Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [2] So I went to Cyzicus and stopped there to give any of my friends who wished it the chance to confer with me. And then came the bard of the proverb and saved me by singing a song to them.

  For there came to Cyzicus a bard who, as some assert, is the best of those of this time and in fact a man inferior not even to any of the great bards of the past, nay not even to Arion, who was saved from the sea — they must evidently have judged by divination, for how else could they be sure when they had not heard that famous bard of old? — and as soon as they learned that the man was in town, straightway tremendous interest was aroused and all the people began to wend their way to the senate house.

  [3] ἀμήχανος καὶ πάντες ἐβάδιζον εἰς τὸ βουλευτήριον. ἐγὼ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς, ἐξεῖναι νομίζων καὶ ἡμῖν ἀκοῦσαι καὶ μεταλαβεῖν οὕτω [p. 258] καλῆς εὐωχίας ἐν ἀνθρώποις τρισχιλίοις καὶ πλείοσιν, ἧκον ἐν πρώτοις πάνυ θαρρῶν. εἰμὶ δὲ φιλήκοος καὶ φιλόμουσος ἀτεχνῶς, οὐ πάνυ ἔμπειρος ὢν μουσικῆς: ὥστε εἴπερ ἔτυχον γεγονὼς κατὰ ταὐτὸν Ὀρφεῖ, δοκῶ μοι, πρῶτος ἂν ἐπηκολούθουν, εἰ καὶ ἔδει μετὰ νεβρῶν τινων ἢ μόσχων, οὐδὲν αἰδούμενος: ἐπεὶ καὶ νῦν ταὐτὸ τοῦτο πάσχω πολλάκις, ἐπειδὰν εἰσαφίκωμαι σοφιστοῦ, διὰ τὴν προσοῦσάν μοι ἀκρασίαν περὶ τοὺς λόγους, καὶ μετὰ τοιούτων συναγελάζομαι θρεμμάτων, ὡραίων καὶ καλῶν, ἄλλως δὲ θορυβούντων

  [3] So I too, thinking that I also might listen and thus enjoy a share in such a splendid entertainment, as one of the throng of three thousand and more, arrived among the first, very expectant indeed. I am fond of indulging my ears and absolutely devoted to music, although I have no great skill myself in it; so that, if it had been my fortune to live in Orpheus’ time, I fancy that I should have been the first one to follow in his train, even though I should have been obliged to mingle with a drove of fawns and calves; and I should have felt no shame. For even now I am often affected as they were, whenever I attend a sophist’s lecture, on account of the uncontrolled craving which possesses me for the spoken word; and so I herd with the sort of creatures I have mentioned, graceful and beautiful, to be sure, but yet noisy and eager for a chance to kick up their heels.

  [4] καὶ σκιρτᾶν προθυμουμένων. τοῦτο δὲ πέπονθα πρὸς τοὺς σοφιστάς τε καὶ ῥήτορας ἅπαντας σχεδόν. καθάπερ οἱ πτωχοὶ καὶ τοὺς μετρίως εὐπόρους μακαρίζουσι διὰ τὴν αὑτῶν ἀπορίαν, κἀγὼ τοὺς ἁμῃγέπῃ δυνατοὺς λέγειν θαυμάζω καὶ ἀγαπῶ διὰ τὸ αὐτὸς ἀδύνατος εἶναι λέγειν. τὸ μέντοι τῶν κιθαρῳδῶν τε καὶ νὴ Δία τῶν ὑποκριτῶν οὐ παῤ ὀλίγον μοι δοκεῖ διαφέρειν πρὸς ἡδονήν. ἥ τε γὰρ φωνὴ μείζων καὶ δῆλον ὅτι ἐμμελεστέρα ἥ τε λέξις οὐκ αὐτοσχέδιος, ὥσπερ ἡ τῶν ῥητόρων ἐξ ὑπογύου τὰ πολλὰ πειρωμένων λέγειν, ἀλλὰ ποιητῶν ἐπιμελῶς καὶ κατὰ σχολὴν

  [4] And this is the way I have nearly always been affected when listening to sophists and orators. Just as beggars on account of their own destitution envy the moderately well-to-do, so I admire and applaud those who are in any way at all proficient in speech, because I myself am lacking in such proficiency. But I must say that the performance of those who sing to the harp, aye, and of the actors too, seems to me in no small degree superior to the pleasure it gives. For their voices are louder and undoubtedly better modulated, while their language is not extempore like that of the orators, who generally try to speak without preparation; but poets have composed painstakingly and at their leisure.

