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Placing nothing higher than virtue, Even if by ten thousand sweats and many toils and by a long time it happens to be mastered. But I will mention, for the sake of an example, some, 696 So that you may learn from here too virtue, how many Roses from thorns, as they say, gathering, From the unbelievers learning the better things. Who has not heard of the Cynic of Sinope? This man, (what else need one say?) but simple was so, and moderate in the things of life, And these things legislating for himself, not from God keeping a law, nor for any hopes, So that he had one possession, his staff, and an open-air home in the middle of the city, a rolling jar escaping the violence of the winds, Which was to him better than golden-roofed houses; and his food was at hand, not labored for. And Crates likewise, putting himself above money, And leaving his property to be sheep-pasture, 697 as a servant of vice and of bodies, Raised above an altar, with a great proclamation proclaimed himself, as in the midst of Olympia, shouting out this wondrous thing indeed: "Crates the Theban sets Crates free;" Knowing that to be mastered by money is slavery. They say that he (or as some say, another of the philosophers of equal mind), While sailing, when the surge grew wild, and then when the ship was weighed down by its cargo, eagerly threw his possessions into the deep, and added this saying worthy of memory: "Well done, O Fortune, my teacher of good things, how easily I am brought down to a simple cloak!" Another gave over his property to his relatives. 698 And another, surpassing these things, as human, all that he had into a single lump of gold having gathered, then putting out to sea, gives to the deep the arrogant delusion, for he ought not to procure for another what is not good. And this I praise. One of the ancient Cynics approached a king and asked to receive food, whether being in need, or testing him. And he, whether in honor, or in some test, but a talent of gold by command having given eagerly, he did not refuse to take it; But having taken it in the sight of the giver, immediately buying a loaf of bread with the talent; "This," he said, "I needed to receive, not inedible vanity." These things, then, are almost equal to my laws, 699 which give me wings for a life and nature of birds, and for daily and unsown food, and of lilies beautifully clothed in their beauty, by artless weaving they guarantee me shelter, if I look only to the great God. But if I must also scrape at their lives, so that I may not seem to relate these things in vain, They who honor the non-possession of money, and a life free and above bonds, First, they did not pursue the good in a good way; for there was more of display than desire for the good. Or what need