Plutarch, An seni respublica gerenda sit, Harold North Fowler (Translator), 6

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[6] And recall to your mind stories you have often heard. For Epameinondas, when asked what was the pleasantest thing that had happened to him, replied that it was winning the battle of Leuctra while his father and mother were still living. And Sulla, when he first entered Rome after freeing Italy of its civil wars, did not sleep at all that night, he was so borne aloft in spirit by great joy and gladness as by a blast of wind. This he has written about himself in his memoirs. For granted that, as Xenophon¹ says, there is no sound sweeter than praise, yet there is no sight, reminder, or perception in the world which brings such great pleasure as the contemplation of one’s own acts in offices and positions of State in which one may be said to be in places flooded with light and in view of all the people. Yes, and moreover kindly gratitude, bearing witness to the acts, and praise, competing with gratitude and ushering in deserved goodwill, add, as it were, a light and brilliance to the joy that comes from virtue. And it is a mans duty not to allow his reputation to become withered in his old age like an athlete’s garland, but by adding constantly something new and fresh to arouse the sense of gratitude for his previous actions and make it better and lasting; just as the artisans who were responsible for keeping the Delian ship² in good condition, by inserting and fastening in new timbers to take the place of those which were becoming weak, seemed to keep the vessel from those ancient times everlasting and indestructible. Now the preservation and maintenance of reputation, as of fire, is not difficult and demands little fuel, but no one can without trouble rekindle either of them when it has gone out and grown cold. And just as Lampis the sea captain, when asked how he acquired his wealth, said, My great wealth easily, but the small beginnings of it slowly and with toil, so political reputation and power are not easy to attain at first, but when once they have grown great it is easy to augment them and keep them great by taking advantage of casual opportunities. For when a man has once become a friend, he does not require many and great services that he may remain a friend, but constancy shown by small tokens always preserves his goodwill, and so likewise the friendship and confidence of the people do not constantly demand that a man pay for choruses, plead causes, or hold offices; no, they are maintained by his mere readiness to serve and by not failing or growing weary in care and concern for the people. For even wars do not consist entirely of pitched battles, fighting, and sieges, but they admit of occasional sacrifices, social gatherings in between, and abundant leisure for games and foolishness. Why, then, forsooth, is public life feared as inexorable, toilsome, and burdensome, when theatrical exhibitions, festive processions, distributions of food, choruses and the Muse and Aglaï,³ and constantly the worship of some god, smooth the brows of legislators in every senate and assembly and repay its troubles many times over with pleasure and enjoyment?

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.) — 6 focus

[6] Ὑπομίμνησκε δὲ σεαυτὸν ὧν πολλάκις ἀκήκοας· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἐπαμεινώνδας ἐρωτηθεὶς τί ἥδιστον αὐτῷ γέγονεν, ἀπεκρίνατο τὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἔτι 10 ζῶντος καὶ τῆς μητρὸς νικῆσαι τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις μάχην. ὁ δὲ Σύλλας, ὅτε τῶν ἐμφυλίων πολέμων 786e τὴν Ἰταλίαν καθήρας προσέμιξε τῇ Ῥώμῃ πρῶτον, οὐδὲ μικρὸν ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ κατέδαρθεν, ὑπὸ γήθους καὶ χαρᾶς μεγάλης ὥσπερ πνεύματος ἀναφερόμενος 15 τὴν ψυχήν· καὶ ταῦτα περὶ αὑτοῦ γέγραφεν¹ ἐν τοῖς ὑπομνήμασιν. ἄκουσμα μὲν γὰρ ἔστω μηδὲν ἣδιον ἐπαίνου κατὰ τὸν Ξενοφῶντα², θέαμα δὲ καὶ μνημόνευμα καὶ διανόημα τῶν ὄντων οὐδὲν ἔστιν ὃ τοσαύτην φέρει χάριν, ὅσην πράξεων ἰδίων ἐν 20 ἀρχαῖς καὶ πολιτείαις ὥσπερ ἐν τόποις λαμπροῖς καὶ δημοσίοις ἀναθεώρησις. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ 786f χάρις εὐμενὴς συμμαρτυροῦσα³ τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ συναμιλλώμενος ἔπαινος, εὐνοίας δικαίας ἡγεμών⁴, οἷόν τι φῶς καὶ γάνωμα τῷ χαίροντι τῆς ἀρετῆς 25 προστίθησι καὶ δεῖ μὴ περιορᾶν ὥσπερ ἀθλητικὸν στέφανον ἐν γήρᾳ ξηρὰν γενομένην τὴν δόξαν, ἀλλὰ καινὸν ἀεί τι καὶ πρόσφατον ἐπιφέροντα τὴν τῶν παλαιῶν χάριν ἐγείρειν καὶ ποιεῖν ἀμείνω καὶ μόνιμον ὥσπερ οἱ τεχνῖται, οἷς ἐπέκειτο 5 φροντίζειν σῶον εἶναι τὸ Δηλιακὸν πλοῖον, ἀντὶ τῶν πονούντων ξύλων⁵ ἐμβάλλοντες ἄλλα καὶ συμπηγνύντες ἀίδιον ἐκ τῶν τότε χρόνων καὶ ἄφθαρτον 787a ἐδόκουν διαφυλάττειν⁶. ἔστι δὲ καὶ δόξης καὶ φλογὸς οὐ χαλεπὴ σωτηρία καὶ τήρησις ἀλλὰ μικρῶν 10 ὑπεκκαυμάτων δεομένη, κατασβεσθὲν δὲ καὶ ὑποψυχθὲν οὐδέτερον ἄν τις ἀπραγμόνως πάλιν ἐξάψειεν. ὡς δὲ Λάμπις ὁ ναύκληρος⁷ ἐρωτηθεὶς πῶς ἐκτήσατο τὸν πλοῦτον οὐ χαλεπῶς ἔφη τὸν μέγαν, τὸν δὲ βραχὺν ἐπιπόνως καὶ βραδέως· οὕτω τῆς 15 πολιτικῆς δόξης καὶ δυνάμεως ἐν ἀρχῇ τυχεῖν οὐ ῥᾴδιόν ἐστι; τὸ δὲ συναυξῆσαι καὶ διαφυλάξαι μεγάλην γενομένην ἀπὸ τῶν τυχόντων⁸ ἕτοιμον. οὔτε γὰρ φίλος ὅταν γένηται πολλὰς λειτουργίας ἐπιζητεῖ 787b καὶ μεγάλας, ἵνα μένῃ φίλος, μικροῖς δὲ σημείοις 20 τὸ ἐνδελεχὲς· ἀεὶ διαφυλάττει τὴν εὔνοιαν· ἥ τε δήμου φιλία καὶ πίστις οὐκ ἀεὶ δεομένη⁹ χορηγοῦντος οὐδὲ προδικοῦντος¹⁰ οὐδʼ ἄρχοντος αὐτῇ τῇ προθυμίᾳ συνέχεται καὶ τῷ μὴ προαπολείποντι μηδʼ ἀπαγορεύοντι τῆς ἐπιμελείας καὶ φροντίδος. οὐδὲ γὰρ αἱ στρατεῖαι παρατάξεις ἀεὶ καὶ μάχας καὶ πολιορκίας ἔχουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ θυσίας ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ συνουσίας διὰ μέσου καὶ σχολὴν ἄφθονον ἐν παιδιαῖς καὶ φλυαρίαις δέχονται. πόθεν γε δὴ τὴν 5 πολιτείαν φοβητέον, ὡς ἀπαραμύθητον καὶ πολύπονον καὶ βαρεῖαν, ὅπου καὶ θέατρα καὶ πομπαὶ 787c καὶ νεμήσεις καὶ χοροὶ καὶ Μοῖσα¹¹ καὶ Ἀγλαΐα¹² καὶ θεοῦ τινος ἀεὶ τιμὴ τὰς ὀφρῦς λύουσα παντὸς ἀρχείου καὶ συνεδρίου πολλαπλάσιον τὸ ἐπιτερπὲς καὶ 10 κεχαρισμένον ἀποδίδωσιν;

