Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [54] Because, therefore, he was noted for his display of power and never made a mistake, the people brought before him a person of rugged frame and knitted brows, squalid and in sorry state and with callouses on his hands, wrapped in a sort of coarse, gray mantle, his body shaggy as far as the ankles and his locks wretchedly shingled; and our friend was asked to tell what this man was. But after he had observed the man for a long while, the expert finally, with seeming reluctance to say what was in his mind, professed that he did not understand the case and bade the man move along. But just as the fellow was leaving, he sneezed, whereupon our friend immediately cried out that the man was a catamite.

  [55] εἶτα ἐπ᾽ ἀνθρώπου μὲν ὁ πταρμὸς ἐξήλεγξε τὸν τρόπον καὶ πρὸς τἄλλα πάντα ἴσχυσε τὸ μὴ λαθεῖν: πόλιν δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἕν τι τοιοῦτον διαβάλοι καὶ δόξης ἀναπλήσειε πονηρᾶς, καὶ ταῦθ᾽ ὅπου μὴ δεῖται δεινοῦ τοῦ συνήσοντος τίνος ἐστὶ σημεῖον. ἀλλ᾽ ἔγωγε πυθοίμην ἂν ἡδέως τῶν ἐμπείρων τίνι τοῦτο ἔοικεν ἢ τί βούλεται δηλοῦν. οὔτε γὰρ κλωσμὸς οὔτε ποππυσμὸς οὔτε συριγμός ἐστιν: ἢ τίνος ἐστὶν οἰκεῖον ἔργου καὶ πότε μάλιστα γιγνόμενον: οὔτε γὰρ νέμουσιν οὕτως οὔτε ἀροῦσιν οὔτε κυνηγετοῦσιν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ναυτῶν ἐστιν ἡ φωνή.

  [55] You see, then, that the sneeze revealed the character of a man, and in the face of all his other traits was sufficient to prevent his eluding detection; and might not some such thing subject a city to false accusations and infect it with an evil reputation, and too in a matter requiring no expert to determine what disorder the trait betokens? However, I for my part should like to ask the experts what this snorting resembles or what it means — for it is neither a clucking sound nor a smacking of the lips nor yet an explosive whistling — or to what line of work it is related and when it is most likely to be made; for neither shepherds nor plowmen nor huntsmen employ that sound, nor does it belong to sailors.

  [56] πότερον οὖν ἀσπαζομένων ἀλλήλους ἢ καλούντων ἢ φιλοφρονουμένων; ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ ὑμέναιος ἴδιόν τι μέλος ἐστὶν ἀρχαῖον ἐπὶ τῶν γαμούντων, οὕτως καινὸς οὗτος εὕρηται ῥυθμὸς ἄλλης τινὸς ἑορτῆς. ἀλλ᾽ ἀπελεύσεσθε ἀγανακτοῦντες καὶ λεληρηκέναι με φάσκοντες, εἰ τοσούτους λόγους μάτην διεθέμην καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν τῶν χρησίμων. μηδεμίαν γὰρ ἐκ τούτου βλάβην ἀπαντᾶν μηδὲ χεῖρον οἰκεῖσθαι

  [56] Is it, then, a sound made by men when they greet one another or call to one another or display affection? On the contrary, just as the hymeneal is a special song of early origin and used at weddings, so this must be a rhythm of recent origin, no doubt, and used at a different kind of festival.

  However, you will depart in high dudgeon, declaring that I have talked nonsense, if I have uttered so many words in vain and to no useful purpose. For you will assert that no harm is encountered in consequence of this snorting and that the city is none the worse in its administration because of it.

