Plutarch, Praecepta gerendae reipublicae, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 4

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[4] τὸ μὲν οὖν τῶν πολιτῶν ἦθος ἰσχύοντα δεῖ 5 καὶ πιστευόμενον ἤδη πειρᾶσθαι ῥυθμίζειν ἀτρέμα 800b πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ὑπάγοντα καὶ πράως μεταχειριζόμενον· ἐργώδης γὰρ ἡ μετάθεσις τῶν πολλῶν. αὐτὸς δʼ ὥσπερ ἐν θεάτρῳ τὸ λοιπὸν ἀναπεπταμένῳ βιωσόμενος, ἐξάσκει καὶ κατακόσμει τὸν τρόπον· εἰ δὲ 10 μὴ ῥᾴδιον ἀπαλλάξαι παντάπασι τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν κακίαν, ὅσα γοῦν ἐπανθεῖ μάλιστα καὶ προπίπτει¹ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀφαιρῶν καὶ κολούων. ἀκούεις γάρ, ὅτι καὶ Θεμιστοκλῆς ἅπτεσθαι τῆς πολιτείας διανοούμενος ἀπέστησε τῶν πότων καὶ τῶν κώμων 15 ἑαυτόν, ἀγρυπνῶν δὲ καὶ νήφων καὶ πεφροντικὼς ἔλεγε πρὸς τοὺς συνήθεις, ὡς οὐκ ἐᾷ καθεύδειν 800c αὐτὸν τὸ Μιλτιάδου τρόπαιον· Περικλῆς δὲ καὶ περὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν δίαιταν ἐξήλλαξεν αὑτὸν ἠρέμα βαδίζειν καὶ πράως διαλέγεσθαι καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον 20 ἀεὶ συνεστηκὸς ἐπιδείκνυσθαι καὶ τὴν χεῖρα συνέχειν ἐντὸς τῆς περιβολῆς καὶ μίαν ὁδὸν πορεύεσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα καὶ τὸ βουλευτήριον. οὐ γὰρ εὐμεταχείριστον οὐδὲ ῥᾴδιον ἁλῶναι τὴν σωτήριον ἅλωσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ τυχόντος ὄχλος², ἀλλʼ ἀγαπητόν, 25 εἰ μήτʼ ὄψει μήτε φωνῇ πτυρόμενος ὥσπερ θηρίον ὕποπτον καὶ ποικίλον ἐνδέχοιτο τὴν ἐπιστασίαν. ᾧ³ τοίνυν οὐδὲ τούτων ἐπιμελητέον ἐστὶ 800d παρέργως, ἦπου τῶν περὶ τὸν βίον καὶ τὸ ἦθος ἀμελητέον ὅπως ψόγου καθαρὰ καὶ διαβολῆς ἁπάσης; οὐ γὰρ ὧν λέγουσιν ἐν κοινῷ καὶ πράττουσιν οἱ πολιτευόμενοι μόνον εὐθύνας διδόασιν, 5 ἀλλὰ καὶ δεῖπνον αὐτῶν πολυπραγμονεῖται καὶ κοίτη καὶ γάμος καὶ παιδιὰ καὶ σπουδὴ πᾶσα. τί γὰρ δεῖ λέγειν Ἀλκιβιάδην; ὃν περὶ τὰ κοινὰ πάντων ἐνεργότατον ὄντα καὶ στρατηγὸν ἀήττητον ἀπώλεσεν ἡ περὶ τὴν δίαιταν ἀναγωγία καὶ θρασύτης, καὶ 10 τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν αὐτοῦ⁴ τὴν πόλιν ἀνόνητον ἐποίησε διὰ τὴν πολυτέλειαν καὶ τὴν ἀκολασίαν ὅπου καὶ Κίμωνος οὗτοι τὸν οἶνον, καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι 800e Σκιπίωνος οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἔχοντες λέγειν τὸν ὕπνον ᾐτιῶντο· Πομπήιον δὲ Μάγνον ἐλοιδόρουν οἱ ἐχθροί, 15 παραφυλάξαντες ἑνὶ δακτύλῳ τὴν κεφαλὴν κνώμενον. ὡς γὰρ ἐν προσώπῳ φακὸς καὶ ἀκροχορδὼν δυσχεραίνεται μᾶλλον ἢ στίγματα καὶ κολοβότητες καὶ οὐλαὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ σώματος, οὕτω τὰ μικρὰ φαίνεται μεγάλα τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐν ἡγεμονικοῖς 20 καὶ πολιτικοῖς ὁρώμενα βίοις διὰ δόξαν, ἣν οἱ πολλοὶ περὶ ἀρχῆς καὶ πολιτείας ἔχουσιν, ὡς πράγματος μεγάλου καὶ καθαρεύειν ἀξίου πάσης 800f ἀτοπίας καὶ πλημμελείας. εἰκότως οὖν Λιούιος⁵ Δροῦσος ὁ δημαγωγὸς εὐδοκίμησεν ὅτι, τῆς οἰκίας 25 αὐτοῦ πολλὰ μέρη κάτοπτα τοῖς γειτνιῶσιν ἐχούσης καὶ τῶν τεχνιτῶν τινος ὑπισχνουμένου ταῦτʼ ἀποστρέψειν καὶ μεταθήσειν ἀπὸ πέντε μόνων ταλάντων, δέκα ἔφη λαβὼν ὅλην μου ποίησον καταφανῆ τὴν οἰκίαν, ἵνα πάντες ὁρῶσιν οἱ πολῖται πῶς διαιτῶμαι· καὶ γὰρ ἦν ἀνὴρ σώφρων καὶ κόσμιος. ἴσως δὲ ταύτης οὐδὲν ἔδει τῆς καταφανείας 5 αὐτῷ· διορῶσι γὰρ οἱ πολλοὶ καὶ τὰ πάνυ βαθέως περιαμπέχεσθαι δοκοῦντα τῶν πολιτευομένων 801a ἢθη καὶ βουλεύματα καὶ πράξεις καὶ βίους, οὐχ ἧττον ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων ἢ τῶν δημοσίων ἐπιτηδευμάτων τὸν μὲν φιλοῦντες καὶ θαυμάζοντες τὸν 10 δὲ δυσχεραίνοντες καὶ καταφρονοῦντες. τί οὖν δή; οὐχὶ καὶ τοῖς ἀσελγῶς καὶ τεθρυμμένως ζῶσιν αἱ πόλεις χρῶνται; καὶ γὰρ αἱ κιττῶσαι λίθους καὶ οἱ ναυτιῶντες ἁλμυρίδας καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα βρώματα διώκουσι πολλάκις, εἶτʼ ὀλίγον ὕστερον ἐξέπτυσαν 15 καὶ ἀπεστράφησαν· οὕτω καὶ οἱ δῆμοι διὰ τρυφὴν καὶ ὕβριν βελτιόνων ἀπορίᾳ δημαγωγῶν χρῶνται 801b τοῖς ἐπιτυχοῦσι βδελυττόμενοι καὶ καταφρονοῦντες, εἶτα χαίρουσι τοιούτων εἰς αὐτοὺς λεγομένων, οἷα Πλάτων ὁ κωμικὸς τὸν Δῆμον αὐτὸν 20 λέγοντα ποιεῖ

