[1] Ὑμεῖς μὲν ἴσως θαυμάζετε καὶ παράδοξον ἡγεῖσθε καὶ οὐδαμῶς σωφρονοῦντος ἀνδρός, ὅστις ἁπάντων ἀποστάς, περὶ ἃ οἱ πολλοὶ σπουδάζουσι, καὶ τρόπον τινὰ ἐάσας κατὰ ῥοῦν φέρεσθαι χρήματά τε καὶ δόξας καὶ ἡδονάς, οὔτε γεωργὸς οὔτε ναύκληρος οὔτε στρατιώτης οὔτε στρατηγὸς περίεισιν, οὐ σκυτοτόμος οὐ τέκτων, οὐκ ἰατρός, οὐ ῥήτωρ, οὐκ ἄλλο τι σύνηθες πρᾶγμα ποιῶν, οὑτωσὶ δὲ ἀτόπως ἰών τε καὶ ἀπιὼν καὶ παριστάμενος, ἔνθα μηδὲν αὐτῷ πρᾶγμά
The Eightieth Discourse: On Freedom
You perhaps are surprised and consider it past all belief and a mark of one who is by no means of sound judgement if a person abandons all that most men view with serious regard and, as one might say, permits riches and fame and pleasures to drift downstream but goes about as neither farmer nor trader nor soldier nor general, nor as shoemaker or builder or physician or orator, nor as one engaged in any other customary occupation, but, on the other hand, comes and goes in this strange fashion and puts in an appearance in places where he has no business at all but rather where chance and impulse may lead him.
[2] ἐστιν, ἀλλ̓ ὡς ἂν τύχῃ τε καὶ ὁρμήσῃ: βουλευτήρια μὲν καὶ θέατρα καὶ συλλόγους ἀτιμάσας, ἐκκλησιάζων δὲ μόνος αὐτός: καὶ θεωρῶν οὐκ ὀρχουμένους οὐδὲ ᾄδοντας οὐδὲ πυκτεύοντας οὐδὲ παλαίοντας, ἀλλ̓ ὠνουμένους καὶ βαδίζοντας καὶ λαλοῦντας καὶ μαχομένους: ποτὲ μὲν τούτοις ἅπασι προσέχων εὖ μάλα καὶ τερπόμενος πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ παῖδες ἐν ἀγῶσι καὶ θεάτροις, οὐ προκαταλαμβάνων οὐδὲ ἀγρυπνῶν οὐδὲ θλιβόμενος: ποτὲ δὲ αὖ μήτ̓ ἀκούων μηδενὸς μήθ̓ ὁρῶν, ἀλλὰ μηδ̓ εἶναι νομίζων αὐτούς, ἐννοῶν ὃ βούλεται
[2] Council chambers and theatres and assemblies he has held in light esteem, and yet he conducts a popular assembly all by himself; the spectacles which attract his gaze are not dancers or singers or boxers or wrestlers, but buyers and strollers and talkers and fighters; sometimes all these receive his very strict attention, and he derives from them much more enjoyment than do boys at athletic contests and theatrical performances, although he does not come ahead of time or keep awake all night to get a seat or get crushed by the crowd; at other times on the contrary, he neither hears nor sees any single one of them, but ignores their existence, thinking of anything that suits his fancy and acting without fear.
