Home >  Passages > Xenophon Symposium 4.29-31

Charmides explains how to live in the city and explores the problems of being rich, going on to explain why a poor man has fewer worries.
οὐκοῦν τόδε μέν, ἔφη, ὁμολογεῖται, κρεῖττον εἶναι θαρρεῖν ἢ φοβεῖσθαι καὶ ἐλεύθερον εἶναι μᾶλλον ἢ δουλεύειν καὶ θεραπεύεσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ θεραπεύειν καὶ πιστεύεσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς πατρίδος μᾶλλον ἢ ἀπιστεῖσθαι.

ἐγὼ τοίνυν ἐν τῇδε τῇ πόλει ὅτε μὲν πλούσιος ἦν πρῶτον μὲν ἐφοβούμην μή τίς μου τὴν οἰκίαν διορύξας καὶ τὰ χρήματα λάβοι καὶ αὐτόν τί με κακὸν ἐργάσαιτο· ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τοὺς συκοφάντας ἐθεράπευον, εἰδὼς ὅτι παθεῖν μᾶλλον κακῶς ἱκανὸς εἴην ἢ ποιῆσαι ἐκείνους. καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ προσετάττετο μὲν ἀεί τί μοι δαπανᾶν ὑπὸ τῆς πόλεως, ἀποδημῆσαι δὲ οὐδαμοῦ ἐξῆν.

νῦν δ’ ἐπειδὴ τῶν ὑπερορίων στέρομαι καὶ τὰ ἔγγεια οὐ καρποῦμαι καὶ τὰ ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας πέπραται, ἡδέως μὲν καθεύδω ἐκτεταμένος, πιστὸς δὲ τῇ πόλει γεγένημαι, οὐκέτι δὲ ἀπειλοῦμαι, ἀλλ’ ἤδη ἀπειλῶ ἄλλοις, ὡς ἐλευθέρῳ τε ἔξεστί μοι καὶ ἀποδημεῖν καὶ ἐπιδημεῖν· ὑπανίστανται δέ μοι ἤδη καὶ θάκων καὶ ὁδῶν ἐξίστανται οἱ πλούσιοι.
ὁμολογεῖται: used impersonally here
θαρρέω: “be of good courage”, “be confident”
θεραπεύω: “flatter”, “lavish attention on”
διορύσσω: “dig through”
δαπανάω: “to spend”
τὰ ὑπερόρια: “foreign property”
τὰ ἔγγεια: “local property”
καρπόομαι: “profit from”
πιπράσκω: “sell”
ἀπειλέω: “threaten”
ὑπανίσταμαι: “stand up (as a mark of respect)”
θᾶκος, -ου, m.: “chair”, “seat”
(1A 2 2009)

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