Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

4458

Dio Chrysostom, Orations, 34.48

nan  On the other hand, goodwill and a reputation for superiority in virtue and kindliness — those are your true blessings, those are the objects worthy of emulation and serious regard. And you would pay heed to them, since your present behaviour is ridiculous. And whether it is a question of Aegaeans quarrelling with you, or Apameans with men of Antioch, or, to go farther afield, Smyrnaeans with Ephesians, it is an ass's shadow, as the saying goes, over which they squabble; for the right to lead and to wield authority belongs to others. <

Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

4 results
1. Dio Chrysostom, Orations, 6.31, 32.70, 32.73, 33.17-33.18, 34.14, 34.21, 34.51, 38.37-38.39, 43.8, 46.14 (1st cent. CE 6.31.  and he took care to have a sufficient supply of food and moderate clothing, but from public affairs, lawsuits, rivalries, wars, and factions he kept himself clear. He tried especially to imitate the life of the gods, for they alone, as Homer asserts, live at ease, implying that the life of man is full of labour and hardship. Even the lower animals, he claimed, understand this sort of thing clearly. 34.51.  And yet those states of old possessed real power and great utility, if it be correct to call self-seeking by that name; whereas anyone seeing the disputes and occasions for hostility of the present time would, methinks, blush for shame, for in reality they make one think of fellow-slaves quarrelling with one another over glory and pre-eminence. What then? Is there nothing noble in this our day to merit one's serious pursuit? The greatest things, yes the only things worthy of serious pursuit, were present then, are present now, and always will be; and over these no man, surely, has control, whether to confer them on another or to take them away from him who has them, but, on the contrary, they are always at one's disposal, whether it be a private citizen or the body politic. But the discussion of these matters perhaps would take too long. 38.37.  Yet by their public acts they have branded you as a pack of fools, yes, they treat you just like children, for we often offer children the most trivial things in place of things of greatest worth; moreover, those children, in their ignorance of what is truly valuable and in their pleasure over what is of least account, delight in what is a mere nothing. So also in your case, in place of justice, in place of the freedom of the cities from spoliation or from the seizure of the private possessions of their inhabitants, in place of their refraining from insulting you, in place of their refraining from drunken violence, your governors hand you titles, and call you "first" either by word of mouth or in writing; that done, they may thenceforth with impunity treat you as being the very last! 38.38.  In truth such marks of distinction, on which you plume yourselves, not only are objects of utter contempt in the eyes of all persons of discernment, but especially in Rome they excite laughter and, what is still more humiliating, are called "Greek failings!" And failings they are indeed, men of Nicomedia, though not Greek, unless some one will claim that in this special particular they are Greek, namely, that those Greeks of old, both Athenians and Spartans, once laid counterclaims to glory. However, I may have said already that their doings were not mere vain conceit but a struggle for real empire — though nowadays you may fancy somehow that they were making a valiant struggle for the right to lead the procession, like persons in some mystic celebration putting up a sham battle over something not really theirs. 38.39.  But if, while the title "metropolis" is your special prerogative, that of leader is shared with others, what do you lose thereby? For I would venture to assert that, even if you lose all your titles, you are losing nothing real. Or what do you expect to be the consequence of that? That the sea will retreat from your shores, or your territory be smaller, or your revenues less? Have you ever yet been present at a play? More properly speaking, almost every day you behold not only tragic actors but the other sort too, the various actors who appear to come upon the scene to give pleasure and enjoyment, but who really benefit those who are sensitive to the action of the play. Well then, does any one in the cast appear to you to be really king or prince or god? 43.8.  And now I must leave my country, not, as on that other occasion, without repining, attended as I then was by the affection and admiration of all, but rather attended by the enmity of some; since I myself have suffered no harm, For never did they lift my cows or mares. However, I am not surprised at my present troubles; since even the famous Socrates, whom I have often mentioned, during the tyranny of the Thirty did everything in behalf of the people and took no part in the crimes of that régime, but, when ordered by the Thirty to fetch Leon of Salamis, he refused to obey, and he openly reviled the tyrants, saying they were like wicked herdsmen, who, having received the cows when strong and numerous, make them few and weaker; 46.14.  And let no one imagine that it is in anger over my own position that I have said these things rather than in fear for yours, lest possibly you may some day be accused of being violent and lawless. For nothing which takes place in the cities escapes the attention of the proconsuls — I mean the more important ones in these parts; on the contrary, just as relatives denounce to the teachers the children who are too disorderly at home, so also the misdeeds of the communities are reported to the proconsuls. Now while such conduct as yours would not be honourable or advantageous for yourselves, to demand that there should be supervision of your market and that those men should be elected who are ficially able and have not performed liturgies, but if that cannot be, that then the choice of supervisors should rest with you, this, I say, is the course of sensible human beings and in this no one will oppose you.
2. New Testament, Acts, 19.23-19.40 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) 19.23. About that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way. 19.24. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen 19.25. whom he gathered together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, "Sirs, you know that by this business we have our wealth. 19.26. You see and hear, that not at Ephesus alone, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods, that are made with hands. 19.27. Not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be counted as nothing, and her majesty destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worships. 19.28. When they heard this they were filled with anger, and cried out, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! 19.29. The whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel. 19.30. When Paul wanted to enter in to the people, the disciples didn't allow him. 19.31. Certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent to him and begged him not to venture into the theater. 19.32. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was in confusion. Most of them didn't know why they had come together. 19.33. They brought Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. Alexander beckoned with his hand, and would have made a defense to the people. 19.34. But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all with one voice for a time of about two hours cried out, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! 19.35. When the town clerk had quieted the multitude, he said, "You men of Ephesus, what man is there who doesn't know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great goddess Artemis, and of the image which fell down from Zeus? 19.36. Seeing then that these things can't be denied, you ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rash. 19.37. For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. 19.38. If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a matter against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them press charges against one another. 19.39. But if you seek anything about other matters, it will be settled in the regular assembly. 19.40. For indeed we are in danger of being accused concerning this day's riot, there being no cause. Concerning it, we wouldn't be able to give an account of this commotion.
