82

Sirach 22. Who will set a guard over my mouth, and a seal upon my lips? that I may not fall because of it, and my tongue destroy me.

Sirach 30. Good things poured out upon a closed mouth. Basil. Do not trust everything to the tongue, lest you suffer unseasonably, just as

an eye wishing to look at the whole sun, destroys even the light it has. (15E_356> Of the Theologian. A pitfall for men, a tongue not governed by reason. Chrysostom. A word uttered simply, has overturned entire houses; and

has overthrown and sunk souls; and the loss of money might be corrected again; but a word once it has escaped, cannot be recovered again.

Of Cyril. Do not receive swallows into your houses; that is, do not make talkative people and those incontinent of tongue dwellers under the same roof.

Of Evagrius. Speak what you must, and when you must, and concerning what you must, and you will not hear what you must not. Of Nilus. If you control your stomach, control your tongue also; lest of the one you be

a slave, and of the other you happen to be foolishly free. Isocrates. Whatever you are about to say, first examine it in your mind; for many

for the tongue outruns the thought. Isocrates the rhetorician, when Kareon, who was talkative, and wished to study with him

asked for a double fee. When he asked the reason, "One," he said, "so that you may learn to speak; and the other, so that you may learn to be silent."

Cleitarchus. What you do not wish to hear, do not say; what you do not wish to say, do not hear; great is the danger of ears and tongue.

Socrates. It is better to slip with the foot than with the tongue. Demonax. Use your ears more than your tongue. Demosthenes. At a symposium, to one who was talking a lot, "If you were thinking as much," he said,

"you would not be talking so much." And being asked, "Why do we have one tongue, but two ears?" he said, "Because twice as much"

"should be heard than said." 941 Plato. Plato, when Antisthenes in a discourse once

spoke at length, (15E_358> "Do you not know," he said, "that the measure of a speech is, not the speaker, but the hearer?"

Nicostratus. If speaking continuously and much and quickly were a sign of wisdom, the swallows would be called wiser than we.

From the works of Epictetus and Isocrates. Nature has given one tongue to men, but two ears, so that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

Pythagoras. A wound from a sword is lighter than one from the tongue; for the one wounds the body, but the other, the soul.

Aesop. When he was asked, "What among men is both good and bad?" he said, "The tongue."

Democritus. It is arrogance to say everything, and to be willing to hear nothing. Of Apollonius. Much speaking has many errors; but to be silent is safe. The same man said that orators are like frogs; for the latter in

croak in waters, while the former do so by a water-clock. Of Lycon. Just as swallows by their constant chatter, the pleasure of

conversation lose; so do babblers, by making constant annoyances, appear unpleasant to their listeners.

To a talkative lawyer someone said, "One must not say few things in many words, but many things in few."

82

Σιράχ κβ´. Τίς δώσει ἐπί τοῦ στόματός μου φυλακήν, καί ἐπί τῶν χειλέων μου σφραγίδα; ἵνα μή ἐμπέσω ἀπ᾿ αὐτῆς, καί ἡ γλῶσσά μου ἀπολέσῃ με.

Σιράχ λ΄ . Ἀγαθά κεχυμένα ἐπί στόματι κεκλεισμένῳ. Βασιλ.´Μή πάντα θάῤῥει τῇ γλώσσῃ, ἵνα μή πάθῃς ἀκαίρως, καθάπερ

ὀφθαλμός ὅλον τόν ἥλιον θέλων ἀποβλέψαι, ἀπόλλει καί ὅ ἔχει φῶς. (15Ε_356> Θεολόγου. Ὄλισθος ἀνθρώποις, γλῶσσα λόγῳ μή κυβερνωμένη. Χρυσόστ. Λόγος ἁπλῶς προενεχθείς, ὁλοκλήρους ἀνέτρεψεν οἰκίας· καί

ψυχάς ἀνέστρεψε καί κατέδυσε· καί τῶν μέν χρημάτων τήν ζημίαν διορθοῦσθαι πάλιν εἴη· λόγον δέ ἐκπηδήσαντα ἅπαξ, ἀνακτῆσαι πάλιν οὐκ εἴη.

Κυρίλλου. Μή χελιδόνας οἰκίαις δέχεσθαι· τουτέστι λάλους ἀνθρώπους καί περί γλῶσσαν ἀκρατεῖς ὁμοροφίους μή ποιεῖσθαι.

