Plutarch, Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debeat, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 11

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[11] Now just as in pasturage the bee seeks the flower, the goat the tender shoot, the swine the root, and other animals the seed and the fruit, so in the reading of poetry one person culls the flowers of the story, another rivets his attention upon the beauty of the diction and the arrangement of the words, as Aristophanes ¹ says of Euripides,

I use the rounded neatness of his speech;

but as for those who are concerned with what is said as being useful for character (and it is to these that our present discourse is directed), let us remind them how strange it is if the lover of fables does not fail to observe the novel and unusual points in the story, and the student of language does not allow faultless and elegant forms of expression to escape him, whereas he that affects what is honourable and good, who takes up poetry not for amusement but for education, should give but a slack and careless hearing to utterances that look toward manliness or sobriety or uprightness, such, for example, as the following:

Son of Tydeus, what has made us forget our swift prowess? Hither, stand, my friend, by me. Disgrace will befall us If yon Hector, gleaming-helmed, shall capture our vessels.²

For to observe that the most wise and prudent man, when he is in danger of being destroyed and lost, together with the whole host, fears shame and disapprobation, but not death, will make the young man keenly alive to the moral virtues. And by the line,

Glad was Athena because of the man that was prudent and honest,³

the poet permits us to draw a similar conclusion in that he represents the goddess as taking delight, not in some rich man or in one who is physically handsome or strong, but in one who is wise and honest. And again when she says that she does not overlook Odysseus, much less desert him,

Since he is courteous and clever of mind and prudent,⁴

her words indicate that the only one of our attributes that is dear to the gods and divine is a virtuous mind, if it be true that it is the nature of like to delight in like.

Since it seems to be, and really is, a great thing to master one’s anger, and since a greater thing is the exercise of precaution and forethought so as not to become involved in anger or to be made captive by it, we must make a point of indicating to our young readers such matters as this: that Achilles, being not tolerant or mild in temper, bids Priam in these words to be quiet and not to exasperate him:

Anger me now no more, old man (to ransom your Hector I myself am disposed; from Zeus has come such a message), Lest, old man, even here ’neath my roof I leave you not scatheless Suppliant though you are, and sin against Zeus’s commandments,⁵

and having washed and shrouded the body of Hector, he places it with his own hands on the wagon before its disfigurement was seen by the father,

Lest with heart so distressed he fail to master his anger, Seeing his son, and Achilles’ heart be stirred with resentment, So that he slay him there, and sin against Zeus’s commandments.⁶

For it is mark of a wondrous foresight for a man whose hold on his temper is uncertain, who is naturally rough and quick-tempered, not to be blind to his own weakness, but to exercise caution, and to be on his guard against possible grounds for anger, and to forestall them by reason long beforehand, so that he may not even inadvertently become involved in such emotions. After the same manner should he that is fond of wine be on his guard against drunkenness, and he that is amorous against love. So did Agesilaus,⁷ who would not submit to being kissed by the handsome boy who approached him, so did Cyrus,⁸ who durst not even to look at Pantheia; but the uneducated, on the contrary, gather fuel to kindle their passions, casting themselves headlong into those wherein they are weakest and least sure of themselves. Yet Odysseus not only restrains himself when enraged, but perceiving from some words of Telemachus that he too is angry and filled with hatred of the wicked, labours to mitigate his feelings and prepares him well beforehand to keep quiet and restrain himself, bidding him,

Even if they within my own house shall dishonour me sorely, Let your heart within you endure all the wrongs that I suffer: Though through the house they should drag me out by the feet to the open, Yea, or with missiles smite me, still you must patient behold it.⁹

For just as drivers do not curb their horses during the race, but before the race, so with those persons who are quick-tempered and hard to hold back when dangers threaten, we first gain control over them by reasoning, and make them ready beforehand, and then lead them into the strife.

While it is also necessary not to pass over the words carelessly, yet one should eschew the puerility of Cleanthes; for there are times when he uses a mock seriousness in pretending to interpret the words,

Father Zeus, enthroned on Ida,¹⁰

and

Zeus, lord of Dodona,

bidding us in the latter case to read the last two words as one ¹¹ (taking the word lord as the preposition up) as though the vapour exhaled from the earth were updonative because of its being rendered up! And Chrysippus also is often quite petty, although he does not indulge in jesting, but wrests the words ingeniously, yet without carrying conviction, as when he would force the phrase wide-seeing son of Cronos ¹² to signify clever in conversation, that is to say, with a widespread power of speech.

