Lucian of Samosata, Anacharsis, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 35

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[35]

ANACHARSIS

Then is it possible, Solon, that while you think it superfluous to carry weapons without urgent reason, and are careful of your arms in order that they may not be spoiled by handling, keeping them in store with the intention of using them some day, when need arises; yet when no danger threatens you wear out the bodies of your young men by mauling them and wasting them away in sweat, not husbanding their strength until it is needed but expending it fruitlessly in the mud and dust?

SOLON

Apparently, Anacharsis, you think that strength is like wine or water or some other liquid. Anyhow, you are afraid that during exertions it may leak away unnoticed as if from an earthen jar, and then be gone, leaving our bodies empty and dry, since they are not filled up again with anything from within. As a matter of fact, this is not the case, my friend: the more one draws it out by exertions, the more it flows in, like the fable of the Hydra, if you have heard it, which says that when one head was cut off, two others always grew up in ‘its place. But if a man is undeveloped from the beginning, and untempered, and has an insufficient substratum of reserve material, then he may be injured and reduced in flesh by exertions. Something similar is the case with a fire and a lamp; for with one and the same breath you can start the fire afresh and speedily make it greater, stimulating it with your blowing, and you can put out the light of the lamp, which has not an adequate supply of fuel to maintain itself against the oppvsing blast: the root from which it sprang was not strong, I suppose.

Anacharsis. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Anacharsis, or Athletics (English) (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Ἀνάχαρσις ἢ Περὶ Γυμνασίων Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).) — 35 focus

Ἀνάχαρσις

εἶτα, ὦ Σόλων, σιδηροφορεῖν μὲν οὐδενὸς ἀναγκαίου ἕνεκα περιττὸν ὑμῖν δοκεῖ, καὶ τῶν ὅπλων φείδεσθε,¹ ὡς μὴ διὰ χειρὸς ὄντα φθείροιτο, ἀλλὰ φυλάττετε ἀποκείμενα ὡς χρησόμενοι τότε, τῆς χρείας ἐπιστάσης· τὰ δὲ σώματα τῶν νέων οὐδενὸς δεινοῦ ἐπείγοντος καταπονεῖτε παίοντες καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἱδρώτων καταναλίσκοντες, οὐ ταμιευόμενοι πρὸς τὸ ἀναγκαῖον τὰς ἀλκὰς αὐτῶν, ἀλλʼ εἰκῆ ἐν τῷ πηλῷ καὶ τῇ κόνει ἐκχέοντες;

Σόλων

ἔοικας, ὦ Ἀνάχαρσι, τοιόνδε τι δυνάμεως πέρι ἐννοεῖν, ὡς οἴνῳ ἢ ὕδατι ἢ ἄλλῳ τῶν ὑγρῶν ὁμοίαν αὐτὴν οὖσαν. δέδιας οὖν μὴ ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀγγείου κεραμεοῦ λάθῃ διαρρυεῖσα ἐν τοῖς πόνοις κᾆτα ἡμῖν κενὸν καὶ ξηρὸν οἴχηται τὸ σῶμα καταλιποῦσα ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ἔνδοθεν ἀναπληρούμενον. τὸ δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει σοι, ἀλλὰ ὅσῳ τις ἂν αὐτὴν ἐξαντλῇ τοῖς πόνοις, τοσῷδε μᾶλλον ἐπιρρεῖ κατὰ τὸν περὶ τῆς Ὕδρας μῦθον, εἴ τινα ἤκουσας, ὡς ἀντὶ μιᾶς κεφαλῆς τμηθείσης δύʼ ἀεὶ ἄλλαι ἀνεφύοντο. ἢν δὲ ἀγύμναστος ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἄτονος ᾖ μηδὲ διαρκῆ τὴν ὕλην ἔχῃ ὑποβεβλημένην, τότε ὑπὸ τῶν καμάτων βλάπτοιτο ἂν καὶ καταμαραίνοιτο, οἷόν τι ἐπὶ πυρὸς καὶ λύχνου γίγνεται. ὑπὸ γὰρ τῷ αὐτῷ φυσήματι τὸ μὲν πῦρ ἀνακαύσειας ἂν καὶ μεῖζον ἐν βραχεῖ ποιήσειας παραθήγων τῷ πνεύματι, καὶ τὸ τοῦ λύχνου φῶς ἀποσβέσειας οὐκ ἔχον ἀποχρῶσαν τῆς ὕλης τὴν χορηγίαν, ὡς διαρκῆ εἶναι πρὸς τὸ ἀντιπνέον· οὐ γὰρ ἀπʼ ἰσχυρᾶς, οἶμαι, τῆς ῥίζης ἀνεφύετο.

Translations (1)

Anacharsis, a Discussion of Physical Training Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 35 focus

[35]

Anacharsis

Oho, you think the wearing of arms, except on occasion, unnecessary; you are careful of your weapons, avoid wear and tear for them, and put them away for use when the time comes; but the bodies of your youth you keep at work even when no danger presses; you knock them about and dissolve them in sweat; instead of husbanding their strength for the day of need, you expend it idly on clay and dust. How is that?

Solon

I fancy you conceive of force as something similar to wine or water or liquid of some sort. You are afraid of its dribbling away in exercise as those might from an earthenware jar, and by its disappearance leaving the body, which is supposed to have no internal reserves, empty and dry. That is not the case; the greater the drain upon it in the course of exercise, the greater the supply; did you ever hear a story about the Hydra? cut off one of its heads, and two immediately sprang up in its place. No, it is the unexercised and fibreless, in whom no adequate store of material has ever been laid up, that will peak and pine under toil. There is a similar difference between a fire and a lamp; the same breath that kindles the former and soon excites it to greater heat will put out the latter, which is but ill provided to resist the blast; it has a precarious tenure, you see.

Lucian of Samosata Anacharsis 35

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)