*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75184 ***
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have
been placed at the end of the book.
The Table of Contents was created by the Transcriber and has been
placed in front of the Introduction.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
Political and Ethical Fragments.
POLITICAL FRAGMENTS
OF
ARCHYTAS, CHARONDAS, ZALEUCUS,
AND OTHER
ANCIENT PYTHAGOREANS,
PRESERVED BY STOBÆUS;
AND ALSO,
ETHICAL FRAGMENTS
OF
Hierocles,
THE CELEBRATED COMMENTATOR ON THE GOLDEN PYTHAGORIC
VERSES,
PRESERVED BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK
BY THOMAS TAYLOR.
Αβαπτιστος ειμι φελλος ως
υπερ ερκος αλμας.
PIND. PYTH. OD. 2.
Just like a cork unmerged I keep
On the broad barrier of the deep.
Chiswick:
PRINTED BY C. WHITTINGHAM,
COLLEGE HOUSE;
FOR THE TRANSLATOR, MANOR PLACE, WALWORTH.
1822.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.
POLITICAL FRAGMENTS OF THE PYTHAGOREANS.
FROM THE TREATISE OF HIPPODAMUS THE THURIAN ON A REPUBLIC.
FROM THE TREATISE OF DIOTOGENES ON SANCTITY.
FROM THE TREATISE OF ARCHYTAS ON LAW AND JUSTICE.
AND IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME WORK.
IN ANOTHER PART ALSO OF THE SAME WORK.
ON THE MUTATIONS OF POLITIES, FROM THE TREATISE OF HIPPODAMUS ON
A POLITY.
FROM DIOTOGENES IN HIS TREATISE CONCERNING A KINGDOM.
AND IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME TREATISE.
FROM THE TREATISE OF STHENIDAS THE LOCRIAN, ON A KINGDOM.
FROM THE TREATISE OF ECPHANTUS, THE CROTONIAN, ON A KINGDOM.
AND IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME WORK.
FROM ARCHYTAS.
FROM THE TREATISE OF DIOTOGENES ON SANCTITY.
THE PREFACE OF CHARONDAS, THE CATANEAN, TO HIS TREATISE OF LAWS.
THE PREFACE OF ZALEUCUS, THE LOCRIAN, TO HIS LAWS.
FROM THE TREATISE OF CALLICRATIDAS ON THE FELICITY OF FAMILIES.
AND IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME WORK.
AND AGAIN, IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME WORK.
FROM THE TREATISE OF PERICTYONE ON THE DUTIES OF A WOMAN.
FROM THE TREATISE OF PERICTYONE ON THE HARMONY OF A WOMAN.
ON THE REVERENCE DUE TO PARENTS. FROM THE APOPHTHEGMS OF
ARISTOXENUS, THE TARENTINE.
AND IN THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE SAME WORK.
FROM THE TREATISE OF PEMPELUS ON PARENTS.
FROM THE TREATISE OF PHINTYS, THE DAUGHTER OF CALLICRATES, ON THE
TEMPERANCE OF A WOMAN.
ETHICAL FRAGMENTS OF HIEROCLES,
HOW WE OUGHT TO CONDUCT OURSELVES TOWARDS THE GODS.
HOW WE OUGHT TO CONDUCT OURSELVES TOWARDS OUR COUNTRY.
AFTER WHAT MANNER WE OUGHT TO CONDUCT OURSELVES TOWARDS OUR
PARENTS.
ON FRATERNAL LOVE.
ON WEDLOCK.
HOW WE OUGHT TO CONDUCT OURSELVES TOWARDS OUR [OTHER] KINDRED.
ON ECONOMICS.
INTRODUCTION.
The collection of PYTHAGORIC FRAGMENTS contained in this volume must
be considered by every one as highly valuable if their antiquity
only is regarded; but by the lover of genuine wisdom they will be
deemed inestimable, as proceeding from the school of the father of
philosophy.
Of the greater part of the authors of these fragments little more
than the country in which they lived is known. But of Charondas, and
Zaleucus, those celebrated legislators, Seneca in his 90th Epistle
informs us that they learnt their laws in the silent and sacred
recess of Pythagoras. Though Seneca, however, Diodorus Siculus,
Diogenes Laertius, Porphyry, and Iamblichus make both Charondas
and Zaleucus to be the disciples of Pythagoras; yet Dr. Bentley,
in his Dissertation on Phalaris, seems more disposed to think that
they were not Pythagoreans than that they were. At the conclusion,
however, of his discussion of this subject he says, “I do not assert
any thing positively on either side of this whole debate about the
two lawgivers [Charondas and Zaleucus]. I rather desire to stand a
neuter, till the matter shall be decided by some abler hand[1].” But
the man of intellect who reads this concession of the doctor, will
doubtless laugh when he finds him also asserting, “Thus much I am
sure may be safely concluded, that if Zaleucus was really Pythagoras’
disciple, the learned Mr. Dodwell’s calculation must be wrong
[respecting the age of Pythagoras]. For which is more probable,
that a Mr. Dodwell was mistaken in this particular, or that Diodorus
Siculus, Laertius, Porphyry, and Iamblichus were wrong, who lived so
many centuries prior to him, and who were able to derive information
so much more decisive respecting Zaleucus, through books which
were then extant, but which have long since utterly perished? By
Vossius[2], however, who, though he was not perhaps so great a verbal
critic as Bentley, was certainly a man of more intellect[3], the
whole of these fragments were considered as precious monuments; and
he wonders, and is at the same time indignant, at their not being
more frequently perused.
Of Hierocles, the author of the ETHICAL FRAGMENTS, something more is
known than of the authors of the POLITICAL FRAGMENTS, through what
is said of him by Suidas, Damascius[4], and Æneas Gazæus. For from
the last of these we learn that he flourished about the end of the
fifth century of the Christian era; and from the other two, that
he was a Platonic philosopher of Alexandria: that his conceptions
were magnificent, and his genius sublime; that he was very eloquent,
astonished his auditors by the beauty and copiousness of his
language, and contended with Plato himself in elegance of diction,
and fertility of intellect. One of his auditors was Theosebius, a man
of great penetration, who at different times twice heard Hierocles
orally explaining the Gorgias of Plato; and though on comparing the
latter with the former explanation, he found nothing in the one
which might be said to be the same with what was in the other, yet
each of them unfolded as much as possible the intention of Plato
in that dialogue—which, as Damascius well observes, was a thing of
a most singular nature, and clearly demonstrates the amplitude of
his conceptions. We are informed, also, by the same Theosebius, that
Hierocles once said, when expounding Plato, that the discourses of
Socrates[5] resembled cubes, because they remained firm wherever they
might fall.
The following circumstance, says Suidas, evinces the fortitude and
magnanimity of Hierocles. On coming to Byzantium, he offended the
_prevailers_ (προσεκρουσε τοις Κρατουσι) i.e. _the Christians_[6];
and being brought into a court of justice by them was whipped. But
while the blood was flowing, he took some of it in the hollow of his
hand, and besprinkled with it the judge, at the same time exclaiming:
Cyclops, since human flesh is thy delight,
Now drink this wine[7].
Being banished, most probably in consequence of this magnanimous
behaviour; and returning some time after to Alexandria, he gave
philosophical lectures to his auditors in his usual manner. Suidas
adds, that the grandeur of the conceptions of Hierocles may be
learnt from the perusal of his Commentaries On the Golden Verses of
the Pythagoreans, and from his treatise On Providence[8]; in which
works it appears that he was sublimely wise in his life, but not
accurate in his knowledge. Damascius also says, that Hierocles was
not at all deficient in any thing pertaining to merely human science,
but that he was by no means replete with _blessed conceptions_, i.e.
with conceptions which are the offspring of an _entheastic_, or
divinely inspired energy; and which are to be found in abundance in
the writings of Plato, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Proclus, and Damascius
himself. This, indeed, will be immediately evident[9] to the man
who has penetrated the depth of these writings, but to the merely
verbal critic is a circumstance involved in Cimmerian darkness.
POLITICAL FRAGMENTS
OF THE
PYTHAGOREANS.
FROM THE TREATISE OF HIPPODAMUS THE THURIAN ON A REPUBLIC.
I say that the whole of a polity is divided into three parts. And one
part, indeed, consists of good men, who manage the public affairs.
But the second part consists of those who are powerful. And the third
part is composed of those who are employed in supplying and procuring
the necessaries of life. I denominate, however, the first multitude
[in a polity] that which consults [for the good of the whole]; the
second, that which is auxiliary; and the third, that which pertains
to mechanical and sordid occupations. Of these also, I say that the
two first belong to those whose condition in life is liberal; but
the third, to those who labour to procure subsistence. And of these
indeed, that which consults is the best; but that which is employed
in sordid occupations is the worst; and that which is auxiliary,
is a medium between the two. That which consults likewise [for the
general good] ought to govern; but that which is engaged in sordid
occupations ought to be governed: and that which is auxiliary ought
both to govern and be governed. For that which consults for the
general good previously deliberates what ought to be done; but that
which is of an auxiliary nature, so far as it is belligerent, rules
over the whole of the mechanical tribe; but so far as it antecedently
receives counsel from others, is itself governed.
Of these parts, however, each again receives a triple division. For
of that which consults, one part presides, another governs, and
another counsels for the general good. And with respect to the part
which presides, it is that which plans, contrives, and deliberates
about what pertains to the community, prior to the other parts, and
afterwards refers its counsels to the senate. But the governing part
is either that which now rules [for the first time], or which has
before performed that office. And with respect to the third part,
which consults for the general good, this receives the advice of the
parts prior to itself, and confirms by its suffrages and authority
whatever is referred to its decision. And, in short, it is requisite
that those who preside should refer the affairs of the community to
that part which consults for the general good; but that this latter
part should refer these affairs through the Prætors to the Convention.
In a similar manner also of that part which is auxiliary, powerful,
and efficacious, one part is of a governing nature; another part is
defensive; and the remaining, which is the greater part, is gregal
and military. It is the governing part, therefore, from which the
leaders of armies, the præfects of cohorts, the bands of soldiers,
and the vanguards are derived, and universally all those who rank as
leaders. But the whole genus of the vanguards consists of those that
are most brave, most impetuous, and most daring. And the remaining
multitude is gregarious and military. Of the third part, however,
which is engaged in sordid occupations, and in labouring to procure
the necessaries of life, one part consists of husbandmen, and those
who are employed in the elaboration of the land; but another part
consists of artificers, who procure such instruments and machines
as the occasions of life require; and another part is engaged in
peregrinations and merchandise, and in exporting to foreign regions
such things as are superabundant in the city, and importing into
it other things from foreign countries. The systems of political
society, therefore, are coarranged through so many and such like
parts.
In the next place, it is requisite to speak of their adaptation
and union. Since, however, the whole of political society may
be perfectly assimilated to a lyre, in consequence of requiring
apparatus and coaptation, and also because it is necessary that it
should be touched and used musically;—this being the case, I have
sufficiently spoken above about the apparatus of a polity, and
shown from what and from how many particulars it is constituted.
I shall now, therefore, endeavour to speak of the coaptation and
union of these. I say then, that political society is coadapted
from the following three particulars, from disciplines, the study
of manners [or customs], and from the laws; and that through these
three, man is instructed, and becomes more worthy. For disciplines
are the sources of erudition, and cause the desires to be impelled
to virtue. But the laws, partly detaining by fear, repell men [from
the commission of crimes,] and partly alluring by honours and
gifts, excite them [to virtue]. And manners and studies fashion the
soul like wax, and through their continued energy impress in it
propensities that become, as it were, natural. It is necessary,
however, that these three should have an arrangement in conjunction
with the beautiful, the useful, and the just; and that each of these
three should, if possible, have all these for its final intention;
but if not all of them, it should at least have two or one of them
as the mark at which it aims, in order that disciplines, manners,
and laws may be beautiful, just, and advantageous. In the first
place, however, the beautiful in conduct should be preferred; in
the second place the just; and in the third place, the useful. And
universally the endeavour should be, that through these the city may
become, in the most eminent degree, consentaneous and concordant with
its parts, and may be free from sedition and hostile contention.
But this will be effected, if the passions in the souls of youth
are disciplined, and in things pleasing and painful are led to
mediocrity, and if the possessions of men are moderate, and they
derive their subsistence from the cultivation of the earth. And this
will also be accomplished, if good men rule over those that are in
want of virtue; skilful men over those that are deficient in skill;
and rich men over those things that require a certain largess and
expenditure; and if also appropriate honours are distributed to
those who govern in all these in a becoming manner. But there are
three causes which are incitements to virtue, viz. fear, desire, and
shame. The law, however, is able to produce fear, but custom shame:
for those that have been accustomed to act well, will be ashamed to
do any thing that is base. And disciplines are capable of producing
desire. For they at one and the same time assign the causes of
things, and attract the soul, and they especially effect this when
they are accompanied with exhortation. Hence it is necessary that
the souls of young men should be sufficiently instructed in what
pertains to senates, fellowship, and associations, both military and
political, but that the tribe of elderly men should be coadapted to
things of this kind; since young men, indeed, require correction and
instruction, but elderly men are in want of benevolent associations,
and a mode of living unattended with pain.
Since, therefore, we have said, that the worthy man is perfected
through three things, viz. through customs, laws, and disciplines,
it is requisite to consider how customs or manners are usually
corrupted, and how they become permanent. We shall find, then, that
customs are corrupted in two ways: for they are either corrupted
through ourselves or through foreigners. And through ourselves,
indeed, either through our flying from pain, or through our pursuit
of pleasure. For in consequence of flying from pain, we do not
endure labour; and through our pursuit of pleasure, we reject what
is good. Labours, however, procure good for mankind; but pleasures
evil. Hence men through pleasures, becoming incontinent and remiss,
are rendered effeminate in their souls, and more profuse in their
expenses. But customs and manners are corrupted through foreigners,
when a multitude of these dwelling with us, rejoice in the success
of their emporetic employment; or when those who dwell in the
suburbs, being lovers of pleasure and luxury, impart their manners
to the neighbouring inhabitants. On this account it is necessary
that the legislators, and prefects of the mass of the people, should
diligently observe whether the customs of the city are carefully
preserved, and proceed equally through all the citizens. And farther
still, they should observe whether the genuine and indigenous
multitude, of which the polity consists, remains pure and unmingled
with any other nation; and whether the magnitude of possessions
remains in the same state, and does not become excessive. For the
possession of superfluities is accompanied by the desire of still
more of the superfluous. After this manner, therefore, customs ought
to be rendered secure.
With respect to disciplines, however, the same legislators and
præfects should diligently inspect and examine the tribe of sophists,
whether they teach what is useful to the laws, to political dogmas,
and to the peculiar economy of life. For the doctrines of the
sophists ingenerate in the souls of men, no casual but the greatest
infelicity; when they dare to make innovation in any thing pertaining
either to human or divine concerns, contrary to common conceptions;
than which nothing can be more pernicious either with respect to
truth, or security, or renown. And in addition to this, also, they
introduce darkness and confusion into the minds of the vulgar. But
of this kind are all such doctrines as either teach that there is no
God, or if there is, that he is not so affected towards the human
race, as to look to it with providential attention, but deserts and
despises it. For doctrines of this kind produce in men folly and
injustice, to an extent which it is not easy to narrate. For every
man who is full of anarchy, and who has shaken off the fear of
disobedience [to rulers and the laws], wantonly exults, and violates
the laws. Hence it is necessary to employ political and venerable
assertions, which are adapted to the disposition of the speaker,
and which are void of dissimulation. For thus what is said will
exhibit the manners of the speaker. From the laws, however, security
will thus be necessarily introduced, if the polity is composed and
coarranged from every thing which is according to nature, and not
from such things as are preternatural. For cities derive no advantage
from a tyranny, and very little from an oligarchy. It is necessary,
therefore, that a kingdom should be established in the first place;
and in the second place, an aristocracy. For a kingdom, indeed, is a
thing imitative of God, and which is with difficulty preserved and
defended by the human soul. For it is rapidly changed through luxury
and insolence. Hence it is not proper to employ it universally, but
only so far as it may be useful to the polity; but an aristocracy
should be more abundantly interwoven in it, because it consists
of many rulers, who emulate each other, and who often alternately
govern. It is also entirely necessary that a democracy should be
introduced. For as a citizen is a part of the whole polity, it is
requisite that he should receive a certain reward from it[10]. But
it is necessary that he should be sufficiently restrained. For the
vulgar are audacious and precipitate.
FROM THE TREATISE OF DIOTOGENES ON SANCTITY.
It is necessary that the laws should not be enclosed in houses, and
by gates, but in the manners of the citizens. What, therefore, is the
principle of every polity? The education of youth. For vines will
never bear useful fruit, unless they are well cultivated; nor will
horses ever become excellent, if colts are not properly trained.
For recently produced fruit receives a figure especially similar to
that which touches and is near to it. And men prudently attend to
the manner in which vines ought to be cut and taken care of; but in
things pertaining to the education of their own species, they conduct
themselves negligently and rashly; though neither vines nor wine
govern men, but man and the soul of man. And we commit the nurture
of a plant, indeed, to a man of some worth, and think that he who
takes care of it, deserves no less than two mina; but we commit the
education of youth to some Illyrian or Thracian, who are men of no
worth. The first legislators, however, as they could not render the
middle class of mankind stable, adjoined [in their education] dancing
and rhythm, which participate of motion alone and order; and besides
these they added sports, some of which exhorted them to fellowship,
but others to truth and mental acuteness. In a similar manner also
they instituted for those who through intoxication or repletion
had committed any crime, the pipe and harmony, by which they gave
an arrangement to the mind, so that the manners being matured and
rendered mild, they might be capable of being adorned.
