_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 Chæronea in Boeotia, probably about A. D. 50, and was a contemporary of Tacitus and Pliny, has written two works stillextant, 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 varioussubjects (only twenty-six of which are directly ethical, though theyhave given their name to the _Moralia_), are declared by Mr. Paley "tobe practically almost unknown to most persons in Britain, even to thosewho call themselves scholars. "[1] _Habent etiam sua fata libelli. _

In older days the _Moralia_ were more valued. Montaigne, who was a greatlover of Plutarch, and who observes in one passage of his Essays that"Plutarch and Seneca were the only two books of solid learning heseriously settled himself to read, " quotes as much from the _Moralia_ asfrom the _Lives_. And in the seventeenth century I cannot but think the_Moralia_ were largely read at our Universities, at least at theUniversity of Cambridge. For, not to mention the wonderful way in whichthe famous Jeremy Taylor has taken the cream of "Conjugal Precepts" inhis Sermon called "The Marriage Ring, " or the large and copious use hehas made in his "Holy Living" of three other Essays in this volume, namely, those "On Curiosity, " "On Restraining Anger, " and "OnContentedness of Mind, " proving conclusively what a storehouse he foundthe _Moralia_, we have evidence that that most delightful poet, RobertHerrick, read the _Moralia_, too, when at Cambridge, so that one cannotbut think it was a work read in the University course generally in thosedays. For in a letter to his uncle written from Cambridge, asking forbooks or money for books, he makes the following remark: "How kindArcisilaus the philosopher was unto Apelles the painter, Plutark in hisMorals 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 volumeconsists of the twenty-six "Ethical Essays, " which are, in my opinion, the cream of the _Moralia_, and constitute a highly interesting seriesof treatises on what might be called "The Ethics of the Hearth andHome. " I have grouped these Essays in such a manner as to enable thereader to read together such as touch on the same or on kindredsubjects. 

As is well known, the text of the _Moralia_ is very corrupt, and thereading very doubtful, in many places. In eight of the twenty-six Essaysin this volume I have had the invaluable help of the text of RudolfHercher; help so invaluable that one cannot but sadly regret that onlyone volume of the _Moralia_ has yet appeared in the _BibliothecaTeubneriana_. Wyttenbach's text and notes I have always used whenavailable, and when not so have fallen back upon Reiske. Reiske isalways ingenious, but too fond of correcting a text, and the criticismof him by Wyttenbach is perhaps substantially correct. "In nulloauctore habitabat; vagabatur per omnes: nec apud quemquam tamdiudivertebat, ut in paulo interiorem ejus consuetudinem se insinuaret. " Ihave also had constantly before me the Didot Edition of the _Moralia_, edited by Frederic Dübner. 

Let any reader who wishes to know more about Plutarch, consult thearticle on Plutarch, in the Ninth Edition of the _EncyclopaediaBritannica_, by the well-known scholar F. A. Paley. He will also do wellto 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 FiveLectures on Plutarch by the late Archbishop Trench, published by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. In 1874. All these contain much of interest, and willrepay perusal. 

In conclusion, I hope this little volume will be the means of makingpopular some of the best thoughts of one of the most interesting andthoughtful 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 252XVIII. 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 331XXIII. 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. 

§ I. Come let us consider what one might say on the education of freechildren, and by what training they would become good citizens. 

§ II. It is perhaps best to begin with birth: I would therefore warnthose who desire to be fathers of notable sons, not to form connectionswith any kind of women, such as courtesans or mistresses: for those whoeither on the father or mother's side are ill-born have the disgrace oftheir origin all their life long irretrievably present with them, andoffer a ready handle to abuse and vituperation. So that the poet waswise, who said, "Unless the foundation of a house be well laid, thedescendants must of necessity be unfortunate. "[3] Good birth indeedbrings with it a store of assurance, which ought to be greatly valued byall who desire legitimate offspring. For the spirit of those who are aspurious and bastard breed is apt to be mean and abject: for as the poettruly says, "It makes a man even of noble spirit servile, when he isconscious of the ill fame of either his father or mother. "[4] On theother hand the sons of illustrious parents are full of pride andarrogance. As an instance of this it is recorded of Diophantus, [5] theson of Themistocles, that he often used to say to various people "thathe could do what he pleased with the Athenian people, for what he wishedhis mother wished, and what she wished Themistocles wished, and whatThemistocles wished all the Athenians wished. " All praise also ought weto bestow on the Lacedæmonians for their loftiness of soul in finingtheir king Archidamus for venturing to marry a small woman, for theycharged him with intending to furnish them not with kings but kinglets. 

§ III. Next must we mention, what was not overlooked even by those whohandled this subject before us, that those who approach their wives forprocreation must do so either without having drunk any wine or at leastvery little. For those children, that their parents begot in drink, arewont 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 fatherwas drunk when he begot you. " Let this hint serve as to procreation: nowlet us discuss education. 

§ IV. To speak generally, what we are wont to say about the arts andsciences is also true of moral excellence, for to its perfectdevelopment three things must meet together, natural ability, theory, and practice. By theory I mean training, and by practice working atone's craft. Now the foundation must be laid in training, and practicegives facility, but perfection is attained only by the junction of allthree. For if any one of these elements be wanting, excellence must beso far deficient. For natural ability without training is blind: andtraining without natural ability is defective, and practice without bothnatural ability and training is imperfect. For just as in farming thefirst requisite is good soil, next a good farmer, next good seed, soalso here: the soil corresponds to natural ability, the training to thefarmer, the seed to precepts and instruction. I should thereforemaintain stoutly that these three elements were found combined in thesouls of such universally famous men as Pythagoras, and Socrates, andPlato, and of all who have won undying fame. Happy at any rate and dearto 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 cannotto some extent make up for the deficiencies of nature by right trainingand practice, let such a one know that he is very wide of the mark, ifnot out of it altogether. For good natural parts are impaired by sloth;while inferior ability is mended by training: and while simple thingsescape the eyes of the careless, difficult things are reached bypainstaking. The wonderful efficacy and power of long and continuouslabour you may see indeed every day in the world around you. [6] Thuswater continually dropping wears away rocks: and iron and steel aremoulded by the hands of the artificer: and chariot wheels bent by somestrain can never recover their original symmetry: and the crooked stavesof actors can never be made straight. But by toil what is contrary tonature becomes stronger than even nature itself. And are these the onlythings that teach the power of diligence? Not so: ten thousand thingsteach the same truth. A soil naturally good becomes by neglect barren, and the better its original condition, the worse its ultimate state ifuncared for. On the other hand a soil exceedingly rough and sterile bybeing farmed well produces excellent crops. And what trees do not byneglect become gnarled and unfruitful, whereas by pruning they becomefruitful and productive? And what constitution so good but it is marredand impaired by sloth, luxury, and too full habit? And what weakconstitution has not derived benefit from exercise and athletics? Andwhat horses broken in young are not docile to their riders? while ifthey are not broken in till late they become hard-mouthed andunmanageable. And why should we be surprised at similar cases, seeingthat we find many of the savagest animals docile and tame by training?Rightly answered the Thessalian, who was asked who the mildestThessalians were, "Those who have done with fighting. "[7] But why pursuethe line of argument further? For the Greek name for moral virtue isonly habit: and if anyone defines moral virtues as habitual virtues, hewill not be beside the mark. But I will employ only one moreillustration, and dwell no longer on this topic. Lycurgus, theLacedæmonian legislator, took two puppies of the same parents, andbrought them up in an entirely different way: the one he pampered andcosseted up, while he taught the other to hunt and be a retriever. Thenon one occasion, when the Lacedæmonians were convened in assembly, hesaid, "Mighty, O Lacedæmonians, is the influence on moral excellence ofhabit, and education, and training, and modes of life, as I will proveto you at once. " So saying he produced the two puppies, and set beforethem a platter and a hare: the one darted on the hare, while the othermade for the platter. And when the Lacedæmonians could not guess whathis meaning was, or with what intent he had produced the puppies, hesaid, "These puppies are of the same parents, but by virtue of adifferent bringing up the one is pampered, and the other a good hound. "Let so much suffice for habit and modes of life. 

§ V. The next point to discuss will be nutrition. In my opinion mothersought to nurse and suckle their own children. For they will bring themup with more sympathy and care, if they love them so intimately and, asthe proverb puts it, "from their first growing their nails. "[8] Whereasthe affection of wet or dry nurses is spurious and counterfeit, beingmerely for pay. And nature itself teaches that mothers ought themselvesto suckle and rear those they have given birth to. And for that purposeshe has supplied every female parent with milk. And providence haswisely provided women with two breasts, so that if they should beartwins, they would have a breast for each. And besides this, as isnatural enough, they would feel more affection and love for theirchildren by suckling them. For this supplying them with food is as itwere a tightener of love, for even the brute creation, if taken awayfrom their young, pine away, as we constantly see. Mothers musttherefore, as I said, certainly try to suckle their own children: but ifthey are unable to do so either through physical weakness (for thiscontingency sometimes occurs), or in haste to have other children, theymust select wet and dry nurses with the greatest care, and not introduceinto their houses any kind of women. First and foremost they must beGreeks in their habits. For just as it is necessary immediately afterbirth to shapen the limbs of children, so that they may grow straightand not crooked, so from the beginning must their habits be carefullyattended to. For infancy is supple and easily moulded, and whatchildren learn sinks deeply into their souls while they are young andtender, whereas everything hard is softened only with great difficulty. For just as seals are impressed on soft wax, so instruction leaves itspermanent mark on the minds of those still young. And divine Plato seemsto me to give excellent advice to nurses not to tell their children anykind of fables, that their souls may not in the very dawn of existencebe full of folly or corruption. [9] Phocylides the poet also seems togive admirable advice when he says, "We must teach good habits while thepupil is still a boy. "

§VI. Attention also must be given to this point, that the lads that areto wait upon and be with young people must be first and foremost of goodmorals, and able to speak Greek distinctly and idiomatically, that theymay not by contact with foreigners of loose morals contract any of theirviciousness. For as those who are fond of quoting proverbs say notamiss, "If you live with a lame man, you will learn to halt. "[10]

§VII. Next, when our boys are old enough to be put into the hands oftutors, [11] great care must be taken that we do not hand them over toslaves, or foreigners, or flighty persons. For what happens nowadays inmany cases is highly ridiculous: good slaves are made farmers, orsailors, or merchants, or stewards, or money-lenders; but if they find awinebibbing, greedy, and utterly useless slave, to him parents committhe charge of their sons, whereas the good tutor ought to be such a oneas was Phoenix, the tutor of Achilles. The point also which I am nowgoing to speak about is of the utmost importance. The schoolmasters weought to select for our boys should be of blameless life, of purecharacter, and of great experience. For a good training is the sourceand root of gentlemanly behaviour. And just as farmers prop up theirtrees, so good schoolmasters prop up the young by good advice andsuggestions, 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 tothe charge of untried and untested men. If they act so throughinexperience it is not so ridiculous; but it is to the remotest degreeabsurd when, though perfectly aware of both the inexperience andworthlessness of some schoolmasters, they yet entrust their sons tothem; some overcome by flattery, others to gratify friends who solicittheir favours; acting just as if anybody ill in body, passing over theexperienced physician, should, to gratify his friend, call him in, andso throw away his life; or as if to gratify one's friend one shouldreject the best pilot and choose him instead. Zeus and all the gods! cananyone bearing the sacred name of father put obliging a petitionerbefore obtaining the best education for his sons? Were they not thenwise words that the time-honoured Socrates used to utter, and say thathe would proclaim, if he could, climbing up to the highest part of thecity, "Men, what can you be thinking of, who move heaven and earth tomake money, while you bestow next to no attention on the sons you aregoing to leave that money to?"[12] I would add to this that such fathersact very similarly to a person who should be very careful about his shoebut care nothing about his foot. Many persons also are so niggardlyabout their children, and indifferent to their interests, that for thesake of a paltry saving, they prefer worthless teachers for theirchildren, practising a vile economy at the expense of their children'signorance. _Apropos_ of this, Aristippus on one occasion rebuked anempty-headed parent neatly and wittily. For being asked how much money aparent ought to pay for his son's education, he answered, "A thousanddrachmæ. " And he replying, "Hercules, what a price! I could buy a slavefor as much;" Aristippus answered, "You shall have two slaves then, yourson and the slave you buy. "[13] And is it not altogether strange thatyou accustom your son to take his food in his right hand, and chide himif he offers his left, whereas you care very little about his hearinggood and sound discourses? I will tell you what happens to suchadmirable fathers, when they have educated and brought up their sons sobadly: when the sons grow to man's estate, they disregard a sober andwell-ordered life, and rush headlong into disorderly and low vices; thenat the last the parents are sorry they have neglected their education, bemoaning bitterly when it is too late their sons' debasement. For someof them keep flatterers and parasites in their retinue--an accursed setof wretches, the defilers and pest of youth; others keep mistresses andcommon prostitutes, wanton and costly; others waste their money ineating; others come to grief through dice and revelling; some even go infor bolder profligacy, being whoremongers and defilers of the marriagebed, [14] who would madly pursue their darling vice if it cost them theirlives. Had they associated with some philosopher, they would not havelowered themselves by such practices, but would have remembered theprecept of Diogenes, whose advice sounds rather low, but is really ofexcellent moral intent, [15] "Go into a brothel, my lad, that you may seethe little difference between vice and virtue. "

§ VIII. I say, then, to speak comprehensively (and I might be justlyconsidered in so saying to speak as an oracle, not to be delivering amere precept), that a good education and sound bringing-up is of thefirst and middle and last importance; and I declare it to be mostinstrumental and conducive to virtue and happiness. For all other humanblessings compared to this are petty and insignificant. For noble birthis a great honour, but it is an advantage from our forefathers. Andwealth is valuable, but it is the acquisition of fortune, who has oftentaken it away from those who had it, and brought it to those who littleexpected it; and much wealth is a sort of mark for villanous slaves andinformers to shoot at to fill their own purses; and, what is a mostimportant point, even the greatest villains have money sometimes. Andglory is noble, but insecure. And beauty is highly desirable, butshortlived. And health is highly valuable, but soon impaired. Andstrength 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 isthe strength of a man to that of animals, as elephants, bulls, andlions! But education is of all our advantages the only one immortal anddivine. And two of the most powerful agencies in man's nature are mindand reason. And mind governs reason, and reason obeys mind; and mind isirremovable by fortune, cannot be taken away by informers, cannot bedestroyed by disease, cannot have inroads made into it by old age. Forthe mind alone flourishes in age; and while time takes away everythingelse, it adds wisdom to old age. Even war, that sweeps away everythingelse like a winter torrent, cannot take away education. And Stilpo, theMegarian, seems to me to have made a memorable answer when Demetriusenslaved Megara and rased it to the ground. On his asking whether Stilpohad lost anything, he replied, "Certainly not, for war can make no havocof virtue. " Corresponding and consonant to this is the answer ofSocrates, who when asked, I think by Gorgias, [16] if he had anyconception as to the happiness of the King of Persia, replied, "I do notknow his position in regard to virtue and education: for happiness liesin these, and not in adventitious advantages. "

§ IX. And as I advise parents to think nothing more important than theeducation of their children, so I maintain that it must be a sound andhealthy education, and that our sons must be kept as far as possiblefrom vulgar twaddle. For what pleases the vulgar displeases the wise. Iam borne out by the lines of Euripides, "Unskilled am I in the oratorythat pleases the mob; but amongst the few that are my equals I amreckoned 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 noticedthat those who practise to speak acceptably and to the gratification ofthe masses promiscuously, for the most part become also profligate andlovers of pleasure in their lives. Naturally enough. For if in givingpleasure to others they neglect the noble, they would be hardly likelyto put the lofty and sound above a life of luxury and pleasure, and toprefer moderation to delights. Yet what better advice could we give oursons than to follow this? or to what could we better exhort them toaccustom themselves? For perfection is only attained by neither speakingnor acting at random--as the proverb says, _Perfection is only attainedby practice_. [18] Whereas extempore oratory is easy and facile, merewindbag, having neither beginning nor end. And besides their othershortcomings extempore speakers fall into great disproportion andrepetition, whereas a well considered speech preserves its dueproportions. It is recorded by tradition that Pericles, when called onby the people for a speech, frequently refused on the plea that he wasunprepared. Similarly Demosthenes, his state-rival, when the Athenianscalled upon him for his advice, refused to give it, saying, "I am notprepared. " But this you will say, perhaps, is mere tradition withoutauthority. But in his speech against Midias he plainly sets forth theutility of preparation, for he says, "I do not deny, men of Athens, thatI have prepared this speech to the best of my ability: for I should havebeen a poor creature if, after suffering so much at his hands, and evenstill suffering, I had neglected how to plead my case. "[19] Not that Iwould 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'spowers of speech are rooted and grounded, then, as emergencies call forit, I would allow his words to flow freely. For as those who have beenfor a long time in fetters stumble if unloosed, not being able to walkfrom being long used to their fetters, so those who for a long time haveused compression in their words, if they are suddenly called upon tospeak off-hand, retain the same character of expression. But to let merelads speak extempore is to give rise to the acme of foolish talk. Awretched painter once showed Apelles, they say, a picture, and said, "Ihave just done it. " Apelles replied, "Without your telling me, I shouldknow it was painted quickly; I only wonder you haven't painted more suchin the time. " As then (for I now return from my digression), I advise toavoid stilted and bombastic language, so again do I urge to avoid afinical and petty style of speech; for tall talk is unpopular, and pettylanguage makes no impression. And as the body ought to be not only soundbut in good condition, so speech ought to be not only not feeble butvigorous. For a safe mediocrity is indeed praised, but a boldventuresomeness is also admired. I am also of the same opinion withregard to the disposition of the soul, which ought to be neitheraudacious nor timid and easily dejected: for the one ends in impudenceand the other in servility; but to keep in all things the mean betweenextremes is artistic and proper. And, while I am still on this topic, Iwish to give my opinion, that I regard a monotonous speech first as nosmall proof of want of taste, next as likely to generate disdain, andcertain not to please long. For to harp on one string is always tiresomeand brings satiety; whereas variety is pleasant always whether to theear or eye. 

§ X. Next our freeborn lad ought to go in for a course of what is calledgeneral knowledge, but a smattering of this will be sufficient, a tasteas it were (for perfect knowledge of all subjects would be impossible);but he must seriously cultivate philosophy. I borrow an illustration toshow my meaning: it is well to sail round many cities, but advantageousto 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 hermaids as a _pis aller_, so those who cannot attain philosophy wearthemselves out in useless pursuits. Philosophy, therefore, ought to beregarded as the most important branch of study. For as regards the cureof the body, men have found two branches, medicine and exercise: theformer of which gives health, and the latter good condition of body; butphilosophy 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 isdisgraceful; what is just, what unjust; generally speaking, what is tobe 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, tofriends, to women, to children, to slaves: viz. , that we ought toworship the gods, honour parents, reverence elders, obey the laws, submit ourselves to rulers, love our friends, be chaste in our relationswith women, kind to our children, and not to treat our slaves badly;and, what is of the greatest importance, to be neither over elated inprosperity nor over depressed in adversity, [22] nor to be dissolute inpleasures, nor fierce and brutish in anger. These I regard as theprincipal blessings that philosophy teaches. For to enjoy prosperitynobly shows a man; and to enjoy it without exciting envy shows amoderate 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 thosewho can unite political ability with philosophy I regard as perfect men, for I take them to attain two of the greatest blessings, serving thestate in a public capacity, and living the calm and tranquil life ofphilosophy. For, as there are three kinds of life, the practical, thecontemplative, and the life of enjoyment, and of these three the onedevoted to enjoyment is a paltry and animal life, and the practicalwithout philosophy an unlovely and harsh life, and the contemplativewithout the practical a useless life, so we must endeavour with all ourpower to combine public life with philosophy as far as circumstanceswill permit. Such was the life led by Pericles, by Archytas of Tarentum, by Dion of Syracuse, by Epaminondas the Theban, one of whom was adisciple of Plato (viz. , Dion). And as to education, I do not know thatI need dwell any more on it. But in addition to what I have said, it isuseful, if not necessary, not to neglect to procure old books, and tomake a collection of them, as is usual in agriculture. For the use ofbooks is an instrument in education, and it is profitable in learning togo to the fountain head. 

§ XI. Exercise also ought not to be neglected, but we ought to send ourboys to the master of the gymnasium to train them duly, partly with aview to carrying the body well, partly with a view to strength. For goodhabit of body in boys is the foundation of a good old age. For as infine weather we ought to lay up for winter, so in youth one ought toform good habits and live soberly so as to have a reserve stock ofstrength 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 importantpoint. Our lads must be trained for warlike encounters, makingthemselves efficient in hurling the javelin and darts, and in the chase. For the possessions of those who are defeated in battle belong to theconquerors as booty of war; and war is not the place for delicatelybrought up bodies: it is the spare warrior that makes the bestcombatant, who as an athlete cuts his way through the ranks of theenemies. Supposing anyone objects: "How so? As you undertook to giveadvice on the education of freeborn children, do you now neglect thepoor and plebeian ones, and give instructions only suitable to therich?" It is easy enough to meet such critics. I should prefer to makemy teaching general and suitable to all; but if any, through theirpoverty, shall be unable to follow up my precepts, let them blamefortune, and not the author of these hints. We must try with all ourmight 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. Iinserted those matters into my discourse here, that I might hereafterconfine myself to all that appertains to the right education of theyoung. 

§ XII. And this I say that we ought to try to draw our boys to goodpursuits by entreaties and exhortation, but certainly not by blows orabusive language. For that seems to be more fitting for slaves than thefreeborn. For slaves try to shirk and avoid their work, partly becauseof the pain of blows, partly on account of being reviled. But praise orcensure are far more useful than abuse to the freeborn, praise prickingthem on to virtue, censure deterring them from vice. But one mustcensure and praise alternately: when they are too saucy we must censurethem and make them ashamed of themselves, and again encourage them bypraise, and imitate those nurses who, when their children sob, give themthe breast to comfort them. But we must not puff them up and make themconceited with excessive praise, for that will make them vain and givethemselves airs. 

§ XIII. And I have ere now seen some fathers, whose excessive love fortheir children has turned into hatred. My meaning I will endeavour tomake clearer by illustration. While they are in too great a hurry tomake their sons take the lead in everything, they lay too much work uponthem, so that they faint under their tasks, and, being overburdened, aredisinclined for learning. For just as plants grow with moderate rain, but are done for by too much rain, so the mind enlarges by a properamount of work, but by too much is unhinged. We must therefore give ourboys remission from continuous labour, bearing in mind that all our lifeis divided into labour and rest; thus we find not only wakefulness butsleep, not only war but peace, not only foul weather but fine also, notonly working days but also festivals. And, to speak concisely, rest isthe sauce of labour. And we can see this not only in the case ofanimate, but even inanimate things, for we make bows and lyres slackthat we may be able to stretch them. And generally the body is preservedby repletion and evacuation, and the soul by rest and work. We oughtalso to censure some fathers who, after entrusting their sons to tutorsand preceptors, neither see nor hear how the teaching is done. This is agreat mistake. For they ought after a few days to test the progress oftheir 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 theyhave from time to time to give an account of their progress. Hence thepropriety of that remark of the groom, that nothing fats the horse somuch as the king's eye. [24] And especial attention, in my opinion, mustbe paid to cultivating and exercising the memory of boys, for memory is, as it were, the storehouse of learning; and that was why they fabledMnemosyne to be the mother of the Muses, hinting and insinuating thatnothing so generates and contributes to the growth of learning asmemory. And therefore the memory must be cultivated, whether boys have agood one by nature, or a bad one. For we shall so add to natural goodparts, and make up somewhat for natural deficiencies, so that thedeficient will be better than others, and the clever will outstripthemselves. For good is that remark of Hesiod, "If to a little you keepadding a little, and do so frequently, it will soon be a lot. "[25] Andlet not fathers forget, that thus cultivating the memory is not onlygood for education, but is also a great aid in the business of life. Forthe remembrance of past actions gives a good model how to deal wisely infuture ones. 

§ XIV. We must also keep our sons from filthy language. For, asDemocritus says, Language is the shadow of action. They must also betaught to be affable and courteous. For as want of affability is justlyhateful, so boys will not be disagreeable to those they associate with, if they yield occasionally in disputes. For it is not only excellent toknow how to conquer, but also to know how to be defeated, when victorywould 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, whosays, "When two are talking, and one of them is in a passion, he is thewiser 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. Allthis is of extreme importance, as I will show by examples. To begin withthe last case, some who have put their hands to unjust gains, have lostall the fruits of their former life, as the Lacedæmonian Gylippus, [28]who was exiled from Sparta for embezzling the public money. To be ableto govern the temper also argues a wise man. For Socrates, when a veryimpudent and disgusting young fellow kicked him on one occasion, seeingall the rest of his class vexed and impatient, even to the point ofwanting to prosecute the young man, said, "What! If a young ass kickedme would you have me kick it back?" Not that the young fellow committedthis outrage on Socrates with impunity, for as all reviled him andnicknamed him the kicker, he hung himself. And when Aristophanes broughthis "_Clouds_" on the stage, and bespattered Socrates with his gibes andflouts, and one of the spectators said, "Aren't you vexed, Socrates, athis exhibiting you on the stage in this comic light?" he answered, "NotI, by Zeus, for I look upon the theatre as only a large supperparty. "[29] Very similar to this was the behaviour of Archytas ofTarentum and Plato. The former, on his return from war, where he hadbeen general, finding his land neglected, called his bailiff, and saidto him, "You would have caught it, had I not been very angry. " AndPlato, very angry with a gluttonous and shameless slave, called hissister's son Speusippus, and said, "Go and beat him, for I am tooangry. " But someone will say, these examples are difficult and hard tofollow. I know it. But we must try, as far as possible, following theseexamples, to avoid ungovernable and mad rage. For we cannot in otherrespects equal those distinguished men in their ability and virtue, nevertheless we must, like initiating priests of the gods andtorchbearers of wisdom, attempt as far as possible to imitate and nibbleat their practice. Then, again, if anyone thinks it a small andunimportant matter to govern the tongue, another point I promised totouch on, he is very far from the reality. For silence at the properseason is wisdom, and better than any speech. And that is, I think, thereason why the ancients instituted the mysteries that we, learningtherein to be silent, might transfer our secrecy to the gods to humanaffairs. And no one ever yet repented of his silence, while multitudeshave repented of their speaking. And what has not been said is easy tosay, while what has been once said can never be recalled. I have heardof myriads who have fallen into the greatest misfortunes throughinability to govern their tongues. Passing over the rest, I will mentionone or two cases in point. When Ptolemy Philadelphus married his sisterArsinoe, Sotades said, "You are contracting an unholy marriage. "[30] Forthis speech he long lingered in prison, and paid the righteous penaltyfor his unseasonable babbling, and had to weep a long time for makingothers laugh. Theocritus the Sophist similarly cracked his jokes, andhad to pay even a greater penalty. For when Alexander ordered the Greeksto furnish him with purple robes to wear at the sacrifices on histriumphal return from war against the barbarians, and his subjectscontributed so much per head, Theocritus said, "Before I doubted, butnow I am sure, that this is the _purple death_ Homer speaks of. "[31] Bythis speech he made Alexander his enemy. The same Theocritus putAntigonus, the King of the Macedonians, a one-eyed man, into athundering rage by alluding to his misfortune. For the King sent hischief cook, Eutropio, an important person at his court, to go and fetchTheocritus before him to confer with him, and when he had frequentlyrequested him to come without avail, Theocritus at last said, "I knowwell you wish to serve me up raw to the Cyclops;" flouting the King asone-eyed and the cook with his profession. Eutropio replied, "You shalllose your head, and pay the penalty for this babbling and madinsolence;" and reported his words to the King, who sent and had hishead taken off. Our boys must also be taught to speak the truth as amost sacred duty; for to lie is servile, and most hateful in all men, hardly to be pardoned even in poor slaves. 

§ XV. Thus much have I said about the good conduct and self-control ofboys without any doubt or hesitation: but as to what I am now going tosay I am doubtful and undecided, and like a person weighed in the scalesagainst exactly his weight, and feel great hesitation as to whether Ishould recommend or dissuade the practice. But I must speak out. Thequestion is this--whether we ought to let the lovers of our boysassociate and be with them, or on the contrary, debar them from theircompany and scare them off. For when I look at fathers self-opinionatedsour and austere, who think their sons having lovers a disgrace not tobe borne, I am rather afraid of recommending the practice. But when, onthe other hand, I think of Socrates, Xenophon, Æschines, Cebes, and allthe company of those men who have approved of male loves, and who haveintroduced their minions to learning, to high positions in the State, and to good morals, I change my opinion, and am moved to emulate thosemen. And Euripides seems to favour these views in the passage, "Butthere is among mortals another love, that of the righteous temperate andpure soul. "[32] Nor must we omit the remark of Plato, which seems to mixseriousness with mirth, that "those who have distinguished themselvesought to be permitted to kiss any handsome boy they like. "[33] Thosethen that seek only carnal enjoyment must be kept off, but those thatlove the soul must be encouraged. And while the loves common at Thebesand Elis, and the so-called rape at Crete, must be avoided, the loves ofAthens and Lacedæmon should be emulated. 

§ XVI. As to this matter, therefore, let every parent follow hisinclination. And now, as I have spoken about the good and decentbehaviour of boys, I shall change my subject and speak a little aboutyouths. For I have often censured the introducers of bad habits, whohave set over boys tutors and preceptors, but have given to youths fullliberty, when they ought, on the contrary, to have watched and guardedthem more than boys. For who does not know that the offences of boys arepetty and easily cured, and proceed from the carelessness of tutors orwant of obedience to preceptors; but the faults of young men are oftengrave and serious, as gluttony, and robbing their fathers, and dice, andrevellings, and drinking-bouts, and deflowering of maidens, and seducingof married women. Such outbreaks ought to be carefully checked andcurbed. For that prime of life is prodigal in pleasure, and frisky, andneeds a bridle, so that those parents who do not strongly check thatperiod, are foolishly, if unawares, giving their youths license forvice. [34] Sensible parents, therefore, ought during all that period toguard and watch and restrain their youths, by precepts, by threats, byentreaties, by advice, by promises, by citing examples, [35] on the onehand, of those who have come to ruin by being too fond of pleasure, onthe other hand, of those who by their self-control have attained topraise and good report. For these are, as it were, the two elements ofvirtue, hope of honour, and fear of punishment; the former inciting togood practices, the latter deterring from bad. 

§ XVII. We ought, at all hazards, to keep our boys also from associationwith bad men, for they will catch some of their villany. This was themeaning of Pythagoras' enigmatical precepts, which I shall quote andexplain, as they give no slight momentum towards the acquisition ofvirtue: as, _Do not touch black tails_: that is, do not associate withbad men. [36] _Do not go beyond the balance_: that is, we must pay thegreatest attention to justice and not go beyond it. _Do not sit on ameasure_: that is, do not be lazy, but earn tomorrow's bread as well asto-day's. _Do not give everyone your right hand_: that is, do not be tooready 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 thefire with a sword_: that is, do not provoke an angry person, but yieldto 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 thevoting for offices was formerly taken by beans. _Do not put your food inthe chamber-pot_: that is, do not throw your pearls before swine, forwords are the food of the mind, and the villany of men twist them to acorrupt meaning. _When you have come to the end of a journey do not lookback_: that is, when people are going to die and see that their end isnear, they ought to take it easily and not be dejected. But I willreturn from my digression. We must keep our boys, as I said, fromassociation with all bad men, but especially from flatterers. For, as Ihave often said to parents, and still say, and will constantly affirm, there is no race more pestilential, nor more sure to ruin youthsswiftly, than the race of flatterers, who destroy both parents and sonsroot and branch, making the old age of the one and the youth of theothers miserable, holding out pleasure as a sure bait. The sons of therich are by their fathers urged to be sober, but by them to be drunk; bytheir fathers to be chaste, by them to wax wanton; by their fathers tosave, by them to spend; by their fathers to be industrious, by them tobe lazy. For they say, "'Our life's but a span;'[37] we can only liveonce; 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 himoff to burial. " Some even pimp for them and supply them with prostitutesor even married women, and cut huge slices off the father's savings forold age, if they don't run off with them altogether. An accursed tribe, feigning friendship, knowing nothing of real freedom, flatterers of therich, despisers of the poor, drawn to young men by a sort of naturallogic, [38] showing their teeth and grinning all over when their patronslaugh, [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 thinkingthemselves insulted, because they are parasites to no purpose. So, ifany father cares for the good bringing-up of his sons, he must banishfrom his house this abominable race. He must also be on his guardagainst the viciousness of his sons' schoolfellows, for they are quitesufficient to corrupt the best morals. 

§ XVIII. What I have said hitherto is _apropos_ to my subject: I willnow speak a word to the men. Parents must not be over harsh and rough intheir natures, but must often forgive their sons' offences, rememberingthat they themselves were once young. And just as doctors by infusing asweet flavour into their bitter potions find delight a passage tobenefit, so fathers must temper the severity of their censure bymildness; and sometimes relax and slacken the reins of their sons'desires, and again tighten them; and must be especially easy in respectto their faults, or if they are angry must soon cool down. For it isbetter for a father to be hot-tempered than sullen, for to continuehostile and irreconcilable looks like hating one's son. And it is goodto seem not to notice some faults, but to extend to them the weak sightand deafness of old age, so as seeing not to see, and hearing not tohear, their doings. We tolerate the faults of our friends; why should wenot that of our sons? often even our slaves' drunken debauches we do notexpose. Have you been rather near? spend more freely. Have you beenvexed? let the matter pass. Has your son deceived you by the help of aslave? do not be angry. Did he take a yoke of oxen from the field, didhe come home smelling of yesterday's debauch? wink at it. Is he scentedlike a perfume shop? say nothing. Thus frisky youth gets broken in. [40]

§ XIX. Those of our sons who are given to pleasure and pay little heedto rebuke, we must endeavour to marry, for marriage is the surestrestraint upon youth. And we must marry our sons to wives not muchricher or better born, for the proverb is a sound one, "Marry in yourown walk of life. "[41] For those who marry wives superior to themselvesin rank are not so much the husbands of their wives as unawares slavesto their dowries. [42]

§ 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 exampleto their sons, that, looking at their lives as a mirror, they may turnaway from bad deeds and words. For those fathers who censure theirsons' faults while they themselves commit the same, are really their ownaccusers, if they know it not, under their sons' name; and those wholive a depraved life have no right to censure their slaves, far lesstheir sons. And besides this they will become counsellors and teachersof their sons in wrongdoing; for where old men are shameless youths willof a certainty have no modesty. We must therefore take all pains toteach our sons self-control, emulating the conduct of Eurydice, who, though an Illyrian and more than a barbarian, to teach her sons educatedherself though late in life, and her love to them is well depicted inthe inscription which she offered to the Muses: "Eurydice of Hierapolismade this offering to the Muses, having conceived a vast love forknowledge. 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; butto attain to many, though it would need a happy disposition and muchcare, 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: paidagôgos] 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: ô pai Hipponikou Hermogenes, palaia paroimia, oti chalepa ta kala estin opê 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 Stobæus 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, § 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 Athenæus, 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: hôs ek logikês technês. ]

 [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, " § 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 Stobæus, 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. 

§ I. Appeals to foreign law-courts were first devised among the Greeksthrough mistrust of one another's justice, for they looked on justice asa necessity not indigenous among them. Is it not on much the sameprinciple that the philosophers, in regard to some of their questions, owing to their variety of opinion, have appealed to the brute creationas to a strange state, and submitted the decision to their instincts andhabits as not to be talked over and impartial? Or is it a generalcharge against human infirmity that, having different opinions on themost necessary and important things, we seek in horses and dogs andbirds how to marry and beget and rear children, as though we had nomeans of making our own nature known, and appeal to the habits andinstincts of the brute creation, and call them in to bear witnessagainst the many deviations from nature in our lives, which from thefirst are confused and disorderly. For among the brutes nature remainsever 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 addedopinions, it becomes various and loses its original simplicity. And letus not wonder that the brutes follow nature more closely than humanbeings, for in that respect even they are outstripped by inanimatethings, which, being dowered neither with imagination nor any appetiteor inclination contrary to nature, ever continue in the one path whichnature has prescribed for them, as if they were tied and bound. But inbrutes the gentleness of mood inspired by reason, the subtlety, the loveof freedom, are not qualities found in excess, but they haveunreasonable appetites and desires, and act in a roundabout way withincertain limits, riding, as it were, at the anchor of nature, and onlygoing straight under bit and bridle. But in man reason, which isabsolute master, inventing different modes and fashions of life, hasleft no plain or evident trace of nature. [44]

§ 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 forchildlessness, nor are they anxious for the _jus trium liberorum_, [45]like many of the Romans, who only marry and have children for theprivileges it bestows, not to have heirs, but to be qualified forsucceeding themselves to inheritances. Then, again, the male animaldoes not go with the female at all times; for its aim is not pleasurebut procreation: so in the season of spring, the most appropriate timefor such pairings, [46] the female being submissive and tender attractsthe male by her beautiful condition of body, coming as she does from thedew and fresh pastures, and when pregnant modestly retires and takesthought for the birth and safety of her offspring. We cannot adequatelydescribe all this, but every animal exhibits for its young affection andforethought and endurance and unselfishness. We call the bee wise, andcelebrate its "making the yellow honey, "[47] flattering it for itstickling sweetness; but we neglect the wisdom and ingenuity of othercreatures, both as regards the birth and bringing up of their young. Forexample, the kingfisher after conception weaves its nest with the thornsof the marine needle, making it round and oblong in shape like afisherman's basket, and after deftly and closely weaving it together, subjects it to the action of the sea waves, that its surface may berendered waterproof by this plash and cement, and it is hard for eveniron or stone to break it. And what is more wonderful still, sosymmetrically is the entrance of the nest adjusted to the kingfisher'sshape 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 smallestthings. And cats, when they breed, very often let their kittens go outand feed, and take them back into their entrails again. [48] And thebear, a most savage and ugly beast, gives birth to its young withoutshape or joints, and with its tongue as with an instrument moulds itsfeatures, 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 itswhelps, exulting in its strength, which so frowns that it hides itseyes, "[49] does it not intend to bargain with the hunters for itswhelps? For universally the love of animals for their offspring makestimid ones bold, and lazy ones energetic, and greedy ones unselfish. And so the bird in Homer, feeding its young "with its beak, withwhatever 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 isnear its maw abstains from it, and holds it tightly in its mouth, thatit may not gulp it down unawares. "And so a bitch bestriding her tenderpups, barks at a strange man, and yearns for the fray, "[51] making herfear for them a sort of second anger. And partridges when they arepursued with their young let them fly on, and, contriving their safety, themselves fly so near the sportsmen as to be almost caught, and thenwheel round, and again fly back and make the sportsmen hope to catchthem, 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 howthey watch over their chicks, dropping their wings over some, andletting others climb on their backs, or anywhere about them, andclucking for joy all the time: and though they fly from dogs and dragonswhen only afraid for themselves, if they are afraid for their chicksthey stand their ground and fight valiantly. Are we to suppose then thatnature has only implanted these instincts in fowls and dogs and bears, anxious only about their offspring, to put us mortals out of countenanceand to give us a bad name? considering these examples for us to follow, while disgrace justly attaches to our inhumanity, for mankind only isaccused of having no disinterested affection, and of not knowing how tolove except in regard to advantage. For that line is greatly admired inthe theatres, "Man loves man only for reward, " and is the view ofEpicurus, who thinks that the father so loves his son, the mother herchild, children their parents. Whereas, if the brutes could understandconversation, and if anyone were to introduce horses and cows and dogsand birds into a common theatre, [52] and were to change the sentimentinto "neither do dogs love their pups, nor horses their foals, nor birdstheir young, out of interest, but gratuitously and by nature, " it wouldbe recognized by the affections of all of them to be a true sentiment. Why it would be disgraceful, great God, that birth and travail andprocreation should be gratis and mere nature among the beasts, whileamong mankind they should be merely mercenary transactions!

§ III. But such a statement is not true or worthy of credit. For asnature, 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 toman, a logical and social animal, she has taught justice and law, andhonour to the gods, and building of cities, and philanthropy, and hascontributed the noble and goodly and fruitful seeds of all these in loveto one's offspring, thereby following the very first elements that arefound in the construction of the body. For nature is everywhere perfectand artistic and complete, and, to borrow the expression ofErasistratus, has nothing tawdry about her: but one cannot adequatelydescribe all the processes appertaining to birth, nor would it beperhaps decent to pry too closely into such hidden matters, and toparticularize too minutely all their wondrous ingenuity. But hercontrivance and dispensation of milk alone is sufficient to provenature's wonderful care and forethought. For all the superfluous bloodin women, that owing to their languor and thinness of spirit floatsabout on the surface and oppresses them, has a safety-valve provided bynature in the menses, which relieve and cleanse the rest of the body, and fit the womb for conception in due season. But after conceptionnature stops the menses, and arrests the flow of the blood, using it asaliment 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 ismost ingeniously changed into a supply of milk, not diffused all overthe body, but externally in the breasts, so that the babe can with itsmouth imbibe the gentle and soothing nutriment. [53] But all thesevarious processes of nature, all this economy, all this forethought, would be useless, had not nature also implanted in mothers love to theiroffspring 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. Forthere is nothing so imperfect, so helpless, so naked, so shapeless, sofoul as a newborn babe: to whom almost alone nature has given an impureoutlet to the light of day: being kneaded with blood, and full ofdefilement, and like one killed rather than born: which no one wouldtouch, or lift up, or kiss, or embrace, but from natural affection. Andthat is why all the animals have their udders under the belly, womenalone have their breasts high on their bodies, that they can lift uptheir babes to kiss, to dandle, and to fondle: seeing that their bearingand rearing children comes not from necessity but love. 

§ IV. Refer the question to the ancient inhabitants of the earth, to thefirst mothers and fathers. There was no law ordering them to havefamilies, no expectation of advantage or return to be got out of them. Ishould rather say that mothers would be likely to be hostile and bearmalice 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 thepregnant woman, then come to her aid the Ilithyiæ, who help women inhard childbirth, those daughters of Hera, goddesses of travail, "[55]were not written by Homer, but by some Homerid who had been a mother, orwas even then in the throes of travail, and who vividly felt the sharppain 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 herthroes, she neglects not nor flees from her babe, but turns to it andsmiles at it, and takes it up and caresses it, though she derives nopleasure or utility from it, but with pain and sorrow receives it, "warming it and fostering it in swaddling clothes, with unintermittentassiduity both night and day. "[56] What hope of gain or advantage hadthey in those days? nay, or even now? for the hopes of parents areuncertain, and have to be long waited for. He who plants a vine in thespring equinox, gleans its vintage in the autumnal equinox; he who sowscorn when the Pleiads set, reaps it when they rise; cattle and horsesand birds have produce at once fit for use; whereas man's bringing up istoilsome, his growth slow; and as excellence flowers late, most fathersdie before their sons attain to fame. Neocles lived not to seeThemistocles' victory at Salamis, nor Miltiades Cimon's at theEurymedon, nor did Xanthippus hear Pericles haranguing, nor did Aristohear Plato philosophizing, nor did their fathers know of the triumphs ofEuripides and Sophocles. They heard them faltering in speech and lispingin syllables, the poor parents saw their errors in revelling anddrinking and love-affairs, so that of all Evenus'[57] lines, that onealone is most remembered and quoted, "to a father a son is always acause of fear or pain. " Nevertheless, parents do not cease to bring upsons, even when they can least need them. For it is ridiculous tosuppose that the rich, when they have sons, sacrifice and rejoice thatthey will have people to take care of them and to bury them; unlessindeed they bring up sons from want of heirs; as if one could not findor 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 ofvaried note, are less numerous than the number of would-be heirs. Forhad Danaus, the father of fifty daughters, been childless, he would havehad 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 onedecision in the courts, then eat, drink, gobble, take thethree-obol-piece. "[58] And what Euripides has said, "Money finds friendsfor men, and has the greatest power among mankind, " is not merely ageneral truth, but is especially true in the case of the childless. Forthose the rich entertain to dinner, those great men pay court to, tothose alone orators give their services gratis. "A mighty personage is arich man, whose heir is unknown. " It has at any rate made many muchloved and honoured, whom the possession of one child would have madeunloved and insignificant. Whence we see that there is no power oradvantage to be got from children, but that the love of them, alike inmankind as among the animals, proceeds entirely from nature. 

§ V. What if this natural affection, like many other virtues, isobscured by badness, as a wilderness chokes a garden? Are we to say thatman does not love himself by nature, because many cut their throats orthrow themselves down precipices? Did not Oedipus put out his eyes? Anddid not Hegesias by his speeches make, many of his hearers to commitsuicide?[59] "Fatality has many different aspects. "[60] But all theseare diseases and maladies of the soul driving a man contrary to natureout of his wits: as men themselves testify even against themselves. Forif a sow destroys one of its litter, or a bitch one of its pups, men aredejected and troubled, and think it an evil omen, and sacrifice to thegods to avert any bad results, on the score that it is natural to all tolove and cherish their offspring, unnatural to destroy it. For just asin mines the gold is conspicuous even though mixed up with earth, sonature manifests plainly love to offspring even in instances of faultyhabits and affections. For when the poor do not rear their children, itis from fear that if reared to man's estate they would be more thanought to be the case servile, and have little culture, and be debarredof all advantages: so, thinking poverty the worst of all evils, theycannot bear to give it their children, any more than they would some baddisease. [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 Judæus Apella!

 [49] "Iliad, " xvii. 134-136. 

 [50] "Iliad, " ix. 324. Quoted again in "How one may be aware of one's Progress in Virtue, " § 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; "Bacchæ, " 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, DAPHNÆUS, PROTOGENES, PISIAS, AND OTHERS. 

I. _Flavianus. _--You say that it was on Mount Helicon, Autobulus, thatthose conversations took place about Love, which you are now about tonarrate to us at our request, as you either wrote them down, or at leastremember them from frequently asking our father about them. 

_Autobulus. _--It was on Mount Helicon among the Muses, Flavianus, whenthe people of Thespiæ were celebrating their Festival to the God ofLove, which they celebrate very magnificently and splendidly every fiveyears to that God, as also to the Muses. 

_Flavianus. _--Do you know what all of us who have come to this audienceintend to ask of you?

_Autobulus. _--No, but I shall know if you tell me. 

_Flavianus. _--Remove from your discourse for this once the poet'smeadows and shades, and talk about ivy and yews, and all othercommonplaces of that kind that writers love to introduce, with more zealthan discretion, in imitation of Plato's Ilissus and the famous willowand the gentle slope of grass. [62]

_Autobulus. _--My dear Flavianus, my narrative needs not any suchexordium. The occasion that caused the conversation simply demands achorus 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 giveme memory for my narrative. 

§ II. Long ago our father, before we were born, having lately marriedour mother, had gone to sacrifice to the God of Love, in consequence ofa dispute and variance that broke out among their parents, and took ourmother to the Festival, for she also had her part in the vow andsacrifice. Some of their intimate friends journeyed with them from thetown where they lived, and when they got to Thespiæ they found thereDaphnæus the son of Archidamus, a lover of Lysandra the daughter ofSimo, 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 therewere there also Protogenes of Tarsus, and Zeuxippus from Sparta, strangers, and my father said most of the most notable Boeotians werethere also. For two or three days they went about the town in oneanother's company, as it was likely they would do, quietly carrying onphilosophical discussions in the wrestling-schools and theatres: afterthat, to avoid a wearisome contest of harpers, decided beforehand bycanvassing and cabal, most broke up their camp as if they had been in ahostile country, and removed to Mount Helicon, and bivouacked there withthe Muses. In the morning they were visited by Anthemion and Pisias, both men of good repute, and very great friends of Baccho, who wassurnamed the Handsome, and also rivals of one another somewhat throughtheir affection for him. Now you must know that there was at Thespiæ alady called Ismenodora, famous for her wealth and good family, and ofuncommon good repute for her virtuous life: for she had been a widowsome time without a breath of slander lighting upon her, though she wasyoung and good-looking. As Baccho was the son of a friend and crony ofhers, she had tried to bring about a marriage between him and a maidenwho was her own relation, but by frequently being in his company andtalking to him she had got rather smitten with him herself. And hearingmuch in his favour, and often talking about him, and seeing that manynoble young men were in love with him, she fell violently in love withhim, and, being resolved to do nothing unbecoming to her fair fame, determined to marry and live openly with him. And the matter seeming initself rather odd, Baccho's mother looked rather askance at the proposedmatrimonial alliance as being too high and splendid for her son, whilesome of his companions who used to go out hunting with him, frighteninghim and flouting him with Ismenodora's being rather too old for him, really did more to break off the match than those who seriously opposedit. And Baccho, being only a youth, somehow felt a little ashamed at theidea of marrying a widow, but, neglecting the opinions of everybodyelse, he submitted the decision as to the expediency of the marriage toPisias and Anthemion, the latter being his cousin, though older thanhim, and the former the gravest[63] of his lovers. Pisias objected tothe marriage, and upbraided Anthemion with throwing the youth away onIsmenodora. Anthemion replied that it was not well in Pisias, being agood fellow in other respects, to imitate depraved lovers by shuttingout his friend from house and marriage and wealth, merely that he mightenjoy the sight of him as long as possible naked and in all his virginbloom at the wrestling-schools. 

§ III. To avoid getting estranged by provoking one another on thequestion, they came and chose our father and his companions as umpireson the matter. And of the other friends, as if by concerted arrangement, Daphnæus espoused the view of Anthemion, and Protogenes the view ofPisias. And Protogenes inveighing somewhat too freely againstIsmenodora, Daphnæus took him up and said, "Hercules, what are we not toexpect, if Protogenes is going to be hostile to love? he whose wholelife, whether in work or at play, has been devoted to love, inforgetfulness of letters, in forgetfulness of his country, not likeLaius, away from his country only five days, his was only a torpid andland love: whereas your love 'unfolding its swift wings, ' flew over thesea from Cilicia to Athens, merely to gaze at and saunter about withhandsome boys. For that was the original reason, doubtless, ofProtogenes' journey abroad. "

§ IV. And some laughter ensuing, Protogenes replied, "Do I really seemto you now to be hostile to love, and not to be fighting for loveagainst ungovernable lust, which with most disgraceful acts and emotionsassumes the most honourable of titles?" Whereupon Daphnæus, "Do you callthe marriage and union of man and woman most disgraceful, than which noholier tie exists nor ever did?" Protogenes replied, "Why, as all thisis necessary for the human race to continue, our legislators do not actamiss in crying up marriage and eulogizing it to the masses, but ofgenuine 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 themas flies love milk, and bees the honey-comb, and butchers and cookscalves and birds, fattening them up in darkness. [65] But as nature leadsone to eat and drink moderately and sufficiently, and excess in this iscalled gluttony and gormandizing, so the mutual desires between men andwomen are natural; but that headlong, violent, and uncontrollablepassion for the sex is not rightly called love. For love, when it seizesa noble and young soul, ends in virtue through friendship; but theseviolent passions for women, at the best, aim only at carnal enjoymentand reaping the harvest of a beauteous prime, as Aristippus showed inhis 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 ofpassion is pleasure and fruition: but love, when it has once lost thepromise of friendship, will not remain and continue to cherish merelyfor beauty that which gives it pain, where it gives no return offriendship and virtue. You remember the husband in the play saying tohis wife, 'Do you hate me? I can bear that hatred very easily, since ofmy dishonour I make money. ' Not a whit more really in love than thishusband is the one, who, not for gain but merely for the sexualappetite, puts up with a peevish and unsympathetic wife, as Philippides, the comic poet, ridiculed the orator, Stratocles, 'You scarce can kissher if she turns her back on you. ' If, however, we ought to give thename 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 Homercalled 'black, and a bird of prey, ' and there are other kinds ofspurious eagles, which catch fish and lazy birds in marshes, and oftenin want of food emit an hungry wail: so the genuine love is the love ofboys, a love not 'flashing with desire, ' as Anacreon said the love ofmaidens was, nor 'redolent of ointment and sprightly, ' but you will seeit plain and without airs in the schools of the philosophers, or perhapsin the gymnasiums and wrestling-schools, keenly and nobly pursuingyouths, 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'sbosoms and beds, always pursuing effeminate delights, and enervated byunmanly, unfriendly, and unimpassioned pleasures, we ought to condemn asSolon condemned it: for he forbade slaves to love boys or to anoint themwith oil, while he allowed them to associate with women. For friendshipis noble and refined, whereas pleasure is vulgar and illiberal. Therefore, for a slave to love boys is neither liberal or refined: forit is merely the love of copulation, as the love of women. "

§ V. Protogenes was intending to go on at greater length, when Daphnæusstopped him and said, "You do well, by Zeus, to mention Solon, and wetoo may use him as the test of an amorous man. Does he not define such aone in the lines, 'As long as you love boys in the glorious flower oftheir youth for their kisses and embraces. ' And add to Solon the linesof Æschylus, 'You did not disdain the honour of the thighs, O thanklessone after all my frequent kisses. '[68] For some laugh at them if theybid lovers, like sacrificing priests and seers, to inspect thighs andloins; but I think this a mighty argument in behalf of the love ofwomen. For if the unnatural commerce with males does not take away ormar the amorous propensity, much more likely is it that the natural loveof women will end in friendship after the favour. For, Protogenes, theyielding of the female to the male was called by the ancients thefavour. Thus Pindar says Hephæstus was the son of Hera 'without anyfavours':[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 orby persuasion?' But the love of males for males, whether rape orvoluntary--pathicks effeminately submitting, to use Plato's words, 'tobe treated bestially'--is altogether a foul and unlovely favour. And soI think Solon wrote the lines quoted above 'in his hot youth, ' as Platoputs it; but when he became older wrote these other lines, 'Now Idelight in Cyprus-born Aphrodite, and in Dionysus, and in the Muses: allthese give joys to men': as if, after the heat and tempest of his boyishloves, he had got into a quiet haven of marriage and philosophy. Butindeed, Protogenes, if we look at the real facts of the case, the lovefor boys and women is really one and the same passion: but if you wishin a disputatious spirit to make any distinction, you will find thatthis boy-love goes beyond all bounds, and, like some late-born andill-begotten bastard brat, seeks to expel its legitimate brother theolder love, the love of women. For indeed, friend, it is only yesterdayor the day before, since the strippings and exposures of the youths inthe gymnasiums, that this boy-love crept in, and gently insinuateditself and got a footing, and at last in a little time got fully-fledgedin the wrestling-schools, and has now got fairly unbearable, and insultsand tramples on conjugal love, that love that gives immortality to ourmortal race, when our nature has been extinguished by death, kindling itagain 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 somespecious excuse for the liberties it takes with handsome boys in theirprime: the pretext is friendship and virtue. So your boy-lover wallowsin the dust, bathes in cold water, raises his eyebrows, gives himselfout for a philosopher, and lives chaste abroad because of the law: butin 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 theseboy-familiarities, how is it Love, if Aphrodite is not present, whom itis the destiny of Love to cherish and pay court to, and to partake ofjust as much honour and power as she assigns to him? But if there is anyLove without Aphrodite, as there is drunkenness without wine in drinksmade from figs and barley, the disturbing it will be fruitless andwithout effect, and surfeiting and disgusting. "

§ VI. At the conclusion of this speech, it was clear that Pisias wasvexed and indignant with Daphnæus; and after a moment's silence hebegan: "O Hercules! what levity and audacity for men to state that theyare tied to women as dogs to bitches, and to banish the god of Love fromthe gymnasiums and public walks, and light of day and open intercourse, and to restrict him to brothels[71] and philtres and incantations ofwanton women: for to chaste women, I am sure, it belongs not either tolove or be loved. " At this point our father told me he interposed, andtook 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 Daphnæus by his extravagantlanguage, charging marriage with being a loveless intercourse, and onethat has no participation in divine friendship, although we can see thatit is an intercourse, if erotic persuasion and favour fail, that cannotbe restrained by shame and fear as by bit and bridle. " Thereupon Pisiassaid, "I care little about his arguments; but I see that Daphnæus is inthe same condition as brass: for, just as it is not worked upon so muchby 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 hisassociation with one who is the victim of the gentle passion; and it isplain that, if he doesn't take refuge with us, he will soon melt awayin the flame altogether. But I see, what Anthemion would very much like, that I am offending the Court, so I stop. " "You amuse us, " saidAnthemion: "but you ought from the first to have spoken to the point. "

§ VII. "I say then, " continued Pisias, "and give it out boldly, as faras I am concerned, let every woman have a lover; but we ought to guardagainst giving the wealth of Ismenodora to Baccho, lest, if we involvehim 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 andinsignificant woman, it would be great odds whether he would keep theupper hand, as wine mixed with water; and Ismenodora seems alreadymarked out for sway and command; for otherwise she would not haverejected such illustrious and wealthy suitors to woo a lad hardly yetarrived at man's estate, and almost requiring a tutor still. Andtherefore men of sense prune the excessive wealth of their wives, as ifit had wings that required clipping; for this same wealth implants inthem luxury, caprice, and vanity, by which they are often elated and flyaway altogether: but if they remain, it would be better to be bound bygolden fetters, as in Ethiopia, than to a woman's wealth. "

§ VIII. Here Protogenes put in, "You say nothing about the risk we runof unseasonably and ridiculously reversing the well-known advice ofHesiod:

 '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 manyyears older, than himself, as dates and figs are forced. You will sayshe loves him passionately: who prevents her, then, from serenading athis doors, singing her amorous ditty, putting garlands on his statues, and wrestling and boxing with her rivals in his affections? For allthese are what people in love do. And let her lower her eyebrows, andgive up the airs of a coquette, and assume the appearance of those thatare deeply smitten. But if she is modest and chaste, let her decorouslystay at home and await there her lovers and sweethearts; for anysensible man would be disgusted and flee from a woman who took theinitiative in love, far less would he be likely to marry her after sucha barefaced wooing. "

§ IX. When Protogenes had done speaking, my father said, "Do you see, Anthemion, that they force us to intervene again, who have no objectionto dance in the retinue of conjugal Love?" "I do, " said Anthemion, "butpray defend Love at some length, as you are on his side, and moreovercome 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 acharge against a woman, if we are to reject Ismenodora because she is inlove and has money? Granted she loves sway and is rich? What then, ifshe is young and handsome? And what if she plumes herself somewhat onthe lustre of her race? Have not chaste women often something of themorose and peevish in their character almost past bearing? Do they notsometimes get called waspish and shrewish by virtue of their verychastity? Would it be best then to marry off the street some ThracianAbrotonus, or some Milesian Bacchis, and seal the bargain by the presentof a handful of nuts? But we have known even such turn out intolerabletyrants, Syrian flute-girls and ballet-dancers, as Aristonica, andOenanthe with her tambourine, and Agathoclea, who have lorded it overkings' diadems. [74] Why Syrian Semiramis was only the servant andconcubine of one of king Ninus's slaves, till Ninus the great kingseeing and falling in love with her, she got such power over him thatshe thought so cheap of him, that she asked to be allowed one day to siton the royal throne, with the royal diadem on her head, and to transactstate affairs. And Ninus having granted her permission, and havingordered all his subjects to obey her as himself, she first gave severalvery moderate orders to make trial of the guards; but when she saw thatthey obeyed her without the slightest hesitation, she ordered them toseize Ninus and put him in fetters, and at last put him to death; andall her commands being obeyed, she ruled over Asia for a long time withgreat lustre. And was not Belestiche a foreign woman off the streets, although at Alexandria she has shrines and temples, with an inscriptionas Aphrodite Belestiche, which she owes to the king's love? And she whohas in this very town[75] a temple and rites in common with Eros, and atDelphi stands in gold among kings and queens, by what dowry got she herlovers? 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 allianceswith rich women of rank, have not been thereby spoilt nor merged theirpersonality, but have lived with their wives on a footing of kindness, yet still kept their position as heads of the house. But he that abaseshis wife and makes her small, like one who tightens the ring on a fingertoo small for it fearing it will come off, [76] is like those who cuttheir mares' tails off and then take them to a river or pond to drink, when they say that sorrowfully discerning their loss of beauty thesemares lose their self-respect and allow themselves to be covered byasses. [77] To select a wife for wealth rather than for her excellence orfamily is dishonourable and illiberal; but it is silly to reject wealthwhen it is accompanied by excellence and family. Antigonus indeed wroteto his officer who had garrisoned Munychia[78] to make not only thecollar strong but the dog lean, that he might undermine the strength ofthe Athenians; but it becomes not the husband of a rich or handsomewoman to make his wife poor or ugly, but by his self-control and goodsense, and by not too extravagantly showing his admiration for her, toexhibit himself as her equal not her slave, and (to borrow anillustration from the scales) to add just so much weight to hischaracter as shall over-balance her, yet only just. Moreover, bothIsmenodora and Baccho are of a suitable age for marriage and procreationof children; Ismenodora, I hear, is still in her prime, and" (here myfather smiled slily at Pisias) "she is certainly not a bit older thanher rivals, and has no grey hairs, as some of those who consort withBaccho have. And if their union is seasonable, who knows but that shemay be a better partner for him than any young woman? For young couplesdo not blend and mix well together, and it takes a long time and is notan 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 pullwell together, and this is oftenest the case when there's love on bothsides, and, just as a storm wrecks the ship if no pilot is on board, sotheir marriage is trouble and confusion, neither party knowing howeither to rule or to give way properly. And if the baby is under thenurse, and the boy under the master, and the lad under the master of thegymnasium, and the youth under his lover, and the full-grown man underthe law and magistrate, and no one is his own master and exempt fromobedience to someone, what wonder would it be if a sensible woman ratherolder than her husband would direct well the life of a young man, beinguseful to him by reason of her superior wisdom, and acceptable to himfor her sweetness and gentleness? And to sum up the whole matter, " saidhe, "we Boeotians ought to revere Hercules, and so find no fault in anyinequality of age in marriages, seeing that he gave his own wife Megarain marriage to Iolaus, though he was only sixteen and shethree-and-thirty. "[79]

§ X. As the conversation was going on, our father said that a friend ofPisias came galloping up from the town to report an act of marvellousaudacity. Ismenodora, it appears, thinking Baccho had no personaldislike to the match, but only stood in awe of his friends who tried todissuade him from it, determined that she would not let the young fellowslip through her fingers. Accordingly, she sent for the most active andintimate[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 thehour when Baccho was accustomed regularly to pass by her house on hisway to the wrestling-school. And as he passed by on this occasion withtwo or three of his companions, anointed for the exercise, Ismenodoramet him at the door and just touched his cloak, and her friends rushedout all together and prettily seized the pretty fellow as he was in hiscloak and jersey, [81] and hurried him into the house and at once lockedthe doors. And the women inside at once divested him of his cloak andput on him a bridal robe; and the servants ran about the town and putolive wreaths and laurel garlands at the doors of Baccho's house as wellas Ismenodora's, and a flute-girl went up and down the street playingand singing the wedding-song. And some of the inhabitants of Thespiæ andthe strangers laughed, others were indignant and tried to make thesuperintendents of the gymnasium move in the matter, for they have greatpower in Thespiæ over the youths, and pay great attention to theiractions. And now there was no more talk about the sports, but everyoneleft the theatre for the neighbourhood of Ismenodora's house, and therestood in groups talking and disputing about what had happened. 

§ 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 thatIsmenodora had seized Baccho, my father said that Zeuxippus smiled, andbeing 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 oflicense like this which will overthrow our town? Already we are fasttending to lawlessness through our independence. And yet it is perhapsridiculous to be indignant about law and justice, when nature itself istrampled upon by being thus subjected to women? Saw even Lemnos ever thelike of this?[82] Let us go, " he continued, "let us go and hand over tothe women the gymnasium and council-hall, if the townsmen have lost alltheir nerve. " Pisias then left the company, and Protogenes went withhim, partly sympathizing with his indignation, but still endeavouring tocool him. And Anthemion said, "'Twas a bold deed and certainly doessavour somewhat of Lemnos--I own it now we are alone--this Ismenodoramust be most violently in love. " Hereupon Soclarus said, with a slysmile, "You don't think then that this rape and detention was an excuseand stratagem on the part of a wily young man to escape from theclutches of his lovers, and fly of his own volition to the arms of arich and handsome widow?" "Pray don't say so, Soclarus, " said Anthemion, "pray don't entertain any such suspicions of Baccho, for even if he werenot by nature most simple and naïve, he would not have concealed thematter from me to whom he divulges all his secrets, especially as heknows that I have always been very anxious he should marry Ismenodora. But as Heraclitus says truly, It is more difficult to control love thananger; for whatever love has a fancy to, it will buy even at the cost oflife, money, and reputation. Who lives a more quiet life in our townthan Ismenodora? When did ever any ugly rumour attach itself to her?When did ever any breath of suspicion sully her house? Some divineinspiration, beyond human calculation, seems now to have possessed her. "

§ XII. Then Pemptides laughed and said, "Of course you know that thereis a certain disease of the body called the sacred disease. [83] It is nowonder, therefore, if some call the greatest and most insane passion ofthe soul sacred and divine. However, as in Egypt I once saw twoneighbours disputing when a serpent passed by them on the road, bothcalling it a good omen, but each claiming the blessing as his alone; soseeing lately that some of you drag Love to the men's apartments, whileothers confine it to the women's side of the house, while all of youregard it as a divine and superlative blessing, I do not wonder, sinceit is a passion that has such power and honour, that those who ought tobanish it from every quarter and clip its wings do themselves add to itsinfluence and power. And hitherto I held my peace, for I saw that thediscussion turned rather on private than public interests, but now thatwe have got rid of Pisias, I would gladly hear from you to what they hadan eye who first called Love a god. "

§ XIII. Just as Pemptides had left off, and our father was about toanswer his question, another messenger came from the town, sent byIsmenodora to summon Anthemion, for the tumult had increased, and therewas a difference of opinion between the superintendents of thegymnasium, one thinking they ought to demand the liberation of Baccho, the other thinking they ought not to interfere. Anthemion got up at onceand went off. And our father, addressing Pemptides especially, said, "You seem to me, my dear Pemptides, to be handling a great and boldmatter, or rather to be discussing things that ought not to bediscussed, in asking for a reason in each case for our opinion about thegods. Our ancient and hereditary faith is sufficient, a better argumentthan 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, andits stability and time-honoured ideas be unsettled, it becomesundermined 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, thathis play would go down with the public uncommonly well, [86] so healtered it into

 'Zeus the divine, as he is truly called. '[87]

And what difference is there between calling in question the receivedopinion about Zeus or Athene, and that about Love? For it is not now forthe first time that Love asks for an altar and sacrifices, nor is he astrange god introduced by foreign superstition, as some Attis or Adonis, furtively smuggled in by hermaphrodites and women, and secretlyreceiving honours not his own, to avoid an indictment among the gods forcoming among them under false pretences. And when, my friend, you hearthe 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, butto be extolled by us as one of the very oldest gods. And if you demandproofs about every one of the gods, laying a profane hand on everytemple, and bringing a learned doubt to every altar, you will scrutinizeand 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 callsher _Fruitful_, both very appropriate epithets. And though the wonderfulact of generation belongs to Aphrodite only, and Love is only present init as a subordinate, yet if he be absent the whole affair becomesundesirable, and low, and tame. For a loveless coition brings onlysatiety, as the satisfaction of hunger and thirst, and has nothing nobleresulting from it, whereas by Love Aphrodite removes the cloying elementin pleasure, and produces harmonious friendship. And so Parmenidesdeclares Love to be the oldest of the creations of Aphrodite, writing inhis Cosmogony, 'Of all the gods first Love she did contrive. '

But Hesiod, more naturally in my opinion, makes Love the most ancient ofall, so that all things derive their existence from him. [90] If we thendeprive Love of his ancient honours, those of Aphrodite will be lostalso. For we cannot argue that, while some revile Love, all spareAphrodite, 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 notbeen reviled, or escaped the scurrility of ignorance. Look, for example, at Ares, who may be considered as it were the counterpart of Love, whathonours 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 Chrysippusbrings a grievous charge against him, in defining his name to meandestroyer, [95] thereby giving a handle to those who think that Ares isonly the fighting, wrangling, and quarrelsome instinct among mankind. Others again will tell us that Aphrodite is simply desire, and Hermeseloquence, and the Muses the arts and sciences, and Athene wisdom. Yousee what an abyss of impiety opens up before us, if we describe each ofthe gods, as only a passion, a power, or a virtue!"

§ XIV. "I see it, " said Pemptides, "and it is impious either to make thegods 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 ahuman passion?" And Pemptides, answering that he looked on Ares as godof the passionate and manly element in mankind, "What, " cried my father, "shall the passionate and warlike and antagonistic instincts in man havea god, but the affectionate and social and clubable have none? ShallAres, under his names of Enyalius and Stratius, preside over arms andwar and sieges and sacks of cities, and shall there be no god to witnessand preside over, to direct and guide, conjugal affection, thatfriendship of closest union and communion? Why even those who huntgazelles and hares and deer have a silvan deity who harks and halloosthem on, for to Aristæus[96] they pay their vows when in pitfalls andsnares they trap wolves and bears, 'For Aristæus first set traps for animals. '

And Hercules invoked another god, when he was about to shoot at thebird, as the line of Æschylus shows, 'Hunter Apollo, make my bolt go straight!'[97]

And shall no god or good genius assist and prosper the man who hunts inthe best chase of all, the chase of friendship? For I cannot for mypart, my dear Daphnæus, consider man a less beautiful or important plantthan 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 andbody. "

§ XV. Then said Daphnæus, "In the name of the gods, who thinksdifferently?" "All those certainly must, " answered my father, "who thinkthat the gods care only about ploughing and planting and sowing. Havethey not Nymphs attending upon them, called Dryads, 'whose age is coevalwith the trees they live in: and Dionysus the mirth-giving does he notincrease the yield of the trees, the sacred splendour of Autumn, ' asPindar says?[99] And if they care about all this, is there no god orgenius who is interested in the nurture and growth of boys and youths inall their glorious flower? is there no one that cares that the growingman may be upright and virtuous, and that the nobility of his nature maynot be warped and corrupted, either through want of a guardian or by thedepravity of those he associates with? Is it not monstrous and thanklessto say so, seeing that we enjoy the divine bounty, which is dealt out tous richly, and never abandons us in our straits? And yet some of thesesame straits have more necessity than beauty. For example, our birth, inspite of the unpleasant circumstances attending it, is witnessed by thedivine Ilithyia and Artemis: and it would be better not to be born atall than to become bad through want of a good guardian and guide. Moreover in sickness the god who is over that province does not desertus, nor even in death: for even then there is a conductor and guide forthe departed, to lay them to sleep, and convey their souls toHades, [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 cannotmention a holier work, nor any struggle or contest more fitting for agod to attend and play the umpire in, than the guidance of the young andbeautiful in the prosecution of their love-affairs. For there is herenothing of an unpleasant nature, no compulsion of any kind, butpersuasion and grace, truly making toil sweet and labour delightful, lead the way to virtue and friendship, and do not arrive at that desiredgoal without the deity, for they have as their leader and lord no othergod than Love, the companion of the Muses and Graces and Aphrodite. ForLove 'sowing in the heart of man the sweet harvest of desire, ' to borrowthe language of Melanippides, mixes the sweetest and most beautifulthings together. But perhaps you are of a different opinion, Zeuxippus. "

§ XVI. "Not I, by Zeus, " replied Zeuxippus. "To have a different opinionwould be ridiculous. " "Then, " continued my father, "is it not alsoridiculous, if there are four kinds of friendship, for so the ancientsdistinguished, the natural first, the second that to one's kindred, thethird that to one's companions, the fourth the friendship of love, andeach of the first three have a god as patron, either a god offriendship, or a god of hospitality, or a god of the family, or a god ofthe race, [101] whereas the friendship of love only, as somethingaltogether unholy, is left without any patron god, and that, too, whenit needs most of all attentive direction?" "It is, " said Zeuxippus, "highly ridiculous. " My father continued, "The language of Plato is verysuggestive here, to make a slight digression. One kind of madness (hesays) is conveyed to the soul from the body through certain badtemperaments or mixtures, or through the prevalence of some noxiousspirit, and is harsh, difficult to cure, and baneful. Another kind ofmadness is not uninspired or from within, but an afflatus from without, a deviation from sober reason, originated and set in motion by somehigher power, the ordinary characteristic of which is called enthusiasm. For, as one full of breath is called [Greek: empnoos], and as one fullof sense is called [Greek: emphrôn], so the name enthusiasm is given tothe commotion of the soul caused by some Divine agency. [102] Thus thereis the prophetic enthusiasm which proceeds from Apollo, and the Bacchicenthusiasm which comes from Dionysus, to which Sophocles alludes wherehe says, 'Dance with the Corybantes;' for the rites of Cybele and Panhave great affinities to the orgies of Bacchus. And the third madnessproceeds from the Muses, and possesses an impressionable and pure soul, and stirs up the poetry and music in a man. As to the martial andwarlike 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, Daphnæus, one more kindof madness in man, neither obscure nor tranquil, as to which I shouldlike 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 isfar the keenest and fiercest passion of all. For have you not observedhow the soldier, when he lays aside his arms, ceases from his warlikefury, 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 andCorybantic dances one can also modulate and quell, by changing the metrefrom the trochaic and the measure from the Phrygian. Similarly, too, thePythian priestess, when she descends from her tripod, possesses her soulin peace. Whereas the love-fury, when once it has really seized on a manand inflamed him, can be laid by no Muse, no charm or incantation, nochange of place; but present they burn, absent they desire, by day theyfollow their loves about, by night they serenade them, sober call forthem, and drunken sing about them. And he who said that poetic fancies, owing to their vividness, were dreams of people awake, would have moretruly spoken so of the fancies of lovers, who, as if their loves werepresent, converse with them, greet them, chide them. For sight seems topaint all other fancies on a wet ground, so soon do they fade and recedefrom the memory, but the images of lovers, painted by the fancy as itwere on encaustic tiles, leave impressions on the memory, that move, andlive, 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, thelife, and the actions, conducted by which he travels a long journey in ashort time, as the Cynics say they have found a short cut and, as itwere, forced march to virtue, for there is also a short cut tofriendship and love when the god is propitious. To sum up, theenthusiasm of lovers is not a thing uninspired, and the god that guidesand governs it is none other than the god whose festival we are nowkeeping, and to whom we are now sacrificing. Nevertheless, as we judgeof a god mainly from his power and usefulness (as among human advantageswe reckon and call these two the most divine, dominion and virtue), itis high time to consider, before we proceed any further, whether Loveyields to any of the gods in power. Certainly, as Sophocles says, 'Wonderful is the power which the Cyprian Queen exerts so as always towin the victory:'[106] great also is the might of Ares; and in some sortwe see the power of all the other gods divided among these two; forAphrodite has most intimate connection with the beautiful, and Ares isin our souls from the first to combat against the sordid, to borrow theidea of Plato. Let us consider, then, to begin with, that the venerealdelight can be purchased for six obols, and that no one ever yet puthimself into any trouble or danger about it, unless he was in love. Andnot to mention here such famous courtesans as Phryne or Lais, Gnathænium, 'kindling her lamp at evening time, ' on the look-out forlovers and inviting them, is often passed by; 'yet, if some sudden whiffarise' of mighty love and desire, it makes this very delight seem equalto the fabled wealth of Tantalus and his domains. So feeble and cloyingis the venereal indulgence, if Love inspires it not. And you will seethis more plainly still from the following consideration. Many haveallowed others to share in their venereal enjoyments, prostituting notonly their mistresses but their wives, like that Roman Galba, who usedto ask Mæcenas to dinner, and when he saw from his nods and winks thathe had a mind to do with his wife, turned his head gently aside as ifasleep; but when one of his slaves came up to the table and stole somewine, his eyes were wide open enough, and he said, 'Villain, don't youknow that I am asleep only for Mæcenas?'[107] But this is not perhaps sostrange, considering Galba was a buffoon. But at Argos Nicostratus andPhayllus were great political rivals: so when King Philip visited thatcity, Phayllus thought if he prostituted his wife, who was veryhandsome, to the King, he would get from him some important office orplace. And Nicostratus getting wind of this, and walking about the doorsof 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 aMacedonian broad-brimmed hat, and so smuggled her into the King, withoutbeing detected, as one of the King's young men. But, of all themultitude of lovers, did you ever hear of one that prostituted hisboy-love even for the honours of Zeus? I think not. Why, though no onewill generally either speak or act against tyrants, many will who findthem their rivals and are jealous about their handsome minions. You musthave heard how Aristogiton of Athens, and Antileon of Metapontum, andMelanippus of Agrigentum, rose not against tyrants, although they sawhow badly they managed affairs, and what drunken tricks they played, yet, when they attempted the chastity of their boy-loves, theyretaliated on them, jeoparding their lives, as if they were defendingthe inviolability of temples and sanctuaries. It is also recorded thatAlexander wrote to Theodoras, the brother of Proteas, 'Send me yoursinging-girl, unless you love her yourself, and I will give you tentalents;' and when Antipatridas, one of his companions, came to revelwith him, bringing with him a female harper, he fancied the girl not alittle, and asked Antipatridas if he cared very much about her. And whenhe replied that he did immensely, Alexander said, 'Plague take you, ' butnevertheless abstained from touching the girl. 

