Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [48] And if things pleasurable naturally afford greater delight when they are rare but become repulsive to those who have the continuous enjoyment of them, and if evils that never cease are naturally harder to bear; then we may almost say that both these — the pleasurable and the painful — are always with the tyrant in such a way that he rarely finds relief from pain and is never conscious of pleasure.

  [49] δέδοικε δὲ ἀεί ποτε τῶν μὲν πλουσίων τὴν δύναμιν, τῶν δὲ ἀπόρων τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τοῦ πλούτου. μόνοις δὲ τοῖς μονάρχοις τῶν μὲν εὖ παθόντων οὐδεὶς οἶδε χάριν: οὐδέποτε γὰρ ἡγοῦνται τῶν ἱκανῶν τυγχάνειν: οἱ δὲ μὴ τυγχάνοντες ὧν βούλονται πάντων μάλιστα μισοῦσιν αὐτούς.

  [49] Besides, he continually dreads the power of the rich and the craving of the poor for riches. Again, despots are the only persons who receive no thanks for the favours they bestow; since people never think they get enough, while those who fail to get what they want hate them above all others.

  [50] καὶ μὴν ἐπιφθονώτατος ἁπάντων ὁ πλεῖστα μὴ δικαίως ἔχων: ὥστε οὐδεὶς τυράννου ἐπιφθονώτερός ἐστιν. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἀνάγκη μὲν αὐτῷ χαρίζεσθαι τοῖς περὶ αὐτόν: εἰ δὲ μή, τάχιστα ἀπολεῖται. χαρίζεσθαι δὲ πολλάκις πολλοῖς οὐ ῥᾴδιον μὴ ἄλλων ἀφαιρούμενον. ἔχει δὴ καὶ τοὺς ἀφαιρεθέντας ἐχθροὺς καὶ τοὺς εἰληφότας ὑπόπτους καὶ ζητοῦντας ὅτι τάχιστα ἀπηλλάχθαι. τὰ μὲν οὖν πόρρω διὰ τὸ πολὺ ἀφεστάναι φοβεῖται, τὰ δὲ ἐγγύς, ὅτι πλησίον ἐστὶν αὐτῷ, καὶ παρὰ μὲν τῶν μακρόθεν ὑφορᾶται πόλεμον, παρὰ δὲ τῶν ἐγγὺς δόλον.

  [50] “The most disliked man, too, is he who has acquired great wealth unjustly; hence no man is more disliked than a tyrant. And furthermore, he is obliged to show favours to those about him, otherwise he will perish most speedily. But it is not easy to give to many repeatedly without taking from others. Accordingly, the men whom he despoils are his enemies, while his beneficiaries eye him with suspicion and seek to be rid of him as soon as possible. What is far removed from him he fears because of its remoteness; what is near, because it is close to him; from those at a distance he looks for war, from those near at hand, treachery.

  [51] καὶ τὴν μὲν εἰρήνην ἀσύμφορον νομίζει διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων σχολήν, τὸν δὲ πόλεμον, ὅτι ἀνάγκη τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἐνοχλεῖν καὶ χρήματα πορίζοντα καὶ στρατεύεσθαι προσαναγκάζοντα. τοιγαροῦν πολέμου μὲν ὄντος εἰρήνης ἐρῶσιν, εἰρήνης δὲ γενομένης εὐθὺς μηχανῶνται πόλεμον.

  [51] Peace he considers undesirable because it leaves men idle, and war, because he is obliged to disturb his subjects by raising money and compelling them to take the field as well. So when there is a war, tyrants want peace; and when peace has been made, they at once scheme for war.

