§7οὕτω δʼ ἑκάστῳ λυπηρόν ἐστιν ἡ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν κακῶν ἀνακάλυψις, ὥστε πολλοὺς ἀποθανεῖν ἂν πρότερον ἢ δεῖξαί τι τῶν ἀπορρήτων νοσημάτων ἰατροῖς.
Thus, the exposure of one's own ills is painful to everyone, so that many would choose to die rather than show any of their secret diseases to doctors.
φέρε γὰρ Ἡρόφιλον ἢ Ἐρασίστρατον ἢ τὸν Ἀσκληπιὸν αὐτόν, ὅτʼ ἦν ἄνθρωπος, ἔχοντα τὰ φάρμακα καὶ τὰ ὄργανα, κατʼ οἰκίαν παριστάμενον ἀνακρίνειν, μή τις ἔχει; σύριγγα περὶ δακτύλιον ἢ γυνὴ καρκίνον ἐν ὑστέρᾳ·
For suppose Herophilus or Erasistratus, or Asclepius himself when he was a man, holding his medicines and instruments, were to stand by each house and inquire whether anyone had a fistula in his anus or a woman had a cancer in her womb.
καίτοι σωτήριόν ἐστι τῆς τέχνης ταύτης τὸ πολύπραγμον ἀλλὰ πᾶς ἄν τις, οἶμαι, τὸν τοιοῦτον ἀπήλασεν, ὅτι τὴν χρείαν οὐ περιμένων ἄκλητος ἐπʼ ἀλλοτρίων κακῶν ἔρχεται κατανόησιν.
And yet, the meddlesomeness of this art is life-saving, but everyone, I think, would drive away such a person, because without waiting for any need, he comes uninvited to observe others' ills.
οἱ δὲ πολυπράγμονες αὐτὰ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτων ἔτι χείρονα ζητοῦσιν, οὐ θεραπεύοντες ἀλλὰ μόνον ἀνακαλύπτοντες· ὅθεν μισοῦνται δικαίως.
But the meddlesome search for these very things and things even worse than these, not to cure them, but only to expose them; which is why they are deservedly hated.
καὶ γὰρ τοὺς τελώνας βαρυνόμεθα καὶ δυσχεραίνομεν, οὐχ ὅταν τὰ ἐμφανῆ τῶν εἰσαγομένων ἐκλέγωσιν, ἀλλʼ ὅταν τὰ κεκρυμμένα ζητοῦντες ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις σκεύεσι καὶ φορτίοις ἀναστρέφωνται· καίτοι τοῦτο ποιεῖν ὁ νόμος δίδωσιν αὐτοῖς, καὶ βλάπτονται μὴ ποιοῦντες.
For we also find tax-collectors burdensome and annoying, not when they collect duty on the manifest goods imported, but when, searching for hidden things, they turn upside down others' vessels and baggage; and yet the law allows them to do this, and they suffer loss if they do not do it.
οἱ δὲ πολυπράγμονες ἀπολλύουσι καὶ προΐενται τὰ αὑτῶν ἀσχολούμενοι περὶ τἀλλότρια καὶ σπανίως μὲν εἰς ἀγρὸν βαδίζουσι, τὸ ἥσυχον καὶ σιωπηρὸν τῆς ἐρημίας οὐ φέροντες ἐὰν δὲ καὶ παραβάλωσι διὰ χρόνου, ταῖς τῶν γειτόνων ἀμπέλοις ἐμβλέπουσι μᾶλλον ἢ ταῖς ἰδίαις·
But the meddlesome ruin and abandon their own affairs by busying themselves with those of others; and they rarely go into the country, since they cannot bear the quiet and silent solitude of the wilderness.
καὶ πυνθάνονται πόσοι βόες τοῦ γείτονος; ἀποτεθνήκασιν ἢ πόσος οἶνος ὀξίνης γέγονε· ταχὺ δὲ τούτων ἐμπλησθέντες ἀποτρέχουσιν.
And even if they do pay a visit after a long time, they look at their neighbors' vines rather than their own, and ask "How many oxen of the neighbor have died?" or "How much wine has turned sour?" and, quickly filled with these things, they run away.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀληθινὸς ἐκεῖνος γεωργὸς οὐδὲ τὸν αὐτομάτως ἐρχόμενον ἐκ πόλεως λόγον ἡδέως προσδέχεται, λέγων
"
εἶτά μοι σκάπτων ἐρεῖ,
ἐφʼ οἷς γεγόνασιν αἱ διαλύσεις· ταῦτα γὰρ
πολυπραγμονῶν νῦν ὁ κατάρατος περιπατεῖ. "
For that genuine farmer does not even receive with pleasure the news that comes of itself from the city, saying: "Then as I dig he will tell me, on what terms the treaties were made; for this cursed fellow now walks about meddling in these things.
