§5ὥστε εἰ τῶν ὤτων ἐκδεδεμένους τοὺς ἀνθρώπους πρὸς τὴν γλῶτταν ὁ γέρων οὗτος Ἡρακλῆς ἕλκει, μηδὲ τοῦτο θαυμάσῃς εἰδὼς τὴν ὤτων καὶ γλώττης συγγένειαν·
Therefore, if this old Hercules drags the men bound by their ears to his tongue, do not wonder at this either, knowing the kinship between ears and tongue.
οὐδʼ ὕβρις εἰς αὐτόν, εἰ ταύτῃ τετρύπηται·
Nor is it an insult to him, if he has been pierced in this part.
μέμνημαι γοῦν, ἔφη, καὶ κωμικῶν τινων ἰαμβείων παρʼ ὑμῶν μαθών, τοῖς γὰρ λάλοις ἐξ ἄκρου ἡ γλῶττα πᾶσίν ἐστι τετρυπημένη. §6τὸ δʼ ὅλον καὶ αὐτὸν ἡμεῖς τὸν Ἡρακλέα λόγῳ τὰ πάντα ἡγούμεθα ἐξεργάσασθαι σοφὸν γενόμενον, καὶ πειθοῖ τὰ πλεῖστα βιάσασθαι.
"Indeed, I remember," he said, "having learned some iambics of comedy from you: 'for all chatterboxes have their tongue pierced at the tip.'" On the whole, we believe that Hercules himself also accomplished everything by speech, having become wise, and that he forced most things by persuasion.
καὶ τά γε βέλη αὐτοῦ οἱ λόγοι εἰσίν, οἶμαι, ὀξεῖς καὶ εὔστοχοι καὶ ταχεῖς καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς τιτρώσκοντες· πτερόεντα γοῦν τὰ ἔπη καὶ ὑμεῖς φατε εἶναι.
And his arrows are words, I think—sharp, well-aimed, swift, and wounding the souls; at any rate, you too say that words are winged.
§7Τοσαῦτα μὲν ὁ Κελτός.
So much spoke the Celt.
ἐμοὶ δὲ ἡνίκα περὶ τῆς δεῦρο παρόδου ταύτης ἐσκοπούμην πρὸς ἐμαυτόν, εἴ μοι καλῶς ἔχει τηλικῷδε ὄντι καὶ πάλαι τῶν ἐπιδείξεων πεπαυμένῳ αὖθις ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ ψῆφον διδόναι τοσούτοις δικασταῖς, κατὰ καιρὸν ἐπῆλθεν ἀναμνησθῆναι τῆς εἰκόνος·
But as for me, when I was considering by myself about this appearance here, whether it was well for me, being of such an age and having long ceased from public displays, to submit a vote concerning myself once more to so many judges, it occurred to me opportunely to remember the picture.
τέως μὲν γὰρ ἐδεδίειν, μή τινι ὑμῶν δόξαιμι κομιδῇ μειρακιώδη ταῦτα ποιεῖν καὶ παρʼ ἡλικίαν νεανιεύεσθαι, κᾆτά τις Ὁμηρικὸς νεανίσκος ἐπιπλήξειέν μοι εἰπὼν τὸ σὴ δὲ βίη λέλυται, καὶ χαλεπὸν γῆρας κατείληφέ σε, ἠπεδανὸς δέ νύ τοι θεράπων, βραδέες δέ τοι ἵπποι, ἐς τοὺς πόδας τοῦτο ἀποσκώπτων.
For until then I had been afraid lest I should seem to any of you to be doing these things in a thoroughly boyish manner and playing the youth contrary to my age, and then some Homeric youth might rebuke me, saying, "But your strength is dissolved, and harsh old age has overtaken you, and your squire is feeble, and your horses are slow," mocking at my feet with this.
ἀλλʼ ὅταν ἀναμνησθῶ τοῦ γέροντος ἐκείνου Ἡρακλέους, πάντα ποιεῖν προάγομαι καὶ οὐκ αἰδοῦμαι τοιαῦτα τολμῶν ἡλικιώτης ὢν τῆς εἰκόνος.
But whenever I remember that old Hercules, I am led to do everything and I am not ashamed of daring such things, being of the same age as the image.
§8ὥστε ἰσχὺς μὲν καὶ τάχος καὶ κάλλος καὶ ὅσα σώματος ἀγαθὰ χαιρέτω, καὶ ὁ Ἔρως ὁ σός, ὦ Τήϊε ποιητά, ἐσιδών με ὑποπόλιον τὸ γένειον χρυσοφαέννων εἰ βούλεται πτερύγων ταρσοῖς παραπετέσθω, καὶ ὁ Ἱπποκλείδης οὐ φροντιεῖ. τῷ λόγῳ δὲ νῦν ἂν μάλιστα ἀνηβᾶν καὶ ἀνθεῖν καὶ ἀκμάζειν καθʼ ὥραν εἴη καὶ ἕλκειν τῶν ὤτων ὅσους ἂν πλείστους δύνηται, καὶ τοξεύειν πολλάκις, ὡς οὐδέν γε δέος μὴ κενωθεὶς λάθοι ὁ γωρυτὸς αὐτῷ.
Therefore, let strength and speed and beauty and all bodily goods fare well, and let your Eros, O Teian poet, looking at my beard turning gray, fly past me, if he wishes, on the fans of his gold-shining wings, and "Hippocleides does not care." But for speech, now would especially be the time to grow young again and bloom and be at its peak in due season, and to drag by the ears as many as possible, and to shoot arrows often, since there is no fear at all lest his quiver should go empty without his noticing it.
ὁρᾷς ὅπως παραμυθοῦμαι τὴν ἡλικίαν καὶ τὸ γῆρας τὸ ἐμαυτοῦ.
You see how I comfort my age and my own senility.
καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐτόλμησα πάλαι νενεωλκημένον τὸ ἀκάτιον κατασπάσας καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων ἐπισκευάσας αὖθις ἀφεῖναι ἐς μέσον τὸ πέλαγος.
And because of this I dared to drag down the boat which had long been hauled up on land, and having repaired it with whatever was at hand, to launch it again into the midst of the sea.
εἴη δʼ, ὦ θεοί, καὶ τὰ παρʼ ὑμῶν ἐμπνεῦσαι δεξιά, ὡς νῦν γε μάλιστα πλησιστίου τε καὶ ἐσθλοῦ ἑταίρου ἀνέμου δεόμεθα, ἵνα, εἰ ἄξιοι φαινοίμεθα, καὶ ἡμῖν τὸ Ὁμηρικὸν ἐκεῖνο ἐπιφθέγξηταί τίς,
"οἵην ἐκ ῥακέων ὁ γέρων ἐπιγουνίδα φαίνει. "
And may it be, O gods, that favorable winds from you also blow, since now indeed we especially need a sail-filling and noble companion wind, so that, if we should appear worthy, someone might also exclaim over us that Homeric line: "What a thigh the old man shows from his rags!"