It is better, however, to turn these matters over to the grammarians, and to hold fast rather to those in which is to be found both usefulness and probability, such as

Nor does my heart so bid me, for I have learned to be valiant,¹³

and

For towards all he understood the way to be gentle.¹⁴

For by declaring that bravery is a thing to be learned, and by expressing the belief that friendly and gracious intercourse with others proceeds from understanding, and is in keeping with reason, the poet urges us not to neglect our own selves, but to learn what is good, and to give heed to our teachers, intimating that both boorishness and cowardice are but ignorance and defects of learning. With this agrees very well what he says regarding Zeus and Poseidon:

Both, indeed, were of one descent and of the same birthplace, Yet was Zeus the earlier born and his knowledge was wider.¹⁵

For he declares understanding to be a most divine and kingly thing, to which he ascribes the very great superiority of Zeus, inasmuch as he believes that all the other virtues follow upon this one.

At the same time, the young man must get the habit of perusing with a mind wide awake such sayings as these:

Falsehood he will not utter because he is very prudent,¹⁶ and What an act Is this, Antilochus, prudent aforetime! You have put my skill to disgrace and hindered my horses,¹⁷

and

Glaucus, what cause has a man like you for words so disdainful ? Truly I thought, my friend, that in sense you excelled all the others,¹⁸

the implication being that men of sense do not lie or contend unfairly in games, or make unwarranted accusations against other people. And from the poet’s saying ¹⁹ that Pandarus was persuaded because of his want of sense to bring to naught the sworn agreement, he clearly shows his opinion that the man of sense would not do wrong. It is also possible to give similar intimations in regard to self-control, by directing the young man’s attention to statements like these:

Mad for him was Proetus’ royal wife Anteia Lusting to make him her lover in secret, but could not persuade him, Since the wise Bellerophon thought more of virtue,²⁰

and She at the first would not consent to a deed so unseemly, Royal Clytemnestra, since her thoughts were for virtue.²¹ In these lines the poet attributes to understanding the cause of self-control; and in his exhortations to battle he says on the several occasions:

Shame, men of Lycia, whither now flee ye ? Now be ye valiant,²²

and

But let all your minds be imbued with Shame and resentment, for now, as you see, great strife has arisen,²³

and thereby he appears to represent the men of self-control as brave because of their being ashamed of disgrace, and as able to overcome pleasures and to undergo dangerous adventures. Timotheus ²⁴ also adopted this point of view, when in his Persians he urged the Greeks, not infelicitously, to have

Respect for shame that helps the brave in war;

and Aeschylus ²⁵ sets it down as a point of good sense not to be puffed up with fame, nor to be excited and elated by popular praise, when he writes of Amphiaraus,

His wish is not to seem, but be, the best, Reaping the deep-sown furrow of his mind In which all goodly counsels have their root.

For to take pride in oneself and in one’s state of mind when it is altogether good, marks the man of good sense; and since everything may be referred to understanding, it follows that every form of virtue is added unto him from reason and instruction.

Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debeat. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1927.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

How the Young Man Should Study Poetry (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. I. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1927 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Πῶς δεῖ τὸν νέον ποιημάτων ἀκούειν. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol I. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1888.) — 11 focus

[11] 30d ἐπεὶ δʼ ὥσπερ ἐν ταῖς νομαῖς ἡ μὲν μέλιττα διώκει τὸ ἄνθος, ἡ δʼ αἲξ τὸν θαλλόν, ἡ δʼ δʼ ὗς τὴν ῥίζαν, ἄλλα δὲ ζῷα τὸ σπέρμα καὶ τὸν καρπόν, 15 οὕτως , ἐν ταῖς ἀναγνώσεσι τῶν ποιημάτων ὁ μὲν ἀπανθίζεται τὴν ἱστορίαν, ὁ δʼ ἐμφύεται τῷ κάλλει καὶ τῇ κατασκευῇ τῶν ὀνομάτων, καθάπερ ὁ Ἀριστοφάνης περὶ τοῦ Εὐριπίδου φησὶ

