Plutarch, De Tranquillitate Animi, ed. Grēgorios N.Vernardakēs, 12

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[12] οὐχ ἥκιστα τοίνυν εὐθυμίαν κολούει τὸ μὴ συμμέτροις χρῆσθαι πρὸς τὴν ὑποκειμένην δύναμιν 10 ὁρμαῖς ὥσπερ ἱστίοις, ἀλλὰ μειζόνων ἐφιεμένους ταῖς ἐλπίσιν εἶτʼ ἀποτυγχάνοντας αἰτιᾶσθαι δαίμονα καὶ τύχην ἀλλὰ μὴ τὴν αὑτῶν ἀβελτερίαν. οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ τοξεύειν τῷ ἀρότρῳ βουλόμενος καὶ τῷ βοῒ τὸν λαγωὸν κυνηγετεῖν δυστυχής ἐστιν οὐδʼ ὁ γρίφοις 15 καὶ σαγήναις ἐλάφους μὴ λαμβάνων οὐδʼ οἷς δαίμων οὐκ ἐναντιοῦται μοχθηρός, ἀλλʼ ἀβελτερίᾳ¹ 471e καὶ μωρίᾳ τοῖς ἀδυνάτοις ἐπιχειροῦσα.² αἴτιον δʼ ἡ φιλαυτία μάλιστα, φιλοπρώτους ποιοῦσα καὶ φιλονίκους;³ ἐν πᾶσι καὶ πάντων ἐπιδραττομένους ἀπλήστως 20 οὐ γὰρ πλούσιοι μόνον ὁμοῦ καὶ λόγιοι καὶ ἰσχυροὶ καὶ συμποτικοὶ καὶ ἡδεῖς εἶναι καὶ φίλοι βασιλέων καὶ πόλεων ἄρχοντες ἀξιοῦσιν, ἀλλʼ εἰ μὴ καὶ κύνας ἕξουσι πρωτεύοντας ἀρετῇ καὶ ἵππους καὶ ὄρτυγας καὶ ἀλεκτρυόνας ἀθυμοῦσι. Διονύσιος; ὁ πρεσβύτερος 25 οὐκ ἠγάπα μέγιστος ὢν τῶν τότε τυράννων, ἀλλʼ ὅτι· Φιλοξένου τοῦ ποιητοῦ μὴ βέλτιον ᾖδε 471f μηδὲ περιῆν ἐν τῷ διαλέγεσθαι Πλάτωνος, ὀργισθεὶς καὶ παροξυνθεὶς τὸν μὲν εἰς τὰς λατομίας ἐνέβαλε τὸν δʼ ἀπέδοτο πέμψας εἰς Αἴγιναν. οὐ τοιοῦτος δʼ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ Κρίσων ὁ σταδιοδρόμος 5 ἁμιλλώμενος αὐτῷ περὶ τάχους ἔδοξεν ἑκὼν παρεῖναι, σφόδρα διηγανάκτησεν, εὖ δὲ καὶ ὁ ποιητικὸς Ἀχιλλεὺς ὑπειπὼν

τοῖος ἐὼν οἷος οὔ τις Ἀχαιῶν χαλκοχιτώνων

⁴ ἐπήνεγκεν 10

ἐν πολέμῳ· ἀγορῇ δὲ τʼ ἀμείνονές εἰσι καὶ ἄλλοι

Μεγάβυζον δὲ τὸν Πέρσην⁵ εἰς τὸ ζωγραφεῖον ἀναβάντα 472a τὸ Ἀπελλοῦ καὶ λαλεῖν ἐπιχειρήσαντα περὶ τῆς τέχνης ἐπεστόμισεν ὁ Ἀπελλῆς εἰπών ἕως μὲν ἡσυχίαν ἦγες, ἐδόκεις τις εἶναι διὰ τὰ χρυσία καὶ 15 τὴν· πορφύραν, νυνὶ δὲ καὶ ταυτὶ τὰ τρίβοντα τὴν ὤχραν παιδάρια καταγελᾷ σου φλυαροῦντος. ἀλλʼ ἔνιοι τοὺς μὲν Στωικοὺς οἴονται παίζειν, ὅταν ἀκούσωσι τὸν σοφὸν παρʼ αὐτοῖς μὴ μόνον φρόνιμον καὶ δίκαιον καὶ ἀνδρεῖον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ῥήτορα καὶ ποιητὴν 20 καὶ στρατηγὸν καὶ πλούσιον καὶ βασιλέα προσαγορευόμενον αὑτοὺς δὲ πάντων ἀξιοῦσι τούτων, 472b κἂν μὴ τυγχάνωσιν, ἀνιῶνται. καίτοι καὶ τῶν θεῶν ἄλλος ἄλλην ἔχων δύναμιν, ὁ μὲν ἐνυάλιος ὁ δὲ μαντεῖος ὁ δὲ κερδῷος; ἐπονομάζεται καὶ τὴν Ἀφροδίτην 25 ὁ Ζεύς,⁶ ὡς οὐ μετὸν αὐτῇ πολεμικῶν ἔργων, ἐπὶ γάμους ἀποστέλλει καὶ θαλάμους.

