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Discourses 37–60
Dio Cocceianus Chrysostomus, ca. 40-ca. 120 CE, of Prusa in Bithynia, Asia Minor, inherited with his brothers large properties and debts from his generous father Pasicrates. He became a skilled rhetorician hostile to philosophers. But in the course of his travels he went to Rome in Vespasian's reign (69-79) and was converted to Stoicism. Strongly critical of the emperor Domitian (81-96) he was about 82 banned by him from Italy and Bithynia and wandered in poverty, especially in lands north of the Aegean, as far as the Danube and the primitive Getae. In 97 he spoke publicly to Greeks assembled at Olympia, was welcomed at Rome by emperor Nerva (96-98), and returned to Prusa. Arriving again at Rome on an embassy of thanks about 98-99 he became a firm friend of emperor Trajan. In 102 he travelled to Alexandria and elsewhere. Involved in a lawsuit about plans to beautify Prusa at his own expense, he stated his case before the governor of Bithynia, Pliny the Younger, 111-112. The rest of his life is unknown.
Nearly all of Dio's extant Discourses (or Orations) reflect political concerns (the most important of them dealing with affairs in Bithynia and affording valuable details about conditions in Asia Minor) or moral questions (mostly written in later life; they contain much of his best writing). Some philosophical and historical works, including one on the Getae, are lost. What survives of his achievement as a whole makes him prominent in the revival of Greek literature in the last part of the first century and the first part of the second.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Dio Chrysostom is in five volumes.
Nearly all of Dio's extant Discourses (or Orations) reflect political concerns (the most important of them dealing with affairs in Bithynia and affording valuable details about conditions in Asia Minor) or moral questions (mostly written in later life; they contain much of his best writing). Some philosophical and historical works, including one on the Getae, are lost. What survives of his achievement as a whole makes him prominent in the revival of Greek literature in the last part of the first century and the first part of the second.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Dio Chrysostom is in five volumes.
- GenresClassicsPhilosophy
480 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1946
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October 16, 2019
Dio remarks that everyone had read his speeches, and you could pick them up off the ground rather than buy them. I'm not sure what to make of the fact that this volume has no reviews on Goodreads...are people posting their reviews on some other site? Anyway, I'll make this a long one by adding a couple quotes:
"For one word spoken out of goodwill and friendship is worth all the gold and crowns and everything else deemed splendid that men possess; so take my advice and act accordingly."
"For in fact, though we know full well that health is the greatest of human blessings, still many times we ourselves plot against it to our own undoing, some yielding to the seduction of pleasures and some shirking labors which are healthful and habits which are prudent. On the other hand, if the greatest of our evils did not have for their support the pleasure of the moment, they would have no power at all to harm us; yet as it is, Nature has given that to them, and so they can deceive and delight their victims."
Many of the speeches in this volume are addresses to his hometown of Prusa. Dio was getting some pushback while trying to build a colonnade, partly because people didn't want the junky old buildings removed. Apparently development was controversial in Roman times much like today. These local political discourses are not as interesting to me as his others, though in one of them he chews the mob out for trying to burn his house down and murder his family the night before.
I was glad to see in the first discourse (by Favorinus, not Dio) support for Plutarch's charge that Herodotus slandered cities that refused to give him money. (NB: Don't believe what the self-absorbed blowhard Herodotus says about Corinth, Sparta, or Thebes.)
"For one word spoken out of goodwill and friendship is worth all the gold and crowns and everything else deemed splendid that men possess; so take my advice and act accordingly."
"For in fact, though we know full well that health is the greatest of human blessings, still many times we ourselves plot against it to our own undoing, some yielding to the seduction of pleasures and some shirking labors which are healthful and habits which are prudent. On the other hand, if the greatest of our evils did not have for their support the pleasure of the moment, they would have no power at all to harm us; yet as it is, Nature has given that to them, and so they can deceive and delight their victims."
Many of the speeches in this volume are addresses to his hometown of Prusa. Dio was getting some pushback while trying to build a colonnade, partly because people didn't want the junky old buildings removed. Apparently development was controversial in Roman times much like today. These local political discourses are not as interesting to me as his others, though in one of them he chews the mob out for trying to burn his house down and murder his family the night before.
I was glad to see in the first discourse (by Favorinus, not Dio) support for Plutarch's charge that Herodotus slandered cities that refused to give him money. (NB: Don't believe what the self-absorbed blowhard Herodotus says about Corinth, Sparta, or Thebes.)
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