Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [11] And the men whom I met, on catching sight of me, would sometimes call me a tramp and sometimes a beggar, though some did call me a philosopher. From this it came about gradually and without any planning or any self-conceit on my part that I acquired this name. Now the great majority of those styled philosophers proclaim themselves such, just as the Olympian heralds proclaim the victors; but in my case, when the other folk applied this name to me, I was not able always and in all instances to have the matter out with them.

  [12] ἄλλων λεγόντων οὐκ ἐδυνάμην ἀεὶ καὶ πᾶσι διαμάχεσθαι. τυχὸν δέ τι καὶ ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς φήμης συνέβη μοι. πολλοὶ γὰρ ἠρώτων προσιόντες ὅ, τι μοι φαίνοιτο ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακόν: ὥστε ἠναγκαζόμην φροντίζειν ὑπὲρ τούτων, ἵνα ἔχοιμι ἀποκρίνεσθαι τοῖς ἐρωτῶσιν. πάλιν δὲ ἐκέλευον λέγειν καταστάντα εἰς τὸ κοινόν. οὐκοῦν καὶτοῦτο ἀναγκαῖον ἐγίγνετο λέγειν περὶ τῶν προσηκόντων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ ἀφ᾽ ὧν ἔμελλον ὀνίνασθαι τὰ ἐμοὶ φαινόμενα.

  [12] And very likely, as it turned out, I did profit somewhat by the general report about me. For many would approach me and ask what was my opinion about good and evil. As a result I was forced to think about these matters that I might be able to answer my questioners. Furthermore, they would invite me to come before the public and speak.

  [13] ἐδόκουν δέ μοι πάντες ἄφρονες, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, καὶ οὐδεὶς οὐδὲν ὧν ἔδει πράττειν οὐδὲ σκοπεῖν ὅπως ἀπαλλαγεὶς τῶν παρόντων κακῶν καὶ τῆς πολλῆς ἀμαθίας καὶ ταραχῆς ἐπιεικέστερον καὶ ἄμεινονβιώσεται, κυκώμενοι δὲ καὶ φερόμενοι πάντες ἐν ταὐτῷ καὶ περὶ τὰ αὐτὰ σχεδόν, περί τε χρήματα καὶ δόξας καὶ σωμάτων τινὰς ἡδονάς, οὐδεὶς ἀπαλλαγῆναι τούτων δυνάμενος οὐδὲ ἐλευθερῶσαι τὴν αὑτοῦ ψυχήν: καθάπερ οἶμαι τὰ ἐμπεσόντα εἰς τὰς δίνας εἱλούμενα καὶ περιστρεφόμενα καὶ οὐχ οἷά τε ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς δινήσεως.

  [13] Consequently it became necessary for me to speak also about the duties of man and about the things that were likely, in my opinion, to profit him.

  And the opinion I had was that pretty well all men are fools, and that no one does any of the things he should do, or considers how to rid himself of the evils that beset him and of his great ignorance and confusion of mind, so as to live a more virtuous and a better life; but that they all are being thrown into confusion and are swept round and round in the same place and about practically the same objects, to wit, money and reputation and certain pleasures of the body, while no one is able to rid himself of these and set his own soul free; just as, I fancy, things that get into a whirlpool are tossed and rolled without being able to free themselves from the whirling.

  [14] ταῦτακαὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα τούς τε ἄλλους ἅπαντας καὶ μάλιστα καὶ πρῶτον ἐμαυτὸν καταμεμφόμενος ἐνίοτε ὑπὸ ἀπορίας ἀνῆγον ἐπί τινα λόγον ἀρχαῖον, λεγόμενον ὑπό τινος Σωκράτους, ὃν οὐδέποτε ἐκεῖνος ἐπαύσατο λέγων, πανταχοῦ τε καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντας βοῶν καὶ διατεινόμενος ἐν ταῖς παλαίστραις καὶ ἐν τῷ Λυκείῳ καὶ ἐπὶτῶν ἐργαστηρίων καὶ κατ᾽ ἀγοράν, ὥσπερ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός, ὡς ἔφη τις.

