[A]
ὁ μέγας ἀνὴρ ἐν πόλει καὶ τέλειος, οὗτος ἀναγορευέσθω νικηφόρος ἀρετῆς. τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ τοῦτον ἔπαινον καὶ περὶ σωφροσύνης χρὴ λέγειν καὶ περὶ φρονήσεως καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ἀγαθά τις κέκτηται, δυνατὰ μὴ μόνον αὐτὸν ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλοις μεταδιδόναι.”
Ταῦτα ἐδίδασκέ με νομίζων ἰδιώτην ἔσεσθαι·
[B]
καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ προύγνω ταύτην ἐκ Διός μοι τὴν τύχην ἐσομένην, εἰς ἣν νῦν ὁ θεὸς φέρων κατέστησεν. ἐγὼ δὲ αἰσχυνόμενος ἄρχων ἰδιώτου φαυλότερος εἶναι λέληθα ἐμαυτόν, οὐδὲν δέον, ὑμῖν τῆς ἀγροικίας μεταδιδοὺς τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ. καί με ἕτερος τῶν Πλάτωνος νόμων ὑπομνησθέντα ἐμαυτοῦ πεποίηκεν ἀπεχθάνεσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ὅς φησι δεῖν αἰδῶ καὶ σωφροσύνην ἀσκεῖν τοὺς ἄρχοντας καὶ τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους,
[C]
ἵνα τὰ πλήθη πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀποβλέποντα κοσμῆται. μόνῳ οὖν μοι, μᾶλλον δὲ ξὺν ὀλίγοις ἐπιτηδεύοντι νῦν τοῦτο πρὸς θάτερα περιέστη καὶ γέγονεν οὐκ ἀπεικότως ἐν ὀνείδει. ἑπτὰ γάρ ἐσμεν οἵδε παρ ̓ ὑμῖν ξένοι νεήλυδες, εἷς δὲ καὶ πολίτης ὑμέτερος, Ἑρμῇ φίλος καὶ ἐμοί, λόγων ἀγαθὸς δημιουργός, οἷς οὐδέν ἐστι πρός τινα συμβόλαιον, οὐδ ̓ ἄλλην ὁδὸν βαδίζομεν ἦ πρὸς τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἱερά,
[D]
καὶ ὀλιγάκις, οὐ πάντες, εἰς τὰ θέατρα, πεποιημένοι τὸ δυσκλεέστατον τῶν ἔργων καὶ ἐπονειδιστότατον1ἐπονειδιστότατον Hertlein suggests, ἐπονείδιστον MSS. τοῦ βίου τέλος· ἐπιτρέψουσί μοι πάντως οἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων σοφοὶ φάναι τι τῶν παρ ̓ ὑμῖν ἐπιπολαζόντων· οὐ γὰρ ἔχω πῶς ἂν αὐτὸ μᾶλλον ἐνδειξαίμην· ἐπὶ τῆς μεσιτείας αὑτοὺς ἐτάξαμεν, οὕτω περὶ πολλοῦ ποιούμεθα τὸ προσκρούειν ὑμῖν καὶ ἀπεχθάνεσθαι, δέον ἀρέσκειν καὶ θωπεύειν. ὁ δεῖνα ἐβιάσατο τὸν δεῖνα. Τί τοῦτο, ὦ μῶρε, πρὸς σέ; κοινωνεῖν ἐξὸν μετ ̓ εὐνοίας τῶν ἀδικημάτων, ἀφεὶς τὸ κέρδος ἔχθραν ἐπαναιρῇ,
[A]
And he who as far as he can helps the magistrates to punish wrong-doers, himself being the great and powerful man in the city, let him I say be proclaimed as winner of the prize for virtue. And we ought to utter the same eulogy with regard to temperance also, and wisdom and all the other good qualities that such a man possesses, and which are such that he is able not only to have them himself but also to impart them to other men.”2Plato, Laws 730 D.
These things he taught me when he thought that I should be a private citizen.
[B]
For he certainly did not foresee that there would be assigned to me by Zeus this lot in life to which the god has now brought me and has set me therein. But I, because I was ashamed to be less virtuous as a ruler than I had been as a private citizen, have unconsciously given you the benefit of my own boorishness, though there was no necessity. And another of Plato’s laws has made me take thought for myself and so become hateful in your eyes: I mean the law which says that those who govern, and also the older men, ought to train themselves in respect for others and in self-control,
[C]
in order that the masses may look to them and so order their own lives aright. Now since I alone, or rather in company with a few others, am now pursuing this course, it has had a very different result and has naturally become a reproach against me. For we here are only seven persons, strangers and newcomers in your city, – though indeed one of our number is a fellow-citizen of yours, a man dear to Hermes and to me, an excellent craftsman of discourses.3Julian refers to Libanius the famous rhetorician; with him were also Maximus of Ephesus, Priscus, Himerius and Oreibasius the physician. And we have business dealings with no man, nor do we go by any road that does not lead to the temples of the gods;
[D]
and seldom, and then not all of us, do we go to the theatres, since we have adopted the most inglorious line of conduct and the most unpopular aim and end of life. The wise men of Greece will surely allow me to repeat some of the sayings current among you; for I have no better way of illustrating what I mean. We have stationed ourselves in the middle of the road, so highly do we prize the opportunity to collide with you and to be disliked, when we ought rather to try to please and flatter you. “So-and-so has oppressed So-and-so.” “Fool! What business is it of yours? When it was in your power to win his good-will by becoming the partner in his wrong-doing, you first let the profit go, and incur hatred besides;
EN translation: Wilmer Cave Wright, 1913
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| Title | London: The Works of the Emperor Julian, Volume II/III |
| Publisher | London: William Heinemann |
| Year | 1913-23 |
| Pages | 416-511 pp. [vol. II: 538 pp.] |
| Translation | Wilmer Cave Wright. PhD |
| Editors | T.E. Page and W.H.D. Rouse |
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