καὶ τὸν Παλαμήδην οὐδὲν ὤνησεν  αὐτὸν εὑρόντα τὰ γράμματα πρὸς τὸ μὴ 
ἀδίκως ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν  τῶν ὑπ´ αὐτοῦ παιδευθέντων καταλευσθέντα 
ἀποθανεῖν· ἀλλ´ ἕως μὲν ἦσαν ἀγράμματοι καὶ ἀμαθεῖς τούτου τοῦ μαθήματος,  
ζῆν αὐτὸν εἴων· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τούς τε ἄλλους ἐδίδαξε γράμματα καὶ τοὺς Ἀτρείδας 
δῆλον ὅτι πρώτους, καὶ μετὰ τῶν γραμμάτων τοὺς φρυκτοὺς ὅπως χρὴ ἀνέχειν 
καὶ ἀριθμεῖν τὸ πλῆθος, ἐπεὶ πρότερον οὐκ ᾔδεσαν οὐδὲ καλῶς ἀριθμῆσαι τὸν 
ὄχλον, ὥσπερ οἱ ποιμένες τὰ πρόβατα, τηνικαῦτα σοφώτεροι γενόμενοι καὶ 
ἀμείνους(22) ἀπέκτειναν αὐτόν.

And his invention of the letters of the alphabet availed Palamedes naught to save 
him fromsuffering injustice at the hands of the very Achaeans who had been 
instructed by him and from being put to death by stoning. But as long as they were 
unlettered and unacquainted with this special learning of his, they permitted him to 
live. When, however, he had taught the others to read and write, and the Atreidae of 
course first of all, and along with their letters had shown them how to raise bale-fires 
and how to count the host—for previously they had not known how to count the 
multitude properly, as shepherds do their sheep —as soon as they had become more 
clever and proficient, then it was that they slew him.

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