Plutarch, Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debeat, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 8

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[8] οὕτως οὖν τούτων ἐχόντων ἐπάγωμεν τοῖς ποιήμασι τὸν νέον μὴ τοιαύτας ἔχοντα δόξας περὶ τῶν καλῶν ἐκείνων καὶ μεγάλων ὀνομάτων, ὡς ἄρα σοφοὶ καὶ δίκαιοι οἱ ἄνδρες ἦσαν, ἄκροι τε βασιλεῖς καὶ κανόνες ἀρετῆς ἁπάσης καὶ ὀρθότητος. ἐπεὶ 20 βλαβήσεται μεγάλα δοκιμάζων πάντα καὶ τεθηπώς, μὴ δυσχεραίνων δὲ μηδὲν μηδʼ ἀκούων μηδʼ ἀποδεχόμενος τοῦ ψέγοντος αὐτοὺς τοιαῦτα πράττοντας καὶ λέγοντας

αἲ γάρ, Ζεῦ τε πάτερ καὶ Ἀθηναίη καὶ Ἄπολλον,¹ 25

μήτε τις οὖν Τρώων θάνατον φύγοι, ὅσσοι ἔασι, 25f

μήτε τις Ἀργείων, νῶιν δʼ ἐκδῦμεν ὄλεθρον,

ὄφρʼ οἶοι Τροίης ἱερὰ κρήδεμνα λύοιμεν

καὶ

οἰκτροτάτην δʼ ἤκουσα ὄπα Πριάμοιο θυγατρὸς²

Κασσάνδρης, τὴν κτεῖνε Κλυταιμνήστρη δολόμητις

ἀμφʼ ἐμοὶ

καὶ 5

παλλακίδι προμιγῆναι, ἵνʼ ἐχθήρειε γέροντα.³

τῇ πιθόμην καὶ ἔρεξα

καί

Ζεῦ πάτερ, οὔ τις σεῖο θεῶν ὀλοώτερος ἄλλος

⁴

26a μηδὲν οὖν ἐπαινεῖν ἐθιζέσθω τοιοῦτον ὁ νέος, μηδὲ 10 προφάσεις λέγων μηδὲ παραγωγάς τινας εὐπρεπεῖς ἐπὶ πράγμασι φαύλοις μηχανώμενος πιθανὸς ἔστω καὶ πανοῦργος, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνο μᾶλλον οἰέσθω, μίμησιν εἶναι τὴν ποίησιν ἠθῶν καὶ βίων, καὶ ἀνθρώπων οὐ τελείων οὐδὲ καθαρῶν οὐδʼ ἀνεπιλήπτων παντάπασιν, 15 ἀλλὰ μεμιγμένων πάθεσι καὶ δόξαις ψευδέσι καὶ ἀγνοίαις, διὰ δʼ εὐφυΐαν αὑτοὺς πολλάκις μετατιθέντων πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον. ἡ γὰρ τοιαύτη παρασκευὴ τοῦ νέου καὶ διάνοια, τοῖς μὲν εὖ λεγομένοις 26b καὶ πραττομένοις, ἐπαιρομένου καὶ συνενθουσιῶντος, 20 τὰ δὲ φαῦλα μὴ προσιεμένου καὶ δυσχεραίνοντος, ἀβλαβῆ παρέξει τὴν ἀκρόασιν. ὁ δὲ πάντα θαυμάζων καὶ πᾶσιν ἐξοικειούμενος καὶ καταδεδουλωμένος τῇ δόξῃ τὴν κρίσιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἡρωϊκῶν ὀνομάτων, ὥσπερ οἱ τὴν Πλάτωνος ἀπομιμούμενοι κυρτότητα 25 καὶ τὴν Ἀριστοτέλους τραυλότητα, λήσεται πρὸς πολλὰ τῶν φαύλων εὐχερὴς γενόμενος. δεῖ δὲ μὴ δειλῶς μηδʼ ὥσπερ ὑπὸ δεισιδαιμονίας ἐν ἱερῷ φρίττειν ἅπαντα; καὶ προσκυνεῖν, ἀλλὰ θαρραλέως ἐθιζόμενον ἐπιφωνεῖν μηδὲν ἧττον τοῦ ὀρθῶς καὶ πρεπόντως τὸ οὐκ ὀρθῶς καὶ ὁ προσηκόντως 26c οἷον ὁ Ἀχιλλεὺς ἐκκλησίαν συνάγει τῶν στρατιωτῶν νοσούντων, ἀσχάλλων μὲν ἀργοῦντι τῷ πολέμῳ μάλιστα 5 πάντων διὰ τὴν ἐν ταῖς στρατείαις ἐπιφάνειαν αὐτοῦ καὶ δόξαν, ἰατρικὸς δʼ ὢν καὶ μεθʼ ἡμέραν ἐνάτην ταῦτα κρίνεσθαι πέφυκεν αἰσθόμενος οὐκ οὖσαν συνήθη τὴν νόσον οὐδὲ συνεστῶσαν ἀπὸ κοινῶν αἰτιῶν, ἀναστὰς οὐ δημαγωγεῖ πρὸς τὸν⁵ ὄχλον, 10 ἀλλὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ γίγνεται σύμβουλος

