Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [2] They are, I fancy, like men with sore eyes — they find the light painful, while the darkness, which permits them to see nothing, is restful and agreeable. Else how would falsehood often prove mightier than the truth, if it did not win its victories through pleasure?

  But though, as I have said, it is hard for men to learn, it is immensely more difficult for them to unlearn and learn over again, especially when they have been listening to falsehood for a long time, and not only they themselves, but their fathers, their grandfathers, and, generally speaking, all former generations have been deceived.

  [3] οὐ γάρ ἐστι ῥᾴδιον τούτων ἀφελέσθαι τὴν δόξαν, οὐδ᾽ ἂν πάνυ τις ἐξελέγχῃ. καθάπερ οἶμαι τῶν τὰ ὑποβολιμαῖα παιδάρια θρεψάντων χαλεπὸν ὕστερον ἀφελέσθαι τἀληθῆ λέγοντα ἅ γε ἐν ἀρχῇ, εἴ τις αὐτοῖς ἔφρασεν, οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἀνείλοντο. οὕτω δὲ τοῦτο ἰσχυρόν ἐστιν ὥστε πολλοὶ τὰ κακὰ μᾶλλον προσποιοῦνται καὶὁμολογοῦσι καθ᾽ αὑτῶν, ἂν ὦσι πεπεισμένοι πρότερον, ἢ τἀγαθὰ μετὰ χρόνον ἀκούοντες.

  [3] For it is no easy matter to disabuse these of their opinion, no matter how clearly you show it to be wrong. I presume it is the same as when people have brought up supposititious children: it is hard to get these away from them afterwards when you tell them the truth, but if you had told them in the beginning, they would not have undertaken to rear them. So strong is this tendency that many prefer to claim bad children and to acknowledge them, to their own disadvantage, as their own, if they have originally believed them to be so, rather than good children of whom they learn long afterward.

  [4] οὐκ ἂν οὖν θαυμάσαιμι καὶ ὑμᾶς, ἄνδρες Ἰλιεῖς, εἰ πιστότερον ἡγήσασθαι Ὅμηρον τὰ χαλεπώτατα ψευσάμενον καθ᾽ ὑμῶν ἢ ἐμὲ τἀληθῆ λέγοντα, κἀκεῖνον μὲν ὑπολαβεῖν θεῖον ἄνδρα καὶ σοφόν,καὶ τοὺς παῖδας εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὰ ἔπη διδάσκειν οὐθὲν ἄλλο ἢ κατάρας ἔχοντα κατὰ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ταύτας οὐκ ἀληθεῖς, ἐμοῦ δὲ μὴ ἀνέχοισθε τὰ ὄντα καὶ γενόμενα λέγοντος, ὅτι πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν ὕστερον Ὁμήρου γέγονα.

  [4] Therefore, I should not be surprised at you, men of Ilium, if you were going to put greater faith in Homer, notwithstanding his most grievous misstatements against you, than in my present statement of the truth, and hold him to be a wise and inspired man, and to teach your children his epic from their very earliest years, though he has nothing but denunciation for your city, and untruthful at that, but should refuse to listen to me when I tell the facts as they occurred, just because I was born many years later than Homer.

  [5] καίτοι φασὶ μὲν οἱ πολλοὶ τὸν χρόνον τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ κριτὴν ἄριστον εἶναι, ὅτι δ᾽ ἂν ἀκούωσι μετὰπολὺν χρόνον, διὰ τοῦτο ἄπιστον νομίζουσιν. εἰ μὲν οὖν παρ᾽ Ἀργείοις ἐτόλμων ἀντιλέγειν Ὁμήρῳ, καὶ τὴν ποίησιν αὐτοῦ δεικνύναι ψευδῆ περὶ τὰ μέγιστα, τυχὸν ἂν εἰκότως ἤχθοντό μοι καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐξέβαλλον εἰ τὴν παρ᾽ ἐκείνων δόξαν ἐφαινόμην ἀφανίζων καὶ καθαιρῶν: ὑμᾶς δὲ δίκαιόν ἐστί μοι χάριν εἰδέναι καὶἀκροᾶσθαι προθύμως: ὑπὲρ γὰρ τῶν ὑμετέρων προγόνων ἐσπούδακα.

