Oration 39
Imperial Dio Chrysostom Greek- I rejoice to be honoured by you, even as it is fitting that the temperate man should rejoice to be honoured by a city that is good and worthy of mention, such as your city is in strength and greatness — inferior to none of the famous cities anywhere in nobility of stock and in the multitude of its inhabitants, since the most illustrious peoples have come together to compose it, not mean and few men from this place and that, but the foremost of the Greeks and of the Macedonians; and, what is greatest, it has received heroes and gods as its founders.
- And it befits men founded by gods to have peace and concord and friendship toward one another. For it would be shameful, if they are to be exceedingly prosperous and dear to the gods, and to surpass others in good fortune — wishing, that is, to prove the claim of their lineage true, and not a false and empty boast. For gods who are founders and kinsmen and forefathers wish their own people to possess nothing so much — neither beauty of land, nor abundance of crops, nor multitude of inhabitants — as temperance and virtue and a lawful polity, and honour for the good citizens, dishonour for the bad.
- As for me, I take pleasure now in seeing you of one bearing, sending forth one voice, and willing the same things. For what spectacle is finer than a city of one mind? What sound more august? What city deliberates better than one that deliberates as one? What acts more easily than one that acts as one? What fails less often than one that wills the same things? To whom are good things sweeter than to those in concord? For whom are griefs lighter than for those who bear them in common, as a burden? To whom do hardships befall more rarely than to those who keep watch over one another? What city is dearer to its own citizens?
- What city more honoured by strangers? What more useful to its friends? What more fearful to its foes? Whose praise seems more to be trusted, whose blame more true? Who among the rulers meet with greater respect? Who stand more nearly equal in honour with their rulers? Whom do the rulers more revere? Whom do good magistrates so cherish? Whom do the wicked least despise? For is it not plain that not only the rulers but also the gods attend to those who are in concord, while those who are in faction do not even hear themselves? For of discordant choruses no one easily hears what they are saying, nor of cities at variance.
- What buildings, what extent of territory, what multitude of men makes a people stronger than concord with itself? For however many citizens there are of a city in concord, so many eyes behold its advantage, so many ears hear, so many tongues counsel, so many minds take thought. It is no different than if one of the gods had made a single soul for so great and populous a city. Thus neither abundance of money, nor of men, nor any other power has profited those at variance; on the contrary, all these things tend rather to harm, and the more there are of them, the greater and harsher the harm — just as, I think, with bodies also, size and abundance of flesh profit the healthy man, but to the sick man and to him who is in poor condition such a state is most perilous and brings on the sharpest danger.
- Likewise too a ship: whichever sails with concord between helmsman and crew is itself preserved and preserves those who sail in her; but otherwise, the more sails she carries, the more violent the storm and the greater the confusion that must of necessity befall. The same holds of a chariot: if the charioteer knows how to rule as he ought, and the horses are of one mind and obedient, there is hope that such a chariot will win in the contest and be saved in war; but if faction and confusion are present, the danger is the greater the stronger and swifter the horses are.
- And in like manner all such things are useful to a city in concord — abundance of money, multitude of men, honours and glory and power; but otherwise they are troublesome and hard to manage, like many wild beasts or cattle reared in the same place, shut in by a single enclosure, butting one another and trampling and climbing over one another. But were I in good health, I would not leave off the discourse before I had gone through it sufficiently according to my ability; as it is, you perhaps are rather occupied with other matters, and I am in far poorer condition than the magnitude of the task demands.
- It remains, then, to speak the shortest and most effective discourse — that addressed to the gods. For they know the thoughts even of those who speak softly. And perhaps this too belongs to one who is exceedingly well-disposed; just as good fathers counsel their children in what they can, and in matters wherein they cannot persuade them, pray to the gods on their behalf. I pray, then, to Dionysus the forefather of this city, and to Heracles its founder, and to Zeus Guardian of the City, and to Athena and Aphrodite Fosterer of Friendship, and to Concord and Nemesis and the other gods, that from this day forth they may cast upon this city longing for itself, and love, and a single mind, and the wish and the will for the same things, and may cast out faction and strife and contentiousness, so that it may be henceforth among the most prosperous and noblest of cities.