To Iphicrates.
I asked what our fine Iphicrates has been up to, and I heard that he causes no trouble to any human being, but is quite the terror of wild animals -- and that the same activities which grieve the beasts delight Artemis herself. For we are well aware of what the poets say the goddess enjoys.
Then I asked whether he still spoke of me among his friends as a friend would, and I learned that at every gathering he always says something or other without actually saying it [i.e., implies his regard without stating it directly].
Wondering, then, how you have arrived at this silence toward me -- given all those lavish praises you once scattered across the world -- I have worked it out. In your youth, you were deceived and took a jackdaw for a swan. But old age has taught you that a jackdaw is, after all, just a jackdaw. We, however, considered you a swan then and consider you one still.
**To Iphicrates.**
I asked what our fine Iphicrates was up to, and I heard that he causes no man any grief, but causes the wild beasts a great deal — and that by the very same means he grieves those creatures he delights Artemis, for we are not unaware of those things by which the poets say the goddess takes pleasure.
I asked again whether he made mention of me among his friends, as one does of a friend, and I learned that in his gatherings, though he is always saying something, this is one thing he does not say.
Seeking, then, the reason you have fallen into this silence toward us — after all those abundant praises you once scattered across the world — I discovered that back then you were deceived by youth and took a jackdaw for a swan, but that old age has taught you to regard the jackdaw as what it is: a jackdaw. Well, *we* at any rate regarded you as a swan then, and still do now.
I asked what our fine Iphicrates has been up to, and I heard that he causes no trouble to any human being, but is quite the terror of wild animals -- and that the same activities which grieve the beasts delight Artemis herself. For we are well aware of what the poets say the goddess enjoys.
Then I asked whether he still spoke of me among his friends as a friend would, and I learned that at every gathering he always says something or other without actually saying it [i.e., implies his regard without stating it directly].
Wondering, then, how you have arrived at this silence toward me -- given all those lavish praises you once scattered across the world -- I have worked it out. In your youth, you were deceived and took a jackdaw for a swan. But old age has taught you that a jackdaw is, after all, just a jackdaw. We, however, considered you a swan then and consider you one still.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.