Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [19] I may cite Alexander as an instance: I fancy that, when he happened to be enjoying a respite from his herdsman’s duties on Mount Ida, the thought and with it the desire came to him, what a fortunate and blissful thing it would be to have the most beautiful woman in the whole world to wife, and that neither a throne was as valuable as this prize, nor wealth, nor the conquest of the whole world in war; next he began to speculate as to who and where this woman of his fancy might be, among what people she lived, and by what means he could compass to splendid an alliance;

  [20] ὑπάρξαι γάμος: καὶ δὴ τὰς μὲν ἐν Ἰλίῳ νύμφας καὶ παρθένους ἅτε τύραννος ὢν ἠτίμαζε καὶ οὐκ ᾤετο ἀξίας τυχεῖν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰς Λυδῶν τε καὶ Φρυγῶν τάς τε ἐν Λέσβῳ καὶ τὰς ἐν Μυσίᾳ γυναῖκας ὑπερεώρα. πυνθανόμενος δὲ ἐν Σπάρτῃ τινὰ εἶναι Διὸς λεγομένην θυγατέρα, Μενελάῳ συνοικοῦσαν, ἀνδρὶ βασιλεῖ καὶ βασιλέως ἀδελφῷ τῆς ξυμπάσης Ἑλλάδος, ἣν ἐμνήστευσάν τε καὶ ἔσπευσαν λαβεῖν πολλὰ ἕδνα καὶ δῶρα διδόντες οἱ πρῶτοί τε καὶ ἄκροι τῶν Ἑλλήνων: καὶ δὴ καὶ ἀδελφῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐλέγετο εἶναι Πολυδεύκους καὶ Κάστορος, Διὸς υἱῶν γενομένων: ἐπεθύμησεν

  [20] and so he began to despise the nymphs and maidens of Ilium with a prince’s disdain and to think them not worth his winning, and in the same way also he despised the women of Lydia and Phrygia, and those in Lesbos and Mysia. But learning that in Sparta there was a certain reputed daughter of Zeus, living in wedlock with Menelaus, a king in his own right and brother of the king of all Greece, a woman whom the first and foremost of the Greeks had wooed and sought to win by offering many wedding-gifts and presents and, to crown all, that she had, according to report, brave brothers twain, Polydeuces and Castor, true sons of Zeus. So he coveted this woman for his wife.

  [21] αὑτῷ ταύτην γενέσθαι τὴν γυναῖκα. ἄλλως μὲν οὖν οὐ πάνυ τι ἡγεῖτο δυνατόν, εἰ δὲ θεός τις ὑπόσχοιτο καὶ δοίη, τάχ̓ ἂν γενέσθαι τὸ τοιοῦτον. καὶ τίνα δὴ θεὸν ἄλλην εἰκὸς τὰς τοιαύτας χαρίζεσθαι χάριτας ἢ τὴν κρατοῦσάν τε καὶ ἄρχουσαν τῶν περὶ τοὺς γάμους τε καὶ ἔρωτας; οὔκουν ἐκείνης διδούσης ἀδύνατον ἡγεῖτο τὸν γάμον. πῶς ἂν οὖν ἐκείνην πείσαι χαρίσασθαι ἢ εἰ τρόπον τινὰ γίγνοιτο αὐτὸς προσφιλὴς τῇ θεῷ καὶ δωρεάν τινα καὶ χάριν δεδωκώς; ἀλλ̓ οὔτε χρημάτων αὐτὴν τυγχάνειν δεομένην, ἅτε χρυσῆν οὖσαν καὶ πάντα χρήματα ἁπλῶς κεκτημένην, οὔτε θυσιῶν: πάντας γὰρ αὐτῇ πανταχοῦ θύειν: οὔτε ἄλλῃ τινὶ ὁμιλίᾳ καὶ δεήσει ῥᾳδίως ὑπακοῦσαι ἄν: ἀλλ̓ εἰ οὗ μάλιστα ἐπιθυμεῖ [p. 265] καὶ ὃ πάντων τιμιώτατον νενόμικε, τοῦτο προσθείη τις αὐτῇ καὶ μαρτυρήσειεν, ὥς ἐστι καλλίστη, τάχ̓ ἂν ἀγαπῆσαι αὐτήν.