Εὐαγρίου. Λάλει ἅ δεῖ, καί ὅτι δεῖ, καί περί ὧν δεῖ, καί οὐκ ἀκούσεις ἅ μή δεῖ. Νείλου. Εἰ κρατεῖς γαστρός, κράτει καί γλώσσης· ἵνα μή τῆς μέν ὑπάρχῃς

δοῦλος, τῆς δέ τυγχάνῃς ἀνοήτως ἐλεύθερος. Ἰσοκράτ. Πᾶν ὅ τι ἄν μέλλεις ἐρεῖν, πρότερον ἐπισκόπει τῇ γνώμῃ· πολλοῖς

γάρ ἡ γλῶσσα προτρέχει τῆς διανοίας. Ἰσοκράτης ὁ ῥήτωρ, Καρεῶνος ὄντος λάλου, καί σχολάζειν παρ᾿ αὐτῷ

βουλομένου, διττούς ᾔτησε μισθούς. Τοῦ δέ τήν αἰτίαν πυθομένου, Ἕνα μέν, ἔφη, ἵνα λαλεῖν μάθῃς· τό δέ ἕτερον, ἵνα σιγᾷν.

Κλειτάρχ. Ὅ μή θέλῃς ἀκούειν, μηδέ εἴπης· ὅ μή θέλῃς λέγειν, μηδέ ἄκουε· ὤτων καί γλώττης μέγας ὁ κίνδυνος.

Σωκράτης. Κρεῖττον εἶναι τῷ ποδί ὀλισθαίνειν, ἤ τῇ γώσσῃ. ∆ημόνακτ. Τοῖς ὠσί πλέον, ἤ τῇ γλώττῃ χρῶ. ∆ημοσθ. Ἐν συμποσίῳ πρός τόν πολλά λαλοῦντα, Εἰ τοσαῦτα, ἔφη, ἐφρόνεις,

οὐκ ἄν τοσαῦτα ἐλάλεις. Ἐρωτηθείς δέ, ∆ιατί μίαν γλῶσσαν ἔχομεν, ὦτα δέ δύο; εἶπεν, Ὅτι διπλάσιον

δεῖ ἀκούειν τοῦ λέγειν. 941 Πλάτων. Πλάτων, Ἀντισθένους ἐν τῇ διατριβῇ ποτε

μακρολογήσαντος, (15Ε_358> Ἀγνοεῖς, εἶπεν, ὅτι τοῦ λόγου μέτρον ἐστίν, οὐχ ὁ λέγων, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ ἀκούων;

Νικοστράτ. Εἰ ἐπί τῷ συνεχῶς καί πολλά καί ταχέως λαλεῖν ἦν τοῦ φρονεῖν παράσημον, αἱ χελιδόνες ἐλέγοντ᾿ ἄν ἡμῶν φρονιμώτεραι.

Ἐκ τῶν Ἐπικτήτου καί Ἰσοκράτ. Γλῶσσαν μίαν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἡ φύσις δέδωκεν, δύο δέ ὦτα, ἵνα διπλασίονα ὦν λέγομεν, παρ᾿ ἑτέρων ἀκούωμεν.

Πυθαγόρ. Ξίφους πληγή κουφοτέρα γλώσσης· τό μέν γάρ, σῶμα, ἡ δέ ψυχήν τιτρώσκει.

Αἴσωπος. Οὗτος ἐρωτηθείς, Τί ἐστιν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθόν τε καί φαῦλον; ἔφη, Γλῶσσα.

∆ημοκρίτ. Πλεονεξίη τά πάντα λέγειν, καί μηδέν ἐθέλειν ἀκούειν. Ἀπολλονίου. Πολυλογία πολλά σφάλματα ἔχει· τό δέ σιγᾷν, ἀσφαλές. Ὁ αὐτός τούς ῥήτορας ἔφη ὁμοίους εἶναι τοῖς βατράχοις· τούς μέν γάρ ἐν

ὕδασι κελαδεῖν, τούς δέ πρός κλεψύδραν. Λύκωνος. Καθάπερ αἱ χελιδόνες τῇ συνεχεῖ τῆςλαλιᾶς, τήν ἡδονήν τῆς

ὁμιλίας ἀποβάλλουσιν· οὕτω οἱ ἀδολέσχαι ὀχλήσεις συνεχεῖς ποιούμενοι, ἀηδεῖς ἀποφαίνονται τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις.

Νομικῷ φλυάρῳ ἔφη τις, Οὐ δεῖ ἐν πολλοῖς λέγειν ὀλίγα, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ὀλίγοις πολλά.