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THAT THEY ALSO SHARED IN THE SPOILS WITH THE WRONGDOERS
But why, O most wise one, if Charilaus and Archelaus, the kings of the Lacedaemonians, should divide in half for Apollo a portion of the acquired lot, will it be much better for them? And to what other Apollo do you speak? For surely not for you yourself, O shameless prophet, lest someone should rebuke you yourself, for so badly dividing the spoils with the robbers.” 5.32.2 So let these things be so. Come, let us add to these things also the means by which Apollo, in turn, admires Archilochus, a man who used in his own poems all sorts of foul language and unspeakable words against women, which no temperate man would endure even to hear; and Euripides, who fell away from the school and philosophy of Socrates, but is still even now performed as a tragedian on the stage; and, in addition to these, Homer, whom the noble Plato banishes from his own republic as being in no way beneficial, but rather having become a poet of words that corrupt the young in the worst ways. Concerning which again the aforementioned writer mocks the oracle-giving god in some such way as this: 5.33.1 31.
THAT THEY ALSO INDISCRIMINATELY, LIKE THE CROWD, PRAISED THE POETS WHO HAD DEMONSTRATED NOTHING WORTHY OF A PHILOSOPHER'S LIFE
“‘Immortal and renowned, O Telesicles, shall your son be among men;’ and the son was Archilochus. 5.33.2 ‘You shall have a son, Mnesarchides, whom all men will honor, and he will rush on to noble fame and will be decked with the sweet grace of sacred crowns;’ 5.33.3 and the son was Euripides. And to Homer: ‘Life has allotted to you a double fate, the one of two dim suns, the other equal to the immortals, both living and dead;’ and for this reason he heard: ‘O happy and ill-fated one, for you were born for both;’ 5.33.4 and it is not a man who speaks, but one who once insisted that he, being a god, ought not to care for men who suffer ill. Come now, O god, do not overlook us either. For we desire, if we are doing nothing wrong, some of us noble fame, others sacred crowns, others equality with the gods, 5.33.5 and others immortality itself. What then was this, on account of which Archilochus seemed to you to be worthy of heaven? Do not begrudge, O most philanthropic of gods, the way upward to other men also. What do you command us to do? Or clearly the things of Archilochus, 5.33.6 if we are to appear worthy of your hearth, to revile bitterly those who are unwilling to marry us, and to attack the catamites also, since they are much more wicked than other wicked men; not without meter, for this 5.33.7 is the language both of gods, and therefore also of divine men, like Archilochus. And perhaps it is no wonder. For through excellence in these things a house is well managed, 5.33.8 and a private life well, and cities in concord and nations in good order are held together. Not unreasonably, then, did he seem to you to be a servant of the Muses, and his murderer not worthy of entrance to you gods nor of a voice from you, 5.33.9 having killed a man of voice. Therefore, the threat against Archias was not unjust, nor was the Pythia untimely in avenging Archilochus, long since dead, and commanding him to go out 5.33.10 from the temple, the accursed one; for he had killed a “servant of the Muses.” Therefore, you did not seem to me to be unseemly in defending the poet; for I remembered also the other poet and the sacred crowns of Euripides, although I am at a loss and desire to hear not that he was crowned, but how these crowns were sacred; 5.33.11 nor that his “fame rushed on,” but how this was noble. For he was applauded in the crowds, I know, and he pleased tyrants, this too I know; and he practiced a craft, at which not only was he himself admired the
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ΟΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΣΥΝΕΜΕΡΙΖΟΝΤΟ ΤΟΙΣ Α∆ΙΚΟΥΣΙΝ
∆ιὰ τί δέ, ὦ σοφώτατε, Χαρίλαος καὶ Ἀρχέλαος οἱ Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεῖς, εἴ κεν ἐπικτήτου μοίρης λάχος Ἀπόλλωνι ἥμισυ δάσσωνται, πολὺ λώϊον ἔσσεται αὐτοῖς; ποίῳ δὲ καὶ ἄλλῳ λέγεις Ἀπόλλωνι; οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο αὐτῷ σοι, ὦ ἀναίσχυντε μάντι, ὡς μή τίς σοι αὐτῷ ἐπιπλήξειεν, ἅτε κακῶς οὕτω συνδιαιρουμένῳ τοῖς λῃσταῖς.» 5.32.2 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὧδε ἐχέτω. φέρε δὲ τούτοις προσθῶμεν καὶ δι' ὧν αὖθις ὁ Ἀπόλλων θαυμάζει τὸν Ἀρχίλοχον, ἄνδρα παντοίαις κατὰ γυναικῶν αἰσχρορρημοσύναις καὶ ἀρρητολογίαις, ἃς οὐδ' ἀκοῦσαί τις σώφρων ἀνὴρ ὑπομείνειεν, ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις ποιήμασι κεχρημένον· καὶ τὸν Εὐριπίδην τῆς μὲν Σωκράτους διατριβῆς καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἐκπεσόντα, εἰσέτι δὲ καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ τῆς θυμέλης τραγῳδούμενον· καὶ Ὅμηρον ἐπὶ τούτοις, ὃν ὁ γενναῖος Πλάτων ἐξωθεῖ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ πολιτείας ὡς κατ' οὐδὲν ὠφέλιμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἔσχατα τοὺς νέους λυμαινομένων λόγων ποιητὴν γεγενημένον. ἐφ' οἷς πάλιν ὁ προδηλωθεὶς τὸν χρησμῳδὸν θεὸν ὧδέ πως σκώπτει· 5.33.1 λαʹ.
ΟΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΟΙΗΤΑΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΜΗ∆ΕΝ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΥ ΒΙΟΥ ΑΞΙΟΝ ΕΠΙ∆Ε∆ΕΙΓΜΕΝΟΥΣ ΑΚΡΙΤΩΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΟΛΛΟΥΣ ΕΝΕΚΩΜΙΑΖΟΝ
«Ἀθάνατός σοι παῖς καὶ ἀοίδιμος, ὦ Τελεσίκλεις, ἔσσετ' ἐν ἀνθρώποις· ὁ δὲ παῖς ἦν Ἀρχίλοχος. 5.33.2 ἔσται σοι κοῦρος, Μνησαρχίδη, ὅντινα πάντες ἄνθρωποι τίσουσι, καὶ ἐς κλέος ἐσθλὸν ὀρούσει καὶ στεφέων ἱερῶν γλυκερὴν χάριν ἀμφιβαλεῖται· 5.33.3 ὁ δὲ κοῦρος ἦν Εὐριπίδης. Ὁμήρῳ δέ· σοὶ ζωὴ δοιὰς μοίρας λάχεν, ἡ μὲν ἀμαυρῶν ἠελίων δισσῶν, ἡ δ' ἀθανάτοις ἰσόμοιρος, ζῶν καὶ ἀποφθίμενος· καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ἤκουεν· ὄλβιε καὶ δύσδαιμον, ἔφυς γὰρ ἐπ' ἀμφοτέροισιν· 5.33.4 λέγει δὲ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλά τις διατεινάμενός ποτε, ὅτι αὐτὸν οὐ χρὴ ἀνθρώπων θεὸν ὄντα δυηπαθέων ἀλεγίζειν. ἄγε οὖν, ὦ θεέ, μὴ περιίδῃς μηδ' ἡμᾶς. ἐπιθυμοῦμεν γάρ, εἰ μή τι ἀδικοῦμεν, οἱ μὲν κλέους ἐσθλοῦ, οἱ δὲ στεφάνων ἱερῶν, οἱ δὲ πρὸς θεοὺς ἰσομοιρίας, 5.33.5 οἱ δὲ αὐτῆς ἀθανασίας. τί ποτ' οὖν ἦν τοῦτο δι' ὅ σοι Ἀρχίλοχος ἔδοξεν ἄξιος εἶναι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ; μὴ φθονήσῃς, ὦ φιλανθρωπότατε θεῶν, μηδ' ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις τῆς ἄνω ὁδοῦ. τί πράττειν κελεύεις ἡμᾶς; ἢ δηλαδὴ τὰ Ἀρχιλόχου, 5.33.6 εἰ μέλλοιμεν ἄξιοι φανεῖσθαι τῆς ὑμετέρας ἑστίας, λοιδορῆσαι μὲν πικρῶς τὰς οὐκ ἐθελούσας ἡμῖν γαμεῖσθαι, ἅψασθαι δὲ καὶ τῶν κιναίδων, ἐπειδὴ τῶν ἄλλων πονηρῶν πολὺ πονηρότεροί εἰσιν· οὐχὶ δίχα μέτρου, αὕτη γὰρ 5.33.7 διάλεκτος καὶ θεῶν, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ θείων ἀνδρῶν, ὥσπερ Ἀρχιλόχου. καὶ οὐδὲν ἴσως θαυμαστόν. διὰ γὰρ τὴν ἐν τούτοις ὑπεροχὴν εὖ μὲν οἶκος οἰκεῖται, 5.33.8 εὖ δὲ ἰδιώτης βίος, πόλεις δὲ ὁμοφρόνως καὶ ἔθνη εὐνόμως συνεστᾶσιν. οὐκ ἀπεικότως ἄρα σοι καὶ Μουσῶν θεράπων ἔδοξεν εἶναι, καὶ ὁ φονεὺς αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἄξιος εἶναι τῆς πρὸς ὑμᾶς τοὺς θεοὺς εἰσόδου οὐδὲ τῆς παρ' ὑμῶν φωνῆς, 5.33.9 ἄνδρα φωνάεντα ἀποκτείνας. οὔκουν ἄδικος ἡ πρὸς τὸν Ἀρχίαν ἀπειλὴ οὐδ' ἄκαιρος ἡ Πυθία τιμωροῦσα Ἀρχιλόχῳ τῷ πάλαι νεκρῷ καὶ κελεύουσα ἐξιέναι 5.33.10 τοῦ ναοῦ τὸν ἐναγῆ· «Μουσάων» γὰρ ἀπέκτεινεν «θεράποντα». οὔκουν ἔμοιγ' ἐφάνης ἐπαμύνων τῷ ποιητῇ ἀπρεπὴς εἶναι· ἐμεμνήμην γὰρ καὶ τοῦ ἑτέρου ποιητοῦ καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν τοῦ Εὐριπίδου στεφάνων, καίτοι ἀπορῶν καὶ ἀκοῦσαι ἐπιθυμῶν οὐχ ὅτι ἐστεφανοῦτο, ἀλλὰ πῶς ἦν τὰ στέφη ταῦτα ἱερά· 5.33.11 οὐδ' ὅτι αὐτοῦ «κλέος ὄρουσεν», ἀλλὰ πῶς ἐσθλὸν ἦν τοῦτο. ἐκροταλίζετο μὲν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ὄχλοις, οἶδα, καὶ τυράννοις ἤρεσκε, καὶ τοῦτο οἶδα· καὶ ἔργον ἐπετήδευεν, ἐφ' ᾧ οὐχ ὅπως αὐτὸς ἐθαυμάζετο ὁ