Texte grec :
| [4,100] ἀλλ´ ἐγὼ λέγω νῦν τὸν αὐτὸν ἡγούμενον καὶ προεστηκότα
τῆς τοῦ δυστυχοῦς ἀνθρώπου διανοίας, οὔτε ἐφ´ ἡδονήν
τινα οὔτε εἰς δόξαν ἀναφέροντα τὴν τῶν χρημάτων κτῆσιν, οὐδὲ
ὡς ἀναλώσοντα καὶ χρησόμενον ξυνάγοντα, ἀνέξοδον δὲ καὶ ἀχρεῖον
φυλάττοντα τὸν πλοῦτον τῷ ὄντι, κατάκλειστον ἔν τισι κρυπτοῖς
καὶ ἀφεγγέσι θαλάμοις.
(101) εἶεν· ὁ δὲ δὴ δεύτερος ἀνήρ τε καὶ δαίμων ἐκείνου τοῦ ἀνδρός,
ὁ τὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς ἀναφαίνων ὄργια καὶ τὴν θεὸν ταύτην
θαυμάζων καὶ προτιμῶν, ἀτεχνῶς γυναικείαν θεόν, ποικίλος καὶ
πολυειδὴς περί τε ὀσμὰς καὶ γεύσεις ἀπλήρωτος, ἔτι δὲ οἶμαι περὶ
πάντα μὲν ὁράματα, πάντα δὲ ἀκούσματα τὰ πρὸς ἡδονήν τινα
φέροντα, πάσας δὲ ἁφὰς προσηνεῖς τε καὶ μαλακὰς λουτρῶν τε
ὁσημέραι θερμῶν {μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τῆς ἡμέρας,} καὶ χρίσεων οὐ κάματον
(102) ἰωμένων, πρὸς δὲ αὖ τούτοις ἐσθήτων τε μαλακῶν ἕλξεις
καὶ κατακλίσεις ἠσκημένας καὶ διακονίας ἀκριβεῖς καθ´ ἑκάστην
ἐπιθυμίαν τε καὶ χρείαν, περὶ ταῦτα πάντα δεινῶς ἐπτοημένος,
μάλιστα μέντοι καὶ ἀκρατέστατα περὶ τὴν τῶν ἀφροδισίων ὀξεῖαν
καὶ διάπυρον μανίαν θηλυκῶν τε καὶ ἀρρενικῶν μίξεων καὶ ἔτι
πλειόνων ἀρρήτων καὶ ἀνωνύμων αἰσχρουργιῶν, ἐπὶ πάντα ὁμοίως
τὰ τοιαῦτα φερόμενος καὶ ἄγων, οὐδὲν ἀπώμοτον οὐδὲ ἄπρακτον
(103) ποιούμενος. νῦν γὰρ δὴ ἕνα τοῦτον τίθεμεν τὸν ἁπάσας τὰς τοιαύτας
παρειληφότα νόσους καὶ ἀκρασίας τῆς ψυχῆς, ἵνα μὴ πολύν
τινα ἀθροίσωμεν ἑσμὸν μοιχικῶν τινων δαιμονίων καὶ φιλόψων καὶ
φιλοίνων καὶ ἄλλων δὴ μυρίων, ἀλλ´ ἁπλῶς ἕνα δαίμονα τιθῶμεν
(104) τὸν ἀκόλαστον καὶ δεδουλωμένον ὑφ´ ἡδονῆς, ἐὰν μὲν ἐπιρρέῃ
ποθὲν ἀνελλιπὲς τὸ τῆς χορηγίας, χρημάτων βασιλικῶν ἤ τινος
μεγάλης ἰδιωτικῆς ὑπούσης οὐσίας, ἐν πολλῇ καὶ ἀφθόνῳ κυλινδούμενον
ἀσελγείᾳ μέχρι γήρως· εἰ δὲ μή, ταχὺ μάλα ἐξαναλώσαντα
τὰ παρόντα, πένητα ἀκρατῆ καὶ ἀκόλαστον ἐν σπάνει καὶ ἱμέρῳ
δεινῶς τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν λειπόμενον.
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Traduction française :
| [4,100] I, however, am now speaking of the spirit that takes
the lead himself and dominates the faculties of his
unhappy possessor; he has neither pleasure nor
glory as the motive for the acquisition of wealth,
and does not intend to spend or to use what he has
gotten together, but keeps his wealth out of circulation
and useless, actually locked up in secret and
sunless vaults.
(101) "So far so good. The second man and the
attendant spirit of that man is the one which proclaims
the orgies of Pleasure and admires and honours
this goddess, a truly feminine being. He is of many
hues and shapes, insatiable as to things that tickle
nostril and palate, and further, rnethinks, as to all
that pleases the eye, and all that affords any pleasure
to the ear, as to all things that are soothing and
agreeable to the touch, such as warm baths taken
daily, or rather, twice a day, anointings that are
not for the relief of weariness and, besides, the
wearing of soft sweeping robes, bolstered repose,
and attentive service for every appetite and desire.
He is passionately devoted to all these things, but
especially and most unrestrainedly to the poignant
and burning madness of sexual indulgence, through
intercourse both with females and with males, and
through still other unspeakable and nameless obscenities ;
after all such indiscriminately he rushes
and also leads others, abjuring no form of lust and
leaving none untried.
(103) "At present, it should be explained, we are treating
as one this spirit which is afflicted with all
these maladies and excesses of the soul ; for we do
not want to assemble a huge gallery of lecherous,
gluttonous, and bibulous spirits and others unnumbered,
but to treat as simply one that
spirit which is incontinent and enslaved to pleasure,
whichif only there is from some source an inflow
of inexhaustible means, whether from royal coffers
or from some great private estatewallows in a
deep and boundless slough of debauchery until
old age comes ; failing such resouroes, the man
speedily squanders the fortune he began with, or
is reduced to impotent and licentious penury, and in
deprivation combined with craving falls terribly
short of his desires.
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