Oratoria minora
these things the phalanx-commander more courageous, the leader of the company stronger, the hoplite more ready for the needs of the moment, the one i
This gathering is a symbol of peace, O wise and beloved audience of mine, and, to speak with God, a most accurate stamp of coming peace. But it also h
of the barrier, may he himself also now make peace in our affairs and crush the opposing powers and find a way and a means for the desperate, he who b
through whom corruption has stolen into our souls. But neither are you free from the things of envy for upon your breast and your belly you have walk
None of you is without a share of lily-beds and rose-gardens, nor of other fragrance, what graces would one not enjoy when spring has arrived? But sin
virtues, but these they practiced and pursued, and all, having made the body lean through fasting and having released the soul from the bonds of natur
the heaven, how great, how ever-moving in its revolution, how wonderful in its nature? and the sun, how it is the source of the light here, how it is
is tested by countless signs, but Egypt is punished by darkness and you, the new Israel, have been freed from the clay and the brick-making thence al
has entrusted the rule of all. And having reviewed in his mind everyone, both soldiers and citizens, senators and governors, and all who had gained a
Rejoice and exult at my proclamation which God has shown to be splendid and most illustrious as never another. 6 {1To those who think the philosopher
so as to move the world, not to mention lead it up to heaven, but I am within the great circuit, for these reasons I have not wished to run in the sta
of actions, but you do not act in the proper way, nor do you emulate those ancient orators, Pericles, Cimon, Demosthenes and the others who have under
the pleasure of a matter drawing forth laughter, and the philosopher alone. But here it is the opposite in the case of your creation for you are the
testifying to the sweetness in a philosophical man. And Plato often rebukes Dion for the sullenness and smilelessness of his soul but is not the phil
A second matter is both adorned and set in order. This is the philosophy I too have emulated and if you examine it in one respect, you will count me
are divided into an aristocracy, to be of lesser concern, because it is necessary to adorn the inner nature, while these things superficially beautify
achievements. Aristotle also divided his entire force into cavalry and infantry. and of the infantry, he positioned the light-armed to throw stones an
to judge their customs worthy of comparison to philosophy) those things lift one up above the ether on a whole wing, but this they sink in the sea, ju
dividing and heaping up solids. But I also frequently showed you the images in mirrors and measured their sizes for you optically, having taken their
To those who envied him for the most esteemed honor Neither will an occasion for envy be left for you, nor for me a cause for honor and advancement f
ordained by God. But of the others, some excelled in these things, others in those, and no one in everything, or if anyone did, it was not as I have (
I am called for there are those who give me this name. If, then, I embark on the matter as if it were not permitted or unskillfully, show me this ver
they have imitated my manner for themselves. But look up also to the heavens at night, when all is clear, and see how not all the stars are of equal h
oversights, and the other things of which the tragic daemons are providers for all things are abundant, as if dripping from some spring of evils. The
a more grievous and troublesome evil. How very pleasing to them is the banquet hall. For as if shut up and squeezed together in some narrow place with
he was showing the strength of his words for a prize set before him, but for a matter from which it was not possible to profit from buffoonery and ins
We have known you as one who counterfeits its laws and has not understood even a trace of true wisdom. But O huckster, I have now suddenly changed my
being torn away from the laws as if from your own limbs, and clinging to other limbs whose form you did not know nor whose use you had studied? How th
and thus, having harmonized them with the rules of dialectic, you thence winged your way to theology. But you, as if having passed over the vale of th
For such a thing had happened to these men, and Herodotus indeed mentions the story right at the beginning of the first of the Muses. And if you shoul
