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diff --git a/23639.txt b/23639.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fce2806 --- /dev/null +++ b/23639.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17554 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Plutarch's Morals, by Plutarch + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Plutarch's Morals + +Author: Plutarch + +Translator: Arthur Richard Shilleto + +Release Date: November 27, 2007 [EBook #23639] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLUTARCH'S MORALS *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Turgut Dincer and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _BOHN'S CLASSICAL LIBRARY_ + + PLUTARCH'S MORALS + + + GEORGE BELL & SONS, + LONDON: YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN + NEW YORK: 66, FIFTH AVENUE, AND + BOMBAY: 53, ESILANADE ROAD + CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. + + + PLUTARCH'S MORALS + + ETHICAL ESSAYS + + TRANSLATED + + WITH NOTES AND INDEX + + BY ARTHUR RICHARD SHILLETO, M.A. + + _Sometime Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, + Translator of Pausanias._ + + [Illustration] + + LONDON + GEORGE BELL AND SONS + 1898 + + CHISWICK PRESS:--CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, + CHANCERY LANE. + + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's note: The original book uses often colons | + | instead of semicolons. Spelling of proper names is | + | different in different pages and some words occur in | + | hyphemated and unhyphenated forms. These have not been | + | changed. A couple of commas and periods have been added or | + | removed to improve the reading and only obvious spelling | + | errors have been corrected. | + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Plutarch, who was born at Chaeronea in Boeotia, probably about A.D. 50, +and was a contemporary of Tacitus and Pliny, has written two works still +extant, the well-known _Lives_, and the less-known _Moralia_. The +_Lives_ have often been translated, and have always been a popular work. +Great indeed was their power at the period of the French Revolution. The +_Moralia_, on the other hand, consisting of various Essays on various +subjects (only twenty-six of which are directly ethical, though they +have given their name to the _Moralia_), are declared by Mr. Paley "to +be practically almost unknown to most persons in Britain, even to those +who call themselves scholars."[1] _Habent etiam sua fata libelli._ + +In older days the _Moralia_ were more valued. Montaigne, who was a great +lover of Plutarch, and who observes in one passage of his Essays that +"Plutarch and Seneca were the only two books of solid learning he +seriously settled himself to read," quotes as much from the _Moralia_ as +from the _Lives_. And in the seventeenth century I cannot but think the +_Moralia_ were largely read at our Universities, at least at the +University of Cambridge. For, not to mention the wonderful way in which +the famous Jeremy Taylor has taken the cream of "Conjugal Precepts" in +his Sermon called "The Marriage Ring," or the large and copious use he +has made in his "Holy Living" of three other Essays in this volume, +namely, those "On Curiosity," "On Restraining Anger," and "On +Contentedness of Mind," proving conclusively what a storehouse he found +the _Moralia_, we have evidence that that most delightful poet, Robert +Herrick, read the _Moralia_, too, when at Cambridge, so that one cannot +but think it was a work read in the University course generally in those +days. For in a letter to his uncle written from Cambridge, asking for +books or money for books, he makes the following remark: "How kind +Arcisilaus the philosopher was unto Apelles the painter, Plutark in his +Morals will tell you."[2] + +In 1882 the Reverend C. W. King, Senior Fellow of Trinity College, +Cambridge, translated the six "Theosophical Essays" of the _Moralia_, +forming a volume in Bohn's Classical Library. The present volume +consists of the twenty-six "Ethical Essays," which are, in my opinion, +the cream of the _Moralia_, and constitute a highly interesting series +of treatises on what might be called "The Ethics of the Hearth and +Home." I have grouped these Essays in such a manner as to enable the +reader to read together such as touch on the same or on kindred +subjects. + +As is well known, the text of the _Moralia_ is very corrupt, and the +reading very doubtful, in many places. In eight of the twenty-six Essays +in this volume I have had the invaluable help of the text of Rudolf +Hercher; help so invaluable that one cannot but sadly regret that only +one volume of the _Moralia_ has yet appeared in the _Bibliotheca +Teubneriana_. Wyttenbach's text and notes I have always used when +available, and when not so have fallen back upon Reiske. Reiske is +always ingenious, but too fond of correcting a text, and the criticism +of him by Wyttenbach is perhaps substantially correct. "In nullo +auctore habitabat; vagabatur per omnes: nec apud quemquam tamdiu +divertebat, ut in paulo interiorem ejus consuetudinem se insinuaret." I +have also had constantly before me the Didot Edition of the _Moralia_, +edited by Frederic Duebner. + +Let any reader who wishes to know more about Plutarch, consult the +article on Plutarch, in the Ninth Edition of the _Encyclopaedia +Britannica_, by the well-known scholar F. A. Paley. He will also do well +to read an Essay on Plutarch by R. W. Emerson, reprinted in Volume III. +of the Bohn's Standard Library Edition of Emerson's Works, and Five +Lectures on Plutarch by the late Archbishop Trench, published by Messrs. +Macmillan and Co. in 1874. All these contain much of interest, and will +repay perusal. + +In conclusion, I hope this little volume will be the means of making +popular some of the best thoughts of one of the most interesting and +thoughtful of the ancients, who often seems indeed almost a modern. + + + Cambridge, + _March_, 1888. + + + [1] See article _Plutarch_, in _Encyclopaedia + Britannica_, Ninth Edition. + + [2] Grosart's _Herrick_, vol. i. p. liii. See in this + volume, p. 180, and also note to p. 288. Richard Baxter + again is always quoting the _Moralia_. + + + + +CONTENTS + Page + +PREFACE. vii + + I. ON EDUCATION 2 + II. ON LOVE TO ONE'S OFFSPRING 21 + III. ON LOVE 29 + IV. CONJUGAL PRECEPTS 70 + V. CONSOLATORY LETTER TO HIS WIFE 85 + VI. THAT VIRTUE MAY BE TAUGHT 92 + VII. ON VIRTUE AND VICE 95 + VIII. ON MORAL VIRTUE 98 + IX. HOW ONE MAY BE AWARE OF ONE'S PROGRESS IN VIRTUE 118 + X. WHETHER VICE IS SUFFICIENT TO CAUSE UNHAPPINESS 138 + XI. WHETHER THE DISORDERS OF MIND OR BODY ARE WORSE 142 + XII. ON ABUNDANCE OF FRIENDS 145 + XIII. HOW ONE MAY DISCERN A FLATTERER FROM A FRIEND 153 + XIV. HOW A MAN MAY BE BENEFITED BY HIS ENEMIES 201 + XV. ON TALKATIVENESS 214 + XVI. ON CURIOSITY 238 + XVII. ON SHYNESS 252 +XVIII. ON RESTRAINING ANGER 267 + XIX. ON CONTENTEDNESS OF MIND 289 + XX. ON ENVY AND HATRED 312 + XXI. HOW ONE CAN PRAISE ONESELF WITHOUT EXCITING ENVY 315 + XXII. ON THOSE WHO ARE PUNISHED BY THE DEITY LATE 331 +XXIII. AGAINST BORROWING MONEY 365 + XXIV. WHETHER "LIVE UNKNOWN" BE A WISE PRECEPT 373 + XXV. ON EXILE 378 + XXVI. ON FORTUNE 394 + +INDEX 401 + + + + +PLUTARCH'S MORALS. + +ON EDUCATION. + + +Sec. I. Come let us consider what one might say on the education of free +children, and by what training they would become good citizens. + +Sec. II. It is perhaps best to begin with birth: I would therefore warn +those who desire to be fathers of notable sons, not to form connections +with any kind of women, such as courtesans or mistresses: for those who +either on the father or mother's side are ill-born have the disgrace of +their origin all their life long irretrievably present with them, and +offer a ready handle to abuse and vituperation. So that the poet was +wise, who said, "Unless the foundation of a house be well laid, the +descendants must of necessity be unfortunate."[3] Good birth indeed +brings with it a store of assurance, which ought to be greatly valued by +all who desire legitimate offspring. For the spirit of those who are a +spurious and bastard breed is apt to be mean and abject: for as the poet +truly says, "It makes a man even of noble spirit servile, when he is +conscious of the ill fame of either his father or mother."[4] On the +other hand the sons of illustrious parents are full of pride and +arrogance. As an instance of this it is recorded of Diophantus,[5] the +son of Themistocles, that he often used to say to various people "that +he could do what he pleased with the Athenian people, for what he wished +his mother wished, and what she wished Themistocles wished, and what +Themistocles wished all the Athenians wished." All praise also ought we +to bestow on the Lacedaemonians for their loftiness of soul in fining +their king Archidamus for venturing to marry a small woman, for they +charged him with intending to furnish them not with kings but kinglets. + +Sec. III. Next must we mention, what was not overlooked even by those who +handled this subject before us, that those who approach their wives for +procreation must do so either without having drunk any wine or at least +very little. For those children, that their parents begot in drink, are +wont to be fond of wine and apt to turn out drunkards. And so Diogenes, +seeing a youth out of his mind and crazy, said, "Young man, your father +was drunk when he begot you." Let this hint serve as to procreation: now +let us discuss education. + +Sec. IV. To speak generally, what we are wont to say about the arts and +sciences is also true of moral excellence, for to its perfect +development three things must meet together, natural ability, theory, +and practice. By theory I mean training, and by practice working at +one's craft. Now the foundation must be laid in training, and practice +gives facility, but perfection is attained only by the junction of all +three. For if any one of these elements be wanting, excellence must be +so far deficient. For natural ability without training is blind: and +training without natural ability is defective, and practice without both +natural ability and training is imperfect. For just as in farming the +first requisite is good soil, next a good farmer, next good seed, so +also here: the soil corresponds to natural ability, the training to the +farmer, the seed to precepts and instruction. I should therefore +maintain stoutly that these three elements were found combined in the +souls of such universally famous men as Pythagoras, and Socrates, and +Plato, and of all who have won undying fame. Happy at any rate and dear +to the gods is he to whom any deity has vouchsafed all these elements! +But if anyone thinks that those who have not good natural ability cannot +to some extent make up for the deficiencies of nature by right training +and practice, let such a one know that he is very wide of the mark, if +not out of it altogether. For good natural parts are impaired by sloth; +while inferior ability is mended by training: and while simple things +escape the eyes of the careless, difficult things are reached by +painstaking. The wonderful efficacy and power of long and continuous +labour you may see indeed every day in the world around you.[6] Thus +water continually dropping wears away rocks: and iron and steel are +moulded by the hands of the artificer: and chariot wheels bent by some +strain can never recover their original symmetry: and the crooked staves +of actors can never be made straight. But by toil what is contrary to +nature becomes stronger than even nature itself. And are these the only +things that teach the power of diligence? Not so: ten thousand things +teach the same truth. A soil naturally good becomes by neglect barren, +and the better its original condition, the worse its ultimate state if +uncared for. On the other hand a soil exceedingly rough and sterile by +being farmed well produces excellent crops. And what trees do not by +neglect become gnarled and unfruitful, whereas by pruning they become +fruitful and productive? And what constitution so good but it is marred +and impaired by sloth, luxury, and too full habit? And what weak +constitution has not derived benefit from exercise and athletics? And +what horses broken in young are not docile to their riders? while if +they are not broken in till late they become hard-mouthed and +unmanageable. And why should we be surprised at similar cases, seeing +that we find many of the savagest animals docile and tame by training? +Rightly answered the Thessalian, who was asked who the mildest +Thessalians were, "Those who have done with fighting."[7] But why pursue +the line of argument further? For the Greek name for moral virtue is +only habit: and if anyone defines moral virtues as habitual virtues, he +will not be beside the mark. But I will employ only one more +illustration, and dwell no longer on this topic. Lycurgus, the +Lacedaemonian legislator, took two puppies of the same parents, and +brought them up in an entirely different way: the one he pampered and +cosseted up, while he taught the other to hunt and be a retriever. Then +on one occasion, when the Lacedaemonians were convened in assembly, he +said, "Mighty, O Lacedaemonians, is the influence on moral excellence of +habit, and education, and training, and modes of life, as I will prove +to you at once." So saying he produced the two puppies, and set before +them a platter and a hare: the one darted on the hare, while the other +made for the platter. And when the Lacedaemonians could not guess what +his meaning was, or with what intent he had produced the puppies, he +said, "These puppies are of the same parents, but by virtue of a +different bringing up the one is pampered, and the other a good hound." +Let so much suffice for habit and modes of life. + +Sec. V. The next point to discuss will be nutrition. In my opinion mothers +ought to nurse and suckle their own children. For they will bring them +up with more sympathy and care, if they love them so intimately and, as +the proverb puts it, "from their first growing their nails."[8] Whereas +the affection of wet or dry nurses is spurious and counterfeit, being +merely for pay. And nature itself teaches that mothers ought themselves +to suckle and rear those they have given birth to. And for that purpose +she has supplied every female parent with milk. And providence has +wisely provided women with two breasts, so that if they should bear +twins, they would have a breast for each. And besides this, as is +natural enough, they would feel more affection and love for their +children by suckling them. For this supplying them with food is as it +were a tightener of love, for even the brute creation, if taken away +from their young, pine away, as we constantly see. Mothers must +therefore, as I said, certainly try to suckle their own children: but if +they are unable to do so either through physical weakness (for this +contingency sometimes occurs), or in haste to have other children, they +must select wet and dry nurses with the greatest care, and not introduce +into their houses any kind of women. First and foremost they must be +Greeks in their habits. For just as it is necessary immediately after +birth to shapen the limbs of children, so that they may grow straight +and not crooked, so from the beginning must their habits be carefully +attended to. For infancy is supple and easily moulded, and what +children learn sinks deeply into their souls while they are young and +tender, whereas everything hard is softened only with great difficulty. +For just as seals are impressed on soft wax, so instruction leaves its +permanent mark on the minds of those still young. And divine Plato seems +to me to give excellent advice to nurses not to tell their children any +kind of fables, that their souls may not in the very dawn of existence +be full of folly or corruption.[9] Phocylides the poet also seems to +give admirable advice when he says, "We must teach good habits while the +pupil is still a boy." + +Sec.VI. Attention also must be given to this point, that the lads that are +to wait upon and be with young people must be first and foremost of good +morals, and able to speak Greek distinctly and idiomatically, that they +may not by contact with foreigners of loose morals contract any of their +viciousness. For as those who are fond of quoting proverbs say not +amiss, "If you live with a lame man, you will learn to halt."[10] + +Sec.VII. Next, when our boys are old enough to be put into the hands of +tutors,[11] great care must be taken that we do not hand them over to +slaves, or foreigners, or flighty persons. For what happens nowadays in +many cases is highly ridiculous: good slaves are made farmers, or +sailors, or merchants, or stewards, or money-lenders; but if they find a +winebibbing, greedy, and utterly useless slave, to him parents commit +the charge of their sons, whereas the good tutor ought to be such a one +as was Phoenix, the tutor of Achilles. The point also which I am now +going to speak about is of the utmost importance. The schoolmasters we +ought to select for our boys should be of blameless life, of pure +character, and of great experience. For a good training is the source +and root of gentlemanly behaviour. And just as farmers prop up their +trees, so good schoolmasters prop up the young by good advice and +suggestions, that they may become upright. How one must despise, +therefore, some fathers, who, whether from ignorance or inexperience, +before putting the intended teachers to the test, commit their sons to +the charge of untried and untested men. If they act so through +inexperience it is not so ridiculous; but it is to the remotest degree +absurd when, though perfectly aware of both the inexperience and +worthlessness of some schoolmasters, they yet entrust their sons to +them; some overcome by flattery, others to gratify friends who solicit +their favours; acting just as if anybody ill in body, passing over the +experienced physician, should, to gratify his friend, call him in, and +so throw away his life; or as if to gratify one's friend one should +reject the best pilot and choose him instead. Zeus and all the gods! can +anyone bearing the sacred name of father put obliging a petitioner +before obtaining the best education for his sons? Were they not then +wise words that the time-honoured Socrates used to utter, and say that +he would proclaim, if he could, climbing up to the highest part of the +city, "Men, what can you be thinking of, who move heaven and earth to +make money, while you bestow next to no attention on the sons you are +going to leave that money to?"[12] I would add to this that such fathers +act very similarly to a person who should be very careful about his shoe +but care nothing about his foot. Many persons also are so niggardly +about their children, and indifferent to their interests, that for the +sake of a paltry saving, they prefer worthless teachers for their +children, practising a vile economy at the expense of their children's +ignorance. _Apropos_ of this, Aristippus on one occasion rebuked an +empty-headed parent neatly and wittily. For being asked how much money a +parent ought to pay for his son's education, he answered, "A thousand +drachmae." And he replying, "Hercules, what a price! I could buy a slave +for as much;" Aristippus answered, "You shall have two slaves then, your +son and the slave you buy."[13] And is it not altogether strange that +you accustom your son to take his food in his right hand, and chide him +if he offers his left, whereas you care very little about his hearing +good and sound discourses? I will tell you what happens to such +admirable fathers, when they have educated and brought up their sons so +badly: when the sons grow to man's estate, they disregard a sober and +well-ordered life, and rush headlong into disorderly and low vices; then +at the last the parents are sorry they have neglected their education, +bemoaning bitterly when it is too late their sons' debasement. For some +of them keep flatterers and parasites in their retinue--an accursed set +of wretches, the defilers and pest of youth; others keep mistresses and +common prostitutes, wanton and costly; others waste their money in +eating; others come to grief through dice and revelling; some even go in +for bolder profligacy, being whoremongers and defilers of the marriage +bed,[14] who would madly pursue their darling vice if it cost them their +lives. Had they associated with some philosopher, they would not have +lowered themselves by such practices, but would have remembered the +precept of Diogenes, whose advice sounds rather low, but is really of +excellent moral intent,[15] "Go into a brothel, my lad, that you may see +the little difference between vice and virtue." + +Sec. VIII. I say, then, to speak comprehensively (and I might be justly +considered in so saying to speak as an oracle, not to be delivering a +mere precept), that a good education and sound bringing-up is of the +first and middle and last importance; and I declare it to be most +instrumental and conducive to virtue and happiness. For all other human +blessings compared to this are petty and insignificant. For noble birth +is a great honour, but it is an advantage from our forefathers. And +wealth is valuable, but it is the acquisition of fortune, who has often +taken it away from those who had it, and brought it to those who little +expected it; and much wealth is a sort of mark for villanous slaves and +informers to shoot at to fill their own purses; and, what is a most +important point, even the greatest villains have money sometimes. And +glory is noble, but insecure. And beauty is highly desirable, but +shortlived. And health is highly valuable, but soon impaired. And +strength is desirable, but illness or age soon made sad inroads into it. +And generally speaking, if anyone prides himself on his bodily strength, +let him know that he is deficient in judgment. For how much inferior is +the strength of a man to that of animals, as elephants, bulls, and +lions! But education is of all our advantages the only one immortal and +divine. And two of the most powerful agencies in man's nature are mind +and reason. And mind governs reason, and reason obeys mind; and mind is +irremovable by fortune, cannot be taken away by informers, cannot be +destroyed by disease, cannot have inroads made into it by old age. For +the mind alone flourishes in age; and while time takes away everything +else, it adds wisdom to old age. Even war, that sweeps away everything +else like a winter torrent, cannot take away education. And Stilpo, the +Megarian, seems to me to have made a memorable answer when Demetrius +enslaved Megara and rased it to the ground. On his asking whether Stilpo +had lost anything, he replied, "Certainly not, for war can make no havoc +of virtue." Corresponding and consonant to this is the answer of +Socrates, who when asked, I think by Gorgias,[16] if he had any +conception as to the happiness of the King of Persia, replied, "I do not +know his position in regard to virtue and education: for happiness lies +in these, and not in adventitious advantages." + +Sec. IX. And as I advise parents to think nothing more important than the +education of their children, so I maintain that it must be a sound and +healthy education, and that our sons must be kept as far as possible +from vulgar twaddle. For what pleases the vulgar displeases the wise. I +am borne out by the lines of Euripides, "Unskilled am I in the oratory +that pleases the mob; but amongst the few that are my equals I am +reckoned rather wise. For those who are little thought of by the wise, +seem to hit the taste of the vulgar."[17] And I have myself noticed +that those who practise to speak acceptably and to the gratification of +the masses promiscuously, for the most part become also profligate and +lovers of pleasure in their lives. Naturally enough. For if in giving +pleasure to others they neglect the noble, they would be hardly likely +to put the lofty and sound above a life of luxury and pleasure, and to +prefer moderation to delights. Yet what better advice could we give our +sons than to follow this? or to what could we better exhort them to +accustom themselves? For perfection is only attained by neither speaking +nor acting at random--as the proverb says, _Perfection is only attained +by practice_.[18] Whereas extempore oratory is easy and facile, mere +windbag, having neither beginning nor end. And besides their other +shortcomings extempore speakers fall into great disproportion and +repetition, whereas a well considered speech preserves its due +proportions. It is recorded by tradition that Pericles, when called on +by the people for a speech, frequently refused on the plea that he was +unprepared. Similarly Demosthenes, his state-rival, when the Athenians +called upon him for his advice, refused to give it, saying, "I am not +prepared." But this you will say, perhaps, is mere tradition without +authority. But in his speech against Midias he plainly sets forth the +utility of preparation, for he says, "I do not deny, men of Athens, that +I have prepared this speech to the best of my ability: for I should have +been a poor creature if, after suffering so much at his hands, and even +still suffering, I had neglected how to plead my case."[19] Not that I +would altogether reject extempore oratory, or its use in critical cases, +but it should be used only as one would take medicine.[20] Up, indeed, +to man's estate I would have no extempore speaking, but when anyone's +powers of speech are rooted and grounded, then, as emergencies call for +it, I would allow his words to flow freely. For as those who have been +for a long time in fetters stumble if unloosed, not being able to walk +from being long used to their fetters, so those who for a long time have +used compression in their words, if they are suddenly called upon to +speak off-hand, retain the same character of expression. But to let mere +lads speak extempore is to give rise to the acme of foolish talk. A +wretched painter once showed Apelles, they say, a picture, and said, "I +have just done it." Apelles replied, "Without your telling me, I should +know it was painted quickly; I only wonder you haven't painted more such +in the time." As then (for I now return from my digression), I advise to +avoid stilted and bombastic language, so again do I urge to avoid a +finical and petty style of speech; for tall talk is unpopular, and petty +language makes no impression. And as the body ought to be not only sound +but in good condition, so speech ought to be not only not feeble but +vigorous. For a safe mediocrity is indeed praised, but a bold +venturesomeness is also admired. I am also of the same opinion with +regard to the disposition of the soul, which ought to be neither +audacious nor timid and easily dejected: for the one ends in impudence +and the other in servility; but to keep in all things the mean between +extremes is artistic and proper. And, while I am still on this topic, I +wish to give my opinion, that I regard a monotonous speech first as no +small proof of want of taste, next as likely to generate disdain, and +certain not to please long. For to harp on one string is always tiresome +and brings satiety; whereas variety is pleasant always whether to the +ear or eye. + +Sec. X. Next our freeborn lad ought to go in for a course of what is called +general knowledge, but a smattering of this will be sufficient, a taste +as it were (for perfect knowledge of all subjects would be impossible); +but he must seriously cultivate philosophy. I borrow an illustration to +show my meaning: it is well to sail round many cities, but advantageous +to live in the best. It was a witty remark of the philosopher Bion,[21] +that, as those suitors who could not seduce Penelope took up with her +maids as a _pis aller_, so those who cannot attain philosophy wear +themselves out in useless pursuits. Philosophy, therefore, ought to be +regarded as the most important branch of study. For as regards the cure +of the body, men have found two branches, medicine and exercise: the +former of which gives health, and the latter good condition of body; but +philosophy is the only cure for the maladies and disorders of the soul. +For with her as ruler and guide we can know what is honourable, what is +disgraceful; what is just, what unjust; generally speaking, what is to +be sought after, what to be avoided; how we ought to behave to the gods, +to parents, to elders, to the laws, to foreigners, to rulers, to +friends, to women, to children, to slaves: viz., that we ought to +worship the gods, honour parents, reverence elders, obey the laws, +submit ourselves to rulers, love our friends, be chaste in our relations +with women, kind to our children, and not to treat our slaves badly; +and, what is of the greatest importance, to be neither over elated in +prosperity nor over depressed in adversity,[22] nor to be dissolute in +pleasures, nor fierce and brutish in anger. These I regard as the +principal blessings that philosophy teaches. For to enjoy prosperity +nobly shows a man; and to enjoy it without exciting envy shows a +moderate man; and to conquer the passions by reason argues a wise man; +and it is not everybody who can keep his temper in control. And those +who can unite political ability with philosophy I regard as perfect men, +for I take them to attain two of the greatest blessings, serving the +state in a public capacity, and living the calm and tranquil life of +philosophy. For, as there are three kinds of life, the practical, the +contemplative, and the life of enjoyment, and of these three the one +devoted to enjoyment is a paltry and animal life, and the practical +without philosophy an unlovely and harsh life, and the contemplative +without the practical a useless life, so we must endeavour with all our +power to combine public life with philosophy as far as circumstances +will permit. Such was the life led by Pericles, by Archytas of Tarentum, +by Dion of Syracuse, by Epaminondas the Theban, one of whom was a +disciple of Plato (viz., Dion). And as to education, I do not know that +I need dwell any more on it. But in addition to what I have said, it is +useful, if not necessary, not to neglect to procure old books, and to +make a collection of them, as is usual in agriculture. For the use of +books is an instrument in education, and it is profitable in learning to +go to the fountain head. + +Sec. XI. Exercise also ought not to be neglected, but we ought to send our +boys to the master of the gymnasium to train them duly, partly with a +view to carrying the body well, partly with a view to strength. For good +habit of body in boys is the foundation of a good old age. For as in +fine weather we ought to lay up for winter, so in youth one ought to +form good habits and live soberly so as to have a reserve stock of +strength for old age. Yet ought we to husband the exertions of the body, +so as not to be wearied out by them and rendered unfit for study. For, +as Plato says,[23] excessive sleep and fatigue are enemies to learning. +But why dwell on this? For I am in a hurry to pass to the most important +point. Our lads must be trained for warlike encounters, making +themselves efficient in hurling the javelin and darts, and in the chase. +For the possessions of those who are defeated in battle belong to the +conquerors as booty of war; and war is not the place for delicately +brought up bodies: it is the spare warrior that makes the best +combatant, who as an athlete cuts his way through the ranks of the +enemies. Supposing anyone objects: "How so? As you undertook to give +advice on the education of freeborn children, do you now neglect the +poor and plebeian ones, and give instructions only suitable to the +rich?" It is easy enough to meet such critics. I should prefer to make +my teaching general and suitable to all; but if any, through their +poverty, shall be unable to follow up my precepts, let them blame +fortune, and not the author of these hints. We must try with all our +might to procure the best education for the poor as well as the rich, +but if that is impossible, then we must put up with the practicable. I +inserted those matters into my discourse here, that I might hereafter +confine myself to all that appertains to the right education of the +young. + +Sec. XII. And this I say that we ought to try to draw our boys to good +pursuits by entreaties and exhortation, but certainly not by blows or +abusive language. For that seems to be more fitting for slaves than the +freeborn. For slaves try to shirk and avoid their work, partly because +of the pain of blows, partly on account of being reviled. But praise or +censure are far more useful than abuse to the freeborn, praise pricking +them on to virtue, censure deterring them from vice. But one must +censure and praise alternately: when they are too saucy we must censure +them and make them ashamed of themselves, and again encourage them by +praise, and imitate those nurses who, when their children sob, give them +the breast to comfort them. But we must not puff them up and make them +conceited with excessive praise, for that will make them vain and give +themselves airs. + +Sec. XIII. And I have ere now seen some fathers, whose excessive love for +their children has turned into hatred. My meaning I will endeavour to +make clearer by illustration. While they are in too great a hurry to +make their sons take the lead in everything, they lay too much work upon +them, so that they faint under their tasks, and, being overburdened, are +disinclined for learning. For just as plants grow with moderate rain, +but are done for by too much rain, so the mind enlarges by a proper +amount of work, but by too much is unhinged. We must therefore give our +boys remission from continuous labour, bearing in mind that all our life +is divided into labour and rest; thus we find not only wakefulness but +sleep, not only war but peace, not only foul weather but fine also, not +only working days but also festivals. And, to speak concisely, rest is +the sauce of labour. And we can see this not only in the case of +animate, but even inanimate things, for we make bows and lyres slack +that we may be able to stretch them. And generally the body is preserved +by repletion and evacuation, and the soul by rest and work. We ought +also to censure some fathers who, after entrusting their sons to tutors +and preceptors, neither see nor hear how the teaching is done. This is a +great mistake. For they ought after a few days to test the progress of +their sons, and not to base their hopes on the behaviour of a hireling; +and the preceptors will take all the more pains with the boys, if they +have from time to time to give an account of their progress. Hence the +propriety of that remark of the groom, that nothing fats the horse so +much as the king's eye.[24] And especial attention, in my opinion, must +be paid to cultivating and exercising the memory of boys, for memory is, +as it were, the storehouse of learning; and that was why they fabled +Mnemosyne to be the mother of the Muses, hinting and insinuating that +nothing so generates and contributes to the growth of learning as +memory. And therefore the memory must be cultivated, whether boys have a +good one by nature, or a bad one. For we shall so add to natural good +parts, and make up somewhat for natural deficiencies, so that the +deficient will be better than others, and the clever will outstrip +themselves. For good is that remark of Hesiod, "If to a little you keep +adding a little, and do so frequently, it will soon be a lot."[25] And +let not fathers forget, that thus cultivating the memory is not only +good for education, but is also a great aid in the business of life. For +the remembrance of past actions gives a good model how to deal wisely in +future ones. + +Sec. XIV. We must also keep our sons from filthy language. For, as +Democritus says, Language is the shadow of action. They must also be +taught to be affable and courteous. For as want of affability is justly +hateful, so boys will not be disagreeable to those they associate with, +if they yield occasionally in disputes. For it is not only excellent to +know how to conquer, but also to know how to be defeated, when victory +would be injurious, for there is such a thing as a Cadmean victory.[26] +I can cite wise Euripides as a witness of the truth of what I say, who +says, "When two are talking, and one of them is in a passion, he is the +wiser who first gives way."[27] + +I will next state something quite as important, indeed, if anything, +even more important. That is, that life must be spent without luxury, +the tongue must be under control, so must the temper and the hands. All +this is of extreme importance, as I will show by examples. To begin with +the last case, some who have put their hands to unjust gains, have lost +all the fruits of their former life, as the Lacedaemonian Gylippus,[28] +who was exiled from Sparta for embezzling the public money. To be able +to govern the temper also argues a wise man. For Socrates, when a very +impudent and disgusting young fellow kicked him on one occasion, seeing +all the rest of his class vexed and impatient, even to the point of +wanting to prosecute the young man, said, "What! If a young ass kicked +me would you have me kick it back?" Not that the young fellow committed +this outrage on Socrates with impunity, for as all reviled him and +nicknamed him the kicker, he hung himself. And when Aristophanes brought +his "_Clouds_" on the stage, and bespattered Socrates with his gibes and +flouts, and one of the spectators said, "Aren't you vexed, Socrates, at +his exhibiting you on the stage in this comic light?" he answered, "Not +I, by Zeus, for I look upon the theatre as only a large supper +party."[29] Very similar to this was the behaviour of Archytas of +Tarentum and Plato. The former, on his return from war, where he had +been general, finding his land neglected, called his bailiff, and said +to him, "You would have caught it, had I not been very angry." And +Plato, very angry with a gluttonous and shameless slave, called his +sister's son Speusippus, and said, "Go and beat him, for I am too +angry." But someone will say, these examples are difficult and hard to +follow. I know it. But we must try, as far as possible, following these +examples, to avoid ungovernable and mad rage. For we cannot in other +respects equal those distinguished men in their ability and virtue, +nevertheless we must, like initiating priests of the gods and +torchbearers of wisdom, attempt as far as possible to imitate and nibble +at their practice. Then, again, if anyone thinks it a small and +unimportant matter to govern the tongue, another point I promised to +touch on, he is very far from the reality. For silence at the proper +season is wisdom, and better than any speech. And that is, I think, the +reason why the ancients instituted the mysteries that we, learning +therein to be silent, might transfer our secrecy to the gods to human +affairs. And no one ever yet repented of his silence, while multitudes +have repented of their speaking. And what has not been said is easy to +say, while what has been once said can never be recalled. I have heard +of myriads who have fallen into the greatest misfortunes through +inability to govern their tongues. Passing over the rest, I will mention +one or two cases in point. When Ptolemy Philadelphus married his sister +Arsinoe, Sotades said, "You are contracting an unholy marriage."[30] For +this speech he long lingered in prison, and paid the righteous penalty +for his unseasonable babbling, and had to weep a long time for making +others laugh. Theocritus the Sophist similarly cracked his jokes, and +had to pay even a greater penalty. For when Alexander ordered the Greeks +to furnish him with purple robes to wear at the sacrifices on his +triumphal return from war against the barbarians, and his subjects +contributed so much per head, Theocritus said, "Before I doubted, but +now I am sure, that this is the _purple death_ Homer speaks of."[31] By +this speech he made Alexander his enemy. The same Theocritus put +Antigonus, the King of the Macedonians, a one-eyed man, into a +thundering rage by alluding to his misfortune. For the King sent his +chief cook, Eutropio, an important person at his court, to go and fetch +Theocritus before him to confer with him, and when he had frequently +requested him to come without avail, Theocritus at last said, "I know +well you wish to serve me up raw to the Cyclops;" flouting the King as +one-eyed and the cook with his profession. Eutropio replied, "You shall +lose your head, and pay the penalty for this babbling and mad +insolence;" and reported his words to the King, who sent and had his +head taken off. Our boys must also be taught to speak the truth as a +most sacred duty; for to lie is servile, and most hateful in all men, +hardly to be pardoned even in poor slaves. + +Sec. XV. Thus much have I said about the good conduct and self-control of +boys without any doubt or hesitation: but as to what I am now going to +say I am doubtful and undecided, and like a person weighed in the scales +against exactly his weight, and feel great hesitation as to whether I +should recommend or dissuade the practice. But I must speak out. The +question is this--whether we ought to let the lovers of our boys +associate and be with them, or on the contrary, debar them from their +company and scare them off. For when I look at fathers self-opinionated +sour and austere, who think their sons having lovers a disgrace not to +be borne, I am rather afraid of recommending the practice. But when, on +the other hand, I think of Socrates, Xenophon, AEschines, Cebes, and all +the company of those men who have approved of male loves, and who have +introduced their minions to learning, to high positions in the State, +and to good morals, I change my opinion, and am moved to emulate those +men. And Euripides seems to favour these views in the passage, "But +there is among mortals another love, that of the righteous temperate and +pure soul."[32] Nor must we omit the remark of Plato, which seems to mix +seriousness with mirth, that "those who have distinguished themselves +ought to be permitted to kiss any handsome boy they like."[33] Those +then that seek only carnal enjoyment must be kept off, but those that +love the soul must be encouraged. And while the loves common at Thebes +and Elis, and the so-called rape at Crete, must be avoided, the loves of +Athens and Lacedaemon should be emulated. + +Sec. XVI. As to this matter, therefore, let every parent follow his +inclination. And now, as I have spoken about the good and decent +behaviour of boys, I shall change my subject and speak a little about +youths. For I have often censured the introducers of bad habits, who +have set over boys tutors and preceptors, but have given to youths full +liberty, when they ought, on the contrary, to have watched and guarded +them more than boys. For who does not know that the offences of boys are +petty and easily cured, and proceed from the carelessness of tutors or +want of obedience to preceptors; but the faults of young men are often +grave and serious, as gluttony, and robbing their fathers, and dice, and +revellings, and drinking-bouts, and deflowering of maidens, and seducing +of married women. Such outbreaks ought to be carefully checked and +curbed. For that prime of life is prodigal in pleasure, and frisky, and +needs a bridle, so that those parents who do not strongly check that +period, are foolishly, if unawares, giving their youths license for +vice.[34] Sensible parents, therefore, ought during all that period to +guard and watch and restrain their youths, by precepts, by threats, by +entreaties, by advice, by promises, by citing examples,[35] on the one +hand, of those who have come to ruin by being too fond of pleasure, on +the other hand, of those who by their self-control have attained to +praise and good report. For these are, as it were, the two elements of +virtue, hope of honour, and fear of punishment; the former inciting to +good practices, the latter deterring from bad. + +Sec. XVII. We ought, at all hazards, to keep our boys also from association +with bad men, for they will catch some of their villany. This was the +meaning of Pythagoras' enigmatical precepts, which I shall quote and +explain, as they give no slight momentum towards the acquisition of +virtue: as, _Do not touch black tails_: that is, do not associate with +bad men.[36] _Do not go beyond the balance_: that is, we must pay the +greatest attention to justice and not go beyond it. _Do not sit on a +measure_: that is, do not be lazy, but earn tomorrow's bread as well as +to-day's. _Do not give everyone your right hand_: that is, do not be too +ready to strike up a friendship. _Do not wear a tight ring_: that is, +let your life be free, do not bind yourself by a chain. _Do not poke the +fire with a sword_: that is, do not provoke an angry person, but yield +to such. _Do not eat the heart_: do not wear away the heart by anxiety. +_Abstain from beans_: that is, do not meddle in state affairs, for the +voting for offices was formerly taken by beans. _Do not put your food in +the chamber-pot_: that is, do not throw your pearls before swine, for +words are the food of the mind, and the villany of men twist them to a +corrupt meaning. _When you have come to the end of a journey do not look +back_: that is, when people are going to die and see that their end is +near, they ought to take it easily and not be dejected. But I will +return from my digression. We must keep our boys, as I said, from +association with all bad men, but especially from flatterers. For, as I +have often said to parents, and still say, and will constantly affirm, +there is no race more pestilential, nor more sure to ruin youths +swiftly, than the race of flatterers, who destroy both parents and sons +root and branch, making the old age of the one and the youth of the +others miserable, holding out pleasure as a sure bait. The sons of the +rich are by their fathers urged to be sober, but by them to be drunk; by +their fathers to be chaste, by them to wax wanton; by their fathers to +save, by them to spend; by their fathers to be industrious, by them to +be lazy. For they say, "'Our life's but a span;'[37] we can only live +once; why should you heed your father's threats? he's an old twaddler, +he has one foot in the grave; we shall soon hoist him up and carry him +off to burial." Some even pimp for them and supply them with prostitutes +or even married women, and cut huge slices off the father's savings for +old age, if they don't run off with them altogether. An accursed tribe, +feigning friendship, knowing nothing of real freedom, flatterers of the +rich, despisers of the poor, drawn to young men by a sort of natural +logic,[38] showing their teeth and grinning all over when their patrons +laugh,[39] misbegotten brats of fortune and bastard elements in life, +living according to the nod of the rich, free in their circumstances, +but slaves by inclination, when they are not insulted thinking +themselves insulted, because they are parasites to no purpose. So, if +any father cares for the good bringing-up of his sons, he must banish +from his house this abominable race. He must also be on his guard +against the viciousness of his sons' schoolfellows, for they are quite +sufficient to corrupt the best morals. + +Sec. XVIII. What I have said hitherto is _apropos_ to my subject: I will +now speak a word to the men. Parents must not be over harsh and rough in +their natures, but must often forgive their sons' offences, remembering +that they themselves were once young. And just as doctors by infusing a +sweet flavour into their bitter potions find delight a passage to +benefit, so fathers must temper the severity of their censure by +mildness; and sometimes relax and slacken the reins of their sons' +desires, and again tighten them; and must be especially easy in respect +to their faults, or if they are angry must soon cool down. For it is +better for a father to be hot-tempered than sullen, for to continue +hostile and irreconcilable looks like hating one's son. And it is good +to seem not to notice some faults, but to extend to them the weak sight +and deafness of old age, so as seeing not to see, and hearing not to +hear, their doings. We tolerate the faults of our friends; why should we +not that of our sons? often even our slaves' drunken debauches we do not +expose. Have you been rather near? spend more freely. Have you been +vexed? let the matter pass. Has your son deceived you by the help of a +slave? do not be angry. Did he take a yoke of oxen from the field, did +he come home smelling of yesterday's debauch? wink at it. Is he scented +like a perfume shop? say nothing. Thus frisky youth gets broken in.[40] + +Sec. XIX. Those of our sons who are given to pleasure and pay little heed +to rebuke, we must endeavour to marry, for marriage is the surest +restraint upon youth. And we must marry our sons to wives not much +richer or better born, for the proverb is a sound one, "Marry in your +own walk of life."[41] For those who marry wives superior to themselves +in rank are not so much the husbands of their wives as unawares slaves +to their dowries.[42] + +Sec. XX. I shall add a few remarks, and then bring my subject to a close. +Before all things fathers must, by a good behaviour, set a good example +to their sons, that, looking at their lives as a mirror, they may turn +away from bad deeds and words. For those fathers who censure their +sons' faults while they themselves commit the same, are really their own +accusers, if they know it not, under their sons' name; and those who +live a depraved life have no right to censure their slaves, far less +their sons. And besides this they will become counsellors and teachers +of their sons in wrongdoing; for where old men are shameless youths will +of a certainty have no modesty. We must therefore take all pains to +teach our sons self-control, emulating the conduct of Eurydice, who, +though an Illyrian and more than a barbarian, to teach her sons educated +herself though late in life, and her love to them is well depicted in +the inscription which she offered to the Muses: "Eurydice of Hierapolis +made this offering to the Muses, having conceived a vast love for +knowledge. For when a mother with sons full-grown she learnt letters, +the preservers of knowledge." + +To carry out all these precepts would be perhaps a visionary scheme; but +to attain to many, though it would need a happy disposition and much +care, is a thing possible to human nature.[43] + + [3] Euripides, "Here. Fur." 1261, 1262. + + [4] Euripides, "Hippol." 424, 425. + + [5] Cleophantus is the name given to this lad by other + writers. + + [6] Compare Sophocles, "Oedipus Tyrannus," 112, 113. + + [7] The Thessalians were very pugnacious. Cf. Isocrates, + "Oratio de Pace," p. 316. [Greek: ohi men (Thettaloi) + sphisin autois haei polemousin]. + + [8] A proverbial expression among the ancients for + earliest childhood. See Erasmus, "Adagia." + + [9] Plato, "Republic," ii. p. 429, E. + + [10] See Erasmus, "Adagia." + + [11] It is difficult to know how to render the word + [Greek: paidagogos] in English. He was the slave who + took the boy to school, and generally looked after him + from his seventh year upward. Tutor or governor seems + the best rendering. He had great power over the boy + entrusted to him. + + [12] Plato, "Clitophon," p. 255, D. + + [13] Compare Diogenes Laertius, ii. 72. + + [14] Reading [Greek: koitophthorountes], the excellent + emendation of Wyttenbach. + + [15] From the heathen standpoint of course, not from the + Christian. Compare the advice of Cato in Horace's + "Satires," Book i. Sat. ii. 31-35. It is a little + difficult to know what Diogenes' precept really means. + Is it that vice is universal? Like Shakespeare's + "Measure for Measure," Act ii. Sc. ii. 5. "All sects, + all ages smack of this vice." + + [16] He was asked by Polus, see Plato, "Gorgias," p. + 290, F. + + [17] "Hippolytus," 986-989. + + [18] Cf. Plato, "Cratylus," p. 257, E. [Greek: o pai + Hipponikou Hermogenes, palaia paroimia, oti chalepa ta + kala estin ope echei mathein]. So Horace, "Sat." i. ix. + 59, 60, "Nil sine magno Vita labore dedit mortalibus." + + [19] "Midias," p. 411, C. + + [20] _i.e._, occasionally and sparingly. + + [21] Diogenes Laertius assigns the remark to Aristippus, + while Stobaeus fathers it on Aristo. + + [22] A favourite thought with the ancients. Compare + Isocrates, "Admonitio ad Demonicum," p. 18; and + Aristotle, "Nic. Eth.," iv. 3. + + [23] "Republic," vii. p. 489, E. + + [24] A famous Proverb. It is "the master's eye" + generally, as in Xenophon, "Oeconom." xii. 20; and + Aristotle, "Oeconom." i. 6. + + [25] "Works and Days," 361, 362. The lines were + favourite ones with our author. He quotes them again, Sec. + 3, of "How one may be aware of one's Progress in + Virtue." + + [26] See Pausanias, ix. 9. Also Erasmus, "Adagia." + + [27] A fragment from the "Protesilaus" of Euripides. Our + "It takes two to make a quarrel." + + [28] See Plutarch's Lysander. + + [29] Or _symposium_, where all sorts of liberties were + taken. + + [30] I have softened his phrase. His actual words were + very coarse, and would naturally be resented by Ptolemy. + See Athenaeus, 621, A. + + [31] See "Iliad," v. 83; xvi. 334; xx, 477. + + [32] A fragment from the "Dictys" of Euripides. + + [33] "Republ." v. 463, F. sq. + + [34] Cf. Shakespeare's "Winter Tale," Act iii. sc. iii. + 59-63. + + [35] As Horace's father did. See "Satires," Book i. Sat. + iv. 105-129. + + [36] What we call _black sheep_. + + [37] From Simonides. Cf. Seneca, "Epist." xlix. "Punctum + est quod vivimus, et adhuc puncto minus." + + [38] Reading with Wyttenbach, [Greek: hos ek logikes + technes.] + + [39] Like _Carker_ in Dombey. + + [40] Compare the character of Micio in the "Adelphi" of + Terence. + + [41] This saying is assigned by Diogenes Laertius to + Pittacus. + + [42] Compare Plautus, "Asinaria," i. l. 74. "Argentum + accepi: dote imperum vendidi." Compare also our author, + "Whether Vice is sufficient to cause Unhappiness," Sec. i. + + [43] Wyttenbach thinks this treatise is not Plutarch's. + He bases his conclusion partly on external, partly on + internal, grounds. It is not quoted by Stobaeus, or any + of the ancients, before the fourteenth century. And its + style is not Plutarch's; it has many words foreign to + Plutarch: it has "nescio quid novum ac peregrinum, ab + illa Plutarchea copia et gravitate diversum leve et + inane." Certainly its matter is superior to its manner. + + + + +ON LOVE TO ONE'S OFFSPRING. + + +Sec. I. Appeals to foreign law-courts were first devised among the Greeks +through mistrust of one another's justice, for they looked on justice as +a necessity not indigenous among them. Is it not on much the same +principle that the philosophers, in regard to some of their questions, +owing to their variety of opinion, have appealed to the brute creation +as to a strange state, and submitted the decision to their instincts and +habits as not to be talked over and impartial? Or is it a general +charge against human infirmity that, having different opinions on the +most necessary and important things, we seek in horses and dogs and +birds how to marry and beget and rear children, as though we had no +means of making our own nature known, and appeal to the habits and +instincts of the brute creation, and call them in to bear witness +against the many deviations from nature in our lives, which from the +first are confused and disorderly. For among the brutes nature remains +ever the same, pure and simple, but in men, owing to reason and habit, +like oil in the hands of the perfumers, being mixed up with many added +opinions, it becomes various and loses its original simplicity. And let +us not wonder that the brutes follow nature more closely than human +beings, for in that respect even they are outstripped by inanimate +things, which, being dowered neither with imagination nor any appetite +or inclination contrary to nature, ever continue in the one path which +nature has prescribed for them, as if they were tied and bound. But in +brutes the gentleness of mood inspired by reason, the subtlety, the love +of freedom, are not qualities found in excess, but they have +unreasonable appetites and desires, and act in a roundabout way within +certain limits, riding, as it were, at the anchor of nature, and only +going straight under bit and bridle. But in man reason, which is +absolute master, inventing different modes and fashions of life, has +left no plain or evident trace of nature.[44] + +Sec. II. Consider in their marriages how much the animals follow nature. +For they do not wait for any legislation about bachelor or late-married, +like the citizens of Lycurgus and Solon, nor do they fear penalties for +childlessness, nor are they anxious for the _jus trium liberorum_,[45] +like many of the Romans, who only marry and have children for the +privileges it bestows, not to have heirs, but to be qualified for +succeeding themselves to inheritances. Then, again, the male animal +does not go with the female at all times; for its aim is not pleasure +but procreation: so in the season of spring, the most appropriate time +for such pairings,[46] the female being submissive and tender attracts +the male by her beautiful condition of body, coming as she does from the +dew and fresh pastures, and when pregnant modestly retires and takes +thought for the birth and safety of her offspring. We cannot adequately +describe all this, but every animal exhibits for its young affection and +forethought and endurance and unselfishness. We call the bee wise, and +celebrate its "making the yellow honey,"[47] flattering it for its +tickling sweetness; but we neglect the wisdom and ingenuity of other +creatures, both as regards the birth and bringing up of their young. For +example, the kingfisher after conception weaves its nest with the thorns +of the marine needle, making it round and oblong in shape like a +fisherman's basket, and after deftly and closely weaving it together, +subjects it to the action of the sea waves, that its surface may be +rendered waterproof by this plash and cement, and it is hard for even +iron or stone to break it. And what is more wonderful still, so +symmetrically is the entrance of the nest adjusted to the kingfisher's +shape and size, that no beast either greater or smaller can enter it, +they even say that it does not admit the sea, or even the very smallest +things. And cats, when they breed, very often let their kittens go out +and feed, and take them back into their entrails again.[48] And the +bear, a most savage and ugly beast, gives birth to its young without +shape or joints, and with its tongue as with an instrument moulds its +features, so that it seems to give form as well as life to its progeny. +And the lion in Homer, "whom the hunters meet in the wood with its +whelps, exulting in its strength, which so frowns that it hides its +eyes,"[49] does it not intend to bargain with the hunters for its +whelps? For universally the love of animals for their offspring makes +timid ones bold, and lazy ones energetic, and greedy ones unselfish. +And so the bird in Homer, feeding its young "with its beak, with +whatever it has captured, even though it goes ill with itself,"[50] +nourishes its young at the cost of its own hunger, and when the food is +near its maw abstains from it, and holds it tightly in its mouth, that +it may not gulp it down unawares. "And so a bitch bestriding her tender +pups, barks at a strange man, and yearns for the fray,"[51] making her +fear for them a sort of second anger. And partridges when they are +pursued with their young let them fly on, and, contriving their safety, +themselves fly so near the sportsmen as to be almost caught, and then +wheel round, and again fly back and make the sportsmen hope to catch +them, till at last, having thus provided for the safety of their young, +they lead the sportsmen on a long way. As to hens, we see every day how +they watch over their chicks, dropping their wings over some, and +letting others climb on their backs, or anywhere about them, and +clucking for joy all the time: and though they fly from dogs and dragons +when only afraid for themselves, if they are afraid for their chicks +they stand their ground and fight valiantly. Are we to suppose then that +nature has only implanted these instincts in fowls and dogs and bears, +anxious only about their offspring, to put us mortals out of countenance +and to give us a bad name? considering these examples for us to follow, +while disgrace justly attaches to our inhumanity, for mankind only is +accused of having no disinterested affection, and of not knowing how to +love except in regard to advantage. For that line is greatly admired in +the theatres, "Man loves man only for reward," and is the view of +Epicurus, who thinks that the father so loves his son, the mother her +child, children their parents. Whereas, if the brutes could understand +conversation, and if anyone were to introduce horses and cows and dogs +and birds into a common theatre,[52] and were to change the sentiment +into "neither do dogs love their pups, nor horses their foals, nor birds +their young, out of interest, but gratuitously and by nature," it would +be recognized by the affections of all of them to be a true sentiment. +Why it would be disgraceful, great God, that birth and travail and +procreation should be gratis and mere nature among the beasts, while +among mankind they should be merely mercenary transactions! + +Sec. III. But such a statement is not true or worthy of credit. For as +nature, in wild growths, such as wild vines, wild figs, or wild olives, +makes the fruit imperfect and inferior to the fruit of cultivated trees, +so has she given to the brutes an imperfect affection for their kind, +one neither marked by justice nor going beyond commodity: whereas to +man, a logical and social animal, she has taught justice and law, and +honour to the gods, and building of cities, and philanthropy, and has +contributed the noble and goodly and fruitful seeds of all these in love +to one's offspring, thereby following the very first elements that are +found in the construction of the body. For nature is everywhere perfect +and artistic and complete, and, to borrow the expression of +Erasistratus, has nothing tawdry about her: but one cannot adequately +describe all the processes appertaining to birth, nor would it be +perhaps decent to pry too closely into such hidden matters, and to +particularize too minutely all their wondrous ingenuity. But her +contrivance and dispensation of milk alone is sufficient to prove +nature's wonderful care and forethought. For all the superfluous blood +in women, that owing to their languor and thinness of spirit floats +about on the surface and oppresses them, has a safety-valve provided by +nature in the menses, which relieve and cleanse the rest of the body, +and fit the womb for conception in due season. But after conception +nature stops the menses, and arrests the flow of the blood, using it as +aliment for the babe in the womb, until the time arrives for its birth, +and it requires a different kind of food. At this stage the blood is +most ingeniously changed into a supply of milk, not diffused all over +the body, but externally in the breasts, so that the babe can with its +mouth imbibe the gentle and soothing nutriment.[53] But all these +various processes of nature, all this economy, all this forethought, +would be useless, had not nature also implanted in mothers love to their +offspring and anxiety for their welfare. + + "For of all things, that on the earth do breathe + Or creep, man is by far the wretchedest."[54] + +And the poet's words are especially applicable to a newborn babe. For +there is nothing so imperfect, so helpless, so naked, so shapeless, so +foul as a newborn babe: to whom almost alone nature has given an impure +outlet to the light of day: being kneaded with blood, and full of +defilement, and like one killed rather than born: which no one would +touch, or lift up, or kiss, or embrace, but from natural affection. And +that is why all the animals have their udders under the belly, women +alone have their breasts high on their bodies, that they can lift up +their babes to kiss, to dandle, and to fondle: seeing that their bearing +and rearing children comes not from necessity but love. + +Sec. IV. Refer the question to the ancient inhabitants of the earth, to the +first mothers and fathers. There was no law ordering them to have +families, no expectation of advantage or return to be got out of them. I +should rather say that mothers would be likely to be hostile and bear +malice to their babes, owing to the great danger and pains of travail. +And women say the lines, "When the sharp pangs of travail seize on the +pregnant woman, then come to her aid the Ilithyiae, who help women in +hard childbirth, those daughters of Hera, goddesses of travail,"[55] +were not written by Homer, but by some Homerid who had been a mother, or +was even then in the throes of travail, and who vividly felt the sharp +pain in her womb. But the love to one's offspring implanted by nature, +moves and influences the mother even then: in the very height of her +throes, she neglects not nor flees from her babe, but turns to it and +smiles at it, and takes it up and caresses it, though she derives no +pleasure or utility from it, but with pain and sorrow receives it, +"warming it and fostering it in swaddling clothes, with unintermittent +assiduity both night and day."[56] What hope of gain or advantage had +they in those days? nay, or even now? for the hopes of parents are +uncertain, and have to be long waited for. He who plants a vine in the +spring equinox, gleans its vintage in the autumnal equinox; he who sows +corn when the Pleiads set, reaps it when they rise; cattle and horses +and birds have produce at once fit for use; whereas man's bringing up is +toilsome, his growth slow; and as excellence flowers late, most fathers +die before their sons attain to fame. Neocles lived not to see +Themistocles' victory at Salamis, nor Miltiades Cimon's at the +Eurymedon, nor did Xanthippus hear Pericles haranguing, nor did Aristo +hear Plato philosophizing, nor did their fathers know of the triumphs of +Euripides and Sophocles. They heard them faltering in speech and lisping +in syllables, the poor parents saw their errors in revelling and +drinking and love-affairs, so that of all Evenus'[57] lines, that one +alone is most remembered and quoted, "to a father a son is always a +cause of fear or pain." Nevertheless, parents do not cease to bring up +sons, even when they can least need them. For it is ridiculous to +suppose that the rich, when they have sons, sacrifice and rejoice that +they will have people to take care of them and to bury them; unless +indeed they bring up sons from want of heirs; as if one could not find +or fall in with anyone who would be willing to have another's property! +Why, the sand on the sea shore, and the dust, and the wings of birds of +varied note, are less numerous than the number of would-be heirs. For +had Danaus, the father of fifty daughters, been childless, he would have +had more heirs, and of a different spirit. For sons have no gratitude, +nor regard, nor veneration for inheritance; but take it as a debt; +whereas the voices of strangers which you hear round the childless man, +are like those lines in the play, "O People, first bathe, after one +decision in the courts, then eat, drink, gobble, take the +three-obol-piece."[58] And what Euripides has said, "Money finds friends +for men, and has the greatest power among mankind," is not merely a +general truth, but is especially true in the case of the childless. For +those the rich entertain to dinner, those great men pay court to, to +those alone orators give their services gratis. "A mighty personage is a +rich man, whose heir is unknown." It has at any rate made many much +loved and honoured, whom the possession of one child would have made +unloved and insignificant. Whence we see that there is no power or +advantage to be got from children, but that the love of them, alike in +mankind as among the animals, proceeds entirely from nature. + +Sec. V. What if this natural affection, like many other virtues, is +obscured by badness, as a wilderness chokes a garden? Are we to say that +man does not love himself by nature, because many cut their throats or +throw themselves down precipices? Did not Oedipus put out his eyes? And +did not Hegesias by his speeches make, many of his hearers to commit +suicide?[59] "Fatality has many different aspects."[60] But all these +are diseases and maladies of the soul driving a man contrary to nature +out of his wits: as men themselves testify even against themselves. For +if a sow destroys one of its litter, or a bitch one of its pups, men are +dejected and troubled, and think it an evil omen, and sacrifice to the +gods to avert any bad results, on the score that it is natural to all to +love and cherish their offspring, unnatural to destroy it. For just as +in mines the gold is conspicuous even though mixed up with earth, so +nature manifests plainly love to offspring even in instances of faulty +habits and affections. For when the poor do not rear their children, it +is from fear that if reared to man's estate they would be more than +ought to be the case servile, and have little culture, and be debarred +of all advantages: so, thinking poverty the worst of all evils, they +cannot bear to give it their children, any more than they would some bad +disease.[61] + + [44] Much of this is very corrupt in the Greek. I have + tried to get the best sense I could; but it is very + obscure. Certainly Plutarch's style is often very harsh + and crabbed. + + [45] The _jus trium liberorum_ assigned certain + privileges to the father of three children, under the + Roman Emperors. Frequent allusions are made to this law + by the ancient writers. + + [46] Compare Lucretius, i. 10-20. + + [47] A quotation from Simonides. + + [48] We are not bound to swallow all the ancients tell + us. Credat Judaeus Apella! + + [49] "Iliad," xvii. 134-136. + + [50] "Iliad," ix. 324. Quoted again in "How one may be + aware of one's Progress in Virtue," Sec. 8. + + [51] "Odyssey," xx. 14, 15. + + [52] A theatre, that is, in which animals and birds and + human beings should meet in common. + + [53] All that is said here about the milk, the menses, + and the blood, I have been obliged somewhat to condense + and paraphrase. The ancients sometimes speak more + plainly than we can. Ever and anon one must pare down a + phrase or word in translating an ancient author. It is + inevitable. _Verbum sat sapienti._ + + [54] Homer, "Iliad," xvii. 446, 447. + + [55] Ibid. xi. 269-271. + + [56] A fragment from Euripides, according to Xylander. + + [57] Evenus of Paros was an Elegiac Poet. + + [58] Aristophanes, "Equites," 50, 51. + + [59] See Cicero "Tuscul." i. 34. + + [60] Euripides, "Alcestis," 1159; "Helena," 1688; + "Andromache," 1284; "Bacchae," 1388. + + [61] The discourse breaks off abruptly. It is directed + against the Epicureans. It throws ridicule on appealing + to the affection of brutes for their offspring instead + of appealing to human nature. + + + + +ON LOVE. + +FLAVIANUS AND AUTOBULUS, THE OPENERS OF THE DIALOGUE, +ARE BROTHERS. THE OTHER SPEAKERS ARE THEIR FATHER, +DAPHNAEUS, PROTOGENES, PISIAS, AND OTHERS. + + +I. _Flavianus._--You say that it was on Mount Helicon, Autobulus, that +those conversations took place about Love, which you are now about to +narrate to us at our request, as you either wrote them down, or at least +remember them from frequently asking our father about them. + +_Autobulus._--It was on Mount Helicon among the Muses, Flavianus, when +the people of Thespiae were celebrating their Festival to the God of +Love, which they celebrate very magnificently and splendidly every five +years to that God, as also to the Muses. + +_Flavianus._--Do you know what all of us who have come to this audience +intend to ask of you? + +_Autobulus._--No, but I shall know if you tell me. + +_Flavianus._--Remove from your discourse for this once the poet's +meadows and shades, and talk about ivy and yews, and all other +commonplaces of that kind that writers love to introduce, with more zeal +than discretion, in imitation of Plato's Ilissus and the famous willow +and the gentle slope of grass.[62] + +_Autobulus._--My dear Flavianus, my narrative needs not any such +exordium. The occasion that caused the conversation simply demands a +chorus for the action and a stage, nothing else is wanting to the drama, +let us only pray to the Mother of the Muses to be propitious, and give +me memory for my narrative. + +Sec. II. Long ago our father, before we were born, having lately married +our mother, had gone to sacrifice to the God of Love, in consequence of +a dispute and variance that broke out among their parents, and took our +mother to the Festival, for she also had her part in the vow and +sacrifice. Some of their intimate friends journeyed with them from the +town where they lived, and when they got to Thespiae they found there +Daphnaeus the son of Archidamus, a lover of Lysandra the daughter of +Simo, and of all her suitors the one who stood highest in her favour, +and Soclarus the son of Aristio, who had come from Tithorea. And there +were there also Protogenes of Tarsus, and Zeuxippus from Sparta, +strangers, and my father said most of the most notable Boeotians were +there also. For two or three days they went about the town in one +another's company, as it was likely they would do, quietly carrying on +philosophical discussions in the wrestling-schools and theatres: after +that, to avoid a wearisome contest of harpers, decided beforehand by +canvassing and cabal, most broke up their camp as if they had been in a +hostile country, and removed to Mount Helicon, and bivouacked there with +the Muses. In the morning they were visited by Anthemion and Pisias, +both men of good repute, and very great friends of Baccho, who was +surnamed the Handsome, and also rivals of one another somewhat through +their affection for him. Now you must know that there was at Thespiae a +lady called Ismenodora, famous for her wealth and good family, and of +uncommon good repute for her virtuous life: for she had been a widow +some time without a breath of slander lighting upon her, though she was +young and good-looking. As Baccho was the son of a friend and crony of +hers, she had tried to bring about a marriage between him and a maiden +who was her own relation, but by frequently being in his company and +talking to him she had got rather smitten with him herself. And hearing +much in his favour, and often talking about him, and seeing that many +noble young men were in love with him, she fell violently in love with +him, and, being resolved to do nothing unbecoming to her fair fame, +determined to marry and live openly with him. And the matter seeming in +itself rather odd, Baccho's mother looked rather askance at the proposed +matrimonial alliance as being too high and splendid for her son, while +some of his companions who used to go out hunting with him, frightening +him and flouting him with Ismenodora's being rather too old for him, +really did more to break off the match than those who seriously opposed +it. And Baccho, being only a youth, somehow felt a little ashamed at the +idea of marrying a widow, but, neglecting the opinions of everybody +else, he submitted the decision as to the expediency of the marriage to +Pisias and Anthemion, the latter being his cousin, though older than +him, and the former the gravest[63] of his lovers. Pisias objected to +the marriage, and upbraided Anthemion with throwing the youth away on +Ismenodora. Anthemion replied that it was not well in Pisias, being a +good fellow in other respects, to imitate depraved lovers by shutting +out his friend from house and marriage and wealth, merely that he might +enjoy the sight of him as long as possible naked and in all his virgin +bloom at the wrestling-schools. + +Sec. III. To avoid getting estranged by provoking one another on the +question, they came and chose our father and his companions as umpires +on the matter. And of the other friends, as if by concerted arrangement, +Daphnaeus espoused the view of Anthemion, and Protogenes the view of +Pisias. And Protogenes inveighing somewhat too freely against +Ismenodora, Daphnaeus took him up and said, "Hercules, what are we not to +expect, if Protogenes is going to be hostile to love? he whose whole +life, whether in work or at play, has been devoted to love, in +forgetfulness of letters, in forgetfulness of his country, not like +Laius, away from his country only five days, his was only a torpid and +land love: whereas your love 'unfolding its swift wings,' flew over the +sea from Cilicia to Athens, merely to gaze at and saunter about with +handsome boys. For that was the original reason, doubtless, of +Protogenes' journey abroad." + +Sec. IV. And some laughter ensuing, Protogenes replied, "Do I really seem +to you now to be hostile to love, and not to be fighting for love +against ungovernable lust, which with most disgraceful acts and emotions +assumes the most honourable of titles?" Whereupon Daphnaeus, "Do you call +the marriage and union of man and woman most disgraceful, than which no +holier tie exists nor ever did?" Protogenes replied, "Why, as all this +is necessary for the human race to continue, our legislators do not act +amiss in crying up marriage and eulogizing it to the masses, but of +genuine love there is not a particle in the woman's side of a house;[64] +and I also say that you who are sweet on women and girls only love them +as flies love milk, and bees the honey-comb, and butchers and cooks +calves and birds, fattening them up in darkness.[65] But as nature leads +one to eat and drink moderately and sufficiently, and excess in this is +called gluttony and gormandizing, so the mutual desires between men and +women are natural; but that headlong, violent, and uncontrollable +passion for the sex is not rightly called love. For love, when it seizes +a noble and young soul, ends in virtue through friendship; but these +violent passions for women, at the best, aim only at carnal enjoyment +and reaping the harvest of a beauteous prime, as Aristippus showed in +his answer to one who told him Lais loved him not, 'No more,' he said, +'do meat and wine love me, but I gladly enjoy both.'[66] For the end of +passion is pleasure and fruition: but love, when it has once lost the +promise of friendship, will not remain and continue to cherish merely +for beauty that which gives it pain, where it gives no return of +friendship and virtue. You remember the husband in the play saying to +his wife, 'Do you hate me? I can bear that hatred very easily, since of +my dishonour I make money.' Not a whit more really in love than this +husband is the one, who, not for gain but merely for the sexual +appetite, puts up with a peevish and unsympathetic wife, as Philippides, +the comic poet, ridiculed the orator, Stratocles, 'You scarce can kiss +her if she turns her back on you.' If, however, we ought to give the +name of love to this passion, then is it an effeminate and bastard love, +and like at Cynosarges,[67] taking us to the woman's side of the house: +or rather as they say there is a genuine mountain eagle, which Homer +called 'black, and a bird of prey,' and there are other kinds of +spurious eagles, which catch fish and lazy birds in marshes, and often +in want of food emit an hungry wail: so the genuine love is the love of +boys, a love not 'flashing with desire,' as Anacreon said the love of +maidens was, nor 'redolent of ointment and sprightly,' but you will see +it plain and without airs in the schools of the philosophers, or perhaps +in the gymnasiums and wrestling-schools, keenly and nobly pursuing +youths, and urging on to virtue those who are well worthy of attention: +but that soft and stay-at-home love, spending all its time in women's +bosoms and beds, always pursuing effeminate delights, and enervated by +unmanly, unfriendly, and unimpassioned pleasures, we ought to condemn as +Solon condemned it: for he forbade slaves to love boys or to anoint them +with oil, while he allowed them to associate with women. For friendship +is noble and refined, whereas pleasure is vulgar and illiberal. +Therefore, for a slave to love boys is neither liberal or refined: for +it is merely the love of copulation, as the love of women." + +Sec. V. Protogenes was intending to go on at greater length, when Daphnaeus +stopped him and said, "You do well, by Zeus, to mention Solon, and we +too may use him as the test of an amorous man. Does he not define such a +one in the lines, 'As long as you love boys in the glorious flower of +their youth for their kisses and embraces.' And add to Solon the lines +of AEschylus, 'You did not disdain the honour of the thighs, O thankless +one after all my frequent kisses.'[68] For some laugh at them if they +bid lovers, like sacrificing priests and seers, to inspect thighs and +loins; but I think this a mighty argument in behalf of the love of +women. For if the unnatural commerce with males does not take away or +mar the amorous propensity, much more likely is it that the natural love +of women will end in friendship after the favour. For, Protogenes, the +yielding of the female to the male was called by the ancients the +favour. Thus Pindar says Hephaestus was the son of Hera 'without any +favours':[69] and Sappho, addressing a girl not yet ripe for marriage, +says to her, 'You seemed to me a little girl, too young for the favour.' +And someone asks Hercules, 'Did you obtain the girl's favour by force or +by persuasion?' But the love of males for males, whether rape or +voluntary--pathicks effeminately submitting, to use Plato's words, 'to +be treated bestially'--is altogether a foul and unlovely favour. And so +I think Solon wrote the lines quoted above 'in his hot youth,' as Plato +puts it; but when he became older wrote these other lines, 'Now I +delight in Cyprus-born Aphrodite, and in Dionysus, and in the Muses: all +these give joys to men': as if, after the heat and tempest of his boyish +loves, he had got into a quiet haven of marriage and philosophy. But +indeed, Protogenes, if we look at the real facts of the case, the love +for boys and women is really one and the same passion: but if you wish +in a disputatious spirit to make any distinction, you will find that +this boy-love goes beyond all bounds, and, like some late-born and +ill-begotten bastard brat, seeks to expel its legitimate brother the +older love, the love of women. For indeed, friend, it is only yesterday +or the day before, since the strippings and exposures of the youths in +the gymnasiums, that this boy-love crept in, and gently insinuated +itself and got a footing, and at last in a little time got fully-fledged +in the wrestling-schools, and has now got fairly unbearable, and insults +and tramples on conjugal love, that love that gives immortality to our +mortal race, when our nature has been extinguished by death, kindling it +again by new births. And this boy-love denies that pleasure is its aim: +for it is ashamed and afraid to confess the truth: but it needs some +specious excuse for the liberties it takes with handsome boys in their +prime: the pretext is friendship and virtue. So your boy-lover wallows +in the dust, bathes in cold water, raises his eyebrows, gives himself +out for a philosopher, and lives chaste abroad because of the law: but +in the stillness of night + + 'Sweet is the ripe fruit when the guard's withdrawn.'[70] + +But if, as Protogenes says, there is no carnal intercourse in these +boy-familiarities, how is it Love, if Aphrodite is not present, whom it +is the destiny of Love to cherish and pay court to, and to partake of +just as much honour and power as she assigns to him? But if there is any +Love without Aphrodite, as there is drunkenness without wine in drinks +made from figs and barley, the disturbing it will be fruitless and +without effect, and surfeiting and disgusting." + +Sec. VI. At the conclusion of this speech, it was clear that Pisias was +vexed and indignant with Daphnaeus; and after a moment's silence he +began: "O Hercules! what levity and audacity for men to state that they +are tied to women as dogs to bitches, and to banish the god of Love from +the gymnasiums and public walks, and light of day and open intercourse, +and to restrict him to brothels[71] and philtres and incantations of +wanton women: for to chaste women, I am sure, it belongs not either to +love or be loved." At this point our father told me he interposed, and +took Protogenes by the hand, and said to him: + + "'This word of yours rouses the Argive host,' + +and of a verity Pisias makes us to side with Daphnaeus by his extravagant +language, charging marriage with being a loveless intercourse, and one +that has no participation in divine friendship, although we can see that +it is an intercourse, if erotic persuasion and favour fail, that cannot +be restrained by shame and fear as by bit and bridle." Thereupon Pisias +said, "I care little about his arguments; but I see that Daphnaeus is in +the same condition as brass: for, just as it is not worked upon so much +by the agency of fire as by the molten and liquid brass fused with it, +so is he not so much captivated by the beauty of Lysandra as by his +association with one who is the victim of the gentle passion; and it is +plain that, if he doesn't take refuge with us, he will soon melt away +in the flame altogether. But I see, what Anthemion would very much like, +that I am offending the Court, so I stop." "You amuse us," said +Anthemion: "but you ought from the first to have spoken to the point." + +Sec. VII. "I say then," continued Pisias, "and give it out boldly, as far +as I am concerned, let every woman have a lover; but we ought to guard +against giving the wealth of Ismenodora to Baccho, lest, if we involve +him in so much grandeur and magnificence, we unwittingly lose him in it, +as tin is lost in brass. For if the lad were to marry quite a plain and +insignificant woman, it would be great odds whether he would keep the +upper hand, as wine mixed with water; and Ismenodora seems already +marked out for sway and command; for otherwise she would not have +rejected such illustrious and wealthy suitors to woo a lad hardly yet +arrived at man's estate, and almost requiring a tutor still. And +therefore men of sense prune the excessive wealth of their wives, as if +it had wings that required clipping; for this same wealth implants in +them luxury, caprice, and vanity, by which they are often elated and fly +away altogether: but if they remain, it would be better to be bound by +golden fetters, as in Ethiopia, than to a woman's wealth." + +Sec. VIII. Here Protogenes put in, "You say nothing about the risk we run +of unseasonably and ridiculously reversing the well-known advice of +Hesiod: + + 'If seasonable marriage you would make, + Let about thirty be the bridegroom's age, + The bride be in the fifth year of her womanhood:'[72] + +if we thus marry a lad hardly old enough for marriage to a woman so many +years older, than himself, as dates and figs are forced. You will say +she loves him passionately: who prevents her, then, from serenading at +his doors, singing her amorous ditty, putting garlands on his statues, +and wrestling and boxing with her rivals in his affections? For all +these are what people in love do. And let her lower her eyebrows, and +give up the airs of a coquette, and assume the appearance of those that +are deeply smitten. But if she is modest and chaste, let her decorously +stay at home and await there her lovers and sweethearts; for any +sensible man would be disgusted and flee from a woman who took the +initiative in love, far less would he be likely to marry her after such +a barefaced wooing." + +Sec. IX. When Protogenes had done speaking, my father said, "Do you see, +Anthemion, that they force us to intervene again, who have no objection +to dance in the retinue of conjugal Love?" "I do," said Anthemion, "but +pray defend Love at some length, as you are on his side, and moreover +come to the rescue of wealth,[73] with which Pisias seeks to scare us." +Thereupon my father began, "What on earth will not be brought as a +charge against a woman, if we are to reject Ismenodora because she is in +love and has money? Granted she loves sway and is rich? What then, if +she is young and handsome? And what if she plumes herself somewhat on +the lustre of her race? Have not chaste women often something of the +morose and peevish in their character almost past bearing? Do they not +sometimes get called waspish and shrewish by virtue of their very +chastity? Would it be best then to marry off the street some Thracian +Abrotonus, or some Milesian Bacchis, and seal the bargain by the present +of a handful of nuts? But we have known even such turn out intolerable +tyrants, Syrian flute-girls and ballet-dancers, as Aristonica, and +Oenanthe with her tambourine, and Agathoclea, who have lorded it over +kings' diadems.[74] Why Syrian Semiramis was only the servant and +concubine of one of king Ninus's slaves, till Ninus the great king +seeing and falling in love with her, she got such power over him that +she thought so cheap of him, that she asked to be allowed one day to sit +on the royal throne, with the royal diadem on her head, and to transact +state affairs. And Ninus having granted her permission, and having +ordered all his subjects to obey her as himself, she first gave several +very moderate orders to make trial of the guards; but when she saw that +they obeyed her without the slightest hesitation, she ordered them to +seize Ninus and put him in fetters, and at last put him to death; and +all her commands being obeyed, she ruled over Asia for a long time with +great lustre. And was not Belestiche a foreign woman off the streets, +although at Alexandria she has shrines and temples, with an inscription +as Aphrodite Belestiche, which she owes to the king's love? And she who +has in this very town[75] a temple and rites in common with Eros, and at +Delphi stands in gold among kings and queens, by what dowry got she her +lovers? But just as the lovers of Semiramis, Belestiche, and Phryne, +became their prey unconsciously through their weakness and effeminacy, +so on the other hand poor and obscure men, having contracted alliances +with rich women of rank, have not been thereby spoilt nor merged their +personality, but have lived with their wives on a footing of kindness, +yet still kept their position as heads of the house. But he that abases +his wife and makes her small, like one who tightens the ring on a finger +too small for it fearing it will come off,[76] is like those who cut +their mares' tails off and then take them to a river or pond to drink, +when they say that sorrowfully discerning their loss of beauty these +mares lose their self-respect and allow themselves to be covered by +asses.[77] To select a wife for wealth rather than for her excellence or +family is dishonourable and illiberal; but it is silly to reject wealth +when it is accompanied by excellence and family. Antigonus indeed wrote +to his officer who had garrisoned Munychia[78] to make not only the +collar strong but the dog lean, that he might undermine the strength of +the Athenians; but it becomes not the husband of a rich or handsome +woman to make his wife poor or ugly, but by his self-control and good +sense, and by not too extravagantly showing his admiration for her, to +exhibit himself as her equal not her slave, and (to borrow an +illustration from the scales) to add just so much weight to his +character as shall over-balance her, yet only just. Moreover, both +Ismenodora and Baccho are of a suitable age for marriage and procreation +of children; Ismenodora, I hear, is still in her prime, and" (here my +father smiled slily at Pisias) "she is certainly not a bit older than +her rivals, and has no grey hairs, as some of those who consort with +Baccho have. And if their union is seasonable, who knows but that she +may be a better partner for him than any young woman? For young couples +do not blend and mix well together, and it takes a long time and is not +an easy process for them to divest themselves of their pride and spirit, +and at first there's a good deal of dirty weather and they don't pull +well together, and this is oftenest the case when there's love on both +sides, and, just as a storm wrecks the ship if no pilot is on board, so +their marriage is trouble and confusion, neither party knowing how +either to rule or to give way properly. And if the baby is under the +nurse, and the boy under the master, and the lad under the master of the +gymnasium, and the youth under his lover, and the full-grown man under +the law and magistrate, and no one is his own master and exempt from +obedience to someone, what wonder would it be if a sensible woman rather +older than her husband would direct well the life of a young man, being +useful to him by reason of her superior wisdom, and acceptable to him +for her sweetness and gentleness? And to sum up the whole matter," said +he, "we Boeotians ought to revere Hercules, and so find no fault in any +inequality of age in marriages, seeing that he gave his own wife Megara +in marriage to Iolaus, though he was only sixteen and she +three-and-thirty."[79] + +Sec. X. As the conversation was going on, our father said that a friend of +Pisias came galloping up from the town to report an act of marvellous +audacity. Ismenodora, it appears, thinking Baccho had no personal +dislike to the match, but only stood in awe of his friends who tried to +dissuade him from it, determined that she would not let the young fellow +slip through her fingers. Accordingly, she sent for the most active and +intimate[80] of her male friends, and for some of her female cronies, +and instructed them as to what part they should play, and waited for the +hour when Baccho was accustomed regularly to pass by her house on his +way to the wrestling-school. And as he passed by on this occasion with +two or three of his companions, anointed for the exercise, Ismenodora +met him at the door and just touched his cloak, and her friends rushed +out all together and prettily seized the pretty fellow as he was in his +cloak and jersey,[81] and hurried him into the house and at once locked +the doors. And the women inside at once divested him of his cloak and +put on him a bridal robe; and the servants ran about the town and put +olive wreaths and laurel garlands at the doors of Baccho's house as well +as Ismenodora's, and a flute-girl went up and down the street playing +and singing the wedding-song. And some of the inhabitants of Thespiae and +the strangers laughed, others were indignant and tried to make the +superintendents of the gymnasium move in the matter, for they have great +power in Thespiae over the youths, and pay great attention to their +actions. And now there was no more talk about the sports, but everyone +left the theatre for the neighbourhood of Ismenodora's house, and there +stood in groups talking and disputing about what had happened. + +Sec. XI. Now when Pisias' friend had come up like an _aide-de-camp_ in war, +"bloody with spurring, fiery red with haste," to report this news that +Ismenodora had seized Baccho, my father said that Zeuxippus smiled, and +being a great lover of Euripides repeated the line, + + "Lady, though rich, thou hast thy sex's feelings." + +But Pisias jumped up and cried out, "Ye gods, what will be the end of +license like this which will overthrow our town? Already we are fast +tending to lawlessness through our independence. And yet it is perhaps +ridiculous to be indignant about law and justice, when nature itself is +trampled upon by being thus subjected to women? Saw even Lemnos ever the +like of this?[82] Let us go," he continued, "let us go and hand over to +the women the gymnasium and council-hall, if the townsmen have lost all +their nerve." Pisias then left the company, and Protogenes went with +him, partly sympathizing with his indignation, but still endeavouring to +cool him. And Anthemion said, "'Twas a bold deed and certainly does +savour somewhat of Lemnos--I own it now we are alone--this Ismenodora +must be most violently in love." Hereupon Soclarus said, with a sly +smile, "You don't think then that this rape and detention was an excuse +and stratagem on the part of a wily young man to escape from the +clutches of his lovers, and fly of his own volition to the arms of a +rich and handsome widow?" "Pray don't say so, Soclarus," said Anthemion, +"pray don't entertain any such suspicions of Baccho, for even if he were +not by nature most simple and naive, he would not have concealed the +matter from me to whom he divulges all his secrets, especially as he +knows that I have always been very anxious he should marry Ismenodora. +But as Heraclitus says truly, It is more difficult to control love than +anger; for whatever love has a fancy to, it will buy even at the cost of +life, money, and reputation. Who lives a more quiet life in our town +than Ismenodora? When did ever any ugly rumour attach itself to her? +When did ever any breath of suspicion sully her house? Some divine +inspiration, beyond human calculation, seems now to have possessed her." + +Sec. XII. Then Pemptides laughed and said, "Of course you know that there +is a certain disease of the body called the sacred disease.[83] It is no +wonder, therefore, if some call the greatest and most insane passion of +the soul sacred and divine. However, as in Egypt I once saw two +neighbours disputing when a serpent passed by them on the road, both +calling it a good omen, but each claiming the blessing as his alone; so +seeing lately that some of you drag Love to the men's apartments, while +others confine it to the women's side of the house, while all of you +regard it as a divine and superlative blessing, I do not wonder, since +it is a passion that has such power and honour, that those who ought to +banish it from every quarter and clip its wings do themselves add to its +influence and power. And hitherto I held my peace, for I saw that the +discussion turned rather on private than public interests, but now that +we have got rid of Pisias, I would gladly hear from you to what they had +an eye who first called Love a god." + +Sec. XIII. Just as Pemptides had left off, and our father was about to +answer his question, another messenger came from the town, sent by +Ismenodora to summon Anthemion, for the tumult had increased, and there +was a difference of opinion between the superintendents of the +gymnasium, one thinking they ought to demand the liberation of Baccho, +the other thinking they ought not to interfere. Anthemion got up at once +and went off. And our father, addressing Pemptides especially, said, +"You seem to me, my dear Pemptides, to be handling a great and bold +matter, or rather to be discussing things that ought not to be +discussed, in asking for a reason in each case for our opinion about the +gods. Our ancient and hereditary faith is sufficient, a better argument +than which we cannot either utter or find, + + 'Not e'en if wisdom in our brains resides;'[84] + +but if this common foundation and basis of all piety be disturbed, and +its stability and time-honoured ideas be unsettled, it becomes +undermined and is suspected by everybody. You have heard, of course, +what hot water Euripides got into, when he wrote at the beginning of his +'Melanippe,' + + 'Zeus, whosoe'er he is, I do not know + Except by hearsay,'[85] + +but if he changed the opening line, he had confidence, it seems, that +his play would go down with the public uncommonly well,[86] so he +altered it into + + 'Zeus the divine, as he is truly called.'[87] + +And what difference is there between calling in question the received +opinion about Zeus or Athene, and that about Love? For it is not now for +the first time that Love asks for an altar and sacrifices, nor is he a +strange god introduced by foreign superstition, as some Attis or Adonis, +furtively smuggled in by hermaphrodites and women, and secretly +receiving honours not his own, to avoid an indictment among the gods for +coming among them under false pretences. And when, my friend, you hear +the words of Empedocles, + + 'Friendship is there too, of same length and breadth, + But with the mind's eye only can you see it, + Till with the sight your very soul is thralled,' + +you must suppose that they refer to Love. For this god is invisible, but +to be extolled by us as one of the very oldest gods. And if you demand +proofs about every one of the gods, laying a profane hand on every +temple, and bringing a learned doubt to every altar, you will scrutinize +and pry into everything. But we need not go far to find Love's pedigree. + + 'See you how great a goddess Aphrodite is? + She 'tis that gave us and engendered Love, + Whereof come all that on the earth do live.'[88] + +And so Empedocles calls Aphrodite _Life-giving_,[89] and Sophocles calls +her _Fruitful_, both very appropriate epithets. And though the wonderful +act of generation belongs to Aphrodite only, and Love is only present in +it as a subordinate, yet if he be absent the whole affair becomes +undesirable, and low, and tame. For a loveless coition brings only +satiety, as the satisfaction of hunger and thirst, and has nothing noble +resulting from it, whereas by Love Aphrodite removes the cloying element +in pleasure, and produces harmonious friendship. And so Parmenides +declares Love to be the oldest of the creations of Aphrodite, writing in +his Cosmogony, + + 'Of all the gods first Love she did contrive.' + +But Hesiod, more naturally in my opinion, makes Love the most ancient of +all, so that all things derive their existence from him.[90] If we then +deprive Love of his ancient honours, those of Aphrodite will be lost +also. For we cannot argue that, while some revile Love, all spare +Aphrodite, for on the same stage we hear of Love, + + 'Love is an idle thing and for the idle:'[91] + +and again of Aphrodite, + + 'Cypris, my boys, is not her only name, + For many names has she. She is a hell, + A power remorseless, nay a raging madness.'[92] + +Just as in the case of the other gods there is hardly one that has not +been reviled, or escaped the scurrility of ignorance. Look, for example, +at Ares, who may be considered as it were the counterpart of Love, what +honours he has received from men, and again what abuse, as + + 'Ares is blind, ye women, has no eyes, + And with his pig's snout roots up all good things.'[93] + +And Homer calls him 'blood-stained' and 'fickle.'[94] And Chrysippus +brings a grievous charge against him, in defining his name to mean +destroyer,[95] thereby giving a handle to those who think that Ares is +only the fighting, wrangling, and quarrelsome instinct among mankind. +Others again will tell us that Aphrodite is simply desire, and Hermes +eloquence, and the Muses the arts and sciences, and Athene wisdom. You +see what an abyss of impiety opens up before us, if we describe each of +the gods, as only a passion, a power, or a virtue!" + +Sec. XIV. "I see it," said Pemptides, "and it is impious either to make the +gods passions, or to do just the contrary, and make the passions gods." +"What then?" said my father, "do you consider Ares a god, or only a +human passion?" And Pemptides, answering that he looked on Ares as god +of the passionate and manly element in mankind, "What," cried my father, +"shall the passionate and warlike and antagonistic instincts in man have +a god, but the affectionate and social and clubable have none? Shall +Ares, under his names of Enyalius and Stratius, preside over arms and +war and sieges and sacks of cities, and shall there be no god to witness +and preside over, to direct and guide, conjugal affection, that +friendship of closest union and communion? Why even those who hunt +gazelles and hares and deer have a silvan deity who harks and halloos +them on, for to Aristaeus[96] they pay their vows when in pitfalls and +snares they trap wolves and bears, + + 'For Aristaeus first set traps for animals.' + +And Hercules invoked another god, when he was about to shoot at the +bird, as the line of AEschylus shows, + + 'Hunter Apollo, make my bolt go straight!'[97] + +And shall no god or good genius assist and prosper the man who hunts in +the best chase of all, the chase of friendship? For I cannot for my +part, my dear Daphnaeus, consider man a less beautiful or important plant +than the oak, or sacred olive, or the vine which Homer glorifies,[98] +seeing that man too has his growth and glorious prime alike of soul and +body." + +Sec. XV. Then said Daphnaeus, "In the name of the gods, who thinks +differently?" "All those certainly must," answered my father, "who think +that the gods care only about ploughing and planting and sowing. Have +they not Nymphs attending upon them, called Dryads, 'whose age is coeval +with the trees they live in: and Dionysus the mirth-giving does he not +increase the yield of the trees, the sacred splendour of Autumn,' as +Pindar says?[99] And if they care about all this, is there no god or +genius who is interested in the nurture and growth of boys and youths in +all their glorious flower? is there no one that cares that the growing +man may be upright and virtuous, and that the nobility of his nature may +not be warped and corrupted, either through want of a guardian or by the +depravity of those he associates with? Is it not monstrous and thankless +to say so, seeing that we enjoy the divine bounty, which is dealt out to +us richly, and never abandons us in our straits? And yet some of these +same straits have more necessity than beauty. For example, our birth, in +spite of the unpleasant circumstances attending it, is witnessed by the +divine Ilithyia and Artemis: and it would be better not to be born at +all than to become bad through want of a good guardian and guide. +Moreover in sickness the god who is over that province does not desert +us, nor even in death: for even then there is a conductor and guide for +the departed, to lay them to sleep, and convey their souls to +Hades,[100] as the poet says, + + 'Night bore me not to be lord of the lyre, + Nor to be seer, or healer of diseases, + But to conduct the souls of the departed.' + +And yet these duties involve much unpleasantness, whereas we cannot +mention a holier work, nor any struggle or contest more fitting for a +god to attend and play the umpire in, than the guidance of the young and +beautiful in the prosecution of their love-affairs. For there is here +nothing of an unpleasant nature, no compulsion of any kind, but +persuasion and grace, truly making toil sweet and labour delightful, +lead the way to virtue and friendship, and do not arrive at that desired +goal without the deity, for they have as their leader and lord no other +god than Love, the companion of the Muses and Graces and Aphrodite. For +Love 'sowing in the heart of man the sweet harvest of desire,' to borrow +the language of Melanippides, mixes the sweetest and most beautiful +things together. But perhaps you are of a different opinion, Zeuxippus." + +Sec. XVI. "Not I, by Zeus," replied Zeuxippus. "To have a different opinion +would be ridiculous." "Then," continued my father, "is it not also +ridiculous, if there are four kinds of friendship, for so the ancients +distinguished, the natural first, the second that to one's kindred, the +third that to one's companions, the fourth the friendship of love, and +each of the first three have a god as patron, either a god of +friendship, or a god of hospitality, or a god of the family, or a god of +the race,[101] whereas the friendship of love only, as something +altogether unholy, is left without any patron god, and that, too, when +it needs most of all attentive direction?" "It is," said Zeuxippus, +"highly ridiculous." My father continued, "The language of Plato is very +suggestive here, to make a slight digression. One kind of madness (he +says) is conveyed to the soul from the body through certain bad +temperaments or mixtures, or through the prevalence of some noxious +spirit, and is harsh, difficult to cure, and baneful. Another kind of +madness is not uninspired or from within, but an afflatus from without, +a deviation from sober reason, originated and set in motion by some +higher power, the ordinary characteristic of which is called enthusiasm. +For, as one full of breath is called [Greek: empnoos], and as one full +of sense is called [Greek: emphron], so the name enthusiasm is given to +the commotion of the soul caused by some Divine agency.[102] Thus there +is the prophetic enthusiasm which proceeds from Apollo, and the Bacchic +enthusiasm which comes from Dionysus, to which Sophocles alludes where +he says, 'Dance with the Corybantes;' for the rites of Cybele and Pan +have great affinities to the orgies of Bacchus. And the third madness +proceeds from the Muses, and possesses an impressionable and pure soul, +and stirs up the poetry and music in a man. As to the martial and +warlike madness, it is well known from what god it proceeds, namely, +Ares, 'kindling tearful war, that puts an end to the dance and the song, +and exciting civic strife.'[103] There remains, Daphnaeus, one more kind +of madness in man, neither obscure nor tranquil, as to which I should +like to ask Pemptides here, + + 'What god it is that shakes the fruitful thyrsus?' + +I refer to that love-fury for modest boys and chaste women, which is +far the keenest and fiercest passion of all. For have you not observed +how the soldier, when he lays aside his arms, ceases from his warlike +fury, as the poet says, + + 'Then from him + Right gladly did his squires remove the armour,'[104] + +and sits down a peaceful spectator of others?[105] The Bacchic and +Corybantic dances one can also modulate and quell, by changing the metre +from the trochaic and the measure from the Phrygian. Similarly, too, the +Pythian priestess, when she descends from her tripod, possesses her soul +in peace. Whereas the love-fury, when once it has really seized on a man +and inflamed him, can be laid by no Muse, no charm or incantation, no +change of place; but present they burn, absent they desire, by day they +follow their loves about, by night they serenade them, sober call for +them, and drunken sing about them. And he who said that poetic fancies, +owing to their vividness, were dreams of people awake, would have more +truly spoken so of the fancies of lovers, who, as if their loves were +present, converse with them, greet them, chide them. For sight seems to +paint all other fancies on a wet ground, so soon do they fade and recede +from the memory, but the images of lovers, painted by the fancy as it +were on encaustic tiles, leave impressions on the memory, that move, and +live, and speak, and are permanent for all time. The Roman Cato, indeed, +said that the soul of the lover resided in the soul of the loved one, +and I should extend the remark to the appearance, the character, the +life, and the actions, conducted by which he travels a long journey in a +short time, as the Cynics say they have found a short cut and, as it +were, forced march to virtue, for there is also a short cut to +friendship and love when the god is propitious. To sum up, the +enthusiasm of lovers is not a thing uninspired, and the god that guides +and governs it is none other than the god whose festival we are now +keeping, and to whom we are now sacrificing. Nevertheless, as we judge +of a god mainly from his power and usefulness (as among human advantages +we reckon and call these two the most divine, dominion and virtue), it +is high time to consider, before we proceed any further, whether Love +yields to any of the gods in power. Certainly, as Sophocles says, +'Wonderful is the power which the Cyprian Queen exerts so as always to +win the victory:'[106] great also is the might of Ares; and in some sort +we see the power of all the other gods divided among these two; for +Aphrodite has most intimate connection with the beautiful, and Ares is +in our souls from the first to combat against the sordid, to borrow the +idea of Plato. Let us consider, then, to begin with, that the venereal +delight can be purchased for six obols, and that no one ever yet put +himself into any trouble or danger about it, unless he was in love. And +not to mention here such famous courtesans as Phryne or Lais, +Gnathaenium, 'kindling her lamp at evening time,' on the look-out for +lovers and inviting them, is often passed by; 'yet, if some sudden whiff +arise' of mighty love and desire, it makes this very delight seem equal +to the fabled wealth of Tantalus and his domains. So feeble and cloying +is the venereal indulgence, if Love inspires it not. And you will see +this more plainly still from the following consideration. Many have +allowed others to share in their venereal enjoyments, prostituting not +only their mistresses but their wives, like that Roman Galba, who used +to ask Maecenas to dinner, and when he saw from his nods and winks that +he had a mind to do with his wife, turned his head gently aside as if +asleep; but when one of his slaves came up to the table and stole some +wine, his eyes were wide open enough, and he said, 'Villain, don't you +know that I am asleep only for Maecenas?'[107] But this is not perhaps so +strange, considering Galba was a buffoon. But at Argos Nicostratus and +Phayllus were great political rivals: so when King Philip visited that +city, Phayllus thought if he prostituted his wife, who was very +handsome, to the King, he would get from him some important office or +place. And Nicostratus getting wind of this, and walking about the doors +of Phayllus' house with some of his servants on the _qui vive_, +Phayllus made his wife put on men's boots, and a military cloak, and a +Macedonian broad-brimmed hat, and so smuggled her into the King, without +being detected, as one of the King's young men. But, of all the +multitude of lovers, did you ever hear of one that prostituted his +boy-love even for the honours of Zeus? I think not. Why, though no one +will generally either speak or act against tyrants, many will who find +them their rivals and are jealous about their handsome minions. You must +have heard how Aristogiton of Athens, and Antileon of Metapontum, and +Melanippus of Agrigentum, rose not against tyrants, although they saw +how badly they managed affairs, and what drunken tricks they played, +yet, when they attempted the chastity of their boy-loves, they +retaliated on them, jeoparding their lives, as if they were defending +the inviolability of temples and sanctuaries. It is also recorded that +Alexander wrote to Theodoras, the brother of Proteas, 'Send me your +singing-girl, unless you love her yourself, and I will give you ten +talents;' and when Antipatridas, one of his companions, came to revel +with him, bringing with him a female harper, he fancied the girl not a +little, and asked Antipatridas if he cared very much about her. And when +he replied that he did immensely, Alexander said, 'Plague take you,' but +nevertheless abstained from touching the girl. + +Sec. XVII. "Consider also how Love excels in warlike feats, and is by no +means idle, as Euripides called him,[108] nor a carpet-knight, nor +'sleeping on a maiden's soft cheeks.'