Plutarch, An vitiositas ad infelicitatem sufficia, William Clark Helmbold (Translator), 5

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[5] Is, then, Vice such a thing that it needs Fortune’s help to produce unhappiness? How can that be? Vice does not raise up a rough and stormy sea, she does not gird the skirts of lonely mountains with ambushes of robbers along the way, she does not make clouds of hail to burst on fruitful plains, she does not bring in a Meletus or an Anytus¹ or a Callixenus² as accusers, she does not take away wealth, she does not debar from the praetorship, in order to make men unhappy. Yet she dismays men who are rich, prosperous, and heirs to fortunes; on land and on sea she insinuates herself into them and clings to them, sinking deep into them through evil lusts, firing them with anger, crushing them with superstitious fears, shattering them with the eyes...³

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.) — 5 focus

[5] ἆρʼ οὖν ἡ κακία τοιοῦτον ὥστε τῆς τύχης δεῖσθαι πρὸς κακοδαιμονίας ἀπεργασίαν; πόθεν; οὐ τραχὺ καὶ δυσχείμερον ἐπαίρεται πέλαγος, οὐ λῃστῶν 25 ἐνοδίοις διαζώννυσιν ἐνέδραις ἐρήμους ὑπωρείας, οὐ νέφη χαλαζοβόλα πεδίοις περιρρήγνυσι καρποφόροις, οὐ Μέλητον οὐδʼ Ἄνυτον οὐδὲ Καλλίξενον 500a ἐπείγει¹ συκοφάντην, οὐκ ἀφαιρεῖται πλοῦτον, οὐκ ἀπείργει στρατηγίας, ἵνα ποιήσῃ κακοδαίμονας· ἀλλὰ ποιεῖ² πλουτοῦντας, εὐφοροῦντας,³ κληρονομοῦντας 5 ἐν γῇ, διὰ θαλάττης ἐνδέδυκε, προσπέφυκεν, ἐκτήκουσα ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, διακάουσα τοῖς θυμοῖς, συντρίβουσα ταῖς δεισιδαιμονίαις, διασύρουσα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς.⁴

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.) — 5 focus

[5] Is then Vice also such that it should stand in need of Fortune’s help for the working of infelicity? By no means. She does not make the sea swell with storms and tempests, she besets not the deserts lying at the feet of the mountains with robbers, she pours not down storms of hail on the fruitful fields, she raises not up Meletus, Anytus, and Callixenus, to be calumniators, she takes not away wealth, she hinders not any from the command of armies, that she may make men unhappy; but she renders them rich, abounding in wealth, having great inheritances on the earth; she bears them company at sea; she sticks close to them, pining them with lust, inflaming them with wrath, overwhelming them with superstitions, drawing them by their eyes.... The rest is wanting.

Notes on the current edition

Whether vice be sufficient to cause unhappiness

1. Cf. 475 e, supra.

2. Cf. Xenophon, Hellenica, i. 7. 8. ff.

3. The interpretation of this last phrase is quite uncertain: perhaps tearing them to pieces with envy, or making them ridiculous with envy.

Plutarch An vitiositas ad infelicitatem sufficia 5

William Clark Helmbold (Translator)

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