§16ταῦτα δʼ οὐ κατηγορίαν ἡγητέον ἀλλʼ ἰατρείαν τῆς ἀδολεσχίας· τῶν γὰρ παθῶν κρίσει καὶ ἀσκήσει περιγιγνόμεθα, προτέρα δʼ ἡ κρίσις ἐστίν.
These things must not be regarded as an accusation, but as a cure for babbling; for we overcome passions by judgment and practice, and judgment comes first.
οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἐθίζεται φεύγειν καὶ ἀποτρίβεσθαι τῆς ψυχῆς ὃ μὴ δυσχεραίνει.
For no one accustoms himself to flee and wipe away from the soul what he does not dislike.
δυσχεραίνομεν δὲ τὰ πάθη, ὅταν τὰς βλάβας καὶ τὰς αἰσχύνας τὰς ἀπʼ αὐτῶν τῷ λόγῳ κατανοήσωμεν ὥσπερ νῦν κατανοοῦμεν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀδολέσχων, ὅτι φιλεῖσθαι βουλόμενοι μισοῦνται, χαρίζεσθαι θέλοντες ἐνοχλοῦσι, θαυμάζεσθαι δοκοῦντες καταγελῶνται, κερδαίνοντες οὐδὲν ἀναλίσκουσιν· ἀδικοῦσι τοὺς φίλους, ὠφελοῦσι τοὺς ἐχθρούς, ἑαυτοὺς ἀπολλύουσιν.
And we dislike passions when we perceive by reason the damages and shames resulting from them, just as we now perceive in the case of babblers, that wishing to be loved they are hated, wishing to please they annoy, seeming to be admired they are laughed at, gaining nothing they spend; they wrong their friends, they benefit their enemies, they ruin themselves.
ὥστε τοῦτο πρῶτον ἴαμα καὶ φάρμακόν ἐστι τοῦ πάθους, ὁ τῶν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ γιγνομένων αἰσχρῶν καὶ ὀδυνηρῶν ἐπιλογισμός.
So that this is the first remedy and medicine for the passion, the consideration of the shameful and painful consequences of it.
§17δευτέρῳ δὲ χρηστέον ἐπιλογισμῷ τῷ τῶν ἐναντίων, ἀκούοντας ἀεὶ καὶ μεμνημένους καὶ πρόχειρʼ ἔχοντας τὰ τῆς ἐχεμυθίας ἐγκώμια, καὶ τὸ σεμνὸν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον καὶ τὸ μυστηριῶδες τῆς σιωπῆς, καὶ ὅτι θαυμάζονται μᾶλλον καὶ ἀγαπῶνται καὶ σοφώτεροι δοκοῦσι τῶν ἐξηνίων τούτων καὶ φερομένων οἱ στρογγύλοι καὶ βραχυλόγοι, καὶ ὧν πολὺς νοῦς ἐν ὀλίγῃ λέξει συνέσταλται.
And we must use a second consideration, that of the opposites, always listening to, remembering, and having ready the praises of taciturnity, and the dignity and holiness and mystery of silence, and that those who are concise and brief-spoken are more admired and loved, and seem wiser than these unbridled and impetuous talkers, and those whose great intellect is compressed in few words.
καὶ γὰρ Πλάτων τοὺς τοιούτους ἐπαινεῖ, δεινοῖς ἀκοντισταῖς ἐοικέναι λέγων, οὖλα καὶ πυκνὰ καὶ συνεστραμμένα φθεγγομένους.
For even Plato praises such men, saying they are like skilled javelin-throwers, uttering words that are rounded, dense, and concentrated.
καὶ ὁ Λυκοῦργος εἰς ταύτην τὴν δεινότητα τοὺς πολίτας εὐθὺς ἐκ παίδων τῇ σιωπῇ πιέζων συνῆγε καὶ κατεπύκνου.
And Lycurgus, by constraining his citizens with silence from childhood, compressed and concentrated them into this skill.
καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ Κελτίβηρες ἐκ τοῦ σιδήρου τὸ στόμωμα ποιοῦσιν, ὅταν· κατορύξαντες εἰς τὴν γῆν τὸ πολὺ καὶ γεῶδες ἀποκαθήρωσιν, οὕτως ὁ Λακωνικὸς λόγος οὐκ ἔχει φλοιόν, ἀλλʼ εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ δραστήριον ἀφαιρέσει τοῦ περιττοῦ διωκόμενος στομοῦται· τὸ γὰρ ἀποφθεγματικὸν αὐτοῖς τοῦτο καὶ τὸ μετʼ εὐστροφίας ὀξὺ πρὸς τὰς ἀπαντήσεις ἐκ τῆς πολλῆς περιγίγνεται σιωπῆς.
For just as the Celtiberians make steel from iron when, having buried it in the earth, they purge away the abundant earthy part, so Laconian speech has no bark, but being aimed at the very active part by the removal of the superfluous, it is tempered; for this apophthegmatic quality of theirs, and their quick, agile wit in replies, comes from their long silence.
