§12Τὸ δὲ ὅλον οὐ τοὺς μισθαρνοῦντας ἅπαντας ἐγὼ φαύλῳ βίῳ συνεῖναι ἔφασκον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις ἐπὶ προφάσει παιδεύσεως δουλεύοντας ᾤκτειρον.
In short, I did not say that all who receive pay live a base life, but I was pitying those who are slaves in private houses under the pretext of education.
τουτὶ δέ, ὦ ἑταῖρε, τὸ ἡμέτερον πρᾶγμα παντάπασιν ἑτεροῖόν ἐστιν, εἴ γε τὰ μὲν οἴκοι ἰσότιμα ἡμῖν, δημοσίᾳ δὲ τῆς μεγίστης ἀρχῆς κοινωνοῦμεν καὶ τὸ μέρος συνδιαπράττομεν.
But this affair of ours, my friend, is entirely different, since in private matters we are on an equal footing with them, but publicly we share in the greatest administration and do our part in transacting it.
ἔγωγ' οὖν, εἰ σκέψαιο, δόξαιμ' ἄν σοι οὐ τὸ σμικρότατον τῆς Αἰγυπτίας ταύτης ἀρχῆς ἐγκεχειρίσθαι, τὰς δίκας εἰσάγειν καὶ τάξιν αὐταῖς τὴν προσήκουσαν ἐπιτιθέναι καὶ τῶν πραττομένων καὶ λεγομένων ἁπαξαπάντων ὑπομνήματα γράφεσθαι καὶ τάς τε ῥητορείας τῶν δικαιολογούντων ῥυθμίζειν καὶ τὰς τοῦ ἄρχοντος γνώσεις πρὸς τὸ σαφέστατον ἅμα καὶ ἀκριβέστατον σὺν πίστει τῇ μεγίστῃ διαφυλάττειν καὶ παραδιδόναι δημοσίᾳ πρὸς τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον ἀποκεισομένας, καὶ ὁ μισθὸς οὐκ ἰδιωτικός, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως, οὐ σμικρὸς οὐδὲ οὗτος, ἀλλὰ πολυτάλαντος· καὶ τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ οὐ φαῦλαι ἐλπίδες, εἰ τὰ εἰκότα γίγνοιτο, ἀλλὰ ἔθνος ἐπιτραπῆναι ἤ τινας ἄλλας πράξεις βασιλικάς.
Indeed, if you were to consider it, I would seem to you to have been entrusted with not the smallest part of this Egyptian administration, namely, to introduce lawsuits and to impose upon them the proper order, and to write records of absolutely all things done and said, and to regulate the speeches of those pleading their cases, and to preserve the decisions of the governor with the greatest fidelity so that they are at once most clear and most accurate, and to hand them over to be deposited publicly for all time; and the pay is not private but from the Emperor, and this too is not small, but amounting to many talents; and as for the future, the hopes are not trifling, if things go as they reasonably should, but to be entrusted with a province or some other imperial duties.
§13Ἐθέλω γοῦν ἐκ περιττοῦ χρησάμενος τῇ παρρησίᾳ καὶ ὁμόσε χωρήσας τῷ ἐπιφερομένῳ ἐγκλήματι καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἀπολογήσασθαι, καὶ δὴ φημί σοι μηδένα μηδὲν ἀμισθὶ ποιεῖν, οὐδ’ ἂν τοὺς τὰ μέγιστα πράττοντας εἴπῃς, ὅπου μηδὲ βασιλεὺς αὐτὸς ἄμισθός ἐστιν.
At any rate, I wish, by using speech with superabundant frankness and meeting the brought charge head-on, to defend myself to the utmost, and indeed I tell you that no one does anything for nothing, not even if you speak of those who perform the greatest deeds, since not even the Emperor himself is without pay.
οὐ φόρους λέγω οὐδὲ δασμούς, ὁπόσοι παρὰ τῶν ἀρχομένων ἐπέτειοι φοιτῶσιν, ἀλλ’ ἔστι βασιλεῖ μισθὸς μέγιστος ἔπαινοι καὶ ἡ παρὰ πᾶσιν εὔκλεια καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ ταῖς εὐεργεσίαις προσκυνεῖσθαι, καὶ εἰκόνες δὲ καὶ νεῲ καὶ τεμένη, ὁπόσα παρὰ τῶν ἀρχομένων ἔχουσι, μισθοὶ καὶ ταῦτά εἰσιν ὑπὲρ τῶν φροντίδων καὶ προνοίας, ἣν ἐκφέρονται προσκοποῦντες ἀεὶ τὰ κοινὰ καὶ βελτίω ποιοῦντες.
I do not mean taxes or tributes, as many as come in annually from the subjects, but the Emperor's greatest pay is praise, and glory among all men, and being revered for his benefactions; and indeed, the statues and temples and sacred precincts, as many as they have from their subjects, these too are pay for the cares and foresight which they display in always looking after public affairs and making them better.
