8 11 possible; and to escape hence, we must become as like unto God as we can; and to become like unto God, is to be just and holy in conjunction with wisdom.3 However, my excellent friend,5 it is not very easy to convince men that we ought not to practise virtue and shun vice on the grounds alleged by the mass-to wit, to enable a man to present the semblance of goodness instead of wickedness, for these maxims are no better than what we commonly call old women's gossip, as I think. Let us, however, state the truth as follows. God is in no place, and in no wise, unrighteous; on the contrary, He is the perfection of righteousness, and nothing more nearly resembles Him than the most righteous man among ourselves. On this quality depends a man's real ability,10 or his worthliness or unmanliness; for the knowledge of this is genuine intellectual and moral excellence, and ignorance of it is stupidity and depravity personified; 12 and all other cleverness and talent, as it is reputed, is low and vulgar,13 when employed in the government of states, and mercenary' when employed in arts and sciences. It is therefore far better not to allow the unrighteous man, the man unholy in speech and deed, the credit of being a clever knave; for such men plume themselves on the reproach, and imagine they are told 16 that they are not mere men of straw,17 dead weights on earth,18 but men, such as those who are to keep afloat in politics ought to be. We must therefore tell them the truth; that they are all the more what they are not conscious of being, because they are not conscious of their real state; for they are ignorant of the • Φρόνησις. conjunctive. • Περὶ τοῦτο. τικός. 17 Λῆροι. 14 15 5 Ὦ ἄριστε. 6 "Iva dn, with 4 ̓Αλλὰ γάρ. 10 Δεινότης. 8 Ως οἷόν τε δικαιότατος. 12 'Evapyns. 13 Фор 14 Bávavoos. 15 Δεινὸς ὑπὸ πανουργίας εἶναι. 18 Γῆς ἄλλως ἄχθη. 16 'Ακούειν. real penalty of unrighteousness, the last thing in the world which they ought to be ignorant of; for it is not what they suppose, the lash and the scaffold,19 which men sometimes never taste, however criminal, but one which it is impossible to escape. 2 19 Θάνατοι. XXXIX. Now our country deserves eulogy from all men not from ourselves only, at once on other grounds, and on this firstly and especially, that it is a favourite of the gods. The contest-and its settlement1-between the Deities who disputed its possession, attests the truth of my assertion; and does not the land that gods have praised, signally deserve the admiration of all mankind? We shall find another ground for well-merited eulogy in the fact that, at the time when the whole earth bore in profusion every variety of the animal creation,3 whether savage or tame, our own land was undeniably barren1 and clear of wild beasts, for it selected from all other animals, man as its production; man, who surpasses all the rest in intelligence, and alone respects5 justice and religion. Now there is strong proof of my assertion, that this country was the ancestor both of these brave men, and of ourselves; for each agent in creation is endued with nourishment congenial to its production. It is thus we discover whether a woman is really a mother or not, or has, on the contrary, if she has no fountains of nourishment for her child, been substituted for another woman.' 10 Thus our country, which is our mother, affords a satisfactory proof of having given birth to 1 Κρίσις. W. Gr. Gr. § 8 Ο ἂν τέκῃ. forth and not."' JELF, § 701. 8 132, g. 96 5 Νομίζω. 11 4 "Ayovos, with genitive. 6 Θεοί. 7 Πᾶν τό τεκόν. Whereby also a woman is clear having truly brought 10 Υποβαλλόμενος. 11 Ως γεννησαμένη. men; for it was at that period the only land which bore human nourishment in the shape of the fruit of barley and of wheat-the fairest and best support of the human species -which proves she was the genuine source of this creation and it becomes us to receive this kind of evidence in behalf of a country with more favour than in behalf of a woman; for a country imitates 12 a woman, not the woman the country, in conceiving and in giving birth. Of the fruit which I have mentioned, she gave no illiberal store, but distributed it to others also; and subsequently yielded to her children the cultivation 13 of the olive, as a solace of their toils. After having cherished and developed them to manhood, she induced gods to be their sovereigns and teachers-gods whose names it is not decorous to mention here, for we know them-who were the founders of our civilization,14 both in reference to our daily style of life,15 for they instructed us in arts before other men, and in reference to the protection of our country, for they taught us how to acquire and how to use arms. 12 Perfect. JELF, § 399, b. κατεσκεύασαν. 