Texte grec :
| [35,7] τῷ δ´ αὖτε πτερὰ γίνετ´, ἄειρε δὲ ποιμένα λαῶν.
ἡλίκη δέ ἐστιν ἡ τῶν πολλῶν δύναμις τοῦ πείθειν ὅ, τι ἂν αὐτοὶ
θέλωσιν, οὐχ ἥκιστα ἀπὸ τῶν παίδων μάθοι τις ἄν, ὅταν ἀνθρώπῳ
σωφρονοῦντι παιδάρια ἀκολουθῇ, φάσκοντα μαίνεσθαι. τὸ μὲν γὰρ
πρῶτον ἄπεισιν ἀγανακτῶν καθ´ αὑτόν, ἔπειτα προσκρούων ἀεὶ καὶ
λοιδορούμενος ἑκάστῳ καὶ διώκων αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἔπαθεν, ἐξέστη τελευτῶν,
καὶ τὴν φήμην ὑπέλαβε θεὸν εἶναι, οὐ μόνον τὴν τῶν ἀνδρῶν,
ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν τῶν παίδων.
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Traduction française :
| [35,7] And how great the power of the populace is to make
men believe anything they please may perhaps
best be learned from children : when a sane man is
followed by urchins who keep calling him crazy.
For at first the man goes away inwardly annoyed,
and then, from constantly falling foul of them and
reviling and chasing them one by one, he gets into
that very state and ends by going mad, and the
spoken word he took to be a manifestation of deity,
not merely the utterance of men, but even that of boys.
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