sitting on the floor, knowing not even as much as mules. But I fear lest one of those standing by, taking hold of your cloak, might say, Friend, how
He forces the nonsense into truth. Do not, therefore, speak with the man, do not touch him, do not share a table, neither of salt nor of other things,
Taking a Megarian jar firmly in his two hands and raising it with both and fitting it to his lips, he drinks without taking a breath just like the oxe
they judge matters by their own life, but not by the rule of truth. For since these men have hated indifference, and they live like bees arranged unde
as you are writing, standing by your life. But we too shall write against our persecutors. For just as the seemliness of hair pleased you, so the unke
sitting and with his fingers harnessing and re-harnessing horses in the shadows but there, one fighting against contrary winds and quickly backing wa
Geometry, having taken its beginning from bodies, ended in the mind, though its nature is not so. For perception does not know how to beget mind, but
he has set down some introductions to the subject, then, as if out of necessity, he turned his argument to what he wanted. And he has not chosen in an
It is interwoven with its arguments and divided by its complexities and turned back upon itself. But if such styles have been assigned to perfect orat
he puts to sleep. But the others have leaped out from here and there, from the dormouse-holes and from the caves, one a palm-breadth tall, another but
changing the parts, preserves the same idea of the sound. But you must also take care for the art concerning the arrangement of the argument and do n
mysteries, and there they were taught the equality of geometry, and when they needed to philosophize, they went to Egypt, and having chosen to study a
but drawing them upon yourselves whence someone might indict you for sacrilege for having most shamelessly plagiarized things dedicated to divine men
and you are zealous but you render the account for your studies just as one of the necessary debts which some are required to pay even unwillingly. A
The birth-pangs of Plato and Aristotle are a bringing forth, by whom I am both born and fashioned. Do you see how from every side the argument has pro
you render to me. And while I seem to neglect other things, your affair is my pursuit and care whence, staying awake far into the nights, as soon as
to have the contemplation concerning these things, but from our wisdom to know the type and the truth, and to break the letter as if it were a shell,
having done no wrong thus you are elegant and sophistic, or rather powerful men and tyrants, and you dance upon a gentle character. But you are still
to the philosophers the technical matters, to learn the introductions, the proofs, the matters concerning demonstrations, how one reminds, how one pro
they might fit a diatonic melody and arrange the strings for it, do they not play a prelude for it and practice beforehand, not just once, but as many
should I enumerate poets and orators, who treated ancient genealogies with myths, from the very foundation basing their own discourse on myth? How the
quality and draws as much as its appetite desired but if it sees the liquid of the water corrupted, it leaves this spring, and goes to another and se
27 Encomium on the Flea They say ‘the gnat as an elephant.’ And so that our discourse may proceed along its path, let us attempt the flea as a leopard
its begetter for it is precisely black, like an eastern Ethiopian having changed his skin color from sun-burning, and it immediately reveals the heat
grieving. For it has appointed two masters of all things for itself, the sun for its birth, and man for its growth for from the one it has come into
lest it produce apoplexy, nature has cut the skull into various sutures but it also divided the entire bone of the suture with certain small holes, t
the awns guard, so also do the hairs of the louse ward off every attack. And even if the hunt should get close to the skin, it, just as they say spong
So indeed this creature has received its natural power in all the parts of its body. Now, the other beasts, being ambushed from behind, are by nature
from every side, equality bestows youth on nature. For men, when they grow old, and especially those who are graceful and tall in body, are filled wit
He was being plotted against by those revolting within him because of the absence of the regulator and shield-bearer of health and adversary of diseas
This is clear from the fact that it is possible to live without it and be well in the other senses, but the inactivity of these begets sickness and de
