§9ΓΡ. εἶεν·
GR.
ἀλλʼ ὄψοις χρῆσθε τούτοις ἐφηδύνοντες τὴν τροφήν·
Very well; but you use these as delicacies, sweetening your food.
τί οὖν ἐπʼ αὐτὰ ταῦτα φῶντας;
Why then do you [turn to these very things, breathing hard]?
ἀλλʼ ἡ τῶν θηρίων φρόνησις τῶν μὲν ἀχρήστων καὶ ματαίων τεχνῶν οὐδεμιᾷ χώραν δίδωσι τὰς δʼ ἀναγκαίας οὐκ ἐπεισάκτους παρʼ ἑτέρων οὐδὲ μισθοῦ διδακτὰς οὐδὲ κολλῶσα μελέτῃ καὶ συμπηγνύουσα γλίσχρως τῶν θεωρημάτων ἕκαστον πρὸς ἕκαστον ἀλλʼ αὐτόθεν ἐξ αὑτῆς οἷον ἰθαγενεῖς καὶ συμφύτους ἀναδίδωσι.
But the wisdom of the beasts gives no place to any of the useless and vain arts, but those that are necessary, not imported from others, nor learned for a fee, nor gluing by practice and fastening together with difficulty each of the theorems to one another, but of itself directly from within it yields them as if they were native and inborn.
τοὺς μὲν γὰρ Αἰγυπτίους πάντας ἰατροὺς ἀκούομεν εἶναι, τῶν δὲ ζῴων ἕκαστον οὐ μόνον πρὸς ἴασιν αὐτότεχνόν ἐστιν ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς διατροφὴν καὶ πρὸς ἀλκὴν θήραν τε καὶ φυλακὴν καὶ μουσικῆς ὅσον ἑκάστῳ προσήκει κατὰ φύσιν.
For indeed we hear that all Egyptians are physicians, but each of the animals is not only self-taught in healing, but also in nourishment, and in strength, hunting, and guarding, and in as much of music as belongs to each by nature.
παρὰ τίνος γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἐμάθομεν νοσοῦντες ἐπὶ τοὺς ποταμοὺς χάριν τῶν καρκίνων βαδίζειν;
For from whom did we, when sick, learn to walk to the rivers for the sake of crabs?
τίς δὲ τὰς χελώνας 1 ἐδίδαξε τῆς ἔχεως φαγούσας τὴν ὀρίγανον ἐπεσθίειν τὰς δὲ Κρητικὰς αἶγας, ὅταν περιπέσωσι τοῖς τοξεύμασι, τὸ δίκταμνον διώκειν, οὗ βρωθέντος ἐκβάλλουσι τὰς ἀκίδας;
And who taught the tortoises, when they have eaten the viper, to eat oregano afterward? And the Cretan goats, when they meet with arrows, to seek out dittany, upon eating which they cast out the arrowheads?
ἂν γὰρ εἴπῃς, ὅπερ ἀληθές ἐστι, τούτων διδάσκαλον εἶναι τὴν φύσιν, εἰς τὴν κυριωτάτην καὶ σοφωτάτην ἀρχὴν ἀναφέρεις τὴν τῶν θηρίων φρόνησιν·
For if you say, which indeed is true, that nature is the teacher of these things, you refer the wisdom of the beasts to the most sovereign and wisest principle.
ʼ ἣν εἰ μὴ λόγον οἴεσθε δεῖν μηδὲ φρόνησιν καλεῖν, ὥρα σκοπεῖν ὄνομα κάλλιον αὐτῇ καὶ τιμιώτερον, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ διʼ ἔργων ἀμείνονα καὶ θαυμασιωτέραν παρέχεται τὴν δύναμιν· οὐκ ἀμαθὴς οὐδʼ ἀπαίδευτος, αὐτομαθὴς δέ τις μᾶλλον οὖσα καὶ ἀπροσδεής, οὐ διʼ ἀσθένειαν ἀλλὰ ῥώμῃ καὶ τελειότητι τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἀρετῆς, χαίρειν ἐῶσα τὸν παρʼ ἑτέρων διὰ μαθήσεως τοῦ φρονεῖν συνερανισμόν.
