Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  THE FIFTY-EIGHTH DISCOURSE: ACHILLES

  ΑΧΙΛΛΕΥΣ.

  THE FIFTY-EIGHTH DISCOURSE: ACHILLES

  This lively little sketch, whose spirit resembles strongly that of many of the dialogues of Lucian, is regarded by Arnim as a paraphrase of some dramatic composition, either a satyr play or some Cynic tragedy. The space devoted to a discussion of the relative merits of hoplite and archer reminds him of a similar discussion in the Heracles of Euripides (157-164 and 188-203), a play supposed to have been composed about the year 420 B.C., and he therefore suspects Dio’s original to have come from about that period, a period when, for some unknown reason, that topic was of live interest at Athens. Sophocles wrote a satyr play called Achilles’ Lovers, which might have been the play here used by Dio.

  The tradition according to which Cheiron the Centaur was tutor to Achilles is as old as Homer (Il. 11.830-832). According to Apollodorus, Bibliotheca ..-, Thetis, detected by Peleus in the act of making Achilles immortal by passing him through the fire, abandoned her baby and her home and rejoined the Nereids. Thereupon Peleus entrusted the babe to Cheiron. But when Achilles was nine years of age, Thetis, having heard of the prophecy of Calchas, that Troy could not be taken without the aid of Achilles, and knowing that if he took part in the expedition he would meet his death, took him and dressed him as a girl and placed him in the care of Lycomedes on the island of Scyros. We must, therefore, suppose the lad to be not older than nine at the time of our Discourse.

  [1] Ὁ Ἀχιλλεὺς τὸν Χείρωνα ἤρετο, Τί μ̓, ἔφη, τοξεύειν διδάσκεις; Ὅτι, ἔφη, καὶ τοῦτο τῶν πολεμικῶν ἐστιν. Δειλῶν, ἔφη, τὸ ἔργον ἐπὶ δειλούς. Πῶς; ἔφη. Ὅ γε οὐκ ἐᾷ τὸν πολέμιον ἐγγὺς προσελθεῖν. Ὅ γε οὐκ ἐᾷ τὸν πολέμιον μακρὰν ἀπελθεῖν. Φευγόντων τὸ ὅπλον. Οὔκ, ἀλλ̓ ἐπὶ τοὺς φεύγοντας. Αὐτὸν δεῖ τοὺς φεύγοντας αἱρεῖν. Βράδιον ἢ τάχιον; Ὡς οἷόν τε τάχιστα. Πότερον οὖν τρέχων τις αἱροῖ ἂν θᾶττον ἢ πετόμενος; Μὴ οὖν αὐτός γε αἱρεῖ; Τίς μήν; Τὸ βέλος. Ἐὰν δὲ ἀκοντίσῃς, τίς αἱρεῖ; Οὐκ οἶδα.

  The Fifty-eighth Discourse: Achilles

  Achilles questioned Cheiron and said, “Why are you teaching me to use the bow?” “Because,” said he, “this too is one of the warlike accomplishments.” “The accomplishment of cowards,” retorted Achilles, “directed against cowards!” “How so?” returned Cheiron. “It does not allow the foe to come near,” said Achilles. “It does not allow the foe to get far away,” replied Cheiron. “The weapon belongs to men who flee.” “Nay; instead it is directed at men who flee.” “With his own hands a man should overpower those who flee.” “More slowly or more quickly?” “As quickly as possible.” “Then,” said Cheiron, “could a man overpower more quickly by running or by flying?” “You don’t mean overpower with his own hands, do you?” “Who does it then?” “The missile.”

