Plutarch, Amatorius, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 21

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[21]

ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ.

ἔτι τοίνυν ἃς λέγουσιν αἰτίας καὶ γενέσεις 10 ἔρωτος, ἴδιαι μὲν οὐδετέρου γένους εἰσὶ κοιναὶ δʼ ἀμφοτέρων· καὶ γὰρ εἴδωλα δήπουθεν ἐνδυόμενα τοῖς ἐρωτικοῖς; καὶ διατρέχοντα κινεῖν καὶ γαργαλίζειν τὸν ὄγκον εἰς σπέρμα συνολισθάνοντα τοῖς ἄλλοις σχηματισμοῖς; οὐ δυνατὸν μὲν ἀπὸ παίδων, 15 ἀδυνατὸν δʼ ἀπὸ γυναικῶν; καὶ τὰς¹ καλὰς ταύτας καὶ ἱερὰς ἀναμνήσεις καλοῦμεν² ἡμεῖς ἐπὶ τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἀληθινὸν καὶ ὀλύμπιον ἐκεῖνο κάλλος, 766f αἷς ψυχὴ πτεροῦται, τί ἂν κωλύοι³ γίγνεσθαι μὲν ἀπὸ παίδων καὶ ἀπὸ νεανίσκων, γίγνεσθαι δʼ ἀπὸ 20 παρθένων καὶ γυναικῶν, ὅταν ἦθος ἁγνὸν καὶ κόσμιον ἐν ὥρᾳ καὶ χάριτι μορφῆς διαφανὲς γένηται, καθάπερ⁴ ὄρθιον ὑπόδημα δείκνυσι ποδὸς εὐφυΐαν, ὡς Ἀρίστων ἔλεγεν ὅταν ἐν εἴδεσι καλοῖς καὶ καθαροῖς σώμασιν ἴχνη λαμπρὰ καὶ κείμενα⁵ ψυχῆς ὀρθὰ καὶ ἄθρυπτα⁶ κατίδωσιν οἱ δεινοὶ τῶν τοιούτων αἰσθάνεσθαι; οὐ γὰρ ὁ μὲν φιλήδονος ἐρωτηθεὶς εἰ 5

πρὸς θῆλυ νεύει μᾶλλον ἢ ἐπὶ τἄρσενα⁷

⁸ 767a καὶ ἀποκρινάμενος

ὅπου προσῇ τὸ κάλλος, ἀμφιδέξιος

⁹ ἔδοξεν οἰκείως ἀποκρίνασθαι τῆς ἐπιθυμίας· ὁ δὲ φιλόκαλος καὶ γενναῖος οὐ πρὸς τὸ καλὸν οὐδὲ τὴν 10 εὐφυΐαν ἀλλὰ¹⁰ μορίων διαφορὰς ποιεῖται τοὺς ἔρωτας. καὶ φίλιππος μὲν ἀνὴρ οὐδὲν ἧττον ἀσπάζεται τοῦ Ποδάργου¹¹ τὴν εὐφυΐαν ἢ Αἴθην τὴν Ἀγαμεμνονέην· καὶ θηρατικὸς οὐ τοῖς ἄρρεσι χαίρει μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ Κρήσσας τρέφει καὶ Λακαίνας σκύλακας· 15 ὁ δὲ φιλόκαλος; καὶ φιλάνθρωπος οὐχ ὁμαλός ἐστιν οὐδʼ ὅμοιος ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς γένεσιν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἱματίων οἰόμενος εἶναι διαφορὰς ἐρώτων¹² γυναικῶν 767b καὶ ἀνδρῶν. καίτοι τὴν γʼ ὥραν ἄνθος ἀρετῆς εἶναι λέγουσι¹³, μὴ φάναι δʼ ἀνθεῖν τὸ θῆλυ 20 μηδὲ ποιεῖν ἔμφασιν εὐφυΐας πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἄτοπὸν ἐστι· καὶ γὰρ Αἰσχύλος ὀρθῶς ἐποίησε

νέας γυναικὸς οὔ με μὴ λάθῃ φλέγων

ὀφθαλμός, ἣτις ἀνδρὸς γεγευμένη.

