§18ἀλλʼ οὐχὶ σὺ τοιοῦτος;
But are you not such a person?
οὐκ ἂν ἔξαρνος γένοιο, εἰ ἐγὼ τὴν ἀνδρείαν οἶδα τὴν σήν, ὅς γε καὶ μέγα φρονεῖν ἐπὶ τούτῳ μοι δοκεῖς, ὅτι μὴ ἀπόλλυταί σοι ἡ δόξα τῶν ἔργων, ἀλλὰ πᾶσι δῆλος εἶ καὶ περιβόητος.
You would not deny it, if I know your boldness, since you seem to me even to pride yourself on this, that the reputation of your deeds is not lost to you, but you are manifest and notorious to all.
εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁμόσε χωρήσειας καὶ ἀρνήσαιο μὴ τοιοῦτος εἶναι, τίσι πιστὰ ἐρεῖς;
But if you should even come to close quarters and deny being such a person, to whom will you speak credible things?
τοῖς πολίταις τοῖς σοῖς (ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ ἄρχεσθαι δίκαιον);
To your fellow citizens (for it is right to begin from there)?
ἀλλὰ ἴσασιν ἐκεῖνοι τὰς πρώτας σου τροφάς, καὶ ὡς παραδοὺς σεαυτὸν τῷ ὀλέθρῳ ἐκείνῳ στρατιώτῃ συμπεριεφθείρου πάντα ὑπηρετῶν, ἄχρι δή σε, τὸ τοῦ λόγου τοῦτο, ῥάκος πολυσχιδὲς ἐργασάμενος ἐξέωσεν.
But they know your first upbringing, and how, handing yourself over to that ruinous soldier, you were corrupted along with him, serving in all things, until indeed, having made you—as the saying goes—a tattered rag, he cast you out.
§19κἀκεῖνα μέμνηνται, ὡς τὸ εἰκός, ἃ πρὸς τὸ θέατρον ἐνεανιεύου, τοῖς ὀρχησταῖς ὑποκρινόμενος καὶ συνταγματάρχης ἀξιῶν εἶναι.
And they remember, as is likely, those things which you did in a wanton manner towards the theatre, acting with the dancers and claiming to be their leader.
οὐδεὶς γοῦν πρὸ σοῦ ἂν εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ θέατρον οὐδʼ ἂν ἐμήνυσεν ὅ τι τοὔνομα τῷ δράματι, ἀλλὰ σὺ κοσμίως πάνυ, χρυσᾶς ἐμβάδας ἔχων καὶ ἐσθῆτα τυραννικήν, προεισεπέμπου εὐμένειαν αἰτήσων παρὰ τοῦ θεάτρου, στεφάνους κομίζων καὶ κρότῳ ἀπιών, ἤδη τιμώμενος πρὸς αὐτῶν.
At any rate, no one before you would have entered the theatre, nor would have announced what the name of the play was; but you, very orderly indeed, wearing golden slippers and royal attire, sent yourself forward in advance, intending to ask for goodwill from the theatre, carrying wreaths and departing with applause, already honored by them.
ἀλλὰ νῦν ῥήτωρ καὶ σοφιστής·
But now a rhetorician and a sophist!
καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἢν πύθωνταί ποτε τὰ τοιαῦτα ὑπὲρ σοῦ ἐκεῖνοι, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἐκ τῆς τραγῳδίας,
δύο μὲν ἡλίους ὁρᾶν
δοκοῦσι,
δισσὰς δὲ Θήβας
καὶ πρόχειρον ἅπασιν εὐθὺς τὸ
ἐκεῖνος ὁ τότε, καὶ μετʼ ἐκεῖνα; τοιγάρτοι καὶ αὐτὸς εὖ ποιῶν οὐκ ἐπιβαίνεις τὸ παράπαν οὐδʼ ἐπιχωριάζεις αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ φεύγεις ἑκὼν πατρίδα οὔτε χεῖμα κακὴν οὔτε θέρει ἀργαλέαν, ἀλλὰ καλλίστην καὶ μεγίστην τῶν ἐν Φοινίκῃ ἁπασῶν· τὸ γὰρ ἐλέγχεσθαι καὶ τοῖς εἰδόσι καὶ μεμνημένοις τῶν πάλαι ἐκείνων συνεῖναι βρόχος ὡς ἀληθῶς ἔστι σοι.
And because of this, if those people ever hear such things about you, they seem—that line from tragedy— to see two suns and double Thebes, and immediately everyone has ready at hand: 'That man of that time, and after those things?' Therefore, you also do well not to set foot at all among them nor visit them, but you willingly flee your homeland, which is neither bad in winter nor painful in summer, but the most beautiful and largest of all in Phoenicia; for to be refuted and to associate with those who know and remember those ancient things is truly a noose for you.
καίτοι τί ταῦτα ληρῶ;
And yet, why do I talk this nonsense?
τίνα γὰρ ἂν αἰδεσθείης σύ;
For whom would you revere?
τί δʼ ἂν αἰσχρὸν ἡγήσαιο τῶν ὑστάτων;
And what of the lowest things would you consider shameful?
πυνθάνομαι δὲ καὶ κτήματα εἶναί σοι μεγάλα παρʼ αὐτοῖς, τὸ δύστηνον ἐκεῖνο πυργίον, ὡς τὸν τοῦ Σινωπέως πίθον τὴν Διὸς αὐλὴν εἶναι πρὸς αὐτό.
