Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [24] αὐτοῦ σοφώτερα οὐδὲν αὐτῷ ἔμελεν. μὴ οὖν, ὥσπερ τῆς βασιλείας τῆς τότε τοιαῦτα ὑπῆρχε σημεῖα, καὶ νῦν δέῃ τῆς ἐλευθερίας τοιαῦτα ὑπάρχειν σύμβολα καὶ βαδίζειν πῖλον ἔχοντα ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς, ἄλλως δὲ οὐ δυνησόμεθα γνῶναι τὸν ἐλεύθερον ἢ τὸν δοῦλον.

  [24] and that no one should have greater wisdom than himself, for this he had no concern. So I fear that just as in those days there were such symbols of royalty as we have described, so now also there ought to be similar badges to mark the free man, and that he ought to walk abroad wearing a felt skull-cap, else we shall not be able to distinguish between the free man and the slave.

  THE FIFTEENTH DISCOURSE: ON SLAVERY AND FREEDOM II

  ΠΕΡΙ ΔΟΥΛΕΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑΣ Β.

  THE FIFTEENTH DISCOURSE: ON SLAVERY AND FREEDOM II

  This Discourse, just like the preceding one, deals with the distinction between freedom and slavery, and for the same reasons may be assigned to the period of Dio’s exile or later. Dio begins by reporting an informal debate on this question between two men, who from §§ , 5, and 7 we may suppose were Athenians. At the end of their debate Dio in § 24 gives the reasoned opinion of the audience that when one human being gets lawful possession of another with the right to use him as he likes, then the second man is the slave of the first. After this the question is raised as to what constitutes valid possession.

  The first speaker (indicated by the letter A) is just such another man as the slave Syriscus in the Epitrepontes of Menander. Both are voluble aggressive debaters with a wealth of illustrations drawn from mythology and tragedy to enforce their points.

  From an examination of Diogenes Laertius 2.31, 6.1, 6.4, 6.15 it has been inferred that Dio drew from Antisthenes for this Discourse. See Wegehaupt, op. cit., p-65.

  [1] Ἀλλὰ μὴν ἔναγχος παρεγενόμην τισὶ διαμφισβητοῦσι περὶ δουλείας καὶ ἐλευθερίας, οὐκ ἐπὶ δικαστῶν οὐδ̓ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ, οὑτωσὶ δὲ κατ̓ οἰκίαν ἐπὶ χρόνον πάμπολυν. καὶ παρῆσαν ἑκατέρῳ τοῖν ἀνδροῖν οὐκ ὀλίγοι σπουδάζοντες. ἐτύγχανον γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἄλλων πρότερον ἀντιλέγοντες, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκοῦσιν: ἡττώμενος δὲ ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ἅτερος καὶ διαπορῶν εἰς λοιδορίαν ἐτράπετο, ὥσπερ εἴωθε τοῦτο συμβαίνειν πολλάκις, καὶ ὠνείδισεν ὡς οὐκ ἐλεύθερον ὄντα τὸν ἕτερον.

  The Fifteenth Discourse: On Slavery and Freedom II

  Recently, I assure you, I was present when two men were disputing at great length about slavery and freedom, not before judges or in the market-place, but at their ease at home, taking a long time about it; and each of the two men had a considerable number of warm adherents. For they had been debating other questions before that, as is my impression; and the one who was worsted in the debate, being at a loss for arguments, became abusive, as often happens in such cases, and taunted the other with not being a freeman. Whereupon the first very gently smiled and said:

  [2] καὶ ὃς πάνυ πρᾴως ἐμειδίασέ τε καὶ εἶπε, Πόθεν δὲ ἔστιν, ὦ ἄριστε, εἰδέναι ὅστις δοῦλος ἢ ὅστις ἐλεύθερος; Ναὶ μὰ Δία, ἔφη: ἐπίσταμαι γοῦν ἐμαυτὸν μὲν ἐλεύθερον ὄντα καὶ τούτους ἅπαντας, σοὶ δὲ οὐδὲν προσῆκον ἐλευθερίας. καί τινες τῶν παρόντων [p. 233] ἐγέλασαν. καὶ ὃς οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον ᾐσχύνθη, ἀλλ̓ ὥσπερ οἱ ἀνδρεῖοι ἀλεκτρυόνες πρὸς τὴν πληγὴν ἐπεγείρονται καὶ θαρροῦσιν, κἀκεῖνος ἐπηγέρθη καὶ ἐθάρρησε πρὸς τὴν λοιδορίαν, καὶ ἤρετο αὐτὸν ὁπόθεν τοῦτο ἐπίσταται τὸ περί τε αὑτοῦ καὶ περὶ

  [2] A. “But how can you say that? Is it possible, my good friend, to know who is a slave, or who is free?”