Ἀτρείδη, νῦν ἄμμε παλιμπλαγχθέντας ὀίω

⁶

ἄψ ἀπονοστήσειν

26d ὀρθῶς ταῦτα καὶ μετρίως καὶ πρεπόντως τοῦ δὲ μάντεως δεδιέναι φήσαντος τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ δυνατωτάτου 15 τῶν Ἑλλήνων, οὐκέτʼ ὀρθῶς οὐδὲ μετρίως, ἐπομόσας μηδένα προσοίσειν χεῖρας αὐτῷ ζῶντος αὐτοῦ, προστίθησιν

οὐδʼ ἢν Ἀγαμέμνονα εἴπῃς

⁷

, ἐνδεικνύμενος ὀλιγωρίαν καὶ περιφρόνησιν τοῦ ἄρχοντος. 20 ἐκ δὲ τούτου μᾶλλον παροξυνθεὶς ἐπὶ τὸ ξίφος φέρεται σφάττειν διανοούμενος, οὔτε πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ὀρθῶς οὔτε πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον. εἶτʼ αὖθις μετανοήσας

ἄψ ἐς κουλεὸν ὦσε μέγα ξίφος, οὐδʼ ἀπίθησε⁸ 25 26e

μύθῳ Ἀθηναίης

, ὀρθῶς πάλιν καὶ καλῶς, ὅτι τὸν θυμὸν ἐκκόψαι παντάπασι μὴ δυνηθεὶς , ὅμως πρὶν ἀνήκεστόν τι δρᾶσαι μετέστησε καὶ κατέσχεν εὐπειθῆ τῷ λογισμῷ γενόμενον. πάλιν ὁ Ἀγαμέμνων ἐν μὲν τοῖς περὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν γιγνομένοις καὶ λεγομένοις ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ καταγέλαστός ἐστιν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς περὶ Χρυσηίδα σεμνότερος 5 καὶ βασιλικώτερος. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἀχιλλεὺς ἀγομένης τῆς Βρισηίδος

δακρύσας ἑτάρων ἄφαρ ἕζετο νόσφι λιασθείς

⁹

, οὗτος δʼ αὐτὸς εἰς τὴν ναῦν ἐμβιβάζων καὶ παραδιδοὺς 26f καὶ ἀποπέμπων τὴν ἄνθρωπον ἣν ὀλίγῳ 10 πρόσθεν εἴρηκε τῆς γαμετῆς τῇ εὐνοίᾳ προκρίνειν, οὐδὲν ἐρωτικὸν οὐδʼ αἰσχρὸν ἐποίησε. καὶ μὴν ὁ Φοίνιξ διὰ τὴν παλλακίδα κατάρατος ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς γενόμενος