χρῶμαι γὰρ αὐτοῦ τοῦ στόματος τῷ στρογγύλῳ

20 · οἱ δὲ τῶν πρὸς τὸ ἦθος εἰρημένων ὠφελίμως ἔχονται, πρὸς οὓς δὴ νῦν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ἐστίν, ὑπομιμνῄσκωμεν αὐτοὺς ὅτι δεινόν ἐστι τὸν μὲν φιλόμυθον μὴ λανθάνειν τὰ καινῶς ἱστορούμενα καὶ περιττῶς, 25 μηδὲ τὸν φιλόλογον ἐκφεύγειν τὰ καθαρῶς πεφρασμένα 30e καὶ ῥητορικῶς, τὸν δὲ φιλότιμον καὶ φιλόκαλον καὶ μὴ παιγνίας² ἀλλὰ παιδείας ἕνεκα ποιημάτων ἁπτόμενον ἀργῶς καὶ ἀμελῶς ἀκούειν τῶν πρὸς ἀνδρείαν ἢ σωφροσύνην ἢ δικαιοσύνην ἀναπεφωνημένων, οἷα καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐστὶ

Τυδείδη, τί παθόντε λελάσμεθα θούριδος ἀλκῆς; 5

ἀλλʼ ἄγε³ δεῦρο, πέπον, παρʼ ἔμʼ ἵστασο· δὴ γὰρ ἔλεγχος

ἔσσεται, εἴ κεν νῆας ἕλῃ κορυθαίολος Ἕκτωρ

τὸ γὰρ ἐν κινδύνῳ τοῦ διαφθαρῆναι καὶ ἀπολέσθαι μετὰ πάντων ὄντα τὸν φρονιμώτατον ὁρᾶν τὸ αἰσχρὸν 10 δεδοικότα καὶ τὸ ἐπονείδιστον ἀλλὰ μὴ τὸν θάνατον, ἐμπαθῆ ποιήσει πρὸς ἀρετὴν τὸν νέον. καὶ τῷ⁴

χαῖρε δʼ Ἀθηναίη πεπνυμένῳ ἀνδρὶ δικαίῳ

⁵

30f τοιοῦτον ἐπιλογισμὸν δίδωσι, μήτε πλουσίῳ τινὶ 15 μήτε καλῷ τὸ σῶμα μήτʼ ἰσχυρῷ τὴν θεὸν χαίρουσαν ἀλλὰ φρονίμῳ καὶ δικαίῳ ποιήσας, καὶ πάλιν τὸν Ὀδυσσέα φάσκουσα μὴ περιορᾶν μηδὲ προλείπειν

οὕνεκʼ ἐπητής ἐστι καὶ ἀγχίνοος καὶ ἐχέφρων,

⁶

ἐνδείκνυται μόνον εἶναι τῶν ἡμετέρων θεοφιλὲς καὶ θεῖον ἀρετήν, εἴγε δὴ τὰ ὅμοια χαίρειν τοῖς ὁμοίοις 20 31a πέφυκεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ μεγάλου δοκοῦντος εἶναι καὶ ὄντος τοῦ κρατεῖν ὀργῆς μεῖζόν ἐστιν ἡ φυλακὴ καὶ ἡ πρόνοια τοῦ μὴ περιπεσεῖν ὀργῇ μηδʼ ἁλῶναι, καὶ ταῦτα δεῖ τοῖς ἀναγιγνώσκουσιν ὑποδεικνύειν οὑκ 25 μὴ παρέργως, ὅτι τὸν Πρίαμον ὁ Ἀχιλλεὺς ἀνασχετικὸς ὢν οὐδὲ πρᾶος ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν κελεύει καὶ μὴ παροξύνειν αὐτόν, οὕτως⁷