  [5] And yet most people say that time is the very best judge of things, but whenever they hear anything after a long lapse of time, they consider it incredible for that very reason. Now if I had the hardihood to contradict Homer before the Argives and to show the error in his poetry regarding the most important things, perhaps it would be natural for them to be angry at me and drive me from their city if they saw that I was dispelling and destroying the reputation which their city has derived from that source. You, on the other hand, should be grateful and hear me gladly, for I have been zealous in defence of your ancestors.

  [6] προλέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι τοὺς λόγους τούτους ἀνάγκη καὶ [p. 117] παρ᾽ ἑτέροις ῥηθῆναι καὶ πολλοὺς πυθέσθαι: τούτων δὲ οἱ μέν τινες οὐ συνήσουσιν, οἱ δὲ προσποιήσονται καταφρονεῖν, οὐ καταφρονοῦντες αὐτῶν, οἱ δέ τινες ἐπιχειρήσουσιν ἐξελέγχειν, μάλιστα δὲ οἶμαι τοὺς κακοδαίμονας σοφιστάς. ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπίσταμαι σαφῶς ὅτι οὐδὲ ὑμῖν πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἔσονται. οἱ γὰρ πλεῖστοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὕτως ἄγαν εἰσὶν ὑπὸ δόξης διεφθαρμένοι τὰς ψυχὰς ὥστε μᾶλλον ἐπιθυμοῦσι περιβόητοι εἶναι ἐπὶ τοῖς μεγίστοις ἀτυχήμασιν ἢ μηδὲν κακὸν ἔχοντες ἀγνοεῖσθαι.

  [6] I wish to say at the outset that this discourse must be delivered before other audiences also, and that many will hear about it, of whom some will not comprehend it, while others will pretend to treat it lightly though they really do not, and yet others will attempt to refute its arguments, especially, I suppose, the miserable sophists. I know quite well that it will not please you, I suppose, either. For most men are so completely corrupted at heart by opinion that they would rather be notorious for the greatest calamities than suffer no ill and be unknown.

  [7] αὐτοὺς γὰρ οἶμαι τοὺς Ἀργείους μὴ ἂν ἐθέλειν ἄλλως γεγονέναι τὰ περὶ τὸν Θυέστην καὶ τὸν Ἀτρέα καὶ τοὺς Πελοπίδας, ἀλλ᾽ ἄχθεσθαι σφόδρα, ἐάν τις ἐξελέγχῃ τοὺς μύθους τῶν τραγῳδῶν, λέγων ὅτι οὔτε Θυέστης ἐμοίχευσε τὴν τοῦ Ἀτρέως οὔτε ἐκεῖνος ἀπέκτεινε τοὺς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ παῖδας οὐδὲ κατακόψας εἱστίασε τὸν Θυέστην οὔτε Ὀρέστης αὐτόχειρ ἐγένετο τῆς μητρός. ἅπαντα ταῦτα εἰ λέγοι τις, χαλεπῶς ἂν φέροιεν ὡς λοιδορούμενοι.

  [7] Even the Argives, I believe, would not wish that the events told of Thyestes, Atreus, and the house of Pelops had happened otherwise, but would be greatly displeased if anyone disproved the myths set forth in the tragic poets by asserting that Thyestes did not defile the wife of Atreus and that the latter did not slay his brother’s sons nor cut them up and then serve their remains as a feast for Thyestes, or that Orestes did not kill his own mother. Should any man make any such assertions, they would feel aggrieved on the ground that they were being insulted.