  [52] καὶ τοῦτο μὲν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἀφθόνων ὄντων δεδοίκασι τοῦ πλήθους τὴν ὕβριν, τοῦτο δὲ εἴ τις ἔνδεια καταλαμβάνοι, τὴν ὀργήν. ἡγοῦνται δὲ μήτε ἀποδημεῖν ἀσφαλὲς μήτε μένειν μήτε προϊέναι μήτ᾽ ἔνδον διαιτᾶσθαι παρ᾽ αὑτοῖς, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ἐπιβαίνειν οὗ ἂν ἐπιβαίνωσιν ἀσφαλῶς, ἅπαντα δὲ εἶναι μεστὰ ἐνέδρας καὶ δόλων.

  [52] When the people have all the comforts of life, they fear their insolence; when hard times come, they fear their wrath. They feel that it is safe neither to leave the country nor to stay the home, neither to appear in public nor to live in seclusion, nay, not even to set foot where they may do so in safety, and that plotting and treachery menace them on every side.

  [53] ἀναλογίζεται δὲ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν καὶ τοὺς θανάτους τῶν τυράννων καὶ τὰς ἐπιβουλάς, ὅσαι πώποτε γεγόνασι, καὶ ξύμπαντα ταῦτα ἐφ᾽ αὑτὸν ἰέναι νομίζει, καὶ οὕτως ἔχει περιφόβως ὡς ξύμπαντας ἐκείνους τοὺς θανάτους ἀποθανούμενος: καὶ περιβλέπειν μὲν ἀεὶ [p. 94] καὶ περιστρέφεσθαι βούλεται, πληγήσεσθαι πανταχόθεν οἰόμενος, αὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔξεστι ποιεῖν ὑπὸ αἰσχύνης ἅμα καὶ φόβου.

  [53] Every one of them calls to mind the deaths of tyrants and all the conspiracies that have ever been formed against them; he imagines that they are all coming his way, and is terror-stricken as if he were doomed to all those deaths; and he is always wanting to look on every side and to turn around, as though he might be struck from any quarter; but this is the very thing he may not do from shame and fear at once.

  [54] ὅσῳ γὰρ ἂν ἐνδηλότερος ᾖ φοβούμενος ἀνὴρ τύραννος, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον ἐπιβουλεύουσι καταφρονοῦντες τῆς δειλίας. ἔστιν οὖν ὁ βίος ὅμοιος ὥσπερ οὖν εἴ τις καθείρξειέ τινα ἐν εἱρκτῇ μικρᾷ,τῶν μὲν ἄνωθεν ξιφῶν κρεμαμένων, τῶν δὲ κυκλόθεν περιπεπηγότων,

  [54] For the more apparent the tyrant’s fear, the more do men conspire against him through scorn of his cowardice. He lives, therefore, like one shut up in a narrow cell with swords hanging over his head and others, just touching the skin, fixed all about him.

  [55] καὶ τούτων ἁπτομένων τοῦ χρωτός: οὕτως οὐ τῷ σώματι μόνον, ἀλλὰ τῇ ψυχῇ τοῦ τυράννου περιπέπηγε τὰ ξίφη, ὥστε τὸν ἐν ᾄδου Τάνταλον, ὅν φασι

  κεφαλῆς ὑπερτέλλοντα δειμαίνειν πέτρον,

  πολὺ ῥᾷον διάγειν. οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἔτι φοβεῖται ὁ Τάνταλος μὴ ἀποθάνῃ: τῷ δὲ τυράννῳ ζῶντι τοῦτο ξυμβέβηκεν, ὃ ἐκείνῳ νεκρῷ

  [55] So closely indeed about the tyrant’s soul as well as his body are the swords set that Tantalus in Hades has a far easier time of it, Tantalus, who is said

  ‘to dread the rock that sways above his head.’

  Tantalus at least has no further dread of death, while the tyrant suffers in life that fate which men ascribe to Tantalus in the other world.

