Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1016

Rh 998 DIAGORAS. brated as a statesman and lawgiver in his native place, and lived, according to Perizonius (ad Aelian. V. H. ii. 23), at the time of Artaxerxes Mnemon. The foolish Aelian, who has preserved this state- ment, dechnes any further discussion of this rela- tion, although he knew more about it, under the pretext that he thought it objectionable to say any- thing in praise of a man who was so hostile to the gods {bidls ex^pov Aiay6pat/). But still he in- forms us, that Diagoras assisted Nicodorus in his legislation, which he himself praises as very wise and good, Wachsmuth {Hellen. Alterih. i. 2, p. 90) places this political activity of the two friends about the beginning of the Peloponnesian war. We find Diagoras at Athens as early as b. c. 424, for Aristophanes in the Clouds (830), which were performed in that year, alludes to him as a well-known character ; and when Socrates, as though it were a mistake, is there called a Melian, the poet does so in order to remind his hearers at once of Diagoras and of his attacks upon the popu- lar religion. In like mjinner Hippon is called a Melian, merely because he was a follower of Dia- goras. It can scarcely be doubted that Diagoras was acquainted with Socrates, a connexion which is described in the scholia on Aristophanes as if he had been a teacher of Socrates. Fifteen years later, B. c. 411, he was involved, as Diodorus (xiii. 6) informs us, by the democratical party in a law- suit about impiety (Sio§oA.^s rvxi^v iir 6^€§fia and he thought it advisable to escape its result by flight. Religion seems to have been only the pre- text for that accusation, for the mere fact of his being a Melian made him an object of suspicion with the people of Athens. In B. c. 416, Melos had been conquered and cruelly treated by the Athenians, and it is not at all impossible that Dia- goras, indignant at such treatment, may have tjiken part in the party-strife at Athens, and thus have drawn upon himself the suspicion of the de- mocratical party, for the opinion that heterodoxy was persecuted .at Athens, and that the priests in particular busied themselves about such matters, is devoid of all foundation. (Bemhardy, Gesch. d. Griech. Lit. i. p. 322.) AU the circumstances of the case lead us to the conclusion, that the accusa- tion of Diagoras was altogether and essentially of a political nature. All that we know of his writings, and especially of his poems, shews no trace of irreligion, but on the contrary contains evidence of the most profound religious feeling. (Philodemus in the Herculunens. ed. Drummond and Walpole, p. 164.) Moreover, we do not find that out of Athens the charge of dureSfia was taken notice of in any other part of Greece. All that we know for certain on the point is, that Diagoras was one of those philoso- phers who, like Socrates, certainly gave offence by their views concerning the worship of the national gods ; but we know what liberties the Attic comedy could take in this respect with impimity. There is also an anecdote that Diagoras, for want of other fire-wood, once threw a wooden statue of Heracles into the fire, in order to cook a dish of lentils, and, if there is any truth in it, it certainly shews his liberal views respecting polytheism and the rude worship of images. (Meier, L c. p. 445.) In like manner he may have ridiculed the common notions of the people respecting the actions of the gods, and their direct and personal interference with human affairs. This, too, is alluded to in DIAGORAS. several very characteristic anecdotes. For example, on his flight from Athens by sea to Pallene he was overtaken by a storm, and on hearing his fellow- passengers say, that this storm was sent them by the gods as a punishment, because they had an atheist on board, Diagoras shewed them other vessels at some distiince which were struggling with the same storm without having a Diagoras on board. (Cic. de Naf. Deor. iii. 37.) This and similar anecdotes (Diog. Laert. vi. 59) accurately describe the relation in which our philosopher stood to the popular religion. That he maintained his own position with great firmness, and perhaps with more freedom, wit, and boldness than was advisable, seems to be attested by the fact, that lie in particular obtained the epithet of afleos in an- tiquity. Many modem writers maintain that this epithet ought not to be given to him, because he merely denied the direct interference of God with the world ; but though atheists, in the proper sense of the word, have never existed, and in that sense Diagoms was certainly not an atheist, yet as he did not believe in the personal existence of the Athenian gods aiid their human mode of acting, the Athenians could hardly have regarded him as other than an atheist. In the eulogy on his friend Nicodorus he sang Koto Saifiova koI rixf"-" Tct nravTa fipSroiaiv iKTee7Tai. But to return to the accusation of Diagoras, in consequence of which he was obliged to quit Athens. That time was one in which scepticism was begin- ning to undermine the foundations of the ancient popular belief. The trial of those who had broken down the statues of Hermes, the profanation of the mysteries, and the accusation of Alcibiades, are symptoms which shew that the unbelief, nour- ished by the speculations of philosophers and by the artifices of the sophists, began to appear very dangerous to the conservative party at Athens. There is no doubt that Diagoras paid no regard to the established religion of the people, and he may occasionally have ridiculed it ; but he also ventured on direct attacks upon public institutions of the Athenian worship, such as the Eleusinian myste- ries, which he endeavoured to lower in public esti- mation, and he is said to have prevented many persons from becoming initiated in them. These at least are the points of which the ancients accuse him (Craterus, ap. Schol. Aristoph. I.e.; Tarrhaeus, ap. Said.; Lysias, c. Andocid. p. 214; Joseph, c. Apion. ii. 37 ; Tatian, adv. Graec. p. 164, a.), and this statement is also supported by the circum- stance, that Melanthius, in his work on the mys- teries, mentions the decree passed against Diagoras. But, notwithstanding the absence of accurate in- formation, we can discover political motives through all these religious disputes. Diagoras was a Me- lian, and consequently belonged to the Doric race ; he W.1S a friend of the Doric Mantineia, which was hated by Athens, and had only recently given up its alliance with Athens ; the Dorians and lonians were opposed to each other in various points of their worship, and this spark of hostility was kin- dled into a glowing hatred by the Peloponnesian war. Diagoras fled from Athens in time to escape the consequences of the attacks which his enemies had made upon him. He was therefore punished by Stditeusis., that is, he was condemned, and the psephisma was engraved on a column, promising a prize for his head, and one talent to the person