[4,120] οὐδέν γε μὴν προσέοικεν ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκεν οὔτε ἀετοῖς οὔτε γεράνοις οὔτε ἄλλῳ τινὶ πτηνῷ γένει τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἄν τις αὐτὸν προσεικάσειε τῇ Ἰκαρίου βιαίῳ καὶ παρὰ φύσιν φορᾷ, οὐ δυνατὸν τέχνημα ἐπιχειρήσαντος (121) Δαιδάλου τεχνήσασθαι. τοιγαροῦν ὑπὸ νεότητος καὶ ἀλαζονείας ἐπιθυμῶν ὑψηλότερος τῶν ἄστρων φέρεσθαι χρόνον μέν τινα ἐσῴζετο βραχύν, χαλωμένων δὲ τῶν δεσμῶν καὶ τοῦ κηροῦ ῥέοντος, ἐπωνυμίαν ἀπὸ τοῦδε τῷ πελάγει παρέσχεν, οὗπερ ἠφανίσθη (122) πεσών· κἀκεῖνος ἀσθενέσι καὶ κούφοις τῷ ὄντι πιστεύσας πτεροῖς, λέγω δὲ τιμαῖς τε καὶ ἐπαίνοις ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν πολλῶν ὡς ἔτυχε γιγνομένοις, ἐπισφαλῶς καὶ ἀσταθμήτως φέρεται καὶ φέρει τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν αὑτοῦ ζηλωτήν τε καὶ ὑπηρέτην, νῦν μὲν ὑψηλὸν καὶ μακάριον πολλοῖς φαινόμενον, πάλιν δὲ αὖ ταπεινόν τε καὶ ἄθλιον τοῖς τε ἄλλοις καὶ πρώτῳ καὶ μάλιστα αὑτῷ δοκοῦντα. (123) εἰ δέ τῳ οὐ φίλον πτηνὸν αὐτὸν διανοεῖσθαι καὶ ποιεῖν, ὁ δὲ ἀφομοιούτω αὐτὸν τῇ τοῦ Ἰξίονος χαλεπῇ καὶ βιαίῳ φορᾷ τε καὶ ἀνάγκῃ, τροχοῦ τινος ῥύμῃ κύκλῳ κινουμένου τε καὶ φερομένου. οὐ γὰρ ἀπεοικὸς οὐδὲ μακρὰν δὴ τῶν σοφῶν τε καὶ κομψῶν εἰκασμάτων εἴη ἂν ὁ τροχὸς δόξῃ παραβαλλόμενος, τῇ τε κινήσει καὶ μεταβολῇ πάνυ ῥᾳδίως περιθέων, ἐν δὲ τῇ περιφορᾷ παντοῖα σχήματα τὴν ψυχὴν ἀναγκάζων λαμβάνειν μᾶλλον ἢ ὁ τῶν κεραμέων (124) τὰ ἐπ´ αὐτῷ πλαττόμενα. ἄνδρα δὴ τοιοῦτον εἱλούμενον ἀεὶ καὶ περιφερόμενον, κόλακα δήμων τε καὶ ὄχλων ἐν ἐκκλησίαις ἢ ἐπιδείξεσιν ἢ βασιλέων ἢ τυράννων λεγομέναις δὴ φιλίαις καὶ θεραπείαις, τίς οὐκ ἂν ἐλεήσειε τῆς φύσεως καὶ τοῦ βίου; λέγω δὲ οὐχ ὃς ἂν ἀπὸ τοῦ βελτίστου προεστηκὼς πολύ τι πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων πειθοῖ καὶ λόγῳ μετ´ εὐνοίας καὶ δικαιοσύνης πειρᾶται ῥυθμίζειν τε καὶ ἄγειν ἐπὶ τὰ βελτίω.

[4,120] "As to his safety, this spirit is not at all to be classed with either eagles or cranes or any other feathered species; nay, one might rather liken his flight to the violent and unnatural soaring of Icarus, whose father undertook to contrive a device that proved disastrous. So then the lad, moved by the conceit of youth and desiring to soar above the stars, was safe enough for a short time, but when the fastenings became loose and the wax ran, he gave his name from this circumstance to the sea where he fell to be seen no more. Just so with this spirit of ambition : When he also puts his faith in weak and truly airy wings—I mean the honours and plaudits bestowed at haphazard by the general crowd—he floats away on his perilous and unsteady voyage, taking with him the man, his admirer and henchman, who now appears to many to be high and blessed, but now again seems low and wretched, not only to others, but first and foremost to himself. But if there be anyone who does not care to conceive of and portray him as winged, let him liken him to Ixion, constrained to cruel and violent gyrations as he is rapidly whirled round and round on a wheel. Indeed, the comparison of the wheel with reputation would not be unfitting nor far inferior in truth to the clever and brilliant metaphors of the rhetoricians : by its shifting movement it very readily turns round, and in its revolutions forces the soul to assume all kinds of shapes, more truly than the potter's wheel affects the things that are being shaped upon it. Such a man, ever turning and revolving, a flatterer of peoples and crowds, whether in public assemblies or lecture halls, or in his so-called friendship with tyrants or kings and his courting of them—who would not feel pity for his character and manner of living ? I am flot speaking of the man, however, who, having managed his own life admirably, endeavours by the persuasion of speech combined with goodwill and a sense of justice to train and direct a great multitude of men and to lead them to better things.