Part 26

24. Diog. Laer. ix. 19.

25. Arist. Rhet. i. 15; p. 377 a 20.

26. Etym. Magn. s.v. Γηράς; attributed to Xenophon.

27. Schol. ad Aristoph. Equit. v. 408. Vulg. ἐλάται, MS. θ ἐλάτε, V ἐλάτη. Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 308 i, suggests ἐκστᾶσιν δ’ ἐλατῶν πυκινοὶ περὶ δώματα βάκχοι, and compares Eurip. Bacch. 110.

(28). Draco Straton. p. 33, ed. Herm.; Cram. An. Oxon. iii. p. 296 (Herod. περὶ διχρόν. p. 367 Lehrs); Cram. An. Oxon. iv. p. 415 (Choerob. dict. p. 566 Gais.).

(29). Herod. περὶ μον. λέξ. 41, 5. MSS. Ξενοφῶν, corr. Dind. Cf. Etym. Magn. 235, 4. Etym. Gud. 301, 15.

(30). Herod. Ibid. 30, 30. MSS. καὶ μὴν, corr. Lehrs. Cf. περὶ κλισ. ὄνομ. 772, 33.

(31). Herod. περὶ διχρόν. 296, 5.

TRANSLATION.

1. God is one, supreme among gods and men, and not like mortals in body or in mind.

2. The whole [of god] sees, the whole perceives, the whole hears.

3. But without effort he sets in motion all things by mind and thought.

4. It [i.e. being] always abides in the same place, not moved at all, nor is it fitting that it should move from one place to another.

5. But mortals suppose that the gods are born (as they themselves are), and that they wear man’s clothing and have human voice and body.

6. But if cattle or lions had hands, so as to paint with their hands and produce works of art as men do, they would paint their gods and give them bodies in form like their own—horses like horses, cattle like cattle.

7. Homer and Hesiod attributed to the gods all things which are disreputable and worthy of blame when done by men; and they told of them many lawless deeds, stealing, adultery, and deception of each other.

8. For all things come from earth, and all things end by becoming earth.

9. For we are all sprung from earth and water.

10. All things that come into being and grow are earth and water.

11. The sea is the source of water and the source of wind; for neither would blasts of wind arise in the clouds and blow out from within them, except for the great sea, nor would the streams of rivers nor the rain-water in the sky exist but for the sea; but the great sea is the begetter of clouds and winds and rivers.

12. This upper limit of earth at our feet is visible and †touches the air,† but below it reaches to infinity.

13. She whom men call Iris (rainbow), this also is by nature cloud, violet and red and pale green to behold.

14. Accordingly there has not been a man, nor will there be, who knows distinctly what I say about the gods or in regard to all things, for even if one chances for the most part to say what is true, still he would not know; but every one thinks he knows.

15. These things have seemed to me to resemble the truth.

16. In the beginning the gods did not at all reveal all things clearly to mortals, but by searching men in the course of time find them out better.

17. The following are fit topics for conversation for men reclining on a soft couch by the fire in the winter season, when after a meal they are drinking sweet wine and eating a little pulse: Who are you, and what is your family? What is your age, my friend? How old were you when the Medes invaded this land?

18. Now, however, I come to another topic, and I will show the way.... They say that once on a time when a hound was badly treated a passer-by pitied him and said, ‘Stop beating him, for it is the soul of a dear friend; I recognised him on hearing his voice.’

19. But if one wins a victory by swiftness of foot, or in the pentathlon, where the grove of Zeus lies by Pisas’ stream at Olympia, or as a wrestler, or in painful boxing, or in that severe contest called the pancration, he would {5} be more glorious in the eyes of the citizens, he would win a front seat at assemblies, and would be entertained by the city at the public table, and he would receive a gift which would be a keepsake for him. If he won by means of horses he would get all these things {10} although he did not deserve them, as I deserve them, for our wisdom is better than the strength of men or of horses. This is indeed a very wrong custom, nor is it right to prefer strength to excellent wisdom. For if there should be in the city a man good at boxing, or in the {15} pentathlon, or in wrestling, or in swiftness of foot, which is honoured more than strength (among the contests men enter into at the games), the city would not on that account be any better governed. Small joy would it be to any city in this case if a citizen conquers at the games {20} on the banks of the Pisas, for this does not fill with wealth its secret chambers.