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Thus they dare everything, and with such madness. But the fathers of the abused children bear these things in silence, and do not bury themselves with their children, nor do they devise any comfort for the evil. For if it were necessary to drag their sons into exile from this disease, if to the sea, if to islands, if to an impassable land, if to the world beyond us, was it not necessary to do and suffer everything so that these defilements might not occur? But if a place is somewhere diseased and pestilential, will we not lead our sons away from there, even if they are about to make great profits, even if they happen to be very healthy? but now, with such ruin possessing everything, not only do we ourselves drag them to these pits, but we also drive away those wishing to deliver them as corrupters. And of how much wrath are these things not worthy, of how many thunderbolts, when we are eager to purify their tongue through worldly wisdom, but we not only overlook their soul lying and constantly rotting in the very mire of licentiousness, but also hinder it when it wishes to rise? Will anyone then dare to say that it is possible for those who are in such evils to be saved? From where? For those who have escaped the madness of the licentious—and these are few—do not escape those tyrannical loves which corrupt all things, the loves of money 47.363 and of glory; but the majority are possessed both by these themselves, and by the passions of licentiousness with greater excess. Then, wishing to implant learning in them, do we not only remove the things that interrupt their education, but also furnish things that support it, appointing tutors and teachers, and spending money, and providing leisure from other affairs, and, more constantly than the trainers at the Olympic games, crying out to them about both the poverty from lack of education and the wealth from education, and doing and saying everything, both by ourselves and by others, so as to bring them to the goal of the proposed endeavor, and even so we often do not succeed; but shall we think that gentleness of manners and the precision of the best conduct will come about automatically, and this when there are so many things interrupting it? And what could be worse than this irrationality, to deem the easier thing worthy of so much honor and diligence, as though it could never be achieved without it; but to think that what is much more difficult will come to us while we are sleeping, as if it were something trivial and of no account? For the philosophy of the soul is more difficult and laborious than the education of letters, by as much as doing is than speaking, and by as much as deeds are more toilsome than words.

9. And what need is there of philosophy, he says, and of precise conduct for our children? For this it is, this which has ruined everything, that a matter so necessary and which holds our life together, seems to be superfluous and a secondary concern. And someone seeing his son sick in body would not say, "But what need does he have of pure and precise health?" but he would do everything so that such a good state of health might be produced that the disease would no longer return; but when the soul is sick, they say there is no need for them to be cured, and after these words they dare to call themselves fathers. What then? Shall we all be philosophers, he says, and the affairs of life be gone? It is not philosophizing, O best of men, but the not doing this that has ruined and corrupted everything. For who, tell me, are ruining the present state of affairs: those who live moderately and gently, or those who devise new and unlawful ways of sustenance? those who are eager to get everything for themselves, or those who are content with what they have? those who have phalanxes of servants, and lead around swarms of flatterers, or those who think that one servant alone is enough for them—for I am not yet proposing the highest philosophy, but that which is attainable by many? the philanthropic and gentle and not in need of the honor from the many, or those who demand this from their fellow men more than any debt, and who work countless disasters, since

