CHEIRON
(Chiron)
I say to thee that I bear with me the wisdom of Cheiron, for from Chariklo and Philyra I come, from the cave where the Centaur's pure daughters reared me up, and now have I fulfilled twenty years among them without deceitful word or deed, and I am come home to seek the ancient honour of my father, held now in rule unlawful, which of old Zeus gave to the chief Aiolos and his children.
-- Jason in Pindar, Pythian IV
-- Jason in Pindar, Pythian IV
Cheiron and student, possibly Achilles. Etruscan vase, c. 500-480 BCE (© Fæ / Wikimedia Commons)
From the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology:
CHEIRON, the wisest and justest of all the centaurs. (Horn. 77. xi. 831.) He was the instructor of Achilles, whose father Peleus was a friend and relative of Cheiron, and received at his wedding with Thetis the heavy lance which was subsequently used by Achilles. (II. xvi. 143, xix. 390.) According to Apollodorus (i. 2. § 4), Cheiron was the son of Cronus and Philyra. He lived on mount Pelion, from which he, like the other centaurs, was expelled by the Lapithae; but sacrifices were offered to him there by the Magnesians until a very late period, and the family of the Chei-ronidae in that neighbourhood, who were distinguished for their knowledge of medicine, were regarded as his descendants. (Plut. Sympos. iii. 1; M'uller, Orcliom. p. 249.) Cheiron himself had been instructed by Apollo and Artemis, and was renowned for his skill in hunting, medicine, music, gymnastics, and the art of prophecy. (Xen. Cyney. 1; Philostr. Her. 9, Icon. ii. 2 ; Pind. Pyth. ix. 65.) All the most distinguished heroes of Grecian story are, like Achilles, described as the pupils of Cheiron in these arts. His friendship with Peleus, who was his grandson, is particularly celebrated. Cheiron saved him from the hands of the other centaurs, who were on the point of killing him, and he also restored to him the sword which Acastus had concealed. (Apollod. iii. 13. § 3, &c.) Cheiron further informed him in what manner he might gain possession of Thetis, who was doomed to marry a mortal. He is also connected with the story of the Argonauts, whom he received kindly when they came to his residence on their voyage, for many of the heroes were his friends and pupils. (Apollon. Rhod. i. 554; Orph. Argon. 375, &c.) Heracles too was connected with him by friendship; but one of the poisoned arrows of this hero was nevertheless the cause of his death, for during his struggle with the Erymanthian boar, Heracles became involved in a fight with the centaurs, who fled to Cheiron, in the neighbourhood of Malen. Heracles shot at them, and one of his arrows struck Cheiron, who, although immortal, would not live any longer, and gave his immortality to Prometheus.- According to others, Cheiron, in looking at one of the arrows, dropped it on his foot, and wounded himself. (Ovid. Fast. v. 397 ; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 38.) Zeus placed Cheiron among the stars. He had been married to Naïs or Chariclo, and his daughter Endeis was the mother of Peleus. (Apollod. iii. 12. § 6.) Cheiron is the noblest specimen of a combination of the human and animal forms in the ancient works of art; for while the centaurs generally express the sensual and savage features of a man combined with the strength and swiftness of a horse, Cheiron, who possesses the latter likewise, combines with it a mild wisdom. He was represented on the Amy- claean throne of Apollo, and on the chest of Cypselus. (Paus. iii. 18. § 7, v. 19. § 2.) Some repre sentations of him are still extant, in which young Achilles or Erotes are riding on his back. (Mus. Pio-Clement, i. 52; Böttiger, Vasengemälde, iii. p. 144, &c.)
Source: William Smith (ed.), The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 3 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1867).
