1. Aeschylus, Libation-Bearers, 310-313, 315-478, 309 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 309. ἀντὶ μὲν ἐχθρᾶς γλώσσης ἐχθρὰ | |
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2. Aristophanes, Peace, 399 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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3. Aristophanes, The Women Celebrating The Thesmophoria, 128 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 128. ἄνακτ' ἄγαλλε Φοῖβον τιμᾷ. | |
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4. Hippocrates, On Airs, Waters, And Places, 49, 46 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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5. Isaeus, Orations, 7.40 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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6. Plato, Alcibiades Ii, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 150b. and wise and just are they alone who know what acts and words to use towards gods and men. But I should like now to hear what may be your opinion on the subject. Alc. Why, Socrates, it in no wise differs from yours and the god’s; for indeed it would not be fitting for me to record my vote against the god. Soc. And you remember you professed to be in great perplexity lest you should pray unawares for evil |
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7. Plato, Euthyphro, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 14b. Socrates. You might, if you wished, Euthyphro, have answered much more briefly the chief part of my question. But it is plain that you do not care to instruct me. |
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8. Plato, Gorgias, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 472a. for getting at the truth; since occasionally a man may actually be crushed by the number and reputation of the false witnesses brought against him. And so now you will find almost everybody, Athenians and foreigners, in agreement with you on the points you state, if you like to bring forward witnesses against the truth of what I say: if you like, there is Nicias, son of Niceratus, with his brothers, whose tripods are standing in a row in the Dionysium; or else Aristocrates, son of Scellias, whose goodly offering again is well known at Delphi ; |
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9. Plato, Laches, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 195e. Lach. I do: it seems to be the seers whom he calls the courageous: for who else can know for which of us it is better to be alive than dead? And yet, Nicias, do you avow yourself to be a seer, or to be neither a seer nor courageous? Nic. What! Is it now a seer, think you, who has the gift of judging what is to be dreaded and what to be dared? Lach. That is my view: who else could it be? Nic. Much rather the man of whom I speak, my dear sir: for the seer’s business is to judge only the signs of what is yet to come—whether a man is to meet with death or disease or loss of property |
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10. Plato, Laws, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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11. Plato, Phaedrus, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 251a. he makes licence his companion and is not afraid or ashamed to pursue pleasure in violation of nature. But he who is newly initiated, who beheld many of those realities, when he sees a godlike face or form which is a good image of beauty, shudders at first, and something of the old awe comes over him, then, as he gazes, he reveres the beautiful one as a god, and if he did not fear to be thought stark mad, he would offer sacrifice to his beloved as to an idol or a god. And as he looks upon him, a reaction from his shuddering comes over him, with sweat and unwonted heat; |
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12. Plato, Republic, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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13. Plato, Symposium, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 188b. and wrong does he wreak. For at these junctures are wont to arise pestilences and many other varieties of disease in beasts and herbs; likewise hoar-frosts, hails, and mildews, which spring from mutual encroachments and disturbances in such love-connections as are studied in relation to the motions of the stars and the yearly seasons by what we term astronomy. So further, all sacrifices and ceremonies controlled by divination |
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14. Plato, Theages, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 128d. Soc. No, good sir, the meaning of it escapes you; but I will tell it you. There is something spiritual which, by a divine dispensation, has accompanied me from my childhood up. It is a voice that, when it occurs, always indicates to me a prohibition of something I may be about to do, but never urges me on to anything; and if one of my friends consults me and the voice occurs, the same thing happens: it prohibits, and does not allow him to act. And I will produce witnesses to convince you of these facts. You know our Charmides here, who has grown so handsome, the son of Glaucon: |
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15. Thucydides, The History of The Peloponnesian War, 2.38.1 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 2.38.1. Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself from business. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round, and the elegance of our private establishments forms a daily source of pleasure and helps to banish the spleen; |
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16. Xenophon, Apology, 14 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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17. Xenophon, On Horsemanship, 3.2 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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18. Xenophon, Memoirs, 1.1.9, 1.3.2, 1.4.2, 1.4.15-1.4.18, 2.3.11, 4.3.12 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 1.1.9. If any man thinks that these matters are wholly within the grasp of the human mind and nothing in them is beyond our reason, that man, he said, is irrational. But it is no less irrational to seek the guidance of heaven in matters which men are permitted by the gods to decide for themselves by study: to ask, for instance, Is it better to get an experienced coachman to drive my carriage or a man without experience? Cyropaedia I. vi. 6. Is it better to get an experienced seaman to steer my ship or a man without experience? So too with what we may know by reckoning, measurement or weighing. To put such questions to the gods seemed to his mind profane. In short, what the gods have granted us to do by help of learning, we must learn; what is hidden from mortals we should try to find out from the gods by divination: for to him that is in their grace the gods grant a sign. 1.3.2. And again, when he prayed he asked simply for good gifts, Cyropaedia I. vi. 5. for the gods know best what things are good. To pray for gold or silver or sovereignty or any other such thing, was just like praying for a gamble or a fight or anything of which the result is obviously uncertain. 