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.) — 6 focus

[6] Call to mind a little, I entreat you, those things you have so often heard. For Epaminondas indeed, being asked what was the most pleasant thing that ever befell him, answered, his having gained the victory at Leuctra whilst his father and mother were yet living. And Sylla, when, having freed Italy from civil wars, he came to Rome, could not the first night fetch the least wink of sleep, having his soul transported with excessive joy and content, as with a strong and mighty wind; and this he himself has written in his Commentaries. For be it indeed so, as Xenophon says, that there is no sound more pleasing than one’s own praises; yet there is no sight, remembrance, or consideration which gives a man so much satisfaction as the contemplation of his own actions, performed by him in offices of magistracy, and management of the state, in eminent and public places.

It is moreover true, that the courteous thanks attending as a witness on such virtuous acts, and the emulous praise conferred on them, which is as a guide conducting us in the way of just benevolence, add a certain lustre and shining gloss to the joy of virtue. Neither ought a man negligently to suffer his glory to wither in his old age, like a wrestler’s garland; but, by adding always something new and fresh, he should awaken, meliorate, and confirm the grace of his former actions. For as those workmen on whom was incumbent the charge of keeping in repair the Delian ship, by supplying and putting into the place of the decayed planks and timber others that were new and sound, seem to have preserved it from ancient times, as if it were eternal and incorruptible; so the preserving and upholding of one’s glory is as the keeping in of a fire, a work of no difficulty, as requiring only to be supplied with a little fuel, but when either of them is wholly extinct and suppressed, one cannot without great labor rekindle it again. Lampis, the sea commander, being asked how he got his wealth, answered: My greatest estate I gained easily enough, but the smaller slowly and with much labor. In like manner, it is not easy at the beginning to acquire reputation and power in the state; but to augment and conserve it, when it is grown great, is not at all hard for those who have obtained it. For neither does a friend, when he is once had, require many and great services that he may so continue, but assiduity does by small signs preserve his good-will; nor do the friendship and confidence of the people expect to have a man always bestowing largesses, defending their causes, or executing of magistracy, but they are maintained by a readiness, and by not failing or being weary of carefulness and solicitude for the public. For even wars themselves have not alway conflicts, fights, and sieges; but there sometimes intervene sacrifices and parleys, and abundance of leisure for sports and pastimes. Whence then comes it, that the administration of the commonwealth should be feared as inconsolable, laborious, and unsupportable, where theatres, processions, largesses, music, joy, and at every turn the service and festival of some God or other, unbending the brows of every council and senate, yield a manifold pleasure and delight?

Notes on the current edition

Whether an Old Man Should Engage in Public Affairs

1. Xenophon, Memorabilia, ii. 1. 31.

2. By Delian ship is meant the Paralus which was sent annually from Athens with delegates to the festival at Delos. Annual repairs were so long continued that none of the original timbers remained and the question arose whether it was the same ship or not.

3. Pindar, Bergk-Schroeder, p. 467, no. 199 (213). Aglaïa, one of the Graces, was especially, connected with festive merriment.

Plutarch An seni respublica gerenda sit 6

Harold North Fowler (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers