Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [33] ἐστι τοῦ καθεύδειν: ἐπεὶ τά γε ὄμματα αὐτῶν ἀναπέπταται. τί οὖν οὗτοι ποιοῦσι κοιμωμένων; πολλὰ μὲν δὴ τά γε ἄλλα: σχεδὸν γὰρ πάντα ὀνείρασιν ἔοικεν αὐτῶν τὰ ἔργα: καὶ γὰρ χαίρουσι μάτην καὶ λυποῦνται καὶ θρασύνονται καὶ δεδοίκασι, μηδενὸς ὄντος, καὶ σπουδάζουσι, καὶ τῶν ἀδυνάτων ἐπιθυμοῦσι, καὶ τὰ μὴ ὄντανομίζουσιν εἶναι, καὶ τῶν ὄντων οὐκ αἰσθάνονται. πλὴν ταῦτα μὲν ἴσως κοινὰ καὶ ἡμῶν ἐστιν. ἐκεῖνο δὲ οἶμαι φανερώτατον ὕπνου τεκμήριον ποιοῦσι, ῥέγκουσιν. οὐ γὰρ ἔχω μὰ τοὺς θεοὺς εἰπεῖν εὐπρεπέστερον. καίτοι καὶ τῶν κοιμωμένων ὀλίγοι μὲν ἀεὶ τοῦτο πάσχουσι: τῶν δὲ ἄλλων τοῖς μεθύουσι ξυμβαίνει καὶ τοῖς ἐμπλησθεῖσι

  [33] What, then, do these people do that marks persons who are asleep? Many indeed are the other symptoms; for practically all their actions bear a resemblance to the dream state. For example, they experience joy and sorrow, and courage and timidity, for no reason at all, they are enthusiastic, they desire the impossible, and what is unreal they regard as real, while what is real they fail to perceive. However, these traits, perhaps, they share in common with ourselves. But this, in my opinion, is the clearest mark of slumber — they snort. For, by heaven, I have no more becoming name to give it. And yet even among sleepers few suffer from that affliction, while with everybody else it occurs only when men are drunk, or have gorged themselves with food, or are reclining in an uncomfortable position.

  [34] καὶ τοῖς μὴ καλῶς κατακειμένοις. ἐγὼ δέ φημι τοῦτο τὸ ἔργον αἰσχρὰν τὴν πόλιν ποιεῖν καὶ δημοσίᾳ καταισχύνειν, καὶ τὴν μεγίστην ὕβριν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα ὑβρίζειν τοὺς μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν τούτους κοιμωμένους, καὶ δικαίως ἂν αὐτοὺς ἐξορισθῆναι καὶ παρ᾽ ὑμῶν καὶ πανταχόθεν. οὐδὲ γὰρ μέτριόν ἐστι τὸ γιγνόμενον οὐδὲσπανίως συμβαῖνον, ἀλλ᾽ ἀεὶ καὶ πανταχοῦ τῆς πόλεως, κἂν ἀπειλῇ τις κἂν παίζῃ κἂν καταγελᾷ. καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἤδη ξύνηθές ἐστι καὶ τοῖς πάνυ σμικροῖς παισί, καὶ τῶν τελείων ὅσοι δοκοῦσιν αἰδεῖσθαι, προάγονται πολλάκις ὥσπερ ἐπὶ δώρῳ τινὶ χρῆσθαι, κἂν ἐπιστήσαντες διατραπῶσιν, ἀνέπνευσαν γοῦν ὅμοιον.

  [34] But I claim that such conduct shames the city and disgraces it as a state, and that the greatest outrage is dealt to their country by these daytime slumberers, and that they would deservedly be banished, not only by you, but by all men everywhere. For indeed this habit is no trifling matter nor of rare occurrence either; nay, it occurs all the time and everywhere in the city, despite all threats and jests and ridicule. And what is more, the sound is by now habitual even with the very small boys, and such adults as have a reputation for good form are often led to indulge in it as a kind of local usage, and even though they may check it in embarrassment, at any rate they have given vent to a sound quite similar.

