Plutarch, De Garrulitate, William Clark Helmbold (Translator), 21

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[21] Furthermore, there are three kinds of answers to questions: the barely necessary, the polite, and the superfluous. For example, if someone asks, Is Socrates at home? one person may reply, as it were unwillingly and grudgingly, Not at home. And if he wishes to adopt the Laconic style, he may omit the At home and only utter the bare negative. So the Spartans, when Philip wrote to ask if they would receive him into their city, wrote a large No on the paper and sent it back. Another will answer more politely, He is not at home, but at the bank, and if he wants to give fuller measure may add, waiting there for some guests. But your over-officious and garrulous man, particularly if he happens to have read Antimachus¹ of Colophon, will say, He is not at home, but at the bank, waiting for some Ionian guests on whose behalf he has had a letter from Alcibiades who is near Miletus staying with Tissaphernes,² the satrap of the Great King, who formerly used to help the Spartans, but now is attaching himself to the Athenians because of Alcibiades. For Alcibiades desires to be restored to his native country and therefore is causing Tissaphernes to change sides. And he will run on, reciting at full stretch the whole eighth book of Thucydides, and deluge the questioner until, before he has done, Miletus is at war again and Alcibiades exiled for the second time.

Regarding this tendency especially, one must keep talkativeness within bounds by following the question step by step and circumscribing the answer within a circle to which the questioner’s need gives the centre and the radius.³ So when Carneades,⁴ who had not yet acquired a great reputation, was disputing in a gymnasium, the director sent and bade him lower his voice, which was a very loud one. And when Carneades said, Give me something to regulate my voice, the director aptly rejoined, I am giving you the person conversing with you. So, in making an answer, let the wishes of the questioner provide the regulation.

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

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Current edition Perseus

Concerning Talkativeness (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. VI. Helmbold, William Clark, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1939 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ ἀδολεσχίας Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙI. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.) — 21 focus

[21] ἔστι τοίνυν τρία γένη τῶν πρὸς τὰς ἐρωτήσεις 25 ἀποκρίσεων, τὸ μὲν ἀναγκαῖον τὸ δὲ φιλάνθρωπον τὸ δὲ περισσόν. οἷον πυθομένου τινὸς εἰ Σωκράτης ἔνδον, ὁ μὲν ἀπροθύμως καὶ ὥσπερ¹ ἄκων ἀποκρίνεται τὸ οὐκ ἔνδον · ἐὰν δὲ βούληται λακωνίζειν, καὶ τὸ ἔνδον ἀφελὼν αὐτὴν μόνην φθέγξεται τὴν ἀπόφασιν· ὡς ἐκεῖνοι, Φιλίππου γράψαντος εἰ 5 δέχονται τῇ πόλει αὐτόν, εἰς χάρτην ΟΥ μέγα γράψαντες ἀπέστειλαν. ὁ δὲ φιλανθρωπότερον ἀποκρίνεται οὐκ ἔνδον ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ ταῖς τραπέζαις · κἂν βούληται προσεπιμετρῆσαι, ξένους τινὰς ἐκεῖ περιμένων. 513b ὁ δὲ περιττὸς καὶ ἀδολέσχης, ἄν γε δὴ 10 τύχῃ καὶ τὸν Κολοφώνιον ἀνεγνωκὼς Ἀντίμαχον, οὐκ ἔνδον φησὶν ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ ταῖς τραπέζαις, ξένους ἀναμένων Ἴωνας, ὑπὲρ ὧν αὐτῷ γέγραφεν Ἀλκιβιάδης περὶ Μίλητον ὤν, καὶ παρὰ Τισσαφέρνει διατρίβων, τῷ τοῦ μεγάλου σατράπῃ βασιλέως, ὃς 15 πάλαι μὲν ἐβοήθει Λακεδαιμονίοις, νῦν δὲ προστίθεται διʼ Ἀλκιβιάδην Ἀθηναίοις· ὁ γὰρ Ἀλκιβιάδης ἐπιθυμῶν κατελθεῖν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα τὸν Τισσαφέρνην μετατίθησι καὶ ὅλως τὴν ὀγδόην Θουκυδίδου κατατεινάμενος ἐρεῖ καὶ κατακλύσει τὸν ἄνθρωπον, 20 513c ἕως φθάσῃ καὶ Μίλητος ἐκπολεμωθεῖσα καὶ φυγαδευθεὶς τὸ δεύτερον Ἀλκιβιάδης. μάλιστα δὴ περὶ τοῦτο δεῖ τὴν ἀδολεσχίαν συνέχειν ὥσπερ εἰς ἴχνος ἐμβιβάζοντα τὴν ἐρώτησιν καὶ ὡς κέντρῳ καὶ διαστήματι τῇ χρείᾳ τοῦ πυνθανομένου περιγράφοντα τὴν 25 ἀπόκρισιν. Καρνεάδην μὲν γὰρ οὔπω μεγάλην ἔχοντα δόξαν, ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ διαλεγόμενον πέμψας ὁ γυμνασίαρχος ἐκέλευσεν ὑφεῖναι τὸ μέγεθος² τῆς φωνῆς (ἦν γὰρ μεγαλοφωνότατος)· εἰπόντος δʼ ἐκείνου δός μοι μέτρον φωνῆς,ʼ οὐ φαύλως ὑπέτυχε δίδωμι³ 513d τὸν προσδιαλεγόμενον. τῷ δʼ ἀποκρινομένῳ μέτρον ἔστω ἡ τοῦ ἐρωτῶντος βούλησις.