[109] For a man inspired by Love +needs not Ares to help him when he goes out as a warrior against the +enemy, but at the bidding of his own god is 'ready' for his friend 'to +go through fire and water and whirlwinds.' And in Sophocles' play,[110] +when the sons of Niobe are being shot at and dying, one of them calls +out for no helper or assister but his lover. And you know of course how +it was that Cleomachus the Pharsalian fell in battle?" "We certainly +don't," said Pemptides and those near him, "but we should very much like +to." "Well," said my father, "the tale's worth hearing. When the war +between the Eretrians and Chalcidians was at its height, Cleomachus had +come to aid the latter with a Thessalian force; and the Chalcidian +infantry seemed strong enough, but they had great difficulty in +repelling the enemy's cavalry. So they begged that high-souled hero +Cleomachus to charge the Eretrian cavalry first. And he asked his +boy-love, who was by, if he would be a spectator of the fight, and he +saying he would, and affectionately kissing him and putting his helmet +on his head, Cleomachus with a proud joy put himself at the head of the +bravest of the Thessalians, and charged the enemy's cavalry with such +impetuosity that he threw them into disorder and routed them; and the +Eretrian infantry also fleeing in consequence, the Chalcidians won a +splendid victory. However, Cleomachus got killed, and they show his tomb +in the market-place at Chalcis, over which a huge pillar stands to this +day, and whereas before that the people of Chalcis had censured +boy-loves, from that time forward they preferred that kind of love to +the normal love. Aristotle gives a slightly different account, namely, +that this Cleomachus came not from Thessaly, but from Chalcis in Thrace, +to the help of the Chalcidians in Euboea; and that that was the origin +of the song in vogue among the Chalcidians, + + 'Ye boys, who come of noble sires and beauteous are in face, + Grudge not to give to valiant men the joy of your embrace: + For Love that does the limbs relax combined with bravery + In the Chalcidian cities has fame that ne'er shall die.' + +But according to the account of the poet Dionysius, in his +'Causes,'[111] the name of the lover was Anton, and that of the boy-love +was Philistus. And among you Thebans, Pemptides, is it not usual for the +lover to give his boy-love a complete suit of armour when he is enrolled +among the men? And did not the erotic Pammenes change the disposition of +the heavy-armed infantry, censuring Homer as knowing nothing about love, +because he drew up the Achaeans in order of battle in tribes and clans, +and did not put lover and love together, that so + + 'Spear should be next to spear, helmet to helmet,'[112] + +seeing that Love is the only invincible general.[113] For men in battle +will leave in the lurch clansmen and friends, aye, and parents and sons, +but what warrior ever broke through or charged through lover and love, +seeing that even when there is no necessity lovers frequently display +their bravery and contempt of life. As Thero the Thessalian, who put his +left hand on a wall, and drew his sword, and chopped off his thumb, and +challenged his rival to do the same. And another in battle falling on +his face, as his enemy was about to give him the _coup-de-grace_, begged +him to wait a little till he could turn round, that his love should not +see him with a wound in his back. And not only are the most warlike +nations most amorous, as the Boeotians the Lacedaemonians and the +Cretans, but also of the old heroes, who were more amorous than +Meleager, Achilles, Aristomenes, Cimon, and Epaminondas. Why, +Epaminondas had as his boy-loves Asopichus and Cephisodorus, the latter +of whom fell with him at Mantinea, and is buried near him. As to ..., +who was most formidable and a source of terror to the enemy, Eucnamus of +Amphissa, who first stood up against him and smote him, received hero +honours from the Phocians for his exploit. And as to all the loves of +Hercules, it would take up too much time to enumerate them, but those +who think that Iolaus was one of them do up to this day worship and +honour him, and make their loves swear fidelity at his tomb. Hercules is +also said, having understood the art of healing, to have preserved the +life of Alcestis, when she was given up by the doctors, to gratify +Admetus, who passionately loved his wife, and was Hercules' minion. They +say also in legend that Apollo was enamoured of Admetus, + + 'And was his hired slave for one long year.' + +It was a happy thought our remembering Alcestis, for though women have +not much of Ares in them, yet when possessed by Love they are bold even +to the death, beyond what one would expect from their nature. For if we +may credit legendary lore, the stories about Alcestis, and Protesilaus, +and Eurydice the wife of Orpheus, show that the only one of the gods +that Hades pays attention to is Love; although to everybody else, as +Sophocles says, "he knows of no forbearance or favour, or anything but +strict justice;" yet before lovers his genius stands rebuked, and they +alone find him neither implacable nor relentless. Wherefore although, my +friend, it is an excellent thing to be initiated in the Eleusinian +mysteries, yet I see that the votaries and initiated of Love have a +better time of it in Hades than they have, * *[114] though in regard to +legendary lore I stand in the position of one who neither altogether +believes nor altogether disbelieves. For legendary lore speaks well, and +by a certain wonderful good fortune lights upon the truth, in saying +that lovers have a return from Hades to the light of day, but it knows +not by what way or how, having as it were got benighted on the road +which Plato first discovered by philosophy. There are, indeed, some +slender and obscure particles of truth scattered about in the mythology +of the Egyptians, but they require a clever man to hunt them out, a man +capable of getting great results from small data. Wherefore let that +matter pass. And now next to the mighty power of Love let us consider +its good will and favour to mankind, I do not mean as to whether it +bestows many gifts on its votaries--that is palpable to all--but whether +they derive any further advantage from it. For Euripides, though very +amorous, admired a very small matter, when he wrote the line-- + + 'Love teaches letters to a man unlearn'd.'[115] + +For it makes one previously sluggish quick and intelligent, and, as has +been said before, it makes the coward brave, as people harden wood in +the fire and make it strong from being weak. And every lover becomes +liberal and genuine and generous, even if he was mean before, his +littleness and miserliness melting away like iron in the fire, so that +they rejoice to give to their loves more than they do to receive +themselves from others. You know of course that Anytus, the son of +Anthemion, was in love with Alcibiades, and was on one occasion +sumptuously entertaining several of his friends, when Alcibiades broke +in and took from the table half the cups and went away again; and when +some of the guests were indignant and said, 'The stripling has used you +most insolently and contemptuously,' Anytus replied, 'Nay, rather, he +has dealt kindly with me, for when he might have taken all he has left +me half.'" + +Sec. XVIII. Zeuxippus was pleased with this story, and said, "O Hercules, +you have been within an ace of making me forget my hereditary hatred to +Anytus for his behaviour to Socrates and philosophy,[116] since he was +so mild and noble to his love." "Be it so," said my father, "Love also +makes peevish and gloomy persons kind and agreeable to those they live +with; for as 'when the fire blazes the house looks brighter,'[117] so +man, it seems, becomes more cheerful through the heat of love. But most +people are affected rather curiously; if they see by night a light in a +house, they look on it with admiration and wonder; but if they see a +little, mean, and ignoble soul suddenly filled with noble-mindedness, +freedom, dignity, grace, and liberality, they do not feel constrained to +say with Telemachus, 'Surely, some god is there within.'[118] And is it +not wonderful, Daphnaeus," continued my father,[119] "in the name of the +Graces, that the lover who cares about hardly anything, either his +companions and friends, or even the laws and magistrates and kings, who +fears nothing, admires nothing, courts nothing, but can even endure to +gaze on 'the forked lightning,'[120] yet directly he looks on his love +'he crouches like a cock with drooping feathers,' and his boldness is +broken and his pride is cowed. And among the Muses it would not be +amiss to mention Sappho; for as the Romans say Cacus the son of +Hephaestus vomited out of his mouth fire and flames, so she really speaks +words that burn like fire, and in her songs shows the warmth of her +heart, as Philoxenus puts it, 'by euphonious songs assuaging the pains +of love.' And if you have not in your love for Lysandra forgot all your +old love-songs, do repeat to us, Daphnaeus, the lines in which beautiful +Sappho says that 'when her love appeared her voice failed and her body +burned, and she was seized with paleness and trembling and vertigo.'" +And when Daphnaeus had repeated the lines, my father resumed, "In the +name of Zeus, is not this plainly a divine seizure? Is not this a +wonderful commotion of soul? Why, the Pythian priestess on the tripod is +not moved so much as this! Who of those inspired by Cybele are made +beside themselves to this extent by the flute and the kettledrum? +Moreover, while many see the same body and the same beauty, only the +lover is taken by it. Why is this the case? We get no light on it from +Menander's words, 'Love is opportunity; and he that is smitten is the +only one wounded.' But the god is the cause of it, striking one and +letting another go scot-free. But I will not pass over now, 'since it +has come into my mouth,' as AEschylus says, what perhaps would have been +better spoken before, for it is a very important point. Perhaps, my +friend, of all other things which we do not perceive through the senses, +some got believed through legend, some through the law, some through +reason; whereas we owe our conception of the gods altogether to the +poets and legislators and philosophers: all alike teaching the existence +of gods, but greatly differing as to their number and order, nature and +power. For the gods of the philosophers 'know nothing of disease or old +age or pain, and have not to cross the resounding Acheron;' nor do the +philosophers accept as gods Strifes, or Prayers, which are found in +poetry;[121] nor will they admit Terror and Fear as gods or as the sons +of Ares. And on many points also they are at variance with the +legislators, as Xenophanes bade the Egyptians, if they regarded Osiris +as mortal, not to honour him as a god; but if they thought him a god not +to mourn for him. And, again, the poets and legislators will not listen +to, nor can they understand, the philosophers who make gods of ideas and +numbers and units and spirits. And their views generally are very +different. As there were formerly three parties at Athens, the Parali, +the Epacrii, and the Pediei, all at variance with one another, yet all +agreed to vote for Solon, and chose him with one accord as their +mediator and ruler and lawgiver, as he seemed indisputably to hold the +first place in merit; so the three parties that entertain different +views about the gods are all unanimous on one point, for poets +legislators and philosophers all alike register Love as one of the gods, +'loudly singing his praises with one voice,' as Alcaeus says the people +of Mitylene chose Pittacus as their monarch. But our king and ruler and +governor, Love, is brought down crowned from Helicon to the Academy by +Hesiod and Plato and Solon, and in royal apparel rides in a chariot +drawn by friendship and intimacy (not such as Euripides speaks of in the +line, 'he has been bound in fetters not of brass,'[122] shamefully +throwing round him cold and heavy necessity), and soars aloft to the +most beautiful and divine things, about which others have spoken better +than I can." + +Sec. XIX. When my father had spoken thus much, Soclarus began, "Do you see +that a second time you have committed the same fault, not cancelling +your debts as you ought to do--for I must speak my mind--but evading +them on purpose, and not delivering to us your promised ideas on a +sacred subject? For as some little time back you only just touched on +Plato and the Egyptians as if unwilling to enter on the subject more +fully, so now you are doing again. However, as to what has been +'eloquently told'[123] by Plato, or rather by the Muses through Plato's +mouth, do not tell us that, my good friend, even if we ask for it; but +as to your hint that the Egyptian legend about Love corresponded with +Plato's views, you need not discuss it fully and minutely, we shall be +satisfied if we hear a little of such mighty matters." And as the rest +of the company made the same request, my father said, "The Egyptians, +(like the Greeks) recognize two Loves, the Pandemian and the Celestial, +to which they add the Sun, they also highly venerate Aphrodite. We also +see much similarity between Love and the Sun, for neither is a fire, as +some think, but a sweet and productive radiance and warmth, the Sun +bringing to the body nourishment and light and growth, and Love doing +the same to the soul. And as the heat of the Sun is more powerful when +it emerges from clouds and after mist, so Love is sweeter and hotter +after a jealous tiff with the loved one,[124] and moreover, as some +think the Sun is kindled and extinguished, so also do people conceive of +Love as mortal and uncertain. Moreover, just as without training the +body cannot easily bear the heat of the Sun, so neither can the +untrained soul easily bear the yoke of Love, but both are equally out of +tune and suffer, for which they blame the deity and not their own +weakness. But in this respect they seem to differ, in that the Sun +exhibits to the eye things beautiful and ugly alike, whereas Love throws +its light only on beautiful things, and persuades lovers to concentrate +their attention on these, and to neglect all other things. As to those +that call Aphrodite the Moon, they, too, find some points in common +between them; for the Moon is divine and heavenly and a sort of +halfway-house between mortal and immortal, but inactive in itself and +dark without the presence of the Sun, as is the case with Aphrodite in +the absence of Love. So we may say that Aphrodite resembles the Moon, +and Love the Sun, more than any other deities, yet are not Love and the +Sun altogether the same, for just as body and soul are not the same, but +something different, so is it with the Sun and Love, the former can be +seen, the latter only felt. And if it should not seem too harsh a +saying, one might argue that the Sun acts entirely opposite to Love, for +it turns the mind away from the world of fancy to the world of reality, +beguiling us by its grace and splendid appearance, and persuading us to +seek for truth and everything else in and round it and nowhere else. For +as Euripides says, + + 'Too passionately do we love the Sun, + Because it always shines upon the earth, + From inexperience of another life,'[125] + +or rather from forgetfulness of those things which Love brings to our +remembrance. For as when we are woke by a great and bright light, +everything that the soul has seen in dreams is vanished and fled, so the +Sun is wont to banish the remembrance of past changes and chances, and +to bewitch the intelligence, pleasure and admiration causing this +forgetfulness. And though reality is really there, yet the soul cleaves +to dreams and is dazzled by what is most beautiful and divine. 'For +round the soul are poured sweet yet deceiving dreams,' so that the soul +thinks everything here good and valuable, unless it obtain divine and +chaste Love as its physician and preserver. For Love brings the soul +through the body to truth and the region of truth, where pure and +guileless beauty is to be found, kindly befriending its votaries like an +initiator at the mysteries. And it associates with the soul only through +the body. And as geometricians, in the case of boys who cannot yet be +initiated into the perception of incorporeal and impassive substance, +convey their ideas through the medium of spheres, cubes, and +dodecahedrons, so celestial Love has contrived beautiful mirrors of +beautiful things, and exhibits them to us glittering in the shapes +colours and appearances of youths in all their flower, and calmly stirs +the memory which is inflamed first by these. Consequently some, through +the stupidity of their friends and intimates, who have endeavoured by +force and against reason to extinguish the flame, have got no advantage +from it, but filled themselves with smoke and confusion, or have rushed +into secret and lawless pleasures and ingloriously wasted their prime. +But as many as by sober reason and modesty have abated the extravagance +of the passion, and left in the soul only a bright glow--not exciting a +tornado of passion, but a wonderful and productive diffusion, as in a +growing plant, opening the pores of complaisance and friendliness--these +in no long time cease to regard the personal charms of those they love, +and study their inward characters, and gaze at one another with +unveiled eyes, and associate with one another in words and actions, if +they find in their minds any fragment or image of the beautiful; and if +not they bid them farewell and turn to others, like bees that only go to +those flowers from which they can get honey. But wherever they find any +trace or emanation or pleasing resemblance of the divine, in an ecstasy +of pleasure and delight they indulge their memory, and revive to +whatever is truly lovely and felicitous and admired by everybody." + +Sec. XX. "The poets indeed seem for the most part to have written and sung +about Love in a playful and merry manner, but have sometimes spoken +seriously about him, whether out of their own mind, or the god helping +them to truth. Among these are the lines about his birth, +'Well-sandalled Iris bare the most powerful of the gods to golden-haired +Zephyr.'[126] But perhaps the learned have persuaded you that these +lines are only a fanciful illustration of the variety and beauty of +love." "Certainly," said Daphnaeus, "what else could they mean?" "Hear +me," said my father, "for the heavenly phenomenon compels us so to +speak. The rainbow[127] is, I suppose, a reflection caused by the sun's +rays falling on a moist cloud, making us think the appearance is in the +cloud. Similarly erotic fancy in the case of noble souls causes a +reflection of the memory, from things which here appear and are called +beautiful, to what is really divine and lovely and felicitous and +wonderful. But most lovers pursuing and groping after the semblance of +beauty in boys and women, as in mirrors,[128] can derive nothing more +certain than pleasure mixed with pain. And this seems the love-delirium +of Ixion, who instead of the joy he desired embraced only a cloud, as +children who desire to take the rainbow into their hands, clutching at +whatever they see. But different is the behaviour of the noble and +chaste lover: for he reflects on the divine beauty that can only be +felt, while he uses the beauty of the visible body only as an organ of +the memory, though he embraces it and loves it, and associating with it +is still more inflamed in mind. And so neither in the body do they sit +ever gazing at and desiring this light, nor after death do they return +to this world again, and skulk and loiter about the doors and +bedchambers of newly-married people, disagreeable ghosts of +pleasure-loving and sensual men and women, who do not rightly deserve +the name of lovers. For the true lover, when he has got into the other +world and associated with beauties as much as is lawful, has wings and +is initiated and passes his time above in the presence of his Deity, +dancing and waiting upon him, until he goes back to the meadows of the +Moon and Aphrodite, and sleeping there commences a new existence. But +this is a subject too high for the present occasion. However, it is with +Love as with the other gods, to borrow the words of Euripides, 'he +rejoices in being honoured by mankind,'[129] and _vice versa_, for he is +most propitious to those that receive him properly, but visits his +displeasure on those that affront him. For neither does Zeus as god of +Hospitality punish and avenge any outrages on strangers or suppliants, +nor as god of the family fulfil the curses of parents, as quickly as +Love hearkens to lovers unfairly treated, being the chastiser of boorish +and haughty persons. Why need I mention the story of Euxynthetus and +Leucomantis, the latter of whom is called The Peeping Girl to this day +in Cyprus? But perhaps you have not heard of the punishment of the +Cretan Gorgo, a somewhat similar case to that of Leucomantis, except +that she was turned into stone as she peeped out of window to see her +lover carried out to burial. For this Gorgo had a lover called Asander, +a proper young man and of a good family, but reduced in fortune, though +he thought himself worthy to mate with anybody. So he wooed Gorgo, being +a relation of hers, and though he had many rivals, as she was much run +after for her wealth belike, yet he had won the esteem of all the +guardians and relations of the young girl.[130] * * * * + +Sec. XXI. * * * Now the origins and causes of Love are not peculiar to +either sex, but common to both. For those attractions that make men +amorous may as well proceed from women as from boys.[131] And as to +those beautiful and holy reminiscences and invitations to the divine and +genuine and Olympian beauty, by which the soul soars aloft, what hinders +but that they may come either from boys or lads, maidens or grown women, +whenever a chaste and orderly nature and beauteous prime are associated +together (just as a neat shoe exhibits the shapeliness of the foot, to +borrow the illustration of Aristo), whenever connoisseurs of beauty +descry in beautiful forms and pure bodies clear traces of an upright and +unenervated soul.[132] For if[133] the man of pleasure, who was asked +whether "he was most given to the love of women or boys," and answered, +"I care not which so beauty be but there," is considered to have given +an appropriate answer as to his erotic desires, shall the noble lover of +beauty neglect beauty and nobility of nature, and make love only with an +eye to the sexual parts? Why, the lover of horses will take just as much +pleasure in the good points of Podargus, as in those of AEthe, +Agamemnon's mare,[134] and the sportsman rejoices not only in dogs, but +also rears Cretan and Spartan bitches,[135] and shall the lover of the +beautiful and of humanity be unfair and deal unequally with either sex, +and think that the difference between the loves of boys and women is +only their different dress? And yet they say that beauty is a flower of +virtue; and it is ridiculous to assert that the female sex never +blossoms nor make a goodly show of virtue, for as AEschylus truly says, + + 'I never can mistake the burning eye + Of the young woman that has once known man.'[136] + +Shall the indications then of a forward wanton and corrupt character be +found in the faces of women, and shall there be no gleam of chastity and +modesty in their appearance? Nay, there are many such, and shall they +not move and provoke love? To doubt it would be neither sensible nor in +accordance with the facts, for generally speaking, as has been pointed +out, all these attractions are the same in both sexes.... But, Daphnaeus, +let us combat those views which Zeuxippus lately advanced, making Love +to be only irregular desire carrying the soul away to licentiousness, +not that this was so much his own view as what he had often heard from +morose men who knew nothing of love: some of whom marry unfortunate +women for their dowries, and force on them economy and illiberal saving, +and quarrel with them every day of their lives: while others, more +desirous of children than wives, when they have made those women they +come across mothers, bid farewell to marriage, or regard it not at all, +and neither care to love nor be loved. Now the fact that the word for +conjugal love differs only by one letter from the word for endurance, +the one being [Greek: stergein] the other [Greek: stegein], seems to +emphasize the conjugal kindness mixed by time and intimacy with +necessity. But that marriage which Love has inspired will in the first +place, as in Plato's Republic, know nothing of _Meum_ and _Tuum_, for +the proverb, 'whatever belongs to a friend is common property,'[137] is +especially true of married persons who, though disunited in body, are +perforce one in soul, neither wishing to be two, nor thinking themselves +so. In the second place there will be mutual respect, which is a vital +necessity in marriage. For as to that external respect which has in it +more of compulsion than choice, being forced by the law and shame and +fear, + + "Those needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,"[138] + +that will always exist in wedlock. But in Love there is such +self-control and decorum and constancy, that if the god but once enter +the soul of a licentious man, he makes him give up all his amours, +abates his pride, and breaks down his haughtiness and dissoluteness, +putting in their place modesty and silence and tranquillity and decorum, +and makes him constant to one. You have heard of course of the famous +courtesan Lais,[139] how she set all Greece on fire with her charms, or +rather was contended for by two seas,[140] and how, when she fell in +love with Hippolochus the Thessalian, 'she left Acro-Corinthus washed by +the green sea,'[141] and deserted all her other lovers, that great army, +and went off to Thessaly and lived faithful to Hippolochus. But the +women there, envious and jealous of her for her surpassing beauty, +dragged her into the temple of Aphrodite, and there stoned her to death, +for which reason probably it is called to this day the temple of +Aphrodite the Murderess.[142] We have also heard of servant girls who +have refused the embraces of their masters, and of private individuals +who have scorned an amour with queens, when Love has had dominion in +their hearts. For as in Rome, when a dictator is proclaimed, all other +magistrates lay down their offices, so those over whom Love is lord are +free henceforward from all other lords and masters, and pass the rest of +their lives dedicate to the god and slaves in his temple. For a noble +woman united by Love to her lawful husband would prefer the embraces of +bears and dragons to those of any other man." + +Sec. XXII. "Although there are plenty of examples of this virtue of +constancy, yet to you, that are the festive votaries of the god,[143] it +will not be amiss to relate the story of the Galatian Camma. She was a +woman of most remarkable beauty, and the wife of the tetrarch Sinatus, +whom Sinorix, one of the most influential men in Galatia, and +desperately in love with Camma, murdered, as he could neither get her by +force or persuasion in the lifetime of her husband. And Camma found a +refuge and comfort in her grief in discharging the functions of +hereditary priestess to Artemis, and most of her time she spent in her +temple, and, though many kings and potentates wooed her, she refused +them all. But when Sinorix boldly proposed marriage to her, she declined +not his offer, nor blamed him for what he had done, as though she +thought he had only murdered Sinatus out of excessive love for her, and +not in sheer villany. He came, therefore, with confidence, and asked her +hand, and she met him and greeted him and led him to the altar of the +goddess, and pledged him in a cup of poisoned mead, drinking half of it +herself and giving him the rest. And when she saw that he had drunk it +up, she shouted aloud for joy, and calling upon the name of her dead +husband, said, 'Till this day, dearest husband, I have lived, deprived +of you, a life of sorrow: but now take me to yourself with joy, for I +have avenged you on the worst of men, as glad to share death with him as +life with you.' Then Sinorix was removed out of the temple on a litter, +and soon after gave up the ghost, and Camma lived the rest of that day +and following night, and is said to have died with a good courage and +even with gaiety."[144] + +Sec. XXIII. "As many similar examples might be adduced, both among +ourselves and foreigners, who can feel any patience with those that +reproach Aphrodite with hindering friendship when she associates herself +with Love as a partner? Whereas any reflecting person would call the +love of boys wanton and gross lasciviousness, and say with the poet: + + 'This is an outrage, not an act of love.' + +All willing pathics, therefore, we consider the vilest of mankind, and +credit them with neither fidelity, nor modesty, nor friendship, for as +Sophocles says: + + 'Those who shall lose such friends may well be glad, + And those who have such pray that they may lose them,'[145] + +But as for those who, not being by nature vicious, have been seduced or +forced, they are apt all their life to despise and hate their seducers, +and when an opportunity has presented itself to take fierce vengeance. +As Crateus, who murdered Archelaus, and Pytholaus, who murdered +Alexander of Pherae. And Periander, the tyrant of the Ambraciotes, +having asked a most insulting question of his minion, was murdered by +him, so exasperated was he. But with women and wives all this is the +beginning of friendship, and as it were an initiation into the sacred +mysteries. And pleasure plays a very small part in this, but the esteem +and favour and mutual love and constancy that result from it, proves +that the Delphians did not talk nonsense in giving the name of Arma[146] +to Aphrodite, nor Homer in giving the name of friendship[147] to sexual +love, and testifies to the fact that Solon was a most experienced +legislator in conjugal matters, seeing that he ordered husbands not less +than thrice a month to associate with their wives, not for pleasure, but +as states at certain intervals renew their treaties with one another, so +he wished that by such friendliness marriage should, as it were, be +renewed after any intervening tiffs and differences. But you will tell +me there is much folly and even madness in the love of women. Is there +not more extravagance in the love of boys? + + 'Seeing my many rivals I grow faint. + The lad is beardless, smooth and soft and handsome, + O that I might in his embraces die, + And have the fact recorded on my tomb.' + +Such extravagant language as this is madness not love. And it is absurd +to detract from woman's various excellence. Look at their self-restraint +and intelligence, their fidelity and uprightness, and that bravery +courage and magnanimity so conspicuous in many! And to say that they +have a natural aptitude for all other virtues, but are deficient as +regards friendship alone, is monstrous. For they are fond of their +children and husbands, and generally speaking the natural affection in +them is not only, like a fruitful soil, capable of friendship, but is +also accompanied by persuasion and other graces. And as poetry gives to +words a kind of relish by melody and metre and rhythm, making +instruction thereby more interesting, but what is injurious more +insidious, so nature, investing woman with beautiful appearance and +attractive voice and bewitching figure, does much for a licentious woman +in making her wiles more formidable, but makes a modest one more apt +thereby to win the goodwill and friendship of her husband. And as Plato +advised Xenocrates, a great and noble man in all other respects, but too +austere in his temperament, to sacrifice to the Graces, so one might +recommend a good and modest woman to sacrifice to Love, that her husband +might be a mild and agreeable partner, and not run after any other +woman, so as to be compelled to say like the fellow in the comedy, 'What +a wretch I am to ill-treat such a woman!' For to love in marriage is far +better than to be loved, for it prevents many, nay all, of those +offences which spoil and mar marriage. + +Sec. XXIV. As to the passionate affection in the early days of +marriage,[148] my dear Zeuxippus, do not fear that it will leave any +sore or irritation, though it is not wonderful that there should be some +friction at the commencement of union with a virtuous woman, just as at +the grafting of trees, as there is also pain at the beginning of +conception, for there can be no complete union without some suffering. +Learning puts boys out somewhat when they first go to school, as +philosophy does young men at a later day, but the ill effects are not +lasting, either in their cases or in the case of lovers. As in the +fusion of two liquors, love does indeed at first cause a simmering and +commotion, but eventually cools down and settles and becomes tranquil. +For the union of lovers is indeed a complete union, whereas the union of +those that live together without love resembles only the friction and +concussion of Epicurus' atoms in collision and recoil, forming no such +union as Love makes, when he presides over the conjugal state. For +nothing else produces so much pleasure, or such lasting advantages, or +such beautiful remarkable and desirable friendship, + + 'As when husband and wife live in one house, + Two souls beating as one.'[149] + +And the law gives its countenance, and nature shows that even the gods +themselves require love for the production of everything. Thus the poets +tell us that 'the earth loves a shower, and heaven loves the earth,' and +the natural philosophers tell us that the sun is in love with the moon, +and that they are husband and wife, and that the earth is the mother of +man and beast and the producer of all plants. Would not the world itself +then of necessity come to an end, if the great god Love and the desires +implanted by the god should leave matter, and matter should cease to +yearn for and pursue its lead? But not to seem to wander too far away +and altogether to trifle, you know that many censure boy-loves for their +instability, and jeeringly say that that intimacy like an egg is +destroyed by a hair,[150] for that boy-lovers like Nomads, spending the +summer in a blooming and flowery country, at once decamp then as from an +enemy's territory. And still more vulgarly Bion the Sophist called the +sprouting beards of beautiful boys Harmodiuses and Aristogitons,[151] +inasmuch as lovers were delivered by them from a pleasant tyranny. But +this charge cannot justly be brought against genuine lovers, and it was +prettily said by Euripides, as he embraced and kissed handsome Agatho +whose beard was just sprouting, that the Autumn of beautiful youths was +lovely as well as the Spring. And I maintain that the love of beautiful +and chaste wives flourishes not only in old age amid grey hairs and +wrinkles, but even in the grave and monument. And while there are few +such long unions in the case of boy-loves, one might enumerate ten +thousand such instances of the love of women, who have kept their +fidelity to the end of their lives. One such case I will relate, which +happened in my time in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian. + +Sec. XXV. Julius, who stirred up a revolt in Galatia, among several other +confederates had one Sabinus, a young man of good family, and for wealth +and renown the most conspicuous of all the men in those parts. But +having attempted what was too much for them they were foiled, and +expecting to pay the penalty, some committed suicide, others fled and +were captured. Now Sabinus himself could easily have got out of the way +and made his escape to the barbarians, but he had married a most +excellent wife, whose name in that part of the world was Empone, but in +Greek would be Herois, and he could neither leave her behind nor take +her with him. As he had in the country some underground caves, known +only to two of his freedmen, where he used to stow away things, he +dismissed all the rest of his slaves, as if he intended to poison +himself, and taking with him these two trusty freedmen he descended with +them into those underground caves, and sent one of them, Martialis, to +tell his wife that he had poisoned himself, and that his body was burnt +in the flames of his country-house, for he wanted his wife's genuine +sorrow to lend credit to the report of his death. And so it happened. +For she, throwing herself on to the ground, groaned and wailed for three +days and nights, and took no food. And Sabinus, being informed of this, +and fearing that she would die of grief, told Martialis to inform her +secretly that he was alive and well and in hiding, and to beg her not to +relax her show of grief, but to keep up the farce. And she did so with +the genius of a professional actress, but yearning to see her husband +she visited him by night, and returned without being noticed, and for +six or seven months she lived with him this underground life. And she +disguised him by changing his dress, and cutting off his beard, and +re-arranging his hair, so that he should not be known, and took him to +Rome, having some hopes of obtaining his pardon. But being unsuccessful +in this she returned to her own country, and spent most of her time with +her husband underground, but from time to time visited the town, and +showed herself to some ladies who were her friends and relations. But +what is most astonishing of all is that, though she bathed with them, +she concealed her pregnancy from them. For the dye which women use to +make their hair a golden auburn, has a tendency to produce corpulence +and flesh and a full habit, and she rubbed this abundantly over all +parts of her body, and so concealed her pregnancy. And she bare the +pangs of travail by herself, as a lioness bears her whelps, having hid +herself in the cave with her husband, and there she gave birth to two +boys, one of whom died in Egypt, the other, whose name was Sabinus, was +among us only the other day at Delphi. Vespasian eventually put her to +death, but paid the penalty for it, his whole progeny in a short time +being wiped off the face of the earth.[152] For during the whole of his +reign he did no more savage act, nor could gods or demons have turned +away their eyes from a crueller sight. And yet her courage and bold +language abated the pity of the spectators, though it exasperated +Vespasian, for, despairing of her safety, she bade them go and tell the +Emperor, 'that it was sweeter to live in darkness and underground than +to wear his crown.'"[153] + +Sec. XXVI. Here my father said that the conversation about Love which took +place at Thespiae ended. And at this moment Diogenes, one of Pisias' +companions, was noticed coming up at a faster pace than walking. And +while he was yet a little way off, Soclarus hailed him with, "You don't +announce war, Diogenes," and he replied, "Hush! it is a marriage; come +with me quickly, for the sacrifice only waits for you." All were +delighted, and Zeuxippus asked if Pisias was still against the marriage. +"As he was first to oppose it," said Diogenes, "so he was first to yield +the victory to Ismenodora, and he has now put on a crown and robed +himself in white, so as to take his place at the head of the procession +to the god through the market-place." "Come," said my father, "in +Heaven's name, let us go and laugh at him, and worship the god; for it +is clear that the god has taken delight in what has happened, and been +propitious." + + [62] The allusion is to Plato's "Phaedrus," p. 230, B. + Much, indeed, of the subject-matter here is, we shall + find, somewhat similar to that of the Phaedrus. + + [63] It is difficult to know what the best English word + here is. From the sly thrust in Sec. ix. Pisias was + evidently grey. I have therefore selected the word + _gravest_. But _the most austere_, _the most sensible_, + _the most solid_, _the most sedate_, all might express + the Greek word also. Let the reader take which he likes + best. + + [64] In a Greek house the women and men had each their + own separate apartments. This must be borne in mind here + to explain the allusion. + + [65] That is, from interested and selfish motives. + + [66] On Lais and Aristippus see Cicero, "Ad. Fam.," ix. + 26. + + [67] Pausanias, i. 19, shows us that there was at Athens + a Temple of Hercules called Cynosarges. But the matter + is obscure. What the exact allusion is I cannot say. + + [68] Fragment of AEschylus. See Athenaeus, xiii. p. 602, + E, which explains the otherwise obscure allusion. + + [69] That is the son of Hera alone, who was unwilling to + be outdone by Zeus, who had given birth to Pallas Athene + alone. Hesiod has the same view, "Theog." 927. + + [70] [Greek: opora] is so used also in AEsch. "Suppl.," + 998, 1015. See also "Athenaeus," 608, F. Daphnaeus implies + these very nice gentlemen, like the same class described + by Juvenal, "Curios simulant et Bacchanalia vivunt." + + [71] I omit [Greek: kai kopidas] as a gloss or + explanation of the old reading [Greek: makeleia] instead + of [Greek: matruleia]. Nothing can be made of [Greek: + kai kopidas] in the context. + + [72] "Works and Days," 606-608. + + [73] I follow here the reading of Wyttenbach. Through + the whole of this essay the reading is very uncertain + frequently. My text in it has been formed from a careful + collation of Wyttenbach, Reiske, and Duebner. I mention + this here once for all, for it is unnecessary in a + translation to minutely specify the various readings on + every occasion. I am not editing the "Moralia." + + [74] "De Oenantha et Agathoclea, v. Polyb. excerpt, l. + xv."--_Reiske._ + + [75] Thespiae. The allusion is to Phryne. See Pausanias, + ix. 27; x. 15. + + [76] Reading with Wyttenbach, [Greek: hosper daktylion + ischnou, ho me perirrhue dedios.] + + [77] Perhaps _cur_ = coward, was originally _cur-tail_. + + [78] One of the three ports at Athens. See Pausanias, i. + 1. + + [79] Iolaus was the nephew of Hercules, and was + associated with him in many of his Labours. See + Pausanias, i. 19; vii. 2; viii. 14, 45. + + [80] I read [Greek: synoarizontas]. The general reading + [Greek: synerontas] will hardly do here. Wyttenbach + suggests [Greek: synearizontas]. + + [81] What the [Greek: dibolia] was is not quite clear. I + have supposed a jersey. + + [82] The women of Lemnos were very masterful. On one + memorable occasion they killed all their husbands in one + night. Thus the line of Ovid has almost a proverbial + force, "Lemniadesque viros nimium quoque vincere + norunt."--_Heroides_, vi. 53. Siebelis in his Preface to + Pausanias, p. xxi, gives from an old Scholia a sort of + excuse for the action of the women of Lemnos. + + [83] Probably the epilepsy. See Herodotus, iii. 33. + + [84] Euripides, "Bacchae," 203. + + [85] Euripides, Fragment of the "Melanippe." + + [86] I take Wyttenbach's suggestion as to the reading + here. + + [87] This line is taken bodily by Aristophanes in his + "Frogs," 1244. + + [88] The first line is the first line of a passage from + Euripides, consisting of thirteen lines, containing + similar sentiments to this. See Athenaeus, xiii. p. 599, + F. The last two lines are from Euripides, "Hippolytus," + 449, 450. + + [89] Compare Lucretius, i. 1-5. + + [90] Hesiod, "Theogony," 116-120. + + [91] Euripides, "Danae," Frag. Compare Ovid, "Cedit amor + rebus: res age, tutus eris." + + [92] Sophocles, Fragm. 678, Dindorf. Compare a remark of + Sophocles, recorded by Cicero, "De Senectute," ch. xiv. + + [93] Sophocles, Fragm. 720. Reading [Greek: kala] with + Reiske. + + [94] Iliad, v. 831. + + [95] Connecting [Greek: Ares] with [Greek: anairein]. + + [96] The _Saint Hubert_ of the Middle Ages. + + [97] AEschylus, Frag. 1911. Dindorf. + + [98] Odyssey, v. 69. + + [99] Fragm. 146, 125. + + [100] Hermes is alluded to. + + [101] All these four were titles of _Zeus_. They are + very difficult to put into English so as to convey any + distinctive and definite idea to an English reader. + + [102] Enthusiasm is the being [Greek: entheos], or + inspired by some god. + + [103] From AEschylus, "Supplices," 681, 682. + + [104] "Iliad," vii. 121, 122. + + [105] Like the character described in Lucretius, ii. + 1-6. + + [106] Sophocles, "Trachiniae," 497. The Cyprian Queen + is, of course, Aphrodite. + + [107] Hence the famous Proverb, "Non omnibus dormio." + See Cic. "Ad. Fam." vii. 24. + + [108] Above, in Sec. xiii. + + [109] See Sophocles, "Antigone," 783, 784. And compare + Horace, "Odes," Book iv. Ode xiii. 6-8, "Ille virentis + et Doctae psallere Chiae _Pulchris excubat in genis_." + + [110] The "Niobe," which exists only in a few fragments. + + [111] This was the name of Dionysius' Poem. He was a + Corinthian poet. + + [112] "Iliad," xiii. 131. + + [113] Reading according to the conjecture of Wyttenbach, + [Greek: hos ton Erota uonon aetteton onta ton + strategon]. + + [114] Something has probably dropped out here, as Duebner + suspects. + + [115] Fragment from the "Stheneboea" of Euripides. + + [116] Anytus was one of the accusers of Socrates, and so + one of the causers of his death. So Horace calls + Socrates "Anyti reum," "Sat." ii. 4, 3. + + [117] Homeric Epigrammata, xiii. 5. Quoted also in "On + Virtue and Vice," Sec. 1. + + [118] Odyssey, xix. 40. + + [119] I adopt the suggestion of Wyttenbach, [Greek: + eipen, o Daphnaie]. + + [120] Pinder, "Pyth." i. 8. + + [121] See for example Homer, Iliad, xi. 3, 73; ix. 502. + + [122] Euripides, "Pirithous," Fragm. 591. Dindorf. + + [123] An allusion to Homer, "Odyssey," xii. 453. + + [124] So Terence, "Andria," 555. "Amantium irae amoris + integratiost." + + [125] Euripides, "Hippolytus," 194-196. + + [126] The lines are from Alcaeus. Thus Love was the child + of the Rainbow and the West Wind. A pretty conceit. + + [127] Greek _iris_. + + [128] The mirrors of the ancients were of course not + like our mirrors. They were only burnished bronze. Hence + the view in them would be at best somewhat obscure. This + explains 1 Cor. xiii. 12; 2 Cor. iii. 18; James i. 23. + + [129] See Euripides, "Hippolytus," 7, 8. + + [130] Here the story unfortunately ends, and for all + time we shall know no more of it. Reiske somewhat + forcibly says, "Vel lippus videat Gorgus historiam non + esse finitam, et multa, ut et alias, periisse." + + [131] Like Reiske we condense here a little. + + [132] Reading with Reiske [Greek: orthes kai + athruptou.] + + [133] I read [Greek: ei gar]. + + [134] See "Iliad," xxiii. 295. Podargus was an entire + horse. + + [135] See Ovid, "Metamorph." iii. 206-208. + + [136] AEschylus, "Toxotides," Fragm. 224. + + [137] A very favourite proverb among the ancients. See + Plat. "Phaedr." fin. Martial, ii. 43. + + [138] Soph. Fragm. 712. + + [139] On Lais, see Pausanias, ii. 2. Her Thessalian + lover is there called Hippostratus. Her favours were so + costly that the famous proverb is said to owe its origin + to her, "Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum." + + [140] The AEgean and Ionian. Cf. Horace, "Odes," i. 7, 2. + + [141] On Acro-Corinthus, see Pausanias, ii. 4. The words + in inverted commas are from Euripides, Fragm. 921. + + [142] On Lais generally, and her end, see Athenaeus, + xiii. 54, 55. + + [143] See Sec. I. The Festival of Love was being kept at + this very time. + + [144] This story is also told by Plutarch, "De Mulierum + Virtutibus," Sec. xx. + + [145] Sophocles, Fragm. 741. Quoted again in "On + Abundance of Friends," Sec. iii. + + [146] A Delphic word for love. Can it be connected with + [Greek: arma]? + + [147] Very frequent in Homer, _e.g._, "Iliad," ii. 232; + vi, 165; xiii. 636: xiv. 353, etc. + + [148] See Lucretius, iv. 1105-1114. I tone down the + original here a little. + + [149] Homer, "Odyssey," vi. 183, 184. Cf. Eurip. + "Medea," 14, 15. + + [150] This means when the moustache and beard and + whiskers begin to grow. + + [151] The whole story about Harmodius and Aristogiton + and how they killed Hipparchus is told by Thucydides, + vi. 54-59. Bion therefore practically called these + sprouting beards _tyrant-killers_, _tyrannicides_. + + [152] "Scriptus igitur hic libellus est post caedem + Domitiani."--_Reiske._ + + [153] Vespasian certainly was not cruel generally. "Non + temere quis punitus insons reperietur, nisi absente eo + et ignaro aut certe invito atque decepto..... Sola est, + in qua merito culpetur, pecuniae cupiditas."--Suetonius, + "Divus Vespasianus," 15, 16. + + + + +CONJUGAL PRECEPTS. + +PLUTARCH SENDS GREETING TO POLLIANUS AND EURYDICE. + + +After the customary marriage rites, by which, the Priestess of Demeter +has united you together, I think that to make an appropriate discourse, +and one that will chime in with the occasion, will be useful to you and +agreeable to the law. For in music one of the tunes played on the flute +is called Hippothorus,[154] which is a tune that excites fierce desire +in stallions to cover mares; and though in philosophy there are many +goodly subjects, yet is there none more worthy of attention than that of +marriage, on which subject philosophy spreads a charm over those who are +to pass life together, and makes them gentle and mild to one another. I +send therefore as a gift to both of you a summary of what you have often +heard, as you are both well versed in philosophy, arranging my matter in +a series of short observations that it may be the more easily +remembered, and I pray that the Muses will assist and co-operate with +Aphrodite, so that no lyre or lute could be more harmonious or in tune +than your married life, as the result of philosophy and concord. And +thus the ancients set up near Aphrodite statues of Hermes, to show that +conversation was one of the great charms of marriage, and also statues +of Peitho[155] and the Graces, to teach married people to gain their way +with one another by persuasion, and not by wrangling or contention. + +Sec. I. Solon bade the bride eat a quince the first night of marriage, +intimating thereby, it seems, that the bridegroom, was to expect his +first pleasure from the bride's mouth and conversation. + +Sec. II. In Boeotia they dress up the bride with a chaplet of asparagus, +for as the asparagus gives most excellent fruit from a thorny stalk, so +the bride, by not being too reluctant and coy in the first approaches, +will make the married state more agreeable and pleasant. But those +husbands who cannot put up with the early peevishness of their brides, +are not a whit wiser than those persons who pluck unripe grapes and +leave the ripe grapes for others.[156] On the other hand, many brides, +being at first disgusted with their husbands, are like those that stand +the bee's sting but neglect the honey. + +Sec. III. Married people should especially at the outset beware of the +first quarrel and collision, observing that vessels when first +fabricated are easily broken up into their component parts, but in +process of time, getting compact and firmly welded together, are proof +against either fire or steel. + +Sec. IV. As fire gets kindled easily in chaff or in a wick or in the fur of +hares, but is easily extinguished again, if it find no material to keep +it in and feed it, so we must not consider that the love of +newly-married people, that blazes out so fiercely in consequence of the +attractions of youth and beauty, will be durable and lasting, unless it +be fixed in the character, and occupy the mind, and make a living +impression.[157] + +Sec. V. As catching fish by drugged bait is easy, but makes the fish poor +to eat and insipid, so those wives that lay traps for their husbands by +philtres and charms, and become their masters by pleasure, have stupid +senseless and spoiled husbands to live with. For those that were +bewitched by Circe did her no good, nor could she make any use of them +when they were turned into swine and asses, but she was greatly in love +with the prudent Odysseus who dwelt with her sensibly. + +Sec. VI. Those women who would rather lord it over fools than obey sensible +men, resemble those people who would rather lead the blind on a road, +and not people who have eyesight and know how to follow. + +Sec. VII. Women disbelieve that Pasiphaee, a king's wife, was enamoured of +a bull, although they see some of their sex despising grave and sober +men, and preferring to associate with men who are the slaves of +intemperance and pleasure, and like dogs and he-goats. + +Sec. VIII. Men who through weakness or effeminacy cannot vault upon their +horses' backs, teach them to kneel and so receive their riders. +Similarly, some men that marry noble or rich wives, instead of making +themselves better humble their wives, thinking to rule them easier by +lowering them. But one ought to govern with an eye to the merit of a +woman, as much as to the size of a horse. + +Sec. IX. We see that the moon when it is far from the sun is bright and +glorious, but pales and hides its light when it is near. A modest wife +on the contrary ought to be seen chiefly with her husband, and to stay +at home and in retirement in his absence. + +Sec. X. It is not a true observation of Herodotus, that a woman puts off +her modesty with her shift.[158] On the contrary, the modest woman puts +on her modesty instead, and great modesty is a sign of great conjugal +love. + +Sec. XI. As where two voices are in unison the loudest prevails; so in a +well-managed household everything is done by mutual consent, but the +husband's supremacy is exhibited, and his wishes are consulted. + +Sec. XII. The Sun beat the North Wind.[159] For when it blew a strong and +terrible blast, and tried to make the man remove his cloak, he only drew +it round him more closely, but when the Sun came out with its warm rays, +at first warmed and afterwards scorched, he stripped himself of coat as +well as cloak. Most woman act similarly: if their husbands try to +curtail by force their luxury and extravagance, they are vexed and fight +for their rights, but if they are convinced by reason, they quietly drop +their expensive habits, and keep within bounds. + +Sec. XIII. Cato turned out of the Senate a man who kissed his own wife in +the presence of his daughter. This was perhaps too strong a step, but if +it is unseemly, as indeed it is, for husband and wife in the presence of +others to fondle and kiss and embrace one another, is it not far more +unseemly in the presence of others to quarrel and jangle? Just as +conjugal caresses and endearments ought to be private, so ought +admonition and scolding and plain speaking. + +Sec. XIV. Just as there is little use in a mirror adorned with gold or +precious stones, unless it conveys a true likeness, so there is no +advantage in a rich wife, unless she conforms her life and habits to her +husband's position. For if when a man is joyful the mirror makes him +look sad, and when he is put out and sad it makes him look gay and +smiling from ear to ear, the mirror is plainly faulty. So the wife is +faulty and devoid of tact, who frowns when her husband is in the vein +for mirth and jollity, and who jokes and laughs when he is serious: the +former conduct is disagreeable, the latter contemptuous.[160] And, just +as geometricians say lines and surfaces do not move of themselves, but +only in connection with bodies, so the wife ought to have no private +emotions of her own, but share in her husband's gravity or mirth, +anxiety or gaiety. + +Sec. XV. As those husbands who do not like to see their wives eating and +drinking in their company only teach them to take their food on the sly, +so those husbands who are not gay and jolly with their wives, and never +joke or smile with them, only teach them to seek their pleasures out of +their company. + +Sec. XVI. The kings of Persia have their wedded wives at their side at +banquets and entertainments; but when they have a mind for a drunken +debauch they send them away,[161] and call for singing-girls and +concubines, rightly so doing, for so they do not mix up their wives with +licentiousness and drunkenness. Similarly, if a private individual, +lustful and dissolute, goes astray with a courtesan or maid-servant, the +wife should not be vexed or impatient, but consider that it is out of +respect to her that he bestows upon another all his wanton depravity. + +Sec. XVII. As kings make[162] if fond of music many musicians, if lovers of +learning many men of letters, and many athletes if fond of gymnastics, +so the man who has an eye for female charms teaches his wife to dress +well, the man of pleasure teaches his meretricious tricks and +wantonness, while the true gentleman makes his virtuous and decorous. + +Sec. XVIII. A Lacedaemonian maiden, when someone asked her if she had yet +had dealings with a man, replied, "No, but he has with me." This +methinks is the line of conduct a matron should pursue, neither to +decline the embraces of a husband when he takes the initiative, nor to +provoke them herself, for the one is forward and savours of the +courtesan, the other is haughty and unnatural. + +Sec. XIX. The wife ought not to have her own private friends, but cultivate +only those of the husband. Now the gods are our first and greatest +friends, so the wife ought only to worship and recognize her husband's +gods, and the door ought to be shut on all superfluous worship and +strange superstitions, for none of the gods are pleased with stealthy +and secret sacrifices on the part of a wife. + +Sec. XX. Plato says that is a happy and fortunate state, where the words +_Meum_ and _Tuum_ are least heard,[163] because the citizens regard the +common interest in all matters of importance. Far more essential is it +in marriage that the words should have no place. For, as the doctors +say, that blows on the left shoulders are also felt on the right,[164] +so is it good[165] for husband and wife to mutually sympathize with one +another, that, just as the strength of ropes comes from the twining and +interlacing of fibres together, so the marriage knot may be confirmed +and strengthened by the interchange of mutual affection and kindness. +Nature itself teaches this by the birth of children, which are so much a +joint result, that neither husband nor wife can discriminate or discern +which part of the child is theirs. So, too, it is well for married +persons to have one purse, and to throw all their property into one +common stock, that here also there may be no _Meum_ and _Tuum_. And just +as we call the mixture of water and wine by the name of wine, even +though the water should preponderate,[166] so we say that the house and +property belongs to the man, even though the wife contribute most of the +money. + +Sec. XXI. Helen was fond of wealth, Paris of pleasure, whereas Odysseus was +prudent, Penelope chaste. So the marriage of the last two was happy and +enviable, while that of the former two brought an Iliad of woe on Greeks +and barbarians alike. + +Sec. XXII. The Roman who was taken to task by his friends for repudiating a +chaste wealthy and handsome wife, showed them his shoe and said, +"Although this is new and handsome, none of you know where it pinches +me."[167] A wife ought not therefore to put her trust in her dowry, or +family, or beauty, but in matters that more vitally concern her husband, +namely, in her disposition and companionableness and complaisance with +him, not to make every-day life vexatious or annoying, but harmonious and +cheerful and agreeable. For as doctors are more afraid of fevers that +are generated from uncertain causes, and from a complication of +ailments, than of those that have a clear and adequate cause, so the +small and continual and daily matters of offence between husband and +wife, that the world knows nothing about, set the household most at +variance, and do it the greatest injury. + +Sec. XXIII. King Philip was desperately enamoured of a Thessalian +woman,[168] who was accused of bewitching him; his wife Olympias +therefore wished to get this woman into her power. But when she came +before her, and was evidently very handsome, and talked to her in a +noble and sensible manner, Olympias said, "Farewell to calumny! Your +charms lie in yourself."[169] So invincible are the charms of a lawful +wife to win her husband's affection by her virtuous character, bringing +to him in herself dowry, and family, and philtres, and even Aphrodite's +cestus.[170] + +Sec. XXIV. Olympias, on another occasion, when a young courtier had married +a wife who was very handsome, but whose reputation was not very good, +remarked, "This fellow has no sense, or he would not have married with +his eyes." We ought neither to marry with our eyes, nor with our +fingers, as some do, who reckon up on their fingers what dowry the wife +will bring, not what sort of partner she will make. + +Sec. XXV. It was advice of Socrates, that when young men looked at +themselves in the mirror, those who were not handsome should become so +through virtue, and those who were so should not by vice deform their +beauty. Good also is it for the matron, when she has the mirror in her +hands, if not handsome to say to herself, "What should I be, if I were +not virtuous?" and if handsome to say to herself, "How good it were to +add virtue to beauty!" for it is a feather in the cap of a woman not +handsome to be loved for herself and not for good looks. + +Sec. XXVI. Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, sent some costly dresses and +necklaces to the daughters of Lysander, but he would not receive them, +and said, "These presents will bring my daughters more shame than +adornment." And Sophocles said still earlier than Lysander, "Your +madness of mind will not appear handsome, wretch, but most unhandsome." +For, as Crates says, "that is adornment which adorns," and that adorns a +woman that makes her more comely; and it is not gold or diamonds or +scarlet robes that make her so, but her dignity, her correct conduct, +and her modesty. + +Sec. XXVII. Those who sacrifice to Hera as goddess of marriage,[171] do +not burn the gall with the other parts of the victim, but when they have +drawn it throw it away beside the altar: the lawgiver thus hinting that +gall and rage have no place in marriage. For the austerity of a matron +should be, like that of wine, wholesome and pleasant, not bitter as +aloes, or like a drug. + +Sec. XXVIII. Plato advised Xenocrates, a man rather austere but in all +other respects a fine fellow, to sacrifice to the Graces. I think also +that a chaste wife needs the graces with her husband that, as Metrodorus +said, "she may live agreeably with him, and not be bad-tempered because +she is chaste." For neither should the frugal wife neglect neatness, nor +the virtuous one neglect to make herself attractive, for peevishness +makes a wife's good conduct disagreeable, as untidiness makes one +disgusted with simplicity. + +Sec. XXIX. The wife who is afraid to laugh and jest with her husband, lest +she should appear bold and wanton, resembles one that will not anoint +herself with oil lest she should be thought to use cosmetics, and will +not wash her face lest she should be thought to paint. We see also in +the case of those poets and orators, that avoid a popular illiberal and +affected style, that they artificially endeavour to move and sway their +audience by the facts, and by a skilful arrangement of them, and by +their gestures. Consequently a matron will do well to avoid and +repudiate over-preciseness meretriciousness and pomposity, and to use +tact in her dealings with her husband in every-day life, accustoming him +to a combination of pleasure and decorum. But if a wife be by nature +austere and apathetic, and no lover of pleasure, the husband must make +the best of it, for, as Phocion said, when Antipater enjoined on him an +action neither honourable nor becoming, "You cannot have me as a friend +and flatterer both," so he must say to himself about his strict and +austere wife, "I cannot have in the same woman wife and mistress." + +Sec. XXX. It was a custom among the Egyptian ladies not to wear shoes, that +they might stay at home all day and not go abroad. But most of our women +will only stay at home if you strip them of their golden shoes, and +bracelets, and shoe-buckles, and purple robes, and pearls. + +Sec. XXXI. Theano, as she was putting on her shawl, displayed her arm, and +somebody observing, "What a handsome arm!" she replied, "But not +common." So ought not even the speech, any more than the arm, of a +chaste woman, to be common, for speech must be considered as it were the +exposing of the mind, especially in the presence of strangers. For in +words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the +speaker. + +Sec. XXXII. Phidias made a statue of Aphrodite at Elis, with one foot on a +tortoise,[172] as a symbol that women should stay at home and be silent. +For the wife ought only to speak either to her husband, or by her +husband, not being vexed if, like a flute-player, she speaks more +decorously by another mouth-piece. + +Sec. XXXIII. When rich men and kings honour philosophers, they really pay +homage to themselves as well; but when philosophers pay court to the +rich, they lower themselves without advancing their patrons. The same is +the case with women. If they submit themselves to their husbands they +receive praise, but if they desire to rule, they get less credit even +than the husbands who submit to their rule. But the husband ought to +rule his wife, not as a master does a chattel, but as the soul governs +the body, by sympathy and goodwill. As he ought to govern the body by +not being a slave to its pleasures and desires, so he ought to rule his +wife by cheerfulness and complaisance. + +Sec. XXXIV. The philosophers tell us that some bodies are composed of +distinct parts, as a fleet or army; others of connected parts, as a +house or ship; others united and growing together, as every animal is. +The marriage of lovers is like this last class, that of those who marry +for dowry or children is like the second class, and that of those who +only sleep together is like the first class, who may be said to live in +the same house, but in no other sense to live together. But, just as +doctors tell us that liquids are the only things that thoroughly mix, so +in married people there must be a complete union of bodies, wealth, +friends, and relations. And thus the Roman legislator forbade married +people to exchange presents with one another, not that they should not +go shares with one another, but that they should consider everything as +common property. + +Sec. XXXV. At Leptis, a town in Libya, it is the custom for the bride the +day after marriage to send to her mother-in-law's house for a pipkin, +who does not lend her one, but says she has not got one, that from the +first the daughter-in-law may know her mother-in-law's stepmotherly +mind,[173] that if afterwards she should be harsher still, she should be +prepared for it and not take it ill. Knowing this the wife ought to +guard against any cause of offence, for the bridegroom's mother is +jealous of his affection to his wife. But there is one cure for this +condition of mind, to conciliate privately the husband's affection, and +not to divert or diminish his love for his mother. + +Sec. XXXVI. Mothers seem to love their sons best as able to help them, and +fathers their daughters as needing their help; perhaps also it is in +compliment to one another, that each prefers the other sex in their +children, and openly favours it. This, however, is a matter perhaps of +little importance. But it looks very nice in the wife to show greater +respect to her husband's parents than to her own, and if anything +unpleasant has happened to confide it to them rather than to her own +people. For trust begets trust,[174] and love love. + +Sec. XXXVII. The generals of the Greeks in Cyrus's army ordered their men +to receive the enemy silently if they came up shouting, but if they came +up silently to rush out to meet them with a shout. So sensible wives, in +their husband's tantrums, are quiet when they storm, but if they are +silent and sullen talk them round and appease them. + +Sec. XXXVIII. Rightly does Euripides[175] censure those who introduce the +lyre at wine-parties, for music ought to be called in to assuage anger +and grief, rather than to enervate the voluptuous still more than +before. Think, therefore, those in error who sleep together for +pleasure, but when they have any little difference with one another +sleep apart, and do not then more than at any other time invoke +Aphrodite, who is the best physician in such cases, as the poet, I ween, +teaches us, where he introduces Hera, saying: + + "Their long-continued strife I now will end, + For to the bed of love I will them send."[176] + +Sec. XXXIX. Everywhere and at all times should husband and wife avoid +giving one another cause of offence, but most especially when they are +in bed together. The woman who was in labour and had a bad time said to +those that urged her to go to bed, "How shall the bed cure me, which was +the very cause of this trouble?"[177] And those differences and quarrels +which the bed generates will not easily be put an end to at any other +time or place. + +Sec. XL. Hermione seems to speak the truth where she says: + + "The visits of bad women ruined me."[178] + +But this case does not happen naturally, but only when dissension and +jealousy has made wives open not only their doors but their ears to such +women. But that is the very time when a sensible wife will shut her ears +more than at any other time, and be especially on her guard against +whisperers, that fire may not be added to fire,[179] and remember the +remark of Philip, who, when his friends tried to excite him against the +Greeks, on the ground that they were treated well and yet reviled him, +answered, "What will they do then, if I treat them ill?" Whenever, then, +calumniating women come and say to a wife, "How badly your husband +treats you, though a chaste and loving wife!" let her answer, "How would +he act then, if I were to begin to hate him and injure him?" + +Sec. XLI. The master who saw his runaway slave a long time after he had +run away, and chased him, and came up with him just as he had got to the +mill, said to him, "In what more appropriate place could I have wished +to find you?"[180] So let the wife, who is jealous of her husband, and +on the point of writing a bill of divorce in her anger, say to herself, +"In what state would my rival be better pleased to see me in than this, +vexed and at variance with my husband, and on the point of abandoning +his house and bed?" + +Sec. XLII. The Athenians have three sacred seedtimes: the first at Scirus, +as a remembrance of the original sowing of corn, the second at Rharia, +the third under Pelis, which is called Buzygium.[181] But a more sacred +seedtime than all these is the procreation of children, and therefore +Sophocles did well to call Aphrodite "fruitful Cytherea." Wherefore it +behoves both husband and wife to be most careful over this business, and +to abstain from lawless and unholy breaches of the marriage vow, and +from sowing in quarters where they desire no produce, or where, if any +produce should come, they would be ashamed of it and desire to conceal +it.[182] + +Sec. XLIII. When Gorgias the Rhetorician recited his speech at Olympia +recommending harmony to the Greeks, Melanthius cried out, "He recommend +harmony to us! Why, he can't persuade his wife and maid to live in +harmony, though there are only three of them in the house!" Gorgias +belike had an intrigue with the maid, and his wife was jealous. He then +must have his own house in good order who undertakes to order the +affairs of his friends and the public, for any ill-doings on the part of +husbands to their wives is far more likely to come out and be known to +the public than the ill-doings of wives to their husbands. + +Sec. XLIV. They say the cat is driven mad by the smell of perfumes. If it +happens that wives are equally affected by perfumes, it is monstrous +that their husbands should not abstain from using perfumes, rather than +for so small a pleasure to incommode so grievously their wives. And +since they suffer quite as much when their husbands go with other women, +it is unjust for a small pleasure to pain and grieve wives, and not to +abstain from connection with other women, when even bee-keepers will do +as much, because bees are supposed to dislike and sting those that have +had dealings with women. + +Sec. XLV. Those that approach elephants do not dress in white, nor those +that approach bulls in red, for these colours render those animals +savage; and tigers they say at the beating of drums go quite wild, and +tear themselves in their rage. Similarly, as some men cannot bear to see +scarlet and purple dresses, and others are put out by cymbals and +drums,[183] what harm would it do wives to abstain from these things, +and not to vex or provoke husbands, but to live with them quietly and +meekly? + +Sec. XLVI. A woman said to Philip, who against her will was pulling her +about, "Let me go, all women are alike when the lamp is put out."[184] A +good remark to adulterers and debauchees. But the married woman ought to +show when the light is put out that she is not like all other women, for +then, when her body is not visible, she ought to exhibit her chastity +and modesty as well as her personal affection to her husband. + +Sec. XLVII. Plato[185] recommended old men to act with decorum especially +before young men, that they too might show respect to them; for where +the old behave shamelessly, no modesty or reverence will be exhibited by +the young. The husband ought to remember this, and show no one more +respect than his wife, knowing that the bridal chamber will be to her +either a school of virtue or of vice. And he who enjoys pleasures that +he forbids his wife, is like a man that orders his wife to go on +fighting against an enemy to whom he has himself surrendered. + +Sec. XLVIII. As to love of show, Eurydice, read and try to remember what +was written by Timoxena to Aristylla: and do you, Pollianus, not suppose +that your wife will abstain from extravagance and expense, if she sees +that you do not despise such vanities in others, but delight in gilt +cups, and pictures in houses, and trappings for mules, and ornaments for +horses. For it is not possible to banish extravagance from the women's +side of the house if it is always to be seen in the men's apartments. +Moreover, Pollianus, as you are already old enough for the study of +philosophy, adorn your character by its teaching, whether it consists of +demonstration or constructive reasoning, by associating and conversing +with those that can profit you. And for your wife gather honey from +every quarter, as the bees do, and whatever knowledge you have yourself +acquired impart to her, and converse with her, making the best arguments +well known and familiar to her. For now + + "Father thou art to her, and mother dear, + And brother too."[186] + +And no less decorous is it to hear the wife say, "Husband, you are my +teacher and philosopher and guide in the most beautiful and divine +subjects." For such teaching in the first place detaches women from +absurdities: for the woman who has learnt geometry will be ashamed to +dance, nor will she believe in incantations and spells, if she has been +charmed by the discourses of Plato and Xenophon; and if anyone should +undertake to draw the moon down from the sky, she will laugh at the +ignorance and stupidity of women that credit such nonsense, well +understanding geometry, and having heard how Aglaonice, the daughter of +the Thessalian Hegetor, having a thorough knowledge of the eclipses of +the moon, and being aware beforehand of the exact time when the moon +would be in eclipse, cheated the women, and persuaded them that she +herself had drawn it down from the sky. For no woman was ever yet +credited with having had a child without intercourse with a man, for +those shapeless embryos and gobbets of flesh that take form from +corruption are called moles. We must guard against such false +conceptions as these arising in the minds of women, for if they are not +well informed by good precepts, and share in the teaching that men get, +they generate among themselves many foolish and absurd ideas and states +of mind. But do you, Eurydice, study to make yourself acquainted with +the sayings of wise and good women, and ever have on your tongue those +sentiments which as a girl you learnt with us, that so you may make your +husband's heart glad, and be admired by all other women, being in +yourself so wonderfully and splendidly adorned. For one cannot take or +put on, except at great expense, the jewels of this or that rich woman, +or the silk dresses of this or that foreign woman, but the virtues that +adorned Theano,[187] and Cleobuline, and Gorgo the wife of Leonidas, and +Timoclea the sister of Theagenes, and the ancient Claudia,[188] and +Cornelia the sister of Scipio,[189] and all other such noble and famous +women, these one may array oneself in without money and without price, +and so adorned lead a happy and famous life. For if Sappho plumed +herself so much on the beauty of her lyrical poetry as to write to a +certain rich woman, "You shall lie down in your tomb, nor shall there be +any remembrance of you, for you have no part in the roses of Pieria," +how shall you not have a greater right to plume yourself on having a +part not in the roses but in the fruits which the Muses bring, and which +they freely bestow on those that admire learning and philosophy?[190] + + [154] This tune is again alluded to by Plutarch in + "Quaestion. Convival.", p. 704, F. See also Clemens + Alexandrinus, "Paedagog." ii. p. 164, [Greek: A tais de + hippois mignumenais oion hymenaios epauleitai nomos + aulodias hippothoron touton keklekasin oi Mousikoi.] + + [155] Peitho means Persuasion, and is represented as one + of the Graces by Hermes anax. See Pausanias, ix. 35. + + [156] Compare the Proverb [Greek: Eikelos omphakizetai], + and Tibullus, iii. 5, 19: "Quid fraudare juvat vitem + crescentibus uvis?" + + [157] Cf. Shakspere, "Romeo and Juliet," A. ii. Sc. vi. + 9-15. + + [158] Herodotus, i. 8. + + [159] An allusion to the well-known Fable of AEsop, No. + 82 in Halm's edition. + + [160] This comparison of the mirror is beautifully used + by Keble in his "Christian Year:" + + "Without a hope on earth to find + A mirror in an answering mind." + _Wednesday before Easter._ + + [161] Does this throw light on Esther, i. 10-12? + + [162] By their patronage. + + [163] "Republic," v. p. 462, C. + + [164] By the power of sympathy. This is especially true + of eyes. Wyttenbach compares the Epigram in the + Anthology, i. 46. 9. [Greek: Kai gar dexion omma + kakoumenon ommati laio Pollaki tous idious antididosi + ponous.] + + [165] Reading [Greek: kalon] with Hercher. + + [166] The ancients hardly ever drank wine neat. Hence + the allusion. The symposiarch, or arbiter bibendi, + settled the proportions to be used. + + [167] Compare the French proverb, "Le beau soulier + blesse souvent le pied." + + [168] Thessaly was considered by the ancients famous for + enchantments and spells. So Juvenal, vi. 610, speaks of + "Thessala philtia," and see Horace, "Odes," i. 27. 21, + 22; "Epodes," v. 45. + + [169] Wyttenbach well compares the lines of Menander:-- + + [Greek: enest alethes philtron eugnomon tropos, touto + katakratein andros eiothen gune.] + + [170] An allusion to Homer, "Iliad," xiv. 214-217. + + [171] Called by the Romans "pronuba Juno." See Verg. + "AEneid," iv. 166; Ovid, "Heroides," vi. 43. + + [172] See Pausanias, vi. 25. The statue was made of + ivory and gold. + + [173] Compare Terence, "Hecyra," 201. "Uno animo omnes + socrus oderunt nurus." As to stepmotherly feelings, the + "injusta noverca" has passed into a proverb with all + nations. See for example Hesiod, "Works and Days," 823, + [Greek: allote metruie pelei hemere, allote meter]. + + [174] Wyttenbach compares Seneca's "Fidelem si putaveris + facies." "Ep." iii. p. 6. + + [175] Euripides, "Medea," 190-198. + + [176] Homer, "Iliad," xiv. 205, 209. + + [177] See Mulier Parturiens, Phaedrus' "Fables," i. 18. + + [178] Euripides, "Andromache," 930. + + [179] Proverb. Cf. Horace, "Oleum adde camino," ii. + "Sat." iii. 321. + + [180] See AEsop's Fables, No. 121. Halme. [Greek: + Drapetes] is the title. All readers of Plautus and + Terence know what a bugbear to slaves the threat of + being sent to the mill was. They would have to turn it + instead of horses, or other cattle. + + [181] That is, _Yoking oxen for the plough_. + + [182] Procreation of children was among the ancients + frequently called _Ploughing_ and _Sowing_. Hence the + allusions in this paragraph. So, too, Shakspere, + "Measure for Measure," Act i. Sc. iv. 41-44. + + [183] The reference is to the rites of Cybele. See + Lucretius, ii. 618. + + [184] See Erasmus, "Adagia." The French proverb is "La + nuit tous les chats sont gris." + + [185] "Laws," p. 729, C. + + [186] From the words of Andromache to Hector, "Iliad," + vi. 429, 430. + + [187] Theano was the wife of Pythagoras. + + [188] See Livy, xxix. 14. Propertius, v. 11. 51, 52. + Ovid, "Fasti," iv. 305 sq. + + [189] And mother of the Gracchi. + + [190] Jeremy Taylor, in his beautiful sermon on "The + Marriage Ring," has borrowed not a few hints from this + treatise of Plutarch, as usual investing with a new + beauty whatever he borrows, from whatever source. He had + the classics at his fingers' end, and much of his unique + charm he owes to them. But he read them as a + philosopher, and not as a grammarian. + + + + +CONSOLATORY LETTER TO HIS WIFE. + + +Sec. I. Plutarch to his wife sends greeting. The messenger that you sent to +me to announce the death of our little girl seems to have missed his way +_en route_ for Athens; but when I got to Tanagra I heard the news from +my niece. I suppose the funeral has already taken place, and I hope +everything went off so as to give you least sorrow both now and +hereafter. But if you left undone anything you wished to do, waiting for +my opinion, and thinking your grief would then be lighter, be it without +ceremoniousness or superstition, both which things are indeed foreign to +your character. + +Sec. II. Only, my dear wife, let us both be patient at this calamity. I +know and can see very clearly how great it is, but should I find your +grief too excessive, it would trouble me even more than the event +itself. And yet I have not a heart hard as heart of oak or flintstone, +as you yourself know very well, who have shared with me in the bringing +up of so many children, as they have all been educated at home by +ourselves. And this one I know was more especially beloved by you, as +she was the first daughter after four sons, when you longed for a +daughter, and so I gave her your name.[191] And as you are very fond of +children your grief must have a peculiar bitterness when you call to +mind her pure and simple gaiety, which was without a tincture of passion +or querulousness. For she had from nature a wonderful contentedness of +mind and meekness, and her affectionateness and winning ways not only +pleased one but also afforded a means of observing her kindliness of +heart, for she used to bid her nurse[192] give the teat not only to +other children but even to her favourite playthings, and so invited them +as it were to her table in kindliness of heart, and gave them a share of +her good things, and provided the best entertainment for those that +pleased her. + +Sec. III. But I see no reason, my dear wife, why these and similar traits +in her character, that gave us delight in her lifetime, should now, +when recalled to the memory, grieve and trouble us. Though, on the other +hand, I fear that if we cease to grieve we may also cease to remember +her, like Clymene, who says in the Play[193]-- + + "I hate the supple bow of cornel-wood, + And would put down athletics," + +because she ever avoided and trembled at anything that reminded her of +her son, for it brought grief with it, and it is natural to avoid +everything that gives us pain. But as she gave us the greatest pleasure +in embracing her and even in seeing and hearing her, so ought her memory +living and dwelling with us to give us more, aye, many times more, joy +than grief, since those arguments that we have often used to others +ought to be profitable to us in the present conjuncture, nor should we +sit down and rail against fortune, opposing to those joys many more +griefs. + +Sec. IV. Those who were present at the funeral tell me with evident +surprise that you put on no mourning, and that you bedizened up neither +yourself nor your maids with the trappings of woe, and that there was no +ostentatious expenditure of money at the funeral, but that everything +was done orderly and silently in the presence of our relations. I am not +myself surprised that you, who never made a display either at the +theatre or on any other public occasion, and thought extravagance +useless even in the case of pleasure, should have been frugal in your +grief. For not only ought the chaste woman to remain uncorrupt in +Bacchanalian revels,[194] but she ought to consider her self-control not +a whit less necessary in the surges of sorrow and emotion of grief, +contending not (as most people think) against natural affection, but +against the extravagant wishes of the soul. For we are indulgent to +natural affection in the regret, and honour, and memory that it pays to +the dead: but the insatiable desire for a passionate display of +funeral grief, coming to the climax in coronachs and beatings of the +breast, is not less unseemly than intemperance in pleasure and is +unreasonably[195] forgiven only because pain and grief instead of +delight are elements in the unseemly exhibition. For what is more +unreasonable than to curtail excessive laughter or any other +demonstration of joy, and to allow a free vent to copious lamentation +and wailing that come from the same source? And how unreasonable is it, +as some husbands do, to quarrel with their wives about perfume and +purple robes, while they allow them to shear their heads in mourning, +and to dress in black, and to sit in idle grief, and to lie down in +weariness! And what is worst of all, how unreasonable is it for husbands +to interfere if their wives chastise the domestics and maids +immoderately or without sufficient cause, yet allow them to ill-treat +themselves cruelly in cases and conjunctures that require repose and +kindness! + +Sec. V. But between us, my dear wife, there never was any occasion for such +a contest, nor do I think there ever will be. For as to your economy in +dress and simple way of living, there is no philosopher with whom you +are acquainted whom you did not amaze, nor is there any citizen who has +not observed[196] how plainly you dressed at sacred rites, and +sacrifices, and theatres. You have also already on similar painful +occasions exhibited great fortitude, as when you lost your eldest son, +and again when our handsome Chaeron died. For when I was informed of his +death, I well remember some guests from the sea were coming home with me +to my house as well as some others, but when they saw the great quiet +and tranquillity of the household, they thought, as they afterwards told +some other people, that no such disaster had really happened, but that +the news was untrue. So well had you ordered everything in the house, at +a time when there would have been great excuse for disorder. And yet you +had suckled that son, though your breast had had to be lanced owing to a +contusion. This was noble conduct and showed your great natural +affection. + +Sec. VI. But most mothers we see, when their children are brought to them +clean and tidy, take them into their hands as playthings, and when they +die burst out into idle and unthankful grief, not so much out of +affection--for affection is thoughtful and noble--but a great yearning +for vain glory[197] mixed with a little natural affection makes their +grief fierce and vehement and hard to appease. And this does not seem to +have escaped AEsop's notice, for he says that when Zeus assigned their +honours to various gods, Grief also claimed his. And Zeus granted his +wish, with this limitation that only those who chose and wished need pay +him honour.[198] It is thus with grief at the outset, everyone welcomes +it at first, but after it has got by process of time settled, and become +an inmate of the house, it is with difficulty dislodged again, however +much people may wish to dislodge it. Wherefore we ought to keep it out +of doors, and not let it approach the garrison by wearing mourning or +shearing the hair, or by any similar outward sign of sorrow. For these +things occurring daily and being importunate make the mind little, and +narrow, and unsocial, and harsh, and timid, so that, being besieged and +taken in hand by grief, it can no longer laugh, and shuns daylight, and +avoids society. This evil will be followed by neglect of the body, and +dislike to anointing and the bath and the other usual modes of life: +whereas the very opposite ought to be the case, for the mind ill at ease +especially requires that the body should be in a sound and healthy +condition. For much of grief is blunted and relaxed when the body is +permeated by calm, like the sea in fine weather. But if the body get +into a dry and parched condition from a low diet, and gives no proper +nutriment to the soul, but only feeds it with sorrow and grief, as it +were with bitter and injurious exhalations, it cannot easily recover its +tone however people may wish it should. Such is the state of the soul +that has been so ill-treated. + +Sec. VII. Moreover, I should not hesitate to assert[199] that the most +formidable peril in connection with this is "the visits of bad +women,"[200] and their chatter, and joint lamentation, all which things +fan the fire of sorrow and aggravate it, and suffer it not to be +extinguished either by others or by itself. I am not ignorant what a +time of it you had lately, when you went to the aid of Theon's sister, +and fought against the women who came on a visit of condolence and +rushed up with lamentation and wailing, adding fuel as it were to her +fire of grief in their simplicity. For when people see their friends' +houses on fire they put it out as quickly and energetically as they can, +but when their souls are on fire they themselves bring fuel. And if +anybody has anything the matter with his eyes they will not let him put +his hands to them, however much he wish, nor do they themselves touch +the inflamed part; but a person in grief sits down and gives himself up +to every chance comer, like a river [that all make use of], to stir up +and aggravate the sore, so that from a little tickling and discomfort it +grows into a great and terrible disease. However, as to all this I know +you will be on your guard. + +Sec. VIII. Try also often to carry yourself back in memory to that time +when, this little girl not having been then born, we had nothing to +charge Fortune with, and to compare that time and this together, as if +our circumstances had gone back to what they were then. Otherwise, my +dear wife, we shall seem discontented at the birth of our little +daughter, if we consider our position before her birth as more perfect. +But we ought not to erase from our memory the two years of her life, but +to consider them as a time of pleasure giving us gratification and +enjoyment, and not to deem the shortness of the blessing as a great +evil, nor to be unthankful for what was given us, because Fortune did +not give us a longer tenure as we wished. For ever to be careful what we +say about the gods, and to be cheerful and not rail against Fortune, +brings a sweet and goodly profit; and he who in such conjunctures as +ours mostly tries to remember his blessings, and turns and diverts his +mind from the dark and disturbing things in life to the bright and +radiant, either altogether extinguishes his grief or makes it small and +dim from a comparison with his comforts. For as perfume gives pleasure +to the nose, and is a remedy against disagreeable smells, so the +remembrance of past happiness in present trouble gives all the relief +they require to those who do not shut out of their memory the blessings +of the past, or always and everywhere rail against Fortune. And this +certainly ought not to be our case, that we should slander all our past +life because, like a book, it has one erasure in it, when all the other +pages have been bright and clean. + +Sec. IX. You have often heard that happiness consists in right calculations +resulting in a healthy state of mind, and that the changes which Fortune +brings about need not upset it, and introduce confusion into our life. +But if we too must, like most people, be governed by external events, +and make an inventory of the dealings of Fortune, and constitute other +people the judges of our felicity, do not now regard the tears and +lamentations of those who visit you, which by a faulty custom are +lavished on everybody, but consider rather how happy you are still +esteemed by them for your family, your house, and life. For it would be +monstrous, if others would gladly prefer your destiny to theirs, even +taking into account our present sorrow, that you should rail against and +be impatient at our present lot, and in consequence of our bitter grief +not reflect how much comfort is still left to us. But like those who +quote imperfect verses of Homer[201] and neglect the finest passages of +his writings, to enumerate and complain of the trials of life, while you +pay no attention to its blessings, is to resemble those stingy misers, +who heap up riches and make no use of them when they have them, but +lament and are impatient if they are lost. And if you grieve over her +dying unmarried and childless, you can comfort yourself with the thought +that you have had both those advantages. For they should not be reckoned +as great blessings in the case of those who do not enjoy them, and small +blessings in the case of those who do. And that she has gone to a place +where she is out of pain ought not to pain us, for what evil can we +mourn for on her account if her pains are over? For even the loss of +important things does not grieve us when we have no need of them. But it +was only little things that your Timoxena was deprived of, little things +only she knew, and in little things only did she rejoice; and how can +one be said to be deprived of things of which one had no conception, nor +experience, nor even desire for? + +Sec. X. As to what you hear from some people, who get many to credit their +notion, that the dead suffer no evil or pain, I know that you are +prevented from believing that by the tradition of our fathers and by the +mystic symbols of the mysteries of Dionysus, for we are both initiated. +Consider then that the soul, being incorruptible, is in the same +condition after death as birds that have been caught. For if it has been +a long time in the body, and during this mortal life has become tame by +many affairs and long habit, it swoops down again and a second time +enters the body, and does not cease to be involved in the changes and +chances of this life that result from birth. For do not suppose that old +age is abused and ill-spoken of only for its wrinkles and white hair and +weakness of body, but this is the worst feature about it, that it makes +the soul feeble in its remembrance of things in the other world, and +strong in its attachment to things in this world, and bends and presses +it, if it retain the form which it had in the body from its experience. +But that soul, which does indeed enter the body, but remains only a +short time in it, being liberated from it by the higher powers, rears as +it were at a damp and soft turning post in the race of life, and hastens +on to its destined goal. For just as if anyone put out a fire, and light +it again at once, it is soon rekindled, and burns up again quickly, but +if it has been out a long time, to light it again will be a far more +difficult and irksome task, so the soul that has sojourned only a short +time in this dark and mortal life, quickly recovers the light and blaze +of its former bright life, whereas for those who have not had the good +fortune very early, to use the language of the poet, "to pass the gates +of Hades,"[202] nothing remains but a great passion for the things of +this life, and a softening of the soul through contact with the body, +and a melting away of it as if by the agency of drugs.[203] + +Sec. XI. And the truth of this is rendered more apparent in our hereditary +and time-honoured customs and laws. For when infants die no libations +are poured out for them, nor are any other rites performed for them, +such as are always performed for adults. For they have no share in the +earth or in things of the earth, nor do parents haunt their tombs or +monuments, or sit by their bodies when they are laid out. For the laws +do not allow us to mourn for such, seeing that it is an impious thing to +do so in the case of persons who have departed into a better and more +divine place and sphere. I know that doubts are entertained about this, +but since to doubt is harder for them than to believe, let us do +externally as the laws enjoin, and internally let us be more holy and +pure and chaste.[204] + + [191] Timoxena, as we see later on, Sec. ix. + + [192] Adopting Reiske's reading, [Greek: maston + keleuousa, proekaleito kathaper]. + + [193] Euripides' "Phaethon," which exists only in + fragments. Clymene was the daughter of Oceanus, and + mother of Phaethon. + + [194] An allusion to Euripides, "Bacchae," 317, 318. + + [195] Reading with Reiske [Greek: oudeni logo de], or + [Greek: alogos de]. Some such reading seems necessary to + comport with the [Greek: ti gar alogoteron] two lines + later. + + [196] Reading [Greek: pareiches] with Xylander. + + [197] A great craving for sympathy would be the modern + way of putting it. + + [198] See the Fable of AEsop, entitled [Greek: Penthous + geras], No. 355. Halme. See also Plutarch's "Consolation + to Apollonius," Sec. xix., where the Fable is told at some + length. + + [199] Reading with Reiske [Greek: ouk an eipein + phobetheien]. + + [200] An allusion to Euripides, "Andromache," 930. See + Plutarch's "Conjugal Precepts," Sec. xl. + + [201] The whole subject is discussed in full by + Athenaeus, p. 632, F. F. A false quantity we see was a + bugbear even before the days of Universities. + + [202] Homer, "Iliad," v. 646; xxiii. 71. + + [203] This section is dreadfully corrupt. I have + adopted, it will be seen, the suggestions of Wyttenbach. + + [204] This Consolatory Letter ends rather abruptly. It + is probable that there was more of it. + + + + +THAT VIRTUE MAY BE TAUGHT. + + +Sec. I. As to virtue we deliberate and dispute whether good sense, and +justice, and rectitude can be taught: and then we are not surprised +that, while the works of orators, and pilots, and musicians, and +house-builders, and farmers, are innumerable, good men are only a name +and expression, like Centaurs and Giants and Cyclopes, and that it is +impossible to find any virtuous action without alloy of base motives, or +any character free from vice: but if nature produces spontaneously +anything good, it is marred by much that is alien to it, as fruit choked +by weeds. Men learn to play on the harp, and to dance, and to read, and +to farm, and to ride on horseback: they learn how to put on their shoes +and clothes generally: people teach how to pour out wine, how to cook; +and all these things cannot be properly performed, without being +learned. The art of good living alone, though all those things I have +mentioned only exist on its account, is untaught, unmethodical, +inartistic, and supposed to come by the light of nature! + +Sec. II. O sirs, by asserting that virtue is not a thing to be taught, why +are we making it unreal? For if teaching produces it, the deprivation of +teaching prevents it. And yet, as Plato says, a discord and false note +on the lyre makes not brother go to war with brother, nor sets friends +at variance, nor makes states hostile to one another, so as to do and +suffer at one another's hands the most dreadful things:[205] nor can +anyone say that there was ever a dissension in any city as to the +pronunciation of Telchines: nor in a private house any difference +between man and wife as to woof and warp. And yet no one without +learning would undertake to ply the loom, or write a book, or play on +the lyre, though he would thereby do no great harm, but he fears making +himself ridiculous, for as Heraclitus says, "It is better to hide one's +ignorance," yet everyone thinks himself competent to manage a house and +wife and the state and hold any magisterial office. On one occasion, +when a boy was eating rather greedily, Diogenes gave the lad's tutor a +blow with his fist, ascribing the fault not to the boy, who had not +learnt how to eat properly, but to the tutor who had not taught him. And +can one not properly handle a dish or a cup, unless one has learnt from +a boy, as Aristophanes bids us, "not to giggle, nor eat too fast, nor +cross our legs,"[206] and yet be perfectly fit to manage a family and +city, and wife, and live well, and hold office, when one has not learnt +how one should behave in the conduct of life? When Aristippus was asked +by someone, "Are you everywhere then?" he smiled and said, "If I am +everywhere, I lose my passage money."[207] Why should not you also say, +"If men are not better for learning, the money paid to tutors is also +lost?" For just as nurses mould with their hands the child's body, so +tutors, receiving it immediately it is weaned, mould its soul, teaching +it by habit the first vestiges of virtue. And the Lacedaemonian, who was +asked, what good he did as a tutor, replied, "I make what is good +pleasant to boys." Moreover tutors teach boys to walk in the streets +with their heads down,[208] to touch salt fish with one finger only, +other fish bread and meat with two, to scratch themselves in such a way, +and in such a way to put on their cloak.[209] + +Sec. III. What then? He that says that the doctor's skill is wanted in the +case of a slight skin-eruption or whitlow, but is not needed in the case +of pleurisy, fever, or lunacy, in what respect does he differ from the +man that says that schools and teaching and precepts are only for small +and boyish duties, while great and important matters are to be left to +mere routine and accident? For, as the man is ridiculous who says we +ought to learn to row but not to steer, so he who allows all other arts +to be learnt, but not virtue, seems to act altogether contrary to the +Scythians. For they, as Herodotus tells us,[210] blind their slaves that +they may remain with them, but such an one puts the eye of reason into +slavish and servile arts, and takes it away from virtue. And the general +Iphicrates well answered Callias, the son of Chabrias, who asked him, +"What are you? an archer? a targeteer? cavalry, or infantry?" "None of +these," said he, "but the commander of them all." Ridiculous therefore +is he who says that the use of the bow and other arms and the sling and +riding are to be taught, but that strategy and how to command an army +comes by the light of nature. Still more ridiculous is he who asserts +that good sense alone need not be taught, without which all other arts +are useless and profitless, seeing that she is the mistress and orderer +and arranger of all of them, and puts each of them to their proper use. +For example, what grace would there be in a banquet, though the servants +had been well-trained, and had learnt how to dress and cook the meat +and pour out the wine,[211] unless there was good order and method +among the waiters?[212] + + [205] Plato, "Clitophon," p. 407, C. + + [206] Aristophanes, "Clouds," 983. + + [207] Does Juvenal allude to this, viii. 97? + + [208] So as to look modest and be "Ingenui vultus pueri, + ingenuique pudoris." + + [209] Reading with Salmasius, [Greek: anabalein]. + + [210] Herodotus, iv. 2. The historian, however, assigns + other reasons for blinding them. + + [211] A line from "Odyssey," xv. 323. + + [212] "Malim [Greek: daitumonas]." Wyttenbach, who + remarks generally on this short treatise, "Non integra + videtur esse nec continua disputatio, sed disputationis, + Plutarcheae tamen, excerptum compendium." + + + + +ON VIRTUE AND VICE. + + +Sec. I. Clothes seem to warm a man, not by throwing out heat themselves +(for in itself every garment is cold, whence in great heat or in fevers +people frequently change and shift them), but the heat which a man +throws out from his own body is retained and wrapped in by a dress +fitting close to the body, which does not admit of the heat being +dissipated when once it has got firm hold. A somewhat similar case is +the idea that deceives the mass of mankind, that if they could live in +big houses, and get together a quantity of slaves and money, they would +have a happy life. But a happy and cheerful life is not from without, on +the contrary, a man adds the pleasure and gratification to the things +that surround him, his temperament being as it were the source of his +feelings.[213] + + "But when the fire blazes the house is brighter to look at."[214] + +So, too, wealth is pleasanter, and fame and power more splendid, when a +man has joy in his heart, seeing that men can bear easily and quietly +poverty and exile and old age if their character is a contented and mild +one. + +Sec. II. For as perfumes make threadbare coats and rags to smell sweet, +while the body of Anchises sent forth a fetid discharge, "distilling +from his back on to his linen robe," so every kind of life with virtue +is painless and pleasurable, whereas vice if infused into it makes +splendour and wealth and magnificence painful, and sickening, and +unwelcome to its possessors. + + "He is deemed happy in the market-place, + But when he gets him home, thrice miserable, + His wife rules all, quarrels, and domineers."[215] + +And yet there would be no great difficulty in getting rid of a bad wife, +if one was a man and not a slave. But a man cannot by writing a bill of +divorce to his vice get rid of all trouble at once, and enjoy +tranquillity by living apart: for it is ever present in his vitals, and +sticks to him night and day, "and burns without a torch, and consigns +him to gloomy old age,"[216] being a disagreeable fellow-traveller owing +to its arrogance, and a costly companion at table owing to its +daintiness, and an unpleasant bed-fellow, disturbing and marring sleep +by anxiety and care and envy. For during such a one's sleep the body +indeed gets rest, but the mind has terrors, and dreams, and +perturbations, owing to superstition, + + "For when my trouble catches me asleep, + I am undone by the most fearful dreams," + +as one says. For thus envy, and fear, and anger, and lust affect one. +During the daytime, indeed, vice looks abroad and imitates the behaviour +of others, is shy and conceals its evil desires, and does not altogether +give way to its propensities, but often even resists and fights stoutly +against them; but in sleep it escapes the observation of people and the +law, and, being as far as possible removed from fear or modesty, gives +every passion play, and excites its depravity and licentiousness, for, +to borrow Plato's expression,[217] "it attempts incest with its mother, +and procures for itself unlawful meats, and abstains from no action +whatever," and enjoys lawlessness as far as is practicable in visions +and phantasies, that end in no complete pleasure or satisfaction, but +can only stir up and inflame the passions and morbid emotions. + +Sec. III. Where then is the pleasure of vice, if there is nowhere in it +freedom from anxiety and pain, or independence, or tranquillity, or +rest?[218] A healthy and sound constitution does indeed augment the +pleasures of the body, but for the soul there can be no lasting joy or +gratification, unless cheerfulness and fearlessness and courage supply a +calm serenity free from storms; for otherwise, even if hope or delight +smile on the soul, it is soon confused and disturbed by care lifting up +its head again, so that it is but the calm of a sunken rock. + +Sec. IV. Pile up gold, heap up silver, build covered walks, fill your house +with slaves and the town with debtors, unless you lay to rest the +passions of the soul, and put a curb on your insatiable desires, and rid +yourself of fear and anxiety, you are but pouring out wine for a man in +a fever, and giving honey to a man who is bilious, and laying out a +sumptuous banquet for people who are suffering from dysentery, and can +neither retain their food nor get any benefit from it, but are made even +worse by it. Have you never observed how sick persons turn against and +spit out and refuse the daintiest and most costly viands, though people +offer them and almost force them down their throats, but on another +occasion, when their condition is different, their respiration good, +their blood in a healthy state, and their natural warmth restored, they +get up, and enjoy and make a good meal of simple bread and cheese and +cress? Such, also, is the effect of reason on the mind. You will be +contented, if you have learned what is good and honourable. You will +live daintily and be a king in poverty, and enjoy a quiet and private +life as much as the public life of general or statesman. By the aid of +philosophy you will live not unpleasantly, for you will learn to extract +pleasure from all places and things: wealth will make you happy, +because it will enable you to benefit many; and poverty, as you will not +then have many anxieties; and glory, for it will make you honoured; and +obscurity, for you will then be safe from envy. + + [213] Happiness comes from within, not from without. The + true seat of happiness is the mind. Compare Milton, + "Paradise Lost," Book i. 254, 255:-- + + "The mind is its own place, and in itself + Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven." + + [214] Homeric Epigrammata, xiii. 5. + + [215] Wyttenbach thinks these lines are by Menander. + Plutarch quotes them again "On Contentedness of Mind," Sec. + xi. + + [216] Hesiod, "Works and Days," 705. + + [217] Plato, "Republic," ix. p. 571, D. Quoted again, + "How one may be aware of one's Progress in Virtue," Sec. + xii. + + [218] And so Dr. Young truly says,-- + + "A man of pleasure is a man of pains." + + _Night Thoughts._ + + + + +ON MORAL VIRTUE. + + +Sec. I. I propose to discuss what is called and appears to be moral virtue +(which differs mainly from contemplative virtue in that it has emotion +for its matter, and reason for its form), what its nature is, and how it +subsists, and whether that part of the soul which takes it in is +furnished with reason of its own, or participates in something foreign, +and if the latter, whether as things that are mixed with something +better than themselves, or rather as that which is subject to +superintendence and command, and may be said to share in the power of +that which commands. For I think it is clear that virtue can exist and +continue altogether free from matter and mixture. My best course will be +to run briefly over the views of others, not so much to display my +research as because, when their ideas have been set forth, mine will +become more clear and be on a firmer basis. + +Sec. II. Menedemus of Eretria took away the number and differences of +virtues, on the ground that virtue was one though it had many names; for +that just as mortal is synonymous with man, so temperance and bravery +and justice were the same thing. And Aristo of Chios also made virtue +one in substance, and called it soundness of mind: its diversities and +varieties only existing in certain relations, as if one called our sight +when it took in white objects white-sight, and when it took in black +objects black-sight, and so on. For virtue, when it considers what it +ought to do and what it ought not to do, is called prudence; and when it +curbs passion, and sets a fit and proper limit to pleasure, it is called +self-control; and when it is associated with our dealings and covenants +with one another, it is called justice; just as a knife is one article, +though at different times it cuts different things in half: and so, too, +fire acts on different matter though it has but one property. And Zeno +of Cittium seems to incline somewhat to the same view, as he defines +prudence in distribution as justice, in choice as self-control, in +endurance as fortitude: and those who defend these views maintain that +by the term prudence Zeno means knowledge. But Chrysippus, thinking each +particular virtue should be arranged under its particular quality, +unwittingly stirred up, to use Plato's language, "a whole swarm of +virtues,"[219] unusual and unknown. For as from brave we get bravery, +and from mild mildness, and from just justice, so from acceptable he got +acceptableness, and from good goodness, and from great greatness, and +from the honourable honourableness, and he made virtues of many other +such clevernesses, affabilities, and versatilities, and filled +philosophy, which did not at all require it, with many strange names. + +Sec. III. Now all these agree in supposing virtue to be a disposition and +faculty of the governing part of the soul set in motion by reason, or +rather to be reason itself conformable and firm and immutable. They +think further that the emotional and unreasoning part of the soul is not +by any natural difference distinct from the reasoning part, but that +that same part of the soul, which they call intellect and the leading +principle of action, being altogether diverted and changed by the +passions, and by the alterations which habit or disposition have brought +about, becomes either vice or virtue, without having in itself any +unreasoning element, but that it is called unreasoning when, by the +strong and overpowering force of appetite, it launches out into excesses +contrary to the direction of reason. For passion, according to them, is +only vicious and intemperate reason, getting its strength and power from +bad and faulty judgement. But all of those philosophers seem to have +been ignorant that we are all in reality two-fold and composite, though +they did not recognize it, and only saw the more evident mixture of soul +and body. And yet that there is in the soul itself something composite +and two-fold and dissimilar (the unreasoning part of it, as if another +body, being by necessity and nature mixed up with and united to reason), +seems not to have escaped the notice even of Pythagoras, as we infer +from his zeal for music, which he introduced to calm and soothe the +soul, as knowing that it was not altogether amenable to precept and +instruction, or redeemable from vice only by reason, but that it needed +some other persuasion and moulding and softening influence to co-operate +with reason, unless it were to be altogether intractable and refractory +to philosophy. And Plato saw very plainly and confidently and decidedly +that the soul of this universe is not simple or uncomposite or uniform, +but is made up of forces that work uniformly and differently, in the one +case it is ever marshalled in the same order and moves about in one +fixed orbit, in the other case it is divided into motions and orbits +contrary to each other and changing about, and thus generates +differences in things. So, too, the soul of man, being a part or portion +of the soul of the universe, and compounded upon similar principles and +proportions, is not simple or entirely uniform, but has one part +intelligent and reasoning, which is intended by nature to rule and +dominate in man, and another part unreasoning, and subject to passion +and caprice, and disorderly, and in need of direction. And this last +again is divided into two parts, one of which, being most closely +connected with the body, is called desire, and the other, sometimes +taking part with the body, sometimes with reason, lending its influence +against the body, is called anger. And the difference between reason and +sense on the one hand, and anger and desire on the other, is shown by +their antipathy to one another, so that they are often at variance with +one another as to what is best.