Gorgias, Encomium of Helen in The Greek Sophists translated by J. Dillon and T. Gergel (London, 2003) The Encomim of Helen Ve may tun nse, hseve, to something completely diferent and mh more chaste of Govt tessa ‘py sets, The Enon of Helen and The Deter of alam Though they are avonsy very differen in se from On Novy, yer cod be argued hat ter purposes ro sina, bet os it to deorcate the al coagering prowerofpesmse speech, nthe case ofthe ce, purpose {enor mona stows defence of een bu eet on the poser persuasion in thao the alae, beh basa ruth oe excl overs ora soma fo Beto resent Sram om rye he sada io bave chotm to rect the Hele iv ques pect form, ainsi the cl an tempt to convey someting of the impression mut have ade ont beaery we lave aso includ csc election of te more sing ata flourishes of te Grech, In the ease ofthe Palamede, uch tsttome messes an ot necesay ye Hele 31. [1] Theadornment (kosmos) of city is mansower, ‘ofa body beauty, ‘ofa soul, wisdom, ‘of an action, virtue, ‘ofaspeech, truth; and the opposites of these make for disarray (akosmia). ‘Man and woman and speech and deed and city and object should be honoured, if praiseworthy, with praise ‘and incur, iFunworthy, blame, for itis an equal err and mistake to blame the praiseable and co praise the blameable. Ja] Teis the pa of oneand the same man both to speck the need ul rightly and to refute " 0 refute those who rebuke Hele 4 woman about wham anivocal and unanimous hhas been the testimony of inspired poets, as has the ill amen of her name, ‘which has become a memorial of misfortunes. For my part, by introducing some reasoning into my speech, T wish to free the accused from blame (pausai és ats), and, by tevealing her detractors as liars and showing forth the truth, to free her from ignorance (pausaités amathias. 151So then, that in nature and in ancestry the woman who is subject ofthis speceh is pre-eminent among pre-eminent men and women is not unclear, even 40 few. For its clear at hee mother was Leda, ‘and her father was in fact (genomenow) a god, Zeus, but said tobe (leg meron) a mortal, Tyndareus, ‘of whom the one was shown to be hee father ‘because he was (dia to ena), and the latze was disproved, because he was said to be (dia 10 phanai), and the later was the most powerful of men, ‘while the fermer was lord of all things. [4] Born of such stock, she had godlike beauty, which, taking and not mistaking (labousa kai ow lathousa), she kepe In many did sie work much desire for he lose,and with her one body she brought rogether many bodies ‘of men thinking great thoughts for great goals, fof whom some had greatness of wealth some the glory of ancient nobility, sore the vigour of personal agility, satteanto® commana of quired knowles and all ame because of a passion which loved to conquer (hilonikon) and lave of honour which was unconquered (anit) {51 Who it was, and why and how he sailed away, taking Helen as his love shall not say ‘To tll the knovwing what they know already shows the right but brings no delight. Having passed over the time then in my speech now," I shall go on tothe beginning of my future speech, sind I shall set forth the causes which made i ikely that Helen’s voyage to Troy should take place. Jo] For eiher twas by she will of Fae andthe wishes of the Gods fand_ the vores af Necessity that she did what she did, ‘or by force reduced fof by words seduced .” Now if theough the frst itis right forthe eesponsible to be held esponsible; for God's predetermination (prothyyian} cannot be hindered bby human premeditation (promt, For itis the nansre of things, rt forthe stronger co be hindered by the weaker, bout forthe weaker to be ruled and drawn by the stronger, and for the stronger to lead and the weaker to fallow. God isa stronger force than man in might and in wie and in other ways. If then on Fate ard on God one must place blame (anatheteor) “Helen from diggrace one must free (apolyteon, Batifshe was by violence raped and lawlessly forced and unjustly outraged inisplainthat therapist, asthe outrager did the wronging, Sind the taped, as the outraged, did the suffering. Ikis right, then, for the barbarian who undertook a barbaric undertaking, inwore andlaw and deed to meet with blame in word, exclusion in la, and pucishme tin deed, [And how would it not 2 reasonable for a woman Taped and ecbhed of her country and deprived of Fer friends to be pitied rather han pilloried? He did the dreac deeds, she sutered them, Iris nse, therefore, ‘pity her, ut to ate him, {8} Buti it was specch which persuaded her and deceived her soul, rnoteven to this sit difficult to make an answer and to banish blame, as follows: heh Speech isa powerful lord, who ‘wth the Finest and most invisible body achieves the mest divine works: jean step fear and banish grief and create joy and nurture pity. I shall show how his i the ease, for I must offer proof tothe opinions doxéi deixa) of my hearess. Thoth deem ane define all poetryto ‘THe GREEK sommsts as speech possessing metie (9) Thre ome upon heaters tert sddesing (phi periphobos) anata ty (eon pots) fd rierous longing (patos philopenths) sndatehegod orcs anenlscions nn * thera and bodies through he agency a words the soul experiences suferng ofits own, Bat come, shal tr rom one argument wo anote* {1of pred incataions conveyed through words tse fare pst ns) ‘nd_anisher of pan pepe pes for, merging with opinion in the soul, a the power ofthe ncntaton guest nt pose and alersieby wich Of witches and gc rwin as hae been discovered" Mich te eros the soul payee and_ ceptions of opinion doxés spate) [11] Allwto have and do persade pople of hin dso by moulding