  [2] Ἀλλὰ πότε αὐτὸς αἱρεῖς καὶ ἀποκτείνεις; ὅταν διασπάσῃς λαβών, [p. 130] ὥσπερ τὰ θηρία; ἦπου, ἔφη, ἀνδρειοτέρας ἡγῇ τὰς γυναῖκας, ὅτι ἐγγύτατα μάχονται ἐπιπεσοῦσαι ἀλλήλαις; ὁ δὲ Ἀχιλλεὺς ταῦτα ἀκούων ἅμα θυμοῦ καὶ δακρύων ἐνεπίμπλατο καὶ τὸν Χείρωνα ἐλοιδόρει καὶ οὐκ ἔφη παῤ αὐτῷ μενεῖν, ἀλλ̓ εἰς Φθίαν ἀπιέναι παρὰ τὸν πατέρα καὶ παῤ ἐκείνῳ παιδεύσεσθαι: πολὺ γὰρ κρείττονα εἶναι τὸν Πηλέα τοῦ Χείρωνος καὶ οὐκ εἶναι σοφιστήν, ὥσπερ ὁ Χείρων. ἦν δὲ ἔτι παῖς ὁ Ἀχιλλεὺς οὐδέπω ἡβάσκων.

  [2] “But if you hurl a javelin,” said Cheiron, “who overpowers?” “I don’t know.” “Well, when do you yourself overpower and slay? When you lay hold of your victim and tear him to pieces, as wild beasts do? Do you perhaps,” said Cheiron, “regard the women as more manly, because they fight at very close quarters, hurling themselves at each other?” But Achilles, as he heard these words, was filled at one and the same time with rage and tears, and he abused Cheiron and said he was not going to stay with him any longer, but was going back to his father in Phthia to be educated at his court; for Peleus, he claimed, was much better than Cheiron and not a sophist like Cheiron. Now Achilles was then still a lad, not yet nearing the age of puberty.

  [3] Πῶς οὖν, ἔφη, κρείττων ὢν οὐκ αὐτὸς παιδεύει σε; Ὅτι, ἔφη, οὐ σχολὴ αὐτῷ. Ὑπὸ τοῦ; Ὑπὸ τῆς βασιλείας. Διαφέρει οὖν τι βασιλεύειν ἢ παιδεύειν; Πολὺ γε. σὺ δέ μοι δίδως κέρας τι καὶ νεῦρον καὶ μικρὰ σιδήρια ἐπὶ λεπτοῖς δονακίοις, ὥσπερ ὄρνιθας θηρεύσειν μέλλοντι, οὐκ ἀνδράσιν οὐδὲ θηρίοις μαχεῖσθαι. γνοίη δ̓ ἄν τις τὴν ἀθλιότητα ὅσα τὰ ὅπλα, εἴ ποτε ἐγγὺς γένοιτο καὶ ἀναγκασθείη αὐτοῖς ἐκ χειρὸς μάχεσθαι. ἀλλὰ δεῖ δραπετεύοντα μάχεσθαι, φοβούμενον καὶ φυλαττόμενον ὅπως μηδὲ ὀφθήσεται, ὥσπερ κακὸν ἀνδράποδον: ὅς γε οὐδὲ ἀποκτείνας σκυλεύσαι ἂν οὐδὲ ὀφθήσεταί ποτε ᾑμαγμένος ἀπ̓ ἀνδρὸς ἐχθροῦ. τοιαῦτα διδάσκεις με, τοξεύειν καὶ κιθαρίζειν: πρῴην δέ ποτε καὶ ῥίζας ὀρύττειν, ὥσπερ αἱ φαρμακίδες.

  [3] “Why then,” said Cheiron, “if he is better than I am, does he not educate you himself?” “Because,” retorted Achilles, “he has no time for it.” “Because of what?” “Because of his kingship.” “Is being king, then, in any way more important than being a teacher?” “Much! But you — you offer me a bit of horn, a piece of sinew, and some tiny bits of iron attached to slender little reeds, as if I were going to hunt birds instead of giving battle to heroes or wild beasts. But any one would find out how wretched the weapons are if ever he came to close quarters and had to use them in hand-to-hand conflict. Nay, with them a man must fight as he runs away, in constant terror, guarding against even being seen, like a cowardly slave; indeed, even if one should make a kill, he could not despoil his victim of his armour, nor will he ever be seen bespattered with his foeman’s blood. That is the sort of stuff you are trying to teach me — how to use the bow and to strum the lyre; yes, and only the other day even to grub roots, as the witches do!”

