§1στιχιδίοις τισὶν οὐ φαύλως ἔχουσιν, ὦ φίλε Σαραπίων, ἐνέτυχον πρῴην, ἃ Δικαίαρχος Εὐριπίδην οἴεται πρὸς Ἀρχέλαον εἰπεῖν· "
ʼοὐ βούλομαι πλουτοῦντι. δωρεῖσθαι πένης,
μὴ μʼ ἄφρονα κρίνῃς ἢ διδοὺς αἰτεῖν δοκῶ. "
χαρίζεται; μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν ὁ διδοὺς ἀπʼ ὀλίγων μικρὰ τοῖς πολλὰ κεκτημένοις, ἀπιστούμενος δʼ ἀντὶ μηδενὸς διδόναι κακοηθείας καὶ ἀνελευθερίας προσλαμβάνει δόξαν.
I recently met with some verses that are not without merit, my friend Sarapion, which Dicaearchus thinks Euripides spoke to Archelaus: "I do not wish, being poor, to give gifts to a rich man, lest you judge me foolish, or, in giving, I seem to be begging." For he who gives small things out of his little to those who possess much bestows no favor, and being suspected of giving for nothing, he gains a reputation for malice and illiberality instead.
ὅρα δὴ ὅσον ἐλευθεριότητι καὶ κάλλει τὰ χρηματικὰ δῶρα λείπεται τῶν ἀπὸ λόγου σοφίας, ἃ καὶ διδόναι καλόν ἐστι καὶ διδόντας ἀνταιτεῖν ὅμοια παρὰ τῶν λαμβανόντων.
See then how far monetary gifts fall short in generosity and beauty of those of reason and wisdom, which it is beautiful both to give and, in giving, to ask for similar things in return from the recipients.
ἐγὼ γοῦν πρὸς σὲ καὶ διὰ σὲ τοῖς αὐτόθι φίλοις τῶν Πυθικῶν λόγων ἐνίους ὥσπερ ἀπαρχὰς; ἀποστέλλων, ὁμολογῶ προσδοκᾶν ἑτέρους καὶ πλείονας καὶ βελτίονας παρʼ ὑμῶν, ἅτε δὴ καὶ πόλει χρωμένων μεγάλῃ καὶ σχολῆς μᾶλλον ἐν βιβλίοις πολλοῖς καὶ παντοδαπαῖς διατριβαῖς εὐπορούντων.
I, at any rate, sending to you, and through you to our friends there, some of the Pythian discourses as a kind of first-fruits, confess that I expect others, both more and better, from you all, inasmuch as you dwell in a great city and enjoy more leisure in the midst of many books and all kinds of studies.
ὁ δʼ οὖν φίλος Ἀπόλλων ἔοικε τὰς μὲν περὶ τὸν βίον ἀπορίας ἰᾶσθαι καὶ διαλύειν θεμιστεύων τοῖς χρωμένοις, τὰς δὲ περὶ τὸν λόγον αὐτὸς ἐνιέναι καὶ προβάλλειν τῷ φύσει φιλοσόφῳ, τῆ ψυχῇ ὄρεξιν ἐμποιῶν ἀγωγὸν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὡς ἄλλοις τε πολλοῖς δῆλόν ἐστι καὶ τῇ τοῦ Ε καθιερώσει.
Our friend Apollo, then, seems to cure and resolve the difficulties concerning life by delivering oracles to those who consult him, but those concerning reason he himself implants and proposes to the philosopher by nature, instilling in the soul a desire that leads toward truth, as is clear from many other things and especially from the dedication of the E.
τοῦτο γὰρ εἰκὸς οὐ κατὰ τύχην οὐδʼ οἷον ἀπὸ κλήρου τῶν γραμμάτων μόνον ἐν προεδρίᾳ παρὰ τῷ θεῷ γενέσθαι καὶ λαβεῖν ἀναθήματος τάξιν ἱεροῦ καὶ θεάματος ἀλλʼ ἢ δύναμιν αὐτοῦ κατιδόντας ἰδίαν καὶ περιττὴν ἢ συμβόλῳ χρωμένους πρὸς ἕτερόν τι τῶν ἀξίων σπουδῆς τοὺς ἐν ἀρχῇ περὶ τὸν θεὸν φιλοσοφήσαντας, οὕτω προσέσθαι.
For it is likely that this letter did not obtain by chance or as if by lot alone a place of honor before the god, and receive the rank of a sacred offering and a spectacle, but rather that those who in the beginning philosophized about the god, seeing its peculiar and extraordinary power, or using it as a symbol for some other worthy subject of study, thus dedicated it.
πολλάκις οὖν ἄλλοτε τὸν λόγον ἐν τῇ σχολῇ προβαλλόμενον ἐκκλίνας ἀτρέμα καὶ παρελθὼν, ἔναγχος ὑπὸ τῶν υἱῶν ἐλήφθην ξένοις τισὶ συμφιλοτιμούμενος, οὓς εὐθὺς ἐκ Δελφῶν ἀπαίρειν μέλλοντας οὐκ ἦν εὐπρεπὲς παράγειν οὐδὲ παραιτεῖσθαι, πάντως ἀκοῦσαί τι προθυμουμένους.
Therefore, having often on other occasions quietly avoided and passed over this question when proposed in our school, I was recently caught by my sons while they were showing hospitality to certain strangers, whom, since they were about to depart immediately from Delphi, it was not decent to bypass or refuse, as they were in every way eager to hear something.
ὡς δὲ καθίσας παρὰ τὸν νεὼν τὰ μὲν αὐτὸς ἠρξάμην ζητεῖν, τὰ δʼ ἐκείνους ἐρωτᾶν, ὑπὸ τοῦ τόπου καὶ τῶν λόγων αὐτῶν· ἃ πάλαι ποτὲ καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐπεδήμει Νέρων ἠκούσαμεν Ἀμμωνίου καί τινων ἄλλων διεξιόντων, ἐνταῦθα τῆς αὐτῆς ἀπορίας ὁμοίως ἐμπεσούσης.
And when we sat down by the temple, and I myself began to investigate some things and to ask them about others, by the influence of the place and of the discussions themselves—which we once long ago heard Ammonius and some others discussing at the time Nero was visiting here—we fell there into the same difficulty in a similar way.
§2ὅτι μὲν γὰρ οὐχ ἧττον ὁ θεὸς φιλόσοφος ἢ μάντις, ἐδόκει πᾶσιν ὀρθῶς πρὸς τοῦτο τῶν ὀνομάτων ἕκαστον Ἀμμώνιος τίθεσθαι καὶ διδάσκειν, ὡς Πύθιος μέν ἐστι τοῖς ἀρχομένοις μανθάνειν καὶ διαπυνθάνεσθαι· Δήλιος δὲ καὶ Φαναῖος οἷς ἤδη τι δηλοῦται καὶ ὑποφαίνεται τῆς ἀληθείας· Ἰσμήνιος δὲ τοῖς ἔχουσι τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ Λεσχηνόριος ὅταν ἐνεργῶσι καὶ ἀπολαύωσι χρώμενοι τῷ διαλέγεσθαι καὶ φιλοσοφεῖν πρὸς ἀλλήλους.
For that the god is no less a philosopher than a prophet, Ammonius seemed to all of us to establish and teach correctly with regard to each of his names: that he is Pythian to those who are beginning to learn and inquire; Delian and Phanaean to those to whom some of the truth is already revealed and begins to appear; Ismenian to those who possess knowledge; and Leschenorios when they active and enjoy conversing and philosophizing with one another.
ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦ φιλοσοφεῖν
ἔφη
τὸ ζητεῖν τὸ· θαυμάζειν καὶ ἀπορεῖν, εἰκότως τὰ πολλὰ τῶν περὶ τὸν θεὸν ἔοικεν αἰνίγμασι κατακεκρύφθαι, καὶ λόγον τινὰ ποθοῦντα διὰ τί καὶ διδασκαλίαν τῆς αἰτίας· οἷον ἐπὶ τοῦ πυρὸς τοῦ ἀθανάτου, τὸ κάεσθαι μόνον αὐτόθι τῶν, ξύλων ἐλάτην καὶ δάφνην ἐπιθυμιᾶσθαι, καὶ τὸ δύο Μοίρας ἱδρῦσθαι πανταχοῦ τριῶν νομιζομένων, τὸ μηδεμιᾷ γυναικὶ πρὸς τὸ χρηστήριον εἶναι προσελθεῖν· καὶ τὸ τοῦ τρίποδος, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, τοῖς μὴ παντάπασιν ἀλόγοις καὶ ἀψύχοις ὑφειμένα δελεάζει καὶ παρακαλεῖ πρὸς τὸ σκοπεῖν τι καὶ ἀκούειν καὶ διαλέγεσθαι περὶ αὐτῶν.
And since the beginning of philosophizing, he said, is searching, wondering, and being in doubt, it is reasonable that most things concerning the god seem to be hidden in riddles, and to require some explanation of the 'why' and instruction on the cause; as, in the case of the eternal fire, that only fir-wood is burned there, and laurel is offered as incense; and that two Fates are established here, though three are everywhere believed in; that no woman is allowed to approach the oracle; and the matter of the tripod, and all such things, which, being presented to those who are not altogether irrational and lifeless, entice and exhort them to investigate, listen, and converse about them.
ὅρα δὲ καὶ ταυτὶ τὰ προγράμματα, τὸ
γνῶθι σαυτόν
καὶ τὸ
μηδὲν ἄγαν,
ὅσας ζητήσεις κεκίνηκε φιλοσόφους καὶ ὅσον λόγων πλῆθος ἀφʼ ἑκάστου καθάπερ ἀπὸ σπέρματος ἀναπέφυκεν· ὧν οὐδενὸς ἧττον οἶμαι γόνιμον λόγων εἶναι τὸ νῦν ζητούμενον.
And look also at these inscriptions, "Know thyself" and "Nothing in excess," how many philosophical inquiries they have set in motion, and what a multitude of discussions has grown from each, as if from a seed; of which I think the question now under investigation is no less fruitful in discussions.