§1Ὅμηρος μὲν ἐπιβλέψος τὰ θνητὰ τῶν ζῴων γένη καὶ πρὸς ἄλληλα συγκρίνας κατὰ τοὺς βίους καὶ τὰς διαιτήσεις, ἐξεφώνησεν ὡς οὐδέν ἐστιν
"
ὀιζυρώτερον ἀνδρός,
πάντων ὅσσα τε γαῖαν ἔπι πνείει τε καὶ ἕρπει
"
πρωτεῖον οὐκ εὐτυχὲς εἰς κακῶν ὑπεροχὴν ἀποδιδοὺς τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ.
Homer, having surveyed the mortal races of living creatures and compared them with one another in respect of their lives and habits, declared aloud that there is "nothing more wretched than man, of all things that breathe and creep upon the earth, "thus assigning to man an unhappy primacy in the excess of evils.
ἡμεῖς δʼ ὥσπερ ἤδη νικῶντα κακοδαιμονίᾳ τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀθλιώτατον ζῴων ἀνηγορευμένον, αὐτὸν αὑτῷ συγκρίνωμεν, εἰς ἰδίων κακῶν ἀγῶνα σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν διαιροῦντες οὐκ ἀχρήστως ἀλλὰ καὶ πάνυ δεόντως, ἵνα μάθωμεν πότερον διὰ τὴν τύχην ἢ διʼ ἑαυτοὺς ἀθλιώτερον ζῶμεν.
But let us, as though man were already victorious in misfortune and proclaimed the most miserable of all animals, compare him with himself, dividing body and soul for a contest of their own evils, not uselessly but indeed very properly, so that we may learn whether we live more miserably because of fortune or because of ourselves.
νόσος μὲν γὰρ ἐν σώματι φύεται διὰ φύσιν, κακία δὲ καὶ μοχθηρία περὶ ψυχὴν ἔργον ἐστὶ πρῶτον εἶτα πάθος αὐτῆς.
For disease grows in the body by nature, but vice and wickedness in the soul is first its active work and then its passive state.
οὐ μικρὸν δὲ πρὸς εὐθυμίαν ὄφελος, ἂν ἰάσιμον τὸ χεῖρον καὶ κουφότερον καὶ ἄσφυκτον.
And it is no small help toward peace of mind if the worse part is curable, lighter, and free from throbbing.
§2ἡ μὲν οὖν Αἰσώπειος ἀλώπηξ περὶ ποικιλίας δικαζομένη πρὸς τὴν πάρδαλιν, ὡς ἐκείνη τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν εὐανθῆ καὶ κατάστικτον ἐπεδείξατο, τῇ δʼ ἦν τὸ ξανθὸν αὐχμηρὸν καὶ οὐχ ἡδὺ προσιδεῖν· ἀλλʼ ἐμοῦ τοι τὸ ἐντός
ἔφη
σκοπῶν, ὦ δικαστά, ποικιλωτέραν με τῆσδʼ ὄψει
δηλοῦσα τὴν περὶ τὸ ἦθος εὐτροπίαν ἐπὶ πολλὰ ταῖς χρείαις ἀμειβομένην.
Now, Aesop's fox, when disputing with the leopard about their variety, after the latter had shown off its body and its outer appearance as bright-colored and spotted, while the fox had a tawny, dry skin that was not pleasant to look upon, said: "But if you look at my inside, O judge, you will find me more varied than this creature," indicating her versatility of character which adapts itself to many needs.
