§5ΟΔ. παπαί, ὦ Γρύλλε, δεινός μοι δοκεῖς γεγονέναι σοφιστής, ὅς γε καὶ νῦν ἐκ τῆς συηνίας φθεγγόμενος οὕτω νεανικῶς πρὸς τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἐπικεχείρηκας.
OD. Dear me, Gryllus, you seem to me to have become a formidable sophist, since even now, speaking from your swinish state, you have attacked the thesis so vigorously.
ἀλλὰ τί οὐ περὶ τῆς σωφροσύνης ἐφεξῆς διεξῆλθες;
But why didn't you go on to discuss temperance next?
ΓΡ. ὅτι ᾤμην σε τῶν εἰρημένων πρότερον ἐπιλήψεσθαι σὺ δὲ σπεύδεις ἀκοῦσαι τὸ περὶ τῆς σωφροσύνης, ἐπεὶ σωφρονεστάτης μὲν ἀνὴρ εἶ γυναικός, ἀπόδειξιν δὲ σωφροσύνης αὐτὸς οἴει δεδωκέναι, τῶν Κίρκης ἀφροδισίων περιφρονήσας.
GR. Because I thought you would object to what was said before; but you are eager to hear about temperance, since on the one hand you are the husband of an extremely temperate wife, and on the other hand you think you yourself have given a proof of temperance by having despised the sexual pleasures of Circe.
καὶ τούτῳ μὲν οὐδενὸς τῶν θηρίων διαφέρεις πρὸς ἐγκράτειαν οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖνα τοῖς κρείττοσιν ἐπιθυμεῖ πλησιάζειν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἡδονὰς καὶ τοὺς ἔρωτας πρὸς τὰ ὁμόφυλα ποιεῖται.
And in this respect you differ in no way from any of the beasts in self-control; for neither do they desire to approach superior beings, but they keep both their pleasures and loves for those of their own kind.
οὐ θαυμαστὸν μὲν οὖν ἐστιν, εἰ καθάπερ ὁ Μενδήσιος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τράγος λέγεται πολλαῖς καὶ καλαῖς συνειργνύμενος γυναιξὶν οὐκ εἶναι μίγνυσθαι πρόθυμος ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς αἶγας ἐπτόηται μᾶλλον, οὕτω σὺ χαίρων ἀφροδισίοις συνήθεσιν οὐ θέλεις ἄνθρωπος; ὢν θεᾷ συγκαθεύδειν.
It is no wonder, then, if, just as the Mendesian goat in Egypt is said, though shut up with many beautiful women, to have no desire to mate with them but is rather passionate for she-goats, so you, enjoying familiar sexual pleasures, did not wish, being a man, to sleep with a goddess?
τὴν δὲ Πηνελόπης σωφροσύνην μυρίαι κορῶναι κρώζουσαι γέλωτα θήσονται καὶ καταφρονήσουσιν, ὧν ἑκάστη, ἂν ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἄρρην, οὐκ ὀλίγον χρόνον ἀλλʼ ἐννέα χηρεύει γενεὰς ἀνθρώπων ὥστε σοι τὴν καλὴν Πηνελόπην ἐννάκις ἀπολείπεσθαι τῷ σωφρονεῖν ἧς βούλει κορώνης.
As for the temperance of Penelope, countless crows cawing will make a laughing-stock of it and despise it; for each of them, if the male dies, remains a widow not for a short time but for nine generations of men, so that for you the beautiful Penelope is left behind nine times over in temperance by any crow you please.
§6ΓΡ. ἀλλʼ ἐπεί σε μὴ λέληθα σοφιστὴς ὤν, φέρε χρήσωμαι τάξει τιυὶ τοῦ λόγου, τῆς μὲν σωφροσύνης ὅρον θέμενος κατὰ γένος δὲ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας διελόμενος.
But since I have not escaped your notice as being a sophist, come, let me use a certain order in my discourse, by setting a definition of temperance and dividing desires according to genus.
ἡ μὲν οὖν σωφροσύνη βραχύτης τίς ἐστιν ἐπιθυμιῶν καὶ τάξις, ἀναιροῦσα μὲν τὰς ἐπεισάκτους καὶ περιττὰς καιρῷ δὲ καὶ μετριότητι κοσμοῦσα τὰς ἀναγκαίας.
Now temperance is a certain limitation and ordering of desires, which does away with those that are imported and superfluous, and adorns with timeliness and moderation those that are necessary.
ταῖς δʼ ἐπιθυμίαις ἐνορᾷς που μυρίαν διαφοράν, καὶ τὴν μὲν περὶ τὴν βρῶσιν καὶ τὴν πόσιν ἅμα τῷ φυσικῷ καὶ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον ἔχουσαν· αἱ δὲ τῶν ἀφροδισίων αἷς ἀρχὰς ἡ φύσις ἐνδίδωσιν, ἔστι δέ που καὶ μὴ χρώμενον ἔχειν ἱκανῶς ἀπαλλαγέντα, φυσικαὶ μὲν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖαι δʼ ἐκλήθησαν.
And surely you see an infinite difference in desires, and that on the one hand the desire concerning food and drink has both a natural and necessary character; on the other hand, those of sexual pleasures, to which nature grants beginnings, but which it is possible to do without and be sufficiently free from, have been called natural but not necessary.