μηκέτι νῦν μʼ ἐρέθιζε, γέρον νοέω δὲ καὶ αὐτός

⁸

Ἕκτορά τοι λῦσαι, Διόθεν δέ μοι ἄγγελος ἦλθε

μή σε, γέρον, οὐδʼ αὐτὸν ἐνὶ κλισίῃσιν ἐάσω, 31b

καὶ ἱκέτην περ ἐόντα, Διὸς δʼ ἀλίτωμαι ἐφετμάς,

5 καὶ τὸν Ἕκτορα λούσας καὶ περιστείλας αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπήνην τίθησι, πρὶν ᾐκισμένον ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ὀφθῆναι,

μὴ ὁ μὲν ἀχνυμένῃ κραδίῃ χόλον οὐκ ἐρύσαιτο,

⁹

παῖδα ἰδών, Ἀχιλῆι δʼ ὀρινθείη φίλον ἦτορ 10

καὶ ἑ κατακτείνειε, Διὸς δʼ ἀλίτηται ἐφετμάς

τὸ γὰρ ἐπισφαλῶς πρὸς ὀργὴν ἔχοντα καὶ φύσει τραχὺν ὄντα καὶ θυμοειδῆ μὴ λανθάνειν ἑαυτὸν ἀλλʼ ἐξευλαβεῖσθαι καὶ φυλάττεσθαι τὰς αἰτίας καὶ 31c προκαταλαμβάνειν τῷ λογισμῷ πόρρωθεν ὅπως οὐδʼ 15 ἄκων τῷ πάθει περιπεσεῖται, θαυμαστῆς ἐστι προνοίας. οὕτω δὲ δεῖ καὶ πρὸς μέθην τὸν φίλοινον ἔχειν καὶ πρὸς ἔρωτα τὸν ἐρωτικόν· ὥσπερ ὁ Ἀγησίλαος οὐχ ὑπέμεινεν ὑπὸ τοῦ καλοῦ φιληθῆναι προσιόντος, ὁ δὲ Κῦρος οὐδʼ ἰδεῖν τὴν Πάνθειαν 20 ἐτόλμησε, τῶν ἀπαιδεύτων τοὐναντίον ὑπεκκαύματα τοῖς πάθεσι συλλεγόντων καὶ πρὸς ἃ μάλιστα κακῶς καὶ ὀλισθηρῶς ἔχουσιν αὑτοὺς προϊεμένων. ὁ δʼ Ὀδυσσεὺς οὐ μόνον ἑαυτὸν ἀνέχει θυμούμενον, ἀλλὰ 31d καὶ τὸν Τηλέμαχον ἐκ τοῦ λόγου συνιδὼν χαλεπὸν 25 ὄντα καὶ μισοπόνηρον ἀμβλύνει καὶ παρασκευάζει πόρρωθεν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν καὶ ἀνέχεσθαι, κελεύων

εἰ δὲ μʼ ἀτιμήσουσι δόμον κάτα, σὸν δὲ φίλον κῆρ

¹⁰

τετλάτω ἐν στήθεσσι κακῶς πάσχοντος ἐμεῖο ,

ἤν περ καὶ διὰ δῶμα ποδῶν ἕλκωσι θύραζε

ἢ βέλεσιν βάλλωσι· σὺ δʼ εἰσορόων ἀνέχεσθαι

ὥσπερ γὰρ τοὺς ἵππους οὐκ ἐν τοῖς δρόμοις χαλινοῦσιν 5 ἀλλὰ πρὸ τῶν δρόμων, οὕτω τοὺς δυσκαθέκτους πρὸς τὰ δεινὰ καὶ θυμοειδεῖς προκαταλαμβάνοντες τοῖς λογισμοῖς καὶ προκαταρτύοντες ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἄγουσι. δεῖ δὲ μηδὲ τῶν ὀνομάτων 31e ἀμελῶς ἀκούειν, ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν Κλεάνθους παιδιὰν 10 παραιτεῖσθαι· κατειρωνεύεται γὰρ ἔστιν ὅτε προσποιούμενος ἐξηγεῖσθαι τὸ

