Kitap 6
2.41
At Megara he saw the sheep protected by leather jackets, while the children went bare. It’s better, said he, to be a Megarian’s ram than his son.Where the wool was of fine quality, as near Tarentum (Hor. Carm. ii. 6. 10 pellitis ovibus), the fleeces were protected by coverings of skin, partly against damage from brambles and partly to preserve the colour (Varro, R.R. ii. 2). We are reminded of what Augustus said when he heard of the execution of Antipater, It is better to be Herod’s pig than his son. To one who had brandished a beam at him and then cried, Look out, he replied, What, are you intending to strike me again? He used to call the demagogues the lackeys of the people and the crowns awarded to them the efflorescence of fame. He lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, I am looking for a man. One day he got a thorough drenching where he stood, and, when the bystanders pitied him, Plato said, if they really pitied him, they should move away, alluding to his vanity. When some one hit him a blow with his fist, Heracles, said he, how came I to forget to put on a helmet when I walked out?
2.42
Further, when Meidias assaulted him and went on to say, There are 3000 drachmas to your credit, the next day he took a pair of boxing-gauntlets, gave him a thrashing and said, There are 3000 blows to your credit. When Lysias the druggist asked him if he believed in the gods, How can I help believing in them, said he, when I see a god-forsaken wretch like you? Others give this retort to Theodorus. Seeing some one perform religious purification, he said, Unhappy man, don’t you know that you can no more get rid of errors of conduct by sprinklings than you can of mistakes in grammar? He would rebuke men in general with regard to their prayers, declaring that they asked for those things which seemed to them to be good, not for such as are truly good.
