§17ἀλλʼ ἐπονείδιστον ὁ φυγάς ἐστι;
But is the exile a matter of reproach?
παρά γε τοῖς ἄφροσιν, οἳ καὶ τὸν πτωχὸν λοιδόρημα ποιοῦνται καὶ τὸν φαλακρὸν καὶ τὸν μικρόν, καὶ νὴ Δία τὸν ξένον καὶ τὸν μέτοικον.
Only among the foolish, who make even the poor man an object of abuse, and the bald, and the short, and, by Zeus, the stranger and the resident alien.
ἀλλὰ μὴν οἱ μὴ τούτοις ὑποφερόμενοι θαυμάζουσι τοὺς ἀγαθούς, κἂν πένητες ὦσι κἂν ξένοι κἂν φυγάδες.
But indeed, those who are not carried away by these people admire good men, even if they are poor, or strangers, or exiles.
ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὁρῶμεν, ὥσπερ τὸν Παρθενῶνα καὶ τὸ Ἐλευσίνιον, οὕτω καὶ τὸ Θησεῖον ἅπαντας προσκυνοῦντας;
Do we not see that, just like the Parthenon and the Eleusinion, so also everyone reveres the Theseion?
καὶ μὴν ἔφυγε Θησεὺς ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν, διʼ ὃν ἥκουσι νῦν εἰς Ἀθήνας ἄνθρωποι, καὶ πόλιν ἀπέβαλεν ἣν οὐκ ἔσχεν ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἐποίησε.
And yet, Theseus was exiled from Athens, because of whom people now come to Athens, and he lost a city which he did not merely possess, but which he himself created.
τῇ δʼ Ἐλευσῖνι τί λείπεται καλόν, ἂν αἰσχυνώμεθα τὸν Εὔμολπον, ὃς ἐκ Θρᾴκης μεταστὰς ἐμύησε καὶ μυεῖ τοὺς Ἕλληνας;
And what beauty is left to Eleusis, if we are ashamed of Eumolpus, who, migrating from Thrace, initiated and still initiates the Greeks?
Κόδρος δὲ τίνος ὢν ἐβασίλευσεν;
And as for Codrus, whose son was he when he became king?
οὐ Μελάνθου φυγάδος ἐκ Μεσσήνης;
Was he not the son of Melanthus, an exile from Messene?
τὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἀντισθένους οὐκ ἐπαινεῖς πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα ὅτι
Φρυγία σού ἐστιν ἡ μήτηρ;
And do you not praise the reply of Antisthenes to the one who said: "Your mother is a Phrygian"?
καὶ γὰρ ἡ τῶν θεῶν
τί οὖν οὐ καὶ σὺ λοιδορούμενος φυγὰς ἀποκρίνῃ
καὶ γὰρ ὁ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους τοῦ καλλινίκου πατὴρ φυγὰς ἦν, καὶ ὁ τοῦ Διονύσου πάππος, ὡς ἐξεπέμφθη τὴν Εὐρώπην ἀνευρεῖν, οὐδʼ αὐτὸς ἐπανῆλθε
"Φοίνιξ πεφυκώς, ἐκ· δʼ ὁρίζεται γένος,ʼ"
εἰς τὰς Θήβας παραγενόμενος,
εὔιον ὀρσιγύναικα Διόνυσον μαινομέναις ἀνθέοντα τιμαῖς; καὶ περὶ μὲν ὧν Αἰσχύλος ᾐνίξατο καὶ ὑπεδήλωσεν εἰπών
"ἁγνόν τʼ Ἀπόλλω φυγάδʼ ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ θεόν"
εὔστομά μοι κείσθω
καθʼ Ἡρόδοτον·
For he replied: "For indeed, the mother of the gods is also a Phrygian." Why then do you not also, when abused as an exile, reply: "For indeed, the father of Heracles the victorious was an exile; and the grandfather of Dionysus, when he was sent out to find Europa, did not himself return, 'Being a Phoenician born, from whom his race was bounded,' when he arrived at Thebes, 'the evian, women-rousing Dionysus, flourishing with frenzied honors'?" And concerning those things which Aeschylus riddlingly and obscurely intimated when he said: "And pure Apollo, an exiled god from heaven," let it be kept on my lips in silence, according to Herodotus.
