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Μὴ πάνυ φιλέχθρως διατίθεσθε πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, μηδὲ φθονήσητε τοῖς τούτων δόγμασι. Ποῖον γὰρ ἐπιτήδευμα παρ ὑμῖν τὴν σύστασιν οὐκ ἀπὸ βαρβάρων ἐκτήσατο; Τελμισέων μὲν γὰρ οἱ δοκιμώτατοι τὴν δι ὀνείρων ἐξεῦρον μαντικήν, Κᾶρες τὴν διὰ τῶν ἄστρων πρόγνωσιν, πτήσεις ὀρνίθων Φρύγες καὶ Ἰσαύρων οἱ παλαιότατοι, Κύπριοι θυτικήν, ἀστρονομεῖν Βαβυλώνιοι, μαγεύειν Πέρσαι, γεωμετρεῖν Αἰγύπτιοι, τὴν διὰ γραμμάτων παιδείαν Φοίνικες. Ὅθεν παύσασθε τὰς μιμήσεις εὑρέσεις ἀποκαλοῦντες. Ποίησιν μὲν γὰρ ἀσκεῖν καὶ ᾄδειν Ὀρφεὺς ὑμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν, ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς καὶ μυεῖσθαι· Τουσκανοὶ πλάττειν, ἱστορίας συντάττειν αἱ παρ Αἰγυπτίοις τῶν χρόνων ἀναγραφαί. Μαρσύου δὲ καὶ Ὀλύμπου τὴν αὐλητικὴν ἀπηνέγκασθε· Φρύγες δὲ οἱ ἀμφότεροι τὴν διὰ σύριγγος ἁρμονίαν ἄγροικοι συνεστήσαντο. Τυῤῥηνοὶ σάλπιγγα, χαλκεύειν Κύκλωπες, καὶ ἐπιστολὰς συντάττειν ἡ Περσῶν ποτε ἡγησαμένη γυνή, καθάπερ φησὶν Ἑλλάνικος· Ἄτοσσα δὲ ὄνομα αὐτῇ ἦν. Καταβάλλετε τοιγαροῦν τοῦτον τὸν τύφον, μηδὲ προβάλλεσθε ῥημάτων εὐπρέπειαν, οἵτινες, ὑφ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἐπαινούμενοι, συνηγόρους τοὺς οἴκοι κέκτησθε. Χρὴ δὲ τὸν νοῦν ἔχοντα τὴν ἀφ ἑτέρων περιμένειν μαρτυρίαν, συνᾴδειν τε καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ λόγου προφορᾷ. Νῦν δὲ μόνοις ὑμῖν ἀποβέβηκε μηδὲ ἐν ταῖς ὁμιλίαις ὁμοφωνεῖν· Δωριέων μὲν γὰρ οὐχ ἡ αὐτὴ λέξις τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀττικῆς, Αἰολεῖς τε οὐχ ὁμοίως τοῖς Ἴωσι φθέγγονται. Στάσεως δὲ οὔσης τοσαύτης παρ οἷς οὐκ ἐχρῆν, ἀπορῶ τίνα με δεῖ καλεῖν Ἕλληνα. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ πάντων ἀτοπώτατον, τὰς μὴ συγγενεῖς ὑμῶν ἑρμηνείας τετιμήκατε, βαρβαρικαῖς τε φωναῖς ἔσθ ὅτε καταχρώμενοι συμφύρτην ὑμῶν πεποιήκατε τὴν διάλεκτον. Τούτου χάριν ἀπεταξάμεθα τῇ παρ ὑμῖν σοφίᾳ, κἂν εἰ πάνυ σεμνός τις ἦν ἐν αὐτῇ. Κατὰ γὰρ τὸν κωμικὸν Ταῦτ ἔστιν ἐπιφυλλίδες καὶ στωμύλματα, Χελιδόνων μουσεῖα, λωβηταὶ τέχνης. Λαρυγγιῶσί τε οἱ ταύτης ἐφιέμενοι, καὶ κοράκων ἀφίενται φωνήν. Ῥητορικὴν μὲν γὰρ ἐπ ἀδικίᾳ καὶ συκοφαντίᾳ συνεστήσασθε, μισθοῦ πιπράσκοντες τῶν λόγων ὑμῶν τὸ αὐτεξούσιον καὶ πολλάκις τὸ νῦν δίκαιον αὖθις οὐκ ἀγαθὸν παριστῶντες. Ποιητικὴν δέ, μάχας ἵνα συντάττητε καὶ θεῶν ἔρωτας καὶ ψυχῆς διαφθοράν
