Zeno
1 the philosopher, in order that even
against his will no secret should be betrayed by his
body when under torture, bit his tongue through and
spat it out at the despot.
2 And Leaena
3 also has
a splendid reward for her self-control. She was a
courtesan belonging to the group led by Harmodius
and Aristogeiton and shared in the conspiracy against
[p. 417]
the tyrants
4 - with her hopes, all a woman could do ;
for she also had joined in the revels about that noble
mixing-bowl of Eros
5 and through the god had been
initiated into the secrets which might not be revealed.
When, therefore, the conspirators failed and were put
to death, she was questioned and commanded to
reveal those who still escaped detection ; but she
would not do so and continued steadfast, proving that
those men had experienced a passion not unworthy of
themselves in loving a woman like her. And the
Athenians caused a bronze lioness
6 without a tongue
to be made and set it up in the gates of the Acropolis,
representing by the spirited courage of the animal
Leaena's invincible character, and by its tonguelessness her power of silence in keeping a holy secret.
No spoken word, it is true, has ever done such
service as have in many instances words unspoken
7;
for it is possible at some later time to tell what you
have kept silent, but never to keep silent what once
has been spoken -
that has been spilled, and has
made its way abroad.
8 Hence, I think, in speaking
we have men as teachers, but in keeping silent we
have gods, and we receive from them this lesson of
silence at initiations into the Mysteries. And the
Poet f has made the most eloquent Odysseus the
most reticent, and also his son and his wife and his
nurse ; for you hear the nurse saying,
9
I'll hold it safe like sturdy oak or iron.
[p. 419]
And Odysseus himself, as he sat beside Penelope,
Did pity in his heart his wife in tears,
But kept his eyes firm-fixed within their lids
Like horn or iron.10
So full of self-control was his body in every limb, and
Reason, with all parts in perfect obedience and submission, ordered his eyes not to weep, his tongue not
to utter a sound, his heart not to tremble or bark
11:
His heart remained enduring in obedience,12
since his reason extended even to his irrational or involuntary movements and made amenable and subservient to itself
13 both his breath and his blood. Of
such character were also most of his companions ; for
even when they were dragged about and dashed
upon the ground by the Cyclops,
14 they would not
denounce Odysseus nor show that fire-sharpened
instrument prepared against the monster's eye, but
preferred to be eaten raw rather than to tell a
single word of the secret-an example of self-control
and loyalty which cannot be surpassed. Therefore
Pittacus
15 did not do badly, when the king of Egypt
sent bini a sacrificial animal and bade him cut out
the fairest and foulest meat, when he cut out and
sent him the tongue, as being the instrument of both
the greatest good and the greatest evil.
[p. 421]
