(53) ἀλλ´ ἐγὼ βούλομαί τινα λόγον ὑμῖν εἰπεῖν, ὃν ἴσως καὶ ἄλλοτε ἀκηκόατε. 
τῶν γὰρ ἐνθάδε δεινῶν τινα λέγουσιν  εἴς τινα πόλιν ἐλθεῖν αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἔργον 
πεποιημένον,  ὥστε εὐθὺς εἰδέναι τὸν τρόπον ἑκάστου καὶ διηγεῖσθαι τὰ
 προσόντα, καὶ μηδενὸς ὅλως ἀποτυγχάνειν· ἀλλ´ ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς τὰ ζῷα 
γιγνώσκομεν ὁρῶντες, ὅτι τοῦτο μέν ἐστι πρόβατον, εἰ τύχοι, τοῦτο δὲ κύων, 
τοῦτο δὲ ἵππος ἢ βοῦς· οὕτως ἐκεῖνος τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἠπίστατο ὁρῶν καὶ λέγειν 
ἠδύνατο ὅτι οὗτος μὲν ἀνδρεῖος,  οὗτος δὲ δειλός, οὗτος δὲ ἀλαζών, οὗτος δὲ 
ὑβριστὴς ἢ (54) κίναιδος ἢ μοιχός. ὡς οὖν θαυμαστὸς ἦν ἐπιδεικνύμενος καὶ 
οὐδαμῇ  διημάρτανε, προσάγουσιν αὐτῷ σκληρόν τινα τὸ σῶμα καὶ σύνοφρυν 
ἄνθρωπον, αὐχμῶντα καὶ φαύλως διακείμενον καὶ ἐν ταῖς χερσὶ τύλους ἔχοντα, 
φαιόν τι καὶ τραχὺ περιβεβλημένον ἱμάτιον,  δασὺν ἕως τῶν σφυρῶν καὶ φαύλως 
κεκαρμένον· καὶ τοῦτον ἠξίουν εἰπεῖν ὅστις ἦν. ὁ δὲ ὡς πολὺν χρόνον ἑώρα, 
τελευταῖον ὀκνῶν μοι δοκεῖ τὸ παριστάμενον λέγειν οὐκ ἔφη ξυνιέναι, καὶ 
 βαδίζειν αὐτὸν ἐκέλευσεν. ἤδη δὲ ἀποχωρῶν πτάρνυται· κἀκεῖνος εὐθὺς 
ἀνεβόησεν ὡς εἴη κίναιδος.

(53) But I should like to tell you a story, one that you may possibly have heard 
before. It seems that one of the clever people of Tarsus—so the story runs-
once went to a certain city. He was a man who had made it his special business to 
recognize instantly the character of each individual and to be able to describe his 
qualities, and he had never failed with any person; but just as we recognize animals 
when we see them and know that this, for instance, is a sheep, if such is the case, and 
this a dog and this a horse or ox, so that man understood human beings when he saw 
them and could say that this one was brave and this one a coward and this one an 
impostor and this man wanton or a catamite or an adulterer. Because, therefore, he 
was noted for his display of power and never made a mistake, the people brought 
before him a person of rugged frame and knitted brows, squalid and in sorry state 
and with callouses on his hands, wrapped in a sort of coarse, gray mantle, his body 
shaggy as far as the ankles and his locks wretchedly shingled ; and our friend was 
asked to tell what this man was. But after he had observed the man for a long while, 
the expert finally, with seeming reluctance to say what was in his mind, professed 
that he did not understand the case and bade the man move along. But j ust as the 
fellow was leaving, he sneezed, whereupon our friend immediately cried out that the 
man was a catamite.

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