§8τί οὖν; φήσει τις, οὐχ ὁρᾷς καὶ χρωμένους ἐνίους δαψιλῶς τοῖς χρήμασι; σὺ δʼ οὐκ ἀκούεις, φήσομεν, Ἀριστοτέλους λέγοντος, ὅτι· οἱ μὲν οὐ χρῶνται οἱ δὲ παραχρῶνται, καθάπερ οὔδʼ ἑτέρου προσήκοντος; ἀλλʼ ἐκείνους μὲν οὐκ ὠφελεῖ τὸ οἰκεῖον οὐδὲ κοσμεῖ, τούτους δὲ καὶ βλάπτει καὶ καταισχύνει.
"What then?" someone will say, "do you not see some people using their wealth lavishly?" "And do you not hear," we shall say, "Aristotle saying that some do not use it, while others misuse it, just as if neither property belonged to them?" But while the former are not benefited or adorned by their own possessions, the latter are both harmed and disgraced by them.
φέρε δὴ σκεψώμεθα τὸ πρῶτον.
Come now, let us examine the first point.
τίνων τίς ἡ χρῆσις αὕτη, διʼ ἣν θαυμάζεται ὁ πλοῦτος;
For whom is this use, because of which wealth is admired?
πότερον τῶν ἀρκούντων ἢ τῶν περιττῶν;
Is it of necessary things or of superfluous things?
εἰ γὰρ τῶν ἀρκούντων, οὐδὲν πλέον ἔχουσιν οἱ πλούσιοι τῶν μέτρια κεκτημένων· ἀλλὰ
τυφλὸς καὶ ἄπλουτος ὁ πλοῦτός ἐστιν
ὥς φησι Θεόφραστος, καὶ ἄζηλος ἀληθῶς, εἰ Καλλίας ὁ πλουσιώτατος Ἀθηναίων καὶ Ἰσμηνίας ὁ Θηβαίων εὐπορώτατος ἐχρῶντο τούτοις, οἷς Σωκράτης καὶ Ἐπαμεινώνδας.
For if it is of necessary things, the rich have no advantage over those of moderate means; but "wealth is blind and wealthless," as Theophrastus says, and truly unenviable, if Callias, the richest of the Athenians, and Ismenias, the wealthiest of the Thebans, used those things which Socrates and Epaminondas used.
ὡς γὰρ Ἀγάθων τὸν αὐλὸν ἀπέπεμψεν ἐκ τοῦ συμποσίου πρὸς τὰς γυναῖκας, οἰόμενος ἀρκεῖν τοὺς λόγους τῶν παρόντων· οὕτως ἀποπέμψειας ἂν καὶ στρωμνὰς ἁλουργεῖς καὶ τραπέζας πολυτελεῖς καὶ τὰ περιττὰ πάντα, τοὺς,· πλουσίους ὁρῶν χρωμένους οἷς οἱ πένητες·
For just as Agathon sent the flute-player away from the banquet to the women, thinking that the conversation of those present was sufficient, so you would also send away purple coverlets and expensive tables and all superfluous things, if you saw that the rich use the same things as the poor.
οὐκ
"
αἶψά κε πηδάλιον μὲν ὑπὲρ καπνοῦ καταθεῖο,
ἔργα βοῶν δʼ ἀπόλοιτο καὶ ἡμιόνων ταλαεργῶν. "
ἀλλὰ χρυσοχόων καὶ τορευτῶν καὶ μυρεψῶν καὶ μαγείρων, καλῆς καὶ σώφρονος γενομένης ξενηλασίας, τῶν ἀχρήστων.
You would not "straightway hang up the rudder over the smoke, and the work of oxen and toil-enduring mules would perish," but rather you would send away the goldsmiths, carvers, perfumers, and cooks—a beautiful and wise banishment of foreigners being made of these useless persons.