§8οἱ δὲ πολυπράγμονες ὡς ἕωλόν τι πρᾶγμα καὶ ψυχρὸν καὶ ἀτράγῳδον φεύγοντες τὴν ἀγροικίαν, εἰς τὸ δεῖγμα καὶ τὴν ἀγορὰν καὶ τοὺς λιμένας ὠθοῦνται· μή τι καινόν; οὐ γὰρ ἦς πρωῒ κατʼ ἀγοράν; τί οὖν;
"But the meddlesome, fleeing the country as something stale, cold, and undramatic, push themselves into the display-hall, the marketplace, and the harbors: "Is there any news?" "For were you not in the marketplace this morning?" "What then?
ἐν ὥραις τρισὶν οἴει τὴν πόλιν μετακεκοσμῆσθαι; οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἂν μέν τις ἔχῃ τι τοιοῦτον εἰπεῖν, καταβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἵππου δεξιωσάμενος καὶ καταφιλήσας ἕστηκεν ἀκροώμενος.
Do you think the city has been remodeled in three hours?" Nay indeed, if someone has something of the sort to tell, he gets down from his horse, shakes hands, kisses him, and stands listening.
ἐὰν δʼ ἀπαντήσας εἴπῃ τις ὅτι οὐθὲν καινὸν, ὥσπερ ἀχθόμενος
τί λέγεις; φησὶν
οὐ γέγονας κατʼ ἀγοράν;
But if someone meets him and says there is no news, he says, as if annoyed: "What are you saying?" "Have you not been to the marketplace?
οὐ παρελήλυθας τὸ στρατήγιον;
Have you not passed by the general's office?
οὐδὲ τοῖς ἐξ Ἰταλίας ἥκουσιν ἐντετύχηκας; διὸ καλῶς οἱ τῶν Λοκρῶν ἄρχοντες, ἐπεί τις ἐξ ἀποδημίας προσιὼν ἠρώτησε
μή τι καινόν,
ἐζημίωσαν αὐτόν. ὡς γὰρ οἱ μάγειροι φορὰν εὔχονται βοσκημάτων οἱ δʼ ἁλιεῖς ἰχθύων, οὕτως οἱ πολυπράγμονες εὔχονται φορὰν κακῶν καὶ πλῆθος πραγμάτων καὶ καινότητας καὶ μεταβολάς, ἵνʼ ἀεί τι θηρεύειν καὶ κατακόπτειν ἔχωσιν.
Have you not even met those who have arrived from Italy?" Therefore, the rulers of the Locrians did well to fine a man when, returning from abroad, he asked: "Is there any news?" For just as cooks pray for an abundance of cattle and fishermen for that of fish, so the meddlesome pray for an abundance of ills, a multitude of troubles, novelties, and changes, so that they may always have something to hunt and dissect.
εὖ δὲ καὶ ὁ τῶν Θουρίων νομοθέτης· κωμῳδεῖσθαι γὰρ ἐκώλυσε τοὺς πολίτας πλὴν μοιχοὺς καὶ πολυπράγμονας.
And well did the lawgiver of the Thurians do, for he forbade the citizens to be lampooned in comedy, except for adulterers and the meddlesome.
ἔοικε γάρ ἥ τε μοιχεία πολυπραγμοσύνη τις ἀλλοτρίας ἡδονῆς εἶναι καὶ ζήτησις καὶ ἔρευνα τῶν φυλαττομένων καὶ λανθανόντων τοὺς πολλούς· ἥ τε πολυπραγμοσύνη παράλυσίς ἐστι καὶ φθορὰ καὶ ἀπογύμνωσις τῶν ἀπορρήτων.
For adultery seems to be a kind of meddling with another's pleasure, and a search and inquiry into what is guarded and hidden from the majority; and meddlesomeness is a dismantling, ruin, and exposure of secrets.
§9τῇ μὲν οὖν πολυμαθείᾳ τὴν πολυλογίαν ἕπεσθαι συμβαίνει· διὸ καὶ Πυθαγόρας ἔταξε τοῖς νέοις πενταέτιδα σιωπήν, ἐχεμυθίαν προσαγορεύσας. τῇ δὲ περιεργίᾳ τὴν κακολογίαν ἀνάγκη συνακολουθεῖν ἃ γὰρ ἡδέως ἀκούουσιν ἡδέως λαλοῦσι, καὶ ἃ παρʼ ἄλλων σπουδῇ συλλέγουσι πρὸς ἑτέρους μετὰ χαρᾶς ἐκφέρουσιν.
