1. THESE and such like things, O Quintus! when Epicurus had spoken, before any person could return an answer, while we were busy at the farther end of the portico, he flung away in great haste. However, we could not but in some measure admire at the odd behavior of the man, though without taking any farther notice of it in words; and therefore, after we had gazed a while one upon another, we returned to walk as we were singled out in company before. At this time Patrocleas first breaking silence, How say ye, gentlemen? said he: if you think fitting, why may not we discuss this question of the last proposer as well in his absence as if he were present? To whom Timon replying, Surely, said he, it would but ill become us, if at us he aimed upon his departure, to neglect the arrow sticking in our sides. For Brasidas, as history reports, drawing forth the javelin out of his own body, with the same javelin not only wounded him that threw it, but slew him outright. But as for ourselves, we surely have no need to revenge ourselves on them that pelt us with absurd and fallacious reasonings; but it will be sufficient that we shake them off before our opinion has taken hold of them. Then, said I, which of his sayings is it that has given you the greatest cause to be moved? For the man dragged into his discourse many things confusedly, and nothing in order; but gleaning up and down from this and the other place, as it were in the transports of his wrath and scurrility, he then poured the whole in one torrent of abuse upon the providence of God.
1. τοιαῦτα μὲν ὁ Ἐπίκουρος εἰπὼν, ὦ Κύντε, καὶ πρὶν ἀποκρίνασθαί τινα πρὸς τῷ πέρατι τῆς στοᾶς γενομένων ἡμῶν, ᾤχετʼ ἀπιών· ἡμεῖς δʼ ὅσον τι θαυμάσαι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὴν ἀτοπίαν, ἐπιστάντες σιωπῇ καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαβλέψαντες, ἀνεστρέφομεν πάλιν ὥσπερ ἐτυγχάνομεν περιπατοῦντες. εἶτα πρῶτος ὁ Πατροκλέας τί οὖν; εἶπεν ἐᾶν δοκεῖ τὴν ζήτησιν, ἢ τῷ λόγῳ καθάπερ παρόντος καὶ μὴ παρόντος ἀποκρινώμεθα τοῦ εἰπόντος; ὑπολαβὼν δʼ ὁ Τίμων ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ εἰ βαλών εἶπεν ἀπηλλάγη, καλῶς εἶχε περιορᾶν τὸ βέλος ἐγκείμενον· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Βρασίδας ὡς ἔοικεν ἐξελκύσας τὸ δόρυ τοῦ σώματος, αὐτῷ τούτῳ τὸν βαλόντα πατάξας ἀνεῖλεν ἡμῖν δʼ ἀμύνασθαι μὲν οὐδὲν ἔργον ἐστὶ δήπου τοὺς ἄτοπον ἢ ψευδῆ λόγον εἰς ἡμᾶς ἀφέντας, ἀρκεῖ δʼ ἂν αὐτοὶ, πρὶν ἅψασθαι τὴν δόξαν, ἐκβάλωμεν· τί οὖν ἔφην ἐγὼ μάλιστα κεκίνηκεν ὑμᾶς τῶν εἰρημένων; ἀθρόα γὰρ πολλὰ καὶ κατὰ τάξιν οὐδέν, ἄλλο δʼ ἀλλαχόθεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὥσπερ ὀργῇ τινι καὶ λοιδορίᾳ σπαράττων ἅμα κατεφόρει τῆς προνοίασ.
2. To which Patrocleas: The slowness of the Supreme Deity and his procrastination in reference to the punishment of the wicked have long perplexed my thoughts; but now, puzzled by these arguments which he produces, I find myself as it were a stranger to the opinion, and newly beginning again to learn. For a long time I could not with patience hear that expression of Euripides,Does he delay and slowly move;’Tis but the nature of the Gods above.For indeed it becomes not the Supreme Deity to be remiss in any thing, but more especially in the prosecution of the wicked, since they themselves are no way negligent or dilatory in doing mischief, but are always driven on by the most rapid impetuosities of their passions to acts of injustice. For certainly, according to the saying of Thucydides, that revenge which follows injury closest at the heels presently puts a stop to the progress of such as make advantage of successful wickedness. Therefore there is no debt with so much prejudice put off, as that of justice. For it weakens the hopes of the person wronged and renders him comfortless and pensive, but heightens the boldness and daring insolence of the oppressor; whereas, on the other side, those punishments and chastisements that immediately withstand presuming violence not only restrain the committing of future outrages, but more especially bring along with them a particular comfort and satisfaction to the sufferers. Which makes me no less troubled at the saying of Bias, which frequently comes into my mind. For thus he spake once to a notorious reprobate: It is not that I doubt thou wilt suffer the just reward of thy wickedness, but I fear that I myself shall not live to see it. For what did the punishment of Aristocrates avail the Messenians who were killed before it came to pass? He, having betrayed them at the battle of Taphrus yet remained undetected for above twenty years together, and all that while reigned king of the Arcadians, till at length, discovered and apprehended, he received the merited recompense of his treachery. But alas! they whom he had betrayed were all dead at the same time. Or when the Orchomenians had lost their children, their friends, and familiar acquaintance through the treachery of Lyciscus, what consolation was it to them, that many years after a foul distemper seized the traitor, and fed upon his body till it had consumed his putrefied flesh?—who, as often as he dipped and bathed his feet in the river, with horrid oaths and execrations prayed that his members might rot if he had been guilty of treachery or any other villany. Nor was it possible even for the children’s children of the Athenians who had been murdered long before, to behold the bodies of those sacrilegious caitiffs torn out of their graves and transported beyond the confines of their native soil. Whence, in my opinion, Euripides absurdly makes use of these expressions, to divert a man from wickedness:If thou fear’st heav’n, thou fearest it in vain;Justice is not so hasty, foolish man,To pierce thy heart, or with contagious woundOr thee or weaker mortals to confound;But with slow pace and silent feet his doomO’ertakes the sinner, when his time is come.And I am apt to persuade myself that upon these and no other considerations it is, that wicked men encourage and give themselves the liberty to attempt and commit all manner of impieties, seeing that the fruit which injustice yields is soon ripe, and offers itself early to the gatherer’s hand, whereas punishment comes late, and lagging long behind the pleasure of enjoyment.
2. καὶ ὁ Πατροκλέας ἡ περὶ τὰς τιμωρίας εἶπε τῶν πονηρῶν βραδυτὴς τοῦ δαιμονίου καὶ μέλλησις ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ μάλιστα δεινὸν εἶναι· καὶ νῦν ὑπὸ τῶν λόγων τούτων ὥσπερ πρόσφατος γέγονα τῇ δόξῃ καὶ καινός, ἔκπαλαι δʼ ἠγανάκτουν ἀκούων Εὐριπίδου λέγοντος μέλλει, τὸ θεῖον δʼ ἐστὶ τοιοῦτον φύσει. καίτοι πρὸς οὐδὲν ἥκιστα δὲ πρέπει πρὸς τοὺς πονηροὺς ῥᾴθυμον εἶναι τὸν θεόν, οὐ ῥᾳθύμους ὂντας αὐτοὺς οὐδʼ ἀμβολιεργοὺς τοῦ κακῶς ποιεῖν, ἀλλʼ ὀξυτάταις ὁρμαῖς ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν φερομένους πρὸς τὰς ἀδικίας. καὶ μὴν τὸ ἀμύνασθαι παθεῖν ὡς Θουκυδίδης φησὶν ὅτι ἐγγυτάτω κείμενον εὐθὺς ἀντιφράττει τὴν ὁδὸν τοῖς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον εὐροούσῃ τῇ κακίᾳ χρωμένοις. οὐθὲν γὰρ οὕτω χρέος ὡς τὸ τῆς δίκης ὑπερήμερον γιγνόμενον ἀσθενῆ μὲν ταῖς ἐλπίσι ποιεῖ καὶ ταπεινὸν τὸν ἀδικούμενον, αὔξει δὲ θρασύτητι καὶ τόλμῃ τὸν μοχθηρόν· αἱ δʼ ὑπὸ χεῖρα τοῖς τολμωμένοις ἀπαντῶσαι τιμωρίαι καὶ τῶν μελλόντων εἰσὶν ἐπισχέσεις ἀδικημάτων, καὶ μάλιστα τὸ παρηγοροῦν τοὺς πεπονθότας ἔνεστιν αὐταῖς. ὡς ἔμοιγε καὶ τὸ τοῦ Βίαντος ἐνοχλεῖ πολλάκις ἀναλαμβάνοντι τὸν λόγον· ἔφη γάρ, ὡς ἔοικε, πρός τινα πονηρόν, ὡς οὐ δέδιε μὴ οὐ δῷ δίκην, ἀλλὰ μὴ οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐπίδῃ. τί γὰρ Μεσσηνίοις ὄφελος τοῖς προαναιρεθεῖσι τῆς Ἀριστοκράτους τιμωρίας, ὃς προδοὺς τὴν ἐπὶ Τάφρῳ μάχην καὶ λαθὼν ὑπὲρ εἴκοσιν ἔτη καὶ πάντα ταῦτα βασιλεύσας Ἀρκάδων, ὕστερον ἔδωκε δίκην φωραθείς· οἱ δʼ οὐκέτʼ ἦσαν; ἢ τίνʼ Ὀρχομενίων τοῖς ἀποβαλοῦσι παῖδας καὶ φίλους καὶ οἰκείους ὑπὸ Λυκίσκου προδοθέντας ἤνεγκε παραμυθίαν ἡ χρόνοις ὕστερον πολλοῖς ἁψαμένη νόσος καὶ κατανεμηθεῖσα τοῦ σώματος ὅσον ἀεὶ βάπτων καὶ βρέχων εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν ὤμοσε καὶ κατηράσατο σαπῆναι, προδόντος αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀδικήσαντος; τὰς μὲν γὰρ Ἀθήνησι τῶν ἐναγῶν σωμάτων ῥίψεις καὶ νεκρῶν ἐξορισμοὺς οὐδὲ παίδων παισὶν ἐπιδεῖν ὑπῆρξε τῶν ἀποσφαγέντων ἐκείνων. ὅθεν Εὐριπίδης ἄτοπος, εἰς ἀποτροπὴν κακίας τούτοις χρώμενος,οὔτοι προσελθοῦσʼ ἡ Δίκη σε, μὴ τρέσῃς,παίσει πρὸς ἧπαρ οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων βροτῶντὸν ἄδικον, ἀλλὰ σῖγα καὶ βραδεῖ ποδὶστείχουσα μάρψει τοὺς κακούς, ὅταν τύχῃ.οὐ γὰρ ἄλλα δήπου, ταῦτα δʼ αὐτὰ τοὺς κακοὺς εἰκός ἐστιν ἑαυτοῖς διακελευομένους καὶ παρεγγυῶντας ἐπιχαίρειν τοῖς παρανομήμασιν, ὡς τῆς ἀδικίας τὸν μὲν καρπὸν εὐθὺς ὡραῖον καὶ προῦπτον ἀποδιδούσης, τὴν δὲ τιμωρίαν ὀψὲ καὶ πολὺ τῆς ἀπολαύσεως καθυστεροῦσαν.
