Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [145] And you, in my opinion, if some god should reveal to you a thing that your city was sure to regret some time in the future, would by all means take measures to prevent it, if it lay in your power to do so. Then, while you will of course not neglect guarding against anything that will harm others simply because the injury will be in the future, are you going to give free rein to that which is now doing the greatest injury to yourselves, because it originated in the past? Nay, it is utterly foolish for a man to think that he should never check a practice which, while customary, is nevertheless shocking.

  [146] ἀξιῶ δ᾽ ὑμᾶς ἐκεῖνο ἐνθυμηθῆναι μᾶλλον, ὅτι πολλῶν ὄντων κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἅπασιν εὐλόγως σεμνύνεσθε, πρῶτον μὲν τῶν νόμων καὶ τῆς εὐταξίας τῆς περὶ τὴν πολιτείαν, ἐφ᾽ οἷς καὶ μάλιστα φιλοτιμεῖσθε, ἔπειτα οἶμαι καὶ τῶν τοιούτων, ἱερῶν, θεάτρων, νεωρίων, τειχῶν, λιμένων: ὧν τὰ μὲν πλοῦτον ἐμφαίνει καὶ μεγαλοψυχίαν καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς πρότερον δυνάμεως, τὰ δὲ καὶ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς εὐσέβειαν, οὐθενὸς ἧττον ἥδεσθε ἐπὶ τῷ

  [146] I ask you to bear in mind, rather, that, although there are many things about your city on all of which you have a good right to pride yourselves — your laws in the first place, and orderliness of your government (things of which you are wont to boast most), and, in the second place, I imagine, such things also as temples, theatres, shipyards, fortifications, and harbours, some of which give evidence of your wealth and high aspirations and the greatness of your former power, others of your piety toward the gods — you rejoice no less in the multitude of your statues, and rightly;

  [147] πλήθει τῶν ἀνδριάντων, εἰκότως: οὐ γὰρ μόνον κόσμον φέρει τὸ τοιοῦτον, ὥσπερ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἀναθημάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς πόλεως οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐπιδείκνυσι καὶ τὸ ἦθος. οὔτε γὰρ εὖ πάσχουσιν ὑπὸ πολλῶν οἱ τυχόντες οὔτε θέλουσιν οὔτε ἴσως δύνανται πολλοὺς τιμᾶν. ἔτι δὲ κἀκεῖνό ἐστιν: οὐ γὰρ μόνον διὰ τοῦτο πλείστους εἶναι παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ἀνδριάντας τοῦτο συμβέβηκεν, ἀλλ᾽ οἶμαι καὶ διὰ τὸ Ῥωμαίους πολλάκις πανταχόθεν εἰληφότας κατασκευὴν ἱερῶν καὶ βασιλείων μηδέποτε κινῆσαι τῶν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν μηδέν:

  [147] for not only do such things do you credit just as any of your other dedicated monuments do, but they also more than anything reveal the strength of your city and its character. For it is no ordinary people that receives benefactions from many or that wishes or perhaps has the means to honour many. And note this also — that it is not only because the statues you have here are very great in number that the practice in question has arisen, but also, I think, because the Romans, who have often seized from every land the furnishings of sacred places and of palaces, have never disturbed any of those which you possess.

  [148] ὅπου καὶ Νέρων, τοσαύτην ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ σπουδὴν περὶ τοῦτο ἔχων, ὥστε μηδὲ τῶν ἐξ Ὀλυμπίας ἀποσχέσθαι μηδὲ τῶν ἐκ Δελφῶν, καίτοι πάντων μάλιστα τιμήσας ταῦτα τὰ ἱερά, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς πλείστους τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως Ἀθήνηθεν μετενεγκεῖν καὶ τῶν ἐκ Περγάμου πολλούς, αὐτῷ προσήκοντος ἐκείνου τοῦ τεμένους: περὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν παρ᾽ ἄλλοις τί δεῖ λέγειν; τοὺς παρὰ μόνοις ὑμῖν εἴασε, καὶ τοσαύτην ἐπεδείξατο εὔνοιαν καὶ τιμὴν ἅμα [p. 262] πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ὥστε τὴν πόλιν ἅπασαν ἱερωτέραν κρῖναι τῶν πρώτων ἱερῶν.

