Dio Chrysostom

Dio Chrysostom (Greek: Δίων Χρυσόστομος, Díon Chrysóstomos) Dio of Prusa or Cocceianus Dio (c. 40 – c. 115 AD), was a Greek orator, writer, philosopher and historian of the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. Eighty of his Discourses are extant, as well as a few letters, a mock essay Encomium on Hair, and a few other fragments. His sobriquet Chrysostom comes from the Greek chrysostomos, which literally means "golden-mouthed".

Quotes

Greek text cited from H. von Arnim, Dionis Prusaensis quem vocant Chrysostomum quae exstant omnia (Berlin, 1893–1896).
Translations cited from J. W. Cohoon, H. Lamar Crosby, Dio Chrysostom, vols. I–V (Cambridge-London, 1932–1951), unless otherwise noted.

VI. Diogenes, or On Tyranny

• ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔλεγόν τινες οὐ δυνατὸν εἶναι ζῆν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁμοίως τοῖς ἄλλοις ζῴοις διὰ τὴν ἁπαλότητα τῶν σαρκῶν καὶ διότι ψιλός ἐστιν, [. . .] πρὸς ταῦτα ἀντέλεγεν, οὕτως μὲν σφόδρα ἁπαλοὺς εἶναι διὰ τὴν δίαιταν· [. . .] ἀλλὰ τὴν πανουργίαν τοῖς ὕστερον καὶ τὸ πολλὰ εὑρίσκειν καὶ μηχανᾶσθαι πρὸς τὸν βίον οὐ πάνυ τι συνενεγκεῖν. οὐ γὰρ πρὸς ἀνδρείαν οὐδὲ δικαιοσύνην χρῆσθαι τῇ σοφίᾳ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἡδονήν.
  • When some people urged that it is impossible for man to live like the animals owing to the tenderness of his flesh and because he is naked and unprotected, [. . . Diogenes] would say in reply that men are so very tender because of their mode of life. [. . .] Man’s ingenuity and his discovering and contriving so many helps to life had not been altogether advantageous to later generations, since men do not employ their cleverness to promote courage or justice, but to procure pleasure.
  • VI.26

• ὁρῶν δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους ἅπαντα μὲν τὸν βίον ταραττομένους, ἅπαντα δὲ ἀλλήλοις ἐπιβουλεύοντας, ἀεὶ δὲ ἐν κακοῖς ὄντας μυρίοις, μηδέποτε δὲ ἡσυχίαν δυναμένους ἄγειν, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ἐν ταῖς ἱερομηνίαις μηδὲ ἂν ἐκεχειρίαν ἐπαγγέλλωσι, καὶ ταῦτα ξύμπαντα δι᾿ οὐδὲν ἕτερον τὰ μὲν δρῶντας, τὰ δὲ πάσχοντας, ἢ ὅπως ζῆν δυνήσονται, καὶ μάλιστα δὴ δεδιότας μήποτε αὐτοὺς ἐπιλίπῃ τἀναγκαῖα δὴ λεγόμενα, ἔτι δὲ φροντίζοντας καὶ ζητοῦντας ὅπως παισὶ τοῖς αὑτῶν καταλίπωσι πολλὰ χρήματα, ἐθαύμαζεν ὅτι μηδὲν αὐτὸς πράττοι τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ μόνος δὴ τῶν ἁπάντων ἐλεύθερός ἐστι.
  • When, therefore, [Diogenes] observed how other men were harassed throughout their whole lives, ever plotting against one another, ever encompassed by a thousand ills and never able to enjoy a moment’s rest, nay, not even during the great festivals nor when they proclaimed a truce; and when he beheld that they did or suffered all this simply in order to keep themselves alive, and that their greatest fear was lest their so-called necessities should fail them, and how, furthermore, they planned and strove to leave great riches to their children, he marvelled that he too did not do the like, but was the only independent man in the world.
  • VI.34

VIII. Diogenes, or On Virtue

• δεῖν οὖν τὸν φρόνιμον ἄνδρα, ὥσπερ τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἰατρόν, ὅπου πλεῖστοι κάμνουσιν, ἐκεῖσε ἰέναι βοηθήσοντα, οὕτως ὅπου πλεῖστοί εἰσιν ἄφρονες, ἐκεῖ μάλιστα ἐπιδημεῖν, ἐξελέγχοντα καὶ κολάζοντα τὴν ἄνοιαν αὐτῶν.
  • Just as the good physician should go and offer his services where the sick are most numerous, so, said [Diogenes], the man of wisdom should take up his abode where fools are thickest in order to convict them of their folly and reprove them.
  • VIII.5

