Immortality in Athens. Unamuno, Life 3.12
Unamuno
finds intellectuals willing to discuss many things. Immortality,
curiously, is not one of them. Why not?
Cuenta
el libro de los Hechos de los Apóstoles que adonde quiera que fuese
Pablo se concitaban contra él los celosos judíos para perseguirle.
Apedreáronle en Iconio y en Listra, ciudades de Licaonia, a pesar de
las maravillas que en la última obró; le azotaron en Filipos de
Macedonia y le persiguieron sus hermanos de raza en Tesalónica y en
Berea. Pero llegó a Atenas, a la noble ciudad de los intelectuales,
sobre la que velaba el alma excelsa de Platón, el de la hermosura
del riesgo de ser inmortal, y allí disputó Pablo con epicúreos y
estoicos, que decían de él, o bien: ¿qué quiere decir este
charlatán (σπερμολόγος)?
o bien: ¡parece que es predicador de nuevos dioses! (Hechos, XVII,
18), y «tomándole le llevaron al Areópago, diciendo: ¿podremos
saber qué sea esta nueva doctrina que dices?, porque traes a
nuestros oídos cosas peregrinas, y queremos saber qué quiere ser
eso» (versículos 19-20), añadiendo el libro esta maravillosa
caracterización de aquellos atenienses de la decadencia, de aquellos
lamineros y golosos de curiosidades, pues «entonces los atenienses
todos y sus huéspedes extranjeros no se ocupaban en otra cosa sino
en decir o en oir algo de más nuevo» (v. 21). ¡Rasgo maravilloso,
que nos pinta a qué habían venido a parar los
que aprendieron en la Odisea que los dioses traman y
cumplen la destrucción de los mortales para que los venideros tengan
algo que contar!
Ya
está, pues, Pablo ante los refinados atenienses, ante los
graeculos, los hombres cultos y
tolerantes que admiten toda doctrina, toda la estudian y a nadie
apedrean ni azotan ni encarcelan por profesar estas o las otras, ya
está donde se respeta la libertad de conciencia y se oye y se
escucha todo parecer. Y alza la voz allí, en medio del
Areópago, y les habla como cumplía a los cultos ciudadanos de
Atenas, y todos, ansiosos de la última novedad, le oyen; mas cuando
llega a hablarles de la resurrección de los muertos, se les acaba la
paciencia y la tolerancia, y unos se burlan de él y otros le dicen:
«¡ya oiremos otra vez de esto!», con propósito de no oirle. Y una
cosa parecida le ocurrió en Cesarea con el pretor romano Félix,
hombre también tolerante y culto, que le alivió de la pesadumbre de
su prisión, y quiso oirle y le oyó disertar de la justicia y de la
continencia; mas al llegar al juicio venidero, le dijo espantado
(ἔμφοβος γενομένος):
¡Ahora vete, que te volveré a llamar cuando cuadre! (Hechos, XXIV,
22-25.) Y cuando hablaba ante el rey Agripa, al oirle Festo, el
gobernador, decir de resurrección de muertos exclamó: «Estás
loco, Pablo; las muchas letras te han vuelto loco». (Hechos XXVI,
24.)
Sea
lo que fuere de la verdad del discurso de Pablo en el Areópago, y
aun cuando no lo hubiere habido, es lo cierto que en ese relato
admirable se ve hasta dónde llega la tolerancia ática y dónde
acaba la paciencia de los intelectuales. Os oyen todos en calma, y
sonrientes, y a las veces os animan diciéndoos: ¡es curioso! o
bien: ¡tiene ingenio! o ¡es sugestivo! o ¡qué hermosura! o
¡lástima que no sea verdad tanta belleza! o ¡eso hace pensar!;
pero así que les habláis de resurrección y de vida allende la
muerte, se les acaba la paciencia y os
atajan la palabra diciéndoos: ¡déjalo! ¡otro día hablarás de
esto!; y es de esto, mis pobres atenienses, mis intolerantes
intelectuales, es de esto de lo que voy a hablaros aquí.
