§8τὸν Τιρίβαζόν φασιν ὑπὸ τῶν Περσῶν συλλαμβανόμενον σπάσασθαί τε τὸν ἀκινάκην, εὔρωστον ὄντα, καὶ διαμάχεσθαι· μαρτυρομένων δὲ καὶ βοώντων ὅτι συλλαμβάνουσιν αὐτὸν βασιλέως κελεύσαντος, αὐτίκα τὸ ξίφος καταβαλεῖν καὶ τὼ χεῖρε συνδῆσαι παρασχεῖν.
They say that Tiribazus, when he was being arrested by the Persians, drew his short sword, since he was robust, and fought hard; but when they testified and cried out that they were arresting him by the king's command, he immediately threw down his sword and presented both hands to be bound.
ἆρʼ οὖν οὐχ ὅμοιόν ἐστι τὸ γιγνόμενον;
Is not what happens, then, similar?
οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι διαμάχονται συμφοραῖς καὶ διωθοῦνται τὰ πράγματα, φυγὰς ἑαυτοῖς μηχανώμενοι καὶ παρατροπὰς τῶν ἀβουλήτων· ὁ δὲ δεισιδαίμων οὐδενὸς ἀκούσας, αὐτὸς πρὸς αὑτὸν εἰπών
ταῦτα πάσχεις, ὦ κακόδαιμον, ἐκ προνοίας καὶ θεοῦ κελεύοντος
ἔρριψε πᾶσαν ἐλπίδα, προήκατο ἑαυτόν, ἔφυγε διεκρούσατο τοὺς βοηθοῦντας.
Others fight against misfortunes and push back circumstances, devising for themselves escapes and turnings-away of unwanted events; but the superstitious person, without listening to anyone, saying to himself: "You suffer this, O miserable one, by providence and God's command," cast away all hope, surrendered himself, fled, and rejected those who would help him.
πολλὰ τῶν μετρίων κακῶν ὀλέθρια ποιοῦσιν αἱ δεισιδαιμονίαι.
Superstitions make many moderate evils destructive.
Μίδας ὁ παλαιός, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἔκ τινων ἐνυπνίων ἀθυμῶν καὶ ταραττόμενος οὕτω κακῶς ἔσχε τὴν ψυχήν, ὥσθʼ ἑκουσίως ἀποθανεῖν αἷμα ταύρου πιών.
Ancient Midas, as it seems, being disheartened and disturbed by certain dreams, was so badly off in his soul that he voluntarily died by drinking bull's blood.
ὁ δὲ τῶν Μεσσηνίων βασιλεὺς Ἀριστόδημος ἐν τῷ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους πολέμῳ, κυνῶν λύκοις ὠρυομένων ὅμοια καὶ περὶ τὴν ἑστίαν αὐτοῦ τὴν πατρῴαν ἀγρώστεως ἀναβλαστανούσης καὶ τῶν μάντεων τὰ σημεῖα φοβουμένων, ἐξαθυμήσας καὶ κατασβεσθεὶς ταῖς ἐλπίσιν αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀπέσφαξεν.
And the king of the Messenians, Aristodemus, in the war against the Lacedaemonians, when dogs howled in a manner like wolves, and wild grass sprouted around his paternal hearth, and the seers feared these signs, lost heart and, having the lamp of his hopes extinguished, cut his own throat.
ἦν δʼ ἴσως καὶ Νικίᾳ τῷ Ἀθηναίων στρατηγῷ κράτιστον οὕτως ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας ὡς Μίδας ἢ Ἀριστόδημος ἢ φοβηθέντι τὴν σκιὰν ἐκλιπούσης τῆς σελήνης καθῆσθαι περιτειχιζόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, εἶθʼ ὁμοῦ τέτταρσι μυριάσιν ἀνθρώπων φονευθέντων τε καὶ ζώντων ἁλόντων ὑποχείριον γενέσθαι καὶ δυσκλεῶς ἀποθανεῖν.
And it would perhaps have been far better for Nicias, the general of the Athenians, to be freed from his superstition in the manner of Midas or Aristodemus, rather than to sit still, being walled in by the enemy, because he feared the shadow of the eclipsed moon, and then, while forty thousand men were either slaughtered or captured alive, to fall into the hands of the enemy and die ignominiously.
οὐ γὰρ γῆς ἀντίφραξις ἐν μέσῳ γενομένης φοβερόν, οὐδὲ δεινὸν ἐν καιρῷ περιόδων σκιᾶς πρὸς σελήνην ἀπάντησις, ἀλλὰ δεινὸν τὸ τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας σκότος ἐκπεσόντος ἀνθρώπου συγχέαι καὶ τυφλῶσαι λογισμὸν ἐν πράγμασι μάλιστα λογισμοῦ δεομένοις
"
Γλαῦκʼ, ὅρα, βαθὺς γὰρ ἤδη κύμασι ταράσσεται
πόντος, ἀμφὶ δʼ ἄκρᾳ Γυρέων ὀρθὸν ἵσταται νέφος,
σῆμα χειμῶνος. "
τοῦτʼ ἰδὼν κυβερνήτης εὔχεται μὲν ὑπεκφυγεῖν καὶ θεοὺς ἐπικαλεῖται σωτῆρας, εὐχόμενος δὲ τὸν οἴακα προσάγει, τὴν κεραίαν ὑφίησι,
"φεύγει μέγα λαῖφος ὑποστολίσας ἐρεβώδεος ἐκ θαλάσσης. "
ὁ Ἡσίοδος κελεύει πρὸ ἀρότου καὶ σπόρου τὸν γεωργὸν εὔχεσθαι
Διὶ χθονίῳ Δημήτερί θʼ ἁγνῇ
τῆς ἐχέτλης ἐχόμενον, Ὅμηρος δὲ τὸν Αἴαντά φησι τῷ Ἕκτορι μέλλοντα μονομαχεῖν εὔχεσθαι κελεύειν τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τοῖς θεοῖς, εἶτʼ εὐχομένων ἐκείνων ὁπλίζεσθαι.
