[33,25] οὐχ ὁ Πηνειὸς δι´ ἐρήμου ῥεῖ Θετταλίας; οὐχ ὁ Λάδων διὰ τῆς Ἀρκαδίας ἀναστάτου γενομένης; οὐκ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύδνος ἄνω καθαρώτερος; τί οὖν; διὰ τοῦτο βελτίους φήσετε ἐκείνους ἑαυτῶν; ἴσως μὲν ἀληθεύετε, ἐὰν λέγητε· οὐ μὴν ἐρεῖτε. τοὺς γὰρ ἀπείρους τρυφῆς καὶ πανουργίας, τούτους ἐγώ φημι πράττειν ἄμεινον. τί δ´ αὐτῆς τῆς Ἰταλίας; οὐ Σύβαρις μὲν ὅσῳ μάλιστα ἐτρύφησεν, τοσούτῳ θᾶττον ἀπώλετο; Κρότων δὲ καὶ Θούριοι καὶ Μεταπόντιον καὶ Τάρας, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἀκμάσασαι καὶ τηλικαύτην ποτὲ σχοῦσαι δύναμιν, (26) ποίας πόλεως οὐκ εἰσὶ νῦν ἐρημότεραι; πολὺ δ´ ἂν ἔργον εἴη πάντας ἐπεξιέναι τοὺς διὰ τρυφὴν ἀπολωλότας, Λυδοὺς πάλαι, Μήδους, Ἀσσυρίους πρότερον, τὰ τελευταῖα Μακεδόνας· οἳ νεωστὶ μὲν τὰ ῥάκη περιῃρημένοι καὶ ποιμένες ἀκούοντες καὶ τοῖς Θρᾳξὶ περὶ τῶν μελινῶν μαχόμενοι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐκράτησαν, εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν διέβησαν, ἄχρις Ἰνδῶν ἦρξαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ ἀγαθὰ τὰ Περσῶν ἔλαβον, (27) τούτοις ἐπηκολούθησε καὶ τὰ κακά. τοιγαροῦν ἅμα σκῆπτρα καὶ ἁλουργίδες καὶ Μηδικὴ τράπεζα * καὶ τὸ γένος αὐτῶν ἐξέλιπεν· ὥστε νῦν εἴ τις διέρχοιτο Πέλλαν, οὐδὲ σημεῖον ὄψεται πόλεως οὐδέν, δίχα τοῦ πολὺν κέραμον εἶναι συντετριμμένον ἐν τῷ τόπῳ. καίτοι μένει τὰ χωρία τῶν πόλεων, ὧν εἶπον, καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν, οἷα καὶ πρότερον ἦν, καὶ τοὺς ποταμοὺς οὐδεὶς ἄλλοσε ἔτρεψεν, οὐδ´ εἴ τι τοιοῦτον ἦν ἕτερον· ἀλλ´ ὅμως ὧν ἂν πολυτέλεια καὶ τρυφὴ (28) ἅψηται, τούτοις οὐκ ἔστι πλείω χρόνον διαγενέσθαι. μὴ γὰρ οἴεσθε τοὺς κριοὺς μηδὲ τὰς ἑλεπόλεις καὶ τὰς ἄλλας μηχανὰς οὕτως ἀνατρέπειν ὡς τρυφήν, εἴτε ἄνδρα βούλεταί τις πεπτωκότα ἰδεῖν εἴτε πόλιν. οὐ ποταμός ἐστιν οὐδὲ πεδίον οὐδὲ λιμὴν ὁ ποιῶν εὐδαίμονα πόλιν οὐδὲ χρημάτων πλῆθος οὐδὲ οἰκοδομημάτων οὐδὲ θησαυροὶ θεῶν, οἷς οὐδὲν προσέχει τὸ δαιμόνιον· οὐδ´ ἂν εἰς τὰς πόλεις τινὲς μεταφέρωσι τὰ ὄρη καὶ τὰς πέτρας ξὺν πολλῇ ταλαιπωρίᾳ καὶ πόνοις καὶ μυρίοις ἀναλώμασιν· ἀλλὰ σωφροσύνη καὶ νοῦς ἐστι τὰ σῴζοντα. ταῦτα ποιεῖ τοὺς χρωμένους μακαρίους, ταῦτα τοῖς θεοῖς προσφιλεῖς, οὐχὶ λιβανωτὸς οὐδὲ σμύρνα· πόθεν; οὐδὲ ῥίζαι καὶ δάκρυα δένδρων οὐδὲ τὰ Ἰνδῶν καὶ Ἀράβων (29) φρύγανα. ὑμεῖς δέ, ἂν μὲν ἐκ τύχης ὁ ποταμὸς μεταβάλῃ καὶ ῥυῇ θολερώτερος, ἄχθεσθε καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πρῶτον ἐπιδημήσαντας αἰτίαν λέγετε· τὸν δὲ τρόπον τῆς πόλεως μεταβάλλοντα ὁρῶντες καὶ χείρω γιγνόμενον καὶ τεταραγμένον ἀεὶ μᾶλλον οὐ φροντίζετε. ἀλλὰ ὕδωρ μὲν οὐ μόνον πίνειν βούλεσθε καθαρόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁρᾶν· ἦθος δὲ καθαρὸν καὶ μέτριον οὐ ζητεῖτε.