  B. “Yes, it certainly is,” replied the other. “I know at any rate that I myself am free and that all these men here are, but that you have no lot or share in freedom.”

  At this some of those present laughed, and yet the first man was not one whit more abashed, but just as gallant cocks are aroused at the blow of their masters and take courage, so he too was aroused and took courage at the insult, and asked his opponent where he got his knowledge about the two of them.

  [3] ἐκείνου. Ὅτι, ἔφη, τὸν μὲν ἐμαυτοῦ πατέρα ἐπίσταμαι Ἀθηναῖον ὄντα, εἴπερ τις ἄλλος, τὸν δὲ σὸν οἰκέτην τοῦ δεῖνος, εἰπὼν τοὔνομα. καὶ ὅς, Τί οὖν, εἶπε, κατὰ τοῦτο κωλύει με ἐν Κυνοσάργει ἀλείφεσθαι μετὰ τῶν νόθων, εἴπερ ἐκ μητρὸς ἐλευθέρας, ἴσως δὲ καὶ ἀστῆς, τυγχάνω γεγονὼς καὶ πατρὸς οὗ σὺ φῄς; ἢ οὐ πολλαὶ ἀσταὶ γυναῖκες δἰ ἐρημίαν τε καὶ ἀπορίαν αἱ μὲν ἐκ ξένων ἐκύησαν, αἱ δὲ ἐκ δούλων, τινὲς μὲν ἀγνοοῦσαι τοῦτο, τινὲς δὲ καὶ ἐπιστάμεναι; καὶ οὐδεὶς δοῦλός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ μόνον οὐκ Ἀθηναῖος,

  [3] B. “Because,” said he, “I know that my father is an Athenian, if any man is, while yours is the slave of so-and-so,” mentioning his name.

  A. “According to this, then,” said the first man, “what is to prevent me from anointing myself in the Cynosarges along with the bastards, if I really am the son of a free-born mother — who is, perhaps, a citizen into the bargain — and of the father whom you mention? Have not many women who are citizens, embarrassed by the scarcity of eligible men, been got with child either by foreigners or by slaves, sometimes not knowing the fact, but sometimes also with full knowledge of it? And of the children thus begotten none is a slave, but only a non-Athenian.”

  [4] τῶν οὕτως γεννηθέντων. Ἀλλ̓ ἐγώ σου, ἔφη, καὶ τὴν μητέρα ἐπίσταμαι ὁμόδουλον τοῦ πατρός. Εἶεν, ἔφη: τὴν δὲ σαυτοῦ οἶσθα; Πάνυ μὲν οὖν: ἀστὴν ἐξ ἀστῶν καὶ προῖκα ἱκανὴν ἐπενηνεγμένην. Ἦ καὶ ἔχοις ἂν ὀμόσας εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἐξ οὗ φησιν ἐκείνη, ἐκ τούτου γέγονας; ὁ μὲν γὰρ Τηλέμαχος οὐ πάνυ ἠξίου διατείνεσθαι ὑπὲρ Πηνελόπης τῆς Ἰκαρίου, σφόδρα σώφρονος δοκούσης γυναικός, ὅτι ἀληθῆ λέγει τὸν Ὀδυσσέα ἀποφαίνουσα αὑτοῦ πατέρα: σὺ δὲ οὐ μόνον ὑπὲρ σαυτοῦ ἂν καὶ τῆς σῆς μητρός, ἐὰν κελεύσῃ σέ τις, ὀμόσαις, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ δούλης ἡστινοσοῦν, ἐξ ὅτου ποτὲ

  [4] B. “Well, in your case,” he rejoined, “I myself know that your mother is a slave in the same household as your father.”

