Plutarch, De Tranquillitate Animi, William Clark Helmbold (Translator), 13

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[13] There are, indeed, some pursuits which cannot by their very nature exist together, but rather are by nature opposed to each other; for example, training in rhetoric and the pursuit of mathematics require a quiet life and leisure, while political functions and the friendship of kings cannot succeed without hard work and the full occupation of one’s time. And¹ wine and indulgence in meat do indeed make the body strong and vigorous, but the soul weak²; and unremitting care to acquire and preserve money increases wealth, yet contempt and disdain for it is greatly conducive to progress in philosophy. Therefore not all pursuits are for everyone, but one must, obeying the Pythian³ inscription, know one’s self, and then use one’s self for that one thing for which Nature has fitted one and not do violence to nature by dragging one’s self towards the emulation of now one sort of life, now another.

The horse is for the chariot;

The ox for the plough; beside the ship most swiftly speeds the dolphin;

And if you think to slay a boar, you must find a stout-hearted hound.⁴

But that man is out of his wits who is annoyed and pained that he is not at the same time both a lion

Bred on the mountains, sure of his strength,⁵

and a little Maltese dog cuddled in the lap of a widow.⁶ But not a whit better than he is the man who wishes at the same time to be an Empedocles or a Plato or a Democritus, writing about the universe and the true nature of reality, and, like Euphorion, to be married to a wealthy old woman, or, like Medius,⁷ to be one of Alexander’s boon companions and drink with him; and is vexed and grieved if he is not admired for his wealth, like Ismenias, and also for his valour, like Epameinondas. We know that runners are not discouraged because they do not carry off wrestlers’ crowns, but they exult and rejoice in their own.

Your portion is Sparta: let your crowns be for her!⁸

So also Solon⁹:

But we shall not exchange with them our virtue

For their wealth, since virtue is a sure possession,

But money falls now to this man, now that.

And Strato, the natural philosopher, when he heard that Menedemus had many more pupils than he himself had, said, Why be surprised if there are more who wish to bathe than to be anointed for the contest?¹⁰ And Aristotle,¹¹ writing to Antipater, said, It is not Alexander alone who has the right to be proud because he rules over many men, but no less right to be proud have they who have true notions concerning the gods. For those who have such lofty opinions of their own possessione will not be offended by their neighbours’ goods. But as it is, we do not expect the vine to bear figs nor the olive grapes,¹² but, for ourselves, if we have not at one and the same time the advantages of both the wealthy and the learned, of both commanders and philosophers, of both flatterers and the outspoken, of both the thrifty and the lavish, we slander ourselves, we are displeased, we despise ourselves as living an incomplete and trivial life.

Furthermore, we see that Nature also admonishes us; for just as she has provided different foods for different beasts and has not made them all carnivorous or seed-pickers or root-diggers, so has she given to men a great variety of means for gaining a livelihood,

To shepherd and ploughman and fowler and to him w hom the sea

Provides with sustenance.¹³

We should, therefore, choose the calling appropriate to ourselves, cultivate it diligently, let the rest alone, and not prove that¹⁴ Hesiod spoke inexactly when he said,

Potter is angry with potter, joiner with joiner.

For not only are men jealous of fellow-craftsmen and those who share the same life as themselves, but also the wealthy envy the learned, the famous the rich, advocates the sophists, and, by Heaven free men and patricians regard with wondering admiration and envy successful comedians in the theatre and dancers and servants in the courts of kings; and by so doing they afford themselves no small vexation and disturbance.

De Tranquillitate Animi. Plutarch. William Clark Helmbold (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1939.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

On Tranquillity of Mind (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. VI. Helmbold, William Clark, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1939 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ εὐθυμίας Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol III. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.) — 13 focus

