Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  Then, too, an argument which I heard a man advance, as a very strong one in support of that position, I am not disposed to conceal from you: he said that you have made an official list of your statues. What, pray, is the significance of that? Why, the country lying opposite us, Carpathos yonder, the mainland, the other islands, and in general many possessions can be found which the city has listed in its public records, but they have been parcelled out among individuals.

  [49] ὅλως δὲ οὐκ εἰ μὴ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἕκαστος τὴν εἰκόνα ἔχει τῶν τιμηθέντων, καθάπερ ἂν ἄλλο τι κτησάμενος, διὰ τοῦτο ἂν ἔλαττον αὐτῷ προσήκειν λέγοιτο ἢ μηδὲν ἀδικεῖσθαι διδόντων ὑμῶν ἑτέρῳ τὴν ἐκείνου. μυρίους γὰρ εὑρήσετε τρόπους, καθ᾽ οὓς ἑκάστου τί φαμεν εἶναι, καὶ πλεῖστον διαφέροντας, οἷον ἱερωσύνην, ἀρχήν, γάμον, πολιτείαν: ὧν οὔτε ἀποδόσθαι τι ἔξεστι τοῖς ἔχουσιν οὔτε ὅπως ἄν τις ἐθέλῃ χρῆσθαι.

  [49] And in fine, even if each man who has been honoured does not in this sense ‘possess’ his statue as he would possess anything else he has acquired, it cannot for that reason be said that it belongs to him any the less or that he suffers no wrong when you give his statue to another. For you will find countless senses in which we say that a thing ‘belongs’ to an individual and very different senses too, for instance, a priesthood, a public office, a wife, citizenship, none of which their possessors are at liberty either to sell or to use in any way they like.

  [50] κοινὸν δ᾽ οὖν ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ὥρισται δίκαιον, τὸ πάνθ᾽ ὅσα δικαίως τις ἔλαβεν, ἄν τε καθάπαξ τύχῃ λαβὼν ἄν τε εἴς τινα χρόνον, καθάπερ οἶμαι τὰς ἀρχάς, βεβαίως [p. 234] ἔχειν καὶ μηδένα ἀφαιρεῖσθαι. πῶς οὖν δικαιότερον ἔστιν ὁτιοῦν ἔχειν ἢ εἴ τις ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς γενόμενος καὶ χάριτος ἄξιος ἀντὶ πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν τύχοι τιμῆς; ἢ παρὰ τίνος κυριωτέρου καὶ μείζονος ἢ παρὰ τοῦ Ῥοδίων δήμου καὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας πόλεως; καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο οὐ σμικρόν ἐστι, τὸ μὴ Καλυμνίους εἶναιτοὺς δεδωκότας ἢ τοὺς κακοβούλους τούτους Καυνίους. ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν, ὅσῳ τις ἂν κρείττω καὶ πιστότερον δεικνύῃ, παρ᾽ οὗ τυγχάνει τι κτησάμενος, τοσούτῳ κρατεῖ καὶ οὐδεὶς ἂν ἀμφισβητήσειεν αὐτῷ. καίτοι πᾶσα πόλις, ἣν ἂν εἴπῃ τις, ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς ἰδιώτου, κἂν ὁ σεμνότατος ᾖ, πιστοτέρα τῷ παντὶ καὶ κρείττων,καὶ τὰ κοινῇ γιγνόμενα τῶν κατ᾽ ἰδίαν πραττομένων ἰσχυρότερα.

  [50] But certainly a common principle of justice is laid down in regard to them all, to the effect that anything whatsoever which any one has received justly — whether he happens to have got it once for all or for a specified time, just as, for instance, he obtains public offices — that is his secure possession and nobody can deprive him of it. How, then, is it possible to have anything more justly, than when a man who has proved himself good and worthy of gratitude receives honour in return for many noble deeds? Or from whom could he receive it that has fuller authority and is greater than the democracy of Rhodes and your city? For it is no trifling consideration that it was not the Calymnians who gave it, or those ill-advised Caunians; just as in private business the better and more trustworthy you prove the man to be from whom you obtain any possession, the stronger your title to it is, and by so much more no one can dispute it. Yet any city which one might mention is in every way better and more trustworthy than one private citizen, even if he has the highest standing, and arrangements made by the state are more binding than those which are negotiated privately.

