Military expeditions in war it would be improper to reckon among official visits abroad. It is right that embassies should be sent to Apollo at Pytho and to Zeus at Olympia, and to Nemea and the Isthmus, to take part in the sacrifices and games in honor of these gods; and it is right also that the ambassadors thus sent should be, so far as is practicable, as numerous, noble and good as possible,—men who will gain for the State a high reputation in the sacred congresses of peace, and confer on i
ProtarchusYes, very much so.SocratesSurely ignorance is an evil, as is also what we call stupidity.ProtarchusSurely.SocratesNext, then, consider the nature of the ridiculous.ProtarchusPlease proceed.SocratesThe ridiculous is in its main aspect a kind of vice which gives its name to a condition; and it is that part of vice in general which involves the opposite of the condition mentioned in the inscription at Delphi.ProtarchusYou mean “Know thyself,” Socrat
The chorus of Theban elders enters.
Chorus
O sweetly-speaking message of Zeus, in what spirit have you come to glorious Thebes from golden Pytho? I am on the rack, terror shakes my soul, O Delian healer to whom wild cries rise,in holy fear of you, wondering what debt you will extract from me, perhaps unknown before, perhaps renewed with the revolving years. Tell me, immortal Voice, child of golden Hope.
and influence? I am not yet so misguidedthat I desire other honors than those which bring profit. Now, every man has a greeting for me; now, all that have a request of you crave to speak with me, since in me lies all their hope of success. Why then should I give up these things and take those others?No mind will become false while it is wise. No, I am no lover of such a policy, and if another put it into action, I could never bear to go along with him. And, in proof of this, first go to Pytho, and ask whether I brought a true report of the oracle.Then next, if you have found that I have planned anything in concert with the soothsayer, take and slay me, by the sentence not of one mouth, but of two—by my own no less than yours. But do not assume my guilt on unproven inference. It is not just to judge bad men good at random,or good men bad. I think that casting off a true friend is for a man like casting away the life in his own bosom, which he most loves. You will surely learn
Flavius Josephus, Against Apion (ed. William Whiston, A.M.), BOOK II, section 157 (search)
these pretensions
to a supernatural conduct, either in these legislators or oracles, were
mere delusions of men without any demoniacal impressions, nor that Josephus
took them so to be; as the ancientest and contemporary authors did still
believe them to be supernatural.
to have been among the Greeks, and other legislators after him; for some
of them suppose that they had their laws from Jupiter, while Minos said
that the revelation of his laws was to be referred to Apollo, and his oracle
at Delphi, whether they really thought they were so derived, or supposed,
however, that they could persuade the people easily that so it was. But
which of these it was who made the best laws, and which had the greatest
reason to believe that God was their author, it will be easy, upon comparing
those laws themselves together, to determine; for it is time that we come
to that point. This whole very large passage is corrected by Dr. Hudson from Eusebius's
citation of it, Prep. Evangel. viii. 8, which is
Homer, The Iliad (ed. Samuel Butler), Scroll 2, line 480 (search)
a, Graia, and the fair city of Mykalessos. They also held Harma, Eilesium, and Erythrae;
and they had Eleon, Hyle, and Peteon; Ocalea and the strong fortress of Medeon; Copae, Eutresis, and Thisbe the haunt of doves; Coronea, and the pastures of Haliartus; Plataea and Glisas;
the fortress of Thebes the less; holy Onchestos with its famous grove of Poseidon; Arne rich in vineyards; Midea, sacred Nisa, and Anthedon upon the sea. From these there came fifty ships, and in each
there were a hundred and twenty young men of the Boeotians. Askalaphos and Ialmenos, sons of Ares, led the people that dwelt in Aspledon and Orkhomenos the realm of Minyas. Astyoche a noble maiden bore them in the house of Aktor son of Azeus; for she had gone with Ares secretly into an upper chamber,
and he had lain with her. With these there came thirty ships. The Phocaeans were led by Schedios and Epistrophos, sons of mighty Iphitos the son of Naubolos. These were they that held Cyparissus, rocky Pytho,
Homer, The Iliad (ed. Samuel Butler), Scroll 9, line 334 (search)
an women in Hellas and Phthia, daughters of kings that have cities under them; of these I can take whom I will and marry her. Many a time was I minded when at home in Phthia to woo and wed a woman who would make me a suitable wife, and to enjoy the riches of my old father Peleus. My life [psukhê] means more to me than all the wealth of Ilion while it was yet at peace before the Achaeans went there, or than all the treasure that lies on the stone floor of Apollo's temple beneath the cliffs of Pytho. Cattle and sheep are to be had for harrying, and a man buy both tripods and horses if he wants them, but when his life has once left him it can neither be bought nor harried back again.