3. After Patrocleas had thus discoursed, Olympicus taking him up, There is this farther, said he, O Patrocleas! which thou shouldst have taken notice of; for how great an inconveniency and absurdity arises besides from these delays and procrastinations of divine justice! For the slowness of its execution takes away the belief of providence; and the wicked, perceiving that calamity does not presently follow at the heels of every enormous crime, but a long time after, look upon their calamity as a misfortune, and calling it chance, not punishment, are nothing at all thereby reformed; troubled indeed they well may be at the dire accident befallen them, but they never repent of the villanies they have committed. For as, in the case of horse, the lashing and spurring that immediately pursue the transgression correct and reduce him to his duty, but all the tugging at the bit and shouting which are late and out of time seem to be inflicted for some other reason than to teach or instruct, the animal being thereby put to pain without understanding his error; in like manner, were the impieties of enormous transgressors and heinous offenders singly scourged and repressed by immediate severity, it would be most likely to bring them to a sense of their folly, humble them, and strike them with an awe of the Divine Being, whom they find with a watchful eye beholding the actions and passions of men, and feel to be no dilatory but a speedy avenger of iniquity; whereas that remiss and slow-paced justice (as Euripides describes it) that falls upon the wicked by accident, by reason of its uncertainty, ill-timed delay, and disorderly motion, seems rather to resemble chance than providence. So that I cannot conceive what benefit there is in these millstones of the Gods which are said to grind so late, as thereby celestial punishment is obscured, and the awe of evil doing rendered vain and despicable.
3. ταῦτα τοῦ Πατροκλέου διελθόντος, ὑπολαβὼν ὁ Ὀλύμπιχος ἐκεῖνο δʼ εἶπεν ὦ Πατροκλέα, πηλίκον αἱ περὶ ταῦτα τοῦ θείου διατριβαὶ καὶ μελλήσεις ἄτοπον ἔχουσιν, ὅτι τὴν πίστιν, ἡ βραδυτὴς ἀφαιρεῖται τῆς προνοίας, καὶ τὸ μὴ παρʼ ἕκαστον ἀδίκημα τοῖς πονηροῖς ἐπακολουθοῦν κακὸν ἀλλʼ ὕστερον εἰς ἀτυχήματος χώραν τιθέμενοι, καὶ συμφορὰν οὐ τιμωρίαν ὀνομάζοντες, οὐδὲν ὠφελοῦνται, τοῖς μὲν συμβαίνουσιν ἀχθόμενοι τοῖς δὲ πεπραγμένοις μὴ μεταμελόμενοι; καθάπερ γὰρ ἵππον ἡ παραχρῆμα τὸ πταῖσμα καὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν διώκουσα πληγὴ καὶ νύξις ἐπανορθοῖ καὶ μετάγει πρὸς τὸ δέον, οἱ δʼ ὕστερον καὶ μετὰ χρόνον σπαραγμοὶ καὶ ἀνακρούσεις καὶ περιψοφήσεις ἑτέρου τινὸς ἕνεκα μᾶλλον δοκοῦσι, γίγνεσθαι ἢ διδασκαλίας, διὸ τὸ λυποῦν ἄνευ τοῦ παιδεύειν ἔχουσιν· οὕτως ἡ καθʼ ἕκαστον ὧν πταίει καὶ προσπίπτει ῥαπιζομένη καὶ ἀνακρουομένη τῷ κολάζεσθαι κακία μάλιστʼ ἂν γένοιτο σύννους καὶ ταπεινὴ καὶ κατάφοβος πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ὡς ἐφεστῶτα τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις πράγμασι καὶ πάθεσιν οὐχ ὑπερήμερον δικαιωτήν· ἡ δʼ ἀτρέμα καὶ βραδεῖ ποδί κατʼ Εὐριπίδην καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν ἐπιπίπτουσα Δίκη τοῖς πονηροῖς ταὐτομάτῳ μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ κατὰ πρόνοιαν ὅμοιον ἔχει τὸ πεπλανημένον καὶ ὑπερήμερον καὶ ἄτακτον. ὥστʼ οὐχ ὁρῶ, τί χρήσιμον ἔνεστι τοῖς ὀψὲ δὴ τούτοις ἀλεῖν λεγομένοις μύλοις τῶν θεῶν καὶ ποιοῦσι τὴν δίκην ἀμαυρὰν καὶ τὸν φόβον ἐξίτηλον τῆς κακίας.
4. These things thus uttered, while I was in a deep meditation of what he had said, Timon interposed. Is it your pleasure. said he, that I shall give the finishing stroke to the difficulties of this knotty question, or shall I first permit him to argue in opposition to what has been propounded already? Nay then, said I, to what purpose is it to let in a third wave to drown the argument, if one be not able to repel or avoid the objections already made to begin therefore, as from the Vestal hearth, from that ancient circumspection and reverence which our ancestors, being Academic philosophers also, bare to the Supreme Godhead, we shall utterly decline to speak of that mysterious Being as if we could presume to utter positively any thing concerning it. For though it may be borne withal, for men unskilled in music to talk at random of notes and harmony, or for such as never experienced warfare to discourse of arms and military affairs; yet it would be a bold and daring arrogance in us, that are but mortal men, to dive too far into the incomprehensible mysteries of Deities and Daemons,—just as if persons void of knowledge should undertake to judge of the methods and reason of cunning artists by slight opinions and probable conjectures of their own. And while one that understands nothing of science finds it hard to give a reason why the physician did not let blood before but afterwards, or why he did not bathe his patient yesterday but to-day; it cannot be that it is safe or easy for a mortal to speak otherwise of the Supreme Deity than only this, that he alone it is who knows the most convenient time to apply most proper corrosives for the cure of sin and impiety, and to administer punishments as medicaments to every transgressor, yet being not confined to an equal quality and measure common to all distempers, nor to one and the same time. Now that the medicine of the soul which is called justice is the most transcendent of all sciences, besides ten thousand other witnesses, even Pindar himself testifies, where he gives to God, the ruler and lord of all things, the title of the most perfect artificer, as being the grand author and distributer of Justice, to whom it properly belongs to determine at what time, in what manner, and to what degree to punish every particular offender. And Plato asserts that Minos, being the son of Jupiter, was the disciple of his father to learn this science; intimating thereby that it is impossible for any other than a scholar, bred up in the school of equity, rightly to behave himself in the administration of justice, or to make a true judgment of another whether he does well or no. For the laws which are constituted by men do not always prescribe that which is unquestionable and simply decent, or of which the reason is altogether without exception perspicuous, in regard that some of their ordinances seem to be on purpose ridiculously contrived; particularly those which in Lacedaemon the Ephori ordain at their first entering into the magistracy, that no man suffer the hair of his upper lip to grow, and that they shall be obedient to the laws to the end they may not seem grievous to them. So the Romans, when they asserted the freedom of any one, cast a slender rod upon his body; and when they make their last wills and testaments, some they leave to be their heirs, while to others they sell their estates; which seems to be altogether contrary to reason. But that of Solon is most absurd, who, when a city is up in arms and all in sedition, brands with infamy the person who stands neuter and adheres to neither party. And thus a man that apprehends not the reason of the lawgiver, or the cause why such and such things are so prescribed, might number up several absurdities of many laws. What wonder then, since the actions of men are so difficult to be understood, if it be no less difficult to determine concerning the Gods, wherefore they inflict their punishments upon sinners, sometimes later, sometimes sooner.
