§33Παρρησιάδης
ταῦτα οὐκ ἤνεγκα ὁρῶν ἔγωγε, ἀλλʼ ἤλεγχον αὐτοὺς καὶ διέκρινον ἀφʼ ὑμῶν· ὑμεῖς δέ, τιμᾶν ἐπὶ τούτοις δέον, εἰς δικαστήριόν με ἄγετε.
Parresiades I, for one, could not bear to see these things, but I refuted them and distinguished them from you; yet you, when you ought to honor me for this, bring me to court.
οὐκοῦν ἤν τινα καὶ τῶν μεμυημένων ἰδὼν ἐξαγορεύοντα ταῖν θεαῖν τὰ ἀπόρρητα καὶ ἐξορχούμενον ἀγανακτήσω καὶ διελέγξω, ἐμὲ τὸν ἀσεβοῦντα ἡγήσεσθε εἶναι;
If, then, I see one of the initiated revealing the secrets of the two Goddesses and dancing them away, and if I am indignant and expose him, will you think that I am the impious one?
ἀλλʼ οὐ δίκαιον.
But that is not just.
ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ ἀθλοθέται μαστιγοῦν εἰώθασιν, ἤν τις ὑποκριτὴς Ἀθηνᾶν ἢ Ποσειδῶνα ἢ τὸν Δία ὑποδεδυκὼς μὴ καλῶς ὑποκρίνηται μηδὲ κατʼ ἀξίαν τῶν θεῶν, καὶ οὐ δή που ὀργίζονται αὐτοῖς ἐκεῖνοι, διότι τὸν περικείμενον αὐτῶν τὰ προσωπεῖα καὶ τὸ σχῆμα ἐνδεδυκότα ἐπέτρεψαν παίειν τοῖς μαστιγοφόροις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἥδοιντʼ ἄν, οἶμαι, μᾶλλον μαστιγουμένῳ· οἰκέτην μὲν γάρ τινα ἢ ἄγγελον μὴ δεξιῶς ὑποκρίνασθαι μικρὸν τὸ πταῖσμα, τὸν Δία δὲ ἢ τὸν Ἡρακλέα μὴ κατʼ ἀξίαν ἐπιδείξασθαι τοῖς θεαταῖς, ἀποτρόπαιον ὡς αἰσχρόν.
For even the stewards of the games are accustomed to scourge an actor, if anyone who has taken the role of Athena or Poseidon or Zeus does not act well or in a manner worthy of the gods, and surely those gods are not angry with them because they permitted the whip-bearers to strike the one who wore their masks and was dressed in their attire, but on the contrary, I think, they would rather be pleased at his being scourged; for to act a servant or a messenger clumsily is a small slip, but to exhibit Zeus or Heracles to the spectators unworthily is monstrously shameful.
§34Παρρησιάδης
καὶ γὰρ αὖ καὶ τόδε πάντων ἀτοπώτατόν ἐστιν, ὅτι τοὺς μὲν λόγους ὑμῶν πάνυ ἀκριβοῦσιν οἱ πολλοὶ αὐτῶν, καθάπερ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦτο μόνον ἀναγιγνώσκοντες αὐτοὺς καὶ μελετῶντες, ὡς τἀναντία ἐπιτηδεύοιεν, οὕτως βιοῦσιν.
Parresiades For, moreover, this is the most absurd of all, that most of them study your words very precisely, but they live as though they read and study them for this purpose alone, namely, to practice the opposite.
τὸ μὲν γὰρ βιβλίον χρημάτων φησὶ δεῖν καταφρονεῖν καὶ δόξης καὶ μόνον τὸ καλὸν ἀγαθὸν οἴεσθαι καὶ ἀόργητον εἶναι καὶ τῶν λαμπρῶν τούτων ὑπερορᾶν καὶ ἐξ ἰσοτιμίας αὐτοῖς διαλέγεσθαι, καλά, ὦ θεοί, καὶ σοφὰ καὶ θαυμάσια λέγον ὡς ἀληθῶς. οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτὰ ταῦτα ἐπὶ μισθῷ διδάσκουσιν καὶ τοὺς πλουσίους τεθήπασιν καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀργύριον κεχήνασιν, ὀργιλώτεροι μὲν τῶν κυνιδίων ὄντες, δειλότεροι δὲ τῶν λαγωῶν, κολακικώτεροι δὲ τῶν πιθήκων, ἀσελγέστεροι δὲ τῶν ὄνων, ἁρπακτικώτεροι δὲ τῶν γαλῶν, φιλονεικότεροι δὲ τῶν ἀλεκτρυόνων.
