363
Isocrat. Whatever you are about to say, first consider it in your mind; for in many the tongue runs ahead of the thought.
Isocrates the rhetor, when Kareon, who was a chatterer, wanted to study with him, asked for a double fee. And when he asked the reason, "One," he said, "so that you may learn to speak; and the other, to be silent."
Cleitarch. 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. Demonact. Use your ears more than your tongue. Demosth. At a symposium, to one who was talking a lot, "If you were so wise," he said, "you would not
be talking so much.
And being asked, Why do we have one tongue, but two ears? he said, "Because one must listen twice as much as one speaks."
(941) Plato. Plato, when Antisthenes was once speaking at great length in his school, said, "Do you not know that the measure of a discourse is not the speaker, but the listener?"
Nicostrat. If speaking continuously and much and quickly were a mark of wisdom, the swallows would be called wiser than we.
From the works of Epictetus and Isocrat. Nature has given one tongue to men, but two ears, so that we might hear from others twice as much as we say.
Pythagor. The wound of a sword is lighter than that of a tongue; for the one wounds the body, but the other, the soul.
Aesop. He, being asked, What is both good and evil among men? said, "The tongue."
Democrit. It is greed 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 croak in water, but the former against a water-clock.
Of Lycon. Just as swallows through their constant chatter lose the pleasure of company; so also chatterers, by making constant annoyances, show themselves unpleasant to their listeners.
To a garrulous lawyer someone said, "One must not say few things in many words, but many things in few."
CHAPTER 48.
On providence. Matt. 10. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and not one of them will fall upon the
ground without your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
363
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 μακρολογολήαντος, 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.
ΛΟΓΟΣ ΜΗ´.
Περί προνοίας. Ματθ. ι´. Οὐχί δύο στρουθία ἀσσαρίου πωλεῖται; καί ἕν ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐ πεσεῖται ἐπι τήν
γῆν ἄνευ τοῦ Πατρός ὑμῶν. Ὑμῶν δέ καί αἱ τρίχες τῆς κεφαλῆς πᾶσαι ἠριθμημέναι εἰσίν.