was there of altars and proclamations? Then they aimed at the pleasures of the stomach, as some fleeing not the surfeit of wealth, 700 but the cares and toils of its acquisition, and making want a pretext for luxury. Barley-loaves with sesame seeds reveal this, stealthily appearing, and the words of tragedy, of which one is this, aptly spoken: "O stranger, get out of the way of tyrants," and chicory fleeing from the midst of seasonings, the relish of the poor, and an ungrudging gift of the earth. But for us, whatever is good is without display, for whom the first thing is that the left hand not know clearly the movements of the right. And continence bears witness to what is divine. The well of Cleanthes is good, and of Socrates the living poorly; but the rest, how shameful! 701 The Charmideses and the shelter of their rough cloaks, under which the noble man was with the youths about divine things. For only the beautiful are intelligent. Let no one hunt for beauty with love of bodies. May such considerations perish; separate are the boundaries of Mysians and Lydians. But who will ever praise this of Alcmaeon, who, though preeminent among the famed Athenians, a man of high spirit in birth and power, was seen to be so much overcome by money, as he might have been expected to appear superior to it? For when Croesus welcomed him with many things, 702 one of which was, setting forth all his treasuries of gold, as a potentate taking great pride in his fortune, he bade him take as much of the gold dust as he could; And filling his robes, and his jaws, and his hair, having made it gold-sprinkled (how great the lack of moderation!), he came forth to the Lydians a rich man to be laughed at. And what of Plato to you, although being the wisest of men? And what of

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Οὐδὲν τιθέντας τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀνώτερον, Κἂν μυρίοις ἱδρῶσι καὶ πολλοῖς πόνοις Χρόνῳ τε μακρῷ τυγχάνῃ κρατουμένη. Μεμνήσομαι δὲ, δείγματος χάριν, τινῶν, 696 Ὡς ἂν μάθῃς κἀνθένδε τὴν ἀρετὴν, ὅσα Ῥόδ' ἐξ ἀκανθῶν, ὡς λέγουσι, συλλέγων, Ἐκ τῶν ἀπίστων μανθάνων τὰ κρείσσονα. Τίς οὐκ ἀκούει τὸν Σινωπέα τὸν κύνα; Οὗτος, (τί τἄλλα χρὴ λέγειν;) ἀλλ' εὐτελὴς Οὕτως τις ἦν, καὶ μέτριος τὰ τοῦ βίου, Καὶ ταῦθ' ἑαυτῷ νομοθετῶν, οὐκ ἐκ Θεοῦ Νόμον φυλάττων, οὐδ' ἐπ' ἐλπίσι τισὶν, Ὥστ' εἶχεν ἓν μὲν κτῆμα, τὴν βακτηρίαν, Οἶκον δ' ὕπαιθρον ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ἄστεος, Στρεπτὸν πίθον φεύγοντα πνευμάτων βίας, Ὃς ἦν ἐκείνῳ δωμάτων χρυσωρόφων Κρείσσων· τροφή τε σχέδιος, οὐ πονουμένη. Κράτης δ' ὁμοίως χρημάτων ὑπερτιθεὶς Αὑτὸν, μεθείς τε μηλόβοτον τὴν οὐσίαν, 697 Ὡς ἂν κακίας ὑπηρέτιν καὶ σωμάτων, Ἀρθεὶς ὑπὲρ βωμοῦ, μεγάλῳ κηρύγματι Ἀνεῖπεν αὑτὸν, ὡς ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ μέσῃ, Τὸ θαυμάσιον