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οὕτω πάντα τολμῶσι, καὶ μετὰ τοσαύτης μανίας. Οἱ δὲ τῶν ὑβριζομένων παίδων πατέρες φέρουσι ταῦτα σιγῇ, καὶ οὐ κατορύττουσι μετὰ τῶν παίδων ἑαυτοὺς, οὐδὲ ἐπινοοῦσί τινα παραμυθίαν τῷ κακῷ. Εἰ γὰρ εἰς ὑπερορίαν ἀπὸ ταύτης ἑλκύσαι τῆς νόσου τοὺς υἱεῖς ἔδει, εἰ γὰρ εἰς θάλασσαν, εἰ γὰρ εἰς νήσους, εἰ γὰρ εἰς ἄβατον γῆν, εἰ γὰρ εἰς τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένην, οὐκ ἔδει πάντα ποιῆσαι καὶ παθεῖν ὥστε μὴ ταῦτα γενέσθαι τὰ μιάσματα; Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν ἐπίνοσόν που καὶ λοιμικόν ἐστι χωρίον, οὐκ ἀπάξομεν ἐκεῖ τοὺς υἱεῖς, κἂν μεγάλα κερδαίνειν μέλλωσι, κἂν σφόδρα ὑγιεινοὶ τυγχάνωσιν ὄντες; νυνὶ δὲ τοσαύτης τὰ πάντα κατεχούσης λύμης, οὐ μόνον αὐτοὶ πρὸς ταῦτα ἕλκομεν τὰ βάραθρα αὐτοὺς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀπαλλάξαι βουλομένους ὡς λυμεῶνας ἀπελαύνομεν. Καὶ πόσης οὐκ ἄξια ταῦτα ὀργῆς, πόσων σκηπτῶν, ὅταν τὴν μὲν γλῶτταν αὐτοῖς ἐκκαθαίρειν διὰ τῆς ἔξωθεν σοφίας σπουδάζωμεν, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς ἀσελγείας τῷ βορβόρῳ κειμένην καὶ σηπομένην διαπαντὸς μὴ μόνον περιορῶμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐγερθῆναι βουλομένην κωλύωμεν; Ἔτι οὖν τολμήσει τις εἰπεῖν, ὅτι δυνατὸν σωθῆναι τοὺς ἐν τοιούτοις ὄντας κακοῖς; Πόθεν; Οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὴν τῶν ἀκολάστων διαφυγόντες μανίαν ὀλίγοι δέ εἰσιν οὗτοι, τοὺς τυραννικοὺς ἐκείνους ἔρωτας, καὶ τὰ πάντα διαφθείροντας, τοὺς τῶν χρημάτων 47.363 καὶ τοὺς τῆς δόξης οὐ διαφεύγουσιν· οἱ δὲ πλείους καὶ τούτοις αὐτοῖς, καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἀσελγείας μετὰ πλείονος κατέχονται τῆς ὑπερβολῆς. Εἶτα λόγους μὲν αὐτοῖς ἐνθεῖναι βουλόμενοι, οὐχὶ τὰ διακόπτοντα τὴν παίδευσιν ἀναιροῦμεν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ συνιστῶντα κατασκευάζομεν, καὶ παιδαγωγοὺς καὶ διδασκάλους ἐφιστῶντες, καὶ χρήματα ἀναλίσκοντες, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων πραγμάτων παρέχοντες σχολὴν, καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς Ὀλυμπιακοῖς ἀγῶσι παιδοτριβῶν συνεχέστερον ἐπιφωνοῦντες αὐτοῖς τήν τε ἐκ τῆς ἀπαιδευσίας πενίαν, καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς παιδεύσεως πλοῦτον, καὶ πάντα ποιοῦντες καὶ λέγοντες, καὶ δι' ἑαυτῶν, καὶ δι' ἄλλων, ὥστε αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ τέλος ἀγαγεῖν τῆς προκειμένης σπουδῆς, καὶ οὐδὲ οὕτω πολλάκις περιγινόμεθα· τρόπων δὲ ἐπιείκειαν, καὶ πολιτείας ἀρίστης ἀκρίβειαν αὐτόματον οἰησόμεθα παραγενέσθαι, καὶ ταῦτα τοσούτων ὄντων τῶν διακοπτόντων αὐτήν; Καὶ τί ταύτης τῆς ἀλογίας χεῖρον γένοιτ' ἂν, τὸ μὲν ῥᾷστον οὕτω μεγάλης ἀξιοῦν τιμῆς καὶ σπουδῆς· ὡς οὐκ ἐνὸν ταύτης ἄνευ αὐτὸ κατορθωθῆναί ποτε· ὃ δὲ πολλῷ δυσχερέστερόν ἐστι, τοῦτο καθεύδουσιν ἡμῖν ἐφίστασθαι νομίζειν, καθάπερ τι τῶν φαύλων καὶ οὐδαμινῶν; Φιλοσοφία γὰρ ψυχῆς λόγων παιδεύσεως τούτῳ δυσκολώτερόν τέ ἐστι καὶ ἐργωδέστερον, ὅσῳ τοῦ λέγειν τὸ πράττειν, καὶ ὅσῳ ῥημάτων ἔργα ἐστὶν ἐπιπονώτερα.

θʹ. Καὶ τί δεῖ φιλοσοφίας. φησὶ, καὶ πολιτείας ἀκριβοῦς τοῖς ἡμετέροις παισί; Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι, τοῦτο ὅπερ πάντα ἀπολώλεκεν, ὅτι πρᾶγμα οὕτως ἀναγκαῖον, καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν συνέχον ζωὴν, περιττὸν εἶναι καὶ πάρεργον δοκεῖ. Καὶ περὶ σῶμα μὲν κάμνοντα τὸν υἱόν τις ἰδὼν οὐκ ἂν εἴποι· Τί δὲ αὐτῷ καθαρᾶς ὑγιείας δεῖ καὶ ἀκριβοῦς; ἀλλὰ πάντα ἂν πραγματεύσαιτο ὑπὲρ τοῦ τοσαύτην ἐγγενέσθαι τὴν εὐεξίαν, ὡς μηκέτι τὴν νόσον ἐπανελθεῖν· τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς ἀῤῥωστούσης, οὐδὲν δεῖν αὐτοῖς θεραπείας φασὶ, καὶ τολμῶσι μετὰ τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα πατέρας καλεῖν ἑαυτούς. Τί οὖν; φιλοσοφήσομεν πάντες, φησὶ, καὶ τὰ τοῦ βίου οἰχήσεται; Οὐ τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν, ὦ βέλτιστε, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ τοῦτο ποιεῖν πάντα ἀπώλεσε καὶ διέφθειρε. Τίνες γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, τῇ παρούσῃ καταστάσει λυμαίνονται, οἱ μετρίως ζῶντες καὶ ἐπιεικῶς, ἢ οἱ καινοὺς καὶ παρανόμους ἐπινοοῦντες τροφῆς τρόπους; οἱ τὰ πάντων περιβαλέσθαι σπουδάζοντες, ἢ οἱ τοῖς οὖσιν ἀρκούμενοι; οἱ φάλαγγας οἰκετῶν ἔχοντες, καὶ σμήνη κολάκων περιάγοντες, ἢ οἱ μόνον οἰκέτην ἕνα ἀποχρῇν αὐτοῖς νομίζοντες οὔπω γὰρ τὴν ἄκραν τίθημι φιλοσοφίαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν πολλοῖς ἐφικτήν; οἱ φιλάνθρωποι καὶ ἥμεροι καὶ μὴ δεόμενοι τῆς παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν τιμῆς, ἢ οἱ παντὸς ὀφλήματος μᾶλλον ταύτην παρὰ τῶν ὁμοφύλων ἀπαιτοῦντες, καὶ μυρίας ἐργαζόμενοι συμφορὰς, ἐπειδὴ