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31.1 How great are the athletes of virtue, and how many they are, and with what kind of crowns they are made resplendent, the narratives written by us about them clearly teach. For even if it does not contain all their struggles, yet even the few things are sufficient to show the character of their whole life. For the touchstone does not use up all the gold brought to it, but by being rubbed with a small amount, shows whether it is genuine or not; and likewise one could learn accurately about the archer from a few arrows shot, whether he shoots best, hitting the mark, or whether he is carried wide of it, not having practiced the art. Thus it is possible to discern the other craftsmen too, not to mention each one—both athletes and runners and tragic actors and pilots and shipbuilders and physicians and farmers and simply all the others, whoever practices some art; for a little experience is sufficient both to display the art of the knowledgeable and to expose the ignorance of those using only the name. Therefore, as I said, the few things written of the achievements of each one are sufficient to teach the whole purpose of their life. But it is fitting for us at present to investigate, and to seek, and to learn accurately from what starting point they embraced this way of life, and using what reasonings they reached the summit of this philosophy; for experience is a clear teacher that it was not by trusting in the strength of their body that they longed for things beyond human nature, and transgressed the limits established for it, and leaped over the hurdles set for the combatants of piety. 31.2 For no one who has no share in this philosophy has ever shown their endurance. For even if shepherds are snowed upon, yet not always; for they use caves, and they return to their houses, and they cover their feet with footwear, and they clothe the other parts of the body with warmer garments; and twice, and three times a day, and perhaps even four times, they enjoy food. And eating meat and drinking wine thoroughly warms their bodies better than any hearth; for when such food undergoes alteration, and being separated as if by some strainer, and having reached the liver, undergoes the change into blood, it goes into the heart through the hollow vein; and having been heated there, as if through certain channels of the dispersed veins, it runs through all the parts of the body; and wherever it arrives, not only does it water, but it also heats it like a fire, and warms the body better than soft garments. For tunics and cloaks and overcoats do not, as some suppose, provide warmth to the body; for otherwise they would have warmed both wood and stones, on which they were placed; but no one has ever seen wood or stone made warmer by garments. Therefore, these do not provide heat to the body either; but they preserve the heat of the body; and they ward off the assault of the cold air; and receiving the vapors coming out from the body, they are both warmed by these, and they strike the body warmer. And experience is a witness; for often, getting into a cold bed, by contact with the body we make the bedding warm which was cold a little while before. Therefore, food thoroughly warms the body more than any garment; and those who partake of it to satiety have a sufficient defense against the assault of the frost. For with this they arm the body, and they prepare it to withstand such a season of the year. But those who enjoy neither foods nor drinks each day, and when they do enjoy them, not waiting for satiety, but reining in their keen appetite, and partaking not of things able to warm the body, but either eating grass like irrational animals, or using soaked legumes

