Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [3] τί οὖν; φήσει τις, ἀνέστης ἐπιτιμήσων τοῖς ἐπαινοῦσιν; οὐ μὰ τὸν Δία, ἀλλ̓ ὅπως, ἂν ᾖ δυνατόν, μὴ μόνον ἐνθάδε ὦμεν φιλάνθρωποι καὶ φιλάγαθοι, ἀλλ̓ ὁμοίως ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ καὶ καιρῷ. τὸν μὲν οὖν τούτου ἔπαινον ὁρῶ πεπληρωμένον ὑφ̓ ὑμῶν, ὥστε μηδεμίαν ὑπερβολὴν ἔχειν. ἄξιον δὲ καὶ ὑμᾶς ἐπαινεῖν. δοκεῖτε γάρ μοι πολὺ πάντων τῶν δήμων διαφέρειν. κἀγὼ τοῦτο οὐκ ἂν εἶπον, εἰ μὴ καὶ ἐφρόνουν οὕτως. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοι πρὸς τὸ λυσιτελὲς μόνον βλέπουσιν, καὶ τοὺς διδόντας αὐτοῖς ἢ δυναμένους διδόναι, τούτους ἐπαινοῦσιν: ὑμεῖς δὲ καὶ τὴν προθυμίαν

  [3] “What then,” some one will exclaim, “have you taken the floor to censure those who praise?” Not so, by Heaven, but in order that, if possible, we may demonstrate our love of humanity and of nobility, not here alone, but in every place and on every occasion.

  Now although I observe that the laudation of the gentleman has been made complete by you, so that nothing remains to be added, yet it is fitting that you also should be praised. For you seem to me to be far superior to all other communities. And I should not have said this if I did not think it so too. For example, all the others have an eye only for what is profitable, and those who give them something — or might do so — alone receive their praise; whereas you regard as of great importance both the earnest desire and the willingness to give.

  [4] καὶ τὸ βούλεσθαι μέγα εἶναι νομίζετε. καὶ οὐχὶ τοῦτό φημι, ὡς οὐχὶ καὶ πεποίηκε πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα: πεποίηκε γάρ: ἀλλ̓ ὅτι ὑμῖν γε ἀπέχρη καὶ τὸ βούλεσθαι αὐτόν. ἔτι δὲ οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι τὰ ἐλάχιστα τῶν γενομένων μάλιστα ἀποδέχονται: λέγω δὲ ὅσα ἔχει δαπάνην τινά: ὑμεῖς δὲ τῶν μεγίστων αἰσθάνεσθε κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν. ἔστι δὲ τῷ παντὶ μεῖζον τοῦ δαπανᾶν τὸ κήδεσθαί τινα τῆς πόλεως καὶ φανερὸν εἶναι εὐνοοῦντα ὑμῖν. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις οἱ μὲν πλεῖστοι τοὺς νουθετοῦντας, κἂν μετὰ λόγου τοῦτο ποιῶσι, μισοῦσι, τοὺς δὲ μεθ̓ ἡδονῆς κολακεύοντας θαυμαστῶς ἀποδέχονται. παῤ ὑμῖν δὲ τοὐναντίον ὁ πλείστῃ παρρησίᾳ χρώμενος καὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν

  [4] And I do not mean by this that our friend has not really rendered much important service, for he has, but rather that for you at least his mere willingness was sufficient. And again, the others stamp with approval the least important achievements — I mean such things as involve some expenditure of money — whereas you appreciate the greatest things as they deserve. And in fact it is an altogether greater achievement for a man to be really concerned for the city and to show himself well-disposed toward you than it is for him to spend money. Furthermore, while those who admonish, even if only verbally, are hated by most men, but those who delight with flattery are approved to a surprising degree, in your case, on the contrary, he who uses the fullest frankness and reproves those who go astray and tries to bring them to their senses is most admired.