τὸ δὲ τῶν μήτʼ ἀναγκαίων μήτε φυσικῶν ἀλλʼ ἔξωθεν ὑπὸ δόξης κενῆς. διʼ ἀπειροκαλίαν ἐπικεχυμένων γένος ὑμῶν μὲν ὀλίγου δεῖν τὰς φυσικὰς ἀπέκρυψεν ὑπὸ πλήθους ἁπάσας, ἔχει δὲ καθάπερ ξένος ὄχλος; ἔπηλυς ἐν δήμῳ καταβιαζόμενος πρὸς τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς πολίτας;
But the class of those that are neither necessary nor natural, but poured in from without by empty opinion through lack of taste, has, in your case, almost hidden all the natural ones under their multitude, and behaves just like an alien and foreign crowd in a democracy, overpowering the native-born citizens.
. τὰ δὲ θηρία παντάπασιν ἀβάτους καὶ ἀνεπιμίκτους ἔχοντα τοῖς ἐπεισάκτοις πάθεσι τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ τοῖς βίοις πόρρω τῆς κενῆς δόξης ὥσπερ θαλάσσης ἀπῳκισμένα τῷ γλαφυρῶς καὶ περιττῶς διάγειν ἀπολείπεται τὸ δὲ σωφρονεῖν καὶ μᾶλλον εὐνομεῖσθαι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, οὔτε πολλαῖς συνοικούσαις οὔτʼ ἀλλοτρίαις, σφόδρα διαφυλάττεται.
But the beasts, having their souls completely inaccessible to and unmixed with imported passions, and their lives settled far from empty opinion, as if from the sea, are left behind in elegant and superfluous living, but preserve in a high degree temperance and the good ordering of their desires, which are neither many in number nor alien to their nature.
ἐμὲ γοῦν ποτε καὶ αὐτὸν οὐχ ἧττον ἢ σὲ νῦν ἐξέπληττε μὲν χρυσὸς ὡς κτῆμα τῶν ἄλλων οὐδενὶ παραβλητὸν ᾕρει δʼ ἄργυρος καὶ ἐλέφας· ὁ δὲ πλεῖστα τούτων κεκτημένος ἐδόκει μακάριός τις εἶναι καὶ θεοφιλὴς ἀνήρ, εἴτε Φρὺξ ἦν εἴτε Κὰρ τοῦ Δόλωνος ἀγεννέστερος καὶ τοῦ Πριάμου βαρυποτ μότερος· ἐνταῦθα δʼ ἀνηρτημένος ἀεὶ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις οὔτε χάριν οὔθʼ ἡδονὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων πραγμάτων ἀφθόνων ὄντων καὶ ἱκανῶν ἐκαρπούμην, ἀλλʼ ἐμεμφόμην τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ βίον, ὡς τῶν μεγίστων ἐνδεὴς; καὶ ἄμοιρος ἀγαθῶν ἀπολελειμμένος.
At any rate, me too myself once, no less than you now, gold used to strike with awe, as a possession comparable to nothing else, and silver and ivory would captivate me; and the one who possessed the most of these seemed to be some blessed and god-favored man, whether he was a Phrygian or a Carian, more ignoble than Dolon and more ill-fated than Priam; and being always suspended there by my desires, I reaped neither grace nor pleasure from other things, though they were abundant and sufficient, but I used to blame my own life, as being deficient in the greatest things and left behind without a share in good things.
τοιγαροῦν, ὥς σε μέμνημαι ἐν Κρήτῃ θεασάμενος ἀμπεχόνῃ κεκοσμημένον πανηγυρικῶς, οὐ τὴν φρόνησιν ἐζήλουν οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρετήν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ χιτῶνος εἰργασμένου περιττῶς τὴν λεπτότητα καὶ τῆς χλαμύδος οὔσης ἁλουργοῦ τὴν οὐλότητα καὶ τὸ κάλλος ἀγαπῶν καὶ τεθηπὼς εἶχε δέ τι καὶ ἡ πόρπη χρυσὸς οὖσα παίγνιον οἶμαι τορείαις διηκριβωμένον εἱπόμην γεγοητευμένος, ὥσπερ αἱ γυναῖκες.
Therefore, as I remember having seen you in Crete, adorned with festive attire, I did not envy your wisdom nor your virtue, but loving and being amazed by the extraordinary fineness of the woven tunic and the curliness and beauty of the purple cloak, and the brooch also, being of gold, had something of a toy, carefully wrought, I think, with relief-work, I followed you spellbound, just like women.
ἀλλὰ νῦν ἀπηλλαγμένος ἐκείνων τῶν κενῶν δοξῶν καὶ κεκαθαρμένος χρυσὸν μὲν καὶ ἄργυρον ὥσπερ τοὺς ἄλλους λίθους περιορῶν ὑπερβαίνω, ταῖς δὲ σαῖς χλανίσι καὶ τάπησιν οὐδὲν ἂν μὰ Δίʼ ἥδιον ἢ βαθεῖ καὶ μαλθακῷ πηλῷ μεστὸς ὢν ἐγκατακλιθείην ἀναπαυόμενος.
But now, having been delivered from those empty opinions and purified, I overlook gold and silver and pass over them just like other stones, and by Zeus, I would lie down to rest in deep and soft mud when full, with no less pleasure than in your fine wool robes and carpets.
τὰ δὲ τοιαῦτα τῶν ἐπεισάκτων ἐπιθυμιῶν οὐδεμία ταῖς ἡμετέραις ἐνοικίζεται ψυχαῖς· ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν πλεῖστα ταῖς ἀναγκαίαις ὁ βίος ἡμῶν ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ ἡδοναῖς διοικεῖται, ταῖς δʼ οὔτʼ ἀναγκαίαις ἀλλὰ φυσικαῖς; μόνον οὔτʼ ἀτάκτως οὔτʼ ἀπλήστως ὁμιλοῦμεν.
And none of such imported desires dwells in our souls; but for the most part our life is governed by necessary desires and pleasures, and with those that are not necessary but natural only, we associate neither in a disorderly nor insatiable manner.