Philippiques Passage 22

nulla contumelia est quam facit dignus. primum quid est dignus? nam etiam malo multi digni , sicut ipse. an quam facit is qui cum dignitate est? quae autem potest esse maior? quid est porro facere contumeliam? quis sic loquitur? deinde : nec timor quem denuntiat inimicus. quid ergo? ab amico timor denuntiari solet? Horum similia deinceps. nonne satius est mutum esse quam quod nemo intellegat dicere? en cur magister eius ex oratore arator factus sit, possideat in agro publico campi Leontini duo milia iugerum immunia, ut hominem stupidum magis etiam infatuet mercede publica.

'No insult is worthy that he makes.' First, what does 'worthy' mean? Many are worthy even of evil, as he himself is. Or does he mean an insult made by a man of dignity? What insult could be greater? And what does it mean to 'make an insult'? Who speaks that way? Then: 'Nor the fear that an enemy announces.' What, then? Is fear usually announced by a friend? The rest is of the same kind. Is it not better to be mute than to say what no one understands? See why his teacher was turned from an orator into a ploughman and possesses two thousand tax-free iugera of public land on the Leontine plain: so that at public expense he might make a stupid man even more foolish.

«Il n’est aucune injure que fait un homme digne.» D’abord, que signifie «digne»? Beaucoup sont aussi dignes du mal, comme lui-même. Veut-il dire: l’injure que fait un homme revêtu d’une dignité? Mais quelle injure peut être plus grande? Et que signifie donc «faire une injure»? Qui parle ainsi? Ensuite: «Ni la crainte que dénonce un ennemi.» Quoi donc? Est-ce un ami qui dénonce habituellement la crainte? La suite est du même genre. Ne vaut-il pas mieux être muet que de prononcer des paroles que personne ne comprend? Voilà pourquoi son maître, d’orateur devenu laboureur, possède gratuitement deux mille jugères du domaine public dans la plaine de Léontini: afin d’hébéter plus encore, aux frais de l’État, cet homme stupide.