  [148] Why, even Nero, who had so great a craving and enthusiasm in that business that he did not keep his hands off of even the treasures of Olympia or of Delphi — although he honoured those sanctuaries above all others — but went still farther and removed most of the statues on the Acropolis of Athens and many of those at Pergamum, although that precinct was his very own (for what need is there to speak of those in other places?), left undisturbed only those in your city and showed towards you such signal goodwill and honour that he esteemed your entire city more sacred than the foremost sanctuaries.

  [149] ἴστε γὰρ Ἄκρατον ἐκεῖνον, ὃς τὴν οἰκουμένην σχεδὸν ἅπασαν περιελθὼν τούτου χάριν καὶ μηδὲ κώμην παρεὶς μηδεμίαν, ὡς κἀνθάδε ἧκε. λυπουμένων δ᾽ ὑμῶν, ὅπερ εἰκός, κατὰ θέαν ἔφη παρεῖναι: μηδὲ γὰρ ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν μηδενὸς ἅψασθαι τῶνἐνθάδε. τοιγαροῦν δίχα τοῦ κοινοῦ τῆς ὄψεως κόσμου καὶ δόξαν ὑμῖν ἑτέραν περιποιεῖ τὸ τῶν εἰκόνων πλῆθος. τῆς γὰρ πρὸς τοὺς ἡγουμένους φιλίας καὶ τῆς παρ᾽ ἐκείνων ἐντροπῆς ἀπόδειξις φαίνεται ταῦτα.

  [149] You remember the notorious Acratus, who visited practically the whole inhabited world in this quest and passed by no village even — you recall how he came here likewise, and when you were, quite naturally, distressed, he said he had come to see the sights, for he had no authority to touch anything here. Therefore, apart from the beautiful sight which all the world may enjoy, the great number of your statues brings you a renown of another sort! For these things are manifestly a proof of your friendship for your rulers and of their respect for you.

  [150] εἶτα Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν καὶ Νέρων οὕτω τὰ παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ἐτήρησαν καὶ σεμνὰ ἔκριναν: ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐ φυλάξετε; καὶ Νέρωνμὲν ὁ τῶν βασιλέων σφοδρότατος καὶ πλεῖστον αὑτῷ διδοὺς καὶ πρὸς ἅπασαν ἐξουσίαν πάντ᾽ ἐλάττω νενομικὼς οὐδενὸς ἀφείλετο τὴν εἰκόνα τῶν παρὰ μόνοις Ῥοδίοις τιμηθέντων: αὐτοὶ δ᾽ ὑμεῖς ἀφαιρεῖσθε; καὶ πόσῳ κρεῖττον ἦν κἀνθάδε ταὐτὸ γεγονέναι; παρὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις μένει τὰ τῶν τιμηθέντων ὀνόματα καὶ τὰς ἐπιγραφὰς οὐδεὶς ἂν ἀπαλείψειεν: ὑμεῖς δ᾽ ὥσπερ κακόν τι πεπονθότες ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐκχαράττετε.

  [150] So then, when the Romans and Nero guarded your possessions so scrupulously and esteemed them inviolate, shall you yourselves fail to protect them? Nero, that most immoderate of emperors, who took the most liberties and considered everything subject to his own unlimited power, took away the statue of no one of those who had received honour from the people of Rhodes, and from them only. And do you, your own selves, rob these men? Yet how much better it would have been, had the same thing happened here also! I mean that whereas elsewhere the names of the men who have been honoured are left and no one would think of erasing the inscriptions, you chisel them out just as if the men had done you some wrong.