  [35] εἰ δή τις[p. 307] ὑπῆρχε τοιαύτη πόλις, ὥστε ἀεὶ θρηνούντων ἐν αὐτῇ ἀκούειν καὶ μηδένα δύνασθαι δίχα τῆς δυσφημίας ταύτης προελθεῖν μηδὲ ἐπ᾽ ὀλίγον, πρὸς τοῦ Διὸς ἔστιν ὅστις ἂν ἡδέως ἐπεδήμησεν; καίτοι τὸ μὲν θρηνεῖν, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, ἀτυχίας ἐστὶ σημεῖον, τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον ἀναισχυντίας, ἀσελγείας τῆς ἐσχάτης. οὐκοῦν εἰκὸς ἐν δυστυχέσι μᾶλλον ἀνθρώποις ἐθέλειν διατρίβειν ἢ ἀκολάστοις. ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἑλοίμην ἀκούειν οὐδὲ αὐλούντων διηνεκῶς: ἀλλ᾽ εἴ τις ἔστι τοιοῦτος τόπος, ἐν ᾧ συνεχής ἐστιν ἦχος εἴτε αὐλῶν εἴτε ᾠδῆς εἴτε κιθάρας, οἷον δή φασι τὸν τῶν Σειρήνων εἶναι σκόπελον ἀεὶ μελῳδούμενον, οὐκ ἂν δυναίμην ἐκεῖσε ἐλθὼν διάγειν.

  [35] Now, it there existed any city in which you were continually hearing persons making lament, and in which no one would walk even a short distance without encountering that ill-omened sound, is there anyone, by Zeus, who would like to visit such a place? And yet lamentation, one might say, is a sign of misfortune, whereas sound of which I am speaking is a sign of shamelessness and of extreme licentiousness. Surely it is reasonable that men should prefer to spend their time among those who are unfortunate rather than among those who are licentious. I for my part would not choose to hear even the pipes constantly; nay, if there exists a place in which there is a constant sound of pipes or song or lyres, as indeed they say is the case with the Sirens’ crag, which ever resounds with melody, I could not bring myself to go and live there.

  [36] τὸν δέ γε ἄγριον τοῦτον καὶ χαλεπὸν ἦχον τίς ἂν μέτριος ἄνθρωπος ὑπομείνειεν; ἀλλ᾽ ἐὰν μέν τις οἴκημα παριὼν ἀκούσῃ τοῦ τοιούτου, δῆλον ὅτι φήσει χαμαιτυπεῖον αὐτὸ εἶναι. τὴν δὲ πόλιν τί φήσουσιν, ἐν ᾗ πανταχοῦ σχεδὸν εἷς ἐπικρατεῖ φθόγγος, καὶ οὔτε καιρὸν οὔτε ἡμέραν οὔτε τόπον ἐξαίρετον οὐδένα ποιοῦνται, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν στενωποῖς, ἐν οἰκίαις, ἐν ἀγοραῖς, παρὰ τὸ θέατρον, ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ δυναστεύει τὸ πρᾶγμα; καὶ αὐλοῦντος μὲν ἕωθεν οὐδενὸς ἀκήκοα ἐγὼ μέχρι νῦν ἐν τῇ πόλει, τοῦτο δὲ τὸ θαυμαστὸν μέλος εὐθὺς ἅμα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ κινεῖται.

  [36] But as for that boorish and distressing sound you make, what ordinary mortal could endure it? Why, if a man in passing by a house hears a sound like that, of course he will say it’s a brothel. But what will men say of the city in which almost everywhere just one note prevails, and whose inhabitants make no exception of season or day or place, but, on the contrary, in alley-ways, in private houses, at market, at the theatre, in the gymnasium this snorting is dominant? Besides, while I have never up to the present moment heard anybody play the pipes at sunrise in the city, this amazing tune of yours starts going at break of day.