  A. “Very well!” said the first man, “Do you know who your own mother is?”

  B. “Why certainly; a citizen born of citizens, who brought to her husband a pretty good dowry too.”

  A. “Could you actually take your oath that you are the son of the father of whom she says that you are? Telemachus, you know, did not care at all to insist in support of Penelope, the daughter of Icarius, who was regarded as a very chaste woman, that she spoke the truth when she declared that Odysseus was his father. But you, not only in sup
port of yourself and of your mother, would take oath apparently, if anyone should bid you, but in regard to any slave woman as to who the man was by whom she was got with child, such a slave woman as you say that my mother was.

  [5] ἐκύησεν, ὥσπερ ἣν λέγεις ἐμὴν εἶναι μητέρα. ἀδύνατον γάρ σοι δοκεῖ εἶναι ἐξ ἄλλου ἀνδρὸς κυῆσαι ἐλευθέρου ἢ καὶ τοῦ αὑτῆς δεσπότου. οὐ πολλοὶ Ἀθηναίων συγγίγνονται θεραπαίναις αὑτῶν, οἱ μέν τινες κρύφα, οἱ δὲ καὶ φανερῶς; οὐ γὰρ δήπου βελτίους εἰσὶ πάντες τοῦ Ἡρακλέους, ὃς οὐδὲ τῇ Ἰαρδάνου δούλῃ συγγενέσθαι

  [5] Pray, does it seem to you impossible that she should have been got with child by some other man, a freeman, or even by her own master? Do not many Athenian men have intercourse with their maidservants, some of them secretly, but others quite openly? For surely it cannot be that every Greek is superior to Heracles, who did not think it beneath him to have intercourse even with the slave woman of Iardanus, who became the mother of the kings of Sardis.

  [6] ἀπηξίωσεν, ἐξ ἧς ἐγένοντο οἱ Σάρδεων βασιλεῖς. ἔτι δὲ οὐ δοκεῖ σοι, ὡς ἔοικε, Κλυταιμνήστρα μὲν, Τυνδάρεω θυγάτηρ, [p. 234] γυνὴ δὲ Ἀγαμέμνονος, μὴ μόνον Ἀγαμέμνονι συνεῖναι τῷ αὑτῆς ἀνδρί, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποδημήσαντος ἐκείνου Αἰγίσθῳ συγγενέσθαι, καὶ Ἀερόπη ἡ Ἀτρέως γυνὴ τὴν Θυέστου προσδέξασθαι ὁμιλίαν, καὶ ἄλλαι πολλαὶ καὶ πάλαι καὶ νῦν ἐνδόξων καὶ πλουσίων ἀνδρῶν γυναῖκες ἑτέροις συγγίγνεσθαι καὶ παῖδας ἐνίοτε ἐξ ἐκείνων ποιεῖσθαι: ἣν δὲ σὺ λέγεις θεράπαιναν οὕτως πάνυ ἀκριβῶς φυλάττειν τὰ πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν αὑτῆς, ὥστε μὴ ἂν ἑτέρῳ συγγενέσθαι.

  [6] And further, you do not believe, as it seems, that Clytemnestra, the daughter of Tyndareüs and the wife of Agamemnon, not only lived with Agamemnon, her own husband, but also, when he was away, had relations with Aegistheus, and that Aeropê, the wife of Atreus, accepted the advances of Thyestes, and that many other wives of distinguished and wealthy men in both ancient and modern times have had relations with other men and sometimes have had children by them? But she who you say was a maidservant was so scrupulously faithful to her own husband that she would not have had relations with any other man!

  [7] ἔτι δὲ καὶ περὶ σαυτοῦ καὶ περὶ ἐμοῦ διαβεβαιοῖ ὡς ἑκάτερος ἡμῶν ἐστι τῆς δοκούσης καὶ λεγομένης μητρός. καίτοι πολλοὺς Ἀθηναίων ἔχοις ἂν εἰπεῖν καὶ τῶν πάνυ γνωρίμων, οἳ ἐφάνησαν ὕστερον οὐ μόνον πατρός, ἀλλὰ καὶ μητρός, οὐχ ἧς ἐλέγοντο, ὑποβολιμαῖοί ποθεν τραφέντες. καὶ ταῦτα σὺ ἑκάστοτε ὁρᾷς δεικνύμενα καὶ λεγόμενα ὑπὸ τῶν κωμῳδοδιδασκάλων καὶ ἐν ταῖς τραγῳδίαις, καὶ ὅμως οὐδὲν ἧττον ἰσχυρίζῃ καὶ περὶ σαυτοῦ καὶ περὶ ἐμοῦ, ὡς