δὴ τοῦτο καὶ βοώμενος· «Ἐλευθεροῖ Κράτητα Θηβαῖον Κράτης·» ∆ουλείαν εἰδὼς τὸ κρατεῖσθαι χρημάτων. Φασὶν τὸν αὐτὸν (ὥς τινες δ', ἄλλον τινὰ Τῶν φιλοσοφούντων ἐξ ἴσου φρονήματος), Πλέοντα, τοῦ κλύδωνος ἀγριουμένου, Ἔπειτα φόρτῳ τῆς νεὼς βαρουμένης, Ῥίπτειν προθύμως εἰς βυθὸν τὰ χρήματα, Τοῦτον δ' ἐπειπεῖν ἄξιον μνήμης λόγον· «Εὖγ', ὦ Τύχη, μοὶ τῶν καλῶν διδάσκαλε, Ὡς εἰς τρίβωνα ῥᾳδίως συστέλλομαι!» Ἄλλος παρῆκεν οὐσίαν τοῖς ἐκ γένους. 698 Ἄλλος δ' ὑπερβὰς ταῦτα, ὡς ἀνθρώπινα, Ἅπανθ' ὅσ' εἶχεν εἰς μίαν βῶλόν τινα Χρυσῆν συνελὼν, ἔπειτ' ἀναχθεὶς εἰς ἅλα, Βυθῷ δίδωσι τὴν ἀλαζόνα πλάνην, Μὴ δεῖν γὰρ ἄλλῳ προξενεῖν τὸ μὴ καλόν. Καὶ τοῦτ' ἐπαινῶ. Τῶν τις ἀρχαίων κυνῶν Βασιλεῖ προσελθὼν ἠξίου τροφῆς τυχεῖν, Εἴτ' ἐνδεὴς ὢν, εἴτε καὶ πειρώμενος. Τοῦ δ' εἴτε τιμῇ γ', εἴτε καὶ πείρᾳ τινὶ, Πλὴν χρυσίου τάλαντον ἐκ προστάγματος ∆όντος προθύμως, οὐ μὲν ἀρνεῖται λαβεῖν· Λαβὼν δ' ἐν ὄψει τοῦ δεδωκότος αὐτίκα Ἄρτον πριάμενος τοῦ ταλάντου· «Τόνδ', ἔφη, Λαβεῖν ἔχρῃζον, οὐ τὸν ἄβρωτον τύφον.» Ταῦτ' οὖν μὲν ἴσα τοῖς ἐμοῖς νόμοις σχεδὸν, 699 Οἵ με πτεροῦσιν εἰς βίον τε καὶ φύσιν Πτηνῶν, ἐφημερίῳ τε κ' ἀσπόρῳ τροφῇ, Κρίνων τε κάλλει εὖ μάλ' ἠμφιεσμένων, Ὑφαῖς ἀτέχνοις ἐγγυῶνταί μοι σκέπην, Εἰ πρὸς μόνον βλέποιμι τὸν μέγαν Θεόν. Ἀλλ' εἴ τι χρή με καὶ ξέσαι τὰ τῶν βίων, Ὡς ἂν δοκοίην μὴ μάτην ταῦθ' ἱστορεῖν, Οἱ μὲν τιμῶντες χρημάτων ἀκτησίαν, Βίον τ' ἐλεύθερόν τε καὶ δεσμῶν ἄνω, Πρῶτον μὲν οὐ καλῶς τὸ καλὸν μετῄεσαν· Πλεῖον γὰρ ἦν ἔνδειξις, ἢ καλοῦ πόθος. Ἢ τί ποτ' ἔδει βωμῶν τε καὶ κηρυγμάτων; Ἒπειτα γαστρὸς ἡδοναῖς ἐφίεσαν, Ὡς ἄν τινες φεύγοντες οὐ πλούτου κόρον, 700 Τὰς φροντίδας δὲ καὶ πόνους τῆς κτήσεως, Τρυφῆς δ' ἀφορμὴν τὸ ἀπορεῖν ποιούμενοι. ∆ηλοῦσι σησαμοῦσιν ἄρτοι κρίθινοι Ὑπεξιόντες, καὶ τραγῳδίας ἔπη, Ὧν ἕν τι καὶ τόδ' εὐστόχως εἰρημένον· «Ὦ ξένε, τυράννοις ἐκ ποδῶν μεθίστασο,» Σέρις τε φεύγουσ' ἐκ μέσων ἡδυσμάτων, Ὄψον πενήτων, ἄφθονός τε γῆς χάρις. Ἡμῖν δ' ἀνεπίδεικτον μὲν εἴ τι τῶν καλῶν, Οἷς πρῶτόν ἐστι μηδὲ τὴν εὐώνυμον Τὰ δεξιᾶς κινήματ' εἰδέναι σαφῶς. Ἡ δ' ἐγκράτεια μαρτυρεῖ τὸ ἔνθεον. Καλὸν Κλεάνθους τὸ φρέαρ, καὶ Σωκράτους Τὸ ζῇν πενιχρῶς· τἄλλα δ' ὡς ἀσχήμονα! 701 Οἱ Χαρμίδαι τε καὶ σκέπη τριβωνίων, Ὑφ' ἧς τὰ θεῖα τοῖς νέοις ὁ γεννάδας Συνῆν. Μόνοι γὰρ οἱ καλοὶ νοήμονες. Μηδεὶς ἔρωτι σωμάτων θηρευέτω Τὸ κάλλος. Ὣς ὄλοιτο τοῖα σκέμματα· Χωρὶς τὰ Μυσῶν καὶ Λυδῶν ὁρίσματα. Ἀλκμαίονος δὲ τίς τόδ' αἰνέσει ποτὲ, Ὃς πρῶτ' Ἀθηναίων τῶν ἀοιδίμων φέρων Ἀνὴρ γένει τε καὶ κράτει πνέων μέγα, Τοσοῦτον ὤφθη χρημάτων ἡττώμενος, Ὅσον περ εἰκὸς ἦν φανῆναι κρείττονα; Κροίσου γὰρ αὐτὸν πλείοσι δεξιουμένου, 702 Ὧν ἓν, ταμεῖα χρυσοῦ ἅπαντα προθεὶς, Ὡς ἂν δυνάστης τῇ τύχῃ μέγα φρονῶν, Ἔχειν ἐκέλευσεν ὅσον δύναιτο ψηγμάτων· Πλήσας δὲ κόλπους, καὶ γνάθους, καὶ τὴν κόμην Θεὶς χρυσόπαστον (τῆς ἀμετρίας ὅση!) Προῆλθε Λυδοῖς πλούσιος γελώμενος. Τί δ' ὁ Πλάτων σοι, καίπερ ὢν σοφώτατος Ἀνδρῶν; Τί δ'