  [51] σκοπεῖτε δὲ ὅτι πάντες ἡγοῦνται κυριώτερα ταῦτα ἔχειν, ὅσα ἂν δημοσίᾳ συμβάλωσι διὰ τῶν τῆς πόλεως γραμμάτων: καὶ οὐκ ἔνι λυθῆναι τῶν οὕτω διῳκημένων οὐδέν, οὔτ᾽ εἴ τις ὠνήσαιτο παρά του χωρίον ἢ πλοῖον ἢ ἀνδράποδον, οὔτ᾽ εἴ τῳ δανείσειεν, οὔτ̓ἂν οἰκέτην ἀφῇ τις ἐλεύθερον οὔτ᾽ ἂν δῷ τινα δωρεάν. τί δήποτ᾽ οὖν συμβέβηκε ταῦτ᾽ εἶναι βεβαιότερα τῶν ἄλλων; ὅτι τὴν πόλιν μάρτυρα ἐποιήσατο τοῦ πράγματος ὁ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον οἰκονομήσας τι τῶν ἑαυτοῦ.

  [51] Then consider, further, that all men regard those agreements as having greater validity which are made with the sanction of the state and are entered in the city’s records; and it is impossible for anything thus administered to be annulled, either in case one buys a piece of land from another, a boat or a slave, or if a man makes a loan to another, or frees a slave, or makes gift to any one. How in the world, then, has it come to pass that these transactions carry a greater security than any other? It is because the man who has handled any affair of his in this way has made the city a witness to the transaction.

  [52] πρὸς τοῦ Διός, εἶθ᾽ ὧν μὲν ἄν τις παρ᾽ ἰδιώτου τύχῃ διὰ τῆς πόλεως, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως ἀφαιρεθήσεται τούτων: ἃδέ τις εἴληφεν οὐ δημοσίᾳ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ δήμου δεδωκότος, οὐκ ἔσται βέβαια; καὶ τὸ μὲν ὑπ᾽ ἄλλων γενόμενον τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον οὐ λυθήσεται διὰ τὴν πόλιν: ἃ δ᾽ ἡ πόλις αὐτὴ πεποίηκε, ῥᾳδίως οὕτως ἀνελεῖ; καὶ ταῦτα οὐχ ὡς ἔδωκεν, ὁμοίως ἀφαιρουμένη κατὰ κοινόν, ἀλλ᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνδρός, ἂν τύχῃ στρατηγῶν, ἐξουσίαν

  [52] In heaven’s name, will it then be true that, while anything a person may get from a private citizen by acting through the state cannot possibly be taken from him, yet what one has received, not only by a state decree, but also as a gift of the people, shall not be inalienable? And whereas an action taken in this way by anybody else will never be annulled by the authority of the state, yet shall the state, in the offhand way we observe here, cancel what it has itself done? — and that too, not by taking it away in the same manner in which it was originally given, that is, by the commonwealth officially, but by letting one man, if he happens to be your chief magistrate, have the power to do so?

  [53] ἔχοντος τοῦτο ποιεῖν; καὶ μὴν καὶ γράμματά ἐστιν ἐν κοινῷ περὶ τούτων, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἔφην. τὰ γὰρ ψηφίσματα γέγραπται δήπουθεν τὰ τῶν τιμῶν καὶ δημοσίᾳ μένει τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀποδοῦναι χάριν οὕτως ἀκριβῶς γίγνεται παρ᾽ ὑμῖν, τὸ δ᾽ ἀφελέσθαι τοὺς εἰληφότας πάνυ ῥᾳδίως. εἶτα τὸ μὲν οὐχ οἷόν τε [p. 235] γενέσθαι δίχα ψηφίσματος, ἁπάντων ὑμῶν πεισθέντων, τὸ δὲ ἔθει τινὶ συμβαίνει, κἂν ἑνὶ δόξῃ μόνον; πλὴν ὅ γε ἔφην ὅτι δημοσίᾳ ταῦτα ἀναγέγραπται, καὶ οὐ μόνον ἐν τοῖς ψηφίσμασιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν τῶν εἰκόνων, τό τε ὄνομα τοῦ τιμηθέντος καὶ τὸ δεδωκέναι τὸν δῆμον, καὶ τούτ�
�ν πάλιν ἐν τῷ δημοσίῳ κειμένων.

  [53] And besides, there are official records of those transactions of which I have spoken; for the decrees by which honours are given are recorded, I take it, and remain on public record for all time. For though repaying a favour is so strictly guarded among you, yet taking it back from the recipients is practised with no formality at all. Then, while the one action cannot be taken except by a decree passed by you as a body, yet the other comes to pass by a sort of custom, even though it is the will of only one person. Note, however, that, as I said, these matters have been recorded officially, not only in the decrees, but also upon the statues themselves, on which we find both the name of the man who received the honour and the statement that the assembly has bestowed it, and, again, that these statues are set up on public property.