  [7] And further, in regard to yourself and me as well you asseverate that each of us was born of the woman who is reputed to be and is called his mother. And yet you might name many Athenians, and very prominent ones too, who turned out later not only not to have been the sons of the father but not even those of the mother to whom they were attributed, having been supposititious children of unknown origin who had been reared as sons. And such incidents you yourself are constantly seeing exhibited and described by the writers of comedy and in tragedies, but nevertheless you go on in the same old way, making positive statements about yourself and about me, as if you knew for a certainty the circumstances of our birth and the identity of our parents.

  [8] εὖ εἰδὼς ὅπως γεγόναμεν καὶ ἐκ τίνων. οὐκ οἶσθα, ἔφη, ὅτι κακηγορίας δίδωσιν ὁ νόμος γράψασθαι τοῦτον, ὃς ἂν βλασφημῇ τινα οὐκ ἔχων ἀποδεῖξαι περὶ ὧν λέγει σαφὲς οὐδέν; καὶ ὅς, Ἐπίσταμαι γάρ, ἔφη, ὅτι αἱ μὲν ἐλεύθεραι γυναῖκες ὑποβάλλονται πολλάκις δἰ ἀπαιδίαν, ὅταν μὴ δύνωνται αὐταὶ κυῆσαι, βουλομένη κατασχεῖν ἑκάστη τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν ἑαυτῆς καὶ τὸν οἶκον, καὶ ἅμα οὐκ ἀποροῦσαι ὁπόθεν τοὺς παῖδας θρέψουσι: τὰς δὲ δούλας τοὐναντίον, τὰς μὲν πρὸ τοῦ τόκου διαφθειρούσας, τὰς δὲ ὕστερον, ἐὰν δύνωνται λαθεῖν, τὸ γενόμενον, ἐνίοτε καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν συνειδότων, ὅπως μὴ πράγματα ἔχωσι παιδοτροφεῖν ἀναγκαζόμεναι

  [8] Do you not know,” he continued, “that the law permits anyone to bring an action for libel against the man who slanders without being able to adduce any clear proof of his statements?”

  B. And the other man replied, “Yes, I know that freeborn women often palm off other persons’ children as their own on account of their childlessness, when they are unable to conceive children themselves, because each one wishes to keep her own husband and her home, while at the same time they do not lack the means to support the children; but in the case of slave women, on the other hand, some destroy the child before birth and others afterwards, if they can do so without being caught, and yet sometimes even with the connivance of their husbands, that they may not be involved in trouble by being compelled to raise children in addition to their enduring slavery.”

  [9] πρὸς τῇ δουλείᾳ. Ναὶ μὰ Δία, ἔφη, πλήν γε τῆς Οἰνέως, τοῦ Πανδίονος, εἶπε, νόθου παιδός: ὁ γὰρ ἐκείνου νομεὺς ὁ ἐν ταῖς Ἐλευθεραῖς καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ τοῦ νομέως οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐξετίθεσαν αὐτοὶ γεννήσαντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀλλότρια εὑρόντες ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ παιδία, οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτου ποτὲ ἦσαν, ἀνελόμενοι ἔτρεφον ὡς αὑτῶν, καὶ οὐδὲ [p. 235] ὕστερον ἑκόντες οὐδέποτε ὡμολόγησαν ὅτι ἀλλότριοι ἦσαν. σὺ δ̓ ἴσως καὶ τὸν Ζῆθον καὶ τὸν Ἀμφίονα ἐλοιδόρεις ἄν, πρὶν φανεροὺς γενέσθαι, καὶ διώμνυσο ὡς περὶ δούλων τῶν τοῦ Διὸς υἱέων.