  [56] λέγουσιν. ὅσοι μὲν οὖν μιᾶς γεγόνασι τύραννοι πόλεως ἢ χώρας ὀλίγης, τούτοις μὲν οὐκ ἀδύνατον ἀποδράντας ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀλλαχόσε ποι καταφυγόντας ζῆν: καίτοι οὐδεὶς ἄνδρα ἀγαπᾷ τύραννον,ἀλλὰ μισοῦσί τε καὶ ὑποπτεύουσι καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἐκδιδόασι τοῖς ἠδικημένοις: ὅσοι δὲ πολλῶν πόλεων ἄρχουσι καὶ ἐθνῶν καὶ ἀπείρου γῆς, ὥσπερ ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεύς, τούτοις δὲ οὐδ᾽ ἄν ποτε παραστῇ συνεῖναι τῶν κακῶν κἂν θεῶν τις ἀφέλῃ τὴν ἄγνοιαν αὐτῶν, οὐ δυνατὸν ἐκφυγεῖν.

  [56] “Now for those who have made themselves tyrants of but a single city or a small country it is not impossible to flee from their realm and live in seclusion elsewhere — yet no one has any f
ondness for a tyrant, but only hatred and suspicion, and everyone is ready to surrender him to his victims — those, however, who rule over many cities and peoples and over a boundless territory, as the Persian king does, cannot escape, even though they come to comprehend their evil plight and some god remove their ignorance from them.

  [57] δοκεῖ δὲ οὐδέποτε ἂν ἀσφαλῶς ζῆν,οὐδ᾽ εἰ χαλκοῦς ἢ σιδηροῦς γένοιτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὕτως ἂν κατακοπεὶς ἢ καταχωνευθεὶς ἀπολέσθαι. ἐὰν μὲν οὖν τις αὐτῷ διαλέγηται θαρρῶν, ὁ δὲ ὀργίζεται καὶ δέδοικε τὴν παρρησίαν: ἐὰν δὲ θεραπεύων καὶ ὑποκατακλινόμενος, ὑποπτεύει τὴν θεραπείαν.

  [57] It seems, then, that the tyrant’s life would never be safe, not even if he were to become bronze or iron, but that even then he would be destroyed by being broken to pieces or melted down.

  “If you talk with him boldly, he is angered and fears your frankness; if you converse with him meekly and deferentially, he suspects your meekness.

  [58] καὶ ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν ἐλευθερίως προσερχομένων οἴεται ὑβρίζεσθαι, ὑπὸδὲ τῶν ταπεινοτέρων ἐξαπατᾶσθαι. καὶ λοιδορούμενος μὲν πολλαπλασίως ἀνιᾶται ἢ ἄλλος, ὅτι δὴ τύραννος ὢν ἀκούει κακῶς: ἐπαινούμενος δὲ οὐχ ἥδεται: οὐ γὰρ φρονοῦντας οὕτως οἴεται λέγειν.

  [58] He feels that he is being insulted by those who treat him as an equal and deceived by those who are more obsequious. Censure, too, stings him far more than it does others because he, a sovereign, is spoken ill of; nor is he pleased with praise either,

  [59] τοῦ δὲ καλλίστου καὶ λυσιτελεστάτου κτήματος ἁπάντων [p. 95] ἐστὶν ἀπορώτατος: εὐνοίας γὰρ καὶ φιλίας ἐλπίσαι δὲ οὐδὲν δύναται παρ᾽ οὐδενός, ἀλλὰ πρότερον τοὺς ἀγρίους λέοντας οἱ τρέφοντες ἀγαπήσουσιν ἢ τοὺς τυράννους οἱ θεραπεύοντες καὶ προσιόντες.

  [59] for he does not think that the speaker is sincere in his praise. Then, of the fairest and most useful of all treasures he has the greatest lack; for friendship and good-will he can expect from no one; nay, keepers of savage lions will love these brutes sooner than they who court and approach tyrants will love them.