τὸν μὲν ἐγώ, φησί, βούλευσα κατακτάμεν ὀξέι¹⁰ 15 χαλκῷ

ἀλλά τις ἀθανάτων παῦσεν χόλον, ὃς ῥʼ ἐνὶ θυμῷ

δήμου θῆκε φάτιν καὶ ὀνείδεα πόλλʼ ἀνθρώπων,

ὡς μὴ πατροφόνος μετʼ Ἀχαιοῖσιν καλεοίμην

ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀρίσταρχος ἐξεῖλε ταῦτα τὰ ἔπη φοβηθείς· 20 ἔχει δὲ πρὸς τὸν καιρὸν ὀρθῶς, τοῦ Φοίνικος τὸν Ἀχιλλέα διδάσκοντος οἷόν ἐστιν ὀργὴ καὶ ὅσα 27a διὰ θυμὸν ἄνθρωποι τολμῶσι, μὴ χρώμενοι λογισμῷ μηδὲ πειθόμενοι τοῖς παρηγοροῦσι. καὶ γὰρ τὸν Μελέαγρον ἐπεισάγει τοῖς πολίταις ὀργιζόμενον, εἶτα 25 πραϋνόμενον, ὀρθῶς τὰ πάθη ψέγων, τὸ δὲ μὴ συνακολουθεῖν ἀλλʼ ἀντιτάττεσθαι καὶ κρατεῖν καὶ μετανοεῖν ἐπαινῶν ὡς καλὸν καὶ συμφέρον. ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν ἡ διαφορὰ πρόδηλος· ὅπου δʼ ἀσαφῆ τὰ τῆς γνώμης, διοριστέον οὕτω πως ἐφιστάντας τὸν νέον. εἰ μὲν ἡ Ναυσικάα ξένον ἄνδρα τὸν Ὀδυσσέα θεασαμένη καὶ παθοῦσα τὸ τῆς Καλυψοῦς πάθος πρὸς αὐτόν, ἅτε δὴ τρυφῶσα καὶ γάμων ὥραν ἔχουσα, 5 27b τοιαῦτα μωραίνει πρὸς τὰς θεραπαινίδας

αἲ γὰρ ἐμοὶ¹¹ τοιόσδε πόσις κεκλημένος εἴη

ἐνθάδε ναιετάων, καὶ οἱ ἅδοι αὐτόθι μίμνειν

, ψεκτέον τὸ θράσος αὐτῆς καὶ τὴν ἀκολασίαν εἰ δὲ τοῖς λόγοις τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὸ ἦθος ἐνιδοῦσα καὶ θαυμάσασα 10 τὴν ἔντευξιν αὐτοῦ πολὺν νοῦν ἔχουσαν εὔχεται τοιούτῳ συνοικεῖν μᾶλλον ἢ πλωτικῷ τινι καὶ ὀρχηστικῷ τῶν πολιτῶν, ἄξιον ἄγασθαι. πάλιν τῆς Πηνελόπης τοῖς μνηστῆρσι προσδιαλεγομένης οὐκ ἀπανθρώπως, ἐκείνων δʼ αὐτῇ χαριζομένων ἱμάτια 15 καὶ κόσμον ἄλλον, ἡδόμενος Ὀδυσσεὺς 27c

οὕνεκα τῶν μὲν δῶρα παρέλκετο, θέλγε δὲ θυμόν

¹²

εἰ μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ δωροδοκίᾳ καὶ πλεονεξίᾳ χαίρει, τὸν κωμῳδούμενον ὑπερβάλλει μαστροπείᾳ Πολίαγρον 20

εὐδαίμων Πολίαγρος

¹³

οὐράνιον αἶγα πλουτοφόρον τρέφων

εἰ δὲ μᾶλλον οἰόμενος ὑποχειρίους ἕξειν διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα θαρροῦντας¹⁴ καὶ τὸ μέλλον οὐ προσδοκῶντας, 25 λόγον ἔχει τὸ ἡδόμενον αὐτῷ καὶ θαρροῦν. ὁμοίως ἐπὶ τῇ διαριθμήσει τῶν χρημάτων, ἃ συνεξέθηκαν οἱ Φαίακες αὐτῷ καὶ ἀπέπλευσαν, εἰ μὲν ἀληθῶς ἐν ἐρημίᾳ τοσαύτῃ καὶ τῶν καθʼ αὑτὸν 27d ἀσαφείᾳ καὶ ἀδηλότητι γεγονὼς περὶ τῶν χρημάτων φοβεῖται

