σκοπεῖτε δὲ μὴ περὶ ὑμῶν ἀληθέστερον οὗτοι λέγωσιν ἢ περὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων 
Ἀνάχαρσιν τὸν Σκύθην φασὶν εἰπεῖν· ἐδόκει μὲν γὰρ εἶναι τῶν σοφῶν· ἧκε δὲ εἰς
 τὴν Ἑλλάδα θεασόμενος οἶμαι τά τε ἔθη καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους· ἔλεγεν οὖν ὡς 
ἔστιν ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀποδεδειγμένον χωρίον, ἐν ᾧ μαίνονται 
καθ´ ἡμέραν, τὸ γυμνάσιον λέγων· ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ἐλθόντες ἀποδύσωνται, χρίονται 
φαρμάκῳ. τοῦτο δὲ ἔφη κινεῖν αὐτοῖς τὴν μανίαν. εὐθὺς γὰρ οἱ μὲν τρέχουσιν, οἱ 
δὲ καταβάλλουσιν ἀλλήλους, οἱ δὲ τὼ χεῖρε ἀνατείναντες μάχονται πρὸς οὐδένα 
ἀνθρώπων, οἱ δὲ παίονται. ταῦτα δὲ ποιήσαντες, ἀποξυσάμενοι τὸ φάρμακον 
αὐτίκα σωφρονοῦσι, καὶ φιλικῶς αὑτοῖς ἤδη ἔχοντες βαδίζουσι κάτω ὁρῶντες, 
αἰσχυνόμενοι τοῖς πεπραγμένοις.

And take heed lest these people prove to have spoken more truthfully about you 
than Anacharsisthe Scythian is said to have spoken about the Greeks—for he was 
held to be one of the sages, and he came to Greece, I suppose, to observe the customs 
and the people. Anacharsis said that in each city of the Greeks there is a place set 
apart in which they act insanely day after day—meaning the gymnasium —for when 
they go there and strip off their clothes, they smear themselves with a drug (olive 
oil). "And this," said he, " arouses the madness in them; for immediately some run, 
others throw each other down, others put up their hands and fight an imaginary foe, 
and others submit to blows. And when they have behaved in that fashion," said he, 
" they scrape off the drug and straightway are sane again and, now on friendly terms 
with one another, they walk with downcast glance, being ashamed at what has 
occurred."

Trad. anglaise : J.W. COHOON - H. Lamar CROSBY, Dio Chrysostom. 
 Vol. III. London, Heinemann, 1940