§14ἔστι τοίνυν καὶ πρὸς δικαιοσύνην ἄσκησις, ὑπερβῆναί ποτε λῆμμα δίκαιον, ἵνα πόρρω τῶν ἀδίκων ἐθίσῃς σεαυτὸν εἶναι· καὶ πρὸς σωφροσύνην ὁμοίως, ἀποσχέσθαι ποτὲ γυναικὸς ἰδίας, ἵνα μηδέποτε κινηθῇς ὑπʼ ἀλλοτρίας.
Therefore, there is also a training for justice, to pass over a just gain at times, so that you may accustom yourself to be far from unjust things; and similarly for temperance, to abstain at times from one's own wife, so that you may never be moved by another's.
τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἔθος ἐπάγων τῇ πολυπραγμοσύνῃ πειρῶ καὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἔνια παρακοῦσαί ποτε καὶ παριδεῖν καί, βουλομένου τινὸς ἀγγεῖλαί τι τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας, ὑπερβαλέσθαι, καὶ λόγους περὶ σοῦ λελέχθαι δοκοῦντας ἀπώσασθαι.
Applying this very habit to meddlesomeness, try to fail to hear and to overlook at times even some of your own affairs, and, when someone wishes to report something concerning your household, to defer it, and to repel words that seem to be spoken about you.
καὶ γὰρ τὸν Οἰδίποδα τοῖς μεγίστοις κακοῖς ἡ περιεργία περιέβαλε· ζητῶν γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ὡς οὐκ ὄντα Κορίνθιον ἀλλὰ ξένον, ἀπήντησε τῷ Λαΐῳ, καὶ τοῦτον ἀνελὼν καὶ τὴν μητέρα λαβὼν ἐπὶ τῇ βασιλείᾳ γυναῖκα καὶ δοκῶν εἶναι μακάριος πάλιν ἑαυτὸν ἐζήτει.
For curiosity indeed cast Oedipus into the greatest evils; for searching out his own origin, as not being Corinthian but a stranger, he met Laius, and having slain him and having taken his mother as wife along with the kingdom, and seeming to be happy, he again began to search into himself.
καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς οὐκ ἐώσης, ἔτι μᾶλλον ἤλεγχε τὸν συνειδότα γέροντα, πᾶσαν προσφέρων ἀνάγκην.
And when his wife would not allow it, he all the more interrogated the old man who was in the secret, applying every compulsion.
τέλος δὲ τοῦ πράγματος ἢδη περιφέροντος αὐτὸν τῇ ὑπονοίᾳ καὶ τοῦ γέροντος ἀναβοήσαντος
"οἴμοι πρὸς αὐτῷ γʼ εἰμὶ τῷ δεινῷ λέγειν,"
ὅμως ἐξημμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους καὶ σφαδᾴζων ἀποκρίνεται
"κἄγωγʼ ἀκούειν· ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἀκουστέον. "
οὕτω τίς ἐστι γλυκύπικρος καὶ ἀκατάσχετος ὁ τῆς πολυπραγμοσύνης γαργαλισμός, ὥσπερ ἕλκος αἱμάσσων ἑαυτόν, ὅταν ἀμύσσηται.
And at last, when the matter was already turning him around with suspicion, and the old man cried out, "Alas, I am at the very danger of speaking!" nevertheless, inflamed by his passion and trembling, he replies: "And I of hearing; but yet it must be heard!" Thus sweet-and-bitter and uncontrollable is the tickling of meddlesomeness, like a sore making itself bleed when it is scratched.
ὁ δʼ ἀπηλλαγμένος τῆς νόσου ταύτης καὶ φύσει πρᾶος, ἀγνοήσας τι τῶν δυσχερῶν εἴποι ἄν
"ὦ πότνια λήθη τῶν κακῶν, ὡς εἶ σοφή. " §15διὸ καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα συνεθιστέον αὑτούς, ἐπιστολὴν κομισθεῖσαν μὴ ταχὺ μηδὲ κατεσπευσμένως λῦσαι, καθάπερ οἱ πολλοὶ ποιοῦσιν, ἂν αἱ χεῖρες βραδύνωσι, τοῖς ὀδοῦσι τοὺς δεσμοὺς διαβιβρώσκοντες· ἀγγέλου ποθὲν ἥκοντος, μὴ προσδραμεῖν μηδʼ ἐξαναστῆναι· φίλου τινὸς εἰπόντος
ἔχω σοί τι καινὸν εἰπεῖν πρᾶγμα
μᾶλλον, εἴ τι χρήσιμον ἔχεις ὠφέλιμον. ἐμοῦ ποτʼ ἐν Ῥώμῃ διαλεγομένου, Ῥούστικος ἐκεῖνος, ὃν ὕστερον ἀπέκτεινε Δομετιανὸς τῇ δόξῃ φθονήσας, ἠκροᾶτο, καὶ διὰ μέσου στρατιώτης παρελθὼν ἐπιστολὴν αὐτῷ Καίσαρος ἐπέδωκε· γενομένης δὲ σιωπῆς κἀμοῦ διαλιπόντος, ὅπως ἀναγνῷ τὴν ἐπιστολήν, οὐκ ἠθέλησεν οὐδʼ ἔλυσε πρότερον ἢ διεξελθεῖν ἐμὲ τὸν λόγον καὶ διαλυθῆναι τὸ ἀκροατήριον ἐφʼ ᾧ πάντες ἐθαύμασαν τὸ βάρος τἀνδρός.
