Ὧι λαοί τ᾽ ἐπιτετράφαται καὶ τόσσα μέμηλεν,
(“The man to whom the people have been entrusted and so many cares belong,”[387])
πῶς ἄν τις ἔξω τύχης ἀπαγαγὼν τὴν θέσιν φύλάσσοι; πάλιν [257] δ᾽ ὁ αὑτὸν ὑποτιθεὶς ταύτῃ πόσης αὑτῷ δεῖν οἰήσεται παρασκευῆς[388] καὶ φρονήσεως πηλίκης ὥστε τὰς ἐφ᾽ ἑκάτερα ῥοπάς, καθάπερ πνεύματος κυβερνήτην, εὐσχημόνως φέρειν;
(how I ask shall we lead him beyond the reach of Fortune and keep his position secure? Then again, if he subject himself to Fortune, how great the provision he will think he must make, how great the prudence he must display so as to sustain with equanimity her variations in either direction, as a pilot must sustain the variations of the wind!)
Οὐκ ἔστι θαυμαστὸν ἀντιτάξασθαι προσπολεμούσῃ μόνον αὐτῇ, πολὺ δὲ θαυμασιώτερον[389] τῶν ὑπαρξάντων παρ᾽ αὐτῆς ἀγαθῶν ἄξιον φανῆναι. τούτοις ὁ μέγιστος ἑάλω βασιλεὺς ὁ τὴν Ἀσίαν [pg 212] καταστρεψάμενος [B] Δαρείου καὶ Ξέρξου χαλεπώτερος καὶ μᾶλλον ἀλαζὼν φανείς, ἐπειδὴ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀρχῆς κατέστη κύριος, τούτοις ἁλόντες τοῖς βέλεσιν ἄρδην ἀπώλοντο Πέρσαι, Μακεδόνες, ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων δῆμος, Συρακούσιοι, τὰ Λακεδαιμωνίων τέλη, Ῥωμαίων στρατηγοὶ καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς αὐτοκράτορες μυρίοι. πολὺ μῆκος ἂν γένοιτο πάντας ἀπαριθμουμένῳ τοὺς διὰ πλοῦτον καὶ νίκας καὶ τρυφὴν ἀπολομένους· ὅσοι δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν δυσπραγιῶν ἐπικλυσθέντες δοῦλοι [C] μὲν ἀντ᾽ ἐλευθέρων, ταπεινοὶ δὲ ἀντὶ γενναίων καὶ σφόδρα εὐτελεῖς ἀντὶ τῶν πρόσθεν σεμνῶν ἅπασιν ὤφθησαν, τί με χρὴ νῦν ὥσπερ ἐκ δέλτου μεταγράφοντα καταλέγειν; εἰ γὰρ ὤφελεν ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίος ἀπορεῖν παραδειγμάτων τοιούτων. ἀλλ᾽ οὔτε ἐστὶν οὔτ᾽ ἂν γένοιτό ποτε τῶν τοιούτων ἐνδεὴς παραδειγμάτων, ἕως ἂν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων διαμένῃ γένος.
(Yet it is nothing wonderful to withstand Fortune when she is merely hostile, but much more wonderful is it to show oneself worthy of the favours she bestows. By her favours the greatest of kings, the conqueror[390] of Asia was ensnared, and showed himself more cruel and more insolent than Darius and Xerxes, after he had become the master of their empire. The shafts of her favours subdued and utterly destroyed the Persians, the Macedonians, the Athenian nation, Spartan magistrates, Roman generals, and countless absolute monarchs besides. It would be an endless business to enumerate all who have fallen victims to their wealth and victories and luxury. And as for those who, submerged by the tide of their misfortunes, from free men have become slaves, who have been humbled from their high estate after all their splendour and become poor and mean in the eyes of all men, what need now to go through the list of them as though I were copying it from a written record? Would that human life afforded no such instances! But it does not nor ever will lack such, so long as the race of man endures.)