3. Tacitus, Annals, 3.60-3.63, 4.55-4.56 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) 3.60.  Tiberius, however, while tightening his grasp on the solid power of the principate, vouchsafed to the senate a shadow of the past by submitting the claims of the provinces to the discussion of its members. For throughout the Greek cities there was a growing laxity, and impunity, in the creation of rights of asylum. The temples were filled with the dregs of the slave population; the same shelter was extended to the debtor against his creditor and to the man suspected of a capital offence; nor was any authority powerful enough to quell the factions of a race which protected human felony equally with divine worship. It was resolved, therefore, that the communities in question should send their charters and deputies to Rome. A few abandoned without a struggle the claims they had asserted without a title: many relied on hoary superstitions or on their services to the Roman nation. It was an impressive spectacle which that day afforded, when the senate scrutinized the benefactions of its predecessors, the constitutions of the provinces, even the decrees of kings whose power antedated the arms of Rome, and the rites of the deities themselves, with full liberty as of old to confirm or change. 3.61.  The Ephesians were the first to appear. "Apollo and Diana," they stated, "were not, as commonly supposed, born at Delos. In Ephesus there was a river Cenchrius, with a grove Ortygia; where Latona, heavy-wombed and supporting herself by an olive-tree which remained to that day, gave birth to the heavenly twins. The grove had been hallowed by divine injunction; and there Apollo himself, after slaying the Cyclopes, had evaded the anger of Jove. Afterwards Father Liber, victor in the war, had pardoned the suppliant Amazons who had seated themselves at the altar. Then the sanctity of the temple had been enhanced, with the permission of Hercules, while he held the crown of Lydia; its privileges had not been diminished under the Persian empire; later, they had been preserved by the Macedonians — last by ourselves. 3.62.  The Magnesians, who followed, rested their case on the rulings of Lucius Scipio and Lucius Sulla, who, after their defeats of Antiochus and Mithridates respectively, had honoured the loyalty and courage of Magnesia by making the shrine of Leucophryne Diana an inviolable refuge. Next, Aphrodisias and Stratonicea adduced a decree of the dictator Julius in return for their early services to his cause, together with a modern rescript of the deified Augustus, who praised the unchanging fidelity to the Roman nation with which they had sustained the Parthian inroad. Aphrodisias, however, was championing the cult of Venus; Stratonicea, that of Jove and Diana of the Crossways. The statement of Hierocaesarea went deeper into the past: the community owned a Persian Diana with a temple dedicated in the reign of Cyrus; and there were references to Perpenna, Isauricus, and many other commanders who had allowed the same sanctity not only to the temple but to the neighbourhood for two miles round. The Cypriotes followed with an appeal for three shrines — the oldest erected by their founder Aërias to the Paphian Venus; the second by his son Amathus to the Amathusian Venus; and a third by Teucer, exiled by the anger of his father Telamon, to Jove of Salamis. 3.63.  Deputations from other states were heard as well; till the Fathers, weary of the details, and disliking the acrimony of the discussion, empowered the consuls to investigate the titles, in search of any latent flaw, and to refer the entire question back to the senate. Their report was that — apart from the communities I have already named — they were satisfied there was a genuine sanctuary of Aesculapius at Pergamum; other claimants relied on pedigrees too ancient to be clear. "For Smyrna cited an oracle of Apollo, at whose command the town had dedicated a temple to Venus Stratonicis; Tenos, a prophecy from the same source, ordering the consecration of a statue and shrine to Neptune. Sardis touched more familiar ground with a grant from the victorious Alexander; Miletus had equal confidence in King Darius. With these two, however, the divine object of adoration was Diana in the one case, Apollo in the other. The Cretans, again, were claiming for an effigy of the deified Augustus." The senate, accordingly, passed a number of resolutions, scrupulously complimentary, but still imposing a limit; and the applicants were ordered to fix the brass records actually inside the temples, both as a solemn memorial and as a warning not to lapse into secular intrigue under the cloak of religion. 4.55.  To divert criticism, the Caesar attended the senate with frequency, and for several days listened to the deputies from Asia debating which of their communities was to erect his temple. Eleven cities competed, with equal ambition but disparate resources. With no great variety each pleaded national antiquity, and zeal for the Roman cause in the wars with Perseus, Aristonicus, and other kings. But Hypaepa and Tralles, together with Laodicea and Magnesia, were passed over as inadequate to the task: even Ilium, though it appealed to Troy as the parent of Rome, had no significance apart from the glory of its past. Some little hesitation was caused by the statement of the Halicarnassians that for twelve hundred years no tremors of earthquake had disturbed their town, and the temple foundations would rest on the living rock. The Pergamenes were refuted by their main argument: they had already a sanctuary of Augustus, and the distinction was thought ample. The state-worship in Ephesus and Miletus was considered to be already centred on the cults of Diana and Apollo respectively: the deliberations turned, therefore, on Sardis and Smyrna. The Sardians read a decree of their "kindred country" of Etruria. "Owing to its numbers," they explained, "Tyrrhenus and Lydus, sons of King Atys, had divided the nation. Lydus had remained in the territory of his fathers, Tyrrhenus had been allotted the task of creating a new settlement; and the Asiatic and Italian branches of the people had received distinctive titles from the names of the two leaders; while a further advance in the Lydian power had come with the despatch of colonists to the peninsula which afterwards took its name from Pelops." At the same time, they recalled the letters from Roman commanders, the treaties concluded with us in the Macedonian war, their ample rivers, tempered climate, and the richness of the surrounding country. 