  [57] τὴν πόλιν. παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ἕλλησι πρότερον δεινὸν ἐδόκει τὸ μετακινεῖν τὴν μουσικήν, καὶ κατεβόων πάντες τῶν ῥυθμὸν εἰσαγόντων ἕτερον καὶ τὰ μέλη ποικιλώτερα ποιούντων, ὡς διαφθειρομένης ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις τῆς Ἑλλάδος. οὕτω σφόδρα τὰ ὦτα ἐφύλαττον καὶ τηλικαύτην ἡγοῦντο δύναμιν τὴν ἀκοὴν ἔχειν, ὥστε θηλύνειν τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ ἀδικεῖσθαι τὰ τῆς σωφροσύνης, εἰ παρὰ μικρὸν ἐνδοίη τὰ τῆς ἁρμονίας. τοιγαροῦν φασι Λακεδαιμονίους, ἐπειδὴ Τιμόθεος ἧκε παρ᾽ αὐτοὺς, λαμπρὸς ὢν ἤδη καὶ δυναστεύων ἐν τῇ μουσικῇ, τήν τε κιθάραν αὐτὸν ἀφελέσθαι καὶ τῶν χορδῶν τὰς περιττὰς ἐκτεμεῖν. καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἄνδρες Ταρσεῖς, μιμήσασθε τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, ἐκτέμετε τὸν περιττὸν φθόγγον.

  [57] But among the Greeks in times gone by it used to be regarded as an awful thing to tamper with the art of music, and they all cried out against those who tried to introduce a different rhythm or to complicate the melody, holding that Greece was being corrupted in the theatre. So carefully did they safeguard their ears; and they attributed to what was heard such power as to effeminate the mind and violate the virtue of self-control if the principles of harmony should give way ever so little. For instance, they say that the Spartans, on an occasion when Timotheus was visiting their city, he being already an artist of distinction and an authority in music, not only took away from him his lyre but even cut out the superfluous strings. Do you likewise, men of Tarsus, in imitation of the Spartans, cut out the superfluous sound.

  [58] ὁ παλαιὸς μῦθός φησι τὴν Κίρκην μεταβάλλειν τοῖς φαρμάκοις, ὥστε σῦς καὶ λύκους ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γίγνεσθαι: καὶ ταῦτα ἀπιστοῦμεν Ὁμήρου λέγοντος, [p. 314]

  οἱ δὲ συῶν μὲν ἔχον κεφαλὰς φωνήν τε τρίχας τε

  καὶ δέμας.

  ἀλλ᾽ ἐκείνοις μὲν τὸν νοῦν μένειν φησὶν ἔμπεδον, τούτων δὲ ὁ

  [58] The ancient story relates that Circê worked transformations by means of her drugs, so that swine and wolves were produced from men; and we are incredulous when Homer says:

  Both heads and voice and hair of swine had they,

  And e’en the shape.

  [59] νοῦς πρῶτος ἀπόλωλε καὶ διέφθαρται. καὶ μὴν οὐχ οὕτω δεινόν ἐστιν, εἰ ἄνθρωποι μεταξὺ προβάτων φωνὴν λάβοιεν οὐδ᾽ εἰ βοῶν,οὐδ᾽ ἂν χρεμετίζωσιν οὐδ᾽ ἂν ὑλακτῶσιν, ὥσπερ τὴν Ἑκάβην οἱ ποιηταὶ λέγουσιν ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς δεινοῖς τελευταῖον ποιῆσαι τὰς Ἐρινύας

  χαροπὰν κύνα:

  χάλκεον δέ οἱ γνάθων ἐκ πολιᾶν φθεγγομένας

  ὑπάκουε μὲν Ἴδα Τένεδός τε περιρρύτα

  Θρηίκιοί τε φιλήνεμοι γύαι.

  [59] Their minds, however, remained steadfast, he says, whereas the mind of the men of Tarsus has been the very first thing to be ruined and utterly corrupted. And really it is not so terrible that human beings should for a time take on the voice of sheep or kine or that they should neigh or howl — as indeed the poets say of Hecuba, that, as a climax to all her terrible misfortunes, the Furies made her

  Like to a hound with flashing eyes; and when

  She poured her brazen cry from hoary jaws,

  Ida gave ear and sea-girt Tenedos

  And all the wind-swept crags of Thrace.

