Plutarch, Praecepta gerendae reipublicae, Harold North Fowler (Translator), 17

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[17] Now the statesman is always by nature ruler of the State, like the leader¹ bee in the hive, and bearing this in mind he ought to keep public matters in his own hands; but offices which are called authorities and are elective he ought not to seek too eagerly or often, for love of office is neither dignified nor popular; nor should he refuse them, if the people offer them and call him to them in accordance with the law, but even if they be too small for a man of his reputation, he should accept them and exercise them with zeal; for it is right that men who are adorned with the highest offices should in turn adorn the lesser, and that statesmen should show moderation, giving up and yielding some part of the weightier offices, such as the generalship at Athens, the prytany at Rhodes, and the Boeotarchy here, and should add to the minor offices dignity and grandeur, that we may not be despised in connexion with the latter, nor envied on account of the former. And when entering upon any office whatsoever, you must not only call to mind those considerations of which Pericles reminded himself when he assumed the cloak of a general: Take care, Pericles; you are ruling free men, you are ruling Greeks, Athenian citizens, but you must also say to yourself: You who rule are a subject, ruling a State controlled by proconsuls, the agents of Caesar; these are not the spearmen of the plain,² nor is this ancient Sardis, nor the famed Lydian power. You should arrange your cloak more carefully and from the office of the generals keep your eyes upon the orators’ platform, and not have great pride or confidence in your crown, since you see the boots of Roman soldiers just above your head. No, you should imitate the actors, who, while putting into the performance their own passion, character, and reputation, yet listen to the prompter and do not go beyond the degree of liberty in rhythms and metres permitted by those in authority over them.³ For to fail in one’s part in public life brings not mere hissing or catcalls or stamping of feet, but many have experienced

The dread chastiser, axe that cleaves the neck,⁴

as did your countryman Pardalas and his followers when they forgot their proper limitations. And many another, banished to an island, has become, as Solon says,⁵

Pholegandrian or Sicinete,

No more Athenian, having changed his home.

Furthermore when we see little children trying playfully to bind their fathers’ shoes on their feet or fit their crowns upon their heads, we only laugh, but the officials in the cities, when they foolishly urge the people to imitate the deeds, ideals, and actions of their ancestors, however unsuitable they may be to the present times and conditions, stir up the common folk and, though what they do is laughable, what is done to them is no laughing matter, unless they are merely treated with utter contempt. Indeed there are many acts of the Greeks of former times by recounting which the statesman can mould and correct the characters of our contemporaries, for example, at Athens by calling to mind, not deeds in war, but such things as the decree of amnesty after the downfall of the Thirty Tyrants, the fining of Phrynichus for presenting in a tragedy the capture of Miletus, their decking their heads with garlands when Cassander refounded Thebes; how, when they heard of the clubbing at Argos, in which the Argives killed fifteen hundred of their own citizens, they decreed that an expiatory sacrifice be carried about in the assembly; and how, when they were searching the houses at the time of Harpalus’s frauds,⁶ they passed by only one, that of a newly married man. By emulating acts like these it is even now possible to resemble our ancestors, but Marathon, the Eurymedon, Plataea, and all the other examples which make the common folk vainly to swell with pride and kick up their heels, should be left to the schools of the sophists.

Praecepta gerendae reipublicae. 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

Precepts of Statecraft (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. X. Fowler, Harold North, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Πολιτικὰ παραγγέλματα Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. V. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1893.) — 17 focus