De Tranquillitate Animi. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N.Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1891.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

On Tranquillity of Mind Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. VI. Helmbold, William Clark, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1939 (printing).) — 12 focus

[12] Further, another matter which greatly interferes with tranquillity of mind is that we do not manage our impulses, as sailors do their sails, to correspond to our capacity; in our expectations we aim at things too great; then, when we fail, we blame our destiny and our fortune instead of our own folly. For he is not unfortunate who wishes to shoot with his plough and hunt the hare with his ox, nor does a malicious destiny oppose him who cannot capture deer or boar with fishing creels or drag-nets; it is through folly and stupidity that such men attempt the impossible. And self-love is chiefly to blame, which makes men eager to be first and to be victorious in everything and insatiably desirous of engaging in everything. For not only do men demand to be at the same time rich and learned and strong and convivial spirits and good company, and friends of kings and magistrates of cities, but unless they shall also have dogs and horses and quails and cocks that can win prizes, they are disconsolate.

The elder Dionysius¹ was not content with being the greatest tyrant of his age, but because he could not sing verses better than the poet Philoxenus or get the better of Plato in dialectic, enraged and embittered, he cast Philoxenus into the stone-quarries, and, sending Plato to Aegina, sold him into slavery. Alexander² was not of this temper, but when Crison, the famous sprinter, ran a race with him and appeared to slacken his pace deliberately, Alexander was very indignant. And when the Homeric Achilles³ had first said,

Of the bronze-clad Achaeans none is a match for me,

he did well to add,

In war; but in speaking others are better than I.

But when Megabyzus the Persian carne up to the studio of Apelles⁴ and attempted to chatter about art, Apelles shut his mouth by saying, As long as you kept still, you seemed to be somebody because of your gold and purple; but now even these lads who grind the pigments are laughing at your nonsense.

But some think that the Stoics⁵ are jesting when they hear that in their sect the wise man is termed not only prudent and just and brave, but also an orator, a poet, a general, a rich man, and a king; and then they count themselves worthy of all these titles, and if they fail to get them, are vexed. Yet even among the gods different gods hold different powers: one bears the epithet War-like, another Prophetic, another Gain-bringing; and Zeus⁶ dispatches Aphrodite to marriages and nuptial chambers, on the ground that she has no part in deeds of war.

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.) — 12 focus

[12] This likewise greatly obstructs the tranquillity of the mind, that our desires are immoderate and not suited to our abilities of attainment, which, like sails beyond the proportion of the vessel, help only to overset it; so that, being blown up with extravagant expectations, if ill success frustrates our attempts, we presently curse our stars and accuse Fortune, when we ought rather to lay the blame upon our enterprising folly. For we do not reckon him unfortunate who will shoot with a ploughshare, and let slip an ox at a hare. Nor is he born under an unlucky influence who cannot catch a buck with a sling or drag-net; for it was the weakness and perverseness of his mind which inflamed him on to impossible things. The partial love of himself is chiefly in fault, which infuseth a vicious inclination to arrogate, and an insatiable ambition to attempt every thing. For they are not content with the affluence of riches and the accomplishments of the mind, that they are robust, have a complaisance of humor and strength of brain for company, that they are privadoes to princes and governors of cities, unless they have dogs of great sagacity and swiftness, horses of a generous strain, nay, unless their quails and cocks are better than other men’s. Old Dionysius, not being satisfied that he was the greatest potentate of his time, grew angry, even to a frenzy, that Philoxenus the poet exceeded him in the sweetness of his voice, and Plato in the subtleties of disputation; therefore he condemned one to the quarries, and sold the other into Aegina. But Alexander was of another temper; for when Criso the famous runner contended with him for swiftness, and seemed to be designedly lagging behind and yielding the race, he was in a great rage with him. And Achilles in Homer spake very well, when he said: —

None of the Greeks for courage me excel;

Let others have the praise of speaking well.

When Megabyzus the Persian came into the shop of Apelles, and began to ask some impertinent questions concerning his art, the famous painter checked him into silence with this reprimand: As long as thou didst hold thy peace, thou didst appear to be a man of condition, and I paid a deference to the eclat of thy purple and the lustre of thy gold; but now, since thou art frivolous, thou exposest thyself to the laughter even of my boys that mix the colors. Some think the Stoics very childish, when they hear them affirm that the wise man must not only deserve that appellation for his prudence, be of exact justice and great fortitude, but must likewise have all the flowers of a rhetorician and the conduct of a general, must have the elegancies of a poet, be very wealthy, and called a king; but these good men claim all these titles for themselves, and if they do not receive them, they grow peevish and are presently out of temper. But the qualifications of the Gods themselves are different; for the one is styled the deity of war, another of the oracle, a third of traffic; and Jupiter makes Venus preside over marriages and be goddess of the nuptial bed, the delicacy of her sex being unapt for martial affairs.

Notes on the current edition

Περὶ εὐθυμίας

1. ἀβελτερία *: ἀβελτερίᾳ

2. ἐπιχειροῦσα R: ἐπιχειροῦσιν

3. φιλονίκους Duebnerus: φιλονείκους

4. Hom. Σ 105. 106

5. τὸν Πέρσην] del. R

6. Hom. ε 428 sqq.

Plutarch De Tranquillitate Animi 12

ed. Grēgorios N.Vernardakēs

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