§7Μίκυλλος
πολύ, ὦ Πυθαγόρα, χρυσίον εἶδον, πολύ, πῶς οἴει καλὸν ἢ οἵαν τὴν αὐγὴν ἀπαστράπτον;
Micyllus I saw much gold, Pythagoras, much! How beautiful do you think it was, or what a splendid gleam it flashed?
τί ποτε ὁ Πίνδαρός φησι περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπαινῶν — ἀνάμνησον γάρ με, εἴπερ οἶσθα — ὁπότε ὕδωρ ἄριστον εἰπὼν εἶτα τὸ χρυσίον θαυμάζει, εὖ ποιῶν, ἐν ἀρχῇ εὐθὺς τοῦ καλλίστου τῶν ᾀσμάτων ἁπάντων;
What on earth does Pindar say about it in praise—remind me, if you know—when, having said that water is best, he then admires gold, doing so quite rightly, at the very beginning of the most beautiful of all songs?
Ἀλεκτρυών
μῶν ἐκεῖνο ζητεῖς,
"
ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ, ὁ δὲ χρυσὸς αἰθόμενον πῦρ
ἅτε διαπρέπει νυκτὶ μεγάνορος ἔξοχα πλούτου; "
Μίκυλλος
νὴ Δία αὐτὸ τοῦτο·
Cock Is it not that passage you are looking for, "Best indeed is water, but gold, like a burning fire, conspicuously shines in the night, far above proud wealth?" Micyllus By Zeus, that very one!
ὥσπερ γὰρ τοὐμὸν ἐνύπνιον ἰδὼν ὁ Πίνδαρος οὕτως ἐπαινεῖ τὸ χρυσίον.
For as if he had seen my dream, Pindar praises gold in that way.
ὡς δὲ ἤδη μάθῃς οἷόν τι ἦν, ἄκουσον, ὦ σοφώτατε ἀλεκτρυών.
But so that you may now learn what kind of thing it was, listen, O wisest cock.
ὅτι μὲν οὐκ οἰκόσιτος ἦν χθές, οἶσθα· Εὐκράτης γάρ με ὁ πλούσιος ἐντυχὼν ἐν ἀγορᾷ λουσάμενον ἥκειν ἐκέλευε τὴν ὥραν ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον.
That I was not dining at home yesterday, you know; for Eucrates the rich man, meeting me in the market-place, ordered me to come at the proper hour to dinner, after having bathed.
§8Ἀλεκτρυών
οἶδα πάνυ τοῦτο πεινήσας παρʼ ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, ἄχρι μοι βαθείας ἤδη ἑσπέρας ἧκες ὑποβεβρεγμένος τοὺς πέντε κυάμους ἐκείνους κομίζων, οὐ πάνυ δαψιλὲς τὸ δεῖπνον ἀλεκτρυόνι ἀθλητῇ ποτε γενομένῳ καὶ Ὀλύμπια οὐκ ἀφανῶς ἀγωνισαμένῳ.
Cock I know this very well, having starved through the whole day, until you came to me late in the evening, half-drunk, bringing those five beans—not a very lavish dinner for a cock who was once an athlete and competed not ingloriously in the Olympic Games.
Μίκυλλος
ἐπεὶ δὲ δειπνήσας ἐπανῆλθον, ἐκάθευδον εὐθὺς τοὺς κυάμους σοι παραβαλών, εἶτά μοι κατὰ τὸν Ὅμηρον
ἀμβροσίην διὰ νύκτα θεῖὸς
τις ὡς ἀληθῶς ὄνειρος ἐπιστὰς
Ἀλεκτρυών
τὰ παρὰ τῷ Εὐκράτει πρότερον, ὦ Μίκυλλε, διήγησαι, καὶ τὸ δεῖπνον οἷον ἐγένετο καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ συμποσίῳ πάντα· κωλύει γὰρ οὐδὲν αὖθίς σε δειπνεῖν ὥσπερ ὄνειρόν τινα τοῦ δείπνου ἐκείνου ἀναπλάττοντα καὶ ἀναμαρυκώμενον τῇ μνήμῃ τὰ βεβρωμένα.
