§3.695ΑΘ. ὁ δὲ πατήρ γε αὐτοῖς αὖ ποίμνια μὲν καὶ πρόβατα καὶ ἀγέλας ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ ἄλλων πολλῶν πολλὰς ἐκτᾶτο, αὐτοὺς δὲ οἷς ταῦτα παραδώσειν ἔμελλεν ἠγνόει τὴν πατρῴαν οὐ παιδευομένους τέχνην, οὖσαν Περσικήν—ποιμένων ὄντων Περσῶν, τραχείας χώρας ἐκγόνων—σκληρὰν καὶ ἱκανὴν ποιμένας ἀπεργάζεσθαι μάλα ἰσχυροὺς καὶ δυναμένους θυραυλεῖν καὶ ἀγρυπνεῖν καὶ εἰ στρατεύεσθαι δέοι στρατεύεσθαι·
ATH. But their father, on his part, acquired for them many flocks and herds and droves of men and of many other things, but he did not know that those to whom he was going to hand these over were not being educated in their paternal craft, which was Persian—since the Persians were shepherds, offspring of a rugged land—a harsh craft and capable of making shepherds very strong, able to live in the open, to keep watch, and to go on campaigns if there should be need.
διεφθαρμένην δὲ παιδείαν ὑπὸ τῆς λεγομένης εὐδαιμονίας τὴν Μηδικὴν περιεῖδεν ὑπὸ γυναικῶν τε καὶ εὐνούχων παιδευθέντας αὑτοῦ τοὺς ὑεῖς, ὅθεν ἐγένοντο οἵους ἦν αὐτοὺς εἰκὸς γενέσθαι, τροφῇ ἀνεπιπλήκτῳ τραφέντας.
But he overlooked that his sons were being educated by women and eunuchs in the Median education, which had been corrupted by so-called prosperity; whence they became such as they were likely to become, having been reared with an unrebuked upbringing.
παραλαβόντες δʼ οὖν οἱ παῖδες τελευτήσαντος Κύρου τρυφῆς μεστοὶ καὶ ἀνεπιπληξίας, πρῶτον μὲν τὸν ἕτερον ἅτερος ἀπέκτεινε τῷ ἴσῳ ἀγανακτῶν, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο αὐτὸς μαινόμενος ὑπὸ μέθης τε καὶ ἀπαιδευσίας τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπώλεσεν ὑπὸ Μήδων τε καὶ τοῦ λεγομένου τότε εὐνούχου, καταφρονήσαντος τῆς Καμβύσου μωρίας.
Therefore, having received the power upon the death of Cyrus, full of luxury and lack of rebuke, first the one killed the other, being resentful of equality, and after this, he himself, maddened by drunkenness and lack of education, lost the empire to the Medes and to the one then called the eunuch, who despised the folly of Cambyses.
ΚΛ. λέγεται δὴ ταῦτά γε, καὶ ἔοικεν σχεδὸν οὕτω πως γεγονέναι.
CL. These things are indeed said, and it seems to have happened in pretty much this way.
ΑΘ. καὶ μὴν καὶ πάλιν εἰς Πέρσας ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἀρχὴν διὰ Δαρείου καὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ λέγεταί που.
ATH. And furthermore, the empire is said to have come back to the Persians again through Darius and the Seven.
ΚΛ. τί μήν;
CL. To be sure.
ΑΘ. θεωρῶμεν δὴ συνεπόμενοι τῷ λόγῳ.
ATH. Let us indeed consider, following the argument.
Δαρεῖος γὰρ βασιλέως οὐκ ἦν ὑός, παιδείᾳ τε οὐ διατρυφώσῃ τεθραμμένος, ἐλθὼν δʼ εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ λαβὼν αὐτὴν ἕβδομος, διείλετο ἑπτὰ μέρη τεμόμενος, ὧν καὶ νῦν ἔτι σμικρὰ ὀνείρατα λέλειπται, καὶ νόμους ἠξίου θέμενος οἰκεῖν ἰσότητα κοινήν τινα εἰσφέρων, καὶ τὸν τοῦ Κύρου δασμόν, ὃν ὑπέσχετο Πέρσαις, εἰς τὸν νόμον ἐνέδει, φιλίαν πορίζων καὶ κοινωνίαν πᾶσιν Πέρσαις, χρήμασι καὶ δωρεαῖς τὸν Περσῶν δῆμον προσαγόμενος· τοιγαροῦν αὐτῷ τὰ στρατεύματα μετʼ εὐνοίας προσεκτήσατο χώρας οὐκ ἐλάττους ὧν κατέλιπε Κῦρος.
