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you should wish to apply a remedy to the affliction, they immediately jump away, just as those possessed by the disease of madness both shake off the treatment offered to them and run away from the cure as if it were a sick 1.5 ness. It is necessary, however, for those who practice this science to bear with the angry and to endure those who revile them, even if they strike with their fists, even if they kick, for those who are deranged commit such offenses; and physicians are not annoyed when these things happen, but they even apply bonds and forcefully anoint their heads and devise every contrivance, so as to drive out the affliction and to restore the former harmony of the parts to the 1.6 whole. This indeed is what we also must do, and we must care for those so disposed to the best of our ability. For even if those enslaved by the affliction are very few and are like some thick sediment not passing through the pores of the strainer on account of its thickness, still, they must not be neglected nor overlooked as they are being destroyed by the affliction, but every way must be found, so as to scatter the mist that lies upon them and to show the radiance of the intelligible light. For no diligent farmer cuts out the many thorns, 1.7 but leaves the few; rather, even if he finds two, or even one, he pulls it up by the root and makes the cornfield clean. So then, we must do this all the more; for the law of our farming exhorts us not to cut out, but to change 1.8 the thorns. Come, then, and let us apply the farmer's mattock as if to thorns and with the spade of reason let us widen the furrows of their hearing, so that none of the impediments lying in the way may check the stream of irrigation; and indeed, let us also anoint them as if they were sick and apply saving and healing remedies. 1.9 First of all, then, let us cure the affliction of conceit. For indeed some of them, having partaken of poetic and rhetorical discourses, and some having also tasted of Plato's eloquence, look down on the divine oracles, as being composed with a style that is hardly elegant, and they do not deign to learn the truth of being from 1.10 fishermen. And while gathering the fruits of each art, they are not overly curious about the tongues of the artisans; for they do not demand that the shoemakers be Attic speakers, or the bronzesmiths, or the carpenters, or the painters, or the shipwrights, or the pilots, but even if they are Scythians, or Sauromatians, or Iberians, or Egyptians, they enjoy their arts with pleasure, demanding only their precision, and are not at all annoyed by the difference of their 1.11 nationalities. And when listening to a cithara player, they demand only the harmony of the chords, and do not seek to learn whether he is a Greek or a barbarian; but it is only, it seems, the learning of the truth that they are unwilling to receive without being overly curious, but they consider it a dishonor, if a barbarian should teach them this tongue; and this is the arrogance held by men who have not even reached the peak of Greek philosophy, but have tasted a few things, as the saying goes, with the tips of their lips, and have collected some small bits from here and there. 