§4#2τὴν δʼ Αἴθην ὁ βασιλεὺς ὑμῶν ἔλαβε παρὰ τοῦ Σικυωνίου μισθὸν ἀστρατείας, ἄριστα βουλευσάμενος, ὃς δειλοῦ προυτίμησεν ἀνδρὸς ἵππον ἀγαθὴν καὶ φιλόνικον.
your king took the mare Aethe from the Sicyonian as the price for exemption from military service, having made an excellent decision, since he preferred a good and victory-loving mare to a cowardly man.
αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ παρδάλεις καὶ λεαίνας πολλάκις ἑώρακας, ὡς οὐδέν τι τὰ θήλεα τοῖς ἄρρεσιν ὑφίεται θυμοῦ καὶ ἀλκῆς ὥσπερ ἡ σὴ γυνή, σοῦ πολεμοῦντος, οἴκοι κάθηται πρὸς ἐσχάρᾳ πυρός, οὐκ ἂν οὐδʼ οὖσα αἱ χελιδόνες ἀμυνομένη τοὺς ἐπʼ αὐτὴν καὶ τὸν οἶκον βαδίζοντας, καὶ ταῦτα Λάκαινα οὖσα.
And you yourself, have often seen both leopards and lionesses, how the females yield in no way to the males in spiritedness and strength, unlike your wife, who, while you are at war, sits at home by the hearth-fire, and would not, even if she were like the swallows, defend herself against those who march against her and her home, and that too though she is a Spartan.
τί οὖν ἔτι σοι λέγω τὰς Καρίνας ἢ Μαιονίδας;
Why then should I still tell you of Carian or Maeonian women?
ἀλλʼ ἐκ τούτων γε δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὅτι τοῖς ἀνδράσιν οὐ φύσει μέτεστι τῆς ἀνδρείας· μετῆν γὰρ ἂν ὁμοίως καὶ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἀλκῆς.
But from these things indeed it is clear that courage does not belong to men by nature; for if it did, strength would belong equally to women as well.
ὥσθʼ ὑμεῖς, κατὰ νόμων ἀνάγκην οὐχ ἑκούσιον οὐδὲ βουλομένην ἀλλὰ δουλεύουσαν ἔθεσι καὶ ψόγοις καὶ δόξαις ἐπήλυσι καὶ λόγοις πλαττομένην, μελετᾶτε ἀνδρείαν καὶ τοὺς πόνους ὑφίστασθε καὶ τοὺς κινδύνους, οὐ πρὸς ταῦτα θαρροῦντες ἀλλὰ τῷ ἕτερα μᾶλλον τούτων δεδιέναι.
Therefore you, under the compulsion of laws, not willingly nor by choice, but enslaved to customs, censures, and foreign opinions and shaped by words, practice courage and endure labors and dangers, not being bold toward them, but because you fear other things more than these.
ὥσπερ οὖν τῶν σῶν ἑταίρων ὁ φθάσας πρῶτος ἐπὶ τὴν ἐλαφρὰν ἀνίσταται κώπην, οὐ καταφρονῶν ἐκείνης ἀλλὰ δεδιὼς καὶ φεύγων τὴν βαρυτέραν οὕτως ὁ πληγὴν ὑπομένων, ἵνα μὴ λάβῃ τραύματα, καὶ πρὸ αἰκίας τινὸς ἢ θανάτου πολέμιον τινα ἀμυνόμενος οὐ πρὸς ταῦτα θαρραλέος ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἐκεῖνα δειλός ἐστιν.
Just as, therefore, the one of your companions who is first to rise takes his place at the light oar, not from liking it but because he fears and flees the heavier one, so the man who endures a blow so that he may not receive wounds, and defends himself against a enemy in preference to some outrage or death, is not courageous toward the former, but cowardly toward the latter.
οὕτω δʼ ἀνεφάνη ὑμῖν ἡ μὲν ἀνδρεία δειλία φρόνιμος οὖσα, τὸ δὲ θάρσος φόβος ἐπιστήμην ἔχων τοῦ διʼ ἑτέρων ἕτερα φεύγειν.
Thus it has appeared to you that courage is a prudent cowardice, and boldness is a fear that has knowledge of fleeing one thing through another.
ὅλως δέ, εἰ πρὸς ἀνδρείαν οἴεσθε βελτίους εἶναι τῶν θηρίων, τί ποθ̓, ὑμῶν οἱ ποιηταὶ τοὺς κράτιστα τοῖς πολεμίοις μαχομένους
λυκόφρονας
καὶ
θυμολέοντας
καὶ
συῒ εἰκέλους ἀλκήν
προσαγορεύουσιν, ἀλλʼ οὐ λέοντά τις αὐτῶν
ἀνθρωπόθυμον
οὐ σῦν
ἀνδρὶ εἴκελον ἀλκὴν
προσαγορεύει;
On the whole, if you think you are better than the beasts in respect of courage, why on earth do your poets call those who fight most stoutly against the enemy 'wolf-minded' and 'lion-hearted' and 'like a wild boar in strength,' but none of them calls a lion 'human-spirited' nor a boar 'like a man in strength'?
ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ οἶμαι τοὺς ταχεῖς
ποδηνέμους
καὶ τοὺς καλοὺς
θεοειδεῖς
ὑπερβαλλόμενοι ταῖς εἰκόσιν ὀνομάζουσιν, οὕτω τῶν δεινῶν μάχεσθαι πρὸς τὰ κρείττονα ποιοῦνται τὰς ἀφομοιώσεις.
But just as, I think, they call the swift 'wind-footed' and the beautiful 'godlike,' surpassing the reality in their imagery, so they make their comparisons of those formidable in battle to the superior beings.
αἴτιον δέ, ὅτι τῆς μὲν ἀνδρείας οἷον βαφή τις ὁ θυμός ἐστι καὶ στόμωμα τούτῳ δʼ ἀκράτῳ τὰ θηρία χρῆται πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας ὑμῖν δὲ προσμιγνύμενος πρὸς τὸν λογισμὸν ὥσπερ οἶνος πρὸς ὕδωρ ἐξίσταται παρὰ τὰ δεινὰ καὶ ἀπολείπει τὸν καιρόν.
And the reason is that spiritedness is, as it were, a temper and a sharpening of courage; and the beasts use this unmixed in their struggles, whereas in your case, when mixed with reasoning, like wine with water, it vanishes in the face of dangers and fails at the critical moment.
ἔνιοι δʼ ὑμῶν οὐδʼ ὅλως φασὶ χρῆναι παραλαμβάνειν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις τὸν θυμὸν ἀλλʼ ἐκποδὼν θεμένους νήφοντι χρῆσθαι τῷ λογισμῷ, πρὸς μὲν σωτηρίας ἀσφάλειαν ὀρθῶς πρὸς δʼ ἀλκὴν καὶ ἄμυναν αἴσχιστα λέγοντες.
And some of you even say that one ought not to admit spiritedness into battles at all, but, putting it aside, to make use of sober reasoning, speaking correctly with regard to the safety of preservation, but most shamefully with regard to strength and defense.
πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον αἰτιᾶσθαι μὲν ὑμᾶς τὴν φύσιν, ὅτι μὴ κέντρα προσέφυσε τοῖς σώμασι μηδʼ ἀμυντηρίους ὀδόντας μηδʼ ἀγκύλους ὄνυχας, αὐτοὺς δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ σύμφυτον ἀφαιρεῖν ὅπλον καὶ κολούειν;
For how is it not absurd that you blame nature because she did not attach stings to your bodies, nor defensive teeth, nor curved claws, while you yourselves take away and cut down the innate weapon of the soul?