  [151] καίτοι φαίη τις ἄν, εἰ καὶ παρὰ τῶν βασιλέων ἀνῃροῦντο, μηδὲ οὕτως ἀδικεῖσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας. οὐ γὰρ ὡς δώσοντες ἑτέροις, ἀλλὰ κόσμου δεόμενοι μετέφερον, ὥστ᾽ οὐδεὶς ἂν αὐτῶν ἀφῄρει τὸ ὄνομα, οὐδ᾽ αὖ χεῖρονἀπήλλ�
�ττον ἀντὶ Μεγάρων καὶ Ἐπιδαύρου καὶ τῆς Ἀνδρίων ἢ Μυκονίων ἀγορᾶς ἐν τοῖς Ῥωμαίων ἱεροῖς ἀνακείμενοι. κἂν ταῦτ᾽ ἀφῇ τις, βέλτιον ἦν τό γε καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς οὕτως αὐτῶν ἠφανίσθαι τὰς τιμάς. οὐδὲν γὰρ ὑπῆρχεν ἁμάρτημα ὑμέτερον, οὐδ᾽ αὐτοὶ τοὺς εὐεργέτας ἂν τοὺς ἑαυτῶν ἠδικεῖτε καὶ τοὺς ἥρωας, ἀλλ᾽,εἴπερ ἄρα, συνηδικεῖσθε αὐτοῖς.

  [151] And yet, one might say even if your statues were being carried off by the emperors, the men were not being so grievously wronged as at present; for the emperors were engaged in removing such things, not with the intention of giving them to others, but because they wanted objects of embellishment, so that none of them would think of removing the name, nor would persons be any the worse off because, instead of being set up as offerings at Megara or Epidaurus or in the market-place of Andros or of Myconos, they were set up in the sacred places of the Romans. But dismissing these considerations, it would have been better, so far as you are concerned, had these men’s tokens of honour been thus obliterated. For then there would have been no fault on your part, nor would you yourselves be wronging your own benefactors and your heroes, but, if there were any wrong at all, you would be suffering it in common with them.

  [152] καὶ μὴν εἴ τις ὑμῶν πύθοιτο, εἰ καὶ δόξει γελοιότερον, τί [p. 263] δήποτε οὔθ᾽ ὑμεῖς οὔτ᾽ ἄλλος οὐθεὶς πηλίνους ποιεῖσθε τὰς εἰκόνας τῶν κριθέντων ἀξίων εἶναι τῆς δωρεᾶς ταύτης, εὐχερέστερον δήπουθεν ὂν καὶ μηδεμίαν ἤ παντελῶς μικρὰν δαπάνην ἔχον: φαίητ᾽ ἂν οἶμαι: οὐ διὰ τὸ μὴ ὑβρίζεσθαι ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὸ διαμένειν, εἰ δυνατόν, εἰς ἀεὶ τὰς τιμὰς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν. νῦν τοίνυν ἐπίστασθε τοὺς ἀνδριάντας ὑμῖν ἅπαντας κηρίνων ὄντας ἀσθενεστέρους. οὐ γὰρ εἰ τὸν ἥλιον φέρουσι, τοῦτο δεῖ σκοπεῖν. ὑπὸ γὰρ τῆς κολακείας τῆς πρὸς ἑτέρους διαφθείρονται, κἂν τῷ δεῖνι δόξῃ καὶ τῷ δεῖνι δι᾽ ἡνδήποτ᾽ αἰτίαν, οὐκέτ᾽ εἰσὶν οἱ πρότερον. πολὺ δὲ χείρων ἡ τοιαύτη διαφθορά.

