§24εἶτʼ, ὦ κάθαρμα, φαίην ἄν, καὶ μάλιστα πρὸς τὸν φιλοσοφεῖν φάσκοντα, εἰ μέν σέ τις ἢ πλέοντα καταποντιστὴς συλλαβὼν ἢ λῃστὴς ἀπεδίδοτο, ᾤκτειρες ἂν σεαυτὸν ὡς παρὰ τὴν ἀξίαν δυστυχοῦντα, ἢ εἴ τίς σου λαβόμενος ἦγε δοῦλον εἶναι λέγων, ἐβόας ἂν τοὺς νόμους καὶ δεινὰ ἐποίεις καὶ ἠγανάκτεις καί,
Ὦ γῆ καὶ θεοί,
μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ ἐκεκράγεις ἄν, σεαυτὸν δὲ ὀλίγων ἕνεκα ὀβολῶν ἐν τούτῳ τῆς ἡλικίας, ὅτε καὶ εἰ φύσει δοῦλος ἦσθα, καιρὸς ἦν πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν ἤδη ὁρᾶν, αὐτῇ ἀρετῇ καὶ σοφίᾳ φέρων ἀπημπόληκας, οὐδὲ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐκείνους λόγους αἰδεσθεὶς οὓς ὁ καλὸς Πλάτων ἢ ὁ Χρύσιππος ἢ Ἀριστοτέλης διεξεληλύθασι τὸ μὲν ἐλευθέριον ἐπαινοῦντες, τὸ δουλοπρεπὲς δὲ διαβάλλοντες;
Then, you scoundrel, I would say, and especially to the one who claims to practice philosophy: if some pirate or robber had seized you while sailing and sold you, you would have pitied yourself as suffering misfortune contrary to your desert; or if someone had laid hold of you and dragged you off, saying you were a slave, you would have cried out to the laws, raised an outcry, and been indignant, and would have screamed with a loud voice, "O earth and gods!" Yet you have sold yourself for a few obols at this time of life—when, even if you were a slave by nature, it was time to look toward freedom—bringing along your virtue and wisdom themselves to be sold, not even feeling shame before those many arguments which the noble Plato or Chrysippus or Aristotle have gone through, praising the liberal and disparaging the slavish.
καὶ οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ κόλαξιν ἀνθρώποις καὶ ἀγοραίοις καὶ βωμολόχοις ἀντεξεταζόμενος καὶ ἐν τοσούτῳ πλήθει Ῥωμαϊκῷ μόνος ξενίζων τῷ τρίβωνι καὶ πονηρῶς τὴν Ῥωμαίων φωνὴν βαρβαρίζων, εἶτα δειπνῶν δεῖπνα θορυβώδη καὶ πολυάνθρωπα συγκλύδων τινῶν καὶ τῶν πλείστων μοχθηρῶν;
And are you not ashamed to be compared with flatterers and market-place fellows and buffoons, and in such a Roman multitude to be the only one looking strange in your philosopher's cloak, and barbarizing the tongue of the Romans wretchedly, and then dining at noisy and crowded dinners of a rabble of people, most of them wretched?
καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐπαινεῖς φορτικῶς καὶ πίνεις πέρα τοῦ μετρίως ἔχοντος.
And at these you praise vulgarly and drink beyond moderation.
ἕωθέν τε ὑπὸ κώδωνι ἐξαναστὰς ἀποσεισάμενος τοῦ ὕπνου τὸ ἥδιστον συμπεριθεῖς ἄνω καὶ κάτω ἔτι τὸν χθιζὸν ἔχων πηλὸν ἐπὶ τοῖν σκελοῖν.
And in the morning, having risen at the sound of a bell, shaking off the sweetest part of sleep, you run about up and down with yesterday's mud still on your legs.
οὕτως ἀπορία μέν σε θέρμων ἔσχεν ἢ τῶν ἀγρίων λαχάνων, ἐπέλιπον δὲ καὶ αἱ κρῆναι ῥέουσαι τοῦ ψυχροῦ ὕδατος, ὡς ἐπὶ ταῦτά σε ὑπʼ ἀμηχανίας ἐλθεῖν;
Did such a scarcity of lupines or wild herbs possess you, and did the springs flowing with cold water fail, so that you came to this out of helplessness?
ἀλλὰ δῆλον ὡς οὐχ ὕδατος οὐδὲ θέρμων, ἀλλὰ πεμμάτων καὶ ὄψου καὶ οἴνου ἀνθοσμίου ἐπιθυμῶν ἑάλως, καθάπερ ὁ λάβραξ αὐτὸν μάλα δικαίως τὸν ὀρεγόμενον τούτων λαιμὸν διαπαρείς.
But it is clear that, desiring not water nor lupines, but cakes and rich dishes and fragrant wine, you were caught, just like the bass, very justly having your throat, which yearned for these things, pierced through.
παρὰ πόδας τοιγαροῦν τῆς λιχνείας ταύτης τἀπίχειρα, καὶ ὥσπερ οἱ πίθηκοι δεθεὶς κλοιῷ τὸν τράχηλον ἄλλοις μὲν γέλωτα παρέχεις, σεαυτῷ δὲ δοκεῖς τρυφᾶν, ὅτι ἔστι σοι τῶν ἰσχάδων ἀφθόνως ἐντραγεῖν.
