I have still a great deal that I might say; but I
willingly forego the rest for you, adding only this:
do as you like in everything else and do not cease to
indulge in such maudlin behaviour at your own
expense, but not that one thing—no, no! It is not
decent to ask people who so act to the same table, to
share a cup with them, and to partake of the same
food. And let there be none of this kissing after
lectures, either, especially with those who have made
‘nefandous’ apply to you not long before. And inasmuch as I have already begun to give friendly advice,



 

have done, if you please, with perfuming your grey
hair, and depilating only certain parts; for if some
ailment is besetting you, your whole body should be
attended to, but if nothing of that sort ails you, what
is the point of your making parts hairless, smooth,
and sleek which should not even be seen? One
thing only is prudent in you, your grey hairs, and
that you no longer dye them, so that you can have
them to cloak your iniquity. Spare them, in Heaven’s
name in this point also, and particularly your beard,
too; do not defile or mistreat it any longer. If
you must, let it be at night and in darkness; but
by day—no, no!—that is absolutely uncivilised and
beastly.
 
Do not you see that it would have been better for
you to “leave Camarina undisturbed,” The inhabitants of Camarina in Sicily, though warned by Delphi not to disturb the lagoon, also called Camarina, which flanked the city, drained it nevertheless. By so doing, a weakened their defences and brought about their city’s all. and not to
laugh at the word nefandous, which is going to make
your whole life nefandous? Or is something more
still required? As far as in me lies, it shall not
remain wanting. To be sure, you are not yet aware
that you have brought down the whole cartload on
top of you, though you ought to grovel, you glozing
varlet, if a man with hair on him, a swart-breech An allusion to the story of Heracles and the Cercopes; cf. Aristophanes, Lysistrata, 803. 
(to use the good old phrase) were simply to look at
you sourly. Perhaps you will even laugh at that,
too—that “glozing varlet”—as if you had heard
something enigmatic and riddling; for you do not
know the words for your actions. So you now have



 

an opportunity to libel these expressions also, in
case “nefandous” has not paid you out, three or
four times over. Anyhow, blame yourself for everything. As that pretty wit Euripides used to say, of
curbless mouths and folly and lawlessness the end is
mischance. Bacchae, 386 ff., loosely quoted, without attention to metre; καὶ ἀφροσύνης καὶ ἀνομίας is substituted for ἀνόμου τ᾽ ἀφροσύνας, and γίγνεται is added.