Plutarch, Praecepta gerendae reipublicae, 1

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[1] If ever, O Menemachus, that saying of Nestor’s in Homer,

There is no Greek can contradict or mend

What you have said, yet to no perfect end

Is your speech brought,

might pertinently be made use of and applied, it is against those exhorting, but nothing teaching nor any way instructing, philosophers. For they do (in this respect) resemble those who are indeed careful in snuffing the lamps, but negligent in supplying them with o Il. Seeing therefore that you, being by reason moved to engage yourself in the affairs of the state, desire, as becomes the nobility of your family,

Both to speak and act heroicly

in the service of your country, and that, not having attained to such maturity of age as to have observed the life of a wise and philosophical man openly spent in the transactions of the state and public debates, and to have been a spectator of worthy examples represented not in word but in deed, you request me to lay you down some political precepts and instructions; I think it no ways becoming me to give you a denial, but heartily wish that the work may be worthy both of your zeal and my forwardness. Now I have, according to your request, made use in this my discourse of sundry and various examples.

Praecepta gerendae reipublicae. Plutarch. Boston. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Political Precepts (English) (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.)

Editions (1)

Πολιτικὰ παραγγέλματα Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. V. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1893.) — 1 focus

[1] 798a εὶ προς ἀλλο τι χρήσασθαι καλῶς ἐστιν ἔχου, ὦ Μενέμαχε, τῷ

οὔτις τοι τὸν μῦθον ὀνόσσεται ὅσσοι Ἀχαιοί,¹ 5

οὐδὲ πάλιν ἐρέει· ἀτὰρ οὐ τέλος ἵκεο μύθων·ʼ

798b καὶ πρὸς τοὺς προτρεπομένους τῶν φιλοσόφων διδάσκοντας δὲ μηδὲν μηδʼ ὑποτιθεμένους · ὅμοιοι γάρ εἰσι τοῖς τοὺς λύχνους προμύττουσιν² ἔλαιον δὲ μὴ ἐγχέουσιν. ὁρῶν οὖν σε παρωρμημένον ἀξίως 10 τῆς εὐγενείας ἐν τῇ πατρίδι

μύθων τε ῥητῆρʼ ἔμεναι πρηκτῆρά τε ἔργων,ʼ

ἐπειδὴ χρόνον οὐκ ἔχεις ἀνδρὸς φιλοσόφου βίον ὕπαιθρον ἐν πράξεσι πολιτικαῖς καὶ δημοσίοις ἀγῶσι κατανοῆσαι καὶ γενέσθαι παραδειγμάτων ἔργῳ μὴ 15 798c λόγῳ περαινομένων θεατής, ἀξιοῖς δὲ παραγγέλματα λαβεῖν πολιτικά· τὴν μὲν ἄρνησιν οὐδαμῶς ἐμαυτῷ προσήκουσαν εἶναι νομίζω, τὸ δʼ ἔργον εὔχομαι καὶ τῆς σῆς ἄξιον σπουδῆς καὶ τῆς ἐμῆς προθυμίας γενέσθαι· τοῖς δὲ παραδείγμασι ποικιλωτέροις, ὥσπερ 20 ἠξίωσας, ἐχρησάμην.

Translations (1)

Precepts of Statecraft Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. X. Fowler, Harold North, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 1 focus

[1] If, Menemachus, it is suitable to apply to anything at all the saying

No one of all the Achaeans finds fault with the words thou hast uttered,

Nor will oppose them in speech; and yet thou hast reached no conclusion,¹

it may be applied to those philosophers who urge people to take lessons from them, but give no real instruction or advice; for they are like those who trim the lamps, but fail to pour in oil. Therefore, seeing that the desire has been aroused in you a

Speaker of speeches to be, and also a doer of actions²

in your native State, as befits your noble birth, since you have not time to gain an understanding of a philosopher’s life in the open among affairs of State and public conflicts or to be a spectator of examples worked out in deed, not merely in word, and since you ask for some precepts of statecraft, I think it is not at all fitting that I should refuse, and I pray that the result may be worthy of your zeal and of my goodwill; and, as you requested, I have made use of a rather large variety of examples.

Notes on the current edition

Political Precepts

1. Il. IX. 55.

2. Il. IX. 443.

Plutarch Praecepta gerendae reipublicae 1

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