For Darius was not the son of a king, and was not reared in a luxury-loving education; and having come to the empire and taken it as the seventh, he divided it, cutting it into seven parts, of which even now some small dream-like remnants are left, and he thought fit to dwell by establishing laws, introducing a certain common equality, and he bound into the law the tribute of Cyrus which he had promised to the Persians, providing friendship and community for all Persians, winning over the Persian populace with money and gifts; therefore, his armies acquired for him with goodwill lands not less than those which Cyrus left.
μετὰ δὲ Δαρεῖον ὁ τῇ βασιλικῇ καὶ τρυφώσῃ πάλιν παιδευθεὶς παιδείᾳ Ξέρξης—
ὦ Δαρεῖε,
εἰπεῖν ἐστιν δικαιότατον ἴσως,
ὃς τὸ Κύρου κακὸν οὐκ ἔμαθες, ἐθρέψω δὲ Ξέρξην ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἤθεσιν ἐν οἷσπερ Κῦρος Καμβύσην
—ὁ δέ, ἅτε τῶν αὐτῶν παιδειῶν γενόμενος ἔκγονος, παραπλήσια ἀπετέλεσεν τοῖς Καμβύσου παθήμασιν· καὶ σχεδὸν ἔκ γε τοσούτου βασιλεὺς ἐν Πέρσαις οὐδείς πω μέγας ἐγγέγονεν ἀληθῶς, πλήν γε ὀνόματι.
But after Darius, Xerxes, who was reared again in the royal and luxury-loving education— O Darius, it is perhaps most just to say, you who did not learn the evil of Cyrus, but reared Xerxes in the same habits in which Cyrus reared Cambyses —and he, because he was the offspring of the same education, produced results very similar to the sufferings of Cambyses; and indeed since that time almost no king in Persia has yet become truly great, except in name.
§3.696ΑΘ. τὸ δʼ αἴτιον οὐ τύχης, ὡς ὁ ἐμὸς λόγος, ἀλλʼ ὁ κακὸς βίος ὃν οἱ τῶν διαφερόντως πλουσίων καὶ τυράννων παῖδες τὰ πολλὰ ζῶσιν· οὐ γὰρ μή ποτε γένηται παῖς καὶ ἀνὴρ καὶ γέρων ἐκ ταύτης τῆς τροφῆς διαφέρων πρὸς ἀρετήν.
ATH. And the cause of this, in my view, is not fortune, but the bad life which the children of exceptionally rich men and of tyrants for the most part live; for a child and a man and an old man would never become outstanding in virtue from this kind of rearing.
ἃ δή, φαμέν, τῷ νομοθέτῃ σκεπτέον, καὶ ἡμῖν δὲ ἐν τῷ νῦν παρόντι.
These are the things, we say, that must be considered by the legislator, and by us too at the present moment.
δίκαιον μήν, ὦ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, τοῦτό γε τῇ πόλει ὑμῶν ἀποδιδόναι, ὅτι πενίᾳ καὶ πλούτῳ καὶ ἰδιωτείᾳ καὶ βασιλείᾳ διαφέρουσαν οὐδʼ ἡντινοῦν τιμὴν καὶ τροφὴν νέμετε, ἃς μὴ τὸ κατʼ ἀρχὰς ὑμῖν θεῖον παρὰ θεοῦ διεμαντεύσατό τινος. οὐ γὰρ δὴ δεῖ κατὰ πόλιν γε εἶναι τὰς τιμὰς ὑπερεχούσας, ὅτι τίς ἐστιν πλούτῳ διαφέρων, ἐπεὶ οὐδʼ ὅτι ταχὺς ἢ καλὸς ἢ ἰσχυρὸς ἄνευ τινὸς ἀρετῆς, οὐδʼ ἀρετῆς ἧς ἂν σωφροσύνη ἀπῇ.
It is just, indeed, O Lacedaemonians, to attribute this to your city, that you assign no outstanding honor or rearing to poverty, wealth, private status, or royalty, which the divine power did not at the beginning divine for you through some god. For indeed, outstanding honors ought not to exist in a city because someone is outstanding in wealth, nor indeed because he is swift, or beautiful, or strong without some virtue, nor even with a virtue from which temperance is absent.
ΜΕ. πῶς τοῦτο, ὦ ξένε, λέγεις;
ME. How do you mean this, O stranger?
ΑΘ. ἀνδρεία που μόριον ἀρετῆς ἕν;
ATH. Courage is, I suppose, one part of virtue?
