ὕστερον παντάπασιν ἠμελήθη καὶ οὐδεὶς ᾤετο δεῖν ἀναγκαῖον
αὐτὸ εἶναι οὐδὲ συμβάλλεσθαί τι τῷ κάλλει τῶν λόγων·
τοιγάρτοι τοιαύτας συντάξεις κατέλιπον οἵας οὐδεὶς ὑπομένει
μέχρι κορωνίδος διελθεῖν, Φύλαρχον λέγω καὶ Δοῦριν καὶ
Πολύβιον καὶ Ψάωνα καὶ τὸν Καλλατιανὸν Δημήτριον 5
Ἱερώνυμόν τε καὶ Ἀντίγονον καὶ Ἡρακλείδην καὶ Ἡγησιάνακτα
καὶ ἄλλους μυρίους· ὧν ἁπάντων εἰ τὰ ὀνόματα
βουλοίμην λέγειν, ἐπιλείψει με ὁ τῆς ἡμέρας χρόνος. καὶ τί
δεῖ τούτους θαυμάζειν, ὅπου γε καὶ οἱ φιλοσοφίαν ἐπαγγελλόμενοι
καὶ τὰς διαλεκτικὰς ἐκφέροντες τέχνας οὕτως εἰσὶν 10
ἄθλιοι περὶ τὴν σύνθεσιν τῶν ὀνομάτων ὥστε αἰδεῖσθαι καὶ
λέγειν; ἀπόχρη δὲ τεκμηρίῳ χρήσασθαι τοῦ λόγου Χρυσίππῳ
τῷ Στωϊκῷ (περαιτέρω γὰρ οὐκ ἂν προβαίην)· τούτου γὰρ
οὔτ’ ἄμεινον οὐδεὶς τὰς διαλεκτικὰς τέχνας ἠκρίβωσεν οὔτε
ἁρμονίᾳ χείρονι συνταχθέντας ἐξήνεγκε λόγους τῶν γοῦν 15
ὀνόματος καὶ δόξης ἀξιωθέντων. καίτοι σπουδάζειν γέ τινες
At last, in later times, it was utterly neglected; no one thought it absolutely indispensable, or that it contributed anything to the beauty of discourse. Consequently they left behind them lucubrations that no one has the patience to read from beginning to end. I mean men like Phylarchus, Duris, Polybius, Psaon, Demetrius of Callatis, Hieronymus, Antigonus, Heracleides, Hegesianax, and countless others: a whole day would not be enough if I tried to repeat the bare names of them all.[101] But why wonder at these, when even those who call themselves professors of philosophy and publish manuals of dialectic fail so wretchedly in the arrangement of their words that I shrink from even mentioning their names? It is quite enough to point, in proof of my statement, to Chrysippus the Stoic: for farther I will not go. Among writers who have achieved any name or distinction, none have written their treatises on dialectic with greater accuracy, and none have published discourses which are worse specimens of composition. And yet some of them claimed
1 οὐδεῖσ P 2 τι om. P || τ(ω) P 3 κατέλειπον P 4 φύταρχον PM 5 σάωνα PMV: σφτατωνα F || καλατιανὸν P: καλαντιανὸν MV: καλανδιανὸν F 6 ἀντίγονον F: ἀντίλογον PMV || ἡγησι(α)νακτα P,F: ἡγησίννακτα M: ἡγησίαν μάγνητα V 7 εἰ post ὀνόματα ponunt PMV 9 οἱ F2P: om. F1: οἱ τὴν MV 12 τῶι λόγωι χρυσίππου τοῦ στωικοῦ PMV 13 τοῦτο F 14 οὔτε (ante ἄμεινον) PMV 15 χείρονι ante ἁρμονίᾳ habent PMV || γ’ οὖν F,M: om. PV 16 σπουδάζειν PMV: σπουδάζεσθαι F
1. ᾤετο δεῖν ἀναγκαῖον αὐτὸ εἶναι: pleonasm. Perhaps ᾤετ’ ἀσκεῖν ἀναγκαῖον αὐτὸ εἶναι, or the like.
4. Phylarchus: a native of Athens, or (acc. to some ancient authorities) of Naucratis in Egypt. He flourished under Ptolemy Euergetes (247-222 B.C.), and continued (in 28 books) the historical works of Hieronymus and Duris. The period covered was that from Pyrrhus’ invasion of the Peloponnese to the death of Cleomenes (272-220 B.C.). Remains in C. Müller Fragm. Hist. Gr. i. 334-58.
Duris of Samos: a pupil of Theophrastus. Flourished under Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.); wrote a history which extended from the battle of Leuctra to the year 281 or later. Among his other writings was a Life of Agathocles. Fragments in C. Müller ii. 466-88. He is mentioned in Cic. ad Att. vi. 1. 18: “num idcirco Duris Samius, homo in historia diligens, quod cum multis erravit, irridetur?”