Plutarch, Praecepta gerendae reipublicae, Harold North Fowler (Translator), 25

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[25] It is also expedient to divert the people’s interest to other useful things, as Demades did when he had the revenues of the State in his charge; for when the people were eager to send out triremes to aid those who were in revolt against Alexander,¹ and were urging him to furnish funds, You have, he said, funds available, for I have made preparations for the Pitcher Festival² so that each of you is to receive a half-mina, but if you had rather apply the funds to this other purpose, use your own money for the festival. And in this way, since they gave up the expedition in order not to lose the distribution of money, he removed any ground of complaint on Alexander’s part against the people of Athens. For there are many unprofitable measures which the statesman cannot avert by direct means, but he must use some sort of roundabout and circuitous methods, such as Phocion employed when ordered at an inopportune time to invade Boeotia. He immediately issued a proclamation³ calling all those from the age of military service up to sixty years to join the ranks, and when the older men made a violent protest, he said: What is there terrible about it? For I, your general, who am eighty years old, shall be with you. So in this way we should prevent inopportune embassies by listing among the envoys many who are not qualified to go, and useless construction by calling for contributions, and improper lawsuits and missions abroad by ordering the parties to appear in court together and together to go abroad on the missions. And those who propose such measures and incite the people to adopt them should be the first to be haled into court and made to take the responsibility for putting them into effect; for so they will either draw back and appear to be themselves nullifying the measure or they will stick to it and share its unpleasant features.

Praecepta gerendae reipublicae. Plutarch. Harold North Fowler (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

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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.) — 25 focus

[25] οὐ χεῖρον δὲ καὶ μετάγειν ἐπʼ ἄλλα χρειώδη τὸ σπουδαζόμενον, ὡς ἐποίησε Δημάδης, ὅτε τὰς προσόδους εἶχεν ὑφʼ ἑαυτῷ τῆς πόλεως· ὡρμημένων γὰρ ἐκπέμπειν τριήρεις βοηθοὺς τοῖς ἀφισταμένοις 818f Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ χρήματα κελευόντων παρέχειν ἐκεῖνον, ἔστιν ὑμῖν ἔφη χρήματα· παρεσκευασάμην γὰρ εἰς τοὺς χόας, ὥσθʼ ἕκαστον ὑμῶν λαβεῖν 5 ἡμιμναῖον· εἰ δʼ εἰς ταῦτα βούλεσθε μᾶλλον, αὐτοὶ καταχρῆσθε τοῖς ἰδίοις. καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον, ὅπως μὴ στεροῖντο τῆς διανομῆς, ἀφέντων τὸν ἀπόστολον, ἔλυσε τὸ πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον ἔγκλημα τοῦ δήμου. πολλὰ γὰρ ἀπʼ εὐθείας οὐκ ἔστιν ἐξῶσαι 10 τῶν ἀλυσιτελῶν, ἀλλὰ δεῖ τινος ἁμωσγέπως καμπῆς 819a καὶ περιαγωγῆς, οἵᾳ καὶ Φωκίων ἐχρῆτο· κελευόμενος εἰς Βοιωτίαν ἐμβαλεῖν παρὰ καιρόν· ἐκήρυξε γὰρ εὐθὺς ἀκολουθεῖν ἀφʼ ἥβης τοὺς μέχρι ἐτῶν ἑξήκοντα· καὶ θορύβου τῶν πρεσβυτέρων γενομένου 15 τί δεινόν; εἶπεν· ἐγὼ γὰρ, ὁ στρατηγὸς ὀγδοήκοντα γεγονὼς ἔτη μεθʼ ὑμῶν ἔσομαι. τούτῳ δὴ τῷ τρόπῳ καὶ πρεσβείας διακοπτέον ἀκαίρους, συγκαταλέγοντα πολλοὺς τῶν ἀνεπιτηδείως ἐχόντων, καὶ κατασκευὰς ἀχρήστους, κελεύοντα συνεισφέρειν, καὶ δίκας ἀπρεπεῖς¹, 20 ἀξιοῦντα συμπαρεῖναι καὶ συναποδημεῖν. πρώτους δὲ τοὺς γράφοντας τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ παροξύνοντας 819b ἕλκειν δεῖ καὶ παραλαμβάνειν ἢ γὰρ ἀναδυόμενοι τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτοὶ διαλύειν δόξουσιν ἢ μεθέξουσι τῶν δυσχερῶν παρόντες. 25

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.) — 25 focus

[25] It is not amiss also dexterously to turn aside the eager desires of the people to other useful things, as Demades did when he had the revenues of the city under his management. For they being bent to send galleys to the assistance of those who were in rebellion against Alexander, and commanding him to furnish out money for that purpose, he said to them: You have money ready, for I have made provision against the Bacchanals, that every one of you may receive half a mina; but if you had rather have it employed this way, make use as you please of your own. And by this means taking them off from sending the fleet, lest they should be deprived of the dividend, he kept the people from offending Alexander. For there are many prejudicial things to which we cannot directly put a stop, but we must for that end make use of turning and winding; as did Phocion, when he was required at an unseasonable time to make an incursion into Boeotia. For he immediately caused proclamation to be made, that all from sixteen years of age to sixty should prepare to follow him; and when there arose upon it a mutiny amongst the old men, he said: There is no hardship put upon you, for I, who am above fourscore years old, shall be your general. In this manner also is the sending of embassies to be put off, by joining in the commission such as are unprepared; and the raising of unprofitable buildings, by bidding them contribute to it; and the following of indecent suits, by ordering the prosecutors to appear together and go together from the court. Now the proposers and inciters of the people to such things are first to be drawn and associated for the doing them; for so they will either by their shifting it off seem to break the matter, or by their accepting of it have their share in the trouble.

Notes on the current edition

Precepts of Statecraft

1. In 330 b.c. King Agis of Sparta headed the revolt.

2. The second day of the Anthesteria, a three-day festival in worship of Dionysus, held in early spring at Athens.

3. Cf . Life of Phocion, chap. xxiv.

Plutarch Praecepta gerendae reipublicae 25

Harold North Fowler (Translator)

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