πυθομένου δέ τινος εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς ἥκοι τὸν ἀγῶνα θεασόμενος, οὐκ, ἔφη, 
ἀλλ´ ἀγωνιούμενος. καὶ ὃς ἐγέλασέ τε καὶ ἤρετο αὐτὸν τίνας ἔχοι τοὺς 
ἀνταγωνιστάς. 
(8,12) ὁ δὲ ὥσπερ εἰώθει ὑποβλέψας, Τοὺς χαλεπωτάτους, εἶπε, καὶ ἀμαχωτάτους, 
οἷς οὐδεὶς δύναται ἀντιβλέψαι τῶν Ἑλλήνων, οὐ μέντοι διατρέχοντας ἢ 
παλαίοντας ἢ διαπηδῶντας οὐδὲ πυκτεύοντας καὶ ἀκοντίζοντας καὶ δισκεύοντας 
{ἀλλὰ τοὺς σωφρονίζοντας}.
...

(8,15) οἶμαι γὰρ αὐτοὺς τῶν ὑῶν ἥττονα ψυχὴν ἔχειν. ὁ δὲ ἀνὴρ ὁ γενναῖος 
ἡγεῖται τοὺς πόνους ἀνταγωνιστὰς μεγίστους, καὶ τούτοις ἀεὶ φιλεῖ μάχεσθαι καὶ 
τὴν νύκτα καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν, οὐχ ὑπὲρ σελίνου, ὥσπερ αἱ αἶγες, οὐδὲ κοτίνου καὶ 
πίτυος, ἀλλὰ ὑπὲρ εὐδαιμονίας καὶ ἀρετῆς παρὰ πάντα τὸν βίον, οὐχ ὅταν 
Ἠλεῖοι προείπωσιν ἢ Κορίνθιοι ἢ τὸ κοινὸν Θετταλῶν, μηδένα αὐτῶν 
φοβούμενον μηδὲ εὐχόμενον ἄλλῳ λαχεῖν, 
(8,16) ἀλλὰ προκαλούμενον ἐφεξῆς ἅπαντας, καὶ λιμῷ φιλονεικοῦντα καὶ ψύχει 
καὶ δίψος ὑπομένοντα, κἂν δέῃ μαστιγούμενον καρτερεῖν καὶ τεμνόμενον καὶ 
καόμενον μηδὲν μαλακὸν ἐνδιδόντα· πενίαν δὲ καὶ φυγὴν καὶ ἀδοξίαν καὶ τὰ 
τοιαῦτα μηδὲν ἡγεῖσθαι δεινὸν αὑτῷ, ἀλλὰ πάνυ κοῦφα, καὶ πολλάκις παίζειν
ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν τέλειον, ὥσπερ οἱ παῖδες τοῖς ἀστραγάλοις
καὶ ταῖς σφαίραις ταῖς ποικίλαις.


 

And when a certain man asked whether he too came to see the contest, he said, "No, 
but to take part." Then when the man laughed and asked him who his competitors 
were, 12 he said with that customary glance  of his: "The toughest there are and the 
hardest to beat, men whom no Greek can look straight in the eye; not competitors, 
however, who sprint, or wrestle or jump, not those that box, throw the spear, and 
hurl the discus, but those that chasten a man."
...

But the noble man holds his hardships to be his greatest antagonists, and with them 
he is ever wont to battle day and night, not to win a sprig of parsley  as so many 
goats might do, nor for a bit of wild olive,  or of pine,  but to win happiness and 
virtue throughout all the days of his life, and not merely when the Eleans make 
proclamation, or the Corinthians, or the Thessalian assembly.  He is afraid of none of 
those opponents nor does he pray to draw another antagonist, 16 but challenges 
them one after another, grappling with hunger and cold, withstanding thirst, and 
disclosing no weakness even though he must endure the lash or give his body to be 
cut or burned. Hunting, exile, loss of reputation, and the like have no terrors for him; 
nay, he holds them as mere trifles, and while in their very grip the perfect man is 
often as sportive as boys with their dice and their coloured balls.


Trad. anglaise : J.W. COHOON - H. Lamar CROSBY, Dio Chrysostom.  
 Vol. II. London, Heinemann, 1939