[13] τινὰ γὰρ οὐδὲ συνυπάρχειν ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ὑπεναντιοῦσθαι πέφυκεν ἀλλήλοις τῶν σπουδαζομένων, οἷον ἄσκησις λόγων καὶ μαθημάτων ἀνάληψις ἀπραγμοσύνης δεῖται καὶ σχολῆς· δυνάμεις δὲ πολιτικαὶ 5 καὶ φιλίαι βασιλέων οὐκ ἄνευ πραγμάτων οὐδʼ ἀσχολιῶν περιγίγνονται. καὶ μὴν οἶνοί τε καὶ σαρκῶν ἐμφορήσεις¹ σῶμα μὲν ἰσχυρὸν ποιοῦσι καὶ ῥωμαλέον, 472c ψυχὴν δʼ ἀσθενῆ καὶ χρημάτων ἐπιμέλεια μὲν συνεχὴς καὶ τήρησις αὔξει πλοῦτον, ὑπεροψία 10 δὲ καὶ περιφρόνησις² μέγα πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν ἐφόδιον. ὅθεν οὐ πάντα πάντων ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ δεῖ τῷ Πυθικῷ γράμματι πειθόμενον αὑτὸν καταμαθεῖν· εἶτα χρῆσθαι πρὸς ἓν ὃ πέφυκε, καὶ μὴ πρὸς ἄλλον ἄλλοτε βίου ζῆλον ἕλκειν καὶ παραβιάζεσθαι τὴν φύσιν· 15

ἐν ἅρμασιν ἵππος, ἐν δʼ ἀρότρῳ βοῦς,

παρὰ ναῦν δʼ ἰθύει τάχιστα δελφίς,

κάπρῳ δὲ βουλεύοντα φόνον

κύνα χρὴ τλάθυμον ἐξευρεῖν.

ὁ δʼ ἀσχάλλων καὶ λυπούμενος ὅτι μὴ καὶ λέων ἐστὶν 20 472d

ὀρεσίτροφος ἀλκὶ πεποιθώς

⁴ ἅμα καὶ κυνίδιον Μελιταῖον ἐν κόλπῳ χήρας γυναικὸς τιθηνούμενον, ἀπόπληκτός ἐστι. τούτου δʼ οὐδέν βελτίων ὁ βουλόμενος ἅμα μὲν Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ἢ Πλάτων ἢ Δημόκριτος εἶναι περὶ κόσμου γράφων 25 καὶ τῆς τῶν ὄντων ἀληθείας, ἅμα δὲ πλουσίᾳ γραῒ συγκαθεύδειν ὡς Εὐφορίων, ἢ ἰὼν⁵ ἐπὶ κῶμον Ἀλεξάνδρῳ συμπίνειν ὡς Μήδιος· ἀγανακτῶν δὲ καὶ λυπούμενος, εἰ μὴ θαυμάζεται διὰ πλοῦτον ὡς Ἰσμηνίας καὶ διʼ ἀρετὴν ὡς Ἐπαμεινώνδας. οὐδὲ γὰρ 5 οἱ δρομεῖς, ὅτι μὴ τοὺς τῶν παλαιστῶν φέρονται στεφάνους, ἀθυμοῦσιν ἀλλὰ τοῖς αὑτῶν ἀγάλλονται 472e καὶ χαίρουσι Σπάρταν⁶ ἔλαχες, ταύταν κόσμει καὶ γὰρ ὁ Σόλων

ἀλλʼ ἡμεῖς αὐτοῖς οὐ διαμειψόμεθα

⁷ 10 τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν πλοῦτον· ἐπεὶ τὸ μὲν ἔμπεδόν αἰεί,⁸

χρήματα δʼ ἀνθρώπων ἄλλοτε ἄλλος ἔχει.