  [54] ὅτι τοίνυν οὐθέν ἐστι τὸ τῆς ἀπογραφῆς οὐδὲ τὸ ἐν κοινῷ κεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸ μὴ τῶν εἰληφότων εἶναι τοὺς ἀνδριάντας πάλαι μὲν ἴσως ὑπάρχει δῆλον: ἀλλ᾽ ὥστε μηδ᾽ ἐπιχειρῆσαι μηδένα ἀντειπεῖν, ἐκεῖνο ὑμῖν ἐρῶ. ἴστε που τοὺς Ἐφεσίους, ὅτι πολλὰ χρήματα παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἐστι, τὰ μὲν ἰδιωτῶν, ἀποκείμενα ἐν τῷ νεῲ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος, οὐκ Ἐφεσίων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ξένων καὶ τῶν ὁπόθεν δήποτε ἀνθρώπων, τὰ δὲ καὶ δήμων καὶ βασιλέων, ἃ τιθέασι πάντες οἱ τιθέντες ἀσφαλείας χάριν, οὐδενὸς οὐδεπώποτε τολμήσαντος ἀδικῆσαι τὸν τόπον, καίτοι καὶ πολέμων ἤδη μυρίων γεγονότων καὶ πολλάκις ἁλούσης τῆς πόλεως. οὐκοῦν ὡς ὅτι μὲν ἐν κοινῷ κεῖται τὰ χρήματα δῆλόν ἐστιν: ἀλλὰ καὶ δημοσίᾳ κατὰ τὰς ἀπογραφὰς ἔθος αὐτὰ τοῖς Ἐφεσίοις ἀπογράφεσθαι.

  [54] Well then, that there is nothing in the official list, or in the fact that these memorials stand on public property, which tends to show that they do not belong to those who have received them, has perhaps long been evident; but in order that nobody may even attempt to dispute it, let me mention this: You know about the Ephesians, of course, and that large sums of money are in their hands, some of it belonging to private citizens and deposited in the temple of Artemis, not alone money of the Ephesians but also of aliens and of persons from all parts of the world, and in some cases of commonwealths and kings, money which all deposit there in order that it may be safe, since no one has ever yet dared to violate that place, although countless wars have occurred in the past and the city has often been captured. Well, that the money is deposited on state property is indeed evident, but it also is evident, as the lists show, that it is the custom of the Ephesians to have these deposits officially recorded.

  [55] τί οὖν; ἆρά γε καὶ λαμβάνουσιν ἐξ αὐτῶν, ὅταν ᾖ χρεία τις, ἢ δανείζονται γοῦν, ὃ τάχα δόξει μηδὲν εἶναι δεινόν; ἀλλ᾽ οἶμαι πρότερον ἂν περιέλοιεν τὸν κόσμον τῆς θεοῦ πρὶν ἢ τούτων ἅψασθαι. καίτοι τοὺς Ἐφεσίους οὐκ ἂν εἴποιτε εὐπορωτέρους αὑτῶν. τοὐναντίον γὰρ ὑμεῖς μὲν καὶ πρότερον ἦτε πλουσιώτατοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ νῦν ἔτι μᾶλλόν ἐστε: ἐκείνους δὲ πολλῶν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν καταδεέστερον πράττοντας.

  [55] Well then, do they go on and take any of these monies when any need arises, or do they ‘borrow’ them at any rate — an act which, perhaps, will not seem at all shocking? No; on the contrary, they would sooner, I imagine, strip off the adornment of the goddess than touch this money. Yet you would not say that the Ephesians are wealthier than yourselves. The very opposite is the case, for not only were you the richest of the Greeks in former times, but now you are still richer; whereas the Ephesians, one can see, are less prosperous than many.

  [56] μὴ τοίνυν εἰ ἐκεῖνα μὲν ἔστιν ἀνελέσθαι τοῖς θεῖσι, τῆς εἰκόνος δὲ οὐθεὶς οὕτως ἐστὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κύριος, καὶ μὴ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀνόμοιον ἡγήσησθε: τὸ γὰρ μὴ πάντ᾽ εὐθὺς τῆς πόλεως εἶναι τὰ ἐν κοινῷ κείμενα καὶ δημοσίας ἀπογραφῆς τυχόντα δεῖξαι βουλόμενος ὡς τύπῳ κατὰ τοῦτο ἐχρησάμην. τὸ μέντοι μηθένα πρὸς ἄλλο τι τὴν εἰκόνα ἔχειν ἢ τὸ ἑστάναι παρ᾽ ὑμῖν, ᾧ μόνῳ διαφέρουσιν οὗτοι τοι τῶν ἐκεῖ τὰ χρήματα τιθέντων, ἔτι μᾶλλον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐστιν. [p. 236] ἃ γὰρ μηδὲ τοῖς λαβοῦσιν ἔξεστιν ἀνελεῖν, ἦπου γε τοῖς δεδωκόσιν ἐξεῖναι προσήκει;

  [56] Pray do not say this: “The people who deposited that money have the privilege of withdrawing it, but no one has in this way the disposal of his own statue,” and do not consider the cases dissimilar. For in my desire to show that not all things deposited in a public place and recorded officially belong forthwith to the city, I used this case as an illustration. The fact, however, that no one has a statue for any other purpose than to stand in your midst — the one respect in which these men differ from those who deposit their money there — speaks still more in their behalf. For when it is not lawful for even the recipients of gifts to annul them, can it possibly be right that the donors should have the power to do so?

