Laudator Temporis Acti

Libanius, Declamations 12.11-14 (Timon speaking; tr. D.A. Russell):

[11] I lived a happy and enviable life, seeing no one, hearing no one, having no company, talking occasionally to my dog, and not so much as letting a neighbour share my fire, should one come to ask, but shutting my eyes and clapping my hands over my ears if any sound of approaching humanity was audible.

[12] If I saw a picture of a human being on a wall, I would gouge it out; I regularly ran away from my own shadow, because, when I was standing at the water's edge, I often saw from the image that I myself was a human being. I detested even those dreams that brought me into human company, and would jump up in the middle of my sleep because I could not bear the vision. Indeed I often detested myself, because I was by nature human. It distressed me, I swear, whenever I reflected that some among you have recollections of me, for I did not want to be remembered by you so much as in word or even in mere thought.

[13] I had such an abundance of affection for mankind that my hatred extended to the gods and their images, because the wretched humans fashioned them in their own form. I hated the Egyptians, of course — they are human, after all — but I approved of their making the images of their gods in animal rather than in human form, because they thought dogs a much more appropriate likeness for the gods than men.

[14] I used to pray that Phaethon's chariot would one day fall upon us, and the vast cataclysm of which the poets tell. There could have been no happier event than the annihilation of the whole human race by fire and sword and water, and the purification of the earth by fire as it were from a pestilence.

[11] ζηλωτόν τινα καὶ μακάριον διῆγον βίον οὐ θεώμενος ἄνθρωπον, οὐκ ἀκούων οὐδενός, οὐ προσομιλῶν, ὀλίγα τῷ κυνὶ διαλεγόμενος, καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς εἴ τις προσίοι μετασχεῖν ἐθέλων, κἀκείνῳ φθονῶν, συστέλλων τὰς ὄψεις, πάλιν ἐπιβάλλων τὰς χεῖρας ταῖς ἀκοαῖς, εἴ πού τις ἀνθρώπων κτύπος προσιόντων ἠκούετο.

[12] καὶ τὸν τοῖχον δ' ἐξώρυττον, εἴπου τινὰ γεγραμμένον ἴδοιμι ἄνθρωπον, καὶ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ σκιὰν συνεχῶς ἀπεδίδρασκον, ὅτι δὴ πολλάκις ἐφιστάμενος τοῖς νάμασιν ἄνθρωπον ἐμαυτὸν ἑώρων διὰ τῆς εἰκόνος. ἐμίσουν δὲ καὶ τῶν ὀνείρων ἐκείνους οἳ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁμιλίαν ἡμᾶς ἦγον, καὶ συνεχῶς ἐκ μέσων ἀνεπήδων τῶν ὕπνων οὐ φέρων τὴν θέαν. καὶ ἐμαυτὸν δ' ἐμίσουν πολλάκις, ὅτι δὴ τὴν φύσιν ἄνθρωπος ἦν. ἐλύπει δέ με κἀκεῖνο, νὴ τοὺς θεούς, εἴποτ' ἐνθυμηθείην ὡς ἄρα μνήμην τινὰ ἔχουσι παρ' ὑμῖν τινές. οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ ἄχρι ῥήματος καὶ ψιλῆς ὑπονοίας ἠβουλόμην παρ' ὑμῖν μνημονεύεσθαι.

[13] τοσοῦτον δέ μοι περιῆν τοῦ φίλτρου τοῦ πρὸς ἄνθρωπον ὥστε καὶ μέχρι θεῶν καὶ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ἐξετείνετο τὸ μῖσος, ὅτι δὴ τούτους οἱ κατάρατοι πρὸς τὴν αὑτῶν μορφὴν ἐξετύπουν ἄνθρωποι. καὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ἐμίσουν μέν, τί γὰρ οὐκ ἔμελλον ἀνθρώπους ὄντας; καθ' ἓν δὲ τοῦτο ἀπεδεχόμην, ὅτι δὴ τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἀγάλματα οὐκ ἀνθρωποειδῆ, θηριωδέστερον δέ τινα ἔχοντα τὸν τύπον κατεσκεύαζον πολὺ ‹πλέον› τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοὺς κύνας πρέπειν θεοῖς πρὸς τὴν εἰκασίαν πιστεύσαντες.

[14] ηὐχόμην δὲ τὴν Φαέθοντος διφρείαν ἐπιστῆναί ποτε καὶ τὸν πολὺν κατακλυσμὸν ἐκεῖνον ὃν οἱ ποιηταὶ θρυλοῦσιν. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἂν ἦν εὐτυχέστερον ἢ τὸ σύμπαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος ἀφανισθῆναι πυρὶ καὶ σιδήρῳ καὶ ὕδατι καὶ τὴν γῆν ὥσπέρ τινος νοσήματος ἀπαλλαγῆναι καθαρθεῖσαν τῷ πυρί.