¹⁴ πότερον οὖν ἰταμοῦ μὲν ἤθους καὶ ἀκολάστου καὶ διεφθορότος σημεῖα τοῖς εἴδεσι τῶν γυναικῶν ἐπιτρέχει, κοσμίου δὲ καὶ σώφρονος οὐδὲν ἔπεστι τῇ 767c μορφῇ φέγγος; ἢ¹⁵ πολλὰ μὲν ἔπεστι καὶ συνεπιφαίνεται, 5 κινεῖ δʼ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ προσκαλεῖται τὸν ἔρωτα; οὐδέτερον γὰρ εὔλογον οὐδʼ ἀληθές, ἀλλὰ κοινῶς ὥσπερ δέδεικται τοῖς γένεσι πάντων ὑπαρχόντων, ὥσπερ κοινοῦ¹⁶ συστάντος τοῦ ἀγῶνος¹⁷ ὦ Δαφναῖε, πρὸς ἐκείνους μαχώμεθα¹⁸ τοὺς λόγους, οὓς ὁ Ζεύξιππος 10 ἀρτίως διῆλθεν, ἐπιθυμίᾳ τὸν Ἔρωτα ταὐτὸ ποιῶν ἀκαταστάτῳ καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀκόλαστον ἐκφερούσῃ τὴν ψυχήν, οὐκ αὐτὸς οὕτω πεπεισμένος ἀκηκοὼς δὲ πολλάκις ἀνδρῶν δυσκόλων καὶ ἀνεράστων· ὧν¹⁹ οἱ μὲν ἄθλια γύναια προικιδίοις ἐφελκόμενα²⁰ 15 μετὰ χρημάτων εἰς οἰκονομίαν καὶ λογισμοὺς ἐμβάλλοντες ἀνελευθέρους, ζυγομαχοῦντες ὁσημέραι διὰ 767d χειρὸς ἔχουσιν· οἱ δὲ παίδων δεόμενοι μᾶλλον ἢ γυναικῶν, ὥσπερ οἱ τέττιγες εἰς σκίλλαν ἤ τι τοιοῦτο τὴν γονὴν ἀφιᾶσιν, οὕτω διὰ τάχους οἷς ἔτυχε 20 σώμασιν ἐναπογεννήσαντες καὶ καρπὸν ἀράμενοι χαίρειν ἐῶσιν ἤδη τὸν γάμον, ἢ μένοντος οὐ φροντίζουσιν οὐδʼ ἀξιοῦσιν ἐρᾶν οὐδʼ ἐρᾶσθαι. στέργεσθαι δὲ καὶ στέργειν ἑνί μοι δοκεῖ γράμματι τοῦ στέγειν παραλλάττον εὐθὺς ἐμφαίνειν τὴν ὑπὸ χρόνου καὶ 25 συνηθείας ἀνάγκῃ μεμιγμένην εὔνοιαν. ᾧ δʼ ἂν Ἔρως ἐπισκήψῃ τε²¹ καὶ ἐπιπνεύσῃ, πρῶτον μὲν ἐκ 767e τῆς Πλατωνικῆς²² πόλεως τὸ ἐμόν οὐχ²³ ἕξει καὶ τὸ οὐκ ἐμόν · οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς κοινὰ τὰ φίλων οὐδὲ πάντων²⁴ ἀλλʼ οἳ²⁵ τοῖς σώμασιν ὁριζόμενοι τὰς ψυχὰς βίᾳ, συνάγουσι²⁶ καὶ συντήκουσι, μήτε βουλόμενοι 5 δύʼ εἶναι μήτε νομίζοντες. ἔπειτα σωφροσύνη πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἧς μάλιστα δεῖται γάμος, ἡ μὲν ἔξωθεν καὶ νόμων²⁷ ²⁸ πλέον ἔχουσα τοῦ ἑκουσίου τὸ βεβιασμένον ὑπʼ αἰσχύνης καὶ φόβων,