FROM THE TREATISE OF ARCHYTAS ON LAW AND JUSTICE.
I say that every [political] association consists of a governor
and the governed; and of a third thing, viz. the laws. Of laws,
however, one is animated, viz. a king; but another inanimate, viz.
written law. The first law, therefore, is animated[11]; and if it
is observed, the king will be legitimate; the magistrate will be
consentaneous; the subject will be free; and the whole community will
be happy. But if both the animated and written laws are transgressed,
the king will be a tyrant; the magistrate unfit for his office;
the subject a slave; and the whole community unhappy. For actions
form a continued series from governing, the being governed, and,
in the third place, from subjugation. To govern, therefore, is the
province of that which is more, but to be governed, of that which
is less excellent, and to be subjugated, pertains to both these.
For that part of the soul which is rational governs, the part which
is irrational is governed, and both are vanquished by the passions.
For virtue is produced from the apt conjunction of both these parts;
and she leads the soul from pleasures and pains to tranquillity and
apathy[12].
AND IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME WORK.
It will be beneficial to the community, if law is not monarchical,
and advantageous [only] to a private individual, but if it is
generally useful, and extends to every one. But it is also necessary
that the law should look to the whole region, and to the different
places in it. For neither is the earth able to receive the same
fruits [every where] nor the soul of every man the same virtue[13].
IN ANOTHER PART ALSO OF THE SAME WORK.
But it is necessary that the more excellent law and the city should
be composed of every other polity, and should have something of a
democracy, of an oligarchy, of a kingdom, and of an aristocracy;
as is the case in Lacedæmon. For the kings there are monarchs;
the elders form an aristocracy; the ephori an oligarchy; and the
ippagretæ[14] and the young men a democracy. It is necessary,
however, that law should not only be good and beautiful, but that
it should also reciprocate in its parts: for thus it will be strong
and stable. But when I say it should reciprocate, I mean that the
same magistrate should alternately govern and be governed, as in
Lacedæmon, in which there are the most equitable laws. For there the
ephori are opposed to the kings, the elders to the ephori, and the
media between these are the young men, and the ippagretæ; for these
last both incline to those rulers that excel in power, and are in
subjection to others.
It is necessary that the law should, in the first place, establish
what pertains to the gods, to dæmons and parents, and, in short, to
what is beautiful and honourable. But in the second place, it should
establish what pertains to things that are useful. For it is fit
that minor concerns should be subsequent to such as are greater. Nor
should the laws be contained in houses and gates, but in the manners
of the citizens. For neither in Lacedæmon, which possesses the most
excellent laws, is the city governed by a multitude of writings, but
rather by the manners of the subjects. But it will be beneficial to
the community, if law is not monarchical, and advantageous [only]
to a private individual, but if it is generally useful, and extends
to every one; and if it refers punishment to disgrace and ignominy,
and not to the loss of property. For by punishing with disgrace,
the citizens will endeavour in the most decorous and useful manner,
to avoid the punishment ordained by the laws. But if the punishment
is pecuniary, the citizens will value money immoderately, and will
conceive it to be the greatest remedy of crimes. It will be best,
therefore, for the whole city to be so arranged that it may not be in
want of any thing external, either with respect to virtue or power,
or any other cause. For thus the body, a family, and an army will be
beautifully constituted, when each of these has the cause of safety
in itself, and does not derive it externally. And this, indeed, will
be the case with the body when it is strong, with a family when
it is well composed, and with an army which neither consists of
mercenaries, nor is unexercised. For these, when thus constituted,
will be far more excellent than others, and will be free indeed, and
foreign from every thing of a servile nature; and will not, for the
purpose of endurance, be in want of many things, but of a few, and
those easily procured. For thus he who is strong will not sink under
burdens, and he who is thinly clothed will vanquish cold; since men
are exercised by casualties and calamities. Indeed, to the man who is
temperate, and who has laboured much both in body and soul, all meat
and drink will appear to be agreeable; and a bed composed of leaves
will be pleasant; but to him who has deliberately chosen a luxurious
and Sybaritic life, even the apparatus of the great [or Persian]
king would not be sufficiently pleasing. Hence it is necessary that
the manners and pursuits of the citizens should be deeply tinctured
with law: for this will cause them to be sufficient to themselves,
and will be the means of distributing to each of them that which is
due to him according to his desert. For thus, also, the sun, moving
in a circle through the zodiac, distributes to every thing on the
earth generation, nutriment, and an appropriate portion of life;
administering, as if it were equitable legislation, the excellent
temperature of the seasons. Hence, too, Jupiter is called _Nomios_,
or _legal_; and _Nemeios_, or the _distributor_. He, likewise, who
distributes nutriment to sheep, is called _Nomeus_, or a _shepherd_;
and the songs of harpers are denominated _Nomai_. For these properly
dispose the parts of the soul by harmony, rhythms, and measures.
ON THE MUTATIONS OF POLITIES, FROM THE TREATISE OF HIPPODAMUS ON A
POLITY.
Every thing mortal, by a necessity of nature, is conversant with
mutations; some things, indeed, receiving a revolution from a worse
to a better condition, but others from a better to a worse. For
things that are generated, are increased; when increased, arrive at
their acme: after this become old, and at length finally perish.
And things, indeed, which are generated by nature, through the same
nature terminate in the immanifest; and again from the immanifest
accede to mortality, through a permutation of generation; and, by a
reciprocation of corruption, form a circular retrogression. And some
things, through human folly, from an ebullition of insolence and
satiety, when both houses and cities have been exalted to the summit
of human felicity, and been exuberantly rich, have perished, together
with their much applauded possessions. Thus, also, it happens that
every empire is bounded by three times: by one, indeed, and that
the first, which comprehends in itself acquisition; by the second,
which comprehends fruition; and by the last, which brings with it
destruction. For empires at their commencement being destitute of
the goods of fortune, are busied in acquisition; but afterwards
becoming prosperous, they perish. Such things, therefore, as are
under the dominion of the gods, being incorruptible, are preserved
through the whole of time by incorruptible natures; but such things
as are under the government of men, being mortal, receive from
mortals a perpetually various mutation. For the end, indeed, of
satiety and lascivious insolence is destruction; but a strenuous and
worthy life is the end of poverty and narrow circumstances. Not only
poverty, however, but many other things bring human life to an end.
FROM DIOTOGENES IN HIS TREATISE CONCERNING A KINGDOM.
A king should be one who is most just; and he will be most just who
pays the greatest attention to the laws. For without justice no one
will be a king; and without law there can be no justice. For that
which is just is just through law, which is the effective cause of
justice. But a king is either animated law, or a legal ruler. And
hence it follows that he will be most just and most observant of the
laws. There are, however, three peculiar employments of a king; viz.
to lead an army, to administer justice, and to worship the gods.
He will, therefore, be able to lead an army properly, if he knows
how to carry on war in a becoming manner. But he will be skilled in
administering justice, and in governing all his subjects, if he has
well learned the nature of justice and law. And he will worship the
gods in a pious and holy manner, if he has diligently considered the
nature and virtue of God; so that a good king must necessarily be
a good general, judge, and priest. For these are things consequent
and suitable to the transcendency and virtue of a king. For it is
the province of the pilot to preserve the ship, of the charioteer to
preserve the chariot, and of the physician to save the sick; but it
belongs to a king and to a general to save those who are in danger in
battle. For of that of which any one is the leader, he is also the
provident inspector and artificer. But to be conversant with judicial
affairs is, indeed, a universal thing; but is particularly the proper
work of a king; who, like a god, is a leader and protector in the
world. And universally, indeed, it is fit that the whole polity
should be coadapted to one ruler and empire; but, especially, that
things which have the relation of parts should accord with the same
harmony and supreme domination. Farther still, it is the province
of a king to oblige and benefit his subjects, but this not without,
justice and law. And the third thing which is adapted to the dignity
of a king is the worship of the gods. For it is necessary that what
is most excellent should be honoured by the most excellent; and that
which is the leader and ruler, by that which leads and rules. Of
things, therefore, which are by nature most honourable, God is the
best; but of things on the earth, and pertaining to men, a king is
the most excellent. As God also is to the world, so is a king to the
city [which he governs]; and as a city is to the world, so is a king
to God. For a city, indeed, being coadapted from things which are
many and different, imitates the coarrangement and harmony of the
world; but a king who possesses an innoxious dominion, and who is
himself animated law, exhibits the form of God among men.
AND IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME TREATISE.
Hence it is necessary that a king should not be vanquished by
pleasure, but that he should vanquish it; that he should not be
similar to, but far excel the multitude; and that he should not
conceive his proper employment to consist in the pursuit of pleasure,
but rather in the acquisition of probity. At the same time also it is
fit that he who has occasion to rule over others should first be able
to govern his own passions.
But with respect to the desire of obtaining great property, it must
be observed, that a king ought to be wealthy in order that he may
benefit his friends, relieve those that are in want, and justly
punish his enemies. For the enjoyment of prosperity in conjunction
with virtue is most delightful. The same thing must be said
concerning the transcendency of a king. For since he always surpasses
others in virtue, it is fit to form a judgment of his empire with
reference to virtue, and not with reference to riches, or power, or
his military strength. For he possesses one of these [viz. riches]
in common with any casual persons; another [viz. power] in common
with irrational animals; and the last in common with tyrants. But
virtue is alone the peculiarity of good men. Hence, whatever king is
temperate with respect to pleasures, liberal with respect to money,
and prudent and most skilful in governing, he will be in reality
a king. The people, however, have the same analogy with respect
to the virtues and the vices, as the parts of the human soul. For
the desire of accumulating more than is fit subsists about the
irrational part of the soul: for desire is not rational[15]. But
ambition and ferocity subsist about the irascible part: for this is
the fervid and strenuous part of the soul. And the love of pleasure
subsists about the epithymetic part: for this is the effeminate and
yielding part of the soul. But injustice, which is the most perfect
vice, and is of a composite nature, subsists about the whole soul.
Hence it is necessary that the king should coharmonize like a lyre
the city that is furnished with good laws, first establishing in
himself the most just boundary and order of law, as knowing that
the proper arrangement of the people, over whom divinity has given
him dominion, ought to be coadapted to this boundary. It is also
necessary that a good king should establish becoming positions
and habits in the delivery of public orations, conducting himself
politically, seriously, and earnestly, in order that he may neither
appear to be rough to the multitude; nor may be contemptible; but
may be agreeable and easy in his manners. He will however obtain
these things, if in the first place he is venerable in his aspect and
his discourse, and appears to deserve the sovereign authority which
he possesses. But, in the second place, if he proves himself to be
benign from his behaviour to those whom he may happen to meet, from
his countenance and his beneficence. And in the third place, if he is
formidable from his hatred of depravity, from the punishment which he
inflicts on it, from his celerity in inflicting it, and, in short,
from his skill and exercise in the art of government. For venerable
gravity, being a thing which imitates divinity, is capable of causing
him to be admired and honoured by the multitude. Benignity will
render him pleasing and beloved. And his being formidable will cause
him to be terrible to and unconquered by his enemies, and magnanimous
and confident to his friends.
It is necessary, however, that his gravity should have nothing in
it of an abject or vulgar nature, but that it should be admirable,
and such as becomes the dignity of empire and a sceptre. Nor should
he ever contend with his inferiors, or his equals, but with those
that are greater than himself; and he should conceive, conformably to
the magnitude of his empire, that those pleasures are the greatest
which are derived from beautiful and great deeds, and not those which
arise from sensual gratifications; separating himself indeed from
human passions, and approximating to the Gods, not through arrogance,
but through magnanimity and an invincible transcendency of virtue.
Hence he should invest himself with such a gracefulness and majesty
in his aspect and his reasonings, in the conceptions of his mind,
in the manners of his soul, and in his actions and the motions and
gesture of his body, that those who survey him may perceive that he
is adorned and fashioned with modesty and temperance, and a decorous
disposition. For a good king should convert to himself the souls
of those that behold him, no less than the sound of a flute and
harmony attract the attention of those that hear them. And thus much
concerning the venerable gravity of a king.
But I shall now endeavour to speak of his benignity. Universally,
therefore, every king will be benign, if he is just, equitable, and
beneficent. For justice is a connective and collective communion,
and is alone that disposition of the soul which adapts itself to
those that are near to us. For as rhythm is to motion, and harmony
to the voice, so is justice to communion; since it is the common
good of those that govern, and those that are governed, because it
coharmonizes political society. But equity and benignity are certain
assessors of justice; the former indeed softening the severity of
punishment; but the latter extending pardon to less guilty offenders.
It is necessary, however, that a good king should give assistance to
those that are in want of it, and be beneficent. But his assistance
should be given not in one way only, but in every possible way. And
it is requisite to be beneficent, not looking to the magnitude of
honour, but to the manner and deliberate choice of him by whom honour
is conferred. It is likewise necessary that a worthy king should
so conduct himself towards all men as to avoid being troublesome
to them, but especially towards men of an inferior rank and of a
slender fortune: for these, like diseased bodies, can endure nothing
of a troublesome nature. Good kings, indeed, have dispositions
similar to those of the Gods, and which especially resemble those
of Jupiter, the ruler of all things. For he is venerable and
honourable, through transcendency and magnitude of virtue. He is
benign, because he is beneficent, and the giver of good; and hence
he is said by the Ionic poet [Homer] to be the father of men and
Gods. He is also terrible and transcendent, because he punishes the
unjust, and reigns and rules over all things. But he carries thunder
in his hand, as a symbol of his formidable excellence. From all these
particulars, therefore, it is requisite to remember that a kingdom is
a God-resembling thing.
FROM THE TREATISE OF STHENIDAS THE LOCRIAN, ON A KINGDOM.
It is requisite that a king should be a wise man: for thus he will
be honoured analogously to the first God, of whom also he will be an
imitator. For this god is by nature the first king and potentate;
but a king is so by birth and imitation. And the former rules in the
universe, and in the whole of things; but the latter in the earth.
The former also governs all things eternally, and has a never-failing
life, possessing wisdom in himself; but the latter acquires science
through time. But a king will imitate the first God in the most
excellent manner, if he acquires magnanimity, gravity, and the want
of but few things; exhibiting to his subjects a paternal disposition.
For on this account especially, the first God is conceived to be the
father both of Gods and men, because he is mild to every thing which
is in subjection to him, and never ceases to govern with providential
regard. Nor is he alone satisfied with being the maker of all things,
but he is the nourisher, the preceptor of every thing beautiful, and
the legislator to all things equally. Such also ought the king to be
who rules over men on the earth. Nothing however is beautiful which
is deprived of a king and a ruler. But it is not possible for a king
or a ruler [properly so called] to exist without wisdom and science.
He, therefore, who is a wise man and a king, will be an imitator, and
a legitimate minister of God.
FROM THE TREATISE OF ECPHANTUS, THE CROTONIAN, ON A KINGDOM.
That the nature of every animal is adapted to the world, and to the
things contained in the world, appears to me to be evident from many
arguments. For every animal thus conspiring [into union and consent],
and having such a colligation of its parts, it follows a series
which is most excellent, and at the same time necessary, through
the attractive flux of the universe about it, which is effective of
the general ornament of the world, and the peculiar permanency of
every thing which it contains. Hence it is called κοσμος _kosmos_,
and is the most perfect of all animals. But in its parts, which
are many, and naturally different, a certain animal excels; both
from its native alliance to the world[16], and from participating
of divinity in a greater degree. [And in the nature, indeed, of
the God who is eternal, the stars called planets are comprehended,
forming the first and the greatest series[17]]. But in the sublunary
region, where bodies move in a right line, the nature of demons has
its subsistence. And in the earth, and with us, the most excellent
nature is man; but the most divine is a king, who surpasses other
men in the common nature: in his tabernacle, indeed, [i.e. in his
body], resembling other men, as being generated from the same matter,
but fashioned from the best of artificers, who fabricated him, by
using himself as the archetype. Hence, in a certain respect, a king
is one and alone; being the production of the supernal king, with
whom he is always familiar: but being beheld by his subjects in his
kingdom as in a splendid light. For a kingdom is judged and proved
to resemble the eagle, the most excellent of winged animals, which
looks undazzled at the sun. And a kingdom is, indeed, analogous
to the sun, because it is divine; and through excess of splendour
cannot be seen without difficulty, except by genuine eyes. For the
numerous splendours which surround it, and the dark vertigos which
it produces in those who survey it, as if they had ascended into a
foreign altitude, evinces that their eyes are spurious. But those who
can fitly arrive thither, on account of their familiarity with, and
alliance to it, are able to use it properly. A kingdom, therefore, is
a thing pure, genuine, uncorrupted, and through transcendency, most
divine; and difficult to be acceded to by man. Hence it is necessary
that he who is established in it should be naturally most pure and
pellucid [in his soul], in order that he may not obscure by his
stains that which is most splendid; as some persons defile the most
sacred places, and the impure pollute those they may happen to meet.
But it is requisite that a king, who associates with men, should
participate of an undefiled nature, and should know how much more
divine both himself and his qualifications are than other things;
and from the exemplars to which he assimilates himself, he should
use both himself and his subjects in the best manner. And to other
men, indeed, if they are delinquents, the most holy purification is
for them to be assimilated to their rulers, whether law or a king
administers their affairs. But kings who cannot find any thing on the
earth to imitate more excellent than their own nature, ought not to
wander any farther in search of a paradigm, but should immediately
become benefited by imitating God. For neither should any one search
for the world, since he exists in, and is a part of it; nor should he
who governs others be ignorant of him by whom he is governed. This,
however, is a most abundant ornament, that nothing [in the universe]
can be found without a ruler.