[D] Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἐγὼ μόνος τὴν τύχην ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐν τοῖς πρακτέοις κρατεῖν νενόμικα, λέγοιμ᾽ ἂν ἤδη σοι τὰ τοῦ Πλάτωνος ἐκ τῶν θαυμασίων Νόμων, εἰδότι μὲν καὶ διδάξαντί με, ἀπόδειξιν δὲ ὥσπερ τοῦ μὴ ῥᾳθυμεῖν ποιούμενος παραγέγραφά σοι τὴν ῥῆσιν ὧδέ πως ἔχουσαν. “Θεὸς μὲν πάντα καὶ μετὰ θεοῦ τύχη καὶ καιρὸς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα διακυβερνῶσι ξύμπαντα. ἡμερώτερον μὴν τούτοις συγχωρῆσαι [258] τρίτον δεῖν ἕπεσθαι τέχνην.” εἶτα ὁποῖον εἶναι χρὴ τὸν τεχνίτην καὶ δημιουργὸν τῶν καλῶν πράξεων καὶ βασιλέα θεῖον[391] ὑπογράφων· “Γινώσκων ὁ Κρόνος ἄρα, καθάπερ ἡμεῖς, φησί, διεληλύθαμεν, ὡς ἀνθρωπεία φύσις [pg 214] οὐδαμῇ οὐδεμία ἱκανὴ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα διοικοῦσα αὐτοκράτωρ πάντα μὴ οὐχ ὕβρεώς τε καὶ ἀδικίας μεστοῦσθαι, [B] ταῦτ᾽ οὖν διανοούμενος ἐφίστη τότε βασιλέας καὶ ἄρχοντας ταῖς πόλεσιν ἡμῶν οὐκ ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλὰ γένους θειοτέρου καὶ ἀμείνονος, δαίμονας, οἷον νῦν ἡμεῖς δρῶμεν τοῖς ποιμνίοις καὶ ὅσων ἡμεροί εἰσιν ἀγέλαι· οὐ βοῦς βοῶν οὐδὲ αἶγας αἰγῶν ἄρχοντας ποιοῦμεν αὐτοῖς τινας, ἀλλ᾽ ἡμεῖς αὐτῶν δεσπόζομεν, ἄμεινον ἐκείνων γένος. ταὐτὸν δὴ καὶ ὁ θεὸς φιλάνθρωπος ὢν γένος ἄμεινον ἡμῶν ἐφίστη τὸ τῶν δαιμόνων, ὃ διὰ πολλῆς μὲν αὐτοῖς ῥᾳστώνης, [C] διὰ πολλῆς δ᾽ ἡμῖν, ἐπιμελόμενον ἡμῶν, εἰρήνην τε καὶ αἰδῶ καὶ δὴ ἀφθονίαν δίκης παρεχόμενον, ἀστασίαστα καὶ εὐδαίμονα τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπειργάζετο γένη. λέγει δὴ καὶ νῦν οὗτος ὁ λόγος ἀληθείᾳ χρώμενος, ὅσων πόλεων μὴ θεός, ἀλλά τις ἄρχει θνητός, οὐκ ἔστι κακῶν αὐτοῖς οὐδὲ πόνων ἀνάψυξις· ἀλλὰ μιμεῖσθαι δεῖν ἡμᾶς οἴεται πάσῃ μηχανῇ τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ Κρόνου λεγόμενον βίον, [D] καὶ ὅσον ἐν ἡμῖν ἀθανασίας ἔνεστι, τούτῳ πειθομένους δημοσίᾳ καὶ ἰδίᾳ τάς τε οἰκήσεις καὶ τὰς πόλεις διοικεῖν, τὴν τοῦ νοῦ διανομὴν ὀνομάζοντας νόμον. εἰ δὲ ἄνθρωπος εἷς ἢ ὀλιγαρχία τις ἢ δημοκρατία ψυχὴν ἔχουσα ἡδονῶν καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν ὀρεγομένην καὶ πληροῦσθαι [259] τούτων δεομένην ἄρξει δὴ πόλεώς τινος ἢ ἰδιώτου καταπατήσας τοὺς νόμους, οὐκ ἔστι σωτηρίας μηχανή.”
