§9οἶμαί σε τῆς Νάξου· γεγονέναι θεατήν· εἰ δὲ μὴ, τῆς γʼ Ὑρίας ἐνταῦθα πλησίον οὔσης· ἀλλʼ ἐκείνη μὲν ἐχώρει τὸν Ἐφιάλτην καὶ τὸν Ὦτον, αὕτη δὲ τοῦ Ὠρίωνος, ἦν οἰκητήριον ὁ δʼ Ἀλκμέων ἰλὺν νεοπαγῆ τοῦ Ἀχελῴου προσχωννύντος ἐπῴκησεν ὑποφεύγων τὰς Εὐμενίδας, ὡς οἱ ποιηταὶ λέγουσι· ἐγὼ δὲ κἀκεῖνον εἰκάζω φεύγοντα πολιτικὰς· ταραχὰς καὶ στάσεις καὶ συκοφαντίας ἐρινυώδεις ἑλέσθαι βραχὺ χωρίον ἀπραγμόνως ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ κατοικεῖν.
I suppose you have seen Naxos; or if not, at least Hyria, which is near here; but while the former used to contain Ephialtes and Otus, the latter was the dwelling place of Orion. And Alcmeon, fleeing from the Eumenides, as the poets say, settled on the newly formed silt accumulated by the Achelous; but I imagine that he too, fleeing from political troubles, factions, and fury-like sycophancies, chose to inhabit a small place in quietness and free from business.
Τιβέριος δὲ Καῖσαρ, ἐν Καπρέαις ἑπτὰ ἔτη διῃτήθη μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς· καὶ τὸ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἡγεμονικὸν ἱερὸν ὥσπερ εἰς καρδίαν συνηγμένον οὐδαμοῦ μετέστη τοσοῦτον χρόνον.
Tiberius Caesar lived in Capreae for seven years until his death; and the sacred headquarters of the empire, gathered as if into a heart, did not move anywhere else for so long a time.
ἀλλʼ ἐκείνῳ μὲν αἱ τῆς ἡγεμονίας φροντίδες ἐπιχεόμεναι καὶ προσφερόμεναι πανταχόθεν, οὐ καθαρὰν παρεῖχον οὐδʼ ἀκύμονα τὴν νησιῶτιν ἡσυχίαν ᾧ δʼ ἔξεστιν εἰς μικρὰν ἀποβάντι νῆσον οὐ μικρῶν ἀπηλλάχθαι κακῶν, οὗτος ἄθλιός ἐστι μὴ προσλαλῶν ἑαυτῷ τὰ Πινδαρικὰ μηδʼ ἐπᾴδων πολλάκις
"
ἐλαφρὰν κυπάρισσον φιλέειν,
ἐᾶν δὲ νομὸν Κρήτας περιδαῖον· ἐμοὶ δʼ ὀλίγον μὲν γᾶς δέδοται, ὅθεν ἄδρυς,
πενθέων δʼ οὐκ ἔλαχον οὐδὲ στασίων
"
οὐδὲ προσταγμάτων ἡγεμονικῶν οὐδʼ ὑπουργιῶν ἐν πολιτικαῖς χρείαις καὶ λειτουργιῶν δυσπαραιτήτων.
But for him, the cares of empire, pouring in and brought to him from all sides, did not afford a pure or waveless island quiet; whereas he who is permitted to land on a small island and be rid of no small evils is wretched if he does not repeat to himself the words of Pindar, nor often chant: "To love the slender cypress, and to leave the Cretan pasture of Mount Ida; to me a small portion of land is given, whence comes my oak, but I have received no share of griefs or factions" nor of imperial commands, nor of ministrations in political needs, nor of hard-to-avoid public services.
§10ὅπου γὰρ οὐ φαύλως δοκεῖ λέγειν ὁ Καλλίμαχος τό
"μὴ μετρεῖν σχοίνῳ Περσίδι τὴν σοφίην; "
ἦπου τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν σχοίνοις καὶ παρασάγγαις μετροῦντες, ἐὰν νῆσον οἰκῶμεν διακοσίων σταδίων, ἀλλὰ μὴ τεσσάρων ἡμερῶν ὥσπερ ἡ Σικελία περίπλουν ἔχουσαν, ὀδυνᾶν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ θρηνεῖν ὀφείλομεν ὡς κακοδαιμονοῦντες;
For since Callimachus seems to speak not poorly in saying: "Do not measure wisdom with a Persian cord;" shall we indeed, measuring happiness by cords and parasangs, if we inhabit an island of two hundred stades rather than one of four days' sail like Sicily, torment ourselves and lament as if we were unhappy?
τί γὰρ ἡ πλατεῖα χώρα πρὸς τὸν ἄλυπον βίον;
For what is a broad land in comparison with a life free from pain?
οὐκ ἀκούεις τοῦ Ταντάλου λέγοντος ἐν τῇ τραγῳδίᾳ
"
σπείρω δʼ ἄρουραν δώδεχʼ ἡμερῶν ὁδόν,
Βερέκυντα χῶρον
"
εἶτα μετʼ ὀλίγον λέγοντος
"
οὑμὸς δὲ πότμος οὐρανῷ κυρῶν ἄνω,
ἔραζε πίπτει, καί με προσφωνεῖ τάδε· γίγνωσκε τἀνθρώπεια μὴ σέβειν ἄγαν;
Do you not hear Tantalus saying in the tragedy: "I sow a field of twelve days' journey, the Berecyntian region," and then a little later saying: "But my fortune, which reached up to heaven, falls to the ground, and speaks to me thus: 'Learn not to revere human things too much'"?