  [5] ἐπιπλήττων καὶ σωφρονίζων, οὗτος μάλιστα ἀγαπᾶται. τίς οὖν οὐκ ἂν ἀγαπήσειε τοιαύτην πόλιν καὶ πολιτείαν, ἐν ᾗ τῶν φιλοτιμιῶν [p. 103] αἱ τιμαὶ μείζους εἰσίν, ὁ δὲ μετ̓ εὐνοίας νουθετῶν τοῦ μετὰ κολακείας ὁμιλοῦντος μᾶλλον στέργεται, προθυμότεροι δ̓ εἰσὶν οἱ πολλοὶ σωφρονίζεσθαι καὶ ἐπανορθοῦσθαι ἢ θεραπεύεσθαι καὶ τρυφᾶν: ἢ τίς οὐκ ἂν ὑμᾶς μὲν ἐκπλαγείη, τοῦτον δ̓ εὐδαιμονίσειεν, ὑφ̓ ὑμῶν τοιούτων ὄντων κεκριμένον τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀρχῆς ἄξιον;

  [5] Who, then, could fail to admire the kind of city and administration in which the honours conferred outweigh the efforts made to obtain them, in which he who admonishes with kindly intent is more beloved than he who speaks to flatter, in which the masses are more eager to submit to correction and to be set right than to be courted and to live luxuriously? Or who could fail to be amazed at you and, on the other hand, to congratulate this man on having been chosen by men like you as worthy to hold office here?

  [6] καὶ ἔγωγε μέγαν αὐτῷ τὸν ἀγῶνα ὁρῶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὄντα. ὅτῳ γὰρ πόλις ὅλη καὶ δῆμος ἑκὼν ἐπέτρεψε παιδεύειν αὑτὸν καὶ ὃν ἐπιστάτην εἵλετο τῆς κοινῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ ὅτῳ τὴν μεγίστην ἀρχὴν ἔδωκε τῆς σωφροσύνης καὶ τῆς καὶ τοῦ καλῶς βιοῦν ἕκαστον, πῶς οὐχὶ τούτῳ μέγας ὁ ἀγών ἐστιν, ὥστε μηδὲν ἐλάττονι φανῆναι τῆς ὑμετέρας γνώμης; σκόπει δέ, ἵνα εἰδῇς ὅτι μηδὲ τῶν παλαιῶν μηδεὶς μηδὲ τῶν θαυμαζομένων διὰ παντὸς τοῦ χρόνου

  [6] And yet I myself see that the task that lies before him with regard to you is a great one. For when an entire city and people voluntarily entrusts itself to a man for instruction and chooses him as supervisor of its public morals and gives him the supreme authority over temperance and orderliness and the right conduct of the individual, is that man not confronted by a mighty task, the task of not being found in any way inferior to your opinion of him? But, that you may recognize the truth of what I say, observe that not one of the men of old, not even of those who have always been admired, has gained from his fellow citizens such honour as you have now bestowed.

  [7] τηλικαύτης τιμῆς παρὰ τῶν πολιτῶν τῶν αὑτοῦ τετύχηκεν. ὁ γοῦν Περικλῆς ἐκεῖνος, ὃν ἀκούομεν παρὰ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἀκμαζούσης γενέσθαι τῆς πόλεως, στρατηγίας μὲν ἐτύγχανεν: οὐ μὴν ἄξιος ἔδοξε διὰ παντὸς ἄρχειν τοῦ χρόνου καὶ ταύτην οὐκ ἀργύριον διοικῶν οὐδὲ οἰκοδομημάτων ἐπιμελούμενος, ἀλλ̓ ὅπως ἂν ἀγαθοὶ ὦσιν οἱ πολῖται, καὶ νουθετεῖν ἠβούλετο τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας καὶ τὸ γοῦν καθ̓ αὑτὸν βελτίονας ποιεῖν. οὐ μὴν ἠνείχοντο

  [7] For instance the illustrious Pericles — who, we are told, flourished at Athens when the city was in its prime — though he repeatedly obtained the post of general, was not deemed worthy of holding office all the time. [But Socrates . . .] and that too, not as an administrator of funds nor as one concerned with buildings, but rather with the purpose of making his fellow citizens good men — chose both to admonish the erring ones and, at least so far as lay in his power, to make them better. Yet the men of that day did not tolerate him, because of their own lack of discipline.