The manners of a king also ought to be the preceptors of his
government. For thus the beauty of it will immediately shine forth,
since he who imitates God through virtue will be dear to him whom
he imitates; and much more will he be dear to his subjects. For no
one who is beloved by divinity will be hated by men; since neither
do the stars, nor the whole world hate God. For if they hated their
ruler and leader, they would never be obedient to him. But because
he governs properly, mundane affairs are well governed. I therefore,
indeed, apprehend that the terrene king ought not to be deficient in
any one of the virtues which pertain to the celestial king. But as
the former is a certain foreign and external thing, in consequence
of proceeding to men from the heavens; so, likewise, his virtues may
be conceived to be the works of God, and to accede to him through
divinity. And if you consider the thing from the beginning, you
will find what I say to be true. For the terrestrial king obtains
possession of the race of men by a communion, which is the first
and the most necessary of all things. And this race is also the
possession of him who governs every thing in the universe. For it
is impossible that any thing can subsist without friendship and
communion; the truth of which may be easily seen, if the accustomed
communion which exists among citizens is supposed to be destroyed;
since this is much inferior to a divine and royal nature. For
natures of this kind are not oppressed by any such indigence; but,
conformably to intellect, they supply the wants of others, and
afford them assistance in common. For they are perfect in virtue.
But the friendship which is in a city, and which possesses a certain
common end, imitates the concord of the universe. But without the
arrangement of magistrates no city can be inhabited. In order,
however, to effect this arrangement, and to preserve the city,
laws are necessary, and a certain political domination, and also
a governor and the governed. But, the consequence of these things
is, the general good, a certain concinnity, and the consent of the
multitude in conjunction with concordant persuasion. He, likewise,
who governs according to virtue, is called a king, and is so [in
reality]; since he possesses the same friendship and communion with
his subjects as divinity possesses with the world, and the natures
which it contains. All benevolence, however, ought to be exerted; in
the first place, indeed, by the king towards his subjects; but in the
second place, by the subjects towards the king: and this benevolence
should be such as that of a parent towards his child, of a shepherd
towards his flock, and of law towards him who uses it.
For there is one virtue pertaining to the government, and to the life
of men. But no one should through indigence solicit the assistance
of others, when he is able to supply himself with what nature
requires. For though there is a general communion [in the city],
yet every one should so live as to be sufficient to himself; since
he who is sufficient to himself does not appear to require the aid
of any other person in his passage through life. If, therefore, it
is necessary to lead an active life, it is evident that a king,
though he should also assume other things, will, nevertheless, be
sufficient to himself. For he will have friends through his own
virtue; and in using these, he will not use them by any other virtue
than that by which he regulates his own life. For it is necessary
that he should follow a virtue of this kind, since he cannot procure
any thing which is more excellent. And God, indeed, not having
either ministers or servants[18], nor employing any mandate, and
neither crowning nor proclaiming those that are obedient to him, or
disgracing those that are disobedient, thus administers so great
an empire. But as it appears to me exhibiting himself to be most
worthy of imitation, he inserts in all things a vehement desire of
participating his nature. He is, however, good; and the communication
of goodness, and this, with the greatest facility, is his only work.
But those who imitate him[19], accomplish every thing in a better
manner through this imitation. And the imitation of him is to every
thing the source of sufficiency. For there is not one virtue which
makes things to be acceptable to God, and another which imitates
him; [but both these are effected by one and the same virtue].
And is not our terrestrial king in a similar manner sufficient to
himself? For assimilating himself to one, and that the most excellent
nature, he will beneficently endeavour to render all whom he governs
similar to himself. But such as offer violence to, and compel their
subjects, entirely[20] destroy in every individual of the community
a promptitude to imitate [that which is most excellent]. For without
benevolence, it is impossible there can be assimilation; since
benevolence especially destroys every thing of a terrific nature. It
is much to be wished, indeed, that human nature was not in want of
persuasion: for persuasion is the relic of human depravity, of which
this temporary animal [man] is not destitute. Persuasion, indeed, is
a thing proximate to necessity; since this first of itself performs
those things which fly from necessity. Such beings, however, as
spontaneously use what is beautiful and good, are not influenced by
the reverence of persuasion; for neither are they influenced by the
fear of necessity.
Again, a king alone is capable of effecting this good in human
nature, that through the imitation of what is more excellent, man may
pursue what is fit and decorous; and that those who are corrupted
as if by intoxication, and through a bad education have fallen
into an oblivion of that which is more excellent, may through his
eloquence be corroborated, may have their diseased minds healed, and
the oblivion which dwells in them through depravity being expelled,
may have memory for an intimate associate, from which persuasion is
produced. For this, though it originates from depraved seeds, yet is
the source of a certain good to the inhabitants of the terrestrial
region, in which language supplies what is deficient (through the
imbecility of our nature), in our converse with each other.
AND IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME WORK.
He who has a sacred and divine conception of things, will be in
reality a king[21]. For being persuaded by this, he will be the cause
of all good but of no evil. And, moreover, that he will be just,
being fitted for society, is evident to every one. For communion or
association consists in equality, and in the distribution of it.
And justice indeed precedes, but communion participates. For it is
impossible for a man to be unjust, and yet distribute equality;
or that he should distribute equality, and yet not be adapted to
association. But how is it possible that he who is sufficient to
himself should not be continent? For sumptuousness is the mother of
incontinence, and incontinence of wanton insolence, from which so
many human evils are derived. But self-sufficiency is not vanquished
by sumptuousness, nor by any thing which proceeds from it; but being
itself a certain principle, it leads all things, but is not led by
any thing. And to govern, indeed, is the province of God, and also of
a king (on which account, likewise, he is denominated sufficient to
himself); but it pertains to both, not to be governed by any one. It
is, however, evident, that these things cannot be effected without
prudence. And it is manifest that God is the intellectual prudence of
the world. For the world is connectedly contained by gracefulness,
and a fit order of things, which cannot take place without intellect.
Nor is it possible for a king without prudence to possess these
virtues; I mean justice, continence, communion, and such other
virtues as are the sisters of these.
FROM ARCHYTAS.
The unwritten laws of the gods were promulgated against depraved
manners, inflicting a severe destiny and penalty on the disobedient;
and these unwritten laws are the fathers and leaders of those that
are written, and of the dogmas established by men.
FROM THE TREATISE OF DIOTOGENES ON SANCTITY.
It is proper to invoke God in the beginning both of supper and
dinner, not because he is in want of any thing of this kind, but in
order that the soul may be adorned by the recollection of Divinity.
For since we proceed from him, and participate of a divine nature, it
is requisite that we should honour him. And since God also is just,
it is fit that we should act justly in all things. In the next place,
there are four causes which terminate all things, and bring them
to an end, viz. nature, law, art, and fortune. And nature, indeed,
is universally the principle of all things. But of those things
which from manners lead to political concord, law is the inspective
guardian and fabricator. Of things which obtain their consummation
through human prudence, art is justly said to be the mother and
leader. And of those things which, casually and accidentally,
similarly befall the worthy and the depraved, we assert fortune to
be the cause. For fortune does not produce any thing in measure and
bound, in an orderly and prudent manner.
THE PREFACE OF CHARONDAS, THE CATANEAN, TO HIS TREATISE OF LAWS.
It is requisite that those who deliberate about, and perform any
thing, should begin from the Gods: for it is best, as the proverb
says, for God to be the cause of all our deliberations and works.
And, farther still, it is requisite to abstain from base actions,
and especially on account of consulting with God. For there is no
communication between God and him who is unjust. Every one, also,
should give assistance to himself, and should incite himself to the
undertaking and performance of such things as are conformable to his
desert; since for a man to extend himself similarly to small and
great undertakings appears to be too sordid and illiberal. Hence, you
should be very careful to avoid falling vehemently into things of an
extended nature, and of great consequence. But, in every undertaking,
you should measure your own desert and power, in order that you may
obtain honour and veneration.
Let no assistance be afforded to a man or woman who has been
condemned by the city, nor let any one associate with such a person,
or if he does, let him be disgraced, as being similar to him or her
with whom he associates. But it is proper to love men who, from
the previous decision of the city, are good, and to associate with
them; and by imitating and acquiring in reality their virtue and
probity, to be thus initiated in the greatest and most perfect of
the mysteries. For no man is perfect without virtue. And assistance
should be given to an injured citizen, whether he is in his own, or
in a foreign country. But let every stranger who was venerated in
his own country, and conformably to the proper laws of that country,
be received and dismissed auspiciously and familiarly, calling to
mind hospitable Jupiter, as a God who is established by all nations
in common, and who is the inspective guardian of hospitality and
inhospitality.
Let more elderly men also preside over such as are younger, so
that the latter may be ashamed of and deterred from vice, through
reverence and fear of the former. For in cities in which more elderly
men are shameless, the children and grandchildren of these are also
destitute of shame. But wanton insolence and injustice are the
attendants of shamelessness and impudence. And destruction follows
these. Let, however, no one be impudent[22], but let every one be
modest and temperate; because he will thus have the Gods propitious
to him, and will procure for himself salvation. For no vicious man is
dear to divinity. Let every one likewise honour probity and truth,
and hate what is base and false. For these are the indications of
virtue and vice. Hence it is requisite to accustom children from
their youth [to worthy manners], by punishing those that are lovers
of falsehood, but being delighted with those that are lovers of
truth, in order that in each that which is most beautiful, and most
prolific of virtue, may be implanted. Each of the citizens, likewise,
should be more anxious to pretend to be temperate than to pretend
to be wise: for the pretence of wisdom is a great indication of an
ignorance of probity, and is also a sign of pusillanimity. But let
the pretence of temperance be considered as a true claim to it. For
no one should feign with his tongue, that he performs beautiful
deeds, when at the same time he is both destitute of worthy conduct
and good intentions.
It is likewise requisite to preserve benevolence towards rulers,
being obedient to and venerating them as if they were parents. For he
who does not conceive that this is proper will suffer the punishment
of bad counsel from the dæmons who are the inspective guardians of
the seat of empire. For the rulers are the guardians of the city, and
of the safety of the citizens.
But it is also necessary that governors should preside justly over
those that are governed, in the same manner as over their own
children, in passing sentence on others, laying asleep hatred,
friendship, and anger.
Let those likewise be praised and celebrated who, being themselves in
affluence, have assisted the indigent, and let them be considered as
the saviours of the children and defenders of their country. And let
the wants of those be relieved who are poor through fortune, and not
through an indolent and intemperate life. For fortune is common to
all men, but an indolent and intemperate life is peculiar to bad men.
Let it also be considered as a worthy deed, to point out any one
who has acted unjustly, in order that the polity may be saved,
which has many guardians of its decorous arrangement. But let the
indicator of the unjust action be considered as a pious man, though
his information should be respecting his most familiar acquaintance.
For nothing is more familiar and allied to a man than his country.
Let, however, the indication be made, not of things done through
involuntary ignorance, but of such crimes as have been committed from
a previous knowledge [of their enormity.] And if he who is detected
should be hostile to him by whom he is detected, let him be hated by
all men, in order that he may suffer the punishment of ingratitude,
through which he deprives himself of being cured of the greatest of
diseases injustice.
Farther still, let a contempt of the Gods be considered as the
greatest of iniquities, and also injuring parents voluntarily, the
neglecting rulers and laws, and voluntarily dishonouring justice. But
let him be considered as a most just and holy citizen who honours
these things, and indicates to the citizens and rulers those that
despise them.
Let it be esteemed to be more venerable for a man to die for his
country than, through a desire of life, to desert it, together
with probity. For it is better to die well than to live basely and
disgracefully.
It is likewise requisite to honour each of the dead, not with tears
nor with lamentations, but with good remembrance, and with an
oblation of annual fruits. For when we grieve immoderately for those
that are dead, we are ungrateful to the terrestrial dæmons.
Let no one curse him by whom he has been injured. For praise is more
divine than defamation.
Let him be thought to be a better citizen who is superior to anger,
than him who is an offender through it.
Let not him be praised but disgraced, who, in the sumptuousness of
his expence, surpasses temples and palaces. For let nothing private
be more magnificent and venerable than things of a public nature.
Let him who is a slave to wealth and money be despised, as one who
is pusillanimous and illiberal, and is astonished by sumptuous
possessions, and let him be considered as one who leads a tragical
life, and whose soul is vile. For he who is magnanimous foresees with
himself all human concerns, and is not disturbed by any thing of this
kind [whether prosperous or adverse], when it accedes.
Let no one speak obscenely, in order that he may not in his thoughts
approach to base deeds, and that he may not fill his soul with
impudence and defilement. For we call things which are decorous and
lovely, by their proper names, and by those appellations which are
established by law. But we abstain from naming things to which we are
hostile, on account of their baseness. Let it also be considered as
base, to speak of a base thing.
Let every one dearly love his lawful wife, and beget children from
her. But let no one emit the seed of his children[23] into any other
person; nor let him illegally consume that which is honourable both
by nature and law, and act with wanton insolence. For nature produced
the seed, for the sake of procreating children, and not for the sake
of lust.
But it is requisite that a wife should be chaste, and should not
admit the impious connection with other men, as by so doing she will
subject herself to the vengeance of the dæmons, whose office it is
to expel those to whom they are hostile from their houses, and to
produce hatred.
Let not him be praised who gives a stepmother to his children[24],
but disgraced, as being the cause of domestic dissension.
And as it is proper to observe these mandates, let him who
transgresses them be obnoxious to political execration.
The law also orders that these _proems_ should be known by all the
citizens, and should be read in festivals after the pæans[25] by him
who is appointed for this purpose by the master of the feast, in
order that the precepts may be inserted in the minds of all that hear
them.
THE PREFACE OF ZALEUCUS, THE LOCRIAN, TO HIS LAWS.
It is requisite that all those who inhabit a city and country
should in the first place be firmly persuaded that there are Gods,
in consequence of directing their attention to the heavens and
the world, and the orderly distribution of the natures which they
contain. For these are not the productions either of fortune or of
men. It is also requisite to reverence and honour these, as the
causes to us of every reasonable good. It is necessary, therefore,
that every one should so prepare his soul that it may be free from
every vice; since God is not honoured by a bad man, nor is he to be
worshiped sumptuously, nor with tragical expence, like some depraved
man; but by virtue, and the deliberate choice of beautiful and just
deeds. Hence it is necessary that every one should be good to the
utmost of his power, both in his actions and his deliberate choice,
if he wishes to be dear to divinity, and should not fear the loss of
money more than the loss of renown. And it is also requisite to call
him a better citizen who would rather sustain a loss of property than
of probity and justice.
Let, however, such things as the following be denounced by us
against those who are not easily impelled to do what we have above
enjoined, but whose soul is easily excited to injustice. All citizens
of this kind, both male and female, and also those who live in the
same house with them, should remember that there are Gods who punish
the unjust, and should place before their eyes that time in which to
every one there will be a final liberation from life. For all such
will repent when they are about to die, from a remembrance of their
unjust deeds, and from their being impelled to wish that all things
had been done by them justly. Hence it is necessary that every one,
in every action, should always associate to himself this time, as
if it were present: for thus he will especially pay attention to
probity and justice. But if an evil dæmon is present with any one,
converting him to injustice, such a one should abide in temples,
at altars, and in sacred groves, flying from injustice as a most
impious and noxious mistress, and supplicating the Gods to cooperate
with him in turning from it. He should also accede to those men who
are renowned for their probity, in order to hear them discourse
about a blessed life, and the punishment of bad men, that he may
be deterred from unjust deeds; but he should only dread avenging
dæmons. Those, likewise, that dwell in the city, should honour all
the Gods according to the legal rites of the country, which are to
be considered as the most beautiful of all others. All the citizens,
too, should obey the laws, reverence the rulers, and rise to them,
and comply with their mandates. For after the Gods, dæmons, and
heroes, proximate honours are paid by men who are intelligent, and
wish to be saved, to parents, the laws, and the rulers. Let, however,
no one make the city to be dearer to him than his country, since he
will thus excite the indignation of the Gods of the country: for such
conduct is the beginning of treachery. And farther still, for a man
to be deprived of his own country, and to live in a foreign land, is
a thing of a more afflictive nature, and more difficult to be borne
[than most other misfortunes]: for nothing is more allied to us than
our country. Nor let any one think that a citizen, whom the laws
have permitted to partake of the polity, should be considered by him
as an implacable enemy; since a man who is capable of thus thinking
can neither govern nor judge in a proper manner, in consequence of
his anger predominating over his reason. Let no one, likewise, speak
ill either of the city in common, or of a citizen privately. But let
the guardians of the laws keep a watchful eye over offenders, in
the first place by admonishing them; and in the next place, if they
are not restrained by this from acting ill, let them be careful that
they are punished. And with respect to the established laws, if some
one of them should appear not to be well ordained, let it be changed
into one that is better. But where all of them remain, let them be
[universally] obeyed; as it is neither beautiful, nor beneficial,
for the established laws to be vanquished by men; though it is both
profitable and beautiful, to be restrained, as if vanquished, by
a more excellent law. It is requisite, however, to punish those
who transgress these, as machinating for the city the principle of
the greatest evils anarchy. But the magistrates should neither be
arrogant, nor judge insultingly, nor in passing sentence be mindful
either of friendship or hatred, but of what is just. For thus they
will decide most justly, and will be worthy of the magistracy. It is
fit, therefore, that slaves should do what is just through fear, but
those that are free, through shame, and for the sake of the beautiful
in conduct. Hence it is requisite that the governors should be men of
this kind, in order that they may be reverenced by those whom they
govern. But if any one wishes to change some one of the established
laws, or to introduce another law, let him, with a halter about his
neck, speak of the subject of his wishes to the people. And if it
shall appear from the suffrages, that the law already established
should be dissolved, or that a new law should be introduced, let him
not be punished. But if it should be thought that the preexisting
law is better, or that the law which is intended to be introduced is
unjust, let him who wishes to change an old, or to introduce a new
law, be executed by the halter.
