(42) τούτου δὲ αἴτιον ἔφη εἶναι ὅτι φιλήκοοί εἰσιν οἱ Ἕλληνες· ἃ δ´ ἂν ἀκούσωσιν 
ἡδέως τινὸς λέγοντος, ταῦτα καὶ ἀληθῆ νομίζουσι, καὶ τοῖς μὲν ποιηταῖς 
ἐπιτρέπουσιν ὅ,τι ἂν θέλωσι ψεύδεσθαι καί φασιν ἐξεῖναι αὐτοῖς, ὅμως δὲ 
πιστεύουσιν οἷς ἂν ἐκεῖνοι λέγωσι, καὶ μάρτυρας αὐτοὺς ἐπάγονται ἐνίοτε περὶ
 ὧν ἀμφισβητοῦσι· παρὰ δὲ Αἰγυπτίοις μὴ ἐξεῖναι μηδὲν ἐμμέτρως λέγεσθαι μηδὲ 
εἶναι ποίησιν τὸ παράπαν· ἐπίστασθαι γὰρ ὅτι φάρμακον τοῦτο ἡδονῆς ἐστι πρὸς 
τὴν ἀκοήν. ὥσπερ οὖν οἱ διψῶντες οὐδὲν δέονται οἴνου, ἀλλ´ ἀπόχρη αὐτοῖς 
ὕδατος πιεῖν, οὕτως οἱ τἀληθῆ εἰδέναι θέλοντες οὐδὲν δέονται μέτρων, ἀλλ´
 ἐξαρκεῖ αὐτοῖς ἁπλῶς ἀκοῦσαι. (43) ἡ δὲ ποίησις ἀναπείθει τὰ ψευδῆ
 ἀκούειν ὥσπερ ὁ οἶνος πίνειν μάτην.

This, he [interlocuteur de Dion Chrys.] claimed, was due to the Greek love 
of pleasure. Whatever they delight to hear from anyone's lips they at once consider to 
be true. They give their poets full licence to tell any untruth they wish, and they 
declare that this is the poets' privilege. Yet they trust them in everything they say and 
even quote them at times as witnesses in matters of dispute. Among the Egyptians, 
however, it is illegal to say anything in verse. Indeed they have no poetry at all, since 
they know this is but the charm with which pleasure lures the ear. " Therefore," said 
he, " just as the thirsty have no need of wine, but a drink of water suffices them, so too 
seekers after truth have no need of verse, but it is quite enough for them to hear the 
unadorned truth. Poetry, however, tempts them to listen to falsehood just as wine 
leads to overdrinking."

Trad. anglaise : J.W. COHOON - H. Lamar CROSBY, Dio Chrysostom.  
Vol. I. London, Heinemann, 1932