Plutarch, Consolatio ad Apollonium, ed. William W. Goodwin, 21

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[21] But it is objected, the calamity was sudden, and I did not expect it. But thou oughtest to have done it, and considered the vanity and uncertainty of human affairs, that thy enemies might not have come suddenly upon thee and taken thee unawares. Theseus in Euripides seems to be excellently well prepared for events of this nature, for he saith thus—

This wholesome precept from the wise I learn,

To think of misery without concern.

My meditating thoughts are always spent

Either on death or else on banishment.

Foresight of evils doth employ my mind,

That me without defence they may not find; And though in ambuscade the mischief lies, Kill me it may, but shall not me surprise.¹ But those who are of a degenerate and thoughtless spirit never apply their mind to any thing that is either useful or becoming; but they grow exorbitant in their sorrows, and afflict the innocent body, making it sick for company, as Achaeus expresseth it.

Consolatio ad Apollonium. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Consolation to Apollonius (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. I. Goodwin, William W., editor; Morgan, Matthew, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.)

Editions (1)

Πραμυθητικὸς πρὸς Ἀπολλώνιον Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol I. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1888.) — 21 focus

[21] ἀλλʼ οὐ γὰρ ἤλπιζον φησὶ ταῦτα πείσεσθαι, 112d οὐδὲ προσεδόκων ἀλλʼ ἐχρῆν σε προσδοκᾶν καὶ προκατακεκρικέναι τῶν ἀνθρωπείων τὴν ἀδηλότητα 20 καὶ οὐδένειαν, καὶ οὐκ ἂν νῦν ἀπαράσκευος ὥσπερ ὑπὸ πολεμίων ἐξαίφνης ἐπελθόντων ἐλήφθης καλῶς γὰρ ὁ παρὰ τῷ Εὐριπίδῃ¹ Θησεὺς παρεσκευάσθαι φαίνεται πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα· ἐκεῖνος γάρ φησιν

ἐγὼ δὲ τοῦτο παρὰ σοφοῦ τινος μαθὼν 25

εἰς φροντίδας νοῦν² συμφορὰς τʼ³ ἐβαλλόμην,

φυγὰς τʼ ἐμαυτῷ προστιθεὶς πάτρας ἐμῆς

θανάτους τʼ ἀώρους καὶ κακῶν ἄλλας ὁδούς,

ἵνʼ εἴ τι πάσχοιμʼ ὧν ἐδόξαζον φρενί, 112e

μή μοι νεῶρες⁴ προσπεσὸν μᾶλλον δάκοι⁵

οἱ δʼ ἀγεννέστεροι καὶ ἀνασκήτως διακείμενοι οὐδʼ ἀναστροφὴν ἐνίοτε λαμβάνουσι πρὸς τὸ βουλεύσασθαί 5 τι τῶν εὐσχημόνων καὶ συμφερόντων, ἀλλʼ ἐκτρέπονται πρὸς τὰς ἐσχάτας ταλαιπωρίας, τὸ μηδὲν αἴτιον σῶμα τιμωρούμενοι καὶ τὰ μὴ νοσοῦντα κατὰ τὸν Ἀχαιὸν⁶ συναλγεῖν, ἀναγκάζοντες.

Translations (1)

A Letter of Condolence to Apollonius Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. II. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1928 (printing).) — 21 focus

[21] But I cannot, he says, for I never expected or looked for this experience. But you ought to have looked for it, and to have previously pronounced judgement on human affairs for their uncertainty and fatuity, and then you would not now have been taken off your guard as by enemies suddenly come upon you. Admirably does Theseus in Euripides ¹ appear to have prepared himself for such crises, for he says:

But I have learned this from a certain sage, And on these cares and troubles set my mind, And on myself laid exile from my land And early deaths and other forms of ills, That if I suffer aught my fancy saw, It should not, coming newly, hurt the more.

But the more ignoble and untutored sometimes cannot even recall themselves to the consideration of anything seemly and profitable, but go out of their way to find extremes of wretchedness, even to punishing their innocent body and to forcing the unafflicted, as Achaeus ² says, to join in their grief.

Notes on the current edition

Consolation to Apollonius

1. See the Latin version in Cicero, Tusc III. 14, 29.

Plutarch Consolatio ad Apollonium 21

ed. William W. Goodwin

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers