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and having spent time in the greatest labors, like some golden fleece, they brought to us the elegant theories as a cargo; for a certain love of knowledge, striking them, somehow drove them both to a frenzy and maddened them toward the grasping of inquiry. For they yearned, they yearned to see the Maeotian lake, if it is indeed round in its position, and if its boundaries enclose nine thousand stades, just as geographers proclaim, setting before us their trustworthy proof. And they say that Pericles the Corinthian, having met them at the Bosporus, raised certain problems12 of natural science. From this, discourses and theories are surging through the city, and everyone philosophizes so as to say something clear, and that one might surpass another in opinion by the elegance of his doctrine. The Peripatos is in rivalry with the Stoa, the Stoa is entangled with the Pythagoreans, the discourse of the Epicureans makes no truce with the Academics, and a certain war without iron has been stirred up throughout Greece. {ANT.} Come now, O best of men, tell us about this; for as you see, my mind is winged for theory and I am tracing the veins of knowledge to behold them, just as miners do whenever they might see the seams of some most precious material. {POL.} It is not about some small matter that tongues and arguments and theories both attack and are attacked; for a certain war of adamant has been armed, and they are unfolding the mysteries of nature. for they say that Pericles asked why indeed nature has created the diamond incombustible and superior to all-devouring fire.13 This, my friend, disturbs the chorus of the philosophers and has prepared them to be inspired for the investigation of secrets; for the Corinthian, having entangled us in such bonds, as if shutting us up in some mythical labyrinth, in the hard-to-enter place of theory, has departed. {ANT.} I will tell you something of nature's work, Polycrates, since I perceive you to be an ambitious lover of the Muses' discourses; for may I have nothing good unknown to a friend, obeying the Cyrenaic. {POL.} Well then, come, come, Antisthenes, let the discourse lead by which we are accustomed to share our will with one another. {ANT.} Certain very fine pores exist in the diamond because of its extreme solidity; wherefore also iron is weak against diamond; for it is not receptive to either engraving or cutting on account of its extreme density. Hence it does not feel the flame, as if the pores were shutting it out and, in a word, acting against the nature of fire being received by the stone. Therefore, the unmixable things are also separate, and for separate things there is no relation, and diamond is incompatible with fire; therefore it is incombustible and by its density is alienated from the nature of fire. At any rate, iron and gold do receive the nature of fire, whence such things are melted or softened. Yes, and indeed, 14 because it is more moistureless, the diamond is incombustible; for everything that can be melted must of necessity partake of a great deal of moisture. {POL.