Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom

by Dio Chrysostom

  [10] προσήκει. μακάριον γὰρ ἂν ἦν, εἰ καθάπερ παῖδα καὶ μειράκιον καὶ νεανίσκον καὶ πρεσβύτην χρόνος ποιεῖ, καὶ φρόνιμον οὕτως ἐποίει καὶ δίκαιον καὶ πιστόν. καὶ μὴν τῶν γυναικῶν τῶν φαύλων οὐδέν εἰσι βελτίους οἱ ἄνδρες οἱ μοχθηροί. κατὰ γὰρ τὸ σῶμα διαφέρουσιν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν διάνοιαν. καθάπερ οὖν οὐδὲν [p. 196] ἐκείνας ἐᾷ προσίεσθαι τῶν πλείονος ἀξίων ὁ νόμος, ἀλλ̓ ὥρισται μέχρι τίνος προσήκει: τὸν αὐτὸν οἶμαι τρόπον καὶ τοῖς πολλοῖς μέχρι τῶν ἐλαχίστων κοινωνητέον: πράξεων δὲ μειζόνων ἢ λόγων

  [10] It would indeed be a blessing if, just as one becomes successively a lad, a stripling, a youth, and an old man by the passing of time, one might also in the same way become wise and just and trustworthy. Yet it must be said that not one whit better than women of the meaner sort are the men who are depraved. They differ in body, not in mind. Accordingly, just as the women are not allowed by law to accept agreements involving too large a sum, but a limit has been set defining the amount to which they may do so, in the same way, I believe, we should also have dealings with the ordinary run of men so far as the things of least importance, but in actions of greater importance or in discussions about urgent matters or in the safeguarding of one’s existence, never!

  [11] ἀναγκαίων ἢ τῆς ἀσφαλείας τῆς περὶ τὸν βίον οὐδέποτε. καὶ γὰρ εἴ ποτε ἀπέχονται τοῦ κακῶς ποιεῖν δἰ ἣν δήποτ̓ αἰτίαν, ὥσπερ τὰ θηρία πολλάκις ἠρεμεῖ κοιμώμενα ἢ ἐμπεπλησμένα, τὴν μέντοι φύσιν οὐκ ἀποβέβληκε τὴν αὑτῶν, παραπλησίως δὴ κἀκεῖνοι χρόνον τινὰ οὐκ ἔβλαψαν, ἔπειτα συμβάσης προφάσεως καὶ τὸν τόκον, φασί, καὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον τῆς πονηρίας ἐκτίνουσιν. ὁ Λάκων, ἐν ὁμιλίαις τινῶν συντιθεμένων αὐτῷ καὶ ἀξιούντων παῤ αὐτῶν λαμβάνειν ἣν ἂν προαιρῆται πίστιν ὑπὲρ τῆς φιλίας, μίαν ἔφη πίστιν εἶναι τὸ ἐὰν θέλωσιν ἀδικῆσαι μὴ δύνασθαι, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς πάσας εὐήθεις καὶ τελέως ἀσθενεῖς.

  [11] For the fact is, if they ever refrain from doing mischief for whatever reason, just as the wild beasts often are quiet when asleep or sated with food, though they have not discarded their own peculiar nature, similarly the masses too for a time do no harm, yet later when some pretext is presented they pay in full, as saying goes, both the interest and the principal of their villainy.

  The Spartan, when in social gatherings certain persons offered to make a compact with him and invited him to take as a guarantee of their friendship whatever he might choose, replied that there was only one guarantee, namely, their inability to do harm even if they wished, but that all other guarantees were foolish and absolutely good for nothing.

