Lying on the bare earth, shoeless, bearded, half-naked, he looked like a beggar or a lunatic. He was one, but not the other. He had opened his eyes with the sun at dawn, scratched, done his business like a dog at the roadside, washed at the public fountain, begged a piece of breakfast bread and a few olives, eaten them squatting on the ground, and washed them down with a few handfuls of water scooped from the spring. Having no work to go to and no family to provide for, he was free. As the market place filled up with shoppers and merchants and slaves and foreigners, he had strolled through it for an hour or two. Everybody knew him, or knew of him. They would throw sharp questions at him and get sharper answers. Sometimes they threw bits of food, and got scant thanks; sometimes a mischievous pebble, and got a shower of stones and abuse. They were not quite sure whether he was mad or not. He knew they were mad, each in a different way; they amused him. Now he was back at his home

他光着脚,胡子拉碴,半裸着身子,躺在光秃秃的地上.看上去他象个乞丐或者疯子.他当然不是疯子.天刚亮他就睁眼醒了,挠着痒,象狗似的在路旁撒了尿,到公共喷泉旁洗了洗.他乞讨一片作为早餐的面包和一些橄榄,蹲在地上就吃,然后从喷泉那捧几口水把食物送下肚.他无工作可做,也无家室之累,自由自在.由于市场上挤满了卖主,买主,奴隶和外国人,他用了一两个小时才把市场逛了一趟.人人都知道他,或听说过他.有时人们纷纷向他提出尖锐的问题,而人们得到的也是同样尖锐的回答.有时人们向他扔些吃的东西而几乎得不到他的感谢;有时人们向他恶作剧般地投掷石子儿,那就会遭到他的咒骂或一阵石块的还击.人们不十分清楚他是否疯了,可他却知道他们疯了,每个人疯的情况各异,使他好笑.现在他回到了他的住处.