Texte grec :
| [33,50] καὶ τουτὶ μὲν ἔκδηλόν ἐστι τὸ τῶν ῥινῶν.
ἀνάγκη δὲ καὶ τἄλλα ἀκολουθεῖν τῷ τοιούτῳ ῥυθμῷ. μὴ γὰρ
οἴεσθε, ὥσπερ ἑτέρων πολλάκις εἴς τινα μέρη κατασκήπτει, χεῖρας
ἢ πόδας ἢ πρόσωπον, οὕτω καὶ παρ´ ὑμῖν ἐπιχώριόν τι νόσημα
ταῖς ῥισὶν ἐμπεπτωκέναι, μηδ´ ὥσπερ Λημνίων ταῖς γυναιξὶ τὴν
Ἀφροδίτην ὀργισθεῖσαν λέγουσι διαφθεῖραι τὰς μασχάλας, κἀνθάδε
νομίζετε τῶν πλειόνων διεφθάρθαι τὰς ῥῖνας ὑπὸ δαιμονίου
χόλου, κἄπειτα τοιαύτην φωνὴν ἀφιέναι· πόθεν; ἀλλ´ ἔστι σημεῖον
τῆς ἐσχάτης ὕβρεως καὶ ἀπονοίας καὶ τοῦ καταφρονεῖν τῶν καλῶν
(51) ἁπάντων καὶ μηδὲν αἰσχρὸν ἡγεῖσθαι. φημὶ δὴ διαλέγεσθαι τούτοις
ὁμοίως καὶ βαδίζειν καὶ βλέπειν. εἰ δὲ μηδὲν ἔκδηλον οὕτω
ποιεῖν διὰ τῶν ὀμμάτων δύνανται, ὥστε ἐπιστρέφειν ἅπαντας, ἢ
μηδέπω τὴν τέχνην ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον προαγηόχασιν, οὐδὲν ἐπιεικέστερον
τἄλλα ἔχουσιν. εἶτ´ ἄχθεσθε τοῖς Αἰγεῦσι καὶ τοῖς Ἀδανεῦσιν,
ὅταν ὑμᾶς λοιδορῶσι, τοὺς δὲ ἐκείνοις μαρτυροῦντας ὡς ἀληθῆ
(52) λέγουσι τῶν ὑμετέρων πολιτῶν οὐκ ἐξελαύνετε τῆς πόλεως; οὐκ
ἴστε ὅτι τὸ μὲν ποιεῖν τι τῶν ἀπορρήτων καὶ τῶν παρὰ φύσιν
ὑποψίαν ἐπὶ τῶν πλείστων μόνον ἔχει, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἑόρακεν οὐδὲν
τῶν πολλῶν, ἀλλ´ ἐν τῷ σκότει που καὶ κρύφα λανθάνοντες ἀσεβοῦσιν
οἱ κακοδαίμονες· τὰ δὲ τοιαῦτα ξύμβολα τῆς ἀκρασίας μηνύει
τὸ ἦθος καὶ τὴν διάθεσιν, ἡ φωνή, τὸ βλέμμα, τὸ σχῆμα,
καὶ δὴ καὶ ταῦτα τὰ δοκοῦντα σμικρὰ καὶ ἐν μηδενὶ λόγῳ, κουρά,
περίπατος, τὸ τὰ ὄμματα ἀναστρέφειν, τὸ ἐγκλίνειν τὸν τράχηλον,
τὸ ταῖς χερσὶν ὑπτίαις διαλέγεσθαι. μὴ γὰρ οἴεσθε αὐλήματα μὲν
καὶ κρούματα καὶ μέλη τὰ μὲν ἐμφαίνειν τὸ ἀνδρεῖον, τὰ δὲ τὸ
θῆλυ, κινήσεις δὲ καὶ πράξεις μὴ διαφέρειν μηδ´ εἶναι μηδένα ἐν
(53) τούτοις ἔλεγχον. ἀλλ´ ἐγὼ βούλομαί τινα λόγον ὑμῖν εἰπεῖν,
ὃν ἴσως καὶ ἄλλοτε ἀκηκόατε. τῶν γὰρ ἐνθάδε δεινῶν τινα λέγουσιν
εἴς τινα πόλιν ἐλθεῖν αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἔργον πεποιημένον,
ὥστε εὐθὺς εἰδέναι τὸν τρόπον ἑκάστου καὶ διηγεῖσθαι τὰ
προσόντα, καὶ μηδενὸς ὅλως ἀποτυγχάνειν· ἀλλ´ ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς
τὰ ζῷα γιγνώσκομεν ὁρῶντες, ὅτι τοῦτο μέν ἐστι πρόβατον, εἰ
τύχοι, τοῦτο δὲ κύων, τοῦτο δὲ ἵππος ἢ βοῦς· οὕτως ἐκεῖνος τοὺς
ἀνθρώπους ἠπίστατο ὁρῶν καὶ λέγειν ἠδύνατο ὅτι οὗτος μὲν ἀνδρεῖος,
οὗτος δὲ δειλός, οὗτος δὲ ἀλαζών, οὗτος δὲ ὑβριστὴς ἢ
(54) κίναιδος ἢ μοιχός. ὡς οὖν θαυμαστὸς ἦν ἐπιδεικνύμενος καὶ οὐδαμῇ
διημάρτανε, προσάγουσιν αὐτῷ σκληρόν τινα τὸ σῶμα καὶ
σύνοφρυν ἄνθρωπον, αὐχμῶντα καὶ φαύλως διακείμενον καὶ ἐν
ταῖς χερσὶ τύλους ἔχοντα, φαιόν τι καὶ τραχὺ περιβεβλημένον ἱμάτιον,
δασὺν ἕως τῶν σφυρῶν καὶ φαύλως κεκαρμένον· καὶ τοῦτον
ἠξίουν εἰπεῖν ὅστις ἦν. ὁ δὲ ὡς πολὺν χρόνον ἑώρα, τελευταῖον
ὀκνῶν μοι δοκεῖ τὸ παριστάμενον λέγειν οὐκ ἔφη ξυνιέναι, καὶ
βαδίζειν αὐτὸν ἐκέλευσεν. ἤδη δὲ ἀποχωρῶν πτάρνυται· κἀκεῖνος
εὐθὺς ἀνεβόησεν ὡς εἴη κίναιδος.
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Traduction française :
| [33,50] And while this nasal affliction is wholly manifest,
it is inevitable that everything else also must be
a fit accompaniment for a condition such as that.
For you must not suppose that, just as other disorders
often attack certain particular parts of other people,
such as hands or feet or face, so also here among you
a local disorder has assailed your noses ; nor that,
