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Sextus Empiricus

Against the Professors, Books I-VI of Against the Learned Section 97

Section 680 of 757

Canonical reference 5.97

Ancient Greek

Hermann Mutschmann and Jürgen Mau, editors · adversus-grc

εἶτα μάταιον τὸ οἴεσθαι ζῴδιον κάλλιστον τὸν λέοντα τὸν ἐν οὐρανῷ ἀναλογίαν ἔχειν τῷ ἐπὶ γῆς· εἰκὸς γὰρ τοὺς παλαιούς τὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν ὀνομάτων τίθεσθαι κατὰ ψιλὴν τὴν τοῦ χαρακτῆρος ἐμφέρειαν, τάχα δέ οὐδὲ κατ᾿ αὐτὴν ἀλλʼ εὐσήμου χάριν διδασκαλίας.

English AI-generated translation, non-official

Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11

Next, it is foolish to suppose that the zodiacal figure of the Lion in heaven bears an analogy to the lion on earth. For it is likely that the ancients assigned such names merely from a resemblance in outline, or perhaps not even for that reason, but for the sake of easily intelligible instruction.

French AI-generated translation, non-official

Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11

Ensuite, il est vain de penser que le Lion, très beau signe du ciel, présente une analogie avec celui de la terre. Il est vraisemblable que les anciens aient donné de tels noms en raison d’une simple ressemblance de forme, peut-être même sans cette ressemblance, mais seulement pour faciliter l’enseignement au moyen de signes clairs.

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