§1Ἔμελλεν ἄρα μηδὲ ὁ καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίος τὸ παντάπασιν ἄμοιρος ἔσεσθαι ἀνδρῶν λόγου καὶ μνήμης ἀξίων, ἀλλὰ καὶ σώματος ἀρετὴν ὑπερφυᾶ καὶ γνώμην ἄκρως φιλόσοφον ἐκφαίνειν·
It seems, then, that our era was not to be entirely destitute of men worthy of record and memory, but was to manifest both extraordinary physical virtue and a highly philosophical mind.
λέγω δὲ εἴς τε τὸν Βοιώτιον Σώστρατον ἀναφέρων, ὃν Ἡρακλέα οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐκάλουν καὶ ᾤοντο εἶναι, καὶ μάλιστα εἰς Δημώνακτα τὸν φιλόσοφον, οὓς καὶ εἶδον αὐτὸς καὶ ἰδὼν ἐθαύμασα, θατέρῳ δὲ τῷ Δημώνακτι καὶ ἐπὶ μήκιστον συνεγενόμην.
I say this with reference to Sostratos the Boeotian, whom the Greeks called and believed to be Heracles, and especially to Demonax the philosopher, both of whom I myself saw and admired when I saw them, and with the latter, Demonax, I associated for a very long time.
περὶ μὲν οὖν Σωστράτου ἐν ἄλλῳ βιβλίῳ γέγραπταί μοι καὶ δεδήλωται μέγεθός τε αὐτοῦ καὶ ἰσχύος ὑπερβολὴ καὶ ἡ ὕπαιθρος ἐν τῷ Παρνασσῷ δίαιτα καὶ ἡ ἐπίπονος εὐνὴ καὶ τροφαὶ ὄρειοι καὶ ἔργα οὐκ ἀπῳδὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος ὅσα ἢ λῃστὰς αἴρων ἔπραξεν ἢ ὁδοποιῶν τὰ ἄβατα ἢ γεφυρῶν τὰ δύσπορα.
About Sostratos, indeed, I have written and shown in another book his size and excess of strength, his open-air life on Parnassus, his laborious bed, his mountain food, and his deeds not out of harmony with his name—such things as he did in destroying bandits, clearing impassable roads, or bridging difficult passes.
§2περὶ δὲ Δημώνακτος ἤδη δίκαιον λέγειν ἀμφοῖν ἕνεκα, ὡς ἐκεῖνος τε διὰ μνήμης εἴη τοῖς ἀρίστοις τό γε κατʼ ἐμὲ καὶ οἱ γενναιότατοι τῶν νέων καὶ πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν ὁρμῶντες ἔχοιεν μὴ πρὸς τὰ ἀρχαῖα μόνα τῶν παραδειγμάτων σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ῥυθμίζειν, ἀλλὰ κἀκ τοῦ ἡμετέρου βίου κανόνα προτίθεσαι καὶ ζηλοῦν ἐκεῖνον ἄριστον ὧν οἶδα ἐγὼ φιλοσόφων γενόμενον.
But about Demonax it is now just to speak for both reasons, so that he may be kept in memory by the best of men, as far as lies in my power, and that the most noble of the young who are striving toward philosophy may have a standard, not from ancient examples alone, to fashion themselves, but also to set before themselves a rule from our own life and to emulate him, who became the best of the philosophers I have known.
§3ἦν δὲ τὸ μὲν γένος Κύπριος, οὐ τῶν ἀφανῶν ὅσα εἰς ἀξίωμα πολιτικὸν καὶ κτῆσιν.
By birth he was a Cyprian, not of the obscure class as far as civic dignity and property were concerned.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων τούτων ὑπεράνω γενόμενος καὶ ἀξιώσας ἑαυτὸν τῶν καλλίστων πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν ὥρμησεν οὐκ Ἀγαθοβούλου μὰ Δίʼ οὐδὲ Δημητρίου πρὸ αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ Ἐπικτήτου ἐπεγειράντων, ἀλλὰ πᾶσι μὲν συνεγένετο τούτοις καὶ ἔτι Τιμοκράτει τῷ Ἡρακλεώτῃ σοφῷ ἀνδρὶ φωνήν τε καὶ γνώμην μάλιστα κεκοσμημένῳ· ἀλλʼ ὅ γε Δημῶναξ οὐχ ὑπὸ τούτων τινός, ὡς ἔφην, παρακληθείς, ἀλλʼ ὑπʼ οἰκείας πρὸς τὰ καλὰ ὁρμῆς καὶ ἐμφύτου πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν ἔρωτος ἐκ παίδων εὐθὺς κεκινημένος ὑπερεῖδεν μὲν τῶν ἀνθρωπείων ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων, ὅλον δὲ παραδοὺς ἑαυτὸν ἐλευθερίᾳ καὶ παρρησίᾳ διετέλεσεν αὐτός τε ὀρθῷ καὶ ὑγιεῖ καὶ ἀνεπιλήπτῳ βίῳ χρώμενος καὶ τοῖς ὁρῶσι καὶ ἀκούουσι παράδειγμα παρέχων τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γνώμην καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ φιλοσοφεῖν ἀλήθειαν.
