The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 2Julian, Emperor of Rome
Philosophy
The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 2
Julian, Emperor of Rome
Speeches, addresses, etc., Greek -- Translations into English
(Now consider whether Diogenes did not above all other men profess this
belief, since he freely exposed his body to hardships so that he might
make it stronger than it was by nature. He allowed himself to act only as
the light of reason shows us that we ought to act; and the perturbations
that attack the soul and are derived from the body, to which this envelope
of ours often constrains us for its sake to pay too much attention, he did
not take into account at all. Thus by means of this discipline the man
made his body more vigorous, I believe, than that of any who have
contended for the prize of a crown in the games: and his soul was so
disposed that he was happy and a king no less if not even more than the
Great King, as the Greeks used to call him in those days, by which they
meant the king of Persia. Then does he seem to you of no importance, this
man who was)
Ἄπολις, ἄοικος, πατρίδος ἐστερημένος,
οὐκ ὀβολόν, οὐ δραχμήν, ἔχων(75) οὐδ᾽ οἰκέτην,
(“cityless, homeless, a man without a country, owning not an obol,
not a drachma, not a single slave,”(76))
ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ μᾶζαν, ἧς Ἐπίκουρος εὐπορῶν οὐδὲ τῶν θεῶν φησιν εἰς εὐδαιμονίας
λόγον ἐλαττοῦσθαι, πρὸς μὲν τοὺς θεοὺς οὐκ ἐρίζων, [C] τοῦ δοκοῦντος δὲ
τοῖς ἀνθρώποις εὐδαιμονεστάτου εὐδαιμονέστερον ζῶν καὶ ἔλεγε ζῆν
εὐδαιμονέστερον. εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖς, ἔργῳ πειραθεὶς ἐκείνου τοῦ βίου καὶ οὐ τῷ
λόγῳ αἰσθήσῃ.
(nay, not even a loaf of bread—and Epicurus says that if he have bread
enough and to spare he is not inferior to the gods on the score of
happiness. Not that Diogenes tried to rival the gods, but he lived more
happily than one who is counted the happiest of men, and he used actually
to assert that he lived more happily than such a man. And if you do not
believe me, try his mode of life in deed and not in word, and you will
perceive the truth.)
Φέρε δὴ πρῶτον αὐτὸν διὰ τῶν λόγων ἐλέγξωμεν. ἆρά σοι δοκεῖ τῶν πάντων
ἀγαθῶν ἀνθρώποις ἡγεῖσθαι, τούτων δὴ τῶν πολυθρυλήτων, ἐλευθερίαν· [D] πῶς
γὰρ οὐ φήσεις· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ χρήματα καὶ πλοῦτος καὶ γένος καὶ σώματος ἰσχὺς
καὶ κάλλος καὶ πάντα ἁπλῶς τὰ τοιαῦτα δίχα τῆς ἐλευθερίας οὐ τοῦ δοκοῦντος
ηὐτυχηκέναι, τοῦ κτησαμένου δὲ αὐτόν ἐστιν ἀγαθά; τίνα οὖν ὑπολαμβάνομεν
τὸν δοῦλον; ἇρα μή ποτε ἐκεῖνον, ὃν ἂν πριώμεθα δραχμῶν ἀργυρίου τόσων ἢ
μναῖν δυοῖν ἢ χρυσίου στατήρων δέκα; ἐρεῖς δήπουθεν τοῦτον εἶναι ἀληθῶς
δοῦλον. ἆρα δι᾽ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ὅτι τὸ ἀργύριον ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τῷ πωλοῦντι
καταβεβλήκαμεν; οὕτω μεντἂν [196] εἶεν οἰκέται καὶ ὁπέσους τῶν αἰχμαλώτων
λυτρούμεθα. καίτοι καὶ οἱ νόμοι τούτοις ἀποδεδώκασι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν
σωθεῖσιν οἴκαδε, καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὺς ἀπολυτρούμεθα, οὐχ ἵνα δουλεύσωσιν, ἀλλ᾽
ἵνα ὦσιν ἐλεύθεροι. ὁρᾷς ὡς οὐχ ἱκανόν ἐστιν ἀργύριον καταβαλεῖν ἐς τὸ
ἀποφῆναι τὸν λυτρωθέντα δοῦλον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς δοῦλος, οὗ
κύριός ἐστιν ἕτερος προσαναγκάσαι πράττειν ὅ,τι ἂν κελεύῃ, καὶ μὴ
βουλόμενον κόλασαι καί, τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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