English

Ἑλληνική Transliterate

This Candaules then of whom I speak had become passionately in love with his own wife ; and having become so , he deemed that his wife was fairer by far than all other women ; and thus deeming , to Gyges the son of Daskylos ( for he of all his spearmen was the most pleasing to him ) , to this Gyges , I say , he used to impart as well the more weighty of his affairs as also the beauty of his wife , praising it above measure : and after no long time , since it was destined that evil should happen to Candaules , he said to Gyges as follows : " Gyges , I think that thou dost not believe me when I tell thee of the beauty of my wife , for it happens that men ' s ears are less apt of belief than their eyes : contrive therefore means by which thou mayest look upon her naked . " But he cried aloud and said : " Master , what word of unwisdom is this which thou dost utter , bidding me look upon my mistress naked ? When a woman puts off her tunic she puts off her modesty also . Moreover of old time those fair sayings have been found out by men , from which we ought to learn wisdom ; and of these one is this , — that each man should look on his own : but I believe indeed that she is of all women the fairest and I entreat thee not to ask of me that which it is not lawful for me to do . "