  [9] A. “O yes, certainly,” the first man replied, “if you make an exception of the slave girl of Oeneus, the bastard son, as he alleged, of Pandion. For Oeneus’ herdsman, who lived at Eleutherae, and that herdsman’s wife, so far from exposing their own children, took up other people’s children whom they found by the roadside, without having the least notion whose children they were, and reared them as their own, nor at any time afterwards were they willing to admit that they were not their own. But you, perhaps, would have abused both Zethus and Amphion before their identity became known, and would have taken solemn oath that the sons of Zeus were slaves.”

  [10] καὶ ὃς γελάσας πάνυ εἰρωνικῶς, Τοὺς τραγῳδούς, ἔφη, καλεῖς μάρτυρας. Οἷς γε πιστεύουσιν, εἶπεν, οἱ Ἕλληνες: οὓς γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ἀποδεικνύουσιν ἥρωας, τούτοις φαίνονται ἐναγίζοντες ὡς ἥρωσι, καὶ τὰ ἡρῷα ἐκείνοις ᾠκοδομημένα ἰδεῖν ἔστιν. ὁμοίως
δὲ ἐννόησον, εἰ βούλει, καὶ τὴν Φρυγίαν τὴν Πριάμου δούλην, ἣ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἐν τῇ Ἴδῃ ἐξέθρεψεν ὡς αὑτῆς υἱέα, λαβοῦσα παρὰ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς βουκόλου ὄντος, καὶ τὴν παιδοτροφίαν οὐ χαλεπῶς ἔφερεν. Τήλεφον δὲ τὸν Αὔγης καὶ Ἡρακλέους οὐχ ὑπὸ γυναικός, ἀλλ̓ ὑπὸ ἐλάφου τραφῆναι λέγουσιν. ἢ δοκεῖ σοι ἔλαφος μᾶλλον ἐλεῆσαι ἂν βρέφος

  [10] B. Then this opponent laughed very ironically and said: “Aha! is it the tragic poets to whom you appeal as witnesses?”

  A. “Yes indeed,” said the other man, “for the Greeks have confidence in them; for whomsoever these poets exhibit as heroes, to them you will find all Greeks offering sacrifice as heroes, and you may see with your eyes the shrines which the people have erected in their honour. And in the same manner consider, if you please, the Phrygian woman, who was the slave of Priam, who reared Alexander on Mount Ida as her own son after taking him from her husband, who was a herdsman, and raised no objection to her rearing a child. And Telephus, the son of Augê and Heracles, they say was not reared by a woman but by a hind. Or do you think that a hind would have more compassion on a babe and desire to rear it than a human being would if she happened to be a slave?

  [11] καὶ ἐπιθυμῆσαι τρέφειν ἢ ἄνθρωπος, ἐὰν τύχῃ δούλη οὖσα; φέρε δὴ πρὸς θεῶν, εἰ δὲ δὴ προσομολογήσαιμί σοι τούτους εἶναί μου γονέας, οὓς σὺ φῄς, πόθεν οἶσθα περὶ τῆς ἐκείνων δουλείας; ἢ καὶ τοὺς γονέας αὐτῶν ἠπίστω σαφῶς καὶ ἕτοιμος εἶ καὶ περὶ ἐκείνων κατόμνυσθαι ἑκατέρου ὅτι ἐξ ἀμφοῖν δούλοιν γεγόνεσαν ἀμφότεροι, καὶ τοὺς ἔτι πρότερον καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἅπαντας; δῆλον γὰρ ὡς ἐάνπερ ἐλεύθερος ᾖ τις τῶν ἐκ τοῦ γένους, οὐκέτι οἷόν τε τοὺς ἀπ̓ ἐκείνου δούλους ὀρθῶς νομίζεσθαι. τοῦτο δὲ οὐ δυνατόν ἐστιν, ὦ βέλτιστε, ὥς φασιν, ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς αἰῶνος εἶναί τι γένος ἀνθρώπων, ἐν ᾧ οὐκ ἄπειροι μὲν ἐλεύθεροι γεγόνασιν, οὐκ ἐλάττους δὲ τούτων οἱ δεδουλευκότες: καὶ νὴ Δία τύραννοι καὶ βασιλεῖς καὶ δεσμῶται καὶ στιγματίαι καὶ κάπηλοι καὶ σκυτοτόμοι καὶ τἄλλα ὅσα ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἐστίν, ἁπάσας μὲν ἐργασίας, ἅπαντας