Now, while polymathy happens to be followed by polylogy (for which reason Pythagoras also prescribed a five-year silence for the young, calling it 'the keeping of silence'), curiosity must be accompanied by evil-speaking. For what they gladly hear they gladly speak, and what they gather with zeal from others they joyfully carry abroad to others.
ὅθεν αὐτοῖς μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων κακῶν τὸ νόσημα καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐμποδών ἐστι· πάντες γὰρ αὐτοὺς φυλάττονται καὶ ἀποκρύπτονται, καὶ οὔτε πρᾶξαί τι πολυπράγμονος ὁρῶντος οὔτε εἰπεῖν ἀκούοντος ἡδέως ἔχουσιν· ἀλλὰ καὶ βουλὰς ἀνατίθενται καὶ σκέψεις πραγμάτων ὑπερβάλλονται, μέχρι ἂν ἐκποδὼν ὁ τοιοῦτος γένηται·
Hence, along with their other vices, this disease is also an obstacle to their very desire; for everyone is on guard against them and hides things from them, and they do not care to do anything when a meddlesome person is watching, nor to say anything when he is listening; but they even postpone consultations and put off deliberations on matters until such a person gets out of the way.
κἂν ἢ λόγου τινὸς ἀπορρήτου παρόντος ἢ πράξεως σπουδαίας περαινομένης ἀνὴρ πολυπράγμων ἐπιφανῇ, καθάπερ ὄψον γαλῆς παραδραμούσης αἴρουσιν ἐκ μέσου καὶ ἀποκρύπτουσιν· ὥστε πολλάκις τὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ῥητὰ καὶ θεατὰ τούτοις μόνοις ἄρρητα καὶ ἀθέατα γίγνεσθαι.
And if, while some secret talk is going on or some serious business is being transacted, a meddlesome man appears, they snatch it away from the midst and hide it, just as they do with food when a weasel runs by, so that often what is speakable and viewable to others becomes unspeakable and unviewable to them alone.
διὸ καὶ πίστεως ἁπάσης ἔρημος ὁ πολυπράγμων ἐστίν· οἰκέταις γοῦν καὶ ξένοις πιστεύομεν μᾶλλον ἐπιστολὰς καὶ γράμματα καὶ σφραγῖδας ἢ φίλοις καὶ οἰκείοις πολυπράγμοσιν.
Therefore, the meddlesome person is destitute of all trust; at any rate, we trust servants and strangers with letters, documents, and seals rather than meddlesome friends and relatives.
ὁ δὲ Βελλεροφόντης ἐκεῖνος οὐδὲ καθʼ ἑαυτοῦ γράμματα κομίζων ἔλυσεν, ἀλλʼ ἀπέσχετο τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τοῦ βασιλέως ὡς τῆς γυναικὸς διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἐγκράτειαν.
But that famous Bellerophon did not even open the letters he was carrying against himself, but abstained from the king's letter by the same self-control as he did from the woman.
ἀκρασίας γὰρ τὸ πολυπραγμονεῖν ὡς καὶ τὸ μοιχεύειν, καὶ πρὸς τῇ ἀκρασίᾳ δεινῆς ἀνοίας καὶ ἀφροσύνης·
For meddlesomeness is a sign of incontinence, as is adultery, and in addition to incontinence, of terrible folly and madness.
τὸ γὰρ τοσαύτας παρελθόντα κοινὰς καὶ δεδημοσιωμένας γυναῖκας; ἐπὶ τὴν κατάκλειστον ὠθεῖσθαι καὶ πολυτελῆ, πολλάκις ἂν οὕτω τύχῃ καὶ ἄμορφον οὖσαν, ὑπερβολὴ μανίας καὶ παραφροσύνης.
For to pass by so many common and public women and to push oneself toward the locked-up and costly one, who is often, as it may happen, even ugly, is the height of madness and insanity.
ταὐτὸ δʼ οἱ πολυπράγμονες ποιοῦσι· πολλὰ καὶ καλὰ θεάματα καὶ ἀκούσματα καὶ σχολὰς καὶ διατριβὰς παρελθόντες, ἐπιστόλια διορύττουσιν ἀλλότρια καὶ παραβάλλουσι γειτόνων τοίχοις τὰ ὦτα καὶ συμψιθυρίζουσιν οἰκέταις καὶ γυναίοις, πολλάκις μὲν οὐδʼ ἀκινδύνως ἀεὶ δʼ ἀδόξως.
And the meddlesome do the very same thing: passing by many beautiful spectacles, hearings, leisure times, and pastimes, they dig through others' letters, press their ears to neighbors' walls, and whisper together with servants and women, often not without danger and always without honor.