  [14] While I was uttering these and similar upbraidings of all others, but first and foremost of myself, at times, when at a loss, I would have recourse to an ancient appeal made by a certain Socrates, one that he never ceased making, everywhere and to everyone, crying out and declaiming earnestly, in the wrestling schools and in the Lyceum and at the workshops and up and down the market-place, like a god swung into view by the machine, as someone has said. By no means, however, did I pretend that the appeal was mine,

  [15] οὐ μέντοι προσεποιούμην ἐμὸν εἶναι τὸν λόγον, ἀλλ᾽ οὗπερ ἦν, καὶ ἠξίουν, ἂν ἄρα μὴ δύνωμαι ἀπομνημονεῦσαι ἀκριβῶς [p. 183] ἁπάντων τῶν ῥημάτων μηδὲ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας, ἀλλὰ πλέον ἢ ἔλαττον εἴπω τι, συγγνώμην ἔχειν, μηδὲ ὅτι ταῦτα λέγω ἃ τυγχάνει πολλοῖς ἔτεσι πρότερον εἰρημένα, διὰ τοῦτο ἧττον προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν. ἴσως γὰρ ἄν, ἔφην, οὕτως μάλιστα ὠφεληθείητε. οὐ γὰρ δή γε εἰκός ἐστι τοὺς παλαιοὺς λόγους ὥσπερ φάρμακα διαπνεύσαντας ἀπολωλεκέναι τὴν δύναμιν.

  [15] but gave the credit where it was due, and requested them, in case I were unable to recall accurately all the phrases, or even not all the thought, but should add or subtract anything, to grant me their indulgence and not to pay any the less attention to me just because I was repeating what happened to have been said many years before. “For perhaps,” said I, “you will in this way derive the greatest benefit. For in truth,” I added, “it is not at all probable that the words of old have evaporated like drugs and lost their power.”

  [16] ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ὁπότ᾽ ἴδοι πλείονας ἀνθρώπους ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ, σχετλιάζων καὶ ἐπιτιμῶν ἐβόα πάνυ ἀνδρείως τε καὶ ἀνυποστόλως, Ποῖ φέρεσθε, ὤνθρωποι, καὶ ἀγνοεῖτε μηδὲν τῶν δεόντων πράττοντες, χρημάτων μὲν ἐπιμελούμενοι καὶ πορίζοντες πάντα τρόπον, ὅπως αὐτοί τε ἄφθονα ἕξετε καὶ τοῖς παισὶν ἔτι πλείω παραδώσετε, αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν παίδων καὶ πρότερον ὑμῶν τῶν πατέρων ἠμελήκατε ὁμοίως ἅπαντες, οὐδεμίαν εὑρόντες οὔτε παίδευσιν οὔτε ἄσκησιν ἱκανὴν οὐδὲ ὠφέλιμον ἀνθρώποις, ἣν παιδευθέντες δυνήσεσθε τοῖς χρήμασι χρῆσθαι ὀρθῶς καὶ δικαίως, ἀλλὰ μὴ βλαβερῶς καὶ ἀδίκως, καὶ ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς ἐπιζημίως, ὃ σπουδαιότερον ἡγεῖσθαι τῶν χρημάτων, καὶ υἱοῖς καὶ θυγατράσι καὶ γυναιξὶ καὶ ἀδελφοῖς καὶ φίλοις, κἀκεῖνοι ὑμῖν.