εἰ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἀρκοῦντα κοινὰ καὶ τῶν μὴ πλουσίων καὶ τῶν πλουσίων ἐστί, σεμνύνεται δʼ ὁ πλοῦτος ἐπὶ τοῖς περισσοῖς· καὶ τὸν Σκόπαν τὸν Θεσσαλὸν ἐπαινεῖς, ὃς αἰτηθείς τι τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν ὡς περιττὸν αὐτῷ καὶ ἄχρηστον
ἀλλὰ μήν
ἔφη
τούτοις ἐσμὲν ἡμεῖς εὐδαίμονες καὶ μακάριοι τοῖς περιττοῖς, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐκείνοις τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις· ὅρα μὴ πομπὴν ἐπαινοῦντι καὶ πανήγυριν μᾶλλον ἢ βίον ἔοικας.
But if necessary things are common to both the non-rich and the rich, and wealth prides itself on superfluous things; and you praise Scopas the Thessalian, who, when asked for something from his house as being superfluous and useless to him, said: "But indeed, we are happy and blessed by these superfluous things, and not by those necessary ones," see to it that you do not resemble someone who praises a procession and a public festival rather than a life.
ἡ πάτριος τῶν Διονυσίων ἑορτὴ τὸ παλαιὸν ἐπέμπετο δημοτικῶς καὶ ἱλαρῶς, ἀμφορεὺς οἴνου καὶ κληματίς, εἶτα τράγον τις εἷλκεν, ἄλλος ἰσχάδων ἄρριχον ἠκολούθει κομίζων, ἐπὶ πᾶσι δʼ ὁ φαλλός ἀλλὰ νῦν ταῦτα παρεώραται καὶ ἠφάνισται, χρυσωμάτων περιφερομένων καὶ ἱματίων πολυτελῶν καὶ ζευγῶν ἐλαυνομένων καὶ προσωπείων.
The ancestral festival of the Dionysia in the old days was celebrated in a popular and cheerful way: an amphora of wine and a branch of vine, then someone dragged a goat, another followed carrying a basket of dried figs, and on top of all was the phallus. But now these things have been overlooked and have disappeared, with gold vessels carried around, expensive garments, chariots driven, and masks.
οὕτω τἀναγκαῖα τοῦ πλούτου καὶ χρήσιμα τοῖς ἀχρήστοις κατακέχωσται καὶ τοῖς περιττοῖς.
Thus the necessary and useful things of wealth have been buried under the useless and superfluous.
§9οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ τὸ τοῦ Τηλεμάχου πάσχομεν καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ὑπʼ ἀπειρίας μᾶλλον δʼ ἀπειροκαλίας τὴν μὲν Νέστορος ἰδὼν οἰκίαν κλίνας ἔχουσαν τραπέζας ἱμάτια στρώματα οἶνον ἡδύν, οὐκ ἐμακάριζε τὸν εὐποροῦντα τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἢ καὶ τῶν χρησίμων· παρὰ δὲ τῷ Μενελάῳ θεασάμενος ἐλέφαντα καὶ χρυσὸν καὶ ἤλεκτρον ἐξεπλάγη καὶ εἶπε
"
Ζηνὸς που τοιήδε γʼ Ὀλυμπίου ἔνδοθεν αὐλή· ὅσσα τάδʼ ἄσπετα πολλά· σέβας μʼ ἔχει εἰσορόωντα
"
Σωκράτης δʼ ἂν εἶπεν ἢ καὶ Διογένης
"ὅσσα τάδʼ ἄθλια πολλὰ"
καὶ ἄχρηστα καὶ μάταια· "γέλως μʼ ἔχει εἰσορόωντα. "
τί λέγεις, ἀβέλτερʼ, ὃς τῆς γυναικὸς ὀφείλων παρελεῖν τὴν πορφύραν καὶ τὸν κόσμον, ἵνα παύσηται τρυφῶσα καὶ ξενομανοῦσα, τὴν οἰκίαν πάλιν καλλωπίζεις ὡς θέατρον ἢ θυμέλην τοῖς εἰσιοῦσι;
But most of us suffer the experience of Telemachus. For he too, from lack of experience, or rather lack of taste, when he saw Nestor's house possessing beds, tables, garments, rugs, and sweet wine, did not deem him happy who was well supplied with necessary or even useful things; but at Menelaus' house, beholding ivory, gold, and amber, he was amazed and said: "Such, I suppose, is the court of Olympic Zeus within, so many are these countless things; awe holds me as I look." But Socrates or Diogenes would have said: "So many are these miserable things" and useless and vain, "laughter holds me as I look." What are you saying, foolish man, who, when you ought to take away your wife's purple and ornaments so that she may stop living luxuriously and being mad for foreign things, instead beautify your house like a theater or a stage for those who enter?
§10τοιαύτην ὁ πλοῦτος εὐδαιμονίαν ἔχει θεατῶν δεομένην καὶ μαρτύρων, οἷς δεῖ πᾶσιν ἐμπομπεύειν αὐτόν, ἢ· τὸ μηδέν ἐστιν.
Such happiness does wealth possess, needing spectators and witnesses, before all of whom it must make a procession, or else it is nothing.
ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὅμοιόν γε τὸ σωφρονεῖν τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν τὸ γιγνώσκειν ἃ δεῖ περὶ θεῶν· ἀλλὰ κἂν λανθάνῃ πάντας ἀνθρώπους, ἴδιον σέλας ἔχει καὶ φέγγος ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ μέγα καὶ χαρὰν ποιεῖ σύνοικον αὐτῇ ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἀντιλαμβανομένῃ τἀγαθοῦ, ἂν τʼ εἰδῇ τις ἄν τε λανθάνῃ καὶ θεοὺς καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἅπαντας.
But temperance, philosophy, and knowing what is right concerning the gods are not like this; even if they escape the notice of all men, they have their own light and a great splendor in the soul, and produce a joy that dwells with the soul, which in itself grasps the good, whether anyone knows it or whether it escapes the notice of all gods and men.
τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ἀρετὴ ἀλήθεια μαθημάτων τε κάλλος γεωμετρικῶν ἀστρολογικῶν οἷς πάντα τὰ τοῦ πλούτου φάλαρα ταῦτα καὶ περιδέραια· καὶ θεάματα κορασιώδη παραβαλεῖν ἄξιον, ἃ μηδενὸς ὁρῶντος μηδὲ προσβλέποντος ὄντως τυφλὸς γίγνεται καὶ ἀφεγγὴς ὁ πλοῦτος;
Such is virtue, truth, and the beauty of geometrical and astronomical studies, with which it is not fitting to compare all these trappings, necklaces, and girlish spectacles of wealth, without anyone seeing or looking at which, wealth truly becomes blind and lightless.
μόνος γὰρ ὁ πλούσιος δειπνῶν μετὰ τῆς γυναικὸς ἢ τῶν συνήθων οὔτε ταῖς χρυσαῖς παρέχει πράγματα τραπέζαις οὔτε τοῖς χρυσοῖς ἐκπώμασιν ἀλλὰ χρῆται τοῖς προστυχοῦσι, καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἄχρυσος καὶ ἀπόρφυρος καὶ ἀφελὴς πάρεστιν·
For when the rich man dines alone with his wife or intimates, he does not trouble himself with golden tables or golden cups, but uses whatever comes to hand, and his wife is present without gold, purple, or ostentation.
ὅταν δὲ σύνδειπνον, τουτέστι πομπὴ καὶ θέατρον, συγκροτῆται καὶ δρᾶμα πλουσιακὸν εἰσάγηται,
νηῶν δʼ ἔκφερε λέβητάς τε τρίποδάς τε· τῶν τε λύχνων ἀντέχονται καὶ περισπῶνται περὶ τὰς κύλικας, ἀλλάσσουσι τοὺς οἰνοχόους, μεταμφιεννύουσι πάντα, πάντα κινοῦσι, χρυσόν, ἄργυρον, λιθοκόλλητα, ἁπλῶς πλουτεῖν ὁμολογοῦντες.
But when a banquet—that is to say, a procession and a theater—is organized, and a wealthy drama is introduced, "and he brought forth cauldrons and tripods from the ships," they cling to the lamps, they busy themselves around the cups, they change the wine-pourers, they dress up everything, they move everything—gold, silver, precious stones—confessing simply that they are rich.
ἀλλὰ σωφροσύνης γε, κἂν μόνος δειπνῇ, δεῖται κἂν δικαιοσύνης.
But temperance is needed, even if one dines alone, and justice is too.