ὁ δʼ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς φιλοσοφίας προαναφωνήσας
"
ἔστιν ἀνάγκης χρῆμα, θεῶν ψήφισμα παλαιόν,
εὖτὲ τις ἀμπλακίῃσι φόνῳ φίλα γυῖα μιήνῃ,
δαίμονες οἵ τε μακραίωνος λελόγχασι βίοιο· τρίς μιν μυρίας ὥρας ἀπὸ μακάρων ἀλάλησθαι. τὴν καὶ ἐγὼ νῦν εἶμι φυγὰς θεόθεν καὶ ἀλήτης·
But Empedocles, having declared beforehand at the beginning of his philosophy: "There is an oracle of Necessity, an ancient decree of the gods, whenever one of the daemons who have obtained long-lasting life pollutes his own limbs with bloodshed through errors, he must wander far from the blessed for thrice ten thousand seasons, along which path I too now go, an exile from God and a wanderer.
"
οὐχ ἑαυτόν, ἀλλʼ ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ πάντας ἀποδείκνυσι μετανάστας ἐνταῦθα καὶ ξένους καὶ φυγάδας ἡμᾶς ὄντας.
"shows not himself, but all of us starting from himself, to be migrants here, and strangers, and exiles.
οὐ γὰρ αἷμα, φησίν, ἡμῖν οὐδὲ πνεῦμα συγκραθέν, ὦ ἄνθρωποι, ψυχῆς οὐσίαν καὶ ἀρχὴν παρέσχεν, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τούτων τὸ σῶμα συμπέπλασται γηγενὲς καὶ θνητόν· τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς ἀλλαχόθεν ἡκούσης δεῦρο, τὴν γένεσιν ἀποδημίαν ὑποκορίζεται τῷ πραοτάτῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων·
For it is not blood, he says, nor blended breath, O men, that has provided us with the essence and principle of the soul, but from these the body has been molded, earth-born and mortal; and since the soul has come here from elsewhere, he euphemistically calls its birth a "sojourn abroad" by the mildest of names.
τὸ δʼ ἀληθέστατον, φεύγει καὶ πλανᾶται θείοις ἐλαυνομένη δόγμασι καὶ νόμοις· εἶθʼ, ὥσπερ ἐν νήσῳ σάλον ἐχούσῃ πολύν, καθάπερ φησὶν ὁ Πλάτων,
ὀστρέου τρόπον
ἐνδεδεμένη τῷ σώματι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀναφέρειν μηδὲ μνημονεύειν
"ἐξ οἵης τιμῆς τε καὶ ὅσσου μήκεος ὄλβου"
μεθέστηκεν, οὐ Σάρδεων Ἀθήνας οὐδὲ Κορίνθου Λῆμνον ἢ Σκῦρον ἀλλʼ οὐρανοῦ καὶ σελήνης γῆν ἀμειψαμένη καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ γῆς βίον, ἐὰν μικρὸν ἐνταῦθα τόπον ἐκ τόπου παραλλάξῃ, δυσανασχετεῖ καὶ ξενοπαθεῖ, καθάπερ φυτὸν ἀγεννὲς ἀπομαραινομένη.
But the truest fact is that it flees and wanders, driven by divine decrees and laws; and then, as if on an island having much tossing of waves, just as Plato says, bound to the body like an oyster, because of its not recalling nor remembering "from what honor and how great a height of bliss" it has departed—having exchanged not Sardis for Athens, nor Corinth for Lemnos or Scyros, but heaven and the moon for earth and the life upon earth—if it changes but a small place for another here, it is discontented and feels like a stranger, withering away like an ignoble plant.
καίτοι φυτῷ μὲν ἔστι τις χώρα μᾶλλον ἑτέρας ἑτέρα πρόσφορος, ἐν ᾗ τρέφεται καὶ βλαστάνει βέλτιον· ἀνθρώπου δʼ οὐδεὶς ἀφαιρεῖται τόπος εὐδαιμονίαν, ὥσπερ οὐδʼ ἀρετὴν οὐδὲ φρόνησιν, ἀλλʼ Ἀναξαγόρας μὲν ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ τὸν τοῦ κύκλου τετραγωνισμὸν ἔγραφε, Σωκράτης δὲ φάρμακον πίνων ἐφιλοσόφει καὶ παρεκάλει φιλοσοφεῖν τοὺς συνήθεις, εὐδαιμονιζόμενος ὑπʼ αὐτῶν· τὸν δὲ Φαέθοντα καὶ τὸν Τάνταλον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβάντας οἱ ποιηταὶ λέγουσι ταῖς μεγίσταις συμφοραῖς περιπεσεῖν διὰ τὴν ἀφροσύνην.
Yet for a plant indeed, one country is more suitable than another, in which it is nourished and flourishes better; but from a man, no place deprives him of happiness, just as it does not deprive him of virtue or wisdom. On the contrary, Anaxagoras in prison wrote the squaring of the circle, and Socrates, while drinking the poison, philosophized and exhorted his companions to philosophize, being deemed happy by them; while the poets say that Phaethon and Tantalus, having ascended into heaven, fell into the greatest misfortunes because of their foolishness.