  [37] καίτοι με οὐ λέληθεν ὅτι ἴσως τινὲς ληρεῖν με νομίζουσι τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐξετάζοντα, καὶ μηδὲν εἶναι παρὰ τοῦτο, μόνον ἂν τὰ λάχανα ἁμάξαις εἰσφέρητε καὶ πολλοὺς ἄρτους θεωρῆτε ἐν τῷ μέσῳ καὶ τὸ τάριχος ᾖ καὶ τὰ κρέα. σκοπούντων δὲ ὅμως αὐτοὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα οὕτως. εἴ τις αὐτῶν παραγένοιτο εἰς πόλιν, ἐν ᾗ πάντες ὅ, τι ἂν δεικνύωσι τῷ μέσῳ δακτύλῳ δεικνύουσι, κἂν δεξιὰν ἐμβάλλῃ τις, οὕτως ἐνέβαλε, κἂν προτείνῃ τὴν χεῖρα οὕτως, κἂν ὁ δῆμος χειροτονῶσι, κἂν οἱ δικασταὶ τὴν ψῆφον φέρωσι, ποίαν τινὰ ἡγήσονται τὴν πόλιν ταύτην; ἐὰν δὲ ἀνασυράμενοι πάντες βαδίζωσιν, ὥσπερ ἐν λ�
�μνῃ;

  [37] However, I am not unaware that some may believe that I am talking nonsense when I inquire into matters such as this, provided only that you continue to bring in your vegetables by the wagon-load and to find bread in abundance for all to buy, and your salt fish and meats as well. But still let them consider the matter for themselves in this way: Supposing one of them came to a city in which everybody always uses his middle finger in pointing to anything, and, if he offers his right hand, offers it in that fashion, and, if he extends his hand for any purpose, either for voting in assembly or in the casting of his ballot as a juryman, extends it so, what sort of place would the newcomer think that city to be? And suppose everybody walked with his clothes pulled up, as if wading in a pool?

  [38] ἆρα ἀγνοεῖτε ὅτι ταῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ τὰ καθ᾽ ὑμῶν ἀφορμὴν δεδωκότα βλασφημίας, ὥστε δημοσίᾳ κατὰ τῆς πόλεως ἔχειν ὅ, τι λέγωσι τοὺς ἀπεχθῶς ὑμῖν διακειμένους; ἀλλὰ πόθεν τὰς κερκίδας ὑμῖν ἐπιβοῶσιν; καίτοι οὔ [p. 308] φασι δεῖν διαφέρειν οὔθ᾽ ὑμῖν οὔτε τοῖς ἄλλοις ὑπὲρ ὧν ἕτεροι λέγουσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ ὧν αὐτοὶ ποιεῖτε. φέρε, ἂν καταλάβῃ τοιοῦτον πάθος δημοσίᾳ τινάς, ὥστε γυναικῶν λαβεῖν φωνὴν ἅπαντας καὶ μηδένα δύνασθαι μήτε νέον μήτε πρεσβύτερον ἀνδριστὶ μηδὲν εἰπεῖν: οὐ δόξει χαλεπὸν εἶναι καὶ παντὸς οἶμαι λοιμοῦ βαρύτερον;οὐ γὰρ τὸ πυρέττειν αἰσχρὸν οὐδὲ τὸ ἀποθῄνσκειν: ὥστε πέμποιεν ἂν εἰς θεοῦ καὶ τὸ δαιμόνιον πολλὰ ἱλάσκοιντο. καίτοι τὸ μὲν γυναικῶν ἀφιέναι φωνὴν ἀνθρώπων ἐστὶ φωνὴν ἀφιέναι,

  [38] Are you not aware that such conduct has provided occasion for slander against you, with the result that those who are ill-disposed toward you are supplied with material wherewith to defame you as a people? Well, how comes it that people shout at you the name Cercopes? And yet men say that it should make no difference either to you or to anybody else what others say, but only what you yourselves do. Well then, supposing certain people should as a community be so afflicted that all the males got female voices and that no male, whether young or old, could say anything man-fashion, would that not seem a grievous experience and harder to bear, I’ll warrant, than any pestilence, and as a result would they not send to the sanctuary of the god and try by many gifts to propitiate the divine power? And yet to speak with female voice is to speak with human voice, and nobody would be vexed at hearing a woman speak.