[3] καὶ πράττων ἀδεῶς. ἐγὼ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν λαμπρὸν ἡγοῦμαι καὶ μακάριον, εἴ τις ἐν οἰκέταις ἐλεύθερος εἶναι δύναται καὶ ἐν ὑπηκόοις αὐτόνομος: ὑπὲρ οὗ πολλὰ μὲν Λυδοὶ Φρυξί, πολλὰ δὲ Φρύγες [p. 223] Λυδοῖς ἐπολέμησαν, πολλὰ δ̓ Ἴωνές τε καὶ Δωριεῖς καὶ ξύμπαντα γένη, ἀνοήτῳ δὲ ψευδοῦς αὐτονομίας ἔρωτι οὐδεὶς ἐγκεχείρηκεν τοῖς αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ χρῆσθαι νόμοις, οἱ δὲ ξύμπαντες περὶ τῶν Σόλωνος καὶ Δράκοντος καὶ Νόμα καὶ Ζαλεύκου νόμων ἐρίζουσιν, ὅπως τούτοις, ἀλλὰ μὴ τούτοις ἕπωνται, μηδενὸς αὖ μηδὲ ἐκείνων οἷα ἐχρῆν θέντος. Σόλωνα μέντοι καὶ αὐτὸν εἰρηκέναι φασὶν ὡς ὅτι αὑτῷ μὴ ἀρέσκοντα εἰσηγεῖτο Ἀθηναίοις, ἀλλ̓ οἷς αὐτοὺς
[3] As for myself, however, I regard it as a splendid and blessed state of being, if in the midst of slaves one can be a free man and in the midst of subjects be independent. To attain this state many wars were waged by the Lydians against the Phrygians and by the Phrygians against the Lydians, and many, too, by both Ionians and Dorians and, in fact, by all peoples, yet no one has ever, because he was enamoured of independence in the spiritual sense, undertaken to use his own personal laws; instead they all wrangle over the laws of Solon and Draco and Numa and Zaleucus, bent on following the one code but not the other, though, on the other hand, not even one of these law-givers had framed the sort of laws he should. Why, Solon himself, according to report, declared that he was proposing for the Athenians, not what satisfied himself, but rather what he assumed they would accept.
[4] ὑπελάμβανε χρήσεσθαι. δῆλον οὖν ὅτι πονηροὺς ἔγραφε νόμους, εἴπερ τοὺς ἀρέσοντας πονηροῖς ἔγραφεν: ἀλλ̓ ὅμως καὶ αὐτὸς τούτοις ἐχρῆτο πονηροῖς τε οὖσι καὶ οὐκ ἀρέσκουσιν αὐτῷ. δῆλον οὖν ὅτι τούτων μὲν οὐδενὶ μετῆν αὐτονομίας, οὐδὲ ἐσπούδαζον οὐδὲ ἐπολέμουν, ὅπως ὦσιν ἐλεύθεροι: ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἄφθονόν τε καὶ πολλὴν δουλείαν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν ἐγκαθείρξαντες ἔπειτα ἐπάλξεσι καὶ πύργοις καὶ βέλεσιν ἠμύνοντο, ὅπως μὴ εἰσίοι ἔξωθεν παῤ αὐτούς, ὥσπερ εἴ τις τῆς νεὼς διερρηγμένης κλύδωνος ἔνδον ὄντος φυλάττοιτο καὶ πράγματα ἔχοι, μήποτε ἄνωθεν ὑπερβάλῃ. καθάπερ οὖν φασι τοὺς Τρῶας ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλένης πολιορκεῖσθαι καὶ ἀποθνῄσκειν οὐκ ἔνδον οὔσης, ἀλλ̓ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, ταὐτὸ πάθος οὗτοι πεπόνθεσαν: ὑπέρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐμάχοντο καὶ ἠγωνίων, οὐκ
[4] Evidently, therefore, he composed bad laws, if indeed he composed the laws which would satisfy bad men; but, for all that, even Solon himself used these laws, bad as they were and not satisfactory to himself. Clearly, then, not one of these law-givers had any claim to independence, nor did they exert themselves or wage war for the purpose of being free; on the contrary, after they had gathered within the compass of their city walls slavery without bound or limit, thereupon with ramparts and towers and missiles they tried to protect themselves against the chance that slavery might make its entry among them from without, just as if, when a ship’s seams have opened up and the hold is already taking water, one were to take measures of prevention and be concerned lest perchance the sea might sweep over from above. Accordingly, just as it is said that the Trojans for Helen’s sake endured siege and death, although she was not at Troy but in Egypt, just so has it been with these men — in behalf of their freedom they fought and struggled, when all the while they had no freedom.
