§4#2Nec(??)tepidior vis vanae quoque gloriae mutandis induviis, etiam viro salvo.
Nor is the force of vain glory any cooler in changing attire, even when the man's sex is preserved.
Calor est omnis affectus; verum cum in affectationem flabellatur, iam de incendio gloriae ardor est.
All passion is heat; but when it is fanned into affectation, it is already a burning warmth from the fire of vanity.
Habes igitur ex isto fomite aestuantem magnum regem, sola gloria minorem.
Therefore you have, glowing from that fuel, a great king, smaller only in his vanity.
Vicerat Medicam gentem, et victus est Medica veste.
He had conquered the Median nation, and was conquered by Median dress.
Triumphalem cataphracten amolitus in captiva sarabara decessit; pectus squamarum signaculis disculptum textu pellucido tegendo nudavit, anhelum adhuc ab opere belli, et ut mollius, ventilante serico extinxit.
Casting off his triumphal armor, he sank into captive trousers; he laid bare his chest, which was carved with the marks of scales, by covering it with a transparent fabric, and extinguished his chest, still panting from the work of war, with fanning silk, so that it might be more comfortable.
Non erat satis animi tumens Macedo, ni illum etiam vestis inflatior delectasset; nisi quod et philosophi, puto, ipsi aliquid eiusmodi affectant.
The Macedonian was not swollen enough in mind, unless a more inflated garment had also delighted him; except that even philosophers themselves, I suppose, affect something of this kind.
Audio enim et in purpura philosophatum.
For I hear that someone even philosophized in purple.
Si philosophus in purpura, cur non et in baxa? Tyrium calciari nisi auro minime Graecatur.
If a philosopher is in purple, why not also in a baxa? To be shod in Tyrian purple, unless with gold, is not Greek at all.
Dicet, Atquin alius et sericatus et crepidam aeratus incessit. Digne quidem, ut bacchantibus indumentis aliquid subtinniret, cymbalo incessit.
Someone will say, 'Yet another walked about both clad in silk and shod in brass.' Deservedly indeed, so that something might tinkle in harmony with his reveling garments, he walked with a cymbal.
Quod si iam tunc locorum Diogenes de dolio latraret, non coenulentis pedibus, ut tori Platonici sciunt, sed omnino totum Empedoclem in adyta Cloacinarum detulisset, ut qui se caelitem delirarat sorores prius suas, dehinc homines deus salutaret.
But if Diogenes had been barking from his tub at that time, he would have dragged the whole of Empedocles—not with muddy feet, as Plato's couches know, but entirely—into the depths of the Cloacinae, so that he who had imagined himself a god of heaven might greet first his sisters, and then men, as a god.
Tales igitur habitus qui de natura et modestia transferunt et acie figere et digito destinare et nutu tradere merito sit.
Therefore, those who transfer such attire away from nature and modesty deserve to be stared at, pointed at, and betrayed by a nod.
Prorsus si quis Menandrico fluxu delicatam vestem humi protrahat, audiat penes se quod dicit comicus, Qualem demens iste chlamydem disperdit? Enimvero iam dudum censoriae intentionis episcynio disperso, quantum denotatui, passivitas offert libertinos in equestribus, subverbustos in liberalibus, dediticios in ingenuis, rupices in urbanis, scurras in forensibus, paganos in militaribus: vespillo, leno, lanista tecum vestiuntur.
Indeed, if anyone dragging a delicate garment on the ground with Menandrian looseness should hear at his side what the comic poet says: 'What a fine cloak that madman is ruining!' Truly, now that the curtain of censorial vigilance has long been torn away, how much opportunity for censure does disorder present: freedmen in equestrian attire, whipped slaves in liberal garments, surrendered captives among the freeborn, rustics among the polite, buffoons in the courts, peasants among the soldiers: the undertaker, the pimp, the gladiator-trainer are dressed like you.
Converte et ad feminas.
Turn also to the women.
Habes spectare, quod Caecina Severus graviter senatui impressit, matronas sine stola in publico.
You can see what Caecina Severus gravely impressed upon the senate: matrons in public without their stola.
Denique Lentuli auguris consultis, quae ita sese exauctorasset, pro stupro erat poena; quoniam quidem indices cusodesque dignitatis habitus, ut lenocinii factitandi impedimenta, sedulo quaedam desuefecerant.
Finally, by the decrees of the augur Lentulus, the punishment for a woman who had thus divested herself of her dignity was as for adultery; since indeed some women had carefully discarded those garments which were the indicators and guardians of dignity, as being hindrances to the practice of prostitution.
At nunc in semetipsas lenocinando, quo planius adeantur, et stolam et supparum et crepidulum et caliendrum, ipsas quoque iam lecticas et sellas, quis in publico quoque domestice ac secrete habebantur, eieravere.
But now, playing the pimp to themselves, so that they may be approached more easily, they have sworn off the stola, the light cloak, the shoe, the wig, and even the litters and sedan chairs in which they used to be kept privately and secretly even in public.
Sed alius extinguit sua lumina, alius non sua accendit.
But one extinguishes her own lights, another kindles lights not her own.
Aspice lupas, popularium libidinum nundinas, ipsas quoque frictrices, et si praestat oculos abducere ab eiusmodi propudiis occisae in publico castitatis, aspice tamen vel sublimis, iam matronas videbis.
Look at the prostitutes, the markets of public lusts, the lustful women themselves; and even if it is better to turn away your eyes from such disgraces of chastity slain in public, look nevertheless even at the heights: you will see matrons there.
Et cum latrinarum antistes sericum ventilat, et immundiorem loco cervicem monilibus consolatur, et armillis, quas ex virorum fortium donis ipsae quoque matronae temere usurpassent, omnium pudendorum conscias manus inserit, impuro cruri purum aut mulleolum inducit calceum, cur istos non spectas, vel illos item habitus qui novitati suae stare religionem mentiuntur? cum ob cultum omnia candidatum et ob notam vittae et privilegium galeri Cereri initiantur, cum ob diversam affectionem tenebricae vestis et tetrici super caput velleris in Bellonae mentes fugantur, cum latioris purpurae ambitio et Galatici ruboris superiectio Saturnum commendat? Cum ipsum hoc pallium morosius ordinatum et crepidae Graecatim Aesculapio adulantur, quanto tunc magis arguas illud et urgeas oculis, etsi iam simplicis et inaffectatae, tamen superstitionis reum? Enimvero cum hanc primum sapientiam vestit quae vanissimis superstitionibus renuit, tunc certissime pallium super omnes exuvias et peplos augusta vestis, superque omnes apices et tutulos sacerdos suggestus.
And when the priestess of the latrines flutters her silk, and comforts her neck—dirtier than the place itself—with necklaces, and inserts hands conscious of all shameful deeds into bracelets which matrons themselves would have worn only rarely as gifts from brave men, and draws a clean or reddish shoe over an impure leg, why do you not look at them, or at those other garments which falsely claim that religion stands by their novelty? When they are initiated into Ceres for the sake of an all-white garb, the mark of the fillet, and the privilege of the priest's cap; when, for the sake of an opposite affection, they are driven into the frenzy of Bellona because of a dark garment and a grim fleece over their heads; when the ambition of broader purple and the donning of Galatian red commends Saturn? When this very pallium, arranged with meticulous care, and Greek sandals flatter Aesculapius, how much more should you accuse it and press it with your eyes, even if it is the culprit of a simple and unaffected superstition? But indeed, when it first clothes this wisdom which rejects the vainest superstitions, then most certainly the pallium is an august garment above all spoils and peploi, and a priestly tribunal above all caps and headbands.
Deduc oculos, suadeo, reverere habitum, unius. interim erroris tui renuntiatorem.
Cast down your eyes, I advise you; revere the attire, which for the moment is the denouncer of your one error.