Y
aun si esa creencia fuese absurda, ¿por qué se tolera menos el que
se les exponga que otras muchas más absurdas aún? ¿Por qué esa
evidente hostilidad a tal creencia? ¿Es miedo? ¿Es acaso pesar de
no poder compartirla?
The
book of Acts recounts that wherever the apostle Paul went, zealous
Jews roused themselves against him, stirring up persecution. They
stoned him in Iconium and Lystra (†),
cities of Lycaonia, in spite of the miracles he wrought in the
latter. They whipped him in Philippi of Macedon, and persecuted him in Thessalonica
and Berea. But still he came to Athens
(‡), the noble city of
the intellectuals, over which the exalted soul of Plato
watched—Plato, who found
beauty in the risk of immortality—and
there Paul disputed with Epicureans and Stoics. The philosophers had
things to say about him: "What is this charlatan (seed-picker
or gossip in Greek) saying?" or "It seems
that he is preaching something about new gods!" (Acts 17.18).
And so, "taking him with them, they brought him to the hill of
Ares (*), saying, 'Can we know more about this new doctrine you
mention? For you bring strange news to our ears, and we want to know
what it means'" (verses 19-20). The book here adds some
delightful color describing these decadent Athenians, greedy to sate their curiosity: "For at that time all the
Athenians and their foreign guests were constantly occupied in saying
or listening to some new thing" (verse 21). A remarkable
passage, which shows vividly the final resting place of those who
learned from Homer's Odyssey (⁑)
that the gods plot and carry out the destruction of mortals so that
those who come after them may have stories to tell!
So
Paul arrives to stand before the refined Athenians—the
dear little Greeks, as Romans called them: tolerant and cultured men
who admit any and all doctrine, study everything, and threaten nobody
with stones or whips or prisons for holding one idea rather than
another. At last he is in a place where liberty of conscience is
respected, where any opinion can find a hearing. So he raises his
voice here, in the midst of Ares' court, and addresses them in a
fashion befitting citizens of Athens. They listen to him, anxious to
lay hold of the latest novelty, but when he begins to discuss the
resurrection of the dead, their patience and tolerance give out. Some
mock him, while others beg off: "We will listen to this another
time!" they say, with no intention of listening. Paul met a
similar reception in Cesarea (⸸),
from the Roman praetor Felix, another cultured and tolerant man, who
saved the apostle from prison, asked to hear him, and listened to him
speak about justice and continence. But when he arrived at the
subject of final judgment, Felix cut him off in fear (becoming
terrified, in Greek): "Get out! I will summon you when you
are required" (Acts 24.22-25). And once again, as Paul was
speaking before king Agrippa, when the governor Festus heard him
mention the resurrection of the dead, he exclaimed, "Paul,
you're crazy! Too much book-learning has driven you mad!" (Acts 26.24).
Whatever the truth about Paul's speech on the hill of Ares, whether
it even happened or not, our admirable account of it shows the extent
of Attic tolerance, the limits of the patience of intellectuals. They
hear you calmly, with a smile, and occasionally encourage you. "How
curious!" they say. "What wit!" "That's
interesting!" "How lovely!" "What a pity such
beauty lacks truth!" "There's some food for thought!"
But the moment you speak to them of resurrection or another life
beyond death, their patience ends, and they cut you off. "Leave
that! You'll discuss that another day!" Today is that day, my
poor Athenians. Today I shall discuss this matter with you,
intolerant intellectuals though you be.
And
even if we grant that belief in immortality is absurd, why should we
extend to it less tolerance than we offer to other beliefs even more
ridiculous? Why the evident hostility to this particular belief? Is
it fear? Is it perchance sadness, arising from inability to share the
belief?