Ζεῦ πάτερ Ἴδηθεν μεδέων

¹¹

καὶ τὸ

Ζεῦ ἄνα Δωδωναῖε

¹²

15 κελεύων ἀναγιγνώσκειν ὑφʼ ἕν, ὡς τὸν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀναθυμιώμενον ἀέρα διὰ τὴν ἀνάδοσιν ἀναδωδωναῖον ὄντα. καὶ Χρύσιππος δὲ πολλαχοῦ γλίσχρος ἐστίν, οὐ παίζων ἀλλʼ εὑρησιλογῶν ἀπιθάνως, καὶ παραβιαζόμενος εὐρύοπα Κρονίδην εἶναι τὸν δεινὸν 20 ἐν τῷ διαλέγεσθαι καὶ διαβεβηκότα τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ λόγου. βέλτιον δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς γραμματικοῖς παρέντας 31f ἐκεῖνα μᾶλλον πιέζειν οἷς ἅμα τὸ χρήσιμον καὶ πιθανὸν ἔνεστιν¹³

οὐδέ με θυμὸς ἄνωγεν, ἐπεὶ μάθον ἔμμεναι¹⁴ 25 ἐσθλὸς

καὶ

πᾶσιν γὰρ ἐπίστατο μείλιχος εἶναι

¹⁵

τήν τε γὰρ ἀνδρείαν ἀποφαίνων μάθημα καὶ τὸ προσφιλῶς ἅμα καὶ κεχαρισμένως ἀνθρώποις ὁμιλεῖν ἀπʼ ἐπιστήμης καὶ κατὰ λόγον γίγνεσθαι νομίζων προτρέπει μὴ ἀμελεῖν ἑαυτῶν, ἀλλὰ μανθάνειν τὰ 5 καλὰ καὶ προσέχειν τοῖς διδάσκουσιν, ὡς καὶ τὴν σκαιότητα καὶ τὴν δειλίαν ἀμαθίαν καὶ ἄγνοιαν οὖσαν. σφόδρα δὲ τούτοις κἀκεῖνα σύμφωνά ἐστιν ἃ λέγει περὶ τοῦ Διὸς καὶ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος 32a

ἦ μὰν ἀμφοτέροισιν ὁμὸν γένος ἠδʼ ἴα πάτρη,¹⁶ 10

ἀλλὰ Ζεὺς πρότερος γεγόνει καὶ πλείονα ᾔδη.

θειότατον γὰρ ἀποφαίνει τὴν φρόνησιν καὶ βασιλικώτατον, ἐν ᾗ τίθεται τὴν μεγίστην ὑπεροχὴν τοῦ Διός, ἅτε δὴ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρετὰς ἕπεσθαι ταύτῃ νομίζων. ἐθιστέον δʼ ἅμα καὶ τούτων ἐγρηγορότως 15 τὸν νέον ἀκούειν

ψεῦδος δʼ οὐκ ἐρέει· μάλα γὰρ πεπνυμένος ἐστὶ

¹⁷

καί

Ἀντίλοχε, πρόσθεν πεπνυμένε, ποῖον ἔρεξας;

¹⁸

ᾔσχυνας μὲν ἐμὴν ἀρετήν, βλάψας δέ μοι ἵππους

20 καὶ 32b

Γλαῦκε, τίη δὲ σὺ τοῖος ἐὼν ὑπέροπλον ἔειπας;

¹⁹

ὦ πέπον, ἦ τʼ ἐφάμην σε περὶ φρένας ἔμμεναι ἄλλων

, ὡς οὔτε ψευδομένων τῶν φρονίμων οὔτε κακομαχούντων 25 ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσιν οὔτε παρʼ ἀξίαν ἑτέροις ἐγκαλούντων. καὶ τὸν Πάνδαρον δὲ πεισθῆναι λέγων διὰ τὴν ἀφροσύνην τὰ ὅρκια συγχέαι δῆλός ἐστιν οὐκ ἂν ἀδικῆσαι τὸν φρόνιμον ἡγούμενος ὅμοια δʼ ἔστι καὶ περὶ σωφροσύνης ὑποδεικνύειν ἐφιστάντα τοῖς οὕτω λεγομένοις