shouting like a Bacchant and acclaiming the son of Zeus and Semele. And from where did this good thing come to you, he says, O blessed one? Did you
let your communion with one another not be from habit and the opinion of the many, but let its principle be knowledge, and let the wandering and disor
souls? Far from it. But the body does not work against the spermatic logos (for this reason it is formed according to what that logos wishes), but the
working for just as the most drinkable of waters and the most temperate of airs dispose bodies well and generate a similar disposition, so also the c
But let the one who fails take pride that his brother happens to be better than he. Agesilaus happened to be the first among the Lacedaemonians even b
Let us summarize, by virtue, by reason, and by ancestral goods, using these three things for the best ends, you will be left behind in no part of eter
All things are mixed. But she fails in her plan, as the hero draws his sword against her, whence she almost breathed her last for her form is changed
by reason for see how the limbs have been fitted to nature. or rather, I shall marvel at the artist even from the stone for he did not place the var
being brought up, was he not turned away? Was not the compassionate one pricked to the heart over you? For this reason he shall be un-sacrificed and u
Nothing that exists is above Olympus. and so that I might make the last things of my discourse first, heaven is indeed adorned with stars, but these a
they have been hollowed out spontaneously, he will find how he might live luxuriously. For if he should go under the shade of a tree, immediately soft
pleasing, but all things were full of all things- the first tabernacle, the mercy-seat, the veil, the temple, the side-scenes, the vestibules, the out
discerning that man is an animal, which he did not know, and whatever else belongs to this, lest I make a further example of the foolish, or of the on
Intently and from every side examining subtleties, I was investigating the extensions, the releases, the intonations, the transitions, the displacemen
he has come, nor has he arrived to gather spiritual fruits, but only for the sake of this man whom you see reading with pleasure. For just as one who
Who will relate your magadis upon the breast and the songs and warblings upon your tongue, that all-harmonious melody, the pleasure that knows no sati
and himself, but what kind the others are, I do not know. For I see a form above human nature, and a look in one way cherubic, in another leonine, in
an ineffable sympathy and in turn feels a contrary passion, as the cosmos happens to be one living being, and how Plato, having posited the elements a
I have not heard of him rising up against anyone nor boasting for the whole time, but just as they say that the very learned accuse themselves of a te
to know what sort of thing your grandfather had become in life and what command of language he had. But I shall praise you, not by bringing in falseho
to revel. But whenever your bond was loosened and you shed the swaddling clothes, you did not know what to do with yourself, looking more cheerful, sm
I am called; for there are those who give me this name. If, then, I embark on the matter as if it were not permitted or unskillfully, show me this very thing and I will step down from the political chariot; but if I too have been able to drive a chariot and some inexorable power forces me into this, why on earth are you so disturbed that, having abandoned philosophy, I lay claim to political science? But I am far from abandoning it; since I have also been taken up in affairs. For in this, indeed, I seem to differ from the many; for philosophy is not separated from politics by boundaries, nor is the art of affairs from the more rational nature, but just as other things have been placed under its power, so too indeed political affairs. But if my nature suffices for both parts, and I am not illuminated from one side like the moon but like the sun from both sides, why on earth are you troubled on account of this and turn things upside down, when you ought only to admire and imitate to the best of your ability, and not be envious and give way to jealousy? And what is more wonderful is that to me the matter seems a descent and I am often vexed with those who lead, but you think I have been lifted from earth to heaven; and you are not envious that I have changed a little, but that having changed, I have adapted both to the times