§6τὸ δέ σε μὴ κατοικεῖν Σάρδεις οὐδέν ἐστιν· οὐδὲ γὰρ Ἀθηναῖοι πάντες κατοικοῦσι Κολλυτὸν οὐδὲ Κορίνθιοι Κράνειον οὐδὲ Πιτάνην Λάκωνες.
And that you do not dwell in Sardis is nothing; for neither do all Athenians dwell in Collytus, nor Corinthians in Craneium, nor Laconians in Pitane.
ἆρʼ οὖν ξένοι καὶ ἀπόλιδὲς εἰσιν Ἀθηναίων οἱ μεταστάντες ἐκ Μελίτης εἰς Διωμίδα, ὅπου καὶ μῆνα Μεταγειτνιῶνα καὶ θυσίαν ἐπώνυμον ἄγουσι τοῦ μετοικισμοῦ τὰ Μεταγείτνια, τὴν πρὸς ἑτέρους γειτνίασιν εὐκόλως καὶ ἱλαρῶς ἐκδεχόμενοι καὶ στέργοντες·
Are then those of the Athenians who migrated from Melite to Diomeia—where they even keep the month Metageitnion and the sacrifice named after their resettlement, the Metageitnia, welcoming and cherishing easily and cheerfully their neighborhood with others—strangers and without a city?
; οὐκ ἂν εἴποις.
You would not say so.
τί οὖν τῆς οἰκουμένης μέρος ἢ τῆς γῆς ἁπάσης ἕτερον ἑτέρου μακράν ἐστιν, ἣν ἀποδεικνύουσιν οἱ μαθηματικοὶ σημείου λόγον ἔχουσαν ἀδιαστάτου πρὸς τὸν οὐρανόν;
What part, then, of the inhabited world or of the whole earth is far from another, which the mathematicians demonstrate to have the ratio of a dimensionless point in relation to the heaven?
ἀλλʼ ἡμεῖς ὥσπερ μύρμηκες ἢ μέλιτται μυρμηκιᾶς μιᾶς ἢ κυψέλης ἐκπεσόντες ἀδημονοῦμεν καὶ ξενοπαθοῦμεν, οὐκ εἰδότες οὐδὲ μεμαθηκότες οἰκεῖα τὰ πάντα ποιεῖσθαι καὶ νομίζειν ὥσπερ ἐστί.
But we, like ants or bees, if we fall out of a single anthill or hive, are distressed and feel like strangers in a foreign land, not knowing nor having learned to make and consider all things as our own, as they indeed are.
καίτοι γελῶμεν τὴν ἀβελτερίαν τοῦ φάσκοντος ἐν Ἀθήναις βελτίονα σελήνην εἶναι τῆς ἐν Κορίνθῳ· τρόπον τινὰ ταὐτὸ πάσχοντες, ὅταν ἀμφιγνοῶμεν ἐπὶ ξένης γενόμενοι τὴν γῆν τὴν θάλατταν τὸν ἀέρα τὸν οὐρανὸν, ὡς ἕτερα καὶ διαφέροντα τῶν συνήθων.
And yet we laugh at the stupidity of the man who says that the moon in Athens is better than the one in Corinth; suffering in some way the very same thing when, on finding ourselves in a foreign land, we are in doubt about the earth, the sea, the air, and the heaven, as if they were different and varying from those we are accustomed to.
ἡ μὲν γὰρ φύσις ἐλευθέρους ἡμᾶς καὶ λελυμένους ἀφίησιν, ἡμεῖς δʼ αὐτοὶ συνδέομεν ἑαυτοὺς συστενοχωροῦμεν ἐγκατοικοδομοῦμεν, εἰς μικρὰ καὶ γλίσχρα συνελαύνομεν.
For nature leaves us free and unbound, but we bind ourselves, cramp ourselves, build ourselves in, and drive ourselves into small and paltry places.
εἶτα τῶν μὲν Περσῶν βασιλέων καταγελῶμεν, εἴ γε δὴ ἀληθὲς ὅτι τὸ τοῦ Χοάσπου μόνον ὕδωρ πίνοντες ἄνυδρον αὑτοῖς τὴν ἄλλην ποιοῦσιν οἰκουμένην· ὅταν δὲ μεταστῶμεν εἰς ἕτερα χωρία, τοῦ Κηφισοῦ γλιχόμενοι καὶ τὸν Εὐρώταν ἢ τὸν Ταΰγετον ἢ τὸν Παρνασὸν ἐπιποθοῦντες, ἄπολιν καὶ ἀοίκητον αὑτοῖς τὴν οἰκουμένην ποιοῦμεν.