  [8] τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο κἂν Θηβαίους οἶμαι παθεῖν, εἴ τις τὰ παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἀτυχήματα ψευδῆ ἀποφαίνοι, καὶ οὔτε τὸν πατέρα Οἰδίπουν ἀποκτείναντα οὔτε τῇ μητρὶ συγγενόμενον οὔθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν τυφλώσαντα οὔτε τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ πρὸ τοῦ τείχους ἀποθανόντας ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων, οὔθ᾽ ὡς ἡ Σφὶγξ ἀφικομένη κατεσθίοι τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἥδονται ἀκούοντες καὶ τὴν Σφίγγα ἐπιπεμφθεῖσαν αὐτοῖς διὰ χόλον Ἥρας καὶ τὸν Λάιον ὑπὸ τοῦ υἱέος ἀναιρεθέντα καὶ τὸν Οἰδίπουν ταῦτα ποιήσαντα κα
ὶ παθόντα τυφλὸν ἀλᾶσθαι,

  [8] I believe, too, that the feelings of the Thebans would be exactly the same, should anyone assert that there was no truth in their tales of woe and insist that Oedipus did not kill his father or wed his mother or blind himself, or that his sons did not die before the walls, each by the other’s hand, or that the Sphinx did not come and devour the children of the city. Nay, on the contrary, they are delighted to hear that Sphinx was sent to molest them because of Hera’s anger, that Laïus was slain by his son and that Oedipus, after what he did and suffered, wandered in blindness,

  [9] καὶ πρότερον ἄλλου βασιλέως αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς πόλεως οἰκιστοῦ, Ἀμφίονος, τοὺς παῖδας, ἀνθρώπων καλλίστους γενομένους, κατατοξευθῆναι ὑπὸ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος: καὶ ταῦτα καὶ αὐλούντων καὶ ᾀδόντων ἀνέχονται παρ᾽ αὑτοῖς ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ, καὶ τιθέασιν ἆθλα περὶ τούτων, ὃς ἂν οἰκτρότατα εἴπῃ περὶ αὐτῶν ἢ αὐλήσῃ: τὸν δὲ εἰπόντα ὡς οὐ

  [9] and that the sons of an earlier king, Amphion, who founded the city, were slain by the arrows Apollo and Artemis because they were the fairest among men. These are the themes that they can endure to hear interpreted by the flute or song in their theatres, and they offer prizes for the most pathetic interpretation of the story in words or in music; but the man who says that none of these things occurred they expel from their city.

  [10] γέγονεν οὐδὲν αἰτῶν ἐκβάλλουσιν. εἰς τοῦτο μανίας οἱ πολλοὶ ἐληλύθασι καὶ οὕτω πάνυ ὁ τῦφος αὐτῶν κεκράτηκεν. ἐπιθυμοῦσι γὰρ ὡς πλεῖστον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν γίγνεσθαι λόγον: ὁποῖον δέ τινα, οὐθὲν μέλει αὐτοῖς. ὅλως δὲ πάσχειν μὲν οὐ θέλουσι τὰ δεινὰ [p. 118] διὰ δειλίαν, φοβούμενοι τούς τε θανάτους καὶ τὰς ἀλγηδόνας: ὡς δὲ παθόντες μνημονεύεσθαι περὶ πολλοῦ ποιοῦνται.

  [10] So far have the majority carried their folly, and so completely has their infatuation got the better of them. They want to be talked about as much as possible, but as to the nature of what is said, they care not a whit. Generally speaking, men are too cowardly to be willing to undergo severe suffering, since they fear death and pain, but they highly prize being mentioned as having so suffered.