For while the book says that one must despise money and reputation, and think that only the honorable is good, and be free from anger, and look down on these splendid things and speak to them on equal terms—saying things that are truly, O gods, beautiful and wise and wonderful—they teach these very things for a fee, and gawk at the rich, and gape after money, being more wrathful than little dogs, more cowardly than hares, more fawning than apes, more licentious than donkeys, more rapacious than weasels, and more quarrelsome than cocks.
τοιγαροῦν γέλωτα ὀφλισκάνουσιν ὠθιζόμενοι ἐπʼ αὐτὰ καὶ περὶ τὰς τῶν πλουσίων πυλῶνας ἀλλήλους παραγκωνιζόμενοι καὶ δεῖπνα πολυάνθρωπα δειπνοῦντες καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τούτοις ἐπαινοῦντες φορτικῶς καὶ πέρα τοῦ καλῶς ἔχοντος ἐμφορούμενοι καὶ μεμψίμοιροι φαινόμενοι καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κύλικος ἀτερπῆ καὶ ἀπῳδὰ φιλοσοφοῦντες καὶ τὸν ἄκρατον οὐ φέροντες· οἱ ἰδιῶται δὲ ὁπόσοι πάρεισιν, γελῶσι δηλαδὴ καὶ καταπτύουσιν φιλοσοφίας, εἰ τοιαῦτα καθάρματα ἐκτρέφει.
Therefore they incur laughter, pushing for these things and elbowing one another around the gates of the rich, and dining at crowded banquets, and in these very banquets praising vulgarly, and stuffing themselves beyond what is proper, and appearing discontented, and over the cup philosophizing on unpleasing and discordant matters, and not bearing the unmixed wine; and the laymen, as many as are present, naturally laugh and spit upon philosophy, if it rears such scum.
§35Παρρησιάδης
τὸ δὲ πάντων αἴσχιστον, ὅτι μηδενὸς δεῖσθαι λέγων ἕκαστος αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ μόνον πλούσιον εἶναι τὸν σοφὸν κεκραγὼς μικρὸν ὕστερον προσελθὼν αἰτεῖ καὶ ἀγανακτεῖ μὴ λαβών, ὅμοιον ὡς εἴ τις ἐν βασιλικῷ σχήματι ὀρθὴν τιάραν ἔχων καὶ διάδημα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα βασιλείας γνωρίσματα προσαιτοίη τῶν ὑποδεεστέρων δεόμενος.
Parresiades And the most shameful of all is that, while each of them says he needs nothing, but shouts out that only the wise man is rich, a little later he comes and begs, and is indignant if he does not receive; just as if someone in royal attire, having an upright tiara and a diadem and all the other insignia of royalty, should beg, asking from his inferiors.
ὅταν μὲν οὖν λαβεῖν αὐτοὺς δέῃ, πολὺς ὁ περὶ τοῦ κοινωνικὸν εἶναι δεῖν λόγος καὶ ὡς ἀδιάφορον ὁ πλοῦτος καί,
τί γὰρ τὸ χρυσίον ἢ τἀργύριον, οὐδὲν τῶν ἐν τοῖς αἰγιαλοῖς ψήφων διαφέρον; ὅταν δέ τις ἐπικουρίας δεόμενος ἑταῖρος ἐκ παλαιοῦ καὶ φίλος ἀπὸ πολλῶν ὀλίγα αἰτῇ προσελθών, σιωπὴ καὶ ἀπορία καὶ ἀμαθία καὶ παλινῳδία τῶν δογμάτων πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον· οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ περὶ φιλίας ἐκεῖνοι λόγοι καὶ ἡ ἀρετὴ καὶ τὸ καλὸν οὐκ οἶδα ὅποι ποτὲ οἴχεται ταῦτα ἀποπτάμενα πάντα, πτερόεντα ὡς ἀληθῶς ἔπη, μάτην ὁσημέραι πρὸς αὐτῶν ἐν ταῖς διατριβαῖς σκιαμαχούμενα.