(And to show that I am not the only one who thinks that Fortune has the upper hand in practical affairs, I will quote to you a passage from that admirable work the Laws of Plato. You know it well and indeed taught it to me, but I have set down the speech which runs something like this, and offer it as a proof that I am not really indolent. “God governs all things and with God Fortune and Opportunity govern all human affairs: but there is a milder view that Art must needs go with them and must be their associate.”[392] He then indicates what must be the character of a man who is the craftsman and artificer of noble deeds and a divinely inspired king. Then he says: “Kronos therefore, as I have already related, knew that human nature when endowed with supreme authority is never in any case capable of managing human affairs without being filled with insolence and injustice; therefore, having regard to this he at that time set over our cities as kings and governors not men but beings of a more divine and higher race, I mean demons; thus doing as we do now for our flocks and domestic herds. We never appoint certain oxen to rule over other oxen or goats to rule over goats, but we are their masters, a race superior to theirs. In like manner then God, since he loves mankind, has set over us a race of beings superior to ourselves, the race of demons; and they with great ease both to themselves and us undertake the care of us and dispense peace, reverence, aye, and above all justice without stint, and thus they make the tribes of men harmonious and happy. And that account is a true one which declares that in our day all cities that are governed not by a god but by a mortal man have no relief from evils and hardships. And the lesson is that we ought by every means in our power to imitate that life which is said to have existed in the days of Kronos: and in so far as the principle of immortality is in us we ought to be guided by it in our management of public and private affairs, of our houses and cities, calling the distribution of mind ‘law.’[393] But whether the government be in the hands of one man or of an oligarchy or democracy, if it have a soul that hankers after pleasure and the lower appetites and demands to indulge these, and if such a one rule over a city or individual having first trampled on the laws, there is no means of salvation.”[394])
Ταύτην ἐγώ σοι τὴν ῥῆσιν ἐξεπίτηδες ὅλην παρέγραφα, μή με κλέπτειν ὑπολάβῃς καὶ κακουργεῖν μύθους ἀρχαίους προφέροντα, τυχὸν μὲν ἐμφερῶς, οὐ μὴν ἀληθῶς πάντη ξυγκειμένους. ἀλλ᾽ ὅ γε ἀληθὴς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν λόγος τί φησιν; ἀκούεις ὅτι, κἂν ἄνθρωπός τις ᾖ τῇ φύσει, θεῖον εἶναι χρὴ τῇ προαιρέσει καὶ δαίμονα, πᾶν ἅπλως ἐκβαλόντα τὸ θνητὸν καὶ θηριῶδες τῆς ψυχῆς, [B] πλὴν ὅσα ἀνάγκη διὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος παραμένειν σωτηρίαν; ταῦτα εἴ τις ἐννοῶν δέδοικεν ἐπὶ τηλικοῦτον ελκόμενος βίον, ἆρά σοι φαίνεται τὴν Ἐπικούρειον θαυμάζειν ἀπραγμοσύνην καὶ τοὺς κήπους καὶ τὸ προάστειον τῶν Ἀθηνῶν[395] καὶ τὰς μυρρίνας καὶ τὸ Σωκράτους δωμάτιον; ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπου γε ἐγὼ ταῦτα προτιμήσας τῶν πόνων ὤφθην. ἥδιστα ἄν σοι τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ πόνους διεξῆλθον καὶ τὰ ἐπικρεμασθέντα παρὰ τῶν φίλων καὶ ξυγγενῶν, ὅτε τῆς παρ᾽ ὑμῖν [C] ἠρχόμην παιδείας, δείματα, εἰ μὴ σφόδρα αὐτὸς ἠπίστασο. τὰ δὲ ἐν Ἰωνίᾳ πρὸς τὸν καὶ γένει προσήκοντα καὶ φιλίᾳ μᾶλλον οἰκεῖον ὄντα μοι πραχθέντα πρότερον ὑπὲρ ἀνδρὸς ξένου μικρά παντελῶς γνωρίμου μοι γενομένου, τοῦ σοφιστοῦ φημί, λέληθεν οὐδέν σε. ἀποδημίας δὲ οὐχ ὑπέστην τῶν φίλων ἕνεκα; καίτοι Καρτερίῳ μὲν οἶσθ᾽ ὅπως [D] συνηράμην πρὸς τὸν ἑταῖρον ἡμῖν ἀφικόμενος Ἀράξιον ἄκλητος, ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ δεησόμενος. ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν τῆς θαυμασίας Ἀρετῆς κτημάτων καὶ ὧν ἐπεπόνθει παρὰ τῶν γειτόνων [pg 218] οὐκ εἰς τὴν Φρυγίαν τὸ δεύτερον ἀφικόμην ἐν οὐδὲ ὅλοις μησὶ δύο, ἀσθενοῦς ἤδη μοι παντελὼς ὄντος τοῦ σώματος διὰ τὴν ἐπιγενομένην ὑπὸ τῆς πρότερον κακοπαθείας ἀρρωστίαν; ἀλλὰ δὴ τὸ τελευταῖον πρὸ τῆς εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα γενομένης ἡμῖν ἀφίξεως, ὅτε περὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων, ὡς ἂν εἴποιεν οἱ πολλοί, κινδυνεύων ἐγὼ τῷ στρατοπέδῳ παρέμενον, [260] ὁποίας ἔγραφον ἐπιστολὰς πρὸς σὲ νῦν ὑπομνήσθητι, μήποτε ὀδυρμῶν πλήρεις, μήτι μικρὸν ἢ ταπεινὸν ἢ λίαν ἀγεννὲς ἐχούσας. ἀπιὼν δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πάλιν, ὅτε με φεύγειν ἐνόμιζον πάντες, οὐχ ὡς ἐν ἑορτῇ τῇ μεγίστῃ τὴν τύχην ἐπαινῶν ἡδίστην ἔφην εἶναι τὴν ἀμοιβὴν ἐμοὶ [B] καὶ τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον
(I have purposely set down the whole of this speech for you lest you should think that I am cheating and defrauding by bringing forward ancient myths which may have some resemblance to the truth, but on the whole are not composed with regard to truth. But what is the true meaning of this narrative? You hear what it says, that even though a prince be by nature human, he must in his conduct be divine and a demi-god and must completely banish from his soul all that is mortal and brutish, except what must remain to safeguard the needs of the body. Now if, reflecting on this, one is afraid to be constrained to adopt a life from which so much is expected, do you therefore conclude that one admires the inaction recommended by Epicurus, the gardens and suburbs of Athens and its myrtles, or the humble home of Socrates? But never has anyone seen me prefer these to a life of toil. That toil of mine I would willingly recount to you, and the hazards that threatened me from my friends and kinsfolk at the time when I began to study under you, if you did not yourself know them well enough. You are well aware of what I did, in the first place, in Ionia in opposition to one who was related to me by ties of blood, but even more closely by ties of friendship, and that in behalf of a foreigner with whom I was very slightly acquainted, I mean the sophist. Did I not endure to leave the country for the sake of my friends? Indeed, you know how I took the part of Carterius when I went unsolicited to our friend Araxius to plead for him. And in behalf of the property of that admirable woman Arete and the wrongs she had suffered from her neighbours, did I not journey to Phrygia for the second time within two months, though I was physically very weak from the illness that had been brought on by former fatigues?[396] Finally, before I went to Greece, while I was still with the army and running what most people would call the greatest possible risks, recall now what sort of letters I wrote to you, never filled with complaints or containing anything little or mean or servile. And when I returned to Greece, when everyone regarded me as an exile, did I not welcome my fate as though it were some high festival, and did I not say that the exchange to me was most delightful, and that, as the saying is, I had thereby gained)