λαβοῦ, λαβοῦ τῆς χειρὸς ὡς τάχιστά μου,

⁶

μέλλω στρατηγὸν χειροτονεῖν Ἀγύρριον⁷

καὶ πάλιν αἰτοῦντα λεκάνην καὶ πτερόν, ὅπως ἐμέσῃ, λέγοντα 25

προσίσταταί μου πρὸς τὸ βῆμα⁸ Μαντίας

⁹

καὶ

βόσκει¹⁰ δυσώδη Κέφαλον, ἐχθίστην νόσον.

¹¹

ὁ δὲ Ῥωμαίων δῆμος, ὑπισχνουμένου τι Κάρβωνος καὶ προστιθέντος ὅρκον δή τινα καὶ ἀράν, ἀντώμοσεν 5 ὁμοῦ μὴ πιστεύειν. ἐν δὲ Λακεδαίμονι τινὸς 801c Δημοσθένους¹² ἀνδρὸς ἀκολάστου γνώμην εἰπόντος ἁρμόζουσαν, ἀπέρριψεν ὁ δῆμος, οἱ δʼ Ἔφοροι κληρώσαντες ἕνα τῶν γερόντων ἐκέλευσαν εἰπεῖν τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον ἐκεῖνον, ὥσπερ εἰς καθαρὸν ἀγγεῖον 10 ἐκ ῥυπαροῦ μετεράσαντες¹³, ὅπως εὐπρόσδεκτος γένηται τοῖς πολλοῖς. οὕτω μεγάλην ἔχει ῥοπὴν ἐν πολιτείᾳ πίστις ἤθους καὶ τοὐναντίον.