  [12] ταύτην μόνην παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν τὴν πίστιν δεῖ λαμβάνειν, ἑτέραν δὲ οὐδεμίαν. ἡ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν λόγων καὶ τῆς συνηθείας καὶ τῶν ὅρκων καὶ τοῦ γένους καταγέλαστος. ὁ Ἀτρεὺς ἀδελφὸς ἦν τοῦ Θυέστου καὶ τῶν παιδαρίων, ἃ κατέκοψεν, θεῖος: ὁ Ἐτεοκλῆς καὶ ὁ Πολυνείκης οὐ μόνον ἀδελφοὶ κατὰ τὸν νόμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ υἱοῦ καὶ μητρὸς γεγονότες τῶν ξυγγενεστάτων: ὥστ̓, εἴπερ ὠφέλει τι τὸ γένος, οὗτοι μάλιστα ἁπάντων ἀλλήλους μᾶλλον ὤφειλον ἀγαπᾶν: ἀλλ̓ ὁ πιστευθεὶς πρῶτον τὸν πιστεύσαντα ἐξέβαλε καὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἀπεστέρει καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἀλλήλους ἀπέκτειναν.

  [12] That guarantee alone should one accept from the masses, no other. For the guarantee which consists in phrases, in acquaintanceship, in oaths, in kinship is laughable. Atreus was the brother of Thyestes and the uncle of the little boys whom he slaughtered; Eteocles and Polyneices were not only brothers according to the law, but also children of a son and his mother, the closest relationship possible; wherefore, if there were any utility in birth, these most of all should have loved each other; whereas, in the first place, he who had been trusted expelled the brother who had trusted him and robbed him of his country,

  [13] ὁ Θησεὺς τὸν Ἱππόλυτον, πατὴρ ὢν καὶ Ποσειδῶνος υἱός, διαβολαῖς πεισθεὶς ἀπέκτεινε καταρασάμενος. ὁ Πρίαμος πρότερον εὐδαιμονίᾳ διαφέρων καὶ τοσούτων ἐθνῶν καὶ τηλικούτου τόπου βασιλεύων, ὅσσον Λέσβος ἄνω Μάκαρος ἕδος ἐντὸς ἐέργει καὶ Φρυγίη καθύπερθε καὶ Ἑλλήσποντος ἀπείρων [p. 197] διὰ τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὴν ἀκρασίαν τὴν ἐκείνου πάντων ἀθλιώτατος ἐγένετο. καὶ οὗτοι μὲν ἐπίσημοι. πόσον δὲ οἴει πλῆθος ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει τῶν ἀφανῶν καὶ δημοτικῶν Ἀτρέων καὶ Θυεστῶν, τῶν μὲν

  [13] and after that they slew each other. Although Theseus was the father of Hippolytus and the son of Poseidon, persuaded by slanders he cursed his son and brought about his death. Priam, who previously had been notable for good fortune and who was king over so many tribes and so wide a domain —

  Seaward as far as Lesbos, the abode

  Of Macar, landward to Phrygia and the stream

  Of boundless Hellespont —

  all because of his son and that son’s incontinence became the most wretched man of all. Now these were men of rank, but how great a multitude do you suppose can be found in every city of the obscure and plebeian Atreuses and Thyesteses, some actually committing murder undetected, and some making plots of other kinds?

  [14] καὶ ἀποκτιννύντων κρύφα, τῶν δὲ εἰς ἄλλα ἐπιβουλευόντων; Ἀερόπας μέν γε καὶ Κλυταιμνήστρας καὶ Σθενεβοίας οὐδὲ εἰπεῖν ἔστιν ὅσαι. ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν τοῦ γένους καὶ τῆς οἰκειότητος τοιαῦτα, τὰ δὲ τῶν ὅρκων ποῖα; ὁ Πάνδαρος ὤμοσε τῷ Μενελάῳ, ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ Τρῶες, ἀλλ̓ οὐδὲν ἧττον ἔτρωσεν αὐτόν. Τισσαφέρνης οὐκ ὤμοσε τοῖς περὶ Κλέαρχον; τί δέ; ὁ βασιλεὺς οὐχὶ καὶ τοὺς βασιλείους θεοὺς καὶ τὴν δεξιὰν ἀπέστειλε; Φίλιππος δὲ ὁ Μακεδὼν οὐ διετέλει καθάπερ ἄλλο τι τῶν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον εὐχρήστων καὶ τὴν ἐπιορκίαν παρεσκευασμένος καὶ δυσὶ τούτοις τὰς πόλεις αἱρῶν, τῷ τε παρασπονδεῖν καὶ τῷ τοὺς προδώσοντας παρασκευάζειν; τῷ παντὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον τὸν τρόπον οἰκειότερον ἔχων: τοῖς μὲν γὰρ προδόταις ἀργύριον ἦν ἀνάγκη διδόναι, τοῖς θεοῖς δὲ περὶ

