§5Λυκῖνος
κἀγὼ μὲν οὕτως.
Lykinos And my way indeed is such.
Σωκράτης δὲ ὁ ἀπὸ Μόψου, ᾧ συνεγενόμην ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔλεγεν ἀνεπαχθῶς καὶ οὐκ ἤλεγχε τὸν ἁμαρτάνοντα.
But Socrates of Mopsus, with whom I associated in Egypt, used to say such things without giving offense, and did not refute the one making an error.
πρὸς μέντοι γε τὸν ἐρωτήσαντα πηνίκα ἔξεισι; Τίς γὰρ ἄν, ἔφη, ἀποκριθείη σοι περὶ τῆς τήμερον ὡς ἐξιών; ἑτέρου δὲ φήσαντος, Ἱκανὰ ἔχω τὰ πατρῷα, Πῶς φής;
Indeed, to the one asking, "When will he go out?" he said, "For who would answer you concerning today as one who is going out?" And when another said, "I have sufficient paternal property," he said, "How do you mean?
εἶπε· τέθνηκε γὰρ ὁ πατήρ σοι; ἄλλου δὲ αὖθις λέγοντος, Πατριώτης ἔστι μοι· Ἐλάνθανες ἄρα ἡμᾶς, ἔφη, βάρβαρος ὤν. ἄλλου δὲ εἰπόντος, Ὁ δεῖνά ἐστι μεθύσης, Μητρός, εἶπεν, ἢ πῶς λέγεις; ἑτέρου δὲ ἐκλελογχότας, Διπλασιάζεις, ἔφη, τοὺς ἐξειληχότας. εἰπόντος δέ τινος, Λῆμμα πάρεστιν αὐτῷ, διὰ τῶν δύο μ, Οὐκοῦν, ἔφη, λήψεται, εἰ λῆμμα αὐτῷ πάρεστιν. ἑτέρου δὲ εἰπόντος, Πρόσεισιν ὁ μεῖραξ οὑμὸς φίλος, Ἔπειτα, ἔφη, λοιδορεῖς φίλον ὄντα; πρὸς δὲ τὸν εἰπόντα, Δεδίττομαι τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ φεύγω, Σύ, ἔφη, καὶ ὅταν τινὰ εὐλαβηθῇς, διώξῃ. ἄλλου δὲ εἰπόντος, Τῶν φίλων ὁ κορυφαιότατος, Χάριέν γε, ἔφη, τὸ τῆς κορυφῆς ποιεῖν τι ἐπάνω. καὶ ἐξορμῶ δέ τινος εἰπόντος, Καὶ τίς ἐστιν, εἶπεν, ὃν ἐξορμᾷς; ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς δέ τινος εἰπόντος, Ἐκ τῆς ἐπιπολῆς εἶπεν, ὡς ἐκ τῆς πιθάκνης. λέγοντος δέ τινος Συνετάξατό μοι, Καὶ λόχον δέ, ἔφη, Ξενοφῶν εἶπε συνετάξατο. ἄλλου δὲ εἰπόντος, Περιέστην αὐτὸν ὥστε λαθεῖν, Θαυμαστόν, ἔφη, εἰ εἷς ὤν περιέστης τὸν ἕνα. ἑτέρου δὲ λέγοντος, Συνεκρίνετο αὐτῷ, Καὶ διεκρίνετο πάντως, εἶπεν. §6Λυκῖνος
εἰώθει δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς σολοικίζοντας Ἀττικῶς παίζειν ἀνεπαχθῶς· πρὸς γοῦν τὸν εἰπόντα, Νῶϊ τοῦτο δοκεῖ, Σύ, ἔφη, καὶ νῶϊν ἐρεῖς ὡς ἁμαρτάνομεν. ἑτέρου δὲ σπουδῇ διηγουμένου τι τῶν ἐπιχωρίων καὶ εἰπόντος, Ἡ δὲ τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ μιχθεῖσα, Οὐκ ἄρα, ἔφη, ὁ Ἡρακλῆς ἐμίχθη αὐτῇ; καρῆναι δέ τινος εἰπόντος ὡς δέοιτο, Τί γάρ, ἔφη, σοὶ δεινὸν εἴργασται καὶ ἄξιον ἀτιμίας; καὶ ζυγομαχεῖν δέ τινος εἰπόντος, Πρὸς τὸν ἐχθρόν, εἶπε, ζυγομαχεῖς; ἑτέρου δὲ εἰπόντος βασανίζεσθαι τὸν παῖδα αὐτῷ νοσοῦντα, Ἐπὶ τῷ, ἔφη, ἢ τί βουλομένου τοῦ βασανίζοντος; προκόπτει δέ τινος εἰπόντος ἐν τοῖς μαθήμασιν, Ὁ δὲ Πλάτων, ἔφη, τοῦτο ἐπιδιδόναι καλεῖ. ἐρομένου δέ τινος εἰ μελετήσει ὁ δεῖνα, Πῶς οὖν, ἔφη, ἐμὲ ἐρωτῶν εἰ μελετήσομαι, λέγεις ὅτι ὁ δεῖνα; §7Λυκῖνος
ἀττικίζοντος δέ τινος καὶ τεθνήξει εἰπόντος ἐπὶ τοῦ τρίτου, Βέλτιον, ἔφη, καὶ ἐνταῦθα μὴ ἀττικίζειν καταρώμενον. καὶ πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα δὲ στοχάζομαι αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ φείδομαι αὐτοῦ, Μή τι, ἔφη, διήμαρτες βαλών; ἀφιστᾶν δέ τινος εἰπόντος καὶ ἑτέρου ἀφιστάνειν, Ἄμφω μέν, ἔφη, οὐκ οἶδα. πρὸς δὲ τὸν λέγοντα πλὴτ εἰ μή, Ταῦτα, ἔφη, διπλᾶ χαρίζῃ. καὶ χρᾶσθαι δέ τινος εἰπόντος, Ψευδαττικόν, κόν, ἔφη, τὸ ῥῆμα. τῷ δὲ λέγοντι ἔκτοτε, Καλόν, ἔφη, τὸ εἰπεῖν ἐκπέρυσι, ὁ γὰρ Πλάτων ἐς τότε λέγει. τῷ δὲ ἰδού ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰδέ χρωμένου τινός, Ἕτερα ἀνθ’ ἑτέρων, ἔφη, σημαίνεις. ἀντιλαμβάνομαι δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ συνίημι λέγοντός τινος, θαυμάζειν ἔφη πῶς ἀντιποιούμενος τοῦ λέγοντος φὴς μὴ ἀντιποιεῖσθαι.
For is your father dead?" And when another again said, "I have a fellow countryman," he said, "So it escaped our notice indeed that you were a barbarian." And when another said, "So-and-so is a drunkard," he said, "His mother, or how do you mean?" And when another said of those who had been allotted, "eklelogchotas," he said, "You are doubling those who have been allotted." And when someone said, "A lemma is present to him," pronouncing with two m's, he said, "Therefore he will receive, if a lemma is present to him." And when another said, "My friend, the youth, is approaching," he said, "Then do you abuse one who is a friend?" And to the one saying, "I terrify the man and flee," he said, "You will also pursue whenever you fear someone." And when another said, "The most topmost of friends," he said, "How charming indeed, to make something above the summit." And when someone said, "And I set out," he said, "And who is he whom you are setting in motion?" And when someone said, "From the surface," he said, "From 'the' surface, as if from 'the' jar." And when someone said, "He drew up an agreement with me," he said, "And Xenophon indeed said that he drew up a company." And when another said, "I surrounded him so as to escape notice," he said, "Wonderful, if being one you surrounded the one." And when another said, "He was compared with him," he said, "And he was thoroughly separated indeed." Lykinos And he was also accustomed to play with those committing solecisms in an Attic way without giving offense; at any rate, to the one saying, "To us two this seems," he said, "You will also say 'to us two' as if we are in error." And when another was eagerly relating some local tale and said, "And she having been mingled with Heracles," he said, "Was not Heracles indeed mingled with her?" And when someone said that it was necessary to be shorn, he said, "For what terrible thing has been done by you that is worthy of dishonor?" And when someone said "to fight under the yoke," he said, "Do you fight under the yoke against the enemy?" And when another said that his sick servant was being tortured, "On what charge," he said, "or what does the torturer want?" And when someone said "he is making progress" in his studies, he said, "But Plato calls this 'to give in addition'." And when someone asked if so-and-so will practice, "How is it then," he said, "that asking me if I shall practice, you say that so-and-so?" Lykinos And when someone was Atticizing and said "he shall die" in the third person, he said, "It is better even here not to Atticize when cursing." And to the one saying "I aim at him" instead of "I spare him," he said, "Did you not perhaps miss after throwing?" And when one said "to remove" and another "to remove," he said, "Both indeed I do not know." And to the one saying "except if not," he said, "These things you grant doubly." And when someone said "to use," he said, "Pseudo-Attic is the word." And to the one saying "since then," "It is good," he said, "to say 'since last year'; for Plato says 'until then'." And when someone used "behold" instead of "see," he said, "You signify one thing instead of another." And when someone said "I perceive" instead of "I understand," he said he wondered how, claiming the speaker's words, you say you do not claim.
βράδιον δέ τινος εἰπόντος, Οὐκ ἔστιν, ἔφη, ὅμοιον τῷ τάχιον. βαρεῖν δέ τινος εἰπόντος, Οὐκ ἔστιν, ἔφη, τὸ βαρύνειν, ὡς νενόμικας. λέλογχα δὲ τὸ τὸ εἴληχα λέγοντος, Ὀλίγον, ἔφη, καὶ παρ’ οἷς ἁμαρτάνεται. ἵπτασθαι δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ πέτεσθαι πολλῶν λεγόντων, Ὅτι μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς πτήσεως τὸ ὄνομα, σαφῶς ἴσμεν. περιστερὸν δέ τινος εἰπόντος ὡς δὴ Ἀττικόν, Καὶ τὸν φάττον ἐροῦμεν, ἔφη. φακὸν δέ τινος εἰπόντος ἐδηδοκέναι, Καὶ πῶς ἄν, ἔφη, φακόν τις φάγοι; ταῦτα μὲν τὰ Σωκράτεια.
And when someone said "slower," he said, "It is not similar to 'quicker'." And when someone said "to weigh down," he said, "It is not the same as 'to burden', as you have supposed." And to the one saying "lelogcha" instead of "eilecha," "It is little," he said, "even among those by whom errors are made." And when many said "to fly" instead of "to fly," "That indeed the name is from 'flight', we know clearly." And when someone said "pigeon" as if it were indeed Attic, he said, "We shall also say the wood-pigeon." And when someone said he had eaten a lentil, "And how," he said, "could anyone eat a lentil?" These indeed are the Socratic things.