[220] These were at first[221] the views +of Aristotle, as is clear from his writings, though afterwards he joined +anger to desire, as if anger were nothing but a desire and passion for +revenge. However, he always considered the emotional and unreasoning +part of the soul as distinct from the reasoning, not that it is +altogether unreasoning as the perceptive, or nutritive, or vegetative +portions of the soul, for these are always deaf and disobedient to +reason, and in a certain sense are off-shoots from the flesh, and +altogether attached to the body; but the emotional, though it is +destitute of any reason of its own, yet is naturally inclined to listen +to reason and sense, and turn and submit and mould itself accordingly, +unless it be entirely corrupted by brute pleasure and a life of +indulgence. + +Sec. IV. As for those who wonder that what is unreasoning should obey +reason, they do not seem to me to recognize the power of reason, how +great it is, and how far-reaching its dominion is--a power not gained by +harsh and repelling methods, but by attractive ones, as mild persuasion +which always accomplishes more than compulsion or violence. For even the +spirit and nerves and bones, and other parts of the body, though devoid +of reason, yet at any instigation of reason, when she shakes as it were +the reins, are all on the alert and compliant and obedient, the feet to +run, and the hands to throw or lift, at her bidding. Right excellently +has the poet set forth in the following lines the sympathy and +accordance between the unreasoning and reason:-- + + "Thus were her beauteous cheeks diffused with tears, + Weeping her husband really present then. + But though Odysseus pitied her in heart, + His eyes like horn or steel impassive stood + Within their lids, and craft his tears repressed."[222] + +So completely under the control of judgement did he keep his spirit and +blood and tears. The same is shown by the subsidence of our passions, +which are laid to rest in the presence of handsome women or boys, whom +reason and the law forbid us to touch; a case which most frequently +happens to lovers, when they hear that they have unwittingly fallen in +love with a sister or daughter. For at once passion is laid at the voice +of reason, and the body exhibits its members as subservient to decorum. +And frequently in the case of dainty food, people very much attracted by +it, if they find out at the time or learn afterwards that they have +eaten what is unclean or unlawful, not only suffer distress and grief +in their imagination, but even their very body is upset by the notion, +and violent retchings and vomitings follow.[223] I fear I should seem to +be introducing merely novel and enticing arguments, if I were to +enumerate stringed instruments and lyres, and harps and flutes, and +other harmonious musical instruments, which, although inanimate, yet +speak to man's passions, rejoicing with him, and mourning with him, and +chiming in with him, and rioting with him,--in a word, falling in with +the vein and emotions and characters of those that play on them. And +they say that Zeno on one occasion, going into the theatre when +Amoebeus[224] was playing on the harp, said to the pupils, "Let us go +and learn what music can be produced by guts and nerves and wood and +bones, when they preserve proportion and time and order." But passing +these things over, I would gladly learn from them, if, when they see +dogs and horses and birds domesticated, and by habit and training +uttering sounds that can be understood, and making obedient movements +and gestures, and acting quietly and usefully to us, and when they +notice that Achilles in Homer cheers on horses as well as men to the +fight,[225] they still wonder and doubt, whether the passionate and +emotional and painful and pleasurable elements in us are by nature +obedient to the voice of reason, and influenced and affected by it, +seeing that those elements are not apart from us or detached from us, or +formed from outside, or hammered into us by force, but are innate in us, +and ever associate with us, and are nourished within us, and abound in +us through habit. Accordingly moral character is well called by the +Greeks [Greek: ethos], for it is, to speak generally, a quality of the +unreasoning element in man, and is called [Greek: ethos] because the +unreasoning element moulded by reason receives this quality and +difference by habit, which is called [Greek: ethos].[226] Not that +reason wishes to expel passion altogether (that is neither possible, +nor advisable), but only to keep it within bounds and order, and to +engender the moral virtues, which are not apathetic, but hold the due +proportion and mean in regard to passion. And this she does by reducing +the power of passion to a good habit. For there are said to be three +things existing in the soul, power, passion, and habit. Power is the +principle or matter of passion, as power to be angry, ashamed, or +confident: and passion is the actual setting in motion of that power, +being itself anger, confidence, or shame; and habit is the strong +formation of power in the unreasoning element engendered by use, being +vice if the passions are badly tutored by reason, virtue if they are +well tutored. + +Sec. V. But since they do not regard every virtue as a mean, nor call it +moral, we must discuss this difference by approaching the matter more +from first principles. Some things in the world exist absolutely, as the +earth, the sky, the stars, and the sea; others have relation to us, as +good and evil, as what is desirable or to be avoided, as pleasant and +painful: and since reason has an eye to both of these classes, when it +considers the former it is scientific and contemplative, when it +considers the latter it is deliberative and practical. And prudence is +the virtue in the latter case, as knowledge in the former. And there is +this difference between prudence and knowledge, prudence consists in +applying the contemplative to the practical and emotional so as to make +reason paramount. On which account it often needs the help of fortune; +whereas knowledge needs neither the help of fortune nor deliberation to +gain its ends: for it considers only things which are always the same. +And as the geometrician does not deliberate about the triangle, as to +whether its interior angles are together equal to two right angles, for +he knows it as a fact--and deliberation only takes place in the case of +things which differ at different times, not in the case of things which +are certain and unchangeable--so the contemplative mind having its scope +in first principles, and things that are fixed, and that ever have one +nature which does not admit of change, has no need for deliberation. But +prudence, which has to enter into matters full of obscurity and +confusion, frequently has to take its chance, and to deliberate about +things which are uncertain, and, in carrying the deliberation into +practice, has to co-operate with the unreasoning element, which comes to +its help, and is involved in its decisions, for they need an impetus. +Now this impetus is given to passion by the moral character, an impetus +requiring reason to regulate it, that it may render moderate and not +excessive help, and at the seasonable time. For the emotional and +unreasoning elements are subject to motions sometimes too quick and +vehement, at other times too remiss and slow. And so everything we do +may be a success from one point of view, but a failure from many points +of view; as to hit the mark one thing only is requisite, but one may +miss it in various ways, as one may shoot beyond or too short. This then +is the function of practical reason following nature, to prevent our +passions going either too far or too short. For where from weakness and +want of strength, or from fear and hesitation, the impetus gives in and +abandons what is good, there reason is by to stir it up and rekindle it; +and where on the other hand it goes ahead too fast and in disorder, +there it represses and checks its zeal. And thus setting bounds to the +emotional motions, it engenders in the unreasoning part of the soul +moral virtues, which are the mean between excess and deficiency. Not +that we can say that all virtue exists in the mean, but knowledge and +prudence being in no need of the unreasoning element, and being situated +in the pure and unemotional part of the soul, is a complete perfection +and power of reason, whereby we get the most divine and happy fruit of +understanding. But that virtue which is necessary because of the body, +and needs the help of the passions as an instrument towards the +practical, not destroying or doing away with but ordering and regulating +the unreasoning part of the soul, is perfection as regards its power and +quality, but in quantity it is a mean correcting both excess and +deficiency. + +Sec. VI. But since the word mean has a variety of meanings--for there is +one kind of mean compounded of two simple extremes, as grey is the mean +between white and black; and there is another kind of mean, where that +which contains and is contained is the mean between the containing and +contained, as eight is the mean between twelve and four; and there is a +third kind of mean which has part in neither extreme, as the indifferent +is the mean between good and bad,--virtue cannot be a mean in any of +these ways. For neither is it a mixture of vices, nor containing that +which is defective is it contained by that which is excessive, nor is it +again altogether free from, emotional storms of passion, wherein are +excess and deficiency. But it is, and is commonly so called, a mean like +that in music and harmony. For as in music there is a middle note +between the highest and lowest in the scale, which being perfectly in +tune avoids the sharpness of the one and the flatness of the other; so +virtue, being a motion and power in the unreasoning part of the soul, +takes away the remissness and strain, and generally speaking the excess +and defect of the appetite, by reducing each of the passions to a state +of mean and rectitude. For example, they tell us that bravery is the +mean between cowardice and foolhardiness, whereof the former is a +defect, the latter an excess of anger: and that liberality is the mean +between stinginess and prodigality: and that meekness is the mean +between insensibility and savageness: and so of temperance and justice, +that the latter, being concerned with contracts, is to assign neither +too much nor too little to litigants, and that the former ever reduces +the passions to the proper mean between apathy (or insensibility) and +gross intemperance. This last illustration serves excellently to show us +the radical difference between the unreasoning and reasoning parts of +the soul, and to prove to us that passion and reason are wide as the +poles asunder. For the difference would not be discernible between +temperance and continence, nor between intemperance and incontinence, in +pleasure and desires, if the appetite and judgement were in the same +portion of the soul. Now temperance is a state, wherein reason holds the +reins, and manages the passions as a quiet and well-broken-in animal, +finding them obedient and submissive to the reins and masters over their +desires.[227] Continence on the other hand is not driven by reason +without some trouble, not being docile but jibbing and kicking, like an +animal compelled by bit and bridle and whip and backing, being in itself +full of struggles and commotion. Plato explains this by his simile of +the chariot-horses of the soul, the worse one of which ever kicking +against the other and disturbing the charioteer, he is obliged ever to +hold them in with all his might, and to tighten the reins, lest, to +borrow the language of Simonides, "he should drop from his hands the +purple reins." And so they do not consider continence to be an absolute +virtue, but something less than a virtue; for no mean arises from the +concord of the worse with the better, nor is the excess of the passion +curtailed, nor does the appetite obey or act in unison with reason, but +it both gives and suffers trouble, and is constrained by force, and is +as it were an enemy in a town given up to faction. + + "The town is full of incense, and at once + Resounds with triumph-songs and bitter wailing."[228] + +Such is the state of soul of the continent person owing to his +conflicting condition. On the same grounds they consider incontinence to +be something less than vice, but intemperance to be a complete vice. For +it, having both its appetite and reason depraved, is by the one +carried away to desire disgraceful things,[229] by the other, through +bad judgement consenting to desire, loses even the perception of +wrongdoing. But incontinence keeps its judgement sound through reason, +but is carried away against its judgement by passion which is too strong +for reason, whence it differs from intemperance. For in the one case +reason is mastered by passion, in the other it does not even make a +fight against it, in the one case it opposes its desires even when it +follows them, in the other it is their advocate and even leader, in the +one case it gladly participates in what is wrong, in the other +sorrowfully, in the one case it willingly rushes into what is +disgraceful, in the other it abandons the honourable unwillingly. And as +there is a difference in their deeds, so no less manifest is the +difference in their language. For these are the expressions of the +intemperate. "What grace or pleasure in life is there without golden +Aphrodite? May I die, when I care no longer for these things!" And +another says, "To eat, to drink, to enjoy the gifts of Aphrodite is +everything, for all other things I look upon as supplementary," as if +from the bottom of his soul he gave himself up to pleasures, and was +completely subverted by them. And not less so he who said, "Let me be +ruined, it is best for me," had his judgement diseased through his +passion. But the sayings of incontinence are quite different, as + + "My nature forces me against my judgement,"[230] + +and + + "Alas! it is poor mortals' plague and bane, + To know the good, yet not the good pursue."[231] + +And again-- + + "My anger draws me on, has no control, + 'Tis but a sandy hook against a tempest." + +Here he compares not badly to a sandy hook, a sorry kind of anchor, the +soul that is unsettled and has no steady reason, but surrenders judgment +through flabbiness and feebleness. And not unlike this image are the +lines, + + "As some ship moored and fastened to the shore, + If the wind blows, the cables cannot hold it." + +By cables he means the judgement which resists what is disgraceful, +though sometimes it gives way under a tremendous storm of passion. For +indeed it is with full sail that the intemperate man is borne on to +pleasure by his desires, and surrenders himself to them, and even plays +the part of pilot to the vessel; whereas the incontinent man is dragged +sidelong into the disgraceful, and is its victim, as it were, while he +desires eagerly to resist and overcome his passion, as Timon bantered +Anaxarchus: "The recklessness and frantic energy of Anaxarchus to rush +anywhere seemed like a dog's courage, but he being aware of it was +miserable, so people said, but his voluptuous nature ever plunged him +into excesses again, nature which even most sophists are afraid of." +For neither is the wise man continent but temperate, nor the fool +incontinent but intemperate; for the one delights in what is good, and +the other is not vexed at what is bad. Incontinence, therefore, is a +mark of a sophistical soul, endued with reason which cannot abide by +what it knows to be right. + +Sec. VII. Such, then, are the differences between incontinence and +intemperance, and continence and temperance have their counterpart and +analogous differences; for remorse and trouble and annoyance are +companions of continence, whereas in the soul of the temperate person +there is everywhere such equability and calm and soundness, by which the +unreasoning is adjusted and harmonized to reason, being adorned with +obedience and wonderful mildness, that looking at it you would say with +the poet, "At once the wind was laid, and a wondrous calm ensued, for +the god allayed the fury of the waves,"[232] reason having extinguished +the vehement and furious and frantic motions of the desires, and making +those which nature necessarily requires sympathetic and obedient and +friendly and co-operative in carrying purposes out in action, so that +they do not outrun or come short of reason, or behave disorderly and +disobediently, but that every appetite is tractable, "as sucking foal +runs by the side of its dam."[233] And this confirms the saying of +Xenocrates about true philosophers, that they alone do willingly what +all others do unwillingly at the compulsion of the law, as dogs are +turned away from their pleasures by a blow, or cats by a noise, looking +at nothing but their danger. It is clear then that there is in the soul +a perception of such a generic and specific difference in relation to +the desires, as of something fighting against and opposing them. But +some say that there is no radical distinction difference or variance +between reason and passion, but that there is a shifting of one and the +same reason from one to the other, which escapes our notice owing to the +sharpness and quickness of the change, so that we do not see at a glance +that desire and repentance, anger and fear, giving way to what is +disgraceful through passion, and recovery from the same, are the same +natural property of the soul. For desire and fear and anger and the like +they consider only depraved opinions and judgements, not in one portion +of the soul only but in all its leading principles, inclinations and +yieldings, and assents and impulses, and generally speaking in its +energies soon changed, like the sallies of children, whose fury and +excessive violence is unstable by reason of their weakness. But these +views are, in the first place, contrary to evidence and observation; for +no one observes in himself a change from passion to judgement, and from +judgement back to passion; nor does anyone cease from loving when he +reflects that it would be well to break the affair off and strive with +all his might against it; nor again, does he put on one side reflection +and judgement, when he gives way and is overcome by desire. Moreover, +when he resists passion by reason, he does not escape passion +altogether; nor again, when he is mastered by passion does he fail to +discern his fault through reason: so that neither by passion does he +abolish reason, nor does he by reason get rid of passion, but is tossed +about to and fro alternately between passion and reason. And those who +suppose that the leading principle in the soul is at one time desire, +and at another time reason in opposition to desire, are not unlike +people who would make the hunter and the animal he hunts one and the +same person, but alternately changing from hunter to animal, from animal +to hunter. As their eyesight is plainly deficient, so these are faulty +in regard to their perceptions, seeing that they must perceive in +themselves not a change of one and the same thing, but a difference and +struggle between two opposing elements. "What then," say they, "does not +the deliberative element in a man often hold different views, and is it +not swayed to different opinions as to expediency, and yet it is one and +the same thing?" Certainly, I reply; but the case is not similar. For +the rational part of the soul does not fight against itself, but though +it has only one faculty, it makes use of different reasonings; or rather +the reasoning is one, but employs itself in different subjects as on +different matter. And so there is neither pain in reasonings without +passion, nor are men compelled, as it were, to choose something contrary +to their judgement, unless indeed some passion, as in a balance, +secretly predominates in the scale. For this often happens, reason not +opposing reason, but ambition, or contention, or favour, or jealousy, or +fear opposing reason, that we do but think there is a difference between +two reasons, as in the line, "They were ashamed to refuse, and feared to +accept,"[234] or, "To die in battle is dreadful but glorious; but not to +die, though cowardly, is more pleasant." Moreover, in judgements about +contracts passions come in and cause the greatest delay; and in the +councils of kings those who speak to ingratiate themselves do not favour +either of the two cases, but give themselves up to passion without +regard to what is expedient; and so those that rule in aristocracies do +not allow orators to be pathetic in their pleadings. For reasoning +without passion has a direct tendency to justice, while if passion is +infused, a contest and difference is excited between pleasure and pain +on the one hand, and judgement and justice on the other. For otherwise +how is it that in philosophical speculations people are with little pain +frequently induced by others to change their opinions, and even +Aristotle himself and Democritus and Chrysippus have rejected without +trouble or pain, and even with pleasure, some of the opinions which they +formerly advocated? For no passion stands in the way in the theoretic +and scientific part of the soul, and the unreasoning element is quiet +and gives no trouble therein. And so reason gladly inclines to the +truth, when it is evident, and abandons error; for in it, and not in +passion, lies a willingness to listen to conviction and to change one's +opinions on conviction. But the deliberations and judgements and +arbitrations of most people as to matters of fact being mixed up with +passion, give reason no easy or pleasant access, as she is held fast and +incommoded by the unreasonable, which assails her through pleasure, or +fear, or pain, or desire. And the decision in these cases lies with +sense which has dealings with both passion and reason, for if one gets +the better of the other the other is not destroyed, but only dragged +along by force in spite of its resistance. For he who is dissatisfied +with himself for falling in love calls in reason to his aid to overcome +his passion, for both reason and passion are in his soul, and he +perceives they are contrary one to the other, and violently represses +the inflammatory one of the two. On the other hand, in deliberations and +speculations without passion (such as the contemplative part of the soul +is most conversant with), if they are evenly balanced no decision takes +place, but the matter is left in doubt, which is a sort of stationary +position of the mind in conflicting arguments. But should there be any +inclination to one of the two sides, the most powerful opinion carries +the day, yet without giving pain or creating hostility. And, generally +speaking, when reason seems opposed to reason, there is no perception of +two distinct things, but only of one under different phases, whereas +when the unreasoning has a controversy with reason, since there can be +no victory or defeat without pain, forthwith they tear the soul in +two,[235] and make the difference between them apparent. + +Sec. VIII. And not only from their contest, but quite as much from their +agreement, can we see that the source of the passions is something quite +distinct from that of reason. For since[236] one may love either a good +and excellent child or a bad and vicious one, and be unreasonably angry +with one's children or parents, yet in behalf of them show a just anger +against enemies or tyrants; as in the one case there is the perception +of a difference and struggle between passion and reason, so in the other +there is a perception of persuasion and agreement inclining, as it were, +the scale, and giving their help. Moreover a good man marrying a wife +according to the laws is minded to associate and live with her justly +and soberly, but as time goes on, his intercourse with her having +engendered a strong passion for her, he perceives that his love and +affection are increased by reason. Just so, again, young fellows falling +in with kindly teachers at first submit themselves to them out of +necessity and emulation for learning, but end by loving them, and +instead of being their pupils and scholars become and get the title of +their lovers. The same is the case in cities in respect to good +magistrates, and neighbours, and connections by marriage; for beginning +at first to associate with one another from necessity and propriety, +they afterwards go on to love almost insensibly, reason drawing over and +persuading the emotional element. And he who said-- + + "There are two kinds of shame, the one not bad, + The other a sad burden to a family,"[237] + +is it not clear that he felt this emotion in himself often contrary to +reason and detrimental by hesitation and delay to opportunities and +actions? + +Sec. IX. In a certain sense yielding to the force of these arguments, they +call shame modesty, pleasure joy, and timidity caution; nor would anyone +blame them for this euphemism, if they only gave those specious names to +the emotions that are consistent with reason, while they gave other +kinds of names to those emotions that resist and do violence to reason. +But whenever, though convicted by their tears and tremblings and changes +of colour, they avoid the terms pain and fear, and speak of bitings and +states of excitement, and gloss over the passions by calling them +inclinations, they seem to contrive evasions and flights from facts by +names sophistical, and not philosophical. And yet again they seem to use +words rightly when they call those joys and wishes and cautions not +apathies but good conditions of the mind. For it is a happy disposition +of the soul when reason does not annihilate passion, but orders and +arranges it in the case of temperate persons. But what is the condition +of worthless and incontinent persons, who, when they judge they ought to +love their father and mother better than some boy or girl they are +enamoured of, yet cannot, and yet at once love their mistress or +flatterer, when they judge they ought to hate them? For if passion and +judgement were the same thing, love and hate would immediately follow +the judging it right to love and hate, whereas the contrary happens, +passion following some judgements, but declining to follow others. +Wherefore they acknowledge, the facts compelling them to do so, that +every judgement is not passion, but only that judgement that is +provocative of violent and excessive impulse: admitting that judgement +and passion in us are something different, as what moves is different +from what is moved. Even Chrysippus himself, by his defining in many +places endurance and continence to be habits that follow the lead of +reason, proves that he is compelled by the facts to admit, that that +element in us which follows absolutely is something different from that +which follows when persuaded, but resists when not persuaded. + +Sec. X. Now as to those who make all sins and offences equal, it is not now +the occasion to discuss if in other respects they deviate from truth: +but as regards the passions[238] they seem to go clean contrary to +reason and evidence. For according to them every passion is a sin, and +everyone who grieves, or fears, or desires, commits sin. But in good +truth it is evident that there are great differences between passions, +according as one is more or less affected by them. For who would say +that the craven fear of Dolon[239] was not something very different from +the fear of Ajax, "who retreated with his face to the enemy and at a +foot's pace, drawing back slowly knee after knee"?[240] Or who would say +that the grief of Plato at the death of Socrates was identical with the +grief of Alexander at the death of Clitus, when he attempted to lay +violent hands on himself? For grief is beyond measure intensified by +falling out against expectation: and the calamity that comes unlooked +for is more painful than that we may reasonably fear: as if when +expecting to see one's friend basking in prosperity and admiration, one +should hear that he had been put to the torture, as Parmenio heard about +Philotas. And who would say that the anger of Magas against Philemon was +equal to that of Nicocreon against Anaxarchus? Both Magas and Nicocreon +had been insulted, but whereas Nicocreon brayed Anaxarchus to death with +iron pestles and made mincemeat of him, Magas contented himself with +bidding the executioner lay his naked sword on Philemon's neck, and then +let him go.[241] And so Plato called anger the nerves of the mind, +since it can be both intensified by bitterness, and slackened by +mildness. To evade these and similar arguments, they deny that intensity +and excess of passion are according to judgement, wherein is the +propensity to fault, but maintain that they are bites and contractions +and diffusings capable of increase or diminution through the unreasoning +element. And yet it is evident that there are differences as regards +judgements; for some judge poverty to be no evil, while others judge it +to be a great evil, and others again the very greatest evil, insomuch +that they even throw themselves headlong down rocks and into the sea on +account of it. Again as to death, some think it an evil only in +depriving us of good things, whereas others think it so in regard to +eternal punishments and awful torments in the world below. Health again +is valued by some as natural and advantageous, while to others it seems +the greatest blessing of life, in comparison with which they reckon +little either of wealth or children or "royal power that makes one equal +to the gods," and at last come to think even virtue useless and +unprofitable, if health be absent. Thus it is clear that even with +regard to judgements themselves some err more, some less. But I shall +bring no further proof of this now, but this one may assume therefrom, +that they themselves concede that the unreasoning element is something +different from judgement, in that they allow that by it passion becomes +greater and more violent, and while they quarrel about the name and word +they give up the thing itself to those who maintain that the emotional +and unreasoning part of the soul is distinct from the reasoning and +judging element. And in his treatise on Anomaly,[242] Chrysippus, after +telling us that anger is blind, and frequently does not let one see what +is obvious, frequently also obscures what we do get a sight of, goes on +to say, "The encroachment of the passions blots out reason, and makes +things look different to what they should look, violently forcing people +on unreasonable acts." And he quotes as witness Menander, who says, +"Alas! poor me, wherever were my brains in my body at the time when I +chose that line of conduct, and not this?" And Chrysippus proceeds, +"Though every living creature endowed with reason is naturally inclined +to use reason and to be governed by it on every occasion, yet often do +we reject it, being borne away by a more violent impulse;" thus +admitting what results from the difference between passion and reason. +For otherwise it is ridiculous, as Plato says, to argue that a man is +sometimes better than himself, sometimes worse, sometimes master of +himself, sometimes not master of himself. + +Sec. XI. For how is it possible that the same person can be both better and +worse than himself, both master of himself and not master, unless +everyone is in some way twofold, having in himself both a better and +worse self? For so he that makes the baser element subject to the better +has self-control and is a superior man, whereas he who allows the nobler +element of the soul to follow and be subservient to the incorrigible and +unreasoning element, is inferior to what he might be, and is called +incontinent, and is in an unnatural condition. For by nature it +appertains to reason, which is divine, to rule and govern the +unreasoning element, which has its origin from the body, which it also +naturally resembles and participates in its passions, being placed in it +and mixed up with it, as is proved by the impulses to bodily delights, +which are always fierce or languid according to the changes of the body. +And so it is that young men are keen and vehement in their desires, +being red hot and raging from their fulness of blood and animal heat, +whereas with old men the liver, which is the seat of desire, is dried up +and weak and feeble, and reason has more power with them than passion +which decays with the body. This principle also no doubt characterizes +the nature of animals as regards the sexual appetite. For it is not of +course from any fitness or unfitness of opinions, that some animals are +so bold and resolute in the presence of danger, while others are +helpless and full of fear and trembling; but this difference of emotion +is produced by the workings of the blood and spirit and body, the +emotional part growing out of the flesh, as from a root, and carrying +along with it its quality and temperament. And that the body of man +sympathizes with and is affected by the emotional impulses is proved by +pallors, and blushings, and tremblings, and palpitations of the heart, +as on the other hand by an all-pervading joy in the hope and expectation +of pleasures. But whenever the mind is by itself and unmoved by passion, +the body is in repose and at rest, having no participation or share in +the working of the intellect, unless it involve the emotional, or the +unreasoning element call it in. So that it is clear that there are two +distinct parts of the soul differing from one another in their +faculties. + +Sec. XII. And generally speaking of all existing things, as they themselves +admit and is clear, some are governed by nature, some by habit, some by +an unreasoning soul, some by a soul that has reason and intelligence. +Man too participates in all this, and is subject to all those +differences here mentioned, for he is affected by habit, and nourished +by nature, and uses reason and intelligence. He has also a share of the +unreasoning element, and has the principle of passion innate in him, not +as a mere episode in his life but as a necessity, which ought not +therefore to be entirely rooted out, but requires care and attention. +For the function of reason is no Thracian or Lycurgean one to root up +and destroy all the good elements in passion indiscriminately with the +bad, but, as some genial and mild god, to prune what is wild, and to +correct disproportion, and after that to train and cultivate the useful +part. For as those who are afraid to get drunk do not pour on the ground +their wine, _but mix it with water_, so those who are afraid of the +disturbing element in passion do not eradicate passion altogether but +temper it. Similarly with oxen and horses people try to restrain their +mad bounds and restiveness, not their movements and powers of work, and +so reason makes use of the passions when they have become tame and +docile, not by cutting out the sinews or altogether mutilating the +serviceable part of the soul. For as Pindar says, "The horse to the +chariot, and the ox to the plough, while he that meditates destruction +for the boar must find a staunch hound."[243] But much more useful than +these are the whole tribe of passions when they wait on reason and run +parallel to virtue. Thus moderate anger is useful to courage, and hatred +of evil to uprightness, and righteous indignation against those who are +fortunate beyond their deserts, when they are inflamed in their souls +with folly and insolence and need a check. And no one if they wished +could pluck away or sever[244] natural affection from friendship, or +pity from philanthropy, or sympathy both in joy and grief from genuine +goodwill. And if those err who wish to banish love because of erotic +madness, neither are they right who blame all desire because of love of +money, but they act like people who refuse to run because they might +stumble, or to throw because they might throw wide of the mark, or +object to sing altogether because they might make a false note. For as +in sounds music does not create melody by the banishment of sharps and +flats, and as in bodies the art of the physician procures health not by +the doing away of cold and heat but by their being blended in due +proportions and quantities, so is victory won in the soul by the powers +and motions of the passions being reduced by reason to moderation and +due proportion. For excessive grief or fear or joy in the soul (I speak +not of mere joy grief or fear), resembles a body swollen or inflamed. +And Homer when he says excellently, + + "The brave man's colour never changes, nor + Is he much frightened,"[245] + +does not take away all fear but only excessive fear, that bravery may +not become recklessness, nor confidence foolhardiness. So also in regard +to pleasure we must do away with excessive desire, and in regard to +vengeance with excessive hatred of evil. For so in the former case one +will not be apathetic but temperate, and in the latter one will not be +savage or cruel but just. But if the passions were entirely removed, +supposing that to be possible, reason would become in many duller and +blunter, like the pilot in the absence of a storm. And no doubt it is +from having noticed this that legislators try to excite in states +ambition and emulation among their townsmen, and stir up and increase +their courage and pugnacity against enemies by the sound of trumpets +and flutes. For it is not only in poems, as Plato says, that he that is +inspired by the Muses, and as it were possessed by them, will laugh to +shame the plodding artist, but also in fighting battles passion and +enthusiasm will be irresistible and invincible, such as Homer makes the +gods inspire men with, as in the line, + + "Thus speaking he infused great might in Hector, + The shepherd of the people."[246] + +and, + + "He is not mad like this without the god,"[247] + +as if the god had added passion to reason as an incitement and spur. And +you may see those very persons, whose opinions I am combating, +frequently urging on the young by praises, and frequently checking them +by rebukes, though pleasure follows the one, pain the other. For rebukes +and censure produce repentance and shame, the one bringing grief, the +other fear, and these they mostly make use of for purposes of +correction. And so Diogenes, when Plato was being praised, said, "What +has he to vaunt of, who has been a philosopher so long, and yet never +gave pain to anyone?" For one could not say, to use the words of +Xenocrates, that the mathematics are such handles to philosophy as are +the emotions of young men, such as shame, desire, repentance, pleasure, +pain, ambition, whereon reason and the law laying a suitable grip +succeed in putting the young man on the right road. So that it was no +bad remark of the Lacedaemonian tutor, that he would make the boy +entrusted to his charge pleased with what was good and displeased with +what was bad,[248] for a higher or nobler aim cannot be proposed in the +education fit for a freeborn lad. + + [219] See "Meno," p. 72, A. + + [220] Omitting [Greek: hetera], which Reiske justly + suspects. + + [221] Reading [Greek: proton] with Wyttenbach. + + [222] Homer, "Odyssey," xix. 208-212. + + [223] As in the story in "Gil Blas" of the person who, + after eating a ragout of rabbit, was told it was a + ragout of cat.--Book X. chapter xii. + + [224] As to Amoebeus, see Athenaeus, p. 623. D. + + [225] "Iliad," xvi. 167. + + [226] Generally speaking [Greek: ethos] is the habit, + [Greek: ethos] the moral character generated by habit. + The former is Aristotle's [Greek: energeia], the latter + his [Greek: hexis]. + + [227] I have adopted, it will be seen, the suggestion of + Wyttenbach, "[Greek: to logismo] mutandum videtur in + [Greek: ton chalinon]." + + [228] Sophocles, "Oedipus Tyrannus," 4, 5. Quoted by our + author again "On Abundance of Friends," Sec. vi. + + [229] Reading with "Reiske," [Greek: exagetai pros to + epithymein ta aischra]. + + [230] In the "Chrysippus" of Euripides, Fragm. + + [231] Compare Romans viii. 19. + + [232] "Odyssey," xii. 168, 169. + + [233] This line is from Simonides, and is quoted again + in "How one may be aware of one's Progress in Virtue," Sec. + xiv. + + [234] "Iliad," vii. 93. + + [235] Reading with Reiske, [Greek: eis duo]. + + [236] Reading [Greek: etei] with Reiske and Wyttenbach. + + [237] Euripides, "Hippolytus" 385, 386. + + [238] Reading with Reiske [Greek: pathesi] for [Greek: + pleiosi]. + + [239] See "Iliad," x. 374, sq. + + [240] "Iliad," xi. 547. + + [241] "De Anaxarchi supplicio nota res. v. Menage ad + Diog. Laeert. 9, 59. De Magae, reguli Cyrenarum, adversus + Philemonem lenitate v. De Cohibenda Ira, Sec. + ix."--_Reiske._ + + [242] "Celebres fuere quondam Chrysippi sex libri + [Greek: peri tes kata tas lezeis anomalias], in quibus + auctore Varrone, _propositum habuit ostendere, similes + res dissimilibus verbis et similibus dissimiles esse + notatas vocabulis_. v. Menage ad Diog. Laeert. 7, + 192."--_Reiske._ + + [243] Compare "On Contentedness of Mind," Sec. xiii. + + [244] Reading with _Reiske_, [Greek: aporrezeien]. + + [245] "Iliad," xiii. 284, 285. + + [246] "Iliad," xv. 262. + + [247] "Iliad," v. 185. + + [248] Compare "That Virtue may be Taught," Sec. ii. + + + + +HOW ONE MAY BE AWARE OF ONE'S +PROGRESS IN VIRTUE. + + +Sec. I. What amount of argument, Sossius Senecio, will make a man know that +he is improving in respect to virtue, if his advances in it do not +bring about some diminution in folly, but vice, weighing equally with +all his good intentions, "acts like the lead that makes the net go +down?"[249] For neither in music nor grammatical knowledge could anyone +recognize any improvement, if he remained as unskilful in them as +before, and had not lost some of his old ignorance. Nor in the case of +anyone ill would medical treatment, if it brought no relief or ease, by +the disease somewhat yielding and abating, give any perception of +improvement of health, till the opposite condition was completely +brought about by the body recovering its full strength. But just as in +these cases there is no improvement unless, by the abatement of what +weighs them down till they rise in the opposite scale, they recognize a +change, so in the case of those who profess philosophy no improvement or +sign of improvement can be supposed, unless the soul lay aside and purge +itself of some of its imperfection, and if it continue altogether bad +until it become absolutely good and perfect. For indeed a wise man +cannot in a moment of time change from absolute badness to perfect +goodness, and suddenly abandon for ever all that vice, of which he could +not during a long period of time divest himself of any portion. And yet +you know, of course, that those who maintain these views frequently give +themselves much trouble and bewilderment about the difficulty, that a +wise man does not perceive that he has become wise, but is ignorant and +doubtful that in a long period of time by little and little, by removing +some things and adding others, there will be a secret and quiet +improvement, and as it were passage to virtue. But if the change were so +great and sudden that the worst man in the morning could become the best +man at night, or should the change so happen that he went to bed vicious +and woke up in the morning wise, and, having dismissed from his mind all +yesterday's follies and errors, should say, + + "False dreams, away, you had no meaning then!"[250] + +who on earth could be ignorant of so great a change happening to +himself, of virtue blazing forth so completely all at once? I myself am +of opinion that anyone, like Caeneus,[251] who, according, to his +prayer, got changed from a woman into a man, would sooner be ignorant of +the transformation, than that a man should become at once, from a +cowardly and senseless person with no powers of self-control, brave and +sensible and perfect master of himself, and should in a moment change +from a brutish life to a divine without being aware of it. + +Sec. II. That was an excellent observation, Measure the stone by the +mason's rule, not the rule by the stone.[252] But the Stoics, not +applying dogmas to facts but facts to their own preconceived opinions, +and forcing things to agree that do not by nature, have filled +philosophy with many difficulties, the greatest of which is that all men +but the perfect man are equally vicious, which has produced the enigma +called progress, one little short of extreme folly, since it makes those +who have not at once under its guidance given up all passions and +disorders equally unfortunate as those who have not got rid of a single +vile propensity. However they are their own confuters, for while they +lay down in the schools that Aristides was as unjust as Phalaris, and +Brasidas as great a craven as Dolon, and Plato actually as senseless as +Meletus, in life and its affairs they turn away from and avoid one class +as implacable, while they make use of the others and trust them in most +important matters as most worthy people. + +Sec. III. But we who see that in every kind of evil, but especially in a +disordered and unsettled state of mind, there are degrees of more and +less (so that the progress made differs in different cases, badness +abating, as a shadow flees away, under the influence of reason, which +calmly illuminates and cleanses the soul), cannot consider it +unreasonable to think that the change will be perceived, as people who +come up out of some ravine can take note of the progress they make +upwards. Look at the case from the following point of view first. Just +as mariners sailing with full sail over the gaping[253] ocean measure +the course they have made by the time they have taken and the force of +the wind, and compute their progress accordingly, so anyone can compute +his progress in philosophy by his continuous and unceasing course, by +his not making many halts on the road, and then again advancing by leaps +and bounds, but by his quiet and even and steady march forward guided by +reason. For the words of the poet, "If to a little you keep adding a +little, and do so frequently, _it will soon be a lot_,"[254] are not +only true of the increase of money, but are universally applicable, and +especially to increase in virtue, since reason invokes to her aid the +enormous force of habit. On the other hand the inconsistencies and +dulnesses of some philosophers not only check advance, as it were, on +the road, but even break up the journey altogether, since vice always +attacks at its leisure and forces back whatever yields to it.[255] The +mathematicians tell us that planets, after completing their course, +become stationary; but in philosophy there is no such intermission or +stationary position from the cessation of progress, for its nature is +ever to be moving and, as it were, to be weighed in the scales, +sometimes being overweighted by the good preponderating, sometimes by +the bad. If, therefore, imitating the oracle given to the Amphictyones +by the god, "to fight against the people of Cirrha every day and every +night,"[256] you are conscious that night and day you ever maintain a +fierce fight against vice, not often relaxing your vigilance, or long +off your guard, or receiving as heralds to treat of peace[257] the +pleasures, or idleness, or stress of business, you may reasonably go +forward to the future courageously and confidently. + +Sec. IV. Moreover, if there be any intermissions in philosophy, and yet +your later studies are firmer and more continuous than your former ones, +it is no bad indication that your sloth has been expelled by labour and +exercise; for the contrary is a bad sign, when after a short time your +lapses from zeal become many and continuous, as if your zeal were dying +away. For as in the growth of a reed, which shoots up from the ground +finely and beautifully to an even and continuous height, though at first +from its great intervals it is hindered and baffled in its growth, and +afterwards through its weakness is discouraged by any breath of air, and +though strengthened by many and frequent joints, yet a violent wind +gives it commotion and trembling, so those who at first make great +launches out into philosophy, and afterwards find that they are +continually hindered and baffled, and cannot perceive that they make any +progress, finally get tired of it and cry off. "But he who is as it were +winged,"[258] is by his simplicity borne along to his end, and by his +zeal and energy cuts through impediments to his progress, as merely +obstacles on the road. As it is a sign of the growth of violent love, +not so much to rejoice in the presence of the loved one, for everyone +does that, as to be distressed and grieved at his absence,[259] so many +feel a liking for philosophy and seem to take a wonderful interest in +the study, but if they are diverted by other matters and business their +passion evaporates and they take it very easily. "But whoever is +strongly smitten with love for his darling"[260] will show his mildness +and agreeableness in the presence of and joint pursuit of wisdom with +the loved one, but if he is drawn away from him and is not in his +company you will see him in a stew and ill at ease and peevish whether +at work or leisure, and unreasonably forgetful of his friends, and +wholly impelled by his passion for philosophy. For we ought not to +rejoice at discourses only when we hear them, as people like perfumes +only when they smell them, and not to seek or care about them in their +absence, but in the same condition as people who are hungry and thirsty +are in if torn away from food and drink, we ought to follow after true +proficiency in philosophy, whether marriage, or wealth, or friendship, +or military service, strike in and produce a separation. For just as +more is to be got from philosophy, so much the more does what we fail +to obtain trouble us. + +Sec. V. Either precisely the same as this or very similar is Hesiod's[261] +very ancient definition of progress in virtue, namely, that the road is +no longer very steep or arduous, but easy and smooth and level, its +roughness being toned down by exercise, and casting the bright light of +philosophy on doubt and error and regrets, such as trouble those who +give themselves to philosophy at the outset, like people who leave a +land they know, and do not yet descry the land they are sailing to. For +by abandoning the common and familiar, before they know and apprehend +what is better, they frequently flounder about in the middle and are +fain to return. As they say the Roman Sextius, giving up for philosophy +all his honours and offices in Rome, being afterwards discontented with +philosophy from the difficulties he met with in it at first, very nearly +threw himself out of window. Similarly they relate of Diogenes of +Sinope,[262] when he began to be a philosopher, that the Athenians were +celebrating a festival, and there were public banquets and shows and +mutual festivities, and drinking and revelling all night, and he, coiled +up in a corner of the market-place intending to sleep, fell into a train +of thought likely seriously to turn him from his purpose and shake his +resolution, for he reflected that he had adopted without any necessity a +toilsome and unusual kind of life, and by his own fault sat there +debarred of all the good things. At that moment, however, they say a +mouse stole up and began to munch some of the crumbs of his barley-cake, +and he plucked up his courage and said to himself, in a railing and +chiding fashion, "What say you, Diogenes? Do your leavings give this +mouse a sumptuous meal, while you, the gentleman, wail and lament +because you are not getting drunk yonder and reclining on soft and +luxurious couches?" Whenever such depressions of mind are not frequent, +and the mind when they take place quickly recovers from them, after +having put them to flight as it were, and when such annoyance and +distraction is easily got rid of, then one may consider one's progress +in virtue as a certainty. + +Sec. VI. And since not only the things that in themselves shake and turn +them in the opposite direction are more powerful in the case of weak +philosophers, but also the serious advice of friends, and the playful +and jeering objections of adversaries bend and soften people, and have +ere now shaken some out of philosophy altogether, it will be no slight +indication of one's progress in virtue if one takes all this very +calmly, and is neither disturbed nor aggravated by people who tell us +and mention to us that some of our former comrades are flourishing in +kings' courts, or have married wives with dowries, or are attended by a +crowd of friends when they come down to the forum to solicit some office +or advocateship. He that is not moved or affected by all this is already +plainly one upon whom philosophy has got a right hold; for it is +impossible that we should cease to be envious of what most people +admire, unless the admiration of virtue was strongly implanted in us. +For over-confidence may be generated in some by anger and folly, but to +despise what men admire is not possible without a true and steady +elevation of mind. And so people in such a condition of mind, comparing +it with that of others, pride themselves on it, and say with Solon, "We +would not change virtue for wealth, for while virtue abides, wealth +changes hands, and now one man, now another, has it."[263] And Diogenes +compared his shifting about from Corinth to Athens, and again from +Thebes to Corinth, to the different residences of the King of Persia, as +his spring residence at Susa, his winter residence at Babylon, and his +summer residence in Media. And Agesilaus said of the great king, "How is +he better than me, if he is not more upright?" And Aristotle, writing to +Antipater about Alexander, said, "that he ought not to think highly of +himself because he had many subjects, for anyone who had right notions +about the gods was entitled to think quite as highly of himself." And +Zeno, observing that Theophrastus was admired for the number of his +pupils,[264] said, "His choir is, I admit, larger than mine, but mine +is more harmonious." + +Sec. VII. Whenever then, by thus comparing the advantages of virtue with +external things, you get rid of envies and jealousies and those things +which fret and depress the minds of many who are novices in philosophy, +this also is a great indication of your progress in virtue. Another and +no slight indication is a change in the style of your discourses. For +generally speaking all novices in philosophy adopt most such as tend to +their own glorification; some, like birds, in their levity and ambition +soaring to the height and brightness of physical things; others like +young puppies, as Plato[265] says, rejoicing in tearing and biting, +betake themselves to strifes and questions and sophisms; but most +plunging themselves into dialectics immediately store themselves for +sophistry; and some collect sentences[266] and histories and go about +(as Anacharsis said he saw the Greeks used money for no other purpose +but to count it up), merely piling up and comparing them, but making no +practical use of them. Applicable here is that saying of Antiphanes, +which someone applied to Plato's pupils. Antiphanes said playfully that +in a certain city words were frozen directly they were spoken, owing to +the great cold, and were thawed again in the summer, so that one could +then hear what had been said in the winter. So he said of the words +which were spoken by Plato to young men, that most of them only +understood them late in life when they were become old men. And this is +the condition people are in in respect to all philosophy, until the +judgement gets into a sound and healthy state, and begins to adapt +itself to those things which can produce character and greatness of +mind, and to seek discourses whose footsteps turn inwards rather than +outwards, to borrow the language of AEsop.[267] For as Sophocles said he +had first toned down the pompous style of AEschylus, then his harsh and +over-artificial method, and had in the third place changed his manner +of diction, a most important point and one that is most intimately +connected with the character, so those who go in for philosophy, when +they have passed from flattering and artificial discourses to such as +deal with character and emotion, are beginning to make genuine and +modest progress in virtue. + +Sec. VIII. Furthermore, take care, in reading the writings of philosophers +or hearing their speeches, that you do not attend to words more than +things, nor get attracted more by what is difficult and curious than by +what is serviceable and solid and useful. And also, in studying poems or +history, let nothing escape you of what is said to the point, which is +likely either to correct the character or to calm the passions. For as +Simonides says the bee hovers among the flowers "making the yellow +honey,"[268] while others value and pluck flowers only for their beauty +and fragrance, so of all that read poems for pleasure and amusement he +alone that finds and gathers what is valuable seems capable of knowledge +from his acquaintance with and friendship for what is noble and +good.[269] For those who study Plato and Xenophon only for their style, +and cull out only what is pure and Attic, and as it were the dew and the +bloom, do they not resemble people who love drugs for their smell and +colour, but care not for them as anodynes or purges, and are not aware +of those properties? Whereas those who have more proficiency can derive +benefit not from discourses only, but from sights and actions, and cull +what is good and useful, as is recorded of AEschylus and other similar +kind of men. As to AEschylus, when he was watching a contest in boxing at +the Isthmus, and the whole theatre cried out upon one of the boxers +being beaten, he nudged with his elbow Ion of Chios, and said, "Do you +observe the power of training? The beaten man holds his peace, while the +spectators cry out." And Brasidas having caught hold of a mouse among +some figs, being bitten by it let it go, and said to himself, "Hercules, +there is no creature so small or weak that it will not fight for its +life!" And Diogenes, seeing a lad drinking water out of the palm of his +hand, threw away the cup which he kept in his wallet. So much does +attention and assiduous practice make people perceptive and receptive of +what contributes to virtue from any source. And this is the case still +more with those who mix discourses with actions, who not only, to use +the language of Thucydides,[270] "exercise themselves in the presence of +danger," but also in regard to pleasures and strifes, and judgements, +and advocateships, and magistrateships make a display of their opinions, +or rather form their opinions by their practice. For we can no more +think those philosophers who are ever learning and busy and +investigating what they have got from philosophy, and then straightway +publish it in the market-place or in the haunt of young men, or at a +royal supper-party, any more than we give the name of physicians to +those who sell drugs and mixtures. Nay rather such a sophist differs +very little at all from the bird described in Homer,[271] offering his +scholars like it whatever he has got, and as it feeds its callow young +from its own mouth, "though it goes ill with itself," so he gets no +advantage or food from what he has got for himself. + +Sec. IX. We must therefore see to it that our discourse be serviceable to +ourselves, and that it may not appear to others to be vain-glorious or +ambitious, and we must show that we are as willing to listen as to +teach, and especially must we lay aside all disputatiousness and love of +strife in controversy, and cease bandying fierce words with one another +as if we were contending with one another at boxing, and leave off +rejoicing more in smiting and knocking down one another than in learning +and teaching. For in such cases moderation and mildness, and to commence +arguing without quarrelsomeness and to finish without getting into a +rage, and neither to be insolent if you come off best in the argument, +nor dejected if you come off worst, is a sufficient sign of progress in +virtue. Aristippus was an excellent example of this, when overcome in +argument by the sophistry of a man, who had plenty of assurance, but +was generally speaking mad or half-witted. Observing that he was in +great joy and very puffed up at his victory, he said, "I who have been +vanquished in the argument shall have a better night's rest than my +victor." We can also test ourselves in regard to public speaking, if we +are not timid and do not shrink from speaking when a large audience has +unexpectedly been got together, nor dejected when we have only a small +one to harangue to, and if we do not, when we have to speak to the +people or before some magistrate, miss the opportunity through want of +proper preparation; for these things are recorded both of Demosthenes +and Alcibiades. As for Alcibiades, though he possessed a most excellent +understanding, yet from want of confidence in speaking he often broke +down, and in trying to recall a word or thought that slipped his memory +had to stop short.[272] And Homer did not deny that his first line was +unmetrical,[273] though he had sufficient confidence to follow it up by +so many other lines, so great was his genius. Much more then ought those +who aim at virtue and what is noble to lose no opportunity of public +speaking, paying very little attention to either uproar or applause at +their speeches. + +Sec. X. And not only ought each to see to his discourses but also to his +actions whether he regards utility more than show, and truth more than +display. For if a genuine love for youth or maiden seeks no witnesses, +but is content to enjoy its delights privately, far more does it become +the philosopher and lover of the beautiful, who is conversant with +virtue through his actions, to pride himself on his silence, and not to +need people to praise or listen to him. As that man who called his maid +in the house, and cried out to her, "See, Dionysia, I am angry no +longer,"[274] so he that does anything agreeable and polite, and then +goes and spreads it about the town, plainly shows that he looks for +public applause and has a strong propensity to vain-glory, and as yet +has no acquaintance with virtue as a reality but only as a dream, +restlessly roving about amid phantoms and shadows, and making a display +of whatever he does as painters display a picture. It is therefore a +sign of progress in virtue not merely to have given to a friend or done +a good turn to an acquaintance without mentioning it to other people, +but also to have given an honest vote among many unjust ones, and to +have withstood the dishonourable request of some rich man or of some man +in office, and to have been above taking bribes, and, by Zeus, to have +been thirsty all night and not to have drunk, or, like Agesilaus,[275] +to have resisted, though strongly tempted, the kiss of a handsome youth +or maiden, and to have kept the fact to oneself and been silent about +it. For one's being satisfied with one's own good opinion[276] and not +despising it, but rejoicing in it and acquiescing in it as competent to +see and decide on what is honourable, proves that reason is rooted and +grounded within one, and that, to borrow the language of Democritus, one +is accustomed to draw one's delights from oneself. And just as farmers +behold with greater pleasure those ears of corn which bend and bow down +to the ground, while they look upon those that from their lightness +stand straight upright as empty pretenders, so also among those young +men who wish to be philosophers those that are most empty and without +any solidity show the greatest amount of assurance in their appearance +and walk, and a face full of haughtiness and contempt that looks down on +everybody, but when they begin to grow full and get some fruit from +study they lay aside their proud and vain[277] bearing. And just as in +vessels that contain water the air is excluded, so with men that are +full of solid merit their pride abates, and their estimate of themselves +becomes a lower one, and they cease to plume themselves on a long beard +and threadbare cloak,[278] and transfer their training to the mind, and +are most severe and austere to themselves, while they are milder in +their intercourse with everybody else; and they do not as before +eagerly snatch at the name and reputation of philosopher, nor do they +write themselves down as such, but even if he were addressed by that +title by anyone else, an ingenuous young man would say, smiling and +blushing, "I am not a god: why do you liken me to the immortals?"[279] +For as AEschylus says, + + "I never can mistake the burning eye + Of the young woman that has once known man,"[280] + +so to the young man who has tasted of true progress in philosophy the +following lines of Sappho are applicable, "My tongue cleaves to the roof +of my month, and a fire courses all over my lean body," and his eye will +be gentle and mild, and you would desire to hear him speak. For as those +who are initiated come together at first with confusion and noise and +jostle one another, but when the mysteries are being performed and +exhibited, they give their attention with awe and silence, so also at +the commencement of philosophy you will see round its doors much +confusion and assurance and prating, some rudely and violently jostling +their way to reputation, but he who once enters in, and sees the great +light, as when shrines are open to view, assumes another air and is +silent and awe-struck, and in humility and decorum follows reason as if +she were a god. And the playful remark of Menedemus seems to suit these +very well. He said that the majority of those who went to school at +Athens became first wise, and then philosophers, after that orators, and +as time went on became ordinary kind of people, the more they had to do +with learning, so much the more laying aside their pride and high +estimate of themselves. + +Sec. XI. Of people that need the help of the physician some, if their tooth +ache or even finger smart, run at once to the doctor, others if they are +feverish send for one and implore his assistance at their own home, +others who are melancholy or crazy or delirious will not sometimes even +see the doctor if he comes to their house, but drive him away, or avoid +him, ignorant through their grievous disease that they are diseased at +all. Similarly of those who have done what is wrong some are +incorrigible, being hostile and indignant and furious at those who +reprove and admonish them, while others are meeker and bear and allow +reproof. Now, when one has done what is wrong, to offer oneself for +reproof, to expose the case and reveal one's wrongdoing, and not to +rejoice if it lies hid, or be satisfied if it is not known, but to make +confession of it and ask for interference and admonishment, is no small +indication of progress in virtue. And so Diogenes said that one who +wished to do what was right ought to seek either a good friend or +red-hot enemy, that either by rebuke or mild entreaty he might flee from +vice. But as long as anyone, making a display of dirt or stains on his +clothes, or a torn shoe, prides himself to outsiders on his freedom from +arrogance, and, by Zeus, thinks himself doing something very smart if he +jeers at himself as a dwarf or hunchback, but wraps up and conceals as +if they were ulcers the inner vileness of his soul and the deformities +of his life, as his envy, his malignity, his littleness, his love of +pleasure, and will not let anyone touch or look at them from fear of +disgrace, such a one has made little progress in virtue, yea rather +none. But he that joins issue with his vices, and shows that he himself +is even more pained and grieved about them than anyone else, or, what is +next best, is able and willing to listen patiently to the reproof of +another and to correct his life accordingly, he seems truly to be +disgusted at his depravity and resolute to divest himself of it. We +ought certainly to be ashamed of and shun every appearance of vice, but +he who is more put about by his vice itself than by the bad reputation +that ensues upon it, will not mind either hearing it spoken against or +even speaking against it himself if it make him a better man. That was a +witty remark of Diogenes to a young man, who when seen in a tavern +retired into the kitchen: "The more," said he, "you retire, the more are +you in the tavern."[281] Even so the more a vicious man denies his vice, +the more does it insinuate itself and master him: as those people +really poor who pretend to be rich get still more poor from their false +display. But he who is really making progress in virtue imitates +Hippocrates, who confessed publicly and put into black and white that he +had made a mistake about the sutures of the skull,[282] for he will +think it monstrous, if that great man declared his mistake, that others +might not fall into the same error, and yet he himself for his own +deliverance from vice cannot bear to be shown he is in the wrong, and to +confess his stupidity and ignorance. Moreover the sayings of Bion and +Pyrrho will test not so much one's progress as a greater and more +perfect habit of virtue. Bion maintained that his friends might think +they had made progress, when they could listen as patiently to abuse as +to such language as the following, "Stranger, you look not like a bad or +foolish person,"[283] "Health and joy go with you, may the gods give you +happiness!"[284] While as to Pyrrho they say, when he was at sea and in +peril from a storm, that he pointed out a little pig that was quietly +enjoying some grain that had been scattered about, and said to his +companions that the man who did not wish to be disturbed by the changes +and chances of life should attain a similar composedness of mind through +reason and philosophy. + +Sec. XII. Look also at the opinion of Zeno, who thought that everybody +might gauge his progress in virtue by his dreams, if he saw himself in +his dreams pleasing himself with nothing disgraceful, and neither doing +nor wishing to do anything dreadful or unjust, but that, as in the clear +depths of a calm and tranquil sea, his fancy and passions were plainly +shown to be under the control of reason. And this had not escaped the +notice of Plato,[285] it seems, who had earlier expressed in form and +outline the part that fancy and unreason played in sleep in the soul +that was by nature tyrannical, "for it attempts incest," he says, "with +its mother, and procures for itself unlawful meats, and gives itself up +to the most abandoned desires, such as in daytime the law through shame +and fear debars people from." As then beasts of burden that have been +well-trained do not, even if their driver let go the reins, attempt to +turn aside and leave the proper road, but go forward orderly as usual, +pursuing their way without stumbling, so those whose unreason has become +obedient and mild and tempered by reason, will not easily wish, either +in dreams or in illnesses, to deal insolently or lawlessly through their +desires, but will keep to their usual habits, which acquire their power +and force by attention. For if the body can by training make itself and +its members so subject to control, that the eyes in sorrow can refrain +from tears, and the heart from palpitating in fear, and the passions can +be calm in the presence of beautiful youths and maidens, is it not far +more likely that the training of the passions and emotions of the soul +will allay, tame down, and mould their propensities even in dreams? A +story is told about the philosopher Stilpo,[286] that he thought he saw +in a dream Poseidon angry with him because he had not sacrificed an ox +to him, as was usual among the Megarians:[287] and that he, not a bit +frightened, said, "What are you talking about, Poseidon? Do you come +here as a peevish boy, because I have not with borrowed money filled the +town with the smell of sacrifice, and have only sacrificed to you out of +what I had at home on a modest scale?" Then he thought that Poseidon +smiled at him, and held out his right hand, and said that for his sake +he would give the Megarians a large shoal of anchovies. Those, then, +that have such pleasant, clear, and painless dreams, and no frightful, +or harsh, or malignant, or untoward apparition, may be said to have +reflections of their progress in virtue; whereas agitation and panics +and ignoble flights, and boyish delights, and lamentations in the case +of sad and strange dreams, are like the waves that break on the coast, +the soul not having yet got its proper composure, but being still in +course of being moulded by opinions and laws, from which it escapes in +dreams as far as possible, so that it is once again set free and open +to the passions. Do you investigate all these points too, as to whether +they are signs of progress in virtue, or of some habit which has already +a settled constancy and strength through reason. + +Sec. XIII. Now since entire freedom from the passions is a great and divine +thing, and progress in virtue seems, as we say, to consist in a certain +remissness and mildness of the passions, we must observe the passions +both in themselves and in reference to one another to gauge the +difference: in themselves as to whether desire, and fear, and rage are +less strong in us now than formerly, through our quickly extinguishing +their violence and heat by reason; and in reference to one another as to +whether we are animated now by modesty more than by fear, and by +emulation more than by envy, and by love of glory rather than by love of +riches, and generally speaking whether--to use the language of +musicians--it is in the Dorian more than in the Lydian measures that we +err either by excess or deficiency,[288] whether we are plainer in our +manner of living or more luxurious, whether we are slower in action or +quicker, whether we admire men and their discourses more than we should +or despise them. For as it is a good sign in diseases if they turn aside +from vital parts of the body, so in the case of people who are making +progress in virtue, when vice seems to shift to milder passions, it is a +sign it will soon die out. When Phrynis added to the seven chords two +chords more, the Ephors asked him which he preferred to let them cut +off, the upper or lower ones;[289] so we must cut off both above and +below, if we mean to attain, to the mean and to due proportion: for +progress in virtue first diminishes the excess and sharpness of the +passions, + + "That sharpness for which madmen are so vehement," + +as Sophocles says. + +Sec. XIV. I have already said that it is a very great indication of +progress in virtue to transfer our judgement to action, and not to let +our words remain merely words, but to make deeds of them. A +manifestation of this is in the first place emulation as regards what we +praise, and a zeal to do what we admire, and an unwillingness either to +do or allow what we censure. To illustrate my meaning by an example, it +is probable that all Athenians praised the daring and bravery of +Miltiades; but Themistocles alone said that the trophy of Miltiades +would not let him sleep, but woke him up of a night, and not only +praised and admired him, but manifestly emulated and imitated his +glorious actions. Small, therefore, can we think the progress we have +made, as long as our admiration for those who have done noble things is +barren, and does not of itself incite us to imitate them. For as there +is no strong love without jealousy, so there is no ardent and energetic +praise of virtue, which does not prick and goad one on, and make one not +envious but emulous of what is noble, and desirous to do something +similar. For not only at the discourses of a philosopher ought we, as +Alcibiades said,[290] to be moved in heart and shed tears, but the true +proficient in virtue, comparing his own deeds and actions with those of +the good and perfect man, and grieved at the same time at the knowledge +of his own deficiency, yet rejoicing in hope and desire, and full of +impulses that will not let him rest, is, as Simonides says, + + "Like sucking foal running by side of dam,"[291] + +being desirous all but to coalesce with the good man. For it is a +special sign of true progress in virtue to love and admire the +disposition of those whose deeds we emulate, and to resemble them with a +goodwill that ever assigns due honour and praise to them. But whoever +is steeped in contentiousness and envy against his betters, let him know +that he may be pricked on by a jealous desire for glory or power, but +that he neither honours nor admires virtue. + +Sec. XV. Whenever, then, we begin so much to love good men that we deem +happy, "not only," as Plato[292] says, "the temperate man himself, but +also the man who hears the words that flow from his wise lips," and +even admire and are pleased with his figure and walk and look and smile, +and desire to adapt ourselves to his model and to stick closely to him, +then may we think that we are making genuine progress. Still more will +this be the case, if we admire the good not only in prosperity, but like +lovers who admire even the lispings and paleness of those in their +flower,[293] as the tears and dejection of Panthea in her grief and +affliction won the affections of Araspes,[294] so we fear neither the +exile of Aristides, nor the prison of Anaxagoras, nor the poverty of +Socrates, nor the condemnation of Phocion, but think virtue worthy our +love even under such trials, and join her, ever chanting that line of +Euripides, + + "Unto the noble everything is good."[295] + +For the enthusiasm that can go so far as not to be discouraged at the +sure prospect of trouble, but admires and emulates what is good even so, +could never be turned away from what is noble by anybody. Such men ever, +whether they have some business to transact, or have taken upon them +some office, or are in some critical conjuncture, put before their eyes +the example of noble men, and consider what Plato would have done on the +occasion, what Epaminondas would have said, how Lycurgus or Agesilaus +would have dealt; that so, adjusting and re-modelling themselves, as it +were, at their mirrors, they may correct any ignoble expression, and +repress any ignoble passion. For as those that have learnt the names of +the Idaean Dactyli[296] make use of them to banish their fear by quietly +repeating them over, so the bearing in mind and remembering good men, +which soon suggests itself forcibly to those who have made some progress +in virtue in all their emotions and difficulties, keeps them upright and +not liable to fall. Let this also then be a sign to you of progress in +virtue. + +Sec. XVI. In addition to this, not to be too much disturbed, nor to blush, +nor to try and conceal oneself, or make any change in one's dress, on +the sudden appearance of a man of distinction and virtue, but to feel +confident and go and meet such a one, is the confirmation of a good +conscience. It is reported that Alexander, seeing a messenger running up +to him full of joy and holding out his right hand, said, "My good +friend, what are you going to tell me? Has Homer come to life again?" +For he thought that his own exploits required nothing but posthumous +fame.[297] And a young man improving in character instinctively loves +nothing better than to take pride and pleasure in the company of good +and noble men, and to display his house, his table, his wife, his +amusements, his serious pursuits, his spoken or written discourses; +insomuch that he is grieved when he remembers that his father or +guardian died without seeing him in that condition in life, and would +pray for nothing from the gods so much, as that they could come to life +again, and be spectators of his life and actions; as, on the contrary, +those that have neglected their affairs, and come to ruin, cannot look +upon their relatives even in dreams without fear and trembling. + +Sec. XVII. Add, if you please, to what I have already said, as no small +indication of progress in virtue, the thinking no wrong-doing small, but +being on your guard and heed against all. For as people who despair of +ever being rich make no account of small expenses, thinking they will +never make much by adding little to little,[298] but when hope is nearer +fruition, then with wealth increases the love of it,[299] so in things +that have respect to virtue, not he that generally assents to such +sayings as "Why trouble about hereafter?" "If things are bad now, they +will some day be better,"[300] but the man who pays heed to everything, +and is vexed and concerned if vice gets pardon, when it lapses into even +the most trifling wrongdoing, plainly shows that he has already +attained to some degree of purity, and deigns not to contract defilement +from anything whatever. For the idea that we have nothing of any +importance to bring disgrace upon, makes people inclined to what is +little and careless.[301] To those who are building a stone wall or +coping it matters not if they lay on any chance wood or common stone, or +some tombstone that has fallen down, as bad workmen do, heaping and +piling up pell-mell every kind of material; but those who have made some +progress in virtue, whose life "has been wrought on a golden base,"[302] +like the foundation of some holy or royal building, undertake nothing +carelessly, but lay and adjust everything by the line and level of +reason, thinking the remark of Polycletus superlatively good, that that +work is most excellent, where the model stands the test of the +nail.[303] + + [249] See Erasmus, Adagia, "Eadem pensari trutina." + + [250] Euripides, "Iphigenia in Tauris," 569. + + [251] See Ovid, "Metamorphoses," xii. 189, sq. + + [252] See Erasmus, "Adagia," p. 1103. + + [253] Compare Shakspere, "Tempest," A. i. Sc. i. 63, + "And gape at widest to glut him." + + [254] Hesiod, "Works and Days," 361, 362. Quoted again + by our author, "On Education," Sec. 13. + + [255] "In via ad virtutem qui non progreditur, is non + stat et manet, sed regreditur."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [256] Adopting the reading of Hercher. See Pausanias, x. + 37, where the oracle is somewhat different. + + [257] For the town which parleys surrenders. + + [258] From Homer, "Iliad," xix. 386. + + [259] Compare Aristotle, _Rhetoric_, i. 11. [Greek: kai + arche de tou erotos gignetai aute pasin, otan me monon + parontos chairosin, alla kai apontos memnemenoi erosin.] + + [260] The line is a Fragment of Sophocles. + + [261] See Hesiod, "Works and Days," 289-292. + + [262] The well-known Cynic philosopher. + + [263] Bergk. fr. 15. Compare Homer, "Iliad," vi. 339. + [Greek: nike d' epameibetai andras]. + + [264] We are told by Diogenes Laeertius, v. 37, that + Theophrastus had 2000 hearers sometimes at once. + + [265] "Republic," vii. p. 539, B. + + [266] Sentences borrowed from some author or other, + such, as we still possess from the hands of Hermogenes + and Aphthonius; compare the collection of bon-mots of + Greek courtesans in Athenaeus. + + [267] A reference to AEsop's Fable, [Greek: Leon kai + Halopez]. Cf. Horace, "Epistles," i. i. 73-75. + + [268] This passage is alluded to also in "On Love to + one's Offspring." Sec. ii. + + [269] Madvig's text. + + [270] Thucydides, i. 18. + + [271] Homer, "Iliad," ix. 323, 324. Quoted also in "On + Love to One's Offspring," Sec. ii. + + [272] The remark about Demosthenes has somehow slipped + out, as Wyttenbach has suggested. + + [273] Does this refer to [Greek: Peleiadeo] before + [Greek: Hachileos] in "Iliad," i. 1? + + [274] An allusion to some passage in a Play that has not + come down to us. + + [275] Compare our Author, _De Audiendis Poetis_, Sec. xi. + [Greek: hosper ho Agesilaos ouk hypemeinen hypo tou + kalou philethenai prosiontos]. + + [276] Reading with Madvig and Hercher, [Greek: to gar + auton], sq. + + [277] Literally _cork-like_, so vain, empty. So Horace, + "levior cortice," "Odes," iii. 9, 22. + + [278] Marks of a philosopher among the ancients. Compare + our Author, "How one may discern a flatterer from a + friend," Sec. vii. + + [279] "Odyssey," xvi. 187. + + [280] AEschylus, "Toxotides," Fragm. 224. Quoted again by + our author, "On Love," Sec. xxi. + + [281] "Turpe habitum fuisse in caupona conspici, et hoc + exemplo apparet, et alia sunt indicia. Isocrates Orat. + Areopagitica laudans antiquorum Atheniensium mores, p. + 257: [Greek: en kapeleio de phagein e piein oudeis han + oiketes epieikes etolmese]: quem locum citans Athenaeus + alia etiam adfert xiii. p. 566, F."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [282] Wyttenbach compares Quintilian, "Institut. Orat." + iii. 6, p. 255: "Nam et Hippocrates clarus arte medicinae + videtur honestissime fecisse, qui quosdam errores suos, + ne posteri errarent, confessus est." + + [283] Homer, "Odyssey," vi. 187. + + [284] Homer, "Odyssey," xxiv. 402. + + [285] Plato, "Republic," ix. p. 571, D. + + [286] A somewhat similar story about Stilpo is told in + Athenaeus, x. p. 423, D. + + [287] So Haupt and Herscher very ingeniously for [Greek: + hiereusin]. + + [288] Adopting the suggestion of Wyttenbach as to the + reading. The Dorian measure was grave and severe, the + Lydian soft and effeminate. + + [289] See our author, "Apophthegmata Laconica," p. 220 + C. + + [290] Plato, "Symposium," p. 25, E. + + [291] This line is quoted again by our author, "On Moral + Virtue," Sec. vii. + + [292] Plato, "Laws," iv. p. 711, E. + + [293] See those splendid lines of Lucretius, iv. + 1155-1169. + + [294] "Res valde celebrata ex Institutione Cyri + Xenophontea, v. 1, 2; vi. 1, 17."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [295] This line is very like a Fragment in the "Danae" + of Euripides. Dind. (328). + + [296] On these see Pausanias, v. 7. + + [297] Such as Homer could have brought. Compare Horace, + "Odes," iv. ix. 25-28; and Cicero, "pro Archia," x. + "Magnus ille Alexander--cum in Sigeo ad Achillis tumulum + adstitisset, O fortunate, inquit, adolescens, qui tuae + virtutis Homerum praeconem inveneris." + + [298] Contrary to Hesiod's saw, "Works and Days," 361, + 362. + + [299] So Juvenal, xiv. 138-140. + + [300] Like Horace's "Non si male nunc, et olim Sic + erit." "Odes," ii. x. 16, 17. + + [301] _Noblesse oblige_ in fact. + + [302] Pindar, Frag. 206. + + [303] Like Horace's _factus ad unguem_, because the + sculptor tries its polish and the niceness of the joints + by drawing his nail over the surface. Casaub. Pers. i. + 64; Horace, "Sat." i. v. 32, 33; A. P. 294; Erasmus, + "Adagia," p. 507. + + + + +WHETHER VICE IS SUFFICIENT TO CAUSE +UNHAPPINESS.[304] + + +Sec. I. ... He who gets a dowry with his wife sells himself for it, as +Euripides says,[305] but his gains are few and uncertain; but he who +does not go all on fire through many a funeral pile, but through a regal +pyre, full of panting and fear and sweat got from travelling over the +sea as a merchant, has the wealth of Tantalus, but cannot enjoy it owing +to his want of leisure. For that Sicyonian horse-breeder was wise, who +gave Agamemnon as a present a swift mare, "that he should not follow him +to wind-swept Ilium, but delight himself at home,"[306] in the quiet +enjoyment of his abundant riches and painless leisure. But nowadays +courtiers, and people who think they have a turn for affairs, thrust +themselves forward of their own accord uninvited into courts and +toilsome escorts and bivouacs, that they may get a horse, or brooch, or +some such piece of good luck. "But his wife is left behind in Phylace, +and tears her cheeks in her sorrow, and his house is only half complete +without him,"[307] while he is dragged about, and wanders about, and +wastes his time in idle hopes, and has to put up with much insult. And +even if he gets any of those things he desires, giddy and dizzy at +Fortune's rope-dance, he seeks retirement, and deems those happy who +live obscure and in security, while they again look up admiringly at him +who soars so high above their heads.[308] + +Sec. II. Vice has universally an ill effect on everybody, being in itself a +sufficient producer of infelicity, needing no instruments nor ministers. +For tyrants, anxious to make those whom they punish wretched, keep +executioners and torturers, and contrive branding-irons and other +instruments of torture to inspire fear[309] in the brute soul, whereas +vice attacks the soul without any such apparatus, and crushes and +dejects it, and fills a man with sorrow, and lamentation, and +melancholy, and remorse. Here is a proof of what I say. Many are silent +under mutilation, and endure scourging or torture at the hand of despots +or tyrants without uttering a word, whenever their soul, abating the +pain by reason, forcibly as it were checks and represses them: but you +can never quiet anger or smother grief, or persuade a timid person not +to run away, or one suffering from remorse not to cry out, nor tear his +hair, nor smite his thigh. Thus vice is stronger than fire and sword. + +Sec. III. You know of course that cities, when they desire to publicly +contract for the building of temples or colossuses, listen to the +estimates of the contractors who compete for the job, and bring their +plans and charges, and finally select the contractor who will do the +work at least expense, and best, and quickest. Let us suppose then that +we publicly contract to make the life of man miserable, and take the +estimates of Fortune and Vice for this object. Fortune shall come +forward, provided with all sorts of instruments and costly apparatus to +make life miserable and wretched. She shall come with robberies and +wars, and the blood-guiltiness of tyrants, and storms at sea, and +lightning drawn down from the sky, she shall compound hemlock, she shall +bring swords, she shall levy an army of informers, she shall cause +fevers to break out, she shall rattle fetters and build prisons. It is +true that most of these things are owing to Vice rather than Fortune, +but let us suppose them all to come from Fortune. And let Vice stand by +naked, without any external things against man, and let her ask Fortune +how she will make man unhappy and dejected. Fortune, dost thou threaten +poverty? Metrocles laughs at thee, who sleeps during winter among the +sheep, in summer in the vestibules of temples, and challenges the king +of the Persians,[310] who winters at Babylon, and summers in Media, to +vie with him in happiness. Dost thou bring slavery, and bondage, and +sale? Diogenes despises thee, who cried out, as he was being sold by +some robbers, "Who will buy a master?" Dost thou mix a cup of poison? +Didst not thou offer such a one to Socrates? And cheerfully, and mildly, +without fear, without changing colour or countenance, he calmly drank it +up: and when he was dead, all who survived deemed him happy, as sure to +have a divine lot in Hades. And as to thy fire, did not Decius, the +general of the Romans, anticipate it for himself, having piled up a +funeral pyre between the two armies, and sacrificed himself to Cronos, +dedicating himself for the supremacy of his country? And the chaste and +loving wives of the Indians strive and contend with one another for the +fire, and she that wins the day and gets burnt with the body of her +husband, is pronounced happy by the rest, and her praises sung. And of +the wise men in that part of the world no one is esteemed or pronounced +happy, who does not in his lifetime, in good health and in full +possession of all his faculties, separate soul from body by fire, and +emerge pure from flesh, having purged away his mortal part. Or wilt thou +reduce a man from a splendid property, and house, and table, and +sumptuous living, to a threadbare coat and wallet, and begging of daily +bread? Such was the beginning of happiness to Diogenes, of freedom and +glory to Crates. Or wilt thou nail a man on a cross, or impale him on a +stake? What cares Theodorus whether he rots above ground or below? Such +was the happy mode of burial amongst the Scythians,[311] and among the +Hyrcanians dogs, among the Bactrians birds, devour according to the laws +the dead bodies of those who have made a happy end. + +Sec. IV. Who then are made unhappy by these things? Those who have no +manliness or reason, the enervated and untrained, who retain the +opinions they had as children. Fortune therefore does not produce +perfect infelicity, unless Vice co-operate. For as a thread saws through +a bone that has been soaked in ashes and vinegar, and as people bend and +fashion ivory only when it has been made soft and supple by beer, and +cannot under any other circumstances, so Fortune, lighting upon what is +in itself faulty and soft through Vice, hollows it out and wounds it. +And as the Parthian juice, though hurtful to no one else nor injurious +to those who touch it or carry it about, yet if it be communicated to a +wounded man straightway kills him through his previous susceptibility to +receive its essence, so he who will be upset in soul by Fortune must +have some secret internal ulcer or sore to make external things so +piteous and lamentable. + +Sec. V. Does then Vice need Fortune to bring about infelicity? By no means. +She lashes not up the rough and stormy sea, she girds not lonely +mountain passes with robbers lying in wait by the way, she makes not +clouds of hail to burst on the fruitful plains, she suborns not Meletus +or Anytus or Callixenus as accusers, she takes not away wealth, excludes +not people from the praetorship to make them wretched; but she scares the +rich, the well-to-do, and great heirs; by land and sea she insinuates +herself and sticks to people, infusing lust, inflaming with anger, +afflicting them with superstitious fears, tearing them in pieces with +envy. + + [304] The beginning of this short Treatise is lost. Nor + is the first paragraph at all clear. We have to guess + somewhat at the meaning. + + [305] In a fragment of the "Phaethon." Compare also "On + Education," Sec. 19. + + [306] "Iliad," xxiii. 297, 298. + + [307] "Iliad," ii. 700, 701. + + [308] 'Tis ever so. Compare Horace, "Sat." i. i. 1-14. + + [309] Adopting Reiske's reading. + + [310] Proverbial for extreme good fortune. Cf. Horace, + "Odes," iii. ix. 4, "Persarum vigui rege beatior." + + [311] See Herodotus, iv. 72. + + + + +WHETHER THE DISORDERS OF MIND OR +BODY ARE WORSE. + + +Sec. I. Homer, looking at the mortality of all living creatures, and +comparing them with one another in their lives and habits, gave vent to +his thoughts in the words, + + "Of all the things that on the earth do breathe, + Or creep, man is by far the wretchedest;"[312] + +assigning to man an unhappy pre-eminence in extreme misfortune. But let +us, assuming that man is, as thus publicly declared, supreme in +infelicity and the most wretched of all living creatures, compare him +with himself, in the estimate of his misery dividing body and soul, not +idly but in a very necessary way, that we may learn whether our life is +more wretched owing to Fortune or through our own fault. For disease is +engendered in the body by nature, but vice and depravity in the soul is +first its own doing, then its settled condition. And it is no slight aid +to tranquillity of mind if what is bad be capable of cure, and lighter +and less violent. + +Sec. II. The fox in AEsop[313] disputing with the leopard as to their +respective claims to variety, the latter showed its body and appearance +all bright and spotted, while the tawny skin of the former was dirty and +not pleasant to look at. Then the fox said, "Look inside me, sir judge, +and you will see that I am more full of variety than my opponent," +referring to his trickiness and versatility in shifts. Let us similarly +say to ourselves, Many diseases and disorders, good sir, thy body +naturally produces of itself, many also it receives from without; but if +thou lookest at thyself within thou wilt find, to borrow the language of +Democritus, a varied and susceptible storehouse and treasury of what is +bad, not flowing in from without, but having as it were innate and +native springs, which vice, being exceedingly rich and abundant in +passion, produces. And if diseases are detected in the body by the pulse +and by pallors and flushes,[314] and are indicated by heats and sudden +pains, while the diseases of the mind, bad as they are, escape the +notice of most people, the latter are worse because they deprive the +sufferer of the perception of them. For reason if it be sound perceives +the diseases of the body, but he that is diseased in his mind cannot +judge of his sufferings, for he suffers in the very seat of judgement. +We ought to account therefore the first and greatest of the diseases of +the mind that ignorance,[315] whereby vice is incurable for most people, +dwelling with them and living and dying with them. For the beginning of +getting rid of disease is the perception of it, which leads the sufferer +to the necessary relief, but he who through not believing he is ill +knows not what he requires refuses the remedy even when it is close at +hand. For amongst the diseases of the body those are the worst which are +accompanied by stupor, as lethargies, headaches, epilepsies, apoplexies, +and those fevers which raise inflammation to the pitch of madness, and +disturb the brain as in the case of a musical instrument, + + "And move the mind's strings hitherto untouched."[316] + +Sec. III. And so doctors wish a man not to be ill, or if he is ill to be +ignorant of it, as is the case with all diseases of the soul. For +neither those who are out of their minds, nor the licentious, nor the +unjust think themselves faulty--some even think themselves perfect. For +no one ever yet called a fever health, or consumption a good condition +of body, or gout swift-footedness, or paleness a good colour; but many +call anger manliness, and love friendship, and envy competition, and +cowardice prudence. Then again those that are ill in body send for +doctors, for they are conscious of what they need to counteract their +ailments; but those who are ill in mind avoid philosophers, for they +think themselves excellent in the very matters in which they come short. +And it is on this account that we maintain that ophthalmia is a lesser +evil than madness, and gout than frenzy. For the person ill in body is +aware of it and calls loudly for the doctor, and when he comes allows +him to anoint his eye, to open a vein, or to plaster up his head; but +you hear mad Agave in her frenzy not knowing her dearest ones, but +crying out, "We bring from the mountain to the halls a young stag +recently torn limb from limb, a fortunate capture."[317] Again he who is +ill in body straightway gives up and goes to bed and remains there +quietly till he is well, and if he toss and tumble about a little when +the fit is on him, any of the people who are by saying to him, + + "Gently, + Stay in the bed, poor wretch, and take your ease,"[318] + +restrain him and check him. But those who suffer from a diseased brain +are then most active and least at rest, for impulses bring about action, +and the passions are vehement impulses. And so they do not let the mind +rest, but when the man most requires quiet and silence and retirement, +then is he dragged into the open air, and becomes the victim of anger, +contentiousness, lust, and grief, and is compelled to do and say many +lawless things unsuitable to the occasion. + +Sec. IV. As therefore the storm which prevents one's putting into harbour +is more dangerous than the storm which will not let one sail, so those +storms of the soul are more formidable which do not allow a man to take +in sail, or to calm his reason when it is disturbed, but without a pilot +and without ballast, in perplexity and uncertainty through contrary and +confusing courses, he rushes headlong and falls into woeful shipwreck, +and shatters his life. So that from these points of view it is worse to +be diseased in mind than body, for the latter only suffer, but the +former do ill as well as suffer ill. But why need I speak of our various +passions? The very times bring them to our mind. Do you see yon great +and promiscuous crowd jostling against one another and surging round the +rostrum and forum? They have not assembled here to sacrifice to their +country's gods, nor to share in one another's rites; they are not +bringing to Ascraean Zeus the firstfruits of Lydian produce,[319] nor are +they celebrating in honour of Dionysus the Bacchic orgies on festival +nights with common revellings; but a mighty plague stirring up Asia in +annual cycles drives them here for litigation and suits at law at stated +times: and the mass of business, like the confluence of mighty rivers, +has inundated one forum, and festers and teems with ruiners and ruined. +What fevers, what agues, do not these things cause? What obstructions, +what irruptions of blood into the air-vessels, what distemperature of +heat, what overflow of humours, do not result? If you examine every suit +at law, as if it were a person, as to where it originated, where it came +from, you will find that one was produced by obstinate temper, another +by frantic love of strife, a third by some sordid desire.[320] + + [312] Homer, "Iliad," xvii. 446, 447. + + [313] See the Fable [Greek: Alopex kai Pardalis]. No. + 42, Ed. Halme. + + [314] Reading with Wyttenbach, [Greek: ochriasesi kai + erythemasi]. + + [315] Forte [Greek: agnoian]."--_Wyttenbach._ The + ordinary reading is [Greek: anoian]. "E coelo descendit + [Greek: gnothi seauton]," says Juvenal truly, xi. 27. + + [316] Compare the image in Shakspere, "Hamlet," A. iii. + Sc. I. 165, 166. + + "Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, + Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh." + + [317] Euripides, "Bacchae," 1170-1172. Agave's treatment + of her son Pentheus was a stock philosophical + comparison. See for example Horace, ii. "Sat." iii. 303, + 304, and context. + + [318] Euripides, "Orestes," 258. + + [319] "_Aurum_ puta. Pactolus enim aurum fert. Videtur + dictio e Pindaro desumta esse."--_Reiske._ + + [320] "Libellus hic fine carere videtur. Quare autem + opusculum hoc Plutarcho indignum atque suppositum visum + Xylandro fuerit, non intelligo."--_Reiske._ + + + + +ON ABUNDANCE OF FRIENDS. + + +Sec. I. Menon the Thessalian, who thought he was a perfect adept in +discourse, and, to borrow the language of Empedocles, "had attained the +heights of wisdom," was asked by Socrates, what virtue was, and upon his +answering quickly and glibly, that virtue was a different thing in boy +and old man, and in man and woman, and in magistrate and private person, +and in master and servant, "Capital," said Socrates, "you were asked +about one virtue, but you have raised up a whole swarm of them,"[321] +conjecturing not amiss that the man named many because he knew not one. +Might not someone jeer at us in the same way, as being afraid, when we +have not yet one firm friendship, that we shall without knowing it fall +upon an abundance of friends? It is very much the same as if a man +maimed and blind should be afraid of becoming hundred-handed like +Briareus or all eyes like Argus. And yet we wonderfully praise the young +man in Menander, who said that he thought anyone wonderfully good, if he +had even the shadow of a friend.[322] + +Sec. II. But among many other things what stands chiefly in the way of +getting a friend is the desire for many friends, like a licentious woman +who, through giving her favours indiscriminately, cannot retain her old +lovers, who are neglected and drop off;[323] or rather like the +foster-child of Hypsipyle, "sitting in the meadow and plucking flower +after flower, snatching at each prize with gladsome heart, insatiable in +its childish delight,"[324] so in the case of each of us, owing to our +love of novelty and fickleness, the recent flower ever attracts, and +makes us inconstant, frequently laying the foundations of many +friendships and intimacies that come to nothing, neglecting in love of +what we eagerly pursue what we have already possession of. To begin +therefore with the domestic hearth,[325] as the saying is, with the +traditions of life that time has handed down to us about constant +friends, let us take the witness and counsel of antiquity, according to +which friendships go in pairs, as in the cases of Theseus and Pirithous, +Achilles and Patroclus, Orestes and Pylades, Phintias and Damon, +Epaminondas and Pelopidas. For friendship is a creature that goes in +pairs, and is not gregarious, or crow-like,[326] and to think a friend +a second self, and to call him companion as it were second one,[327] +shows that friendship is a dual relation. For we can get neither many +slaves nor many friends at small expense. What then is the +purchase-money of friendship? Benevolence and complaisance conjoined +with virtue, and yet nature has nothing more rare than these. And so to +love or be loved very much cannot find place with many persons; for as +rivers that have many channels and cuttings have a weak and thin stream, +so excessive love in the soul if divided out among many is weakened. +Thus love for their young is most strongly implanted in those that bear +only one, as Homer calls a beloved son "the only one, the child of old +age,"[328] that is, when the parents neither have nor are likely to have +another child. + +Sec. III. Not that we insist on only one friend, but among the rest there +should be one eminently so, like a child of old age, who according to +that well-known proverb has eaten a bushel of salt with one,[329] not as +nowadays many so-called friends contract friendship from drinking +together once, or playing at ball together, or playing together with +dice, or passing the night together at some inn, or meeting at the +wrestling-school or in the market. And in the houses of rich and leading +men people congratulate them on their many friends, when they see the +large and bustling crowd of visitors and handshakers and retainers: and +yet they see more flies in their kitchens, and as the flies only come +for the dainties, so they only dance attendance for what they can get. +And since true friendship has three main requirements, virtue, as a +thing good; and familiarity, as a thing pleasant; and use, as a thing +serviceable; for we ought to choose a friend with judgement, and rejoice +in his company, and make use of him in need; and all these things are +prejudicial to abundance of friends, especially judgement, which is the +most important point; we must first consider, if it is impossible in a +short time to test dancers who are to form a chorus, or rowers who are +to pull together, or slaves who are to act as stewards of estates, or +as tutors of one's sons, far more difficult is it to meet with many +friends who will take off their coats to aid you in every fortune, each +of whom "offers his services to you in prosperity, and does not object +to share your adversity." For neither does a ship encounter so many +storms at sea, nor do they fortify places with walls, or harbours with +defences and earthworks, in the expectation of so many and great +dangers, as friendship tested well and soundly promises defence and +refuge from. But if friends slip in without being tested, like money +proved to be bad, + + "Those who shall lose such friends may well be glad, + And those who have such pray that they may lose them."[330] + +Yet is it difficult and by no means easy to avoid and bring to a close +an unpleasant friendship: as in the case of food which is injurious and +harmful, we cannot retain it on the stomach without damage and hurt, nor +can we expel it as it was taken into the mouth, but only in a putrid +mixed up and changed form, so a bad friend is troublesome both to others +and himself if retained, and if he be got rid of forcibly it is with +hostility and hatred, and like the voiding of bile. + +Sec. IV. We ought not, therefore, lightly to welcome or strike up an +intimate friendship with any chance comers, or love those who attach +themselves to us, but attach ourselves to those who are worthy of our +friendship. For what is easily got is not always desirable: and we pass +over and trample upon heather and brambles that stick to us[331] on our +road to the olive and vine: so also is it good not always to make a +friend of the person who is expert in twining himself around us, but +after testing them to attach ourselves to those who are worthy of our +affection and likely to be serviceable to us. + +Sec. V. As therefore Zeuxis, when some people accused him of painting +slowly, replied, "I admit that I do, but then I paint to last," so ought +we to test for a long time the friendship and intimacy that we take up +and mean to keep. Is it not easy then to put to the test many friends, +and to associate with many friends at the same time, or is this +impossible? For intimacy is the full enjoyment of friendship, and most +pleasant is companying with and spending the day with a friend. "Never +again shall we alive, apart from dear friends, sit and take counsel +alone together."[332] And Menelaus said about Odysseus, "Nor did +anything ever divide or separate us, who loved and delighted in one +another, till death's black cloud overshadowed us."[333] The contrary +effect seems to be produced by abundance of friends. For the friendship +of a pair of friends draws them together and puts them together and +holds them together, and is heightened by intercourse and kindliness, +"as when the juice of the fig curdles and binds the white milk,"[334] as +Empedocles says, such unity and complete union will such a friendship +produce. Whereas having many friends puts people apart and severs and +disunites them, by transferring and shifting the tie of friendship too +frequently, and does not admit of a mixture and welding of goodwill by +the diffusing and compacting of intimacy. And this causes at once an +inequality and difficulty in respect of acts of kindness, for the uses +of friendship become inoperative by being dispersed over too wide an +area. "One man is acted upon by his character, another by his +reflection."[335] For neither do our natures and impulses always incline +in the same directions, nor are our fortunes in life identical, for +opportunities of action are, like the winds, favourable to some, +unfavourable to others. + +Sec. VI. Moreover, if all our friends want to do the same things at the +same time, it will be difficult to satisfy them all, whether they desire +to deliberate, or to act in state affairs, or wish for office, or are +going to entertain guests. If again at the same time they chance to be +engaged in different occupations and interests and ask you all together, +one who is going on a voyage that you will sail with him, another who is +going to law that you will be his advocate, another who is going to try +a case that you will try it with him, another who is selling or buying +that you will go into partnership with him, another who is going to +marry that you will join him in the sacrifice, another who is going to +bury a relation that you will be one of the mourners, + + "The town is full of incense, and at once + Resounds with triumph-songs and bitter wailing,"[336] + +that is the fruit of many friends; to oblige all is impossible, to +oblige none is absurd, and to help one and offend many is grievous. + + "No lover ever yet fancied neglect."