  [11] ἐγὼ δὲ οὔθ᾽ ὑμῖν χαριζόμενος οὔθ᾽ Ὁμήρῳ διαφερόμενος οὐδὲ τῆς δόξης φθονῶν ἐκείνῳ, πειράσομαι δεικνύειν ὅσα μοι δοκεῖ ψευδῆ εἰρηκέναι περὶ τῶν ἐνθάδε πραγμάτων, οὐκ ἄλλοθέν ποθεν,ἀλλ᾽ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς ποιήσεως ἐλέγχων, τῷ τε ἀληθεῖ βοηθῶν καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν, ὅπως μὴ δοκῇ ἀδίκως διαφθεῖραι τὴν αὑτῆς πόλιν μηδὲ ἐναντία βούλεσθαι τῷ αὑτῆς πατρί, οὐχ ἧττον δὲ διὰ τὴν Ἥραν καὶ τὴν Ἀφροδίτην.

  [11] But as for me, desiring neither to gain your favour nor to quarrel with Homer, much less to rob him of his fame, I shall try to show all the false statements I think he has made with regard to the events which happened here, and I shall use no other means of refuting him than his own poetry. In this I am simply defending the truth, and for Athena’s sake especially, that she may not be thought to have destroyed her own city unjustly or to have set her will against her father’s; but I speak no less in behalf of Hera and Aphrodite also.

  [12] δεινὸν γὰρ τὴν μὲν τῷ Διὶ συνοῦσαν μὴ νομίσαι αὐτὸν κριτὴν ἱκανὸν τοῦ αὑτῆς εἴδους, εἰ μὴἀρέσει καὶ τῶν ἐν Ἴδῃ βουκόλων ἑνί, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν ὑπὲρ κάλλους ἐρίζειν τῇ Ἀφροδίτῃ, πρεσβυτάτην φάσκουσαν εἶναι τῶν Κρόνου παίδων, ὡς αὐτὸς Ὅμηρος ἀπήγγειλε ποιήσας,

  [12] For it is passing strange that the consort of Zeus did not consider him a competent judge of her beauty unless it should be pleasing to one of the shepherds of Ida also, and that she had any contest at all with Aphrodite for the prize of beauty, she who asserted that she was the eldest of the children of Cronus, as Homer himself has expressed it in the verse,

  “Me as the eldest child hath Cronus the crafty begotten.”

  [13]

  καί με πρεσβυτάτην τέκετο Κρόνος ἀγκυλομήτης,

  ἔτι δὲ οὕτω χαλεπῶς διατεθῆναι πρὸς τὸν Πάριν, αὐτὴν ἐπιτρέψασαντὴν κρίσιν: καίτοι οὐδὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὃς ἂν ἐπιτρέψῃ δίαιταν, ἐχθρὸν ἡγεῖται τὸν διαιτητήν, ἐὰν μὴ δικάσῃ καθ᾽ ἑαυτόν: τὴν δέ γε Ἀφροδίτην οὕτως αἰσχρὰν καὶ ἄδικον καὶ ἀσύμφορον δοῦναι δωρεάν, καὶ μηδένα ποιήσασθαι λόγονμήτε τῆς Ἑλένης ἀδελφῆς οὔσης μήτε τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ προκρίναντος αὐτήν, ἀλλὰ χαρίζεσθαιτοιοῦτον γάμον δι᾽ ὃν αὐτός τε ἔμελλεν ἀπόλλυσθαι καὶ οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ πόλις.

  [13] Furthermore, it is strange that she became so bitterly disposed towards Paris when she herself had entrusted the judgment to him; and yet, even in human affairs, the man who refers a dispute to arbitration does not regard the arbitrator as an enemy when the decision is not in his favour. It is strange also that Aphrodite should have bestowed a gift so scandalous, so fraught with evil and injustice, and that she was so regardless both of Helen, her own sister, and of Paris, who had decided in her favour, but rewarded the latter with such a marriage that he was destined through it to ruin himself, his parents, and his city.

