§4μᾶλλον δὲ παρακλητέος ἡμῖν τῶν Μενάνδρου προλόγων εἷς, ὁ Ἔλεγχος, φίλος Ἀληθείᾳ καὶ Παρρησίᾳ θεός, οὐχ ὁ ἀσημότατος τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν σκηνὴν ἀναβαινόντων, μόνοις ὑμῖν ἐχθρὸς τοῖς δεδιόσι τὴν γλῶτταν αὐτοῦ, πάντα καὶ εἰδότος καὶ σαφῶς διεξιόντος ὁπόσα ὑμῖν σύνοιδεν.
Rather, we must call upon one of Menander's prologues, Elenchus, a god who is a friend to Truth and Frankness, and not the least famous of those who mount the stage, hostile only to you who fear his tongue, since he both knows and clearly recounts all that he is conscious of in you.
χάριεν γοῦν τοῦτο γένοιτʼ ἄν, εἰ ἐθελήσειεν ἡμῖν προεισελθὼν οὗτος διηγήσασθαι τοῖς θεαταῖς σύμπαντα τοῦ δράματος τὸν λόγον.
Indeed, it would be a pleasant thing if he, having entered before us, should wish to relate the whole plot of the drama to the spectators.
ἄγε τοίνυν, ὦ προλόγων καὶ δαιμόνων ἄριστε Ἔλεγχε, ὅρα ὅπως σαφῶς προδιδάξῃς τοὺς ἀκούοντας ὡς οὐ μάτην οὐδὲ φιλαπεχθημόνως οὐδʼ ἀνίπτοις ποσὶ κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν ἐπὶ τόνδε τὸν λόγον ἀπηντήκαμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἴδιόν τι ἀμυνόμενοι καὶ τὰ κοινά, μισοῦντες τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ τῇ βδελυρίᾳ.
Come then, Elenchus, best of prologues and divinities, see to it that you clearly instruct the listeners beforehand that we have not met this dispute in vain, nor out of love for enmity, nor 'with unwashed feet' according to the proverb, but defending both a private cause and the public interest, hating the man for his beastliness.
ταῦτα μόνα εἰπὼν καὶ σαφῶς προδιηγησάμενος ἵλεως ἄπιθι ἐκποδών, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα ἡμῖν κατάλιπε· μιμησόμεθα γάρ σε καὶ διελέγξομεν τὰ πολλά, ὡς παρρησίας γε καὶ ἀληθείας ἕνεκα μηδὲν ἂν αἰτιάσασθαί σε.
Having said only these things and clearly related them beforehand, depart out of the way in peace, and leave the rest to us; for we shall imitate you and expose the most part, so that, for the sake of frankness and truth, you could find no fault with us.
μήτε δὲ ἐμὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐπαινέσῃς, ὦ φίλτατε Ἔλεγχε, μήτε τὰ ἐκείνῳ προσόντα προεκχέῃς αὔτως· οὐ γὰρ ἄξιον θεῷ ὄντι ἐπὶ στόμα σοι ἐλθεῖν τοὺς περὶ τῶν οὕτω καταπτύστων λόγους.
Do not praise me to them, dearest Elenchus, nor pour out beforehand the things that belong to him in vain; for it is not worthy for you, being a god, to have on your lips the words concerning such detestable persons.
§5ὁ γὰρ σοφιστὴς οὗτος εἶναι λέγων
(ὁ πρόλογος ἤδη φησὶν ταῦτα)
ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν ποτὲ ἧκε λόγον τινὰ πρὸ πολλοῦ συγγεγραμμένον ἐπιδειξόμενος τοῖς πανηγυρισταῖς.
For this man, who claims to be a sophist (the prologue now says these things), once came to Olympia to exhibit to the festival-goers a speech written long before.
ἦν δὲ ὑπόθεσις τῷ συγγράμματι ὁ Πυθαγόρας κωλυόμενος ὑπό τινος Ἀθηναίων, οἶμαι, μετέχειν τῆς Ἐλευσῖνι τελετῆς ὡς βάρβαρος, ὅτι ἔλεγεν αὐτὸς ὁ Πυθαγόρας πρὸ τούτου ποτὲ καὶ Εὔφορβος γεγονέναι.
And the subject of the writing was Pythagoras being prevented by some Athenian, I believe, from participating in the Eleusinian mysteries on the ground that he was a barbarian, because Pythagoras himself said that before this he had once been Euphorbus.
ἐτύγχανεν δὲ ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸν Αἰσώπου κολοιὸν συμφορητὸς ὢν ἐκ ποικίλων ἀλλοτρίων πτερῶν.