  [14] As for the Aëropês and Clytaemnestras and Stheneboeas, they are too numerous to mention.

  Well, such are the facts about family and domestic ties, but how about oaths? Pandarus gave an oath to Menelaüs, as did the other Trojans too, but none the less he wounded him. Did not Tissaphernes give an oa
th to Clearchus and his men? What! did not the Great King send them the royal gods and his plighted word? Again, take Philip of Macedon; just as any other weapon which was serviceable for his warfare, was he not always equipped with perjury too; and was he not always seizing the cities by means of these two devices, either violation of treaties or suborning of traitors? He found the former altogether more congenial; for while he had to give money to the traitors, to the gods he paid nothing in connexion with oaths.

  [15] ὅρκων οὐθὲν ἐτέλει. τὸν δὲ Λύσανδρον τὸν Λακεδαιμόνιον γνώμην ἀποφαίνεσθαι λέγουσιν ὅτι τοὺς μὲν παῖδας ἀστραγάλοις καὶ σφαίραις ἐξαπατᾶν δεῖ, τοὺς δὲ ἄνδρας ὅρκοις καὶ ῥήμασιν. ἡ κερδαλῆ δὲ ἀλώπηξ ἑτέρα τίς ἐστι παρὰ Ἀρχιλόχῳ; τὸν δὲ τοῦ Γλαύκου χρησμὸν οὐκ οἴει πρότερον δεδωκέναι τοὺς πλείστους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὀμνύειν ἐπεὶ θάνατός γε καὶ εὔορκον μένει ἄνδρα. καὶ τούτους μὲν τοὺς προειρημένους καὶ τοιούτους ἑτέρους διὰ τὰς περιστάσεις συμβέβηκεν ἐνδόξους γεγονέναι, τῶν δὲ ἀφανεστέρων Γλαύκων ἢ Πανδάρων μεσταὶ μὲν ἀγοραὶ ἀνθρώπων, μεσταὶ δὲ [p. 198] ἀγυιαί. διὸ μήτε τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα μήτε τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν σύμβουλον τῆς

  [15] As for Lysander the Spartan, they say that he gave as his opinion that boys should be deceived with knucklebones and balls, but men with oaths and phrases. But is the crafty fox at all different, as portrayed by Archilochus? And as for the oracle received by Glaucus, do you not imagine that most men had given that advice ere then, namely, to swear,

  Since death awaits as well the man who keeps

  His oath?

  Furthermore, while it has so happened that the persons just named and others like them achieved notoriety because of the great events in which they took part, with the less illustrious Glaucuses or Pandaruses “the marts are thronged and thronged the ways.” This explains why they take neither Apollo nor Athena as counsellor in their perjury.

  [16] ἐπιορκίας λαμβάνουσιν. ,ἀλλ̓ ἡ συνήθεια τοῖς ἀνθρώποις μέγα δίκαιον τοῦ μηθὲν ἀδικεῖν καὶ σπονδαὶ καὶ τράπεζαἰ. τὸν Εὔρυτον ἀπέκτεινεν ὁ παῤ αὐτῷ ξενισθείς, σχέτλιος, οὐδὲ θεῶν ὄπιν ᾐδέσατ̓ οὐδὲ τράπεζαν, τὴν ἣν οἱ παρέθηκεν: ἔπειτα δὲ πέφνε καὶ αὐτόν. καίτοι θεὸς ἔδοξεν οὗτος ὁ τὴν τῶν θεῶν ὄπιν οὐκ αἰδεσάμενος οὐδὲ τὴν τράπεζαν καὶ τέρπεται ἐν θαλίῃ, κατέχων καλλίσφυρον Ἥβην. τὸν Ἀρχίλοχον οὐδὲν ὤνησαν οἱ ἅλες καὶ ἡ τράπεζα πρὸς τὴν ὁμολογίαν