  [152] And further, if anyone should inquire of you, absurd though it may seem, why on earth do neither you nor anyone else make of clay the statues of those who have been adjudged worthy of this gift, since that, no doubt, is easier to manage and involves very little or no expense, you would reply, I suppose: “Not only to avoid giving insult but also in order that the honours which are given to good men may abide forever if that is possible.” Yes, but as the case stands, I would have you know that all your statues are less permanent than waxen ones. For it is not a question of whether they can endure the sun, since it is the desire to flatter another group of men which ruins them; and if it seems good to this or that magistrate for any reason whatsoever, the honoured men of former times are no more!

  [153] τότε μὲν γὰρ ἠλέγχετ᾽ ἂν ἡ τῆς ὕλης ἀσθένεια, νυνὶ δὲ ἡ κακία τῆς πόλεως φαίνεσθαι δοκεῖ. τοιγαροῦν ὁμοίως δίδοτε τοὺς ἀνδριάντας, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰς κόρας ταύτας ὠνούμενοι τοῖς παισίν. καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι διδόασιν οὕτως, ὥστε μηδὲν λυπεῖσθαι μετ᾽ ὀλίγον συντριβέντων. ἆρα ἀγνοεῖτε τὴν προσοῦσαν αἰσχύνην τῷ πράγματι καὶ πόσον γέλωτα ὄφλετε δημοσίᾳ ψευδόμενοι, καὶ ταῦτα φανερῶς οὕτως;

  [153] And this sort of distinction is much worse; for in the old days the fragility of the material would be blamed, but now men think it is the city’s moral weakness that is being brought to light. And so you go on handing out your statues very much as parents do who buy for their children these cheap dolls. For they too are so casual about their gifts that very soon there is sorrow — when the gifts have fallen to pieces!

  Can it be that you are unaware of the shame which attaches to this practice, and how ridiculous you make yourselves by this deception practised by your state, and that too so openly?

  [154] ἐν γοῦν τοῖς ψηφίσμασι γράφετε, στῆσαι δὲ εἰκόνα τοῦ δεῖνος. πῶς, εἴποι τις ἂν ὑμῖν, ἄνδρες Ῥόδιοι, στῆσαι γράφετε τὴν ἑστῶσαν, ἐὰν οὕτω τύχῃ, πρὸ πεντακοσίων ἐτῶν;εἶτα τῶν μὲν γυναικῶν τὰς ὑποβαλλομένας παιδία πονηρὰς κρίνετε καὶ δεινόν τι ποιεῖν ἡγεῖσθε καταψευδομένας: αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθε τοῦτο ποιοῦντες ἐπὶ τῶν εἰκόνων, καὶ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας, ὧν οὐκ εἰσί, τούτων εἶναι λέγοντες, καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ὄντες ἀνήκοοι τῶν κατὰ τῆς πόλεως σκωμμάτων;

  [154] For instance, in your decrees you propose ‘to erect a statue of So-and-so.’ “But just how,” someone might ask you, “do you propose, men of Rhodes, to ‘erect’ the statue that has been erected possibly for the last five hundred years?” After doing that, can you adjudge those women who palm off other women’s children as their own to be wicked and regard their deception as a horrible thing, while you yourselves are not ashamed of doing the same thing with your images by saying that the statues belong to those to whom they do not belong, and that too when you cannot help hearing of the jests with which your city is reviled?

  [155] φασὶ γοῦν πολλοὶ τοὺς Ῥοδίων ἀνδριάντας ὁμοίους εἶναι τοῖς ὑποκριταῖς. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκείνων ἕκαστον ἄλλοτε ἄλλον εἰσιέναι, καὶ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας ὑμῖν ἄλλοτε ἄλλα λαμβάνειν πρόσωπα καὶ μικροῦ δεῖν ὑποκρινομένους ἑστάναι. τὸν γὰρ αὐτὸν νῦν μὲν εἶναι Ἕλληνα, νῦν δὲ Ῥωμαῖον, πάλιν δ᾽, ἂν οὕτω τύχῃ, Μακεδόνα ἢ [p. 264] Πέρσην: καὶ ταῦτ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἐνίων οὕτως ὥστε τὸν ἰδόντα εὐθὺς εἰδέναι. καὶ γὰρ ἐσθὴς καὶ ὑπόδεσις καὶ τοιαῦθ᾽ ἕτερα τὸ ψεῦσμα ἐλέγχει.