  [60] οὐχ οὕτω φημὶ τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι τὸ τέρας δεινὸν οὐδ᾽ ἀποτρόπαιον, ὡς ὅταν ἀνήρ τις ὢν καὶ τὸν χαρακτῆρα ἔχων τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν φωνὴν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ τὰ σημεῖα τῆς φύσεως μὴ δυνάμενος ἀνελεῖν,μηδ᾽ ἂν ἅπαντα ποιῇ περιστέλλων, καθάπερ φώρια κλέπτης, ὑπ᾽ Ἐρινύων τινῶν τυπτόμ�
�νος καὶ διαστρεφόμενος καὶ πάντα τρόπον διακλώμενος πάντα βούληται ποιεῖν καὶ μηδὲν ὡς πέφυκε: κἄπειτα Πρωτέως τινὸς δίκην ἀλλάττων καὶ μετατιθεὶς αὑτὸν ἐξεύρῃ φωνὴν ἀφιέναι μήτε ἀνδρὸς μήτε γυναικὸς μήτε ἄλλου τινὸς ζῴουμιαρὰν καὶ ἀνδρόγυνον μιμούμενος μηδὲ χαμαιτύπην αὐτὸ τοῦτο χαμαιτυποῦσαν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τοῦ αἰσχίστου ἔργου καὶ τῆς ἀσελγεστάτης πράξεως ὥσπερ ἂν φθεγγόμενος, καὶ ταῦτα μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν ἐκφανοῦς ὄντος ἡλίου πολλῶν παρόντων. οὐχ οὕτω δεινὸν ἦν τὸ τὰς βύρσας τῶν βοῶν ἕρπειν οὐδὲ τὸ μυκᾶσθαι τὰ κρέα.

  [60] Not so terrible, in my opinion, nor so abominable was that portent as when someone who is a male and retains a male’s distinctive marks and his proper speech — being incapable of erasing also the marks of Nature, even though he makes every effort to hide them from the world, just as the thief hides stolen goods — being smitten by Furies and perverted and in every way made effeminate, is ready to do anything at all, but nothing in accord with his own nature. And then, ‘some Proteus like,’ in the course of his changes and bodily transformations he discovers how to emit a sound belonging to neither man nor woman nor to any other creature, not even patterning after a harlot in the practice of her calling but rather, it would seem, producing such a sound as he would make if engaged in the most shameful action, the most licentious conduct, and, what is more, in the light of day, under the rays of the sun, and in the presence of many.

  [61] ποῖος οὖν Ὅμηρος ἢ τίς Ἀρχίλοχος ἰσχύει τὰ κακὰ ταῦτα ἐξᾷσαι; δοκεῖ γὰρ ἔμοιγε νὴ τὸν Ἡρακλέα γενναίου τινὸς καὶ τραγικοῦ [p. 315] δεῖσθαι ποιητοῦ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅστις δυνήσεται κατασχεῖν καὶ ἀνακόψαι τοσαύτην φοράν:

  [61] Not so terrible a portent was it when the hides of cattle crawled and their flesh bellowed.

  What Homer, then, or what Archilochus has the power to exorcize these evil doings? For it seems to me, by Heracles, that a noble and tragic kind of poet is needed by the conduct of these men, one who will be able to check and repel so mighty a surge of evil; since what is taking place already is like a madness that is disgraceful and unseemly.