  [60] ἐγὼ δὲ βαδίζω μὲν ὅποι βούλομαι, φησί, νύκτωρ, βαδίζω δὲ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν μόνος, θαρρῶ δέ, εἰ δέοι, καὶ διὰ στρατοπέδου πορευόμενος ἄνευ κηρυκείου καὶ διὰ λῃστῶν: οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἐμοὶ πολέμιος οὐδὲ ἐχθρός ἐστι βαδίζοντι. ἂν δὲ ἅπας μὲν ἐκλίπῃ ὁ χρυσός, ἅπας δὲ ὁ ἄργυρος, ἅπας δὲ ὁ χαλκός, οὐκ ἂν ἐγὼ βλαβείην οὐδὲ μικρόν.

  [60] “I, however,” says Diogenes, “go by night whithersoever I will and travel by day unattended, and I am not afraid to go even through an army if need be, without the herald’s staff, yea, and amid brigands; for I have no enemy, public or private, to block my way. If all the gold, all the silver, and all the copper should give out, that would not injure me in the least.

  [61] ἐὰν δὲ ἅπασαι μὲν αἱ οἰκίαι πέσωσιν ὑπὸ σεισμοῦ, καθάπερ ἐν Σπάρτῃ ποτέ, καὶ πάντα διαφθαρῇ τὰ πρόβατα, ὡς μηδένα ἐσθῆτος εὐπορῆσαι, μὴ μόνον δὲ τὴν Ἀττικήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Βοιωτίαν καὶ Πελοπόννησον καὶ Θετταλίαν ἀπορία καταλάβῃ, ὥσπερ ἤδη πρότερόν φασιν, οὐδὲν ἐγὼ χεῖρον οὐδὲ ἀπορώτερον βιώσομαι.

  [61] And if an earthquake lays all the houses low as happened once in Sparta, and all the sheep are killed so that not a single man has wherewithal to clothe himself, and want overwhelms not only Attica but Boeotia as well and the Peloponnesus and Thessaly, as it is said to have done aforetime, I shall fare none the worse nor be the more destitute.

  [62] παρὰ πόσον μὲν γὰρ ἔσομαι γυμνότερος τοῦ νῦν, πόσῳ δὲ ἀοικότερος; ἱκανὰ δέ μοι τροφὴν παρασχεῖν καὶ μῆλα καὶ κέγχροι καὶ κριθαὶ καὶ ὄροβοι καὶ τὰ εὐτελέστατα τῶν ὀσπρίων καὶ φηγὸς ὑπὸ τῇ τέφρᾳ καὶ ὁ τῆς κρανείας καρπός, ᾗ φησιν Ὅμηρος εὐωχεῖν τοὺς τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως ἑταίρους τὴν Κίρκην, ὑφ᾽ ὧν ἀντέχει τρεφόμενα καὶ τὰ μέγιστα θηρία.

  [62] For how much more naked shall I be than I am now, how much more homeless? I shall find all the food I need in apples, millet, barley, vetches, the cheapest of lentils, acorns roasted in the ashes, and cornel-berries, on which Homer says Circe feasted Odysseus’ comrades and on which even the largest animals can subsist.”

  THE SEVENTH OR EUBOEAN DISCOURSE

  ΕΥΒΟΙΚΟΣ ἢ ΚΥΝΗΓΟΣ.

  THE SEVENTH OR EUBOEAN DISCOURSE

  The seventh Discourse belongs to the later period of Dio’s life, as the reference to himself as an old man and the style show. It seems to have been delivered in Rome.

  This Discourse falls naturally into two parts: first, the story of the simple hunters in the wilds of Euboea — a very popular one that at an early period was separated from the rest of the Discourse — second, a description of the life Dio would have the poor lead in the cities and the difficulties they have to contend with, and, finally, of the social evils that should be remedied.

  The portrayal of the conditions in the country and in the cities of his time is very instructive for the historian who would become acquainted with that period of history and gain some insight into the causes that led to the downfall of the Roman Empire.