  [5] πεποιηκότων. καὶ τά γε πολλὰ αὐτῶν ἀρχαῖά ἐστι καὶ πολὺ σοφωτέρων ἀνδρῶν ἢ τῶν νῦν: τὰ μὲν τῆς κωμῳδίας ἅπαντα: τῆς δὲ τραγῳδίας τὰ μὲν ἰσχυρά, ὡς ἔοικε, μένει: λέγω δὲ τὰ ἰαμβεῖα: καὶ τούτων μέρη διεξίασιν ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις: τὰ δὲ μαλακώτερα ἐξερρύηκε τὰ περὶ τὰ μέλη: ὥσπερ οἶμαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν παλαιῶν ὅσα μέν ἐστι στερεὰ τοῦ σώματος, ὑπομένει τῷ χρόνῳ, τά τε ὀστᾶ καὶ οἱ μύες, τἄλλα δὲ ἐλάττω γίγνεται. οὐκοῦν τὰ σώματα ὁρᾶται τὰ τῶν παντελῶς γερόντων ἐνδεδωκότα καὶ λαγαρά: ὅσοι δ̓ αὖ παχεῖς γέροντες ὑπὸ πλούτου καὶ τρυφῆς, ἰσχυροῦ μὲν οὐδενὸς προσόντος ἔτι, πιμελῆς δὲ ἀντὶ τῶν σαρκῶν, εὐτραφεῖς δὴ ὁρῶνται καὶ νεώτεροι τοῖς πολλοῖς. [p. 259]

  [5] And the most of what they give us comes from ancient times, and from much wiser men than those of the present. In the case of comedy everything is kept; in the case of tragedy only the strong parts, it would seem, remain — I mean the iambics, and portions of these they still give in our theatres — but the more delicate parts have fallen away, that is, the lyric parts. I might illustrate by the case of old men: all the firm parts of the body resist the ravages of time, namely, the bones and the muscles; but everything else shrivels up. This is the reason that the bodies of the extremely old men are seen to be wasted and shrunken, whereas all those old men who are corpulent because of their wealth and luxury, although they have no strength left but only fat instead of flesh, do seem well nourished and younger to the great majority.

  THE TWENTIETH DISCOURSE: ON RETIREMENT

  ΠΕΡΙ ΑΝΑΧΩΡΗΣΕΩΣ.

  THE TWENTIETH DISCOURSE: ON RETIREMENT

  Here Dio discusses the real meaning of ‘retirement.’ It does not consist in going away somewhere to avoid a duty or a danger, or even to get freedom from distraction. To retire in the true sense is to fix one’s mind upon the things that truly matter and to disregard trivial things and distractions from without. Retirement from the haunts of men merely affords foolish and wicked men an opportunity to give themselves up to their foolish and wicked thoughts and to plan how they may make their imaginings come true. Nothing is said of the good use to which the good may put such retirement. The similarities between this Discourse and Seneca’s fifty-sixth Letter led E. Weber (De Dione Chrysostomo Cynicorum Sectatore, ) to the conclusion that Dio and Seneca drew from a common Stoic or Cynic source.

  Von Arnim, who maintains that Dio, with the disappearance of his anti-monarchical feelings, dropped the use of the word μόναρχοι (‘monarchs’), which occurs in § 24, would place this Discourse in the reign of Domitian. We may be sure at any rate that it was not written in Dio’s youth, when he was a sophist.

  [1] Τί γάρ ποτε τὸ τῆς ἀναχωρήσεώς ἐστι καὶ τίνας χρὴ τιθέναι τοὺς ἀναχωροῦντας; ἆρά γε τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν προσηκόντων ἔργων αὐτοῖς καὶ πράξεων ἀφισταμένους, τούτους χρὴ φάσκειν ἀναχωρεῖν; οἷον εἴ τις Ἀθηναῖος ὤν, δέον αὐτὸν στρατεύεσθαι ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος Λακεδαιμονίων εἰσβεβληκότων εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἢ Φιλίππου ἐπιόντος ἢ ἄλλων πολεμίων, ὁ δὲ ἀναχωρήσειεν εἰς Μέγαρα ἢ Αἴγιναν ἕνεκα τοῦ μὴ στρατεύεσθαι μηδὲ κινδυνεύειν, οὗτο
ς

  The Twentieth Discourse: On Retirement

  Just what, pray, is the meaning of the word ‘retirement,’ and whom should we define as men who are ‘retiring’? Is it those who are giving up their proper tasks and activities of whom we should say that they are retiring? For example, if some one enjoying Athenian citizenship, when the obligation falls on him to serve in the field in defence of his country because the Spartans have invaded Attica, or Philip is attacking them, or some other enemy, should retire or withdraw to Megara or Aegina in order to avoid serving or risking his life, could this man be described as having retired?