πολλῶν χαλινῶν ἔργον²⁹ οἰάκων θʼ ἅμα,

³⁰ 10 διὰ χειρός ἐστιν ἀεὶ τοῖς συνοῦσιν Ἔρωτι δʼ ἐγκρατείας τοσοῦτον καὶ κόσμου καὶ πίστεως μέτεστιν, 767f ὥστε, κἂν ἀκολάστου ποτὲ θίγῃ ψυχῆς, ἀπέστρεψε τῶν ἄλλων ἐραστῶν, ἐκκόψας δὲ τὸ θράσος καὶ κατακλάσας τὸ σοβαρὸν καὶ ἀνάγωγον, ἐμβαλὼν³¹ αἰδῶ 15 καὶ σιωπὴν καὶ ἡσυχίαν καὶ σχῆμα περιθεὶς κόσμιον, ἑνὸς ἐπήκοον ἐποίησεν. ἴστε δήπουθεν ἀκοῇ Λαΐδα τὴν ἀοίδιμον ἐκείνην καὶ πολυήρατον, ὡς ἐπέφλεγε πόθῳ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, μᾶλλον δὲ ταῖς δυσὶν ἦν περιμάχητος θαλάσσαις· ἐπεὶ δʼ Ἔρως ἔθιγεν αὐτῆς Ἱππολόχου τοῦ Θεσσαλοῦ, τὸν³² ὕδατι χλωρῷ κατακλυζόμενον προλιποῦσʼ Ἀκροκόρινθον καὶ ἀποδρᾶσα τῶν ἄλλων ἐραστῶν κρύφα ³³ μέγαν στρατὸν 768a ᾤχετο κοσμίως· ἐκεῖ δʼ αὐτὴν αἱ γυναῖκες 5 ὑπὸ φθόνου καὶ ζήλου διὰ τὸ κάλλος εἰς ἱερὸν Ἀφροδίτης προαγαγοῦσαι κατέλευσαν καὶ διέφθειραν ὅθεν ὡς ἔοικεν ἔτι νῦν τὸ ἱερὸν Ἀφροδίτης ἀνδροφόνου καλοῦσιν. ἴσμεν δὴ καὶ θεραπαινίδια δεσποτῶν φεύγοντα συνουσίας καὶ βασιλίδων ὑπερορῶντας 10 ἰδιώτας, ὅταν Ἔρωτα δεσπότην ἐν ψυχῇ κτήσωνται. καθάπερ γὰρ ἐν Ῥώμῃ φασὶ τοῦ καλουμένου³⁴ δικτάτωρος ἀναγορευθέντος ἀποτίθεσθαι τὰς ἄλλας ἀρχὰς τοὺς ἔχοντας, οὕτως, οἷς ἂν Ἔρως κύριος ἐγγένηται, τῶν ἄλλων δεσποτῶν καὶ ἀρχόντων 15 768b ἐλεύθεροι καὶ ἄφετοι καθάπερ ἱερόδουλοι διατελοῦσιν. ἡ δὲ γενναία γυνὴ πρὸς ἄνδρα νόμιμον συγκραθεῖσα διʼ Ἔρωτος ἄρκτων ἂν ὑπομείνειε καὶ δρακόντων περιβολὰς μᾶλλον ἢ ψαῦσιν ἀνδρὸς ἀλλοτρίου καὶ συγκατάκλισιν.

Amatorius. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1892.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Ἐρωτικός (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. IV. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1892.)

Translations (1)

Of Love. 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]

AUTOB.