} Well done with the argument! With certain adamantine words you have adorned the theories about the diamond; yes, by him, and if anything is superior to the diamond; for truth is for us stronger than the diamond. But come now, let us reflect upon that much-talked-of and famous problem of the Corinthian; for he was very proud, and his mind was set upon this. {ANT.} Ask what you wish. {POL.} He said that the feathers of eagles destroy, being somehow placed with and entangled with the feathers of other animals, as if even in this the [the] eagle wishes to be a tyrant over the other birds, and though stripped of its plumage, it tries no less to mount a royal dynasty. What is the reason, Antisthenes? Tell me the works of nature. {ANT.} O that Corinthian, what a worthy sophist of some mystical science. But at any rate I will tell you something, Polycrates; 15 but you, place your ear quietly for me and you will hear a Siren's voice, like some Ithacan coming upon those very swan-like melodies. {POL.} Speak then, O Best of men. {ANT.} The eagle is a most foul-smelling bird; for this reason it would never again approach the remains of its own prey, nor would it touch yesterday's prey, my friend; And it is inedible for other animals too; for on the same day it has disappeared, like the remains of some feast of Phineus and a Harpy

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καὶ μεγίστοις ἐνδιατρίψαντες πόνοις ὥσπερ τι χρύσειον κῶας ἡμῖν τὰς ἐπικόμψους θεωρίας φόρτον ἠγάγοντο· ἔρως γάρ τις αὐτοὺς ἐπιστήμης βαλὼν ἀνοίστρησέ πως ἄμφω καὶ πρὸς ἱστορίας κατάληψιν ἐξεβάκχευσεν. ἐγλιχέτην γὰρ ἐγλιχέτην τὴν Μαιῶτιν ὅπως λίμνην θεάσοιντο, εἰ στρογγύλη μὲν τῇ θέσει, ἐννέα δὲ εἴπερ ἄρα σταδίων αὐτὴν χιλιάδες περιγράφουσιν ὅροι, καθάπερ γεωγράφοι κηρύττουσιν ἀξιόπιστον ἡμῖν προβαλλόμενοι τὴν ἀπόδειξιν. καί τινας διαπορῆ12 σαι φυσιολογίας Περικλέα φασὶ τὸν Κορίνθιον ἐπὶ τὸν Βόσπορον αὐτοῖς ξυναντήσαντα. ἐντεῦθεν λόγοι καὶ θεωρίαι περὶ τὸ ἄστυ κυμαίνουσι, καὶ πᾶς φιλοσοφεῖ ὅπως τι λέξοι τορόν, καὶ κομψότητι δόγματος ἄλλος ἄλλου κρατήσειε δόξης. ὁ Περίπατος πρὸς τὴν Στοὰν ἔχει τὴν ἅμιλλαν, ἡ Στοὰ Πυθαγορείοις συμπλέκεται, ᾿Ακαδημιακοῖς λόγος ᾿Επικουρείων οὐ σπένδεται, καὶ πόλεμός τις ἀσίδηρος ἀνὰ τὴν ῾Ελλάδα κεκίνηται. {ΑΝΤ.} ῎Αγε δῆτα, ὦ βέλτιστε, περὶ τούτου φράσον ἡμῖν· ὡς ὁρᾷς γὰρ ἐπὶ θεωρίαν τὸν νοῦν ἀνεπτέρωμαι καὶ φλέβας ἐπιστήμης ἀνιχνεύω θεάσασθαι, καθάπερ μεταλλουργοί τινες ὁπηνίκα τιμαλφεστάτου τινὸς ὕλης πόρους θεάσοιντο. {ΠΟΛ.