[6,20] ἔλεγε δὲ παίζων τὴν συνουσίαν ταύτην εὕρεμα εἶναι τοῦ Πανός, ὅτε τῆς Ἠχοῦς ἐρασθεὶς οὐκ ἐδύνατο λαβεῖν, ἀλλ´ ἐπλανᾶτο ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, τότε οὖν τὸν Ἑρμῆν διδάξαι αὐτόν, οἰκτείραντα τῆς ἀπορίας, ἅτε υἱὸν αὐτοῦ. καὶ τόν, ἐπεὶ ἔμαθε, παύσασθαι τῆς πολλῆς ταλαιπωρίας· ἀπ´ ἐκείνου δὲ τοὺς ποιμένας χρῆσθαι μαθόντας. (6,21) τὰ μὲν οὖν τοιαῦτα ἐνίοτε τῶν ἀνθρώπων καταγελῶν ἔλεγεν τῶν τετυφωμένων καὶ ἀνοήτων· μάλιστα δὲ ὕβριζε τοὺς σοφιστὰς τοὺς σεμνοὺς εἶναι θέλοντας καὶ πλέον τι τῶν ἄλλων εἰδέναι οἰο– μένους. ἔλεγε δὲ διὰ τὴν μαλακίαν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀθλιώτερον ζῆν τῶν θηρίων. (6,22) ἐκεῖνα γὰρ ὕδατι μὲν ποτῷ χρώμενα, τροφῇ δὲ βοτάνῃ, τὰ πολλὰ δὲ αὐτῶν γυμνὰ ὄντα δι´ ἔτους, εἰς οἰκίαν δὲ οὐδέποτε εἰσιόντα, πυρὶ δὲ οὐδὲν χρώμενα, ζῆν μὲν ὁπόσον ἡ φύσις ἑκάστοις ἔταξε χρόνον, ἐὰν μηδεὶς ἀναιρῇ· ἰσχυρὰ δὲ καὶ ὑγιαίνοντα διάγειν ὁμοίως ἅπαντα, δεῖσθαι δὲ μηδὲν ἰατρῶν μηδὲ φαρμάκων. (6,23) τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους οὕτως μὲν πάνυ φιλοζῴους ὄντας, τοσαῦτα δὲ μηχανωμένους πρὸς ἀναβολὴν τοῦ θανάτου, τοὺς μὲν πολλοὺς αὐτῶν μηδὲ εἰς γῆρας ἀφικνεῖσθαι, ζῆν δὲ νοσημάτων γέμοντας, ἃ μηδὲ ὀνομάσαι ῥᾴδιον, τὴν δὲ γῆν αὐτοῖς μὴ ἐξαρκεῖν παρέχουσαν φάρμακα, δεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ σιδήρου καὶ πυρός. (6,24) καὶ μήτε Χείρωνος μήτε Ἀσκληπιοῦ μήτε τῶν Ἀσκληπιαδῶν ἰωμένων μηδὲν αὐτοῖς ὄφελος εἶναι διὰ τὴν αὐτῶν ἀκολασίαν καὶ πονηρίαν, μηδὲ μάντεων μαντευομένων μηδὲ ἱερέων καθαιρόντων. (6,25) εἰς δὲ τὰς πόλεις συνελθόντας, ὅπως ὑπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν μὴ ἀδικῶνται, τοὐναντίον αὑτοὺς ἀδικεῖν καὶ τὰ δεινότατα πάντα ἐργάζεσθαι, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ξυνεληλυθότας. διὰ ταῦτα δὲ δοκεῖν αὐτῷ καὶ τὸν μῦθον λέγειν ὡς τὸν Προμηθέα κολάζοι ὁ Ζεὺς διὰ τὴν εὕρεσιν καὶ μετάδοσιν τοῦ πυρός, ὡς ἀρχὴν τοῦτο καὶ ἀφορμὴν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις μαλακίας καὶ τρυφῆς. οὐ γὰρ δὴ τὸν Δία μισεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους οὐδὲ φθονεῖν αὐτοῖς ἀγαθοῦ τινος. (6,26) ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔλεγόν τινες οὐ δυνατὸν εἶναι ζῆν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁμοίως τοῖς ἄλλοις ζῴοις διὰ τὴν ἁπαλότητα τῶν σαρκῶν καὶ διότι ψιλός ἐστιν, οὔτε θριξὶ σκεπόμενος, ὥσπερ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν θηρίων, οὔτε πτεροῖς, (6,27) οὐδὲ δέρμα ἰσχυρὸν ἐπαμπέχεται, πρὸς ταῦτα ἀντέλεγεν, οὕτως μὲν σφόδρα ἁπαλοὺς εἶναι διὰ τὴν δίαιταν· φεύγειν μὲν γὰρ ὡς τὸ πολὺ τὸν ἥλιον, φεύγειν δὲ τὸ ψῦχος· τὴν δὲ ψιλότητα τοῦ σώματος μηδὲν ἐνοχλεῖν. ἐπεδείκνυε δὲ τούς τε βατράχους καὶ ἄλλα οὐκ ὀλίγα ζῷα πολὺ μὲν ἁπαλώτερα ἀνθρώπου, πολὺ δὲ ψιλότερα, καὶ ἔνια τούτων ἀνεχόμενα οὐ τὸν ἀέρα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ ψυχροτάτῳ ὕδατι ζῆν δυνάμενα τοῦ χειμῶνος. (6,28) ἐπεδείκνυε δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων αὐτῶν τούς τε ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον οὐδὲν δεόμενα σκέπης. καθόλου δὲ ἐν μηδενὶ τόπῳ γίγνεσθαι ζῷον, ὃ μὴ δύναται ζῆν ἐν αὐτῷ· ἢ πῶς ἂν ἐσώθησαν οἱ πρῶτοι ἄνθρωποι γενόμενοι, μήτε πυρὸς ὄντος μήτε οἰκιῶν μήτε ἐσθῆτος μήτε ἄλλης τροφῆς ἢ τῆς αὐτομάτου; ἀλλὰ τὴν πανουργίαν τοῖς ὕστερον καὶ τὸ πολλὰ εὑρίσκειν καὶ μηχανᾶσθαι πρὸς τὸν βίον οὐ πάνυ τι συνενεγκεῖν. (6,29) οὐ γὰρ πρὸς ἀνδρείαν οὐδὲ δικαιοσύνην χρῆσθαι τῇ σοφίᾳ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἡδονήν· διώκοντας οὖν τὸ ἡδὺ ἐξ ἅπαντος ἀεὶ ζῆν ἀηδέστερον καὶ ἐπιπονώτερον, καὶ δοκοῦντας προμηθεῖσθαι σφῶν αὐτῶν κάκιστα ἀπόλλυσθαι διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἐπιμέλειάν τε καὶ προμήθειαν.