1.12 But the most renowned of the Greek philosophers, whose memory is much talked of among the learned even to this day, Pherecydes the Syrian and Pythagoras the Samian and Thales the Milesian and Solon the Athenian, and indeed also that Plato, the son of Ariston, and the student of Socrates, who surpassed all in eloquence, did not hesitate for the sake of discovering the truth to travel about Egypt and Egyptian Thebes and Sicily and Italy, and this, when not one kingdom at that time was governing these nations, but when there were different forms of government in the cities, and different laws; for some embraced democracy, others 1.13 oligarchy, and some were ruled by tyrants, while others were ruled by lawful kings. But nevertheless none of these impediments restrained them from running to barbarian men and learning from them what they supposed them to know better than themselves. 1.14 And they say that in Egypt not only from Egyptians, but also

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φάρμακον τῷ πάθει προσενεγκεῖν ἐθελήσῃ, ἀποπηδῶ σιν αὐτίκα, καθάπερ οἱ φρενίτιδι κατεχόμενοι νόσῳ καὶ τὴν σφίσι προσφερομένην ἀποσείονται θεραπείαν καὶ τὴν ἰατρείαν ὡς ἀρρω 1.5 στίαν ἀποδιδράσκουσιν. Χρὴ μέντοι τοὺς ταύτην μετιόντας τὴν ἐπιστήμην καὶ χαλεπαίνοντας φέρειν καὶ λοιδορουμένων ἀνέ χεσθαι, κἂν πὺξ παίωσι, κἂν λακτίζωσι, τοιαῦτα γὰρ δὴ ἄττα πλημμελοῦσιν οἱ παραπαίοντες· καὶ οὐ δυσχεραίνουσι τούτων γινομένων οἱ ἰατροί, ἀλλὰ καὶ δεσμὰ προσφέρουσι καὶ καταιονῶσι βίᾳ τὰς κεφαλὰς καὶ πᾶσαν μηχανὴν ἐπινοοῦσιν, ὥστε τὸ πάθος ἐξελάσαι καὶ τὴν προτέραν τῶν μορίων ἁρμονίαν ἀποδοῦναι τῷ 1.6 ὅλῳ. Τοῦτο δὴ καὶ ἡμῖν ποιητέον, καὶ τῶν οὕτω διακειμένων ἐπιμελητέον εἰς δύναμιν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὀλίγοι λίαν εἰσὶν οἱ τῷ πάθει δεδουλωμένοι καὶ ἐοίκασιν ὑποστάθμῃ τινὶ παχείᾳ τῶν τοῦ διυλιστῆρος οὐ διϊκνουμένῃ πόρων διὰ παχύτητα, ἀλλ' οὖν οὐκ ἀμελητέον αὐτῶν οὐδὲ παροπτέον φθειρομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους, ἀλλὰ πάντα πόρον ἐξευρητέον, ὥστε τὴν ἐπικειμένην αὐτοῖς ὁμί χλην ἀποσκεδάσαι καὶ τοῦ νοεροῦ φωτὸς ἐπιδεῖξαι τὴν αἴγλην. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ φιλόπονος γεωργὸς τὰς μὲν πολλὰς ἀκάνθας ἐκτέ 1.7 μνει, τὰς δὲ ὀλίγας ἐᾷ, ἀλλὰ κἂν δύο εὕρῃ, κἂν μίαν, πρόρρι ζον ἀνασπᾷ καὶ καθαρὸν ἀποφαίνει τὸ λήϊον. Πολλῷ δὴ οὖν μᾶλλον τοῦτο ποιητέον ἡμῖν· οὐ γὰρ ἐκτέμνειν, ἀλλὰ μεταβάλ λειν τὰς ἀκάνθας ὁ τῆς ἡμετέρας γεωργίας παρακελεύεται 1.8 νόμος. Φέρε τοίνυν καὶ ὡς ἀκάνθαις τὴν γεωργικὴν προσενέγκω μεν δίκελλαν καὶ τῇ μακέλλῃ τοῦ λόγου τὰς τῶν ἀκοῶν ἀνευρύ νωμεν αὔλακας, ἵνα μηδὲν τῶν ἐν μέσῳ κειμένων κωλυμάτων ἐπίσχῃ τῆς ἀρδείας τὸ ῥεῖθρον· καὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ ὡς ἀρρωστοῦντας καταιονήσωμεν καὶ τὰ σωτήρια καὶ παιώνια προσενέγκωμεν φάρμακα. 