[5] οὔσης παῤ αὐτοῖς. ἀλλ̓ ὅμως ἐκεῖνοί τε ἔλεγον πάντα πάσχειν ὑπὲρ τῶν νόμων, καὶ νῦν φασιν ἐν τούτοις εἶναι τὴν δίκην, ὁπός᾿ ἂν αὐτοὶ δυστυχεῖς ὄντες συγγράφωσιν ἢ παῤ ἄλλων ὁμοίων παραλάβωσιν. νόμον δὲ τὸν ἀληθῆ καὶ κύριον καὶ φανερὸν οὔτε ὁρῶσιν οὔτε ἡγεμόνα ποιοῦνται τοῦ βίου. τοιγαροῦν ὥσπερ ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ λάμποντος ἡλίου δᾷδας ἴασι καὶ δαλοὺς ἀράμενοι, τὸ μὲν θεῖον φῶς ἐάσαντες, καπνῷ δὲ ἑπόμενοι κἂν ἄρα μικρὸν αἴθυγμα δεικνύντι πυρός. ὁ μὲν οὖν τῆς φύσεως νόμος ἀφεῖται καὶ ἐκλέλοιπε παῤ ὑ
μῖν, ὦ κακοδαίμονες: ἄξονας δὲ καὶ γραμματεῖα καὶ
[5] Yet not only did these men of old profess to be enduring all things in defence of the laws, but even now men say that justice resides in whatever laws they themselves, luckless creatures that they are, may frame or else inherit from others like themselves. But the law which is true and binding and plain to behold they neither see nor make a guide for their life. So at noon, as it were, beneath the blazing sun, they go about with torches and flambeaux in their hands, ignoring the light of heaven but following smoke if it shows even a slight glint of fire. Thus, while the law of nature is abandoned and eclipsed with you, poor unfortunates that you are, tablets and statute books and slabs of stone with their fruitless symbols are treasured by you.
[6] στήλας φυλάττετε καὶ ἀνωφελῆ στίγματα. καὶ τὸν μὲν τοῦ Διὸς [p. 224] θεσμὸν πάλαι παρέβητε, τὸν δὲ τοῦ δεῖνος ἢ τὸν τοῦ δεῖνος ὅπως μηδεὶς παραβήσεται σκοπεῖσθε. καὶ τὴν ἀράν, ἣν Ἀθηναῖοι περὶ τῶν Σόλωνος ἔθεντο νόμων τοῖς ἐπιχειροῦσι καταλύειν, ἀγνοεῖτε κυριωτέραν οὖσαν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐκείνου νόμοις ῾πᾶσα γὰρ ἀνάγκη τὸν συνέχοντα τὸ πᾶν θεσμὸν ἀραῖον ὑπάρχειν̓ πλὴν παῖδας καὶ γένος οὐκ ἐπέξεισιν, ὡς ἐκεῖ, τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων, ἀλλ̓ ἕκαστος αὑτῷ γίγνεται τῆς ἀτυχίας αἴτιος. τὸν οὖν ἐπιχειροῦντα τοῦτον ἂν σῴζειν ὡς ἂν οἷός τε ᾖ καὶ τό γε καθ̓ αὑτὸν φυλάττειν οὐδέποτε
[6] Again, while the ordinance of Zeus you transgressed long ago, the ordinance of this man or of that you make it your aim that no man shall transgress. Moreover, the curse which the Athenians established in connexion with Solon’s laws against all who should attempt to destroy them you fail to see is more valid touching the laws of Zeus, for it is wholly inevitable that he who attempts to nullify the ordinance of Zeus shall be an outlaw — except that in this instance children and kinsmen of the guilty are not included in the punishment, as they were at Athens; instead, each is held accountable for his own misfortune. Whoever, therefore, tries to rescue this ordinance as best he can and to guard his own conduct I for my part would never say is lacking in judgement.