4. ῥηθέντων οὖν τούτων κἀμοῦ πρὸς αὑτὸν ὄντος, ὁ Τίμων πότερον εἶπεν ἐπιθῶ καὶ αὐτὸς ἤδη τῷ λόγῳ τὸν κολοφῶνα τῆς ἀπορίας, ἢ πρὸς ταῦτʼ ἐάσω πρότερον αὐτὸν διαγωνίσασθαι; τί γάρ ἔφην ἐγώ δεῖ τὸ τρίτον ἐπενεγκεῖν κῦμα καὶ προσκατακλύσαι τὸν λόγον, εἰ τὰ πρῶτα μὴ δυνατὸς ἔσται διώσασθαι μηδʼ ἀποφυγεῖν ἐγκλήματα; πρῶτον οὖν ὥσπερ ἀφʼ ἑστίας ἀρχόμενοι πατρῴας, τῆς πρὸς τὸ θεῖον εὐλαβείας τῶν ἐν Ἀκαδημείᾳ φιλοσόφων, τὸ μὲν ὡς εἰδότες τι περὶ τούτων λέγειν ἀφοσιωσόμεθα. πλέον γάρ ἐστι τοῦ περὶ μουσικῶν ἀμούσους καὶ πολεμικῶν ἀστρατεύτους διαλέγεσθαι τὸ τὰ θεῖα καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια πράγματα διασκοπεῖν, ἀνθρώπους ὄντας, οἷον ἀτέχνους τεχνιτῶν διάνοιαν ἀπὸ δόξης καὶ ὑπονοίας κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς μετιόντας. οὐ γὰρ ἰατροῦ μὲν ἰδιώτην ὄντα συμβαλεῖν λογισμόν, ὡς πρότερον οὐκ ἔτεμεν ἀλλʼ ὕστερον οὐδʼ ἐχθὲς ἔλουσεν ἀλλὰ σήμερον, ἔργον ἐστί· περὶ θεῶν δὲ θνητὸν ῥᾴδιον βέβαιον εἰπεῖν ἄλλο, πλὴν ὅτι τὸν καιρὸν εἰδὼς ἄριστα τῆς περὶ τὴν κακίαν ἰατρείας ὡς φάρμακον ἑκάστῳ προσφέρει τὴν κόλασιν, οὔτε μεγέθους μέτρον κοινὸν οὔτε χρόνον ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ πάντων ἔχουσαν. ὅτι γὰρ ἡ περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἰατρεία, δίκη δὲ καὶ δικαιοσύνη προσαγορευομένη, πασῶν ἐστι τεχνῶν μεγίστη, πρὸς μυρίοις ἑτέροις καὶ Πίνδαρος ἐμαρτύρησεν, ἀριστοτέχναν ἀνακαλούμενος τὸν ἄρχοντα καὶ κύριον ἁπάντων θεόν, ὡς δὴ δίκης ὂντα δημιουργόν, ᾗ προσήκει τὸ πότε καὶ πῶς καὶ μέχρι πόσου κολαστέον ἕκαστον τῶν πονηρῶν ὁρίζειν. καὶ ταύτης φησὶ τῆς τέχνης ὁ Πλάτων υἱὸν ὄντα τοῦ Διὸς γεγονέναι τὸν Μίνω μαθητήν, ὡς οὐ δυνατὸν ἐν τοῖς δικαίοις κατορθοῦν οὐδʼ αἰσθάνεσθαι τοῦ κατορθοῦντος τὸν μὴ μαθόντα μηδὲ κτησάμενον τὴν ἐπιστήμην. οὐδὲ γὰρ οὓς ἄνθρωποι νόμους τίθενται τὸ εὔλογον ἁπλῶς ἔχουσι καὶ πάντοτε φαινόμενον, ἀλλʼ ἔνια καὶ δοκεῖ κομιδῇ γελοῖα τῶν προσταγμάτων· οἷον ἐν Λακεδαίμονι, κηρύττουσιν οἱ ἔφοροι παριόντες εὐθὺς εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν μὴ τρέφειν μύστακα, καὶ πείθεσθαι τοῖς νόμοις ὡς μὴ χαλεποὶ ὦσιν αὐτοῖς· Ῥωμαῖοι δέ, οὓς ἂν εἰς ἐλευθερίαν ἀφαιρῶνται, κάρφος αὐτῶν λεπτὸν ἐπιβάλλουσι τοῖς σώμασιν· ὅταν δὲ διαθήκας γράφωσιν, ἑτέρους μὲν ἀπολείπουσι κληρονόμους ἑτέροις δὲ πωλοῦσι τὰς οὐσίας· ὃ δοκεῖ παράλογον εἶναι. παραλογώτατον δὲ τὸ τοῦ Σόλωνος, ἄτιμον εἶναι τὸν ἐν στάσει πόλεως μηδετέρᾳ μερίδι προσθέμενον μηδὲ συστασιάσαντα. καὶ ὅλως πολλὰς. ἄν τις ἐξείποι νόμων ἀτοπίας μήτε τὸν λόγον ἔχων τοῦ νομοθέτου μήτε τὴν αἰτίαν συνιεὶς ἑκάστου τῶν γραφομένων. τί δὴ θαυμαστόν, εἰ, τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων οὕτως, ἡμῖν ὄντων δυσθεωρήτων, οὐκ εὔπορόν ἐστι τὸ περὶ τῶν θεῶν εἰπεῖν, ᾧτινι λόγῳ τοὺς μὲν ὕστερον τοὺς δὲ πρότερον τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων κολάζουσιν;
5. Nor do I allege these things as a pretence to avoid the dispute, but to secure the pardon which I beg, to the end that our discourse, having a regard (as it were) to some port or refuge, may proceed the more boldly in producing probable circumstances to clear the doubt. But first consider this; that God, according to Plato, when he set himself before the eyes of the whole world as the exemplar of all that was good and holy, granted human virtue, by which man is in some measure rendered like himself, unto those that are able to follow the Deity by imitation. For universal Nature, being at first void of order, received its first impulse to change and to be formed into a world, by being made to resemble and (as it were) partake of that idea and virtue which is in God. And the self-same Plato asserts, that Nature first kindled the sense of seeing within us, to the end that the soul, by the sight and admiration of the heavenly bodies, being accustomed to love and embrace decency and order, might be induced to hate the disorderly motions of wild and raving passions, and avoid levity and rashness and dependence upon chance, as the original of all improbity and vice. For there is no greater benefit that men can enjoy from God, than, by the imitation and pursuit of those perfections and that sanctity which is in him, to be excited to the study of virtue. Therefore God, with forbearance and at leisure, inflicts his punishment upon the wicked; not that he is afraid of committing an error or of repenting should he accelerate his indignation; but to eradicate that brutish and eager desire of revenge that reigns in human breasts, and to teach us that we are not in the heat of fury, or when our anger heaving and palpitating boils up above our understanding, to fall upon. those who have done us an injury, like those who seek to gratify a vehement thirst or craving appetite, but that we should, in imitation of this mildness and forbearance, wait with due composure of mind before we proceed to chastisement or correction, till such sufficient time for consideration is taken as shall allow the least possible room for repentance. For, as Socrates observed, it is far the lesser mischief for a man distempered with ebriety and gluttony to drink puddle-water, than, when the mind is disturbed and over-charged with anger and fury, before it be settled and become limpid again, for a man to seek the satiating his revenge upon the body of his friend or kinsman. For it is not the revenge which is the nearest to injury, as Thucydides says, but rather that which is the most remote from it, that observes the most convenient opportunity. For as anger, according to that of Melanthius,Quite from the brain transplants the wit,Vile acts designing to commit;so reason does that which is just and moderate, laying passion and fury aside. Whence it comes to pass that men, giving ear to human examples, become more mansuete and gentle; as when they hear how Plato, holding his cudgel over his page’s shoulders, as himself relates, paused a good while, correcting his own anger; and how in like manner Archytas, observing the sloth and wilful negligence of his servants in the field, and perceiving his passion to rise at a more than usual rate, did nothing at all; but as he went away, It is your good fortune, said he, that ye have angered me. If then the savings of men when called to mind, and their actions being told, have such a power to mitigate the roughness and vehemency of wrath, much more becomes it us, beholding God, with whom there is neither dread nor repentance of any thing, deferring nevertheless his punishments to future time and admitting delay, to be cautious and circumspect in these matters, and to deem as a divine part of virtue that mildness and long-suffering of which God affords us an example, while by punishing he reforms some few, but by slowly punishing he helpeth and admonisheth many.