Then we laugh at the Persian kings, if indeed it is true that by drinking only the water of the Choaspes, they make the rest of the inhabited world waterless for themselves; but when we move to other places, by longing for the Cephisus and yearning for the Eurotas or Taygetus or Parnassus, we make the inhabited world stateless and uninhabitable for ourselves.
§7Αἰγυπτίων μὲν οὖν οἱ διʼ ὀργήν τινα καὶ χαλεπότητα τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς Αἰθιοπίαν μετοικιζόμενοι, πρὸς τοὺς δεομένους ἐπανελθεῖν ἐπὶ τέκνα καὶ, γυναῖκας ἐπιδεικνύντες τὰ αἰδοῖα κυνικώτερον οὔτε γάμων ἔφασαν οὔτε παίδων ἀπορήσειν, ἄχρι οὗ ταῦτα μεθʼ ἑαυτῶν ἔχωσιν εὐπρεπέστερον δʼ ἐστὶ καὶ σεμνότερον εἰπεῖν ὡς, ὅπου καὶ ὅτῳ μετρίων πρὸς τὸν βίον εὐπορεῖν συμβέβηκεν, ἐνταῦθʼ οὗτος οὔτʼ ἄπολις οὔτʼ ἀνέστιος οὔτε ξένος ἐστί·
Now those of the Egyptians who, because of some anger and harshness of the king, migrated to Ethiopia, when some requested them to return to their children and wives, showed their private parts in a rather cynical manner and said they would lack neither marriages nor children as long as they kept these with them; but it is more seemly and dignified to say that wherever and for whomever it happens that he is well provided with the moderate necessities of life, there he is neither stateless, nor hearthless, nor a stranger.
μόνον ἔχειν δεῖ πρὸς τούτοις νοῦν καὶ λογισμὸν ὥσπερ ἄγκυραν κυβερνήτην, ἵνα παντὶ χρῆσθαι λιμένι προσορμισθεὶς δύνηται.
Only, in addition to these things, he must have mind and reason, like an anchor or a pilot, so that having moored, he may be able to make use of any harbor.
πλοῦτον μὲν γὰρ ἀποβαλόντα ῥᾳδίως οὐκ ἔστι καὶ ταχέως· ἄλλον συναγαγεῖν· πατρὶς δὲ γίγνεται πᾶσα πόλις εὐθὺς ἀνθρώπῳ χρῆσθαι μεμαθηκότι καὶ ῥίζας ἔχοντι πανταχοῦ ζῆν τε καὶ τρέφεσθαι καὶ παντὶ τόπῳ προσφύεσθαι δυναμένας·
For while it is not easy or quick to gather another fortune once one has lost it, every city straightway becomes a homeland for a man who has learned to make use of it and has roots capable of living, drawing nourishment, and clinging to every place; such as Themistocles had, and Demetrius of Phalerum.
οἵας εἶχε Θεμιστοκλῆς οἵας Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεύς. οὗτος μὲν γὰρ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ μετὰ τὴν φυγὴν πρῶτος ὢν τῶν Πτολεμαίου φίλων, οὐ μόνον αὐτὸς ἐν ἀφθόνοις διῆγεν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις δωρεὰς ἔπεμπε.
For the latter, in Alexandria after his banishment, being first among the friends of Ptolemy, not only lived himself in abundance but also sent gifts to the Athenians.
Θεμιστοκλῆς δὲ χορηγίᾳ βασιλικῇ πρυτανευόμενος εἰπεῖν λέγεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τοὺς παῖδας
ἀπωλόμεθʼ ἄν, εἰ μὴ ἀπωλόμεθα
διὸ καὶ Διογένης ὁ κύων πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα,
Σινωπεῖς σου φυγὴν ἐκ Πόντου κατέγνωσαν· ἐγὼ δʼ
εἶπεν
ἐκείνων ἐν Πόντῳ μονήν,
"ἄκραις ἐπὶ ῥηγμῖσιν ἀξένου πόρου. "
Στρατόνικος δὲ τὸν ἐν Σερίφῳ ξένον ἠρώτησεν, ἐφʼ ὅτῳ τῶν ἀδικημάτων φυγὴ τέτακται παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐπιτίμιον· ἀκούσας δʼ ὅτι τοὺς ῥᾳδιουργοὺς φυγαδεύουσι,
τί οὖν
εἶπεν
οὐκ ἐρρᾳδιούργησας, ὅπως ἐκ τῆς στενοχωρίας ταύτης μεταστῇς; ὅπου φησὶν ὁ κωμικὸς τὰ σῦκα ταῖς σφενδόναις τρυγᾶσθαι, καὶ πάντʼ ἔχειν ὅσων δεῖ τὴν νῆσον.
