§14Ἀγοράστης
ὢ τῆς ὕβρεως, οὐ παύσῃ γελῶν;
Buyer: What insolence! Won't you stop laughing?
σὺ δὲ τί κλάεις, ὦ βέλτιστε;
And you, my good man, why are you weeping?
πολὺ γὰρ οἶμαι κάλλιον σοὶ προσλαλεῖν.
For I think it is much better to speak with you.
Ἡράκλειτος
ἡγέομαι γάρ, ὦ ξεῖνε, τὰ ἀνθρωπήϊα πρήγματα ὀϊζυρὰ καὶ δακρυώδεα καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτέων ὅ τι μὴ ἐπικήριον·
Heraclitus: For I think, stranger, that human affairs are miserable and tearful, and there is nothing among them that is not subject to death; therefore I pity them and lament.
τὸ δὴ οἰκτείρω τε σφέας καὶ ὀδύρομαι, καὶ τὰ μὲν παρεόντα οὐ δοκέω μεγάλα, τὰ δὲ ὑστέρῳ χρόνῳ ἐσόμενα πάμπαν ἀνιηρά, λέγω δὲ τὰς ἐκπυρώσιας καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὅλου συμφορήν·
And the present things I do not think great, and those that will be in a future time altogether grievous—I mean the conflagrations and the ruin of the universe.
ταῦτα ὀδύρομαι καὶ ὅτι ἔμπεδον οὐδέν, ἀλλʼ ὅκως ἐς κυκεῶνα τὰ πάντα συνειλέονται καί ἐστι τὠυτὸ τέρψις ἀτερψίη, γνῶσις ἀγνωσίη, μέγα μικρόν, ἄνω κάτω περιχωρέοντα καὶ ἀμειβόμενα ἐν τῇ τοῦ αἰῶνος παιδιῇ.
These things I lament, and also that nothing is stable, but all things are stirred together as into a barley-drink (kykeon), and the same is pleasure and pain, knowledge and ignorance, great and small, moving up and down and exchanging places in the play of Time.
Ἀγοράστης
τί γὰρ ὁ αἰών ἐστι;
Buyer: What then is Time?
Ἡράκλειτος
παῖς παίζων, πεσσεύων, διαφερόμενος, συμφερόμενος.
Heraclitus: A child playing, throwing dice, differing, agreeing.
Ἀγοράστης
τί δὲ ἄνθρωποι;
Buyer: And what are men?
Ἡράκλειτος
θεοὶ θνητοί.
Heraclitus: Mortal gods.
Ἀγοράστης
τί δὲ θεοί;
Buyer: And what are gods?
Ἡράκλειτος
ἄνθρωποι ἀθάνατοι.
Heraclitus: Immortal men.
Ἀγοράστης
αἰνίγματα λέγεις, ὦ οὗτος, ἢ γρίφους συντίθης;
Buyer: Are you speaking riddles, you there, or composing puzzles?
ἀτεχνῶς γὰρ ὥσπερ ὁ Λοξίας οὐδὲν ἀποσαφεῖς.
For absolutely like Loxias, you clear up nothing.
Ἡράκλειτος
οὐδὲν γάρ μοι μέλει ὑμέων.
Heraclitus: For I care nothing for you.
Ἀγοράστης
τοιγαροῦν οὐδὲ ὠνήσεταί σέ τις εὖ φρονῶν.
Buyer: Therefore, no one in his right mind will buy you.
Ἡράκλειτος
ἐγὼ δὲ κέλομαι πᾶσιν ἡβηδὸν οἰμώζειν, τοῖσιν ὠνεομένοισι καὶ τοῖσιν οὐκ ὠνεομένοισι.
Heraclitus: But I bid all, from youth upward, to wail, both those who buy and those who do not buy.
Ἀγοράστης
τουτὶ τὸ κακὸν οὐ πόρρω μελαγχολίας ἐστίν· οὐδέτερον δὲ ὅμως αὐτῶν ἔγωγε ὠνήσομαι.
Buyer: This evil is not far from melancholy; however, I at least will buy neither of them.
