In Praise of Helen Gorgias 1. A city is embellished by an abundance ...

In Praise of HelenGorgias1. A city is embellished by an abundance of good men; bodies are embellished by beauty; the soul, bywisdom; actions, by honor; and speech, by Truth; the opposites of these embellishments are ugly. Thatman or woman, speech or work, city or action that is worthy of praise should be awarded with praise;those unworthy of praise should be censured, for it is equally both wrong and stupid to censure thoseworthy of praise and to praise those worthy of censure.2. It is necessary that the same man must both argue for the truth and refute those dishonorable claimsabout Helen, a woman about whose story poets have been unanimous and saying the same things, andabout her name, which has become a memory for misfortunes. I wish to use logic in this argument toend the guilt attributed to this woman and to demonstrate that those who censure her are lying; I arguethe truth to bring an end to this stupidity.3. Indeed, that the woman who is the subject of this argument is the first and foremost of men andwomen by nature and by family is not unclear, not even to a few. For it’s obvious that her mother wasLeda and her father was really the God Zeus, but said to be a mortal, Tyndareus; one was the mightiestof men, and the other held power over all.4. Born of such parents, she had beauty equal to that of the gods, which she noticed and accepted. Shecreated the greatest erotic desires in men, and for her body came together many bodies of men. Somehad great ambitions, others great wealth; some had ancient glorious nobility, others had great physicalstrength, and still others had gained powerful wisdom. All came because of erotic love which loved toconquer and aspirations of ambition which were unconquerable.5. Who took Helen as his love and how I won’t say; for to speak about that which is already known hasbenefits but provides no delight. Having overstepped the time for the first part of my speech, I will nowgo on to bring to your attention the likely causes for Helen’s voyage to Troy.6. Either by the intentions of Fate and the gods and the vote of Necessity did she do what she did, or byforce abducted, by speeches persuaded, or by love conquered. In the case of the first, it is right that theresponsible one alone be held responsible; for god’s intentions cannot be hindered by human foresight.It is not natural for the stronger to be hindered by the inferior, but rather it is natural for the inferior tobe under the stronger; for the stronger to lead and the inferior to follow. A god is stronger than men inpower, wisdom, etc. Therefore, if Fate and the gods are to blame, then one must release Helen fromher infamy.7. If she was abducted by force and illegally withheld and unjustly attacked, it is clear that the abductordid wrong and the abductee was unlucky. It is right then that a stranger who undertook barbaricundertaking by speech and custom and deed should be dishonored in speech, custom, and deed. And itis not right for she who was deprived of her homeland, parents, and friends to suffer abuse. He did thedeeds, but she suffers for them. It is right to pity her and to hate him.8. If it was persuasive speech that deceived her soul, it is not hard to argue in defense of her and toacquit her of guilt. Speech is very powerful; it is a little hidden body that can execute the will of thegods, for it can stop fear and pain, produce happiness, and encourage pity.

9. It is necessary to argue this opinion. I claim that all poetry is speech with meter. Shivers from greatfear, tearful pity, and sad longing come upon those who hear it, and the soul suffers similarly when ithears about great successes and great calamities in speech. But come, I will proceed from oneargument to another.10. Divine inspired enchantments bring hedonistic pleasure and relieve physical pain, for theenchantment’s power over the soul enchants and persuades it by cheating. There have been twodevices of enchantment found: sins of the soul, and deceptions of opinion.11. The many who have persuaded and who do persuade others do so by false logic. For if all peoplehad memories of the past, awareness of the present, and foreknowledge of the future, speech wouldnot have such resemblance; but people don’t remember the past or consider the present or prophecyabout the future; most people on most subjects use opinion as an advisor to the soul, but opinion, beingunsteady and uncertain, is likely to shackle one so that he stumbles and is uncertain in success.12. What cause hinders the conclusion that similarly Helen was overpowered and abducted? For it waspossible to perceive that persuasion possesses; persuasion has the power to force. Speech persuadedthe soul, persuading, and compelled both praise in the things said and the things done. The persuader,also the compeller, acted unjustly, and the persuaded, also the compelled, is unjustly faulted.13. When persuasion mixes with speech, the soul reshapes as it will. [For example,] First, the speech ofthe astronomers, who by setting opinion against opinion make unbelievable and uncertain opinionsapparent to the eye. Second, the necessary debates of the assembled, in which many speeches thatmake the crowd cheer are artfully written but do not convey truth. Third, the speeches of thephilosophers who compete for superiority, in which speed of thought is demonstrated, and thetrustworthiness of opinion is rendered questionable as opinion changes quickly.14. The power of speech on the soul is like that of drugs on the physiology of bodies. Just as differentdrugs purge different juices from the body, and some drugs cause a cessation either to illness or to life,so can speech give pain to the soul, inspire courage and confidence in those who hear it, and somespeeches drug and enchant the soul with evil persuasion.15. It has been argued that if by speech she was persuaded, she did not do wrong but instead wasunlucky. I will go on to the fourth cause in the fourth argument. If it was erotic love that brought all ofthis to pass, then it is not hard to say that she escapes guilt for her alleged sins. The things we see donot have the nature we wish them to have but rather the nature that is their own, and the soul receivesimpressions through sight.16. Whenever enemies put on their bronze and iron armor, and the sight observes this, the soul isalarmed and disturbed, and often men run panic stricken from future danger as if it were alreadypresent. As strong as obedience to the law is, that obedience is cast off by the fear that comes from thissight, which prompts a careless attitude about what is judged customarily to be honorable and to thebenefits that come from victory.

17. It has already been seen that those who have seen fearful things have, for those moments, lost theirpresence of mind; fear drives out and suppresses thought. Many take to useless labor, gain terribleillness, and develop incurable manias; the images of things seen are marked in the mind and spirit. Intruth, many of the frightening images remain; and those images that remain are just like things said.18. Whenever painters perfectly make a body and form from many colors, they delight in the sight of it;making a statue worthy of the gods is a pleasant image to the eye. It is natural for some sights to causedesire in the eye, and other sights to hurt the eye. Much erotic love and desire for many bodies andthings is made this way.19. Therefore, if Helen’s eye was delighted by Alexander’s body and granted to her soul willingness forthe struggle of erotic Love, it’s no wonder. In truth, if Love, as a god, has divine power, then how can aninferior being have enough strength to reject it? But if it were a human disease and a failure of the soul,then she should not be held accountable for it and it should be considered unfortunate. She came, fromthe beginning, by fortune, not by her own plan, and was constrained by erotic Love, not the cunning ofpreparation.20. Now, how can Helen be censured as unjust, she who because of erotic Love, or persuasive speech, orby greater strength seized, or under the force of a god, is blameless?21. With this speech I have removed shame from a woman, in the manner which I put forth at thebeginning of my speech; I have through inquiry tried to hinder the injustice of the censure and thestupidity of opinion, as it was my wish to write a speech that not only praised Helen but was also fun forme.(Translated by Staci Osborn)