τῷ δὲ γονὴ Προίτου ἐπεμήνατο, δῖʼ Ἄντεια,²⁰ 5

κρυπταδίῃ φιλότητι μιγήμεναι· ἀλλὰ τὸν οὔ τι 32c

πεῖθʼ ἀγαθὰ φρονέοντα, δαΐφρονα Βελλεροφόντην

ἡ δʼ ἤτοι τὸ πρὶν μὲν ἀναίνετο ἔργον ἀεικές,²¹

δῖα Κλυταιμνήστρη· φρεσὶ γὰρ κέχρητʼ ἀγαθῇσιν

10 ἐν μὲν οὖν τούτοις τῇ φρονήσει τὴν τοῦ σωφρονεῖν αἰτίαν ἀποδίδωσιν, ἐν δὲ ταῖς παρὰ τὰς μάχας κελεύσεσιν ἑκάστοτε λέγων

αἰδώς, ὦ Λύκιοι. πόσε φεύγετε; νῦν θοοὶ ἔστε

²²

καὶ²³ 15

ἀλλʼ ἐν φρεσὶ θέσθε ἕκαστος

αἰδῶ καὶ νέμεσιν· δὴ γὰρ μέγα νεῖκος ὄρωρεν

32d ἀνδρείους ἔοικε ποιεῖν τοὺς σώφρονας διὰ τὸ αἰδεῖσθαι τὰ αἰσχρὰ καὶ τὰς ἡδονὰς δυναμένους ὑπερβαίνειν καὶ τοὺς κινδύνους ὑφίστασθαι. ἀφʼ ὧν 20 καὶ Τιμόθεος ὁρμηθεὶς οὐ κακῶς ἐν τοῖς Πέρσαις τοὺς Ἕλληνας παρεκάλει

σέβεσθʼ αἰδῶ συνεργὸν ἀρετᾶς δοριμάχου

²⁴

Αἰσχύλος²⁵ δὲ καὶ τὸ πρὸς δόξαν ἔχειν ἀτύφως καὶ μὴ διασοβεῖσθαι μηδʼ ἐπαίρεσθαι τοῖς παρὰ τῶν 25 πολλῶν ἐπαίνοις ἐν τῷ φρονεῖν τίθεται περὶ τοῦ Ἀμφιαράου γράφων

οὐ γὰρ δοκεῖν ἄριστος ἀλλʼ εἶναι θέλει, 32e

βαθεῖαν ἄλοκα διὰ φρενὸς καρπούμενος,

ἀφʼ ἧς τὰ κεδνὰ βλαστάνει βουλεύματα

τὸ γὰρ ἐφʼ ἑαυτῷ καὶ τῇ διαθέσει τῇ περὶ αὑτὸν 5 οὔσῃ κρατίστῃ μεγαλοφρονεῖν νοῦν ἔχοντος ἀνδρός ἐστι. πάντων οὖν ἀναγομένων εἰς τὴν φρόνησιν ἀποδείκνυται πᾶν εἶδος ἀρετῆς ἐπιγιγνόμενον ἐκ λόγου²⁶ καὶ διδασκαλίας.

Translations (1)

How a Young Man Ought to Hear Poems Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Ford, Simon, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 11 focus

[11] But as, in the same plant, the bee feeds on the flower, the goat on the bud, the hog on the root, and other living creatures on the seed and the fruit; so in reading of poems, one man singleth out the historical part, another dwells upon the elegancy and fit disposal of words, as Aristophanes says of Euripides,—

His gallant language runs so smooth and round,

That I am ravisht with th’ harmonious sound;

but others, to whom this part of my discourse is directed, mind only such things as are useful to the bettering of manners. And such we are to put in mind that it is an absurd thing, that those who delight in fables should not let any thing slip them of the vain and extravagant stories they find in poets, and that those who affect language should pass by nothing that is elegantly and floridly expressed; and that only the lovers of honor and virtue, who apply themselves to the study of poems not for delight but for instruction’s sake, should slightly and negligently observe what is spoken in them relating to valor, temperance, or justice. Of this nature is the following:—

And stand we deedless, O eternal shame!

Till Hector’s arm involve the ships in flame?

Haste, let us join, and combat side by side.

