[28,0] ΜΕΛΑΓΚΟΜΑΣ Β ΤΗΙ ΤΑΞΕΙ Α. (28,1) Ἀναβάντες ἀπὸ τοῦ λιμένος εὐθὺς ἐβαδίζομεν, ὀψόμενοι τοὺς ἀθλητάς, ὡς ἂν τὴν ὅλην ἐπιδημίαν πεποιημένοι κατὰ θέαν τοῦ ἀγῶνος. ἐπεὶ δὲ πρὸς τῷ γυμνασίῳ ἦμεν, τοὺς μέν τινας ἑωρῶμεν ἐν τῷ δρόμῳ ἔξω τρέχοντας, καὶ κραυγὴ τῶν παρακελευομένων ἦν, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλως γυμναζομένους. τούτοις μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἐδόκει προσέχειν· ὅπου δὲ πλεῖστον ὄχλον ἴδοιμεν, ἐκεῖ ἐβαδίζομεν. (28,2) ὁρῶμεν οὖν πάνυ πολλοὺς ἑστηκότας πρὸς τῇ ἐξέδρᾳ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους καὶ ἑτέρους ἀεὶ προσάγοντας, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἀπιόντας διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ἰδεῖν. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον ἐπειρώμεθα ὁρᾶν ὑπερκύπτοντες, καὶ μόλις ἑωρῶμεν τοῦ γυμναζομένου τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἀνατετακότος. ἔπειτα κατὰ μικρὸν ἐνδοτέρω ἐγενόμεθα. ἦν οὖν νεανίσκος πάνυ μέγας καὶ καλός, ἔτι δέ, ὡς εἰκός, μεῖζον αὐτοῦ καὶ κάλλιον ὑπὸ τῆς γυμνασίας τὸ σῶμα ἐφαίνετο. πάνυ δὲ λαμπρῶς ἐγυμνάζετο καὶ μετὰ φρονήματος, ὥστε ἀγωνιζομένῳ μᾶλλον ἐῴκει. (28,3) ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐπαύσατο γυμναζόμενος καὶ τὸ πλῆθος ἀνεχώρει, κατενοοῦμεν αὐτὸν ἐπιμελέστερον. ἦν δὲ ὅμοιος τοῖς ἀνδριᾶσι τοῖς ἀκριβῶς εἰργασμένοις· εἶχε δὲ καὶ τὸ χρῶμα ὅμοιον χαλκῷ κεκραμένῳ. (28,4) ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀπηλλάγη, τῶν παρόντων τινὰ ἠρόμεθα πρεσβύτην ὅστις εἴη. καὶ ὃς σκυθρωπάσας, Οὗτος μέντοι Ἰατροκλῆς ὁ τοῦ Μελαγκόμα ἀνταγωνιστὴς καὶ μόνος ἐκείνῳ οὐκ ἀξιῶν παραχωρεῖν τὸ γοῦν ἐφ´ ἑαυτῷ. οὐδὲν μέντοι πλέον ἐποίει. ἡττᾶτο γὰρ ἀεὶ ἐνίοτε δι´ ὅλης τῆς ἡμέρας ἀγωνισάμενος· ἤδη μέντοι ἀπειρήκει, ὥστε τὸν τελευταῖον τοῦτον ἀγῶνα τὸν ἐν τῇ Νεαπόλει οὐδένα ταχύτερον τούτου ἐνίκησεν. ἀλλὰ νῦν ὁρᾶτε ὅσον φρονεῖ καὶ ἐν ὅσῳ πλήθει γυμνάζεται. οἶμαι δὲ ἔγωγε καὶ ἐπιχαίρειν αὐτὸν ἐκείνῳ. καὶ εἰκὸς μέντοι· οὐ γὰρ μόνον τοῦτον τὸν στέφανον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας ἐπίσταται αὑτοῦ ὄντας. (28,5) Ἦ γάρ, ἔφην, τέθνηκεν ὁ Μελαγκόμας; ἐπεὶ τό γε ὄνομα καὶ ἡμεῖς ᾔδειμεν, αὐτὸν οὐδεπώποτε ἰδόντες. Οὐ πρὸ πολλοῦ γε, εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ τρίτη που ἡμέρα ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τῆς ταφῆς. Τίνι δέ, εἶπον, τούτου διέφερε, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δέ, πότερον μεγέθει ἢ εὐψυχίᾳ; Ἐκεῖνος, ἔφη, ὦ βέλτιστε, πάντων ἀνθρώπων, οὐχὶ τῶν ἀγωνιστῶν μόνον εὐψυχότατος καὶ μέγιστος ἔφυ, ἔτι δὲ κάλλιστος. καὶ εἴ γε ἰδιώτης ἔμεινε καὶ μηδὲν ὅλως ἔπραξε, δι´ αὐτό που τὸ κάλλος περιβόητος ἂν ἦν· ἐπεὶ καὶ νῦν ἐπέστρεφεν ἅπαντας, ὁπότε ἀπίοι που, (28,6) καὶ τοὺς οὐκ εἰδότας ὅστις ἐστίν. καίτοι οὔτε ἐσθῆτι ἐκόσμει ἑαυτὸν οὔτε ἄλλῳ τῳ γιγνώσκεσθαι μᾶλλον ἐπετήδευεν ἢ λανθάνειν· ἀποδυσαμένου δ´ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις ἄλλον ἐθεᾶτο, πολλῶν μὲν παίδων, πολλῶν δὲ ἀνδρῶν γυμναζομένων. εἰωθότος δὲ τοῦ κάλλους εἰς τρυφὴν ἄγειν καὶ τοὺς μετρίως αὐτοῦ μετειληφότας, τοιοῦτος ὢν τὸ εἶδος ἔτι σωφρονέστερος ἦν· καὶ καταφρονῶν δὲ τοῦ κάλλους οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐφύλαττεν αὐτὸ ἐν οὕτω χαλεπῷ ἐπιτηδεύματι. (28,7) πυγμὴν γοῦν ἀγωνιζόμενος οὕτως ὑγιὴς ἦν ὥσπερ τῶν