Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [119] Thereupon Hector spoke against this, for the Trojans, he said, were far stronger and would capture the fortification by assault; but what angered him most was the death of Paris. However, upon the appeal of his father, who urged his fullness of years and the loss of his sons, and influenced by the desire of the people of the city to be relieved of the war, he consented to the cessation of hostilities, but insisted that the Achaeans pay the expenses of the war and make reparation because they had been the aggressors, had pillaged the country for many years, and had slain Paris along with many other brave warriors, not because he had done them any injury but because he had been preferred in the wooing of Helen and had won a wife from Hellas, given by those who had the right to do so.

  [120] διδόντων. ὁ δὲ Ὀδυσσεύς, οὗτος γὰρ ἐπρέσβευε περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης, παρῃτεῖτο, ἐπιδεικνὺς ὅτι οὐχ ἥττω δεδράκασιν ἢ πεπόνθασιν, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐκείνοις ἀνετίθει τοῦ πολέμου: μηδὲν γὰρ δεῖν Ἀλέξανδρον τοσούτων οὐσῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν γυναικῶν, τὸν δὲ εἰς τὴνἙλλάδα ἐλθόντα μνηστεύειν καὶ ἀπελθεῖν καταγελάσαντα τῶν ἀρίστων παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς, πλούτῳ νικήσαντα: συμβῆναι γὰρ οὐχ ἁπλῶς τὴν μνηστείαν, ἀλλὰ ἐπιβουλεύειν αὐτὸν τοῖς ἐκεῖ πράγμασι διὰ τούτου μὴ λανθάνειν αὐτούς: ὥστε τὸ λοιπὸν ἠξίου παύσασθαι, τοσούτων κακῶν γεγονότων ἀμφοτέροις, καὶ ταῦτα ἐπιγαμίας τεοὔσης καὶ συγγενείας τοῖς Ἀτρείδαις πρὸς αὐτοὺς διὰ Πέλοπα.

  [120] Against this, Odysseus, who was a member of the peace embassy, protested, pointing out that the achievements of the Achaeans were no less than their defeats and was for laying the blame for the war upon their enemies. Paris, he thought, had no business, when there were so many women in Asia, to go from there to Greece to sue for a wife and then return after snapping his fingers at her chieftains and triumphing through the power of his wealth. His errand, he insisted, had been no simple courtship; nay, they were not oblivious of the fact that by its means Paris was plotting against Greek interests. He therefore insisted that this be given up for the future, since both sides had suffered so much, and that too although the Atreidaeº were already connected with the Trojans by marriage ties and kinship through Pelops.

  [121] περὶ δὲ τῶν χρημάτων κατεγέλα: μὴ γὰρ εἶναι χρήματα τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν τοὺς πολλοὺς ἑκόντας στρατεύεσθαι διὰ τὴν οἴκοι πενίαν. ταῦτα δὲ ἔλεγεν ἀποτρέπων αὐτοὺς τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα στρατείας. εἰ δὲ δέοι τινα δίκην γενέσθαι τοῦ εὐπρεποῦσχάριν, αὐτὸς εὑρεῖν. καταλείψειν γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἀνάθημα κάλλιστον καὶ μέγιστον τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ καὶ ἐπιγράψειν, Ἱλαστήριον Ἀχαιοὶ τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ τῇ Ἰλιάδι. τοῦτο γὰρ φέρειν μεγάλην τιμὴν ἐκείνοις: καθ᾽

  [121] With regard to indemnity, he had only ridicule. The Greeks, he said, had no means; nay, even the larger part of the army was serving voluntarily on account of the poverty of the mainland. This he urged to deter the Trojans from a campaign against Greece, and said that if any indemnity should be necessary for propriety’s sake, he was ready with a plan. For the Greeks would leave a very large and beautiful offering to Athena and carve upon it this inscription: “A Propitiation from the Achaeans to Athena of Ilium.” This, he explained, conferred great honour upon the Trojans and stood against the Greeks as an evidence of their defeat.

  [122] ἑαυτῶν δὲ γίγνεσθαι μαρτύριον ὡς ἡττημένων. παρεκάλει δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἑλένην ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰρήνης συλλαμβάνειν. ἡ δὲ συνέπραττεπροθύμως: ἤχθετο γὰρ ὅτι δι᾽ αὐτὴν οἱ Τρῶες ἐδόκουν πολλὰ κακὰ πάσχειν. καὶ ποιοῦνται τὰς διαλύσεις, καὶ σπονδαὶ γίγνονται τοῖς Τρωσὶ καὶ τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς: Ὅμηρος δὲ καὶ τοῦτο μετήνεγκεν ἐπὶ τὸ ψεῦδος, εἰδὼς γενόμενον: ἀλλ᾽ ἔφη τοὺς Τρῶας συγχέαι τὰς σπονδάς: ὤμοσάν τε ἀλλήλοις ὅ τε Ἕκτωρ καὶ Ἀγαμέμνων καὶτῶν ἄλλων οἱ δυνατοὶ μήτε τοὺς Ἕλληνάς ποτε στρατεύσειν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν, ἕως ἂν ἄρχῃ τὸ Πριάμου γένος, μήτε τοὺς Πριαμίδας εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἢ Βοιωτίαν ἢ Κρήτην ἢ Ἰθάκην ἢ Φθίαν ἢ Εὔβοιαν.

