(6) τὴν δέ γε Ὁμήρου ποίησιν μόνην ὁρῶ τῷ ὄντι γενναίαν καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῆ 
 καὶ βασιλικήν, ᾗ πρέπει τὸν νοῦν προσέχειν ἄνδρα μάλιστα μὲν ἄρξειν 
μέλλοντα τῶν ὅποι ποτὲ ἀνθρώπων, εἰ δὲ μή, τῶν πλείστων καὶ φανερωτάτων, 
ἀτεχνῶς γε ἐσόμενον κατ´ ἐκεῖνον ποιμένα λαῶν. ἢ πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπον ἵππῳ μὲν 
μὴ ἐθέλειν ἢ τῷ ἀρίστῳ χρῆσθαι τὸν βασιλέα, τῶν δὲ ποιητῶν καὶ τοῖς ἥττοσιν 
ἐντυγχάνειν, 
(7) ὥσπερ σχολὴν ἄγοντα; εὖ ἴσθι, ἔφη, ὦ πάτερ, ἐγὼ οὐ μόνον ποιητὴν ἕτερον, 
ἀλλ´ οὐδὲ μέτρον ἄλλο ἢ τὸ Ὁμήρου ἡρῷον ἀκούων ἀνέχομαι.

The poetry of Homer, however, I look upon as alone truly noble and lofty and suited 
to a king, worthy of the attention of a real man, particularly if he expects to rule over 
all the peoples of the earth—or at any rate over most of them, and those the most 
prominent —if he is to be, in the strict sense of the term, what Homer calls a ` 
shepherd of the people.'  Or would it not be absurd for a king to refuse to use any 
horse but the best and yet, when it is a question of poets, to read the poorer ones as 
though he had nothingelse to do ? On my word, father, I not only cannot endure to 
hear any other poet recited but Homer, but even object to any other metre than 
Homer's heroic hexameter."

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