  [21] Now in the ordinary course of events he thought that this was not at all feasible, but that if some god should promise and give her, so wild an ambition might perhaps be realized. What goddess, then, he asked himself, was likely to grant favours of this kind other than she who held authority and ruled over all that pertained to marriage and to love? Therefore, if she offered him this bride, he thought the marriage not impossible. How, then, could he persuade her to grant him this favour unless in some way he should ingratiate himself with the goddess by giving her some boon or favour? But he reflected that she did not stand in need of wealth, since she was ‘golden’ and possessed all the wealth in the world, absolutely; nor sacrifices either, since all men everywhere offered her sacrifice; nor would she readily heed anything else one might say or any mere petition. But if, he thought, one were to present her with the thing which she desired most of all, what she had looked upon as the most valuable thing in the world, and should bear witness for her that she was the most beautiful goddess, perhaps she would consent.

  [22] νικᾶν δὲ καὶ προκρίνεσθαι κατὰ τοῦτο τίνος ἄν ποτε ἀξιώσειεν ἢ θεῶν τῶν πρώτων καὶ μεγίστων, Ἀθηνᾶς τε καὶ Ἥρας; καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον, εἰ φαίνοιντο ἐκεῖναι μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστὰ παρεχόμεναι δῶρα ἕνεκα τῆς νίκης. οὕτω δὴ διελθών τε καὶ ἐξεργασάμενος τὴν αὑτοῦ δόξαν καὶ ἐπίνοιαν, οἷον ψυχῆς ἐν ὕπνῳ φαντασίαις καὶ δόξαις ἐπακολουθούσης καὶ μακρόν τι καὶ συντεταγμένον ὑφαινούσης ὄναρ, κριτής τε ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς γίγνεται τῶν θεῶν, καὶ τὰς μὲν αὐτάς τε ὑπερεῖδε καὶ τὰ δῶρα αὐτῶν, τὴν δὲ προέκρινεν ἐπὶ μισθῷ τε καὶ δώρῳ τῷ λαβεῖν τὸν γάμον ἐκείνης τῆς γυναικός,

  [22] Then to win the victory and to be preferred in this contest of beauty — over what divinity, he asked himself, would she think she could afford to prevail except over the foremost and greatest of them, Athena and Hera? And this would be all the more so if these two should put in an appearance, offering great and wonderful gifts for the sake of winning. So after canvassing the matter in this way and elaborating his own imagining and conceit, like a soul which in its sleep follows out its phantasies and imaginings and spins out some long and coherent dream, he is appointed by Zeus, he fancies, umpire over the goddesses; and as to the other goddesses, he disregarded both their persons and their gifts, and chose the third in return for the bribe and gift of winning that woman as wife who had been the object of his thoughts and for whom he had prayed.

  [23] ὑπὲρ ἧς ἐνεθυμήθη τε καὶ εὔξατο. εἰ μὲν οὖν αὐτὸ τοῦτο βουκόλος καὶ ἰδιώτης ἔτυχεν ὤν, οὐδὲν ἂν πρᾶγμα ἀπήντησεν ἐκ τοῦ τοιούτου ὀνείρατος. νῦν δὲ ἐπειδὴ τύραννος καὶ δυνάστης ἦν καὶ πλούτῳ τε ἰσχύων καὶ ἀρχῇ πόλεως τῆς τότε μεγίστης καὶ τῇ τῶν γονέων πρὸς αὐτὸν εὐνοίᾳ, τὰ λοιπὰ ἤδη ἔργῳ ἐξειργάσατο ὡς ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀληθῶς γεγονόσι, ναῦς τε ναυπηγησάμενος καὶ ἑταίρους συναγαγών: καὶ πλεύσας ἐπί τε τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ Σπάρτην καὶ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν ἀφικόμενος τὴν Μενελάου καὶ Ἑλένης καὶ ξενίων τυχών, ἀναπείσας καταλιπεῖν αὐτὴν τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἧκεν ἄγων εἰς Τροίαν πολλῶν καὶ χαλεπῶν πραγμάτων καὶ συμφορῶν

