Plutarch, Animine an corporis affectiones sint peiores, William Clark Helmbold (Translator), 2

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[2] The fox in Aesop,¹ disputing at law with the leopard concerning their claims to variety,² when the leopard had shown her body with its glossy surface bright and spotted, and the fox’s tawny skin was rough and unpleasant to the eye,

But look at me >within, sir judge,

said she,

And you will find me fuller far than she

Of fair variety,

making manifest the versatility of her character which changes to many forms as necessity arises. Shall we, then, say in our own case, Many of your diseases and affections, O man, your body naturally produces of itself, and it receives also many that befall it from without; but if you lay yourself open on the inside, you will find a storehouse and treasury, as Democritus⁴ says, of all manner of evils and many abnormal states, which do not flow in from outside, but have, as it were, subterranean and earth-born springs, which Vice, being widely diffused and abundantly supplied with those abnormal states, causes to gush forth? And if the diseases in the flesh are detected by the pulse and biliousness, and temperatures and sudden pains confirm their presence, but the evils in the soul escape the notice of most men, they are for this reason worse evils, since they also deprive the sufferer of any awareness of themselves. For although the reason,⁵ if sound, perceives the diseases which affect the body, yet, being itself afflicted with those of the soul, it can form no judgement of its own afflictions, for it is affected in the very part by which it judges; and, of the souls diseases, one must account as first and greatest ignorance, which causes Vice beyond hope of cure to abide with most men, to cling to them through life, and to die with them. For the beginning of the riddance of disease is awareness which leads the ailing part to the use of what will relieve it; but the man who through disbelief in his ailment does not know what he needs, refuses the remedy, even if it be at hand. For it is true of the diseases of the body also that those are worse which are attended by inability to perceive the body’s condition: lethargies, migraine, epilepsies, apoplexies, and those very fevers which, raising inflammation to the pitch of delirium and confounding consciousness, as on a musical instrument,

Will touch the heart-strings never touched before.⁶

Animine an corporis affectiones sint peiores. Plutarch. William Clark Helmbold (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1939.

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Current edition Perseus

Whether the Affections of the Soul are Worse Than Those of the Body (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. VI. Helmbold, William Clark, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1939 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Ποτερον τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἢ τὰ τοῦ σώματος πάθη χείρονα Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. IΙI. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.) — 2 focus

[2] ἡ μὲν οὖν Αἰσώπειος ἀλώπηξ περὶ ποικιλίας δικαζομένη πρὸς τὴν πάρδαλιν, ὡς ἐκείνη τὸ σῶμα 20 500d καὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν εὐανθῆ καὶ κατάστικτον ἐπεδείξατο, τῇ δʼ ἦν τὸ ξανθὸν αὐχμηρὸν καὶ οὐχ ἡδὺ προσιδεῖν· ἀλλʼ ἐμοῦ τοι τὸ ἐντός ἔφη σκοπῶν, ὦ δικαστά, ποικιλωτέραν με τῆσδʼ ὄψει δηλοῦσα τὴν περὶ τὸ ἦθος εὐτροπίαν¹ ἐπὶ πολλὰ ταῖς χρείαις 5 ἀμειβομένην. λέγωμεν οὖν ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅτι πολλὰ μέν, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, σοὶ καὶ τὸ σῶμα νοσήματα καὶ πάθη φύσει τʼ ἀνίησιν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ προσπίπτοντα δέχεται θύραθεν· ἂν δὲ σαυτὸν ἔνδοθεν ἀνοίξῃς, ποικίλον τι καὶ πολυπαθὲς κακῶν ταμιεῖον εὑρήσεις 10 καὶ θησαύρισμα, ὥς φησι Δημόκριτος,² οὐκ ἔξωθεν 500e ἐπιρρεόντων, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐγγείους καὶ αὐτόχθονας πηγὰς ἐχόντων, ἃς ἀνίησιν ἡ κακία πολύχυτος καὶ δαψιλὴς; οὖσα τοῖς πάθεσιν. εἰ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἐν σαρκὶ νοσήματα σφυγμοῖς καὶ ὢχραις³ ἐρυθαινόμενα φωρᾶται, 15 καὶ θερμότητες αὐτὰ καὶ πόνοι προπετεῖς ἐλέγχουσι, τὰ δʼ ἐν ψυχῇ λανθάνει τοὺς πολλοὺς κακὰ ὄντα, διὰ τοῦτʼ ἐστι κακίω, προσαφαιρούμενα τὴν ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς τοῦ πάσχοντος αἴσθησιν. τῶν μὲν γὰρ 500f περὶ τὸ σῶμα νοσημάτων ἐρρωμένος ὁ λογισμὸς 20 αἰσθάνεται· τοῖς δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς συννοσῶν αὐτὸς οὐκ ἔχει κρίσιν ἐν οἷς πάσχει, πάσχει γὰρ ᾧ κρίνει· καὶ δεῖ τῶν ψυχικῶν πρῶτον καὶ μέγιστον ἀριθμεῖν τὴν ἄνοιαν,⁴ διʼ ἧς ἀνήκεστος ἡ κακία τοῖς πολλοῖς συνοικεῖ καὶ συγκαταβιοῖ καὶ συναποθνῄσκει. ἀρχὴ γὰρ 25 ἀπαλλαγῆς νόσου μὲν αἴσθησις εἰς χρείαν ἄγουσα τοῦ βοηθοῦντος τὸ πάσχον ὁ δʼ ἀπιστίᾳ τοῦ νοσεῖν οὐκ εἰδὼς ὧν δεῖται, κἂν παρῇ τὸ θεραπεῦον, ἀρνεῖται 501a . καὶ γὰρ τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμα νοσημάτων τὰ μετʼ ἀναισθησίας χείρονα, λήθαργοι κεφαλαλγίαι ἐπιληψίαι ἀποπληξίαι· αὐτοί τε πυρετοὶ συντείναντες εἰς παρακοπὴν τὸ φλεγμαῖνον καὶ τὴν αἴσθησιν 5 ὥσπερ ἐν ὀργάνῳ διαταράξαντες

