§14ταῦτα ἔτι λεγούσης αὐτῆς οὐ περιμείνας ἐγὼ τὸ τέλος τῶν λόγων ἀναστὰς ἀπεφηνάμην, καὶ τὴν ἄμορφον ἐκείνην καὶ ἐργατικὴν ἀπολιπὼν μετέβαινον πρὸς τὴν Παιδείαν μάλα γεγηθώς, καὶ μάλιστα ἐπεί μοι καὶ εἰς νοῦν ἦλθεν ἡ σκυτάλη καὶ ὅτι πληγὰς εὐθὺς οὐκ ὀλίγας ἀρχομένῳ μοι χθὲς ἐνετρίψατο.
While she was still saying these things, I, not waiting for the end of her words, stood up and declared my choice, and leaving that shapeless and laboring woman behind, I went over to Education, rejoicing greatly, and especially since the stick came to my mind, and because she had immediately inflicted not a few blows on me yesterday when I was just beginning.
ἡ δὲ ἀπολειφθεῖσα τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἠγανάκτει καὶ τὼ χεῖρε συνεκρότει καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας συνέπριε· τέλος δέ, ὥσπερ τὴν Νιόβην ἀκούομεν, ἐπεπήγει καὶ εἰς λίθον μετεβέβλητο.
And she who was left behind at first was indignant and beat her hands together and gnashed her teeth; but at last, just as we hear of Niobe, she stiffened and was turned into stone.
εἰ δὲ παράδοξα ἔπαθε, μὴ ἀπιστήσητε· θαυματοποιοὶ γὰρ οἱ ὄνειροι.
If she suffered incredible things, do not disbelieve it; for dreams are wonder-workers.
§15ἡ ἑτέρα δὲ πρός με ἀπιδοῦσα,
τοιγαροῦν ἀμείψομαί σε,
ἔφη,
τῆσδε τῆς δικαιοσύνης, ὅτι καλῶς τὴν δίκην ἐδίκασας, καὶ ἐλθὲ ἤδη, ἐπίβηθι τούτου τοῦ ὀχήματος,
— δείξασά τι ὄχημα ὑποπτέρων ἵππων τινῶν τῷ Πηγάσῳ ἐοικότων —
ὅπως εἰδῇς οἷα καὶ ἡλίκα μὴ ἀκολουθήσας ἐμοὶ ἀγνοήσειν ἔμελλες. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀνῆλθον, ἡ μὲν ἤλαυνε καὶ ὑφηνιόχει, ἀρθεὶς δὲ εἰς ὕψος ἐγὼ ἐπεσκόπουν ἀπὸ τῆς ἕω ἀρξάμενος ἄχρι πρὸς τὰ ἑσπέρια πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη καὶ δήμους, καθάπερ ὁ Τριπτόλεμος ἀποσπείρων τι εἰς τὴν γῆν.
And the other, looking at me, said, "Therefore, I shall reward you for this justice, because you have judged the trial well; and come now, mount this chariot," — pointing to a certain chariot of winged horses resembling Pegasus — "so that you may know what kind of things and how great they are which, by not following me, you were going to remain ignorant of." And when I went up, she drove and guided the reins, and being raised to a height, I looked down, starting from the east even unto the west, upon cities and nations and peoples, just like Triptolemus sowing something upon the earth.
οὐκέτι μέντοι μέμνημαι ὅ τι τὸ σπειρόμενον ἐκεῖνο ἦν, πλὴν τοῦτο μόνον ὅτι κάτωθεν ἀφορῶντες ἄνθρωποι ἐπῄνουν καὶ μετʼ εὐφημίας καθʼ οὓς γενοίμην τῇ πτήσει παρέπεμπον.
However, I no longer remember what that sown thing was, except only this, that men looking up from below praised me and accompanied me with good wishes as I passed in flight.
§16δείξασα δέ μοι τὰ τοσαῦτα κἀμὲ τοῖς ἐπαινοῦσιν ἐκείνοις ἐπανήγαγεν αὖθις, οὐκέτι τὴν αὐτὴν ἐσθῆτα ἐκείνην ἐνδεδυκότα ἣν εἶχον ἀφιπτάμενος, ἀλλά μοι ἐδόκουν εὐπάρυφός τις ἐπανήκειν.
And having shown me so many things, she brought me back again to those praising me, no longer wearing that same clothing which I had when flying away, but I seemed to have returned as a wealthy man in a fine robe.
