[72,0] THE SEVENTY-SECOND DISCOURSE : ON PERSONAL APPEARANCE.
(1) WHY on earth is it that, whenever men see somebody 
wearing a tunic and nothing more, they neither 
notice him nor make sport of him ? Possibly because 
they reason that the fellow is a sailor and that there 
is no occasion to mock him on this account. Similarly, 
if they should spy some one wearing the garb of a 
farmer or of a shepherd—that is, wearing an exomis
or wrapped in a hide or muffled in a kosymba —they 
are not irritated, nay, they do not even notice it to 
begin with, feeling that the garb is appropriate to 
the man who follows such a calling. Take our tavern-keepers 
too ; though people day after day see them 
in front of their taverns with their tunics belted high, 
they never jeer at them but, on the contrary, they 
would make fun of them if they were not so attired, 
considering that their appearance is peculiarly suited 
to their occupation. But when they see some one 
in a cloak but no tunic, with flowing hair and beard, 
they find it impossible to keep quiet in his presence 
or to pass by in silence ; instead, they step up to 
him and try to irritate him and either mock at him 
or speak insultingly, or sometimes they catch hold
of him and try to drag him off, provided they see 
one who is not himself very strong and note that no 
one else is at hand to help him ; and they do this 
although they know that the garb he wears is customary 
with the philosophers, as they are called, yes, as 
one might say, has been prescribed for them.
(3) But what is even more astounding still is this. 
Here in your city  from time to time are to be seen 
persons, some of whom are wearing felt caps on their 
heads—as to-day certain of the Thracians who are 
called Getae do, and as Spartans and Macedonians 
used to do in days gone by—and others wearing a 
turban and trousers, as I understand Persians and 
Bactrians and Parthians and many other barbarians 
do ; and some, still more outlandish than these, are 
accustomed to visit your city wearing feathers erect 
on their heads, just as do the Nasamonians  ; yet 
the citizens do not have the effrontery to make any 
trouble at all even for these, or to approach and 
annoy them. And yet as for Getae or Persians or 
Nasamonians, while some of them are seen here in 
no great numbers and others rarely visit here, the 
whole world to-day is virtually crowded with persons 
such as I have described, yes, I might almost say 
that they have grown more numerous than the shoemakers 
and fullers and jesters or the workers at 
any other occupation whatever. Therefore in our 
day too possibly it could be said with good reason 
that every catboat is under sail and every cow is 
dragging a plow.

[72,5] Moreover, it is not for the above reason alone that 
this spectacle is familiar to them, nay, they also have 
before their eyes the statues in the temples—as, 
for example, statues of Zeus and Poseidon and many 
other gods—arrayed in this type of costume. For 
while among Egyptians and Phoenicians and certain 
other barbarians you do not find the same type of 
statues as you do, I believe, among the Greeks, 
but far different, here you find the same. Likenesses 
of men too, citizens of your city, they have before 
their eyes both in the market-place and in the 
temples, likenesses of generals and kings set up in 
this guise with flowing beards. But why need I tell 
all this ? For I might almost say that most of the 
Greeks also feel as you do about this matter, and 
their familiarity with the sight does not keep them 
from teasing or even insulting whenever they spy 
a man of that appearance—I mean, whenever they 
see one of the common sort of no repute, whom they 
do not fear as being able to retaliate ; for of course 
those who have that ability they virtually look upon 
with veneration and awe !
Well, possibly what goes on is like this : the sailors 
and the farmers and shepherds, yes, and the Persians 
and Nasamonians too, the people believe do not look 
down on them or have any concern with them, and 
so they do not give them a thought. (7) The philosophers, 
however, they view with misgivings, suspecting that 
they scorn them and attribute to them vast ignorance 
and misfortune ; and they suspect that, though the 
philosophers do not laugh at them in public, privately 
among themselves they view them in that light,
holding that the unenlightened are all pitiable 
creatures, beginning, in fact, with those who are 
reputed to be rich and prosperous, persons whom 
these mockers themselves envy and believe to be 
little different from the gods in felicity ; furthermore, 
they suspect that these philosophers disparage and 
ridicule them as being extravagant in eating and 
drinking, as wanting a soft bed to sleep on and the 
company of young women and boys whenever they 
repose, and plenty of money, and to be admired and 
looked up to by the mob, things which they believe 
to be more important and better than anything else.
(8) Because of this suspicion they of course dislike 
those who do not admire or prize the same things 
as they do and do not hold the same opinion about 
the things of chief importance. Therefore they seize 
for themselves the initiative in reviling and jeering 
at the philosophers as being luckless and foolish, 
knowing that if they succeed in showing that the 
philosophers are senseless and daft they will at the 
same time also prove themselves to be prudent and 
sensible ; whereas if they give way to them, recognizing 
that the philosophers know what they should 
and are highly estimable, at the same time they will 
be admitting that they themselves are luckless and 
thick-witted and know absolutely none of the things 
free men should.
(9) Again, if they see a man rigged out as a sailor, 
they know that he is about to put to sea, and if they 
see some one else rigged out as a farmer, they know 
that he is about to engage in farming, and of course 
they know also that he who is clad in shepherd's 
garb is on his way to his sheep and will spend his
time attending to them, and so, since they are not 
irritated by any of these, they let them alone ; but 
when they see a man in the garb of the philosopher, 
they reason in his case that it is not for sailing or for 
farming or for tending sheep that he is thus arrayed, 
but rather that he has got himself ready to deal with 
human beings, aiming to admonish them and put 
them to the test and not to flatter or to spare any one 
of them, but, on the contrary, aiming to reprove 
them to the best of his ability by his words and to 
show what sort of persons they are. 