FROM THE TREATISE OF CALLICRATIDAS ON THE FELICITY OF FAMILIES.
The universe must be considered as a system of kindred communion
or association. But every system consists of certain dissimilar
contraries, and is coarranged with reference to one certain thing,
which is the most excellent, and also with a view to a general
benefit. For that which is denominated a choir, is a system of
musical communion, and is referred to one certain common thing, a
concert of voices. Farther still, the system of body about a ship
consists of certain dissimilar and contrary things, and is coarranged
with reference to one thing which is best, viz. the pilot, and also
with a view to a common benefit, a prosperous navigation. Thus, too,
a family, being a system of kindred communion, consists of certain
dissimilars, which are its proper parts; and is coarranged with a
view to one thing which is best, viz. the father of the family; and
is referred to a common advantage, unanimity. And, in short, every
family, in the same manner as a psaltery[26], requires these three
things, apparatus, coadaptation, and a certain contrectation, and
musical use. Apparatus, indeed, being the composition of all its
parts, from which the whole, and all the system of kindred communion
derives its completion. But of the parts of a family there are two
first and greatest divisions; viz. man and possessions, the latter
of which is the thing governed, and affords utility. Thus, also,
the first and greatest parts of an animal are soul and body; and
soul, indeed, is that which governs and uses, but the body is that
which is governed, and imparts utility. And possessions, indeed,
are the adscititious instruments of human life; but the body is the
connascent and allied instrument of the soul. Of those persons,
however, that give completion to a family, some are consanguineous,
but others have an affinity to the family. And those that are
kindred are generated from the same blood, or have the same origin
from those who first disseminated the race. But those that have
an affinity have an adscititious alliance, as commencing from the
communion of wedlock. And these are either fathers or brothers,
or maternal or paternal grandfathers, or some other of those
relatives that are produced by marriage. But if the good arising
from friendship is also to be referred to a family (for thus it will
become greater and more magnificent, not only through an abundance
of wealth and many relations, but also through numerous friends); in
this case it is evident, that the family will thus become more ample,
and that the social species of friendship is to be enumerated among
things which are requisite to the completion of a family. But of
possessions some are necessary, and others are of a liberal nature.
And the necessary, indeed, are those which are subservient to the
wants of life; and the liberal are such as lead a man to an elegant
and well arranged mode of living, so that he may not be in want of
other things. _Such things, however, as exceed what is requisite
to a liberal and elegant mode of life, are, at the beginning, the
roots to men of wanton insolence, and destruction. For those that
have great possessions are necessarily at first inflated with pride,
and when thus inflated become arrogant; and, being arrogant, they
also become fastidious, and conceive that their kindred, and those
of the same nation and tribe with themselves, neither resemble, nor
are equal to them. But when they are fastidious, they also become
wantonly insolent. And the extremity and end of all wanton insolence
is destruction._ When, therefore, in a family and city there is a
superfluity of possessions, it is necessary that the legislator
should cut off, and, as it were, amputate the superfluities, in
the same manner as a good husbandman lops the too luxuriant leaves
of trees. But of the kindred and domestic part of man there is a
triple species. For there is one species which governs, another
which is governed, and another which gives assistance to a family
and relatives. And the husband, indeed, governs, but the wife is
governed, and the offspring of both these is an auxiliary.
AND IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME WORK.
With respect also to practical and rational domination, one kind is
despotic, another is of a guardian nature, and another is political.
And the despotic, indeed, is that which governs with a view to the
advantage of the governor, and not of the governed. For after
this manner a master rules over his slaves, and a tyrant over his
subjects. But the guardian domination subsists for the sake of the
governed, and not for the sake of those that govern. And with this
kind of power the anointers rule over the athletæ, physicians over
the sick, and preceptors over their pupils. For their labours are not
directed to their own advantage, but to the benefit of those whom
they govern; those of the physician being undertaken for the sake
of the sick, the anointers for the sake of exercising the body, and
those of the erudite for the sake of the inerudite. But the political
domination has for its end the common benefit both of the governors
and the governed. For according to this domination, in human affairs,
both a family and a city are coharmonized; but in things of a divine
nature the world is aptly composed. A family, however, and a city are
an imitation according to analogy of the government of the world. For
divinity is the principle of nature, and his attention is neither
directed to his own advantage, nor to private, but to public good.
And on this account, the world is called κοσμος, from the orderly
disposition of all things which are coarranged with reference to one
thing which is most excellent, and this is God, who is, according
to conception, an intellectual[27] animal, incorruptible, and the
principle and cause of the orderly disposition of wholes. Since,
therefore, the husband rules over the wife, he either rules with a
despotic, or with a guardian, or, in the last place, with a political
power. But he does not rule over her with a despotic power: for he
is diligently attentive to her welfare. Nor is his government of
her entirely of a guardian nature: for this is itself a part of the
communion [between man and wife]. It remains, therefore, that he
rules over her with a political power, according to which both the
governor and the thing governed establish [as their end] the common
advantage. Hence, also, wedlock is established with a view to the
communion of life. Those husbands, therefore, that govern their wives
despotically, are hated by them; but those that govern them with a
guardian authority are despised by them. For they appear to be, as
it were, appendages and flatterers of their wives. But those that
govern them politically are both admired and beloved. And both these
will be effected, if he who governs exercises his power so that it
may be mingled with pleasure and veneration; pleasure indeed being
produced by his fondness, but veneration from his doing nothing of a
vile or abject nature.
AND AGAIN, IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME WORK.
He who wishes to marry ought to take for a wife one whose fortune is
conformable to his own, in order that he may not contract nuptials
either above or beneath his condition, but analogous to the property
which he possesses. For those who marry a woman above their condition
have to contend for the mastership; for the wife, surpassing her
husband in wealth and lineage, wishes to rule over him; but he
considers it to be unworthy of him, and preternatural to submit to
his wife. But those who marry a woman beneath their condition subvert
the dignity and splendour of their family. It is necessary, however,
on this occasion to imitate the musician, who, having learned the
proper tone of his voice, endeavours to bring it to such a medium
that it may be rendered sufficiently sharp and flat, and may be
neither broken, nor lose its intenseness. Thus, therefore, it is
necessary that wedlock should be coadapted to the peculiar tone of
the soul, so that the husband and wife may not only accord with each
other in prosperous, but also in adverse fortune. It is requisite,
therefore, that the husband should be the regulator, master, and
preceptor of his wife. The regulator, indeed, in paying diligent
attention to her affairs; but the master, in governing and exercising
authority over her; and the preceptor in teaching her such things as
it is fit for her to know. This, however, will be especially effected
by him who, directing his attention to worthy parents, marries from
their family a virgin in the flower of her youth. For such virgins
are easily fashioned, and are docile; and are also naturally well
disposed to be instructed by, and to fear and love their husbands.
FROM THE TREATISE OF PERICTYONE[28] ON THE DUTIES OF A WOMAN.
It is necessary that a woman should sufficiently possess a harmony
full of prudence and temperance. For it is requisite that her soul
should be vehemently inclined to the acquisition of virtue; so
that she may be just, brave, and prudent, and may be adorned with
frugality, and hate vainglory. For, from the possession of these
virtues, she will act worthily when she becomes a wife, towards
herself, her husband, her children, and her family. Frequently,
also, such a woman will act beautifully towards cities, if she
happens to rule over cities or nations, as we see is [sometimes]
the case in a kingdom. If, therefore, she subdues desire and anger,
a divine harmony will be produced. Hence she will not be pursued
by illegal loves, but she will love her husband, her children, and
all her family. For such women as are fond of being connected with
other men besides their husbands, become hostile to the whole of
their families, both to those branches of it that are free, and
those that are slaves. They also machinate stratagems against their
husbands, and falsely represent them as the calumniators of all their
acquaintance, in order that they alone may appear to be exceedingly
benevolent; and they govern their families in such a way as may be
expected from those that are lovers of indolence. For from such
conduct the destruction ensues of every thing which is common to the
husband and wife. And thus much as to these particulars.
It is also requisite to lead the body to what is naturally moderate,
with respect to nutriment, clothes, bathing, anointing, dressing the
hair, and to whatever pertains to decoration from gold and jewels.
For whatever of a sumptuous nature is employed by women in eating
and drinking, in garments and trinkets, renders them disposed to
be guilty of every crime, and to be unjust both to their husband’s
bed, and to every other person. It is requisite, therefore, that
they should only satisfy hunger and thirst, and this from things
easily procured; and that they should defend themselves from cold
by garments of the simplest kind. But to be fed with things which
are brought from a distant country, or which are obtained at a great
price, is no small vice. It is also great folly to search after
exceedingly elegant garments, which are variegated with purple,
or any other precious colour. For the body wishes to be neither
cold nor naked, but to be covered for the sake of decorum, and is
not [externally] in want of any thing else. The opinion of men,
however, in conjunction with ignorance, proceeds to inanities and
superfluities. Hence a woman should neither be decorated with gold,
nor with Indian gems, nor with the jewels of any other nation,
nor plait her hair with abundance of art, nor be perfumed with
Arabian unguents, nor paint her face so that it may be more white
or more red, nor give a dark tinge to her eyebrows and her eyes,
nor artificially dye her gray hairs, nor frequently bathe. For the
woman who seeks after things of this kind searches for a spectator of
female intemperance. For the beauty which is produced by prudence,
and not by these particulars, pleases women that are well born.
Nor should she conceive that nobility and wealth, the being born
in a great city, glory, and the friendship of renowned and royal
men, are to be ranked among things that are necessary. For if they
happen to be present, they should not be the cause to her of any
molestation; and if they should not be present, she should not regret
their absence. For a prudent woman will not be prevented from living
[properly] without these. And if those great and much admired things
which we have mentioned should not be present, her soul should not
anxiously explore, but withdraw itself from them. For in consequence
of drawing their possessor to misfortune, they are more noxious than
beneficial. For to these, treachery, envy, and calumny are adjacent,
so that such a woman cannot be free from perturbation.
It is also necessary that she should venerate the Gods through good
hope of obtaining felicity by this veneration, and by obeying the
laws and sacred institutions of her country. But after the Gods,
I say, that she should honour and venerate her parents. For these
cooperate with the Gods in benefiting their children. Moreover, she
ought to live with her husband legally and kindly, conceiving nothing
to be her own property, but preserving and being the guardian of his
bed. For in the preservation of this all things are contained. It is
likewise requisite that she should bear every thing [in a becoming
manner] which may happen to her husband, whether he is unfortunate
in his affairs, or acts erroneously through ignorance, or disease,
or intoxication, or from having connection with other women. For
this last error is granted to men; but not to women, since they
are punished for this offence. It is necessary, therefore, that
she should submit to the law with equanimity, and not be jealous.
She ought likewise to bear patiently his anger, his parsimony, and
the complaints which he may make of his destiny, his jealousy, and
his accusation of her, and whatever other faults he may inherit
from nature. For all these she should cheerfully endure, conducting
herself towards him with prudence and modesty. For a wife who is
dear to her husband, and who truly performs her duty towards him, is
a [domestic] harmony, and loves the whole of her family, to which
also she conciliates the benevolence of strangers. If, however, she
neither loves her husband nor her children, nor her servants, nor
wishes to see any sacrifice preserved; then she becomes the leader of
every kind of destruction, which she likewise prays for, as being an
enemy, and also prays for the death of her husband, as being hostile
to him, in order that she may be connected with other men; and, in
the last place, she hates whatever her husband loves. But it appears
to me that a wife will be a [domestic] harmony, if she is full of
prudence and modesty. For then she will not only love her husband,
but also her children, her kindred, her servants, and the whole of
her family, in which possessions, friends, citizens, and strangers
are contained. She will likewise adorn the bodies of these without
any superfluous ornaments, and will both speak and hear such things
only as are beautiful and good. It is also requisite that she should
act conformably to her husband’s opinion in what pertains to their
common life, and be satisfied with those relatives and friends that
meet with his approbation. And she will conceive these things to be
pleasant and disagreeable which are thought to be so by her husband,
unless she is entirely destitute of harmony.
FROM THE TREATISE OF PERICTYONE ON THE HARMONY OF A WOMAN[29].
Parents ought not to be injured either in word or deed; but it is
requisite to be obedient to them, whether their rank in life is
small or great. And in every allotted condition of soul and body,
and of external circumstances, in peace, also, and war, in health
[and sickness[30]], in riches and in poverty, in renown and ignominy,
and whether they are of the same class with most of the community,
or are magistrates, it is necessary to be present with, and never
to forsake them, and almost to submit to them even when they are
insane. For such conduct will be wisely and cheerfully adopted by
those that are pious. But he who despises his parents will, both
among the living and the dead, be condemned for this crime by the
Gods, will be hated by men, and under the earth will, together with
the impious, be eternally[31] punished in the same place by Justice,
and the subterranean Gods, whose province it is to inspect things of
this kind. For the aspect of parents is a thing divine and beautiful,
and a diligent observance of them is attended with a delight such
as neither the survey of the sun, nor of all the stars which dance
round the illuminated heavens, is capable of producing, nor any other
spectacle, should it even be greater than this. And, it appears to
me, that the Gods are not envious[32] when they perceive that this
takes place. Hence it is requisite to reverence parents both while
they are living, and when they are dead, and never oppose them in
any thing they may say or do. If also they are ignorant of any thing
through deception or disease, their children should console and
instruct, but by no means hate them on this account. For no greater
error and injustice can be committed by men than to act impiously
towards their parents.
ON THE REVERENCE DUE TO PARENTS. FROM THE APOPHTHEGMS OF ARISTOXENUS,
THE TARENTINE.
After divinity and demons, the greatest attention should be paid to
parents and the laws; not fictitiously, but in reality preparing
ourselves to an observance of, and perseverance in, the manners and
laws of our country, though they should be in a small degree worse
than those of other countries.
AND IN THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE SAME WORK[33].
But after these things follow the honours which should be paid to
living parents, it being right to discharge the first, the greatest,
and the most ancient of all debts. Every one, likewise, should think
that all which he possesses belongs to those who begot and nurtured
him, in order that he may be ministrant to their want to the utmost
of his ability, beginning from his property; in the second place
discharging his debt to them from things pertaining to his body;
and in the third place, from things pertaining to his soul; thus
repaying with usury the cares and pains which his now very aged
parents bestowed on him when he was young. Through the whole of life,
likewise, it is requisite that he should particularly employ the most
respectful language in speaking to his parents; because there is a
most severe punishment for light and winged words; and Nemesis, the
messenger of Justice, is appointed to be the inspector of every thing
of this kind. When parents, therefore, are angry, it is requisite to
yield to them, and to appease their anger, whether it is shown in
words or in deeds; acknowledging that a father may reasonably be very
much enraged with his son, when he thinks he has been injured by him.
But on the death of parents, the most decent and beautiful monuments
should be raised to them; not exceeding the usual magnitude, nor
yet less than those which our ancestors erected for their parents.
Every year, too, attention ought to be paid to the decoration of
their tombs. They should, likewise, be continually remembered and
reverenced, and this with a moderate and appropriate expense. By
always acting, therefore, and living in this manner, we shall each of
us be rewarded according to our deserts, both by the Gods and those
natures that are superior to us, and shall pass the greatest part of
our life in good hope.
FROM THE TREATISE OF PEMPELUS ON PARENTS[34].
Neither divinity, nor any man who possesses the least wisdom, will
ever advise any one to neglect his parents. Hence we cannot have
any statue or temple which will be considered by divinity as more
precious than our fathers and grandfathers when grown feeble with
age. For God will recompense him with benefits who honours his
parents with gifts; since if this is not done, divinity will not pay
any attention to the prayers of such parents for their children. The
images of our parents, indeed, and progenitors should be esteemed
by us as far more venerable and divine than any inanimate images.
For these animated images, when they are continually adorned and
rendered splendid with honour by us, pray for us, and implore the
gods to bestow on us the most excellent gifts: but the contrary when
we despise them. Neither of these, however, is effected by inanimate
images. Hence he who conducts himself in a becoming manner towards
his parents and progenitors, and other relatives of this kind, will
possess the most proper of all statues, and the best calculated
to render him dear to divinity. Every one, therefore, endued with
intellect should honour and venerate his parents, and should dread
their execrations and [unfavourable] prayers, as knowing that many
of them frequently take effect. These things, therefore, being thus
disposed by nature, men that are prudent and modest will consider
their living aged progenitors as a treasure, to the extremity of
life; and if they die before they arrive at that period, they will
be vehemently desired by them. On the contrary, progenitors will
be terrible in the extreme to their depraved and stupid offspring.
But he who, being profane, is deaf to these assertions, will be
considered by all intelligent persons as odious both to Gods and men.
FROM THE TREATISE OF PHINTYS, THE DAUGHTER OF CALLICRATES, ON THE
TEMPERANCE OF A WOMAN.