5. ταῦτα δʼ οὐκ ἀποδράσεως πρόφασίς ἐστιν ἀλλὰ συγγνώμης αἴτησις, ὅπως ὁ λόγος, οἷον εἰς λιμένα καὶ καταφυγὴν ἀποβλέπων, εὐθαρσέστερον ἐξαναφέρῃ τῷ πιθανῷ πρὸς τὴν ἀπορίαν. ἀλλὰ σκοπεῖτε πρῶτον, ὅτι κατὰ Πλάτωνα πάντων καλῶν ὁ θεὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐν μέσῳ παράδειγμα θέμενος, τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀρετήν, ἐξομοίωσιν οὖσαν ἁμωσγέπως πρὸς αὑτόν, ἐνδίδωσι τοῖς ἕπεσθαι θεῷ δυναμένοις. καὶ γὰρ ἡ πάντων φύσις ἄτακτος οὖσα ταύτην ἔσχεν ἀρχὴν τοῦ μεταβαλεῖν καὶ γενέσθαι κόσμος, ὁμοιότητι καὶ μεθέξει τινὶ τῆς περὶ τὸ θεῖον ἰδέας καὶ ἀρετῆς. καὶ τὴν ὄψιν αὐτὸς οὗτος ἁνὴρ ἀνάψαι φησὶ τὴν φύσιν ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅπως ὑπὸ θέας τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ φερομένων καὶ θαύματος ἀσπάζεσθαι καὶ ἀγαπᾶν ἐθιζομένη τὸ εὔσχημον ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ τεταγμένον ἀπεχθάνηται τοῖς ἀναρμόστοις καὶ πλανητοῖς πάθεσι καὶ φεύγῃ τὸ εἰκῆ καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν, ὡς κακίας καὶ πλημμελείας ἁπάσης γένεσιν. οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ὅ τι μεῖζον ἄνθρωπος ἀπολαύειν θεοῦ πέφυκεν ἢ τὸ μιμήσει καὶ διώξει τῶν ἐν ἐκείνῳ καλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν εἰς ἀρετὴν καθίστασθαι. διὸ καὶ τοῖς πονηροῖς ἐν χρόνῳ καὶ σχολαίως τὴν δίκην ἐπιτίθησιν, οὐκ αὐτός τινα τοῦ ταχὺ κολάζειν ἁμαρτίαν δεδιὼς ἢ μετάνοιαν, ἀλλʼ ἡμῶν τὸ περὶ τὰς τιμωρίας θηριῶδες καὶ λάβρον ἀφαιρῶν καὶ διδάσκων μὴ σὺν ὀργῇ μηδʼ ὅτε μάλιστα φλέγεται καὶ σφαδᾴζει πηδῶν ὁ θυμὸς τῶν φρενῶν ἀνωτέρω καθάπερ δίψαν ἢ πεῖναν ἀποπιμπλάντας ἐπιπηδᾶν τοῖς λελυπηκόσιν, ἀλλὰ μιμουμένους τὴν ἐκείνου πραότητα καὶ τὴν μέλλησιν, ἐν τάξει καὶ ἐμμελείᾳ τὸν ἥκιστα μετανοίᾳ προσοισόμενον χρόνον ἔχοντας σύμβουλον, ἅπτεσθαι τῆς δίκης. ὕδατι γὰρ τεταραγμένῳ προσπεσόντα χρῆσθαι διʼ ἀκρασίαν ἧττόν ἐστι κακόν, ὡς Σωκράτης ἔλεγεν, ἢ θολερὸν ὄντα καὶ διάπλεων τὸν λογισμὸν ὀργῆς καὶ μανίας, πρὶν ἢ καταστῆναι καὶ γενέσθαι καθαρὸν ἐμφορεῖσθαι τιμωρίας συγγενοῦς καὶ ὁμοφύλου σώματος., οὐ γάρ ἐγγυτάτω τὸ ἀμύνασθαι τῷ παθεῖν ὡς Θουκυδίδης ἔλεγεν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἀπωτάτω κείμενον ἀπολαμβάνει τὸ προσῆκον. ὡς γὰρ ὁ θυμὸς κατὰ τὸν Μελάνθιον τὰ δεινὰ πράσσει τὰς φρένας μετοικίσας οὕτω καὶ ὁ λογισμὸς τὰ δίκαια πράττει καὶ μέτρια, τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ τὸν θυμὸν ἐκποδὼν θέμενος. ὅθεν ἡμεροῦνται καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις παραδείγμασιν, ἀκούοντες ὡς Πλάτων τε τὴν βακτηρίαν ἀνατεινάμενος τῷ παιδὶ πολὺν ἔστη χρόνον, ὡς αὐτὸς ἔφη, τὸν θυμὸν κολάζων καὶ Ἀρχύτας οἰκετῶν τινα πλημμέλειαν ἐν ἀγρῷ καὶ ἀταξίαν καταμαθών, εἶθʼ ἑαυτοῦ συναισθανόμενος ἐμπαθέστερον ἔχοντος καὶ τραχύτερον πρὸς αὐτούς, οὐδὲν ἐποίησεν ἀλλʼ ἢ τοσοῦτον ἀπιών εὐτυχεῖτʼ εἶπεν ὅτι ὀργίζομαι ὑμῖν. εἴπερ οὖν ἀνδρῶν λόγοι μνημονευόμενοι καὶ πράξεις λεγόμεναι τὸ τραχὺ καὶ σφοδρὸν ἀπαρύτουσι τῆς ὀργῆς, πολὺ μᾶλλον εἰκὸς ἡμᾶς τὸν θεὸν ὁρῶντας, ᾧ δέος οὐδὲν οὐδὲ μετάνοια πράγματος οὐδενός, ὅμως ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι τὴν τιμωρίαν κατατιθέμενον καὶ περιμένοντα τὸν χρόνον, εὐλαβεῖς περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα γίγνεσθαι καὶ θεῖον ἡγεῖσθαι μόριον ἀρετῆς τὴν πραότητα καὶ τὴν μετριοπάθειαν, ἣν ὁ θεὸς ἐνδείκνυται τῷ μὲν κολάζειν ὀλίγους ἐπανορθοῦσαν, τῷ δὲ βραδέως πολλοὺς ὠφελοῦσαν καὶ νουθετοῦσαν.
6. In the second place, therefore, let us consider this, that human punishments of injuries regard no more than that the party suffer in his turn, and are satisfied when the offender has suffered according to his merit; and farther they never proceed. Which is the reason that they run after provocations, like dogs that bark in their fury, and immediately pursue the injury as soon as committed. But probable it is that God, whatever distempered soul it be which he prosecutes with his divine justice, observes the motions and inclinations of it, whether they be such as tend to repentance, and allows time for the reformation of those whose wickedness is neither invincible nor incorrigible. For, since he well knows what a proportion of virtue souls carry along with them from himself when they come into the world, and how strong and vigorous their innate and primitive good yet continues,—while wickedness buds forth only preternaturally upon the corruption of bad diet and evil conversation, and even then some souls recover again to perfect cure or an indifferent habitude,—therefore he doth not make haste to inflict his punishments alike upon all. But those that are incurable he presently lops off and deprives of life, deeming it altogether hurtful to others, but most baneful to themselves, to be always wallowing in wickedness. But as for those who may probably be thought to transgress rather out of ignorance of what is virtuous and good, than through choice of what is foul and vicious, he grants them time to turn; but if they remain obdurate, then likewise he inflicts his punishments upon them; for he has no fear lest they should escape. Now let us consider how oft the characters and lives of men are changed; for which reason, the character is called τρόπος, as being the changeable part, and also ἦθος, since cus- tom (ἔθος) chiefly prevails in it and rules with the greatest power when it has seized upon it. Therefore I am of opinion, that the ancients reported Cecrops to have had two bodies, not, as some believe, because of a good king he became a merciless and dragon-like tyrant, but rather, on the contrary, for that being at first both cruel and formidable, afterwards he became a most mild and gentle prince. However, if this be uncertain, yet we know both Gelo and Hiero the Sicilians, and Pisistratus the son of Hippocrates, who, having obtained the sovereignty by violence and wickedness, made a virtuous use of their power, and coming unjustly to the throne, became moderate rulers and beneficial to the public. For, by recommending wholesome laws and the exercise of useful tillage to their subjects, they reduced them from idle scoffers and talkative romancers to be modest citizens and industrious good husbands. And as for Gelo, after he had been successful in his war and vanquished the Carthaginians, he refused to grant them the peace which they sued for, unless they would consent to have it inserted in their articles that they would surcease from sacrificing their children to Saturn. Over Megalopolis Lydiadas was tyrant; but then, even in the time of his tyranny, changing his manners and maxims of government and growing into a hatred of injustice, he restored to the citizens their laws, and fighting for his country against his own and his subjects’ enemies, fell an illustrious victim for his country’s welfare. Now if any one, bearing an antipathy to Miltiades or Cimon, had slain the one tyrannizing in the Chersonese or the other committing incest with his own sister, or had expelled Themistocles out of Athens at what time he lay rioting and revelling in the market-place and affronting all that came near him, according to the sentence afterwards pronounced against Alcibiades, had we not lost Marathon, the Eurymedon, and lovely Artemisium,Where the Athenian youthThe famed foundations of their freedom laid?For great and lofty geniuses produce nothing that is mean and little; the innate smartness of their parts will not endure the vigor and activity of their spirits to grow lazy; but they are tossed to and again, as with the waves, by the rolling motions of their own inordinate desire, till at length they arrive to a stable and settled constitution of manners. Therefore, as a person that is unskilful in husbandry would by no means make choice of a piece of ground quite overrun with brakes and weeds, abounding with wild beasts, running streams, and mud; while, to him who hath learnt to understand the nature of the earth, these are certain symptoms of the softness and fertility of the soil; thus great geniuses many times produce many absurd and vile enormities, of which we not enduring the rugged and uneasy vexation, are presently for pruning and lopping off the lawless transgressors. But the more prudent judge, who discerns the abounding goodness and generosity covertly residing in those transcendent geniuses, waits the co-operating age and season for reason and virtue to exert themselves, and gathers the ripe fruit when Nature has matured it. And thus much as to those particulars.
