Plutarch, De exilio, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 2

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[2] ὅθεν αὐτοὶ καθʼ αὑτοὺς γιγνόμενοι τῶν συμπτωμάτων ὥσπερ φορτίων ἑκάστου τὸν σταθμὸν¹ ἐξετάζωμεν², τὸ μὲν γὰρ· σῶμα πιέζεται τῷ τοῦ βαρύνοντος 599d ἄχθει, δὲ ψυχὴ τοῖς πράγμασι πολλάκις 5 τὸ βάρος ἐξ αὑτῆς προστίθησιν. ὁ λίθος φύσει σκληρός, ὁ κρύσταλλος φύσει ψυχρός ἐστιν, οὐκ ἔξωθεν εἰκῆ ταύτας τὰς ἀντιτυπίας ἐπιφέροντες καὶ τὰς πήξεις· φυγὰς δὲ καὶ ἀδοξίας καὶ τιμῶν ἀποβολάς, ὥσπερ αὖ τἀναντία, στεφάνους καὶ ἀρχὰς 10 καὶ προεδρίας, οὐ τὴν αὑτῶν φύσιν ἀλλὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν κρίσιν μέτρον ἔχοντα τοῦ λυπεῖν καὶ εὐφραίνειν, ἕκαστος· ἑαυτῷ κοῦφα καὶ βαρέα³καὶ ῥᾴδια φέρειν ποιεῖ, καὶ τοὐναντίον. ἔξεστι δʼ ἀκούειν τοῦ μὲν Πολυνείκους ἀποκρινομένου πρὸς τὸ ἐρώτημα 15 τοῦτο⁴ 599e

⁵ τοῦ δʼ Ἀλκμᾶνος, ὡς ὁ γράψας τοὐπιγραμμάτιον⁶ πεποίηκε, 20

Σάρδιες, ἀρχαῖος⁷ πατέρων νομός⁸, εἰ μὲν ἐν ὑμῖν

⁹

ἐτρεφόμην, κερνᾶς¹⁰· ἦν τις ἂν ἢ¹¹ βακέλας¹²

χρυσοφόρος, ῥήσσων καλὰ¹³ τύμπανα· νῦν δέ μοι Ἀλκμὰν

οὔνομα, καὶ Σπάρτας εἰμὶ πολυτρίποδος,¹⁴

καὶ Μούσας ἐδάην Ἑλικωνίδας,¹⁵ αἵ με τυράννων

θῆκαν Δασκύλεω κρείσσονα¹⁶ καὶ Γύγεω. 599f

τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ πρᾶγμα τῷ μὲν εὔχρηστον ἡ δόξα καθάπερ 5 νόμισμα δόκιμον, τῷ δὲ δύσχρηστον καὶ βλαβερὸν ἐποίησεν.

De exilio. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1891.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Περὶ φυγῆς (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol 3. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.)

Translations (1)

Of Banishment, or Flying One's Country. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. 3. Goodwin, William W., editor; Patrick, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 2 focus

[2] Let us therefore, when we are alone, question with ourselves concerning the things that have befallen us, considering them as heavy loads. The body, we know, is under pressure by a burden lying upon it; but the soul oft-times adds a further weight of her own to things. A stone is hard and ice is cold by nature, not by any thing from without happening to make such qualities and impressions upon them. But as for banishment and disgraces and loss of honors (and so for their contraries, crowns, chief rule, and precedency of place), our opinion prescribing the measure of our joys or sorrows and not the nature of the things themselves, every man makes them to himself light or heavy, easy to be borne or grievous. You may hear Polynices’s answer to this question,

JOCAST. But say, is’t so deplorable a case

To live in exile from one’s native place?

POLYN. It’s sad indeed; and whatsoe’er you guess,

’Tis worse to endure than any can express.

But you may hear Alcman in quite another strain, as the epigrammatist has brought him in saying:

Sardis, my ancient fatherland,

Hadst thou, by Fate’s supreme command,

My helpless childhood nourished,

I must have begg’d my daily bread,

Or else, a beardless priest become,

Have toss’d Cybele frantic down.

Now Alcman I am call’d—a name

Inscribed in Sparta’s lists of fame,

Whose many tripods record bear

Of solemn wreaths and tripods rare,

Achieved in worship at the shrine

Of Heliconian maids divine,

By whose great aid I’m mounted higher

Than Gyges or his wealthy sire.

Thus one man’s opinion makes the same thing commodious, like current money, and another man’s unserviceable and hurtful.

Notes on the current edition

Περὶ φυγῆς

1. σταθμὸν W: θυμὸν

2. ἐξετάζωμεν W: ἐξετάζομεν

3. καὶ βαρέα del. Stegmannus. καὶ βαρέα καὶ χαλεπὰ Sauppius

4. τοῦτο] τουτί Doehnerus

5. Eur. Phoen. 389

6. τοὐπιγραμμάτιον *: τὸ ἐπιγραμμάτιον

7. ἀρχαῖαι Anthologia

8. νομός W: νόμος

9. vid. Anthol. Palat. VII 709

10. κερνᾶς Iacobsius: κέλσας ( κέρνας Anthol.)

11. ἦν τις ἂν ἢ Duebnerus: ἤ τις ἀνὴρ ( ηστισαν ἢ Anthol.)

12. βακέλας Ursinus: μακέλας

13. καλὰ] λάλα Meinekius

14. πλυτρίποδος Anthologia: πολίτης

15. Ἑλικωνίδας Anthologia: ἑλληνίδας

16. κρείσσονα] μείζονα Anthologia

Plutarch De exilio 2

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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