  [23] If, then, he had been nothing more than a herdsman and a commoner in rank, no trouble would have come to him from that ambitious dream. But as it was, since he was of kingly blood and a mighty prince, and of great influence owing to his wealth and the dominion over the greatest city of those days, and the affection which his parents bore for him, he forthwith realized the rest of his dream, just as if the first part had actually happened; and after building ships and assembling a retinue, he sailed for Greece and Sparta, entered the home of Menelaus and Helen, where he was hospitably received, induced her to leave her husband and Hellas, and then returned to his home
, bringing into Troy the beginning of many grievous troubles and disasters.

  [24] ἀρχήν. οὕτως αἱ μὲν ἰδιωτικῆς καὶ ἀδυνάτου ψυχῆς ἔννοιαί τε καὶ ἐπιθυμίαι ὑπηνέμιοί τε καὶ ἀδρανεῖς, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπ̓ αὐτῶν γίγνεται χαλεπόν, ἀλλ̓ ὥσπερ τὰ τῷ ὄντι ὀνείρατα ἀναστάντων εὐθὺς οἴχεται καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτῶν, ὥς φασι, τὸν ἥλιον οὐδὲ τὴν ἡμέραν ὑπομένει, παραπλησίως καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχει ἐπιθυμήματά τε καὶ ἐλπίσματα. τὰ δὲ τῶν μονάρχων ἢ πλουσίων ἢ ἄλλην τινὰ ἐχόντων δύναμιν ἐπὶ πέρας ἀφικνεῖται πολλάκις χαλεπόν τε καὶ

  [24] Thus, whereas the thoughts and desires of the soul of a man in private station and without influence are wind-begotten and ineffectual, and no difficulty arises from them, but just as real dreams are gone at once when the dreamers rise from their beds, and no part of them can endure the sun or the day, as the saying is, so it is with desires and hopes of this kind; yet those of monarchs, on the other hand, or of men of wealth or of those who possess some other power, quite often reach a fulfilment that is both grievous and terrible.

  [25] φοβερόν. καὶ ἔστιν ὅμοιον, ὥσπερ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, τὸ τοιοῦτον ὑπηνεμίοις γεννήμασιν. φασὶ γὰρ δὴ ᾠὰ γίγνεσθαι οὕτως ἄνευ συνουσίας [p. 266] τε καὶ μίξεως ἄρρενος, ἃ καλοῦσιν ὑπηνέμια, ὡς ὑπ̓ ἀνέμῳ προσπεσόντι γιγνόμενα. ὅθεν δὴ καὶ Ὅμηρος, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν, οὐκ ἀδύνατον ἡγησάμενος οὐδὲ ἀπίθανον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις φανῆναι ἵππων ὑπηνέμιον γένος, τὸν Βορρᾶν ἔφη ἐρασθέντα Τρωικῶν τινων ἵππων ἐμπλῆσαί τε αὐτὰς γονῆς καὶ γένος ἵππων ἐξ αὐτῶν γενέσθαι. πολλάκις ἔκ τινος ἐνθυμήματος ψευδοῦς καὶ ἀδυνάτου

  [25] And this sort of thing, in my opinion, is just like wind-begotten products of generation. For they do indeed say that some eggs are produced in this way without the intercourse and impregnation of the male seed, and they are called wind-eggs as if begotten by a gust of wind. And this is the reason, as it seems to me, why even Homer, in the belief that it was not impossible or incredible that a wind-begotten breed of horses should have appeared to men, said that the North Wind, becoming enamoured of some Trojan mares, impregnated them with his seed so that a breed of horses came from them. In like manner, what begins with a mistaken and impossible idea often ends in an accomplished fact.

