§11ἀγαθῶν οὖν τῶν ἐν τῇ φύσει τῶν μὲν περὶ ψυχὴν ὄντων τῶν δὲ περὶ σῶμα τῶν δ’ ἐκτός, καὶ παρὰ ταῦτ’ οὐδενὸς ἄλλου γένους ἀγαθῶν ἐπινοουμένου, ὅτι μὲν τῶν ψυχικῶν ἀγαθῶν οὐδ’ ὄναρ ποτὲ μετειλήφασιν οἱ ἀθλοῦντες εὔδηλον παντί.
Therefore, since of the goods in nature some pertain to the soul, some to the body, and others are external, and besides these no other kind of goods can be conceived, it is clear to everyone that athletes have never, even in a dream, shared in the goods of the soul.
τὴν ἀρχὴν γὰρ οὐδ’ εἰ ψυχὴν ἔχουσι γιγνώσκουσι· τοσοῦτον ἀποδέουσι τοῦ λογικὴν αὐτὴν ἐπίστασθαι.
For they do not even know at all whether they have a soul; so far are they from understanding it to be rational.
σαρκῶν γὰρ ἀεὶ καὶ αἵματος ἀθροίζοντες πλῆθος ὡς ἐν βορβόρῳ πολλῷ τὴν ψυχὴν ἑαυτῶν ἔχουσι κατεσβεσμένην, οὐδὲν ἀκριβὲς νοῆσαι δυναμένην ἀλλ’ ἄνουν ὁμοίως τοῖς ἀλόγοις ζῴοις.
For constantly accumulating a mass of flesh and blood, they keep their soul extinguished as if in a deep mire, unable to understand anything accurately, but mindless just like irrational animals.
ἴσως δ’ 〈ἂν〉 ἀμφισβητήσειαν ὡς τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμά τινος ἀγαθῶν ἐπήβολοι.
But perhaps they would claim that they possess some of the goods concerning the body.
πότερον οὖν τῆς τιμιωτάτης ὑγιείας ἀμφισβητήσουσιν;
Will they then claim the most precious health?
ἀλλ’ οὐδένας ἄλλους ἂν εὕροις ἐν σφαλερωτέρᾳ διαθέσει σώματος, εἴπερ Ἱπποκράτει δεῖ πιστεύειν εἰπόντι τὴν καὶ ἐπ’ ἄκρον εὐεξίαν σφαλερὰν ὑπάρχειν, ἣν μεταδιώκουσιν οὗτοι.
But you would find no others in a more dangerous bodily condition, if one must believe Hippocrates when he says that even extreme good conditioning is dangerous, which is the very thing these men pursue.
καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ ‘ἄσκησις [μὲν] ὑγιείης, ἀκορίη τροφῆς, ἀοκνίη πόνων’ Ἱπποκράτει καλῶς εἰρημένον ἐπαινεῖται πρὸς ἁπάντων.
Moreover, the saying "The practice of health is: unsatedness of food, untiringness in labors," beautifully spoken by Hippocrates, is praised by everyone.
οἳ δὲ τοὐναντίον ἐπιτηδεύουσιν, ὑπερπονοῦντές τε καὶ ὑπερπιπλάμενοι καὶ ὅλως τὸν τοῦ παλαιοῦ λόγον ὡς κορυβαντιῶντος κατεγνωκότες.
But these men, on the contrary, practice the opposite, overworking and overfilling themselves, and completely condemning the saying of that ancient man as if he were a raving madman.
ὃ μὲν γὰρ ὑγιεινὴν δίαιταν ὑποτιθέμενος ἔλεγε ‘πόνοι σιτία ποτὰ ὕπνοι ἀφροδίσια, πάντα μέτρια’, οἳ δὲ τὰ γυμνάσια πέρα τοῦ προσήκοντος ἑκάστης ἡμέρας διαπονοῦσι τροφάς τε προσφέρονται σὺν ἀνάγκῃ, πολλάκις ἄχρι μέσων νυκτῶν ἐκτείνοντες τὴν ἐδωδήν, ὡς προσηκόντως ἄν τιν’ ἐπ’ αὐτῶν εἰπεῖν ‘ἄλλοι μέν ῥα θεοί τε καὶ ἀνέρες ἱπποκορυσταὶ εὗδον παννύχιοι μαλακῷ δεδμημένοι ὕπνῳ· ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἀθλητὰς κακοδαίμονας ὕπνος ἔμαρπτεν. ’ ἀνὰ λόγον τοίνυν τούτοις καὶ ἡ τῶν ὕπνων αὐτοῖς ἔχει συμμετρία.