  [4] Οὐδὲ τὸ ἱππεύειν ἀρέσκει σε; ἐπήρετο αὐτὸν ὁ Χείρων. Οὐδὲ σύ, ἔφη, ἀρέσκεις με τοιοῦτος ὤν. δοκεῖς γάρ μοι ἑτοιμότερος εἶναι φεύγειν ἢ μένειν. καὶ ὁ Χείρων ὀργισθεὶς αὐτῷ καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς φρίξας τὴν χαίτην, καὶ ὑποβλέψας δεινόν, ὥσπερ ἀστραπή, μόλις δὲ ἀπεχόμενος τοῦ μὴ παῖσαι αὐτόν, ὅτι

  [4] “Don’t you like riding a horse either?” Cheiron asked him. “No, and I don’t like you either,” said he, “horsey creature that you are! For you seem to me to be better equipped for running away than for standing your ground.” And Cheiron, flying into a rage at him, his mane bristling with anger, darting a terrible glance of menace like a flash of lightning, but with difficulty refraining from striking him, for he was disposed to be fond of him, cried out,

  [5] διενοεῖτο ἐρᾶν αὐτοῦ, Ὦ κακόν, ἔφη, γέννημα καὶ θρασὺ μητρὸς θαλ�
�σσίας, ἥ σε κακῶς διέφθειρε φυσῶσα ἐπὶ τῷ γένει: πολύ γε μὴν κάκιον ταύτης ὁ πατὴρ διηγούμενος ὡς ὕμνησαν αὐτοῦ τὸν γάμον οἱ θεοί: σοὶ δὲ οὔτε θαλάττης οὔτε οὐρανοῦ προσήκει οὐδέν. φημὶ δέ σε ἐγὼ πολεμικὸν μὲν οὐδέποτε ἔσεσθαι, δόξειν δὲ τοῖς [p. 131] ἀνοήτοις, οὐδὲ ἡγήσεσθαι οὐδέποτε, ὅπου ἂν πολεμῇς, καίτοι Θέτιδος ὄντα καὶ Πηλέως. διὰ μέντοι τὸ θράσος καὶ τὸ τάχος καὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν κολακεύοντές σε φήσουσι φέρτατον ἀνδρῶν. ὅμως δὲ ὑπὸ ἄλλων ἀξιώσουσι βασιλεύεσθαι, σὲ δὲ μάχεσθαι καὶ κινδυνεύειν ὑπὲρ αὑτῶν ἀναγκάσουσι δώροις τε καὶ ἐπαίνοις ματαίοις,

  [5] “You bad, bold brat of a briny mother, who has spoiled you vilely, puffing you up with pride of birth! yes, and your father has spoiled you still more than she has, with his tale of how the gods sang at his wedding; but the fact is, you have no connexion with either sea or sky! But let me tell you, a warrior you will never be, though you will have that reputation with the unthinking, nor even a leader of men, no matter where you may engage in warfare, for all that you are the son of Peleus and Thetis. Yet because of your audacity and fleetness of foot and physical strength men in flattery will call you most valiant of men. However, they will prefer to be ruled by other princes, while as for you, they will compel you by gifts and empty praises to do battle and risk your life for them until you finally meet your death.

  [6] ἕως ἂν ἀποθάνῃς. οἶμαι δέ σε μηδὲ τῶν νεκρῶν ἀφέξεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτους ἂν κεντεῖν τε καὶ ἕλκειν, ὡς δή τι μέγα διαπραττόμενον: ὥσπερ τὰ παιδάρια τὰ νήπια ὅ,τι ἂν ἀποκτείνωσιν ἕλκουσι κύκλῳ. τοιοῦτος δὲ ὢν ἀποθανῇ ὑπ̓ οὐδενὸς τῶν γενναίων, ὡς σὺ οἴει: ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν σαυτῷ ὁμοίους, τοὺς ἀνδρείους καὶ ἀνοήτους, ἀποκτενεῖς ῥᾳδίως: ὑπὸ δὲ ἀνδρὸς φρονίμου καὶ πολεμικοῦ ἀποθανῇ, οὐδὲ ἰδὼν αὐτόν.