ὡς δὴ μικρὰ μεγάλοις εἰκάζειν, ἢν ἐθέλῃς ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ σωροῦ κορυφῆς ἐφ' ἕκαστον τούτων ἀφ' ὧν σύγκειται καταβαίνειν, ὄψει ὅτι μεγέθει καὶ σμικρότητι διαλλάττομεν τῶν ἀκροτάτων, τὰ δ’ ἄλλα μισθοφόροι ὁμοίως ἅπαντες.
Indeed, to compare small things with great, if you wish, starting from the top of the heap, to descend to each of those elements of which it is composed, you will see that we differ from the highest only in magnitude and smallness, but in other respects we are all equally hirelings.
§14Εἰ μὲν οὖν τοῦτον ἐτεθείκειν τὸν νόμον μηδένα μηδὲν πράττειν, ἔνοχος ἂν εἰκότως ἐδόκουν τῇ παρανομίᾳ, εἰ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν οὐδαμοῦ τοῦ βιβλίου λέλεκταί μοι, χρὴ δὲ τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα ἐνεργὸν εἶναι, τί ἂν ἄλλο ἐς δέον αὑτῷ χρῷτο, ἢ φίλοις συμπονῶν πρὸς τὰ βέλτιστα κἀν τῷ μέσῳ ὑπαίθριος πεῖραν αὑτοῦ διδοὺς ὅπως ἔχει πίστεως καὶ σπουδῆς καὶ εὐνοίας πρὸς τὰ ἐγκεχειρισμένα, ὡς μὴ τὸ Ὁμηρικὸν ἐκεῖνο “ἐτώσιον ἄχθος ἀρούρης” εἴη;
If, then, I had established this law, that no one should do anything, I would reasonably seem guilty of lawbreaking; but if this is nowhere stated by me in my book, and the good man ought to be active, how else could he use himself properly than by laboring together with friends for the best, and giving proof of himself in public, out in the open, as to how he stands in respect to fidelity, zeal, and goodwill toward the things entrusted to him, so that he might not be that Homeric 'useless burden on the earth'?
§15Πρὸ δὲ τῶν ὅλων μεμνῆσθαι χρὴ τοὺς ἐπιτιμῶντας ὅτι οὐ σοφῷ ὄντι μοι—εἰ δή τις καὶ ἄλλος ἐστί που σοφός—ἐπιτιμήσουσιν ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ πολλοῦ δήμου, λόγους μὲν ἀσκήσαντι καὶ τὰ μέτρια ἐπαινουμένῳ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἄκραν ἐκείνην τῶν κορυφαίων ἀρετὴν οὐ πάνυ γεγυμνασμένῳ.
But before all things, those who find fault must remember that they will be censuring me not as a wise man—if indeed there is any other wise man anywhere—but as one of the common people, who has practiced speech and is moderately praised for it, but is not at all trained in that topmost virtue of the leading philosophers.
καὶ μὰ Δί' οὐδ’ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἀνιᾶσθαί μοι ἄξιον, ὅτι μηδὲ ἄλλῳ ἐγὼ γοῦν ἐντετύχηκα τὴν τοῦ σοφοῦ ὑπόσχεσιν ἀποπληροῦντι.
And by Zeus, I ought not to be distressed on this account, since I at least have never met anyone else who fulfilled the promise of a wise man.
σοῦ μέντοι καὶ θαυμάσαιμ' ἂν ἐπιτιμῶντός μου τῷ νυνὶ βίῳ, εἴ γε ἐπιτιμῴης, ὃν πρὸ πολλοῦ ᾔδεις ἐπὶ ῥητορικῇ δημοσίᾳ μεγίστας μισθοφορὰς ἐνεγκάμενον, ὁπότε κατὰ θέαν τοῦ ἑσπερίου Ὠκεανοῦ καὶ τὴν Κελτικὴν ἅμα ἐπιὼν ἐνέτυχες ἡμῖν τοῖς μεγαλομίσθοις τῶν σοφιστῶν ἐναριθμουμένοις.
Yet I would wonder at you finding fault with my present life, if indeed you should find fault, whom you knew long ago to have carried off the greatest rewards for public rhetoric, when, traveling to see the Western Ocean and Gaul at the same time, you met us numbered among the highly paid sophists.
Ταῦτά σοι, ὦ ἑταῖρε, καίτοι ἐν μυρίαις ταῖς ἀσχολίαις ὢν ὅμως ἀπελογησάμην, οὐκ ἐν παρέργῳ θέμενος τὴν λευκὴν παρὰ σοῦ καὶ πλήρη μοι ἐνεχθῆναι· ἐπεὶ πρός γε τοὺς ἄλλους, κἂν συνάμα πάντες κατηγορῶσιν, ἱκανὸν ἂν εἴη μοι τό οὐ φροντὶς Ἱπποκλείδῃ.
These things, my friend, although being in ten thousand distractions, I have nevertheless pleaded in defense to you, not considering it a secondary matter that the white and full ballot should be cast for me by you; since toward the others, even if they all accuse me together, that saying would be sufficient for me: 'Hippoclides does not care.'