And if you do not think it right to call this reason or wisdom, it is time to look for a fairer and more honorable name for it, just as indeed through its actions it shows its power to be better and more wonderful; being not unlearned nor uneducated, but rather self-taught and needing nothing, not through weakness but in the strength and perfection of its natural virtue, letting go the collection of wisdom from others through learning.
ὅσα γοῦν ἄνθρωποι τρυφῶντες ἢ παίζοντες εἰς τὸ μανθάνειν καὶ μελετᾶν ἄγουσι, τούτων ἡ διάνοια καὶ παρὰ φύσιν τοῦ σώματος; καὶ περιουσίᾳ συνέσεως ἀναλαμβάνει τὰς μαθήσεις.
At any rate, whatever things humans, living in luxury or playing, lead them to learn and practice, their intellect, even against the nature of the body, and through an abundance of understanding, takes up these lessons.
ἐῶ γὰρ ἰχνεύειν σκύλακας καὶ βαδίζειν ἐν ῥυθμῷ πώλους μελετῶντας, ἀλλὰ κόρακας διαλέγεσθαι καὶ κύνας ἅλλεσθαι διὰ τροχῶν περιφερομένων.
For I pass over hounds tracking and colts walking in rhythm as they practice, but crows conversing and dogs leaping through spinning hoops.
ἵπποι δὲ καὶ βόες ἐν θεάτροις κατακλίσεις καὶ χορείας καὶ στάσεις παραβόλους καὶ κινήσεις οὐδʼ ἀνθρώποις πάνυ ῥᾳδίας ἀκριβοῦσιν ἐκδιδασκόμενοι καὶ μνημονεύοντες εὐμαθείας ἐπίδειξιν εἰς ἄλλο οὐδὲν οὐδαμῶς χρήσιμον ἔχουσιν.
And horses and oxen in theaters perfect reclining and dancing, and hazardous postures and movements not at all easy even for humans, being thoroughly taught and remembering, making an exhibition of their facility in learning for nothing else that is in any way useful.
εἰ δʼ ἀπιστεῖς ὅτι τέχνας μανθάνομεν, ἄκουσον ὅτι καὶ διδάσκομεν.
But if you disbelieve that we learn arts, hear that we also teach.
αἵ τε γὰρ πέρδικες ἐν τῷ προφεύγειν τοὺς νεοττοὺς ἐθίζουσιν ἀποκρύπτεσθαι καὶ προΐσχεσθαι βῶλον ἀνθʼ ἑαυτῶν τοῖς ποσὶν ὑπτίους ἀναπεσόντας· καὶ τοῖς πελαργιδεῦσιν ὁρᾷς ἐπὶ τῶν τεγῶν ὡς οἱ τέλειοι παρόντες ἀναπειρωμένοις ὑφηγοῦνται τὴν πτῆσιν.
For partridges in escaping accustom their young to hide themselves and to hold up a clod of earth in front of themselves with their feet, falling backward on their backs; and you see how the adult storks, being present on the roofs, guide the young ones as they try their flight.
αἱ δʼ ἀηδόνες τοὺς νεοσσοὺς προδιδάσκουσιν ᾄδειν· οἱ δὲ ληφθέντες· ἔτι νήπιοι καὶ τραφέντες ἐν χερσὶν ἀνθρώπων χεῖρον ᾄδουσιν, ὥσπερ πρὸ ὥρας ἀπὸ διδασκάλου γεγονότες καταδὺς δʼ εἰς τουτὶ τὸ σῶμα θαυμάζω τοὺς λόγους ἐκείνους, οἷς ἀνεπειθόμην ὑπὸ τῶν σοφιστῶν ἄλογα καὶ ἀνόητα πάντα πλὴν ἀνθρώπου νομίζειν.
