Plutarch, De fraterno amore, William Clark Helmbold (Translator), 20

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[20] And so the saying of Theophrastus,¹ - its relevance is suggested by our very subject - is excellent: If the possessions of friends are common,² then by all means the friends of friends should be common; and one should urge this advice upon brothers with special emphasis. For associations and intimacies which are maintained separately and apart lead brothers away from each other and turn them toward others, since an immediate consequence of affection for others is to take pleasure in others, to emulate others, and to follow the lead of others. For friendships shape character and there is no more important indication of a difference in character than the selection of different friends. For this reason neither eating and drinking together nor playing and spending the day together can so firmly cement concord between brothers as the sharing of friendships and enmities, taking pleasure in the company of the same persons, and loathing and avoiding the same. For friendships held in common do not tolerate either slanders or conflicts, but if any occasion for wrath or blame arises, it is dissipated by the mediation of friends, who take it upon themselves and disperse it, if they are but intimate with both parties and incline in their goodwill to both alike. For as tin joins together broken bronze and solders it by being applied to both ends, since it is of a material sympathetic to both, so should the friend, well-suited as he is to both and being theirs in common, join still closer their mutual goodwill; but those who are uneven and will not blend, like false notes of a scale in music, create discord, not harmony.³ One may, then, be in doubt as to whether Hesiod⁴ was right or not in saying, Nor should one make a friend a brother’s peer. For that man who is a considerate and a common friend to both brothers, as we have described him, compounded as he is of the natures of both, will the more readily be a bond of brotherly love between them. But Hesiod, it is likely, was afraid of the common run of friends who are evil because of their jealous and selfish natures.

But even if we feel an equal affection for a friend, we should always be careful to reserve for a brother the first place in public offices and administration, and in invitations and introductions to distinguished men, and, in general, whenever we deal with occasions which in the eyes of the public give distinction and tend to confer honour, rendering thus to Nature the appropriate dignity and prerogative. For undue precedence in such matters is not so grand a thing for the friend, as the slight is shameful and degrading for a brother.

But concerning this subject my opinions have been expressed more fully elsewhere. ⁵ However, that verse of Menander,⁶ which is quite true,

No one that loves will gladly bear neglect,

reminds and teaches us to be considerate of our brothers and not, through trust in Nature’s influence, to slight them. It is true that a horse is by nature fond of man and a dog fond of his master, but if they do not meet with the proper tending or care, they grow estranged and alienated; and though the body is very closely related to the soul, yet if it is neglected and overlooked by the soul, it becomes unwilling to co-operate and even harms and abandons the soul’s activities.

De fraterno amore. Plutarch. William Clark Helmbold (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1939.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

On Brotherly Love (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. VI. Helmbold, W.C., translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1939 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ φιλαδελφίας Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol III. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig. Teubner, 1891.) — 20 focus