For to see a man of the greatest wisdom in danger of being totally cut off with all those that take part with him, and yet affected less with fear of death than of shame and dishonor, must needs excite in a young man a passionate affection for virtue. And this,

Joyed was the Goddess, for she much did prize

A man that was alike both just and wise,

teacheth us to infer that the Deity delights not in a rich or a proper or a strong man, but in one that is furnished with wisdom and justice. Again, when the same Goddess (Minerva) saith that the reason why she did not desert or neglect Ulysses was that he was

Gentle, of ready wit, of prudent mind,

she therein tells us that, of all things pertaining to us, nothing is dear to the Gods and divine but our virtue, seeing like naturally delights in like.

And seeing, moreover, that it both seemeth and really is a great thing to be able to moderate a man’s anger, but a greater by far to guard a man’s self beforehand by prudence, that he fall not into it nor be surprised by it, therefore also such passages as tend that way are not slightly to be represented to the readers; for example, that Achilles himself—who was a man of no great forbearance, nor inclined to such meekness—yet warns Priam to be calm and not to provoke him, thus,

Move me no more (Achilles thus replies,

While kindling anger sparkled in his eyes),

Nor seek by tears my steady soul to bend:

To yield thy Hector I myself intend:

Cease; lest, neglectful of high Jove’s command,

I show thee, king, thou tread’st on hostile land;

and that he himself first washeth and decently covereth the body of Hector and then puts it into a chariot, to prevent his father’s seeing it so unworthily mangled as it was,—

Lest the unhappy sire,

Provoked to passion, once more rouse to ire

The stern Pelides; and nor sacred age,

Nor Jove’s command, should check the rising rage.

For it is a piece of admirable prudence for a man so prone to anger, as being by nature hasty and furious, to understand himself so well as to set a guard upon his own inclinations, and by avoiding provocations to keep his passion at due distance by the use of reason, lest he should be unawares surprised by it. And after the same manner must the man that is apt to be drunken forearm himself against that vice; and he that is given to wantonness, against lust, as Agesilaus refused to receive a kiss from a beautiful person addressing to him, and Cyrus would not so much as endure to see Panthea. Whereas, on the contrary, those that are not virtuously bred are wont to gather fuel to inflame their passions, and voluntarily to abandon themselves to those temptations to which of themselves they are endangered. But Ulysses does not only restrain his own anger, but (perceiving by the discourse of his son Telemachus, that through indignation conceived against such evil men he was greatly provoked) he blunts his passion too beforehand, and composeth him to calmness and patience, thus:—

There, if base scorn insult my reverend age,

Bear it, my son! repress thy rising rage.

If outraged, cease that outrage to repel;

Bear it, my son! howe’er thy heart rebel.

For as men are not wont to put bridles on their horses when they are running in full speed, but bring them bridled beforehand to the race; so do they use to preoccupy and predispose the minds of those persons with rational considerations to enable them to encounter passion, whom they perceive to be too mettlesome and unmanageable upon the sight of provoking objects.

Furthermore, the young man is not altogether to neglect names themselves when he meets with them; though he is not obliged to give much heed to such idle descants as those of Cleanthes, who, while he professeth himself an interpreter, plays the trifler, as in these passages of Homer: Ζεῦ πάτερ Ἴδηθεν μεδέων, and Ζεῦ ἄνα Δωδωωαῖε.³ For he will needs read the last two of these words joined into one, and make them ἀναδωδωναῖε; for that the air evaporated from the earth by exhalation ( ἀνάδοσις) is so called. Yea, and Chrysippus too, though he does not so trifle, yet is very jejune, while he hunts after improbable etymologies. As when he will need force the words εὐρύοπα Κρονίδην to import Jupiter’s excellent faculty in speaking and powerfulness to persuade thereby.

But such things as these are fitter to be left to the examination of grammarians; and we are rather to insist upon such passages as are both profitable and persuasive. Such, for instance, as these:—

My early youth was bred to martial pains,

My soul impels me to the embattled plains!

How skill’d he was in each obliging art;

The mildest manners, and the gentlest heart.

⁴

For while the author tells us that fortitude may be taught, and that an obliging and graceful way of conversing with others is to be gotten by art and the use of reason, he exhorts us not to neglect the improvement of ourselves, but by observing our teachers’ instructions to learn a becoming carriage, as knowing that clownishness and cowardice argue ill-breeding and ignorance. And very suitable to what hath been said is that which is said of Jupiter and Neptune:—

Gods of one source, of one ethereal race,

Alike divine, and heaven their native place;

But Jove the greater; first born of the skies,

And more than men or Gods supremely wise.