Nevertheless, rising above all these things and deeming himself worthy of the most beautiful pursuits, he turned toward philosophy—not because Agathoboulos, by Zeus, nor Demetrius before him, nor Epictetus urged him on (although he did associate with all of them, and also with Timocrates of Heracleia, a wise man highly adorned in both speech and mind); rather, Demonax was not summoned by any of these, as I said, but was moved by his own impulse toward the beautiful and by an inborn love of philosophy from his very childhood, so that he looked down upon all human goods, and, giving himself up entirely to freedom and outspokenness, continued to lead a straight, healthy, and blameless life, presenting his own mind and the truth of philosophy as an example to those who saw and heard him.
§4οὐ μὴν ἀνίπτοις γε ποσίν, τὸ τοῦ λόγου, πρὸς ταῦτα ᾖξεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ποιηταῖς σύντροφος ἐγένετο καὶ τῶν πλείστων ἐμέμνητο καὶ λέγειν ἤσκητο καὶ τὰς ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ προαιρέσεις οὐκ ἐπʼ ὀλίγον οὐδὲ κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν ἄκρῳ τῷ δακτύλῳ ἁψάμενος ἠπίστατο, καὶ τὸ σῶμα δὲ ἐγεγύμναστο καὶ πρὸς καρτερίαν διεπεπόνητο, καὶ τὸ ὅλον ἐμεμελήκει αὐτῷ μηδενὸς ἄλλου προσδεᾶ εἶναι·
To be sure, he did not rush into these matters 'with unwashed feet,' as the saying goes, but was brought up with the poets, remembered most of them, was practiced in speaking, and understood the choices in philosophy not slightly nor, according to the proverb, touching them with 'the tip of his finger'; his body also had been trained and thoroughly disciplined for endurance, and on the whole, his care had been to stand in need of nothing else.
ὥστε ἐπεὶ καὶ ἔμαθεν οὐκέτι ἑαυτῷ διαρκῶν, ἑκὼν ἀπῆλθε τοῦ βίου πολὺν ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ λόγον τοῖς ἀρίστοις τῶν Ἑλλήνων καταλιπών.
Thus, when he realized that he was no longer sufficient for himself, he voluntarily departed from life, leaving behind a great reputation concerning himself among the best of the Greeks.
§5φιλοσοφίας δὲ εἶδος οὐχ ἓν ἀποτεμόμενος, ἀλλὰ πολλὰς ἐς ταὐτὸ καταμίξας οὐ πάνυ τι ἐξέφαινε τίνι αὐτῶν ἔχαιρεν·
He did not cut off one school of philosophy, but mixed many into the same, and did not at all reveal which of them he preferred.
ἐῴκει δὲ τῷ Σωκράτει μᾶλλον ᾠκειῶσθαι, εἰ καὶ τῷ σχήματι καὶ τῇ τοῦ βίου ῥᾳστώνῃ τὸν Σινωπέα ζηλοῦν ἔδοξεν, οὐ παραχαράττων τὰ εἰς τὴν δίαιταν, ὡς θαυμάζοιτο καὶ ἀποβλέποιτο ὑπὸ τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων, ἀλλʼ ὁμοδίαιτος ἅπασι καὶ πεζὸς ὢν καὶ οὐδʼ ἐπʼ ὀλίγον τύφῳ κάτοχος συνῆν καὶ συνεπολιτεύετο, §6τὴν μὲν τοῦ Σωκράτους εἰρωνείαν οὐ προσιέμενος, χάριτος δὲ Ἀττικῆς μεστὰς ἀποφαίνων τὰς συνουσίας, ὡς τοὺς προσομιλήσαντας ἀπιέναι μήτε καταφρονήσαντας ὡς ἀγεννοῦς μήτε τὸ σκυθρωπὸν τῶν ἐπιτιμήσεων ἀποφεύγοντας, παντοίους δὲ ὑπʼ εὐφροσύνης γενομένους καὶ κοσμιωτέρους παρὰ πολὺ καὶ φαιδροτέρους καὶ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον εὐέλπιδας.
He seemed more closely related to Socrates, even if in outward appearance and ease of life he seemed to emulate the man of Sinope—not counterfeiting his way of living in order to be admired and stared at by those who met him, but living the same life as everyone, being simple and not in the least possessed by vanity, he associated and lived as a citizen with them, not admitting the irony of Socrates, but making his conversations full of Attic grace, so that those who associated with him departed neither looking down on him as vulgar nor fleeing from the gloominess of his rebukes, but being changed in every way by cheerfulness, and becoming far more orderly, brighter, and full of good hope for the future.
§7οὐδεπώποτε γοῦν ὤφθη κεκραγὼς ἢ ὑπερδιατεινόμενος ἢ ἀγανακτῶν, οὐδʼ εἰ ἐπιτιμᾶν τῳ δέοι, ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν ἁμαρτημάτων καθήπτετο, τοῖς δὲ ἁμαρτάνουσι συνεγίνωσκεν, καὶ τὸ παράδειγμα παρὰ τῶν ἰατρῶν ἠξίου λαμβάνειν τὰ μὲν νοσήματα ἰωμένων, ὀργῇ δὲ πρὸς τοὺς νοσοῦντας οὐ χρωμένων·
At any rate, he was never seen shouting or straining excessively or being angry, even if he had to rebuke someone; rather, he attacked the sins, but was forgiving toward the sinners, and thought it right to take the example from doctors, who cure diseases but do not use anger against the sick.
ἡγεῖτο γὰρ ἀνθρώπου μὲν εἶναι τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν, θεοῦ δὲ ἢ ἀνδρὸς ἰσοθέου τὰ πταισθέντα ἐπανορθοῦν.
For he believed that to err is human, but to correct the errors is the part of a god or of a god-like man.