  [2] ἂν ἀνακεχωρηκέναι λέγοιτο; ἢ εἴ τις συχνὴν οὐσίαν κεκτημένος ἕνεκα τοῦ διαφυγεῖν τὰς λειτουργίας ἀπέλθοι ἐκ τῆς πόλεως; ἢ εἴ τις ἰᾶσθαι τοὺς νοσοῦντας ἱκανὸς ὤν, καὶ φίλων δὴ καὶ ἐπιτηδείων αὐτῷ καμνόντων, ὅπως μὴ κακοπαθῇ καὶ πράγματα ἔχῃ τούτους θεραπεύων, ἀπολίποι τε αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀποδημήσειεν εἰς ἕτερον τόπον; ἢ εἴ τις ἄλλος, ἐν πόλει δέον ἐξετάζεσθαι καὶ αὐτόν, ἄρχειν καὶ ἀρχαῖς ὑπηρετεῖν καὶ φυλακάς τινας φυλάττειν ἀγρυπνῶν μὴ βούλοιτο, ἀλλ̓ ὅπως τούτων ἀπηλλαγμένος ἁπάντων ἔσται καὶ μηδὲ εἷς αὐτὸν ἐξελέγξει μηδὲ κωλύσει πίνοντα καὶ καθεύδοντα καὶ ῥᾳθυμοῦντα, ἑτέρωσε ἀποχωροῖ ποι, ἆρα τούτους ἀναχωρεῖν ῥητέον; ἀλλ̓ οὗτοι μὲν δῆλον ὅτι φεύγουσί τε καὶ δραπετεύουσι, καὶ οὐκ ἂν εἴη πρόφασις αὐτοῖς οὐδὲ συγγνώμη τῆς τοιαύτης

  [2] Or if some one possesses a great fortune should for the sake of avoiding the public services required of the rich leave the city? Or if a man who is qualified to heal the sick, and then when the sick are friends and intimates of his, should abandon them and go on a visit to some other place in order to avoid catching the disease and the trouble of treating them? Or if somebody else, on being required to present himself for public duty in the city along with the rest, should be unwilling to hold an office or assist those in office or do any service as guard which would necessitate his losing sleep, but in order to be rid of all these duties and not let even one man call him to account or hinder him from drinking and sleeping and loafing, should retire to some other place — should these men be described as ‘retiring’? No, these men are evidently fleeing and deserting, and there can be no excuse for them or pardon for taking a vacation in this manner and running away.

  [3] σχολῆς τε καὶ ἀποδράσεως. μὴ οὖν τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνωφελῶν πραγμάτων καὶ τῶν οὐ προσηκουσῶν αὐτοῖς ἀσχολιῶν ἀπιόντας καὶ σχολήν τινα πορίζοντας αὑτοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐνοχλούντων μάτην ῥητέον ᾖ ὡς ἀναχωροῦντας. ἀλλ̓ οὕτως μὲν οὐχ ὁ μεταβὰς ἐκ πόλεώς τινος εἰς ἑτέραν πόλιν ἢ ἐκ τόπου εἰς ἕτερον τόπον ἀναχωρεῖν λέγοιτ̓ ἄν: ὅπου γὰρ ἂν ἀφίκηται, πολλὰ ἂν εἴη τὰ ἐμποδὼν αὐτῷ γιγνόμενα καὶ οὐκ ἐῶντα τὰ προσήκοντα ποιεῖν. καὶ γὰρ τὸ ἐπὶ πολύ τῳ ξυνεῖναι καὶ τὸ πίνοντα ἢ κυβεύοντα ἢ ἄλλο τι [p. 260] τῶν βλαβερῶν καὶ ἀσυμφόρων πράττοντα διατελεῖν πανταχοῦ τοιαῦτά ἐστιν καὶ τὸ συνδιατρίβειν ἀεὶ τῷ ἐντυχόντι ἀδολεσχοῦντα καὶ ἀκούοντα λόγων οὐδὲν χρησίμων ἢ περὶ τὰ βασιλέως πράγματα

  [3] It may be, then, that it is those who withdraw from unprofitable enterprises and time-consuming activities which do not properly concern them, and who get themselves some leisure from useless annoyances, that should be defined as ‘retiring.’ But if that is right, it is not the man who has moved from some city to another one or from one place to another that could be described as ‘retiring.’ For wherever he goes, there will be many things getting in his way and not allowing him to do the things which properly concern him. For the fact is that spending much time in somebody’s company and in continual drinking, or dicing, or in doing some other harmful and unprofitable thing are practices to be met with everywhere — and wasting all one’s time in palavering with anyone you happen to meet, and in listening to talk that is utterly futile, or spending your time discoursing about the affairs of the Emperor or of what’s his name, as some one has said.