[337] + +And yet people bear patiently and without anger the carelessness and +neglect of friends, if they get from them such excuses as "I forgot," "I +did it unwittingly." But he who says, "I did not assist you in your +lawsuit, for I was assisting another friend," or "I did not visit you +when you had your fever, for I was helping so-and-so who was +entertaining his friends," excusing himself for his inattention to one +by his attention to another, so far from making the offence less, even +adds jealousy to his neglect. But most people in friendship regard only, +it seems, what can be got out of it, overlooking what will be asked in +return, and not remembering that he, who has had many of his own +requests granted, must oblige others in turn by granting their requests. +And as Briareus with his hundred hands had to feed fifty stomachs, and +was therefore no better provided than we are, who with two hands have to +supply the necessities of only one belly, so in having many friends[338] +one has to do many services for them, one has to share in their anxiety, +and to toil and moil with them. For we must not listen to Euripides when +he says, "mortals ought to join in moderate friendships for one another, +and not love with all their heart, that the spell may be soon broken, +and the friendship may either be ended or become closer at will,"[339] +that so it may be adjusted to our requirements, like the sail of a ship +that we can either slacken or haul tight. But let us transfer, +Euripides, these lines of yours to enmities, and bid people make their +animosities moderate, and not hate with all their heart, that their +hatred, and wrath, and querulousness, and suspicions, may be easily +broken. Recommend rather for our consideration that saying of +Pythagoras, "Do not give many your right hand,"[340] that is, do not +make many friends, do not go in for a common and vulgar friendship, +which is sure to cause anyone much trouble; for its sharing in others' +anxieties and griefs and labours and dangers is quite intolerable to +free and noble natures. And that was a true saying of the wise +Chilo[341] to one who told him he had no enemy, "Neither," said he, "do +you seem to me to have a friend." For enmities inevitably accompany and +are involved in friendships. + +Sec. VII. It is impossible I say not to share with a friend in his injuries +and disgraces and enmities, for enemies at once suspect and hate the +friend of their enemies, and even friends are often envious and jealous +and carp at him. As then the oracle given to Timesias about his colony +foretold him, "that his swarm of bees would soon be followed by a swarm +of wasps," so those that seek a swarm of friends have sometimes lighted +unawares on a wasp's-nest of enemies. And the remembrance of wrongs done +by an enemy and the kindness of a friend do not weigh in the same +balance. See how Alexander treated the friends and intimates of Philotas +and Parmenio, how Dionysius treated those of Dion, Nero those of +Plautus, Tiberius those of Sejanus, torturing and putting them to death. +For as neither the gold nor rich robes of Creon's daughter[342] availed +her or her sire, but the flame that burst out suddenly involved him in +the same fate as herself, as he ran up to embrace her and rescue her, so +some friends, though they have had no enjoyment out of their friends' +prosperity, are involved in their misfortunes. And this is especially +the case with philosophers and kind people, as Theseus, when his friend +Pirithous was punished and imprisoned, "was also bound in fetters not +of brass."[343] And Thucydides tells us that during the plague at Athens +those that most displayed their virtue perished with their friends that +were ill, for they neglected their own lives in going to visit +them.[344] + +Sec. VIII. We ought not therefore to be too lavish with our virtue, binding +it together and implicating it in various people's fortunes, but we +ought to preserve our friendship for those who are worthy of it, and are +capable of reciprocating it. For this is indeed the greatest argument +against many friends that friendship is originated by similarity. For +seeing that even the brutes can hardly be forced to mix with those that +are unlike themselves, but crouch down, and show their dislike, and run +away, while they mix freely with those that are akin to them and have a +similar nature, and gently and gladly make friends with one another +then, how is it possible that there should be friendship between people +differing in characters and temperaments and ideas of life? For harmony +on the harp or lyre is attained by notes in unison and not in unison, +sharp and flat somehow or other producing concord, but in the harmony of +friendship there must be no unlike, or uneven, or unequal element, but +from all alike must come agreement in opinions and wishes and feeling, +as if one soul were put into several bodies. + +Sec. IX. What man then is so industrious, so changeable, and so versatile, +as to be able to make himself like and adapt himself to many different +persons, and not to laugh at the advice of Theognis, "Imitate the +ingenuity of the polypus, that takes the colour of whatever stone it +sticks to."[345] And yet the changes in the polypus do not go deep but +are only on the surface, which, from its thickness or thinness takes the +impression of everything that approaches it, whereas friends endeavour +to be like one another in character, and feeling, and language, and +pursuits, and disposition. It requires a not very fortunate or very good +Proteus,[346] able by jugglery to assume various forms, to be +frequently at the same time a student with the learned, and ready to +try a fall with wrestlers, or to go a hunting with people fond of the +chase, or to get drunk with tipplers, or to go a canvassing with +politicians, having no fixed character of his own.[347] And as the +natural philosophers say of unformed and colourless matter when +subjected to external change, that it is now fire, now water, now air, +now solid earth, so the soul suitable for many friendships must be +impressionable, and versatile, and pliant, and changeable. But +friendship requires a steady constant and unchangeable character, a +person that is uniform in his intimacy. And so a constant friend is a +thing rare and hard to find. + + [321] Plato, "Men." p. 71 E. + + [322] Quoted more fully by our author, "De Fraterno + Amore," Sec. iii. + + [323] "Eadem comparatione utitur Lucianus in Toxari T. + ii. p. 351: [Greek: hostis an polyphilos he homoios + hemin dokei tais koinais tautais kai moicheuomenais + gynaixi; kai oiometh' ouketh' homoios ischyran ten + philian autou einai pros pollas eunoias + diairetheisan]."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [324] From the "Hypsipyle" of Euripides. + + [325] A well-known proverb for beginning at the + beginning. Aristophanes, "Vespae." 846; Plato, + "Euthryphro," 3 A; Strabo, 9. + + [326] An allusion to the well-known proverb, [Greek: + koloios poti koloion]. See Erasmus, "Adagia," p. 1644. + + [327] The paronomasia is on [Greek: hetairos, heteros]. + + [328] "Iliad," ix. 482; "Odyssey," xvi. 19. + + [329] Cf. Cicero, "De Amicitia," xix. + + [330] Sophocles, Fragm. 741. Quoted again by our author, + "On Love," Sec. xxiii. + + [331] For the image compare Lucio's speech, Shakspere, + "Measure for Measure," A. iv. Sc. iii. 189, 190: "Nay, + friar, I am a kind of burr; I shall stick." + + [332] "Iliad," xxiii. 77, 78. + + [333] "Odyssey," iv. 178-180. + + [334] "Iliad," v. 902, altered somewhat. + + [335] Bergk. p. 1344^3. + + [336] Sophocles, "Oedipus Tyrannus," 4, 5. Quoted again + "On Moral Virtue," Sec. vi. + + [337] A line from Menander. Quoted again "De Fraterno + Amore," Sec. xx. + + [338] Reading with Halm and Hercher [Greek: en toi + pollois philois chresthai.] + + [339] Euripides, "Hippolytus," 253-257, where Dindorf + and Hercher agree in the reading. + + [340] Compare "On Education," Sec. xvii. + + [341] Chilo was one of the Seven Wise Men. See + Pausanias, iii. 16; X. 24. + + [342] For the circumstances see Euripides, "Medea," 1136 + sq. + + [343] For the friendship of Theseus and Pirithous, see + Pausanias, i. 17; x. 29. The line is from Euripides, + "Pirithous," Fragm. 591. Cf. "On Shyness," Sec. x. + + [344] Thucydides, ii. 51. + + [345] Bergk. p. 500^3. + + [346] On Proteus, see Verg. "Georg." iv. 387 sq.; Ovid, + "Art." i. 761; "Met." ii. 9; "Fasti," i. 367 sq., and + especially Horace, "Epistles," i. i. 90: "Quo teneam + vultus mutantem Protea nodo?" + + [347] Literally, "having no hearth of character," the + hearth being an emblem of stability. Compare "How One + may Discern a Flatterer from a Friend," Sec. vii., where + the same image is employed. + + + + +HOW ONE MAY DISCERN A FLATTERER FROM +A FRIEND. + + +Sec. I. Plato says,[348] Antiochus Philopappus, that all men pardon the man +who acknowledges that he is excessively fond of himself, but that there +is among many other defects this very grave one in self-love, that by it +a man becomes incapable of being a just and impartial judge about +himself, for love is blind in regard to the loved object, unless a +person has learnt and accustomed himself to honour and pursue what is +noble rather than his own selfish interests. This gives a great field +for the flatterer in friendship, who finds a wonderful base of +operations in our self-love, which makes each person his own first and +greatest flatterer, and easily admits a flatterer from without, who will +be, so he thinks and hopes, both a witness and confirmer of his good +opinion of himself. For he that lies open to the reproach of being fond +of flatterers is very fond of himself, and owing to his goodwill to +himself wishes to possess all good qualities, and thinks he actually +does; the wish is not ridiculous, but the thought is misleading and +requires a good deal of caution. And if truth is a divine thing, and, +according to Plato,[349] the beginning of all good things both to the +gods and men, the flatterer is likely to be an enemy to the gods, and +especially to Apollo, for he always sets himself against that famous +saying, "Know thyself,"[350] implanting in everybody's mind self-deceit +and ignorance of his own good or bad qualities, thus making his good +points defective and imperfect, and his bad points altogether +incorrigible. + +Sec. II. If however, as is the case with most other bad things, the +flatterer attacked only or chiefly ignoble or worthless persons, the +evil would not be so mischievous or so difficult to guard against. But +since, as wood-worms breed most in soft and sweet wood, those whose +characters are honourable and good and equitable encourage and support +the flatterer most,--and moreover, as Simonides says, "rearing of horses +does not go with the oil-flask,[351] but with fruitful fields," so we +see that flattery does not join itself to the poor, the obscure, or +those without means, but is the snare and bane of great houses and +estates, and often overturns kingdoms and principalities,--it is a +matter of no small importance, needing much foresight, to examine the +question, that so flattery may be easily detected, and neither injure +nor discredit friendship. For just as lice leave dying persons, and +abandon bodies when the blood on which they feed is drying up, so one +never yet saw flatterers dancing attendance on dry and cold poverty, but +they fasten on wealth and position and there get fat, but speedily +decamp if reverses come. But we ought not to wait to experience that, +which would be unprofitable, or rather injurious and dangerous. For not +to find friends at a time when you want them is hard, as also not to be +able to exchange an inconstant and bad friend for a constant and good +one. For a friend should be like money tried before being required, not +found faulty in our need. For we ought not to have our wits about us +only when the mischief is done, but we ought to try and prevent the +flatterer doing any harm to us: for otherwise we shall be in the same +plight as people who test deadly poisons by first tasting them, and kill +or nearly kill themselves in the experiment. We do not praise such, nor +again all those who, looking at their friend simply from the point of +view of decorum and utility, think that they can detect all agreeable +and pleasant companions as flatterers in the very act. For a friend +ought not to be disagreeable or unpleasant, nor ought friendship to be a +thing high and mighty with sourness and austerity, but even its decorous +deportment ought to be attractive and winning,[352] for by it + + "The Graces and Desire have pitched their tents,"[353] + +and not only to a person in misfortune "is it sweet to look into the +eyes of a friendly person," as Euripides[354] says, but no less does it +bring pleasure and charm in good fortune, than when it relieves the +sorrows and difficulties of adversity. And as Evenus said "fire was the +best sauce,"[355] so the deity, mixing up friendship with life, has made +everything bright and sweet and acceptable by its presence and the +enjoyment it brings. How else indeed could the flatterer insinuate +himself by the pleasure he gives, unless he knew that friendship +admitted the pleasurable element? It would be impossible to say. But +just as spurious and mock gold only imitates the brightness and glitter +of real gold, so the flatterer seems to imitate the pleasantness and +agreeableness of the real friend, and to exhibit himself ever merry and +bright, contradicting and opposing nothing. We must not however on that +account suspect all who praise as simple flatterers. For friendship +requires praise as much as censure on the proper occasion. Indeed +peevishness and querulousness are altogether alien to friendship and +social life: but when goodwill bestows praise ungrudgingly and readily +upon good actions, people endure also easily and without pain admonition +and plainspeaking, believing and continuing to love the person who took +such pleasure in praising, as if now he only blamed out of necessity. + +Sec. III. It is difficult then, someone may say, to distinguish between the +flatterer and the friend, if they differ neither in the pleasure they +give nor in the praise they bestow; for as to services and attentions +you may often see friendship outstripped by flattery. Certainly it is +so, I should reply, if we are trying to find the genuine flatterer who +handles his craft with cleverness and art, but not if, like most people, +we consider those persons flatterers who are called their own +oil-flask-carriers and table-men, men who begin to talk, as one said, +the moment their hands have been washed for dinner,[356] whose +servility, ribaldry, and want of all decency, is apparent at the first +dish and glass. It did not of course require very much discrimination to +detect Melanthius the parasite of Alexander of Pherae of flattery, who, +to those who asked how Alexander was murdered, answered, "Through his +side into my belly": or those who formed a circle round a wealthy table, +"whom neither fire, nor sword, nor steel, would keep from running to a +feast":[357] or those female flatterers in Cyprus, who after they +crossed over into Syria were nicknamed "step-ladders,"[358] because they +lay down and let the kings' wives use their bodies as steps to mount +their carriages. + +Sec. IV. What kind of flatterer then must we be on our guard against? The +one who neither seems to be nor acknowledges himself to be one: whom you +will not always find in the vicinity of your kitchen, who is not to be +caught watching the dial to see how near it is to dinner-time,[359] nor +gets so drunk as to throw himself down anyhow, but one who is generally +sober, and a busybody, and thinks he ought to have a hand in your +affairs, and wishes to share in your secrets, and as to friendship plays +rather a tragic than a satyric or comic part. For as Plato says, "it is +the height of injustice to appear to be just when you are not really +so,"[360] so we must deem the most dangerous kind of flattery not the +open but the secret, not the playful but the serious. For it throws +suspicion even upon a genuine friendship, which we may often confound +with it, if we are not careful. When Gobryas pursued one of the Magi +into a dark room, and was on the ground wrestling with him, and Darius +came up and was doubtful how he could kill one without killing both, +Gobryas bade him thrust his sword boldly through both of them;[361] but +we, since we give no assent to that saying, "Let friend perish so the +enemy perish with him,"[362] in our endeavour to distinguish the +flatterer from the friend, seeing that their resemblances are so many, +ought to take great care that we do not reject the good with the bad, +nor in sparing what is beneficial fall in with what is injurious. For as +wild grains mixed up with wheat, if very similar in size and appearance, +are not easily kept apart, for if the sieve have small holes they don't +pass through, and if large holes they pass with the corn, so flattery is +not easily distinguished from friendship, being mixed up with it in +feeling and emotion, habit and custom. + +Sec. V. Because however friendship is the most pleasant of all things, and +nothing more glads the heart of man, therefore the flatterer attracts by +the pleasure he gives, pleasure being in fact his field. And because +favours and good services accompany friendship, as the proverb says "a +friend is more necessary than fire or water,"[363] therefore the +flatterer volunteers all sorts of services, and strives to show himself +on all occasions zealous and obliging and ready. And since friendship is +mainly produced by a similarity of tastes and habits, and to have the +same likes and dislikes first brings people together and unites them +through sympathy,[364] the flatterer observing this moulds himself like +material and demeans himself accordingly, seeking completely to imitate +and resemble those whom he desires to ingratiate himself with, being +supple in change, and plausible in his imitations, so that one would +say, + + "Achilles' son, O no, it is himself."[365] + +But his cleverest trick is that, observing that freedom of speech, is +both spoken of and reckoned as the peculiar and natural voice of +friendship, while not speaking freely is considered unfriendly and +disingenuous, he has not failed to imitate this trait of friendship +also. But just as clever cooks infuse bitter sauces and sharp seasoning +to prevent sweet things from cloying, so these flatterers do not use a +genuine or serviceable freedom of speech, but merely a winking and +tickling innuendo. He is therefore difficult to detect, like those +creatures which naturally change their colour and take that of the +material or place near them.[366] But since he deceives and conceals his +true character by his imitations, it is our duty to unmask him and +detect him by the differences between him and the true friend, and to +show that he is, as Plato says, "tricked out in other people's colours +and forms, from lack of any of his own."[367] + +Sec. VI. Let us examine the matter then from the beginning. I said that +friendship originated in most cases from a similar disposition and +nature, generally inclined to the same habits and morals, and rejoicing +in the same pursuits, studies, and amusements, as the following lines +testify: "To old man the voice of old man is sweetest, to boy that of +boy, to woman is most acceptable that of woman, to the sick person that +of sick person, while he that is overtaken by misfortune is a comforter +to one in trouble." The flatterer knowing then that it is innate in us +to delight in, and enjoy the company of, and to love, those who are like +ourselves, attempts first to approach and get near a person in this +direction, (as one tries to catch an animal in the pastures,) by the +same pursuits and amusements and studies and modes of life quietly +throwing out his bait, and disguising himself in false colours, till his +victim give him an opportunity to catch him, and become tame and +tractable at his touch. Then too he censures the things and modes of +life and persons that he knows his victim dislikes, while he praises +those he fancies immoderately, overdoing it indeed[368] with his show of +surprise and excessive admiration, making him more and more convinced +that his likes and dislikes are the fruits of judgement and not of +caprice. + +Sec. VII. How then is the flatterer convicted, and by what differences is +he detected, of being only a counterfeit, and not really like his +victim? We must first then look at the even tenor and consistency of his +principles, if he always delights in the same things, and always praises +the same things, and directs and governs his life after one pattern, as +becomes the noble lover of consistent friendship and familiarity. Such a +person is a friend. But the flatterer having no fixed character of his +own,[369] and not seeking to lead the life suitable for him, but shaping +and modelling himself after another's pattern, is neither simple nor +uniform, but complex and unstable, assuming different appearances, like +water poured from vessel to vessel, ever in a state of flux and +accommodating himself entirely to the fashion of those who entertain +him. The ape indeed, as it seems, attempting to imitate man, is caught +imitating his movements and dancing like him, but the flatterer himself +attracts and decoys other men, imitating not all alike, for with one he +sings and dances, with another he wrestles and gets covered with the +dust of the palaestra, while he follows a third fond of hunting and the +chase all but shouting out the words of Phaedra, + + "How I desire to halloo on the dogs, + Chasing the dappled deer,"[370] + +and yet he has really no interest in the chase, it is the hunter himself +he sets the toils and snares for. And if the object of his pursuit is +some young scholar and lover of learning, he is all for books then, his +beard flows down to his feet,[371] he's quite a sight with his +threadbare cloak, has all the indifference of the Stoic, and speaks of +nothing but the rectangles and triangles of Plato. But if any rich and +careless fellow fond of drink come in his way, + + "Then wise Odysseus stript him of his rags,"[372] + +his threadbare cloak is thrown aside, his beard is shorn off like a +fruitless crop, he goes in for wine-coolers and tankards, and laughs +loudly in the streets, and jeers at philosophers. As they say happened +at Syracuse, when Plato went there, and Dionysius was seized with a +furious passion for philosophy, and so great was the concourse of +geometricians that they raised up quite a cloud of dust in the palace, +but when Plato fell out of favour, and Dionysius gave up philosophy, and +went back again headlong to wine and women and trifles and debauchery, +then all the court was metamorphosed, as if they all had drunk of +Circe's cup, for ignorance and oblivion and silliness reigned rampant. I +am borne out in what I say by the behaviour of great flatterers and +demagogues,[373] the greatest of whom Alcibiades, a jeerer and +horse-rearer at Athens, and living a gay and merry life, wore his hair +closely shaven at Lacedaemon, and washed in cold water, and attired +himself in a threadbare cloak; while in Thrace he fought[374] and drank; +and at Tissaphernes' court lived delicately and luxuriously and in a +pretentious style; and thus curried favour and was popular with +everybody by imitating their habits and ways. Such was not the way +however in which Epaminondas or Agesilaus acted, for though they +associated with very many men and states and different modes of life, +they maintained everywhere their usual demeanour, both in dress and diet +and language and behaviour. So Plato[375] at Syracuse was exactly the +same man as in the Academy, the same with Dionysius as with Dion. + +Sec. VIII. As to the changes of the flatterer, which resemble those of the +polypus,[376] a man may most easily detect them by himself pretending to +change about frequently, and by censuring the kind of life he used +formerly to praise, and anon approving of the words actions and modes of +life that he used to be displeased with. He will then see that the +flatterer is never consistent or himself, never loving hating rejoicing +grieving at his own initiative, but like a mirror, merely reflecting the +image of other people's emotions and manners and feelings. Such a one +will say, if you censure one of your friends to him, "You are slow in +finding the fellow out, he never pleased me from the first." But if on +the other hand you change your language and praise him, he will swear by +Zeus that he rejoices at it, and is himself under obligations to the +man, and believes in him. And if you talk of the necessity of changing +your mode of life, of retiring from public life to a life of privacy and +ease, he says, "We ought long ago to have got rid of uproar[377] and +envy." But if you think of returning again to public life, he chimes in, +"Your sentiments do you honour: retirement from business is pleasant, +but inglorious and mean." One ought to say at once to such a one, +"'Stranger, quite different now you look to what you did before.'[378] I +do not need a friend to change his opinions with me and to assent to me +in everything, my shadow will do that better, but I need one that will +speak the truth and help me with his judgement." This is one way of +detecting the flatterer. + +Sec. IX. We must also observe another difference in the resemblance between +the friend and flatterer. The true friend does not imitate you in +everything, nor is he too keen to praise, but praises only what is +excellent, for as Sophocles says, + + "He is not born to share in hate but love,"[379] + +yes, by Zeus, and he is born to share in doing what is right and in +loving what is noble, and not to share in wrong-doing or misbehaviour, +unless it be that, as a running of the eyes is catching, so through +companionship and intimacy he may against his will contract by infection +some vice or ill habit, as they say Plato's intimates imitated his +stoop, Aristotle's his lisp, and king Alexander's his holding his head a +little on one side, and rapidity of utterance in conversation,[380] for +people mostly pick up unawares such traits of character. But the +flatterer is exactly like the chameleon,[381] which takes every colour +but white, and so he, though unable to imitate what is worth his while, +leaves nothing that is bad unimitated. And just as poor painters unable +to make a fine portrait from inefficiency in their craft, bring out the +likeness by painting all the wrinkles, moles and scars, so the flatterer +imitates his friend's intemperance, superstition, hot temper, sourness +to domestics, suspicion of his friends and relations. For he is by +nature inclined to what is worst, and thinks that imitation of what is +bad is as far as possible removed from censure. For those are suspected +who have noble aims in life, and seem to be vexed and disgusted at their +friends' faults, for that injured and even ruined Dion with Dionysius, +Samius with Philip, and Cleomenes with Ptolemy. But he that wishes to be +and appear at the same time both agreeable and trustworthy pretends to +rejoice more in what is bad, as being through excessive love for his +friend not even offended at his vices, but as one with him in feeling +and nature in all matters. And so they claim to share in involuntary and +chance ailments, and pretend to have the same complaints, in flattery to +those who suffer from any, as that their eyesight and sense of hearing +are deficient, if their friends are somewhat blind or deaf, as the +flatterers of Dionysius, who was rather short-sighted, jostled one +another at a dinner party, and knocked the dishes off the table, _as if +from defect of vision_.[382] And some to make their cases more similar +wind themselves in closer, and dive even into family secrets for +parallels. For seeing that their friends are unfortunate in marriage, or +suspicious about the behaviour of their sons or relations, they do not +spare themselves, but make quite a Jeremiad about their own sons, or +wife, or kinsfolk, or relations, proclaiming loudly their own family +secrets. For similarity in situation makes people more sympathetic, and +their friends having received as it were hostages by their confessions, +entrust them in return with their secrets, and having once made +confidants of them, dare not take back their confidence.[383] I actually +know of a man who turned his wife out of doors because his friend had +put away his; but as he secretly visited her and sent messages to her, +he was detected by his friend's wife noticing his conduct. So little did +he know the nature of a flatterer that thought the following lines more +applicable to a crab than a flatterer, "His whole body is belly, his eye +is on everything, he is a creature creeping on his teeth," for such is a +true picture of the parasite, "friends of the frying-pan, hunting for a +dinner," to borrow the language of Eupolis. + +Sec. X. However let us put off all this to its proper place in the +discourse. But let us not fail to notice the wiliness of the flatterer's +imitation, in that, even if he imitates any good points in the person he +flatters, he always takes care to give him the palm. Whereas among real +friends there is no rivalry or jealousy of one another, but they are +satisfied and contented alike whether they are equal or one of them is +superior. But the flatterer, ever remembering that he is to play second +fiddle,[384] makes his copy always fall a little short of the original, +for he admits that he is everywhere outstripped and left behind, except +in vice. For in that alone he claims pre-eminence, for if his friend is +peevish, he says he is atrabilious; if his friend is superstitious, he +says he is a fanatic; if his friend is in love, he says he is madly in +love; if his friend laughs, he will say, "You laughed a little +unseasonably, but I almost died of laughter." But in regard to any good +points his action is quite the opposite. He says he can run quickly, but +his friend flies; he says he can ride pretty well, but his friend is a +Centaur on horseback. He says "I am not a bad poet, and don't write very +bad lines", + + "'But your sonorous verse is like Jove's thunder.'" + +Thus he shows at once that his friend's aims in life are good, and that +his friend has reached a height he cannot soar to. Such then are the +differences in the resemblances between the flatterer and the friend. + +Sec. XI. But since, as has been said before, to give pleasure is common to +both, for the good man delights in his friends as much as the bad man in +his flatterers, let us consider the difference between them here too. +The difference lies in the different aim of each in giving pleasure. +Look at it this way. There is no doubt a sweet smell in perfume. So +there is also in medicine. But the difference is that while in perfume +pleasure and nothing else is designed, in medicine either purging, or +warming, or adding flesh to the system, is the primary object, and the +sweet smell is only a secondary consideration. Again painters mix gay +colours and dyes: there are also some drugs which are gay in appearance +and not unpleasing in colour. What then is the difference between these? +Manifestly we distinguish by the end each aims at. So too the social +life of friends employs mirth to add a charm to some good and useful +end,[385] and sometimes makes joking and a good table and wine, aye, and +even chaff and banter, the seasoning to noble and serious matters, as +in the line, + + "Much they enjoyed talking to one another,"[386] + +and again, + + "Never did ought else + Disturb our love or joy in one another."[387] + +But the flatterer's whole aim and end is to cook up and season his joke +or word or action, so as to produce pleasure. And to speak concisely, +the flatterer's object is to please in everything he does, whereas the +true friend always does what is right, and so often gives pleasure, +often pain, not wishing the latter, but not shunning it either, if he +deems it best. For as the physician, if it be expedient, infuses saffron +or spikenard, aye, or uses some soothing fomentation or feeds his +patient up liberally, and sometimes orders castor, + + "Or poley,[388] that so strong and foully smells," + +or pounds hellebore and compels him to drink it,--neither in the one +case making unpleasantness, nor in the other pleasantness, his end and +aim, but in both studying only the interest of his patient,--so the +friend sometimes by praise and kindness, extolling him and gladdening +his heart, leads him to what is noble, as Agamemnon, + + "Teucer, dear head, thou son of Telamon, + Go on thus shooting, captain of thy men;"[389] + +or Diomede, + + "How could I e'er forget divine Odysseus?"[390] + +But where on the other hand there is need of correction, then he rebukes +with biting words and with the freedom worthy of a friend, + + "Zeus-cherished Menelaus, art thou mad, + And in thy folly tak'st no heed of safety?"[391] + +Sometimes also he joins action to word, as Menedemus sobered the +profligate and disorderly son of his friend Asclepiades, by shutting him +out of his house, and not speaking to him. And Arcesilaus forbade Bato +his school, when he wrote a line in one of his plays against Cleanthes, +and only got reconciled with him after he repented and made his peace +with Cleanthes. For we ought to give our friend pain if it will benefit +him, but not to the extent of breaking off our friendship; but just as +we make use of some biting medicine, that will save and preserve the +life of the patient. And so the friend, like a musician, in bringing +about an improvement to what is good and expedient, sometimes slackens +the chords, sometimes tightens them, and is often pleasant, but always +useful. But the flatterer, always harping on one note, and accustomed to +play his accompaniment only with a view to please and to ingratiate +himself, knows not how either to oppose in deed, or give pain in word, +but complies only with every wish, ever chiming in with and echoing the +sentiments of his patron. As then Xenophon says Agesilaus took pleasure +in being praised by those who would also censure him,[392] so ought we +to think that to please and gratify us is friendly in the person who can +also give us pain and oppose us, but to feel suspicion at an intercourse +which is merely for pleasure and gratification, and never pungent, aye +and by Zeus to have ready that saying of the Lacedaemonian, who, on +hearing king Charillus praised, said, "How can he be a good man, who is +not severe even to the bad?" + +Sec. XII. They say the gadfly attacks bulls, and the tick dogs, in the ear: +so the flatterer besieges with praise the ears of those who are fond of +praise, and sticks there and is hard to dislodge. We ought therefore +here to make a wide-awake and careful discrimination, whether the praise +is bestowed on the action or the man. It is bestowed on the action, if +people praise the absent rather than the present, if also those that +have the same aims and aspirations praise not only us but all that are +similarly disposed, and do not evidently say and do one thing at one +time, and the direct contrary at another; and the greatest test is if we +are conscious, in the matters for which we get the praise, that we have +not regretted them, and are not ashamed at them, and would not rather +have said and done differently. For our own inward judgement, +testifying the contrary and not admitting the praise, is above passion, +and impregnable and proof against the flatterer. But I know not how it +is that most people in misfortune cannot bear exhortation, but are +captivated more by condolence and sympathy, and when they have done +something wrong and acted amiss, he that by censure and blame implants +in them the stings of repentance is looked upon by them as hostile and +an accuser, while they welcome and regard as friendly and well-disposed +to them the person who bestows praise and panegyric on what they have +done. Those then that readily praise and join in applauding some word or +action on the part of someone whether in jest or earnest, only do +temporary harm for the moment, but those who injure the character by +their praise, aye, and by their flattery undermine the morals, act like +those slaves who do not steal from the bin, but from the seed corn.[393] +For they pervert the disposition, which is the seed of actions, and the +character, which is the principle and fountain of life, by attaching to +vice names that belong properly only to virtue. For as Thucydides +says,[394] in times of faction and war "people change the accustomed +meaning of words as applied to acts at their will and pleasure, for +reckless daring is then considered bravery to one's comrades, and +prudent delay specious cowardice, and sober-mindedness the cloak of the +coward, and taking everything into account before action a real desire +to do nothing." So too in the case of flattery we must observe and be on +our guard against wastefulness being called liberality, and cowardliness +prudence, and madness quick-wittedness, and meanness frugality, and the +amorous man called social and affectionate, and the term manly applied +to the passionate and vain man, and the term civil applied to the paltry +and mean man. As I remember Plato[395] says the lover is a flatterer of +the beloved one, and calls the snub nose graceful, and the aquiline nose +royal, and swarthy people manly, and fair people the children of the +gods, and the olive complexion is merely the lover's phrase to gloss +over and palliate excessive pallor. And yet the ugly man persuaded he is +handsome, or the short man persuaded he is tall, cannot long remain in +the error, and receives only slight injury from it, and not irreparable +mischief: but praise applied to vices as if they were virtues, so that +one is not vexed but delighted with a vicious life, removes all shame +from wrong-doing, and was the ruin of the Sicilians, by calling the +savage cruelty of Dionysius and Phalaris detestation of wickedness and +uprightness. It was the ruin of Egypt, by styling Ptolemy's effeminacy, +and superstition, and howlings, and beating of drums, religion and +service to the gods.[396] It was nearly the overthrow and destruction of +the ancient manners of the Romans, palliating the luxury and +intemperance and display of Antony as exhibitions of jollity and +kindliness, when his power and fortune were at their zenith. What else +invested Ptolemy[397] with his pipe and fiddle? What else brought +Nero[398] on the tragic stage, and invested him with the mask and +buskins? Was it not the praise of flatterers? And are not many kings +called Apollos if they can just sing a song,[399] and Dionysuses if they +get drunk, and Herculeses if they can wrestle, and do they not joy in +such titles, and are they not dragged into every kind of disgrace by +flattery? + +Sec. XIII. Wherefore we must be especially on our guard against the +flatterer in regard to praise; as indeed he is very well aware himself, +and clever to avoid suspicion. If he light upon some dandy, or rustic in +a thick leather garment, he treats him with nothing but jeers and +mocks,[400] as Struthias insulted Bias, ironically praising him for his +stupidity, saying, "You have drunk more than king Alexander,"[401] and, +"that he was ready to die of laughing at his tale about the +Cyprian."[402] But when he sees people more refined very much on their +guard, and observing both time and place, he does not praise them +directly, but draws off a little and wheels round and approaches them +noiselessly, as one tries to catch a wild animal. For sometimes he +reports to a man the panegyric of other persons upon him, (as orators +do, introducing some third person,) saying that he had a very pleasant +conversation in the market with some strangers and men of worth, who +mentioned how they admired his many good points. On another occasion he +concocts and fabricates some false and trifling charges against him, +pretending he has heard them from other people, and runs up with a +serious face and inquires, where he said or did such and such a thing. +And upon his denying he ever did, he pounces on him at once[403] and +compliments his man with, "I thought it strange that you should have +spoken ill of your friends, seeing that you don't even treat your +enemies so: and that you should have tried to rob other people, seeing +that you are so lavish with your own money." + +Sec. XIV. Other flatterers again, just as painters heighten the effect of +their pictures by the combination of light and shade, so by censure +abuse detraction and ridicule of the opposite virtues secretly praise +and foment the actual vices of those they flatter. Thus they censure +modesty as merely rustic behaviour in the company of profligates, and +greedy people, and villains, and such as have got rich by evil and +dishonourable courses; and contentment and uprightness they call having +no spirit or energy in action; and when they associate with lazy and +idle persons who avoid all public duties, they are not ashamed to call +the life of a citizen wearisome meddling in other people's affairs, and +the desire to hold office fruitless vain-glory. And some ere now to +flatter an orator have depreciated a philosopher, and others won favour +with wanton women by traducing those wives who are faithful to their +husbands as constitutionally cold and countrybred. And by an acme of +villainy flatterers do not always spare even themselves. For as +wrestlers stoop that they may the easier give their adversaries a fall, +so by censuring themselves they glide into praising others. "I am a +cowardly slave," says such a one, "at sea, I shirk labour, I am madly in +rage if a word is said against me; but this man fears nothing, has no +vices, is a rare good fellow, patient and easy in all circumstances." +But if a person has an excellent idea of his own good sense, and desires +to be austere and self-opinionated, and in his moral rectitude is ever +spouting that line of Homer, + + "Tydides, neither praise nor blame me much,"[404] + +the artistic flatterer does not attack him as he attacked others, but +employs against such a one a new device. For he comes to him about his +own private affairs, as if desirous to have the advice of one wiser than +himself; he has, he says, more intimate friends, but he is obliged to +trouble him; "for whither shall we that are deficient in judgement go? +whom shall we trust?" And having listened to his utterance he departs, +saying he has received an oracle not an opinion. And if he notices that +somebody lays claim to experience in oratory, he gives him some of his +writings, and begs him to read and correct them. So, when king +Mithridates took a fancy to play the surgeon, several of his friends +offered themselves for operating upon, as for cutting or cauterizing, +flattering in deed and not in word, for his being credited by them would +seem to prove his skill.[405] + + "For Providence has many different aspects."[406] + +But we can test this kind of negative praise, that needs more wary +caution, by purposely giving strange advice and suggestions, and by +adopting absurd corrections. For if he raises no objection but nods +assent to everything, and approves of everything, and is always crying +out, "Good! How admirable!" he is evidently + + "Asking advice, but seeking something else," + +wishing by praise to puff you up. + +Sec. XV. Moreover, as some have defined painting to be silent poetry,[407] +so is there praise in silent flattery. For as hunters are more likely to +catch the objects of their chase unawares, if they do not openly appear +to be so engaged, but seem to be walking, or tending their sheep, or +looking after the farm, so flatterers obtain most success in their +praise, when they do not seem to be praising but to be doing something +else. For he who gives up his place or seat to the great man when he +comes in, and while making a speech to the people or senate breaks off +even in the middle, if he observes any rich man wants to speak, and +gives up to him alike speech and platform, shows by his silence even +more than he would by any amount of vociferation that he thinks the +other the better man, and superior to him in judgement. And consequently +you may always see them occupying the best places at theatres and public +assembly rooms, not that they think themselves worthy of them, but that +they may flatter the rich by giving up their places to them; and at +public meetings they begin speaking first, and then make way as for +better men, and most readily take back their own view, if any +influential or rich or famous person espouse the contrary view. And so +one can see plainly that all such servility and drawing back on their +part is a lowering their sails, not to experience or virtue or age, but +to wealth and fame. Not so Apelles the famous painter, who, when +Megabyzus sat with him, and wished to talk about lines and shades, said +to him, "Do you see my lads yonder grinding colours, they admired just +now your purple and gold, but now they are laughing at you for beginning +to talk about what you don't understand."[408] And Solon, when Croesus +asked him about happiness, replied that Tellus, an obscure Athenian, and +Bito and Cleobis were happier than he was.[409] But flatterers proclaim +kings and rich men and rulers not only happy and fortunate, but also +pre-eminent for wisdom, and art, and every virtue. + +Sec. XVI. Now some cannot bear to hear the assertion of the Stoics[410] +that the wise man is at once rich, and handsome, and noble, and a king; +but flatterers declare that the rich man is at once orator and poet, and +(if he likes) painter, and flute-player, and swift-footed, and strong, +falling down if he wrestles with them, and if contending with him in +running letting him win the race, as Crisso of Himera purposely allowed +Alexander to outrun him, which vexed the king very much when he heard of +it.[411] And Carneades said that the sons of rich men and kings learnt +nothing really well and properly except how to ride, for their master +praised and flattered them in their studies, and the person who taught +them wrestling always let them throw him, whereas the horse, not knowing +or caring whether his rider were a private person or ruler, rich or +poor, soon threw him over his head if he could not ride well. Simple +therefore and fatuous was that remark of Bion, "If you could by +encomiums make your field to yield well and be fruitful, you could not +be thought wrong in tilling it so rather than digging it and labouring +in it: nor would it be strange in you to praise human beings if by so +doing you could be useful and serviceable to them." For a field does not +become worse by being praised, but those who praise a man falsely and +against his deserts puff him up and ruin him. + +Sec. XVII. Enough has been said on this matter: let us now examine +outspokenness. For just as Patroclus put on the armour of Achilles, and +drove his horses to the battle, only durst not touch his spear from +Mount Pelion, but let that alone, so ought the flatterer, tricked out +and modelled in the distinctive marks and tokens of the friend, to leave +untouched and uncopied only his outspokenness, as the special burden of +friendship, "heavy, huge, strong."[412] But since flatterers, to avoid +the blame they incur by their buffoonery, and drinking, and gibes, and +jokes, sometimes work their ends by frowns and gravity, and intermix +censure and reproof, let us not pass this over either without +examination. And I think, as in Menander's Play the sham Hercules comes +on the stage not with a club stout and strong, but with a light and +hollow cane, so the outspokenness of the flatterer is to those who +experience it mild and soft, and the very reverse of vigorous, and like +those cushions for women's heads, which seem able to stand their ground, +but in reality yield and give way under their pressure; so this sham +outspokenness is puffed up and inflated with an empty and spurious and +hollow bombast, that when it contracts and collapses draws in the person +who relies on it. For true and friendly outspokenness attacks +wrong-doers, bringing pain that is salutary and likely to make them more +careful, like honey biting but cleansing ulcerated parts of the +body,[413] but in other respects serviceable and sweet. But we will +speak of this anon.[414] But the flatterer first exhibits himself as +disagreeable and passionate and unforgiving in his dealings with others. +For he is harsh to his servants, and a terrible fellow to attack and +ferret out the faults of his kinsmen and friends, and to look up to and +respect nobody who is a stranger, but to look down upon them, and is +relentless and mischief-making in making people provoked with others, +hunting after the reputation of hating vice, as one not likely knowingly +to mince matters with the vicious, or ingratiate himself with them +either in word or deed. Next he pretends to know nothing of real and +great crimes, but he is a terrible fellow to inveigh against trifling +and external shortcomings, and to fasten on them with intensity and +vehemence, as if he sees any pot or pipkin out of its place, or anyone +badly housed, or neglecting his beard or attire, or not adequately +attending to a horse or dog. But contempt of parents, and neglect of +children, and bad treatment of wife, and haughtiness to friends, and +throwing away money, all this he cares nothing about, but is silent and +does not dare to make any allusion to it: just as if the trainer in a +gymnasium were to allow the athlete to get drunk and live in +debauchery,[415] and yet be vexed at the condition of his oil-flask or +strigil if out of order; or as if the schoolmaster scolded a boy about +his tablet and pen, but paid no attention to a solecism or barbarism. +The flatterer is like a man who should make no comment on the speech of +a silly and ridiculous orator, but should find fault with his voice, and +chide him for injuring his throat by drinking cold water; or like a +person bidden to read some wretched composition, who should merely find +fault with the thickness of the paper, and call the copyist a dirty and +careless fellow. So too when Ptolemy seemed to desire to become learned, +his flatterers used to spin out the time till midnight, disputing about +some word or line or history, but not one of them all objected to his +cruelty and outrages, his torturing and beating people to death.[416] +Just as if, when a man has tumours and fistulas, one were to cut his +hair and nails with a surgeon's knife, so flatterers use outspokenness +only in cases where it gives no pain or distress. + +Sec. XVIII. Moreover some of them are cleverer still and make their +outspokenness and censure a means of imparting pleasure. As Agis the +Argive,[417] when Alexander bestowed great gifts on a buffoon, cried out +in envy and displeasure, "What a piece of absurdity!" and on the king +turning angrily to him and saying, "What are you talking about?" he +replied, "I admit that I am vexed and put out, when I see that all you +descendants of Zeus alike take delight in flatterers and jesters, for +Hercules had his Cercopes, and Dionysus his Sileni, and with you too I +see that such are held in good repute." And on one occasion, when the +Emperor Tiberius entered the senate, one of his flatterers got up and +said, that being free men they ought to be outspoken, and not suppress +or conceal anything that might be important, and having by this exordium +engaged everybody's attention, a dead silence prevailing, and even +Tiberius being all attention, he said, "Listen, Caesar, to what we all +charge you with, although no one ventures to tell you openly of it; you +neglect yourself, and are careless about your health, and wear yourself +out with anxiety and labour on our behalf, taking no rest either by +night or day." And on his stringing much more together in the same +strain, they say the orator Cassius Severus said, "This outspokenness +will ruin the man." + +Sec. XIX. These are indeed trifling matters: but the following are more +important and do mischief to foolish people, when flatterers accuse them +of the very contrary vices and passions to those to which they are +really addicted; as Himerius the flatterer twitted a very rich, very +mean, and very covetous Athenian with being a careless spendthrift, and +likely one day to want bread as well as his children; or on the other +hand if they rail at extravagant spendthrifts for meanness and +sordidness, as Titus Petronius railed at Nero; or exhort rulers who make +savage and cruel attacks on their subjects to lay aside their excessive +clemency, and unseasonable and inexpedient mercy. Similar to these is +the person who pretends to be on his guard against and afraid of a silly +stupid fellow as if he were clever and cunning; and the one who, if any +person fond of detraction, rejoicing in defamation and censure, should +be induced on any occasion to praise some man of note, fastens on him +and alleges against him that he has an itch for praising people. "You +are always extolling people of no merit: for who is this fellow, or what +has he said or done out of the common?" But it is in regard to the +objects of their love that they mostly attack those they flatter, and +additionally inflame them. For if they see people at variance with their +brothers, or despising their parents, or treating their wives +contemptuously, they neither take them to task nor scold them, but fan +the flame of their anger still more. "You don't sufficiently appreciate +yourself," they say, "you are yourself the cause of your being put upon +in this way, through your constant submissiveness and humility." And if +there is any tiff or fit of jealousy in regard to some courtesan or +adulteress, the flatterer is at hand with remarkable outspokenness, +adding fuel to flame,[418] and taking the lady's part, and accusing her +lover of acting in a very unkind harsh and shameful manner to her, + + "O ingrate, after all those frequent kisses!"[419] + +Thus Antony's friends, when he was passionately in love with the +Egyptian woman,[420] persuaded him that he was loved by her, and twitted +him with being cold and haughty to her. "She," they said, "has left her +mighty kingdom and happy mode of life, and is wasting her beauty, taking +the field with you like some camp-follower, + + "The while your heart is proof 'gainst all her charms,"[421] + +as you neglect her love-lorn as she is." But he that is pleased at being +reproached with his wrong-doing, and delights in those that censure him, +as he never did in those that praised him, is unconscious that he is +really perverted also by what seems to be rebuke. For such outspokenness +is like the bites of wanton women,[422] that while seeming to hurt +really tickle and excite pleasure. And just as if people mix pure wine, +which is by itself an antidote against hemlock, with it and so offer it, +they make the poison quite deadly, being rapidly carried to the heart by +the warmth,[423] so ill-disposed men, knowing that outspokenness is a +great antidote to flattery, make it a means of flattering. And so it was +rather a bad answer Bias[424] made, to the person who inquired what was +the most formidable animal, "Of wild animals the tyrant, and of tame the +flatterer." For it would have been truer to observe that tame flatterers +are those that are found round the baths and table, but the one that +intrudes into the interior of the house and into the women's apartments +with his curiosity and calumny and malignity, like the legs and arms of +the polypus, is wild and savage and unmanageable. + +Sec. XX. Now one kind of caution against his snares is to know and ever +remember that, whereas the soul contains true and noble and reasoning +elements, as also unreasoning and false and emotional ones, the friend +is always a counsellor and adviser to the better instincts of the soul, +as the physician improves and maintains health, whereas the flatterer +works upon the emotional and unreasoning ones, and tickles and +titillates them and seduces them from reason, employing sensuality as +his bait. As then there are some kinds of food which neither benefit the +blood or spirit, nor brace up the nerves and marrow, but stir the +passions, excite the lower nature, and make the flesh unsound and +rotten, so the language of the flatterer adds nothing to soberness and +reason, but encourages some love passion, or stirs up foolish rage, or +incites to envy, or produces the empty and burdensome vanity of pride, +or joins in bewailing woes, or ever by his calumnies and hints makes +malignity and illiberality and suspicion sharp and timid and jealous, +and cannot fail to be detected by those that closely observe him. For he +is ever anchoring himself upon some passion, and fattening it, and, like +a bubo, fastens himself on some unsound and inflamed parts of the soul. +Are you angry? Have your revenge, says he. Do you desire anything? Get +it. Are you afraid? Let us flee. Do you suspect? Entertain no doubts +about it. But if he is difficult to detect in thus playing upon our +passions, since they often overthrow reason by their intensity and +strength, he will give a handle to find him out in smaller matters, +being consistent in them too. For if anyone feels a little uneasy after +a surfeit or excess in drink, and so is a little particular about his +food and doubts the advisability of taking a bath, a friend will try and +check him from excess, and bid him be careful and not indulge, whereas +the flatterer will drag him to the bath, bid him serve up some fresh +food, and not starve himself and so injure his constitution. And if he +see him reluctant about a journey or voyage or some business or other, +he will say that there is no hurry, that it's all one whether the +business be put off, or somebody else despatched to look after it. And +if you have promised to lend or give some money to a friend, but have +repented of your offer, and yet feel ashamed not to keep your promise, +the flatterer will throw his influence into the worse scale, he will +confirm your desire to save your purse, he will destroy your reluctance, +and will bid you be careful as having many expenses, and others to think +about besides that person. And so, unless we are entirely ignorant of +our desires, our shamelessness, and our timidity, the flatterer cannot +easily escape our detection. For he is ever the advocate of those +passions, and outspoken when we desire to repress them.[425] But so much +for this matter. + +Sec. XXI. Now let us pass on to useful and kind services, for in them too +the flatterer makes it very difficult and confusing to detect him from +the friend, seeming to be zealous and ready on all occasions and never +crying off. For, as Euripides says,[426] a friend's behaviour is, "like +the utterance of truth, simple," and plain and inartificial, while that +of the flatterer "is in itself unsound, and needs wise remedies," aye, +by Zeus, and many such, and not ordinary ones. As for example in chance +meetings the friend often neither speaks nor is spoken to, but merely +looks and smiles, and then passes on, showing his inner affection and +goodwill only by his countenance, which his friend also reciprocates, +but the flatterer runs up, follows, holds out his hand at a distance, +and if he is seen and addressed first, frequently protests with oaths, +and calls witnesses to prove, that he did not see you. So in business +friends neglect many unimportant points, are not too punctilious and +officious, and do not thrust themselves upon every service, but the +flatterer is persevering and unceasing and indefatigable in it, giving +nobody else either room or place to help, but putting himself wholly at +your disposal, and if you will not find him something to do for you, he +is troubled, nay rather altogether dejected and lamenting loudly.[427] + +Sec. XXII. To all sensible people all this is an indication, not of true or +sober friendship, but of a meretricious one, that embraces you more +warmly than there is any occasion for. Nevertheless let us first look at +the difference between the friend and flatterer in their promises. For +it has been well said by those who have handled this subject before us, +that the friend's promise is, + + "If I can do it, and 'tis to be done," + +but the flatterer's is, + + "Speak out your mind, whate'er it is, to me."[428] + +And the comic dramatists put such fellows on the stage, + + "Nicomachus, pit me against that soldier, + See if I beat him not into a jelly, + And make his face e'en softer than a sponge."[429] + +In the next place no friend participates in any matter, unless he has +first been asked his advice, and put the matter to the test, and set it +on a suitable and expedient basis. But the flatterer, if anyone allows +him to examine a matter and give his opinion on it, not only wishes to +gratify him by compliance, but also fearing to be looked upon with +suspicion as unwilling and reluctant to engage in the business, gives in +to and even urges on his friend's desire. For there is hardly any king +or rich man who would say, + + "O that a beggar I could find, or worse + Than beggar, if, with good intent to me, + He would lay bare his heart boldly and honestly;"[430] + +but, like the tragedians, they require a chorus of sympathizing friends, +or the applause of a theatre. And so Merope gives the following advice +in the tragedy, + + "Choose you for friends those who will speak their mind, + For those bad men that only speak to please + See that you bolt and bar out of your house."[431] + +But they act just the contrary, for they turn away with horror from +those who speak their mind, and hold different views as to what is +expedient, while they welcome those bad and illiberal impostors (that +only speak to please them) not only within their houses, but also to +their affections and secrets. Now the simpler of these do not think +right or claim to advise you in important matters, but only to assist in +the carrying out of them: but the more cunning one stands by during the +discussion, and knits his brows, and nods assent with his head, but says +nothing, but if his friend express an opinion, he then says, "Hercules, +you only just anticipated me, I was about to make that very remark." For +as the mathematicians tell us that surfaces and lines neither bend nor +extend nor move of themselves, being without body and only perceived by +the mind, but only bend and extend and change their position with the +bodies whose extremities they are: so you will catch the flatterer ever +assenting with, and agreeing with, aye, and feeling with, and being +angry with, another, so easy of detection in all these points of view is +the difference between the friend and the flatterer. Moreover as regards +the kind of good service. For the favour done by a friend, as the +principal strength of an animal is within, is not for display or +ostentation, but frequently as a doctor cures his patient imperceptibly, +so a friend benefits by his intervention, or by paying off creditors, or +by managing his friend's affairs, even though the person who receives +the benefit may not be aware of it. Such was the behaviour of Arcesilaus +on various occasions, and when Apelles[432] of Chios was ill, knowing +his poverty, he took with him twenty drachmae when he visited him, and +sitting down beside him he said, "There is nothing here but those +elements of Empedocles, 'fire and water and earth and balmy expanse of +air,' but you don't lie very comfortably," and with that he moved his +pillow, and privately put the money under it. And when his old +housekeeper found it, and wonderingly told Apelles of it, he laughed and +said, "This is some trick of Arcesilaus." And the saying is also true in +philosophy that "children are like their parents."[433] For when +Cephisocrates had to stand his trial on a bill of indictment, Lacydes +(who was an intimate friend of Arcesilaus) stood by him with several +other friends, and when the prosecutor asked for his ring, which was the +principal evidence against him, Cephisocrates quietly dropped it on the +ground, and Lacydes noticing this put his foot on it and so hid it. And +after sentence was pronounced in his favour, Cephisocrates going up to +thank the jury, one of them who had seen the artifice told him to thank +Lacydes, and related to him all the matter, though Lacydes had not said +a word about it to anybody. So also I think the gods do often perform +benefits secretly, taking a natural delight in bestowing their favours +and bounties.[434] But the good service of the flatterer has no justice, +or genuineness, or simplicity, or liberality about it; but is +accompanied with sweat, and running about, and noise, and knitting of +the brow, creating an impression and appearance of toilsome and bustling +service, like a painting over-curiously wrought in bold colours, and +with bent folds wrinkles and angles, to make the closer resemblance to +life. Moreover he tires one by relating what journeys and anxieties he +has had over the matter, how many enemies he has made over it, the +thousand bothers and annoyances he has gone through, so that you say, +"The affair was not worth all this trouble." For being reminded of any +favour done to one is always unpleasant and disagreeable and +insufferable:[435] but the flatterer not only reminds us of his services +afterwards, but even during the very moment of doing them upbraids us +with them and is importunate. But the friend, if he is obliged to +mention the matter, relates it modestly, and says not a word about +himself. And so, when the Lacedaemonians sent corn to the people of +Smyrna that needed it, and the people of Smyrna wondered at their +kindness, the Lacedaemonians said, "It was no great matter, we only voted +that we and our beasts of burden should go without our dinner one day, +and sent what was so saved to you."[436] Not only is it handsome to do a +favour in that way, but it is more pleasant to the receivers of it, +because they think those who have done them the service have done it at +no great loss to themselves. + +Sec. XXIII. But it is not so much by the importunity of the flatterer in +regard to services, nor by his facility in making promises, that one can +recognize his nature, as by the honourable or dishonourable kind of +service, and by the regard to please or to be of real use. For the +friend is not as Gorgias defined him, one who will ask his friend to +help him in what is right, while he will himself do many services for +his friend that are not right. + + "For friend should share in good not in bad action."[437] + +He will therefore rather try and turn him away from what is not +becoming, and if he cannot persuade him, good is that answer of Phocion +to Antipater, "You cannot have me both as friend and flatterer,"[438] +that is, as friend and no friend. For one must indeed assist one's +friend but not do anything wrong for him, one must advise with him but +not plot with him, one must bear witness for him but not join him in +fraud, one must certainly share adversity with him but not crime. For +since we should not wish even to know of our friends' dishonourable +acts, much less should we desire to share their dishonour by acting with +them. As then the Lacedaemonians, when conquered in battle by Antipater, +on settling the terms of peace, begged that he would lay upon them what +burdens he pleased, provided he enjoined nothing dishonourable, so the +friend, if any necessity arise involving expense or danger or trouble, +is the first to desire to be applied to and share in it with alacrity +and without crying off, but if there be anything disgraceful in +connection with it he begs to have nothing to do with it. The flatterer +on the contrary cries off from toilsome and dangerous employments, and +if you put him to the test by ringing him,[439] he returns a hollow and +spurious sound, and finds some excuse; whereas use him in disgraceful +and low and disreputable service, and trample upon him, he will think no +treatment too bad or ignominious. Have you observed the ape? He cannot +guard the house like the dog, nor bear burdens like the horse, nor +plough like the ox, so he has to bear insult and ribaldry, and put up +with being made sport of, exhibiting himself as an instrument to produce +laughter. So too the flatterer, who can neither advocate your cause, nor +give you useful counsel, nor share in your contention with anybody, but +shirks all labour and toil, never makes any excuses in underhand +transactions, is sure to lend a helping hand in any love affair, is +energetic in setting free some harlot, and not careless in clearing off +the account of a drinking score, nor remiss in making preparations for +banquets, and obsequious to concubines, but if ordered to be uncivil to +your relations, or to help in turning your wife out of doors, he is +relentless and not to be put out of countenance. So that he is not hard +to detect here too. For if ordered to do anything you please +disreputable or dishonourable, he is ready to take any pains to oblige +you. + +Sec. XXIV. One might detect again how greatly the flatterer differs from +the friend by his behaviour to other friends. For the friend is best +pleased with loving and being beloved by many, and also always tries to +contrive for his friend that he too may be much loved and honoured, for +he believes in the proverb "the goods of friends are common +property,"[440] and thinks it ought to apply to nothing more than to +friends; but the false and spurious and counterfeit friend, knowing how +much he debases friendship, like debased and spurious coin, is not only +by nature envious, but shows his envy even of those who are like +himself, striving to outdo them in scurrility and gossip, while he +quakes and trembles at any of his betters, not by Zeus "merely walking +on foot by their Lydian chariot," but, to use the language of Simonides, +"not even, having pure lead by comparison with their refined +gold."[441] Whenever then, being light and counterfeit and false, he is +put to the test at close quarters with a true and solid and cast-iron +friendship, he cannot stand the test but is detected at once, and +imitates the conduct of the painter that painted some wretched cocks, +for he ordered his lad to scare away all live cocks as far from his +picture as possible. So he too scares away real friends and will not let +them come near if he can help it, but if he cannot prevent that, he +openly fawns upon them, and courts them, and admires them as his +betters, but privately runs them down and spreads calumnies about them. +And when secret detraction has produced a sore feeling,[442] if he has +not effected his end completely, he remembers and observes the teaching +of Medius, who was the chief of Alexander's flatterers, and a leading +sophist in conspiracy against the best men. He bade people confidently +sow their calumny broadcast and bite with it, teaching them that even if +the person injured should heal his sore, the scar of the calumny would +remain. Consumed by these scars, or rather gangrenes and cancers, +Alexander put to death Callisthenes, and Parmenio, and Philotas; while +he himself submitted to be completely outwitted by such as Agnon, and +Bagoas, and Agesias, and Demetrius, who worshipped him and tricked him +up and feigned him to be a barbaric god. So great is the power of +flattery, and nowhere greater, as it seems, than among the greatest +people. For their thinking and wishing the best about themselves makes +them credit the flatterer, and gives him courage.[443] For lofty heights +are difficult of approach and hard to reach for those who endeavour to +scale them, but the highmindedness and conceit of a person thrown off +his balance by good fortune or good natural parts is easily reached by +mean and petty people. + +Sec. XXV. And so we advised at the beginning of this discourse, and now +advise again, to cut off self-love and too high an opinion of ourselves; +for that flatters us first, and makes us more impressionable and +prepared for external flatterers. But if we hearken to the god, and +recognize the immense importance to everyone of that saying, "Know +thyself,"[444] and at the same time carefully observe our nature and +education and training, with its thousand shortcomings in respect to +good, and the large proportion of vice and vanity mixed up with our +words and deeds and feelings, we shall not make ourselves so easy a mark +for flatterers. Alexander said that he disbelieved those who called him +a god chiefly in regard to sleep and the sexual delight, for in both +those things he was more ignoble and emotional than in other +respects.[445] So we, if we observe the blots, blemishes, shortcomings, +and imperfections of our private selves, shall perceive clearly that we +do not need a friend who shall bestow upon us praise and panegyric, but +one that will reprove us, and speak plainly to us, aye, by Zeus, and +censure us if we have done amiss. For it is only a few out of many that +venture to speak plainly to their friends rather than gratify them, and +even among those few you will not easily find any who know how to do so +properly, for they think they are outspoken when they abuse and scold. +And yet, just as in the case of any other medicine, to employ freedom of +speech unseasonably is only to give needless pain and trouble, and in a +manner to do so as to produce vexation the very thing the flatterer does +so as to produce pleasure. For it does people harm not only to praise +them unseasonably but also to blame them unseasonably, and especially +exposes them to the successful attack of flatterers, for, like water, +they abandon the rugged hills for the soft grassy valleys. And so +outspokenness ought to be tempered with kindness, and reason ought to be +called in to correct its excessive tartness, (as we tone down the too +powerful glare of a lamp), that people may not, by being troubled and +grieved at continual blame and rebuke, fly for refuge to the shade of +the flatterer, and turn aside to him to free themselves from annoyance. +For we ought, Philopappus, to banish all vice by virtue, not by the +opposite vice, as some hold,[446] by exchanging modesty for impudence, +and countrified ways for town ribaldry, and by removing their character +as far as possible from cowardice and effeminacy, even if that should +make people get very near to audacity and foolhardiness. And some even +make superstition a plea for atheism, and stupidity a plea for knavery, +perverting their nature, like a stick bent double, from inability to set +it straight. But the basest disowning of flattery is to be disagreeable +without any purpose in view, and it shows an altogether inelegant and +clumsy unfitness for social intercourse to shun by unpleasing moroseness +the suspicion of being mean and servile in friendship; like the freedman +in the comedy who thought railing only enjoying freedom of speech. +Seeing then, that it is equally disgraceful to become a flatterer +through trying only to please, as in avoiding flattery to destroy all +friendship and intimacy by excessive freedom of speech, we must avoid +both these extremes, and, as in any other case, make our freedom of +speech agreeable by its moderation. So the subject itself seems next to +demand that I should conclude it by discussing that point. + +Sec. XXVI. As then we see that much trouble arises from excessive freedom +of speech, let us first of all detach from it any element of self-love, +being carefully on our guard that we may not appear to upbraid on +account of any private hurt or injury. For people do not regard a speech +on the speaker's own behalf as arising from goodwill, but from anger, +and reproach rather than admonition. For freedom in speech is friendly +and has weight, but reproach is selfish and little. And so people +respect and admire those that speak their mind freely, but accuse back +and despise those that reproach them: as Agamemnon would not stand the +moderate freedom of speech of Achilles, but submitted to and endured +the bitter attack and speech of Odysseus, + + "Pernicious chief, would that thou didst command + Some sorry host, and not such men as these!"[447] + +for he was restrained by the carefulness and sobriety of his speech, and +also Odysseus had no private motive of anger but only spoke out on +behalf of Greece,[448] whereas Achilles seemed rather vexed on his own +account. And Achilles himself, though not sweet-tempered or mild of +mood, but "a terrible man, and one that would perchance blame an +innocent person,"[449] yet silently listened to Patroclus bringing +against him many such charges as the following, + + "Pitiless one, thy sire never was + Knight Peleus, nor thy mother gentle Thetis, + But the blue sea and steep and rocky crags + Thy parents were, so flinty is thy heart."[450] + +For as Hyperides the orator bade the Athenians consider not only whether +he spoke bitterly, but whether he spoke so from interested motives,[451] +so the rebuke of a friend void of all private feeling is solemn and +grave and what one dare not lightly face. And if anyone shows plainly in +his freedom of speech, that he altogether passes over and dismisses any +offences his friend has done to himself, and only blames him for other +shortcomings, and does not spare him but gives him pain for the +interests of others, the tone of his outspokenness is invincible, and +the sweetness of his manner even intensifies the bitterness and +austerity of his rebuke. And so it has well been said, that in anger and +differences with our friends we ought more especially to act with a view +to their interest or honour. And no less friendly is it, when it appears +that we have been passed over and neglected, to boldly put in a word for +others that are neglected too, and to remind people of them, as Plato, +when he was out of favour with Dionysius, begged for an audience, and +Dionysius granted it, thinking that Plato had some personal grievance +and was going to enter into it, but Plato opened the conversation as +follows, "If, Dionysius, you knew that some enemy had sailed to Sicily +with a view to do you some harm, but found no opportunity, would you +allow him to sail back again, and go off scot-free?" "Certainly not, +Plato," replied Dionysius, "for we must not only hate and punish the +deeds of our enemies, but also their intentions." "If then," said Plato, +"anyone has come here for your benefit, and wishes to do you good, and +you do not find him an opportunity, is it right to let him go away with +neglect and without thanks?" And on Dionysius asking, who he meant, he +replied, "I mean AEschines, a man of as good a character as any of +Socrates' pupils whatever, and able to improve by his conversation any +with whom he might associate: and he is neglected, though he has made a +long voyage here to discuss philosophy with you." This speech so +affected Dionysius, that he at once threw his arms round Plato and +embraced him, admiring his benevolence and loftiness of mind, and +treated AEschines well and handsomely. + +Sec. XXVII. In the next place, let us clear away as it were and remove all +insolence, and jeering, and mocking, and ribaldry, which are the evil +seasonings of freedom of speech. For as, when the surgeon performs an +operation, a certain neatness and delicacy of touch ought to accompany +his use of the knife, but all pantomimic and venturesome and fashionable +suppleness and over-finicalness ought to be far away from his hand, so +freedom of speech admits of dexterity and politeness, provided that a +pleasant way of putting it does not destroy the power of the rebuke, for +impudence and coarseness and insolence, if added to freedom of speech, +entirely mar and ruin the effect. And so the harper plausibly and +elegantly silenced Philip, who ventured to dispute with him about proper +playing on the harp, by answering him, "God forbid that you should be so +unfortunate, O king, as to understand harping better than me." But that +was not a right answer of Epicharmus, when Hiero a few days after +putting to death some of his friends invited him to supper, "You did not +invite me," he said, "the other day, when you sacrificed your friends." +Bad also was that answer of Antiphon, who, when Dionysius asked him +"which was the best kind of bronze," answered, "That of which the +Athenians made statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton." For this +unpleasant and bitter kind of language profits not those that use it, +nor does scurrility and puerile jesting please, but such kind of +speeches are indications of an incontinent tongue inspired by hate, and +full of malignity and insolence, and those who use such language do but +ruin themselves, recklessly dancing on the verge of a well.[452] For +Antiphon was put to death by Dionysius, and Timagenes lost the +friendship of Augustus, not by using on any occasion too free a tongue, +but at supper-parties and walks always declining to talk seriously, +"only saying what he knew would make the Argives laugh,"[453] and thus +virtually charging friendship with being only a cloak for abuse. For +even the comic poets have introduced on the stage many grave sentiments +well adapted to public life, but joking and ribaldry being mixed with +them, like insipid sauces with food, destroy their effect and make them +lose their nourishing power, so that the comic poets only get a +reputation for malignity and coarseness, and the audience get no benefit +from what is said. We may on other occasions jest and laugh with our +friends, but let our outspokenness be coupled with seriousness and +gravity, and if it be on important matters, let our speech be +trustworthy and moving from its pathos, and animation, and tone of +voice. And on all occasions to let an opportunity slip by is very +injurious, but especially does it destroy the usefulness of freedom of +speech. It is plain therefore that we must abstain from freedom of +speech when men are in their cups. For he disturbs the harmony of a +social gathering[454] who, in the midst of mirth and jollity, introduces +a topic that shall knit the brows and contract the face, and shall act +as a damper to the Lysian[455] god, who, as Pindar says, "looses the +rope of all our cares and anxieties." There is also great danger in such +ill-timed freedom of speech. For wine makes people easily slip into +rage, and oftentimes freedom of speech in liquor makes enemies. And +generally speaking it is not noble or brave but cowardly to conceal your +ideas when people are sober and to give free vent to them at table, +snarling like cowardly dogs. We need say no more therefore on this head. + +Sec. XXVIII. But since many people do not think fit or even dare to find +fault with their friends when in prosperity, but think that condition +altogether out of the reach and range of rebuke, but inveigh against +them if they have made a slip or stumble, and trample upon them if they +are in dejection and in their power, and, like a stream swollen above +its banks, pour upon them then the torrent of all their eloquence,[456] +and enjoy and are glad at their reverse of fortune, owing to their +former contempt of them when they were poor themselves, it is not amiss +to discuss this somewhat, and to answer those words of Euripides, + + "What need of friends, when things go well with us?"[457] + +for those in prosperity stand in especial need of friends who shall be +outspoken to them, and abate their excessive pride. For there are few +who are sensible in prosperity, most need to borrow wisdom from others, +and such considerations as shall keep them lowly when puffed up and +giving themselves airs owing to their good fortune. But when the deity +has abased them and stripped them of their conceit, there is something +in their very circumstances to reprove them and bring about a change of +mind. And so there is no need then of a friendly outspokenness, nor of +weighty or caustic words, but truly in such reverses "it is sweet to +look into the eyes of a friendly person,"[458] consoling and cheering +one up: as Xenophon[459] tells us that the sight of Clearchus in battle +and dangers, and his calm benevolent face, inspired courage in his men +when in peril. But he who uses to a man in adversity too great freedom +and severity of speech, like a man applying too pungent a remedy to an +inflamed and angry eye, neither cures him nor abates his pain, but adds +anger to his grief, and exasperates his mental distress. For example +anyone well is not at all angry or fierce with a friend, who blames him +for his excesses with women and wine, his laziness and taking no +exercise, his frequent baths, and his unseasonable surfeiting: but to a +person ill all this is unsufferable, and even worse than his illness to +hear, "All this has happened to you through your intemperance, and +luxury, your dainty food, and love for women." The patient answers, "How +unseasonable is all this, good sir! I am making my will, the doctors are +preparing me a dose of castor and scammony, and you are scolding me and +plying me with philosophy." And thus the affairs of the unfortunate do +not admit of outspokenness and a string of Polonius-like saws, but they +require kindness and help. For when children fall down their nurses do +not run up to them and scold, but pick them up, and clean them, and tidy +their dress, and afterwards find fault and correct them. The story is +told of Demetrius of Phalerum, when an exile from his native country, +and living a humble and obscure life at Thebes, that he was not pleased +to see Crates approaching, for he expected to receive from him cynical +outspokenness and harsh language. But as Crates talked kindly to him, +and discussed his exile, and pointed out that there was no evil in it, +or anything that ought to put him about, for he had only got rid of the +uncertainties and dangers of public life, and at the same time bade him +trust in himself and his condition of mind, Demetrius cheered up and +became happier, and said to his friends, "Out upon all my former +business and employments, that left me no leisure to know such a man as +this!" + + "For friendly speech is good to one in grief, + While bitter language only suits the fool."[460] + +This is the way with generous friends. But the ignoble and low +flatterers of those in prosperity, as Demosthenes says fractures and +sprains always give us pain again when the body is not well,[461] adhere +to them in reverses, as if they were pleased at and enjoyed them. But +indeed if there be any need of reminding a man of the blunders he +committed through unadvisedly following his own counsel, it is enough to +say, "This was not to my mind, indeed I often tried to dissuade you from +it."[462] + +Sec. XXIX. In what cases then ought a friend to be vehement, and when ought +he to use emphatic freedom of language? When circumstances call upon him +to check some headlong pleasure or rage or insolence, or to curtail +avarice, or to correct some foolish negligence. Thus Solon spoke out to +Croesus, who was corrupted and enervated by insecure good fortune, +bidding him look to the end.[463] Thus Socrates restrained Alcibiades, +and wrung from him genuine tears by his reproof, and changed his +heart.[464] Such also was the plain dealing of Cyrus with Cyaxares, and +of Plato with Dion, for when Dion was most famous and attracted to +himself the notice of all men, by the splendour and greatness of his +exploits, Plato warned him to fear and be on his guard against "pleasing +only himself, for so he would lose all his friends."[465] Speusippus +also wrote to him not to plume himself on being a great person only with +lads and women, but to see to it that by adorning Sicily with piety and +justice and good laws he might make the Academy glorious. On the other +hand Euctus and Eulaeus, companions of Perseus, in the days of his +prosperity ingratiated themselves with him, and assented to him in all +things, and danced attendance upon him, like all the other courtiers, +but when he fled after his defeat by the Romans at Pydna, they attacked +him and censured him bitterly, reminding him and upbraiding him in +regard to everything he had done amiss or neglected to do, till he was +so greatly exasperated both from grief and rage that he whipped out his +sword and killed both of them. + +Sec. XXX. Let so much suffice for general occasions of freedom of speech. +There are also particular occasions, which our friends themselves +furnish, that one who really cares for his friends will not neglect, but +make use of. In some cases a question, or narrative, or the censure or +praise of similar things in other people, gives as it were the cue for +freedom of speech. Thus it is related that Demaratus came to Macedonia +from Corinth at the time when Philip was at variance with his wife and +son, and when the king asked if the Greeks were at harmony with one +another, Demaratus, being his well-wisher and friend, answered, "It is +certainly very rich of you, Philip, inquiring as to concord between the +Athenians and Peloponnesians, when you don't observe that your own house +is full of strife and variance."[466] Good also was the answer of +Diogenes, who, when Philip was marching to fight against the Greeks, +stole into his camp, and was arrested and brought before him, and the +king not recognizing him asked if he was a spy, "Certainly," replied he, +"Philip, I have come to spy out your inconsiderate folly, which makes +you, under no compulsion, come here and hazard your kingdom and life on +a moment's[467] cast of the die." This was perhaps rather too strong a +remark. + +Sec. XXXI. Another suitable time for reproof is when people have been +abused by others for their faults, and have consequently become humble, +and abated their pride. The man of tact will ingeniously seize the +occasion, checking and baffling those that used the abuse, but privately +speaking seriously to his friend, and reminding him, that he ought to be +more careful if for no other reason than to take off the edge of his +enemies' satire. He will say, "How can they open their mouths against +you, or what can they urge, if you give up and abandon what you get this +bad name about?" Thus pain comes only from abuse, but profit from +reproof. And some correct their friends more daintily by blaming +others; censuring others for what they know are their friends' faults. +Thus my master Ammonius in afternoon school, noticing that some of his +pupils had not dined sufficiently simply, bade one of his freedmen +scourge his own son, charging him with being unable to get through his +dinner without vinegar,[468] but in acting thus he had an eye to us, so +that this indirect rebuke touched the guilty persons. + +Sec. XXXII. We must also beware of speaking too freely to a friend in the +company of many people, remembering the well-known remark of Plato. For +when Socrates reproved one of his friends too vehemently in a discussion +at table, Plato said, "Would it not have been better to have said this +privately?" Whereupon Socrates replied, "And you too, sir, would it not +have become you to make this remark also privately?" And Pythagoras +having rebuked one of his pupils somewhat harshly before many people, +they say the young fellow went off and hung himself, and from that +moment Pythagoras never again rebuked anyone in another's presence. For, +as in the case of some foul disease, so also in the case of wrong-doing +we ought to make the detection and exposure private, and not +ostentatiously public by bringing witnesses and spectators. For it is +not the part of a friend but a sophist to seek glory by the ill-fame of +another, and to show off in company, like the doctors that perform +wonderful cures in the theatres as an advertisement.[469] And +independently of the insult, which ought not to be an element in any +cure, we must remember that vice is contentious and obstinate. For it is +not merely "love," as Euripides says, that "if checked becomes more +vehement," but an unsparing rebuke before many people makes every +infirmity and vice more impudent. As then Plato[470] urges old men who +want to teach the young reverence to act reverently to them first +themselves, so among friends a gentle rebuke is gently taken, and a +cautious and careful approach and mild censure of the wrong-doer +undermines and destroys vice, and makes its own modesty catching. So +that line is most excellent, "holding his head near, that the others +might not hear."[471] And most especially indecorous is it to expose a +husband in the hearing of his wife, or a father before his children, or +a lover in the presence of the loved one, or a master before his +scholars. For people are beside themselves with pain and rage if +reproached before those with whom they desire to be held in good repute. +And I think it was not so much wine that exasperated Alexander with +Clitus, as his seeming to put him down in the presence of many people. +And Aristomenes, the tutor of Ptolemy,[472] because he went up to the +king and woke him as he was asleep in an audience of some ambassadors, +gave a handle to the king's flatterers who professed to be indignant on +his behalf, and said, "If after your immense state-labours and many +vigils you have been overpowered by sleep, he ought to have rebuked you +privately, and not put his hands upon you before so many people." And +Ptolemy sent for a cup of poison and ordered the poor man to drink it +up. And Aristophanes said Cleon blamed him for "railing against the +state when strangers were present,"[473] and so irritating the +Athenians. We ought therefore to be very much on our guard in relation +to this point too as well as others, if we wish not to make a display +and catch the public ear, but to use our freedom of speech for +beneficial purposes and to cure vice. Moreover, what Thucydides has +represented the Corinthians saying of themselves, that "they had a right +to blame their neighbours,"[474] is not a bad precept for those to +remember who intend to use freedom of speech. Lysander, it seems, on one +occasion said to a Megarian, who was speaking somewhat boldly on behalf +of Greece among the allies, "Your words require a state to back +them":[475] similarly every man's freedom of speech requires character +behind it, and especially true is this in regard to those who censure +and correct others. Thus Plato said that his life was a tacit rebuke to +Speusippus: and doubtless Xenocrates by his mere presence in the +schools, and by his earnest look at Polemo, made a changed man of him. +Whereas a man of levity and bad character, if he ventures to rebuke +anybody, is likely to hear the line, + + "He doctors others, all diseased himself."[476] + +Sec. XXXIII. Yet since circumstances frequently call on people who are bad +themselves in association with other such to reprove them, the most +convenient mode of reproof will be that which contrives to include the +reprover in the same indictment as the reproved, as in the case of the +line, + + "Tydides, how on earth have we forgot + Our old impetuous courage?"[477] + +and, + + "Now are we all not worth one single Hector."[478] + +In this mild way did Socrates rebuke young men, as not himself without +ignorance, but one that needed in common with them to prosecute virtue, +and seek truth. For they gain goodwill and influence, who seem to have +the same faults as their friends, and desire to correct themselves as +well as them. But he who is high and mighty in setting down another, as +if he were himself perfect and without any imperfections, unless he be +of a very advanced age, or has an acknowledged reputation for virtue and +worth, does no good, but is only regarded as a tiresome bore. And so it +was wisely done of Phoenix to relate his own mishaps, how he had meant +killing his father, but quickly repented at the thought "that he would +be called by the Achaeans parricide,"[479] that he might not seem to be +rebuking Achilles, as one that had himself never suffered from excess of +rage. For kindness of this sort has great influence, and people yield +more to those who seem to be sympathetic and not supercilious. And since +we ought not to expose an inflamed eye to a strong light, and a soul a +prey to the passions cannot bear unmixed reproof and rebuke, one of the +most useful remedies will be found to be a slight mixture of praise, as +in the following lines, + + "Ye will not sure give up your valiant courage, + The best men in the host! I should not care + If any coward left the fight, not I; + But you to do so cuts me to the heart."[480] + +And, + + "Where is thy bow, where thy wing'd arrows, Pandarus, + Where thy great fame, which no one here can match?"[481] + +Such language again plainly cheers very much those that are down as, + + "Where now is Oedipus, and his famous riddles?"[482] + +and, + + "Does much-enduring Hercules say this?"[483] + +For not only does it soften the harsh imperiousness of censure, but +also, by reminding a man of former noble deeds, implants a desire to +emulate his former self in the person who is ashamed of what is low, and +makes himself his own exemplar for better things. But if we make a +comparison between him and other men, as his contemporaries, his +fellow-citizens, or his relations, then the contentious spirit inherent +in vice is vexed and exasperated, and is often apt to chime in angrily, +"Why don't you go off to my betters then, and leave off bothering me?" +We must therefore be on our guard against praising others, when we are +rebuking a man, unless indeed it be their parents, as Agamemnon says in +Homer, + + "Little like Tydeus is his father's son!"[484] + +or as Odysseus in the play called "The Scyrians,"[485] + + "Dost thou card wool, and thus the lustre smirch + Of thy illustrious sire, thy noble race?" + +Sec. XXXIV. But it is by no means fitting when rebuked to rebuke back, and +when spoken to plainly to answer back, for that soon kindles a flame and +causes dissension; and generally speaking such altercation will not look +so much like a retort as an inability to bear freedom of speech. It is +better therefore to listen patiently to a friend's rebuke, for if he +should afterwards do wrong himself and so need rebuke, he has set you +the example of freedom of speech. For being reminded without any malice, +that he himself has not been accustomed to spare his friends when they +have done wrong, but to convince them and show them their fault, he will +be the more inclined to yield and give himself up to correction, as it +will seem a return of goodwill and kindness rather than scolding or +rage. + +Sec. XXXV. Moreover, as Thucydides says "he is well advised who [only] +incurs envy in the most important matters,"[486] so the friend ought +only to take upon himself the unpleasant duty of reproof in grave and +momentous cases. For if he is always in a fret and a fume, and rates his +acquaintances more like a tutor than a friend, his rebuke will be blunt +and ineffective in cases of the highest importance, and he will resemble +a doctor who dispenses some sharp and bitter, but important and costly, +drug in trifling cases of common occurrence, where it was not at all +needed, and so will lose all the advantages that might come from a +judicious use of freedom of speech. He will therefore be very much on +his guard against continual fault-finding, and if his friend is always +pettifogging about minute matters, and is needlessly querulous, it will +give him a handle against him in more important shortcomings. Philotimus +the doctor, when a patient who had abscesses on his liver showed him his +sore finger, said to him, "My friend, it is not the whitlow that +matters."[487] So an opportunity sometimes offers itself to a friend to +say to a man, who is always finding fault on small and trivial points, +"Why are we always discussing mere child's play, tippling,[488] and +trifles? Let such a one, my dear sir, send away his mistress, or give up +playing at dice, he will then be in my opinion in all respects an +excellent fellow." For he who receives pardon on small matters is +content that his friend should rebuke him on matters of more moment: but +the man who is ever on the scold, everywhere sour and glum, knowing and +prying into everything, is scarcely tolerable to his children or +brothers, and insufferable to his slaves. + +Sec. XXXVI. But since "neither," to use the words of Euripides, "do all +troubles proceed only from old age,"[489] nor from the stupidity of our +friends, we ought to observe not only the shortcomings but also the good +points of our friends, aye, by Zeus, and to be ready to praise them +first, and only censure them afterwards. For as iron receives its +consistency and temper by first being submitted to fire and so made soft +and then dipped into cold water, so when friends have been first warmed +and melted with praises we can afterwards use gentle remonstrance, which +has a similar effect to that of dipping in the case of the metal. For an +opportunity will offer itself to say, "Are those actions worthy to be +compared with these? Do you see what fruits virtue yields? These are the +things we your friends ask of you, these become you, for these you are +designed by nature; but all that other kind of conduct we must reject +with abhorrence, 'cast it away on a mountain, or throw it into the +roaring sea.'"[490] For as a clever doctor would prefer to cure the +illness of his patient by sleep and diet rather than by castor or +scammony, so a kind friend and good father or teacher delight to use +praise rather than blame to correct the character. For nothing makes +rebuke less painful or more beneficial than to refrain from anger, and +to inveigh against wrong-doing mildly and kindly. And so we ought not +sharply to drive home the guilt of those who deny it, or prevent their +making their defence, but even contrive to furnish them with specious +excuses, and if they seem reluctant to give a bad motive for their +action we ought ourselves to find for them a better, as Hector did for +his brother Paris, + + "Unhappy man, thy anger was not good,"[491] + +suggesting that his absconding from the battle was not running away or +cowardice, but only anger. And Nestor says to Agamemnon, + + "You only yielded to your lofty passion."[492] + +For it has, I think, a better moral tendency to say "You forgot," or +"You did it inadvertently," than to say "You acted unfairly," or "You +behaved shamefully:" as also "Don't contend with your brother," than +"Don't envy your brother;" and "Avoid the woman who is your ruin," than +"Stop ruining the woman." Such is the language employed in rebuke that +desires to reform and not to wound; that rebuke which looks merely at +the effect to be produced acts on another principle. For when it is +necessary to stop people on the verge of wrong-doing, or to check some +violent and irregular impulse, or if we wish to rouse and infuse vigour +in those who prosecute virtue only feebly and languidly, we may then +assign strange and unbecoming motives for their behaviour. As Odysseus +in Sophocles' play,[493] striving to rouse Achilles, says he is not +angry about his supper,[494] but "that he is afraid now that he looks +upon the walls of Troy," and when Achilles was vexed at this, and talked +of sailing home again, he said, + + "I know what 'tis you shun: 'tis not ill fame: + But Hector's near, it is not safe to beard him." + +Thus by frightening the high-spirited and courageous man by the +imputation of cowardice, and the sober and orderly man by that of +licentiousness, and the liberal and munificent man by that of meanness +and avarice, people urge them on to what is good, and deter them from +what is bad, showing moderation in cases past remedy, and exhibiting in +their freedom of speech more sorrow and sympathy than fault-finding; but +in the prevention of wrong-doing and in earnest fighting against the +passions they are vehement and inexorable and assiduous: for that is the +time for downright plainness and truth. Besides we see that enemies +censure one another for what they have done amiss, as Diogenes +said,[495] he who wished to lead a good life ought to have good friends +or red-hot enemies, for the former told you what was right, and the +latter blamed you if you did what was wrong. But it is better to be on +our guard against wrong actions, through listening to the persuasion of +those that advise us well, than to repent, after we have done wrong, in +consequence of the reproaches of our enemies. And so we ought to employ +tact in our freedom of speech, as it is the greatest and most powerful +remedy in friendship, and always needs a well-chosen occasion, and +moderation in applying it. + +Sec. XXXVII. Since then, as I have said before, freedom of speech is often +painful to the person who is to receive benefit from it, we must imitate +the surgeons, who, when they have performed an operation, do not leave +the suffering part to pain and smart, but bathe and foment it; so those +who do their rebuking daintily run[496] off after paining and smarting, +and by different dealing and kind words soothe and mollify them, as +statuaries smooth and polish images which have been broken or chipped. +But he that is broken and wounded by rebuke, if he is left sullen and +swelling with rage and off his equilibrium, is henceforth hard to win +back or talk over. And so people who reprove ought to be especially +careful on this point, and not to leave them too soon, nor break off +their conversation and intercourse with their acquaintances at the +exasperating and painful stage. + + [348] Plato, "Laws," v. p. 731 D, E. + + [349] "Laws," v. p. 730 C. + + [350] Inscribed in the vestibule of the temple of Apollo + at Delphi. See Pausanias, x. 24. + + [351] Used here apparently proverbially for poverty or + low position in life. + + [352] Wyttenbach well compares Cicero, "De Amicitia," + xviii.: "Accedat huc suavitas quaedam oportet sermonum + atque morum, haudquaquam mediocre condimentum amicitiae. + Tristitia autem et in omni re severitas, habet illa + quidem gravitatem: sed amicitia remissior esse debet, et + liberior, et dulcior, et ad omnem comitatem + facilitatemque proclivior." + + [353] Hesiod, "Theogony," 64. + + [354] Euripides, "Ion," 732. + + [355] Our author assigns this saying to Prodicus, "De + Sanitate Praecepta," Sec. viii. But to Evenus, "Quaest. + Conviv." Lib. vii. Prooemium, and "Platonicae + Quaestiones," x. Sec. iii. + + [356] As was usual. See Homer, "Odyssey," i. 146. Cf. + Plautus, "Persa," v. iii. 16: "Hoc age, accumbe: hunc + diem suavem meum natalem agitemus amoenum: date aquam + manibus: apponite mensam." + + [357] From a play of Eupolis called "The Flatterers." + Cf. Terence, "Eunuchus," 489-491. + + [358] See Athenaeus, 256 D. Compare also Valerius Maximus, + ix. 1. + + [359] "Videatur Casaubonus ad Athenaeum, vi. p. 243 + A."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [360] "Republic," p. 361 A. + + [361] See Herodotus, iii. 78. + + [362] See Erasmus, "Adagia," p. 1883. + + [363] "Proverbium etiam a Cicerone laudatum 'De + Amicitia,' cap. vi.: Itaque non aqua, non igne, ut + aiunt, pluribus locis utimur, quam amicitia. Notavit + etiam Erasmus 'Adag.' p. 112."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [364] Compare Sallust, "De Catilinae Conjuratione," cap. + xx.: "Nam idem velle atque idem nolle, ea demum firma + amicitia est." + + [365] "Proverbiale, quo utitur Plutarchus in Alcibiade, + p. 203 D. Iambus Tragici esse videtur, ad Neoptolemum + dictus."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [366] As the polypus, or chameleon. + + [367] Plato, "Phaedrus," p. 239 D. + + [368] Wyttenbach compares Juvenal, iii. 100-108. + + [369] See my note "On Abundance of Friends," Sec. ix. + Wyttenbach well points out the felicity of the + expression here, "siquidem parasitus est [Greek: aoikos + kai anestios]." + + [370] Euripides, "Hippolytus," 219, 218. Cf. Ovid, + "Heroides," iv. 41, 42. + + [371] Compare "How one may be aware of one's progress in + virtue," Sec. x. Cf. also Horace, "Satires," ii. iii. 35; + Quintilian, xi. 1. + + [372] "Odyssey," xxii. 1. + + [373] The demagogue is a kind of flatterer. See + Aristotle, "Pol." iv. 4. + + [374] Cf. Aristophanes, "Acharnians," 153, [Greek: hoper + machimotaton thrakon ethnos]. + + [375] Plato was somewhat of a traveller, he three times + visited Syracuse, and also travelled in Egypt. + + [376] As to the polypus, see "On Abundance of Friends," + Sec. ix. + + [377] As "Fumum et opes _strepitumque_ Romae."--Horace, + "Odes," iii. 29. 12. + + [378] Homer, "Odyssey," xvi. 181. + + [379] Sophocles, "Antigone," 523. + + [380] As to these traits in Plato and Aristotle, compare + "De Audiendis Poetis," Sec. viii. And as to Alexander, + Plutarch tells us in his Life that he used to hold his + head a little to the left, "Life," p. 666 B. See also + "De Alexandri Fortuna aut Virtute," Sec. ii. + + [381] "De Chamaeleonte Aristoteles 'Hist. Animal.' i. 11; + 'Part. Animal.' iv. 11; Theophrastus Eclog. ap. Photium + edit. Aristot. Sylburg. T. viii. p. 329: [Greek: + metaballei de ho chamaileon eis panta ta chromata; plen + ten eis to leukon kai to eruthron ou dechetai metabolen.] + Similiter Plinius 'Hist. Nat.' viii. 51."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [382] See Athenaeus, 249 F; 435 E. + + [383] Cf. Juv. iii. 113; "Scire volunt secreta domus, + atque inde timeri." + + [384] Cf. Menander apud Stob. p. 437: [Greek: Ta deuter + aiei ten gynaika dei legein, Ten d' egemonian ton olon + ton andr' echein]. + + [385] As Lord Stowell used to say that "dinners + lubricated business." + + [386] Homer, "Iliad," xi. 643. + + [387] Homer, "Odyssey," iv. 178, 179. + + [388] Perhaps the poley-germander. See Pliny, "Nat. + Hist," xxi. 84. The line is from Nicander Theriac. 64. + + [389] "Iliad," viii. 281, 282. + + [390] "Iliad," x. 243. + + [391] "Iliad," vii. 109, 110. + + [392] Xenophon, "Agesilaus," xi. 5. p. 673 C. + + [393] To filch the grain from the bin or granary would + not of course be so important a theft as to steal the + seed-stock preserved for sowing. So probably Cato, "De + Re Rustica," v. Sec. iv.: "Segetem ne defrudet," sc. + villicus. + + [394] Thucydides, iii. 82. + + [395] Plato, "Republic," v. p. 474 E. Compare also + Lucretius, iv. 1160-1170; Horace, "Satires," i. 3. 38 + sq. + + [396] This Ptolemy was a votary of Cybele, and a + spiritual ancestor of General Booth. The worship of + Cybele is well described by Lucretius, ii. 598-643. + + [397] This was Ptolemy Auletes, as the former was + Ptolemy Philopator. + + [398] See Suetonius, "Nero," ch. 21. + + [399] "Plerumque _minuta voce + cantillare_."--_Wyttenbach._ What Milton would have + called "a lean and flashy song." + + [400] Naso suspendit adunco, as Horace, "Sat." i. 6. 5. + + [401] See Athenaeus, p. 434 C. + + [402] As Gnatho in Terence, "Eunuch." 496-498. + + [403] Reading [Greek: Helon], as Courier, Hercher. + + [404] "Iliad," x. 249. They are words of Odysseus. + + [405] This was carrying flattery rather far. + "Mithridatis medicinae scientia multis memorata + veterum."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [406] Euripides, "Alcestis," 1159. + + [407] Our author gives this definition to Simonides, "De + Gloria Atheniensium," Sec. iii. + + [408] So our author again, "On Contentedness of Mind," Sec. + xii. + + [409] See Herodotus, i. 30, 33; Juvenal, x. 274, 275; + and Pausanias, ii. 20. + + [410] "Nobile Stoae Paradoxum. Cicero Fin. iii. 22, ex + persona Catonis. Horatius ridet Epistol. i. 1. 106-108. + Ad summam sapiens uno minor est Jove: dives, Liber, + honoratus, pulcher, rex denique regum; Praecipue sanus, + nisi quum pituita molesta est."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [411] See also "On Contentedness of Mind," Sec. xii. + + [412] Homer, "Iliad," xvi. 141. See the context also + from 130 sq. + + [413] Our author has used this illustration again in + "Phocion," p. 742 B. + + [414] Namely in Sec. xxvii. where [Greek: parrhesia] is + discussed. + + [415] Contrary to the severe training he ought to + undergo, well expressed by Horace, "De Arte Poetica," + 412-414. + + [416] Reading with Hercher [Greek: apotympanizontos kai + streblountos]. This was Ptolemy Physcon. + + [417] "Unus ex Alexandri adulatoribus: memoratus Curtio + viii. 5, 6."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [418] A common proverb among the ancients. See "Conjugal + Precepts," Sec. xl.; Erasmus, "Adagia," pp. 1222, 1838. + + [419] A line out of AEschylus' "Myrmidons." Quoted again + by our author, "Of Love," Sec. V. + + [420] Cleopatra. + + [421] Homer, "Odyssey," x. 329. They are the words of + Circe to Odysseus. But the line was suspected even by + old grammarians, and is put in brackets in modern + editions of the "Odyssey." + + [422] See Lucretius, iv. 1079-1085. + + [423] So Pliny, "Hist. Nat." xxv. 95: "Remedio est + (cicutae), priusquam perveniat ad vitalia, vini natura + excalfactoria: sed in vino pota irremediabilis + existimatur." + + [424] Assigned to Pittacus by our author, "Septem + Sapientum Convivium," Sec. ii. + + [425] So Wyttenbach, who reads [Greek: enstaseis], and + translates, "et libertate loquendi in nobis + reprehendendis utitur, quando nos cupiditatibus + morbisque animi nostri non indulgere, sed resistere, + volumus." + + [426] "Phoenissae," 469-472. + + [427] Like Juvenal's "Graeculus esuriens in caelum, + jusseris, ibit."--Juvenal, iii, 78. + + [428] These are two successive lines found three times + in Homer, "Iliad," xiv. 195, 196; xviii. 426, 427; + "Odyssey," v. 89, 90. The two lines are in each case + spoken by one person. + + [429] Probably lines from "The Flatterer" of Menander. + + [430] From the "Ino" of Euripides. + + [431] From the "Erechtheus" of Euripides. + + [432] We know from Athenaeus, p. 420 D, that Apelles and + Arcesilaus were friends. + + [433] An allusion to Hesiod, "Works and Days," 235. Cf. + Horace, "Odes," iv. 5. 23. + + [434] See the beautiful story of Baucis and Philemon, + Ovid, "Metamorphoses," viii. 626-724: "Cura pii dis + sunt, et qui coluere coluntur." + + [435] Compare Terence, "Andria," 43, 44. So too Seneca, + "De Beneficiis," ii. 10: "Haec enim beneficii inter duos + lex est: alter statim oblivisci debet dati, alter + accepti nunquam. Lacerat animum et premit frequens + meritorum commemoratio." + + [436] A similar story about the Samians and + Lacedaemonians is told by Aristotle, "Oeconom." ii. 9. + + [437] A line from Euripides, "Iphigenia in Aulis," 407. + + [438] Also in "Conjugal Precepts," Sec. xxix. + + [439] See Persius, iii. 21, 22, with Jahn's Note. + + [440] See "On Love," Sec. xxi. + + [441] "Auri plumbique oppositio fere proverbialis est. + Petronius, 'Satyricon,' 43. Plane fortunae filius: in + manu illius plumbum aureum fiebat."--_Wyttenbach._ The + passage about the Lydian chariot is said to be by Pindar + in our author, "Nicias," p. 523 D. + + [442] Wyttenbach compares Seneca, "Epist." cxxiii. p. + 495: "Horum sermo multum nocet: nam etiamsi non statim + officit, semina in animo relinquit, sequiturque nos + etiam cum ab illis discesserimus, resurrecturum postea + malum." + + [443] Compare Cicero, "De Amicitia," xxvi.: "Assentatio, + quamvis perniciosa sit, nocere tamen nemini potest, nisi + ei, qui eam recipit atque ea delectatur. Ita fit, ut is + assentatoribus patefaciat aures suas maxime, qui ipse + sibi assentetur et se maxime ipse delectet." + + [444] Compare Sec. i. + + [445] Compare our Author, "Quaestiones Convivalium," + viii. p. 717 F. + + [446] So Horace, "Satires," i. 2, 24: "Dum vitant stulti + vitia in contraria currunt." + + [447] Homer, "Iliad," xiv. 84, 85. + + [448] Compare Cicero, "De Officiis," i. 25: "Omnis autem + animadversio et castigatio contumelia vacare debet: + neque ad ejus, qui punitur aliquem aut verbis fatigat, + sed ad reipublicae utilitatem referri." + + [449] "Iliad," xi. 654. + + [450] "Iliad," xvi. 33-35. + + [451] Cf. Plutarch, "Phocion," p. 746 D. + + [452] A proverb of persons on the brink of destruction. + Wells among the ancients were uncovered. + + [453] "Iliad," ii. 215, of Thersites. As to Theagenes, + see Seneca, "De Ira," ii. 23. + + [454] Literally, "brings a cloud over fair weather." + + [455] The MSS. have Lydian. Lysian Dionysus is also + found in Pausanias, ix. 16. Lyaeus is suggested by + Wyttenbach, and read by Hercher. Lysius or Lyaeus will + both be connected with [Greek: luo], and so refer to + Dionysus as the god that looses or frees us from care. + See Horace, "Epodes," ix. 37, 38. + + [456] Compare Juvenal, iii. 73, 74: "Sermo Promptus et + Isaeo torrentior." + + [457] "Orestes," 667. + + [458] Euripides, "Ion," 732. + + [459] "Anabasis," ii. 6, 11. + + [460] Perhaps by Euripides. + + [461] "Olynth." ii. p. 8 C; "Pro Corona," 341 C. + + [462] Homer, "Iliad," ix. 108, 109. They are the words + of Nestor to Agamemnon. + + [463] See Herodotus, i. 30-32. + + [464] See Plato's "Symposium," p. 215 E. + + [465] See Plato, "Epist." iv. p. 321 B. + + [466] See our author, "Apophthegmata," p. 179 C. + + [467] Compare Horace, "Satires," i. 1. 