Plutarch, An seni respublica gerenda sit, Harold North Fowler (Translator), 3

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[3] Time, then, did not prevent those men from doing such great things; and shall we of the present day, who live in luxury in states that are free from tyranny or any war or siege, be such cowards as to shirk unwarlike contests and rivalries which are for the most part terminated justly by law and argument in accordance with justice, confessing that we are inferior, not only to the generals and public men of those days, but to the poets, teachers, and actors as well? Yes, if Simonides in his old age won prizes with his choruses, as the inscription in its last lines declares:

But for his skill with the chorus great glory Simonides followed,

Octogenarian child sprung from Leoprepes’ seed.¹

And it is said that Sophocles, when defending himself against the charge of dementia brought by his sons,² read aloud the entrance song of the chorus in the Oedipus at Colonus, which begins³:

Of this region famed for horses

Thou hast, stranger, reached the fairest

Dwellings in the land,

Bright Colonus, where the sweet-voiced

Nightingale most loves to warble

In the verdant groves;

and the song aroused such admiration that he was escorted from the court as if from the theatre, with the applause and shouts of those present. And here is a little epigram of Sophocles, as all agree:

Song for Herodotus Sophocles made when the years of his age were

Five in addition to fifty.⁴

But Philemon⁵ the comic dramatist and Alexis⁶ were overtaken by death while they were on the stage acting and being crowned with garlands. And Polus the tragic actor, as Eratosthenes and Philochorus tell us, when he was seventy years old acted in eight tragedies in four days shortly before his death.⁷

An seni respublica gerenda sit. Plutarch. Harold North Fowler (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Whether an Old Man Should Engage in Public Affairs (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. X. Fowler, Harold North, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Εἰ πρεσβυτέρῳ πολιτευτέον Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol V. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig. Teubner, 1893.) — 3 focus

[3] εἶτʼ ἐκείνους μὲν τηλικαῦτα πράττειν ὁ χρόνος οὐκ ἐκώλυεν, ἡμεῖς δʼ οἱ νῦν τρυφῶντες ἐν πολιτείαις, 25 μὴ τυραννίδα μὴ πόλεμόν τινα μὴ πολιορκίαν ἐχούσαις, ἀπολέμους δʼ ἁμίλλας καὶ φιλοτιμίας νόμῳ τὰ πολλὰ καὶ λόγῳ μετὰ δίκης περαινομένας, ἀπο-· 785a δειλιῶμεν; οὐ μόνον στρατηγῶν τῶν τότε καὶ δημαγωγῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ποιητῶν καὶ σοφιστῶν καὶ ὑποκριτῶν ὁμολογοῦντες εἶναι κακίους· εἴγε Σιμωνίδης μὲν ἐν γήρᾳ χοροῖς ἐνίκα, ὡς¹ τοὐπίγραμμα δηλοῖ 5 τοῖς τελευταίοις ἔπεσιν

ἀμφὶ διδασκαλίῃ δὲ² Σιμωνίδῃ ἕσπετο κῦδος

ὀγδωκονταέτει παιδὶ Λεωπρέπεος.

Σοφοκλῆς δὲ λέγεται μὲν ὑπὸ παίδων⁴ παρανοίας δίκην φεύγων ἀναγνῶναι τὴν ἐν Οἰδίποδι τῷ ἐπὶ 10 Κολωνῷ⁵ πάροδον, ᾗ⁶ ἐστιν ἀρχὴ

εὐίππου, ξένε, τᾶσδε χώρας

⁷

ἵκου τὰ κράτιστα γᾶς ἔπαυλα,

τὸν ἀργῆτα Κολωνόν, ἔνθʼ

ἁ λίγεια⁸ μινύρεται 15

θαμίζουσα μάλιστʼ ἀηδὼν

χλωραῖς ὑπὸ βάσσαις.