  [16] Now Socrates, whenever he saw several persons assembled, would cry out most bravely and frankly with indignant rebuke and censure, “Whither are you drifting, men? Are you quite unaware that you are doing none of the things that you should do, in concerning yourselves with money and trying to get it in any way and every way, in order that you may not only have it in abundance yourselves, but may bequeath still more of it to your children? Yet the children themselves — aye, and earlier, yourselves, their fathers — you have all alike neglected, since you have found no education and no mode of life that is satisfactory, or even profitable, for man, which, if acquired, will enable you to use your money rightly and justly, instead of harmfully and unjustly, and to treat without hurt, not only yourselves, whom you should have considered of more value than wealth, but also your sons and daughters and wives and brothers and friends, even as they should treat you.

  [17] ἀλλ᾽ ἦ κιθαρίζειν καὶ παλαίειν καὶ γράμματα μανθάνοντες ὑπὸ τῶν γονέων καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς �
�ιδάσκοντες οἴεσθε σωφρονέστερον καὶ ἄμεινον οἰκήσειν τὴν πόλιν; καίτοι εἴ τις συναγαγὼν τούς τε κιθαριστὰς καὶ τοὺς παισοτρίβας καὶ τοὺς γραμματιστὰς τοὺς ἄριστα ἐπισταμένους ἕκαστα τούτων πόλιν κατοικίσειεν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἢ καὶ ἔθνος, καθάπερ ὑμεῖς ποτε τὴν Ἰωνίαν, ποία τις ἂν ὑμῖν δοκεῖ γενέσθαι πόλις καὶ τίνα οἰκεῖσθαι τρόπον; οὐ πολὺ κάκιον καὶ αἴσχιον τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καπήλων πόλεως, ὅπου πάντες κάπηλοι κατοικοῦσιν, ὁμοίως μὲν ἄνδρες, ὁμοίως δὲ γυναῖκες; οὐ πολὺ γελοιότερον οἰκήσουσιν οὗτοι, οὓς λέγω τοὺς τῶν ὑμετέρων παίδων διδασκάλους, οἱ παιδοτρίβαι καὶ κιθαρισταὶ καὶ γραμματισταί, προσλαβόντες τούς τε

  [17] “But, pray, is it by learning from your parents to play the lyre and to wrestle, to read and write, and by teaching your sons these things that you think that your city will be inhabited by more disciplined and better citizens? And yet if one were to bring together all the cithara players and gymnastic masters and schoolmasters who have the best knowledge of their respective subjects, and, if you should found a city with them or even a nation, just as you at one time colonized Ionia, what sort of a city do you think it would be, and what the character of its citizens? Would not life be much worse and viler than it is in that city of shopkeepers in Egypt, where all shopkeepers settle, both men and women alike? Will not a much more ridiculous society be made by these teachers of your children of whom I speak — I mean the gymnastic masters, the cithara players, and the schoolmasters, including the rhapsodists and the actors?

  [18] ῥαψῳδοὺς καὶ τοὺς ὑποκριτάς. καὶ γὰρ δὴ ὅσα μανθάνουσιν οἱ [p. 184] ἄνθρωποι, τούτου ἕνεκα μανθάνουσιν ὅπως, ἐπειδὰν ἡ χρεία ἐνστῇ πρὸς ἣν ἐμάνθανεν ἕκαστος, ποιῇ τὸ κατὰ τὴν τέχνην, οἷον ὁ μὲν κυβερνήτης ὅταν εἰς τὴν ναῦν ἐμβῇ, τῷ πηδαλίῳ κατευθύνων: διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἐμάνθανε κυβερνᾶν: ὁ δὲ ἰατρὸς ἐπειδὰν παραλάβῃ τὸν κάμνοντα, τοῖς φαρμάκοις καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὴν δίαιταν ἰώμενος, οὗ

  [18] “For mark you, everything that people learn, they learn simply in order that when the need arises for the things which each man has learned, he may do the work of his profession, the pilot, for instance, guiding the ship with the rudder as soon as he steps on board — for this is why he studied piloting — and the physician healing with his drugs and dietary regulations when he takes charge of his patient — the purpose for which he acquired his skill.

