Plutarch, De capienda ex inimicis utilitate, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 4

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[4] Moreover, as a supplement to this take the declaration of Diogenes,¹ which is thoroughly philosophic and statesmanlike: How shall I defend myself against my enemy ? By proving yourself good and honourable. Men are much distressed when they see their enemies’ horses winning renown or their dogs gaining approval. At the sight of a well-tilled field or a flourishing garden they groan. What, think you, would be their state of mind if you were to show yourself to be an honest, sensible man and a useful citizen, of high repute in speech, clean in actions, orderly in living,

Reaping the deep-sown furrow of your mind From which all goodly counsels spring? ²

Pindar ³ says,

The vanquished are bound In the fetters of silence profound,

not absolutely or universally, however, but only those who realize that they are outdone by their enemies in diligence, goodness, magnanimity, kindly deeds, and good works. These are the things which, as Demosthenes ⁴ puts it, retard the tongue, stop the mouth, constrict the throat, and leave one with nothing to say.

Be thou unlike the base; this thou canst do. ⁵

If you wish to distress the man who hates you, do not revile him as lewd, effeminate, licentious, vulgar, ⁶ or illiberal, but be a man yourself, show self-control, be truthful, and treat with kindness and justice those who have to deal with you. And if you are led into reviling, remove yourself as far as possible from the things for which you revile him. Enter within the portals of your own soul, look about to see if there be any rottenness there, lest some vice lurking somewhere within whisper to you the words of the tragedian:

Wouldst thou heal others, full of sores thyself ? ⁷

If you call your enemy uneducated, strive to intensify in yourself the love of learning and industry; if you call him a coward, rouse even more your selfreliance and manliness; if you call him unchaste and licentious, obliterate from your soul whatever trace of devotion to pleasure may be lurking there unperceived. For there is nothing more disgraceful or painful than evil-speaking that recoils upon its author. So reflected light appears to be the more troublesome in cases of weak eyesight, and the same is true of censures that by the truth are brought back upon the very persons who are responsible for them. For as surely the north-east wind ⁸ brings the clouds, so surely does a bad life bring revilings upon itself.

De capienda ex inimicis utilitate. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

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Current edition Perseus

How To Profit By One's Enemies (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. II. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1928 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Πῶς ἄν τις ἀπ’ ἐχθρῶν ὠφελοῖτο Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol I. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1888.) — 4 focus

[4] ἔτι τοίνυν πρόσλαβε τὴν Διογένους ἀπόφασιν, φιλόσοφον σφόδρα καὶ πολιτικὴν οὖσαν·¹ πῶς ἀμυνοῦμαι τὸν ἐχθρόν; αὐτὸς καλὸς κἀγαθὸς γενόμενος. ἵππους ἐχθρῶν ὁρῶντες εὐδοκιμοῦντας ἀνιῶνται καὶ² κύνας ἐπαινουμένους. ἂν χωρίον ἐκπεπονημένον ἴδωσιν, ἂν εὐθαλοῦντα κῆπον, ἐπιστένουσι. 5 τί οὖν οἴει; σεαυτὸν ἐπιδεικνύμενος ἄνδρα δίκαιον ἀρτίφρονα χρηστόν, ἐν λόγοις εὐδόκιμον, ἐν πράξεσι καθαρόν, ἐν διαίτῃ κόσμιον,

βαθεῖαν³ αὔλακα διὰ φρενὸς καρπούμενον,

ἐξ⁴ ἧς τὰ κεδνὰ βλαστάνει βουλεύματα;

10 νικώμενοι φησὶ Πίνδαρος⁵ ἄνδρες ἀγρυξίᾳ δέδενται, 88c οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ πάντες, ἀλλʼ ὅσοι νικωμένους αὑτοὺς ὁρῶσιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιμελείᾳ χρηστότητι μεγαλοφροσύνῃ φιλανθρωπίαις⁶ εὐεργεσίαις· ταῦτʼ ἀποστρέφει τὴν γλῶτταν ὡς ὁ Δημοσθένης⁷ 15 φησίν, ἐμφράττει τὸ στόμα, ἄγχει, σιωπᾶν ποιεῖ.

σύ⁸ τοι διάφερε τῶν κακῶν· ἔξεστι γάρ.

εἰ θέλεις ἀνιᾶν τὸν μισοῦντα, μὴ λοιδόρει κίναιδον μηδὲ μαλακὸν μηδʼ ἀκόλαστον μηδὲ βωμολόχον μηδʼ ἀνελεύθερον, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἀνὴρ ἴσθι καὶ σωφρόνει 20 καὶ ἀλήθευε καὶ χρῶ φιλανθρώπως καὶ δικαίως τοῖς 88d ἐντυγχάνουσιν. ἂν δὲ λοιδορῆσαι προαχθῇς, ἄπαγε πορρωτάτω σεαυτὸν ὧν λοιδορεῖς ἐκεῖνον. ἐνδύου τῇ ψυχῇ, περισκόπει τὰ σαθρά, μὴ τίς σοί ποθεν ὑποφθέγγηται κακία⁹ τὸ τοῦ τραγῳδοῦ 25

