§3"
σπείρω δʼ ἄρουραν δώδεχʼ ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν
Βερέκυντα χῶρον
"
οὗτος εἰ μὴ μόνον φιλογέωργος ἀλλὰ καὶ φιλάνθρωπος ἦν, ἣδιον ἂν ἔσπειρε τὴν τοσούτους τρέφειν δυναμένην ἢ τὸ Ἀντισθένους ἐκεῖνο χωρίδιον, ὃ μόλις Αὐτολύκῳ παλαίειν ἂν ἢρκεσε·
"I sow a field of twelve days' journey, the Berecynthian land," if this man had been not only a lover of farming but also a lover of humanity, he would have sown with greater pleasure land capable of feeding so many people rather than that small plot of Antisthenes, which would scarcely have sufficed for Autolycus to wrestle on.
εἰ δέ σε ἠρόμην τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν ἐπιστρέφειν παραιτοῦμαι.
But if I should ask you... I decline to go through the whole inhabited world.
καίτοι Ἐπίκουρος τἀγαθὸν ἐν τῷ βαθυτάτῳ τῆς ἡσυχίας ὥσπερ ἐν ἀκλύστῳ λιμένι καὶ κωφῷ τιθέμενος τοῦ εὖ πάσχειν τὸ εὖ ποιεῖν οὐ μόνον κάλλιον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἥδιον εἶναί φησι.
And yet Epicurus, who places the good in the deepest quietness, as if in a harbor free from waves and silent, says that doing good is not only more noble but also more pleasant than receiving good.
χαρᾶς; γὰρ οὐδὲν οὕτω γόνιμόν ἐστιν ὡς χάρις· ἀλλὰ σοφὸς ἦν ταῖς Χάρισι τὰ ὀνόματα θέμενος Ἀγλαΐην καὶ Εὐφροσύνην καὶ Θάλειαν· τὸ γὰρ ἀγαλλόμενον καὶ τὸ χαῖρον ἐν τῷ διδόντι τὴν χάριν πλεῖόν ἐστι καὶ καθαρώτερον.
For nothing is so fertile of joy as a favor; indeed, he was wise who gave names to the Graces, calling them Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia; for the rejoicing and gladness in the giver of a favor is greater and purer.
διὸ τῷ πάσχειν εὖ αἰσχύνονται πολλάκις, ἀεὶ δʼ ἀγάλλονται τῷ εὖ ποιεῖν·
Therefore, people are often ashamed of receiving good, but always rejoice in doing good.
εὖ δὲ ποιοῦσι πολλοὺς οἱ ποιοῦντες ἀγαθοὺς ὧν πολλοὶ δέονται καὶ τοὐναντίον, οἱ ἀεὶ διαφθείροντες ἡγεμόνας ἢ βασιλεῖς ἢ τυράννους διάβολοι καὶ συκοφάνται καὶ κόλακες ὑπὸ πάντων ἐλαύνονται καὶ κολάζονται, καθάπερ οὐκ εἰς μίαν κύλικα φάρμακον ἐμβάλλοντες θανάσιμον, ἀλλʼ εἰς πηγὴν δημοσίᾳ ῥέουσαν, ᾗ χρωμένους πάντας ὁρῶσιν.
And those who make good those whom many need do good to many; and on the contrary, the slanders, sycophants, and flatterers who always corrupt leaders or kings or tyrants are driven out and punished by all, as if they were casting deadly poison not into a single cup, but into a publicly flowing spring which they see everyone using.
ὥσπερ οὖν τοὺς Καλλίου κωμῳδουμένους κόλακας γελῶσιν, οὓς
"
οὐ πῦρ οὐδὲ σίδηρος
οὐδὲ χαλκὸς ἀπείργει
μὴ φοιτᾶν ἐπὶ δεῖπνον
"
κατὰ τὸν Εὔπολιν· τοὺς δʼ Ἀπολλοδώρου τοῦ τυράννου καὶ Φαλάριδος καὶ Διονυσίου φίλους καὶ συνήθεις ἀπετυμπάνιζον, ἐστρέβλουν καὶ ἐνεπίμπρασαν, ἐναγεῖς ἐποιοῦντο καὶ καταράτους, ὡς ἐκείνων μὲν ἀδικούντων ἕνα τούτων δὲ πολλοὺς·
Just as people laugh at the flatterers of Callias who are mocked in comedy, whom, as Eupolis says, "neither fire nor iron nor bronze prevents from going to dinner," but the friends and associates of the tyrant Apollodorus and Phalaris and Dionysius they beat to death, tortured, and burned, holding them as polluted and cursed, because while those tyrants wronged one person, these flatterers wronged many through the one ruler.
διʼ ἑνὸς τοῦ ἄρχοντος· οὕτως; οἱ μὲν ἰδιώταις συνόντες αὐτοὺς· ἐκείνους ποιοῦσιν ἑαυτοῖς ἀλύπους καὶ ἀβλαβεῖς καὶ προσηνεῖς, ὁ δʼ ἄρχοντος ἦθος ἀφαιρῶν μοχθηρὸν ἢ γνώμην ἐφʼ ὃ δεῖ συγκατευθύνων τρόπον τινὰ δημοσίᾳ φιλοσοφεῖ καὶ τὸ κοινὸν ἐπανορθοῦται, ᾧ πάντες διοικοῦνται.