fale argument. For fallen ov al sects Tadeo memoryof things past and cawareness” of things present and foreknowledge ofthe future, spezch would not be sinilary smi, sine a5 things ae ow isnot sy for chem to real the pase tor todlvine the fore so that on most sbjocts most men ut opinion, Being slippery and insecure casts those employing it into slippery and insecure [13] What cavse, then,” prevents the conclusion that Helen similarly, against her will, right have come under the influence of speech, just as if -avished by the force of pirates? For the mode of persnasion isin no way lke that of necesity, but its pewer isthe same. For the speech which persuades the soul ‘constrains that soul which ie persuades both to obey its uterances and to approve its doings. “The persuades, as constrainer, does the wrong, and the persuaded, as constrained, is wrongly blamed. [15] That persnasion, when added to speech, ‘a impeess the soul as ie wishes, ‘one may learn first from she utterances of the astronomers ‘who, substituting opinion for opinion, taking away one but creating another, make what i inevedible and unclear sccm irue tothe eyes of opinion; and second, compelling contests in words, inwhich a singe speech, svriten with art but not spoken with truth, ‘may charm and persuade a large multinude; and third, the struggles of philosophic arguments, in which sviftness of thought is also sown, ‘making belief in an opinion easily charged. {14} The effect of speech upon the structure of soul ‘sas the structure of drugs over the nature of bose for just as diferent drugs dispel different secretions fom the body, and some bring an end to disease, and others tlie, so also in theease af speeches some distress, others delight,: | some cause fear, others embolden theie rearers, and somedrug and bewitc the soul with a kind of evi persuasion {15} thas been stated, then, that, if she was persuaded by specch, she did not do wrong (édikésen), but was unfortunate (esykheser) ‘The fourth cause I shall discuss in a fourth section, For if ie was love which did these things, ‘no diffulry wil she have in escaping the charge ofthe sin which ialleged to have taken place. For the things we see «do not have the nature which we wish them to have, bur the nature which each happens to haves through she che soul is impressed evento its core [26] For example, ‘when enemy bodies ft themselves our against eremies, with warlike pear of bronze and iron, some for defence, some for offence, i ve sighs sees this, eis alarmed, and alarms te soul, 40 that often men flee in terror from furure danger as if it were present. For strong ass the habit of obedience tothe law, itis driven out by Fear resulting from sight whieh, coming to.a man, causes him to set at naught both the noble that adjudged theough law, and the good that comes about theough victory. {271vhashappened ha people, avingseen ghesng sights, have ost presence of mind forthe present memens ‘even thus does fear extinguish and expel thought. And many have fallen victim to useless labour (meatus pois) and dread diseases (deinais noso's) land _madnesses hard to cure (dysuatois mania) In his way the sght ngraves upon the mind ° = nages of things seen, Al many frightening pressions Inger, , alta ngs is ery sila fo what ssid 18] Moreose whenever pictures from many colours and fies " ‘perfectly create a single figure and form, they delight te sighs Anite crating of saves and the production of Ereworks rove plant vision ode ees Soin for the she urbe ered hy somethings and lng for ocho Et ick love and desir for any things and bois Se weought many port so] here, he ey of en, (ol pleased by the body of Alexander, sheet rad eager ele and contest of iors Sei wonefl io ha the od Ere onc tedvn power fhe al ‘oven a leser being rejet and refuse i? parities dense asin af amano rata por pnts) he shoudl become sn ares) Taree eds msortne aydiomal forse sei ome SIU aes ot ae ns ares sot bythe counel of reason (gnomes bows 2 Pek Somat foe eon gh and Pe Geel a bint porate) a] How hen enone ard he ae of Helen is te aiaahetershe a whe abi Uplancemanered ety ech padsBs 9% 34 » cor hy force ravished ‘0: by divine constraint compelled, she is utterly aequitted ofall charge? [21] Lhave through speech removed ill fame from 2 have stayed true to the procedure that Iset up atthe outset of my speed have tried t end the injustice of blame én adikian) and the ignorance of opinion (doxés amathian), ‘My purpose was to compose a speech as an encomium of Helen and an amusement for myself" {guna filled thas, ery plausibly by Dies “Tne elerence hte ult ancl, but i Seems toe an empty theories four, ‘Added, plavsby, by Diels on the bass of §15 below. Here Gonas tans t0 what is the central point ofthis diolay speech, a celebsation of the power of thetoic, presented as a sguasimapical ce ‘What followshuse makes possible sense, butsoundsaitlesteupt. There may wel be a lacuna in the test, as suggested by Max Pole, Aus Matos Wenlezi, Belin r9¥5y pay tho fills i plausibly, as fellows: ‘oF which the one with drugs produces Changes which age llneses ofthe ody and diseases of the es, ‘while the oer with words engenders new ideas, which are..." Ch. [ral beow. fennoian supplied here reasonably by Blas, balance promoian in the next column, Note that Gorgias, in speaking of mental Capacities, speaks always of “opinion (doxa}, never of “know. Tedze’ episteme) lato would age with him that rhetoric may hold sway overdo “The text hereisuntortunately seriously corrupt. Weadopra end ofthe conjetres of Blass 1887-98) and Radermacher (1951 tsiving an aceptale sense and Balance [Avery significa final mark!