'hoc unum' inquit 'de uobis, di inmortales, queri possum, quod non ante mihi notam uoluntatem uestram fecistis; prior enim ad ista uenissem ad quae nunc uocatus adsum. Vultis liberos sumere? uobis illos sustuli. Vultis aliquam partem corporis? sumite: non magnam rem promitto, cito totum relinquam. Vultis spiritum? quidni nullam moram faciam quo minus recipiatis quod dedisti? A uolente feretis quidquid petieritis. Quid ergo est? maluissem offerre quam tradere. Quid opus fuit auferre? accipere potuistis; sed ne nunc quidem auferetis, quia nihil eripitur nisi retinenti.
Modern rendering
Close to the words
Literal English · editorial draft
Immortal gods, I have one complaint against you: that you did not make your will known to me sooner. I would have come earlier to what I have now been summoned to. Do you wish to take my children? I raised them for you. Do you wish to take some part of my body? Take it; I offer no great thing, since I shall soon relinquish the whole. Do you wish my breath of life? Why not? I shall make no delay in your receiving what you gave. Whatever you ask, I shall give willingly. What, then, troubles me? I would have preferred to offer these things rather than surrender them. What need was there to take them away? You could have received it from me. Even now, you cannot take anything from me, because no one is robbed unless he resists.
An editorial aid to reading, not a substitute for the original. About this rendering
"Immortal gods," he said, "I have this one complaint to make against you, that you did not earlier make known your will to me; for I should have reached the sooner that condition in which, after being summoned, I now am. Do you wish to take my children? - it was for you that I fathered them. Do you wish to take some member of my body? - take it; no great thing am I offering you; very soon I shall leave the whole. Do you wish to take my life? - why not? I shall make no protest against your taking back what once you gave. With my free consent you shall have whatever you may ask of me. What, then, is my trouble? I should have preferred to offer than to relinquish. What was the need to take by force? You might have had it as a gift. Yet even now you will not take it by force, because nothing can be wrenched away from a man unless he withholds it.”
Transcribed from the linked Basore edition, including the narrator’s “he said”.
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Sources & notes
Demetrius is a Cynic philosopher, quoted approvingly by Seneca. This is a related voice, not a claim that he was a Stoic.
Historical editions may include surrounding context or use different phrasing. Parallel columns compare passages; their lines are not word-for-word alignments.