A woman ought to be wholly good and modest; but she will never be
a character of this kind without virtue. For any virtue subsisting
in any one thing renders that which receives it valuable. And the
virtue, indeed, of the eyes is sight, but of the ears hearing. Thus,
too, the virtue of a horse causes it to a good horse; and the virtue
of a man and the virtue of a woman render each of them worthy. But
the principal virtue of a woman is temperance; for through this
she will be able to honour and love her husband. Many, indeed, may
perhaps think it does not become a woman to philosophize, as neither
is it proper for her to ride on horseback, nor to harangue in public.
But I think that some things are the province of a man, others of
a woman, and that others are common both to man and woman. And,
likewise, that some things pertain more to a man than to a woman; but
others more to a woman than to a man. But the things peculiar to a
man are, to lead an army, to govern, and to harangue in public. The
offices peculiar to a woman are, to be the guardian of a house, to
stay at home, and to receive and be ministrant to her husband. And
the virtues pertaining to both are fortitude, justice, and prudence.
For it is fit that both the husband and wife should have the virtues
of the body, and in a similar manner those of the soul. And as
health of body is beneficial to both, so also is health of soul.
The virtues, however, of the body are health, strength, vigour of
sensation, and beauty. With respect to the virtues, also, some are
more adapted to be exercised and possessed by a man, but others by
a woman. For fortitude and prudence pertain more to the man than to
the woman, both on account of the habit of the body, and the power
of the soul; but temperance peculiarly belongs to the woman. Hence
it is requisite to know the number and the quality of the things
through which this virtue accedes to a woman. I say, therefore,
that they are these five. And in the first place, she obtains this
virtue through sanctity and piety about the marriage bed. In the
second place, through ornament pertaining to the body. In the third
place, through egressions from her own house. In the fourth place,
through refraining from the celebration of orgies, and the mysteries
of the mother of the Gods[35]. And in the fifth place, through being
cautious and moderate in the sacrifices to divinity. Of these,
however, the greatest and most comprehensive cause of temperance,
is that which causes the wife to be undefiled with respect to the
marriage bed, and not to have connexion with any other man than her
husband. For in the first place, by such illegal conduct, she acts
unjustly towards the Gods who preside over nativities, rendering them
not genuine but spurious adjutors of her family and kindred. In the
second place, she acts unjustly towards the Gods who preside over
nature, by whom she solemnly swore, in conjunction with her parents
and kindred, that she would legally associate with her husband in the
communion of life and the procreation of children. And in the third
place, she acts unjustly towards her country, by not observing its
decrees. To which may be added, that to offend against right in those
things for which the greatest punishment, death, is ordained, on
account of the magnitude of the crime, and to do so for the sake of
pleasure and wanton insolence, is nefarious, and most undeserving of
pardon. But the end of all insolent conduct is destruction.
This, also, ought to be considered, that no purifying remedy has been
discovered for this offence, so as to render a woman thus guilty
pure and beloved by divinity. For God is most averse to pardon this
crime. But the best indication of the chastity of a woman towards her
husband is that which arises from the resemblance of her children to
their father. And thus much concerning the marriage bed.
With respect, however, to the ornament of the body, it appears
to me, that the garments of a woman should be white and simple,
and by no means superfluous. But they will be so, if they are
neither transparent nor variegated, nor woven from silk, but are
not expensive, and are of a white colour. For thus she will avoid
excessive ornament, luxury, and superfluous clothes; and will not
produce a depraved imitation in others. And, in short, she should
not decorate her person with gold and emeralds. For they are very
expensive, and exhibit pride and arrogance towards the vulgar. It
is necessary, however, that a city which is governed by good laws,
and is well arranged in all its parts, should accord with itself,
and have an equable legislation; and should expel the artificers who
make things of this kind from the city. She should, likewise, give
a splendour to her face, not by employing adscititious and foreign
colour, but that which is adapted to the body, and is produced by
washing it with water; and adorning her person through modesty rather
than through art. For thus she will render both herself and her
husband honourable. But the lower class of women should go out of
their houses, for the purpose of sacrificing to the tutelar deity of
the city, for the welfare of their husbands and all their family. A
woman, also, should depart from her house neither by twilight nor in
the evening, but should openly leave it when the forum is full of
people; accompanied by one, or at most two servants, for the sake
of beholding a certain thing, or of buying something she may want.
She should also offer frugal sacrifices to the Gods, and such as are
adapted to her ability; but she should abstain from the celebration
of orgies, and from those sacred rites of the mother of the Gods,
which are performed at home. For the common law of the city ordains
that these shall not be performed by women. To which may be added,
that these rites introduce ebriety, and mental alienation. It is
necessary, however, that she who is the mistress of a family, and
presides over domestic affairs, should be temperate and undefiled.
ETHICAL FRAGMENTS
OF
HIEROCLES,
Preserved by Stobaeus.
HOW WE OUGHT TO CONDUCT OURSELVES TOWARDS THE GODS.
Such particulars, also, as the following, are to be previously
assumed concerning the Gods, viz. that they are immutable, and firm
in their decrees; so that they never change the conception of what
appeared to them to be fit from the beginning. For there is one
immutability and firmness of the virtues, which it is reasonable to
suppose subsists transcendently with the Gods, and which imparts
a never-failing stability to their conceptions. From which it is
evident, that there is no probability that the punishments which
divinity thinks proper to inflict can be remitted. For it is easy to
infer, that if the Gods change their decisions, and omit to punish
him whom they had designed to punish, the world can neither be
beautifully nor justly governed; nor can any probable reason for [the
necessity of] repentance be assigned. Poetry also appears to have
asserted such things as the following,—rashly, and without any reason:
By incense and libation, gentle vows,
And sacrifice and prayer, men bend the Gods,
When they transgress, and stray from what is right[36].
And
For flexible are e’en the Gods themselves[37].
And in short whatever of a similar nature is to be found in poetry.
Nor must we omit to observe, that though the Gods are not the causes
of evil, yet they connect certain persons with things of this kind,
and surround those who deserve [to be afflicted] with corporeal and
external detriments; not through any malignity, or because they think
it requisite that men should struggle with difficulties, but for the
sake of punishment. For as pestilence and drought, and besides these
excessive rain, earthquakes, and every thing of this kind, are for
the most part produced through certain other more physical causes,
yet sometimes are effected by the Gods, when the times are such that
the iniquity of the multitude, publicly, and in common, requires to
be punished; after the same manner, also, the Gods sometimes afflict
an individual with corporeal and external detriments, in order to
punish him, and convert others to what is right.
But to be persuaded that the Gods are never the cause of any
evil[38], contributes greatly, as it appears to me, to proper
conduct towards the Gods. For evils proceed from vice alone, but
the Gods are of themselves the causes of good, and of whatever
is advantageous; while, in the meantime, we do not admit their
beneficence, but surround ourselves with voluntary evils. Hence, on
this occasion, it appears to me that it is well said by the poet:
——that mortals blame the Gods,
as if they were the causes of their evils!
——though not from Fate,
But for their crimes they suffer pain and woe[39].
For that God is never in any way the cause of evil may be proved by
many arguments; but at present we shall only adduce what Plato[40]
says: viz. “that as it is not the province of what is hot to
refrigerate, but the contrary; so neither is it the province of that
which is beneficent to be noxious, but the contrary.” Moreover, God
being good, and immediately replete from the beginning with every
virtue, cannot be noxious, or the cause to any one of evil; but on
the contrary, must impart every good to those who are willing to
receive it; bestowing on us, also, such media[41] as are according
to nature, and which are effective of what is conformable to nature.
But there is only one cause of evil[42].
HOW WE OUGHT TO CONDUCT OURSELVES TOWARDS OUR COUNTRY.
After speaking of the Gods, it is most reasonable to show, in the
next place, how we should conduct ourselves towards our country.
For, by Jupiter, our country is as it were a certain secondary God,
and our first and greatest parent. Hence he who gave a name to the
thing did not rashly denominate it πατρις, _patris_; this word being
derived from πατηρ, _pater_, _a father_; but pronounced with a
feminine termination, in order that it might be as it were a mixture
of _father and mother_. This reason, also, proclaims that our country
is to be honoured equally with our two parents; so that we ought
to prefer it to either of them taken separately, and not to honour
the two more than it; but to pay an equal portion of respect to
each. There is, likewise, another reason, which exhorts us to honour
it more than our two parents conjointly; and not only to honour
it beyond these, but also to prefer it to our wife, children, and
friends; and, in short, after the Gods, to all other things.
As, therefore, he is stupid who esteems one finger more than the
five, but he is most reasonable who prefers the five to one; for
the former despises what is more eligible, but the latter, in the
five, preserves also the one finger: after the same manner, he who
wishes to save himself rather than his country, in addition to acting
unlawfully, desires impossibilities. But he who prefers his country
to himself is dear to divinity; and reasons fitly and firmly. At the
same time it has been observed, that though some one should not be
connumerated with the system [or the cooperating combination of the
many], but should be considered apart from it, yet it is fit that
he should prefer the safety of the system to his own preservation.
For the destruction of the city will evince that the safety of the
citizen entirely depends on its existence, just as the abscission of
the hand is attended with the destruction of one finger, as a part of
the hand. We may, therefore, summarily conclude, that general is not
to be separated from private utility: but is to be considered as one
and the same with it. For that which is advantageous to the country
is common to each of the parts of it; since the whole without the
parts is nothing[43]. And vice versa, that which is advantageous to
the citizen extends also to the city, if it is assumed as beneficial
to the citizen. For that which is useful to a dancer, so far as he is
a dancer, will also be advantageous to the whole choir. Depositing,
therefore, all this reasoning in the discursive power of the soul, we
shall receive much light from it in particulars, so that we shall
never omit to perform what is due from us to our country.
Hence, I say, it is necessary that every passion and disease of
the soul should be removed from him who intends to act well by his
country. It is likewise requisite that a citizen should observe the
laws of his country as certain secondary Gods, and should render
himself perfect conformably to their mandate. But he who endeavours
either to transgress, or to make any innovation in the laws, should
be with all possible diligence prevented from doing so, and in every
way opposed. For a contempt of the existing laws, and preferring
new to ancient laws, are things by no means beneficial to a city.
Hence it is requisite that those should be restrained from giving
their votes, and from precipitate innovation, who are pertinaciously
disposed to act in this manner. I therefore commend Zaleucus, the
Locrian legislator, who ordained, that he who intended to introduce
a new law, should do it with a rope about his neck, in order that he
might be immediately strangled, unless he could change the ancient
constitution of the polity, to the very great advantage of the
community. _But customs, which are truly those of the country, and
which, perhaps, are more ancient than the laws themselves, are to be
preserved no less than the laws. The present customs, however, which
are but of yesterday, and which have been so very recently introduced
into every city, are not to be considered as the customs of the
country, [or as the institutes of ancestors]; and, perhaps, neither
are they at all to be regarded as customs[44]._ In the next place,
because custom is an unwritten law, having for its inscription a good
legislator, viz. the approbation of all those that use it; perhaps,
on this account, it is proximate to things which are naturally just.
AFTER WHAT MANNER WE OUGHT TO CONDUCT OURSELVES TOWARDS OUR PARENTS.
After speaking of the Gods and our country, what person deserves
to be mentioned more than, or prior to our parents? Hence it is
requisite that we should discourse about them. He, therefore, will
not err who says, that they are certain secondary and terrestrial
Gods; since on account of their proximity to us, they are, if it
be lawful so to speak, more to be honoured by us than the Gods
themselves[45]. But it is necessary, previously, to assume, that the
only measure of gratitude towards them is a perpetual and unremitting
promptitude to repay the benefits we have received from them; since,
though we should perform many things for their sake, yet they will be
far less than what they deserve. At the same time, also, it may be
said, that these our deeds are nearly theirs, because they produced
us by whom they are performed. As therefore, if the works of Phidias
and of other artists should themselves produce certain other things,
we should not hesitate to say that these latter, also, were the works
of the artists; thus, likewise, it may be justly said, that our
performances are the deeds of our parents; through whom we likewise
derived our existence. Hence, in order that we may easily apprehend
the duties which we owe them, it will be requisite to have this
sentence perpetually at hand, that our parents should be considered
by us as the images of the Gods; and by Jupiter, as domestic Gods,
our benefactors, kindred, creditors, lords, and most stable friends.
For they are most stable images of the Gods, possessing a similitude
to them beyond the power of art to effect. For they are the guardian
Gods of the house, and live with us; and besides this, they are
our greatest benefactors, imparting to us things of the greatest
consequence; and, by Jupiter, bestowing on us not only what we
possess, but also such things as they wish to give us, and for which
they themselves pray. Farther still, they are likewise our nearest
kindred, and the causes of our alliance with others. They are, also,
creditors of things of the most honourable nature, and only repay
themselves by taking what we shall be benefited by returning. For
what gain can be so great to a child as piety and gratitude to his
parents? They are most justly, too, our lords: for of what can we
be in a greater degree the possession, than of those through whom
we exist? Moreover, they are perpetual and spontaneous friends and
auxiliaries; at all times, and in every circumstance, affording us
assistance. Since, however, the name of parent is the most excellent
of all the before-mentioned appellations, according to which we
also denominate the Gods themselves; something else must also be
added to this conception; viz. that children should be persuaded
that they dwell in their father’s house, as if they were certain
ministers and priests in a temple, appointed and consecrated for this
purpose by nature herself; who entrusted a reverential attention to
their parents to their care. Since of attentive regard, therefore,
one kind pertains to the body, but another to the soul, we shall
readily perform what each of these requires, if we are willing to
do that which reason persuades us to do. But reason persuades us to
pay less attention to the body than to the soul; though attention
to the former is necessary. We should, therefore, procure for our
parents liberal food, and such as is adapted to the imbecility of
old age; and besides this, a bed, sleep, unction, a bath, garments;
and in short, all the necessaries which the body requires, that they
may never at any time experience the want of any of these; in thus
acting, imitating their care about our nurture, when we were infants.
Hence, we should compel ourselves to employ a certain prophetic
attention to them, in order to discover what they particularly desire
of things pertaining to the body, though they should not indicate
the object of their wish[46]. For they divined many things respecting
us, when we frequently signified by inarticulate and mournful sounds,
that we were in want of certain things, but were unable to indicate
clearly the subjects of our wants. So that our parents, by the
benefits which they formerly conferred upon us, become the preceptors
to us of what we ought to bestow on them.
With respect to the souls of our parents, we should, in the first
place, procure for them hilarity; which will be especially obtained,
if we are conversant with them by night and by day, unless something
prevents us, walking, being anointed, and living together with them.
For as to those who are undertaking a long journey, the converse of
their families and friends is most delightful, after the manner of
those that accompany a solemn procession; thus, also, to parents
who are now verging to the grave, the sedulous and unremitting
attention of their children is most acceptable, and most dear.
Moreover, if at any time they should act wrong, which frequently
happens to be the case with many, and especially with those who have
been educated in a more vulgar manner; they should be corrected
indeed, yet not by Jupiter with reprehension, as we are accustomed
to do to our inferiors or equals, but as it were, with exhortation;
and not as if they had erred through ignorance, but as if they had
committed an oversight, through inattention; and that if they had
attended, they would by no means have erred. For admonitions, and
especially if they are vehement, are grievous to those that are
old. Hence, it is necessary, that the remedy of their oversight
should be accompanied by mild exhortation, and a certain elegant
artifice. Children, likewise, increase the joy of their parents, by
performing for them servile offices, such as washing their feet,
making their bed, and waiting on them after the manner of servants.
For they are not a little delighted, when they receive necessary
servile attentions from the most dear hands of their children, and
make use of their ministrant works. But parents will be especially
gratified when their children are seen to honour those whom they love
and very much esteem. On which account, it is fit that children
should affectionately love the kindred of their parents, and pay a
proper attention to them, and in a similar manner should love the
friends of, and all those that are dear to their parents. And this
being admitted, we shall be enabled to collect many other duties of
children to their parents, which are neither small nor casual. For
since our parents are gratified by the attention which we pay to
those whom they love, but we are in a most eminent degree beloved by
our parents, it is evident that we shall very much please them, by
paying a proper attention to ourselves.
ON FRATERNAL LOVE.
The first admonition, therefore, is very clear, easily obtained,
and is common to all men. For it is a sane assertion, which every
man will consider as evident. And it is this: Act by every one,
in the same manner as if you supposed yourself to be him, and him
to be you[47]. For he will use a servant well who considers with
himself, how he would think it proper to be used by him, if he indeed
was the master, and himself the servant. The same thing also must
be said of parents with respect to children, and of children with
respect to parents; and, in short, of all men with respect to all.
This admonition, however, is transcendently adapted to the alliance
of brothers to each other; since nothing else is necessary for him
to admit previously, who considers how he ought to conduct himself
towards his brother, than promptly to assume the natural sameness of
the person of each of them. This, therefore, is the first admonition,
that a man should act towards his brother in the same way in which
he would think it proper that his brother should act towards him.
But, by Jupiter, some one may say, I do not exceed propriety in my
manners and am equitable, but my brother’s manners are rough and
without affability. Such a one, however, does not speak rightly.
For, in the first place, perhaps he does not speak the truth; since
an excessive love of self is sufficient [to induce a man] to magnify
and extol what pertains to himself, but to diminish and vilify what
pertains to others. Frequently, therefore, men of inferior worth,
prefer themselves to others who are far more excellent characters.
And, in the next place, though the brother should be in reality such
a person [as above described], I should say, prove yourself to be
a better man than he is, and you will vanquish his rusticity by
your beneficence. For no great thanks are due to those who conduct
themselves moderately towards worthy and benignant men; but to render
him more mild who is stupid, and whose manners are rough, is the
work of a man [properly so called], and deserves great applause. Nor
is it at all impossible for the exhortation to take effect. For in
men of the most absurd manners, there are the seeds of a mutation to
a better condition, and of honour and love for their benefactors.