  [1] τόδε μὴν αὐτὸς ἰδών, οὐ παρ᾽ ἑτέρων ἀκούσας, διηγήσομαι. ἴσως γὰρ οὐ μόνον πρεσβυτικὸν πολυλογία καὶ τὸ μηδένα διωθεῖσθαι ῥᾳδίως τῶν ἐμπιπτόντων λόγων, πρὸς δὲ τῷ πρεσβυτικῷ τυχὸν ἂν εἴη καὶ ἀλητικόν. αἴτιον δέ, ὅτι πολλὰ τυχὸν ἀμφότεροι πεπόνθασιν, ὧν οὐκ ἀηδῶς μέμνηνται. ἐρῶ δ᾽ οὖν οἵοις ἀνδράσι καὶ ὅντινα βίον ζῶσι συνέβαλον ἐν μέσῃ σχεδόν τι τῇ Ἑλλάδι. [p. 190]

  The Euboean Discourse, or The Hunter

  I shall now relate a personal experience of mine; not merely something I have heard from others. Perhaps, indeed, it is quite natural for an old man to be garrulous and reluctant to drop any subject that occurs to him, and possibly this is just as true of the wanderer as of the old man. The reason, I dare say, is that both have had many experiences that they find considerable pleasure in retelling. Anyhow I shall describe the character and manner of life of some people that I met in practically the centre of Greece.

  [2] ἐτύγχανον μὲν ἀπὸ Χίου περαιούμενος μετά τινων ἁλιέων ἔξω τῆς θερινῆς ὥρας ἐν μικρῷ παντελῶς ἀκατίῳ. χειμῶνος δὲ γενομένου χαλεπῶς καὶ μόλις διεσώθημεν πρὸς τὰ κοῖλα τῆς Εὐβοίας: τὸ μὲν δὴ ἀκάτιον εἰς τραχύν τινα αἰγιαλὸν ὑπὸ τοῖς κρημνοῖς ἐκβαλόντες διέφθειραν, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἀπεχώρησαν πρός τινας πορφυρεῖσὑφορμοῦντας ἐπὶ τῇ πλησίον χηλῇ, κἀκείνοις
συνεργάζεσθαι

  [2] It chanced that at the close of the summer season I was crossing from Chios with some fishermen in a very small boat, when such a storm arose that we had great difficulty in reaching the Hollows of Euboea in safety. The crew ran their boat up a rough beach under the cliffs, where it was wrecked, and then went off to a company of purple-fishers whose vessel was anchored in the shelter of the spur of rocks near by, and they planned to stay there and work along with them.

  [3] διενοοῦντο αὐτοῦ μένοντες. καταλειφθεὶς δὴ μόνος, οὐκ ἔχων εἰς τίνα πόλιν σωθήσομαι, παρὰ τὴν θάλατταν ἄλλως ἐπλανώμην, εἴ πού τινας ἢ παραπλέοντας ἢ ὁρμοῦντας ἴδοιμι. προεληλυθὼς δὲ συχνὸν ἀνθρώπων μὲν οὐδένα ἑώρων: ἐπιτυγχάνω δὲ ἐλάφῳνεωστὶ κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ πεπτωκότι παρ᾽ αὐτὴν τὴν ῥαχίαν, ὑπὸ τῶν κυμάτων παιομένῳ, φυσῶντι ἔτι. καὶ μετ᾽ ὀλίγον ἔδοξα ὑλακῆς ἀκοῦσαι κυνῶν ἄνωθεν μόλις πως διὰ τὸν ἦχον τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάττης.

  [3] So I was left alone, and not knowing of any town in which to seek shelter, I wandered aimlessly along the shore on the chance that I might find some boat sailing by or riding at anchor. I had gone on a considerable distance without seeing anybody when I chanced upon a deer that had just fallen over the cliff and lay in the wash of the breakers, lapped by the waves and still breathing. And soon I thought I heard the barking of dogs above, but not clearly owing to the roar of the sea.