6. δεύτερον τοίνυν τοῦτο διανοηθῶμεν, ὡς αἱ μὲν δικαιώσεις αἱ παρʼ ἀνθρώπων μόνον ἔχουσαι τὸ ἀντιλυποῦν ἔργον ἐν τῷ κακῶς τὸν δεδρακότα παθεῖν ἵστανται, περαιτέρω δʼ οὐκ ἐξικνοῦνται· διὸ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασι κυνὸς δίκην ἐφυλακτοῦσαι κατακολουθοῦσι καὶ τὰς πράξεις ἐκ ποδὸς ἐπιδιώκουσι· τὸν θεὸν δʼ εἰκός, ἧς ἂν ἐφάπτηται τῇ δίκῃ ψυχῆς νοσούσης, τά τε πάθη διορᾶν, εἴ πή τι καμπτόμενα πρὸς μετάνοιαν ἐνδίδωσι, καὶ χρόνον διδόναι οἷς οὐκ ἄκρατος οὐδʼ ἄτρεπτος ἡ κακία πέφυκε προσιζάνειν. ἅτε γὰρ εἰδώς, ὅσην μοῖραν ἀρετῆς ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ φερόμεναι πρὸς γένεσιν αἱ ψυχαὶ βαδίζουσι, καὶ τὸ γενναῖον ὡς ἰσχυρὸν αὐταῖς καὶ οὐκ ἐξίτηλον ἐμπέφυκεν, ἐξανθεῖ δὲ τὴν κακίαν παρὰ φύσιν ὑπὸ τροφῆς καὶ ὁμιλίας φαύλης φθειρόμενον εἶτα θεραπευθὲν ἐνίοις καλῶς ἀπολαμβάνει τὴν προσήκουσαν ἕξιν, οὐ πᾶσι κατεπείγει τὴν τιμωρίαν ὁμοίως· ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἀνήκεστον εὐθὺς ἐξεῖλε τοῦ βίου καὶ ἀπέκοψεν, ὡς ἑτέροις γε πάντως βλαβερὸν αὑτῷ τε βλαβερώτατον ἀεὶ συνεῖναι μετὰ πονηρίας· οἷς δʼ ὑπʼ ἀγνοίας τοῦ καλοῦ μᾶλλον ἢ προαιρέσει τοῦ αἰσχροῦ τὸ ἁμαρτητικὸν εἰκὸς ἐγγεγονέναι, δίδωσι μεταβαλέσθαι χρόνον. ἐὰν δʼ ἐπιμένωσι, καὶ τούτοις ἀπέδωκε τὴν δίκην· οὐ γάρ που δέδιε, μὴ διαφύγωσι. σκόπει δʼ ὅσαι μεταβολαὶ γεγόνασιν εἰς ἦθος ἀνδρῶν καὶ βίον· ᾗ καὶ τρόπος ὠνομάσθη τὸ μεταβάλλον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἦθος, ὡς πλεῖστον αὐτοῦ ἐνδύεται τὸ ἔθος καὶ κρατεῖ μάλιστα καθαπτόμενον. οἶμαι μὲν οὖν καὶ τὸν Κέκροπα διφυᾶ προσαγορεῦσαι τοὺς παλαιούς, οὐχ ὡς ἔνιοι λέγουσιν ἐκ χρηστοῦ βασιλέως ἄγριον καὶ δρακοντώδη γενόμενον τύραννον, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἐν ἀρχῇ σκολιὸν ὄντα καὶ φοβερόν, εἶθʼ ὕστερον ἄρξαντα πράως καὶ φιλανθρώπως. εἰ δὲ τοῦτʼ ἄδηλον, ἀλλὰ Γέλωνὰ γʼ ἴσμεν καὶ Ἱέρωνα τοὺς Σικελιώτας καὶ Πεισίστρατον τὸν Ἱπποκράτους, ὅτι πονηρίᾳ κτησάμενοι τυραννίδας ἐχρήσαντο πρὸς ἀρετὴν αὐταῖς, καὶ παρανόμως ἐπὶ τὸ ἄρχειν ἐλθόντες ἐγένοντο μέτριοι καὶ δημωφελεῖς ἄρχοντες, οἱ μὲν εὐνομίαν τε πολλὴν καὶ γῆς ἐπιμέλειαν παρασχόντες αὐτούς τε σώφρονας τοὺς πολίτας καὶ φιλεργοὺς ἐκ πολυτελῶν καὶ λάλων κατασκευάσαντες Γέλων δὲ καὶ προπολεμήσας ἄριστα καὶ κρατήσας μάχῃ μεγάλῃ Καρχηδονίων οὐ πρότερον εἰρήνην ἐποιήσατο πρὸς αὐτοὺς δεομένους ἢ καὶ τοῦτο ταῖς συνθήκαις περιλαβεῖν, ὅτι παύσονται τὰ τέκνα τῷ Κρόνῳ καταθύοντες. ἐν δὲ Μεγαλοπόλει Λυδιάδας ἦν τύραννος, εἶτʼ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τυραννεῖν μεταβαλόμενος καὶ δυσχεράνας τὴν ἀδικίαν ἀπέδωκε μὲν τοὺς νόμους τοῖς πολίταις, μαχόμενος δὲ πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἐπιφανῶς ἔπεσεν. εἰ δέ τις ἢ τύραννον ἀπέκτεινε Μιλτιάδην ἐν Χερρονήσῳ πρότερον, ἢ Κίμωνα συνόντα τῇ ἀδελφῇ διώξας εἷλεν, ἢ Θεμιστοκλέους ἐφʼ οἷς ἀσελγαίνων ἐκώμαζε καὶ ὕβριζε διʼ ἀγορᾶς ἀφείλετο τὴν πόλιν, ὡς ὕστερον Ἀλκιβιάδου, γραψάμενος, ἆρʼ οὐκ ἂν ἀπωλώλεσαν ἡμῖν οἱ Μαραθῶνες οἱ Εὐρυμέδοντες τὸ καλὸν Ἀρτεμίσιονὅθι παῖδες Ἀθηναίων ἐβάλοντο φαεννὰνκρηπῖδʼ ἐλευθερίας;οὐδὲν γὰρ αἱ μεγάλαι φύσεις μικρὸν ἐκφέρουσιν οὐδʼ ἀργεῖ διʼ ὀξύτητα τὸ σφοδρὸν. ἐν αὐταῖς καὶ δραστήριον, ἀλλʼ ἐν σάλῳ διαφέρονται, πρὶν εἰς τὸ μόνιμον καὶ καθεστηκὸς ἦθος ἐλθεῖν. ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ γεωργίας ἄπειρος οὐκ ἂν ἀσπάσαιτο χώραν ἰδὼν λόχμης ἔμπλεων δασείας καὶ φυτῶν ἀγρίων καὶ θηρία πολλὰ καὶ ῥεύματα καὶ πολὺν ἔχουσαν πηλόν, ἀλλὰ τῷ μεμαθηκότι διαισθάνεσθαι καὶ κρίνειν, αὐτὰ ταῦτα τὴν ἰσχὺν καὶ,πάνθʼ ὅσʼ ὑποδείκνυσι καὶ τὴν μαλακότητα τῆς γῆς· οὕτως ἄτοπα πολλὰ καὶ φαῦλα προεξανθοῦσιν αἱ μεγάλαι φύσεις, ὧν ἡμεῖς μὲν εὐθὺς τὸ τραχὺ καὶ νύττον οὐ φέροντες ἀποκόπτειν οἰόμεθα δεῖν καὶ κολούειν· ὁ δὲ βελτίων κριτὴς καὶ ἀπὸ τούτων ἐνορῶν τὸ χρηστὸν καὶ γενναῖον, περιμένει λόγου καὶ ἀρετῆς συνεργὸν ἡλικίαν καὶ ὥραν, ᾗ τὸν οἰκεῖον ἡ φύσις καρπὸν ἀποδίδωσι.
