27:27
Εἰ δὲ σὺ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀντέχῃ παιδείας, τί μοι δόξας αἱρουμένῳ δογμάτων ὧν θέλω διαμάχῃ; Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον τὸν μὲν λῃστὴν διὰ τὸ ἐπικατηγορούμενον ὄνομα μὴ κολάζειν, πρὶν ἢ τἀληθὲς ἐπ ἀκριβείᾳ καταμανθάνειν, ἡμᾶς δὲ προλήμματι λοιδορίας ἀνεξετάστῳ μεμισηκέναι; Διαγόρας Ἀθηναῖος ἦν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτον ἐξορχησάμενον τὰ παρ Ἀθηναίοις μυστήρια τετιμωρήκατε· καὶ τοῖς Φρυγίοις αὐτοῦ λόγοις ἐντυγχάνοντες ἡμᾶς μεμισήκατε. Λέοντος κεκτημένοι τὰ ὑπομνήματα πρὸς τοὺς ἀφ ἡμῶν ἐλέγχους δυσχεραίνετε· καὶ τὰς περὶ τῶν κατ Αἴγυπτον θεῶν δόξας Ἀπίωνος ἔχοντες παρ ἑαυτοῖς ὡς ἀθεωτάτους ἡμᾶς ἐκκηρύττετε. Τάφος τοῦ Ὀλυμπίου Διὸς καθ ὑμᾶς δείκνυται, κἂν ψεύδεσθαί τις τοὺς Κρῆτας λέγῃ. Τῶν πολλῶν θεῶν ἡ ὁμήγυρις οὐδέν ἐστι. Κἂν ὁ καταφρονῶν αὐτῶν Ἐπίκουρος δᾳδουχῇ, τοὺς ἄρχοντας οὐδὲν πλέον τοῦ θεοῦ κατάληψιν ἣν ἔχω περὶ τῶν ὅλων ταύτην οὐκ ἀποκρύπτομαι. Τί μοι συμβουλεύεις ψεύσασθαι τὴν πολιτείαν; Τί δὲ λέγων θανάτου καταφρονεῖν διὰ τέχνης φεύγειν αὐτὸν καταγγέλλεις; Ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ ἔχω καρδίαν ἐλάφου· τὰ δὲ τῶν ὑμετέρων λόγων ἐπιτηδεύματα κατὰ τὸν ἀμετροεπῆ Θερσίτην γίνεται.Πῶς πεισθήσομαι τῷ λέγοντι μύδρον τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην γῆν; Τὰ γὰρ τοιαῦτα λόγων ἐστὶν ἅμιλλα καὶ οὐκ ἀληθείας διακόσμησις.Ἢ πῶς οὐκ ἠλίθιον πείθεσθαι τοῖς Ἡροδώρου βιβλίοις περὶ τοῦ καθ Ἡρακλέα λόγου, γῆν ἄνω κηρύττουσιν, κατεληλυθέναι τε ἀπ αὐτῆς λέοντα τὸν ὑφ Ἡρακλέους φονευθέντα; Τίδ ἂν ὠφελήσειε λέξις Ἀττικὴ καὶ φιλοσόφων σωρεία καὶ συλλογισμῶν πιθανότητες καὶ μέτρα γῆς καὶ ἄστρων θέσεις καὶ ἡλίου δρόμοι; Τὸ γὰρ περὶ τοιαύτην ἀσχολεῖσθαι ζήτησιν νομοθετοῦντός ἐστιν ἔργον ἑαυτῷ τὰ δόγματα
你既緊抓著那些人的學問，為何因我揀選自己所願的學說便與我作戰呢？那強盜因被加上的罪名而尚未在真相被精確查明之先就不受刑罰，我們卻在未經查察之下、僅憑毀謗的成見便遭憎恨——這豈不荒謬嗎？狄阿戈拉斯是雅典人，你們卻因他洩露雅典人的祕儀而懲罰了他；而你們一面誦讀他那些弗呂家式的論說，一面卻憎恨我們。你們收藏著勒翁的回憶錄，卻惱怒我們所作的駁斥；你們自己持有阿皮翁論埃及諸神的見解，卻宣稱我們最為無神。在你們當中，有人指出奧林匹亞宙斯的墳墓，縱然有人說革哩底人是說謊的。眾多神祇的集會算不得什麼。即便藐視它們的伊壁鳩魯高舉火炬（行祕儀），那些當權者所得的也不過如神一般（虛空）。我對宇宙所持的領會，我並不隱藏。你為何勸我在「公民身分」上說謊呢？你一面說人該藐視死亡，一面卻宣稱該用詭計逃避死亡，這是為何？我可沒有鹿一般膽怯的心；倒是你們言論的行徑，竟像那口無遮攔的忒耳西忒斯。我怎能被那說「太陽是熾熱的鐵塊、月亮是泥土」的人說服呢？這等話不過是言詞的較量，並非真理的整理。再者，被赫羅多洛斯論赫拉克勒斯的書說服——它宣稱上面有一片地，又說被赫拉克勒斯所殺的獅子是從那地下來的——這豈不愚拙嗎？雅典的辭令、成堆的哲學家、三段論的說服力、大地的丈量、星辰的位置、太陽的軌跡，這些又有何益處呢？因為去忙於這等探究，不過是個替自己立定學說之人的勾當罷了。
And if you cling to the education of those men, why do you do battle with me for choosing the doctrines I wish? For how is it not absurd that the robber, on account of the name charged against him, is not punished before the truth is accurately ascertained, while we are hated on a prejudice of slander without examination? Diagoras was an Athenian, but you punished him for divulging the mysteries of the Athenians; and yet, while reading his Phrygian discourses, you have hated us. You possess the memoirs of Leon, yet you are vexed at the refutations from us; and having among yourselves the opinions of Apion concerning the Egyptian gods, you proclaim us most godless. The tomb of Olympian Zeus is shown among you, even though someone says the Cretans are liars. The assembly of the many gods is nothing. And even if Epicurus, despising them, carries the torch, the rulers gain nothing more than God. The apprehension which I have concerning the universe I do not conceal. Why do you counsel me to lie about my citizenship? Why, while saying one ought to despise death, do you proclaim that one should flee it by craft? I, for my part, do not have the heart of a deer; but the practices of your discourses turn out to be like the immoderate-tongued Thersites. How shall I be persuaded by the one who says that the sun is a red-hot mass and the moon is earth? For such things are a contest of words and not an arrangement of truth. Or how is it not foolish to be persuaded by the books of Herodorus concerning the account about Heracles, proclaiming an earth above, and that the lion slain by Heracles came down from it? And what would Attic diction profit, and the heap of philosophers, and the persuasiveness of syllogisms, and measurements of the earth, and positions of the stars, and the courses of the sun? For to busy oneself about such inquiry is the work of a man legislating doctrines for himself.