  [39] καὶ οὐδεὶς ἂν ἀκούων γυναικὸς δυσχεράνειεν. ὁ δὲ τοιοῦτος ἦχος τίνων ἐστίν; οὐχὶ τῶν ἀνδρογύνων; οὐχὶ τῶν τὰ αἰδοῖα ἀποκεκομμένων;οὐδὲ τούτων ἀεὶ καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντας, ἀλλὰ ἴδιον αὐτῶν ὥσπερ ξύμβολον. φέρε δ᾽ εἰ κατεζωσμένοι πάντες ἐβαδίζετε ἢ τυμπανίζοντες, καὶ μηδὲν ὑμῖν ἐδόκει τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι χαλεπόν; εἰ συνέβαινεν ὑμᾶς ὑψηλήν τινα ἔχειν ἄκραν ἢ νὴ Δία ὄρος ὑπερκείμενον, ὥσπερ ἕτεραι πόλεις, ὅπου τις ἀνελθὼν ἕκαστον μὲν σαφῶς ἀκουεινμὴ δύναιτο, τὸν δὲ ξύμπαντα θροῦν, ποῖος ἦχος ὑμῖν ἂν ἀνενεχθῆναι δοκεῖ; ἢ δῆλον ὅτι τοῦ πλείονος ὥσπερ ἐν ἁρμονίᾳ

  [39] But who are they who make that sort of sound? Are they not the creatures of mixed sex? Are they not men who have had their testicles lopped off? Nay, even they do not always make that sound, nor to all persons, but it is reserved for themselves, a sort of password of their own.

  Come, suppose you all were accustomed to walk with clothes girt tight, or playing the tambourine, and that this practice did not seem to you at all vexatious. Suppose you happened to possess a lofty rock, or, by Zeus, an overhanging mountain such as other cities have, and that a man who made the ascent could not hear distinctly individual voices but only the general murmur, what kind of sound do you think would have been borne aloft to him? Would it not, evidently, be the sound made by the majority, prevailing as if by harmony of tone?

  [40] κρατοῦντος; εἰ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἀκοῆς δέοι τεκμαίρεσθαι περὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὥσπερ Ὅμηρός φησι προσιόντα τὸν Ὀδυσσέα τῇ αὑτοῦ οἰκίᾳ μὴ περιμεῖναι θεάσασθαι τοὺς μνηστῆρας ἑστιωμένους,ἀλλ᾽ εὐθὺς εἰπεῖν πρὸς τὸν Εὔμαιον, ὡς αὐτὸν ἡ κιθάρα περιήνεγκε, γιγνώσκειν δὴ ὅτι πολλοὶ ἐν αὐτῇ δαῖτα τίθενται:

  [40] And suppose one had to guess from what was heard who made the sound, as Homer says about Odysseus when he approached his own home, that he did not have to wait to see the suitors at their feast but straightway said to Eumaeus, as the note of the harp smote his ear, that he

  Knew well that many were feasting in his hall;

  and again, when from the island of the Cyclopes he heard both the bleating of sheep and the voices of men (as he would, methinks, if they were pasturing their sheep), that he perceived that it was the country of shepherds —

  [41] καὶ πάλιν ἐκ τῆς νήσου τῶν Κυκλώπων ἀκούοντα τῶν τε προβάτων βληχωμένων καὶ αὐτῶν τῆς φωνῆς, ὡς ἂν οἶμαι νεμόντων, νοεῖνὅτι ποιμένων τινῶν ἐστιν ἡ χώρα, φέρε καὶ ὑμᾶς εἴ τις ἐκ τοῦ φερομένου ἤχου πόρρωθεν εἰκάζοι, οἵους ἂν ἀνθρώπους ὑπολάβοι εἶναι καὶ τί πράττειν; οὐ γὰρ ἱκανοί ἐστε οὔτε βουκολεῖν οὔτε [p. 309] ποιμαίνειν: καὶ πότερον ὑμᾶς Ἀργείων ἀποίκους, ὡς λέγετε, φήσει τις ἢ μᾶλλον ἐκείνων Ἀραδίων; καὶ πότερον Ἕλληνας ἢ Φοινίκων τοὺς ἀσελγεστάτους; ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ ἡγοῦμαι μᾶλλον προσήκειν ἀνδρὶ σώφρονι ἐν τοιαύτῃ πόλει κηρὸν ἐπαλεῖψαι τοῖς ὠσὶν ἢ εἰ τὰς Σειρῆνας παραπλέων ἔτυχεν. ὅπου μὲν γὰρ ὑπῆρχε θανάτου κίνδυνος, ὅπου δὲ ἀσελγείας, ὕβρεως, τῆς ἐσχάτης διαφθορᾶς.