§ XVII. "Consider also how Love excels in warlike feats, and is by nomeans idle, as Euripides called him, [108] nor a carpet-knight, nor'sleeping on a maiden's soft cheeks. '[109] For a man inspired by Loveneeds not Ares to help him when he goes out as a warrior against theenemy, but at the bidding of his own god is 'ready' for his friend 'togo 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 callsout for no helper or assister but his lover. And you know of course howit was that Cleomachus the Pharsalian fell in battle?" "We certainlydon't, " said Pemptides and those near him, "but we should very much liketo. " "Well, " said my father, "the tale's worth hearing. When the warbetween the Eretrians and Chalcidians was at its height, Cleomachus hadcome to aid the latter with a Thessalian force; and the Chalcidianinfantry seemed strong enough, but they had great difficulty inrepelling the enemy's cavalry. So they begged that high-souled heroCleomachus to charge the Eretrian cavalry first. And he asked hisboy-love, who was by, if he would be a spectator of the fight, and hesaying he would, and affectionately kissing him and putting his helmeton his head, Cleomachus with a proud joy put himself at the head of thebravest of the Thessalians, and charged the enemy's cavalry with suchimpetuosity that he threw them into disorder and routed them; and theEretrian infantry also fleeing in consequence, the Chalcidians won asplendid victory. However, Cleomachus got killed, and they show his tombin the market-place at Chalcis, over which a huge pillar stands to thisday, and whereas before that the people of Chalcis had censuredboy-loves, from that time forward they preferred that kind of love tothe 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 originof 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-lovewas Philistus. And among you Thebans, Pemptides, is it not usual for thelover to give his boy-love a complete suit of armour when he is enrolledamong the men? And did not the erotic Pammenes change the disposition ofthe heavy-armed infantry, censuring Homer as knowing nothing about love, because he drew up the Achæans 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 battlewill 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 displaytheir bravery and contempt of life. As Thero the Thessalian, who put hisleft hand on a wall, and drew his sword, and chopped off his thumb, andchallenged his rival to do the same. And another in battle falling onhis face, as his enemy was about to give him the _coup-de-grace_, beggedhim to wait a little till he could turn round, that his love should notsee him with a wound in his back. And not only are the most warlikenations most amorous, as the Boeotians the Lacedæmonians and theCretans, but also of the old heroes, who were more amorous thanMeleager, Achilles, Aristomenes, Cimon, and Epaminondas. Why, Epaminondas had as his boy-loves Asopichus and Cephisodorus, the latterof 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 ofAmphissa, who first stood up against him and smote him, received herohonours from the Phocians for his exploit. And as to all the loves ofHercules, it would take up too much time to enumerate them, but thosewho think that Iolaus was one of them do up to this day worship andhonour him, and make their loves swear fidelity at his tomb. Hercules isalso said, having understood the art of healing, to have preserved thelife of Alcestis, when she was given up by the doctors, to gratifyAdmetus, who passionately loved his wife, and was Hercules' minion. Theysay 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 havenot much of Ares in them, yet when possessed by Love they are bold evento the death, beyond what one would expect from their nature. For if wemay credit legendary lore, the stories about Alcestis, and Protesilaus, and Eurydice the wife of Orpheus, show that the only one of the godsthat Hades pays attention to is Love; although to everybody else, asSophocles says, "he knows of no forbearance or favour, or anything butstrict justice;" yet before lovers his genius stands rebuked, and theyalone find him neither implacable nor relentless. Wherefore although, myfriend, it is an excellent thing to be initiated in the Eleusinianmysteries, yet I see that the votaries and initiated of Love have abetter time of it in Hades than they have, * *[114] though in regard tolegendary lore I stand in the position of one who neither altogetherbelieves nor altogether disbelieves. For legendary lore speaks well, andby a certain wonderful good fortune lights upon the truth, in sayingthat lovers have a return from Hades to the light of day, but it knowsnot by what way or how, having as it were got benighted on the roadwhich Plato first discovered by philosophy. There are, indeed, someslender and obscure particles of truth scattered about in the mythologyof the Egyptians, but they require a clever man to hunt them out, a mancapable of getting great results from small data. Wherefore let thatmatter pass. And now next to the mighty power of Love let us considerits good will and favour to mankind, I do not mean as to whether itbestows many gifts on its votaries--that is palpable to all--but whetherthey derive any further advantage from it. For Euripides, though veryamorous, 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 hasbeen said before, it makes the coward brave, as people harden wood inthe fire and make it strong from being weak. And every lover becomesliberal and genuine and generous, even if he was mean before, hislittleness and miserliness melting away like iron in the fire, so thatthey rejoice to give to their loves more than they do to receivethemselves from others. You know of course that Anytus, the son ofAnthemion, was in love with Alcibiades, and was on one occasionsumptuously entertaining several of his friends, when Alcibiades brokein and took from the table half the cups and went away again; and whensome of the guests were indignant and said, 'The stripling has used youmost insolently and contemptuously, ' Anytus replied, 'Nay, rather, hehas dealt kindly with me, for when he might have taken all he has leftme half. '"

§ XVIII. Zeuxippus was pleased with this story, and said, "O Hercules, you have been within an ace of making me forget my hereditary hatred toAnytus for his behaviour to Socrates and philosophy, [116] since he wasso mild and noble to his love. " "Be it so, " said my father, "Love alsomakes peevish and gloomy persons kind and agreeable to those they livewith; for as 'when the fire blazes the house looks brighter, '[117] soman, it seems, becomes more cheerful through the heat of love. But mostpeople are affected rather curiously; if they see by night a light in ahouse, they look on it with admiration and wonder; but if they see alittle, mean, and ignoble soul suddenly filled with noble-mindedness, freedom, dignity, grace, and liberality, they do not feel constrained tosay with Telemachus, 'Surely, some god is there within. '[118] And is itnot wonderful, Daphnæus, " continued my father, [119] "in the name of theGraces, that the lover who cares about hardly anything, either hiscompanions and friends, or even the laws and magistrates and kings, whofears nothing, admires nothing, courts nothing, but can even endure togaze on 'the forked lightning, '[120] yet directly he looks on his love'he crouches like a cock with drooping feathers, ' and his boldness isbroken and his pride is cowed. And among the Muses it would not beamiss to mention Sappho; for as the Romans say Cacus the son ofHephæstus vomited out of his mouth fire and flames, so she really speakswords that burn like fire, and in her songs shows the warmth of herheart, as Philoxenus puts it, 'by euphonious songs assuaging the painsof love. ' And if you have not in your love for Lysandra forgot all yourold love-songs, do repeat to us, Daphnæus, the lines in which beautifulSappho says that 'when her love appeared her voice failed and her bodyburned, and she was seized with paleness and trembling and vertigo. '"And when Daphnæus had repeated the lines, my father resumed, "In thename of Zeus, is not this plainly a divine seizure? Is not this awonderful commotion of soul? Why, the Pythian priestess on the tripod isnot moved so much as this! Who of those inspired by Cybele are madebeside themselves to this extent by the flute and the kettledrum?Moreover, while many see the same body and the same beauty, only thelover is taken by it. Why is this the case? We get no light on it fromMenander's words, 'Love is opportunity; and he that is smitten is theonly one wounded. ' But the god is the cause of it, striking one andletting another go scot-free. But I will not pass over now, 'since ithas come into my mouth, ' as Æschylus says, what perhaps would have beenbetter spoken before, for it is a very important point. Perhaps, myfriend, of all other things which we do not perceive through the senses, some got believed through legend, some through the law, some throughreason; whereas we owe our conception of the gods altogether to thepoets and legislators and philosophers: all alike teaching the existenceof gods, but greatly differing as to their number and order, nature andpower. For the gods of the philosophers 'know nothing of disease or oldage or pain, and have not to cross the resounding Acheron;' nor do thephilosophers accept as gods Strifes, or Prayers, which are found inpoetry;[121] nor will they admit Terror and Fear as gods or as the sonsof Ares. And on many points also they are at variance with thelegislators, as Xenophanes bade the Egyptians, if they regarded Osirisas mortal, not to honour him as a god; but if they thought him a god notto mourn for him. And, again, the poets and legislators will not listento, nor can they understand, the philosophers who make gods of ideas andnumbers and units and spirits. And their views generally are verydifferent. As there were formerly three parties at Athens, the Parali, the Epacrii, and the Pediei, all at variance with one another, yet allagreed to vote for Solon, and chose him with one accord as theirmediator and ruler and lawgiver, as he seemed indisputably to hold thefirst place in merit; so the three parties that entertain differentviews about the gods are all unanimous on one point, for poetslegislators and philosophers all alike register Love as one of the gods, 'loudly singing his praises with one voice, ' as Alcæus says the peopleof Mitylene chose Pittacus as their monarch. But our king and ruler andgovernor, Love, is brought down crowned from Helicon to the Academy byHesiod and Plato and Solon, and in royal apparel rides in a chariotdrawn by friendship and intimacy (not such as Euripides speaks of in theline, 'he has been bound in fetters not of brass, '[122] shamefullythrowing round him cold and heavy necessity), and soars aloft to themost beautiful and divine things, about which others have spoken betterthan I can. "

§ XIX. When my father had spoken thus much, Soclarus began, "Do you seethat a second time you have committed the same fault, not cancellingyour debts as you ought to do--for I must speak my mind--but evadingthem on purpose, and not delivering to us your promised ideas on asacred subject? For as some little time back you only just touched onPlato and the Egyptians as if unwilling to enter on the subject morefully, so now you are doing again. However, as to what has been'eloquently told'[123] by Plato, or rather by the Muses through Plato'smouth, do not tell us that, my good friend, even if we ask for it; butas to your hint that the Egyptian legend about Love corresponded withPlato's views, you need not discuss it fully and minutely, we shall besatisfied if we hear a little of such mighty matters. " And as the restof 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 alsosee much similarity between Love and the Sun, for neither is a fire, assome think, but a sweet and productive radiance and warmth, the Sunbringing to the body nourishment and light and growth, and Love doingthe same to the soul. And as the heat of the Sun is more powerful whenit emerges from clouds and after mist, so Love is sweeter and hotterafter a jealous tiff with the loved one, [124] and moreover, as somethink the Sun is kindled and extinguished, so also do people conceive ofLove as mortal and uncertain. Moreover, just as without training thebody cannot easily bear the heat of the Sun, so neither can theuntrained soul easily bear the yoke of Love, but both are equally out oftune and suffer, for which they blame the deity and not their ownweakness. But in this respect they seem to differ, in that the Sunexhibits to the eye things beautiful and ugly alike, whereas Love throwsits light only on beautiful things, and persuades lovers to concentratetheir attention on these, and to neglect all other things. As to thosethat call Aphrodite the Moon, they, too, find some points in commonbetween them; for the Moon is divine and heavenly and a sort ofhalfway-house between mortal and immortal, but inactive in itself anddark without the presence of the Sun, as is the case with Aphrodite inthe 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 theSun altogether the same, for just as body and soul are not the same, butsomething different, so is it with the Sun and Love, the former can beseen, the latter only felt. And if it should not seem too harsh asaying, one might argue that the Sun acts entirely opposite to Love, forit 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 toseek for truth and everything else in and round it and nowhere else. Foras 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 ourremembrance. 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 theSun is wont to banish the remembrance of past changes and chances, andto bewitch the intelligence, pleasure and admiration causing thisforgetfulness. And though reality is really there, yet the soul cleavesto dreams and is dazzled by what is most beautiful and divine. 'Forround the soul are poured sweet yet deceiving dreams, ' so that the soulthinks everything here good and valuable, unless it obtain divine andchaste Love as its physician and preserver. For Love brings the soulthrough the body to truth and the region of truth, where pure andguileless beauty is to be found, kindly befriending its votaries like aninitiator at the mysteries. And it associates with the soul only throughthe body. And as geometricians, in the case of boys who cannot yet beinitiated into the perception of incorporeal and impassive substance, convey their ideas through the medium of spheres, cubes, anddodecahedrons, so celestial Love has contrived beautiful mirrors ofbeautiful things, and exhibits them to us glittering in the shapescolours and appearances of youths in all their flower, and calmly stirsthe memory which is inflamed first by these. Consequently some, throughthe stupidity of their friends and intimates, who have endeavoured byforce and against reason to extinguish the flame, have got no advantagefrom it, but filled themselves with smoke and confusion, or have rushedinto secret and lawless pleasures and ingloriously wasted their prime. But as many as by sober reason and modesty have abated the extravaganceof the passion, and left in the soul only a bright glow--not exciting atornado of passion, but a wonderful and productive diffusion, as in agrowing plant, opening the pores of complaisance and friendliness--thesein no long time cease to regard the personal charms of those they love, and study their inward characters, and gaze at one another withunveiled eyes, and associate with one another in words and actions, ifthey find in their minds any fragment or image of the beautiful; and ifnot they bid them farewell and turn to others, like bees that only go tothose flowers from which they can get honey. But wherever they find anytrace or emanation or pleasing resemblance of the divine, in an ecstasyof pleasure and delight they indulge their memory, and revive towhatever is truly lovely and felicitous and admired by everybody. "

§ XX. "The poets indeed seem for the most part to have written and sungabout Love in a playful and merry manner, but have sometimes spokenseriously about him, whether out of their own mind, or the god helpingthem to truth. Among these are the lines about his birth, 'Well-sandalled Iris bare the most powerful of the gods to golden-hairedZephyr. '[126] But perhaps the learned have persuaded you that theselines are only a fanciful illustration of the variety and beauty oflove. " "Certainly, " said Daphnæus, "what else could they mean?" "Hearme, " said my father, "for the heavenly phenomenon compels us so tospeak. The rainbow[127] is, I suppose, a reflection caused by the sun'srays falling on a moist cloud, making us think the appearance is in thecloud. Similarly erotic fancy in the case of noble souls causes areflection of the memory, from things which here appear and are calledbeautiful, to what is really divine and lovely and felicitous andwonderful. But most lovers pursuing and groping after the semblance ofbeauty in boys and women, as in mirrors, [128] can derive nothing morecertain than pleasure mixed with pain. And this seems the love-deliriumof Ixion, who instead of the joy he desired embraced only a cloud, aschildren who desire to take the rainbow into their hands, clutching atwhatever they see. But different is the behaviour of the noble andchaste lover: for he reflects on the divine beauty that can only befelt, while he uses the beauty of the visible body only as an organ ofthe memory, though he embraces it and loves it, and associating with itis still more inflamed in mind. And so neither in the body do they sitever gazing at and desiring this light, nor after death do they returnto this world again, and skulk and loiter about the doors andbedchambers of newly-married people, disagreeable ghosts ofpleasure-loving and sensual men and women, who do not rightly deservethe name of lovers. For the true lover, when he has got into the otherworld and associated with beauties as much as is lawful, has wings andis 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 theMoon and Aphrodite, and sleeping there commences a new existence. Butthis is a subject too high for the present occasion. However, it is withLove as with the other gods, to borrow the words of Euripides, 'herejoices in being honoured by mankind, '[129] and _vice versa_, for he ismost propitious to those that receive him properly, but visits hisdispleasure on those that affront him. For neither does Zeus as god ofHospitality punish and avenge any outrages on strangers or suppliants, nor as god of the family fulfil the curses of parents, as quickly asLove hearkens to lovers unfairly treated, being the chastiser of boorishand haughty persons. Why need I mention the story of Euxynthetus andLeucomantis, the latter of whom is called The Peeping Girl to this dayin Cyprus? But perhaps you have not heard of the punishment of theCretan Gorgo, a somewhat similar case to that of Leucomantis, exceptthat she was turned into stone as she peeped out of window to see herlover 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, thoughhe thought himself worthy to mate with anybody. So he wooed Gorgo, beinga relation of hers, and though he had many rivals, as she was much runafter for her wealth belike, yet he had won the esteem of all theguardians and relations of the young girl. [130] * * * *

§ XXI. * * * Now the origins and causes of Love are not peculiar toeither sex, but common to both. For those attractions that make menamorous may as well proceed from women as from boys. [131] And as tothose beautiful and holy reminiscences and invitations to the divine andgenuine and Olympian beauty, by which the soul soars aloft, what hindersbut that they may come either from boys or lads, maidens or grown women, whenever a chaste and orderly nature and beauteous prime are associatedtogether (just as a neat shoe exhibits the shapeliness of the foot, toborrow the illustration of Aristo), whenever connoisseurs of beautydescry in beautiful forms and pure bodies clear traces of an upright andunenervated soul. [132] For if[133] the man of pleasure, who was askedwhether "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 givenan appropriate answer as to his erotic desires, shall the noble lover ofbeauty neglect beauty and nobility of nature, and make love only with aneye to the sexual parts? Why, the lover of horses will take just as muchpleasure in the good points of Podargus, as in those of Æthe, Agamemnon's mare, [134] and the sportsman rejoices not only in dogs, butalso rears Cretan and Spartan bitches, [135] and shall the lover of thebeautiful and of humanity be unfair and deal unequally with either sex, and think that the difference between the loves of boys and women isonly their different dress? And yet they say that beauty is a flower ofvirtue; and it is ridiculous to assert that the female sex neverblossoms nor make a goodly show of virtue, for as Æschylus 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 befound in the faces of women, and shall there be no gleam of chastity andmodesty in their appearance? Nay, there are many such, and shall theynot move and provoke love? To doubt it would be neither sensible nor inaccordance with the facts, for generally speaking, as has been pointedout, all these attractions are the same in both sexes. .. . But, Daphnæus, let us combat those views which Zeuxippus lately advanced, making Loveto 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 frommorose men who knew nothing of love: some of whom marry unfortunatewomen for their dowries, and force on them economy and illiberal saving, and quarrel with them every day of their lives: while others, moredesirous of children than wives, when they have made those women theycome 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 forconjugal love differs only by one letter from the word for endurance, the one being [Greek: stergein] the other [Greek: stegein], seems toemphasize the conjugal kindness mixed by time and intimacy withnecessity. But that marriage which Love has inspired will in the firstplace, as in Plato's Republic, know nothing of _Meum_ and _Tuum_, forthe proverb, 'whatever belongs to a friend is common property, '[137] isespecially true of married persons who, though disunited in body, areperforce one in soul, neither wishing to be two, nor thinking themselvesso. In the second place there will be mutual respect, which is a vitalnecessity in marriage. For as to that external respect which has in itmore of compulsion than choice, being forced by the law and shame andfear, "Those needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds, "[138]

that will always exist in wedlock. But in Love there is suchself-control and decorum and constancy, that if the god but once enterthe 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 famouscourtesan Lais, [139] how she set all Greece on fire with her charms, orrather was contended for by two seas, [140] and how, when she fell inlove with Hippolochus the Thessalian, 'she left Acro-Corinthus washed bythe green sea, '[141] and deserted all her other lovers, that great army, and went off to Thessaly and lived faithful to Hippolochus. But thewomen 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 ofAphrodite the Murderess. [142] We have also heard of servant girls whohave refused the embraces of their masters, and of private individualswho have scorned an amour with queens, when Love has had dominion intheir hearts. For as in Rome, when a dictator is proclaimed, all othermagistrates lay down their offices, so those over whom Love is lord arefree henceforward from all other lords and masters, and pass the rest oftheir lives dedicate to the god and slaves in his temple. For a noblewoman united by Love to her lawful husband would prefer the embraces ofbears and dragons to those of any other man. "

§ XXII. "Although there are plenty of examples of this virtue ofconstancy, yet to you, that are the festive votaries of the god, [143] itwill not be amiss to relate the story of the Galatian Camma. She was awoman of most remarkable beauty, and the wife of the tetrarch Sinatus, whom Sinorix, one of the most influential men in Galatia, anddesperately in love with Camma, murdered, as he could neither get her byforce or persuasion in the lifetime of her husband. And Camma found arefuge and comfort in her grief in discharging the functions ofhereditary priestess to Artemis, and most of her time she spent in hertemple, and, though many kings and potentates wooed her, she refusedthem all. But when Sinorix boldly proposed marriage to her, she declinednot his offer, nor blamed him for what he had done, as though shethought he had only murdered Sinatus out of excessive love for her, andnot in sheer villany. He came, therefore, with confidence, and asked herhand, and she met him and greeted him and led him to the altar of thegoddess, and pledged him in a cup of poisoned mead, drinking half of itherself and giving him the rest. And when she saw that he had drunk itup, she shouted aloud for joy, and calling upon the name of her deadhusband, said, 'Till this day, dearest husband, I have lived, deprivedof you, a life of sorrow: but now take me to yourself with joy, for Ihave avenged you on the worst of men, as glad to share death with him aslife 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 dayand following night, and is said to have died with a good courage andeven with gaiety. "[144]

§ XXIII. "As many similar examples might be adduced, both amongourselves and foreigners, who can feel any patience with those thatreproach Aphrodite with hindering friendship when she associates herselfwith Love as a partner? Whereas any reflecting person would call thelove 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, andcredit them with neither fidelity, nor modesty, nor friendship, for asSophocles 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 orforced, 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 murderedAlexander of Pheræ. And Periander, the tyrant of the Ambraciotes, having asked a most insulting question of his minion, was murdered byhim, so exasperated was he. But with women and wives all this is thebeginning of friendship, and as it were an initiation into the sacredmysteries. And pleasure plays a very small part in this, but the esteemand favour and mutual love and constancy that result from it, provesthat 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 sexuallove, and testifies to the fact that Solon was a most experiencedlegislator in conjugal matters, seeing that he ordered husbands not lessthan thrice a month to associate with their wives, not for pleasure, butas states at certain intervals renew their treaties with one another, sohe wished that by such friendliness marriage should, as it were, berenewed after any intervening tiffs and differences. But you will tellme there is much folly and even madness in the love of women. Is therenot 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 absurdto detract from woman's various excellence. Look at their self-restraintand intelligence, their fidelity and uprightness, and that braverycourage and magnanimity so conspicuous in many! And to say that theyhave a natural aptitude for all other virtues, but are deficient asregards friendship alone, is monstrous. For they are fond of theirchildren and husbands, and generally speaking the natural affection inthem is not only, like a fruitful soil, capable of friendship, but isalso accompanied by persuasion and other graces. And as poetry gives towords a kind of relish by melody and metre and rhythm, makinginstruction thereby more interesting, but what is injurious moreinsidious, so nature, investing woman with beautiful appearance andattractive voice and bewitching figure, does much for a licentious womanin making her wiles more formidable, but makes a modest one more aptthereby to win the goodwill and friendship of her husband. And as Platoadvised Xenocrates, a great and noble man in all other respects, but tooaustere in his temperament, to sacrifice to the Graces, so one mightrecommend a good and modest woman to sacrifice to Love, that her husbandmight be a mild and agreeable partner, and not run after any otherwoman, so as to be compelled to say like the fellow in the comedy, 'Whata wretch I am to ill-treat such a woman!' For to love in marriage is farbetter than to be loved, for it prevents many, nay all, of thoseoffences which spoil and mar marriage. 

§ XXIV. As to the passionate affection in the early days ofmarriage, [148] my dear Zeuxippus, do not fear that it will leave anysore or irritation, though it is not wonderful that there should be somefriction at the commencement of union with a virtuous woman, just as atthe grafting of trees, as there is also pain at the beginning ofconception, for there can be no complete union without some suffering. Learning puts boys out somewhat when they first go to school, asphilosophy does young men at a later day, but the ill effects are notlasting, either in their cases or in the case of lovers. As in thefusion of two liquors, love does indeed at first cause a simmering andcommotion, but eventually cools down and settles and becomes tranquil. For the union of lovers is indeed a complete union, whereas the union ofthose that live together without love resembles only the friction andconcussion of Epicurus' atoms in collision and recoil, forming no suchunion as Love makes, when he presides over the conjugal state. Fornothing else produces so much pleasure, or such lasting advantages, orsuch 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 godsthemselves require love for the production of everything. Thus the poetstell us that 'the earth loves a shower, and heaven loves the earth, ' andthe 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 ofman and beast and the producer of all plants. Would not the world itselfthen of necessity come to an end, if the great god Love and the desiresimplanted by the god should leave matter, and matter should cease toyearn for and pursue its lead? But not to seem to wander too far awayand altogether to trifle, you know that many censure boy-loves for theirinstability, and jeeringly say that that intimacy like an egg isdestroyed by a hair, [150] for that boy-lovers like Nomads, spending thesummer in a blooming and flowery country, at once decamp then as from anenemy's territory. And still more vulgarly Bion the Sophist called thesprouting beards of beautiful boys Harmodiuses and Aristogitons, [151]inasmuch as lovers were delivered by them from a pleasant tyranny. Butthis charge cannot justly be brought against genuine lovers, and it wasprettily said by Euripides, as he embraced and kissed handsome Agathowhose beard was just sprouting, that the Autumn of beautiful youths waslovely as well as the Spring. And I maintain that the love of beautifuland chaste wives flourishes not only in old age amid grey hairs andwrinkles, but even in the grave and monument. And while there are fewsuch long unions in the case of boy-loves, one might enumerate tenthousand such instances of the love of women, who have kept theirfidelity to the end of their lives. One such case I will relate, whichhappened in my time in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian. 

§ XXV. Julius, who stirred up a revolt in Galatia, among several otherconfederates had one Sabinus, a young man of good family, and for wealthand renown the most conspicuous of all the men in those parts. Buthaving attempted what was too much for them they were foiled, andexpecting to pay the penalty, some committed suicide, others fled andwere captured. Now Sabinus himself could easily have got out of the wayand made his escape to the barbarians, but he had married a mostexcellent wife, whose name in that part of the world was Empone, but inGreek would be Herois, and he could neither leave her behind nor takeher with him. As he had in the country some underground caves, knownonly to two of his freedmen, where he used to stow away things, hedismissed all the rest of his slaves, as if he intended to poisonhimself, and taking with him these two trusty freedmen he descended withthem into those underground caves, and sent one of them, Martialis, totell his wife that he had poisoned himself, and that his body was burntin the flames of his country-house, for he wanted his wife's genuinesorrow 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 threedays and nights, and took no food. And Sabinus, being informed of this, and fearing that she would die of grief, told Martialis to inform hersecretly that he was alive and well and in hiding, and to beg her not torelax her show of grief, but to keep up the farce. And she did so withthe genius of a professional actress, but yearning to see her husbandshe visited him by night, and returned without being noticed, and forsix or seven months she lived with him this underground life. And shedisguised him by changing his dress, and cutting off his beard, andre-arranging his hair, so that he should not be known, and took him toRome, having some hopes of obtaining his pardon. But being unsuccessfulin this she returned to her own country, and spent most of her time withher husband underground, but from time to time visited the town, andshowed herself to some ladies who were her friends and relations. Butwhat is most astonishing of all is that, though she bathed with them, she concealed her pregnancy from them. For the dye which women use tomake their hair a golden auburn, has a tendency to produce corpulenceand flesh and a full habit, and she rubbed this abundantly over allparts of her body, and so concealed her pregnancy. And she bare thepangs of travail by herself, as a lioness bears her whelps, having hidherself in the cave with her husband, and there she gave birth to twoboys, one of whom died in Egypt, the other, whose name was Sabinus, wasamong us only the other day at Delphi. Vespasian eventually put her todeath, but paid the penalty for it, his whole progeny in a short timebeing wiped off the face of the earth. [152] For during the whole of hisreign he did no more savage act, nor could gods or demons have turnedaway their eyes from a crueller sight. And yet her courage and boldlanguage abated the pity of the spectators, though it exasperatedVespasian, for, despairing of her safety, she bade them go and tell theEmperor, 'that it was sweeter to live in darkness and underground thanto wear his crown. '"[153]

§ XXVI. Here my father said that the conversation about Love which tookplace at Thespiæ ended. And at this moment Diogenes, one of Pisias'companions, was noticed coming up at a faster pace than walking. Andwhile he was yet a little way off, Soclarus hailed him with, "You don'tannounce war, Diogenes, " and he replied, "Hush! it is a marriage; comewith me quickly, for the sacrifice only waits for you. " All weredelighted, and Zeuxippus asked if Pisias was still against the marriage. "As he was first to oppose it, " said Diogenes, "so he was first to yieldthe victory to Ismenodora, and he has now put on a crown and robedhimself in white, so as to take his place at the head of the processionto the god through the market-place. " "Come, " said my father, "inHeaven's name, let us go and laugh at him, and worship the god; for itis clear that the god has taken delight in what has happened, and beenpropitious. "

 [62] The allusion is to Plato's "Phædrus, " p. 230, B. Much, indeed, of the subject-matter here is, we shall find, somewhat similar to that of the Phædrus. 

 [63] It is difficult to know what the best English word here is. From the sly thrust in § 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 Æschylus. See Athenæus, 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: opôra] is so used also in Æsch. "Suppl. , " 998, 1015. See also "Athenæus, " 608, F. Daphnæus 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 Dübner. 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] Thespiæ. The allusion is to Phryne. See Pausanias, ix. 27; x. 15. 

 [76] Reading with Wyttenbach, [Greek: hôsper daktylion ischnou, hô mê perirrhuê dediôs. ]

 [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: synerôntas] 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 Athenæus, 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: Arês] with [Greek: anairein]. 

 [96] The _Saint Hubert_ of the Middle Ages. 

 [97] Æschylus, 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 Æschylus, "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 § xiii. 

 [109] See Sophocles, "Antigone, " 783, 784. And compare Horace, "Odes, " Book iv. Ode xiii. 6-8, "Ille virentis et Doctæ psallere Chiæ _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: hôs ton Erôta uonon aêttêton onta tôn stratêgôn]. 

 [114] Something has probably dropped out here, as Dübner 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, " § 1. 

 [118] Odyssey, xix. 40. 

 [119] I adopt the suggestion of Wyttenbach, [Greek: eipen, ô 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 iræ amoris integratiost. "

 [125] Euripides, "Hippolytus, " 194-196. 

 [126] The lines are from Alcæus. 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: orthês 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] Æschylus, "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 Ægean 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 Athenæus, xiii. 54, 55. 

 [143] See § I. The Festival of Love was being kept at this very time. 

 [144] This story is also told by Plutarch, "De Mulierum Virtutibus, " § xx. 

 [145] Sophocles, Fragm. 741. Quoted again in "On Abundance of Friends, " § 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, pecuniæ 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 Demeterhas 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 andagreeable to the law. For in music one of the tunes played on the fluteis called Hippothorus, [154] which is a tune that excites fierce desirein stallions to cover mares; and though in philosophy there are manygoodly subjects, yet is there none more worthy of attention than that ofmarriage, on which subject philosophy spreads a charm over those who areto pass life together, and makes them gentle and mild to one another. Isend therefore as a gift to both of you a summary of what you have oftenheard, as you are both well versed in philosophy, arranging my matter ina series of short observations that it may be the more easilyremembered, and I pray that the Muses will assist and co-operate withAphrodite, so that no lyre or lute could be more harmonious or in tunethan your married life, as the result of philosophy and concord. Andthus the ancients set up near Aphrodite statues of Hermes, to show thatconversation was one of the great charms of marriage, and also statuesof Peitho[155] and the Graces, to teach married people to gain their waywith one another by persuasion, and not by wrangling or contention. 

§ I. Solon bade the bride eat a quince the first night of marriage, intimating thereby, it seems, that the bridegroom, was to expect hisfirst pleasure from the bride's mouth and conversation. 

§ 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, sothe bride, by not being too reluctant and coy in the first approaches, will make the married state more agreeable and pleasant. But thosehusbands who cannot put up with the early peevishness of their brides, are not a whit wiser than those persons who pluck unripe grapes andleave the ripe grapes for others. [156] On the other hand, many brides, being at first disgusted with their husbands, are like those that standthe bee's sting but neglect the honey. 

§ III. Married people should especially at the outset beware of thefirst quarrel and collision, observing that vessels when firstfabricated are easily broken up into their component parts, but inprocess of time, getting compact and firmly welded together, are proofagainst either fire or steel. 

§ IV. As fire gets kindled easily in chaff or in a wick or in the fur ofhares, but is easily extinguished again, if it find no material to keepit in and feed it, so we must not consider that the love ofnewly-married people, that blazes out so fiercely in consequence of theattractions of youth and beauty, will be durable and lasting, unless itbe fixed in the character, and occupy the mind, and make a livingimpression. [157]

§ V. As catching fish by drugged bait is easy, but makes the fish poorto eat and insipid, so those wives that lay traps for their husbands byphiltres and charms, and become their masters by pleasure, have stupidsenseless and spoiled husbands to live with. For those that werebewitched by Circe did her no good, nor could she make any use of themwhen they were turned into swine and asses, but she was greatly in lovewith the prudent Odysseus who dwelt with her sensibly. 

§ VI. Those women who would rather lord it over fools than obey sensiblemen, resemble those people who would rather lead the blind on a road, and not people who have eyesight and know how to follow. 

§ VII. Women disbelieve that Pasiphäe, a king's wife, was enamoured ofa bull, although they see some of their sex despising grave and sobermen, and preferring to associate with men who are the slaves ofintemperance and pleasure, and like dogs and he-goats. 

§ VIII. Men who through weakness or effeminacy cannot vault upon theirhorses' backs, teach them to kneel and so receive their riders. Similarly, some men that marry noble or rich wives, instead of makingthemselves better humble their wives, thinking to rule them easier bylowering them. But one ought to govern with an eye to the merit of awoman, as much as to the size of a horse. 

§ IX. We see that the moon when it is far from the sun is bright andglorious, but pales and hides its light when it is near. A modest wifeon the contrary ought to be seen chiefly with her husband, and to stayat home and in retirement in his absence. 

§ X. It is not a true observation of Herodotus, that a woman puts offher modesty with her shift. [158] On the contrary, the modest woman putson her modesty instead, and great modesty is a sign of great conjugallove. 

§ XI. As where two voices are in unison the loudest prevails; so in awell-managed household everything is done by mutual consent, but thehusband's supremacy is exhibited, and his wishes are consulted. 

§ XII. The Sun beat the North Wind. [159] For when it blew a strong andterrible blast, and tried to make the man remove his cloak, he only drewit 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 aswell as cloak. Most woman act similarly: if their husbands try tocurtail by force their luxury and extravagance, they are vexed and fightfor their rights, but if they are convinced by reason, they quietly droptheir expensive habits, and keep within bounds. 

§ XIII. Cato turned out of the Senate a man who kissed his own wife inthe presence of his daughter. This was perhaps too strong a step, but ifit is unseemly, as indeed it is, for husband and wife in the presence ofothers to fondle and kiss and embrace one another, is it not far moreunseemly in the presence of others to quarrel and jangle? Just asconjugal caresses and endearments ought to be private, so oughtadmonition and scolding and plain speaking. 

§ XIV. Just as there is little use in a mirror adorned with gold orprecious stones, unless it conveys a true likeness, so there is noadvantage in a rich wife, unless she conforms her life and habits to herhusband's position. For if when a man is joyful the mirror makes himlook sad, and when he is put out and sad it makes him look gay andsmiling from ear to ear, the mirror is plainly faulty. So the wife isfaulty and devoid of tact, who frowns when her husband is in the veinfor mirth and jollity, and who jokes and laughs when he is serious: theformer conduct is disagreeable, the latter contemptuous. [160] And, justas geometricians say lines and surfaces do not move of themselves, butonly in connection with bodies, so the wife ought to have no privateemotions of her own, but share in her husband's gravity or mirth, anxiety or gaiety. 

§ XV. As those husbands who do not like to see their wives eating anddrinking 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 neverjoke or smile with them, only teach them to seek their pleasures out oftheir company. 

§ XVI. The kings of Persia have their wedded wives at their side atbanquets and entertainments; but when they have a mind for a drunkendebauch they send them away, [161] and call for singing-girls andconcubines, rightly so doing, for so they do not mix up their wives withlicentiousness and drunkenness. Similarly, if a private individual, lustful and dissolute, goes astray with a courtesan or maid-servant, thewife should not be vexed or impatient, but consider that it is out ofrespect to her that he bestows upon another all his wanton depravity. 

§ XVII. As kings make[162] if fond of music many musicians, if lovers oflearning 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 dresswell, the man of pleasure teaches his meretricious tricks andwantonness, while the true gentleman makes his virtuous and decorous. 

§ XVIII. A Lacedæmonian maiden, when someone asked her if she had yethad dealings with a man, replied, "No, but he has with me. " Thismethinks is the line of conduct a matron should pursue, neither todecline the embraces of a husband when he takes the initiative, nor toprovoke them herself, for the one is forward and savours of thecourtesan, the other is haughty and unnatural. 

§ XIX. The wife ought not to have her own private friends, but cultivateonly those of the husband. Now the gods are our first and greatestfriends, so the wife ought only to worship and recognize her husband'sgods, and the door ought to be shut on all superfluous worship andstrange superstitions, for none of the gods are pleased with stealthyand secret sacrifices on the part of a wife. 

§ XX. Plato says that is a happy and fortunate state, where the words_Meum_ and _Tuum_ are least heard, [163] because the citizens regard thecommon interest in all matters of importance. Far more essential is itin marriage that the words should have no place. For, as the doctorssay, 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 oneanother, that, just as the strength of ropes comes from the twining andinterlacing of fibres together, so the marriage knot may be confirmedand strengthened by the interchange of mutual affection and kindness. Nature itself teaches this by the birth of children, which are so much ajoint result, that neither husband nor wife can discriminate or discernwhich part of the child is theirs. So, too, it is well for marriedpersons to have one purse, and to throw all their property into onecommon stock, that here also there may be no _Meum_ and _Tuum_. And justas we call the mixture of water and wine by the name of wine, eventhough the water should preponderate, [166] so we say that the house andproperty belongs to the man, even though the wife contribute most of themoney. 

§ XXI. Helen was fond of wealth, Paris of pleasure, whereas Odysseus wasprudent, Penelope chaste. So the marriage of the last two was happy andenviable, while that of the former two brought an Iliad of woe on Greeksand barbarians alike. 

§ XXII. The Roman who was taken to task by his friends for repudiating achaste wealthy and handsome wife, showed them his shoe and said, "Although this is new and handsome, none of you know where it pinchesme. "[167] A wife ought not therefore to put her trust in her dowry, orfamily, or beauty, but in matters that more vitally concern her husband, namely, in her disposition and companionableness and complaisance withhim, not to make every-day life vexatious or annoying, but harmonious andcheerful and agreeable. For as doctors are more afraid of fevers thatare generated from uncertain causes, and from a complication ofailments, than of those that have a clear and adequate cause, so thesmall and continual and daily matters of offence between husband andwife, that the world knows nothing about, set the household most atvariance, and do it the greatest injury. 

§ XXIII. King Philip was desperately enamoured of a Thessalianwoman, [168] who was accused of bewitching him; his wife Olympiastherefore wished to get this woman into her power. But when she camebefore her, and was evidently very handsome, and talked to her in anoble and sensible manner, Olympias said, "Farewell to calumny! Yourcharms lie in yourself. "[169] So invincible are the charms of a lawfulwife to win her husband's affection by her virtuous character, bringingto him in herself dowry, and family, and philtres, and even Aphrodite'scestus. [170]

§ XXIV. Olympias, on another occasion, when a young courtier had marrieda wife who was very handsome, but whose reputation was not very good, remarked, "This fellow has no sense, or he would not have married withhis eyes. " We ought neither to marry with our eyes, nor with ourfingers, as some do, who reckon up on their fingers what dowry the wifewill bring, not what sort of partner she will make. 

§ XXV. It was advice of Socrates, that when young men looked atthemselves in the mirror, those who were not handsome should become sothrough virtue, and those who were so should not by vice deform theirbeauty. Good also is it for the matron, when she has the mirror in herhands, if not handsome to say to herself, "What should I be, if I werenot virtuous?" and if handsome to say to herself, "How good it were toadd virtue to beauty!" for it is a feather in the cap of a woman nothandsome to be loved for herself and not for good looks. 

§ XXVI. Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, sent some costly dresses andnecklaces to the daughters of Lysander, but he would not receive them, and said, "These presents will bring my daughters more shame thanadornment. " And Sophocles said still earlier than Lysander, "Yourmadness of mind will not appear handsome, wretch, but most unhandsome. "For, as Crates says, "that is adornment which adorns, " and that adorns awoman that makes her more comely; and it is not gold or diamonds orscarlet robes that make her so, but her dignity, her correct conduct, and her modesty. 

§ XXVII. Those who sacrifice to Hera as goddess of marriage, [171] donot burn the gall with the other parts of the victim, but when they havedrawn it throw it away beside the altar: the lawgiver thus hinting thatgall and rage have no place in marriage. For the austerity of a matronshould be, like that of wine, wholesome and pleasant, not bitter asaloes, or like a drug. 

§ XXVIII. Plato advised Xenocrates, a man rather austere but in allother respects a fine fellow, to sacrifice to the Graces. I think alsothat a chaste wife needs the graces with her husband that, as Metrodorussaid, "she may live agreeably with him, and not be bad-tempered becauseshe is chaste. " For neither should the frugal wife neglect neatness, northe virtuous one neglect to make herself attractive, for peevishnessmakes a wife's good conduct disagreeable, as untidiness makes onedisgusted with simplicity. 

§ XXIX. The wife who is afraid to laugh and jest with her husband, lestshe should appear bold and wanton, resembles one that will not anointherself with oil lest she should be thought to use cosmetics, and willnot wash her face lest she should be thought to paint. We see also inthe case of those poets and orators, that avoid a popular illiberal andaffected style, that they artificially endeavour to move and sway theiraudience by the facts, and by a skilful arrangement of them, and bytheir gestures. Consequently a matron will do well to avoid andrepudiate over-preciseness meretriciousness and pomposity, and to usetact in her dealings with her husband in every-day life, accustoming himto a combination of pleasure and decorum. But if a wife be by natureaustere and apathetic, and no lover of pleasure, the husband must makethe best of it, for, as Phocion said, when Antipater enjoined on him anaction neither honourable nor becoming, "You cannot have me as a friendand flatterer both, " so he must say to himself about his strict andaustere wife, "I cannot have in the same woman wife and mistress. "

§ XXX. It was a custom among the Egyptian ladies not to wear shoes, thatthey might stay at home all day and not go abroad. But most of our womenwill only stay at home if you strip them of their golden shoes, andbracelets, and shoe-buckles, and purple robes, and pearls. 

§ XXXI. Theano, as she was putting on her shawl, displayed her arm, andsomebody observing, "What a handsome arm!" she replied, "But notcommon. " So ought not even the speech, any more than the arm, of achaste woman, to be common, for speech must be considered as it were theexposing of the mind, especially in the presence of strangers. For inwords are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of thespeaker. 

§ XXXII. Phidias made a statue of Aphrodite at Elis, with one foot on atortoise, [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 herhusband, not being vexed if, like a flute-player, she speaks moredecorously by another mouth-piece. 

§ XXXIII. When rich men and kings honour philosophers, they really payhomage to themselves as well; but when philosophers pay court to therich, they lower themselves without advancing their patrons. The same isthe case with women. If they submit themselves to their husbands theyreceive praise, but if they desire to rule, they get less credit eventhan the husbands who submit to their rule. But the husband ought torule his wife, not as a master does a chattel, but as the soul governsthe body, by sympathy and goodwill. As he ought to govern the body bynot being a slave to its pleasures and desires, so he ought to rule hiswife by cheerfulness and complaisance. 

§ XXXIV. The philosophers tell us that some bodies are composed ofdistinct parts, as a fleet or army; others of connected parts, as ahouse or ship; others united and growing together, as every animal is. The marriage of lovers is like this last class, that of those who marryfor dowry or children is like the second class, and that of those whoonly sleep together is like the first class, who may be said to live inthe same house, but in no other sense to live together. But, just asdoctors tell us that liquids are the only things that thoroughly mix, soin married people there must be a complete union of bodies, wealth, friends, and relations. And thus the Roman legislator forbade marriedpeople to exchange presents with one another, not that they should notgo shares with one another, but that they should consider everything ascommon property. 

§ XXXV. At Leptis, a town in Libya, it is the custom for the bride theday 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 thefirst the daughter-in-law may know her mother-in-law's stepmotherlymind, [173] that if afterwards she should be harsher still, she should beprepared for it and not take it ill. Knowing this the wife ought toguard against any cause of offence, for the bridegroom's mother isjealous of his affection to his wife. But there is one cure for thiscondition of mind, to conciliate privately the husband's affection, andnot to divert or diminish his love for his mother. 

§ XXXVI. Mothers seem to love their sons best as able to help them, andfathers their daughters as needing their help; perhaps also it is incompliment to one another, that each prefers the other sex in theirchildren, and openly favours it. This, however, is a matter perhaps oflittle importance. But it looks very nice in the wife to show greaterrespect to her husband's parents than to her own, and if anythingunpleasant has happened to confide it to them rather than to her ownpeople. For trust begets trust, [174] and love love. 

§ XXXVII. The generals of the Greeks in Cyrus's army ordered their mento receive the enemy silently if they came up shouting, but if they cameup silently to rush out to meet them with a shout. So sensible wives, intheir husband's tantrums, are quiet when they storm, but if they aresilent and sullen talk them round and appease them. 

§ XXXVIII. Rightly does Euripides[175] censure those who introduce thelyre at wine-parties, for music ought to be called in to assuage angerand grief, rather than to enervate the voluptuous still more thanbefore. Think, therefore, those in error who sleep together forpleasure, but when they have any little difference with one anothersleep apart, and do not then more than at any other time invokeAphrodite, 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]

§ XXXIX. Everywhere and at all times should husband and wife avoidgiving one another cause of offence, but most especially when they arein bed together. The woman who was in labour and had a bad time said tothose that urged her to go to bed, "How shall the bed cure me, which wasthe very cause of this trouble?"[177] And those differences and quarrelswhich the bed generates will not easily be put an end to at any othertime or place. 

§ 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 andjealousy has made wives open not only their doors but their ears to suchwomen. But that is the very time when a sensible wife will shut her earsmore than at any other time, and be especially on her guard againstwhisperers, that fire may not be added to fire, [179] and remember theremark of Philip, who, when his friends tried to excite him against theGreeks, 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 husbandtreats you, though a chaste and loving wife!" let her answer, "How wouldhe act then, if I were to begin to hate him and injure him?"

§ XLI. The master who saw his runaway slave a long time after he hadrun away, and chased him, and came up with him just as he had got to themill, said to him, "In what more appropriate place could I have wishedto find you?"[180] So let the wife, who is jealous of her husband, andon 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 abandoninghis house and bed?"

§ 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 sacredseedtime than all these is the procreation of children, and thereforeSophocles did well to call Aphrodite "fruitful Cytherea. " Wherefore itbehoves both husband and wife to be most careful over this business, andto abstain from lawless and unholy breaches of the marriage vow, andfrom sowing in quarters where they desire no produce, or where, if anyproduce should come, they would be ashamed of it and desire to concealit. [182]

§ XLIII. When Gorgias the Rhetorician recited his speech at Olympiarecommending harmony to the Greeks, Melanthius cried out, "He recommendharmony to us! Why, he can't persuade his wife and maid to live inharmony, though there are only three of them in the house!" Gorgiasbelike had an intrigue with the maid, and his wife was jealous. He thenmust have his own house in good order who undertakes to order theaffairs of his friends and the public, for any ill-doings on the part ofhusbands to their wives is far more likely to come out and be known tothe public than the ill-doings of wives to their husbands. 

§ XLIV. They say the cat is driven mad by the smell of perfumes. If ithappens that wives are equally affected by perfumes, it is monstrousthat their husbands should not abstain from using perfumes, rather thanfor so small a pleasure to incommode so grievously their wives. Andsince 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 toabstain from connection with other women, when even bee-keepers will doas much, because bees are supposed to dislike and sting those that havehad dealings with women. 

§ XLV. Those that approach elephants do not dress in white, nor thosethat approach bulls in red, for these colours render those animalssavage; and tigers they say at the beating of drums go quite wild, andtear themselves in their rage. Similarly, as some men cannot bear to seescarlet and purple dresses, and others are put out by cymbals anddrums, [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 andmeekly?

§ XLVI. A woman said to Philip, who against her will was pulling herabout, "Let me go, all women are alike when the lamp is put out. "[184] Agood remark to adulterers and debauchees. But the married woman ought toshow when the light is put out that she is not like all other women, forthen, when her body is not visible, she ought to exhibit her chastityand modesty as well as her personal affection to her husband. 

§ XLVII. Plato[185] recommended old men to act with decorum especiallybefore young men, that they too might show respect to them; for wherethe old behave shamelessly, no modesty or reverence will be exhibited bythe young. The husband ought to remember this, and show no one morerespect than his wife, knowing that the bridal chamber will be to hereither a school of virtue or of vice. And he who enjoys pleasures thathe forbids his wife, is like a man that orders his wife to go onfighting against an enemy to whom he has himself surrendered. 

§ XLVIII. As to love of show, Eurydice, read and try to remember whatwas written by Timoxena to Aristylla: and do you, Pollianus, not supposethat your wife will abstain from extravagance and expense, if she seesthat you do not despise such vanities in others, but delight in giltcups, and pictures in houses, and trappings for mules, and ornaments forhorses. For it is not possible to banish extravagance from the women'sside 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 ofphilosophy, adorn your character by its teaching, whether it consists ofdemonstration or constructive reasoning, by associating and conversingwith those that can profit you. And for your wife gather honey fromevery quarter, as the bees do, and whatever knowledge you have yourselfacquired impart to her, and converse with her, making the best argumentswell 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 myteacher and philosopher and guide in the most beautiful and divinesubjects. " For such teaching in the first place detaches women fromabsurdities: for the woman who has learnt geometry will be ashamed todance, nor will she believe in incantations and spells, if she has beencharmed by the discourses of Plato and Xenophon; and if anyone shouldundertake to draw the moon down from the sky, she will laugh at theignorance and stupidity of women that credit such nonsense, wellunderstanding geometry, and having heard how Aglaonice, the daughter ofthe Thessalian Hegetor, having a thorough knowledge of the eclipses ofthe moon, and being aware beforehand of the exact time when the moonwould be in eclipse, cheated the women, and persuaded them that sheherself had drawn it down from the sky. For no woman was ever yetcredited with having had a child without intercourse with a man, forthose shapeless embryos and gobbets of flesh that take form fromcorruption are called moles. We must guard against such falseconceptions as these arising in the minds of women, for if they are notwell informed by good precepts, and share in the teaching that men get, they generate among themselves many foolish and absurd ideas and statesof mind. But do you, Eurydice, study to make yourself acquainted withthe sayings of wise and good women, and ever have on your tongue thosesentiments which as a girl you learnt with us, that so you may make yourhusband's heart glad, and be admired by all other women, being inyourself so wonderfully and splendidly adorned. For one cannot take orput 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 thatadorned Theano, [187] and Cleobuline, and Gorgo the wife of Leonidas, andTimoclea the sister of Theagenes, and the ancient Claudia, [188] andCornelia the sister of Scipio, [189] and all other such noble and famouswomen, these one may array oneself in without money and without price, and so adorned lead a happy and famous life. For if Sappho plumedherself so much on the beauty of her lyrical poetry as to write to acertain rich woman, "You shall lie down in your tomb, nor shall there beany 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 apart not in the roses but in the fruits which the Muses bring, and whichthey freely bestow on those that admire learning and philosophy?[190]

 [154] This tune is again alluded to by Plutarch in "Quæstion. Convival. ", p. 704, F. See also Clemens Alexandrinus, "Pædagog. " ii. P. 164, [Greek: A tais de hippois mignumenais oion hymenaios epauleitai nomos aulôdias hippothoron touton keklêkasin 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 Æsop, 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 laiô Pollaki tous idious antididôsi 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 alêthes philtron eugnômôn tropos, toutô katakratein andros eiôthen gunê. ]

 [170] An allusion to Homer, "Iliad, " xiv. 214-217. 

 [171] Called by the Romans "pronuba Juno. " See Verg. "Æneid, " 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 mêtruiê pelei hêmerê, allote mêtêr]. 

 [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 Æsop's Fables, No. 121. Halme. [Greek: Drapetês] 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. 

§ I. Plutarch to his wife sends greeting. The messenger that you sent tome 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 frommy niece. I suppose the funeral has already taken place, and I hopeeverything went off so as to give you least sorrow both now andhereafter. But if you left undone anything you wished to do, waiting formy opinion, and thinking your grief would then be lighter, be it withoutceremoniousness or superstition, both which things are indeed foreign toyour character. 

§ II. Only, my dear wife, let us both be patient at this calamity. Iknow and can see very clearly how great it is, but should I find yourgrief too excessive, it would trouble me even more than the eventitself. 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 bringingup of so many children, as they have all been educated at home byourselves. And this one I know was more especially beloved by you, asshe was the first daughter after four sons, when you longed for adaughter, and so I gave her your name. [191] And as you are very fond ofchildren your grief must have a peculiar bitterness when you call tomind her pure and simple gaiety, which was without a tincture of passionor querulousness. For she had from nature a wonderful contentedness ofmind and meekness, and her affectionateness and winning ways not onlypleased one but also afforded a means of observing her kindliness ofheart, for she used to bid her nurse[192] give the teat not only toother children but even to her favourite playthings, and so invited themas it were to her table in kindliness of heart, and gave them a share ofher good things, and provided the best entertainment for those thatpleased her. 

§ III. But I see no reason, my dear wife, why these and similar traitsin her character, that gave us delight in her lifetime, should now, when recalled to the memory, grieve and trouble us. Though, on the otherhand, I fear that if we cease to grieve we may also cease to rememberher, 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 ofher son, for it brought grief with it, and it is natural to avoideverything that gives us pain. But as she gave us the greatest pleasurein embracing her and even in seeing and hearing her, so ought her memoryliving and dwelling with us to give us more, aye, many times more, joythan grief, since those arguments that we have often used to othersought to be profitable to us in the present conjuncture, nor should wesit down and rail against fortune, opposing to those joys many moregriefs. 

§ IV. Those who were present at the funeral tell me with evidentsurprise that you put on no mourning, and that you bedizened up neitheryourself nor your maids with the trappings of woe, and that there was noostentatious expenditure of money at the funeral, but that everythingwas done orderly and silently in the presence of our relations. I am notmyself surprised that you, who never made a display either at thetheatre or on any other public occasion, and thought extravaganceuseless even in the case of pleasure, should have been frugal in yourgrief. For not only ought the chaste woman to remain uncorrupt inBacchanalian revels, [194] but she ought to consider her self-control nota whit less necessary in the surges of sorrow and emotion of grief, contending not (as most people think) against natural affection, butagainst the extravagant wishes of the soul. For we are indulgent tonatural affection in the regret, and honour, and memory that it pays tothe dead: but the insatiable desire for a passionate display offuneral grief, coming to the climax in coronachs and beatings of thebreast, is not less unseemly than intemperance in pleasure and isunreasonably[195] forgiven only because pain and grief instead ofdelight are elements in the unseemly exhibition. For what is moreunreasonable than to curtail excessive laughter or any otherdemonstration of joy, and to allow a free vent to copious lamentationand wailing that come from the same source? And how unreasonable is it, as some husbands do, to quarrel with their wives about perfume andpurple 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 inweariness! And what is worst of all, how unreasonable is it for husbandsto interfere if their wives chastise the domestics and maidsimmoderately or without sufficient cause, yet allow them to ill-treatthemselves cruelly in cases and conjunctures that require repose andkindness!

§ V. But between us, my dear wife, there never was any occasion for sucha contest, nor do I think there ever will be. For as to your economy indress and simple way of living, there is no philosopher with whom youare acquainted whom you did not amaze, nor is there any citizen who hasnot observed[196] how plainly you dressed at sacred rites, andsacrifices, and theatres. You have also already on similar painfuloccasions exhibited great fortitude, as when you lost your eldest son, and again when our handsome Chæron died. For when I was informed of hisdeath, I well remember some guests from the sea were coming home with meto my house as well as some others, but when they saw the great quietand tranquillity of the household, they thought, as they afterwards toldsome other people, that no such disaster had really happened, but thatthe news was untrue. So well had you ordered everything in the house, ata time when there would have been great excuse for disorder. And yet youhad suckled that son, though your breast had had to be lanced owing to acontusion. This was noble conduct and showed your great naturalaffection. 

§ VI. But most mothers we see, when their children are brought to themclean and tidy, take them into their hands as playthings, and when theydie burst out into idle and unthankful grief, not so much out ofaffection--for affection is thoughtful and noble--but a great yearningfor vain glory[197] mixed with a little natural affection makes theirgrief fierce and vehement and hard to appease. And this does not seem tohave escaped Æsop's notice, for he says that when Zeus assigned theirhonours to various gods, Grief also claimed his. And Zeus granted hiswish, with this limitation that only those who chose and wished need payhim honour. [198] It is thus with grief at the outset, everyone welcomesit at first, but after it has got by process of time settled, and becomean inmate of the house, it is with difficulty dislodged again, howevermuch people may wish to dislodge it. Wherefore we ought to keep it outof doors, and not let it approach the garrison by wearing mourning orshearing the hair, or by any similar outward sign of sorrow. For thesethings occurring daily and being importunate make the mind little, andnarrow, and unsocial, and harsh, and timid, so that, being besieged andtaken in hand by grief, it can no longer laugh, and shuns daylight, andavoids society. This evil will be followed by neglect of the body, anddislike 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 easeespecially requires that the body should be in a sound and healthycondition. For much of grief is blunted and relaxed when the body ispermeated by calm, like the sea in fine weather. But if the body getinto a dry and parched condition from a low diet, and gives no propernutriment to the soul, but only feeds it with sorrow and grief, as itwere with bitter and injurious exhalations, it cannot easily recover itstone however people may wish it should. Such is the state of the soulthat has been so ill-treated. 

§ VII. Moreover, I should not hesitate to assert[199] that the mostformidable peril in connection with this is "the visits of badwomen, "[200] and their chatter, and joint lamentation, all which thingsfan the fire of sorrow and aggravate it, and suffer it not to beextinguished either by others or by itself. I am not ignorant what atime 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 andrushed up with lamentation and wailing, adding fuel as it were to herfire 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 ifanybody has anything the matter with his eyes they will not let him puthis hands to them, however much he wish, nor do they themselves touchthe inflamed part; but a person in grief sits down and gives himself upto every chance comer, like a river [that all make use of], to stir upand aggravate the sore, so that from a little tickling and discomfort itgrows into a great and terrible disease. However, as to all this I knowyou will be on your guard. 

§ VIII. Try also often to carry yourself back in memory to that timewhen, this little girl not having been then born, we had nothing tocharge Fortune with, and to compare that time and this together, as ifour circumstances had gone back to what they were then. Otherwise, mydear wife, we shall seem discontented at the birth of our littledaughter, 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, butto consider them as a time of pleasure giving us gratification andenjoyment, and not to deem the shortness of the blessing as a greatevil, nor to be unthankful for what was given us, because Fortune didnot give us a longer tenure as we wished. For ever to be careful what wesay about the gods, and to be cheerful and not rail against Fortune, brings a sweet and goodly profit; and he who in such conjunctures asours mostly tries to remember his blessings, and turns and diverts hismind from the dark and disturbing things in life to the bright andradiant, either altogether extinguishes his grief or makes it small anddim from a comparison with his comforts. For as perfume gives pleasureto the nose, and is a remedy against disagreeable smells, so theremembrance of past happiness in present trouble gives all the reliefthey require to those who do not shut out of their memory the blessingsof the past, or always and everywhere rail against Fortune. And thiscertainly ought not to be our case, that we should slander all our pastlife because, like a book, it has one erasure in it, when all the otherpages have been bright and clean. 

§ IX. You have often heard that happiness consists in right calculationsresulting in a healthy state of mind, and that the changes which Fortunebrings 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 otherpeople the judges of our felicity, do not now regard the tears andlamentations of those who visit you, which by a faulty custom arelavished on everybody, but consider rather how happy you are stillesteemed by them for your family, your house, and life. For it would bemonstrous, if others would gladly prefer your destiny to theirs, eventaking into account our present sorrow, that you should rail against andbe impatient at our present lot, and in consequence of our bitter griefnot reflect how much comfort is still left to us. But like those whoquote imperfect verses of Homer[201] and neglect the finest passages ofhis writings, to enumerate and complain of the trials of life, while youpay 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, butlament and are impatient if they are lost. And if you grieve over herdying unmarried and childless, you can comfort yourself with the thoughtthat you have had both those advantages. For they should not be reckonedas great blessings in the case of those who do not enjoy them, and smallblessings in the case of those who do. And that she has gone to a placewhere she is out of pain ought not to pain us, for what evil can wemourn for on her account if her pains are over? For even the loss ofimportant things does not grieve us when we have no need of them. But itwas only little things that your Timoxena was deprived of, little thingsonly she knew, and in little things only did she rejoice; and how canone be said to be deprived of things of which one had no conception, norexperience, nor even desire for?

§ X. As to what you hear from some people, who get many to credit theirnotion, that the dead suffer no evil or pain, I know that you areprevented from believing that by the tradition of our fathers and by themystic symbols of the mysteries of Dionysus, for we are both initiated. Consider then that the soul, being incorruptible, is in the samecondition after death as birds that have been caught. For if it has beena long time in the body, and during this mortal life has become tame bymany affairs and long habit, it swoops down again and a second timeenters the body, and does not cease to be involved in the changes andchances of this life that result from birth. For do not suppose that oldage is abused and ill-spoken of only for its wrinkles and white hair andweakness of body, but this is the worst feature about it, that it makesthe soul feeble in its remembrance of things in the other world, andstrong in its attachment to things in this world, and bends and pressesit, 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 ashort time in it, being liberated from it by the higher powers, rears asit were at a damp and soft turning post in the race of life, and hastenson to its destined goal. For just as if anyone put out a fire, and lightit again at once, it is soon rekindled, and burns up again quickly, butif it has been out a long time, to light it again will be a far moredifficult and irksome task, so the soul that has sojourned only a shorttime in this dark and mortal life, quickly recovers the light and blazeof its former bright life, whereas for those who have not had the goodfortune very early, to use the language of the poet, "to pass the gatesof Hades, "[202] nothing remains but a great passion for the things ofthis 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]

§ XI. And the truth of this is rendered more apparent in our hereditaryand time-honoured customs and laws. For when infants die no libationsare 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 theearth or in things of the earth, nor do parents haunt their tombs ormonuments, or sit by their bodies when they are laid out. For the lawsdo not allow us to mourn for such, seeing that it is an impious thing todo so in the case of persons who have departed into a better and moredivine place and sphere. I know that doubts are entertained about this, but since to doubt is harder for them than to believe, let us doexternally as the laws enjoin, and internally let us be more holy andpure and chaste. [204]

 [191] Timoxena, as we see later on, § 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, "Bacchæ, " 317, 318. 

 [195] Reading with Reiske [Greek: oudeni logô de], or [Greek: alogôs de]. Some such reading seems necessary to comport with the [Greek: ti gar alogôteron] 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 Æsop, entitled [Greek: Penthous geras], No. 355. Halme. See also Plutarch's "Consolation to Apollonius, " § xix. , where the Fable is told at some length. 

 [199] Reading with Reiske [Greek: ouk an eipein phobêtheiên]. 

 [200] An allusion to Euripides, "Andromache, " 930. See Plutarch's "Conjugal Precepts, " § xl. 

 [201] The whole subject is discussed in full by Athenæus, 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. 

§ I. As to virtue we deliberate and dispute whether good sense, andjustice, and rectitude can be taught: and then we are not surprisedthat, while the works of orators, and pilots, and musicians, andhouse-builders, and farmers, are innumerable, good men are only a nameand expression, like Centaurs and Giants and Cyclopes, and that it isimpossible to find any virtuous action without alloy of base motives, orany character free from vice: but if nature produces spontaneouslyanything good, it is marred by much that is alien to it, as fruit chokedby weeds. Men learn to play on the harp, and to dance, and to read, andto farm, and to ride on horseback: they learn how to put on their shoesand clothes generally: people teach how to pour out wine, how to cook;and all these things cannot be properly performed, without beinglearned. The art of good living alone, though all those things I havementioned only exist on its account, is untaught, unmethodical, inartistic, and supposed to come by the light of nature!

§ II. O sirs, by asserting that virtue is not a thing to be taught, whyare we making it unreal? For if teaching produces it, the deprivation ofteaching prevents it. And yet, as Plato says, a discord and false noteon the lyre makes not brother go to war with brother, nor sets friendsat variance, nor makes states hostile to one another, so as to do andsuffer at one another's hands the most dreadful things:[205] nor cananyone say that there was ever a dissension in any city as to thepronunciation of Telchines: nor in a private house any differencebetween man and wife as to woof and warp. And yet no one withoutlearning would undertake to ply the loom, or write a book, or play onthe lyre, though he would thereby do no great harm, but he fears makinghimself ridiculous, for as Heraclitus says, "It is better to hide one'signorance, " yet everyone thinks himself competent to manage a house andwife and the state and hold any magisterial office. On one occasion, when a boy was eating rather greedily, Diogenes gave the lad's tutor ablow with his fist, ascribing the fault not to the boy, who had notlearnt how to eat properly, but to the tutor who had not taught him. Andcan one not properly handle a dish or a cup, unless one has learnt froma boy, as Aristophanes bids us, "not to giggle, nor eat too fast, norcross our legs, "[206] and yet be perfectly fit to manage a family andcity, and wife, and live well, and hold office, when one has not learnthow one should behave in the conduct of life? When Aristippus was askedby someone, "Are you everywhere then?" he smiled and said, "If I ameverywhere, 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 alsolost?" For just as nurses mould with their hands the child's body, sotutors, receiving it immediately it is weaned, mould its soul, teachingit by habit the first vestiges of virtue. And the Lacedæmonian, who wasasked, what good he did as a tutor, replied, "I make what is goodpleasant to boys. " Moreover tutors teach boys to walk in the streetswith 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]

§ III. What then? He that says that the doctor's skill is wanted in thecase of a slight skin-eruption or whitlow, but is not needed in the caseof pleurisy, fever, or lunacy, in what respect does he differ from theman that says that schools and teaching and precepts are only for smalland boyish duties, while great and important matters are to be left tomere routine and accident? For, as the man is ridiculous who says weought to learn to row but not to steer, so he who allows all other artsto be learnt, but not virtue, seems to act altogether contrary to theScythians. For they, as Herodotus tells us, [210] blind their slaves thatthey may remain with them, but such an one puts the eye of reason intoslavish and servile arts, and takes it away from virtue. And the generalIphicrates well answered Callias, the son of Chabrias, who asked him, "What are you? an archer? a targeteer? cavalry, or infantry?" "None ofthese, " said he, "but the commander of them all. " Ridiculous thereforeis he who says that the use of the bow and other arms and the sling andriding are to be taught, but that strategy and how to command an armycomes by the light of nature. Still more ridiculous is he who assertsthat good sense alone need not be taught, without which all other artsare useless and profitless, seeing that she is the mistress and ordererand 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 servantshad been well-trained, and had learnt how to dress and cook the meatand pour out the wine, [211] unless there was good order and methodamong 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, Plutarcheæ tamen, excerptum compendium. "

ON VIRTUE AND VICE. 

§ 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 feverspeople frequently change and shift them), but the heat which a manthrows out from his own body is retained and wrapped in by a dressfitting close to the body, which does not admit of the heat beingdissipated when once it has got firm hold. A somewhat similar case isthe idea that deceives the mass of mankind, that if they could live inbig houses, and get together a quantity of slaves and money, they wouldhave a happy life. But a happy and cheerful life is not from without, onthe contrary, a man adds the pleasure and gratification to the thingsthat surround him, his temperament being as it were the source of hisfeelings. [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 aman has joy in his heart, seeing that men can bear easily and quietlypoverty and exile and old age if their character is a contented and mildone. 

§ II. For as perfumes make threadbare coats and rags to smell sweet, while the body of Anchises sent forth a fetid discharge, "distillingfrom his back on to his linen robe, " so every kind of life with virtueis painless and pleasurable, whereas vice if infused into it makessplendour and wealth and magnificence painful, and sickening, andunwelcome 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 ofdivorce to his vice get rid of all trouble at once, and enjoytranquillity by living apart: for it is ever present in his vitals, andsticks to him night and day, "and burns without a torch, and consignshim to gloomy old age, "[216] being a disagreeable fellow-traveller owingto its arrogance, and a costly companion at table owing to itsdaintiness, and an unpleasant bed-fellow, disturbing and marring sleepby anxiety and care and envy. For during such a one's sleep the bodyindeed gets rest, but the mind has terrors, and dreams, andperturbations, 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 behaviourof others, is shy and conceals its evil desires, and does not altogethergive way to its propensities, but often even resists and fights stoutlyagainst them; but in sleep it escapes the observation of people and thelaw, and, being as far as possible removed from fear or modesty, givesevery 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 actionwhatever, " and enjoys lawlessness as far as is practicable in visionsand phantasies, that end in no complete pleasure or satisfaction, butcan only stir up and inflame the passions and morbid emotions. 

§ III. Where then is the pleasure of vice, if there is nowhere in itfreedom from anxiety and pain, or independence, or tranquillity, orrest?[218] A healthy and sound constitution does indeed augment thepleasures of the body, but for the soul there can be no lasting joy orgratification, unless cheerfulness and fearlessness and courage supply acalm serenity free from storms; for otherwise, even if hope or delightsmile on the soul, it is soon confused and disturbed by care lifting upits head again, so that it is but the calm of a sunken rock. 

§ IV. Pile up gold, heap up silver, build covered walks, fill your housewith slaves and the town with debtors, unless you lay to rest thepassions of the soul, and put a curb on your insatiable desires, and ridyourself of fear and anxiety, you are but pouring out wine for a man ina fever, and giving honey to a man who is bilious, and laying out asumptuous banquet for people who are suffering from dysentery, and canneither retain their food nor get any benefit from it, but are made evenworse by it. Have you never observed how sick persons turn against andspit out and refuse the daintiest and most costly viands, though peopleoffer them and almost force them down their throats, but on anotheroccasion, when their condition is different, their respiration good, their blood in a healthy state, and their natural warmth restored, theyget up, and enjoy and make a good meal of simple bread and cheese andcress? Such, also, is the effect of reason on the mind. You will becontented, if you have learned what is good and honourable. You willlive daintily and be a king in poverty, and enjoy a quiet and privatelife as much as the public life of general or statesman. By the aid ofphilosophy you will live not unpleasantly, for you will learn to extractpleasure from all places and things: wealth will make you happy, because it will enable you to benefit many; and poverty, as you will notthen have many anxieties; and glory, for it will make you honoured; andobscurity, 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, " § 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, " § xii. 

 [218] And so Dr. Young truly says, --

 "A man of pleasure is a man of pains. "

 _Night Thoughts. _

ON MORAL VIRTUE. 

§ I. I propose to discuss what is called and appears to be moral virtue(which differs mainly from contemplative virtue in that it has emotionfor its matter, and reason for its form), what its nature is, and how itsubsists, and whether that part of the soul which takes it in isfurnished with reason of its own, or participates in something foreign, and if the latter, whether as things that are mixed with somethingbetter than themselves, or rather as that which is subject tosuperintendence and command, and may be said to share in the power ofthat which commands. For I think it is clear that virtue can exist andcontinue altogether free from matter and mixture. My best course will beto run briefly over the views of others, not so much to display myresearch as because, when their ideas have been set forth, mine willbecome more clear and be on a firmer basis. 

