Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

These instances, in order that they be warning examples to you, I have taken not only from exceedingly ancient, but also from subsequent times, and as related both in poetry and in narrative prose.

  [16] ἱστορουμένων παρήνεγκα. ἄξιον δ̓ ἐνθυμηθῆναι καὶ τὸν θεόν, ὡς κἀκεῖνος κολάζειν πέφυκε τοὺς πλεονεκτοῦντας. Λακεδαιμονίοις γὰρ χρωμένοις, εἰ δίδωσιν αὐτοῖς τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν, οὐ μόνον ἀπεῖπε καὶ τὴν ἀπληστίαν ὠνείδισεν, οὕτως εἰπών: Ἀρκαδίην μ̓ αἰτεῖς, μέγα μ̓ αἰτεῖς, οὔτοι δώσω: ἀλλὰ καὶ τιμωρίαν αὐτοῖς ἐπέθηκε, προειπὼν μὲν τὸ μέλλον, οὕτως δὲ ὥστε ἐκείνους μὴ συνέντας ἐπὶ Τεγέαν στρατεύεσθαι καὶ ταῖς γιγνωσκομέναις ὑπὸ πάντων συμφοραῖς περιπεσεῖν. καίτοι φανερῶς τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν αὐτοῖς ἀρνούμενος οὐδὲ τὴν Τεγέαν ἐδίδου. τὸ γὰρ ἰσχυρότατον τῆς Ἀρκαδίας καὶ μέγιστον τοῦτ̓ ἦν. ἀλλ̓ ὅμως διὰ τὴν πλεονεξίαν οὐδὲ ὦτα ἔχουσιν οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ

  [16] Then it is worth your while to call to mind the attitude of the god likewise, that he also by his very nature punishes the covetous. When, for instance, the Spartans consulted his oracle to ask if he gave Arcadia to them, he not only refused them, but rebuked their insatiable greed in the following words:

  Arcadia thou askest of me? ’Tis much! Nay, give it I’ll not,

  but also imposed a penalty upon them and foretold the future, yet in such a way that they did not understand, but marched against Tegea to meet with disasters known of all men. And yet, while plainly denying Arcadia to them, he would not give them Tegea either. For this was the strongest and most important place in Arcadia. But, speaking generally, the majority of mankind are so covetous that they have not even ears to hear, nor do they so much as understand words of warning when spoken.

  [17] τῶν λεγομένων αἰσθάνονται. πάλιν τοίνυν Ἀθηναίοις ἐρωτῶσι περὶ τῆς νήσου Σικελίας ἔχρησε προσλαβεῖν τῇ πόλει τὴν Σικελίαν, λόφον τινὰ ἐγγὺς ὄντα τῆς πόλεως. οἱ δὲ τῶν μὲν παρακειμένων καὶ τῶν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἠμέλησαν: οὕτως δ̓ ἔκφρονες ὑπῆρχον [p. 249] διὰ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τοῦ πλείονος, ὥστε τὸν θεὸν αὐτοῖς ἐνόμιζον λέγειν ἐν ἑνὶ τείχει περιλαβεῖν τὰς Ἀθήνας καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ μυρίων που σταδίων οὖσαν νῆσον. τοιγαροῦν ἐκεῖσε πλεύσαντες οὐ μόνον Σικελίας διήμαρτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἐστερήθησαν, καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτὴν ἐπεῖδον ἐπὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις γεγενημένην.

  [17] At another time, when the Athenians asked about the island of Sicily, the oracle answered that they should annex to their city ‘Sicily,’ this being the name of a hill near the city. But they paid no attention to what was near at hand and before their eyes; so bereft of sense were they on account of their lust for more, that they imagined the god was telling them to enclose without one wall Athens and an island some ten thousand stades distant. As a result they sailed thither, and not only failed to get Sicily, but lost Attica as well, and saw their city itself in the hands of her enemies.

  [18] καὶ τὰ μὲν τοιαῦτα εἰ θέλοι τις ἐπεξιέναι, δῆλον ὡς οὐδ̓ ἐν ἔτει ἐπιλείψει. σκοπεῖτε δ̓ ὅτι τὴν ἰσχὺν οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν ἀγαθῶν εἶναι νομίζουσιν: ἀλλ̓ οἶμαι τοῖς ἐπ̓ ἄκρον ἰσχύουσι καὶ λίαν ὑπερβάλλουσι τῇ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα εὐεξίᾳ συμφέρει μέρος τι αὐτῆς ἀφελεῖν: τὸ γὰρ πλέον οἶμαι τοῦ συμμέτρου παγχάλεπον. ὁμοίως ὁ πλοῦτος ἔχων τὴν χρείαν, ἐὰν μὲν ᾖ μέτριος, οὐ λυπεῖ τοὺς ἔχοντας, ἀλλ̓ εὐχερέστερον καὶ νὴ Δἴ ἀνεπιδεῆ παρέχει τὸν βίον: ἐὰν δὲ ὑπερβάλῃ, πλείονας παρέχει τὰς φροντίδας καὶ τὰ λυπηρὰ τῆς δοκούσης ἡδονῆς, καὶ πολλοὶ μετενόησαν σφόδρα πλουτήσαντες, οἱ δὲ δἰ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἄποροι καὶ τῶν ἐλαχίστων κατέστησαν.

