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39 Thetis to Anaxarchus You cannot love both Thetis and Galatea; desire is not cut into pieces; for the Loves are not divided. But you could not bear a double love; for just as the earth cannot be warmed by two suns, so one soul cannot endure a pair of erotic flames.

40 Socrates to Plato No one is wronged, but all do wrong, each one automatically wronging himself; for we are masters of our own virtue and vice. Leonides took away your little plot of land; this is an external thing, and it has not harmed your soul at all. Philip penalizes you and appropriates your ring; you yourself have not been wronged at all; for what is acquired is not our own. The barbarians killed your son; you have not suffered anything terrible; for you did not possess your child as an eternal thing; recently he came to you who did not possess him, and again he is not, since he was not, but came to be. Therefore, men do wrong, they are not wronged. And I have admired the Homeric Cyclops; for he said that "Nobody" was harming him while he was being wronged, and for the shepherd the negation was the affirmation of the truth.

41 Marathon to Peganon Having fled the tempests of the city and the relentless noises of the town, I rented this field, and I seemed to find a change of fortune. But I have been cast into greater evils; for sometimes I have the blight as an enemy, sometimes the locusts, and at other times the hail; and the frost, like an inexorable tyrant, destroys the fruits, and I, wretched one, offer my sweat to the winds. Alas, wretched me, where shall I turn? Whenever I am reminded of the toils of farming, I welcome the things of the city; whenever I consider the civic turmoil, I love the countryside, and what is not present is more fortunate than what is. The one release from sorrows is death, whether natural or again self-inflicted. Therefore, the noose is my remedy; for it is foolish for the unfortunate to abhor death.

42 Pericles to Aspasia If you seek gifts, you do not desire; for the Loves are unbribable, and they teach those who desire to be so. If, then, you love, it is more fitting to give, not to receive; but if you crave money and have feigned desire for the sake of trade, your tongue has refuted your intention, selling pleasures for gold to whoever is willing.

43 Diogenes to Demonicus The artificial little woman, the half-man of two natures, the thing in no way complete according to nature, the Lydian eunuch, has insulted us; for all the members of his body profess to have unseemly tongues. But I, like the Homeric Odysseus, am not sensible of his arrows; for the female kind strikes the heroes ineffectually, that I might say something more majestic to you, imitating Diomedes. To bark, then, and to be mad is fitting for eunuchs; for, being deprived of the power of their hands, they wish to do everything through the tongue. But our friends accuse us of great simple-mindedness, because we did not repay the insolent man with punishment; for so too, if a donkey were to kick us, we would not assemble a court for him. And this, you know, was also well-spoken by Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus.

44 Priapides to Corydon Tomorrow be my dinner guest. Everything for the wedding has been prepared by me; lentil-soup, chickpeas, many dried figs and sweet wine and honey-cake and sacrificial cakes. You yourself bring the skillful pipe, to sing the melodies sweeter than a swan's; for you were knowledgeable in pastoral music-making, Corydon. For I want to stir the bridal chamber to aphrodisian pleasure, charmed by the echoes from the pipe.

45 Leander to Pylades The Loves are exceedingly hostile to us. I for my part love, but the one desired hates; and what could I, the thrice-wretched, do? The Loves do not have a balanced scale; they weigh out tears unequally for mortals. If then

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39 Θέτις Ἀναξάρχῳ Οὐ δύνασαι Θέτιδος καὶ Γαλατείας ἐρᾶν· οὐ τεμαχίζεται πόθος· οἱ γὰρ Ἔρωτες οὐ μερίζονται. ἀλλ' οὔτε διπλοῦν ἂν ἐνέγκοις τὸν ἔρωτα· ὡς γὰρ ἡ γῆ δύο ἡλίοις οὐ δύναται θάλπεσθαι, οὕτω μία ψυχὴ δυάδος πυρσῶν ἐρωτικῶν οὐκ ἀνέχεται.

40 Σωκράτης Πλάτωνι Ἀδικεῖται μὲν οὐδείς, ἀδικοῦσι δὲ πάντες, αὐτομάτως ἕκαστος ἑαυτὸν ἀδικῶν· ἀρετῆς γὰρ καὶ κακίας ἐσμὲν αὐτοκράτορες. ἀφείλετό σου Λεωνίδης τὸ γήδιον· τοῦτο τῶν ἐκτός, καὶ τὴν σὴν ψυχὴν οὐδὲν ἐλυμήνατο. ζημιοῖ σε Φίλιππος καὶ τὸν δακτύλιον σφετερίζεται· οὐδὲν ἠδικήθης αὐτός· τὸ γὰρ ἐπίκτητον οὐχ ἡμέτερον. τὸν σὸν υἱὸν ἀνεῖλον οἱ βάρβαροι· οὐ πέπονθάς τι δεινόν· οὐ γὰρ ἀίδιον τὸν παῖδα ἐκέκτησο· ἔναγχός σοι μὴ κεκτημένῳ προσγέγονε, καὶ πάλιν οὐκ ἔστιν, ἐπείπερ οὐκ ἦν, ἀλλ' ἐγένετο. οὐκοῦν ἀδικοῦσιν, οὐκ ἀδικοῦνται οἱ ἄνθρωποι. καὶ τὸν Ὁμηρικὸν τεθαύμακα Κύκλωπα· οὐδένα γὰρ βλάπτειν ἀδικούμενον ἔφασκε, καὶ ἦν τῷ ποιμένι ἀπόφασις ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας κατάφασις.

