Plutarch, Praecepta gerendae reipublicae, Harold North Fowler (Translator), 6

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[6] The speech of the statesman, however, must not be juvenile and theatrical, as if he were making a speech for show and weaving a garland of delicate and flowery words; on the other hand it must not, as Pytheas said of the speech of Demosthenes, smell of the lamp and elaborate literary labour, with sharp arguments and with periods precisely measured by rule and compass. No, just as musicians demand that the touch upon the strings exhibit feeling, not mere technique, so the speech of the statesman, counsellor, and ruler must not exhibit shrewdness or subtlety, and it must not be to his credit to speak fluently or artistically or distributively,¹ but his speech must be full of unaffected character, true high-mindedness, a father’s frankness, foresight, and thoughtful concern for others. His speech must also have, in a good cause, a charm that pleases and a winning persuasiveness; in addition to nobility of purpose it must possess grace arising from stately diction and appropriate and persuasive thoughts. And political oratory, much more than that used in a court of law, admits maxims, historical and mythical tales, and metaphors, by means of which those who employ them sparingly and at the proper moment move their audiences exceedingly; as did he who said Do not make Hellas one-eyed,² and Demades when he said he was governing the wreck of the State,³ and Archilochus saying

Nor let the stone of Tantalus

Hang o’er the head of this our isle,⁴

and Pericles when he bade the Athenians to remove the eyesore of the Peiraeus,⁵ and Phocion when he said with reference to the victory of Leosthenes that the furlong race of the war was good, but he was fearful about the long-distance race.⁶ And, in general, loftiness and grandeur of style are more fitting for political speech; examples are the Philippics and among the speeches in Thucydides that of the ephor Sthenelaïdas, that of King Archidamns at Plataea, and that of Pericles after the pestilence.⁷ But as for the rhetorical efforts and grand periods of Ephorus, Theopompus, and Anaximenes, which they deliver after they have armed and drawn up the armies, it can be said of them,

None talks so foolishly when near the steel.⁸

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.) — 6 focus

[6] ὁ μέντοι λόγος ἔστω τοῦ πολιτικοῦ μήτε νεαρὸς καὶ θεατρικός, ὥσπερ πανηγυρίζοντος καὶ 5 στεφανηπλοκοῦντος ἐξ ἁπαλῶν καὶ ἀνθηρῶν ὀνομάτων μήτʼ αὖ πάλιν, ὡς ὁ Πυθέας τὸν Δημοσθένους ἔλεγεν, ἐλλυχνίων ὄζων¹ καὶ σοφιστικῆς περιεργίας 802f ἐνθυμήμασι πικροῖς² καὶ περιόδοις πρὸς κανόνα καὶ διαβήτην ἀπηκριβωμέναις³· ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ 10 οἱ μουσικοὶ τὴν θίξιν ἀξιοῦσι τῶν χορδῶν ἠθικὴν καταφαίνεσθαι μὴ κρουστικήν, οὕτω τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ πολιτευομένου καὶ συμβουλεύοντος καὶ ἄρχοντος ἐπιφαινέσθω μὴ δεινότης μηδὲ πανουργία, μηδʼ εἰς ἔπαινον αὐτοῦ τιθέσθω τὸ ἑκτικῶς ἢ τεχνικῶς ἢ 15 διαιρετικῶς, ἀλλʼ ἤθους ἀπλάστου καὶ φρονήματος ἀληθινοῦ καὶ παρρησίας πατρικῆς καὶ προνοίας καὶ 803a συνέσεως κηδομένης ὁ λόγος ἔστω μεστός, ἐπὶ τῷ καλῷ τὸ κεχαρισμένον ἔχων καὶ ἀγωγὸν ἔκ τε σεμνῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ νοημάτων ἰδίων⁴ καὶ πιθανῶν. δέχεται 20 δʼ ὁ πολιτικὸς λόγος δικανικοῦ⁵ μᾶλλον καὶ γνωμολογίας καὶ ἱστορίας καὶ μύθους καὶ μεταφοράς, αἷς μάλιστα κινοῦσιν οἱ χρώμενοι μετρίως καὶ κατὰ καιρόν· ὡς ὁ εἰπὼν μὴ ποιήσητε ἑτερόφθαλμον τὴν Ἑλλάδα⁶ καὶ Δημάδης⁷ τὰ ναυάγια λέγων πολιτεύεσθαι 25 τῆς πόλεως, καὶ Ἀρχίλοχος

