Plutarch, De Invidia et Odio, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 5

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[5] ἔτι τοίνυν τὸ μὲν φθονεῖν πρὸς οὐδένα γίγνεται δικαίως· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἀδικεῖ τῷ εὐτυχεῖν, ἐπὶ 5 τούτῳ δὲ φθονοῦνται μισοῦνται δὲ πολλοὶ δικαίως, 537d ὡς οὓς¹ ἀξιομισήτους καλοῦμεν,² ἂν μὴ φεύγωσι τοὺς τοιούτους μηδὲ βδελύττωνται καὶ δυσχεραίνωσι. μέγα δὲ τούτου τεκμήριον, ὅτι μισεῖν μὲν πολλοὺς ὁμολογοῦσιν ἔνιοι φθονεῖν δʼ οὐδενὶ λέγουσι. καὶ γὰρ 10 ἡ μισοπονηρία τῶν ἐπαινουμένων ἐστί· καὶ τὸν ἀδελφιδοῦν τοῦ Λυκούργου Χάριλλον, βασιλεύοντα τῆς Σπάρτης ἐπιεικῆ δʼ ὄντα καὶ πρᾶον ἐπαινούντων τινῶν, ὁ συνάρχων καὶ πῶς ἔφη χρηστός ἐστι Χάριλλος, ὃς οὐδὲ τοῖς πονηροῖς χαλεπός ἐστι; καὶ 15 τοῦ Θερσίτου ὁ ποιητὴς τὴν μὲν τοῦ σώματος κακίαν πολυμερῶς καὶ περιωδευμένως ἐξεμόρφησε, τὴν 537e δὲ τοῦ ἤθους μοχθηρίαν συντομώτατα καὶ διʼ ἑνὸς³ ἔφρασεν,

ἔχθιστος δʼ Ἀχιλῆι μάλιστʼ ἦν ἠδʼ Ὀδυσῆι⁴ 20

ὑπερβολὴ γάρ τις φαυλότητος τὸ τοῖς κρατίστοις ἐχθρὸν εἶναι. καὶ⁵ φθονεῖν δʼ ἀρνοῦνται κἂν ἐλέγχωνται, μυρίας σκήψεις προΐσχονται, ὀργίζεσθαι λέγοντες ἢ φοβεῖσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἢ μισεῖν ἢ ὁ τι ἂν τύχωσιν ἄλλο τῷ φθόνῳ τοῦ⁶ πάθους ὄνομα περιβάλλοντες καὶ καλύπτοντες, ὡς μόνον τοῦτο τῶν⁷ ψυχῆς νοσημάτων ἀπόρρητον.

De Invidia et Odio. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1891.

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Current edition Perseus

Περὶ φθόνου καὶ μίσους (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. IΙI. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.)

Translations (1)

Of Envy and Hatred Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Lancaster, P., translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 5 focus

[5] Further, envy is always unjust; for none wrong by being happy, and upon this sole account they are envied. But hatred is often just; for there are some men so much to be avoided and disliked, that we should judge those worthy to be hated themselves who do not shun and detest them. And of this it is no weak evidence, that many will acknowledge they hate, but none will confess they envy; and hatred of the evil is registered amongst laudable things.

Therefore, as some were commending Charillus, the nephew of Lycurgus and king of Sparta, for his universally mild and gentle disposition,—How, answered his colleague, can Charillus be a virtuous person, who is pleasing even to the vicious? So the poet too, when he had variously and with an infinite curiosity described the deformities of Thersites’s body, easily couched all the baseness of his manners in a word,—

Most hateful to Achilles and Ulysses too;

for to be an enemy to the good is the greatest extravagance of vice.

Men will deny the envy; and when it is alleged, will feign a thousand excuses, pretending they were angry, or that they feared or hated the person, cloaking envy with the name of any passion they can think of, and concealing it as the most loathsome sickness of the soul.

Notes on the current edition

Περὶ φθόνου καὶ μίσους

1. ὡς οὓς] οὓς R. ὥστε καὶ ἄλλους W. ὥστʼ Emperius et deinde οἳ ἂν pro ἂν

2. καλοῦμεν] add. καὶ τοῖς αὐτῶν γνωρίμοις δυσχεραίνομεν R

3. δι’ ἑνος] δι’ ἑνὸς ἔπους? sed simile exemplum inveni in Schol. Soph. ad Aiac vs. 125: ὁ δὲ Ὁμηρος δι’ ἑνὸς αὐτάρκως τοῦτο δεδήλωκεν. cf. Schol. ad Antig. vs. 107

4. Hom. B 220

5. καὶ] del. W

6. τοῦ] del. Duebnerus

7. τῶν τῆς Duebnerus

Plutarch De Invidia et Odio 5

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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