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Dionysos with maenads, satyrs, and athletes by The Kleophrades Painter 500 BCE

"Difficulties are things that show what men are. For the future, in case of any difficulty, remember, that God, like a gymnastic trainer, has pitted you against a rough antagonist. For what end? That you may be an Olympic conqueror; and this cannot be without toil. No man, in my opinion, has a more profitable difficulty on his hands than you have; provided you will but use it, as an athletic champion uses his antagonist. 

Suppose we were to send you as a scout to Rome. But no one ever sends a timorous scout, who, when he only hears a noise, or sees a shadow, runs back frightened, and says, “The enemy is at hand.” So now, if you should come and tell us: “Things are in a fearful way at Rome; death is terrible, banishment terrible, calumny terrible, poverty terrible; run, good people, the enemy is at hand”; — we will answer: Get you gone, and prophesy for yourself; our only fault is, that we have sent such a scout. Diogenes was sent a scout before you, but he told us other tidings. He says that death is no evil, for it is nothing base; that calumny is only the noise of madmen. And what account did this spy give us of pain, of pleasure, of poverty? He says, that to be naked is better than a purple robe; to sleep upon the bare ground, the softest bed; and gives a proof of all he says by his own courage, tranquility, and freedom; and, moreover, by a healthy and robust body. “There is no enemy near,” he says. “All is profound peace.” How so, Diogenes? “Look upon me,” he says. “Am I hurt? Am I wounded? Have I run away from any one?” This is a scout worth having. But you come, and tell us one thing after another. Go back and look more carefully, and without fear."

Epictetus; Carter, Elizabeth. The Complete Works of Epictetus (pp. 73-74). Lazy Raven Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

Dionysos with maenads, satyrs, and athletes by The Kleophrades Painter 500 BCE. Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2344. The link from ScienceSource where I got this photo doesn't exist anymore so I couldn't link it below.

A and B: 6 young athletes exercising in the palaestra - belly side A and B: bearded Dionysos with wine and kantharos, together with a wild thiasos of satyrs and maenads - production place: Athens - painter: Kleophrades Painter (early work) - period / date: late archaic, ca. 500 BC - material: pottery (clay) - height: 56 cm - findspot: Vulci - museum / inventory number: München, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2344 - bibliography: John D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, Oxford 1963(2), 182, 6. This photo and all below are via ArchaiOptix.
























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Epictetus; Carter, Elizabeth. The Complete Works of Epictetus (pp. 73-74). Lazy Raven Publishing. Kindle Edition. 
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