(17,13) αὐτίκα γοῦν οἱ τῆς Ἰοκάστης υἱεῖς {οὐκ}, ἐπεὶ διέστησαν τοῦ πλείονος 
χάριν, ὁ μὲν μόνος ἄρχειν βουλόμενος, ὁ δ´ ἐξ ἅπαντος τρόπου ζητῶν 
κομίσασθαι τῆς δυναστείας τὸ μέρος, οὐκ ἀδελφοὶ μὲν ὄντες ἀλλήλους 
ἀπέκτειναν, μεγάλων δὲ κακῶν αἴτιοι κατέστησαν τοῖς συναραμένοις ἀμφότεροι, 
τῶν μὲν ἐπιστρατευσάντων παραχρῆμα ἀπολομένων, τῶν δὲ ἀμυναμένων μετὰ 
μικρὸνἡττηθέντων, ἐπειδὴ τοὺς νεκροὺς οὐκ εἴων ταφῆναι; 
(17,14) καὶ μὴν δι´ ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς πλεονεξίαν, τοῦ τὴν Ἑλένην ἁρπάσαντος καὶ τὰ 
τοῦ Μενελάου κτήματα,  οἱ τὴν  μεγίστην τῆς Ἀσίας οἰκοῦντες πόλιν ἀπώλοντο 
μετὰ παίδων καὶ γυναικῶν, καὶ μίαν γυναῖκα ὑποδεξάμενοι καὶ χρήματα ὀλίγα 
τηλικαύτην τιμωρίαν ἔτισαν. ὁ τοίνυν Ξέρξης, ὁ τῆς ἑτέρας ἠπείρου κύριος, 
ἐπειδὴ καὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐπεθύμησε καὶ τοσοῦτον στόλον καὶ τοσαύτας μυριάδας 
συναγαγὼν ἤλασεν, ἅπασαν μὲν αἰσχρῶς ἀπέβαλε τὴν δύναμιν, μόλις δὲ τὸ 
σῶμα ἴσχυσε διασῶσαι φεύγων αὐτός. πορθουμένης δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα τῆς χώρας 
καὶ τῶν πόλεων τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ φέρειν ἠναγκάζετο. 
(17,15) καὶ μὴν Πολυκράτην φασίν, ἕως μὲν Σάμου μόνης ἦρχεν, 
εὐδαιμονέστατον ἁπάντων γενέσθαι· βουλόμενον δέ τι καὶ τῶν πέραν  πολυπραγμονεῖν, 
διαπλεύσαντα πρὸς Ὀροίτην, ὡς χρήματα λάβοι, μηδὲ 
ῥᾳδίου γε θανάτου τυχεῖν, ἀλλὰ ἀνασκολοπισθέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ βαρβάρου 
διαφθαρῆναι.

 

13 Illustrations are at hand: Did not the sons of Iocasta,  when they became at 
variance in their desire for more, the one wishing to be sole ruler, and the other 
seeking by fair means or foul to secure his portion of the kingdom — did they not, 
though brothers, slay each the other and bring the greatest evils, both of them, upon 
those who espoused their causes, since the invaders of the land straightway perished, 
while those who fought to defend it were worsted soon after because they would not 
allow the corpses to be buried? 14 And again, on account of the greed of one man 
who carried off Helen and the possessions of Menelaus, the inhabitants of Asia's 
greatest city perished along with their children and wives, for harbouring one 
woman and a little property they paid so huge a penalty. Then take the case of 
Xerxes, the master of the other continent. When he cast covetous eyes upon Greece 
too, and collected and brought against her so mighty a fleet and so many myriads, he 
shamefully lost all his armament and with difficulty saved his own person by taking 
to flight himself; and afterwards (p201) he was forced to endure the ravishing of his 
country and of his cities on the seacoast. 15 As a further illustration take Polycrates: 
They say that so long as he was ruler of Samos alone he enjoyed the greatest felicity 
of any man in the whole world; but that when he wished to meddle somewhat in the 
affairs of the people of the opposite mainland and sailed across for the purpose of 
getting money from Orestes, he met with no easy death, but was impaled by that 
barbarian prince and thus perished.  

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