave your cheeks smooth, and then, beginning with yourself, first to show
to this laughter‐loving people all sorts of fine spectacles, mimes,
dancers, shameless women, boys who in their beauty emulate women, and men
who have not only their jaws shaved smooth but their whole bodies too, so
that those who meet them may think them smoother than women; yes and
feasts too and general festivals, not, by Zeus, the sacred ones at which
one is bound to behave with sobriety. No, we have had enough of those,
like the oak tree in the proverb;(712) we are completely surfeited with
them. The Emperor sacrificed once in the temple of Zeus, then in the
temple of Fortune; he visited the temple of Demeter three times in
succession.” (I have in fact forgotten how many times I entered the shrine
of Daphne, which had been first abandoned owing to the carelessness of its
guardians, and then destroyed by the audacious acts of godless men.(713))
“The Syrian New Year arrived, and again the Emperor went to the temple of
Zeus the Friendly One. Then came the general festival, and the Emperor
went to the shrine of Fortune. Then, after refraining on the forbidden
day,(714) again he goes to the temple of Zeus the Friendly One, and offers
up prayers according to the custom of our ancestors. Now who could put up
with an Emperor who goes to the temples so often, when it is in his power
to disturb the gods only once or twice, and to celebrate the general
festivals which are for all the people in common, those in which not only
men whose profession it is to have knowledge of the gods can take part,
but also the people who have crowded into the city? For pleasure is here
in abundance, and delights whose fruits one could enjoy continuously; for
instance the sight of men and pretty boys dancing, and any number of
charming women.”)
Ὅταν οὖν ταῦτα λογίσωμαι, μακαρίζω μὲν ὑμᾶς τῆς εὐδαιμονίας, ἐμαυτῷ δὲ οὐκ
ἄχθομαι· φίλα γάρ ἐστί μοι κατά τινα θεὸν ἴσως ταῦτα. διόπερ οὐδ᾽
ἀγανακτῶ, εὖ ἴστε, τοῖς δυσχεραίνουσί μου τῷ βίῳ καὶ τῇ προαιρέσει.
προστίθημι δ᾽ αὐτὸς ὅσα δυνατόν ἐστί μοι τοῖς εἰς ἐμαυτὸν σκώμμασι
μειζόνως ἐπικαταχέων ἐμαυτοῦ ταυτασὶ τὰς λοιδορίας, [347] ὃς ὑπὸ ἀφροσύνης
οὐ συνὴκα, ποταπὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸ τῆσδε τῆς πόλεως ἦθος, καὶ ταῦτα τῶν