} Οὐ περὶ μικροῦ τινος γλῶτται καὶ λόγοι καὶ θεωρίαι βάλλουσί τε καὶ βάλλονται· ἀδαμάντινος γάρ τις ἐξωπλίσατο πόλεμος καὶ τὰ τῆς φύσεως ἀνελίττουσιν ὄργια. φασὶ γὰρ τὸν Περικλέα εἰπεῖν τί δῆτα τὸν ἀδάμαντα ἡ φύσις δεδημιούργηκεν ἄκαυστον καὶ τοῦ παμφάγου πυρὸς ὑψηλότε13 ρον. τουτί, φίλος, τὸν τῶν φιλοσόφων διαταράττει χορὸν καὶ πρὸς ἔρευναν τῶν ἀπορρήτων ἐνθουσιᾶν παρεσκεύασε· τοιούτοις γὰρ ἡμᾶς ὁ Κορίνθιος ἐνειλῶν τοῖς δεσμοῖς ὥσπερ ἐν μυθικῷ λαβυρίνθῳ τινὶ τῷ δυσεμβάτῳ τῆς θεωρίας ἐναποκλείσας ἀπῴχετο. {ΑΝΤ.} ᾿Ερῶ σοί τι φύσεως ἔργον, Πολύκρατες, ἐπεί σε φιλότιμον λόγων μουσικῶν ἐραστὴν ὑπαισθάνομαι· φίλῳ γὰρ μηδὲν ἄγνωστον ἔχοιμι καλὸν τῷ Κυρηναίῳ πειθόμενος. {ΠΟΛ.} Οὐκοῦν ἄγε δὴ ἄγε, ᾿Αντίσθενες, λόγος ἡγείσθω ὅτῳ κοινωνεῖν ἀλλήλοις εἰώθαμεν τοῦ βουλήματος. {ΑΝΤ.} Λεπτότατοί τινες πόροι διὰ τὸ λίαν στερέμνιον πεφύκασι τῷ ἀδάμαντι· διὸ καὶ ὁ σίδηρος ἀσθενὴς πρὸς ἀδάμαντα· ἀνεπίδεκτος γὰρ καὶ γλυφῆς καὶ τομῆς διὰ τὸ λίαν πυκνότατον. ἐντεῦθεν φλογὸς οὐκ αἰσθάνεται, ὥσπερ ἀπειργόντων τῶν πόρων, καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἀντιπραττόντων φύσιν πυρὸς τὸν λίθον εἰσδέχεσθαι. τὰ τοίνυν ἄμικτα καὶ διέστηκε, τῶν δὲ διεστώτων σχέσις οὐκ ἔνεστιν, ἀσυνδύαστος δὲ ἀδάμας πυρί· οὐκοῦν ἄκαυστος καὶ φύσεως πυρὸς διὰ πυκνότητα ἠλλοτρίωται. σίδηρος γοῦν καὶ χρυσὸς πυρὸς φύσιν εἰσδέχονται, ὅθεν τὰ τοιαῦτα τήκεται ἢ μαλάττεται. ναὶ μὴν καὶ 14 διὰ τὸ μᾶλλον ἄνικμον ἄκαυστος πέφυκεν ὁ ἀδάμας· πᾶν γὰρ τηκτὸν πλείστης ἀνάγκη μετέχειν ὑγρότητος. {ΠΟΛ.} Εὖγε τοῦ λόγου· ἀδαμαντίνοις τισὶ ῥήμασι τὰς περὶ ἀδάμαντος θεωρίας ἐποίκιλας· ναὶ μὰ τόν, καὶ εἴ τι ἀδάμαντος ὑψηλότερον· ἰσχυροτέρα γὰρ ἡμῖν ἀδάμαντος ἡ ἀλήθεια. ᾿Αλλὰ φέρε δὴ τὸ πολυθρύλλητον ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἐπίσημον τοῦ Κορινθίου ἐνοπτρισώμεθα πρόβλημα· ἐκόμα γὰρ αὐτῷ λίαν καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ τὸ φρόνημα. {ΑΝΤ.} ῞Ο τι βούλει πυθοῦ. {ΠΟΛ.} Φθείρειν ἔφασκε τῶν ἀετῶν τὰ πτερὰ ἐπιτιθέμενά πως καὶ συμπλεκόμενα τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων πτεροῖς, ὥσπερ κἀνταῦθα τύραννος εἶναι βουλόμενος τῶν ἄλλων πτηνῶν [ὁ] ἀετός, καὶ τῆς κόμης γυμνούμενος οὐδὲν ἧττον βασιλικῆς ἐπιβαίνειν δυναστείας πειρώμενος. τίς ὁ λόγος, ᾿Αντίσθενες; ἔργα μοι φύσεως διηγοῦ. {ΑΝΤ.} ῍Ω τοῦ Κορινθίου, ὡς μυστικῆς τινος ἐπιστήμης σοφιστὴς ἀξιόχρεως. ἀτὰρ γοῦν λέξω τί σοι, Πολύκρατες· 15 σὺ δέ μοι ἠρεμαῖον ἐπίθες τὸ οὖς καὶ Σειρηνείου ἀκούσῃ φωνῆς, οἷά τις ᾿Ιθακήσιος ἐπ' αὐτάς που τὰς ὑπερκυκνείους μελῳδίας γενόμενος. {ΠΟΛ.} Λέξον δῆτα, ὦ Βέλτιστε. {ΑΝΤ.} ∆υσωδέστατον πτηνὸν ἀετός· ἐντεῦθέν τοι καὶ τὰ λείψανα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ θήρας οὐκ ἂν αὖθις ἐπέλθοι ποτέ, οὐδὲ χθιζῆς, ὦ φίλος, θήρας τυχήσειεν· ἄβρωτα δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ζῴοις ἐστίν· αὐθημερὸν γὰρ ἠφάνισται, οἷα Φινέως τινὸς καὶ ῾Αρπυίας λείψανα δείπνου