And nightingales teach their young beforehand to sing; and those that are captured while still infants and reared in the hands of humans sing worse, as if they had left their teacher before the proper time. But having entered into this body, I wonder at those arguments with which I was persuaded by the sophists to believe that all things except man are irrational and without mind.
§10ΟΔ. νῦν μὲν οὖν, ὦ Γρύλλε, μεταβέβλησαι σύ, καὶ τὸ πρόβατον λογικὸν ἀποφαίνεις καὶ τὸν ὄνον;
OD. Now indeed, Gryllus, you have changed, and do you show the sheep to be rational and the ass too?
ΓΡ..
GR.
αὐτοῖς μὲν οὖν τούτοις, ὦ βέλτιστε Ὀδυσσεῦ, μάλιστα δεῖ τεκμαίρεσθαι τὴν τῶν θηρίων φύσιν, ὡς λόγου καὶ συνέσεως οὐκ ἔστιν ἄμοιρος.
From these very things, best Odysseus, one must especially judge the nature of the beasts, that it is not without a share of reason and understanding.
ὡς γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι δένδρον ἕτερον ἑτέρου μᾶλλον οὐδʼ ἧττον ἄψυχον, ἀλλʼ ὁμοίως ἔχει πάντα πρὸς ἀναισθησίαν· οὐδενὶ γὰρ αὐτῶν ψυχῆς μέτεστιν οὕτως οὐκ ἐδόκει ζῷον ἕτερον ἑτέρου τῷ φρονεῖν ἀργότερον εἶναι καὶ δυσμαθέστερον, εἰ μὴ πάντα λόγου καὶ συνέσεως, ἄλλα δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον ἄλλων πως μετεῖχεν.
For just as one tree is not more or less lifeless than another, but all are alike in respect to insensibility, for none of them shares in a soul; so one animal would not seem to be slower in thinking and harder to teach than another, unless all shared in some way in reason and understanding, though some more and others less than others.
ἐννόησον δʼ ὅτι τὰς ἐνίων ἀβελτερίας καὶ βλακείας ἐλέγχουσιν ἑτέρων πανουργίαι καὶ δριμύτητες, ὅταν ἀλώπεκι καὶ λύκῳ καὶ μελίττῃ παραβάλῃς ὄνον καὶ πρόβατον ὥσπερ εἰ σαυτῷ τὸν Πολύφημον ἢ τῷ πάππῳ σου τῷ Αὐτολύκῳ τὸν Κορίνθιον ἐκεῖνον Ὅμηρον.
And consider that the stupidity and dullness of some are exposed by the craftiness and sharpness of others, when you compare an ass and a sheep to a fox, a wolf, and a bee, just as if you compared Polyphemus to yourself, or that Corinthian Homer to your grandfather Autolycus.
οὐ γὰρ οἶμαι θηρίου πρὸς θηρίον ἀπόστασιν εἶναι τοσαύτην, ὅσον ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου τῷ φρονεῖν καὶ λογίζεσθαι καὶ μνημονεύειν ἀφέστηκεν.
For I do not think the distance of beast from beast is so great as that which separates man from man in thinking, reasoning, and remembering.
ΟΔ. ἀλλʼ ὅρα, Γρύλλε, μὴ δεινὸν ᾖ καὶ βίαιον ἀπολιπεῖν λόγον, οἷς οὐκ ἐγγίγνεται θεοῦ νόησις.
OD. But look, Gryllus, lest it be a strange and violent thing to leave reason to those in whom there does not arise a conception of God.
ΓΡ. Εἶτά σε μὴ φῶμεν, ὦ Ὀδυσσεῦ, σοφὸν οὕτως ὄντα καὶ περιττὸν Σισύφου γεγονέναι;
GR. Then, Odysseus, should we not say that you, being so wise and extraordinary, are born of Sisyphus?