Therefore, the wages of this greediness are close at hand, and like monkeys with a collar bound around your neck, you afford laughter to others, while to yourself you seem to live in luxury, because you can munch on dried figs without stint.
ἡ δὲ ἐλευθερία καὶ τὸ εὐγενὲς αὐτοῖς φυλέταις καὶ φράτερσι φροῦδα πάντα καὶ οὐδὲ μνήμη τις αὐτῶν.
But freedom and nobility, along with fellow tribesmen and clansmen themselves, are all gone, and not even a memory of them remains.
§25καὶ ἀγαπητὸν εἰ μόνον τὸ αἰσχρὸν προσῆν τῷ πράγματι, δοῦλον ἀντʼ ἐλευθέρου δοκεῖν, οἱ δὲ πόνοι μὴ κατὰ τοὺς πάνυ τούτους οἰκέτας.
And it would be acceptable if only the shame were attached to the matter—to seem a slave instead of a free man—and the labors were not like those of these actual servants.
ἀλλʼ ὅρα εἰ μετριώτερά σοι προστέτακται τῶν Δρόμωνι καὶ Τιβείῳ προστεταγμένων.
But see if more moderate tasks are enjoined upon you than those enjoined upon Dromon and Tibius.
ὧν μὲν γὰρ ἕνεκα, τῶν μαθημάτων ἐπιθυμεῖν φήσας, παρείληφέ σε, ὀλίγον αὐτῷ μέλει.
For as to the reasons for which he took you on, claiming to desire learning, he cares little.
τί γὰρ κοινόν,
φασί,
λύρᾳ καὶ ὄνῳ; πάνυ γοῦν, — οὐχ ὁρᾷς;
For "what is there in common," as they say, "between a lyre and an ass?" Indeed—do you not see?—they are quite wasted away with longing for Homer's wisdom or Demosthenes' skill or Plato's high-mindedness!
— ἐκτετήκασι τῷ πόθῳ τῆς Ὁμήρου σοφίας ἢ τῆς Δημοσθένους δεινότητος ἢ τῆς Πλάτωνος μεγαλοφροσύνης, ὧν ἤν τις ἐκ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀφέλῃ τὸ χρυσίον καὶ τὸ ἀργύριον καὶ τὰς περὶ τούτων φροντίδας, τὸ καταλειπόμενόν ἐστι τῦφος καὶ μαλακία καὶ ἡδυπάθεια καὶ ἀσέλγεια καὶ ὕβρις καὶ ἀπαιδευσία.
Yet if one takes away from their souls the gold and silver and the cares about them, what is left is vanity, softness, luxury, licentiousness, insolence, and ignorance.
δεῖται δή σου ἐπʼ ἐκεῖνα μὲν οὐδαμῶς, ἐπεὶ δὲ πώγωνα ἔχεις βαθὺν καὶ σεμνός τις εἶ τὴν πρόσοψιν καὶ ἱμάτιον Ἑλληνικὸν εὐσταλῶς περιβέβλησαι καὶ πάντες ἴσασί σε γραμματικὸν ἢ ῥήτορα ἢ φιλόσοφον, καλὸν αὐτῷ δοκεῖ ἀναμεμῖχθαι καὶ τοιοῦτόν τινα τοῖς προϊοῦσι καὶ προπομπεύουσιν αὐτοῦ·
He has indeed no need of you for those things; but since you have a deep beard and are solemn in appearance, and are neatly wrapped in a Greek cloak, and everyone knows you as a grammarian or rhetorician or philosopher, it seems fine to him to have such a person mixed in with those who go before and escort him.
δόξει γὰρ ἐκ τούτου καὶ φιλομαθὴς τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν μαθημάτων καὶ ὅλως περὶ παιδείαν φιλόκαλος.
For he will seem from this to be both fond of Greek learning and altogether a lover of beauty regarding education.
ὥστε κινδυνεύεις, ὦ γενναῖε, ἀντὶ τῶν θαυμαστῶν λόγων τὸν πώγωνα καὶ τὸν τρίβωνα μεμισθωκέναι.
So you risk, my noble friend, having rented out your beard and cloak instead of your wonderful words.
χρὴ οὖν σε ἀεὶ σὺν αὐτῷ ὁρᾶσθαι καὶ μηδέποτε ἀπολείπεσθαι, ἀλλὰ ἕωθεν ἐξαναστάντα παρέχειν σεαυτὸν ὀφθησόμενον ἐν τῇ θεραπείᾳ καὶ μὴ λιπεῖν τὴν τάξιν.
It is necessary then for you always to be seen with him and never to be left behind, but having risen in the morning, to present yourself to be seen in his retinue, and not to leave your post.
ὁ δὲ ἐπιβάλλων ἐνίοτέ σοι τὴν χεῖρα, ὅ τι ἂν τύχῃ ληρεῖ, τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν ἐπιδεικνύμενος ὡς οὐδὲ ὁδῷ βαδίζων ἀμελής ἐστι τῶν Μουσῶν, ἀλλʼ εἰς καλὸν τὴν ἐν τῷ περιπάτῳ διατίθεται σχολήν.
And he, sometimes placing his hand upon you, babbles whatever comes to mind, displaying to those he meets that not even while walking along the road is he careless of the Muses, but that he spends his leisure during his walk to good purpose.