Be not so bitterly hostile toward the barbarians, O men of Greece, nor begrudge them their teachings. For which of your pursuits did not derive its origin from the barbarians? The most esteemed of the Telmessians invented divination by dreams; the Carians, prognostication by the stars; the Phrygians and the most ancient of the Isaurians, augury by the flight of birds; the Cyprians, the art of sacrifice; the Babylonians, astronomy; the Persians, magic; the Egyptians, geometry; the Phoenicians, instruction by letters. Therefore cease to call your imitations discoveries. For Orpheus taught you to compose poetry and to sing, and the same man taught you the mysteries; the Etruscans, modeling in clay; the Egyptian records of times, the composing of histories. From Marsyas and Olympus you took flute-playing; both of these Phrygians, rustics, devised harmony by means of the pipe. The Tyrrhenians invented the trumpet, the Cyclopes the working of bronze, and the writing of letters a woman who once ruled the Persians, as Hellanicus says; her name was Atossa. Lay aside, then, this conceit, and do not put forward elegance of words, you who, praised by your own selves, have only those at home as your advocates. The man of sense ought to await the testimony of others, and to be in harmony in the very utterance of speech. But it has befallen you alone not even to speak the same language in your conversations; for the Dorians do not have the same speech as those of Attica, nor do the Aeolians speak like the Ionians. And when there is such division among those where there ought not to be, I am at a loss whom I must call a Greek. For the most absurd thing of all is that you have honored renderings not akin to you, and by sometimes abusing barbarian words you have made your own dialect a confused jumble. For this reason we have renounced the wisdom that is among you, even if anyone was very revered in it. For according to the comic poet, "These are mere gleanings and chatter, nests of swallows, spoilers of art." Those who pursue it become hoarse in the throat and emit the cry of ravens. For you established rhetoric for injustice and slander, selling for hire the freedom of your words and often presenting what is now just as afterward not good; and poetry, that you might compose battles and the loves of the gods and the corruption of the soul.
希臘人哪，不要對化外之民懷著這樣強烈的敵意，也不要嫉妒他們的學說。在你們當中，有哪一樣技藝不是源自化外之民呢？特爾墨索斯人中最受尊崇者發明了藉夢占卜之術；迦利亞人發明了藉星象的預知；弗呂家人與最古老的以掃利亞人發明了觀鳥飛之占；居比路人發明了獻祭之術；巴比倫人發明了天文學；波斯人發明了法術；埃及人發明了幾何學；腓尼基人發明了以文字施教。所以，不要再把你們的模仿稱為發明了。俄耳甫斯教你們作詩歌唱，也是他教你們入祕儀之事；伊特魯里亞人教你們塑像；埃及人的年代紀錄教你們編纂史書。吹笛之術你們是從馬敘阿斯與奧林波斯取來的，這兩個粗野的弗呂家人藉牧笛創製了和聲。提倫尼人發明號角，獨眼巨人發明冶銅，書信的撰寫則是一位曾統治波斯的婦人所創，正如赫拉尼科所言；她名叫阿托撒。所以你們當拋下這樣的自負，不要再賣弄言詞的華美，因為你們是受自己人吹捧，只有家中之人作辯護者。明理的人理當等候他人的見證，並且在言語的發聲上也與人和諧。如今唯獨你們的下場竟是連在交談中也不能同聲一致；因為多利亞人的話與阿提卡人不同，伊奧利亞人說話也與愛奧尼亞人不一樣。在不該有的地方竟有這樣大的分歧，我實在不知該稱誰為希臘人。最荒謬的是，你們竟尊崇那些與你們無干的譯述，有時又濫用化外之言，把自己的方言弄得混雜不堪。為這緣故，我們與你們的智慧斷絕了關係，即使其中有人極受尊敬也是如此。正如那位喜劇詩人所說：「這些不過是殘渣與閒談，燕子的窩巢，技藝的糟蹋。」追求這智慧的人喉嚨沙啞，發出烏鴉般的叫聲。你們把修辭學用於不義與毀謗，為金錢出賣你們言論的自主，往往把如今稱為公義的事後來又說成不善；又把詩學用來編造爭戰、諸神的情慾與靈魂的敗壞。