  [19] ἕνεκα ἐκτήσατο τὴν ἐμπειρίαν. οὐκοῦν καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἔφη, ἐπειδὰν δέῃ τι βουλεύεσθαι περὶ τῆς πόλεως, συνελθόντες εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, οἱ μὲν ὑμῶν κιθαρίζουσιν ἀναστάντες, οἱ δέ τινες παλαίετε, ἄλλοι δὲ ἀναγιγνώσκετε τῶν Ὁμήρου τι λαβόντες ἢ τῶν Ἡσιόδου; ταῦτα γὰρ ἄμεινον ἴστε ἑτέρων, καὶ ἀπὸ τούτων οἴεσθε ἄνδρεσἀγαθοὶ ἔσεσθαι καὶ δυνήσεσθαι τά τε κοινὰ πράττειν ὀρθῶς καὶ τὰ ἴδια, καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ ταύταις ταῖς ἐλπίσιν οἰκεῖτε τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοὺς υἱέας παρασκευάζετε ὡς δυνατοὺς ἐσομένους χρῆσθαι τοῖς τε αὑτῶν καὶ τοῖς δημοσίοις πράγμασιν, οἳ ἂν ἱκανῶς κιθαρίσωσι Παλλάδα περσέπολιν δεινὰν ἢ τῷ ποδὶ βῶσι πρὸς τὴν λύραν:ὅπως δὲ γνώσεσθε τὰ συμφέροντα ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς καὶ τῇ πατρίδι καὶ νομίμως καὶ δικαίως μεθ᾽ ὁμονοίας πολιτεύσεσθε καὶ οἰκήσετε, μὴ ἀδικῶν ἄλλος ἄλλον μηδὲ ἐπιβουλεύων, τοῦτο δὲ οὐδέποτε ἐμάθετε οὐδὲ ἐμέλησεν ὑμῖν πώποτε οὐδὲ νῦν ἔτι φροντίζετε.

  [19] And so, to take your own case,” he continued, “when there is need of any deliberation concerning the welfare of your city and you have come together in the Assembly, do some of you get up and play the cithara, and certain other individuals wrestle, and yet others of you take something of Homer’s or Hesiod’s and proceed to read it? For these are the things that you know better than the others, and these are the things which you think will make you good men and enable you to conduct your public affairs properly and your private concerns likewise. And now, these are the hopes which inspire you when you direct your city and prepare your sons, working to qualify them to handle both their own and the public’s interests if only they can play satisfactorily

  Pallas, dread destroyer of cities,

  or ‘with eager foot’ betake themselves to the lyre. But as to how you are to learn what is to your own advantage and that of your native city, and to live lawfully and justly and harmoniously in your social and political relations without wronging or plotting against one another, this you never learned nor has this problem ever yet given you any concern, nor even at this moment does it trouble you at all.

  [20] καίτοι τραγῳδοὺς ἑκάστοτε ὁρᾶτε τοῖς Διονυσίοις καὶ ἐλεεῖτε τὰ ἀτυχήματατῶν ἐν ταῖς τραγῳδίαις ἀνθρώπων: ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως οὐδέποτε ἐνεθυμήθητε ὅτι οὐ περὶ τοὺς ἀγραμμάτους οὐδὲ περὶ τοὺς ἀπᾴδοντας οὐδὲ τοὺς οὐκ εἰδότας παλαίειν γίγνεται τὰ κακὰ ταῦτα, οὐδὲ ὅτι πένης τίς ἐστιν, οὐδεὶς ἕνεκα τούτου τραγῳδίαν ἐδίδαξεν. τοὐναντίον γὰρ περὶ τοὺς Ἀτρέας καὶ τοὺς Ἀγαμέμνονας καὶ τοὺσΟἰδίποδας ἴδοι τις ἂν πάσας τὰς τραγῳδίας, οἳ πλεῖστα ἐκέκτηντο χρήματα χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου καὶ γῆς καὶ βοσκημάτων: καὶ δὴ τῷ