ἡλικιωτῶν τῶν ἐμῶν, ὡς ἐμαυτὸν πείθω, βιβλία ἀνελίξας οὐδενὸς ἀριθμὸν
ἐλάττω. λέγεταί τοί ποτε τὸν ἐπώνυμον τῆσδε τῆς πόλεως βασιλέα, μᾶλλον δὲ
οὗπερ ἐπώνυμος ἥδε ἡ πόλις συνῳκίσθη· πεπόλισται(715) μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ
Σελεύκου, τοὔνομα δὲ ἔχει ἀπὸ τοῦ Σελεύκου παιδός· ὃν δή φασι δι᾽
ὑπερβολὴν ἁβρότητος [B] καὶ τρυφῆς ἐρῶντα ἀεὶ καὶ ἐρώμενον τέλος ἄδικον
ἔρωτα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μητρυιᾶς ἐρασθῆναι· κρύπτειν δ᾽ ἐθέλοντα τὸ πάθος οὐ
δύνασθαι, τὸ σῶμα δ᾽ αὐτῷ κατὰ μικρὸν τηκόμενον ἀφανῶς οἴχεσθαι, καὶ
ὑπορρεῖν τὰς δυνάμεις, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ἔλαττον εἶναι τοῦ συνήθους. ἐῴκει δ᾽
οἶμαι τὰ(716) κατ᾽ αὐτὸν αἰνίγματι, σαφῆ μὲν οὐκ ἐχούσης αἰτίαν τῆς νόσου,
μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδ᾽ αὐτῆς, [C] ἥτις ποτέ ἐστι, φαινομένης, ἐναργοῦς δ᾽ οὔσης
τῆς περὶ τὸ μειράκιον ἀσθηνίεας. ἐνθάδε μέγας ἆθλος ἰατρῷ προυτέθη τῷ
Σαμίῳ τὴν νόσον, ἥτις ποτέ ἐστιν, ἐξευρεῖν. ὁ δὲ ὑπονοήσας ἐκ τῶν Ὁμήρου,
τίνες ποτέ εἰσιν αἱ γυιοβόροι μελεδῶναι, καὶ ὅτι πολλάκις οὐκ ἀσθένεια
σώματος, ἀλλ᾽ ἀρροστία ψυχῆς αἰτία γίγνεται τηκεδόνος τῷ σώματι, καὶ τὸ
μειράκιον ὁρῶν ὑπό τε ἡλικίας καὶ συνηθείας οὐκ ἀναφρόδιτον, ὁδὸν ἐτράπετο
τοιαύτην ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ νοσήματος θήραν. [D] καθίζει πλησίον τῆς κλίνης
ἀφορῶν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ μειρακίου, παριέναι κελεύσας καλούς τε καὶ
καλὰς ἀπὸ τῆς βασιλίδος ἀρξαμένους. ἡ δ᾽ ὡς ἦλθεν, ἐπισκεψομένη δῆθεν
αὐτόν, αὐτίκα ἐδίδου τὰ συνθήματα τοῦ πάθους ὁ νεανίας, ἆσθμα τῶν
θλιβομένον ἠφίει, ἐπέχειν γὰρ αὐτὸ κινούμενον καίπερ σφόδρα ἐθέλων οὐχ
οἷός τε ἦν, καὶ ταραχὴ ἦν τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ πολὺ περὶ τὸ πρόσωπον ἐρύθημα.
[348] ταῦτα ὁρῶν ὁ ἰατρὸς προσάγει τῷ στέρνῳ τὴν χεῖρα, καὶ ἐπήδα δεινῶς ἡ
καρδία καὶ ἔξω ἵετο. τοιαῦτα ἄττα ἔπασχεν ἐκείνης παρούσης· ἐπεὶ δὲ
ἀπῆλθεν, ἐπιόντων ἄλλων, ἀτρέμας εἶχε καὶ ἦν ὅμοιος τοῖς οὐδὲν πάσχουσι.
συνιδὼν δὲ τὸ πάθος ὁ Ἐρασίστρατος φράζει πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ ὃς ὑπὸ τοῦ
φιλόπαις εἶναι παραχωρεῖν ἔφη τῷ παιδὶ τῆς γαμετῆς. ὁ δὲ αὐτίκα μὲν
ἠρνήσατο· τελευτήσαντος δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς μικρὸν ὕστερον, ἣν πρότερον
διδομένην αὐτῷ χάριν εὐγενῶς ἠρνήθη, μάλα κραταιῶς μετεδίωξεν.