  [18] And if you should wish to enumerate all such examples as these, it is clear that not even in a year’s time would you run out of them. Then consider, I beg of you, that most men regard physical strength as one of the blessings of life; yet I believe that in the case of those who have the greatest physical strength and greatly excel in bodily vigour, it is of advantage to sacrifice a part of this; for in my opinion what exceeds the right proportion is very troublesome. In the same manner wealth which may be put to use does not, if it be moderate, injure its possessor, but makes his life easier and certainly frees it from want; but if it becomes excessive, it causes far more worries and troubles than that which passes for pleasure; and many have rued the day when they acquired enormous wealth, while some for this very reason have come to lack even the barest necessities.

  [19] εἶεν: ἀλλ̓ ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς, εἰ τῶν τῆς φύσεως μερῶν ἕκαστον ἐθέλοι πλεονεκτεῖν, ἔσθ̓ ὅπως τὸν βραχύτατον καιρὸν διαμεῖναι δυνησόμεθα; λέγω δὲ οἷον εἰ πλέον τινὶ τοῦ συμμέτρου αἷμα γίγνοιτο ἢ νὴ Δία τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ θερμὸν ὅ,τι δήποτ̓ ἐν ἡμῖν ἐπιτείνοι παρὰ τὴν σύμμετρον καὶ τὴν προσήκουσαν, οὐχὶ μεγάλας ἐπίστασθε καὶ χαλεπὰς ἐκ τούτων ἀπαντᾶν νόσους; ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἁρμονίαις τῶν ὀργάνων τούτων, εἰ πλεονεκτήσειε τῶν φθόγγων τις τῇ τάσει, πρὸς τοῦ Διὸς οὐκ ἀνάγκη πᾶσαν λελύσθαι τὴν ἁρμονίαν;

  [19] So far so good! But let us take our own selves: If each element that makes up our being should wish to have the advantage, would it be possible for us to keep alive for the shortest time? I mean, for example, if the blood should increase a little beyond the proper proportion, or even if something or other in us should increase the pressure of the warm breath beyond its due and proper proportion, do you not know that serious and dangerous illnesses inevitably come on? And in the harmonies of these instruments of our bodies, if any one of the strings should get more than its share of tension, in Heaven’s name must not the harmony as a whole be destroyed?

  [20] σφόδρα δ̓ ἔγωγε θαυμάζω τί ἂν ἐποιήσαμεν, εἰ μὴ καὶ τοῦ βίου τὸ ἐλάχιστον παρὰ τῶν θεῶν μέτρον εἴχομεν, οἵπερ καὶ νῦν ὥσπερ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα παρασκευαζόμενοι πλέον ἄλλος ἄλλου φιλοτιμούμεθα ἔχειν. ὥσπερ οὖν εἴ τις εἰδὼς ὅτι ἢ δὔ ἢ τριῶν ἡμερῶν, ἐὰν πλεῖστος διαγένηται χρόνος, ἔχει πλοῦν, ἔπειτα δὲ ἐνιαυτοῦ σῖτα ἐμβάλοιτο, ἀνόητος δόξει, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον, εἴ τις ἐπιστάμενος ὅτι πλείω τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἐτῶν οὐκ ἂν βιώσειεν, εἰς ἔτη χίλια [p. 250] πορίζοιτο βίον ἴσως οὐχ ὁμοίως ἂν εἴη μαινόμενος; ἔνιοι μὲν γὰρ τοσαῦτα παρασκευάζονται, ὡς, ε�
� γ̓ ἔπλεον, εὐθὺς ἂν καταδῦναι

  [20] As for me, I wonder greatly how we should have acted if we had not received the shortest span of life from the gods! However, just as if we were making our plans for an endless life, we strive earnestly each to have more than his neighbour. Just as any man, then, who knowing that he has a voyage of only two or three days’ duration at the most before him, should nevertheless put enough provisions on board to last a year, will be regarded as a fool; in the same way, any man who, being fully aware that he could not live more than the allotted span of seventy years, should provide himself with substance to last him a thousand years would he not be equally and in the same way insane? Indeed there are some who lay in stores so great that, if they were out at sea, their ship would founder at once. And I swear it does happen to countless numbers.