785b θαυμαστοῦ δὲ τοῦ μέλους φανέντος, ὥσπερ ἐκ θεάτρου τοῦ δικαστηρίου προπεμφθῆναι μετὰ κρότου καὶ βοῆς τῶν παρόντων. τουτὶ δʼ ὁμολογουμένως 20 Σοφοκλέους ἐστὶ τοὐπιγραμμάτιον⁹

ᾠδὴν Ἡροδότῳ τεῦξεν Σοφοκλῆς ἐτέων ὢν

¹⁰

πέντʼ ἐπὶ πεντήκοντα.

Φιλήμονα δὲ τὸν κωμικὸν καὶ Ἀλεξιν ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς ἀγωνιζομένους καὶ στεφανουμένους ὁ θάνατος 25 κατέλαβε. πῶλον δὲ τὸν τραγῳδὸν Ἐρατοσθένης καὶ Φιλόχορος ἱστοροῦσιν ἑβδομήκοντʼ ἔτη γεγενημένον 785c ὀκτὼ τραγῳδίας ἐν τέτταρσιν ἡμέραις διαγωνίσασθαι μικρὸν ἔμπροσθεν τῆς τελευτῆς.

Translations (1)

Whether an Aged Man Ought to Meddle in State Affairs. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. V. Goodwin, William W., editor; Fetherston, F., translator. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company, 1874.) — 3 focus

[3] Age then hindered not these men from performing such gallant actions; and yet we, forsooth, being at our ease in states which have neither tyranny, war, nor siege to molest them, are afraid of such bloodless debates and emulations, as are for the most part terminated with justice only by law and words; confessing ourselves by this not only worse than those ancient generals and statesmen, but even than poets, sophisters, and players. Since Simonides in his old age gained the victory by his choral songs, as the epigram testifies in these concluding verses:

Fourscore years old was Leoprepes’ son,

Simonides, when he this glory won.

And it is said of Sophocles, that, to avoid being condemned of dotage at the instance of his children, he repeated the entrance song of the Chorus in his tragedy of Oedipus in Colonus, which begins thus:

Welcome, stranger, come in time

To the best place of this clime,

White Colonus, which abounds

With brave horses. In these grounds,

Spread with Nature’s choicest green,

Philomel is often seen.

Here she her hearers charms with sweetest lays,

Whilst with shrill throat

And warbling note

She moans the sad misfortunes of her former days:

and that, this song appearing admirable, he was dismissed from the court, as from the theatre, with the applause and acclamations of all that were present. And this short verse is acknowledged to be written of him:

When Sophocles framed for Herodotus

This ode, his years were fifty-five.

Philemon also the comedian and Alexis were snatched away by death, whilst they were acting on the stage and crowned with garlands. And as for Polus the tragedian, Eratosthenes and Philochorus related of him that, being seventy years of age, he a little before his death acted in four days eight tragedies.

Notes on the current edition

Whether an Old Man Should Engage in Public Affairs

1. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 496, no. 147 (203).

2. This story, though repeated by several ancient writers, deserves no credit.

3. Sophocles, Oed. Col. 668-673.

4. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. p. 245, no. 5.

5. Philemon, the chief rival of Menander, was born in 361 and died in 262 b.c. Suidas ( s.v. Φιλήμων) states that he died in his sleep at the age of 99 years, the pseudo-Lucian ( Macrobioi, 25) that he died of excessive laughter when 97 years old.

6. There is epigraphic as well as literary evidence for the prolific productiveness and great age of Alexis, the foremost poet of the Middle Comedy, who lived circa 376-270 b.c. See Kaibel in Pauly-Wissowa, Suppl. Bd., and Am. Jour. Phil. xxi. (1900) pp. 59 ff.

7. A long list of Greeks who lived to an advanced age is given by B. E. Richardson, Old Age among the Ancient Greeks, pp. 215-222.

Plutarch An seni respublica gerenda sit 3

Harold North Fowler (Translator)

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