§3ἀλλʼ ἔνιοι τὸν ἴδιον βίον ὡς ἀτερπέστατον θέαμα προσιδεῖν οὐχ ὑπομένουσιν οὐδʼ ἀνακλάσαι τὸν λογισμὸν ὡς φῶς ἐφʼ ἑαυτοὺς καὶ περιαγαγεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἡ ψυχὴ γέμουσα κακῶν παντοδαπῶν καὶ φρίττουσα καὶ φοβουμένη τὰ ἔνδον ἐκπηδᾷ θύραζε καὶ πλανᾶται περὶ τἀλλότρια, βόσκουσα καὶ πιαίνουσα τὸ κακόηθες.
But some people cannot bear to look at their own life as a most unpleasant spectacle, nor to reflect the reasoning like a light upon themselves and turn it around, but the soul, full of all kinds of ills and shuddering and fearing the things within, leaps out of doors and wanders about the affairs of others, feeding and fattening its malice.
ὡς γὰρ ὄρνις ἐν οἰκίᾳ πολλάκις, τροφῆς πολλῆς παρακειμένης, εἰς γωνίαν καταδῦσα σκαλεύει
"ἔνθα γέ που διαφαίνεθʼ ἅτʼ ἐν κοπρίῃ μία κριθή· "
παραπλησίως οἱ πολυπράγμονες, ὑπερβάντες τοὺς ἐν μέσῳ λόγους καὶ ἱστορίας καὶ ἃ μηδεὶς κωλύει πυνθάνεσθαι μηδʼ ἄχθεται πυνθανομένοις, τὰ κρυπτόμενα καὶ λανθάνοντα κακὰ πάσης οἰκίας ἐκλέγουσι.
For just as a hen in a house often, when plenty of food is lying near, slips into a corner and scratches 'where, to be sure, a single barley-corn appears in the dung'; in like manner the meddlesome, passing over the discourses and histories in public view, and things which no one prevents inquiring about nor is annoyed with those who inquire, select the hidden and concealed ills of every house.
καίτοι γε τὸ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου χάριεν πρὸς τὸν ἐρωτῶντα τί φέρει συγκεκαλυμμένον,
διὰ τοῦτο συγκεκάλυπται
καὶ σὺ δὴ τί πολυπραγμονεῖς τὸ ἀποκρυπτόμενον;
And yet, indeed, the witty reply of the Egyptian to the man who asked what he was carrying covered up: 'For this reason it has been covered up.' And you, then, why do you pry into what is hidden?
εἰ μή τι κακὸν ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ἀπεκρύπτετο.
If it were not something bad, it would not have been hidden.
καίτοι μὴ κόψαντά γε θύραν εἰς οἰκίαν ἀλλοτρίαν οὐ νομίζεται παρελθεῖν ἀλλὰ νῦν μὲν εἰσὶ θυρωροί, πάλαι δὲ ῥόπτρα κρουόμενα πρὸς ταῖς θύραις αἴσθησιν παρεῖχεν, ἵνα μὴ τὴν οἰκοδέσποιναν ἐν μέσῳ καταλάβῃ ὁ ἀλλότριος ἢ τὴν παρθένον ἢ κολαζόμενον οἰκέτην ἢ κεκραγυίας τὰς θεραπαινίδας· ὁ δὲ πολυπράγμων ἐπʼ αὐτὰ ταῦτα παραδύεται, σώφρονος μὲν οἰκίας καὶ καθεστώσης οὐδʼ ἂν παρακαλῇ τις ἡδέως γιγνόμενος θεατής· ὧν δʼ ἕνεκα κλεὶς καὶ μοχλὸς καὶ αὔλειος, ταῦτʼ ἀνακαλύπτων καὶ φέρων εἰς τὸ μέσον ἑτέροις.
And yet, it is not considered lawful to enter another's house without knocking at the door; but nowadays there are doorkeepers, and in ancient times knockers beaten against the doors gave warning, so that the stranger might not catch the mistress of the house or the virgin in public, or a servant being punished, or the maidservants screaming; but the meddlesome person slips in for these very things, and while he would not gladly become a spectator of a sober and well-ordered house even if someone invited him, those things for which there are a key and a bolt and a courtyard door, these he uncovers and brings into the open for others.
καίτοι καὶ
τῶν ἀνέμων μάλιστα δυσχεραίνομεν
ὡς Ἀρίστων φησὶν
ὅσοι τὰς περιβολὰς ἀναστέλλουσιν ἡμῶν· ὁ δὲ πολυπράγμων οὐ τὰ ἱμάτια τῶν πέλας οὐδὲ τοὺς χιτῶνας, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τοίχους ἀπαμφιέννυσι, τὰς θύρας ἀναπετάννυσι, καὶ
διὰ παρθενικῆς ἁπαλόχροος
ὡς πνεῦμα διαδύεται καὶ διέρπει, βακχεῖα καὶ χοροὺς καὶ παννυχίδας ἐξετάζων καὶ συκοφαντῶν.