7, 8: "Quid enim, + concurritur: horae Momento cita mors venit aut victoria + laeta." + + [468] And so being dainty. See Athenaeus, ii. ch. 76. + + [469] We see from this and other places that the + mountebanks and quacks of the Middle Ages and later + times existed also among the ancients. Human nature in + its great leading features is ever the same. "Omne + ignotum pro magnifico est." + + [470] "Laws," p. 729 C. + + [471] Homer, "Odyssey," i. 157; iv. 70; xvii. 592. + + [472] Ptolemy V., Epiphanes. The circumstances are + related by Polybius, xv. 29; xvii. 35. + + [473] See "Acharnians," 501, 502. + + [474] Thucydides, i. 70: [Greek: kai hama, eiper tines + kai alloi, nomizomen axioi einai tois pelas psogon + epenenkein]. + + [475] See our Author, "Apophthegmata," p. 190 E. + + [476] A line of Euripides, quoted again in "How a Man + may be benefited by his Enemies," Sec. iv. + + [477] Homer, "Iliad," xi. 313. + + [478] Do. viii. 234, 235. + + [479] Do. ix. 461. + + [480] "Iliad," xiii. 116-119. + + [481] Do. v. 171, 172. + + [482] Euripides, "Phoenissae," 1688. + + [483] Euripides, "Hercules Furens," 1250. + + [484] "Iliad," v. 800. Athene is the speaker. + + [485] A play by Sophocles, now only in fragments, + relating the life of Achilles in the island of Scyros, + the scene of his amour with Deidamia, the daughter of + Lycomedes, by whom he became the father of Pyrrhus. + + [486] Thucydides, ii. 64. Quoted again in "On Shyness," + Sec. xviii. + + [487] See also "De Audiendo," Sec. x. + + [488] [Greek: potous] comes in rather curiously here. + Can any other word lurk under it? + + [489] "Phoenissae," 528, 529. + + [490] Homer, "Iliad," vi. 347. + + [491] Do. vi. 326. + + [492] Homer, "Iliad," ix. 109, 110. + + [493] In Dindorf's "Poetae Scenici Graeci," Fragment 152. + + [494] As it is not quite clear why Achilles should have + been angry about his supper, [Greek: dia to deipnon], + apropos of the context, Wyttenbach ingeniously suggests, + as this lost play of Sophocles was called [Greek: Syn + deipnon], that Plutarch may have written [Greek: en to + Deipno]. + + [495] Compare "How One may be aware of one's Progress in + Virtue," Sec. xi. + + [496] "Ductum e proverbiali dictione [Greek: balonta + ekpheugein], emisso telo aufugere."--_Wyttenbach._ + + + + +HOW A MAN MAY BE BENEFITED BY +HIS ENEMIES. + + +Sec. I. I am well aware, Cornelius Pulcher, that you prefer the mildest +manners in public life, by which you can be at once most useful to the +community, and most agreeable in private life to those who have any +dealings with you. But since it is difficult to find any region without +wild beasts, though it is related of Crete;[497] and hitherto there has +been no state that has not suffered from envy, rivalry, and strife, the +most fruitful seeds of hostility; (for, even if nothing else does, our +friendships involve us in enmities, as Chilo[498] the wise man +perceived, who asked the man who told him he had no enemy, whether he +had a friend either), it seems to me that a public man ought not only to +examine the whole question of enemies in its various ramifications, but +also to listen to the serious remark of Xenophon,[499] that a sensible +man will receive profit even from his enemies. The ideas therefore that +lately occurred to me to deliver, I have now put together nearly in the +identical words and send them to you, with the exception of some matter +also in "Political Precepts,"[500] a treatise which I have often noticed +in your hands. + +Sec. II. People in old times were well satisfied if they were not injured +by strange and wild beasts, and that was the only motive of their fights +with them, but those of later days have by now learnt to make use of +them, for they feed on their flesh, and clothe themselves with their +wool, and make medical use of their gall and beestings, and turn their +hides into shields, so that we might reasonably fear, if beasts failed +man, that his life would become brutish, and wild, and void of +resources. Similarly since all others are satisfied with not being +injured by their enemies, but the sensible will also (as Xenophon says) +get profit out of them, we must not be incredulous, but seek a method +and plan how to obtain this advantage, seeing that life without an enemy +is impossible. The husbandman cannot cultivate every tree, nor can the +hunter tame every kind of animal, so both seek means to derive profit +according to their several necessities, the one from his barren trees, +the other from his wild animals. Sea-water also is undrinkable and +brackish, but it feeds fish, and is a sort of vehicle to convey and +transport travellers anywhere. The Satyr, when he saw fire for the first +time, wished to kiss it and embrace it, but Prometheus warned him, + + "Goat, thou wilt surely mourn thy loss of beard."[501] + +For fire burns whoever touches it, but it also gives light and warmth, +and is an instrument of art to all those who know how to use it.[502] +Consider also in the case of the enemy, if he is in other respects +injurious and intractable, he somehow or other gives us a handle to make +use of him by, and so is serviceable. And many things are unpleasant and +detestable and antagonistic to those to whom they happen, but you must +have noticed that some use even illnesses as a period of rest for the +body, and others by excessive toil have strengthened and trained their +bodily vigour, and some have made exile and the loss of money a passage +to leisure and philosophy, as did Diogenes and Crates. And Zeno, when he +heard of the wreck of the ship which contained all his property, said, +"Thou hast done well, Fortune, to confine me to my threadbare +cloak."[503] + +For as those animals that have the strongest and healthiest stomachs eat +and digest serpents and scorpions, and some even feed on stones and +shells, which they convert into nourishment by the strength and heat of +their stomachs, while fastidious people out of health almost vomit if +offered bread and wine, so foolish people spoil even their friendships, +while the wise know how to turn to account even their enmities. + +Sec. III. In the first place then it seems to me that what is most +injurious in enmity may become most useful to those that pay attention +to it? To what do I refer? Why, to the way in which your enemy ever wide +awake pries into all your affairs, and analyzes your whole life, trying +to get a handle against you somewhere, able not only to look through a +tree, like Lynceus,[504] or through stones and shells, but through your +friend and domestic and every intimate acquaintance, as far as possible +detecting your doings, and digging and ferreting into your designs. For +our friends are ill and often die without our knowing anything about it +through our delay and carelessness, but we almost pry into even the +dreams of our enemies; and our enemy knows even more than we do +ourselves of our diseases and debts and differences with our wives.[505] +But they pay most attention to our faults and hunt them out: and as +vultures follow the scent of putrid carcases, and cannot perceive sound +and wholesome ones, so the diseases and vices and crimes of life attract +the enemy, and on these those that hate us pounce, these they attack and +tear to pieces. Is not this an advantage to us? Certainly it is. For it +teaches us to live warily and be on our guard, and neither to do or say +anything carelessly or without circumspection, but ever to be vigilant +by careful mode of living that we give no handle to an enemy. For the +cautiousness that thus represses the passions and follows reason +implants a care and determination to live well and without reproach. For +as those states that have been sobered by wars with their neighbours and +continual campaigns love the blessings of order and peace, so those +people who are compelled to lead a sober life owing to their enemies, +and to be on their guard against carelessness and negligence, and to do +everything with an eye to utility, imperceptibly glide into a faultless +mode of life, and tone down their character, even without requiring much +assistance from precepts. For those who always remember the line, + + "Ah! how would Priam and his sons rejoice,"[506] + +are by it diverted from and learn to shun all such things as their +enemies would rejoice and laugh at. Again we see actors[507] and singers +on the stage oftentimes slack and remiss, and not taking sufficient +pains about their performances in the theatres when they have it all to +themselves; but when there is a competition and contest with others, +they not only wake up but tune their instruments, and adjust their +chords, and play on the flute with more care. Similarly whoever knows +that his enemy is antagonistic to his life and character, pays more +attention to himself, and watches his behaviour more carefully, and +regulates his life. For it is peculiar to vice to be more afraid of +enemies than friends in regard to our faults. And so Nasica, when some +expressed their opinion that the Roman Republic was now secure, since +Carthage was rased to the ground and Achaia reduced to slavery, said, +"Nay rather we are now in a critical position, since we have none left +to fear or respect." + +Sec. IV. Consider also that very philosophical and witty answer of Diogenes +to the man who asked, "How shall I avenge myself on my enemy?" "By +becoming a good and honest man."[508] Some people are terribly put about +if they see their enemies' horses in a good condition, or hear their +dogs praised; if they see their farm well-tilled, their garden +well-kept, they groan aloud. What a state think you then they would be +in, if you were to exhibit yourself as a just man, sensible and good, in +words excellent, in deeds pure, in manner of life decorous, "reaping +fruit from the deep soil of the soul, where good counsels grow."[509] +Pindar says[510] "those that are conquered are reduced to complete +silence:" but not absolutely, not all men, only those that see they are +outdone by their enemies in industry, in goodness, in magnanimity, in +humanity, in kindnesses; these, as Demosthenes says, "stop the tongue, +block up the mouth, choke people, and make them silent."[511] + + "Be better than the bad: 'tis in your power."[512] + +If you wish to vex the man who hates you, do not abuse him by calling +him a pathick, or effeminate, or intemperate, or a low fellow, or +illiberal; but be yourself a man, and temperate, and truthful, and kind +and just in all your dealings with those you come across. But if you are +tempted to use abuse, mind that you yourself are very far from what you +abuse him for, dive down into your own soul, look for any rottenness in +yourself, lest someone suggest to you the line of the tragedian, + + "You doctor others, all diseased yourself."[513] + +If you say your enemy is uneducated, increase your own love of learning +and industry; if you call him coward, stir up the more your own spirit +and manliness; and if you say he is wanton and licentious, erase from +your own soul any secret trace of the love of pleasure. For nothing is +more disgraceful or more unpleasant than slander that recoils on the +person who sets it in motion; for as the reflection of light seems most +to injure weak eyes, so does censure when it recoils on the censurer, +and is borne out by the facts. For as the north-east wind attracts +clouds, so does a bad life draw upon itself rebukes. + +Sec. V. Whenever Plato was in company with people who behaved in an +unseemly manner, he used to say to himself, "Am I such a person as +this?"[514] So he that censures another man's life, if he straightway +examines and mends his own, directing and turning it into the contrary +direction, will get some advantage from his censure, which will be +otherwise idle and unprofitable. Most people laugh if a bald-pate or +hump-back jeer and mock at others who are so too: it is quite as +ridiculous to jeer and mock if one lies open to retort oneself, as Leo +of Byzantium showed in his answer to the hump-back who jeered at him for +weakness of eyes, "You twit me with an infirmity natural to man, while +you yourself carry your Nemesis on your back."[515] And so do not abuse +another as an adulterer, if you yourself are mad after boys: nor as a +spendthrift, if you yourself are niggardly. Alcmaeon said to Adrastus, +"You are near kinsman to a woman that slew her husband." What was his +reply? He retaliated on him with the appropriate retort, "But you killed +with your own hand the mother that bore you."[516] And Domitius said to +Crassus, "Did you not weep for the lamprey that was bred in your +fishpond, and died?" To which Crassus replied, "Did you weep, when you +buried your three wives?" He therefore that intends to abuse others must +not be witty and noisy and impudent, but a man that does not lie open to +counter-abuse and retort, for the god seems to have enjoined upon no one +the precept "Know thyself" so much as on the person who is censorious, +to prevent people saying just what they please, and hearing what don't +please them. For such a one is wont, as Sophocles[517] says, "idly +letting his tongue flow, to hear against his will, what he willingly +says ill of others." + +Sec. VI. This use and advantage then there is in abusing one's enemy, and +no less arises from being abused and ill-spoken of oneself by one's +enemies. And so Antisthenes[518] said well that those who wish to lead a +good life ought to have genuine friends or red-hot enemies; for the +former deterred you from what was wrong by reproof, the latter by abuse. +But since friendship has nowadays become very mealy-mouthed in freedom +of speech, voluble in flattery and silent in rebuke, we can only hear +the truth from our enemies. For as Telephus[519] having no surgeon of +his own, submitted his wound to be cured by his enemy's spear, so those +who cannot procure friendly rebuke must content themselves with the +censure of an enemy that hates them, reprehending and castigating their +vices, and regard not the animus of the person, but only his matter. For +as he who intended to kill the Thessalian Prometheus[520] only stabbed a +tumour, and so lanced it that the man's life was saved, and he was rid +of the tumour by its bursting, so oftentimes abuse, suddenly thrust on a +man in anger or hatred, has cured some disease in his soul which he was +ignorant of or neglected. But most people when they are abused do not +consider whether the abuse really belongs to them properly, but look +round to see what abuse they can heap on the abuser, and, as wrestlers +get smothered with the dust of the arena, do not wipe off the abuse +hurled at themselves, but bespatter others, and at last get on both +sides grimy and discoloured. But if anyone gets a bad name from an +enemy, he ought to clear himself of the imputation even more than he +would remove any stain on his clothes that was pointed out to him; and +if it be wholly untrue, yet he ought to investigate what originated the +charge, and to be on his guard and be afraid lest he had unawares done +something very near akin to what was imputed to him. As Lacydes, the +king of the Argives, by the way he wore his hair and by his mincing walk +got charged with effeminacy: and Pompey's scratching his head with one +finger was construed in the same way, though both these men were very +far from effeminacy or wantonness. And Crassus was accused of an +intrigue with one of the Vestal Virgins, because he wished to purchase +from her a pleasant estate, and therefore frequently visited her and +waited upon her. And Postumia, from her readiness to laugh and talk +somewhat freely with men, got accused and even had to stand her trial +for incest,[521] but was, however, acquitted of that charge: but Spurius +Minucius the Pontif ex Maximus, when he pronounced her innocent, urged +her not to be freer in her words than she was in her life. And though +Themistocles[522] was guiltless of treason, his intimacy with Pausanias, +and the letters and messages that frequently passed between them, laid +him under suspicion. + +Sec. VII. Whenever therefore any false charge is made against us, we ought +not merely to despise and neglect it as false, but to see what word or +action, either in jest or earnest, has made the charge seem probable, +and this we must for the future be earnestly on our guard against and +shun. For if others falling into unforeseen trouble and difficulties +teach us what is expedient, as Merope says, + + "Fortune has made me wise, though she has ta'en + My dearest ones as wages,"[523] + +why should we not take an enemy, and pay him no wages, to teach us, and +give us profit and instruction, in matters which had escaped our notice? +For an enemy has keener perception than a friend, for, as Plato[524] +says, "the lover is blind as respects the loved one," and hatred is both +curious and talkative. Hiero was twitted by one of his enemies for his +foul breath, so he went home and said to his wife, "How is this? You +never told me of it." But she being chaste and innocent replied, "I +thought all men's breath was like that."[525] Thus perceptible and +material things, and things that are plain to everybody, are sooner +learnt from enemies than from friends and intimates. + +Sec. VIII. Moreover to keep the tongue well under control, no small factor +in moral excellence, and to make it always obedient and submissive to +reason, is not possible, unless by practice and attention and +painstaking a man has subdued his worst passions, as for example anger. +For such expressions as "a word uttered involuntarily," and "escaping +the barrier of the teeth,"[526] and "words darting forth spontaneously," +well illustrate what happens in the case of ill-disciplined souls, ever +wavering and in an unsettled condition through infirmity of temper, +through unbridled fancy, or through faulty education. But, according to +divine Plato,[527] though a word seems a very trivial matter, the +heaviest penalty follows upon it both from gods and men. But silence can +never be called to account, is not only not thirsty, to borrow the +language of Hippocrates, but when abused is dignified and Socratic, or +rather Herculean, if indeed it was Hercules who said, + + "Sharp words he heeded not so much as flies."[528] + +Not more dignified and noble than this is it to keep silent when an +enemy reviles you, "as one swims by a smooth and mocking cliff," but in +practice it is better. If you accustom yourself to bear silently the +abuse of an enemy, you will very easily bear the attack of a scolding +wife, and will remain undisturbed when you hear the sharp language of a +friend or brother, and will be calm and placid when you are beaten or +have something thrown at your head by your father or mother. For +Socrates put up with Xanthippe, a passionate and forward woman, which +made him a more easy companion with others, as being accustomed to +submit to her caprices; and it is far better to train and accustom the +temper to bear quietly the insults and rages and jeers and taunts of +enemies and estranged persons, and not to be distressed at it. + +Sec. IX. Thus then must we exhibit in our enmities meekness and +forbearance, and in our friendships still more simplicity and +magnanimity and kindness. For it is not so graceful to do a friend a +service, as disgraceful to refuse to do so at his request; and not to +revenge oneself on an enemy when opportunity offers is generous. But the +man who sympathizes with his enemy in affliction, and assists him in +distress, and readily holds out a helping hand to his children and +family and their fortunes when in a low condition, whoever does not +admire such a man for his humanity, and praise his benevolence, + + "He has a black heart made of adamant + Or iron or bronze."[529] + +When Caesar ordered the statues of Pompey that had been thrown down to be +put up again,[530] Cicero said, "You have set up again Pompey's statues, +and in so doing have erected statues to yourself." We ought not +therefore to be niggardly in our praise and honour of an enemy that +deserves a good name. For he who praises another receives on that +account greater praise himself, and is the more credited on another +occasion when he finds fault, as not having any personal ill-feeling +against the man, but only disapproving of his act; and what is most +noble and advantageous, the man who is accustomed to praise his enemies, +and not to be vexed or malignant at their prosperity, is as far as +possible from envying the good fortune of his friends, and the success +of his intimates. And yet what practice will be more beneficial to our +minds, or bring about a happier disposition, than that which banishes +from us all jealousy and envy? For as in war many necessary things, +otherwise bad, are customary and have as it were the sanction of law, so +that they cannot be abolished in spite of the injury they do, so enmity +drags along in its train hatred, and envy, and jealousy, and malignity, +and revenge, and stamps them on the character. Moreover knavery, and +deceit, and villainy, that seem neither bad nor unfair if employed +against an enemy, if they once get planted in the mind are difficult to +dislodge; and eventually from force of habit get used also against +friends, unless they are forewarned and forearmed through their previous +acquaintance with the tricks of enemies. If then Pythagoras,[531] +accustoming his disciples to abstain from all cruelty and inhumanity to +the brute creation, did right to discountenance bird-fowling, and to buy +up draughts of fishes and bid them be thrown into the water again, and +to forbid killing any but wild animals, much more noble is it, in +dissensions and differences with human beings, to be a generous, just +and true enemy, and to check and tame all bad and low and knavish +propensities, that in all intercourse with friends a man may keep the +peace and abstain from doing an injury. Scaurus was an enemy and accuser +of Domitius, but when one of Domitius' slaves came to him to reveal some +important matters which were unknown to Scaurus, he would not hear him, +but seized him and sent him back to his master. And when Cato was +prosecuting Murena for canvassing, and was getting together his +evidence, he was accompanied as was usual by people who watched what he +was doing,[532] and would often ask him if he intended that day to get +together his witnesses and open the case, and if he said "No," they +believed him and went their way. All this is the greatest proof of the +credit which was reposed in Cato, but it is better and more important, +that we should accustom ourselves to deal justly even with our enemies, +and then there will be no fear that we should ever act unjustly and +treacherously to our friends and intimates. + +Sec. X. But since, as Simonides says, "all larks must have their +crests,"[533] and every man's nature contains in it pugnacity and +jealousy and envy, which last is, as Pindar says, "the companion of +empty-headed men," one might get considerable advantage by purging +oneself of those passions against enemies, and by diverting them, like +sewers, as far as possible from companions and friends.[534] And this it +seems the statesmanlike Onomademus had remarked, for being on the +victorious side in a disturbance at Chios, he urged his party not to +expel all of the different faction, but to leave some, "in order," he +said, "that we may not begin to quarrel with our friends, when we have +got entirely rid of our enemies." So too our expending these passions +entirely on our enemies will give less trouble to our friends. For it +ought not to be, as Hesiod[535] says, that "potter envies potter, and +singer envies singer, and neighbour neighbour," and cousin cousin, and +brother brother, "if hastening to get rich" and enjoying prosperity. But +if there is no other way to get rid of strife and envy and quarrels, +accustom yourself to be vexed at your enemies' good fortune, and sharpen +and accentuate on them your acerbity. For as judicious gardeners think +they produce finer roses and violets by planting alongside of them +garlic and onions, that any bitter or strong elements may be transferred +to them, so your enemy's getting and attracting your envy and malignity +will render you kinder and more agreeable to your prosperous friends. +And so let us be rivals of our enemies for glory or office or righteous +gain, not only being vexed if they get ahead of us, but also carefully +observing all the steps by which they get ahead, and trying to outdo +them in industry, and hard work, and soberness, and prudence; as +Themistocles said Miltiades' victory at Marathon would not let him +sleep.[536] For he who thinks his enemy gets before him in offices, or +advocacies, or state affairs, or in favour with his friends or great +men, if from action and emulation he sinks into envy and despondency, +makes his life become idle and inoperative. But he who is not blinded by +hate,[537] but a discerning spectator of life and character and words +and deeds, will perceive that most of what he envies comes to those who +have them from diligence and prudence and good actions, and exerting +himself in the same direction he will increase his love of what is +honourable and noble, and will eradicate his vanity and sloth. + +Sec. XI. But if our enemies seem to us to have got either by flattery, or +fraud, or bribery, or venal services, ill-got and discreditable power at +court or in state, it ought not to trouble us but rather inspire +pleasure in us, when we compare our own liberty and purity and +independence of life. For, as Plato[538] says, "all the gold above or +below the earth is not of equal value with virtue." And we ought ever to +remember the precept of Solon, "We will not exchange our virtue for +others' wealth."[539] Nor will we give up our virtue for the applause of +banqueting theatres, nor for honours and chief seats among eunuchs and +harlots, nor to be monarchs' satraps; for nothing is to be desired or +noble that comes from what is bad. But since, as Plato[540] says, "the +lover is blind as respects the loved one," and we notice more what our +enemies do amiss, we ought not to let either our joy at their faults or +our grief at their success be idle, but in either case we ought to +reflect, how we may become better than them by avoiding their errors, +and by imitating their virtues not come short of them. + + [497] So Pliny, viii. 83: "In Creta Insula non vulpes + ursive, atque omnino millum maleficum animal praeter + phalangium." + + [498] See the same remark of Chilo, "On Abundance of + Friends," Sec. vi. + + [499] "Oeconom." i. 15. + + [500] A treatise of Plutarch still extant. + + [501] A line from a lost Satyric Play of AEschylus, + called "Prometheus Purphoros." + + [502] So fire is called [Greek: pantechnon] in AEschylus, + "Prometheus Desmotes," 7. + + [503] Compare Seneca, "De Animi Tranquillitate," cap. + xiii.: "Zeno noster cum omnia sua audiret submersa, + Jubet, inquit, me fortuna expeditius philosophari." + + [504] See Horace, "Epistles," i. I. 28; Pausanias, iv. + 2. + + [505] See Plautus, "Trinummus," 205-211. + + [506] Homer, "Iliad," i. 255. + + [507] Literally "the artists of Dionysus." We know what + they were from our author's "Quaestiones Romanae," Sec. 107: + [Greek: dia ti tous peri ton Dionuson technitas + histrionas Rhomaioi kalousin]; + + [508] Compare "De Audiendis Poetis," Sec. iv. + + [509] AEschylus, "Septem contra Thebas," 593, 594. + + [510] Pindar, "Fragm." 253. + + [511] Demosthenes, "De Falsa Legatione," p. 406. + + [512] Euripides, "Orestes," 251. + + [513] A line from Euripides. Quoted also "De Adulatore + et Amico," Sec. xxxii. + + [514] Compare "De Audiendo," Sec.vi. See also Horace, + "Satires," i, 4. 136, 137. + + [515] The story is somewhat differently told, "Quaest. + Conviv.," Lib. ii. Sec. ix. + + [516] From a lost play of Euripides. + + [517] In some lost play. Compare Hesiod, "Works and + Days," 719-721; Terence, "Andria," 920. + + [518] The sentiment is assigned to Diogenes twice + elsewhere by our author, namely, "How One may be aware + of one's Progress in Virtue," Sec. xi., and "How One may + discern a Flatterer from a Friend," Sec. xxxvi. + + [519] See Propertius, ii. 1. 63, 64; Ovid, + "Metamorphoses," xii. 112; xiii. 171; "Tristia," v. 2. + 15, 16; "Remedia Amoris," 47, 48; Erasmus, "Adagia," p. + 221. + + [520] "Jason Pheraeus cognomine Prometheus dictus est. + Vide Ciceronem, 'Nat. Deor.' iii. 29; Plinium, vii. 51; + Valerium Maximum, i. 8, Extem. 6."--_Wytttenbach._ + + [521] She was a Vestal Virgin. See Livy, iv. 44. + + [522] See Thucydides, i. 135, 136. + + [523] From a lost play of Euripides. Compare the + proverb, [Greek: pathemata mathemata]. + + [524] "Laws," v. p. 731 E. + + [525] Told again "Reg. et Imperator. Apophthegm.," p. + 175 B. + + [526] A favourite image of Homer, employed "Iliad," iv. + 350; xiv. 83; "Odyssey," i. 64; xxiii. 70. + + [527] "Laws," xi. p. 935 A. Quoted again "On + Talkativeness," Sec. vii. + + [528] See Pausanias, v. 14. + + [529] From a Fragment of Pindar. + + [530] See Suetonius, "Divus Julius," 75: "Sed et statuas + L. Sullae atque Pompeii a plebe disjectas reposuit." + + [531] Compare our author, "Quaestiones Convivalium," + viii. p. 729 E. + + [532] No doubt in the interest of the defendant. See our + author, "Cato Minor," p. 769 B. + + [533] A Greek proverb, see Erasmus, "Adagia," p. 921. + + [534] So Cicero, "Nat. Deor." ii. 56: "In aedibus + architecti avertunt ab oculis naribusque dominorum ea + quae profluentia necessario taetri essent aliquid + habitura." + + [535] "Works and Days," 23-26. Our "Two of a trade + seldom agree." + + [536] Compare "How One may be aware of one's Progress in + Virtue," Sec. xiv. + + [537] For as the English proverb says, "Hatred is blind + as well as love." + + [538] "Laws," v. p. 728 A. + + [539] Quoted more fully "How One may be aware of one's + Progress in Virtue," Sec. vi. + + [540] "Laws," v. p. 731 E. See also above, Sec. vii. + + + + +ON TALKATIVENESS.[541] + + +Sec. I. Philosophy finds talkativeness a disease very difficult and hard to +cure. For its remedy, conversation, requires hearers: but talkative +people hear nobody, for they are ever prating. And the first evil this +inability to keep silence produces is an inability to listen. It is a +self-chosen deafness of people who, I take it, blame nature for giving +us one tongue and two ears. If then the following advice of Euripides to +a foolish hearer was good, + + "I cannot fill one that can nought retain, + Pumping up wise words for an unwise man;" + +one might more justly say to a talkative man, or rather about a +talkative man, + + "I cannot fill one that will nothing take, + Pumping up wise words for an unwise man;" + +or rather deluging with words one that talks to those who don't listen, +and listens not to those who talk. Even if he does listen for a short +time, talkativeness hurries off what is said like the retiring sea, and +anon brings it up again multiplied with the approaching tide. The +portico at Olympia that returns many echoes to one utterance is called +seven-voiced,[542] and if the slightest utterance catches the ear of +talkativeness, it at once echoes it all round, + + "Moving the mind's chords all unmoved before."[543] + +For their ears can certainly have no passages leading to the brain but +only to the tongue. And so while other people retain what they hear, +talkative people lose it altogether, and, being empty-headed, they +resemble empty vessels, and go about making much noise.[544] + +Sec. II. If however it seems that no attempt at cure has been left untried, +let us say to the talkative person, + + "Be silent, boy; silence has great advantages;" + +two of the first and foremost of which are hearing and being heard, +neither of which can happen to talkative people, for however they desire +either so unhappy are they that they must desist from it. For in all +other diseases of the soul, as love of money, love of glory, or love of +pleasure, people at any rate attain the desired object: but it is the +cruel fate of talkative people to desire hearers but not to get them, +for everyone flees from them with headlong speed; and if people are +sitting or walking about in any public place,[545] and see one coming +they quickly pass the word to one another to shift quarters. And as when +there is dead silence in any assembly they say Hermes has joined the +company, so when any prater joins some drinking party or social +gathering of friends, all are silent, not wishing to give him a chance +to break in, and if he uninvited begin to open his mouth, they all, +"like before a storm at sea, when Boreas is blowing a gale round some +headland," foreseeing tossing about and nausea, disperse. And so it is +their destiny to find neither willing table-companions, nor messmates +when they are travelling by land or by sea, but only such as cannot help +themselves; for such a fellow is always at you, plucking hold of your +clothes or chin, or giving you a dig in the ribs with his elbow. "Most +valuable are the feet in such a conjuncture," according to Archilochus, +nay according to the wise Aristotle himself. For he being bothered with +a talkative fellow, and wearied out with his absurd tales, and his +frequent question, "Is not this wonderful, Aristotle?" "Not at all," +said he, "but it is wonderful that anyone with a pair of legs stops here +to listen to you." And to another such fellow, who said after a long +rigmarole, "Did I weary you, philosopher, by my chatter?" "Not you, by +Zeus," said he, "for I paid no attention to you." For even if talkative +people force you to listen,[546] the mind can give them only its outward +ears to deluge, while it unfolds and pursues some other thoughts within; +so they find neither hearers to attend to them, nor credit them. They +say those that are prone to Venus are commonly barren: so the prating of +talkative people is ineffectual and fruitless. + +Sec. III. And yet nature has fenced and barricaded in us nothing so much as +the tongue, having put the teeth before it as a barrier, so that if, +when reason holds tight her "glossy reins,"[547] it hearken not, nor +keep within bounds, we may check its intemperance, biting it till the +blood comes. For Euripides tells us that, not from unbolted houses or +store-rooms, but "from unbridled mouths the end is misfortune."[548] But +those persons who think that houses without doors and open purses are no +good to their possessors, and yet keep their mouths open and unshut, and +allow their speech to flow continually like the waves of the +Euxine,[549] seem to regard speech as of less value than anything. And +so they never get believed, though credit is the aim of every speech; +for to inspire belief in one's hearers is the proper end of speech, but +praters are disbelieved even when they tell the truth. For as corn +stowed away in a granary is found to be larger in quantity but inferior +in quality, so the speech of a talkative man is increased by a large +addition of falsehood, which destroys his credit. + +Sec. IV. Then again every man of modesty and propriety would avoid +drunkenness, for anger is next door neighbour to madness as some +think,[550] but drunkenness lives in the same house: or rather +drunkenness is madness, more short-lived indeed, but more potent also +through volition, for it is self-chosen. Nor is drunkenness censured for +anything so much as its intemperate and endless talk. + + "Wine makes a prudent man begin to sing, + And gently laugh, and even makes him dance."[551] + +And yet there is no harm in all this, in singing and laughing and +dancing. But the poet adds-- + + "And it compels to say what's best unsaid."[552] + +This is indeed dreadful and dangerous. And perhaps the poet in this +passage has solved that problem of the philosophers, and stated the +difference between being under the influence of wine and being drunk, +mirth being the condition of the former, foolish talk of the latter. For +as the proverb tells us, "What is in the heart of the sober is on the +tongue of the drunken."[553] And so Bias, being silent at a drinking +bout, and jeered at by some young man in the company as stupid, replied, +"What fool could hold his tongue in liquor?" And at Athens a certain +person gave an entertainment to the king's ambassadors, and at their +desire contrived to get the philosophers there too, and as they were all +talking together and comparing ideas, and Zeno alone was silent, the +strangers greeted him and pledged him, and said, "What are we to tell +the king about you, Zeno?" And he replied, "Nothing, but that there is +an old man at Athens that can hold his tongue at a drinking bout." So +profound and mysterious and sober is silence, while drunkenness is +talkative: for it is void of sense and understanding, and so is +loquacious. And so the philosophers define drunkenness to be silly talk +in wine. Drinking therefore is not censured, if silence go with it, but +foolish prating turns being under the influence of wine into +drunkenness. And the drunken man prates only in his cups; but the +talkative man prates everywhere, in the market-place, in the theatre, +out walking, by night and by day. If he is your doctor, he is more +trouble to you than your disease: if he is on board ship with you, he +disgusts you more than sea-sickness; if he praises you, he is more +fulsome than blame. It is more pleasure associating with bad men who +have tact than with good men who prate. Nestor indeed in Sophocles' +Play, trying by his words to soothe exasperated Ajax, said to him +mildly, + + "I blame you not, for though your words are bad, + Your acts are good:" + +but we cannot feel so to the talkative man, for his want of tact in +words destroys and undoes all the grace of his actions. + +Sec. V. Lysias wrote a defence for some accused person, and gave it him, +and he read it several times, and came to Lysias in great dejection and +said, "When I first perused this defence, it seemed to me wonderful, but +when I read it a second and third time, it seemed altogether dull and +ineffective. Then Lysias laughed, and said, "What then? Are you going to +read it more than once to the jury?" And yet do but consider the +persuasiveness and grace of Lysias' style;[554] for he "I say was a +great favourite with the dark-haired Muses."[555] And of the things +which have been said of Homer the truest is that he alone of all poets +has survived the fastidiousness of mankind, as being ever new and still +at his acme as regards giving pleasure, and yet saying and proclaiming +about himself, "I hate to spin out a plain tale over and over +again,"[556] he avoids and fears that satiety which lies in ambush for +every narrative, and takes the hearer from one subject to another, and +relieves by novelty the possibility of being surfeited. But the +talkative worry one's ears to death with their tautologies, as people +scribble the same things over and over again on palimpsests.[557] + +Sec. VI. Let us remind them then first of this, that just as in the case of +wine, which was intended for pleasure and mirth, those who compel people +to drink it neat and in large quantities bring some into a disgusting +condition of drunkenness, so with speech, which is the pleasantest +social tie amongst mankind, those who make a bad and ill-advised use of +it render it unpleasing and unfit for company, paining those whom they +think to gratify, and become a laughing-stock to those who they think +admire them, and objectionable to those who they think love them. As +then he cannot be a favourite of the goddess who with Aphrodite's +charmed girdle[558] repels and drives away those who associate with him, +so he who with his speech bores and disgusts one is without either taste +or refinement. + +Sec. VII. Of all other passions and disorders some are dangerous, some +hateful, some ridiculous, but in talkativeness all these elements are +combined. For praters are jeered at for their commonplaces, and hated +when they bring bad news, and run into danger when they reveal secrets. +And so Anacharsis, when he was feasted by Solon and lay down to sleep, +and was observed with his left hand on his private parts, and his right +hand on his mouth, for he thought his tongue needed the stronger +restraint, was right in his opinion. For it would be difficult to find +as many men who have been ruined by venereal excesses as cities and +leading states that have been undone by the utterance of a secret. When +Sulla was besieging Athens, and had no time to waste there, "for he had +other fish to fry,"[559] as Mithridates was ravaging Asia, and the party +of Marius was again in power at Rome, some old men in a barber's shop +happened to observe to one another that the Heptachalcon was not well +guarded, and that their city ran a great risk of being captured at that +point, and some spies who overheard this conversation reported it to +Sulla. And he at once marched up his forces, and about midnight entered +the city with his army, and all but rased it to the ground, and filled +it with slaughter and dead bodies, insomuch that the Ceramicus ran with +blood: and he was thus savage against the Athenians for their words +rather than their deeds, for they had spoken ill of him and his wife +Metella, jumping on to the walls and calling out in a jeering way, + + "Sulla is a mulberry bestrewn with barley meal," + +and much similar banter. Thus they drew down upon themselves for words, +which, as Plato[560] says, are a very small matter, a very heavy +punishment.[561] The prating of one man also prevented Rome from +becoming free by the removal of Nero. For it was only the night before +the tyrant was to be murdered, and all preparations had been made, when +he that was to do the deed going to the theatre, and seeing someone in +chains near the doors who was about to be taken before Nero, and was +bewailing his sad fortune, went up close to him and whispered, "Pray +only, good sir, that to-day may pass by, to-morrow you will owe me many +thanks." He guessing the meaning of the riddle, and thinking, I take it, +"he is a fool who gives up what is in his hand for a remote +contingency,"[562] preferred certain to honourable safety. For he +informed Nero of what the man had said, and he was immediately arrested, +and torture, and fire, and scourging were applied to him, who denied now +in his necessity what before he had divulged without necessity. + +Sec. VIII. Zeno the philosopher,[563] that he might not against his will +divulge any secrets when put to the torture, bit off his tongue, and +spit it at the tyrant. Famous also was the reward which Leaena had for +her taciturnity.[564] She was the mistress of Harmodius and Aristogiton, +and, although a woman, participated in their hopes of success in the +conspiracy against the tyrants: for she had revelled in the glorious cup +of love, and had been initiated in their secrets through the god. When +then they had failed in their attempt and been put to death, and she was +examined and bidden to reveal the names of the other conspirators, she +refused to do so, and held out to the end, showing that those famous men +in loving such a one as her had done nothing unworthy of them. And the +Athenians erected to her memory a bronze lioness without a tongue, and +placed it near the entrance to the Acropolis, signifying her dauntless +courage by the nobleness of that animal, and by its being without a +tongue her silence and fidelity. For no spoken word has done as much +good as many unspoken ones. For at some future day we can give utterance +if we like to what has been not said, but a word once spoken cannot be +recalled, but flies about and runs all round the world. And this is the +reason, I take it, why men teach us to speak, but the gods teach us to +be silent, silence being enjoined on us in the mysteries and in all +religious rites. Thus Homer has described the most eloquent Odysseus, +and Telemachus, and Penelope, and the nurse, as all remarkable for their +taciturnity. You remember the nurse saying, + + "I'll keep it close as heart of oak or steel."[565] + +And Odysseus sitting by Penelope, + + "Though in his heart he pitied her sad grief, + His eyes like horn or steel impassive stood + Within their lids, and craft his tears repressed."[566] + +So great control had he over all his body, and so much were all his +members under the sway and rule of reason, that he commanded his eyes +not to weep, his tongue not to speak, and his heart not to tremble or +quake.[567] + + "So calm and passive did his heart remain,"[568] + +reason penetrating even to the irrational instincts, and making spirit +and blood obedient and docile to it. Such also were most of his +companions, for though they were dashed to the ground and dragged along +by the Cyclops, they said not a word about Odysseus, nor did they show +the stake of wood that had been put into the fire and prepared to put +out Polyphemus' eye, but they would rather have been eaten alive than +divulge secrets, such wonderful self-control and fidelity had they.[569] +And so it was not amiss of Pittacus, when the king of Egypt sent him a +victim, and bade him take from it the best and worst piece of it, to +pull out the tongue and send that to the king, as being the instrument +of the greatest blessings and withal the greatest mischiefs. + +Sec. IX. So Ino in Euripides, speaking plainly about herself, says she +knows "how to be silent when she should, and to speak when speech is +safe."[570] For those who have enjoyed a truly noble and royal education +learn first to be silent and then to speak. So the famous king +Antigonus, when his son asked him, "When are we going to shift our +quarters?" answered, "Are you afraid that you only will not hear the +trumpet?" Was he afraid then to entrust a secret to him, to whom he +intended one day to leave his kingdom? Nay rather, it was to teach him +to be close and guarded on such matters. Metellus[571] also, the +well-known veteran, when questioned somewhat similarly about an +expedition, said, "If I thought my coat knew the secret, I would strip +it off and throw it into the fire." And Eumenes, when he heard that +Craterus was marching against him, told none of his friends, but +pretended that it was Neoptolemus; for his soldiers despised +Neoptolemus, but they admired the glory and loved the virtue of +Craterus; and no one but Eumenes knew the truth, and they engaged and +were victorious, and unwittingly killed Craterus, and only recognized +his dead body. So great a part did silence play in the battle, +concealing the name of the enemy's general: so that Eumenes' friends +marvelled more than found fault at his not having told them the truth. +And if anyone should receive blame in such a case, it is better to be +censured when one has done well by keeping one's counsel, rather than to +have to accuse others through having come to grief by trusting them. + +Sec. X. But, generally speaking, who has the right to blame the person who +has not kept his secret? For if it was not to be known, it was not well +to tell another person of it at all, and if you divulged your secret +yourself and expected another person to keep it, you had more faith in +another than in yourself. And so should he be such another as yourself +you are deservedly undone, and should he be a better man than yourself, +your safety is more than you could have reckoned on, as it involved +finding a man more to be trusted than yourself. But you will say, He is +my friend. Yes, but he has another friend, whom he reposes confidence in +as much as you do in your friend, and that other friend has one of his +own, and so on, so that the secret spreads in many quarters from +inability to keep it close in one. For as the unit never deviates from +its orbit, but (as its name signifies) always remains one, but the +number two contains within it the seeds of infinity, for when it departs +from itself it becomes plurality at once by doubling, so speech confined +in one person's breast is truly secret, but if it be communicated to +another it soon gets noised abroad. And so Homer calls words "winged," +for as he that lets a bird go from his hands cannot easily get it back +again, so he that lets a word go from his mouth cannot catch or stop it, +but it is borne along "whirling on swift wings," and dispersed from one +person to another. When a ship scuds before the gale the mariners can +stop it, or at least check its course with cables and anchors, but when +the spoken word once sails out of harbour, so to speak, there is no +roadstead or anchorage for it, but borne along with much noise and echo +it dashes its utterer on the rocks, and brings him into imminent danger +of shipwreck, + + "As one might set on fire Ida's woods + With a small torch, so what one tells one person + Is soon the property of all the citizens."[572] + +Sec. XI. The Roman Senate had been discussing for several days a secret +matter, and there was much doubt and suspicion about it. And one of the +senator's wives, discreet in other matters but a very woman in +curiosity, pressed her husband close, and entreated him to tell her what +the secret was; she vowed and swore she would not divulge it, and did +not refrain from shedding tears at her not being trusted. And he, +nothing loth to convince her of her folly, said, "Your importunity, +wife, has prevailed, listen to a dreadful and portentous matter. It has +been told us by the priests that a lark has been seen flying in the air +with a golden helmet and spear: it is this portent that we are +considering and discussing with the augurs, as to whether it be a good +or bad omen. But say nothing about it." Having said these words he went +into the Forum. But his wife seized on the very first of her maids that +entered the room, and smote her breast, and tore her hair, and said, +"Alas! for my husband and country! What will become of us?" wishing and +teaching her maid to say, "Whatever's up?" So when she inquired she told +her all about it, adding that refrain common to all praters, "Tell no +one a word about it." The maid however had scarce left her mistress when +she told one of her fellow-servants who was doing little or nothing, and +she told her lover who happened to call at that moment. So the news +spread to the Forum so quickly that it got the start of its original +author, and one of his friends meeting him said, "Have you only just +left your house?" "Only just," he replied. "Didn't you hear the news?" +said his friend. "What news?" said he. "Why, that a lark has been seen +flying in the air with a golden helmet and spear, and the Senate are met +to discuss the portent." And he smiled and said to himself, "You are +quick, wife, for the tale to get before me to the Forum!" Then meeting +some of the Senators he disabused them of their panic. But to punish his +wife, he said when he got home, "You have undone me, wife: for the +secret has got abroad from my house, so that I must be an exile from my +country for your inability to keep a secret." And on her trying to deny +it, and saying, "Were there not three hundred Senators that heard of it +as well as you? Might not one of them have divulged it?" he replied, +"Stuff o' your three hundred! It was at your importunity that I invented +the story, to put you to the test!" This fellow tested his wife warily +and cunningly, as one pours water, and not wine or oil, into a leaky +vessel. And Fabius,[573] the friend of Augustus, hearing the Emperor in +his old age mourning over the extinction of his family, how two of his +daughter Julia's sons were dead, and how Posthumus Agrippa, the only +remaining one, was in exile through false accusation,[574] and how he +was compelled to put his wife's son[575] into the succession to the +Empire, though he pitied Agrippa and had half a mind to recall him from +banishment, repeated the Emperor's words to his wife, and she to +Livia.[576] And Livia bitterly upbraided Augustus, if he meant recalling +his grandson, for not having done so long ago, instead of bringing her +into hatred and hostility with the heir to the Empire. When Fabius came +in the morning as usual into the Emperor's presence, and said, "Hail, +Caesar!" the Emperor replied, "Farewell,[577] Fabius." And he +understanding the meaning of this straightway went home, and sent for +his wife, and said, "The Emperor knows that I have not kept his secret, +so I shall kill myself." And his wife replied, "You have deserved your +fate, since having been married to me so long you did not remember and +guard against my incontinence of speech, but suffer me to kill myself +first." So saying she took his sword, and slew herself first. + +Sec. XII. That was a good answer therefore that the comic poet Philippides +made to king Lysimachus, who greeted him kindly, and said to him,[578] +"What shall I give you of all my possessions?" "Whatever you like, O +king, except your secrets." And talkativeness has another plague +attached to it, even curiosity: for praters wish to hear much that they +may have much to say, and most of all do they gad about to investigate +and pry into secrets and hidden things, providing as it were an +antiquated stock of rubbish[579] for their twaddle, in fine like +children who cannot[580] hold ice in their hands, and yet are unwilling +to let it go,[581] or rather taking secrets to their bosoms and +embracing them as if they were so many serpents, that they cannot +control, but are sure to be gnawed to death by. They say that garfish +and vipers burst in giving life to their young, so secrets by coming out +ruin and destroy those who cannot keep them. Seleucus Callinicus having +lost his army and all his forces in a battle against the Galati, threw +off his diadem, and fled on a swift horse with an escort of three or +four of his men a long day's journey by bypaths and out-of-the-way +tracks, till faint and famishing for want of food he drew rein at a +small farmhouse, where by chance he found the master at home, and asked +for some bread and water. And he supplied him liberally and courteously +not only with what he asked for but with whatever else was on the farm, +and recognized the king, and being very joyful at this opportunity of +ministering to the king's necessities, he could not contain himself, nor +dissemble like the king who wished to be incognito, but he accompanied +him to the road, and on parting from him, said, "Farewell, king +Seleucus." And he stretching out his right hand, and drawing the man to +him as if he was going to kiss him, gave a sign to one of his escort to +draw his sword and cut the man's head off; + + "And at his word the head roll'd in the dust."[582] + +Whereas if he had been silent then, and kept his counsel for a time, as +the king afterwards became prosperous and great, he would have received, +I take it, greater favour for his silence than for his hospitality. And +yet he had I admit some excuse for his want of reticence, namely hope +and joy. + +Sec. XIII. But most talkative people have no excuse for ruining themselves. +As for example in a barber's shop one day there was some conversation +about the tyranny of Dionysius, that it was as hard as adamant and +invincible, and the barber laughed and said, "Fancy your saying this to +me, who have my razor at his throat most days!" And Dionysius hearing +this had him crucified. Barbers indeed are generally a talkative race, +for people fond of prating flock to them and sit in their shops, so that +they pick up the habit from their customers. It was a witty answer +therefore of king Archelaus,[583] when a talkative barber put the towel +round his neck, and asked him, "How shall I shave you, O king?" +"Silently," said the monarch. It was a barber that first spread the news +of the great reverse of the Athenians in Sicily, having heard of it at +the Piraeus from a slave that had escaped from the island. He at once +left his shop, and ran into the city at full speed, "that no one else +should reap the fame, and he come in the second,"[584] of carrying the +news into the town. And an uproar arising, as was only to be expected, +the people assembled in the ecclesia, and began to investigate the +origin of the rumour. So the barber was dragged up and questioned, but +knew not the person's name who had told him, so was obliged to refer its +origin to an anonymous and unknown person. Then anger filled the +theatre, and the multitude cried out, "Torture the cursed fellow, put +him to the rack: he has fabricated and concocted this news: who else +heard it? who credits it?" The wheel was brought, the poor fellow +stretched on it. Meantime those came up who had brought the news, who +had escaped from the carnage in Sicily. Then all the multitude dispersed +to weep over their private sorrows, and abandoned the poor barber, who +remained fastened to the wheel. And when released late in the evening he +actually asked the executioner, if they had heard how Nicias the General +was slain. So invincible and incorrigible a vice does habit make +talkativeness to be. + +Sec. XIV. And yet, as those that drink bitter and strong-smelling physic +are disgusted even with the cups they drink it out of, so those that +bring evil tidings are disliked and hated by their hearers. Wittily +therefore has Sophocles described the conversation between Creon and the +guard. + + "_G._ Is't in your ears or in your mind you're grieved? + _C._ Why do you thus define the seat of grief? + _G._ The doer pains your mind, but I your ears."[585] + +However those that tell the tale grieve us as well as those that did the +deed: and yet there is no means of checking or controlling the running +tongue. At Lacedaemon the temple of Athene Chalcioecus[586] was broken +into, and an empty flagon was observed lying on the ground inside, and a +great concourse of people came up and discussed the matter. And one of +the company said, "If you will allow me, I will tell you what I think +about this flagon. I cannot help being of opinion that these +sacrilegious wretches drank hemlock, and brought wine with them, before +commencing their nefarious and dangerous work: that so, if they should +fail to be detected, they might depart in safety, drinking the wine neat +as an antidote to the hemlock: whereas should they be caught in the act, +before they were put to the torture they would die of the poison easily +and painlessly." When he had uttered these words, the idea seemed so +ingenious and farfetched that it looked as if it could not emanate from +fancy, but only from knowledge of the real facts. So the crowd +surrounded this man, and asked him one after the other, "Who are you? +Who knows you? How come you to know all this?" And at last he was +convicted in this way, and confessed that he was one of those that had +committed the sacrilege. And were not the murderers of Ibycus similarly +captured? They were sitting in the theatre, and some cranes flew over +their heads, and they laughed and whispered to one another, "Behold the +avengers of Ibycus." And this being overheard by some who sat near, as +Ibycus had now been some time missing and inquired after, they laid hold +of this remark, and reported it to the magistrates. And so they were +convicted and dragged off to punishment, being brought to justice not by +the cranes but by their own inability to hold their tongues, being +compelled by some Fury or Vengeance as it were to divulge the +murder.[587] For as in the body there is an attraction to sore and +suffering parts from neighbouring parts, so the tongue of talkative +persons, ever suffering from inflammation and a throbbing pulse, +attracts and draws to it secret and hidden things. And so the tongue +ought to be fenced in, and have reason ever before it, as a bulwark, to +prevent its tripping: that we may not seem to be more silly than geese, +of whom it is said that, when they fly from Cilicia over Mt. Taurus +which swarms with eagles, they carry in their mouths a large stone, +which they employ as a gag or bridle for their scream, and so they cross +over by night unobserved. + +Sec. XV. Now if anyone were to ask who is the worst and most abandoned man, +no one would pass over the traitor, or mention anyone else. It was as +the reward of treason that Euthycrates roofed his house with Macedonian +wood, as Demosthenes tells us; and that Philocrates got a large sum of +money, and spent it on women and fish; and it was for betraying Eretria +that Euphorbus and Philagrus got an estate from king Philip. But the +talkative man is an unhired and officious traitor, not of horses[588] or +walls, but of secrets which he divulges in the law courts, in factions, +in party-strife, no one thanking him for his pains; but should anyone +listen to him he thinks he is the obliged party. So that what was said +to a man who rashly and indiscriminately squandered away all his means +and bestowed them on others, + + "It is not kindness in you but disease, + This itch for giving,"[589] + +is appropriate also to the prater, "You don't communicate to us all this +out of friendship or goodwill, but it is a disease in you, this itch for +talking and prating." + +Sec. XVI. But all this must not be looked upon merely as an indictment +against talkativeness, but an attempt to cure it: for we overcome the +passions by judgement and practice, but judgement is the first step. For +no one is wont to shun, and eradicate from his soul, what he does not +dislike. And we dislike the passions only when we discern by reason the +harm and shame that results to us by indulging them. As we see every day +in the case of talkative people: if they wish to be loved, they are +hated; if they desire to please, they bore; when they think they are +admired, they are really laughed at; they spend, and get no gain from so +doing; they injure their friends, benefit their enemies, and ruin +themselves. So that the first cure and remedy of this disorder will be +to reckon up the shame and trouble that results from it. + +Sec. XVII. In the next place we must consider the opposite virtue to +talkativeness, always listening to and having on our lips the encomiums +passed upon reserve, and remembering the decorum sanctity and mysterious +power of silence, and ever bearing in mind that terse and brief +speakers, who put the maximum of matter into the minimum of words, are +more admired and esteemed and thought wiser[590] than unbridled +windbags. And so Plato[591] praises, and compares to clever javelin-men, +such as speak tersely, compressedly, and concisely. And Lycurgus by +using his citizens from boyhood to silence taught them to perfection +their brevity and terseness. For as the Celtiberians make steel of iron +only after digging down deep in the soil, and carefully separating the +iron ore, so Laconian oratory has no rind,[592] but by the removal of +all superfluous matter goes home straight to the point like steel. For +its sententiousness,[593] and pointed suppleness in repartee, comes from +the habit of silence. And we ought to quote such pointed sayings +especially to talkative people, such neatness and vigour have they, as, +for example, what the Lacedaemonians said to Philip, "[Remember] +Dionysius at Corinth."[594] And again, when Philip wrote to them, "If I +invade Laconia, I will drive you all out of house and home," they only +wrote back, "If." And when king Demetrius was indignant and cried out, +"The Lacedaemonians have only sent me one ambassador," the ambassador was +not frightened but said, "Yes, one to one man." Certainly among the +ancients men of few words were admired. So the Amphictyones did not +write extracts from the Iliad or Odyssey, or the Paeans of Pindar, in the +temple of Pythian Apollo at Delphi, but "Know thyself," "Not too much of +anything,"[595] and "Be a surety, trouble is near;"[596] so much did +they admire compactness and simplicity of speech, combining brevity with +shrewdness of mind. And is not the god himself short and concise in his +oracles? Is he not called Loxias,[597] because he prefers ambiguity to +longwindedness? And are not those who express their meaning by signs +without words wonderfully praised and admired? As Heraclitus, when some +of the citizens asked him to give them his opinion about concord, got on +the platform, and took a cup of cold water, and put some barley-meal in +it, and stirred it up with penny-royal, thus showing them that it is +being content with anything, and not needing costly dainties, that keeps +cities in peace and concord. Scilurus, the king of the Scythians, left +eighty sons, and on his death-bed asked for a bundle of sticks, and bade +his sons break it when it was tied together, and when they could not, he +took the sticks one by one and easily broke them all up: thus showing +them that their harmony and concord would make them strong and hard to +overthrow, while dissension would make them feeble and insecure. + +Sec. XVIII. If then anyone were continually to recollect and repeat these +or similar terse sayings, he would probably cease to be pleased with +idle talk. As for myself, when I consider of what importance it is to +attend to reason, and to keep to one's purpose, I confess I am quite put +out of countenance by the example of the slave of Pupius Piso the +orator. He, not wishing to be annoyed by their prating, ordered his +slaves merely to answer his questions, and not say a word more. On one +occasion wishing to pay honour to Clodius who was then in power, he +ordered him to be invited to his house, and provided for him no doubt a +sumptuous entertainment. At the time fixed all the guests were present +except Clodius, for whom they waited, and the host frequently sent the +slave who used to invite guests to see if he was coming, but when +evening came, and he was now quite despaired of, he said to his slave, +"Did you not invite him?" "Certainly," said the slave. "Why then has he +not come?" said the master. "Because he declined," said the slave. "Why +then did you not tell me of it at once?" said the master. "Because you +never asked me," said the slave. This was a Roman slave. But an Athenian +slave "while digging will tell his master on what terms peace was made." +So great is the force of habit in all matters. And of it we will now +speak. + +Sec. XIX. For it is not by applying bit or bridle that we can restrain the +talkative person, we must master the disease by habit. In the first +place then, when you are in company and questions are going round, +accustom yourself not to speak till all the rest have declined giving an +answer. For as Sophocles says, "counsel is not like a race;" no more are +question and answer. For in a race the victory belongs to him who gets +in first, but in company, if anyone has given a satisfactory answer, it +is sufficient by assenting and agreeing to his view to get the +reputation of being a pleasant fellow; and if no satisfactory answer is +given, then to enlighten ignorance and supply the necessary information +is well-timed and does not excite envy. But let us be especially on our +guard that, if anyone else is asked a question, we do not ourselves +anticipate and intercept him in giving an answer. It is indeed perhaps +nowhere good form, if another is asked a favour, to push him aside and +undertake to grant it ourselves; for we shall seem so to upbraid two +people at once, the one who was asked as not able to grant the favour, +and the other as not knowing how to ask in the right quarter. But +especially insulting is such forwardness and impetuosity in answering +questions. For he that anticipates by his own answer the person that was +asked the question seems to say, "What is the good of asking him? What +does he know about it? In my presence nobody else ought to be asked +about these matters." And yet we often put questions to people, not so +much because we want an answer, as to elicit from them conversation and +friendly feeling, and from a wish to fit them for company, as Socrates +drew out Theaetetus and Charmides. For it is all one to run up and kiss +one who wishes to be kissed by another, or to divert to oneself the +attention that he was bestowing on another, as to intercept another +person's answers, and to transfer people's ears, and force their +attention, and fix them on oneself; when, even if he that was asked +declines to give an answer, it will be well to hold oneself in reserve, +and only to meet the question modestly when one's turn comes, so framing +one's answer as to seem to oblige the person who asked the question, and +as if one had been appealed to for an answer by the other. For if people +are asked questions and cannot give a satisfactory answer they are with +justice excused; but he who without being asked undertakes to answer a +question, and anticipates another, is disagreeable even if he succeeds, +while, if his answer is unsatisfactory, he is ridiculed by all the +company, and his failure is a source of the liveliest satisfaction to +them. + +Sec. XX. The next thing to practise oneself to in answering the questions +put to one,--a point to which the talkative person ought to pay the +greatest attention,--is not through inadvertence to give serious answers +to people who only challenge you to talk in fun and sport. For some +people concoct questions not for real information, but simply for +amusement and to pass the time away, and propound them to talkative +people, just to have them on. Against this we must be on our guard, and +not rush into conversation too hastily, or as if we were obliged for the +chance, but we must consider the character of the inquirer and his +purpose. When it seems that he really desires information, we should +accustom ourselves to pause, and interpose some interval between the +question and answer; during which time the questioner can add anything +if he chooses, and the other can reflect on his answer, and not be in +too great a hurry about it, nor bury it in obscurity, nor, as is +frequently the case in too great haste, answer some other question than +that which was asked. The Pythian Priestess indeed was accustomed to +utter some of her oracles at the very moment before the question was +put: for the god whom she serves "understands the dumb, and hears the +mute."[598] But he that wishes to give an appropriate answer must +carefully consider both the question and the mind of the questioner, +lest it be as the proverb expresses it, + + "I asked for shovels, they denied me pails."[599] + +Besides we ought to check this greediness and hunger for words, that it +may not seem as if we had a flood on our tongue which was dammed up, but +which we were only too glad to discharge[600] on a question being put. +Socrates indeed so repressed his thirst, that he would not allow himself +to drink after exercise in the gymnasium, till he had first drawn from +the well one bucket of water and poured it on to the ground, that he +might accustom his irrational part to wait upon reason. + +Sec. XXI. There are moreover three kinds of answers to questions, the +necessary, the polite, and the superfluous. For instance, if anyone +asked, "Is Socrates at home?" one, as if backward and disinclined to +answer, might say, "Not at home;" or, if he wished to speak with Laconic +brevity, might cut off "at home," and simply say "No;" as, when Philip +wrote to the Lacedaemonians to ask if they would receive him in their +city, they sent him back merely a large "No." But another would answer +more politely, "He is not at home, but with the bankers," and if he +wished to add a little more, "he expects to see some strangers there." +But the superfluous prater, if he has read Antimachus of Colophon,[601] +says, "He is not at home, but with the bankers, waiting for some Ionian +strangers, about whom he has had a letter from Alcibiades who is in the +neighbourhood of Miletus, staying with Tissaphernes the satrap of the +great king, who used long ago to favour the Lacedaemonian party, but now +attaches himself to the Athenians for Alcibiades' sake, for Alcibiades +desires to return to his country, and so has succeeded in changing the +views of Tissaphernes." And then he will go over the whole of the Eighth +Book of Thucydides, and deluge the man, till before he is aware Miletus +is captured, and Alcibiades is in exile the second time. In such a case +most of all ought we to curtail talkativeness, by following the track of +a question closely, and tracing out our answer according to the need of +the questioner with the same accuracy as we describe a circle. When +Carneades was disputing in the gymnasium before the days of his great +fame, the superintendent of the gymnasium sent to him a message to bid +him modulate his voice (for it was of the loudest), and when he asked +him to fix a standard, the superintendent replied not amiss, "The +standard of the person talking with you." So the meaning of the +questioner ought to be the standard for the answer. + +Sec. XXII. Moreover as Socrates urged his disciples to abstain from such +food as tempted them to eat when they were not hungry, and from such +drinks as tempted them to drink when they were not thirsty, so the +talkative person ought to be afraid most of such subjects of +conversation as he most delights in and repeats _ad nauseam_, and to try +and resist their influence. For example, soldiers are fond of +descriptions about war, and thus Homer introduces Nestor frequently +narrating his prowess and glorious deeds. And generally speaking those +who have been successful in the law courts, or beyond their hopes been +favourites of kings and princes, are possessed, as it were by some +disease, with the itch for frequently recalling and narrating, how they +got on and were advanced, what struggles they underwent, how they argued +on some famous occasion, how they won the day either as plaintiffs or +defendants, what panegyrics were showered upon them. For joy is much +more inclined to prate than the well-known sleeplessness represented in +comedies, frequently rousing itself, and finding something fresh to +relate. And so at any excuse they slip into such narratives. For not +only, + + "Where anyone does itch, there goes his hand,"[602] + +but also delight has a voice of its own, and leads about the tongue in +its train, ever wishing to fortify it with memory. Thus lovers spend +most of their time in conversations that revive the memory of their +loves; and if they cannot talk to human beings about them, they talk +about them to inanimate objects, as, "O dearest bed," and, + + "O happy lamp, Bacchis deems you a god, + And if she thinks so, then you are indeed + The greatest of the gods." + +The talkative person therefore is merely as regards words a white +line,[603] but he that is especially inclined to certain subjects should +be especially on his guard against talking about them, and should avoid +such topics, since from the pleasure they give him they may entice him +to be very prolix and tedious. The same is the case with people in +regard to such subjects as they think they are more experienced in and +acquainted with than others. For such a one, being self-appreciative and +fond of fame, "spends most of the day in that particular branch of study +in which he chances to be proficient."[604] Thus he that is fond of +reading will give his time to research; the grammarian his to syntax; +and the traveller, who has wandered over many countries, his to +geography. We must therefore be on our guard against our favourite +topics, for they are an enticement to talkativeness, as its wonted +haunts are to an animal. Admirable therefore was the behaviour of Cyrus +in challenging his companions, not to those contests in which he was +superior to them, but to those in which he was inferior, partly that he +might not give them pain through his superiority, partly for his own +benefit by learning from them. But the talkative person acts just +contrary, for if any subject is introduced from which he might learn +something he did not know, this he rejects and refuses, not being able +to earn a good deal by a short silence,[605] but he rambles round the +subject and babbles out stale and commonplace rhapsodies. As one amongst +us, who by chance had read two or three of the books of Ephorus,[606] +bored everybody, and dispersed every social party, by always narrating +the particulars of the battle of Leuctra and its consequences, so that +he got nicknamed Epaminondas. + +Sec. XXIII. Nevertheless this is one of the least of the evils of +talkativeness, and we ought even to try and divert it into such channels +as these, for prating is less of a nuisance when it is on some literary +subject. We ought also to try and get some persons to write on some +topic, and so discuss it by themselves. For Antipater the Stoic +philosopher,[607] not being able or willing it seems to dispute with +Carneades, who inveighed vehemently against the Stoic philosophy, +writing and filling many books of controversy against him, got the +nickname of _Noisy-with-the-pen_; and perhaps the exercise and +excitement of writing, keeping him very much apart from the community, +might make the talkative man by degrees better company to those he +associated with; as dogs, bestowing their rage on sticks and stones, are +less savage to men. It will also be very advantageous for such to mix +with people better and older than themselves, for they will accustom +themselves to be silent by standing in awe of their reputation. And +withal it will be well, when we are going to say something, and the +words are on our lips, to reflect and consider, "What is this word that +is so eager for utterance? To what is this tongue marching? What good +will come of speaking now, or what harm of silence?" For we ought not to +drop words as we should a burden that pressed upon us, for the word +remains still after it has been spoken just the same; but men speak +either on their own behalf if they want something, or to benefit those +that hear them, or, to gratify one another, they season everyday life +with speech, as one seasons food with salt. But if words are neither +useful to the speaker, nor necessary for the hearer, nor contain any +pleasure or charm, why are they spoken? For words may be idle and +useless as well as deeds. And besides all this we must ever remember as +most important the dictum of Simonides, that he had often repented he +had spoken, but never that he had been silent: while as to the power and +strength of practice consider how men by much toil and painstaking will +get rid even of a cough or hiccough. And silence is not only never +thirsty, as Hippocrates says, but also never brings pain or sorrow. + + [541] Or _Garrulity_, _Chattering_, _Prating_. It is + Talkativeness in a bad sense. + + [542] Or _Heptaphonos_. See Pausanias, v. 21. + + [543] Some unknown poet's words. I suppose they mean + driving one mad, making one "Like sweet bells jangled, + out of tune and harsh." + + [544] So our English proverb, "Empty vessels make the + greatest sound." + + [545] Literally in a semi-circular place. It is not + quite clear whether the front seats of the theatre are + meant, or, as I have taken it, more generally, of some + public place for entertainment or meeting, some + promenade or piazza. + + [546] Reading [Greek: akouein], which seems far the best + reading. + + [547] Homer, "Iliad," v. 226; "Odyssey," vi. 81. + + [548] "Bacchae," 385-387. + + [549] See Ovid, "Tristia," iv. 4, 55-58. + + [550] For example, Horace, "Epistles," i. 2, 62: "Ira + furor brevis est" I read [Greek: homotoichos] with Mez. + + [551] Homer, "Odyssey," xiv. 463-465. + + [552] Ibid. 466. + + [553] Compare the German proverb, "Thought when sober, + said when drunk"--"Nuchtern gedacht, voll gesagt." + + [554] Cf. Quintilian, x. 1, 78: "His aetate Lysias major, + subtilis atque elegans et quo nihil, si oratori satis + est docere, quaeras perfectius. Nihil enim est inane, + nihil arcessitum; puro tamen fonti quam magno flumini + propior." Cf. ix. 4, 17. + + [555] Somewhat like Pindar, "Pyth." i. 1. 1, 2. + + [556] "Odyssey," xii. 452, 453. + + [557] See Cicero, "Ad Fam." vii. 18; Catullus, xxii. 5, + 6. + + [558] See "Iliad," xiv. 214-217. + + [559] "Allusio ad Homericum [Greek: epei ponos allos + epeigei.]"--_Xylander._ + + [560] "Laws," xi. p. 935 A. + + [561] So true are the words of AEschylus, [Greek: glosse + mataia zemia prostribetai].--"Prom." 329. + + [562] Our "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." + + [563] "Non Citticus, sed Eleates. v. Cic. Tuscul. ii. + 22, et Nat. Deor. 3, 33."--_Reiske._ + + [564] See Pausanias, i. 23. Leaena means "lioness." On + the conspiracy see Thucydides, vi. 54-59. + + [565] Homer, "Odyssey," xix. 494. Plutarch quotes from + memory. The nurse's name was Euryclea. + + [566] Odyssey," xix. 210-212. Quoted again "On Moral + Virtue," Sec. iv. + + [567] Literally _bark_. See "Odyssey," xx. 13, 16. + + [568] "Odyssey," xx. 23. + + [569] See "Odyssey," ix. [Greek: Kyklopeia]. + + [570] Euripides, "Ino." Fragment, 416. + + [571] "Significat Q. Caecilium Metellum, de quo Liv. xl. + 45, 46."--_Reiske._ + + [572] Euripides, "Ino." Fragm. 415. Compare St. James, + iii. 5, 6. + + [573] Fabius Maximus. So Tacitus, "Annals," i. 5, who + relates this story somewhat differently. + + [574] See Tacitus, "Annals," i. 3. As to his fate, see + "Annals," i. 6. + + [575] Tiberius Nero, who actually did succeed Augustus. + + [576] The Emperor's wife. + + [577] So it is in Sec. xii. But perhaps here it means, "I + wish you had more sense, Fabius!" + + [578] Adopting the reading of Reiske. + + [579] Reading [Greek: phorutou] or [Greek: phoryton], as + Wyttenbach. + + [580] Reading [Greek: katechein dynantai] with Reiske. + + [581] See Sophocles, Fragm. 162. + + [582] Homer, "Iliad," x. 457. + + [583] Compare "Moralia," p. 177 A; Horace, "Satires," i. + 7. 3: "Omnibus et lippis notum et tonsoribus." + + [584] Homer, "Iliad," xxii. 207. + + [585] Sophocles, "Antigone," 317-319. + + [586] See Pausanias, iii. 17; iv. 15; x. 5. + + [587] Compare the idea of the people of Melita, Acts + xxviii. 4. + + [588] An Allusion to Dolon in Homer, "Iliad," x., 374, + sq. according to Xylander. + + [589] Quoted again by our author in his "Publicola," p. + 105 B., and assigned to Epicharmus. + + [590] So Shakspere has taught us, "Brevity is the soul + of wit."--_Hamlet_, Act ii Sc. 2. + + [591] "In Protagora."--_Xylander._ + + [592] That is, is all kernel. See passim our author's + "Apophthegmata Laconica." + + [593] Or, _apophthegmatic nature_. + + [594] Dionysius the younger, tyrant of Syracuse, was + expelled, and afterwards kept a school at Corinth. That + is the allusion. It would be like saying "Remember + Napoleon at St. Helena." + + [595] See Pausanias, x. 24. + + [596] See Plato, "Charmides," 165 A. + + [597] A title applied to Apollo first by Herodotus, i. + 91, from his ambiguous ([Greek: loxa]) oracles. + + [598] Part of the words of an oracle of the Pythian + Priestess, slightly changed. The whole oracle may be + seen in Herodotus, i. 47. + + [599] Proverb of cross purposes. + + [600] Reading [Greek: exerasthai] with Duebner. + + [601] Catullus calls him "tumidus," _i.e._ long-winded, + 95, 10. See also Propertius, iii. 34-32. He was a Greek + poet, a contemporary of Socrates and Plato, and author + of a Thebaid. Pausanias mentions him, viii. 25; ix. 35. + + [602] The mediaeval proverb, _Ubi dolor ibi digitus_. + + [603] A proverbial expression for having no judgment. + See Sophocles, Fragm. 307; Plato, "Charmides," 154 B; + Erasmus, "Adagia." So we say a person's mind is a blank + sheet on a subject he knows nothing about. + + [604] Euripides, Fragm. 202. Quoted also by Plato, + "Gorgias," 484 E. + + [605] Reading with Reiske, [Greek: misthon auto dounai + to mikron siopesai me dynamenos]. + + [606] A celebrated Greek historian, and pupil of + Isocrates. See Cicero, "De Oratore," ii. 13. + + [607] Of Tarsus. See Cicero, "De Officiis," iii. 12. + + + + +ON CURIOSITY.[608] + + +Sec. I. If a house is dark, or has little air, is in an exposed position, +or unhealthy, the best thing will probably be to leave it; but if one is +attached to it from long residence in it, one can improve it and make it +more light and airy and healthy by altering the position of the windows +and stairs, and by throwing open new doors and shutting up old ones. So +some towns have been altered for the better, as my native place,[609] +which did lie to the west and received the rays of the setting sun from +Parnassus, was they say turned to the east by Chaeron. And Empedocles the +naturalist is supposed to have driven away the pestilence from that +district, by having closed up a mountain gorge that was prejudicial to +health by admitting the south wind to the plains. Similarly, as there +are certain diseases of the soul that are injurious and harmful and +bring storm and darkness to it, the best thing will be to eject them and +lay them low by giving them open sky, pure air and light, or, if that +cannot be, to change and improve them some way or other. One such mental +disease, that immediately suggests itself to one, is curiosity, the +desire to know other people's troubles, a disease that seems neither +free from envy nor malignity. + + "Malignant wretch, why art so keen to mark + Thy neighbour's fault, and seest not thine own?"[610] + +Shift your view, and turn your curiosity so as to look inwards: if you +delight to study the history of evils, you have copious material at +home, "as much as there is water in the Alizon, or leaves on the oak," +such a quantity of faults will you find in your own life, and passions +in your soul, and shortcomings in your duty. For as Xenophon says[611] +good managers have one place for the vessels they use in sacrificing, +and another for those they use at meals, one place for their farm +instruments, and another for their weapons of war, so your faults arise +from different causes, some from envy, some from jealousy, some from +cowardice, some from meanness. Review these, consider these; bar up the +curiosity that pries into your neighbours' windows and passages, and +open it on the men's apartments, and women's apartments, and servant's +attics, in your own house. There this inquisitiveness and curiosity will +find full vent, in inquiries that will not be useless or malicious, but +advantageous and serviceable, each one saying to himself, + + "What have I done amiss? What have I done? + What that I ought to have done left undone?" + +Sec. II. And now, as they say of Lamia that she is blind when she sleeps at +home, for she puts her eyes on her dressing-table, but when she goes out +she puts her eyes on again, and has good sight, so each of us turns, +like an eye, our malicious curiosity out of doors and on others, while +we are frequently blind and ignorant about our own faults and vices, not +applying to them our eyes and light. So that the curious man is more use +to his enemies than to himself, for he finds fault with and exposes +their shortcomings, and shows them what they ought to avoid and correct, +while he neglects most of his affairs at home, owing to his excitement +about things abroad. Odysseus indeed would not converse with his mother +till he had learnt from the seer Tiresias what he went to Hades to +learn; and after receiving that information, then he turned to her, and +asked questions about the other women, who Tyro was, and who the fair +Chloris, and why Epicaste[612] had died, "having fastened a noose with a +long drop to the lofty beam."[613] But we, while very remiss and +ignorant and careless about ourselves, know all about the pedigrees of +other people, that our neighbour's grandfather was a Syrian, and his +grandmother a Thracian woman, and that such a one owes three talents, +and has not paid the interest. We even inquire into such trifling +matters as where somebody's wife has been, and what those two are +talking in the corner about. But Socrates used to busy himself in +examining the secret of Pythagoras' persuasive oratory, and Aristippus, +meeting Ischomachus at the Olympian games, asked him how Socrates +conversed so as to have so much influence over the young men, and having +received from him a few scraps and samples of his style, was so +enthusiastic about it that he wasted away, and became quite pale and +lean, thirsty and parched, till he sailed to Athens and drew from the +fountain-head, and knew the wonderful man himself and his speeches and +philosophy, the object of which was that men should recognize their +faults and so get rid of them. + +Sec. III. But some men cannot bear to look upon their own life, so unlovely +a spectacle is it, nor to throw and flash on themselves, like a lantern, +the reflection of reason; but their soul being burdened with all manner +of vices, and dreading and shuddering at its own interior, sallies forth +and wanders abroad, feeding and fattening its malignity there. For as a +hen, when its food stands near its coop,[614] will frequently slip off +into a corner and scratch up, + + "Where I ween some poor little grain appears on the dunghill," + +so curious people neglecting conversation or inquiry about common +matters, such as no one would try and prevent or be indignant at their +prying into, pick out the secret and hidden troubles of every family. +And yet that was a witty answer of the Egyptian, to the person who asked +him, "What he was carrying wrapped up;" "It was wrapped up on purpose +that you should not know." And you too, Sir, I would say to a curious +person, why do you pry into what is hidden? If it were not something bad +it would not be hidden. Indeed it is not usual to go into a strange +house without knocking at the door, and nowadays there are porters, but +in old times there were knockers on doors to let the people inside know +when anyone called, that a stranger might not find the mistress or +daughter of the house _en deshabille_, or one of the slaves being +corrected, or the maids bawling out. But the curious person intrudes on +all such occasions as these, although he would be unwilling to be a +spectator, even if invited, of a well-ordered family: but the things for +which bars and bolts and doors are required, these he reveals and +divulges openly to others. Those are the most troublesome winds, as +Aristo says, that blow up our clothes: but the curious person not only +strips off the garments and clothes of his neighbours, but breaks +through their walls, opens their doors, and like the wanton wind, that +insinuates itself into maidenly reserve, he pries into and calumniates +dances and routs and revels. + +Sec. IV. And as Cleon is satirized in the play[615] as having "his hands +among the AEtolians, but his soul in Peculation-town," so the soul of the +curious man is at once in the mansions of the rich, and the cottages of +the poor, and the courts of kings, and the bridal chambers of the newly +married; he pries into everything, the affairs of foreigners, the +affairs of princes, and sometimes not without danger. For just as if one +were to taste aconite to investigate its properties, and kill oneself +before one had discovered them, so those that pry into the troubles of +great people ruin themselves before they get the knowledge they desire; +even as those become blind who, neglecting the wide and general +diffusion all over the earth of the sun's rays, impudently attempt to +gaze at its orb and penetrate to its light. And so that was a wise +answer of Philippides the Comic Poet, when King Lysimachus asked him on +one occasion, "What would you like to have of mine?" "Anything, O king, +but your secrets." For the pleasantest and finest things to be got from +kings are public, as banquets, and riches, and festivities, and favours: +but come not near any secret of theirs, pry not into it. There is no +concealment of the joy of a prosperous monarch, or of his laugh when he +is in a playful mood, or of any tokens of his goodwill and favour; but +dreadful is what he conceals, his gloominess, his sternness, his +reserve, his store of latent wrath, his meditation on stern revenge, his +jealousy of his wife, or suspicion of his son, or doubt about the +fidelity of a friend. Flee from this cloud that is so black and +threatening, for when its hidden fury bursts forth, you will not fail to +hear its thunder and see its lightning. + +Sec. V. How shall you flee from it? Why, by dissipating and distracting +your curiosity, by turning your soul to better and pleasanter objects: +examine the phenomena of sky, and earth, and air, and sea. Are you by +nature fond of gazing at little or great things? If at great, turn your +attention to the sun, consider its rising and setting: view the changes +of the moon, like the changes of our mortal life, see how it waxes and +wanes, + + "How at the first it peers out small and dim + Till it unfolds its full and glorious Orb, + And when its zenith it has once attained, + Again it wanes, grows small, and disappears."[616] + +These are indeed Nature's secrets, but they bring no trouble on those +that study them. But if you decline the study of great things, inspect +with curiosity smaller matters, see how some plants flourish, are green +and gay, and exhibit their beauty, all the year round, while others are +sometimes gay like them, at other times, like some unthrift, run through +their resources entirely, and are left bare and naked. Consider again +their various shapes, how some produce oblong fruits, others angular, +others smooth and round. But perhaps you will not care to pry into all +this, since you will find nothing bad. If you must then ever bestow your +time and attention on what is bad, as the serpent lives but in deadly +matter, go to history, and turn your eye on the sum total of human +misery. For there you will find "the falls of men, and murders of their +lives,"[617] rapes of women, attacks of slaves, treachery of friends, +mixing of poisons, envyings, jealousies, "shipwrecks of families," and +dethroning of princes. Sate and cloy yourself on these, you will by so +doing vex and enrage none of your associates. + +Sec. VI. But it seems curiosity does not rejoice in stale evils, but only +in fresh and recent ones, gladly viewing the spectacle of tragedies of +yesterday, but backward in taking part in comic and festive scenes. And +so the curious person is a languid and listless hearer to the narrator +of a marriage, or sacrifice, or solemn procession, he says he has heard +most of all that before, bids the narrator cut it short and come to the +point; but if his visitor tell him of the violation of some girl, or the +adultery of some married woman, or the disputes and intended litigation +of brothers, he doesn't go to sleep then, nor pretend want of leisure, + + "But he pricks up his ears, and asks for more." + +And indeed those lines, + + "Alas! how quicker far to mortals' ears + Do ill news travel than the news of good!" + +are truly said of curious people. For as cupping-glasses take away the +worst blood, so the ears of curious people attract only the worst +reports; or rather, as cities have certain ominous and gloomy gates, +through which they conduct only condemned criminals, or convey filth and +night soil, for nothing pure or holy has either ingress into or egress +from them, so into the ears of curious people goes nothing good or +elegant, but tales of murders travel and lodge there, wafting a whiff of +unholy and obscene narrations. + + "And ever in my house is heard alone + The sound of wailing;" + +this is to the curious their one Muse and Siren, this the sweetest note +they can hear. For curiosity desires to know what is hidden and secret; +but no one conceals his good fortune, nay sometimes people even pretend +to have such advantages as they do not really possess. So the curious +man, eager to hear a history of what is bad, is possessed by the passion +of malignity, which is brother to envy and jealousy. For envy is pain at +another's blessings, and malignity is joy at another's misfortunes: and +both proceed from the same savage and brutish vice, ill-nature. + +Sec. VII. But so unpleasant is it to everybody to have his private ills +brought to light, that many have died rather than acquaint the doctors +with their secret ailments. For suppose Herophilus, or Erasistratus, or +even AEsculapius himself during his sojourn on earth, had gone with their +drugs and surgical instruments from house to house, to inquire what man +had a fistula in ano, or what woman had a cancer in her womb;--and yet +their curiosity would have been professional[618]--who would not have +driven them away from their house, for not waiting till they were sent +for, and for coming without being asked to spy out their neighbours' +ailments? But curious people pry into these and even worse matters, not +from a desire to heal them, but only to expose them to others, which +makes them deservedly hated. For we are not vexed and mortified with +custom-house officers when they levy toll on goods _bona fide_ imported, +but only when they seek for contraband articles, and rip up bags and +packages: and yet the law allows them to do even this, and sometimes it +is injurious to them not to do so. But curious people abandon and +neglect their own affairs, and are busy about their neighbours' +concerns. Seldom do they go into the country, for they do not care for +its quiet and stillness and solitude, but if once in a way they do go +there, they look more at their neighbours' vines than their own, and +inquire how many cows of their neighbour have died, or how much of his +wine has turned sour, and when they are satisfied on these points they +soon return to town again. But the genuine countryman does not willingly +listen to any rumour that chances to come from the town, for he quotes +the following lines, + + "Even with spade in hand he'll tell the terms + On which peace was concluded: all these things + The cursed fellow walks about and pries into." + +Sec. VIII. But curious people shun the country as stale and dull and too +quiet, and push into warehouses and markets and harbours, asking, "Any +news? Were you not in the market in the forenoon?" and sometimes +receiving for answer, "What then? Do you think things in the town change +every three hours?" Notwithstanding if anyone brings any news, he'll get +off his horse, and embrace him, and kiss him, and stand to listen. If +however the person who meets him says he has no news, he will say +somewhat peevishly, "No news, Sir? Have you not been in the market? Did +you not pass by the officers' quarters? Did you exchange no words with +those that have just arrived from Italy?" To stop such people the +Locrian authorities had an excellent rule; they fined everyone coming +from abroad who asked what the news was. For as cooks pray for plenty of +meat, and fishmongers for shoals of fish, so curious people pray for +shoals of trouble, and plenty of business, and innovations and changes, +that they may have something to hunt after and tittle-tattle about. Well +also was it in _Charondas_, the legislator of the people of Thurii,[619] +to forbid any of the citizens but adulterers and curious persons to be +ridiculed on the stage. Adultery itself indeed seems to be only the +fruit of curiosity about another man's pleasures, and an inquiring and +prying into things kept close and hidden from the world; while curiosity +is a tampering with and seduction of and revealing the nakedness of +secrets.[620] + +Sec. IX. As it is likely that much learning will produce wordiness, and so +Pythagoras enjoined five years' silence on his scholars, calling it a +truce from words,[621] so defamation of character is sure to go with +curiosity. For what people are glad to hear they are glad to talk about, +and what they eagerly pick up from others they joyfully retail to +others. And so, amongst the other mischiefs of curiosity, the disease +runs counter to their desires; for all people fight shy of them, and +conceal their affairs from them, and neither care to do or say anything +in their presence, but defer consultations, and put off investigations, +till such people are out of the way; and if, when some secret is just +about to be uttered, or some important business is just about to be +arranged, some curious man happen to pop in, they are mum at once and +reserved, as one puts away fish if the cat is about; and so frequently +things seen and talked about by all the rest of the world are unknown +only to them. For the same reason the curious person never gets the +confidence of anybody. For we would rather entrust our letters and +papers and seals to slaves and strangers than to curious friends and +intimates. The famous Bellerophon,[622] though he carried letters +against his life, opened them not, but abstained from reading the letter +to the king, as he had refused to sell his honour to Proetus' wife, so +great was his continence.[623] For curiosity and adultery both come from +incontinence, and to the latter is added monstrous folly and insanity. +For to pass by so many common and public women, and to intrude oneself +on some married woman,[624] who is sure to be more costly, and possibly +less pretty to boot, is the acme of madness. Yet such is the conduct of +curious people. They neglect many gay sights, fail to hear much that +would be well worth hearing, lose much fine sport and pastime, to break +open private letters, to put their ears to their neighbour's walls, and +to whisper to their slaves and women-servants, practices always low, and +frequently dangerous. + +Sec. X. It will be exceedingly useful, therefore, to deter the curious from +these propensities, for them to remember their past experience. +Simonides used to say that he occasionally opened two chests for rewards +and thanks that he had by him, and found the one full for rewards, but +the one for thanks always empty.[625] So if anyone were to open +occasionally the stores that curiosity had amassed, and observe what a +cargo there was of useless and idle and unlovely things, perhaps the +sight of all this poor stuff would inspire him with disgust. Suppose +someone, in studying the writings of the ancients, were to pick out only +their worst passages, and compile them into a volume, as Homer's +imperfect lines, and the solecisms of the tragedians, and Archilochus' +indecent and bitter railings against women, by which he so exposed +himself, would he not be worthy of the curse of the tragedian, + + "Perish, compiler of thy neighbours' ills?" + +And independently of such a curse, the piling up of other people's +misdoings is indecent and useless, and like the town which Philip +founded and filled with the vilest and most dissolute wretches, and +called _Rogue Town_. Curious persons, indeed, making a collection of the +faults and errors and solecisms, not of lines or poems but of people's +lives, render their memory a most inelegant and unlovely register of +dark deeds. Just as there are in Rome some people who care nothing for +pictures and statues, or even handsome boys or women exposed for sale, +but haunt the monster-market, and make eager inquiries about people who +have no calves, or three eyes, or arms like weasels, or heads like +ostriches, and look about for some + + "Unnatural monster like the Minotaur,"[626] + +and for a time are greatly captivated with them, but if anyone +continually gazes at such sights, they will soon give him satiety and +disgust; so let those who curiously inquire into the errors and faults +of life, and disgraces of families, and disorders in other people's +houses, first remember what little favour or advantage such prying has +brought them on previous occasions. + +Sec. XI. Habit will be of the utmost importance in stopping this +propensity, if we begin early to practise self-control in respect to it, +for as the disease increases by habit and degrees, so will its cure, as +we shall see when we discuss the necessary discipline. In the first +place, let us begin with the most trifling and unimportant matters. What +hardship will it be when we walk abroad not to read the epitaphs on +graves, or what detriment shall we suffer by not glancing at the +inscriptions on walls in the public walks? Let us reflect that there is +nothing useful or pleasant for us in these notices, which only record +that so-and-so remembered so-and-so out of gratitude, and, "Here lies +the best of friends," and much poor stuff of that kind;[627] which +indeed do not seem to do much harm, except indirectly, to those that +read them, by engendering the practice of curiosity about things +immaterial. And as huntsmen do not allow the hounds to follow any scent +and run where they please, but check and restrain them in leashes, +keeping their sense of smell pure and fresh for the object of their +chase, that they may the keener dart on their tracks, "following up the +traces of the unfortunate beasts by their scent," so we must check and +repress the sallies and excursions of the curious man to every object of +interest, whether of sight or hearing, and confine him to what is +useful. For as eagles and lions on the prowl keep their claws sheathed +that they may not lose their edge and sharpness, so, when we remember +that curiosity for learning has also its edge and keenness, let us not +entirely expend or blunt it on inferior objects. + +Sec. XII. Next let us accustom ourselves when we pass a strange house not +to look inside at the door, or curiously inspect the interior, as if we +were going to pilfer something, remembering always that saying of +Xenocrates, that it is all one whether one puts one's feet or eyes in +another person's house. For such prying is neither honourable, nor +comely, nor even agreeable. + + "Stranger, thou'lt see within untoward sights." + +For such is generally the condition inside houses, utensils kicking +about, maids lolling about, no work going on, nothing to please the eye; +and moreover such side glances, and stray shots as it were, distort the +soul, and are unhandsome, and the practice is a pernicious one. When +Diogenes saw Dioxippus, a victor at Olympia, driving up in his chariot +and unable to take his eyes off a handsome woman who was watching the +procession, but still turning round and casting sheep's eyes at her, he +said, "See you yon athlete straining his neck to look at a girl?" And +similarly you may see curious people twisting and straining their necks +at every spectacle alike, from the habit and practice of turning their +eyes in all directions. And I think the senses ought not to rove about, +like an ill-trained maid, when sent on an errand by the soul, but to do +their business, and then return quickly with the answer, and afterwards +to keep within the bounds of reason, and obey her behests. But it is +like those lines of Sophocles, + + "Then did the AEnianian's horses bolt, + Unmanageable quite;"[628] + +for so the senses not having, as we said, right training and practice, +often run away, and drag reason along with them, and plunge her into +unlawful excesses. And so, though that story about Democritus is false, +that he purposely destroyed his eyesight by the reflection from +burning-glasses (as people sometimes shut up windows that look into the +street), that they might not disturb him by frequently calling off his +attention to external things, but allow him to confine himself to purely +intellectual matters, yet it is very true in every case that those who +use the mind most are least acted upon by the senses. And so the +philosophers erected their places for study as far as possible from +towns, and called Night the time propitious to thought,[629] thinking +quiet and withdrawal from worldly distractions a great help towards +meditating upon and solving the problems of life. + +Sec. XIII. Moreover, when men are abusing and reviling one another in the +market-place, it is not very difficult or tiresome not to go near them; +or if a tumultuous concourse of people crowd together, to remain seated; +or to get up and go away, if you are not master of yourself. For you +will gain no advantage by mixing yourself up with curious people: but +you will derive the greatest benefit from putting a force upon your +inclinations, and bridling your curiosity, and accustoming it to obey +reason. Afterwards it will be well to extend the practice still further, +and not to go to the theatre when some fine piece is performing, and if +your friends invite you to see some dancer or actor to decline, and, if +there is some shouting in the stadium and hippodrome, not even to turn +your head to look what is up. For as Socrates advised people to abstain +from food that made them eat when they were not hungry, and from drinks +that made them drink when they were not thirsty, so ought we also to +shun and flee from those objects of interest, whether to eye or ear, +that master us and attract us when we stand in no need of them. Thus +Cyrus would not look at Panthea, but when Araspes told him that her +beauty was well worth inspection, he replied, "For that very reason must +I the more abstain from seeing her, for if at your persuasion I were to +pay her a visit, perhaps she would persuade me to visit her again when I +could ill spare the time, so that I might neglect important business to +sit with her and gaze on her charms."[630] Similarly Alexander would not +see the wife of Darius, who was reputed to be very beautiful, but +visited her mother who was old, and would not venture to look upon the +young and handsome queen. We on the contrary peep into women's litters, +and hang about their windows, and think we do no harm, though we thus +make our curiosity a loop-hole[631] for all manner of vice. + +Sec. XIV. Moreover, as it is of great help to fair dealing sometimes not to +seize some honest gain, that you may accustom yourself as far as +possible to flee from unjust gains, and as it makes greatly for virtue +to abstain sometimes from your own wife, that you may not ever be +tempted by another woman, so, applying the habit to curiosity, try not +to see and hear at times all that goes on in your own house even, and if +anyone wishes to tell you anything about it give him the go-by, and +decline to hear him. For it was nothing but his curiosity that involved +Oedipus in his extreme calamities: for it was to try and find out his +extraction that he left Corinth and met Laius, and killed him, and got +his kingdom, and married his own mother, and when he then seemed at the +acme of felicity, he must needs make further inquiries about himself; +and though his wife tried to prevent him, he none the less compelled the +old man that had been an eye-witness of the deed to tell him all the +circumstances of it, and though he long suspected how the story would +end, yet when the old man cried out, + + "Alas! the dreadful tale I must then tell," + +so inflamed was he with curiosity and trembling with impatience, that he +replied, + + "I too must hear, for hear it now I will."[632] + +So bitter-sweet and uncontrollable is the itch of curiosity, like a +sore, shedding its blood when lanced. But he that is free from this +disease, and calm by nature, being ignorant of many unpleasant things, +may say, + + "Holy oblivion of all human ills, + What wisdom dost thou bring!"[633] + +Sec. XV. We ought therefore also to accustom ourselves, when we receive a +letter, not to be in a tremendous hurry about breaking the seal, as most +people are, even tearing it open with their teeth if their hands are +slow; nor to rise from our seat and run up to meet him, if a messenger +comes; and if a friend says, "I have some news to tell you," we ought to +say, "I had rather you had something useful or advantageous to tell me." +When I was on one occasion lecturing at Rome, one of my audience was the +well-known Rusticus, whom the Emperor Domitian afterwards had put to +death through envy of his glory, and a soldier came in in the middle and +brought him a letter from the Emperor, and silence ensuing, and I +stopping that he might have time to read his letter, he would not, and +did not open it till I had finished my lecture, and the audience had +dispersed; so that everybody marvelled at his self-control. But whenever +anyone who has power feeds his curiosity till it is strong and vehement, +he can no longer easily control it, when it hurries him on to illicit +acts, from force of habit; and such people open their friends' letters, +thrust themselves in at private meetings, become spectators of rites +they ought not to witness, enter holy grounds they ought not to, and pry +into the lives and conversations of kings. + +Sec. XVI. Indeed tyrants themselves, who must know all things, are made +unpopular by no class more than by their spies[634] and talebearers. +Darius in his youth, when he mistrusted his own powers, and suspected +and feared everybody, was the first who employed spies; and the +Dionysiuses introduced them at Syracuse: but in a revolution they were +the first that the Syracusans took and tortured to death. Indeed +informers are of the same tribe and family as curious people. However +informers only investigate wicked acts or plots, but curious people pry +into and publish abroad the involuntary misfortunes of their neighbours. +And it is said that impious people first got their name from curiosity, +for it seems there was a mighty famine at Athens, and those people that +had wheat not producing it, but grinding it stealthily by night in their +houses, some of their neighbours went about and noticed the noise of the +mills grinding, and so they got their name.[635] This also is the origin +of the well-known Greek word for informer, (Sycophant, _quasi_ +Fig-informer), for when the people were forbidden to export figs, those +who informed against those who did were called Fig-informers. It is well +worth the while of curious people to give their attention to this, that +they may be ashamed of having any similarity or connection in habit with +a class of people so universally hated and disliked as informers. + + [608] Jeremy Taylor has largely borrowed from this + Treatise in his "Holy Living," chap. ii. Sec. v. Of + Modesty. + + [609] Chaeronea in Boeotia. + + [610] Lines from some comic poet, no doubt. + + [611] "Oeconomicus," cap. viii. + + [612] The mother of Oedipus, better known as "Jocasta." + + [613] Homer, "Odyssey," xi. 278. Epicaste hung herself. + + [614] "[Greek: oikisko] corrigit Valekenarius ad Herodot. + p. 557."