§22καὶ μὴν ὥσπερ ὁ Σωκράτης; ἐκέλευε φυλάττεσθαι τῶν σιτίων ὅσα μὴ πεινῶντας ἐσθίειν ἀναπείθει καὶ τῶν πωμάτων ὅσα πίνειν μὴ διψῶντας, οὕτω χρὴ καὶ τῶν λόγων τὸν ἀδολέσχην, οἷς ἥδεται μάλιστα καὶ κέχρηται κατακόρως, τούτους φοβεῖσθαι καὶ πρὸς τούτους ἐπιρρέοντας ἀντιβαίνειν.
Indeed, just as Socrates used to order people to guard against those foods which persuade them to eat when they are not hungry, and those drinks which persuade them to drink when they are not thirsty, so also the babbler must fear those of his words in which he takes the most pleasure and which he uses to satiety, and resist them as they flow in.
οἷον οἱ στρατιωτικοὶ πολέμων εἰσὶ διηγηματικοί· καὶ τὸν Νέστορα τοιοῦτον ὁ ποιητὴς εἰσάγει, τὰς αὑτοῦ πολλάκις ἀριστείας καὶ πράξεις διηγούμενον.
For example, military men are fond of narrating wars; and the poet introduces Nestor as such a person, often narrating his own brave deeds and exploits.
ἐπιεικῶς δὲ καὶ τοῖς περὶ δίκας εὐστοχήσασιν ἢ παρʼ ἡγεμόσι καὶ βασιλεῦσιν ἀπροσδοκήτως εὐημερήσασιν ὥσπερ νόσημά τι προσπίπτει καὶ παρακολουθεῖ τὸ μεμνῆσθαι καὶ διηγεῖσθαι πολλάκις, ὃν τρόπον εἰσῆλθον προσήχθησαν ἠγωνίσαντο διελέχθησαν, ἐξήλεγξαν ἀντιδίκους τινὰς ἢ κατηγόρους, ἐπῃνέθησαν.
And generally, upon those who have succeeded in court-cases or who have unexpectedly prospered before leaders and kings, there falls as it were a kind of disease, and there follows upon them the remembering and narrating often of the manner in which they entered, were led in, contended, conversed, refuted certain adversaries or accusers, and were praised.
πολλῷ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ χαρὰ τῆς κωμικῆς ἐκείνης ἀγρυπνίας λαλίστερον, ἀναρριπίζουσα πολλάκις ἑαυτὴν καὶ πρόσφατον ποιοῦσα τοῖς διηγήμασιν.
For joy is much more talkative than that comic sleeplessness, often fanning itself and keeping things fresh by narrations.
ὅθεν ὀλισθηροὶ πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους τῶν λόγων εἰσὶν ἐκ πάσης προφάσεως οὐ γὰρ μόνον
"ὅπου τις ἀλγεῖ, κεῖθι καὶ τὴν χεῖρʼ ἔχει,ʼ"
ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἡδόμενον ἕλκει τὴν φωνὴν ἐφʼ ἑαυτὸ καὶ περιάγει τὴν γλῶτταν, ἐπερείδειν ἀεὶ τῇ μνήμῃ βουλόμενον.
Hence they are slippery toward such kinds of talk on every pretext; for not only "where a man has pain, there he also keeps his hand," but also that which gives pleasure draws the voice to itself and turns the tongue around, wishing always to lean upon memory.
οὕτω καὶ τοῖς ἐρωτικοῖς ἡ πλείστη διατριβὴ περὶ λόγους μνήμην τινὰ τῶν ἐρωμένων ἀναδιδόντας· οἵ γε κἂν μὴ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους, πρὸς ἄψυχα περὶ αὐτῶν διαλέγονται
"ὦ φιλτάτη κλίνη"
καὶ
"
Βακχὶς θεὸν σʼ ἐνόμισεν, εὔδαιμον λύχνε
καὶ τῶν θεῶν μέγιστος ἐν ταύτῃ δοκεῖς. "
ἔστι μὲν οὖν ἀτεχνῶς ἡ λευκὴ στάθμη πρὸς τοὺς λόγους ὁ ἀδόλεσχος· οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὁ μᾶλλον ἑτέρων ἑτέροις προσπεπονθὼς ὀφείλει τούτους φυλάττεσθαι καὶ ἀνέχειν ἑαυτὸν ἀπὸ τούτων καὶ ἀνακρούειν, ὡς πορρωτάτω προάγειν καὶ ἀπομηκύνειν ἀεὶ διʼ ἡδονὴν δυναμένων.