And I learn that you have great possessions among them, that miserable little tower, so that the tub of the Sinopean is the hall of Zeus compared to it.
τοὺς μὲν δὴ πολίτας οὐδαμῆ οὐδαμῶς ἂν μεταπείσειας μὴ οὐχὶ τῶν ἁπάντων βδελυρώτατόν σε ἡγεῖσθαι, ὄνειδος κοινὸν ἁπάσῃ τῇ πόλει· §20τάχα δʼ ἂν τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς ἐν τῇ Συρίᾳ προσλάβοις ὁμοψήφους, εἰ λέγοις μηδὲν πονηρὸν μηδὲ ἐπαίτιον βεβιῶσθαί σοι.
Indeed, in no way and by no means could you persuade your citizens not to think you the most abominable of all, a common disgrace to the whole city; Perhaps you would win over the others in Syria to agree with you, if you were to say that you have lived a life with nothing wicked or blameworthy.
Ἡράκλεις, ἡ μὲν Ἀντιόχεια καὶ τοὖργον αὐτὸ εἶδεν, ὅτε τὸν Ταρσόθεν ἥκοντα ἐκεῖνον νεανίσκον ἀπαγαγών — ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀναδέρειν αὐτὰ αἰσχρὸν ἴσως ἐμοί.
By Heracles! Antioch itself saw the deed itself, when having led away that youth who had come from Tarsus—but to expose these things is perhaps shameful for me too.
πλὴν ἀλλὰ ἴσασίν γε καὶ μέμνηνται οἱ τότε ὑμῖν ἐπιστάντες καὶ σὲ μὲν ἐς γόνυ συγκαθήμενον ἰδόντες, ἐκεῖνον δὲ οἶσθα ὅ τι καὶ ποιοῦντα, εἰ μὴ παντάπασιν ἐπιλήσμων τις εἶ.
However, they know at least and remember, those who then stood over you and saw you indeed sitting down on your knee, while him—you know what he was doing, unless you are altogether forgetful.
§21ἀλλʼ οἱ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἴσως ἀγνοοῦσί σε, οἱ μετὰ τοὺς ἐν Συρίᾳ θαυμαστοὺς ἄθλους ἐκείνους ὑποδεξάμενοι φεύγοντα ἐφʼ οἷς εἶπον, ὑπὸ τῶν ἱματιοκαπήλων διωκόμενον, παρʼ ὧν ἐσθῆτας πολυτελεῖς πριάμενος ἐφόδια εἶχες.
But perhaps those in Egypt are ignorant of you, who, after those wonderful exploits in Syria, received you as you fled from the things I mentioned, pursued by the clothes-sellers, from whom you had bought expensive clothes and had them as travel-provisions.
ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐλάττω σοι ἡ Ἀλεξάνδρεια σύνοιδεν, οὐδὲ μὰ Δίʼ ἐχρῆν δευτέραν τῆς Ἀντιοχείας κεκρίσθαι αὐτήν, ἀλλʼ ἥ τε ἀκολασία γυμνοτέρα καὶ ἡ αἰσχρουργία σοι ἐκεῖ ἐπιμανεστέρα καὶ τοὔνομα ἐπὶ τούτοις μεῖζον καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἀκάλυπτος ἡ κεφαλή.
But Alexandria is conscious of no less concerning you, nor indeed by Zeus ought she to be judged second to Antioch; but your licentiousness was more naked there, and your shameful deeds more frantic, and your name larger for these things, and your head uncovered in all things.
εἷς μόνος ἂν ἐπίστευσέ σοι ἐξάρνῳ γινομένῳ μηδὲν τοιοῦτο εἰργάσθαι καὶ βοηθὸς ἂν κατέστη, ὁ τελευταῖος μισθοδότης, ἀνὴρ ἐν τοῖς ἀρίστοις Ῥωμαίων.
One alone would have believed you when you denied it, that you had done no such thing, and would have stood as a helper: your last employer, a man among the best of the Romans.
τοὔνομα δὲ αὐτὸ δώσεις ἀποσιωπῆσαί μοι, καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς πάντας εἰδότας ὃν λέγω.
You will allow me to keep his name silent, and that too before people who all know whom I mean.
ἐκεῖνος τοίνυν τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ὁπόσα ἔτλη ἐν τῇ συνουσίᾳ τολμηθέντα ὑπὸ σοῦ, τί χρὴ λέγειν;
As for him, then, of the other things, as many as he endured, dared by you in your association, why is it necessary to speak?
ἀλλʼ ἡνίκα σε κατέλαβε τοῦ μειρακίου τοῦ οἰνοχόου τοῦ Οἰνοπίωνος ἐν γόνασι κείμενον, τί οἴει;
But when he caught you lying on the knees of Oenopion, the young wine-pourer, what do you think?
ἐπίστευσεν ἄν σοι μὴ εἶναι τοιοῦτον, αὐτὸ ὁρῶν τὸ ἔργον;
Would he have believed you that you were not such a person, seeing the deed itself?
οὔκ, εἴ γε μὴ παντάπασιν τυφλὸς ἦν.
No, unless he was completely blind.
ἀλλὰ ἐδήλωσεν τὴν γνώμην αὐτίκα ἐξελάσας τῆς οἰκίας καὶ καθάρσιόν γε, ὥς φασι, περιενεγκὼν ἐπὶ τῇ σῇ ἐξόδῳ.
But he showed his judgment immediately by expelling you from the house, and carrying around a purification, as they say, upon your exit.