§ II. Menedemus of Eretria took away the number and differences ofvirtues, on the ground that virtue was one though it had many names; forthat just as mortal is synonymous with man, so temperance and braveryand justice were the same thing. And Aristo of Chios also made virtueone in substance, and called it soundness of mind: its diversities andvarieties only existing in certain relations, as if one called our sightwhen it took in white objects white-sight, and when it took in blackobjects black-sight, and so on. For virtue, when it considers what itought to do and what it ought not to do, is called prudence; and when itcurbs passion, and sets a fit and proper limit to pleasure, it is calledself-control; and when it is associated with our dealings and covenantswith 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 Zenoof Cittium seems to incline somewhat to the same view, as he definesprudence in distribution as justice, in choice as self-control, inendurance as fortitude: and those who defend these views maintain thatby the term prudence Zeno means knowledge. But Chrysippus, thinking eachparticular virtue should be arranged under its particular quality, unwittingly stirred up, to use Plato's language, "a whole swarm ofvirtues, "[219] unusual and unknown. For as from brave we get bravery, and from mild mildness, and from just justice, so from acceptable he gotacceptableness, and from good goodness, and from great greatness, andfrom the honourable honourableness, and he made virtues of many othersuch clevernesses, affabilities, and versatilities, and filledphilosophy, which did not at all require it, with many strange names. 

§ III. Now all these agree in supposing virtue to be a disposition andfaculty of the governing part of the soul set in motion by reason, orrather to be reason itself conformable and firm and immutable. Theythink further that the emotional and unreasoning part of the soul is notby any natural difference distinct from the reasoning part, but thatthat same part of the soul, which they call intellect and the leadingprinciple of action, being altogether diverted and changed by thepassions, and by the alterations which habit or disposition have broughtabout, becomes either vice or virtue, without having in itself anyunreasoning element, but that it is called unreasoning when, by thestrong and overpowering force of appetite, it launches out into excessescontrary to the direction of reason. For passion, according to them, isonly vicious and intemperate reason, getting its strength and power frombad and faulty judgement. But all of those philosophers seem to havebeen ignorant that we are all in reality two-fold and composite, thoughthey did not recognize it, and only saw the more evident mixture of souland body. And yet that there is in the soul itself something compositeand two-fold and dissimilar (the unreasoning part of it, as if anotherbody, being by necessity and nature mixed up with and united to reason), seems not to have escaped the notice even of Pythagoras, as we inferfrom his zeal for music, which he introduced to calm and soothe thesoul, as knowing that it was not altogether amenable to precept andinstruction, or redeemable from vice only by reason, but that it neededsome other persuasion and moulding and softening influence to co-operatewith reason, unless it were to be altogether intractable and refractoryto philosophy. And Plato saw very plainly and confidently and decidedlythat 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 onecase it is ever marshalled in the same order and moves about in onefixed orbit, in the other case it is divided into motions and orbitscontrary to each other and changing about, and thus generatesdifferences in things. So, too, the soul of man, being a part or portionof the soul of the universe, and compounded upon similar principles andproportions, is not simple or entirely uniform, but has one partintelligent and reasoning, which is intended by nature to rule anddominate in man, and another part unreasoning, and subject to passionand caprice, and disorderly, and in need of direction. And this lastagain is divided into two parts, one of which, being most closelyconnected with the body, is called desire, and the other, sometimestaking part with the body, sometimes with reason, lending its influenceagainst the body, is called anger. And the difference between reason andsense on the one hand, and anger and desire on the other, is shown bytheir antipathy to one another, so that they are often at variance withone another as to what is best. [220] These were at first[221] the viewsof Aristotle, as is clear from his writings, though afterwards he joinedanger to desire, as if anger were nothing but a desire and passion forrevenge. However, he always considered the emotional and unreasoningpart of the soul as distinct from the reasoning, not that it isaltogether unreasoning as the perceptive, or nutritive, or vegetativeportions of the soul, for these are always deaf and disobedient toreason, and in a certain sense are off-shoots from the flesh, andaltogether attached to the body; but the emotional, though it isdestitute of any reason of its own, yet is naturally inclined to listento reason and sense, and turn and submit and mould itself accordingly, unless it be entirely corrupted by brute pleasure and a life ofindulgence. 

§ IV. As for those who wonder that what is unreasoning should obeyreason, they do not seem to me to recognize the power of reason, howgreat it is, and how far-reaching its dominion is--a power not gained byharsh and repelling methods, but by attractive ones, as mild persuasionwhich always accomplishes more than compulsion or violence. For even thespirit and nerves and bones, and other parts of the body, though devoidof reason, yet at any instigation of reason, when she shakes as it werethe reins, are all on the alert and compliant and obedient, the feet torun, and the hands to throw or lift, at her bidding. Right excellentlyhas the poet set forth in the following lines the sympathy andaccordance 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 andblood 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, whomreason and the law forbid us to touch; a case which most frequentlyhappens to lovers, when they hear that they have unwittingly fallen inlove with a sister or daughter. For at once passion is laid at the voiceof reason, and the body exhibits its members as subservient to decorum. And frequently in the case of dainty food, people very much attracted byit, if they find out at the time or learn afterwards that they haveeaten what is unclean or unlawful, not only suffer distress and griefin their imagination, but even their very body is upset by the notion, and violent retchings and vomitings follow. [223] I fear I should seem tobe introducing merely novel and enticing arguments, if I were toenumerate stringed instruments and lyres, and harps and flutes, andother harmonious musical instruments, which, although inanimate, yetspeak to man's passions, rejoicing with him, and mourning with him, andchiming in with him, and rioting with him, --in a word, falling in withthe vein and emotions and characters of those that play on them. Andthey say that Zeno on one occasion, going into the theatre whenAmoebeus[224] was playing on the harp, said to the pupils, "Let us goand learn what music can be produced by guts and nerves and wood andbones, when they preserve proportion and time and order. " But passingthese things over, I would gladly learn from them, if, when they seedogs and horses and birds domesticated, and by habit and traininguttering sounds that can be understood, and making obedient movementsand gestures, and acting quietly and usefully to us, and when theynotice that Achilles in Homer cheers on horses as well as men to thefight, [225] they still wonder and doubt, whether the passionate andemotional and painful and pleasurable elements in us are by natureobedient to the voice of reason, and influenced and affected by it, seeing that those elements are not apart from us or detached from us, orformed 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 inus through habit. Accordingly moral character is well called by theGreeks [Greek: êthos], for it is, to speak generally, a quality of theunreasoning element in man, and is called [Greek: êthos] because theunreasoning element moulded by reason receives this quality anddifference by habit, which is called [Greek: ethos]. [226] Not thatreason wishes to expel passion altogether (that is neither possible, nor advisable), but only to keep it within bounds and order, and toengender the moral virtues, which are not apathetic, but hold the dueproportion and mean in regard to passion. And this she does by reducingthe power of passion to a good habit. For there are said to be threethings existing in the soul, power, passion, and habit. Power is theprinciple or matter of passion, as power to be angry, ashamed, orconfident: and passion is the actual setting in motion of that power, being itself anger, confidence, or shame; and habit is the strongformation of power in the unreasoning element engendered by use, beingvice if the passions are badly tutored by reason, virtue if they arewell tutored. 

§ V. But since they do not regard every virtue as a mean, nor call itmoral, we must discuss this difference by approaching the matter morefrom first principles. Some things in the world exist absolutely, as theearth, the sky, the stars, and the sea; others have relation to us, asgood and evil, as what is desirable or to be avoided, as pleasant andpainful: and since reason has an eye to both of these classes, when itconsiders the former it is scientific and contemplative, when itconsiders the latter it is deliberative and practical. And prudence isthe virtue in the latter case, as knowledge in the former. And there isthis difference between prudence and knowledge, prudence consists inapplying the contemplative to the practical and emotional so as to makereason paramount. On which account it often needs the help of fortune;whereas knowledge needs neither the help of fortune nor deliberation togain its ends: for it considers only things which are always the same. And as the geometrician does not deliberate about the triangle, as towhether its interior angles are together equal to two right angles, forhe knows it as a fact--and deliberation only takes place in the case ofthings which differ at different times, not in the case of things whichare certain and unchangeable--so the contemplative mind having its scopein first principles, and things that are fixed, and that ever have onenature which does not admit of change, has no need for deliberation. Butprudence, which has to enter into matters full of obscurity andconfusion, frequently has to take its chance, and to deliberate aboutthings which are uncertain, and, in carrying the deliberation intopractice, has to co-operate with the unreasoning element, which comes toits help, and is involved in its decisions, for they need an impetus. Now this impetus is given to passion by the moral character, an impetusrequiring reason to regulate it, that it may render moderate and notexcessive help, and at the seasonable time. For the emotional andunreasoning elements are subject to motions sometimes too quick andvehement, at other times too remiss and slow. And so everything we domay be a success from one point of view, but a failure from many pointsof view; as to hit the mark one thing only is requisite, but one maymiss it in various ways, as one may shoot beyond or too short. This thenis the function of practical reason following nature, to prevent ourpassions going either too far or too short. For where from weakness andwant of strength, or from fear and hesitation, the impetus gives in andabandons 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 theemotional motions, it engenders in the unreasoning part of the soulmoral virtues, which are the mean between excess and deficiency. Notthat we can say that all virtue exists in the mean, but knowledge andprudence being in no need of the unreasoning element, and being situatedin the pure and unemotional part of the soul, is a complete perfectionand power of reason, whereby we get the most divine and happy fruit ofunderstanding. But that virtue which is necessary because of the body, and needs the help of the passions as an instrument towards thepractical, not destroying or doing away with but ordering and regulatingthe unreasoning part of the soul, is perfection as regards its power andquality, but in quantity it is a mean correcting both excess anddeficiency. 

§ VI. But since the word mean has a variety of meanings--for there isone kind of mean compounded of two simple extremes, as grey is the meanbetween white and black; and there is another kind of mean, where thatwhich contains and is contained is the mean between the containing andcontained, as eight is the mean between twelve and four; and there is athird kind of mean which has part in neither extreme, as the indifferentis the mean between good and bad, --virtue cannot be a mean in any ofthese ways. For neither is it a mixture of vices, nor containing thatwhich is defective is it contained by that which is excessive, nor is itagain altogether free from, emotional storms of passion, wherein areexcess and deficiency. But it is, and is commonly so called, a mean likethat in music and harmony. For as in music there is a middle notebetween the highest and lowest in the scale, which being perfectly intune avoids the sharpness of the one and the flatness of the other; sovirtue, being a motion and power in the unreasoning part of the soul, takes away the remissness and strain, and generally speaking the excessand defect of the appetite, by reducing each of the passions to a stateof mean and rectitude. For example, they tell us that bravery is themean between cowardice and foolhardiness, whereof the former is adefect, the latter an excess of anger: and that liberality is the meanbetween stinginess and prodigality: and that meekness is the meanbetween insensibility and savageness: and so of temperance and justice, that the latter, being concerned with contracts, is to assign neithertoo much nor too little to litigants, and that the former ever reducesthe passions to the proper mean between apathy (or insensibility) andgross intemperance. This last illustration serves excellently to show usthe radical difference between the unreasoning and reasoning parts ofthe soul, and to prove to us that passion and reason are wide as thepoles asunder. For the difference would not be discernible betweentemperance and continence, nor between intemperance and incontinence, inpleasure and desires, if the appetite and judgement were in the sameportion of the soul. Now temperance is a state, wherein reason holds thereins, and manages the passions as a quiet and well-broken-in animal, finding them obedient and submissive to the reins and masters over theirdesires. [227] Continence on the other hand is not driven by reasonwithout some trouble, not being docile but jibbing and kicking, like ananimal compelled by bit and bridle and whip and backing, being in itselffull of struggles and commotion. Plato explains this by his simile ofthe chariot-horses of the soul, the worse one of which ever kickingagainst the other and disturbing the charioteer, he is obliged ever tohold them in with all his might, and to tighten the reins, lest, toborrow the language of Simonides, "he should drop from his hands thepurple reins. " And so they do not consider continence to be an absolutevirtue, but something less than a virtue; for no mean arises from theconcord of the worse with the better, nor is the excess of the passioncurtailed, nor does the appetite obey or act in unison with reason, butit both gives and suffers trouble, and is constrained by force, and isas 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 hisconflicting condition. On the same grounds they consider incontinence tobe something less than vice, but intemperance to be a complete vice. Forit, having both its appetite and reason depraved, is by the onecarried away to desire disgraceful things, [229] by the other, throughbad judgement consenting to desire, loses even the perception ofwrongdoing. But incontinence keeps its judgement sound through reason, but is carried away against its judgement by passion which is too strongfor reason, whence it differs from intemperance. For in the one casereason is mastered by passion, in the other it does not even make afight against it, in the one case it opposes its desires even when itfollows them, in the other it is their advocate and even leader, in theone case it gladly participates in what is wrong, in the othersorrowfully, in the one case it willingly rushes into what isdisgraceful, in the other it abandons the honourable unwillingly. And asthere is a difference in their deeds, so no less manifest is thedifference in their language. For these are the expressions of theintemperate. "What grace or pleasure in life is there without goldenAphrodite? May I die, when I care no longer for these things!" Andanother says, "To eat, to drink, to enjoy the gifts of Aphrodite iseverything, for all other things I look upon as supplementary, " as iffrom the bottom of his soul he gave himself up to pleasures, and wascompletely subverted by them. And not less so he who said, "Let me beruined, it is best for me, " had his judgement diseased through hispassion. 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, thesoul that is unsettled and has no steady reason, but surrenders judgmentthrough flabbiness and feebleness. And not unlike this image are thelines, "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. Forindeed it is with full sail that the intemperate man is borne on topleasure by his desires, and surrenders himself to them, and even playsthe part of pilot to the vessel; whereas the incontinent man is draggedsidelong into the disgraceful, and is its victim, as it were, while hedesires eagerly to resist and overcome his passion, as Timon banteredAnaxarchus: "The recklessness and frantic energy of Anaxarchus to rushanywhere seemed like a dog's courage, but he being aware of it wasmiserable, so people said, but his voluptuous nature ever plunged himinto excesses again, nature which even most sophists are afraid of. "For neither is the wise man continent but temperate, nor the foolincontinent but intemperate; for the one delights in what is good, andthe other is not vexed at what is bad. Incontinence, therefore, is amark of a sophistical soul, endued with reason which cannot abide bywhat it knows to be right. 

§ VII. Such, then, are the differences between incontinence andintemperance, and continence and temperance have their counterpart andanalogous differences; for remorse and trouble and annoyance arecompanions of continence, whereas in the soul of the temperate personthere is everywhere such equability and calm and soundness, by which theunreasoning is adjusted and harmonized to reason, being adorned withobedience and wonderful mildness, that looking at it you would say withthe poet, "At once the wind was laid, and a wondrous calm ensued, forthe god allayed the fury of the waves, "[232] reason having extinguishedthe vehement and furious and frantic motions of the desires, and makingthose which nature necessarily requires sympathetic and obedient andfriendly and co-operative in carrying purposes out in action, so thatthey do not outrun or come short of reason, or behave disorderly anddisobediently, but that every appetite is tractable, "as sucking foalruns by the side of its dam. "[233] And this confirms the saying ofXenocrates about true philosophers, that they alone do willingly whatall others do unwillingly at the compulsion of the law, as dogs areturned away from their pleasures by a blow, or cats by a noise, lookingat nothing but their danger. It is clear then that there is in the soula perception of such a generic and specific difference in relation tothe desires, as of something fighting against and opposing them. Butsome say that there is no radical distinction difference or variancebetween reason and passion, but that there is a shifting of one and thesame reason from one to the other, which escapes our notice owing to thesharpness and quickness of the change, so that we do not see at a glancethat desire and repentance, anger and fear, giving way to what isdisgraceful through passion, and recovery from the same, are the samenatural property of the soul. For desire and fear and anger and the likethey consider only depraved opinions and judgements, not in one portionof the soul only but in all its leading principles, inclinations andyieldings, and assents and impulses, and generally speaking in itsenergies soon changed, like the sallies of children, whose fury andexcessive violence is unstable by reason of their weakness. But theseviews are, in the first place, contrary to evidence and observation; forno one observes in himself a change from passion to judgement, and fromjudgement back to passion; nor does anyone cease from loving when hereflects that it would be well to break the affair off and strive withall his might against it; nor again, does he put on one side reflectionand judgement, when he gives way and is overcome by desire. Moreover, when he resists passion by reason, he does not escape passionaltogether; nor again, when he is mastered by passion does he fail todiscern his fault through reason: so that neither by passion does heabolish reason, nor does he by reason get rid of passion, but is tossedabout to and fro alternately between passion and reason. And those whosuppose that the leading principle in the soul is at one time desire, and at another time reason in opposition to desire, are not unlikepeople who would make the hunter and the animal he hunts one and thesame person, but alternately changing from hunter to animal, from animalto hunter. As their eyesight is plainly deficient, so these are faultyin regard to their perceptions, seeing that they must perceive inthemselves not a change of one and the same thing, but a difference andstruggle between two opposing elements. "What then, " say they, "does notthe deliberative element in a man often hold different views, and is itnot swayed to different opinions as to expediency, and yet it is one andthe same thing?" Certainly, I reply; but the case is not similar. Forthe rational part of the soul does not fight against itself, but thoughit has only one faculty, it makes use of different reasonings; or ratherthe reasoning is one, but employs itself in different subjects as ondifferent matter. And so there is neither pain in reasonings withoutpassion, nor are men compelled, as it were, to choose something contraryto their judgement, unless indeed some passion, as in a balance, secretly predominates in the scale. For this often happens, reason notopposing reason, but ambition, or contention, or favour, or jealousy, orfear opposing reason, that we do but think there is a difference betweentwo reasons, as in the line, "They were ashamed to refuse, and feared toaccept, "[234] or, "To die in battle is dreadful but glorious; but not todie, though cowardly, is more pleasant. " Moreover, in judgements aboutcontracts passions come in and cause the greatest delay; and in thecouncils of kings those who speak to ingratiate themselves do not favoureither of the two cases, but give themselves up to passion withoutregard to what is expedient; and so those that rule in aristocracies donot allow orators to be pathetic in their pleadings. For reasoningwithout passion has a direct tendency to justice, while if passion isinfused, a contest and difference is excited between pleasure and painon the one hand, and judgement and justice on the other. For otherwisehow is it that in philosophical speculations people are with little painfrequently induced by others to change their opinions, and evenAristotle himself and Democritus and Chrysippus have rejected withouttrouble or pain, and even with pleasure, some of the opinions which theyformerly advocated? For no passion stands in the way in the theoreticand scientific part of the soul, and the unreasoning element is quietand gives no trouble therein. And so reason gladly inclines to thetruth, when it is evident, and abandons error; for in it, and not inpassion, lies a willingness to listen to conviction and to change one'sopinions on conviction. But the deliberations and judgements andarbitrations of most people as to matters of fact being mixed up withpassion, give reason no easy or pleasant access, as she is held fast andincommoded by the unreasonable, which assails her through pleasure, orfear, or pain, or desire. And the decision in these cases lies withsense which has dealings with both passion and reason, for if one getsthe better of the other the other is not destroyed, but only draggedalong by force in spite of its resistance. For he who is dissatisfiedwith himself for falling in love calls in reason to his aid to overcomehis passion, for both reason and passion are in his soul, and heperceives they are contrary one to the other, and violently repressesthe inflammatory one of the two. On the other hand, in deliberations andspeculations without passion (such as the contemplative part of the soulis most conversant with), if they are evenly balanced no decision takesplace, but the matter is left in doubt, which is a sort of stationaryposition of the mind in conflicting arguments. But should there be anyinclination to one of the two sides, the most powerful opinion carriesthe day, yet without giving pain or creating hostility. And, generallyspeaking, when reason seems opposed to reason, there is no perception oftwo distinct things, but only of one under different phases, whereaswhen the unreasoning has a controversy with reason, since there can beno victory or defeat without pain, forthwith they tear the soul intwo, [235] and make the difference between them apparent. 

§ VIII. And not only from their contest, but quite as much from theiragreement, can we see that the source of the passions is something quitedistinct from that of reason. For since[236] one may love either a goodand excellent child or a bad and vicious one, and be unreasonably angrywith one's children or parents, yet in behalf of them show a just angeragainst enemies or tyrants; as in the one case there is the perceptionof a difference and struggle between passion and reason, so in the otherthere is a perception of persuasion and agreement inclining, as it were, the scale, and giving their help. Moreover a good man marrying a wifeaccording to the laws is minded to associate and live with her justlyand soberly, but as time goes on, his intercourse with her havingengendered a strong passion for her, he perceives that his love andaffection are increased by reason. Just so, again, young fellows fallingin with kindly teachers at first submit themselves to them out ofnecessity and emulation for learning, but end by loving them, andinstead of being their pupils and scholars become and get the title oftheir lovers. The same is the case in cities in respect to goodmagistrates, and neighbours, and connections by marriage; for beginningat first to associate with one another from necessity and propriety, they afterwards go on to love almost insensibly, reason drawing over andpersuading 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 toreason and detrimental by hesitation and delay to opportunities andactions?

§ IX. In a certain sense yielding to the force of these arguments, theycall shame modesty, pleasure joy, and timidity caution; nor would anyoneblame them for this euphemism, if they only gave those specious names tothe emotions that are consistent with reason, while they gave otherkinds of names to those emotions that resist and do violence to reason. But whenever, though convicted by their tears and tremblings and changesof colour, they avoid the terms pain and fear, and speak of bitings andstates of excitement, and gloss over the passions by calling theminclinations, they seem to contrive evasions and flights from facts bynames sophistical, and not philosophical. And yet again they seem to usewords rightly when they call those joys and wishes and cautions notapathies but good conditions of the mind. For it is a happy dispositionof the soul when reason does not annihilate passion, but orders andarranges it in the case of temperate persons. But what is the conditionof worthless and incontinent persons, who, when they judge they ought tolove their father and mother better than some boy or girl they areenamoured of, yet cannot, and yet at once love their mistress orflatterer, when they judge they ought to hate them? For if passion andjudgement were the same thing, love and hate would immediately followthe 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, thatevery judgement is not passion, but only that judgement that isprovocative of violent and excessive impulse: admitting that judgementand passion in us are something different, as what moves is differentfrom what is moved. Even Chrysippus himself, by his defining in manyplaces endurance and continence to be habits that follow the lead ofreason, proves that he is compelled by the facts to admit, that thatelement in us which follows absolutely is something different from thatwhich follows when persuaded, but resists when not persuaded. 

§ X. Now as to those who make all sins and offences equal, it is not nowthe occasion to discuss if in other respects they deviate from truth:but as regards the passions[238] they seem to go clean contrary toreason and evidence. For according to them every passion is a sin, andeveryone who grieves, or fears, or desires, commits sin. But in goodtruth it is evident that there are great differences between passions, according as one is more or less affected by them. For who would saythat the craven fear of Dolon[239] was not something very different fromthe fear of Ajax, "who retreated with his face to the enemy and at afoot's pace, drawing back slowly knee after knee"?[240] Or who would saythat the grief of Plato at the death of Socrates was identical with thegrief of Alexander at the death of Clitus, when he attempted to layviolent hands on himself? For grief is beyond measure intensified byfalling out against expectation: and the calamity that comes unlookedfor is more painful than that we may reasonably fear: as if whenexpecting to see one's friend basking in prosperity and admiration, oneshould hear that he had been put to the torture, as Parmenio heard aboutPhilotas. And who would say that the anger of Magas against Philemon wasequal to that of Nicocreon against Anaxarchus? Both Magas and Nicocreonhad been insulted, but whereas Nicocreon brayed Anaxarchus to death withiron pestles and made mincemeat of him, Magas contented himself withbidding the executioner lay his naked sword on Philemon's neck, and thenlet him go. [241] And so Plato called anger the nerves of the mind, since it can be both intensified by bitterness, and slackened bymildness. To evade these and similar arguments, they deny that intensityand excess of passion are according to judgement, wherein is thepropensity to fault, but maintain that they are bites and contractionsand diffusings capable of increase or diminution through the unreasoningelement. And yet it is evident that there are differences as regardsjudgements; for some judge poverty to be no evil, while others judge itto be a great evil, and others again the very greatest evil, insomuchthat they even throw themselves headlong down rocks and into the sea onaccount of it. Again as to death, some think it an evil only indepriving us of good things, whereas others think it so in regard toeternal punishments and awful torments in the world below. Health againis valued by some as natural and advantageous, while to others it seemsthe greatest blessing of life, in comparison with which they reckonlittle either of wealth or children or "royal power that makes one equalto the gods, " and at last come to think even virtue useless andunprofitable, if health be absent. Thus it is clear that even withregard to judgements themselves some err more, some less. But I shallbring no further proof of this now, but this one may assume therefrom, that they themselves concede that the unreasoning element is somethingdifferent from judgement, in that they allow that by it passion becomesgreater and more violent, and while they quarrel about the name and wordthey give up the thing itself to those who maintain that the emotionaland unreasoning part of the soul is distinct from the reasoning andjudging element. And in his treatise on Anomaly, [242] Chrysippus, aftertelling us that anger is blind, and frequently does not let one see whatis obvious, frequently also obscures what we do get a sight of, goes onto say, "The encroachment of the passions blots out reason, and makesthings look different to what they should look, violently forcing peopleon unreasonable acts. " And he quotes as witness Menander, who says, "Alas! poor me, wherever were my brains in my body at the time when Ichose that line of conduct, and not this?" And Chrysippus proceeds, "Though every living creature endowed with reason is naturally inclinedto use reason and to be governed by it on every occasion, yet often dowe reject it, being borne away by a more violent impulse;" thusadmitting what results from the difference between passion and reason. For otherwise it is ridiculous, as Plato says, to argue that a man issometimes better than himself, sometimes worse, sometimes master ofhimself, sometimes not master of himself. 

§ XI. For how is it possible that the same person can be both better andworse than himself, both master of himself and not master, unlesseveryone is in some way twofold, having in himself both a better andworse self? For so he that makes the baser element subject to the betterhas self-control and is a superior man, whereas he who allows the noblerelement of the soul to follow and be subservient to the incorrigible andunreasoning element, is inferior to what he might be, and is calledincontinent, and is in an unnatural condition. For by nature itappertains to reason, which is divine, to rule and govern theunreasoning element, which has its origin from the body, which it alsonaturally resembles and participates in its passions, being placed in itand 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 upand weak and feeble, and reason has more power with them than passionwhich decays with the body. This principle also no doubt characterizesthe nature of animals as regards the sexual appetite. For it is not ofcourse from any fitness or unfitness of opinions, that some animals areso bold and resolute in the presence of danger, while others arehelpless and full of fear and trembling; but this difference of emotionis produced by the workings of the blood and spirit and body, theemotional part growing out of the flesh, as from a root, and carryingalong with it its quality and temperament. And that the body of mansympathizes with and is affected by the emotional impulses is proved bypallors, and blushings, and tremblings, and palpitations of the heart, as on the other hand by an all-pervading joy in the hope and expectationof 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 inthe working of the intellect, unless it involve the emotional, or theunreasoning element call it in. So that it is clear that there are twodistinct parts of the soul differing from one another in theirfaculties. 

§ XII. And generally speaking of all existing things, as they themselvesadmit and is clear, some are governed by nature, some by habit, some byan unreasoning soul, some by a soul that has reason and intelligence. Man too participates in all this, and is subject to all thosedifferences here mentioned, for he is affected by habit, and nourishedby nature, and uses reason and intelligence. He has also a share of theunreasoning element, and has the principle of passion innate in him, notas a mere episode in his life but as a necessity, which ought nottherefore to be entirely rooted out, but requires care and attention. For the function of reason is no Thracian or Lycurgean one to root upand destroy all the good elements in passion indiscriminately with thebad, but, as some genial and mild god, to prune what is wild, and tocorrect disproportion, and after that to train and cultivate the usefulpart. For as those who are afraid to get drunk do not pour on the groundtheir wine, _but mix it with water_, so those who are afraid of thedisturbing element in passion do not eradicate passion altogether buttemper it. Similarly with oxen and horses people try to restrain theirmad bounds and restiveness, not their movements and powers of work, andso reason makes use of the passions when they have become tame anddocile, not by cutting out the sinews or altogether mutilating theserviceable part of the soul. For as Pindar says, "The horse to thechariot, and the ox to the plough, while he that meditates destructionfor the boar must find a staunch hound. "[243] But much more useful thanthese are the whole tribe of passions when they wait on reason and runparallel to virtue. Thus moderate anger is useful to courage, and hatredof evil to uprightness, and righteous indignation against those who arefortunate beyond their deserts, when they are inflamed in their soulswith folly and insolence and need a check. And no one if they wishedcould pluck away or sever[244] natural affection from friendship, orpity from philanthropy, or sympathy both in joy and grief from genuinegoodwill. And if those err who wish to banish love because of eroticmadness, neither are they right who blame all desire because of love ofmoney, but they act like people who refuse to run because they mightstumble, or to throw because they might throw wide of the mark, orobject to sing altogether because they might make a false note. For asin sounds music does not create melody by the banishment of sharps andflats, and as in bodies the art of the physician procures health not bythe doing away of cold and heat but by their being blended in dueproportions and quantities, so is victory won in the soul by the powersand motions of the passions being reduced by reason to moderation anddue proportion. For excessive grief or fear or joy in the soul (I speaknot 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 maynot become recklessness, nor confidence foolhardiness. So also in regardto pleasure we must do away with excessive desire, and in regard tovengeance with excessive hatred of evil. For so in the former case onewill not be apathetic but temperate, and in the latter one will not besavage or cruel but just. But if the passions were entirely removed, supposing that to be possible, reason would become in many duller andblunter, like the pilot in the absence of a storm. And no doubt it isfrom having noticed this that legislators try to excite in statesambition and emulation among their townsmen, and stir up and increasetheir courage and pugnacity against enemies by the sound of trumpetsand flutes. For it is not only in poems, as Plato says, that he that isinspired by the Muses, and as it were possessed by them, will laugh toshame the plodding artist, but also in fighting battles passion andenthusiasm will be irresistible and invincible, such as Homer makes thegods 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. Andyou may see those very persons, whose opinions I am combating, frequently urging on the young by praises, and frequently checking themby rebukes, though pleasure follows the one, pain the other. For rebukesand censure produce repentance and shame, the one bringing grief, theother fear, and these they mostly make use of for purposes ofcorrection. And so Diogenes, when Plato was being praised, said, "Whathas he to vaunt of, who has been a philosopher so long, and yet nevergave pain to anyone?" For one could not say, to use the words ofXenocrates, that the mathematics are such handles to philosophy as arethe emotions of young men, such as shame, desire, repentance, pleasure, pain, ambition, whereon reason and the law laying a suitable gripsucceed in putting the young man on the right road. So that it was nobad remark of the Lacedæmonian tutor, that he would make the boyentrusted to his charge pleased with what was good and displeased withwhat was bad, [248] for a higher or nobler aim cannot be proposed in theeducation fit for a freeborn lad. 

 [219] See "Meno, " p. 72, A. 

 [220] Omitting [Greek: hetera], which Reiske justly suspects. 

 [221] Reading [Greek: prôton] 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 Athenæus, p. 623. D. 

 [225] "Iliad, " xvi. 167. 

 [226] Generally speaking [Greek: ethos] is the habit, [Greek: êthos] 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: tô logismô] mutandum videtur in [Greek: ton chalinon]. "

 [228] Sophocles, "Oedipus Tyrannus, " 4, 5. Quoted by our author again "On Abundance of Friends, " § 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, " § 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. Läert. 9, 59. De Magae, reguli Cyrenarum, adversus Philemonem lenitate v. De Cohibenda Ira, § ix. "--_Reiske. _

 [242] "Celebres fuere quondam Chrysippi sex libri [Greek: peri tês kata tas lêzeis anômalias], in quibus auctore Varrone, _propositum habuit ostendere, similes res dissimilibus verbis et similibus dissimiles esse notatas vocabulis_. V. Menage ad Diog. Läert. 7, 192. "--_Reiske. _

 [243] Compare "On Contentedness of Mind, " § xiii. 

 [244] Reading with _Reiske_, [Greek: aporrêzeien]. 

 [245] "Iliad, " xiii. 284, 285. 

 [246] "Iliad, " xv. 262. 

 [247] "Iliad, " v. 185. 

 [248] Compare "That Virtue may be Taught, " § ii. 

HOW ONE MAY BE AWARE OF ONE'SPROGRESS IN VIRTUE. 

§ I. What amount of argument, Sossius Senecio, will make a man know thathe is improving in respect to virtue, if his advances in it do notbring about some diminution in folly, but vice, weighing equally withall his good intentions, "acts like the lead that makes the net godown?"[249] For neither in music nor grammatical knowledge could anyonerecognize any improvement, if he remained as unskilful in them asbefore, and had not lost some of his old ignorance. Nor in the case ofanyone ill would medical treatment, if it brought no relief or ease, bythe disease somewhat yielding and abating, give any perception ofimprovement of health, till the opposite condition was completelybrought about by the body recovering its full strength. But just as inthese cases there is no improvement unless, by the abatement of whatweighs them down till they rise in the opposite scale, they recognize achange, so in the case of those who profess philosophy no improvement orsign of improvement can be supposed, unless the soul lay aside and purgeitself of some of its imperfection, and if it continue altogether baduntil it become absolutely good and perfect. For indeed a wise mancannot in a moment of time change from absolute badness to perfectgoodness, and suddenly abandon for ever all that vice, of which he couldnot during a long period of time divest himself of any portion. And yetyou know, of course, that those who maintain these views frequently givethemselves much trouble and bewilderment about the difficulty, that awise man does not perceive that he has become wise, but is ignorant anddoubtful that in a long period of time by little and little, by removingsome things and adding others, there will be a secret and quietimprovement, and as it were passage to virtue. But if the change were sogreat and sudden that the worst man in the morning could become the bestman at night, or should the change so happen that he went to bed viciousand woke up in the morning wise, and, having dismissed from his mind allyesterday'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 tohimself, of virtue blazing forth so completely all at once? I myself amof opinion that anyone, like Caeneus, [251] who, according, to hisprayer, got changed from a woman into a man, would sooner be ignorant ofthe transformation, than that a man should become at once, from acowardly and senseless person with no powers of self-control, brave andsensible and perfect master of himself, and should in a moment changefrom a brutish life to a divine without being aware of it. 

§ II. That was an excellent observation, Measure the stone by themason's rule, not the rule by the stone. [252] But the Stoics, notapplying dogmas to facts but facts to their own preconceived opinions, and forcing things to agree that do not by nature, have filledphilosophy with many difficulties, the greatest of which is that all menbut the perfect man are equally vicious, which has produced the enigmacalled progress, one little short of extreme folly, since it makes thosewho have not at once under its guidance given up all passions anddisorders equally unfortunate as those who have not got rid of a singlevile propensity. However they are their own confuters, for while theylay down in the schools that Aristides was as unjust as Phalaris, andBrasidas as great a craven as Dolon, and Plato actually as senseless asMeletus, in life and its affairs they turn away from and avoid one classas implacable, while they make use of the others and trust them in mostimportant matters as most worthy people. 

§ III. But we who see that in every kind of evil, but especially in adisordered and unsettled state of mind, there are degrees of more andless (so that the progress made differs in different cases, badnessabating, as a shadow flees away, under the influence of reason, whichcalmly illuminates and cleanses the soul), cannot consider itunreasonable to think that the change will be perceived, as people whocome up out of some ravine can take note of the progress they makeupwards. Look at the case from the following point of view first. Justas mariners sailing with full sail over the gaping[253] ocean measurethe course they have made by the time they have taken and the force ofthe wind, and compute their progress accordingly, so anyone can computehis progress in philosophy by his continuous and unceasing course, byhis not making many halts on the road, and then again advancing by leapsand bounds, but by his quiet and even and steady march forward guided byreason. For the words of the poet, "If to a little you keep adding alittle, and do so frequently, _it will soon be a lot_, "[254] are notonly true of the increase of money, but are universally applicable, andespecially to increase in virtue, since reason invokes to her aid theenormous force of habit. On the other hand the inconsistencies anddulnesses of some philosophers not only check advance, as it were, onthe road, but even break up the journey altogether, since vice alwaysattacks at its leisure and forces back whatever yields to it. [255] Themathematicians tell us that planets, after completing their course, become stationary; but in philosophy there is no such intermission orstationary position from the cessation of progress, for its nature isever to be moving and, as it were, to be weighed in the scales, sometimes being overweighted by the good preponderating, sometimes bythe bad. If, therefore, imitating the oracle given to the Amphictyonesby the god, "to fight against the people of Cirrha every day and everynight, "[256] you are conscious that night and day you ever maintain afierce fight against vice, not often relaxing your vigilance, or longoff your guard, or receiving as heralds to treat of peace[257] thepleasures, or idleness, or stress of business, you may reasonably goforward to the future courageously and confidently. 

§ IV. Moreover, if there be any intermissions in philosophy, and yetyour later studies are firmer and more continuous than your former ones, it is no bad indication that your sloth has been expelled by labour andexercise; for the contrary is a bad sign, when after a short time yourlapses from zeal become many and continuous, as if your zeal were dyingaway. For as in the growth of a reed, which shoots up from the groundfinely and beautifully to an even and continuous height, though at firstfrom its great intervals it is hindered and baffled in its growth, andafterwards through its weakness is discouraged by any breath of air, andthough strengthened by many and frequent joints, yet a violent windgives it commotion and trembling, so those who at first make greatlaunches out into philosophy, and afterwards find that they arecontinually hindered and baffled, and cannot perceive that they make anyprogress, finally get tired of it and cry off. "But he who is as it werewinged, "[258] is by his simplicity borne along to his end, and by hiszeal and energy cuts through impediments to his progress, as merelyobstacles 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 everyonedoes that, as to be distressed and grieved at his absence, [259] so manyfeel a liking for philosophy and seem to take a wonderful interest inthe study, but if they are diverted by other matters and business theirpassion evaporates and they take it very easily. "But whoever isstrongly smitten with love for his darling"[260] will show his mildnessand agreeableness in the presence of and joint pursuit of wisdom withthe loved one, but if he is drawn away from him and is not in hiscompany you will see him in a stew and ill at ease and peevish whetherat work or leisure, and unreasonably forgetful of his friends, andwholly impelled by his passion for philosophy. For we ought not torejoice at discourses only when we hear them, as people like perfumesonly when they smell them, and not to seek or care about them in theirabsence, but in the same condition as people who are hungry and thirstyare in if torn away from food and drink, we ought to follow after trueproficiency in philosophy, whether marriage, or wealth, or friendship, or military service, strike in and produce a separation. For just asmore is to be got from philosophy, so much the more does what we failto obtain trouble us. 

§ 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 isno longer very steep or arduous, but easy and smooth and level, itsroughness being toned down by exercise, and casting the bright light ofphilosophy on doubt and error and regrets, such as trouble those whogive themselves to philosophy at the outset, like people who leave aland they know, and do not yet descry the land they are sailing to. Forby abandoning the common and familiar, before they know and apprehendwhat is better, they frequently flounder about in the middle and arefain to return. As they say the Roman Sextius, giving up for philosophyall his honours and offices in Rome, being afterwards discontented withphilosophy from the difficulties he met with in it at first, very nearlythrew himself out of window. Similarly they relate of Diogenes ofSinope, [262] when he began to be a philosopher, that the Athenians werecelebrating a festival, and there were public banquets and shows andmutual festivities, and drinking and revelling all night, and he, coiledup in a corner of the market-place intending to sleep, fell into a trainof thought likely seriously to turn him from his purpose and shake hisresolution, for he reflected that he had adopted without any necessity atoilsome and unusual kind of life, and by his own fault sat theredebarred of all the good things. At that moment, however, they say amouse 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 andchiding fashion, "What say you, Diogenes? Do your leavings give thismouse a sumptuous meal, while you, the gentleman, wail and lamentbecause you are not getting drunk yonder and reclining on soft andluxurious couches?" Whenever such depressions of mind are not frequent, and the mind when they take place quickly recovers from them, afterhaving put them to flight as it were, and when such annoyance anddistraction is easily got rid of, then one may consider one's progressin virtue as a certainty. 

§ VI. And since not only the things that in themselves shake and turnthem in the opposite direction are more powerful in the case of weakphilosophers, but also the serious advice of friends, and the playfuland jeering objections of adversaries bend and soften people, and haveere now shaken some out of philosophy altogether, it will be no slightindication of one's progress in virtue if one takes all this verycalmly, and is neither disturbed nor aggravated by people who tell usand mention to us that some of our former comrades are flourishing inkings' courts, or have married wives with dowries, or are attended by acrowd of friends when they come down to the forum to solicit some officeor advocateship. He that is not moved or affected by all this is alreadyplainly one upon whom philosophy has got a right hold; for it isimpossible that we should cease to be envious of what most peopleadmire, unless the admiration of virtue was strongly implanted in us. For over-confidence may be generated in some by anger and folly, but todespise what men admire is not possible without a true and steadyelevation of mind. And so people in such a condition of mind, comparingit with that of others, pride themselves on it, and say with Solon, "Wewould not change virtue for wealth, for while virtue abides, wealthchanges hands, and now one man, now another, has it. "[263] And Diogenescompared his shifting about from Corinth to Athens, and again fromThebes to Corinth, to the different residences of the King of Persia, ashis spring residence at Susa, his winter residence at Babylon, and hissummer residence in Media. And Agesilaus said of the great king, "How ishe better than me, if he is not more upright?" And Aristotle, writing toAntipater about Alexander, said, "that he ought not to think highly ofhimself because he had many subjects, for anyone who had right notionsabout the gods was entitled to think quite as highly of himself. " AndZeno, observing that Theophrastus was admired for the number of hispupils, [264] said, "His choir is, I admit, larger than mine, but mineis more harmonious. "

§ VII. Whenever then, by thus comparing the advantages of virtue withexternal things, you get rid of envies and jealousies and those thingswhich fret and depress the minds of many who are novices in philosophy, this also is a great indication of your progress in virtue. Another andno slight indication is a change in the style of your discourses. Forgenerally speaking all novices in philosophy adopt most such as tend totheir own glorification; some, like birds, in their levity and ambitionsoaring to the height and brightness of physical things; others likeyoung puppies, as Plato[265] says, rejoicing in tearing and biting, betake themselves to strifes and questions and sophisms; but mostplunging themselves into dialectics immediately store themselves forsophistry; and some collect sentences[266] and histories and go about(as Anacharsis said he saw the Greeks used money for no other purposebut to count it up), merely piling up and comparing them, but making nopractical use of them. Applicable here is that saying of Antiphanes, which someone applied to Plato's pupils. Antiphanes said playfully thatin a certain city words were frozen directly they were spoken, owing tothe great cold, and were thawed again in the summer, so that one couldthen hear what had been said in the winter. So he said of the wordswhich were spoken by Plato to young men, that most of them onlyunderstood them late in life when they were become old men. And this isthe condition people are in in respect to all philosophy, until thejudgement gets into a sound and healthy state, and begins to adaptitself to those things which can produce character and greatness ofmind, and to seek discourses whose footsteps turn inwards rather thanoutwards, to borrow the language of Æsop. [267] For as Sophocles said hehad first toned down the pompous style of Æschylus, then his harsh andover-artificial method, and had in the third place changed his mannerof diction, a most important point and one that is most intimatelyconnected with the character, so those who go in for philosophy, whenthey have passed from flattering and artificial discourses to such asdeal with character and emotion, are beginning to make genuine andmodest progress in virtue. 

§ VIII. Furthermore, take care, in reading the writings of philosophersor hearing their speeches, that you do not attend to words more thanthings, nor get attracted more by what is difficult and curious than bywhat is serviceable and solid and useful. And also, in studying poems orhistory, let nothing escape you of what is said to the point, which islikely either to correct the character or to calm the passions. For asSimonides says the bee hovers among the flowers "making the yellowhoney, "[268] while others value and pluck flowers only for their beautyand fragrance, so of all that read poems for pleasure and amusement healone that finds and gathers what is valuable seems capable of knowledgefrom his acquaintance with and friendship for what is noble andgood. [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 thebloom, do they not resemble people who love drugs for their smell andcolour, but care not for them as anodynes or purges, and are not awareof those properties? Whereas those who have more proficiency can derivebenefit not from discourses only, but from sights and actions, and cullwhat is good and useful, as is recorded of Æschylus and other similarkind of men. As to Æschylus, when he was watching a contest in boxing atthe Isthmus, and the whole theatre cried out upon one of the boxersbeing beaten, he nudged with his elbow Ion of Chios, and said, "Do youobserve the power of training? The beaten man holds his peace, while thespectators cry out. " And Brasidas having caught hold of a mouse amongsome 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 itslife!" And Diogenes, seeing a lad drinking water out of the palm of hishand, threw away the cup which he kept in his wallet. So much doesattention and assiduous practice make people perceptive and receptive ofwhat contributes to virtue from any source. And this is the case stillmore with those who mix discourses with actions, who not only, to usethe language of Thucydides, [270] "exercise themselves in the presence ofdanger, " 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 morethink those philosophers who are ever learning and busy andinvestigating what they have got from philosophy, and then straightwaypublish it in the market-place or in the haunt of young men, or at aroyal supper-party, any more than we give the name of physicians tothose who sell drugs and mixtures. Nay rather such a sophist differsvery little at all from the bird described in Homer, [271] offering hisscholars like it whatever he has got, and as it feeds its callow youngfrom its own mouth, "though it goes ill with itself, " so he gets noadvantage or food from what he has got for himself. 

§ IX. We must therefore see to it that our discourse be serviceable toourselves, and that it may not appear to others to be vain-glorious orambitious, and we must show that we are as willing to listen as toteach, and especially must we lay aside all disputatiousness and love ofstrife in controversy, and cease bandying fierce words with one anotheras if we were contending with one another at boxing, and leave offrejoicing more in smiting and knocking down one another than in learningand teaching. For in such cases moderation and mildness, and to commencearguing without quarrelsomeness and to finish without getting into arage, 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 invirtue. Aristippus was an excellent example of this, when overcome inargument by the sophistry of a man, who had plenty of assurance, butwas generally speaking mad or half-witted. Observing that he was ingreat joy and very puffed up at his victory, he said, "I who have beenvanquished in the argument shall have a better night's rest than myvictor. " We can also test ourselves in regard to public speaking, if weare not timid and do not shrink from speaking when a large audience hasunexpectedly been got together, nor dejected when we have only a smallone to harangue to, and if we do not, when we have to speak to thepeople or before some magistrate, miss the opportunity through want ofproper preparation; for these things are recorded both of Demosthenesand Alcibiades. As for Alcibiades, though he possessed a most excellentunderstanding, yet from want of confidence in speaking he often brokedown, and in trying to recall a word or thought that slipped his memoryhad to stop short. [272] And Homer did not deny that his first line wasunmetrical, [273] though he had sufficient confidence to follow it up byso many other lines, so great was his genius. Much more then ought thosewho aim at virtue and what is noble to lose no opportunity of publicspeaking, paying very little attention to either uproar or applause attheir speeches. 

§ X. And not only ought each to see to his discourses but also to hisactions whether he regards utility more than show, and truth more thandisplay. For if a genuine love for youth or maiden seeks no witnesses, but is content to enjoy its delights privately, far more does it becomethe philosopher and lover of the beautiful, who is conversant withvirtue through his actions, to pride himself on his silence, and not toneed people to praise or listen to him. As that man who called his maidin the house, and cried out to her, "See, Dionysia, I am angry nolonger, "[274] so he that does anything agreeable and polite, and thengoes and spreads it about the town, plainly shows that he looks forpublic applause and has a strong propensity to vain-glory, and as yethas no acquaintance with virtue as a reality but only as a dream, restlessly roving about amid phantoms and shadows, and making a displayof whatever he does as painters display a picture. It is therefore asign of progress in virtue not merely to have given to a friend or donea good turn to an acquaintance without mentioning it to other people, but also to have given an honest vote among many unjust ones, and tohave withstood the dishonourable request of some rich man or of some manin office, and to have been above taking bribes, and, by Zeus, to havebeen thirsty all night and not to have drunk, or, like Agesilaus, [275]to have resisted, though strongly tempted, the kiss of a handsome youthor maiden, and to have kept the fact to oneself and been silent aboutit. For one's being satisfied with one's own good opinion[276] and notdespising it, but rejoicing in it and acquiescing in it as competent tosee and decide on what is honourable, proves that reason is rooted andgrounded within one, and that, to borrow the language of Democritus, oneis accustomed to draw one's delights from oneself. And just as farmersbehold with greater pleasure those ears of corn which bend and bow downto the ground, while they look upon those that from their lightnessstand straight upright as empty pretenders, so also among those youngmen who wish to be philosophers those that are most empty and withoutany solidity show the greatest amount of assurance in their appearanceand walk, and a face full of haughtiness and contempt that looks down oneverybody, but when they begin to grow full and get some fruit fromstudy they lay aside their proud and vain[277] bearing. And just as invessels that contain water the air is excluded, so with men that arefull of solid merit their pride abates, and their estimate of themselvesbecomes a lower one, and they cease to plume themselves on a long beardand threadbare cloak, [278] and transfer their training to the mind, andare most severe and austere to themselves, while they are milder intheir intercourse with everybody else; and they do not as beforeeagerly snatch at the name and reputation of philosopher, nor do theywrite themselves down as such, but even if he were addressed by thattitle by anyone else, an ingenuous young man would say, smiling andblushing, "I am not a god: why do you liken me to the immortals?"[279]For as Æschylus 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 thefollowing lines of Sappho are applicable, "My tongue cleaves to the roofof my month, and a fire courses all over my lean body, " and his eye willbe gentle and mild, and you would desire to hear him speak. For as thosewho are initiated come together at first with confusion and noise andjostle one another, but when the mysteries are being performed andexhibited, they give their attention with awe and silence, so also atthe commencement of philosophy you will see round its doors muchconfusion and assurance and prating, some rudely and violently jostlingtheir way to reputation, but he who once enters in, and sees the greatlight, as when shrines are open to view, assumes another air and issilent and awe-struck, and in humility and decorum follows reason as ifshe were a god. And the playful remark of Menedemus seems to suit thesevery well. He said that the majority of those who went to school atAthens became first wise, and then philosophers, after that orators, andas time went on became ordinary kind of people, the more they had to dowith learning, so much the more laying aside their pride and highestimate of themselves. 

§ XI. Of people that need the help of the physician some, if their toothache or even finger smart, run at once to the doctor, others if they arefeverish send for one and implore his assistance at their own home, others who are melancholy or crazy or delirious will not sometimes evensee the doctor if he comes to their house, but drive him away, or avoidhim, ignorant through their grievous disease that they are diseased atall. Similarly of those who have done what is wrong some areincorrigible, being hostile and indignant and furious at those whoreprove and admonish them, while others are meeker and bear and allowreproof. Now, when one has done what is wrong, to offer oneself forreproof, to expose the case and reveal one's wrongdoing, and not torejoice if it lies hid, or be satisfied if it is not known, but to makeconfession of it and ask for interference and admonishment, is no smallindication of progress in virtue. And so Diogenes said that one whowished to do what was right ought to seek either a good friend orred-hot enemy, that either by rebuke or mild entreaty he might flee fromvice. But as long as anyone, making a display of dirt or stains on hisclothes, or a torn shoe, prides himself to outsiders on his freedom fromarrogance, and, by Zeus, thinks himself doing something very smart if hejeers at himself as a dwarf or hunchback, but wraps up and conceals asif they were ulcers the inner vileness of his soul and the deformitiesof his life, as his envy, his malignity, his littleness, his love ofpleasure, and will not let anyone touch or look at them from fear ofdisgrace, such a one has made little progress in virtue, yea rathernone. But he that joins issue with his vices, and shows that he himselfis even more pained and grieved about them than anyone else, or, what isnext best, is able and willing to listen patiently to the reproof ofanother and to correct his life accordingly, he seems truly to bedisgusted at his depravity and resolute to divest himself of it. Weought certainly to be ashamed of and shun every appearance of vice, buthe who is more put about by his vice itself than by the bad reputationthat ensues upon it, will not mind either hearing it spoken against oreven speaking against it himself if it make him a better man. That was awitty remark of Diogenes to a young man, who when seen in a tavernretired into the kitchen: "The more, " said he, "you retire, the more areyou 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 peoplereally poor who pretend to be rich get still more poor from their falsedisplay. But he who is really making progress in virtue imitatesHippocrates, who confessed publicly and put into black and white that hehad made a mistake about the sutures of the skull, [282] for he willthink it monstrous, if that great man declared his mistake, that othersmight not fall into the same error, and yet he himself for his owndeliverance from vice cannot bear to be shown he is in the wrong, and toconfess his stupidity and ignorance. Moreover the sayings of Bion andPyrrho will test not so much one's progress as a greater and moreperfect habit of virtue. Bion maintained that his friends might thinkthey had made progress, when they could listen as patiently to abuse asto such language as the following, "Stranger, you look not like a bad orfoolish person, "[283] "Health and joy go with you, may the gods give youhappiness!"[284] While as to Pyrrho they say, when he was at sea and inperil from a storm, that he pointed out a little pig that was quietlyenjoying some grain that had been scattered about, and said to hiscompanions that the man who did not wish to be disturbed by the changesand chances of life should attain a similar composedness of mind throughreason and philosophy. 

§ XII. Look also at the opinion of Zeno, who thought that everybodymight gauge his progress in virtue by his dreams, if he saw himself inhis dreams pleasing himself with nothing disgraceful, and neither doingnor wishing to do anything dreadful or unjust, but that, as in the cleardepths of a calm and tranquil sea, his fancy and passions were plainlyshown to be under the control of reason. And this had not escaped thenotice of Plato, [285] it seems, who had earlier expressed in form andoutline the part that fancy and unreason played in sleep in the soulthat was by nature tyrannical, "for it attempts incest, " he says, "withits mother, and procures for itself unlawful meats, and gives itself upto the most abandoned desires, such as in daytime the law through shameand fear debars people from. " As then beasts of burden that have beenwell-trained do not, even if their driver let go the reins, attempt toturn aside and leave the proper road, but go forward orderly as usual, pursuing their way without stumbling, so those whose unreason has becomeobedient and mild and tempered by reason, will not easily wish, eitherin dreams or in illnesses, to deal insolently or lawlessly through theirdesires, but will keep to their usual habits, which acquire their powerand force by attention. For if the body can by training make itself andits members so subject to control, that the eyes in sorrow can refrainfrom tears, and the heart from palpitating in fear, and the passions canbe calm in the presence of beautiful youths and maidens, is it not farmore likely that the training of the passions and emotions of the soulwill allay, tame down, and mould their propensities even in dreams? Astory is told about the philosopher Stilpo, [286] that he thought he sawin a dream Poseidon angry with him because he had not sacrificed an oxto him, as was usual among the Megarians:[287] and that he, not a bitfrightened, said, "What are you talking about, Poseidon? Do you comehere as a peevish boy, because I have not with borrowed money filled thetown with the smell of sacrifice, and have only sacrificed to you out ofwhat I had at home on a modest scale?" Then he thought that Poseidonsmiled at him, and held out his right hand, and said that for his sakehe 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 havereflections of their progress in virtue; whereas agitation and panicsand ignoble flights, and boyish delights, and lamentations in the caseof 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 incourse of being moulded by opinions and laws, from which it escapes indreams as far as possible, so that it is once again set free and opento the passions. Do you investigate all these points too, as to whetherthey are signs of progress in virtue, or of some habit which has alreadya settled constancy and strength through reason. 

§ XIII. Now since entire freedom from the passions is a great and divinething, and progress in virtue seems, as we say, to consist in a certainremissness and mildness of the passions, we must observe the passionsboth in themselves and in reference to one another to gauge thedifference: in themselves as to whether desire, and fear, and rage areless strong in us now than formerly, through our quickly extinguishingtheir violence and heat by reason; and in reference to one another as towhether we are animated now by modesty more than by fear, and byemulation more than by envy, and by love of glory rather than by love ofriches, and generally speaking whether--to use the language ofmusicians--it is in the Dorian more than in the Lydian measures that weerr either by excess or deficiency, [288] whether we are plainer in ourmanner of living or more luxurious, whether we are slower in action orquicker, whether we admire men and their discourses more than we shouldor despise them. For as it is a good sign in diseases if they turn asidefrom vital parts of the body, so in the case of people who are makingprogress in virtue, when vice seems to shift to milder passions, it is asign it will soon die out. When Phrynis added to the seven chords twochords more, the Ephors asked him which he preferred to let them cutoff, the upper or lower ones;[289] so we must cut off both above andbelow, if we mean to attain, to the mean and to due proportion: forprogress in virtue first diminishes the excess and sharpness of thepassions, "That sharpness for which madmen are so vehement, "

as Sophocles says. 

§ XIV. I have already said that it is a very great indication ofprogress in virtue to transfer our judgement to action, and not to letour words remain merely words, but to make deeds of them. Amanifestation of this is in the first place emulation as regards what wepraise, and a zeal to do what we admire, and an unwillingness either todo or allow what we censure. To illustrate my meaning by an example, itis probable that all Athenians praised the daring and bravery ofMiltiades; but Themistocles alone said that the trophy of Miltiadeswould not let him sleep, but woke him up of a night, and not onlypraised and admired him, but manifestly emulated and imitated hisglorious actions. Small, therefore, can we think the progress we havemade, as long as our admiration for those who have done noble things isbarren, and does not of itself incite us to imitate them. For as thereis no strong love without jealousy, so there is no ardent and energeticpraise of virtue, which does not prick and goad one on, and make one notenvious but emulous of what is noble, and desirous to do somethingsimilar. For not only at the discourses of a philosopher ought we, asAlcibiades said, [290] to be moved in heart and shed tears, but the trueproficient in virtue, comparing his own deeds and actions with those ofthe good and perfect man, and grieved at the same time at the knowledgeof his own deficiency, yet rejoicing in hope and desire, and full ofimpulses 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 aspecial sign of true progress in virtue to love and admire thedisposition of those whose deeds we emulate, and to resemble them with agoodwill that ever assigns due honour and praise to them. But whoeveris steeped in contentiousness and envy against his betters, let him knowthat he may be pricked on by a jealous desire for glory or power, butthat he neither honours nor admires virtue. 

§ XV. Whenever, then, we begin so much to love good men that we deemhappy, "not only, " as Plato[292] says, "the temperate man himself, butalso the man who hears the words that flow from his wise lips, " andeven 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 willthis be the case, if we admire the good not only in prosperity, but likelovers who admire even the lispings and paleness of those in theirflower, [293] as the tears and dejection of Panthea in her grief andaffliction won the affections of Araspes, [294] so we fear neither theexile of Aristides, nor the prison of Anaxagoras, nor the poverty ofSocrates, nor the condemnation of Phocion, but think virtue worthy ourlove even under such trials, and join her, ever chanting that line ofEuripides, "Unto the noble everything is good. "[295]

For the enthusiasm that can go so far as not to be discouraged at thesure 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 themsome office, or are in some critical conjuncture, put before their eyesthe example of noble men, and consider what Plato would have done on theoccasion, what Epaminondas would have said, how Lycurgus or Agesilauswould have dealt; that so, adjusting and re-modelling themselves, as itwere, at their mirrors, they may correct any ignoble expression, andrepress any ignoble passion. For as those that have learnt the names ofthe Idæan Dactyli[296] make use of them to banish their fear by quietlyrepeating them over, so the bearing in mind and remembering good men, which soon suggests itself forcibly to those who have made some progressin virtue in all their emotions and difficulties, keeps them upright andnot liable to fall. Let this also then be a sign to you of progress invirtue. 

§ 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, onthe sudden appearance of a man of distinction and virtue, but to feelconfident and go and meet such a one, is the confirmation of a goodconscience. It is reported that Alexander, seeing a messenger running upto him full of joy and holding out his right hand, said, "My goodfriend, what are you going to tell me? Has Homer come to life again?"For he thought that his own exploits required nothing but posthumousfame. [297] And a young man improving in character instinctively lovesnothing better than to take pride and pleasure in the company of goodand noble men, and to display his house, his table, his wife, hisamusements, his serious pursuits, his spoken or written discourses;insomuch that he is grieved when he remembers that his father orguardian died without seeing him in that condition in life, and wouldpray for nothing from the gods so much, as that they could come to lifeagain, and be spectators of his life and actions; as, on the contrary, those that have neglected their affairs, and come to ruin, cannot lookupon their relatives even in dreams without fear and trembling. 

§ XVII. Add, if you please, to what I have already said, as no smallindication of progress in virtue, the thinking no wrong-doing small, butbeing on your guard and heed against all. For as people who despair ofever being rich make no account of small expenses, thinking they willnever make much by adding little to little, [298] but when hope is nearerfruition, then with wealth increases the love of it, [299] so in thingsthat have respect to virtue, not he that generally assents to suchsayings as "Why trouble about hereafter?" "If things are bad now, theywill 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 eventhe most trifling wrongdoing, plainly shows that he has alreadyattained to some degree of purity, and deigns not to contract defilementfrom anything whatever. For the idea that we have nothing of anyimportance to bring disgrace upon, makes people inclined to what islittle and careless. [301] To those who are building a stone wall orcoping it matters not if they lay on any chance wood or common stone, orsome tombstone that has fallen down, as bad workmen do, heaping andpiling up pell-mell every kind of material; but those who have made someprogress in virtue, whose life "has been wrought on a golden base, "[302]like the foundation of some holy or royal building, undertake nothingcarelessly, but lay and adjust everything by the line and level ofreason, thinking the remark of Polycletus superlatively good, that thatwork is most excellent, where the model stands the test of thenail. [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, " § 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 archê de tou erôtos gignetai autê pasin, otan mê monon parontos chairôsin, alla kai apontos memnêmenoi erôsin. ]

 [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: nikê d' epameibetai andras]. 

 [264] We are told by Diogenes Läertius, 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 Athenæus. 

 [267] A reference to Æsop's Fable, [Greek: Leôn kai Halôpêz]. Cf. Horace, "Epistles, " i. I. 73-75. 

 [268] This passage is alluded to also in "On Love to one's Offspring. " § ii. 

 [269] Madvig's text. 

 [270] Thucydides, i. 18. 

 [271] Homer, "Iliad, " ix. 323, 324. Quoted also in "On Love to One's Offspring, " § ii. 

 [272] The remark about Demosthenes has somehow slipped out, as Wyttenbach has suggested. 

 [273] Does this refer to [Greek: Pêlêiadeô] before [Greek: Hachilêos] 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_, § xi. [Greek: hôsper ho Agêsilaos ouk hypemeinen hypo tou kalou philêthênai 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, " § vii. 

 [279] "Odyssey, " xvi. 187. 

 [280] Æschylus, "Toxotides, " Fragm. 224. Quoted again by our author, "On Love, " § 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 kapêleiô de phagein ê piein oudeis han oiketês epieikês etolmêse]: quem locum citans Athenæus alia etiam adfert xiii. P. 566, F. "--_Wyttenbach. _

 [282] Wyttenbach compares Quintilian, "Institut. Orat. " iii. 6, p. 255: "Nam et Hippocrates clarus arte medicinæ 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 Athenæus, 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, " § 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 tuæ virtutis Homerum præconem 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 CAUSEUNHAPPINESS. [304]

§ I. . .. He who gets a dowry with his wife sells himself for it, asEuripides says, [305] but his gains are few and uncertain; but he whodoes not go all on fire through many a funeral pile, but through a regalpyre, full of panting and fear and sweat got from travelling over thesea as a merchant, has the wealth of Tantalus, but cannot enjoy it owingto his want of leisure. For that Sicyonian horse-breeder was wise, whogave Agamemnon as a present a swift mare, "that he should not follow himto wind-swept Ilium, but delight himself at home, "[306] in the quietenjoyment of his abundant riches and painless leisure. But nowadayscourtiers, and people who think they have a turn for affairs, thrustthemselves forward of their own accord uninvited into courts andtoilsome escorts and bivouacs, that they may get a horse, or brooch, orsome 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 completewithout him, "[307] while he is dragged about, and wanders about, andwastes his time in idle hopes, and has to put up with much insult. Andeven if he gets any of those things he desires, giddy and dizzy atFortune's rope-dance, he seeks retirement, and deems those happy wholive obscure and in security, while they again look up admiringly at himwho soars so high above their heads. [308]

§ II. Vice has universally an ill effect on everybody, being in itself asufficient producer of infelicity, needing no instruments nor ministers. For tyrants, anxious to make those whom they punish wretched, keepexecutioners and torturers, and contrive branding-irons and otherinstruments of torture to inspire fear[309] in the brute soul, whereasvice attacks the soul without any such apparatus, and crushes anddejects it, and fills a man with sorrow, and lamentation, andmelancholy, and remorse. Here is a proof of what I say. Many are silentunder mutilation, and endure scourging or torture at the hand of despotsor tyrants without uttering a word, whenever their soul, abating thepain by reason, forcibly as it were checks and represses them: but youcan never quiet anger or smother grief, or persuade a timid person notto run away, or one suffering from remorse not to cry out, nor tear hishair, nor smite his thigh. Thus vice is stronger than fire and sword. 

§ III. You know of course that cities, when they desire to publiclycontract for the building of temples or colossuses, listen to theestimates of the contractors who compete for the job, and bring theirplans and charges, and finally select the contractor who will do thework at least expense, and best, and quickest. Let us suppose then thatwe publicly contract to make the life of man miserable, and take theestimates of Fortune and Vice for this object. Fortune shall comeforward, provided with all sorts of instruments and costly apparatus tomake life miserable and wretched. She shall come with robberies andwars, and the blood-guiltiness of tyrants, and storms at sea, andlightning drawn down from the sky, she shall compound hemlock, she shallbring swords, she shall levy an army of informers, she shall causefevers to break out, she shall rattle fetters and build prisons. It istrue 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 bynaked, without any external things against man, and let her ask Fortunehow she will make man unhappy and dejected. Fortune, dost thou threatenpoverty? Metrocles laughs at thee, who sleeps during winter among thesheep, in summer in the vestibules of temples, and challenges the kingof the Persians, [310] who winters at Babylon, and summers in Media, tovie with him in happiness. Dost thou bring slavery, and bondage, andsale? Diogenes despises thee, who cried out, as he was being sold bysome 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 itup: and when he was dead, all who survived deemed him happy, as sure tohave a divine lot in Hades. And as to thy fire, did not Decius, thegeneral of the Romans, anticipate it for himself, having piled up afuneral pyre between the two armies, and sacrificed himself to Cronos, dedicating himself for the supremacy of his country? And the chaste andloving wives of the Indians strive and contend with one another for thefire, and she that wins the day and gets burnt with the body of herhusband, is pronounced happy by the rest, and her praises sung. And ofthe wise men in that part of the world no one is esteemed or pronouncedhappy, who does not in his lifetime, in good health and in fullpossession of all his faculties, separate soul from body by fire, andemerge pure from flesh, having purged away his mortal part. Or wilt thoureduce a man from a splendid property, and house, and table, andsumptuous living, to a threadbare coat and wallet, and begging of dailybread? Such was the beginning of happiness to Diogenes, of freedom andglory to Crates. Or wilt thou nail a man on a cross, or impale him on astake? What cares Theodorus whether he rots above ground or below? Suchwas the happy mode of burial amongst the Scythians, [311] and among theHyrcanians dogs, among the Bactrians birds, devour according to the lawsthe dead bodies of those who have made a happy end. 

§ IV. Who then are made unhappy by these things? Those who have nomanliness or reason, the enervated and untrained, who retain theopinions they had as children. Fortune therefore does not produceperfect infelicity, unless Vice co-operate. For as a thread saws througha bone that has been soaked in ashes and vinegar, and as people bend andfashion ivory only when it has been made soft and supple by beer, andcannot under any other circumstances, so Fortune, lighting upon what isin itself faulty and soft through Vice, hollows it out and wounds it. And as the Parthian juice, though hurtful to no one else nor injuriousto those who touch it or carry it about, yet if it be communicated to awounded man straightway kills him through his previous susceptibility toreceive its essence, so he who will be upset in soul by Fortune musthave some secret internal ulcer or sore to make external things sopiteous and lamentable. 

§ 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 lonelymountain passes with robbers lying in wait by the way, she makes notclouds of hail to burst on the fruitful plains, she suborns not Meletusor Anytus or Callixenus as accusers, she takes not away wealth, excludesnot people from the prætorship to make them wretched; but she scares therich, the well-to-do, and great heirs; by land and sea she insinuatesherself and sticks to people, infusing lust, inflaming with anger, afflicting them with superstitious fears, tearing them in pieces withenvy. 

 [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, " § 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 ORBODY ARE WORSE. 

§ I. Homer, looking at the mortality of all living creatures, andcomparing them with one another in their lives and habits, gave vent tohis 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 letus, assuming that man is, as thus publicly declared, supreme ininfelicity and the most wretched of all living creatures, compare himwith himself, in the estimate of his misery dividing body and soul, notidly but in a very necessary way, that we may learn whether our life ismore wretched owing to Fortune or through our own fault. For disease isengendered in the body by nature, but vice and depravity in the soul isfirst its own doing, then its settled condition. And it is no slight aidto tranquillity of mind if what is bad be capable of cure, and lighterand less violent. 

§ II. The fox in Æsop[313] disputing with the leopard as to theirrespective claims to variety, the latter showed its body and appearanceall bright and spotted, while the tawny skin of the former was dirty andnot 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 similarlysay to ourselves, Many diseases and disorders, good sir, thy bodynaturally produces of itself, many also it receives from without; but ifthou lookest at thyself within thou wilt find, to borrow the language ofDemocritus, a varied and susceptible storehouse and treasury of what isbad, not flowing in from without, but having as it were innate andnative springs, which vice, being exceedingly rich and abundant inpassion, produces. And if diseases are detected in the body by the pulseand by pallors and flushes, [314] and are indicated by heats and suddenpains, while the diseases of the mind, bad as they are, escape thenotice of most people, the latter are worse because they deprive thesufferer of the perception of them. For reason if it be sound perceivesthe diseases of the body, but he that is diseased in his mind cannotjudge of his sufferings, for he suffers in the very seat of judgement. We ought to account therefore the first and greatest of the diseases ofthe mind that ignorance, [315] whereby vice is incurable for most people, dwelling with them and living and dying with them. For the beginning ofgetting rid of disease is the perception of it, which leads the suffererto the necessary relief, but he who through not believing he is illknows not what he requires refuses the remedy even when it is close athand. For amongst the diseases of the body those are the worst which areaccompanied by stupor, as lethargies, headaches, epilepsies, apoplexies, and those fevers which raise inflammation to the pitch of madness, anddisturb the brain as in the case of a musical instrument, "And move the mind's strings hitherto untouched. "[316]

§ III. And so doctors wish a man not to be ill, or if he is ill to beignorant of it, as is the case with all diseases of the soul. Forneither those who are out of their minds, nor the licentious, nor theunjust think themselves faulty--some even think themselves perfect. Forno one ever yet called a fever health, or consumption a good conditionof body, or gout swift-footedness, or paleness a good colour; but manycall anger manliness, and love friendship, and envy competition, andcowardice prudence. Then again those that are ill in body send fordoctors, for they are conscious of what they need to counteract theirailments; but those who are ill in mind avoid philosophers, for theythink themselves excellent in the very matters in which they come short. And it is on this account that we maintain that ophthalmia is a lesserevil than madness, and gout than frenzy. For the person ill in body isaware of it and calls loudly for the doctor, and when he comes allowshim to anoint his eye, to open a vein, or to plaster up his head; butyou hear mad Agave in her frenzy not knowing her dearest ones, butcrying out, "We bring from the mountain to the halls a young stagrecently torn limb from limb, a fortunate capture. "[317] Again he who isill in body straightway gives up and goes to bed and remains therequietly till he is well, and if he toss and tumble about a little whenthe 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 brainare 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 mindrest, 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 manylawless things unsuitable to the occasion. 

§ IV. As therefore the storm which prevents one's putting into harbouris more dangerous than the storm which will not let one sail, so thosestorms of the soul are more formidable which do not allow a man to takein sail, or to calm his reason when it is disturbed, but without a pilotand without ballast, in perplexity and uncertainty through contrary andconfusing courses, he rushes headlong and falls into woeful shipwreck, and shatters his life. So that from these points of view it is worse tobe diseased in mind than body, for the latter only suffer, but theformer do ill as well as suffer ill. But why need I speak of our variouspassions? The very times bring them to our mind. Do you see yon greatand promiscuous crowd jostling against one another and surging round therostrum and forum? They have not assembled here to sacrifice to theircountry's gods, nor to share in one another's rites; they are notbringing to Ascræan Zeus the firstfruits of Lydian produce, [319] nor arethey celebrating in honour of Dionysus the Bacchic orgies on festivalnights with common revellings; but a mighty plague stirring up Asia inannual cycles drives them here for litigation and suits at law at statedtimes: 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 ofheat, what overflow of humours, do not result? If you examine every suitat law, as if it were a person, as to where it originated, where it camefrom, you will find that one was produced by obstinate temper, anotherby frantic love of strife, a third by some sordid desire. [320]

 [312] Homer, "Iliad, " xvii. 446, 447. 

 [313] See the Fable [Greek: Alôpêx kai Pardalis]. No. 42, Ed. Halme. 

 [314] Reading with Wyttenbach, [Greek: ôchriasesi kai erythêmasi]. 

 [315] Forte [Greek: agnoian]. "--_Wyttenbach. _ The ordinary reading is [Greek: anoian]. "E coelo descendit [Greek: gnôthi 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, "Bacchæ, " 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. 

§ I. Menon the Thessalian, who thought he was a perfect adept indiscourse, and, to borrow the language of Empedocles, "had attained theheights of wisdom, " was asked by Socrates, what virtue was, and upon hisanswering quickly and glibly, that virtue was a different thing in boyand old man, and in man and woman, and in magistrate and private person, and in master and servant, "Capital, " said Socrates, "you were askedabout 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 wehave not yet one firm friendship, that we shall without knowing it fallupon an abundance of friends? It is very much the same as if a manmaimed and blind should be afraid of becoming hundred-handed likeBriareus or all eyes like Argus. And yet we wonderfully praise the youngman in Menander, who said that he thought anyone wonderfully good, if hehad even the shadow of a friend. [322]

§ II. But among many other things what stands chiefly in the way ofgetting a friend is the desire for many friends, like a licentious womanwho, through giving her favours indiscriminately, cannot retain her oldlovers, who are neglected and drop off;[323] or rather like thefoster-child of Hypsipyle, "sitting in the meadow and plucking flowerafter flower, snatching at each prize with gladsome heart, insatiable inits childish delight, "[324] so in the case of each of us, owing to ourlove of novelty and fickleness, the recent flower ever attracts, andmakes us inconstant, frequently laying the foundations of manyfriendships and intimacies that come to nothing, neglecting in love ofwhat we eagerly pursue what we have already possession of. To begintherefore with the domestic hearth, [325] as the saying is, with thetraditions of life that time has handed down to us about constantfriends, let us take the witness and counsel of antiquity, according towhich 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 inpairs, and is not gregarious, or crow-like, [326] and to think a frienda 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 manyslaves nor many friends at small expense. What then is thepurchase-money of friendship? Benevolence and complaisance conjoinedwith virtue, and yet nature has nothing more rare than these. And so tolove or be loved very much cannot find place with many persons; for asrivers 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 bearonly one, as Homer calls a beloved son "the only one, the child of oldage, "[328] that is, when the parents neither have nor are likely to haveanother child. 