"My mother Thetis tells me that there are two ways in which I may meet my end [telos]. If I stay here and fight, I shall lose my safe homecoming [nostos] but I will have a glory [kleos] that is unwilting: whereas if I go home my glory [kleos] will die, but it will be a long time before the outcome [telos]
Homer, The Odyssey (ed. Samuel Butler, Based on public domain edition, revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy.), Scroll 8, line 2 (search)
ngs that were before them, but as soon as they had
had enough to eat and drink, the muse inspired Demodokos to sing the
feats [kleos] of heroes, and most especially a matter
whose kleos at that time reached wide heaven, to wit, the
quarrel [neikos] between Odysseus and Achilles, and
the fierce words that they heaped on one another as they sat together
at a banquet. But Agamemnon was glad in his noos when he heard
his chieftains quarreling with one another, for Apollo had foretold
him this at Pytho when he crossed the stone floor to consult the
oracle. Here the beginning of the evil started rolling down, by the
will of Zeus, toward both Danaans and Trojans.
Thus sang the bard, but Odysseus
drew his purple mantle over his head and covered his face, for he was
ashamed to let the Phaeacians see that he was weeping. When the bard
left off singing he wiped the tears from his eyes, uncovered his
face, and, taking his cup, made a drink-offering to the gods; but
when the Phaeacians pressed De
Homer, The Odyssey (ed. Samuel Butler, Based on public domain edition, revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy.), Scroll 11, line 13 (search)
ll of asphodel driving the ghosts of the wild beasts that he
had killed upon the mountains, and he had a great bronze club in his
hand, unbreakable for ever and ever.
"And I saw Tityus son of Gaia
stretched upon the plain and covering some nine acres of ground. Two
vultures on either side of him were digging their beaks into his
liver, and he kept on trying to beat them off with his hands, but
could not; for he had violated Zeus’ mistress Leto as she was
going through Panopeus on her way to Pytho.
"I saw also the dreadful fate of
Tantalus, who stood in a lake that reached his chin; he was dying to
quench his thirst, but could never reach the water, for whenever the
poor creature stooped to drink, it dried up and vanished, so that
there was nothing but dry ground - parched by a daimôn.
There were tall trees, moreover, that shed their fruit over his head
- pears, pomegranates, apples, sweet figs and juicy olives, but
whenever the poor creature stretched out his hand to take some, the
Today you must stand beside a man dear to me,
by the king of horsefamed Cyrene,
and joining with Archesilaus in his victory revels,
Muse, swell the breeze of songs
owed to Leto's Twins and to Pytho,
where once the priestess sitting in honor
beside the golden eagles of Zeus,
Apollo now in his land, proclaimed
by oracle that Battos would be founder
of fruitbearing Libya,
so that he'd finally leave the holy
island and plant
a city of fine chariots
on a chalky breast of earth,
aene,
when you were asking what release might come
from the gods for a stammering voice.
After long time, even now, as at the peak
of crimson-flowered spring,
eighth in line from these children blossoms
Archesilaus: to whom Apollo and Pytho
granted glory in the chariot race
from the hands of the Amphictyons.
I shall offer to the Muses
him and the golden fleece of the ram:
for when the Minyans sailed after it,
heaven-sent honors
were planted for them.
What then was the beg