But the one who is delivered from this disease and is gentle by nature, when ignorant of some of the unpleasant things, might say: "O queenly Oblivion of evils, how wise you are!" Therefore, we must accustom ourselves to these things also: when a letter is brought, not to open it quickly or in a hurried manner, as most people do, who, if their hands are slow, gnaw through the bonds with their teeth; when a messenger arrives from somewhere, not to run forward nor to start up; when some friend says, "I have some new thing to tell you," to say rather, "If you have something useful or profitable." When I was once lecturing in Rome, that famous Rusticus, whom later Domitian killed through envy of his reputation, was listening to me, and in the middle of it a soldier came forward and delivered to him a letter from Caesar; and when silence ensued and I paused, so that he might read the letter, he would not, nor did he open it before I had finished my discourse and the audience had dispersed, at which all admired the dignity of the man.
ὅταν δέ τις οἷς ἔξεστι τρέφων τὸ πολύπραγμον, ἰσχυρὸν ἀπεργάσηται καὶ βίαιον, οὐκέτι ῥᾳδίως, πρὸς ἃ κεκώλυται φερομένου διὰ συνήθειαν, κρατεῖν δυνατός ἐστιν· ἀλλʼ ἐπιστόλια παραλύουσιν οὗτοι φίλων, συνεδρίοις ἀπορρήτοις ἑαυτοὺς παρεμβάλλουσιν, ἱερῶν, ἃ μὴ θέμις ὁρᾶν, γίγνονται θεαταί, τόπους ἀβάτους πατοῦσι, πράγματα καὶ λόγους βασιλικοὺς ἀνερευνῶσι.
But when someone, by nourishing meddlesomeness in things that are permitted, makes it strong and violent, he is no longer easily able to control it when it is carried by habit toward things that are forbidden; but such people open the letters of friends, thrust themselves into secret councils, become spectators of sacred rites which it is not lawful to see, tread upon inaccessible places, and investigate royal affairs and speeches.
§16καίτοι γε τοὺς τυράννους, οἷς ἀνάγκη πάντα γιγνώσκειν, ἐπαχθεστάτους ποιεῖ τὸ τῶν λεγομένων ὤτων καὶ προσαγωγέων γένος.
And yet, even for tyrants, for whom it is necessary to know all things, the class of the so-called "ears" and "promoters" makes them most odious.
ὠτακουστὰς μὲν οὖν πρῶτος ἔσχεν ὁ νέος Δαρεῖος ἀπιστῶν ἑαυτῷ καὶ πάντας ὑφορώμενος καὶ δεδοικώς· τοὺς δὲ προσαγωγίδας οἱ Διονύσιοι τοῖς Συρακοσίοις κατέμιξαν· ὅθεν ἐν τῇ μεταβολῇ τῶν πραγμάτων τούτους πρώτους οἱ Συρακόσιοι συλλαμβάνοντες ἀπετυμπάνιζον.
Young Darius was the first to have "eavesdroppers," because he distrusted himself and suspected everyone and was afraid; and the Dionysioi mingled "promoters" among the Syracusans; hence, during the revolution, the Syracusans, seizing these men first, beat them to death.
καὶ γὰρ τὸ τῶν συκοφαντῶν γένος ἐκ τῆς τῶν πολυπραγμόνων φρατρίας καὶ ἑστίας ἐστίν.
For indeed the class of sycophants is from the clan and hearth of the meddlesome.
ἀλλʼ οἱ μὲν συκοφάνται ζητοῦσιν, εἴ τις ἢ βεβούλευται κακὸν ἢ πεποίηκεν· οἱ δὲ πολυπράγμονες καὶ τὰς ἀβουλήτους ἀτυχίας τῶν πέλας ἐλέγχοντες εἰς μέσον ἐκφέρουσι.
But sycophants search whether anyone has either planned or done evil; whereas the meddlesome, even exposing the involuntary misfortunes of their neighbors, bring them into the open.
λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὸν ἀλιτήριον ἐκ φιλοπραγμοσύνης κατονομασθῆναι τὸ πρῶτον· λιμοῦ γὰρ ὡς ἔοικεν Ἀθηναίοις ἰσχυροῦ γενομένου, καὶ τῶν ἐχόντων πυρὸν εἰς μέσον οὐ φερόντων ἀλλὰ κρύφα καὶ νύκτωρ ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις ἀλούντων, περιιόντες ἐτήρουν τῶν μύλων τὸν ψόφον εἶτʼ
ἀλιτήριοι
προσηγορεύθησαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῷ συκοφάντῃ τοὔνομα γεγενῆσθαι· κεκωλυμένου γὰρ ἐκφέρειν τὰ σῦκα, μηνύοντες καὶ φαίνοντες τοὺς ἐξάγοντας ἐκλήθησαν
συκοφάνται. καὶ τοῦτʼ οὖν οὐκ ἄχρηστόν ἐστιν ἐννοεῖν τοὺς πολυπράγμονας, ὅπως αἰσχύνωνται τὴν πρὸς τοὺς μισουμένους μάλιστα καὶ δυσχεραινομένους ὁμοιότητα καὶ συγγένειαν τοῦ ἐπιτηδεύματος.
And it is said that the "aliterios" (sinner) also was first so named from meddlesomeness; for when a severe famine, as it seems, occurred among the Athenians, and those who had wheat did not bring it into the open but ground it secretly and by night in their houses, people went around and watched for the noise of the mills, and then they were called "aliterioi." And similarly, the name of the "sycophant" came into being; for when it was forbidden to export figs, those who denounced and exposed those who exported them were called "sycophants." Therefore, it is not useless for the meddlesome to reflect upon this, so that they may be ashamed of the similarity and relationship of their practice to those who are most hated and detested.