§ III. Not that we insist on only one friend, but among the rest thereshould be one eminently so, like a child of old age, who according tothat well-known proverb has eaten a bushel of salt with one, [329] not asnowadays many so-called friends contract friendship from drinkingtogether once, or playing at ball together, or playing together withdice, or passing the night together at some inn, or meeting at thewrestling-school or in the market. And in the houses of rich and leadingmen people congratulate them on their many friends, when they see thelarge and bustling crowd of visitors and handshakers and retainers: andyet they see more flies in their kitchens, and as the flies only comefor the dainties, so they only dance attendance for what they can get. And since true friendship has three main requirements, virtue, as athing good; and familiarity, as a thing pleasant; and use, as a thingserviceable; for we ought to choose a friend with judgement, and rejoicein his company, and make use of him in need; and all these things areprejudicial to abundance of friends, especially judgement, which is themost important point; we must first consider, if it is impossible in ashort time to test dancers who are to form a chorus, or rowers who areto pull together, or slaves who are to act as stewards of estates, oras tutors of one's sons, far more difficult is it to meet with manyfriends who will take off their coats to aid you in every fortune, eachof whom "offers his services to you in prosperity, and does not objectto share your adversity. " For neither does a ship encounter so manystorms at sea, nor do they fortify places with walls, or harbours withdefences and earthworks, in the expectation of so many and greatdangers, as friendship tested well and soundly promises defence andrefuge from. But if friends slip in without being tested, like moneyproved 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 closean unpleasant friendship: as in the case of food which is injurious andharmful, we cannot retain it on the stomach without damage and hurt, norcan we expel it as it was taken into the mouth, but only in a putridmixed up and changed form, so a bad friend is troublesome both to othersand himself if retained, and if he be got rid of forcibly it is withhostility and hatred, and like the voiding of bile. 

§ IV. We ought not, therefore, lightly to welcome or strike up anintimate friendship with any chance comers, or love those who attachthemselves to us, but attach ourselves to those who are worthy of ourfriendship. For what is easily got is not always desirable: and we passover and trample upon heather and brambles that stick to us[331] on ourroad to the olive and vine: so also is it good not always to make afriend of the person who is expert in twining himself around us, butafter testing them to attach ourselves to those who are worthy of ouraffection and likely to be serviceable to us. 

§ V. As therefore Zeuxis, when some people accused him of paintingslowly, replied, "I admit that I do, but then I paint to last, " so oughtwe to test for a long time the friendship and intimacy that we take upand 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 thisimpossible? For intimacy is the full enjoyment of friendship, and mostpleasant is companying with and spending the day with a friend. "Neveragain shall we alive, apart from dear friends, sit and take counselalone together. "[332] And Menelaus said about Odysseus, "Nor didanything ever divide or separate us, who loved and delighted in oneanother, till death's black cloud overshadowed us. "[333] The contraryeffect seems to be produced by abundance of friends. For the friendshipof a pair of friends draws them together and puts them together andholds them together, and is heightened by intercourse and kindliness, "as when the juice of the fig curdles and binds the white milk, "[334] asEmpedocles says, such unity and complete union will such a friendshipproduce. Whereas having many friends puts people apart and severs anddisunites them, by transferring and shifting the tie of friendship toofrequently, and does not admit of a mixture and welding of goodwill bythe diffusing and compacting of intimacy. And this causes at once aninequality and difficulty in respect of acts of kindness, for the usesof friendship become inoperative by being dispersed over too wide anarea. "One man is acted upon by his character, another by hisreflection. "[335] For neither do our natures and impulses always inclinein the same directions, nor are our fortunes in life identical, foropportunities of action are, like the winds, favourable to some, unfavourable to others. 

§ VI. Moreover, if all our friends want to do the same things at thesame time, it will be difficult to satisfy them all, whether they desireto deliberate, or to act in state affairs, or wish for office, or aregoing to entertain guests. If again at the same time they chance to beengaged 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 isgoing to law that you will be his advocate, another who is going to trya case that you will try it with him, another who is selling or buyingthat you will go into partnership with him, another who is going tomarry that you will join him in the sacrifice, another who is going tobury 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, tooblige 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 andneglect of friends, if they get from them such excuses as "I forgot, " "Idid it unwittingly. " But he who says, "I did not assist you in yourlawsuit, for I was assisting another friend, " or "I did not visit youwhen you had your fever, for I was helping so-and-so who wasentertaining his friends, " excusing himself for his inattention to oneby his attention to another, so far from making the offence less, evenadds 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 inreturn, and not remembering that he, who has had many of his ownrequests granted, must oblige others in turn by granting their requests. And as Briareus with his hundred hands had to feed fifty stomachs, andwas therefore no better provided than we are, who with two hands have tosupply 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 whenhe 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 shipthat we can either slacken or haul tight. But let us transfer, Euripides, these lines of yours to enmities, and bid people make theiranimosities moderate, and not hate with all their heart, that theirhatred, and wrath, and querulousness, and suspicions, may be easilybroken. Recommend rather for our consideration that saying ofPythagoras, "Do not give many your right hand, "[340] that is, do notmake 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 tofree and noble natures. And that was a true saying of the wiseChilo[341] to one who told him he had no enemy, "Neither, " said he, "doyou seem to me to have a friend. " For enmities inevitably accompany andare involved in friendships. 

§ VII. It is impossible I say not to share with a friend in his injuriesand disgraces and enmities, for enemies at once suspect and hate thefriend of their enemies, and even friends are often envious and jealousand carp at him. As then the oracle given to Timesias about his colonyforetold him, "that his swarm of bees would soon be followed by a swarmof wasps, " so those that seek a swarm of friends have sometimes lightedunawares on a wasp's-nest of enemies. And the remembrance of wrongs doneby an enemy and the kindness of a friend do not weigh in the samebalance. See how Alexander treated the friends and intimates of Philotasand Parmenio, how Dionysius treated those of Dion, Nero those ofPlautus, Tiberius those of Sejanus, torturing and putting them to death. For as neither the gold nor rich robes of Creon's daughter[342] availedher or her sire, but the flame that burst out suddenly involved him inthe same fate as herself, as he ran up to embrace her and rescue her, sosome friends, though they have had no enjoyment out of their friends'prosperity, are involved in their misfortunes. And this is especiallythe case with philosophers and kind people, as Theseus, when his friendPirithous was punished and imprisoned, "was also bound in fetters notof brass. "[343] And Thucydides tells us that during the plague at Athensthose that most displayed their virtue perished with their friends thatwere ill, for they neglected their own lives in going to visitthem. [344]

§ VIII. We ought not therefore to be too lavish with our virtue, bindingit together and implicating it in various people's fortunes, but weought to preserve our friendship for those who are worthy of it, and arecapable of reciprocating it. For this is indeed the greatest argumentagainst many friends that friendship is originated by similarity. Forseeing that even the brutes can hardly be forced to mix with those thatare unlike themselves, but crouch down, and show their dislike, and runaway, while they mix freely with those that are akin to them and have asimilar nature, and gently and gladly make friends with one anotherthen, how is it possible that there should be friendship between peoplediffering in characters and temperaments and ideas of life? For harmonyon 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 offriendship there must be no unlike, or uneven, or unequal element, butfrom all alike must come agreement in opinions and wishes and feeling, as if one soul were put into several bodies. 

§ 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 differentpersons, and not to laugh at the advice of Theognis, "Imitate theingenuity of the polypus, that takes the colour of whatever stone itsticks to. "[345] And yet the changes in the polypus do not go deep butare only on the surface, which, from its thickness or thinness takes theimpression of everything that approaches it, whereas friends endeavourto be like one another in character, and feeling, and language, andpursuits, and disposition. It requires a not very fortunate or very goodProteus, [346] able by jugglery to assume various forms, to befrequently at the same time a student with the learned, and ready totry a fall with wrestlers, or to go a hunting with people fond of thechase, or to get drunk with tipplers, or to go a canvassing withpoliticians, having no fixed character of his own. [347] And as thenatural philosophers say of unformed and colourless matter whensubjected to external change, that it is now fire, now water, now air, now solid earth, so the soul suitable for many friendships must beimpressionable, and versatile, and pliant, and changeable. Butfriendship requires a steady constant and unchangeable character, aperson that is uniform in his intimacy. And so a constant friend is athing rare and hard to find. 

 [321] Plato, "Men. " p. 71 E. 

 [322] Quoted more fully by our author, "De Fraterno Amore, " § iii. 

 [323] "Eadem comparatione utitur Lucianus in Toxari T. Ii. P. 351: [Greek: hostis an polyphilos hê homoios hêmin dokei tais koinais tautais kai moicheuomenais gynaixi; kai oiometh' ouketh' homoiôs ischyran tên 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, "Vespæ. " 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, " § 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, " § vi. 

 [337] A line from Menander. Quoted again "De Fraterno Amore, " § xx. 

 [338] Reading with Halm and Hercher [Greek: en tôi pollois philois chrêsthai. ]

 [339] Euripides, "Hippolytus, " 253-257, where Dindorf and Hercher agree in the reading. 

 [340] Compare "On Education, " § 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, " § 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, " § vii. , where the same image is employed. 

HOW ONE MAY DISCERN A FLATTERER FROMA FRIEND. 

§ I. Plato says, [348] Antiochus Philopappus, that all men pardon the manwho acknowledges that he is excessively fond of himself, but that thereis among many other defects this very grave one in self-love, that by ita man becomes incapable of being a just and impartial judge abouthimself, for love is blind in regard to the loved object, unless aperson has learnt and accustomed himself to honour and pursue what isnoble rather than his own selfish interests. This gives a great fieldfor the flatterer in friendship, who finds a wonderful base ofoperations in our self-love, which makes each person his own first andgreatest flatterer, and easily admits a flatterer from without, who willbe, so he thinks and hopes, both a witness and confirmer of his goodopinion of himself. For he that lies open to the reproach of being fondof flatterers is very fond of himself, and owing to his goodwill tohimself wishes to possess all good qualities, and thinks he actuallydoes; the wish is not ridiculous, but the thought is misleading andrequires 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 thegods and men, the flatterer is likely to be an enemy to the gods, andespecially to Apollo, for he always sets himself against that famoussaying, "Know thyself, "[350] implanting in everybody's mind self-deceitand ignorance of his own good or bad qualities, thus making his goodpoints defective and imperfect, and his bad points altogetherincorrigible. 

§ II. If however, as is the case with most other bad things, theflatterer attacked only or chiefly ignoble or worthless persons, theevil would not be so mischievous or so difficult to guard against. Butsince, as wood-worms breed most in soft and sweet wood, those whosecharacters are honourable and good and equitable encourage and supportthe flatterer most, --and moreover, as Simonides says, "rearing of horsesdoes not go with the oil-flask, [351] but with fruitful fields, " so wesee that flattery does not join itself to the poor, the obscure, orthose without means, but is the snare and bane of great houses andestates, and often overturns kingdoms and principalities, --it is amatter of no small importance, needing much foresight, to examine thequestion, that so flattery may be easily detected, and neither injurenor discredit friendship. For just as lice leave dying persons, andabandon bodies when the blood on which they feed is drying up, so onenever yet saw flatterers dancing attendance on dry and cold poverty, butthey fasten on wealth and position and there get fat, but speedilydecamp if reverses come. But we ought not to wait to experience that, which would be unprofitable, or rather injurious and dangerous. For notto find friends at a time when you want them is hard, as also not to beable to exchange an inconstant and bad friend for a constant and goodone. For a friend should be like money tried before being required, notfound faulty in our need. For we ought not to have our wits about usonly when the mischief is done, but we ought to try and prevent theflatterer doing any harm to us: for otherwise we shall be in the sameplight as people who test deadly poisons by first tasting them, and killor nearly kill themselves in the experiment. We do not praise such, noragain all those who, looking at their friend simply from the point ofview of decorum and utility, think that they can detect all agreeableand pleasant companions as flatterers in the very act. For a friendought not to be disagreeable or unpleasant, nor ought friendship to be athing high and mighty with sourness and austerity, but even its decorousdeportment 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 theeyes of a friendly person, " as Euripides[354] says, but no less does itbring pleasure and charm in good fortune, than when it relieves thesorrows and difficulties of adversity. And as Evenus said "fire was thebest sauce, "[355] so the deity, mixing up friendship with life, has madeeverything bright and sweet and acceptable by its presence and theenjoyment it brings. How else indeed could the flatterer insinuatehimself by the pleasure he gives, unless he knew that friendshipadmitted the pleasurable element? It would be impossible to say. Butjust as spurious and mock gold only imitates the brightness and glitterof real gold, so the flatterer seems to imitate the pleasantness andagreeableness of the real friend, and to exhibit himself ever merry andbright, contradicting and opposing nothing. We must not however on thataccount suspect all who praise as simple flatterers. For friendshiprequires praise as much as censure on the proper occasion. Indeedpeevishness and querulousness are altogether alien to friendship andsocial life: but when goodwill bestows praise ungrudgingly and readilyupon good actions, people endure also easily and without pain admonitionand plainspeaking, believing and continuing to love the person who tooksuch pleasure in praising, as if now he only blamed out of necessity. 

§ III. It is difficult then, someone may say, to distinguish between theflatterer and the friend, if they differ neither in the pleasure theygive nor in the praise they bestow; for as to services and attentionsyou may often see friendship outstripped by flattery. Certainly it isso, I should reply, if we are trying to find the genuine flatterer whohandles his craft with cleverness and art, but not if, like most people, we consider those persons flatterers who are called their ownoil-flask-carriers and table-men, men who begin to talk, as one said, the moment their hands have been washed for dinner, [356] whoseservility, ribaldry, and want of all decency, is apparent at the firstdish and glass. It did not of course require very much discrimination todetect Melanthius the parasite of Alexander of Pheræ of flattery, who, to those who asked how Alexander was murdered, answered, "Through hisside 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 afeast":[357] or those female flatterers in Cyprus, who after theycrossed over into Syria were nicknamed "step-ladders, "[358] because theylay down and let the kings' wives use their bodies as steps to mounttheir carriages. 

§ IV. What kind of flatterer then must we be on our guard against? Theone who neither seems to be nor acknowledges himself to be one: whom youwill not always find in the vicinity of your kitchen, who is not to becaught watching the dial to see how near it is to dinner-time, [359] norgets so drunk as to throw himself down anyhow, but one who is generallysober, and a busybody, and thinks he ought to have a hand in youraffairs, and wishes to share in your secrets, and as to friendship playsrather a tragic than a satyric or comic part. For as Plato says, "it isthe height of injustice to appear to be just when you are not reallyso, "[360] so we must deem the most dangerous kind of flattery not theopen but the secret, not the playful but the serious. For it throwssuspicion even upon a genuine friendship, which we may often confoundwith it, if we are not careful. When Gobryas pursued one of the Magiinto a dark room, and was on the ground wrestling with him, and Dariuscame up and was doubtful how he could kill one without killing both, Gobryas bade him thrust his sword boldly through both of them;[361] butwe, since we give no assent to that saying, "Let friend perish so theenemy perish with him, "[362] in our endeavour to distinguish theflatterer 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 aswild 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'tpass through, and if large holes they pass with the corn, so flattery isnot easily distinguished from friendship, being mixed up with it infeeling and emotion, habit and custom. 

§ V. Because however friendship is the most pleasant of all things, andnothing more glads the heart of man, therefore the flatterer attracts bythe pleasure he gives, pleasure being in fact his field. And becausefavours and good services accompany friendship, as the proverb says "afriend is more necessary than fire or water, "[363] therefore theflatterer volunteers all sorts of services, and strives to show himselfon all occasions zealous and obliging and ready. And since friendship ismainly produced by a similarity of tastes and habits, and to have thesame likes and dislikes first brings people together and unites themthrough sympathy, [364] the flatterer observing this moulds himself likematerial and demeans himself accordingly, seeking completely to imitateand resemble those whom he desires to ingratiate himself with, beingsupple in change, and plausible in his imitations, so that one wouldsay, "Achilles' son, O no, it is himself. "[365]

But his cleverest trick is that, observing that freedom of speech, isboth spoken of and reckoned as the peculiar and natural voice offriendship, while not speaking freely is considered unfriendly anddisingenuous, he has not failed to imitate this trait of friendshipalso. But just as clever cooks infuse bitter sauces and sharp seasoningto prevent sweet things from cloying, so these flatterers do not use agenuine or serviceable freedom of speech, but merely a winking andtickling innuendo. He is therefore difficult to detect, like thosecreatures which naturally change their colour and take that of thematerial or place near them. [366] But since he deceives and conceals histrue character by his imitations, it is our duty to unmask him anddetect him by the differences between him and the true friend, and toshow that he is, as Plato says, "tricked out in other people's coloursand forms, from lack of any of his own. "[367]

§ VI. Let us examine the matter then from the beginning. I said thatfriendship originated in most cases from a similar disposition andnature, generally inclined to the same habits and morals, and rejoicingin the same pursuits, studies, and amusements, as the following linestestify: "To old man the voice of old man is sweetest, to boy that ofboy, to woman is most acceptable that of woman, to the sick person thatof sick person, while he that is overtaken by misfortune is a comforterto one in trouble. " The flatterer knowing then that it is innate in usto delight in, and enjoy the company of, and to love, those who are likeourselves, attempts first to approach and get near a person in thisdirection, (as one tries to catch an animal in the pastures, ) by thesame pursuits and amusements and studies and modes of life quietlythrowing out his bait, and disguising himself in false colours, till hisvictim give him an opportunity to catch him, and become tame andtractable at his touch. Then too he censures the things and modes oflife and persons that he knows his victim dislikes, while he praisesthose he fancies immoderately, overdoing it indeed[368] with his show ofsurprise and excessive admiration, making him more and more convincedthat his likes and dislikes are the fruits of judgement and not ofcaprice. 

§ VII. How then is the flatterer convicted, and by what differences ishe detected, of being only a counterfeit, and not really like hisvictim? We must first then look at the even tenor and consistency of hisprinciples, if he always delights in the same things, and always praisesthe same things, and directs and governs his life after one pattern, asbecomes the noble lover of consistent friendship and familiarity. Such aperson is a friend. But the flatterer having no fixed character of hisown, [369] and not seeking to lead the life suitable for him, but shapingand modelling himself after another's pattern, is neither simple noruniform, but complex and unstable, assuming different appearances, likewater poured from vessel to vessel, ever in a state of flux andaccommodating himself entirely to the fashion of those who entertainhim. The ape indeed, as it seems, attempting to imitate man, is caughtimitating his movements and dancing like him, but the flatterer himselfattracts and decoys other men, imitating not all alike, for with one hesings and dances, with another he wrestles and gets covered with thedust of the palæstra, while he follows a third fond of hunting and thechase all but shouting out the words of Phædra, "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 himselfhe sets the toils and snares for. And if the object of his pursuit issome young scholar and lover of learning, he is all for books then, hisbeard flows down to his feet, [371] he's quite a sight with histhreadbare cloak, has all the indifference of the Stoic, and speaks ofnothing but the rectangles and triangles of Plato. But if any rich andcareless 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 afruitless crop, he goes in for wine-coolers and tankards, and laughsloudly in the streets, and jeers at philosophers. As they say happenedat Syracuse, when Plato went there, and Dionysius was seized with afurious passion for philosophy, and so great was the concourse ofgeometricians that they raised up quite a cloud of dust in the palace, but when Plato fell out of favour, and Dionysius gave up philosophy, andwent back again headlong to wine and women and trifles and debauchery, then all the court was metamorphosed, as if they all had drunk ofCirce's cup, for ignorance and oblivion and silliness reigned rampant. Iam borne out in what I say by the behaviour of great flatterers anddemagogues, [373] the greatest of whom Alcibiades, a jeerer andhorse-rearer at Athens, and living a gay and merry life, wore his hairclosely shaven at Lacedæmon, and washed in cold water, and attiredhimself in a threadbare cloak; while in Thrace he fought[374] and drank;and at Tissaphernes' court lived delicately and luxuriously and in apretentious style; and thus curried favour and was popular witheverybody by imitating their habits and ways. Such was not the wayhowever in which Epaminondas or Agesilaus acted, for though theyassociated with very many men and states and different modes of life, they maintained everywhere their usual demeanour, both in dress and dietand language and behaviour. So Plato[375] at Syracuse was exactly thesame man as in the Academy, the same with Dionysius as with Dion. 

§ VIII. As to the changes of the flatterer, which resemble those of thepolypus, [376] a man may most easily detect them by himself pretending tochange about frequently, and by censuring the kind of life he usedformerly to praise, and anon approving of the words actions and modes oflife that he used to be displeased with. He will then see that theflatterer is never consistent or himself, never loving hating rejoicinggrieving at his own initiative, but like a mirror, merely reflecting theimage of other people's emotions and manners and feelings. Such a onewill say, if you censure one of your friends to him, "You are slow infinding the fellow out, he never pleased me from the first. " But if onthe other hand you change your language and praise him, he will swear byZeus that he rejoices at it, and is himself under obligations to theman, and believes in him. And if you talk of the necessity of changingyour mode of life, of retiring from public life to a life of privacy andease, he says, "We ought long ago to have got rid of uproar[377] andenvy. " 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] Ido not need a friend to change his opinions with me and to assent to mein everything, my shadow will do that better, but I need one that willspeak the truth and help me with his judgement. " This is one way ofdetecting the flatterer. 

§ IX. We must also observe another difference in the resemblance betweenthe friend and flatterer. The true friend does not imitate you ineverything, nor is he too keen to praise, but praises only what isexcellent, 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 inloving 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 throughcompanionship and intimacy he may against his will contract by infectionsome vice or ill habit, as they say Plato's intimates imitated hisstoop, Aristotle's his lisp, and king Alexander's his holding his head alittle on one side, and rapidity of utterance in conversation, [380] forpeople mostly pick up unawares such traits of character. But theflatterer is exactly like the chameleon, [381] which takes every colourbut white, and so he, though unable to imitate what is worth his while, leaves nothing that is bad unimitated. And just as poor painters unableto make a fine portrait from inefficiency in their craft, bring out thelikeness by painting all the wrinkles, moles and scars, so the flattererimitates his friend's intemperance, superstition, hot temper, sournessto domestics, suspicion of his friends and relations. For he is bynature inclined to what is worst, and thinks that imitation of what isbad is as far as possible removed from censure. For those are suspectedwho have noble aims in life, and seem to be vexed and disgusted at theirfriends' faults, for that injured and even ruined Dion with Dionysius, Samius with Philip, and Cleomenes with Ptolemy. But he that wishes to beand appear at the same time both agreeable and trustworthy pretends torejoice more in what is bad, as being through excessive love for hisfriend not even offended at his vices, but as one with him in feelingand nature in all matters. And so they claim to share in involuntary andchance ailments, and pretend to have the same complaints, in flattery tothose who suffer from any, as that their eyesight and sense of hearingare deficient, if their friends are somewhat blind or deaf, as theflatterers of Dionysius, who was rather short-sighted, jostled oneanother at a dinner party, and knocked the dishes off the table, _as iffrom defect of vision_. [382] And some to make their cases more similarwind themselves in closer, and dive even into family secrets forparallels. For seeing that their friends are unfortunate in marriage, orsuspicious about the behaviour of their sons or relations, they do notspare themselves, but make quite a Jeremiad about their own sons, orwife, or kinsfolk, or relations, proclaiming loudly their own familysecrets. For similarity in situation makes people more sympathetic, andtheir friends having received as it were hostages by their confessions, entrust them in return with their secrets, and having once madeconfidants of them, dare not take back their confidence. [383] I actuallyknow of a man who turned his wife out of doors because his friend hadput 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 didhe know the nature of a flatterer that thought the following lines moreapplicable to a crab than a flatterer, "His whole body is belly, his eyeis on everything, he is a creature creeping on his teeth, " for such is atrue picture of the parasite, "friends of the frying-pan, hunting for adinner, " to borrow the language of Eupolis. 

§ X. However let us put off all this to its proper place in thediscourse. But let us not fail to notice the wiliness of the flatterer'simitation, in that, even if he imitates any good points in the person heflatters, he always takes care to give him the palm. Whereas among realfriends there is no rivalry or jealousy of one another, but they aresatisfied and contented alike whether they are equal or one of them issuperior. But the flatterer, ever remembering that he is to play secondfiddle, [384] makes his copy always fall a little short of the original, for he admits that he is everywhere outstripped and left behind, exceptin vice. For in that alone he claims pre-eminence, for if his friend ispeevish, he says he is atrabilious; if his friend is superstitious, hesays he is a fanatic; if his friend is in love, he says he is madly inlove; if his friend laughs, he will say, "You laughed a littleunseasonably, but I almost died of laughter. " But in regard to any goodpoints his action is quite the opposite. He says he can run quickly, buthis friend flies; he says he can ride pretty well, but his friend is aCentaur on horseback. He says "I am not a bad poet, and don't write verybad 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 thathis friend has reached a height he cannot soar to. Such then are thedifferences in the resemblances between the flatterer and the friend. 

§ XI. But since, as has been said before, to give pleasure is common toboth, for the good man delights in his friends as much as the bad man inhis 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. Sothere is also in medicine. But the difference is that while in perfumepleasure and nothing else is designed, in medicine either purging, orwarming, or adding flesh to the system, is the primary object, and thesweet smell is only a secondary consideration. Again painters mix gaycolours and dyes: there are also some drugs which are gay in appearanceand not unpleasing in colour. What then is the difference between these?Manifestly we distinguish by the end each aims at. So too the sociallife of friends employs mirth to add a charm to some good and usefulend, [385] and sometimes makes joking and a good table and wine, aye, andeven chaff and banter, the seasoning to noble and serious matters, asin 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 jokeor word or action, so as to produce pleasure. And to speak concisely, the flatterer's object is to please in everything he does, whereas thetrue friend always does what is right, and so often gives pleasure, often pain, not wishing the latter, but not shunning it either, if hedeems it best. For as the physician, if it be expedient, infuses saffronor spikenard, aye, or uses some soothing fomentation or feeds hispatient 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 onecase making unpleasantness, nor in the other pleasantness, his end andaim, but in both studying only the interest of his patient, --so thefriend sometimes by praise and kindness, extolling him and gladdeninghis 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 rebukeswith 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 theprofligate and disorderly son of his friend Asclepiades, by shutting himout of his house, and not speaking to him. And Arcesilaus forbade Batohis 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 peacewith Cleanthes. For we ought to give our friend pain if it will benefithim, but not to the extent of breaking off our friendship; but just aswe make use of some biting medicine, that will save and preserve thelife of the patient. And so the friend, like a musician, in bringingabout an improvement to what is good and expedient, sometimes slackensthe chords, sometimes tightens them, and is often pleasant, but alwaysuseful. But the flatterer, always harping on one note, and accustomed toplay his accompaniment only with a view to please and to ingratiatehimself, 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 thesentiments of his patron. As then Xenophon says Agesilaus took pleasurein being praised by those who would also censure him, [392] so ought weto think that to please and gratify us is friendly in the person who canalso give us pain and oppose us, but to feel suspicion at an intercoursewhich is merely for pleasure and gratification, and never pungent, ayeand by Zeus to have ready that saying of the Lacedæmonian, who, onhearing king Charillus praised, said, "How can he be a good man, who isnot severe even to the bad?"

§ 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 ofpraise, and sticks there and is hard to dislodge. We ought thereforehere to make a wide-awake and careful discrimination, whether the praiseis bestowed on the action or the man. It is bestowed on the action, ifpeople praise the absent rather than the present, if also those thathave the same aims and aspirations praise not only us but all that aresimilarly disposed, and do not evidently say and do one thing at onetime, and the direct contrary at another; and the greatest test is if weare conscious, in the matters for which we get the praise, that we havenot regretted them, and are not ashamed at them, and would not ratherhave 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 itis that most people in misfortune cannot bear exhortation, but arecaptivated more by condolence and sympathy, and when they have donesomething wrong and acted amiss, he that by censure and blame implantsin them the stings of repentance is looked upon by them as hostile andan accuser, while they welcome and regard as friendly and well-disposedto them the person who bestows praise and panegyric on what they havedone. Those then that readily praise and join in applauding some word oraction on the part of someone whether in jest or earnest, only dotemporary harm for the moment, but those who injure the character bytheir praise, aye, and by their flattery undermine the morals, act likethose 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 thecharacter, which is the principle and fountain of life, by attaching tovice names that belong properly only to virtue. For as Thucydidessays, [394] in times of faction and war "people change the accustomedmeaning of words as applied to acts at their will and pleasure, forreckless daring is then considered bravery to one's comrades, andprudent delay specious cowardice, and sober-mindedness the cloak of thecoward, and taking everything into account before action a real desireto do nothing. " So too in the case of flattery we must observe and be onour guard against wastefulness being called liberality, and cowardlinessprudence, and madness quick-wittedness, and meanness frugality, and theamorous man called social and affectionate, and the term manly appliedto the passionate and vain man, and the term civil applied to the paltryand mean man. As I remember Plato[395] says the lover is a flatterer ofthe beloved one, and calls the snub nose graceful, and the aquiline noseroyal, and swarthy people manly, and fair people the children of thegods, and the olive complexion is merely the lover's phrase to glossover and palliate excessive pallor. And yet the ugly man persuaded he ishandsome, or the short man persuaded he is tall, cannot long remain inthe error, and receives only slight injury from it, and not irreparablemischief: but praise applied to vices as if they were virtues, so thatone is not vexed but delighted with a vicious life, removes all shamefrom wrong-doing, and was the ruin of the Sicilians, by calling thesavage cruelty of Dionysius and Phalaris detestation of wickedness anduprightness. It was the ruin of Egypt, by styling Ptolemy's effeminacy, and superstition, and howlings, and beating of drums, religion andservice to the gods. [396] It was nearly the overthrow and destruction ofthe ancient manners of the Romans, palliating the luxury andintemperance and display of Antony as exhibitions of jollity andkindliness, when his power and fortune were at their zenith. What elseinvested Ptolemy[397] with his pipe and fiddle? What else broughtNero[398] on the tragic stage, and invested him with the mask andbuskins? Was it not the praise of flatterers? And are not many kingscalled Apollos if they can just sing a song, [399] and Dionysuses if theyget drunk, and Herculeses if they can wrestle, and do they not joy insuch titles, and are they not dragged into every kind of disgrace byflattery?

§ XIII. Wherefore we must be especially on our guard against theflatterer 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 ina thick leather garment, he treats him with nothing but jeers andmocks, [400] as Struthias insulted Bias, ironically praising him for hisstupidity, saying, "You have drunk more than king Alexander, "[401] and, "that he was ready to die of laughing at his tale about theCyprian. "[402] But when he sees people more refined very much on theirguard, and observing both time and place, he does not praise themdirectly, but draws off a little and wheels round and approaches themnoiselessly, as one tries to catch a wild animal. For sometimes hereports to a man the panegyric of other persons upon him, (as oratorsdo, introducing some third person, ) saying that he had a very pleasantconversation in the market with some strangers and men of worth, whomentioned how they admired his many good points. On another occasion heconcocts and fabricates some false and trifling charges against him, pretending he has heard them from other people, and runs up with aserious 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] andcompliments his man with, "I thought it strange that you should havespoken ill of your friends, seeing that you don't even treat yourenemies so: and that you should have tried to rob other people, seeingthat you are so lavish with your own money. "

§ XIV. Other flatterers again, just as painters heighten the effect oftheir pictures by the combination of light and shade, so by censureabuse detraction and ridicule of the opposite virtues secretly praiseand foment the actual vices of those they flatter. Thus they censuremodesty as merely rustic behaviour in the company of profligates, andgreedy people, and villains, and such as have got rich by evil anddishonourable courses; and contentment and uprightness they call havingno spirit or energy in action; and when they associate with lazy andidle persons who avoid all public duties, they are not ashamed to callthe life of a citizen wearisome meddling in other people's affairs, andthe desire to hold office fruitless vain-glory. And some ere now toflatter an orator have depreciated a philosopher, and others won favourwith wanton women by traducing those wives who are faithful to theirhusbands as constitutionally cold and countrybred. And by an acme ofvillainy flatterers do not always spare even themselves. For aswrestlers stoop that they may the easier give their adversaries a fall, so by censuring themselves they glide into praising others. "I am acowardly slave, " says such a one, "at sea, I shirk labour, I am madly inrage if a word is said against me; but this man fears nothing, has novices, 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 desiresto be austere and self-opinionated, and in his moral rectitude is everspouting that line of Homer, "Tydides, neither praise nor blame me much, "[404]

the artistic flatterer does not attack him as he attacked others, butemploys against such a one a new device. For he comes to him about hisown private affairs, as if desirous to have the advice of one wiser thanhimself; he has, he says, more intimate friends, but he is obliged totrouble 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 thatsomebody lays claim to experience in oratory, he gives him some of hiswritings, and begs him to read and correct them. So, when kingMithridates took a fancy to play the surgeon, several of his friendsoffered themselves for operating upon, as for cutting or cauterizing, flattering in deed and not in word, for his being credited by them wouldseem to prove his skill. [405]

 "For Providence has many different aspects. "[406]

But we can test this kind of negative praise, that needs more warycaution, by purposely giving strange advice and suggestions, and byadopting absurd corrections. For if he raises no objection but nodsassent to everything, and approves of everything, and is always cryingout, "Good! How admirable!" he is evidently

 "Asking advice, but seeking something else, "

wishing by praise to puff you up. 

§ 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 tocatch the objects of their chase unawares, if they do not openly appearto be so engaged, but seem to be walking, or tending their sheep, orlooking after the farm, so flatterers obtain most success in theirpraise, when they do not seem to be praising but to be doing somethingelse. For he who gives up his place or seat to the great man when hecomes in, and while making a speech to the people or senate breaks offeven in the middle, if he observes any rich man wants to speak, andgives up to him alike speech and platform, shows by his silence evenmore than he would by any amount of vociferation that he thinks theother the better man, and superior to him in judgement. And consequentlyyou may always see them occupying the best places at theatres and publicassembly rooms, not that they think themselves worthy of them, but thatthey may flatter the rich by giving up their places to them; and atpublic meetings they begin speaking first, and then make way as forbetter men, and most readily take back their own view, if anyinfluential or rich or famous person espouse the contrary view. And soone can see plainly that all such servility and drawing back on theirpart is a lowering their sails, not to experience or virtue or age, butto wealth and fame. Not so Apelles the famous painter, who, whenMegabyzus sat with him, and wished to talk about lines and shades, saidto him, "Do you see my lads yonder grinding colours, they admired justnow your purple and gold, but now they are laughing at you for beginningto talk about what you don't understand. "[408] And Solon, when Croesusasked him about happiness, replied that Tellus, an obscure Athenian, andBito and Cleobis were happier than he was. [409] But flatterers proclaimkings and rich men and rulers not only happy and fortunate, but alsopre-eminent for wisdom, and art, and every virtue. 

§ 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 inrunning letting him win the race, as Crisso of Himera purposely allowedAlexander to outrun him, which vexed the king very much when he heard ofit. [411] And Carneades said that the sons of rich men and kings learntnothing really well and properly except how to ride, for their masterpraised and flattered them in their studies, and the person who taughtthem wrestling always let them throw him, whereas the horse, not knowingor caring whether his rider were a private person or ruler, rich orpoor, soon threw him over his head if he could not ride well. Simpletherefore and fatuous was that remark of Bion, "If you could byencomiums make your field to yield well and be fruitful, you could notbe thought wrong in tilling it so rather than digging it and labouringin it: nor would it be strange in you to praise human beings if by sodoing you could be useful and serviceable to them. " For a field does notbecome worse by being praised, but those who praise a man falsely andagainst his deserts puff him up and ruin him. 

§ XVII. Enough has been said on this matter: let us now examineoutspokenness. For just as Patroclus put on the armour of Achilles, anddrove his horses to the battle, only durst not touch his spear fromMount Pelion, but let that alone, so ought the flatterer, tricked outand modelled in the distinctive marks and tokens of the friend, to leaveuntouched and uncopied only his outspokenness, as the special burden offriendship, "heavy, huge, strong. "[412] But since flatterers, to avoidthe blame they incur by their buffoonery, and drinking, and gibes, andjokes, sometimes work their ends by frowns and gravity, and intermixcensure and reproof, let us not pass this over either withoutexamination. And I think, as in Menander's Play the sham Hercules comeson the stage not with a club stout and strong, but with a light andhollow cane, so the outspokenness of the flatterer is to those whoexperience it mild and soft, and the very reverse of vigorous, and likethose cushions for women's heads, which seem able to stand their ground, but in reality yield and give way under their pressure; so this shamoutspokenness is puffed up and inflated with an empty and spurious andhollow bombast, that when it contracts and collapses draws in the personwho relies on it. For true and friendly outspokenness attackswrong-doers, bringing pain that is salutary and likely to make them morecareful, like honey biting but cleansing ulcerated parts of thebody, [413] but in other respects serviceable and sweet. But we willspeak of this anon. [414] But the flatterer first exhibits himself asdisagreeable and passionate and unforgiving in his dealings with others. For he is harsh to his servants, and a terrible fellow to attack andferret out the faults of his kinsmen and friends, and to look up to andrespect nobody who is a stranger, but to look down upon them, and isrelentless and mischief-making in making people provoked with others, hunting after the reputation of hating vice, as one not likely knowinglyto mince matters with the vicious, or ingratiate himself with themeither in word or deed. Next he pretends to know nothing of real andgreat crimes, but he is a terrible fellow to inveigh against triflingand external shortcomings, and to fasten on them with intensity andvehemence, as if he sees any pot or pipkin out of its place, or anyonebadly housed, or neglecting his beard or attire, or not adequatelyattending to a horse or dog. But contempt of parents, and neglect ofchildren, and bad treatment of wife, and haughtiness to friends, andthrowing away money, all this he cares nothing about, but is silent anddoes not dare to make any allusion to it: just as if the trainer in agymnasium were to allow the athlete to get drunk and live indebauchery, [415] and yet be vexed at the condition of his oil-flask orstrigil if out of order; or as if the schoolmaster scolded a boy abouthis 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 ofa silly and ridiculous orator, but should find fault with his voice, andchide him for injuring his throat by drinking cold water; or like aperson bidden to read some wretched composition, who should merely findfault with the thickness of the paper, and call the copyist a dirty andcareless fellow. So too when Ptolemy seemed to desire to become learned, his flatterers used to spin out the time till midnight, disputing aboutsome word or line or history, but not one of them all objected to hiscruelty and outrages, his torturing and beating people to death. [416]Just as if, when a man has tumours and fistulas, one were to cut hishair and nails with a surgeon's knife, so flatterers use outspokennessonly in cases where it gives no pain or distress. 

§ XVIII. Moreover some of them are cleverer still and make theiroutspokenness and censure a means of imparting pleasure. As Agis theArgive, [417] when Alexander bestowed great gifts on a buffoon, cried outin envy and displeasure, "What a piece of absurdity!" and on the kingturning angrily to him and saying, "What are you talking about?" hereplied, "I admit that I am vexed and put out, when I see that all youdescendants of Zeus alike take delight in flatterers and jesters, forHercules had his Cercopes, and Dionysus his Sileni, and with you too Isee that such are held in good repute. " And on one occasion, when theEmperor Tiberius entered the senate, one of his flatterers got up andsaid, that being free men they ought to be outspoken, and not suppressor conceal anything that might be important, and having by this exordiumengaged everybody's attention, a dead silence prevailing, and evenTiberius being all attention, he said, "Listen, Cæsar, to what we allcharge you with, although no one ventures to tell you openly of it; youneglect yourself, and are careless about your health, and wear yourselfout with anxiety and labour on our behalf, taking no rest either bynight or day. " And on his stringing much more together in the samestrain, they say the orator Cassius Severus said, "This outspokennesswill ruin the man. "

§ XIX. These are indeed trifling matters: but the following are moreimportant and do mischief to foolish people, when flatterers accuse themof the very contrary vices and passions to those to which they arereally addicted; as Himerius the flatterer twitted a very rich, verymean, and very covetous Athenian with being a careless spendthrift, andlikely one day to want bread as well as his children; or on the otherhand if they rail at extravagant spendthrifts for meanness andsordidness, as Titus Petronius railed at Nero; or exhort rulers who makesavage and cruel attacks on their subjects to lay aside their excessiveclemency, and unseasonable and inexpedient mercy. Similar to these isthe person who pretends to be on his guard against and afraid of a sillystupid fellow as if he were clever and cunning; and the one who, if anyperson fond of detraction, rejoicing in defamation and censure, shouldbe induced on any occasion to praise some man of note, fastens on himand alleges against him that he has an itch for praising people. "Youare always extolling people of no merit: for who is this fellow, or whathas he said or done out of the common?" But it is in regard to theobjects of their love that they mostly attack those they flatter, andadditionally inflame them. For if they see people at variance with theirbrothers, or despising their parents, or treating their wivescontemptuously, they neither take them to task nor scold them, but fanthe flame of their anger still more. "You don't sufficiently appreciateyourself, " they say, "you are yourself the cause of your being put uponin this way, through your constant submissiveness and humility. " And ifthere is any tiff or fit of jealousy in regard to some courtesan oradulteress, the flatterer is at hand with remarkable outspokenness, adding fuel to flame, [418] and taking the lady's part, and accusing herlover 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 theEgyptian woman, [420] persuaded him that he was loved by her, and twittedhim with being cold and haughty to her. "She, " they said, "has left hermighty kingdom and happy mode of life, and is wasting her beauty, takingthe 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 beingreproached with his wrong-doing, and delights in those that censure him, as he never did in those that praised him, is unconscious that he isreally perverted also by what seems to be rebuke. For such outspokennessis like the bites of wanton women, [422] that while seeming to hurtreally 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 bythe warmth, [423] so ill-disposed men, knowing that outspokenness is agreat antidote to flattery, make it a means of flattering. And so it wasrather a bad answer Bias[424] made, to the person who inquired what wasthe most formidable animal, "Of wild animals the tyrant, and of tame theflatterer. " For it would have been truer to observe that tame flatterersare those that are found round the baths and table, but the one thatintrudes into the interior of the house and into the women's apartmentswith his curiosity and calumny and malignity, like the legs and arms ofthe polypus, is wild and savage and unmanageable. 

§ XX. Now one kind of caution against his snares is to know and everremember that, whereas the soul contains true and noble and reasoningelements, as also unreasoning and false and emotional ones, the friendis always a counsellor and adviser to the better instincts of the soul, as the physician improves and maintains health, whereas the flattererworks upon the emotional and unreasoning ones, and tickles andtitillates them and seduces them from reason, employing sensuality ashis bait. As then there are some kinds of food which neither benefit theblood or spirit, nor brace up the nerves and marrow, but stir thepassions, excite the lower nature, and make the flesh unsound androtten, so the language of the flatterer adds nothing to soberness andreason, but encourages some love passion, or stirs up foolish rage, orincites to envy, or produces the empty and burdensome vanity of pride, or joins in bewailing woes, or ever by his calumnies and hints makesmalignity and illiberality and suspicion sharp and timid and jealous, and cannot fail to be detected by those that closely observe him. For heis ever anchoring himself upon some passion, and fattening it, and, likea bubo, fastens himself on some unsound and inflamed parts of the soul. Are you angry? Have your revenge, says he. Do you desire anything? Getit. Are you afraid? Let us flee. Do you suspect? Entertain no doubtsabout it. But if he is difficult to detect in thus playing upon ourpassions, since they often overthrow reason by their intensity andstrength, he will give a handle to find him out in smaller matters, being consistent in them too. For if anyone feels a little uneasy aftera surfeit or excess in drink, and so is a little particular about hisfood and doubts the advisability of taking a bath, a friend will try andcheck him from excess, and bid him be careful and not indulge, whereasthe flatterer will drag him to the bath, bid him serve up some freshfood, and not starve himself and so injure his constitution. And if hesee 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 thebusiness be put off, or somebody else despatched to look after it. Andif you have promised to lend or give some money to a friend, but haverepented of your offer, and yet feel ashamed not to keep your promise, the flatterer will throw his influence into the worse scale, he willconfirm your desire to save your purse, he will destroy your reluctance, and will bid you be careful as having many expenses, and others to thinkabout besides that person. And so, unless we are entirely ignorant ofour desires, our shamelessness, and our timidity, the flatterer cannoteasily escape our detection. For he is ever the advocate of thosepassions, and outspoken when we desire to repress them. [425] But so muchfor this matter. 

§ XXI. Now let us pass on to useful and kind services, for in them toothe flatterer makes it very difficult and confusing to detect him fromthe friend, seeming to be zealous and ready on all occasions and nevercrying off. For, as Euripides says, [426] a friend's behaviour is, "likethe utterance of truth, simple, " and plain and inartificial, while thatof the flatterer "is in itself unsound, and needs wise remedies, " aye, by Zeus, and many such, and not ordinary ones. As for example in chancemeetings the friend often neither speaks nor is spoken to, but merelylooks and smiles, and then passes on, showing his inner affection andgoodwill 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 businessfriends neglect many unimportant points, are not too punctilious andofficious, and do not thrust themselves upon every service, but theflatterer is persevering and unceasing and indefatigable in it, givingnobody else either room or place to help, but putting himself wholly atyour disposal, and if you will not find him something to do for you, heis troubled, nay rather altogether dejected and lamenting loudly. [427]

§ XXII. To all sensible people all this is an indication, not of true orsober friendship, but of a meretricious one, that embraces you morewarmly than there is any occasion for. Nevertheless let us first look atthe difference between the friend and flatterer in their promises. Forit 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 hasfirst been asked his advice, and put the matter to the test, and set iton a suitable and expedient basis. But the flatterer, if anyone allowshim to examine a matter and give his opinion on it, not only wishes togratify him by compliance, but also fearing to be looked upon withsuspicion as unwilling and reluctant to engage in the business, gives into and even urges on his friend's desire. For there is hardly any kingor 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 advicein 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 fromthose who speak their mind, and hold different views as to what isexpedient, while they welcome those bad and illiberal impostors (thatonly speak to please them) not only within their houses, but also totheir affections and secrets. Now the simpler of these do not thinkright or claim to advise you in important matters, but only to assist inthe carrying out of them: but the more cunning one stands by during thediscussion, and knits his brows, and nods assent with his head, but saysnothing, but if his friend express an opinion, he then says, "Hercules, you only just anticipated me, I was about to make that very remark. " Foras the mathematicians tell us that surfaces and lines neither bend norextend nor move of themselves, being without body and only perceived bythe mind, but only bend and extend and change their position with thebodies whose extremities they are: so you will catch the flatterer everassenting with, and agreeing with, aye, and feeling with, and beingangry with, another, so easy of detection in all these points of view isthe difference between the friend and the flatterer. Moreover as regardsthe kind of good service. For the favour done by a friend, as theprincipal strength of an animal is within, is not for display orostentation, but frequently as a doctor cures his patient imperceptibly, so a friend benefits by his intervention, or by paying off creditors, orby managing his friend's affairs, even though the person who receivesthe benefit may not be aware of it. Such was the behaviour of Arcesilauson various occasions, and when Apelles[432] of Chios was ill, knowinghis poverty, he took with him twenty drachmæ when he visited him, andsitting down beside him he said, "There is nothing here but thoseelements of Empedocles, 'fire and water and earth and balmy expanse ofair, ' but you don't lie very comfortably, " and with that he moved hispillow, and privately put the money under it. And when his oldhousekeeper found it, and wonderingly told Apelles of it, he laughed andsaid, "This is some trick of Arcesilaus. " And the saying is also true inphilosophy that "children are like their parents. "[433] For whenCephisocrates had to stand his trial on a bill of indictment, Lacydes(who was an intimate friend of Arcesilaus) stood by him with severalother friends, and when the prosecutor asked for his ring, which was theprincipal evidence against him, Cephisocrates quietly dropped it on theground, and Lacydes noticing this put his foot on it and so hid it. Andafter sentence was pronounced in his favour, Cephisocrates going up tothank the jury, one of them who had seen the artifice told him to thankLacydes, and related to him all the matter, though Lacydes had not saida word about it to anybody. So also I think the gods do often performbenefits secretly, taking a natural delight in bestowing their favoursand bounties. [434] But the good service of the flatterer has no justice, or genuineness, or simplicity, or liberality about it; but isaccompanied with sweat, and running about, and noise, and knitting ofthe brow, creating an impression and appearance of toilsome and bustlingservice, like a painting over-curiously wrought in bold colours, andwith bent folds wrinkles and angles, to make the closer resemblance tolife. Moreover he tires one by relating what journeys and anxieties hehas had over the matter, how many enemies he has made over it, thethousand bothers and annoyances he has gone through, so that you say, "The affair was not worth all this trouble. " For being reminded of anyfavour done to one is always unpleasant and disagreeable andinsufferable:[435] but the flatterer not only reminds us of his servicesafterwards, but even during the very moment of doing them upbraids uswith them and is importunate. But the friend, if he is obliged tomention the matter, relates it modestly, and says not a word abouthimself. And so, when the Lacedæmonians sent corn to the people ofSmyrna that needed it, and the people of Smyrna wondered at theirkindness, the Lacedæmonians said, "It was no great matter, we only votedthat 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 afavour 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 atno great loss to themselves. 

§ XXIII. But it is not so much by the importunity of the flatterer inregard to services, nor by his facility in making promises, that one canrecognize his nature, as by the honourable or dishonourable kind ofservice, and by the regard to please or to be of real use. For thefriend is not as Gorgias defined him, one who will ask his friend tohelp him in what is right, while he will himself do many services forhis 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 notbecoming, and if he cannot persuade him, good is that answer of Phocionto Antipater, "You cannot have me both as friend and flatterer, "[438]that is, as friend and no friend. For one must indeed assist one'sfriend but not do anything wrong for him, one must advise with him butnot plot with him, one must bear witness for him but not join him infraud, one must certainly share adversity with him but not crime. Forsince we should not wish even to know of our friends' dishonourableacts, much less should we desire to share their dishonour by acting withthem. As then the Lacedæmonians, when conquered in battle by Antipater, on settling the terms of peace, begged that he would lay upon them whatburdens he pleased, provided he enjoined nothing dishonourable, so thefriend, if any necessity arise involving expense or danger or trouble, is the first to desire to be applied to and share in it with alacrityand without crying off, but if there be anything disgraceful inconnection with it he begs to have nothing to do with it. The flattereron the contrary cries off from toilsome and dangerous employments, andif you put him to the test by ringing him, [439] he returns a hollow andspurious sound, and finds some excuse; whereas use him in disgracefuland low and disreputable service, and trample upon him, he will think notreatment too bad or ignominious. Have you observed the ape? He cannotguard the house like the dog, nor bear burdens like the horse, norplough like the ox, so he has to bear insult and ribaldry, and put upwith being made sport of, exhibiting himself as an instrument to producelaughter. So too the flatterer, who can neither advocate your cause, norgive you useful counsel, nor share in your contention with anybody, butshirks all labour and toil, never makes any excuses in underhandtransactions, is sure to lend a helping hand in any love affair, isenergetic in setting free some harlot, and not careless in clearing offthe account of a drinking score, nor remiss in making preparations forbanquets, and obsequious to concubines, but if ordered to be uncivil toyour relations, or to help in turning your wife out of doors, he isrelentless and not to be put out of countenance. So that he is not hardto detect here too. For if ordered to do anything you pleasedisreputable or dishonourable, he is ready to take any pains to obligeyou. 

§ XXIV. One might detect again how greatly the flatterer differs fromthe friend by his behaviour to other friends. For the friend is bestpleased with loving and being beloved by many, and also always tries tocontrive for his friend that he too may be much loved and honoured, forhe believes in the proverb "the goods of friends are commonproperty, "[440] and thinks it ought to apply to nothing more than tofriends; but the false and spurious and counterfeit friend, knowing howmuch he debases friendship, like debased and spurious coin, is not onlyby nature envious, but shows his envy even of those who are likehimself, striving to outdo them in scurrility and gossip, while hequakes and trembles at any of his betters, not by Zeus "merely walkingon foot by their Lydian chariot, " but, to use the language of Simonides, "not even, having pure lead by comparison with their refinedgold. "[441] Whenever then, being light and counterfeit and false, he isput to the test at close quarters with a true and solid and cast-ironfriendship, he cannot stand the test but is detected at once, andimitates the conduct of the painter that painted some wretched cocks, for he ordered his lad to scare away all live cocks as far from hispicture as possible. So he too scares away real friends and will not letthem come near if he can help it, but if he cannot prevent that, heopenly fawns upon them, and courts them, and admires them as hisbetters, but privately runs them down and spreads calumnies about them. And when secret detraction has produced a sore feeling, [442] if he hasnot effected his end completely, he remembers and observes the teachingof Medius, who was the chief of Alexander's flatterers, and a leadingsophist in conspiracy against the best men. He bade people confidentlysow their calumny broadcast and bite with it, teaching them that even ifthe person injured should heal his sore, the scar of the calumny wouldremain. Consumed by these scars, or rather gangrenes and cancers, Alexander put to death Callisthenes, and Parmenio, and Philotas; whilehe himself submitted to be completely outwitted by such as Agnon, andBagoas, and Agesias, and Demetrius, who worshipped him and tricked himup and feigned him to be a barbaric god. So great is the power offlattery, and nowhere greater, as it seems, than among the greatestpeople. For their thinking and wishing the best about themselves makesthem credit the flatterer, and gives him courage. [443] For lofty heightsare difficult of approach and hard to reach for those who endeavour toscale them, but the highmindedness and conceit of a person thrown offhis balance by good fortune or good natural parts is easily reached bymean and petty people. 

§ XXV. And so we advised at the beginning of this discourse, and nowadvise again, to cut off self-love and too high an opinion of ourselves;for that flatters us first, and makes us more impressionable andprepared for external flatterers. But if we hearken to the god, andrecognize the immense importance to everyone of that saying, "Knowthyself, "[444] and at the same time carefully observe our nature andeducation and training, with its thousand shortcomings in respect togood, and the large proportion of vice and vanity mixed up with ourwords and deeds and feelings, we shall not make ourselves so easy a markfor flatterers. Alexander said that he disbelieved those who called hima god chiefly in regard to sleep and the sexual delight, for in boththose things he was more ignoble and emotional than in otherrespects. [445] So we, if we observe the blots, blemishes, shortcomings, and imperfections of our private selves, shall perceive clearly that wedo not need a friend who shall bestow upon us praise and panegyric, butone that will reprove us, and speak plainly to us, aye, by Zeus, andcensure us if we have done amiss. For it is only a few out of many thatventure to speak plainly to their friends rather than gratify them, andeven among those few you will not easily find any who know how to do soproperly, 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 ofspeech unseasonably is only to give needless pain and trouble, and in amanner to do so as to produce vexation the very thing the flatterer doesso as to produce pleasure. For it does people harm not only to praisethem unseasonably but also to blame them unseasonably, and especiallyexposes them to the successful attack of flatterers, for, like water, they abandon the rugged hills for the soft grassy valleys. And sooutspokenness ought to be tempered with kindness, and reason ought to becalled in to correct its excessive tartness, (as we tone down the toopowerful glare of a lamp), that people may not, by being troubled andgrieved at continual blame and rebuke, fly for refuge to the shade ofthe flatterer, and turn aside to him to free themselves from annoyance. For we ought, Philopappus, to banish all vice by virtue, not by theopposite vice, as some hold, [446] by exchanging modesty for impudence, and countrified ways for town ribaldry, and by removing their characteras far as possible from cowardice and effeminacy, even if that shouldmake people get very near to audacity and foolhardiness. And some evenmake superstition a plea for atheism, and stupidity a plea for knavery, perverting their nature, like a stick bent double, from inability to setit straight. But the basest disowning of flattery is to be disagreeablewithout any purpose in view, and it shows an altogether inelegant andclumsy unfitness for social intercourse to shun by unpleasing morosenessthe suspicion of being mean and servile in friendship; like the freedmanin the comedy who thought railing only enjoying freedom of speech. Seeing then, that it is equally disgraceful to become a flattererthrough trying only to please, as in avoiding flattery to destroy allfriendship and intimacy by excessive freedom of speech, we must avoidboth these extremes, and, as in any other case, make our freedom ofspeech agreeable by its moderation. So the subject itself seems next todemand that I should conclude it by discussing that point. 

§ XXVI. As then we see that much trouble arises from excessive freedomof 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 onaccount of any private hurt or injury. For people do not regard a speechon the speaker's own behalf as arising from goodwill, but from anger, and reproach rather than admonition. For freedom in speech is friendlyand has weight, but reproach is selfish and little. And so peoplerespect and admire those that speak their mind freely, but accuse backand despise those that reproach them: as Agamemnon would not stand themoderate freedom of speech of Achilles, but submitted to and enduredthe 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, andalso Odysseus had no private motive of anger but only spoke out onbehalf of Greece, [448] whereas Achilles seemed rather vexed on his ownaccount. And Achilles himself, though not sweet-tempered or mild ofmood, but "a terrible man, and one that would perchance blame aninnocent person, "[449] yet silently listened to Patroclus bringingagainst 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 whetherhe spoke bitterly, but whether he spoke so from interested motives, [451]so the rebuke of a friend void of all private feeling is solemn andgrave and what one dare not lightly face. And if anyone shows plainly inhis freedom of speech, that he altogether passes over and dismisses anyoffences his friend has done to himself, and only blames him for othershortcomings, and does not spare him but gives him pain for theinterests of others, the tone of his outspokenness is invincible, andthe sweetness of his manner even intensifies the bitterness andausterity of his rebuke. And so it has well been said, that in anger anddifferences with our friends we ought more especially to act with a viewto their interest or honour. And no less friendly is it, when it appearsthat we have been passed over and neglected, to boldly put in a word forothers that are neglected too, and to remind people of them, as Plato, when he was out of favour with Dionysius, begged for an audience, andDionysius granted it, thinking that Plato had some personal grievanceand was going to enter into it, but Plato opened the conversation asfollows, "If, Dionysius, you knew that some enemy had sailed to Sicilywith a view to do you some harm, but found no opportunity, would youallow him to sail back again, and go off scot-free?" "Certainly not, Plato, " replied Dionysius, "for we must not only hate and punish thedeeds of our enemies, but also their intentions. " "If then, " said Plato, "anyone has come here for your benefit, and wishes to do you good, andyou do not find him an opportunity, is it right to let him go away withneglect and without thanks?" And on Dionysius asking, who he meant, hereplied, "I mean Æschines, a man of as good a character as any ofSocrates' pupils whatever, and able to improve by his conversation anywith whom he might associate: and he is neglected, though he has made along voyage here to discuss philosophy with you. " This speech soaffected Dionysius, that he at once threw his arms round Plato andembraced him, admiring his benevolence and loftiness of mind, andtreated Æschines well and handsomely. 

§ XXVII. In the next place, let us clear away as it were and remove allinsolence, and jeering, and mocking, and ribaldry, which are the evilseasonings of freedom of speech. For as, when the surgeon performs anoperation, a certain neatness and delicacy of touch ought to accompanyhis use of the knife, but all pantomimic and venturesome and fashionablesuppleness and over-finicalness ought to be far away from his hand, sofreedom of speech admits of dexterity and politeness, provided that apleasant way of putting it does not destroy the power of the rebuke, forimpudence and coarseness and insolence, if added to freedom of speech, entirely mar and ruin the effect. And so the harper plausibly andelegantly silenced Philip, who ventured to dispute with him about properplaying on the harp, by answering him, "God forbid that you should be sounfortunate, O king, as to understand harping better than me. " But thatwas not a right answer of Epicharmus, when Hiero a few days afterputting to death some of his friends invited him to supper, "You did notinvite 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 theAthenians made statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton. " For thisunpleasant and bitter kind of language profits not those that use it, nor does scurrility and puerile jesting please, but such kind ofspeeches are indications of an incontinent tongue inspired by hate, andfull of malignity and insolence, and those who use such language do butruin themselves, recklessly dancing on the verge of a well. [452] ForAntiphon was put to death by Dionysius, and Timagenes lost thefriendship 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 thusvirtually charging friendship with being only a cloak for abuse. Foreven the comic poets have introduced on the stage many grave sentimentswell adapted to public life, but joking and ribaldry being mixed withthem, like insipid sauces with food, destroy their effect and make themlose their nourishing power, so that the comic poets only get areputation for malignity and coarseness, and the audience get no benefitfrom what is said. We may on other occasions jest and laugh with ourfriends, but let our outspokenness be coupled with seriousness andgravity, and if it be on important matters, let our speech betrustworthy and moving from its pathos, and animation, and tone ofvoice. And on all occasions to let an opportunity slip by is veryinjurious, but especially does it destroy the usefulness of freedom ofspeech. It is plain therefore that we must abstain from freedom ofspeech when men are in their cups. For he disturbs the harmony of asocial gathering[454] who, in the midst of mirth and jollity, introducesa topic that shall knit the brows and contract the face, and shall actas a damper to the Lysian[455] god, who, as Pindar says, "looses therope of all our cares and anxieties. " There is also great danger in suchill-timed freedom of speech. For wine makes people easily slip intorage, and oftentimes freedom of speech in liquor makes enemies. Andgenerally speaking it is not noble or brave but cowardly to conceal yourideas 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. 

§ XXVIII. But since many people do not think fit or even dare to findfault with their friends when in prosperity, but think that conditionaltogether out of the reach and range of rebuke, but inveigh againstthem if they have made a slip or stumble, and trample upon them if theyare in dejection and in their power, and, like a stream swollen aboveits banks, pour upon them then the torrent of all their eloquence, [456]and enjoy and are glad at their reverse of fortune, owing to theirformer contempt of them when they were poor themselves, it is not amissto 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 beoutspoken to them, and abate their excessive pride. For there are fewwho are sensible in prosperity, most need to borrow wisdom from others, and such considerations as shall keep them lowly when puffed up andgiving themselves airs owing to their good fortune. But when the deityhas abased them and stripped them of their conceit, there is somethingin their very circumstances to reprove them and bring about a change ofmind. And so there is no need then of a friendly outspokenness, nor ofweighty or caustic words, but truly in such reverses "it is sweet tolook into the eyes of a friendly person, "[458] consoling and cheeringone up: as Xenophon[459] tells us that the sight of Clearchus in battleand dangers, and his calm benevolent face, inspired courage in his menwhen in peril. But he who uses to a man in adversity too great freedomand severity of speech, like a man applying too pungent a remedy to aninflamed and angry eye, neither cures him nor abates his pain, but addsanger to his grief, and exasperates his mental distress. For exampleanyone well is not at all angry or fierce with a friend, who blames himfor his excesses with women and wine, his laziness and taking noexercise, his frequent baths, and his unseasonable surfeiting: but to aperson ill all this is unsufferable, and even worse than his illness tohear, "All this has happened to you through your intemperance, andluxury, your dainty food, and love for women. " The patient answers, "Howunseasonable is all this, good sir! I am making my will, the doctors arepreparing me a dose of castor and scammony, and you are scolding me andplying me with philosophy. " And thus the affairs of the unfortunate donot admit of outspokenness and a string of Polonius-like saws, but theyrequire kindness and help. For when children fall down their nurses donot run up to them and scold, but pick them up, and clean them, and tidytheir dress, and afterwards find fault and correct them. The story istold of Demetrius of Phalerum, when an exile from his native country, and living a humble and obscure life at Thebes, that he was not pleasedto see Crates approaching, for he expected to receive from him cynicaloutspokenness 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 theuncertainties and dangers of public life, and at the same time bade himtrust in himself and his condition of mind, Demetrius cheered up andbecame happier, and said to his friends, "Out upon all my formerbusiness and employments, that left me no leisure to know such a man asthis!"

 "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 lowflatterers of those in prosperity, as Demosthenes says fractures andsprains always give us pain again when the body is not well, [461] adhereto them in reverses, as if they were pleased at and enjoyed them. Butindeed if there be any need of reminding a man of the blunders hecommitted through unadvisedly following his own counsel, it is enough tosay, "This was not to my mind, indeed I often tried to dissuade you fromit. "[462]

§ XXIX. In what cases then ought a friend to be vehement, and when oughthe to use emphatic freedom of language? When circumstances call upon himto check some headlong pleasure or rage or insolence, or to curtailavarice, or to correct some foolish negligence. Thus Solon spoke out toCroesus, 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 hisheart. [464] Such also was the plain dealing of Cyrus with Cyaxares, andof Plato with Dion, for when Dion was most famous and attracted tohimself the notice of all men, by the splendour and greatness of hisexploits, Plato warned him to fear and be on his guard against "pleasingonly himself, for so he would lose all his friends. "[465] Speusippusalso wrote to him not to plume himself on being a great person only withlads and women, but to see to it that by adorning Sicily with piety andjustice and good laws he might make the Academy glorious. On the otherhand Euctus and Eulæus, companions of Perseus, in the days of hisprosperity ingratiated themselves with him, and assented to him in allthings, and danced attendance upon him, like all the other courtiers, but when he fled after his defeat by the Romans at Pydna, they attackedhim and censured him bitterly, reminding him and upbraiding him inregard to everything he had done amiss or neglected to do, till he wasso greatly exasperated both from grief and rage that he whipped out hissword and killed both of them. 

§ XXX. Let so much suffice for general occasions of freedom of speech. There are also particular occasions, which our friends themselvesfurnish, that one who really cares for his friends will not neglect, butmake use of. In some cases a question, or narrative, or the censure orpraise of similar things in other people, gives as it were the cue forfreedom of speech. Thus it is related that Demaratus came to Macedoniafrom Corinth at the time when Philip was at variance with his wife andson, and when the king asked if the Greeks were at harmony with oneanother, Demaratus, being his well-wisher and friend, answered, "It iscertainly very rich of you, Philip, inquiring as to concord between theAthenians and Peloponnesians, when you don't observe that your own houseis full of strife and variance. "[466] Good also was the answer ofDiogenes, who, when Philip was marching to fight against the Greeks, stole into his camp, and was arrested and brought before him, and theking not recognizing him asked if he was a spy, "Certainly, " replied he, "Philip, I have come to spy out your inconsiderate folly, which makesyou, under no compulsion, come here and hazard your kingdom and life ona moment's[467] cast of the die. " This was perhaps rather too strong aremark. 

§ XXXI. Another suitable time for reproof is when people have beenabused by others for their faults, and have consequently become humble, and abated their pride. The man of tact will ingeniously seize theoccasion, checking and baffling those that used the abuse, but privatelyspeaking seriously to his friend, and reminding him, that he ought to bemore careful if for no other reason than to take off the edge of hisenemies' satire. He will say, "How can they open their mouths againstyou, or what can they urge, if you give up and abandon what you get thisbad name about?" Thus pain comes only from abuse, but profit fromreproof. And some correct their friends more daintily by blamingothers; censuring others for what they know are their friends' faults. Thus my master Ammonius in afternoon school, noticing that some of hispupils had not dined sufficiently simply, bade one of his freedmenscourge his own son, charging him with being unable to get through hisdinner without vinegar, [468] but in acting thus he had an eye to us, sothat this indirect rebuke touched the guilty persons. 

§ XXXII. We must also beware of speaking too freely to a friend in thecompany of many people, remembering the well-known remark of Plato. Forwhen Socrates reproved one of his friends too vehemently in a discussionat table, Plato said, "Would it not have been better to have said thisprivately?" Whereupon Socrates replied, "And you too, sir, would it nothave become you to make this remark also privately?" And Pythagorashaving rebuked one of his pupils somewhat harshly before many people, they say the young fellow went off and hung himself, and from thatmoment 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-doingwe ought to make the detection and exposure private, and notostentatiously public by bringing witnesses and spectators. For it isnot the part of a friend but a sophist to seek glory by the ill-fame ofanother, and to show off in company, like the doctors that performwonderful cures in the theatres as an advertisement. [469] Andindependently of the insult, which ought not to be an element in anycure, we must remember that vice is contentious and obstinate. For it isnot merely "love, " as Euripides says, that "if checked becomes morevehement, " but an unsparing rebuke before many people makes everyinfirmity and vice more impudent. As then Plato[470] urges old men whowant to teach the young reverence to act reverently to them firstthemselves, so among friends a gentle rebuke is gently taken, and acautious and careful approach and mild censure of the wrong-doerundermines and destroys vice, and makes its own modesty catching. Sothat line is most excellent, "holding his head near, that the othersmight not hear. "[471] And most especially indecorous is it to expose ahusband in the hearing of his wife, or a father before his children, ora lover in the presence of the loved one, or a master before hisscholars. For people are beside themselves with pain and rage ifreproached before those with whom they desire to be held in good repute. And I think it was not so much wine that exasperated Alexander withClitus, 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 theking 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 onhis behalf, and said, "If after your immense state-labours and manyvigils you have been overpowered by sleep, he ought to have rebuked youprivately, and not put his hands upon you before so many people. " AndPtolemy sent for a cup of poison and ordered the poor man to drink itup. And Aristophanes said Cleon blamed him for "railing against thestate when strangers were present, "[473] and so irritating theAthenians. We ought therefore to be very much on our guard in relationto this point too as well as others, if we wish not to make a displayand catch the public ear, but to use our freedom of speech forbeneficial purposes and to cure vice. Moreover, what Thucydides hasrepresented the Corinthians saying of themselves, that "they had a rightto blame their neighbours, "[474] is not a bad precept for those toremember who intend to use freedom of speech. Lysander, it seems, on oneoccasion said to a Megarian, who was speaking somewhat boldly on behalfof Greece among the allies, "Your words require a state to backthem":[475] similarly every man's freedom of speech requires characterbehind it, and especially true is this in regard to those who censureand correct others. Thus Plato said that his life was a tacit rebuke toSpeusippus: and doubtless Xenocrates by his mere presence in theschools, 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 rebukeanybody, is likely to hear the line, "He doctors others, all diseased himself. "[476]

§ XXXIII. Yet since circumstances frequently call on people who are badthemselves in association with other such to reprove them, the mostconvenient mode of reproof will be that which contrives to include thereprover in the same indictment as the reproved, as in the case of theline, "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 withoutignorance, but one that needed in common with them to prosecute virtue, and seek truth. For they gain goodwill and influence, who seem to havethe same faults as their friends, and desire to correct themselves aswell as them. But he who is high and mighty in setting down another, asif he were himself perfect and without any imperfections, unless he beof a very advanced age, or has an acknowledged reputation for virtue andworth, does no good, but is only regarded as a tiresome bore. And so itwas wisely done of Phoenix to relate his own mishaps, how he had meantkilling his father, but quickly repented at the thought "that he wouldbe called by the Achæans parricide, "[479] that he might not seem to berebuking Achilles, as one that had himself never suffered from excess ofrage. For kindness of this sort has great influence, and people yieldmore to those who seem to be sympathetic and not supercilious. And sincewe ought not to expose an inflamed eye to a strong light, and a soul aprey to the passions cannot bear unmixed reproof and rebuke, one of themost useful remedies will be found to be a slight mixture of praise, asin 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, butalso, by reminding a man of former noble deeds, implants a desire toemulate his former self in the person who is ashamed of what is low, andmakes himself his own exemplar for better things. But if we make acomparison between him and other men, as his contemporaries, hisfellow-citizens, or his relations, then the contentious spirit inherentin 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 arerebuking a man, unless indeed it be their parents, as Agamemnon says inHomer, "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?"

§ XXXIV. But it is by no means fitting when rebuked to rebuke back, andwhen spoken to plainly to answer back, for that soon kindles a flame andcauses dissension; and generally speaking such altercation will not lookso much like a retort as an inability to bear freedom of speech. It isbetter therefore to listen patiently to a friend's rebuke, for if heshould afterwards do wrong himself and so need rebuke, he has set youthe example of freedom of speech. For being reminded without any malice, that he himself has not been accustomed to spare his friends when theyhave done wrong, but to convince them and show them their fault, he willbe the more inclined to yield and give himself up to correction, as itwill seem a return of goodwill and kindness rather than scolding orrage. 

§ XXXV. Moreover, as Thucydides says "he is well advised who [only]incurs envy in the most important matters, "[486] so the friend oughtonly to take upon himself the unpleasant duty of reproof in grave andmomentous cases. For if he is always in a fret and a fume, and rates hisacquaintances more like a tutor than a friend, his rebuke will be bluntand ineffective in cases of the highest importance, and he will resemblea doctor who dispenses some sharp and bitter, but important and costly, drug in trifling cases of common occurrence, where it was not at allneeded, and so will lose all the advantages that might come from ajudicious use of freedom of speech. He will therefore be very much onhis guard against continual fault-finding, and if his friend is alwayspettifogging about minute matters, and is needlessly querulous, it willgive him a handle against him in more important shortcomings. Philotimusthe doctor, when a patient who had abscesses on his liver showed him hissore finger, said to him, "My friend, it is not the whitlow thatmatters. "[487] So an opportunity sometimes offers itself to a friend tosay to a man, who is always finding fault on small and trivial points, "Why are we always discussing mere child's play, tippling, [488] andtrifles? Let such a one, my dear sir, send away his mistress, or give upplaying at dice, he will then be in my opinion in all respects anexcellent fellow. " For he who receives pardon on small matters iscontent that his friend should rebuke him on matters of more moment: butthe man who is ever on the scold, everywhere sour and glum, knowing andprying into everything, is scarcely tolerable to his children orbrothers, and insufferable to his slaves. 