1.4.2. I will first state what I once heard him say about the godhead in conversation with Aristodemus the dwarf, as he was called. On learning that he was not known to sacrifice or pray or use divination, and actually made a mock of those who did so, he said: Tell me, Aristodemus, do you admire any human beings for wisdom? I do, he answered. 1.4.15. I will believe when they send counsellors, as you declare they do, saying, Do this, avoid that. But when the Athenians inquire of them by divination and they reply, do you not suppose that to you, too, the answer is given? Or when they send portents for warning to the Greeks, or to all the world? Are you their one exception, the only one consigned to neglect? 1.4.16. Or do you suppose that the gods would have put into man a belief in their ability to help and harm, if they had not that power; and that man throughout the ages would never have detected the fraud? Do you not see that the wisest and most enduring of human institutions, cities and nations, are most god-fearing, and that the most thoughtful period of life is the most religious? 1.4.17. Be well assured, my good friend, that the mind within you directs your body according to its will; and equally you must think that Thought indwelling in the Universal disposes all things according to its pleasure. For think not that your eye can travel over many furlongs and yet god’s eye cannot see the the whole world at once; that your soul can ponder on things in Egypt and in Sicily, and god’s thought is not sufficient to pay heed to the whole world at once. 1.4.18. Nay, but just as by serving men you find out who is willing to serve you in return, by being kind who will be kind to you in return, and by taking counsel, discover the masters of thought, so try the gods by serving them, and see whether they will vouchsafe to counsel you in matters hidden from man. Then you will know that such is the greatness and such the nature of the deity that he sees all things Cyropaedia VIII. vii. 22. and hears all things alike, and is present in all places and heedful of all things. 2.3.11. If you have observed that I know some spell without being conscious of my knowledge, pray tell me at once. Then tell me, now; if you wanted to get an invitation to dine with an acquaintance when he offers sacrifice, what would you do? of course I should begin by inviting him myself when I offered sacrifice. 4.3.12. and think of the power of expression, which enables us to impart to one another all good things by teaching and to take our share of them, to enact laws and to administer states. Truly, Socrates, it does appear that the gods devote much care to man. Yet again, in so far as we are powerless of ourselves to foresee what is expedient for the future, Cyropaedia I. vi. 46. the gods lend us their aid, revealing the issues by divination to inquirers, and teaching them how to obtain the best results. With you, Socrates, they seem to deal even more friendly than with other men, if it is true that, even unasked, they warn you by signs what to do and what not to do. |
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19. Xenophon, On Household Management, 2.5, 11.8 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 2.5. How can that be? exclaimed Critobulus. Because, in the first place, explained Socrates , I notice that you are bound to offer many large sacrifices; else, I fancy, you would get into trouble with gods and men alike. Secondly, it is your duty to entertain many strangers, on a generous scale too. Thirdly, you have to give dinners and play the benefactor to the citizens, or you lose your following. 11.8. For I seem to realise that, while the gods have made it impossible for men to prosper without knowing and attending to the things they ought to do, to some of the wise and careful they grant prosperity, and to some deny it; and therefore I begin by worshipping the gods, and try to conduct myself in such a way that I may have health and strength in answer to my prayers, the respect of my fellow-citizens, the affection of my friends, safety with honour in war, and wealth increased by honest means. |
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20. Xenophon, Symposium, 4.48-4.49 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 4.48. Well, these gods, omniscient and omnipotent, feel so friendly toward me that their watchfulness over me never lets me out of their ken night or day, no matter where I am going or what business I have in view. They know the results also that will follow any act; and so they send me as messengers omens of sounds, dreams, and birds, and thus indicate what I ought to do and what I ought not to do. And when I do their bidding, I never regret it; on the other hand, I have before now disregarded them and have been punished for it. 4.49. None of these statements, said Socrates , is incredible. But what I should like very much to know is how you serve them to keep them so friendly. A very economical service it is, I declare! responded Hermogenes. I sound their praises,—which costs nothing; I always restore them part of what they give me; I avoid profanity of speech as far as I can; and I never wittingly lie in matters wherein I have invoked them to be my witnesses. Truly, said Socrates , if it is conduct like this that gives you their friendship, then the gods also, it would seem, take delight in nobility of soul! Such was the serious turn given to the discussion of this topic. |
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21. Aristotle, Politics, None (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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22. Philodemus, (Pars I) \ On Piety, 766-770, 765 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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23. Demosthenes, Orations, 22.13
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24. Epigraphy, Ig Ii2, 1011, 1138, 1245, 1933-1934, 380, 776, 1008
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25. Epigraphy, Seg, 33.115, 34.103
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26. Epigraphy, Ig Ii3, 355
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