§6ταῦτα τοῦ Νικάνδρου διελθόντος, οἶσθα γὰρ δὴ Θέωνα τὸν ἑταῖρον, ἤρετο τὸν Ἀμμώνιον, εἰ διαλεκτικῇ παρρησίας μέτεστιν οὕτω περιυβρισμένῃ ἀκηκουίᾳ·
When Nicander had gone through these things—for you surely know our companion Theon—he asked Ammonius whether logic has any freedom of speech, having heard herself so terribly insulted.
τοῦ δʼ Ἀμμωνίου λέγειν παρακελευομένου καὶ βοηθεῖν,
ἀλλʼ ὅτι μέν
ἔφη
διαλεκτικώτατος ὁ θεός ἐστιν, οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν χρησμῶν δηλοῦσιν τοῦ γὰρ αὐτοῦ δήπουθέν ἐστι καὶ λύειν καὶ ποιεῖν ἀμφιβολίας.
And when Ammonius encouraged him to speak and to come to her aid, "But," he said, "that the god is most logical, the majority of his oracles make clear; for it belongs, of course, to the same person both to solve and to create ambiguities.
ἔτι δʼ, ὥσπερ Πλάτων ἔλεγε, χρησμοῦ δοθέντος ὅπως τὸν ἐν Δήλῳ βωμὸν διπλασιάσωσιν, ὃ τῆς ἄκρας; ἕξεως περὶ γεωμετρίαν ἔργον ἐστίν, οὐ τοῦτο προστάττειν τὸν θεὸν ἀλλὰ καὶ γεωμετρεῖν διακελεύεσθαι τοῖς Ἕλλησιν·
Moreover, just as Plato used to say, when an oracle was given that they should double the altar in Delos (which is a task requiring the highest skill in geometry), the god was not commanding this, but was bidding the Greeks to practice geometry.
οὕτως ἄρα χρησμοὺς ἀμφιβόλους ἐκφέρων ὁ θεὸς αὔξει καὶ συνίστησι διαλεκτικὴν ὡς ἀναγκαίαν τοῖς μέλλουσιν ὀρθῶς αὐτοῦ συνήσειν.
In this very way, then, by delivering ambiguous oracles, the god increases and establishes logic as necessary for those who are going to understand him correctly.
ἐν δὲ διαλεκτικῇ δήπου μεγίστην ἔχει δύναμιν ὁ συναπτικὸς οὑτοσὶ σύνδεσμος, ἅτε δὴ τὸ λογικώτατον σχηματίζων ἀξίωμα·
And in logic, of course, this copulative conjunction holds the greatest power, since it forms the most logical proposition.
πῶς γὰρ τοιοῦτο τὸ συνημμένον, εἴ γε τῆς μὲν ὑπάρξεως τῶν πραγμάτων ἔχει καὶ τὰ θηρία γνῶσιν, ἀκολούθου δὲ θεωρίαν καὶ κρίσιν ἀνθρώπῳ μόνῳ παραδέδωκεν ἡ φύσις;
For how is the hypothetical proposition of such a character, if indeed of the existence of things even beasts have knowledge, but the contemplation and judgment of consequence nature has granted to man alone?
ὅτι γάρ
ἡμέρα καὶ φῶς ἔστιν
αἰσθάνονται δήπου καὶ λύκοι καὶ κύνες καὶ ὄρνιθες· ὅτι δʼ
εἰ ἡμέρα, φῶς ἔστιν
οὐδὲν ἄλλο συνίησι πλὴν ἄνθρωπος, ἡγουμένου καὶ λήγοντος ἐμφάσεώς τε καὶ συναρτήσεως τούτων πρὸς ἄλληλα καὶ σχέσεως καὶ διαφορᾶς μόνος ἔχων ἔννοιαν, ἐξ αἱ ἀποδείξεις τὴν κυριωτάτην ἀρχὴν λαμβάνουσιν.
For that "it is day and there is light" is perceived, surely, by wolves and dogs and birds; but that "if it is day, there is light" no other creature understands except man, who alone has a concept of the antecedent and the consequent, of their significance and connection with one another, their relation and difference, from which demonstrations take their most sovereign principle.
ἐπεὶ τοίνυν φιλοσοφία μέν ἐστι περὶ ἀλήθειάν ἀληθείας δὲ φῶς ἀπόδειξις ἀποδείξεως δʼ ἀρχὴ τὸ συνημμένον, εἰκότως ἡ τοῦτο συνέχουσα καὶ ποιοῦσα δύναμις ὑπὸ σοφῶν ἀνδρῶν τῷ μάλιστα τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἠγαπηκότι θεῷ καθιερώθη·
Since, then, philosophy is concerned with truth, and the light of truth is demonstration, and the principle of demonstration is the hypothetical proposition, it is reasonable that the power which maintains and produces this was dedicated by wise men to the god who especially loves truth.