• ἔλεγε θαυμάζειν ὅτι εἰ μὲν ἔφη ὀδόντας ἰᾶσθαι, πάντες ἂν αὐτῷ προσῇσαν οἱ δεόμενοι ὀδόντα ἐξελέσθαι, καὶ νὴ Δία εἰ ὑπέσχετο ὀφθαλμοὺς θεραπεύειν, πάντες ἂν οἱ ὀφθαλμιῶντες αὑτοὺς ἐπεδείκνυον· ὁμοίως δέ, εἰ σπληνὸς ἢ ποδάγρας ἢ κορύζης εἰδέναι φάρμακον· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔφη παύσειν τοὺς πεισομένους αὐτῷ ἀγνοίας καὶ πονηρίας καὶ ἀκολασίας, οὐδεὶς αὐτῷ προσεῖχεν οὐδὲ ἐκέλευεν ἰᾶσθαι αὑτόν, [. . .] ὡς ἧττον ὑπὸ τούτων ἐνοχλούμενος ἢ χαλεπώτερον ἀνθρώπῳ σπληνὸς ἀνέχεσθαι οἰδοῦντος καὶ διεφθαρμένου ὀδόντος ἢ ψυχῆς ἄφρονος καὶ ἀμαθοῦς καὶ δειλῆς καὶ θρασείας καὶ φιληδόνου καὶ ἀνελευθέρου καὶ ὀργίλης καὶ λυπηρᾶς καὶ πανούργου καὶ πάντα τρόπον διεφθαρμένης.
  • [Diogenes] was surprised by the fact that had he claimed to be a physician for the teeth, everybody would flock to him who needed to have a tooth pulled; yes, and by heavens, had he professed to treat the eyes, all who were suffering from sore eyes would present themselves, and similarly, if he had claimed to know of a medicine for diseases of the spleen or for gout or for running of the nose; but when he declared that all who should follow his treatment would be relieved of folly, wickedness, and intemperance, not a man would listen to him or seek to be cured by him, [. . .] as though it were worse for a man to suffer from an enlarged spleen or a decayed tooth than from a soul that is foolish, ignorant, cowardly, rash, pleasure-loving, illiberal, irascible, unkind, and wicked, in fact utterly corrupt.
  • VIII.7

• ἡ δὲ ἡδονὴ κατὰ πᾶσαν αἴσθησιν ὁπόσας ἄνθρωπος αἰσθήσεις ἔχει, καὶ δεῖ τοῖς μὲν πόνοις ἀπαντᾶν καὶ συμπλέκεσθαι, τὴν δὲ ἡδονὴν φεύγειν ὡς πορρωτάτω καὶ μηδὲν ὅλως ἢ τἀναγκαῖα ὁμιλεῖν. καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὁ κράτιστος ἀνὴρ [κράτιστος δὲ] σχεδόν, ὃς ἂν δύνηται πλεῖστον ἀποφεύγειν τὰς ἡδονάς· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔστιν ἡδονῇ συνόντα ἢ καὶ πειρώμενον συνεχῶς μὴ οὐ πάντως ἁλῶναι.
  • Pleasure assails a man through each and every sense that he has; and while he must face and grapple with work, to pleasure he must give the widest berth possible and have none but unavoidable dealings with her. And herein the strongest man is indeed strongest, one might almost say, who can keep the farthest away from pleasures; for it is impossible to dwell with pleasure or even to dally with her for any length of time without being completely enslaved.
  • VIII.23–24 (speaking in the person of Diogenes)

XVIII. On Training for Public Speaking

• εἰ γοῦν ἐθελήσειας αὐτοῦ τῇ περὶ τὴν Ἀνάβασιν πραγματεία σφόδρα ἐπιμελῶς ἐντυχεῖν, [. . .] εὑρήσεις [. . .] καὶ ἐξαπατῆσαι ὅπως πολεμίους μὲν ἐπὶ βλάβῃ, φίλους δ᾿ ἐπὶ τῷ συμφέροντι, καὶ μάτην ταραττομένοις ἀλύπως τἀληθὲς καὶ πιστῶς εἰπεῖν.
  • Should you be willing to read [Xenophon's Anabasis] very carefully you shall discover how [. . .] to deceive one’s enemies to their harm and one’s friends to their advantage, and to speak the truth in a way that will not pain those who are needlessly disturbed by it.
  • XVIII.15–16 (tr. R. C. Bartlett, 1996)

XXXII. To the People of Alexandria

• περὶ τοιαῦτά ἐστε, ἀφ᾿ ὧν νοῦν μὲν ἢ φρόνησιν ἢ δικαίαν διάθεσιν ἢ πρὸς θεοὺς εὐσέβειαν οὐκ ἔστι κτήσασθαι, ἔριν δὲ ἀμαθῆ καὶ φιλοτιμίαν ἄμετρον καὶ κενὴν λύπην καὶ χαρὰν ἀνόητον καὶ λοιδορίαν καὶ δαπάνην.
  • You are devoted to interests from which it is impossible to gain intelligence or prudence or a proper disposition of reverence toward the gods, but only stupid contention, unbridled ambition, vain grief, senseless joy, and raillery and extravagance.
  • XXXII.5

• εἰ δ᾿ ὡς φιλόσοφοι ταῦτα πράττουσι κέρδους ἕνεκεν καὶ δόξης τῆς ἑαυτῶν, οὐ τῆς ὑμετέρας ὠφελείας, τοῦτο δ᾿ ἤδη δεινόν. ὅμοιον γὰρ ὥσπερ εἴ τις ἰατρὸς ἐπὶ κάμνοντας ἀνθρώπους εἰσιὼν τῆς μὲν σωτηρίας αὐτῶν καὶ θεραπείας ἀμελήσειε, στεφάνους δὲ καὶ ἑταίρας καὶ μύρον αὐτοῖς εἰσφέροι.
  • If in the guise of philosophers, they [declaim speeches] with a view to their own profit and reputation, and not to improve you, that indeed is shocking. For it is as if a physician when visiting patients should disregard their treatment and their restoration to health, and should bring them flowers and courtesans and perfume.
  • XXXII.11