4.56.  The deputies from Smyrna, on the other hand, after retracing the antiquity of their town — whether founded by Tantalus, the seed of Jove; by Theseus, also of celestial stock; or by one of the Amazons — passed on to the arguments in which they rested most confidence: their good offices towards the Roman people, to whom they had sent their naval force to aid not merely in foreign wars but in those with which we had to cope in Italy, while they had also been the first to erect a temple to the City of Rome, at a period (the consulate of Marcus Porcius) when the Roman fortunes stood high indeed, but had not yet mounted to their zenith, as the Punic capital was yet standing and the kings were still powerful in Asia. At the same time, Sulla was called to witness that "with his army in a most critical position through the inclement winter and scarcity of clothing, the news had only to be announced at a public meeting in Smyrna, and the whole of the bystanders stripped the garments from their bodies and sent them to our legions." The Fathers accordingly, when their opinion was taken, gave Smyrna the preference. Vibius Marsus proposed that a supernumerary legate, to take responsibility for the temple, should be assigned to Manius Lepidus, to whom the province of Asia had fallen; and since Lepidus modestly declined to make the selection himself, Valerius Naso was chosen by lot among the ex-praetors and sent out.
4. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 72.12.2 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
antiquity	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
apameia in bithynia	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
aphrodisias (caria), basilica	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
aphrodisias (caria)	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
aphrodite	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
aphrodite of aphrodisias	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
architecture	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
asia (roman province)	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 56
assembly	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
asylum	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
athens	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 47
bithynia/bithynians, disputes between cities	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
bithynia (roman province)	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 56
brigands	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
cilicia, roman province, cities	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
cities, free	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
cities	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
citizens, of poleis	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
claudius, emperor	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
coins, homonoia mintings	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
coins	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
commodus, emperor	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
criminal law and procedure	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
cult, local	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
cult, of aphrodite of aphrodisias	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
dion of prousa	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 47, 56
diplomacy	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
ekhthra (enmity)	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 47
ekklēsia	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
eleusis	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
encomium	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
founder	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
fratres arvales	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
gordiouteichos	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
hadrian, emperor, edicts/letters	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
herakleitos of ephesos	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 56
hero, eponymos	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
homonoia	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 47
homonoia (concord)	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
identity, local/regional	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
indigenous agency	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
jurisdiction	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
lagina, temple of hecate	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
lebadeia (boeotia), trophonium	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
linen–workers'	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 56
lycia/lycians, society in imperial period	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
metropolis	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
military	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
mother city (metropolis)	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
myth, foundation	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
myth, local	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
neokoros	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
neolithic/chalcolithic age (ca.	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479, 681
nikaia in bithynia (today i̇znik), dispute with nikomedeia	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
nikomedeia (today i̇zmit)	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
opramoas of rhodiapolis, wealthy donor	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
oracles	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
philia, philoi	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 47
philonikia	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 47
plarasa (caria)	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33
policing	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
polis, disputes/tensions, internal and between cities	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
polis, ranks and titles (metropolis/neokoros/prote)	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
proconsul	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
province/provincia, assize districts (conventus)	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
prusa on olympos (today bursa)	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
rhodiapolis	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
septimus severus	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
stasis (factional conflict)	Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 47, 56
tarsos	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479; Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 56
temple guardian (neokoros), rank of a city or koinon as a center of imperial cult	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
throne	Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 479
violence	Czajkowski et al., Law in the Roman Provinces (2020) 172
zeus	Borg, Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic (2008) 33