καὶ Στράτων ὁ φυσικός, ἀκούσας ὅτι πολλαπλασίους ἔχει Μενέδημος μαθητάς, τί οὖν ἔφη θαυμαστόν, εἰ πλείονὲς εἰσιν οἱ λούεσθαι θέλοντες τῶν ἀλείφεσθαι 15 βουλομένων Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον γράφων οὐκ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ μόνον ἔφη προσήκει 472f μέγα φρονεῖν, ὅτι κρατεῖ πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων; ἀλλʼ οὐχ ἧττον οἷς ὑπάρχει περὶ θεῶν ἃ δεῖ δοξάζειν. τοὺς γὰρ οὕτω, τὰ οἰκεῖα σεμνύνοντας οὐκ ἐνοχλήσει 20 τὰ τῶν πλησίον νῦν δὲ τὴν ἄμπελον σῦκα φέρειν οὐκ ἀξιοῦμεν οὐδὲ τὴν ἐλαίαν βότρυς· αὐτοὶ δʼ ἑαυτούς, ἐὰν μὴ καὶ τὰ τῶν πλουσίων ἅμα καὶ τὰ τῶν λογίων καὶ τὰ τῶν στρατευομένων καὶ τὰ τῶν φιλοσοφούντων καὶ τὰ τῶν κολακευόντων καὶ τὰ τῶν παρρησιαζομένων 25 καὶ τὰ τῶν φειδομένων καὶ τὰ τῶν δαπανώντων ἔχωμεν προτερήματα, συκοφαντοῦμεν καὶ ἀχαριστοῦμεν αὑτοῖς⁹ καὶ καταφρονοῦμεν ὡς, ἐνδεῶς 473a καὶ εὐτελῶς¹⁰ βιούντων. πρὸς δὲ τούτῳ καὶ τὴν φύσιν ὁρῶμεν ὑπομιμνήσκουσαν ἡμᾶς. ὡς γὰρ τῶν θηρίων ἑτέροις ἀφʼ ἑτέρων παρεσκεύασε τὴν τροφὴν εἶναι καὶ οὐ πάντα σαρκοφαγεῖν ἢ σπερμολογεῖν ἢ 5 ῥιζωρυχεῖν ἐποίησεν, οὕτω τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ποικίλας πρὸς τὸν βίον ἀφορμὰς ἔδωκε·

μηλοβότᾳ τʼ ἀρότᾳ τʼ ὀρνιχολόχῳ¹¹ τε

καὶ ὃν πόντος τρέφει δεῖ δὲ τὸ πρόσφορον ἑαυτοῖς ἑλομένους καὶ διαπονοῦντας ἐᾶν τὰ τῶν ἄλλων, καὶ 10 μὴ τὸν Ἡσίοδον¹² ἐλέγχειν ἐνδεέστερον εἰπόντα

καὶ κεραμεὺς κεραμεῖ κοτέει καὶ τέκτονι τέκτων.

οὐ γὰρ μόνον τοὺς ὁμοτέχνους καὶ τοὺς ὁμοτρόπους 473b ζηλοῦντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ λογίους πλούσιοι καὶ πλουσίους ἔνδοξοι καὶ δικολόγοι σοφιστάς, καὶ ναὶ μὰ Δία 15 κωμῳδοὺς εὐημεροῦντας ἐν θεάτροις καὶ ὀρχηστὰς καὶ θεράποντας ἐν αὐλαῖς βασιλέων ἐλεύθεροι καὶ εὐπατρίδαι κατατεθαμβημένοι καὶ μακαρίζοντες, οὐ μετρίως λυποῦσιν αὑτοὺς καὶ ταράττουσιν.

Translations (1)

Of the Tranquillity of the Mind. Perseus (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.) — 13 focus

[13] And there are some things which carry a contrariety in their nature, and cannot be consistent. As for instance, the study of the mathematics and practice in oratory are exercises which require a great leisure and freedom from other concerns; but the intrigues of politics cannot be managed, and the favor of princes cannot be attained or cultivated, without severe application and being involved in affairs of high moment. Then the indulging ourselves to drink wine and eat flesh makes the body strong, but it effeminates the mind. Industry to acquire and care to preserve our wealth do infinitely increase it; but the contempt of riches is the best refreshment in our philosophic journey. Hence it is very manifest that there is a wide difference in things, and that we ought to obey the inscription of the Pythian oracle, that every man should know himself, that he should not constrain his genius but leave it to its own propensions, and then that he should apply himself to that to which he is most adapted, and not do violence to Nature by dragging her perforce to this or that course of life.

With generous provender they the horse do feed,

That he may win the race with strength and speed.

The mighty ox is fitted to the yoke,

And by his toil the fertile clods are broke.

The dolphin, when a ship he doth espy,

Straight the good-natured fish his fins doth ply;

By the ship’s motion he his own doth guide,

And lovingly swims constant to her side.

And if you’d apprehend the foaming boar,

The monster by a mastiff must be tore.

But he is stupid in his wishes who takes it amiss that he is not a lion,

Who with a proud insulting air doth tread,

Rough as the mountains where he first was bred;

or that he is not a Malta-shock, delicately brought up in the lap of a fond widow. He is not a jot more rational who would be an Empedocles, a Plato, or a Democritus, and write about the universe and the reality of things therein, and at the same time would sleep by the dry side of an old woman, because she is rich, as Euphorion did; or be admitted to debauch with Alexander amongst his club of drunkards, as Medius was; or be concerned that he is not in as high a vogue of admiration as Ismenias was for his riches and Epaminondas for his virtue. For those who run races do not think they have injury done them if they are not crowned with those garlands which are due to the wrestlers, but they are rather transported with joy at their own rewards. Sparta has fallen to thy lot; honor and adorn her. Solon hath expressed himself to this purpose: —

Virtue for sordid wealth shall not be sold;

It’s beauty far outshines the miser’s gold.

