55

he wished it; but by me he was handed over through my letters. What is unfriendly or inhuman in this? 190.4 But since you have the defense, receive also the accusation. I do not praise your doll-makers and your Telchines with which you attack your rival, since he has conquered his fellow-craftsmen, to call them rivals. For how long these things? And where will we stop with this sophistic insolence? Until what happens? Until death cuts us off from our wickedness? 190.5 For these things, when one is young, overcome by ambition, striving for gain, and then doing them moderately, 20has some excuse20 (for I will play Demosthenes a little for your sake); but at this age, and acting thus to butt and be butted, is completely untimely and contentious, not only because it is unseemly and utterly illiberal, but also because of the great ease of the matter. 20Whatever word you speak, such you will hear in return20, just as of a stream flowing back (for again I will make use of Homer); 20to scratch back the one who scratches20, is entirely without reproach. 190.6 What wisdom is it, then, when it is possible to be first in virtue, to be defeated by vice or even to conquer by it, which is much worse? but I for my part blame the judges for this too (20for the truth shall be spoken20), that what they punish when judging, they praise when listening as an audience. 190.7 And not only this, but they also have many who join in praising and fanning the flame of vice and are divided into partisan groups to this extent; when it is necessary, if it is not believed, not to be praised; but if it is believed, to be judged publicly; or thus, if the charges are false, for the accusers to be punished; but if true, those against whom the speech is made; and for so great a matter, the reputation of the well-born, not to be so lightly made a sport of. 190.8 If then you will be persuaded by me at all (for my speech is to both of you), bid farewell to such speeches and slanders, if for no other reason, out of respect for your grey hair or from being weary of the most shameful things. And for yourselves, decide to honor the old exhortation, the one that bids virtue to be practiced when one has had enough of life. 190.9 And you will not only plot against yourselves, but you will also plot against the hopes of the young, who would surely suffer the most terrible things, if while practicing eloquence they should learn vice, and this not without a fee, as if they had you as teachers not of virtue but of this. 190.10 But if I seem burdensome to you in writing these things, pay me back in kind yourself, by exhorting something useful, so that you may either benefit me by my obeying or accuse me for resisting.

191.T TO THE SAME 191.1 What a mistake I made; how very clumsy and uneducated; I admonished a sophist; O the folly; and I was not even taught by the common proverb, being bald, not to butt head-on against a ram, nor to stir up a wasps' nest against myself, a tongue more ready for evil-speaking. 191.2 At this, then, I am not at all displeased (for I was added to many, as I learn, and if you live, even before many); but rather at that, that I was not believed to be doing this in a friendly spirit. 191.3 Nevertheless, may you be healthy in both body and soul, and may you restrain your tongue, if possible; but for now we will be content with what is ours. 192.T TO STAGEIRIUS 192.1 I will speak frankly to you; for I am so by nature, and I wish to. If you do not share Nicobulus with us, you will do wrong; for we shall have offended a friend and have gained nothing more from you. 192.2 But if you give as much as we hope, you will act graciously, and both matters will turn out for us in the best way. For to him we shall make our apology, and you we shall praise. But if you also permit us to advise you in a fatherly way, do not spit out the counsel because of your habit of ruling; receive the word of a man not ignorant of such things. 192.3 Lay down at some point the weapons and the slings and the more terrible ashen spears, your tongues, with which you strike and wound one another, and this in the presence of your admiring students. 192.4 And lay them down all the more, inasmuch as this is more ready to hand than weapons; so that you may not be guides of vice rather than of virtue to the young, and if not to the

