Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1049

Rh DION. The Greek text is not much improved in this edi- tion, but the commentary and the indexes are of very great value. The Latin transktion which it contains is made up of those of Xylandcr and Leunchivius. A more recent edition is that of Sturz, in 9 vols. (Leipzig, 1824, 8vo.), the ninth volume of which (published in 1B43) contains the vered and published by A. Mai. (Script. Vet, Nov. Collect, ii. p. 1 35, See, p. 527, &c.) [L. S.] DION CHRYSO'STOMUS, that is, Dion the golden-mouthed, a surname which he owed to his great talents as an orator. He bore also the sur- name Cocceianus {FVm. Epid. x. 85,86), which he derived from the emperor Cocceius Nerva, with whom he was connected by intimate friendship. (Orat. xlv. p. 513.) Dion Chrysostomus was bom at Pnisa in BithjTiia, about the middle of the first century of our era, and belonged to a distinguished equestrian family. Reimarus has rendered it very probable that a daughter of his was the mother of Dion Cassius, the historian. His father, Pasicrates, seems to have bestowed great care on his son Dion's education and the early training of his mind ; but he appears to have acquired part of his knowledge in travels, for we know that he visited Egypt at an early period of his life. At first he occupied himself in his native place, where he held important offices, with the composition of speeches and other rhetorico-sophistical essays, but on per- ceiving the futility of such pursuits he abandoned them, and devoted himself with great zeal to the study of philosophy : he did not, however, confine himself to any particular sect or school, nor did he give himself up to any profound speculations, his object being rather to apply the doctrines of phi- losophy to the purposes of practical life, and more especially to the administration of public affairs, and thus to bring about a better state of things. The Stoic and Platonic philosophies, however, ap- pear to have had the greatest charms for him. Notwithstanding these useful and peaceful pur- suits, he was looked upon in his native place with suspicion and hostility {Orat. xlvi. p. 212, &c.), which induced him to go to Rome. Here he drew upon himself the hatred of Domitian, who had so great an aversion to pliilosophers, that by a senatus- consultum all were expelled from Rome and Italy, and Dion found himself obliged to quit Rome in se- cret. {Orat. xlvi. p. 21 5, xiii. p. 4 1 8.) On the ad- vice of the Delphic oracle, it is said, he put on the attire of a beggar, and with nothing in his pocket but a copy of Plato's Phaedon and Demosthenes's oration on the Embassy, he undertook a journey to the countries in the north and east of the Roman empire. He thus visited Thrace, Mysia, Scythia, and the country of the Getae, and owing to the power and wisdom of his orations, he met everj'- where with a kindly reception, and did much good. {Orat. xxxvi. p. 74; comp. xiii. p. 418.) In A. D. 96^ when Domitian was murdered, Dion used his influence with the army stationed on the frontier in favour of his friend Nerva, and seems to have returned to Rome immediately after his accession. {Orat. xlv. p. 202.) Nerva's successor, Trajan, entertained the highest esteem for Dion, and shewed him the most marked favour, for he is said to have often visited him, and even to have allowed him to ride by his side in his golden tri- umphal car. Hsiving thus received the most ample satisfaction for the unjust treatment he had ex- DION. 1031 poricnccd before, he returned to Prusa about a. d. 100. Rut the petty spirit he found prevailing there, which was jealous of his merits and distinc- tions, and attributed his good actions to impure motives {Orat. 1. p. 254, &c.), soon disgusted him with his fellow-citizens, and he again went to Rome. Trajan continued to treat him with the greatest distinction : his kindly disposition gained him many eminent friends, such as Apollonius of Tyana and Euphrates of Tyre, and his oratory the admiration of all. In this manner he spent his last years, and died at Rome about A. d. 11 7. Dion Chrysostomus is one of the most eminent among the Greek rhetoricians and sophists. This is the opinion not only of the ancients who have written about him, such as Philostratus, Synesius, and Photius, but it is also confirmed by the eighty orations of his which are still extant, and which were the only ones known in the time of Pho- tius, who, however, enumerates them in a some- what different order from that in which they now stand. These orations are for the most part the productions of his later years, and there are very few, if any, among them that can with certainty be at- tributed to the early period of his life. They are more like essays on political, moral, and philoso- phical subjects than real orations, of which they have only the form. We find among them Ao'7ot TTfpl fia(rielas or X6yoi ^aaiKiKoi, four orations addressed to Trajan on the virtues of a sovereign ; Aioyevrjs ^ irepl rvpavplSos, on the troubles to which men expose themselves by deserting the path of nature, and on the difficulties which a so- vereign has to encounter ; essays on slavery and freedom ; on the means of attaining eminence as an orator ; further, political discourses addressed to various towns which he sometimes praises and sometimes blames, but always with great modera- tion and wisdom ; on subjects of ethics and prac- tical philosophy, which he treats in a popular and attractive manner ; and lastly, orations on mythical subjects and show-speeches. Besides these eighty orations we have fragments of fifteen others. Suidas, in enumerating the works of Dion Cassius, mentions one on the Getae, which Casaubon was inclined to attribute to Dion Chrj-sostomus, on ac- count of a passage in Philostratus ( Fi<. Soph. i. 7), who says, " how fit Dion (^Chrysostomus) was for writing history, is evident from his Getica." There are extant also five letters under the name of Dion, and addressed to one Rufus. They are published in Boissonade's Ad Marini Vit. Prod. p. 85, &c., and some critics are inclined to consider them as productions of Dion Chrysostomus. All the extant orations of Dion are distinguished for their refined and elegant style ; the author most successfully imi- tated the classic writers of Greece, such as Plato, De- mosthenes, H^'perides, and Aeschines. His ardent study of those models, combined with his own emi- nent talents, his firm and pleasing voice, and his skill in extempore speaking, raised him at once above all contemporary rhetoricians. His style is throughout clear, and, generally speaking, free from artificial embellishment, though he is not always able to escape from the influence of the Asiatic school of rhetoric. His sentences are often inter- nipted by the insertion of parenthetical clauses, and his prooemia are frequently too long in proportion to the other parts of his discourses. ** Dion Chry- sostomus," says Niebuhr {Lecturer oh Horn. Hist. ii. p. 263, ed. Schmitz), " was an author of uii-
 * Excerpta Vaticana," which had first been disco-