15.  We were contained by Athens, like two branches of some river-stream, for after leaving the common fountain of our fatherland, we had been separated in our varying pursuit of culture, and were now again united by the impulsion of God no less than by our own agreement.  I preceded him by a little, but he soon followed me, to be welcomed with great and brilliant hope.  For he was versed in many languages, before his arrival, and it was a great thing for either of us to outstrip the other in the attainment of some object of our study.  And I may well add, as a seasoning to any speech, a short narrative, which will be a reminder to those who know it, a source of information to those who do not.  Most of the young men at Athens in their folly are mad after rhetorical skill—not only those who are ignobly born and unknown, but even the noble and illustrious, in the general mass of young men difficult to keep under control.  They are just like men devoted to horses and exhibitions, as we see, at the horse-races; they leap,22    They leap, etc.  This passage refers to the spectators who unite in sympathy with, and imitate as far as possible, in their excitement, the actions of, those who drive the chariots in the races. they shout, raise clouds of dust, they drive in their seats, they beat the air, (instead of the horses) with their fingers as whips, they yoke and unyoke the horses, though they are none of theirs:  they readily exchange with one another drivers, horses, positions, leaders:  and who are they who do this?  Often poor and needy fellows, without the means of support for a single day.  This is just how the students feel in regard to their own tutors, and their rivals, in their eagerness to increase their own numbers and thereby enrich them.  The matter is absolutely absurd and silly.  Cities, roads, harbours, mountain tops, coastlines, are seized upon—in short, every part of Attica, or of the rest of Greece, with most of the inhabitants; for even these they have divided between the rival parties.

Εἶχον ἡμᾶς Ἀθῆναι, καθάπερ τι ῥεῦμα ποτάμιον, ἀπὸ μιᾶς σχισθέντας πηγῆς τῆς πατρίδος εἰς διάφορον ὑπερορίαν κατ' ἔρωτα τῆς παιδεύσεως καὶ πάλιν εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ συνελθόντας, ὥσπερ ἀπὸ συνθήματος οὕτω Θεοῦ κινήσαντος. Εἶχον δὲ μικρῷ μὲν ἐμὲ πρότερον, τὸν δ' εὐθὺς μετ' ἐμέ, μετὰ πολλῆς προσδεχθέντα καὶ περιφανοῦς τῆς ἐλπίδος. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν πολλῶν γλώσσαις ἔκειτο πρὶν ἐπιστῆναι, καὶ μέγα ἑκάστοις ἦν προκαταλαβεῖν τὸ σπουδαζόμενον. Οὐδὲν δὲ οἷον καὶ ἥδυσμά τι προσθεῖναι τῷ λόγῳ μικρὸν ἀφήγημα, τοῖς μὲν εἰδόσιν ὑπόμνησιν, τοῖς δὲ ἀγνοοῦσι διδασκαλίαν. Σοφιστομανοῦσιν Ἀθήνησι τῶν νέων οἱ πλεῖστοι καὶ ἀφρονέστεροι: οὐ τῶν ἀγεννῶν μόνον καὶ τῶν ἀνωνύμων, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ τῶν εὖ γεγονότων καὶ περιφανεστέρων, ἅτε πλῆθος σύμμικτον ὄντες καὶ νέοι καὶ δυσκάθεκτοι ταῖς ὁρμαῖς. Ὅπερ οὖν πάσχοντας ἔστιν ἰδεῖν περὶ τὰς ἀντιθέτους ἱπποδρομίας τοὺς φιλίππους τε καὶ φιλοθεάμονας: πηδῶσι, βοῶσιν, οὐρανῷ πέμπουσι κόνιν, ἡνιοχοῦσι καθήμενοι, παίουσι τὸν ἀέρα, τοὺς ἵππους δὴ τοῖς δακτύλοις ὡς μάστιξι, ζευγνύουσι, μεταζευγνύουσιν: οὐδενὸς ὄντες κύριοι ἀντιδιδόασι ἀλλήλοις ῥᾳδίως ἡνιόχους, ἵππους, ἱπποστασίας, στρατηγούς: καὶ ταῦτα τίνες; οἱ πένητες πολλάκις καὶ ἄποροι καὶ μηδ' ἂν εἰς μίαν ἡμέραν τροφῆς εὐπορήσαντες. Τοῦτο καὶ αὐτοὶ πάσχουσι ἀτεχνῶς περὶ τοὺς ἑαυτῶν διδασκάλους καὶ ἀντιτέχνους, ὅπως πλείους τε ὦσιν αὐτοὶ κἀκείνους εὐπορωτέρους ποιῶσι δι' ἑαυτῶν σπουδὴν ἔχοντες: καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμά ἐστιν ἐπιεικῶς ἄτοπον καὶ δαιμόνιον. Προκαταλαμβάνονται πόλεις, ὁδοί, λιμένες, ὀρῶν ἄκρα, πεδία, ἐσχατιαί, οὐδὲν ὅ τι μὴ τῆς Ἀττικῆς μέρος ἢ τῆς λοιπῆς Ἑλλάδος, αὐτῶν τῶν οἰκητόρων οἱ πλεῖστοι: καὶ γὰρ τούτους μεμερισμένους ταῖς σπουδαῖς ἔχουσιν.