[11,5] καίτοι φασὶ μὲν οἱ πολλοὶ τὸν χρόνον
τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ κριτὴν ἄριστον εἶναι, ὅτι δ´ ἂν ἀκούωσι μετὰ
πολὺν χρόνον, διὰ τοῦτο ἄπιστον νομίζουσιν. εἰ μὲν οὖν παρ´
Ἀργείοις ἐτόλμων ἀντιλέγειν Ὁμήρῳ, καὶ τὴν ποίησιν αὐτοῦ δεικνύναι ψευδῆ
περὶ τὰ μέγιστα, τυχὸν ἂν εἰκότως ἤχθοντό μοι καὶ
τῆς πόλεως ἐξέβαλλον εἰ τὴν παρ´ ἐκείνων δόξαν ἐφαινόμην ἀφανίζων καὶ
καθαιρῶν· ὑμᾶς δὲ δίκαιόν ἐστί μοι χάριν εἰδέναι καὶ
ἀκροᾶσθαι προθύμως· ὑπὲρ γὰρ τῶν ὑμετέρων προγόνων ἐσπούδακα.
(6) προλέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι τοὺς λόγους τούτους ἀνάγκη καὶ
παρ´ ἑτέροις ῥηθῆναι καὶ πολλοὺς πυθέσθαι· τούτων δὲ οἱ μέν
τινες οὐ συνήσουσιν, οἱ δὲ προσποιήσονται καταφρονεῖν, οὐ καταφρονοῦντες
αὐτῶν, οἱ δέ τινες ἐπιχειρήσουσιν ἐξελέγχειν, {μάλιστα
δὲ οἶμαι τοὺς κακοδαίμονας σοφιστάς.} ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπίσταμαι σαφῶς
ὅτι οὐδὲ ὑμῖν πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἔσονται. οἱ γὰρ πλεῖστοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὕτως ἄγαν
εἰσὶν ὑπὸ δόξης διεφθαρμένοι τὰς ψυχὰς ὥστε
μᾶλλον ἐπιθυμοῦσι περιβόητοι εἶναι ἐπὶ τοῖς μεγίστοις ἀτυχήμασιν
ἢ μηδὲν κακὸν ἔχοντες ἀγνοεῖσθαι.
(7) αὐτοὺς γὰρ οἶμαι τοὺς Ἀργείους
μὴ ἂν ἐθέλειν ἄλλως γεγονέναι τὰ περὶ τὸν Θυέστην
καὶ τὸν Ἀτρέα καὶ τοὺς Πελοπίδας, ἀλλ´ ἄχθεσθαι σφόδρα, ἐάν
τις ἐξελέγχῃ τοὺς μύθους τῶν τραγῳδῶν, λέγων ὅτι οὔτε Θυέστης
ἐμοίχευσε τὴν τοῦ Ἀτρέως οὔτε ἐκεῖνος ἀπέκτεινε τοὺς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ
παῖδας οὐδὲ κατακόψας εἱστίασε τὸν Θυέστην οὔτε Ὀρέστης αὐτόχειρ ἐγένετο
τῆς μητρός. ἅπαντα ταῦτα εἰ λέγοι τις, χαλεπῶς ἂν
φέροιεν ὡς λοιδορούμενοι.
(8) τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο κἂν Θηβαίους οἶμαι
παθεῖν, εἴ τις τὰ παρ´ αὐτοῖς ἀτυχήματα ψευδῆ ἀποφαίνοι, καὶ
οὔτε τὸν πατέρα Οἰδίπουν ἀποκτείναντα οὔτε τῇ μητρὶ συγγενόμενον οὔθ´
ἑαυτὸν τυφλώσαντα οὔτε τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ πρὸ τοῦ
τείχους ἀποθανόντας ὑπ´ ἀλλήλων, οὔθ´ ὡς ἡ Σφὶγξ ἀφικομένη
κατεσθίοι τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἥδονται ἀκούοντες καὶ
τὴν Σφίγγα ἐπιπεμφθεῖσαν αὐτοῖς διὰ χόλον Ἥρας καὶ τὸν Λάϊον
ὑπὸ τοῦ υἱέος ἀναιρεθέντα καὶ τὸν Οἰδίπουν ταῦτα ποιήσαντα
(9) καὶ παθόντα τυφλὸν ἀλᾶσθαι, καὶ πρότερον ἄλλου βασιλέως αὐτῶν
καὶ τῆς πόλεως οἰκιστοῦ, Ἀμφίονος, τοὺς παῖδας, ἀνθρώπων καλλίστους
γενομένους, κατατοξευθῆναι ὑπὸ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος· καὶ ταῦτα καὶ
αὐλούντων καὶ ᾀδόντων ἀνέχονται παρ´
αὑτοῖς ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ, καὶ τιθέασιν ἆθλα περὶ τούτων, ὃς ἂν
οἰκτρότατα εἴπῃ περὶ αὐτῶν ἢ αὐλήσῃ· τὸν δὲ εἰπόντα ὡς οὐ
γέγονεν οὐδὲν αὐτῶν ἐκβάλλουσιν.
| [11,5] And yet most people say that time is the very best
judge of things, but whenever they hear anything after
a long lapse of time,
they consider it incredible for that very reason.
Now if I had the hardihood to contradict Homer
before the Argives and to show the error in his poetry
regarding the most important things, perhaps it
would be natural for them to be angry at me and
drive me from their city if they saw that I was
dispelling and destroying the reputation which their
city has derived from that source. You, on the other
hand, should be grateful and hear me gladly, for I
have been zealous in defence of your ancestors.
(6) I wish to say at the outset that this discourse
must be delivered before other audiences also, and
that many will hear about it, of whom some will not
comprehend it, while others will pretend to treat it
lightly though they really do not, and yet others
will attempt to refute its arguments, especially, I
suppose, the miserable sophists. I know quite well
that it will not please you, I suppose, either. For
most men are so completely corrupted at heart by
opinion that they would rather be notorious for the
greatest calamities than suffer no ill and be unknown.
Even the Argives, I believe, would not wish that
the events told of Thyestes, Atreus, and the house
of Pelops had happened otherwise, but would be
greatly displeased if anyone disproved the myths set
forth in the tragic poets by asserting that Thyestes
did not defile the wife of Atreus and that the latter
did not slay his brother's sons nor cut them up and
then serve their remains as a feast for Thyestes, or
that Orestes did not kill his own mother. Should
any man make any such assertions, they would feel
aggrieved on the ground that they were being
insulted. I believe, too, that the feelings of the
'I'hebans would be exactly the same, should anyone
assert that there was no truth in their tales of woe
and insist that Oedipus did not kill his father or
wed his mother or blind himself, or that his sons
did not die before the walls, each by the other's
hand, or that the Sphinx did not come and devour
the children of the city. Nay, on the contrary,
they are delighted to hear that the Sphinx was sent
to molest them because of Hera's anger, that Laïus
was slain by his son and that Oedipus, after what
he did and suffered, wandered in blindness, and that
the sons of an earlier king, Amphion, who founded
the city, were slain by the arrows of Apollo and
Artemis because they were the fairest among men.
These are the themes that they can endure to hear
interpreted by the flute or song in their theatres, and
they offer prizes for the most pathetic interpretation
of the story in words or in music; but the man
who says that none of these things occurred they
expel from their city.
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