  [62] ὡς ἤδη μανίᾳ τὸ γιγνόμενον ἔοικεν αἰσχρᾷ καὶ ἀπρεπεῖ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ νόσημα τῆς ἀπρεπείας καὶ ἀναισχυντίας κύκλῳ περιιὸν ὑμᾶς ἐπὶ πάντα ἄγει τὸ λοιπὸν καὶ ἔργα καὶ φωνὰς καὶ σχήματα καὶ παντὸς ἅπτεται καὶ καθικνεῖται μέρους, ποδῶν, χειρῶν, ὀμμάτων, γλώττης. οὔκουν ἡμῶν ὄφελος οὐδὲν οὐδὲ τῆς ἀνειμένης ταύτης καὶ ἀσθενοῦς παραμυθίας, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον Στέντορός τινος χρεία φθεγγομένου χάλκεον ἢ σιδήρεον, ὃς ἐμοῦ βοήσεται μεῖζον καὶ σαφέστερον. ὁρᾶτε γὰρ οἷ πρόεισιν.

  [62] And this plague of impropriety and shamelessness, as it goes on its rounds among you, is already leading to every sort of deed and cry and posture, and attacking and invading every portion of your bodies — feet, hands, eyes, and tongue. Therefore, I can do no good at all, nor can this easy-going, feeble exhortation to which you have listened; no, a Stentor is required with throat of bronze or iron, who will be able to shout more loudly and more clearly than I can. For consider the progress of the malady.

  [63] γενείων τὸ πρῶτον εὑρέθη κουρά, καὶ τοῦτο ἐδόκει μέτριον, τὸ μὴ σφόδρα καθεικέναι, μηδ᾽ ἐπὶ πλέον, ἀλλὰ πρᾴως ἐπανορθοῦν τὴν φύσιν. οὐκοῦν ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐδόκει πολλοῖς ἐπιδέξιος. εἶτα ἐξύρων μέχρι τῶν παρειῶν: οὐδὲ τοῦτό πω δεινόν: ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως ὁ κωμικὸς καὶ τοῦτον ἐκέλευσε κατακάειν

  ἐπὶ φαλήτων συκίνων ἑκκαίδεκα.

  πλὴν εἶχον εὐειδῆ τὰ πρόσωπα καὶ παιδικὰ παρ᾽ ἡλικίαν τῆς λάχνης ταύτης ἀπηλλαγμένα, εἶτα, τοῦτο λοιπὸν ἔτι, τὰ σκέλη καὶ τὸ στέρνον, ἵνα καὶ τἄλλα ὅμοιοι παισὶν ὦμεν. εἶτα μέχρι τῶν βραχιόνων, εἶτα ἐπὶ τὰ αἰδοῖα μεταβάν, ᾗ καὶ τὸ ἡβᾶν δοκεῖ περιττόν, σκώπτεται δὴ καὶ καταγελᾶται παρὰ τοῖς σοφοῖς καὶ νέοις ἡ τῆς φύσεως τέχνη, καθάπερ ἀρχαία τις οὖσα καὶ σφόδρα εὐήθης,

  [63] The first innovation consisted in trimming the beard; and this was looked upon as moderate enough, merely not to let it grow too long, and nothing more, but just to make a slight improvement upon Nature. Well then, the man so trimmed was thought by many to look smart. The next step was to shave as far as the cheeks; and even that was nothing terrible; and yet the comic poet did bid that even such a man be burned

  Upon a heap of sixteen fig-wood phalluses.

  However, they did have faces that were comely and boyish beyond their years when rid of that down. Next — since this was still to try — they shaved the legs and chest, to insure that in all other respects as well they might resemble boys. Then they progressed as far as the arms; then shifted to the genitals, where evidence of youthful vigour is indeed superfluous. Thus ridicule and scorn are being showered by the clever younger set upon the artistry of Nature as being something out of date and extremely foolish, seeing that she has attached to the body things that are useless and superfluous.