  [16] But, you say, familiar acquaintance constitutes for mankind a great moral bar against injury, as also do treaties and hospitality. Eurytus was slain by the man who had entertained him in his house,

  The daring one, who feared not Heaven’s wrath,

  Nor reverenced the table he had spread,

  But later even slew his guest.

  And yet he came to be thought a god, though he had shown no reverence for the anger of the gods or for the table of hospitality, and he

  Delighteth in the feast and hath for wife

  Fair-ankled Hebê.

  As for Archilochus, his salt and table availed him naught for the fulfilment of his marriage contract, as he says himself.

  [17] τῶν γάμων, ὥς φησιν αὐτός. ὁ Λυκάων ὢν ἀνόητος εἰς τὸν Ἀχιλλέα δεύτερον ἐμπεσών, δέον αὐτὸν ἢ μάχεσθαι προθύμως ἢ φεύγειν τάχιον, πὰρ γὰρ σοὶ πρώτῳ, φησί, πασάμην Δημήτερος ἀκτήν. τοιγαροῦν πρότερον, ὁπότε οὐδέπω μετειλήφει τῆς παῤ αὐτῷ τροφῆς, εἰς Λῆμνον ἀπεμποληθεὶς ἐσώθη: τότε δὲ ληφθεὶς ἀπεσφάγη. τοσοῦτον αὐτὸν ὤνησεν ἡ Δημήτηρ. τὰς νήττας καὶ τὰς πέρδικας

  [17] Lycaon, fool that he was, having encountered Achilles a second time, though he should either fight with vigour or else flee with all speed, urges the plea,

  For with thee first I ate Demeter’s grain.

  Well then, previously, when he had not yet partaken of Achilles’ food, he was sold into Lemnos and thus saved; but this time when taken captive he was slaughtered. That was all the good Demeter did him. As for the ducks and partridges, we do not hunt them until they have eaten of our food.

  [18] οὐ πρότερον θηρεύομεν, πρὶν ἂν φάγωσι παῤ ἡμῶν. ὁ δὲ Αἴγισθος τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα δειπνίσσας ὥς τίς τε κατέκτανε βοῦν ἐπὶ φάτνῃ. καὶ ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν Τρώων οὐδὲν ἔπαθεν ἐν δέκα ἔτεσιν, οἷς ἐπολέμει καὶ οὐδεπώποτε αὐτοῖς συνέστιος ἐγένετο: εἰς δὲ τὴν οἰκίαν ἐλθὼν διὰ τοσούτου χρόνου, θύσας τοῖς θεοῖς, καὶ τὴν αὑτοῦ τράπεζαν παραθέμενος, ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας γυναικὸς οὕτως ὠμῶς ἀνῃρέθη.

  [18] Take Aegisthus; he slew Agamemnon,

  First feeding him, as he who slays an ox

  Hard by the crib.

  And although Agamemnon had suffered no harm at the hands of the Trojans during the ten years in which he had been at war with them and had never sat at meat with them; on the other hand, when he had come home after so long an absence, had sacrificed to the gods, and had caused his own table to be spread before him, his own wife slew him so cruelly. Yes, afterwards, when at the gates of Hades he encountered Odysseus, he denounces Clytaemnestra,

  [19] καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα κάτω περιτυχὼν τῷ Ὀδυσσεῖ μέμφεται Κλυταιμνήστραν: μηδὲ γὰρ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ τελευτῶντος συγκλεῖσαι: πρὸς δὲ τούτοις παρακελεύεται μηδέποτε πιστεύειν γυναικί, [p. 199] μηδέ οἱ ἐκφάσθαι πυκινὸν ἔπος. καίτοι ἡ Κλυταιμνήστρα οὐχ ὅτι γυνὴ ἦν ταῦτα διέθηκεν αὐτόν, ἀλλ̓ ὅτι πονηρά: καὶ οὐδὲν μᾶλλον οὐ χρὴ γυναικὶ ἤπιον εἶναι ἢ

  [19] for he says she did not even close his eyes when he was dead; and, furthermore, he urges Odysseus never to trust a woman,

  Or ever tell to her a crafty plan.