καταλαβοῦσα οὖν καὶ τὸν πατέρα ἑστῶτα καὶ περιμένοντα ἐδείκνυεν αὐτῷ ἐκείνη τὴν ἐσθῆτα κἀμέ, οἷος ἥκοιμι, καί τι καὶ ὑπέμνησεν οἷα μικροῦ δεῖν περὶ ἐμοῦ ἐβουλεύσαντο.
Finding, therefore, my father also standing and waiting, she showed him the clothing and myself, in what state I had returned, and also reminded him of what things they had almost decided about me.
ταῦτα μέμνημαι ἰδὼν ἀντίπαις ἔτι ὤν, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ἐκταραχθεὶς πρὸς τὸν τῶν πληγῶν φόβον.
These things I remember seeing while still a boy, thrown into confusion, as it seems to me, by the fear of the blows.
§17μεταξὺ δὲ λέγοντος,
Ἡράκλεις,
ἔφη τις,
ὡς μακρὸν τὸ ἐνύπνιον καὶ δικανικόν. εἶτʼ ἄλλος ὑπέκρουσε,
χειμερινὸς ὄνειρος, ὅτε μήκισταί εἰσιν αἱ νύκτες, ἢ τάχα που τριέσπερος, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἡρακλῆς, καὶ αὐτός ἐστι.
And while I was speaking, someone said, "By Heracles, how long the dream is, and judicial!" Then another interrupted, "A winter dream, when the nights are longest, or perhaps it is even three nights long, like Heracles.
τί δʼ οὖν ἐπῆλθεν αὐτῷ ληρῆσαι ταῦτα πρὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ μνησθῆναι παιδικῆς νυκτὸς καὶ ὀνείρων παλαιῶν καὶ γεγηρακότων;
But why did it occur to him to babble these things to us and to mention a night of childhood and dreams that are old and senile?
ἕωλος γὰρ ἡ ψυχρολογία.
For this cold talk is stale.
μὴ ὀνείρων τινὰς ὑποκριτὰς ἡμᾶς ὑπείληφεν; οὔκ, ὦγαθέ· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ Ξενοφῶν ποτε διηγούμενος τὸ ἐνύπνιον, ὡς ἐδόκει αὐτῷ κεραυνὸς ἐμπεσὼν καίειν τὴν πατρῴαν οἰκίαν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, — ἴστε γάρ — οὐχ ὑπόκρισιν τὴν ὄψιν οὐδʼ ὡς φλυαρεῖν ἐγνωκὼς αὐτὰ διεξῄει, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ ἀπογνώσει πραγμάτων, περιεστώτων πολεμίων, ἀλλά τι καὶ χρήσιμον εἶχεν ἡ διήγησις.
Has he supposed us to be some interpreters of dreams?" No, my good man; for neither did Xenophon once, in recounting his dream, how a thunderbolt seemed to fall upon and burn his father's house and the rest — for you know it — go through those details as if seeking an interpretation of the vision, nor as having resolved to talk nonsense, and that too in war and despair of affairs, with enemies surrounding them, but the narration also contained something useful.
§18καὶ τοίνυν κἀγὼ τοῦτον τὸν ὄνειρον ὑμῖν διηγησάμην ἐκείνου ἕνεκα, ὅπως οἱ νέοι πρὸς τὰ βελτίω τρέπωνται καὶ παιδείας ἔχωνται, καὶ μάλιστα εἴ τις αὐτῶν ὑπὸ πενίας ἐθελοκακεῖ καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἥττω ἀποκλίνει, φύσιν οὐκ ἀγεννῆ διαφθείρων.
And therefore I too recounted this dream to you for this sake, so that the young may turn toward the better things and hold fast to education, and ¦p.v.3.p.232 especially if any of them, through poverty, loses heart and inclines toward the inferior, destroying a not ignoble nature.
ἐπιρρωσθήσεται εὖ οἶδʼ ὅτι κἀκεῖνος ἀκούσας τοῦ μύθου, ἱκανὸν ἑαυτῷ παράδειγμα ἐμὲ προστησάμενος, ἐννοῶν οἷος μὲν ὢν πρὸς τὰ κάλλιστα ὥρμησα καὶ παιδείας ἐπεθύμησα, μηδὲν ἀποδειλιάσας πρὸς τὴν πενίαν τὴν τότε, οἷος δὲ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐπανελήλυθα, εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἄλλο, οὐδενὸς γοῦν τῶν λιθογλύφων ἀδοξότερος.
He too, I know well, will be strengthened upon hearing this story, setting me before himself as a sufficient example, reflecting on what kind of person I was when I rushed toward the most beautiful things and desired education, not shrinking at all before the poverty of that time, and what kind of person I have returned to you — even if nothing else, at least not more obscure than any of the sculptors.