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [615] Aristophanes, "Equites," 79. + + [616] Sophocles, Fragm. 713. The lines are quoted more + fully by our author in his "Lives," p. 911. There are + there four preceding lines that compare human life to + the moon's changes. + + [617] AEschylus, "Supplices," 937. + + [618] All three being eminent doctors. + + [619] "Intelligo Charondam."--_Xylander._ + + [620] Plutarch wants to show that curiosity and adultery + are really the same vice in principle. Hence his imagery + here. Jeremy Taylor has very beautifully dealt with this + passage, "Holy Living," chap. ii. Sec. v. I cannot pretend + to his felicity of language. Thus Plutarch makes + adultery mere curiosity, and curiosity a sort of + adultery in regard to secrets. A profoundly ethical and + moral view. Compare Sec. ix. + + [621] Compare Lucian's [Greek: echeglottia], after + [Greek: echecheiria] (_armistice_), _Lexiph_. 9. + + [622] See the story in Homer, "Iliad," vi. 155 sq. + + [623] Or self-control. + + [624] Literally, some woman _shut up_, or _enclosed_. + + [625] See also our author's "On those who are punished + by the Deity late," Sec. xi. + + [626] See Euripides, Fragm., 389. Also Plutarch's + "Theseus," cap. xv. + + [627] Plutarch rather reminds one, in his evident + contempt for _Epitaphs_, of the cynic who asked, "Where + are all the bad people buried?" Where indeed? + + [628] Sophocles, "Electra," 724, 725. + + [629] _euphrone_, a stock phrase for night, is here + defined. + + [630] "Historia exstat initio libri quinti + Cyropaediae."--_Reiske._ + + [631] Literally, "slippery and prone to." For the + metaphor of "slippery" compare Horace, "Odes," i. 19-8, + "Et vultus nimium lubricus adspici." + + [632] This and the line above are in Sophocles, "Oedipus + Tyrannus," 1169, 1170. + + [633] Euripides, "Orestes," 213. + + [634] Literally, _ears_. + + [635] The paronomasia is as follows. The word for + impious people is supposed to mean _listeners to mills + grinding_. + + + + +ON SHYNESS.[636] + + +Sec. I. Some of the things that grow on the earth are in their nature wild +and barren and injurious to the growth of seeds and plants, yet those +who till the ground consider them indications not of a bad soil but of a +rich and fat one;[637] so also there are passions of the soul that are +not good, yet are as it were offshoots of a good disposition, and one +likely to improve with good advice. Among these I class shyness, no bad +sign in itself, though it affords occasion to vice. For the modest +oftentimes plunge into the same excesses as the shameless, but then they +are pained and grieved at them, and not pleased like the others. For the +shameless person is quite apathetic at what is disgraceful, while the +modest person is easily affected even at the very appearance of it. +Shyness is in fact an excess of modesty. And thus it is called +shamefacedness, because the face exhibits the changes of the mind. For +as dejection is defined to be the grief that makes people look on the +ground, so shamefacedness is that shyness that cannot look people in the +face. And so the orator said the shameless person had not pupils[638] in +his eyes but harlots. The bashful person on the other hand shows his +delicacy and effeminacy of soul in his countenance, and palliates his +weakness, which exposes him to defeat at the hands of the impudent, by +the name of modesty. Cato used to say he was better pleased with those +lads that blushed than with those that turned pale, rightly teaching us +to fear censure more than labour,[639] and suspicion than danger. +However we must avoid too much timidity and fear of censure, since many +have played the coward, and abandoned noble ventures, more from fear of +a bad name than of the dangers to be undergone, not being able to bear a +bad reputation. + +Sec. II. As we must not disregard their weakness, so neither again must we +praise that rigid and stubborn insensibility, "that recklessness and +frantic energy to rush anywhere, that seemed like a dog's courage in +Anaxarchus."[640] But we must contrive a harmonious blending of the two, +that shall remove the shamelessness of pertinacity, and the weakness of +excessive modesty; seeing its cure is difficult, and the correction of +such excesses not without danger. For as the husbandman, in rooting up +some wild and useless weed, at once plunges his spade vigorously into +the ground, and digs it up by the root, or burns it with fire, but if he +has to do with a vine that needs pruning, or some apple-tree, or olive, +he puts his hand to it very carefully, being afraid of injuring any +sound part; so the philosopher, eradicating from the soul of the young +man that ignoble and untractable weed, envy, or unseasonable avarice, or +amputating the excessive love of pleasure, may bandage and draw blood, +make deep incision, and leave scars: but if he has to apply reason as a +corrective to a tender and delicate part of the soul, such as shyness +and bashfulness, he is careful that he may not inadvertently root up +modesty as well. For nurses who are often rubbing the dirt off their +infants sometimes tear their flesh and put them to torture. We ought not +therefore, by rubbing off the shyness of youths too much, to make them +too careless and contemptuous; but as those that pull down houses close +to temples prop up the adjacent parts, so in trying to get rid of +shyness we must not eradicate with it the virtues akin to it, as modesty +and meekness and mildness, by which it insinuates itself and becomes +part of a man's character, flattering the bashful man that he has a +nature courteous and civil and affable, and not hard as flint or +self-willed. And so the Stoics from the outset verbally distinguished +shame and shyness from modesty, that they might not by identity of name +give the vice opportunity to inflict harm. But let it be granted to us +to use the words indiscriminately, following indeed the example of +Homer. For he said, + + "Modesty does both harm and good to men;"[641] + +and he did well to mention the harm it does first. For it becomes +advantageous only through reason's curtailing its excess, and reducing +it to moderate proportions. + +Sec. III. In the first place, then, the person who is afflicted with +shyness ought to be persuaded that he suffers from an injurious disease, +and that nothing injurious can be good: nor must he be wheedled and +tickled with the praise of being called a nice and jolly fellow rather +than being styled lofty and dignified and just; nor, like Pegasus in +Euripides, "who stooped and crouched lower than he wished"[642] to take +up his rider Bellerophon, must he humble himself and grant whatever +favours are asked him, fearing to be called hard and ungentle. They say +that the Egyptian Bocchoris, who was by nature very severe, had an asp +sent him by Isis, which coiled round his head, and shaded him from +above, that he might judge righteously. Bashfulness on the contrary, +like a dead weight on languid and effeminate persons, not daring to +refuse or contradict anybody, makes jurors deliver unjust verdicts, and +shuts the mouth of counsellors, and makes people say and do many things +against their wish; and so the most headstrong person is always master +and lord of such, through his own impudence prevailing against their +modesty. So bashfulness, like soft and sloping ground, being unable to +repel or avert any attack, lies open to the most shameful acts and +passions. It is a bad guardian of youth, as Brutus said he didn't think +that person had spent his youth well who had not learnt how to say No. +It is a bad duenna of the bridal bed and of women's apartments, as the +penitent adultress in Sophocles said to her seducer, + + "You did persuade, and coax me into sin."[643] + +Thus shyness, being first seduced by vice,[644] leaves its citadel +unbarred, unfortified, and open to attack. By gifts people ensnare the +worse natures, but by persuasion and playing upon their bashfulness +people often seduce even good women. I pass over the injury done to +worldly affairs by bashfulness causing people to lend to those whose +credit is doubtful, and to go security against their wish, for though +they commend that saying, "Be a surety, trouble is at hand,"[645] they +cannot apply it when business is on hand. + +Sec. IV. It would not be easy to enumerate how many this vice has ruined. +When Creon said to Medea, + + "Lady, 'tis better now to earn your hate, + Than through my softness afterwards to groan,"[646] + +he uttered a pregnant maxim for others; for he himself was overcome by +his bashfulness, and granted her one day more, and so was the undoing of +his family. And some, when they suspected murder or poison, have failed +through it to take precautions for their safety. Thus perished Dion, not +ignorant that Callippus was plotting against him, but ashamed to be on +his guard against a friend and host. So Antipater, the son of Cassander, +having invited Demetrius to supper, and being invited back by him for +the next day, was ashamed to doubt another as he had been trusted +himself, and went, and got his throat cut after supper. And Polysperchon +promised Cassander for a hundred talents to murder Hercules, the son of +Alexander by Barsine, and invited him to supper, and, as the stripling +suspected and feared the invitation, and pleaded as an excuse that he +was not very well, Polysperchon called on him, and addressed him as +follows, "Imitate, my lad, your father's good-nature and kindness to his +friends, unless indeed you fear us as plotting against you." The young +man was ashamed to refuse any longer, so he went with him, and some of +those at the supper-party strangled him. And so that line of +Hesiod,[647] + + "Invite your friend to supper, not your enemy," + +is not ridiculous, as some say, or stupid advice, but wise. Show no +bashfulness in regard to an enemy, and do not suppose him trustworthy, +though he may seem so.[648] For if you invite you will be invited back, +and if you entertain others you will be entertained back to your hurt, +if you let the temper as it were of your caution be weakened by shame. + +Sec. V. As then this disease is the cause of much mischief, we must try and +exterminate it by assiduous effort, beginning first, as people are wont +to do in other matters, with small and easy things. For example, if +anyone pledge you to drink with him at a dinner when you have had +enough, do not be bashful, or do violence to nature, but put the cup +down without drinking. Again, if somebody else challenge you to play at +dice with him in your cups, be not bashful or afraid of ridicule, but +imitate Xenophanes, who, when Lasus of Hermione called him coward +because he would not play at dice with him, admitted that he was a great +coward and had no courage for what was ignoble. Again, if you meet with +some prating fellow who attacks you and sticks to you, do not be +bashful, but get rid of him, and hasten on and pursue your undertaking. +For such flights and repulses, keeping you in practice in trying to +overcome your bashfulness in small matters, will prepare you for greater +occasions. And here it is well to record a remark of Demosthenes. When +the Athenians were going to help Harpalus, and to war against Alexander, +all of a sudden Philoxenus, who was Alexander's admiral, was sighted in +the offing. And the populace being greatly alarmed, and speechless for +fear, Demosthenes said, "What will they do when they see the sun, if +they cannot lift their eyes to face a lamp?" And what will you do in +important matters, if the king desires anything, or the people importune +you, if you cannot decline to drink when your friend asks you, or evade +the onset of some prating fellow, but allow the trifler to waste all +your time, from not having nerve to say, "I will see you some other +time, I have no leisure now."[649] + +Sec. VI. Moreover, the use and practice of restraining one's bashfulness in +small and unimportant matters is advantageous also in regard to praise. +For example, if a friend's harper sings badly at a drinking party, or an +actor hired at great cost murders[650] Menander, and most of the party +clap and applaud, I find it by no means hard, or bad manners, to listen +silently, and not to be so illiberal as to praise contrary to one's +convictions. For if in such matters you are not master of yourself, what +will you do if your friend reads a poor poem, or parades a speech +stupidly and ridiculously written?[651] You will praise it of course, +and join the flatterers in loud applause. But how then will you find +fault with your friend if he makes mistakes in business? How will you be +able to correct him, if he acts improperly in reference to some office, +or marriage, or the state? For I cannot indeed assent to the remark of +Pericles to his friend, who asked him to bear false witness in his +favour even to the extent of perjury, "I am your friend as far as the +altar." He went too far. But he that has long accustomed himself never +to go against his convictions in praising a speaker, or clapping a +singer, or laughing at a dull buffoon, will never go to this length, nor +say to some impudent fellow in such matters, "Swear on my behalf, bear +false witness, pronounce an unjust verdict." + +Sec. VII. So also we ought to refuse people that want to borrow money of +us, from being accustomed to say No in small and easily refused matters. +Thus Archelaus, king of the Macedonians, being asked at supper for a +gold cup by a man who thought _Receive_ the finest word in the language, +bade a boy give it to Euripides,[652] and gazing intently on the man +said to him, "You are fit to ask, and not to receive, and he is fit to +receive without asking." Thus did he make judgement and not bashfulness +the arbiter of his gifts and favours. Yet we oftentimes pass over our +friends who are both deserving and in need, and give to others who +continually and impudently importune us, not from the wish to give but +from the inability to say No. So the older Antigonus, being frequently +annoyed by Bion, said, "Give a talent to Bion and necessity." Yet he was +of all the kings most clever and ingenious at getting rid of such +importunity. For on one occasion, when a Cynic asked him for a drachma, +he replied, "That would be too little for a king to give;"[653] and when +the Cynic rejoined, "Give me then a talent," he met him with, "That +would be too much for a Cynic to receive."[654] Diogenes indeed used to +go round begging to the statues in the Ceramicus, and when people +expressed their astonishment said he was practising how to bear +refusals. And we must practise ourselves in small matters, and exercise +ourselves in little things, with a view to refusing people who importune +us, or would receive from us when inconvenient, that we may be able to +avoid great miscarriages. For no one, as Demosthenes says,[655] if he +expends his resources on unnecessary things, will have means for +necessary ones. And our disgrace is greatly increased, if we are +deficient in what is noble, and abound in what is trivial. + +Sec. VIII. But bashfulness is not only a bad and inconsiderate manager of +money, but also in more important matters makes us reject expediency and +reason. For when we are ill we do not call in the experienced doctor, +because we stand in awe of the family one; and instead of the best +teachers for our boys we select those that importune us;[656] and in our +suits at law we frequently refuse the aid of some skilled advocate, to +oblige the son of some friend or relative, and give him a chance to make +a forensic display; and lastly, you will find many so-called +philosophers Epicureans or Stoics, not from deliberate choice or +conviction, but simply from bashfulness, to have the same views as their +friends and acquaintances. Since this is the case, let us accustom +ourselves betimes in small and everyday matters to employ no barber or +fuller merely from bashfulness, nor to put up at a sorry inn, when a +better is at hand, merely because the innkeeper has on several occasions +been extra civil to us, but for the benefit of the habit to select the +best even in a small matter; as the Pythagoreans were careful never to +put their left leg across the right, nor to take an even number instead +of an odd, all other matters being indifferent. We must accustom +ourselves also, at a sacrifice or marriage or any entertainment of that +kind, not to invite the person who greets us and runs up to meet us, but +the friend who is serviceable to us. For he that has thus practised and +trained himself will be difficult to catch tripping, nay even +unassailable, in greater matters. + +Sec. IX. Let so much suffice for practice. And of useful considerations the +first is that which teaches and reminds us, that all passions and +maladies of the soul are accompanied by the very things which we think +we avoid through them. Thus infamy comes through too great love of fame, +and pain comes from love of pleasure, and plenty of work to the idle, +and to the contentious defeats and losses of lawsuits. And so too it is +the fate of bashfulness, in fleeing from the smoke of ill-repute, to +throw itself into the fire of it.[657] For the bashful, not venturing to +say No to those that press them hard, afterwards feel shame at just +rebuke, and, through standing in awe of slight blame, frequently in the +end incur open disgrace. For if a friend asks some money of them, and +through bashfulness they cannot refuse, a little time after they are +disgraced by the facts becoming known;[658] or if they have promised to +help friends in a lawsuit, they turn round and hide their diminished +heads, and run away from fear of the other side. Many also, who have +accepted on behalf of a daughter or sister an unprofitable offer of +marriage at the bidding of bashfulness, have afterwards been compelled +to break their word, and break off the match. + +Sec. X. He that said all the dwellers in Asia were slaves to one man +because they could not say the one syllable No, spoke in jest and not in +earnest; but bashful persons, even if they say nothing, can by raising +or dropping their eyebrows decline many disagreeable and unpleasant acts +of compliance. For Euripides says, "Silence is an answer to wise +men,"[659] but we stand more in need of it to inconsiderate persons, for +we can talk over the sensible. And indeed it is well to have at hand and +frequently on our lips the sayings[660] of good and famous men to quote +to those who importune us, as that of Phocion to Antipater, "You cannot +have me both as a friend and flatterer;" or his remark to the Athenians, +when they applauded him and bade him contribute to the expenses of a +festival, "I am ashamed to contribute anything to you, till I have paid +yonder person my debts to him," pointing out his creditor Callicles. +For, as Thucydides says, "It is not disgraceful to admit one's poverty, +but it is very much so not to try to mend it."[661] But he who through +stupidity or softness is too bashful to say to anyone that importunes +him, + + "Stranger, no silver white is in my caves," + +but goes bail for him as it were through his promises, + + "Is bound by fetters not of brass but shame."[662] + +But Persaeus,[663] when he lent a sum of money to one of his friends, had +the fact duly attested by a banker in the market-place, remembering +belike that line in Hesiod,[664] + + "E'en to a brother, smiling, bring you witness." + +And he wondering and saying, "Why all these legal forms, Persaeus?" he +replied, "Ay, verily, that my money may be paid back in a friendly way, +and that I may not have to use legal forms to get it back." For many, at +first too bashful to see to security, have afterwards had to go to law, +and lost their friend.[665] + +Sec. XI. Plato again, giving Helicon of Cyzicus a letter for Dionysius, +praised the bearer as a man of goodness and moderation, but added at the +end of the letter, "I write you this about a man, an animal by nature +apt to change." But Xenocrates, though a man of austere character, was +prevailed upon through his bashfulness to recommend to Polysperchon by +letter, one who was no good man as the event showed; for when the +Macedonian welcomed him, and inquired if he wanted any money, he asked +for a talent, and Polysperchon gave it him, but wrote to Xenocrates +advising him for the future to be more careful in the choice of people +he recommended. But Xenocrates knew not the fellow's true character; we +on the other hand very often when we know that such and such men are +bad, yet give them testimonials and money, doing ourselves injury, and +not getting any pleasure for it, as people do get in the company of +whores and flatterers, but being vexed and disgusted at the importunity +that has upset and forced our reason. For the line + + "I know that what I'm going to do is bad,"[666] + +is especially applicable to people that importune us, when one is going +to perjure oneself, or deliver an unjust verdict, or vote for a measure +that is inexpedient, or borrow money for someone who will never pay it +back. + +Sec. XII. And so repentance follows more closely upon bashfulness than upon +any emotion, and that not afterwards, but in the very act. For we are +vexed with ourselves when we give, and ashamed when we perjure +ourselves, and get ill-fame from our advocacies, and are put to the +blush, when we cannot fulfil our promises. For frequently, from +inability to say No, we promise impossibilities to persevering +applicants, as introductions at court, and audiences with princes, from +reluctance or want of nerve to say, "The king does not know us, others +have his regard far more." But Lysander, when he was out of favour with +Agesilaus, though he was thought to have very great influence with him +owing to his great reputation, was not ashamed to dismiss suitors, and +bid them go and pay their court to others who had more influence with +the king. For not to be able to do everything carries no disgrace with +it, but to undertake and try and force your way to what you are unable +to do, or unqualified by nature for, is in addition to the disgrace +incurred a task full of trouble. + +Sec. XIII. To take another element into consideration, all seemly and +modest requests we ought readily to comply with, not bashfully but +heartily, whereas in injurious or unreasonable requests we ought ever to +remember the conduct of Zeno, who, meeting a young man he knew walking +very quietly near a wall, and learning from him that he was trying to +get out of the way of a friend who wanted him to perjure himself on his +behalf, said to him, "O stupid fellow, what do you tell me? Is he not +afraid or ashamed to press you to what is not right? And dare not you +stand up boldly against him for what is right?" For he that said +"villainy is no bad weapon against villainy"[667] taught people the bad +practice of standing on one's defence against vice by imitating it; but +to get rid of those who shamelessly and unblushingly importune us by +their own effrontery, and not to gratify the immodest in their +disgraceful desires through false modesty, is the right and proper +conduct of sensible people. + +Sec. XIV. Moreover it is no great task to resist disreputable and low and +worthless fellows who importune you, but some send such off with a laugh +or a jest, as Theocritus did, who, when two fellows in the public baths, +one a stranger, the other a well-known thief, wanted to borrow his +scraper,[668] put them both off with a playful answer, "You, sir, I +don't know, and you I know too well." And Lysimache,[669] the priestess +of Athene Polias at Athens, when some muleteers that bore the sacred +vessels asked her to give them a drink, answered, "I hesitate to do so +from fear that you would make a practice of it." And when a certain +young man, the son of a distinguished officer, but himself effeminate +and far from bold, asked Antigonus for promotion, he replied, "With me, +young man, honours are given for personal prowess, not for the prowess +of ancestors." + +Sec. XV. But if the person that importunes us be famous or a man of power, +for such persons are very hard to move by entreaty or to get rid of when +they come to sue for your vote and interest, it will not perhaps be easy +or even necessary to behave as Cato, when quite a young man, did to +Catulus. Catulus was in the highest repute at Rome, and at that time +held the office of censor, and went to Cato, who then held the office of +quaestor, and tried to beg off someone whom he had fined, and was urgent +and even violent in his petitions, till Cato at last lost all patience, +and said, "To have you, the censor, removed by my officers against your +will, Catulus, would not be a seemly thing for you." So Catulus felt +ashamed, and went off in a rage. But see whether the answers of +Agesilaus and Themistocles are not more modest and in better form. +Agesilaus, when he was asked by his father to pronounce sentence +contrary to the law, said, "Father, I was taught by you even from my +earliest years to obey the laws, so now I shall obey you and do nothing +contrary to law." And Themistocles, when Simonides asked him to do +something unjust, replied, "Neither would you be a good poet if your +lines violated the laws of metre, nor should I be a good magistrate if I +gave decisions contrary to law." + +Sec. XVI. And yet it is not on account of want of metrical harmony in +respect to the lyre, to borrow the words of Plato, that cities quarrel +with cities and friends with friends, and do and suffer the worst woes, +but on account of deviations[670] from law and justice. And yet some, +who themselves pay great attention to melody and letters and measures, +do not think it wrong for others to neglect what is right in +magistracies and judicial sentences and business generally. One must +therefore deal with them in the following manner. Does an orator ask a +favour of you when you are acting as juryman, or a demagogue when you +are sitting in council? Say you will grant his request if he first utter +a solecism, or introduce a barbarism into his speech; he will refuse +because of the shame that would attach itself to him; at any rate we see +some that will not in a speech let two vowels come together. If again +some illustrious and distinguished person importune you to something +bad, bid him come into the market-place dancing or making wry faces, and +if he refuse you will have an opportunity to speak, and ask him which is +more disgraceful, to utter a solecism and make wry faces, or to violate +the law and one's oath, and contrary to justice to do more for a bad +than for a good man. Nicostratus the Argive, when Archidamus offered him +a large sum of money and any Lacedaemonian bride he chose if he would +deliver up Cromnum, said Archidamus could not be a descendant of +Hercules, for he travelled about and killed evil-doers, whereas +Archidamus tried to make evil-doers of the good. In like manner, if a +man of good repute tries to force and importune us to something bad, let +us tell him that he is acting in an ignoble way, and not as his birth +and virtue would warrant. + +Sec. XVII. But in the case of people of no repute you must see whether you +can persuade the miser by your importunity to lend you money without a +bond, or the proud man to yield you the better place, or the ambitious +man to surrender some office to you when he might take it himself. For +truly it would seem monstrous that, while such remain firm and +inflexible and unmoveable in their vicious propensities, we who wish to +be, and profess to be, men of honour and justice should be so little +masters of ourselves as to abandon and betray virtue. For indeed, if +those who importune us do it for glory and power, it is absurd that we +should adorn and aggrandize others only to get infamy and a bad name +ourselves; like unfair umpires in the public games, or like people +voting only to ingratiate themselves, and so bestowing improperly +offices and prizes[671] and glory on others, while they rob themselves +of respect and fair fame. And if we see that the person who importunes +us only does so for money, does it not occur to one that it is monstrous +to be prodigal of one's own fame and reputation merely to make somebody +else's purse heavier? Why the idea must occur to most people, they sin +with their eyes open; like people who are urged hard to toss off big +bumpers, and grunt and groan and make wry faces, but at last do as they +are told. + +Sec. XVIII. Such weakness of mind is like a temperament of body equally +susceptible to heat and cold; for if such people are praised by those +that importune them they are overcome and yield at once, whereas they +are mortally afraid of the blame and suspicions of those whose desires +they do not comply with. But we ought to be stout and resolute in either +case, neither yielding to bullying nor cajolery. Thucydides indeed tells +us, since envy necessarily follows ability, that "he is well advised who +incurs envy in matters of the highest importance."[672] But we, thinking +it difficult to escape envy, and seeing that it is altogether impossible +not to incur blame or give offence to those we live with, shall be well +advised if we prefer the hatred of the perverse to that of those who +might justly find fault with us for having iniquitously served their +turn. And indeed we ought to be on our guard against praise from those +who importune us, which is sure to be altogether insincere, and not to +resemble swine, readily allowing anyone that presses to make use of us +from our pleasure at itching and tickling, and submitting ourselves to +their will. For those that give their ears to flatterers differ not a +whit from such as let themselves be tripped up at wrestling, only their +overthrow and fall is more disgraceful; some forbearing hostility and +reproof in the case of bad men, that they may be called merciful and +humane and compassionate; and others on the contrary persuaded to take +up unnecessary and dangerous animosities and charges by those who praise +them as the only men, the only people that never flatter, and go so far +as to entitle them their mouthpieces and voices. Accordingly Bio[673] +compared such people to jars, that you could easily take by the ears and +turn about at your will. Thus it is recorded that the sophist Alexinus +in one of his lectures said a good many bad things about Stilpo the +Megarian, but when one of those that were present said, "Why, he was +speaking in your praise only the other day," he replied, "I don't doubt +it; for he is the best and noblest of men." Menedemus on the contrary, +having heard that Alexinus[674] frequently praised him, replied, "But I +always censure him, for that man is bad who either praises a bad man or +is blamed by a good." So inflexible and proof was he against such +flattery, and master of that advice which Hercules in Antisthenes[675] +gave, when he ordered his sons to be grateful to no one that praised +them; which meant nothing else than that they should not be +dumbfoundered at it, nor flatter again those who praised them. Very apt, +I take it, was the remark of Pindar to one who told him that he praised +him everywhere and to all persons, "I am greatly obliged to you, and +will make your account true by my actions." + +Sec. XIX. A useful precept in reference to all passions is especially +valuable in the case of the bashful. When they have been overcome by +this infirmity, and against their judgement have erred and been +confounded, let them fix it in their memories, and, remembering the pain +and grief it gave them, let them recall it to their mind and be on their +guard for a very long time. For as travellers that have stumbled against +a stone, or pilots that have been wrecked off a headland, if they +remember these occurrences, not only dread and are on their guard +continually on those spots, but also on all similar ones; so those that +frequently remember the disgrace and injury that bashfulness brought +them, and its sorrow and anguish, will in similar cases be on their +guard against their weakness, and will not readily allow themselves to +be subjugated by it again. + + [636] Or _bashfulness_, _shamefacedness_, what the + French call _mauvaise honte_. + + [637] Shakespeare puts all this into one line: "Most + subject is the fattest soil to weeds."--_2 Henry IV._, + A. iv. Sc. iv. + + [638] Or _girls_. [Greek: kore] means both a girl, and + the pupil of the eye. + + [639] So Wyttenbach. + + [640] These lines are quoted again "On Moral Virtue," Sec. + vi. + + [641] "Iliad," xxiv. 44, 45. + + [642] Euripides, "Bellerophon," Fragm., 313. + + [643] Soph., Fragm., 736. + + [644] Surely it is necessary to read [Greek: + prodiaphthareisa to akolasto]. + + [645] See Plato, "Charmides," 165 A. + + [646] Euripides, "Medea," 290, 291. + + [647] "Works and Days," 342. + + [648] Reading with Wyttenbach, [Greek: med hypolabe + pisteuein, dokounta]. + + [649] See Horace's very amusing "Satire," i. ix., on + such tiresome fellows. + + [650] [Greek: epitribo] is used in the same sense by + Demosthenes, p. 288. + + [651] On such social pests see Juvenal, i. 1-14. + + [652] See Pausanias, i. 2. Euripides left Athens about + 409 B.C., and took up his abode for good in Macedonia at + the court of Archelaus, where he died 406 B.C. + + [653] For a drachma was only worth 6 obols, or 93/4_d._ of + our money, nearly = Roman denarius. + + [654] A talent was 6,000 drachmae, or 36,000 obols, about + L243 15_s._ of our money. + + [655] "Olynth." iii. p. 33, Sec. 19. + + [656] Compare "On Education," Sec. vii. + + [657] Our "Out of the frying-pan into the fire." Cf. + "Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim." + + [658] By their having to borrow themselves. + + [659] Fragm. 947. + + [660] Or apophthegms, of which Plutarch and Lord Verulam + have both left us collections. + + [661] Thucydides, ii. 40. Pericles is the speaker. + + [662] A slightly-changed line from Euripides' + "Pirithous," Fragm. 591. Quoted correctly "On Abundance + of Friends," Sec. vii. + + [663] "Zenonis discipulus."--_Reiske._ + + [664] "Works and Days," 371. + + [665] Cf. Shakspere, "Hamlet," i. iii. 76. + + [666] Euripides, "Medea," 1078. + + [667] Our "Set a thief to catch a thief." + + [668] Or strigil. See Otto Jahn's note on Persius, v. + 126. + + [669] "Forsitan illa quam nominat Pausanias, i. + 27."--_Reiske._ + + [670] Literally "want of tune in." We cannot well keep + up the metaphor. Compare with this passage, "That virtue + may be taught," Sec. ii. + + [671] Literally "crowns." + + [672] Thucydides, ii. 64. Pericles is the speaker. + Quoted again in "How one may discern a flatterer from a + friend," Sec. XXXV. + + [673] "Est Bio Borysthenita, de quo vide Diog. + Laert."--_Reiske._ + + [674] "De Alexino Eleo vide Diog. Laert., ii. 109. + Nostri p. 1063, 3."--_Reiske._ + + [675] Antisthenes wrote a book called "Hercules." See + Diogenes Laertius, vi. 16. + + + + +ON RESTRAINING ANGER. + +A DIALOGUE BETWEEN SYLLA AND FUNDANUS. + + +Sec. I. _Sylla._ Those painters, Fundanus, seem to me to do well who, +before giving the finishing touches to their paintings, lay them by for +a time and then revise them; because by taking their eyes off them for a +time they gain by frequent inspection a new insight, and are more apt to +detect minute differences, that continuous familiarity would have +hidden. Now since a human being cannot so separate himself from himself +for a time, and make a break in his continuity, and then approach +himself again--and that is perhaps the chief reason why a man is a worse +judge of himself than of others--the next best thing will be for a man +to inspect his friends after an interval, and likewise offer himself to +their scrutiny, not to see whether he has aged quickly, or whether his +bodily condition is better or worse, but to examine his moral character, +and see whether time has added any good quality, or removed any bad one. +On my return then to Rome after an absence of two years, and having been +with you now five months, I am not at all surprised that there has been +a great increase and growth in those good points which you formerly had +owing to your admirable nature; but when I see how gentle and obedient +to reason your former excessive impetuosity and hot temper has become, +it cannot but occur to me to quote the line, + + "Ye gods, how much more mild is he become!"[676] + +And this mildness has not wrought in you sloth or weakness, but like +cultivation of the soil it has produced a smoothness and depth fit for +action, instead of the former impetuosity and vehemence. And so it is +clear that your propensity to anger has not been effaced by any +declining vigour or through some chance, but has been cured by good +precepts. And indeed, for I will tell you the truth, when our friend +Eros[677] reported this change in you to me, I suspected that owing to +goodwill he bare witness not of the actual state of the case, but of +what was becoming to all good and virtuous men, although, as you know, +he can never be persuaded to depart from his real opinion to ingratiate +himself with anyone. But now he is acquitted of false witness, and do +you, as your journey gives you leisure, narrate to me the mode of cure +you employed to make your temper so under control, so natural, gentle +and obedient to reason. + +_Fundanus._ Most friendly Sylla, take care that you do not in your +goodwill and affection to me rest under any misconception of my real +condition. For it is possible that Eros, not being able always himself +to keep his temper in its place in the obedience that Homer speaks +of,[678] but sometimes carried away by his hatred of what is bad, may +think me grown milder than I really am, as in changes of the scale in +music the lowest notes become the highest. + +_Sylla._ Neither of these is the case, Fundanus, but oblige me by doing +as I ask. + +Sec. II. _Fundanus._ One of the excellent precepts then of Musonius that I +remember, Sylla, is this, that those who wish to be well should diet +themselves all their life long. For I do not think we must employ reason +as a cure, as we do hellebore, by purging it out with the disease, but +we must retain it in the soul, to restrain and govern the judgement. For +the power of reason is not like physic, but wholesome food, which +co-operates with good health in producing a good habit of body in those +by whom it is taken. But admonition and reproof, when passion is at its +height and swelling, does little or no good, but resembles very closely +those strong-smelling substances, that are able to set on their legs +again those that have fallen in epileptic fits, but cannot rid them of +their disease. For although all other passions, even at the moment of +their acme, do in some sort listen to reason and admit it into the soul, +yet anger does not, for, as Melanthius says, + + "Fell things it does when it the mind unsettles," + +for it absolutely turns reason out of doors, and bolts it out, and, like +those persons who burn themselves and houses together, it makes all the +interior full of confusion and smoke and noise, so that what would be +advantageous can neither be seen nor heard. And so an empty ship in a +storm at open sea would sooner admit on board a pilot from without, than +a man in a tempest of rage and anger would listen to another's advice, +unless his own reason was first prepared to hearken. But as those who +expect a siege get together and store up supplies, when they despair of +relief from without, so ought we by all means to scour the country far +and wide to derive aids against anger from philosophy, and store them up +in the soul: for, when the time of need comes, we shall find it no easy +task to import them. For either the soul doesn't hear what is said +without because of the uproar, if it have not within its own reason +(like a boatswain as it were) to receive at once and understand every +exhortation; or if it does hear, it despises what is uttered mildly and +gently, while it is exasperated by harsh censure. For anger being +haughty and self-willed and hard to be worked upon by another, like a +fortified tyranny, must have someone born and bred within it[679] to +overthrow it. + +Sec. III. Now long-continued anger, and frequent giving way to it, produces +an evil disposition of soul, which people call irascibility, and which +ends in passionateness, bitterness, and peevishness, whenever the mind +becomes sore and vexed at trifles and querulous at everyday occurrences, +like iron thin and beaten out too fine. But when the judgement checks +and suppresses at once the rising anger, it not only cures the soul for +the moment, but restores its tone and balance for the future. It has +happened to myself indeed twice or thrice, when I strongly fought +against anger, that I was in the same plight as the Thebans, who after +they had once defeated the Lacedaemonians, whom they had hitherto thought +invincible, never lost a battle against them again. I then felt +confident that reason can win the victory. I saw also that anger is not +only appeased by the sprinkling of cold water, as Aristotle attested, +but is also extinguished by the action of fear; aye, and, as Homer tells +us, anger has been cured and has melted away in the case of many by some +sudden joy. So that I came to the conclusion that this passion is not +incurable for those who wish to be cured. For it does not arise from +great and important causes, but banter and joking, a laugh or a nod, and +similar trifles make many angry, as Helen by addressing her niece, + + "Electra, maiden now for no short time,"[680] + +provoked her to reply, + + "Your wisdom blossoms late, since formerly + You left your house in shame;"[681] + +and Callisthenes incensed Alexander, by saying, when a huge cup was +brought to him, "I will not drink to Alexander till I shall require the +help of AEsculapius." + +Sec. IV. As then it is easy to put out a flame kindled in the hair of hares +and in wicks and rubbish, but if it once gets hold of things solid and +thick, it quickly destroys and consumes them, "raging amidst the lofty +work of the carpenters," as AEschylus[682] says; so he that observes +anger in its rise, and sees it gradually smoking and bursting forth into +fire from some chatter or rubbishy scurrility, need have no great +trouble with it, but can frequently smother it merely by silence and +contempt. For as a person puts out a fire by bringing no fuel to it, so +with respect to anger, he that does not in the beginning fan it, and +stir up its rage in himself, keeps it off and destroys it. And so, +though Hieronymus has given us many useful sayings and precepts, I am +not pleased with his remark that there is no perception of anger in its +birth, but only in its actual developement, so quick is it. For none of +the passions when stirred up and set in motion has so palpable a birth +and growth as anger. As indeed Homer skilfully shows us, where he +represents Achilles as seized at once with grief, when word was brought +him _of Patroclus' death_, in the line, + + "Thus spake he, and grief's dark cloud covered him;"[683] + +whereas he represents him as waxing angry with Agamemnon slowly, and as +inflamed by his many words, which if either of them[684] had abstained +from, their quarrel would not have attained such growth and magnitude. +And so Socrates, as often as he perceived any anger rising in him +against any of his friends, "setting himself like some ocean promontory +to break the violence of the waves," would lower his voice, and put on a +smiling countenance, and give his eye a gentler expression, by inclining +in the other direction and running counter to his passion, thus keeping +himself from fall and defeat. + +Sec. V. For the first way, my friend, to overcome anger, like the putting +down of some tyrant, is not to obey or listen to it when it bids you +speak loud, and look fierce, and beat yourself, but to remain quiet, and +not to make the passion more intense, as one would a disease, by tossing +about and crying out. In love affairs indeed, such things as revellings, +and serenadings, and crowning the loved one's door with garlands, may +indeed bring, some pleasant and elegant relief. + + "I went, but asked not who or whose she was, + I merely kissed her door-post. If that be + A crime, I do plead guilty to the same."[685] + +In the case of mourners also giving up to weeping and wailing takes away +with the tears much of the grief. But anger on the contrary is much more +fanned by what angry persons do and say. It is best therefore to be +calm, or to flee and hide ourselves and go to a haven of quiet, when we +feel the fit of temper coming upon us as an epileptic fit, that we fall +not, or rather fall not on others, for it is our friends that we fall +upon most and most frequently. For we do not love all, nor envy all, nor +fear all men; but nothing is untouched or unassailed by anger; for we +are angry with friends and enemies, parents and children, aye, and with +the gods, and beasts, and even things inanimate, as was Thamyris, + + "Breaking his gold-bound horn, breaking the music + Of well-compacted lyre;"[686] + +and Pandarus, who called down a curse upon himself, if he did not burn +his bow "after breaking it with his hands."[687] And Xerxes inflicted +stripes and blows on the sea, and sent letters to Mount Athos, "Divine +Athos, whose top reaches heaven, put not in the way of my works stones +large and difficult to deal with, or else I will hew thee down, and +throw thee into the sea." For anger has many formidable aspects, and +many ridiculous ones, so that of all the passions it is the most hated +and despised. It will be well to consider both aspects. + +Sec. VI. To begin then, whether my process was wrong or right I know not, +but I began my cure of anger by noticing its effects in others, as the +Lacedaemonians study the nature of drunkenness in the Helots. And in the +first place, as Hippocrates tells us that disease is most dangerous in +which the face of the patient is most unlike himself, so observing that +people beside themselves with anger change their face, colour, walk, and +voice, I formed an impression as it were of that aspect of passion, and +was very disgusted with myself if ever I should appear so frightful and +like one out of his mind to my friends and wife and daughters, not only +wild and unlike oneself in appearance, but also with a voice savage and +harsh, as I had noticed in some[688] of my acquaintance, who could +neither preserve for anger their ordinary behaviour, or demeanour, or +grace of language, or persuasiveness and gentleness in conversation. +Caius Gracchus, indeed, the orator, whose character was harsh and style +of oratory impassioned, had a pitch-pipe made for him, such as musicians +use to heighten or lower their voices by degrees, and this, when he was +making a speech, a slave stood behind him and held, and used to give him +a mild and gentle note on it, whereby he lowered his key, and removed +from his voice the harsh and passionate element, charming and laying the +heat of the orator, + + "As shepherds' wax-joined reed sounds musically + With sleep provoking strain."[689] + +For myself if I had some elegant and sprightly companion, I should not +be vexed at his showing me a looking-glass in my fits of anger, as they +offer one to some after a bath to little useful end. For to behold +oneself unnaturally distorted in countenance will condemn anger in no +small degree. The poets playfully tell us that Athene when playing on +the pipe was rebuked thus by a Satyr, + + "That look no way becomes you, take your armour, + Lay down your pipes, and do compose your cheeks," + +and though she paid no attention to him, yet afterwards when she saw her +face in a river, she felt vexed and threw her pipes away, although art +had made melody a compensation for her unsightliness. And Marsyas, it +seems, by a sort of mouthpiece forcibly repressed the violence of his +breath, and tricked up and hid the contortion of his face, + + "Around his shaggy temples put bright gold, + And o'er his open mouth thongs tied behind." + +Now anger, that puffs up and distends the face so as to look ugly, +utters a voice still more harsh and unpleasant, + + "Moving the mind's chords undisturbed before." + +They say that the sea is cleansed when agitated by the winds it throws +up tangle and seaweed; but the intemperate and bitter and vain words, +which the mind throws up when the soul is agitated, defile the speakers +of them first of all and fill them with infamy, as always having those +thoughts within their bosom and being defiled with them, but only giving +vent to them in anger. And so for a word which is, as Plato styles it, +"a very small matter," they incur a most heavy punishment, for they get +reputed to be enemies, and evil speakers, and malignant in disposition. + +Sec. VII. Seeing and observing all this, it occurs to me to take it as a +matter of fact, and record it for my own general use, that if it is good +to keep the tongue soft and smooth in a fever, it is better to keep it +so in anger. For if the tongue of people in a fever be unnatural, it is +a bad sign, but not the cause of their malady; but the tongue of angry +people, being rough and foul, and breaking out into unseemly speeches, +produces insults that work irremediable mischief, and argue deep-rooted +malevolence within. For wine drunk neat does not exhibit the soul in so +ungovernable and hateful a condition as temper does: for the outbreaks +of the one smack of laughter and fun, while those of the other are +compounded with gall: and at a drinking-bout he that is silent is +burdensome to the company and tiresome, whereas in anger nothing is more +highly thought of than silence, as Sappho advises, + + "When anger's busy in the brain + Thy idly-barking tongue restrain." + +Sec. VIII. And not only does the consideration of all this naturally arise +from observing ourselves in the moments of anger, but we cannot help +seeing also the other properties of rage, how ignoble it is, how +unmanly, how devoid of dignity and greatness of mind! And yet to most +people its noise seems vigour, its threatening confidence, and its +obstinacy force of character; some even not wisely entitle its +savageness magnanimity, and its implacability firmness, and its morosity +hatred of what is bad. For their actions and motions and whole demeanour +argue great littleness and meanness, not only when they are fierce with +little boys, and peevish with women, and think it right to treat dogs +and horses and mules with harshness, as Otesiphon the pancratiast +thought fit to kick back a mule that had kicked him, but even in the +butcheries that tyrants commit their littleness of soul is apparent in +their savageness, and their suffering in their action, so that they are +like the bites of serpents, that, when they are burnt and smart with +pain, violently thrust their venom on those that have hurt them. For as +a swelling is produced in the flesh by a heavy blow, so in softest souls +the inclination to hurt others gets its greater strength from greater +weakness. Thus women are more prone to anger than men, and people ill +than people well, and old men than men in their prime, and the +unfortunate than the prosperous; the miser is most prone to anger with +his steward, the glutton with his cook, the jealous man with his wife, +the vain man when he is spoken ill of; and worst of all are those "men +who are too eager in states for office, or to head a faction, a manifest +sorrow," to borrow Pindar's words. So from the very great pain and +suffering of the soul there arises mainly from weakness anger, which is +not like the nerves of the soul, as some one defined it, but like its +strainings and convulsions when it is excessively vehement in its thirst +for revenge. + +Sec. IX. Such bad examples as these were not pleasant to look at but +necessary, but I shall now proceed to describe people who have been mild +and easy in dealing with anger, conduct gratifying either to see or hear +about, being utterly disgusted[690] with people who use such language +as, + + "You have a man wronged: shall a man stand this?" + +and, + + "Put your heel upon his neck, and dash his head against + the ground," + +and other provoking expressions such as these, by which some not well +have transferred anger from the woman's side of the house to the man's. +For manliness in all other respects seems to resemble justice, and to +differ from it only in respect to gentleness, with which it has more +affinities. For it sometimes happens to worse men to govern better ones, +but to erect a trophy in the soul against anger (which Heraclitus says +it is difficult to contend against, for whatever it wishes is bought at +the price of the soul), is a proof of power so great and victorious as +to be able to apply the judgement as if it were nerves and sinews to the +passions. So I always try to collect and peruse the remarks on this +subject not only of the philosophers, who foolish[691] people say had no +gall in their composition, but still more of kings and tyrants. Such was +the remark of Antigonus to his soldiers, when they were abusing him near +his tent as if he were not listening, so he put his staff out, and said, +"What's to do? can you not go rather farther off to run me down?" And +when Arcadio the Achaean, who was always railing against Philip, and +advising people to flee + + "Unto a country where they knew not Philip," + +visited Macedonia afterwards on some chance or other, the king's friends +thought he ought to be punished and the matter not looked over; but +Philip treated him kindly, and sent him presents and gifts, and +afterwards bade inquiry to be made as to what sort of account of him +Arcadio now gave to the Greeks; and when all testified that the fellow +had become a wonderful praiser of the king, Philip said, "You see I knew +how to cure him better than all of you." And at the Olympian games when +there was defamation of Philip, and some of his suite said to him, that +the Greeks ought to smart for it, because they railed against him when +they were treated well by him, he replied, "What will they do then if +they are treated badly by me?" Excellent also was the behaviour of +Pisistratus to Thrasybulus, and of Porsena to Mucius, and of Magas to +Philemon. As to Magas, after he had been publicly jeered at by Philemon +in one of his comedies at the theatre in the following words, + + "Magas, the king hath written thee a letter, + Unhappy Magas, since thou can'st not read," + +after having taken Philemon, who had been cast on shore by a storm at +Paraetonium, he commanded one of his soldiers only to touch his neck with +the naked sword and then to go away quietly, and dismissed him, after +sending him a ball and some dice as if he were a silly boy. And Ptolemy +on one occasion, flouting a grammarian for his ignorance, asked him who +was the father of Peleus, and he answered, "I will tell you, if you tell +me first who was the father of Lagus." This was a jeer at the obscure +birth of the king, and all his courtiers were indignant at it as an +unpardonable liberty; but Ptolemy said, "If it is not kingly to take a +flout, neither is it kingly to give one." And Alexander was more savage +than usual in his behaviour to Callisthenes and Clitus. So Porus, when +he was taken captive, begged Alexander to use him as a king. And on his +inquiring, "What, nothing more?" he replied "No. For everything is +included in being used as a king." So they call the king of the gods +Milichius,[692] while they call Ares Maimactes;[693] and punishment and +torture they assign to the Erinnyes and to demons, not to the gods or +Olympus. + +Sec. X. As then a certain person passed the following remark on Philip when +he had razed Olynthus to the ground, "He certainly could not build such +another city," so we may say to anger, "You can root up, and destroy, +and throw down, but to raise up and save and spare and tolerate is the +work of mildness and moderation, the work of a Camillus, a Metellus, an +Aristides, a Socrates; but to sting and bite is to resemble the ant and +horse-fly. For, indeed, when I consider revenge, I find its angry method +to be for the most part ineffectual, since it spends itself in biting +the lips and gnashing the teeth, and in vain attacks, and in railings +coupled with foolish threats, and eventually resembles children running +races, who from feebleness ridiculously tumble down before they reach +the goal they are hastening to. So that speech of the Rhodian to a +lictor of the Roman praetor who was shouting and talking insolently was +not inapt, "It is no matter to me what you say, but what your master +thinks."[694] And Sophocles, when he had introduced Neoptolemus and +Eurypylus as armed for the battle, gives them this high +commendation,[695] + + "They rushed into the midst of armed warriors," + +Some barbarians indeed poison their steel, but bravery has no need of +gall, being dipped in reason, but rage and fury are not invincible but +rotten. And so the Lacedaemonians by their pipes turn away the anger of +their warriors, and sacrifice to the Muses before commencing battle, +that reason may abide with them, and when they have routed a foe do not +follow up the victory,[696] but relax their rage, which like small +daggers they can easily take back. But anger kills myriads before it is +glutted with revenge, as happened in the case of Cyrus and Pelopidas the +Theban. But Agathocles bore mildly the revilings of those he was +besieging, and when one of them cried out, "Potter, how are you going to +get money to pay your mercenaries?" he replied laughingly, "Out of your +town if I take it." And when some of those on the wall threw his +ugliness into the teeth of Antigonus, he said to them, "I thought I was +rather a handsome fellow." But after he had taken the town, he sold for +slaves those that had flouted him, protesting that, if they insulted him +again, he would bring the matter before their masters. I have noticed +also that hunters and orators are very unsuccessful when they give way +to anger.[697] And Aristotle tells us that the friends of Satyrus +stopped up his ears with wax when he was to plead a cause, that he might +not make any confusion in the case through rage at the abuse of his +enemies. And does it not frequently happen with ourselves that a slave +who has offended escapes punishment, because they abscond in fear of our +threats and harsh words? What nurses then say to children, "Give up +crying, and you shall have it," may usefully be applied to anger, thus, +"Do not be in a hurry, or bawl out, or be vehement, and you will sooner +and better get what you want." For a father, seeing his boy trying to +cut or cleave something with a knife, takes the knife from him and does +it himself: and similarly a person, taking revenge out of the hand of +passion, does himself safely and usefully and without harm punish the +person who deserves punishment, and not himself instead, as anger often +does. + +Sec. XI. Now though all the passions need such discipline as by exercise +shall tame and subdue their unreasoning and disobedient elements, yet +there is none which we ought to keep under by such discipline so much as +the exhibition of anger to our servants. For neither envy, nor fear, nor +rivalry come into play between them and us; but our frequent displays of +anger to them, creating many offences and faults, make us to slip as if +on slippery ground owing to our autocracy with our servants, which no +one resists or prevents. For it is impossible to check irresponsible +power so as never to break out under the influence of passion, unless +one wields power with much meekness, and refuses to listen to the +frequent complaints of one's wife and friends charging one with being +too easy and lax with one's servants. And by nothing have I been more +exasperated against them, as if they were being ruined for want of +correction. At last, though late, I got to see that in the first place +it is better to make them worse by forbearance, than by bitterness and +anger to distort oneself for the correction of others. In the next place +I observed that many for the very reason that they were not corrected +were frequently ashamed to be bad, and made pardon rather than +punishment the commencement of their reformation, aye, and made better +slaves to some merely at their nod silently and cheerfully than to +others with all their beatings and brandings, and so I came to the +conclusion that reason gets better obeyed than temper, for it is not as +the poet said, + + "Where there is fear, there too is self-respect," + +but it is just the other way about, for self-respect begets that kind of +fear that corrects the behaviour. But perpetual and pitiless beating +produces not so much repentance for wrong-doing as contrivances to +continue in it without detection. In the third place, ever remembering +and reflecting within myself that, just as he that teaches us the use of +the bow does not forbid us to shoot but only to miss the mark, so it +will not prevent punishment altogether to teach people to do it in +season, and with moderation, utility, and decorum, I strive to remove +anger most especially by not forbidding those who are to be corrected to +speak in their defence, but by listening to them. For the interval of +time gives a pause to passion, and a delay that mitigates it, and so +judgement finds out both the fit manner and adequate amount of +punishment. Moreover he that is punished has nothing to allege against +his correction, if he is punished not in anger but only after his guilt +is brought home to him. And the greatest disgrace will not be incurred, +which is when the servant seems to speak more justly than the master. As +then Phocion, after the death of Alexander, to stop the Athenians from +revolting and believing the news too soon, said to them, "Men of Athens, +if he is dead to-day, he will certainly also be dead to-morrow and the +next day," so I think the man who is in a hurry to punish anyone in his +rage ought to consider with himself, "If this person has wronged you +to-day, he will also have wronged you to-morrow and the next day; and +there will be no harm done if he shall be punished somewhat late; +whereas if he shall be punished at once, he will always seem to you to +have been innocent, as has often happened before now." For which of us +is so savage as to chastise and scourge a slave because five or ten days +before he over-roasted the meat, or upset the table, or was somewhat +tardy on some errand? And yet these are the very things for which we put +ourselves out and are harsh and implacable, immediately after they have +happened and are recent. For as bodies seem greater in a mist, so do +little matters in a rage. We ought therefore to consider such arguments +as these at once, and if, when there is no trace of passion left, the +matter appear bad to calm and clear reason, then it ought to be taken in +hand, and the punishment ought not to be neglected or abandoned, as we +leave food when we have lost our appetites. For nothing causes people to +punish so much when their anger is fierce, as that when it is appeased +they do not punish at all, but forget the matter entirely, and resemble +lazy rowers, who lie in harbour when the sea is calm, and then sail out +to their peril when the wind gets up. So we, condemning reason for +slackness and mildness in punishing, are in a hurry to punish, borne +along by passion as by a dangerous gale. He that is hungry takes his +food as nature dictates, but he that punishes should have no hunger or +thirst for it, nor require anger as a sauce to stimulate him to it, but +should punish when he is as far as possible from having any desire for +it, and has to compel his reason to it. For we ought not, as Aristotle +tells us slaves in his time were scourged in Etruria to the music of the +flute, to go headlong into punishing with a desire and zest for it, and +to delight in punishing, and then afterwards to be sorry at it--for the +first is savage, and the last womanish--but we should without either +sorrow or pleasure chastise at the dictates of reason, giving anger no +opportunity to interfere. + +Sec. XII. But this perhaps will not appear a cure of anger so much as a +putting away and avoiding such faults as men commit in anger. And yet, +though the swelling of the spleen is only a symptom of fever, the fever +is assuaged by its abating, as Hieronymus tells us. Now when I +contemplated the origin of anger itself, I observed that, though +different persons fell into it for different reasons, yet in nearly all +of them was the idea of their being despised and neglected to be found. +So we ought to help those who try to get rid of anger, by removing as +far as possible from them any action savouring of contempt or contumely, +and by looking upon their anger as folly or necessity, or emotion, or +mischance, as Sophocles says, + + "In those that are unfortunate, O king, + No mind stays firm, but all their balance lose."[698] + +And so Agamemnon, ascribing to Ate his carrying off Briseis, yet says to +Achilles, + + "I wish to please you in return, and give + Completest satisfaction."[699] + +For suing is not the action of one who shews his contempt, and when he +that has done an injury is humble he removes all idea of slighting one. +But the angry person must not expect this, but rather take to himself +the answer of Diogenes, who, when it was said to him, "These people +laugh at you," replied, "But I am not one to be laughed at," and not +think himself despised, but rather despise the person who gave the +offence, as acting from weakness, or error, or rashness, or +heedlessness, or illiberality, or old age, or youth. Nor must we +entertain such notions with regard to our servants and friends. For they +do not despise us as void of ability or energy, but owing to our +evenness and good-nature, some because we are mild, and others presuming +on our affection for them. But as it is we not only fly into rages with +wife and slaves and friends, as if we were slighted by them, but we also +frequently, from forming the same idea of being slighted, fall foul of +innkeepers and sailors and muleteers, and are vexed at dogs that bark +and asses that are in our way: like the man who was going to beat an +ass-driver, but when he cried out he was an Athenian, he said to the +ass, "You are not an Athenian anyway," and beat it with many stripes. + +Sec. XIII. Moreover those continuous and frequent fits of anger that gather +together in the soul by degrees, like a swarm of bees or wasps, are +generated within us by selfishness and peevishness, luxury and softness. +And so nothing causes us to be mild to our servants and wife and friends +so much as easiness and simplicity, and the learning to be content with +what we have, and not to require a quantity of superfluities. + + "He who likes not his meat if over-roast + Or over-boiled, or under-roast or under-boiled, + And never praises it however dressed," + +but will not drink unless he have snow to cool his drink, nor eat bread +purchased in the market, nor touch food served on cheap or earthenware +plates, nor sleep upon any but a feather bed that rises and falls like +the sea stirred up from its depths, and with rods and blows hastens his +servants at table, so that they run about and cry out and sweat as if +they were bringing poultices to sores, he is slave to a weak querulous +and discontented mode of life, and, like one who has a continual cough +or various ailments, whether he is aware of it or not, he is in an +ulcerous and catarrh-like condition as regards his proneness to anger. +We must therefore train the body to contentment by plain living, that it +may be easily satisfied: for they that require little do not miss much; +and it is no great hardship to begin with our food, and take it silently +whatever it is, and not by being choleric and peevish to thrust upon +ourselves and friends the worst sauce to meat, anger. + + "No more unpleasant supper could there be"[700] + +than that wherein the servants are beaten, and the wife scolded, because +something is burnt or smoked or not salt enough, or because the bread is +too cold. Arcesilaus was once entertaining some friends and strangers, +and when dinner was served, there was no bread, through the servants +having neglected to buy any. In such a case as this which of us would +not have broken the walls with vociferation? But he only smiled and +said, "How unfit a sage is to give an entertainment!" And when Socrates +once took Euthydemus home with him from the wrestling-school, Xanthippe +was in a towering rage, and scolded, and at last upset the table, and +Euthydemus rose and went away full of sorrow. But Socrates said to him, +"Did not a hen at your house the other day fly in and act in the very +same way? And we did not put ourselves out about it." We ought to +receive our friends with gaiety and smiles and welcome, not knitting our +brows, or inspiring fear and trembling in the attendants. We ought also +to accustom ourselves to the use of any kind of ware at table, and not +to stint ourselves to one kind rather than another, as some pick out a +particular tankard or horn, as they say Marius did, out of many, and +will not drink out of anything else; and some act in the same way with +regard to oil-flasks and scrapers,[701] being content with only one out +of all, and so, if such an article is broken or lost, they are very much +put out about it, and punish with severity. He then that is prone to +anger should not use rare and dainty things, such as choice cups and +seals and precious stones: for if they are lost they put a man beside +himself much more than the loss of ordinary and easily got things would +do. And so when Nero had got an eight-cornered tent constructed, a +wonderful object both for its beauty and costliness, Seneca said to him, +"You have now shown yourself to be poor, for if you should lose this, +you will not be able to procure such another." And indeed it did so +happen that the tent was lost by shipwreck, but Nero bore its loss +patiently, remembering what Seneca had said. Now this easiness about +things generally makes a man also easy and gentle to his servants, and +if to them, then it is clear he will be so to his friends also, and to +all that serve under him in any capacity. So we observe that +newly-purchased slaves do not inquire about the master who has bought +them, whether he is superstitious or envious, but only whether he is a +bad-tempered man: and generally speaking we see that neither can men put +up with chaste wives, nor wives with loving husbands, nor friends with +one another, if they be ill-tempered to boot. So neither marriage nor +friendship is bearable with anger, though without anger even drunkenness +is a small matter. For the wand of Dionysus punishes sufficiently the +drunken man, but if anger be added it turns wine from being the +dispeller of care and inspirer of the dance into a savage and fury. And +simple madness can be cured by Anticyra,[702] but madness mixed with +anger is the producer of tragedies and dreadful narratives. + +Sec. XIV. So we ought to give anger no vent, either in jest, for that draws +hatred to friendliness; or in discussion, for that turns love of +learning into strife; or on the judgement-seat, for that adds insolence +to power; or in teaching, for that produces dejection and hatred of +learning: or in prosperity, for that increases envy; or in adversity, +for that deprives people of compassion, when they are peevish and run +counter to those who condole with them, like Priam, + + "A murrain on you, worthless wretches all, + Have you no griefs at home, that here you come + To sympathize with me?"[703] + +Good temper on the other hand is useful in some circumstances, adorns +and sweetens others, and gets the better of all peevishness and anger by +its gentleness. Thus Euclides,[704] when his brother said to him in a +dispute between them, "May I perish, if I don't have my revenge on you!" +replied, "May I perish, if I don't persuade you!" and so at once turned +and changed him. And Polemo, when a man reviled him who was fond of +precious stones and quite crazy for costly seal-rings, made no answer, +but bestowed all his attention on one of his seal-rings, and eyed it +closely; and he being delighted said, "Do not look at it so, Polemo, but +in the light of the sun, and it will appear to you more beautiful." And +Aristippus, when there was anger between him and AEschines, and somebody +said, "O Aristippus, where is now your friendship?" replied, "It is +asleep, but I will wake it up," and went to AEschines, and said to him, +"Do I seem to you so utterly unfortunate and incurable as to be unworthy +of any consideration?" And AEschines replied, "It is not at all wonderful +that you, being naturally superior to me in all things, should have been +first to detect in this matter too what was needful." + + "For not a woman only, but young child + Tickling the bristly boar with tender hand, + Will lay him prostrate sooner than an athlete." + +But we that tame wild beasts and make them gentle, and carry in our arms +young wolves and lions' whelps, inconsistently repel our children and +friends and acquaintances in our rage, and let loose our temper like +some wild beast on our servants and fellow-citizens, speciously trying +to disguise it not rightly under the name of hatred of evil, but it is, +I suppose, as with the other passions and diseases of the soul, we +cannot get rid of any of them by calling one prudence, and another +liberality, and another piety. + +Sec. XV. And yet, as Zeno said the seed was a mixture and compound drawn +from all the faculties of the soul, so anger seems a universal seed from +all the passions. For it is drawn from pain and pleasure and +haughtiness, and from envy it gets its property of malignity--and it is +even worse than envy,[705] for it does not mind its own suffering if it +can only implicate another in misery--and the most unlovely kind of +desire is innate in it, namely the appetite for injuring another. So +when we go to the houses of spendthrifts we hear a flute-playing girl +early in the morning, and see "the dregs of wine," as one said, and +fragments of garlands, and the servants at the doors reeking of +yesterday's debauch; but for tokens of savage and peevish masters these +you will see by the faces, and marks, and manacles of their servants: +for in the house of an angry man + + "The only music ever heard is wailing," + +stewards being beaten within, and maids tortured, so that the spectators +even in their jollity and pleasure pity these victims of passion. + +Sec. XVI. Moreover those to whom it happens through their genuine hatred of +what is bad to be frequently overtaken by anger, can abate its excess +and acerbity by giving up their excessive confidence in their intimates. +For nothing swells the anger more, than when a good man is detected of +villainy, or one who we thought loved us falls out and jangles with us. +As for my own disposition, you know of course how mightily it inclines +to goodwill and belief in mankind. As then people walking on empty +space,[706] the more confidently I believe in anybody's affection, the +more sorrow and distress do I feel if my estimate is a mistaken one. And +indeed I could never divest myself of my ardour and zeal in affection, +but as to trusting people I could perhaps use Plato's caution as a curb. +For he said he so praised Helicon the mathematician, because he was by +nature a changeable animal, but that he was afraid of those that were +well educated in the city, lest, being human beings and the seed of +human beings, they should reveal by some trait or other the weakness of +human nature. But Sophocles' line, + + "Trace out most human acts, you'll find them base," + +seems to trample on human nature and lower its merits too much. Still +such a peevish and condemnatory verdict as this has a tendency to make +people milder in their rage, for it is the sudden and unexpected that +makes people go distracted. And we ought, as Panaetius somewhere said, to +imitate Anaxagoras, and as he said at the death of his son, "I knew that +I had begotten a mortal," so ought every one of us to use the following +kind of language in those contretemps that stir up our anger, "I knew +that the slave I bought was not a philosopher," "I knew that the friend +I had was not perfect," "I knew that my wife was but a woman." And if +anyone would also constantly put to himself that question of Plato, "Am +I myself all I should be?" and look at home instead of abroad, and curb +his propensity to censoriousness, he would not be so keen to detect evil +in others, for he would see that he stood in need of much allowance +himself. But now each of us, when angry and punishing, quote the words +of Aristides and Cato, "Do not steal, Do not tell lies," and "Why are +you lazy?" And, what is most disgraceful of all, we blame angry people +when we are angry ourselves, and chastise in temper faults that were +committed in temper, unlike the doctors who + + "With bitter physic purge the bitter bile," + +for we rather increase and aggravate the disease. Whenever then I busy +myself with such considerations as these, I try also to curtail my +curiosity. For to scrutinize and pry into everything too minutely, and +to overhaul every business of a servant, or action of a friend, or +pastime of a son, or whisper of a wife, produces frequent, indeed daily, +fits of anger, caused entirely by peevishness and harshness of +character. Euripides says that the Deity + + "In great things intervenes, but small things leaves + To fortune;"[707] + +but I am of opinion that a prudent man should commit nothing to fortune, +nor neglect anything, but should put some things in his wife's hands to +manage, others in the hands of his servants, others in the hands of his +friends, (as a governor has his stewards, and financiers, and +controllers), while he himself superintends the most important and +weighty matters. For as small writing strains the eyes, so small matters +even more strain and bother people, and stir up their anger, which +carries this evil habit to greater matters. Above all I thought that +saying of Empedocles, "Fast from evil,"[708] a great and divine one, and +I approved of those promises and vows as not ungraceful or +unphilosophical, to abstain for a year from wine and Venus, honouring +the deity by continence, or for a stated time to give up lying, taking +great heed to ourselves to be truthful always whether in play or +earnest. With these I compared my own vow, as no less pleasing to the +gods and holy, first to abstain from anger for a few days, like spending +days without drunkenness or even without wine at all, offering as it +were wineless offerings of honey.[709] Then I tried for a month or two, +and so in time made some progress in forbearance by earnest resolve, and +by keeping myself courteous and without anger and using fair language, +purifying myself from evil words and absurd actions, and from passion +which for a little unlovely pleasure pays us with great mental +disturbance and the bitterest repentance. In consequence of all this my +experience, and the assistance of the deity, has made me form the view, +that courtesy and gentleness and kindliness are not so agreeable, and +pleasant, and delightful, to any of those we live with as to ourselves, +that have those qualities.[710] + + [676] Homer, "Iliad," xxii. 373. + + [677] Alluded to again "On the tranquillity of the + mind," Sec. i. + + [678] The allusion is to Homer's "Odyssey," xx. 23. + + [679] Reading [Greek: ex heautou] with Reiske. + + [680] Euripides, "Orestes," 72. + + [681] Euripides, "Orestes," 99. + + [682] Fragment 361. + + [683] Homer, "Iliad," xvii. 591. + + [684] The reading of the MSS. is [Greek: auton]. + + [685] Lines of Callimachus. [Greek: phlien] is the + admirable emendation of Salmasius. + + [686] Sophocles, "Thamyras," Fragm. 232. + + [687] "Iliad," v. 214-216. + + [688] Reading [Greek: eniois], as Wyttenbach suggests. + + [689] Aeschylus, "Prometheus," 574, 575. + + [690] It will be seen I adopt the reading and + punctuation of Xylander. + + [691] This is the reading of Reiske and Duebner. + + [692] That is _mild_. Zeus is so called, Pausanias, i. + 37; ii. 9, 20. + + [693] That is, _fierce_, _furious_. It will be seen I + adopt the suggestion of Reiske. + + [694] Literally "is silent about." It is like the saying + about Von Moltke that he can be silent in six or seven + languages. + + [695] Adopting Reiske's reading. + + [696] Compare Pausanias, iv. 8. + + [697] Duebner puts this sentence in brackets. + + [698] Sophocles, "Antigone," 563, 564. + + [699] Homer, "Iliad," xix. 138. + + [700] Homer, "Odyssey," xx. 392. + + [701] Or strigils. + + [702] Anticyra was famous for its hellebore, which was + prescribed in cases of madness. See Horace, "Satires," + ii. 3. 82, 83. + + [703] Homer, "Iliad," xxiv. 239, 240. + + [704] A philosopher of Megara, and disciple of Socrates. + Compare our author, "De Fraterno Amore," Sec. xviii. + + [705] So Reiske. Duebner reads [Greek: phobou]. The MSS. + have [Greek: phonou], which Wyttenbach retains, but is + evidently not quite satisfied with the text. Can [Greek: + phthonou]--[Greek: heteron] be an account of [Greek: + epichairekakia]? + + [706] Up in the clouds. Cf. [Greek: aerobateo]. + + [707] Horace, remembering these lines no doubt, says "De + Arte Poetica," 191, 192, + + "Nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus Inciderit." + + [708] It is quite likely that the delicious poet Robert + Herrick borrowed hence his "To starve thy sin not bin, + That is to keep thy Lent." For we know he was a student + of the "Moralia" when at the University of Cambridge. + + [709] See AEschylus, "Eumenides," 107. Sophocles, + "Oedipus Colonaeus," 481. See also our author's "De + Sanitate Praecepta," Sec. xix. + + [710] Jeremy Taylor has closely imitated parts of this + Dialogue in his "Holy Living," chapter iv. sect. viii., + "Twelve remedies against anger, by way of exercise," + "Thirteen remedies against anger, by way of + consideration." Such a storehouse did he make of the + "Moralia." + + + + +ON CONTENTEDNESS OF MIND.[711] + +PLUTARCH SENDS GREETING TO PACCIUS. + + +Sec. I. It was late when I received your letter, asking me to write to you +something on contentedness of mind, and on those things in the Timaeus +that require an accurate explanation. And it so fell out that at that +very time our friend Eros was obliged to set sail at once for Rome, +having received a letter from the excellent Fundanus, urging haste +according to his wont. And not having as much time as I could have +wished to meet your request, and yet not thinking for one moment of +letting my messenger go to you entirely empty-handed, I copied out the +notes that I had chanced to make on contentedness of mind. For I thought +that you did not desire this discourse merely to be treated to a subject +handled in fine style, but for the real business of life. And I +congratulate you that, though you have friendships with princes, and +have as much forensic reputation as anybody, yet you are not in the same +plight as the tragic Merops, nor have you like him by the felicitations +of the multitude been induced to forget the sufferings of humanity; but +you remember, what you have often heard, that a patrician's slipper[712] +is no cure for the gout, nor a costly ring for a whitlow, nor a diadem +for the headache. For how can riches, or fame, or power at court help us +to ease of mind or a calm life, unless we enjoy them when present, but +are not for ever pining after them when absent? And what else causes +this but the long exercise and practice of reason, which, when the +unreasoning and emotional part of the soul breaks out of bounds, curbs +it quickly, and does not allow it to be carried away headlong from its +actual position? And as Xenophon[713] advised that we should remember +and honour the gods most especially in prosperity, that so, when we +should be in any strait, we might confidently call upon them as already +our well-wishers and friends; so sensible men would do well before +trouble comes to meditate on remedies how to bear it, that they may be +the more efficacious from being ready for use long before. For as savage +dogs are excited at every sound, and are only soothed by a familiar +voice, so also it is not easy to quiet the wild passions of the soul, +unless familiar and well-known arguments be at hand to check its +excitement. + +Sec. II. He then that said, that the man that wished to have an easy mind +ought to have little to do either public or private, first of all makes +ease of mind a very costly article for us, if it is to be bought at the +price of doing nothing, as if he should advise every sick person, + + "Lie still, poor wretch, in bed."[714] + +And indeed stupor is a bad remedy for the body against despair,[715] nor +is he any better physician of the soul who removes its trouble and +anxiety by recommending a lazy and soft life and a leaving our friends +and relations and country in the lurch. In the next place, it is false +that those that have little to do are easy in mind. For then women would +be easier in mind than men, since they mostly stay at home in +inactivity, and even now-a-days it is as Hesiod says,[716] + + "The North Wind comes not near a soft-skinned maiden;" + +yet griefs and troubles and unrest, proceeding from jealousy or +superstition or ambition or vanity, inundate the women's part of the +house with unceasing flow. And Laertes, though he lived for twenty years +a solitary life in the country, + + "With an old woman to attend on him, + Who duly set on board his meat and drink,"[717] + +and fled from his country and house and kingdom, yet had sorrow and +dejection[718] as a perpetual companion with leisure. And some have been +often thrown into sad unrest merely from inaction, as the following, + + "But fleet Achilles, Zeus-sprung, son of Peleus, + Sat by the swiftly-sailing ships and fumed, + Nor ever did frequent th' ennobling council, + Nor ever join the war, but pined in heart, + Though in his tent abiding, for the fray."[719] + +And full of emotion and distress at this state of things he himself +says, + + "A useless burden to the earth I sit + Beside the ships."[720] + +So even Epicurus thinks that those who are desirous of honour and glory +should not rust in inglorious ease, but use their natural talents in +public life for the benefit of the community at large, seeing that they +are by nature so constituted that they would be more likely to be +troubled and afflicted at inaction, if they did not get what they +desired. But he is absurd in that he does not urge men of ability to +take part in public life, but only the restless. But we ought not to +estimate ease or unrest of mind by our many or few actions, but by their +fairness or foulness. For the omission of fair actions troubles and +distresses us, as I have said before, quite as much as the actual doing +of foul actions. + +Sec. III. As for those who think that one kind of life is especially free +from trouble, as some think that of farmers, others that of bachelors, +others that of kings, Menander sufficiently exposes their error in the +following lines: + + "Phania, I thought those rich who need not borrow, + Nor groan at nights, nor cry out 'Woe is me,' + Kicked up and down in this untoward world, + But sweet and gentle sleep they may enjoy." + +He then goes on to remark that he saw the rich suffering the same as the +poor, + + "Trouble and life are truly near akin. + With the luxurious or the glorious life + Trouble consorts, and in the life of poverty + Lasts with it to the end." + +But just as people on the sea, timid and prone to sea-sickness, think +they will suffer from it less on board a merchantman than on a boat, and +for the same reason shift their quarters to a trireme, but do not attain +anything by these changes, for they take with them their timidity and +qualmishness, so changes of life do not remove the sorrows and troubles +of the soul; which proceed from want of experience and reflection, and +from inability or ignorance rightly to enjoy the present. These afflict +the rich as well as the poor; these trouble the married as well as the +unmarried; these make people shun the forum, but find no happiness in +retirement; these make people eagerly desire introductions at court, +though when got they straightway care no more about them. + + "The sick are peevish in their straits and needs."[721] + +For the wife bothers them, and they grumble at the doctor, and they find +the bed uneasy, and, as Ion says, + + "The friend that visits them tires their patience, + And yet they do not like him to depart." + +But afterwards, when the illness is over, and a sounder condition +supervenes, health returns and makes all things pleasant and acceptable. +He that yesterday loathed eggs and cakes of finest meal and purest bread +will to-day eat eagerly and with appetite coarsest bread with a few +olives and cress. + +Sec. IV. Such contentedness and change of view in regard to every kind of +life does the infusion of reason bring about. When Alexander heard from +Anaxarchus of the infinite number of worlds, he wept, and when his +friends asked him what was the matter, he replied, "Is it not a matter +for tears that, when the number of worlds is infinite, I have not +conquered one?" But Crates, who had only a wallet and threadbare cloak, +passed all his life jesting and laughing as if at a festival. Agamemnon +was troubled with his rule over so many subjects, + + "You look on Agamemnon, Atreus' son, + Whom Zeus has plunged for ever in a mass + Of never-ending cares."[722] + +But Diogenes when he was being sold sat down and kept jeering at the +auctioneer, and would not stand up when he bade him, but said joking and +laughing, "Would you tell a fish you were selling to stand up?" And +Socrates in prison played the philosopher and discoursed with his +friends. But Phaeethon,[723] when he got up to heaven, wept because +nobody gave to him his father's horses and chariot. As therefore the +shoe is shaped by the foot, and not the foot by the shoe, so does the +disposition make the life similar to itself. For it is not, as one said, +custom that makes the best life seem sweet to those that choose it, but +it is sense that makes that very life at once the best and sweetest. Let +us cleanse therefore the fountain of contentedness, which is within us, +that so external things may turn out for our good, through our putting +the best face on them. + + "Events will take their course, it is no good + Our being angry at them, he is happiest + Who wisely turns them to the best account."[724] + +Sec. V. Plato compared human life to a game at dice, wherein we ought to +throw according to our requirements, and, having thrown, to make the +best use of whatever turns up. It is not in our power indeed to +determine what the throw will be, but it is our part, if we are wise, to +accept in a right spirit whatever fortune sends, and so to contrive +matters that what we wish should do us most good, and what we do not +wish should do us least harm. For those who live at random and without +judgement, like those sickly people who can stand neither heat nor cold, +are unduly elated by prosperity, and cast down by adversity; and in +either case suffer from unrest, but 'tis their own fault, and perhaps +they suffer most in what are called good circumstances. Theodorus, who +was surnamed the Atheist, used to say that he held out arguments with +his right hand, but his hearers received them with their left; so +awkward people frequently take in a clumsy manner the favours of +fortune; but men of sense, as bees extract honey from thyme which is the +strongest and driest of herbs,[725] so from the least auspicious +circumstances frequently derive advantage and profit. + +Sec. VI. We ought then to cultivate such a habit as this, like the man who +threw a stone at his dog, and missed it, but hit his step-mother, and +cried out, "Not so bad." Thus we may often turn the edge of fortune when +things turn not out as we wish. Diogenes was driven into exile; "not so +bad;" for his exile made him turn philosopher. And Zeno of Cittium,[726] +when he heard that the only merchantman he had was wrecked, cargo and +all, said, "Fortune, you treat me handsomely, since you reduce me to my +threadbare cloak and piazza."[727] What prevents our imitating such men +as these? Have you failed to get some office? You will be able to live +in the country henceforth, and manage your own affairs. Did you court +the friendship of some great man, and meet with a rebuff? You will live +free from danger and cares. Have you again had matters to deal with that +required labour and thought? "Warm water will not so much make the limbs +soft by soaking," to quote Pindar,[728] as glory and honour and power +make "labour sweet, and toil to be no toil."[729] Or has any bad luck or +contumely fallen on you in consequence of some calumny or from envy? The +breeze is favourable that will waft you to the Muses and the Academy, as +it did Plato when his friendship with Dionysius came to an end. It does +indeed greatly conduce to contentedness of mind to see how famous men +have borne the same troubles with an unruffled mind. For example, does +childlessness trouble you? Consider those kings of the Romans, none of +whom left his kingdom to a son. Are you distressed at the pinch of +poverty? Who of the Boeotians would you rather prefer to be than +Epaminondas, or of the Romans than Fabricius? Has your wife been +seduced? Have you never read that inscription at Delphi, + + "Agis the king of land and sea erected me;" + +and have you not heard that his wife Timaea was seduced by Alcibiades, +and in her whispers to her handmaidens called the child that was born +Alcibiades? Yet this did not prevent Agis from being the most famous and +greatest of the Greeks. Neither again did the licentiousness of his +daughter prevent Stilpo from leading the merriest life of all the +philosophers that were his contemporaries. And when Metrocles reproached +him with her life, he said, "Is it my fault or hers?" And when Metrocles +answered, "Her fault, but your misfortune," he rejoined, "How say you? +Are not faults also slips?" "Certainly," said he. "And are not slips +mischances in those matters wherein we slip?" Metrocles assented. "And +are not mischances misfortunes in those matters wherein we mischance?" +By this gentle and philosophical argument he demonstrated the Cynic's +reproach to be an idle bark. + +Sec. VII. But most people are troubled and exasperated not only at the bad +in their friends and intimates, but also in their enemies. For railing +and anger and envy and malignity and jealousy and ill-will are the bane +of those that suffer from those infirmities, and trouble and exasperate +the foolish: as for example the quarrels of neighbours, and peevishness +of acquaintances, and the want of ability in those that manage state +affairs. By these things you yourself seem to me to be put out not a +little, as the doctors in Sophocles, who + + "With bitter physic purge the bitter bile,"[730] + +so vexed and bitter are you at people's weaknesses and infirmities, +which is not reasonable in you. Even your own private affairs are not +always managed by simple and good and suitable instruments, so to speak, +but very frequently by sharp and crooked ones. Do not think it then +either your business, or an easy matter either, to set all these things +to rights. But if you take people as they are, as the surgeon uses his +bandages and instruments for drawing teeth, and with cheerfulness and +serenity welcome all that happens, as you would look upon barking dogs +as only following their nature, you will be happier in the disposition +you will then have than you will be distressed at other people's +disagreeableness and shortcomings. For you will forget to make a +collection of disagreeable things,[731] which now inundate, as some +hollow and low-lying ground, your littleness of mind and weakness, which +fills itself with other people's bad points. For seeing that some of the +philosophers censure compassion to the unfortunate (on the ground that +it is good to help our neighbours, and not to give way to sentimental +sympathy in connection with them), and, what is of more importance, do +not allow those that are conscious of their errors and bad moral +disposition to be dejected and grieved at them, but bid them cure their +defects without grief at once, is it not altogether unreasonable, look +you, to allow ourselves to be peevish and vexed, because all those who +have dealings with us and come near us are not good and clever? Let us +see to it, dear Paccius, that we do not, whether we are aware of it or +not, play a part, really looking[732] not at the universal defects of +those that approach us, but at our own interests through our +selfishness, and not through our hatred of evil. For excessive +excitement about things, and an undue appetite and desire for them, or +on the other hand aversion and dislike to them, engender suspiciousness +and peevishness against persons, who were, we think, the cause of our +being deprived of some things, and of being troubled with others. But he +that is accustomed to adapt himself to things easily and calmly is most +cheerful and gentle in his dealings with people. + +Sec. VIII. Wherefore let us resume our argument. As in a fever everything +seems bitter and unpleasant to the taste, but when we see others not +loathing but fancying the very same eatables and drinkables, we no +longer find the fault to be in them but in ourselves and our disease, so +we shall cease to blame and be discontented with the state of affairs, +if we see others cheerfully and without grief enduring the same. It also +makes for contentedness, when things happen against our wish, not to +overlook our many advantages and comforts, but by looking at both good +and bad to feel that the good preponderate. When our eyes are dazzled +with things too bright we turn them away, and ease them by looking at +flowers or grass, while we keep the eyes of our mind strained on +disagreeable things, and force them to dwell on bitter ideas, well-nigh +tearing them away by force from the consideration of pleasanter things. +And yet one might apply here, not unaptly, what was said to the man of +curiosity,[733] + + "Malignant wretch, why art so keen to mark + Thy neighbour's fault, and seest not thine own?" + +Why on earth, my good sir, do you confine your view to your troubles, +making them so vivid and acute, while you do not let your mind dwell at +all on your present comforts? But as cupping-glasses draw the worst +blood from the flesh, so you force upon your attention the worst things +in your lot: acting not a whit more wisely than that Chian, who, selling +much choice wine to others, asked for some sour wine for his own supper; +and one of his slaves being asked by another, what he had left his +master doing, replied, "Asking for bad when good was by." For most +people overlook the advantages and pleasures of their individual lives, +and run to their difficulties and grievances. Aristippus, however, was +not such a one, for he cleverly knew as in a scale to make the better +preponderate over the worse. So having lost a good farm, he asked one of +those who made a great show of condolence and sympathy, "Have you not +only one little piece of ground, while I have three fields left?" And +when he admitted that it was so, he went on to say, "Ought I not then to +condole with you rather than you with me?" For it is the act of a madman +to distress oneself over what is lost, and not to rejoice at what is +left; but like little children, if one of their many playthings be taken +away by anyone, throw the rest away and weep and cry out, so we, if we +are assailed by fortune in some one point, wail and mourn and make all +other things seem unprofitable in our eyes. + +Sec. IX. Suppose someone should say, What blessings have we? I would reply, +What have we not? One has reputation, another a house, another a wife, +another a good friend. When Antipater of Tarsus was reckoning up on his +death-bed his various pieces of good fortune, he did not even pass over +his favourable voyage from Cilicia to Athens. So we should not overlook, +but take account of everyday blessings, and rejoice that we live, and +are well, and see the sun, and that no war or sedition plagues our +country, but that the earth is open to cultivation, the sea secure to +mariners, and that we can speak or be silent, lead a busy or an idle +life, as we choose. We shall get more contentedness from the presence of +all these blessings, if we fancy them as absent, and remember from time +to time how people ill yearn for health, and people in war for peace, +and strangers and unknown in a great city for reputation and friends, +and how painful it is to be deprived of all these when one has once had +them. For then each of these blessings will not appear to us only great +and valuable when it is lost, and of no value while we have it. For not +having it cannot add value to anything. Nor ought we to amass things we +regard as valuable, and always be on the tremble and afraid of losing +them as valuable things, and yet, when we have them, ignore them and +think little of them; but we ought to use them for our pleasure and +enjoyment, that we may bear their loss, if that should happen, with more +equanimity. But most people, as Arcesilaus said, think it right to +inspect minutely and in every detail, perusing them alike with the eyes +of the body and mind, other people's poems and paintings and statues, +while they neglect to study their own lives, which have often many not +unpleasing subjects for contemplation, looking abroad and ever admiring +other people's reputations and fortunes, as adulterers admire other +men's wives, and think cheap of their own. + +Sec. X. And yet it makes much for contentedness of mind to look for the +most part at home and to our own condition, or if not, to look at the +case of people worse off than ourselves, and not, as most people do, to +compare ourselves with those who are better off. For example, those who +are in chains think those happy who are freed from their chains, and +they again freemen, and freemen citizens, and they again the rich, and +the rich satraps, and satraps kings, and kings the gods, content with +hardly anything short of hurling thunderbolts and lightning. And so they +ever want something above them, and are never thankful for what they +have. + + "I care not for the wealth of golden Gyges," + +and, + + "I never had or envy or desire + To be a god, or love for mighty empire, + Far distant from my eyes are all such things." + +But this, you will say, was the language of a Thasian. But you will find +others, Chians or Galatians or Bithynians, not content with the share of +glory or power they have among their fellow-citizens, but weeping +because they do not wear senators' shoes; or, if they have them, that +they cannot be praetors at Rome; or, if they get that office, that they +are not consuls; or, if they are consuls, that they are only proclaimed +second and not first. What is all this but seeking out excuses for being +unthankful to fortune, only to torment and punish oneself? But he that +has a mind in sound condition, does not sit down in sorrow and dejection +if he is less renowned or rich than some of the countless myriads of +mankind that the sun looks upon, "who feed on the produce of the wide +world,"[734] but goes on his way rejoicing at his fortune and life, as +far fairer and happier than that of myriads of others. In the Olympian +games it is not possible to be the victor by choosing one's competitors. +But in the race of life circumstances allow us to plume ourselves on +surpassing many, and to be objects of envy rather than to have to envy +others, unless we pit ourselves against a Briareus or a Hercules. +Whenever then you admire anyone carried by in his litter as a greater +man than yourself, lower your eyes and look at those that bear the +litter. And when you think the famous Xerxes happy for his passage over +the Hellespont, as a native of those parts[735] did, look too at those +who dug through Mount Athos under the lash, and at those whose ears and +noses were cut off because the bridge was broken by the waves, consider +their state of mind also, for they think your life and fortunes happy. +Socrates, when he heard one of his friends saying, "How dear this city +is! Chian wine costs one mina,[736] a purple robe three, and half a pint +of honey five drachmae," took him to the meal market, and showed him half +a peck of meal for an obol, then took him to the olive market, and +showed him a peck of olives for two coppers, and lastly showed him that +a sleeveless vest[737] was only ten drachmae. At each place Socrates' +friend exclaimed, "How cheap this city is!" So also we, when we hear +anyone saying that our affairs are bad and in a woful plight, because we +are not consuls or governors, may reply, "Our affairs are in an +admirable condition, and our life an enviable one, seeing that we do not +beg, nor carry burdens, nor live by flattery." + +Sec. XI. But since through our folly we are accustomed to live more with an +eye to others than ourselves, and since nature is so jealous and envious +that it rejoices not so much in its own blessings as it is pained by +those of others, do not look only at the much-cried-up splendour of +those whom you envy and admire, but open and draw, as it were, the gaudy +curtain of their pomp and show, and peep within, you will see that they +have much to trouble them, and many things to annoy them. The well-known +Pittacus,[738] whose fame was so great for fortitude and wisdom and +uprightness, was once entertaining some guests, and his wife came in in +a rage and upset the table, and as the guests were dismayed he said, +Every one of you has some trouble, and he who has mine only is not so +bad off. + + "Happy is he accounted at the forum, + But when he opens the door of his own house + Thrice miserable; for his wife rules all, + Still lords it over him, and is ever quarrelling. + Many griefs has he that I wot not of." + +Many such cases are there, unknown to the public, for family pride casts +a veil over them, to be found in wealth and glory and even in royalty. + + "O happy son of Atreus, child of destiny, + Blessed thy lot;"[739] + +congratulation like this comes from an external view, from a halo of +arms and horses and the pomp of war, but the inward voice of emotion +testifies against all this vain glory; + + "A heavy fate is laid on me by Zeus + The son of Cronos."[740] + +And, + + "Old man, I think your lot one to be envied, + As that of any man who free from danger + Passes his life unknown and in obscurity."[741] + +By such reflections as these one may wean oneself from that discontent +with one's fortune, which makes one's own condition look low and mean +from too much admiring one's neighbour's. + +Sec. XII. Another thing, which is a great hindrance to peace of mind, is +not to proportion our desires to our means, but to carry too much sail, +as it were, in our hopes of great things and then, if unsuccessful, to +blame destiny and fortune, and not our own folly. For he is not +unfortunate who wishes to shoot with a plough, or hunt the hare with an +ox; nor has he an evil genius opposed to him, who does not catch deer +with fishing nets, but merely is the dupe of his own stupidity and folly +in attempting impossibilities. Self-love is mainly to blame, making +people fond of being first and aspiring in all matters, and insatiably +desirous to engage in everything. For people not only wish at one and +the same time to be rich, and learned, and strong, and boon-companions, +and agreeable, and friends of kings, and governors of cities, but they +are also discontented if they have not dogs and horses and quails and +cocks of the first quality. Dionysius the elder was not content with +being the most powerful monarch of his times, but because he could not +beat Philoxenus the poet in singing, or surpass Plato in dialectics, was +so angry and exasperated that he put the one to work in his stone +quarries, and sent the other to AEgina and sold him there. Alexander was +of a different spirit, for when Crisso the famous runner ran a race with +him, and seemed to let the king outrun him on purpose, he was greatly +displeased. Good also was the spirit of Achilles in Homer, who, when he +said, + + "None of the Achaean warriors is a match + For me in war," + +added, + + "Yet in the council hall + Others there are who better are than me."[742] + +And when Megabyzus the Persian visited the studio of Apelles, and began +to chatter about art, Apelles stopped him and said, "While you kept +silence you seemed to be somebody from your gold and purple, but now +these lads that are grinding colours are laughing at your nonsense." But +some who think the Stoics only talk idly, in styling their wise man not +only prudent and just and brave but also orator and general and poet and +rich man and king, yet claim for themselves all those titles, and are +indignant if they do not get them. And yet even among the gods different +functions are assigned to different personages; thus one is called the +god of war, another the god of oracles, another the god of gain, and +Aphrodite, as she has nothing to do with warlike affairs, is despatched +by Zeus to marriages and bridals. + +Sec. XIII. And indeed there are some pursuits which cannot exist together, +but are by their very nature opposed. For example oratory and the study +of the mathematics require ease and leisure; whereas political ability +and the friendship of kings cannot be attained without mixing in affairs +and in public life. Moreover wine and indulgence in meat make the body +indeed strong and vigorous, but blunt the intellect; and though +unremitting attention to making and saving money will heap up wealth, +yet despising and contemning riches is a great help to philosophy. So +that all things are not within any one's power, and we must obey that +saying inscribed in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, _Know thyself_,[743] +and adapt ourselves to our natural bent, and not drag and force nature +to some other kind of life or pursuit. "The horse to the chariot, and +the ox to the plough, and swiftly alongside the ship scuds the dolphin, +while he that meditates destruction for the boar must find a staunch +hound."[744] But he that chafes and is grieved that he is not at one and +the same time "a lion reared on the mountains, exulting in his +strength,"[745] and a little Maltese lap-dog[746] reared in the lap of a +rich widow, is out of his senses. And not a whit wiser is he who wishes +to be an Empedocles, or Plato, or Democritus, and write about the world +and the real nature of things, and at the same time to be married like +Euphorion to a rich wife, or to revel and drink with Alexander like +Medius; and is grieved and vexed if he is not also admired for his +wealth like Ismenias, and for his virtue like Epaminondas. But runners +are not discontented because they do not carry off the crowns of +wrestlers, but rejoice and delight in their own crowns. "You are a +citizen of Sparta: see you make the most of her." So too said Solon: + + "We will not change our virtue for their wealth, + For virtue never dies, but wealth has wings, + And flies about from one man to another." + +And Strato the natural philosopher, when he heard that Menedemus had +many more pupils than he had, said, "Is it wonderful at all that more +wish to wash than to be anointed?" And Aristotle, writing to Antipater, +said, "Not only has Alexander a right to plume himself on his rule over +many subjects, but no less legitimate is satisfaction at entertaining +right opinions about the gods." For those that think so highly of their +own walk in life will not be so envious about their neighbours'. We do +not expect a vine to bear figs, nor an olive grapes, yet now-a-days, +with regard to ourselves, if we have not at one and the same time the +privilege of being accounted rich and learned, generals and +philosophers, flatterers and outspoken, stingy and extravagant, we +slander ourselves and are dissatisfied, and despise ourselves as living +a maimed and imperfect life. Furthermore, we see that nature teaches us +the same lesson.[747] For as she provides different kinds of beasts with +different kinds of food, and has not made all carnivorous, or +seed-pickers, or root-diggers, so she has given to mankind various means +of getting a livelihood, "one by keeping sheep, another by ploughing, +another by fowling,"[748] and another by catching the fish of the sea. +We ought each therefore to select the calling appropriate for ourselves +and labour energetically in it, and leave other people to theirs, and +not demonstrate Hesiod as coming short of the real state of things when +he said, + + "Potter is wroth with potter, smith with smith."