Now as for those things which they say are the causes that beget love, they are not peculiar to this or the other sex, but common to both. For it cannot be that those images that enter into amorous persons and whisk about from one part to another, by their various forms moving and tickling the mass of atoms that slide into the seed, can come from young boys, and that the same cannot come from young women. But as to these noble and sacred remembrances with which the soul is winged, recalling that same divine, real, and Olympic beauty, what should hinder but that these may pass from boys and young men, and also from virgins and young women, whenever a disposition chaste and good-natured appears united with bloom of youth and grace of body? For, as a handsome and well-made shoe shows the proportion of the foot (as Ariston says), so they that have judgment in these matters can discern the splendid, upright, and uncorrupted footsteps of a noble and generous soul in beautiful forms and features, and bodies undefiled. For, if a voluptuous person, who when the question was put to him,

To which are your hot passions most inclined,

Or to the male, or to the female kind?

AUTOB.

answered thus,

’Tis the same thing to me

Where’er I beauty see,

AUTOB.

was thought to have returned a proper and pertinent answer and one that accorded with his passions, is it possible that a noble and generous lover directs his amours not to loveliness and good-nature, but only to the parts that distinguish the sex? For certainly a man that delights in horses will no less value the mettle and swiftness of Podargus, than of Aetha that was Agamemnon’s mare; and he that is a good huntsman does not only delight in dogs, but mixes with his cry the bitches of Crete and Laconia; and shall he that is a lover as well as of civil behavior carry himself with an inequality more to one than to another, and make a distinction, as of garments, between the love of men and women? But some say that beauty is the flower of virtue. Will they then affirm, that the female sex never blossoms nor makes any show of tendency to virtue? It were absurd to think so. Therefore was Aeschylus in the right when he said, that he could never mistake the fire in the eye of a young woman who had once known a man. Now then are those signs and marks of lasciviousness, wantonness, and impudence to be discovered in the visages of women, and shall there be no light shining in their faces for the discovery of modesty and chastity? Nay, shall there be many such signs, and those apparent, and shall they not be able to allure and provoke love? Both are contrary to reason, and dissonant from truth. But every one of these things is common to both sexes, as we have showed.

AUTOB.

Now then, Daphnaeus, let us confute the reason that Zeuxippus has but now alleged, by making love to be all one with inordinate desire that hurries the soul to intemperance. Not that it is his opinion, but only what he has frequently heard from men morose and no way addicted to love. Of this class there are some who, marrying poor silly women for the sake of some petty portion, and having nothing to do with them and their money but to make them perpetual drudges in pitiful mechanic employments, are every day brawling and quarrelling with them. Others, more desirous of children than of wives, like cicadae that spill their seed upon squills or some such like herb, discharge their lust in haste upon the next they meet with; and having reaped the fruit they sought for, bid marriage farewell or else regard it not at all, neither caring to love nor to be beloved. And in my opinion, the words στέργειν and στέργεσθαι, which signify dearly to love and dearly to be beloved again, differing but one letter from στέγειν, which signifies to contain or endure, seem to me to import and denote that mutual kindness called conjugal, which is intermixed by time and custom with necessity. But in that wedlock which love supports and inspires, in the first place, as in Plato’s Commonwealth, there will be no such language as thine and mine. For properly to speak, there is not community of goods among all friends; but only where two friends, though severed in body, yet have their souls joined and as it were melted together, and neither desire to be two nor believe themselves to be separate persons. And, in the second place, there will be that mutual respect and reverence, which is the chiefest happiness of wedlock. Now as to that respect that comes from without, carrying with it more force of law than voluntary and reciprocal duty, or that comes by fear and shame,

And many other curbs, that loose desire

And lawless frisks of wanton heat require,

AUTOB.

these are always present with those who are coupled in matrimony. Whereas in love there is so much continency, so much modesty, and so much of loyal affection, that even if it happen upon an intemperate and lascivious soul, it is thereby diverted from all other amours, by cutting off all malapert boldness and bringing down the insolence of imperious pride; instead of which it introduces modest bashfulness, silence, and submission, and adorning it with decent and becoming behavior, makes it for ever after the obedient observer of one lover. Most certainly you have heard of that celebrated and highly courted courtesan Lais, how her beauty inflamed all Greece, or rather how two seas strove for her. This famous beauty, being seized with an ardent affection for Hippolochus the Thessalian, leaving the Acrocorinthus, as the poet describes it,