For are not even savage animals, and such as are naturally most
hostile to our race, and who are taken away by violence, and at
first are detained by chains, and confined in iron cages,—are not
these afterwards rendered mild by a certain mode of treatment, and
by daily supplying them with food? And will not the man who is a
brother, or even any casual person, who deserves attention in a much
greater degree than a brute, be changed to milder manners by proper
treatment, though he should not entirely forsake his rusticity? In
our behaviour, therefore, towards every man, and in a much greater
degree towards a brother, we should imitate the reply of Socrates to
one who said to him, “May I die unless I am revenged on you.” For
his answer was, “May I die, if I do not make you my friend.” And
thus much concerning these particulars.
In the next place, a man should consider that after a manner his
brothers are parts of him, just as my eyes are parts of me; and
likewise my legs, my hands, and the remaining members of my body.
For brothers have the same relation to a family considered as one
thing [as the parts to the whole of the body]. As, therefore, the
eyes and the hands, if each of them should receive a peculiar soul
and intellect, would, by every possible contrivance, pay a guardian
attention to the remaining parts of the body, on account of the
before-mentioned communion, because they could not perform their
proper office well without the presence of the other members; thus
also it is requisite that we who are men, and who acknowledge that we
have a soul, should omit no offices which it becomes us to perform
to our brothers. For again, brothers are more naturally adapted to
assist each other, than are the parts of the body. For the eyes,
indeed, being present with each other, see what is before them, and
one hand cooperates with the other which is present; but the mutual
works of brothers are, in a certain respect, much more multifarious.
For they perform things which are profitable in common, though they
should be at the greatest distance from each other; and they greatly
benefit each other, though the interval which separates them should
be immeasurable. In short, it must be considered, that our life
appears to be a certain long war continued to the extent of many
years; and this partly through the nature of the things themselves
which possess a certain opposition; and partly through the sudden
and unexpected occurrences of fortune; but most of all through vice
itself, which neither abstains from any violence, nor from any fraud
and evil stratagems. Hence nature, as not being ignorant of the
purpose for which she generated us, produced each of us accompanied,
after a certain manner, by an auxiliary. No one, therefore, is alone,
nor does he derive his origin _from an oak or a rock_, but from
parents, and in conjunction with brothers, and kindred, and other
familiars. But reason affords us great assistance, conciliating to
us strangers, and those who have no connection with us by blood,
and procuring for us an abundance of auxiliars. On this account we
naturally endeavour to allure and make every one our friend. Hence it
is a thing perfectly insane to wish to be united to those who have
not any thing from nature which is capable of procuring our love,
and voluntarily to become familiar with them in the most extended
degree; and yet neglect those prompt auxiliars and associates which
are supplied by nature herself, such as brothers happen to be.
ON WEDLOCK.
The discussion of wedlock is a thing most necessary. For the whole
of our race is naturally adapted to society. But the first and most
elementary of all associations is that which is effected by marriage.
For cities could not exist without a household; but the household of
an unmarried man is truly imperfect; while, on the contrary, of him
who is married, it is perfect and full. Hence we have shown in our
treatise On Families, that a life accompanied by wedlock is to be
precedaneously chosen by the wise man; but a single life is not to
be chosen, except particular circumstances[48] require it. So that
as it is requisite we should imitate the man of intellect where we
can, but marriage is with him an object of precedaneous choice; it is
evident that it will also be proper for us, unless some circumstance
occurs to prevent it from taking place. And this is the first reason
why wedlock is most necessary.
But it seems that Nature herself, prior to the wise man, incites us
to this, who also exhorts the wise man to marry. For she not only
made us gregarious, but likewise adapted to copulation, and proposed
the procreation of children and stability of life, as the one and
common work of wedlock. But Nature justly teaches us, that a choice
of such things as are fit should be made so as to accord with what
she has procured for us. Every animal, therefore, lives conformably
to its natural constitution, and, by Jupiter, in a similar manner
every plant lives agreeably to the life which is imparted to it. Only
there is this difference between the two, that the latter do not
employ any reasoning, or a certain enumeration, in the selection of
things which they explore; as they make use of nature alone, because
they do not participate of soul; but animals are led to investigate
what is proper for them by imaginations and exciting desires. To us,
however, Nature gave reason, in order that it might survey every
thing else, and, together with all things, or rather prior to all
things, might direct its attention to Nature herself, so as in an
orderly manner to tend to her as to a very splendid and stable mark,
and choosing every thing which is consonant to her, might cause us
to live in a becoming manner. Hence he will not err, who says that
a family is imperfect without wedlock. For it is not possible to
conceive of a governor without the governed, nor of the governed
without a governor. And this reason appears to me to be very well
calculated to make those ashamed who are adverse to marriage.
I say, therefore, that marriage is likewise advantageous. In the
first place, indeed, because it produces a truly divine fruit, the
procreation of children, since they will be assistants to us in all
our actions (as partaking of our nature), while our strength is yet
entire; and they will be good auxiliars, when we are worn out, and
oppressed with old age. They will also be the familiar associates of
our joy in prosperity, and sympathizing participants of our sorrows
in adversity. Farther still, besides the procreation of children, the
association with a wife is advantageous. For, in the first place,
when we are wearied with labours out of the house, she receives
us with officious kindness, and recreates us by every possible
attention. In the next place, she produces in us an oblivion of our
molestations. For those sorrowful circumstances of life which take
place in the forum, or the gymnasium, or the country, and, in short,
all the cares and solicitudes occasioned by converse with our friends
and familiars, do not so obviously molest us, being obscured by our
necessary occupations; but when we are liberated from these, return
home, and our mind becomes, as it were, at leisure, then these cares
and solicitudes approach, availing themselves of this occasion,
in order to torment us, at the time when life is destitute of
benevolence, and is solitary. Then, however, the wife being present
becomes a great solace on this occasion, by making some inquiries
about external affairs, or by referring to, and considering, together
with her husband, something about domestic concerns, and thus, by
her unfeigned alacrity, affords him a certain exuberance of pleasure
and delight. But it would be too prolix to enumerate particularly
the benefit of a wife in festivals, for the purpose of procuring
sacrifices and victims; in the journeys of her husband, by preserving
the family in a stable condition, and not suffering it to be entirely
without a ruler; in paying proper attention to the domestics; and
in the aid which she affords her husband when he is afflicted with
disease. For it is sufficient summarily to say, that _two things are
necessary to all men, in order to pass through life in a becoming
manner, viz. the aid of kindred and sympathetic benevolence. But
we cannot find any thing more sympathetic than a wife, nor any
thing more kindred than children. Both these, however, marriage
affords._ How is it possible, therefore, that it should not be most
advantageous to us?
I also think that a married life is beautiful. For what other thing
can be such an ornament to a family, as is the association of husband
and wife? For it must not be said that sumptuous edifices, walls
covered with marble plaster, and piazzas adorned with stones, which
are admired by those who are ignorant of true good, nor yet paintings
and arched myrtle walks, nor any thing else which is the subject of
astonishment to the stupid[49], is the ornament of a family. But the
beauty of a household consists in the conjunction of man and wife,
who are united to each other by destiny, and are consecrated to the
Gods who preside over nuptials, births, and houses, and who accord,
indeed, with each other, and have all things in common, as far as
to their bodies, or rather their souls themselves; who likewise
exercise a becoming authority over their house and servants; are
properly solicitous about the education of their children; and pay an
attention to the necessaries of life, which is neither excessive nor
negligent, but moderate and appropriate. For what can be better and
more excellent, as the most admirable Homer says,
Than when at home the husband and the wife
Unanimously live[50].
On which account I have frequently wondered at those who conceive
that the life with a woman is burdensome and grievous. For a wife
is not by Jupiter either a burden or a molestation, as to them she
appears to be; but, on the contrary, she is something light and easy
to be borne, or rather, she possesses the power of exonerating her
husband from things truly troublesome and weighty. For there is not
any thing so troublesome which will not be easily borne by a husband
and wife when they are concordant, and are willing to endure it in
common. But imprudence is truly burdensome, and difficult to be
borne by its possessors: for through it things naturally light, and
among others a wife, become heavy. In reality, indeed, marriage to
many is intolerable, not from itself, or because such an association
as this with a woman is naturally insufferable; but when we marry
those whom we ought not, and, together with this, are ourselves
entirely ignorant of life, and unprepared to take a wife in such a
way as a free and ingenuous woman ought to be taken, then it happens
that this association with her becomes difficult and intolerable.
It is certain, indeed, that marriage is effected by the vulgar
after this manner. For they do not take a wife for the sake of the
procreation of children, and the association of life; but some are
induced to marry through the magnitude of the portion, others through
transcendency of form, and others through other such like causes;
and by employing these bad counsellors, they pay no attention to
the disposition and manners of the bride, but celebrate nuptials to
their own destruction, and with their doors crowned introduce to
themselves a tyrant instead of a wife, whom they cannot resist, and
with whom they are unable to contend for the chief authority. It
is evident, therefore, that marriage through these causes, and not
through itself, becomes burdensome and intolerable to many. It is
proper, however, as it is said, neither to blame things which are
innoxious, nor to make our imbecility in the use of things the cause
of complaint against them. Besides, it is also in other respects most
absurd, to investigate on all sides the auxiliaries of friendship,
and procure certain friends and associates, as those who will aid
and defend us in the difficulties of life, and yet not explore and
endeavour to obtain that relief, defence, and assistance which are
afforded us by nature, by the laws, and by the Gods, through a wife
and children.
With respect to a numerous offspring, it is after a certain manner,
according to nature and consentaneous to marriage, that all, or the
greatest part of those that are born, should be nurtured. Many,
however, appear to be unpersuaded by this admonition, through a
cause not very decorous: for they are thus affected through a love
of riches, and because they think poverty to be a transcendently
great evil. In the first place, therefore, it must be considered,
that in procreating children, we not only beget assistants for
ourselves, nourishers of our old age, and participants with us of
every fortune and every circumstance that may occur in life;—I say,
we do not beget them for ourselves alone, but in many things also for
our parents. For the procreation of children is gratifying to them;
because, if we should suffer any thing of a calamitous nature prior
to their decease, we shall leave our children instead of ourselves,
as the support of their old age. But it is a beautiful thing for a
grandfather to be conducted by the hands of his grandchildren, and to
be considered by them as deserving of every other attention. Hence,
in the first place, we shall gratify our own parents, by paying
attention to the procreation of children. And, in the next place,
we shall cooperate with the prayers and ardent wishes of those that
begot us. For they from the first were solicitous about our birth,
conceiving that through it there would be a very extended succession
of themselves, and that they shall leave behind them children of
children, and have to pay attention to our marriage, our procreation,
and nurture. Hence, by marrying and begetting children, we shall
accomplish, as it were, a part of their prayers; but, by being of a
contrary opinion, we shall cut off the object of their deliberate
choice. _Moreover, it appears that every one who voluntarily, and
without some prohibiting circumstance, avoids marriage, and the
procreation of children, accuses his parents of madness, as not
having engaged in wedlock with right conceptions of things._ It is
easy also to see, that such a one forms an incongruous opinion. For
how is it possible that he should not be full of dissension, who
finds a pleasure in living, and willingly continues in life as one
who was produced into existence in a becoming manner by his parents,
and yet conceives that for him to procreate others is one among
the number of things which are to be rejected? In the first place,
however, as we have before observed, it is requisite to consider,
that we do not beget children for our own sakes alone, but for those
also through whom we ourselves were begotten; and, in the next place,
for the sake of our friends and kindred. For it is gratifying to
these to see children which are our offspring, both on account of
benevolence and propinquity, and on account of security. For the
life of those to whom these pertain, is established as in a port by
a thing of this kind, analogously to ships, which, though greatly
agitated by the waves of the sea, are firmly secured by many anchors.
On this account, the man who is a lover of his kindred, and a lover
of his associates, will earnestly desire to marry and procreate
children. We are likewise loudly called upon by our country to do
so. For we do not beget children so much for ourselves as for our
country, procuring a race that may follow us, and supplying the
community with our successors. Hence the priest should know that he
owes priests to his city; the ruler that he owes rulers; the public
orator public orators; and, in short, the citizen that he owes
citizens to it. As, therefore, to a choir the perennial continuance
of those that compose it is gratifying, and to an army the duration
of the soldiers, so to a city is the lastingness of the citizens.
If, indeed, a city was a certain system of a short duration, and the
life of it was commensurate with the life of man, it would not be in
want of succession. But since it is extended to many generations,
and if it employs a more fortunate dæmon endures for many ages, it
is evident that it is not only necessary to direct our attention to
the present, but also to the future time, and not despise our natal
soil, and leave it desolate, but establish it in good hopes from our
posterity.
HOW WE OUGHT TO CONDUCT OURSELVES TOWARDS OUR [OTHER] KINDRED.
The consideration of the duties pertaining to [our other] kindred
is consequent to the discussion of those that pertain to parents,
brothers, wives, and children; for the same things may, in a certain
respect, be said of the former as of the latter; and on this account
may be concisely explained. For, in short, each of us is, as it
were, circumscribed by many circles; some of which are less, but
others larger, and some comprehend, but others are comprehended,
according to the different and unequal habitudes with respect to
each other. For the first, indeed, and most proximate circle is
that which every one describes about his own mind as a centre, in
which circle the body, and whatever is assumed for the sake of the
body, are comprehended. For this is nearly the smallest circle, and
almost touches the centre itself. The second from this, and which
is at a greater distance from the centre, but comprehends the first
circle, is that in which parents, brothers, wife, and children are
arranged. The third circle from the centre is that which contains
uncles and aunts, grandfathers and grandmothers, and the children of
brothers and sisters. After this is the circle which comprehends
the remaining relatives. Next to this is that which contains the
common people, then that which comprehends those of the same tribe,
afterwards that which contains the citizens; and then two other
circles follow, one being the circle of those that dwell in the
vicinity of the city, and the other, of those of the same province.
But the outermost and greatest circle, and which comprehends all the
other circles, is that of the whole human race[51].
These things being thus considered, it is the province of him who
strives to conduct himself properly in each of these connections
to collect, in a certain respect, the circles, as it were, to one
centre, and always to endeavour earnestly to transfer himself from
the comprehending circles to the several particulars which they
comprehend. It pertains, therefore, to the man who is a lover of
kindred [to conduct himself in a becoming manner[52]] towards
his parents and brothers; also, according to the same analogy,
towards the more elderly of his relatives of both sexes, such as
grandfathers, uncles and aunts; towards those of the same age with
himself, as his cousins; and towards his juniors, as the children of
his cousins. Hence we have summarily shown how we ought to conduct
ourselves towards our kindred, having before taught how we should
act towards ourselves, our parents, and brothers; and besides these,
towards our wife and children. To which it must be added, that
those who belong to the third circle must be honoured similarly to
these; and again, kindred similarly to those that belong to the
third circle. For something of benevolence must be taken away from
those who are more distant from us by blood; though at the same time
we should endeavour that an assimilation may take place between us
and them. For this distance will become moderate, if, through the
diligent attention[53] which we pay to them, we cut off the length
of the habitude towards each individual of these. We have unfolded,
therefore, that which is most comprehensive and important in the
duties pertaining to kindred.
It is requisite, likewise, to add a proper measure conformably to
the general use of appellations, calling indeed cousins, uncles and
aunts, by the name of brothers, fathers and mothers; but of other
kindred, to denominate some uncles, others the children of brothers
or sisters, and others cousins, according to the difference of age,
for the sake of the abundant extension which there is in names.
For this mode of appellation will be no obscure indication of our
sedulous attention to each of these relatives; and at the same time
will incite, and extend us in a greater degree, to the contraction as
it were of the above mentioned circles. But as we have proceeded thus
far in our discussion, it will not be unseasonable to recall to our
memory the distinction with respect to parents, which we before made.
For in that place in which we compared mother with father, we said
that it was requisite to attribute more of love to a mother, and more
of honour to a father; and conformably to this, we shall here add,
that it is fit to have more love for those who are connected with
us by a maternal alliance, but to pay more honour to those who are
related to us by a paternal affinity.
ON ECONOMICS.
Prior to all things, it is requisite to speak of the works through
which the union of a family is preserved. These, therefore, are to
be divided after the accustomed manner; viz. rural, forensic, and
political works are to be attributed to the husband; but to the wife,
such works as pertain to spinning wool, making of bread, cooking,
and, in short, every thing of a domestic nature. Nevertheless, it
is not fit that the one should be entirely exempt from the works
of the other. For sometimes it will be proper when the wife is in
the country that she should superintend the labourers, and perform
the office of the master of the house; and that the husband should
sometimes convert his attention to domestic affairs; and partly
inquire about, and partly inspect what is doing in the house. For
thus, what pertains to the mutual association of both will be more
firmly connected by their joint participation of necessary cares.
Since, however, our discussion has extended thus far, it appears to
me that I ought not to omit to mention manual operations; for it
will not be incongruous to add this also to what has been said about
works.
What occasion, therefore, is there to say, that it is fit the man
should meddle with agricultural labours? For there are not many
by whom this will not be admitted. But though so much luxury and
idleness occupies the life of men of the present day, yet it is rare
to find one who is not willing to engage in the labour of sowing
and planting; and to be employed in other works which pertain to
agriculture. Perhaps, however, the arguments will be much less
persuasive, which call on the man to engage in those other works
which belong to the woman. For such men as pay great attention to
neatness and cleanliness will not conceive the spinning of wool to be
their business: since, for the most part, vile diminutive men, and
the tribe of such as are delicate and effeminate apply themselves to
the elaboration of wool, through an emulation of feminine softness.