[7] ἂν μὴ φρονεῖν φαίην ἔγωγε. πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ὑμᾶς θαυμάζω καὶ ἐλεῶ τῆς χαλεπῆς καὶ παρανόμου δουλείας, ἐν ᾗ ζεύξαντες αὑτοὺς ἔχετε, οὐχ ἑνὶ δεσμῷ μόνον περιβαλόντες οὐδὲ δυσίν, ἀλλὰ μυρίοις, ὑφ̓ ὦν ἄγχεσθε καὶ πιέζεσθε πολὺ μᾶλλον τῶν ἐν ἁλύσει τε καὶ κλοιῷ καὶ πέδαις ἑλκομένων. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἔστι καὶ ἀφεθῆναι καὶ διακόψασι φυγεῖν, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἀεὶ μᾶλλον κρατύνεσθε τὰ δεσμὰ καὶ πλείω καὶ ἰσχυρότερα ἀπεργάζεσθε. καὶ μή, ὅτι οὐχ ὁρᾶτε αὐτά, ψευδῆ καὶ ἄπιστον ἡγεῖσθε τόνδε τὸν λόγον: σκοπεῖτε δὲ Ὁμήρου τοῦ καθ̓ ὑμᾶς σοφωτάτου ποἶ ἄττα δεσμὰ τὸν Ἄρη φησὶ κατασχεῖν, ὠκύτατόν περ ἐόντα θεῶν, οἳ Ὄλυμπον ἔχουσιν, ἠΰτ̓ ἀράχνια λεπτά, τά γ̓ οὔ κέ τις οὐδὲ ἴδοιτο.
[7] But much more do I marvel at and pity you for the grievous and unlawful slavery under whose yoke you have placed your necks, for you have thrown about you not merely one set of fetters or two but thousands, fetters by which you are throttled and oppressed much more than are those who drag themselves along in chains and halters and shackles. For they have the chance of release or of breaking their bonds and fleeing, but you are always strengthening your bonds and making them more numerous and stronger. Moreover, merely because you do not see your bonds, do not think that these words of mine are false and untrustworthy; nay, consider Homer — who in your estimation is wisest of all — and what kind of bonds he says made Ares captive,
Although the fleetest of the gods who hold
Olympus, bonds like filmy spider-webs,
Which no man e’en could see.
[8] μὴ οὖν οἴεσθε τὸν μὲν Ἄρη, θεὸν ὄντα καὶ ἰσχυρόν, οὕτως ὑπὸ λεπτῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων πεδηθῆναι δεσμῶν, αὑτοὺς δέ, πάντων θηρίων ἀσθενεστάτους ὄντας, μὴ ἄν ποτε ἁλῶναι δεσμοῖς ἀφανέσιν, ἀλλ̓ εἰ μὴ σιδήρου τε καὶ ὀρειχάλκου εὖ πεποιημένα εἴη. τὰ μὲν οὖν σώματα ὑμῶν, οἷα δὴ στερεὰ καὶ τὸ πλέον ἐκ γῆς γεγονότα, τοιούτων δεῖται τῶν κρατησόντων: ψυχὴ δὲ ἀόρατός που καὶ λεπτὴ φύσει πῶς οὐκ ἂν δεσμῶν τοιούτων τυγχάνοι κατὰ [p. 225] τὸν Ἥφαιστον αὐτὸν; ὑμεῖς δὲ στερροὺς καὶ ἀδαμαντίνους πεποίησθε πάσῃ μηχανῇ πλεξάμενοι, καὶ τὸν Δαίδαλον αὐτὸν ὑπερβεβλημένοι τῇ τέχνῃ τε καὶ σπουδῇ πρὸς τὸ πᾶν ὑμῶν μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς καταδεδέσθαι καὶ μηδὲν ἐλεύθερον εἶναι μηδὲ αὐτόνομον.
[8] Then, think not that Ares, god that he was and mighty, was made captive by bonds so delicate and invisible withal, and yet that you yourselves, of all creatures the weakest, could never be made captive by means of bonds that are invisible but only by such as have been well made of steel and brass. Your bodies, to be sure, being solid and for the most part composed of earth, require bonds of that kind to master them; but since soul is invisible and delicate by nature, why might it not get bonds of like description? But you have made for yourselves stubborn, adamantine bonds, contriving them by any and every means, surpassing even Daedalus himself in your craft and in your eagerness to insure that every particle of your soul shall have been fettered and none of it be free or independent.
