§4εἰ δʼ ἐκ τοῦ βίου καθάπερ ἐκ συμποσίου φῶς ἀναιρεῖς τὴν γνῶσιν, ὡς πάντα ποιεῖν ἐξ ἡδονῆς πρὸς ἡδονὴν λανθάνουσαν, λάθε βιώσας. πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἂν μεθʼ Ἡδείας βιοῦν μέλλω τῆς ἑταίρας καὶ Λεοντίῳ συγκαταζῆν καὶ
τῷ καλῷ προσπτύειν
καὶ τἀγαθόν
ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ γαργαλισμοῖς
τίθεσθαι· ταῦτα δεῖται σκότους τὰ τέλη, ταῦτα νυκτός, ἐπὶ ταῦτα τὴν λήθην καὶ τὴν ἄγνοιαν.
But if you remove knowledge from life as if removing light from a banquet, so as to do everything from pleasure toward hidden pleasure, then "live in obscurity." Quite so, indeed, if I am to live with Hedeia the courtesan, and cohabit with Leontion, and spit upon the beautiful, and place the good in "flesh and titillations"; these ends require darkness, these require night, and for these oblivion and ignorance are needed.
ἐὰν δέ τις ἐν μὲν φυσικοῖς θεὸν ὑμνῇ καὶ δίκην καὶ πρόνοιαν, ἐν δʼ ἠθικοῖς; νόμον καὶ κοινωνίαν καὶ πολιτείαν, ἐν δὲ πολιτείᾳ τὸ καλὸν ἀλλὰ μὴ τὴν χρείαν, διὰ τί λάθῃ βιώσας;
But if someone in physics hymns God, justice, and providence, and in ethics, law, community, and constitution, and in politics, the beautiful but not utility, why should he live in obscurity?
ἵνα μηδένα παιδεύσῃ ἢ μηδενὶ ζηλωτὸς ἀρετῆς μηδὲ παράδειγμα καλὸν γένηται;
Is it so that he may educate no one, or be envied for virtue by no one, nor become a noble example?
εἰ Θεμιστοκλῆς Ἀθηναίους ἐλάνθανεν, οὐκ ἂν ἡ Ἑλλὰς ἀπεώσατο Ξέρξην· εἰ Ῥωμαίους Κάμιλλος, οὐκ ἂν ἡ Ῥώμη πόλις ἔμεινεν· εἰ Δίωνα Πλάτων, οὐκ ἂν ἠλευθερώθη ἡ Σικελία.
If Themistocles had remained unnoticed by the Athenians, Greece would not have repulsed Xerxes; if Camillus by the Romans, Rome would not have remained a city; if Plato by Dion, Sicily would not have been liberated.
ὧσπερ δέ, οἶμαι, τὸ φῶς οὐ μόνον φανεροὺς ἀλλὰ καὶ χρησίμους καθίστησιν ἡμᾶς ἀλλήλοις, οὕτως ἡ γνῶσις οὐ μόνον δόξαν ἀλλὰ καὶ πρᾶξιν ταῖς ἀρεταῖς δίδωσιν.
And just as, I think, light renders us not only visible but also useful to one another, so knowledge gives to virtues not only reputation but also action.
Ἐπαμεινώνδας γοῦν εἰς τεσσαρακοστὸν ἔτος ἀγνοηθείς οὐδὲν ὤνησε Θηβαίους ὕστερον δὲ πιστευθεὶς καὶ ἄρξας τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἀπολλυμένην ἔσωσε, τὴν δʼ Ἑλλάδα δουλεύουσαν ἠλευθέρωσε, καθάπερ ἐν φωτὶ τῇ δόξῃ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐνεργὸν ἐπὶ καιροῦ παρασχόμενος
"
λάμπει γὰρ ἐν χρείαισιν ὥσπερ εὐγενὴς
χαλκός·
Epaminondas, at least, being unknown until his fortieth year, profited the Thebans nothing, but later, being trusted and having ruled, saved the dying city and liberated enslaved Greece, presenting his virtue as active at the right opportunity, just as in the light of reputation.
χρόνῳ δʼ ἀργῆσαν ἤμυσεν
"
οὐ μόνον
στέγος
ὥς φησι Σοφοκλῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἦθος ἀνδρός, οἷον εὐρῶτα καὶ γῆρας ἐν ἀπραξίᾳ διʼ ἀγνοίας ἐφελκόμενον.
"For it shines in use like noble bronze; but idling with time, it decays," not only "a house," as Sophocles says, but also the character of a man, attracting as it were mold and old age in inactivity through obscurity.
ἡσυχία δὲ κωφὴ καὶ βίος ἑδραῖος ἐπὶ σχολῆς ἀποκείμενος οὐ μόνον σῶμα ἀλλὰ καὶ ψυχὴν μαραίνει· καὶ καθάπερ τὰ λανθάνοντα τῶν ὑδάτων τῷ περισκιάζεσθαι καὶ καθῆσθαι μὴ ἀπορρέοντα σήπεται, οὕτω τῶν ἀκινήτων βίων, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἄν τι χρήσιμον ἔχωσι, φθείρονται καὶ ἀπογηράσκουσιν αἱ σύμφυτοι δυνάμεις.
But a mute silence and a stationary life lying idle in leisure wither not only the body but also the soul; and just as hidden waters rot by being shaded and sitting without flowing away, so in inactive lives, as it seems, if they possess anything useful, their innate powers are destroyed and grow old.
§5οὐχ ὁρᾷς, ὅτι νυκτὸς μὲν ἐπιούσης τά τε σώματα δυσεργεῖς βαρύτητες ἴσχουσι καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ὄκνοι καταλαμβάνουσιν ἀδρανεῖς, καὶ συσταλεὶς; ὁ λογισμὸς εἰς ἑαυτὸν ὥσπερ πῦρ ἀμαυρὸν ὑπʼ ἀργίας καὶ κατηφείας
μακρὰν διεσπασμέναις πάλλεται φαντασίαις,
ὅσον αὐτὸ τὸ ζῆν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὑποσημαίνειν;
Do you not see that when night approaches, sluggish weights possess the bodies, and inactive hesitations seize the souls, and the reason, contracted into itself like a dim fire by inactivity and dejection, "throbs with widely scattered fantasies," only so much as to signify to the man that he is alive?
"ἦμος δʼ ἠπεροπῆας; ἀπεπτοίησεν ὀνείρους"
ὁ ἥλιος ἀνασχὼν
καὶ καθάπερ εἰς ταὐτὸ συμμίξας ἐπέστρεψε καὶ συνώρμησε τῷ φωτὶ τὰς πράξεις καὶ τὰς νοήσεις τὰς ἁπάντων, ὥς φησι Δημόκριτος
νέα ἐφʼ ἡμέρῃ φρονέοντες
ἅνθρωποι, τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁρμῇ καθάπερ ἀρτήματι συντόνῳ σπασθέντες, ἄλλος ἀλλαχόθεν ἐπὶ τὰς πράξεις ἀνίστανται.
"But when the sun, rising, has frightened away the deceitful dreams," and having mixed them as it were into the same place, has turned back and impelled with light the actions and thoughts of all, as Democritus says, "men thinking new thoughts day by day," pulled by their impulse toward one another as if by a tight cord, they rise up for actions, one from here, another from there.