§1ἔκκλητοι κρίσεις καὶ ξενικῶν δικαστηρίων ἀγωγαὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησι τὸ πρῶτον ἀπιστίᾳ τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐπενοήθησαν, ἀλλοτρίας δικαιοσύνης ὥσπερ ἑτέρου τινὸς τῶν ἀναγκαίων μὴ φυομένου παρʼ αὐτοῖς δεηθεῖσιν.
Appeals and lawsuits before foreign tribunals were first devised among the Greeks because of mutual distrust, since they came to need a foreign justice, as if it were some other necessity that does not grow among them.
ἆρʼ οὖν καὶ οἱ φιλόσοφοι τῶν προβλημάτων ἔνια διὰ τὰς πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαφορὰς ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἀλόγων φύσιν ζῴων ὥσπερ ἀλλοδαπὴν πόλιν ἐκκαλοῦνται, καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνων πάθεσι καὶ ἤθεσιν ὡς ἀνεντεύκτοις καὶ ἀδεκάστοις ἐφιᾶσι τὴν κρίσιν;
Do philosophers also, then, because of their differences with one another, appeal some of their problems to the nature of irrational animals, as if to a foreign city, and commit the decision to their passions and habits, on the ground that these are uncorrupted and unbiased?
ἢ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης κακίας ἔγκλημα κοινόν ἐστι, τὸ περὶ τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων καὶ μεγίστων ἀμφιδοξοῦντας ἡμᾶς ζητεῖν ἐν ἵπποις καὶ κυσὶ καὶ ὄρνισι, πῶς γαμοῦμεν αὐτοὶ καὶ γεννῶμεν καὶ τεκνοτροφοῦμεν, ὡς μηδὲν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς δήλωμα τῆς φύσεως ὂν τὰ τῶν θηρίων ἤθη καὶ πάθη προσαγορεῦσαι καὶ καταμαρτυρῆσαι τοῦ βίου ἡμῶν πολλὴν τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἐκδιαίτησιν καὶ παράβασιν, εὐθὺς ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ περὶ τὰ πρῶτα συγχεομένων καὶ ταραττομένων.
Or is this also a common accusation against human wickedness, that we, being in doubt about the most necessary and greatest things, seek among horses, dogs, and birds how we ourselves should marry, beget, and rear children, as though there were no manifestation of nature in ourselves, so that we appeal to the habits and passions of wild beasts and have them bear witness against our life, that it is a great deviation and transgression from what is natural, we who are confused and troubled right from the beginning and concerning the first principles?
ἄκρατον γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνοις ἡ φύσις καὶ ἀμιγὲς καὶ ἁπλοῦν φυλάττει τὸ ἴδιον· ἐν δʼ ἀνθρώποις ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς συνηθείας, ὃ τοὔλαιον ὑπὸ τῶν μυρεψῶν πέπονθε, πρὸς πολλὰ μιγνυμένη δόγματα καὶ κρίσεις ἐπιθέτους ποικίλη γέγονε καὶ ἰδία, τὸ δʼ οἰκεῖον οὐ τετήρηκε.
For in them, nature preserves her own character unmixed, pure, and simple; but in humans, under the influence of reason and custom, suffering what oil suffers at the hands of perfume-makers, being mixed with many doctrines and foreign judgments, she has become variegated and idiosyncratic, and has not preserved her proper character.
καὶ μὴ θαυμάζωμεν, εἰ τὰ ἄλογα ζῷα τῶν λογικῶν μᾶλλον ἕπεται τῇ φύσει· καὶ γὰρ τὰ φυτὰ τῶν ζῴων, οἷς οὔτε φαντασίαν οὔθʼ ὁρμὴν ἔδωκεν ἑτέρων ὄρεξιν τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἀποσαλεύουσαν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐν δεσμῷ συνειργμένα μένει καὶ κεκράτηται, μίαν ἀεὶ πορείαν ἣν ἡ φύσις ἄγει πορευόμενα.
And let us not wonder if irrational animals follow nature more than rational ones; for plants do so even more than animals, to which [nature] gave neither imagination nor impulse involving a desire for other things that would drift them away from what is natural, but, as though confined in chains, they remain and are held fast, always traveling the single path along which nature leads them.
τοῖς δὲ θηρίοις τὸ μὲν πραΰτροπον τοῦ λόγου καὶ περιττὸν καὶ φιλελεύθερον ἄγαν οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλόγους δʼ ὁρμὰς καὶ ὀρέξεις ἔχοντα καὶ χρώμενα πλάναις καὶ περιδρομαῖς, πολλάκις οὐ μακρὰν ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐπʼ ἀγκύρας τῆς φύσεως σαλεύει· καθάπερ οὖν ὁδὸν ὑφʼ ἡνίᾳ καὶ χαλινῷ βαδίζοντα δείκνυσιν εὐθεῖαν.
On the other hand, wild beasts do not possess the gentle disposition of reason, nor its excess and over-latitude, but though they have irrational impulses and desires, and indulge in deviations and wanderings, they often toss, not far away, but as if at the anchor of nature; consequently, as if walking under rein and bit, they point out a straight path.
ὁ δὲ δεσπότης ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ καὶ αὐτοκρατὴς λόγος ἄλλας ἄλλοτε παρεκβάσεις καὶ καινοτομίας ἀνευρίσκων οὐδὲν ἴχνος ἐμφανὲς οὐδʼ ἐναργὲς ἀπολέλοιπε τῆς φύσεως.
But reason, the master and absolute ruler in man, by inventing different deviations and innovations at different times, has left no visible or clear trace of nature.