[A]
εὖ γε, ὦ πολῖται σώφρονες, οἵ τε παίζοντες τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ οἱ τῶν παιζόντων ἀποδεχόμενοι καὶ ἀπολαύοντες. δῆλον γάρ, ὅτι τοῖς μὲν ἡδονὴν παρέχει τὸ λέγειν, τοὺς δὲ τὸ ἀκροᾶσθαι τῶν τοιούτων σκωμμάτων εὐφραίνει. ταύτης ὑμῖν ἐγὼ τῆς ὁμονοίας συνήδομαι, καὶ εὖ γε ποιεῖτε μία δὴ πόλις ὄντες τὰ τοιαῦτα, ὡς ἐκεῖνό γε οὐδαμοῦ σπουδαῖον οὐδὲ ζηλωτὸν εἴργειν
[B]
καὶ κολάζειν τῶν νέων τὸ ἀκόλαστον. παραιρεῖσθαι γάρ ἐστι καὶ ἀποθραύειν τῆς ἐλευθερίας τὸ κεφάλαιον, εἴ τις ἀφέλοιτο τοῦ λέγειν καὶ πράττειν ὅ,τι βούλονται τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. ὀρθῶς οὖν ὑμεῖς τοῦτο εἰδότες, ὅτι δεῖ τὰ πάντα ἐλευθέρους εἶναι, πρῶτον ἐπετρέψατε ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἄρχειν αὑτῶν, ἵνα ὑμῖν ὦσι λίαν ἐλεύθεραι καὶ ἀκόλαστοι, εἶτα ἐκείναις ξυνεχωρήσατε ἀνάγειν τὰ παιδία,
[C]
μή ποτε ὑμῖν ἀρχῆς πειρώμενα τραχυτέρας ἔπειτα ἀποφανθῇ δοῦλα, καὶ γενόμενα μειράκια πρῶτον αἰδεῖσθαι διδαχθῇ τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους, ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς οὕτω κακῆς συνηθείας εὐλαβέστερα γένηται πρὸς τοὺς ἄρχοντασ, καὶ τέλος οὐκ εἰς ἄνδρας, ἀλλ ̓ εἰς ἀνδράποδα τελέσαντες καὶ γενόμενοι σώφρονες καὶ ἐπιεικεῖς καὶ κόσμιοι λάθωσι διαφθαρέντες παντάπασι. τί οὖν αἱ γυναῖκες; ἐπὶ τὰ σφέτερα σεβάσματα ἄγουσιν αὐτὰ δι ̓ ἡδονῆς, ὃ δη μακαριώτατον εἶναι
[D]
φαίνεται καὶ πολυτίμητον οὐκ ἀνθρώποις μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ θηρίοις. ἔνθεν οἶμαι συμβαίνει μάλα ὑμῖν εὐδαίμοσιν εἶναι πᾶσαν ἀρνουμένοις δουλείαν, ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς τοὺς θεοὺς ἀρξαμένοις1ἀρξαμένοις before πρῶτον Hertlein suggests, Klimek ἀποστᾶσι τῆς for ἀπὸ τῆς. πρῶτον, εἶτα τοὺς νόμους καὶ τρίτον τοὺς νομοφύλακας ἡμᾶς. ἄτοποί τε ἂν εἴημεν ἡμεῖς, εἰ τῶν θεῶν περιορώντων οὕτως ἐλευθέραν τὴν πόλιν καὶ οὐκ ἐπεξιόντων ἀγανακτοίημεν καὶ χαλεπαίνοιμεν.
[A]
Well done, O wise citizens, both you who make such jests and you who welcome and find profit in the jesters! For it is evident that uttering them gives pleasure to the former, while the latter rejoice to hear jests of this sort. I share your pleasure in this unanimity, and you do well to be a city of one mind in such matters, since it is not at all dignified or an enviable task to restrain and chastise the licentiousness of the young.
[B]
For if one were to rob human beings of the power to do and say what they please, that would be to take away, and to curtail the first principle of independence. Therefore, since you knew that men ought to be independent in all respects, you acted quite rightly, in the first place when you permitted the women to govern themselves, so that you might profit by their being independent and licentious to excess; secondly, when you entrusted to them the bringing up of the children,
[C]
for fear that if they had to experience any harsher authority they might later turn out to be slaves; and as they grew up to be boys might be taught first of all to respect their elders, and then under the influence of this bad habit might show too much reverence for the magistrates, and finally might have to be classed not as men but as slaves; and becoming temperate and well-behaved and orderly might be, before they knew it, altogether corrupted. Then what effect have the women on the children? They induce them to reverence the same things as they do by means of pleasure,
[D]
which is, it seems, the most blessed thing and the most highly honoured, not only by men but by beasts also. It is for this reason, I think, that you are so very happy, because you refuse every form of slavery; first you begin by refusing slavery to the gods, secondly to the laws, and thirdly to me who am the guardian of the laws. And I should indeed be eccentric if, when the gods suffer the city to be so independent and do not chastise her, I should be resentful and angry.
EN translation: Wilmer Cave Wright, 1913
ALL PAGES
| 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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