μὴ τί οἱ οἴχωνται κοίλης ἐπὶ νηὸς ἄγοντες¹⁵

¹⁶

, 5 οἰκτείρειν ἄξιον ἢ βδελύττεσθαι νὴ Δία τὴν φιλοπλουτίαν· εἰ δʼ, ὥσπερ ἔνιοι λέγουσι, περὶ τῆς Ἰθάκης ἀμφιδοξῶν οἴεται τὴν τῶν χρημάτων σωτηρίαν ἀπόδειξιν εἶναι τῆς τῶν Φαιάκων ὁσιότητος οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἀκερδῶς φέροντας αὐτὸν εἰς ἀλλοτρίαν ἐκβαλεῖν 10 χώραν καὶ καταλιπεῖν, ἀποσχομένους τῶν χρημάτων, οὔτε φαύλῳ τεκμηρίῳ χρῆται καὶ τὴν πρόνοιαν 27e ἄξιον ἐπαινεῖν. ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἔκθεσιν αὐτὴν εἰ μὲν ἀληθῶς ἐγένετο καθεύδοντος ψέγουσι, καὶ Τυρρηνοὺς ἱστορίαν τινά φασι διαφυλάττειν ὡς 15 ὑπνώδους φύσει τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως γενομένου καὶ δυσεντεύκτου διὰ τοῦτο τοῖς πολλοῖς ὄντος. εἰ δʼ οὐκ ἦν ἀληθὴς ὁ ὕπνος, ἀλλʼ αἰδούμενος μὲν ἀποπέμψαι τοὺς Φαίακας ἄνευ ξενίων καὶ φιλοφροσύνης, μὴ δυνάμενος δὲ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς λαθεῖν ἐκείνων συμπαρόντων 20 ἐχρήσατο τῆς ἀπορίας παρακαλύμματι, κοιμωμένῳ ποιήσας ὅμοιον ἑαυτόν, ἀποδέχονται. καὶ ταῦτα δὴ τοῖς νέοις ὑποδεικνύοντες οὐκ ἐάσομεν φορὰν πρὸς τὰ φαῦλα γίγνεσθαι τῶν ἠθῶν ἀλλὰ τῶν βελτιόνων ζῆλον καὶ προαίρεσιν, εὐθὺς τοῖς μὲν 25 27f τὸ ψέγειν τοῖς δὲ τὸ ἐπαινεῖν ἀποδιδόντες. μάλιστα δὲ τοῦτο δεῖ¹⁷ ποιεῖν ἐν ταῖς τραγῳδίαις, ὅσαι λόγους ἔχουσι πιθανοὺς καὶ πανούργους ἐν πράξεσιν ἀδόξοις καὶ πονηραῖς. οὐ πάνυ γὰρ ἀληθὲς τὸ τοῦ Σοφοκλέους λέγοντος

οὐκ ἔστʼ ἀπʼ ἔργων μὴ καλῶν ἔπη καλά

¹⁸

καὶ γὰρ οὗτος¹⁹ εἴωθεν ἤθεσι φαύλοις καὶ ἀτόποις 5 πράγμασι λόγους ἐπιγελῶντας καὶ φιλανθρώπους αἰτίας πορίζειν. καὶ ὁ σύσκηνος αὐτοῦ πάλιν ὁρᾷς 28a ὅτι τήν τε Φαίδραν καὶ προσεγκαλοῦσαν τῷ Θησεῖ πεποίηκεν ὡς διὰ τὰς ἐκείνου παρανομίας ἐρασθεῖσαν τοῦ Ἱππολύτου. τοιαύτην δὲ καὶ τῇ Ἑλένῃ παρρησίαν 10 κατὰ τῆς Ἑκάβης ἐν ταῖς Τρῳάσι²⁰ δίδωσιν, οἰομένῃ δεῖν ἐκείνην κολάζεσθαι μᾶλλον ὅτι μοιχὸν αὐτῆς ἔτεκε. μηδὲν οὖν τούτων κομψὸν ἡγεῖσθαι καὶ πανοῦργον ὁ νέος ἐθιζέσθω, μηδὲ προσμειδιάτω ταῖς τοιαύταις εὑρησιλογίαις ἀλλὰ βδελυττέσθω τοὺς 15 λόγους μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ ἔργα τῆς ἀκολασίας.

Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debeat. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1888.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

How the Young Man Should Study Poetry Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. I. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1927 (printing).) — 8 focus

[8] Now since this is so, let the young man, when we set him to reading poems, not be prepossessed with any such opinions about those good and great names, as, for instance, that the men were wise and honest, consummate kings, and standards of all virtue and uprightness. For he will be greatly injured if he approves everything, and is in a state of wonderment over it, but resents nothing, refusing even to listen or accept the opinion of him who, on the contrary, censures persons that do and say such things as these:

This I would, O Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, That not one escape death of all the Trojans living And of the Greeks; but that you and I elude destruction, So that we alone may raze Troy’s sacred bulwarks,¹

and

Saddest of all the sad sounds that I heard was the cry of Cassandra Priam’s daughter, whom Clytemnestra craftily planning Slew o’er my body,²

and

That I seduce the girl and ensure her hate for my father. So I obeyed her and did it,³

and

Father Zeus, none other of the gods is more baleful.⁴

Let the young man, then, not get into the habit of commending anything like this, nor let him be plausible and adroit in making excuses or in contriving some specious quibbles to explain base actions, but rather let him cherish the belief that poetry is an imitation of character and lives, and of men who are not perfect or spotless or unassailable in all respects, but pervaded by emotions, false opinions, and sundry forms of ignorance, who yet through inborn goodness frequently change their ways for the better. For if the young man is so trained, and his understanding so framed, that he feels elation and a sympathetic enthusiasm over noble words and deeds, and an aversion and repugnance for the mean, such training will render his perusal of poetry harmless. But the man who admires everything, and accommodates himself to everything, whose judgement, because of his preconceived opinion, is enthralled by the heroic names, will, like those who copy Plato’s stoop or Aristotle’s lisp, unwittingly become inclined to conform to much that is base. One ought not timorously, or as though under the spell of religious dread in a holy place, to shiver with awe at everything, and fall prostrate, but should rather acquire the habit of exclaiming with confidence wrong and improper no less than right and proper. For example, Achilles summons an assembly of the soldiers, who are suffering from an illness, since he is most impatient of all over the slow progress of the war because of his conspicuous position and reputation on the field; moreover, because he has some knowledge of medicine, and perceives now after the ninth day, on which these maladies naturally reach their crisis, that the disease is out of the ordinary and not the result of familiar causes, he does not harangue the multitude when he rises to speak, but makes himself an adviser to the king: Son of Atreus, now, as I think, are we destined to wander Back to seek our homes again.⁵ Rightly, moderately, and properly is this put. But after the seer has said that he fears the wrath of the most powerful of the Greeks, Achilles no longer speaks rightly and moderately, when he swears that nobody shall lay hands on the seer while he himself is alive, No, not though you name Agamemnon,⁶ thus making plain his slight regard and his contempt for the leader. A moment later his irritation becomes more acute, and his impulse is to draw his sword with intent to do murder; not rightly, either for honour or for expediency. Again, later, repenting, Back he thrust his massive blade once more to its scabbard, Nor ignored Athena’s words,⁷ this time rightly and honourably, because, although he could not altogether eradicate his anger, yet before doing anything irreparable he put it aside and checked it by making it obedient to his reason. Then again, although Agamemnon is ridiculous in his actions and words at the Assembly, yet in the incidents touching Chryseis he is more dignified and kingly. For whereas Achilles, as Briseis was being led away,

Burst into tears and withdrawing apart sat aloof from his comrades,⁸

Agamemnon, as he in person put aboard the ship, and gave up and sent away, the woman of whom, a moment before, he has said that he cared more for her than for his wedded wife, committed no amorous or disgraceful act. Then again, Phoenix, cursed by his father on account of the concubine, says: True in my heart I had purposed to slay him with keenpointed dagger, Save that one of the deathless gods put an end to my anger, Bringing to mind the people’s talk and men’s many reproaches, Lest I be known among the Greeks as my father’s slayer.⁹ Now Aristarchus removed these lines from the text through fear, but they are right in view of the occasion, since Phoenix is trying to teach Achilles what sort of a thing anger is, and how many wild deeds men are ready to do from temper, if they do not use reason or hearken to those who try to soothe them. So also the poet introduces Meleager angry at his fellow-citizens, and later mollified, and he rightly finds fault with his emotions, but, on the other hand, his refusal to yield, his resistance, his mastery over them, and his change of heart the poet commends as good and expedient.