55

θελήσαντος· παρ' ἐμοῦ δὲ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων ἐνεχειρίσθη. Τί τοῦτο ἄφιλον ἢ ἀπάνθρωπον; 190.4 Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν ἀπολογίαν ἔχεις, δέξαι καὶ τὴν κατηγο ρίαν. Οὐκ ἐπαινῶ σοῦ τοὺς κοροπλάθους καὶ τοὺς Τελχῖνας οἷς βάλλεις τὸν ἀντίτεχνον, ἐπειδὴ νενίκηκε τοὺς ὁμο τέχνους ἀντιτέχνους καλεῖν. Μέχρι τίνος γὰρ ταῦτα; Καὶ ποῦ στησόμεθα τῆς σοφιστικῆς ἐπηρείας; ἕως ἂν τί γένηται; ἕως ἂν θάνατος ἡμᾶς διακόψῃ τῆς πονηρίας; 190.5 Ταῦτα γὰρ νέον μὲν ὄντα, φιλοτιμίας ἡττώμενον, κέρδους μεταποιούμενον, καὶ τότε μετρίως ποιεῖν, 20ἔχει τινὰ συγγνώμην20 (μικρὸν γάρ τι δημοσθενίσω σὴν χάριν)· ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τῆς ἡλικίας καὶ οὕτω πράττοντα κυρίττειν τε καὶ κυρίττεσθαι, παντελῶς ἄωρον καὶ φιλό νεικον, οὐ μόνον ὅτι ἀπρεπὲς καὶ παντάπασιν ἀνελεύθερον, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ῥᾳστώνη πολλὴ τοῦ πράγματος. 20Ὁπποῖόν κ' εἴπῃσθα ἔπος, τοῖόν κ' ἐπακούσαις20, καθάπερ ῥεύματος ἀντιστρέφοντος (πάλιν γὰρ Ὁμήρῳ συγχρήσο μαι)· 20τὸν ξύοντα δ' ἀντιξύειν20, παντελῶς ἀνεπίφθονον. 190.6 Τίς οὖν ἡ σοφία, ἐξὸν ἀρετῇ πρωτεύειν, ἡττᾶσθαι κακίᾳ ἢ καὶ νικᾶν, ὃ πολλῷ χεῖρόν ἐστι; ἀλλ' ἐγώ γε καὶ τῶν δικαστῶν τοῦτο μέμφομαι (20εἰρήσεται γὰρ τἀληθές20), ὅτι ἃ κολάζουσι κρίνοντες, ταῦτα ἐπαι νοῦσιν ἀκροώμενοι. 190.7 Οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοὺς ἔχουσι τοὺς συνεπαινέτας καὶ τὴν κακίαν ἀνάπτοντας καὶ ταῖς σπουδαῖς ἄχρι τούτου μεμερισμένους· δέον, εἰ μὲν ἀπιστεῖται, μὴ ἐπαινεῖσθαι· εἰ δὲ πιστεύεται, δημοσίᾳ κρίνεσθαι· ἢ οὕτως, εἰ μὲν ψευδῆ, τοὺς κατηγόρους κολάζεσθαι· εἰ δὲ ἀληθῆ, τοὺς καθ' ὧν ὁ λόγος· καὶ μὴ οὕτω μέγιστον πρᾶγμα, τὴν τῶν εὖ γεγονότων ὑπόληψιν, οὕτω ῥᾳδίως παίζεσθαι. 190.8 Εἴ τι οὖν ἐμοὶ πείθεσθε (πρὸς γὰρ ἀμφοτέρους ὁ λόγος), τοὺς μὲν τοιούτους λόγους καὶ ψόγους χαίρειν ἐάσατε, εἰ μή τι ἄλλο, τὴν πολιὰν αἰδούμενοι ἢ καὶ ἀποκάμνοντες ἐν τοῖς αἰσχίστοις. Αὐτοὶ δὲ βουλεύσασθε τὴν παλαιὰν τιμῆσαι παραίνεσιν τήν, ὅταν τῳ βίος ἱκανὸς ᾖ, ἀρετὴν ἀσκεῖσθαι κελεύουσαν. 190.9 Καὶ οὐκ ἐπιβου λεύσετε μὲν ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς, ἐπιβουλεύσετε δὲ ταῖς τῶν νέων ἐλπίσιν, οἳ πάντως ἂν τὰ δεινότατα πάθοιεν, εἰ λόγους ἀσκούμενοι κακίαν μάθοιεν, καὶ ταύτην οὐκ ἄμισθον, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀρετῆς ἀλλὰ ταύτης ἔχοντες ὑμᾶς διδασκάλους. 190.10 Εἰ δέ σοι φορτικὸς εἶναι δοκῶ ταῦτα γράφων, ἄμυνέ με τοῖς ἴσοις καὶ αὐτὸς παραινέσας τι τῶν χρησίμων, ἵν' ἢ πειθόμενον ὠφελῇς ἢ ἐγκαλῇς ἀντιτείνοντι.

