Oration 48

Dio Chrysostom

Translated by Thothica

In the atlas

11 min

First, men, we ought to be grateful to the most excellent Varenus, both for the rest of the zeal which he has shown toward the city, and because, when we wished to hold an assembly again, he granted it not only readily but even gladly. For this was the act of one who trusts you and knows that you will not use the liberty for any unseemly purpose. For surely no one heaps up green wood to be burned, foreknowing that there must arise much unseemly smoke; nor does a governor of sense bring a disordered people together to the same place, unless some greater necessity constrains him.
Now, then, it is your task not to belie his judgement, but to show yourselves holding the assembly prudently and well, and first, as it seems to me, to adorn yourselves with friendship and concord toward one another; and if he comes here when invited, to defer for the present the other matters about which you were clamouring — for he will himself inquire into the public accounts, even if you should wish to prevent it. But for now give thanks, and greet him, and receive him with fair words and honour, that he may be present not as a physician toward the sick, with suspicion and reluctance, for the sake of treatment, but as toward the healthy, gladly and eagerly.
For indeed now he will depart, perhaps after this very day, but he will come again a little later; and then, if we ourselves do not persuade you beforehand — if anyone is holding any of the public funds — having made use of one another as judges and arbitrators, it will then be possible both to speak and to cry out against them. But to rise up beforehand may be exceedingly unfair. For where did you make trial of them, or when did you make demand of them? Or who failed to obey you? And the fair words addressed to me, I beg, turn toward all. For just as at a banquet it is quite disgraceful for one of those reclining to drink alone, and on this account we are vexed not only with the cup-bearer but also with the drinker, this very same thing holds in the case of civic praises.
And in doing these things you will adorn yourselves, since the greatest adornment of a city is the praise of its citizens. For in what else do you take great pride? Do not other cities surpass you in size, and, by Zeus, in wealth and abundance and public buildings? But this one thing it is in which we vie with well-nigh all men: the having of men competent both to act and to speak, and, what is greatest, men who love their fatherland. But if one of you takes this away, in what city, even the smallest, will you seem better? For now, if you fall into variance with some city — which may no one of the gods bring to pass — and then those men revile our citizens, saying that they are robbers and faithless, how will you bear it? Will you not take it ill? Will you not straightway shout, and revile, and perhaps come to blows, as has often happened before?
Then will you yourselves say against yourselves the things which you cannot endure to hear when others say them? If ever a quarrel arises, and those men cast in your teeth that you have base citizens, that you fall into faction, will you not be ashamed? For I swear to you by all the gods that I was truly greatly grieved when someone said to me, "Reconcile the city," and I was indignant with him. For may I not see that day on which you shall have need of reconciliation, but may such things, as the saying goes, be turned upon the heads of our enemies — that is, upon the accursed Getae, and upon none of the others of our own kindred.
For what profit would there be in our sojourn here, if we did not lead you, persuaded, toward such things — ever bringing together discourses of concord and friendship and lending a hand, so far as we are able, but taking away enmity and strife and irrational and senseless contentiousness in every way?
For it is a fair thing, and alike advantageous to all, to behold a city of one mind, and friendly to itself and sympathetic — the finest of spectacles; and the most blessed of all possessions is a single judgement appearing about all things; men bringing blame and praise to the same point, and giving to the good and to the base each a trustworthy testimony. For it is fine, as in a well-ordered chorus, to sing together one and the same melody, and not, after the manner of a faulty instrument, to be at variance, giving forth double notes and sounds from double and varied characters, like a cracked flute that utters double voices — wherein lies well-nigh contempt and misfortune and being of no account either among themselves or with the governors. For of discordant choruses no one easily hears what they are saying, nor of cities at variance. For just as those sailing in one ship cannot, I think, each obtain safety separately, but all together, so neither can those who share a city.
And it befits you, who excel in education and by nature, and who are in truth purely Greek, to display your nobility in this very thing. And I should, I think, have said much on these matters and to suit the magnitude of the theme, were not my body in altogether wretched condition, and were I not, as I said, observing that you are not at variance. For this disease has neither arisen nor is growing among you, but perhaps there is some slight suspicion, of which, as of an inflammation of the eyes, we have caught the infection from those near us. And this is wont to happen often to the sea too: when the depth has been violently stirred and a storm has occurred outside, often it gives an unseen sign even to the harbours.
