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Damon's Ghost

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

We find the story of Damon in the report of Cymon’s life that Plutarch writes in his “Parallel lives”. From him we learn that Damon never was a nice person. On the contrary – as the writer tells us – he had a wild and cruel temper. However he was young and exceedingly handsome and he ended to hit the fancy of a high roman officer. Curtly Damon refused him, but the man did not accept his rejection and did not give him up. He had decided that either through the kind or the strong ways he would have this young man. For him this proved to be a dangerous resolution. In fact Damon, who had no wish to accept his proposal, rallied all his friends and, all together, hiding with grease their face, cut the throat of the undesired suitor who was just sacrificing to the gods. The Keroneyans didn’t lose any time in identifying the culprits and, fearing the vengeance that the Romans could inflict to their city, they gathered the Council who condemned Damon and his band to death.
This did not please young Damon at all, thus after having waited that the Council got together for dinner, he rallied his old gang and, still with their faces covered with lard’s grease, they invaded the palace and killed all the judges. After this he took to the wood and gave himself up to banditry sacking all the country from left to right.
In the meantime with his legions Lucullus had got at Keroneya where he learned what had happened. Then he opened an enquiry, but soon saw that the town had no fault in what occurred, and then left the place.
Now as Damon and his band were still robbing, killing, terrifying and persecuting all the country, Keroneya’s Magistrates decided they had to kill him, but for doing this they had to mislead the young culprit sending him gifts and embassy and naming him Gymnasiark. This set the reprobate’s mind at rest and, sure to have won, he came back to town and went to the city’s baths. He didn’t know that there he was awaited by hired assassins who, when the young man all naked and defenceless was anointing himself in the calidarium, rushed at him and cut his throat.
Now, as we have already seen, in all his life Damon had never been a pleasant person; obviously more unpleasant he was in his death. Plutarch tells us the awful consequence of this murder and how after his death the place where he was killed was so much infected by mysterious and terrifying apparitions that it had to be abandoned. So writes the historian:
“Having the Keronyans killed Damon in the calidarium, and here - for what our old people tells - having appeared phantoms and sounded long and loud moaning, the doors of the baths were barred. However the neighbors still have the impression to see spectral figures roaming around and often hear the sound of disturbed and jumbled voices.”