Plutarch, An vitiositas ad infelicitatem sufficia, William Clark Helmbold (Translator), 2

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[2] Vice makes all men completely miserable, since as a creator of unhappiness it is clothed with absolute power, for it has no need of either instruments or ministers. But whereas despots, when they desire to make miserable those whom they punish, maintain executioners and torturers, or devise branding-irons and wedges¹; vice, without any apparatus, when it has joined itself to the soul, crushes and overthrows it, and filis the man with grief and lamentation, dejection and remorse. And this is the proof: many are silent under mutilation and endure scourging and being tortured by the wedge at the hands of masters or tyrants without uttering a cry, whenever by the application of reason the soul abates the pain and by main force, as it were, checks and represses it²; but you cannot order anger to be quiet nor grief to be silent, nor can you persuade a man possessed by fear to stand his ground, nor one suffering from remorse not to cry out or tear his hair or smite his thigh. So much more violent is vice than either fire or sword.

An vitiositas ad infelicitatem sufficia. Plutarch. William Clark Helmbold (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1939.

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Current edition Perseus

Whether vice be sufficient to cause unhappiness (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. 6. Helmbold, William Clark, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1939 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Εἰ αὐτάρκης ἡ κακία πρὸς κακοδαιμονίαν Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol 3. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.) — 2 focus

[2] παντοίως;¹ ἡ κακία διατίθησι πάντας ἀνθρώπους, 10 αὐτοτελής τις οὖσα τῆς κακοδαιμονίας δημιουργός· οὔτε γὰρ ὀργάνων οὔτε ὑπηρετῶν ἔχει χρείαν. ἄλλοι δὲ² τύραννοι σπουδάζοντες οὓς ἂν κολάζωσιν ἀθλίους ποιεῖν δημίους τρέφουσι καὶ βασανιστάς, ἢ καυτήρια καὶ σφῆνας ἐπιμηχανῶνται, ἀλόγου ψυχῇ³ 15 ἡ δὲ κακία δίχα πάσης παρασκευῆς τῇ ψυχῇ συνελθοῦσα συνέτριψε καὶ κατέβαλε, λύπης ἐνέπλησε θρήνων βαρυθυμίας μεταμελείας τὸν ἄνθρωπον. τεκμήριον δέ· τεμνόμενοι πολλοὶ σιωπῶσι καὶ μαστιγούμενοι 498e καρτεροῦσι, καὶ σφηνούμενοι ὑπὸ δεσποτῶν 20 ἢ τυράννων φωνὴν οὐκ ἀφῆκαν, ὅταν ἡ ψυχὴ μύσασα τῷ λόγῳ τὸν πόνον⁴ ὥσπερ χειρὶ πιέσῃ καὶ κατάσχῃ· θυμῷ δʼ οὐκ ἂν ἐπιτάξειας ἡσυχίαν οὐδὲ πένθει σιωπήν· οὔτε φοβούμενον στῆναι πείσειας, οὔτε δυσφοροῦντα μετανοίᾳ μὴ βοῆσαι μηδὲ τῶν 25 τριχῶν λαβέσθαι ἢ τὸν μηρὸν κροῦσαι. οὕτω καὶ πυρός ἐστιν ἡ κακία καὶ σιδήρου βιαιοτέρα.

Translations (1)

Whether vice is sufficient to render a man unhappy Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. 4. Goodwin, William W., editor; White, Samuel, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 2 focus

[2] So absolutely does Vice dispose of all men, being such a self-sufficient worker of infelicity, that it has no need either of instruments or servants. Other tyrants, endeavoring to render those men miserable whom they punish, maintain executioners and tormentors, devise searing-irons and racks, to plague the reasonless soul. But Vice, without any preparation of engines, as soon as it enters into the soul, torments and dejects it, filling a man with grief, lamentations, sorrow, and repentance. For a sign that this is so, you may observe that many being cut are silent, being scourged take it patiently, and being racked and tormented by their lords and tyrants send not forth the least shriek, since the soul, repressing the voice by reason, restrains and keeps it in as with the hand; but you will scarce ever be able to quiet anger or to silence sorrow; nor can you persuade one that is in a fright to stand still, or one that is stung with remorse of conscience to forbear exclaiming, tearing his hair, and smiting his thigh. So much is Vice more violent than either fire or sword.

Notes on the current edition

Whether vice be sufficient to cause unhappiness

1. Cf. Aeschylus, Prometheus, 64-65:

ἀδαμαντίνου νῦν σφηνὸς αὐθάδη γνάθον

στέρνων διαμπὰξ πασσάλευ’ ἐρρωμένως.

2. Cf. Cicero, Tusc. Disp., ii. 22. 53 ff.

Plutarch An vitiositas ad infelicitatem sufficia 2

William Clark Helmbold (Translator)

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