Micyllus And when I had returned after dining, I slept immediately, after throwing the beans to you, and then, as Homer says, "through the ambrosial night, a divine dream truly standing over me—" Cock Relate first what happened at Eucrates' house, Micyllus, and what the dinner was like, and everything in the banquet; for nothing prevents you from dining again, as if fashioning some dream of that dinner and chewing the cud of what you ate in your memory.
§9Μίκυλλος
ὤιμην ἐνοχλήσειν καὶ ταῦτα διηγούμενος· ἐπεὶ δὲ σὺ προθυμῇ, καὶ δὴ λέγω.
Micyllus I thought I would trouble you by relating these things as well; but since you are eager, I will speak.
οὐ πρότερον, ὦ Πυθαγόρα, παρὰ πλουσίῳ τινὶ δειπνήσας ἐν ἅπαντι τῷ βίῳ, τύχῃ τινὶ ἀγαθῇ ἐντυγχάνω χθὲς τῷ Εὐκράτει, καὶ ἐγὼ μὲν προσειπὼν αὐτὸν ὥσπερ εἰώθειν δεσπότην ἀπηλλαττόμην, ὡς μὴ καταισχύναιμι αὐτὸν ἐν πενιχρῷ τῷ τρίβωνι συμπαρομαρτῶν, ὁ δέ,
Μίκυλλε,
φησί,
θυγατρὸς τήμερον ἑστιῶ γενέθλια καὶ παρεκάλεσα τῶν φίλων μάλα πολλούς· ἐπεὶ δέ τινά φασιν αὐτῶν μαλακῶς ἔχοντα οὐχ οἷόν τε εἶναι συνδειπνεῖν μεθʼ ἡμῶν, σὺ ἀντʼ ἐκείνου ἧκε λουσάμενος, ἢν μὴ ὅ γε κληθεὶς αὐτὸς εἴπῃ ἀφίξεσθαι, ὡς νῦν γε ἀμφίβολός ἐστιν. τοῦτο ἀκούσας ἐγὼ προσκυνήσας ἀπῄειν εὐχόμενος ἅπασι θεοῖς ἠπίαλόν τινα ἢ πλευρῖτιν ἢ ποδάγραν ἐπιπέμψαι τῷ μαλακιζομένῳ ἐκείνῳ οὗ ἔφεδρος ἐγὼ καὶ ἀντίδειπνος καὶ διάδοχος ἐκεκλήμην·
Never before in my whole life having dined at a rich man's house, by some good fortune I met Eucrates yesterday. And I, having addressed him as 'Master,' as I was accustomed to do, was departing so that I might not shame him by walking with him in my threadbare cloak; but he said: "Micyllus, today I am hosting a feast for my daughter's birthday and have invited very many of my friends; but since they say one of them is unwell and unable to dine with us, you come in his stead, after bathing, unless the invited guest himself says he will arrive, though for now he is doubtful." Having heard this, I did obeisance and departed, praying to all the gods to send some fever or pleurisy or gout upon that ailing man whose substitute, co-diner, and successor I had been called to be.
καὶ τὸ ἄχρι τοῦ λουτροῦ αἰῶνα μήκιστον ἐτιθέμην, συνεχὲς ἐπισκοπῶν ὁποσάπουν τὸ στοιχεῖον εἴη καὶ πηνίκα ἤδη λοῦσθαι δέοι.
And I considered the time until the bath to be an endless age, continually observing how many feet the shadow of the dial was and when it would be time to bathe.
κἀπειδή ποτε ὁ καιρὸς ἀφίκετο, πρὸς τάχος ἐμαυτὸν ἀπορρύψας ἄπειμι κοσμίως μάλα ἐσχηματισμένος, ἀναστρέψας τὸ τριβώνιον ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ καθαρωτέρου γένοιτο ἡ ἀναβολή·
And when at last the hour arrived, having washed myself in a hurry, I went, very decently arranged, having turned my cloak inside out so that the fold might be on the cleaner side.