  [8] αὐτοῦ διὰ τὴν αὑτῶν ἀναγωγίαν οἱ τότε. πόσῳ δὴ κρείττους ὑμεῖς οἱ παραδιδόντες αὑτοὺς καὶ παιδεύειν κελεύοντες τῶν εἰ καί τις παῤ αὑτοῦ πρόθυμος ἦν τοῦτο ποιεῖν ἀγανακτούντων καὶ οὐ μόνον οὐ τιμώντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποκτεινάντων τὸν ἐπιμελούμενον ὥσπερ ἐκε�
�νοι Σωκράτην. ποῖον οὖν ἔτι κάλλιον ἐγκώμιον ἢ τοῦδε ἢ ὑμῶν εἴποι τις ἄν; οἵ γε ἐπειδὴ ᾔσθεσθε τοὺς ἐφήβους καὶ τοὺς νεανίσκους κρείττονας πεποιηκότα, εὐθὺς ἡγεῖσθε καὶ ὑμᾶς ἀμείνους δύνασθαι ποιεῖν καὶ νὴ Δία γε οὐχὶ τοῖς μὲν [p. 104] ἐφήβοις ἐστὶ παιδείας καὶ ἀρετῆς χρεία, τοῖς δὲ προβεβηκόσιν οὒ καὶ πάσῃ τῇ πόλει: ὥσπερ εἴ τις ἰατρὸς τοῖς μὲν παισὶν ἢ τοῖς μειρακίοις χρείαν εἶναι θεραπείας νομίζοι, τοῖς δὲ τελείοις μή.

  [8] How far superior, then, are you, who submit yourselves to instruction, yes, even demand it, to those who were irritated even if some one of his own accord was eager to do this for them, and who not merely refrained from honouring, but even put to death the man who tried to take them under his care, as the Athenians did in the case of Socrates!

  Accordingly, what more beautiful eulogy could any one pronounce, either of this man or of yourselves? For since you have seen that he has improved the ephebes and the young men, you immediately jump to the conclusion that he can improve you too. And, by Heaven, it is not true that, while the ephebes have need of instruction and virtue, those who are advanced in years, and in fact the entire city, do not. That would be just as if some physician were to think that boys or young men had need of medical attention, but not the adults.

  [9] καὶ μὴν ἥ γε πρὸς τὰς τιμὰς μεγαλοψυχία πῶς οὐχὶ θαυμαστὴ τῆς πόλεως; τί γὰρ τῶν σεμνῶν οὐχὶ προθύμως παρεσχήκατε; οὐκ εἰκόνας;οὐκ ἀνδριάντας; οὐχὶ πρεσβεύοντες πρὸς τὰς πόλεις, πρὸς τὸν αὐτοκράτορα; οὐ κοινῇ τιμῶντες, οὐ κατ̓ ἰδίαν ἕκαστος δεξιούμενος; ἢ τίς ἂν οὐκ ἀνεθείη τῶν τοιούτων ὄντων; ἢ τίς οὐκ ἂν προθυμοῖτο ὅ, τι δύναιτο ποιεῖν ὑμᾶς ἀγαθόν; οὐκοῦν ἔγωγε οἶμαι καὶ τὸν τοῦδε ἔπαινον ὡς ἠδυνάμην εἰρηκέναι. τὸ γὰρ τῶν ἀποδεχομένων τινὰ καὶ τιμώντων ἐγκώμιον δῆλον ὡς κάλλιστος ἔπαινος ἐκείνου ἂν εἴη.