[17] φύσει μὲν οὖν ἄρχων ἀεὶ πόλεως ὁ πολιτικὸς ὥσπερ ἡγεμὼν ἐν μελίτταις, καὶ τοῦτο χρὴ διανοούμενον ἔχειν τὰ δημόσια διὰ χειρός· ἃς δʼ 20 ὀνομάζουσιν ἐξουσίας καὶ χειροτονοῦσιν ἀρχὰς μήτʼ ἄγαν διώκειν καὶ πολλάκις, οὐ γὰρ σεμνὸν οὐδὲ δημοτικὸν ἡ φιλαρχία· μήτʼ ἀπωθεῖσθαι, τοῦ δήμου κατὰ νόμον διδόντος καὶ καλοῦντος ἀλλὰ κἂν ταπεινότεραι τῆς δόξης ὦσι, δέχεσθαι καὶ συμφιλοτιμεῖσθαι 25 813d δίκαιον γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν μειζόνων κοσμουμένους ἀρχῶν ἀντικοσμεῖν τὰς,·ʼ ἐλάττονας, καὶ τῶν μὲν βαρυτέρων οἷον στρατηγίας Ἀθήνησι καὶ πρυτανείας ἐν Ῥόδῳ καὶ βοιωταρχίας παρʼ ἡμῖν, ὑφίεσθαὶ τι καὶ παρενδιδόναι μετριάζοντα ταῖς δὲ μικροτέραις ἀξίωμα προστιθέναι καὶ ὄγκον, ὅπως μήτε περὶ ταύτας εὐκαταφρόνητοι μήτε ἐπίφθονοι περὶ ἐκείνας ὦμεν. εἰσιόντα δʼ εἰς ἅπασαν ἀρχὴν οὐ μόνον ἐκείνους δεῖ προχειρίζεσθαι τοὺς 5 λογισμούς, οὓς ὁ Περικλῆς αὑτὸν ὑπεμίμνησκεν 813e ἀναλαμβάνων τὴν χλαμύδα πρόσεχε, Περίκλεις ἐλευθέρων ἄρχεις, Ἑλλήνων ἄρχεις, πολιτῶν Ἀθηναίων· ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνο λέγειν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀρχόμενος ἄρχεις, ὑποτεταγμένης πόλεως ἀνθυπάτοις, 10 ἐπιτρόποις Καίσαρος· οὐ ταῦτα λόγχη πεδιάς¹, οὐδʼ αἱ παλαιαὶ Σάρδεις οὐδʼ ἡ Λυδῶν ἐκείνη δύναμις εὐσταλεστέραν δεῖ τὴν χλαμύδα ποιεῖν, καὶ βλέπειν ἀπὸ τοῦ στρατηγίου πρὸς τὸ βῆμα², καὶ τῷ στεφάνῳ μὴ πολὺ φρονεῖν μηδὲ³ πιστεύειν, ὁρῶντα 15 τοὺς καλτίους ἐπάνω τῆς κεφαλῆς· ἀλλὰ μιμεῖσθαι 813f τοὺς ὑποκριτάς, πάθος; μὲν ἴδιον καὶ ἦθος καὶ ἀξίωμα τῷ ἀγῶνι προστιθέντας, τοῦ δʼ ὑποβολέως ἀκούοντας καὶ μὴ παρεκβαίνοντας τοὺς ῥυθμοὺς 20 καὶ τὰ μέτρα τῆς διδομένης ἐξουσίας ὑπὸ τῶν κρατούντων. ἡ γὰρ ἔκπτωσις οὐ φέρει συριγμὸν οὐδὲ χλευασμὸν οὐδὲ κλωγμόν, ἀλλὰ πολλοῖς μὲν ἐπέβη

δεινὸς κολαστὴς πέλεκυς αὐχένος τομεύς,

⁴

ὡς τοῖς περὶ Παρδάλαν· τὸν ὑμέτερον ἐκλαθομένοις τῶν ὅρων ὁ δέ τις ἐκριφεὶς εἰς νῆσον γέγονε κατὰ 25 τὸν Σόλωνα

Φολεγάνδριος ἢ Σικινήτης⁵,⁶ 814a

ἀντί.,γʼ Ἀθηναίου πατρίδʼ ἀμειψάμενος.

τὰ μὲν γὰρ μικρὰ παιδία τῶν πατέρων ὁρῶντες ἐπιχειροῦντα τὰς κρηπῖδας ὑποδεῖσθαι καὶ τοὺς στεφάνους 5 περιτίθεσθαι μετὰ παιδιᾶς γελῶμεν, οἱ δʼ ἄρχοντες ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ἀνοήτως τὰ τῶν προγόνων ἔργα καὶ φρονήματα καὶ πράξεις ἀσυμμέτρους τοῖς παροῦσι καιροῖς καὶ πράγμασιν οὔσας μιμεῖσθαι κελεύοντες ἐξαίρουσι τὰ πλήθη, γέλωτά τε ποιοῦντες⁷ 10 οὐκέτι γέλωτος ἄξια πάσχουσιν, ἂν μὴ πάνυ καταφρονηθῶσι. πολλὰ γὰρ ἔστιν ἄλλα τῶν πρότερον 814b Ἑλλήνων διεξιόντα τοῖς νῦν ἠθοποιεῖν καὶ σωφρονίζειν, ὡς Ἀθήνησιν ὑπομιμνήσκοντα μὴ τῶν πολεμικῶν, ἀλλʼ οἷόν ἐστι τὸ ψήφισμα τὸ τῆς ἀμνηστίας 15 ἐπὶ τοῖς τριάκοντα· καὶ τὸ ζημιῶσαι Φρύνιχον τραγῳδίᾳ⁸ διδάξαντα τὴν Μιλήτου ἅλωσιν· καὶ ὅτι, Θήβας Κασάνδρου κτίζοντος, ἐστεφανηφόρησαν τὸν δʼ ἐν Ἄργει πυθόμενοι σκυταλισμόν, ἐν ᾧ πεντακοσίους καὶ χιλίους ἀνῃρήκεσαν ἐξ αὑτῶν⁹ οἱ Ἀργεῖοι, 20 περιενεγκεῖν καθάρσιον περὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐκέλευσαν ἐν· δὲ τοῖς Ἁρπαλείοις τὰς οἰκίας ἐρευνῶντες μόνην τὴν τοῦ γεγαμηκότος νεωστὶ παρῆλθον. ταῦτα γὰρ καὶ νῦν ἔξεστι ζηλοῦντας ἐξομοιοῦσθαι τοῖς 814c προγόνοις· τὸν δὲ Μαραθῶνα καὶ τὸν Εὐρυμέδοντα 25 καὶ τὰς Πλαταιάς, καὶ ὅσα τῶν παραδειγμάτων οἰδεῖν ποιεῖ καὶ φρυάττεσθαι διακενῆς τοὺς πολλούς, ἀπολιπόντας ἐν¹⁰ ταῖς σχολαῖς τῶν σοφιστῶν.