§10Μίκυλλος
καταλαμβάνω τε πρὸς ταῖς θύραις ἄλλους τε πολλοὺς καὶ δὴ κἀκεῖνον φοράδην ὑπὸ τεττάρων κεκομισμένον, ᾧ με ὑποδειπνεῖν ἔδει, τὸν νοσεῖν λεγόμενον, καὶ ἐδήλου δὲ πονήρως ἔχων·
Micyllus And I met at the doors, among many others, indeed that very man carried in a litter by four, the one said to be sick, whom I was supposed to replace at dinner, and he showed that he was in a bad way.
ὑπέστενε γοῦν καὶ ὑπέβηττε καὶ ἐχρέμπτετο μύχιόν τι καὶ δυσπρόσοδον, ὠχρὸς ὅλος ὢν καὶ διῳδηκώς, ἀμφὶ τὰ ἑξήκοντα ἔτη σχεδόν·
For he groaned and coughed and spat up from the depths something unpleasant and offensive, being entirely pale and swollen, almost sixty years old.
ἐλέγετο δὲ φιλόσοφός τις εἶναι τῶν πρὸς τὰ μειράκια φλυαρούντων.
He was said to be some philosopher of those who babble to young men.
ὁ γοῦν πώγων μάλα τραγικὸς ἦν ἐς ὑπερβολὴν κουριῶν.
At any rate, his beard was extremely tragic, needing a haircut to excess.
καὶ αἰτιωμένου γε Ἀρχιβίου τοῦ ἰατροῦ διότι οὕτως ἔχων ἀφίκετο,
τὰ καθήκοντα,
ἔφη,
οὐ χρὴ προδιδόναι, καὶ ταῦτα φιλόσοφον ἄνδρα, κἂν μυρίαι νόσοι ἐμποδὼν ἱστῶνται· ἡγήσεται γὰρ Εὐκράτης ὑπερεωρᾶσθαι πρὸς ἡμῶν. οὐ μὲν οὖν,
εἶπον ἐγώ,
ἀλλʼ ἐπαινέσεταί σε, ἢν οἴκοι παρὰ σαυτῷ μᾶλλον ἀποθανεῖν ἐθέλῃς ἤπερ ἐν τῷ συμποσίῳ, συναναχρεμψάμενος τὴν ψυχὴν μετὰ τοῦ φλέγματος
ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὖν ὑπὸ μεγαλοφροσύνης οὐ προσεποιεῖτο ἀκηκοέναι τοῦ σκώμματος· ἐφίσταται δὲ μετὰ μικρὸν ὁ Εὐκράτης λελουμένος καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν Θεσμόπολιν — τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ φιλόσοφος ἐκαλεῖτο —
διδάσκαλε,
φησίν,
εὖ μὲν ἐποίησας αὐτὸς ἥκων παρʼ ἡμᾶς, οὐ μεῖον δʼ ἄν τί σοι ἐγένετο, καὶ ἀπόντι γὰρ ἅπαντα ἑξῆς ἀπέσταλτο ἄν· καὶ ἅμα λέγων εἰσῄει χειραγωγῶν τὸν Θεσμόπολιν ἐπερειδόμενον καὶ τοῖς οἰκέταις.
And when Archibius the physician blamed him because he had arrived in such a state, he said: "One must not betray duties, and that too a philosopher, even if ten thousand diseases stand in the way; for Eucrates will think he has been slighted by us." "No indeed," said I, "but he will praise you more if you prefer to die at home by yourself rather than at the banquet, spitting out your soul along with your phlegm." He indeed, out of high-mindedness, pretended not to have heard the jest; and after a little while Eucrates stood there, having bathed, and seeing Thesmopolis—for this was what the philosopher was called—he said: "Teacher, you did well to come to us yourself, but it would have been no less for you even if you were absent, for everything would have been sent to you in order." And as he spoke, he entered, leading by the hand Thesmopolis, who was also leaning on the servants.