[20] διὸ τοῦ λόγου τὸ συνεχὲς ὑπαγορεύοντος, εὖ μὲν εἶπε Θεόφραστος ὡς εἰ κοινὰ τὰ φίλων 25 ἐστί, μάλιστα δεῖ κοινοὺς τῶν φίλων εἶναι τοὺς φίλους· οὐχ ἣκιστα δʼ ἄν τις ἀδελφοῖς τοῦτο παραινέσειεν. αἱ γὰρ ἰδίᾳ καὶ χωρὶς ὁμιλίαι καὶ συνήθειαι πρὸς ἄλλους ἀποστρέφουσι καὶ ἀπάγουσιν ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων· τῷ γὰρ φιλεῖν ἑτέρους εὐθὺς ἕπεται τὸ χαίρειν 490f ἑτέροις καὶ ζηλοῦν ἑτέρους καὶ ἄγεσθαι ὑφʼ ἑτέρων. ἠθοποιοῦσι γὰρ αἱ φιλίαι, καὶ μεῖζον οὐθέν ἐστι διαφορᾶς ἠθῶν σημεῖον ἢ φίλων αἱρέσεις διαφερόντων· 5 . ὅθεν οὔτε τὸ συνεσθίειν ἀδελφοὺς καὶ συμπίνειν οὔτε τὸ συμπαίζειν καὶ συνδιημερεύειν οὕτω συνεκτικόν ἐστιν ὁμονοίας, ὡς τὸ συμφιλεῖν καὶ συνεχθραίνειν ἥδεσθαι τε τοῖς αὐτοῖς συνόντα καὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς¹ βδελύσσεσθαι καὶ φεύγειν. οὐδὲ γὰρ 10 διαβολὰς; αἱ κοιναὶ φιλίαι φέρουσιν οὐδὲ συγκρούσεις· ἀλλὰ κἂν γένηταί τις ὀργὴ καὶ μέμψις, ἐκλύεται διὰ μέσων τῶν φίλων, ἐκδεχομένων καὶ διασκεδαννύντων, ἄνπερ ἀμφοτέροις οἰκείως ἔχωσι καὶ πρὸς 491a ἀμφοτέρους ὁμοῦ τῇ εὐνοίᾳ συννεύωσιν. ὡς γὰρ 15 ὁ κασσίτερος ῥαγέντα τὸν χαλκὸν συναρμόττει καὶ συγκεράννυσι τῷ ψαύειν ἑκατέρου πέρατος οἰκείως ὁμοπαθὴς γιγνόμενος, οὕτω δεῖ τὸν φίλον εὐάρμοστον ὄντα καὶ κοινὸν ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς προσκαταπυκνοῦν τὴν εὔνοιαν. οἱ δʼ ἄνισοι καὶ ἄμικτοι 20 καθάπερ ἐν διαγράμματι μουσικῷ φθόγγοι, διάζευξιν οὐ συναφὴν ποιοῦσιν. ἔστιν οὖν διαπορῆσαι πότερον ὀρθῶς ἢ τοὐναντίον ὁ Ἡσίοδος² εἶπε

μηδὲ κασιγνήτῳ ἶσον ποιεῖσθαι ἑταῖρον

ὁ μὲν γὰρ εὐγνώμων καὶ κοινός, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, 25 491b μᾶλλον ἐγκραθεὶς διʼ ἀμφοτέρων σύνδεσμος; ἔσται τῆς φιλαδελφίας· ὁ δʼ Ἡσίοδος ὡς ἔοικεν ἐφοβήθη τοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ φαύλους διὰ τὸ δύσζηλον καὶ φίλαυτον. ὃ δὴ καλῶς ἔχει φυλαττομένους, κἂν εὔνοιαν ἴσην φίλῳ νέμῃ τις, ἀεὶ τὰ πρωτεῖα τἀδελφῷ³ φυλάττειν ἐν ἀρχαῖς καὶ πολιτείαις ἐν κλήσεσι καὶ γνωρίσεσιν ἡγεμόνων καὶ ὅσα τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐπιφανῆ καὶ πρὸς 5 δόξαν ἐστί, τὸ προσῆκον ἀξίωμα τῇ φύσει καὶ γέρας ἀποδιδόντας. οὐ γὰρ οὕτω τῷ φίλῳ τὸ πλέον ἐν τούτοις σεμνόν, ὡς ἀδελφῷ τοὔλαττον αἰσχρὸν γίγνεται καὶ ἄδοξον. ἀλλὰ περὶ ταύτης μὲν ἑτέρωθι τῆς 491c γνώμης γέγραπται τὰ δοκοῦντα διὰ πλειόνων. τὸ 10 δὲ Μενάνδρειον ὀρθῶς ἔχον, ὡς

οὐδεὶς ἀγαπῶν αὐτὸς ἀμελεῖθʼ ἡδέως,

⁴ ὑπομιμνήσκει καὶ διδάσκει τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐπιμελεῖσθαι καὶ μὴ τῇ φύσει πιστεύοντας ὀλιγωρεῖν. καὶ γὰρ ἵππος τῇ φύσει φιλάνθρωπον καὶ κύων φιλοδέσποτον, 15 ἀλλὰ μὴ τυγχάνοντα θεραπείας μηδʼ ἐπιμελείας ἀπόστοργα γίγνεται καὶ ἀλλότρια· καὶ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς συγγενέστατόν ἐστιν, ἀμελούμενον δὲ καὶ παρορώμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῆς οὐκ ἐθέλει συνεργεῖν ἀλλὰ λυμαίνεται καὶ προλείπει τὰς πράξεις. 20 491d

