§12.26.1ράκιον τὸ τυχόν; ὅς γε πρῶτον μὲν οἴεται δεῖν ἀναμνησθῆναι τοὺς συνέδρους διότι τοὺς κοιμωμένους τὸν ὄρθρον ἐν μὲν τῷ πολέμῳ διεγείρουσιν αἱ σάλπιγγες, κατὰ δὲ τὴν εἰρήνην οἱ ὄρνιθες.
even any ordinary youth [would not use them]; for he thinks, first of all, that the delegates ought to be reminded that while in war the trumpets wake those who are asleep at dawn, in peace the birds do so.
§12.26.2μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν Ἡρακλέα φησὶ τὸν μὲν Ὀλυμπίων ἀγῶνα θεῖναι καὶ τὴν ἐκεχειρίαν δεῖγμα ποιούμενον τῆς αὑτοῦ προαιρέσεως, ὅσοις δʼ ἐπολέμησε, τούτους πάντας βεβλαφέναι κατὰ τὴν ἀνάγκην καὶ κατʼ ἐπιταγήν, ἑκουσίως δὲ παραίτιον οὐδενὶ γεγονέναι κακοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
After this, he says that Heracles established the Olympic games and the truce as a proof of his own purpose, and that although he harmed all those with whom he waged war, he did so out of necessity and command, but voluntarily he was the cause of evil to no human being.
§12.26.3ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις παρὰ μὲν τῷ ποιητῇ τὸν Δία παρεισάγεσθαι δυσαρεστούμενον τῷ Ἄρει καὶ λέγοντα
ἔχθιστος δέ μοί ἐσσι θεῶν, οἳ Ὄλυμπον ἔχουσιν· αἰεὶ γάρ τοι ἔρις τε φίλη πόλεμοί τε μάχαι τε. §12.26.4ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸν φρονιμώτατον τῶν ἡρώων λέγειν
ἀφρήτωρ, ἀθέμιστος, ἀνέστιός ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος
ὃς πολέμου ἔραται ἐπιδημίου ὀκρυόεντος. ὁμογνωμονεῖν δὲ τῷ ποιητῇ καὶ τὸν Εὐριπίδην, §12.26.5ἐν οἷς φησιν,
εἰρήνα βαθύπλουτε,
καλλίστα μακάρων θεῶν,
ζῆλός μοι σέθεν, ὡς χρονίζεις. δέδοικα δὲ μὴ πρὶν ὑπερβάλῃ με γῆρας,
πρὶν σὰν χαρίεσσαν προσιδεῖν ὥραν
καὶ καλλιχόρους ἀοιδὰς
φιλοστεφάνους τε κώμους.
And next to these, he says that in the poet Zeus is introduced as being displeased with Ares and saying: ¦'Most hateful to me art thou of all the gods that hold Olympus; ¦¦for ever is strife dear to thee and wars and battles.'¦ And likewise that the wisest of the heroes says: ¦'A clanless, lawless, hearthless man is he ¦¦who loves dreadful civil war.'¦ And he says that Euripides also agrees with the poet, in the passage where he says: ¦fairest of the blessed gods, ¦¦I long for thee, how thou dost delay!
§12.26.6ἔτι δὲ πρὸς τούτοις ὁμοιότατον εἶναί φησι τὸν μὲν πόλεμον τῇ νόσῳ, τὴν δʼ εἰρήνην τῇ ὑγιείᾳ· τὴν μὲν γὰρ καὶ τοὺς κάμνοντας ἀναλαμβάνειν, ἐν ᾧ δὲ καὶ τοὺς ὑγιαίνοντας ἀπόλλυσθαι.
¦¦I fear lest old age overcome me, ¦¦before I can look upon thy gracious beauty, ¦¦and the fair-dancing songs ¦¦and crown-loving revels.'¦ And in addition to these, he says that war is most like disease, and peace like health; for the latter restores even the sick, whereas in the former even the healthy perish.
§12.26.7καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν εἰρήνην τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους ὑπὸ τῶν νέων θάπτεσθαι κατὰ φύσιν, ἐν δὲ τῷ πολέμῳ τἀναντία, §12.26.8τὸ δὲ μέγιστον ἐν μὲν τῷ πολέμῳ μηδʼ ἄχρι τῶν τειχῶν εἶναι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν εἰρήνην μέχρι τῶν τῆς χώρας ὅρων, καὶ τούτοις ἕτερα παραπλήσια.
and that in peace the elders are buried by the young according to nature, but in war the opposite is the case, and, what is greatest of all, that in war safety does not exist even as far as the walls, but in peace it extends to the borders of the territory, and other things similar to these.
§12.26.9θαυμάζω δὴ τίσι ποτʼ ἂν ἄλλοις ἐχρήσατο λόγοις ἢ προφοραῖς μειράκιον ἄρτι γενόμενον περὶ διατριβὰς καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων πολυπραγμοσύνας καὶ βουλόμενον παραγγελματικῶς ἐκ τῶν παρεπομένων τοῖς προσώποις ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν· δοκεῖ γὰρ οὐχ ἑτέροις, ἀλλὰ τούτοις οἷς Τίμαιος Ἑρμοκράτην κεχρῆσθαί φησι.
Indeed, I wonder what other arguments or expressions any youth who had just entered on the school exercises and the busy pursuit of knowledge from historical memoirs, and who wished to construct his discourse according to textbook rules from the attributes of the persons, would have used; for it seems to be not other arguments, but these very ones, which Timaeus says Hermocrates used.