Classical literature; Philosophers, Ancient -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Socrates -- Trials, litigation, etc. -- Early works to 1800
Soc. Do you find that your domestics seem to mind drinking it or washing
in it?
The Other. Quite the reverse; it is a constant marvel to me how
contentedly they use it for either purpose.
Soc. Which is hotter to the taste--the water in your house or the hot
spring in the temple of Asclepius? (3)
(3) In the Hieron at Epidauros probably. See Baedeker, "Greece," p.
240 foll.
The Other. The water in the temple of Asclepius.
Soc. And which is colder for bathing--yours or the cold spring in the
cave of Amphiaraus? (4)
(4) Possibly at Oropos. Cf. Paus. i. 34. 3.
The Other. The water in the cave of Amphiaraus.
Soc. Then please to observe: if you do not take care, they will set you
down as harder to please than a domestic servant or an invalid. (5)
(5) i.e. "the least and the most fastidious of men."
A man had administered a severe whipping to the slave in attendance
on him, and when Socrates asked: "Why he was so wroth with his own
serving-man?" excused himself on the ground that "the fellow was a lazy,
gourmandising, good-for-nothing dolt--fonder of money than of work." To
which Socrates: "Did it ever strike you to consider which of the two in
that case the more deserves a whipping--the master or the man?"
When some one was apprehending the journey to Olympia, "Why are you
afraid of the long distance?" he asked. "Here at home you spend nearly
all your day in taking walks. (6) Well, on your road to Olympia you will
take a walk and breakfast, and then you will take another walk and dine,
and go to bed. Do you not see, if you take and tack together five or six
days' length of walks, and stretch them out in one long line, it will
soon reach from Athens to Olympia? I would recommend you, however,
to set off a day too soon rather than a day too late. To be forced to
lengthen the day's journey beyond a reasonable amount may well be a
nuisance; but to take one day's journey beyond what is necessary is pure
relaxation. Make haste to start, I say, and not while on the road." (7)
(6) {peripateis}, "promenading up and down."
(7) "Festina lente"--that is your motto.
When some one else remarked "he was utterly prostrated after a long
journey," Socrates asked him: "Had he had any baggage to carry?"
"Not I," replied the complainer; "only my cloak."
Soc. Were you travelling alone, or was your man-servant with you?
He. Yes, I had my man.
Soc. Empty-handed, or had he something to carry?
He. Of course; carrying my rugs and other baggage.
Soc. And how did he come off on the journey?
He. Better than I did myself, I take it.
Soc. Well, but now suppose you had had to carry his baggage, what would
your condition have been like?
He. Sorry enough, I can tell you; or rather, I could not have carried it
at all.
Soc. What a confession! Fancy being capable of so much less toil than
a poor slave boy! Does that sound like the perfection of athletic
training?
XIV
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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