1.9 Πρῶτον δέ γε τῶν ἄλλων τὸ τῆς οἰήσεως ἰατρεύσωμεν πά θος. Καὶ γὰρ δή τινες αὐτῶν, ποιητικῶν καὶ ῥητορικῶν λόγων μετεσχηκότες, τινὲς δὲ καὶ τῆς Πλάτωνος εὐεπείας ἀπογευσά μενοι, καταφρονοῦσι μὲν τῶν θείων λογίων, ὡς ἥκιστα κεκαλ λιεπημένῃ φράσει κεκομψευμένων, οὐκ ἀξιοῦσι δὲ παρ' ἀνδρῶν 1.10 ἁλιέων μαθεῖν τὴν τοῦ ὄντος ἀλήθειαν. Καὶ τέχνης μὲν ἑκάστης δρεπόμενοι τοὺς καρπούς, τὰς τῶν τεχνιτῶν οὐ περιεργάζονται γλώττας· οὐδὲ γὰρ Ἀττικοὺς εἶναι τοὺς σκυτοτόμους ἀπαιτοῦσιν ἢ τοὺς χαλκέας ἢ τοὺς τέκτονας ἢ τοὺς ζωγράφους ἢ τοὺς ναυ πηγοὺς ἢ τοὺς κυβερνήτας, ἀλλὰ κἂν Σκύθαι ὦσι, κἂν Σαυρο μάται, κἂν Ἴβηρες, κἂν Αἰγύπτιοι, μεθ' ἡδονῆς ἀπολαύουσι τῶν τεχνῶν, μόνην ἀπαιτοῦντες τὴν τούτων ἀκρίβειαν, τὴν δὲ τῶν 1.11 ἐθνῶν διαφορὰν ἥκιστα δυσχεραίνουσιν. Καὶ κιθαριστοῦ μὲν ἀκούοντες, τῶν κρουμάτων μόνον ἀπαιτοῦσι τὴν ἁρμονίαν, οὐ μὴν εἰ Ἕλλην ἐστὶν ἢ βάρβαρος ἐπιζητοῦσι μαθεῖν· μόνην δ' ἄρα τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν μάθησιν ἀπεριέργως λαβεῖν οὐκ ἐθέλου σιν, ἀλλ' ἀτιμίαν ὑπολαμβάνουσιν, εἰ βάρβαρος αὐτοὺς ταύτην τὴν γλῶτταν παιδεύοι· καὶ τοῦτον ἔχουσι τὸν τύφον ἄνδρες οὐδ' εἰς ἄκρον τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς φιλοσοφίας ἐληλακότες, ἀλλ' ὀλίγων τινῶν, τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, ἄκροις χείλεσι γεγευμένοι καὶ σμικρὰ ἄττα ἔνθεν κἀκεῖθεν ἠρανισμένοι. 1.12 Οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν φιλοσόφων περιφανέστατοι, ὧν ἡ μνήμη παρὰ τοῖς ἐλλογίμοις μέχρι καὶ τήμερον πολυθρύλητος, Φερε κύδης ὁ Σύριος καὶ Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος καὶ Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος καὶ Σόλων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, καὶ μέντοι καὶ Πλάτων ἐκεῖνος, ὁ Ἀρίστωνος μὲν υἱός, Σωκράτους δὲ φοιτητής, εὐστομίᾳ δὲ πάν τας ἀποκρύψας, οὐκ ὤκνησαν ἕνεκα τοῦ τἀληθὲς ἐξευρεῖν καὶ Αἴγυπτον περινοστῆσαι καὶ Θήβας τὰς Αἰγυπτίας καὶ Σικελίαν καὶ Ἰταλίαν, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ μιᾶς βασιλείας τάδε τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἰθυνούσης τὰ ἔθνη, ἀλλὰ διαφόρων μὲν πολιτειῶν ἐν ταῖς πόλε σιν οὐσῶν, διαφόρων δὲ νόμων· αἱ μὲν γὰρ δημοκρατίαν, αἱ δὲ 1.13 ὀλιγαρχίαν ἠσπάζοντο, καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐτυραννοῦντο, οἱ δὲ ἐννόμως ἐβασιλεύοντο. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲν αὐτοὺς τούτων ἐπέσχε τῶν κωλυ μάτων παρὰ βαρβάρους ἀνθρώπους δραμεῖν καὶ μαθεῖν παρ' αὐτῶν, ἅπερ αὐτοὺς ἄμεινον γινώσκειν ἑαυτῶν ὑπελάμβανον. 1.14 Φασὶ δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ οὐ μόνον παρ' Αἰγυπτίων, ἀλλὰ καὶ