λέγωμεν οὖν ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅτι πολλὰ μέν, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, σοὶ καὶ τὸ σῶμα νοσήματα καὶ πάθη φύσει τʼ ἀνίησιν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ προσπίπτοντα δέχεται θύραθεν· ἂν δὲ σαυτὸν ἔνδοθεν ἀνοίξῃς, ποικίλον τι καὶ πολυπαθὲς κακῶν ταμιεῖον εὑρήσεις καὶ θησαύρισμα, ὥς φησι Δημόκριτος, οὐκ ἔξωθεν ἐπιρρεόντων, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐγγείους καὶ αὐτόχθονας πηγὰς ἐχόντων, ἃς ἀνίησιν ἡ κακία πολύχυτος καὶ δαψιλὴς; οὖσα τοῖς πάθεσιν. εἰ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἐν σαρκὶ νοσήματα σφυγμοῖς καὶ ὢχραις ἐρυθαινόμενα φωρᾶται, καὶ θερμότητες αὐτὰ καὶ πόνοι προπετεῖς ἐλέγχουσι, τὰ δʼ ἐν ψυχῇ λανθάνει τοὺς πολλοὺς κακὰ ὄντα, διὰ τοῦτʼ ἐστι κακίω, προσαφαιρούμενα τὴν ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς τοῦ πάσχοντος αἴσθησιν.
Let us therefore say of ourselves: "O man, your body naturally produces from within itself many diseases and sufferings, and also receives those that fall upon it from without; but if you open yourself up from within, you will find a varied and multi-suffering storehouse and treasury of evils, as Democritus says, not flowing in from the outside, but having, as it were, underground and native springs, which vice, pouring forth abundantly, sends up to the passions." And if the diseases of the flesh are detected by pulse-beats and flushes accompanied by paleness, and feverish heats and sudden pains expose them, while the evils in the soul remain unnoticed by most people because they are evils, for this very reason they are worse, since they take away the sufferer's consciousness of them.
τῶν μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὸ σῶμα νοσημάτων ἐρρωμένος ὁ λογισμὸς αἰσθάνεται· τοῖς δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς συννοσῶν αὐτὸς οὐκ ἔχει κρίσιν ἐν οἷς πάσχει, πάσχει γὰρ ᾧ κρίνει·
For of the diseases concerning the body, the healthy reason is aware; but when it is sick along with those of the soul, it has no judgment of its own sufferings, for it suffers in that very part by which it judges.
καὶ δεῖ τῶν ψυχικῶν πρῶτον καὶ μέγιστον ἀριθμεῖν τὴν ἄνοιαν, διʼ ἧς ἀνήκεστος ἡ κακία τοῖς πολλοῖς συνοικεῖ καὶ συγκαταβιοῖ καὶ συναποθνῄσκει.
And we must count ignorance as the first and greatest of the soul's diseases, through which incurable vice dwells together, lives together, and dies together with the majority of men.
ἀρχὴ γὰρ ἀπαλλαγῆς νόσου μὲν αἴσθησις εἰς χρείαν ἄγουσα τοῦ βοηθοῦντος τὸ πάσχον ὁ δʼ ἀπιστίᾳ τοῦ νοσεῖν οὐκ εἰδὼς ὧν δεῖται, κἂν παρῇ τὸ θεραπεῦον, ἀρνεῖται.
For the beginning of release from a disease is the awareness of it, which leads the sufferer to the need of a helper; but he who, through disbelief in his sickness, does not know what he lacks, even if the healer is present, rejects him.
καὶ γὰρ τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμα νοσημάτων τὰ μετʼ ἀναισθησίας χείρονα, λήθαργοι κεφαλαλγίαι ἐπιληψίαι ἀποπληξίαι· αὐτοί τε πυρετοὶ συντείναντες εἰς παρακοπὴν τὸ φλεγμαῖνον καὶ τὴν αἴσθησιν ὥσπερ ἐν ὀργάνῳ διαταράξαντες
"κινοῦσι χορδὰς τὰς ἀκινήτους φρενῶν. "
Indeed, even among bodily diseases, those accompanied by insensibility are worse, such as lethargies, headaches, epilepsies, and apoplexies; and fevers themselves, straining to the point of delirium, inflame the body and, disturbing the senses as if in an instrument, "move the unmoved strings of the mind."