Do you think there is any profit in market-place and theatre and gymnasiums and porticoes and money to those who are in faction? It is not these things that make a city fair, but temperance, friendship, the trusting of one another. But when you blame the council, the presidents, the men you yourselves have chosen, do you not blame yourselves? For if your betters are base, what must one suppose about the rest? "Are we, then, to lose our own?" No one says so; but know well that in all cities there are public funds, and certain men hold them — some through ignorance, some otherwise; and one must take forethought and preserve them, yet not with enmity nor with variance. These men are ambitious; often they have contributed to you from their own resources.
Persuade them, exhort them; if they hold out, plead your case before them alone, with no one present from outside. Are you not the very men who often praise us through the whole day, calling some "best," others "Olympians," others "saviours," others "nurturers"? Then, by Zeus and the gods, will you be convicted of false witness before yourselves? And which is it — do you now speak these things in anger, or did you then flatter with those words? And are you now deceived, rather than then deceiving? Will you not cease from the turmoil and recognize that you have very gracious citizens and a city that can be blessed? — which I am able, with the gods, to do much good for, having these men as my fellow-workers, while I quote the proverb: "One man is no man."
But perhaps you were displeased that the work was not done. It is being done, and will very quickly be so, especially with these men eager and zealous, if they give willingly; for it was not unwillingly that they made the promise to you. But why do you demand from these men, yet not demand from me? Because I seem to have furnished it to you? Then do you think I would taunt you with this, if I made my own fatherland more honoured, having furnished some means of money — as from the councillors' fees, and, by Zeus, from the revenues increased through the administration? But these things are just as if I had prayed on your behalf, and the gods had brought it to pass. And if again I am able, I will do it again — and I shall be able, with you, having the men here as friends — and I will reckon up to you none of such things.
For neither do parents reckon up to their children their prayers in return for their expenditures. Do you think there would be any talk by me, or by anyone else, about a portico, if I saw you at variance? But that would be just as if a man, when one is sick and held by a frenzy and ought, I think, to be laid down and given a poultice, should anoint him with myrrh and bring him a garland; these things belong, out of abundance, to the healthy, to those who have nothing wrong with them. Do you not think that the Athenians, when they were in faction and were bringing in their enemies and betraying one another, the wretches, had both the Propylaea and the Parthenon and the porticoes and the Piraeus? Yet the Propylaea and the dockyards and the Piraeus itself only echoed the louder back at their wailing.
And yet a great and populous city, in faction and ill-minded, can for some time bear its misfortune; but nonetheless see of what sort even these things are. Do they not accuse one another, do they not drive men out, do they not bring some into the council and lead others out? Is not everything, as in an earthquake, shaken, and everything in the air, and nothing secure? Have they not come to such a pass as not to be content with their own governors, but, as in incurable diseases, to need foreign physicians? And this is just what happens with difficult horses: when the bit does not control them, a curb-chain is put upon them from outside. But I care both for your case and for my own.
For if a philosopher, having engaged in politics, was unable to furnish a city in concord, this is now a dreadful thing and inescapable — just as if a shipwright, sailing in a ship, should not furnish the ship seaworthy, or as if one professing to be a helmsman should steer right into the wave, or as if a builder, having taken charge of a house and seeing it falling, should neglect this, but, plastering and whitewashing, should think he was accomplishing something. If it were now set before me to speak about concord, I should say much both about human and about heavenly experiences — that these divine and great things are found to need concord and friendship; otherwise there is danger that this fair workmanship, the universe, should perish and be destroyed.
But perhaps I am being long-winded, when I ought to be going and entreating the governor. This much only, then, I will say: is it not disgraceful, if bees are in concord, and no one has ever seen a swarm in faction and fighting with itself — but they work together and live together, both providing themselves with food and using it... What then? Are there not even there certain ones, called drones, troublesome and devouring the honey? Yes, by Zeus, there are; but nonetheless the keepers often let even these be, not wishing to disturb the swarm, and they think it better to waste some of the honey than to throw all the bees into uproar.
Yet among us, perhaps, there is no idle drone, buzzing feebly, tasting the honey. And indeed it is also very pleasant to watch ants — how contentedly they dwell with one another, how they go forth, how they share the burdens among them, how they give way to one another on the paths. Is it not disgraceful, then, that we, being men, should be more senseless than beasts so small and senseless? These things, however, have in a way been said idly. But faction is not even worth naming among us — let no one so much as speak of it.
But it seems to me that, having purified the city thoroughly — not with squill nor with water, but with a far purer agent, reason — we should manage the rest in common, and take thought concerning the market-supervisors and the rest, and exhort the council toward these things, that it may, as is its wont, take forethought for the city; for these things will be quite easy for you. And this it is worth your while to be earnest about, on account too of the magistrate whom you have appointed, lest, having got an inexperienced man, you then leave him in surge and swell.