§12χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον Νέανθον τὸν τοῦ Πιττακοῦ τοῦ τυράννου ταῦτα ὑπὲρ τῆς λύρας πυνθανόμενον, ὡς ἐκήλει μὲν θηρία καὶ φυτὰ καὶ λίθους, ἐμελῴδει δὲ καὶ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Ὀρφέως συμφορὰν μηδενὸς ἁπτομένου, εἰς ἔρωτα τοῦ κτήματος ἐμπεσεῖν καὶ διαφθείραντα τὸν ἱερέα μεγάλοις χρήμασι πεῖσαι ὑποθέντα ἑτέραν ὁμοίαν λύραν δοῦναι αὐτῷ τὴν τοῦ Ὀρφέως.
And they say that in later times Neanthus, the son of the tyrant Pittacus, hearing these things about the lyre, how it charmed wild beasts and plants and stones, and how it played melodies even after the disaster of Orpheus when no one touched it, fell into a longing for the possession, and having corrupted the priest with great sums of money, persuaded him to give him the lyre of Orpheus, putting another similar lyre in its place.
λαβόντα δὲ μεθʼ ἡμέραν μὲν ἐν τῇ πόλει χρῆσθαι οὐκ ἀσφαλὲς οἴεσθαι εἶναι, νύκτωρ δὲ ὑπὸ κόλπου ἔχοντα μόνον προελθεῖν εἰς τὸ προάστειον καὶ προχειρισάμενον κρούειν καὶ συνταράττειν τὰς χορδὰς ἄτεχνον καὶ ἄμουσον νεανίσκον, ἐλπίζοντα μέλη τινὰ θεσπέσια ὑπηχήσειν τὴν λύραν ὑφʼ ὧν πάντας καταθέλξειν καὶ κηλήσειν, καὶ ὅλως μακάριον ἔσεσθαι κληρονομήσαντα τῆς Ὀρφέως μουσικῆς· ἄχρι δὴ συνελθόντας τοὺς κύνας πρὸς τὸν ἦχον — πολλοὶ δὲ ἦσαν αὐτόθι — διασπάσασθαι αὐτόν, ὡς τοῦτο γοῦν ὅμοιον τῷ Ὀρφεῖ παθεῖν καὶ μόνους ἐφʼ ἑαυτὸν συγκαλέσαι τοὺς κύνας.
And having received it, he thought it was not safe to use it by day in the city, but by night, having it under his cloak, he went out alone into the suburb, and drawing it out, he began to strike and jumble the strings, being an unskilled and tuneless youth, hoping that the lyre would resound with some divine melodies by which he would soothe and charm everyone, and that he would be altogether blessed as the heir to the music of Orpheus; until the dogs, gathering together at the sound—and there were many of them there—tore him to pieces, so that he suffered this much, at least, similar to Orpheus, and called together only the dogs against himself.
ὅτεπερ καὶ σαφέστατα ὤφθη ὡς οὐχ ἡ λύρα ἡ θέλγουσα ἦν, ἀλλὰ ἡ τέχνη καὶ ἡ ᾠδή, ἃ μόνα ἐξαίρετα τῷ Ὀρφεῖ παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς ὑπῆρχεν· ἡ λύρα δὲ ἄλλως κτῆμα ἦν, οὐδὲν ἄμεινον τῶν ἄλλων βαρβίτων.
Whereupon it was most clearly seen that it was not the lyre that charmed, but the art and the song, which alone were uniquely present to Orpheus from his mother; whereas the lyre was otherwise just a possession, no better than any other barbitos.
§13καὶ τί σοι τὸν Ὀρφέα ἢ τὸν Νέανθον λέγω, ὅπου καὶ καθʼ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐγένετό τις καὶ ἔτι ἐστίν, οἶμαι, ὃς τὸν Ἐπικτήτου λύχνον τοῦ Στωϊκοῦ κεραμεοῦν ὄντα τρισχιλίων δραχμῶν ἐπρίατο;
And why do I speak to you of Orpheus or Neanthus, when even in our own time there was someone, and still is, I think, who bought the clay lamp of Epictetus the Stoic for three thousand drachmae?
ἤλπιζεν γὰρ οἶμαι κἀκεῖνος, εἰ τῶν νυκτῶν ὑπʼ ἐκείνῳ τῷ λύχνῳ ἀναγιγνώσκοι, αὐτίκα μάλα καὶ τὴν Ἐπικτήτου σοφίαν ὄναρ ἐπικτήσεσθαι καὶ ὅμοιος ἔσεσθαι τῷ θαυμαστῷ ἐκείνῳ γέροντι.
For he too, I suppose, hoped that if he read by that lamp at night, he would immediately acquire the wisdom of Epictetus in his dreams and be like that wonderful old man.
§14χθὲς δὲ καὶ πρῴην ἄλλος τις τὴν Πρωτέως τοῦ Κυνικοῦ βακτηρίαν, ἣν καταθέμενος ἥλατο εἰς τὸ πῦρ, ταλάντου κἀκεῖνος ἐπρίατο, καὶ ἔχει μὲν τὸ κειμήλιον τοῦτο καὶ δείκνυσιν ὡς Τεγεᾶται τοῦ Καλυδωνίου ὑὸς τὸ δέρμα καὶ Θηβαῖοι τὰ ὀστᾶ τοῦ Γηρυόνου καὶ Μεμφῖται τῆς Ἴσιδος τοὺς πλοκάμους·
And just the other day another man bought for a talent the staff of Proteus the Cynic, which he laid down before he leaped into the fire; and he possesses this treasure and displays it just as the Tegeans show the hide of the Calydonian boar, the Thebans the bones of Geryon, and the Memphites the tresses of Isis.
αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ τοῦ θαυμαστοῦ κτήματος δεσπότης καὶ αὐτὸν σὲ τῇ ἀπαιδευσίᾳ καὶ βδελυρίᾳ ὑπερηκόντισεν.
Yet the master of this wonderful possession himself surpasses even you in lack of education and abominable behavior.
ὁρᾷς ὅπως κακοδαιμόνως διάκειται, βακτηρίας εἰς τὴν κεφαλὴν ὡς ἀληθῶς δεόμενος.
You see what a wretched state he is in, truly standing in need of a staff upon his head.
§15λέγεται δὲ καὶ Διονύσιον τραγῳδίαν ποιεῖν φαύλως πάνυ καὶ γελοίως, ὥστε τὸν Φιλόξενον πολλάκις διʼ αὐτὴν εἰς τὰς λατομίας ἐμπεσεῖν οὐ δυνάμενον κατέχειν τὸν γέλωτα.
It is said also that Dionysius made tragedy very poorly and ridiculously, so that Philoxenus was often cast into the stone quarries on account of it, being unable to restrain his laughter.
οὗτος τοίνυν πυθόμενος ὡς ἐγγελᾶται, τὸ Αἰσχύλου πυξίον εἰς ὃ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραφε σὺν πολλῇ σπουδῇ κτησάμενος καὶ αὐτὸς ᾤετο ἔνθεος ἔσεσθαι καὶ κάτοχος ἐκ τοῦ πυξίου· ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκείνῳ μακρῷ γελοιότερα ἔγραφεν, οἷον κἀκεῖνο τό· "Δωρὶς τέθνηκεν ἡ Διονυσίου γυνή. "
καὶ πάλιν· "οἴμοι, γυναῖκα χρησίμην ἀπώλεσα. "
καὶ τοῦτο γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ πυξίου, καὶ τό· · "αὑτοῖς γὰρ ἐμπαίζουσιν οἱ μωροὶ βροτῶν. "
Τοῦτο μέν γε πρὸς σὲ μάλιστα εὐστόχως ἂν εἰρημένον εἴη τῷ Διονυσίῳ, καὶ διʼ αὐτὸ χρυσῶσαι αὐτοῦ ἔδει ἐκεῖνο τὸ πυξίον.
This man, therefore, learning that he was being laughed at, acquired with great zeal the writing tablet of Aeschylus, on which that poet used to write, and thought that he himself would be inspired and possessed by virtue of the tablet; but nevertheless, upon that very tablet he wrote things far more ridiculous, such as that line: "Doris is dead, the wife of Dionysius." And again: "Alas, I have lost a useful wife." For this too was from the tablet, and also: "For the foolish among mortals play tricks on themselves." This indeed might have been said by Dionysius most aptly to you, and for this very reason he ought to have gilded that writing tablet of his.
§16τίνα γὰρ ἐλπίδα καὶ αὐτὸς ἔχων εἰς τὰ βιβλία καὶ ἀνατυλίττεις ἀεὶ καὶ διακολλᾷς καὶ περικόπτεις καὶ ἀλείφεις τῷ κρόκῳ καὶ τῇ κέδρῳ καὶ διφθέρας περιβάλλεις καὶ ὀμφαλοὺς ἐντίθης, ὡς δή τι ἀπολαύσων αὐτῶν;
For what hope do you yourself have in books, that you are always unrolling them, gluing them together, trimming them, rubbing them with saffron and cedar oil, wrapping them in leather covers, and putting knobs on them, as if you were to get some benefit from them?
πάνυ γοῦν ἤδη βελτίων γεγένησαι διὰ τὴν ὠνήν, ὃς τοιαῦτα μὲν φθέγγῃ — μᾶλλον δὲ τῶν ἰχθύων ἀφωνότερος εἶ — βιοῖς δὲ ὡς οὐδʼ εἰπεῖν καλόν, μῖσος δὲ ἄγριον, φασί, παρὰ πάντων ἔχεις ἐπὶ τῇ βδελυρίᾳ· ὡς εἰ τοιούτους ἀπειργάζετο τὰ βιβλία, φυγῇ φευκτέον ἂν ἦν ὅτι πορρωτάτω ἀπʼ αὐτῶν.
At any rate, you have already become quite a better man through your purchasing, you who utter such things—or rather, you are more silent than fish—and live a life that is not even decent to mention, and have, as they say, a savage hatred from everyone for your abominable behavior; so that if books made such men, one would have to flee as far away from them as possible.
§17δυοῖν δὲ ὄντοιν ἅττʼ ἂν παρὰ τῶν παλαιῶν τις κτήσαιτο, λέγειν τε δύνασθαι καὶ πράττειν τὰ δέοντα ζήλῳ τῶν ἀρίστων καὶ φυγῇ τῶν χειρόνων, ὅταν μήτε ἐκεῖνα μήτε ταῦτα φαίνηταί τις παρʼ αὐτῶν ὠφελούμενος, τί ἄλλο ἢ τοῖς μυσὶ διατριβὰς ὠνεῖται καὶ ταῖς τίλφαις οἰκήσεις καὶ πληγὰς ὡς ἀμελοῦσι τοῖς οἰκέταις;
Now, since there are two things that one might acquire from the ancients, namely, the ability to speak and to act as one ought, through zeal for the best and flight from the worst, when someone appears to be benefited by them in neither of these ways, what else does he purchase but pastimes for mice, dwellings for moths, and beatings for his servants as they are negligent?