Plutarch, Conjugalia Praecepta, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 25

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[25] Socrates ¹ used to urge the ill-favoured among the mirror-gazing youth to make good their defect by virtue, and the handsome not to disgrace their face and figure by vice. So too it is an admirable thing for the mistress of the household, whenever she holds her mirror in her hands, to talk with herself—for the ill-favoured woman to say to herself, What if I am not virtuous? and the beautiful one, What if I am virtuous as well? For if the ill-favoured woman is loved for her character, that is something of which she can be very proud, far more than if she were loved for her beauty.

Conjugalia Praecepta. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Advice to Bride and Groom (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. II. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1928 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Γαμικὰ παραγγέλματα Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol I. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1888.) — 25 focus

[25] ὁ Σωκράτης ἐκέλευε τῶν ἐσοπτριζομένων 25 νεανίσκων τοὺς μὲν αἰσχροὺς ἐπανορθοῦσθαι τῇ ἀρετῇ, τοὺς δὲ καλοὺς μὴ καταισχύνειν τῇ κακίᾳ τὸ εἶδος. καλὸν οὖν καὶ τὴν οἰκοδέσποιναν, ὅταν ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν ἔχῃ τὸ ἔσοπτρον, αὐτὴν ἐν ἑαυτῇ διαλαλεῖν, τὴν μὲν αἰσχρὰν τί οὖν, ἂν μὴ σώφρων γένωμαι; τὴν δὲ καλὴν τί οὖν, ἂν καὶ σώφρων γένωμαι; τῇ γὰρ αἰσχρᾷ σεμνότερον¹ εἰ φιλεῖται διὰ τὸ ἦθος ἢ τὸ κάλλος.

Translations (1)

Conjugal Precepts Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Philips, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 25 focus

[25] Socrates was wont to give this advice to young men that accustomed themselves to their mirrors:—if ill-favored, to correct their deformity by the practice of virtue; if handsome, not to blemish their outward form with inward vice. In like manner, it would not be amiss for a mistress of a family, when she holds her mirror in her hands, to discourse her own thoughts:—if deformed, thus, Should I prove lewd and wicked too?—on the other side, thus the fair one, What if chaste beside? For it adds a kind of veneration to a woman not so handsome, that she is more beloved for the perfections of her mind than the outside graces of her body.

Notes on the current edition

Advice to Bride and Groom

1. Attributed to Bias by Stobaeus, Florilegium, iii. 79 ζ, and by Demetrius Phalereus, Sayings of the Seven Wise Men. Other authors ( e.g. Diogenes Laertius, ii. 33) assign it to Socrates.

Plutarch Conjugalia Praecepta 25

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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