  [20] But although you every year see the tragic performances at the Dionysia and pity the misfortunes of the characters in the exhibitions of tragedies, yet in spite of this you have never reflected that it is not the illiterate or the singers who sing out of tune or those who do not know how to wrestle to whom these evils happen, nor has anyone ever brought out a tragedy about a man simply because he is poor. Quite the contrary! It is heroes like Atreus, Agamemnon, and Oedipus who form the subject of all the tragedies, as anyone may see, men who possessed a wealth of gold and silver and land and cattle and indeed, for the most unfortunate of them they say a golden sheep was born.

  [21] δυστυχεστάτῳ αὐτῶν γενέσθαι φασὶ χρυσοῦν πρόβατον. καὶ μὴν ὁ Θάμυρίς γε εὖ μάλα ἐπιστάμενος κιθαρίζειν καὶ πρὸς αὐτὰς τὰς Μούσας ἐρίζων περὶ τῆς ἁρμονίας, ἐτυφλώθη διὰ τοῦτο καὶ προσέτι[p. 185] ἀπέμαθε τὴν κιθαριστικήν. καὶ τὸν Παλαμήδην οὐδὲν ὤνησεν αὐτὸν εὑρόντα τὰ γράμματα πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀδίκως ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν τῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ παιδευθέντων καταλευσθέντα ἀποθανεῖν: ἀλλ᾽ ἕως μὲν ἦσαν ἀγράμματοι καὶ ἀμαθεῖς τούτου τοῦ μαθήματος, ζῆν αὐτὸν εἴων: ἐπειδὴ δ
ὲ τούς τε ἄλλους ἐδίδαξε γράμματα καὶ τοὺς Ἀτρείδας δῆλον ὅτι πρώτους, καὶ μετὰ τῶν γραμμάτων τοὺς φρυκτοὺς ὅπως χρὴ ἀνέχειν καὶ ἀριθμεῖν τὸ πλῆθος, ἐπεὶ πρότερον οὐκ ᾔδεσαν οὐδὲ καλῶς ἀριθμῆσαι τὸν ὄχλον, ὥσπερ οἱ ποιμένες τὰ πρόβατα, τηνικαῦτα σοφώτεροι γενόμενοι καὶ ἀμείνους ἀπέκτειναν αὐτόν.

  [21] And again, even Thamyris, who was very proficient in playing the cithara and strove with the Muses themselves for the prize in music, was blinded because of this and unlearned the art of playing the cithara in the bargain. And his invention of the letters of the alphabet availed Palamedes naught to save him from suffering injustice at the hands of the very Achaeans who had been instructed by him and from being put to death by stoning. But as long as they were unlettered and unacquainted with this special learning of his, they permitted him to live. When, however, he had taught the others to read and write, and the Atreidae of course first of all, and along with their letters had shown them how to raise bale-fires and how to count the host — for previously they had not known how to count the multitude properly, as shepherds do their sheep — as soon as they had become more clever and proficient, then it was that they slew him.

  [22] εἰ δέ γε, ἔφη, τοὺς ῥήτορας οἴεσθε ἱκανοὺς εἶναι πρὸς τὸ βουλεύεσθαι καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων τέχνην ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς ποιεῖν, θαυμάζω ὅτι οὐ καὶ δικάζειν ἐκείνοις ἐπετρέψατε ὑπὲρ τῶν πραγμάτων, ἀλλ᾽ ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς, καὶ ὅπως οὐκ, εἰ δικαιοτάτους καὶ ἀρίστους ὑπειλήφατε, καὶ τὰ χρήματα ἐκείνοις ἐπετρέψατε διαχειρίζειν. ὅμοιον γὰρ ἂν ποιήσαιτε ὥσπερ εἰ κυβερνήτας καὶ ναυάρχους τῶν τριήρων ἀποδείξαιτε τοὺς τριηρίτας ἢ τοὺς κελευστάς.