7. Now to come to another part of our discourse, do you not believe that some of the Greeks did very prudently to register that law in Egypt among their own, whereby it is enacted that, if a woman with child be sentenced to die, she shall be reprieved till she be delivered? All the reason in the world, you will say. Then, say I, though a man cannot bring forth children, yet if he be able, by the assistance of Time, to reveal any hidden action or conspiracy, or to discover some concealed mischief, or to be author of some wholesome piece of advice,—or suppose that in time he may produce some necessary and useful invention,—is it not better to delay the punishment and expect the benefit, than hastily to rid him out of the world? It seems so to me, said I. And truly you are in the right, replied Patrocleas; for let us consider, had Dionysius at the beginning of his tyranny suffered according to his merits, never would any of the Greeks have re-inhabited Sicily, laid waste by the Carthaginians. Nor would the Greeks have repossessed Apollonia, nor Anactorium, nor the peninsula of the Leucadians, had not Periander’s execution been delayed for a long time. And if I mistake not, it was to the delay of Cassander’s punishment that the city of Thebes was beholden for her recovery from desolation. But the most of those barbarians who assisted at the sacrilegious plunder of this temple, following Timoleon into Sicily, after they had vanquished the Carthaginians and dissolved the tyrannical government of that island, wicked as they were, came all to a wicked end. So the Deity makes use of some wicked persons as common executioners to punish the wickedness of others, and then destroys those instruments of his wrath,—which I believe to be true of most tyrants. For as the gall of a hyena and the rennet of a sea-calf—both filthy monsters—contain something in them for the cure of diseases; so when some people deserve a sharp and biting punishment, God, subjecting them to the implacable severity of some certain tyrant or the cruel oppression of some ruler, does not remove either the torment or the trouble, till he has cured and purified the distempered nation. Such a sort of physic was Phalaris to the Agrigentines, and Marius to the Romans. And God expressly foretold the Sicyonians how much their city stood in need of most severe chastisement, when, after they had violently ravished out of the hands of the Cleonaeans Teletias, a young lad who had been crowned at the Pythian games, they tore him limb from limb, as their own fellow-citizen. Therefore Orthagoras the tyrant, and after him Myro and Clisthenes, put an end to the luxury and lasciviousness of the Sicyonians; but the Cleonaeans, not having the good fortune to meet with the same cure, went all to wreck. To this purpose, hear what Homer says:From parent vile by far the better sonDid spring, whom various virtues did renownAnd yet we do not find that ever the son of Copreus performed any famous or memorable achievement; but the offspring of Sisyphus, Autolycus, and Phlegyas flourished among the number of the most famous and virtuous princes. Pericles at Athens descended from an accursed family; and Pompey the Great at Rome was the son of Strabo, whose dead body the Roman people, in the height of their hatred conceived against him when alive, cast forth into the street and trampled in the dirt. Where is the absurdity then,— as the husbandman never cuts away the thorn till it injures the asparagus, or as the Libyans never burn the stalks till they have gathered all the ladanum,—if God never extirpates the evil and thorny root of a renowned and royal race before he has gathered from it the mature and proper fruit? For it would have been far better for the Phocians to have lost ten thousand of Iphitus’s horses and oxen, or a far greater sum in gold and silver from the temple of Delphi, than that Ulysses and Aesculapius should not have been born, and those many others who, of wicked and vicious men, became highly virtuous and beneficial to their country.
7. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ταύτῃ· τὸν δʼ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ νόμον ἆρʼ οὐκ εἰκότως ὑμῖν ἀπογράψασθαι δοκοῦσιν ἔνιοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ὃς κελεύει τὴν ἔγκυον, ἂν ἁλῷ θανάτου, μέχρι τέκῃ, φυλάττειν; πάνυ μὲν οὖν ἔφασαν· εἶπον οὖν ἐγώ ἐὰν δὲ παιδία μὴ κύῃ τις, ἀλλὰ πρᾶξιν ἢ βουλὴν ἀπόρρητον εἰς φῶς ἡλίου δυνατὸς ᾖ προαγαγεῖν χρόνῳ καὶ ἀναδεῖξαι, κακόν τι μηνύσας λανθάνον ἢ σωτηρίου γνώμης γενόμενος σύμβουλος ἢ χρείας εὑρετὴς ἀναγκαίας, οὐκ ἀμείνων ὁ περιμείνας τῆς τιμωρίας τὸ χρήσιμον τοῦ προανελόντος; ἐμοὶ μὲν γάρ ἔφην δοκεῖ. καὶ ἡμῖν ὁ Πατροκλέας εἶπεν. ὀρθῶς ἔφην. σκόπει γάρ, εἰ Διονύσιος ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς τυραννίδος ἔδωκε δίκην, ὡς οὐδεὶς ἂν Ἑλλήνων ᾤκει Σικελίαν ἀνάστατον ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων γενομένην, ὥσπερ οὐδʼ Ἀπολλωνίαν οὐδʼ Ἀνακτόριον οὐδὲ τὴν Λευκαδίων χερρόνησον ᾤκουν ἂν Ἕλληνες, εἰ μὴ Περίανδρος ἐκολάσθη μετὰ πολὺν χρόνον. οἶμαι δὲ καὶ Κασάνδρῳ γενέσθαι τῆς δίκης ἀναβολήν, ὅπως αἱ Θῆβαι συνοικῶνται πάλιν. τῶν δὲ τουτὶ τὸ ἱερὸν συγκαταλαβόντων ξένων οἱ πολλοὶ Τιμολέοντι συνδιαβάντες εἰς Σικελίαν, ὅτε Καρχηδονίους ἐνίκησαν καὶ κατέλυσαν τὰς τυραννίδας ἐξώλοντο καὶ αὐτοὶ κακοὶ κακῶς ὕστερον. ἐνίοις γὰρ ἀμέλει καὶ κολασταῖς ἑτέρων πονηρῶν οἷον δημοκοίνοις ἀπεχρήσατο τὸ δαιμόνιον, εἶτʼ ἐπέτριψε, καθάπερ οἶμαι τοὺς πλείστους τυράννους. ὥσπερ γὰρ ὑαίνης χολὴ καὶ φώκης πυτία, θηρίων τἄλλα μιαρῶν, ἔχουσί τι πρὸς τὰς νόσους χρήσιμον, οὕτως ἐνίοις δηγμοῦ δεομένοις καὶ κολάσεως ἐμβαλὼν ὁ θεὸς πικρίαν τινὰ τυράννου δυσμείλικτον καὶ τραχύτητα χαλεπὴν ἄρχοντος, οὐ πρότερον ἐξεῖλε τὸ λυποῦν καὶ ταράττον ἢ τὸ νοσοῦν ἀπαλλάξαι καὶ καθῆραι. τοιοῦτο καὶ Φάλαρις ἦν Ἀκραγαντίνοις· φάρμακον καὶ Ῥωμαίοις Μάριος. Σικυωνίοις δὲ καὶ διαρρήδην ὁ θεὸς προεῖπε μαστιγονόμων δεῖσθαι τὴν πόλιν, ὅτι Τελητίαν παῖδα στεφανούμενον ἐν Πυθίοις ἀφαιρούμενοι Κλεωναίων, ὡς ἴδιον πολίτην διέσπασαν. ἀλλὰ Σικυωνίοις μὲν Ὀρθαγόρας γενόμενος τύραννος καὶ μετʼ ἐκεῖνον οἱ περὶ Μύρωνα καὶ Κλεισθένη τὴν ἀκολασίαν ἔπαυσαν· Κλεωναῖοι δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς οὐ τυχόντες ἰατρείας εἰς τὸ μηδὲν ἥκουσι. καὶ Ὁμήρου δέ που λέγοντος ἀκούετετοῦ γένετʼ ἐκ πατρὸς πολὺ χείρονος υἱὸς ἀμείνωνπαντοίην ἀρετήν·καίτοι λαμπρὸν οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἐκπρεπὲς ἔργον ἐκεῖνος ὁ τοῦ Κοπρέως παρέσχεν· ἀλλὰ τὸ Σισύφου καὶ τὸ Αὐτολύκου καὶ τὸ Φλεγύου γένος ἤνθησεν ἐν δόξαις καὶ ἀρεταῖς μεγάλων βασιλέων. γέγονε δὲ καὶ Περικλῆς Ἀθήνησιν ἐναγοῦς οἰκίας· καὶ Πομπήιος Μάγνος ἐν Ῥώμῃ Στράβωνος ἦν υἱός, οὗ τὸν νεκρὸν ὁ Ῥωμαίων δῆμος ὑπὸ μίσους ἐξέβαλε καὶ κατεπάτησε. τί οὖν ἄτοπον, εἰ, καθάπερ γεωργὸς οὐκ ἐκκόπτει τὴν ἄκανθαν ἂν μὴ λάβῃ τὸν ἀσπάραγον οὐδʼ οἱ Λίβυες τὸ φρύγανον ἐπικάουσι πρότερον ἢ τὸ λήδανον ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ συναγαγεῖν, οὕτως ὁ θεὸς ἐνδόξου καὶ βασιλικοῦ γένους ῥίζαν πονηρὰν καὶ τραχεῖαν οὐκ ἀναιρεῖ πρότερον ἢ φῦναι τὸν προσήκοντα καρπὸν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς; μυρίας γὰρ Ἰφίτου βοῦς καὶ ἵππους ἀπολέσθαι κρεῖττον ἦν Φωκεῦσι καὶ πλείονα χρυσὸν ἐκ Δελφῶν οἴχεσθαι καὶ ἄργυρον, ἢ μήτʼ Ὀδυσσέα μήτʼ Ἀσκληπιὸν φῦναι μήτε τοὺς ἄλλους ἐκ κακῶν καὶ πονηρῶν· ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς καὶ μεγαλωφελεῖς γενομένους.
8. And should we not think it better to inflict deserved punishments in due season and by convenient means, than hastily and rashly when a man is in the heat and hurry of passion? Witness the example of Callippus, who, having stabbed Dio under the pretence of being his friend, was himself soon after slain by Dio’s intimates with the same dagger. Thus again, when Mitius of Argos was slain in a city tumult, the brazen statue which stood in the market-place, soon after, at the time of the public shows, fell down upon the murderer’s head and killed him. What befell Bessus the Paeonian, and Aristo the Oetaean, chief commander of the foreign soldiers, I suppose you understood full well, Patrocleas. Not I, by Jove, said he, but I desire to know. Well then, I say, this Aristo, having with permission of the tyrants carried away the jewels and ornaments belonging to Eriphyle, which lay deposited in this temple, made a present of them to his wife. The punishment of this was that the son, being highly incensed against his mother, for what reason it matters not, set fire to his father’s house, and burned it to the ground, with all the family that were in it. As for Bessus, it seems he killed his own father, and the murder lay concealed a long time. At length being invited to supper among strangers, after he had so loosened a swallow’s nest with his spear that it fell down, he killed all the young ones. Upon which, being asked by the guests that were present, what injury the swallows had done him that he should commit such an irregular act; Did you not hear, said he, these cursed swallows, how they clamored and made a noise, false witnesses as they were, that I had long ago killed my father? This answer struck the rest of the guests with so much wonder, that, after a due pondering upon his words, they made known the whole story to the king. Upon which, the matter being dived into, Bessus was brought to condign punishment.