μηδʼ ὁ Ταντάλου λίθος

⁸

τῆσδʼ ὑπὲρ νήσου κρεμάσθω

καὶ Περικλῆς τὴν λήμην τοῦ Πειραιῶς ἀφελεῖν⁹ κελεύων· καὶ Φωκίων ἐπὶ τῆς Λεωσθένους νίκης¹⁰ 5 803b καλὸν τὸ στάδιον εἶναι, δεδιέναι δὲ τοῦ πολέμου τὸν δόλιχον. καθόλου δʼ ὁ μὲν ὄγκος καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῷ πολιτικῷ μᾶλλον ἁρμόττει, παράδειγμα δʼ οἵ τε Φιλιππικοὶ καὶ τῶν Θουκυδίδου¹¹ δημηγοριῶν ἡ Σθενελαΐδα τοῦ Ἐφόρου καὶ Ἀρχιδάμου 10 τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν Πλαταιαῖς καὶ Περικλέους ἡ μετὰ τὸν λοιμόν· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν Ἐφόρου καὶ Θεοπόμπου καὶ Ἀναξιμένους ῥητορειῶν καὶ περιόδων, ἃς περαίνουσιν ἐξοπλίσαντες τὰ στρατεύματα καὶ παρατάξαντες, ἔστιν εἰπεῖν 15

οὐδεὶς σιδήρου ταῦτα μωραίνει πέλας.

¹²

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.) — 6 focus

[6] Let not yet the speech of a statesman be youthful and theatrical, as if he were making an harangue composed, like a garland, of curious and florid words; nor again —as Pytheas said of an oration made by Demosthenes, that it smelt of the lamp and sophistical curiosity—let it consist of over-subtle arguments and periods, exactly framed by rule and compass. But as musicians require that the strings of their instruments should be sweetly and gently touched, and not rudely thrummed or beaten; so in the speech of a statesman, both when he counsels and when he commands, there should not appear either violence or cunning, nor should he think himself worthy of commendation for having spoken formally, artificially, and with an exact observation of punctualities; but his whole discourse ought to be full of ingenuous simplicity, true magnanimity, fatherly freedom, and careful providence and understanding, joined with goodness and honesty, gracefulness and attraction, proceeding from grave expressions and proper and persuasive sentences. Now a political oration does much more properly than a juridical one admit of sententious speeches, histories, fables, and metaphors, by which those who moderately and seasonably use them exceedingly move their hearers; as he did who said, Make not Greece one-eyed; and Demades, when he affirmed of himself, that he was to manage the wreck of the state; and Archilochus, when he said

Nor let the stone of Tantalus

Over this isle hang always thus;

and Pericles, when he commanded the eyesore¹ of the Piraeus to be taken away; and Phocion, when he pronounced of Leosthenes’s victory, that the beginning or the short course of the war was good, but that he feared the long race that was to follow. But in general, majesty and greatness more benefit a political discourse, a pattern of which may be the Philippics, and (amongst the orations set down by Thucydides) that of Sthenelaidas the Ephor, that of Archidamus at Plataea, and that of Pericles after the plague. But as for those rhetorical flourishes and harangues of Ephorus, Theopompus, and Anaximenes, which they made after they had armed and set in order the battalions, it may be said of them,

None talks thus foolishly so near the sword.

Notes on the current edition

Precepts of Statecraft

1. These seem to be somewhat technical words employed by the rhetoricians.

2. cf. Aristotle, Rhetoric, iii. 1017, p. 1411 a; said by the Athenian orator Leptines, in opposing the destruction of Sparta, one of the eyes of Greece.

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

4. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. p. 396.

5. Cf . Life of Pericles, chap. viii. The references is to Aegina, whose thriving commerce threatened the prosperity of the Peiraeus.

6. Cf . Life of Phocion, chap. xxiii.

7. Thucydides, i. 86; ii. 72; ii. 60.

8. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 441, l. 22; from the Autolycus of Euripides.

Plutarch Praecepta gerendae reipublicae 6

Harold North Fowler (Translator)

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