§6.13.1Οἷον δὴ τὸ φαντασίαν λαμβάνειν ἐπὶ τῶν ὄψων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἐδωδίμων, ὅτι νεκρὸς οὗτος ἰχθύος, οὗτος δὲ νεκρὸς ὄρνιθος ἢ χοίρου· καὶ πάλιν, ὅτι ὁ Φάλερνος χυλάριόν ἐστι σταφυλίου καὶ ἡ περιπόρφυρος τριχία προβατίου αἱματίῳ κόγχης δεδευμένα· καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν συνουσίαν ἐντερίου παράτριψις καὶ μετά τινος σπασμοῦ μυξαρίου ἔκκρισις· οἷαι δὴ αὗταί εἰσιν αἱ φαντασίαι καθικνούμεναι αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ διεξιοῦσαι δι’ αὐτῶν, ὥστε ὁρᾶν οἷά τινά ποτέ ἐστιν·
Like receiving an impression in the case of delicacies and such eatables, that 'this is the dead body of a fish, and this the dead body of a bird or a pig'; and again, that 'Falernian wine is a little grape-juice, and the purple-edged robe is sheep's wool dyed in the blood of a shellfish'; and in the case of sexual intercourse, 'the friction of a gut and the secretion of a little mucus with a certain spasm'—just of this kind are these impressions, reaching the things themselves and penetrating through them, so as to see what kind of things they really are.
οὕτως δεῖ παρ’ ὅλον τὸν βίον ποιεῖν καὶ ὅπου λίαν ἀξιόπιστα τὰ πράγματα φαντάζεται, ἀπογυμνοῦν αὐτὰ καὶ τὴν εὐτέλειαν αὐτῶν καθορᾶν καὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐφ’ ᾗ σεμνύνεται περιαιρεῖν.
Thus we must act throughout life, and where things appear too worthy of credit, we must lay them bare, behold their worthlessness, and strip away the legend on which they pride themselves.
δεινὸς γὰρ ὁ τῦφος παραλογιστὴς καὶ ὅτε δοκεῖς μάλιστα περὶ τὰ σπουδαῖα καταγίνεσθαι, τότε μάλιστα καταγοητεύῃ.
For vanity is a terrible deceiver, and when you think you are most occupied with serious things, then you are most completely deluded.
ὅρα γοῦν ὁ Κράτης τί περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ξενοκράτους λέγει.
See, at any rate, what Crates says even about Xenocrates himself.