  [57] καθόλου δὲ ἄλλως ἔγωγε φιλονικεῖν ἔοικα πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα δὴ ὡς τῆς πόλεως πάντες εἰσὶν οἱ ἀνδριάντες. ἐπεὶ τοῦτό γε οὐθέν ἐστι σημεῖον ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἄτοπον τὸ γιγνόμενον. τὰ γοῦν ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀναθήματα, ἃ κατασκευάσασα ἡπόλις ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων ἀνατέθεικεν, οὐκ ἂν οὐδεὶς ἀμφισβητήσειεν ὡς οὐ δημόσιά ἐστιν. ἆρ᾽ οὖν οὐχὶ δεινόν, εἰ καταχρησόμεθα τούτοις πρὸς ἄλλο τι; νὴ Δία, ταῦτα γάρ ἐστιν ἀναθήματα. αἱ δ᾽ εἰκόνες τιμαί: κἀκεῖνα δέδοται τοῖς θεοῖς, ταῦτα δὲ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀνδράσιν,

  [57] However, I seem to be arguing quite needlessly against the man who asserts that all the statues belong to the city; for this is no indication that what is being done is not an outrage. For instance, consider the votive offerings in the sacred places: the city made them at its own expense and dedicated them. No one would dispute that they are the property of the people. Then will it not be an outrage if we misappropriate them for some other purpose?

  “Yes, by heaven,” you rejoin, “for these are dedications, but the statues are marks of honour; the former have been given to the gods, the latter to good men, who, to be sure, are nearest of kin to them.”

  [58] οἵπερ εἰσὶν ἔγγιστα αὐτῶν. καίτοι καὶ θεοφιλεῖς ἅπαντες οἱχρηστοὶ λέγονται καὶ εἰσίν. εἶτα ἡμᾶς μὲν οὐχ ὁ τῶν κτημάτων τι τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀφαιρούμενος, ἀλλ᾽ ἂν τοὺς φίλους βλάπτῃ τις τοὺς ἡμετέρους ἀδικεῖ τῷ παντὶ πλέον: τοὺς δέ γε θεοὺς φήσομεν, ὡς ἔοικε, τῶν φίλων μᾶλλον ὀλιγωρεῖν ἢ τῶν κτημάτων; ἀλλὰ πάντα μὲν προσήκει βεβαίως ἔχειν τοὺς κτησαμένους,καὶ ταῦτα ἐν δημοκ
ρατίᾳ καὶ παρ᾽ ὑμῖν, οἳ μέγιστον φρονεῖτε ἐπὶ τῷ νομίμως καὶ δικαίως διοικεῖν τὰ παρ᾽ ἑαυτοῖς, μάλιστα δὲ οἶμαι τὰς τιμὰς καὶ τὰς χάριτας: οὐ μόνον, ἐπειδὴ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα καὶ φαῦλος ὤν τις ἂν ἔχοι, χρήματα, οἰκίας, ἀνδράποδα, χώρας, ταῦτα δὲ μόνοις ὑπάρχει τοῖς ἐπιεικέσιν: ἀλλὰ καὶ δι᾽ ἐκεῖνο, ὅτι ταῦταμὲν ἔστι κεκτῆσθαι καὶ δι᾽ ἑτέρου τρόπου, κληρονομήσαντα ἢ πριάμενον:

  [58] “And yet,” I reply, “all men of highest virtue are both said to be and in fact are beloved of the gods. Can it be, then, that while not he who deprives us of any of our possessions, but whoever does an injury to our friends, is guilty of an altogether greater wrong, yet we are to say of the gods, as it seems we are doing, that they are more inclined to slight their friends than they are their possessions?

  Nay, on the contrary, it is right that in regard to all sorts of possessions those who have acquired them should be secure in their tenure, especially in a democracy and among a people like yourselves, who take the greatest pride in having matters in your state handled in accordance with law and justice, and above all, I should imagine, your honours and expressions of gratitude; not only because even a man of no account might have all other things, such as money, houses, slaves, lands, whereas those two are possessions enjoyed by virtuous men alone, but also for the reason that these things can be acquired through some other means, such as inheritance or purchase, whereas such things as honours and grateful recognition are acquired through virtue alone.