But it does not become a man, who is truly so called, to apply
himself to things of this kind; so that neither shall I, perhaps,
advise those to engage in such employments, who have not given
perfectly credible indications of their virility and modesty. What,
therefore, should hinder the man from partaking of the works which
pertain to a woman, whose past life has been such as to free him
from all suspicion of absurd and effeminate conduct? For in other
domestic works, is it not thought that more of them pertain to men
than to women? For they are more laborious, and require corporeal
strength, such as to grind, to knead meal, to cut wood, to draw water
from a well, to transfer large vessels from one place to another; to
shake coverlets and carpets, and every other work similar to these.
And it will be sufficient, indeed, for these things to be performed
by men. But it is also fit that some addition should be made to the
legitimate work of a woman, so that she may not only engage with her
maid servants in the spinning of wool, but may also apply herself
to other more virile works. For it appears to me that the making of
bread, the drawing of water [from a well], the lighting of fires, the
making of beds, and every other work similar to these are the proper
employments of a freeborn woman. But a wife will seem much more
beautiful to her husband, and especially if she is young, and not yet
worn out by the bearing of children, if she becomes his associate
in gathering grapes, and collecting olives; and if he is verging to
old age, she will render herself more pleasing to him, by partaking
with him of the labour of sowing and ploughing, and extending to him,
while he is digging or planting, the instruments proper for such
works. For when a family is governed after this manner by the husband
and wife, so far as pertains to necessary works, it appears to me
that it will be conducted in this respect in the best manner.
THE END.
C. Whittingham, College House, Chiswick.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Dissertation on Phalaris, p. 273.
[2] In Lib. de Philosophorum Sectis.
[3] The following extract from Bentley’s Eighth Sermon at Boyle’s
Lectures, sufficiently shows the doctor’s deficiency in intellect.
“Nor do we count it any absurdity, that such a vast and immense
universe should be made for the sole use of such mean and unworthy
creatures as the children of men. For if we consider the dignity
of an intelligent being, and put that in the scales against brute
inanimate matter, we may affirm, without overvaluing human nature,
that the soul of one virtuous and religious man is of greater worth
and excellency than the sun and his planets, and all the stars in
the world.” For this opinion is not only stupid and arrogant in the
extreme, but is also contrary to the doctrine of the Scriptures,
of which the doctor was a teacher. For as I have observed in p. 13
of the Introduction to my translation of Proclus On the Theology
of Plato, “the stars are not called Gods by the Jewish legislator,
as things inanimate like statues fashioned of wood or stone.” This
is evident from what is said in the book of Job, and the Psalms.
“Behold even the moon and it shineth not, yea the stars are not pure
in his sight. How much less man that is a worm, and the son of man
which is a worm?” (Job, xxv. v. 5 and 6). And, “When I consider thy
heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou
hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the
son of man that thou visitest him.” (Psalm viii. v. 3 and 4.) It is
evident, therefore, from these passages, that the heavens and the
stars are more excellent than man; but nothing inanimate can be more
excellent than that which is animated. To which may be added, that in
the following verse David says, that God has made man a little lower
than the angels. But the stars, as I have demonstrated in the above
mentioned Introduction, were considered by Moses as angels and Gods;
and consequently they are animated beings, and superior to man.
Farther still, it is said in Psalm xi. v. 4, that “the Lord’s throne
is in heaven.” And again, in Isaiah, chap. lxvi. v. 1. “Thus saith
the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.”
If, therefore, the heavens are the throne of Deity, they must
evidently be deified. For nothing can come into immediate contact
with divinity, without being divine. Hence, says Simplicius, (in
Comment in Lib. ii. de Cælo.) “That it is connascent with the
human soul to think the celestial bodies are divine, is especially
evident from those (the Jews), who look to these bodies through
preconceptions about divine natures. For they also say that the
heavens are the habitation of God, and the throne of God, and are
alone sufficient to reveal the glory and excellence of God to those
who are worthy; than which assertions what can be more venerable?”
Indeed, that the heavens are not the inanimate throne and residence
of Deity, is also evident from the assertion in the nineteenth
Psalm, that “the heavens declare the glory of God.” For R. Moses, a
very learned Jew, (See Gaffarel’s Unheard-of Curiosities, p. 391.)
says, “that the word _saphar_ to _declare_, or _set forth_, is never
attributed to things inanimate.” Hence he concludes, “that the
heavens are not without some soul; which, says he, is no other than
that of those blessed intelligences who govern the stars, and dispose
them into such letters as God has ordained; _declaring_ unto us men,
by means of this writing, what events we are to expect. And hence
this same writing is called by all the ancients, _chetab hamelachim_;
that is to say, _the writing of the angels_.”
[4] In the Fragments of his Life of Isidorus the Platonist, preserved
by Photius. The greater part of what Suidas has said about Hierocles
is taken from these memoirs of Isidorus.
[5] The discourses of Socrates in Plato.
[6] For so the Christians were called by the heathens, when the
religion of the latter was rapidly declining, and that of the former
had gained the ascendency. Thus Porphyry, in a passage preserved
by Theodoret, (in lib. i. De Curat. Græc. Superst.) Χαλκοδετος
γαρ η προς θεους οδος, αιπεινη τε και τραχεια, ης πολλας ατραπους
Βαρβαροι μεν εξευρον, Ελληνες δε επλανηθησαν, οι δε κρατουντες
ηδη και διεφθειραν. i.e. “For the way which leads to the Gods is
bound with chains of brass, and is arduous and rough, many paths of
which were indeed discovered by the Barbarians; but the Greeks have
wandered from them, and they are entirely corrupted by _those who now
prevail_.”
This passage of Porphyry, derived its origin from the following
oracle of Apollo, preserved by Eusebius:
Αιπεινη γαρ οδος μακαρων τρηχεια τε πολλον,
Χαλκοδετοις τα πρωτα διοιγομενη πυλεωσιν.
Ατραπετοι δε εασσιν αθεσφατοι εγγεγαυιαι,
Ας πρωτοι μεροπων επ’ απειρονα πρηξιν εφηναν
Οι το καλον πινοντες υδωρ Νειλωτιδος αιης·
Πολλας και Φοινικες οδους μακαρων εδαησαν,
Ασσυριοι Λυδοι τε, και Εβραιων γενος ανδρων.
But for Εβραιων, in the last line, I read Χαλδαιων, it not being at
all reasonable to suppose that an oracle of Apollo would say that the
Hebrews knew many paths which led to the knowledge of the Gods. It is
probable, therefore, that either Aristobulus the Jew, well known for
interpolating the writings of the heathens, or the wicked Eusebius,
as he is called by the Emperor Julian, has fraudulently substituted
the former word for the latter. The Oracle, with this emendation,
will be in English as follows:
The path by which to deity we climb
Is arduous, rough, ineffable, sublime;
And the strong massy gates, through which we pass
In our first course, are bound with chains of brass.
Those men the first who of Egyptian birth
Drank the fair water of Nilotic earth,
Disclosed by actions infinite this road,
And many paths to God Phœnicians show’d.
This road the Assyrians pointed out to view,
And this the Lydians and Chaldeans knew.
But when Porphyry says that the Greeks have wandered from the path
which leads to divinity, he alludes to their worshipping men as Gods;
which, as I have shown in the Introduction to my translation of
Proclus On the Theology of Plato, is contrary to the genuine doctrine
of the heathen religion; and was the cause of its corruption, and
final extinction, among the Greeks and Romans.
[7] Odyss. lib. ix. v. 347.
[8] Fragments of this work are to be found in Photius. But they are
fragments of a treatise or treatises, On _Providence, Fate, and Free
Will_.
[9] An adept in the philosophy of Plato will at once be convinced
of the truth of this assertion, by comparing what Hierocles has
said about prayer in his Commentary On the Golden Verses of the
Pythagoreans, with what is said respecting it by Iamblichus, in
his Treatise on the Mysteries; and by Proclus, at the beginning of
the second book of his Commentary On the Timæus of Plato. See the
Introduction to the second Alcibiades, in Vol. 4. of my translation
of Plato, and the Notes to my translation of Maximus Tyrius; in which
the reader will find what Iamblichus, Proclus, and Hierocles have
said on this subject. And that he was not consummately accurate in
his knowledge, will be evident by comparing what he says in his above
mentioned Commentary, about that middle order of beings denominated
_the illustrious heroes_, with what Iamblichus and Proclus have
most admirably unfolded concerning them. And this will still more
plainly appear from what he says about the celebrated _tetrad_, or
_tetractys_ of the Pythagoreans, in p. 166, and 170, of the same
Commentary. For in both these places, he clearly asserts, that
this tetrad is the same with the _Demiurgus_, or _maker_ of _the
universe_. Thus, in the former of these places και την τετραδα πηγην
της αιδιου διακοσμησεως, αποφαινεται την αυτην ουσαν τῳ δημιουργῳ
θεῳ. i.e. “And the author of these verses shows that the tetrad,
which is the fountain of the perpetual orderly distribution of
things, is the same with the God who is the Demiurgus.” And in the
latter passage, εστι γαρ ως εφαμεν, δημιουργος των ολων και αιτια
η τετρας, θεος νοητος, αιτιος του ουρανιου και αισθητου θεου. i.e.
“For as we have said, the tetrad is the Demiurgus and cause of the
wholes of the universe, being an intelligible God, the source of the
celestial and sensible God.” The tetrad, however, or the _animal
itself_, (το αυτωζωον) of Plato; who, as Syrianus justly observes,
was the best of the Pythagoreans; subsists at the extremity of the
_intelligible_ triad, as is most satisfactorily shown by Proclus in
the third book of his Treatise On the Theology, and in the fourth
book of his Commentary On the Timæus of Plato. But the Demiurgus,
as it is demonstrated by the same incomparable man, in the fifth
book of the former of these works, subsists at the extremity of the
_intellectual_ triad. And between these two triads another order of
Gods exists, which is denominated _intelligible, and at the same
time intellectual_, as partaking of both the extremes. The English
reader who has a genius for such speculations, will be convinced of
this by diligently perusing my translations of the above mentioned
works. Notwithstanding, however, the knowledge of Hierocles was not
so consummately accurate on certain most abstruse theological dogmas
as that of Iamblichus, Proclus, and Damascius, yet where ethics are
concerned, his notions are most correct, most admirable, and sublime.
[10] Thus, too, Plato in his Laws mingles his polity from a
democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy. He was, however, decidedly of
opinion, as is evident from his Politicus, that the best form of
government is that in which either one man, who is a most excellent
character, is the supreme ruler, or a few excellent men rule
conjointly.
[11] In the original there is only πρωτος ὦν ο νομος, which is
evidently defective; but by adding εμψυχος the sense will be
complete. And in what immediately follows τουτω γαρ ο μεν βασιλευς
νομιμος which also is defective, Gesner adds τηρησει after τουτω γαρ,
but he should doubtless have added ει τηρησει.
[12] _i.e._ To a perfect subjugation of the passions to reason, and
not to a perfect insensibility, as is stupidly supposed by many who
do not understand the proper meaning of the word _apathy_, as used by
the Pythagoreans, Platonists, and Stoics.
[13] The original is, I conceive, evidently defective in this place;
for it is, ουτε γαρ γα τως αυτως καρπως, ουτε ψυχα ανθρωπων ταν αυταν
αρεταν παραδεξασθαι δυναται. It appears, therefore, to me, that
πανταχου should be added after καρπως, and that for ουτε ψυχα we
should read ουτε πασα ψυχα.
[14] Among the Lacedæmonians the three men were thus denominated, who
were chosen by the Ephori to preside over the equestrian order. But
the ephori were magistrates corresponding to the _tribunes_ of the
people among the Romans.
[15] In the original, α μεν γαρ πλεονεκτια γινεται περι το αγουμενον
μερος τας ψυχας· λογικα γαρ α επιθυμια. But for αγουμενον, I read
αλογον; and for λογικα, it is necessary to read ου λογικα. For the
vices, according to the Pythagoreans, subsist about the irrational
part of the soul, which consists, according to them, as well as
according to Plato, of _anger_ and _desire_. Hence Metopus, the
Pythagorean, says: “Since there are two parts of the soul, the
rational and the irrational, the latter is divided into the irascible
and the appetitive. And the rational part, indeed, is that by which
we judge and contemplate; but the irrational part is that by which we
are impelled and desire.” See my translation of Pythagoric Ethical
Fragments, at the end of my translation of Iamblichus’ Life of
Pythagoras.
[16] I here read, with Victorius, κατ’ οικειοτατα εγγενη, for και
οικειοτατον εν γενοιν.
[17] This sentence within the brackets is not to be found in Stobæus.
[18] i.e. God is not in want of ministers or servants to assist him
in the government of the universe: for he produces and provides for
all things at once by his own immediate energy. But the cooperation
of subordinate divine powers with him is necessary to the proper
participation of him by the different beings which the universe
contains.
[19] For οι μιμευμενοι των αυτων in this place, I read οι μιμευμενοι
τον αυτον.
[20] Instead of ενιοτε here, I read παντοτε.
[21] Conformably to this, Plato also in the Politicus says: “It is
requisite to call him royal who possesses the royal science, whether
he governs or not.”
[22] Plato says somewhere (I think in his Laws), that a greater evil
than impudence cannot befall either cities or individuals.
[23] _i.e._ The seed which pertains to the propagation of his
children.
[24] _i.e._ To his children while they live in his house under his
protection and are unmarried; and who are in danger through having a
stepmother of losing that property which ought to be theirs on the
death of their father.
[25] Pæan is a song of rejoicing, which was sung at festivals and on
other occasions, in honour of Apollo, for having slain the serpent
Python.
[26] A kind of harp beaten with sticks.
[27] In the original ουρανιον ζωον a _celestial_ animal; but as
Callicratidas is here speaking of the Demiurgus, or artificer of the
universe, who is an _intellectual_ god, for ουρανιον I read νοερον.
For the Demiurgus is the maker, and not one of the celestial gods.
But he is called an _animal_, as being the cause of _life_ to all
things. Thus, too, Aristotle, in the 12th book of his Metaphysics,
says, “that God is an animal eternal and most excellent.”
[28] This Perictyone is different from her who was the mother of
Plato.
[29] In this extract no mention whatever is made of the harmony of
a woman; for it wholly consists of the duty of children to their
parents.
[30] και νοσῳ is omitted in the original, but ought, as it appears to
me, to be inserted.
[31] It is well observed by Olympiodorus, on the Phædo of Plato,
“that the soul is not punished by divinity through anger but
medicinally; and that by eternity of punishment we must understand
punishment commensurate with the soul’s partial period; because souls
that have committed the greatest offences cannot be sufficiently
purified in one period.”
[32] For φρονεειν in this place, which is evidently erroneous, I read
φθονεειν.
[33] The whole of this extract is to be found in the fourth book
of Plato’s Laws. (See tom. viii. p. 187, and 188, of the Bipont
edition.) But there is occasionally some little difference between
the text of Plato and that of Aristoxenus, as the critical reader
will easily discover. Neither Fabricius nor the editors of Stobæus
have noticed the source of this extract.
[34] The whole of this extract is taken from the eleventh book of
Plato’s Laws, but what is there said is here somewhat amplified.
[35] See p. 137, and 138, of my Translation of Iamblichus on the
Mysteries.
[36] Iliad IX. v. 495. 6. 7.
[37] Iliad IX. v. 493. Hierocles is mistaken in saying that poetry
_rashly asserts that the Gods are flexible_. For as I have observed
in my Notes to Iamblichus on the Mysteries, divine flexibility
indicates in Homer, and other theological poets of antiquity,
that those who through depravity become unadapted to receive the
illuminations of the Gods, when they afterwards obtain pardon of
their guilt through prayers and sacrifices, again become partakers of
the goodness of the Gods. So that divine flexibility is a resumption
of the participation of divine light and goodness, by those who
through inaptitude were before deprived of it.
[38] See on this most interesting subject, that divinity is not the
cause of evil, my translation of the Fragments of Proclus on the
Subsistence of Evil, at the end of my translation of his six books On
the Theology of Plato.
[39] See Odyss. I. v. 32, 33, 34.
[40] See the first book of his Republic.
[41] i.e. Such things as are neither really good, nor really evil,
but media between these.
[42] After this last sentence, the words ταυτα χρη, follow in the
original; which evidently show that something is wanting: as they
are only the beginning of another sentence. This defect, however, is
supplied in my copy of Stobæus, (Eclog. Ethic. lib. II. p. 207), by
some one in manuscript, as follows: ταυτα χρη προνοειν, μη δια νου
τυφλοτητα και αγνωμοσυνην, τα (lege ταυτα) ημιν απαντασωσι; and he
has also added the following Latin translation of these words: “Hæc
oportet prospicere ne per mentis cæcitatem et ignorantiam hæc nobis
occurrant.” But the addition, from whatever source it was obtained,
does not appear to me to be at all apposite; and therefore I conceive
it to be spurious.
[43] This is true of the whole which consists of parts, so as not to
be able to subsist without them. For whole has a triple substance;
viz. it is either prior to parts, or in other words, is a whole
containing parts causally; or it consists of parts; or is in a part,
so that a part, also, becomes a whole according to participation. A
city, therefore, is a whole consisting of parts, any part of which
being absent, diminishes the whole. See Prop. 67 of my translation of
Proclus’ Elements of Theology; and the second book of my translation
of Proclus on the Timæus.