"
ὁ δὲ Ναυσίθοος τὴν εὐρύχωρον Ὑπέρειαν καταλιπὼν διὰ τὸ γειτνιᾶν τοὺς Κύκλωπας αὐτῇ, καὶ μεταστὰς εἰς νῆσον
"ἑκὰς ἀνδρῶν ἀλφηστάων"
καὶ κατοικῶν ἀνεπίμικτος ἀνθρώπων
"ἀπάνευθε, πολυκλύστῳ ἐνὶ πόντῳ,"
τὸν ἥδιστον παρεσκεύασε βίον τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ πολίταις.
And Nausithous, having left the spacious Hypereia because the Cyclopes were near to it, and having migrated to an island "far from bread-eating men," and dwelling unmixed with men "apart, in the wave-washed sea," provided the sweetest life for his citizens.
τὰς δὲ Κυκλάδας πρότερον μὲν οἱ Μίνω παῖδες, ὕστερον δʼ οἱ Κόδρου καὶ Νείλεω κατῴκησαν, ἐν αἷς τὰ νῦν οἱ ἀνόητοι φυγάδες οἴονται κολάζεσθαι.
And the Cyclades were inhabited first by the sons of Minos, and later by those of Codrus and Neileus, in which islands now foolish exiles think they are being punished.
καίτοι ποία φυγαδικὴ νῆσος οὐκ ἔστι πλατυτέρα τῆς Σκιλλουντίας χώρας, ἐν ᾗ Ξενοφῶν μετὰ τὴν στρατείαν τὸ λιπαρὸν εἶδε γῆρας;
Yet what island of exile is not wider than the region of Scillus, in which Xenophon, after his military campaign, saw a sleek old age?
ἡ δʼ Ἀκαδήμεια, τρισχιλίων χωρίδιον ἐωνημένον, οἰκητήριον ἦν Πλάτωνος καὶ Ξενοκράτους καὶ Πολέμωνος αὐτόθι σχολαζόντων καὶ καταβιούντων τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον, πλὴν μίαν ἡμέραν, ἐν Ξενοκράτης καθʼ ἕκαστον ἔτος εἰς ἄστυ κατῄει Διονυσίων καινοῖς τραγῳδοῖς, ὡς ἔφασαν, τὴν ἑορτήν.
And the Academy, a small plot of land purchased for three thousand drachmas, was the dwelling place of Plato, Xenocrates, and Polemon, who studied there and spent their whole lives there, except for one day, on which Xenocrates went down to the city every year for the Dionysia, for the new tragedies, to celebrate, as they said, the festival.
Ἀριστοτέλην δὲ καὶ λελοιδόρηκε Θεόκριτος ὁ Χῖος, ὅτι τὴν παρὰ Φιλίππῳ καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ δίαιταν ἀγαπήσας
"
εἵλετο ναίειν
ἀντʼ Ἀκαδημείας Βορβόρου ἐν προχοαῖς. "
ἔστι γὰρ ποταμὸς περὶ Πέλλην, ὃν Μακεδόνες Βόρβορον καλοῦσι.
And Theocritus of Chios even reviled Aristotle, because having loved the life with Philip and Alexander, "he chose to dwell instead of the Academy at the outlets of Borborus." For there is a river near Pella, which the Macedonians call Borborus.
τὰς δὲ νήσους ὥσπερ ἐπίτηδες ὑμνῶν καὶ συνιστὰς ἡμῖν ὁ ποιητής,
"Λῆμνον δʼ εἰσαφίκανε, πόλιν θείοιο Θόαντος· "
καὶ
"ὅσσον Λέσβος ἄνω, μακάρων ἕδος, ἐντὸς ἐέργει· "
καί
"Σκῦρον ἑλὼν αἰπεῖαν, Ἐνυῆος πτολίεθρον· "
καὶ
"
οἳ δʼ ἐκ Δουλιχίοιο Ἐχινάων θʼ ἱεράων
νήσων, αἳ ναίουσι πέρην ἁλὸς, Ἤλιδος ἄντα. "
καὶ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ἀνδρῶν νῆσον οἰκεῖν φησι τὸν θεοφιλέστατον Αἴολον, τὸν σοφώτατον Ὀδυσσέα, τὸν ἀνδρειότατον Αἴαντα, τὸν φιλοξενώτατον Ἀλκίνουν.
And the poet, as if on purpose praising the islands and recommending them to us, sings: "And he arrived at Lemnos, the city of divine Thoas;" and "as much as Lesbos above, the seat of the blessed, encloses within;" and: "having taken steep Scyros, the city of Enyeus;" and: "and those from Dulichium and the sacred Echinades islands, which dwell across the sea, opposite Elis." And of famous men, he says that the one most beloved of the gods, Aeolus, the wisest, Odysseus, the bravest, Ajax, and the most hospitable, Alcinous, inhabited an island.