Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [45] No, sand-dunes and swamp-land are of no value — for what revenue is derived from them or what advantage? — yet to show one’s self to be honourable and magnanimous is rightly regarded as inexpressibly valuable. For to vie with the whole world in behalf of justice and virtue, and to take the initiative in friendship and harmony, and in these respects to surpass and prevail over all others, is the noblest of all victories and the safest too. But to seek by any and every means to maintain ascendancy in a conflict befits blooded game-cocks rather than men. [46] It may be true that, if Mallus because of the dunes and the pasturage on the sand were likely to become greater than Tarsus, you ought possibly to show so much concern; but as it is, disgrace and mockery are all you stand to gain from the objects of your quarrel. “Why, then,” you may ask, “did not the people of Mallus scorn those things?” Because they are no better than you are. But, by heaven, it is you who want them to be so. However, what I thought fitting was that you should send them messengers and file an oral protest — for that would have been the procedure of superior and sensible men — but to be unduly excited and to have recourse immediately to the assertion of your authority and to feel insulted is rather to be expected of small-town folk.

  [47] So also with reference to the other cities, I ask that you behave mildly, considerately, with regard to your honour, and not in a spirit of hostility and hatred. For if you do, all men will follow your leadership willingly, with admiration and affection; and that is of more importance than to have Mallus sacrifice in Tarsus and there conduct its litigation. For it is of no advantage to you at all to have the people of either Adana or Aegae come to Tarsus to offer sacrifice; it is merely vanity and self-deception and empty, foolish pride. [48] On the other hand, goodwill and a reputation for superiority in virtue and kindliness — those are your true blessings, those are the objects worthy of emulation and serious regard. And you would pay heed to them, since your present behaviour is ridiculous. And whether it is a question of Aegaeans quarrelling with you, or Apameans with men of Antioch, or, to go farther afield, Smyrnaeans with Ephesians, it is an ass’s shadow, as the saying goes, over which they squabble; for the right to lead and to wield authority belongs to others.

  [49] Yes, there was a time in days gone by when jealous rivalry existed also between Athens and Sparta; and, at first, Sparta held the ascendancy, and then it came to pass that the Greeks inclined rather toward Athens, after the Persian wars. What, then, did the Spartan do? Abandoning his claims upon the islander, the Ionian, and the Greek of Hellespont, he proceeded to teach himself self-control and confined his attention to the affairs of Sparta, understanding clearly that nothing should be held more dear than law and order. Accordingly Sparta achieved its greatest prosperity during that period. [50] And as for the Athenians, it so happened that, as long as the cities were on friendly terms with them, and the Athenians behaved kindly as their leaders, they too prospered; but afterwards, when accusations and ill-will toward them accumulated and they saw fit to rule unwilling subjects, they suffered many disagreeable things. And the first thing of all to happen was to lose their commendation and good repute, and next to lose their power and wealth, and finally to become subject to their foes. And the Spartans had a similar experience: when they too once more held the reins of empire, departing from their own former principle, they found themselves in the same position as the Athenians. [51] And yet those states of old possessed real power and great utility, if it be correct to call self-seeking by that name; whereas anyone seeing the disputes and occasions for hostility of the present time would, methinks, blush for shame, for in reality they make one think of fellow-slaves quarrelling with one another over glory and pre-eminence.

  What then? Is there nothing noble in this our day to merit one’s serious pursuit? The greatest things, yes the only things worthy of serious pursuit, were present then, are present now, and always will be; and over these no man, surely, has control, whether to confer them on another or to take them away from him who has them, but, on the contrary, they are always at one’s disposal, whether it be a private citizen or the body politic. But the discussion of these matters perhaps would take too long. [52] And yet I am not unaware that the philosophers are believed by many to be engaged in relaxing everything and in slackening the serious pursuit of practical affairs and on that account in working more harm than good. It is just as if one should wish to watch a musician tuning his instrument, and then, seeing the same man slacken some strings and tighten others again, should scoff at him. [53] That in fact is precisely the situation in civic matters. For the base and unprofitable pursuits and ambitions have become more tense than is fitting, and all who are swayed by them, through no one’s fault but their own, become broken men, as one may say; but those pursuits and ambitions which aim at what is noblest are wholly relaxed. And consider, for example, if you will, the tension that marks covetousness, that marks incontinence!

  But I seem to be going too far afield, and, like those who in calm weather swim too far, I seem not to foresee what lies ahead.

  THE THIRTY-FIFTH DISCOURSE, DELIVERED IN CELAENAE IN PHRYGIA

  Celaenae, as Dio himself tells us, was situated at the headwaters of the Maeander in the heart of Phrygia, on the main highway between East and West and was the focus of five other well-marked natural routes (Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia). From Herodotus (7.26) we learn that Xerxes paused there on his way to Greece; and there too the younger Cyrus tarried thirty days in 401 B.C. while assembling forces (Xenophon, Anabasis 1.2.5-8). Despite its manifest importance, Celaenae does not appear again in literature until Roman times. In fact Strabo, who devotes considerable space to the site (12.8.15-18), uses the name Apamea rather than Celaenae. He explains that Antiochus Soter (280-261 B.C.), on moving inhabitants a short distance away, renamed the settlement in honour of his mother. According to Ramsay, the old name was revived in the second century of our era, presumably in consequence of a ‘reinvigorated national sentiment.’