And yet, of the winds too we are most displeased with those, as Ariston says, which lift up our cloaks; but the meddlesome person strips off not the cloaks of his neighbors nor their undergarments, but their walls, flings open their doors, and 'through the tender-skinned virgin' like a breeze he slips in and creeps through, examining and falsely accusing revels, dances, and all-night festivals.
§4καὶ καθάπερ τοῦ κωμῳδουμένου Κλέωνος
"τὼ χεῖρʼ ἐν Αἰτωλοῖς, ὁ νοῦς δʼ ἐν Κλωπιδῶν. "
οὕτω τοῦ πολυπράγμονος ὁ νοῦς ἅμʼ ἐν πλουσίων οἴκοις ἐστὶν ἐν δωματίοις πενήτων ἐν αὐλαῖς βασιλέων ἐν θαλάμοις νεογάμων·
And just like Cleon who was lampooned in comedy: 'his two hands among the Aetolians, but his mind in Klopidai (Thief-town).' So the mind of the meddlesome person is at once in the houses of the rich, in the chambers of the poor, in the courts of kings, in the bridal chambers of the newly-weds.
πάντα πράγματα ζητεῖ, τὰ ξένων τὰ ἡγεμόνων· οὐδʼ ἀκινδύνως ταῦτα ζητῶν· ἀλλʼ οἷον, εἴ τις ἀκονίτου γεύοιτο πολυπραγμονῶν τὴν ποιότητα, φθάσει τῆς αἰσθήσεως προανελὼν τὸν προαισθανόμενον· οὕτως οἱ τὰ τῶν μειζόνων κακὰ ζητοῦντες προαναλίσκουσι τῆς γνώσεως ἑαυτούς.
He seeks out all things, the affairs of strangers, those of leaders; nor is he seeking these things without danger; but it is just as if someone, out of curiosity should taste aconite to find out its quality, and it would destroy him who is trying to perceive it beforehand, anticipating his perception; so those who seek out the ills of the powerful destroy themselves before they gain knowledge.
καὶ γὰρ οἱ τοῦ ἡλίου τὴν ἄφθονόν γε ταύτην καὶ κατακεχυμένην ἅπασιν ἀκτῖνα παρορῶντες, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν κύκλον ἀναιδῶς καταβλέπειν καὶ διαστέλλειν τὸ φῶς εἴσω βιαζόμενοι καὶ τολμῶντες, ἀποτυφλοῦνται.
For those also who overlook this abundant and poured-out ray of the sun, but dare and force themselves to look shamelessly at the disk itself and force the light inward, are blinded.
διὸ καλῶς Φιλιππίδης ὁ κωμῳδιοποιός, εἰπόντος αὐτῷ ποτε Λυσιμάχου τοῦ βασιλέως
τίνος σοι τῶν ἐμῶν μεταδῶ; μόνον
εἶπεν
ὦ βασιλεῦ, μὴ τῶν ἀπορρήτων
τὰ γὰρ ἥδιστα καὶ κάλλιστα τῶν βασιλέων ἔξω πρόκειται, τὰ δεῖπνα, οἱ πλοῦτοι, αἱ πανηγύρεις, αἱ χάριτες· εἰ δέ τι ἀπόρρητον ἐστι, μὴ προσέλθῃς μηδὲ κινήσῃς;
Therefore, well did the comic poet Philippides say, when King Lysimachus once said to him: 'What of my possessions shall I share with you?' 'Only,' he said, 'O king, not your secrets.' For the most pleasant and beautiful things of kings are set out in public: feasts, wealth, festivals, favors; but if anything is secret, do not approach it or touch it.
. οὐ κρύπτεται χαρὰ βασιλέως εὐτυχοῦντος οὐδὲ γέλως παίζοντος οὐδὲ φιλανθρωπίας; παρασκευὴ καὶ χάριτος· φοβερόν ἐστι τὸ κρυπτόμενον, σκυθρωπὸν ἀγέλαστον δυσπρόσιτον, ὀργῆς τινος ὑπούλου θησαυρὸς ἢ τιμωρίας βαρυθύμου σκέψις ἢ ζηλοτυπία γυναικὸς ἢ πρὸς υἱὸν ὑποψία τις ἢ πρὸς φίλον ἀπιστία.
The joy of a prosperous king is not hidden, nor the laughter of one playing, nor the preparation of benevolence and favor; terrifying is what is hidden, gloomy, laughterless, hard to approach, a treasury of some festering anger, or a contemplation of heavy-hearted vengeance, or a wife's jealousy, or some suspicion toward a son, or distrust toward a friend.
φεῦγε τὸ μελαῖνον τοῦτο καὶ συνιστάμενον νέφος· οὐ λήσεταί σε βροντῆσαν οὐδʼ ἀστράψαν, ὅταν ἐκραγῇ τὸ νῦν κρυπτόμενον.
Flee this black and gathering cloud; it will not escape your notice when it thunders and lightens, when that which is now hidden bursts forth.