⁵

For the poet therein pronounceth wisdom to be the most divine and royal quality of all; as placing therein the greatest excellency of Jupiter himself, and judging all virtues else to be necessarily consequent thereunto. We are also to accustom a young man attentively to hear such things as these:—

Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies:

And sure he will, for wisdom never lies:

The praise of wisdom, in thy youth obtain’d,

An act so rash, Antilochus, has stain’d:

Say, is it just, my friend, that Hector’s ear

From such a warrior such a speech should hear?

I deemed thee once the wisest of thy kind,

But ill this insult suits a prudent mind.

⁶

These speeches teach us that it is beneath wise men to lie or to deal otherwise than fairly, even in games, or to blame other men without just cause. And when the poet attributes Pindarus’s violation of the truce to his folly, he withal declares his judgment that a wise man will not be guilty of an unjust action. The like may we also infer concerning continence, taking our ground for it from these passages:—

For him Antaea burn’d with lawless flame,

And strove to tempt him from the paths of fame:

In vain she tempted the relentless youth,

Endued with wisdom, sacred fear, and truth:

At first, with worthy shame and decent pride,

The royal dame his lawless suit denied !

For virtue’s image yet possessed her mind:

⁷

in which speeches the poet assigns wisdom to be the cause of continence. And when in exhortations made to encourage soldiers to fight, he speaks in this manner:—

What mean you, Lycians? Stand! O stand, for shame !

Yet each reflect who prizes fame or breath,

On endless infamy, on instant death;

For, lo ! the fated time, the appointed shore;

Hark ! the gates burst, the brazen barriers roar !

⁸

he seems to intimate that continent men are valiant men; because they fear the shame of base actions, and can trample on pleasures and stand their ground in the greatest hazards. Whence Timotheus, in the play called Persae, takes occasion handsomely to exhort the Grecians thus:—

Brave soldiers of just shame in awe should stand;

For the blushing face oft helps the fighting hand.

And Aeschylus also makes it a point of wisdom not to be blown up with pride when a man is honored, nor to be moved or elevated with the acclamations of a multitude, writing thus of Amphiaraus:—

His shield no emblem bears; his generous soul

Wishes to be, not to appear, the best;

While the deep furrows of his noble mind

Harvests of wise and prudent counsel bear.

⁹

For it is the part of a wise man to value himself upon the consciousness of his own true worth and excellency.

Whereas, therefore, all inward perfections are reducible to wisdom, it appears that all sorts of virtue and learning are included in it.

Notes on the current edition

How the Young Man Should Study Poetry

1. Kock, Com. Att. Frag. i. p. 513.

2. Homer, Il. xi. 313; the first line is quoted infra, 71 F.

3. Homer, Od. iii. 52.

4. Ibid. xiii. 332.

5. Homer, Il. xxiv. 560-1, 569-70.

6. Ibid. 584.

7. Xenophon, Agesilaus, v. 4.

8. Xenophon, Cyropaedia, v. 1. 4.

9. Homer, Od. xvi. 274.

10. Homer, Il. iii. 320; vii. 202; xxiv. 208

11. Ibid. xvi. 233. It is of inerest that this reading is attested also in scholia on the passage.

12. Ibid. i. 498.

13. Homer, Il. vi. 444.

14. Ibid. xvii. 671.

15. Ibid. xiii. 354.

16. Homer, Od. iii. 20 and 328.

17. Homer, Il. xxiii. 570.

18. Ibid. xvii. 170.

19. Ibid. vi. 104.

20. Ibid. vi. 160.

21. Homer, Od. iii. 265.

22. Homer, Il. xvi. 422.

23. Ibid. xiii. 121.

24. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Gr. iii. 622; Timotheus, Frag. 14 ed. Wilamowitz.

25. Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, 599; the lines are quoted also, in whole or in part, by Plutarch, Moralia, 8 B, 186 B, and the Life of Aristeides, chap. iii. (320 B).

Plutarch Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debeat 11

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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