[218] Xen. Memorab. i, 1, 8, 9. Ἔφη δὲ (Sokrates) δεῖν, ἃ μὲν μαθόντας ποιεῖν ἔδωκαν οἱ θεοὶ, μανθάνειν· ἃ δὲ μὴ δῆλα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐστὶ, πειρᾶσθαι διὰ μαντικῆς παρὰ τῶν θεῶν πυνθάνεσθαι· τοὺς θεοὺς γὰρ, οἷς ἂν ὦσιν ἰλέω, σημαίνειν.
Compare passages in his Cyropædia, i, 6, 3; De Officio Magistr. Equit. ix, 9.
“The gods (says Euripides, in the Sokratic vein) have given us wisdom to understand and appropriate to ourselves the ordinary comforts of life; in obscure or unintelligible cases, we are enabled to inform ourselves by looking at the blaze of the fire, or by consulting prophets who understand the livers of sacrificial victims and the flight of birds. When they have thus furnished so excellent a provision for life, who but spoilt children can be discontented, and ask for more? Yet still human prudence, full of self-conceit, will struggle to be more powerful, and will presume itself to be wiser, than the gods.”
Ἃ δ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ἄσημα, κοὐ σαφῆ, γιγνώσκομεν
Εἰς πῦρ βλέποντες, καὶ κατὰ σπλάγχνων πτύχας
Μάντεις προσημαίνουσιν οἰωνῶν τ᾽ ἄπο.
Ἆρ᾽ οὐ τρυφῶμεν, θεοῦ κατασκευὴν βίου
Δόντος τοιαύτην, οἷσιν οὐκ ἀρκεῖ τάδε;
Ἀλλ᾽ ἡ φρόνησις τοῦ θεοῦ μεῖζον σθένειν
Ζητεῖ· τὸ γαῦρον δ᾽ ἐν χεροῖν κεκτημένοι