Translations (1)

Of Garrulity, or Talkativeness Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. IV. Goodwin, William W., editor; Philips, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 21 focus

[21] Now therefore we come to understand that there are three sorts of answers to questions, the necessary, the polite, and the superfluous. For example, if a man should ask whether Socrates is within, the other, if he were in an ill-humor or not disposed to make many words, would answer, Not within; or if he intended to be more Laconic, he would cut off within, and reply briefly, No. Thus the Lacedaemonians, when Philip sent them an epistle, to know whether or not they would admit him into their city, vouchsafed him no other answer than only No, fairly written in large letters upon a sheet of paper. Another that would answer more courteously would say: He is not within; he is gone among the bankers; and perhaps he would add, Where he expects some friends. But a superfluous prater, if he chance to have read Antimachus of Colophon, would reply: He is not within; but is gone among the bankers, in expectation to meet certain Ionian friends, who are recommended to him in a letter from Alcibiades, who lives at Miletus with Tissaphernes, one of the great king of Persia’s lieutenant-generals, who formerly assisted the Lacedaemonians, but is now, by the solicitation of Alcibiades, in league with the Athenians; for Alcibiades, being desirous to return to his own country, has prevailed with Tissaphernes to change his mind and join with the Athenians. And thus perhaps you shall have him run on and repeat the whole eighth book of Thucydides, and overwhelm a man with his impertinent discourse, till he has taken Miletus, and banished Alcibiades a second time. Herein therefore ought a man chiefly to restrain the profuseness of his language, by following the footsteps of the question, and circumscribing the answer, as it were, within a circle proportionable to the benefit which the propounder proposes to make of his question. It is reported of Carneades, that before he was well known in the world, while he was disputing in the Gymnasium, the president of the place sent him an admonition to moderate his voice (for he naturally spoke very deep and loud); in answer to which he desired the president to send him a gauge for his voice, when the president not improperly made answer: Let that be the person who disputes with thee. In like manner, the intent of the propounder ought to be the rule and measure of the answer.

Notes on the current edition

Concerning Talkativeness

1. The epic poet, a by-word for longwindedness: thus Catullus (95. 10) calls him tumidus.

2. Cf. Life of Alcibiades, xxiv. (204 b-c).

3. Cf. Moralia, 524 e, 603 e, 776 f, 822 d, 1098 d.

4. Cf. Diogenes Laertius, iv. 63; for Carneades’ noisiness Cf. Moralia, 791 a-b.

Plutarch De Garrulitate 21

William Clark Helmbold (Translator)

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