ΜΕ. πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
ME. Of course.
ΑΘ. δίκασον τοίνυν αὐτὸς τὸν λόγον ἀκούσας εἴ σοι δέξαιʼ ἂν σύνοικον ἢ γείτονα εἶναί τινα σφόδρα μὲν ἀνδρεῖον, μὴ σώφρονα δὲ ἀλλʼ ἀκόλαστον.
ATH. Judge then the argument yourself, having heard it: would you accept as a housemate or a neighbor someone who is exceedingly courageous, but not temperate, but rather dissolute?
ΜΕ. εὐφήμει.
ME. Heaven forbid!
ΑΘ. τί δέ;
ATH. Well then?
τεχνικὸν μὲν καὶ περὶ ταῦτα σοφόν, ἄδικον δέ;
One who is skilled and wise in these matters, but unjust?
ΜΕ. οὐδαμῶς.
ME. By no means.
ΑΘ. ἀλλὰ μὴν τό γε δίκαιον οὐ φύεται χωρὶς τοῦ σωφρονεῖν.
ATH. But indeed, justice does not grow apart from being temperate.
ΜΕ. πῶς γὰρ ἄν;
ME. How indeed could it?
ΑΘ. οὐδὲ μὴν ὅν γε σοφὸν ἡμεῖς νυνδὴ προυθέμεθα, τὸν τὰς ἡδονὰς καὶ λύπας κεκτημένον συμφώνους τοῖς ὀρθοῖς λόγοις καὶ ἑπομένας.
ATH. Nor indeed does he whom we just now proposed as wise—the one who possesses pleasures and pains in harmony with and following correct reasons.
ΜΕ. οὐ γὰρ οὖν.
ME. Certainly not.
ΑΘ. ἔτι δὴ καὶ τόδε ἐπισκεψώμεθα τῶν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν τιμήσεων ἕνεκα, ποῖαί τε ὀρθαὶ καὶ μὴ γίγνονται ἑκάστοτε.
ATH. Furthermore, let us also examine this for the sake of honors in cities, what kinds of honors are correct and incorrect on each occasion.
ΜΕ. τὸ ποῖον;
ME. What kind of thing?
ΑΘ. σωφροσύνη ἄνευ πάσης τῆς ἄλλης ἀρετῆς ἐν ψυχῇ τινι μεμονωμένη τίμιον ἢ ἄτιμον γίγνοιτʼ ἂν κατὰ δίκην;
ATH. Would temperance, isolated in some soul without all the rest of virtue, justly become honored or unhonored?
ΜΕ. οὐκ ἔχω ὅπως εἴπω.
ME. I do not know how to say.
ΑΘ. καὶ μὴν εἴρηκάς γε μετρίως·
ATH.
εἰπὼν γὰρ δὴ ὧν ἠρόμην ὁποτερονοῦν, παρὰ μέλος ἔμοιγʼ ἂν δοκεῖς φθέγξασθαι.
And indeed you have answered moderately; for if you had said either of the two things I asked, you would, it seems to me, have spoken out of tune.
ΜΕ. καλῶς τοίνυν γεγονὸς ἂν εἴη.
ME. Then it would have turned out well.
ΑΘ. εἶεν·
ATH. Very well.
τὸ μὲν δὴ πρόσθημα ὧν τιμαί τε καὶ ἀτιμίαι οὐ λόγου, ἀλλά τινος μᾶλλον ἀλόγου σιγῆς, ἄξιον ἂν εἴη.
The mere addition, concerning which honors and dishonors are worthy not of speech, but rather of a certain speechless silence, would be worthy.
ΜΕ. σωφροσύνην μοι φαίνῃ λέγειν.
ME. You seem to me to mean temperance.
ΑΘ. ναί.
ATH. Yes.
τὸ δέ γε τῶν ἄλλων πλεῖστα ἡμᾶς ὠφελοῦν μετὰ τῆς προσθήκης μάλιστʼ ἂν τιμώμενον ὀρθότατα τιμῷτο, καὶ τὸ δεύτερον δευτέρως· καὶ οὕτω δὴ κατὰ τὸν ἑξῆς λόγον τὰς ἐφεξῆς τιμὰς λαγχάνον ἕκαστον ὀρθῶς ἂν λαγχάνοι.
And that of the other things which benefits us most when accompanied by this addition would most justly be honored, and the second in the second degree; and so on, each succeeding thing obtaining its succeeding honors according to the subsequent argument would obtain them correctly.