Bibliography
| Title: The Career and Conversion of dio Chrysostom Secondary Title: Journal of Hellenic Studies Volume: 98 Pages: 79-100 Type: Journal Article Year: 1978 Abstract: John Moles seeks to dispense once and for all with the argument that Dio Chrysostom underwent a philosophical conversion during the course of his career. The notion that the first-century native of Prusa completely changed his attitude from that of a sophist (in the Classical sense of the term) to a Cynical and Stoic philosopher originated with Dio himself (XIII De Exilio) and not with his admirer Synesius, fifth-century Bishop of Cyrene and author of a brief, career-oriented outline of his life. The issue is further complicated by the testimony of Philostratus (VS 487-88) which refers to Dio as a veritable 'horn of Amalthea', whose style resembled a mixture of Plato and Demosthenes, along with his own inventiveness.
Crucial to Moles' analysis is the issue of dating the Alexandrian Oration, in which Dio remarks that he was sent there by a god, like Hermes by Zeus (XXXII.21-22), to lecture them about appropriate civic behavior. Following the work of Christopher Jones, Moles dates the speech to the early 70s CE, which allows him to argue that the anti-sophistic and Cynic remarks made in the Alexandrian Oration are proof that Dio did not 'convert' to philosophy during his exile or even upon his return to Rome, as had been thought.
Finally, Moles argues that Dio's misrepresentation of his own life in De Exilio can be attributed either to an attempt to hide the circumstances under which he wrote the two speeches (now lost) Against the Philosophers and Against Musonius during the purge of Vespasian in 71 CE or to an effort to take advantage of the literary topos that his exile under the reign of Domitian afforded him, namely, the 'wandering philosopher'. Keywords: Dio, Stoicism, cynic, philosophy, rhetoric, sophistry, purge, topos, Musonius, Alexandrian, Rhodian, exile, conversion |