Now in these cases the difference is manifest; but in cases where Homer’s judgement is not made clear, a distinction is to be drawn by directing the young man’s attention in some such manner as the following: If, on the one hand, Nausicaa, after merely looking at a strange man, Odysseus, and experiencing Calypso’s emotions toward him, being, as she was, a wanton child and at the age for marriage, utters such foolish words as these to her maid-servants,

How I wish that a man like this might be called my husband, Living here with us, and be contented to tarry,¹⁰

then are her boldness and lack of restraint to be blamed. But if, on the other hand, she sees into the character of the man from his words, and marvels at his conversation, so full of good sense, and then prays that she may be the consort of such a person rather than of some sailor man or dancing man of her own townsmen, then it is quite right to admire her. And again, when Penelope enters into conversation with the suitors, not holding herself aloof, and they favour her with gifts of garments and other apparel, Odysseus is pleased

Since she had coaxed all these gifts from them, and had cozened their senses.¹¹

If, on the one hand, he rejoices at the receipt of the presents and the profit, then in his prostitution of his wife he outdoes Poliager, who is satirized in the comedy as

Poliager blest Who keeps a Cyprian goat to yield him wealth.¹²

But if, on the other hand, he thinks that he shall have them more in his power, while they are confident because of their hopes and blind to the future, then his pleasure and confidence has a reasonable justification. Similarly, in the enumeration of his possessions which the Phaeacians had put ashore with him before they sailed away, if on the one hand, upon finding himself in such solitude and in such uncertainty and ambiguity regarding his surroundings, he really fears about his possessions,

Lest the men on the ship had sailed away with something,¹³

then it is quite right to pity or indeed even to loathe his avarice. But if, on the other hand, he, as some say, being of two minds whether he were in Ithaca, thinks that the safety of his possessions is a demonstration of the rectitude of the Phaeacians (for otherwise they would not have carried him for nothing, put him ashore in a strange land, and left him there, at the same time keeping their hands off his possessions), then he makes use of no mean proof, and it is quite right to praise his forethought. But some critics find fault also with the very act of putting him ashore, if this really was done while he was asleep, and assert that the Etruscans still preserve a tradition that Odysseus was naturally sleepy, and that for this reason most people found him difficult to converse with. Yet if his sleep was not real, but if, being ashamed to send away the Phaeacians without gifts and entertainment, and at the same time unable to elude his enemies if the Phaeacians were in company with him, he provided himself with a cloak for his embarrassment in feigning himself asleep, then they find this acceptable.

By indicating these things to the young, we shall not allow them to acquire any leaning toward such characters as are mean, but rather an emulation of the better, and a preference for them, if we unhesitatingly award censure to the one class and commendation to the other. It is particularly necessary to do this with tragedies in which plausible and artful words are framed to accompany disreputable and knavish actions. For the statement of Sophocles ¹⁴ is not altogether true when he says:

From unfair deed fair word cannot proceed.

For, as a fact, he is wont to provide for mean characters and unnatural actions alluring words and humane reasons. And you observe also that his companion-at-arms in the dramatic art has represented Phaedra ¹⁵ as preferring the charge against Theseus that it was because of his derelictions that she fell in love with Hippolytus. Of such sort, too, are the frank lines, aimed against Hecuba, which in the Trojan Women ¹⁶ he gives to Helen, who there expresses her feeling that Hecuba ought rather to be the one to suffer punishment because she brought into the world the man who was the cause of Helen’s infidelity. Let the young man not form the habit of regarding any one of these things as witty and adroit, and let him not smile indulgently, either, at such displays of verbal ingenuity, but let him loathe the words of licentiousness even more than its deeds.

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.) — 8 focus

[8] These things therefore so standing, we should, when we enter a young man into the study of the poets, endeavor to free his mind from that degree of esteem of the good and great personages in them described as may incline him to think them to be mirrors of wisdom and justice, the chief of princes, and the exemplary measures of all virtue and goodness. For he will receive much prejudice, if he shall approve and admire all that comes from such persons as great, if he dislike nothing in them himself, nor will endure to hear others blame them, though for such words and actions as the following passages import:—

Oh! would to all the immortal powers above,

Apollo, Pallas, and almighty Jove!

That not one Trojan might be left alive,

And not a Greek of all the race survive.

Might only we the vast destruction shun,

And only we destroy the accursed town!