δρομέων τις, οὕτω δὲ σφόδρα γεγύμναστο καὶ τοσοῦτο περιῆν τοῖς πόνοις ὥστε δυνατὸς ἦν καὶ δύο ἡμέρας ἑξῆς μένειν ἀνατετακὼς τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ οὐκ ἂν εἶδεν οὐδεὶς ὑφέντα αὐτὸν ἢ ἀναπαυσάμενον, ὥσπερ εἰώθασιν. πρότερον δὲ ἠνάγκαζε τοὺς ἀνταγωνιστὰς ἀπειπεῖν, οὐ μόνον πρὶν αὐτὸς πληγῆναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὶν πλῆξαι ἐκείνους· οὐ γὰρ τὸ παίειν καὶ τιτρώσκεσθαι ἀνδρείαν ἐνόμιζεν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν εἶναι μὴ δυναμένων πονεῖν καὶ ἀπηλλάχθαι βουλομένων· (28,8) τὸ δὲ ἀνέχεσθαι τοῦ χρόνου καὶ μήτε τοῦ βάρους τῶν χειρῶν ἡττᾶσθαι μήτε τοῦ πνεύματος ἐνδεᾶ γίγνεσθαι μήτε τῷ καύματι ἄχθεσθαι, τοῦτο δὲ εἶναι γενναῖον. Ὀρθῶς μέντοι, ἔφην, ὑπολαμβάνων. καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ οἱ φαυλότατοι τὰ ὅπλα ῥίπτουσιν, εὖ εἰδότες ὅτι γυμνοὶ μᾶλλον ἂν τιτρώσκοιντο· οὕτω μᾶλλον ἡττῶνται τοῦ κόπου ἢ τῶν τραυμάτων. (28,9) Τοιγάρτοι, εἶπεν, ἀφ´ οὗπερ ἤρξατο ἀγωνίζεσθαι Πυθοῖ, πρῶτος μὲν ὧν ἴσμεν ἄλειπτος διεγένετο, πλείστους καὶ μεγίστους στεφάνους ἀνελόμενος καὶ ἀνταγωνισταῖς οὔτε φαύλοις οὔτε ὀλίγοις χρησάμενος. καὶ τὸν πατέρα ἐνδοξότατον ὄντα, τὸν Μελαγκόμαν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Καρίας, ἄλλους τε ἀγῶνας καὶ Ὀλυμπίασι νικήσαντα, οὐδέπω ἀνὴρ ὢν ὑπερεβάλετο·

[28,0] The Twenty-eighth Discourse: Melancomas (II). 1 After coming up from the harbour, we strolled over at once to have a look at the athletes, just as if the sole purpose of our trip had been to view the contests. When we got near the gymnasium we saw a number running on the track outside of it, and there was a roar as the crowd cheered them on; and we also saw the athletes who were exercising in other ways. To those, however, we thought it hardly worth while to pay attention; but wherever we saw the biggest crowd, there we would stroll. 2 So we noticed a great number of people standing near the Arcade of Heracles and a stream of others coming up, and some also going away because they could not see. At first we tried to see by looking over other people's shoulders, and with difficulty managed to catch a glimpse of the head of a man who was exercising with his hands up. Then we gradually got in closer. He was a very tall and beautiful young man; and besides, the exercises he was taking made his body seem, quite naturally, still taller and more beautiful. He was giving a most brilliant performance, and in so spirited a way that he seemed more like a man in an actual contest. 3 Then, when he stopped exercising and the crowd began to draw away, we studied him more (p363) closely. He was just like one of the most carefully wrought statues, and also he had a colour like well blended bronze. 4 After he had gone, we asked one of the bystanders, an old man, who he was; and the man said with a frown: "Why that is Iatrocles, the opponent of Melancomas, the only man who would not give in to him, at least, that is, if he could help it. Still he could not get the better of him, for he was always defeated, sometimes after competing for a whole day. However, Iatrocles had already given up trying, so that in the last contest here in Naples, Melancomas defeated no opponent more quickly than he did Iatrocles. But you see how confident he is now, and how