  Arnim locates this Discourse in the same general period of Dio’s career as the three that precede it. We are in the dark regarding the occasion of its delivery. Dio seems to be quite at his ease and enjoys the opportunity to introduce himself and to flatter and amuse his audience. Much of what he says was doubtless uttered with a twinkle of the eye.

  The Thirty-fifth Discourse delivered in Celaenae in Phrygia

  Gentlemen, I have come before you not to display my talents as a speaker nor because I want money from you, or expect your praise. For I know not only that I myself am not sufficiently well equipped to satisfy you by my eloquence, but also that your circumstances are not such as to need my message. Furthermore, the disparity between what you demand of a speaker and my own powers is very great. For it is my nature to talk quite simply and unaffectedly and in a manner in no wise better than that of any ordinary person; whereas you are devoted to oratory to a degree that is remarkable, I may even say excessive, and you tolerate as speakers only those who are very clever.

  [2] Nay, my purpose in coming forward is not to gain your admiration — for I could not gain that from you even were I to utter words more truthful than those of the Sibyl or of Bacis — but rather that no one may look askance at me or ask others who I am and whence I came. For at present quite possibly people suspect that I am one of your wiseacres, one of your know-it-alls, basing their suspicion upon a ludicrous and absurd bit of evidence, namely, that I wear my hair long. For if long hair were accountable for virtue and sobriety, mankind would need no great power nor one difficult of attainment.

  [3] However, I fear that fools get no good from their long hair, not even if they get shaggy to the very heart — as in the case of Aristomenes, the Messenian, who caused a deal of trouble for the Spartans, and who, though taken captive many times, always managed to escape from them — he, we are told, when at last he met his death, was found to be in that condition. I claim, therefore, that these nude philosophers get no good from their shagginess — not even if they
should join the light infantry — at least with regard to justice and true sobriety and wisdom, nay, not even if they should strip off still more clothing and run about stark naked in winter time, or else adopt the garb of Medes and Arabs; just as they will not acquire proficiency with the flute by merely donning the costume of flautists. Neither can asses become horses even if they have their nostrils slit still more, or even if they have their jaws bored and a curb-chain placed between their teeth, or even if their pack-saddles are taken from them; nay, they will still bray before the walls right lustily and perform the other acts that befit their nature.

  [4] Therefore, let no one suppose that my guise makes me different from any other man, or that it is this that gives me confidence to speak. On the contrary, let it be understood by all that I can see that, if I keep absolutely silent and do not talk with anyone at all, people are much more likely to distrust me, I fancy, as giving myself airs, as concealing something of importance — for, in fact, in many instances men have won admiration merely by reason of their silence; whereas, if I take my stand in your midst and show myself to be no better as a speaker than any huckster or muleteer, I see that none will be vexed with me, once they have seen for themselves what sort of man I am.

  [5] This is virtually what you may see occurring with other men also. For example, when certain people suspect a man of having the very thing for which they happen to be searching, they go up to him and put him through a close questioning. If, then, he draws his cloak about him and declines to answer, they are all the more suspicious, but if he immediately unwraps and it becomes evident that he is concealing nothing, they go away convinced that they have been in error. You see, it is far better for those who are not seeking notoriety to disclose themselves to the people, and for a person by speaking to reveal himself for the benefit of those who can understand what sort of man he is. For I fancy that they will clearly show contempt for me, to judge by the treatment I have been receiving, and that we shall not understand one another, neither I my audience nor they their speaker. And the blame for this misunderstanding I would set down to my account rather than to yours.

  [6] This, then, is one reason for my coming forward. But there is another reason — my fear that I myself may become spoiled through your suspicions of me and come to believe that there is actually something of importance in my make-up. For when many people display admiration for one man and consider him superior to the rest, great wisdom and strength of character are seemingly needed if he is to preserve his common sense and not be made a fool or be uplifted, as by wings, by the words of the crowd — as Homer has portrayed Achilles, through vainglory because of his new armour, being uplifted and in full career:

  To him they were as wings and raised aloft

  The shepherd of the host.

  [7] And how great the power of the populace is to make men believe anything they please may perhaps best be learned from children: when a sane man is followed by urchins who keep calling him crazy. For at first the man goes away inwardly annoyed, and then, from constantly falling foul of them and reviling and chasing them one by one, he gets into that very state and ends by going mad, and the spoken word he took to be a manifestation of deity, not merely the utterance of men, but even that of boys.