41 Μαράθων Πηγάνωνι Τοὺς πολιτικοὺς κλύδωνας ἐκφυγὼν καὶ τοὺς ἀπαραιτήτους θορύβους τοῦ ἄστεος ἐμισθωσάμην τὸν ἀγρὸν τουτονί, καὶ μεταβολὴν τύχης ἐδόκουν εὑρεῖν. ἀλλὰ μείζοσι κακοῖς ἐμβεβλήμεθα· ποτὲ γὰρ τὴν ἐρυσίβην ἔχω πολέμιον, ποτὲ δὲ τὰς ἀκρίδας, ἄλλοτε καὶ τὴν χάλαζαν· ἡ δὲ πάχνη λυμαίνεται τοὺς καρποὺς ὡς ἀπαραίτητος τύραννος, καὶ τοὺς ἱδρῶτας ὁ τάλας τοῖς ἀνέμοις χαρίζομαι. οἴμοι ὁ δύστηνος, ὅποι τραπῶ; ὅταν τῶν γεωργικῶν μόχθων ἐπιμνησθῶ, τὰ τοῦ ἄστεος ἀσπάζομαι· ὅταν τὸν πολιτικὸν τάραχον λογίσωμαι, τῆς ἀγροικίας ἐρῶ, καὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἐστὶ τὸ μὴ παρὸν εὐτυχέστερον. μία τῶν λυπηρῶν κατάλυσίς ἐστιν ὁ θάνατος, εἴτε φυσικὸς εἴτε πάλιν αὐθαίρετος. οὐκοῦν ἀγχόνη μοι τὸ φάρμακον· βδελύττεσθαι γὰρ τὸν θάνατον τοὺς δυστυχοῦντας ἠλίθιον.

42 Περικλῆς Ἀσπασίᾳ Εἰ δῶρα ζητεῖς, οὐ ποθεῖς· ἀδωροδόκητοι γὰρ οἱ Ἔρωτες, καὶ τοὺς ποθοῦντας τοιούτους εἶναι διδάσκουσιν. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐρᾷς, τὸ διδόναι μᾶλλον, οὐ τὸ λαβεῖν οἰκειότερον· εἰ δὲ χρημάτων ὀρέγῃ καὶ δι' ἐμπορίαν τὸ ποθεῖν ἀναπέπλασαι, τὴν γνώμην ἡ γλῶττα διήλεγξε, πωλοῦσα χρυσῷ τὰς ἡδονὰς τῷ ἐθέλοντι.

43 ∆ιογένης ∆ημονίκῳ Τὸ τεχνητὸν γύναιον, τὸ διγενὲς ἡμιάνδριον, τὸ παρὰ τῇ φύσει κατὰ μηδὲν ἐντελές, ὕβρισεν ὁ Λυδὸς εὐνοῦχος ἡμᾶς· ἅπαντα γὰρ τὰ τοῦ σώματος μέλη γλώττας ἔχειν ἀσχήμονας ἐπαγγέλλονται. ἐγὼ δὲ κατὰ τὸν Ὁμηρικὸν Ὀδυσσέα τῶν μὲν ἐκείνου βελῶν οὐκ αἰσθάνομαι· ἀδρανὲς γὰρ πλῆττον τὸ γυναικεῖον φῦλον τοὺς ἥρωας, ἵνα τί σοι καὶ σοβαρώτερον ἀποφθέγξωμαι τὸν ∆ιομήδην μιμούμενος. ὑλακτεῖν δῆτα καὶ μεμηνέναι τοῖς εὐνούχοις ἐστὶν ἁρμόδιον· τῆς τῶν χειρῶν γὰρ ἐστερημένοι δυνάμεως ἅπαντα διὰ τῆς γλώττης πράττειν ἐθέλουσιν. οἱ δὲ φίλοι πολλὴν εὐήθειαν κατηγοροῦσιν ἡμῶν, ἐπειδὴ τὸν ὑβριστὴν οὐ ποιναῖς ἠμειψάμεθα· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὄνος ἡμᾶς εἰ λακτίσειεν, οὐκ ἂν δικαστήριον αὐτῷ συγκροτήσαιμεν. τοῦτο δέ τοι καὶ τῷ Σωφρονίσκου Σωκράτει καλῶς διηγόρευται.

44 Πριαπίδης Κορύδωνι Αὔριον ἔσο μοι δαιτυμών. ἅπαντα τὰ πρὸς τὸν γάμον μοι παρεσκεύασται· ἔτνος, ἐρέβινθος, ἰσχάδες πολλαὶ καὶ γλεῦκος καὶ μελιτοῦττα καὶ πόπανα. αὐτὸς δὲ κόμιζε τὴν ἔντεχνον σύριγγα, τὰς ὑπερκύκνους μελῳδίας ᾀσόμενος· ἦσθα γὰρ ποιμαντικῆς μουσουργίας ἐπιστήμων, Κορύδων. τὴν γὰρ παστάδα βεβούλημαι πρὸς ἡδονὴν κινεῖν ἀφροδίσιον, τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς σάλπιγγος ὑποθελγομένην ἠχήμασιν.

45 Λέανδρος Πυλάδῃ Λίαν ἡμῖν οἱ Ἔρωτες ἀπεχθάνονται. ἐγὼ μὲν ἐρῶ, ἀλλ' ἡ ποθουμένη μισεῖ· καὶ τί δράσαιμι ἂν ὁ τρισάθλιος; οὐκ ἰσόρροπον ἔχουσιν οἱ Ἔρωτες πλάστιγγα· ἄνισα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ζυγοστατοῦσι τὰ δάκρυα. εἰ μὲν οὖν