§ XXXVI. But since "neither, " to use the words of Euripides, "do alltroubles proceed only from old age, "[489] nor from the stupidity of ourfriends, we ought to observe not only the shortcomings but also the goodpoints of our friends, aye, by Zeus, and to be ready to praise themfirst, and only censure them afterwards. For as iron receives itsconsistency and temper by first being submitted to fire and so made softand then dipped into cold water, so when friends have been first warmedand melted with praises we can afterwards use gentle remonstrance, whichhas a similar effect to that of dipping in the case of the metal. For anopportunity will offer itself to say, "Are those actions worthy to becompared with these? Do you see what fruits virtue yields? These are thethings we your friends ask of you, these become you, for these you aredesigned by nature; but all that other kind of conduct we must rejectwith abhorrence, 'cast it away on a mountain, or throw it into theroaring sea. '"[490] For as a clever doctor would prefer to cure theillness of his patient by sleep and diet rather than by castor orscammony, so a kind friend and good father or teacher delight to usepraise rather than blame to correct the character. For nothing makesrebuke less painful or more beneficial than to refrain from anger, andto inveigh against wrong-doing mildly and kindly. And so we ought notsharply to drive home the guilt of those who deny it, or prevent theirmaking their defence, but even contrive to furnish them with speciousexcuses, and if they seem reluctant to give a bad motive for theiraction we ought ourselves to find for them a better, as Hector did forhis brother Paris, "Unhappy man, thy anger was not good, "[491]

suggesting that his absconding from the battle was not running away orcowardice, 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 "Youbehaved 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 thatdesires to reform and not to wound; that rebuke which looks merely atthe effect to be produced acts on another principle. For when it isnecessary to stop people on the verge of wrong-doing, or to check someviolent and irregular impulse, or if we wish to rouse and infuse vigourin those who prosecute virtue only feebly and languidly, we may thenassign strange and unbecoming motives for their behaviour. As Odysseusin Sophocles' play, [493] striving to rouse Achilles, says he is notangry about his supper, [494] but "that he is afraid now that he looksupon the walls of Troy, " and when Achilles was vexed at this, and talkedof 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 theimputation of cowardice, and the sober and orderly man by that oflicentiousness, and the liberal and munificent man by that of meannessand avarice, people urge them on to what is good, and deter them fromwhat is bad, showing moderation in cases past remedy, and exhibiting intheir freedom of speech more sorrow and sympathy than fault-finding; butin the prevention of wrong-doing and in earnest fighting against thepassions they are vehement and inexorable and assiduous: for that is thetime for downright plainness and truth. Besides we see that enemiescensure one another for what they have done amiss, as Diogenessaid, [495] he who wished to lead a good life ought to have good friendsor red-hot enemies, for the former told you what was right, and thelatter blamed you if you did what was wrong. But it is better to be onour guard against wrong actions, through listening to the persuasion ofthose that advise us well, than to repent, after we have done wrong, inconsequence of the reproaches of our enemies. And so we ought to employtact in our freedom of speech, as it is the greatest and most powerfulremedy in friendship, and always needs a well-chosen occasion, andmoderation in applying it. 

§ XXXVII. Since then, as I have said before, freedom of speech is oftenpainful to the person who is to receive benefit from it, we must imitatethe surgeons, who, when they have performed an operation, do not leavethe suffering part to pain and smart, but bathe and foment it; so thosewho do their rebuking daintily run[496] off after paining and smarting, and by different dealing and kind words soothe and mollify them, asstatuaries smooth and polish images which have been broken or chipped. But he that is broken and wounded by rebuke, if he is left sullen andswelling with rage and off his equilibrium, is henceforth hard to winback or talk over. And so people who reprove ought to be especiallycareful on this point, and not to leave them too soon, nor break offtheir conversation and intercourse with their acquaintances at theexasperating 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 quædam oportet sermonum atque morum, haudquaquam mediocre condimentum amicitiæ. 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 Præcepta, " § viii. But to Evenus, "Quæst. Conviv. " Lib. Vii. Prooemium, and "Platonicæ Quæstiones, " x. § 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 Athenæus, 256 D. Compare also Valerius Maximus, ix. 1. 

 [359] "Videatur Casaubonus ad Athenæum, 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 Catilinæ 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, "Phædrus, " p. 239 D. 

 [368] Wyttenbach compares Juvenal, iii. 100-108. 

 [369] See my note "On Abundance of Friends, " § 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, " § 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 machimôtaton thrakôn 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, " § ix. 

 [377] As "Fumum et opes _strepitumque_ Romæ. "--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, " § 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, " § ii. 

 [381] "De Chamæleonte Aristoteles 'Hist. Animal. ' i. 11; 'Part. Animal. ' iv. 11; Theophrastus Eclog. Ap. Photium edit. Aristot. Sylburg. T. Viii. P. 329: [Greek: metaballei de ho chamaileôn eis panta ta chrômata; plên ten eis to leukon kai to eruthron ou dechetai metabolên. ] Similiter Plinius 'Hist. Nat. ' viii. 51. "--_Wyttenbach. _

 [382] See Athenæus, 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 tên gynaika dei legein, Tên d' êgemonian tôn olôn 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. § 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 Athenæus, p. 434 C. 

 [402] As Gnatho in Terence, "Eunuch. " 496-498. 

 [403] Reading [Greek: Helôn], as Courier, Hercher. 

 [404] "Iliad, " x. 249. They are words of Odysseus. 

 [405] This was carrying flattery rather far. "Mithridatis medicinæ scientia multis memorata veterum. "--_Wyttenbach. _

 [406] Euripides, "Alcestis, " 1159. 

 [407] Our author gives this definition to Simonides, "De Gloria Atheniensium, " § iii. 

 [408] So our author again, "On Contentedness of Mind, " § xii. 

 [409] See Herodotus, i. 30, 33; Juvenal, x. 274, 275; and Pausanias, ii. 20. 

 [410] "Nobile Stoæ 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; Præcipue sanus, nisi quum pituita molesta est. "--_Wyttenbach. _

 [411] See also "On Contentedness of Mind, " § 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 § xxvii. Where [Greek: parrhêsia] 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, " § xl. ; Erasmus, "Adagia, " pp. 1222, 1838. 

 [419] A line out of Æschylus' "Myrmidons. " Quoted again by our author, "Of Love, " § 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 (cicutæ), priusquam perveniat ad vitalia, vini natura excalfactoria: sed in vino pota irremediabilis existimatur. "

 [424] Assigned to Pittacus by our author, "Septem Sapientum Convivium, " § 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] "Phoenissæ, " 469-472. 

 [427] Like Juvenal's "Græculus esuriens in cælum, 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 Athenæus, 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: "Hæc 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 Lacedæmonians is told by Aristotle, "Oeconom. " ii. 9. 

 [437] A line from Euripides, "Iphigenia in Aulis, " 407. 

 [438] Also in "Conjugal Precepts, " § xxix. 

 [439] See Persius, iii. 21, 22, with Jahn's Note. 

 [440] See "On Love, " § xxi. 

 [441] "Auri plumbique oppositio fere proverbialis est. Petronius, 'Satyricon, ' 43. Plane fortunæ 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 § 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 reipublicæ 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. Lyæus is suggested by Wyttenbach, and read by Hercher. Lysius or Lyæus will both be connected with [Greek: luô], 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 Isæo 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: horæ Momento cita mors venit aut victoria læta. "

 [468] And so being dainty. See Athenæus, 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, " § 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, "Phoenissæ, " 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, " § xviii. 

 [487] See also "De Audiendo, " § x. 

 [488] [Greek: potous] comes in rather curiously here. Can any other word lurk under it?

 [489] "Phoenissæ, " 528, 529. 

 [490] Homer, "Iliad, " vi. 347. 

 [491] Do. Vi. 326. 

 [492] Homer, "Iliad, " ix. 109, 110. 

 [493] In Dindorf's "Poetæ Scenici Græci, " 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 tô Deipnô]. 

 [495] Compare "How One may be aware of one's Progress in Virtue, " § xi. 

 [496] "Ductum e proverbiali dictione [Greek: balonta ekpheugein], emisso telo aufugere. "--_Wyttenbach. _

HOW A MAN MAY BE BENEFITED BYHIS ENEMIES. 

§ I. I am well aware, Cornelius Pulcher, that you prefer the mildestmanners in public life, by which you can be at once most useful to thecommunity, and most agreeable in private life to those who have anydealings with you. But since it is difficult to find any region withoutwild beasts, though it is related of Crete;[497] and hitherto there hasbeen no state that has not suffered from envy, rivalry, and strife, themost fruitful seeds of hostility; (for, even if nothing else does, ourfriendships involve us in enmities, as Chilo[498] the wise manperceived, who asked the man who told him he had no enemy, whether hehad a friend either), it seems to me that a public man ought not only toexamine the whole question of enemies in its various ramifications, butalso to listen to the serious remark of Xenophon, [499] that a sensibleman will receive profit even from his enemies. The ideas therefore thatlately occurred to me to deliver, I have now put together nearly in theidentical words and send them to you, with the exception of some matteralso in "Political Precepts, "[500] a treatise which I have often noticedin your hands. 

§ II. People in old times were well satisfied if they were not injuredby strange and wild beasts, and that was the only motive of their fightswith them, but those of later days have by now learnt to make use ofthem, for they feed on their flesh, and clothe themselves with theirwool, and make medical use of their gall and beestings, and turn theirhides into shields, so that we might reasonably fear, if beasts failedman, that his life would become brutish, and wild, and void ofresources. Similarly since all others are satisfied with not beinginjured by their enemies, but the sensible will also (as Xenophon says)get profit out of them, we must not be incredulous, but seek a methodand plan how to obtain this advantage, seeing that life without an enemyis impossible. The husbandman cannot cultivate every tree, nor can thehunter tame every kind of animal, so both seek means to derive profitaccording to their several necessities, the one from his barren trees, the other from his wild animals. Sea-water also is undrinkable andbrackish, but it feeds fish, and is a sort of vehicle to convey andtransport travellers anywhere. The Satyr, when he saw fire for the firsttime, 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 respectsinjurious and intractable, he somehow or other gives us a handle to makeuse of him by, and so is serviceable. And many things are unpleasant anddetestable and antagonistic to those to whom they happen, but you musthave noticed that some use even illnesses as a period of rest for thebody, and others by excessive toil have strengthened and trained theirbodily vigour, and some have made exile and the loss of money a passageto leisure and philosophy, as did Diogenes and Crates. And Zeno, when heheard of the wreck of the ship which contained all his property, said, "Thou hast done well, Fortune, to confine me to my threadbarecloak. "[503]

For as those animals that have the strongest and healthiest stomachs eatand digest serpents and scorpions, and some even feed on stones andshells, which they convert into nourishment by the strength and heat oftheir stomachs, while fastidious people out of health almost vomit ifoffered bread and wine, so foolish people spoil even their friendships, while the wise know how to turn to account even their enmities. 

§ III. In the first place then it seems to me that what is mostinjurious in enmity may become most useful to those that pay attentionto it? To what do I refer? Why, to the way in which your enemy ever wideawake pries into all your affairs, and analyzes your whole life, tryingto get a handle against you somewhere, able not only to look through atree, like Lynceus, [504] or through stones and shells, but through yourfriend and domestic and every intimate acquaintance, as far as possibledetecting your doings, and digging and ferreting into your designs. Forour friends are ill and often die without our knowing anything about itthrough our delay and carelessness, but we almost pry into even thedreams of our enemies; and our enemy knows even more than we doourselves of our diseases and debts and differences with our wives. [505]But they pay most attention to our faults and hunt them out: and asvultures follow the scent of putrid carcases, and cannot perceive soundand wholesome ones, so the diseases and vices and crimes of life attractthe enemy, and on these those that hate us pounce, these they attack andtear to pieces. Is not this an advantage to us? Certainly it is. For itteaches us to live warily and be on our guard, and neither to do or sayanything carelessly or without circumspection, but ever to be vigilantby careful mode of living that we give no handle to an enemy. For thecautiousness that thus represses the passions and follows reasonimplants a care and determination to live well and without reproach. Foras those states that have been sobered by wars with their neighbours andcontinual campaigns love the blessings of order and peace, so thosepeople who are compelled to lead a sober life owing to their enemies, and to be on their guard against carelessness and negligence, and to doeverything with an eye to utility, imperceptibly glide into a faultlessmode of life, and tone down their character, even without requiring muchassistance 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 theirenemies would rejoice and laugh at. Again we see actors[507] and singerson the stage oftentimes slack and remiss, and not taking sufficientpains about their performances in the theatres when they have it all tothemselves; but when there is a competition and contest with others, they not only wake up but tune their instruments, and adjust theirchords, and play on the flute with more care. Similarly whoever knowsthat his enemy is antagonistic to his life and character, pays moreattention to himself, and watches his behaviour more carefully, andregulates his life. For it is peculiar to vice to be more afraid ofenemies than friends in regard to our faults. And so Nasica, when someexpressed their opinion that the Roman Republic was now secure, sinceCarthage was rased to the ground and Achaia reduced to slavery, said, "Nay rather we are now in a critical position, since we have none leftto fear or respect. "

§ IV. Consider also that very philosophical and witty answer of Diogenesto the man who asked, "How shall I avenge myself on my enemy?" "Bybecoming a good and honest man. "[508] Some people are terribly put aboutif they see their enemies' horses in a good condition, or hear theirdogs praised; if they see their farm well-tilled, their gardenwell-kept, they groan aloud. What a state think you then they would bein, if you were to exhibit yourself as a just man, sensible and good, inwords excellent, in deeds pure, in manner of life decorous, "reapingfruit from the deep soil of the soul, where good counsels grow. "[509]Pindar says[510] "those that are conquered are reduced to completesilence:" but not absolutely, not all men, only those that see they areoutdone by their enemies in industry, in goodness, in magnanimity, inhumanity, 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 callinghim a pathick, or effeminate, or intemperate, or a low fellow, orilliberal; but be yourself a man, and temperate, and truthful, and kindand just in all your dealings with those you come across. But if you aretempted to use abuse, mind that you yourself are very far from what youabuse him for, dive down into your own soul, look for any rottenness inyourself, 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 learningand industry; if you call him coward, stir up the more your own spiritand manliness; and if you say he is wanton and licentious, erase fromyour own soul any secret trace of the love of pleasure. For nothing ismore disgraceful or more unpleasant than slander that recoils on theperson who sets it in motion; for as the reflection of light seems mostto 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 attractsclouds, so does a bad life draw upon itself rebukes. 

§ V. Whenever Plato was in company with people who behaved in anunseemly manner, he used to say to himself, "Am I such a person asthis?"[514] So he that censures another man's life, if he straightwayexamines and mends his own, directing and turning it into the contrarydirection, will get some advantage from his censure, which will beotherwise idle and unprofitable. Most people laugh if a bald-pate orhump-back jeer and mock at others who are so too: it is quite asridiculous to jeer and mock if one lies open to retort oneself, as Leoof Byzantium showed in his answer to the hump-back who jeered at him forweakness of eyes, "You twit me with an infirmity natural to man, whileyou yourself carry your Nemesis on your back. "[515] And so do not abuseanother as an adulterer, if you yourself are mad after boys: nor as aspendthrift, if you yourself are niggardly. Alcmæon said to Adrastus, "You are near kinsman to a woman that slew her husband. " What was hisreply? He retaliated on him with the appropriate retort, "But you killedwith your own hand the mother that bore you. "[516] And Domitius said toCrassus, "Did you not weep for the lamprey that was bred in yourfishpond, and died?" To which Crassus replied, "Did you weep, when youburied your three wives?" He therefore that intends to abuse others mustnot be witty and noisy and impudent, but a man that does not lie open tocounter-abuse and retort, for the god seems to have enjoined upon no onethe precept "Know thyself" so much as on the person who is censorious, to prevent people saying just what they please, and hearing what don'tplease them. For such a one is wont, as Sophocles[517] says, "idlyletting his tongue flow, to hear against his will, what he willinglysays ill of others. "

§ VI. This use and advantage then there is in abusing one's enemy, andno less arises from being abused and ill-spoken of oneself by one'senemies. And so Antisthenes[518] said well that those who wish to lead agood life ought to have genuine friends or red-hot enemies; for theformer deterred you from what was wrong by reproof, the latter by abuse. But since friendship has nowadays become very mealy-mouthed in freedomof speech, voluble in flattery and silent in rebuke, we can only hearthe truth from our enemies. For as Telephus[519] having no surgeon ofhis own, submitted his wound to be cured by his enemy's spear, so thosewho cannot procure friendly rebuke must content themselves with thecensure of an enemy that hates them, reprehending and castigating theirvices, and regard not the animus of the person, but only his matter. Foras he who intended to kill the Thessalian Prometheus[520] only stabbed atumour, and so lanced it that the man's life was saved, and he was ridof the tumour by its bursting, so oftentimes abuse, suddenly thrust on aman in anger or hatred, has cured some disease in his soul which he wasignorant of or neglected. But most people when they are abused do notconsider whether the abuse really belongs to them properly, but lookround to see what abuse they can heap on the abuser, and, as wrestlersget smothered with the dust of the arena, do not wipe off the abusehurled at themselves, but bespatter others, and at last get on bothsides grimy and discoloured. But if anyone gets a bad name from anenemy, he ought to clear himself of the imputation even more than hewould remove any stain on his clothes that was pointed out to him; andif it be wholly untrue, yet he ought to investigate what originated thecharge, and to be on his guard and be afraid lest he had unawares donesomething very near akin to what was imputed to him. As Lacydes, theking of the Argives, by the way he wore his hair and by his mincing walkgot charged with effeminacy: and Pompey's scratching his head with onefinger was construed in the same way, though both these men were veryfar from effeminacy or wantonness. And Crassus was accused of anintrigue with one of the Vestal Virgins, because he wished to purchasefrom her a pleasant estate, and therefore frequently visited her andwaited upon her. And Postumia, from her readiness to laugh and talksomewhat freely with men, got accused and even had to stand her trialfor incest, [521] but was, however, acquitted of that charge: but SpuriusMinucius the Pontif ex Maximus, when he pronounced her innocent, urgedher not to be freer in her words than she was in her life. And thoughThemistocles[522] was guiltless of treason, his intimacy with Pausanias, and the letters and messages that frequently passed between them, laidhim under suspicion. 

§ VII. Whenever therefore any false charge is made against us, we oughtnot merely to despise and neglect it as false, but to see what word oraction, either in jest or earnest, has made the charge seem probable, and this we must for the future be earnestly on our guard against andshun. For if others falling into unforeseen trouble and difficultiesteach 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, andgive 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 bothcurious and talkative. Hiero was twitted by one of his enemies for hisfoul breath, so he went home and said to his wife, "How is this? Younever told me of it. " But she being chaste and innocent replied, "Ithought all men's breath was like that. "[525] Thus perceptible andmaterial things, and things that are plain to everybody, are soonerlearnt from enemies than from friends and intimates. 

§ VIII. Moreover to keep the tongue well under control, no small factorin moral excellence, and to make it always obedient and submissive toreason, is not possible, unless by practice and attention andpainstaking a man has subdued his worst passions, as for example anger. For such expressions as "a word uttered involuntarily, " and "escapingthe barrier of the teeth, "[526] and "words darting forth spontaneously, "well illustrate what happens in the case of ill-disciplined souls, everwavering and in an unsettled condition through infirmity of temper, through unbridled fancy, or through faulty education. But, according todivine Plato, [527] though a word seems a very trivial matter, theheaviest penalty follows upon it both from gods and men. But silence cannever be called to account, is not only not thirsty, to borrow thelanguage of Hippocrates, but when abused is dignified and Socratic, orrather 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 anenemy reviles you, "as one swims by a smooth and mocking cliff, " but inpractice it is better. If you accustom yourself to bear silently theabuse of an enemy, you will very easily bear the attack of a scoldingwife, and will remain undisturbed when you hear the sharp language of afriend or brother, and will be calm and placid when you are beaten orhave something thrown at your head by your father or mother. ForSocrates put up with Xanthippe, a passionate and forward woman, whichmade him a more easy companion with others, as being accustomed tosubmit to her caprices; and it is far better to train and accustom thetemper to bear quietly the insults and rages and jeers and taunts ofenemies and estranged persons, and not to be distressed at it. 

§ IX. Thus then must we exhibit in our enmities meekness andforbearance, and in our friendships still more simplicity andmagnanimity and kindness. For it is not so graceful to do a friend aservice, as disgraceful to refuse to do so at his request; and not torevenge oneself on an enemy when opportunity offers is generous. But theman who sympathizes with his enemy in affliction, and assists him indistress, and readily holds out a helping hand to his children andfamily and their fortunes when in a low condition, whoever does notadmire such a man for his humanity, and praise his benevolence, "He has a black heart made of adamant Or iron or bronze. "[529]

When Cæsar ordered the statues of Pompey that had been thrown down to beput up again, [530] Cicero said, "You have set up again Pompey's statues, and in so doing have erected statues to yourself. " We ought nottherefore to be niggardly in our praise and honour of an enemy thatdeserves a good name. For he who praises another receives on thataccount greater praise himself, and is the more credited on anotheroccasion when he finds fault, as not having any personal ill-feelingagainst the man, but only disapproving of his act; and what is mostnoble and advantageous, the man who is accustomed to praise his enemies, and not to be vexed or malignant at their prosperity, is as far aspossible from envying the good fortune of his friends, and the successof his intimates. And yet what practice will be more beneficial to ourminds, or bring about a happier disposition, than that which banishesfrom 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, sothat they cannot be abolished in spite of the injury they do, so enmitydrags along in its train hatred, and envy, and jealousy, and malignity, and revenge, and stamps them on the character. Moreover knavery, anddeceit, and villainy, that seem neither bad nor unfair if employedagainst an enemy, if they once get planted in the mind are difficult todislodge; and eventually from force of habit get used also againstfriends, unless they are forewarned and forearmed through their previousacquaintance with the tricks of enemies. If then Pythagoras, [531]accustoming his disciples to abstain from all cruelty and inhumanity tothe brute creation, did right to discountenance bird-fowling, and to buyup draughts of fishes and bid them be thrown into the water again, andto forbid killing any but wild animals, much more noble is it, indissensions and differences with human beings, to be a generous, justand true enemy, and to check and tame all bad and low and knavishpropensities, that in all intercourse with friends a man may keep thepeace and abstain from doing an injury. Scaurus was an enemy and accuserof Domitius, but when one of Domitius' slaves came to him to reveal someimportant matters which were unknown to Scaurus, he would not hear him, but seized him and sent him back to his master. And when Cato wasprosecuting Murena for canvassing, and was getting together hisevidence, he was accompanied as was usual by people who watched what hewas doing, [532] and would often ask him if he intended that day to gettogether his witnesses and open the case, and if he said "No, " theybelieved him and went their way. All this is the greatest proof of thecredit 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 andtreacherously to our friends and intimates. 

§ X. But since, as Simonides says, "all larks must have theircrests, "[533] and every man's nature contains in it pugnacity andjealousy and envy, which last is, as Pindar says, "the companion ofempty-headed men, " one might get considerable advantage by purgingoneself of those passions against enemies, and by diverting them, likesewers, as far as possible from companions and friends. [534] And this itseems the statesmanlike Onomademus had remarked, for being on thevictorious side in a disturbance at Chios, he urged his party not toexpel all of the different faction, but to leave some, "in order, " hesaid, "that we may not begin to quarrel with our friends, when we havegot entirely rid of our enemies. " So too our expending these passionsentirely on our enemies will give less trouble to our friends. For itought not to be, as Hesiod[535] says, that "potter envies potter, andsinger envies singer, and neighbour neighbour, " and cousin cousin, andbrother brother, "if hastening to get rich" and enjoying prosperity. Butif 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 sharpenand accentuate on them your acerbity. For as judicious gardeners thinkthey produce finer roses and violets by planting alongside of themgarlic and onions, that any bitter or strong elements may be transferredto them, so your enemy's getting and attracting your envy and malignitywill render you kinder and more agreeable to your prosperous friends. And so let us be rivals of our enemies for glory or office or righteousgain, not only being vexed if they get ahead of us, but also carefullyobserving all the steps by which they get ahead, and trying to outdothem in industry, and hard work, and soberness, and prudence; asThemistocles said Miltiades' victory at Marathon would not let himsleep. [536] For he who thinks his enemy gets before him in offices, oradvocacies, or state affairs, or in favour with his friends or greatmen, if from action and emulation he sinks into envy and despondency, makes his life become idle and inoperative. But he who is not blinded byhate, [537] but a discerning spectator of life and character and wordsand deeds, will perceive that most of what he envies comes to those whohave them from diligence and prudence and good actions, and exertinghimself in the same direction he will increase his love of what ishonourable and noble, and will eradicate his vanity and sloth. 

§ XI. But if our enemies seem to us to have got either by flattery, orfraud, or bribery, or venal services, ill-got and discreditable power atcourt or in state, it ought not to trouble us but rather inspirepleasure in us, when we compare our own liberty and purity andindependence of life. For, as Plato[538] says, "all the gold above orbelow the earth is not of equal value with virtue. " And we ought ever toremember the precept of Solon, "We will not exchange our virtue forothers' wealth. "[539] Nor will we give up our virtue for the applause ofbanqueting theatres, nor for honours and chief seats among eunuchs andharlots, nor to be monarchs' satraps; for nothing is to be desired ornoble that comes from what is bad. But since, as Plato[540] says, "thelover is blind as respects the loved one, " and we notice more what ourenemies do amiss, we ought not to let either our joy at their faults orour grief at their success be idle, but in either case we ought toreflect, 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 præter phalangium. "

 [498] See the same remark of Chilo, "On Abundance of Friends, " § vi. 

 [499] "Oeconom. " i. 15. 

 [500] A treatise of Plutarch still extant. 

 [501] A line from a lost Satyric Play of Æschylus, called "Prometheus Purphoros. "

 [502] So fire is called [Greek: pantechnon] in Æschylus, "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 "Quæstiones Romanæ, " § 107: [Greek: dia ti tous peri ton Dionuson technitas histriônas Rhômaioi kalousin];

 [508] Compare "De Audiendis Poetis, " § iv. 

 [509] Æschylus, "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, " § xxxii. 

 [514] Compare "De Audiendo, " §vi. See also Horace, "Satires, " i, 4. 136, 137. 

 [515] The story is somewhat differently told, "Quæst. Conviv. , " Lib. Ii. § 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, " § xi. , and "How One may discern a Flatterer from a Friend, " § 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 Pheræus 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: pathêmata mathêmata]. 

 [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, " § vii. 

 [528] See Pausanias, v. 14. 

 [529] From a Fragment of Pindar. 

 [530] See Suetonius, "Divus Julius, " 75: "Sed et statuas L. Sullæ 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 ædibus architecti avertunt ab oculis naribusque dominorum ea quæ profluentia necessario tætri 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, " § 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, " § vi. 

 [540] "Laws, " v. P. 731 E. See also above, § vii. 

ON TALKATIVENESS. [541]

§ I. Philosophy finds talkativeness a disease very difficult and hard tocure. For its remedy, conversation, requires hearers: but talkativepeople hear nobody, for they are ever prating. And the first evil thisinability to keep silence produces is an inability to listen. It is aself-chosen deafness of people who, I take it, blame nature for givingus one tongue and two ears. If then the following advice of Euripides toa 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 atalkative 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 shorttime, talkativeness hurries off what is said like the retiring sea, andanon brings it up again multiplied with the approaching tide. Theportico at Olympia that returns many echoes to one utterance is calledseven-voiced, [542] and if the slightest utterance catches the ear oftalkativeness, 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 butonly to the tongue. And so while other people retain what they hear, talkative people lose it altogether, and, being empty-headed, theyresemble empty vessels, and go about making much noise. [544]

§ 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 desireeither so unhappy are they that they must desist from it. For in allother diseases of the soul, as love of money, love of glory, or love ofpleasure, people at any rate attain the desired object: but it is thecruel fate of talkative people to desire hearers but not to get them, for everyone flees from them with headlong speed; and if people aresitting or walking about in any public place, [545] and see one comingthey quickly pass the word to one another to shift quarters. And as whenthere is dead silence in any assembly they say Hermes has joined thecompany, so when any prater joins some drinking party or socialgathering of friends, all are silent, not wishing to give him a chanceto 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 someheadland, " foreseeing tossing about and nausea, disperse. And so it istheir destiny to find neither willing table-companions, nor messmateswhen they are travelling by land or by sea, but only such as cannot helpthemselves; for such a fellow is always at you, plucking hold of yourclothes or chin, or giving you a dig in the ribs with his elbow. "Mostvaluable are the feet in such a conjuncture, " according to Archilochus, nay according to the wise Aristotle himself. For he being bothered witha talkative fellow, and wearied out with his absurd tales, and hisfrequent question, "Is not this wonderful, Aristotle?" "Not at all, "said he, "but it is wonderful that anyone with a pair of legs stops hereto listen to you. " And to another such fellow, who said after a longrigmarole, "Did I weary you, philosopher, by my chatter?" "Not you, byZeus, " said he, "for I paid no attention to you. " For even if talkativepeople force you to listen, [546] the mind can give them only its outwardears to deluge, while it unfolds and pursues some other thoughts within;so they find neither hearers to attend to them, nor credit them. Theysay those that are prone to Venus are commonly barren: so the prating oftalkative people is ineffectual and fruitless. 

§ III. And yet nature has fenced and barricaded in us nothing so much asthe tongue, having put the teeth before it as a barrier, so that if, when reason holds tight her "glossy reins, "[547] it hearken not, norkeep within bounds, we may check its intemperance, biting it till theblood comes. For Euripides tells us that, not from unbolted houses orstore-rooms, but "from unbridled mouths the end is misfortune. "[548] Butthose persons who think that houses without doors and open purses are nogood to their possessors, and yet keep their mouths open and unshut, andallow their speech to flow continually like the waves of theEuxine, [549] seem to regard speech as of less value than anything. Andso 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, butpraters are disbelieved even when they tell the truth. For as cornstowed away in a granary is found to be larger in quantity but inferiorin quality, so the speech of a talkative man is increased by a largeaddition of falsehood, which destroys his credit. 

§ IV. Then again every man of modesty and propriety would avoiddrunkenness, for anger is next door neighbour to madness as somethink, [550] but drunkenness lives in the same house: or ratherdrunkenness is madness, more short-lived indeed, but more potent alsothrough volition, for it is self-chosen. Nor is drunkenness censured foranything 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 anddancing. 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 thispassage has solved that problem of the philosophers, and stated thedifference between being under the influence of wine and being drunk, mirth being the condition of the former, foolish talk of the latter. Foras the proverb tells us, "What is in the heart of the sober is on thetongue of the drunken. "[553] And so Bias, being silent at a drinkingbout, 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 certainperson gave an entertainment to the king's ambassadors, and at theirdesire contrived to get the philosophers there too, and as they were alltalking together and comparing ideas, and Zeno alone was silent, thestrangers greeted him and pledged him, and said, "What are we to tellthe king about you, Zeno?" And he replied, "Nothing, but that there isan old man at Athens that can hold his tongue at a drinking bout. " Soprofound and mysterious and sober is silence, while drunkenness istalkative: for it is void of sense and understanding, and so isloquacious. And so the philosophers define drunkenness to be silly talkin wine. Drinking therefore is not censured, if silence go with it, butfoolish prating turns being under the influence of wine intodrunkenness. And the drunken man prates only in his cups; but thetalkative man prates everywhere, in the market-place, in the theatre, out walking, by night and by day. If he is your doctor, he is moretrouble to you than your disease: if he is on board ship with you, hedisgusts you more than sea-sickness; if he praises you, he is morefulsome than blame. It is more pleasure associating with bad men whohave tact than with good men who prate. Nestor indeed in Sophocles'Play, trying by his words to soothe exasperated Ajax, said to himmildly, "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 inwords destroys and undoes all the grace of his actions. 

§ 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 andsaid, "When I first perused this defence, it seemed to me wonderful, butwhen I read it a second and third time, it seemed altogether dull andineffective. Then Lysias laughed, and said, "What then? Are you going toread it more than once to the jury?" And yet do but consider thepersuasiveness and grace of Lysias' style;[554] for he "I say was agreat favourite with the dark-haired Muses. "[555] And of the thingswhich have been said of Homer the truest is that he alone of all poetshas survived the fastidiousness of mankind, as being ever new and stillat his acme as regards giving pleasure, and yet saying and proclaimingabout himself, "I hate to spin out a plain tale over and overagain, "[556] he avoids and fears that satiety which lies in ambush forevery narrative, and takes the hearer from one subject to another, andrelieves by novelty the possibility of being surfeited. But thetalkative worry one's ears to death with their tautologies, as peoplescribble the same things over and over again on palimpsests. [557]

§ VI. Let us remind them then first of this, that just as in the case ofwine, which was intended for pleasure and mirth, those who compel peopleto drink it neat and in large quantities bring some into a disgustingcondition of drunkenness, so with speech, which is the pleasantestsocial tie amongst mankind, those who make a bad and ill-advised use ofit render it unpleasing and unfit for company, paining those whom theythink to gratify, and become a laughing-stock to those who they thinkadmire them, and objectionable to those who they think love them. Asthen he cannot be a favourite of the goddess who with Aphrodite'scharmed girdle[558] repels and drives away those who associate with him, so he who with his speech bores and disgusts one is without either tasteor refinement. 

§ VII. Of all other passions and disorders some are dangerous, somehateful, some ridiculous, but in talkativeness all these elements arecombined. For praters are jeered at for their commonplaces, and hatedwhen 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 righthand on his mouth, for he thought his tongue needed the strongerrestraint, was right in his opinion. For it would be difficult to findas many men who have been ruined by venereal excesses as cities andleading states that have been undone by the utterance of a secret. WhenSulla was besieging Athens, and had no time to waste there, "for he hadother fish to fry, "[559] as Mithridates was ravaging Asia, and the partyof Marius was again in power at Rome, some old men in a barber's shophappened to observe to one another that the Heptachalcon was not wellguarded, and that their city ran a great risk of being captured at thatpoint, and some spies who overheard this conversation reported it toSulla. And he at once marched up his forces, and about midnight enteredthe city with his army, and all but rased it to the ground, and filledit with slaughter and dead bodies, insomuch that the Ceramicus ran withblood: and he was thus savage against the Athenians for their wordsrather than their deeds, for they had spoken ill of him and his wifeMetella, 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 heavypunishment. [561] The prating of one man also prevented Rome frombecoming free by the removal of Nero. For it was only the night beforethe tyrant was to be murdered, and all preparations had been made, whenhe that was to do the deed going to the theatre, and seeing someone inchains near the doors who was about to be taken before Nero, and wasbewailing his sad fortune, went up close to him and whispered, "Prayonly, good sir, that to-day may pass by, to-morrow you will owe me manythanks. " 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 remotecontingency, "[562] preferred certain to honourable safety. For heinformed Nero of what the man had said, and he was immediately arrested, and torture, and fire, and scourging were applied to him, who denied nowin his necessity what before he had divulged without necessity. 

§ VIII. Zeno the philosopher, [563] that he might not against his willdivulge any secrets when put to the torture, bit off his tongue, andspit it at the tyrant. Famous also was the reward which Leæna had forher taciturnity. [564] She was the mistress of Harmodius and Aristogiton, and, although a woman, participated in their hopes of success in theconspiracy against the tyrants: for she had revelled in the glorious cupof love, and had been initiated in their secrets through the god. Whenthen they had failed in their attempt and been put to death, and she wasexamined and bidden to reveal the names of the other conspirators, sherefused to do so, and held out to the end, showing that those famous menin loving such a one as her had done nothing unworthy of them. And theAthenians erected to her memory a bronze lioness without a tongue, andplaced it near the entrance to the Acropolis, signifying her dauntlesscourage by the nobleness of that animal, and by its being without atongue her silence and fidelity. For no spoken word has done as muchgood as many unspoken ones. For at some future day we can give utteranceif we like to what has been not said, but a word once spoken cannot berecalled, but flies about and runs all round the world. And this is thereason, I take it, why men teach us to speak, but the gods teach us tobe silent, silence being enjoined on us in the mysteries and in allreligious rites. Thus Homer has described the most eloquent Odysseus, and Telemachus, and Penelope, and the nurse, as all remarkable for theirtaciturnity. 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 hismembers under the sway and rule of reason, that he commanded his eyesnot to weep, his tongue not to speak, and his heart not to tremble orquake. [567]

 "So calm and passive did his heart remain, "[568]

reason penetrating even to the irrational instincts, and making spiritand blood obedient and docile to it. Such also were most of hiscompanions, for though they were dashed to the ground and dragged alongby the Cyclops, they said not a word about Odysseus, nor did they showthe stake of wood that had been put into the fire and prepared to putout Polyphemus' eye, but they would rather have been eaten alive thandivulge 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 avictim, and bade him take from it the best and worst piece of it, topull out the tongue and send that to the king, as being the instrumentof the greatest blessings and withal the greatest mischiefs. 

§ IX. So Ino in Euripides, speaking plainly about herself, says sheknows "how to be silent when she should, and to speak when speech issafe. "[570] For those who have enjoyed a truly noble and royal educationlearn first to be silent and then to speak. So the famous kingAntigonus, when his son asked him, "When are we going to shift ourquarters?" answered, "Are you afraid that you only will not hear thetrumpet?" Was he afraid then to entrust a secret to him, to whom heintended one day to leave his kingdom? Nay rather, it was to teach himto be close and guarded on such matters. Metellus[571] also, thewell-known veteran, when questioned somewhat similarly about anexpedition, said, "If I thought my coat knew the secret, I would stripit off and throw it into the fire. " And Eumenes, when he heard thatCraterus was marching against him, told none of his friends, butpretended that it was Neoptolemus; for his soldiers despisedNeoptolemus, but they admired the glory and loved the virtue ofCraterus; and no one but Eumenes knew the truth, and they engaged andwere victorious, and unwittingly killed Craterus, and only recognizedhis dead body. So great a part did silence play in the battle, concealing the name of the enemy's general: so that Eumenes' friendsmarvelled 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 becensured when one has done well by keeping one's counsel, rather than tohave to accuse others through having come to grief by trusting them. 

§ X. But, generally speaking, who has the right to blame the person whohas not kept his secret? For if it was not to be known, it was not wellto tell another person of it at all, and if you divulged your secretyourself and expected another person to keep it, you had more faith inanother than in yourself. And so should he be such another as yourselfyou are deservedly undone, and should he be a better man than yourself, your safety is more than you could have reckoned on, as it involvedfinding a man more to be trusted than yourself. But you will say, He ismy friend. Yes, but he has another friend, whom he reposes confidence inas much as you do in your friend, and that other friend has one of hisown, and so on, so that the secret spreads in many quarters frominability to keep it close in one. For as the unit never deviates fromits orbit, but (as its name signifies) always remains one, but thenumber two contains within it the seeds of infinity, for when it departsfrom itself it becomes plurality at once by doubling, so speech confinedin one person's breast is truly secret, but if it be communicated toanother 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 backagain, 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 oneperson to another. When a ship scuds before the gale the mariners canstop it, or at least check its course with cables and anchors, but whenthe spoken word once sails out of harbour, so to speak, there is noroadstead or anchorage for it, but borne along with much noise and echoit dashes its utterer on the rocks, and brings him into imminent dangerof 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]

§ XI. The Roman Senate had been discussing for several days a secretmatter, and there was much doubt and suspicion about it. And one of thesenator's wives, discreet in other matters but a very woman incuriosity, pressed her husband close, and entreated him to tell her whatthe secret was; she vowed and swore she would not divulge it, and didnot 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 hasbeen told us by the priests that a lark has been seen flying in the airwith a golden helmet and spear: it is this portent that we areconsidering and discussing with the augurs, as to whether it be a goodor bad omen. But say nothing about it. " Having said these words he wentinto the Forum. But his wife seized on the very first of her maids thatentered the room, and smote her breast, and tore her hair, and said, "Alas! for my husband and country! What will become of us?" wishing andteaching her maid to say, "Whatever's up?" So when she inquired she toldher all about it, adding that refrain common to all praters, "Tell noone a word about it. " The maid however had scarce left her mistress whenshe told one of her fellow-servants who was doing little or nothing, andshe told her lover who happened to call at that moment. So the newsspread to the Forum so quickly that it got the start of its originalauthor, and one of his friends meeting him said, "Have you only justleft 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 seenflying in the air with a golden helmet and spear, and the Senate are metto discuss the portent. " And he smiled and said to himself, "You arequick, wife, for the tale to get before me to the Forum!" Then meetingsome of the Senators he disabused them of their panic. But to punish hiswife, he said when he got home, "You have undone me, wife: for thesecret has got abroad from my house, so that I must be an exile from mycountry for your inability to keep a secret. " And on her trying to denyit, and saying, "Were there not three hundred Senators that heard of itas 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 inventedthe story, to put you to the test!" This fellow tested his wife warilyand cunningly, as one pours water, and not wine or oil, into a leakyvessel. And Fabius, [573] the friend of Augustus, hearing the Emperor inhis old age mourning over the extinction of his family, how two of hisdaughter Julia's sons were dead, and how Posthumus Agrippa, the onlyremaining one, was in exile through false accusation, [574] and how hewas compelled to put his wife's son[575] into the succession to theEmpire, though he pitied Agrippa and had half a mind to recall him frombanishment, repeated the Emperor's words to his wife, and she toLivia. [576] And Livia bitterly upbraided Augustus, if he meant recallinghis grandson, for not having done so long ago, instead of bringing herinto hatred and hostility with the heir to the Empire. When Fabius camein the morning as usual into the Emperor's presence, and said, "Hail, Cæsar!" the Emperor replied, "Farewell, [577] Fabius. " And heunderstanding the meaning of this straightway went home, and sent forhis 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 yourfate, since having been married to me so long you did not remember andguard against my incontinence of speech, but suffer me to kill myselffirst. " So saying she took his sword, and slew herself first. 

§ XII. That was a good answer therefore that the comic poet Philippidesmade to king Lysimachus, who greeted him kindly, and said to him, [578]"What shall I give you of all my possessions?" "Whatever you like, Oking, except your secrets. " And talkativeness has another plagueattached to it, even curiosity: for praters wish to hear much that theymay have much to say, and most of all do they gad about to investigateand pry into secrets and hidden things, providing as it were anantiquated stock of rubbish[579] for their twaddle, in fine likechildren who cannot[580] hold ice in their hands, and yet are unwillingto let it go, [581] or rather taking secrets to their bosoms andembracing them as if they were so many serpents, that they cannotcontrol, but are sure to be gnawed to death by. They say that garfishand vipers burst in giving life to their young, so secrets by coming outruin and destroy those who cannot keep them. Seleucus Callinicus havinglost his army and all his forces in a battle against the Galati, threwoff his diadem, and fled on a swift horse with an escort of three orfour of his men a long day's journey by bypaths and out-of-the-waytracks, till faint and famishing for want of food he drew rein at asmall farmhouse, where by chance he found the master at home, and askedfor some bread and water. And he supplied him liberally and courteouslynot 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 ofministering to the king's necessities, he could not contain himself, nordissemble like the king who wished to be incognito, but he accompaniedhim to the road, and on parting from him, said, "Farewell, kingSeleucus. " And he stretching out his right hand, and drawing the man tohim as if he was going to kiss him, gave a sign to one of his escort todraw 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, asthe king afterwards became prosperous and great, he would have received, I take it, greater favour for his silence than for his hospitality. Andyet he had I admit some excuse for his want of reticence, namely hopeand joy. 

§ XIII. But most talkative people have no excuse for ruining themselves. As for example in a barber's shop one day there was some conversationabout the tyranny of Dionysius, that it was as hard as adamant andinvincible, and the barber laughed and said, "Fancy your saying this tome, who have my razor at his throat most days!" And Dionysius hearingthis had him crucified. Barbers indeed are generally a talkative race, for people fond of prating flock to them and sit in their shops, so thatthey pick up the habit from their customers. It was a witty answertherefore of king Archelaus, [583] when a talkative barber put the towelround his neck, and asked him, "How shall I shave you, O king?""Silently, " said the monarch. It was a barber that first spread the newsof the great reverse of the Athenians in Sicily, having heard of it atthe Piræus from a slave that had escaped from the island. He at onceleft his shop, and ran into the city at full speed, "that no one elseshould reap the fame, and he come in the second, "[584] of carrying thenews into the town. And an uproar arising, as was only to be expected, the people assembled in the ecclesia, and began to investigate theorigin of the rumour. So the barber was dragged up and questioned, butknew not the person's name who had told him, so was obliged to refer itsorigin to an anonymous and unknown person. Then anger filled thetheatre, and the multitude cried out, "Torture the cursed fellow, puthim to the rack: he has fabricated and concocted this news: who elseheard it? who credits it?" The wheel was brought, the poor fellowstretched on it. Meantime those came up who had brought the news, whohad escaped from the carnage in Sicily. Then all the multitude dispersedto weep over their private sorrows, and abandoned the poor barber, whoremained fastened to the wheel. And when released late in the evening heactually asked the executioner, if they had heard how Nicias the Generalwas slain. So invincible and incorrigible a vice does habit maketalkativeness to be. 

§ XIV. And yet, as those that drink bitter and strong-smelling physicare disgusted even with the cups they drink it out of, so those thatbring evil tidings are disliked and hated by their hearers. Wittilytherefore has Sophocles described the conversation between Creon and theguard. 

 "_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 thedeed: and yet there is no means of checking or controlling the runningtongue. At Lacedæmon the temple of Athene Chalcioecus[586] was brokeninto, and an empty flagon was observed lying on the ground inside, and agreat concourse of people came up and discussed the matter. And one ofthe company said, "If you will allow me, I will tell you what I thinkabout this flagon. I cannot help being of opinion that thesesacrilegious wretches drank hemlock, and brought wine with them, beforecommencing their nefarious and dangerous work: that so, if they shouldfail to be detected, they might depart in safety, drinking the wine neatas 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 easilyand painlessly. " When he had uttered these words, the idea seemed soingenious and farfetched that it looked as if it could not emanate fromfancy, but only from knowledge of the real facts. So the crowdsurrounded 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 wasconvicted in this way, and confessed that he was one of those that hadcommitted the sacrilege. And were not the murderers of Ibycus similarlycaptured? They were sitting in the theatre, and some cranes flew overtheir heads, and they laughed and whispered to one another, "Behold theavengers of Ibycus. " And this being overheard by some who sat near, asIbycus had now been some time missing and inquired after, they laid holdof this remark, and reported it to the magistrates. And so they wereconvicted and dragged off to punishment, being brought to justice not bythe cranes but by their own inability to hold their tongues, beingcompelled by some Fury or Vengeance as it were to divulge themurder. [587] For as in the body there is an attraction to sore andsuffering parts from neighbouring parts, so the tongue of talkativepersons, ever suffering from inflammation and a throbbing pulse, attracts and draws to it secret and hidden things. And so the tongueought to be fenced in, and have reason ever before it, as a bulwark, toprevent 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. Tauruswhich 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 crossover by night unobserved. 

§ 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 asthe reward of treason that Euthycrates roofed his house with Macedonianwood, as Demosthenes tells us; and that Philocrates got a large sum ofmoney, and spent it on women and fish; and it was for betraying Eretriathat Euphorbus and Philagrus got an estate from king Philip. But thetalkative man is an unhired and officious traitor, not of horses[588] orwalls, but of secrets which he divulges in the law courts, in factions, in party-strife, no one thanking him for his pains; but should anyonelisten to him he thinks he is the obliged party. So that what was saidto a man who rashly and indiscriminately squandered away all his meansand 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 thisout of friendship or goodwill, but it is a disease in you, this itch fortalking and prating. "

§ XVI. But all this must not be looked upon merely as an indictmentagainst talkativeness, but an attempt to cure it: for we overcome thepassions by judgement and practice, but judgement is the first step. Forno one is wont to shun, and eradicate from his soul, what he does notdislike. And we dislike the passions only when we discern by reason theharm and shame that results to us by indulging them. As we see every dayin the case of talkative people: if they wish to be loved, they arehated; if they desire to please, they bore; when they think they areadmired, they are really laughed at; they spend, and get no gain from sodoing; they injure their friends, benefit their enemies, and ruinthemselves. So that the first cure and remedy of this disorder will beto reckon up the shame and trouble that results from it. 

§ XVII. In the next place we must consider the opposite virtue totalkativeness, always listening to and having on our lips the encomiumspassed upon reserve, and remembering the decorum sanctity and mysteriouspower of silence, and ever bearing in mind that terse and briefspeakers, who put the maximum of matter into the minimum of words, aremore admired and esteemed and thought wiser[590] than unbridledwindbags. And so Plato[591] praises, and compares to clever javelin-men, such as speak tersely, compressedly, and concisely. And Lycurgus byusing his citizens from boyhood to silence taught them to perfectiontheir brevity and terseness. For as the Celtiberians make steel of irononly after digging down deep in the soil, and carefully separating theiron ore, so Laconian oratory has no rind, [592] but by the removal ofall superfluous matter goes home straight to the point like steel. Forits sententiousness, [593] and pointed suppleness in repartee, comes fromthe habit of silence. And we ought to quote such pointed sayingsespecially to talkative people, such neatness and vigour have they, as, for example, what the Lacedæmonians said to Philip, "[Remember]Dionysius at Corinth. "[594] And again, when Philip wrote to them, "If Iinvade Laconia, I will drive you all out of house and home, " they onlywrote back, "If. " And when king Demetrius was indignant and cried out, "The Lacedæmonians have only sent me one ambassador, " the ambassador wasnot frightened but said, "Yes, one to one man. " Certainly among theancients men of few words were admired. So the Amphictyones did notwrite extracts from the Iliad or Odyssey, or the Pæans of Pindar, in thetemple of Pythian Apollo at Delphi, but "Know thyself, " "Not too much ofanything, "[595] and "Be a surety, trouble is near;"[596] so much didthey admire compactness and simplicity of speech, combining brevity withshrewdness of mind. And is not the god himself short and concise in hisoracles? Is he not called Loxias, [597] because he prefers ambiguity tolongwindedness? And are not those who express their meaning by signswithout words wonderfully praised and admired? As Heraclitus, when someof the citizens asked him to give them his opinion about concord, got onthe platform, and took a cup of cold water, and put some barley-meal init, and stirred it up with penny-royal, thus showing them that it isbeing content with anything, and not needing costly dainties, that keepscities in peace and concord. Scilurus, the king of the Scythians, lefteighty sons, and on his death-bed asked for a bundle of sticks, and badehis sons break it when it was tied together, and when they could not, hetook the sticks one by one and easily broke them all up: thus showingthem that their harmony and concord would make them strong and hard tooverthrow, while dissension would make them feeble and insecure. 

§ XVIII. If then anyone were continually to recollect and repeat theseor similar terse sayings, he would probably cease to be pleased withidle talk. As for myself, when I consider of what importance it is toattend to reason, and to keep to one's purpose, I confess I am quite putout of countenance by the example of the slave of Pupius Piso theorator. He, not wishing to be annoyed by their prating, ordered hisslaves merely to answer his questions, and not say a word more. On oneoccasion wishing to pay honour to Clodius who was then in power, heordered him to be invited to his house, and provided for him no doubt asumptuous entertainment. At the time fixed all the guests were presentexcept Clodius, for whom they waited, and the host frequently sent theslave who used to invite guests to see if he was coming, but whenevening 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 henot come?" said the master. "Because he declined, " said the slave. "Whythen did you not tell me of it at once?" said the master. "Because younever asked me, " said the slave. This was a Roman slave. But an Athenianslave "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 nowspeak. 

§ XIX. For it is not by applying bit or bridle that we can restrain thetalkative person, we must master the disease by habit. In the firstplace then, when you are in company and questions are going round, accustom yourself not to speak till all the rest have declined giving ananswer. For as Sophocles says, "counsel is not like a race;" no more arequestion and answer. For in a race the victory belongs to him who getsin first, but in company, if anyone has given a satisfactory answer, itis sufficient by assenting and agreeing to his view to get thereputation of being a pleasant fellow; and if no satisfactory answer isgiven, then to enlighten ignorance and supply the necessary informationis well-timed and does not excite envy. But let us be especially on ourguard that, if anyone else is asked a question, we do not ourselvesanticipate and intercept him in giving an answer. It is indeed perhapsnowhere good form, if another is asked a favour, to push him aside andundertake to grant it ourselves; for we shall seem so to upbraid twopeople 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. Butespecially insulting is such forwardness and impetuosity in answeringquestions. For he that anticipates by his own answer the person that wasasked the question seems to say, "What is the good of asking him? Whatdoes he know about it? In my presence nobody else ought to be askedabout these matters. " And yet we often put questions to people, not somuch because we want an answer, as to elicit from them conversation andfriendly feeling, and from a wish to fit them for company, as Socratesdrew out Theætetus and Charmides. For it is all one to run up and kissone who wishes to be kissed by another, or to divert to oneself theattention that he was bestowing on another, as to intercept anotherperson's answers, and to transfer people's ears, and force theirattention, and fix them on oneself; when, even if he that was askeddeclines 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 framingone's answer as to seem to oblige the person who asked the question, andas if one had been appealed to for an answer by the other. For if peopleare asked questions and cannot give a satisfactory answer they are withjustice excused; but he who without being asked undertakes to answer aquestion, and anticipates another, is disagreeable even if he succeeds, while, if his answer is unsatisfactory, he is ridiculed by all thecompany, and his failure is a source of the liveliest satisfaction tothem. 

§ XX. The next thing to practise oneself to in answering the questionsput to one, --a point to which the talkative person ought to pay thegreatest attention, --is not through inadvertence to give serious answersto people who only challenge you to talk in fun and sport. For somepeople concoct questions not for real information, but simply foramusement and to pass the time away, and propound them to talkativepeople, just to have them on. Against this we must be on our guard, andnot rush into conversation too hastily, or as if we were obliged for thechance, but we must consider the character of the inquirer and hispurpose. When it seems that he really desires information, we shouldaccustom ourselves to pause, and interpose some interval between thequestion and answer; during which time the questioner can add anythingif he chooses, and the other can reflect on his answer, and not be intoo great a hurry about it, nor bury it in obscurity, nor, as isfrequently the case in too great haste, answer some other question thanthat which was asked. The Pythian Priestess indeed was accustomed toutter some of her oracles at the very moment before the question wasput: for the god whom she serves "understands the dumb, and hears themute. "[598] But he that wishes to give an appropriate answer mustcarefully 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 itmay not seem as if we had a flood on our tongue which was dammed up, butwhich we were only too glad to discharge[600] on a question being put. Socrates indeed so repressed his thirst, that he would not allow himselfto drink after exercise in the gymnasium, till he had first drawn fromthe well one bucket of water and poured it on to the ground, that hemight accustom his irrational part to wait upon reason. 

§ XXI. There are moreover three kinds of answers to questions, thenecessary, the polite, and the superfluous. For instance, if anyoneasked, "Is Socrates at home?" one, as if backward and disinclined toanswer, might say, "Not at home;" or, if he wished to speak with Laconicbrevity, might cut off "at home, " and simply say "No;" as, when Philipwrote to the Lacedæmonians to ask if they would receive him in theircity, they sent him back merely a large "No. " But another would answermore politely, "He is not at home, but with the bankers, " and if hewished 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 Ionianstrangers, about whom he has had a letter from Alcibiades who is in theneighbourhood of Miletus, staying with Tissaphernes the satrap of thegreat king, who used long ago to favour the Lacedæmonian party, but nowattaches himself to the Athenians for Alcibiades' sake, for Alcibiadesdesires to return to his country, and so has succeeded in changing theviews of Tissaphernes. " And then he will go over the whole of the EighthBook of Thucydides, and deluge the man, till before he is aware Miletusis captured, and Alcibiades is in exile the second time. In such a casemost of all ought we to curtail talkativeness, by following the track ofa question closely, and tracing out our answer according to the need ofthe questioner with the same accuracy as we describe a circle. WhenCarneades was disputing in the gymnasium before the days of his greatfame, the superintendent of the gymnasium sent to him a message to bidhim modulate his voice (for it was of the loudest), and when he askedhim to fix a standard, the superintendent replied not amiss, "Thestandard of the person talking with you. " So the meaning of thequestioner ought to be the standard for the answer. 

§ XXII. Moreover as Socrates urged his disciples to abstain from suchfood as tempted them to eat when they were not hungry, and from suchdrinks as tempted them to drink when they were not thirsty, so thetalkative person ought to be afraid most of such subjects ofconversation as he most delights in and repeats _ad nauseam_, and to tryand resist their influence. For example, soldiers are fond ofdescriptions about war, and thus Homer introduces Nestor frequentlynarrating his prowess and glorious deeds. And generally speaking thosewho have been successful in the law courts, or beyond their hopes beenfavourites of kings and princes, are possessed, as it were by somedisease, with the itch for frequently recalling and narrating, how theygot on and were advanced, what struggles they underwent, how they arguedon some famous occasion, how they won the day either as plaintiffs ordefendants, what panegyrics were showered upon them. For joy is muchmore inclined to prate than the well-known sleeplessness represented incomedies, frequently rousing itself, and finding something fresh torelate. And so at any excuse they slip into such narratives. For notonly, "Where anyone does itch, there goes his hand, "[602]

but also delight has a voice of its own, and leads about the tongue inits train, ever wishing to fortify it with memory. Thus lovers spendmost of their time in conversations that revive the memory of theirloves; and if they cannot talk to human beings about them, they talkabout 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 whiteline, [603] but he that is especially inclined to certain subjects shouldbe especially on his guard against talking about them, and should avoidsuch topics, since from the pleasure they give him they may entice himto be very prolix and tedious. The same is the case with people inregard to such subjects as they think they are more experienced in andacquainted with than others. For such a one, being self-appreciative andfond of fame, "spends most of the day in that particular branch of studyin which he chances to be proficient. "[604] Thus he that is fond ofreading will give his time to research; the grammarian his to syntax;and the traveller, who has wandered over many countries, his togeography. We must therefore be on our guard against our favouritetopics, for they are an enticement to talkativeness, as its wontedhaunts are to an animal. Admirable therefore was the behaviour of Cyrusin challenging his companions, not to those contests in which he wassuperior to them, but to those in which he was inferior, partly that hemight not give them pain through his superiority, partly for his ownbenefit by learning from them. But the talkative person acts justcontrary, for if any subject is introduced from which he might learnsomething he did not know, this he rejects and refuses, not being ableto earn a good deal by a short silence, [605] but he rambles round thesubject and babbles out stale and commonplace rhapsodies. As one amongstus, who by chance had read two or three of the books of Ephorus, [606]bored everybody, and dispersed every social party, by always narratingthe particulars of the battle of Leuctra and its consequences, so thathe got nicknamed Epaminondas. 

§ XXIII. Nevertheless this is one of the least of the evils oftalkativeness, and we ought even to try and divert it into such channelsas these, for prating is less of a nuisance when it is on some literarysubject. We ought also to try and get some persons to write on sometopic, and so discuss it by themselves. For Antipater the Stoicphilosopher, [607] not being able or willing it seems to dispute withCarneades, who inveighed vehemently against the Stoic philosophy, writing and filling many books of controversy against him, got thenickname of _Noisy-with-the-pen_; and perhaps the exercise andexcitement of writing, keeping him very much apart from the community, might make the talkative man by degrees better company to those heassociated with; as dogs, bestowing their rage on sticks and stones, areless savage to men. It will also be very advantageous for such to mixwith people better and older than themselves, for they will accustomthemselves to be silent by standing in awe of their reputation. Andwithal it will be well, when we are going to say something, and thewords are on our lips, to reflect and consider, "What is this word thatis so eager for utterance? To what is this tongue marching? What goodwill come of speaking now, or what harm of silence?" For we ought not todrop words as we should a burden that pressed upon us, for the wordremains still after it has been spoken just the same; but men speakeither on their own behalf if they want something, or to benefit thosethat hear them, or, to gratify one another, they season everyday lifewith speech, as one seasons food with salt. But if words are neitheruseful to the speaker, nor necessary for the hearer, nor contain anypleasure or charm, why are they spoken? For words may be idle anduseless as well as deeds. And besides all this we must ever remember asmost important the dictum of Simonides, that he had often repented hehad spoken, but never that he had been silent: while as to the power andstrength of practice consider how men by much toil and painstaking willget rid even of a cough or hiccough. And silence is not only neverthirsty, 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] "Bacchæ, " 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 ætate Lysias major, subtilis atque elegans et quo nihil, si oratori satis est docere, quæras 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 Æschylus, [Greek: glôssê mataia zêmia 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. Leæna 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, " § iv. 

 [567] Literally _bark_. See "Odyssey, " xx. 13, 16. 

 [568] "Odyssey, " xx. 23. 

 [569] See "Odyssey, " ix. [Greek: Kyklôpeia]. 

 [570] Euripides, "Ino. " Fragment, 416. 

 [571] "Significat Q. Cæcilium 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 § 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: phorytôn], 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 Dübner. 

 [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 mediæval 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 autô dounai tô mikron siôpêsai mê 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]

§ 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 isattached to it from long residence in it, one can improve it and make itmore light and airy and healthy by altering the position of the windowsand stairs, and by throwing open new doors and shutting up old ones. Sosome 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 fromParnassus, was they say turned to the east by Chæron. And Empedocles thenaturalist is supposed to have driven away the pestilence from thatdistrict, by having closed up a mountain gorge that was prejudicial tohealth by admitting the south wind to the plains. Similarly, as thereare certain diseases of the soul that are injurious and harmful andbring storm and darkness to it, the best thing will be to eject them andlay them low by giving them open sky, pure air and light, or, if thatcannot be, to change and improve them some way or other. One such mentaldisease, that immediately suggests itself to one, is curiosity, thedesire to know other people's troubles, a disease that seems neitherfree 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 youdelight to study the history of evils, you have copious material athome, "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 passionsin 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 farminstruments, and another for their weapons of war, so your faults arisefrom different causes, some from envy, some from jealousy, some fromcowardice, some from meanness. Review these, consider these; bar up thecuriosity that pries into your neighbours' windows and passages, andopen it on the men's apartments, and women's apartments, and servant'sattics, in your own house. There this inquisitiveness and curiosity willfind full vent, in inquiries that will not be useless or malicious, butadvantageous 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?"

§ II. And now, as they say of Lamia that she is blind when she sleeps athome, for she puts her eyes on her dressing-table, but when she goes outshe 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, whilewe are frequently blind and ignorant about our own faults and vices, notapplying to them our eyes and light. So that the curious man is more useto his enemies than to himself, for he finds fault with and exposestheir shortcomings, and shows them what they ought to avoid and correct, while he neglects most of his affairs at home, owing to his excitementabout things abroad. Odysseus indeed would not converse with his mothertill he had learnt from the seer Tiresias what he went to Hades tolearn; and after receiving that information, then he turned to her, andasked questions about the other women, who Tyro was, and who the fairChloris, and why Epicaste[612] had died, "having fastened a noose with along drop to the lofty beam. "[613] But we, while very remiss andignorant and careless about ourselves, know all about the pedigrees ofother people, that our neighbour's grandfather was a Syrian, and hisgrandmother a Thracian woman, and that such a one owes three talents, and has not paid the interest. We even inquire into such triflingmatters as where somebody's wife has been, and what those two aretalking in the corner about. But Socrates used to busy himself inexamining the secret of Pythagoras' persuasive oratory, and Aristippus, meeting Ischomachus at the Olympian games, asked him how Socratesconversed so as to have so much influence over the young men, and havingreceived from him a few scraps and samples of his style, was soenthusiastic about it that he wasted away, and became quite pale andlean, thirsty and parched, till he sailed to Athens and drew from thefountain-head, and knew the wonderful man himself and his speeches andphilosophy, the object of which was that men should recognize theirfaults and so get rid of them. 

§ III. But some men cannot bear to look upon their own life, so unlovelya spectacle is it, nor to throw and flash on themselves, like a lantern, the reflection of reason; but their soul being burdened with all mannerof vices, and dreading and shuddering at its own interior, sallies forthand wanders abroad, feeding and fattening its malignity there. For as ahen, when its food stands near its coop, [614] will frequently slip offinto a corner and scratch up, "Where I ween some poor little grain appears on the dunghill, "

so curious people neglecting conversation or inquiry about commonmatters, such as no one would try and prevent or be indignant at theirprying 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 askedhim, "What he was carrying wrapped up;" "It was wrapped up on purposethat you should not know. " And you too, Sir, I would say to a curiousperson, why do you pry into what is hidden? If it were not something badit would not be hidden. Indeed it is not usual to go into a strangehouse without knocking at the door, and nowadays there are porters, butin old times there were knockers on doors to let the people inside knowwhen anyone called, that a stranger might not find the mistress ordaughter of the house _en déshabille_, or one of the slaves beingcorrected, or the maids bawling out. But the curious person intrudes onall such occasions as these, although he would be unwilling to be aspectator, even if invited, of a well-ordered family: but the things forwhich bars and bolts and doors are required, these he reveals anddivulges openly to others. Those are the most troublesome winds, asAristo says, that blow up our clothes: but the curious person not onlystrips off the garments and clothes of his neighbours, but breaksthrough their walls, opens their doors, and like the wanton wind, thatinsinuates itself into maidenly reserve, he pries into and calumniatesdances and routs and revels. 

§ IV. And as Cleon is satirized in the play[615] as having "his handsamong the Ætolians, but his soul in Peculation-town, " so the soul of thecurious man is at once in the mansions of the rich, and the cottages ofthe poor, and the courts of kings, and the bridal chambers of the newlymarried; he pries into everything, the affairs of foreigners, theaffairs of princes, and sometimes not without danger. For just as if onewere to taste aconite to investigate its properties, and kill oneselfbefore one had discovered them, so those that pry into the troubles ofgreat people ruin themselves before they get the knowledge they desire;even as those become blind who, neglecting the wide and generaldiffusion all over the earth of the sun's rays, impudently attempt togaze at its orb and penetrate to its light. And so that was a wiseanswer of Philippides the Comic Poet, when King Lysimachus asked him onone occasion, "What would you like to have of mine?" "Anything, O king, but your secrets. " For the pleasantest and finest things to be got fromkings are public, as banquets, and riches, and festivities, and favours:but come not near any secret of theirs, pry not into it. There is noconcealment of the joy of a prosperous monarch, or of his laugh when heis in a playful mood, or of any tokens of his goodwill and favour; butdreadful is what he conceals, his gloominess, his sternness, hisreserve, his store of latent wrath, his meditation on stern revenge, hisjealousy of his wife, or suspicion of his son, or doubt about thefidelity of a friend. Flee from this cloud that is so black andthreatening, for when its hidden fury bursts forth, you will not fail tohear its thunder and see its lightning. 

§ V. How shall you flee from it? Why, by dissipating and distractingyour curiosity, by turning your soul to better and pleasanter objects:examine the phenomena of sky, and earth, and air, and sea. Are you bynature fond of gazing at little or great things? If at great, turn yourattention to the sun, consider its rising and setting: view the changesof the moon, like the changes of our mortal life, see how it waxes andwanes, "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 thosethat study them. But if you decline the study of great things, inspectwith curiosity smaller matters, see how some plants flourish, are greenand gay, and exhibit their beauty, all the year round, while others aresometimes gay like them, at other times, like some unthrift, run throughtheir resources entirely, and are left bare and naked. Consider againtheir various shapes, how some produce oblong fruits, others angular, others smooth and round. But perhaps you will not care to pry into allthis, since you will find nothing bad. If you must then ever bestow yourtime and attention on what is bad, as the serpent lives but in deadlymatter, go to history, and turn your eye on the sum total of humanmisery. For there you will find "the falls of men, and murders of theirlives, "[617] rapes of women, attacks of slaves, treachery of friends, mixing of poisons, envyings, jealousies, "shipwrecks of families, " anddethroning of princes. Sate and cloy yourself on these, you will by sodoing vex and enrage none of your associates. 

§ VI. But it seems curiosity does not rejoice in stale evils, but onlyin fresh and recent ones, gladly viewing the spectacle of tragedies ofyesterday, but backward in taking part in comic and festive scenes. Andso the curious person is a languid and listless hearer to the narratorof a marriage, or sacrifice, or solemn procession, he says he has heardmost of all that before, bids the narrator cut it short and come to thepoint; but if his visitor tell him of the violation of some girl, or theadultery of some married woman, or the disputes and intended litigationof 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 theworst blood, so the ears of curious people attract only the worstreports; or rather, as cities have certain ominous and gloomy gates, through which they conduct only condemned criminals, or convey filth andnight soil, for nothing pure or holy has either ingress into or egressfrom them, so into the ears of curious people goes nothing good orelegant, but tales of murders travel and lodge there, wafting a whiff ofunholy 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 notethey can hear. For curiosity desires to know what is hidden and secret;but no one conceals his good fortune, nay sometimes people even pretendto have such advantages as they do not really possess. So the curiousman, eager to hear a history of what is bad, is possessed by the passionof malignity, which is brother to envy and jealousy. For envy is pain atanother's blessings, and malignity is joy at another's misfortunes: andboth proceed from the same savage and brutish vice, ill-nature. 

§ VII. But so unpleasant is it to everybody to have his private illsbrought to light, that many have died rather than acquaint the doctorswith their secret ailments. For suppose Herophilus, or Erasistratus, oreven Æsculapius himself during his sojourn on earth, had gone with theirdrugs and surgical instruments from house to house, to inquire what manhad a fistula in ano, or what woman had a cancer in her womb;--and yettheir curiosity would have been professional[618]--who would not havedriven them away from their house, for not waiting till they were sentfor, and for coming without being asked to spy out their neighbours'ailments? But curious people pry into these and even worse matters, notfrom a desire to heal them, but only to expose them to others, whichmakes them deservedly hated. For we are not vexed and mortified withcustom-house officers when they levy toll on goods _bona fide_ imported, but only when they seek for contraband articles, and rip up bags andpackages: and yet the law allows them to do even this, and sometimes itis injurious to them not to do so. But curious people abandon andneglect their own affairs, and are busy about their neighbours'concerns. Seldom do they go into the country, for they do not care forits quiet and stillness and solitude, but if once in a way they do gothere, they look more at their neighbours' vines than their own, andinquire how many cows of their neighbour have died, or how much of hiswine has turned sour, and when they are satisfied on these points theysoon return to town again. But the genuine countryman does not willinglylisten to any rumour that chances to come from the town, for he quotesthe following lines, "Even with spade in hand he'll tell the terms On which peace was concluded: all these things The cursèd fellow walks about and pries into. "

§ VIII. But curious people shun the country as stale and dull and tooquiet, and push into warehouses and markets and harbours, asking, "Anynews? Were you not in the market in the forenoon?" and sometimesreceiving for answer, "What then? Do you think things in the town changeevery three hours?" Notwithstanding if anyone brings any news, he'll getoff his horse, and embrace him, and kiss him, and stand to listen. Ifhowever the person who meets him says he has no news, he will saysomewhat peevishly, "No news, Sir? Have you not been in the market? Didyou not pass by the officers' quarters? Did you exchange no words withthose that have just arrived from Italy?" To stop such people theLocrian authorities had an excellent rule; they fined everyone comingfrom abroad who asked what the news was. For as cooks pray for plenty ofmeat, and fishmongers for shoals of fish, so curious people pray forshoals of trouble, and plenty of business, and innovations and changes, that they may have something to hunt after and tittle-tattle about. Wellalso was it in _Charondas_, the legislator of the people of Thurii, [619]to forbid any of the citizens but adulterers and curious persons to beridiculed on the stage. Adultery itself indeed seems to be only thefruit of curiosity about another man's pleasures, and an inquiring andprying into things kept close and hidden from the world; while curiosityis a tampering with and seduction of and revealing the nakedness ofsecrets. [620]

§ IX. As it is likely that much learning will produce wordiness, and soPythagoras enjoined five years' silence on his scholars, calling it atruce from words, [621] so defamation of character is sure to go withcuriosity. For what people are glad to hear they are glad to talk about, and what they eagerly pick up from others they joyfully retail toothers. And so, amongst the other mischiefs of curiosity, the diseaseruns counter to their desires; for all people fight shy of them, andconceal their affairs from them, and neither care to do or say anythingin their presence, but defer consultations, and put off investigations, till such people are out of the way; and if, when some secret is justabout to be uttered, or some important business is just about to bearranged, some curious man happen to pop in, they are mum at once andreserved, as one puts away fish if the cat is about; and so frequentlythings seen and talked about by all the rest of the world are unknownonly to them. For the same reason the curious person never gets theconfidence of anybody. For we would rather entrust our letters andpapers and seals to slaves and strangers than to curious friends andintimates. The famous Bellerophon, [622] though he carried lettersagainst his life, opened them not, but abstained from reading the letterto the king, as he had refused to sell his honour to Proetus' wife, sogreat was his continence. [623] For curiosity and adultery both come fromincontinence, and to the latter is added monstrous folly and insanity. For to pass by so many common and public women, and to intrude oneselfon some married woman, [624] who is sure to be more costly, and possiblyless pretty to boot, is the acme of madness. Yet such is the conduct ofcurious people. They neglect many gay sights, fail to hear much thatwould be well worth hearing, lose much fine sport and pastime, to breakopen private letters, to put their ears to their neighbour's walls, andto whisper to their slaves and women-servants, practices always low, andfrequently dangerous. 

§ X. It will be exceedingly useful, therefore, to deter the curious fromthese propensities, for them to remember their past experience. Simonides used to say that he occasionally opened two chests for rewardsand thanks that he had by him, and found the one full for rewards, butthe one for thanks always empty. [625] So if anyone were to openoccasionally the stores that curiosity had amassed, and observe what acargo there was of useless and idle and unlovely things, perhaps thesight of all this poor stuff would inspire him with disgust. Supposesomeone, in studying the writings of the ancients, were to pick out onlytheir worst passages, and compile them into a volume, as Homer'simperfect lines, and the solecisms of the tragedians, and Archilochus'indecent and bitter railings against women, by which he so exposedhimself, 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'smisdoings is indecent and useless, and like the town which Philipfounded and filled with the vilest and most dissolute wretches, andcalled _Rogue Town_. Curious persons, indeed, making a collection of thefaults and errors and solecisms, not of lines or poems but of people'slives, render their memory a most inelegant and unlovely register ofdark deeds. Just as there are in Rome some people who care nothing forpictures and statues, or even handsome boys or women exposed for sale, but haunt the monster-market, and make eager inquiries about people whohave no calves, or three eyes, or arms like weasels, or heads likeostriches, and look about for some

 "Unnatural monster like the Minotaur, "[626]

and for a time are greatly captivated with them, but if anyonecontinually gazes at such sights, they will soon give him satiety anddisgust; so let those who curiously inquire into the errors and faultsof life, and disgraces of families, and disorders in other people'shouses, first remember what little favour or advantage such prying hasbrought them on previous occasions. 

