Kitap 1
6
καὶ οἷσι μὲν ἡδονὴ ᾖ ἡ μανίη, γελῶσι, παίζουσι, ὀρχεῦνται νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρης, καὶ ἐς ἀγορὴν ἀμφαδὸν, καὶ ἐστεμμένοι κοτὲ ὅκως ἐξ ἀγωνίης νικηφόροι ἔασιν· ἄλυπος τοῖσι πέλας ἡ ἰδέη· μετεξέτεροι δὲ ὑπὸ ὀργῆς ἐκμαίνονται. ἔσθʼ ὅτε ἐσθῆτάς τε ἐρρήξαντο, καὶ θεράποντας ἀπέκτειναν, καὶ ἑωυτέοισι χεῖρας ἐπήνεγκαν· ἥδε καὶ τοῖς πέλας οὐκ ἀκίνδυνος ἡ ξυμφορή· ἰδέαι δὲ μυρίαι, τοῖσι μέν γε εὐφυέσιτε καὶ εὐμαθέσι ἀστρονομίη ἀδίδακτος,Though I have not meddled with the text, I am much inclined to think that the true reading would be ἀυτοδίδακτος. It occurs in Aeschylus, Agamem. 964. By the way, the example referred to by the Oxford lexicographers, to prove that ἀδίδακτος is sometimes used synonymously with αὐτοδίδακτος (namely, Lucian, Hist. Conscr. 34), is not in point here. We cannot say that astronomy is untaught, in the same sense that we can say that political sagacity is so. φιλοσοφίη αὐτομάτη, ποίησις δῆθεν ἀπὸ μουσέων. ἴσχει γάρ τι καὶ ἐν νούσοισι εὔχρηστον ἡ εὐπαιδευσίη· τοῖσι δὲ ἀπαιδεύτοισι ἀχθοφορίη, πηλοεργίη, τέκτονες, ἢ λιθοξόοι· γίγνονται δὲ καὶ ἀλλόκοτοι φαντασίαι. ἐδεδίει γάρ τις ληκύθων ἔκπτωσιν καὶ ἄλλος οὐκ ἔπινε, δοκέων ἑωυτὸν πλίνθον ἔμμεναι, ὡς μὴ τῷ ὑγρῷ λυθείη.