  [21] τὴν ναῦν. καὶ νὴ Δία γε συμβαίνει μυρίοις. εἶεν: εἰ δὲ δή τις ἐφ̓ ἑστίασιν κεκληκὼς δέκα ἀνθρώπους ἢ πεντεκαίδεκα, τούτους αὐτὸν ἐμπλῆσαι δέον, ὁ δὲ πεντακοσίοις ἢ χιλίοις ἑτοιμάζοι τροφήν, οὐ παντελῶς ἐξεστάναι δόξει; τοιγαροῦν καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰδότες τὰς τοῦ σώματος χρείας εὐαριθμήτους τινάς ῾ἐσθῆτος γὰρ οἶμαι καὶ σκέπης καὶ τροφῆς δεόμεθἀ, ἔπειτα κατατεινόμεθα ὥσπερ στρατοπέδῳ τὰ ἐπιτήδεια συνάγοντες ῾καὶ νὴ Δία γε εἰκότως: οἱ γὰρ πολλοὶ βόσκουσι παῤ ἑαυτοῖς τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν στρατόπεδον̓ καὶ ἐσθῆτα μὲν οὐδεὶς βούλεται μείζω τοῦ σώματος ἔχειν, ὡς δύσχρηστον ὄν: οὐσίαν δὲ τῷ παντὶ μείζω τῆς χρείας ἔχειν ἅπαντες ἐπιθυμοῦσιν, οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτι τοῦτο ἐκείνου χαλεπώτερον.

  [21] So much for that. Well then, if a man has invited ten or fifteen guests to a banquet and although needing to satisfy only so many, should then go on and make ready food enough for five hundred or a thousand, will he not be thought to be quite out of his mind? In like manner we also, although we know that the needs of the body are easy enough to count — for clothing, I suppose, and shelter and nourishment we do need — nevertheless strain ourselves to the utmost as if we were gathering supplies for an army and, I swear, there is good reason for our doing so; for the great majority are feeding in their hearts a whole army of desires. As for clothing, nobody wants to have it too large for his body, knowing that it would be inconvenient to wear; but property altogether too large for their needs all men crave, net understanding that this is more objectionable than the other.

  [22] δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ Κροῖσος καλῶς ὁ Λυδός, τὴν ἀπληστίαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐλέγξαι βουλόμενος, εἰς τοὺς θησαυροὺς εἰσαγαγών τινας τοσοῦτο χρυσίον αὐτοῖς ἐπιτρέπειν ἐξενεγκεῖν ὅσον ἕκαστος ἂν: δύνηται τῷ σώματι. τοὺς γὰρ πολλοὺς οὐ μόνον τὸν κόλπον ἐμπλήσαντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ τοῦ ψήγματος ἐκφέρειν καὶ τῷ στόματι, καὶ μόλις πορεύεσθαι πάνυ γελοίους καὶ διεστραμμένους. οὕτως οὖν καὶ κατὰ τὸν βίον πορεύεσθαί τινας ἀσχημονοῦντας ὑπὸ τῆς πλεονεξίας καὶ καταγελάστους ὄντας.

  [22] I think, too, that Croesus the Lydian, when he wanted to expose the insatiable greed of men, did this admirably. He conducted a group of men into his treasure-house and permitted them to take away just as much gold as each man could carry on his person. For we see that most of them not only filled the bosoms of their clothing, but carried away some of the dust upon their heads and in their mouths and that they could scarcely walk, cutting a ridiculous figure, all twisted out of shape as they were. In life also, methinks, certain men walk along in an unseemly posture and cut a ridiculous figure on account of their greed.

  THE EIGHTEENTH DISCOURSE: ON TRAINING FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING

  ΠΕΡΙ ΛΟΓΟΥ ΑΣΚΗΣΕΩΣ.

  THE EIGHTEENTH DISCOURSE: ON TRAINING FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING

  Dio Chrysostom, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Quintilian, gave select lists of authors for students to read. The fact that there are no great divergences in these lists gives the impression that there was general agreement in the ancient schools as to which were the best authors for students. Dio’s list we expect to differ in some respects from Quintilian’s because Quintilian, whose primary interest was in the Latin language, gives a select list of Latin writers as well; and in the second place, Dio was giving advice to a wealthy and influential man of mature years who wished to take some part in public life, but lacked the leisure or the inclination to work hard in order to fit himself for this, whereas Quintilian was writing for the benefit of youths whose chief interest was in the eloquence of the bar.

