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concerning these things, two accounts, as having happened for the benefit of man, which I would not conceal. The one was of this sort: some said that venomous creatures cooperate in many medical matters and that those who practice the art, by using them skillfully for necessary things, are well-supplied with antidotes for the unexpected salvation of those who are in the most perilous conditions; and even now it is possible to see those who undertake to practice medicine not lazily and carelessly, using each of them not incidentally in the composition of drugs. 8.14.61 But the other account was not medical, but philosophical, as it seems. For he said that these things were prepared by God as punishments against sinners, just as goads or swords are for generals and leaders; for which reason, being quiet at other times, they are roused to attack those who have been condemned, whose nature in the incorruptible 8.14.62 tribunal of itself has condemned them to death. But that they rather live in dens in our houses is false; for outside the city, in the country and in desolate places, they are seen, fleeing man as their master. But yet, even if it is true, it has some reason. For in the recesses is heaped up sweepings and a multitude 8.14.63 of filth, into which they like to creep, apart from the fact that the smell of cooking also has the power to attract them. And if swallows also live with us, it is no wonder; for we abstain from hunting them. And a desire for safety is implanted in the souls not only of rational, but also of irrational beings, and none of those for enjoyment live with us because of our plots against them, 8.14.64 except among those for whom the use of such things is forbidden by law. On the sea coast of Syria is a city named Ascalon; when I was in this city, at the time when I was sent to my ancestral temple to pray and to sacrifice, I saw an immense multitude of doves at the crossroads and in each house. And when I inquired the reason, they said it was not lawful to catch them; for from of old their use had been forbidden to the inhabitants. Thus the animal is tamed by security, so as not only to be under our roof, but also always to share our table and 8.14.65 to delight in the truce. But in Egypt it is possible to see something even more wonderful. For the man-eating and most troublesome of beasts, the crocodile, being born and bred in the most sacred Nile, is sensible of benefit, although it lives in the deep. For where it is honored, it abounds exceedingly, but where it is harmed, it does not appear even in a dream; so that where they flock in herds, even the most daring sailors do not venture to dip in the tip of a finger, but where they are not, even 8.14.66 the most timid leap out and swim for sport. In the land of the Cyclopes, since their race is a figment of myth, without sowing and husbandmen no cultivated fruit grows, just as nothing is born from what is not. But Greece is not to be accused of being poor and barren; for even in it there is much deep soil. And if the barbarian land excels in its fruitful crops, it abounds in nourishment, but it is inferior in those who are nourished, for whose sake nourishment exists. For Greece alone truly begets man, "a heavenly plant" and a perfected divine shoot, bringing forth reason that makes knowledge its own. And the cause is this: by the fineness 8.14.67 of the air the intellect is naturally sharpened. Wherefore also Heraclitus says, not missing the mark: "A dry beam is the wisest and best soul." And one might prove this also from the fact that the sober and abstemious are more intelligent, while those who are always filled with drinks and food are least sensible, since their reason is submerged by the things that enter 8.14.68 it. For this reason, in the barbarian land, there are saplings with very tall stems due to their good growth and nourishment, and the most fertile of irrational animals, but it least of all begets intellect, because the successive and continuous exhalations from the earth and water have suppressed what is raised up from the eternal air. 8.14.69 And the kinds of fish and birds and land animals are not indictments against a nature that calls us to pleasure, but a terrible censure of ourselves

