[35,0] ΕΝ ΚΕΛΑΙΝΑΙΣ ΤΗΣ ΦΡΥΓΙΑΣ.	[35,0] THE THIRTY-FIFTH DISCOURSE, DELIVERED IN CELAENAE IN PHRYGIA.
[35,1] Οὐκ ἐπιδειξόμενος ὑμῖν, ὦ ἄνδρες, παρῆλθον οὐδὲ ἀργυρίου παρ´ ὑμῶν δεόμενος οὐδ´ ἔπαινον προσδεχόμενος. ἐπίσταμαι γὰρ οὔτε αὐτὸς ἱκανῶς παρεσκευασμένος, ὥστε ὑμῖν ἀρέσαι λέγων, οὔτε ὑμᾶς οὕτως ἔχοντας, ὥστε προσδεῖσθαι τῶν ἐμῶν λόγων. πλεῖστον δὲ τὸ μεταξὺ τῆς ὑμετέρας βουλήσεως καὶ τῆς ἐμῆς δυνάμεως. ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ ἁπλῶς πέφυκα καὶ φαύλως διαλέγεσθαι καὶ οὐδενὸς ἄμεινον τῶν τυχόντων· ὑμεῖς δὲ θαυμαστῶς καὶ περιττῶς ἐπιθυμεῖτε ἀκούειν καὶ μόνων ἀνέχεσθε τῶν πάνυ δεινῶν.	[35,1] GENTLEMEN, I have come before you not to display my talents as a speaker nor because I want money from you, or expect your praise. For I know not only that I myself am not sufficiently well equipped to satisfy you by my eloquence, but also that your circumstances are not such as to need my message. Furthermore, the disparity between what you demand of a speaker and my own powers is very great. For it is my nature to talk quite simply and unaffectedly and in a manner in no wise better than that of any ordinary person; whereas you are devoted to oratory to a degree that is remarkable, I may even say excessive, and you tolerate as speakers only those who are very clever.
[35,2] οὐ δὴ τούτου χάριν προῆλθον, ἵνα με θαυμάσητε· οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ὅπως ἂν ἐγὼ θαυμασθείην ὑφ´ ὑμῶν, οὐδὲ ἂν ἀληθέστερα λέγω τῶν Σιβύλλης ἢ Βάκιδος· ἀλλὰ ἵνα μηδεὶς ὑποβλέπῃ με μηδὲ πυνθάνηται παρ´ ἑτέρων ὅστις εἰμὶ καὶ ὁπόθεν ἔλθοιμι. νῦν γὰρ ἴσως ὑπονοοῦσιν εἶναί με τῶν σοφῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ πάντα εἰδότων, γελοίῳ καὶ ἀτόπῳ τεκμηρίῳ χρώμενοι, τῷ κομᾶν. εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο αἴτιον ὑπῆρχεν ἀρετῆς καὶ σωφροσύνης, οὐδεμιᾶς ἂν ἐδεῖτο μεγάλης οὐδὲ χαλεπῆς δυνάμεως τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.	[35,1] Nay, my purpose in coming forward is not to gain your admiration—for I could not gain that from you even were I to utter words more truthful than those of the Sibyl or of Bacis — but rather that no one may look askance at me or ask others who I am and whence I came. For at present quite possibly people suspect that I am one of your wiseacres, one of your know-it-alls, basing their suspicion upon a ludicrous and absurd bit of evidence, namely, that I wear my hair long. For if long hair were accountable for virtue and sobriety, mankind would need no great power nor one difficult of attainment.