  Yet Clytaemnestra treated him as she did, not because she was a woman, but because she was a wicked woman; and there is no more reason for not being kind to a woman than to a man.

  [20] ἀνδρί. ἀλλ̓ οἶμαι τῶν περιπεσόντων ἕκαστος, ὑφ̓ οὗ πέπονθε κακῶς, ἐκεῖνο μάλιστα ὑφορᾶται καὶ προλέγει φυλάττεσθαι τοῖς ἄλλοις, ὁ μὲν ὑπὸ ἔχεως πληγεὶς ἔχιν, ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ σκορπίου σκορπίον: ὅν δ̓ ἂν κύων δάκῃ, ὄψει βακτηρίαν ἀεὶ περιφέροντα, τὸ αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους πεπόνθασιν οἱ πολλοί. τῷ μὲν ἐκ γυναικός τι συνέβη δεινόν: οὗτος δὴ κέκραγεν: ὦ Ζεῦ, τί δὴ κίβδηλον ἀνθρώποις κακὸν γυναῖκας εἰς φῶς ἡλίου κατῴκισας; ἄλλον ὑποδεχθεὶς ξένος ἐλύπησεν, ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος τὰ τοῦ Μενελάου κτήματα καὶ �
�ὴν γυναῖκα ὑφελόμενος. ὁ τοιοῦτος πρὸς τοὺς

  [20] However, I fancy, each one who has encountered misfortune distrusts particularly that because of which he has suffered and warns all others to beware of it. For instance, he who has been bitten by a viper warns against snakes, another who has been bitten by a scorpion warns against scorpions, and if a man has been bitten by a dog, you will see him always carrying a cane; in just that way most men behave toward human beings. One man has met with some dreadful misfortune because of a woman; so he cries to Heaven,

  O Zeus, why hast thou brought to light of day

  The breed of women, snare and curse to men?

  Another, a stranger who has been received as a guest, brings grief to his host, as Alexander did by stealing from Menelaüs his wealth and his wife. The man so treated has been made distrustful toward strangers, another toward a brother, another toward a son.

  [21] ξένους διαβέβληται, πρὸς ἀδελφὸν ἕτερος, ἄλλος πρὸς υἱόν. τὸ δὲ πρᾶγμα οὐ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν — οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἀδελφὸς οὐδὲ ὁ συγγενὴς οὐδὲ ὁ ξένος πέφυκεν ἀδικεῖν, ἀλλ̓ ὁ μοχθηρὸς ἄνθρωπος: τοῦτο δὲ μικροῦ δεῖν ἐν πᾶσίν ἐστιν — ἀλλ̓ εἰ νοῦν ἔχεις, πάντας εὐλαβοῦ. ξένος: εὐλαβοῦ. μέτριος εἶναί φησι: μᾶλλον εὐλαβοῦ. τοῦτο ἀκίνητον ὑπαρχέτω. ,νὴ Δἴ, ἀλλ̓ ἐπιδείκνυται δεξιοῦ τινος εὔνοιαν;᾿ οὐκοῦν ἀποδέχου τοῦτον, τοῖς θεοῖς εἰδὼς χάριν, εἰ βούλει δέ, κἀκείνῳ: πρὸς δὲ τὸ μέλλον φυλάττεσθαι χρὴ αὐτόν. ὃ γάρ τις ἐπὶ τῆς τύχης εἶπε, πολὺ μᾶλλον ἂν ἐπ̓ ἀνθρώπων τοῦτο ῥηθείη, τὸ μηδένα εἰδέναι περὶ μηδενός, εἰ μέχρι τῆς αὔριον