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
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 clarifying words, wiping away the filthiness of souls, work in them a pure and ethereal nature. For if some begin to agree on the greatest things and to be in accord, these would most quickly remove the difference also in the lesser things. Therefore, having chosen reason in common, you will make the most secure foundation of concord, but if one saw the matter at hand more keenly, and the other more dimly, let neither the more talented boast over the other, nor the slower be envious of the quicker; for you are not divided, for brotherhood introduces unity. And of natures united without confusion, the passions are common; but if not, let reason both console the dimmer one and moderate the keener one. For he who has found what he sought without effort will lose it as quickly as he found it, but he who has often arbitrated the doubtful matter with his reasonings, then indeed having acquired it, has bound the reason as if in bronze fetters. Do not, just as the more wicked of neighbors or those living in nearby fields, keeping themselves from one another by mountains or intervening rivers, have become without share of the benefit from each other, so indeed you also, by circumscribing your own affairs, falsify the common calling. For this sharing of the same roof and living together and the indifference of clothing and of vehicle and the commonality of the bodyguard abolishes the divisions of characters; but those of the same race who are distributed to different service and familiarity have both encountered alien characters and have divided their opinions from one another. Understand happiness for me to be the possession of the virtues; for these join us to God, who indeed is by nature the first blessed thing. But as for the so-called blessedness of good repute, when it is present, love it as is reasonable, but when it is absent, do not be very displeased; for I do not dare to say anything more to those who have become part of the senatorial council and of the more brilliant life. And just as in the gymnastic contests he who comes behind makes his own the good repute of the one who finished first and he who was left behind is crowned together, if it so happens, with the one who ran ahead, so indeed also for you let the surpassing gain for the one be established for the other. And having similarity in things according to choice, do not be vexed, if you should differ in things according to circumstance; for it is necessary, if the superior power keeps an equal lot for the lives of both, to be glad, but if circumstances should differ, not to force the difference of external things also upon opinions. Do not make your pastimes separately from one another, but let both your going forth and your coming in and the other things be common. Do not receive fawning men nor let flattery steal its way beforehand into your souls, so that you do not, by increasing ambition against one another, envy one another in your superior positions. If someone makes the one equal to the other either speaking the truth or urging to this and creating a zeal for equality, consider this one to be the one who has loved you most; but he who secretly bestows superiority on one, considering this one a corrupter of souls, send him away. Do not be transformed too quickly to those whom you might associate with from a first meeting, but by observing the characters of the souls of each, to those in whom you are conscious of a similarity, bind yourselves to them; but as for that which is different, if it should be better, imitate it, but if worse, find fault with it. And in common make both your avoidance and your acceptance, be imprinted on each other; and let one become a face and a mirror to the other, so that by turning towards each other one may make the care of himself the care of the other and there may be no division in the counsels of either. If one of you should have pain in the body, let the other suffer pain with him in soul; for fellow-suffering is the greatest proof of like-mindedness. Let each one take pride in the other's advantages and let him strive indeed to attain to these and in nothing to differ from his brother,