CHEIRON, the wisest and justest of all the centaurs. (Horn. 77. xi. 831.) He was the instructor of Achilles, whose father Peleus was a friend and relative of Cheiron, and received at his wedding with Thetis the heavy lance which was subsequently used by Achilles. (II. xvi. 143, xix. 390.) According to Apollodorus (i. 2. § 4), Cheiron was the son of Cronus and Philyra. He lived on mount Pelion, from which he, like the other centaurs, was expelled by the Lapithae; but sacrifices were offered to him there by the Magnesians until a very late period, and the family of the Chei-ronidae in that neighbourhood, who were distinguished for their knowledge of medicine, were regarded as his descendants. (Plut. Sympos. iii. 1; M'uller, Orcliom. p. 249.) Cheiron himself had been instructed by Apollo and Artemis, and was renowned for his skill in hunting, medicine, music, gymnastics, and the art of prophecy. (Xen. Cyney. 1; Philostr. Her. 9, Icon. ii. 2 ; Pind. Pyth. ix. 65.) All the most distinguished heroes of Grecian story are, like Achilles, described as the pupils of Cheiron in these arts. His friendship with Peleus, who was his grandson, is particularly celebrated. Cheiron saved him from the hands of the other centaurs, who were on the point of killing him, and he also restored to him the sword which Acastus had concealed. (Apollod. iii. 13. § 3, &c.) Cheiron further informed him in what manner he might gain possession of Thetis, who was doomed to marry a mortal. He is also connected with the story of the Argonauts, whom he received kindly when they came to his residence on their voyage, for many of the heroes were his friends and pupils. (Apollon. Rhod. i. 554; Orph. Argon. 375, &c.) Heracles too was connected with him by friendship; but one of the poisoned arrows of this hero was nevertheless the cause of his death, for during his struggle with the Erymanthian boar, Heracles became involved in a fight with the centaurs, who fled to Cheiron, in the neighbourhood of Malen. Heracles shot at them, and one of his arrows struck Cheiron, who, although immortal, would not live any longer, and gave his immortality to Prometheus.- According to others, Cheiron, in looking at one of the arrows, dropped it on his foot, and wounded himself. (Ovid. Fast. v. 397 ; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 38.) Zeus placed Cheiron among the stars. He had been married to Naïs or Chariclo, and his daughter Endeis was the mother of Peleus. (Apollod. iii. 12. § 6.) Cheiron is the noblest specimen of a combination of the human and animal forms in the ancient works of art; for while the centaurs generally express the sensual and savage features of a man combined with the strength and swiftness of a horse, Cheiron, who possesses the latter likewise, combines with it a mild wisdom. He was represented on the Amy- claean throne of Apollo, and on the chest of Cypselus. (Paus. iii. 18. § 7, v. 19. § 2.) Some repre sentations of him are still extant, in which young Achilles or Erotes are riding on his back. (Mus. Pio-Clement, i. 52; Böttiger, Vasengemälde, iii. p. 144, &c.)
Source: William Smith (ed.), The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 3 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1867).
 Terra cotta centaur statue, 8th c. BCE. (Bibi Saint-Pol / Wikimedia Commons) Representations of Centaurs have been found dating back to Mycenaean times, both in Greece and across the Near East, suggesting that the creatures were part of Bronze Age mythology. Cheiron, however, may not have always been seen as a Centaur. He does not appear as such in Homer, for example.
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The Precepts of Chiron
Attributed to Hesiod Existing today only in fragments, a didactic poem called the Precepts of Chiron claimed to be the centaur's educational advice for Achilles. Since Antiquity it has been recognized that the poem was likely not the work of Hesiod. This translation is by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. FRAGMENT 1 Scholiast on Pindar, Pyth. vi. 19: "And now, pray, mark all these things well in a wise heart. First, whenever you come to your house, offer good sacrifices to the eternal gods." FRAGMENT 2 Plutarch Mor. 1034 E: "Decide no suit until you have heard both sides speak." FRAGMENT 3: NYMPHS Plutarch de Orac. defectu ii. 415 C: "A chattering crow lives out nine generations of aged men, but a stag's life is four times a crow's, and a raven's life makes three stags old, while the phoenix outlives nine ravens, but we, the rich-haired Nymphs, daughters of Zeus the aegis-holder, outlive ten phoenixes." FRAGMENT 4 Quintilian, i. 15: Some consider that children under the age of seven should not receive a literary education . . . That Hesiod was of this opinion very many writers affirm who were earlier than the critic Aristophanes; for he was the first to reject the Precepts, in which book this maxim occurs, as a work of that poet. Source: Hesiod, Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (London: William Heinemann, 1920). |
Dialogues of the Dead
Lucian
c. 150 CE
In Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead, Cheiron discusses the trials of immortality and gives the philosopher Menippus his reasons for dying. The dialogue takes place in Hades, where Cheiron now resides. This translation is by Howard Williams from 1888.