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31.1 Ἡλίκοι μὲν οἱ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀθληταί, καὶ ὅσοι καὶ οἵοις στεφάνοις λαμπρύνονται, σαφῶς διδάσκει τὰ περὶ αὐτῶν συγγραφέντα ἡμῖν διηγήματα. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μὴ πάντας αὐτῶν περιέχει τοὺς ἄθλους, ἀλλ' ἀπόχρη καὶ τὰ ὀλίγα παντὸς τοῦ βίου δεῖξαι τὸν χαρακτῆρα. Καὶ γὰρ τὸν χρυσὸν οὐχ ἅπαντα τὸν προσφερόμενον δαπανῶσα ἡ λίθος, ἀλλ' ὀλίγῳ τινὶ προστριβομένη δόκιμον ἢ ἀδόκιμον δείκνυσι· καὶ τὸν τοξότην δὲ ὡσαύτως ἐξ ὀλίγων ἀφιεμένων βελῶν καταμάθοι ἄν τις ἀκριβῶς εἴτε ἄριστα τοξεύοι κατὰ σκοπὸν βάλλων, εἴτε ἔξω φέροιτο, τὴν τέχνην οὐκ ἠσκήμενος. Οὕτω καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τεχνίτας, ἵνα μὴ καθ' ἕκαστον λέγω, δυνατὸν διαγνῶναι, καὶ ἀθλητὰς καὶ δρομέας καὶ τραγῳδίας ὑποκριτὰς καὶ κυβερνήτας καὶ ναυπηγοὺς καὶ ἰατροὺς καὶ γηπόνους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἁπαξαπλῶς, ὅσοι τινὰ μεταχειρίζουσι τέχνην· ἱκανὴ γὰρ ὀλίγη πεῖρα καὶ τῶν ἐπιστημόνων ἐπιδεῖξαι τὴν τέχνην, καὶ τῶν ὀνόματι μόνῳ χρωμένων ἐλέγξαι τὴν ἀμαθίαν. Ἀπόχρη τοίνυν, ὡς ἔφην, καὶ τὰ ὀλίγα συγγραφέντα τῶν ἑκάστῳ κατωρ θωμένων, πᾶσαν διδάξαι τὴν τοῦ βίου προαίρεσιν. Προσήκει δὲ ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἐρευνῆσαι, καὶ ζητῆσαι, καὶ καταμαθεῖν ἀκριβῶς πόθεν ὁρμώμενοι τήνδε τὴν πολιτείαν ἠσπάσαντο, καὶ ποίοις χρώμενοι λογισμοῖς αὐτὴν κατέλαβον τῆς φιλοσοφίας τὴν κορυφήν· ὅτι γὰρ οὐ τῇ ῥώμῃ θαρροῦντες τοῦ σώματος, τῶν ὑπὲρ τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν ἠράσθησαν, καὶ τοὺς ταύτῃ κειμένους ὑπερέβησαν ὅρους, καὶ τὰ παγέντα τοῖς τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγωνισταῖς ὑπερεπήδησαν σκάμματα, σαφὴς ἡ πεῖρα διδάσκαλος. 31.2 Οὐδεὶς γὰρ τῶν τῆς φιλοσοφίας ταύτης ἀμοίρων τὴν τούτων καρτερίαν ἐπεδείξατο πώποτε. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ νίφονται ποιμένες, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀεί· καὶ ἄντροις γὰρ χρῶνται, καὶ εἰς τὰς οἰκίας ἐπανίασι, καὶ ὑποδήμασι δὲ τοὺς πόδας καλύ πτουσι, καὶ ἐσθήμασι θερμοτέροις τὰ ἄλλα μέρη τοῦ σώματος περιβάλλουσι· καὶ δίς, καὶ τρὶς τῆς ἡμέρας, τάχα δὲ καὶ τετράκις τροφῆς ἀπολαύουσι. Καὶ κρεοφαγία δὲ καὶ οἰνοπο σία πάσης ἐσχάρας ἄμεινον διαθερμαίνει τὰ σώματα· ὅταν γὰρ ἡ τοιαύτη τροφὴ τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν δέξηται, καὶ οἷον ἠθμῷ τινι διακριθεῖσα, καὶ τὸ ἧπαρ καταλαβοῦσα, τὴν εἰς αἷμα μεταβολὴν ὑπομείνῃ, χωρεῖ μὲν εἰς τὴν καρδίαν διὰ τῆς κοίλης φλεβός· ἐκθερμανθεῖσα δέ, ἐκεῖθεν, οἷον διά τινων ὀχετῶν τῶν διεσπαρμένων φλεβῶν, εἰς ἅπαντα διατρέχει τὰ τοῦ σώματος μόρια· οὗ δ' ἂν ἀφίκηται, οὐκ ἄρδει μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πυρὸς δίκην ἐκθερμαίνει, καὶ τῶν μαλακῶν ἱματίων ἄμεινον περιθάλπει τὸ σῶμα. Οὐ γάρ, ὥς τινες ὑπολαμβάνουσι, χιτῶνες καὶ ἀμπεχόναι καὶ ἐφεστρίδες τῷ σώματι τὸ θάλπος παρέχουσιν· ἢ γὰρ ἂν καὶ ξύλα καὶ λίθους ἐθέρμαναν, οἷς ἂν ἐπέλασαν· ἀλλ' οὐδεὶς ἐθεάσατο πώποτε ξύλον ἢ λίθον θερμότερον ὑπὸ ἱματίων γεγενημένον. Οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ τῷ σώματι ταῦτα παρέχει τὴν θέρμην· ἀλλὰ τοῦ σώματος ταῦτα φυλάττει τὴν θέρμην· καὶ ἀπείργει μὲν τοῦ ψυχροῦ ἀέρος τὴν προσβολήν· ὑποδε χόμενα δὲ τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἐξιόντας ἀτμούς, καὶ θερμαίνεται τούτοις, καὶ θερμότερα προσβάλλει τῷ σώματι. Καὶ μάρτυς ἡ πεῖρα· ψυχρᾷ γὰρ πολλάκις τῇ κλίνῃ προσ βαλόντες, τῇ τοῦ σώματος ὁμιλίᾳ θερμὴν τὴν πρὸ βραχέος ψυχρὰν ἀποτελοῦμεν στρωμνήν. Οὐκοῦν ἡ τροφὴ παντὸς ἱματίου πλέον διαθερμαίνει τὸ σῶμα· οἱ δὲ ταύτης εἰς κόρον μεταλαμβάνοντες, ἔρυμα ἔχουσιν ἀρκοῦν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κρυμοῦ προσβολήν. Καθοπλίζουσι γὰρ ταύτῃ τὸ σῶμα, καὶ ἀντέχειν πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην τοῦ ἔτους παρασκευάζουσιν ὥραν. Οἱ δὲ μήτε σιτίων, μήτε ποτῶν καθ' ἑκάστην ἀπο λαύοντες ἡμέραν, καὶ ἡνίκα δ' ἂν ἀπολαύσωσιν, οὐ τὸν κόρον ἀναμένοντες, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὄρεξιν ἀκμάζουσαν χαλι νοῦντες, καὶ μεταλαμβάνοντες οὐ τῶν θερμᾶναι δυναμένων τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλ' ἢ ποηφαγοῦντες τοῖς ἀλόγοις παραπλησίως, ἢ διαβρόχοις ὀσπρίοις χρώμενοι