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| [10,17] Ταῦτα μὲν ἔασον· ἀλλὰ τῷ θεῷ διὰ τί με χρῆσθαι οὐκ ἐᾷς;
Ἐγὼ γὰρ ἀπαγορεύω σοι θεῷ χρῆσθαι, εἰ δύνασαι; οὐ τοῦτο ἔφην,
ἀλλ´ ὅτι χαλεπόν ἐστι, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀδύνατον, χρῆσθαι ἢ θεῷ ἢ
ἀνθρώπῳ ἢ αὐτὸν αὑτῷ μὴ ἐπιστάμενον· τὸ δὲ ἐπιχειρεῖν ἄνευ
τοῦ ἐπίστασθαι πάντων βλαβερώτατον· ἢ ὅστις οὐκ ἔστιν ἔμπειρος
ἵππων χρήσεως, δοκεῖ σοι οὗτος χρῆσθαι ἂν ἵπποις; Οὐκ
ἔμοιγε. Εἰ δ´ αὖ βιάζοιτο, κακὸν ἄν τι ἀπολαῦσαι πρότερον ἢ
ἀγαθόν; Ἀληθῆ.
| [10,17] "Enough of that! But why do you object to my
making use of the god? " "What ! I object to
your making use of the god if you can ! That is
not what I was saying, but that it is difficult, nay
rather impossible, to make use of god or man or
one's own self if one does not know how. To make
the attempt without knowing how is an extremely
harmful thing. Or do you think that the man who
is untrained in the use of horses could make use of
them? " "I do not." "And that if, on the other
hand, he should use force, he would get some harm
from it rather than good ? " "True."
| | [10,18] Τί δέ; ὅστις ἀγνοεῖ χρῆσιν κυνῶν, δυνατὸς ἂν
εἴη χρῆσθαι; ἢ οὐ τό τινι χρῆσθαι ὠφελεῖσθαί ἐστιν ἀπ´ ἐκείνου;
Δοκεῖ μοι. Οὐδεὶς ἄρα τῶν βλαπτομένων ἀπό τινος χρῆται ἐκείνῳ
ὑφ´ οὗ βλάπτεται; Οὐ γάρ. Οὔκουν καὶ ὁ κυσὶ πειρώμενος χρῆσθαι
ἄνευ τοῦ ἐπίστασθαι ζημιώσεται ἀπ´ αὐτῶν; Εἰκός γε. Οὐκ ἄρα οὐδὲ
χρήσεται αὐτοῖς, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἔστι χρῆσις ὅπου ζημία πρόσεστι. καὶ οὐ
μόνον περὶ κυνῶν καὶ ἵππων ἔχει οὕτως, ἀλλὰ καὶ βοῶν καὶ ὀρέων, καὶ
ὃ μᾶλλον θαυμάσαις ἄν, οὐδὲ ὄνῳ ἢ προβάτῳ χρῆσθαι πάρεστι τοῖς
ἀπείροις.
| [10,18] "Now then, will the man ignorant of the use of dogs
be able to use them ? Or does not the using of a thing imply
deriving benefit from it ? " "I think so." "No one,
therefore, of those injured by a thing really uses the
thing by which he is injured, does he ? " "Certainly
not." " If, therefore, a man attempts to use dogs
without knowing how, will he not receive damage
from them ? " "Very likely." " He, therefore, will
not be using them either, since use does not properly
exist where damage results. And this is true not
only in the case of dogs and horses but of oxen and
mules also, and— what might surprise you more —
not even the using of an ass or a sheep is a matter
for inexperienced persons.
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