(When I take all this into account, I do indeed congratulate you on your
good fortune, though I do not reproach myself. For perhaps it is some god
who has made me prefer my own ways. Be assured then that I have no
grievance against those who quarrel with my way of life and my choice. But
I myself add, as far as I can, to the sarcasms against myself and with a
more liberal hand I pour down on my own head these abusive charges. For it
was due to my own folly that I did not understand what has been the temper
of this city from the beginning; and that too though I am convinced that I
have turned over quite as many books as any man of my own age. You know of
course the tale that is told about the king who gave his name to this
city—or rather whose name the city received when it was colonised, for it
was founded by Seleucus, though it takes its name from the son(717) of
Seleucus—; they say(718) then that out of excessive softness and luxury
the latter was constantly falling in love and being loved, and finally he
conceived a dishonourable passion for his own step‐mother. And though he
wished to conceal his condition he could not, and little by little his
body began to waste away and to become transparent, and his powers to
wane, and his breathing was feebler than usual. But what could be the
matter with him was, I think, a sort of riddle, since his malady had no
visible cause, or rather it did not even appear what was its nature,
though the youth’s weakness was manifest. Then the physician of Samos(719)
was set a difficult problem, namely to discover what was the nature of the
malady. Now he, suspecting from the words of Homer(720) what is the nature
of “cares that devour the limbs,” and that in many cases it is not a
bodily weakness but an infirmity of soul that causes a wasting of the
body; and seeing moreover that the youth was very susceptible to love
because of his time of life and his habits, he took the following way of
tracking down the disease. He sat near the youth’s couch and watched his
face, after ordering handsome youths and women to walk past him, beginning
with the queen(721) herself. Now when she entered, apparently to see how
he was, the young man at once began to show the symptoms of his malady. He
breathed like one who is being choked; for though he was very anxious to
control his agitated breathing, he could not, but it became disordered,
and a deep blush spread over his face. The physician on seeing this laid
his hand to his breast, and found that his heart was beating terribly fast
and was trying to burst forth from his breast. Such were his symptoms
while she was present; but when she had gone away and others came in he
remained calm and was like a man in a normal state of health. Then
Erasistratus saw what ailed him and told the king, and he out of love for
his son said that he would give up his wife to him. Now the youth for the
moment refused; but when his father died not long after, he sought with
the greatest vehemence the favour which he had so honourably refused when
it was first offered to him.(722))
[B] Ἀντιόχῳ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα ἐποιήθη. τοῖς δ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνου γενομένοις οὐ
νέμεσις ζηλοῦν τὸν οἰκιστὴν ἢ τὸν ἐπώνυμον.(723) ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς φυτοῖς
εἰκός ἐστι διαδίδοσθαι μέχρι πολλοῦ τὰς ποιότητας, ἴσως δὲ καὶ ἐπίπαν
ὅμοια τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα τοῖς ἐξ ὧν ἐβλάστησε φύεσθαι, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν
ἀνθρώπων εἶναι εἰκὸς παραπλήσια τὰ ἤθη τῶν ἀπογόνων τοῖς προγόνοις. ἐγώ
τοι καὶ αὐτὸς ἔγνων Ἀθηναίους [C] Ἑλλήνων φιλοτιμοτάτους καὶ
φιλανθρωποτάτους· καίτοι τοῦτό γε ἐπιεικῶς ἐν πᾶσιν εἶδον τοῖς Ἕλλησιν,
ἔχω δ᾽ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν εἰπεῖν, ὡς καὶ φιλόθεοι μάλιστα πάντων εἰσὶ καὶ δεξιοὶ
τὰ πρὸς τοὺς ξένους, καθόλου μὲν Ἕλληνες πάντες, αὐτῶν δ᾽ Ἑλλήνων πλέον
τοῦτο ἔχω μαρτυρεῖν Ἀθηναίοις. εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνοι διασώζουσιν εἰκόνα τῆς
παλαιᾶς ἐν τοῖς ἤθεσιν ἀρετῆς, εἰκὸς δήπουθεν τὸ αὐτὸ ὑπάρχειν καὶ Σύροις
καὶ Ἀραβίοις καὶ Κελτοῖς καὶ Θρᾳξὶ καὶ Παίοσι καὶ τοῖς ἐν μέσῳ κειμένοις
Θρᾳκῶν [D] καὶ Παιόνων ἐπ᾽ αὐταῖς Ἴστρου ταῖς ᾐόσι Μυσοῖς, ὅθεν δὴ καὶ τὸ
γένος ἐστί μοι πᾶν ἄγροικον, αὐστηρόν, ἀδέξιον, ἀναφρόδιτον, ἐμμένον τοῖς
κριθεῖσιν ἀμετακινήτως· ἃ δὴ πάντα ἐστὶ δείγματα δεινῆς ἀγροικίας.
