[17,20] σφόδρα δ´ ἔγωγε θαυμάζω τί ἂν ἐποιήσαμεν, εἰ μὴ καὶ τοῦ βίου τὸ ἐλάχιστον παρὰ τῶν θεῶν μέτρον εἴχομεν, οἵπερ καὶ νῦν ὥσπερ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα παρασκευαζόμενοι πλέον ἄλλος ἄλλου φιλοτιμούμεθα ἔχειν. ὥσπερ οὖν εἴ τις εἰδὼς ὅτι ἢ δύ´ ἢ τριῶν ἡμερῶν, ἐὰν πλεῖστος διαγένηται χρόνος, ἔχει πλοῦν, ἔπειτα δὲ ἐνιαυτοῦ σῖτα ἐμβάλοιτο, ἀνόητος δόξει, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον, εἴ τις ἐπιστάμενος ὅτι πλείω τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἐτῶν οὐκ ἂν βιώσειεν, εἰς ἔτη χίλια πορίζοιτο βίον {ἴσως} οὐχ ὁμοίως ἂν εἴη μαινόμενος; ἔνιοι μὲν γὰρ τοσαῦτα παρασκευάζονται, ὡς, εἴ γ´ ἔπλεον, εὐθὺς ἂν καταδῦναι τὴν ναῦν. (17,21) καὶ νὴ Δία γε συμβαίνει μυρίοις. εἶεν· εἰ δὲ δή τις ἐφ´ ἑστίασιν κεκληκὼς δέκα ἀνθρώπους ἢ πεντεκαίδεκα, τούτους αὐτὸν ἐμπλῆσαι δέον, ὁ δὲ πεντακοσίοις ἢ χιλίοις ἑτοιμάζοι τροφήν, οὐ παντελῶς ἐξεστάναι δόξει; τοιγαροῦν καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰδότες τὰς τοῦ σώματος χρείας εὐαριθμήτους τινάς (ἐσθῆτος γὰρ οἶμαι καὶ σκέπης καὶ τροφῆς δεόμεθα), ἔπειτα κατατεινόμεθα ὥσπερ στρατοπέδῳ τὰ ἐπιτήδεια συνάγοντες (καὶ νὴ Δία γε εἰκότως· οἱ γὰρ πολλοὶ βόσκουσι παρ´ ἑαυτοῖς τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν στρατόπεδον) καὶ ἐσθῆτα μὲν οὐδεὶς βούλεται μείζω τοῦ σώματος ἔχειν, ὡς δύσχρηστον ὄν· οὐσίαν δὲ τῷ παντὶ μείζω τῆς χρείας ἔχειν ἅπαντες ἐπιθυμοῦσιν, οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτι τοῦτο ἐκείνου χαλεπώτερον. (17,22) δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ Κροῖσος καλῶς ὁ Λυδός, τὴν ἀπληστίαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐλέγξαι βουλόμενος, εἰς τοὺς θησαυροὺς εἰσαγαγών τινας τοσοῦτο χρυσίον αὐτοῖς ἐπιτρέπειν ἐξενεγκεῖν ὅσον ἕκαστος ἂν δύνηται τῷ σώματι. τοὺς γὰρ πολλοὺς οὐ μόνον τὸν κόλπον ἐμπλήσαντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ τοῦ ψήγματος ἐκφέρειν καὶ τῷ στόματι, καὶ μόλις πορεύεσθαι πάνυ γελοίους καὶ διεστραμμένους. οὕτως οὖν καὶ κατὰ τὸν βίον πορεύεσθαί τινας ἀσχημονοῦντας ὑπὸ τῆς πλεονεξίας καὶ καταγελάστους ὄντας.

[17,20] As for me, I wonder greatly how we should have acted if we had not received the shortest span of life from the gods! However, just as if we were making our plans for an endless life, we strive earnestly each to have more than his neighbour. Just as any man, then, who knowing that he has a voyage of only two or three days' duration at the most before him, should nevertheless put enough provisions on board to last a year, will be regarded as a fool; in the same way, any man who, being fully aware that he could not live more than the allotted span of seventy years, should provide himself with substance to last him a thousand years would he not be equally and in the same way insane? Indeed there are some who lay in stores so great that, if they were out at sea, their ship would founder at once. And I swear it does happen to countless numbers. 21 So much for that. Well then, if a man has invited ten or fifteen guests to a banquet and although needing to satisfy only so many, should then go on and make ready food enough for five hundred or a thousand, will he not be thought to be quite out of his (p207) mind? In like manner we also, although we know that the needs of the body are easy enough to count — for clothing, I suppose, and shelter and nourishment we do need — nevertheless strain ourselves to the utmost as if we were gathering supplies for an army and, I swear, there is good reason for our doing so; for the great majority are feeding in their hearts a whole army of desires. As for clothing, nobody wants to have it too large for his body, knowing that it would be inconvenient to wear; but property altogether too large for their needs all men crave, net understanding that this is more objectionable than the other. 22 I think, too, that Croesus the Lydian, when he wanted to expose the insatiable greed of men, did this admirably. He conducted a group of men into his treasure- house and permitted them to take away just as much gold as each man could carry on his person. For we see that most of them not only filled the bosoms of their clothing, but carried away some of the dust upon their heads and in their mouths and that they could scarcely walk, cutting a ridiculous figure, all twisted out of shape as they were. In life also, methinks, certain men walk along in an unseemly posture and cut a ridiculous figure on account of their greed.