191.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 191.1 Οἷον ἠγνόησα· ὡς λίαν σκαιὸν καὶ ἀπαίδευτον· ἄνδρα

σοφιστὴν ἐνουθέτησα· ὢ τῆς ἀπονοίας· καὶ οὐδὲ ὑπὸ τῆς παροιμίας τῆς ἰδιωτικῆς ἐπαιδεύθην, φαλακρὸς ὢν κατὰ κριοῦ μὴ νυστάζειν ἀντὶ προσώπου, μηδὲ σφηκίαν ἐγείρειν κατ' ἐμαυτοῦ, γλῶσσαν πρὸς τὸ κακῶς λέγειν ἑτοιμοτέραν. 191.2 Τούτῳ μὲν οὖν οὐ πάνυ τι δυσχεραίνω (μετὰ γὰρ πολλῶν προσετέθην, ὥς γε πυνθάνομαι, εἰ δὲ ζώοις, καὶ πρὸ πολλῶν)· ἐκείνῳ δὲ μᾶλλον, ὅτι μὴ ἐπισ τεύθην φιλικῶς τοῦτο ποιεῖν. 191.3 Πλὴν ὑγιαίνοις καὶ σῶμα καὶ ψυχήν, καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν κατέχοις, εἰ δυνατόν· ἀλλὰ νῦν τό γε ἡμέτερον στέρξομεν. 192.Τ ΣΤΑΓΕΙΡΙΩΙ 192.1 Παρρησιάσομαί τι πρὸς σέ· καὶ γὰρ πέφυκα οὕτω, καὶ βούλομαι. Εἰ μὴ μεταδοίης ἡμῖν τὸν Νικόβουλον, ἀδικήσεις· φίλῳ τε γὰρ ἐσόμεθα προσκεκρουκότες καὶ παρὰ σοῦ μηδὲν ἔχοντες πλέον. 192.2 Εἰ δὲ δοίης ὅσον ἐλπίζομεν, εὐγνωμονήσεις, καὶ ἀμφότερα ἡμῖν ὡς κάλλιστα ἕξει. Ἐκείνῳ μὲν γὰρ ἀπολογησόμεθα, σὲ δὲ ἐπαινεσόμεθα. Εἰ δὲ δίδως ἡμῖν καὶ παραινέσαι σοι πατρικῶς, ἀλλὰ μὴ τῇ συνηθείᾳ τοῦ ἄρχειν τὴν συμβουλὴν διαπτύσῃς· δέξαι λόγον ἀνδρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα οὐκ ἀμαθοῦς. 192.3 Κατά θεσθέ ποτε τὰ ὅπλα καὶ τὰς σφενδόνας καὶ τὰς δεινοτέρας μελίας, τὰς γλώσσας, αἷς ἀλλήλους βάλλετέ τε καὶ τιτρώσκετε, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν ἐπαινέταις τοῖς σπουδασταῖς. 192.4 Καὶ κατάθεσθε τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον, ὅσον προχειρότερον τοῦτο τῶν ὅπλων ἐστίν· ἵνα μὴ κακίας μᾶλλον ἢ ἀρετῆς ἐξηγῆσθε τοῖς νέοις, καὶ εἰ μὴ τοῖς