(Now since this was the conduct of Antiochus, I have no right to be angry
with his descendants when they emulate their founder or him who gave his
name to the city. For just as in the case of plants it is natural that
their qualities should be transmitted for a long time, or rather that, in
general, the succeeding generation should resemble its ancestors; so too
in the case of human beings it is natural that the morals of descendants
should resemble those of their ancestors. I myself, for instance, have
found that the Athenians are the most ambitious for honour and the most
humane of all the Greeks. And indeed I have observed that these qualities
exist in an admirable degree among all the Greeks, and I can say for them
that more than all other nations they love the gods, and are hospitable to
strangers; I mean all the Greeks generally, but among them the Athenians
above all as I can bear witness. And if they still preserve in their
characters the image of their ancient virtue, surely it is natural that
the same thing should be true of the Syrians also, and the Arabs and Celts
and Thracians and Paeonians, and those who dwell between the Thracians and
Paeonians, I mean the Mysians on the very banks of the Danube, from whom
my own family is derived, a stock wholly boorish, austere, awkward,
without charm and abiding immovably by its decisions; all of which
qualities are proofs of terrible boorishness.)
Αἰτοῦμαι τοίνυν ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ πρῶτον συγγνώμην, ἐν μέρει δὲ καὶ ὑμῖν νέμω
τὰ πάτρια ζηλοῦσιν, οὐδ᾽ ἐν ὀνείδει προφέρομαι τὸ
(I therefore ask for forgiveness, in the first place for myself, and in my
turn I grant it to you also since you emulate the manners of your
forefathers, nor do I bring it against you as a reproach when I say that
you are)
[349] Ψεῦσταί τ᾽ ὀρχησταί τε χοροιτυπίῃσιν ἄριστοι,
(“Liars and dancers, well skilled to dance in a chorus”;(724))
τοὐναντίον δὲ ἀντ᾽ ἐγκωμίων ὑμῖν προσεῖναί φημι πατρίων ζῆλον
ἐπιτηδευμάτων. ἐπεὶ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἐπαινῶν τὸν Αὐτόλυκόν φησι περιεῖναι πάντων
(on the contrary it is in the place of a panegyric that I ascribe to you
emulation of the practice of your forefathers. For Homer too is praising
Autolycus when he says that he surpassed all men)
Κλεπτοσύνῃ θ᾽ ὅρκῳ τε.
(“in stealing and perjury.”(725))
καὶ ἐμαυτοῦ τὴν σκαιότητα καὶ τὴν ἀμαθίαν καὶ τὴν δυσκολίαν [B] καὶ τὸ μὴ
ῥᾳδίως μαλάττεσθαι μηδὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς δεομένοις ἢ τοῖς ἐξαπατῶσι τὰ ἐμαυτοῦ
ποιεῖσθαι μηδὲ ταῖς βοαῖς εἴκειν καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα στέργω ὀνείδη. πότερα μὲν
οὖν ἐστι κουφότερα, θεοῖς ἴσως δῆλον, ἐπείπερ ἀνθρώπων οὐδεὶς οἷός τε ἡμῖν
ἐστιν ὑπὲρ τῶν διαφορῶν βραβεῦσαι· πεισόμεθα γὰρ οὐδαμῶς αὐτῷ διὰ
φιλαυτίαν, θαυμάζειν γὰρ εἰκὸς τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ἕκαστον, ἀτιμάζειν δὲ τὰ παρὰ
τοῖς ἄλλοις. ὁ δὲ τῷ τὰ ἐναντία ζηλοῦντι νέμων συγγνώμην εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ
πρᾳότατος.
(And as for my own awkwardness and ignorance and ill‐temper, and my
inability to be influenced, or to mind my own business when people beg me
to do so or try to deceive me and that I cannot yield to their
clamour—even such reproaches I gladly accept. But whether your ways or
mine are more supportable is perhaps clear to the gods, for among men
there is no one capable of arbitrating in our disagreement. For such is
our self‐love that we shall never believe him, since everyone of us
naturally admires his own ways and despises those of other men. In fact he
who grants indulgence to one whose aims are the opposite of his own is, in
my opinion, the most considerate of men.)