  [64] ἀχρεῖα καὶ περιττὰ προσθεῖσα τῷ σώματι. τί γὰρ ὑμῖν ὀνύχων ἔδει, τί δὲ τριχῶν; ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ χειρῶν ἴσως οὐδὲ ποδῶν. αἰδοῖα μόνον ὑμᾶς ἔδει ποιῆσαι καὶ γαστέρας καὶ τροφὴν παραθεῖναι καὶ τἄλλα, ὧν ἔστιν ἀπολαύειν. τοιγαροῦν αὐτοὶ περικόπτομεν ἑαυτούς, καὶ τὰ μὲν γένεια καὶ τὴν ἥβην ἀφαιροῦμεν, ἃ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἴδιά ἐστιν: εἰ [p. 316] δὲ ἦν δυνατὸν παρὰ τῶν γυναικῶν προσλαβεῖν τὰ ἕτερα, δῆλον ὅτι παντελῶς τότ᾽ ἂν ἦμεν εὐδαίμονες, οὐ καθάπερ νῦν ἐνδεεῖς ὄντες, ἀλλ᾽ ὁλόκληροί τινες καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ἀνδρόγυνοι.

  [64] For instance, what need had you of nails and hair? No, not even of hands, perhaps, or feet. All that Nature had to do for you was to create genitals and bellies and to supply food and the other things from which one may derive enjoyment. That is why we trim ourselves and remove from our chins and private parts the hair which is distinctive of the full-grown male. And, if it were possible to borrow from the female certain other attributes, clearly then we should be supremely happy, not defective as at present, but whole beings and natural — epicenes!

  THE THIRTY-FOURTH, OR SECOND TARSIC, DISCOURSE

  ΤΑΡΣΙΚΟΣ ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΣ.

  THE THIRTY-FOURTH, OR SECOND TARSIC, DISCOURSE

  This Discourse, like the one preceding, was evidently delivered before a public gathering of the citizens of Tarsus. Which of the two was the earlier we have no means of knowing. Both seem to belong to Dio’s later years. Yet the tone of each is so distinct as to proclaim two separate visits. In the one the speaker h
as much to say regarding the decadence of the times, but he still feels at liberty to treat that theme in lighter vein, laughing both at and with his audience and interlarding his remarks with quotations from the ancient poets and with literary criticism, and in general showing himself quite at ease, as indeed would befit one who spoke on invitation. In the other there seems to be no question of an invitation: Dio comes as a messenger from God in time of need. He gives not a single line of verse, and his only reference to classic times consists in the citation of Sparta and Athens as horrible examples of the fate reserved for arrogance and selfishness. The few touches of humour only serve to emphasize the speaker’s earnestness.

  Thus the two speeches serve to complement each other and to reveal a proud city of ancient origin, thoroughly alive, though suffering from the natural results of too great prosperity. Despite the oriental element in the population, Tarsus could be relied upon to understand allusions to Greek poetry and myth and history, and the gymnasium and the sports connected with it might well explain Paul’s fondness for athletic phrase and imagery.

  [1] οὐκ ἀγνοῶ μέν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ταρσεῖς, ὅτι νομίζεται καὶ παρ᾽ ὑμῖν καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοὺς πολίτας παριέναι καὶ συμβουλεύειν,οὐ τοὺς τυχόντας, ἀλλὰ τοὺς γνωρίμους καὶ τοὺς πλουσίους, ἔτι δὲ τοὺς καλῶς λελειτουργηκότας. οὐ γὰρ εὔλογον ἴσως τῆς μὲν οὐσίας τῆς τῶν πλουσίων μετέχειν ὑμᾶς τὸ μέρος, τῆς δὲ διανοίας μὴ ἀπολαύειν, ὁποία ποτ᾽ ἂν ᾖ. καίτοι κιθαρῳδῶν γε ὁπόταν ἀκούειν ἐθελήσητε ἢ αὐλητῶν ἢ ἀθλητὰς θεωρεῖν, οὐ καλεῖτετοὺς πλουσίους οὐδὲ τοὺς πολίτας, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐπισταμένους καὶ δυναμένους, οὐχ ὑμεῖς μόνον, ἀλλὰ πάντες οἱ τοιοῦτοι.