  [4] διατρίβειν ἢ τὰ τοῦ δεῖνος, ὡς ἔφη τις. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἀνόητος τῆς αὑτοῦ ψυχῆς κύριος, ἀλλὰ ῥεμβόμενός τε καὶ ἀγόμενος ῥᾳδίως ὑπὸ τῆς τυχούσης προφάσεως καὶ ὁμιλίας. ὥστε οἱ πολλοὶ ἄνθρωποι, καθάπερ οἱ ἄσωτοι τῶν χρημάτων οὐκ ἂν δύναιντο ἀποδοῦναι λόγον πρὸς ὅ,τι ἀνηλώκασιν ἕκαστον αὐτῶν, φαίνεται δ̓ ὅμως ἀνηλωμένα πάνυ συχνὰ χρήματα, οὐδὲ οὗτοι τοῦ χρόνου τε καὶ βίου δύναιντ̓ ἂν ἀποδοῦναι λόγον, πρὸς ὅ,τι ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἀνήλωσαν ἢ μῆνα ἢ ἐνιαυτόν: φαίνεται δ̓ οὖν παριὼν ὁ βίος καὶ δαπανώμενος ὁ χρόνος, οὐκ ὀλίγου ἄξιος

  [4] For the fool is not master of his own soul, but is whirled this way and that and is easily led by any chance pretext or association.

  Consequently the majority of men are just like spendthrifts, who would be unable to render an accounting for the money they have spent, explaining what they have spent each several item for, although enormous sums have clearly been expended: so neither could these men render an accounting for what they have spent each day, or month, or year, although life is clearly passing by and time being spent, this being of no little value to man, of no less value to him, in my opinion, than money.

  [5] τοῖς ἀνθρώποις οὐδὲ ἥττονος, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν, ἢ τὸ ἀργύριον. ἀλλ̓ ὅμως μιᾶς δραχμῆς ἀπολομένης ἀνάγκη αἰσθέσθαι καὶ δηχθῆναι ἁμῃγέπῃ: εἰ δὲ καὶ πλείους τις ἐκβάλοι, οὐ πολλοί εἰσιν οἱ ἐπὶ τῷ τοιούτῳ πρᾴως ἔχοντες: λέγω δὲ οὐ διὰ τὴν ἀμέλειαν λυπούμενοι καὶ δακνόμενοι καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ προσέχειν ῾ἐφ̓ οἷς ἄξιον ἦν δάκνεσθαἰ, ἀλλ̓ ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ τῶν δραχμῶν. ἡμέρας δὲ ἐξελθούσης καὶ ἀπολομένης καὶ δύο καὶ τριῶν οὐδείς ἐστιν ὃς ἐφρόντισεν.

  [5] But all the same, when one drachma has been lost, the man cannot help noticing it and being in some way distressed; and if a person loses several, there are not many who remain undisturbed by such a matter. I do not mean that they are pained and hurt because of their carelessness and because they failed to give heed to avoid such conduct as should properly have hurt them, but simply at the loss of the drachmas.

  [6] ἀλλ̓ ἐκεῖ μὲν δύνανται λογίζεσθαι τὸ τοιοῦτον ὅτι εἰ μὴ προσέξουσι μηδὲ φροντιοῦσι τῶν τοιούτων, λάθοι ἂν αὐτοὺς ἡ σύμπασα οὐσία διαρρυεῖσα καὶ ἀπολομένη: ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐ δύνανται ταὐτὸ τοῦτο λογίσασθαι, ὡς εἰ μὴ προνοήσουσιν ἑκάστης ἡμέρας
καὶ φυλάξονται μὴ εἰκῇ προϊέναι, λάθοι ἂν αὐτοὺς ὁ σύμπας βίος διαρρυεὶς καὶ ἀπολόμενος.

  [6] But when a day is gone and lost, or two or three of them, there is no one who gives that a thought! Yet in the one case they are able to reckon thus much: that if they fail to give heed and take thought of such matters, all their property may slip away and be lost without their noticing it. But in the matter we are now discussing, men are not able to apply the same method of reckoning in order to reach the same conclusions, to wit, that if they do not take thought for each day and watch lest they aimlessly throw it away, their whole life may slip away and be lost before they know it.

  [7] ἀλλ̓ ὅτι γε οὐ τόπος ἐστὶν ὁ παρέχων οὐδὲ τὸ ἀποδημῆσαι τὸ μὴ φαῦλ̓ ἄττα πράττειν οὐδὲ τὸ εἰς Κόρινθον ἢ Θήβας ἀνακεχωρηκέναι τὸ δὲ τὸν βουλόμενον πρὸς αὑτῷ εἶναι — καὶ γὰρ ἐν Θήβαις καὶ ἐν Μεγάροις καὶ πανταχοῦ σχεδὸν οὗ τις ἂν ἀπέλθῃ [p. 261] τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἔνεστι τό τε ἀργεῖν καὶ τὸ ῥᾳθυμεῖν, καὶ οὐκ ἀπορήσει προφάσεως, ὅπου ἂν τύχῃ ὤν, δἰ ἣν βλακεύων τε καὶ ἀσχολούμενος ἀναλώσει καὶ πάνυ πολὺν χρόνον, ἂν οὕτως