κινοῦσι χορδὰς τὰς ἀκινήτους φρενῶν.

⁵

Translations (1)

Whether the Passions of the Soul or Diseases of the Body Are Worse Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. IV. Goodwin, William W., editor; White, Samuel, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 2 focus

[2] The fox in Aesop, disputing with the panther for the superiority in beautiful variety,—when this latter had shown his body, and its superficies curiously stained and spotted, whereas the fox’s tawny skin was ill-favored and unpleasant to the sight,—said thus: But if you, sir judge, will look within me, you will find me much fuller of variety than this leopard; manifesting the nimble subtlety of his natural disposition, frequently changing as occasions require. Let us then say also to ourselves: Thy body, O man, naturally of itself breeds many diseases and passions, and many it receives befalling it from without; but if thou shalt open thy interior, thou wilt find a certain various and abundantly furnished storehouse and (as Democritus says) treasury of evils, not flowing into it from abroad, but having as it were their inbred and original springs, which vice, exceedingly affluent and rich in passions, causes to break forth. Now, whereas the diseases in the flesh are discerned by the pulses, and the flushings in the color of the skin, and discovered by unusual heats and sudden pains, and these maladies of the soul lie hid from many who are affected with them; these are therefore worse, as removing from them the sense of the patient. For if the reason is sound, it is sensible of the body’s diseases; but being itself diseased with those of the soul, it has no judgment in what it suffers; for it suffers by what it judges. We ought therefore to account, that the first and greatest of the soul’s diseases is folly, by which vice being rendered incurable cohabits, lives, and dies together with most men. For the beginning of the cure is the sense of the disease, leading the patient to the use of what is helpful; but he who, through his not believing himself sick, is ignorant of his own necessities, though a remedy is presented him, refuses it. For also amongst the diseases of the body, those are indeed the worst which are accompanied with a stupefaction of the senses,—as lethargies, headaches, epilepsies, apoplexies, and those burning fevers which, carrying on the inflammation even to the loss of the wits, and disturbing the senses, as it were in a musical instrument, move the heart-strings till then untouched.

Notes on the current edition

Whether the Affections of the Soul are Worse Than Those of the Body

1. Fable 42 ed. Halm; cf. Moralia, 155 b; Babrius, Fable 180 ed. Crusius; Siefert, Plutarchs Schrift Περὶ εὐθυμίας, pp. 27-28.

2. ποικιλία when applied to an animal’s skin refers to colour and markings, but when it is applied to the mind it means subtlety or cunning.

3. cf. Wilamowitz, Hermes, xl. p. 164; Diehl, Anthologia Lyrica, i. p. 304: Plutarch’s words are apparently adapted from an unknown choliambic poet. See also Knox, Choliambica (L.C.L.), p. 350.

4. Diels, Frag. d. Vorsokratiker 5, vol. ii. p. 172, Frag. 149.

5. cf. Cicero, Tusc. Disp., iii. 1.

6. cf. 456 c, supra.

Plutarch Animine an corporis affectiones sint peiores 2

William Clark Helmbold (Translator)

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