  [26] ἀποβῆναι πρᾶγμα ἀληθές. εἴρηται δέ μοι πάντα ταῦτα ἀπ̓ ἐκείνης τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐκτροπῆς, ὅτι δεῖ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐθίζεσθαι τὰ δέοντα πράττειν καὶ διανοεῖσθαι πανταχοῦ τε καὶ ἐν ἅπαντι θορύβῳ καὶ ἐν ἁπάσῃ ἠσυχίᾳ. εἰ δὲ μή, τὸ τῆς ἐρημίας τε καὶ ἡσυχίας οὐδὲν μεῖζον καὶ ἀσφαλέστερον τοῖς ἀνοήτοις τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς τὸ μὴ πολλὰ καὶ ἄτοπα διανοεῖσθαί τε καὶ ἁμαρτάνειν.

  [26] All that I have said follows from that initial digressive remark that the mind should accustom itself to do and think what is essential to it everywhere, even in a perfect din as well as in perfect quiet. Otherwise seclusion and quiet offer no advantage and no greater safeguard, for men who are fools, to keep them from conceiving and committing many strange and wicked deeds.

  THE TWENTY-FIRST DISCOURSE: ON BEAUTY

  ΠΕΡΙ ΚΑΛΛΟΥΣ.

  THE TWENTY-FIRST DISCOURSE: ON BEAUTY

  The date of this Discourse may be determined roughly from a consideration of § 10, where Dio says that everybody wishes that Nero were still alive. This statement was approximately true if made in the reign of the bloodthirsty tyrant Domitian. At that time even Dio, who was unjustly suffering exile by Domitian’s orders, would have preferred Nero. In the good reigns of Vespasian and Titus, who preceded Domitian, and of Nerva and Trajan, who followed him, Dio could not have made that statement. Then too, at Domitian’s death in A.D. 96 Nero would have been in his sixtieth year had he lived, so that in the following period, some twenty-eight years after Nero’s death, it is unlikely that the great majority, as Dio says in the same section, still believed him to be alive. Finally, at the end of this section Dio’s companion accuses him of “everlastingly” ridiculing his fellow-men. This was a characteristic of the Cynic philosophers, and we infer from the thirteenth Discourse that Dio did not appear in the rôle of a philosopher before his banishment, even if he was converted to a belief in philosophy prior to this.

  At the opening of the Discourse Dio is led by the sight of the statue of a handsome youth to express regret that beauty among males is dying out because unappreciated, while that of females is increasing. If, then, there are no longer any really handsome men, we Greeks are coming round to the view of the Persians that women are superior to men in beauty. The mention of the Persians leads Dio to speak of certain unnatural sexual practices among them, and this in its turn recalls to his mind the wickedness of Nero. Finally Dio’s companion gets a chance to ask about the parentage of the young men represented by the statue and is told that he had no father. However, he is distinctly Greek in type, for maintains that there is a distinctly Greek type of beauty.

  This Discourse, then, is in the form of conversation between Dio and another man, younger probably and a Greek also, in which Dio informally gives some of his views on beauty. One cannot fail to notice the discursiveness and loquacity so characteristic of our author.

  [1] Δ.Ὡς ὑψηλὸς ὁ νεανίσκος καὶ ὡραῖος: ἔτι δὲ ἀρχαῖον αὐτοῦ τὸ εἶδος, οἷον ἐγὼ οὐχ ἑώρακα τῶν νῦν, ἀλλ̓ ἢ τῶν Ὀλυμπίασιν ἀνακειμένων τῶν πάνυ παλαιῶν: αἱ δὲ τῶν ὕστερον εἰκόνες ἀεὶ χείρους καὶ ἀγεννεστέρων φαίνονται, τὸ μέν τι ὑπὸ τῶν δημιουργῶν, τὸ δὲ πλέον καὶ αὐτοὶ τοιοῦτοί εἰσιν. — Ἦ δεινὸν λέγεις, εἰ ὥσπερ φυτόν τι ἢ ζῷον ἐκλελοίπασι τῷ χρόνῳ οἱ καλοί, οἷον δή φασι τοὺς λέοντας παθεῖν τοὺς ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ: οὐ γὰρ ἔτι αὐτῶν εἶναι τὸ γένος: πρότερον δὲ ἦσαν καὶ περὶ Μακεδονίαν καὶ ἐν

  The Twenty-first Discourse: On Beauty

  Dio. How majestic the youth is and handsome; and, what is more, his appearance is ancient or classic in type, such as I have not seen in our modern statues, but only in those set up at Olympia, the very old ones. The images of the subsequent periods even show a steady decline and clearly represent less noble features, to some extent owing to the sculptors, but chiefly because the persons portrayed are themselves like their statues.