ἐργαζόμενος· ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ ποτιμώτατα τῶν ὑδάτων καὶ οἱ εὐκραεῖς τῶν ἀέρων τὰ σώματα διατιθέασιν εὖ καὶ τὴν ὁμοίαν γεννῶσι
διάθεσιν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τῶν λόγων οἱ διαυγάζοντες τὸ ἰλυῶδες τῶν ψυχῶν ἀποσμήχοντες εἰλικρινῆ αὐταῖς καὶ αἰθέριον τὴν φύσιν
ἐργάζονται. εἰ γάρ τινες περὶ τῶν μεγίστων ὁμοδοξεῖν ἄρχονται καὶ συμφέρεσθαι, οὗτοι τάχιστ' ἂν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐλάττοσι τὸ διαφέρον
ἀνέλοιεν. κοινῇ γοῦν τὸν λόγον ἑλόμενοι ἀσφαλεστάτην κρηπῖδα τῆς ὁμονοίας ποιήσετε, εἰ δὲ ὁ μὲν ὀξύτερον εἶδε τὸ σπουδαζόμενον,
ὁ δὲ ἀμβλύτερον, μήθ' ὁ εὐφυέστε ρος κατεπαιρέσθω θατέρου, μήθ' ὁ μαλακώτερος βασκαινέτω τῷ ταχυτέρῳ· οὐ γὰρ διῄρησθε, εἰσηγεῖται
γὰρ ἡ ἀδελφότης τὴν ἕνωσιν. ἡνωμένων δὲ ἀμιγῶς φύσεων τὰ πάθη κοινά· ἢν δὲ μή, ὁ λόγος καὶ τὸν ἀμβλύτερον παραμυθείσθω καὶ
σωφρονιζέτω τὸν ἀγχινούστερον. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀπραγματεύτως εὑρηκὼς τὸ ζητούμενον ἀποβαλεῖται τάχιστα ὥσπερ εὕρατο, ὁ δὲ πολλάκις
διαιτήσας τοῖς λογισμοῖς τὸ ἀμφιγνοούμε νον, εἶτα δὴ προσκτησάμενος ὥσπερ ἐν πέδαις χαλκαῖς τὸν λόγον κατέ δησε. μή, καθάπερ
οἱ πονηρότεροι τῶν προσχώρων ἢ ἀγρογειτόνων ὄρεσιν ἀπ' ἀλλήλων ἢ ποταμοῖς μέσοις ἀπείργοντες ἑαυτοὺς τῆς παρ' ἑκα τέρων ὠφελείας
ἀμέτοχοι καθεστήκασιν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς τὰ ἑαυτῶν περιγράφοντες τῆς κοινῆς καταψεύδεσθε κλήσεως. τὸ γάρ τοι ὁμωρόφιον τοῦτο
καὶ ὁμοδίαιτον καὶ τὸ ἀδιάφορον τῆς ἐσθῆτος καὶ τοῦ ὀχήματος καὶ τὸ κοινὸν τῆς δορυφορίας τὰς διαστάσεις ἀναιρεῖ τῶν ἠθῶν·
οἱ δέ γε διανενεμημένοι τῶν ὁμογενῶν πρὸς διάφορον θεραπείαν καὶ οἰκειότητα ἀλλοτρίοις τε ἤθεσι προσεκύρησαν καὶ τὰς γνώμας
ἀπ' ἀλλήλων συνδιῃρή κασιν. εὐδαιμονίαν μοι ἐπίστασθε τὴν κτῆσιν τῶν ἀρετῶν· αὗται γὰρ συνάπτουσιν ἡμᾶς τῷ θεῷ, ὃ δὴ τὸ πρῶτον
μακαριστὸν πέφυκε. τὴν δὲ λεγομένην τῆς εὐδοξίας μακαριότητα προσοῦσαν μὲν ὅσον εἰκὸς ἀγαπήσατε, ἀπούσης δὲ μὴ μάλα τι δυσχεράνητε·
οὐ γὰρ θαρρῶ τι πλέον εἰπεῖν τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς γεγονόσι καὶ τῆς λαμπροτέρας ζωῆς. καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν γυμνικῶν ἀγώνων ἰδιοῦται
τὸ τοῦ προλαβόντος εὐδόκιμον ὁ κατόπιν ἐλθὼν καὶ συστεφανοῦται ὁ ἀπολελειμμένος, ἂν οὕτω τύχῃ, τῷ προ δραμόντι, οὕτω δὴ καὶ
ὑμῖν τὸ περιττεῦσαν θατέρῳ κέρδος τῷ λοιπῷ καθεστάτω. καὶ τὴν ὁμοιότητα ἐν τοῖς κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἔχοντες μὴ χαλεπαίνητε, εἰ
ἐν τοῖς κατὰ περίστασιν παραλλάττοιτε· χρὴ γάρ, εἰ μὲν τὴν ἴσην ἀμφοτέρων τοῖς βίοις τὸ κρεῖττον τηρεῖ, ἀσμενίζειν, εἰ δὲ
διαλλάττοι τὰ πράγματα, μὴ τὸ τῶν ἔξω διάφορον βιάζεσθαι κἀπὶ τῶν γνωμῶν. Τὰς διατριβὰς μὴ χωρὶς ἀπ' ἀλλήλων ποιεῖτε, ἀλλ'
ἥ τε πρόοδος ὑμῖν καὶ ἡ ἔξοδος καὶ τἆλλα κοινὰ ἔστωσαν. θῶπας ἀνθρώπους μὴ παρα δέχεσθε μηδὲ φθάσῃ παρεισφθαρεῖσα κολακεία
ταῖς ὑμετέραις ψυχαῖς, ἵνα μὴ τὸ φιλότιμον κατ' ἀλλήλων αὐξάνοντες ἐν ταῖς ὑπεροχαῖς ἀλλήλοις διαφθονῆτε. εἰ μέν τις τὸν ἕτερον
ἐξισοῖ θατέρῳ ἢ ἀληθεύων ἢ πρὸς τοῦτο παρακινῶν καὶ ζῆλον ἐμποιῶν τῆς ἰσότητος, τοῦτον ἡγεῖσθε τὸν μάλιστα πεφιληκότα ὑμᾶς·
ὃς δὲ τὸ ὑπερέχον λεληθότως τῷ ἑτέρῳ χαρίζεται, φθορέα τοῦτον ψυχῶν ἡγούμενοι ἀποπέμποισθε. μὴ θᾶττον μεταμορφοῦσθε οἷς ἂν
συγγένοισθε ἐκ πρώτης ἐντεύξεως, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ψυχικοὺς χαρακτῆρας παραθεωροῦντες ἑκάστων, οἷς μὲν ἂν ὁμοιότητα συνειδῆτε, τούτοις
συνδεῖσθε· τὸ δὲ παραλλάττον, εἰ μὲν κρεῖττον εἴη, μιμεῖσθε, εἰ δὲ χεῖρον, μωμεῖσθε. κοινῇ δὲ ποιεῖτε καὶ τὴν φυγὴν καὶ τὴν
πρόσληψιν ἀλλήλοις ἀποτυποῦσθε· καὶ πρόσωπον ἅτερος θατέρῳ γινέσθω καὶ ἔνοπτρον, ἵν' ἑαυτοῖς ἀντιπεριιστάμενοι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ
τις φροντίδα τοῦ ἑτέρου ποιοῖτο καὶ μηδεμία διάστασις ᾖ ἐφ' ἑκατέρου τῶν βουλευμάτων. εἴ τις ὑμῶν ἀλγοίη τὸ σῶμα, συνοδυνάσθω
ἕτερος τῇ ψυχῇ· ἡ γὰρ ὁμοιοπάθεια μέγιστον ὁμοφροσύνης τεκμήριον. ἐγκαλλωπι ζέσθω ἑκάτερος τοῖς ἑτέρου πλεονεκτήμασι καὶ σπουδαζέτω
μὲν ἐφικνεῖ σθαι τούτων καὶ μηδὲν παραλλάττειν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ,