Ἑρμῆς
ἄπρατοι καὶ οὗτοι μένουσιν.
Hermes: These also remain unsold.
Ζεύς
ἄλλον ἀποκήρυττε.
Zeus: Offer another for sale.
§15Ἑρμῆς
βούλει τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ἐκεῖνον, τὸν στωμύλον;
Hermes: Do you want that Athenian, the talkative one?
Ζεύς
πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
Zeus: By all means.
Ἑρμῆς
δεῦρο ἐλθὲ σύ.
Hermes: Come here, you.
βίον ἀγαθὸν καὶ συνετὸν ἀποκηρύττομεν.
We offer for sale a good and wise life.
τίς ὠνεῖται τὸν ἱερώτατον;
Who will buy the most sacred one?
Ἀγοράστης
εἰπέ μοι, τί μάλιστα εἰδὼς τυγχάνεις;
Buyer: Tell me, what do you happen to know best?
Σωκράτης
παιδεραστής εἰμι καὶ σοφὸς τὰ ἐρωτικά.
Socrates: I am a lover of boys, and wise in matters of love.
Ἀγοράστης
πῶς οὖν ἐγὼ πρίωμαί σε;
Buyer: How then should I buy you?
παιδαγωγοῦ γὰρ ἐδεόμην τῷ παιδὶ καλῷ ὄντι μοι.
For I was in need of a tutor (paidagogos) for my beautiful boy.
Σωκράτης
τίς δʼ ἂν ἐπιτηδειότερος ἐμοῦ γένοιτο συνεῖναι καλῷ;
Socrates: And who could be more suitable than I to be with a beautiful one?
καὶ γὰρ οὐ τῶν σωμάτων ἐραστής εἰμι, τὴν ψυχὴν δὲ ἡγοῦμαι καλήν.
For I am not a lover of their bodies, but I consider their soul beautiful.
ἀμέλει κἂν ὑπὸ ταὐτὸν ἱμάτιόν μοι κατακέωνται, ἀκούσει αὐτῶν λεγόντων μηδὲν ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ δεινὸν παθεῖν.
At any rate, even if they lie down under the same cloak (himation) with me, you will hear them say that they suffered nothing terrible from me.
Ἀγοράστης
ἄπιστα λέγεις, τὸ παιδεραστὴν ὄντα μὴ πέρα τῆς ψυχῆς πολυπραγμονεῖν, καὶ ταῦτα ἐπʼ ἐξουσίας, ὑπὸ τῷ αὐτῷ ἱματίῳ κατακείμενον.
Buyer: You speak incredible things, that being a lover of boys you do not busy yourself beyond the soul, and that too when you have opportunity, lying under the same cloak.
§16Σωκράτης
καὶ μὴν ὀμνύω γέ σοι τὸν κύνα καὶ τὴν πλάτανον οὕτω ταῦτα ἔχειν.
Socrates: And yet I swear to you by the dog and the plane-tree that this is so.
Ἀγοράστης
Ἡράκλεις τῆς ἀτοπίας τῶν θεῶν.
Buyer: Heracles, what strange gods!
Σωκράτης
τί σὺ λέγεις;
Socrates: What do you say?
οὐ δοκεῖ σοι ὁ κύων εἶναι θεός;
Do you not think the dog is a god?
οὐχ ὁρᾷς τὸν Ἄνουβιν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ὅσος; καὶ τὸν ἐν οὐρανῷ Σείριον καὶ τὸν παρὰ τοῖς κάτω Κέρβερον;
Do you not see how great Anubis is in Egypt, and Sirius in heaven, and Cerberus among those below?
§17Ἀγοράστης
Εὖ λέγεις, ἐγὼ δὲ διημάρτανον.
Buyer: You speak well, and I was mistaken.
ἀλλὰ τίνα βιοῖς τὸν τρόπον;
But in what manner do you live?
Σωκράτης
οἰκῶ μὲν ἐμαυτῷ τινα πόλιν ἀναπλάσας, χρῶμαι δὲ πολιτείᾳ ξένῃ καὶ νόμους νομίζω τοὺς ἐμούς.
Socrates: I dwell in a city I have fashioned for myself, and I make use of a foreign constitution, and I regard my own laws as the laws.
Ἀγοράστης
ἓν ἐβουλόμην ἀκοῦσαι τῶν δογμάτων.
Buyer: I should like to hear one of your dogmas.
Σωκράτης
ἄκουε δὴ τὸ μέγιστον, ὃ περὶ τῶν γυναικῶν μοι δοκεῖ· μηδεμίαν αὐτῶν μηδενὸς εἶναι μόνου, παντὶ δὲ μετεῖναι τῷ βουλομένῳ τοῦ γάμου.
Socrates: Hear then the greatest, which I think concerning women: that none of them belong to any one man alone, but that marriage be shared by everyone who wishes.
Ἀγοράστης
τοῦτο φής, ἀνῃρῆσθαι τοὺς περὶ μοιχείας νόμους;
Buyer: Do you say this, that the laws concerning adultery are abolished?
Σωκράτης
νὴ Δία, καὶ ἁπλῶς γε πᾶσαν τὴν περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μικρολογίαν.
Socrates: Yes, by Zeus, and in short, all the hair-splitting concerning such matters.
Ἀγοράστης
τί δὲ περὶ τῶν ἐν ὥρᾳ παίδων σοι δοκεῖ;
Buyer: And what do you think concerning boys in their prime?
Σωκράτης
καὶ οὗτοι ἔσονται τοῖς ἀρίστοις ἆθλον φιλῆσαι λαμπρόν τι καὶ νεανικὸν ἐργασαμένοις.
Socrates: These also shall be a prize for the best, who have performed some brilliant and youthful deed: to kiss them.
§18Ἀγοράστης
βαβαὶ τῆς φιλοδωρίας. τῆς δὲ σοφίας τί σοι τὸ κεφάλαιον;
Buyer: My word (babai), what generosity!
Σωκράτης
αἱ ἰδέαι καὶ τὰ τῶν ὄντων παραδείγματα·
And what is the sum of your wisdom?
ὁπόσα γὰρ δὴ ὁρᾷς, τὴν γῆν, τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς, τὸν οὐρανόν, τὴν θάλατταν, ἁπάντων τούτων εἰκόνες ἀφανεῖς ἑστᾶσιν ἔξω τῶν ὅλων.
Socrates: The Ideas (ideai) and the archetypes (paradeigmata) of existing things; for as many things as you see—the earth, things on earth, the heaven, the sea—invisible images (eikones) of all these stand outside the universe.
Ἀγοράστης
ποῦ δὲ ἑστᾶσιν;
Buyer: And where do they stand?
Σωκράτης
οὐδαμοῦ· εἰ γάρ που εἶεν, οὐκ ἂν εἶεν.
Socrates: Nowhere; for if they were somewhere, they would not exist.
Ἀγοράστης
οὐχ ὁρῶ ταῦθʼ ἅπερ λέγεις τὰ παραδείγματα.
Buyer: I do not see these archetypes of which you speak.
Σωκράτης
εἰκότως· τυφλὸς γὰρ εἶ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸν ὀφθαλμόν.
Socrates: Naturally, for you are blind in the eye of your soul.
ἐγὼ δὲ πάντων ὁρῶ εἰκόνας καὶ σὲ ἀφανῆ κἀμὲ ἄλλον, καὶ ὅλως διπλᾶ πάντα.
But I see the images of all things, and an invisible you, and another me, and in short, everything is double.
Ἀγοράστης
τοιγαροῦν ὠνητέος εἶ σοφὸς καὶ ὀξυδερκής τις ὤν.
Buyer: Therefore you must be bought, being wise and sharp-sighted.
φέρε ἴδω τί καὶ πράξεις με ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ σύ;
Come, let me see, what will you charge me for him?
Ἑρμῆς
δὸς δύο τάλαντα.
Hermes: Give me two talents.
Ἀγοράστης
Ὠνησάμην ὅσου φής. τἀργύριον μέντοι εἰς αὖθις καταβαλῶ.
Buyer: I have bought him for the price you say; however, I will pay the money later.