καὶ μάντις μὲν ὁ θεὸς μαντικὴ δὲ τέχνη περὶ τὸ μέλλον ἐκ τῶν παρόντων ἢ παρῳχημένων. οὐδενὸς γὰρ. οὔτʼ ἀναίτιος ἡ γένεσις οὔτʼ ἄλογος ἡ πρόγνωσις·
And the god is a prophet, and the prophetic art is concerned with the future arising from the present or the past.
ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ πάντα τοῖς γεγονόσι τὰ γιγνόμενα τά τε γενησόμενα τοῖς γιγνομένοις ἕπεται καὶ συνήρτηται κατὰ διέξοδον ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς εἰς τέλος περαίνουσαν, ὁ τὰς αἰτίας εἰς ταὐτὸ συνδεῖν τε πρὸς ἄλληλα καὶ συμπλέκειν φυσικῶς ἐπιστάμενος οἶδε καὶ προλέγειν
"τὰ τʼ ἐόντα τὰ τʼ ἐσσόμενα πρὸ τʼ ἐόντα. "
καὶ καλῶς Ὅμηρος πρῶτον ἔταξε τὰ παρόντα εἶτα τὸ μέλλον καὶ τὸ παρῳχημένον· ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ ὄντος ὁ συλλογισμὸς κατὰ τὴν τοῦ συνημμένου δύναμιν, ὡς
εἰ τόδʼ ἐστί, τόδε προηγεῖται
καὶ πάλιν
εἰ τόδʼ ἐστί, τόδε γενήσεται
τὸ γὰρ τεχνικὸν καὶ λογικὸν ὥσπερ εἴρηται γνῶσις ἀκολουθίας, τὴν δὲ πρόσληψιν ἡ αἴσθησις τῷ λόγῳ δίδωσιν.
For of nothing is the generation without cause, nor is foresight without reason; but since all things that are happening follow upon those that have happened, and those that will happen follow upon those that are happening, being connected according to a passage that runs from beginning to end, he who knows how to connect and weave together the causes naturally in relation to one another knows also how to predict "the things that are, and those that will be, and those that were before." And beautifully did Homer place first the present, and then the future and the past; for the syllogism proceeds from what is, according to the power of the hypothetical proposition, as: "if this is, that precedes," and again: "if this is, that will be." For the technical and logical element, as has been said, is the knowledge of consequence, while the assumption is what perception gives to reason.
ὅθεν, εἰ καὶ γλίσχρον εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἀποστρέψομαι τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν τῆς ἀληθείας τρίποδα τὸν λόγον, ὃς τὴν τοῦ λήγοντος πρὸς τὸ προηγούμενου ἀκολουθίαν θέμενος εἶτα προσλαβὼν τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἐπάγει τὸ συμπέρασμα τῆς ἀποδείξεως.
Hence, even if it is a far-fetched thing to say, I will not shrink from stating that this reason is the tripod of truth, which, having established the consequence of the consequent to the antecedent, and then having assumed existence, brings in the conclusion of the demonstration.
τὸν οὖν Πύθιον, εἰ δὴ μουσικῇ θʼ ἣδεται καὶ κύκνων φωναῖς καὶ κιθάρας ψόφοις, τί θαυμαστόν ἐστι διαλεκτικῆς φιλίᾳ τοῦτʼ ἀσπάζεσθαι τοῦ λόγου τὸ μέρος καὶ ἀγαπᾶν, ᾧ μάλιστα καὶ πλείστῳ προσχρωμένους ὁρᾷ τοὺς φιλοσόφους;
Therefore, if the Pythian god indeed delights in music, the voices of swans, and the sounds of the lyre, what wonder is there if, through his love of logic, he welcomes and loves this part of discourse, which he sees philosophers using most of all and most frequently?
ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς, οὔπω τὸν Προμηθέα λελυκὼς οὐδὲ τοῖς περὶ τὸν Χείρωνα καὶ Ἄτλαντα σοφισταῖς διειλεγμένος ἀλλὰ νέος ὢν καὶ κομιδῇ Βοιώτιος, ἀναιρῶν τὴν διαλεκτικὴν καὶ καταγελῶν τοῦ
εἰ
τὸ πρῶτον, τὸ δεύτερον ὑποσπᾶν ἔδοξε βίᾳ τὸν τρίποδα καὶ διαμάχεσθαι πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς τέχνης· ἐπεὶ προϊών γε τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ οὗτος ἔοικε μαντικώτατος ὁμοῦ γενέσθαι καὶ διαλεκτικώτατος.
But Heracles, before he had freed Prometheus or conversed with the wise men associated with Chiron and Atlas, being young and completely Boeotian, by denying logic and mocking the word "if", seemed at first to drag away the tripod by force, and to fight against the god for the possession of the art; since, as time went on, he also seems to have become at once most prophetic and most logical.