Praecepta gerendae reipublicae. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1893.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

Precepts of Statecraft Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. X. Fowler, Harold North, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 4 focus

[4] So, then, the statesman who already has attained to power and has won the people’s confidence should try to train the character of the citizens, leading them gently towards that which is better and treating them with mildness; for it is a difficult task to change the multitude. But do you yourself, since you are henceforth to live as on an open stage, educate your character and put it in order; and if it is not easy wholly to banish evil from the soul, at any rate remove and repress those faults which are most flourishing and conspicuous. For you know the story that Themistocles, when he was thinking of entering upon public life, withdrew from drinking-parties and carousals; he was wakeful at night, was sober and deeply thoughtful, explaining to his friends that Miltiades’ trophy¹ would not let him sleep. And Pericles also changed his personal habits of life, so that he walked slowly, spoke gently, always showed a composed countenance, kept his hand under his cloak, and trod only one path - that which led to the assembly and the senate. For a populace is not a simple and easy thing for any chance person to subject to that control which is salutary; but one must be satisfied if the multitude accept authority without shying, like a suspicious and capricious beast, at face or voice. Since, then, the statesman must not treat even these matters carelessly, ought he to neglect the things which affect his life and character, that they may be clear of blame and ill report of every kind? For not only are men in public life held responsible for their public words and actions, but people busy themselves with all their concerns: dinner, love affair, marriage, amusement, and every serious interest. What need is there, for instance, to speak of Alcibiades, who, though he was most active of all the citizens in public affairs and was undefeated as general, was ruined by his audacious and dissolute habits in private life, and, because of his extravagance and lack of restraint, deprived the State of the benefit of his other good qualities? Why, the Athenians blamed Cimon for wine-drinking, and the Romans, having nothing else to say, blamed Scipio² for sleeping; and the enemies of Pompey the Great, observing that he scratched his head with one finger, reviled him for it.³ For, just as a mole or a wart on the face is more unpleasant than brandmarks, mutilations, or scars on other parts of the body, so small faults appear great when observed in the lives of leaders and statesmen on account of the opinion which the majority has of governing and public office, regarding it as a great thing which ought to be clean of all eccentricities and errors. With good reason, therefore, did Livius Drusus the tribune gain inreputation because, when many parts of his house were exposed to the view of his neighbours and an artisan promised to turn them the other way and change their position for only five talents, Drusus replied, Take ten and make the whole house open to view, that all the citizens may see how I live. For he was a man of temperate and well-ordered life. And perhaps he had no need of that exposure to the public view; for the people see through the characters, counsels, acts, and lives of public men, even those that seem to be very thickly cloaked; they love and admire one man and dislike and despise another quite as much for his private as for his public practices.

But, you say, do not States put in office men who live licentiously and wantonly? They do, and pregnant women often long for stones, and seasick persons for salt pickles and the like, which then a little later they spew out and detest. So the people of democracies, because of the luxury of their own lives or through sheer perversity, or for lack of better leaders, make use of those who happen to turn up, though they loathe and despise them, then take pleasure in hearing such things said about them as the comic poet Plato puts into the mouth of the People itself:

Take, take my hand as quickly as you can;

I’m going to choose Agyrrhius general⁴;

and again, when he makes the People ask for a basin and a feather in order to vomit and then say,

Beside my platform Mantias takes his stand,⁵

and

It feeds foul Cephalus, most hateful pest.⁶

And the Roman people, when Carbo promised something and confirmed his promise with an oath and a curse, unanimously took a counter-oath that it did not trust him. And at Lacedaemon, when a dissolute man named Demosthenes made a desirable motion, the people rejected it, but the ephors chose by lot one of the elders and told him to make that same motion, in order that it might be made acceptable to the people, thus pouring, as it were, from a dirty vessel into a clean one. So great is the importance, in a free State, of confidence or lack of confidence in a man’s character.