[33,25] Does not the Peneus flow through a Thessaly that is desolate? Does not the Ladon flow through an Arcadia whose people have been driven from their homes? Is not the Cydnus itself purer higher up ? What then ? Will you say that on that account the people in that region are superior to yourselves ? You might be speaking the truth if you said they were—though you will not say it—for those who are unacquainted with luxury and rascality are in my opinion better off. What of Italy itself? Take Sybaris, for example ; is it not true that the more luxurious it became the more speedily it perished ? And as for Croton, Thurii, Metapontum, and Tarentum, in spite of the high level of prosperity to which they each attained and the great power that once was theirs, what city is there that they do not now surpass in desolation? (26) But it would be a vast undertaking to attempt to catalogue all who through luxury have suffered ruin : the Lydians long ago, the Medes, the Assyrians who preceded them, and lastly the Macedonians. For the Macedonians, although they had but lately shed their rags and were known as shepherds, men who used to fight the Thracians for possession of the millet-fields, vanquished the Greeks, crossed over into Asia and gained an empire reaching to the Indians ; yet when the good things of the Persians came into their possession, the bad things also followed in their train. Accordingly both sceptre and royal purple and Median cookery and the very race itself came to an end, so that to-day, if you should pass through Pella, you would see no sign of a city at all, apart from the presence of a mass of shattered pottery on the site. And yet the districts belonging to the cities and peoples I have named still remain just as they used to be, and no one has diverted the rivers into other channels, nor was anything else of that sort different once from what it is today ; but in spite of that, whatever is touched by extravagance and luxury cannot long endure. (28) For think not that rams and siege-towers and the other engines of war are as ruinons as luxury, whether it is a man whom one wishes to see prostrate or a city. No, it is not river or plain or harbour that makes a city prosperous, nor quantity of riches or multitude of houses or treasuries of the gods—objects to which deity pays no heed—nay, not even if some people do transport to their cities the mountains and rocks at the cost of great physical pain and labour and untold expense, does that bring happiness; instead it is sobriety and common sense that save. These make blessed those who employ them ; these make men dear to the gods, not frankincense or myrrh, God knows, nor roots and gum of trees or the fragrant herbs of India and Arabia. But as for you, if by chance the river shifts its course and flows with more turbid stream than usual, you are annoyed and feel that you must offer an explanation to people who have come to Tarsus for the first time ; on the other hand, though you see the manners of the city shifting and growing worse and ever more and more disordered, you pay no heed. Yet, though you want water to be pure, not only for drinking but also for sightliness, you fail to seek a character that is pure and free from excess.