8. ʽ Τὸ δʼ ἐν καιρῷ καὶ τρόπῳ τῷ προσήκοντι γενέσθαι τὰς τιμωρίας οὐ βέλτιον εἶναι νομίζεις τοῦ ταχὺ καὶ παραχρῆμα; οἷόν ἐστι τὸ κατὰ Κάλλιππον, ᾧ ξιφιδίῳ φίλος εἶναι δοκῶν ἀπέκτεινε Δίωνα, τούτῳ πάλιν αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων ἀποθανεῖν· καὶ τό, Μίτυος τοῦ Ἀργείου κατὰ στάσιν ἀναιρεθέντος, ἀνδριάντα χαλκοῦν ἐν ἀγορᾷ θέας οὔσης ἐμπεσεῖν τῷ κτείναντι τὸν Μίτυν καὶ ἀνελεῖν. καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Βέσσον τὸν Παίονα καὶ Ἀρίστωνα τὸν Οἰταῖον ξεναγὸν οἶσθα δήπουθεν, ὦ Πατροκλέα μὰ Δίʼ εἶπεν ἀλλὰ δέομαι μαθεῖν ὁ μὲν Ἀρίστων ἔφην τὸν Ἐριφύλης κόσμον ἐνταῦθα κείμενον καθελὼν τῶν τυράννων διδόντων ἐκόμισε τῇ γυναικὶ δῶρον ὁ δʼ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα διοργισθεὶς ἔκ τινος αἰτίας ὑφῆψε τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ πάντας ἐν ταὐτῷ κατέκαυσεν. ὁ δὲ Βέσσος, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀπεκτονὼς τὸν πατέρα τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πολὺν χρόνον ἐλάνθανεν, ὕστερον δὲ πρὸς ξένους ἐπὶ δεῖπνον ἐλθών, χελιδόνων τινὰ νεοσσιὰν τῇ λόγχῃ νύξας κατέβαλε καὶ τοὺς νεοσσοὺς διέφθειρε. λεγόντων δʼ οἷον εἰκὸς τῶν παρόντων ἄνθρωπε, τί παθὼν ἔργον οὕτως ἀλλόκοτον ἔπραξας; οὐ γάρ ἔφη μου πάλαι καταμαρτυροῦσιν αὗται ψευδῶς καὶ καταβοῶσιν ὡς ἀπεκτονότος τὸν πατέρα; θαυμάσαντες δʼ οἱ παρόντες τὸν λόγον ἐμήνυσαν τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ τοῦ πράγματος ἐξελεγχθέντος ἔτισεν ὁ Βέσσος τὴν δίκην.
9. These things I have alleged, as it was but reason, upon a supposition that there is a forbearance of inflicting punishment upon the wicked. As for what remains, it behooves us to listen to Hesiod, where he asserts,—not like Plato, that punishment is a suffering which accompanies injustice,—but that it is of the same age with it, and arises from the same place and root. For, says he,Bad counsel, so the Gods ordain,Is most of all the adviser’s bane.And in another place,He that his neighbor’s harm contrives, his artContrives the mischief ’gainst his own false heart. It is reported that the cantharis fly, by a certain kind of contrariety, carries within itself the cure of the wound which it inflicts. On the other side wickedness, at the same time it is committed, engendering its own vexation and torment, not at last, but at the very instant of the injury offered, suffers the reward of the injustice it has done. And as every malefactor who suffers in his body bears his own cross to the place of his execution, so are all the various torments of various wicked actions prepared by wickedness herself. Such a diligent architectress of a miserable and wretched life is wickedness, wherein shame is still accompanied with a thousand terrors and commotions of the mind, incessant repentance, and never-ceasing tumults of the spirits. However, there are some people that differ little or nothing from children, who, many times beholding malefactors upon the stage, in their gilded vestments and short purple cloaks, dancing with crowns upon their heads, admire and look upon them as the most happy persons in the world, till they see them gored and lashed, and flames of fire curling from underneath their sumptuous and gaudy garments. Thus there are many wicked men, surrounded with numerous families, splendid in the pomp of magistracy, and illustrious for the greatness of their power, whose punishments never display themselves till those glorious persons come to be the public spectacles of the people, either slain and lying weltering in their blood, or else standing on the top of the rock, ready to be tumbled headlong down the precipice; which indeed cannot so well be said to be a punishment, as the consummation and perfection of punishment. Moreover, as Herodicus the Selymbrian, falling into a consumption, the most incurable of all diseases, was the first who intermixed the gymnastic art with the science of physic (as Plato relates), and in so doing did spin out in length a tedious time of dying, as well for himself as for others laboring under the same distemper; in like manner some wicked men who flatter themselves to have escaped the present punishment, not after a longer time, but for a longer time, endure a more lasting, not a slower punishment; not punished with old age, but growing old under the tribulation of tormenting affliction. When I speak of a long time I speak in reference to ourselves. For as to the Gods, every distance and distinction of human life is nothing; and to say “now, and not thirty years ago” is the same thing as to say that such a malefactor should be tormented or hanged in the afternoon and not in the morning;—more especially since a man is but shut up in this life, like a close prisoner in a gaol, from whence it is impossible to make an escape, while yet we feast and banquet, are full of business, receive rewards and honors and sport. Though certainly these are but like the sports of those that play at dice or draughts in the gaol, while the rope all the while hangs over their heads.
9. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μέν ἔφην ἡμεῖς λέγομεν, ὥσπερ ἠξίωται, γίγνεσθαί τινα τῆς τιμωρίας ἀναβολὴν ὑποθέμενοι τοῖς πονηροῖς· τὰ λοιπὰ δʼ Ἡσιόδου χρὴ νομίζειν ἀκροᾶσθαι, λέγοντος οὐχ Πλάτων ἀκόλουθον εἶναι τιμωρίαν ἀδικίας πάθην ἀλλʼ ἡλικιῶτιν ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς ὁμόθεν χώρας καὶ ῥίζης συνυποφυομένην· ἡ γὰρ κακή φησὶ βουλὴ τῷ βουλεύσαντι κακίστη· καὶ ὃς δʼ ἄλλῳ κακὰ τεύχει, ἑῷ κακὸν ἥπατι τεύχει. ἡ μὲν γὰρ κανθαρὶς ἐν αὑτῇ λέγεται τὸ βοηθητικὸν ἔκ τινος ἀντιπαθείας ἔχειν συγκεκραμένον ἡ δὲ πονηρία συγγεννῶσα τὸ λυποῦν ἑαυτῇ καὶ κολάζον, οὐχ ὕστερον ἀλλʼ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ὕβρει τὴν δίκην τοῦ ἀδικεῖν δίδωσι· καὶ τῷ μὲν σώματι τῶν κολαζομένων ἕκαστος κακούργων ἐκφέρει τὸν αὑτοῦ σταυρόν· ἡ δὲ κακία τῶν κολαστηρίων ἐφʼ ἑαυτὴν ἕκαστον ἐξ αὑτῆς τεκταίνεται, δεινοῦ τις οὖσα βίου δημιουργὸς οἴκτους σὺν αἰσχύνῃ φόβους τε πολλοὺς καὶ πάθη χαλεπὰ καὶ μεταμελείας καὶ ταραχὰς ἀπαύστους ἔχοντος. ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν ἔνιοι διαφέρουσι παιδαρίων, ἃ τοὺς κακούργους ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις θεώμενα πολλάκις ἐν χιτῶσι διαχρύσοις καὶ χλαμυδίοις ἁλουργοῖς ἐστεφανωμένους καὶ πυρριχίζοντας ἄγαται καὶ τέθηπεν ὡς μακαρίους ἄχρι οὗ κεντούμενοι καὶ μαστιγούμενοι καὶ πῦρ ἀνιέντες ἐκ - τῆς ἀνθινῆς ἐκείνης καὶ πολυτελοῦς ἐσθῆτος ὀφθῶσιν. οἱ γὰρ πολλοὶ τῶν πονηρῶν οἰκίας περιβεβλημένοι μεγάλας καὶ ἀρχὰς καὶ δυνάμεις περιφανεῖς, λανθάνουσιν ὅτι κολάζονται πρὶν ἂν φθάσωσιν ἀποσφαγέντες ἢ κατακρημνισθέντες· ἅπερ ἄν τις οὐ τιμωρίαν εἴποι πέρας δὲ τιμωρίας καὶ συντέλειαν. ὥσπερ γὰρ Ἡρόδικον τὸν Σηλυμβριανὸν εἰς φθίσιν, ἀνήκεστον πάθος, ἐμπεσόντα καὶ μίξαντα πρῶτον ἀνθρώπων γυμναστικὴν ἰατρικῇ φησὶν ὁ Πλάτων μακρὸν ποιῆσαι τὸν θάνατον αὑτῷ καὶ τοῖς ὁμοίως νοσοῦσιν οὕτω καὶ τῶν πονηρῶν ὅσοι τὴν παραυτίκα πληγὴν ἐκφυγεῖν ἔδοξαν, οὐ μετὰ πλείονα χρόνον ἀλλʼ ἐν πλείονι χρόνῳ τιμωρίαν μακροτέραν οὐ βραδυτέραν τίνουσιν· οὐδὲ γηράσαντες ἐκολάσθησαν ἀλλʼ ἐγήρασαν κολαζόμενοι. λέγω δὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τὸν πολὺν χρόνον ἐπεὶ τοῖς γε θεοῖς πᾶν ἀνθρωπίνου βίου διάστημα τὸ μηδέν ἐστι· καὶ τὸ νῦν ἀλλὰ μὴ πρὸ ἐτῶν τριάκοντα τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, οἷον τὸ δείλης ἀλλὰ μὴ πρωὶ στρεβλοῦν ἢ κρεμαννύναι τὸν πονηρόν, ἄλλως τε καὶ φρουρούμενον ἐν τῷ βίῳ καθάπερ εἱρκτῇ μηδεμίαν μετανάστασιν ἐχούσῃ μηδὲ διάφευξιν, εὐωχίας δὲ πολλὰς διὰ μέσου καὶ πραγματείας καὶ δόσεις καὶ χάριτας ἀμέλει καὶ παιδιάς, ὥσπερ ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ κυβευόντων ἢ πεττευόντων, ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς τοῦ σχοινίου κρεμαμένου.