  [41] well then, suppose that a man were to judge you too by the sound that came to him from a distance, what kind of men would he guess you were and what your occupation? For you haven’t the capacity for tending either cattle or sheep! And would any one call you colonists from Argos, as you claim to be, or more likely colonists of those abominable Aradians? Would he call you Greeks, or the most licentious of Phoenicians?

  I believe it is more appropriate for a man of sense to plug his ears with wax in a city like yours than if he chanced to be sailing past the Sirens. For there one faced the risk of death, but here it is licentiousness, insolence, the most extreme corruption that threatens.

  [42] καὶ πρόσεστιν οὐδεμία τέρψις οὐδ᾽ ἱστορία δήπου. πρότερον μὲν οὖν ἡ παραίνεσις τῶν ἀμεινόνων ἐκράτει, νῦν δ᾽, ὡς ἔοικε, τῶν χειρόνων. θαυμάσαι δ᾽ ἄν τις τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ ζηλοῦν αὐτὸ τοὺς πλείους ἐνθάδε καὶ συνηθέστερον ἀεὶ γίγνεσθαι προβαῖνον. ὥσπερ Ἰωνική τις ἐκράτησεν ἁρμονία καὶ Δώριος καὶ
Φρύγιος ἄλλη καὶ Λύδιος: οὕτως νῦν ἡ τῶν Ἀραδίων κρατεῖ μουσική, καὶ τὰ Φοινίκων ὑμῖν κρούματα ἀρέσκει, καὶ τὸν ῥυθμὸν τοῦτον ἐξαιρέτως ἠγαπήκατε, ὥσπερ ἕτεροι τὸν σπονδεῖον:

  [42] And here we find no real enjoyment and no love of learning either, I imagine. At any rate in days gone by it was the counsel of the better citizens that had its way, whereas now, it seems, it is the counsel of the worse. And one might wonder why the majority here in Tarsus follow that baser counsel so eagerly, and why that tendency is constantly growing more general as time goes on. Just as formerly an Ionian mode became dominant in music, and a Dorian, and then a Phrygian also, and a Lydian, so now the Aradian mode is dominant and now it is Phoenician airs that suit your fancy and the Phoenician rhythm that you admire most, just as some others do the spondiac.º

  [43] ἢ καὶ γένος τι πέφηνεν ἀνθρώπων ταῖς ῥισὶν εὔμουσον, ὥσπερ τοὺς κύκνους φασὶ τοῖς πτεροῖς, ἔπειτα τῶν λιγυφώνων τρόπον ὀρνέων τέρπουσιν ἀλλήλους ἔν τε ταῖς ὁδοῖς καὶ παρὰ τὰ ξυμπόσια, μηδὲν δεόμενοι λύρας μηδὲ αὐλῶν — ἀρχαῖα δὴ ταῦτα καὶ σκληρᾶς ἔτι καὶ ἀγροίκου τινὸς μουσικῆς ὄργανα — νῦν δὲ τρόπος ἄλλος ἀνθεῖ, βαρβίτων κρείττων καὶ προσηνέστερος. οὐκοῦν μετὰ χρόνον, καὶ χοροὺς ὑπὸ τῷ μέλει τούτῳ στησόμεθα παίδων καὶ παρθένων ἐπιμελῶς ἐκδιδάξαντες.