§ XI. Habit will be of the utmost importance in stopping thispropensity, 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, aswe shall see when we discuss the necessary discipline. In the firstplace, let us begin with the most trifling and unimportant matters. Whathardship will it be when we walk abroad not to read the epitaphs ongraves, or what detriment shall we suffer by not glancing at theinscriptions on walls in the public walks? Let us reflect that there isnothing useful or pleasant for us in these notices, which only recordthat so-and-so remembered so-and-so out of gratitude, and, "Here liesthe best of friends, " and much poor stuff of that kind;[627] whichindeed do not seem to do much harm, except indirectly, to those thatread them, by engendering the practice of curiosity about thingsimmaterial. And as huntsmen do not allow the hounds to follow any scentand run where they please, but check and restrain them in leashes, keeping their sense of smell pure and fresh for the object of theirchase, that they may the keener dart on their tracks, "following up thetraces of the unfortunate beasts by their scent, " so we must check andrepress the sallies and excursions of the curious man to every object ofinterest, whether of sight or hearing, and confine him to what isuseful. For as eagles and lions on the prowl keep their claws sheathedthat they may not lose their edge and sharpness, so, when we rememberthat curiosity for learning has also its edge and keenness, let us notentirely expend or blunt it on inferior objects. 

§ XII. Next let us accustom ourselves when we pass a strange house notto look inside at the door, or curiously inspect the interior, as if wewere going to pilfer something, remembering always that saying ofXenocrates, that it is all one whether one puts one's feet or eyes inanother person's house. For such prying is neither honourable, norcomely, nor even agreeable. 

 "Stranger, thou'lt see within untoward sights. "

For such is generally the condition inside houses, utensils kickingabout, maids lolling about, no work going on, nothing to please the eye;and moreover such side glances, and stray shots as it were, distort thesoul, and are unhandsome, and the practice is a pernicious one. WhenDiogenes saw Dioxippus, a victor at Olympia, driving up in his chariotand unable to take his eyes off a handsome woman who was watching theprocession, but still turning round and casting sheep's eyes at her, hesaid, "See you yon athlete straining his neck to look at a girl?" Andsimilarly you may see curious people twisting and straining their necksat every spectacle alike, from the habit and practice of turning theireyes 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 dotheir business, and then return quickly with the answer, and afterwardsto keep within the bounds of reason, and obey her behests. But it islike those lines of Sophocles, "Then did the Ænianian'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 intounlawful excesses. And so, though that story about Democritus is false, that he purposely destroyed his eyesight by the reflection fromburning-glasses (as people sometimes shut up windows that look into thestreet), that they might not disturb him by frequently calling off hisattention to external things, but allow him to confine himself to purelyintellectual matters, yet it is very true in every case that those whouse the mind most are least acted upon by the senses. And so thephilosophers erected their places for study as far as possible fromtowns, and called Night the time propitious to thought, [629] thinkingquiet and withdrawal from worldly distractions a great help towardsmeditating upon and solving the problems of life. 

§ XIII. Moreover, when men are abusing and reviling one another in themarket-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 youwill gain no advantage by mixing yourself up with curious people: butyou will derive the greatest benefit from putting a force upon yourinclinations, and bridling your curiosity, and accustoming it to obeyreason. 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 ifyour friends invite you to see some dancer or actor to decline, and, ifthere is some shouting in the stadium and hippodrome, not even to turnyour head to look what is up. For as Socrates advised people to abstainfrom food that made them eat when they were not hungry, and from drinksthat made them drink when they were not thirsty, so ought we also toshun 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. ThusCyrus would not look at Panthea, but when Araspes told him that herbeauty was well worth inspection, he replied, "For that very reason mustI the more abstain from seeing her, for if at your persuasion I were topay her a visit, perhaps she would persuade me to visit her again when Icould ill spare the time, so that I might neglect important business tosit with her and gaze on her charms. "[630] Similarly Alexander would notsee the wife of Darius, who was reputed to be very beautiful, butvisited her mother who was old, and would not venture to look upon theyoung 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 thusmake our curiosity a loop-hole[631] for all manner of vice. 

§ XIV. Moreover, as it is of great help to fair dealing sometimes not toseize some honest gain, that you may accustom yourself as far aspossible to flee from unjust gains, and as it makes greatly for virtueto abstain sometimes from your own wife, that you may not ever betempted by another woman, so, applying the habit to curiosity, try notto see and hear at times all that goes on in your own house even, and ifanyone wishes to tell you anything about it give him the go-by, anddecline to hear him. For it was nothing but his curiosity that involvedOedipus in his extreme calamities: for it was to try and find out hisextraction that he left Corinth and met Laius, and killed him, and gothis kingdom, and married his own mother, and when he then seemed at theacme of felicity, he must needs make further inquiries about himself;and though his wife tried to prevent him, he none the less compelled theold man that had been an eye-witness of the deed to tell him all thecircumstances of it, and though he long suspected how the story wouldend, 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 hereplied, "I too must hear, for hear it now I will. "[632]

So bitter-sweet and uncontrollable is the itch of curiosity, like asore, shedding its blood when lanced. But he that is free from thisdisease, and calm by nature, being ignorant of many unpleasant things, may say, "Holy oblivion of all human ills, What wisdom dost thou bring!"[633]

§ XV. We ought therefore also to accustom ourselves, when we receive aletter, not to be in a tremendous hurry about breaking the seal, as mostpeople are, even tearing it open with their teeth if their hands areslow; nor to rise from our seat and run up to meet him, if a messengercomes; and if a friend says, "I have some news to tell you, " we ought tosay, "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 thewell-known Rusticus, whom the Emperor Domitian afterwards had put todeath through envy of his glory, and a soldier came in in the middle andbrought him a letter from the Emperor, and silence ensuing, and Istopping that he might have time to read his letter, he would not, anddid not open it till I had finished my lecture, and the audience haddispersed; so that everybody marvelled at his self-control. But wheneveranyone 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 illicitacts, from force of habit; and such people open their friends' letters, thrust themselves in at private meetings, become spectators of ritesthey ought not to witness, enter holy grounds they ought not to, and pryinto the lives and conversations of kings. 

§ XVI. Indeed tyrants themselves, who must know all things, are madeunpopular by no class more than by their spies[634] and talebearers. Darius in his youth, when he mistrusted his own powers, and suspectedand feared everybody, was the first who employed spies; and theDionysiuses introduced them at Syracuse: but in a revolution they werethe first that the Syracusans took and tortured to death. Indeedinformers are of the same tribe and family as curious people. Howeverinformers only investigate wicked acts or plots, but curious people pryinto 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 thathad wheat not producing it, but grinding it stealthily by night in theirhouses, some of their neighbours went about and noticed the noise of themills grinding, and so they got their name. [635] This also is the originof the well-known Greek word for informer, (Sycophant, _quasi_Fig-informer), for when the people were forbidden to export figs, thosewho informed against those who did were called Fig-informers. It is wellworth the while of curious people to give their attention to this, thatthey may be ashamed of having any similarity or connection in habit witha 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. § v. Of Modesty. 

 [609] Chæronea 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: oikiskô] 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] Æschylus, "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. § 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 § ix. 

 [621] Compare Lucian's [Greek: echeglôttia], 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, " § 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] _euphronê_, a stock phrase for night, is here defined. 

 [630] "Historia exstat initio libri quinti Cyropædiæ. "--_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]

§ I. Some of the things that grow on the earth are in their nature wildand barren and injurious to the growth of seeds and plants, yet thosewho till the ground consider them indications not of a bad soil but of arich and fat one;[637] so also there are passions of the soul that arenot good, yet are as it were offshoots of a good disposition, and onelikely to improve with good advice. Among these I class shyness, no badsign in itself, though it affords occasion to vice. For the modestoftentimes plunge into the same excesses as the shameless, but then theyare pained and grieved at them, and not pleased like the others. For theshameless person is quite apathetic at what is disgraceful, while themodest person is easily affected even at the very appearance of it. Shyness is in fact an excess of modesty. And thus it is calledshamefacedness, because the face exhibits the changes of the mind. Foras dejection is defined to be the grief that makes people look on theground, so shamefacedness is that shyness that cannot look people in theface. And so the orator said the shameless person had not pupils[638] inhis eyes but harlots. The bashful person on the other hand shows hisdelicacy and effeminacy of soul in his countenance, and palliates hisweakness, which exposes him to defeat at the hands of the impudent, bythe name of modesty. Cato used to say he was better pleased with thoselads that blushed than with those that turned pale, rightly teaching usto fear censure more than labour, [639] and suspicion than danger. However we must avoid too much timidity and fear of censure, since manyhave played the coward, and abandoned noble ventures, more from fear ofa bad name than of the dangers to be undergone, not being able to bear abad reputation. 

§ II. As we must not disregard their weakness, so neither again must wepraise that rigid and stubborn insensibility, "that recklessness andfrantic energy to rush anywhere, that seemed like a dog's courage inAnaxarchus. "[640] But we must contrive a harmonious blending of the two, that shall remove the shamelessness of pertinacity, and the weakness ofexcessive modesty; seeing its cure is difficult, and the correction ofsuch excesses not without danger. For as the husbandman, in rooting upsome wild and useless weed, at once plunges his spade vigorously intothe ground, and digs it up by the root, or burns it with fire, but if hehas 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 anysound part; so the philosopher, eradicating from the soul of the youngman that ignoble and untractable weed, envy, or unseasonable avarice, oramputating the excessive love of pleasure, may bandage and draw blood, make deep incision, and leave scars: but if he has to apply reason as acorrective to a tender and delicate part of the soul, such as shynessand bashfulness, he is careful that he may not inadvertently root upmodesty as well. For nurses who are often rubbing the dirt off theirinfants sometimes tear their flesh and put them to torture. We ought nottherefore, by rubbing off the shyness of youths too much, to make themtoo careless and contemptuous; but as those that pull down houses closeto temples prop up the adjacent parts, so in trying to get rid ofshyness we must not eradicate with it the virtues akin to it, as modestyand meekness and mildness, by which it insinuates itself and becomespart of a man's character, flattering the bashful man that he has anature courteous and civil and affable, and not hard as flint orself-willed. And so the Stoics from the outset verbally distinguishedshame and shyness from modesty, that they might not by identity of namegive the vice opportunity to inflict harm. But let it be granted to usto use the words indiscriminately, following indeed the example ofHomer. 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 becomesadvantageous only through reason's curtailing its excess, and reducingit to moderate proportions. 

§ III. In the first place, then, the person who is afflicted withshyness ought to be persuaded that he suffers from an injurious disease, and that nothing injurious can be good: nor must he be wheedled andtickled with the praise of being called a nice and jolly fellow ratherthan being styled lofty and dignified and just; nor, like Pegasus inEuripides, "who stooped and crouched lower than he wished"[642] to takeup his rider Bellerophon, must he humble himself and grant whateverfavours are asked him, fearing to be called hard and ungentle. They saythat the Egyptian Bocchoris, who was by nature very severe, had an aspsent him by Isis, which coiled round his head, and shaded him fromabove, that he might judge righteously. Bashfulness on the contrary, like a dead weight on languid and effeminate persons, not daring torefuse or contradict anybody, makes jurors deliver unjust verdicts, andshuts the mouth of counsellors, and makes people say and do many thingsagainst their wish; and so the most headstrong person is always masterand lord of such, through his own impudence prevailing against theirmodesty. So bashfulness, like soft and sloping ground, being unable torepel or avert any attack, lies open to the most shameful acts andpassions. It is a bad guardian of youth, as Brutus said he didn't thinkthat 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 thepenitent 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 citadelunbarred, unfortified, and open to attack. By gifts people ensnare theworse natures, but by persuasion and playing upon their bashfulnesspeople often seduce even good women. I pass over the injury done toworldly affairs by bashfulness causing people to lend to those whosecredit is doubtful, and to go security against their wish, for thoughthey commend that saying, "Be a surety, trouble is at hand, "[645] theycannot apply it when business is on hand. 

§ 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 byhis bashfulness, and granted her one day more, and so was the undoing ofhis family. And some, when they suspected murder or poison, have failedthrough it to take precautions for their safety. Thus perished Dion, notignorant that Callippus was plotting against him, but ashamed to be onhis guard against a friend and host. So Antipater, the son of Cassander, having invited Demetrius to supper, and being invited back by him forthe next day, was ashamed to doubt another as he had been trustedhimself, and went, and got his throat cut after supper. And Polysperchonpromised Cassander for a hundred talents to murder Hercules, the son ofAlexander by Barsine, and invited him to supper, and, as the striplingsuspected and feared the invitation, and pleaded as an excuse that hewas not very well, Polysperchon called on him, and addressed him asfollows, "Imitate, my lad, your father's good-nature and kindness to hisfriends, unless indeed you fear us as plotting against you. " The youngman was ashamed to refuse any longer, so he went with him, and some ofthose at the supper-party strangled him. And so that line ofHesiod, [647]

 "Invite your friend to supper, not your enemy, "

is not ridiculous, as some say, or stupid advice, but wise. Show nobashfulness 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. 

§ V. As then this disease is the cause of much mischief, we must try andexterminate it by assiduous effort, beginning first, as people are wontto do in other matters, with small and easy things. For example, ifanyone pledge you to drink with him at a dinner when you have hadenough, do not be bashful, or do violence to nature, but put the cupdown without drinking. Again, if somebody else challenge you to play atdice with him in your cups, be not bashful or afraid of ridicule, butimitate Xenophanes, who, when Lasus of Hermione called him cowardbecause he would not play at dice with him, admitted that he was a greatcoward and had no courage for what was ignoble. Again, if you meet withsome prating fellow who attacks you and sticks to you, do not bebashful, but get rid of him, and hasten on and pursue your undertaking. For such flights and repulses, keeping you in practice in trying toovercome your bashfulness in small matters, will prepare you for greateroccasions. And here it is well to record a remark of Demosthenes. Whenthe Athenians were going to help Harpalus, and to war against Alexander, all of a sudden Philoxenus, who was Alexander's admiral, was sighted inthe offing. And the populace being greatly alarmed, and speechless forfear, Demosthenes said, "What will they do when they see the sun, ifthey cannot lift their eyes to face a lamp?" And what will you do inimportant matters, if the king desires anything, or the people importuneyou, if you cannot decline to drink when your friend asks you, or evadethe onset of some prating fellow, but allow the trifler to waste allyour time, from not having nerve to say, "I will see you some othertime, I have no leisure now. "[649]

§ VI. Moreover, the use and practice of restraining one's bashfulness insmall and unimportant matters is advantageous also in regard to praise. For example, if a friend's harper sings badly at a drinking party, or anactor hired at great cost murders[650] Menander, and most of the partyclap and applaud, I find it by no means hard, or bad manners, to listensilently, and not to be so illiberal as to praise contrary to one'sconvictions. For if in such matters you are not master of yourself, whatwill you do if your friend reads a poor poem, or parades a speechstupidly and ridiculously written?[651] You will praise it of course, and join the flatterers in loud applause. But how then will you findfault with your friend if he makes mistakes in business? How will you beable 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 ofPericles to his friend, who asked him to bear false witness in hisfavour even to the extent of perjury, "I am your friend as far as thealtar. " He went too far. But he that has long accustomed himself neverto go against his convictions in praising a speaker, or clapping asinger, or laughing at a dull buffoon, will never go to this length, norsay to some impudent fellow in such matters, "Swear on my behalf, bearfalse witness, pronounce an unjust verdict. "

§ VII. So also we ought to refuse people that want to borrow money ofus, from being accustomed to say No in small and easily refused matters. Thus Archelaus, king of the Macedonians, being asked at supper for agold 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 mansaid to him, "You are fit to ask, and not to receive, and he is fit toreceive without asking. " Thus did he make judgement and not bashfulnessthe arbiter of his gifts and favours. Yet we oftentimes pass over ourfriends who are both deserving and in need, and give to others whocontinually and impudently importune us, not from the wish to give butfrom the inability to say No. So the older Antigonus, being frequentlyannoyed by Bion, said, "Give a talent to Bion and necessity. " Yet he wasof all the kings most clever and ingenious at getting rid of suchimportunity. 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 whenthe Cynic rejoined, "Give me then a talent, " he met him with, "Thatwould be too much for a Cynic to receive. "[654] Diogenes indeed used togo round begging to the statues in the Ceramicus, and when peopleexpressed their astonishment said he was practising how to bearrefusals. And we must practise ourselves in small matters, and exerciseourselves in little things, with a view to refusing people who importuneus, or would receive from us when inconvenient, that we may be able toavoid great miscarriages. For no one, as Demosthenes says, [655] if heexpends his resources on unnecessary things, will have means fornecessary ones. And our disgrace is greatly increased, if we aredeficient in what is noble, and abound in what is trivial. 

§ VIII. But bashfulness is not only a bad and inconsiderate manager ofmoney, but also in more important matters makes us reject expediency andreason. 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 bestteachers for our boys we select those that importune us;[656] and in oursuits at law we frequently refuse the aid of some skilled advocate, tooblige the son of some friend or relative, and give him a chance to makea forensic display; and lastly, you will find many so-calledphilosophers Epicureans or Stoics, not from deliberate choice orconviction, but simply from bashfulness, to have the same views as theirfriends and acquaintances. Since this is the case, let us accustomourselves betimes in small and everyday matters to employ no barber orfuller merely from bashfulness, nor to put up at a sorry inn, when abetter is at hand, merely because the innkeeper has on several occasionsbeen extra civil to us, but for the benefit of the habit to select thebest even in a small matter; as the Pythagoreans were careful never toput their left leg across the right, nor to take an even number insteadof an odd, all other matters being indifferent. We must accustomourselves also, at a sacrifice or marriage or any entertainment of thatkind, not to invite the person who greets us and runs up to meet us, butthe friend who is serviceable to us. For he that has thus practised andtrained himself will be difficult to catch tripping, nay evenunassailable, in greater matters. 

§ IX. Let so much suffice for practice. And of useful considerations thefirst is that which teaches and reminds us, that all passions andmaladies of the soul are accompanied by the very things which we thinkwe 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 isthe fate of bashfulness, in fleeing from the smoke of ill-repute, tothrow itself into the fire of it. [657] For the bashful, not venturing tosay No to those that press them hard, afterwards feel shame at justrebuke, and, through standing in awe of slight blame, frequently in theend incur open disgrace. For if a friend asks some money of them, andthrough bashfulness they cannot refuse, a little time after they aredisgraced by the facts becoming known;[658] or if they have promised tohelp friends in a lawsuit, they turn round and hide their diminishedheads, and run away from fear of the other side. Many also, who haveaccepted on behalf of a daughter or sister an unprofitable offer ofmarriage at the bidding of bashfulness, have afterwards been compelledto break their word, and break off the match. 

§ X. He that said all the dwellers in Asia were slaves to one manbecause they could not say the one syllable No, spoke in jest and not inearnest; but bashful persons, even if they say nothing, can by raisingor dropping their eyebrows decline many disagreeable and unpleasant actsof compliance. For Euripides says, "Silence is an answer to wisemen, "[659] but we stand more in need of it to inconsiderate persons, forwe can talk over the sensible. And indeed it is well to have at hand andfrequently on our lips the sayings[660] of good and famous men to quoteto those who importune us, as that of Phocion to Antipater, "You cannothave 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 afestival, "I am ashamed to contribute anything to you, till I have paidyonder 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 throughstupidity or softness is too bashful to say to anyone that importuneshim, "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 Persæus, [663] when he lent a sum of money to one of his friends, hadthe fact duly attested by a banker in the market-place, rememberingbelike that line in Hesiod, [664]

 "E'en to a brother, smiling, bring you witness. "

And he wondering and saying, "Why all these legal forms, Persæus?" hereplied, "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, atfirst too bashful to see to security, have afterwards had to go to law, and lost their friend. [665]

§ XI. Plato again, giving Helicon of Cyzicus a letter for Dionysius, praised the bearer as a man of goodness and moderation, but added at theend of the letter, "I write you this about a man, an animal by natureapt to change. " But Xenocrates, though a man of austere character, wasprevailed upon through his bashfulness to recommend to Polysperchon byletter, one who was no good man as the event showed; for when theMacedonian welcomed him, and inquired if he wanted any money, he askedfor a talent, and Polysperchon gave it him, but wrote to Xenocratesadvising him for the future to be more careful in the choice of peoplehe recommended. But Xenocrates knew not the fellow's true character; weon the other hand very often when we know that such and such men arebad, yet give them testimonials and money, doing ourselves injury, andnot getting any pleasure for it, as people do get in the company ofwhores and flatterers, but being vexed and disgusted at the importunitythat 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 goingto perjure oneself, or deliver an unjust verdict, or vote for a measurethat is inexpedient, or borrow money for someone who will never pay itback. 

§ XII. And so repentance follows more closely upon bashfulness than uponany emotion, and that not afterwards, but in the very act. For we arevexed with ourselves when we give, and ashamed when we perjureourselves, and get ill-fame from our advocacies, and are put to theblush, when we cannot fulfil our promises. For frequently, frominability to say No, we promise impossibilities to perseveringapplicants, as introductions at court, and audiences with princes, fromreluctance or want of nerve to say, "The king does not know us, othershave his regard far more. " But Lysander, when he was out of favour withAgesilaus, though he was thought to have very great influence with himowing to his great reputation, was not ashamed to dismiss suitors, andbid them go and pay their court to others who had more influence withthe king. For not to be able to do everything carries no disgrace withit, but to undertake and try and force your way to what you are unableto do, or unqualified by nature for, is in addition to the disgraceincurred a task full of trouble. 

§ XIII. To take another element into consideration, all seemly andmodest requests we ought readily to comply with, not bashfully butheartily, whereas in injurious or unreasonable requests we ought ever toremember the conduct of Zeno, who, meeting a young man he knew walkingvery quietly near a wall, and learning from him that he was trying toget out of the way of a friend who wanted him to perjure himself on hisbehalf, said to him, "O stupid fellow, what do you tell me? Is he notafraid or ashamed to press you to what is not right? And dare not youstand up boldly against him for what is right?" For he that said"villainy is no bad weapon against villainy"[667] taught people the badpractice of standing on one's defence against vice by imitating it; butto get rid of those who shamelessly and unblushingly importune us bytheir own effrontery, and not to gratify the immodest in theirdisgraceful desires through false modesty, is the right and properconduct of sensible people. 

§ XIV. Moreover it is no great task to resist disreputable and low andworthless fellows who importune you, but some send such off with a laughor 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 hisscraper, [668] put them both off with a playful answer, "You, sir, Idon't know, and you I know too well. " And Lysimache, [669] the priestessof Athene Polias at Athens, when some muleteers that bore the sacredvessels asked her to give them a drink, answered, "I hesitate to do sofrom fear that you would make a practice of it. " And when a certainyoung man, the son of a distinguished officer, but himself effeminateand far from bold, asked Antigonus for promotion, he replied, "With me, young man, honours are given for personal prowess, not for the prowessof ancestors. "

§ 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 whenthey come to sue for your vote and interest, it will not perhaps be easyor even necessary to behave as Cato, when quite a young man, did toCatulus. Catulus was in the highest repute at Rome, and at that timeheld the office of censor, and went to Cato, who then held the office ofquæstor, and tried to beg off someone whom he had fined, and was urgentand even violent in his petitions, till Cato at last lost all patience, and said, "To have you, the censor, removed by my officers against yourwill, Catulus, would not be a seemly thing for you. " So Catulus feltashamed, and went off in a rage. But see whether the answers ofAgesilaus and Themistocles are not more modest and in better form. Agesilaus, when he was asked by his father to pronounce sentencecontrary to the law, said, "Father, I was taught by you even from myearliest years to obey the laws, so now I shall obey you and do nothingcontrary to law. " And Themistocles, when Simonides asked him to dosomething unjust, replied, "Neither would you be a good poet if yourlines violated the laws of metre, nor should I be a good magistrate if Igave decisions contrary to law. "

§ XVI. And yet it is not on account of want of metrical harmony inrespect to the lyre, to borrow the words of Plato, that cities quarrelwith 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 inmagistracies and judicial sentences and business generally. One musttherefore deal with them in the following manner. Does an orator ask afavour of you when you are acting as juryman, or a demagogue when youare sitting in council? Say you will grant his request if he first uttera solecism, or introduce a barbarism into his speech; he will refusebecause of the shame that would attach itself to him; at any rate we seesome that will not in a speech let two vowels come together. If againsome illustrious and distinguished person importune you to somethingbad, bid him come into the market-place dancing or making wry faces, andif he refuse you will have an opportunity to speak, and ask him which ismore disgraceful, to utter a solecism and make wry faces, or to violatethe law and one's oath, and contrary to justice to do more for a badthan for a good man. Nicostratus the Argive, when Archidamus offered hima large sum of money and any Lacedæmonian bride he chose if he woulddeliver up Cromnum, said Archidamus could not be a descendant ofHercules, for he travelled about and killed evil-doers, whereasArchidamus tried to make evil-doers of the good. In like manner, if aman of good repute tries to force and importune us to something bad, letus tell him that he is acting in an ignoble way, and not as his birthand virtue would warrant. 

§ XVII. But in the case of people of no repute you must see whether youcan persuade the miser by your importunity to lend you money without abond, or the proud man to yield you the better place, or the ambitiousman to surrender some office to you when he might take it himself. Fortruly it would seem monstrous that, while such remain firm andinflexible and unmoveable in their vicious propensities, we who wish tobe, and profess to be, men of honour and justice should be so littlemasters of ourselves as to abandon and betray virtue. For indeed, ifthose who importune us do it for glory and power, it is absurd that weshould adorn and aggrandize others only to get infamy and a bad nameourselves; like unfair umpires in the public games, or like peoplevoting only to ingratiate themselves, and so bestowing improperlyoffices and prizes[671] and glory on others, while they rob themselvesof respect and fair fame. And if we see that the person who importunesus only does so for money, does it not occur to one that it is monstrousto be prodigal of one's own fame and reputation merely to make somebodyelse's purse heavier? Why the idea must occur to most people, they sinwith their eyes open; like people who are urged hard to toss off bigbumpers, and grunt and groan and make wry faces, but at last do as theyare told. 

§ XVIII. Such weakness of mind is like a temperament of body equallysusceptible to heat and cold; for if such people are praised by thosethat importune them they are overcome and yield at once, whereas theyare mortally afraid of the blame and suspicions of those whose desiresthey do not comply with. But we ought to be stout and resolute in eithercase, neither yielding to bullying nor cajolery. Thucydides indeed tellsus, since envy necessarily follows ability, that "he is well advised whoincurs envy in matters of the highest importance. "[672] But we, thinkingit difficult to escape envy, and seeing that it is altogether impossiblenot to incur blame or give offence to those we live with, shall be welladvised if we prefer the hatred of the perverse to that of those whomight justly find fault with us for having iniquitously served theirturn. And indeed we ought to be on our guard against praise from thosewho importune us, which is sure to be altogether insincere, and not toresemble swine, readily allowing anyone that presses to make use of usfrom our pleasure at itching and tickling, and submitting ourselves totheir will. For those that give their ears to flatterers differ not awhit from such as let themselves be tripped up at wrestling, only theiroverthrow and fall is more disgraceful; some forbearing hostility andreproof in the case of bad men, that they may be called merciful andhumane and compassionate; and others on the contrary persuaded to takeup unnecessary and dangerous animosities and charges by those who praisethem as the only men, the only people that never flatter, and go so faras to entitle them their mouthpieces and voices. Accordingly Bio[673]compared such people to jars, that you could easily take by the ears andturn about at your will. Thus it is recorded that the sophist Alexinusin one of his lectures said a good many bad things about Stilpo theMegarian, but when one of those that were present said, "Why, he wasspeaking in your praise only the other day, " he replied, "I don't doubtit; for he is the best and noblest of men. " Menedemus on the contrary, having heard that Alexinus[674] frequently praised him, replied, "But Ialways censure him, for that man is bad who either praises a bad man oris blamed by a good. " So inflexible and proof was he against suchflattery, and master of that advice which Hercules in Antisthenes[675]gave, when he ordered his sons to be grateful to no one that praisedthem; which meant nothing else than that they should not bedumbfoundered 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 praisedhim everywhere and to all persons, "I am greatly obliged to you, andwill make your account true by my actions. "

§ XIX. A useful precept in reference to all passions is especiallyvaluable in the case of the bashful. When they have been overcome bythis infirmity, and against their judgement have erred and beenconfounded, let them fix it in their memories, and, remembering the painand grief it gave them, let them recall it to their mind and be on theirguard for a very long time. For as travellers that have stumbled againsta stone, or pilots that have been wrecked off a headland, if theyremember these occurrences, not only dread and are on their guardcontinually on those spots, but also on all similar ones; so those thatfrequently remember the disgrace and injury that bashfulness broughtthem, and its sorrow and anguish, will in similar cases be on theirguard against their weakness, and will not readily allow themselves tobe 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: korê] means both a girl, and the pupil of the eye. 

 [639] So Wyttenbach. 

 [640] These lines are quoted again "On Moral Virtue, " § vi. 

 [641] "Iliad, " xxiv. 44, 45. 

 [642] Euripides, "Bellerophon, " Fragm. , 313. 

 [643] Soph. , Fragm. , 736. 

 [644] Surely it is necessary to read [Greek: prodiaphthareisa tô akolastô]. 

 [645] See Plato, "Charmides, " 165 A. 

 [646] Euripides, "Medea, " 290, 291. 

 [647] "Works and Days, " 342. 

 [648] Reading with Wyttenbach, [Greek: mêd hypolabe pisteuein, dokounta]. 

 [649] See Horace's very amusing "Satire, " i. Ix. , on such tiresome fellows. 

 [650] [Greek: epitribô] 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 9Ÿ_d. _ of our money, nearly = Roman denarius. 

 [654] A talent was 6, 000 drachmæ, or 36, 000 obols, about £243 15_s. _ of our money. 

 [655] "Olynth. " iii. P. 33, § 19. 

 [656] Compare "On Education, " § 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, " § 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, " § ii. 

 [671] Literally "crowns. "

 [672] Thucydides, ii. 64. Pericles is the speaker. Quoted again in "How one may discern a flatterer from a friend, " § XXXV. 

 [673] "Est Bio Borysthenita, de quo vide Diog. Laërt. "--_Reiske. _

 [674] "De Alexino Eleo vide Diog. Laërt. , 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. 

§ I. _Sylla. _ Those painters, Fundanus, seem to me to do well who, before giving the finishing touches to their paintings, lay them by fora time and then revise them; because by taking their eyes off them for atime they gain by frequent inspection a new insight, and are more apt todetect minute differences, that continuous familiarity would havehidden. Now since a human being cannot so separate himself from himselffor a time, and make a break in his continuity, and then approachhimself again--and that is perhaps the chief reason why a man is a worsejudge of himself than of others--the next best thing will be for a manto inspect his friends after an interval, and likewise offer himself totheir scrutiny, not to see whether he has aged quickly, or whether hisbodily 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 beenwith you now five months, I am not at all surprised that there has beena great increase and growth in those good points which you formerly hadowing to your admirable nature; but when I see how gentle and obedientto 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 likecultivation of the soil it has produced a smoothness and depth fit foraction, instead of the former impetuosity and vehemence. And so it isclear that your propensity to anger has not been effaced by anydeclining vigour or through some chance, but has been cured by goodprecepts. And indeed, for I will tell you the truth, when our friendEros[677] reported this change in you to me, I suspected that owing togoodwill he bare witness not of the actual state of the case, but ofwhat was becoming to all good and virtuous men, although, as you know, he can never be persuaded to depart from his real opinion to ingratiatehimself with anyone. But now he is acquitted of false witness, and doyou, as your journey gives you leisure, narrate to me the mode of cureyou employed to make your temper so under control, so natural, gentleand obedient to reason. 

_Fundanus. _ Most friendly Sylla, take care that you do not in yourgoodwill and affection to me rest under any misconception of my realcondition. For it is possible that Eros, not being able always himselfto keep his temper in its place in the obedience that Homer speaksof, [678] but sometimes carried away by his hatred of what is bad, maythink me grown milder than I really am, as in changes of the scale inmusic the lowest notes become the highest. 

_Sylla. _ Neither of these is the case, Fundanus, but oblige me by doingas I ask. 

§ II. _Fundanus. _ One of the excellent precepts then of Musonius that Iremember, Sylla, is this, that those who wish to be well should dietthemselves all their life long. For I do not think we must employ reasonas a cure, as we do hellebore, by purging it out with the disease, butwe must retain it in the soul, to restrain and govern the judgement. Forthe power of reason is not like physic, but wholesome food, whichco-operates with good health in producing a good habit of body in thoseby whom it is taken. But admonition and reproof, when passion is at itsheight and swelling, does little or no good, but resembles very closelythose strong-smelling substances, that are able to set on their legsagain those that have fallen in epileptic fits, but cannot rid them oftheir disease. For although all other passions, even at the moment oftheir 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, likethose persons who burn themselves and houses together, it makes all theinterior full of confusion and smoke and noise, so that what would beadvantageous can neither be seen nor heard. And so an empty ship in astorm at open sea would sooner admit on board a pilot from without, thana 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 whoexpect a siege get together and store up supplies, when they despair ofrelief from without, so ought we by all means to scour the country farand wide to derive aids against anger from philosophy, and store them upin the soul: for, when the time of need comes, we shall find it no easytask to import them. For either the soul doesn't hear what is saidwithout because of the uproar, if it have not within its own reason(like a boatswain as it were) to receive at once and understand everyexhortation; or if it does hear, it despises what is uttered mildly andgently, while it is exasperated by harsh censure. For anger beinghaughty and self-willed and hard to be worked upon by another, like afortified tyranny, must have someone born and bred within it[679] tooverthrow it. 

§ III. Now long-continued anger, and frequent giving way to it, producesan evil disposition of soul, which people call irascibility, and whichends in passionateness, bitterness, and peevishness, whenever the mindbecomes sore and vexed at trifles and querulous at everyday occurrences, like iron thin and beaten out too fine. But when the judgement checksand suppresses at once the rising anger, it not only cures the soul forthe moment, but restores its tone and balance for the future. It hashappened to myself indeed twice or thrice, when I strongly foughtagainst anger, that I was in the same plight as the Thebans, who afterthey had once defeated the Lacedæmonians, whom they had hitherto thoughtinvincible, never lost a battle against them again. I then feltconfident that reason can win the victory. I saw also that anger is notonly appeased by the sprinkling of cold water, as Aristotle attested, but is also extinguished by the action of fear; aye, and, as Homer tellsus, anger has been cured and has melted away in the case of many by somesudden joy. So that I came to the conclusion that this passion is notincurable for those who wish to be cured. For it does not arise fromgreat and important causes, but banter and joking, a laugh or a nod, andsimilar 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 wasbrought to him, "I will not drink to Alexander till I shall require thehelp of Æsculapius. "

§ IV. As then it is easy to put out a flame kindled in the hair of haresand in wicks and rubbish, but if it once gets hold of things solid andthick, it quickly destroys and consumes them, "raging amidst the loftywork of the carpenters, " as Æschylus[682] says; so he that observesanger in its rise, and sees it gradually smoking and bursting forth intofire from some chatter or rubbishy scurrility, need have no greattrouble with it, but can frequently smother it merely by silence andcontempt. For as a person puts out a fire by bringing no fuel to it, sowith respect to anger, he that does not in the beginning fan it, andstir up its rage in himself, keeps it off and destroys it. And so, though Hieronymus has given us many useful sayings and precepts, I amnot pleased with his remark that there is no perception of anger in itsbirth, but only in its actual developement, so quick is it. For none ofthe passions when stirred up and set in motion has so palpable a birthand growth as anger. As indeed Homer skilfully shows us, where herepresents Achilles as seized at once with grief, when word was broughthim _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 asinflamed by his many words, which if either of them[684] had abstainedfrom, their quarrel would not have attained such growth and magnitude. And so Socrates, as often as he perceived any anger rising in himagainst any of his friends, "setting himself like some ocean promontoryto break the violence of the waves, " would lower his voice, and put on asmiling countenance, and give his eye a gentler expression, by incliningin the other direction and running counter to his passion, thus keepinghimself from fall and defeat. 

§ V. For the first way, my friend, to overcome anger, like the puttingdown of some tyrant, is not to obey or listen to it when it bids youspeak loud, and look fierce, and beat yourself, but to remain quiet, andnot to make the passion more intense, as one would a disease, by tossingabout and crying out. In love affairs indeed, such things as revellings, and serenadings, and crowning the loved one's door with garlands, mayindeed 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 awaywith the tears much of the grief. But anger on the contrary is much morefanned by what angry persons do and say. It is best therefore to becalm, or to flee and hide ourselves and go to a haven of quiet, when wefeel the fit of temper coming upon us as an epileptic fit, that we fallnot, or rather fall not on others, for it is our friends that we fallupon most and most frequently. For we do not love all, nor envy all, norfear all men; but nothing is untouched or unassailed by anger; for weare angry with friends and enemies, parents and children, aye, and withthe 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 burnhis bow "after breaking it with his hands. "[687] And Xerxes inflictedstripes and blows on the sea, and sent letters to Mount Athos, "DivineAthos, whose top reaches heaven, put not in the way of my works stoneslarge and difficult to deal with, or else I will hew thee down, andthrow thee into the sea. " For anger has many formidable aspects, andmany ridiculous ones, so that of all the passions it is the most hatedand despised. It will be well to consider both aspects. 

§ 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 theLacedæmonians study the nature of drunkenness in the Helots. And in thefirst place, as Hippocrates tells us that disease is most dangerous inwhich the face of the patient is most unlike himself, so observing thatpeople beside themselves with anger change their face, colour, walk, andvoice, I formed an impression as it were of that aspect of passion, andwas very disgusted with myself if ever I should appear so frightful andlike one out of his mind to my friends and wife and daughters, not onlywild and unlike oneself in appearance, but also with a voice savage andharsh, as I had noticed in some[688] of my acquaintance, who couldneither preserve for anger their ordinary behaviour, or demeanour, orgrace of language, or persuasiveness and gentleness in conversation. Caius Gracchus, indeed, the orator, whose character was harsh and styleof oratory impassioned, had a pitch-pipe made for him, such as musiciansuse to heighten or lower their voices by degrees, and this, when he wasmaking a speech, a slave stood behind him and held, and used to give hima mild and gentle note on it, whereby he lowered his key, and removedfrom his voice the harsh and passionate element, charming and laying theheat 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 notbe vexed at his showing me a looking-glass in my fits of anger, as theyoffer one to some after a bath to little useful end. For to beholdoneself unnaturally distorted in countenance will condemn anger in nosmall degree. The poets playfully tell us that Athene when playing onthe 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 herface in a river, she felt vexed and threw her pipes away, although arthad made melody a compensation for her unsightliness. And Marsyas, itseems, by a sort of mouthpiece forcibly repressed the violence of hisbreath, 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 throwsup tangle and seaweed; but the intemperate and bitter and vain words, which the mind throws up when the soul is agitated, defile the speakersof them first of all and fill them with infamy, as always having thosethoughts within their bosom and being defiled with them, but only givingvent 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 getreputed to be enemies, and evil speakers, and malignant in disposition. 

§ VII. Seeing and observing all this, it occurs to me to take it as amatter of fact, and record it for my own general use, that if it is goodto keep the tongue soft and smooth in a fever, it is better to keep itso in anger. For if the tongue of people in a fever be unnatural, it isa bad sign, but not the cause of their malady; but the tongue of angrypeople, being rough and foul, and breaking out into unseemly speeches, produces insults that work irremediable mischief, and argue deep-rootedmalevolence within. For wine drunk neat does not exhibit the soul in soungovernable and hateful a condition as temper does: for the outbreaksof the one smack of laughter and fun, while those of the other arecompounded with gall: and at a drinking-bout he that is silent isburdensome to the company and tiresome, whereas in anger nothing is morehighly thought of than silence, as Sappho advises, "When anger's busy in the brain Thy idly-barking tongue restrain. "

§ VIII. And not only does the consideration of all this naturally arisefrom observing ourselves in the moments of anger, but we cannot helpseeing also the other properties of rage, how ignoble it is, howunmanly, how devoid of dignity and greatness of mind! And yet to mostpeople its noise seems vigour, its threatening confidence, and itsobstinacy force of character; some even not wisely entitle itssavageness magnanimity, and its implacability firmness, and its morosityhatred of what is bad. For their actions and motions and whole demeanourargue great littleness and meanness, not only when they are fierce withlittle boys, and peevish with women, and think it right to treat dogsand horses and mules with harshness, as Otesiphon the pancratiastthought fit to kick back a mule that had kicked him, but even in thebutcheries that tyrants commit their littleness of soul is apparent intheir savageness, and their suffering in their action, so that they arelike the bites of serpents, that, when they are burnt and smart withpain, violently thrust their venom on those that have hurt them. For asa swelling is produced in the flesh by a heavy blow, so in softest soulsthe inclination to hurt others gets its greater strength from greaterweakness. Thus women are more prone to anger than men, and people illthan people well, and old men than men in their prime, and theunfortunate than the prosperous; the miser is most prone to anger withhis 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 "menwho are too eager in states for office, or to head a faction, a manifestsorrow, " to borrow Pindar's words. So from the very great pain andsuffering of the soul there arises mainly from weakness anger, which isnot like the nerves of the soul, as some one defined it, but like itsstrainings and convulsions when it is excessively vehement in its thirstfor revenge. 

§ IX. Such bad examples as these were not pleasant to look at butnecessary, but I shall now proceed to describe people who have been mildand easy in dealing with anger, conduct gratifying either to see or hearabout, being utterly disgusted[690] with people who use such languageas, "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 wellhave 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 todiffer from it only in respect to gentleness, with which it has moreaffinities. For it sometimes happens to worse men to govern better ones, but to erect a trophy in the soul against anger (which Heraclitus saysit is difficult to contend against, for whatever it wishes is bought atthe price of the soul), is a proof of power so great and victorious asto be able to apply the judgement as if it were nerves and sinews to thepassions. So I always try to collect and peruse the remarks on thissubject not only of the philosophers, who foolish[691] people say had nogall in their composition, but still more of kings and tyrants. Such wasthe remark of Antigonus to his soldiers, when they were abusing him nearhis 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?" Andwhen Arcadio the Achæan, who was always railing against Philip, andadvising people to flee

 "Unto a country where they knew not Philip, "

visited Macedonia afterwards on some chance or other, the king's friendsthought he ought to be punished and the matter not looked over; butPhilip treated him kindly, and sent him presents and gifts, andafterwards bade inquiry to be made as to what sort of account of himArcadio now gave to the Greeks; and when all testified that the fellowhad become a wonderful praiser of the king, Philip said, "You see I knewhow to cure him better than all of you. " And at the Olympian games whenthere was defamation of Philip, and some of his suite said to him, thatthe Greeks ought to smart for it, because they railed against him whenthey were treated well by him, he replied, "What will they do then ifthey are treated badly by me?" Excellent also was the behaviour ofPisistratus to Thrasybulus, and of Porsena to Mucius, and of Magas toPhilemon. As to Magas, after he had been publicly jeered at by Philemonin 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 atParætonium, he commanded one of his soldiers only to touch his neck withthe naked sword and then to go away quietly, and dismissed him, aftersending him a ball and some dice as if he were a silly boy. And Ptolemyon one occasion, flouting a grammarian for his ignorance, asked him whowas the father of Peleus, and he answered, "I will tell you, if you tellme first who was the father of Lagus. " This was a jeer at the obscurebirth of the king, and all his courtiers were indignant at it as anunpardonable liberty; but Ptolemy said, "If it is not kingly to take aflout, neither is it kingly to give one. " And Alexander was more savagethan usual in his behaviour to Callisthenes and Clitus. So Porus, whenhe was taken captive, begged Alexander to use him as a king. And on hisinquiring, "What, nothing more?" he replied "No. For everything isincluded in being used as a king. " So they call the king of the godsMilichius, [692] while they call Ares Maimactes;[693] and punishment andtorture they assign to the Erinnyes and to demons, not to the gods orOlympus. 

§ X. As then a certain person passed the following remark on Philip whenhe had razed Olynthus to the ground, "He certainly could not build suchanother 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 thework of mildness and moderation, the work of a Camillus, a Metellus, anAristides, a Socrates; but to sting and bite is to resemble the ant andhorse-fly. For, indeed, when I consider revenge, I find its angry methodto be for the most part ineffectual, since it spends itself in bitingthe lips and gnashing the teeth, and in vain attacks, and in railingscoupled with foolish threats, and eventually resembles children runningraces, who from feebleness ridiculously tumble down before they reachthe goal they are hastening to. So that speech of the Rhodian to alictor of the Roman prætor who was shouting and talking insolently wasnot inapt, "It is no matter to me what you say, but what your masterthinks. "[694] And Sophocles, when he had introduced Neoptolemus andEurypylus as armed for the battle, gives them this highcommendation, [695]

 "They rushed into the midst of armed warriors, "

Some barbarians indeed poison their steel, but bravery has no need ofgall, being dipped in reason, but rage and fury are not invincible butrotten. And so the Lacedæmonians by their pipes turn away the anger oftheir warriors, and sacrifice to the Muses before commencing battle, that reason may abide with them, and when they have routed a foe do notfollow up the victory, [696] but relax their rage, which like smalldaggers they can easily take back. But anger kills myriads before it isglutted with revenge, as happened in the case of Cyrus and Pelopidas theTheban. But Agathocles bore mildly the revilings of those he wasbesieging, and when one of them cried out, "Potter, how are you going toget money to pay your mercenaries?" he replied laughingly, "Out of yourtown if I take it. " And when some of those on the wall threw hisugliness into the teeth of Antigonus, he said to them, "I thought I wasrather a handsome fellow. " But after he had taken the town, he sold forslaves those that had flouted him, protesting that, if they insulted himagain, he would bring the matter before their masters. I have noticedalso that hunters and orators are very unsuccessful when they give wayto anger. [697] And Aristotle tells us that the friends of Satyrusstopped up his ears with wax when he was to plead a cause, that he mightnot make any confusion in the case through rage at the abuse of hisenemies. And does it not frequently happen with ourselves that a slavewho has offended escapes punishment, because they abscond in fear of ourthreats and harsh words? What nurses then say to children, "Give upcrying, 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 soonerand better get what you want. " For a father, seeing his boy trying tocut or cleave something with a knife, takes the knife from him and doesit himself: and similarly a person, taking revenge out of the hand ofpassion, does himself safely and usefully and without harm punish theperson who deserves punishment, and not himself instead, as anger oftendoes. 

§ XI. Now though all the passions need such discipline as by exerciseshall tame and subdue their unreasoning and disobedient elements, yetthere is none which we ought to keep under by such discipline so much asthe exhibition of anger to our servants. For neither envy, nor fear, norrivalry come into play between them and us; but our frequent displays ofanger to them, creating many offences and faults, make us to slip as ifon slippery ground owing to our autocracy with our servants, which noone resists or prevents. For it is impossible to check irresponsiblepower so as never to break out under the influence of passion, unlessone wields power with much meekness, and refuses to listen to thefrequent complaints of one's wife and friends charging one with beingtoo easy and lax with one's servants. And by nothing have I been moreexasperated against them, as if they were being ruined for want ofcorrection. At last, though late, I got to see that in the first placeit is better to make them worse by forbearance, than by bitterness andanger to distort oneself for the correction of others. In the next placeI observed that many for the very reason that they were not correctedwere frequently ashamed to be bad, and made pardon rather thanpunishment the commencement of their reformation, aye, and made betterslaves to some merely at their nod silently and cheerfully than toothers with all their beatings and brandings, and so I came to theconclusion that reason gets better obeyed than temper, for it is not asthe 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 offear that corrects the behaviour. But perpetual and pitiless beatingproduces not so much repentance for wrong-doing as contrivances tocontinue in it without detection. In the third place, ever rememberingand reflecting within myself that, just as he that teaches us the use ofthe bow does not forbid us to shoot but only to miss the mark, so itwill not prevent punishment altogether to teach people to do it inseason, and with moderation, utility, and decorum, I strive to removeanger most especially by not forbidding those who are to be corrected tospeak in their defence, but by listening to them. For the interval oftime gives a pause to passion, and a delay that mitigates it, and sojudgement finds out both the fit manner and adequate amount ofpunishment. Moreover he that is punished has nothing to allege againsthis correction, if he is punished not in anger but only after his guiltis 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. Asthen Phocion, after the death of Alexander, to stop the Athenians fromrevolting 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 thenext day, " so I think the man who is in a hurry to punish anyone in hisrage ought to consider with himself, "If this person has wronged youto-day, he will also have wronged you to-morrow and the next day; andthere 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 tohave been innocent, as has often happened before now. " For which of usis so savage as to chastise and scourge a slave because five or ten daysbefore he over-roasted the meat, or upset the table, or was somewhattardy on some errand? And yet these are the very things for which we putourselves out and are harsh and implacable, immediately after they havehappened and are recent. For as bodies seem greater in a mist, so dolittle matters in a rage. We ought therefore to consider such argumentsas these at once, and if, when there is no trace of passion left, thematter appear bad to calm and clear reason, then it ought to be taken inhand, and the punishment ought not to be neglected or abandoned, as weleave food when we have lost our appetites. For nothing causes people topunish so much when their anger is fierce, as that when it is appeasedthey do not punish at all, but forget the matter entirely, and resemblelazy rowers, who lie in harbour when the sea is calm, and then sail outto their peril when the wind gets up. So we, condemning reason forslackness and mildness in punishing, are in a hurry to punish, bornealong by passion as by a dangerous gale. He that is hungry takes hisfood as nature dictates, but he that punishes should have no hunger orthirst for it, nor require anger as a sauce to stimulate him to it, butshould punish when he is as far as possible from having any desire forit, and has to compel his reason to it. For we ought not, as Aristotletells us slaves in his time were scourged in Etruria to the music of theflute, to go headlong into punishing with a desire and zest for it, andto delight in punishing, and then afterwards to be sorry at it--for thefirst is savage, and the last womanish--but we should without eithersorrow or pleasure chastise at the dictates of reason, giving anger noopportunity to interfere. 

§ XII. But this perhaps will not appear a cure of anger so much as aputting 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 feveris assuaged by its abating, as Hieronymus tells us. Now when Icontemplated the origin of anger itself, I observed that, thoughdifferent persons fell into it for different reasons, yet in nearly allof 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 asfar as possible from them any action savouring of contempt or contumely, and by looking upon their anger as folly or necessity, or emotion, ormischance, 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 toAchilles, "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 hethat 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 himselfthe answer of Diogenes, who, when it was said to him, "These peoplelaugh at you, " replied, "But I am not one to be laughed at, " and notthink himself despised, but rather despise the person who gave theoffence, as acting from weakness, or error, or rashness, orheedlessness, or illiberality, or old age, or youth. Nor must weentertain such notions with regard to our servants and friends. For theydo not despise us as void of ability or energy, but owing to ourevenness and good-nature, some because we are mild, and others presumingon our affection for them. But as it is we not only fly into rages withwife and slaves and friends, as if we were slighted by them, but we alsofrequently, from forming the same idea of being slighted, fall foul ofinnkeepers and sailors and muleteers, and are vexed at dogs that barkand asses that are in our way: like the man who was going to beat anass-driver, but when he cried out he was an Athenian, he said to theass, "You are not an Athenian anyway, " and beat it with many stripes. 

§ XIII. Moreover those continuous and frequent fits of anger that gathertogether in the soul by degrees, like a swarm of bees or wasps, aregenerated within us by selfishness and peevishness, luxury and softness. And so nothing causes us to be mild to our servants and wife and friendsso much as easiness and simplicity, and the learning to be content withwhat 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 breadpurchased in the market, nor touch food served on cheap or earthenwareplates, nor sleep upon any but a feather bed that rises and falls likethe sea stirred up from its depths, and with rods and blows hastens hisservants at table, so that they run about and cry out and sweat as ifthey were bringing poultices to sores, he is slave to a weak querulousand discontented mode of life, and, like one who has a continual coughor various ailments, whether he is aware of it or not, he is in anulcerous and catarrh-like condition as regards his proneness to anger. We must therefore train the body to contentment by plain living, that itmay 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 silentlywhatever it is, and not by being choleric and peevish to thrust uponourselves 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, becausesomething is burnt or smoked or not salt enough, or because the bread istoo cold. Arcesilaus was once entertaining some friends and strangers, and when dinner was served, there was no bread, through the servantshaving neglected to buy any. In such a case as this which of us wouldnot have broken the walls with vociferation? But he only smiled andsaid, "How unfit a sage is to give an entertainment!" And when Socratesonce took Euthydemus home with him from the wrestling-school, Xanthippewas in a towering rage, and scolded, and at last upset the table, andEuthydemus 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 verysame way? And we did not put ourselves out about it. " We ought toreceive our friends with gaiety and smiles and welcome, not knitting ourbrows, or inspiring fear and trembling in the attendants. We ought alsoto accustom ourselves to the use of any kind of ware at table, and notto stint ourselves to one kind rather than another, as some pick out aparticular tankard or horn, as they say Marius did, out of many, andwill not drink out of anything else; and some act in the same way withregard to oil-flasks and scrapers, [701] being content with only one outof all, and so, if such an article is broken or lost, they are very muchput out about it, and punish with severity. He then that is prone toanger should not use rare and dainty things, such as choice cups andseals and precious stones: for if they are lost they put a man besidehimself much more than the loss of ordinary and easily got things woulddo. And so when Nero had got an eight-cornered tent constructed, awonderful 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 sohappen that the tent was lost by shipwreck, but Nero bore its losspatiently, remembering what Seneca had said. Now this easiness aboutthings generally makes a man also easy and gentle to his servants, andif to them, then it is clear he will be so to his friends also, and toall that serve under him in any capacity. So we observe thatnewly-purchased slaves do not inquire about the master who has boughtthem, whether he is superstitious or envious, but only whether he is abad-tempered man: and generally speaking we see that neither can men putup with chaste wives, nor wives with loving husbands, nor friends withone another, if they be ill-tempered to boot. So neither marriage norfriendship is bearable with anger, though without anger even drunkennessis a small matter. For the wand of Dionysus punishes sufficiently thedrunken man, but if anger be added it turns wine from being thedispeller of care and inspirer of the dance into a savage and fury. Andsimple madness can be cured by Anticyra, [702] but madness mixed withanger is the producer of tragedies and dreadful narratives. 

§ XIV. So we ought to give anger no vent, either in jest, for that drawshatred to friendliness; or in discussion, for that turns love oflearning into strife; or on the judgement-seat, for that adds insolenceto power; or in teaching, for that produces dejection and hatred oflearning: or in prosperity, for that increases envy; or in adversity, for that deprives people of compassion, when they are peevish and runcounter 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, adornsand sweetens others, and gets the better of all peevishness and anger byits gentleness. Thus Euclides, [704] when his brother said to him in adispute 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 turnedand changed him. And Polemo, when a man reviled him who was fond ofprecious stones and quite crazy for costly seal-rings, made no answer, but bestowed all his attention on one of his seal-rings, and eyed itclosely; and he being delighted said, "Do not look at it so, Polemo, butin the light of the sun, and it will appear to you more beautiful. " AndAristippus, when there was anger between him and Æschines, and somebodysaid, "O Aristippus, where is now your friendship?" replied, "It isasleep, but I will wake it up, " and went to Æschines, and said to him, "Do I seem to you so utterly unfortunate and incurable as to be unworthyof any consideration?" And Æschines replied, "It is not at all wonderfulthat you, being naturally superior to me in all things, should have beenfirst 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 armsyoung wolves and lions' whelps, inconsistently repel our children andfriends and acquaintances in our rage, and let loose our temper likesome wild beast on our servants and fellow-citizens, speciously tryingto 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, wecannot get rid of any of them by calling one prudence, and anotherliberality, and another piety. 

§ XV. And yet, as Zeno said the seed was a mixture and compound drawnfrom all the faculties of the soul, so anger seems a universal seed fromall the passions. For it is drawn from pain and pleasure andhaughtiness, and from envy it gets its property of malignity--and it iseven worse than envy, [705] for it does not mind its own suffering if itcan only implicate another in misery--and the most unlovely kind ofdesire is innate in it, namely the appetite for injuring another. Sowhen we go to the houses of spendthrifts we hear a flute-playing girlearly in the morning, and see "the dregs of wine, " as one said, andfragments of garlands, and the servants at the doors reeking ofyesterday's debauch; but for tokens of savage and peevish masters theseyou 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 spectatorseven in their jollity and pleasure pity these victims of passion. 

§ XVI. Moreover those to whom it happens through their genuine hatred ofwhat is bad to be frequently overtaken by anger, can abate its excessand acerbity by giving up their excessive confidence in their intimates. For nothing swells the anger more, than when a good man is detected ofvillainy, 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 inclinesto goodwill and belief in mankind. As then people walking on emptyspace, [706] the more confidently I believe in anybody's affection, themore sorrow and distress do I feel if my estimate is a mistaken one. Andindeed 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 bynature a changeable animal, but that he was afraid of those that werewell educated in the city, lest, being human beings and the seed ofhuman beings, they should reveal by some trait or other the weakness ofhuman 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. Stillsuch a peevish and condemnatory verdict as this has a tendency to makepeople milder in their rage, for it is the sudden and unexpected thatmakes people go distracted. And we ought, as Panætius somewhere said, toimitate Anaxagoras, and as he said at the death of his son, "I knew thatI had begotten a mortal, " so ought every one of us to use the followingkind of language in those contretemps that stir up our anger, "I knewthat the slave I bought was not a philosopher, " "I knew that the friendI had was not perfect, " "I knew that my wife was but a woman. " And ifanyone would also constantly put to himself that question of Plato, "AmI myself all I should be?" and look at home instead of abroad, and curbhis propensity to censoriousness, he would not be so keen to detect evilin others, for he would see that he stood in need of much allowancehimself. But now each of us, when angry and punishing, quote the wordsof Aristides and Cato, "Do not steal, Do not tell lies, " and "Why areyou lazy?" And, what is most disgraceful of all, we blame angry peoplewhen we are angry ourselves, and chastise in temper faults that werecommitted in temper, unlike the doctors who

 "With bitter physic purge the bitter bile, "

for we rather increase and aggravate the disease. Whenever then I busymyself with such considerations as these, I try also to curtail mycuriosity. For to scrutinize and pry into everything too minutely, andto overhaul every business of a servant, or action of a friend, orpastime of a son, or whisper of a wife, produces frequent, indeed daily, fits of anger, caused entirely by peevishness and harshness ofcharacter. 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 tomanage, others in the hands of his servants, others in the hands of hisfriends, (as a governor has his stewards, and financiers, andcontrollers), while he himself superintends the most important andweighty matters. For as small writing strains the eyes, so small matterseven more strain and bother people, and stir up their anger, whichcarries this evil habit to greater matters. Above all I thought thatsaying of Empedocles, "Fast from evil, "[708] a great and divine one, andI approved of those promises and vows as not ungraceful orunphilosophical, to abstain for a year from wine and Venus, honouringthe deity by continence, or for a stated time to give up lying, takinggreat heed to ourselves to be truthful always whether in play orearnest. With these I compared my own vow, as no less pleasing to thegods and holy, first to abstain from anger for a few days, like spendingdays without drunkenness or even without wine at all, offering as itwere 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, andby keeping myself courteous and without anger and using fair language, purifying myself from evil words and absurd actions, and from passionwhich for a little unlovely pleasure pays us with great mentaldisturbance and the bitterest repentance. In consequence of all this myexperience, and the assistance of the deity, has made me form the view, that courtesy and gentleness and kindliness are not so agreeable, andpleasant, 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, " § 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: autôn]. 

 [685] Lines of Callimachus. [Greek: phliên] 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 Dübner. 

 [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] Dübner 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, " § xviii. 

 [705] So Reiske. Dübner 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: aerobateô]. 

 [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 Æschylus, "Eumenides, " 107. Sophocles, "Oedipus Colonæus, " 481. See also our author's "De Sanitate Præcepta, " § 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. 

§ I. It was late when I received your letter, asking me to write to yousomething on contentedness of mind, and on those things in the Timæusthat require an accurate explanation. And it so fell out that at thatvery time our friend Eros was obliged to set sail at once for Rome, having received a letter from the excellent Fundanus, urging hasteaccording to his wont. And not having as much time as I could havewished to meet your request, and yet not thinking for one moment ofletting my messenger go to you entirely empty-handed, I copied out thenotes that I had chanced to make on contentedness of mind. For I thoughtthat you did not desire this discourse merely to be treated to a subjecthandled in fine style, but for the real business of life. And Icongratulate you that, though you have friendships with princes, andhave as much forensic reputation as anybody, yet you are not in the sameplight as the tragic Merops, nor have you like him by the felicitationsof the multitude been induced to forget the sufferings of humanity; butyou 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 diademfor the headache. For how can riches, or fame, or power at court help usto ease of mind or a calm life, unless we enjoy them when present, butare not for ever pining after them when absent? And what else causesthis but the long exercise and practice of reason, which, when theunreasoning and emotional part of the soul breaks out of bounds, curbsit quickly, and does not allow it to be carried away headlong from itsactual position? And as Xenophon[713] advised that we should rememberand honour the gods most especially in prosperity, that so, when weshould be in any strait, we might confidently call upon them as alreadyour well-wishers and friends; so sensible men would do well beforetrouble comes to meditate on remedies how to bear it, that they may bethe more efficacious from being ready for use long before. For as savagedogs are excited at every sound, and are only soothed by a familiarvoice, 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 itsexcitement. 

§ II. He then that said, that the man that wished to have an easy mindought to have little to do either public or private, first of all makesease of mind a very costly article for us, if it is to be bought at theprice 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] noris he any better physician of the soul who removes its trouble andanxiety by recommending a lazy and soft life and a leaving our friendsand relations and country in the lurch. In the next place, it is falsethat those that have little to do are easy in mind. For then women wouldbe easier in mind than men, since they mostly stay at home ininactivity, 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 orsuperstition or ambition or vanity, inundate the women's part of thehouse with unceasing flow. And Laertes, though he lived for twenty yearsa 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 anddejection[718] as a perpetual companion with leisure. And some have beenoften 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 himselfsays, "A useless burden to the earth I sit Beside the ships. "[720]

So even Epicurus thinks that those who are desirous of honour and gloryshould not rust in inglorious ease, but use their natural talents inpublic life for the benefit of the community at large, seeing that theyare by nature so constituted that they would be more likely to betroubled and afflicted at inaction, if they did not get what theydesired. But he is absurd in that he does not urge men of ability totake part in public life, but only the restless. But we ought not toestimate ease or unrest of mind by our many or few actions, but by theirfairness or foulness. For the omission of fair actions troubles anddistresses us, as I have said before, quite as much as the actual doingof foul actions. 

§ III. As for those who think that one kind of life is especially freefrom trouble, as some think that of farmers, others that of bachelors, others that of kings, Menander sufficiently exposes their error in thefollowing 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 thepoor, "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, thinkthey will suffer from it less on board a merchantman than on a boat, andfor the same reason shift their quarters to a trireme, but do not attainanything by these changes, for they take with them their timidity andqualmishness, so changes of life do not remove the sorrows and troublesof the soul; which proceed from want of experience and reflection, andfrom inability or ignorance rightly to enjoy the present. These afflictthe rich as well as the poor; these trouble the married as well as theunmarried; these make people shun the forum, but find no happiness inretirement; 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 findthe 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 conditionsupervenes, health returns and makes all things pleasant and acceptable. He that yesterday loathed eggs and cakes of finest meal and purest breadwill to-day eat eagerly and with appetite coarsest bread with a fewolives and cress. 

§ IV. Such contentedness and change of view in regard to every kind oflife does the infusion of reason bring about. When Alexander heard fromAnaxarchus of the infinite number of worlds, he wept, and when hisfriends asked him what was the matter, he replied, "Is it not a matterfor tears that, when the number of worlds is infinite, I have notconquered one?" But Crates, who had only a wallet and threadbare cloak, passed all his life jesting and laughing as if at a festival. Agamemnonwas 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 theauctioneer, and would not stand up when he bade him, but said joking andlaughing, "Would you tell a fish you were selling to stand up?" AndSocrates in prison played the philosopher and discoursed with hisfriends. But Phäethon, [723] when he got up to heaven, wept becausenobody gave to him his father's horses and chariot. As therefore theshoe is shaped by the foot, and not the foot by the shoe, so does thedisposition 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, butit is sense that makes that very life at once the best and sweetest. Letus cleanse therefore the fountain of contentedness, which is within us, that so external things may turn out for our good, through our puttingthe 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]

§ V. Plato compared human life to a game at dice, wherein we ought tothrow according to our requirements, and, having thrown, to make thebest use of whatever turns up. It is not in our power indeed todetermine what the throw will be, but it is our part, if we are wise, toaccept in a right spirit whatever fortune sends, and so to contrivematters that what we wish should do us most good, and what we do notwish should do us least harm. For those who live at random and withoutjudgement, like those sickly people who can stand neither heat nor cold, are unduly elated by prosperity, and cast down by adversity; and ineither case suffer from unrest, but 'tis their own fault, and perhapsthey suffer most in what are called good circumstances. Theodorus, whowas surnamed the Atheist, used to say that he held out arguments withhis right hand, but his hearers received them with their left; soawkward people frequently take in a clumsy manner the favours offortune; but men of sense, as bees extract honey from thyme which is thestrongest and driest of herbs, [725] so from the least auspiciouscircumstances frequently derive advantage and profit. 

§ VI. We ought then to cultivate such a habit as this, like the man whothrew a stone at his dog, and missed it, but hit his step-mother, andcried out, "Not so bad. " Thus we may often turn the edge of fortune whenthings turn not out as we wish. Diogenes was driven into exile; "not sobad;" for his exile made him turn philosopher. And Zeno of Cittium, [726]when he heard that the only merchantman he had was wrecked, cargo andall, said, "Fortune, you treat me handsomely, since you reduce me to mythreadbare cloak and piazza. "[727] What prevents our imitating such menas these? Have you failed to get some office? You will be able to livein the country henceforth, and manage your own affairs. Did you courtthe friendship of some great man, and meet with a rebuff? You will livefree from danger and cares. Have you again had matters to deal with thatrequired labour and thought? "Warm water will not so much make the limbssoft by soaking, " to quote Pindar, [728] as glory and honour and powermake "labour sweet, and toil to be no toil. "[729] Or has any bad luck orcontumely fallen on you in consequence of some calumny or from envy? Thebreeze is favourable that will waft you to the Muses and the Academy, asit did Plato when his friendship with Dionysius came to an end. It doesindeed greatly conduce to contentedness of mind to see how famous menhave borne the same troubles with an unruffled mind. For example, doeschildlessness trouble you? Consider those kings of the Romans, none ofwhom left his kingdom to a son. Are you distressed at the pinch ofpoverty? Who of the Boeotians would you rather prefer to be thanEpaminondas, or of the Romans than Fabricius? Has your wife beenseduced? 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 Timæa was seduced by Alcibiades, and in her whispers to her handmaidens called the child that was bornAlcibiades? Yet this did not prevent Agis from being the most famous andgreatest of the Greeks. Neither again did the licentiousness of hisdaughter prevent Stilpo from leading the merriest life of all thephilosophers that were his contemporaries. And when Metrocles reproachedhim with her life, he said, "Is it my fault or hers?" And when Metroclesanswered, "Her fault, but your misfortune, " he rejoined, "How say you?Are not faults also slips?" "Certainly, " said he. "And are not slipsmischances in those matters wherein we slip?" Metrocles assented. "Andare not mischances misfortunes in those matters wherein we mischance?"By this gentle and philosophical argument he demonstrated the Cynic'sreproach to be an idle bark. 

§ VII. But most people are troubled and exasperated not only at the badin their friends and intimates, but also in their enemies. For railingand anger and envy and malignity and jealousy and ill-will are the baneof those that suffer from those infirmities, and trouble and exasperatethe foolish: as for example the quarrels of neighbours, and peevishnessof acquaintances, and the want of ability in those that manage stateaffairs. By these things you yourself seem to me to be put out not alittle, 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 notalways managed by simple and good and suitable instruments, so to speak, but very frequently by sharp and crooked ones. Do not think it theneither your business, or an easy matter either, to set all these thingsto rights. But if you take people as they are, as the surgeon uses hisbandages and instruments for drawing teeth, and with cheerfulness andserenity welcome all that happens, as you would look upon barking dogsas only following their nature, you will be happier in the dispositionyou will then have than you will be distressed at other people'sdisagreeableness and shortcomings. For you will forget to make acollection of disagreeable things, [731] which now inundate, as somehollow and low-lying ground, your littleness of mind and weakness, whichfills itself with other people's bad points. For seeing that some of thephilosophers censure compassion to the unfortunate (on the ground thatit is good to help our neighbours, and not to give way to sentimentalsympathy in connection with them), and, what is of more importance, donot allow those that are conscious of their errors and bad moraldisposition to be dejected and grieved at them, but bid them cure theirdefects without grief at once, is it not altogether unreasonable, lookyou, to allow ourselves to be peevish and vexed, because all those whohave dealings with us and come near us are not good and clever? Let ussee to it, dear Paccius, that we do not, whether we are aware of it ornot, play a part, really looking[732] not at the universal defects ofthose that approach us, but at our own interests through ourselfishness, and not through our hatred of evil. For excessiveexcitement about things, and an undue appetite and desire for them, oron the other hand aversion and dislike to them, engender suspiciousnessand peevishness against persons, who were, we think, the cause of ourbeing deprived of some things, and of being troubled with others. But hethat is accustomed to adapt himself to things easily and calmly is mostcheerful and gentle in his dealings with people. 

§ VIII. Wherefore let us resume our argument. As in a fever everythingseems bitter and unpleasant to the taste, but when we see others notloathing but fancying the very same eatables and drinkables, we nolonger find the fault to be in them but in ourselves and our disease, sowe shall cease to blame and be discontented with the state of affairs, if we see others cheerfully and without grief enduring the same. It alsomakes for contentedness, when things happen against our wish, not tooverlook our many advantages and comforts, but by looking at both goodand bad to feel that the good preponderate. When our eyes are dazzledwith things too bright we turn them away, and ease them by looking atflowers or grass, while we keep the eyes of our mind strained ondisagreeable things, and force them to dwell on bitter ideas, well-nightearing them away by force from the consideration of pleasanter things. And yet one might apply here, not unaptly, what was said to the man ofcuriosity, [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 atall on your present comforts? But as cupping-glasses draw the worstblood from the flesh, so you force upon your attention the worst thingsin your lot: acting not a whit more wisely than that Chian, who, sellingmuch 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 hismaster doing, replied, "Asking for bad when good was by. " For mostpeople overlook the advantages and pleasures of their individual lives, and run to their difficulties and grievances. Aristippus, however, wasnot such a one, for he cleverly knew as in a scale to make the betterpreponderate over the worse. So having lost a good farm, he asked one ofthose who made a great show of condolence and sympathy, "Have you notonly one little piece of ground, while I have three fields left?" Andwhen he admitted that it was so, he went on to say, "Ought I not then tocondole with you rather than you with me?" For it is the act of a madmanto distress oneself over what is lost, and not to rejoice at what isleft; but like little children, if one of their many playthings be takenaway by anyone, throw the rest away and weep and cry out, so we, if weare assailed by fortune in some one point, wail and mourn and make allother things seem unprofitable in our eyes. 

§ 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 hisdeath-bed his various pieces of good fortune, he did not even pass overhis favourable voyage from Cilicia to Athens. So we should not overlook, but take account of everyday blessings, and rejoice that we live, andare well, and see the sun, and that no war or sedition plagues ourcountry, but that the earth is open to cultivation, the sea secure tomariners, and that we can speak or be silent, lead a busy or an idlelife, as we choose. We shall get more contentedness from the presence ofall these blessings, if we fancy them as absent, and remember from timeto 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 hadthem. For then each of these blessings will not appear to us only greatand valuable when it is lost, and of no value while we have it. For nothaving it cannot add value to anything. Nor ought we to amass things weregard as valuable, and always be on the tremble and afraid of losingthem as valuable things, and yet, when we have them, ignore them andthink little of them; but we ought to use them for our pleasure andenjoyment, that we may bear their loss, if that should happen, with moreequanimity. But most people, as Arcesilaus said, think it right toinspect minutely and in every detail, perusing them alike with the eyesof the body and mind, other people's poems and paintings and statues, while they neglect to study their own lives, which have often many notunpleasing subjects for contemplation, looking abroad and ever admiringother people's reputations and fortunes, as adulterers admire othermen's wives, and think cheap of their own. 

§ X. And yet it makes much for contentedness of mind to look for themost part at home and to our own condition, or if not, to look at thecase of people worse off than ourselves, and not, as most people do, tocompare ourselves with those who are better off. For example, those whoare in chains think those happy who are freed from their chains, andthey again freemen, and freemen citizens, and they again the rich, andthe rich satraps, and satraps kings, and kings the gods, content withhardly anything short of hurling thunderbolts and lightning. And so theyever want something above them, and are never thankful for what theyhave. 

 "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 findothers, Chians or Galatians or Bithynians, not content with the share ofglory or power they have among their fellow-citizens, but weepingbecause they do not wear senators' shoes; or, if they have them, thatthey cannot be prætors at Rome; or, if they get that office, that theyare not consuls; or, if they are consuls, that they are only proclaimedsecond and not first. What is all this but seeking out excuses for beingunthankful to fortune, only to torment and punish oneself? But he thathas a mind in sound condition, does not sit down in sorrow and dejectionif he is less renowned or rich than some of the countless myriads ofmankind that the sun looks upon, "who feed on the produce of the wideworld, "[734] but goes on his way rejoicing at his fortune and life, asfar fairer and happier than that of myriads of others. In the Olympiangames 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 onsurpassing many, and to be objects of envy rather than to have to envyothers, unless we pit ourselves against a Briareus or a Hercules. Whenever then you admire anyone carried by in his litter as a greaterman than yourself, lower your eyes and look at those that bear thelitter. And when you think the famous Xerxes happy for his passage overthe Hellespont, as a native of those parts[735] did, look too at thosewho dug through Mount Athos under the lash, and at those whose ears andnoses were cut off because the bridge was broken by the waves, considertheir state of mind also, for they think your life and fortunes happy. Socrates, when he heard one of his friends saying, "How dear this cityis! Chian wine costs one mina, [736] a purple robe three, and half a pintof honey five drachmæ, " took him to the meal market, and showed him halfa peck of meal for an obol, then took him to the olive market, andshowed him a peck of olives for two coppers, and lastly showed him thata sleeveless vest[737] was only ten drachmæ. At each place Socrates'friend exclaimed, "How cheap this city is!" So also we, when we hearanyone saying that our affairs are bad and in a woful plight, because weare not consuls or governors, may reply, "Our affairs are in anadmirable condition, and our life an enviable one, seeing that we do notbeg, nor carry burdens, nor live by flattery. "

§ XI. But since through our folly we are accustomed to live more with aneye to others than ourselves, and since nature is so jealous and enviousthat it rejoices not so much in its own blessings as it is pained bythose of others, do not look only at the much-cried-up splendour ofthose whom you envy and admire, but open and draw, as it were, the gaudycurtain of their pomp and show, and peep within, you will see that theyhave much to trouble them, and many things to annoy them. The well-knownPittacus, [738] whose fame was so great for fortitude and wisdom anduprightness, was once entertaining some guests, and his wife came in ina 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 sobad 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 castsa 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 ofarms and horses and the pomp of war, but the inward voice of emotiontestifies 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 discontentwith one's fortune, which makes one's own condition look low and meanfrom too much admiring one's neighbour's. 