  [9] Yet must we not concede that in the matter of honours the city’s magnanimity is surprising? For what mark of highest esteem have you not eagerly conferred? Have you not voted portraits, statues, embassies to the cities and to the Emperor? Have you not shown honour by public recognition; have you not shown honour by individual greeting? Therefore what man would not be pleased when these rewards are so distinguished? Or what man would not be eager to do you any service in his power? Well then, I at least believe I have spoken in praise of this man too as effectively as I could; for the eulogy directed toward those who approve and honour a man clearly would be that man’s highest praise.

  THE FIFTY-SECOND DISCOURSE: ON AESCHYLUS AND SOPHOCLES AND EURIPIDES OR THE BOW OF PHILOCTETES

  ΠΕΡΙ ΑΙΣΧΥΛΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΣΟΦΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ

  THE FIFTY-SECOND DISCOURSE: ON AESCHYLUS AND SOPHOCLES AND EURIPIDES OR THE BOW OF PHILOCTETES

  This Discourse is not merely an interesting bit of ancient literary criticism but also our chief source of information as to two of the three plays with which it deals, the Philoctetes of Aeschylus and that of Euripides, both known to-day only in scanty fragments. In Or. Dio presents in prose paraphrase the prologue of a Philoctetes, which by means of the present Discourse is recognized as that of Euripides, together with a portion of the ensuing dialogue between Odysseus and Philoctetes. The Euripidean play clearly appealed to Dio’s rhetorical instincts; yet we are reminded of the situation in the Frogs of Aristophanes, the god of the drama yielding the palm to Aeschylus, though unmistakably prejudiced in favour of Euripides.

  There was little occasion for Homer to refer to Philoctetes, whom he names in only three passages. His most illuminating reference is Il. 2.716-726, from which we learn that Homer at least knew the story. Fuller details were obtainable from three epics belonging to what is known as the Cycle — the Cypria, the Little Iliad, and the Iliupersis. The high points in the epic version are as follows. Heracles, out of gratitude for services rendered, had given Philoctetes his bow and arrows, once the property of Apollo. When the Greeks sailed for Troy, Philoctetes guided them to the island of Chrysê, where they were to offer sacrifice. There a venomous serpent bit Philoctetes on the foot. His cries of anguish and the stench of his wound caused the Greeks to abandon him on the shores of Lemnos. Ten years later, when the Greek fortunes were at a low ebb, upon the advice of the seer Calchas and by the stratagem of Odysseus the Trojan seer Helenus was taken captive. He revealed that Troy could be taken only with the aid of Philoctetes and his bow, and that Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, must come from Scyros. Accordingly Diomedes is sent for Philoctetes and Odysseus for Neoptolemus. Philoctetes is healed of his wound, slays Paris, and in company with Neoptolemus causes the downfall of Troy. For further details the reader is referred to the introduction to Jebb’s edition of the Philoctetes of Sophocles.

  The occasion on which our Discourse was delivered is unknown. Dio’s reference to the chill of the morning might suggest his home in Prusa as the setting for his adventure in dramatic criticism. His allusion to ill health and his manifest sympathy for the lonely Philoctetes, victim of misfortune, suggest the period subsequent to Dio’s exile as the time of composition.

  [1] ΕΥΡΙΠΙΔΟΥ Η ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΦΙΛΟΚΤΗΤΟΥ ΤΟΞΩΝ. Ἀναστὰς σχεδόν τι περὶ πρώτην ὥραν τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀρρωστίαν τοῦ σώματος καὶ διὰ τὸν ἀέρα ψυχρότερον ὄντα διὰ τὴν ἕω καὶ μάλιστα μετοπώρῳ προσεοικότα καίτοι μεσοῦντος θέρους, ἐπεμελήθην ἐμαυτοῦ καὶ προσηυξάμην. ἔπειτα ἀνέβην ἐπὶ τὸ ζεῦγος καὶ περιῆλθον ἐν τῷ ἱπποδρόμῳ πολλούς τινας κύκλους, πρᾴως τε καὶ ἀλύπως ὡς οἷόν τε ὑπάγοντος τοῦ ζεύγους. καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα περιπατήσας ἀνεπαυσάμην μικρόν τινα χρόνον. ἔπειτα ἀλειψάμενος καὶ λουσάμενος καὶ μικρὸν ἐμφαγὼν ἐνέτυχον