  After complimenting this prosperous man and eulogizing oratory Dio proceeds to give his list, naming poets, historians, orators in this order; and then, without regard to the type of their literary works, he refers in general terms to the followers of Socrates. Through mentioning them last he gains a good opportunity to speak at length and in the highest terms of Xenophon, whom he so greatly admired, in this respect differing somewhat from the majority of modern critics.

  In poetry it is the writers of Comedy and Tragedy that are really useful for the purpose he has in view, although the epic poet Homer is, of course, supreme. Other types of poetry his wealthy friend will not have time to read. Among the historians he gives the first place to Thucydides, and among the orators to Demosthenes, although he believes that Hypereides and Aeschines will be of more practical benefit because not so difficult to imitate. It is at first sight strange that he does not mention Isocrates at all, but probably he thought his long involved sentences not a suitable model for his correspondent. Of philosophers Dio names none at all if we except the indirect reference to Socrates, although we know from his writings that he must have been familiar with Plato; and the only reference to philosophy is where he says, apparently with approval, that Euripides had some knowledge of it. Quintilian on the other hand ends his list of Greek writers by naming as philosophers Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, and Theophrastus.

  Then comes the question as to whether this man in training himself to be an orator should write or dictate to a secretary. Dio thinks it better for him to dictate and advises him especially not to write school exercises, in all this taking a position opposite to that of Quintilian.

  As to when Dio wrote this letter and to whom, great diversity of opinion prevails, since we have nothing to guide us except the contents of the letter itself and our imperfect knowledge of Dio’s life and the progressive change in his views. However, since Dio represents himself as considerably younger than the man he addressed, who was at the height of his powers, it does seem reasonable to refer this letter to the period before Dio’s banishment. Even then he was probably at least forty years old. A further consideration is the fact that Dio does not recommend the reading of any philosophical works to this would-be orator, as he certainly would have done after he became a convert to philosophy.

  Von Arnim, who takes στρατηγοῖς in § 16, where Dio is speaking of the advantages to be derived from a study of Xenophon’s speeches, to mean ‘provincial Governors,’ βασιλικοῖς to mean ‘imperial officials,’ and πλῆθος ‘the commons or citizen body’ of a Greek state, notes that στρατιῶται (soldiers) are not expressly mentioned, and infers from this that Dio’s correspondent has nothing to do with soldiers, but does have to deal with Roman provincial governors and imperial officials, and therefore is not a Roman himself, but a local Greek
official occupying a high position in some large Greek city of Asia Minor. Von Arnim further supports this view by observing that, according to Dio, Xenophon’s speeches teach “not to trust too readily those in authority over you” — good advice for a Greek subject to Romans, and how a statesman can encourage the despondent — knowledge not needed by a Roman governor. He concludes his argument by saying that a Roman studied rhetoric solely for formal intellectual training. It might be objected, however, that Cicero and Caesar did not study it for this purpose alone.

  As to why this man of high position wished such elementary instruction, and he a Greek, Dio suggests that for some especial reasons he had failed to get rhetorical training in his youth, or that he lived far removed from the centres of Greek culture. Finally, von Arnim faintly hints the Dio’s correspondent may have been Vespasian before he became emperor. Wilhelm Christ suggests that the man was Nerva before his elevation to the position of emperor, while Hammer and Lemarchand support the view that Dio’s letter was not addressed to any actual person.

  [1] Πολλάκις ἐπαινέσας τὸν σὸν τρόπον ὡς ἀνδρὸς ἀγαθοῦ καὶ ἀξίου πρωτεύειν ἐν τοῖς ἀρίστοις, οὐδέποτε πρότερον ἐθαύμασα ὡς νῦν. τὸ γὰρ ἡλικίας τε ἐν τῷ ἀκμαιοτάτῳ ὄντα καὶ δυνάμει [p. 251] οὐδενὸς λειπόμενον καὶ ἄφθονα κεκτημένον, καὶ πάσης ἐξουσίας οὔσης δἰ ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς τρυφᾶν, ὅμως ἔτι παιδείας ὀρέγεσθαι καὶ φιλοκαλεῖν περὶ τὴν τῶν λόγων ἐμπειρίαν καὶ μὴ ὀκνεῖν, μηδὲ εἰ πονεῖν δέοι, σφόδρα μοι ἔδοξε γενναίας ψυχῆς καὶ οὐ φιλοτίμου μόνον, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι φιλοσόφου ἔργον εἶναι. καὶ γὰρ τῶν παλαιῶν οἱ ἄριστοι οὐ μόνον ἀκμάζειν μανθάνοντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ γηράσκειν