  [155] For instance, many people assert that the statues of the Rhodians are like actors. For just as every actor makes his entrance as one character at one time and at another as another, so likewise your statues assume different rôles at different times and stand almost as if they were acting a part. For instance, one and the same statue, they say, is at one time a Greek, at another time a Roman, and later on, if it so happens, a Macedonian or a Persian; and what is more, with some statues the deception is so obvious that the beholder at once is aware of the deceit. For in fact, clothing, foot-gear, and everything else of that kind expose the fraud.

  [156] καὶ μυρία ἐῶ τῶν γιγνομένων, οἷον τὸ πολλάκις ἀνδρὸς σφόδρα γέροντος εἰκόνι νέου τινὸς τὸ ὄνομα ἐπιγράφειν, θαυμαστήν τινα οἶμαι δωρεὰν εὑρηκότων ὑμῶν, εἰ μετά γε τῆς τιμῆς καὶ τὴνἡλικίαν δίδοτε: καὶ πάλιν ἀθλητοῦ τινος ἀνδριάντα ἑστάναι, ὡς ὄντα ἀνθρώπου παντελῶς ἀσθενοῦς καὶ μετρίου τὸ σῶμα. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἱππεύοντα τὸν δεῖνα ὁρᾶσθαι παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ἢ πολεμί�
�� συνεστῶτα ἢ στράτευμα ἐκτάσσοντα ἄνθρωπον οὐδεπώποτε τῆς γῆς ἁψάμενον τοῖς αὑτοῦ ποσὶν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ὤμων καταβάντα τῶν φερόντωνοὐδὲν ἴσως ἄτοπον: ἀλλ᾽ ὁ δεῖνά γε ἕστηκε πυκτεύων παρ᾽ ὑμῖν.

  [156] And I pass over countless instances of what happens, such as that often the name of some young man is inscribed on the statue of a very old man — a most wonderful gift, methinks, you have discovered, if along with the honour you can also make a present of youth; and again, we hear of a statue of a certain athlete which stands here, that it represents an utter weakling of a man, quite ordinary of body. For while we admit that there is perhaps no incongruity in your having before everybody’s eyes in your city the figure of So-and-so mounted upon a horse in the act either of grappling with a foeman or of marshalling an army, even though he was a fellow who never touched the earth with his own feet or descended from the shoulders of the carriers who bore him; but what can one say of So-and-so, who stands in your midst in the pose of a boxer!

  [157] καὶ λέγω ταῦτα μὰ τὸν Δία οὐκ ἀπεχθάνεσθαι βουλόμενος ὑμῖν οὐδὲ διασύρων τὴν πόλιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅπως μηδὲν ἀνάξιον ἑαυτῆς μηδὲ ἀλλότριον τῆς ἄλλης εὐκοσμίας καὶ τῆς πολιτείας φαίνηται ποιοῦσα. καί μοι δοκεῖ τις ἂν εἰκότως προαχθῆναι διὰ τὴν πρὸσἅπαντας εὔνοιαν τοὺς Ἕλληνας, οὐ μόνον διὰ τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς, εἴ τι ἄρα ἐνθάδε ἔχοι μὴ καλῶς, εἰπεῖν καὶ μηνῦσαι. πρότερον μὲν γὰρ ἐκ πολλῶν συνειστήκει τὸ κοινὸν ἀξίωμα καὶ πολλοὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ηὖξον, ὑμεῖς, Ἀθηναῖοι, Λακεδαιμόνιοι, Θηβαῖοι, χρόνον τινὰ Κορίνθιοι, τὸ παλαιὸν Ἀργεῖοι. νυνὶ δὲ τὸ μὲν τῶν ἄλλωνοὐθέν ἐστιν.