All animals are more happy, and have more understanding, than man. Look, for instance, on yonder ass; all allow him to be miserable: his evils, however, are not brought on him by himself and his own fault; he feels only those which Nature has inflicted. We, on the contrary, besides our necessary ills, draw upon ourselves a multitude of others.
ἅπαντα τὰ ζῷ᾿ ἐστὶ μακαριώτερα
καὶ νοῦν ἔχοντα μᾶλλον ἀνθρώπων πολύ.
τὸν ὄνον ὁρᾶν ἔξεστι πρῶτα τουτονί·
{οὗτος κακοδαίμων ἐστὶν ὁμολογουμένως.}
τούτῳ κακὸν δι᾿ αὑτὸν οὐδὲν γίνεται,
ἃ δ᾿ ἡ φύσις δέδωκεν, ⟨αὐτὰ⟩ ταῦτ᾿ ἔχει.
ἡμεῖς δὲ χωρὶς τῶν ἀναγκαίων κακῶν
αὐτοὶ παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ἕτερα προσπορίζομεν.
καὶ νοῦν ἔχοντα μᾶλλον ἀνθρώπων πολύ.
τὸν ὄνον ὁρᾶν ἔξεστι πρῶτα τουτονί·
{οὗτος κακοδαίμων ἐστὶν ὁμολογουμένως.}
τούτῳ κακὸν δι᾿ αὑτὸν οὐδὲν γίνεται,
ἃ δ᾿ ἡ φύσις δέδωκεν, ⟨αὐτὰ⟩ ταῦτ᾿ ἔχει.
ἡμεῖς δὲ χωρὶς τῶν ἀναγκαίων κακῶν
αὐτοὶ παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ἕτερα προσπορίζομεν.
Original text (Ancient Greek)