  [122] He exhorted Helen also to interest herself in the peace, and she gladly lent her help, for it pained her that she was blamed for the many misfortunes of the Trojans. So hostilities were brought to an end, and a truce was made between the Trojans and the Achaeans. But here too Homer has distorted the facts though he knew what occurred. He says that the Trojans broke the truce; and Hector and Agamemnon together with the other prominent chieftains had only sworn to each other that the Achaeans would never invade Asia so long as the family of Priam was on the throne, and that the descendants of Priam would not invade the Peloponnese, Boeotia, Crete, Ithaca, Phthia, or Euboea. These were the only countries that they specified;

  [123] ταύτας γὰρ μόνας ἐξαιρέτους ἐποίουν: περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων οὐκ ἐβούλοντο ὀμνύειν οἱ Τρῶες οὐδὲ τοῖς Ἀτρείδαις ἔμελε. τούτων δὲ ὀμοσθέντων, ὅ τε ἵππος ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἐτελέσθη, μέγα ἔργον, καὶ ἀνήγαγον αὐτὸν οἱ Τρῶες πρὸς τὴν πόλιν καὶ τῶν [p. 147] πυλῶν οὐ δεχομένων, μέρος τι τοῦ τείχους καθεῖλον: ὅθεν γελοίως ἐλέχθη τὸ ἁλῶναι τὴν πόλιν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἵππου. καὶ τὸ στράτευμα ᾤχετο ὑπόσπονδον τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ. τὴν δὲ Ἑλένην ὁ Ἕκτωρ συνῴκισε Δηιφόβῳ, ὃς ἦν μετ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἄριστος.

  [123] as regards the others, the Trojans refused to give their oath, nor were the Atreidaeº insistent. When this compact had been sworn to, the horse, a huge structure, was completed by the Achaeans and conveyed up to the city by the Trojans, who removed a portion of the walls when the gates did not admit its passage. Hence the ridiculous story of the capture of the city by the horse. The army departed under truce in this way. Then Hector gave Helen to Deïphobus as his wife, for he was the best of the brothers next to himself.

  [124] ὁ δὲ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ τελευτᾷ πάντων εὐδαιμονέστατος, πλὴν ὅσα λελύπητο περὶ τῶν παίδων τῶν τετελευτηκότων. καὶ αὐτὸς βασιλεύσας συχνο ἔτη καὶ πλεῖστα τῆς Ἀσίας καταστρεψάμενος γηραιὸς ἀποθνῄσκει, καὶ θάπτεται πρὸ τῆς πόλεως. τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν Σκαμανδρίῳ τῷ παιδὶ κατέλιπεν. ταῦτα δὲ ἔχοντα οὕτως ἐπίσταμαι σαφῶς ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἀποδέξεται, φήσουσι δὲ ψευδῆ πάντες εἶναι, πλὴν τῶν φρονούντων, οὐ μόνον οἱ Ἕλληνες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑμεῖς. ἡ γὰρ διαβολὴ σφόδρα χαλεπόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ ἐξηπατῆσθαι πολὺν χρόνον.

  [124] His father died as the most fortunate man in the world except for the grief he bore for the sons who
had perished. Hector too died full of years at the end of a long reign after subduing most of Asia, and was buried outside the city. His kingdom he left to his son Scamandrus.”

  Though this is the true account, I see clearly that no one will accept it, but that all save the thoughtful will declare it to be false. By “all” I mean you as well as the Greeks. For calumny is extremely hard to overcome, and especially when men have been deceived for a long time.

  [125] σκοπεῖτε δὲ τἀναντία πῶς ἐστι γελοῖα, ἀφελόντες τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὸ προκατειλῆφθαι: κρυφθῆναι μὲν ἐν τῷ ἵππῳ στράτευμα ὅλον, τῶν δὲ Τρώων μηθένα αἰσθάνεσθαι τοῦτο μηδὲ ὑποπτεῦσαι, καὶ ταῦτα μάντεως οὔσης παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἀψευδοῦς, ἀλλὰ κομίσαι τοὺς πολεμίους δι᾽ αὑτῶν εἰς τὴν πόλιν: πρότερον δὲ ἕνα ἄνδρα πάντων ἡττωμένων ἱκανὸν γενέσθαι γυμνὸν ἐπιφανέντα τῇ φωνῇ τρέψασθαι τοσαύτας μυριάδας, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ὅπλα οὐκ ἔχοντα, ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ λαβόντα νικῆσαι τοὺς μιᾷ πρότερον ἡμέρᾳ κρατοῦντας καὶ διώκειν ἅπαντας ἕνα ὄντα.

