§4ἔτι τοίνυν πρόσλαβε τὴν Διογένους ἀπόφασιν, φιλόσοφον σφόδρα καὶ πολιτικὴν οὖσαν· πῶς ἀμυνοῦμαι τὸν ἐχθρόν; αὐτὸς καλὸς κἀγαθὸς γενόμενος. ἵππους ἐχθρῶν ὁρῶντες εὐδοκιμοῦντας ἀνιῶνται καὶ κύνας ἐπαινουμένους.
Furthermore, then, adopt the saying of Diogenes, which is highly philosophical and political: "How shall I defend myself against the enemy?" "By yourself becoming noble and good." They are grieved when they see the enemies' horses winning fame and their dogs being praised.
ἂν χωρίον ἐκπεπονημένον ἴδωσιν, ἂν εὐθαλοῦντα κῆπον, ἐπιστένουσι.
If they see a well-cultivated field, or a flourishing garden, they groan.
τί οὖν οἴει;
What then do you think?
σεαυτὸν ἐπιδεικνύμενος ἄνδρα δίκαιον ἀρτίφρονα χρηστόν, ἐν λόγοις εὐδόκιμον, ἐν πράξεσι καθαρόν, ἐν διαίτῃ κόσμιον,
"
βαθεῖαν αὔλακα διὰ φρενὸς καρπούμενον,
ἐξ ἧς τὰ κεδνὰ βλαστάνει βουλεύματα;
If you show yourself as a man just, sound-minded, good, approved in words, pure in deeds, orderly in life, "harvesting a deep furrow through your mind, from which good counsels sprout"?
"
νικώμενοι
φησὶ Πίνδαρος
ἄνδρες ἀγρυξίᾳ δέδενται,
οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ πάντες, ἀλλʼ ὅσοι νικωμένους αὑτοὺς ὁρῶσιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιμελείᾳ χρηστότητι μεγαλοφροσύνῃ φιλανθρωπίαις εὐεργεσίαις· ταῦτʼ ἀποστρέφει
τὴν γλῶτταν
ὡς ὁ Δημοσθένης φησίν,
ἐμφράττει τὸ στόμα, ἄγχει, σιωπᾶν ποιεῖ. "
σύ τοι διάφερε τῶν κακῶν· ἔξεστι γάρ. "
εἰ θέλεις ἀνιᾶν τὸν μισοῦντα, μὴ λοιδόρει κίναιδον μηδὲ μαλακὸν μηδʼ ἀκόλαστον μηδὲ βωμολόχον μηδʼ ἀνελεύθερον, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἀνὴρ ἴσθι καὶ σωφρόνει καὶ ἀλήθευε καὶ χρῶ φιλανθρώπως καὶ δικαίως τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν.
Pindar says: "Defeated men are bound by silence," not simply nor all, but as many as see themselves defeated by their enemies in diligence, goodness, magnanimity, benevolence, and benefactions; these, as Demosthenes says, "turn back the tongue, block the mouth, choke, and make silent." "Do you, indeed, differ from the wicked; for it is permitted." If you want to grieve the one who hates you, do not abuse him as a pathic, nor as soft, nor as intemperate, nor as a buffoon, nor as illiberal, but be a man yourself and practice self-control and speak the truth, and deal kindly and justly with those you meet.
ἂν δὲ λοιδορῆσαι προαχθῇς, ἄπαγε πορρωτάτω σεαυτὸν ὧν λοιδορεῖς ἐκεῖνον.
And if you are led on to abuse, distance yourself as far as possible from the things for which you abuse him.
ἐνδύου τῇ ψυχῇ, περισκόπει τὰ σαθρά, μὴ τίς σοί ποθεν ὑποφθέγγηται κακία τὸ τοῦ τραγῳδοῦ
"
ἄλλων ἰατρὸς αὐτὸς ἕλκεσι βρύων
"
ἂν ἀπαίδευτον εἴπῃς, ἐπίτεινε τὸ φιλομαθὲς ἐν σεαυτῷ καὶ φιλόπονον· ἂν δειλόν, ἔγειρε μᾶλλον τὸ θαρραλέον καὶ ἀνδρῶδες· κἂν ἀσελγῆ καὶ ἀκόλαστον, ἐξάλειφε τῆς ψυχῆς; εἴ τι λανθάνον ἐστὶ φιληδονίας ἴχνος.
Enter into your soul, look around at its rotten parts, lest some vice from somewhere whisper to you that saying of the tragic poet: "A physician of others, yourself teeming with sores." If you call him uneducated, increase the love of learning and love of labor in yourself; if cowardly, arouse rather what is courageous and manly; and if licentious and intemperate, wipe out from your soul any hidden trace of love of pleasure.
οὐδὲν γὰρ αἴσχιόν ἐστι· βλασφημίας παλινδρομούσης οὐδὲ λυπηρότερον, ἀλλʼ ἔοικε καὶ τοῦ φωτὸς; τὸ ἀνακλώμενον μᾶλλον ἐνοχλεῖν τὰς ἀσθενεῖς ὁράσεις καὶ τῶν ψόγων οἱ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀναφερόμενοι τοὺς ψέγοντας ὑπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας.