Translations (1)

Political Precepts Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. V. Goodwin, William W., editor; White, Samuel, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 17 focus

[17] The politician therefore is by nature always the prince of the city, as the king among the bees; and in consideration of this, he ought always to have the helm of public affairs in his hand. But as for those dignities and offices to which persons are nominated and chosen by the suffrages of the people, he should neither too eagerly nor too often pursue them,—the seeking after offices being neither venerable nor popular,—nor yet should he reject them, when the people legally confer them on him and invite him to them, but even though they are below his reputation, he should accept them and willingly employ himself in them; for it is but just that they who have been honored by offices of greater dignity should in return grace those of inferior rank. And in those more weighty and superior employs, such as are the commanding of the armies in Athens, the Prytania in Rhodes, and the Boeotarchy amongst us, he should carry himself with such moderation as to remit and abate something of their grandeur, adding somewhat of dignity and venerableness to those that are meaner and less esteemed, that he may be neither despised for these nor envied for those.

Now it behooves him that enters upon any office, not only to have at hand those arguments of which Pericles put himself in mind when he first received the robe of state: Bethink thyself, Pericles, thou govern’st freemen, thou govern’st Grecians, yea, citizens of Athens; but farther also, he ought to say thus with himself: Thou, being a subject, govern’st a city which is under the obedience of Caesar’s proconsul or lieutenant. Here is no fight in a fair field, this is not the ancient Sardis, nor is this the puissance of the Lydians. Thou must make thy robe scantier, look from the pavilion to the tribunal, and not place too great confidence in thy crown, since thou see’st the Roman’s shoes over thy head. But in this the stage-players are to be imitated, who add indeed to the play their own passionate transports, behavior, and countenance, suitable to the person they represent, but yet give ear to the prompter, and transgress not the rhyme and measures of the faculty granted them by their masters. For an error in government brings not, as in the acting of a tragedy, only hissing and derision; but many have by this means subjected themselves to that

Severe chastiser, the neck-cutting axe.

As it befell your countryman Pardalas, when he forgot the limits of his power. Another, being banished from home and confined to a little island, as Solon has it,

Became at last from an Athenian

A Pholegandrian or Sicinitan.

For we laugh indeed, when we see little children endeavoring to fasten their father’s shoes on their own feet, or setting their crowns on their own heads in sport. But the governors of cities, foolishly exhorting the people to imitate those works, achievements, and actions of their ancestors which are not suitable to the present times and affairs, elevate the multitude, and although they do things that are ridiculous, they yet meet with a fate which is not fit to be laughed at, unless they are men altogether despised. For there are many other facts of the ancient Greeks, the recital of which to those who are now living may serve to form and moderate their manners; as would be the relating at Athens, not the warlike exploits of their progenitors, but (for example) the decree of amnesty after the expulsion of the Thirty Tyrants; the fining of Phrynicus, who represented in a tragedy the taking of Miletus; how they wore garlands on their heads when Cassander rebuilt Thebes; how, having intelligence of the Scytalism (or slaughter) at Argos in which the Argives put to death fifteen hundred of their own citizens, they commanded a lustration (or expiatory sacrifice) to be carried about in a full assembly; and how, when they were searching of houses for those that were confederated with Harpalus, they passed by only one, which was inhabited by a man newly married. For by the imitating of such things as these, they may even now resemble their ancestors; but the fights at Marathon, Eurymedon, and Plataea, and whatever examples vainly puff up and heighten the multitude, should be left to the schools of the sophisters.

Notes on the current edition

Precepts of Statecraft

1. The Greeks did not know that the most important bee in the hive was female - the queen bee.

2. Sophocles, Trachiniae, 1058.

3. In Greece of Plutarch’s time those in authority in political matters were the Romans.

4. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 918, no. 412; from an unknown play.

5. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. p. 34.

6. The Thirty Tyrants at Athens were overthrown in 403 b.c.; Phrynichus presented the tragedy shortly after Miletus was captured by the Persians in 494 b.c.; Cassander refounded Thebes in 316-315 b.c., ten years after its destruction by Alexander; the clubbing of aristocrats at Argos by the mob took place in 370 b.c.; Harpalus, Alexander’s treasurer, brought to Athens in 329 b.c. funds stolen from Alexander and was supposed to have bribed many prominent Athenians, one of whom was Demosthenes.

Plutarch Praecepta gerendae reipublicae 17

Harold North Fowler (Translator)

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