---
(†)
Ancient cities located in central Anatolia. Today the city Konya
still stands, in modern Turkey, but its neighbor Lystra has not
survived the ravages of time. The region known to Greeks and Romans
as Lycaonia may derive its name from an old Anatolian toponym
Lukkawanna, meaning "land of the Lukka folk." This
region is historically high mesa: dry and inhospitable, though
fertile if irrigated, and it naturally provided enough provender for
wild asses and sheep. Its inhabitants were independent, resisting the
rule of law and speaking their own languages (including eventually a
unique form of Greek, which became prevalent after many converted to
Christianity). Acts 14.8-10 recounts that Paul commanded a cripple in
Lystra to walk; he did, and folk responded by hailing Paul as Hermes,
and his fellow traveler Barnabas as Zeus. It was common in antiquity
to identify strangers with gods: compare the legend recounted in
Genesis 18-19.
(‡)
Paul's journey took him along urban trade-routes, heading north from
Anatolia to the land of Macedon, homeland of Alexander the Great
(356-323 BCE), who was already becoming ancient in Paul's time (the
first century CE). There he visited the cities of Philippi,
Thessalonica, and Berea, before heading south to Athens. Philippi was
originally a Thasian colony, founded by immigrants from that island
in the fourth century BCE; it was conquered and renamed in 356 BCE by
Philip II of Macedon, Alexander's father, who wanted to control
northern trade routes and the local gold-mines. Thessalonica was
founded in 315 BCE by Cassander, one of the diadochs or successors of
Alexander, who named it after his wife, Thessalonike, Alexander's
half-sister. Her name means "Thessalian victory" in Greek
and commemorates Philip II's victory over that tribe at the battle of
Crocus Field (353/2 BCE). That victory made him king of Thessaly,
paving the way for Alexander's inheritance of power sufficient to
dominate the Persians. When the Romans conquered the region in 148
BCE, they made Thessalonica capital of the first province of
Macedonia, and it has remained prominent, strategically and
culturally, ever since (cf. its role in the first World War). Berea
(modern Veria) lies inland and south relative to Thessalonica and
Philippi. It was founded early: myth makes its founder Beres the son
of Macedon, a son of Zeus who gave his name to the land he ruled. In
the kingdom inherited by Alexander, it was the second most important
city, after the capital Pella. Athens lies far to the south of
Macedon, in Attica, which connects continental Europe to the
Peloponnesus. Its foundation lies far in the past. Ancient historians
inherited myths that made the first Athenians offspring of the local
earth, autochthones, and modern research has found evidence of
human habitation there (in the cave of Schist, on the slopes of Mount
Egaleo) going back as far as the period between the 11th and 7th
millennia BCE (11,000 to 7000 years before Paul, roughly speaking).
Its political power reached apogee in the fifth century BCE, when
it vied with Sparta for control of the Greek world in the eastern
Mediterranean. While that bid for dominance ultimately failed, the
city retained significant cultural importance to subsequent regimes,
who admired especially the schools it produced in the tradition of
Plato's Academy (founded c. 387 BCE).
(*)
The hill of Ares was a large rock north and west of the Athenian
acropolis (the highest part of the city, fortified as a citadel and
famous for the Parthenon, its most prominent building). Elders who
had served in positions of significant public power met here in
council to hear and decide various difficult cases, notably those
involving murder but also, by Paul's time, some that involved moral
corruption. Most famous among these, before Paul, was perhaps the
courtesan Phryne or Mnesarete, who was narrowly acquitted of the
charge that she profaned the Eleusinian mysteries (Athenaeus,
Deipnosophistae
13.59;
Plutarch, Vitae decem
oratorum 849d-e). Legend recounts that the council took pity on her after she bared
her breasts; Paul was not so immediately persuasive.
(⁑)
This epic poem recounts the tale of Odysseus, one of the Greek heroes
of the Trojan War. In the story, most of the characters die, and this
dire outcome is often a result of divine connivance.
(⸸)
A city on the Palestinian coast, built by king Herod the Great in the
last century BCE. By Paul's time, it served as capital of the Roman
province of Judaea.