§ XII. Another thing, which is a great hindrance to peace of mind, isnot 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, toblame destiny and fortune, and not our own folly. For he is notunfortunate who wishes to shoot with a plough, or hunt the hare with anox; nor has he an evil genius opposed to him, who does not catch deerwith fishing nets, but merely is the dupe of his own stupidity and follyin attempting impossibilities. Self-love is mainly to blame, makingpeople fond of being first and aspiring in all matters, and insatiablydesirous to engage in everything. For people not only wish at one andthe same time to be rich, and learned, and strong, and boon-companions, and agreeable, and friends of kings, and governors of cities, but theyare also discontented if they have not dogs and horses and quails andcocks of the first quality. Dionysius the elder was not content withbeing the most powerful monarch of his times, but because he could notbeat Philoxenus the poet in singing, or surpass Plato in dialectics, wasso angry and exasperated that he put the one to work in his stonequarries, and sent the other to Ægina and sold him there. Alexander wasof a different spirit, for when Crisso the famous runner ran a race withhim, and seemed to let the king outrun him on purpose, he was greatlydispleased. Good also was the spirit of Achilles in Homer, who, when hesaid, "None of the Achæan 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 beganto chatter about art, Apelles stopped him and said, "While you keptsilence you seemed to be somebody from your gold and purple, but nowthese lads that are grinding colours are laughing at your nonsense. " Butsome who think the Stoics only talk idly, in styling their wise man notonly prudent and just and brave but also orator and general and poet andrich man and king, yet claim for themselves all those titles, and areindignant if they do not get them. And yet even among the gods differentfunctions are assigned to different personages; thus one is called thegod of war, another the god of oracles, another the god of gain, andAphrodite, as she has nothing to do with warlike affairs, is despatchedby Zeus to marriages and bridals. 

§ XIII. And indeed there are some pursuits which cannot exist together, but are by their very nature opposed. For example oratory and the studyof the mathematics require ease and leisure; whereas political abilityand the friendship of kings cannot be attained without mixing in affairsand in public life. Moreover wine and indulgence in meat make the bodyindeed strong and vigorous, but blunt the intellect; and thoughunremitting attention to making and saving money will heap up wealth, yet despising and contemning riches is a great help to philosophy. Sothat all things are not within any one's power, and we must obey thatsaying inscribed in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, _Know thyself_, [743]and adapt ourselves to our natural bent, and not drag and force natureto some other kind of life or pursuit. "The horse to the chariot, andthe ox to the plough, and swiftly alongside the ship scuds the dolphin, while he that meditates destruction for the boar must find a staunchhound. "[744] But he that chafes and is grieved that he is not at one andthe same time "a lion reared on the mountains, exulting in hisstrength, "[745] and a little Maltese lap-dog[746] reared in the lap of arich widow, is out of his senses. And not a whit wiser is he who wishesto be an Empedocles, or Plato, or Democritus, and write about the worldand the real nature of things, and at the same time to be married likeEuphorion to a rich wife, or to revel and drink with Alexander likeMedius; and is grieved and vexed if he is not also admired for hiswealth like Ismenias, and for his virtue like Epaminondas. But runnersare not discontented because they do not carry off the crowns ofwrestlers, but rejoice and delight in their own crowns. "You are acitizen 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 hadmany more pupils than he had, said, "Is it wonderful at all that morewish to wash than to be anointed?" And Aristotle, writing to Antipater, said, "Not only has Alexander a right to plume himself on his rule overmany subjects, but no less legitimate is satisfaction at entertainingright opinions about the gods. " For those that think so highly of theirown walk in life will not be so envious about their neighbours'. We donot 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 theprivilege of being accounted rich and learned, generals andphilosophers, flatterers and outspoken, stingy and extravagant, weslander ourselves and are dissatisfied, and despise ourselves as livinga maimed and imperfect life. Furthermore, we see that nature teaches usthe same lesson. [747] For as she provides different kinds of beasts withdifferent kinds of food, and has not made all carnivorous, orseed-pickers, or root-diggers, so she has given to mankind various meansof 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 ourselvesand labour energetically in it, and leave other people to theirs, andnot demonstrate Hesiod as coming short of the real state of things whenhe 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 advocatessophists, aye, and freemen and patricians admire and think happycomedians starring it at the theatres, and dancers, and the attendantsat kings' courts, and by all this envy give themselves no small troubleand annoyance. 

§XIV. But that every man has in himself the magazines of content ordiscontent, and that the jars containing blessings and evils are not onthe threshold of Zeus, [750] but lie stored in the mind, is plain fromthe differences of men's passions. For the foolish overlook and neglectpresent blessings, through their thoughts being ever intent on thefuture; but the wise make the past clearly present to them throughmemory. For the present giving only a moment of time to the touch, andthen evading our grasp, does not seem to the foolish to be ours or tobelong to us at all. And like that person[751] painted as rope-making inHades and permitting an ass feeding by to eat up the rope as fast as hemakes it, so the stupid and thankless forgetfulness of most people comesupon them and takes possession of them, and obliterates from their mindevery past action, whether success, or pleasant leisure, or society, orenjoyment, and breaks the unity of life which arises from the past beingblended with the present; for detaching to-day from both yesterday andto-morrow, it soon makes every event as if it had never happened fromlack of memory. For as those in the schools, who deny the growth of ourbodies by reason of the continual flux of substance, make each of us intheory different from himself and another man, so those who do not keepor recall to their memory former things, but let them drift, actuallyempty themselves daily, and hang upon the morrow, as if what happened ayear ago, or even yesterday and the day before yesterday, had nothing todo with them, and had hardly occurred at all. 

§ XV. This is one great hindrance to contentedness of mind, and anotherstill greater is whenever, like flies that slide down smooth places inmirrors, but stick fast in rough places or where there are cracks, menlet pleasant and agreeable things glide from their memory, and pinthemselves down to the remembrance of unpleasant things; or rather, asat Olynthus they say beetles, when they get into a certain place calledDestruction-to-beetles, cannot get out, but fly round and round tillthey die, so men will glide into the remembrance of their woes, and willnot give themselves a respite from sorrow. But, as we use our brightestcolours in a picture, so in the mind we ought to look at the cheerfuland bright side of things, and hide and keep down the gloomy, for wecannot altogether obliterate or get rid of it. For, as the strings ofthe bow and lyre are alternately tightened and relaxed, so is it withthe order of the world; in human affairs there is nothing pure andwithout alloy. But as in music there are high and low notes, and ingrammar vowels and mutes, but neither the musician nor grammariandecline to use either kinds, but know how to blend and employ them bothfor their purpose, so in human affairs which are balanced one againstanother, --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 drowntheir worst music with the best, so should we take good and badtogether, 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 ofeach of us when we are born and govern us. "There were Chthonia andfar-seeing Heliope, and cruel Deris, and grave Harmonia, and Callisto, and Æschra, and Thoosa, and Denæa, and charming Nemertes, and Asapheawith the black fruit. "

§ XVI. And as[752] at our birth we received the mingled seeds of each ofthese passions, which is the cause of much irregularity, the sensibleperson hopes for better things, but expects worse, and makes the most ofeither, remembering that wise maxim, _Not too much of anything. _ For notonly will he who is least solicitous about to-morrow best enjoy it whenit comes, as Epicurus says, but also wealth, and renown, and power andrule, gladden most of all the hearts of those who are least afraid ofthe contrary. For the immoderate desire for each, implanting a mostimmoderate fear of losing them, makes the enjoyment of them weak andwavering, like a flame under the influence of a wind. But he whom reasonenables 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, andabsence 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 amortal, " and apply it to every contingency. For example, "I know thatwealth is ephemeral and insecure; I know that those who gave power cantake it away again; I know that my wife is good, but still a woman; andthat my friend, since a human being, is by nature a changeable animal, to use Plato's expression. " For such a prepared frame of mind, ifanything happens unwished for but not unexpected, not admitting of suchphrases as "I shouldn't have dreamed of it, " or "I expected quite adifferent lot, " or "I didn't look for this, " abates the violent[753]beatings and palpitations of the heart, and quickly causes wild unrestto subside. Carneades indeed reminds us that in great matters theunexpected makes the sum total of grief and dejection. Certainly thekingdom of Macedonia was many times smaller than the Roman Empire, butwhen Perseus lost Macedonia, he not only himself bewailed his wretchedfate, but seemed to all men the most unfortunate and unlucky of mankind;yet Æmilius who conquered him, though he had to give up to another thecommand both by land and sea, yet was crowned, and offered sacrifice, and was justly esteemed happy. For he knew that he had taken a commandwhich he would have to give up, but Perseus lost his kingdom withoutexpecting it. Well also has the poet[754] shown the power of anythingthat happens unexpectedly. For Odysseus wept bitterly at the death ofhis dog, but was not so moved when he sat by his wife who wept, for inthe latter case he had come fully determined to keep his emotion underthe control of reason, whereas in the former it was against hisexpectation, and therefore fell upon him as a sudden blow. 

§ XVII. And since generally speaking some things which happen againstour will pain and trouble us by their very nature, while in the case ofmost we accustom ourselves and learn to be disgusted with them fromfancy, it is not unprofitable to counteract this to have ever ready thatline 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 toyou as the low birth of your father, or the adultery of your wife, orthe loss of some prize or precedence, since even by their absence a manis not prevented from being in excellent condition both of body andsoul. And with respect to the things that seem to pain us by their verynature, as sickness, and anxieties, and the deaths of friends andchildren, 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 downwith grief, as that which reminds it of the common and natural necessityto which man is exposed owing to the body, the only handle which hegives to fortune, for in his most important and influential part[755] heis secure against external things. When Demetrius captured Megara, heasked Stilpo if any of his things had been plundered, and Stilpoanswered, "I saw nobody carrying off anything of mine. "[756] And so whenfortune has plundered us and stripped us of everything else, we havethat within ourselves

 "Which the Achæans ne'er could rob us of. "[757]

So that we ought not altogether to abase and lower nature, as if she hadno strength or stability against fortune; but on the contrary, knowingthat the rotten and perishable part of man, wherein alone he lies opento fortune, is small, while we ourselves are masters of the better part, wherein are situated our greatest blessings, as good opinions andteaching and virtuous precepts, all which things cannot be abstractedfrom us or perish, we ought to look on the future with invinciblecourage, and say to fortune, as Socrates is supposed to have said to hisaccusers Anytus and Melitus before the jury, "Anytus and Melitus cankill me, but they cannot hurt me. " For fortune can afflict us withdisease, take away our money, calumniate us to the people or king, butcannot make a good and brave and high-souled man bad and cowardly andlow and ignoble and envious, nor take away that disposition of mind, whose constant presence is of more use for the conduct of life than thepresence of a pilot at sea. For the pilot cannot make calm the wild waveor wind, nor can he find a haven at his need wherever he wishes, nor canhe await his fate with confidence and without trembling, but as long ashe 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 seadark as Erebus, " and sits at the helm trembling and quaking. But thedisposition of a wise man gives calm even to the body, mostly cuttingoff the causes of diseases by temperance and plain living and moderateexercise; but if some beginning of trouble arise from without, as weavoid a sunken rock, so he passes by it with furled sail, as Asclepiadesputs it; but if some unexpected and tremendous gale come upon him andprove too much for him, the harbour is at hand, and he can swim awayfrom the body, as from a leaky boat. 

§ XVIII. For it is the fear of death, and not the desire of life, thatmakes the foolish person to hang to the body, clinging to it, asOdysseus 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 whounderstands somehow or other the nature of the soul, and reflects thatthe change it will undergo at death will be either to something betteror at least not worse, he has in his fearlessness of death no small helpto ease of mind in life. For to one who can enjoy life when virtue andwhat is congenial to him have the upper hand, and that can fearlesslydepart from life, when uncongenial and unnatural things are in theascendant, 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 himand wear him and harass him? For he who said, "I have anticipated you, Ofortune, and cut off all your loopholes to get at me, " did not trust tobolts or keys or walls, but to determination and reason, which arewithin the power of all persons that choose. And we ought not to despairor disbelieve any of these sayings, but admiring them and emulating themand being enthusiastic about them, we ought to try and test ourselves insmaller matters with a view to greater, not avoiding or rejecting thatself-examination, nor sheltering ourselves under the remark, "Perhapsnothing will be more difficult. " For inertia[759] and softness aregenerated by that self-indulgence which ever occupies itself only withthe easiest tasks, and flees from the disagreeable to what is mostpleasant. But the soul that accustoms itself to face steadily sicknessand grief and exile, and calls in reason to its help in each case, willfind in what appears so sore and dreadful much that is false, empty, androtten, as reason will show in each case. 

§ 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 tobe able to look fortune in the face with our eyes open, and not toentertain fine and soft fancies, like one reared in the shade on manyhopes that always yield and never resist. We can, however, answerMenander'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 willnot play the rogue, I will not cheat, I will not scheme. " For this is inour power, and is no small but great help to ease of mind. As on thecontrary

 "The consciousness of having done ill deeds, "[760]

like a sore in the flesh, leaves in the mind a regret which ever woundsit and pricks it. For reason banishes all other griefs, but itselfcreates regret when the soul is vexed with shame and self-tormented. Foras those who shudder in ague-fits or burn in fevers feel more troubleand distress than those who externally suffer the same from cold orheat, so the grief is lighter which comes externally from chance, butthat lament, "None is to blame for this but I myself, "

coming from within on one's own misdeeds, intensifies one's bitternessby the shame felt. And so neither costly house, nor quantity of gold, nor pride of race, nor weighty office, nor grace of language, noreloquence, impart so much calm and serenity to life, as a soul pure fromevil acts and desires, having an imperturbable and undefiled characteras the source of its life; whence good actions flow, producing anenthusiastic and cheerful energy accompanied by loftiness of thought, and a memory sweeter and more lasting than that hope which Pindar saysis the support of old age. Censers do not, as Carneades said, after theyare emptied, long retain their sweet smell; but in the mind of the wiseman good actions always leave a fresh and fragrant memory, by which joyis watered and flourishes, and despises those who wail over life andabuse it as a region of ills, or as a place of exile for souls in thisworld. 

§ XX. I am very taken with Diogenes' remark to a stranger at Lacedæmon, who was dressing with much display for a feast, "Does not a good manconsider every day a feast?" And a very great feast too, if we livesoberly. For the world is a most holy and divine temple, into which manis introduced at his birth, not to behold motionless images made byhands, but those things (to use the language of Plato) which the divinemind has exhibited as the visible representations of invisible things, having innate in them the principle of life and motion, as the sun moonand stars, and rivers ever flowing with fresh water, and the earthaffording maintenance to plants and animals. Seeing then that life isthe most complete initiation into all these things, it ought to be fullof ease of mind and joy; not as most people wait for the festivals ofCronos[761] and Dionysus and the Panathenæa and other similar days, thatthey may joy and refresh themselves with bought laughter, paying actorsand dancers for the same. On such occasions indeed we sit silently anddecorously, for no one wails when he is initiated, or groans when hebeholds the Pythian games, or when he is drinking at the festival ofCronos:[761] but men shame the festivals which the deity supplies uswith and initiates us in, passing most of their time in lamentation andheaviness of heart and distressing anxiety. And though men delight inthe pleasing notes of musical instruments, and in the songs of birds, and behold with joy the animals playing and frisking, and on thecontrary are distressed when they roar and howl and look savage; yet inregard to their own life, when they see it without smiles and dejected, and ever oppressed and afflicted by the most wretched sorrows and toilsand unending cares, they do not think of trying to procure alleviationand ease. How is this? Nay, they will not even listen to others'exhortation, which would enable them to acquiesce in the present withoutrepining, and to remember the past with thankfulness, and to meet thefuture 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. § 6, "Of Contentedness in all Estates and Accidents. "

 [712] Reading with Salmasius [Greek: kaltios patrikios]. 

 [713] "Locus Xenophontis est Cyropæd. , " l. I. P. 52. --_Reiske. _

 [714] Euripides, "Orestes, " 258. 

 [715] So Wyttenbach, Dübner. Vulgo [Greek: anaisthêsias--aponia. ]

 [716] "Works and Days, " 519. 

 [717] "Odyssey, " i. 191, 192. 

 [718] I read [Greek: katêpheian]. 

 [719] "Iliad, " i. 488-492. 

 [720] "Iliad, " xviii. 104. 

 [721] Euripides, "Orestes, " 232. 

 [722] Homer, "Iliad, " x. 88, 89. 

 [723] The story of Phäethon 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: phytôn] 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, "Bacchæ, " 66. 

 [730] Quoted again by our author "On Restraining Anger, " § 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, " § i. 

 [734] Simonides. 

 [735] See Herodotus, vii. 56. 

 [736] A mina was 100 drachmæ (_i. E. _ £4. 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, " § 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. § 30; xxx. 5, extr. § 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: Hôs de toutôn]. 

 [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, "Bacchæ, " 498. Compare Horace, "Epistles, " i. Xvi. 78, 79. 

 [759] Reading with Dübner [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. 

§ I. Outwardly there seems no difference between hatred and envy, butthey seem identical. For generally speaking, as vice has many hooks, andis swayed hither and thither by the passions that hang on it, there aremany points of contact and entanglement between them, for as in the caseof illnesses there is a sympathy between the various passions. Thus theprosperous man is equally a source of pain to hate and envy. And so wethink benevolence the opposite of both these passions, being as it is awish for our neighbour's good, and we think hate and envy identical, forthe desire of both is the very opposite of benevolence. But since theirsimilarities are not so great as their dissimilarities, let usinvestigate and trace out these two passions from their origin. 

§ II. Hatred then is generated by the fancy that the person hated iseither bad generally or bad to oneself. For those who think they arewronged naturally hate those who they think wrong them, and dislike andare on their guard against those who are injurious or bad toothers;[762] but people envy merely those they think prosperous. So envyseems illimitable, being, like ophthalmia, troubled at everythingbright, whereas hatred is limited, since it settles only on what seemshostile. 

§ III. In the second place people feel hatred even against the brutes;for some hate cats and beetles and toads and serpents. Thus Germanicuscould not bear the crowing or sight of a cock, and the Persian magicianskill their mice, not only hating them themselves but thinking themhateful to their god, and the Arabians and Ethiopians abominate them asmuch. Whereas we envy only human beings. 

§ IV. Indeed among the brutes it is not likely that there should be anyenvy, for they have no conception of prosperity or adversity, nor havethey any idea of reputation or want of reputation, which are the thingsthat mainly excite envy; but they hate one another, and are hostile toone another, and fight with one another to the death, as eagles anddragons, crows and owls, titmice and finches, insomuch that they saythat even the blood of these creatures will not mix, and if you try tomix it it will immediately separate again. It is likely also that thereis strong hatred between the cock and the lion, and the pig and theelephant, owing to fear. For what people fear they naturally hate. Wesee also from this that envy differs from hatred, for the animals arecapable of the one, but not of the other. 

§ V. Moreover envy against anyone is never just, for no one wrongsanother by his prosperity, though that is what he is envied for; butmany are hated with justice, for we even think others[763] worthy ofhatred, if they do not flee from such, and are not disgusted and vexedat them. A great indication of this is that some people admit they hatemany, but declare they envy nobody. Indeed hatred of evil is reckonedamong praiseworthy things; and when some were praising Charillus, thenephew of Lycurgus and king of Sparta, for his mildness and gentleness, his colleague said, "How can Charillus be good, who is not even harsh tothe bad?" And so the poet described the bodily defects of Thersites atmuch length, whereas he expressed his vile moral character most shortlyand by one remark, "He was most hateful both to Achilles andOdysseus. "[764] For to be hated by the most excellent is the height ofworthlessness. But people deny that they are envious, and, if they arecharged with being so, they put forward ten thousand pleas, saying theyare angry with the man or fear him or hate him, suggesting any otherpassion than envy, and concealing it as the only disorder of the soulwhich is abominable. 

§ VI. Of necessity then these two passions cannot, like plants, be fedand nourished and grow on the same roots; for they are by naturedifferent. [765] For we hate people more as they grow worse, but they areenvied only the more the more they advance in virtue. And soThemistocles, when quite a lad, said he had done nothing remarkable, forhe was not yet envied. For as insects attack most ripe corn and roses intheir bloom, so envy fastens most on the good and on those who aregrowing in virtue and good repute for moral character. Again extremebadness intensifies hatred. So hated indeed and loathed were theaccusers of Socrates, as guilty of extreme vileness, by theirfellow-citizens, that they would neither supply them with fire, noranswer their questions, nor touch the water they had bathed in, butordered the servants to pour it away as polluted, till they could bearthis hatred no longer and hung themselves. But splendid and exceptionalsuccess often extinguishes envy. For it is not likely that anyone enviedAlexander 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 heightas 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 wasplotted against till he died. So too misfortunes stop envy, but they donot remove hatred. For people hate their enemies even when they lieprostrate at their feet, but no one envies the unfortunate. But theremark of one of the sophists of our day is true, that the envious arevery prone to pity; so here too there is a great difference betweenthese two passions, for hatred abandons neither the fortunate norunfortunate, whereas envy is mitigated in the extreme of either fortune. 

§ VII. Let as look at the same again from opposite points of view. Menput an end to their enmity and hatred, either if persuaded they have notbeen wronged, or if they come round to the view that those they hatedare good men and not bad, or thirdly if they receive a kindness. For, asThucydides says, the last favour conferred, even though a smaller one, if it be seasonable, outweighs a greater offence. [766] Yet thepersuasion that they have not been wronged does not put an end to envy, for people envy although absolutely persuaded that they have not beenwronged; and the two other cases actually increase envy; for people lookwith 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 theprosperous it grieves them, for they envy both their will and power todo kindnesses, the former proceeding from their goodness, the latterfrom their prosperity, but both being blessings. Thus envy is a passionaltogether different from hatred, seeing that what abates the one painsand exasperates the other. 

§ VIII. Let us now look at the intent of each of these passions. Theintent of the person who hates is to do as much harm as he can, so theydefine hatred to be a disposition and intent on the watch for anopportunity to do harm. But this is altogether foreign to envy. [767] Forthose who envy their relations and friends would not wish them to cometo ruin, or fall into calamity, but are only annoyed at theirprosperity; and would hinder, if they could, their glory and renown, butthey would not bring upon them irremediable misfortunes: they arecontent to remove, as in the case of a lofty house, what stands in theirlight. 

 [762] [Greek: allôs] MSS. Wyttenbach [Greek: allôn]. 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 holôs. Oi gar phthonountes]. What can be made of [Greek: pollous] here?

HOW ONE CAN PRAISE ONESELF WITHOUTEXCITING ENVY. 

§ I. To speak to other people about one's own importance or ability, Herculanus, is universally declared to be tiresome and illiberal, but infact 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 actionof his plays irrelevant matter about himself. Similarly Pindar says, that "to boast unseasonably is to play an accompaniment tomadness, "[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 thosewho are crowned in the games leave it to others to celebrate theirvictories, to avoid the unpleasantness of singing their own praises. Sowe are with justice disgusted at Timotheus[769] for trumpeting his ownglory inelegantly and contrary to custom in the inscription for hisvictory over Phrynis, "A proud day for you, Timotheus, was it when theherald cried out, 'The Milesian Timotheus is victorious over the son ofCarbo and his Ionic notes. '" As Xenophon says, "Praise from others isthe pleasantest thing a man can hear, "[770] but to others a man'sself-praise is most nauseous. For first we think those impudent whopraise themselves, since modesty would be becoming even if they werepraised by others; secondly, we think them unjust in giving themselveswhat they ought to receive from others; thirdly, if we are silent weseem to be vexed and to envy them, and if we are afraid of thisimputation, we are obliged to heap praise upon them contrary to our realopinion, and to bear them out, undertaking a task more befitting grossflattery than honour. 

§ II. And yet, in spite of all this, there are occasions when astatesman may venture to speak in his own praise, not to cry up his ownglory and merit, but when the time and matter demand that he shouldspeak the truth about himself, as he would about another; especiallywhen it is mentioned that another has done good and excellentthings, [771] there is no need for him to suppress the fact that he hasdone as well. For such self-praise bears excellent fruit, since muchmore and better praise springs from it as from seed. For the statesmandoes not ask for reputation as a reward or consolation, nor is he merelypleased at its attending upon his actions, but he values it becausecredit and character give him opportunities to do good on a largerscale. For it is both easy and pleasant to benefit those who believe inus and are friendly to us, but it is not easy to act virtuously againstsuspicion and calumny, and to force one's benefits on those that rejectthem. Let us now consider, if there are any other reasons warrantingself-praise in a statesman, what they are, that, while we avoid vainglory and disgusting other people, we may not omit any useful kind ofself-praise. 

§ III. That is vain glory then when men seem to praise themselves thatthey may call forth the laudation of others; and it is especiallydespised because it seems to proceed from ambition and an unseasonableopinion of oneself. For as those who cannot obtain food are forced tofeed 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 praisethem, disgrace themselves by their anxiety to feed their own vanity. Butwhen, not merely content with praising themselves, they vie with thepraise of others, and pit their own deeds and actions against theirs, with the intent of outshining them, they add envy and malignity to theirvanity. The proverb teaches us that to put our foot into another's danceis meddlesome and ridiculous; we ought equally to be on our guardagainst intruding our own panegyric into others' praises out of envy andspite, nor should we allow others either to praise us then, but weshould make way for those that are being honoured, if they are worthy ofhonour, 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 bydirect argument and proof that they are not worthy of all theseencomiums. It is plain then that we ought to avoid all such conduct asthis. 

§ IV. But self-praise cannot be blamed, if it is an answer to somecharge or calumny, as those words of Pericles, "And yet you are angrywith such a man as me, a man I take it inferior to no one either inknowledge 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 notonly did he avoid all swagger and vainglory and ambition in talking thusloftily about himself, but he also exhibited the spirit and greatness ofhis virtue, which could abase and crush envy because it could not beabased itself. For people will hardly condemn such men, for they areelevated 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 layingdown their office of Boeotarchs when their time had expired, but insteadof that making inroads into Laconia, and helping Messene, hardlyacquitted Pelopidas, who was submissive and suppliant, but forEpaminondas, [773] who gloried in what he had done, and at last said thathe was ready to die, if they would confess that he had ravaged Laconia, and restored Messene, and made Arcadia one state, against the will ofthe Thebans, they would not pass sentence upon him, but admired hisheroism, and with rejoicing and smiles set him free. So too we must notaltogether 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 hisfriend[776] that was abused, the occasion giving him a reasonable excusefor self-commendation. So too the Romans were far from pleased atCicero's frequently passing encomiums upon himself in the affair ofCatiline, yet when Scipio said they ought not to try him (Scipio), sincehe had given them the power to try anybody, they put on garlands, andaccompanied him to the Capitol, and sacrificed with him. For Cicero wasnot compelled to praise himself, but only did so for glory, whereas thedanger in which Scipio stood removed envy from him. 

§ 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 inprosperity people seem to clutch as it were at glory and enjoy it, andso gratify their ambition; but in adversity, being far from ambitionowing to circumstances, such self-commendation seems to be a bearing upand fortifying the spirit against fortune, and an avoidance altogetherof that desire for pity and condolence, and that humility, which weoften find in adversity. As then we esteem those persons vain andwithout sense who in walking hold themselves very erect and with a stiffneck, yet in boxing or fighting we commend such as hold themselves upand alert, so the man struggling with adversity, who stands up straightagainst his fate, "in fighting posture like some boxer, "[777] andinstead of being humble and abject becomes through his boasting loftyand dignified, seems to be not offensive and impudent, but great andinvincible. This is why, I suppose, Homer has represented Patroclusmodest and without reproach in prosperity, yet at the moment of deathsaying 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 hissentence exhibited his greatness of soul to many others, and notably toone of those that were to die with him, who was weeping and wailing, towhom he said, "What! are you not content to die with Phocion?"

§ VI. Not less, but still more, lawful is it for a public man who iswronged to speak on his own behalf to those who treat him withingratitude. Thus Achilles generally conceded glory to the gods, andmodestly 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 hisrage 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 ofboasting. It was in this spirit no doubt that Themistocles, who neitherin word nor deed had given any offence, when he saw the Athenians weretired of him and treating him with neglect, did not abstain from saying, "My good sirs, why do you tire of receiving benefits so frequently atthe same hands?" and[782] "When the storm is on you fly to me forshelter as to a tree, but when fine weather comes again, then you passby and strip me of my leaves. "

§ VII. They then that are wronged generally mention what they have donewell to those who are ungrateful. And the person who is blamed for whathe has done well is altogether to be pardoned, and not censured, if hepasses encomiums on his own actions: for he is in the position of onenot scolding but making his defence. This it was that made Demosthenes'freedom of speech splendid, and prevented people being wearied out bythe praise which in all his speech _On the Crown_ he lavished onhimself, pluming himself on those embassies and decrees in connectionwith the war with which fault had been found. 

§ VIII. Not very unlike this is the grace of antithesis, when a personshows that the opposite of what he is charged with is base and low. ThusLycurgus when he was charged at Athens with having bribed an informer tosilence, replied, "What kind of a citizen do you think me, who, havinghad so long time the fingering of your public money, am detected ingiving rather than taking unjustly?" And Cicero, when Metellus told himthat he had destroyed more as a witness than he had got acquitted as anadvocate, answered, "Who denies that my honesty is greater than myeloquence?" Compare such sayings of Demosthenes as, "Who would not havebeen justified in killing me, had I tried in word only to impair theancient glory of our city?"[783] And, "What think you these wretcheswould have said, if the states had departed, when I was curiouslydiscussing these points?"[784] And indeed the whole of that speech _Onthe Crown_ most ingeniously introduces his own praises in hisantitheses, and answers to the charges brought against him. 

§ IX. However it is worth while to notice in his speech that he mostartistically inserts praise of his audience in the remarks abouthimself, and so makes his speech less egotistical and less likely toraise envy. Thus he shows how the Athenians behaved to the Euboeans andto the Thebans, and what benefits they conferred on the people ofByzantium and on the Chersonese, claiming for himself only a subordinatepart in the matter. Thus he cunningly insinuates into the audience withhis own praises what they will gladly hear, for they rejoice at theenumeration of their successes, [785] and their joy is succeeded byadmiration and esteem for the person to whom the success was due. Soalso Epaminondas, when Meneclidas once jeered at him as thinking more ofhimself than Agamemnon ever did, replied, "It is your fault then, men ofThebes, by whose help alone I put down the power of the Lacedæmonians inone day. "

§ X. But since most people very much dislike and object to a man'spraising himself, but if he praises some one else are on the contraryoften glad and readily bear him out, some are in the habit of praisingin season those that have the same pursuits business and characters asthemselves, and so conciliate and move the audience in their own favour;for the audience know at the moment such a one is speaking that, thoughhe is speaking about another, yet his own similar virtue is worthy oftheir praise. [786] For as one who throws in another's teeth things ofwhich he is guilty himself must know that he upbraids himself most, sothe good in paying honour to the good remind those who know theircharacter of themselves, so that their hearers cry out at once, "Are notyou such a one yourself?" Thus Alexander honouring Hercules, andAndrocottus again honouring Alexander, got themselves honoured on thesame grounds. Dionysius on the contrary pulling Gelon to pieces, andcalling him the Gelos[787] of Sicily, was not aware that through hisenvy he was weakening the importance and dignity of his own authority. 

§ XI. These things then a public man must generally know and observe. But those that are compelled to praise themselves do so less offensivelyif they do not ascribe all the honour to themselves, but, being awarethat their glory will be tiresome to others, set it down partly tofortune, 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 goddessof Fortune after his success, and dedicated his house to the GoodGenius. Excellently again did Pytho of Ænos, (when he came to Athensafter killing Cotys, and when the demagogues vied with one another inpraising him to the people, and he observed that some were jealous anddispleased, ) in coming forward and saying, "Men of Athens, this is thedoing of one of the gods, I only put my hands to the work. " Sulla alsoforestalled envy by ever praising fortune, and eventually he proclaimedhimself as under the protection of Aphrodite. [789] For men would ratherascribe their defeat to fortune than the enemy's valour, for in theformer case they consider it an accident, whereas in the latter casethey would have to blame themselves and set it down to their ownshortcomings. So they say the legislation of Zaleucus pleased theLocrians not least, because he said that Athene visited him from time totime, and suggested to him and taught him his laws, and that none ofthose he promulgated were his own idea and plan. 

§ XII. Perhaps this kind of remedy by talking people over must becontrived for those who are altogether crabbed or envious; but forpeople of moderation it is not amiss to qualify excessive praise. Thusif anyone should praise you as learned, or rich, or influential, itwould be well to bid him not talk about you in that strain, but say thatyou were good and harmless and useful. For the person that acts so doesnot introduce his own praise but transfers it, nor does he seem torejoice in people passing encomiums upon him, but rather to be vexed attheir praising him inappropriately and on wrong grounds, and he seems tohide bad traits by better ones, not wishing to be praised, but showinghow he ought to be praised. Such seems the intent of such words as thefollowing, "I have not fortified the city with stones or bricks, but ifyou wish to see how I have fortified it, you will find arms and horsesand allies. "[790] Still more in point are the last words of Pericles. For as he was dying, and his friends very naturally were weeping andwailing, and reminded him of his military services and his power, andthe trophies and victories and towns he had won for Athens, and wasleaving as a legacy, he raised himself up a little and blamed them aspraising him for things common to many, and some of them the results offortune rather than merit, while they had passed over the best andgreatest of his deeds and one peculiarly his own, that he had never beenthe cause of any Athenian's wearing mourning. This gives the orator anexample, if he be a good man, when praised for his eloquence, totransfer the praise to his life and character, and the general who isadmired for his skill and good fortune in war to speak with confidenceabout his gentleness and uprightness. And again, if any very extravagantpraise is uttered, such as many people use in flattery which provokesenvy, 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 mykindheartedness, or my philanthropy. For even envy is not reluctant togive moderate praise to one that deprecates excessive praise, and truepanegyric is not lost by people refusing to accept idle and falsepraise. 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 dearto the gods, did not excite the envy of those that honoured them bythose 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 arelovers of philosophy, and have made some progress, or use some suchmoderate 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. "

§ XIII. Moreover, as people anxious not to injure those who have weakeyes, draw a shade over too much light, so some people make their praiseof themselves less glaring and absolute, by pointing out some of theirsmall defects, or miscarriages, or errors, and so remove all risk ofmaking people offended or envious. Thus Epeus, who boasts very much ofhis 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 anathlete by his confession of timidity and want of manliness. Butagreeable and graceful is that man who mentions his own forgetfulness, or ignorance, or ambition, or eager desire for knowledge andconversation. 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 arenot altogether base and ignoble stops envy. Thus many have blunted thepoint of envy by admitting and introducing, when they have been praised, their past poverty and straits, aye, and their low origin. So Agathoclespledging his young men in golden cups beautifully chased, ordered someearthenware pots to be brought in, and said, "See the fruits ofperseverance, labour, and bravery! Once I produced pots like these, butnow golden cups. " For Agathocles it seems was so low-born and poor thathe was brought up in a potter's shop, though afterwards he was king ofalmost all Sicily. 

§ XIV. These are external remedies against self-praise. There are otherinternal ones as it were, such as Cato applied, when he said "he wasenvied, because he had to neglect his own affairs, and lie awake everynight for the interests of his country. " Compare also the followinglines, "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 andreputation, people for the most part envy those who have got them easilyor for nothing, not those who have bought them at the cost of much toiland danger. 

§ XV. Since then we can praise ourselves not only without causing painor envy but even usefully and advantageously, let us consider, that wemay not seem to have only that end in view but some other also, if wemight praise ourselves to excite in our hearers emulation and ambition. For Nestor, by reciting his battles and acts of prowess, stirred upPatroclus and nine others to single combat with Hector. For theexhortation that adds deed to word and example and proper emulation isanimating and moving and stimulating, and with its impulse andresolution inspires hope that the things we aim at are attainable andnot impossible. That is why in the choruses at Lacedæmon the old mensing, "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 theyoung men the nearest and dearest examples of what they should do in thepersons of those who had done so. 

§ XVI. Moreover it is not amiss sometimes, to awe and repress and takedown and tame the impudent and bold, to boast and talk a little bigabout 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 rulersover many subjects a right to think highly of themselves, but also thosethat had right views about the gods. Useful too against our enemies andfoes 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, whowas called great, "How is he greater than me, if he is not also moreupright?" And that also of Epaminondas to the Lacedæmonians who wereinveighing against the Thebans, "Anyhow we have made you talk at greaterlength than usual. " But these kind of remarks are fitting for enemiesand foes; but our boasting is also good on occasion for friends andfellow-citizens, not only to abate their pride and make them morehumble, but also when they are in fear and dejection to raise them upagain and give them confidence. Thus Cyrus talked big in perils and onbattle-fields, though at other times he was no boaster. And the secondAntigonus, though he was on all other occasions modest and far fromvanity, yet in the sea-fight off Cos, when one of his friends said tohim, "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 seemsto have noticed. For he has represented Odysseus, when his comrades weredreadfully afraid of the noise and whirlpool of Charybdis, remindingthem 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 onethat asks for clapping or applause, but of one who makes his valour andexperience a pledge of confidence to his friends. For in criticalconjunctures the reputation and credit of one who has experience andcapacity in command plays a great part in insuring safety. 

§ XVII. As I have said before, to pit oneself against another's praiseand reputation is by no means fitting for a public man: however, inimportant matters, where mistaken praise is injurious and detrimental, it is not amiss to confute it, or rather to divert the hearer to what isbetter by showing him the difference between true and false merit. Anyone would be glad, I suppose, when vice was abused and censured, tosee most people voluntarily keep aloof from it; but if vice should bewell thought of, and honour and reputation come to the person whopromoted its pleasures or desires, no nature is so well constituted orstrong that it would not be mastered by it. So the public man mustoppose the praise not of men but of bad actions, for such praise iscorrupting, and causes people to imitate and emulate what is base as ifit were noble. But it is best refuted by putting it side by side withthe truth: as Theodorus the tragic actor is reported to have said onceto Satyrus the comic actor, "It is not so wonderful to make an audiencelaugh as to make them weep and cry. " But what if some philosopher hadanswered him, "To make an audience weep and cry is not so noble a thingas to make them forget their sorrows. " This kind of self-laudationbenefits the hearer, and changes his opinion. Compare the remark of Zenoin reference to the number of Theophrastus' scholars, "His is a largerbody, but mine are better taught. " And Phocion, when Leosthenes wasstill in prosperity, being asked by the orators what benefit he hadconferred on the city, replied, "Only this, that during my period ofoffice there has been no funeral oration, but all the dead have beenburied in their fathers' sepulchres. " Wittily also did Crates parody thelines, "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 andlove what is valuable and expedient instead of what is vain andsuperfluous. Let so much suffice on the question proposed. 

§ XVIII. It remains to me now to point out, what our subject nextdemands and calls for, how everyone may avoid unseasonable self-praise. For there is a wonderful incentive to talking about oneself inself-love, which is frequently strongly implanted in those who seem tohave only moderate aspirations for fame. For as it is one of the rulesto preserve good health to avoid altogether places where sickness is, orto exercise the greatest precaution if one must go there, so talkingabout oneself has its slippery times and places that draw it on on anypretext. For first, when others are praised, as I said before, ambitionmakes people talk about themselves, and a certain desire and impulse forfame which is hard to check bites and tickles that ambition, especiallyif the other person is praised for the same things or less importantthings than the hearer thinks he is a proficient in. For as hungrypeople have their appetite more inflamed and sharpened by seeing otherseat, so the praise of one's neighbours makes those who eagerly desirefame to blaze out into jealousy. 

§ XIX. In the second place the narration of things done successfully andto people's mind entices many unawares to boasting and bragging in theirjoy; for falling into conversation about their victories, or success instate affairs, or their words or deeds commended by great men, theycannot keep themselves within bounds. With this kind of self-laudationyou may see that soldiers and sailors are most taken. To be in thisstate of mind also frequently happens to those who have returned fromimportant posts and responsible duties, for in their mention ofillustrious men and men of royal rank they insert the encomiums theyhave passed on themselves, and do not so much think they are praisingthemselves 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 havereceived from kings and emperors, but only imagine them to beenumerating the courtesy and kindliness of those great personages. So wemust be very much on our guard in praising others to free ourselves fromall suspicion of self-love and self-recommendation, and not to seem tobe really praising ourselves "under pretext of Patroclus. "[801]

§ XX. Moreover that kind of conversation that mainly consists ofcensuring and running down others is dangerous as giving opportunity forself-laudation to those who pine for fame. A fault into which old menespecially fall, when they are led to scold others and censure their badways and faulty actions, and so extol themselves as being remarkably theopposite. In old men we must allow all this, especially if to age theyadd reputation and merit, for such fault-finding is not without use, andinspires those who are rebuked with both emulation and love ofhonour. [802] But all other persons must especially avoid and fear thatroundabout kind of self-praise. For since generally speaking censuringone's neighbours is disagreeable and barely tolerable and requires greatwariness, he that mixes up his own praise with blame of another, andhunts for fame by defaming another, is altogether tiresome and inspiresdisgust, for he seems to wish to get credit through trying to proveothers unworthy of credit. 

§ XXI. Furthermore, as those that are naturally prone and inclined tolaughter must be especially on their guard against tickling andtouching, such as excites that propensity by contact with the smoothestparts of the body, so those that have a great passion for reputationought to be especially advised to abstain from praising themselves whenthey 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 whoextol him too highly, and not to rebuke them for praising him toolittle; though very many people do so, themselves prompting andreminding their praisers of others of their own acts and virtues, tillby their own praise they spoil the effect of the praise that others givethem. For some tickle and puff themselves up by self-praise, whileothers, malignantly holding out the small bait of eulogy, provoke othersto talk about themselves, while others again ask questions and putinquiries, as was done to the soldier in Menander, merely to poke fun athim;

 "'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. "

§ XXII. As regards all these points then we must be on our guard as muchas possible not to launch out into praise of ourselves, or yield to itin consequence of questions put to us to draw us. And the best cautionand security against this is to pay attention to others who praisethemselves, and to consider how disagreeable and objectionable thepractice is to everybody, and that no other conversation is so offensiveand tiring. For though we cannot say that we suffer any other evil atthe hands of those who praise themselves, yet being naturally bored bythe practice, and avoiding it, we are anxious to get rid of them andbreathe again; insomuch that even the flatterer and parasite and needyperson in his distress finds the rich man or satrap or king praisinghimself hard to bear and wellnigh intolerable; and they say that havingto listen to all this is paying a very large shot to theirentertainment, 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 havenewly become rich, [804] who spin us a long yarn of their great and granddoings, being puffed up with pride and talking big about themselves; ifwe 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, asDemosthenes says, [805] the result will be that we shall only tire ourhearers, and not be thought what we profess ourselves to be, we shallcease talking about ourselves, unless by so doing we can bestow greatbenefit 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 legêtai ta allô 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, "Trachiniæ, " 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 Dübner. 

 [803] Adopting the reading of Salmasius. 

 [804] _Nouveaux riches, novi homines_. 

 [805] Demosthenes, "De Corona, " p. 270. 

ON THOSE WHO ARE PUNISHED BY THEDEITY LATE. 

_A discussion between Patrocleas, Plutarch, Timon, andOlympicus. _

§ I. When Epicurus had made these remarks, Quintus, and before any of uswho were at the end of the porch[806] could reply, he went off abruptly. And we, marvelling somewhat at his rudeness, stood still silently butlooked 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 thequestion unanswered, or are we to reply to his argument in his absenceas if he were present?" Then said Timon, "Because he went off the momenthe had thrown his missile at us, it would not be good surely to leave itsticking in us; for we are told that Brasidas plucked the javelin thathad been thrown at him out of his body, and with it killed the hurler ofit; but there is of course no need for us to avenge ourselves so onthose that have launched on us an absurd or false argument, it will beenough 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 rampageabout, in his anger and abusive language, with a long disconnected andrambling rhapsody drawn from all sources, and at the same time inveighedagainst Providence. "

§ II. Then said Patrocleas, "The slowness and delay of the deity inpunishing the wicked used to seem[807] to me a very dreadful thing, butnow in consequence of his speech I come as it were new and fresh to thenotion. 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 arenot slow or sluggish in doing evil, but are hurried by their passionsinto crime at headlong speed. Moreover, as Thucydides[809] says, whenpunishment follows as closely as possible upon wrong-doing, it blocks upthe road at once for those who would follow up their villainy if it weresuccessful. For no debt so much as that of justice paid behind timedamps the hopes and dejects the mind of the wronged person, andaggravates the audacity and daring of the wrong-doer; whereas thepunishment that follows crime immediately not only checks futureoutbreaks but is also the greatest possible comfort to the injured. Andso I am often troubled when I consider that remark of Bias, who told, itseems, 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 whowere killed long before derive any benefit from the punishment ofAristocrates? For he had been guilty of treason at the battle of _TheGreat Trench_, but had reigned over the Arcadians for more than twentyyears without being found out, but afterwards was detected and paid thepenalty, but they were no longer alive. [810] Or what consolation wasbrought to the people of Orchomenus, who lost their sons and friends andrelatives in consequence of the treason of Lyciscus, by the diseasewhich settled upon him long afterwards and spread all over his body? Forhe used to go and dip and soak his feet in the river, and utteredimprecations and prayed that they might rot off if he was guilty oftreason or crime. Nor was it permitted to the children's children ofthose that were slain to see at Athens the tearing out of their gravesthe bodies of those atrocious criminals that had killed them, and thecarrying them beyond their borders. And so it seems strange in Euripidesusing 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 cheerthemselves on to commit lawless acts, for crime shows them a fruitvisible and ripe at once, but a punishment late, and long subsequent tothe enjoyment. "

§ III. When Patrocleas had said thus much, Olympicus interfered, "Thereis another consideration, Patrocleas, the great absurdity involved inthese delays and long-suffering of the deity. For the slowness ofpunishment takes away belief in providence, and the wicked, observingthat no evil follows each crime except long afterwards, attribute itwhen it comes to mischance, and look upon it in the light more ofaccident than punishment, and so receive no benefit from it, beinggrieved indeed when the misfortune comes, but feeling no remorse forwhat they have done amiss. For, as in the case of a horse, the whippingor spurring that immediately follows upon a stumble or some other faultis a corrective and brings him to his duty, but pulling and backing himwith the bit and shouting at him long afterwards seems to come from someother motive than a desire to teach him, for he is put to pain withoutbeing shown his fault; so the vice which each time it stumbles oroffends is at once punished and checked by correction is mostlikely[812] to come to itself and be humble and stand in awe of thedeity, as one that beholds men's acts and passions and does not punishbehind time; whereas that justice that, according to Euripides, "stealson silently and with slow foot, " and falls upon the wicked some time orother, seems to resemble more chance than providence by reason, of itsuncertainty, delay, and irregularity. So that I do not see what benefitthere is in those mills of the gods that are said to grind late, [813]since they obscure the punishment, and obliterate the fear, ofevil-doing. "

§ IV. When Olympicus had done speaking, and I was musing with myself onthe matter, Timon said, "Am I to put the finishing touch of difficultyon our subject, or am I to let him first contend earnestly against theseviews?" Then said I, "Why should we bring up the third wave[814] anddrown the argument, if he is not able to refute or evade the chargesalready brought? To begin then with the domestic hearth, as the sayingis, [815] let us imitate that cautious manner of speaking about the deityin vogue among the Academic philosophers, and decline to speak aboutthese things as if we thoroughly understood them. For it is worse in usmortals than for people ignorant of music to discuss music, or forpeople ignorant of military matters to discuss the art of war, toexamine too closely into the nature of the gods and demons, like peoplewith no knowledge of art trying to get at the intention of artists fromopinion and fancy and probabilities. For if[816] it is no easy matterfor anyone not a professional to conjecture why the surgeon performed anoperation later rather than sooner, or why he ordered his patient totake a bath to-day rather than yesterday, how is it easy or safe for amortal to say anything else about the deity than that he knows best thetime to cure vice, and applies to each his punishment as the doctoradministers a drug, and that a punishment not of the same magnitude, orapplied 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 byPindar as well as by ten thousand others, for he calls God, the rulerand lord of all things, the greatest artificer as the creator ofjustice, 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 ofZeus, was his father's pupil in this art, not thinking it possible thatany one could succeed in justice, or understand how to succeed in it, without he had learned or somehow got that science. For the laws whichmen make are not always merely reasonable, nor is their meaning alwaysapparent, but some injunctions seem quite ridiculous, for example, theEphors at Lacedæmon make proclamation, directly they take office, thatno 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 thebodies of those they make freemen, and when they make their wills, theynominate 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 witheither party is to lose his civic rights. And generally one mightmention many absurdities in laws, if one did not know the mind of thelegislator, or understand the reason for each particular piece oflegislation. How is it wonderful then, if human affairs are so difficultto comprehend, that it is no easy task to say in connection with thegods, why they punish some offenders early, and others late?

§ V. This is not a pretext for evading the subject, but merely a requestfor lenient judgement, that our discourse, looking as it were for ahaven and place of refuge, may rise to the difficulty with greaterconfidence basing itself on probability. Consider then first that, according to Plato, god, making himself openly a pattern of all thingsgood, concedes human virtue, which is in some sort a resemblance tohimself, to those who are able to follow him. For all nature, being indisorder, got the principle of change and became order[817] by aresemblance to and participation in the nature and virtue of the deity. The same Plato also tells us that nature put eyesight into us, in orderthat the soul by beholding and admiring the heavenly bodies mightaccustom itself to welcome and love harmony and order, and might hatedisorderly and roving propensities, and avoid aimless reliance onchance, as the parent of all vice and error. For man can enjoy nogreater blessing from god than to attain to virtue by the earnestimitation of the noblest qualities of the divine nature. And so hepunishes the wicked leisurely and long after, not being afraid of erroror after repentance through punishing too hastily, but to take away fromus that eager and brutish thirst for revenge, and to teach us that weare not to retaliate on those that have offended us in anger, and whenthe soul is most inflamed and distorted with passion and almost besideitself for rage, like people satisfying fierce thirst or hunger, but toimitate the mildness and long-suffering of the deity, and to avengeourselves in an orderly and decent manner, only when we have takencounsel with time long enough to give us the least possible likelihoodof after repentance. For it is a smaller evil, as Socrates said, todrink dirty water when excessively thirsty, than, when one's mind isdisturbed and full of rage and fury, before it is settled and becomespure, to glut our revenge on the person of a relation and kinsman. Forit is not the punishment that follows as closely as possible uponwrong-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 rageand 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 tocorrect him, waited some time, as he himself has told us, to compose hisanger; and that Archytas, having learned of some wrong or disorderlyaction on the part of some of his farm labourers, knowing that at thetime he was in a very great rage and highly incensed at them, didnothing to them, but merely departed, saying, "You may thank your starsthat I am in a rage with you. " If then the remembrance of the words andrecorded acts of men abates the fierceness and intensity of our rage, much more likely is it that we (observing that the deity, though withouteither fear or repentance in any case, yet puts off his punishments anddefers them for some time) shall be reserved in our views about suchmatters, and shall think that mildness and long-suffering which the godexhibits a divine part of virtue, reforming a few by speedy punishment, but benefiting and correcting many by a tardy one. 

§ VI. Let us consider in the second place that punishments inflicted bymen for offences regard only retaliation, and, when the offender ispunished, stop and go no further; so that they seem to follow offencesyelping at them like a dog, and closely pursuing at their heels as itwere. But it is likely that the deity would look at the state of anyguilty soul that he intended to punish, if haply it might turn andrepent, and would give[820] time for reformation to all whose vice wasnot absolute and incurable. For knowing how great a share of virtuesouls come into the world with, deriving it from him, and how strong andlasting is their nobility of nature, and how it breaks out into viceagainst its natural disposition through the corruption of bad habits andcompanions, and afterwards in some cases reforms itself, and recoversits proper position, he does not inflict punishment on all personsalike; 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'sown self, to live in perpetual vice, whereas to those who seem to havefallen into wrong-doing, rather from ignorance of what was good thanfrom deliberate choice of what was bad, he gives time to repent. But ifthey persist in vice he punishes them too, for he has no fear that theywill escape him. Consider also how many changes take place in the lifeand character of men, so that the Greeks give the names [Greek: tropos]and [Greek: êthos] to the character, the first word meaning _change_, and the latter the immense force and power of _habit_. I think also thatthe ancients called Cecrops half man and half dragon[821] not because, as some say, he became from a good king wild and dragon-like, butcontrariwise because he was originally perverse and terrible, andafterwards became a mild and humane king. And if this is uncertain, atany rate we know that Gelon and Hiero, both Sicilians, and Pisistratusthe son of Hippocrates, though they got their supreme power by badmeans, yet used it for virtuous ends, and though they mounted the thronein an irregular way, yet became good and useful princes. For by goodlegislation and by encouraging agriculture they made the citizensearnest and industrious instead of scoffers and chatterers. As forGelon, after fighting valiantly and defeating the Carthaginians in agreat battle, he would not conclude with them the peace they asked foruntil they inserted an article promising to cease sacrificing their sonsto Cronos. And Lydiades was tyrant in Megalopolis, yet in the veryheight of his power changing his ideas and being disgusted withinjustice, he restored their old constitution to the citizens, [822] andfell gloriously, fighting against the enemy in behalf of his country. And if any one had slain prematurely Miltiades the tyrant of theChersonese, or had prosecuted and got a conviction against Cimon forincest with his sister, or had deprived Athens of Themistocles for hiswantonness and revellings and outrages in the market, as in later daysAthens lost Alcibiades, by an indictment, should we not have had to gowithout the glory of Marathon, and Eurymedon, and beautiful Artemisium, "where the Athenian youth laid the bright base of liberty?"[823] Forgreat natures produce nothing little, nor can their energy and activityrust owing to their keen intellect, but they toss to and fro as at seatill they come to a settled and durable character. As then oneinexperienced in farming, seeing a spot full of thick bushes and rankgrowth, full of wild beasts and streams and mud, would not think much ofit, while to one who has learnt how to discriminate and discern betweendifferent kind of soils all these are various tokens of the richness andgoodness of the land, so great natures break out into many strangeexcesses, which exasperate us at first beyond bearing, so that we thinkit right to cut off such offenders and stop their career at once, whereas a better judge, seeing the good and noble even in these, waitsfor age and the season which nature appoints for gathering fruit tobring sense and virtue. 

§ VII. So much for this point. Do you not think also that some of theGreeks did well to adopt that Egyptian law which orders a pregnant womancondemned to death not to suffer the penalty till after she has givenbirth?" "Certainly, " said all the company. I continued, "Put the casenot of a woman pregnant, but of a man who can in process of time bringto light and reveal some secret act or plan, point out some unknownevil, or devise some scheme of safety, or invent something useful andnecessary, would it not be better to defer his execution, and wait theresult of his meditation? That is my opinion, at least. " "So we allthink, " said Patrocleas. "Quite right, " said I. "For do but consider, had Dionysius had vengeance taken on him at the beginning of histyranny, none of the Greeks would have dwelt in Sicily, which was laidwaste by the Carthaginians. Nor would the Greeks have dwelt inApollonia, or Anactorium, or the peninsula of the Leucadians, had notPeriander's chastisement been postponed for a long time. I think alsothat Cassander's punishment was deferred that Thebes might be repeopled. And of the mercenaries that plundered this very temple most crossed overinto Sicily with Timoleon, and after they had conquered theCarthaginians and put down their authority, perished miserably, miserable wretches that they were. For no doubt the deity makes use ofsome wicked men, as executioners, to punish others, and so I think hecrushes as it were most tyrants. For as the gall of the hyena and rennetof the seal, both nasty beasts in all other respects, are useful incertain diseases, so when some need sharp correction, the deity castsupon them the implacable fury of some tyrant, or the savage ferocity ofsome prince, and does not remove the bane and trouble till their faultbe got rid of and purged. Such a potion was Phalaris to theAgrigentines, and Marius to the Romans. And to the people of Sicyon thegod distinctly foretold that their city needed a scourge, when they tookaway from the Cleonæans (as if he was a Sicyonian) the lad Teletias, whowas crowned in the Pythian games, and tore him to pieces. As for theSicyonians, Orthagoras became their tyrant, and subsequently Myro andClisthenes, and these three checked their wanton outbreaks; but theCleonæans, not getting such a cure, went to ruin. You have of courseheard 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 notableaction: but the descendants of Sisyphus and Autolycus and Phlegyasnourished in the glory and virtues of great kings. Pericles also sprangof a family under a curse, [825] and Pompey the Great at Rome was the sonof Pompeius Strabo, whose dead body the Roman people cast out andtrampled 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 hisasparagus, nor do the Libyans burn the twigs till they have gathered theledanum, that god does not exterminate the wicked and rugged root of anillustrious and royal race till it has produced its fit fruit? For itwould have been better for the Phocians to have lost ten thousand of theoxen and horses of Iphitus, and for more gold and silver to have gonefrom Delphi, than that Odysseus and Æsculapius should not have beenborn, nor those others who from bad and wicked men became good anduseful. "

§ VIII. "And do you not all think that it is better that punishmentshould take place at the fitting time and in the fitting manner ratherthan quickly and on the spur of the moment? Consider the case ofCallippus, who with the very dagger with which he slew Dion, pretendingto be his friend, was afterwards slain by his own friends. And whenMitius the Argive was killed in a tumult, a brazen statue in themarket-place fell on his murderer and killed him during the publicgames. And of course, Patrocleas, you know all about Bessus the Pæonian, and about Aristo the Oetæan leader of mercenaries. " "Not I, by Zeus, "said Patrocleas, "but I should like to hear. " "Aristo, " I continued, "atthe 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, setthe house on fire, and burnt all that were in it. As for Bessus, itseems 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 ofswallows, pricking it with his lance, and killed all the young swallows. And when the company said, as it was likely they would, 'Whatever makesyou act in such a strange manner?' 'Have they not, ' he replied, 'beenlong bearing false witness against me, crying out that I had killed myfather?' And the company, astonished at his answer, laid the matterbefore the king, and the affair was inquired into, and Bessus punished. "

§ IX. "These cases, " I continued, "we cite supposing, as has been laiddown, that there is a deferring of punishment to the wicked; and, forthe rest, I think we ought to listen to Hesiod, who tells us--not likePlato, who asserts that punishment is a condition that followscrime--that it is contemporaneous with it, and grows with it from thesame 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 ofits misdeeds not afterwards but at the time of its ill-doing. And asevery malefactor about to pay the penalty of his crime in his personbears his cross, so vice fabricates for itself each of its own torments, being the terrible author of its own misery in life, wherein in additionto shame it has frequent fears and fierce passions and endless remorseand anxiety. But some are just like children, who, seeing malefactors inthe theatres in golden tunics and purple robes with crowns on anddancing, admire them and marvel at them, thinking them happy, till theysee them goaded and lashed and issuing fire from their gaudy but cheapgarments. [829] For most wicked people, though they have great householdsand conspicuous offices and great power, are yet being secretly punishedbefore they are seen to be murdered or hurled down rocks, which israther the climax and end of their punishment than the punishmentitself. For as Plato tells us that Herodicus the Selymbrian havingfallen into consumption, an incurable disease, was the first of mankindto mix exercise with the art of healing, and so prolonged his own lifeand that of others suffering from the same disease, so those wickedpersons who seem to avoid immediate punishment, receive a longer and notslower punishment, not later but extending over a wider period; for theyare not punished in their old age, but rather grow old in perpetualpunishment. I speak of course of long time as a human being, for to thegods all the period of man's life is as nothing, and so to them 'now andnot thirty years ago' means no more than with us torturing or hanging amalefactor in the evening instead of the morning would mean; especiallyas man is shut up in life as in a prison from which there is no egressor escape, and though doubtless during his life he has much feasting andbusiness and gifts and favours and amusement, yet, just like peopleplaying at dice or draughts in a prison, the rope is all the timehanging over his head. "[830]

§ X. "And indeed what prevents our asserting that people in prison undersentence of death are not punished till their heads are cut off, or thatthe person who has taken hemlock, and walks about till he feels it isgetting into his legs, suffers not at all till he is deprived ofsensation by the freezing and curdling of his blood, if we consider thelast moment of punishment all the punishment, and ignore all theintermediate sufferings and fears and anxiety and remorse, the destinyof every guilty wretch? That would be arguing that the fish that hasswallowed the hook is not caught, till we see it boiled by the cook orsliced at table. For every wrong-doer is liable to punishment, and soonswallows the pleasantness of his wrong-doing like a bait, while hisconscience 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 thecrime is committed, but afterwards, when the passion subsides like astorm, it becomes timid and dejected and a prey to fears andsuperstitions. So that Stesichorus in his account of Clytæmnestra'sdream may have represented the facts and real state of the case, wherehe says, "A dragon seemed to appear to her with its lofty head smearedall over with blood, and out of it seemed to come king Orestes thegrandson of Plisthenes. " For visions in dreams, and apparitions duringthe day, and oracles, and lightning, and whatever is thought to comefrom the deity, bring tempests of apprehension to the guilty. So theysay that one time Apollodorus in a dream saw himself flayed by theScythians, and then boiled, and that his heart out of the caldron spoketo him in a low voice and said, "I am the cause of this;" and at anothertime he dreamed that he saw his daughters running round him in a circleall on fire and in flames. And Hipparchus the son of Pisistratus, alittle before his death, dreamt that Aphrodite threw some blood on hisface out of a certain phial. And the friends of Ptolemy Ceraunus dreamedthat he was summoned for trial by Seleucus, and that the judges werevultures and wolves, who tore his flesh and distributed it wholesaleamong his enemies. And Pausanias at Byzantium, having sent for Cleonicea free-born maiden, intending to outrage her and pass the night withher, being seized with some alarm or suspicion killed her, andfrequently saw her in his dreams saying to him, "Come near forjudgement, lust is most assuredly a grievous bane to men, " and as thisapparition did not cease, he sailed, it seems, to Heraclea to the placewhere the souls of the dead could be summoned, and by propitiations andsacrifices called up the soul of the maiden, and she appeared to him andtold him that this trouble would end when he got to Lacedæmon, anddirectly he got there he died. "[831]

§ XI. "And so, if nothing happens to the soul after death, but thatevent is the end of all enjoyment or punishment, one would be ratherinclined to say that the deity was lax and indulgent in quicklypunishing the wicked and depriving them of life. For even if we were tosay that the wicked had no other trouble in a long life, yet, when theirwrong-doing was proved to bring them no profit or enjoyment, no good oradequate return for their many and great anxieties, the consciousness ofthat would be quite enough to throw[832] their mind off its balance. Sothey record of Lysimachus that he was so overcome by thirst that hesurrendered himself and his forces to the Getæ for some drink, but afterhe 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 akingdom!" 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 orpower, or carried away by some amorous propensity, does some lawless anddreadful deed, and, after his eager desire is satisfied, sees in processof 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 hadviolated the greatest and noblest rights of mankind, and had filled hislife with shame and trouble? For as Simonides used to say playfully thathe always found his money-chest full but his gratitude-chest empty, [833]so the wicked contemplating their own vice soon find out that theirgratification is joyless and hopeless, [834] and ever attended by fearsand griefs and gloomy memories, and suspicions about the future, anddistrust about the present. Thus we hear Ino, repenting for what she haddone, 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 thisway, and consider how it can escape the memory of its ill-deeds, and layits conscience to sleep, and become pure, and live another life overagain from the beginning. For there is no confidence, or reality, orcontinuance, or security, in what wickedness proposes to itself, unlessby Zeus we shall say that evil-doers are wise, but wherever the greedylove of wealth or pleasure or violent envy dwells with hatred andmalignity, there will you also see and find stationed superstition, andremissness for labour, and cowardice in respect to death, and suddencaprice in the passions, and vain-glory and boasting. Those that censurethem frighten them, and they even fear those that praise them as wrongedby their deceit, and as most hostile to the bad because they readilypraise those they think good. For as in the case of ill-tempered steelthe hardness of vice is rotten, and its strength easily shattered. Sothat in course of time, understanding their real selves, they are vexedand disgusted with their past life and abhor it. For if a bad man whorestores property entrusted to his care, or becomes surety for a friend, or contributes very generously and liberally to his country out of loveof glory or honour, at once repents and is sorry for what he has donefrom the fickleness and changeableness of his mind; and if men applaudedin the theatres directly afterwards groan, their love of glory subsidinginto love of money; shall we suppose that those who sacrificed men totyrannies and conspiracies as Apollodorus did, or that those who robbedtheir friends of money as Glaucus the son of Epicydes did, [836] neverrepented, or loathed themselves, or regretted their past misdeeds? Formy part, if it is lawful to say so, I do not think evil-doers need anygod or man to punish them, for the marring and troubling of all theirlife by vice is in itself adequate punishment. "

§ XII. "But consider now whether I have not spoken too long. " Then Timonsaid, "Perhaps you have, considering what remains and the time it willtake. For now I am going to start the last question, as if it were acombatant in reserve, since the other two questions have been debatedsufficiently. For as to the charge and bold accusation that Euripidesbrings against the gods, for visiting the sins of the parents upon thechildren, consider that even those of us who are silent agree withEuripides. For if the guilty were punished themselves there would be nofurther need to punish the innocent, for it is not fair to punish eventhe guilty twice for the same offence, whereas if the gods througheasiness remit the punishment of the wicked, and exact it later on fromthe innocent, they do not well to compensate for their tardiness byinjustice. Such conduct resembles the story told of Æsop's coming tothis very spot, [837] with money from Croesus, to offer a splendidsacrifice to the god, and to give four minæ to each of the Delphians. And some quarrel or difference belike ensuing between him and theDelphians here, he offered the sacrifice, but sent the money back toSardis, as though the Delphians were not worthy to receive that benefit, so they fabricated against him a charge of sacrilege, and put him todeath by throwing him headlong down yonder rock called Hyampia. And inconsequence the god is said to have been wroth with them, and to havebrought dearth on their land, and all kinds of strange diseases, so thatthey went round at the public festivals of the Greeks, and invited byproclamation whoever wished to take satisfaction of them for Æsop'sdeath. And three generations afterwards came Idmon[838] a Samian, norelation of Æsop's, but a descendant of those who had purchased Æsop asa slave at Samos, and by giving him satisfaction the Delphians got ridof their trouble. And it was in consequence of this, they say, that thepunishment of those guilty of sacrilege was transferred from Hyampia toNauplia. [839] And even great lovers of Alexander, as we are, do notpraise his destroying the city of the Branchidæ and putting everybody init to death because their great-grandfathers betrayed the temple atMiletus. [840] And Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, laughing andjeering at the Corcyræans for asking him why he wasted their island, replied, "Because, by Zeus, your forefathers welcomed Odysseus. " Andwhen the people of Ithaca likewise complained of his soldiers carryingoff their sheep, he said, "Your king came to us, and actually put outthe shepherd's eye to boot. "[841] And is it not stranger still in Apollopunishing the present inhabitants of Pheneus, by damming up the channeldug to carry off their water, [842] and so flooding the whole of theirdistrict, because a thousand years ago, they say, Hercules carried offto Pheneus the oracular tripod? and in telling the Sybarites that theonly end of their troubles would be propitiating by their ruin on threeoccasions the wrath of Leucadian Hera? And indeed it is no long timesince 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 inall this? Nor do we praise the Thracians who to this day, in honour ofOrpheus, mark their wives;[844] nor the barbarians on the banks of theEridanus who, they say, wear mourning for Phäethon. And I think it wouldbe still more ridiculous if the people living at the time Phäethonperished had neglected him, and those who lived five or ten generationsafter his tragic death had begun the practice of wearing mourning andgrieving for him. And yet this would be only folly, there would benothing dreadful or fatal about it, but what should make the anger ofthe gods subside at once and then afterwards, like some rivers, burstout against others till they completely ruin them?

§ XIII. Directly he left off, fearing that if he began again he wouldintroduce more and greater absurdities, I asked him, "Well, do youbelieve all this to be true?" And he replied, "If not all, but onlysome, of it is true, do you not think that the subject presents the samedifficulty?" "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 ornearly so, yet to ease them we shall do well to remove some of theclothes; but let us waive this point, if you don't like the line ofargument, 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 Apollocalled Theoxenia, [845] and the noble share in it which the heraldsexpressly reserve for the descendants of Pindar, and how grand andpleasant it seemed to you. " "Who could help being pleased, " said he, "with such a delightful honour, so Greek and breathing the simple spiritof antiquity, had he not, to use Pindar's own phrase, 'a black heartforged when the flame was cold?'" "I pass over then, " said I, "thesimilar proclamation at Sparta, 'After the Lesbian singer, ' in honourand memory of old Terpander, for it is a similar case. But youyourselves certainly lay claim to be better than other Boeotians asdescended from Opheltes, [846] and than other Phocians because of yourancestor Daiphantus, [847] and you were the first to give me help andassistance in preserving for the Lycormæ and Satilæi their hereditaryprivilege of wearing crowns as descendants of Hercules, when I contendedthat we ought to confirm the honours and favours of the descendants ofHercules more especially because, though he was such a benefactor to theGreeks, he had had himself no adequate favour or return. " "You remindme, " he said, "of a noble effort, and one well worthy of a philosopher. ""Dismiss then, " said I, "my dear fellow, your vehement accusationagainst the gods, and do not be so vexed that some of a bad or evilstock are punished by them, or else do not joy in and approve of thehonour paid to descent from a good stock. For it is unreasonable, if wecontinue to show favour to a virtuous stock, to think punishment wrongin the case of a criminal stock, or that it should not correspond withthe adequate reward of merit. And he that is glad to see the descendantsof Cimon honoured at Athens, but is displeased and indignant that thedescendants of Lachares or Aristo are in exile, is too soft and easy, orrather too fault-finding and peevish with the gods, accusing them if thedescendants of a bad and wicked man are fortunate, and accusing themalso if the progeny of the bad are wiped off the face of the earth; thusfinding fault with the deity alike, whether the descendants of the goodor bad father are unfortunate. "

§ XIV. "Let these remarks, " I continued, "be your bulwarks as it wereagainst those excessively bitter and railing accusations. And taking upagain as it were the initial clue to our subject, which as it is aboutthe deity is dark and full of mazes and labyrinths, let us warily andcalmly follow the track to what is probable and plausible, for certaintyand truth are things very difficult to find even in every-day life. Forexample, why are the children of those that have died of consumption ordropsy bidden to sit with their feet in water till the dead body isburnt? For that is thought to prevent the disease transferring itself tothem. Again, when a she-goat takes a bit of eringo into her mouth, whydo the whole herd stand still, till the goatherd comes up and takes itout of her mouth? There are other properties that have connection andcommunication, and that transfer themselves from one thing to anotherwith incredible[848] quickness and over immense distances. But we marvelmore at intervals of time than place. And yet is it more wonderful thatAthens should have been smitten with a plague[849] that started inArabia, and of which Pericles died and Thucydides fell sick, than that, when the Delphians and Sybarites became wicked, vengeance should havefallen on their descendants. [850] For properties have relations andconnections between ends and beginnings, and although the reason of themmay not be known by us, they silently perform their errand. "

§ XV. "Moreover the public punishments of cities by the gods admits of ajust defence. For a city is one continuous entity, a sort of creaturethat never changes from age, or becomes different by time, but is eversympathetic with and conformable to itself, and is answerable forwhatever it does or has done for the public weal, as long as thecommunity by its union and federal bonds preserves its unity. For hethat would make several, or rather any quantity of, cities out of one byprocess 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 astripling. Or rather this kind of reasoning resembles the arguments ofEpicharmus, from whom the sophists borrowed the piled-up method ofreasoning, [851] for example, he incurred the debt long ago, so he doesnot owe it now, being a different person, or, he was invited to dinneryesterday, but he comes uninvited to-day, for he is another person. Andyet age produces greater changes in any individual than it does commonlyin cities. For any one would recognize Athens again if he had not seenit for thirty years, for the present habits and feelings of the peoplethere, their business, amusements, likes and dislikes, are just whatthey were long ago; whereas a man's friend or acquaintance meeting himafter some time would hardly recognize his appearance, for the change ofcharacter easily introduced by every thought and deed, feeling andcustom, 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, andsimilarly we think it right for a city always remaining the same to beliable to reproach for the ill deeds of its former inhabitants, on thesame principle as it enjoys its ancient glory and power; or shall we, without being aware of it, throw everything into Heraclitus' river, intowhich he says a person cannot step twice, [852] since nature is everchanging and altering everything?"

