Plutarch, Maxime Cum Principibus Viris Philosopho Esse Disserendum, Harold North Fowler (Translator), 4

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[4] And I think a lyre-maker would be more willing and eager to make a lyre if he knew that the future owner of that lyre was to build the walls of the city of Thebes, as Amphion did,¹ or, like Thales, ² was to put an end to faction among the Lacedaemonians by the music of his charms and his exhortations; and a carpenter likewise in making a tiller would be more pleased if he knew that it would steer the flagship of Themistocles fighting in defence of Hellas, or that of Pompey when he overcame the pirates. WTiat, then, do you imagine the philosopher thinks about his teaching, when he reflects that the statesman or ruler who accepts it will be a public blessing by dispensing justice, making laws, punishing the wicked, and making the orderly and the good to prosper? And I imagine that a clever shipbuilder, too, would take greater pleasure in making a tiller if he knew that it was to steer the Argo, the concern of all,³ and a carpenter would not be so eager to make a plough or a wagon as the axones⁴ on which the laws of Solon were to be engraved. And surely the teachings of philosophers, if they are firmly engraved in the souls of rulers and statesmen and control them, acquire the force of laws; and that is why Plato sailed to Sicily, in the hope that his teachings would produce laws and actions in the government of Dionysius; but he found Dionysius, like a book which is erased and written over, already befouled with stains and incapable of losing the dye of his tyranny, since by length of time it had become deeply fixed and hard to wash out. No, it is while men are still at their best that they should accept the worthy teachings.

Maxime Cum Principibus Viris Philosopho Esse Disserendum. Plutarch. Harold North Fowler (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

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Current edition Perseus

That a Philosopher Ought to Converse Especially with Men in Power (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. X. Fowler, Harold North, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τοῦ ὅτι μάλιστα τοῖς ἡγεμόσι δεῖ τὸν φιλοσοφόν διαλέγεσθαι Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol V. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1893.) — 4 focus

[4] ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ καὶ λυροποιὸς ἂν ἣδιον λύραν ἐργάσασθαι καὶ προθυμότερον, μαθὼν ὡς ὁ ταύτην κτησόμενος; τὴν λύραν¹ μέλλει τὸ Θηβαίων ἄστυ τειχίζειν ὡς ὁ Ἀμφίων, ἢ τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων στάσιν παύειν ἐπᾴδων καὶ παραμυθούμενος ὡς Θαλῆς²· καὶ 25 τέκτων ὁμοίως πηδάλιον δημιουργῶν ἡσθῆναι, πυθόμενος ὅτι τοῦτο τὴν Θεμιστοκλέους ναυαρχίδα κυβερνήσει προπολεμοῦσαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος τὴν Πομ πηίου τὰ πειρατικὰ καταναυμαχοῦντος· τί οὖν οἴει περὶ τοῦ λόγου τὸν φιλόσοφον διανοούμενον, ὡς ὁ 779b τοῦτον παραλαβὼν πολιτικὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ ἡγεμονικὸς κοινὸν ὄφελος ἔσται δικαιοδοτῶν, νομοθετῶν, κολάζων 5 τοὺς πονηρούς,· αὔξων τοὺς ἐπιεικεῖς καὶ ἀγαθούς; ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ καὶ ναυπηγὸς ἀστεῖος ἥδιον ἐργπάσασθαι³ πηδάλιον, πυθόμενος ὅτι τοῦτο τὴν Ἀργὼ κυβερνήσει τὴν πᾶσι μέλουσαν⁴· καὶ τεκτονικὸς οὐκ ἂν οὕτω κατασκευάσαι ἄροτρον προθύμως⁵; 10 ἢ ἅμαξαν, ὡς τοὺς ἄξονας, οἷς ἔμελλε Σόλων τοὺς νόμους ἐγχαράξειν. καὶ μὴν οἱ λόγοι τῶν φιλοσόφων, ἐὰν ψυχαῖς ἡγεμονικῶν καὶ πολιτικῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐγγραφῶσι βεβαίως καὶ κρατήσωσι, νόμων δύναμιν λαμβάνουσιν ᾗ καὶ Πλάτων εἰς Σικελίαν ἔπλευσεν, 15 ἐλπίζων τὰ δόγματα νόμους καὶ ἔργα ποιήσειν ἐν 779c τοῖς Διονυσίου πράγμασιν ἀλλʼ εὗρε Διονύσιον ὥσπερ βιβλίον παλίμψηστον ἢδη μολυσμῶν ἀνάπλεων καὶ τὴν βαφὴν οὐκ ἀνιέντα τῆς τυραννίδος, ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ δευσοποιὸν οὖσαν καὶ δυσέκπλυτον· 20 ἀκμαίους⁶ δ’ ὄντας ἔτι δεῖ τῶν χρηστῶν ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι λόγων.

Translations (1)

That a Philosopher Ought Chiefly to Converse with Great Men Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chetwood, Knightley, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 4 focus

[4] For my own part, I cannot but think that an ordinary mechanic—for instance, a maker of musical instruments —would be much more attentive and pleased at his work, if he knew that his harp would be touched by the famous Amphion, and in his hand serve for the builder of Thebes, or if that Thales had bespoke it, who was so great a master that by the force of his music he pacified a popular tumult amongst the Lacedaemonians. A good-natured shipwright would ply his work more heartily, if he were making the steerage for the admiral galley of Themistocles when he fought for the liberty of Greece, or of Pompey when he went on his expedition against the pirates: what ecstasy of delight then must a philosopher be in, when he reflects that his scholar is a man of authority, a prince or great potentate, that he is employed in so public a work, giving laws to him who is to give laws to a whole nation, who is to punish vice, and to reward the virtuous with riches and honor? The builder of the Argo certainly would have been mightily pleased, if he had known what noble mariners were to row in his ship, and that at last she should be translated into heaven; and a carpenter would not be half so much pleased to make a coach or plough, as to make the tablets on which Solon’s laws were to be engraved. In like manner the discourses and rules of philosophy, being once deeply stamped and imprinted on the minds of great personages, will stick so close, that the prince shall seem no other than justice incarnate and animated law. This was the design of Plato’s voyage into Sicily,—he hoped that the lectures of his philosophy would serve for laws to Dionysius, and bring his affairs again into a good posture. But the soul of that unfortunate prince was like paper scribbled all over with the characters of vice; its piercing and corroding quality had stained quite through, and sunk into the very substance of his soul. Whereas, if such persons are to profit by sage lessons, they must be taken when they are at full speed.

Notes on the current edition

That a Philosopher Ought to Converse Especially with Men in Power

1. According to the legend, when Amphion played on his lyre, the stones of their own accord formed the walls of Thebes.

2. Nothing is known of a musician or poet Thales. The musician Thaletas is said to have taught the lawgiver Lycurgus, but we do not hear of his putting an end to faction at Sparta.

3. Homer, Od. xii. 70.

4. In his Life of Solon, xxv., Plutarch says that Solon’s laws were originally inscribed on revolving wooden tablets ( axones) in wooden framers. The axones were set up in the Royal Stoa. Toward the end of the fifth century, the wooden text having disintegrated and the laws having been modified, a new edition of Solon’s laws was inscribed on both sides of a marble wall built in the Royal Stoa and of this a fragment has recently come to light in the Athenian Agora. See J. H. Oliver, Hesperia, iv. 5 ff., whose views are represented in the above statement.

Plutarch Maxime Cum Principibus Viris Philosopho Esse Disserendum 4

Harold North Fowler (Translator)

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