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.) — 4 focus

[4] When therefore you shall have already gotten power and authority amongst the people, then must you endeavor to reform their disposition, treating them gently, and by little and little drawing them to what is better. For the changing of a multitude is a difficult and laborious work. But as for your own manners and behavior, so compose and adorn them, as knowing that you are henceforth to lead your life on an open stage; and if it is no easy task for you wholly to extirpate vice out of your soul, at least take away and retrench those offences which are most notorious and apparent. For you cannot but have heard how Themistocles, when he designed to enter upon the management of public affairs, withdrew himself from drinking and revelling, and fell to watching, fasting, and studying, saying to his intimate friends, that Miltiades’s trophy suffered him not to sleep. And Pericles also so changed himself, both as to the comportment of his body and his manner of living, that he walked gravely, discoursed affably, always showed a staid and settled countenance, continually kept his hand under his robe, and went only that way which led to the assembly and the senate. For a multitude is not so tractable as that it should be easy for every one to take it with safety, but it is a service much to be valued, if, being like a suspicious and skittish beast, it can be so managed that, without being frighted either by sight or voice, it will submit to receive instruction.

These things therefore are not slightly to be observed; nor are we to neglect taking such care of our own life and manners that they may be clear from all stain and reprehension. For statesmen are not only liable to give an account of what they say or do in public; but there is a busy enquiry made into their very meals, beds, marriages, and every either sportive or serious action. For what need we speak of Alcibiades, who, being of all men the most active in public affairs, and withal an invincible commander, perished by his irregularity in living and his audaciousness, and who by his luxury and prodigality rendered the state unbenefited by all his other good qualities? —since the Athenians blamed Cimon’s wine; the Romans, having nothing else to cavil at, found fault with Scipio’s sleeping; and the enemies of Pompey the Great, having observed that he scratched his head with one finger, upbraided him with it. For as a freckle or wart in the face is more prejudicial than stains, maims, and scars in the rest of the body; so little faults, discerned in the lives of princes and statesmen, appear great, through an opinion most men have conceived of government and policy, which they look on as a great and excellent thing, and such as ought to be pure from all absurdity and imperfection. Therefore not unjustly is Livius Drusus commended, who, when several parts of his house lay open to the view of his neighbors, being told by a certain workman that he would for the expense only of five talents alter and remedy that fault, said: I will give thee indeed ten, to make my whole house so transparent that all the city may see how I live. For he was a temperate and modest man. And yet perhaps he had no need of this perspicuity; for many persons pry into those manners, counsels, actions, and lives of statesmen which seem to be most deeply concealed, no less loving and admiring one, and hating and despising another, for their private than for their public transactions. What then! perhaps you may say: Do not cities make use also of such men as live dissolutely and effeminately? True; for as women with child frequently long for stones and chalk, as those that are stomach-sick do for salt-fish and such other meats, which a little after they spit out again and reject; so also the people sometime through wantonness and petulancy, and sometimes for want of better guides, make use of those that come first to hand, though at the same time detesting and contemning them, and after rejoice at such things spoken against them as the comedian Plato makes the people themselves to say:

Quick, take me by the hand, and hold me fast,

Or I’ll Agyrrius captain choose in haste.

And again he brings them in, calling for a basin and feather that they may vomit, and saying,

A chamber-pot by my tribunal stands.

And a little after,

It feeds a stinking pest, foul Cephalus.

And the Roman people, when Carbo promised them something, and (to confirm it) added an oath and execration, unanimously swore on the contrary that they would not believe him. And in Lacedaemon, when a certain dissolute man named Demosthenes had delivered a very convenient opinion, the people rejected it; but the Ephori, who approved of his advice, having chosen by lot one of the ancient senators, commanded him to repeat the same discourse, pouring it (as it were) out of a filthy vessel into a clean one, that it might be acceptable to the multitude. Of so great moment either way in political affairs is the belief conceived of a person’s disposition and manners.

Notes on the current edition

Πολιτικὰ παραγγέλματα

1. Coraes: προσπίπτει

2. ὄχλος * ( ὁ ὄχλος Cobetus): ὄχλον aut ὄχλου

3. ᾧ] ὅπου Coraes

4. malim αὐτοῦ

5. Λιούιος X: λεούιος aut ἰούλιος

6. cf. Kock. 1 p. 652

7. Ἀγύρριον] cf. Arist. Plut. 176

8. ib. βῆμα] κλῆμα optimi. βλῆμα?

9. cf. Kock. 1. 1.

10. ib. βόσκει] κόσμει optimi

11. Kock. 1. 1.

12. Τιμοσθένους Madvigius

13. Duebnerus: μετακεράσαντες

Plutarch Praecepta gerendae reipublicae 4

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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