  [14] ἔτι δὲ οὐκ ἄξιον οἶμαι παριδεῖν οὐδὲ τὸ τῆς Ἑλένης, ἣ τοῦ Διὸς λεγομένη θυγάτηρ διὰ μὲν τὴν ἄδικον φήμην περιβόητος ἐπ᾽ αἰσχύνῃ γέγονε, διὰ δὲ τὴν αὑτῆς ἰσχὺν θεὸς ἐνομίσθη παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν. ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως ὑπὲρ τηλικούτων ὄντοστοῦ λόγου τινὲς τῶν σοφιστῶν ἀσεβεῖν με φήσουσιν Ὁμήρῳ ἀντιλέγοντα καὶ ἐπιχειρήσουσι διαβάλλειν πρὸς τὰ δύστηνα μειράκια, ὧν ἐμοὶ ἐλάττων λόγος ἐστὶν ἢ πιθήκων.

  [14] Furthermore, the position of Helen, in my judgment, should not be ignored either; for she, the reputed daughter of Zeus, has become through unjust report a byword for disgrace, and yet has been held as a deity among the Greeks on account of her grace. Yet, though such very serious matters are involved in the present discussion, some of the sophists will declare that I am guilty of impiety in gainsaying Homer and will seek to slander me to their wretched disciples, for whom I care less than for so many monkeys.

  [15] πρῶτον μὲν οὖν φασι τὸν Ὅμηρον ὑπὸ πενίας τε καὶ ἀπορίας προσαιτεῖν ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι: τὸν δὲ τοιοῦτον ἀδύνατον ἡγοῦνται ψεύσασθαιπρὸς χάριν τῶν διδόντων, οὐδ᾽ ἂν τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν ὁποῖα ἔμελλεν ἐκείνοις καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν ἔσεσθαι: τοὺς δὲ νῦν πτωχοὺς οὐδέν φασιν ὑγιὲς λέγειν, οὐδὲ μάρτυρα οὐδεὶς ἂν ἐκείνων οὐδένα ποιήσαιτο ὑπὲρ οὐδενός, οὐ�
�ὲ τοὺς ἐπαίνους τοὺς παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀποδέχονται ὡς ἀληθεῖς.

  [15] In the first place, they say that Homer being constrained by dire poverty, went begging throughout Greece, and yet they think such a man was unable to lie to please those whose dole he received and that he would not have recited the sort of stories that were likely to please them. Beggars of the present time, however, tell nothing but lies, we are told, and nobody would accept the evidence of any of them on any matter whatsoever or receive their praise as sincere.

  [16] ἴσασι γὰρ ὅτι πάντα θωπεύοντες ὑπ᾽ ἀνάγκης[p. 119] λέγουσιν. ἔπειτα δὲ εἰρήκασι τοὺς μὲν ὡς πτωχῷ, τοὺς δὲ ὡς μαινομένῳ ἀπάρχεσθαι, καὶ μᾶλλον οἴονται τοὺς τότε καταγνῶναι αὐτοῦ μανίαν τἀληθῆ λέγοντος ἢ ψευδομένου. οὐ μὴν ὅσον γε ἐπὶ τούτοις ψέγω Ὅμηρον: κωλύει γὰρ οὐθὲν ἄνδρα σοφὸν πτωχεύειν οὐδὲ μαίνεσθαι δοκεῖν: ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι κατὰ τὴν ἐκείνων δόξαν, ἣν ἔχουσι περὶ Ὁμήρου καὶ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων, εἰκός ἐστι μηθὲν ὑγιὲς εἶναι τῶν εἰρημένων ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ.

  [16] For every one knows that they are compelled to cajole in all they say. It has been said, further, that some gave of their bounty to Homer the beggar, and others to Homer the madman, and it is believed that the people his day held him for a madman when he told the truth rather than when he distorted it. Now on this score I certainly have no criticism to bring against Homer; for there is nothing to prevent a wise man from going begging or pretending to be mad; but I do say that, according to the opinion those men entertain of Homer and his kind, there is probably nothing trustworthy in what he said.