  [8] And, methinks, the tribe of sophists also owes its development to some such cause as this. When a lot of young men with nothing to do go leaping about a man with cries of admiration, as the Bacchants leap about Dionysus, inevitably that man after no great lapse of time will gain a reputation with many others for talking sensibly. Why, that is very much the way in which parents teach their children how to talk, expressing keen delight over anything the children may utter. Accordingly, in consequence of that applause, the children take courage and make further progress and keep speaking more and more distinctly, until finally they have mastered the language of their associates, be they Greeks or barbarians. The sophists also can’t help adopting the thought of their listeners, saying and thinking such things as fit the nature of those listeners, whatever it happens to be; but the majority of these are pretty much simpletons, victims of an unkind fate.

  [9] Well then, conceivably there is no great risk involved if a man appears to himself and others to be clever, and draws in his train a crowd of fools — just as it is said of Orpheus, that he drew to himself trees and rocks and stones — but that, while himself a fool, a coward, intemperate, in no wise superior to dumb cattle, a man should believe that he has any claim to virtue and gentility — that indeed is utterly preposterous and a mark of the most grievous folly and madness. Nay, whenever fame lays hold upon a man and that sort of talk starts to smoulder, he should tear off his garments and leap forth naked upon the public highways, proving to all the world that he is no better than any other man. [10] And if someone follows at his heels claiming to be his pupil, he must try to drive him away, striking him with his fists and pelting him with clods of earth and stones, knowing that the fellow is either fool or knave.

  However, my remarks are not levelled at all sophists, for there are some who follow that calling honourably and for the good of others, men to whom we should pour libation and offer incense; nay, I mean rather those whom they appoint to serve you as experts in wisdom, three or four long-haired persons like the high-priests of your local rites. I refer to the ‘blessed ones,’ who exercise authority over all your priests, whose title represents one of the two continents in its entirety. For these men too owe their ‘blessedness’ to crowns and purple and a throng of long-haired lads bearing frankincense.

  [11] Well then, whatever be the truth in these matters, let this suffice. However, I still maintain that long hair must not by any means be taken as a mark of virtue. For many human beings wear it long because of some deity; and farmers wear long hair, without ever having even heard the word philosophy; and, by Zeus, most barbarians also wear long hair, some for a covering and some because they believe it to be becoming. In none of these cases is a man subjected to odium or ridicule. [12] The reason may well be because their practice is correct. For instance, you observe that rabbits, weak creatures that they are, are protected by their shaggy coats, and that among the birds even the weakest find their feathers a sufficient protection against wind and rain. But as for us human beings, while we shear off our locks (just as horse-breeders shear the manes of mares that they plan to mate with asses) and also shave our beards, we make coverings for our heads. Yet we observes that cocks require nothing extra as human beings do, goat-skin coats and caps of felt and other similar coverings which we stitch together. And yet what cap of Arcadian or Laconian make could be more suitable than a man’s own hair? “Besides,” someone will ask, “what need is there for so many coverings for the body?” No need, at least for men of wealth; indeed they do not need hands or feet either.

  [13] But [speaking of protection], I perceive that this city of yours is inferior to none of the first rank, and I rejoice with you and am content that it is so. For example, you occupy the strongest site and the richest on the continent; you are settled in the midst of plains and mountains of rare beauty; you have most abundant springs and a soil of greatest fertility, bearing, all told, unnumbered products,

  Both wheat and spelt and broad-eared barley white;

  and many are the droves of cattle and many the flocks of sheep you tend and pasture. And as for rivers, the largest and most serviceable have their source here — the Marsyas yonder, bearing its waters through the midst of your city, and the Orgas, and the Maeander, by far the most godlike and the wisest of all rivers, a river which with its countless windings visits, one may almost say, all that is best in Asia. [14] Furthermore, you stand as a bulwark in front of Phrygia and Lydia and Caria besides; and there are other tribes around you whose members are most numerous, Cappadocians and Pamphylians and Pisidians, and for them all your city constitutes a market and a place of meeting. And also many cities unknown to fame and many prosperous villages are subject to your sway. And a very great index of your power is
found in the magnitude of the contributions with which you are assessed. For, in my opinion, just as those beasts of burden are judged to be most powerful which carry the greatest loads, so also it is reasonable to suppose that those cities are the most considerable which pay the largest assessments.

  [15] And what is more, the courts are in session every other year in Celaenae, and they bring together an unnumbered throng of people — litigants, jurymen, orators, princes, attendants, slaves, pimps, muleteers, hucksters, harlots, and artisans. Consequently not only can those who have goods to sell obtain the highest prices, but also nothing in the city is out of work, neither the teams nor the houses nor the women. [16] And this contributes not a little to prosperity; for wherever the greatest throng of people comes together, there necessarily we find money in greatest abundance, and it stands to reason that the place should thrive. For example, it is said, I believe, that the district in which the most flocks are quartered proves to be the best for the farmer because of the dung, and indeed many farmers entreat the shepherds to quarter their sheep on their land. [17] So it is, you see, that the business of the courts is deemed of highest importance toward a city’s strength and all men are interested in that as in nothing else. And the foremost cities share this business each in its turn in alternate years. However, it is said that now the interval is going to be longer, for they claim that the people resent being constantly driven here and there. Yes, you share also in the sanctuaries of Asia and in the expenditures they entail, quite as much as do these cities in which with the sanctuaries are.