And Themistocles, maintained by the royal bounty, is said to have said to his wife and children: "We should have been ruined, if we had not been ruined." Wherefore also Diogenes the Dog, to the one who said, "The Sinopeans condemned you to banishment from Pontus," said: "But I condemned them to stay in Pontus," "'upon the edge of the breakers of an inhospitable sea.' "And Stratonicus asked his host in Seriphos for which of the crimes banishment was appointed as a penalty among them; and hearing that they banish rogues, "Why then," he said, "did you not play the rogue, so that you might migrate from this cramped place?" where, says the comic poet, figs are harvested with slings, and the island has everything that one needs.
§8ἂν γὰρ σκοπῇς ἄνευ κενῆς δόξης τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὁ μίαν πόλιν ἔχων ξένος ἐστὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπασῶν καὶ ἀλλότριος.
For if you look at the truth without empty opinion, the man who has one city is a stranger and a foreigner to all the others.
οὐ γὰρ δοκεῖ καλὸν οὐδὲ δίκαιον εἶναι καταλιπόντα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ νέμειν ἑτέραν.
For it does not seem honorable or just to leave one's own and cultivate another.
"Σπάρταν ἔλαχες, ταύταν κόσμει,"
κἂν ἄδοξος ᾖ κἂν νοσώδης κἂν ταράττηται στάσεσιν ὑφʼ ἑαυτῆς καὶ πράγμασι μὴ ὑγιαίνουσιν.
"Sparta has fallen to your lot; adorn her," even if she be without glory, or unhealthy, or troubled by factions from within herself and by unsound affairs.
οὗ δʼ ἡ τύχη τὴν ἰδίαν ἀφῄρηται, τούτῳ δίδωσιν ἔχειν τὴν ἀρέσασαν.
But to him from whom fortune has taken away his own, she grants to have the one that pleases him.
τὸ γὰρ καλὸν ἐκεῖνο παράγγελμα τῶν Πυθαγορείων
ἑλοῦ βίον ἄριστον, ἡδὺν δʼ αὐτὸν ἡ συνήθεια ποιήσει,
κἀνταῦθα σοφόν ἐστι καὶ χρήσιμον· ἑλοῦ πόλιν τὴν ἀρίστην καὶ ἡδίστην, πατρίδα δʼ αὐτὴν ὁ χρόνος ποιήσει,
καὶ πατρίδα μὴ περισπῶσαν μὴ ἐνοχλοῦσαν μὴ προστάττουσαν· εἰσένεγκε, πρέσβευσον εἰς Ῥώμην, ὑπόδεξαι τὸν ἡγεμόνα, λειτούργησον
ἂν γὰρ τούτων τις μνημονεύῃ φρένας ἔχων καὶ μὴ παντάπασι τετυφωμένος, αἱρήσεται καὶ νῆσον οἰκεῖν φυγὰς γενόμενος, Γύαρον ἢ Κίναρον
"σκληρὰν ἄκαρπον καὶ φυτεύεσθαι κακήν,"
οὐκ ἀθυμῶν οὐδʼ ὀδυρόμενος οὐδὲ λέγων ἐκεῖνα τὰ τῶν παρὰ Σιμωνίδῃ γυναικῶν,
"ἴσχει δέ με πορφυρέας ἁλὸς, ἀμφιταρασσομένας ὀρυμαγδός· "
ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὸ τοῦ Φιλίππου λογιζόμενος· πεσὼν γὰρ ἐν παλαίστρᾳ καὶ μεταστραφείς, ὡς εἶδε τοῦ σώματος τὸν τύπον,
ὧ Ἡράκλεις
εἶπεν
ὡς μικροῦ μέρους τῆς γῆς φύσει μετέχοντες, ὅλης ἐφιέμεθα τῆς οἰκουμένης.
For that noble precept of the Pythagoreans, "Choose the best life, and habit will make it sweet," is wise and useful here too: "Choose the best and sweetest city, and time will make it your homeland," and a homeland that does not distract, nor trouble, nor command: "Pay taxes; go on an embassy to Rome; receive the governor; perform public services." For if anyone who has sense and is not altogether blinded by vanity remembers these things, he will choose even to inhabit an island, having become an exile, whether Gyaros or Cinaros, "rugged, barren, and bad for planting," not desponding, nor lamenting, nor saying those words of the women in Simonides, "And I am held by the roar of the purple sea, stirred to agitation around me;" but rather reflecting on that saying of Philip; for having fallen in the wrestling school and turned over, when he saw the print of his body, "Heracles!" he said, "How small a part of the earth we possess by nature, and yet we desire the whole inhabited world!"