For the obstruction of the earth coming in between is not fearful, nor is the meeting of the shadow with the moon at the season of their revolutions terrible; but terrible is the darkness of superstition falling upon a person who has lost his senses, to confuse and blind his reason in matters that especially require reason. "Glaucus, look! For already the deep sea is troubled with waves, and about the heights of Gyrae a cloud stands upright, a sign of storm." Seeing this, a helmsman prays indeed to escape and calls upon the savior gods, but while praying he brings the tiller round, lowers the yardarm, "and flees, having furled his great sail from the murky sea." Hesiod bids the farmer, before plowing and sowing, to pray to chthonic Zeus and holy Demeter, while holding the plow-tail; and Homer says that Ajax, when about to fight in single combat with Hector, bade the Greeks pray to the gods for him, and then, while they were praying, he armed himself.
καὶ ὁ Ἀγαμέμνων ὅτε τοῖς μαχομένοις προσέταξεν
"εὖ μέν τις δόρυ θηξάσθω, εὖ δʼ ἀσπίδα θέσθω,"
τότε παρὰ τοῦ Διὸς αἰτεῖ
"δός με κατὰ πρηνὲς βαλέειν Πριάμοιο μέλαθρον· "
ἀρετῆς γὰρ ἐλπὶς ὁ θεός ἐστιν, οὐ δειλίας πρόφασις.
And Agamemnon, when he commanded the combatants, "Let each man sharpen well his spear, and well dispose his shield," then asks from Zeus: "Grant me to cast down headlong the palace of Priam;" for God is the hope of courage, not a pretext for cowardice.
ἀλλʼ Ἰουδαῖοι σαββάτων ὄντων ἐν ἀγνάπτοις καθεζόμενοι, τῶν πολεμίων κλίμακας προστιθέντων καὶ τὰ τείχη καταλαμβανόντων, οὐκ ἀνέστησαν ἀλλʼ ἔμειναν ὥσπερ ἐν σαγήνῃ μιᾷ τῇ δεισιδαιμονίᾳ συνδεδεμένοι.
But the Jews, since it was the Sabbath, sitting in unwashed garments, while the enemy were applying ladders and capturing the walls, did not rise up but remained bound by their superstition as if in one dragnet.
§9τοιαύτη μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἀβουλήτοις καὶ περιστατικοῖς λεγομένοις πράγμασι καὶ καιροῖς ἡ δεισιδαιμονία, βελτίων δʼ οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἐν τοῖς ἡδίοσι τῆς ἀθεότητος.
Such indeed is superstition in unwanted and so-called circumstantial matters and occasions, but it is no better than atheism even in more pleasant ones.
ἥδιστα δὲ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἑορταὶ καὶ εἰλαπίναι πρὸς ἱεροῖς καὶ μυήσεις καὶ ὀργιασμοὶ καὶ κατευχαὶ θεῶν καὶ προσκυνήσεις.
Most pleasant to men are festivals, banquets at temples, initiations, mystic rites, prayers to the gods, and worship.
ἐνταῦθα τοίνυν σκόπει τὸν ἄθεον γελῶντα μὲν μανικὸν καὶ Σαρδόνιον γέλωτα τοῖς ποιουμένοις καί που παραφθεγγόμενον ἀτρέμα πρὸς τοὺς συνήθεις ὅτι τετύφωνται καὶ δαιμονῶσιν οἱ θεοῖς ταῦτα δρᾶσθαι νομίζοντες, ἄλλο δʼ οὐδὲν ἔχοντα κακόν.
Look, then, at the atheist here, laughing with a mad and sardonic laugh at what is being done, and perhaps whispering quietly to his companions that those who believe these things are done for the gods are puffed up with vanity and possessed by demons, but having no other evil.
ὁ δὲ δεισιδαίμων βούλεται μὲν οὐ δύναται δὲ χαίρειν οὐδʼ ἥδεσθαι,
"
πόλις δʼ ὁμοῦ μὲν θυμιαμάτων γέμει,
ὁμοῦ δὲ παιάνων τε καὶ στεναγμάτων
"
ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ δεισιδαίμονος.
But the superstitious person wishes to rejoice and be glad, but cannot; "and the city is at once full of incense-offerings, and at once of paeans and groans," so is the soul of the superstitious person.
ἐστεφανωμένος ὠχριᾷ, θύει καὶ φοβεῖται, εὔχεται φωνῇ παλλομένῃ καὶ χερσὶν ἐπιθυμιᾷ τρεμούσαις, καὶ ὅλως ἀποδείκνυσι τὸν Πυθαγόρου λόγον φλύαρον εἰπόντος ὅτι
βέλτιστοι γιγνόμεθα πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς βαδίζοντες·
Crowned with a wreath, he turns pale; he sacrifices and is afraid; he prays with a trembling voice and offers incense with shaking hands; and in general, he proves the saying of Pythagoras to be nonsense, who said that we become best when we walk toward the gods.
τότε γὰρ ἀθλιώτατα καὶ κάκιστα πράττουσιν οἱ δεισιδαίμονες, ὥσπερ ἄρκτων φωλεοῖς ἢ χειαῖς δρακόντων ἢ μυχοῖς κητῶν τοῖς τῶν θεῶν μεγάροις ἢ ἀνακτόροις προσιόντες.
For it is then that the superstitious fare most miserably and worst, approaching the halls or shrines of the gods as if they were approaching the dens of bears, the holes of serpents, or the depths of sea-monsters.