Λέων
Leon
Translated by Malcolm Heath25 Feb 2000Vetting: high11 revisions
Translation
This man was very fat. And on an embassy to Athens he provoked laughter -- and achieved the embassy's aim -- when he was seen drinking, with an over-sized belly. He was not disturbed by the laughter, and said, 'Why are you laughing, Athenians? Because I am so fat? I have a wife who is much fatter, and when we are at one our bed is large enough for us, but when we argue our whole house is not.' The Athenian people came to an accord, brought to good order by Leon's clever and timely improvisation.5
This Leon, when he was trying to keep Philip away from Byzantium, was slandered by Philip in a letter to the people of Byzantium that went like this: 'if I had given Leon all the money he asked me for, I would have taken Byzantium at the first attempt.' The people, on hearing this, gathered to attack Leon's house; fearing that he would be stoned by them, he strangled himself; the wretched man gained no advantage from his intelligence and eloquence.6
Greek original · Adler’s text
Λέων, Λέοντος, Βυζάντιος, φιλόσοφος Περιπατητικὸς καὶ σοφιστής, μαθητὴς Πλάτωνος ἢ ὥς τινες Ἀριστοτέλους. ἔγραψε τὰ κατὰ Φίλιππον καὶ τὸ Βυζάντιον βιβλίοις ζʹ, Τευθραντικόν, Περὶ Βησαίου, Τὸν ἱερὸν πόλεμον, Περὶ στάσεων, Τὰ κατ' Ἀλέξανδρον. οὗτος ἦν σφόδρα παχύς. καὶ πρεσβεύσας πρὸς Ἀθηναίους γέλωτά τε ἐκίνησε καὶ τῆς πρεσβείας ἐκράτησεν, ἐπειδὴ πίων ἐφαίνετο καὶ περιττὸς τὴν γαστέρα. ταραχθεὶς δὲ οὐδὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ γέλωτος, τί, ἔφη, ὦ Ἀθηναῖοι γελᾶτε; ἢ ὅτι παχὺς ἐγὼ καὶ τοσοῦτος; ἔστι μοι καὶ γυνὴ πολλῷ παχυτέρα, καὶ ὁμονοοῦντας μὲν ἡμᾶς χωρεῖ ἡ κλίνη, διαφερομένους δὲ οὐδὲ ἡ οἰκία. καὶ εἰς ἓν ἦλθεν ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων δῆμος, ἁρμοσθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Λέοντος, σαφῶς ἐπισχεδιάσαντος τῷ καιρῷ. οὗτος ὁ Λέων ἀποκρουόμενος τὸν Φίλιππον ἀπὸ τοῦ Βυζαντίου διεβλήθη παρὰ Φιλίππου πρὸς τοὺς Βυζαντίους δι' ἐπιστολῆς, ἐχούσης οὕτως· εἰ τοσαῦτα χρήματα παρεῖχον Λέοντι, ὁπόσα με ᾐτεῖτο, ἐκ πρώτης ἂν ἔλαβον τὸ Βυζάντιον. ταῦτα ἀκούσαντος τοῦ δήμου καὶ ἐπισυστάντος τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ Λέοντος, φοβηθεὶς μή πως λιθόλευστος παρ' αὐτῶν γένηται, ἑαυτὸν ἦγξε, μηδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς σοφίας καὶ τῶν λόγων κερδάνας ὁ δείλαιος.
Betacode
*le/wn, *le/ontos, *buza/ntios, filo/sofos *peripathtiko\s kai\ sofisth/s, maqhth\s *pla/twnos h)\ w(/s tines *)aristote/lous. e)/graye ta\ kata\ *fi/lippon kai\ to\ *buza/ntion bibli/ois z#, *teuqrantiko/n, *peri\ *bhsai/ou, *to\n i(ero\n po/lemon, *peri\ sta/sewn, *ta\ kat' *)ale/candron. ou(=tos h)=n sfo/dra paxu/s. kai\ presbeu/sas pro\s *)aqhnai/ous ge/lwta/ te e)ki/nhse kai\ th=s presbei/as e)kra/thsen, e)peidh\ pi/wn e)fai/neto kai\ peritto\s th\n gaste/ra. taraxqei\s de\ ou)de\n a)po\ tou= ge/lwtos, ti/, e)/fh, w)= *)aqhnai=oi gela=te; h)\ o(/ti paxu\s e)gw\ kai\ tosou=tos; e)/sti moi kai\ gunh\ pollw=| paxute/ra, kai\ o(monoou=ntas me\n h(ma=s xwrei= h( kli/nh, diaferome/nous de\ ou)de\ h( oi)ki/a. kai\ ei)s e(\n h)=lqen o( tw=n *)aqhnai/wn dh=mos, a(rmosqei\s u(po\ tou= *le/ontos, safw=s e)pisxedia/santos tw=| kairw=|. ou(=tos o( *le/wn a)pokrouo/menos to\n *fi/lippon a)po\ tou= *buzanti/ou dieblh/qh para\ *fili/ppou pro\s tou\s *buzanti/ous di' e)pistolh=s, e)xou/shs ou(/tws: ei) tosau=ta xrh/mata parei=xon *le/onti, o(po/sa me h)|tei=to, e)k prw/ths a)\n e)/labon to\ *buza/ntion. tau=ta a)kou/santos tou= dh/mou kai\ e)pisusta/ntos th=| oi)ki/a| tou= *le/ontos, fobhqei\s mh/ pws liqo/leustos par' au)tw=n ge/nhtai, e(auto\n h)=gce, mhde\n a)po\ th=s sofi/as kai\ tw=n lo/gwn kerda/nas o( dei/laios.
Notes (6)
- C4 BC. See generally RE 12.2 cols. 2008-2012 s.v. Leon 23, 24 (Bux); FGrH 132; Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists 1.2; OCD4 Leon(1) (C.J. Tuplin).
- 1Teuthrania was a city in Mysia. ↩
- 2Perhaps Berisades, king of the Odrysians, mentioned throughout Demosthenes 23): so Bernhardy. ↩
- 3See under lambda 266. ↩
- 4Stasis, a rhetorical term for the basis on which one argues a case. Consult the index to G. Kennedy, The art of persuasion in Greece, Princeton UP, 1963. The treatise On Issues is more plausibly attributed to [lambda 266] Leon of Alabanda. ↩
- 5In Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 12.550F (12.74 Kaibel) this anecdote is told of Leon's fellow-citizen Python (pi 3139), and merely attributed to Leon. Python and Leon are also conflated in Philostratus (see initial note above). ↩
- 6The story of Philip's letter and Leon's suicide has been doubted, for Leon could not have written a history of Alexander if he died during the reign of Philip. See A. Woerle, Die politische Taetigkeit der Schueler Platons (Darmstadt 1981) 126-127. ↩
References
N.G.L. Hammond and G.T. Griffith, A History of Macedonia, vol.2 (Oxford 1979) pp. 574 n.1, 716 n.2
Linked from2 entries
Neighbouring entries
Revision history11 revisions · last 14 Apr 2020
- more coding — Catharine Roth
- coding — Catharine Roth
- coding — Catharine Roth
- updated a ref — David Whitehead
- more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- augmented biblography — Mehmet Fatih Yavuz
- Revised — Mehmet Fatih Yavuz
- augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- added note; augmented keywords; restorative and other cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Added to notes and bibliography. Cosmetics. — Tony Natoli
- augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics; raised status — David Whitehead
- Translated — Malcolm Heath