§7ΓΡ. καὶ ταύτας γε πρῶτον διέλθωμεν.
GR. And let us discuss these first.
ἡ μὲν οὖν πρὸς τὰ εὐώδη καὶ κινοῦντα ταῖς ἀποφοραῖς τὴν ὄσφρησιν οἰκείως ἡδονὴ πρὸς τῷ τὸ ὄφελος καὶ προῖκα καὶ ἁπλοῦν ἔχειν ἅμα χρείαν τινὰ συμβάλλεται τῇ διαγνώσει τῆς τροφῆς.
Now, on the one hand, the pleasure directed toward sweet-smelling things and those that stimulate the sense of smell naturally by their exhalations, in addition to being beneficial, free, and simple, at the same time contributes some utility to the discernment of food.
ἡ μὲν γὰρ γλῶττα τοῦ γλυκέος; καὶ δριμέος καὶ αὐστηροῦ γνώμων ἐστί τε καὶ λέγεται, ὅταν τῷ γευστικῷ προσμιγέντες οἱ χυμοὶ σύγχυσίν τινα λάβωσιν ἡ δʼ ὄσφρησις ἡμῶν πρὸ τῶν χυμῶν γνώμων οὖσα τῆς δυνάμεως ἑκάστου πολὺ τῶν βασιλικῶν προγευστῶν σκεπτικώτερον διαισθανομένη, τὸ μὲν οἰκεῖον εἴσω παρίησι τὸ δʼ ἀλλότριον ἀπελαύνει καὶ οὐκ ἐᾷ θιγεῖν οὐδὲ λυπῆσαι τὴν γεῦσιν ἀλλὰ διαβάλλει καὶ κατηγορεῖ τὴν φαυλότητα πρὶν ἢ βλαβῆναι τἄλλα δʼ οὐκ ἐνοχλεῖ, καθάπερ ὑμῖν, τὰ θυμιάματα καὶ κινάμωμα καὶ νάρδους καὶ φύλλα καὶ καλάμους Ἀραβικοὺς, μετὰ δεινῆς τινος καὶ δευσοποιοῦ φαρμακίδος τέχνης, μυρεψικῆς ὄνομα, συνάγειν εἰς ταὐτὸ καὶ συμφαγεῖν ἀναγκάζουσα, χρημάτων πολλῶν ἡδυπάθειαν ἄνανδρον καὶ κορασιώδη καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν οὐδαμῶς χρήσιμον ὠνουμένους.
For the tongue is, and is said to be, the judge of the sweet and the pungent and the harsh, when the juices, having mingled with the organ of taste, undergo a certain blending; but our sense of smell, being a judge of the power of each thing before the juices are tasted, perceiving far more watchfully than the royal foretasters, admits what is congenial within, but drives away what is foreign, and does not allow it to touch or to pain the taste, but denounces and accuses its bad quality before any harm is done; and in other respects it does not trouble us, as it does you, forcing you to gather into the same place and consume together incense, cinnamon, nard, leaves, and Arabian reeds, with a certain terrible and deep-dyeing sorcerous art called perfumery, purchasing at great cost an unmanly, girlish luxury that is in no way useful for anything.
ἀλλὰ καίπερ οὖσα τοιαύτη διέφθαρκεν οὐ μόνον πάσας γυναῖκας ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἤδη τοὺς πλείστους, ὡς μηδὲ ταῖς αὑτῶν ἐθέλειν συγγίγνεσθαι γυναιξίν, εἰ μὴ μύρων ὑμῖν ὀδωδυῖαι καὶ διαπασμάτων εἰς ταὐτὸ φοιτῷεν.
But, although it is of such a kind, it has corrupted not only all women but also by now most men, so that they do not even wish to have intercourse with their own wives unless they come to the same place smelling of perfumes and toilet powders.
ἀλλὰ κάπρους τε σύες καὶ τράγους αἶγες καὶ τἄλλα θήλεα τοὺς συννόμους αὐτῶν ταῖς ἰδίαις ὀσμαῖς; ἐπάγεται, δρόσου τε καθαρᾶς καὶ λειμώνων ὀδωδότα καὶ χλόης συμφέρεται πρὸς τοὺς γάμους ὑπὸ κοινῆς φιλοφροσύνης, οὐχὶ θρυπτόμεναι μὲν αἱ θήλειαι καὶ προϊσχόμεναι τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἀπάτας καὶ γοητείας καὶ ἀρνήσεις, οἱ δʼ ἄρρενες ὑπʼ οἴστρου καὶ μαργότητος ὠνούμενοι μισθῶν καὶ πόνου καὶ λατρείας τὸ τῆς γενέσεως ἔργον, ἄδολον δὲ σὺν καιρῷ καὶ ἄμισθον Ἀφροδίτην μετιόντες, ἣ καθʼ ὥραν ἔτους ὥσπερ φυτῶν βλάστην ἐγείρουσα τῶν ζῴων τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν εὐθὺς ἔσβεσεν, οὔτε τοῦ θήλεος προσιεμένου μετὰ τὴν κύησιν οὔτε πειρῶντος ἔτι τοῦ ἄρρενος.
But female pigs attract boars, and female goats attract male goats, and other females attract their mates by their own natural odors; and smelling of pure dew, meadows, and green grass, they come together for mating out of a mutual affection, not with the females behaving coquettishly and putting forward deceits, flirtations, and refusals of their desire, and the males, driven by frenzy and lust, buying the work of procreation at the price of rewards, labor, and servitude; but pursuing a guileless and unpaid love in due season, which, having aroused the desire of animals at the proper season of the year just like the budding of plants, immediately extinguishes it, since the female does not admit the male after conception, nor does the male attempt it any longer of the male.