  [6] But I fancy you will not even keep your hands off the dead; on the contrary, you will even stab the corpses and trail them in the dust, as if, in sooth, you were doing something grand, just as foolish youngsters drag round and round whatever they kill. But for all your arrogance, you will meet your death, not at the hands of some man of nobility, as you imagine; on the contrary, while you will find it easy to slay those who are like you, brave but stupid, you will be slain by a man of sagacity and military science, and, what is more, without ever having seen him.”

  THE FIFTY-NINTH DISCOURSE: PHILOCTETES

  ΦΙΛΟΚΤΗΤΗΣ

  THE FIFTY-NINTH DISCOURSE: PHILOCTETES

  This Discourse, as possibly also the one preceding, paraphrases a drama, the prologue of Euripides’ Philoctetes. Dio has furnished a synopsis of practically the same material in Or. 52, by comparison with which we are enabled to identify the original drama. The synopsis, however, contains two details not found in the paraphrase, namely, that Diomedes arrived in company with Odysseus (§ 14) and the nature of the chorus and its behaviour toward Philoctetes. Arnim believes that these omissions, and the abortive reference to the Trojan mission, indicate either that Dio failed to complete our Discourse or else that his editor, for some unknown reason, chose to eliminate certain portions of the work.

  Such a conclusion seems not inevitable. As Lemarchand observes (Dion de Pruse, ), Dio himself, when recommending that the student of oratory should memorize for recitation speeches from Xenophon, prescribes that he should not make a slavish copy of the original but that he should rather select such passages as seemed most pertinent (Or. 18.19). Whether our Discourse be viewed as a school exercise or as intended for Dio’s own delivery, it has undeniable unity as it stands. The rôle of Diomedes was undoubtedly minor. As handled by Euripides, after his initial entry with Odysseus Diomedes may well have temporarily withdrawn, leaving his companion to deliver the soliloquy with which our paraphrase begins. Furthermore the dialogue between Odysseus and Philoctetes took place prior to the entry of the chorus, as is obviously true of the entry of the Trojan envoys. Indeed, the concluding words of Philoctetes give the impression that at this point in the play both he and Odysseus went indoors, thus paving the way for the entry of the chorus.

  Though unpretentious in style and marked by frequent hiatus, our paraphrase is so like Greek tragedy in spirit that more than one have been tempted to try to recover from Dio’s version the original lines of Euripides. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., , prints six such lines, which, with very little change, have been recreated with some degree of probability. These six lines are given below, preceded in each instance by the prose wording from which they were evolved:

  1. (§ 6):

  πολλὴν ἔοικας φράζειν ἀλογίαν τῆς δεῦρο ὁδοῦ

  πολλὴν γ’ ἔοικας ἀλογίαν φράζειν ὁδοῦ.

  2. (§ 7):

  πόθεν δή; τοῦτο γὰρ πρῶτον εἰκός με εἰδέναι.

  πόθεν δέ; πρῶτον γὰρ τοδ’ εἰδέναι θέλω.

  3. ibid.:

  πόθεν; εἰπὲ πάλιν, ὡς εἰδῶ σαφέστερον.

  πόθεν; λεγ’ αὗθις, ἵνα μάθω σαφέστερον.

  4. ibid.:

  οὐ δυνατόν, εἴπερ Ἕλλην ὢν τυγχάνεις, τὸ μὴ ἀπολωλέναι σε ἐν τῇδε τῇ ἡμέρᾳ.

  οὐ δυνατόν, εἴπερ τυγχάνεις Ἕλλην γεγώς,

  τὸ μὴ οὐκ ὀλωλέναι σε τῇδ’ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ.

  5. (§ 8):

  πότερον ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ μάχῃ κρατήσας ἢ μετὰ δόλου τινός;

  μάχῃ κρατήσας ἢ δόλου τινός μετά;

  By good fortune, four of the seventeen fragments of the play now extant find their parallel in Dio’s version and will be reported in the notes, each in its appropriate place.

