The Erotic Essay

Discerning, moreover, that those who train for the footraces add nothing to their courage nor to their morale either, and that those who practice boxing and the like ruin their minds as well as their bodies, you have singled out the noblest and grandest of competitive exercises and the one most in harmony with your natural gifts, one which approximates to the realities of warfare through the habituation to martial weapons and the laborious effort of running, in the magnificence and majesty of the equipment simulates the might of the gods,[*](Certain gods were represented as using chariots, particularly Ares and Poseidon.)

presents the number and the greatest variety of features and has been deemed worthy of the most valuable prizes. For, apart from those offered, getting the drill and practice in such exercises itself will possess glamor as no paltry prize in the eyes of those who are even moderately ambitious for excellence. The best evidence for this may be found in the poetry of Homer, in which he represents the Greeks and barbarians warring against one another with this equipment.[*](Homeric warriors employed charioteers, dashed recklessly among the foe to spread dismay, and finally dismounted to engage in single combat; Hom. Il. 16.712-867.) I may add that even now it is customary to employ it in contests in Greek cities, and not in the meanest cities but in the greatest.[*](Athens and Thebes.)

So admirable is your choice of sport and so approved among all men. Believing also, as you do, that it is futile to desire the things most worth while, or yet to be physically endowed for all sorts of feats, unless the soul has been prepared for an ambitious career, at the very outset you exhibited diligence in the training grounds, nor in the real tests were you disappointing, but you gave extraordinary proof of the distinction of your natural gifts and particularly of the courage of your soul in the games.

I hesitate to begin treating this topic for fear words may fail me in the description of what took place on that occasion, but nevertheless I shall not pass it over; for it is a shame to refuse a report of what enthralls us as spectators.

Were I to describe all the contests an unseemly length would perhaps accrue to this essay,[*](Blass notes the expression of a similar fear in the Dem. 60.6 and in Isoc. 4.66, but surely it is a commonplace.) but by recalling a single example in which you especially distinguished yourself I shall demonstrate the same truth and be found to make a more reasonable use of the patience of my hearers.

When the teams had been started and some had leaped to the fore and some were being reined in, you, prevailing over both, first one and then the other,[*](Blass notes the same phrase in Isoc. 4.72; it may have been technical in the language of ancient sport.) in proper style, seized the victory, winning that envied crown in such fashion that, glorious as it was to win it, it seemed the more glorious and astounding that you came off safely. For when the chariot of your opponents was bearing down upon you head-on and all thought the momentum of your horses beyond checking, you, aware that some drivers, though no danger should threaten, become overanxious for their own safety, not only did not lose your head or your nerve, but by your courage got control of the impetus of your team and by your speed passed even those contenders whose luck had suffered no setback.

What is more, you caused such a revolution in men’s minds that, though many keep insisting that nothing in equestrian contests affords such delight as a crash, and seem to speak the truth, in your case all the spectators, on the contrary, were afraid that some such accident might befall you. Such goodwill and eagerness for your success did your personality awaken in them.

They had good reason to feel so, for while it is a splendid thing to become distinguished for some one excellence, it is still more splendid to combine all the qualities of which a man of sense might justly feel proud. From the following examples this will be clear: we shall find that Aeacus and Rhadamanthys were beloved by the gods for their discretion, Heracles, Castor and Pollux for their courage, and Ganymedes, Adonis, and others like them for their beauty, so that I at any rate am not astonished at those who covet your friendship but at those who are not so disposed. For when some, through sharing in one or another of the qualities I have mentioned, have been deemed worthy of the company of the gods, surely to a mere mortal it is the heights of desire to become the friend of one who has become the proud possessor of all good qualities.

Certainly your father and mother and the rest of your kinsmen are rightly envied because you so far surpass those of your own age in excellence, but still more enviable are those whom you, who have been deemed worthy of such blessings, select from the whole number to be your friends, judging them worthy of your companionship. And since Fortune has appointed the former to share your affection, but the latter their own fine qualities have recommended in addition,

I do not know whether to call these young men admirers or unique for their sound judgement. For, as I think, Fortune, scorning base men and wishing to arouse the minds of the good, at the very outset made your nature beautiful, not for a life of pleasure, to be beguiled thereto, but serviceable for a virtuous life, to have happiness therein.[*](This sentence exhibits rhythmical clausulae and Gorgianic parallelism of structure along with assonance of the vowel e. It is suggested that the Greek version be read aloud.)

Although I have still much to say in praise of you, I think I shall cease my eulogy at this point, fearing that I may seem to plead your cause in terms exceeding human limitations. For so far, as it seems, does the power of words fall short of that of vision that, while none would think of mistrusting the evidence of his eyes, people think the praise of things men say they have seen, even if it falls short of the truth, to be incredible.

Accordingly, I shall leave this topic and now endeavor to counsel you on the means of rendering your life still more worthy of esteem. To the words I am about to utter I would not have you give heed as to a matter of trivial importance, nor to leap to the conclusion that I have, after all, addressed you thus, not for your good, but from a desire to display my skill; otherwise you may miss the truth and, by choosing haphazard counsel in place of the best, fall short of the best in judging your own interests.

For we do not reproach men of humble and insignificant natural gifts even when they commit a dishonorable act, but to those who, like yourself, have attained distinction, even a bit of negligence in some matter of high honor brings disgrace.[*](See note on Dem. 61.32) Again, those who go astray in other domains fail merely t make the best decision in some single, isolated matter, but those who miss the right advice on the conduct of life, or scorn it, have reminders of their own folly to live with their whole life long.

Now you must not fall into any of these errors but rather seek to discover what is of supreme consequence in human affairs, and what it is that turning out well would do us the most good, but turning out badly would hurt us most along life’s pathway. For it requires no proof that upon this factor we must expend the greatest care, which more than anything else possesses the power to tip the scale to one side or the other.

Now of the powers residing in human beings we shall find that intelligence leads all the rest and that philosophy alone is capable of educating this rightly and training it. In this study I think you ought to participate, and not balk at or flee from the labors involved in it, reflecting that through idleness and indolence even quite superficial things become difficult, while through persistence and diligence none of the worthwhile things is unattainable,

and that of all things the most irrational is to be ambitious for wealth, bodily strength, and such things, and for their sakes to submit to many hardships, all of which prizes are perishable and usually slaves to intelligence, but not to aim at the improvement of the mind, which has supervision over all other powers, abides continually with those who possess it, and guides the whole life.[*](The oldest of the Greek-letter fraternities in the universities of the U.S. (1776), ΦΒΚ, took its name from φιλοσοφία βίου κυβερνήτης.)

And yet, although it is a fine thing to be admired among high-minded people even on account of fortuitous success, it is much finer through care bestowed upon one’s self to gain a share in all the accomplishments that are esteemed; for often it has fallen to the lot of vulgar men to share in the former but none have a part in the latter except those who excel in real manliness.

However, touching the subject of philosophy, some future occasion will afford me more suitable opportunities to review carefully the particulars, but the outlines of it nothing will prevent me from running over at once. This one point, therefore, you must grasp clearly at the outset, that all education consists in understanding something and then putting it into practice,[*](This idea recurs in Dem. 61.41 and Dem. 61.47.) and this is even more true of philosophy than of any other studies, for the synthesis of learning and practice is likely to be more perfect in proportion as the instructors are more clear on this point.