Texte grec :
| [10,31] μόνον γοῦν αὐτὸν λῦσαι τὸ αἴνιγμα τῆς Σφιγγός.
καὶ ὁ Διογένης γελάσας, Μὴ γάρ, ἔφη, ἐκεῖνος ἔλυσε
τὸ αἴνιγμα; οὐκ ἀκήκοας ὅτι ἄνθρωπον αὐτὸν ἐκέλευσε γνῶναι ἡ
Σφίγξ; ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπον μὲν ὅ ἐστιν οὔτε εἶπεν οὔτε ἔγνω· τὸ δὲ
ὄνομα τὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου λέγων ᾤετο λέγειν τὸ ἐρωτώμενον· ὥσπερ
εἴ τις ἐρωτηθεὶς τί ἐστι Σωκράτης, ὁ δὲ μηδὲν εἴποι πλέον τοῦ
ὀνόματος, ὅτι Σωκράτης. ἐγὼ δὲ ἤκουσά του λέγοντος ὅτι ἡ Σφὶγξ
ἡ ἀμαθία ἐστίν. ταύτην οὖν καὶ πρότερον διαφθεῖραι τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς
καὶ νῦν, οὐδὲν αὐτοὺς ἐῶσαν εἰδέναι, ἅτε ἀνθρώπων ἀμαθεστάτους.
τοὺς μὲν οὖν ἄλλους μᾶλλόν τι αἰσθάνεσθαι τῆς αὑτῶν
ἀνοίας, τὸν δὲ Οἰδίποδα, σοφώτατον ἡγησάμενον αὑτὸν εἶναι καὶ
διαπεφευγέναι τὴν Σφίγγα καὶ πείσαντα τοὺς ἄλλους Θηβαίους
τοῦτο, κάκιστα ἀπολέσθαι. ὅσοι γὰρ ἂν ἀμαθεῖς ὄντες πεισθῶσι
σοφοὶ εἶναι, οὗτοι πολύ εἰσιν ἀθλιώτεροι τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων·
καὶ ἔστι τοιοῦτον τὸ τῶν σοφιστῶν γένος.
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Traduction française :
| [10,31] At any rate they say that he alone solved
the Sphinx's riddle." At this Diogenes broke into
a laugh and said, " He solve the Sphinx's riddle !
Have you not heard that the Sphinx prompted him
to give the answer `man' ? As to the meaning of
`man,' however, he neither expressed himself nor
knew, but when he said the word `man' he thought
he was answering the question. It was just as if
one were asked, ` What is Socrates ? ' and should
give no other answer than the word `Socrates.'
I have heard someone say that the Sphinx stands
for stupidity ; that this, accordingly, proved the ruin
of the Boeotians in the past just as it does now,
their stupidity preventing their knowing anything,
such utter dullards they are ; and that while the
others had an inkling of their ignorance, Oedipus,
who thought that he was very wise and had escaped
the Sphinx, and who had made the other Thebans
believe all this, perished most miserably. For any man
who in spite of his ignorance deludes himself with
the belief that he is wise is in a much sorrier plight
than anyone else. And such is the tribe of sophists."
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