[749] + +For not only do people envy those of the same trade and manner of life, +but the rich envy the learned, and the famous the rich, and advocates +sophists, aye, and freemen and patricians admire and think happy +comedians starring it at the theatres, and dancers, and the attendants +at kings' courts, and by all this envy give themselves no small trouble +and annoyance. + +Sec.XIV. But that every man has in himself the magazines of content or +discontent, and that the jars containing blessings and evils are not on +the threshold of Zeus,[750] but lie stored in the mind, is plain from +the differences of men's passions. For the foolish overlook and neglect +present blessings, through their thoughts being ever intent on the +future; but the wise make the past clearly present to them through +memory. For the present giving only a moment of time to the touch, and +then evading our grasp, does not seem to the foolish to be ours or to +belong to us at all. And like that person[751] painted as rope-making in +Hades and permitting an ass feeding by to eat up the rope as fast as he +makes it, so the stupid and thankless forgetfulness of most people comes +upon them and takes possession of them, and obliterates from their mind +every past action, whether success, or pleasant leisure, or society, or +enjoyment, and breaks the unity of life which arises from the past being +blended with the present; for detaching to-day from both yesterday and +to-morrow, it soon makes every event as if it had never happened from +lack of memory. For as those in the schools, who deny the growth of our +bodies by reason of the continual flux of substance, make each of us in +theory different from himself and another man, so those who do not keep +or recall to their memory former things, but let them drift, actually +empty themselves daily, and hang upon the morrow, as if what happened a +year ago, or even yesterday and the day before yesterday, had nothing to +do with them, and had hardly occurred at all. + +Sec. XV. This is one great hindrance to contentedness of mind, and another +still greater is whenever, like flies that slide down smooth places in +mirrors, but stick fast in rough places or where there are cracks, men +let pleasant and agreeable things glide from their memory, and pin +themselves down to the remembrance of unpleasant things; or rather, as +at Olynthus they say beetles, when they get into a certain place called +Destruction-to-beetles, cannot get out, but fly round and round till +they die, so men will glide into the remembrance of their woes, and will +not give themselves a respite from sorrow. But, as we use our brightest +colours in a picture, so in the mind we ought to look at the cheerful +and bright side of things, and hide and keep down the gloomy, for we +cannot altogether obliterate or get rid of it. For, as the strings of +the bow and lyre are alternately tightened and relaxed, so is it with +the order of the world; in human affairs there is nothing pure and +without alloy. But as in music there are high and low notes, and in +grammar vowels and mutes, but neither the musician nor grammarian +decline to use either kinds, but know how to blend and employ them both +for their purpose, so in human affairs which are balanced one against +another,--for, as Euripides says, + + "There is no good without ill in the world, + But everything is mixed in due proportion,"-- + +we ought not to be disheartened or despondent; but as musicians drown +their worst music with the best, so should we take good and bad +together, and make our chequered life one of convenience and harmony. +For it is not, as Menander says, + + "Directly any man is born, a genius + Befriends him, a good guide to him for life," + +but it is rather, as Empedocles states, two fates or genii take hold of +each of us when we are born and govern us. "There were Chthonia and +far-seeing Heliope, and cruel Deris, and grave Harmonia, and Callisto, +and AEschra, and Thoosa, and Denaea, and charming Nemertes, and Asaphea +with the black fruit." + +Sec. XVI. And as[752] at our birth we received the mingled seeds of each of +these passions, which is the cause of much irregularity, the sensible +person hopes for better things, but expects worse, and makes the most of +either, remembering that wise maxim, _Not too much of anything._ For not +only will he who is least solicitous about to-morrow best enjoy it when +it comes, as Epicurus says, but also wealth, and renown, and power and +rule, gladden most of all the hearts of those who are least afraid of +the contrary. For the immoderate desire for each, implanting a most +immoderate fear of losing them, makes the enjoyment of them weak and +wavering, like a flame under the influence of a wind. But he whom reason +enables to say to fortune without fear or trembling, + + "If you bring any good I gladly welcome it, + But if you fail me little does it trouble me," + +he can enjoy the present with most zest through his confidence, and +absence of fear of the loss of what he has, which would be unbearable. +For we may not only admire but also imitate the behaviour of Anaxagoras, +which made him cry out at the death of his son, "I knew I had begot a +mortal," and apply it to every contingency. For example, "I know that +wealth is ephemeral and insecure; I know that those who gave power can +take it away again; I know that my wife is good, but still a woman; and +that my friend, since a human being, is by nature a changeable animal, +to use Plato's expression." For such a prepared frame of mind, if +anything happens unwished for but not unexpected, not admitting of such +phrases as "I shouldn't have dreamed of it," or "I expected quite a +different lot," or "I didn't look for this," abates the violent[753] +beatings and palpitations of the heart, and quickly causes wild unrest +to subside. Carneades indeed reminds us that in great matters the +unexpected makes the sum total of grief and dejection. Certainly the +kingdom of Macedonia was many times smaller than the Roman Empire, but +when Perseus lost Macedonia, he not only himself bewailed his wretched +fate, but seemed to all men the most unfortunate and unlucky of mankind; +yet AEmilius who conquered him, though he had to give up to another the +command both by land and sea, yet was crowned, and offered sacrifice, +and was justly esteemed happy. For he knew that he had taken a command +which he would have to give up, but Perseus lost his kingdom without +expecting it. Well also has the poet[754] shown the power of anything +that happens unexpectedly. For Odysseus wept bitterly at the death of +his dog, but was not so moved when he sat by his wife who wept, for in +the latter case he had come fully determined to keep his emotion under +the control of reason, whereas in the former it was against his +expectation, and therefore fell upon him as a sudden blow. + +Sec. XVII. And since generally speaking some things which happen against +our will pain and trouble us by their very nature, while in the case of +most we accustom ourselves and learn to be disgusted with them from +fancy, it is not unprofitable to counteract this to have ever ready that +line of Menander, + + "You suffer no dread thing but in your fancy." + +For what, if they touch you neither in soul nor body, are such things to +you as the low birth of your father, or the adultery of your wife, or +the loss of some prize or precedence, since even by their absence a man +is not prevented from being in excellent condition both of body and +soul. And with respect to the things that seem to pain us by their very +nature, as sickness, and anxieties, and the deaths of friends and +children, we should remember, that line of Euripides, + + "Alas! and why alas? we only suffer + What mortals must expect." + +For no argument has so much weight with emotion when it is borne down +with grief, as that which reminds it of the common and natural necessity +to which man is exposed owing to the body, the only handle which he +gives to fortune, for in his most important and influential part[755] he +is secure against external things. When Demetrius captured Megara, he +asked Stilpo if any of his things had been plundered, and Stilpo +answered, "I saw nobody carrying off anything of mine."[756] And so when +fortune has plundered us and stripped us of everything else, we have +that within ourselves + + "Which the Achaeans ne'er could rob us of."[757] + +So that we ought not altogether to abase and lower nature, as if she had +no strength or stability against fortune; but on the contrary, knowing +that the rotten and perishable part of man, wherein alone he lies open +to fortune, is small, while we ourselves are masters of the better part, +wherein are situated our greatest blessings, as good opinions and +teaching and virtuous precepts, all which things cannot be abstracted +from us or perish, we ought to look on the future with invincible +courage, and say to fortune, as Socrates is supposed to have said to his +accusers Anytus and Melitus before the jury, "Anytus and Melitus can +kill me, but they cannot hurt me." For fortune can afflict us with +disease, take away our money, calumniate us to the people or king, but +cannot make a good and brave and high-souled man bad and cowardly and +low and ignoble and envious, nor take away that disposition of mind, +whose constant presence is of more use for the conduct of life than the +presence of a pilot at sea. For the pilot cannot make calm the wild wave +or wind, nor can he find a haven at his need wherever he wishes, nor can +he await his fate with confidence and without trembling, but as long as +he has not despaired, but uses his skill, he scuds before the gale, +"lowering his big sail, till his lower mast is only just above the sea +dark as Erebus," and sits at the helm trembling and quaking. But the +disposition of a wise man gives calm even to the body, mostly cutting +off the causes of diseases by temperance and plain living and moderate +exercise; but if some beginning of trouble arise from without, as we +avoid a sunken rock, so he passes by it with furled sail, as Asclepiades +puts it; but if some unexpected and tremendous gale come upon him and +prove too much for him, the harbour is at hand, and he can swim away +from the body, as from a leaky boat. + +Sec. XVIII. For it is the fear of death, and not the desire of life, that +makes the foolish person to hang to the body, clinging to it, as +Odysseus did to the fig-tree from fear of Charybdis that lay below, + + "Where the wind neither let him stay, or sail," + +so that he was displeased at this, and afraid of that. But he who +understands somehow or other the nature of the soul, and reflects that +the change it will undergo at death will be either to something better +or at least not worse, he has in his fearlessness of death no small help +to ease of mind in life. For to one who can enjoy life when virtue and +what is congenial to him have the upper hand, and that can fearlessly +depart from life, when uncongenial and unnatural things are in the +ascendant, with the words on his lips, + + "The deity shall free me, when I will,"[758] + +what can we imagine could befall such a man as this that would vex him +and wear him and harass him? For he who said, "I have anticipated you, O +fortune, and cut off all your loopholes to get at me," did not trust to +bolts or keys or walls, but to determination and reason, which are +within the power of all persons that choose. And we ought not to despair +or disbelieve any of these sayings, but admiring them and emulating them +and being enthusiastic about them, we ought to try and test ourselves in +smaller matters with a view to greater, not avoiding or rejecting that +self-examination, nor sheltering ourselves under the remark, "Perhaps +nothing will be more difficult." For inertia[759] and softness are +generated by that self-indulgence which ever occupies itself only with +the easiest tasks, and flees from the disagreeable to what is most +pleasant. But the soul that accustoms itself to face steadily sickness +and grief and exile, and calls in reason to its help in each case, will +find in what appears so sore and dreadful much that is false, empty, and +rotten, as reason will show in each case. + +Sec. XIX. And yet many shudder at that line of Menander, + + "No one can say, I shall not suffer this or that," + +being ignorant how much it helps us to freedom from grief to practise to +be able to look fortune in the face with our eyes open, and not to +entertain fine and soft fancies, like one reared in the shade on many +hopes that always yield and never resist. We can, however, answer +Menander's line, + + "No one can say, I shall not suffer this or that," + +for a man can say, "I will not do this or that, I will not lie, I will +not play the rogue, I will not cheat, I will not scheme." For this is in +our power, and is no small but great help to ease of mind. As on the +contrary + + "The consciousness of having done ill deeds,"[760] + +like a sore in the flesh, leaves in the mind a regret which ever wounds +it and pricks it. For reason banishes all other griefs, but itself +creates regret when the soul is vexed with shame and self-tormented. For +as those who shudder in ague-fits or burn in fevers feel more trouble +and distress than those who externally suffer the same from cold or +heat, so the grief is lighter which comes externally from chance, but +that lament, + + "None is to blame for this but I myself," + +coming from within on one's own misdeeds, intensifies one's bitterness +by the shame felt. And so neither costly house, nor quantity of gold, +nor pride of race, nor weighty office, nor grace of language, nor +eloquence, impart so much calm and serenity to life, as a soul pure from +evil acts and desires, having an imperturbable and undefiled character +as the source of its life; whence good actions flow, producing an +enthusiastic and cheerful energy accompanied by loftiness of thought, +and a memory sweeter and more lasting than that hope which Pindar says +is the support of old age. Censers do not, as Carneades said, after they +are emptied, long retain their sweet smell; but in the mind of the wise +man good actions always leave a fresh and fragrant memory, by which joy +is watered and flourishes, and despises those who wail over life and +abuse it as a region of ills, or as a place of exile for souls in this +world. + +Sec. XX. I am very taken with Diogenes' remark to a stranger at Lacedaemon, +who was dressing with much display for a feast, "Does not a good man +consider every day a feast?" And a very great feast too, if we live +soberly. For the world is a most holy and divine temple, into which man +is introduced at his birth, not to behold motionless images made by +hands, but those things (to use the language of Plato) which the divine +mind has exhibited as the visible representations of invisible things, +having innate in them the principle of life and motion, as the sun moon +and stars, and rivers ever flowing with fresh water, and the earth +affording maintenance to plants and animals. Seeing then that life is +the most complete initiation into all these things, it ought to be full +of ease of mind and joy; not as most people wait for the festivals of +Cronos[761] and Dionysus and the Panathenaea and other similar days, that +they may joy and refresh themselves with bought laughter, paying actors +and dancers for the same. On such occasions indeed we sit silently and +decorously, for no one wails when he is initiated, or groans when he +beholds the Pythian games, or when he is drinking at the festival of +Cronos:[761] but men shame the festivals which the deity supplies us +with and initiates us in, passing most of their time in lamentation and +heaviness of heart and distressing anxiety. And though men delight in +the pleasing notes of musical instruments, and in the songs of birds, +and behold with joy the animals playing and frisking, and on the +contrary are distressed when they roar and howl and look savage; yet in +regard to their own life, when they see it without smiles and dejected, +and ever oppressed and afflicted by the most wretched sorrows and toils +and unending cares, they do not think of trying to procure alleviation +and ease. How is this? Nay, they will not even listen to others' +exhortation, which would enable them to acquiesce in the present without +repining, and to remember the past with thankfulness, and to meet the +future hopefully and cheerfully without fear or suspicion. + + [711] Or cheerfulness, or tranquillity of mind. Jeremy + Taylor has largely borrowed again from this treatise in + his "Holy Living," ch. ii. Sec. 6, "Of Contentedness in all + Estates and Accidents." + + [712] Reading with Salmasius [Greek: kaltios patrikios]. + + [713] "Locus Xenophontis est Cyropaed.," l. i. p. + 52.--_Reiske._ + + [714] Euripides, "Orestes," 258. + + [715] So Wyttenbach, Duebner. Vulgo [Greek: + anaisthesias--aponia.] + + [716] "Works and Days," 519. + + [717] "Odyssey," i. 191, 192. + + [718] I read [Greek: katepheian]. + + [719] "Iliad," i. 488-492. + + [720] "Iliad," xviii. 104. + + [721] Euripides, "Orestes," 232. + + [722] Homer, "Iliad," x. 88, 89. + + [723] The story of Phaeethon is a very well-known one, + and is recorded very fully by Ovid in the + "Metamorphoses," Book ii. + + [724] Euripides, "Bellerophon." Fragm. 298. + + [725] Supplying [Greek: phyton] with Reiske. + + [726] In Cyprus. Zeno was the founder of the Stoics. + + [727] Zeno and his successors taught in the Piazza at + Athens called the Painted Piazza. See Pausanias, i. 15. + + [728] Pindar, Nem. iv. 6. + + [729] Euripides, "Bacchae," 66. + + [730] Quoted again by our author "On Restraining Anger," + Sec. xvi. + + [731] As will be seen, I follow Wyttenbach's guidance in + this very corrupt passage, which is a true crux. + + [732] Reading [Greek: dedorkotes]. + + [733] See "On Curiosity," Sec. i. + + [734] Simonides. + + [735] See Herodotus, vii. 56. + + [736] A mina was 100 drachmae (_i.e._ L4. 1_s._ 3_d._), + and 600 obols. + + [737] A slave's ordinary dress. + + [738] One of the Seven Wise Men. + + [739] Homer, "Iliad," iii. 182. + + [740] Homer, "Iliad," ii. 111. + + [741] Words of Agamemnon to the House Porter. Euripides, + "Iphigenia in Aulis," 17-19. + + [742] "Iliad," xviii. 105, 106. + + [743] See Pausanias, x. 24. + + [744] Pindar, Fragm., 258. Quoted "On Moral Virtue," Sec. + xii. + + [745] Homer, "Iliad," xvii. 61; "Odyssey," vi. 130. + + [746] A famous breed of dogs from the island Melita, + near Dalmatia. See Pliny, "Hist. Nat.," iii. 26, extr. Sec. + 30; xxx. 5, extr. Sec. 14. + + [747] That _Non omnia possumus omnes_. + + [748] Pindar, "Isthm.," i. 65-70. + + [749] Hesiod, "Works and Days," 25. Our "two of a trade + seldom agree." + + [750] An allusion to "Iliad," xxiv. 527-533. + + [751] Ocnus. See Pausanias, x. 29. + + [752] So Wyttenbach, who reads [Greek: Hos de touton]. + + [753] Reading [Greek: oia] with Reiske. + + [754] Homer to wit. + + [755] The soul. + + [756] The reading here is rather doubtful. That I have + adopted is Reiske's and Wyttenbach's. + + [757] "Iliad," v. 484. + + [758] Euripides, "Bacchae," 498. Compare Horace, + "Epistles," i. xvi. 78, 79. + + [759] Reading with Duebner [Greek: argian]. Reiske has + [Greek: atonian]. + + [760] Euripides, "Orestes," 396. + + [761] The _Saturnalia_ (as the Romans called this feast) + was well known as a festival of merriment and license. + + + + +ON ENVY AND HATRED. + + +Sec. I. Outwardly there seems no difference between hatred and envy, but +they seem identical. For generally speaking, as vice has many hooks, and +is swayed hither and thither by the passions that hang on it, there are +many points of contact and entanglement between them, for as in the case +of illnesses there is a sympathy between the various passions. Thus the +prosperous man is equally a source of pain to hate and envy. And so we +think benevolence the opposite of both these passions, being as it is a +wish for our neighbour's good, and we think hate and envy identical, for +the desire of both is the very opposite of benevolence. But since their +similarities are not so great as their dissimilarities, let us +investigate and trace out these two passions from their origin. + +Sec. II. Hatred then is generated by the fancy that the person hated is +either bad generally or bad to oneself. For those who think they are +wronged naturally hate those who they think wrong them, and dislike and +are on their guard against those who are injurious or bad to +others;[762] but people envy merely those they think prosperous. So envy +seems illimitable, being, like ophthalmia, troubled at everything +bright, whereas hatred is limited, since it settles only on what seems +hostile. + +Sec. III. In the second place people feel hatred even against the brutes; +for some hate cats and beetles and toads and serpents. Thus Germanicus +could not bear the crowing or sight of a cock, and the Persian magicians +kill their mice, not only hating them themselves but thinking them +hateful to their god, and the Arabians and Ethiopians abominate them as +much. Whereas we envy only human beings. + +Sec. IV. Indeed among the brutes it is not likely that there should be any +envy, for they have no conception of prosperity or adversity, nor have +they any idea of reputation or want of reputation, which are the things +that mainly excite envy; but they hate one another, and are hostile to +one another, and fight with one another to the death, as eagles and +dragons, crows and owls, titmice and finches, insomuch that they say +that even the blood of these creatures will not mix, and if you try to +mix it it will immediately separate again. It is likely also that there +is strong hatred between the cock and the lion, and the pig and the +elephant, owing to fear. For what people fear they naturally hate. We +see also from this that envy differs from hatred, for the animals are +capable of the one, but not of the other. + +Sec. V. Moreover envy against anyone is never just, for no one wrongs +another by his prosperity, though that is what he is envied for; but +many are hated with justice, for we even think others[763] worthy of +hatred, if they do not flee from such, and are not disgusted and vexed +at them. A great indication of this is that some people admit they hate +many, but declare they envy nobody. Indeed hatred of evil is reckoned +among praiseworthy things; and when some were praising Charillus, the +nephew of Lycurgus and king of Sparta, for his mildness and gentleness, +his colleague said, "How can Charillus be good, who is not even harsh to +the bad?" And so the poet described the bodily defects of Thersites at +much length, whereas he expressed his vile moral character most shortly +and by one remark, "He was most hateful both to Achilles and +Odysseus."[764] For to be hated by the most excellent is the height of +worthlessness. But people deny that they are envious, and, if they are +charged with being so, they put forward ten thousand pleas, saying they +are angry with the man or fear him or hate him, suggesting any other +passion than envy, and concealing it as the only disorder of the soul +which is abominable. + +Sec. VI. Of necessity then these two passions cannot, like plants, be fed +and nourished and grow on the same roots; for they are by nature +different.[765] For we hate people more as they grow worse, but they are +envied only the more the more they advance in virtue. And so +Themistocles, when quite a lad, said he had done nothing remarkable, for +he was not yet envied. For as insects attack most ripe corn and roses in +their bloom, so envy fastens most on the good and on those who are +growing in virtue and good repute for moral character. Again extreme +badness intensifies hatred. So hated indeed and loathed were the +accusers of Socrates, as guilty of extreme vileness, by their +fellow-citizens, that they would neither supply them with fire, nor +answer their questions, nor touch the water they had bathed in, but +ordered the servants to pour it away as polluted, till they could bear +this hatred no longer and hung themselves. But splendid and exceptional +success often extinguishes envy. For it is not likely that anyone envied +Alexander or Cyrus, after their conquests made them lords of the world. +But as the sun, when it is high over our heads and sends down its rays, +makes next to no shadow, so at those successes that attain such a height +as to be over its head envy is humbled, and retires completely dazzled. +So Alexander had none to envy him, but many to hate him, by whom he was +plotted against till he died. So too misfortunes stop envy, but they do +not remove hatred. For people hate their enemies even when they lie +prostrate at their feet, but no one envies the unfortunate. But the +remark of one of the sophists of our day is true, that the envious are +very prone to pity; so here too there is a great difference between +these two passions, for hatred abandons neither the fortunate nor +unfortunate, whereas envy is mitigated in the extreme of either fortune. + +Sec. VII. Let as look at the same again from opposite points of view. Men +put an end to their enmity and hatred, either if persuaded they have not +been wronged, or if they come round to the view that those they hated +are good men and not bad, or thirdly if they receive a kindness. For, as +Thucydides says, the last favour conferred, even though a smaller one, +if it be seasonable, outweighs a greater offence.[766] Yet the +persuasion that they have not been wronged does not put an end to envy, +for people envy although absolutely persuaded that they have not been +wronged; and the two other cases actually increase envy; for people look +with an evil eye even more on those they think good, as having virtue, +which is the greatest blessing; and if they are treated kindly by the +prosperous it grieves them, for they envy both their will and power to +do kindnesses, the former proceeding from their goodness, the latter +from their prosperity, but both being blessings. Thus envy is a passion +altogether different from hatred, seeing that what abates the one pains +and exasperates the other. + +Sec. VIII. Let us now look at the intent of each of these passions. The +intent of the person who hates is to do as much harm as he can, so they +define hatred to be a disposition and intent on the watch for an +opportunity to do harm. But this is altogether foreign to envy.[767] For +those who envy their relations and friends would not wish them to come +to ruin, or fall into calamity, but are only annoyed at their +prosperity; and would hinder, if they could, their glory and renown, but +they would not bring upon them irremediable misfortunes: they are +content to remove, as in the case of a lofty house, what stands in their +light. + + [762] [Greek: allos] MSS. Wyttenbach [Greek: allon]. + Malo [Greek: allois]. + + [763] So Wyttenbach. + + [764] Homer, "Iliad," ii. 220. + + [765] So Wyttenbach. The reading in this passage is very + doubtful. + + [766] Thucydides, i. 42. + + [767] Reading [Greek: apestin holos. Oi gar + phthonountes]. What can be made of [Greek: pollous] + here? + + + + +HOW ONE CAN PRAISE ONESELF WITHOUT +EXCITING ENVY. + + +Sec. I. To speak to other people about one's own importance or ability, +Herculanus, is universally declared to be tiresome and illiberal, but in +fact not many even of those who censure it avoid its unpleasantness. +Thus Euripides, though he says, + + "If words had to be bought by human beings, + No one would wish to trumpet his own praises. + But since one can get words _sans_ any payment + From lofty ether, everyone delights + In speaking truth or falsehood of himself, + For he can do it with impunity;" + +yet uses much tiresome boasting, intermixing with the passion and action +of his plays irrelevant matter about himself. Similarly Pindar says, +that "to boast unseasonably is to play an accompaniment to +madness,"[768] yet he does not cease to talk big about his own merit, +which indeed is well worthy of encomium, who would deny it? But those +who are crowned in the games leave it to others to celebrate their +victories, to avoid the unpleasantness of singing their own praises. So +we are with justice disgusted at Timotheus[769] for trumpeting his own +glory inelegantly and contrary to custom in the inscription for his +victory over Phrynis, "A proud day for you, Timotheus, was it when the +herald cried out, 'The Milesian Timotheus is victorious over the son of +Carbo and his Ionic notes.'" As Xenophon says, "Praise from others is +the pleasantest thing a man can hear,"[770] but to others a man's +self-praise is most nauseous. For first we think those impudent who +praise themselves, since modesty would be becoming even if they were +praised by others; secondly, we think them unjust in giving themselves +what they ought to receive from others; thirdly, if we are silent we +seem to be vexed and to envy them, and if we are afraid of this +imputation, we are obliged to heap praise upon them contrary to our real +opinion, and to bear them out, undertaking a task more befitting gross +flattery than honour. + +Sec. II. And yet, in spite of all this, there are occasions when a +statesman may venture to speak in his own praise, not to cry up his own +glory and merit, but when the time and matter demand that he should +speak the truth about himself, as he would about another; especially +when it is mentioned that another has done good and excellent +things,[771] there is no need for him to suppress the fact that he has +done as well. For such self-praise bears excellent fruit, since much +more and better praise springs from it as from seed. For the statesman +does not ask for reputation as a reward or consolation, nor is he merely +pleased at its attending upon his actions, but he values it because +credit and character give him opportunities to do good on a larger +scale. For it is both easy and pleasant to benefit those who believe in +us and are friendly to us, but it is not easy to act virtuously against +suspicion and calumny, and to force one's benefits on those that reject +them. Let us now consider, if there are any other reasons warranting +self-praise in a statesman, what they are, that, while we avoid vain +glory and disgusting other people, we may not omit any useful kind of +self-praise. + +Sec. III. That is vain glory then when men seem to praise themselves that +they may call forth the laudation of others; and it is especially +despised because it seems to proceed from ambition and an unseasonable +opinion of oneself. For as those who cannot obtain food are forced to +feed on their own flesh against nature, and that is the end of famine, +so those that hunger after praise, if they get no one else to praise +them, disgrace themselves by their anxiety to feed their own vanity. But +when, not merely content with praising themselves, they vie with the +praise of others, and pit their own deeds and actions against theirs, +with the intent of outshining them, they add envy and malignity to their +vanity. The proverb teaches us that to put our foot into another's dance +is meddlesome and ridiculous; we ought equally to be on our guard +against intruding our own panegyric into others' praises out of envy and +spite, nor should we allow others either to praise us then, but we +should make way for those that are being honoured, if they are worthy of +honour, and even if they seem to us undeserving of honour and worthless, +we ought not to strip them of their praise by self-laudation, but by +direct argument and proof that they are not worthy of all these +encomiums. It is plain then that we ought to avoid all such conduct as +this. + +Sec. IV. But self-praise cannot be blamed, if it is an answer to some +charge or calumny, as those words of Pericles, "And yet you are angry +with such a man as me, a man I take it inferior to no one either in +knowledge of what should be done, or in ability to point out the same, +and a lover of my country to boot, and superior to bribes."[772] For not +only did he avoid all swagger and vainglory and ambition in talking thus +loftily about himself, but he also exhibited the spirit and greatness of +his virtue, which could abase and crush envy because it could not be +abased itself. For people will hardly condemn such men, for they are +elevated and cheered and inspired by noble self-laudation such as this, +if it have a true basis, as all history testifies. Thus the Thebans, +when their generals were charged with not returning home, and laying +down their office of Boeotarchs when their time had expired, but instead +of that making inroads into Laconia, and helping Messene, hardly +acquitted Pelopidas, who was submissive and suppliant, but for +Epaminondas,[773] who gloried in what he had done, and at last said that +he was ready to die, if they would confess that he had ravaged Laconia, +and restored Messene, and made Arcadia one state, against the will of +the Thebans, they would not pass sentence upon him, but admired his +heroism, and with rejoicing and smiles set him free. So too we must not +altogether find fault with Sthenelus in Homer saying, + + "We boast ourselves far better than our fathers,"[774] + +when we remember the words of Agamemnon, + + "How now? thou son of brave horse-taming Tydeus, + Why dost thou crouch for fear, and watch far off + The lines of battle? How unlike thy father!"[775] + +For it was not because he was defamed himself, but he stood up for his +friend[776] that was abused, the occasion giving him a reasonable excuse +for self-commendation. So too the Romans were far from pleased at +Cicero's frequently passing encomiums upon himself in the affair of +Catiline, yet when Scipio said they ought not to try him (Scipio), since +he had given them the power to try anybody, they put on garlands, and +accompanied him to the Capitol, and sacrificed with him. For Cicero was +not compelled to praise himself, but only did so for glory, whereas the +danger in which Scipio stood removed envy from him. + +Sec. V. And not only on one's trial and in danger, but also in misfortune, +is tall talk and boasting more suitable than in prosperity. For in +prosperity people seem to clutch as it were at glory and enjoy it, and +so gratify their ambition; but in adversity, being far from ambition +owing to circumstances, such self-commendation seems to be a bearing up +and fortifying the spirit against fortune, and an avoidance altogether +of that desire for pity and condolence, and that humility, which we +often find in adversity. As then we esteem those persons vain and +without sense who in walking hold themselves very erect and with a stiff +neck, yet in boxing or fighting we commend such as hold themselves up +and alert, so the man struggling with adversity, who stands up straight +against his fate, "in fighting posture like some boxer,"[777] and +instead of being humble and abject becomes through his boasting lofty +and dignified, seems to be not offensive and impudent, but great and +invincible. This is why, I suppose, Homer has represented Patroclus +modest and without reproach in prosperity, yet at the moment of death +saying grandiloquently, + + "Had twenty warriors fought me such as thou, + All had succumbed to my victorious spear."[778] + +And Phocion, though in other respects he was gentle, yet after his +sentence exhibited his greatness of soul to many others, and notably to +one of those that were to die with him, who was weeping and wailing, to +whom he said, "What! are you not content to die with Phocion?" + +Sec. VI. Not less, but still more, lawful is it for a public man who is +wronged to speak on his own behalf to those who treat him with +ingratitude. Thus Achilles generally conceded glory to the gods, and +modestly used such language as, + + "If ever Zeus + Shall grant to me to sack Troy's well-built town;"[779] + +but when insulted and outraged contrary to his deserts, he utters in his +rage boastful words, + + "Alighting from my ships twelve towns I sacked,"[780] + +and, + + "For they will never dare to face my helmet + When it gleams near."[781] + +For frank outspokenness, when it is part of one's defence, admits of +boasting. It was in this spirit no doubt that Themistocles, who neither +in word nor deed had given any offence, when he saw the Athenians were +tired of him and treating him with neglect, did not abstain from saying, +"My good sirs, why do you tire of receiving benefits so frequently at +the same hands?" and[782] "When the storm is on you fly to me for +shelter as to a tree, but when fine weather comes again, then you pass +by and strip me of my leaves." + +Sec. VII. They then that are wronged generally mention what they have done +well to those who are ungrateful. And the person who is blamed for what +he has done well is altogether to be pardoned, and not censured, if he +passes encomiums on his own actions: for he is in the position of one +not scolding but making his defence. This it was that made Demosthenes' +freedom of speech splendid, and prevented people being wearied out by +the praise which in all his speech _On the Crown_ he lavished on +himself, pluming himself on those embassies and decrees in connection +with the war with which fault had been found. + +Sec. VIII. Not very unlike this is the grace of antithesis, when a person +shows that the opposite of what he is charged with is base and low. Thus +Lycurgus when he was charged at Athens with having bribed an informer to +silence, replied, "What kind of a citizen do you think me, who, having +had so long time the fingering of your public money, am detected in +giving rather than taking unjustly?" And Cicero, when Metellus told him +that he had destroyed more as a witness than he had got acquitted as an +advocate, answered, "Who denies that my honesty is greater than my +eloquence?" Compare such sayings of Demosthenes as, "Who would not have +been justified in killing me, had I tried in word only to impair the +ancient glory of our city?"[783] And, "What think you these wretches +would have said, if the states had departed, when I was curiously +discussing these points?"[784] And indeed the whole of that speech _On +the Crown_ most ingeniously introduces his own praises in his +antitheses, and answers to the charges brought against him. + +Sec. IX. However it is worth while to notice in his speech that he most +artistically inserts praise of his audience in the remarks about +himself, and so makes his speech less egotistical and less likely to +raise envy. Thus he shows how the Athenians behaved to the Euboeans and +to the Thebans, and what benefits they conferred on the people of +Byzantium and on the Chersonese, claiming for himself only a subordinate +part in the matter. Thus he cunningly insinuates into the audience with +his own praises what they will gladly hear, for they rejoice at the +enumeration of their successes,[785] and their joy is succeeded by +admiration and esteem for the person to whom the success was due. So +also Epaminondas, when Meneclidas once jeered at him as thinking more of +himself than Agamemnon ever did, replied, "It is your fault then, men of +Thebes, by whose help alone I put down the power of the Lacedaemonians in +one day." + +Sec. X. But since most people very much dislike and object to a man's +praising himself, but if he praises some one else are on the contrary +often glad and readily bear him out, some are in the habit of praising +in season those that have the same pursuits business and characters as +themselves, and so conciliate and move the audience in their own favour; +for the audience know at the moment such a one is speaking that, though +he is speaking about another, yet his own similar virtue is worthy of +their praise.[786] For as one who throws in another's teeth things of +which he is guilty himself must know that he upbraids himself most, so +the good in paying honour to the good remind those who know their +character of themselves, so that their hearers cry out at once, "Are not +you such a one yourself?" Thus Alexander honouring Hercules, and +Androcottus again honouring Alexander, got themselves honoured on the +same grounds. Dionysius on the contrary pulling Gelon to pieces, and +calling him the Gelos[787] of Sicily, was not aware that through his +envy he was weakening the importance and dignity of his own authority. + +Sec. XI. These things then a public man must generally know and observe. +But those that are compelled to praise themselves do so less offensively +if they do not ascribe all the honour to themselves, but, being aware +that their glory will be tiresome to others, set it down partly to +fortune, partly to the deity. So Achilles said well, + + "Since the gods granted us to kill this hero."[788] + +Well also did Timoleon, who erected a temple at Syracuse to the goddess +of Fortune after his success, and dedicated his house to the Good +Genius. Excellently again did Pytho of AEnos, (when he came to Athens +after killing Cotys, and when the demagogues vied with one another in +praising him to the people, and he observed that some were jealous and +displeased,) in coming forward and saying, "Men of Athens, this is the +doing of one of the gods, I only put my hands to the work." Sulla also +forestalled envy by ever praising fortune, and eventually he proclaimed +himself as under the protection of Aphrodite.[789] For men would rather +ascribe their defeat to fortune than the enemy's valour, for in the +former case they consider it an accident, whereas in the latter case +they would have to blame themselves and set it down to their own +shortcomings. So they say the legislation of Zaleucus pleased the +Locrians not least, because he said that Athene visited him from time to +time, and suggested to him and taught him his laws, and that none of +those he promulgated were his own idea and plan. + +Sec. XII. Perhaps this kind of remedy by talking people over must be +contrived for those who are altogether crabbed or envious; but for +people of moderation it is not amiss to qualify excessive praise. Thus +if anyone should praise you as learned, or rich, or influential, it +would be well to bid him not talk about you in that strain, but say that +you were good and harmless and useful. For the person that acts so does +not introduce his own praise but transfers it, nor does he seem to +rejoice in people passing encomiums upon him, but rather to be vexed at +their praising him inappropriately and on wrong grounds, and he seems to +hide bad traits by better ones, not wishing to be praised, but showing +how he ought to be praised. Such seems the intent of such words as the +following, "I have not fortified the city with stones or bricks, but if +you wish to see how I have fortified it, you will find arms and horses +and allies."[790] Still more in point are the last words of Pericles. +For as he was dying, and his friends very naturally were weeping and +wailing, and reminded him of his military services and his power, and +the trophies and victories and towns he had won for Athens, and was +leaving as a legacy, he raised himself up a little and blamed them as +praising him for things common to many, and some of them the results of +fortune rather than merit, while they had passed over the best and +greatest of his deeds and one peculiarly his own, that he had never been +the cause of any Athenian's wearing mourning. This gives the orator an +example, if he be a good man, when praised for his eloquence, to +transfer the praise to his life and character, and the general who is +admired for his skill and good fortune in war to speak with confidence +about his gentleness and uprightness. And again, if any very extravagant +praise is uttered, such as many people use in flattery which provokes +envy, one can reply, + + "I am no god; why do you liken me + To the immortals?"[791] + +If you really know me, praise my integrity, or my sobriety, or my +kindheartedness, or my philanthropy. For even envy is not reluctant to +give moderate praise to one that deprecates excessive praise, and true +panegyric is not lost by people refusing to accept idle and false +praise. So those kings who would not be called gods or the sons of gods, +but only fond of their brothers or mother, or benefactors,[792] or dear +to the gods, did not excite the envy of those that honoured them by +those titles, that were noble but still such as men might claim. Again, +people dislike those writers or speakers who entitle themselves wise, +but they welcome those who content themselves with saying that they are +lovers of philosophy, and have made some progress, or use some such +moderate language about themselves as that, which does not excite envy. +But rhetorical sophists, who expect to hear "Divine, wonderful, grand," +at their declamations, are not even welcomed with "Pretty fair, so so." + +Sec. XIII. Moreover, as people anxious not to injure those who have weak +eyes, draw a shade over too much light, so some people make their praise +of themselves less glaring and absolute, by pointing out some of their +small defects, or miscarriages, or errors, and so remove all risk of +making people offended or envious. Thus Epeus, who boasts very much of +his skill in boxing, and says very confidently, + + "I can your body crush, and break your bones,"[793] + +yet says, + + "Is't not enough that I'm in fight deficient?"[794] + +But Epeus is perhaps a ridiculous instance, excusing his bragging as an +athlete by his confession of timidity and want of manliness. But +agreeable and graceful is that man who mentions his own forgetfulness, +or ignorance, or ambition, or eager desire for knowledge and +conversation. Thus Odysseus of the Sirens, + + "My heart to listen to them did incline, + I bade my comrades by a nod to unloose me."[795] + +And again of the Cyclops, + + "I did not hearken (it had been far better), + I wished to see the Cyclops, and to taste + His hospitality."[796] + +And generally speaking the admixture with praise of such faults as are +not altogether base and ignoble stops envy. Thus many have blunted the +point of envy by admitting and introducing, when they have been praised, +their past poverty and straits, aye, and their low origin. So Agathocles +pledging his young men in golden cups beautifully chased, ordered some +earthenware pots to be brought in, and said, "See the fruits of +perseverance, labour, and bravery! Once I produced pots like these, but +now golden cups." For Agathocles it seems was so low-born and poor that +he was brought up in a potter's shop, though afterwards he was king of +almost all Sicily. + +Sec. XIV. These are external remedies against self-praise. There are other +internal ones as it were, such as Cato applied, when he said "he was +envied, because he had to neglect his own affairs, and lie awake every +night for the interests of his country." Compare also the following +lines, + + "How should I boast? who could with ease have been + Enrolled among the many in the army, + And had a fortune equal to the wisest;"[797] + +and, + + "I shrink from squandering past labours' grace, + Nor do I now reject all present toil."[797] + +For as it is with house and farm, so also is it with glory and +reputation, people for the most part envy those who have got them easily +or for nothing, not those who have bought them at the cost of much toil +and danger. + +Sec. XV. Since then we can praise ourselves not only without causing pain +or envy but even usefully and advantageously, let us consider, that we +may not seem to have only that end in view but some other also, if we +might praise ourselves to excite in our hearers emulation and ambition. +For Nestor, by reciting his battles and acts of prowess, stirred up +Patroclus and nine others to single combat with Hector. For the +exhortation that adds deed to word and example and proper emulation is +animating and moving and stimulating, and with its impulse and +resolution inspires hope that the things we aim at are attainable and +not impossible. That is why in the choruses at Lacedaemon the old men +sing, + + "We once were young and vigorous and strong," + +and then the boys, + + "We shall be stronger far than now we are," + +and then the youths, + + "We now are strong, look at us if you like." + +In this wise and statesmanlike manner did the legislator exhibit to the +young men the nearest and dearest examples of what they should do in the +persons of those who had done so. + +Sec. XVI. Moreover it is not amiss sometimes, to awe and repress and take +down and tame the impudent and bold, to boast and talk a little big +about oneself. As Nestor did, to mention him again, + + "For I have mixed ere now with better men + Than both of you, and ne'er did they despise me."[798] + +So also Aristotle told Alexander that not only had they that were rulers +over many subjects a right to think highly of themselves, but also those +that had right views about the gods. Useful too against our enemies and +foes is the following line, + + "Ill-starred are they whose sons encounter me."[799] + +Compare also the remark of Agesilaus about the king of the Persians, who +was called great, "How is he greater than me, if he is not also more +upright?" And that also of Epaminondas to the Lacedaemonians who were +inveighing against the Thebans, "Anyhow we have made you talk at greater +length than usual." But these kind of remarks are fitting for enemies +and foes; but our boasting is also good on occasion for friends and +fellow-citizens, not only to abate their pride and make them more +humble, but also when they are in fear and dejection to raise them up +again and give them confidence. Thus Cyrus talked big in perils and on +battle-fields, though at other times he was no boaster. And the second +Antigonus, though he was on all other occasions modest and far from +vanity, yet in the sea-fight off Cos, when one of his friends said to +him, "See you not how many more ships the enemy have got than we have?" +answered, "How many do you make me equal to then?" This Homer also seems +to have noticed. For he has represented Odysseus, when his comrades were +dreadfully afraid of the noise and whirlpool of Charybdis, reminding +them of his former cleverness and valour; + + "We are in no worse plight than when the Cyclops + By force detained us in his hollow cave; + But even then, thanks to my valour, judgement, + And sense, we did escape."[800] + +For such is not the self-praise of a demagogue or sophist, or of one +that asks for clapping or applause, but of one who makes his valour and +experience a pledge of confidence to his friends. For in critical +conjunctures the reputation and credit of one who has experience and +capacity in command plays a great part in insuring safety. + +Sec. XVII. As I have said before, to pit oneself against another's praise +and reputation is by no means fitting for a public man: however, in +important matters, where mistaken praise is injurious and detrimental, +it is not amiss to confute it, or rather to divert the hearer to what is +better by showing him the difference between true and false merit. +Anyone would be glad, I suppose, when vice was abused and censured, to +see most people voluntarily keep aloof from it; but if vice should be +well thought of, and honour and reputation come to the person who +promoted its pleasures or desires, no nature is so well constituted or +strong that it would not be mastered by it. So the public man must +oppose the praise not of men but of bad actions, for such praise is +corrupting, and causes people to imitate and emulate what is base as if +it were noble. But it is best refuted by putting it side by side with +the truth: as Theodorus the tragic actor is reported to have said once +to Satyrus the comic actor, "It is not so wonderful to make an audience +laugh as to make them weep and cry." But what if some philosopher had +answered him, "To make an audience weep and cry is not so noble a thing +as to make them forget their sorrows." This kind of self-laudation +benefits the hearer, and changes his opinion. Compare the remark of Zeno +in reference to the number of Theophrastus' scholars, "His is a larger +body, but mine are better taught." And Phocion, when Leosthenes was +still in prosperity, being asked by the orators what benefit he had +conferred on the city, replied, "Only this, that during my period of +office there has been no funeral oration, but all the dead have been +buried in their fathers' sepulchres." Wittily also did Crates parody the +lines, + + "Eating and wantonness and love's delights + Are all I value," + +with + + "Learning and those grand things the Muses teach one + Are all I value." + +Such self-praise is good and useful and teaches people to admire and +love what is valuable and expedient instead of what is vain and +superfluous. Let so much suffice on the question proposed. + +Sec. XVIII. It remains to me now to point out, what our subject next +demands and calls for, how everyone may avoid unseasonable self-praise. +For there is a wonderful incentive to talking about oneself in +self-love, which is frequently strongly implanted in those who seem to +have only moderate aspirations for fame. For as it is one of the rules +to preserve good health to avoid altogether places where sickness is, or +to exercise the greatest precaution if one must go there, so talking +about oneself has its slippery times and places that draw it on on any +pretext. For first, when others are praised, as I said before, ambition +makes people talk about themselves, and a certain desire and impulse for +fame which is hard to check bites and tickles that ambition, especially +if the other person is praised for the same things or less important +things than the hearer thinks he is a proficient in. For as hungry +people have their appetite more inflamed and sharpened by seeing others +eat, so the praise of one's neighbours makes those who eagerly desire +fame to blaze out into jealousy. + +Sec. XIX. In the second place the narration of things done successfully and +to people's mind entices many unawares to boasting and bragging in their +joy; for falling into conversation about their victories, or success in +state affairs, or their words or deeds commended by great men, they +cannot keep themselves within bounds. With this kind of self-laudation +you may see that soldiers and sailors are most taken. To be in this +state of mind also frequently happens to those who have returned from +important posts and responsible duties, for in their mention of +illustrious men and men of royal rank they insert the encomiums they +have passed on themselves, and do not so much think they are praising +themselves as merely repeating the praises of others about themselves. +Others think their hearers do not detect them at all of self-praise, +when they recount the greeting and welcome and kindness they have +received from kings and emperors, but only imagine them to be +enumerating the courtesy and kindliness of those great personages. So we +must be very much on our guard in praising others to free ourselves from +all suspicion of self-love and self-recommendation, and not to seem to +be really praising ourselves "under pretext of Patroclus."[801] + +Sec. XX. Moreover that kind of conversation that mainly consists of +censuring and running down others is dangerous as giving opportunity for +self-laudation to those who pine for fame. A fault into which old men +especially fall, when they are led to scold others and censure their bad +ways and faulty actions, and so extol themselves as being remarkably the +opposite. In old men we must allow all this, especially if to age they +add reputation and merit, for such fault-finding is not without use, and +inspires those who are rebuked with both emulation and love of +honour.[802] But all other persons must especially avoid and fear that +roundabout kind of self-praise. For since generally speaking censuring +one's neighbours is disagreeable and barely tolerable and requires great +wariness, he that mixes up his own praise with blame of another, and +hunts for fame by defaming another, is altogether tiresome and inspires +disgust, for he seems to wish to get credit through trying to prove +others unworthy of credit. + +Sec. XXI. Furthermore, as those that are naturally prone and inclined to +laughter must be especially on their guard against tickling and +touching, such as excites that propensity by contact with the smoothest +parts of the body, so those that have a great passion for reputation +ought to be especially advised to abstain from praising themselves when +they are praised by others. For a person ought to blush when praised, +and not to be past blushing from impudence, and ought to check those who +extol him too highly, and not to rebuke them for praising him too +little; though very many people do so, themselves prompting and +reminding their praisers of others of their own acts and virtues, till +by their own praise they spoil the effect of the praise that others give +them. For some tickle and puff themselves up by self-praise, while +others, malignantly holding out the small bait of eulogy, provoke others +to talk about themselves, while others again ask questions and put +inquiries, as was done to the soldier in Menander, merely to poke fun at +him; + + "'How did you get this wound?' 'Sir, by a javelin.' + 'How in the name of Heaven?' 'I was on + A scaling ladder fastened to a wall.' + I show my wound to them in serious earnest, + But they for their part only mock at me." + +Sec. XXII. As regards all these points then we must be on our guard as much +as possible not to launch out into praise of ourselves, or yield to it +in consequence of questions put to us to draw us. And the best caution +and security against this is to pay attention to others who praise +themselves, and to consider how disagreeable and objectionable the +practice is to everybody, and that no other conversation is so offensive +and tiring. For though we cannot say that we suffer any other evil at +the hands of those who praise themselves, yet being naturally bored by +the practice, and avoiding it, we are anxious to get rid of them and +breathe again; insomuch that even the flatterer and parasite and needy +person in his distress finds the rich man or satrap or king praising +himself hard to bear and wellnigh intolerable; and they say that having +to listen to all this is paying a very large shot to their +entertainment, like the fellow in Menander; + + "To hear their foolish[803] saws, and soldier talk, + Such as this cursed braggart bellows forth, + Kills me; I get lean even at their feasts." + +For as we may use this language not only about soldiers or men who have +newly become rich,[804] who spin us a long yarn of their great and grand +doings, being puffed up with pride and talking big about themselves; if +we remember that the censure of others always follows our self-praise, +and that the end of this vain-glory is a bad repute, and that, as +Demosthenes says,[805] the result will be that we shall only tire our +hearers, and not be thought what we profess ourselves to be, we shall +cease talking about ourselves, unless by so doing we can bestow great +benefit on ourselves or our hearers. + + [768] Pindar, "Olymp." ix. 57, 58. + + [769] Mentioned by Pausanias, iii. 12; viii. 50. + + [770] "Memorabilia," ii. l. 31. + + [771] Reading as Wyttenbach suggests, [Greek: malista de + hotan legetai ta allo pepragmena] _sq._ + + [772] Thucydides, ii. 60. + + [773] See Pausanias, ix. 14, 15. + + [774] Homer, "Iliad," iv. 405. + + [775] Homer, "Iliad," iv. 370, 371. + + [776] Diomede. + + [777] Sophocles, "Trachiniae," 442. + + [778] Homer, "Iliad," xvi. 847, 848. Plutarch only + quotes the first line. I have added the second for the + English reader, as necessary for the sense. + + [779] Homer, "Iliad," i. 128, 129. + + [780] "Iliad," ix. 328. + + [781] "Iliad," xvi. 70, 71. [782] So Wyttenbach. + + [783] Demosthenes, "De Corona," p. 260. + + [784] "De Corona," p. 307. + + [785] After Wyttenbach. + + [786] After Wyttenbach. + + [787] That is, laughing-stock. A play on the word Gelon. + + [788] Homer, "Iliad," xxii. 379. He speaks of Hector. + + [789] Others take it "as fortune's favourite." + + [790] Words of Demosthenes, "De Corona," p. 325. + Plutarch condenses them. + + [791] Homer, "Odyssey," xvi. 187. + + [792] Titles of the Ptolemies, Philadelphus Philometor, + Euergetes. + + [793] Homer, "Iliad," xxiii. 673. + + [794] Ibid. 670. + + [795] Homer, "Odyssey," xii. 192-194. + + [796] Ibid. ix. 228, 229. + + [797] Fragments from the "Philoctetes" of Euripides. + + [798] Homer, "Iliad," i. 260, 261. + + [799] Homer, "Iliad," vi. 127. + + [800] Homer, "Odyssey," xii. 209-212. + + [801] An allusion to Homer, "Iliad," xix. 302. + + [802] Adopting the reading of Duebner. + + [803] Adopting the reading of Salmasius. + + [804] _Nouveaux riches, novi homines_. + + [805] Demosthenes, "De Corona," p. 270. + + + + +ON THOSE WHO ARE PUNISHED BY THE +DEITY LATE. + +_A discussion between Patrocleas, Plutarch, Timon, and +Olympicus._ + + +Sec. I. When Epicurus had made these remarks, Quintus, and before any of us +who were at the end of the porch[806] could reply, he went off abruptly. +And we, marvelling somewhat at his rudeness, stood still silently but +looked at one another, and then turned and pursued our walk as before. +And Patrocleas was the first to speak. "Are we," said he, "to leave the +question unanswered, or are we to reply to his argument in his absence +as if he were present?" Then said Timon, "Because he went off the moment +he had thrown his missile at us, it would not be good surely to leave it +sticking in us; for we are told that Brasidas plucked the javelin that +had been thrown at him out of his body, and with it killed the hurler of +it; but there is of course no need for us to avenge ourselves so on +those that have launched on us an absurd or false argument, it will be +enough to dislodge the notion before it gets fixed in us." Then said I, +"Which of his words has moved you most? For the fellow seemed to rampage +about, in his anger and abusive language, with a long disconnected and +rambling rhapsody drawn from all sources, and at the same time inveighed +against Providence." + +Sec. II. Then said Patrocleas, "The slowness and delay of the deity in +punishing the wicked used to seem[807] to me a very dreadful thing, but +now in consequence of his speech I come as it were new and fresh to the +notion. Yet long ago I was vexed when I heard that line of Euripides, + + "He does delay, such is the Deity + In nature."[808] + +For indeed it is not fitting that the deity should be slow in anything, +and least of all in the punishment of the wicked, seeing that they are +not slow or sluggish in doing evil, but are hurried by their passions +into crime at headlong speed. Moreover, as Thucydides[809] says, when +punishment follows as closely as possible upon wrong-doing, it blocks up +the road at once for those who would follow up their villainy if it were +successful. For no debt so much as that of justice paid behind time +damps the hopes and dejects the mind of the wronged person, and +aggravates the audacity and daring of the wrong-doer; whereas the +punishment that follows crime immediately not only checks future +outbreaks but is also the greatest possible comfort to the injured. And +so I am often troubled when I consider that remark of Bias, who told, it +seems, a bad man that he was not afraid that he would escape punishment, +but that he would not live to see it. For how did the Messenians who +were killed long before derive any benefit from the punishment of +Aristocrates? For he had been guilty of treason at the battle of _The +Great Trench_, but had reigned over the Arcadians for more than twenty +years without being found out, but afterwards was detected and paid the +penalty, but they were no longer alive.[810] Or what consolation was +brought to the people of Orchomenus, who lost their sons and friends and +relatives in consequence of the treason of Lyciscus, by the disease +which settled upon him long afterwards and spread all over his body? For +he used to go and dip and soak his feet in the river, and uttered +imprecations and prayed that they might rot off if he was guilty of +treason or crime. Nor was it permitted to the children's children of +those that were slain to see at Athens the tearing out of their graves +the bodies of those atrocious criminals that had killed them, and the +carrying them beyond their borders. And so it seems strange in Euripides +using the following argument to deter people from vice: + + "Fear not, for vengeance will not strike at once + Your heart, or that of any guilty wretch, + But silently and with slow foot it moves,[811] + And when their time's come will the wicked reach." + +This is no doubt the very reason why the wicked incite and cheer +themselves on to commit lawless acts, for crime shows them a fruit +visible and ripe at once, but a punishment late, and long subsequent to +the enjoyment." + +Sec. III. When Patrocleas had said thus much, Olympicus interfered, "There +is another consideration, Patrocleas, the great absurdity involved in +these delays and long-suffering of the deity. For the slowness of +punishment takes away belief in providence, and the wicked, observing +that no evil follows each crime except long afterwards, attribute it +when it comes to mischance, and look upon it in the light more of +accident than punishment, and so receive no benefit from it, being +grieved indeed when the misfortune comes, but feeling no remorse for +what they have done amiss. For, as in the case of a horse, the whipping +or spurring that immediately follows upon a stumble or some other fault +is a corrective and brings him to his duty, but pulling and backing him +with the bit and shouting at him long afterwards seems to come from some +other motive than a desire to teach him, for he is put to pain without +being shown his fault; so the vice which each time it stumbles or +offends is at once punished and checked by correction is most +likely[812] to come to itself and be humble and stand in awe of the +deity, as one that beholds men's acts and passions and does not punish +behind time; whereas that justice that, according to Euripides, "steals +on silently and with slow foot," and falls upon the wicked some time or +other, seems to resemble more chance than providence by reason, of its +uncertainty, delay, and irregularity. So that I do not see what benefit +there is in those mills of the gods that are said to grind late,[813] +since they obscure the punishment, and obliterate the fear, of +evil-doing." + +Sec. IV. When Olympicus had done speaking, and I was musing with myself on +the matter, Timon said, "Am I to put the finishing touch of difficulty +on our subject, or am I to let him first contend earnestly against these +views?" Then said I, "Why should we bring up the third wave[814] and +drown the argument, if he is not able to refute or evade the charges +already brought? To begin then with the domestic hearth, as the saying +is,[815] let us imitate that cautious manner of speaking about the deity +in vogue among the Academic philosophers, and decline to speak about +these things as if we thoroughly understood them. For it is worse in us +mortals than for people ignorant of music to discuss music, or for +people ignorant of military matters to discuss the art of war, to +examine too closely into the nature of the gods and demons, like people +with no knowledge of art trying to get at the intention of artists from +opinion and fancy and probabilities. For if[816] it is no easy matter +for anyone not a professional to conjecture why the surgeon performed an +operation later rather than sooner, or why he ordered his patient to +take a bath to-day rather than yesterday, how is it easy or safe for a +mortal to say anything else about the deity than that he knows best the +time to cure vice, and applies to each his punishment as the doctor +administers a drug, and that a punishment not of the same magnitude, or +applied at the same time, in all cases. For that the cure of the soul, +which is called justice, is the greatest of all arts is testified by +Pindar as well as by ten thousand others, for he calls God, the ruler +and lord of all things, the greatest artificer as the creator of +justice, whose function it is to determine when, and how, and how far, +each bad man is to be punished. And Plato says that Minos, the son of +Zeus, was his father's pupil in this art, not thinking it possible that +any one could succeed in justice, or understand how to succeed in it, +without he had learned or somehow got that science. For the laws which +men make are not always merely reasonable, nor is their meaning always +apparent, but some injunctions seem quite ridiculous, for example, the +Ephors at Lacedaemon make proclamation, directly they take office, that +no one is to let his moustache grow, but that all are to obey the laws, +that they be not grievous to them. And the Romans lay a light rod on the +bodies of those they make freemen, and when they make their wills, they +nominate some as their heirs, while to others they sell the property, +which, seems strange. But strangest of all is that ordinance of Solon, +that the citizen who, when his city is in faction, will not side with +either party is to lose his civic rights. And generally one might +mention many absurdities in laws, if one did not know the mind of the +legislator, or understand the reason for each particular piece of +legislation. How is it wonderful then, if human affairs are so difficult +to comprehend, that it is no easy task to say in connection with the +gods, why they punish some offenders early, and others late? + +Sec. V. This is not a pretext for evading the subject, but merely a request +for lenient judgement, that our discourse, looking as it were for a +haven and place of refuge, may rise to the difficulty with greater +confidence basing itself on probability. Consider then first that, +according to Plato, god, making himself openly a pattern of all things +good, concedes human virtue, which is in some sort a resemblance to +himself, to those who are able to follow him. For all nature, being in +disorder, got the principle of change and became order[817] by a +resemblance to and participation in the nature and virtue of the deity. +The same Plato also tells us that nature put eyesight into us, in order +that the soul by beholding and admiring the heavenly bodies might +accustom itself to welcome and love harmony and order, and might hate +disorderly and roving propensities, and avoid aimless reliance on +chance, as the parent of all vice and error. For man can enjoy no +greater blessing from god than to attain to virtue by the earnest +imitation of the noblest qualities of the divine nature. And so he +punishes the wicked leisurely and long after, not being afraid of error +or after repentance through punishing too hastily, but to take away from +us that eager and brutish thirst for revenge, and to teach us that we +are not to retaliate on those that have offended us in anger, and when +the soul is most inflamed and distorted with passion and almost beside +itself for rage, like people satisfying fierce thirst or hunger, but to +imitate the mildness and long-suffering of the deity, and to avenge +ourselves in an orderly and decent manner, only when we have taken +counsel with time long enough to give us the least possible likelihood +of after repentance. For it is a smaller evil, as Socrates said, to +drink dirty water when excessively thirsty, than, when one's mind is +disturbed and full of rage and fury, before it is settled and becomes +pure, to glut our revenge on the person of a relation and kinsman. For +it is not the punishment that follows as closely as possible upon +wrong-doing, as Thucydides said,[818] but that which is more remote, +that observes decorum. For as Melanthius says of anger, + + "Fell things it does when it the mind unsettles,"[819] + +so also reason acts with justice and moderation, when it banishes rage +and passion. So also people are made milder by the example of other men, +as when they hear that Plato, when he held his stick over his slave to +correct him, waited some time, as he himself has told us, to compose his +anger; and that Archytas, having learned of some wrong or disorderly +action on the part of some of his farm labourers, knowing that at the +time he was in a very great rage and highly incensed at them, did +nothing to them, but merely departed, saying, "You may thank your stars +that I am in a rage with you." If then the remembrance of the words and +recorded acts of men abates the fierceness and intensity of our rage, +much more likely is it that we (observing that the deity, though without +either fear or repentance in any case, yet puts off his punishments and +defers them for some time) shall be reserved in our views about such +matters, and shall think that mildness and long-suffering which the god +exhibits a divine part of virtue, reforming a few by speedy punishment, +but benefiting and correcting many by a tardy one. + +Sec. VI. Let us consider in the second place that punishments inflicted by +men for offences regard only retaliation, and, when the offender is +punished, stop and go no further; so that they seem to follow offences +yelping at them like a dog, and closely pursuing at their heels as it +were. But it is likely that the deity would look at the state of any +guilty soul that he intended to punish, if haply it might turn and +repent, and would give[820] time for reformation to all whose vice was +not absolute and incurable. For knowing how great a share of virtue +souls come into the world with, deriving it from him, and how strong and +lasting is their nobility of nature, and how it breaks out into vice +against its natural disposition through the corruption of bad habits and +companions, and afterwards in some cases reforms itself, and recovers +its proper position, he does not inflict punishment on all persons +alike; but the incorrigible he at once removes from life and cuts off, +since it is altogether injurious to others, but most of all to a man's +own self, to live in perpetual vice, whereas to those who seem to have +fallen into wrong-doing, rather from ignorance of what was good than +from deliberate choice of what was bad, he gives time to repent. But if +they persist in vice he punishes them too, for he has no fear that they +will escape him. Consider also how many changes take place in the life +and character of men, so that the Greeks give the names [Greek: tropos] +and [Greek: ethos] to the character, the first word meaning _change_, +and the latter the immense force and power of _habit_. I think also that +the ancients called Cecrops half man and half dragon[821] not because, +as some say, he became from a good king wild and dragon-like, but +contrariwise because he was originally perverse and terrible, and +afterwards became a mild and humane king. And if this is uncertain, at +any rate we know that Gelon and Hiero, both Sicilians, and Pisistratus +the son of Hippocrates, though they got their supreme power by bad +means, yet used it for virtuous ends, and though they mounted the throne +in an irregular way, yet became good and useful princes. For by good +legislation and by encouraging agriculture they made the citizens +earnest and industrious instead of scoffers and chatterers. As for +Gelon, after fighting valiantly and defeating the Carthaginians in a +great battle, he would not conclude with them the peace they asked for +until they inserted an article promising to cease sacrificing their sons +to Cronos. And Lydiades was tyrant in Megalopolis, yet in the very +height of his power changing his ideas and being disgusted with +injustice, he restored their old constitution to the citizens,[822] and +fell gloriously, fighting against the enemy in behalf of his country. +And if any one had slain prematurely Miltiades the tyrant of the +Chersonese, or had prosecuted and got a conviction against Cimon for +incest with his sister, or had deprived Athens of Themistocles for his +wantonness and revellings and outrages in the market, as in later days +Athens lost Alcibiades, by an indictment, should we not have had to go +without the glory of Marathon, and Eurymedon, and beautiful Artemisium, +"where the Athenian youth laid the bright base of liberty?"[823] For +great natures produce nothing little, nor can their energy and activity +rust owing to their keen intellect, but they toss to and fro as at sea +till they come to a settled and durable character. As then one +inexperienced in farming, seeing a spot full of thick bushes and rank +growth, full of wild beasts and streams and mud, would not think much of +it, while to one who has learnt how to discriminate and discern between +different kind of soils all these are various tokens of the richness and +goodness of the land, so great natures break out into many strange +excesses, which exasperate us at first beyond bearing, so that we think +it right to cut off such offenders and stop their career at once, +whereas a better judge, seeing the good and noble even in these, waits +for age and the season which nature appoints for gathering fruit to +bring sense and virtue. + +Sec. VII. So much for this point. Do you not think also that some of the +Greeks did well to adopt that Egyptian law which orders a pregnant woman +condemned to death not to suffer the penalty till after she has given +birth?" "Certainly," said all the company. I continued, "Put the case +not of a woman pregnant, but of a man who can in process of time bring +to light and reveal some secret act or plan, point out some unknown +evil, or devise some scheme of safety, or invent something useful and +necessary, would it not be better to defer his execution, and wait the +result of his meditation? That is my opinion, at least." "So we all +think," said Patrocleas. "Quite right," said I. "For do but consider, +had Dionysius had vengeance taken on him at the beginning of his +tyranny, none of the Greeks would have dwelt in Sicily, which was laid +waste by the Carthaginians. Nor would the Greeks have dwelt in +Apollonia, or Anactorium, or the peninsula of the Leucadians, had not +Periander's chastisement been postponed for a long time. I think also +that Cassander's punishment was deferred that Thebes might be repeopled. +And of the mercenaries that plundered this very temple most crossed over +into Sicily with Timoleon, and after they had conquered the +Carthaginians and put down their authority, perished miserably, +miserable wretches that they were. For no doubt the deity makes use of +some wicked men, as executioners, to punish others, and so I think he +crushes as it were most tyrants. For as the gall of the hyena and rennet +of the seal, both nasty beasts in all other respects, are useful in +certain diseases, so when some need sharp correction, the deity casts +upon them the implacable fury of some tyrant, or the savage ferocity of +some prince, and does not remove the bane and trouble till their fault +be got rid of and purged. Such a potion was Phalaris to the +Agrigentines, and Marius to the Romans. And to the people of Sicyon the +god distinctly foretold that their city needed a scourge, when they took +away from the Cleonaeans (as if he was a Sicyonian) the lad Teletias, who +was crowned in the Pythian games, and tore him to pieces. As for the +Sicyonians, Orthagoras became their tyrant, and subsequently Myro and +Clisthenes, and these three checked their wanton outbreaks; but the +Cleonaeans, not getting such a cure, went to ruin. You have of course +heard Homer's lines, + + "'From a bad father sprang a son far better, + Excelling in all virtue;'[824] + +"and yet that son of Copreus never performed any brilliant or notable +action: but the descendants of Sisyphus and Autolycus and Phlegyas +nourished in the glory and virtues of great kings. Pericles also sprang +of a family under a curse,[825] and Pompey the Great at Rome was the son +of Pompeius Strabo, whose dead body the Roman people cast out and +trampled upon, so great was their hatred of him. How is it strange then, +since the farmer does not cut down the thorn till he has taken his +asparagus, nor do the Libyans burn the twigs till they have gathered the +ledanum, that god does not exterminate the wicked and rugged root of an +illustrious and royal race till it has produced its fit fruit? For it +would have been better for the Phocians to have lost ten thousand of the +oxen and horses of Iphitus, and for more gold and silver to have gone +from Delphi, than that Odysseus and AEsculapius should not have been +born, nor those others who from bad and wicked men became good and +useful." + +Sec. VIII. "And do you not all think that it is better that punishment +should take place at the fitting time and in the fitting manner rather +than quickly and on the spur of the moment? Consider the case of +Callippus, who with the very dagger with which he slew Dion, pretending +to be his friend, was afterwards slain by his own friends. And when +Mitius the Argive was killed in a tumult, a brazen statue in the +market-place fell on his murderer and killed him during the public +games. And of course, Patrocleas, you know all about Bessus the Paeonian, +and about Aristo the Oetaean leader of mercenaries." "Not I, by Zeus," +said Patrocleas, "but I should like to hear." "Aristo," I continued, "at +the permission of the tyrants removed the necklace of Eriphyle[826] +which was hung up in this temple, and took it to his wife as a present; +but his son being angry with his mother for some reason or other, set +the house on fire, and burnt all that were in it. As for Bessus, it +seems he had killed his father, though his crime was long undiscovered. +But at last going to sup with some strangers, he knocked down a nest of +swallows, pricking it with his lance, and killed all the young swallows. +And when the company said, as it was likely they would, 'Whatever makes +you act in such a strange manner?' 'Have they not,' he replied, 'been +long bearing false witness against me, crying out that I had killed my +father?' And the company, astonished at his answer, laid the matter +before the king, and the affair was inquired into, and Bessus punished." + +Sec. IX. "These cases," I continued, "we cite supposing, as has been laid +down, that there is a deferring of punishment to the wicked; and, for +the rest, I think we ought to listen to Hesiod, who tells us--not like +Plato, who asserts that punishment is a condition that follows +crime--that it is contemporaneous with it, and grows with it from the +same source and root. For Hesiod says, + + "Evil advice is worst to the adviser;"[827] + +and, + + "He who plots mischief 'gainst another brings + It first on his own pate."[828] + +The cantharis is said to have in itself the antidote to its own sting, +but wickedness, creating its own pain and torment, pays the penalty of +its misdeeds not afterwards but at the time of its ill-doing. And as +every malefactor about to pay the penalty of his crime in his person +bears his cross, so vice fabricates for itself each of its own torments, +being the terrible author of its own misery in life, wherein in addition +to shame it has frequent fears and fierce passions and endless remorse +and anxiety. But some are just like children, who, seeing malefactors in +the theatres in golden tunics and purple robes with crowns on and +dancing, admire them and marvel at them, thinking them happy, till they +see them goaded and lashed and issuing fire from their gaudy but cheap +garments.[829] For most wicked people, though they have great households +and conspicuous offices and great power, are yet being secretly punished +before they are seen to be murdered or hurled down rocks, which is +rather the climax and end of their punishment than the punishment +itself. For as Plato tells us that Herodicus the Selymbrian having +fallen into consumption, an incurable disease, was the first of mankind +to mix exercise with the art of healing, and so prolonged his own life +and that of others suffering from the same disease, so those wicked +persons who seem to avoid immediate punishment, receive a longer and not +slower punishment, not later but extending over a wider period; for they +are not punished in their old age, but rather grow old in perpetual +punishment. I speak of course of long time as a human being, for to the +gods all the period of man's life is as nothing, and so to them 'now and +not thirty years ago' means no more than with us torturing or hanging a +malefactor in the evening instead of the morning would mean; especially +as man is shut up in life as in a prison from which there is no egress +or escape, and though doubtless during his life he has much feasting and +business and gifts and favours and amusement, yet, just like people +playing at dice or draughts in a prison, the rope is all the time +hanging over his head."[830] + +Sec. X. "And indeed what prevents our asserting that people in prison under +sentence of death are not punished till their heads are cut off, or that +the person who has taken hemlock, and walks about till he feels it is +getting into his legs, suffers not at all till he is deprived of +sensation by the freezing and curdling of his blood, if we consider the +last moment of punishment all the punishment, and ignore all the +intermediate sufferings and fears and anxiety and remorse, the destiny +of every guilty wretch? That would be arguing that the fish that has +swallowed the hook is not caught, till we see it boiled by the cook or +sliced at table. For every wrong-doer is liable to punishment, and soon +swallows the pleasantness of his wrong-doing like a bait, while his +conscience still vexes and troubles him, + + "As through the sea the impetuous tunny darts." + +For the recklessness and audacity of vice is strong and rampant till the +crime is committed, but afterwards, when the passion subsides like a +storm, it becomes timid and dejected and a prey to fears and +superstitions. So that Stesichorus in his account of Clytaemnestra's +dream may have represented the facts and real state of the case, where +he says, "A dragon seemed to appear to her with its lofty head smeared +all over with blood, and out of it seemed to come king Orestes the +grandson of Plisthenes." For visions in dreams, and apparitions during +the day, and oracles, and lightning, and whatever is thought to come +from the deity, bring tempests of apprehension to the guilty. So they +say that one time Apollodorus in a dream saw himself flayed by the +Scythians, and then boiled, and that his heart out of the caldron spoke +to him in a low voice and said, "I am the cause of this;" and at another +time he dreamed that he saw his daughters running round him in a circle +all on fire and in flames. And Hipparchus the son of Pisistratus, a +little before his death, dreamt that Aphrodite threw some blood on his +face out of a certain phial. And the friends of Ptolemy Ceraunus dreamed +that he was summoned for trial by Seleucus, and that the judges were +vultures and wolves, who tore his flesh and distributed it wholesale +among his enemies. And Pausanias at Byzantium, having sent for Cleonice +a free-born maiden, intending to outrage her and pass the night with +her, being seized with some alarm or suspicion killed her, and +frequently saw her in his dreams saying to him, "Come near for +judgement, lust is most assuredly a grievous bane to men," and as this +apparition did not cease, he sailed, it seems, to Heraclea to the place +where the souls of the dead could be summoned, and by propitiations and +sacrifices called up the soul of the maiden, and she appeared to him and +told him that this trouble would end when he got to Lacedaemon, and +directly he got there he died."[831] + +Sec. XI. "And so, if nothing happens to the soul after death, but that +event is the end of all enjoyment or punishment, one would be rather +inclined to say that the deity was lax and indulgent in quickly +punishing the wicked and depriving them of life. For even if we were to +say that the wicked had no other trouble in a long life, yet, when their +wrong-doing was proved to bring them no profit or enjoyment, no good or +adequate return for their many and great anxieties, the consciousness of +that would be quite enough to throw[832] their mind off its balance. So +they record of Lysimachus that he was so overcome by thirst that he +surrendered himself and his forces to the Getae for some drink, but after +he had drunk and bethought him that he was now a captive, he said, +"Alas! How guilty am I for so brief a gratification to lose so great a +kingdom!" And yet it is very difficult to resist a necessity of nature. +But when a man, either for the love of money, or for political place or +power, or carried away by some amorous propensity, does some lawless and +dreadful deed, and, after his eager desire is satisfied, sees in process +of time that only the base and terrible elements of his crime remain, +while nothing useful, or necessary, or advantageous has flowed from it, +is it not likely that the idea would often present itself to him that, +moved by vain-glory, or for some illiberal and unlovely pleasure, he had +violated the greatest and noblest rights of mankind, and had filled his +life with shame and trouble? For as Simonides used to say playfully that +he always found his money-chest full but his gratitude-chest empty,[833] +so the wicked contemplating their own vice soon find out that their +gratification is joyless and hopeless,[834] and ever attended by fears +and griefs and gloomy memories, and suspicions about the future, and +distrust about the present. Thus we hear Ino, repenting for what she had +done, saying on the stage, + + "Dear women, would that I could now inhabit + For the first time the house of Athamas, + Guiltless of any of my awful deeds!"[835] + +It is likely that the soul of every wicked person will meditate in this +way, and consider how it can escape the memory of its ill-deeds, and lay +its conscience to sleep, and become pure, and live another life over +again from the beginning. For there is no confidence, or reality, or +continuance, or security, in what wickedness proposes to itself, unless +by Zeus we shall say that evil-doers are wise, but wherever the greedy +love of wealth or pleasure or violent envy dwells with hatred and +malignity, there will you also see and find stationed superstition, and +remissness for labour, and cowardice in respect to death, and sudden +caprice in the passions, and vain-glory and boasting. Those that censure +them frighten them, and they even fear those that praise them as wronged +by their deceit, and as most hostile to the bad because they readily +praise those they think good. For as in the case of ill-tempered steel +the hardness of vice is rotten, and its strength easily shattered. So +that in course of time, understanding their real selves, they are vexed +and disgusted with their past life and abhor it. For if a bad man who +restores property entrusted to his care, or becomes surety for a friend, +or contributes very generously and liberally to his country out of love +of glory or honour, at once repents and is sorry for what he has done +from the fickleness and changeableness of his mind; and if men applauded +in the theatres directly afterwards groan, their love of glory subsiding +into love of money; shall we suppose that those who sacrificed men to +tyrannies and conspiracies as Apollodorus did, or that those who robbed +their friends of money as Glaucus the son of Epicydes did,[836] never +repented, or loathed themselves, or regretted their past misdeeds? For +my part, if it is lawful to say so, I do not think evil-doers need any +god or man to punish them, for the marring and troubling of all their +life by vice is in itself adequate punishment." + +Sec. XII. "But consider now whether I have not spoken too long." Then Timon +said, "Perhaps you have, considering what remains and the time it will +take. For now I am going to start the last question, as if it were a +combatant in reserve, since the other two questions have been debated +sufficiently. For as to the charge and bold accusation that Euripides +brings against the gods, for visiting the sins of the parents upon the +children, consider that even those of us who are silent agree with +Euripides. For if the guilty were punished themselves there would be no +further need to punish the innocent, for it is not fair to punish even +the guilty twice for the same offence, whereas if the gods through +easiness remit the punishment of the wicked, and exact it later on from +the innocent, they do not well to compensate for their tardiness by +injustice. Such conduct resembles the story told of AEsop's coming to +this very spot,[837] with money from Croesus, to offer a splendid +sacrifice to the god, and to give four minae to each of the Delphians. +And some quarrel or difference belike ensuing between him and the +Delphians here, he offered the sacrifice, but sent the money back to +Sardis, as though the Delphians were not worthy to receive that benefit, +so they fabricated against him a charge of sacrilege, and put him to +death by throwing him headlong down yonder rock called Hyampia. And in +consequence the god is said to have been wroth with them, and to have +brought dearth on their land, and all kinds of strange diseases, so that +they went round at the public festivals of the Greeks, and invited by +proclamation whoever wished to take satisfaction of them for AEsop's +death. And three generations afterwards came Idmon[838] a Samian, no +relation of AEsop's, but a descendant of those who had purchased AEsop as +a slave at Samos, and by giving him satisfaction the Delphians got rid +of their trouble. And it was in consequence of this, they say, that the +punishment of those guilty of sacrilege was transferred from Hyampia to +Nauplia.[839] And even great lovers of Alexander, as we are, do not +praise his destroying the city of the Branchidae and putting everybody in +it to death because their great-grandfathers betrayed the temple at +Miletus.[840] And Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, laughing and +jeering at the Corcyraeans for asking him why he wasted their island, +replied, "Because, by Zeus, your forefathers welcomed Odysseus." And +when the people of Ithaca likewise complained of his soldiers carrying +off their sheep, he said, "Your king came to us, and actually put out +the shepherd's eye to boot."[841] And is it not stranger still in Apollo +punishing the present inhabitants of Pheneus, by damming up the channel +dug to carry off their water,[842] and so flooding the whole of their +district, because a thousand years ago, they say, Hercules carried off +to Pheneus the oracular tripod? and in telling the Sybarites that the +only end of their troubles would be propitiating by their ruin on three +occasions the wrath of Leucadian Hera? And indeed it is no long time +since the Locrians have ceased sending maidens[843] to Troy, + + "Who without upper garments and barefooted, + Like slave-girls, in the early morning swept + Around Athene's altar all unveiled, + Till old age came upon them with its burdens," + +all because Ajax violated Cassandra. Where is the reason or justice in +all this? Nor do we praise the Thracians who to this day, in honour of +Orpheus, mark their wives;[844] nor the barbarians on the banks of the +Eridanus who, they say, wear mourning for Phaeethon. And I think it would +be still more ridiculous if the people living at the time Phaeethon +perished had neglected him, and those who lived five or ten generations +after his tragic death had begun the practice of wearing mourning and +grieving for him. And yet this would be only folly, there would be +nothing dreadful or fatal about it, but what should make the anger of +the gods subside at once and then afterwards, like some rivers, burst +out against others till they completely ruin them? + +Sec. XIII. Directly he left off, fearing that if he began again he would +introduce more and greater absurdities, I asked him, "Well, do you +believe all this to be true?" And he replied, "If not all, but only +some, of it is true, do you not think that the subject presents the same +difficulty?" "Perhaps," said I, "it is as with those in a raging fever, +whether they have few or many clothes on the bed they are equally hot or +nearly so, yet to ease them we shall do well to remove some of the +clothes; but let us waive this point, if you don't like the line of +argument, though a good deal of what you have said seems myth and fable, +and let us recall to our minds the recent festival in honour of Apollo +called Theoxenia,[845] and the noble share in it which the heralds +expressly reserve for the descendants of Pindar, and how grand and +pleasant it seemed to you." "Who could help being pleased," said he, +"with such a delightful honour, so Greek and breathing the simple spirit +of antiquity, had he not, to use Pindar's own phrase, 'a black heart +forged when the flame was cold?'" "I pass over then," said I, "the +similar proclamation at Sparta, 'After the Lesbian singer,' in honour +and memory of old Terpander, for it is a similar case. But you +yourselves certainly lay claim to be better than other Boeotians as +descended from Opheltes,[846] and than other Phocians because of your +ancestor Daiphantus,[847] and you were the first to give me help and +assistance in preserving for the Lycormae and Satilaei their hereditary +privilege of wearing crowns as descendants of Hercules, when I contended +that we ought to confirm the honours and favours of the descendants of +Hercules more especially because, though he was such a benefactor to the +Greeks, he had had himself no adequate favour or return." "You remind +me," he said, "of a noble effort, and one well worthy of a philosopher." +"Dismiss then," said I, "my dear fellow, your vehement accusation +against the gods, and do not be so vexed that some of a bad or evil +stock are punished by them, or else do not joy in and approve of the +honour paid to descent from a good stock. For it is unreasonable, if we +continue to show favour to a virtuous stock, to think punishment wrong +in the case of a criminal stock, or that it should not correspond with +the adequate reward of merit. And he that is glad to see the descendants +of Cimon honoured at Athens, but is displeased and indignant that the +descendants of Lachares or Aristo are in exile, is too soft and easy, or +rather too fault-finding and peevish with the gods, accusing them if the +descendants of a bad and wicked man are fortunate, and accusing them +also if the progeny of the bad are wiped off the face of the earth; thus +finding fault with the deity alike, whether the descendants of the good +or bad father are unfortunate." + +Sec. XIV. "Let these remarks," I continued, "be your bulwarks as it were +against those excessively bitter and railing accusations. And taking up +again as it were the initial clue to our subject, which as it is about +the deity is dark and full of mazes and labyrinths, let us warily and +calmly follow the track to what is probable and plausible, for certainty +and truth are things very difficult to find even in every-day life. For +example, why are the children of those that have died of consumption or +dropsy bidden to sit with their feet in water till the dead body is +burnt? For that is thought to prevent the disease transferring itself to +them. Again, when a she-goat takes a bit of eringo into her mouth, why +do the whole herd stand still, till the goatherd comes up and takes it +out of her mouth? There are other properties that have connection and +communication, and that transfer themselves from one thing to another +with incredible[848] quickness and over immense distances. But we marvel +more at intervals of time than place. And yet is it more wonderful that +Athens should have been smitten with a plague[849] that started in +Arabia, and of which Pericles died and Thucydides fell sick, than that, +when the Delphians and Sybarites became wicked, vengeance should have +fallen on their descendants.[850] For properties have relations and +connections between ends and beginnings, and although the reason of them +may not be known by us, they silently perform their errand." + +Sec. XV. "Moreover the public punishments of cities by the gods admits of a +just defence. For a city is one continuous entity, a sort of creature +that never changes from age, or becomes different by time, but is ever +sympathetic with and conformable to itself, and is answerable for +whatever it does or has done for the public weal, as long as the +community by its union and federal bonds preserves its unity. For he +that would make several, or rather any quantity of, cities out of one by +process of time would be like a person who made one human being several, +by regarding him now as an old man, now as a young man, now as a +stripling. Or rather this kind of reasoning resembles the arguments of +Epicharmus, from whom the sophists borrowed the piled-up method of +reasoning,[851] for example, he incurred the debt long ago, so he does +not owe it now, being a different person, or, he was invited to dinner +yesterday, but he comes uninvited to-day, for he is another person. And +yet age produces greater changes in any individual than it does commonly +in cities. For any one would recognize Athens again if he had not seen +it for thirty years, for the present habits and feelings of the people +there, their business, amusements, likes and dislikes, are just what +they were long ago; whereas a man's friend or acquaintance meeting him +after some time would hardly recognize his appearance, for the change of +character easily introduced by every thought and deed, feeling and +custom, produce a wonderful strangeness and novelty in the same person. +And yet a man is reckoned to be the same person from birth to death, and +similarly we think it right for a city always remaining the same to be +liable to reproach for the ill deeds of its former inhabitants, on the +same principle as it enjoys its ancient glory and power; or shall we, +without being aware of it, throw everything into Heraclitus' river, into +which he says a person cannot step twice,[852] since nature is ever +changing and altering everything?" + +Sec. XVI. "If then a city is one continuous entity, so of course is a race +that starts from one beginning, that can trace back intimate union and +similarity of faculties, for that which is begot is not, like some +production of art, unlike the begetter, for it proceeds from him, and is +not merely produced by him, so that it appropriately receives his share, +whether that be honour or punishment. And if I should not seem to be +trifling, I should say that the bronze statue of Cassander melted down +by the Athenians, and the body of Dionysius thrown out of their +territory by the Syracusans after his death, were treated more unjustly +than punishing their posterity would have been. For there was none of +the nature of Cassander in the statue, and the soul of Dionysius had +left his dead body before this outrage, whereas Nysaeus and +Apollocrates,[853] Antipater and Philip,[854] and similarly other sons +of wicked parents had innate in them a good deal of their fathers, and +that no listless or inactive element, but one by which they lived and +were nourished, and by which their ideas were controlled. Nor is it at +all strange or absurd that some should have their fathers' +characteristics. And to speak generally, as in surgery whatever is +useful is also just, and that person would be ridiculous who should say +it was unjust to cauterize the thumb when the hip-joints were in pain, +and to lance the stomach when the liver was inflamed, or when oxen were +tender in their hoofs to anoint the tips of their horns, so he that +looks for any other justice in punishment than curing vice, and is +dissatisfied if surgery is employed to one part to benefit another, as +surgeons open a vein to relieve ophthalmia, can see nothing beyond the +evidence of the senses, and does not remember that even a schoolmaster +by correcting one lad admonishes others, and that by decimation a +general makes his whole army obey. And so not only by one part to +another comes benefit, but also to the soul through the soul, even more +often than to the body through the body, come certain dispositions, and +vices or improvement of character. For just as it is likely in the case +of the body that the same feelings and changes will take place, so the +soul, being worked upon by fancies, naturally becomes better or worse +according as it has more confidence or fear." + +Sec. XVII. While I was thus speaking, Olympicus interposed, and said, "You +seem in your argument to assume the important assumption of the +permanence of the soul." I replied, "You too concede it, or rather did +concede it. For that the deity deals with everyone according to his +merit has been the assumption of our argument from the beginning." Then +said he, "Do you think that it follows, because the gods notice our +actions and deal with us accordingly, that souls are either altogether +imperishable, or for some time survive dissolution?" Then said I, "Not +exactly so, my good sir, but is the deity so little and so attached to +trifles, if we have nothing divine in ourselves, nothing resembling him, +nothing lasting or sure, but that we all do fade as a leaf, as +Homer[855] says, and die after a brief life, as to take the +trouble--like women that tend and cultivate their gardens of Adonis[856] +in pots--to create souls to flourish in a delicate body having no +stability only for a day, and then to be annihilated at once[857] by any +occasion? And if you please, leaving the other gods out of the question, +consider the case of our god here.[858] Does it seem likely to you that, +if he knew that the souls of the dead perish immediately, and glide out +of their bodies like mist or smoke, he would enjoin many propitiatory +offerings for the departed and honours for the dead, merely cheating and +beguiling those that believed in him? For my own part, I shall never +abandon my belief in the permanence of the soul, unless some second +Hercules[859] shall come and take away the tripod of the Pythian +Priestess, and abolish and destroy the oracle. For as long as many such +oracles are still given, as was said to be given to Corax of Naxos +formerly, it is impious to declare that the soul dies." Then said +Patrocleas, "What oracle do you refer to? Who was this Corax? To me both +the occurrence and name are quite strange." "That cannot be," said I, +"but I am to blame for using the surname instead of the name. For he +that killed Archilochus in battle was called Calondes, it seems, but his +surname was Corax. He was first rejected by the Pythian Priestess, as +having slain a man sacred to the Muses, but after using many entreaties +and prayers, and urging pleas in defence of his act, he was ordered to +go to the dwelling of Tettix, and appease the soul of Archilochus. Now +this place was Taenarum, for there they say Tettix the Cretan had gone +with a fleet and founded a city, and dwelt near the place where departed +souls were conjured up. Similarly also, when the Spartans were bidden by +the oracle to appease the soul of Pausanias, the necromancers were +summoned from Italy, and, after they had offered sacrifice, they got the +ghost out of the temple." + +Sec. XVIII. "It is one and the same argument," I continued, "that confirms +the providence of the deity and the permanence of the soul of man, so +that you cannot leave one if you take away the other. And if the soul +survives after death, it makes the probability stronger that rewards or +punishments will be assigned to it. For during life the soul struggles, +like an athlete, and when the struggle is over, then it gets its +deserts. But what rewards or punishments the soul gets when by itself in +the unseen world for the deeds done in the body has nothing to do with +us that are alive, and is perhaps not credited by us, and certainly +unknown to us; whereas those punishments that come on descendants and on +the race are evident to all that are alive, and deter and keep back many +from wickedness. For there is no more disgraceful or bitter punishment +than to see our children in misfortune through our faults, and if the +soul of an impious or lawless man could see after death, not his statues +or honours taken from him, but his children or friends or race in great +adversity owing to him, and paying the penalty for his misdeeds, no one +would ever persuade him, could he come to life again, to be unjust and +licentious, even for the honours of Zeus. I could tell you a story on +this head, which I recently heard, but I hesitate to do so, lest you +should regard it only as a myth; I confine myself therefore to +probability." "Pray don't," said Olympicus, "let us have your story." +And as the others made the same request, I said, "Permit me first to +finish my discourse according to probability, and then, if you like, I +will set my myth a going, if it is a myth." + +Sec. XIX. Bion says the deity in punishing the children of the wicked for +their fathers' crimes is more ridiculous than a doctor administering a +potion to a son or grandson for a father's or grandfather's disease. But +the cases, though in some respects similar and like, are in others +dissimilar. For to cure one person of a disease does not cure another, +nor is one any better, when suffering from ophthalmia or fever, by +seeing another anointed or poulticed. But the punishments of evil-doers +are exhibited to everybody for this reason, that it is the function of +justice, when it is carried out as reason dictates, to check some by the +punishment of others. So that Bion did not see in what respect his +comparison touched our subject. For sometimes, when a man falls into a +grievous but not incurable malady, which afterwards by intemperance and +negligence ruins his constitution and kills him, is not his son, who is +not supposed to be suffering from the same malady but only to have a +predisposition for it, enjoined to a careful manner of living by his +medical man, or friend, or intelligent trainer in gymnastics, or honest +guardian, and recommended to abstain from fish and pastry, wine and +women, and to take medicine frequently, and to go in for training in the +gymnasiums, and so to dissipate and get rid of the small seeds of what +might be a serious malady, if he allowed it to come to a head? Do we not +indeed give advice of this kind to the children of diseased fathers or +mothers, bidding them take care and be cautious and not to neglect +themselves, but at once to arrest the first germ, of the malady, nipping +it in the bud while removable, and before it has got a firm footing in +the constitution?" "Certainly we do," said all the company. "We are not +then," I continued, "acting in a strange or ridiculous but in a +necessary and useful way, in arranging their exercise and food and +physic for the sons of epileptic or atrabilious or gouty people, not +when they are ill, but to prevent their becoming so. For the offspring +of a poor constitution does not require punishment, but it does require +medical treatment and care, and if any one stigmatizes this, because it +curtails pleasure and involves some self-denial and pain, as a +punishment inflicted by cowardice and timidity, we care not for his +opinion. Can it be right to tend and care for the body that has an +hereditary predisposition to some malady, and are we to neglect the +growth and spread in the young character of hereditary taint of vice, +and to dally with it, and wait till it be plainly mixed up with the +feelings, and, to use the language of Pindar, "produce malignant fruit +in the heart?" + +Sec. XX. Or is the deity in this respect no wiser than Hesiod, who exhorts +and advises, "not to beget children on our return from a sad funeral, +but after a banquet with the gods,"[860] as though not vice or virtue +only, but sorrow or joy and all other propensities, came from +generation, to which the poet bids us come gay and agreeable and +sprightly. But it is not Hesiod's function, or the work of human wisdom, +but it belongs to the deity, to discern and accurately distinguish +similarities and differences of character, before they become obvious by +resulting in crime through the influence of the passions. For the young +of bears and wolves and apes manifest from their birth the nature innate +in them in all its naked simplicity; whereas mankind, under the +influence of customs and opinions and laws, frequently conceal their bad +qualities and imitate what is good, so as altogether to obliterate and +escape from the innate taint of vice, or to be undetected for a long +time, throwing the veil of craft round their real nature, so that we are +scarce conscious of their villainy till we feel the blow or smart of +some unjust action, so that we are in fact only aware that there is such +a thing as injustice when men act unjustly, or as vice when men act +viciously, or as cowardice when men run away, just as if one were to +suppose that scorpions had a sting only when they stung us, or that +vipers were venomous only when they bit us, which would be a very silly +idea. For every bad man is not bad only when he breaks out into crime, +but he has the seeds of vice in his nature, and is only vicious in act +when he has opportunity and means, as opportunity makes the thief +steal,[861] and the tyrant violate the laws. But the deity is not +ignorant of the nature and disposition of every man, inasmuch as by his +very nature he can read the soul better than the body, and does not wait +to punish violence in the act, or shamelessness in the tongue, or +lasciviousness in the members. For he does not retaliate upon the +wrong-doer as having been ill-treated by him, nor is he angry with the +robber as having been plundered by him, nor does he hate the adulterer +as having himself suffered from his licentiousness, but it is to cure +him that he often punishes the adulterous or avaricious or unjust man in +embryo, before he has had time to work out all his villainy, as we try +to stop epileptic fits before they come on. + +Sec. XXI. Just now we were dissatisfied that the wicked were punished late +and tardily, whereas at present we find fault with the deity for +correcting the character and disposition of same before they commit +crime, from our ignoring that the future deed may be worse and more +dreadful than the past, and the hidden intention than the overt act; for +we are not able fully to understand the reasons why it is better to +leave some alone in their ill deeds, and to arrest others in the +intention; just as no doubt medicine is not appropriate in the case of +some patients, which would be beneficial to others not ill, but yet +perhaps in a more dangerous condition still. And so the gods do not +visit all the offences of parents on their children, but if a good man +is the son of a bad one, as the son of a sickly parent is sometimes of a +good constitution, he is exempt from the punishment of his race, as not +being a participator in its viciousness. But if a young man imitates his +vicious race it is only right that he should inherit the punishment of +their ill deeds, as he would their debts. For Antigonus was not punished +for Demetrius, nor, of the old heroes,[862] Phyleus for Augeas, or +Nestor for Neleus, for though their sires were bad they were good, but +those whose nature liked and approved the vices of their ancestors, +these justice punished, taking vengeance on their similarity in +viciousness. For as the warts and moles and freckles of parents often +skip a generation, and reappear in the grandsons and granddaughters, and +as a Greek woman, that had a black baby and so was accused of adultery, +found out that she was the great granddaughter of an Ethiopian,[863] and +as the son of Pytho the Nisibian who recently died, and who was said to +trace his descent to the Sparti,[864] had the birthmark on his body of +the print of a spear the token of his race, which though long dormant +had come up again as out of the deep, so frequently earlier generations +conceal and suppress the mental idiosyncrasies and passions of their +race, which afterwards nature causes to break out in other members of +the family, and so displays the family bent either to vice or virtue." + +Sec. XXII. When I had said thus much I was silent, but Olympicus smiled and +said, "We do not praise you, lest we should seem to forget your promised +story, as though what you had advanced was adequate proof enough, but we +will give our opinion when we have heard it." Then I began as follows. +"Thespesius of Soli, an intimate friend of that Protogenes[865] who +lived in this city with us for some time, had been very profligate +during the early part of his life, and had quickly run through his +property, and for some time owing to his straits had given himself up to +bad practices, when repenting of his old ways, and following the pursuit +of riches, he resembled those profligate husbands that pay no attention +to their wives while they live with them, but get rid of them, and then, +after they have married other men, do all they can wickedly to seduce +them. Abstaining then from nothing dishonourable that could bring either +enjoyment or gain, in no long time he got together no great amount of +property, but a very great reputation for villainy. But what most +damaged his character was the answer he received from the oracle of +Amphilochus.