XXVI. CHEIRON IMPARTS TO MENIPPUS HIS REASON FOR PREFERRING HADES TO HEAVEN AND IMMORTALITY.
Menippus and Cheiron.
Menippus. I heard, Cheiron, that though divine, you had a great desire to die.
Cheiron. You heard quite right, Menippus; and I have died, as you see, when I might have been immortal.
Menippus. Pray, what love of death possessed you, a thing undesired by most people?
Cheiron. I will tell you, as you are not altogether without sense. I had no longer any pleasure to get from immortality.
Menippus. It was no pleasure to you to live and see the light of day?
Cheiron. No, Menippus, for I, for my part, hold pleasure to be something which is variable, and not simple. But I was always living and in the enjoyment of the same things —sun, light, food; and there were the same seasons, and everything happened, each in its own order, following, as it were, one after the other—I became, therefore, satiated with them: for my pleasure was dependent not on its permanence, but on the not being constantly participant in it.
Menippus. You are right, Cheiron; but how do you endure the state of things in Hades', ever since you came here by preference?
Cheiron. Not disagreeably, Menippus, for your equality is very democratic, and the circumstance of being in daylight or in darkness brings no difference with it: besides, one has not to be thirsty nor hungry, as up above, for we are without all those wants.
Menippus. Take care, Cheiron, that yon are not caught in your own words, and your argument does not come round to the same thing.
Cheiron. How do you mean?
Menippus. That if everlasting sameness and similarity of human life was the cause of your ennui, here, too, the sameness of things must be equally matter for satiety for you; and you will be obliged to Beek some means of migrating from here, also, to another life, a thing which, I imagine, is impossible.
Cheiron. What should one do, then, Menippus?
Menippus. According to what is commonly said, I suppose that a sensible man is pleased and content with his present circumstances, and thinks none of them intolerable.
Source: Lucian, Lucian's Dialogues, trans. Howard Williams (London: George Bell and Sons, 1888), 154-155.
Lucian
c. 150 CE
In Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead, Cheiron discusses the trials of immortality and gives the philosopher Menippus his reasons for dying. The dialogue takes place in Hades, where Cheiron now resides. This translation is by Howard Williams from 1888.
XXVI. CHEIRON IMPARTS TO MENIPPUS HIS REASON FOR PREFERRING HADES TO HEAVEN AND IMMORTALITY.
Menippus and Cheiron.
Menippus. I heard, Cheiron, that though divine, you had a great desire to die.
Cheiron. You heard quite right, Menippus; and I have died, as you see, when I might have been immortal.
Menippus. Pray, what love of death possessed you, a thing undesired by most people?
Cheiron. I will tell you, as you are not altogether without sense. I had no longer any pleasure to get from immortality.
Menippus. It was no pleasure to you to live and see the light of day?
Cheiron. No, Menippus, for I, for my part, hold pleasure to be something which is variable, and not simple. But I was always living and in the enjoyment of the same things —sun, light, food; and there were the same seasons, and everything happened, each in its own order, following, as it were, one after the other—I became, therefore, satiated with them: for my pleasure was dependent not on its permanence, but on the not being constantly participant in it.
Menippus. You are right, Cheiron; but how do you endure the state of things in Hades', ever since you came here by preference?
Cheiron. Not disagreeably, Menippus, for your equality is very democratic, and the circumstance of being in daylight or in darkness brings no difference with it: besides, one has not to be thirsty nor hungry, as up above, for we are without all those wants.
Menippus. Take care, Cheiron, that yon are not caught in your own words, and your argument does not come round to the same thing.
Cheiron. How do you mean?
Menippus. That if everlasting sameness and similarity of human life was the cause of your ennui, here, too, the sameness of things must be equally matter for satiety for you; and you will be obliged to Beek some means of migrating from here, also, to another life, a thing which, I imagine, is impossible.
Cheiron. What should one do, then, Menippus?
Menippus. According to what is commonly said, I suppose that a sensible man is pleased and content with his present circumstances, and thinks none of them intolerable.
Source: Lucian, Lucian's Dialogues, trans. Howard Williams (London: George Bell and Sons, 1888), 154-155.