  [125] But rid yourselves of your opinions and prejudices and consider how ridiculous the opposite story is. A whole army was hidden in a horse and yet not a single Trojan noticed it or even surmised it in spite of the fact that they had an unerring prophetess among them, but by their own efforts they brought the enemy within the city. Then before this, when all were defeated, one man appeared unarmed and proved able by the power of his voice to put to flight so many thousands; and after this, being without arms, he received fresh weapons from heaven and overwhelmed the victors of but the previous day and unaided chased them all from the field.

  [126] αὐτὸν δὲ ἐκεῖνον τοσοῦτον ὑπερέχοντα ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ πάντων κακίστου τὴν ψυχήν, ὡς αὐτοί φασιν, ἄλλου τε ἀποθανόντος ἄλλον σκυλευθῆναι, μόνῳ δὲ ἐκείνῳ τῶν ἡγεμόνων μὴ γενέσθαι τάφον. ἄλλον δέ τινα τῶν ἀρίστων τοσαῦτα ἔτη πολεμοῦντα ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν πολεμίων μηδενὸς ἀποθανεῖν: αὑτὸν δὲ ὀργισθέντα ἀποσφάξαι, καὶ ταῦτα δοκοῦντα σεμνότατον καὶ πρᾳότατον εἶναι τῶν συμμάχων.

  [126] Can you believe, further, that this same Achilles, so pre-eminent a hero, was slain by the most faint-hearted man in the world, as the Trojans themselves confess, that while one man was slain it was another who was stripped of his arms, and that this hero was the only one among the chieftains to be given no burial-place; that yet another, and he one of the bravest, who fought so many years, was saved from the hands of the enemy only to slay himself in a fit of anger, and that although he was looked upon as the most dignified and gentle-mannered among the allies?

  [127] τὸν δὲ ποιητὴν προθέμενον εἰπεῖν τὸν Τρωικὸν πόλεμον τὰ κάλλιστα καὶ μέγιστα τῶν γεγονότων ἐᾶσαι καὶ μηδὲ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς πόλεως διελθεῖν. ταῦτα γάρ ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς πεποιημένοις καὶ λεγομένοις. ὁ μὲν Ἀχιλλεύς, προηττημένων τῶν Ἀχαιῶν οὐκ εἰς ἅπαξ οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων μόνον, ἀλλὰ [p. 148] καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ στρατιᾶς, μόνος περιγενόμενος καὶ τοσοῦτον τὰ πράγματα μεταβαλών, αὐτὸς δὲ Ἕκτορα μὲν ἀποκτείνας, ὑπὸ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου ἀποθνῄσκων, ὃς ἦν ὕστατος τῶν Τρώων, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι, Πατρόκλου δὲ ἀποθανόντος, σκυλευόμενος ὁ Ἀχιλλεὺς καὶ τὰ ἐκείνου ληφθέντα ὅπλα, ὁ δὲ Πάτροκλος οὐ ταφείς.

  [127] And finally, the poet, who set out to tell of the Trojan war, omitted the most glorious and important events and did not even give an account of the capture of the city!

  The following are some of the things that he mentions in his poem: — When the Achaeans had already been worsted, and more than once, Achilles’ own force included, and he was the sole survivor, he made a great change in the situation by slaying Hector and was himself slain by Paris, who was the meanest of the Trojans, as they themselves admit, and when Patroclus was slain, it was Achilles whose body was stripped and whose arms were taken, while Patroclus was not buried.

  [128] ἐπειδὴδὲ Αἴαντος ἦν τάφος καὶ πάντες ᾔδεσαν αὐτὸν ἐν Τροίᾳ τελευτήσαντα, ἵνα δὴ μὴ ποιήσῃ τὸν ἀποκτείναντα ἔνδοξον, αὐτὸς αὑτὸν ἀνελών. οἱ δὲ Ἀχαιοὶ φεύγοντες μὲν ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας σιωπῇ καὶ τὰς σκηνὰς κατακαύσαντες καὶ τὸ ναύσταθμον ἁφθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἕκτορος καὶ τὸ τεῖχος αὐτῶν ἑαλωκός, καὶ ἀνάθημα ἀναθέντες τῇἈθηνᾷ καὶ ἐπιγράψαντες, ὡς ἔθος ἐστὶ τοὺς ἡττημένους, οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον τὴν Τροίαν ἑλόντες, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἵππῳ τῷ ξυλίνῳ στράτευμα ἀνθρώπων ἀποκρυφθέν. οἱ δὲ Τρῶες ὑποπτεύσαντες μὲν τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ βουλευσάμενοι κατακαῦσαι τὸν ἵππον ἢ διατεμεῖν, μηθὲν δὲ τούτων ποιήσαντες, ἀλλὰ πίνοντες καὶ καθεύδοντες, καὶ