[866] For he sent it seems a messenger to consult the god +whether he would live the rest of his life better, and the answer was he +would do better after his death. And indeed this happened in a sense not +long after. For he fell headlong down from a great height, and though he +had received no wound nor even a blow, the fall did for him, but three +days after (just as he was about to be buried) he recovered. He soon +picked up his strength again, and went home, and so changed his manner +of life that people would hardly credit it. For the Cilicians say that +they know nobody who was in those days more fairdealing in business, or +more devout to the deity, or more disagreeable to his enemies, or more +faithful to his friends; insomuch that all who had any dealings with him +desired to hear the reason of this change, not thinking that so great a +reformation of character could have proceeded from chance, and their +idea was correct, as his narrative to Protogenes and others of his great +friends showed. For he told them that, when his soul left the body, the +change he first underwent was as if he were a pilot thrown violently +into the sea out of a ship. Then raising himself up a little, he thought +he recovered the power of breathing again altogether, and looked round +him in every direction, as if one eye of the soul was open. But he saw +none of the things he had ever seen before, but stars enormous in size +and at immense distance from one another, sending forth a wonderful and +intense brightness of colour, so that the soul was borne along and moved +about everywhere quickly and easily, like a ship is fair weather. But +omitting most of the sights he saw, he said that the souls of the dead +mounted into the air, which yielded to them and formed fiery bubbles, +and then, when each bubble quietly broke, they assumed human forms, +light in weight but with different kinds of motion, for some leapt about +with wonderful agility and darted straight upwards, while others like +spindles flitted round all together in a circle, some in an upward +direction, some in a downward, with mixed and confused motion, hardly +stopping at all, or only after a very long time. As to most of these he +was ignorant who they were, but he saw two or three that he knew, and +tried to approach them and talk with them, but they would not listen to +him, and did not seem to be in their right minds, but out of their +senses and distraught, avoiding every sight and touch, and at first +turned round and round alone, but afterwards meeting many other souls +whirling round and in the same condition as themselves, they moved about +promiscuously with no particular object in view, and uttered +inarticulate sounds, like yells, mixed with wailing and terror. Other +souls in the upper part of the air seemed joyful, and frequently +approached one another in a friendly way, and avoided those troubled +souls, and seemed to mark their displeasure by keeping themselves to +themselves, and their joy and delight by extension and expansion. At +last he said he saw the soul of a relation, that he thought he knew but +was not quite sure, as he died when he was a boy, which came up to him +and said to him, "Welcome, Thespesius." And he wondering, and saying +that his name was not Thespesius but Aridaeus, the soul replied, "That +was your old name, but henceforth it will be Thespesius. For assuredly +you are not dead, but by the will of the gods are come here with your +intellect, for the rest of your soul you have left in the body like an +anchor; and as a proof of what I say both now and hereafter notice that +the souls of the dead have no shadow and do not move their eyelids." +Thespesius, on hearing these words, pulled himself somewhat more +together again, and began to use his reason, and looking more closely he +noticed that an indistinct and shadow-like line was suspended over him, +while the others shone all round and were transparent, but were not all +alike; for some were like the full-moon at its brightest, throwing out +one smooth even and continuous colour, others had spots or light marks +here and there, while others were quite variegated and strange to the +sight, with black spots like snakes, while others again had dim +scratches. + +Then the kinsman of Thespesius (for there is nothing to prevent our +calling the souls by the name of the persons), pointed out everything, +and told him that Adrastea, the daughter of Necessity and Zeus, was +placed in the highest position to punish all crimes, and no criminal was +either so great or so small as to be able to escape her either by fraud +or violence. But, as there were three kinds of punishment, each had its +own officer and administering functionary. "For speedy Vengeance +undertakes the punishment of those that are to be corrected at once in +the body and through their bodies, and she mildly passes by many +offences that only need expiation; but if the cure of vice demands +further pains, then the deity hands over such criminals after death to +Justice, and those whom Justice rejects as altogether incurable, Erinnys +(the third and fiercest of Adrastea's officers), pursues as they are +fleeing and wandering about in various directions, and with pitiless +severity utterly undoes them all, and thrusts them down to a place not +to be seen or spoken about. And, of all these punishments, that which is +administered in this life by Vengeance is most like those in use among +the barbarians. For as among the Persians they pluck off and scourge the +garments and tiaras of those that are to be punished, while the +offenders weep and beg them to cease, so most punishments by fine or +bodily chastisement have no sharp touch, nor do they reach vice itself, +but are only for show and sentiment. And whoever goes from this world to +that incorrigible and impure, Justice takes him aside, naked as he is in +soul, and unable to veil or hide or conceal his villainy, but descried +all round and in all points by everybody, and shows him first to his +good parents, if such they were, to let them see what a wretch he is and +how unworthy of his ancestors; but if they were wicked too, seeing them +punished and himself being seen by them, he is chastised for a long time +till he is purged of each of his bad propensities by sufferings and +pains, which as much exceed in magnitude and intensity all sufferings in +the flesh, as what is real is more vivid than a dream. But the scars and +marks of the stripes for each bad propensity are more visible in some +than in others. Observe also, he continued, the different and various +colours of the souls. That dark dirty-brown colour is the pigment of +illiberality and covetousness, and the blood-red the sign of cruelty and +savageness, and where the blue is there sensuality and love of pleasure +are not easily eradicated, and that violet and livid colour marks malice +and envy, like the dark liquid ejected by the cuttle fish. For as during +life vice produces these colours by the soul being acted upon by +passions and reacting upon the body, so here it is the end of +purification and correction when they are toned down, and the soul +becomes altogether bright and one colour. But as long as these colours +remain, there are relapses of the passions accompanied by palpitation +and throbbing of the heart, in some faint and soon suppressed, in others +more violent and lasting. And some of these souls by being again and +again corrected recover their proper disposition and condition, while +others again by their violent ignorance and excessive love of +pleasure[867] are carried into the bodies of animals; for one by +weakness of reasoning power, and slowness of contemplation, is impelled +by the practical element in him to generation, while another, lacking an +instrument to satisfy his licentiousness, desires to gratify his +passions immediately, and to get that gratification through the medium +of the body; for here there is no real fruition, but only an imperfect +shadow and dream of incomplete pleasure." + +After he had said this, Thespesius' kinsman hurried him at great speed +through immense space, as it seemed to him, though he travelled as +easily and straight as if he were carried on the wings of the sun's +rays. At last he got to an extensive and bottomless abyss, where his +strength left him, as he found was the case with the other souls there: +for keeping together and making swoops, like birds, they flitted all +round the abyss, but did not venture to pass over it. To internal view +it resembled the caverns of Bacchus, being beautiful throughout[868] +with trees and green foliage and flowers of all kinds, and it breathed a +soft and gentle air, laden with scents marvellously pleasant, and +producing the effect that wine does on those who are topers; for the +souls were elevated by its fragrance, and gay and blithe with one +another: and the whole spot was full of mirth and laughter, and such +songs as emanate from gaiety and enjoyment. And Thespesius' kinsman told +him that this was the way Dionysus went up to heaven by, and by which he +afterwards took up Semele, and it was called the place of Oblivion. But +he would not let Thespesius stay there, much as he wished, but forcibly +dragged him away, instructing and telling him that the intellect was +melted and moistened by pleasure, and that the irrational and corporeal +element being watered and made flesh stirs up the memory of the body, +from which comes a yearning and strong desire for generation, so called +from being an inclination to the earth,[869] when the soul is weighed +down with moisture. + +Next Thespesius travelled as far in another direction, and seemed to see +a great crater into which several rivers emptied themselves, one whiter +than the foam of the sea or snow, another like the purple of the +rainbow, and others of various hues whose brightness was apparent at +some distance, but when he got nearer the air became thinner and the +colours grew dim, and the crater lost all its gay colours but white. And +he saw three genii sitting together in a triangular position, mixing the +rivers together in certain proportions. Then the guide of Thespesius' +soul told him, that Orpheus got as far as here, when he came in quest of +the soul of his wife,[870] and from not exactly remembering what he had +seen spread a false report among mankind, that the oracle at Delphi was +common to Apollo and Night, though Apollo had no communion with Night: +but this, pursued the guide, is an oracle common to Night and the Moon, +that utters forth its oracular knowledge in no particular part of the +world, nor has it any particular seat, but wanders about everywhere in +men's dreams and visions. Hence, as you see, dreams receive and +disseminate a mixture[871] of simple truth with deceit and error. But +the oracle of Apollo you do not know, nor can you see it, for the +earthiness of the soul does not suffer it to soar upwards, but keeps it +down in dependence on the body. And taking him nearer his guide tried to +show him the light from the tripod, which, as he said, shone as far as +Parnassus through the bosom of Themis, but though he desired to see it +he could not for its brightness, but as he passed by he heard the shrill +voice of a woman speaking in verse several things, among others, he +thought, telling the time of his death. That, said the genius, was the +voice of the Sibyl, who sang about the future as she was being borne +about in the Orb of the moon. Though desirous then to hear more, he was +conveyed into another direction by the violent motion of the moon, as if +he had been in the eddies of a whirlpool, so that he heard very little +more, only a prophecy about Mt. Vesuvius and that Dicaearchia[872] would +be destroyed by fire, and a short piece about the Emperor then +reigning,[873] that "though he was good he would lose his empire through +sickness." + +After this Thespesius and his guide turned to see those that were +undergoing punishment. And at first they saw only distressing and +pitiable sights, but after that, Thespesius, little expecting it, found +himself among his friends and acquaintances and kinsfolk who were being +punished, and undergoing dreadful sufferings and hideous and bitter +tortures, and who wept and wailed to him. And at last he descried his +father coming up out of a certain gulf covered with marks and scars, +stretching out his hands, and not allowed to keep silence, but compelled +by those that presided over his torture to confess that he had been an +accursed wretch and poisoned some strangers that had gold, and during +his lifetime had escaped the detection of everybody; but had been found +out here, and his guilt brought home to him, for which he had already +suffered much, and was being dragged on to suffer more. So great was his +consternation and fear that he did not dare to intercede or beg for his +father's release, but wishing to turn and flee he could no longer see +his gentle and kind guide, but he was thrust forward by some persons +horrible to look at, as if some dire necessity compelled him to go +through with the business, and saw that the shades of those that had +been notorious criminals and punished in their life-time were not so +severely tortured here or like the others, but had an incomplete[874] +though toilsome punishment for their irrational passions.[875] Whereas +those who under the mask and show of virtue had lived all their lives in +undetected vice were forced by their torturers with labour and pain to +turn their souls inside out, unnaturally wriggling and writhing about, +like the sea-scolopendras who, when they have swallowed the hook, turn +themselves inside out; but some of them their torturers flayed and +crimped so as to show their various inward vices which were only skinned +over, which were deep in their soul the principal part of man. And he +said he saw other souls, like snakes two or three or even more twined +together, devouring one another in malignity and malevolence for what +they had suffered or done in life. He said also that there were several +lakes running parallel, one of boiling gold, another most cold of lead, +another hard of iron, and several demons were standing by, like smiths, +who lowered down and drew up by turns with instruments the souls of +those whose criminality lay in insatiable cupidity. For when they were +red-hot and transparent through their bath in the lake of gold, the +demons thrust them into the lake of lead and dipped them in that; and +when they got congealed in it and hard as hail, they dipped them into +the lake of iron, and there they became wonderfully black, and broken +and crushed by the hardness of the iron, and changed their appearance, +and after that they were dipped again in the lake of gold, after +suffering, he said, dreadful agony in all these changes of torment. But +he said those souls suffered most piteously of all that, when they +seemed to have escaped justice, were arrested again, and these were +those whose crimes had been visited on their children or descendants. +For whenever one of these latter happened to come up, he fell into a +rage and cried out, and showed the marks of what he had suffered, and +upbraided and pursued the soul of the parent, that wished to fly and +hide himself but could not. For quickly did the ministers of torture +pursue them, and hurry them back again to Justice,[876] wailing all the +while on account of their fore-knowledge of what their punishment would +be. And to some of them he said many of their posterity clung at once, +and just like bees or bats stuck to them, and squeaked and gibbered[877] +in their rage at the memory of what they had suffered owing to them. +Last of all he saw the souls of those that were to come into the world a +second time, forcibly moulded and transformed into various kinds of +animals by artificers appointed for the very purpose with instruments +and blows, who broke off all the limbs of some, and only wrenched off +some of others, and polished others down or annihilated them altogether, +to fit them for other habits and modes of life. Among them he saw the +soul of Nero tortured in other ways, and pierced with red-hot nails. And +the artificers having taken it in hand and converted it into the +semblance of a Pindaric viper, which gets its way to life by gnawing +through its mother's womb, a great light, he said, suddenly shone, and a +voice came out of the light, ordering them to change it into something +milder, so they devised of it the animal that croaks about lakes and +marshes, for he had been punished sufficiently for his crimes, and now +deserved some favour at the hands of the gods, for he had freed Greece, +the noblest nation of his subjects and the best-beloved of the +gods.[878] So much did Thespesius behold, but as he intended to return a +horrible dread came upon him. For a woman, marvellous in appearance and +size, took hold of him and said to him, "Come here that you may the +better remember everything you have seen." And she was about to strike +him with a red-hot iron pin, such as the encaustic painters use,[879] +when another woman prevented her; and he was suddenly sucked up, as +through[880] a pipe, by a strong and violent wind, and lit upon his own +body, and woke up and found that he was close to his tomb. + + [806] In the temple at Delphi, the scene of the + discussion, as we see later on, Sec.Sec. vii. xii. + + [807] Reading [Greek: edokei] with Reiske. + + [808] Euripides, "Orestes," 420. Cf. "Ion," 1615. + + [809] Thucydides, iii. 38. + + [810] See the circumstances in Pausanias, iv. 17 and 22. + + [811] Compare Petronius, "Satyricon," 44: "Dii pedes + lanatos habent." Compare also "Tibullus," i. 9. 4: "Sera + tamen tacitis Poena venit pedibus." + + [812] Reading [Greek: maliota] (for [Greek: molis]) with + Wyttenbach. + + [813] An allusion to the proverb [Greek: Opse Theou + aleousi myloi, aleousi de lepta]. See Erasmus, "Adagia," + p. 1864. + + [814] Cf. Plato, "Republic," 472 A. + + [815] See Note, "On Abundance of Friends," Sec. ii. + + [816] Reading [Greek: ei gar]. + + [817] Or _a world_. + + [818] See above, Sec. ii. + + [819] Quoted also in "On restraining Anger," Sec. ii. + + [820] It seems necessary to read either [Greek: + porizein] with Mez, or [Greek: horizein] with + Wyttenbach. + + [821] Compare Aristophanes, "Vespae," 438. + + [822] See Pausanias, viii. 27. + + [823] Pindar. + + [824] Homer, "Iliad," xv. 641, 642. + + [825] See Thucydides, i. 127. + + [826] See Pausanias, v. 17; viii. 24; ix. 41; x. 29. + + [827] Hesiod, "Works and Days," 266. + + [828] Ibid. 265. Compare Pausanias, ii. 9; Ovid, A. A. + i. 655, 656. + + [829] "Significat martyres Christianos, in tunica + molesta fumantes."--_Reiske._ + + [830] Like the sword of Damocles. See Horace, "Odes," + iii. 1. 17, 21. + + [831] See also Pausanias, iii. 17. + + [832] Surely [Greek: an anatrepoi] must be read. + + [833] Compare "On Curiosity," Sec. x. + + [834] The reading is very doubtful. I adopt [Greek: + hedones men euthus kenen charin, elpidos eremon + euriskousi.] + + [835] Euripides, "Ino." + + [836] See Herodotus, vi. 86; Juvenal, xiii, 199-207. + + [837] The company are in the temple at Delphi, be it + remembered. + + [838] Called Iadmon in Herodotus, ii. 134, where this + story is also told. + + [839] Wyttenbach suggests Daulis. + + [840] To Xerxes. + + [841] The allusion is to the well-known story of + Odysseus and the Cyclops Polyphemus, who is supposed to + have dwelt in the island of Sicily, where Agathocles was + tyrant. + + [842] See Pausanias, viii. 14. + + [843] Two were to be sent for 1,000 continuous years. So + the Oracle. + + [844] See Pausanias ix. 30; Herodotus, v. 6. + + [845] See Pausanias, vii. 27; Athenaeus, 372 A. + + [846] A former king of Thebes. See Pausanias, ix. 5. + + [847] Called Daiphantes, Pausanias, x. 1. + + [848] Reading [Greek: apistois] with Xylander. + + [849] The famous plague. See Thucydides, ii. 47-54. + + [850] The allusion is to the circumstances mentioned in + Sec. xii. + + [851] "Videtur idem cum _sorita_ esse."--_Reiske._ + + [852] Compare our author, "De EI a pud Delphos," Sec. + xviii. See also Seneca, "Epist.," lviii. p. 483; and + Plato, "Cratylus," 402 A. + + [853] Sons of Dionysius. + + [854] Sons of Cassander. + + [855] "Iliad" vi. 146-149. + + [856] Compare Plato, "Phaedrus," 276 B. These gardens of + Adonis were what we might call flowerpot gardens. See + Erasmus, "Adagia." + + [857] [Greek: euthys] seems the best reading, [Greek: + aei] is flat. + + [858] Apollo. + + [859] See Sec. xii. + + [860] Hesiod, "Works and Days," 735, 736. + + [861] Compare the French Proverb, "L'occasion fait le + larron." And Juvenal's "Nemo repente fuit turpissimus." + + [862] So Reiske very ingeniously. + + [863] A rather far-fetched pedigree. + + [864] See Pansanias, viii. 11; ix. 5, 10. See also Ovid, + "Metamorphoses," Book iii. 100-130. + + [865] Compare "On Love," Sec. ii. + + [866] At Mallus, in Cilicia. See Pausanias, i. 34. + + [867] Reading [Greek: philedonias ischys] with Reiske. + + [868] Reading [Greek: diapepoikilmenon on] with + Wyttenbach. + + [869] A paronomasia on [Greek: genesis] as if [Greek: + epi gen neusis]. We cannot English it. + + [870] Eurydice. + + [871] "[Greek: mignymenon], Turn, et Bong.," _Reiske._ + Surely the right reading. + + [872] Latin Puteoli. + + [873] Vespasian. See Suetonius, "Vespasian," ch. 24, as + to the particulars of his death. + + [874] The reading is very doubtful. I have followed + Wyttenbach in reading [Greek: tribomenen triben atele]. + + [875] Such as that of the Danaides. So Wyttenbach. + + [876] Adopting the arrangement of Wyttenbach. + + [877] Compare Homer, "Odyssey," xxiv. 5-10. + + [878] See Pausanias, vii. 17, for a sneaking kindness + for Nero. + + [879] See Athenaeus, 687 B. + + [880] Reading [Greek: dia] with Reiske. + + + + +AGAINST BORROWING MONEY. + + +Sec. I. Plato in his Laws[881] does not permit neighbours to use one +another's water, unless they have first dug for themselves as far as the +clay, and reached ground that is unsuitable for a well. For clay, having +a rich and compact nature, absorbs the water it receives, and does not +let it pass through. But he allows people that cannot make a well of +their own to use their neighbour's water, for the law ought to relieve +necessity. Ought there not also to be a law about money, that people +should not borrow of others, nor go to other people's sources of income, +until they have first examined their own resources at home, and +collected, as by drops, what is necessary for their use? But nowadays +from luxury and effeminacy and lavish expenditure people do not use +their own resources, though they have them, but borrow from others at +great interest without necessity. And what proves this very clearly is +the fact that people do not lend money to the needy, but only to those +who, wanting an immediate supply, bring a witness and adequate security +for their credit, so that they can be in no actual necessity of +borrowing.[882] + +Sec. II. Why pay court to the banker or trader? Borrow from your own table. +You have cups, silver dishes, pots and pans. Use them in your need. +Beautiful Aulis or Tenedos will furnish you with earthenware instead, +purer than silver, for they will not smell strongly and unpleasantly of +interest, a kind of rust that daily soils your sumptuousness, nor will +they remind you of the calends and the new moon, which, though the most +holy of days, the money-lenders make ill-omened and hateful. For those +who instead of selling them put their goods out at pawn cannot be saved +even by Zeus the Protector of Property: they are ashamed to sell, they +are not ashamed to pay interest on their goods when out at pawn. And yet +the famous Pericles made the ornament of Athene, which weighed forty +talents of fine gold, removable at will, for "so," he said, "we can use +the gold in war, and at some other time restore as costly a one." So +should we too in our necessities, as in a siege, not receive a garrison +imposed on us by a hostile money-lender, nor allow our goods to go into +slavery; but stripping our table, our bed, our carriages, and our diet, +of superfluities, we should keep ourselves free, intending to restore +all those things again, if we have good luck. + +Sec. III. So the Roman matrons offered their gold and ornaments as +first-fruits to Pythian Apollo, out of which a golden cup was made and +sent to Delphi;[883] and the Carthaginian matrons had their heads shorn, +and with the hair cut off made cords for the machines and engines to be +used in defence of their country.[884] But we being ashamed of +independence enslave ourselves to covenants and conditions, when we +ought to restrict and confine ourselves to what is useful, and dock or +sell useless superfluities, to build a temple of liberty for ourselves, +our wives, and children. The famous Artemis at Ephesus gives asylum and +security from their creditors to debtors, when they take refuge in her +temple; but the asylum and sanctuary of frugality is everywhere open to +the sober-minded, affording them joyful and honourable and ample space +for much ease. For as the Pythian Priestess told the Athenians at the +time of the Median war that the god had given them wooden walls,[885] +and they left the region and city, their goods and houses, and took +refuge in their ships for liberty, so the god gives us a wooden table, +and earthenware plate, and coarse garments, if we wish to live free. +Care not for fine horses or chariots with handsome harness, adorned with +gold[886] and silver, which swift interest will catch up and outrun, but +mounted on any chance donkey or nag flee from the hostile and tyrannical +money-lender, not demanding like the Mede land and water,[887] but +interfering with your liberty, and lowering your status. If you pay him +not, he duns you; if you offer the money, he won't have it; if you are +selling anything, he cheapens the price; if you don't want to sell, he +forces you; if you sue him, he comes to terms with you; if you swear, he +hectors; if you go to his house, he shuts the door in your face; whereas +if you stay at home, he billets himself on you, and is ever rapping at +your door. + +Sec. IV. How did Solon benefit the Athenians by ordaining that debtors +should no longer have to pay in person? For they are slaves to all +money-lenders,[888] and not to them only, what would there be so +monstrous in that? but to their slaves, who are insolent and savage +barbarians, such as Plato represents the fiery torturers and +executioners in Hades who preside over the punishment of the impious. +For they make the forum a hell for wretched debtors, and like vultures +devour and rend them limb from limb, "piercing into their bowels,"[889] +and stand over others and prevent their tasting their own grapes or +crops, as if they were so many Tantaluses. And as Darius sent Datis and +Artaphernes to Athens with manacles and chains in their hands for their +captives, so they bring into Greece boxes full of bonds and agreements, +like fetters, and visit the towns and scour the country round, sowing +not like Triptolemus harmless corn, but planting the toilsome and +prolific and never-ending roots of debts, which grow and spread all +round, and ruin and choke cities. They say that hares at once give birth +and suckle and conceive again, but the debts of these knaves and +barbarians give birth before they conceive; for at the very moment of +giving they ask back, and take up what they laid down, and lend what +they take for lending. + +Sec. V. It is a saying among the Messenians, that "there is a Pylos before +Pylos, and another Pylos too." So it may be said with respect to these +money-lenders, "there is interest before interest, and other interest +too." Then of course they laugh at those natural philosophers who say +that nothing can come of nothing, for they get interest on what neither +is nor was; and they think it disgraceful to farm out the taxes, though +the law allows it, while they themselves against the law exact tribute +for what they lend, or rather, if one is to say the truth, defraud as +they lend, for he who receives less than he signs his name for is +defrauded. The Persians indeed think lying a secondary crime, but debt a +principal one, for lying frequently follows upon debt, but money-lenders +tell more lies, for they make fraudulent entries in their account-books, +writing down that they have given so-and-so so much, when they have +really given less. And the only excuse for their lying is covetousness, +not necessity, not utter poverty, but insatiable greediness, the outcome +of which is without enjoyment and useless to themselves, and fatal to +their victims. For neither do they farm the fields which they rob their +debtors of, nor do they inhabit their houses when they have thrust them +out, nor use their tables or apparel, but first one is ruined, and then +a second is hunted down, for whom the first one serves as a decoy. For +the bane spreads and grows like a fire, to the destruction and ruin of +all who fall into their clutches, for it consumes one after another; and +the money-lender, who fans and feeds this flame to ensnare many, gets no +more advantage from it but that some time after he can take his +account-book and read how many he has sold up, how many turned out of +house and home, and track the sources of his wealth, which is ever +growing into a larger pile. + +Sec. VI. And do not think I say this as an enemy proclaiming war against +the money-lenders, + + "For never did they lift my cows or horses,"[890] + +but merely to prove to those who too readily borrow money what disgrace +and servitude it brings with it, and what extreme folly and weakness it +is. Have you anything? do not borrow, for you are not in a necessitous +condition. Have you nothing? do not borrow, for you will never be able +to pay back. Let us consider either case separately. Cato said to a +certain old man who was a wicked fellow, "My good sir, why do you add +the shame that comes from wickedness to old age, that has so many +troubles of its own?" So too do you, since poverty has so many troubles +of its own, not add the terrible distress that comes from borrowing +money and from debt; and do not take away from poverty its only +advantage over wealth, its freedom from corroding care. For the proverb +that says, "I cannot carry a goat, put an ox on my shoulder," has a +ridiculous ring. Unable to bear poverty, are you going to put on your +back a money-lender, a weight hard to carry even for a rich man? How +then, will you say, am I to maintain myself? Do you ask this, having two +hands, two legs, and a tongue, in short, being a man, to love and be +loved, to give and receive benefits? Can you not be a schoolmaster or +tutor, or porter, or sailor, or make coasting voyages? Any of these ways +of getting a livelihood is less disgraceful and difficult than to always +have to hear, "Pay me that thou owest." + +Sec. VII. The well-known Rutilius went up to Musonius at Rome, and said to +him, "Musonius, Zeus Soter, whom you imitate and emulate, does not +borrow money." And Musonius smilingly answered, "Neither does he lend." +For you must know Rutilius, himself a lender, was bantering Musonius for +being a borrower. What Stoic inflatedness was all this! What need was +there to bring in Zeus Soter? For all nature teaches the same lesson. +Swallows do not borrow money, nor do ants, although nature has given +them no hands, or reason, or profession. But men have intellect in +excess, and so ingenious are they that they keep near them horses, and +dogs, and partridges, and jackdaws. Why then do you despair, who are as +impressible as a jackdaw, have as much voice as a partridge, and are as +noble as a dog, of getting some person to befriend you, by looking after +him, winning his affections, guarding him, fighting his battles? Do you +not see how many opportunities there are both on land and sea? As Crates +says, + + "Miccylus and his wife, to ward off famine + In these bad times, I saw both carding wool." + +And King Antigonus asked Cleanthes, when he saw him at Athens after a +long interval, "Do you still grind, Cleanthes?" And he replied, "I do, O +king, but for my living, yet so as not to desert philosophy." Such was +the admirable spirit of the man who, coming from the mill and +kneading-trough, wrote with the hand that had baked and ground about the +gods, and the moon, and stars, and the sun. But those kinds of labour +are in our view servile! And so that we may appear free we borrow money, +and flatter and dance attendance on slaves, and give them dinners and +presents, and pay taxes as it were to them, not on account of our +poverty (for no one lends money to a poor man), but from our love of +lavish expenditure. For if we were content with things necessary for +subsistence, the race of money-lenders would be as extinct as Centaurs +and Gorgons are; it is luxury that has created them as much as +goldsmiths, and silversmiths, and perfumers, and dyers in bright +colours. For we do not owe money for bread and wine, but for estates, +and slaves, and mules, and dining-rooms, and tables, and for our lavish +public entertainments, in our unprofitable and thankless ambition. And +he that is once involved in debt remains in it all his time, like a +horse bitted and bridled that takes one rider after another, and there +is no escape to green pastures and meadows, but they wander about like +those demons who were driven out of heaven by the gods who are thus +described by Empedocles:-- + + "Into the sea the force of heaven thrusts them, + The sea rejects them back upon the land; + To the sun's rays th' unresting earth remits them; + The sun anon whirls them to heaven again." + +So one after another usurer or trader gets hold of the poor wretch, +hailing either from Corinth, or Patrae, or Athens, till he gets set on to +by them all, and torn to bits, and cut into mince-meat as it were for +his interest. For as a person who is fallen into the mire must either +get up out of it or remain in it, and if he turns about in it, and +wallows in it, and bedabbles his body all over in it, he contracts only +the greater defilement, so by borrowing from one person to pay another +and changing their money-lenders they contract and incur fresh interest, +and get into greater liabilities, and closely resemble sufferers from +cholera, whose case does not admit of cure because they evacuate +everything they are ordered to take, and so ever add to the disease. So +these will not get cleansed from the disease of debt, but at regular +times in the year pay their interest with pain and agony, and then +immediately another creditor presents his little account, so again their +heads swim and ache, when they ought to have got rid of their debts +altogether, and regained their freedom. + +Sec. VIII. I now turn my attention to those who are rich and luxurious, and +use language like the following, "Am I then to go without slaves and +hearth and home?" As if any dropsical person, whose body was greatly +swollen and who was very weak, should say to his doctor, "Am I then to +become lean and empty?" And why not, to get well? And do you too go +without a slave, not to be a slave yourself; and without chattels, not +to be another man's chattel. Listen to a story about two vultures; one +was vomiting and saying it would bring its inside up, and the other who +was by said, "What harm if you do? For it won't be your inside you bring +up, but that dead body we devoured lately." And so any debtor does not +sell his own estate, or his own house, but his creditor's, for he has +made him by law master of them. Nay, but by Zeus, says one, my father +left me this field. Yes, and your father also left you liberty and a +status in the community, which you ought to value more than you do. And +your father begot you with hand and foot, but should either of them +mortify, you pay the surgeon to cut it off. Thus Calypso clad and +"dressed" Odysseus "in raiment smelling sweet,"[891] like the body of an +immortal, as a gift and token of her affection for him; but when his +vessel was upset and he himself immersed, and owing to this wet and +heavy raiment could hardly keep himself on the top of the waves, he +threw it off and stripped himself, and covered his naked breast with +Ino's veil,[892] and "swam for it gazing on the distant shore,"[893] and +so saved his life, and lacked neither food nor raiment. What then? have +not poor debtors storms, when the money-lender stands over them and +says, _Pay_? + + "Thus spoke Poseidon, and the clouds did gather, + And lashed the sea to fury, and at once + Eurus and Notus and the stormy Zephyr + Blew all together."[894] + +Thus interest rolls on interest as wave upon wave, and he that is +involved in debt struggles against the load that bears him down, but +cannot swim away and escape, but sinks to the bottom, and carries with +him to ruin his friends that have gone security for him. But Crates the +Theban, though he had neither duns nor debts, and was only disgusted at +the distracting cares of housekeeping, gave up a property worth eight +talents, and assumed the philosopher's threadbare cloak and wallet, and +took refuge in philosophy and poverty. And Anaxagoras left his +sheep-farm. But why need I mention these? since the lyric poet +Philoxenus, obtaining by lot in a Sicilian colony much substance and a +house abounding in every kind of comfort, but finding that luxury and +pleasure and absence of refinement was the fashion there, said, "By the +gods these comforts shall not undo me, I will give them up," and he left +his lot to others, and sailed home again. But debtors have to put up +with being dunned, subjected to tribute, suffering slavery, passing +debased coin, and like Phineus, feeding certain winged Harpies, who +carry off and lay violent hands on their food, not at the proper season, +for they get possession of their debtors' corn before it is sown, and +they traffic for oil before the olives are ripe; and the money-lender +says, "I have wine at such and such a price," and takes a bond for it, +when the grapes are yet on the vine waiting for Arcturus to ripen them. + + [881] Page 844, A. B. C. + + [882] Reading with Wyttenbach [Greek: didousi] and + [Greek: echousi]. + + [883] See Livy, v. 25. + + [884] See Appian, lv. 26. + + [885] See Herodotus, vii. 141-143; viii. 51. + + [886] Reading with Reiske [Greek: katachrusa]. + + [887] The technical term for submission to an enemy. See + Pausanias, iii. 12; x. 20. Herodotus, v. 17, 18; vii. + 133. + + [888] Reading with Reiske [Greek: daneistais]. Perhaps + [Greek: aphanistais] originally came after [Greek: + agriois], and got somehow displaced. + + [889] See Homer, "Odyssey," xi. 578, 579, and context. + + [890] Homer, "Iliad," i. 154. + + [891] "Odyssey," v. 264. + + [892] "Odyssey," v. 333-375. + + [893] "Odyssey," v. 439. + + [894] "Odyssey," v. 291-295. + + + + +WHETHER "LIVE UNKNOWN" BE A WISE +PRECEPT. + + +Sec. I. He who uttered this precept[895] certainly did not wish to live +unknown, for he uttered it to let all the world know he was a superior +thinker, and to get to himself unjust glory by exhorting others to shun +glory. + + "I hate the wise man for himself not wise."[896] + +They say that Philoxenus the son of Eryxis and Gnatho the Sicilian, +being exceedingly greedy where good fare was going, would blow their +nose in the dishes, to disgust all others at the table, that they alone +might take their fill of the choicest dishes. So those that are +insatiable pursuers of glory calumniate glory to others who are their +rivals, that they may get it without antagonists. In this they resemble +rowers, who face the stern of the vessel but propel it ahead, that by +the recoil from the stroke of their oars they may reach port, so those +that give vent to precepts like this pursue glory with their face turned +in the opposite direction. For otherwise what need was there to utter a +precept like this, or to write and hand it down to posterity, if he +wished to live unknown to his own generation, who did not wish to live +unknown to posterity? + +Sec. II. Look at the matter in the following way.[897] Has not that "live +unknown" a villainous ring, as though one had broken open graves? Is +your life so disgraceful that we must all be ignorant of it? For my part +I should say, Even if your life be bad do not live unknown, but be +known, reform, repent; if you have virtue, be not utterly useless in +life; if you are vicious, do not continue unreformed. Point out then and +define to whom you recommend this precept. If to an ignorant or wicked +or senseless person, you resemble one who should say to a person in a +fever or delirium, "Be unknown. Don't let the doctor know your +condition. Go and throw yourself into some dark place, that you and your +ailments may be unknown." So you say to a vicious man, "Go off with your +vice, and hide your deadly and irremediable disease from your friends, +fearful to show your superstitious fears, palpitations as it were, to +those who could admonish you and cure you." Our remote ancestors paid +public attention to the sick, and if any one had either had or cured a +similar complaint, he communicated his experience to the patient, and so +they say medical art became great by these contributions from +experience. We ought also in the same way to expose to everyone diseased +lives and the passions of the soul, and to handle them, and to examine +the condition of each,[898] and say, Are you a passionate man? Be on +your guard against anger. Are you of a jealous turn? Look to it. Are you +in love? I myself was in love once, but I had to repent. But nowadays +people deny and conceal and cloak their vices, and so fix them deeper in +themselves. + +Sec. III. Moreover if you advise men of worth to live unknown and in +obscurity, you say to Epaminondas, Do not be a general; and to Lycurgus, +Do not be a legislator; and to Thrasybulus, Do not be a tyrannicide; and +to Pythagoras, Do not teach; and to Socrates, Do not discourse; and +first and foremost you bid yourself, Epicurus, to refrain from writing +letters to your friends in Asia, and from enrolling Egyptian strangers +among your disciples, and from dancing attendance on the youths of +Lampsacus, and sending books to all quarters to display your wisdom to +all men and all women, and leaving directions in your will about your +funeral. What is the meaning of those common tables of yours? what that +crowd of friends and handsome youths? Why those many thousand lines +written and composed so laboriously on Metrodorus, and Aristobulus, and +Chaeredemus, that they may not be unknown even in death, if[899] you +ordain for virtue oblivion, for art inactivity, for philosophy silence, +and for success that it should be speedily forgotten? + +Sec. IV. But if you exclude all knowledge about life, like putting the +lights out at a supper party, that you may go from pleasure to pleasure +undetected,[900] then "live unknown." Certainly if I am going to pass my +life with the harlot Hedeia, or my days with Leontium, and spurn at +virtue, and put my _summum bonum_ in sensual gratifications, these are +ends that require darkness and night, on these oblivion and ignorance +are rightly cast. But if any one in nature sings the praises of the +deity and justice and providence, and in morals upholds the law and +society and the constitution, and in the constitution what is honourable +and not expedient, why should he "live unknown"? Is it that he should +instruct nobody, inspire in nobody an emulation for virtue, and be to +nobody a pattern in good?[901] Had Themistocles been unknown at Athens, +Greece would not have repelled Xerxes; had Camillus been unknown at +Rome, Rome would not have remained a state; had Plato been unknown to +Dion, Sicily would not have won its freedom. And as light, I take it, +makes us not only visible but useful to one another, so knowledge gives +not only glory but impetus to virtue. Epaminondas in obscurity up to his +fortieth year was no use to the Thebans, but when his merits became +known and he was put into power, he saved his state from ruin, and +liberated Greece from slavery, making his abilities efficacious in +emergency through his reputation like the bright shining of a light. For +Sophocles' words, + + "Brightly shines brass in use, but when unused + It groweth dull in time, and mars the house,"[902] + +are also appropriate to the character of a man, which gets rusty and +senile by not mixing in affairs but living in obscurity. For mute +inglorious ease, and a sedentary life devoted to leisure, not only +injure the body but also the soul: and as hidden waters overshadowed and +stagnant get foul because they have no outlet, so the innate powers of +unruffled lives, that neither imbibe nor pass on anything, even if they +had any useful element in them once, seem to be effete and wasted. + +Sec. V. Have you never noticed how when night comes on a tired languor +seizes the body, and inactive torpor overpowers the soul, and reason +shrinks within itself like a fire going out, and feeling quite worn out +is gently agitated by disordered fancies, only just indicating that the +man is alive? But when the sun rises and scares away deceitful dreams, +and brings on as it were the everyday world[903] and with its light +rouses and stimulates the thoughts and actions of everybody, then, as +Democritus says, "men form new ideas for the day," and betake themselves +to their various pursuits with mutual impetuosity, as if drawn by a +strong impulse. + +Sec. VI. And I think that life itself, and the way we come into the world, +is so ordained by the deity that we should know one another. For +everyone comes into this great universe obscure and unknown casually and +by degrees, but when he mixes with his fellows and grows to maturity he +shines forth, and becomes well-known instead of obscure, and conspicuous +instead of unknown. For knowledge is not the road to being, as some say, +but being to knowledge, for being does not create but only exhibits +things, as death is not the reducing of existence to non-existence, but +rather the result of dissolution is obscurity. So people considering the +Sun as Apollo according to hereditary and ancient institutions, call him +Delius[904] and Pythius; whereas the lord of the world of darkness, +whether god or demon, they call Hades[905] (for when we die we go into +an unseen and invisible place), and the lord of dark night and idle +sleep. And I think our ancestors called man himself by a word meaning +light,[906] because by their relationship to light all have implanted in +them a strong and vehement desire to know and to be known. And some +philosophers think that the soul itself is light in its essence, +inferring so on other grounds and because it can least endure ignorance +about facts, and hates[907] everything obscure, and is disturbed at +everything dark, which inspires fear and suspicion in it, whereas light +is so dear and welcome to it that it thinks nothing otherwise delightful +bearable without it, as indeed light makes every pleasure pastime and +enjoyment gay and cheerful, like the application of some sweet and +general flavour. But the man who thrusts himself into obscurity, and +wraps himself up in darkness and buries himself alive, is like one who +is dissatisfied with his birth, and renounces his being. + +Sec. VII. And yet _Pindar_ tells us[908] that the abode of the blest is a +glorious existence, where the sun shines bright through the entire night +in meadows red with roses, an extensive plain full of shady trees ever +in bloom never in fruit, watered by gentle purling streams, and there +the blest ones pass their time away in thinking and talking about the +past and present in social converse....[909] But the third road is of +those who have lived unholy and lawless lives, that thrusts their souls +to Erebus and the bottomless pit, where sluggish streams of murky night +belch forth endless darkness, which receive those that are to be +punished and conceal them in forgetfulness and oblivion. For vultures do +not always prey on the liver of wicked persons lying on the ground,[910] +for it is destroyed by fire or has rolled away; nor does the carrying of +heavy burdens press upon and tire out the bodies of those that undergo +punishment, + + "For their strength has no longer flesh and bones,"[911] + +nor have the dead any vestige of body that can receive the infliction of +punishment that can make impression; but in reality the only punishment +of those who have lived ill is infamy and obscurity and utter +annihilation, which hurries them off to the dark river of oblivion,[912] +and plunges them into the abyss of a fathomless sea, involving them in +uselessness and idleness, ignorance and obscurity. + + [895] Probably Epicurus, as we infer from the very + personal Sec. iii. + + [896] Euripides, Fragm. 930. + + [897] Reading with Wyttenbach, [Greek: Alla touto men + taute]. + + [898] Reading [Greek: ekastou] for [Greek: ekaston]. + Reiske proposed [Greek: ekaston]. + + [899] Reading [Greek: ei] (for [Greek: hina]) with + Xylander and Wyttenbach. + + [900] Reading with Wyttenbach. + + [901] Adopting the suggestion of Wyttenbach, "Forte + [Greek: kalou], at Amiot." + + [902] Frag. 742. + + [903] "Dormiens quisque in peculiarem abest mumdum, + expergefactus in communem redit."--_Xylander._ Compare + Herrick's Poem, "_Dreames._" + + [904] Bright. + + [905] Invisible. + + [906] [Greek: phos]. + + [907] Reading with Wyttenbach [Greek: echthairei]. + + [908] Reading [Greek: phesin] for [Greek: physin]. + + [909] Hiatus hic valde deflendus. + + [910] As was fabled about Tityus, "Odyssey," xi. + 576-579. + + [911] "Odyssey," xi. 219. + + [912] So Reiske, [Greek: potamin tes lethes]. + + + + +ON EXILE. + + +Sec. I. They say those discourses, like friends, are best and surest that +come to our refuge and aid in adversity, and are useful. For many who +come forward do more harm than good in the remarks they make to the +unfortunate, as people unable to swim trying to rescue the drowning get +entangled with them and sink to the bottom together. Now the discourse +that ought to come from friends and people disposed to be helpful should +be consolation, and not mere assent with a man's sad feelings. For we do +not in adverse circumstances need people to weep and wail with us like +choruses in a tragedy, but people to speak plainly to us and instruct +us, that grief and dejection of mind are in all cases useless and idle +and senseless; and that where the circumstances themselves, when +examined by the light of reason, enable a man to say to himself that his +trouble is greater in fancy than in reality, it is quite ridiculous not +to inquire of the body what it has suffered, nor of the mind if it is +any the worse for what has happened, but to employ external sympathizers +to teach us what our grief is. + +Sec. II. Therefore let us examine alone by ourselves the weight of our +misfortunes, as if they were burdens. For the body is weighed down by +the burden of what presses on it, but the soul often adds to the real +load a burden of its own. A stone is naturally hard, and ice naturally +cold, but they do not receive these properties and impressions from +without; whereas with regard to exile and loss of reputation or honours, +as also with regard to their opposites, as crowns and office and +position, it is not their own intrinsic nature but our opinion of them +that is the gauge of their real joy or sorrow, so that each person makes +them for himself light or heavy, easy to bear or hard to bear. When +Polynices was asked + + "What is't to be an exile? Is it grievous?" + +he replied to the question, + + "Most grievous, and in deed worse than in word."[913] + +Compare with this the language of Alcman, as the poet has represented +him in the following lines. "Sardis, my father's ancient home, had I had +the fortune to be reared in thee, I should have been dressed in gold as +a priest of Cybele,[914] and beaten the fine drums; but as it is my name +is Alcman, and I am a citizen of Sparta, and I have learned to write +Greek poetry, which makes me greater than the tyrants Dascyles or +Gyges." Thus the very same thing one man's opinion makes good, like +current coin, and another's bad and injurious. + +Sec. III. But let it be granted that exile is, as many say and sing, a +grievous thing. So some food is bitter, and sharp, and biting to the +taste, yet by an admixture with it of sweet and agreeable food we take +away its unpleasantness. There are also some colours unpleasant to look +at, that quite confuse and dazzle us by their intensity and excessive +force. If then we can relieve this by a mixture of shadow, or by +diverting the eye to green or some agreeable colour, so too can we deal +with misfortunes, mixing up with them the advantages and pleasant things +we still enjoy, as wealth, or friends, or leisure, and no deficiency in +what is necessary for our subsistence. For I do not think that there are +many natives of Sardis who would not choose your fortune even with +exile, and be content to live as you do in a strange land, rather than, +like snails who have no other home than their shells, enjoy no other +blessing but staying at home in ease. + +Sec. IV. As then he in the comedy that was exhorting an unfortunate friend +to take courage and bear up against fortune, when he asked him "how," +answered "as a philosopher," so may we also play the philosopher's part +and bear up against fortune manfully. How do we do when it rains, or +when the North Wind doth blow? We go to the fire, or the baths, or the +house, or put on another coat: we don't sit down in the rain and cry. So +too can you more than most revive and cheer yourself for the chill of +adversity, not standing in need of outward aid, but sensibly using your +actual advantages. The surgeon's cupping-glasses extract the worst +humours from the body to relieve and preserve the rest of it, whereas +the melancholy and querulous by ever dwelling on their worst +circumstances, and thinking only of them, and being engrossed by their +troubles, make even useful things useless to them, at the very time when +the need is most urgent. For as to those two jars, my friend, that +Homer[915] says are stored in Heaven, one full of good fortunes, one of +bad, it is not Zeus that presides as the dispenser of them, giving to +some a gentle and even portion, and to others unmixed streams of evils, +but ourselves. For the sensible make their life pleasanter and more +endurable by mitigating their sorrows with the consideration of their +blessings, while most people, like sieves, let the worst things stick to +them while the best pass through. + +Sec. V. And so, if we fall into any real trouble or evil, we ought to get +cheerfulness and ease of mind from the consideration of the actual +blessings that are still left to us, mitigating outward trouble by +private happiness. And as to those things which are not really evil in +their nature, but only so from imagination and empty fancy, we must act +as we do with children who are afraid of masks: by bringing them near, +and putting them in their hands, and turning them about, we accustom +them never to heed them at all: and so we by bringing reason to bear on +it may discover the rottenness and emptiness and exaggeration of our +fancy. As a case in point let us take your present exile from what you +deem your country. For in nature no country, or house, or field, or +smithy, as Aristo said, or surgery, is peculiarly ours, but all such +things exist or rather take their name in connection with the person who +dwells in them or possesses them. For man, as Plato says, is not an +earthly and immovable but heavenly plant, the head making the body erect +as from a root, and turned up to heaven.[916] And so Hercules said well, + + "Argive or Theban am I, I vaunt not + To be of one town only, every tower + That does to Greece belong, that is my country." + +But better still said Socrates, that he was not an Athenian or Greek, +but a citizen of the world (as a man might say he was a Rhodian or +Corinthian), for he did not confine himself to Sunium, or Taenarum, or +the Ceraunian mountains. + + "See you the boundless reach of sky above, + And how it holds the earth in its soft arms?" + +These are the boundaries of our country, nor is there either exile or +stranger or foreigner in these, where there is the same fire, water and +air, the same rulers controllers and presidents, the sun the moon and +the morning star, the same laws to all, under one appointment and +ordinance the summer and winter solstices, the equinoxes, Pleias and +Arcturus, the seasons of sowing and planting; where there is one king +and ruler, God, who has under his jurisdiction the beginning and middle +and end of everything, and travels round and does everything in a +regular way in accordance with nature; and in his wake to punish all +transgressions of the divine law follows Justice, whom all men naturally +invoke in dealing with one another as fellow citizens. + +Sec. VI. As to your not dwelling at Sardis, that is nothing. Neither do all +the Athenians dwell at Colyttus, nor all the Corinthians at Craneum, nor +all the Lacedaemonians at Pitane. Do you consider all those Athenians +strangers and exiles who removed from Melita to Diomea, where they call +the month Metageitnion,[917] and keep the festival Metageitnia to +commemorate their migration, and gladly and gaily accept and are content +with their neighbourhood with other people? Surely you would not. What +part of the inhabited world or of the whole earth is very far distant +from another part, seeing that mathematicians teach us that the whole +earth is a mere point compared to heaven? But we, like ants or bees, if +we get banished from one ant-hill or hive are in sore distress and feel +lost, not knowing or having learnt to make and consider all things our +own, as indeed they are. And yet we laugh at the stupidity of one who +asserts that the moon shines brighter at Athens than at Corinth, though +in a sort we are in the same case ourselves, when in a strange land we +look on the earth, the sea, the air, the sky, as if we doubted whether +or not they were different from those we had been accustomed to. For +nature makes us free and unrestrained, but we bind and confine immure +and force ourselves into small and scanty space. Then too we laugh at +the Persian kings, who, if the story be true, drink only of the water of +the Choaspes, thus making the rest of the world waterless as far as they +are concerned, but when we migrate to other places, we desire the water +of the Cephisus, or we yearn for the Eurotas, or Taygetus, or Parnassus, +and so make the whole world for ourselves houseless and homeless. + +Sec. VII. Some Egyptians, who migrated to Ethiopia because of the anger and +wrath of their king, to those who begged them to return to their wives +and children very immodestly exposed their persons, saying that they +would never be in want of wives or children while so provided. It is far +more becoming and less low to say that whoever has the good fortune to +be provided with the few necessaries of life is nowhere a stranger, +nowhere without home and hearth, only he must have besides these +prudence and sense, as an anchor and helm, that he may be able to moor +himself in any harbour. For a person indeed who has lost his wealth it +is not easy quickly to get another fortune, but every city is at once +his country to the man who knows how to make it such, and has the roots +by which he can live and thrive and get acclimatized in every place, as +was the case with Themistocles and Demetrius of Phalerum. The latter +after his banishment became a great friend of Ptolemy at Alexandria, and +not only passed his days in abundance, but also sent gifts to the +Athenians. And Themistocles, who was publicly entertained at the king's +expense, is stated to have said to his wife and children, "We should +have been ruined, if we had not been ruined." And so Diogenes the Cynic +to the person who said to him, "The people of Sinope have condemned you +to banishment from Pontus," replied, "And I have condemned them to stay +in Pontus, 'by the high cliffs of the inhospitable sea.'"[918] And +Stratonicus asked his host at Seriphus, for what offence exile was the +appointed punishment, and being told that they punished rogues by exile, +said, "Why then are not you a rogue, to escape from this hole of a +place?" For the comic poet says they get their crop of figs down there +with slings, and that the island is very barely supplied with the +necessaries of life. + +Sec. VIII. For if you look at the real facts and shun idle fancy, he that +has one city is a stranger and foreigner in all others. For it does not +seem to such a one fair and just to leave his own city and dwell in +another. "It has been your lot to be a citizen of Sparta, see that you +adorn your native city," whether it be inglorious, or unhealthy, or +disturbed with factions, or has its affairs in disorder. But the person +whom fortune has deprived of his own city, she allows to make his home +in any he fancies. That was an excellent precept of Pythagoras, "Choose +the best kind of life, custom will make it easy." So too it is wise and +profitable to say here, "Choose the best and pleasantest city, time will +make it your country, and a country that will not always distract you +and trouble you and give you various orders such as, 'Contribute so much +money, Go on an embassy to Rome, Entertain the prefect, Perform public +duties.'" If a person in his senses and not altogether silly were to +think of these things, he would prefer to live in exile in some island, +like Gryarus or Cinarus, + + "Savage, and fruitless, ill repaying tillage," + +and that not in dejection and wailing, or using the language of those +women in Simonides, + + "I am shut in by the dark roaring sea + That foams all round," + +but he will rather be of the mind of Philip, who when he was thrown in +wrestling, and turned round, and noticed the mark his body made in the +dust, said, "O Hercules, what a little part of the earth I have by +nature, though I desire all the world!" + +Sec. IX. I think also you have seen Naxos, or at any rate Hyria, which is +close here. But the former was the home of Ephialtes and Otus, and the +latter was the dwelling-place of Orion. And Alcmaeon, when fleeing from +the Furies, so the poets tell us, dwelt in a place recently formed by +the silting of the Achelous;[919] but I think he chose that little spot +to dwell in ease and quiet, merely to avoid political disturbances and +factions, and those furies informers. And the Emperor Tiberius lived the +last seven years of his life in the island of Capreae, and the sacred +governing power of the world enclosed in his breast during all that time +never changed its abode. But the incessant and constant cares of empire, +coming from all sides, made not that island repose of his pure and +complete. But he who can disembark on a small island, and get rid of +great troubles, is a miserable man, if he cannot often say and sing to +himself those lines of Pindar, "To love the slender cypress, and to +leave the Cretan pastures lying near Ida. I have but little land, where +I grow strong, and have nothing to do with sorrow or faction,"[920] or +the ordinances of princes, or public duties in political emergencies, or +state functions hard to get off. + +Sec. X. For if that seems a good saying of Callimachus, "Do not measure +wisdom by a Persian rope," much less should we measure happiness by +ropes and parasangs, and if we inhabit an island containing 200 furlongs +only, and not (like Sicily) four days' sail round, ought we to wail and +lament as if we were very unfortunate? For how does plenty of room bring +about an easy life? Have you not heard Tantalus saying in the play,[921] + + "I sow a field that takes twelve days to travel round, + The Berecyntian region," + +but shortly after he says, + + "My fortunes, that were once as high as heaven, + Now to the ground are fallen, and do say to me, + 'Learn not to make too much of earthly things.'" + +And Nausithous leaving the spacious Hyperia because of the proximity of +the Cyclopes, and migrating to an island "far from all enterprising +men,"[922] and living an unsocial life, + + "Apart from men beside the stormy sea,"[923] + +yet contrived to make the life of his citizens very pleasant. And the +Cyclades were first inhabited by the sons of Minos, and afterwards by +the sons of Codrus and Neleus, though foolish people now think they are +punished if they are exiled to them. And yet what island used as a place +of exile is not of larger extent than Scillus, where Xenophon after his +military service saw a comfortable old age?[924] And the Academy, a +small place bought for only 3,000 drachmae,[925] was the domicile of +Plato and Xenocrates and Polemo, who taught and lived there all their +lives, except one day every year, when Xenocrates went to Athens to +grace the festival of Dionysus, so they said, and to see the new plays +exhibited. And Theocritus of Chios twitted Aristotle with loving to live +at the courts of Philip and Alexander, and preferring to dwell at the +mouth of the Borborus to dwelling in the Academy. For there is a river +near Pella that the Macedonians call Borborus. As to islands Homer seems +to sing their praise, and recommend them to us as if on purpose, as + + "She came to Lemnos, town of sacred Thoas;"[926] + +and, + + "What Lesbos has, the seat of the immortals;"[927] + +and, + + "He captured lofty Scyros, citadel + Of Enyeus;"[928] + +and, + + "And those who from Dulichium came, and from + The sacred islands called th' Echinades, + That lie across the sea opposite Elis;"[929] + +and of the illustrious men that dwelt in islands he mentions AEolus the +favourite of the gods, and Odysseus most wise, and Ajax most brave, and +Alcinous most kind to strangers. + +Sec. XI. When Zeno learned that the only ship he had left was with all its +freight lost at sea, he said, "Fortune, you deal kindly with me, +confining me to my threadbare cloak and the life of a philosopher." And +a man not altogether silly, or madly in love with crowds, might, I +think, not blame fortune for confining him in an island, but might even +praise her for relieving him from weariness and anxiety, and wanderings +in foreign countries, and perils by sea, and the uproar of the forum, +and for giving him truly a secure, quiet, undistracted and private life, +putting him as it were inside a circle in which everything necessary for +him was contained. For what island has not a house, a promenade, a bath, +and fish and hares for those who love fishing and field-sports? And the +greatest blessing, quiet, which others frequently pant for, you can +freely enjoy.[930] And whereas in the world,[930] when men are playing +at dice or otherwise enjoying the privacy of their homes, informers and +busybodies hunt them up and pursue them from their houses and gardens in +the suburbs, and drag them by force to the forum and court, in an island +no one comes to bother one or dun one or to borrow money, or to beg one +to be surety for him or canvass for him: only one's best friends and +intimates come to visit one out of good will and affection, and the rest +of one's life is a sort of holy retirement to whoever wishes or has +learnt to live the life of leisure. But he who thinks those happy who +are always scouring the country, and pass most of their lives in inns +and ferryboats, is like a person who thinks the planets happier than +fixed stars. And yet every planet keeps its order, rolling in one +sphere, as in an island. For, as Heraclitus says, the sun will never +deviate from its bounds, for if it did, the Furies, who are the +ministers of Justice, would find it out. + +Sec. XII. Let us use such and similar language, my friend, and harp upon +it, to those who are banished to an island, and are debarred all access +with others + + "By the sea waves, which many keep apart."[931] + +But you who are not tied down to one spot, but only forbidden to live in +one, have by that prohibition liberty to go to all others. Moreover to +the considerations, I am not in office, or a member of the senate, or an +umpire in the games, you may oppose these, I do not belong to any +faction, I have no large sums to spend, I have not to dance attendance +at the doors of the prefect, it is no odds to me who has got by lot the +province, whether he is hot-tempered or an objectionable person. But +just as Archilochus overlooked the fruitful fields and vineyards of +Thasos, and abused that island as rocky and uneven, and said of it, + + "It stands like donkey's chine crowned with wild forest," + +so we, fixing our eyes only on one aspect of exile, its inglorious +state, overlook its freedom from cares, its leisure, its liberty. And +yet people thought the kings of Persia happy, because they passed their +winter in Babylon, their summer in Media, and the pleasant season of +spring at Susa. So can the exile be present at the Eleusinian mysteries, +at the festival of Dionysus at Athens, at the Nemean games at Argos, at +the Pythian games at Delphi, and can pass on and be a spectator of the +Isthmian and Corinthian games, if he is fond of sight-seeing; and if +not, he has leisure, can walk about, read, sleep without being +disturbed, and can say like Diogenes, "Aristotle has to dine when Philip +thinks fit, Diogenes can dine at any time he himself chooses," having no +business, or magistrate, or prefect, to put him out of his general +habits of living. + +Sec. XIII. And so it is that you will find few of the wisest and most +intelligent men buried in their own countries, but most (even without +any compulsion) have themselves weighed anchor, and transferred their +course, and removed, some to Athens, some from it. For who ever bestowed +such encomium upon his country as Euripides did in the following lines? + + "First we are not a race brought in from other parts, + But are indigenous, when all other cities + Are, draughts-men like, transferred from place to place, + And are imported from elsewhere. And, lady, + If it is not beside the mark to boast, + We have above us a well-tempered sky, + A climate not too hot, nor yet too cold. + And all the finest things in Greece or Asia + We do procure as an attraction here."[932] + +And yet the author of these lines went to Macedonia, and lived all the +latter part of his life at the court of Archelaus. And of course you +have heard the following epitaph; + + "Here lies Euphorion's son, Athenian AEschylus, + To whom death came in corn-producing Gela." + +For he, like Simonides before him, went to Sicily. And many have changed +the commencing words of Herodotus, "This is the setting forth of the +history of Herodotus of Halicarnassus" into "Herodotus of Thurii." For +he migrated to Thurii, and participated in that colony. As to the divine +and sacred spirit of the Muses, the poet of the Trojan war, Homer, did +not many cities claim him as theirs, because he did not cry up one city +only? And Hospitable Zeus has many great honours. + +Sec. XIV. And if anyone shall say that these pursued glory and honour, go +to the philosophers, and their schools and lectures, consider those at +the Lyceum, the Academy, the Porch, the Palladium, the Odeum. If you +admire and prefer the Peripatetic school, Aristotle was a native of +Stagira, Theophrastus of Eresus, Strato of Lampsacus, Glyco of Troas, +Aristo of Ceos, Critolaus of Phaselis. If you prefer the Stoic school, +Zeno was a native of Cittium, Cleanthes of Assus, Chrysippus of Soli, +Diogenes of Babylon, Antipater of Tarsus; and the Athenian Archidemus +migrated to the country of the Parthians, and left at Babylon a +succession of the Stoic school. Who exiled these men? Nobody; it was +their own pursuit of quiet, of which no one who is famous or powerful +can get much at home, that made them teach us this by their practice, +while they taught us other things by their precepts. And even nowadays +most excellent and renowned persons live in strange lands, not in +consequence of being expelled or banished, but at their own option, to +avoid business and distracting cares, and the want of leisure which +their own country would bring them. For it seems to me that the Muses +aided our old writers to complete their finest and most esteemed works +by calling in exile as a fellow-worker. Thus Thucydides the Athenian +wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the +Athenians in Thrace near the forest of Scapte, Xenophon wrote at Scillus +in Elis, Philistus in Epirus, Timaeus of Tauromenium at Athens, Androtion +of Athens at Megara, and Bacchylides the poet[933] in Peloponnesus. All +these and many more, though exiled from their country, did not despair +or give themselves up to dejection, but so happy was their disposition +that they considered exile a resource given them by fortune, whereby +they obtained universal fame after their deaths, whereas no memorial is +left of those who were factious against them and banished them. + +Sec. XV. He therefore is ridiculous who thinks that any ignominy attaches +itself to exile. What say you? Was Diogenes without glory, whom +Alexander saw basking in the sun, and stopped to ask if he wanted +anything, and when he answered, "Nothing, but that you would get a +little out of my light," Alexander, astonished at his spirit, said to +his friends, "If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." Was +Camillus without glory when banished from Rome, of which he is now +accounted the second founder? And indeed Themistocles did not lose by +his exile the glory he had obtained among the Greeks, but he added to it +among the barbarians, and there is no one so without honour, so ignoble, +who would prefer to be Leobates who indicted him rather than +Themistocles the exile, or Clodius who banished Cicero rather than the +banished one, or Aristophon the accuser rather than Timotheus who got +driven by him from his country. + +Sec. XVI. But since a good many are moved by the lines of Euripides, who +seems to bring a strong indictment against exile, let us see what it is +he says in each question and answer about it. + + _Jocasta._ What is't to be an exile? Is it grievous? + + _Polynices._ Most grievous, and in deed worse than in word. + + _Jocasta._ What is its aspect? What is hard for exiles? + + _Polynices._ This is the greatest, that they have no freedom. + + _Jocasta._ This is a slave's life not to speak one's thoughts! + + _Polynices._ Then one must put up with one's masters' follies.[934] + +But this is not a right or true estimate.[935] For first of all, not to +say out all one thinks is not the action of a slave but of a sensible +man, in times and matters that require reticence and silence, as +Euripides himself has said elsewhere better, + + "Be silent where 'tis meet, speak where 'tis safe." + +Then as for the follies of one's masters, one has to put up with them +just as much in one's own country as in exile. Indeed, more frequently +have the former reason to fear that the powerful in cities will act +unjustly to them either through calumny or violence. But his greatest +and absurdest error is that he takes away from exiles freedom of speech. +It is wonderful, if Theodorus had no freedom of speech, that when +Lysimachus the king said to him, "Did not your country cast you out +because of your character?" replied, "Yes, as Semele cast out Dionysus, +when unable to bear him any longer." And when he showed him Telesphorus +in a cage,[936] with his eyes scooped out, and his nose and ears and +tongue cut off, and said to him, "This is how I treat those that act ill +to me." * *[937] And had not Diogenes freedom of speech, who, when he +visited Philip's camp just as he was on the eve of offering battle to +the Greeks, and was taken before the king as a spy, told him he had come +to see his insatiable folly, who was going shortly to stake his +dominions and life on a mere die. And did not Hannibal the Carthaginian +use freedom of speech to Antiochus, though he was an exile, and +Antiochus a king? For as a favourable occasion presented itself he urged +the king to attack the enemy, and when after sacrifice he reported that +the entrails forbade it, Hannibal chided him and said, "You listen +rather to what flesh tells you than to the instruction of a man of +experience." Nor does exile deprive geometricians or grammarians of +their freedom of speech, or prevent their discussing what they know and +have learnt. Why should it then good and worthy men? It is meanness +everywhere that stops a man's speech, ties and gags his tongue, and +forces him to be silent. But what are the next lines of Euripides? + + _Jocasta._ Hopes feed the hearts of exiles, so they say. + + _Polynices._ Hopes have a flattering smile, but still delay.[938] + +But this is an accusation against folly rather than exile. For it is not +those who have learnt and know how to enjoy the present, but those who +ever hang on the future, and hope after what they have not, that float +as it were on hope as on a raft, though they never get beyond the +walls.[939] + + _Jocasta._ But did your father's friends do nothing for you? + + _Polynices._ Be fortunate! Friends are no use in trouble. + + _Jocasta._ Did not your good birth better your condition? + + _Polynices._ 'Tis bad to want. Birth brought no bread to me.[940] + +But it was ungrateful in Polynices thus to rail against exile as +discrediting his good birth and robbing him of friends, for it was on +account of his good birth that he was deemed worthy of a royal bride +though an exile, and he came to fight supported by a band of friends and +allies, a great force, as he himself admits a little later, + + "Many of the princes of the Danai + And from Mycenae are with me, bestowing + A sad but necessary kindness on me."[941] + + +Nor was there any more justice in the lament of his +mother:-- + + "I never lit for you the nuptial torch + In marriage customary, nor did Ismenus + Furnish you with the usual solemn bath."[942] + +She ought to have been pleased and content to hear that her son dwelt in +such a palace _as that at Argos_, and in lamenting that the nuptial +torch was not lit, and that he had not had the usual bath in the river +Ismenus, as though there was no water or fire at Argos for wedded +people, she lays on exile the evils really caused by pride and +stupidity. + +Sec. XVII. But exile, you will say, is a matter of reproach. It may be +among fools, who also jeer at the beggar, the bald man, the dwarf, aye, +and even the stranger and resident alien. But those who are not carried +away in that manner admire good men, whether they are poor, or strangers +or exiles. Do we not see that all men adore the temple of Theseus as +well as the Parthenon and Eleusinium? And yet Theseus was an exile from +Athens, though it was owing to him that Athens is now inhabited, and he +was banished from a city which he did not merely dwell in, but had +himself built. And what glory is left to Eleusis, if we are ashamed of +Eumolpus, who migrated from Thrace, and taught the Greeks (as he still +teaches them) the mysteries? And who was the father of Codrus that +reigned at Athens? Was it not Melanthus, an exile from Messene? And do +you not praise the answer of Antisthenes to the person who told him that +his mother was a Phrygian, "So also is the mother of the gods." If you +are twitted then with exile, why do you not answer, "The father of the +glorious victor Hercules was an exile." And Cadmus, the grandfather of +Dionysus, when he was sent from home to find Europa, and never came +back, "though a Phoenician born he changed his country,"[943] and +migrated to Thebes, and became[944] the grandfather of "Dionysus, who +rejoices in the cry of Evoe, the exciter of women, who delights in +frantic honours." As for what AEschylus obscurely hints at in the line, + + "Apollo the chaste god, exile from heaven," + +let me keep a religious silence, as Herodotus[945] says. And Empedocles +commences his system of philosophy as follows, "It is an ordinance of +necessity, an ancient decree of the gods, when anyone stains his hands +with crime and murder, the long-lived demons get hold of him, so that he +wanders away from the gods for thirty thousand years. Such is my +condition now, that of an exile and wanderer from the gods." In these +words he not only speaks of himself, but points out that all of us men +similarly are strangers and foreigners and exiles in this world. For he +says, "O men, it is not blood or a compounded spirit that made the being +or beginning of the soul, but it is your earth-born and mortal body that +is made up of these." He calls speciously by the mildest of names the +birth of the soul that has come from elsewhere a living in a strange +country. But the truth is the soul is an exile and wanderer, being +driven about by the divine decrees and laws, and then, as in some +sea-girt island, gets joined to the body like an oyster to its shell, as +Plato says, because it cannot call to mind or remember from what honour +and greatness of happiness it migrated, not from Sardis to Athens, nor +from Corinth to Lemnos or Scyros, but exchanging heaven and the moon for +earth and life upon earth, if it shifts from place to place for ever so +short a time it is put out and feels strange, and fades away like a +dying plant. But although one soil is more suitable to a plant than +another, and it thrives and grows better on such a soil, yet no +situation can rob a man of his happiness or virtue or sense. It was in +prison that Anaxagoras wrote his squaring of the circle, and that +Socrates, even after drinking the hemlock, talked philosophically, and +begged his friends to be philosophers, and was esteemed happy by them. +On the other hand, Phaethon and Tantalus, though they got up to heaven, +fell into the greatest misfortunes through their folly, as the poets +tell us. + + [913] Euripides, "Phoenissae," 388, 389. + + [914] Reading [Greek: bakelas]. _Gallus_ in Latin. + + [915] "Iliad," xxiv. 527-533. + + [916] Plato, "Timaeus," p. 90 A. Compare Ovid, + "Metamorphoses," i. 84-86. + + [917] Derived from [Greek: meta, geiton], because then + people flitted and changed their neighbours. + + [918] Euripides, "Iphigenia in Tauris," 253. + + [919] See also Pausanias, viii. 24. + + [920] Pindar, Fragm. 126. + + [921] AEschylus, "Niobe," Fragm. 146. + + [922] "Odyssey," vi. 8. I read [Greek: andron] as + Wyttenbach. + + [923] "Odyssey," vi. 204. + + [924] See Pausanias, v. 6. + + [925] In our money about L121 17_s._ 6_d._ + + [926] "Iliad," xiv. 230. + + [927] "Iliad," xxiv. 544. + + [928] "Iliad," ix. 668. + + [929] "Iliad," ii. 625, 626. + + [930] So Reiske. + + [931] "Iliad," xxi. 59. + + [932] Euripides, Fragm. 950. + + [933] Reiske suggests [Greek: Bakchylides ho Keios]. A + very probable suggestion. + + [934] Euripides, "Phoenissae," 388-393. + + [935] Omitting [Greek: prhotos], which probably got in + from [Greek: proton] following, and for which Reiske + conjectured [Greek: horas hos]. + + [936] Such as Cardinal Balue was shut up by Louis XI in + for fourteen years. + + [937] The answer of Theodorus is wanting. + + [938] Euripides, "Phoenissae," 396, 397. + + [939] That is, they never get any further. + + [940] Euripides, "Phoenissae," 402-405. + + [941] Euripides, "Phoenissae," 430-432. + + [942] Ibid. 344-346. + + [943] Reading [Greek: chthonos]. "Sic mutandum censet + Valckenarius."--_Wyttenbach._ + + [944] Through his daughter Semele. + + [945] Herodotus, ii. 171. + + + + +ON FORTUNE. + + +Sec. I. "Fortune, not wisdom, rules the affairs of mortals."[946] And does +not justice, and fairness, and sobriety, and decorum rule the affairs of +mortals? Was it of fortune or owing to fortune that Aristides persevered +in his poverty, when he might have been lord of much wealth? And that +Scipio after taking Carthage neither saw nor received any of the spoil? +Was it of fortune or owing to fortune that Philocrates spent on harlots +and fish the money he had received from Philip? And that Lasthenes and +Euthycrates lost Olynthus, measuring happiness by their belly and lusts? +Was it of fortune that Alexander the son of Philip not only himself +abstained from the captive women, but punished others that outraged +them? Was it under the influence of an evil genius and fortune that +Alexander,[947] the son of Priam, intrigued with the wife of his host +and ran away with her, and filled two continents with war and evils? For +if all these things are due to fortune, what hinders our saying that +cats and goats and apes are under the influence of fortune in respect of +greediness, and lust, and ribaldry? + +Sec. II. And if there are such things as sobriety and justice and +fortitude, with what reason can we deny the existence of prudence, and +if prudence exists, how can we deny the existence of wisdom? For +sobriety is a kind of prudence, as people say, and justice also needs +the presence of prudence. Nay more, we call the wisdom and prudence that +makes people good in regard to pleasure self-control and sobriety, and +in dangers and hardships endurance and fortitude, and in dealings +between man and man and in public life equity and justice. And so, if we +are to ascribe to fortune the acts of wisdom, let us ascribe justice and +sobriety to fortune also, aye, and let us put down to fortune stealing, +and picking pockets, and lewdness, and let us bid farewell to argument, +and throw ourselves entirely on fortune, as if we were, like dust or +refuse, borne along and hurried away by a violent wind. For if there be +no wisdom, it is not likely that there is any deliberation or +investigation of matters, or search for expediency, but Sophocles only +talked nonsense when he said, + + "Whate'er is sought is found, what is neglected + Escapes our notice;"[948] + +and again in dividing human affairs, + + "What can be taught I learn, what can be found out + Duly investigate, and of the gods + I ask for what is to be got by prayer."[949] + +For what can be found out or learnt by men, if everything is due to +fortune? And what deliberative assembly of a state is not annulled, what +council of a king is not abrogated, if all things are subject to +fortune? whom we abuse as blind because we ourselves are blind in our +dealings with her. Indeed, how can it be otherwise, seeing that we +repudiate wisdom, which is like plucking out our eyes, and take a blind +guide of our lives? + +Sec. III. Supposing any of us were to assert that seeing is a matter of +fortune, not of eyesight, nor of the eyes that give light, as Plato +says, and that hearing is a matter of fortune, and not the imbibing of a +current of air through the ear and brain, it would be well for us then +to be on our guard against the evidence of our senses. But indeed nature +has given us sight and hearing and taste and smell, and all other parts +of the body and their functions, as ministers of wisdom and prudence. +For "it is the mind that sees, and the mind that hears, everything else +is deaf and blind." And just as, if there were no sun, we should have +perpetual night for all the stars, as Heraclitus says, so man for all +his senses, if he had no mind or reason, would be little better than the +beasts. But as it is, it is not by fortune or chance that we are +superior to them and masters of them, but Prometheus, that is reason, is +the cause of this, + + "Presenting us with bulls, horses, and asses, + To ease us of our toil, and serve instead," + +as AEschylus says.[950] For as to fortune and natural condition, most of +the beasts are better off than we are. For some are armed with horns and +tusks and stings, and as for the hedgehog, as Empedocles says, it has +its back all rough with sharp bristles, and some are shod and protected +by scales and fur and talons and hoofs worn smooth by use, whereas man +alone, as Plato says, is left by nature naked, unarmed, unshod, and +uncovered. But by one gift, that of reason and painstaking and +forethought, nature compensates for all these deficiencies. "Small +indeed is the strength of man, but by the versatility of his intellect +he can tame the inhabitants of the sea, earth, and air."[951] Nothing is +more agile and swift than horses, yet they run for man; the dog is a +courageous and high-spirited creature, yet it guards man; fish is most +pleasant to the taste, the pig the fattest of all animals, yet both are +food and delicacies for man. What is huger or more formidable in +appearance than the elephant? Yet it is man's plaything, and a spectacle +at public shows, and learns to dance and kneel. And all these things are +not idly introduced, but to the end that they may teach us to what +heights reason raises man, and what things it sets him above, and how it +makes him master of everything. + + "For we are not good boxers, nor good wrestlers, + Nor yet swift runners,"[952] + +for in all these points we are less fortunate than the beasts. But by +our experience and memory and wisdom and cunning, as Anaxagoras says, we +make use of them, and get their honey and milk, and catch them, and +drive and lead them about at our will. And there is nothing of fortune +in this, it is all the result of wisdom and forethought. + +Sec. IV. Moreover the labours of carpenters and coppersmiths and +house-builders and statue-makers are affairs of mortals, and we see that +no success in such trades is got by fortune or chance. For that fortune +plays a very small part in the life of a wise man, whether coppersmith +or house-builder, and that the greatest works are wrought by art alone, +is shown by the poet in the following lines:-- + + "All handicraftsmen go into the street, + Ye that with fan-shaped baskets worship Ergane, + Zeus' fierce-eyed daughter;"[953] + +for Ergane[954] and Athene, and not Fortune, do the trades regard as +their patrons. They do indeed say that Nealces,[955] on one occasion +painting a horse, was quite satisfied with his painting in all other +respects, but that some foam on the bridle from the horse's breath did +not please him, so that he frequently tried to rub it out; at last in +his anger he threw his sponge (just as it was, full of colours) at the +picture, and this very wonderfully produced exactly the effect he +desired. This is the only fortunate accident in art that history +records. Artificers everywhere use rules and weights and measures, that +none of their work may be done at random and anyhow. And indeed the arts +may be considered as wisdom on a small scale, or rather as emanations +from and fragments of wisdom scattered about among the necessities of +life; as the fire of Prometheus is riddled to have been divided and +scattered about in all quarters of the world. For thus small particles +and fragments of wisdom, breaking up as it were and getting divided into +pieces, have formed into order. + +Sec. V. It is strange then that the arts do not require fortune to attain +to their ends, and yet that the most important and complete of all the +arts, the sum total of man's glory and merit, should be so completely +powerless. Why, there is a kind of wisdom even in the tightening or +slackening of chords, which people call music, and in the dressing of +food, which we call the art of cooking, and in cleaning clothes, which +we call the art of the fuller, and we teach boys how to put on their +shoes and clothes generally, and to take their meat in the right hand +and their bread in the left, since none of these things come by fortune, +but require attention and care. And are we to suppose that the most +important things which make so much for happiness do not call for +wisdom, and have nothing to do with reason and forethought? Why, no one +ever yet wetted earth with water and then left it, thinking it would +become bricks by fortune and spontaneously, or procured wool and +leather, and sat down and prayed Fortune that it might become clothes +and shoes; nor does anyone getting together much gold and silver and a +quantity of slaves, and living in a spacious hall with many doors, and +making a display of costly couches and tables, believe that these things +will constitute his happiness, and give him a painless happy life secure +from changes, unless he be wise also. A certain person asked the general +Iphicrates in a scolding way who he was, as he seemed neither a +heavy-armed soldier, nor a bowman, nor a targeteer, and he replied, "I +am the person who rule and make use of all these." + +Sec. VI. So wisdom is neither gold, nor silver, nor fame, nor wealth, nor +health, nor strength, nor beauty. What is it then? It is what can use +all these well, and that by means of which each of these things becomes +pleasant and esteemed and useful, and without which they are useless; +and unprofitable and injurious, and a burden and disgrace to their +possessor. So Hesiod's Prometheus gives very good advice to Epimetheus, +"not to receive gifts from Olympian Zeus but to send them back,"[956] +meaning external things and things of fortune. For as if he urged one +who knew nothing of music not to play on the pipe, or one who knew +nothing of letters not to read, or one who was not used to horses not to +ride, so he advised him not to take office if he were foolish, nor to +grow rich if he were illiberal, nor to marry if likely to be ruled by +his wife. For success beyond their merit is to foolish persons a cause +of folly, as Demosthenes said,[957] and good fortune beyond their merit +is to those who are not sensible a cause of misfortune.[958] + + [946] A line from Chaeremon. + + [947] Better known as Paris. + + [948] "Oedipus Tyrannus," 110, 111. Wyttenbach compares + Terence, "Heauton Timorumenos," 675. "Nil tam + difficilest, quin quaerende investigari possiet." + + [949] Soph., Frag. 723. + + [950] AEschylus, Fragm. 180. Reading [Greek: antidoula] + with Reiske and the MSS. + + [951] Euripides, "AEolus," Fragm. 27. + + [952] Homer, "Odyssey," viii. 246, 247. + + [953] Soph., Frag. 724. + + [954] "The Worker." Generally a title of Athene, as + Pausanias, i. 24; iii. 17; v. 14; vi. 26; viii. 32; ix. + 26. Gataker thinks [Greek: kai ten] should be expunged. + Hercher omits [Greek: kai ten 'Athenan] altogether. + + [955] So Hercher after Madvig. See Pliny, "Hist. Nat.," + XXXV. 36, 20. + + [956] Hesiod, "Works and Days," 86, 87. + + [957] "Olynth.," i. 23. + + [958] The whole of this essay reminds one of the + well-known lines of Juvenal, twice repeated--namely, x. + 365, 366; and xiv. 315, 316:-- + + "Nullum numen habes, si sit prudentia; nos te, + Nos facimus, Fortuna, deam caeloque locamus." + + + +INDEX. + + +Abrotonus, 37. + +Absence, the test of affection, 122. + +Academy, the, 385. + +Achilles, 5, 52, 102, 172, 187, 196, 200, 271, 290, 291, 301, 319. + +Acropolis, statue of Leaena in the, 221. + +Admetus, 52. + +Adonis, 43, 352. + +Adultery, the fruit of curiosity, 245. + Love of change, 298. + +AEschines, 17, 188, 285. + +AEschylus, quoted or referred to, 33, 45, 47, 55, 61, 125, + 126, 130, 176, 203, 205, 242, 271, 273, 385, 388, 393, 396. + +AEsculapius, 244, 270. + +AEsop, fables of alluded to, 72, 81, 88, 125, 142. + +Agamemnon, 292, 300, 301. + +Agathoclea, 37. + +Agathocles, 278, 324, 325, 347. + +Agave, 144. + +Agesilaus, 129, 136, 161, 166, 262, 264, 326. + +Agis, 294. + +Aglaonice, her knowledge of eclipses, 83. + +Ajax, 113, 347. + +Alcaeus, 56, 59. + +Alcestis, 53. + +Alcibiades, 54, 128, 135, 160, 192, 294, 338. + +Alcman, 379. + +Alexander, the Great, 16, 50, 113, 124, 137, 151, 162, 172, 174, + 184, 185, 195, 250, 270, 277, 280, 292, 301, 303, 314, 321, 389, + 390, 394. + +Alexinus, 266. + +Ammonius, Plutarch's master, 194. + +Amoebeus, 102. + +Amphictyones, 121, 230. + +Anacharsis, 125, 219. + +Anacreon, 33. + +Anaxagoras, 136, 306, 373, 394, 397. + +Anaxarchus, 107, 113, 253, 292. + +Anger, how to restrain, 267-288. + +Animals, appeal to, 21-25. + Use of, 202. + +Answers, three different kinds of, 234. + +Anticyra, 284. + +Antigonus, 16, 38, 222, 258, 263, 276, 278, 326, 370. + +Antileon, 50. + +Antimachus, poet, 234. + +Antipater, 77, 124, 182, 237, 260, 297. + +Antipatridas, 50. + +Antiphanes, 125. + +Antiphon, 189. + +Antisthenes, 266. + +Antony, 176. + +Anytus, 54, 141. + +Apelles, 10, 171, 302. + +Aphrodite, 34, 43, 44, 49, 76, 78, 80, 219. + +Apollo, 154, 347, 377. + +Araspes, 136. + +Arcadio, 276. + +Arcesilaus, 180, 283. + +Archelaus, 258, 388. + +Archidamus, king, 2, 264. + +Archilochus, 215, 247, 387. + +Archytas, of Tarentum, 11, 15, 336. + +Ares, 44, 45, 47, 49. + +Argus, 146. + +Aristaeus (the _Saint Hubert_ of the Middle Ages), 45. + +Aristides, 120, 136. + +Aristippus, 6, 32, 93, 127, 128, 240, 285, 297. + +Aristo, 98, 241. + +Aristocrates, 322. + +Aristogiton, 50, 67, 189, 220. + +Aristomenes, the hero, 52. + +Aristomenes, tutor of Ptolemy Epiphanes, 195. + +Aristonica, 37. + +Aristophanes, 15, 27, 43, 93, 195, 241. + +Aristotle, 100, 101, 110, 124, 162, 215, 270, 278, 281, 303, 326, + 386. + +Arisinoe, sister and wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 16. + +Artemis, 367. + +Asopichus, 52. + +Ass-driver, story of Athenian, 282. + +Athene, ornament of, 366. + Athene and the Satyr, 273. + Athene Chalcioecus, 228. + Called Ergane, 397. + +Athenians, oracle given to the, 367. + +Attis, 43. + +Augustus, 189, 224, 225. + +Aulis, famous for earthenware, 366. + + +Bacchis, 37. + +Barbers, a talkative race, 226, 227. + +Baxter, Richard, and Plutarch, Preface, viii, note. + +Belestiche, 38. + +Bellerophon, 246, 255. + +Bessus, story about, 341. + +Bias, 176, 217, 332. + +Bion, 10, 67, 132, 172, 258, 354. + +Bocchoris, 255. + +Books, value of, 12. + +Boys, not to be overworked, 13. + To be taught to speak the truth, 16. + Love of, 17, 31, 33-35, 50, 51, 52, 54, 61, 64, 65, 67. + +Brasidas, 120, 126, 331. + +Briareus, 146, 150, 299. + +Brides, custom of in Boeotia, 70, 71. + Custom of at Leptis in Libya, 79. + + +Caeneus, his change of sex, 120. + +Caesar, Julius, 210. + +Callimachus, 272, 385. + +Callisthenes, 270. + +Callixenus, 141. + +Camma, story about, 63, 64. + +Carneades, 172, 235, 237, 306, 310. + +Cassander, 256, 339, 351. + +Cassandra, 347. + +Cato, 48, 72, 211, 212, 263, 325, 369. + +Cebes, 17. + +Cephisocrates, 181. + +Cephisodorus, 52. + +Ceramicus, at Athens, 219, 259. + +Cestus of Aphrodite, 76, 219. + +Chaeron, son of Plutarch, 87. + +Chaeron, and Chaeronea, 238. + +Chaeronea, Plutarch's native place, 238. + +Chalcis, people of, 51. + +Chameleon, 158, 162. + +Character, moral, 102. + +Childless, paid court to, 28. + +Chilo, 151, 202. + +Chrysippus, 44, 99, 110, 113, 114, 115. + +Cicero, 210, 318, 320, 390. + +Cimon, father of Miltiades, 27, 52. + +Claudia, 84. + +Cleanthes, 370. + +Clearchus, 191. + +Cleomachus, 51. + +Cleonice, 343, 344. + +Clitus, 113, 195, 277. + +Clodius, 231, 232. + +Clytaemnestra, dream of, 343. + +Conjugal constancy, 81. + Conjugal precepts, 70-84. + +Contentedness of mind, on, 289-311. + +Contracts, 139. + +Corax, 352. + +Cornelia, sister of Scipio, 84. + +Correction of servants, 279-281. + +Crassus, 207, 208. + +Crates, 76, 141, 191, 203, 292, 328, 370, 372. + +Creon, his daughter, 151. + +Crete, 202. + +Crisso, 172. + +Croesus, 171, 192. + +Ctesiphon, 275. + +Curiosity, 238-252. + +Cybele, 47, 55, 82, 379. + +Cyclades, 385. + +Cynic, story about, 258. + +Cynosarges, 32, note. + +Cyrus, 79, 236, 250, 314, 326. + + +Danaus, 27. + +Darius, 157, 250. + +Deity, on those who are punished late by the, 331-365. + +Demaratus, 193. + +Demetrius, 8, 191, 230. + +Democritus, 14, 110, 129, 142, 249, 377. + +Demosthenes, 9, 128, 192, 205, 257, 259, 320, 321, 323, 331, 399. + +Diogenes, 2, 7, 93, 118, 123, 124, 127, 131, 140, 141, 193, 201, 203, + 205, 248, 258, 259, 282, 292, 294, 301, 311, 383, 388, 389, 390, + 391. + +Dion, 11, 151, 161, 162, 192, 256. + +Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, 76, 151, 160, 161, 162, 163, 168, 187, + 188, 189, 226, 230, 261, 294, 321, 339. + +Dionysius, a Corinthian poet, 51. + +Dionysus (the Latin _Bacchus_), 45, 47, 91, 145, 393. + +Dioxippus, 248. + +Disease, the sacred, 41, note. + +Disorders, of mind or body, which worse? 142, 145. + +Dolon, 113, 120. + +Domitian, 251. + +Domitius, 207, 211. + +Dorian measure, 134. + +Drink, 2, 216, 217, 284. + +Dryads, 45. + + +Earthenware, 366. + +Education, 1-21. + +Egyptian, answer of an, 240. + +Emerson, on Plutarch, _see_ Title-page, and Preface, p. ix. + +Empedocles, 43, 145, 149, 180, 288, 305, 371, 393, 396. + +Empone, her devotion to her husband, 67-69. + +Enemies, how a man may be benefited by his, 201-213. + +Enthusiasm, 47. + +Envy, 212, 213, 243, 304. + On envy and hatred, 312-315. + How one can praise oneself without exciting envy, 315-331. + +Epaminondas, 11, 52, 136, 161, 294, 318, 321, 326, 376. + +Ephesus, 367. + +Ephorus, 236. + +Epicharmus, 188, 189, 350. + +Epicureans, argued against, 21-28, 373-378. + +Epicurus, 24, 291, 306, 373, 375. + +Epitaphs, 247, 248. + +Erasistratus, 25, 244. + +Ergane, name of Athene, 397. + +Eumenes, 222. + +Euphemism, 112, 143, 144, 167. + +Euphorion, 303. + +Eupolis, 163. + +Euripides, quoted or referred to, 1, 8, 9, 14, 17, 27, 28, 40, 42, 43, + 44, 50, 53, 56, 58, 60, 67, 79, 80, 86, 89, 107, 112, 119, 136, 138, + 144, 146, 150, 151, 152, 155, 160, 170, 178, 179, 182, 190, 191, 194, + 196, 197, 199, 205, 206, 207, 209, 214, 216, 222, 223, 236, 247, 251, + 255, 256, 260, 261, 262, 270, 287, 290, 292, 293, 301, 305, 307, 309, + 310, 315, 325, 332, 333, 334, 345, 346, 373, 379, 383, 388, 390, 391, + 392, 397. + +Eurydice of Hierapolis, 21. + +Eurydice, wife of Orpheus, 53. + +Euthydemus, 283. + +Eutropio, cook to King Antigonus, 16. + +Evenus, sayings of, 27, 155. + +Exercise, value of, 12. + +Exile, 378-394. + + +Fabius Maximus, 224, 225. + +Fabricius, 294. + +Family, defects and idiosyncrasies of, 356, 357. + +Fancy, power of, 307. + +Fathers, not to be too strict, 20. + To set a good example to their sons, 20, 21. + The _jus trium liberorum_, 22. + Saying of Evenus about fathers, 27. + +Favour, _the_, 33, 34. + Reminding of favours unpleasant, 181. + +Feast, every day a, 311. + +Fickleness, 146. + +Flatterers, 19. + Saying of Phocion about, 77, 182. + How to be discerned from friends, 153-201. + +Flute-girls at marriages, 40. + +Fortune, not to be railed at, 89-91. + Fortune's rope-dance, 139. + Fortune and vice, 140, 141. + On Fortune, 394-399. + +Freedom of speech, 185-201. + +Friends, on abundance of, 145-153. + Friendship going in pairs, 146, 147. + Originated by similarity, 152, 158, 159. + How friends are to be distinguished from flatterers, 153-201. + + +Galba, story about, 49. + +Geese, ingenuity of, 229. + +Germanicus, idiosyncrasy of, 312. + +Glaucus, son of Epicydes, 353. + +Gobryas, 157. + +Gods considered as forces, 44, 302. + Perform their benefits secretly, 181. + +Gorgias, 81. + +Gorgo, wife of Leonidas, 84. + +Gracchus, 273. + +Great, the, especially open to flatterers, 184, 185. + +Grief, immoderate at death to be avoided, 86, 87, 88. + Unexpected grief worst, 113, 306. + +Gylippus, 15. + + +Habit, force of, 3, 4, 337. + +Hannibal, remark of, 391. + +Happiness, the mind the seat of, 95. + +Hares, 368. + +Harmodius, 67, 189, 220. + +Hatred, and envy, 312-315. + +Hegesias, 28. + +Helicon, Mount, 29, 30. + +Helots, 272. + +Hemlock, how affected by wine, 228. + +Heraclea, 343. + +Heraclitus, 41, 93, 231, 276, 350, 387, 396. + +Hercules, 39, 52, 299, 321, 347, 348, 352. + +Heredity, 1, 2, 351, 355. + +Hermes, his functions, 46. + Proverbial saying about, 215. + +Herodotus, 72, 94, 141, 157, 171, 192, 299, 367, 388, 393. + +Herophilus, 244. + +Herrick, and Plutarch, _see_ Preface, viii, 288, note. + +Hesiod, quoted or alluded to, 14, 36, 44, 96, 121, 123, 155, 180, 212, + 256, 261, 290, 304, 341, 355, 398, 399. + +Hiero, 209, 338. + +Hieronymus, 271, 281. + +Hipparchus, dream of, 343. + +Hippocrates, 132, 237, 238. + +Hippothorus, a tune, 70. + +Homer, alluded to or quoted, 16, 23, 24, 26, 33, 44, 45, 48, 52, 54, 55, + 56, 61, 65, 66, 71, 75, 76, 80, 83, 91, 95, 101, 102, 108, 110, 113, + 117, 118, 122, 127, 128, 130, 132, 138, 139, 142, 147, 149, 160, 161, + 165, 170, 172, 176, 179, 187, 192, 195, 196, 197, 199, 200, 204, 209, + 216, 217, 218, 219, 221, 222, 223, 226, 227, 235, 239, 246, 247, 254, + 268, 270, 271, 272, 281, 283, 284, 290, 291, 292, 300, 301, 302, 304, + 307, 308, 309, 313, 318, 319, 322, 323, 324, 326, 327, 329, 340, 341, + 347, 352, 368, 369, 372, 378, 385, 386, 387, 397, 398. + +Hyperides, 187. + +Hypsipyle, her foster-child, 146. + + +Ibycus, story about, 228. + +Idaean Dactyli, 136. + +Ignorance of self, 143. + +Imagination, power of, 101, 102. + +Indian wives, 140. + Indian sages, 140, 141. + +Infants, death of, 92. + +Iolaus, nephew of Hercules, 39, 52. + +Iphicrates, answer of, 94, 398. + + +Knowledge of self, 154, 185, 207, 302. + + +Labour, its power, 3. + +Lacydes, friend of Arcesilaus, 181. + +Lacydes, king of the Argives, 208. + +Lais, famous courtesan, 32, 49, 63. + +Law, martial, 211. + +Leaena, her heroism, 220, 221. + +Lemnos, the women of, 41. + +Leo of Byzantium, saying of, 206. + +Life, the three kinds of, 11. + Like a game at dice, 293. + Chequered, 305. + "Live unknown," whether a wise precept, 373-378. + +Litigation, evil effects of, 145. + +Livia, wife of Augustus, 225. + +Liver, the seat of desire, 115. + +Locrians, custom of the, 347. + +Locris, authorities of, 245. + +Love, to one's offspring, 21-28. + On love generally, 29-69. + God of Love, his festival at Thespiae, 29, 63. + Pandemian and Celestial love, 57. + No strong love without jealousy, 135. + Lovers admire even the defects of their loves, 136, 167, 168, 209, + 213. + Love blind, 153. + +Loxias, name of Apollo, meaning of, 231. + +Lyciscus, 332, 333. + +Lycurgus, 3, 136, 230, 320. + +Lydiades, 238. + +Lydian measure, 134. + Lydian produce, 145. + +Lynceus, 203. + +Lysander, 76, 262. + +Lysias, 218. + +Lysimache, 263. + +Lysimachus, king, 225, 241, 344, 390, 391. + + +Maecenas, 49. + +Magas, 113, 276, 277. + +Man, his wretchedness, 26, 142. + Different views of men, 114. + Man's various idiosyncrasies and fortunes, 149. + +Marriage, 20, 31-39, 63-69. + Hesiod on the proper age for marriage, 36. + No _Meum_ and _Tuum_ to exist in marriage, 62, 74, 75. + Mutual respect a vital necessity in marriage, 62. + Conjugal Precepts, 70-84. + +Marsyas, 273. + +Means, various kinds of, 104, 105. + +Measures, Dorian and Lydian, 134. + +Median war, 367. + +Medius, 184, 303. + +Megabyzus, 171, 302. + +Megara, wife of Hercules, 39. + +Megarians, their sacrifice to Poseidon, 133. + +Melanippus, 50. + +Melanthius, 81, 336. + +Meleager, 52. + +Meletus, 120, 141. + +Memory, the storehouse of learning, 14. + +Menander, 55, 96, 114, 115, 146, 150, 164, 173, 179, 257, 291, 305, 307, + 310, 330. + +Menedemus, 98, 130, 165, 303. + +Metageitnion, 382. + +Metella, wife of Sulla, 219. + +Metellus, 222, 277, 320. + +Metrocles, 140, 295. + +Metrodorus, saying of, 77. + +Mice, dislike to, 312. + +Miltiades, the son of Cimon, 27, 135, 338. + +Mirrors of the ancients, 59, note. + Comparison of wives to mirrors, 73. + Proper use of the mirror, 76. + Comparison of the flatterer to a mirror, 161. + +Mithridates, 170, 219. + +Money, against borrowing, 365-373. + +Montaigne, and Plutarch, Preface, vii. + +Mothers, to be carefully selected, 1. + To suckle their children, 4. + +Munychia, 38. + +Music, power of, 102. + +Musonius, 370. + + +Nasica, saying of, 205. + +Nations, most warlike also most amorous, 52. + +Natures, great, 338. + +Nealces, story about, 397. + +Neglect, not liked, 150. + +Neocles, father of Themistocles, 27. + +Nero, 151, 168, 175, 220, 284, 365. + +Nicostratus, 49, 264. + +Night, Greek word for, 249. + +Ninus and Semiramis, 37, 38. + +Niobe, 50. + +No, saying, 255, 260, 262. + + +Ocnus, 304. + +Odysseus, self-restraint of, 101, 221, 307. + +Oedipus, 28, 197, 250, 251. + +Oenanthe, 37. + +Old age querulous, 329. + +Olympia, remarkable portico at, 214. + +Olympias, wife of King Philip, 75, 76. + +Olynthus, 305. + +Onomademus, wise advice of, 212. + +Oratory, extempore and prepared, 9, 10, 128. + Laconic oratory, 230. + +Orpheus, 53. + + +Paley, F. A., on the Moralia, Preface, vii. + +Pan, 47. + +Panthea, 136. + +Parmenides, his Cosmogony, 44. + +Parmenio, 151. + +Parthian juice, 141. + +Passions, difference in, 113, 114. + +Patroclus, 172, 187, 319, 325. + +Pausanias and Cleonice, 343, 344. + +Pederasty, _see_ Boys, love of. + +Perfection, not in mortals, 287. + +Pericles, son of Xanthippus, 9, 11, 27, 258, 317, 323, 340, 349, 366. + +Perseus, 192, 193, 307. + +Persia, kings of, 73, 124, 140, 382, 387. + +Phaeethon, 293, 347, 394. + +Phalaris, 120, 168, 339. + +Phayllus and his wife, 49, 50. + +Phidias, 78. + +Philip, King, 49, 50, 75, 80, 82, 188, 193, 230, 247, 276, 277, 384. + +Philippides, comic poet, 32, 225, 241. + +Philosophy, its importance, 11, 97, 98. + Philosophers' dress, 129, 141, 160, 203. + Birthplace of various philosophers, 389. + +Philotas, 151. + +Philotimus, 198. + +Philoxenus, 373. + +Phocion, 77, 136, 182, 260, 280, 319, 327, 328. + +Phocylides, 5. + +Phoenix, tutor of Achilles, 5, 196. + +Phryne, 38, 49. + +Phrynis, 134. + +Pindar, 33, 34, 45, 54, 116, 138, 183, 190, 205, 210, 212, 267, 275, + 294, 302, 303, 310, 315, 316, 335, 339, 348, 355, 377, 384. + +Pirithous, 151. + +Piso, Pupius, story about, 231, 232. + +Pittacus, 222, 300. + +Plato, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 15, 17, 27, 29, 34, 47, 49, 62, 66, 74, 77, 82, + 83, 93, 96, 99, 100, 106, 113, 114, 115, 118, 120, 125, 132, 135, 136, + 153, 154, 157, 158, 160, 161, 162, 167, 187, 188, 192, 194, 196, 206, + 209, 213, 220, 230, 255, 261, 264, 274, 286, 287, 293, 294, 306, 311, + 334, 335, 336, 341, 342, 365, 385, 393, 395, 396. + +Plutarch's wife, _see_ Timoxena. + +Polemo, 196, 285, 385. + +Polycletus, 138. + +Polypus, the, 152, 158, 161. + +Polysperchon, 256, 261. + +Pompey, the Great, 208, 210, 340. + His father Pompeius Strabo, 340. + +Portico, remarkable, 214. + +Porus, 277. + +Poseidon, 133. + +Postumia, 208. + +Praise of self, 315-331. + +Proteus, 152. + +Proverbs, 4, 5, 9, 14, 18, 19, 20, 49, 62, 75, 80, 82, 121, 146, 147, + 154, 157, 175, 183, 189, 212, 215, 217, 235, 260, 263, 306, 317, + 333, 334, 341, 355, 369. + +Ptolemy Auletes, 168. + +Ptolemy Epiphanes, 195. + +Ptolemy Philadelphus, 16. + +Ptolemy Philopator, 168. + +Ptolemy Physcon, 174. + +Punishment, on those that receive late punishment from the Deity, + 331-365. + +Puppies, differently trained, 3, 4. + +Pydna, 192. + +Pyrrho, saying of, 132. + +Pythagoras, 2, 18, 19, 100, 151, 194, 211, 240, 245, 383. + +Pythian Priestess, 233, 367. + + +Reason, power of, 101, 133, 221, 289. + +Remorse, 344, 345. + +Repartee, 206, 207. + +Respites, 339. + +Rusticus, 251. + +Rutilius, 370. + + +Sabinus, story about, 67-69. + +Sappho, 34, 55, 84, 130, 274. + +Saturnalia, 311, note. + +Satyr, story about the, 202, 203. + +Scaurus, 211. + +Scilurus, and the bundle of sticks, 231. + +Scipio, 318. + +Sejanus, 151. + +Seleucus Callinicus, 226. + +Self, love of, 153, 154, 301. + Ignorance of, 143. + Knowledge of, 154, 185, 207, 302. + +Semiramis, 37, 38. + +Senator, story about Roman, 223, 224. + +Seneca, 284. + +Sextius, 123. + +Shyness, 252-267. + +Silence, benefit of, 220-222, 230-232, 237. + +Simonides, 23, 106, 108, 126, 135, 154, 183, 184, 212, 237, 246, 299, + 344, 384. + +Sinatus, 63, 64. + +Sinorix, 63, 64. + +Socrates, 2, 8, 15, 17, 54, 76, 136, 140, 145, 188, 192, 194, 196, 210, + 232, 234, 235, 240, 250, 271, 277, 283, 292, 293, 299, 300, 308, 314, + 336, 394. + +Solon, 33, 34, 56, 124, 171, 192, 213, 303, 335, 367. + His legislation for husbands, 65. + His direction to brides, 70. + +Sophocles, quoted or referred to, 3, 43, 44, 47, 49, 50, 53, 62, 64, 76, + 106, 122, 125, 134, 148, 150, 162, 197, 200, 207, 218, 227, 232, 242, + 249, 251, 255, 272, 278, 281, 286, 295, 319, 376, 395, 397. + +Sotades, 16. + +Speusippus, nephew of Plato, 15, 192, 196. + +Step-ladders, 156. + +Step-mothers, 79, note. + +Stilpo, 8, 133, 266, 295, 308. + +Stoics, 172, 254, 302. + +Stratocles, 32. + +Suicide, always possible, 309. + +Sulla, 219, 322. + +Sycophant, origin of word, 252. + + +Talkativeness, 214-238. + +Tantalus, 49, 138, 385, 394. + +Tavern-frequenting, 131, note. + +Taylor, Jeremy, and Plutarch, Preface, vii, viii, 84, note, 238, note, + 245, note, 288, note. + +Telephus, 207. + +Tenedos, famous for earthenware, 366. + +Theano, wife of Pythagoras, 78, 84. + +Thebans, and Lacedaemonians, 270. + +Themistocles, and his son, 1, 2. + His father Neocles, 27. + Themistocles and Miltiades, 135, 213, 338. + Suspicion about, 208. + Sayings of, 264, 314, 320. + +Theocritus, the Sophist, 16, 263. + +Theodorus, 141, 293, 327, 390, 391. + +Theognis, his advice, 152. + +Theophrastus, 124, 327. + +Thero, the Thessalian, 52. + +Theseus, 151, 392. + +Thespesius, of Soli, curious story about, 357-365. + +Thessalians very pugnacious, 3, note. + +Thessaly famous for enchantments, 75, note, 83. + +Thucydides, 127, 152, 167, 195, 198, 208, 261, 265, 314, 317, 332, 336, + 349, 389. + +Tiberius, 151, 174, 175, 225, 384. + +Timaea, 294. + +Timesias, oracle given to, 151. + +Timoleon, 322. + +Timon, 107. + +Timotheus, 316. + +Timoxena, wife of Plutarch, consolatory letter to, 85-92. + +Timoxena, daughter of Plutarch, 85-92. + +Tongue, government of the, 15, 16, 209, 210, 214-238, 274. + Barricaded by nature, 216. + +Training, power of, 5-7. + +Triptolemus, 368. + +Truth, a divine thing, 154. + +Tutors, choice of, 5-7; + Habits they teach boys, 94. + + +Versatility, 152, 153. + +Vespasian, 67, 69. + +Vice, not got rid of as easily as a wife, 96. + Uneasiness of, 96, 97, 139. + Whether it is sufficient to cause unhappiness, 138-142. + Vice in embryo, 355, 356. + +Virtue, its two elements, 18. + Can be taught, 92-95. + On virtue and vice, 95-98. + On moral virtue, 98-118. + On progress in virtue, 118-138. + + +Washing hands usual before dinner, 156. + +Wealth, has wings, 124, 303. + +Wives, to be carefully selected, 1. + Rich wives, 20, 138. + Indian wives, 140. + +Words, winged, 223. + +Wyttenbach, his criticism on Reiske, Preface, viii, ix. + + +Xanthippe, wife of Socrates, 210, 283. + +Xanthippus, father of Pericles, 27. + +Xenocrates, 66, 77, 118, 196, 248, 261, 385. + +Xenophanes, 55, 108, 257. + +Xenophon, 17, 83, 166, 191, 202, 239, 250, note, 289, 316, 335, 389. + +Xerxes, 272, 299. + + +Youth, a ticklish period of life, 17, 18. + + +Zaleucus, 322. + +Zeno, founder of the Stoics, 99, 102, 124, 132, 203, 217, 220, 262, 263, + 285, 294, 327, 386. + +Zeuxis, his remark on painting, 148. + + +CHISWICK PRESS:--C. 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