For while he, suggesting a healthy regimen, said "labors, food, drink, sleep, sex, all in moderation," they exhaust themselves in gymnastic exercises beyond what is fitting every day, and take in food by compulsion, often extending their eating until midnight, so that one might fittingly say of them: "Other gods indeed, and men, lords of chariots, slept all night long, conquered by soft sleep; but sleep did not seize the ill-starred athletes." Consequently, their proportion of sleep also corresponds to these things.
ἡνίκα γὰρ οἱ κατὰ φύσιν βιοῦντες ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων ἥκουσιν ἐδεσμάτων δεόμενοι, τηνικαῦθ’ οὗτοι διανίστανται τῶν ὕπνων, ὥστ’ ἐοικέναι τὸν βίον αὐτῶν ὑῶν διαγωγῇ· πλήν γ’ ὅσον οἱ μὲν ὕες οὐχ ὑπερπονοῦσιν οὐδὲ πρὸς ἀνάγκην ἐσθίουσιν, οἳ δὲ καὶ ταῦτα πάσχουσι καὶ ῥοδοδάφναις ἐνίοτε τὰ νῶτα διακναίονται.
For at the very time when those who live according to nature return from their works in need of food, these men rise from their sleep, so that their life resembles the lifestyle of pigs; except only that pigs do not overwork nor eat by compulsion, whereas these men suffer both of these, and sometimes have their backs scraped with oleanders.
ὁ μὲν οὖν παλαιὸς Ἱπποκράτης πρὸς οἷς εἶπον ἔμπροσθεν ἔτι καὶ ταῦτά φησι ‘τὸ κατὰ πολὺ καὶ ἐξαπίνης πληροῦν ἢ κενοῦν ἢ θερμαίνειν ἤ ψύχειν ἢ ἄλλως ὁπωσοῦν τὸ σῶμα κινεῖν σφαλερόν’. ‘πᾶν γάρ, φησί, τὸ πολὺ τῇ φύσει πολέμιον. ’ οἳ δ’ οὔτε τούτων ἐπαίουσιν οὔτε τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα καλῶς εἰπόντος ἐκείνου παραβαίνουσιν, ἀλλὰ πάντ’ ἐξ ὑπεναντίου τοῖς ὑγιεινοῖς παραγγέλμασιν ἐπιτηδεύουσιν.
Now the ancient Hippocrates, in addition to what I said before, also says this: "To fill or empty, or heat or cool, or in any other way whatsoever to move the body greatly and suddenly, is dangerous." "For everything," he says, "that is excessive is hostile to nature." But these men neither listen to these things nor to the other things which he beautifully said and which they transgress, but they practice everything in direct opposition to healthy prescriptions.
καὶ διὰ τοῦτ’ ἂν ἔγωγε φαίην ἄσκησιν οὐχ ὑγιείας ἀλλὰ νόσου μᾶλλον εἶναι τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα.
And for this reason I, for my part, would say that their pursuit is a training not of health but rather of disease.
τοῦτο δ’ οἶμαι καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Ἱπποκράτην φρονεῖν ἐπειδὰν λέγῃ ‘διάθεσις ἀθλητικὴ οὐ φύσει, ἕξις ὑγιεινὴ κρείσσων’. οὐ γὰρ μόνον τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἐστερῆσθαι τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα δι’ ὧν εἶπεν ἐδήλωσεν, ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ ἕξιν ὠνόμασε τὴν διάθεσιν αὐτῶν, ἀφαιρούμενος καὶ τῆς προσηγορίας αὐτοὺς ᾗ προσαγορεύουσιν ἅπαντες οἱ παλαιοὶ τοὺς ὄντως ὑγιαίνοντας.
And I think that Hippocrates himself also thought this when he said, "The athletic constitution is not natural; a healthy habit is better." For he not only showed by what he said that the pursuit is deprived of what is according to nature, but he did not even call their condition a "habit" (hexis), depriving them also of the name by which all the ancients address those who are truly healthy.
ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἕξις ἔμμονός τίς ἐστι καὶ δυσαλλοίωτος διάθεσις, ἡ δὲ τῶν ἀθλητῶν ἐπ’ ἄκρον εὐεξία σφαλερά τε καὶ εὐμετάπτωτος. οὔτε γὰρ πρόσθεσιν ἔτι διὰ τὴν ἀκρότητα χωρεῖ καὶ τῷ μὴ δύνασθαι μένειν ἐπὶ ταὐτοῦ μηδ’ ἀτρεμεῖν λοιπὴν ἔχει τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ὁδόν.