  [128] Then since there was a grave of Ajax and everyone knew that he died at Troy, he slew himself simply to deprive the man who slew him of honour! The Achaeans fled in silence from Asia after burning their huts, and their naval camp was set on fire by Hector and their rampart captured. Then they erected a votive offering to Athena and carved an inscription upon it, as is the custom for the vanquished, but none the less they captured Troy and an army of men was hidden in the wooden horse. The Trojans suspected what was afoot and purposed to burn the wooden horse or cut it to pieces, and yet did neither the one nor the other, but ate and slept, in spite of Cassandra’s forewarning too.

  [129] ταῦτα προειπούσης αὐτοῖς τῆς Κασσάνδρας. ταῦτα οὐκ ἐνυπνίοις ἐοικότα τῷ ὄντι καὶ ἀπιθάνοις ψεύσμασιν; ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ὅρῳ γεγραμμένοις ὀνείρασιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι τοιαύτας ὄψεις ὁρῶσι, νῦν μὲν δοκοῦντες ἀποθνῄσκειν καὶ σκυλεύεσθαι, πάλιν δὲ ἀνίστασθαι καὶ μάχεσθαι γυμνοὶ ὄντες, ἐνίοτε δὲ οἰόμενοι διώκειν καὶ τοῖς θεοῖσδιαλέγεσθαι καὶ αὑτοὺς ἀποσφάττειν καὶ μηδενὸς δεινοῦ ὄντος, καὶ οὕτως, εἰ τύχοι ποτέ, πέτεσθαι καὶ βαδίζειν ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάττης. ὥστε καὶ τὴν Ὁμήρου ποίησιν ὀρθῶς ἄν τινα εἰπεῖν ἐνύπνιον, καὶ τοῦτο ἄκριτον καὶ ἀσαφές.

  [129] Does not all this in reality remind one of dreams and wild fiction? In the book “Dreams” by Horus people have such experiences, imagining at one time that they are being killed and their bodies stripped of arms and that they rise to their feet again and fight unarmed, at other times imagining they are chasing somebody or holding converse with the gods or committing suicide without any cause for the act, and at times, possibly, flying offhand or walking on the sea. For this reason one might well call Homer’s poetry a kind of dream, obscure and vague at that.

  [130] ἄξιον δὲ
κἀκεῖνο ἐνθυμηθῆναι πρὸς τοῖς ὁμολογουμένοις. ὁμολογοῦσι γὰρ ἅπαντες τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας ἀναχθῆναι χειμῶνος ἤδη, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπολέσθαι τὸ πλέον τοῦ στόλου περὶ τὴν Εὔβοιαν: ἔτι δὲ μὴ κατὰ ταὐτὸ πλεῖν ἅπαντας, ἀλλὰ στασιάσαι τὸ στράτευμα καὶ τοὺς Ἀτρείδας, καὶ τοὺς μὲν Ἀγαμέμνονι, τοὺς δὲ Μενελάῳ προσθέσθαι, τοὺς δὲ καθ᾽ αὑτοὺς ἀπελθεῖν, ὧν καὶΌμηρος ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ μέμνηται. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ εὖ πράττοντας ὁμονοεῖν εἰκὸς καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ τὸ πλεῖστον ὑποτάττεσθαι, καὶ τὸν Μενέλαον μὴ διαφέρεσθαι πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν παραχρῆμα τῆς εὐεργεσίας: [p. 149] τοῖς δὲ ἡττημένοις καὶ κακῶς πράττουσιν ἅπαντα ταῦτα ἀνάγκη συμβαίνειν.

  [130] The following also is worth thinking about along with what has been said above. Everybody is agreed that the stormy season had already set in when the Achaeans sailed from Asia and that for this reason the greater part of their expedition came to grief off Euboea; further, that they did not all take the same course, since a division arose in the army and between the Atreidaeº, some joining Agamemnon, others Menelaus, while yet others, whom Homer mentions in the Odyssey, departed by themselves. For it is reasonable to suppose that if things were going well, there would have been unanimity and the fullest obedience to the king, and that Menelaus would not have quarrelled with his brother just after receiving the great favour from him; but in defeat and failure all such things are sure to happen.