15 Δίαιτα. 13 Γένεσις. 14 Τὸν βίον ἡμῶν XL. I am unable to dispute this point with you, but of this I am certain, that I can speak better than anyone on Homer, and have abundance to say; indeed, everyone declares I am eloquent; but on other subjects I cannot speak. Now what does this mean? I see how it is, and am about to explain to you what it seems to me to indicate. Your ability to be eloquent in praise of Homer is not an art, but an inspiration3 which arouses you, like the faculty belonging to the stone which · Εὐπορῶ. 3 Θεία δύναμις. 2 "Apxoμai, with partic. pres. W. Gr. Gr. § 164. Euripides terms a magnet, but which is commonly called Heraclea. For this stone not only attracts iron rings themselves, but actually engenders in the rings a power which enables them to exert the same influence as the stone in attracting 10 other rings, and thus a very long chain 12 of iron rings is sometimes linked together; 13 but they all derive their power from the stone I have described.14 It is thus that the Muse inspires 15 men by her own energy; 16 and by means of these votaries of inspiration," is formed a chain of others equally inspired.18 For all the great Epic poets 19 pour forth their splendid lines not by virtue of art, but because they are inspired and possessed;20 and the case is the same with the great Lyrical poets,21 for they, like the votaries of Cybele,22 who dance not in their sober senses,23 give not utterance to those beautiful melodies in sober mood, but only when24 they have plunged 25 into the harmony and the rhythm, do they revel in the frenzy of inspiration, just as the Baccha draw 26 honey and milk from the rivers when possessed, but not when sober; and thus does the soul of the lyric poets energize, as they tell us with their own Mayviris. Cf. LUCRET., vi. 906. 11 • "Ayw. * Εντίθημι. 8 Ὥστ ̓ αὖ δύνασθαι. JELF, § 863. ἀλλήλων ἤρτηται. from that stone. • Δακτύλιοι. Ωστε, with indic. JELF, § 863. 13 'Eğ 14 In all these, the power is derived [ȧvýprηrai] 17 Οἱ ἔνθεοι οὗτοι, 16 Αὐτός. 21 Me 15 Ενθέους ποιεῖ. 18 Ενθουσιάζοντες. τεσθαι. lips. Yes, they tell us, as you probably know,28 that they bring to us the melodies they have culled29 like bees from honey-flowing fountains in the gardens and groves of the Muses, fluttering like bees on wings of their own. And they speak the truth; for a poet is a commodity 30 light, and winged, and consecrated, and incapable of utterance, until31 he is inspired, and has thrown aside his sober vein,32 and his understanding dwelleth not within him; for so long as 33 he retains that part of his property, every man is incapable of being a poet, and of uttering responses. 2 4 'Are we, then, to say,' that just as the other arts have developed, and as the ancient artists are insignificant in comparison with those of our own days, so also your profession,5 that of the sophists, has developed, and that the philosophers of old were insignificant in comparison with you?' " What you say is very true.' 'Supposing, then, Bias were restored to life among us, he would surely incur ridicule when contrasted with you, just as the statuaries say Dædalus would be laughed at, if he were to live in these days, and to execute1o such works as those which gained him his celebrity.' 'It is just as you say; nevertheless I have been in the habit of praising the ancients, whether11 our immediate or remote predecessors, more highly than our own contemporaries, from a prudent fear of the jealousy of the living, and a dread of the resentment 12 of the dead. 1 Deliberative conjunctive. JELF, § 417. 4 Φαῦλος. 2 Ἐπιδίδωμι. 3 An • Ei 10 Εργάζεσθαι. 12 Μήνις. μιουργός. 11 Καὶ πρότεροι ἡμῶν πρότεροί τε. |