For a "habit" (hexis) is a certain permanent and hard-to-change condition (diathesis), whereas the extreme good conditioning of athletes is both dangerous and easily changeable; for because of its extreme nature, it no longer admits of further addition, and by being unable to remain in the same state or to stay still, it has only the road to the worse remaining.
οὕτως μὲν ἀθλοῦσιν αὐτοῖς διάκειται τὸ σῶμα, καταλύσασι δὲ πολὺ δή τι χεῖρον.
While they are competing, their body is in this condition, but when they retire, it is far worse indeed.
ἔνιοι μὲν γὰρ μετ’ ὀλίγον ἀποθνῄσκουσιν, ἔνιοι δ’ ἐπὶ πλέον 〈μὲν〉 ἥκουσιν ἡλικίας, ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ αὐτοὶ γηρῶσιν οὐδὲ κἂν ἀφίκωνταί ποτ’ εἰς τοῦτο, τῶν Ὁμηρικῶν οὐδὲν ἀπολείπονται Λιτῶν, ‘χωλοί τε ῥυσοί τε παραβλῶπές τ’ ὀφθαλμώ’ ἀποτελούμενοι. ὡς γὰρ τὰ διασεισθέντα τῶν τειχῶν ἀπὸ μηχανημάτων ἑτοίμως ὑπὸ τῆς τυχούσης διαλύεται βλάβης, οὔτε σεισμὸν οὔτ’ ἄλλην τινὰ βραχυτέραν δυνάμενα φέρειν περίστασιν, οὕτω καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀθλητῶν σώματα σαθρὰ καὶ ἀσθενῆ ταῖς κατὰ τὴν ἐπιτήδευσιν γεγονότα πληγαῖς ἕτοιμα πρὸς τὸ πάσχειν ἐστὶν ἐπὶ ταῖς τυχούσαις προφάσεσιν.
For some die after a short time, while others reach a greater age, but they themselves do not grow old healthily, and even if they ever arrive at old age, they are in no way inferior to the Homeric Prayers (Litae), becoming "lame, wrinkled, and squinting of eye." For just as walls shaken by military engines are easily destroyed by any chance damage, being unable to bear either an earthquake or any other smaller crisis, so too the bodies of athletes, rendered rotten and weak by the blows received during their practice, are ready to suffer upon any chance pretext.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὀφθαλμοὶ περιορωρυγμένοι πολλάκις ὅθ’ ἡ δύναμις οὐκέτ’ ἀντέχει πληροῦνται ῥευμάτων, οἱ δ’ ὀδόντες ἅτε διασεσεισμένοι πολλάκις ἐπιλειπούσης ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοὺς ἑτοίμως ἐκπίπτουσι, τὰ δὲ λυγισθέντα τῶν ἄρθρων ἀσθενῆ πρὸς πᾶσαν τὴν ἔξωθεν βίαν γίγνεται, καὶ πᾶν ῥῆγμα καὶ σπάσμα ῥᾳδίως κινεῖται.
For their eyes, having often been dug around, are filled with rheum when their strength no longer holds out; and their teeth, because they have often been shaken, fall out easily as their supporting strength fails them over time; and their twisted joints become weak against every external force, and every rupture and spasm is easily excited.
σωματικῆς μὲν οὖν ὑγιείας ἕνεκα φανερὸν ὡς οὐδὲν ἄλλο γένος ἀθλιώτερόν ἐστι τῶν ἀθλητῶν.
As far as bodily health is concerned, therefore, it is clear that no other class of men is more miserable than athletes.
ὥστ’ εἰκότως ἄν τις εἴποι συγγενῶς ὀνομάζεσθαι, 〈ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀθλίου〉 τῶν ἀθλητῶν προσαγορευθέντων ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀθλητοῦ τὴν προσηγορίαν τῶν ἀθλίων ἐσχηκότων ἢ κοινῶς ἀμφοτέρων καθάπερ ἀπὸ πηγῆς μιᾶς τῆς ἀθλιότητος ὠνομασμένων.
So that one might reasonably say that they are named in a related way, either athletes having been addressed from "miserable" (athlios), or the designation of "miserable" (athlioi) having been derived from "athlete" (athletes), or both having been named in common from a single source, "misery" (athliotes).