And his speech happened to be, like Aesop's jackdaw, patched together from various foreign feathers.
βουλόμενος δὴ μὴ ἕωλα δόξαι λέγειν ἀλλʼ αὐτοσχεδιάζειν τὰ ἐκ τοῦ βιβλίου, δεῖται τῶν συνήθων τινός (ἦν δὲ ἐκ Πατρῶν ἐκεῖνος, ἀμφὶ δίκας ἔχων τὰ πολλὰ) ἐπειδὰν αἰτήσῃ τινὰς ὑποθέσεις τοῖς λόγοις, τὸν Πυθαγόραν αὐτῷ προελέσθαι.
Wishing, then, not to seem to speak stale things, but to improvise the contents of the book, he begs one of his acquaintances (that man was from Patrae, occupied for the most part with lawsuits) to choose Pythagoras for him whenever he should ask for some subjects for his speeches.
καὶ οὕτως ἁνὴρ ἐποίησε, καὶ συνέπεισε τὸ θέατρον ἀκούειν τὸν ὑπὲρ τοῦ Πυθαγόρου ἐκεῖνον λόγον.
And so the man did, and persuaded the theatre to hear that speech on behalf of Pythagoras.
§6ἦν δὲ τὸ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ὁ μὲν πάνυ ἀπίθανος ἐν τῇ ὑποκρίσει, συνείρων οἷον εἰκὸς ἐκ πολλοῦ ἐσκεμμένα καὶ μεμελετημένα, εἰ καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα ἡ ἀναισχυντία οὖσα ἐπήμυνε καὶ χεῖρα ὤρεγε καὶ συνηγωνίζετο αὐτῷ.
And what followed upon this was that he was entirely unpersuasive in his delivery, stringing together, as was natural, things planned and studied long before, even though his impudence, being present, assisted him as much as possible, extended a hand, and fought alongside him.
γέλως δὲ πολὺς παρὰ τῶν ἀκουόντων· καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐς τὸν Πατρέα ἐκεῖνον μεταξὺ ἀποβλέποντες ὑπεδήλουν ὡς οὐ λέληθε συμπράξας αὐτῷ τὴν ῥᾳδιουργίαν, οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτὰ γνωρίζοντες τὰ λεγόμενα παρʼ ὅλην τὴν ἀκρόασιν διετέλεσαν ἓν τοῦτο μόνον ἔργον ἔχοντες, ἀλλήλων πειρώμενοι ὅπως μνήμης ἔχουσι πρὸς τὸ διαγιγνώσκειν ὅτου ἕκαστον ἦν τῶν ὀλίγον πρὸ ἡμῶν εὐδοκιμησάντων ἐπὶ ταῖς καλουμέναις μελέταις σοφιστῶν.
And there was much laughter from the listeners; some, looking in the meantime at that man of Patrae, made it clear that his complicity in the trickery had not gone unnoticed, while others, recognizing the very things being said, continued throughout the whole audience with this one task alone, testing one another's memory to discern whose work each part was among the sophists who had won fame shortly before us in the so-called declamations.
§7ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἅπασι καὶ ὁ τὸν λόγον τόνδε συγγράψας ἦν ἐν τοῖς γελῶσι καὶ αὐτός.
And among all these, the writer of this discourse was also himself among those who laughed.
τί δʼ οὐκ ἔμελλεν γελᾶν ἐφʼ οὕτω περιφανεῖ καὶ ἀπιθάνῳ καὶ ἀναισχύντῳ τολμήματι;
And why was he not bound to laugh at so manifest, unconvincing, and shameless an audacity?
καί πως (ἔστιν δὲ ἀκρατὴς γέλωτος) ὁ μὲν τὴν φωνὴν ἐντρέψας ἐς μέλος, ὡς ᾤετο, θρῆνόν τινα ἐπηύλει τῷ Πυθαγόρᾳ, ὁ δέ, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ τοῦ λόγου, ὄνον κιθαρίζειν πειρώμενον ὁρῶν ἀνεκάγχασε μάλα ἡδύ, ὁ ποιητὴς οὗτος ὁ ἐμός· ὁ δὲ εἶδεν ἐπιστραφείς.
And somehow (for he is unable to control his laughter), while the speaker, turning his voice into a melody, as he thought, was piping a certain dirge over Pythagoras, the other—namely this poet of mine—seeing, as the saying goes, a donkey trying to play the lyre, burst into a very sweet laugh; and the speaker turned and saw him.
τοῦτο ἐξεπολέμωσεν αὐτούς, τό τε ἔναγχος ἐνθένδε.
This set them at war, and hence arose the recent hostility.