10. So that what should hinder me from asserting, that they who are condemned to die and shut up in prison are not truly punished till the executioner has chopped off their heads, or that he who has drunk hemlock, and then walks about and stays till a heaviness seizes his limbs, has suffered no punishment before the extinction of his natural heat and the coagulation of his blood deprive him of his senses,—that is to say, if we deem the last moment of the punishment only to be the punishment, and omit the commotions, terrors, apprehensions, and embitterments of repentance, with which every malefactor and all wicked men are teased upon the committing of any heinous crime? But this is to deny the fish to be taken that has swallowed the hook, before we see it boiled and cut into pieces by the cook; for every offender is within the gripes of the law, so soon as he has committed the crime and has swallowed the sweet bait of injustice, while his conscience within, tearing and gnawing upon his vitals, allows him no rest:Like the swift tunny, frighted from his prey,Rolling and plunging in the angered sea.For the daring rashness and precipitate boldness of iniquity continue violent and active till the fact be perpetrated; but then the passion, like a surceasing tempest, growing slack and weak, surrenders itself to superstitious fears and terrors. So that Stesichorus may seem to have composed the dream of Clytemnestra, to set forth the event and truth of things:Then seemed a dragon to draw near,With mattery blood all on his head besmeared;Therefrom the king Plisthenides appeared.For visions in dreams, noon-day apparitions, oracles, descents into hell, and whatever objects else which may be thought to be transmitted from heaven, raise continual tempests and horrors in the very souls of the guilty. Thus it is reported that Apollodorus in a dream beheld himself flayed by the Scythians and then boiled, and that his heart, speaking to him out of the kettle, uttered these words, I am the cause thou sufferest all this. And another time, that he saw his daughters run about him, their bodies burning and all in a flame. Hipparchus also, the son of Pisistratus, had a dream, that the Goddess Venus out of a certain phial flung blood in his face. The favorites of Ptolemy, surnamed the Thunderer, dreamed that they saw their master cited to the judgment-seat by Seleucus, where wolves and vultures were his judges, and then distributing great quantities of flesh among his enemies. Pausanias, in the heat of his lust, sent for Cleonice, a free-born virgin of Byzantium, with an intention to have enjoyed her all night; but when she came, out of a strange sort of jealousy and perturbation for which he could give no reason, he stabbed her. This murder was attended with frightful visions; insomuch that his repose in the night was not only interrupted with the appearance of her shape, but still he thought he heard her uttering these lines:To judgment-seat approach thou near, I say;Wrong dealing is to men most hurtful aye.After this the apparition still haunting him, he sailed to the oracle of the dead in Heraclea, and by propitiations, charms, and dirges, called up the ghost of the damsel; which, appearing before him, told him in few words, that he should be free from all his affrights and molestations upon his return to Lacedaemon; where he was no sooner arrived, but he died.
10. καίτοι τί κωλύει μηδὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ θανάτῳ καθειργνυμένους φάναι κολάζεσθαι, μέχρι οὗ τις ἀποκόψῃ τὸν τράχηλον, μηδὲ τὸν πεπωκότα τὸ κώνειον εἶτα περιιόντα καὶ προσμένοντα βάρος ἐγγενέσθαι τοῖς σκέλεσιν αὑτοῦ πρὶν ἢ τὴν συνάπτουσαν ἀναισθησίᾳ σβέσιν καὶ πῆξιν καταλαβεῖν, εἰ τὸν ἔσχατον τῆς τιμωρίας καιρὸν ἡγούμεθα τιμωρίαν τὰ δʼ ἐν μέσῳ παθήματα καὶ φόβους καὶ προσδοκίας καὶ μεταμελείας, οἷς ἀδικήσας ἕκαστος ἐνέχεται τῶν πονηρῶν, παραλείπομεν ὥσπερ ἰχθὺν καταπεπωκότα τὸ ἄγκιστρον οὐ φάσκοντες ἑαλωκέναι πρὶν ὑπὸ τῶν μαγείρων ὀπτώμενον ἴδωμεν ἢ κατατεμνόμενον; ἔχεται γὰρ ἕκαστος ἀδικήσας τῇ δίκῃ καὶ τὸ γλυκὺ τῆς ἀδικίας ὥσπερ δέλεαρ εὐθὺς ἐξεδήδοκε, τὸ δὲ συνειδὸς ἐγκείμενον ἔχων καὶ ἀποτῖνον θύννος βολαῖος πέλαγος ὣς διαστροβεῖ. ἡ γὰρ ἰταμότης ἐκείνη καὶ τὸ θρασὺ τῆς κακίας ἄχρι τῶν ἀδικημάτων ἰσχυρόν ἐστι καὶ πρόχειρον, εἶτα τοῦ πάθους ὥσπερ πνεύματος ὑπολείποντος, ἀσθενὲς καὶ ταπεινὸν ὑποπίπτει τοῖς φόβοις καὶ ταῖς δεισιδαιμονίαις· ὥστε πρὸς τὰ γιγνόμενα καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀποπλάττεσθαι τὸ τῆς Κλυταιμνήστρας ἐνύπνιον τὸν Στησίχορον, οὑτωσί πως λέγοντατᾷ δὲ δράκων ἐδόκησεν μολεῖν κάρα βεβροτωμένος ἄκρον,ἐκ δʼ ἄρα τοῦ βασιλεὺς Πλεισθενίδας ἐφάνη.καὶ γὰρ ὄψεις ἐνυπνίων καὶ φάσματα μεθημερινὰ καὶ χρησμοὶ καὶ καταιβασίαι, καὶ ὅ τι δόξαν ἔσχεν αἰτίᾳ θεοῦ περαίνεσθαι, χειμῶνας ἐπάγει καὶ φόβους τοῖς οὕτω διακειμένοις. οἷόν φασιν Ἀπολλόδωρόν ποτε κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους ὁρᾶν ἐκδερόμενον ἑαυτὸν ὑπὸ Σκυθῶν εἶτα καθεψόμενον, τὴν δὲ καρδίαν ἐκ τοῦ λέβητος ὑποφθεγγομένην καὶ λέγουσαν ἐγώ σοι τούτων αἰτία· καὶ πάλιν τὰς θυγατέρας διαπύρους καὶ φλεγομένας τοῖς σώμασι κύκλῳ περὶ αὐτὸν περιτρεχούσας Ἵππαρχον δὲ τὸν Πεισιστράτου, μικρὸν ἔμπροσθεν τῆς τελευτῆς αἷμα προσβαλοῦσαν αὐτῷ τὴν Ἀφροδίτην ἔκ τινος φιάλης πρὸς τὸ πρόσωπον· οἱ δὲ Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Κεραυνοῦ φίλοι καλούμενον αὐτὸν ἑώρων ἐπὶ δίκην ὑπὸ Σελεύκου, γυπῶν καὶ λύκων δικαζόντων, καὶ κρέα πολλὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις διανέμοντα. Παυσανίας δὲ Κλεονίκην ἐν Βυζαντίῳ παρθένον ἐλευθέραν ὕβρει μεταπεμψάμενος ὡς ἕξων διὰ νυκτός, εἶτα προσιοῦσαν ἔκ τινος ταραχῆς καὶ ὑποψίας ἀνελὼν, ἑώρα πολλάκις ἐν τοῖς ὕπνοις λέγουσαν αὐτῷ βαῖνε δίκης ἆσσον· μάλα τοι κακὸν ἀνδράσιν ὕβρις οὐ παυομένου δὲ τοῦ φάσματος, ὡς ἔοικε, πλεύσας ἐπὶ τὸ ψυχοπομπεῖον, εἰς Ἡράκλειαν ἱλασμοῖς τισι καὶ χοαῖς ἀνεκαλεῖτο τὴν ψυχὴν τῆς κόρης· ἐλθοῦσα δʼ εἰς ὄψιν εἶπεν, ὅτι παύσεται τῶν κακῶν, ὅταν ἐν Λακεδαίμονι γένηται· γενόμενος δʼ εὐθὺς ἐτελεύτησεν.