Ἰδού, βούλομαι πάλιν ἀπ᾽ ἄλλης ἀρχῆς ἐμαυτῷ λοιδορήσασθαι. “Φοιτᾷς εἰς τὰ ἱερά, δύσκολε καὶ δύστροπε καὶ πάντα μοχθηρέ. συρρεῖ διὰ σὲ τὰ πλήθη πρὸς τὰ τεμένη καὶ μέντοι καὶ οἱ πλείους τῶν ἐν τέλει, καὶ ἀποδέχονταί σε σὺν βοῇ μετὰ κρότων λαμπρῶς ἐν τοῖς τεμένεσιν ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις. [C] τί οὖν οὐκ ἀγαπᾷς οὐδ᾽ ἐπαινεῖς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπιχειρεῖς εἶναι σοφώτερος τὰ τοιαῦτα τοῦ Πυθίου, καὶ δημηγορεῖς ἐν τῷ πλήθει, καὶ καθάπτῃ τῶν βοώντων πικρῶς αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο λέγων, ὡς Ὑμεῖς τῶν θεῶν ἕνεκεν ὀλιγάκις εἰς τὰ τεμένη συνέρχεσθε, συνδραμόντες δὲ δι᾽ ἐμὲ πολλῆς ἀκοσμίας ἀναπίμπλατε τὰ ἱερά. [D] πρέπει δ᾽ ἀνδράσι σώφροσι κεκοσμημένως εὔχεσθαι σιγῇ παρὰ τῶν θεῶν αἰτουμένοις τὰ ἀγαθά. τοῦτον οὐκ ἠκροᾶσθε τὸν νόμον Ὁμήρου (Come, I am ready to make a fresh start in abusing myself. “You, sir, go regularly to the temples, ill‐tempered, perverse and wholly worthless as you are! It is your doing that the masses stream into the sacred precincts, yes and most of the magistrates as well, and they give you a splendid welcome, greeting you with shouts and clapping in the precincts as though they were in the theatres. Then why do you not treat them kindly and praise them? Instead of that you try to be wiser in such matters than the Pythian god,(704) and you make harangues to the crowd and with harsh words rebuke those who shout. These are the very words you use to them: ‘You hardly ever assemble at the shrines to do honour to the gods, but to do me honour you rush here in crowds and fill the temples with much disorder. Yet it becomes prudent men to pray in orderly fashion, and to ask blessings from the gods in silence. Have you never heard Homer’s maxim,) Σιγῇ ἐφ᾽ ὑμείων—, (“In silence, to yourselves”(705)—,) οὐδ᾽ ὡς Ὀδυσσεὺς ἐπέσχε τὴν Εὐρύκλειαν ἐκπεπληγμένην ὑπὸ μεγέθους τοῦ κατορθώματος, (or how Odysseus checked Eurycleia when she was stricken with amazement by the greatness of his success,) Ἐν θυμῷ, γρηῦ, χαῖρε καὶ ἴσχεο μηδ᾽ ὀλόλυζε; (“Rejoice, old woman, in thy heart, and restrain thyself, and utter no loud cry”?(706)) τὰς δὲ δὴ Τρῳάδας οὔτι πρὸς τὸν Πρίαμον ἤ τινα τῶν τούτου θυγατέρων ἢ υἱέων, οὐ μὴν οὐδ᾽ αὐτὸν τὸν Ἔκτορα· [345] καίτοι τούτῳ φησὶν ὡς θεῷ τοὺς Τρῶας εὔχεσθαι· εὐχομένας δὲ οὐκ ἔδειξεν ἐν τῇ ποιήσει οὔτε γυναῖκας οὔτε ἄνδρας, ἀλλὰ τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ ὀλολυγῇ πᾶσαι, φησί, χεῖρας ἀνέσχον, βαρβαρικὸν μὲν καὶ τοῦτο καὶ γυναιξὶ πρέπον, οὐ μὴν ἀνόσιον πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς ὥσπερ τὸ παρ᾽ ὑμῶν ποιούμενον. ἐπαινεῖτε γὰρ ἀντὶ τῶν θεῶν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, [B] μᾶλλον δὲ ἀντὶ τῶν θεῶν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἡμᾶς κολακεύετε. κάλλιστον δ᾽ ἔστιν οἶμαι μηδ᾽ ἐκείνους κολακεύειν, ἀλλὰ θεραπεύειν σωφρόνως.”