This without Fortune’s shocks doth still endure;

But that’s possession is insecure.

And Strato, who wrote of physics, when he heard that Menedemus had a great number of scholars, asked: What wonder is it, if more come to wash than to be anointed? And Aristotle, writing to Antipater, declared, that Alexander was not the only one who ought to think highly of himself because his dominion extended over many subjects, since they had a right to think as well of themselves who entertained becoming sentiments of the Gods. So that, by having a just opinion of our own excellences, we shall be disturbed with the less envy against those of other men. But now, although in other cases we do not expect figs from the vine nor grapes from the olive-tree, yet, if we have not the complicated titles of being rich and learned, philosophers in the schools and commanders in the field, if we cannot flatter, and have the facetious liberty to speak what we please, nay, if we are not counted parsimonious and splendid in our expenses at the same time, we grow uneasy to ourselves, and despise our life as maimed and imperfect. Besides, Nature seems to instruct us herself; for, as she ministers different sorts of food to her animals, and hath endowed them with diversity of appetites, — some to eat flesh, others to pick up seed, and others to dig up roots for their nourishment, — so she hath bestowed upon her rational creatures various sorts of accommodations to sustain their being. The shepherd hath one distinct from the ploughman; the fowler hath another peculiar to himself; and the fourth lives by the sea. So that in common equity we ought to labor in that vocation which is appointed and most commodious for us, and let alone the rest; and so not to prove that Hesiod fell short of the truth when he spake after this manner: —

The potter hates another of the trade

If by his hands a finer dish is made;

The smith his brother smudge with scorn doth treat,

If he his iron strikes with brisker heat.

⁴

And this emulation is not confined to mechanics and those who follow the same occupations; but the rich man envies the learned. He that hath a bright reputation envies the miser’s guineas, and the pettifogger thinks he is outdone in talking by the sophister. Nay, by Heaven, he that is born free sottishly admires the servile attendance of him who is of the household to a king; and the man that hath patrician blood in his veins calls the comedian happy who acts his part gracefully and with humor, and applauds even the mimic who pleaseth with farce and scaramouchy gestures; thus by a false estimate of happiness they disturb and perplex themselves.

Notes on the current edition

On Tranquillity of Mind

1. This passage to the beginning of the quotation from Pindar below is quoted by Stobaeus, vol. iii. p. 559 ed. Hense.

2. Words of Androcydes: Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, vii. 6 ed. Stählin; see also Moralia, 995 e, Athenaeus, iv. 157 d.

3. Cf. Moralia, 164 b.

4. Pindar, Frag. 234; Cf. 451 d, supra.

5. Homer, Od., vi. 130.

6. Cf. O. Hense, Rheinisches Museum, xlv. 549, note 1.

7. Cf. Life of Alexander, lxxv. (706 c); Moralia, 65 c, 124 c; Arrian, Anabasis, vii. 225. 1.

8. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. ², p. 588, Euripides, Frag. 723, from the Telephus; Cf. Moralia, 602 b; Paroemiographi Graeci, ii. p. 772.

9. Frag. 4, verses 10-12 ed. Diehl; Frag. 15, verses 2-4 ed. Edmonds; Cf. Moralia, 78 c,l 92 e, Life of Solon, iii. (79 f).

10. Cf. the anecdote of Zeno, Moralia, 78 d-e, 545 f.

11. Frag. 664 ed. V. Rose; Cf. Moralia, 78 d, 545 a; Julian’s Letter to Themistius, 265 a (ii. p. 231 ed. Wright, L.C.L.).

12. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

13. Pindar, Isthmian Odes, i. 48; Cf. Moralia, 406 c.

14. Works and Days, 25; the whole passage, to the end of the chapter, is quoted in the Munich scholia on this verse of Hesiod (Usener, Rheinisches Museum, xxii. 592).

Plutarch De Tranquillitate Animi 13

William Clark Helmbold (Translator)

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