Whenever, therefore, they must receive, there is much talk about the necessity of being cooperative, and how wealth is an indifferent thing, and: "For what is gold or silver, differing not at all from the pebbles on the shores?" But when some long-standing companion and friend, needing help, comes and asks for a few things out of many, there is silence and perplexity and ignorance and a recantation of their doctrines to the contrary; and those many discourses about friendship and virtue and the honorable—I do not know where they have gone, all flown away, truly "winged words," fought over in vain every day by them in their discussions like shadow-boxing.
§36Παρρησιάδης
μέχρι γὰρ τούτου φίλος ἕκαστος αὐτῶν, εἰς ὅσον ἂν μὴ ἀργύριον ἢ χρυσίον ᾖ προκείμενον ἐν τῷ μέσῳ·
Parresiades For each of them is a friend up to this point, so long as no silver or gold lies exposed in the midst.
ἢν δέ τις ὀβολὸν ἐπιδείξῃ μόνον, λέλυται μὲν ἡ εἰρήνη, ἄσπονδα δὲ κἀκήρυκτα πάντα, καὶ τὰ βιβλία ἐξαλήλιπται καὶ ἡ ἀρετὴ πέφευγεν.
But if someone only shows an obol, the peace is dissolved, and everything is without truce and without herald, and the books are effaced, and virtue has fled.
οἷόν τι καὶ οἱ κύνες πάσχουσιν ἐπειδάν τις ὀστοῦν εἰς μέσους αὐτοὺς ἐμβάλῃ· ἀναπηδήσαντες δάκνουσιν ἀλλήλους καὶ τὸν προαρπάσαντα τὸ ὀστοῦν ὑλακτοῦσιν.
Just like what dogs suffer whenever someone throws a bone into their midst; leaping up, they bite one another and bark at the one who snatched the bone first.
λέγεται δὲ καὶ βασιλεύς τις Αἰγύπτιος πιθήκους ποτὲ πυρριχίζειν διδάξαι καὶ τὰ θηρία — μιμηλότατα δέ ἐστι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων — ἐκμαθεῖν τάχιστα καὶ ὀρχεῖσθαι ἁλουργίδας ἀμπεχόμενα καὶ προσωπεῖα περικείμενα, καὶ μέχρι γε πολλοῦ εὐδοκιμεῖν τὴν θέαν, ἄχρι δὴ θεατής τις ἀστεῖος κάρυα ὑπὸ κόλπου ἔχων ἀφῆκεν εἰς τὸ μέσον·
And it is said that a certain Egyptian king once taught apes to dance the pyrrhic dance, and the beasts—which are most imitative of human ways—learned very quickly and danced, clad in purple robes and wearing masks, and for a long time indeed the spectacle was highly esteemed, until a witty spectator, having nuts under his cloak, threw them into their midst.
οἱ δὲ πίθηκοι ἰδόντες καὶ ἐκλαθόμενοι τῆς ὀρχήσεως, τοῦθʼ ὅπερ ἦσαν, πίθηκοι ἐγένοντο ἀντὶ πυρριχιστῶν καὶ συνέτριβον τὰ προσωπεῖα καὶ τὴν ἐσθῆτα κατερρήγνυον καὶ ἐμάχοντο περὶ τῆς ὀπώρας πρὸς ἀλλήλους, τὸ δὲ σύνταγμα τῆς πυρρίχης διελέλυτο καὶ κατεγελᾶτο ὑπὸ τοῦ θεάτρου.
And the apes, seeing them and forgetting the dance, became what they were, apes instead of pyrrhic dancers, and crushed their masks, and tore their clothing, and fought with one another for the fruit; and the arrangement of the pyrrhic dance was dissolved, and was laughed down by the theater.