[72,10] They cannot, 
therefore, look upon the philosophers with any 
pleasure, but instead they clash with them and 
fight with them, just as boys too cannot look with 
pleasure upon any whom they see in the guise of 
tutors and prepared as if they meant to rebuke them 
and not to allow them to go astray or be careless. 
In truth, if the boys were at liberty to mock at 
and insult such persons, there is nothing they would 
rather do than that.
However, not all have this motive in coming up 
and making themselves a nuisance ; on the contrary, 
there are persons who indulge in this kind of 
curiosity and, in a way, are not bad persons either. 
These approach any whom, because of their dress, 
they take to be philosophers, expecting to hear from 
them some bit of wisdom which they could not hear 
from any one else, because they have heard regarding 
Socrates that he was not only wise but also accustomed 
to speak words of wisdom to those who approached him, 
and also regarding Diogenes, that he too was well provided 
with statement and answer on each and every topic. And the 
masses still remember the sayings of Diogenes, some of which 
he may have spoken himself, though some too were 
composed by others.
(12) Indeed, as for the maxims of the Seven Sages, they 
hear that these were even inscribed as dedications 
at Delphi in days gone by, firstfruits, as it were, 
of the wisdom of those men and at the same time 
intended for the edification of mankind, the idea 
being that these maxims were truly divine, and if 
I may say so, even more divine than the responses 
which the Pythian priestess was wont to give as 
she sat upon her tripod and filled herself with the 
breath of the god. For the response which is made 
to each for himself he listens to and then goes his 
way, and such responses are not dedicated and 
thereby made known to all mankind too ; but the 
maxims of the Seven Sages have been appointed 
for the common use of all who visit the god, as being 
profitable for all alike to know and to obey.
And there are those who think that Aesop too 
was somewhat like the Seven Sages, that while he 
was wise and sensible, yet he was crafty too and 
clever at composing tales such as they themselves 
would most enjoy to hear. And possibly they are 
not wholly mistaken in their suppositions and in 
reality Aesop did in this way try to admonish mankind 
and show them wherein they were in error, 
believing that they would be most tolerant toward 
him if they were amused by his humour and his 
tales—just as children, when their nurses tell them 
stories, not only pay attention to them but are 
amused as well. As the result, then, of this belief,
that they are going to hear from us too some such 
saying as Aesop used to utter, or Socrates, or Diogenes, 
they draw near and annoy and cannot leave in peace 
whomever they may see in this costume, any more 
than the birds can when they see an owl.
(14) Indeed, this is why Aesop composed a fable which 
I will relate. The birds came together to call upon 
the owl, and they begged her to withdraw from the 
shelter afforded by the human habitations and to 
transfer her nest to the trees, just like themselves, 
and to their branches, " whence," they declared, 
" it is actually possible to sing a clearer note." And 
in fact, as the fable has it, they stood ready to settle 
upon an oak, which was then just starting to grow, 
as soon as it should reach its prime, and to enjoy its 
green foliage. However, the story continues, the 
owl advised the birds not to do this and not to exult 
in the shoot of a plant whose nature it is to bear 
mistletoe, a bane to feathered folk. 

[72,15] But the birds 
not only did not applaud the owl for her advice, but, 
quite the reverse, they took delight in the oak as it 
grew, and when it was of proper size they alighted on 
it and sang. But because the mistletoe had grown on 
it, they now were easily captured by the men and 
repented of their conduct and admired the owl for 
her advice. And even to this day they feel this way 
about her, believing her to be shrewd and wise, and 
on this account they wish to get near her, believing 
that they are deriving some benefit from association 
with her ; but if they do, they will approach her, 
I fancy, all in vain and to their cost. For though that
owl of olden days was really wise and able to give 
advice, those of to-day merely have her feathers, 
eyes, and beak, but in all else they are more foolish 
than the other birds. (16) Therefore they cannot benefit 
even themselves ; for otherwise they would not be 
kept at the bird-catcher's, caged and in servitude.
Just so, though each of us has the garb of Socrates 
and Diogenes, in intellect we are far from being like 
those famous men, or from living as they did, or 
from uttering such noble thoughts. Therefore, for no 
other reason than because of our personal appearance, 
we, like the owls, collect a great company of those 
who in truth are birds, being fools ourselves besides 
being annoyed by others of like folly.