  Interlocutor. It is surely a sad state of affairs, according to what you say, if the beautiful have died out in the course of time just like some plant or animal — the fate which they do say has overtaken the lions in Europe; for the race of lions is now extinct there, though formerly they were to be found in Macedonia and in other places as well — it is unfortunate, I repeat, if beauty has really disappeared from mankind in this way.

  [2] ἄλλοις τόποις: εἰ οὕτως οἴχεται δὴ κάλλος ἐξ ἀνθρώπων. — Δ. Τό γε ἀνδρεῖον, ὦ βέλτιστε: τὸ μέντοι γυναικεῖον ἴσως πλεονάζει. ἀνὴρ δὲ καλὸς σπάνιον μὲν εἰ γίγνεται
νῦν, καὶ γενόμενος τοὺς πλείστους λανθάνει, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἢ οἱ καλοὶ ἵπποι τοὺς ὀρεωκόμους. εἰ δ̓ ἄρα καὶ ἅψαιντο τῶν τοιούτων, μεθ̓ ὕβρεως καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν ἀγαθόν: ὥστε μοι δοκοῦσι καὶ οἱ γενόμενοι ταχὺ λήγειν καὶ ἀφανίζεσθαι. οὐ γὰρ μόνον ἡ ἀρετὴ ἐπαίνῳ αὔξεται, ἀλλὰ [p. 267] καὶ τὸ κάλλος ὑπὸ τῶν τιμώντων αὐτὸ καὶ σεβομένων: ἀμελούμενον δὲ καὶ οὐδενὸς εἰς αὐτὸ βλέποντος ἢ πονηρῶν βλεπόντων σβέννυται, ὥσπερ τὰ κάτοπτρα. — Ἆῤ οὖν, ὅπερ Ἀθηναῖοι πολλάκις, καὶ ἡμᾶς χρὴ ἀναρχίαν ἀναγράφειν τὸν παρόντα καιρόν, ὡς οὐδενὸς

  [2] Dio. Masculine beauty at least has, my good sir; feminine beauty, however, is perhaps increasing. But a handsome man is not only getting to be a rare sight nowadays; but when there is one, the majority fails to notice his beauty, much more than muleteers fail to observe beautiful horses. And if people do by any chance take an interest in handsome men, it is in a wanton way and for no good purpose. The result is, in my opinion, that even the handsome men that do appear speedily drop out and disappear. For it is not only virtue that is increased by commendation, but so is beauty likewise by those who honour and revere it. But when it is disregarded and esteemed by no one, or when wicked men esteem it, it fades away like reflections in a mirror.

  Int. Should we, then, adopt the frequent practice of the Athenians and in a similar way record the present time as being an interregnum

  [3] ὄντος καλοῦ; — Δ. Ναὶ μὰ Δία, πλὴν ὡς Πέρσαι γε ἐνόμιζον: Ἑλλήνων δὲ οὐδεὶς ἢ εἴ τις, ἐκ τῶν τριάκοντα. ἢ οὐκ οἶσθα Κριτίαν τὸν τῶν τριάκοντα, ὅτι κάλλιστον ἔφη εἶδος ἐν τοῖς ἄρρεσι τὸ θῆλυ, ἐν δ̓ αὖ ταῖς θηλείαις τοὐναντίον; οὐκοῦν δικαίως Ἀθηναῖοι νομοθέτην αὐτὸν εἵλοντο ἐπί γε τῷ μεταγράψαι τοὺς παλαιοὺς νόμους, ὃς οὐδένα αὐτῶν ἔλιπεν. — Εἶεν: οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι πῶς ἐνόμιζον;