οὕτω μικρὰν ἔχει καὶ ἀσθενῆ τιμὴν ἡ ἡδονὴ παρʼ ἡμῖν τὸ δʼ ὅλον ἡ φύσις.
Thus, among us, pleasure holds a small and weak honor, but nature holds the whole place.
ὅθεν οὔτʼ ἄρρενος πρὸς ἄρρεν οὔτε θήλεος πρὸς θῆλυ μῖξιν αἱ τῶν θηρίων ἐπιθυμίαι μέχρι γε νῦν ἐνηνόχασιν.
Hence, the desires of beasts have never, up to this very day, brought about the union of male with male or female with female.
ὑμῶν δὲ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν σεμνῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν ἐῶ γὰρ τοὺς οὐδενὸς ἀξίους· ὁ δʼ Ἀγαμέμνων τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἐπῆλθε κυνηγετῶν τὸν Ἄργυννον ὑποφεύγοντα καὶ καταψευδόμενος τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τῶν πνευμάτων, εἶτα καλὸν καλῶς ἑαυτὸν βαπτίζων εἰς τὴν Κωπαΐδα λίμνην, ὡς αὐτόθι κατασβέσων τὸν ἔρωτα καὶ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἀπαλλαξόμενος.
But among you, there are many such things, even among the solemn and the good—for I pass over those who are worth nothing: and Agamemnon traversed Boeotia, pursuing Argynnus who was fleeing from him, and falsely accusing the sea and the winds, and then, gloriously plunging himself into the Copaic Lake, as if to extinguish his love there and free himself from his desire.
ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς ὁμοίως ἑταῖρον ἀγένειον ἐπιδιώκων ἀπελείφθη τῶν ἀριστέων καὶ προύδωκε τὸν στόλον·
And Hercules likewise, pursuing a beardless companion, was left behind by the heroes and abandoned the expedition.
ἐν δὲ τῇ θόλῳ τοῦ Πτῴου Ἀπόλλωνος λαθών τις ὑμῶν ἐνέγραψεν
Ἀχιλλεὺς καλός
ἤδη τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως; υἱὸν ἔχοντος· καὶ τὰ γράμματα πυνθάνομαι διαμένειν.
And in the rotunda of Ptous Apollo, one of you secretly wrote 'Achilles is beautiful,' when Achilles already had a son; and I hear that the inscription still remains.
ἀλεκτρυὼν δʼ ἀλεκτρυόνος ἐπιβαίνων, θηλείας μὴ παρούσης, καταπίμπραται ζωός, μάντεώς τινος ἢ τερατοσκόπου μέγα καὶ δεινὸν ἀποφαίνοντος εἶναι τὸ γιγνόμενον.
But a rooster mounting a rooster, when a hen is not present, is burned alive, after some seer or interpreter of prodigies declares what is happening to be a great and terrible omen.
οὕτω καὶ παρʼ αὐτῶν ἀνωμολόγηται τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅτι μᾶλλον τοῖς θηρίοις σωφρονεῖν προσήκει καὶ μὴ παραβιάζεσθαι ταῖς ἡδοναῖς τὴν φύσιν.
Thus it is agreed even by humans themselves that it is more fitting for beasts to be temperate, and not to outrage nature by pleasures.
τὰ δʼ ἐν ὑμῖν ἀκόλαστα οὐδὲ τὸν νόμον ἔχουσα σύμμαχον ἡ φύσις ἐντὸς ὅρων καθείργνυσιν ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ὑπὸ ῥεύματος ἐκφερόμενα πολλαχοῦ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις δεινὴν ὕβριν καὶ ταραχὴν καὶ σύγχυσιν ἐν τοῖς ἀφροδισίοις ἀπεργάζεται τῆς φύσεως.
But your unchaste elements, not even with the law as an ally, can nature confine within boundaries; but, as if carried away by a flood, they produce in many places through their desires a terrible outrage, confusion, and disruption of nature in sexual matters.
καὶ γὰρ αἰγῶν ἐπειράθησαν ἄνδρες καὶ ὑῶν καὶ ἵππων μιγνύμενοι καὶ γυναῖκες ἄρρεσι θηρίοις ἐπεμάνησαν ἐκ γὰρ τῶν τοιούτων γάμων ὑμῖν Μινώταυροι καὶ Αἰγίπανες, ὡς δʼ ἐγᾦμαι καὶ Σφίγγες ἀναβλαστάνουσι καὶ Κένταυροι.
For men have made attempts on goats and pigs and horses, mating with them, and women have gone mad with lust for male beasts; for from such unions there sprout up for you Minotaurs and Aegipans, and, as I believe, also Sphinxes and Centaur.
καίτοι διὰ λιμὸν ποτʼ ἀνθρώπου καὶ κύων ἔφαγεν ὑπʼ ἀνάγκης καὶ ὄρνις ἀπεγεύσατο πρὸς δὲ συνουσίαν οὐδέποτε θηρίον ἐπεχείρησεν ἀνθρώπῳ χρήσασθαι.
And yet, once due to hunger, a dog ate of a human out of necessity, and a bird tasted of one; but for the purpose of sexual intercourse, no beast has ever attempted to use a human.
θηρία δʼ ἄνθρωποι καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα καὶ πρὸς ἄλλα πολλὰ καθʼ ἡδονὰς βιάζονται καὶ παρανομοῦσιν.
But humans outrage beasts both in these things and in many others, violating the law for the sake of pleasures.