Oration 60
Imperial Dio Chrysostom Greek- Can you resolve this difficulty for me—whether those who find fault, some with Archilochus and others with Sophocles, over the affair of Nessus and Deianeira, do so justly or not? For some say that Archilochus talks nonsense in representing Deianeira, while she is being assaulted by the Centaur, as reciting a set speech to Heracles, reminding him of Achelous's wooing of her and of what happened then—so that Nessus had ample leisure to do whatever he wished. Others say that Sophocles made the shooting of the arrow come before its proper time, while they were still crossing the river; for in that case Deianeira too would have perished, the Centaur letting her go. But do not, as is your habit, say things much at variance with the common view, anything rather than what one would naturally suppose. — 2. (D.) Are you, then, bidding me tell you what one might suppose who supposes rightly, or what one might suppose who supposes wrongly? — For my part, what one might suppose who supposes rightly. — (D.) What, then, of the things the multitude believe? Is it necessary that one who wishes to expound rightly should speak contrary to the opinion of the multitude? — It is necessary. — (D.) Then do not follow with ill grace, if what is said be of such a kind; but consider whether it is not said as it ought to be. — Speak, then, and expound it as it seems to you. — (D.) Well, I tell you now that the whole error concerning the story lies in the supposition that the Centaur attempted to lie with Deianeira. — Did he not attempt it, then? — 3. (D.) No. Or does it seem to you credible that, in the sight of Heracles, who held his bow, and having had earlier experience of his prowess—at the time when he alone of the Centaurs escaped from the house of Pholus, though those Centaurs had done him no such wrong—he would attempt to lie with his wife? — Such a thing does indeed present some difficulty; but let us not, in raising this point, do away with the whole story. — (D.) By no means, provided that we reason out how the matter came about and was likely to have come about. — Speak, then, in that way. — 4. (D.) Nessus, as he was at once carrying Deianeira across, attempted, while in mid-crossing, to corrupt her in this manner—not, as they say, by force, but by speaking suitable words to her and instructing her how she might gain the mastery over Heracles. He said that at present he was wild and harsh, and would be with her only a short time, and that grudgingly, because of his labours and his wanderings abroad and the life he had chosen. "But if," he said, "you persuade him, partly by tender care and partly by argument, to leave off this misery and these toils, and to live at ease and pleasantly, he will both be far gentler toward you and will live the better, and will from then on spend the rest of his time with you, remaining at home." 5. These things the Centaur said in plotting against Heracles, in the hope that he might somehow be able to lead him into luxury and indolence; for he knew that, once he changed his way of life and his discipline, he would be easily mastered and weak. And Deianeira, as she listened, gave no careless attention to his words, but pondered how rightly the Centaur spoke—as was natural in a woman who wished to have her husband under her own control. But Heracles, suspecting that the Centaur was saying nothing wholesome, from his speaking earnestly to Deianeira and from her giving heed to him, thereupon shot him. 6. And as he died he nonetheless bade Deianeira remember what he had said and act as he himself had advised. Afterward, Deianeira, remembering the Centaur's words, and at the same time seeing that Heracles relaxed nothing, but went off on a still longer journey abroad—the last one, when he sacked Oechalia—and hearing it said that he had fallen in love with Iole, judged it better that the advice she had been given should be carried out; 7. and so she set upon him; and—such being the wheedling and crafty nature of women—she did not let up until she had persuaded him, partly by coaxing and by professing that she was anxious for him, that he should not come to harm by enduring naked in the lion's skin alike in winter and in summer, to lay aside the skin and put on a robe like other men's. And this was the so-called tunic of Deianeira that Heracles put on. 8. Along with the dress she made him change the rest of his manner of living too: to sleep upon couches, and not to camp out of doors for the most part, as he had been wont to do before; nor to do his own work, nor to use the same fare, but elaborately prepared bread and rich meat and sweet wine and all that goes with these. And from this change, as I suppose was inevitable, falling into weakness and softness of body, and judging that, once he had laid hold of luxury, it was no longer easy to lay it aside, he thereupon set himself afire—partly thinking it better to be quit of such a life, and partly disgusted with himself that he had suffered himself to taste of luxury. There, then, you have my account, such as I have been able to give concerning the story. — 9. And by Zeus it seems to me in no way mean or implausible. And somehow it seems to me that the practice of some philosophers with regard to such tales resembles that of the makers of figurines. For those craftsmen provide a mould, and whatever clay they put into it, they bring out a shape resembling the mould; and certain philosophers have by now proved to be such men, that whatever myth or story they take, they drag and mould it according to their own thought and so display it as useful and befitting philosophy—just as we hear that Socrates above all was such a man. 10. For he entered into all manner of discourse and every kind of company—with rhetoricians, with sophists, with geometers, with musicians, with trainers, and with the other craftsmen—and in wrestling-schools and at banquets and in the marketplace he was not hindered from philosophizing in every way and from exhorting his companions toward virtue, introducing no thesis of his own nor any problem framed in advance, but always making use of the matter at hand and bringing it round to philosophy.