[44] When the intelligent reader considers that Hierocles flourished
about the middle of the fifth century after Christ, he will
immediately understand what the _recent customs_ are to which
Hierocles, in the above passage, alludes. Needham, in his translation
of this passage, either did not understand the meaning of it, or
wilfully omitted to translate it.
[45] The honours which we pay to divinity can be of no advantage to
him, but benefit us; but the honours which we pay to our parents are
beneficial to them. And in this sense, and in this only, the latter
are to be honoured more than the former.
[46] This reminds me of what Pope, no less piously than pathetically
says, respecting his mother, in the following most beautiful lines:
“Me let the tender office long engage,
To rock the cradle of reposing age,
With lenient arts extend a mothers breath,
Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death;
_Explore the thought, explain the asking eye_,
And keep awhile one parent from the sky.”
_See his Seventh Epistle, near the end._
[47] The following extract from Sir William Jones, as given by Moor
in his Hindu Pantheon, p. 421, demonstrates the great antiquity of
this precept:
“Our divine religion has no need of such aids as many are willing to
give it; by asserting that the wisest men of this world were ignorant
of the two great maxims—that _we must act in respect of others as we
should wish them to act in respect of ourselves_—and that, _instead
of returning evil for evil, we should confer benefits on those who
injure us_. But the first rule is implied in a speech of Lysias, and
expressed in distinct phrases by Thales and Pittacus; and I have
even seen it word for word, in the original of Confucius, which I
carefully compared with the Latin translation. If the conversion,
therefore, of the _Pandits_ and _Maulavis_, in India, shall ever be
attempted by protestant missionaries, they must beware of asserting,
while they teach the gospel, what those _Pandits_ and _Maulavis_
would know to be false. The former would cite the beautiful _Arya_
couplet, which was written at least three centuries before our era,
and which pronounce the duty of a good man, even in the moment of
destruction, to consist, _not only in forgiving, but even in a desire
of benefiting his destroyer_—as _the sandal tree, in the instant of
its overthrow, sheds perfume on the axe which fells it_. And the
latter would triumph, in repeating the verse of SADI, who represents
_a return of good for good as a slight reciprocity_; but says to the
virtuous man, ‘_Confer benefits on him who has injured thee_:’ using
an _Arabic_ sentence, and a maxim apparently of the ancient Arabs.
Nor would the _Mussulmans_ fail to recite four distichs of _Hafiz_,
who has illustrated that maxim with fanciful but elegant allusions:—
“Learn from yon orient shell to love thy foe,
And store with pearls the hand that brings thee woe:
Free, like yon rock, from base vindictive pride,
Emblaze with gems the wrist that rends thy side.
Mark where yon tree rewards the stony shower
With fruit nectarious, or the balmy flower:
All nature calls aloud—‘Shall man do less
Than heal the smiter, and the railer bless?’”
_As. Res. Vol. IV._
[48] viz. Such circumstances as induced Plato, Plotinus, Proclus, and
many other ancient philosophers, not to engage in wedlock, because
they found that they could give greater assistance to philosophy by
continuing single; but Pythagoras and Socrates, though they rank
among the wisest men that ever lived, did not find a married life
incompatible with the cultivation of philosophy in the highest
perfection possible to man. Wedlock, therefore, is never to be
avoided from any sordid and selfish motives.
[49] Hence Diogenes, in perfect conformity with that dignified
independence of character which he so eminently possessed, and
which is to be found more or less in the conduct of all the ancient
philosophers, when a certain wealthy and ostentatious man brought him
to a fine house which he had built, and desired him not to spit, as
he perceived he begun to hawk, spit in the man’s face, observing at
the same time, that he could not find a worse place to spit in.
[50] Odyss. lib. 7, v. 183.
[51] This admirable passage is so conformable to the following
beautiful lines in Pope’s Essay on Man, that it is most probably the
source from whence they were derived. The lines are these:
“Self love but serves the virtuous mind to wake,
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake,
The centre moved, a circle straight succeeds,
Another still, and still another spreads,
Friend, parent, neighbour first it will embrace,
His country next, and next all human race;
Wide and more wide th’ o’erflowings of the mind,
Take every creature in of every kind.”
In Hierocles, however, the circles are scientifically detailed;
but in Pope they are synoptically enumerated. Pope, too, has added
another circle to that which is the outermost with Hierocles, viz.
the circle which embraces every creature of every kind. But as
Hierocles in this fragment is only speaking of our duties to kindred,
among which the whole human race is, in a certain respect, included,
he had no occasion to introduce another circle, though the Platonic
doctrine of benevolence is as widely extended as that of Pope.
As the selflove, however, mentioned here by our poet is of a
virtuous nature, and is wholly different from that selflove which is
reprehensible, and is possessed by the vulgar, I shall present the
reader with what Aristotle says concerning the former in the 9th book
of his Nicomachean Ethics, as the distinction between the two is at
present but little known.
Aristotle, therefore, having observed, that the selflove of the
multitude leads them to distribute to themselves the greater part in
wealth and honours, and corporeal pleasures, and that in consequence
of vindicating to themselves more of these things than is fit, they
are subservient to desires and passions, and the irrational part of
the soul, adds as follows:
“He who always earnestly endeavours to act justly or temperately,
or to act according to any other of the virtues, the most of all
things, and, in short, who always vindicates to himself that which
is beautiful in conduct; such a man will never be called by any one
a lover of himself, nor will he be blamed by any one. It would seem,
however, that such a man as this is, in a greater degree, a lover
of himself; for he distributes to himself things which are most
eminently beautiful and good, is gratified in his most principal
part [intellect], and in all things is obedient to it. But as that
which is the most principal thing in a city appears to be most
eminently the city, and this is the case in every other system of
things; thus, also, that which is most principal in man is especially
the man. He, therefore, who loves this principal part of himself,
is especially a lover of himself, and is gratified with this. That
every man, therefore, is principally intellect, and that the worthy
man principally loves this is not immanifest. Hence, he will be
especially a lover of himself, according to a different species of
selflove from that which is disgraceful, and differing as much from
it as to live according to reason differs from living according
to passion, and as much as the desire of that which is beautiful
in conduct differs from the desire of that which appears to be
advantageous. Hence it is necessary that a good man should be a lover
of himself; for he himself is benefited by acting well, and he also
benefits others. But it is not proper that a depraved man should be a
lover of himself; for he will hurt both himself and his neighbours,
in consequence of being subservient to base passions. With the
depraved man, therefore, there is a dissonance between what he ought
to do and what he does; but _with the worthy man, those things which
he ought to do he also does_.”
Conformably to what Aristotle asserts in this last sentence, Seneca
also says, “Sapiens nihil facit quod non debet, et nihil prætermittit
quod debet.” i.e. “_The wise man does nothing which he ought not to
do, and omits nothing which he ought to do._”
[52] There is a deficiency here in the original, which I have
endeavoured to supply in the translation by the words in the
brackets. It appears to me, therefore, that the words χρησθαι καλως
are wanting.
[53] For ενστασεως, in this place in the original, I read
επιστασεως.
* * * * *
THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST
OF
TRANSLATIONS AND ORIGINAL WORKS
BY T. TAYLOR.
Translations.
FROM THE GREEK.
THE HYMNS OF ORPHEUS, 12mo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _sewn_.
PLOTINUS ON THE BEAUTIFUL, 12mo. 1_s._ 6_d._ _sewn_.
PROCLUS ON EUCLID, and his Elements of Theology, in which the
principal Dogmas of a Theology coeval with the Universe are unfolded.
2 vols. 4to. 2_l._ 10_s._ _boards_.
FOUR DIALOGUES OF PLATO, _viz._ the Cratylus, Phædo, Parmenides, and
Timæus, 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._ _boards_.
THE PHÆDRUS OF PLATO, 4to. 6_s._ _boards_.
SALLUST ON THE GODS AND THE WORLD. 8vo. 3_s._ _boards_.
TWO ORATIONS OF THE EMPEROR JULIAN, one to the Sovereign Sun, and the
other to the Mother of the Gods. 8vo. 3_s._ _boards_.
FIVE BOOKS OF PLOTINUS, _viz._ on Felicity; on the Nature and Origin
of Evil; on Providence; on Nature. Contemplation, and _the One_; and
on the Descent of the Soul. 8vo. 5_s._ _boards_.
PAUSANIAS’S DESCRIPTION OF GREECE, with copious Notes, in which much
of the Mythology of the Greeks is unfolded from genuine ancient
sources. 3 vols. 8vo. 18_s._ _boards_.
ARISTOTLE’S METAPHYSICS, with copious Notes, in which the Platonic
Doctrine of Ideas is largely unfolded. 4to. 2_l._ 2_s._ _boards_.
THE DISSERTATIONS OF MAXIMUS TYRIUS. 2 vols. 12mo. 12_s._ _boards_.
THE WORKS OF PLATO, in which the Substance is given of nearly all the
existing Greek MSS., Commentaries and Scholia on Plato, and his most
abstruse Dogmas are unfolded. 5 vols. 4to. 10_l._ 10_s._ _boards_.
THE WORKS OF ARISTOTLE, accompanied with copious Elucidations from
the best of his Greek Commentators, viz. Alexander Aphrodisiensis,
Syrianus, Ammonius Hermæas, Priscianus, Olympiodorus, Simplicius, &c.
9 vols. 4to. 47_l._ 5_s._ _boards_.
THE SIX BOOKS OF PROCLUS ON THE THEOLOGY OF PLATO, to which a Seventh
Book is added by the Translator, in order to supply the deficiency of
another Book on this subject, which was written by Proclus, but since
lost. Also Proclus’s Elements of Theology. 2 vols. 4to. 5_l._ 10_s._
_boards_.
SELECT WORKS OF PLOTINUS, and Extracts from Synesius on Providence.
8vo. 18_s._ _boards_.
IAMBLICHUS’ LIFE OF PYTHAGORAS, or Pythagoric Life. Accompanied by
Fragments of the Ethical Writings of certain Pythagoreans, in the
Doric Dialect; and a Collection of Pythagoric Sentences from Stobæus
and others, which are omitted by Gale in his Opuscula Mythologica,
and have not been noticed by any Editor. 8vo. 14_s._ _boards_.
THE COMMENTARIES OF PROCLUS ON THE TIMÆUS OF PLATO. In the
translation of this admirable work, which is most deservedly intitled
A TREASURY OF ALL ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY, upwards of eleven hundred
_necessary_ emendations of the text are given by the Translator. The
mathematical also, as well as the philosophical reader, will find
these Commentaries replete with information of a most interesting
nature, which has hitherto escaped the notice of all modern writers;
such as that the Atlantic Ocean, beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, was
marshy and full of breakers in the time of Plato and Aristotle, owing
to the subsidency of the Atlantic Island; that the fixed stars have
periodic revolutions on their axis, unknown to us; that every planet
has a multitude of satellites; and many other equally admirable and
interesting particulars. 2 vols. royal 4to. 5_l._ 5_s._ _boards_.
IAMBLICHUS ON THE MYSTERIES OF THE EGYPTIANS, CHALDÆANS, AND
ASSYRIANS. 8vo. 16_s._
POLITICAL PYTHAGORIC FRAGMENTS, and ETHICAL FRAGMENTS OF HIEROCLES,
preserved by Stobæus. 8vo. 6_s._
FROM THE LATIN.
THE FABLE OF CUPID AND PSYCHE FROM APULEIUS, with an Introduction
explaining the Meaning of the Fable, and proving that it alludes to
the Descent of the Soul. 8vo. 5_s._ _boards_.
PROCLUS ON PROVIDENCE AND FATE; Extracts from his Treatise entitled
Ten Doubts concerning Providence; and Extracts from his Treatise
on the Subsistence of Evil; as preserved in the Bibliotheca Gr. of
Fabricius. See Proclus on the Theology of Plato.
Original Works.
HISTORY OF THE RESTORATION OF THE PLATONIC THEOLOGY, by the genuine
Disciples of Plato. See the second vol. of Proclus on Euclid.
A DISSERTATION ON THE ELEUSINIAN AND BACCHIC MYSTERIES, in which much
new and important Information, relative to those most venerable and
august Institutions, is given from Greek Manuscripts. 8vo. 5_s._ A
Second Edition of this Work is printed in Nos. XV. and XVI. of the
PAMPHLETEER.
A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF ALL THE EXISTING CHALDÆAN ORACLES, with
concise Explanations. See the third vol. of the Old Monthly Magazine;
Nos. XXXII. XXXIII. and XXXIV. of the CLASSICAL JOURNAL.
A DISSERTATION ON NULLITIES AND DIVERGING SERIES, in which Nullities
are proved to be infinitely small quantities, and the Platonic
Doctrine of το εν, or _the One_, is illustrated. See the end of the
first edition of the Translation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics.
AN ANSWER to Dr. Gillies’s Supplement to his Translation
of Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics, in which the _extreme_
Unfaithfulness of that Translation is unfolded. 12mo. 2_s._ 6_d._
_sewn_.
A POETICAL PARAPHRASE on the SPEECH OF DIOTIMA ON THE BEAUTIFUL, in
the Banquet of Plato. See the Translation of the Fable of Cupid and
Psyche.
HYMNS. See the before-mentioned Sallust, Julian, Plotinus, and Cupid
and Psyche.
A new edition of HEDERIC’S GREEK LEXICON, in which many words are
inserted, not found in other modern Lexicons, and an Explanation is
given of some words agreeably to the Platonic Philosophy. 4to. 1803.
2_l._ 2_s._ _boards_.
THE ELEMENTS OF THE TRUE ARITHMETIC OF INFINITES, in which all the
Propositions in the Arithmetic of Infinites invented by Dr. Wallis,
relative to the Summation of Infinite Series, and also the Principles
of the Doctrine of Fluxions, are demonstrated to be false; and the
Nature of Infinitesimals is unfolded. 4to. 5_s._ _sewn_.
MISCELLANIES IN PROSE AND VERSE; containing the Triumph of the
Wise Man over Fortune, according to the Doctrine of the Stoics and
Platonists; The Creed of the Platonic Philosopher; A Panegyric on
Sydenham, &c. &c. 12mo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _boards_.
A DISSERTATION ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF ARISTOTLE, in four Books; in
which his principal Physical and Metaphysical Dogmas are unfolded;
and it is shown from indubitable evidence, that his Philosophy has
not been accurately known since the destruction of the Greeks. The
insufficiency also of the Philosophy that has been substituted by
the Moderns for that of Aristotle is demonstrated. This volume was
written as an Introduction to the Translation of Aristotle’s Works.
4to. 5_l._ 5_s._ _boards_.
THEORETIC ARITHMETIC, in three Books; containing the Substance of all
that has been written on this Subject by Theo of Smyrna, Nicomachus,
Iamblichus, and Bœtius.—Together with some remarkable particulars
respecting perfect, amicable, and other Numbers, which are not to
be found in the writings of any ancient or modern Mathematicians.
Likewise a Specimen of the manner in which the Pythagoreans
philosophized about Numbers; and a Developement of their mystical and
theological Arithmetic, 8vo. 14_s._ _boards_.
ORPHIC FRAGMENTS, hitherto inedited. See No. XXXIII. of the CLASSICAL
JOURNAL.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added,
when a predominant preference was found in the original book.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg 14: ‘rulers that excell’ replaced by ‘rulers that excel’.
Pg 81: ‘to be seperated’ replaced by ‘to be separated’.
Pg 98: ‘external af-affairs’ replaced by ‘external affairs’.
Footnote 51 (Pg 107): “the’ o’erflowings” replaced by
“th’ o’erflowings”.
Catalog: ‘EGYPTIANS, CHALDEANS’ replaced by ‘EGYPTIANS, CHALDÆANS’.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75184 ***
Political fragments of Archytas, Charondas, Zaleucus, and other ancient Pythagoreans, preserved by Stobæus
Download Formats:
Excerpt
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have
been placed at the end of the book.
The Table of Contents was created by the Transcriber and has been
placed in front of the Introduction.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
THE CELEBRATED COMMENTATOR ON THE GOLDEN PYTHAGORIC
VERSES,
Αβαπτιστος ειμι φελλος ως
υπερ ερκος αλμας....
Read the Full Text
— End of Political fragments of Archytas, Charondas, Zaleucus, and other ancient Pythagoreans, preserved by Stobæus —
Book Information
- Title
- Political fragments of Archytas, Charondas, Zaleucus, and other ancient Pythagoreans, preserved by Stobæus
- Language
- English
- Type
- Text
- Release Date
- January 23, 2025
- Word Count
- 29,088 words
- Library of Congress Classification
- B
- Bookshelves
- Browsing: Philosophy & Ethics, Browsing: Politics
- Rights
- Public domain in the USA.
Related Books
De republiek van Plato
by Plato
Dutch
1982h 37m read
The Theory of Moral Sentiments - Or, an Essay Towards an Analysis of the Principles by Which Men Naturally Judge Concerning the Conduct and Character, First of Their Neighbours, and Afterwards of Themselves. to Which Is Added, a Dissertation on the Origin of Languages.
by Smith, Adam
English
1958h 32m read
Selected Essays of Plutarch, Vol. II.
by Plutarch
English
2023h 38m read
Selected Essays of Plutarch, Vol. I.
by Plutarch
English
1640h 10m read
Notice bio-bibliographique sur La Boëtie, suivie de La Servitude volontaire
by La Boétie, Estienne de, Payen, J.-F. (Jean-François)
French
568h 51m read
The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits
by Mandeville, Bernard
English
3723h 37m read