  The Fifty-second Discourse: On Aeschylus and Sophocles and Euripides or The Bow of Philoctetes

  Having risen about the first hour of the day, both on account of the feeble state of my health and also on account of the air, which was rather chilly because of the early hour and very much like autumn, though it was mid-summer, I made my toilet and performed my devotions. I next got into my carriage and made the round of the race-course several times, my team moving along as gently and comfortably as possible. After that I took a stroll and then rested a bit. Next, after a rub-down and bath and a light breakfast, I fell to reading certain tragedies.

  [2] τραγῳδίαις τισίν. σχεδὸν δὲ ἦσαν ἄκρων ἀνδρῶν, Αἰσχύλου καὶ Σοφοκλέους καὶ Εὐριπίδου, πάντων περὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπόθεσιν. [p. 105] ἦν γὰρ ἡ τῶν Φιλοκτήτου τόξων εἴτε κλοπὴ εἴτε ἁρπαγὴν δεῖ λέγειν: πλὴν ἀφαιρούμενός γε τῶν ὅπλων ἦν Φιλοκτήτης ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὴν Τροίαν ἀναγόμενος, τὸ μὲν πλέον ἑκών, τὸ δέ τι καὶ πειθοῖ ἀναγκαίᾳ, ἐπειδὴ τῶν ὅπλων ἐστέρητο, ἃ τοῦτο μὲν βίον αὐτῷ παρεῖχεν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ, τοῦτο δὲ θάρσος ἐν

  [2] These tragedies we
re the work of topmost artists, I may say, Aeschylus and Sophocles and Euripides, all dealing with the same theme, which was the theft — or should I say the seizure? — of the bow of Philoctetes. However that may be, Philoctetes was portrayed as being deprived of his weapons by Odysseus and as being carried off to Troy along with them, for the most part willingly, though in some measure also yielding to the persuasion of necessity, since he had been deprived of the weapons which furnished him with not only a living on his island, but courage in his sore affliction, and at the same time fame.

  [3] τῇ τοιαύτῃ νόσῳ, ἅμα δὲ εὔκλειαν. οὐκοῦν εὐωχούμην τῆς θέας καὶ ἐλογιζόμην πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ὅτι τότε Ἀθήνησιν ὢν οὐχ οἷός τ̓ ἂν ἦν μετασχεῖν τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων ἀνταγωνιζομένων, ἀλλὰ Σοφοκλέους μὲν πρὸς Αἰσχύλον νέου πρὸς γέροντα, καὶ πρὸς Εὐριπίδην πρεσβυτέρου πρὸς νεώτερον ἀγωνιζομένου μετέσχον τινές: Εὐριπίδης δ̓ ἀπελείφθη κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν Αἰσχύλου: καὶ ἅμα οὐ πολλάκις ἴσως ἢ οὐδέποτε τῷ αὐτῷ δράματι ἀντηγωνίσαντο. αὐτὸς δὲ ἐφαινόμην ἐμαυτῷ πάνυ τρυφᾶν καὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας παραμυθίαν

  [3] So I was feasting my eyes on the spectacle portrayed by these dramas and figuring to myself that, even if I had been in Athens in those days, I could not have witnessed such a contest as this of those distinguished poets. On the contrary, while there were some who did witness contests between the youthful Sophocles and the aged Aeschylus and some who saw the older Sophocles compete with Euripides, his junior, yet the career of Euripides fell quite outside the period of Aeschylus; and besides, probably the tragic poets seldom or never competed against one another with plays on the same theme. And so I was evidently having a rare treat and a novel solace for my illness.