Translations (1)

Of Brotherly Love Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. III. Goodwin, William W., editor; Thomson, John, translator. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company, 1874.) — 20 focus

[20] Therefore (this discourse suggesting one thing after another) Theophrastus said well: If there ought to be all things common amongst friends, why should not the best of those things, their friends themselves, be communicated? And this is advice that cannot be too soon tendered to brethren, for their separate acquaintance and conversation conduce to the estranging them from one another. For those who affect divers friends will be apt to delight in them so much as to emulate them, and will therefore be easily drawn and persuaded by them; for friendships have their distinctive marks and manners, and there is no greater argument of a different genius and disposition than the choice of different friends. Wherefore neither the common table nor the common recreations nor any other sort of intimacy comprehends so much of amity betwixt brothers, as to be united in their interest and to have the same common friends and enemies; for ordinary friendship suffers neither calumnies nor clashings, but if there be any anger or discontent, honest and impartial friends make an end of it. For as tin unites and solders up broken brass, being put to the ends and attempered to the nature of the broken pieces; so it is the part of a friend betwixt two brothers, to suit and accommodate himself to the humors of both, that he may confirm and secure their friendship. But those of different and uncomplying tempers are like improper notes in music, that serve only to spoil the consort, and offend the ear with a harsh noise. It is a question therefore whether Hesiod was in the right or not when he said:

Let not thy friend become thy brother’s peer.¹

For one of an even behavior, that freely communicates himself between both, may by his interest in both contract a firm and happy tie and engagement of love between brothers. But Hesiod, it seems, spoke of those he suspected,—the greatest part and the worst sort of friends,—men of envious and selfish designs. He is wise who avoids such friends; and if in the mean time he divide his kindness equally between a true friend and a brother, let him do it with this reserve always, that the brother have the preference in magistracy and the management of public affairs, that he have the greater respect shown him in invitations and in contracting acquaintance with great persons, and in any thing that looks honorable and great in the eyes of the people, that the pre-eminence be given to Nature; for in these instances to prefer a friend does him not so much credit as that base and unworthy action of lessening and slighting a brother does the vilifying brother disgrace. But several have given their opinions in this thing. That of Menander is very well,

No one who loves will bear to be contemned.

This may remind brothers to preserve a tender regard to one another, and not to presume that Nature will overcome all their slights and disdain. A horse naturally loves a man, and a dog his master; but, if they are neglected in what is fitting and necessary for them, they will grow strange and unmanageable. The body, that is so intimately united to the soul, if the soul suspend a careful influence from it, will not be forward to assist it in its operations; it may rather spoil and cross them.

Notes on the current edition

On Brotherly Love

1. Frag. 75 ed. Wimmer; cf. Moralia, 65 a.

2. Cf. Aristotle, Ethica Nicomachea, viii. 9. 1 (1159 b 31); Kock, Com. Att. Frag., iii. p. 6, Menander, Frag. 9, from the Adelphoe.

3. More exactly, the disjunction, not conjunction of tetrachords.

4. Works and Days, 707; cf. the Commentarii in Hesiodum, 65 (Bernardakis, vol. vii. pp. 83 f.).

5. The reference is perhaps to chap. 5, supra; Volkmann and Brokate are clearly wrong in assigning it to Περὶ φιλίας, which Patzig ( Quaest. Plut., p. 34, cf. the note on 475 d, supra) has shown did not exist.

6. Kock, Com. Att. Frag., iii. p. 213, Frag. 757; cf. Moralia, 95 d.

Plutarch De fraterno amore 20

William Clark Helmbold (Translator)

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