καὶ δεῖ τὰ τοιαῦτα μάλιστα τοῖς ἀδολέσχοις προβάλλειν ὅσην χάριν ἔχει καὶ δύναμιν, οἷόν ἐστι τὸ
Λακεδαιμόνιοι Φιλίππῳ Διονύσιος ἐν Κορίνθῳ
καὶ πάλιν γράψαντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ Φιλίππου
ἂν ἐμβάλω εἰς τὴν Λακωνικήν, ἀναστάτους ὑμᾶς ποιήσω,
ἀντέγραψαν
αἴκα. Δημητρίου δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀγανακτοῦντος καὶ βοῶντος
ἕνα πρὸς ἐμὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρεσβευτὴν ἔπεμψαν
οὐ καταπλαγεὶς ὁ πρεσβευτής
ἕνʼ
εἶπε
ποτὶ ἕνα
θαυμάζονται δὲ καὶ τῶν παλαιῶν οἱ βραχυλόγοι.
And one must especially present such examples to babblers, to show how much grace and power they have, such as: "The Lacedaemonians to Philip: Dionysius in Corinth." And again, when Philip wrote to them: "If I invade Laconia, I will turn you out of your homes," they wrote back: "If." And when King Demetrius was angry and shouting: "Have the Lacedaemonians sent only one ambassador to me?" the ambassador, not at all dismayed, said: "One to one." And the brief-spoken among the ancients are also admired.
καὶ τῷ ἱερῷ τοῦ Πυθίου Ἀπόλλωνος οὐ τὴν Ἰλιάδα καὶ τὴν Ὀδύσσειαν οὐδὲ τοὺς Πινδάρου παιᾶνας ἐπέγραψαν οἱ Ἀμφικτύονες, ἀλλὰ τὸ
γνῶθι σαυτόν
καὶ τὸ
μηδὲν ἄγαν
καὶ τὸ
ἐγγύα πάρα δʼ ἄτα,
θαυμάσαντες τῆς λέξεως τὸ εὔογκον καὶ τὸ λιτόν, ἐν βραχεῖ σφυρήλατον νοῦν περιεχούσης.
And on the temple of Pythian Apollo, the Amphictyons did not inscribe the Iliad or the Odyssey, nor the paeans of Pindar, but "Know thyself," and "Nothing in excess," and "Pledge brings ruin," admiring the dignity and simplicity of the expression, containing solid thought in brief.
αὐτὸς δʼ ὁ θεὸς οὐ φιλοσύντομός ἐστι καὶ βραχυλόγος ἐν τοῖς χρησμοῖς, καὶ Λοξίας καλεῖται διὰ τὸ φεύγειν τὴν ἀδολεσχίαν μᾶλλον ἢ τὴν ἀσάφειαν;
And is not the god himself concise and brief in his oracles, and called Loxias because he avoids babbling more than obscurity?
οἱ δὲ συμβολικῶς ἄνευ φωνῆς ἃ δεῖ φράζοντες οὐκ ἐπαινοῦνται καὶ θαυμάζονται διαφερόντως;
And are not those who express what is necessary symbolically without voice exceptionally praised and admired?
ὡς Ἡράκλειτος, ἀξιούντων αὐτὸν τῶν πολιτῶν γνώμην τινʼ εἰπεῖν περὶ ὁμονοίας, ἀναβὰς ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα καὶ λαβὼν ψυχροῦ κύλικα καὶ τῶν ἀλφίτων ἐπιπάσας καὶ τῷ γλήχωνι κινήσας, ἐκπιὼν ἀπῆλθεν ἐπιδειξάμενος αὐτοῖς, ὅτι τὸ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν ἀρκεῖσθαι καὶ μὴ δεῖσθαι τῶν πολυτελῶν ἐν εἰρήνῃ καὶ ὁμονοίᾳ διατηρεῖ τὰς πόλεις.
As Heraclitus, when his fellow citizens requested him to give some opinion on concord, went up to the platform, took a cup of cold water, sprinkled barley-meal over it, stirred it with pennyroyal, drank it, and departed, demonstrating to them that being satisfied with ordinary things and not needing luxuries preserves cities in peace and concord.
Σκιλοῦρος δὲ καταλιπὼν ὀγδοήκοντα παῖδας, ὁ Σκυθῶν βασιλεύς, ᾔτησε δέσμην δορατίων, ὅτʼ ἀπέθνῃσκε, καὶ λαβόντας ἐκέλευσε καταθραῦσαι καὶ κατεάξαι συνδεδεμένην καὶ ἀθρόαν ὡς δʼ ἀπεῖπον, αὐτὸς ἓν καθʼ ἓν ἕλκων πάντα ῥᾳδίως διέκλασε· τὴν συμφωνίαν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ὁμόνοιαν ἰσχυρὸν ἀποφαίνων καὶ δυσκαθαίρετον, ἀσθενὲς δὲ τὴν διάλυσιν καὶ οὐ μόνιμον.
And Scilurus, the king of the Scythians, leaving behind eighty sons, when he was dying, asked for a bundle of darts, and ordered them to take it and break it, bound together in one bundle; but when they gave up, he himself, drawing them out one by one, easily broke them all, showing that their agreement and concord is strong and hard to destroy, but their division is weak and unstable.