Texte grec :
| [35,8] δοκεῖ δέ μοι καὶ τὸ τῶν σοφιστῶν γένος ἐντεῦθεν αὔξεσθαί ποθεν.
ἐπειδὰν πολλοὶ νεανίσκοι
σχολὴν ἄγοντες ἕνα θαυμάζωσι πηδῶντες, καθάπερ αἱ Βάκχαι περὶ
τὸν Διόνυσον, πᾶσα ἀνάγκη τοῦτον τὸν ἄνθρωπον οὐ πολλῷ τινι
χρόνῳ {πολλοῖς τῶν ἄλλων} δόξαι τι λέγειν. σχεδὸν γὰρ ὥσπερ
οἱ γονεῖς διαλέγεσθαι τὰ παιδία διδάσκουσιν, ἐπὶ παντὶ χαίροντες
ὅ, τι ἂν εἴπωσιν· οὐκοῦν ἐκ τούτων θαρρεῖ καὶ μᾶλλον πρόεισι
καὶ σαφέστερον ἀεὶ διαλέγεται καὶ τέλος ἐξέμαθε τὴν φωνὴν
τῶν ξυνόντων, ἐάν τε Ἕλληνες ὦσιν ἐάν τε βάρβαροι· καὶ τοὺς
σοφιστὰς ἀνάγκη τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν ἀκροατῶν ἀναλαβεῖν, τοιαῦτα
καὶ λέγοντας καὶ διανοουμένους ὁποῖοί ποτ´ ἂν οὗτοι τυγχάνωσιν
ὄντες.
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Traduction française :
| [35,8] And, methinks, the tribe of sophists also owes its
development to some such cause as this. When a lot
of young men with nothing to do go leaping about a
man with cries of admiration, as the Bacchants leap
about Dionysus, inevitably that man after no great
lapse of time will gain a reputation with many others
for talking sensibly. Why, that is very much the way
in which parents teach their children how to talk,
expressing keen delight over anything the children
may utter. Accordingly, in consequence of that
applause, the children take courage and make further
progress and keep speaking more and more distinctly,
until finally they have mastered the language of
their associates, be they Greeks or barbarians. The
sophists also can't help adopting the thought of their
listeners, saying and thinking such things as fit the
nature of those listeners, whatever it happens to be ;
but the majority of these are pretty much simpletons,
victims of an unkind fate.
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