Thus, those who associate with private individuals make those individuals painless, harmless, and agreeable to themselves, but he who removes a bad character from a ruler, or directs his judgment in the direction it ought to go, in a way philosophizes publicly and corrects the common state by which everyone is governed.
τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν αἰδῶ καὶ τιμὴν αἱ πόλεις νέμουσιν, ὅτι τἀγαθὰ παρὰ τῶν θεῶν οὐ μόνον αὑτοῖς καὶ φίλοις καὶ οἰκείοις, ἀλλὰ κοινῇ πᾶσιν αἰτοῦνται τοῖς πολίταις καίτοι τοὺς θεοὺς οἱ ἱερεῖς οὐ ποιοῦσιν ἀγαθῶν δοτῆρας, ἀλλὰ τοιούτους ὄντας παρακαλοῦσι τοὺς δʼ ἄρχοντας οἱ συνόντες τῶν φιλοσόφων δικαιοτέρους ποιοῦσι καὶ μετριωτέρους καὶ προθυμοτέρους εἰς τὸ εὖ ποιεῖν, ὥστε καὶ χαίρειν εἰκός ἐστι μᾶλλον.
Cities grant respect and honor to priests because they ask for good things from the gods not only for themselves, their friends, and their relatives, but in common for all the citizens; and yet priests do not make the gods givers of good things, but call upon them being such. But those philosophers who associate with rulers make them more just, more moderate, and more eager to do good, so that it is natural that they also rejoice more.
§4ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ καὶ λυροποιὸς ἂν ἣδιον λύραν ἐργάσασθαι καὶ προθυμότερον, μαθὼν ὡς ὁ ταύτην κτησόμενος; τὴν λύραν μέλλει τὸ Θηβαίων ἄστυ τειχίζειν ὡς ὁ Ἀμφίων, ἢ τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων στάσιν παύειν ἐπᾴδων καὶ παραμυθούμενος ὡς Θαλῆς· καὶ τέκτων ὁμοίως πηδάλιον δημιουργῶν ἡσθῆναι, πυθόμενος ὅτι τοῦτο τὴν Θεμιστοκλέους ναυαρχίδα κυβερνήσει προπολεμοῦσαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος τὴν Πομ πηίου τὰ πειρατικὰ καταναυμαχοῦντος·
But to me it seems that even a lyre-maker would make a lyre with more pleasure and eagerness if he knew that the one who is to possess this lyre is going to build the walls of the city of Thebes like Amphion, or stop the strife of the Lacedaemonians by singing and comforting them like Thales; and likewise a carpenter making a rudder would be pleased to learn that this will guide the flagship of Themistocles as he fights in defense of Greece, or that of Pompey as he destroys the pirates in naval battle.
τί οὖν οἴει περὶ τοῦ λόγου τὸν φιλόσοφον διανοούμενον, ὡς ὁ τοῦτον παραλαβὼν πολιτικὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ ἡγεμονικὸς κοινὸν ὄφελος ἔσται δικαιοδοτῶν, νομοθετῶν, κολάζων τοὺς πονηρούς,· αὔξων τοὺς ἐπιεικεῖς καὶ ἀγαθούς;
What then do you think the philosopher feels when he reflects concerning his discourse, that the political and ruling man who receives this will be a common benefit by administering justice, making laws, punishing the wicked, and increasing the moderate and good?
ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ καὶ ναυπηγὸς ἀστεῖος ἥδιον ἐργπάσασθαι πηδάλιον, πυθόμενος ὅτι τοῦτο τὴν Ἀργὼ κυβερνήσει τὴν
πᾶσι μέλουσαν· καὶ τεκτονικὸς οὐκ ἂν οὕτω κατασκευάσαι ἄροτρον προθύμως; ἢ ἅμαξαν, ὡς τοὺς ἄξονας, οἷς ἔμελλε Σόλων τοὺς νόμους ἐγχαράξειν.
Indeed, it seems to me that even a refined shipwright would make a rudder with more pleasure if he learned that this would steer the Argo, which is "of concern to all"; and a carpenter would not construct a plow or a wagon with such eagerness as the wooden tablets on which Solon was to engrave his laws.
καὶ μὴν οἱ λόγοι τῶν φιλοσόφων, ἐὰν ψυχαῖς ἡγεμονικῶν καὶ πολιτικῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐγγραφῶσι βεβαίως καὶ κρατήσωσι, νόμων δύναμιν λαμβάνουσιν ᾗ καὶ Πλάτων εἰς Σικελίαν ἔπλευσεν, ἐλπίζων τὰ δόγματα νόμους καὶ ἔργα ποιήσειν ἐν τοῖς Διονυσίου πράγμασιν ἀλλʼ εὗρε Διονύσιον ὥσπερ βιβλίον παλίμψηστον ἢδη μολυσμῶν ἀνάπλεων καὶ τὴν βαφὴν οὐκ ἀνιέντα τῆς τυραννίδος, ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ δευσοποιὸν οὖσαν καὶ δυσέκπλυτον· ἀκμαίους δ’ ὄντας ἔτι δεῖ τῶν χρηστῶν ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι λόγων.
And indeed, the discourses of philosophers, if they are firmly engraved and take hold in the souls of ruling and political men, acquire the power of laws, by which also Plato sailed to Sicily, hoping to make his doctrines laws and deeds in the affairs of Dionysius; but he found Dionysius to be like a palimpsest book, already full of stains and not letting go of the dye of tyranny, which in a long time had become deep-dyed and hard to wash out; but while men are still in their prime, they must lay hold of good discourses.