(16) τί οὖν προθυμεῖσθε ἀκούειν ὧν οὐκ ἀνέξεσθε; ἀλλὰ μὴν τοιοῦτον 
πεπόνθατε οἷον Αἴσωπος ἔφη τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς παθεῖν, ἐπειδὴ ἑαυτοὺς 
μὲν ἐνόμιζον  πλείστου εἶναι ἀξίους, τὸ στόμα δὲ ἑώρων ἀπολαῦον τῶν
 τε ἄλλων καὶ δὴ τοῦ μέλιτος ἡδίστου ὄντος. οὐκοῦν ἠγανάκτουν τε καὶ 
ἐμέμφοντο τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ. ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτοῖς ἐνῆκε τοῦ μέλιτος,  οἱ δὲ ἐδάκνοντό τε 
καὶ ἐδάκρυον καὶ δριμὺ καὶ ἀηδὲς αὐτὸ ἡγοῦντο. μὴ οὖν καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπιζητεῖτε 
γεύσασθαι τῶν ἐκ φιλοσοφίας  λόγων, ὥσπερ ὀφθαλμοὶ μέλιτος· ἔπειτα οἶμαι καὶ 
δακνόμενοι  δυσχερανεῖτε καὶ φήσετε ἴσως οὐδαμῶς φιλοσοφίαν εἶναι τὸ 
τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ λοιδορίαν καὶ βλάβην.

(16) Why, then, are you eager to hear what you will not endure ? Something must 
have happened to you like what Aesop says happened to the eyes. They 
believed themselves to be the most important organs of the body, and yet they 
observed that it was the mouth that got the benefit of most things and in 
particular of honey, the sweetest thing of all. So they were angry and even found 
fault with their owner. But when he placed in them some of the honey, they smarted 
and wept and thought it a stinging, unpleasant substance. Therefore, do not you 
yourselves seek to taste the words that philosophy has to offer, as the eyes tasted 
honey; if you do, methinks, not only will you be vexed when they cause a smart, 
but perhaps you will even say that such a thing cannot possibly be philosophy, but 
rather abuse and mischief.

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