[9] τί γὰρ ἦν ἡ Κνωσίων εἱρκτὴ καὶ τὸ τοῦ Λαβυρίνθου σκολιὸν πρὸς τὴν σκολιότητα καὶ τὸ δυσεύρετον τῆς ἀφροσύνης; τί δ̓ ἡ Σικελικὴ φρουρὰ τῶν Ἀττικῶν αἰχμαλώτων, οὓς εἰς πέτραν τινὰ ἐνέβαλον; τί δ̓ ὁ Λακώνων Κεάδας καὶ τὸ παρὰ Πέρσαις οἴκημα μεστὸν τέφρας, ἢ νὴ Δία εἴ τινας κόρας χαλεποὶ πατέρες, ὡς ὁ τῶν ποιητῶν λόγος, ῾χαλκέων περιβόλων̓ ἐφρούρησαν ῾εἱρκταῖς᾿. οὐδ̓ ἐγὼ νήφειν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ἔτι μοι δοκῶ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων συμφορῶν μνησθεὶς ἐπὶ πλέον καὶ τῆς αἰσχρᾶς καὶ δυσχεροῦς δουλείας, λείας, ἣν δεδούλωσθε πάντες: ὅθεν οὐ νημάτων ἔστι λεπτῶν εὐπορήσαντας ἐξελθεῖν βοηθείᾳ κόρης ἄφρονος, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνον Θησέα φασὶν ἐκ Κρήτης σωθῆναι, εἰ μή τις αὐτῆς οἶμαι τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς
[9] For what were the dungeon of the Cnossians and the crooked windings of the Labyrinth compared to the crookedness and the intricacy of folly? What was the Sicilian prison of the Athenian captives, who were cast into a sort of rocky pit? What was the Ceadas of the Spartans, or the ash-filled room that the Persians had, or, by Zeus, what were the cruel fathers of certain maidens, who, as the poets tell us,
Immured them in prison cells of encircling bronze?
But, methinks, I too am no longer acting sensibly in giving more space in my remarks to the misfortunes of mankind than to the disgraceful, odious slavery in which you all have been enslaved, a slavery from which men cannot escape by providing themselves with fine threads by the aid of a foolish maiden, as the famous Theseus is said to have escaped in safety from Crete — at least, I fancy, not unless Athena herself were to lend her aid and join in the rescue.
[10] παρισταμένης καὶ σῳζούσης ἅμα. εἰ γὰρ ἐθέλοιμι πάσας εἰπεῖν τὰς εἱρκτὰς καὶ τὰ δεσμὰ τῶν ἀνοήτων τε καὶ ἀθλίων ἀνθρώπων οἷς ἐγκλείσαντες αὑτοὺς ἔχετε, μὴ σφόδρα ὑμῖν ἀπηνής τε καὶ φαῦλος δόξω ποιητής, ἐν οἰκείοις τραγῳδῶν πάθεσιν. οὐ γὰρ μόνον, ὡς οἱ δόξαντες ὑμῖν κακοῦργοι πιέζονται, τραχήλου τε καὶ χειρῶν καὶ ποδῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ γαστρὸς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μερῶν ἑκάστου ἰδίῳ δεσμῷ τε καὶ ἀνάγκῃ κατειλημμένοι εἰσὶ ποικίλῃ τε καὶ πολυτρόπωι: καί μοι δοκεῖ τις ἂν ἰδὼν τῇ ὄψει τερφθῆναί τε καὶ
[10] For if I should wish to name all the prisons and the bonds of witless, wretched human beings by means of which you have made yourselves prisoners, possibly you would think me an exceedingly disagreeable and sorry poet for composing tragedies on your own misfortunes. For it is not merely with bonds such as confine those whom you consider criminals — bonds about neck and arms and legs — but with a special bond for the belly and for each of the other parts that they have been made captive, and with a constraint which is both varied and complex; moreover, I believe that any one who had seen the spectacle would have been delighted by it and would exceedingly admire the conceit.
Delphi Complete Works of Dio Chrysostom Page 367