[6,20] 20 In a joking way he would say that this sort of intercourse was a discovery made by Pan when he was in love with Echo and could not get hold of her, but roamed over the mountains night and day till Hermes in pity at his distress, since he was his son, taught him the trick. So Pan, when he had learned his lesson, was relieved of his great misery; and the shepherds learned the habit from him. (p263) 21 In such language he at times used to ridicule the victims of conceit and folly, though it was against the sophists, who wanted to be looked up to and thought they knew more than other men, that he railed in particular. He used to say that men, owing to their softness, lived more wretched lives than the beasts. 22 For these took water for their drink and grass for their food, were most of them naked from one end of the year to the other, never entered a house nor made any use of fire, and yet they lived as long as nature had ordained for each, if no one destroyed them, and all alike remained strong and healthy, and had no need of doctors or of drugs. 23 Men, however, who are so very fond of life and devise so many ways to postpone death, generally did not even reach old age, but lived infested by a host of maladies which it were no easy task even to name, and the earth did not supply them with drugs enough, but they required the knife and cautery as well. 24 Nor were Cheiron and Asclepius' sons, with all their healing power, nor prophetic seers nor priestly exorcists of any use to them at all because of their excesses and wickedness. 25 Men crowded into the cities to escape wrong from those outside, only to wrong one another and commit all sorts of the most dreadful misdeeds as though that had been the object of their coming together. And the reason, in his opinion, why the myth says that Zeus punished Prometheus for his discovery and bestowal of fire was that therein lay the origin and beginning of man's softness and love (p265) of luxury; for Zeus surely did not hate men or grudge them any good thing. 26 When some people urged that it is impossible for man to live like the animals owing to the tenderness of his flesh and because he is naked and unprotected either by hair, as the majority of beasts are, or by feathers and has no covering of tough skin, 27 he would say in reply that men are so very tender because of their mode of life, since, as a rule, they avoid the sun and also avoid the cold. It is not the nakedness of the body that causes the trouble. He would then call attention to the frogs and numerous other animals much more delicate than man and much less protected, and yet some of them not only withstand the cold air but are even able to live in the coldest water during the winter. 28 He also pointed out that the eyes and the face of man himself have no need of protection. And, in general, no creature is born in any region that cannot live in it. Else how could the first human beings to be born have survived, there being no fire, or houses, or clothing, or any other food than that which grew wild? Nay, man's ingenuity and his discovering and contriving so many helps to life had not been altogether advantageous to later generations, 29 since men do not employ their cleverness to promote courage or justice, but to procure pleasure. And so, as they pursue the agreeable at any cost, their life becomes constantly less agreeable and more burdensome; and while they appear to be attending to their own needs, they perish most miserably, just because of excessive care and attention. And for these reasons Prometheus was justly said to have (p267) been bound to the rock and to have had his liver plucked by the eagle.