Thus also for lovers, the greatest pastime is in words that yield some memory of their beloved; they, at least, even if not to men, converse to inanimate things about them: "O dearest bed!" and "Bacchis thought you a god, happy lamp, and you seem to be the greatest of gods in this house." Therefore, the babbler is absolutely a white line in relation to words; nevertheless, he who is more inclined to some words than to others ought to guard against them and restrain himself from them and turn back, since they are always able to lead him forward very far and prolong him through pleasure.
τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ πρὸς τοὺς λόγους ἐκείνους πεπόνθασιν, ἐν οἷς κατʼ ἐμπειρίαν ἢ ἕξιν τινὰ τῶν ἄλλων διαφέρειν νομίζουσι.
And they suffer this same thing also in relation to those words in which they think they excel others by experience or some habit.
φίλαυτος γὰρ ὢν καὶ φιλόδοξος ὁ τοιοῦτος
"
νέμει τὸ πλεῖστον ἡμέρας τούτῳ μέρος,
ἵνʼ αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ τυγχάνει κράτιστος ὤν,
"
ἐν ἱστορίαις ὁ ἀναγνωστικός ἐν τεχνολογίαις ὁ γραμματικός, ἐν διηγήμασι ξενικοῖς ὁ πολλὴν χώραν ἐπεληλυθὼς καὶ πεπλανημένος.
For such a person, being self-loving and ambitious, "allots the greatest part of the day to this, where he happens to be best of himself," the reading man in histories, the grammarian in technicalities, the one who has traveled through much country and wandered in foreign narratives.
ὥστε καὶ ταῦτα δεῖ φυλάττεσθαι· δελεαζομένη γὰρ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἡ ἀδολεσχία καθάπερ ζῷον ἐπὶ νομὰς συνήθεις πρόεισι.
So these things also must be guarded against; for babbling, being baited by them, like an animal goes forward to its usual pastures.
θαυμαστὸς δʼ ὁ Κῦρος, ὅτι καὶ τὰς ἁμίλλας ἐποιεῖτο πρὸς τοὺς ἥλικας, οὐκ ἐν οἷς κρείττων ἀλλʼ ἐν οἷς ἀπειρότερος ἦν ἐκείνων, εἰς ταῦτα προκαλούμενος· ἵνα μήτε λυπῇ παρευδοκιμῶν καὶ μανθάνων ὠφελῆται.
But Cyrus is admirable, because he made contests with his peers not in those things in which he was superior, but in those in which he was more inexperienced than they, challenging them to these; so that he might neither pain them by outshining them, and might be benefited by learning.
ὁ δʼ ἀδολέσχης τοὐναντίον, ἂν μέν τις ἐμπέσῃ λόγος, ἐξ οὗ μαθεῖν τι δύναται καὶ πυθέσθαι τῶν ἀγνοουμένων, τοῦτον ἐξωθεῖ καὶ ἐκκρούει, μισθὸν οὕτω δοῦναι βραχὺν τῷ σιωπῆσαι μὴ δυνάμενος· εἰς δὲ τὰς ἑώλους καὶ πολυπατήτους κύκλῳ περιιὼν εἰσελαύνει ῥαψῳδίας τὸν λόγον· ὡς τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν τις κατὰ τύχην ἀνεγνωκὼς δύο τῶν Ἐφόρου βιβλίων ἢ τρία, πάντας ἀνθρώπους κατέτριβε καὶ πᾶν ἀνάστατον ἐποίει συμπόσιον, ἀεὶ τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις μάχην καὶ τὰ συνεχῆ διηγούμενος· ὅθεν Ἐπαμεινώνδας παρωνύμιον ἔσχεν.
But the babbler, on the contrary, if any talk falls in from which he can learn something and inquire about things unknown, pushes this out and drives it away, being unable to pay so small a price as keeping silent; but going around in a circle, he drives his talk into stale and well-trodden recitations; just as one of our people, having by chance read two or three of the books of Ephorus, wore everyone out and threw every banquet into confusion, always narrating the battle of Leuctra and the subsequent events; from which he got the nickname "Epaminondas."