and to the affairs, so that, if I had not seemed thus, you would not have accused me of the change. You then (for you are clever at objections) will each say something different to this, but I will put the truth in the open, ashamed of nothing. For a while, you did not find my defeat in arguments very vexing, thinking that you excelled in practical application; but when a contest also arose for me against you in this, and then you were proved wrong in your assumptions, as many of you were shown to be less than one, you consider life unlivable for yourselves. But it was necessary for those who have been defeated in the nobler things not to be vexed over the lesser things, nor to think that those things depend on one set of principles and these on another; for from the same things by which I have succeeded in those, from these also the lesser things have come to me. for by nature and by practice I was advanced to the better things and I have not failed in the lesser things. For it is not as if to emulate the character of Thucydides or Aristeides is my nature, but this very thing is zeal and imitation, so that I might be considered far from the political man; but just as I imitated him after practicing much, so indeed, having descended to the political discourse, I have had noteworthy experience in this as well. And by nature I am what I am, but I also become an actor of a foreign form; and one would not blame those on the stage, if someone who is Sarambus has imitated Cresphontes, but he would accuse me, or rather to say, envy me, because I take on the lesser form. But why on earth did you wish <me> not to be of such a nature, but to know the intense melody, but not indeed also the harmonious one? but it is not my custom to follow envious souls, and the creative science has anticipated us, having fashioned us thus, as you see. If, then, being skilled in both parts I carry the matter with arrogance and lord it over some of you, your blame of me is just and I will immediately change; but if you yourselves reproach me for excessive mildness and for greatly descending from my station, why on earth, having ceased to admire this, which is indeed a matter of my judgment, do you blame my nature? And why do you not draw for me from the two jars (I mean that of dignity and that of the graces) and, just as you have received and hold rules of philosophy from me, so also of skill in practical affairs? But I see some of you, too, in the manner to which I am accustomed, thus handling political subjects as well, dividing them by topics and referring each of the parts to its proper place in legal science, but not confusing everything indiscriminately. But if they do not use a brilliant tongue nor dare to pronounce the division eloquently, let them blame their own nature; at least as far as
ὀνομάζομαι· εἰσὶ γὰρ ὅσοι μοι τοῦτο διδόασι τοὔνομα. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐπιβατεύω τοῦ πράγματος ὥσπερ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἢ ἀτέχνως, αὐτὸ δὴ
δείξατε καὶ ἀποβήσομαι τοῦ πολιτικοῦ ἄξονος· εἰ δὲ κἀγὼ ἡνιοχεῖν τε δεδύνημαι καὶ μέ τις εἰς τοῦτο ἀπαραίτητος εἰσβιάζεται
δύναμις, τί δήποτε τεθορύβησθε ὅτι φιλοσοφίαν ἀφεὶς πολιτικῆς ἐπιστήμης ἀντιποιοῦμαι; Ἐγὼ δὲ πολλοῦ δέω ταύτην ἀφεῖναι· ὅτι
καὶ παρείλημμαι ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι. ταύτῃ γέ τοι καὶ τῶν πολλῶν διαφέρειν δοκῶ· οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ὁρίοις διείργεται οὔτε φιλοσοφία
πολιτικῆς οὔτε ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων τέχνη τῆς λογικωτέρας φύσεως, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τἆλλα τῇ δυνάμει ταύτης ὑποβεβήκασιν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ
τὰ πολιτικὰ πράγματα. εἰ δέ μοι καὶ ἡ φύσις πρὸς ἄμφω τὼ μέρη ἀρκεῖ, καὶ οὐχ ὥσπερ ἡ σελήνη ἐκ θατέρου μέρους πεφώτισμαι ἀλλ'
ὥσπερ ὁ ἥλιος ἑκατέρωθεν, τί ποτε ὑμεῖς διὰ τοῦτο ταράττεσθε καὶ τὰ ἄνω κάτω ποιεῖτε, δέον θαυμάζειν μόνον καὶ μιμεῖσθαι εἰς
δύναμιν, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ βασκαίνειν καὶ τὸν ζῆλον ἐᾶν; καὶ τό γε θαυμασιώ τερον ὅτι ἐμοὶ μὲν κατάβασις τὸ πρᾶγμα δοκεῖ καὶ δυσχεραίνω
τὰ πολλὰ πρὸς τοὺς ἄγοντας, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἦρθαι οἴεσθέ με γῆθεν εἰς οὐρανόν· καὶ οὐ τοῦτο βασκαίνετε ὅτι βραχύ τι μετατέθειμαι,
ἀλλ' ὅτι μετατεθεὶς ἥρμοσα καὶ τοῖς καιροῖς καὶ τοῖς πράγμασιν, ὡς, εἰ μὴ οὕτως ἔδοξα, οὐκ ἂν ᾐτιᾶσθέ με τῆς μεταθέσεως. Ὑμεῖς
μὲν οὖν (ἐστὲ γὰρ περὶ τὰς ἀντιθέσεις δεινοί) ἄλλος ἄλλο τι πρὸς τοῦτο ἐρεῖτε, ἐγὼ δὲ τἀληθὲς εἰς μέσον θήσω μηδὲν αἰσχυνθείς.