  [1] （Ὀδυσσεύς）. Φοβοῦμαι μήποτε μάτην κατ̓ ἐμοῦ φανῶσι ταύτην οἱ σύμμαχοι τὴν δόξαν εἰληφότες ὡς ἀρίστου δὴ καὶ σοφωτάτου τῶν Ἑλλήνων. καίτοι ποία τις ἡ τοιαύτη σοφία καὶ φρόνησις, δἰ ἥν τις ἀναγκάζεται πλείω τῶν ἄλλων πονεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς σωτηρίας καὶ νίκης, ἐξὸν ἕνα τοῦ πλήθους δοκοῦντα μηδενὸς ἔλαττον ἐν τούτοις ἔχειν τῶν ἀρίστων; ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἴσως χαλεπὸν εὑρεῖν οὕτω μεγαλόφρον καὶ φιλότιμον ὁτιοῦν ὡς ἀνὴρ πέφυκεν. τοὺς γὰρ φανεροὺς καὶ πλειόνων ἅπτεσθαι τολμῶντας σχεδὸν τούτους

  The Fifty-ninth Discourse: Philoctetes

  Odysseus. I fear ‘twill prove that my allies were rash when they conceived of me the thought that I, in sooth, am best and wisest of the Greeks. And yet what kind of wisdom and prudence may this be which makes a man to toil beyond the others to gain the salvation and the victory of the group, seeing that, were he deemed to be but one among the throng, ‘twere his to share these blessings with the best? Ah well, no doubt ’tis difficult to find a thing so proud, so jealous of honour, as man is born to be. For ’tis the prominent, those who dare to undertake more labours than the rest, I dare say, whom we all do view with wonder and regard as truly men.

  [2] ἅπαντες θα
υμάζομεν καὶ τῷ ὄντι ἄνδρας ἡγούμεθα. ὑφ̓ ἧς φιλοτιμίας κἀγὼ προάγομαι πλεῖστα πράγματα ἔχειν καὶ ζῆν ἐπιπόνως παῤ ὁντινοῦν, ἀεί τινα ποοσδεχόμενος καινὸν κίνδυνον, ὀκνῶν διαφθεῖραι τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν γεγονόσιν εὔκλειαν. νῦν οὖν κατὰ πρᾶξιν πάνυ ἐπισφαλῆ καὶ χαλεπὴν δεῦρο ἐλήλυθα εἰς Λῆμνον, ὅπως Φιλοκτήτην καὶ τὰ Ἡρακλέους τόξα κομίζοιμι τοῖς συμμάχοις. ὁ γὰρ δὴ μαντικώτατος Φρυγῶν Ἕλενος ὁ Πριάμου [p. 132] κατεμήνυσεν, ὡς ἔτυχεν αἰχμάλωτος ληφθείς, ἄνευ τούτων μήποτ̓

  [2] This thirst for glory is what leads even me to bear unnumbered woes and live a life of toil beyond all other men, accepting ever fresh peril, fearing to mar the glory won by earlier achievements. So now a task most hazardous and hard brings me to Lemnos here, that Philoctetes and the bow of Heracles I may bear off for my allies. For the one most gifted in prophecy of all the Phrygians, Helenus Priam’s son, when by good fortune taken captive, disclosed that without these the city never could be seized.

  [3] ἂν ἁλῶναι τὴν πόλιν. πρὸς μὲν δὴ τοὺς βασιλέας οὐχ ὡμολόγησα τὴν πρᾶξιν, ἐπιστάμενος τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἔχθραν, ᾧ γε αὐτὸς αἴτιος ἐγενόμην καταλειφθῆναι, ὅτε δηχθεὶς ἔτυχεν ὑπὸ χαλεπῆς καὶ ἀνιάτου ἐχίδνης. οὐκ ἂν οὖν ᾤμην οὐδὲ πειθὼ τοιαύτην ἐξευρεῖν, ὑφ̓ ἧς ἄν ποτε ἐκεῖνος ἐμοὶ πρᾴως ἔσχεν: ἀλλ̓ εὐθὺς ἀποθανεῖσθαι ᾤμην ὑπ̓ αὐτοῦ. ὕστερον δέ, τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς μοι παρακελευσαμένης καθ̓ ὕπνους, ὥσπερ εἴωθε, θαρροῦντα ἐπὶ τὸν ἄνδρα ἰέναι: αὐτὴ γὰρ ἀλλάξειν μου τὸ εἶδος καὶ τὴν φωνήν, ὥστε λαθεῖν