Διαγόρας ὁ Μήλιος
Diagoras the Melian
Translated by Nicholas Wilshere16 Oct 2004Vetting: high3 revisions
Translation
[A phrase used] in reference to atheists and unbelievers and impious people. For after the capture of Melos1 this man was living in Athens, and he disparaged the mysteries2 in such a way as to turn many people away from initiation. So the Athenians made the following proclamation against him, and inscribed it on a bronze monument: anyone who killed him would receive a talent, and anyone who brought him [alive] would receive two. This proclamation was made because of his impiety, when he described the mysteries to everyone, making them common knowledge, trivialising them, and turning away those people who wanted to be initiated. So Aristophanes says in Birds: "on this day in particular the proclamation is made: if one of you kills Diagoras the Melian, he will receive a talent, and if anyone kills one of the tyrants, the dead ones, he will receive a talent." 'Dead': that is, those who are fleeing under penalty of death. He has said with exaggeration, 'to kill the dead'.3
Greek original · Adler’s text
Διαγόρας ὁ Μήλιος· ἐπὶ τῶν ἀθέων καὶ ἀπίστων καὶ ἀσεβῶν. οὗτος γὰρ μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν Μήλου ᾤκει ἐν Ἀθήναις· τὰ δὲ μυστήρια οὕτως ηὐτέλιζεν ὡς πολλοὺς ἐκτρέπειν τῆς τελετῆς. τοῦτο οὖν ἐκήρυξαν κατ' αὐτοῦ Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ ἐν χαλκῇ στήλῃ ἔγραψαν, τῷ μὲν ἀποκτείναντι τάλαντον λαμβάνειν, τῷ δὲ ἄγοντι δύο. ἐκηρύχθη δὲ τοῦτο διὰ τὸ ἀσεβὲς αὐτοῦ, ἐπεὶ τὰ μυστήρια πᾶσι διηγεῖτο, κοινοποιῶν αὐτὰ καὶ μικρὰ ποιῶν καὶ τοὺς βουλομένους μυεῖσθαι ἀποτρέπων. φησὶν οὖν Ἀριστοφάνης ἐν Ὄρνισι· τῇδε μέντοι θἠμέρᾳ μάλιστ' ἐπαναγορεύεται· ἢν ἀποκτείνῃ τις ὑμῶν Διαγόραν τὸν Μήλιον, λαμβάνειν τάλαντον· ἤν τε τῶν τυράννων τις τῶν τεθνηκότων ἀποκτείνῃ, τάλαντον λαμβάνειν. τεθνηκότι, τουτέστι τῶν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ φευγόντων. ἐν ὑπερβολῇ δὲ εἴρηται, τοὺς τεθνηκότας ἀποκτείνειν.
Betacode
*diago/ras o( *mh/lios: e)pi\ tw=n a)qe/wn kai\ a)pi/stwn kai\ a)sebw=n. ou(=tos ga\r meta\ th\n a(/lwsin *mh/lou w)/|kei e)n *)aqh/nais: ta\ de\ musth/ria ou(/tws hu)te/lizen w(s pollou\s e)ktre/pein th=s teleth=s. tou=to ou)=n e)kh/rucan kat' au)tou= *)aqhnai=oi kai\ e)n xalkh=| sth/lh| e)/grayan, tw=| me\n a)poktei/nanti ta/lanton lamba/nein, tw=| de\ a)/gonti du/o. e)khru/xqh de\ tou=to dia\ to\ a)sebe\s au)tou=, e)pei\ ta\ musth/ria pa=si dihgei=to, koinopoiw=n au)ta\ kai\ mikra\ poiw=n kai\ tou\s boulome/nous muei=sqai a)potre/pwn. fhsi\n ou)=n *)aristofa/nhs e)n *)/ornisi: th=|de me/ntoi qh)me/ra| ma/list' e)panagoreu/etai: h)\n a)poktei/nh| tis u(mw=n *diago/ran to\n *mh/lion, lamba/nein ta/lanton: h)/n te tw=n tura/nnwn tis tw=n teqnhko/twn a)poktei/nh|, ta/lanton lamba/nein. teqnhko/ti, toute/sti tw=n e)pi\ qana/tw| feugo/ntwn. e)n u(perbolh=| de\ ei)/rhtai, tou\s teqnhko/tas a)poktei/nein.
Notes (3)
- For Diagoras see already delta 523. The present entry stems from Aristophanes, Birds 1072-1075 (web address 1; reading↩
ti/s tina in 1074), with comments from the scholia there.- 1By Athenian forces, in 416/15 BCE. For Melos see generally mu 935. ↩
- 2sc. of Eleusis. See generally mu 1485. ↩
- 3The scholiast does his best here, but misses the central point that the allusion is to the Peisistratid tyrants of the previous century (pi 1474).
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
Linked from5 entries
- α3493Ἀποπυργίζοντας λόγουςApopyrgizontes Logoi[These are the works] which Diagoras the Atheist wrote, containing the recantation and dissolution of his belief in the divine.
- δ523ΔιαγόραςDiagoras[Diagoras], son of Telekleides or Teleklytos; a Melian, a philosopher and a lyric poet; whom Democritus from Abdera, seeing that he was naturally talented, bought -- since he was a slave -- for ten thousand drachmas and…
- ε687ἘκτρέπωI turn aside[Used] with an accusative.
- ε2037Ἐπεκήρυξανthey proclaimed[Meaning] they spoke clearly and forcefully. "They also proclaimed that they would give a talent to the informant." And elsewhere: "they, unable to hold out against the thirst, sent a messenger by herald."
- ε2916Ἔρρεgo (to hell)[Meaning] perish. "Go, bad cub, bad lot, go to Hades, go: I did not bear the one [who was] unworthy of Sparta." "O Xenophaneses and Diagorases and Hippons and Epicuruses and all the rest of the [catalogue] of those…
Neighbouring entries
Revision history3 revisions · last 27 Jun 2012
- more keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- modified translation slightly, added link, set status — Catharine Roth
- Translated — Nicholas Wilshere