Her breast all gore, with lamentable cries,

The bleeding innocent Cassandra dies,

Murdered by Clytemnestra’s faithless hand:

Lie with thy father’s whore, my mother said,

That she th’ old man may loathe; and I obeyed:

Of all the Gods, O father Jove, there’s none

Thus given to mischief but thyself alone.

Our young man is to be taught not to commend such things as these, no, nor to show the nimbleness of his wit or subtlety in maintaining an argument by finding out plausible colors and pretences to varnish over a bad matter. But we should teach him rather to judge that poetry is an imitation of the manners and lives of such men as are not perfectly pure and unblamable, but such as are tinctured with passions, misled by false opinions, and muffled with ignorance; though oftentimes they may, by the help of a good natural temper, change them for better qualities. For the young man’s mind, being thus prepared and disposed, will receive no damage by such passages when he meets with them in poems, but will on the one side be elevated with rapture at those things which are well said or done, and on the other, will not entertain but dislike those which are of a contrary character. But he that admires and is transported with every thing, as having his judgment enslaved by the esteem he hath for the names of heroes, will be unawares wheedled into many evil things, and be guilty of the same folly with those who imitate the crookedness of Plato or the lisping of Aristotle. Neither must he carry himself timorously herein, nor, like a superstitious person in a temple, tremblingly adore all he meets with; but use himself to such confidence as may enable him openly to pronounce, This was ill or incongruously said, and, That was bravely and gallantly spoken. For example, Achilles in Homer, being offended at the spinning out that war by delays, wherein he was desirous by feats of arms to purchase to himself glory, calls the soldiers together when there was an epidemical disease among them. But having himself some smattering skill in physic, and perceiving after the ninth day, which useth to be decretory in such cases, that the disease was no usual one nor proceeding from ordinary causes, when he stands up to speak, he waives applying himself to the soldiers, and addresseth himself as a councillor to the general, thus:—

Why leave we not the fatal Trojan shore,

And measure back the seas we cross’d before?

And he spake well, and with due moderation and decorum. But when the soothsayer Chalcas had told him that he feared the wrath of the most potent among the Grecians, after an oath that while he lived no man should lay violent hands on him, he adds, but not with like wisdom and moderation,

Not e’en the chief by whom our hosts are led,

The king of kings, shall touch that sacred head;

in which speech he declares his low opinion or rather his contempt of his chief commander. And then, being farther provoked, he drew his weapon with a design to kill him, which attempt was neither good nor expedient. And therefore by and by he repented his rashness,—

He said, observant of the blue-eyed maid;

Then in the sheath returned the shining blade;

wherein again he did rightly and worthily, in that, though he could not altogether quell his passion, yet he restrained and reduced it under the command of reason, before it brake forth into such an irreparable act of mischief. Again, even Agamemnon himself talks in that assembly ridiculously, but carries himself more gravely and more like a prince in the matter of Chryseis. For whereas Achilles, when his Briseis was taken away from him,

In sullenness withdraws from all his friends,

And in his tent his time lamenting spends;

Agamemnon himself hands into the ship, delivers to her friends, and so sends from him, the woman concerning whom a little before he declared that he loved her better than his wife; and in that action did nothing unbecoming or savoring of fond affection. Also Phoenix, when his father bitterly cursed him for having to do with one that was his own harlot, says,

Him in my rage I purposed to have killed,

But that my land some God in kindness held;

And minded me that Greeks would taunting say,

Lo, here’s the man that did his father slav.

It is true that Aristarchus was afraid to permit these verses to stand in the poet, and therefore censured them to be expunged. But they were inserted by Homer very aptly to the occasion of Phoenix’s instructing Achilles what a pernicious thing anger is, and what foul acts men do by its instigation, while they are capable neither of making use of their own reason nor of hearing the counsel of others. To which end he also introduceth Meleager at first highly offended with his citizens, and afterwards pacified; justly therein reprehending disordered passions, and praising it as a good and profitable thing not to yield to them, but to resist and overcome them, and to repent when one hath been overcome by them.