With sea-green water all encompassed round,²

AUTOB.

and privately avoiding the great army (as I may call it) of those that courted her favor, withdrew herself modestly to the enjoyment of him only; but the women, incensed with jealousy and envying her surpassing beauty, dragged her into the temple of Venus, and there stoned her to death; for which reason it is called to this day the temple of Venus the Murderess. We ourselves have known several young damsels, mere slaves, who never would submit to the embraces of their masters, and private men who have disdained the company of queens, when love had the absolute dominion of their hearts. For, as in Rome, when there is a dictator chosen, all other chief magistrates lay down their offices; so all such persons, where love is truly predominant, are immediately free and manumitted from all other lords and masters, and afterwards live like servants in the temple of Love. And indeed a virtuous and generous lady, once linked to her lawful husband by an unfeigned affection, will sooner choose the embraces of bears and dragons, than to be the bed-fellow of any other person whatsoever but her only spouse.

Notes on the current edition

Ἐρωτικός

1. καὶ τὰς] corr. vid. καίτοι τὰς aut κεἰ τὰς

2. ἃς ἀνακαλοῦμεν?

3. ἂν κωλύοι *: 1-2 κωλύει E. οὖν κωλύει B

4. fort. γένηται καί, καθάπερ κἑ aut ἔλεγεν· ἢ ὅταν κἑ

5. καὶ κείμενα] κείμενα M. ἐκκείμενα R

6. ὀρθῆς καὶ ἀθρύπτου R. ib καὶ θρυπτὰ BE, unde vid. scr. κἄθρυπτα

7. ib. idem: τὰ ἄρρενα

8. Nauck. p. 906

9. Nauck. p. 906

10. ἀλλὰ] i. e. ἀλλὰ πρὸς

11. Ποδάργου] cf. Hom. Ψ 295

12. R: ἐρώντων

13. λέγουσι] sc. Stoici, cf. Diog. Laert. 7, 66, 129

14. Nauck. p. 78

15. ἢ M

16. κοινοῦ] κ νοῦ E. κνοῦ B

17. τοῦ ἀγῶνος *: 10 E 8 B cf. p. 753b

18. ib. em. Amyotus: μαχόμεθα

19. ὧν M

20. ἐφελκόμενοι R

21. τε * 5 E 3 B

22. Πλατωνικῆς] Rep. p. 462 c

23. οὐχ] om. BE

24. οὐδὲ πάντων Winckelmannus: 9-10 E 11 B cf. p. 88b: οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ πάντες. 22c ἁπλῶς - καὶ πᾶσιν

25. οἳ Amyotus: ἢ

26. συνάγ 3 litt. ουσι E. Fort. συνάπτουσι. Quod coniecit Trevius συναγείρουσι hac de re dici non potest. συνάπτειν et συνάγειν saepe confunduntur cf. p. 51b. Stob. Flor. 65, 8 συνάπτουσι τὰς ψυχὰς

27. καὶ νόμῳ Turnebus.

28. lac. 4 E 5 B. Supplendum vid. κἀκ νόμων οὐ φύσει aut καὶ νόμῳ φύσει δ’ οὐ cf. p. 643f. p. 576e: φύσει - ὑπὸ τῶν νόμων (vid. Adnot.). Plat. Prot. p. 337c φύσει οὐ νόμῳ. Gorg. 482e φύσει μὲν οὐκ ἔστι καλὰ νόμῳ δέ. Menex. 245d. passim

29. ἔργων BE

30. Nauck. p. 315

31. ἐμβάλλων iidem

32. Nauck. p. 703

33. lac. 18 E 20 B. Fort. πολὺν ὅμιλον καὶ τῶν ἑταιρῶν τὸν aut brevius καὶ τῶν ἑταιριδίων τὸν cf. Athen. p. 588e

34. καλουμένου] καλοῦ BE

Plutarch Amatorius 21

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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