τέως μὲν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς λόγοις ἧτταν ἐμοὶ οὐ πάνυ τι ἐδυσχεραίνετε δοκοῦντες τῇ περὶ τὰ πράγματα προέχειν σπουδῇ· ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ
πρὸς τοῦτο ἀγὼν ἐγεγόνει μοι πρὸς ὑμᾶς κἆτα τῶν ὑπολήψεων διεψεύσθητε, ὡς πολλοὶ ἐλάττους ὀφθέντες ἑνός, ἀβίωτον ἑαυτοῖς τὸν
βίον λογίζεσθε. ἐχρῆν δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς καλλίοσι τὴν ἧτταν ἔχοντας μὴ δυσχεραίνειν ἐπὶ τοῖς χείροσι, μηδὲ οἴεσθαι ἑτέρων μὲν ἀρχῶν
ἐκεῖνα ἠρτῆσθαι ἑτέρων δὲ ταῦτα· ἀφ' ὧν γὰρ ἐκεῖνα κατώρθωκα, ἀπὸ τούτων καὶ τὰ ἐλάττω μοι περιγέγονε. φύσει γὰρ καὶ μελέτῃ
εἴς τε τὰ κρείττω προεβιβάσθην καὶ τῶν ἐλαττόνων οὐ διημάρτηκα. οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸν Θουκυδίδειον ἢ Ἀριστείδειον χαρακτῆρα ζηλοῦν
ὥσπερ μοι φύσις ἐστίν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο ζῆλος καὶ μίμησις, ἵνα τοῦ πολιτικοῦ πόρρω λογίζωμαι· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνον ἐμιμησάμην
ἐμμελετήσας πολλά, οὕτω δὴ καταβὰς ἐπὶ τὸν πολιτικὸν λόγον ἀξιολόγους τὰς καὶ περὶ τοῦτον τριβὰς ἔσχηκα. καὶ φύσει μέν εἰμι
ὅπερ εἰμί, γίνομαι δὲ καὶ ὑποκριτὴς ἀλλοτρίας μορφῆς· καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς οὐκ ἄν τις μέμψαιτο, εἴ τις Σάραμβος ὢν
Κρεσφόντην μεμίμηται, ἐμὲ δὲ καταιτιά σαιτο, ἢ μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν φθονήσειεν, ὅτι τὴν χείρω μορφὴν ὑποδύομαι. Ἀλλὰ τί ποτε ἐβούλεσθέ
<με> μὴ οὕτως ἔχειν φύσεως, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν σύντονον μέλος εἰδέναι, μὴ μέντοι γε καὶ τὸ ἐναρμόνιον; ἀλλ' οὔ μοι νόμος βασκάνων
ψυχαῖς ἐξακολουθεῖν, προὔλαβε δὲ ἡμᾶς καὶ ἡ δημιουρ γικὴ ἐπιστήμη οὕτως, ὡς ὁρᾶτε, κατασκευάσασα. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀμφοῖν ταῖν μερίδαιν
ἔχων ἐπιδεξίως εἰς ὀφρῦν ἀναφέρω τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ ἐνίων ὑμῶν κατεπαίρομαι, δικαία παρ' ὑμῖν ἡ μέμψις ἐμοὶ καὶ αὐτίκα μεταβληθήσο
μαι· εἰ δέ μοι τὴν ἄγαν αὐτοὶ προσονειδίζετε ἐπιείκειαν καὶ τὸ πολὺ καταβαίνειν τοῦ ἀξιώματος, τί δήποτε, τοῦτο θαυμάζειν
ἀφέντες ὃ δὴ τῆς γνώμης ἐστί, τὴν φύσιν καταιτιᾶσθε; τί δέ μοι μὴ τῶν διττῶν πίθων ἀρύεσθε (τοῦ τε τῆς σεμνότητος καὶ τοῦ
τῶν χαρίτων φημί) καί, ὥσπερ κανόνας φιλοσοφίας παρ' ἐμοῦ λαβόντες ἔχετε, οὕτω καὶ τῆς περὶ τὰ πράγματα δεξιότητος; ἐγὼ δὲ
ὁρῶ καὶ ἐνίους ὑμῶν, καθ' ὃν εἴωθα τύπον ἐγώ, οὕτω καὶ τὰς πολιτικὰς ὑποθέσεις μεταχειριζομένους, κατ' ἄρθρα μὲν διαιροῦντας
καὶ τῶν μερῶν ἕκαστον πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον τῆς νομικῆς ἐπιστήμης ἀνάγοντας, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἀναμὶξ πάντα συγχέοντας. εἰ δὲ μὴ τῇ γλώττῃ
χρῶνται λαμπρᾷ μηδὲ θαρροῦσιν εὐφραδῶς ἀποφθέγξασθαι τὴν διαίρεσιν, τὴν φύσιν ἑαυτῶν αἰτιάσθωσαν· τὸ γοῦν ὅσον ἐφ'
