[14] Moreover, just as in what we have said above we felt that by setting against cheap and harmful poems the sayings and maxims of statesmen and men of repute, we were inducing a revolt and revulsion of faith from such poetry, so whenever we find any edifying sentiment neatly expressed in the poets we ought to foster and amplify it by means of proofs and testimonies from the philosophers, at the same time crediting these with the discovery. For this is right and useful, and our faith gains an added strength and dignity whenever the doctrines of Pythagoras and of Plato are in agreement with what is spoken on the stage or sung to the lyre or studied at school, and when the precepts of Chilon and of Bias lead to the same conclusions as our children’s readings in poetry. Hence it is a duty to make a point of indicating that the lines
You, my child, have not the gift of arms in battle, Your concern must be for loving arms in wedlock,
1
and
Seeing that Zeus is wroth if you fight with a man far better,
2
do not differ from
Know thyself, but have the same purport as this; and the lines,
Fools! They know not how much more than all a half is,
3
and
Evil counsel is the worst for him who gives it
4
are identical with the doctrines of Plato in the Gorgias
5
and the Republic
6
upon the principle that
to do wrong is worse than to be wronged and
to do evil is more injurious than to suffer evil. And on the words of Aeschylus,
7
Fear not; great stress of pain is not for long,
we ought to remark that this is the oft repeated and much admired statement originating with Epicurus,
8
namely
that great pains shortly spend their force, and long continued pains have no magnitude. Of these two ideas Aeschylus has perspicuously stated the one and the other is a corollary thereto; for if great and intense pain is not lasting, then that which does not last is not great or hard to endure. Take these lines of Thespis
9
:
You see that Zeus is first of gods in this, Not using lies or boast or silly laugh; With pleasure he alone is unconcerned.
What difference is there between this and the statement,
for the Divine Being sits throned afar from pleasure and pain, as Plato
10
has put it? Consider what is said by Bacchylides
11
:
I shall assert that virtue hath the highest fame, But wealth with even wretched men is intimate,
and again by Euripides
12
to much the same effect:
There’s naught that I hold In a higher esteem Than a virtuous life; ’Twill ever be joined With those that are good.
and
Why seek vain possessions? Do ye think Virtue by wealth to compass? Wretched amid your comforts shall ye sit.
13
Is not this a proof of what the philosophers say regarding wealth and external advantages, that without virtue they are useless and unprofitable for their owners? This method of conjoining and reconciling such sentiments with the doctrines of philosophers brings the poet’s work out of the realm of myth and impersonation, and, moreover, invests with seriousness its helpful sayings. Besides, it opens and stimulates in advance the mind of the youth by the sayings in philosophy. For he comes to it thus not altogether without a foretaste of it, nor without having heard of it, nor indiscriminately stuffed with what he has heard always from his mother and nurse, and, I dare say, from his father and his tutor as well, who all beatify and worship the rich, who shudder at death and pain, who regard virtue without money and repute as quite undesirable and a thing of naught. But when they hear the precepts of the philosophers, which go counter to such opinions, at first astonishment and confusion and amazement take hold of them, since they cannot accept or tolerate any such teaching, unless, just as if they were now to look upon the sun after having been in utter darkness, they have been made accustomed, in a reflected light, as it were, in which the dazzling rays of truth are softened by combining truth with fable, to face facts of this sort without being distressed, and not to try to get away from them.
14
For if they have previously heard or read in poetry such thoughts as these:
To mourn the babe for th’ ills to which he comes; But him that’s dead, and from his labours rests, To bear from home with joy and cheering words,
15
and
What needs have mortals save two things alone, Demeter’s grain and draught from water-jar?
16
and
O Tyranny, beloved of barbarous folk,
17
and
And mortal men’s felicity Is gained by such of them as feel least grief,
18
they are less confused and disquieted upon hearing at the lectures of the philosophers that
Death is nothing to us,
19
and
The wealth allowed by Nature is definitely limited,
20
and
Happiness and blessedness do not consist in vast possessions or exalted occupations or offices or authority, but on impassivity, calmness, and a disposition of the soul that sets its limitations to accord with Nature.
21
Wherefore, both because of these considerations and because of those already adduced, the young man has need of good pilotage in the matter of reading, to the end that, forestalled with schooling rather than prejudice, in a spirit of friendship and goodwill and familiarity, he may be convoyed by poetry into the realm of philosophy.
Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debeat. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1927.
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