§ XVI. "If then a city is one continuous entity, so of course is a racethat starts from one beginning, that can trace back intimate union andsimilarity of faculties, for that which is begot is not, like someproduction of art, unlike the begetter, for it proceeds from him, and isnot merely produced by him, so that it appropriately receives his share, whether that be honour or punishment. And if I should not seem to betrifling, I should say that the bronze statue of Cassander melted downby the Athenians, and the body of Dionysius thrown out of theirterritory by the Syracusans after his death, were treated more unjustlythan punishing their posterity would have been. For there was none ofthe nature of Cassander in the statue, and the soul of Dionysius hadleft his dead body before this outrage, whereas Nysæus andApollocrates, [853] Antipater and Philip, [854] and similarly other sonsof wicked parents had innate in them a good deal of their fathers, andthat no listless or inactive element, but one by which they lived andwere nourished, and by which their ideas were controlled. Nor is it atall strange or absurd that some should have their fathers'characteristics. And to speak generally, as in surgery whatever isuseful is also just, and that person would be ridiculous who should sayit 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 weretender in their hoofs to anoint the tips of their horns, so he thatlooks for any other justice in punishment than curing vice, and isdissatisfied if surgery is employed to one part to benefit another, assurgeons open a vein to relieve ophthalmia, can see nothing beyond theevidence of the senses, and does not remember that even a schoolmasterby correcting one lad admonishes others, and that by decimation ageneral makes his whole army obey. And so not only by one part toanother comes benefit, but also to the soul through the soul, even moreoften than to the body through the body, come certain dispositions, andvices or improvement of character. For just as it is likely in the caseof the body that the same feelings and changes will take place, so thesoul, being worked upon by fancies, naturally becomes better or worseaccording as it has more confidence or fear. "

§ XVII. While I was thus speaking, Olympicus interposed, and said, "Youseem in your argument to assume the important assumption of thepermanence of the soul. " I replied, "You too concede it, or rather didconcede it. For that the deity deals with everyone according to hismerit has been the assumption of our argument from the beginning. " Thensaid he, "Do you think that it follows, because the gods notice ouractions and deal with us accordingly, that souls are either altogetherimperishable, or for some time survive dissolution?" Then said I, "Notexactly so, my good sir, but is the deity so little and so attached totrifles, if we have nothing divine in ourselves, nothing resembling him, nothing lasting or sure, but that we all do fade as a leaf, asHomer[855] says, and die after a brief life, as to take thetrouble--like women that tend and cultivate their gardens of Adonis[856]in pots--to create souls to flourish in a delicate body having nostability only for a day, and then to be annihilated at once[857] by anyoccasion? 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 outof their bodies like mist or smoke, he would enjoin many propitiatoryofferings for the departed and honours for the dead, merely cheating andbeguiling those that believed in him? For my own part, I shall neverabandon my belief in the permanence of the soul, unless some secondHercules[859] shall come and take away the tripod of the PythianPriestess, and abolish and destroy the oracle. For as long as many suchoracles are still given, as was said to be given to Corax of Naxosformerly, it is impious to declare that the soul dies. " Then saidPatrocleas, "What oracle do you refer to? Who was this Corax? To me boththe 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 hethat killed Archilochus in battle was called Calondes, it seems, but hissurname was Corax. He was first rejected by the Pythian Priestess, ashaving slain a man sacred to the Muses, but after using many entreatiesand prayers, and urging pleas in defence of his act, he was ordered togo to the dwelling of Tettix, and appease the soul of Archilochus. Nowthis place was Tænarum, for there they say Tettix the Cretan had gonewith a fleet and founded a city, and dwelt near the place where departedsouls were conjured up. Similarly also, when the Spartans were bidden bythe oracle to appease the soul of Pausanias, the necromancers weresummoned from Italy, and, after they had offered sacrifice, they got theghost out of the temple. "

§ XVIII. "It is one and the same argument, " I continued, "that confirmsthe providence of the deity and the permanence of the soul of man, sothat you cannot leave one if you take away the other. And if the soulsurvives after death, it makes the probability stronger that rewards orpunishments will be assigned to it. For during life the soul struggles, like an athlete, and when the struggle is over, then it gets itsdeserts. But what rewards or punishments the soul gets when by itself inthe unseen world for the deeds done in the body has nothing to do withus that are alive, and is perhaps not credited by us, and certainlyunknown to us; whereas those punishments that come on descendants and onthe race are evident to all that are alive, and deter and keep back manyfrom wickedness. For there is no more disgraceful or bitter punishmentthan to see our children in misfortune through our faults, and if thesoul of an impious or lawless man could see after death, not his statuesor honours taken from him, but his children or friends or race in greatadversity owing to him, and paying the penalty for his misdeeds, no onewould ever persuade him, could he come to life again, to be unjust andlicentious, even for the honours of Zeus. I could tell you a story onthis head, which I recently heard, but I hesitate to do so, lest youshould regard it only as a myth; I confine myself therefore toprobability. " "Pray don't, " said Olympicus, "let us have your story. "And as the others made the same request, I said, "Permit me first tofinish my discourse according to probability, and then, if you like, Iwill set my myth a going, if it is a myth. "

§ XIX. Bion says the deity in punishing the children of the wicked fortheir fathers' crimes is more ridiculous than a doctor administering apotion to a son or grandson for a father's or grandfather's disease. Butthe cases, though in some respects similar and like, are in othersdissimilar. For to cure one person of a disease does not cure another, nor is one any better, when suffering from ophthalmia or fever, byseeing another anointed or poulticed. But the punishments of evil-doersare exhibited to everybody for this reason, that it is the function ofjustice, when it is carried out as reason dictates, to check some by thepunishment of others. So that Bion did not see in what respect hiscomparison touched our subject. For sometimes, when a man falls into agrievous but not incurable malady, which afterwards by intemperance andnegligence ruins his constitution and kills him, is not his son, who isnot supposed to be suffering from the same malady but only to have apredisposition for it, enjoined to a careful manner of living by hismedical man, or friend, or intelligent trainer in gymnastics, or honestguardian, and recommended to abstain from fish and pastry, wine andwomen, and to take medicine frequently, and to go in for training in thegymnasiums, and so to dissipate and get rid of the small seeds of whatmight be a serious malady, if he allowed it to come to a head? Do we notindeed give advice of this kind to the children of diseased fathers ormothers, bidding them take care and be cautious and not to neglectthemselves, but at once to arrest the first germ, of the malady, nippingit in the bud while removable, and before it has got a firm footing inthe constitution?" "Certainly we do, " said all the company. "We are notthen, " I continued, "acting in a strange or ridiculous but in anecessary and useful way, in arranging their exercise and food andphysic for the sons of epileptic or atrabilious or gouty people, notwhen they are ill, but to prevent their becoming so. For the offspringof a poor constitution does not require punishment, but it does requiremedical treatment and care, and if any one stigmatizes this, because itcurtails pleasure and involves some self-denial and pain, as apunishment inflicted by cowardice and timidity, we care not for hisopinion. Can it be right to tend and care for the body that has anhereditary predisposition to some malady, and are we to neglect thegrowth 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 thefeelings, and, to use the language of Pindar, "produce malignant fruitin the heart?"

§ XX. Or is the deity in this respect no wiser than Hesiod, who exhortsand 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 virtueonly, but sorrow or joy and all other propensities, came fromgeneration, to which the poet bids us come gay and agreeable andsprightly. But it is not Hesiod's function, or the work of human wisdom, but it belongs to the deity, to discern and accurately distinguishsimilarities and differences of character, before they become obvious byresulting in crime through the influence of the passions. For the youngof bears and wolves and apes manifest from their birth the nature innatein them in all its naked simplicity; whereas mankind, under theinfluence of customs and opinions and laws, frequently conceal their badqualities and imitate what is good, so as altogether to obliterate andescape from the innate taint of vice, or to be undetected for a longtime, throwing the veil of craft round their real nature, so that we arescarce conscious of their villainy till we feel the blow or smart ofsome unjust action, so that we are in fact only aware that there is sucha thing as injustice when men act unjustly, or as vice when men actviciously, or as cowardice when men run away, just as if one were tosuppose that scorpions had a sting only when they stung us, or thatvipers were venomous only when they bit us, which would be a very sillyidea. 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 actwhen he has opportunity and means, as opportunity makes the thiefsteal, [861] and the tyrant violate the laws. But the deity is notignorant of the nature and disposition of every man, inasmuch as by hisvery nature he can read the soul better than the body, and does not waitto punish violence in the act, or shamelessness in the tongue, orlasciviousness in the members. For he does not retaliate upon thewrong-doer as having been ill-treated by him, nor is he angry with therobber as having been plundered by him, nor does he hate the adultereras having himself suffered from his licentiousness, but it is to curehim that he often punishes the adulterous or avaricious or unjust man inembryo, before he has had time to work out all his villainy, as we tryto stop epileptic fits before they come on. 

§ XXI. Just now we were dissatisfied that the wicked were punished lateand tardily, whereas at present we find fault with the deity forcorrecting the character and disposition of same before they commitcrime, from our ignoring that the future deed may be worse and moredreadful than the past, and the hidden intention than the overt act; forwe are not able fully to understand the reasons why it is better toleave some alone in their ill deeds, and to arrest others in theintention; just as no doubt medicine is not appropriate in the case ofsome patients, which would be beneficial to others not ill, but yetperhaps in a more dangerous condition still. And so the gods do notvisit all the offences of parents on their children, but if a good manis the son of a bad one, as the son of a sickly parent is sometimes of agood constitution, he is exempt from the punishment of his race, as notbeing a participator in its viciousness. But if a young man imitates hisvicious race it is only right that he should inherit the punishment oftheir ill deeds, as he would their debts. For Antigonus was not punishedfor Demetrius, nor, of the old heroes, [862] Phyleus for Augeas, orNestor for Neleus, for though their sires were bad they were good, butthose whose nature liked and approved the vices of their ancestors, these justice punished, taking vengeance on their similarity inviciousness. For as the warts and moles and freckles of parents oftenskip a generation, and reappear in the grandsons and granddaughters, andas 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] andas the son of Pytho the Nisibian who recently died, and who was said totrace his descent to the Sparti, [864] had the birthmark on his body ofthe print of a spear the token of his race, which though long dormanthad come up again as out of the deep, so frequently earlier generationsconceal and suppress the mental idiosyncrasies and passions of theirrace, which afterwards nature causes to break out in other members ofthe family, and so displays the family bent either to vice or virtue. "

§ XXII. When I had said thus much I was silent, but Olympicus smiled andsaid, "We do not praise you, lest we should seem to forget your promisedstory, as though what you had advanced was adequate proof enough, but wewill give our opinion when we have heard it. " Then I began as follows. "Thespesius of Soli, an intimate friend of that Protogenes[865] wholived in this city with us for some time, had been very profligateduring the early part of his life, and had quickly run through hisproperty, and for some time owing to his straits had given himself up tobad practices, when repenting of his old ways, and following the pursuitof riches, he resembled those profligate husbands that pay no attentionto 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 seducethem. Abstaining then from nothing dishonourable that could bring eitherenjoyment or gain, in no long time he got together no great amount ofproperty, but a very great reputation for villainy. But what mostdamaged his character was the answer he received from the oracle ofAmphilochus. [866] For he sent it seems a messenger to consult the godwhether he would live the rest of his life better, and the answer was hewould do better after his death. And indeed this happened in a sense notlong after. For he fell headlong down from a great height, and though hehad received no wound nor even a blow, the fall did for him, but threedays after (just as he was about to be buried) he recovered. He soonpicked up his strength again, and went home, and so changed his mannerof life that people would hardly credit it. For the Cilicians say thatthey know nobody who was in those days more fairdealing in business, ormore devout to the deity, or more disagreeable to his enemies, or morefaithful to his friends; insomuch that all who had any dealings with himdesired to hear the reason of this change, not thinking that so great areformation of character could have proceeded from chance, and theiridea was correct, as his narrative to Protogenes and others of his greatfriends showed. For he told them that, when his soul left the body, thechange he first underwent was as if he were a pilot thrown violentlyinto the sea out of a ship. Then raising himself up a little, he thoughthe recovered the power of breathing again altogether, and looked roundhim in every direction, as if one eye of the soul was open. But he sawnone of the things he had ever seen before, but stars enormous in sizeand at immense distance from one another, sending forth a wonderful andintense brightness of colour, so that the soul was borne along and movedabout everywhere quickly and easily, like a ship is fair weather. Butomitting most of the sights he saw, he said that the souls of the deadmounted 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 aboutwith wonderful agility and darted straight upwards, while others likespindles flitted round all together in a circle, some in an upwarddirection, some in a downward, with mixed and confused motion, hardlystopping at all, or only after a very long time. As to most of these hewas ignorant who they were, but he saw two or three that he knew, andtried to approach them and talk with them, but they would not listen tohim, and did not seem to be in their right minds, but out of theirsenses and distraught, avoiding every sight and touch, and at firstturned round and round alone, but afterwards meeting many other soulswhirling round and in the same condition as themselves, they moved aboutpromiscuously with no particular object in view, and utteredinarticulate sounds, like yells, mixed with wailing and terror. Othersouls in the upper part of the air seemed joyful, and frequentlyapproached one another in a friendly way, and avoided those troubledsouls, and seemed to mark their displeasure by keeping themselves tothemselves, and their joy and delight by extension and expansion. Atlast he said he saw the soul of a relation, that he thought he knew butwas not quite sure, as he died when he was a boy, which came up to himand said to him, "Welcome, Thespesius. " And he wondering, and sayingthat his name was not Thespesius but Aridæus, the soul replied, "Thatwas your old name, but henceforth it will be Thespesius. For assuredlyyou are not dead, but by the will of the gods are come here with yourintellect, for the rest of your soul you have left in the body like ananchor; and as a proof of what I say both now and hereafter notice thatthe souls of the dead have no shadow and do not move their eyelids. "Thespesius, on hearing these words, pulled himself somewhat moretogether again, and began to use his reason, and looking more closely henoticed that an indistinct and shadow-like line was suspended over him, while the others shone all round and were transparent, but were not allalike; for some were like the full-moon at its brightest, throwing outone smooth even and continuous colour, others had spots or light markshere and there, while others were quite variegated and strange to thesight, with black spots like snakes, while others again had dimscratches. 

Then the kinsman of Thespesius (for there is nothing to prevent ourcalling the souls by the name of the persons), pointed out everything, and told him that Adrastea, the daughter of Necessity and Zeus, wasplaced in the highest position to punish all crimes, and no criminal waseither so great or so small as to be able to escape her either by fraudor violence. But, as there were three kinds of punishment, each had itsown officer and administering functionary. "For speedy Vengeanceundertakes the punishment of those that are to be corrected at once inthe body and through their bodies, and she mildly passes by manyoffences that only need expiation; but if the cure of vice demandsfurther pains, then the deity hands over such criminals after death toJustice, and those whom Justice rejects as altogether incurable, Erinnys(the third and fiercest of Adrastea's officers), pursues as they arefleeing and wandering about in various directions, and with pitilessseverity utterly undoes them all, and thrusts them down to a place notto be seen or spoken about. And, of all these punishments, that which isadministered in this life by Vengeance is most like those in use amongthe barbarians. For as among the Persians they pluck off and scourge thegarments and tiaras of those that are to be punished, while theoffenders weep and beg them to cease, so most punishments by fine orbodily chastisement have no sharp touch, nor do they reach vice itself, but are only for show and sentiment. And whoever goes from this world tothat incorrigible and impure, Justice takes him aside, naked as he is insoul, and unable to veil or hide or conceal his villainy, but descriedall round and in all points by everybody, and shows him first to hisgood parents, if such they were, to let them see what a wretch he is andhow unworthy of his ancestors; but if they were wicked too, seeing thempunished and himself being seen by them, he is chastised for a long timetill he is purged of each of his bad propensities by sufferings andpains, which as much exceed in magnitude and intensity all sufferings inthe flesh, as what is real is more vivid than a dream. But the scars andmarks of the stripes for each bad propensity are more visible in somethan in others. Observe also, he continued, the different and variouscolours of the souls. That dark dirty-brown colour is the pigment ofilliberality and covetousness, and the blood-red the sign of cruelty andsavageness, and where the blue is there sensuality and love of pleasureare not easily eradicated, and that violet and livid colour marks maliceand envy, like the dark liquid ejected by the cuttle fish. For as duringlife vice produces these colours by the soul being acted upon bypassions and reacting upon the body, so here it is the end ofpurification and correction when they are toned down, and the soulbecomes altogether bright and one colour. But as long as these coloursremain, there are relapses of the passions accompanied by palpitationand throbbing of the heart, in some faint and soon suppressed, in othersmore violent and lasting. And some of these souls by being again andagain corrected recover their proper disposition and condition, whileothers again by their violent ignorance and excessive love ofpleasure[867] are carried into the bodies of animals; for one byweakness of reasoning power, and slowness of contemplation, is impelledby the practical element in him to generation, while another, lacking aninstrument to satisfy his licentiousness, desires to gratify hispassions immediately, and to get that gratification through the mediumof the body; for here there is no real fruition, but only an imperfectshadow and dream of incomplete pleasure. "

After he had said this, Thespesius' kinsman hurried him at great speedthrough immense space, as it seemed to him, though he travelled aseasily and straight as if he were carried on the wings of the sun'srays. At last he got to an extensive and bottomless abyss, where hisstrength left him, as he found was the case with the other souls there:for keeping together and making swoops, like birds, they flitted allround the abyss, but did not venture to pass over it. To internal viewit resembled the caverns of Bacchus, being beautiful throughout[868]with trees and green foliage and flowers of all kinds, and it breathed asoft and gentle air, laden with scents marvellously pleasant, andproducing the effect that wine does on those who are topers; for thesouls were elevated by its fragrance, and gay and blithe with oneanother: and the whole spot was full of mirth and laughter, and suchsongs as emanate from gaiety and enjoyment. And Thespesius' kinsman toldhim that this was the way Dionysus went up to heaven by, and by which heafterwards took up Semele, and it was called the place of Oblivion. Buthe would not let Thespesius stay there, much as he wished, but forciblydragged him away, instructing and telling him that the intellect wasmelted and moistened by pleasure, and that the irrational and corporealelement being watered and made flesh stirs up the memory of the body, from which comes a yearning and strong desire for generation, so calledfrom being an inclination to the earth, [869] when the soul is weigheddown with moisture. 

Next Thespesius travelled as far in another direction, and seemed to seea great crater into which several rivers emptied themselves, one whiterthan the foam of the sea or snow, another like the purple of therainbow, and others of various hues whose brightness was apparent atsome distance, but when he got nearer the air became thinner and thecolours grew dim, and the crater lost all its gay colours but white. Andhe saw three genii sitting together in a triangular position, mixing therivers together in certain proportions. Then the guide of Thespesius'soul told him, that Orpheus got as far as here, when he came in quest ofthe soul of his wife, [870] and from not exactly remembering what he hadseen spread a false report among mankind, that the oracle at Delphi wascommon 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 theworld, nor has it any particular seat, but wanders about everywhere inmen's dreams and visions. Hence, as you see, dreams receive anddisseminate a mixture[871] of simple truth with deceit and error. Butthe oracle of Apollo you do not know, nor can you see it, for theearthiness of the soul does not suffer it to soar upwards, but keeps itdown in dependence on the body. And taking him nearer his guide tried toshow him the light from the tripod, which, as he said, shone as far asParnassus through the bosom of Themis, but though he desired to see ithe could not for its brightness, but as he passed by he heard the shrillvoice of a woman speaking in verse several things, among others, hethought, telling the time of his death. That, said the genius, was thevoice of the Sibyl, who sang about the future as she was being borneabout in the Orb of the moon. Though desirous then to hear more, he wasconveyed into another direction by the violent motion of the moon, as ifhe had been in the eddies of a whirlpool, so that he heard very littlemore, only a prophecy about Mt. Vesuvius and that Dicæarchia[872] wouldbe destroyed by fire, and a short piece about the Emperor thenreigning, [873] that "though he was good he would lose his empire throughsickness. "

After this Thespesius and his guide turned to see those that wereundergoing punishment. And at first they saw only distressing andpitiable sights, but after that, Thespesius, little expecting it, foundhimself among his friends and acquaintances and kinsfolk who were beingpunished, and undergoing dreadful sufferings and hideous and bittertortures, and who wept and wailed to him. And at last he descried hisfather coming up out of a certain gulf covered with marks and scars, stretching out his hands, and not allowed to keep silence, but compelledby those that presided over his torture to confess that he had been anaccursed wretch and poisoned some strangers that had gold, and duringhis lifetime had escaped the detection of everybody; but had been foundout here, and his guilt brought home to him, for which he had alreadysuffered much, and was being dragged on to suffer more. So great was hisconsternation and fear that he did not dare to intercede or beg for hisfather's release, but wishing to turn and flee he could no longer seehis gentle and kind guide, but he was thrust forward by some personshorrible to look at, as if some dire necessity compelled him to gothrough with the business, and saw that the shades of those that hadbeen notorious criminals and punished in their life-time were not soseverely tortured here or like the others, but had an incomplete[874]though toilsome punishment for their irrational passions. [875] Whereasthose who under the mask and show of virtue had lived all their lives inundetected vice were forced by their torturers with labour and pain toturn their souls inside out, unnaturally wriggling and writhing about, like the sea-scolopendras who, when they have swallowed the hook, turnthemselves inside out; but some of them their torturers flayed andcrimped so as to show their various inward vices which were only skinnedover, which were deep in their soul the principal part of man. And hesaid he saw other souls, like snakes two or three or even more twinedtogether, devouring one another in malignity and malevolence for whatthey had suffered or done in life. He said also that there were severallakes 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 ofthose whose criminality lay in insatiable cupidity. For when they werered-hot and transparent through their bath in the lake of gold, thedemons thrust them into the lake of lead and dipped them in that; andwhen they got congealed in it and hard as hail, they dipped them intothe lake of iron, and there they became wonderfully black, and brokenand crushed by the hardness of the iron, and changed their appearance, and after that they were dipped again in the lake of gold, aftersuffering, he said, dreadful agony in all these changes of torment. Buthe said those souls suffered most piteously of all that, when theyseemed to have escaped justice, were arrested again, and these werethose whose crimes had been visited on their children or descendants. For whenever one of these latter happened to come up, he fell into arage and cried out, and showed the marks of what he had suffered, andupbraided and pursued the soul of the parent, that wished to fly andhide himself but could not. For quickly did the ministers of torturepursue them, and hurry them back again to Justice, [876] wailing all thewhile on account of their fore-knowledge of what their punishment wouldbe. 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 asecond time, forcibly moulded and transformed into various kinds ofanimals by artificers appointed for the very purpose with instrumentsand blows, who broke off all the limbs of some, and only wrenched offsome of others, and polished others down or annihilated them altogether, to fit them for other habits and modes of life. Among them he saw thesoul of Nero tortured in other ways, and pierced with red-hot nails. Andthe artificers having taken it in hand and converted it into thesemblance of a Pindaric viper, which gets its way to life by gnawingthrough its mother's womb, a great light, he said, suddenly shone, and avoice came out of the light, ordering them to change it into somethingmilder, so they devised of it the animal that croaks about lakes andmarshes, for he had been punished sufficiently for his crimes, and nowdeserved some favour at the hands of the gods, for he had freed Greece, the noblest nation of his subjects and the best-beloved of thegods. [878] So much did Thespesius behold, but as he intended to return ahorrible dread came upon him. For a woman, marvellous in appearance andsize, took hold of him and said to him, "Come here that you may thebetter remember everything you have seen. " And she was about to strikehim with a red-hot iron pin, such as the encaustic painters use, [879]when another woman prevented her; and he was suddenly sucked up, asthrough[880] a pipe, by a strong and violent wind, and lit upon his ownbody, 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, §§ 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 Theôu aleousi myloi, aleousi de lepta]. See Erasmus, "Adagia, " p. 1864. 

 [814] Cf. Plato, "Republic, " 472 A. 

 [815] See Note, "On Abundance of Friends, " § ii. 

 [816] Reading [Greek: ei gar]. 

 [817] Or _a world_. 

 [818] See above, § ii. 

 [819] Quoted also in "On restraining Anger, " § ii. 

 [820] It seems necessary to read either [Greek: porizein] with Mez, or [Greek: horizein] with Wyttenbach. 

 [821] Compare Aristophanes, "Vespæ, " 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, " § x. 

 [834] The reading is very doubtful. I adopt [Greek: hêdonês men euthus kenên charin, elpidos erêmon 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; Athenæus, 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 § xii. 

 [851] "Videtur idem cum _sorita_ esse. "--_Reiske. _

 [852] Compare our author, "De EI a pud Delphos, " § 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, "Phædrus, " 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 § 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, " § ii. 

 [866] At Mallus, in Cilicia. See Pausanias, i. 34. 

 [867] Reading [Greek: philêdonias ischys] with Reiske. 

 [868] Reading [Greek: diapepoikilmenon on] with Wyttenbach. 

 [869] A paronomasia on [Greek: genesis] as if [Greek: epi gên 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: tribomenên tribên atelê]. 

 [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 Athenæus, 687 B. 

 [880] Reading [Greek: dia] with Reiske. 

AGAINST BORROWING MONEY. 

§ I. Plato in his Laws[881] does not permit neighbours to use oneanother's water, unless they have first dug for themselves as far as theclay, and reached ground that is unsuitable for a well. For clay, havinga rich and compact nature, absorbs the water it receives, and does notlet it pass through. But he allows people that cannot make a well oftheir own to use their neighbour's water, for the law ought to relievenecessity. Ought there not also to be a law about money, that peopleshould not borrow of others, nor go to other people's sources of income, until they have first examined their own resources at home, andcollected, as by drops, what is necessary for their use? But nowadaysfrom luxury and effeminacy and lavish expenditure people do not usetheir own resources, though they have them, but borrow from others atgreat interest without necessity. And what proves this very clearly isthe fact that people do not lend money to the needy, but only to thosewho, wanting an immediate supply, bring a witness and adequate securityfor their credit, so that they can be in no actual necessity ofborrowing. [882]

§ 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 ofinterest, a kind of rust that daily soils your sumptuousness, nor willthey remind you of the calends and the new moon, which, though the mostholy of days, the money-lenders make ill-omened and hateful. For thosewho instead of selling them put their goods out at pawn cannot be savedeven by Zeus the Protector of Property: they are ashamed to sell, theyare not ashamed to pay interest on their goods when out at pawn. And yetthe famous Pericles made the ornament of Athene, which weighed fortytalents of fine gold, removable at will, for "so, " he said, "we can usethe gold in war, and at some other time restore as costly a one. " Soshould we too in our necessities, as in a siege, not receive a garrisonimposed on us by a hostile money-lender, nor allow our goods to go intoslavery; but stripping our table, our bed, our carriages, and our diet, of superfluities, we should keep ourselves free, intending to restoreall those things again, if we have good luck. 

§ III. So the Roman matrons offered their gold and ornaments asfirst-fruits to Pythian Apollo, out of which a golden cup was made andsent 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 beused in defence of their country. [884] But we being ashamed ofindependence enslave ourselves to covenants and conditions, when weought to restrict and confine ourselves to what is useful, and dock orsell useless superfluities, to build a temple of liberty for ourselves, our wives, and children. The famous Artemis at Ephesus gives asylum andsecurity from their creditors to debtors, when they take refuge in hertemple; but the asylum and sanctuary of frugality is everywhere open tothe sober-minded, affording them joyful and honourable and ample spacefor much ease. For as the Pythian Priestess told the Athenians at thetime 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 tookrefuge 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 withgold[886] and silver, which swift interest will catch up and outrun, butmounted on any chance donkey or nag flee from the hostile and tyrannicalmoney-lender, not demanding like the Mede land and water, [887] butinterfering with your liberty, and lowering your status. If you pay himnot, he duns you; if you offer the money, he won't have it; if you areselling anything, he cheapens the price; if you don't want to sell, heforces you; if you sue him, he comes to terms with you; if you swear, hehectors; if you go to his house, he shuts the door in your face; whereasif you stay at home, he billets himself on you, and is ever rapping atyour door. 

§ IV. How did Solon benefit the Athenians by ordaining that debtorsshould no longer have to pay in person? For they are slaves to allmoney-lenders, [888] and not to them only, what would there be somonstrous in that? but to their slaves, who are insolent and savagebarbarians, such as Plato represents the fiery torturers andexecutioners in Hades who preside over the punishment of the impious. For they make the forum a hell for wretched debtors, and like vulturesdevour and rend them limb from limb, "piercing into their bowels, "[889]and stand over others and prevent their tasting their own grapes orcrops, as if they were so many Tantaluses. And as Darius sent Datis andArtaphernes to Athens with manacles and chains in their hands for theircaptives, so they bring into Greece boxes full of bonds and agreements, like fetters, and visit the towns and scour the country round, sowingnot like Triptolemus harmless corn, but planting the toilsome andprolific and never-ending roots of debts, which grow and spread allround, and ruin and choke cities. They say that hares at once give birthand suckle and conceive again, but the debts of these knaves andbarbarians give birth before they conceive; for at the very moment ofgiving they ask back, and take up what they laid down, and lend whatthey take for lending. 

§ V. It is a saying among the Messenians, that "there is a Pylos beforePylos, and another Pylos too. " So it may be said with respect to thesemoney-lenders, "there is interest before interest, and other interesttoo. " Then of course they laugh at those natural philosophers who saythat nothing can come of nothing, for they get interest on what neitheris nor was; and they think it disgraceful to farm out the taxes, thoughthe law allows it, while they themselves against the law exact tributefor what they lend, or rather, if one is to say the truth, defraud asthey lend, for he who receives less than he signs his name for isdefrauded. The Persians indeed think lying a secondary crime, but debt aprincipal one, for lying frequently follows upon debt, but money-lenderstell more lies, for they make fraudulent entries in their account-books, writing down that they have given so-and-so so much, when they havereally given less. And the only excuse for their lying is covetousness, not necessity, not utter poverty, but insatiable greediness, the outcomeof which is without enjoyment and useless to themselves, and fatal totheir victims. For neither do they farm the fields which they rob theirdebtors of, nor do they inhabit their houses when they have thrust themout, nor use their tables or apparel, but first one is ruined, and thena second is hunted down, for whom the first one serves as a decoy. Forthe bane spreads and grows like a fire, to the destruction and ruin ofall who fall into their clutches, for it consumes one after another; andthe money-lender, who fans and feeds this flame to ensnare many, gets nomore advantage from it but that some time after he can take hisaccount-book and read how many he has sold up, how many turned out ofhouse and home, and track the sources of his wealth, which is evergrowing into a larger pile. 

§ VI. And do not think I say this as an enemy proclaiming war againstthe money-lenders, "For never did they lift my cows or horses, "[890]

but merely to prove to those who too readily borrow money what disgraceand servitude it brings with it, and what extreme folly and weakness itis. Have you anything? do not borrow, for you are not in a necessitouscondition. Have you nothing? do not borrow, for you will never be ableto pay back. Let us consider either case separately. Cato said to acertain old man who was a wicked fellow, "My good sir, why do you addthe shame that comes from wickedness to old age, that has so manytroubles of its own?" So too do you, since poverty has so many troublesof its own, not add the terrible distress that comes from borrowingmoney and from debt; and do not take away from poverty its onlyadvantage over wealth, its freedom from corroding care. For the proverbthat says, "I cannot carry a goat, put an ox on my shoulder, " has aridiculous ring. Unable to bear poverty, are you going to put on yourback a money-lender, a weight hard to carry even for a rich man? Howthen, will you say, am I to maintain myself? Do you ask this, having twohands, two legs, and a tongue, in short, being a man, to love and beloved, to give and receive benefits? Can you not be a schoolmaster ortutor, or porter, or sailor, or make coasting voyages? Any of these waysof getting a livelihood is less disgraceful and difficult than to alwayshave to hear, "Pay me that thou owest. "

§ VII. The well-known Rutilius went up to Musonius at Rome, and said tohim, "Musonius, Zeus Soter, whom you imitate and emulate, does notborrow money. " And Musonius smilingly answered, "Neither does he lend. "For you must know Rutilius, himself a lender, was bantering Musonius forbeing a borrower. What Stoic inflatedness was all this! What need wasthere to bring in Zeus Soter? For all nature teaches the same lesson. Swallows do not borrow money, nor do ants, although nature has giventhem no hands, or reason, or profession. But men have intellect inexcess, and so ingenious are they that they keep near them horses, anddogs, and partridges, and jackdaws. Why then do you despair, who are asimpressible as a jackdaw, have as much voice as a partridge, and are asnoble as a dog, of getting some person to befriend you, by looking afterhim, winning his affections, guarding him, fighting his battles? Do younot see how many opportunities there are both on land and sea? As Cratessays, "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 along interval, "Do you still grind, Cleanthes?" And he replied, "I do, Oking, but for my living, yet so as not to desert philosophy. " Such wasthe admirable spirit of the man who, coming from the mill andkneading-trough, wrote with the hand that had baked and ground about thegods, and the moon, and stars, and the sun. But those kinds of labourare 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 andpresents, and pay taxes as it were to them, not on account of ourpoverty (for no one lends money to a poor man), but from our love oflavish expenditure. For if we were content with things necessary forsubsistence, the race of money-lenders would be as extinct as Centaursand Gorgons are; it is luxury that has created them as much asgoldsmiths, and silversmiths, and perfumers, and dyers in brightcolours. 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 lavishpublic entertainments, in our unprofitable and thankless ambition. Andhe that is once involved in debt remains in it all his time, like ahorse bitted and bridled that takes one rider after another, and thereis no escape to green pastures and meadows, but they wander about likethose demons who were driven out of heaven by the gods who are thusdescribed 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 Patræ, or Athens, till he gets set on toby them all, and torn to bits, and cut into mince-meat as it were forhis interest. For as a person who is fallen into the mire must eitherget up out of it or remain in it, and if he turns about in it, andwallows in it, and bedabbles his body all over in it, he contracts onlythe greater defilement, so by borrowing from one person to pay anotherand changing their money-lenders they contract and incur fresh interest, and get into greater liabilities, and closely resemble sufferers fromcholera, whose case does not admit of cure because they evacuateeverything they are ordered to take, and so ever add to the disease. Sothese will not get cleansed from the disease of debt, but at regulartimes in the year pay their interest with pain and agony, and thenimmediately another creditor presents his little account, so again theirheads swim and ache, when they ought to have got rid of their debtsaltogether, and regained their freedom. 

§ VIII. I now turn my attention to those who are rich and luxurious, anduse language like the following, "Am I then to go without slaves andhearth and home?" As if any dropsical person, whose body was greatlyswollen and who was very weak, should say to his doctor, "Am I then tobecome lean and empty?" And why not, to get well? And do you too gowithout a slave, not to be a slave yourself; and without chattels, notto be another man's chattel. Listen to a story about two vultures; onewas vomiting and saying it would bring its inside up, and the other whowas by said, "What harm if you do? For it won't be your inside you bringup, but that dead body we devoured lately. " And so any debtor does notsell his own estate, or his own house, but his creditor's, for he hasmade him by law master of them. Nay, but by Zeus, says one, my fatherleft me this field. Yes, and your father also left you liberty and astatus in the community, which you ought to value more than you do. Andyour father begot you with hand and foot, but should either of themmortify, you pay the surgeon to cut it off. Thus Calypso clad and"dressed" Odysseus "in raiment smelling sweet, "[891] like the body of animmortal, as a gift and token of her affection for him; but when hisvessel was upset and he himself immersed, and owing to this wet andheavy raiment could hardly keep himself on the top of the waves, hethrew it off and stripped himself, and covered his naked breast withIno's veil, [892] and "swam for it gazing on the distant shore, "[893] andso saved his life, and lacked neither food nor raiment. What then? havenot poor debtors storms, when the money-lender stands over them andsays, _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 isinvolved in debt struggles against the load that bears him down, butcannot swim away and escape, but sinks to the bottom, and carries withhim to ruin his friends that have gone security for him. But Crates theTheban, though he had neither duns nor debts, and was only disgusted atthe distracting cares of housekeeping, gave up a property worth eighttalents, and assumed the philosopher's threadbare cloak and wallet, andtook refuge in philosophy and poverty. And Anaxagoras left hissheep-farm. But why need I mention these? since the lyric poetPhiloxenus, obtaining by lot in a Sicilian colony much substance and ahouse abounding in every kind of comfort, but finding that luxury andpleasure and absence of refinement was the fashion there, said, "By thegods these comforts shall not undo me, I will give them up, " and he lefthis lot to others, and sailed home again. But debtors have to put upwith being dunned, subjected to tribute, suffering slavery, passingdebased coin, and like Phineus, feeding certain winged Harpies, whocarry 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, andthey traffic for oil before the olives are ripe; and the money-lendersays, "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 WISEPRECEPT. 

§ I. He who uttered this precept[895] certainly did not wish to liveunknown, for he uttered it to let all the world know he was a superiorthinker, and to get to himself unjust glory by exhorting others to shunglory. 

 "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 theirnose in the dishes, to disgust all others at the table, that they alonemight take their fill of the choicest dishes. So those that areinsatiable pursuers of glory calumniate glory to others who are theirrivals, that they may get it without antagonists. In this they resemblerowers, who face the stern of the vessel but propel it ahead, that bythe recoil from the stroke of their oars they may reach port, so thosethat give vent to precepts like this pursue glory with their face turnedin the opposite direction. For otherwise what need was there to utter aprecept like this, or to write and hand it down to posterity, if hewished to live unknown to his own generation, who did not wish to liveunknown to posterity?

§ II. Look at the matter in the following way. [897] Has not that "liveunknown" a villainous ring, as though one had broken open graves? Isyour life so disgraceful that we must all be ignorant of it? For my partI should say, Even if your life be bad do not live unknown, but beknown, reform, repent; if you have virtue, be not utterly useless inlife; if you are vicious, do not continue unreformed. Point out then anddefine to whom you recommend this precept. If to an ignorant or wickedor senseless person, you resemble one who should say to a person in afever or delirium, "Be unknown. Don't let the doctor know yourcondition. Go and throw yourself into some dark place, that you and yourailments may be unknown. " So you say to a vicious man, "Go off with yourvice, and hide your deadly and irremediable disease from your friends, fearful to show your superstitious fears, palpitations as it were, tothose who could admonish you and cure you. " Our remote ancestors paidpublic attention to the sick, and if any one had either had or cured asimilar complaint, he communicated his experience to the patient, and sothey say medical art became great by these contributions fromexperience. We ought also in the same way to expose to everyone diseasedlives and the passions of the soul, and to handle them, and to examinethe condition of each, [898] and say, Are you a passionate man? Be onyour guard against anger. Are you of a jealous turn? Look to it. Are youin love? I myself was in love once, but I had to repent. But nowadayspeople deny and conceal and cloak their vices, and so fix them deeper inthemselves. 

§ III. Moreover if you advise men of worth to live unknown and inobscurity, 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; andto Pythagoras, Do not teach; and to Socrates, Do not discourse; andfirst and foremost you bid yourself, Epicurus, to refrain from writingletters to your friends in Asia, and from enrolling Egyptian strangersamong your disciples, and from dancing attendance on the youths ofLampsacus, and sending books to all quarters to display your wisdom toall men and all women, and leaving directions in your will about yourfuneral. What is the meaning of those common tables of yours? what thatcrowd of friends and handsome youths? Why those many thousand lineswritten and composed so laboriously on Metrodorus, and Aristobulus, andChæredemus, that they may not be unknown even in death, if[899] youordain for virtue oblivion, for art inactivity, for philosophy silence, and for success that it should be speedily forgotten?

§ IV. But if you exclude all knowledge about life, like putting thelights out at a supper party, that you may go from pleasure to pleasureundetected, [900] then "live unknown. " Certainly if I am going to pass mylife with the harlot Hedeia, or my days with Leontium, and spurn atvirtue, and put my _summum bonum_ in sensual gratifications, these areends that require darkness and night, on these oblivion and ignoranceare rightly cast. But if any one in nature sings the praises of thedeity and justice and providence, and in morals upholds the law andsociety and the constitution, and in the constitution what is honourableand not expedient, why should he "live unknown"? Is it that he shouldinstruct nobody, inspire in nobody an emulation for virtue, and be tonobody a pattern in good?[901] Had Themistocles been unknown at Athens, Greece would not have repelled Xerxes; had Camillus been unknown atRome, Rome would not have remained a state; had Plato been unknown toDion, 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 givesnot only glory but impetus to virtue. Epaminondas in obscurity up to hisfortieth year was no use to the Thebans, but when his merits becameknown and he was put into power, he saved his state from ruin, andliberated Greece from slavery, making his abilities efficacious inemergency through his reputation like the bright shining of a light. ForSophocles' 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 andsenile by not mixing in affairs but living in obscurity. For muteinglorious ease, and a sedentary life devoted to leisure, not onlyinjure the body but also the soul: and as hidden waters overshadowed andstagnant get foul because they have no outlet, so the innate powers ofunruffled lives, that neither imbibe nor pass on anything, even if theyhad any useful element in them once, seem to be effete and wasted. 

§ V. Have you never noticed how when night comes on a tired languorseizes the body, and inactive torpor overpowers the soul, and reasonshrinks within itself like a fire going out, and feeling quite worn outis gently agitated by disordered fancies, only just indicating that theman 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 lightrouses and stimulates the thoughts and actions of everybody, then, asDemocritus says, "men form new ideas for the day, " and betake themselvesto their various pursuits with mutual impetuosity, as if drawn by astrong impulse. 

§ 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. Foreveryone comes into this great universe obscure and unknown casually andby degrees, but when he mixes with his fellows and grows to maturity heshines forth, and becomes well-known instead of obscure, and conspicuousinstead of unknown. For knowledge is not the road to being, as some say, but being to knowledge, for being does not create but only exhibitsthings, as death is not the reducing of existence to non-existence, butrather the result of dissolution is obscurity. So people considering theSun as Apollo according to hereditary and ancient institutions, call himDelius[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 intoan unseen and invisible place), and the lord of dark night and idlesleep. And I think our ancestors called man himself by a word meaninglight, [906] because by their relationship to light all have implanted inthem a strong and vehement desire to know and to be known. And somephilosophers think that the soul itself is light in its essence, inferring so on other grounds and because it can least endure ignoranceabout facts, and hates[907] everything obscure, and is disturbed ateverything dark, which inspires fear and suspicion in it, whereas lightis so dear and welcome to it that it thinks nothing otherwise delightfulbearable without it, as indeed light makes every pleasure pastime andenjoyment gay and cheerful, like the application of some sweet andgeneral flavour. But the man who thrusts himself into obscurity, andwraps himself up in darkness and buries himself alive, is like one whois dissatisfied with his birth, and renounces his being. 

§ VII. And yet _Pindar_ tells us[908] that the abode of the blest is aglorious existence, where the sun shines bright through the entire nightin meadows red with roses, an extensive plain full of shady trees everin bloom never in fruit, watered by gentle purling streams, and therethe blest ones pass their time away in thinking and talking about thepast and present in social converse. .. . [909] But the third road is ofthose who have lived unholy and lawless lives, that thrusts their soulsto Erebus and the bottomless pit, where sluggish streams of murky nightbelch forth endless darkness, which receive those that are to bepunished and conceal them in forgetfulness and oblivion. For vultures donot 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 ofheavy burdens press upon and tire out the bodies of those that undergopunishment, "For their strength has no longer flesh and bones, "[911]

nor have the dead any vestige of body that can receive the infliction ofpunishment that can make impression; but in reality the only punishmentof those who have lived ill is infamy and obscurity and utterannihilation, which hurries them off to the dark river of oblivion, [912]and plunges them into the abyss of a fathomless sea, involving them inuselessness and idleness, ignorance and obscurity. 

 [895] Probably Epicurus, as we infer from the very personal § iii. 

 [896] Euripides, Fragm. 930. 

 [897] Reading with Wyttenbach, [Greek: Alla touto men tautê]. 

 [898] Reading [Greek: ekastou] for [Greek: ekaston]. Reiske proposed [Greek: ekastôn]. 

 [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: phôs]. 

 [907] Reading with Wyttenbach [Greek: echthairei]. 

 [908] Reading [Greek: phêsin] 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 tês lêthês]. 

ON EXILE. 

§ I. They say those discourses, like friends, are best and surest thatcome to our refuge and aid in adversity, and are useful. For many whocome forward do more harm than good in the remarks they make to theunfortunate, as people unable to swim trying to rescue the drowning getentangled with them and sink to the bottom together. Now the discoursethat ought to come from friends and people disposed to be helpful shouldbe consolation, and not mere assent with a man's sad feelings. For we donot in adverse circumstances need people to weep and wail with us likechoruses in a tragedy, but people to speak plainly to us and instructus, that grief and dejection of mind are in all cases useless and idleand senseless; and that where the circumstances themselves, whenexamined by the light of reason, enable a man to say to himself that histrouble is greater in fancy than in reality, it is quite ridiculous notto inquire of the body what it has suffered, nor of the mind if it isany the worse for what has happened, but to employ external sympathizersto teach us what our grief is. 

§ II. Therefore let us examine alone by ourselves the weight of ourmisfortunes, as if they were burdens. For the body is weighed down bythe burden of what presses on it, but the soul often adds to the realload a burden of its own. A stone is naturally hard, and ice naturallycold, but they do not receive these properties and impressions fromwithout; whereas with regard to exile and loss of reputation or honours, as also with regard to their opposites, as crowns and office andposition, it is not their own intrinsic nature but our opinion of themthat is the gauge of their real joy or sorrow, so that each person makesthem for himself light or heavy, easy to bear or hard to bear. WhenPolynices 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 representedhim in the following lines. "Sardis, my father's ancient home, had I hadthe fortune to be reared in thee, I should have been dressed in gold asa priest of Cybele, [914] and beaten the fine drums; but as it is my nameis Alcman, and I am a citizen of Sparta, and I have learned to writeGreek poetry, which makes me greater than the tyrants Dascyles orGyges. " Thus the very same thing one man's opinion makes good, likecurrent coin, and another's bad and injurious. 

§ III. But let it be granted that exile is, as many say and sing, agrievous thing. So some food is bitter, and sharp, and biting to thetaste, yet by an admixture with it of sweet and agreeable food we takeaway its unpleasantness. There are also some colours unpleasant to lookat, that quite confuse and dazzle us by their intensity and excessiveforce. If then we can relieve this by a mixture of shadow, or bydiverting the eye to green or some agreeable colour, so too can we dealwith misfortunes, mixing up with them the advantages and pleasant thingswe still enjoy, as wealth, or friends, or leisure, and no deficiency inwhat is necessary for our subsistence. For I do not think that there aremany natives of Sardis who would not choose your fortune even withexile, 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 otherblessing but staying at home in ease. 

§ IV. As then he in the comedy that was exhorting an unfortunate friendto take courage and bear up against fortune, when he asked him "how, "answered "as a philosopher, " so may we also play the philosopher's partand bear up against fortune manfully. How do we do when it rains, orwhen the North Wind doth blow? We go to the fire, or the baths, or thehouse, or put on another coat: we don't sit down in the rain and cry. Sotoo can you more than most revive and cheer yourself for the chill ofadversity, not standing in need of outward aid, but sensibly using youractual advantages. The surgeon's cupping-glasses extract the worsthumours from the body to relieve and preserve the rest of it, whereasthe melancholy and querulous by ever dwelling on their worstcircumstances, and thinking only of them, and being engrossed by theirtroubles, make even useful things useless to them, at the very time whenthe need is most urgent. For as to those two jars, my friend, thatHomer[915] says are stored in Heaven, one full of good fortunes, one ofbad, it is not Zeus that presides as the dispenser of them, giving tosome a gentle and even portion, and to others unmixed streams of evils, but ourselves. For the sensible make their life pleasanter and moreendurable by mitigating their sorrows with the consideration of theirblessings, while most people, like sieves, let the worst things stick tothem while the best pass through. 

§ V. And so, if we fall into any real trouble or evil, we ought to getcheerfulness and ease of mind from the consideration of the actualblessings that are still left to us, mitigating outward trouble byprivate happiness. And as to those things which are not really evil intheir nature, but only so from imagination and empty fancy, we must actas we do with children who are afraid of masks: by bringing them near, and putting them in their hands, and turning them about, we accustomthem never to heed them at all: and so we by bringing reason to bear onit may discover the rottenness and emptiness and exaggeration of ourfancy. As a case in point let us take your present exile from what youdeem your country. For in nature no country, or house, or field, orsmithy, as Aristo said, or surgery, is peculiarly ours, but all suchthings exist or rather take their name in connection with the person whodwells in them or possesses them. For man, as Plato says, is not anearthly and immovable but heavenly plant, the head making the body erectas 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 orCorinthian), for he did not confine himself to Sunium, or Tænarum, orthe 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 orstranger or foreigner in these, where there is the same fire, water andair, the same rulers controllers and presidents, the sun the moon andthe morning star, the same laws to all, under one appointment andordinance the summer and winter solstices, the equinoxes, Pleias andArcturus, the seasons of sowing and planting; where there is one kingand ruler, God, who has under his jurisdiction the beginning and middleand end of everything, and travels round and does everything in aregular way in accordance with nature; and in his wake to punish alltransgressions of the divine law follows Justice, whom all men naturallyinvoke in dealing with one another as fellow citizens. 

§ VI. As to your not dwelling at Sardis, that is nothing. Neither do allthe Athenians dwell at Colyttus, nor all the Corinthians at Craneum, norall the Lacedæmonians at Pitane. Do you consider all those Atheniansstrangers and exiles who removed from Melita to Diomea, where they callthe month Metageitnion, [917] and keep the festival Metageitnia tocommemorate their migration, and gladly and gaily accept and are contentwith their neighbourhood with other people? Surely you would not. Whatpart of the inhabited world or of the whole earth is very far distantfrom another part, seeing that mathematicians teach us that the wholeearth is a mere point compared to heaven? But we, like ants or bees, ifwe get banished from one ant-hill or hive are in sore distress and feellost, not knowing or having learnt to make and consider all things ourown, as indeed they are. And yet we laugh at the stupidity of one whoasserts that the moon shines brighter at Athens than at Corinth, thoughin a sort we are in the same case ourselves, when in a strange land welook on the earth, the sea, the air, the sky, as if we doubted whetheror not they were different from those we had been accustomed to. Fornature makes us free and unrestrained, but we bind and confine immureand force ourselves into small and scanty space. Then too we laugh atthe Persian kings, who, if the story be true, drink only of the water ofthe Choaspes, thus making the rest of the world waterless as far as theyare concerned, but when we migrate to other places, we desire the waterof the Cephisus, or we yearn for the Eurotas, or Taygetus, or Parnassus, and so make the whole world for ourselves houseless and homeless. 

§ VII. Some Egyptians, who migrated to Ethiopia because of the anger andwrath of their king, to those who begged them to return to their wivesand children very immodestly exposed their persons, saying that theywould never be in want of wives or children while so provided. It is farmore becoming and less low to say that whoever has the good fortune tobe provided with the few necessaries of life is nowhere a stranger, nowhere without home and hearth, only he must have besides theseprudence and sense, as an anchor and helm, that he may be able to moorhimself in any harbour. For a person indeed who has lost his wealth itis not easy quickly to get another fortune, but every city is at oncehis country to the man who knows how to make it such, and has the rootsby which he can live and thrive and get acclimatized in every place, aswas the case with Themistocles and Demetrius of Phalerum. The latterafter his banishment became a great friend of Ptolemy at Alexandria, andnot only passed his days in abundance, but also sent gifts to theAthenians. And Themistocles, who was publicly entertained at the king'sexpense, is stated to have said to his wife and children, "We shouldhave been ruined, if we had not been ruined. " And so Diogenes the Cynicto the person who said to him, "The people of Sinope have condemned youto banishment from Pontus, " replied, "And I have condemned them to stayin Pontus, 'by the high cliffs of the inhospitable sea. '"[918] AndStratonicus asked his host at Seriphus, for what offence exile was theappointed punishment, and being told that they punished rogues by exile, said, "Why then are not you a rogue, to escape from this hole of aplace?" For the comic poet says they get their crop of figs down therewith slings, and that the island is very barely supplied with thenecessaries of life. 

§ VIII. For if you look at the real facts and shun idle fancy, he thathas one city is a stranger and foreigner in all others. For it does notseem to such a one fair and just to leave his own city and dwell inanother. "It has been your lot to be a citizen of Sparta, see that youadorn your native city, " whether it be inglorious, or unhealthy, ordisturbed with factions, or has its affairs in disorder. But the personwhom fortune has deprived of his own city, she allows to make his homein any he fancies. That was an excellent precept of Pythagoras, "Choosethe best kind of life, custom will make it easy. " So too it is wise andprofitable to say here, "Choose the best and pleasantest city, time willmake it your country, and a country that will not always distract youand trouble you and give you various orders such as, 'Contribute so muchmoney, Go on an embassy to Rome, Entertain the prefect, Perform publicduties. '" If a person in his senses and not altogether silly were tothink 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 thosewomen 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 inwrestling, and turned round, and noticed the mark his body made in thedust, said, "O Hercules, what a little part of the earth I have bynature, though I desire all the world!"

§ IX. I think also you have seen Naxos, or at any rate Hyria, which isclose here. But the former was the home of Ephialtes and Otus, and thelatter was the dwelling-place of Orion. And Alcmæon, when fleeing fromthe Furies, so the poets tell us, dwelt in a place recently formed bythe silting of the Achelous;[919] but I think he chose that little spotto dwell in ease and quiet, merely to avoid political disturbances andfactions, and those furies informers. And the Emperor Tiberius lived thelast seven years of his life in the island of Capreæ, and the sacredgoverning power of the world enclosed in his breast during all that timenever changed its abode. But the incessant and constant cares of empire, coming from all sides, made not that island repose of his pure andcomplete. But he who can disembark on a small island, and get rid ofgreat troubles, is a miserable man, if he cannot often say and sing tohimself those lines of Pindar, "To love the slender cypress, and toleave the Cretan pastures lying near Ida. I have but little land, whereI grow strong, and have nothing to do with sorrow or faction, "[920] orthe ordinances of princes, or public duties in political emergencies, orstate functions hard to get off. 

§ X. For if that seems a good saying of Callimachus, "Do not measurewisdom by a Persian rope, " much less should we measure happiness byropes and parasangs, and if we inhabit an island containing 200 furlongsonly, and not (like Sicily) four days' sail round, ought we to wail andlament as if we were very unfortunate? For how does plenty of room bringabout 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 ofthe Cyclopes, and migrating to an island "far from all enterprisingmen, "[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 theCyclades were first inhabited by the sons of Minos, and afterwards bythe sons of Codrus and Neleus, though foolish people now think they arepunished if they are exiled to them. And yet what island used as a placeof exile is not of larger extent than Scillus, where Xenophon after hismilitary service saw a comfortable old age?[924] And the Academy, asmall place bought for only 3, 000 drachmæ, [925] was the domicile ofPlato and Xenocrates and Polemo, who taught and lived there all theirlives, except one day every year, when Xenocrates went to Athens tograce the festival of Dionysus, so they said, and to see the new playsexhibited. And Theocritus of Chios twitted Aristotle with loving to liveat the courts of Philip and Alexander, and preferring to dwell at themouth of the Borborus to dwelling in the Academy. For there is a rivernear Pella that the Macedonians call Borborus. As to islands Homer seemsto 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 Æolus thefavourite of the gods, and Odysseus most wise, and Ajax most brave, andAlcinous most kind to strangers. 

§ XI. When Zeno learned that the only ship he had left was with all itsfreight lost at sea, he said, "Fortune, you deal kindly with me, confining me to my threadbare cloak and the life of a philosopher. " Anda man not altogether silly, or madly in love with crowds, might, Ithink, not blame fortune for confining him in an island, but might evenpraise her for relieving him from weariness and anxiety, and wanderingsin 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 forhim 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 thegreatest blessing, quiet, which others frequently pant for, you canfreely enjoy. [930] And whereas in the world, [930] when men are playingat dice or otherwise enjoying the privacy of their homes, informers andbusybodies hunt them up and pursue them from their houses and gardens inthe suburbs, and drag them by force to the forum and court, in an islandno one comes to bother one or dun one or to borrow money, or to beg oneto be surety for him or canvass for him: only one's best friends andintimates come to visit one out of good will and affection, and the restof one's life is a sort of holy retirement to whoever wishes or haslearnt to live the life of leisure. But he who thinks those happy whoare always scouring the country, and pass most of their lives in innsand ferryboats, is like a person who thinks the planets happier thanfixed stars. And yet every planet keeps its order, rolling in onesphere, as in an island. For, as Heraclitus says, the sun will neverdeviate from its bounds, for if it did, the Furies, who are theministers of Justice, would find it out. 

§ XII. Let us use such and similar language, my friend, and harp uponit, to those who are banished to an island, and are debarred all accesswith 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 inone, have by that prohibition liberty to go to all others. Moreover tothe considerations, I am not in office, or a member of the senate, or anumpire in the games, you may oppose these, I do not belong to anyfaction, I have no large sums to spend, I have not to dance attendanceat the doors of the prefect, it is no odds to me who has got by lot theprovince, whether he is hot-tempered or an objectionable person. Butjust as Archilochus overlooked the fruitful fields and vineyards ofThasos, 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 ingloriousstate, overlook its freedom from cares, its leisure, its liberty. Andyet people thought the kings of Persia happy, because they passed theirwinter in Babylon, their summer in Media, and the pleasant season ofspring 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, atthe Pythian games at Delphi, and can pass on and be a spectator of theIsthmian and Corinthian games, if he is fond of sight-seeing; and ifnot, he has leisure, can walk about, read, sleep without beingdisturbed, and can say like Diogenes, "Aristotle has to dine when Philipthinks fit, Diogenes can dine at any time he himself chooses, " having nobusiness, or magistrate, or prefect, to put him out of his generalhabits of living. 

§ XIII. And so it is that you will find few of the wisest and mostintelligent men buried in their own countries, but most (even withoutany compulsion) have themselves weighed anchor, and transferred theircourse, and removed, some to Athens, some from it. For who ever bestowedsuch 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 thelatter part of his life at the court of Archelaus. And of course youhave heard the following epitaph;

 "Here lies Euphorion's son, Athenian Æschylus, To whom death came in corn-producing Gela. "

For he, like Simonides before him, went to Sicily. And many have changedthe commencing words of Herodotus, "This is the setting forth of thehistory of Herodotus of Halicarnassus" into "Herodotus of Thurii. " Forhe migrated to Thurii, and participated in that colony. As to the divineand sacred spirit of the Muses, the poet of the Trojan war, Homer, didnot many cities claim him as theirs, because he did not cry up one cityonly? And Hospitable Zeus has many great honours. 

§ XIV. And if anyone shall say that these pursued glory and honour, goto the philosophers, and their schools and lectures, consider those atthe Lyceum, the Academy, the Porch, the Palladium, the Odeum. If youadmire and prefer the Peripatetic school, Aristotle was a native ofStagira, 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 Archidemusmigrated to the country of the Parthians, and left at Babylon asuccession of the Stoic school. Who exiled these men? Nobody; it wastheir own pursuit of quiet, of which no one who is famous or powerfulcan get much at home, that made them teach us this by their practice, while they taught us other things by their precepts. And even nowadaysmost excellent and renowned persons live in strange lands, not inconsequence of being expelled or banished, but at their own option, toavoid business and distracting cares, and the want of leisure whichtheir own country would bring them. For it seems to me that the Musesaided our old writers to complete their finest and most esteemed worksby calling in exile as a fellow-worker. Thus Thucydides the Athenianwrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and theAthenians in Thrace near the forest of Scapte, Xenophon wrote at Scillusin Elis, Philistus in Epirus, Timæus of Tauromenium at Athens, Androtionof Athens at Megara, and Bacchylides the poet[933] in Peloponnesus. Allthese and many more, though exiled from their country, did not despairor give themselves up to dejection, but so happy was their dispositionthat they considered exile a resource given them by fortune, wherebythey obtained universal fame after their deaths, whereas no memorial isleft of those who were factious against them and banished them. 

§ XV. He therefore is ridiculous who thinks that any ignominy attachesitself to exile. What say you? Was Diogenes without glory, whomAlexander saw basking in the sun, and stopped to ask if he wantedanything, and when he answered, "Nothing, but that you would get alittle out of my light, " Alexander, astonished at his spirit, said tohis friends, "If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes. " WasCamillus without glory when banished from Rome, of which he is nowaccounted the second founder? And indeed Themistocles did not lose byhis exile the glory he had obtained among the Greeks, but he added to itamong the barbarians, and there is no one so without honour, so ignoble, who would prefer to be Leobates who indicted him rather thanThemistocles the exile, or Clodius who banished Cicero rather than thebanished one, or Aristophon the accuser rather than Timotheus who gotdriven by him from his country. 

§ XVI. But since a good many are moved by the lines of Euripides, whoseems to bring a strong indictment against exile, let us see what it ishe 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 tosay out all one thinks is not the action of a slave but of a sensibleman, in times and matters that require reticence and silence, asEuripides 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 themjust as much in one's own country as in exile. Indeed, more frequentlyhave the former reason to fear that the powerful in cities will actunjustly to them either through calumny or violence. But his greatestand absurdest error is that he takes away from exiles freedom of speech. It is wonderful, if Theodorus had no freedom of speech, that whenLysimachus the king said to him, "Did not your country cast you outbecause of your character?" replied, "Yes, as Semele cast out Dionysus, when unable to bear him any longer. " And when he showed him Telesphorusin a cage, [936] with his eyes scooped out, and his nose and ears andtongue cut off, and said to him, "This is how I treat those that act illto me. " * *[937] And had not Diogenes freedom of speech, who, when hevisited Philip's camp just as he was on the eve of offering battle tothe Greeks, and was taken before the king as a spy, told him he had cometo see his insatiable folly, who was going shortly to stake hisdominions and life on a mere die. And did not Hannibal the Carthaginianuse freedom of speech to Antiochus, though he was an exile, andAntiochus a king? For as a favourable occasion presented itself he urgedthe king to attack the enemy, and when after sacrifice he reported thatthe entrails forbade it, Hannibal chided him and said, "You listenrather to what flesh tells you than to the instruction of a man ofexperience. " Nor does exile deprive geometricians or grammarians oftheir freedom of speech, or prevent their discussing what they know andhave learnt. Why should it then good and worthy men? It is meannesseverywhere that stops a man's speech, ties and gags his tongue, andforces 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 notthose who have learnt and know how to enjoy the present, but those whoever hang on the future, and hope after what they have not, that floatas it were on hope as on a raft, though they never get beyond thewalls. [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 asdiscrediting his good birth and robbing him of friends, for it was onaccount of his good birth that he was deemed worthy of a royal bridethough an exile, and he came to fight supported by a band of friends andallies, a great force, as he himself admits a little later, "Many of the princes of the Danai And from Mycenæ are with me, bestowing A sad but necessary kindness on me. "[941]

Nor was there any more justice in the lament of hismother:--

 "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 insuch a palace _as that at Argos_, and in lamenting that the nuptialtorch was not lit, and that he had not had the usual bath in the riverIsmenus, as though there was no water or fire at Argos for weddedpeople, she lays on exile the evils really caused by pride andstupidity. 

§ XVII. But exile, you will say, is a matter of reproach. It may beamong 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 carriedaway in that manner admire good men, whether they are poor, or strangersor exiles. Do we not see that all men adore the temple of Theseus aswell as the Parthenon and Eleusinium? And yet Theseus was an exile fromAthens, though it was owing to him that Athens is now inhabited, and hewas banished from a city which he did not merely dwell in, but hadhimself built. And what glory is left to Eleusis, if we are ashamed ofEumolpus, who migrated from Thrace, and taught the Greeks (as he stillteaches them) the mysteries? And who was the father of Codrus thatreigned at Athens? Was it not Melanthus, an exile from Messene? And doyou not praise the answer of Antisthenes to the person who told him thathis mother was a Phrygian, "So also is the mother of the gods. " If youare twitted then with exile, why do you not answer, "The father of theglorious victor Hercules was an exile. " And Cadmus, the grandfather ofDionysus, when he was sent from home to find Europa, and never cameback, "though a Phoenician born he changed his country, "[943] andmigrated to Thebes, and became[944] the grandfather of "Dionysus, whorejoices in the cry of Evoe, the exciter of women, who delights infrantic honours. " As for what Æschylus obscurely hints at in the line, "Apollo the chaste god, exile from heaven, "

let me keep a religious silence, as Herodotus[945] says. And Empedoclescommences his system of philosophy as follows, "It is an ordinance ofnecessity, an ancient decree of the gods, when anyone stains his handswith crime and murder, the long-lived demons get hold of him, so that hewanders away from the gods for thirty thousand years. Such is mycondition now, that of an exile and wanderer from the gods. " In thesewords he not only speaks of himself, but points out that all of us mensimilarly are strangers and foreigners and exiles in this world. For hesays, "O men, it is not blood or a compounded spirit that made the beingor beginning of the soul, but it is your earth-born and mortal body thatis made up of these. " He calls speciously by the mildest of names thebirth of the soul that has come from elsewhere a living in a strangecountry. But the truth is the soul is an exile and wanderer, beingdriven about by the divine decrees and laws, and then, as in somesea-girt island, gets joined to the body like an oyster to its shell, asPlato says, because it cannot call to mind or remember from what honourand greatness of happiness it migrated, not from Sardis to Athens, norfrom Corinth to Lemnos or Scyros, but exchanging heaven and the moon forearth and life upon earth, if it shifts from place to place for ever soshort a time it is put out and feels strange, and fades away like adying plant. But although one soil is more suitable to a plant thananother, and it thrives and grows better on such a soil, yet nosituation can rob a man of his happiness or virtue or sense. It was inprison that Anaxagoras wrote his squaring of the circle, and thatSocrates, even after drinking the hemlock, talked philosophically, andbegged his friends to be philosophers, and was esteemed happy by them. On the other hand, Phaëthon and Tantalus, though they got up to heaven, fell into the greatest misfortunes through their folly, as the poetstell us. 

 [913] Euripides, "Phoenissæ, " 388, 389. 

 [914] Reading [Greek: bakelas]. _Gallus_ in Latin. 

 [915] "Iliad, " xxiv. 527-533. 

 [916] Plato, "Timæus, " p. 90 A. Compare Ovid, "Metamorphoses, " i. 84-86. 

 [917] Derived from [Greek: meta, geitôn], 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] Æschylus, "Niobe, " Fragm. 146. 

 [922] "Odyssey, " vi. 8. I read [Greek: andrôn] as Wyttenbach. 

 [923] "Odyssey, " vi. 204. 

 [924] See Pausanias, v. 6. 

 [925] In our money about £121 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: Bakchylidês ho Keios]. A very probable suggestion. 

 [934] Euripides, "Phoenissæ, " 388-393. 

 [935] Omitting [Greek: prhôtôs], which probably got in from [Greek: prôton] following, and for which Reiske conjectured [Greek: horas hôs]. 

 [936] Such as Cardinal Balue was shut up by Louis XI in for fourteen years. 

 [937] The answer of Theodorus is wanting. 

 [938] Euripides, "Phoenissæ, " 396, 397. 

 [939] That is, they never get any further. 

 [940] Euripides, "Phoenissæ, " 402-405. 

 [941] Euripides, "Phoenissæ, " 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. 

§ I. "Fortune, not wisdom, rules the affairs of mortals. "[946] And doesnot justice, and fairness, and sobriety, and decorum rule the affairs ofmortals? Was it of fortune or owing to fortune that Aristides perseveredin his poverty, when he might have been lord of much wealth? And thatScipio after taking Carthage neither saw nor received any of the spoil?Was it of fortune or owing to fortune that Philocrates spent on harlotsand fish the money he had received from Philip? And that Lasthenes andEuthycrates lost Olynthus, measuring happiness by their belly and lusts?Was it of fortune that Alexander the son of Philip not only himselfabstained from the captive women, but punished others that outragedthem? Was it under the influence of an evil genius and fortune thatAlexander, [947] the son of Priam, intrigued with the wife of his hostand ran away with her, and filled two continents with war and evils? Forif all these things are due to fortune, what hinders our saying thatcats and goats and apes are under the influence of fortune in respect ofgreediness, and lust, and ribaldry?

§ II. And if there are such things as sobriety and justice andfortitude, with what reason can we deny the existence of prudence, andif prudence exists, how can we deny the existence of wisdom? Forsobriety is a kind of prudence, as people say, and justice also needsthe presence of prudence. Nay more, we call the wisdom and prudence thatmakes people good in regard to pleasure self-control and sobriety, andin dangers and hardships endurance and fortitude, and in dealingsbetween man and man and in public life equity and justice. And so, if weare to ascribe to fortune the acts of wisdom, let us ascribe justice andsobriety 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 orrefuse, borne along and hurried away by a violent wind. For if there beno wisdom, it is not likely that there is any deliberation orinvestigation of matters, or search for expediency, but Sophocles onlytalked 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 tofortune? And what deliberative assembly of a state is not annulled, whatcouncil of a king is not abrogated, if all things are subject tofortune? whom we abuse as blind because we ourselves are blind in ourdealings with her. Indeed, how can it be otherwise, seeing that werepudiate wisdom, which is like plucking out our eyes, and take a blindguide of our lives?

§ III. Supposing any of us were to assert that seeing is a matter offortune, not of eyesight, nor of the eyes that give light, as Platosays, and that hearing is a matter of fortune, and not the imbibing of acurrent of air through the ear and brain, it would be well for us thento be on our guard against the evidence of our senses. But indeed naturehas given us sight and hearing and taste and smell, and all other partsof the body and their functions, as ministers of wisdom and prudence. For "it is the mind that sees, and the mind that hears, everything elseis deaf and blind. " And just as, if there were no sun, we should haveperpetual night for all the stars, as Heraclitus says, so man for allhis senses, if he had no mind or reason, would be little better than thebeasts. But as it is, it is not by fortune or chance that we aresuperior to them and masters of them, but Prometheus, that is reason, isthe cause of this, "Presenting us with bulls, horses, and asses, To ease us of our toil, and serve instead, "

as Æschylus says. [950] For as to fortune and natural condition, most ofthe beasts are better off than we are. For some are armed with horns andtusks and stings, and as for the hedgehog, as Empedocles says, it hasits back all rough with sharp bristles, and some are shod and protectedby scales and fur and talons and hoofs worn smooth by use, whereas manalone, as Plato says, is left by nature naked, unarmed, unshod, anduncovered. But by one gift, that of reason and painstaking andforethought, nature compensates for all these deficiencies. "Smallindeed is the strength of man, but by the versatility of his intellecthe can tame the inhabitants of the sea, earth, and air. "[951] Nothing ismore agile and swift than horses, yet they run for man; the dog is acourageous and high-spirited creature, yet it guards man; fish is mostpleasant to the taste, the pig the fattest of all animals, yet both arefood and delicacies for man. What is huger or more formidable inappearance than the elephant? Yet it is man's plaything, and a spectacleat public shows, and learns to dance and kneel. And all these things arenot idly introduced, but to the end that they may teach us to whatheights reason raises man, and what things it sets him above, and how itmakes 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 byour experience and memory and wisdom and cunning, as Anaxagoras says, wemake use of them, and get their honey and milk, and catch them, anddrive and lead them about at our will. And there is nothing of fortunein this, it is all the result of wisdom and forethought. 

§ IV. Moreover the labours of carpenters and coppersmiths andhouse-builders and statue-makers are affairs of mortals, and we see thatno success in such trades is got by fortune or chance. For that fortuneplays a very small part in the life of a wise man, whether coppersmithor 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 astheir patrons. They do indeed say that Nealces, [955] on one occasionpainting a horse, was quite satisfied with his painting in all otherrespects, but that some foam on the bridle from the horse's breath didnot please him, so that he frequently tried to rub it out; at last inhis anger he threw his sponge (just as it was, full of colours) at thepicture, and this very wonderfully produced exactly the effect hedesired. This is the only fortunate accident in art that historyrecords. Artificers everywhere use rules and weights and measures, thatnone of their work may be done at random and anyhow. And indeed the artsmay be considered as wisdom on a small scale, or rather as emanationsfrom and fragments of wisdom scattered about among the necessities oflife; as the fire of Prometheus is riddled to have been divided andscattered about in all quarters of the world. For thus small particlesand fragments of wisdom, breaking up as it were and getting divided intopieces, have formed into order. 

§ V. It is strange then that the arts do not require fortune to attainto their ends, and yet that the most important and complete of all thearts, the sum total of man's glory and merit, should be so completelypowerless. Why, there is a kind of wisdom even in the tightening orslackening of chords, which people call music, and in the dressing offood, which we call the art of cooking, and in cleaning clothes, whichwe call the art of the fuller, and we teach boys how to put on theirshoes and clothes generally, and to take their meat in the right handand 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 mostimportant things which make so much for happiness do not call forwisdom, and have nothing to do with reason and forethought? Why, no oneever yet wetted earth with water and then left it, thinking it wouldbecome bricks by fortune and spontaneously, or procured wool andleather, and sat down and prayed Fortune that it might become clothesand shoes; nor does anyone getting together much gold and silver and aquantity of slaves, and living in a spacious hall with many doors, andmaking a display of costly couches and tables, believe that these thingswill constitute his happiness, and give him a painless happy life securefrom changes, unless he be wise also. A certain person asked the generalIphicrates in a scolding way who he was, as he seemed neither aheavy-armed soldier, nor a bowman, nor a targeteer, and he replied, "Iam the person who rule and make use of all these. "

§ VI. So wisdom is neither gold, nor silver, nor fame, nor wealth, norhealth, nor strength, nor beauty. What is it then? It is what can useall these well, and that by means of which each of these things becomespleasant and esteemed and useful, and without which they are useless;and unprofitable and injurious, and a burden and disgrace to theirpossessor. 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 onewho knew nothing of music not to play on the pipe, or one who knewnothing of letters not to read, or one who was not used to horses not toride, so he advised him not to take office if he were foolish, nor togrow rich if he were illiberal, nor to marry if likely to be ruled byhis wife. For success beyond their merit is to foolish persons a causeof folly, as Demosthenes said, [957] and good fortune beyond their meritis to those who are not sensible a cause of misfortune. [958]

 [946] A line from Chæremon. 

 [947] Better known as Paris. 

 [948] "Oedipus Tyrannus, " 110, 111. Wyttenbach compares Terence, "Heauton Timorumenos, " 675. "Nil tam difficilest, quin quærende investigari possiet. "

 [949] Soph. , Frag. 723. 

 [950] Æschylus, Fragm. 180. Reading [Greek: antidoula] with Reiske and the MSS. 

 [951] Euripides, "Æolus, " 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 tên] should be expunged. Hercher omits [Greek: kai tên 'Athênan] 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 Leæna in the, 221. 

Admetus, 52. 

Adonis, 43, 352. 

Adultery, the fruit of curiosity, 245. Love of change, 298. 

Æschines, 17, 188, 285. 

Æschylus, quoted or referred to, 33, 45, 47, 55, 61, 125, 126, 130, 176, 203, 205, 242, 271, 273, 385, 388, 393, 396. 

Æsculapius, 244, 270. 

Æsop, 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. 

Alcæus, 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. 

Aristæus (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. 

Cæsar, 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. 

Chæron, son of Plutarch, 87. 

Chæron, and Chæronea, 238. 

Chæronea, 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. 

Clytæmnestra, 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. 

Idæan 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. 

Leæna, 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 Thespiæ, 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. 

Mæcenas, 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. 

Phäethon, 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 Lacedæmonians, 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. 

Timæa, 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. WHITTINGHAM AND CO. , TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.