An Athenian and a Theban were on the road together, and passed the time in conversation, as is the way of travelers. After discussing a variety of subjects they began to talk about heroes, a topic that tends to be more fertile than edifying1. Each of them was lavish2 in his praises of the heroes of his own city, until eventually the Theban asserted that Hercules was the greatest hero who had ever lived on earth, and now occupied a foremost place among the gods; while the Athenian insisted that Theseus was far superior, for his fortune had been in every way supremely3 blessed, whereas Hercules had at one time been forced to act as a servant. And he gained his point, for he was a very glib4 fellow, like all Athenians; so that the Theban, who was no match for him in talking; cried at last in some disgust, "All right, have your way; I only hope that, when our heroes are angry with us, Athens may suffer from the anger of Hercules, and Thebes only from that of Theseus."

　　一個雅典人和一個底比斯人一同走在路上，就像其他旅行者一樣，他們用聊天來打發(fā)時間。聊了一些其他話題之后，他們開始談起英雄，雖然沒有什么教育意義，但這可是一個頗有談資的內(nèi)容，一提到贊美各自城市的英雄，兩個人侃侃而談。后來，底比斯斷言，赫拉克勒斯是地球上曾經(jīng)存在過的最偉大的英雄，現(xiàn)在占據(jù)了眾神之中的首要位置。而雅典人則堅持認(rèn)為，提修斯遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過了赫拉克勒斯，因?yàn)樗拿\(yùn)在各方面都得到了充分的眷顧，而赫拉克勒斯曾一度被迫充當(dāng)奴隸。他達(dá)到了自己的目的，因?yàn)樗袼醒诺淙艘粯?，是一個非常圓滑的家伙。而底比斯人在談話中根本不是他的對手，最后有些反感地大吼道：“好吧，隨便你，我只希望，當(dāng)我們的英雄對我們生氣時，雅典人會從赫拉克勒斯的憤怒中遭殃，而底比斯人則從提修斯的憤怒中受苦。”