Now in these instances the difference is manifest. But where a like clear judgment cannot be passed, there we are to settle the young man’s mind thus, by way of distinction. If Nausicaa, having cast her eyes upon Ulysses, a stranger, and feeling the same passion for him as Calypso had before, did (as one that was ripe for a husband) out of wantonness talk with her maidens at this foolish rate,—

O Heaven ! in my connubial hour decree

This man my spouse, or such a spouse as he!

she is blameworthy for her impudence and incontinence. But if, perceiving the man’s breeding by his discourse, and admiring the prudence of his addresses, she rather wisheth to have such a one for a husband than a merchant or a dancing gallant of her fellow-citizens, she is to be commended. And when Ulysses is represented as rejoicing at Penelope’s jocular conversation with her wooers, and at their presenting her with rich garments and other ornaments,

Because she cunningly the fools cajoled,

And bartered light words for their heavy gold;

⁴

if that joy were occasioned by greediness and covetous ness, he discovers himself to be a more sordid prostituter of his own wife than Poliager is wont to be represented on the stage to have been, of whom it is said,—

Happy man he, whose wife, like Capricorn,

Stores him with riches from a golden horn !

But if through foresight he thought thereby to get them the more within his power, as being lulled asleep in security for the future by the hopes she gave them at present, this rejoicing, joined with confidence in his wife, was rational. Again, when he is brought in numbering the goods which the Phaeacians had set on shore together with himself and departed; if indeed, being himself left in such a solitude, so ignorant where he was, and having no security there for his own person, he is yet solicitous for his goods, lest

The sly Phaeacians, when they stole to sea,

Had stolen some part of what they brought away;

⁵

the covetousness of the man deserved in truth to be pitied, or rather abhorred. But if, as some say in his defence, being doubtful whether or no the place where he was landed were Ithaca, he made use of the just tale of his goods to infer thence the honesty of the Phaeacians,—because it was not likely they would expose him in a strange place and leave him there with his goods by him untouched, so as to get nothing by their dishonesty,—then he makes use of a very fit test for this purpose, and deserves commendation for his wisdom in that action. Some also there are who find fault with that passage of the putting him on shore when he was asleep, if it really so happened, and they tell us that the people of Tuscany have still a traditional story among them concerning Ulysses, that he was naturally sleepy, and therefore a man whom many men could not freely converse with. But if his sleep was but feigned, and he made use of this pretence only of a natural infirmity, by counterfeiting a nap, to hide the strait he was in at that time in his thoughts, betwixt the shame of sending away the Phaeacians without giving them a friendly collation and hospitable gifts, and the fear he had of being discovered to his enemies by the treating such a company of men together, they then approve it.

Now, by showing young men these things, we shall preserve them from being carried away to any corruption in their manners. and dispose them to the election and imitation of those that are good, as being before instructed readily to disapprove those and commend these. But this ought with the most care to be done in the reading of tragedies wherein probable and subtle speeches are made use of in the most foul and wicked actions. For that is not always true which Sophocles saith, that

From naughty acts good words can ne’er proceed.

For even he himself is wont to apply pleasant reasonings and plausible arguments to those manners and actions which are wicked or unbecoming. And in another of his fellow-tragedians, we may see even Phaedra herself represented as justifying her unlawful affection for Hippolytus by accusing Theseus of ill-carriage towards her. And in his Troades, he allows Helen the same liberty of speech against Hecuba, whom she judgeth to be more worthy of punishment than herself for her adultery, because she was the mother of Paris that tempted her thereto. A young man therefore must not be accustomed to think any thing of that nature handsomely or wittily spoken, nor to be pleased with such colorable inventions; but rather more to abhor such words as tend to the defence of wanton acts than the very acts themselves.

Notes on the current edition

Πῶς δεῖ τὸν νέον ποιημάτων ἀκούειν.

1. Homer. Π 97

2. Homer. Λ 421

3. id. I 452

4. id. Γ 365

5. πρὸς τὸν] τὸν] Aldina

6. Homer. A 59

7. id. A 90

8. id. A 220

9. Homer. A 349

10. id. I 458

11. ἐμοὶ Homer. ζ 244: ἐμεῦ

12. id. ς 282

13. Meinek. IV p. 667

14. θαρροῦντας scripsi: θαρροῦντες

15. ἀγοντες idem: ἔχοντες

16. Homer. ν 216

17. δεῖ ποιεῖν scripsi: ποιεῖν δεῖ

18. Nauck. p. 247

19. οὗτος] αὐτὸς Emperius Nauck. Eurip. Fr. 430 b p. 113

20. Τρωάσι] v. 919 Hesiod. OD 739

Plutarch Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debeat 8

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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