Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 33

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[33]

Question 33.

Why would they not in ancient times sup abroad without their sons, whilst they were in nonage?

Solution. Was not this custom brought in by Lycurgus, when he introduced the boys to the public mess, that they might be inured to use of pleasures modestly, not savagely and rudely, having their superiors by them as overseers and observers? Verily it is of no small concernment that parents should carry themselves with all gravity and sobriety in the presence of their children. For when old men are debauched, it will necessarily follow (as Plato saith) that young men will be most debauched.

Quaestiones Romanae. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Roman Questions (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chauncy, Isaac translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 33 focus

[33] διὰ τί τὸ παλαιὸν οὐκ ἐδείπνουν ἔξω χωρὶς τῶν υἱῶν ἔτι τὴν παιδικὴν ἡλικίαν ἐχόντων;

ἢ τοῦτο μὲν καὶ Λυκοῦργος εἴθισε, τοὺς παῖδας ἐπεισάγων τοῖς φιδιτίοις, ὅπως ἐθίζωνται μὴ θηριωδῶς μηδʼ ἀτάκτως ἀλλὰ μετʼ εὐλαβείας ταῖς ἡδοναῖς προσφέρεσθαι, τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους οἷον ἐπισκόπους καὶ θεατὰς ἔχοντες; οὐκ ἔλαττον δὴ τοῦτο καὶ ¹ τοὺς πατέρας αὐτοὺς μᾶλλον αἰδεῖσθαι καὶ σωφρονεῖν τῶν υἱῶν παρόντων· ὅπου γὰρ ἀναισχυντοῦσι γέροντες, ὥς φησιν ὁ Πλάτων, ἐνταῦθʼ ἀνάγκη καὶ νέους ἀναισχυντοτάτους εἶναι.

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 33 focus

[33] διὰ τί τὸ παλαιὸν οὐκ ἐδείπνουν ἔξω χωρὶς τῶν υἱῶν, ἔτι τὴν παιδικὴν ἡλικίαν ἐχόντων; ἦ τοῦτο μὲν καὶ Λυκοῦργος εἴθισε, τοὺς παῖδας ἐπεισάγων τοῖς φιδιτίοις, ὅπως ἐθίζωνται μὴ θηριωδῶς 20 μηδʼ ἀτάκτως ἀλλὰ μετʼ εὐλαβείας ταῖς ἡδοναῖς προσφέρεσθαι, τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους οἷον ἐπισκόπους καὶ θεατὰς ἔχοντες; οὐκ ἔλαττον δὴ τοῦτο καὶ τοὺς πατέρας αὐτοὺς μᾶλλον αἰδεῖσθαι καὶ σωφρονεῖν τῶν υἱῶν παρόντων· ὅπου γὰρ ἀναισχυντοῦσι γέροντες, 25 ὥς φησιν ὁ Πλάτων, ¹ ἐνταῦθʼ ἀνάγκη καὶ νέους ἀναισχυντοτάτους εἶναι.

Translations (1)

The Roman Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 33 focus

[33] Why in ancient days did they never dine out without their sons, even when these were still but children?

Did Lycurgus introduce this custom also, and bring boys to the common meals that they might become accustomed to conduct themselves toward their pleasures, not in a brutish or disorderly way, but with discretion, since they had their elders as supervisors and spectators, as it were? No less important is the fact that the fathers themselves would also be more decorous and prudent in the presence of their sons: for where the old are shameless, as Plato¹ remarks, there the young also must needs be lost to all sense of shame.

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 33

ed. William W. Goodwin

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Question 33.

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