large a crowd he has about him as he takes his exercise. For my part, I really believe that he feels a malicious joy at the other man's misfortune; and naturally enough, for he knows that not only the next crown but all others are now his own." 5 "What!" I exclaimed, "Is Melancomas dead?" — for even we knew his name at least, although we had never seen the man himself. "Yes," he replied, "he died not long ago. I believe this is the second day since he was buried." "And in what respect," I asked, "was he superior to this man and to the others also? Was it in size, or in courage?" "That man, sir," he replied, "was more courageous and bigger than any other man in the world, not merely than any of his opponents; and furthermore, he was the most beautiful. And if he had remained an amateur and had not gone in for boxing at all, I believe that he would have become widely known (p365) simply on account of his beauty; for even as it was, he attracted everybody's attention whenever he went anywhere, even that of people who did not know who he was. 6 And yet he did not dress up in fine clothes or in any other way try to attract notice rather than to remain inconspicuous; but when he was stripped, nobody would look at anyone else, although many boys and many men were training. And although beauty is wont to lead to softness, even with those who are only moderately endowed with it, beautiful as he was, he was even more remarkable for his self-control and moderation; and though despising his beauty, he none the less preserved it in spite of his rough profession. 7 At any rate, although boxing was his specialty, he remained as free from marks as any of the runners; and he had trained so rigorously and went so far beyond others in toilsome exercising that he was able to remain for two whole days in succession with his hands up, and nobody could catch him letting them down or taking a rest, as athletes usually do. Then he used to force his opponents to give up, not only before he himself had received a blow but even before he had landed one on them. For he did not consider it courage to strike his opponent or to receive an injury himself, but thought this indicated lack of stamina and a desire to have done with the contest. 8 But to last out the full time without either being done up by the weight of his arms, or becoming out of breath, or being distressed by the heat — that, he thought, was a splendid achievement." (p367) "He had the right idea though," said I, breaking in. "For in war the worst soldiers throw away their shields though they know well enough that when unprotected they are more apt to be wounded. Thus, we see, they are overcome more by their exhaustion than by their wounds." 9 "That is just the reason," he rejoined, "why, from the time Melancomas began to compete in the Pythian games, he was the first man to our knowledge who remained undefeated, after winning the most and the greatest crowns and facing antagonists who were neither negligible nor few in number. And his own father — a very famous man, the well-known Melancomas who came from Caria and among his other victories also won at Olympia — he had surpassed before he came to manhhod; for his father did not remain undefeated. However, splendid as this young athlete was,