ἄλλων ἰατρὸς αὐτὸς ἕλκεσι βρύων

¹⁰

ἂν ἀπαίδευτον εἴπῃς,¹¹ ἐπίτεινε τὸ φιλομαθὲς ἐν σεαυτῷ καὶ φιλόπονον· ἂν δειλόν, ἔγειρε μᾶλλον τὸ θαρραλέον καὶ ἀνδρῶδες· κἂν¹² ἀσελγῆ καὶ ἀκόλαστον, ἐξάλειφε τῆς ψυχῆς; εἴ τι λανθάνον ἐστὶ φιληδονίας 5 ἴχνος. οὐδὲν γὰρ αἴσχιόν ἐστι· βλασφημίας παλινδρομούσης οὐδὲ λυπηρότερον, ἀλλʼ ἔοικε καὶ τοῦ φωτὸς; τὸ ἀνακλώμενον μᾶλλον ἐνοχλεῖν τὰς ἀσθενεῖς ὁράσεις καὶ τῶν ψόγων οἱ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀναφερόμενοι 88e τοὺς ψέγοντας ὑπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας. ὡς γὰρ¹³ 10 ὁ καικίας τὰ νέφη, καὶ ὁ φαῦλος βίος ἐφʼ ἑαυτὸν ἕλκει τὰς λοιδορίας.

Translations (1)

How a man may receive advantage and profit from his enemies. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. I. Goodwin, William W., editor; Hartcliff, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 4 focus

[4] And here may be inserted that wise and facetious answer of Diogenes to one that asked him how he might be revenged of his enemy: The only way, says he, to gall and fret him effectually is for yourself to appear a good and honest man. The common people are generally envious and vexed in their minds, as oft as they see the cattle of those they have no kindness for, their dogs, or their horses, in a thriving condition; they sigh, fret, set their teeth, and show all the tokens of a malicious temper, when they behold their fields well tilled, or their gardens adorned and beset with flowers. If these things make them so restless and uneasy, what dost thou think they would do, what a torment would it be to them, if thou shouldst demonstrate thyself in the face of the world to be in all thy carriage a man of impartial justice, a sound understanding, unblamable integrity, of a ready and eloquent speech, sincere and upright in all your dealings, sober and temperate in all that you eat or drink;

While from the culture of a prudent mind,

Harvests of wise and noble thought you reap.¹

Those that are conquered, saith Pindar, must seal up their lips; they dare not open their mouths, no, not even to mutter.² But all men in these circumstances are not so restrained; but such chiefly as come behind their opposites in the practice of diligence, honesty, greatness of mind, humanity, and beneficence. These are beautiful and glorious virtues, as Demosthenes ³ says, that are too pure and great to be touched by an ill tongue, that stop the mouths of backbiters, choke them and command them to be silent. Make it thy business therefore to surpass the base; for this surely thou canst do. ⁴ If we would vex them that hate us, we must not reproach our adversary for an effeminate and debauched person, or one of a boorish and filthy conversation; but instead of throwing this dirt, we ourselves must be remarkable for a steady virtue and a wellgoverned behavior; we must speak the truth, and carry ourselves civilly and justly towards all who hold any correspondence or maintain any commerce with us. But if at any time a man is so transported by passion as to utter any bitter words, he must take heed that he himself be not chargeable for those crimes for which he upbraids others; he must descend into himself, examine and cleanse his own breast, that no putrefaction nor rottenness be lodged there; otherwise he will be condemned as the physician is by the tragedian:—

Wilt thou heal others, thou thyself being full of sores?⁵

If a man should jeer you and say that you are a dunce and illiterate, upon this motive you ought to apply your mind to the taking of pains in the study of philosophy and all kinds of learning. If he abuses you for a coward, then raise up your mind to a courageous manliness and an undaunted boldness of spirit. If he tells you you are lascivious and wanton, this scandal may be wiped off by having your mind barred up against all impressions of lust, and your discourse free from the least obscenity. These are allowable returns, and the most cutting strokes you can give your enemy; there being nothing that carries in it more vexation and disgrace, than that scandalous censures should fall back upon the head of him who was the first author of them. For as the beams of the sun reverberated do most severely affect and punish weak eyes, so those calumnies are most vexatious and intolerable which truth retorts back upon their first broachers. For as the north-east wind gathers clouds, so does a vicious life gather unto itself opprobrious speeches.

Notes on the current edition

How to Profit By One's Enemies

1. Quoted again in Moralia, 21 E.

2. Aeschylus Seven against Thebes, 593; quoted also in Moralia, 32 D, 186 B, and Life of Aristides, chap. iii. (p. 320 B).

3. Pindar, Frag. 229 (ed. Christ).

4. Demosthenes, Or. xix. ( De falsa legatione) 208 (p. 406).

5. Euripides, Orestes, 251.

6. Pindar, Frag. 229 (ed. Christ). d Demosthenes, Or. xix. ( De falsa legatione) 208 (p. 406). e Euripides, Orestes, 251.

7. From an unknown play of Euripides; cf. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Euripides, No. 1086; Plutarch quotes the line also in Moralia 1 F, 481 A, and 1110 E.

8. Proverbial; cf. Aristotle, Problem. 26. 1; Theophrastus, De ventis, p. 410; Pliny, Nat. Hist.ii. 48; Plutarch, Moralia, 823 B, and Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Adespota, No. 75.

Plutarch De capienda ex inimicis utilitate 4

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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