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περὶ ἐκείνων διττοὺς λόγους ὡς ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γεγονότων, οὓς οὐκ ἂν ἐπικρυψαίμην. ἦν δ' ὁ μὲν ἕτερος τοιόσδε· πρὸς πολλὰ τῶν ἰατρικῶν ἔφασάν τινες τὰ ἰοβόλα συνεργεῖν καὶ τοὺς μεθοδεύοντας τὴν τέχνην, εἰς ἃ δεῖ καταχρωμένους αὐτοῖς ἐπιστημόνως, ἀλεξιφαρμάκων εὐπορεῖν ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν μάλιστα ἐπισφαλῶς ἐχόντων ἀπροσδοκήτῳ σωτηρίᾳ· καὶ μέχρι νῦν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τοὺς μὴ ῥᾳθύμως καὶ ἀμελῶς ἰατρεύειν ἐπιχειροῦντας ἐν ταῖς συνθέσεσι τῶν φαρμάκων καταχρωμένους ἑκάστοις οὐ παρέργως. 8.14.61 ὁ δ' ἕτερος λόγος οὐκ ἰατρικός, ἀλλὰ φιλόσοφος ἦν, ὡς ἔοικε. τῷ γὰρ θεῷ ταῦτ' ἔφασκεν ηὐτρεπίσθαι κατὰ τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων κολαστήρια, ὡς στρατηγοῖς καὶ ἡγεμόσιν ὕστριχας ἢ σίδηρον· οὗ χάριν ἠρεμοῦντα τὸν ἄλλον χρόνον ἀνερεθίζεσθαι πρὸς ἀλκὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς κατακριθεῖσιν, ὧν ἡ φύσις ἐν τῷ ἀδωροδο8.14.62 κήτῳ δικαστηρίῳ ἑαυτῆς κατέγνω θάνατον. τὸ δ' ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις πεφωλευκέναι μᾶλλον, ἐστὶ μὲν ψεῦδος· ἔξω γὰρ ἄστεος ἐν ἀγρῷ καὶ ἐρημίαις θεωρεῖται, φεύγοντα ὡς δεσπότην τὸν ἄνθρωπον. οὐ μὴν ἀλλ', εἰ καὶ ἀληθές ἐστιν, ἔχει τινὰ λόγον. ἐν γὰρ μυχοῖς σεσώρευται φορυτὸς καὶ σκυβάλων πλῆ8.14.63 θος, οἷς εἰσδύεσθαι φιλεῖ δίχα τοῦ καὶ τὴν κνῖσαν ὁλκὸν ἔχειν δύναμιν. εἰ δὲ καὶ χελιδόνες ἡμῖν συνδιαιτῶνται, θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν· τῆς γὰρ τούτων θήρας ἀπε χόμεθα. σωτηρίας δὲ πόθος ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς οὐ λογικαῖς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀλόγοις ἐνίδρυται, τῶν δὲ πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν οὐδὲν ὁμοδίαιτον διὰ τὰς ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐπιβουλάς, 8.14.64 πλὴν παρ' οἷς ἡ τῶν τοιούτων χρῆσις ἀπηγόρευται νόμῳ. τῆς Συρίας ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ πόλις ἐστὶν Ἀσκάλων ὄνομα· γενόμενος ἐν ταύτῃ, καθ' ὃν χρόνον εἰς τὸ πατρῷον ἱερὸν ἐστελλόμην εὐξόμενός τε καὶ θύσων, ἀμήχανόν τι πελειάδων πλῆθος ἐπὶ τῶν τριόδων καὶ κατ' οἰκίαν ἑκάστην ἐθεασάμην. πυνθανομένῳ δέ μοι τὴν αἰτίαν ἔφασαν οὐ θεμιτὸν εἶναι συλλαμβάνειν· ἀπειρῆσθαι γὰρ ἐκ παλαιοῦ τοῖς οἰκήτορσι τὴν χρῆσιν. οὕτως ἡμέρωται τὸ ζῷον ὑπ' ἀδείας ὥστ' οὐ μόνον ὑπωρόφιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁμοτράπεζον ἀεὶ γίνεσθαι καὶ 8.14.65 ταῖς ἐκεχειρίαις ἐντρυφᾶν. ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ δὲ καὶ θαυμασιώτερον ἰδεῖν ἔστι. τὸ γὰρ ἀνθρωποβόρον καὶ θηρίων ἀργαλεώτατον ὁ κροκόδειλος, γεννώμενος καὶ τρεφόμενος ἐν τῷ ἱερωτάτῳ Νείλῳ, τῆς ὠφελείας καίτοι βύθιος ὢν ἐπαισθάνεται. παρ' οἷς μὲν γὰρ τιμᾶται πληθύνει μάλιστα, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς λυμαινομένοις οὐδ' ὄναρ φαίνεται· ὡς τῶν πλεόντων ὅπου μὲν καὶ τοὺς πάνυ θρασεῖς μηδ' ἄκρον ἐπιτολμᾶν καθιέναι δάκτυλον, ἀγεληδὸν ἐπιφοιτώντων, ὅπου δὲ καὶ 8.14.66 τοὺς ἄγαν δειλοὺς ἐξαλλομένους νήχεσθαι μετὰ παιδιᾶς. χώρᾳ τῇ Κυκλώπων, ἐπειδὴ τὸ γένος αὐτῶν ἐστι πλάσμα μύθου, δίχα σπορᾶς καὶ γεηπόνων ἀνδρῶν ἥμερος καρπὸς οὐ φύεται, καθάπερ οὐδ' ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος τι γεννᾶται. τῆς δ' Ἑλλάδος οὐ κατηγορητέον ὡς λυπρᾶς καὶ ἀγόνου· πολὺ γὰρ κἀν ταύτῃ τὸ βαθύγειον. εἰ δ' ἡ βάρβαρος διαφέρει ταῖς εὐκαρπίαις, πλεονεκτεῖ μὲν τροφαῖς, ἐλαττοῦται δὲ τοῖς τρεφομένοις, ὧν χάριν αἱ τροφαί. μόνη γὰρ ἡ Ἑλλὰς ἀψευδῶς ἀνθρωπογονεῖ «φυτὸν οὐράνιον» καὶ βλάστημα θεῖον ἠκριβωμένον, λογισμὸν ἀποτίκτουσα οἰκειούμενον ἐπιστήμῃ. τὸ δ' αἴτιον· λεπτό 8.14.67 τητι ἀέρος ἡ διάνοια πέφυκεν ἀκονᾶσθαι. διὸ καὶ Ἡράκλειτος οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ φησιν· «αὐγὴ ξηρὴ ψυχὴ σοφωτάτη καὶ ἀρίστη.» τεκμηριώσαιτο δ' ἄν τις καὶ ἐκ τοῦ τοὺς μὲν νήφοντας καὶ ὀλιγοδεεῖς συνετωτέρους εἶναι, τοὺς δὲ ποτῶν ἀεὶ καὶ σιτίων ἐμπιπλαμένους ἥκιστα φρονίμους, ἅτε βαπτιζομένου τοῖς ἐπεισι8.14.68 οῦσι τοῦ λογισμοῦ. διὸ κατὰ τὴν βάρβαρον ἔρνη μὲν ταῖς εὐστοχίαις καὶ εὐτροφίαις στελέχη περιμήκιστα καὶ ζῴων ἀλόγων σφόδρα τὰ γονιμώτατα, νοῦν δ' ἥδε ἥκιστα γεννᾷ, διότι τὸ ὑψωθῆναι ἐξ ἀέρος ἀϊδίου αἱ γῆς καὶ ὕδατος 8.14.69 ἐπάλληλοι καὶ συνεχεῖς ἀναθυμιάσεις κατεκράτησαν. ἰχθύων δὲ καὶ ὀρνίθων καὶ χερσαίων γένη ζῴων οὐκ ἔστιν ἐγκλήματα φύσεως ἐφ' ἡδονὴν παρακαλούσης, ἀλλὰ δεινὸς ψόγος ἡμῶν αὐτῶν