For nothing is more shameful and more painful than a back-firing slander; but just as reflected light seems to trouble weak eyes more, so do the reproaches that are referred back by the truth to those who reproach.
ὡς γὰρ ὁ καικίας τὰ νέφη, καὶ ὁ φαῦλος βίος ἐφʼ ἑαυτὸν ἕλκει τὰς λοιδορίας.
For as the northeast wind draws the clouds, so a bad life draws abuses upon itself.
§5ὁ μὲν οὖν Πλάτων ὁσάκις ἀσχημονοῦσιν ἀνθρώποις παραγένοιτο, πρὸς αὑτὸν εἰώθει λέγειν
μή που ἄρʼ ἐγὼ τοιοῦτος; ὁ δὲ λοιδορήσας τὸν ἑτέρου βίον ἂν εὐθὺς ἐπισκοπῇ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ καὶ μεθαρμόττῃ πρὸς τοὐναντίον ἀπευθύνων καὶ ἀποστρέφων, ἕξει τι χρήσιμον ἐκ τοῦ λοιδορεῖν, ἄλλως ἀχρήστου καὶ κενοῦ δοκοῦντος εἶναι καὶ ὄντος.
Plato, then, as often as he was present with people behaving indecently, used to say to himself: "Am I not, then, perhaps such a one?" But he who has abused the life of another, if he immediately examines his own and readjusts it, directing and turning it to the opposite, will have something useful from abusing, which otherwise seems to be and is useless and empty.
οἱ μὲν οὖν πολλοὶ γελῶσιν, ἄν τις ὢν φαλακρὸς ἢ κυρτὸς ἑτέρους εἰς ταῦτα λοιδορῇ καὶ σκώπτῃ· γελοῖον δʼ ὅλως ἐστὶ τὸ λοιδορεῖν καὶ σκώπτειν ὁτιοῦν ἀντιλοιδορηθῆναι δυνάμενον, ὡς Λέων ὁ Βυζάντιος ὑπὸ κυρτοῦ λοιδορηθεὶς εἰς τὴν τῶν ὀμμάτων ἀσθένειαν
ἀνθρώπινον
ἔφη
πάθος ὀνειδίζεις, ἐπὶ τοῦ νώτου φέρων τὴν νέμεσιν
οὐκοῦν μηδὲ μοιχὸν λοιδορήσῃς, αὐτὸς ὢν παιδομανής· μηδʼ ἄσωτον, αὐτὸς ὢν ἀνελεύθερος.
Most people, then, laugh if someone who is bald or humpbacked abuses and mocks others for these very things; but it is altogether ridiculous to abuse and mock anything that can be returned in abuse, as Leon of Byzantium, when abused by a humpback for the weakness of his eyes, said: "You reproach a human affliction, while carrying Nemesis on your back." Therefore, do not abuse an adulterer if you yourself are mad after boys, nor a spendthrift if you yourself are illiberal.
"
ἀνδροκτόνου γυναικὸς ὁμογενὴς ἔφυς
"
πρὸς τὸν Ἄδραστον ὁ Ἀλκμέων.
"You are of the same blood as a husband-killing woman," said Alcmaeon to Adrastus.
τί οὖν ἐκεῖνος;
What then did the latter do?
οὐκ ἀλλότριον ἀλλʼ ἴδιον αὐτῷ προφέρων ὄνειδος
"
σὺ, δʼ αὐτόχειρ γε μητρὸς ἣ σʼ ἐγείνατο
"
πρὸς τὸν Κράσσον ὁ Δομίτιος οὐ
σὺ μυραίνης ἐν ζωγρείῳ σοι τρεφομένης εἶτʼ ἀποθανούσης ἔκλαυσας; καὶ ὁ ἕτερος
οὐ σὺ τρεῖς γυναῖκας ἐκκομίσας οὐκ ἐδάκρυσας; οὐκ εὐφυᾶ δεῖ τὸν λοιδορησόμενον εἶναι καὶ μεγαλόφωνον καὶ ἰταμόν, ἀλλʼ ἀλοιδόρητον καὶ ἀνέγκλητον οὐδενὶ γὰρ οὕτως ἔοικε προστάττειν ὁ θεὸς ὡς τῷ μέλλοντι ψέγειν ἕτερον τὸ
γνῶθι σαυτόν,
ἵνα μὴ λέγοντες ἃ θέλουσιν ἀκούωσιν ἃ μὴ θέλουσι;
Casting back a reproach not foreign but proper to him: "But you indeed are the murderer of the mother who bore you." Did not Domitius say to Crassus: "Did you not weep for a lamprey that was kept in a pond for you and then died?" And the other: "Did you not bury three wives without shedding a tear?" He who is to abuse others should not be talented, loud-voiced, and aggressive, but free from abuse and blameless. For God seems to command "Know thyself" to no one so much as to the one who is about to censure another, lest, saying what they wish, they hear what they do not wish.
φιλεῖ
γὰρ ὁ τοιοῦτος κατὰ τὸν Σοφοκλέα
"
γλῶσσαν ἐκχέας μάτην
ἄκων ἀκούειν οὓς ἑκὼν εἴπῃ λόγους
"
For such a person, according to Sophocles, is accustomed "to hear against his will the words he spoke willingly, having poured out his tongue in vain."