just as Aphroditê, angered at the women of Lemnos,
is said to have polluted their armpits, so also here
in Tarsus the noses of the majority have been
polluted because of divine anger, in consequence
of which they emit that dreadful noise. Rubbish !
No, that noise is a symptom of their utter wantonness
and madness, and of their scorn for all that is honourable,
and their belief that nothing is dishonourable.
So I assert that the talk of these women is quite
in keeping with their gait and the glance of their
eye. And if they cannot make anything so manifest
by means of their eyes as to cause everyone
to turn and gaze at them, or if they have not yet
carried their art so far, still they are by no means
the more respectable in other ways.
In view of that are you irritated at the people of
Aegae and of Adana when they revile you, while
on the other hand you fail to banish from Tarsus those
of your own people who testify to the truth of what
your neighbours declare? Do you not know that,
while the charge of doing some forbidden thing,
something in violation of Nature's laws, in most cases
rests only on suspicion, and no one of the masses has
really seen anything at all, but, on the contrary, it is
in some dark and secret retreat that the wretched
culprits commit their heinous deeds all unobserved ;
yet such symptoms of their incontinence as the following
reveal their true character and disposition : voice,
glance, posture ; yes, and the following also, which
are thought to be petty and insignificant details :
style of haircut, mode of walking, elevation of the
eye, inclination of the neck, the trick of conversing
with upturned palms. For you must not think that
the notes of pipes and lyre or songs reveal sometimes
manliness and sometimes femininity, but that
movements and actions do not vary according to
sex and afford no clue to it.
(53) But I should like to tell you a story, one that you
may possibly have heard before. It seems that one
of the clever people of Tarsus—so the story runs-
once went to a certain city. He was a man who had
made it his special business to recognize instantly
the character of each individual and to be able to
describe his qualities, and he had never failed with
any person; but just as we recognize animals when
we see them and know that this, for instance, is a
sheep, if such is the case, and this a dog and this a
horse or ox, so that man understood human beings
when he saw them and could say that this one was
brave and this one a coward and this one an impostor
and this man wanton or a catamite or an adulterer.
Because, therefore, he was noted for his display of
power and never made a mistake, the people brought
before him a person of rugged frame and knitted
brows, squalid and in sorry state and with callouses on
his hands, wrapped in a sort of coarse, gray mantle,
his body shaggy as far as the ankles and his locks
wretchedly shingled ; and our friend was asked to
tell what this man was. But after he had observed
the man for a long while, the expert finally, with
seeming reluctance to say what was in his mind,
professed that he did not understand the case and
bade the man move along. But j ust as the fellow was
leaving, he sneezed, whereupon our friend immediately
cried out that the man was a catamite.
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