In Athens, on his Banishment or on his Exile (, Oration 13 in modern corpora) is a speech or speech-fragment by Dio Chrysostom, delivered in Athens, likely in AD 101. In it, Dio discusses his experience of being banished and how he found consolation in the philosophy of Socrates. He advises the Greeks and the people of Rome to do likewise and pursue Cynic moral philosophy rather than the cultural education like the Greeks or wealth and power like the Romans.
Background
In the early Flavian period (AD 69–96), Dio Chrysostom was an important politician in his native city of Prusa in Bithynia and also in the city of Rome. However, he was banished from his home province of Bithynia by the emperor Domitian. Dio says that this was because he was the "friend and advisor" of someone who had been convicted of conspiracy against the emperor (section 1). This is generally connected with the execution of Titus Flavius Sabinus in AD 82 or 83, but other possibilities have been suggested, such as the execution of Lucius Salvius Otho Cocceianus in the 80s. This oration and scattered comments in other speeches are the only sources for the banishment. After the assassination of Domitian and accession of Nerva in AD 96, the banishment was cancelled and Dio was allowed to return home. This speech was delivered shortly thereafter.
Summary
The speech can be divided up into sections in various ways. Sections 1-28 focus on Greek culture and sections 29–37 on Rome. Thematically, there are three parts: Dio's initial reaction to being banished (section 1–13), a speech attributed to Socrates and targeted at the Athenians criticising the excessive focus on a traditional Greek education (14-27), and another Socratic speech to the Romans criticising excessive focus on wealth (29-37). Alternatively, Moles proposes a four-part structure: Dio's reaction to his exile (1-11), people's questions to Dio (12), Dio's response in imitation of Socrates (13-28), and Dio's attempt to apply these insights to Rome (29-37).
In the opening, Dio briefly mentions the fact of his exile and moves on to his state of mind. He mused about whether banishment is difficult for all people or if there are ways of coping with it (2), noting on the one hand that exemplary heroes like Odysseus and Orestes underwent great struggles to escape it (3-6), but on the other hand that the Oracle of Delphi advised Croesus to go into exile voluntarily, which means that the god Apollo must have considered it a fate preferable to death (6-8). Dio therefore decided to consult the oracle himself and:
Therefore, Dio adopted a humble costume and travelled around (11). This led people to take him for a philosopher and invite him to speak on philosophical topics. He was forced to learn philosophy, so that he could discourse "on what is proper for people and what they are likely to benefit from" (13). Dio says he sought to draw people away from a focus on money, reputation, and bodily pleasures. He attributes this to Socrates (13-15).
In the second part, he launches into the kind of oration that he says Socrates used to give to the Athenians, and which he attributes to Socrates. The focus of this section is criticism of the traditional components of an ancient Greek education (paideia), like playing the cithara, wrestling in the gymnasium, learning to read and write, and becoming familiar with classical literature (17-19), instead of what they need to know:
The uselessness of other pursuits is shown by myth: wealth did not rich people, like Atreus, Agamemnon, and Oedipus from misfortune, nor did musical knowledge protect Thamyris, and inventing writing and mathematics did not save Palamedes, either (20-21). Learning oratory is no substitute for statesmanship (22). Dio rejects the argument that an exemplary education helped the Athenians win the Persian Wars; this was simply because the Persians did not know how to philosophise either (23-26). He concludes that ignorance of how to be "glorious and good" (kalos kagathos) is considered shameful and that philosophy (not paidea) is the true source of knowledge of how to be "glorious and good" (27-28).